m BANCROFT LIBRARY * THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA A GLIMPSE AT THE GEEAT WESTERN REPUBLIC, BY COLONEL ARTHUR CMYMHAME, f\ AUTHOR OF "AN AIDE-DE-CAMP'S RECOLLECTIONS OF SERVICE IN CHINA.' BIBUOTHEBK) LONDON : * RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 1852. PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SON, LONDON GAZETTE OFFICE, ST. MARTIN'S LANE. tocroft DEDICATED VISCOUNTESS HAEDINGE, WITH FEELINGS OF DUTY AND DEVOTION, BY HER AFFECTIONATE KELATIVE, ARTHUR CUNYNGHAME. 3NTBEAL, CANADA; APEIL 1851. A GLIMPSE AT THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. CHAPTER I. HAVING obtained a few weeks' leave of absence from His Excellency the Commander of tbe Forces in Canada, for the purpose of travelling in the United States of America, I started from Montreal on the evening of the 30th of Septem- ber, 1850. I took a new route towards Niagara and the "Western States of the Union, by proceeding in the American line of steamers, which navigate the southern shore of Lake Ontario, having already seen the northern shore when on my way from Toronto to Kingston, in a steamer of the British line. Before I started, I was frequently asked what was my in- tended tour : I may, therefore as well state what I proposed to effect, and the sequel will show how far I was enabled to carry these plans into execution. Although I had travelled much in other countries, yet I could form no just estimate, from my experience of Canada, what the United States of America really were like, and to what an extent of civilization the Western portion of this great nation had arrived ; and now that I am about to give some account of my wanderings, 1 trust I may impart something new to others of that which certainly was novel to myself for I will confess myself to have been very ignorant of America and Americans, prior to my tour ; and my desire is to give a hint to the Mother Country of the wonders which her children are creating in the New. B 2 A GLIMPSE AT My absence from Montreal was to be seven weeks, and I proposed, in the first instance, to travel about a thousand miles west, and to strike the Mississippi well to the northward, in the State of Iowa, to enjoy a few days' grouse shooting ; thence to travel about fifteen hundred miles down the Mis- sissippi to New Orleans, visiting any places worthy of atten- tion on the way ; passing through the Southern States, to Savannah, Charleston, and returning to Montreal, through the most/flourishing cities of the Union Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. The entire distance I calculated would not be much less than five thousand miles, which, by the aid of steam on lake, river, and railroad, would, by due diligence, be accomplished within the given time. Bidding adieu to my family, I took my place in the cars to Lachine, distant from Montreal about eight miles ; there I arrived in about half an hour, and finding a fine steamer, called the "British Empire," awaiting her passengers, I ob- tained a ticket in the office as far as Buffalo, a distance of nearly four hundred miles. The first portion of this journey was to be performed against the rapid stream of the mighty St. Lawrence, which would take two nights and one day to accomplish ; the latter portion, through Lake Ontario to the Niagara River, one day and one night more. A large roomy cabin during the voyage was placed at my disposal, three substantial meals being provided daily, my setter as well as myself being fed and conveyed. For all this I paid but nine dollars, or II. 16s. sterling, Which included every description of fee, to stewards, &c. ; a favour- able contrast to the expensive travelling in our own little isle. It was a still, but very dark night, when we glided swiftly from the wharf at Lachine into Lake St. Francis. In one hour and a half we reached the Beauharnois Canal one of the many magnificent works created under the auspices of the British Government, to connect the navigation of the Lower with the Upper Lakes and waters of the St. Lawrence, which otherwise would be rendered impassable, by means of the rapids which obstruct the navigation of this beautiful river. The locks were so well managed that we scarcely had any detention, although we passed them during the night. The Beauharnois Canal is sixteen miles in length and one hundred feet wide; upon it there are nine locks, all superbly executed in stone, each two hundred feet long by fifty-six feet wide. Steam-vessels are nowhere allowed to ply upon the canal at a faster rate than three and a half miles per hour, under a severe THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 3 penalty, lest they should impair the banks ; which penalty is by no means nominal, hut is invariably enforced, whenever an infringement of the law meets with detection. While I was yet snug in my berth, we passed through Lake St. Louis, and entered the Cornwall Canal, equally a magnificent structure with the Beauharnois. It is only nine miles long, has seven locks, but in other respects is equal in its measurements to the former. It is the fashion to imagine that Canada is far behind the United States in every description of interior improvement, but I am happy to be enabled to bear witness that this is by no means the case; for in no part of the Union did I at any time observe any canal which could be compared with either of these, and certainly not with the Welland Canal, connecting Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. I am afraid, however, that I cannot flatter the worthy Canadians that it is owing to their enterprise that these works have been constructed; for had not the British Government, in her truly paternal character, inva- riably been ready to assist the enterprise of the colony, I should imagine that the old system, adopted during the French government, of transporting merchandize in bateaux, upon the backs of [the hardy voyageurs, over the incessant portages which occur at the rugged banks of the streams in all parts of this colony, would yet be in practice. At nine o'clock, on the most lovely morning that can be imagined, such as seldom falls to the lot of any one to see, save during the autumnal season in Canada, we emerged from the Cornwall Canal into the main stream at Dixon's Landing. The boundary line of the United States here joins the river, the right bank of the St. Lawrence now bearing allegiance to the star-bespangled banner, under whose free, independent folds I proposed to wander for many weeks. We now passed Croyle Island ; it contains about eighteen hundred acres of land, apparently very fertile, and certainly very beautiful. It was purchased by the present proprietor, about seven years since, for the sum of three thousand pounds. It appears extraordinary that such a lovely property could be obtained so cheaply; one of the same size, equally well situated, and with as good soil, could scarcely be bought, in our own more crowded country, for less than sixty thousand pounds. About twenty miles east of Ogdensburg, we came to a beautifully situated village, on the American bank, called Waddinuton. Near it there is a handsome stone house, sur- rounded by an extensive park, within an island, which belongs to the family of the Ogdens. A fellow-passenger told me that this was the original family who had first located the city of B 2 4 A GLIMPSE AT Ogdensburg, to which we were fast approaching. He added, "I calculate that this family, with the exception of one, are pretty well used up eating, drinking, and high living have nearly finished them." This reminds me of an anecdote I heard in the West, where the land per acre and the champagne per bottle were equally sold at five shillings each. A gentle- man, who was accustomed to indulge freely in the latter, was suddenly convinced of his folly, when finishing the last glass of his bottle, at hearing his uncle exclaim, "There goes an acre of land, trees and all ?" The story goes on to say, that the wine so stuck in his throat that he never swallowed another glass. The pleasure of our journey this day was somewhat alloyed by an universalist preacher, who loudly descanted the whole forenoon upon the doctrine of charity towards all men, and forgiveness of injuries. [But I was informed that he had divorced his first wife, and worried his second to death a plain demonstration how widely apart are precept and practice. A young collegian, like a second Gil Bias, entered loudly into disputation with him, which likewise caused us much incon- venience, as you will readily imagine that neither of them made any progress in convincing his opponent. Both the islands and banks of the river were truly lovely; the contrasts in the varied hues of the autumnal foliage is scarcely to be understood by those who have not personally witnessed them. There are tints, from the brightest green to Vandyke brown, while the scarlet foliage of the sycamore gives, by its hectic tinge, a sure indication of consumption and speedy death; and the red stalks of the buckwheat give an appearance of genial warmth to the face of a considerable portion of the country. At hal-past one we arrived at Prescott, and then, crossing over, landed at Ogdensburg. Although Ogdensburg is dig- nified by the name of a city, it is not even a very large town, but has every prospect of becoming so ere long. The railroad connecting it with Boston and the Nw England states, by Rouse's Point on Lake .Champlain, has just been completed, and this has already had a considerable influence upon the town. The price of building lots now averages between five and six hundred dollars per acre, within half a mile of the city. I walked a mile or two on the road towards Rome. This town is distant from Ogdensburg about 120 miles, the road being planked all the way. I visited also the new ceme- tery, which is prettily situated on the borders of a small lake. I also walked some distance up the Oswegatchie River, from THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. O which I was informed an incredible quantity of sturgeon is taken during the spring. I made acquaintance with a Mr. Benedict, who was a great sportsman, and had killed many deer this season. He was anxious I should remain a few days, for the purpose of killing black duck, which he said abounded on a lake distant about five miles from the town. He assured me that I might kill from forty to fifty per day, adding, that there were now but few sportsmen in the country, eight or nine of his friends who were very fond of shooting, having last year emigrated to California. I, however, would not be tempted to loiter, but determined to make the best of my way to the prairie grounds in the far west. At six P.M. I embarked on board a fine steamer called the " Northerner," and sailed from the railway wharf at eight. The upper saloon of this boat was 215 feet long, the entire length of the vessel being upwards of 250 feet. She could make up 300 separate berths for her first-class passengers. Although the night was exceedingly dark, we threaded our way in safety through the intricate channel of the thousand isles, calling at various landings by the way, and we arrived at Kingston on the following morning at seven o'clock. Here we remained for a brief period, during which time I walked through the town. The market-house and many other of the public buildings at Kingston, are worthy of admiration; all of them are built of well-cut limestone. The harbour is defended by a series of Martello towers, composed also of limestone. The fort is strong, and in a commanding position. Trade, however, does not appear in so flourishing a condition as in many other towns on Lake Ontario. Kingston owes its great- ness principally to the war with the United States, and there- fore, now that peace has so lung been enjoyed in North Ame- rica, it rather stands still, whilst others advance. The buildings of the Royal Navy, which are very considerable, are useless at the present day, and it must have cost a considerable sum to keep them in repair. The weather was rough and stormy when we steamed out into Lake Ontario ; hut the size of the vessel and the power of her engines bid fair to overcome the elements. Of first-class passengers we had not a very large number, but there were many emigrants bound to the west. We also had about a dozen horses of the Norman French breed, and I entered into conversation with the owner of one of them, a native of Michaelstown, county of Cork. He stated that he arrived in this country nineteen years since, and as usual without a A GLIMPSE AT cent; but he was now owner of 130 acres of land in the rear of the town of Coburg, on the Canada side of Lake On- tario : this farm, which was under very partial cultivation, he had now sub-let for the small sum of thirty dollars per annum ; that at present he resided at Rochester, in the state of New York, and hired himself out as a day-labourer. This course he intended to pursue as long as his health and strength were good ; and eventually, with the money he should have saved, to retire upon and improve his own pro- perty. He told me that during a portion of the summer he was in the receipt of two dollars per day, in addition to his board, and that at no portion of the year did he make less than one dollar; that these wages were invariably paid in hard cash ; that he was now returning from Montreal, where he had been upon a speculation which he had undertaken entirely on his own account ; and that from the proceeds of his savings he had paid one hundred and thirty dollars, besides twenty more for expenses, for the stout, little, grey horse which he pointed out to me. With him he intended to breed, a lucrative business in the States; whereas he mentioned that those of the English blood, although faster and stronger, yet were not so much esteemed as those of the Norman race, because the latter were more hardy, and would thrive well, and even get fat, where the former would starve. How unaccountable and singular a fact it is, that whereas the Irish in their own country are the most improvident race on the face of the globe, no sooner do they land in America than almost in all instances they appear to undergo a complete regeneration : they become thrifty, active, and industrious; and in point of agricultural pursuits they even perhaps excel both the English and the Scotch, who sometimes fail by commencing upon too extensive a scale, or entering upon too neat and expensive a method of agriculture, scarcely suited to the primitive country in which they have taken up their abode, and find to their cost and utter mortification that none but rough farming will as yet pay, except in the immediate neighbourhood of some of the few large cities. At half-past two we reached Sacket's Harbour. This town did not appear as thriving as I had expected to have seen it. The harbour is celebrated as the scene of frequent contests between portions of the navies of Great Britain and the United States, on Lake Ontario, during the last war. The only evidence, however, now existing here of those troublesome times, was that of a gigantic shed, in which I was informed still reposed the hull of an eighty-gun ship. She was laid THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 7 down by the Americans prior to the termination of the war, was never completed, and now remains the best emblem, in her present state, that can be produced of peace ! I had some conversation with a soldier whom I saw upon the wharf, of the 4th Regiment of the United States Army, respecting his service and condition. He told me that he enlisted in 1848, a few weeks only prior to the termination of the Mexican war. His term of enlistment was for five years, and his bounty was twenty -one dollars, a hundred and sixty acres of land (which by good fortune fell to him in his own state, that of Pennsylvania) were awarded to him as a war bounty, although he had never marched out of his own country. His land, unfortunately, to his present deep regret, he had immediately parted with, for a hundred and thirty dollars. His pay was seven dollars per month, in addition to his rations, and more clothes than he could possibly wear out ; his duties were exceedingly light, and upon the whole the service was a very pleasant one. He however added that no soldier received any pension whatever on discharge, but that an old and deserving man was always employed in some military capacity, when too infirm for his duties, but few, if any, ever remained in the service for such a length of time. I inquired if there were many deserters from our service in his regiment. He said there were only two in his company, but several in the regi- ment ; that in no one instance had any of them turned out worth any tiling. Where the pay of the soldier, and the wages of the labourer are so high, what inducements do they not hold out to the thoughtless young recruit to desert his fealty to his Queen and country. CHAPTER II. AT half-past eleven, on the morning of the 2nd of October, we steamed out of Sacket's Harbour; the weather, which had been lowering the early part of the forenoon, now bore a better appearance, but ere we accomplished half the distance to Oswego, a violent gale arose from the west, exactly con- trary to our course. I had been somewhat sceptical as to the height to which the waves of these lakes would rise during a storm, but I now had a good opportunity of judging for myself; many of the passengers were much alarmed, and nearly the whole sick. The captain said that this was the 8 A GLIMPSE AT most violent gale of wind the "Northerner" had as yet ex- perienced. Long hefore dark we made the port of Oswego, the vessel hehaving manfully in the storm, many trading vessels being equally fortunate with ourselves, in securing a safe position within its somewhat contracted harbour, before, what afterwards proved, a most tremendous night. The light draught of water of these lake steamers, in addition to their great top hamper, such as a saloon with eighty or a hundred state cabins, together with their narrow width and great length, renders them by no means safe in a heavy sea. The cheap rate at which they carry passengers, as well as the competition on the lakes, would ruin the proprietors unless they could accommodate this large number comfortably, and as these gales of wind are but rare events, they "calculate" upon running the risk, the insurance covering all losses. Not knowing how long the vessel might be detained, ere the weather would allow her to proceed to the westward, I here disembarked, taking the railroad cars soon afterwards to Syracuse, a distance of thirty-eight miles ; I arrived there the same night. At the hotel at Syracuse I met with a gentleman from the state of Pennsylvania, with whom I had an interesting con- versation, relative to the repudiation of the debt of that state, He maintained that it was nothing but a political movement, and that the proprietors of the stock never had any real in- tention of repudiating ; that it was absurd to imagine that so rich a state should even contemplate, in the sequel, disavowing its debts. He moreover alleged that the Mississippi state debt had been repudiated contrary to the wishes of the great landed proprietors of that state, who themselves were perfectly willing to be taxed, to pay both principal and interest, but the demo- cratic majority overruled this procedure. Where, therefore, the national faith of a state rests upon no firmer basis than the fickle voice of a democratic majority, much dependence can scarcely be placed upon it by a capitalist, especially if he is resident in a distant country. It is satis- factory, however, to see that the state bonds of Pennsylvania, which, at the time they were so severely commented upon by Sydney Smith, fell to fifty-five, have now again risen to par, and that this state has now honourably acquitted herself of any dishonest intention, in the eyes of the whole world. Early on the following morning I got into the train to con- tinue my journey to Buffalo. It was dark, the weather very stormy, which, in some measure, may account for the dreadful accident which subsequently occurred. This road, as is usually THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. V the case in the United States, had hut one line of rails, with occasional slidings, to allow trains to pass one another. In consequence of the vast number of emigrants who travel, during the autumn, on this, the main artery to the Western World, there were, at this season, an extra number of trains put on, and therefore a greater amount of danger from col- lisions. We were approaching the station at Seneca Falls, at a moderate rate, when an engine, with its train, approached in a contrary direction, at full speed, and on the same line with ourselves. Fortunately for us, both engineers, perceiving the danger, simultaneously reversed their engines, but so imminent was the risk we ran, that the locomotives actually met and separated immediately. The concussion on our carriage was not great ; it, however, broke a part of the fore-railing, and cut off a man's finger who was standing on the platform. The engineer of the opposing engine grew frightened, and after having reversed his wheels, jumped off; both engine and train, at full speed, and now under no command, flew back, and the switch of a siding, into which another train had entered, having been left open, it ran with all its force into this, an unfortunate emigrants' train. Great and awful was the crash, three of the carriages being smashed actually into one another, and dovetailed like the slides of a telescope. When I got up to the station, two poor fellows lay groaning in the greatest agony, and ere our departure we saw the lifeless remains of a third conveyed away upon an old door. This was the body of a fine, handsome young artisan, who but a few minutes previously was in the pride of health and strength. How thankful then was I to Providence for the narrow escape we had had from this imminent peril ! We were delayed by this accident for nearly two hours, and did not arrive in Rochester until nearly eight o'clock in the morning. The railroad cars throughout the United States, with the exception of what we should call a sort of luggage van for emigrants, seldom or ever have more than one class. These are built somewhat after the fashion of a huge omnibus. They are from forty to fifty feet long, a set of benches on either side, each allotted for two persons, with an avenue down the centre. The seats are generally comfortably stuffed, and covered with velveteen, their backs being made to revolve on a pivot, so that the passengers are enabled to place themselves either vis-a-vis or dos-a-dos to their next neighbours, at their own dis- cretion. Immediately after starting from Rochester the ticket col- lector demanded the fare. I presented him with two bank- 10 A GLIMPSE AT notes, or "hills" as they are invariably called in the States. After examining one of them, he turned round to me and exclaimed, " You're a smart fellow, you are ! " upon which I assured him that I did not in the least doubt that he also possessed the usual quickness of his countrymen. He again repeated his former expression, adding, " Tin's won't come over me, this is a forged bill." Forged or not, I replied, I received it from the last ticket collector. Perceiving I was a stranger, he became more civil, but he refused the note ; I, of course, tendered him another, for I have long since found out that it is far less trouble to suffer the loss of a trifle, especially in a foreign land, than enter into a dispute. Some of the railway conductors are particularly coarse-minded fellows, and placed, us they imagine, in some authority, they occasionally assume the manners of petty tyrants. It is scarcely possible to describe, to a well-bred European, the style of contemptuous insolence with which they sometimes treat the passengers ; rare indeed is it if they vouchsafe an answer to any question. Slavish civility I detest good, honest independence I am the first to admire ; but insolence, especially to a stranger, is most unwelcome, and very galling to submit to: but when the traveller is subject to this sort of behaviour for weeks together, it becomes most annoying. It is by far the greatest drawback to the pleasure of travelling in the United States ; a rough railroad, or an ill-appointed steamboat, is a light and trifling matter to endure, in comparison with this serious evil, which cannot, however, be properly understood until experienced. To give an instance of the very disagreeable way in which this independence is displayed : In the civilest tone you can assume you ask a question, sometimes to a bar-keeper, or the clerk of a steamboat, a railway conductor, or may-be a very unwashed waiter ; after staring you in the face for a few seconds, he coolly turns away without vouchsafing any reply whatever ; certainly he cannot be accused of giving you an uncourteous answer, but, I ask, can anything be more unpleasant than independence of this description? Again, however, in justice to the more refined States in the north-eastern portion of the Union, I am ready to testify that the unpleasnnt behaviour to which I allude in no instance there occurred to me. At eleven o'clock we arrived at Buffalo, which appeared to me in an extraordinary state of bustle ; the streets being crowded with persons of every description the most numerous of which seemed to be emigrants, crowding the wharves, each with a large quantity of baggage giving to the city an THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 11 appearance as if it were besieged upon the land side, and the inhabitants, with their property, were escaping by water. Buffalo lies in a direct road to the west, and it is to the west to which the whole train of emigration, with rare exceptions, now tends. All, therefore, except those who have determined to settle in the northern part of Canada west, here congregate, not only those who have disembarked at New York, but also those who entered America through the port of Quebec ; and as, probably, there landed from Europe this year no less than four hundred thousand emigrants of which number, I should imagine, nine out of ten were bound for the far west this circumstance will account for Buffalo assuming the appearance, during the summer and the autumn of the year, which 1 have described. f Buffalo is an astonishing city. In the year 1812, every house and store was burned to the ground by the British, Now, this city contains about one hundred thousand inhabitants, it extends over many square miles of country, and would be considered a large city, equal in size to some European capitals. While speaking of Buffalo, I may here relate what we should consider, at home at least, a singular circumstance that a daughter of the present President of the United States is still a teacher here, at an academy for young ladies. The gentleman who related to me this circumstance, assured me that the young lady in question 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 re- public, in the saloons of the palace of the President at Washington. In this instance, it is no doubt the effect of genuine inde- pendence of character ; but I must attribute to a very different source the pride of humility the fact that a man who is desirous of being returned for a seat in the Legislature, is obliged in almost every State in the Union to canvass his electors on foot, and in humble attire, otherwise he would stand no chance of being returned as their representative. They would say that he considered himself above them, and did not understand their wants or feelings. CHAPTER III. BEING now so near the Falls of Niagara, I could not resist the temptation of paying it a third and perhaps a last visit, and enjoying a quiet day amongst its grand and stupendous scenery. 12 A GLIMPSE AT I did not arrive there until after dark. That evening I had no more time than to take a hasty view by night of the Horse Shoe Fall from Goat Island. It was almost pitch dark. I was accompanied hy an American gentleman ; and it required some caution to prevent our falling into the cataract. It being a starlight night, the scenery ap- peared more awfully grand when viewed under these circum- stances than under any other that I had witnessed. I have, however, no intention of attempting a lengthy description of this world of waters ; few ought to do so, and fewer still will succeed, after what has emanated from the pen of that suc- cessful writer, Sir F. B. Head, in the " Emigrant." I will add that the four grandest and most magnificent natural phenomena which it has been my lot to observe, have been, Mount Etna in a state of eruption, the glaciers of Switzerland, a thunderstorm in the Indian Ocean, and the Falls of Niagara ; but in my opinion, the last is, by many degrees, the most sublime and awfully grand of all four. On a previous occasion I had taken the usual voyage in the " Maid of the Mist." This small steamer w r as constructed under the directions of a spirited Yankee, solely for the pur- pose of proceeding under the Falls of Niagara ; and although she has now been in use for three or more seasons, no accident of a fatal character has as yet happened to her. I embarked a little above the New Suspension Bridge, which had been lately constructed below the Falls, and across the Niagara River. Suits of Indian rubber were provided to keep the passengers dry, and squatting on the upper deck, in the com- panionship of a single lady from England, the only one of our party who, besides myself, would consent to buffet the elements in that exposed position, we slowly pursued our way towards the Falls, keeping close to the right bank of the river. Nearer and nearer did we. draw to the vast cataract, called the American Fall, the wind from which increased to a perfect hurricane as we approached it. The little boat trembled violently under the agitation of the waters, and vast masses of spray dashed over us. At one time we were apparently entering the boiling cauldron ; at another, we were repelled by the force of the falling water, and gliding onwards approached the more terrible Horse Shoe Fall. No words can express the sensations of awe and of excitement which thoroughly engrossed the imagination at that moment. The deafening roar of the cataract defied the power of speech, and almost paralysed the senses. Completely submerged in the water, we were alone upon the upper deck, and the lady s THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 13 my only companion, underwent the ordeal with unflinching nerve. This voyage is not altogether unattended with danger, for during last year a circumstance happened which might have ended in a fatal catastrophe. The " Maid of the Mist," when in the middle of the pool, beneath the Fall, managed either to entangle or hreak her tiller-ropes, I never could dis- cover which, but becoming altogether unmanageable, was swiftly taken towards the whirlpool ; and should she have entered even the rapids leading to it, there was not a shadow of a doubt as to her destruction. Fortunately, when in this awkward predicament, suddenly, by an eddy in the current, sbe was firmly fixed on a rock, at the British side of the Falls. The passengers lost no time in making the best of their way on shore, and the damage being repaired, she proceeded the fol- lowing day on her accustomed voyage. It was with great regret that I observed that a large portion of Table Rock, which fell last summer, had materially injured the appearance of the Cataract on the Canadian side ; but to those who had not seen the Falls before this occurrence no feeling of this kind could occur, as, being ignorant of what it was like before, they would miss nothing now. A canal boat, which had escaped from its moorings at Chippewa, was firmly fixed on a rock, at the very edge, and towards the centre of the precipice. It is singular enough that in descending the stream it should have rested at the only spot where its pro- gress could have been arrested. No doubt at the first rise of the water it would be carried over, which probably occurred a few days subsequently to my visit, as in crossing > the Ferry the boatman picked up some lake fish and wild ducks, nearly dead, which had been just cast over the Falls. This, they said, was a sure indication of approaching winter, and that the water would soon rise.* The received opinion is, that a portion of the wall of rock is each year worn away. The Cataract of the Great or Horse Shoe Fall, is now so grand because it is contracted into a narrow space, between enormous rocks : should, however, but a few more feet fall away, the width of the stream would be greatly extended, particularly towards the Canadian shore, and its present beautiful appearance, no doubt, be seriously injured. Indeed, it appears to me by no means impossible, ere long, that the Horse Shoe Fail should assume the form of a rapid, or cataract, rather than retain the regular fall over a ridge which it at present possesses ; but to speculate upon what * This canal boat has since been carried over Ihe fall, and is now twisting a;id turning in the whirlpool, spell-bound, as it were, in the midst of this cauldron. 14 A GLIMPSE AT this may become is altogether useless and visionary. What it is no pen can rightly tell, scarce can imagination conceive.* The influx of visitors to Niagara had been greater this season than in any preceding one for many years past; the hotel- keepers, consequently, had made a great harvest. The receipts of the Ferry boat on the British side alone, the entire expenses of which cannot much exceed three hundred dollars, have been no less than seven thousand dollars in one season, and the sums of money which have been expended upon both black and white guides have, this year, caused what the Yankees call "a pretty smart business." Endless have been the sketches taken of Niagara, from every point, on either side of the Falls, and as endless are the criticisms upon them, few, indeed, coincide in opinion con- cerning their merits ; but I have seen none that so justly convey the ideal to the mind as the four lately published by Mr. Maclean in the Haymarket, from drawings by Lieut- Colonel Davis, which display a depth of feeling, in conjunction with the most masterly execution. On the following morning, I crossed over to the British side, and was fortunate enough to meet his Excellency Lord Elgin, the Governor- General, who had just returned from an excursion into Lake Superior. Colonel and Mrs. Bruce, as also Sir E. and Lady Head, Governor of New Brunswick, were of Lord Elgin's party, and were staying at the Clifton House. My pleasure was the greater in meeting them, as they would, probably, be the last of my countrymen I should see for many thousand miles wandering in a strange and somewhat unfrequented land. The railway train, on which I intended to return to Buffalo, took its departure from the station at Niagara nearly a quarter of an hour before its proper time, leaving about forty of its passengers behind. From what we could learn, this appeared to be a trick arranged by some of the innkeepers, to keep the travellers another day in their hotels ; at least, so far from demonstrating any regret, or endeavouring to assist us in our predicament, they only laughed at us. After some persua- sion, the agent of the railroad agreed to put on an extra train ; we departed in about one hour afterwards, and we had just proceeded half way, when we felt a violent shock, sud- denly the train stopped. On jumping out of the cars, we * Captain Basil Hall has remarked that the two most extraordinary places which it fell to his lot to see, but at the same time the most utterly dissimilar, were the o? Falls Nia^ar aand the Town of Canton. Each of these curiosities the one of nature, and the other of art I have visited three separate times, and each time I undoubtedly was the more impressed with the justice of the remark. THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 15 discovered that the engine had run off the rail, that both itself and its tender were buried in the mud at the side of the road, and that the baggage car had also followed them some distance. I waited a considerable time, during which the engineer, assisted by many work-people, made strenuous endeavours to put all to rights, but without effect. Seeing a light waggon passing by, and fearing I should be too late for the " May- flower" steamer, which was to start at nine o'clock the same evening for Detroit, in the state of Michigan, an American gentleman and myself agreed for a conveyance in that vehicle to the city of Buffalo. 1 had now been in the United States but three days, during- which time I had undergone much discomfort, if not danger, in a steamer, and had already twice ran a serious risk of my life on the railroads. I was about to travel in the far west, probably nearly two thousand miles on the Mississippi, a river proverbial for accidents, such as snagging and blowing-up of steamers, and, judging by present appearances, if I got back to Montreal safe and sound, I should be lucky. Before leaving Buffalo, I took the precaution of exchanging my Canada bank-notes, either for gold or for notes of banks in the State of New York. The notes of all banks in this state will pass more readily than those of any other in the Union ; for, by virtue of an enactment passed not long since, no bank in the State of New York is allowed a charter, unless it can give ample security to government in case of failure. This is generally accomplished by a large purchase of state stock, and thus a security is naturally felt by those amongst whom these notes are in circulation. Strangers cannot be too cautious in accepting notes of doubtful banks, and will do well to remember that an immense number of spurious " bills" are constantly in circulation, and will be readily tendered to them. CHAPTER IV. AT nine o'clock, P.M., on the 3rd of October, I embarked on board the steamer " Mayflower," for the purpose of proceeding to Detroit, at the extreme western end of Lake Erie. With the exception of a steamer called the "New World," that runs from New York to Albany, on the Hudson River, the "May- flower" was the finest boat 1 have yet seen in America. She measured 288 feet in length, her beam was 35 feet, her tonnage was 1345 tons ; her capacity was for 800 passengers, 16 A GLIMPSE AT including all classes. She could make up 315 separate berths, and on this voyage we had nearly that number of first-class passengers on board, in addition to 300 of the second class. On the preceding voyage she had carried even a greater number of cabin passengers, besides 410 of the second class. The state-rooms were lofty and well furnished, some of the ladies' apartments being fitted up with taste. These state-rooms were situated on either side of a saloon, which ran her entire length, and from its handsome furniture and finish had a most beautiful appearance ; the ladies' portion being fitted up with couches, sofas, piano-fortes, causeuses, all of the newest Paris fashions, and principally in the style of Louis Quatorze. In the centre of the saloon was a compartment boarded up, to give more room for the free play of her stupendous engine. The front of this was filled up with an immense plate glass, through which the most beautiful portions of the machinery were exposed to view, and these being bright and polished, bore somewhat the appearance of the works of a highly- finished clock of gigantic proportions, and had a singular and pleasing effect, particularly when in motion. The state-rooms for the gentlemen were comfortable and plain, each containing three berths placed one above the other. This fine vessel, considered the best upon the Lakes, was named the " Mayflower," after that ship in which the pilgrim fathers sailed to New England, and arrived in the month of December, 1620. The anniversary of that day, as well as the 4th of July, the latter being the day on which the Act of In- dependence was signed, are both kept as holidays in most places of the United States, and upon these occasions the two national dishes of bean-soup and pumpkin-pie are duly served up at all their tables. Before my retiring to rest, my fellow-cabin passengers had already done so, which prevented my having an opportunity of making their acquaintance. On the following morning one of these gentlemen rose before me, saying, " I guess, with your leave, sir, I'll fix myself first." I subsequently con- sidered myself very fortunate in having become acquainted with this gentleman. He was a person of great intelligence, and possessed a most kind and amiable disposition, and not long after showed me much attention, receiving me at his house at Fort Madison, on the Mississippi River. Lake Erie is proverbial, beyond all the other lakes, for disasters by fire, by tempests, and by the blowing up of steamers. Many vessels have this year been lost, through one THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 17 or other of these causes, and great sacrifice of life has been the result. The "Commerce" steamer, while conveying a portion of the 23rd Fusileers from Montreal to Port Stanley, when just with- out the entrance of the Welland Canal, was run into, near mid- night, by another steamer, and nearly forty of those on board perished, including many soldiers, their wives and children. The " Griffin," a fine new steamer, was burnt, near Cleave- land, and nearly all her passengers met with an untimely end ; also twoother vessels, whose names I do not now remember, were, at the commencement of this season, blown up near Buffalo. These accidents were the topic of much conversation amongst the passengers, and created a brisk sale of Indian rubber life preservers, which were handed about by two vendors of those articles, before our start. Certainly, many of the passengers of the " Griffin" would have escaped death, had they been provided with them, as she sank while burning, on a perfectly calm day, within half a mile of the shore. I was informed that the owners of the " Mayflower" had taken the precaution that she should be provided, in case of accident, witli three hundred of these life preservers, in addition to a large number of wooden stools, with hermetically sealed tin cases fixed under- neath them. But provided I was placed in a similarly awkward predicament, without one of these useful articles at hand, I had been advised to tear off one of the cabin doors, and to secure my mattress on the top of it, if I had leisure so to do ; as on such a raft at least two individuals could with safety float for a considerable time, and I have no hesitation in recommending this plan to the adoption of any party who may have the mis- fortune to be placed in such a perilous position. Three meals a day were provided on board the "Mayflower," which were most abundant and excellent; the attendance of the waiters, however, was by no means perfect, perhaps excus- able, considering the large number of passengers on board. I certainly did not observe that the Americans swallowed their dinner with that precipitation which is frequently attributed to them ; and indeed, excepting at Saratoga Springs, I never saw a dinner scrambled for, but on the contrary have fre- quently observed many American gentlemen wait so patiently as to obtain scarcely any thing to eat, indeed with much greater patience than we should at home. I was sorry that we did not touch at Cleveland, as I had long been anxious to visit the natural spring (if it may be so called) of gas, which rises from the ground, and, according to the information I received, is so powerful that, pipes being laid 18 A GLIMPSE AT on, the light-house at the entrance of the harbour on Lake Erie is brilliantly illuminated at no cost. The distance from Buffalo to Detroit, in a straight line, which we took, is about three hundred and twenty-five miles. "We accomplished this against a head wind and rather heavy waves, in eighteen hours. The latter portion of the way lay near the Canada shore, where we observed countless acres of most fertile land untilled. Why then, I asked myself, does emigration pour its constant tide to the far West, when there is to be obtained, and at a cheap rate, so much land nearer to home, and under the protection of the British flag? I had soon after less difficulty in solving this problem, when, a few days subsequently, I found myself in the midst of the prairies of the West. There are many causes which tend towards setting this tide of emigration to the far West; the first is, that when once a man is determined to leave his own country, he frequently does so in disgust at some disappointment in his circumstances. This, too often occasioned by his own negligence, he invariably attributes to other causes, and generally the Government and the institutions of his country come in for their share of the blame. He therefore determines to throw off what he terms his yoke of bondage, and fancies, or tries to fancy, at any rate he asserts, that the land of true freedom over which the stars and stripes wave, is the only soil on which a man can freely enjoy life, and pretends, at least, to imagine that in the United States he will find a panacea for all his troubles. He goes there : if he is industrious, he is sure of his reward ; if other- wise, he speedily becomes what is termed a " loafer" or idle fellow, spends his time in bar-rooms, and at billiard-tables, and picks up his daily sustenance without much respect either how or from whom. Again, another reason that deters an emigrant from settling in Canada, is the constant strife which is carried on in the House of Assembly, and the political excitement generally throughout the country; causing alarm, and making him fear the recurrence of the fearful scenes enacted during the rebellion of 1837, and deterring him from feeling con- fidence and security, without which no one can apply himself with the necessary zeal and assiduity to the improvement of his property. A third reason is, the apparently appalling difficulties which confront a Canadian settler on first selecting a spot upon which to exert his energies. Every acre of good fertile land in Canada is heavily encum- bered with timber, and it undoubtedly requires no small deter- THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 19 minatinn and mental fortitude for one, perhaps totally unac- customed to sucli a life, to brave the battle with the wild woods, more especially when he well knows that, ere any return whatever can be secured for his labour, every stick upon the face of the soil which he intends to cultivate must be removed. The assurance which he meets with, that, this once accomplished, the soil is most exubeiant, is not so very cheer- ing, because the tact cannot be denied that many, very many seasons must elapse ere it will in any way resemble those smooth and glossy meads which he has lately left in his own country; he moreover is told tales of fertile prairies, which exist not very far to the west, where in one season his toil will be repaid by a bountiful produce ; and having travelled so far from home he imagines that a little more discomfort will more speedily repay his exertions and secure his reward; he then proceeds to the prairies, and, whether successful or no, he has advanced too far ever to retrace his steps towards the back- woods of Canada. A fourth reason of emigration not resting in Canada, but one which the legislature have lately found means greatly to counteract, is that of the enormous grants of land, formerly made both to private individuals and to companies, who, how- ever desirous they might be of getting settlers to remain in the country, would only consent to allow them to become their tenants, and not bond fide owners of the soil. This has caused vast tracts to remain waste and barren, which otherwise would long since have been in a high state of cultivation. The means, however, which the legislature have adopted to arrest this evil, have been taken from the Americans, and are very effectual. Formerly, no taxes whatever were paid upon these wild tracts : but now they are charged per acre, a road, bridge, and school tax. This is not very heavy, and goes solely towards the internal improvement of the country. Perhaps, indeed, it may not average two-pence the acre per annum ; but when one proprietor possesses a large extent of country, say ten thousand acres of wild land, he considers it onerous to pay, perhaps a hundred pounds yearly, for any length of time, and yet obtain no return ; and as a proof of the benefit of this enactment, large tracts of land are now brought into tlie market which formerly were withheld from it. While skirting the northern shore of Lake Erie, my mind was forcibly recalled to the many happy days which I had passed at Port Talhot, now in the distance, the property of the Honourable Colonel Talbot ; his nephew, Lieutenant Airey, now residing there. Such an immense extent of fertile pro- c2 20 A GLIMPSE AT perty is seldom indeed found in the possession of one indivi- dual in any country ; what must ere long be its value it i difficult to say, for even now it is enormous. It consists of little less than one hundred thousand acres, within a " ring- fence," of as productive land as any in the universe. It skirts Lake Erie for twenty-seven or twenty-eight miles. Rivers and ports exist at convenient distances, mills and towns are fast rising up, and although scarce one-tenth perhaps of the whole estate is at this moment under cultivation, yet the day cannot he far distant when these wilds will give place to the foot of man ; and the well-known energies of the present occu- pier of Port Talbot once being fully called into action, there is no saying how speedily a great and wonderful change, equally beneficial to the owner and cultivator, may not take place. The entire country and district round about the now flou- rishing town of London, Canada west, was thirty years since a perfect wilderness. All this country was settled through the energies of Colonel Talbot, and for these exertions he has cer- tainly received what now has proved to be a munificent re- ward'; but even his detractors (of which I am sorry to say there are a few) cannot 'deny the truth that this country pre- sents an example, and is allowed by every one to be the very best specimen of a judiciously allotted settlement, either in Canada or the United States of America. At five, P.M., on the 4th of October, we landed at Detroit. On ascending the river we had passed, a few miles below the town, a new and strong fort, which the Americans have lately caused to be erected, and which has a perfect command both of the adjacent country and the river itself. Having twice previously visited Detroit, I was not now inclined to stay, as I had much before me to perform, and my time was precious. The cars for Chicago started within an hour after the arrival of the " Mayflower," and I became one of many passengers for New Buffalo, on Lake Michigan. In all respects this western railroad resembles the Albany and Buffalo lines. Many of the inmates of the cars, however, appeared of a ruder race ; coarser in their manners, and more commonly attired. It is, in my opinion, extremely disagree- able for ladies to travel in these conveyances, but more espe- cially so in the west ; they, however, have no choice, and in spite of their finer feelings, they must submit to the laws im- posed upon all by the democratic majority, and either travel in the same conveyance, or relinquish travelling entirely. " The spitting," in addition to other disagreeable nuisances, such as chewing tobacco, appeared to me more lively than THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 21 ever, and when in the course of conversation I pointed this out to a really gentlemanly man, he did not seem to understand me rightly. " Why," said he, " the conductors take care that nothing shall go wrong; you hear no swearing, or impropriety of language." True, but the uncouth manners of those who frequented these carriages, their dirty hahit of squirting tohacco juice around them, and other peculiarities, to which the ladies of the other hemisphere are unaccustomed, did not strike him as even inconveniences, nor do I complain so much of habits which are not in themselves vicious ; but if they are to enjoy these customs, at least let a second carriage be provided where people may congregate whose tastes do not assimilate with their own. The conversation, however, of most of the passen- gers was exceedingly instructive ; upon almost every topic, European and American, they appeared to be remarkably well- informed, and delivered their ideas in a sensible and straight- forward manner. One circumstance particularly struck me, during my travels in the United States, differing widely from what I had seen in Europe ; I scarcely ever observed a decrepid traveller, or one suffering under severe physical infirmity, either in the rail- roads or steamboats. Such, for instance, as elderly gentlemen, troubled with chronic rheumatism, gout, c., cases which are so frequently seen at home ; perhaps they think it wiser to remain in their own residences, rather than encounter the fatigues of their railroads or stages. I observed, however, a much larger proportion of florid fat travellers. At three, A.M., we stopped at Marshall for supper, although it perhaps more properly might be called breakfast. Here we were attended upon by four black waiters, each wearing a handsome scarlet velvet cap, with a band of silver lace. As day broke, we found ourselves at Kalamazoo, situated in a fine undulating country, seventy-five miles from New Buffalo, the point on Lake Michigan to which the railroad extended. This country was beautifully timbered with oak trees, and many settlers were here congregated. It was soon, however, succeeded by thick tangled brushwood and wet coppice, which frequently pervades the State of Michigan. At ten o'clock on the morning of the 6th of October, we arrived at New Buffalo : a truly miserable place it appeared. It is situated on the sandy shore of the lake, which in all respects here resembles the open sea. New Buffalo contains but a few wretched wooden houses, whose owners make a rich harvest out of the emigrants and others, who are detained on their passage, either by the inclemency of the weather, or by 22 A GLIMPSE AT want of sufficient steamers, from crossing over to Chicago, or Milwanhie. There is no harbour, nothing but a wooden pier, which runs about one hundred yards into the lake ; it is alto- gether with- ut shelter, and consequently is a most dangerous place to make when the wind blows with the least violence, either from the north-east or north-west. A northerly wind having prevailed for some days before our arrival, steam-vessels which had actually approached within half a mile of the pier, had been obliged to return to Chicago without landing their passengers, or being able to take away those who were anxious to proceed to the west. At this wretched little village were congregated no less than eight hundred persons, waiting to cross. But one small steamer now lay at the pier, the wind being still very high, and the waves breaking over it, and my voyage altogether assumed by no means a pleasant prospect. By the next year the railroad from Detroit to Chicago will be completed, and the necessity of embarking at JNevv Buffalo will be avoided. This will sufficiently account for the want of any improvement going on at this spot. After much diffi- culty and delay in sorting the baggage, some three hundred persons crowded on a small steamer, called the " Detroit," and amidst bustle and confusion of all kinds, from crying of infants to the roaring of the waves and wind, we made a fair start for Chicago. The little boat behaved manfully ; indeed we soon discovered that, for bad weather, she was even preferable to many of grander appearance, and by six o'clock in the evening we were safely landed at Chicago. There had lately been much heavy weather on Lake Michigan, and, amongst other catastrophes, a small schooner, named the "Thornton," had been upset in a squad of wind. The captain alone had been rescued by the steamer " Morton," after having floated on a spar for seven days in the lake, during which time he described his sufferings as very great. CHAPTER V. AT Chicago, a new hotel had just been opened called the " Tremont House," to which I fortunately went. I found it one of the most magnificent establishments of the kind in the United States. It is well and handsomely built, and below the principal rooms are shops and stores. Its entire cost, I was informed, was more than a hundred and forty thousand dollars. Besides a large number of sitting rooms, immense THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 23 saloons, parlours, &c. &c., it contained no less than two hun- dred and four sleeping apartments, and a beautiful bridal chamber, fitted up with much elegance, which had been occu- pied for the first time on the previous day. Mr. Crouch, the landlord of the hotel, who also owned the whole property, was by trade a tailor ; he had come to Chicago, about ten years since, without a centime, and now not only had he nearly paid the entire expenses of building, as well as furnishing it, but also for the land upon which it stood, and was moreover a con- siderable proprietor of real estate in the city of Chicago. The great dining-room was one hundred and thirty feet long by about forty wide. The day before my departure, dinner had been served to six hundred persons, in addition to the usual daily complement, which amounted to upwards of two hun- dred. The cooking apparatus was beautifully constructed, and worked almost entirely by steam power. No city which I had at any time visited created in my mind so much astonishment as did Chicago, or made me reflect more upon the wonderful energies of the Saxon race. Chicago in 1832 consisted of one solitary post, situated upon a small river at the margin of Lake Michigan. In eighteen short years, it has grown into an imposing and magnificent city, and is advancing with a rapidity which would perfectly astonish " old-country people." But ten years since, wolves nightly howled around the embryo city; and now fine long streets, with brick and stone buildings, form the chief portion of it, with excellent shops or stores (as they are called), superb hotels, livery stables, churches and chapels in abundance. A never-ceasing bustle and throng of people seemed to pervade this capital of the prairies ; and I own I was totally unpre- pared, in this city, to see handsome carriages, with hammer- cloths, containing well-dressed ladies, parading the streets. Chicago can now boast of 22,000 inhabitants, and five or six newspapers are there published daily. Its rival, Milwanhie, a city about forty-five miles to the north, and also on the shores of Lake Michigan, has had nearly equal success ; for I was told that she counted 17,000 inhabitants, and was progressing in all respects equally with her southern neighbour. Many of the inhabitants of Chicago are rising to great opu- lence. Amongst the foremost of them is a Scotch gentleman, who on his first arrival in that city, not many years since, was reported to be in possession of slender means, but a very clear head. He commenced business by making small advances to the neighbouring farmers and settlers. The common rate of interest at which money is advanced upon produce is one per 24 A GLIMPSE AT cent, per month, the lender appointing the agent in Buffalo, or some other eastern city, to whom this produce is to be con- signed, and receiving a commission for his agency, advancing, moreover, not bullion, but his own paper, to the farmer, his name and general credit giving validity to it. His gain, there- fore, of twelve per cent, is without any risk, because the produce, until it is disposed of, is always within his own grasp. The amount of commission upon his agency well repays his trouble and expense; and as he has advanced only his own paper, and no bullion, in point of fact his business is one entirely of profit, and no risk. The interest of one per cent. a month, in this country, is considered the very reverse of excessive, and the benefit to the borrowers themselves, in enabling them to layout capital in agricultural pursuits, which are here so profitable, is even greater than to the banker him- self ; and so numerous are the channels of lucrative invest- ment, that it is quite a favour for the producer to obtain advances upon his stock upon such easy terms as I have before stated. On the following morning I inquired at the post-office for my letters; and I may here speak of one arrangement which deserves much commendation. Through the centre of each of the delivery offices runs a large screen, behind which the clerks officiate. This screen is fitted up with pigeon-holes, glazed and legibly numbered on the outside. Each resident of the town pays about one dollar per annum for the use of his own box, into which all his papers and letters are placed upon their arrival. When, there- fore, he goes or sends to the post-office, which in this country is the daily custom for every one to do, he does not require needlessly to take up the time of the post-office clerk, but casting his eyes towards his own box, he at once perceives through the glass front its contents. I must own this appears to me a very excellent arrangement ; in some instances, per- haps, it may lead to frauds, but few systems are free from the cunning devices of clever knaves, and as the letters are placed with their directions downwards, unless well acquainted with the parties, some difficulty will be experienced in inducing the clerk to deliver them up. The postal arrangements throughout this great mercantile country appear almost as perfect as our own; the rates of postage are somewhat higher, but these are in a gradual stage of reduction. As one object which I had in view, in going to the West, was that of sporting, I was anxious not to delay in Chicago longer than was absolutely necessary. I therefore called upon THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 25 Mr. Richards, formerly the landlord of the Sherman Hotel, who kindly consented to accompany me himself, and show me some of the hest places in the neighbourhood where I might find the prairie grouse, which, he said, were very abundant a few miles distant from the town. On the following day, the 7th of October, having hired a light waggon and a pair, or, as they are always called in Worth America, a team or span of horses, we left the town. The first ten miles of our journey was over an even plain of prairie land as level as a smooth lake ; it was covered with long coarse grass, a great quantity of which had been stacked for winter use. Any one is at liberty to do this, the value of wild hay in this country consisting only in the expense of its collection and conveyance. Miles of this prairie were on fire, which had a splendid appearance, more especially as the evening closed in. I was surprised to observe the small precaution which was con- sidered requisite by the farmer to prevent the fire from extend- ing into the cultivated land, the slight obstacle of three or four furrows ploughed up being considered quite sufficient to arrest its progress ; around every farm, therefore, this precaution had been taken; and it is scarcely ever known to cross a road track unless a very high wind prevails. The road over this prairie was a perfect bowling green ; for miles we travelled on this springy turf, indeed, almost the entire day's journey was of this character, interrupted occa- sionally by a boggy piece of ground, which is here called a slun.' These sloughs were seldom more than a hundred yards in width, and we did not meet them oftener than once in about five miles, and over most of them a rough bridge of planks had been placed. We passed a large wood, with some adjoin- ing cultivation, which I was informed was the property of an English gentleman of the name of Morgan, and had been pur- chased by him some years since at the Government price of five shillings per acre. We slept that night at a small public- house at Thornden ; our accommodation was miserable in the extreme. I here met a rough-looking sportsman, or hunter, as they are called, who told me that he had killed more than two thousand chickens (by which term they always designate " prairie grouse") this season, and that he had sold them in the Chicago market at one dollar per dozen. Game is so plen- tiful in this country, that it is by no means esteemed. The delicious quail, or partridge, are frequently sold for about eightpence or tenpence per dozen. An enormous number of these birds, as well as prairie grouse, are sent at the opening of the navigation to New York, packed in ice ; one merchant dis- 26 A GLIMPSE AT patched last year no less than seven thousand quails at one time. The trapping and, in addition, burning the prairies, has much diminished the game in the immediate neighbourhood of the large towns ; but at the distance of twenty or thirty miles from them, all game, but more especially the grouse, are, in conjunction with the cultivation, increasing in the most aston- ishing manner; every fresh field of grain which is gained from the wild prairie acting as an additional source of suste- nance to them. Mr. Richards, who is passionately fond of field sports, is a native of Deal, in Kent ; he came to the United States many years since, and first settled at Buffalo, but afterwards migrated further west. He appears by no means to regret the change, as endless opportunities are now afforded to him of indulging in his favourite pursuit, which neither the Old Country nor even the State of New York could supply. He gave me some extraordinary accounts of his success in grouse shooting, but he had always made his best bags at an earlier period in the season ; for good prairie grouse shooting can scarcely be expected after the latter end of September. He said he once killed, in company with an English gentleman, named Ward, eighty brace in one day; but, subsequently, at Fort Maddison, I heard that, this season, two gentlemen had killed one hundred and seven brace within one day. The snipe shooting Mr. Richards also represented as being first-rate in the neigh- bourhood of Chicago, himself and two others having, in one afternoon, killed one hundred and seventy-one snipes, and he added that he had not unfrequently killed from forty to fifty couple to his own gun in a day. Mr. Richards, however, I consider a good shot and a good sportsman, and one of the most enduring walkers I ever met with. The American gentlemen are not naturally sportsmen ; they are, by nature, men of business, and making money, without loss of time, is the constant occupation of both mind and body. A few are occasionally induced to take example from the English, and go "hunting," but they generally prefer lounging in the bar-room of a public hotel, and listening to the quotations of the last price of wheat. Chicago is well situated for almost every sport, and com- mands a beautiful lake for yachting and fishing. I was informed that races were formerly held in the neighbourhood, but they were chiefly devoted to the pursuit of gambling, to which the Americans, as a nation, are much addicted, and which is more practised in the west, by its wilder inhabitants, than in the more civilized societies of New England. THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 2J On the following morning we rose early from our uncomfort- able couches, at Thornden, and crossing the Illinois State line, entered Indiana. Before our departure, the landlady told me that she guessed " I was a-going hunting chickens, and cal- culated that I should obtain a dollar per dozen tor them in Chicago city." We arrived at about eleven at the house of a farmer, named Butts, where we were comfortably lodged, and treated with the greatest civility. We sallied out as soon a^s possible after our arrival, and without any great amount of toil we had killed fifty-eight birds one hour before dark. For October this may be considered as good sport ; generally speaking, so late in the season, the grouse, as in Scotland, are packed and very wild, and will only lie close during a few- hours in the middle of the day. The following morning was windy and dark, and after some hours of extreme toil we only bagged fifteen birds. One month earlier, on the same ground, Mr. Richards, accompanied by Major E., had bagged, on an average, from forty to fifty brace per diem, for four or five successive days. 1 was, however, in some measure rewarded by bringing down a fine goose, with small shot, which had the folly to attempt to pass over my head. Seeing the weather was unpropitious, we determined to change our ground, and started the same evening for Lochport, about forty miles to the westward, in the State of Illinois, where I had been given to understand there were fine marshes, full of wild-fowl and snipes. The first thing that I observed upon the road, after our departure, was a sign-post, and amongst other directions and distances upon it, such as " forty miles to Chicago," &c., there was a finger denoting the way, and stating that it was two thousand five hundred miles to California. This alone will give a good idea of the immense distances that may be traversed in this one and undivided republic. There was scarcely a single person with whom I conversed, some members of whose family had not started for this " El Dorado, ' all of them by the overland route ; and from what I could learn, although this journey is replete with hardships, there are by no means so many difficulties or dangers to be encountered as is generally supposed. The time consumed in this journey, from St. Louis in Missouri, to the diggings, with a waggon and horses, may be computed at about five months, with a waggon and oxen about six. We overtook a vast number of travellers, all going west, some to the Demoines Valley and other parts of Iowa, some to the Minesota territory, the emigration for California itself being over for this season. These families generally purchase their provisions as they proceed : sometimes 28 A GLIMPSE AT they camp out, or sleep in their waggons, at other times they are admitted into farm-houses, where, for the use of the house room and the cooking-stove, they are charged for each family, great or small in number, one quarter of a dollar. Towards night-fall, we arrived at a farm-house, in a thick wood, a complete oasis in the desert of prairies, called also " Thornden," which appellation appears a favourite one in this country. The landlord's name was M'Coy ; he had come from the Eastern States, about fifteen years since, and settled here, at that time, in the midst of the Indians. While at supper I was somewhat surprised to hear the wolves howling near the house. M'Coy said it was of common occurrence ; he added, that formerly the State gave half a dollar for every wolf that was killed, but in consequence of the large sum which this yearly amounted to latterly, they had discontinued this reward. Formerly three or four were frequently trapped by the same man, in a single day. M'Coy said that these prairie wolves had, in considerable numbers, frequently followed his waggon on his return home at night, but that they could scarcely he classed as dangerous animals. I had a very good supper of bread and milk, and some of the finest potatoes I ever ate ; this distant region, however, is not perfectly free from the potatoe rot, which the settlers accuse the emigrant Irish of having brought from the green island. I afterwards obtained a neat bed, in a small room, to myself, and slept soundly until early dawn ; my slumbers, however, would not have been so serene had I been aware, on retiring to rest, that four or five members of this family, including two of the daughters, were severely afflicted with the typhus fever, and that by way of paying me an especial com- pliment, I had been permitted to occupied to occupy the young ladies' room, while they slept in the kitchen ; I own, when I discovered this fact in the morning, I was far from possessing comfortable feelings, more particularly when I reflected that the clothes of these beds are seldom aired, and the linen itself frequently unchanged. Two of M'Coy's sons were in Califor- nia ; the two whom I saw at home appeared very sickly ; none of the family received any medical attendance, their father being of opinion that cold water was the best remedy. I here saw in the stables, a skewbald horse, which, in North America, is invariably designated an Arabian. He was a thick-set beast, that would do little honour, in point of beauty, to Astley's stud ; and to judge by his appearance, if he possessed any of the pure Negheddy blood in his veins, it must have been but a very small drop. I also saw a handsome and intel- THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 29 iigent old colly dog, which his master, who was a pasturer of slieep, had brought, some seven or eight years previously, from Ayrshire, in Scotland, and for which he had refused, both in Ohio and Indiana, one hundred dollars. This young man had a fine flock of sheep, which he had brought from Ohio, pasturage in the prairies being free to all ; for, although a portion of the land may have been purchased, and even "located" or settled upon, yet, until it is actually fenced in the landlord himself cannot claim exclusive privilege over it. He said that few in the west knew anything about sheep farm- ing, and consequently the gain was proportionately larger to those who did ; he valued his flock of sheep, which were six hundred and seventy-two in number, at about five dollars each, and added, that they, on the average, each annually yielded two dollars* worth of wool, that they were pastured for nothing, and that, after making a liberal deduction for his own time, and other expenses, this flock would produce an annual profit of about four hundred dollars. Here, then, is an opening for a Wiltshire, Sussex, or Hamp- shire sheep farmer, who, provided he thoroughly understands his business, might, with the small capital of 100/., realize without much risk to himself a large profit. It is singular enough, that although sheep are subject to so many diseases in Europe, as yet they have been attacked with none in this country. Our horses were here regaled upon Timothy, or what is called tame hay, in contradistinction to the wild hay of the prairies. This is highly esteemed in the large cities, and is sent immense distances wherever the convenience of carriage will allow. It is even constantly transported from Galena on the borders of the State of Wisconsin to New Orleans at the very mouth of the Mississippi, which distance is not very far short of 1,800 miles. At almost all the farm-houses I observed that the Chinese method of drawing water, by means of the chain-pump, was universally adopted. It performs its work with peculiar ease, and it is pleasing to observe how every improvement or invention is readily employed by this "go-a- head" nation. This is the natural effect of a paucity of labour, and a general diffusion of knowledge through the means of free schools, a system universally in use throughout the vast Republic, indeed, made absolute by law, and the first introduc- tion of which may be traced to the national free schools in New England, instituted by the pilgrim fathers themselves. Manual labour is, in fact, so expensive in the States that the mind is constantly alive to forestall its use, and methods are introduced not only for peeling and quartering apples, as well 30 A GLIMPSE AT as a thousand other homely matters, hy steam, hut lately an invention has heen patented for the milking of cows, which, through the means of India ruhber tubes and other apparatus, has been found practically to fulfil the intentions of its inventor. At an early hour in the morning, we resumed our journey to Lochport; the weather, moreover, had somewhat improved, rendering it more agreeable. The prairies gradually gave place to better cultivation, and the want of trees had in some degree heen supplied by small plantations of the sugar maple and locust, each some few yards in extent within the enclosures. The locust tree I remember many years since to have been urgently recommended to the notice of the Hampshire pro- prietors by the late Mr. Cobbett. In some of these wet prairies the cranberry grows in great abundance, but differing materially from the berry of the same name found in the highlands of Scotland and other parts of Europe ; of these a favourite and agreeable preserve is made. They are gathered in the autumn, and after sifting in a winnow- ing machine, they are sold in the large cities at two or more dollars the bushel. The Indians in the northern part of the Mississippi now collect an immense quantity of this fruit, many thousand bushels being annually sent from the neigh- bourhood, and even beyond the Falls of St. Anthony, both to St. Louis and to New Orleans. Before reaching Lochport we passed some fine groves of timber, an agreeable sight after the naked expanse to which we had been accustomed. These woods were the property of an eminent lawyer who possesses the very appropriate name of Blackstone. CHAPTER VI. AT one o'clock we arrived at Lochport, a clean town, which derives its importance from being situated on the great Illinois Canal. We put up at a large and comfortable hotel. This afternoon we spent in snipe shooting, in the bottoms imme- diately below the town, and in the space of three hours we brought home forty couple of these birds, in addition to many ducks and teal. In the hotel I met a sportsman, who told me that in no part of the state was game more numerous tdan at La Salle, 'about sixty miles farther down the Canal, and I had subsequently an opportunity of proving that the account which he gave of that part of the country was by no means exaggerated. On the succeeding day we again attacked the snipes, when THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 31 we bagged about fifty couple. I may here mention that I fol- lowed strictly the advice given by Colonel Hawker, in regard to snipe shooting, by invariably walking down wind ; but it is a singular circumstance, that throughout this continent, these birds are more easily shot on a fine bright still day than on a gusty and dark one. While staying at this hotel I asked the landlady to allow one of her domestics to clean my boots ; she answere'd, in the most civil manner, that the gentleman who generally fixed there was not at present in the house, but added, " I guess you'll find the fixings in the cupboard, and no one will hinder you from doing it yourself." There was not anything like rudeness in her manner, indeed, she was invariably attentive ; I merely mention this as a trait of the national equality preserved in this free and independent soil ; and it is needless to add, that without scruple I at once followed the injunctions she gave me. Young England is frequently accused of being too precocious, but in this respect what comparison will she bear with young America? At the public table at Lochport, a boy, about thirteen years of age, entered freely into conversation respecting the merits of the different candidates who were about to stand (or run, as it is here termed) at the next election, for some government offices at the neighbouring town. This embryo politician was condemning one party for coalescing with the Whigs, and another for too highly favouring the democratic party. It would, moreover, astonish some of our respectable elderly men of business to observe with what an air of freedom a young fellow, of fifteen or sixteen, will strut into a counting- house, carefully remove his gloves, and having placed his cane in the corner, open his pocket-book, and transact business to the amount of many thousand dollars, then whistle an opera tune, and ask your opinion, not forgetting first to give his own, respecting the merits of Jenny Lind. 1 received it as the opinion of an intelligent person of New York, that most of the American youths are really wonderful at business, their quick- ness being perfectly surprising, in which they far surpass any Europeans by many years their seniors, but that after the age of twenty-five or thirty they were not superior to the sedate German, the more modest Scot, or prudent Englishman. It is not impossible that this precocity, in the development of the intellect, may perhaps have the effect of weakening its powers. Early in the morning of the 12th of October we started on our return to Chicago, where we arrived at about 2 P.M. During this expedition I was greatly annoyed by the " prickly heat," but as it is a sure indicator of health, I did my best to 32 A GLIMPSE AT bear patiently this troublesome companion, but I will own that my mind was, for some days, disturbed by visions of typhus fever, which, fortunately, were never realized. These hints to a stranger may not be altogether unacceptable, and what I state I recommend only for their consideration. If prairie grouse-shooting is their object, their arrival at Chicago should not be later than the 1st of September, at which season the birds have not yet packed or become wild. Provided they have brought dogs with them, I should suggest that they have a waggon and a team of horses, making their agreement to retain the services both of the owner and his property, either by the week or the month. This person, should, if possible, be direct from the country, and not the resident of the town ; nor for this purpose should I employ any of the livery-stable keepers ; for although their teams are of a more active character, no advantage will thereby accrue to the sportsman, but con- siderable additional expense be entailed. This waggon and horses may generally be hired for two dollars and a half per day, the owner agreeing to meet every expense, both for him- self and team, for this sum. A good supply of powder and shot should be laid in, sufficient for two sportsmen for fourteen days' shooting. I should recommend not less than twenty pounds of powder, some in half-pound canisters, and 150 pounds of shot. It must not be forgotten that, in the United States, each bag of shot weighs only twenty-five pounds, whereas in England it weighs twenty-eight. I should also add a small quantity of B. shot, for heavy ducks and wild geese, and a few dozen patent cartridges for wild days at the grouse. At Chicago there is an English gun-maker of the name of Kemp, formerly a foreman to Messrs. Walker and Co., of Birmingham, where I was enabled to procure all these things. But as there is occasionally a heavy run upon cartridges, and I consider them most requisite adjuncts for the sportsman, I should suggest the propriety of bringing a few with him on his excursion. A carpet-bag, for nothing more cumbersome should see the prairies, a good coat and blanket, one bottle of Cognac brandy, or more, according to the tastes of the sportsman, should ac- company him ; I need not enter into more minute details, for one who is fond of field sports will understand the rest. My course would at first be due soutli from Chicago, not delaying until I had reached forty or fifty miles from the city, and I should put up at the best-looking house that I could find. It is impossible to make a mistake in regard to the location of prairie grouse, for they exist everywhere in the THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 33 greatest abundance at this distance from the capital. While the season is hot, which it frequently is until the end of September, neither man nor dog can properly work in the middle of the day, and if he could do so, he would stand but a poor chance of finding game. The sportsman must, therefore, if he is desirous of making a good bag, relinquish his English habits, and rise with the sun, and at this early hour a cup of coffee and a piece of bread will suffice him for breakfast, as he should allow nothing to detain him longer in the house than is absolutely necessary. Both the waggon and its driver must accompany him all day, as the game that he shoots is far too heavy, and in too large a quantity, to be carried any long distance. The horses can feed on the prairie grass, and rest themselves under the shade of a tree, while the sportsman amuses himself. He need scarcely trouble himself to take a luncheon with him, as he will be welcomed in every farm-house he may be near to partake of that meal with the family ; and he must never forget, to have good sport, he must always remain in the vicinity of the cultivated country. He should himself rest, and allow his weary dogs to do the same, during the three hottest hours of the day, seeking for game only in the morning and the afternoon ; and thus any good hand may easily bag from twenty-five to forty brace of grouse a-day to his own gun. If he finds he has made a good selection as to his sleep- ing place, I should recommend him to be cautious not to change it, provided the sport is good for a few days, after which he may gradually steer west, keeping forty or fifty miles distant from the city of Chicago, to which he can return whenever lie feels an inclination, in one long day's drive. After all that can be said of prairie grouse shooting, I do not think it can be compared to grouse shooting in Scotland. The American bird is larger, but of a tamer race indeed, I have occasionally shot them rising from amongst the common poultry at the barn-door; and, moreover, the sameness of the Indian corn-fields and the flat prairie is a poor contrast to the delightful exhilarating scenery in the north of Great Britain. To any man who cannot in these excursions "get along" without all his comforts, I should recommend him to stay at home. At the best of times it is but a rough life, the con- veniences of civilization, either in lodging or food, not being procurable for love or money; but I cannot recommend a cheaper or more certain cure for dyspepsia or a maladie imagi- naire than a few weeks roughing it on the prairies of the far west. 34 A GLIMPSE AT At the farm-houses a charge will he made for lodging and meals, hut this will seldom exceed half a dollar per day for each individual. The entire expenses, therefore, of this expe- dition will scarcely exceed four or five dollars a-day, which, when divided by two sportsmen, is very moderate, and will make a favourable contrast with the expense of a highland ' moor, where instances constantly occur, that after paying the hire of the manor, the keepers' wages, and other extras, each grouse hagged has cost the sportsman more than a guinea. Those who are unwilling to take the trouble of conveying dogs with them to the west, will find three or four sportsmen in Chicago who have very good ones of their own, and who are willing to engage themselves and their dogs at the rate of one dollar and a half a-day, which sum is generally considered by them as a sufficient remuneration ; for, in addition, if attentive, they are presented with all the game the sportsman does not want, who at this distance has no opportunity of transmitting it to his friends, and for the conveyance of it to the market of Chicago there are frequent opportunities, and thus an extra remuneration is gained hy the owner of the dogs. I must here add that the trouble and annoyance of convey- ing sporting dogs from the cities in the east, a thousand or more miles distant, is perfectly inconceivable to those who have not attempted it ; and unless the dog is first-rate, or a great favourite with the owner, I should on no account recommend him to entail upon himself so much inconvenience. There is a canal which I shall hereafter speak of, leading south-west from Chicago to La Salle, on the Illinois river. The sportsman may, if he prefers this plan, take a passage in any one of the canal-boats, remaining at the small villages near the bank, or proceeding from one to the other by one of three daily boats that ply upon it. Wherever he may stop, he will be rewarded by grouse shooting a discretion, but he will then have the trouble of either procuring a waggon at each station on the canal, or allow the birds to lie where he kills them ; for it would require the services of three or four men to carry the game which he would kill in as many hours' shooting. The towns upon this canal which were recommended to me, as affording opportunities of excellent sport, though it is almost useless to particularise where the game is so abundant, were Morris Town and Ottawa, at the latter of which I was told that an Englishman of the name of Delaware keeps the Fox tavern, an exceedingly comfortable hotel, and that some of our countrymen had already this year made it their head- THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 35 quarters for shooting, and not only had good sport, hut were comfortably lodged. Ottawa is distant from Chicago ahout eighty miles, which is sixteen or seventeen hours' run in the canal-boat. In Chicago, as in all new towns, lodging and house-rent are comparatively high, but the price of provisions is quite the reverse. Game is, as I have before shown, most abundant, and consequently to be obtained at a low price. Beef, I was told, was at an average price of 2 cents (l^d.) per pound ; mutton, 3 cents (If d.) ; fine chickens, 8 cents. (5d.) each ; turkeys, about 20 cents (lOrf.) each. Groceries not much higher than in England. Such prices, therefore, as the above are indeed a cheering prospect to the industrious labourer or artisan, more especially should he have a numerous family, which here proves his blessing, while at home it not unfrequently is the reverse ; for labour of every description is abundant, and labourers are constantly in demand in this new and flourishing country. CHAPTER VII. ON Saturday evening, the 12th October, about five, P.M., I embarked on board the canal boat, the " Queen of the Prairies," bound for La Salle, a town situated south-west of Chicago, about 100 miles distant, and at the head of the navi- gable portion of the Illinois river. The cabin of this canal boat was about 50 feet in length, 9 feet wide, and 7 feet high. We numbered about ninety passengers within this confined space, in which we were to sleep, eat, and live ; the nominal duration of our passage was twenty hours, but it eventually proved to be twenty-five ; our baggage was secured on the roof of the boat, and covered with canvass, to screen it from the effects of the weather. A sort of divan surrounded the cabin, the portion appropriated to the ladies being screened off during the night with a curtain. For the first few miles we, in company with three more canal boats, were towed by a small steamer, but having passed the locks, not very distant from Chicago, three horses were attached, which towed us smoothly along at the rate of five miles an hour. Soon after we had started, tea with its accompaniaments made its appearance, the never-failing beef-steak being as tough as usual. As soon as this was disposed of, all the male D2 36 A GLIMPSE AT passengers were ordered on deck, while the parlour should be transformed into a bed-room ; in less than half-an-hour we received permission to return, in which short time no less than fifty sleeping places in this small space had been rigged up, and twenty more spread upon the floor ; the remainder of the passengers, about twenty in number, for the most part children, being detailed off to share their tenements with their pa's and ma's. These sleeping-places consisted of shelves placed three deep, the entire length of the cabin, on either side, with a height of two feet between each. In consequence of my being a stranger, I was politely offered the first choice ; the selection was difficult indeed, where all appeared equally uncomfortable, but I am happy to have the opportunity of acknowledging this attention. Into these berths we were ordered to get ; and after some difficulty, especially amongst those to whom this mode of travelling was new, we obeyed ; the remainder of the passengers selecting their locations in succession, according to the number on their tickets. I soon became insensible to the uncomfortable position which I occupied, although, only six inches above my face, a tremendous man threatened every moment to burst through the sacking which supported him ; and had the cords given way, I felt I must have been squeezed as flat as a pancake. With so many passengers in so confined a space, no wonder that on the following morning I should awake with a severe headache, the effect of the heated nauseous vapours which surrounded us. Not a window w r as permitted to be opened ; I made various endeavours to break through this rule during the night, but every window within my reach was fastened down. This, however, may be considered but a wise precau- tion ; for the malaria from the surrounding marshy land, and especially from Mud Lake, distant about fifteen miles from Chicago, which we passed within a very short distance, is very dangerous. At early dawn I contrived to slide off my shelf, arid effected my ablutions in a bucket on deck, before any of my fellow- passengers had taken themselves down. I found that we had already passed the town of Lochport. Soon after breakfast we came to the junction of the two rivers, the Kaukaki and the La Plaine, which at this point form the Illinois river. The river La Plaine rises about twenty miles to the north- west of the city of Chicago, shortly before it reaches the town of Lochport : the soil through which it runs becomes rocky, and at an average distance of half a mile from the banks of the stream, which is here an inconsiderable one, on either side, are THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 37 high bluffs, presenting an unmistakable assurance that at some former period this entire space was the bed or channel of a mighty stream. These high bluffs continue, with scarcely any intermission, all the way to La Salle, increasing, however, in their imposing appearance, and slightly in their relative distances from each other. It is amongst many the received opinion that this channel formed the outlet toward the ocean of the three mighty lakes Superior, Huron, and Michigan which thus discharged their superfluous waters into the Mississippi, and thence into the Gulf of Mexico ; and if so, what a magnificent river the Mississippi must have been! By some unaccountable revolu- tion of nature, a new channel was formed for the waters of these lakes, via the St. Lawrence, perhaps forming in their impetuous descent the majestic cascade of Niagara. As to the period when this change took place, it is impos- sible to form any conjecture. It is doubtful whether that por- tion of land now forming the State of Michigan formerly was Canada West, and whether Lake Huron had no junction with Lake Erie, as it has at present by the Lake St. Croix. But that a mighty body of water flowed through the rocky chan- nel, from the direction of Lake Michigan towards the Missis- sippi, fully equal in quantity to that which is now carried into the ocean by the St. Lawrence river, there cannot be the least shadow of a doubt, and this water could have come from no other source than these mighty inland seas. The highest level, moreover, of the flat prairie, which extends between this chan- nel near Lochport and Lake Michigan, a distance of only fifteen miles, is but ten feet above the present level of the lake ; and however strange a circumstance it may appear to the residents on the lower lakes, it requires but a very slight effort of Nature for the waters of these Jakes to overflow or wash away this dam, and once again to resume what I conceive to have been their ancient egress, swelling the already powerful stream of the Mississippi ; and on a small scale this in high floods has actually taken place. This by no means impossible circum- stance would reduce the St. Lawrence to a fourth-rate river, and thus Niagara would probably for some months in the year be nearly dry ; the channel between Canada West and Michi- gan would be closed up ; and an enormous area of land which now lies beneath Lakes Erie and Ontario be laid bare. Impro- bable as this may appear at first sight, it will no longer be so to any one who will give themselves the least trouble in in- specting that portion of the State of Illinois between Chicago and La Salle ; should they do so, I am almost convinced they 38 A GLIMPSE AT will agree in thinking how comparatively slight, would he that effort in nature which should effect such a marvellous change in the face of the entire North American continent, and pro- bably restore it in a great degree to what it originally was. At about nine, A.M., we reached the small town to which I had previously alluded, called Morris, as being a particularly good spot for " hunting prairie chickens ;" and from the general appearance of this settlement, I can readily believe that it abounded in game. Morris is surrounded by fine prairies, with quite enough grain to feed the game. There are few residents who give themselves the trouble to carry a gun ; it is easy of access by means of the canal, but too distant from the large cities to make it profitable for the resort of sportsmen who live by the produce of their guns only. Towards the afternoon we arrived at Ottawa ; this town is situated in a most beautiful portion of the valley, which is formed by the high bluffs, which are here separated from each other about two miles. The pasturage looked green and pleasant, the town neat and thriving. We remained but a few moments to land some passengers, but this was sufficient for me to recognise the unmistakeable figures of two of my own countrymen, whom I afterwards ascertained were those who were making a brief stay at Ottawa for the purpose of killing prairie grouse, &c. From Ottawa to La Salle is a distance of about twenty miles ; rocky islands occa- sionally present themselves, now surrounded by fertile prairie and corn-fields, which were, no doubt, formerly encircled by the stream. These islands in the plain much resembled some which I had seen in China, within the Yang-tse-kiang river, which, in former days, stood out in the sea, but which by the receding of water had left them islands in the plain, occasion- ally even one hundred miles distant from the salt water. At six, P.M., we reached La Salle ; here is the termination of the Illinois Canal, and the navigable portion of the Illinois River. We found excellent accommodation at an hotel, scarcely completed, called the Hardy House. The landlord of this hotel had cleared more than 50,000 dollars in a contract upon the canal, but entering upon all sorts of subsequent speculations, became bankrupt, and in a few weeks all his goods were to be placed in the possession of others. This circumstance, however, is, in the Western States, of too common a nature even to raise a comment. The Illinois Canal is a fine work, and* will eventually do wonders towards the settlement and wealth of this state. The cost of this really great work was more than three millions of dollars ; the money being borrowed upon the faith of the state. THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 39 At first, half of this money was voted towards 'this under- taking contracts were given to those who found favour wit! the government, and the most nefarious peculation of public money is said to have resulted ; the million and half of dollars being spent, and the work being only half completed, the state, already deeply involved, borrowed another million and a half, principally from British capitalists, and eventually, about three years since, this work was completed, thus connecting the Mississippi with the St. Lawrence, and perfecting the in- land navigation from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Since its completion, I was given to understand that it has paid six per cent, upon the second capital, which was bor- rowed, besides producing a very large amount towards liqui- dating the principal, and redeeming the state debt. It has every appearance of great prosperity, but I am inclined to think that this account is somewhat exaggerated. It however does not depend entirely upon its tolls, but also upon the sale of a large amount of waste lands in its neighbourhood, which was in the first instance granted by the state to assist in its formation ; the moneys accruing from the sale of which have been very considerable, and which are, of course, now im- measurably increased in value, since this large portion of the country has been opened out by means of the canal itself. This work, however, has had two most opposite effects upon the prosperity of the state of Illinois. By opening out the country it has given it a better chance of developing its agri- cultural resources. But on the other hand, the state, by entail- ing upon itself so large a debt, had no resource but to repudiate its debt or increase its taxation. It chose the latter and more honest course, and taxed its citizens proportionally. While therefore the work itself benefited the state, the taxes frightened away emigration towards the less prodigal, but neighbouring state of Iowa, which in consequence has been on the increase, in a ratio far exceeding that of the older state of Illinois. It is contended by some, that had Illinois followed the example of Pennsylvania and Mississippi, and repudiated its obligations for a time, she could have paid interest and compound interest, and have been more prosperous than at present. I have no doubt that " honesty is the best policy," and that ere long she will reap her reward. In addition to the large hotel before mentioned, La Salle does not now contain more than fifty or sixty buildings; these are all of wood, but it is " bound to be," as the Americans say, a grand city. Pern, distant about one mile, is at present larger, but is not so well situated; both will probably become ere 40 A GLIMPSE AT many years one town. La Salle has peculiar advantages : its situation at the head of the navigation of the Illinois River, and the termination of the canal, alone would give it conse- quence, as the place of transhipment of a vast amount of pro- duce from the interior towards the lakes, and of timber from the well-wooded pine forests of Lake Michigan, for the use of the agriculturist of the open prairies; hut it has lately been chosen as the spot where three great railroads are to concen- trate, and bills for the formation of the roads have already passed the legislature. The first, a railroad from Galenas, a rising town on the north-west corner of the state, close to the Mississippi River ; the second, from the State of Iowa, leaving the Mississippi at Black Rock Island ; and the third, a rail- road connecting the two former with the south, probably by way of Cairo, at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi. There is possibly, therefore, no town in the west where a capitalist could invest with a better chance of a favourable result, than at La Salle. The value of the property is in- creasing daily, and ere long handsome brick edifices will take the place of the inflammable buildings which now exist there. The morning after my arrival, I hired a waggon and drove about six miles into the country ; in two hours I had bagged sixteen fine, heavy prairie grouse. The birds were rather wild, otherwise my bag would have been still heavier ; as it was, the boy who walked with me and carried the game, would rather I had been less successful. I saw an immense number of birds ; in one field, in particular, of about fifty acres, I flushed more than one hundred grouse, but could only bag three of them. On my return, I observed many of the posts of the electric telegraph, which had been destroyed by lightning ; this is constantly occurring in these open prairies. Where there are no trees to attract the electric fluid, it expends itself upon the first, indeed the only, objects within its reach. On the succeeding day I visited the south side of the Illinois River. I had but little sport with my gun, owing to the wind being very high ; but my 'principal object was to visit two very singular natural curiosities these were the Deer Park and the Starve Rock. We crossed the Canal, and also a wide ferry over the Illinois River ; the banks of the river were here well wooded. Where this ferry now exists, the site of a city had been determined upon in 1837 that famous year of speculation and laid out, on paper ^ and lots were actually disposed of in New York, at a thousand dollars each ; but, to this day, all that exists is one saw-mill. Soon after crossing the river, and THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 41 getting upon the summit of its high banks, we emerged again upon an open prairie this we skirted for four miles, until we came to a precipitous descent, and crossed a stream called the Vermilion River, whose banks, at this season, were gaily coloured by the brilliant hues of the maple, which caused the name to appear more appropriate we immediately entered a narrow gorge in the rocky hill, the sides of which were per- pendicular. After following this avenue for about half a mile, the w r all on either side becoming higher, at length we arrived at an abrupt termination to this extraordinary fissure, and found ourselves in a gigantic stone bowl, which bore evidence of having- formerly been excavated by a cataract ; in the centre, bubbling from the rock, was a most delicious fountain ; but not a vestige of any water, upon a more extended scale than this, presented itself. This curious place was an additional reason for supposing that, at some former period, an offshoot from the mighty river, which I have stated as probably taking its course through the neighbouring valley, must once have worked its way through this rocky channel. This circular rocky bowl is called the Deer Park, tradition stating that the Indians were accustomed to drive the deer from the neigh- bouring forest into this cul de sac, when they fell an easy prey to the bow and arrow the most formidable weapons with which they were then provided. The man who attended me as guide, and who drove the waggon, was a most intelligent fellow, and, for his station in life, well educated ; his name was Davis, and his character appeared singular ; he was very fond of change and adventure, and, like many of all classes in the West, he had travelled a great deal. The preceding year he had paid a visit to London, and other portions of England, solely for the purpose of visiting that country ; he was then accompanied by a huge bear, from the Rocky Mountains, which, he told me, now occupied a den in the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park. Having examined the singular place called the Deer Park, and listened to the echoes of my fowling-piece and that of a rifle fired by a tall hunter, half Indian, who followed me in, \ve continued our route to the Starve Rock. This is situated about four miles farther up the river. The scenery is very beautiful, the lofty and rocky precipices on the banks of the glen being enhanced by the many-varied tints of the dying maple, and other trees and shrubs. In ascending the banks of the river, we passed several small houses, in the neighbourhood of which were coal-pits. The coal is very easily obtained by digging into the side of the 42 A GLIMPSE AT mountain, and is of a very good quality. Labour, however, is expensive ; but, ere many years, when the facilities of working these mines will be greater, the profits will be coimnensuraiely large to their owners. After once more descending the banks of the stream, we had no difficulty in observing the natural fortress, which overhangs the river, and is in a very commanding position, more especially in times when the use of artillery was unknown and which is now universally called the Starve Rock. Tradition affirms that the tribe of Illinois, being then at war with the Potawa- tamies, and being closely pressed by their powerful enemies, took refuge on this rock. Already they had received severe chastisement, and now all that remained of this tribe the warriors, their squaws, and their children were collected on this single spot. To gain its summit there is but one narrow pathway, easily defended by a single warrior against a host of assailants. They are reported to have been well supplied with grain, and most abundantly so with the munitions of war bushels of arrow- heads may, to this day, be collected on every part of the summit of the rock but the only means they had of obtaining water was by lowering a cup into the stream, which flowed at a depth of 150 feet immediately beneath the rock. Matters continued in this way for some days, until at length some of the Potawatamies found means to descend the stream in a canoe, and stealthily severing the rope by which the water cup was lowered and drawn up, cut off the only chance which re- mained to these wretched people of even prolonging a miserable existence. Submission, however, was synonymous with death the horrid torture-stakes were already in preparation ; with Indian stoicism this wretched tribe endured unheard-of misery for many days, until, at length, many having already fallen victims to their sufferings, the remainder were fain to submit to the cruel death imposed upon them by their more successful enemies, and report says that thus the whole tribe of the Illinois miserably perished. After baving thoroughly examined every portion of the rock, and admired 'the beautiful prospect which spread itself out beneath, the plain being divided by the shining, sparkling stream, I collected many specimens of flint-arrow and spear- heads, and resuming the waggon, we crossed the river at another ferry, and towards the evening entered again tbe town of La Salle. Having heard so much of the land in the prairies, the ease which it is cultivated, and the enormous profits which are THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 43 derived from it, I determined not to let slip the favourable opportunity which now presented itself of examining for my- self. I therefore determined to enter into the interior of the country, out of the track either of travellers or emigrants. For this purpose I made an agreement with the afore-mentioned conductor, Mr. Davis, for the use of his waggon, and his per- sonal attendance to Rock Island city, situated nearly one hundred miles due west of La Salle, on the Mississippi River. CHAPTER VIII. WE left La Salle just before sun-down, a most lovely even- ing, taking the road for Pern by the side of the river. I here saw the first of what are called stern wheel-boats, which I subsequently found were very common on the western waters. These boats, worked by steam, were propelled through the water by a gigantic wheel attached to the stern, which, when in motion, gave them much the appearance of a moving water- mill. The position of the wheel, however, enables these boats to ply both in narrow places and in shallow water, and of their great utility I became thoroughly sensible before I left the Mississippi, having had occasion to make use of them in situations where no other description of boat could have moved. We passed through Pern just before sunset : this, in common with every other city in the west, is fast progressing in import- ance. I observed some very pretty houses on the hill immedi- ately above the town, and was told that the best belonged to an ice-merchant, which appears to be an extensive and lucrative trade. This gentleman had fifty hands employed during the year. The system of his business was to purchase fir-plank from Lake Michigan in the autumn and summer, which he converted into twenty or thirty large flat boats, continuing to work at them until the winter set in, and the river was hard frozen ; the ice is then cut into blocks and firmly packed into these boats, which work is scarcely completed ere the spring sets in. No sooner is the navigation open than they proceed down the stream, ten or twelve being towed by one steamer. The cargoes are disposed of at all the large cities on the Missis- sippi, down to New Orleans : the boats as soon as empty being sold and broken up for the timber which they contain. The profit, I was informed, was considerable, for this merchant is reported last year to have unfortunately lost half his boats on their way south, and yet to have realized a large sum by the 44 A GLIMPSE AT venture. The expenses in this undertaking are also great; labour in this country being estimated, at least, at one dollar per diem, for the services of each man, which, frequently, does not include his board. In no country that I have yet travelled in, have I met with this luxury so plentiful as in the United States, although it was late in the autumn; yet, even in towns of an inferior size and class, very rarely was it wanting. Night set in before we had proceeded very far on our road. Some years since this was considered a really lawless country, but the march of civilization is rapid, and robberies, so frequent both in uncivilized and overcivilized communities, are now rare in these half-civilized ones. At this time, however, the whole community was aroused by a horrid murder which had been committed at a town called JPeoria, not very distant. The supposed perpetrators had been arrested, but the evidence against them was only circumstantial, on which, in the United States, a jury will rarely return a verdict of guilty; under these circumstances, the mass of the people being con- vinced of their guilt, it was currently reported that they were determined to carry into execution lynch law, a party having agreed amongst themselves to put these criminals to death. We had proceeded about eight miles on our journey, when we halted at the house of a farmer of the name of Miller. He was a native of the^state of Vermont, a very intelligent man, and entered into a most interesting account of his progress in agricultural pursuits since his arrival in the western country. He stated that he was now the owner of 600 acres of land, about 300 acres of which were under cultivation ; that he had purchased this property from time to time with the accumula- tion of his savings, at the Government price of one dollar and a quarter per acre. From its contiguity to the town, and the consequent command of a good market, it had now risen to ten times its original value. He then entered into various detailed accounts of the profits arising from his agricultural pursuits, which were truly marvellous, but making a due allowance for exaggeration, augmented by his desire to part with an out- lying farm, too distant to be profitably worked, still there cannot remain a doubt of his pursuing a most profitable employment. Amongst other statements, he affirmed that six acres of land had, this season, produced him a crop of potatoes which he had disposed of for 300 dollars, and that, after making every sort of deduction for the value of labour, seed, &c., f he had thus realized, from this field alone, considerably more than 200 dollars. So large a profit, equal in our money to about THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 45 40/. sterling, must content even the most avaricious farmer. His residence, we must recollect, however, was but a few miles distant from the town of Peru, on the Illinois River, thus affording him a ready means by which his produce could, within a few days, be speedily introduced into the great markets of the southern cities. Moreover, it must be borne in mind, that expensive methods of farming neither are required, nor would they repay the agriculturist, were he to adopt them here. When once the land is cleared of the rank weeds and the stiff roots of the prairie grass, and placed tinder what may be termed the first stage of cultivation, two-thirds of the labour are then com- pleted. The far greater expense of manuring, draining, &c., to which the English farmer is obliged to resort, is altogether un- known in the prairies, where, comparatively speaking, the greatest labours are those of sowing and reaping. The wages of workmen are certainly very high, but as less labour per acre is required, the culture of the land cannot be considered as more expensive. The farmer has the advantage of light taxation, freedom from poor and church rates, and in a great measure the immunity from rent itself, together with the small capital originally paid for the land ; on the other hand, the markets are distant for the disposal of produce, and we cannot allow that the farmers on the prairies of the far West have a better start in the race for wealth, than those who are contented to follow up their fortunes at home. I will here insert an extract, taken from an American news- paper, showing the vast amount of public land which yet remains at the disposal of the State. " Public Lands." The vast body of uncultivated and unap- propriated lands are scattered throughout the several States and territories in the following proportions. In the State of Ohio .... .... 745 751 96 Indiana ... 12 731 524 01 Illinois ... 4 0'60 308 72 Missouri ... 29 216 173 29 Alabama ... 17 238 757 39 Mississippi ... 14 308 238 54 Louisiana ... 22 854 482 82 Michigan ... 24 864 963 11 Arkansas . . . 27 403 991 86 Florida ... 31 810 576 48 Iowa ... 27 153 265 28 46 A GLIMPSE AT In the State of Wisconsin , 26 327 679 60 Minnesota Territory . 53 120 North West . 376 0-40 960 Oregon . 218 536 320 Nebraska . 87 488 Indian 119 789 440 State of California . 287 162 240 New Mexico Territory 49 527 680 TOTAL . . 1,430 379 358 0'6 CHAPTER IX. As I have now spoken of the capabilities of this fine agricul- tural district, I will put down a rough calculation of the capital required to commence farming on a small scale in the prairies, and the manner in which it would be disbursed by an emigrant, presupposing that he would rather purchase land, at an advanced price in a tolerably good situation, with the com- mand of a market, and at not too great a distance from a town, than in an inconvenient situation, at the Government price, of one and a quarter dollar per acre. I will suppose the family of the intended emigrant to consist of himself, his wife, and one or two small children, and that he is in the possession of three hundred pounds sterling ; I should recommend him to expend as small a sum as possible, before leaving home ; indeed, I may add that the family had better go with only the clothes upon their backs, than a large assort- ment of things ; and therefore the entire outfit of himself and family, I confine to the small sum of ten pounds, the journey to the port of embarkation, and the voyage out, I place at twenty-four pounds, the route by railroad, steam-boat, &c., either to Illinois or Iowa, at twenty-four pounds more. I should recommend him above all things to purchase nothing, however much he may be persuaded to do so, until he reaches the place of his destination; for although I am well aware that a saving upon some articles might be effected, yet from his ignorance of the country he is apt to make mistakes in the choice of his stock, so that on the whole I am convinced he will not regret my counsel. I would on no account advise him to retain more, money in his own possession than the difference of the first hundred pounds, now reduced to about THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 47 forty; for the remainder of his capital he should have obtained ?)od bills upon some house of known respectability r , in New ork. Arrived at the sea-port, across the Atlantic, let him not listen to the advice first of one man, then of another, but without loss of time take the most speedy route to his desti- nation, which we will suppose to be the prairies. Whether he has landed at New York or Quebec, his way will then be through Buffalo ; arrived there, he will find the steamer to Detroit, thence the railroad to Chicago. In the height of summer, he may take the longer route from Buffalo by Lake Huron and Machinnan, and thence .through Lake Michigan to Chicago ; but I imagine it will not be less expensive, and pro- bably to an emigrant not more agreeable, and he would certainly add by this route four or five days to the length of his journey. From Chicago, let him proceed at once to Peru by canal, or to La Salle, at the head of the navigation of the Illinois River. Arrived there, I should recommend his leaving his family; during which time he should take a hasty survey of the prairies, between Peru and the Mississippi, continuing down that river as far as Keorkurk, and from thence he should visit the Demoine Valley, the finest agricultural district in the State of Iowa. He must be especially careful not to be tempted to establish himself too far from the market, buy a cheap bargain, and never to forget that in an inverse ratio from what it is at home, here the first price of the land is by no means the weightiest part of the investment. Having then selected his position, he should return to his family, and lose no time in removing them to a spot as near as possible to that which he has decided upon. He should next draw for the remainder of his fortune, and complete his purchase, by paying for the land he has bought in ready money. He will now have to erect a house, to purchase stock, &c., probably accord- ing to a scale which I here introduce. Expended on outfit in England Journey to sea-port town, and voyage out Journey, after landing in America, to place of desti nation ..... Expended prior to settling Purchase of 80 acres of land, say at 3$ per acre Expense of erecting a farm house, 100$ Team of horses, waggon, and harness, 200$ . Fencing-in farm, 75$ .... Breaking-up prairie, 75$ Farming materials and cow, 75$ 10 24 24 12 50 20 40 15 15 15 48 A GLIMPSE AT Expense of maintenance first year, 1 00$ . , 20 Extras . . , . . . . 15 Remains still in hand, 125$ .... 25 300 One mistake which is often committed, is that of being persuaded to purchase too large a quantity of land at first. A second is that of obtaining a lot, because it is cheap, in a had situation. The first withdraws from the capital a sum which no management can replace. The second entails, too fre- quently, a disgust upon the emigrant by his wild seclusion, more especially should he never have learned what it is to rough it in a new country. By referring to my scale, he will observe that, although I have placed the price of the land at more than double the rate at which it is sold by Government, yet for this item I have allowed but one-sixth of his original capital : I have supposed the purchase, therefore, to have been made in rather a favourable position. I should advise him to be very careful how he exceeds this ratio ; for should he do so, he must either forego some other portion of the expenditure I have recommended, or he will be obliged to become a borrower, or purchase upon credit. Should he resort to either of these latter alternatives, all his industry, prudence, and economy will scarcely save him from eventual ruin. I say ngain, let him avoid the money-lending attorney or petty shopkeeper as he would a pestilence. There is scarcely any land, when cultivated, in Illinois, that will not produce from eighteen to twenty bushels of wheat per acre, which, at sixty cents the bushel, will give a return of at least ten dollars; or it will yield from thirty-three to thirty-six bushels of potatoes, which, at thirty-five cents, will also nearly average ten dollars per acre. This, therefore, will show a fair per centage upon the capital and labour expended, and in this prairie country, where cultivation may commence at once, no trees, no large growth of timber, having to be cleared away, the time is not lost in waiting for a return. There are innu- merable other advantages in this country, such as the shortness of the winter and the quantity of forage* which can be obtained in the prairies for the trouble of cutting and stacking it. As a rule, almost all the farmers in the Western States are more or less involved, not even the money-lenders themselves being exceptions to it. Although there are laws against usury, yet the temptation of gaining immense interest is too great to be resisted; and therefore these laws perhaps cause, rather THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 49 than operate against, the very system they are meant to check. Money required upon good landed security is seldom to be obtained under ten, and frequently not under fifteen, per cent, per annum ; and many a farmer is only too ready to obtain it at this hiuh rate of interest, when he clearly sees "that he can by its judicious outlay realise from twenty to sixty per cent. It, however, may be very well for the experienced American, one who is thoroughly acquainted with the country and the tricks of those by whom he is surrounded one who, being firmly established, can afford a loss, should any unforeseen or adverse circumstances occur to borrow even at such exorbitant rates ; but for a stranger to put himself into the power of the sharks would be the height of madness. Let him therefore beware, and on no account outstrip his capital at all events, until he has had the experience of some years in the country, by which time, if he has common sense, he will know a vast deal more about it and its inhabitants than I can possibly do. I will describe a common method, resorted to by small store- keepers, of lending money. A, has saved such a sum of money as he considers sufficient to stock a small farm, but he lacks the capital to purchase one. B, the storekeeper, agrees to redeem fifty acres of wild prairie land from Government, by paying one dollar and a quarter at the land office, purchasing the property thus for sixty-two and a half dollars in B's own name. B then gives A a bond, stating that in the course of three years he will sell him this farm at two and a half dollars per acre. A then locates himself upon the land, commences clearing and cultivating it, expending upon it his small capital. If all goes well, no illness or bad luck, A may succeed, in which case he repurchases the farms, at the expiration of three years, from B, at the sum of one hundred and twenty-five dollars. B has thus realised upwards of thirty per cent* interest upon his invested capital, neither has he undergone any risk whatever ; for if A is unable to redeem the farm at the expiration of the time named, and at the price agreed, it becomes naturally the property of B at the original Govern- ment price ; all its improvements, buildings, &c., making a handsome offset for the three years' interest of the money, and the moveable effects very generally follow the fixtures, being given up by the unfortunate A for some temporary loan. One of the greatest sources of pleasure in travelling in the west, is that of the traveller never witnessing those distressing scenes of misery and poverty which so constantly obtrude themselves upon his notice in the older countries. Here no one begs, no one has occasion to do so. Throughout my entire E 50 A GLIMPSE AT journey of more than five thousand miles in the United States, I met but one beggar, and he stated he had just landed from Ireland ; and I am happy to add, that this freedom from poverty exists in Canada West, as I can exemplify by a circum- stance which happened to myself there. I once attended an Episcopalian church near Fingall, in Canada West. It was sacrament Sunday, but the customary oblation of the money at the altar was omitted. After the ser- vice was ended, I inquired the reason, and was told that as no poor existed in the parish, there was no need of a collection. This great agricultural wealth, and the ease with which it is obtained, produces one serious evil it renders the child so completely independent of his parents, as to make him not unfrequently forget that he owes to them any filial duties. Upon the slightest reproof, he is ready to be off, and " do for himself," being conscious that by his own exertions he can at any time obtain a competence for himself; but this very feel- ing early in life gives them a habit of placing a reliance upon their own exertions, which can be felt in no other country, and causes them almost from childhood to look to resources within their own limits, giving to mere youths an indepen- dence of action rarely witnessed in more densely populated communities. CHAPTER X. AFTER this digression, I must now recall the reader to Mr. Miller's farm, where we last parted, a few miles from the town of Peru. We were received by Mr. Miller with every mark of hospi- tality and kindness. In this wild country, where inns are few and far between, it is the custom for travellers to ask for bed and board at whatever house may most conveniently lie in their way during their day's journey, should they either be overtaken by the dusk of the evening or their horses be fatigued. The accommodation of themselves and horses is paid for as at an inn, being generally rated according to the seeming wealth of the party entertained; and it is with the greatest pleasure that I can testify to the fair indeed, moderate rates which were universally demanded. Board and lodging for myself, for the driver, in addition to the feed of his horses, being seldom or ever charged for the entire party at a higher rate than from five to seven shillings per day. Master, guest, and domestic, all sat down at the same board, THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC, 51 and ate of the same fare. The only distinction shown to the guest was that of his being served first, and this with a liberal hand. The supper generally consisted of one or two dishes of meat, fried potatoes, bread, hot cakes, and one or two different kinds of preserves, of which cranberry appeared the most esteemed, in addition to hominy, which is boiled Indian corn dressed with butter ; the beverage is invariably very strong green tea, for scarcely in any part of the U nited States is black tea in use. I slept in an upper chamber, in company with an itinerant Methodist preacher, and two Germans who were labouring on the farm. On the morning of the 16th of October I rose early, and before breakfast saw Mr. Miller make a beautiful shot witii his rifle through the head of a fine young bullock. Im- mediately after a very early breakfast I again started on my way. Shortly after leaving the farm-house, prairie grouse in large flocks, flying from the open plain, where they roost during the night, passed over the waggon to obtain their food in the neighbouring corn-fields. They were in such numbers, and their flight so continuous, that I had no difficulty in adding very many to my larder. The farther I went west, the more plentiful did I find the game; and so common do they appear to be in these prairies, that the country people would not step over their fences to accept a portion of that which I killed in such abundance as to be of no service to me. It is by no means unusual for many of the grouse, during the rapid morn- ing and evening flight of these Targe packs, to be maimed, and even killed, by striking against the wires of the electric tele- graph. Mr. Miller said that he had frequently picked them up near his own house, some quite dead and others with their wings broken. When frightened, it would appear, that, like a hare, they cast their eyes behind them, and thus in their endeavours to avoid one danger they met another. Mr. Miller also bore witness to the great increase of prairie grouse in that neighbourhood, and, as he alleged, in a propor- tionate degree to the increase in the number of acres which were yearly rescued from the prairies and brought under culti- vation. On leaving Mr. Miller's we passed through Spring Creek, Prince Town, Bullbonny Grove, Devil's Backbone, and Hall Settlement singular names and not very civilized places and we arrived late at night at the farm-house. The entire country which I passed through was 'one extensive rolling or undulating prairie, as far as the eye could reach, from twenty E2 52 A GLIMPSE AT to thirty miles on either side of the road. Here and there was some cultivation, but tiny spots, in an ocean of prairie land. The swells are not so ahrupt, but longer and more lofty than the sea of the Atlantic Ocean; but a fancied resemblance can certainly be drawn between the face of this country and the Bay of Biscay, during a long swell after a heavy gale. There were some, but very few, groves of trees; and in spots where there was an unusual number, the ground was invariably located. None of the towns which I passed through this day were more than single settlements, with the exception of Prince Town, in which there was a court-house, some half a dozen stores, and three or four places of worship; but where- ever I stopped, I found the people exceedingly kind and atten- tive, and, I must own, a great deal more so than those of the same class in the more eastern states. The landlord of the farm-house seemed to have a real plea- sure in telling me I could have a room to myself, for which accommodation, in addition to supper, and breakfast on the following morning, he seemed in doubt whether he had not overcharged me when he demanded 2s. 6d. for the whole. I here met with a clever, smart Irishman, who said he was making a thriving business as a teamster. He vehemently abused everything at home, as I have observed most of the Irish here do, but ended his discourse by stating, that after all there was no country like " ould Ireland;" and that if he had plenty of money, he would immediately go back there. " Wliy," said he, "isn't Kilkenn}^ an itigant place? Sure there you have fire without smoke, water without mud, and the streets are paved with marble." On my journey this day I met with a number of caravans of largft tilted waggons, filled with persons returning from the lead mines, in the State of Wisconsin, and the Minnesota territory. This race of miners are termed Suckers, and lead altogether a migratory life. They are a wild-looking, fero- cious, uncouth set, and are accused of committing sad depreda- tions upon the farm-yards of the settlers through whose property they pass. As soon as the spring commences, their numerous waggons and oxen dot the prairies of Illinois on their way to the mines, in the neighbourhood of which they reside, either in temporary huts or in the waggons themselves, until the autumn sets in, when they again may be observed return- ing by the same tract to the southern states of Kentucky and Tennessee, where mostly they reside during the winter. They derive the cognomen of Suckers from an exceedingly ugly fish which passes up the river towards the north, and THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 53 returns again exactly at the same period with themselves ; and both from its ungainly appearance and unpleasant habits, in being by no means particular in satisfying its appetite, it does not appear to be a misnomer. I started, as usual, this day shortly afcer daylight, and passed through Cambridge, La Grange, and Camden, each about ten~ miles distant from one another. The country round about Cambridge is appro- priately named, being very level, and indeed even that portion under cultivation is not altogether inclosed. At La Grange, I saw that a farmer had erected a sort of observatory above his dwelling, which he occasionally mounted upon to see if his own or any of his neighbour's stray cattle from the prairie made free with his corn. The want of timber for fencing purposes, as well as for firing, is here severely felt. We this day passed within a few miles of an extensive Swedish settlement, the natives of which country are very numerous both in Iowa and Illinois. I was informed that it was in a most flourishing condition, and that lately a hand- some donation from that amiable philanthropist, Jenny Lind, had been devoted towards the erection of a church within its precincts ; but I was told, with what truth I know not, that a horrible catastrophe had damped the ardour of the settlers the aged bishop of the flock riot long previously having been murdered by one of his parishioners. After passing Camden we came to a beautiful undulating and well-wooded country, parts of which very much resemble the domain of a country gentlemen, in the rural districts of England, and after a gradual descent amongst the hills into the valley beneath, and having crossed a wide but shallow stream, about two o'clock in the afternoon, that Father of Rivers, the noble Mississippi, came full in view. At three in the afternoon we arrived at Rock Island city, rather a poor place and far less flourishing than its opposite neighbour, called Davenport, in the state of Iowa. Iowa, as I before said, is in a more healthy financial condition than Illinois, a state law existing which altogether precludes her from borrowing a larger sum than 150,000 dollars, which, for so extensive and, as far as agriculture goes, so wealthy a state, is a mere bagatelle. I inquired from one of her citizens why they so rigidly restricted themselves to this small amount, when, by certain judicious outlays, the country might be so immeasureably improved ; " Ah ! " said he, " have you not learned the old motto, * give an inch, take an ell ;' we have been warned by the debts of Illinois, and the repudiation of Pennsylvania and Mississippi States, and we arc determined 54 A GLIMPSE AT not to give our legislators the power to place us in the same condition. When we passed the act to enable our state to borrow, as a maximum, the 150,000 dollars, would you believe it, they not only borrowed but expended the whole sum during the first few weeks of their first session ! " Nearly midway between the towns of Rock Island city in Illinois, and Davenport, in Iowa, is situated Black Rock Island. It is little more than a solitary rock, but upon it there is a fort or block-house, a place of no great strength, but sufficient to check the advance of a host of Indians unprovided with artillery. This served as a rallying post for the early settlers, during t*he first occupation of this country. It was on this little island that Black Hawk, the Indian warrior, was imprisoned. According to the treaty, which had been made by the United States with Black Hawk and 'his tribe, it was arranged that himself and his followers should retain possession of his country for a period of three years. Poor Black Hawk, in his simplicity, confided in this treaty, set out as usual, on the returning summer, upon a hunting expedition with his tribe, leaving only a portion of his old men behind him at an Indian village, which they inhabited on Rock Island river. The pioneers of the west, thinking this a good opportunity to possess themselves immediately of the entire country, pretended to think that Black Hawk's inten- tions were hostile, and quickly mustering and arming them- selves followed on his track. Black Hawk was sorely puzzled, but sent a fl;ig of truce to explain his real intentions, the bearer of which, the settlers, pretending to take for a spy, cruelly put to death. The chief now considered himself betrayed, and, with Indian fortitude, determined to defend himself to the last. A war of extermination commenced, a.nd, as usual, the weakest went to the wall. After half the tribe had been destroyed, Black Hawk conceived that the only expedient to save the remnant was to sue for peace. This was granted, but an exaggerated account of atrocities was sent to the Government, which, if really perpetrated by the Indians, was done so only in their own defence, and the decree of the most powerful was, that the whole country should be at once evacuated by the Indians, and delivered over into the posses- sion of the white man. An Indian, of the name of Keokurk, an inferior of the tribe, was, for convenience sake, regarded by the government in the light of a chief, and accordingly they exchanged treaties with him, which naturally were by no means unfavourable to themselves. The sequel was, that poor Black Hawk was confined for a considerable time upon THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 55 the little island, in the centre of the stream, and eventually died in a small hut near Fort Maddison, his life being short- ened hy the poignancy of his grief. Keokurk made certain other grants, more especially a large tract of land below the rapids of the Mississippi, to what he designated half-castes, and which was subsequently purchased from them by a company of eastern citizens; but from the nature of the tenure it has been in litigation ever since, and thus the conflicting claims have tended considerably towards impeding the settlement of the town, which now bears his name. I trust the Indian agents of the United States Government are sadly belied, otherwise grievous accounts are given of the way in which they have defrauded those tribes which are by treaties tributary to the state, it being said that clothing and blankets are charged to the unfortunate and ignorant Indian, when they have really been never disbursed, and that they allow these improvident people to run into debt, in order that they may become an easy prey to their pretended friends ; and thus eventually they are ruined and obliged to relinquish the last remnant of their rights, in consequence of such dis- honest practices. The information gained by a traveller, in a rapid journey through a distant and unknown country, cannot always be free from party statements and exaggeration ; but where such stories exist, 1 fear the whole is not altogether fiction. The upper waters of the Mississippi at this season of the year were so low, that none but steam-boats of a very light draught of water could ply upon the river, or pass over the rapids which exist for some miles immediately above Keokurk ; consequently the chance of a passage was rendered most doubtful, and I had been told that I might have to wait two or three days, perhaps even more, ere an opportunity pre- sented itself. This would have been very annoying, as I was desirous of making the best of my way, having no spare time upon my hands. It was therefore with extreme satisfaction that I observed a vessel lying at the wharf at Davenport, blowing off her steam. I crossed the river in a small wherry- boat, and bidding farewell to Davis, the driver of my waggon, betook myself with my baggage on board the high pressure steamer, called the " Wisconsin." 56 A GLIMPSE AT CHAPTER XI. ALL the steamers on the Mississippi and her tributaries are propelled by high-pressure engines ; not only are these more dangerous, but the noise which they make, the loud snorting sound at each stroke of the piston, is peculiarly disagreeable. I frequently asked the reason why these engines should alone be employed, and I always received for answer, that the water on this river was so muddy that the boilers in a low-pressure engine would soon be choked by it. I am, however, inclined to think that this is somewhat exaggerated, because I found the waters of the Hooghly in Bengal, or the Yang-tse-Kiang in China, not more clear ; and yet, although I have navigated both these rivers upon steamers on the low-pressure system, I never heard a complaint on the score of muddy waters. Probably the real truth lies in the difference of the expense, taken in conjunction with the want of speed; for it is prover- bial, on the Mississippi, that so long as a good per-centage or handsome dividend is the result, loss of life and limb weighs too lightly in the opposite scale, and that so long as this pro- perty on the river can find underwriters to insure it, it is con- sidered all that is requisite ; indeed, 1 have often received for answer, when alluding to this subject, " Why, sir, there are plenty of life insurance offices ; if you are the least alarmed, why not insure your life?" as if the recompense of a few thousand dollars, which a man would leave behind him, were a sufficient expiatory oblation for the sacrifice of his own life. This reminds of the story of an Irishman, who heard that a steam-boat upon which he proposed taking a passage, was any- thing but safe ; having however ascertained that she was in- sured, " Ah I " exclaimed he, "sure then she is safe enough!" and went on board with the utmost confidence. The " Wisconsin" was a dirty freight vessel, and upon examination, I found myself surrounded by a set of coarse low fellows. I had been led to expect that I should meet with an odd set of passengers in these small boats on the Upper Missis- ,sippi, and certainly, in this case, my expectations were veri- fied. When I made application for a sleeping-berth, I was told there was only one bed to spare, and that was in a state- room, fitted up for two passengers, near the paddle-wheels. I was fain to put up with this, although, upon examination, it proved hot, dark, and dirty. I made inquiries respecting my cabin companion, but all that I could learn was, that he was THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 57 registered under the name of Jones, and as far as I could dis- cover, he did not possess one particle of baggage attached to this name. In this free and independent country, it would be considered the height of aristocratism should there be a first and second class on board these steamers ; all, therefore, fare alike, and however differently the Americans live in private life, in public they obey the law of democracy, and appear on a par with perfect good humour. Being soon settled, I began to examine more at leisure my fellow-passengers, and one in particular attracted my attention, as being a wilder-looking fellow than the rest. He was a tall, bony, ill-favoured man, with long, lank, black hair ; he wore , a large dark-coloured hat, or " wide-awake." His black trowsers were patched with striped ticking, and at no time did he wear a coat whether this was owing to his not possessing this article, or to his own peculiar style of dress, 1 did not discover. Judge then my sensation, on beholding this very man enter the state-room after supper, and finding that this individual, my " compagnon de voyage,'' was the veritable Jones; very soon after my doubtful companion was snoring loudly in the bed underneath mine. Before entering upon my voyage down the Mississippi, I had been cautioned against the tricks and the desperate characters occasionally to be met with on that river, and had been espe- cially warned against sharing a cabin with a man who did not appear to possess any baggage, lest he might leave the boat at one of the numerous landing-places, and take a portion of my effects with him. It was laughable enough, that on my first voyage on this river, not only should I be forced to share a cabin with a man without a coat, and dreadfully patched lower garments, but also the possessor of as sinister and for- bidding an exterior as I well could expect to meet, and answer- ing precisely to the description of man that I had been cau- tioned to avoid. Mine, however, was Hobson's choice, Jones as my companion, or no bed at all. I did not hesitate, and found my companion perfectly honest. On the following morning at breakfast, to my surprise, I found myself seated next to a resident of Fort Maddison, a gentleman whose acquaintance I had made on board the " May- flower," on Lake Erie, and who had got on board the " Win- consin" at a landing-place, during the night. About noon, we reached Fort Maddison, and it was with the greatest pleasure that I accepted Mr. K.'s kind invitation, 58 A GLIMPSE AT and took up my abode in his house for that evening, and I am happy to assure my readers that it was one of the pleasantest I passed in the States. The refreshing rest which I enjoyed in a comfortable and clean bed, was doubly appreciated from my not having possessed this luxury for many days. Mr. K. is descended from an Irish family of great antiquity, the genealogy of the family being traced and published by one of its members, a resident near Albany, who had no difficulty in tracing it, although this branch had been settled in the United States for some generations. I was invited on the succeeding day, the 10th, to dine at the ordinary of Mr. Stripe, the landlord of the Eagle, the principal hotel at Fort Maddison. Thig I accordingly accepted. Mr. Stripe was an Englishman, and originally came from Liverpool ; he had settled in this town about eighteen years since : he appeared an intelligent man, and seemed now tho- roughly to understand both the country and its inhabitants. He said that he was 'now beginning to do well, and to make his fortune, but that strictly in accordance with the motto before quoted, he had on his first arrival lost all he had brought with him, through improvident speculation. " Ah ! " said he, " if I, in my speculations, had stuck only to real estate, that is, city lots, I should have been a rich man now ; in that description of property there is no risk, its rise is sure, and sometimes very rapid ; dependent somewhat upon good luck, but more upon judicious selection." The- Eagle was a total abstinence house, that is to say, no fermented liquors were permitted to be consumed within its doors. Hotels upon this plan are becoming very common throughout the northern states, and although a great decrease of profit must be contingent upon the closing of the bar, from which, in general, t]ie chief source of emolument in hotels in the United States is derived, yet perhaps a commensurate ad- vantage may accrue to these temperate houses, by attracting all those customers who have taken the pledge, as well as those families and boarders who are desirous of living quietly, and less subjected to the noise and squabbling so frequently engen- dered by the unlimited sale of spirits. Immediately before dinner, I asked a demure-looking man, who was in the coach-office, if he could inform me what o'clock it was ; pointing to the floor with his cane, he said in a deep sounding voice, "Nature, sir, never errs. It is just mid-day." The sun at this moment was brightly reflected through the window, casting the shadow of its frame at right angles to the front wall, and the house being built to face due THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 59 south, it acted like a sun-dial. The manner and tone of the speaker, gave quite a theatrical expression to the words, which made the whole scene rather ludicrous. Soon after dinner I proceeded on my road to Keokurk, by the stage-coach ; 1 placed myself on the outside, that I might have the better opportunity of observing the surrounding country. Both the towns of Fort Maddison and also Keokurk, stand upon the right bank of the Mississippi River, and are about twenty five miles distant from each other. The general features of the river are very pretty and undulating, the banks of the river being well wooded. There was an elevated ridge, stretching far into the interior of the country, giving an appearance as if the river at some former date had been very much larger than it is at present. The driver of the stage, for the term coachman is never used in America, seemed to possess a tender interest in his team, and they in return appeared familiar with his voice, and were perfectly acquainted with their own names. Com- mencing with the wheel horses, and ending- with the leaders, he called them "Molly, Toby, Rowdy, and Hank." They were a good strong team, and did not seem much distressed after the journey, although of five-and-twenty miles, with a heavy coach full of passengers, and well laden with luggage. The driver stated that he had arrived two years since at Keokurk, with the intention of proceeding to the Falls of St, Antony, but the winter coming on, he could not proceed. By way of passing that dull season more agreeably he soon found a wife. He was now the possessor of two city lots, and was doing well in the world. During the heat of summer and the cold of winter his was a very hard service, but he felt that he had his reward in the prospect of prosperity which now shone upon him. I certainly derived no small pleasure, when travelling in the States, at seeing all my fellow-creatures so prosperous, energetic, industrious, and good-humoured. In conversations which I held with different gentlemen in the Western States, they often said, " From all we can learn, your country is as free, in all respects, as our own, and indeed your Queen does not appear to possess so much power as our President ; but what is so contrary to our notions is the idea of having a queen, dukes, and lords at all, or that any one person should be considered superior, or have power over another. You may call yourselves free," added they, " but you cannot really be so as lonjr as that lasts." It was in vain for me to say, that in the United States there were classes or gradations 60 A GLIMPSE AT in society, as there were in intelligence and wealth ; they in- variably replied, " That is all very well, but you cannot be really free as long as you have a queen and a nobility." Nor woufd they be convinced, although it could be clearly demon- strated to them that they were daily suffering under a real tyranny that of the multitude. To return to my journey to Keokurk. The road was dreadful; no one can imagine what a bad road is until he has travelled in the Western States of America. The coaches are so constructed that they will ride easily over almost any ob- stacles, and from their immense strength they will resist any shock, however severe. They somewhat resemble the carriage used by the Lord Mayor of London, deprived of course of its gilding and gaudy trappings. They are constructed to carry nine inside, three on each seat ; those passengers on the centre seat sitting between the two doors. When quite full I cannot say that they are agreeable, and when nearly empty the unfor- tunate inmate is thrown about like a parched pea on a drum. The body is hung on very substantial leather straps, and the baggage is stowed at the rear, in a sort of rack or cradle, which is strapped over with a leather covering to defend it from the weather. When about half way to Keokurk, we passed through a small village immediately opposite to the town of Nauvoo, until lately the principal settlement of the Mormons. Nauvoo is situated on the left bank of the Mississippi, in a very pleasant and rather commanding situation, at a bend of the river. The most prominent object in the centre of the town is the Mormon temple, which was built under the auspices of their well-known leader, Joe Smith. It is surprising how people could have been so easily duped by such an impostor, and that fresh proselytes from home should be continually added to their number, bringing with them their entire property, which almost immediately falls into the clutches of the greedy ad- herents of this sect. Upon one occasion an Englishman of the name of Cope joined the sect at Nauvoo, with his family, bringing with him from Lancashire a fortune of fifteen hundred dollars. No sooner had he arrived than Joe Smith borrowed the whole sum, stating that he was acquainted with far better means of laving it out at interest than the possessor. Shortly after, Mr. Cope, being desirous of purchasing a small estute/asked for a portion of his money ; some excuse, however, was always at hand, and he never could recover one farthing from Joe Smith. This completely broke his heart, and he shortly after died, leaving four helpless orphans to the care of THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 61 the Mormons. A gentleman with whom I became acquainted, when passing a miserable shanty, found these poor little children in a starving state, and when Joe Smith, as head of the sect, was applied to, he utterly disowned them. This gentleman kindly took one girl into his own family, and saw that the rest were provided with the necessaries of life; but the Mormons, becoming jealous of his interference, shortly after kidnapped the girl, and it was only by the most strenuous remonstrances with their high priest, Joe Smith, that he was enabled to recover the child. Joe Smith pretended that he could perform miracles, and actually gained the credence of a large number of persons to the truth of his assertions. He pretended to walk over the waters of the Illinois River; it being, however, clearly ascer- tained, after he had aeUmlly performed this miracle, that planks had been fixed six inches beneath the surface of the stream. Upon another occasion, when about to perform some extraordinary feat, he inquired of his audience if they had- perfect faith in his ability ; upon their answering in the affirmative, this clever rogue then added, " If your faith is perfect, the performance of it is useless." The presents which he obtained as saint of this sect, of horses, carriages, cattle, and wine, were quite incredible, and in short no man in the Western States could vie with him in wealth, or equal him in his luxurious life, the utter licentiousness and depravity of which was notoriously conspicuous. The impudence of the impostor consummated his own ruin. He had been assailed by the editor of a newspaper at Keokurk, and in return, Joe Smith collected a large body of his followers, attacked the printing-office, and utterly destroyed the press. For this act he was, after much difficulty, arrested, and conveyed to the county jail; the whole populace of the country collected en masse, made an attack upon this building, and obtained pos- session of the person of Joe Smith, and, by a process of lynch- law, without further ceremony put him to death. This was a great blow to the community of the Mormons, and finding, as it is sometimes expressed, that the country was now too hot to hold them, they soon after sold all their property their toxvn and temple to a company of Frenchmen, and removed them- selves into the heart of the then unknown districts of the in- terior, about 1,000 miles due west to the borders of the Salt Lake, where their race might remain, perhaps un visited and forgotten. Since the gold mania in California, and the conse- quent rage for emigration to that country, has infected every portion of the globe, by a strange fatality, this settlement oil 62 A GLIMPSE AT the Salt Lake lying, as it chanced to do, precisely on the over- land route, has brought this strange sect more into contact with a large portion of the inhabitants of this continent than would probably have been the case had they remained in their settle- ment on the banks of the Mississippi, and the riches which they have lately gained by trading in cattle with the emigrants, and the heavy tolls whicli they have imposed upon them for assisting them to cross the inland rivers, and other difficulties of this unknown country, have given them a fresh impetus and much consideration. So large have been the sums which they have thus made, that 1 was assured one Mormon made ten thousand dollars profit in the year 1849. The entire territory, moreover, of Utah, has lately been placed, by the President of the United States, under the orders of Governor Young, chief of this sect. The star of the Mormons is therefore decidedly in the ascendant, and now bids fair to rise to greater splendour than ever. The new settle- ments which they have made towards the confines of the Rocky Mountains have proved most prosperous, and if the railroad is ever completed, which is now in contemplation from the Mis- souri River into Oregon, it will cut directly through the heart of their settlements. A community of wives appears to be one of the leading features of their religious creed ; and laying aside a great deal of exaggeration, from what I have heard from eye-witnesses of their ceremonies, I am inclined to think their rites are highly immoral ; and that the implicit faith whicli they have been accustomed to place in their chief, or high-priest, has in too many instances been made subservient to his own purposes. It was currently reported when I was in the west, that the Governor had ordered all the women of the sect to assume male attire ; and however improbable this story may appear, from what I have already heard of this strange race, I am not altogether inclined to doubt the truth of the assertion. The Mormon temple at Nauvoo bears the appearance of having been both an extensive and solid structure. When the company of Frenchmen purchased the property, their intention was to have converted this edifice into a Roman Catholic Cathedral ; but scarcely had they decided on this measure, when to their astonishment, a terrific noise resounded for many miles over the surrounding country, and they suddenly beheld the destruction of the Mormon temple. No one could discover how, or by whom, this circumstance was brought about ; but it is supposed that some of the sect, acting under the orders of their chief, had introduced a mass of combustible THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 63 materials into some secret portion of the building, by the ignition of which its destruction was insured, and to this day it remains in the same dilapidated condition. Continuing our journey through a well-cultivated country we arrived at Keokurk at six o'clock in the evening, and were sufficiently fortunate to be in time for the steamer about to descend the Mississippi. Keokurk is already a large town, and would certainly have been much larger, but for some imperfection, either real or imaginary, in the title of the property ; this is quite sufficient to deter improvement, even in a country where every one is so imbued with the "go-ahead" principle as scarcely to look beyond the present moment. Keokurk is built at the foot of the rapids, above which steam- vessels of a large class cannot pass during the greater part of the year, but are obliged to transship both passengers and cargo into boats of the lightest possible draught of water. Moreover, it is situated near the confluence of the Demoine River and the Mississippi, the banks of the former of which streams are now thickly located for some hundred miles into the interior, and the neighbouring soil is reckoned the most productive and best calculated for agricultural purposes of any portion of the fertile state of Iowa, and the valley consequently is fast filling up with settlers. With these advantages, Keokurk must become ere long a spacious and populous city ; there is some idea of constructing a canal, about eight or nine miles in length, to avoid the rapids of the Mississippi ; but however advantageous this might prove to the general navigation of the river, yet to the city of Keokurk it would have an entirely opposite effect, as it would thereby facilitate much merchandise to pass it by, which now tarries awhile in its transhipment to vessels of a lighter draught of water. But what town or city is there upon the Mississippi, and more especially on its upper waters, that is not only progressing, but most rapidly ? Places which were inhabited only by the wild Indian, or shared by him with the denizens of the forest, but a few short years since, are now transformed as if by magic ; and the Minnesota territory, which contained the other day but a few half-caste Frenchmen, now counts many thousand zealous citizens, and has doubled her population within the last year. To capitalists I cannot help saying, invest a portion of your surplus wealth in the Western States of this great Republic ; and if you have the slightest doubt of the advantages to be derived at some future period from this outlay of your 64 A GLIMPSE AT resources, undertake a voyage to America, travel to the Western World, visit yourself the Mississippi, the great Father of streams ; and even should you disagree with me, in thinking that this country is not so extraordinary a one in point of her resources, and the speed with which she is developing them, and that she will never realize the sanguine expectations that I have formed, at any rate the amusement and instruction you will receive, and the store of health you will gain, will repay the trouble, expense, and fatigue of this expedition. CHAPTER XII. LATE in the evening I embarked on board the steamer u Lucy Bertram," for a passage down the Mississippi to St. Louis. She was a fine boat, and the contrast between her and the "Wisconsin" was certainly very great. But, notwith- standing her appearance, she lacked many comforts which most Englishmen consider requisites : for instance, in the cabins or state-rooms there were no basons, or other washing apparatus. In lieu of this, there was one common washing-place near the paddle-box, fitted up with a sort of scullery sink. Three small tin basons were placed on this wooden trough, and near it were stretched upon rollers two jack-towels. Here all the passengers, amounting to fifty or more, the officers of the ship, the black stewards and waiters, washed themselves slightly, and had the choice of either of the two towels. Moreover, through the benevolent provision of the owners of the " Lucy Bertram," a hair-brush and comb, and one tooth-brush also, were not omitted, and were daily in frequent requisition by both pas- sengers and crew on board this vessel, and during the morning were kindly passed from hand to hand. Nor did I escape the glances of offended democracy for the aristocratic preference of my own towel, sponge, and brushes, with which I came armed into the public wash-room, keeping, however, a jealous eye amongst the crowd upon these effects, lest a second Mr. Jones should innocently imagine they were supplied pro bono publico, and appropriate them to his own use ; but not in one other soli- tary instance did I observe the adoption of this anti-federal plan. Nor was this aforesaid small washing-room entirely devoted to the purposes of ablution, but was shared by the black barber, whose office was by no means a sinecure, it being seldom the habit in the United States for men to perform the operation of shaving for themselves. The cabin and bar-room were gaily THE GREA.T WESTERN REPUBLIC. 65 decorated, hut the essential cleanly customs of life were much omitted and forgotten. The dinner and other meals on hoard the "Lucy Bertram" were dirtily 'served and scantily provided ; the latter a rare fault on the Mississippi, where abundance is usually proverbial, although scantiness is often the source of complaint on the Ohio river. I here observed, what I had previously remarked, that although the Americans do not scruple to abuse any bad arrangements of this kind, they do so either in a secret manner or anonymously in the newspapers, and leave to strangers the unpleasant task of rating all the authorities within their reach ; for an Englishman will never hesitate to condemn openly such practices, should he have occasion to suffer from them. . In many parts of the river, the water was exceedingly shallow, occasionally not more than three-and-a-half feet deep ; yet, fortunately, we did not touch the ground. The snags, which presented themselves in a sort of chevaux- de-frise to the ascending boats, were sufficiently formidable, but nothing in comparison with those that we met with about seven or eight hundred miles lower down the stream. Wild fowl of all description were very numerous, from the lordly swan to the diminutive teal ; and they were sometimes so tame as almost to allow the vessel to cleave her way through their groups. Early in the morning of the 21st of October we passed Grafton, near which the Illinois effects its junction with the Mississippi. The scenery here is very fine : on the opposite side, and not far distant, the Missouri, which although called a tributary stream vies in importance \\ ith the Mississippi herself, and conveys towards the ocean even a heavier body of water. Towards the afternoon a violent altercation arose, in con- sequence of one of the stewards going I believe quite acci- dentally into a lady's cabin. The husband of this lady had just returned from California ; and from the habit, probably, of constantly fighting his way in the world, had become very pugnacious. He instantly attacked the clerk of the ship, stated tUit he had a pair of pistols in his portmanteau, and in- vited him to take one and immediately to redress the insult offered on board the "Lucy Bertram" to his wife. After much difficulty, however, he was appeased, and the matter finally ended by all parties adjourning to the bar, and amicably settling their differences over gin sling and mint julep. On board the '* Lucy Bertram," many of the waiters and a large portion of the crew, including all the firemen, were F 66 A GLIMPSE AT slaves. These were the first of the inhabitants of the United States whom I had seen in this degraded position, unless I except some runaways, \vlio in the State of New York are constantly met with. These slaves appeared to be very valu- able property ; and I was informed that their owners called every Saturday evening upon the clerk of the vessel to obtain their wages, amounting to the sum of one dollar per day for the services of each, which was independent of the expense of their board, which is found by the owners of the vessel. This is the only boat above St. Louis in which slaves are employed ; and I imagine that here they must be treated with more con- sideration than lower down the stream, although to me the general demeanour of the chief mate appeared the reverse of benevolent. The right hank of this part of the river was in the State of Missouri, a slave state, but the left was still the State of Illinois, which was free, and as we constantly stopped to take in wood in the latter, equally with the former, these slaves., had they been so inclined, might readily have run on shore, and would have received the protection of the residents. True, that to have accorded it to them would have been contrary to the law, but such is the feeling in the free states against slavery, that, there is no doubt, they would have been screened, and assisted through the state, and on to the British frontier, until they should be secure from persecution. One of these men was almost as white as an European, indeed, much more so than many Portuguese whom it has been my lot to en- counter, and must have possessed a considerable proportion of the freeborn citizen in his veins. I firmly believe the general treatment exercised by masters towards their slaves is that of great kindness. There are many reasons which would prompt this treatment, amongst the fore- most of which, we hope, are motives of philanthropy. There are other reasons, however, which, although they do not spring from so pure a source, are not the less effectual. The slave is a very valuable piece of property, costing his master from 500 to 2,000 dollars, and even more ; if he be ill-treated, he may abscond or die. Their value, therefore, is quite a suf- ficient reason to induce their owners, to be mindful of their well-being, especially in those slave states which adjoin the free ones ; but how poor a satisfaction is it to say they are well -treated, are they not still slaves, and subject, not only to the caprices of their owners, but to undergo corporal punish- ment at their will and pleasure? They can at any time be severed, and constantly are so, from THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 67 the tenderest affections of their nature ; they can be placed in any servitude, however unhealthy or disgusting, and however contrary to their own desires. They must work in the fields or in the shambles, or act as firemen in a steamer, under a tropical sun, in an unsafe or unwholesome vessel ; but, indeed, in whatever way employed, to be at the beck and call of one of the rude, coarse set whom I so frequently met with, would be, indeed, the worst description of slavery, even should it be no more burthensome than to look up to them for direction or encouragement. I am, however, bound to believe, that the feelings of these unfortunate people are, in a large degree, blunted and dormant; for were it otherwise, they would cer- tainly find means to throw off their yoke. Neither physically nor mentally can they compete with their masters ; yet their very numbers cause a wholesome dread of retaliation, and urge the precautionary measures which are adopted in all the large towns of the Southern States concerning them. The Americans of the Southern States are very anxious that all strangers should come to an unfavourable conclusion respect- ing the mental capabilities of the hlack man, invariably stating that the race are susceptible of no improvement, however much attention is lavished upon the cultivation of their minds; but that this cannot really be their own impression is too clearly demonstrated by the necessity which these citizens have advo- cated, of passing laws in the Senate against all instruction being granted to this race ; and if, in their opinion, no harm, could arise to their own interest from increased knowledge in the slave, or if he w r ere utterly incapable of receiving useful impressions, why adopt such vigorous measures to preclude him only from eating of that fruit which they acknowledge, by their universal system of education, to be so invaluable to themselves ? That there are instances of masters lavishing even paternal kindnesses upon their black dependents, there cannot be a sha- dow of a doubt ; but then how often do we not see masters and mistresses, in Europe, bestowing their fondest attentions upon a favourite horse or upon a dog? I am afraid J may, without injustice, draw the same analogy in the feelings of the master for his slave, as that of the European for his quadruped. This brings to my remembrance a circumstance which happened on board a steamer on the Mississippi, called the " Atlantic." A gentleman was descanting upon the general love of the slaves for their masters, and instancing, as a case in point, that of a southern planter, then on board, and of his attached and favourite valet, whom he stated, he was certain , b A GLIMPSE AT would on no consideration leave his service, or even accept his freedom, should it he offered to him. He moreover begged me to put the question myself to the slave. I complied, and the answer was as follows : " If my master would sell me, and I had my choice of being purchased by you, or no, I answer, 'that on no account whatever do 1 wish to be bought by another : he lias ever been kind to me, and I am satisfied I could but change for the worse ; nor would I run away from him, as I have shown by not taking advantage of frequent opportunities which have occurred, as he well knows, with perfect safety ; but if I am offered perfect, unrestricted free- dom, to become master of myself and my own actions, then I accept the boon with gratitude and delight.' Is there one that would not do so 1" This answer may, in my opinion, be taken as a genuine sample of their feelings ; but I need not add it greatly discomfited the line of argument pursued by the gen- tleman with whom I was conversing. Is it not natural to the human race to wish for freedom, however low may be their state of mental and corporeal prostration ? There are instances of slaves who, having escaped, or been enticed away from their masters while visiting the northern cities, have afterwards repented, and returned of their own free will and accord to their former home, but such instances are so rare as almost to prove the rule of a desire for freedom. The personal valet belonging to Mr. Clay was enticed to leave him by the efforts, it is said, of an Abolitionist Society, a bribe, they say of no less than 3,000 dollars being offered to him ; the society considered that, should they be enabled to produce such an example of dissatisfaction in the trusted domestic of so benevolent a master, this large sum would be well worth its outlay. The man accepted the terms, and fled, Mr. Clay taking no notice whatever of the circumstance ; soon after, the slave was so unhappy that of his own free will he returned^ and sued for pardon and restoration to his former situation. Mr. Clay inquired into the circumstances, and im- mediately sent him back, accompanied by his bribe, into the Northern States, with directions to restore it to those from whom he had received it, telling him that he was at liberty to return again when he had delivered the money to its former owners ; it is needless to add, that the magnanimity of his con- duct was rewarded by the joyful return of his repentant body- slave. For many years past, the excitement respecting the slave question had not run so high as it did at the period of my visit to the United States. The Fugitive Slave Bill, which made THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 69 such a noise throughout the whole Union, had just passed the legislature ; and by this it was enacted, that should a master discover his fugitive property in a Northern or non-slaveholding state, the method of recovering it was to have the runaway arrested and brought before a commissioner, w r ho after due examination of evidence upon oath, was bound to order the slave to be given up to his rightful owner, provided that he could clearly prove the individual to be his lawful property. Formerly, the law allowed the capture of runaway slaves equally in the non-slaveholding states as in the others, but the method of regaining possession of them was more difficult and much more doubtful. The case had to be brought before a jury, who returned their verdict, which, in consequence of the antipathy to slavery in the free states, was almost invariably in favour of the prisoner. This rendered the law so dead a letter, that the owner seldom or never deemed it worth his while to resort to it, feeling certain that the recovery of his property by this means was hopeless, in consequence, there- fore, of the lax way in which the law had been carried into effect, vast numbers of fugitives resided without fear in many of the Northern cities ; the new law, therefore, caused a perfect terror among the black population, but especially along the British frontier, in the State of New York, and at Detroit, in Michigan, which were the particular haunts of the runaway slaves ; vast numbers fled across the border, to seek protection under the monarchical flag of Great Britain, from that of the free and independent banner under which they had lately been enrolled. This has caused an inundation into Canada West of the most worthless, wretched, and abandoned set that can be imagined, and is particularly unfair towards that portion of the citizens of our colony who reside principally in the towns, as these wretched fugitives seldom like to go far into the country ; and crime has in consequence already increased in those districts to which they resorted three or four-fold; nine- tenths of those now under confinement for various offences being of the black population. It is currently reported in Canada that the United States are about to make a strenuous appeal to the British government, that these fugitives should be given up to the laws of their country; it would, however, be impossible that the real and undisguised freedom of Great Britain should be so tampered with as no longer to grant an exile to their persecuted fellow- creatures ; and as it is impossihle to distinguish the innocent from the guilty, unless the runaways come over the border charged with a felony, however unacceptable their presence 70 A GLIMPSE AT inay be, and however desirous onr government are to return such worthless property upon the hands of their former owners, yet to do so would be but to sully the heretofore unblemished banner which gives protection, in deed as well as in word, to all who enter the British territory. So long as slavery is a recognized portion of the American constitution, the Southern States having joined the Union under this distinct understanding, the Fugitive Slave Law can be considered in no other light than as fair and just ; and the present application of that law is only granting vigour to that which, although it has existed for many years, has practically been obsolete and a dead tatter. Property in slaves being fully recogni/ed, it was a farce to allow that that property should be practically or virtually irrecoverable, whilst in any portion of the Federal Union; and before this last enactment it cer- tainly was so. In my opinion, this law will soon be the means of setting the question at rest The fugitive slaves who were resident in the Northern cities will soon altogether have quitted the United States, and have repaired into Canada, They have already done so in incredible numbers ; for while at Niagara I was informed that no less than 500 passed over in one day. The want of safety in the free states will cause the slaves seriously to consider ere they fly, whether they will receive their accustomed assistance from those of their friends who with impunity preceded them ; and these desertions will probably be materially restricted. But the idea that slavery in the Southern States will be abolished is, in my opinion, utterly out of the question, and indeed, for many reasons, is daily becoming more unlikely. The increased value of labour, the increased price of slaves, and the daily increasing cultivation of the sugar-cane, together with the large amount of mortgaged property, are the principal causes which will prevent its abolition. Very early on the morning of the 21st of October, we arrived at St. Louis, and hiring a small cart for my portmanteau, it was with extreme delight that I transferred myself and my effects from the " Lucy Bertram" to a most comfortable and airy room in the Planter's Hotel one of the most celebrated hotels, and justly so, in the United States of America. CHAPTER XIII. THE city of St. Louis is the best example of the astonishing progress and rapidity, as well as the wonderful development, of THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 7l the resources of the Western world. But a few years since, it consisted of some poor huts, inhabited by the descendants of the original French settlers. They were mostly hunters and trappers, and similar precisely in their feelings and habits to the present population of Lower Canada, living on from year to year, and from generation to generation, without even the thought, much less the desire, of bettering their condition in life, or raising themselves to a higher position in society, than that occupied by their forefathers. St. Louis now presents an array of handsome streets, ware- houses and stores, hotels, theatres, public and private buildings, such as any city in the world might be proud of, and the amount of business daily carried on is enormous. St. Louis commands an immense tract of inland country on both sides of the Mississippi, and from this city all the ramifications of this vast internal continental trade emanate. The steamboats which line her wharfs are very numerous, and most of them of great capacity ; 1 counted thirty-five lying, at one time, opposite the town, and all of them larger than the boats which ply from the city of London to Ostend or Antwerp. , Real estate, or city property, has risen proportionately in value, and many of the original French proprietors have bene- fited to such an extent, as in some instances to raise themselves from poor and needy trappers to perfect millionaires, without any exertion on their own parts. Their present wealth is very great, and provided the increase in the size of this city should be commensurate with its late progress, of which there can exist scarcely the shadow of a doubt, the future prospect to their riches is beyond calculation. The rapidity with which they have gained their wealth exceeds all belief. Common land, situated at some distance outside the city, for which one hundred dollars the acre was paid three yi j ars since, and con- sidered then an exorbitant price, is now thankfully obtained, or grudgingly sold, and frequently altogether refused, at two thousand dollars per acre. In fact, it has become almost as difficult to purchase estate in fee simple, and nearly as expen- sive, as it is in London. The working of steam-engines, the manufacturing of boilers and other pieces of machinery for steam- vessels, the hammer- ing of carpenters, and the chipping of masons, resounded in all directions, while a thick smoke arose continually into the bright, clear air from countless furnaces, which, however, the Goddess of the Indian summer, with her light zephyr, soon drove away. At first 1 was more puzzled at St. Louis, when I asked my 72 A GLIMPSE AT way, than if I had sought it myself, because I was constantly directed to some neighbouring square; in vain I sought these squares, no such things appeared to me. I at length discovered that square meant a block of houses. The shops and stores were filled with merchandize, both French and English; the latter I was happy to see much predominated, and trade in all its branches appeared very active. Artisans of every calling had no lack of employment, and were receiving handsome remunerations. I found an excellent bookseller's shop, immediately opposite the Planter's Hotel, where I purchased, for less than two sove- reigns, eight different new works, which had been published, within the last six or eight months, in London at one guinea each. The want of an international copyright, especially between those countries where many of the feelings, as well as the language itself, are reciprocal, cannot be considered other- wise than unfair towards authors; at a moderate rate, it ought to exist. Why, if a man can secure a patent for manual inventions, can he not also protect the inventions of his brain ? The withholding of this privilege is unworthy of this great republic. The French are already contemplating this act of inter- national justice, and I should be sorry to see this younger republic taking the initiative while her elder sister of the West holds back, reserving the privilege because she imagines she is the gainer thereby. After wandering for some hours through the town of St. Louis, I returned to the Planter's Hotel to dinner; I there met with a gentleman whose acquaintance I had made on Lake Michigan. During dinner he expatiated largely upon the wonders of America, but especially of the Western States, and ended with this remark: " I calculate, sir, that your Queen must now be tarnation mad that her grand falher did not leave England at the time of our independence, that he did not settle in this country, and annex Great Britain to it ! Your little isle, sir, would make a pretty addition to this fine country !" I withheld my opinion, but I could not help reflecting upon what would have been the feelings of the dear old King, or the British House of Parliament, should such a project have been mooted to him or them. On the evening of my arrival I went to see a Panorama of the Overland Route to California, painted by a gentleman who had just returned from the expedition, having gone there with the express purpose of pourtraying anything remarkable on THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 73 the road. The painting itself was hy no means a work of art; but the journey taken as \ve did it, so comfortably and so swiftly, was very agreeable and interesting, and the deafening shouts of the audience at the finale, when we were led straight into the "diggings," and were apparently on all sides sur- rounded by the precious ore, spoke from the bottom of their hearts the true feeling whence they emanated. The fine scenery, the hardships of the way, the separation from friends, which had been depicted and expatiated upon, were all oblite- rated in the tumult which raged in every breast for gold. A singular circumstance happened at St. Louis, at the early part of this summer. Two brothers, Frenchmen, of good edu- cation, named Montesquieu, were travelling in the United States, and, on their arrival here, put up at the City Hotel. Being sportsmen, they were accompanied by their fowling- pieces. About twelve o'clock one night, as Mr. Barnum, the son of the proprietor of the hotel, and his friend were retiring to rest in the same room, they heard a noise in the corridor, into which a window from their chamber opened. Ere they had time even for consideration as to what was its cause, shots were fired through this window into their room. One of these young men was killed upon the spot, the other severely wounded ; and it was subsequently discovered that the actor of this horrid tragedy was the elder of the two Montesquieus. When 1 arrived at St. Louis, he had just undergone his trial for murder, but a verdict of insanity, in addition to the pardon of the Governor of the State, had saved the young man's life. It was requisite, however, that he should be smuggled quietly out of the town, or he would probably have fallen a victim to the indignation of Mr. Barnum's fellow-citizens. The trial of the younger brother, who was accused of being an accessory, had not yet taken place. This singular circumstance had created the greatest excitement, and very justly so ; and the general opinion which seemed to prevail, in which so many persons in .England seemed to coincide, was, that if a man showed such determined vice as deliberately to take the life of his fellow creatures, his own life should pay the penalty, even although he might be partially insane; otherwise, where is there any security to society at large? Of all the cities or towns in the United States, St. Louis appeared to me to afford a good chance of success to a young and enterprising stranger, of whatever trade or profession he might be. The size of the city is rapidly augmenting. Sala- ries and wages are extremely high, while provisions of every ii A GLIMPSE AT kind, in an inverse proportion, are very low, and labour, although so well rewarded, is by no means overstocked. Unlike tbe eastern cities, every one but the old French settler is comparatively a new coiner, and, therefore, in that respect a stranger, however recent his arrival, stands on a level with his neighbours. Let him but show an active and zealous deportment, and the road to wealth and prosperity is at once gained, which never need be lost but through his own folly or want of energy. CHAPTER XIV. AT nine, A.M., on the 23rd of October, 1 embarked on board the steamer "Atlantic;" she was a fine vessel, but rather empty of passengers. I had taken my passage the day pre- viously, and had secured a, good state-room, both large and airy. The river was now exceedingly low in water, and con- sequently there was much danger of sticking on the banks or striking'the bottom, and also of getting across the numerous snags with which the navigation was impeded. The captain told me that, on the previous voyage, he was four days on a bank, but was determined to take in less freight, and not get upon any this voyage. He was a pleasant-spoken person, but, as I subsequently found, had no intention whatever of pro- ceeding with the vessel himself, but had determined to remain with his family at St. Louis, and to give her in charge to the clerk. By trade he kept a large grocery store in New Orleans, from which, without any previous nautical education, he had taken upon himself to command this vessel. The stated time of our departure having elapsed, I inquired when we were about to start ; I was answered by one of the stewards that we should do so as soon as that batch of niggers were on board, pointing to a set of poor fellows who were casting forlorn and wretched looks upon their native place, which, in all probability, they were to see for the last time in their lives. On descending the river w r e had a fine view of the town. Ten years since St. Louis could hardly number 10,000 inha- bitants, now it is said to contain between 80,000 and 90,000 souls; nor, from its appearance, is this by any means impro- bable. Some of the original possessors of what is now city property, have thus, as I have before observed, realized im- mense wealth, and their handsome palaces are now conspicuous THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. i& objects in the suburbs of the city. Some few of the inha- bitants live in princely style, but the only enjoyment of the greater portion is that of still increasing their wealth. The French part of the city still retains its mean appearance, in which it differs so widely from its more modern neighbours ; and its inhabitants, disliking all sorts of labour, both mental and physical, live chiefly by the proceeds of the enormous rents they receive from the new and industrious settlers. These half-breed Frenchmen amuse themselves in fishing and hunting, while the women, to use a Spanish phrase, are constantly to be observed " asorAandosi a la ventana" lite- rally, sitting at their windows gossiping ; and the weariness of each evening is relieved by small parties, in which dancing and music are continually introduced. Those who are fond of the pleasure of the chase can enjoy it to any extent at St. Louis, immediately opposite to the city. In the State of Illinois is a swampy, low country, intersected with lakes, where wild-fowl of every description abound in immense quantities, which i was informed do not appear to diminish, although so near to this large city; but few here sport for pleasure alone, and the regular supply of the market has no serious effect upon their numbers, although they are brought in such large quantities, that wild ducks can fre- quently be purchased at half a dollar the dozen. Quails (or the American partridge) are so abundant, that they may be constantly seen in the city itself; and at the rear of these small lakes before-mentioned, is a tract of prairie land, where grouse abound, which bird I found but little esteemed by the residents, and by no means so much so as the common chicken. Few of the new comers are sportsmen, being more intent upon the chase for gold than for any other game whatever. St. Louis cannot be considered a healthy city ; in the summer it is exceedingly hot, and for the want of the fine sea breezes which are enjoyed at jNew Orleans, the heat is perhaps felt more than at the latter city. The autumn is clear and fine, but the winter I was told was very disagreeable ; the the mornings rainy and misty, sometimes accompanied by^ snow and sleet; the noon-day hot, and in the evenings there is generally a chilly blast with drizzling rain. We had not proceeded more than a couple of miles when we saw two men, in a canoe, catch a fine stag, which was making its way across the river ; throwing a rope over his head, they fastened him to the boat and rowed towards the shore. Here was an instance of how near even the larger game approach the city. 76 A GLIMPSE AT Shortly after I was on board, I entered into conversation with an intelligent passenger. He commenced by describing, witli the utmost minuteness, the dangers which \v'e were about to encounter in our descent of the Mississippi. The state of the water was such he said, that few vessels, and those only at high premiums, could find underwriters for their insurance ; that the snags at this season were peculiarly dangerous, and that, that very morning-, information had been received that the " Concord ia," a fine and stately boat, had sunk not far down the river. I afterwards discovered, that most of the travellers at this season of low water, took their passages as far as Memphis at least, if not the entire distance, in one of the smaller boats. From drawing less water they were not so liable to ground, and if they did so, were more easily got off again than the larger ones. This at once accounted to me for my finding so few passengers on board the "Atlantic." Those who are strangers, therefore, unless they have plenty of time on their hands, will do well to inquire not for the largest and handsomest boat, but for the lightest, and even the most crowded ; for although they will meet with worse accommo- dation, yet they \\ill be less likely to be detained. When there are many passengers the owners take little freight, lest by a heavier draught of water they should stick upon the banks of the river, and because the expense that they would be put to of feeding a large number of persons during their detention, would thus outweigh any sum they might receive for extra freight ; and in a crowded vessel, the greater is the anxiety of the captain speedily to accomplish his journey and get rid of his passengers. From experience, moreover, I should particularly recom- mend any future traveller, who is not conversant with the customs of this portion of the Union, that before selecting his cabin, he should make a bargain for his passage-money ; for it is as well to state, that the price demanded on the Mississippi is by no means the same which they are ready to accept ; for I subsequently found that 1 was charged on the "Atlantic" at the rate of one-fourth more than any other passenger on board. It is, moreover, as well, before starting, to obtain at the clerk's office the fare to most of the principal intermediate ports, thereby reserving the power of leaving the vessel, at a fixed price, at any period during the journey that may be agreeable to do so ; such, for instance, as the vessel sticking hopelessly in the mud, or the manners of the passengers prov- ing distateful. Should this be neglected, the owners are at liberty to demand the fare for the entire distance that the THE GREA.T WESTERN REPUBLIC. 77 vessel may run, although the passenger may have proceeded but a few miles, and for the payment of it redress could scarcely he obtained. An instance of this occurred within my own knowledge : a gentleman having been obliged to pay the sum of forty-five dollars for the passage of himself and family, although he travelled on the steamer a distance of only fifty miles. Soon after leaving the city of St. Louis the water became very shallow, and the squndings were constantly tried by the leadsman, and slimy snags of the stupendous cotton- tree showed their ugly heads on all sides above the surface of the water. A short way below this, we came to a small town, where was a considerable Jesuit settlement ; it was nick-named Vuide Poche, or Empty Pockets ; this was principally in- habited by families of the half-bred French, the men being employed, during the summer, in collecting skins from the Indians in the interior of the country. About eight miles below the town of St. Louis we had a fine view of Fort Jefferson and the barracks, the troops sta- tioned there being under the command of Colonel Bragg, who, as Captain Bragg, distinguished himself so much at the battle of Buena Vista, under his intrepid leader, General Zachary Taylor. This is the head-quarter station of the army for the Western States; from hence all orders are sent to the numerous bodies of men who are scattered over their im- mense western frontier. Both to Oregon and California all orders are sent, and reports received, through this station. I was informed tbat a considerable force was at present in Fort Jefferson; and it had the appearance to me of being a most delightful quarter. Besides infantry there was also a propor- tion of cavalry and artillery, and deep were the regrets of those when ordered into the western wilds from so charming a residence. I understood there were many deserters from the British service, who made application to be received into that of the United States; but soldiers of the British army would do well to pause ere they exchanged their position for that of the American service. By doing so, they undoubtedly obtain a higher rate of pay, more food, and clothing, less drill, and a much greater freedom, if they aspire to such a thing, with their officers; but with these, they also obtain the contempt of every worthy citizen of the United States. They are draughted into small companies, who frequently spend years on the fron- tiers, distant thousands of miles from civilization. They have no chance whatever of rising above the lowest grade, and at the 78 A GLIMPSE AT expiration of their service they are discharged without pay or pension, and devoid of those sympathies which they would meet with from their own paternal Government. The officers of the United States army are a most gentle- manly, pleasant set of men, especially those lately appointed. All of them, except by the especial selection of the President of the United States, which is rarely the case, must have been educated at West Point. The nature of their service inures them to hardships and danger^ of all kinds, for, although the United States can scarcely ever be said to be at war, yet the constant activity in which their army is obliged to be, with Indians of all denominations, upon their far-extended frontiers, certainly does not allow to any portion of their small army that lassitude and ease which is frequently enjoyed by the troops of many of the older countries. Their services seldom being required in the Eastern States of this stupendous nation, they are sent to Texas, California, and Oregon, where, in fact, they become the pioneers of civilization, and as soon as a fron- tier post becomes settled by the white man, and civilization surrounds it, it demonstrates clearly that the services of the military are beginning to be no longer required there, and that it is time for them to move still farther into the Western wilds. Nor can this state of things cease until the entire country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, becomes settled^ and the Indian race is either amalgamated with the white man, or swept into the ocean by the overwhelming strength of this advancing human tide. When we had descended the Mississippi about thirty miles, we came to a very shallow bank, where we were obliged to send the long-boat a-head, to sound the channel; the pilot reporting that he did not think there was sufficient water to float us over. In about one hour the boat returned, the pilot stating that we must lighten the vessel ; we accordingly landed a drove of bullocks, and at 2 P.M. made the attempt. As most of us expected, we stuck about the centre of the bar, and were obliged to exercise every species of ingenuity to get her off. In this we were assisted by two other steamers, and finally about 4 A.M. the following morning, we worked over and continued our course. During the time that we lay upon the bank, I entered into conversation with the chief engineer, respecting the numerous accidents on the Mississippi River. He said that there was no doubt that every one of them which originated with the engine might properly be attributed to the neglect of the engineer ; and that, in almost every case, the bursting of a boiler was in con- THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 79 sequence of their neglecting to replenish it with water. To most vessels on this river, is attached a small engine, called the Doctor, for the double purpose of filling the boiler and acting as a fire-engine in cases of ignition. There were many steam- boats blown up this season, on tbe Rivers Mississippi and Ohio. In the " Kate Kearney" were many Jives lost, and in the " Kate Fleming" and the " Santa Fe" a few also perished. In the "Kate Fleming," the captain was sleeping in the same berth with his son when the bursting of the boiler drove a lar^e piece of iron through the deck and killed the boy in his berth without injuring the father. In the "Santa Fe'," the entire steerage -room, containing the pilot and a friend, was thrown into the air and fell upon the main-deck, strange to say, with- out injury to either of them. I was subsequently informed that the calculation of the number of vesssls lust yearly on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, was about two per cent, per annum. There are generally twelve hundred steam-vessels employed, and the annual loss is about twenty-five boats. This generally occurs amongst the oldest and most worthless, such as the owners are frequently unable to obtain any under- writers for an insurance upon. The rate of insurance on the steamer " Atlantic" was twelve per cent, per annum on her value, but she also effected an insurance upon each trip. No company would insure any vessel beyond three-fourths of her value, lest she should be destroyed purposely with the conni- vance of her owners. About nine A.M. we passed Turkey Island, where we saw a steamer aground, called the " St. Paul," she having passed during the night while- we were on the bank. The water continually shallowed, and the he^ids of snags constantly pro- truded themselves above the surface, demonstrating too clearly to us that their pointed limbs were hid beneath. The clerk of the vessel told me, that on a former voyage one of them had caught the stern of the vessel, and running directly through her guards, had lifted more than twenty live hoys into the river. On another occasion, when descending the stream, the snags then facing the boat like a chevaux-de-frise, a tall one arose and, forcing upwards, tore the wheel-house completely off. He had also seen them run through some of the fore- cabins and crush the passengers in their berths. In short, the accidents of daily occurrence on this river require no exagge- ration to enhance the dangers of the Mississippi to all those who for the first time navigate her waters. Numberless anec- dotes were related to us of such accidents ; as that of the " Tennessee," which, with six hundred souls on board, was 80 A GLIMPSE AT snagged and sank, a hundred and eighty being drowned, the rest having to remain for thirty-six hours up to their middle in water, under the momentary expectation of being carried down the stream. The state saloons on board the " Atlantic" were large and commodious, and in consequence of there being so few pas- sengers on bo ird I had one to myself. It is seldom the cus- tom, however, to fit any of them up with washing apparatus, &c., and all that they contained were two standing berths, here called bunks. There was a washing-room near the paddle-wheel, which contained the sink, the little tin basons, and the large jack-towels, for the use of all, the sailors here not beino: excepted, not widely differing in this respect from the " Wisconsin." The hair-brush and comb were also pro- vided, but the tooth-brush, which I had seen occasionally, in hotels and steamers, attached with a brass chain to a nail above the sink, was here wanting. The meals were exceedingly ample and cleanly served, and the attendance of the stewards most punctual. I may here observe that the domestics in the hotels and steam-boats in the West I found far more obliging than in the Eastern States. In the West they are principally Germans or slaves, both of whom I found more obliging than the native American, who considers himself above any servile occupation. Amongst other novelties at breakfast I observed molasses or treacle, served up in large claret decanters, which was eaten by most of the company with peculiar relish, being spread upon bread and butter, as some schoolboys in England are accustomed to do. About nine A.M., on the 25th of October, we reached a small island, said to be half way between St. Louis and Ohio River, having thus only accomplished one hundred miles in forty- eight hours; although this was sad slow travelling, yet 'it was preferable to remaining on a bank for lour or five days, a circumstance by no means unusual during this stage of the water. Round about this island the bed of the river appeared actually matted with snags, and from the frequent disasters which here occur, it is called the grave of the steamers. About five P.M., on the 24th, just as we had made up our minds to reach Cairo that evening, we found ourselves again firmly fixed, upon what was called Sliding Island Bar. These provoking interruptions owed their existence, in a great mea- sure, to the owners of the vessel. In order to gain a higher profit they had caused her to be laden with freight, deeper, by at least two feet, than she ought to have been, The daily expenses of the ship were calculated at two hundred dollars, THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 81 and the consequent loss on detention far exceeded what this additional freight would have brought, and by no means com- pensated them for taking it, verifying' the old adage of people sometimes being " penny wise and pound foolish." On board the " Atlantic, 5 ' the chief engineer and carpenter of the vessel were particularly intelligent men, and of natural genius. The first had invented a clever machine for showing the depth of water in the steamer's boiler, as well as a new adaptation of the paddle-wheel to steamers ; having described them to a former passenger, he immediately patented them as his own at Washington. The carpenter had invented a machine by which he stated. a passage from New York to Liverpool might be effected in three days ; and after his explanation of it, I do not think it by any means so extraor- pinary or visionary as the very ship we were then in would have appeared to our grandsires a hundred years ago. The propelling power was that of steam, but the adaptation, as well as the vessel itself, was totally different from anything I had previously seen or read of. At three P.M., after immense exertions, we got off the bank at Sliding Island, and ran above the bar, to take in more wood. During this operation one poor fellow slipped overboard, and getting under the paddle-wheel, which was in motion, probably was struck by it, at all events, he never more appeared on the surface of the water. I was quite surprised to see how small a sensation this circumstance had produced, which I attribute not so much to a want of feeling as to the erratic life which the inhabitants of this portion of the Union lead ; as also to the enormous influx of foreign emigration, which blunts that brotherly feeling which exists among old established commu- nities. The constant struggle which is here going on as to who shall " go a-head " at the greatest speed, certainly engen- ders an amount of selfishness. While at this landing-place, the " Sultana" arrived ; she was a magnificent boat, and drew about the same amount of water as the " Atlantic." The day previously she had run upon a large snag, near the Steamers' Grave, by which stove in one hundred and two of her bottom timbers, seventy-two of which were actually broken in half. She had contrived to reach the shore, although in a sinking condition; with extreme labour they had contrived to patch her up with two thousand feet of timber. They had telegraphed to the owners and underwriters, who desired them to continue their voyage of nine hundred miles, to New Orleans, which they were accordingly doing, although in this dangerous condition. We afterwards found 82 A GLIMPSE AT that the " Sultana" had taken in (in all its senses) sixty more passengers at Cairo, who were, of course, ignorant of the state she was in ; the excuse being, that the underwriters had agreed to stand by the insurance, and that, therefore, if she was con- sidered safe for her freight she was equally so for her passen- gers. We had scarcely again recommenced our voyage, when we were once more ashore, but obtaining the assistance of a flat boat, we contrived, by transferring to it a portion of our cargo, once more to get under weigh. It is truly astonishing that such an enterprising set of people as the Americans should not place pilot-boats on each of these bars, with signal-men to show the depth of water, and buoy the channel. How small would this expense be in comparison with the loss of time and money occasioned by these numerous detentions. While detained at Sliding Island, a diving-bell steamer came alongside. She had been built by an enterprising young man, at the expense of one thousand seven hundred dollars, but had already amply repaid her owner, from the proceeds of the numerous wrecks, which abound in this river. I saw on board a large number of pigs of lead, which her owner and crew had just recovered from the bot- tom of the Mississippi, from a steamer which was wrecked about twenty- two years since ; and also they had brought up a large assortment of English crockery ware. CHAPTER XV. ON the evening of the 26th, we at length arrived at Cairo. Here I found several steamboats, bound both up and down the river, waiting for cargo, and for passengers. I was particularly struck with the neat and cleanly appearance of the " Lexing- ton," and as she was advertised to sail on the following day for New Orleans, and her draught of water was considerably less than that of the " Atlantic," of which I was by this time heartily tired, I determined to engage a berth on board her. The owner of the " Atlantic" was exceedingly unwilling that I should do so, assuring me that the ^Lexington " would not leave Cairo for some days, whereas the clerk of that vessel stated that she would certainly depart the following morning. Amongst all these contradictory assertions I was somewhat puzzled, but determined to abandon the "Atlantic;" 1 there- fore sacrificed a few dollars, and obtained an exceedingly good state-room in my new boat. The site of the town of Cairo was purchased many years THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 83 since by an English company, of which, I understand, the Rothschilds were to he the principal shareholders. Geo- graphically speaking, there is perhaps no position in the whole of the United States which would promise hetter for the site of a large city than that of Cairo. It is situated at the fork of the Ohio and Mississippi. The navigation for large hoats during a low state of water commences here. The mid-winter navi- gation, when the upper waters of both these rivers are choked with ice, is free to this point ; from its position, it would naturally be the spot where the great railroads from north to south of the western parts of the United States would traverse. These advantages have, however, been as yet paralysed by the fearful floods which annually lay all this country under water, frequently rising much above an embankment, here called a "levee," which some years since has been thrown around the site of the intended city. The enterprise of the west, however, has now grown to such a pitch, as to overcome all natural ob- stacles where any chance of gain exists ; and this winter the whole site of Cairo city is to be placed in the market, the com- pany having determined, as an inducement to purchasers, to build a dike around it that will bid defiance even to this mighty stream. No doubt, on the subsiding of the waters, that is, during the summer, an unhealthy miasma will invade its precincts. Yet this will not deter thousands from occupying this position, nor will there be any want of persons to supply the places of those who may succumb to its effects ; for a species of Californian yellow fever ', which rages in parts of the United States, never ahates in consequence of the innovations of any other; and thus Cairo, though now insignificant, may in a few years excel, both in wealth and in size, as it speedily will in intelligence, its older namesake Cairo on the Nile, whose pro- pensities to overflow her banks are the same as the Mississippi. Another cause, I was informed, which has retarded Cairo, was, that the company, following the English custom, declined to sell the lots, and were only willing to let them on long leases. When so much land and city lots are in the market, property under these restrictions will rarely attract purchasers ; hut now that they are to, be for bond fide sale, no doubt they will find purchasers. Notwithstanding the assertions of the clerk of the " Lexing- ton," we did not leave Cairo until the evening of the 28ih; but the speed of this vessel was so great, and her draught of water so small, that without risk we continued steaming nearly all the night, and finally reached Memphis, a distance of three hundred and forty miles, by eight o'clock on the following G2 84 A GLIMPSE AT evening. We here passed the " Atlantic," and heard that she had again heen more than once on a bar, which made me well satisfied with having left her. During the niyht we passed within a few miles of Reel Lake, in the State of Tennessee. It derives its name from a sudden hend in the shape of its waters, resembling that of a hroken foot. Tliis lake, which is of considerable extent, was the effect of the great earthquake of 1812. Before that period its site was dry land ; now gigantic cotton and other trees may he dis- covered, submerged many fathoms beneath the surface of its clear waters. The lake, I was told, was the haunt of in- numerable wild fowl, and teemed with every variety of aquatic birds. They are so seldom disturbed that they may be destroyed by thousands, being apparently unconscious of the effect of a fowling-piece. On the following morning we stopped for wood at a landing-place in the State of Arkansas, pronounced by the inhabitants, who have the best right to know how to do so, Arkansas. The shores of the Mississippi hold one uniform and rather uninteresting character, an unbroken forest lining either bank of the stream; sandy points were jutting into the river, upon which innumerable ugly-looking snags protruded their bleached heads and limbs in all directions, through which we foi innately glided in perfect safety under the skilful management of our pilots. The situation of pilot on the Mississippi River being one of great responsibility, is consequently well paid. There are two on board every steamer, who each receive a hundred and twenty- five dollars a month in addition to their board. A particularly active young man who was acting in that capacity on board the " Lexington," told me, that even with this hih rate of wages he was unable to save anything, the temptations open to young men in the large cities being too strong to be resisted. The wages of the captain were one hundred and twenty-five dollars per month, equal only to that of the pilot; the clerk received one hundred dollars; the engineers, first class, seventy-five dollars; second class, fifty dollars; and every common sailor, twenty-five dollars per month, always exclusive of their board. The cost, therefore, of these boats was very considerable, and it required at least one hundred passengers, or a very large amount of freight, to return any profit to the owners, which, with the amount of competition now existing, some boats were unable to effect. But no people on earth are so fond of travelling as the Americans, and no other race but the Anglo-Saxons would pro- vide the numberless means of migration that exist throughout this great continent. On the following morning, after leaving THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 85 Memphis, we saw a vast number of turkey buzzards, the first I had yet seen. They are as large as an eagle, and feed upon carrion, the presence of which they discover from a long distance. While gliding swiftly down the stream, we saw a handsome steamer, called the " Missouri," fast upon a bank in the river. The meals in the "Lexington" appeared quite endless, one constant succession of laying out the tables, eating, and then clearing away the things. From seven to nine in the morning there was breakfast, first for the passengers, then for the nurses and children, next for the officers of the ship, and lastly for the coloured people, whether passengers or slaves; for be it under- stood, that, however wealthy a man may be, if there can be proved the least taint in his blood, he is at once banished from the society of the white people, being considered to possess a sort of contaminating influence. To such an extent, indeed, is this carried, that in parts of the State of Tennessee any white man who married one of the coloured race would be driven out of the country, lynched or mobbed, and some years since, when law was less powerful than at present, his life even would have been in danger. No sooner was breakfast fairly cleared away, than luncheon was laid upon the table. From one to three, dinner for pas- sengers, children, officers of the ship, and coloured people, then followed ; and from five to seven, tea was arranged for each class in succession. In no instance did I observe that greediness at their meals of which the Americans have been accused by many travellers, nor in quantity or rapidity of eating did they exceed most Englishmen, which 1 had been led to expect. There were only two gentlemen who partook of luncheon; one was very short and tat, the other tali and thin. As we could take but very little exercise, I felt at a loss to conceive how they could digest so many meals in the day; for throughout the United States heavy dishes of meat, beefsteaks, &c., are invariably placed upon the table at each recurring meal. 1 did not however per- ceive any difference in the plethoric-looking passenger, but the tali and thin one had a serious attack of indigestion before quitting us at Natchez a complaint which would be less frequent if the Americans were less liberal in their supply. Throughout the United States water is the usual beverage of all persons at dinner ; occasionally wine may be called for, but seldom; this does not, however, imply that they are a nation of water drinkers, although total abstinence has certai-ily made rapid strides throughout the United States. The bar is 86 A GLIMPSE AT the great lounge, and during every hour of the day a brisk demand for all descriptions of compounds is continually kept up. On hoard the "Lexington" the har-keeper told me he had to pay fifteen hundred dollars a-year for the privilege of sell- ing his liquors to the passengers. I was surprised to observe amongst a people of such general intelligence, so few who resorted to instructive intellectual amusements. A great many passed their time in reading bad novels, scores of which issue weekly from the libertine presses of New York, many, as elsewhere, highly detrimental to the morality of the com- munity. In the struggle of these authors to gain celebrity and sale for their works, they pander to the democratic feelings of the multitude, hy telling the most extravagant falsehoods of the land of their forefathers; and at the expense of veracity they misrepresent everything which is ancient, or to be reverenced, in order to please the tastes of their vain readers. The cabins, or state-rooms, although small, were sufficiently comfortable, but the heat in the forward ones was intolerable, as they were placed immediately above the boilers. I after- wards discovered that there was some art in selecting a state- room, which any future traveller would do well to remember. The stern is appropriated to the ladies, and is by far the most pleasant situation in the ship, being light, airy, cool, and quiet. The forepart is equally light and airy, but is less safe, and fre- quently very hot, being over the boilers. The state-rooms in the centre are cool, hut, unfortunately, there is the great objec- tion of being very dark receiving what little light they possess from the main-cabin. The state-room which I chose was in the forepart of the ship, which I shared with a very pleasant companion, an active-minded man, who had been in Mexico during the late American war, from which he had brought home large profits and many entertaining anecdotes. He was particular in his caution to lock the door on retiring to rest, stating that during his last voyage on the Mississippi he had heen robbed one night of two thousand dollars and his gold watch, by some person entering his cabin whilst he slept; that he had fortunately detected the individual and recovered his property the man being now in jail for the offence. He was rather too solicitous about my health, by frequently greeting me with the salutation, " Well, sir, and how do you feel yourself now ?" THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 87 CHAPTER XVI. ON the 30th we touched at Napoleon, in the state of Arkansas. A large hospital was here erecting for the benefit of the sailors on the Mississippi River, who were obliged, while in active employment, to subscribe sixpence a-week each to support it ; and this no doubt will be a most excellent establishment* I had been informed that the country below Napoleon, and more especially within one hundred miles of New Orleans, was most beautiful. The same unbroken flat continued on either side, showing symptoms, however, of better cultivation; and ere long we found ourselves in a constant succession of sugar plantations, which occupied a width of one or two miles oil either side of the margin of the river, but beyond this again, inland, extended the same line of forest. The country was rich, not in grandeur of scenery, but in dollars, to which the minds of most of my fellow-travellers were peculiarly alive and sensitive. The inhabitants appeared in great comfort ; at a short distance were the boiling and storing houses, flanked by rows of small cottages, generally whitewashed, in which I was informed the slaves resided, four in each cottage. Intersecting the country in various directions were deep-cut channels, to carry off the surplus water, as the rains during the spring and autumn sometimes fall in immense quantities. All these channels, and the high levees built of mud to keep out the overflow of the river, are executed by the emigrant labourers from Ireland, who flock to this country in great numbers. This work is perhaps the most laborious in the country, and is considered so severe for the slaves that they are seldom employed upon it. A large proprietor exclaimed in my hearing, " What should we do without the Irish emigrants?" I immediately remarked, that I had been given to understand that the chief argument in favour of the continuance of slavery, was, that no European could do any hard work in this cli- mate. " Ah," said he, after some hesitation, " true, sir, but that applies to the sugar and cotton only ; in fact, sir, white labour won't pay in this country except as a resource on special occa- sions." From this, and many other circumstances which I shall hereafter have occasion to notice, it became quite clear to me that the non-abolition of slavery depended upon one soli- tary cause, " Sir, it won't pay to abolish it ;" or rather, that it pays much better to retain it, and that as long as it does, so long will it be maintained. In Missouri it is dying out, and 88 A GLIMPSE AT why ? let us hope from motives of philanthropy, rather than from calculations of profit. Amongst the passengers on board the " Lexington" were many gentlemanly, agreeable, and intelligent persons. I here had the good fortune' to become acquainted with Dr. Polk, Bishop of Louisiana. He appeared to me not more than forty- seven or forty-eight years of age, and was as active in body as in mind. He was well-informed respecting all European countries, but especially respecting England ; and it was most satisfactory and pleasing to see the affection with which he regarded our Church institutions not that he believed them to be without fault, but he dreaded the present encroachments, lest, as he observed, in removing- that which was bad, much of the good might be swept away. I was delighted to converse witli him ; amongst the democrats so plentiful in the States, and particularly in the Western ones, it is satisfactory to find one who has a regard for the ancient institutions of his fore- fathers. The bishop was kind enough to invite me to his country estate, a few miles inland from the Mississippi, and near to the banks of another of those tributaries to this mighty stream, called the Red River, being itself navigable by steam- vessels for nearly seven hundred miles. The Red River, rising in the Rocky Mountains, flows first through the Indian terri- tory, and thence, through the State of Arkansas, into the Mississippi. I much regretted that I was compelled to decline the proffered hospitality of Dr. Polk, for, independent of losing the opportunity of witnessing the mode of life amongst the rich proprietors of the South, I should have had a better opportunity of cultivating an acquaintance from which I had derived amusement and instruction. The bishop of Louisiana described the life of an American bishop as very laborious. The annual visitations through his diocese could scarcely be completed under a period of live or six months, during which time he was subject to very severe travelling in distant and uncivilized places ; and their salaries, in comparison to those of our Church, were mere pittances. He denied that the voluntary system of payment to the clergy made them less independent ; on the contrary, he alleged that the severer a congregation was handled, provided the doctrine was honest, the greater was their opinion of their spiritual leader. Dr. Polk is a large proprietor of sugar plantations, and the possessor of upwards of three hundred and fifty slaves. He had been most unfortunate during the summer of last year, more than seventy of his slaves having died of cholera, which THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 89. scourge infested many districts in this country ; and as each slave, on an average, can scarcely be estimated at less than five hundred dollars, he had thus lost property to the value of thirty-five thousand dollars. That a bishop, and a most amia- ble ii; an, should be a slave owner, sounds to our notions rather a singular circumstance ; and yet, if the possession of slaves be wrong, let the wrong be wiped away from the Republic at large, for if it be a sin, it can be no less so for a private indivi- dual than for a bishop. A clergyman, who appeared to be the chaplain, gave me a most interesting account of the numerous schools which the bishop bad instituted, telling me what marked improvement the negro children had made in their studies. All instruction must be given orally, it being, as I before observed, contrary to the State laws to instruct them by books. The amount of affection and reverence with which Dr. Polk was regarded by all these poor people, the chaplain stated to be most gratifying. Where slavery is carried on with these truly patriarchal feelings, it must be a benefit rather than a curse towards those who live under such a really benevolent sway ; and I am bound to believe that, in the majority of cases, slaves are treated, as regards the amount of labour exacted, with more consideration in the Southern States than in many of the rural districts in our own country; where, although they claim to themselves the proud boast of being free men, and are really free in law, and are personally of a high spirit, resenting any injustice, yet, in honest truth, are dependent for their daily food on their employer, who, possessing no vested capital in his servant, as the master does in the slave, has not the same interested regard for his w r ell-being; and, taking into conside- ration the heavy taxes and rates, the employer naturally endea- vours to get the full value out of the labourer's services, in the same manner that a hired horse is generally harder worked than one which is the property of the master. Nevertheless, slavery is a great curse, however mild, in this Land of Liberty, for although the slaves have very many kind masters, and indeed the great majority are so, yet as a class, they are subject to the caprices of their fellow-beings, who can tyrannize most cruelly over them ; and none are harder task- masters than those of their own race, who, once having been slaves, have become free, and are now owners of their fellow- beings. In some of the small country inns. I have been parti- cularly struck by the arrogant manners of the landlady towards her domestics ; and 1 have observed that this disdain is more frequently practised by the lowest of our own countrymen, 90 A GLIMPSE AT who, in the exercise of a newly-acquired power, use it with a foruetfulness of their former suffering's very inexcusable. The most degrading fate to which a slave is subject, is that of being bought and sold, and although a man in prosperous circumstances may never have occasion to part with his pro- perty, yet at his death, or on the marriage of his children, a part of his slaves are frequently alienated from the family servitude. In this case the wife is never separated from the husband, nor the child of tender age from its parents ; but how frequently does it happen, in this land of speculation, that a man of vast property is suddenly reduced to such distress that all his stock must be turned into money for the benefit of his creditors. How then can the tenderest of ties, amongst his slaves, be respected ? It then frequently happens that the auctioneer severs them asunder, the wife is sent to Alabama to pick cotton, the husband to a sugar plantation in Texas, and the children to supply the fires of a high-pressure engine on the Mississippi. A gentleman from Massachusetts on board the " Lexington," showed me his estate as we were descending the river, and told me that when he purchased the property, the buildings, slaves, &c., there were forty men slaves on it, arid only three women and children ; a disproportion which could by no means tend to the happiness of this little community, and which he took immediate steps to remedy. 1 am inclined to believe that the excitement consequent upon the Fugitive Slave Bill, has materially benefited this servile class of the population. The subject, being so much canvassed, naturally caused inquiry into its merits, which ultimately tends to their benefit. One peculiarly hard circumstance connected with their position, is that no sum of money can purchase their freedom contrary to the wishes of their owners. Slaves, in the large towns, are constantly allowed to assume an inde- pendent position, keeping shops, c. &c., as though they were free. They are, however, obliged to carry weekly to their masters such a portion of their gains as he thinks proper to demand, and are at any time subject to the same corporeal penalties as the meanest of this community. In the Island of Cuba the law upon this head stands dif- ferently. There, a slave has the right at all times to claim his freedom upon the payment of a fixed sum, a much more just law than the entire dependence of the slave on the will of the owner to which he is subjected in the United States. In- dustrious negroes are, not unfrequently, allowed a portion of the day to labour on their own account. This, of course, is at THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 91 the option of their owners : some masters oblige their slaves to work fifteen hours a day ; others oblige them to work only ten or eleven, the remainder of their time being available for their own purposes. But all are obliged to undertake such work as it pleases their master to dictate, such as sailors', tinkers', or tailors', according to his directions. I had frequent conversations with the free blacks, who naturally take the most lively interest in a subject which so materially affects their position, and, as might have been ex- pected, all of them express an intense admiration of Great Britain and her institutions, envying the position of our free West Indian colonists ; for although, in the event of slavery being abolished in the United States, many of the coloured race possessing property would be considerable losers, yet the position in society which the coloured people would thereby obtain, of equal rights with the white man, would im- measurably compensate them for any pecuniary loss, and to this happy state they all look forward with the deepest anxiety. To extract their sentiments upon this subject requires some caution, unless they are assured that they are really conversing with an Englishman. The Southern slave-holder, however, will endeavour to persuade the traveller that not only are the slaves delighted with their happy position, but that the entire coloured population are quite contented and free from care, and that in the case of any foreign invasion, the whole would instantly enroll themselves, and defend with patriotism the properties and lives of their masters against the British nation ; and even if they believed that the promise of liberty would be duly kept, from the proofs placed before them in the eman- cipation of our own slaves throughout the whole world. The great argument in favour of a continuance of the system, is the difficulty, if not impossibility, of cultivating the sugar- cane by free labour. The planters state that it requires a combination in work, which, unless enforced with an autocratic sway, would not be available in the production of this valuable crop. There is no doubt that a great difficulty would at first arise to ensure a command of free labour, and this being the only resource within the reach of the planter, would be with- held at the option of the lower classes, and occasionally at the most critical moment. There must be a great increase in the population, and a change in their habits, before this could be remedied, and the expense of the production being increased, a higher sum must be asked for the commodity, and foreign competition would be the result; but all this is no reason why steps should not be taken in the right direction, and some 92 A GLIMPSE AT method put in practice, whereby this horrid and criminal usage may be gradually obliterated, and this stain on a free and noble people be wiped out. The truth is, there exists a difficulty in the manumission of the slaves, which renders that measure very difficult. There are few planters that are not deeply involved, and their plantations therefore heavily mort- gaged. This is not owing so much to their extravagant habits, or their carelessness, as to their excess of over-speculation. Money in this country can scarcely ever be procured at a lower rate of interest than 12 per cent., even upon landed security. It requires, therefore, a large profit, where capital is borrowed, to secure a handsome remuneration for their own risk and trouble; but many a planter is anxious to borrow even at this high rate, the large profits from past speculation assuring him that there is no reason to fear but that a handsome reward will accrue to him after he has paid the interest and the capital of the borrowed money. From a calculation which I made, and which must, I am aware, be very imperfect, I assume that no estate, provided it is burdened with the usual amount of debt, could be con- sidered as repaying a fair interest for the invested capital, in addition to the interest of its debt, unless it would return at least twenty-five per cent, per annum upon the outlay. This profit is considerably diminished to the planter, provided he is an absentee, in which case he is obliged to pay a large sum for superintendence. All sugar plantations, even those of a small class, require a large outlay of capital, and indeed cannot be cultivated on a small scale,* with that proportion of profit which can be secured from one of greater size, or indeed from a farm of common agricultural produce. A sugar plantation of five hundred acres must, in addition, possess from one to two hundred acres, for the production of grain to support its slaves and cattle, and also have four or five hundred acres of well timbered land, as an immense quantity of wood is required for the purpose of keeping up the large fires requisite in the boiling-houses. For working this estate in a proper manner, one hundred negroes may be considered sufficient, with about sixty horses or mules. If we take the original price paid for the property, the purchase-money for the slaves, which cannot be estimated at less than six hundred dollars each, the outlay for waggons, farming implements, oil, knives, and machinery, the price of the whole will nearly amount to one hundred thousand dollars; and with a crop which requires vigilance of no ordinary kind, and a press of labour, when required, at command, literally to save it from THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 93 destruction, I can readily imagine that the planter is loath to disband his troops, which are now obliged instantly to do his bidding, and to replace them by chance free labour, which, when most wanted, would show great independence, and cer- tainly exact a price altogether inadequate to the return which the planter naturally looks for to meet his engagements, and render him a profit. The labour upon these estates is very constant ; in the winter the land is cleared and tilled for the crop which is planted out in the spring; no sooner is this operation ended, than all hands are turned to cut wood ready for the boiling- houses, and should there be more cut than is required for this purpose, it is sold on the banks of the river to the passing steam-vessels. No sooner does the frost appear, at the early commencement of the winter, which is immediately recog- nised by the plant assuming a red tinge, than labour is directed towards cutting and carrying it to the boiling-houses, and the following winter the process of the last is again repeated. CHAPTER XVII. No one can travel on the Mississippi without hearing strange stories of the knavish tricks, which rarely happen now, but which formerly were very frequent, both in the boats on the river, and at the various towns on its banks. These are ascribed to a set of men, called in the south, Gamblers, and in the north of the Union, Loafers an idle dissipated set, whose constant business it is to prey upon the rest of the community. When arrested for their peccadilloes, they seldom received a regular trial and condemnation, but were subjected to the process of Lynch law by the community at large. There are endless accounts of the various punishments to which these men were made liable : such as being placed on the paddle-wheel of the steamer, and made to walk, as in a treadmill, for hours ; in other instances, of their ears having been nailed to the bulk- head of the ship punishments which the first settlers in this country deemed necessary for their protection. On the subject of Lynch law, an American related to me a circumstance which happened not long since, in the Indian territory on the Red River, only a few miles beyond the State of Arkansas. The story was as follows : " An industrious settler, who resided at some little distance from other people, retired, as usual, about nine o'clock at night to rest. At midnight the family were aroused at finding their house on fire ; the cries 94 A GLIMPSE AT of his wife and children were unavailing ; they endeavoured to escape, but were confronted by three men : the father was soon put to death, his wife and one or more of his children shared the same fate. The building was soon reduced to ashes, and the murderous incendiaries, imagining that every one of the family had perished, conceived that no clue to' their guilt would ever be discovered. It so happened, however, than one little boy, of tender age, escaped unseen in the confusion, and running to the house of the nearest settler, lie gave the alarm, and also stated that he should have no difficulty in identifying these midnight assassins. On the succeeding day, the nearest settlers assembled, in great numbers, at the scene of this tragic affair, and having empanelled a jury amongst themselves, and elected a judge, they seized the accused, who unsuspectingly were amongst the crowd, and having confronted them with the boy, they proceeded to try them on the spot, by Lynch law. The simple forms which they adopted were soon terminated, and the verdict of 'guilty of murder and arson' was returned. The judge sentenced the condemned to be hanged ; a party were desired to erect gibbets, and before the sun had set on the suc- ceeding day, all three were swinging betwixt earth and heaven, as they deserved. Some passengers disembarking at Vicksburgh, I took the opportunity of changing my state-room for one in a cooler position of the vessel, and not immediately above the boilers. On looking behind the door of my new apartment, I disco- vered the wall to he literally black with tobacco juice. It is astonishing to what an extent this habit is carried in the Southern States. The most elegantly-dressed dandy may be constantly seen ruminating a quid of tobacco, regardless of fur- niture and carpets, or the ladies. Early on the morning of the 2nd of November, we arrived at Donaldson ville, a pretty place, where a great many passen- gers took their departure. The rest now appeared in the most fashionable clothes they could command, in order that they might make an entry worthy of themselves into the metro- polis of the South. This morning the assistance of the coloured barber was in great requisition, and some truly wonderful transformations were the result. It was near Donaldsonville that I first observed the singular moss-plant, which attaches itself in such profusion to the trees on the banks of this river. It assumes a most graceful appear- ance, hanging in long festoons from their most lofty branches ; it is occasionally used for stuffing mattresses, but I was informed that lately a method had been devised of weaving this moss THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 95 into bags for the transportation of cotton. Should this he suc- cessful, it will be the means of saving a large expense to the planters, and render this plant, now almost useless, a source of profit. At one o'clock I was summoned by the dinner-bell ; and although this meal was at so early an hour, I had now become quite reconciled to what, at first, I considered by no means agreeable. The Americans have a way of pronouncing many of their words which sounds to our ears peculiarly strange. The clerk of the steamer they all call a clurk ; the city of New Orleans, New Orleens. The Southern people, however, both in their manners and expressions, as well as in pronunciation, seem to be more polished than their Northern brethren. In the afternoon we passed Jefferson College, a very large and ugly building near to the bank of the river, which much resembles a Manchester cotton factory; and I perceived that additional buildings were in process of erection in the same style of architecture. The Mississippi in its course is singularly tortuous, a dis- tance of twenty miles by land being frequently increased by the bends of the river to fifty ; but nevertheless this is more quickly performed by water, the steamers being swift, whereas the roads are execrably bad. The distance by water is, how- ever, often shortened by what are called " cuts off," or places where the river, having overflowed its banks, had taken a nearer and more direct channel. These have sometimes received assistance by art, and the steamers now take them in their regular route. The assistance which they have received, however, has indirectly proved the cause of great destruction to property; the same fall in the water in its flow towards the ocean, which by nature made the distance seventy-five miles, having thus by the art of man been limited to twenty-five, has caused the stream, during a sudden rise of the river, to descend with an increased and undue velocity, has caused the destruc- tion of many levees as well as plantations; and as I conceive this damage to be clearly attributable to the reason above men- tioned, the authorities under government who sanction the proceeding would find it exceedingly difficult to defend their position in a court of Jaw, provided the proprietors were to sue for damages. In one instance a " cut-off" reduced the dis- tance by the serpentine form oF this river from twenty-five miles to seven. The original fall of water was seven feet in this distance, which fall of course remained the same although the distance was so considerably shortened, and a large loss of 96 A GLIMPSE AT property, by a sudden overflow during last spring, was clearly attributable to the before-mentioned cause. On approaching New Orleans, tbe whole country appeared on fire, whicli at first we imagined to proceed from the city itself, but soon discovered that it was caused by a large tract of prairie land below tbe town being ignited. This probably had been done purposely, in order to destroy the old rotten grass, and allow fresh vegetation to spring up. Tbe trade on the Mississippi appeared very great, more especially in steamers ; and in proportion to the increased set- tlement of the upper country, it was daily augmenting. In this trade no foreign nation benefits more than Great Britain, consuming as she does a great proportion of tbe agricultural produce which descends these waters, and in return supplying this vast district with a still larger equivalent in manufactures. It was del'ghtful to me to hear the praises freely lavished upon our late eminent statesman, Sir Robert Peel ; by every American political economist he was considered the greatest man of his dny, and his death was perhaps deplored as much in the United States as in his own country. The Americans consider that his master-mind, by adopting free trade prin- ciples, which he alone had the power of carrying through the legislature of his country, not only at that time averted a threatened revolution which had overrun so many of the Euro- pean states, but that his policy has since been the means of increasing our commercial relations to an unprecedented extent, besides granting to the lower classes the opportunity of purchasing food at a price commensurate with their wages, and lias enabled the manufacturer successfully to compete in foreign markets, even where high duties are raised against British wares. Free-trade is paining for us the good- will and reciprocal interest on the entire continent through which the Mississppi flows, and which probably, before many generations are passed, will be the richest continent in the world, and I doubt not will rule the destinies of the American Republic. These feelings towards us may originate from a reciprocity of interest alone, but still it is satisfactory to know that the sores and wounds formerly inflicted by the parent, aud which rankled so long in the bosom of the offspring, are now being healed over; and ere long I hope that the American and the English people, each descending from the same stock, each imbued with the one chivalrous spirit, will in reality consider themselves a band of brothers, each amicably contending that the government of his own country contains the truest principles of freedom, and THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 9? setting an example to the world at large, that the labours of peace are far preferable to the honours of war. About five o'clock in the evening of the 2nd of November, we arrived at New Orleans, and I had thus completed a voyage of above seventeen hundred miles on the bosom of the Missis- sippi. During my progress from St. Louis, and within my own cognizance, many sad catastrophes happened. One steamer was blown up, one was burned, and two were snagged, one of which sank, the other, the " Sultana," succeeded in reaching New Orleans, but not without much risk. Almost all the passengers in the " Lexington," I found were provided with Indian-rubber swimming belts, which in this country they have no false pride in concealing; frequently instances arise of their being called into use by those who travel much upon this and the neighbouring rivers. I afterwards heard that the calculated annual amount of loss of life on the Mississippi through explosions, drowning, blowing up, burning, and other violent deaths, has for some years past been about two hundred lives, but I have reason to imagine that this estimate is much below the truth. I must not omit* to mention, before quitting the " Lexing- ton," an absurd circumstance which happened to me, from a misunderstanding of a very common English expression. One morning I was unable to find my coat, and calling to the steward, I said, " Some one of the waiters has run off with my coat." Soon afterwards, three or four of them came to me, mightily offended, and expressed their indignation that I should imagine that any of them were dishonest; nor could all my assurances that I did not intend to accuse them of theft calm their indignation, but they retired protesting that no one would deem it worth their while to run off with an old coat. CHAPTER XVIIL THE appearance of the city of New Orleans from the water is indeed very grand. If there is one disappointment, it is in the size of the river. Flowing as it does from such an im- mense distance in the interior, and receiving so many gigantic tributaries, one would expect that near its mouth it would be many miles broad, rather resembling a sea than the mouth of so small a river as the Thames at Greenwich ; but this feeling, however, is overcome when we are made aware of its immense depth. Although the wharves at the time of my 98 A. GLIMPSE AT landing were lined with shipping, yet I was informed that the great mass of vessels had not as yet arrived, and that this year's cotton had only begun to make its appearance in the market. I saw quite enough, however, even in this hasty glance, to indicate with certainty the immense trade and com- merce existing at this port, and to excuse the seeming vanity of the expression of an American gentleman who stood near me, who for the first time saw this city: "Well, what an almighty fine country is ours!" The St. Charles's Hotel, to which I proceeded, is a most magnificent structure. It is surrounded by Corinthian columns, and surmounted by a lofty dome, from the summit of which may be gained a fine view of the city. On my arrival I had a delicious bath, and next visited the barber's establishment, with which all large hotels and steam-boats are provided. I here underwent the process of shampooing, which very refreshing operation I will here describe. Seated on a curiously formed chair, my feet higher than my head, a coloured barber thoroughly brushed my hair, and then well anointed it with a perfumed mixture. I was next conducted to a marble font, where I was played upon by a miniature fountain of rose- water.* Being thoroughly drenched, the soapy mixture was next squeezed out of my hair. I then resumed my former position, and my head was carefully dried. The delicious sensation of this shampooing operation, especially upon a hot day, and after a long journey, cannot be too highly extolled, and should the process be well got up in London or Paris, I am persuaded it would make a barber's fortune, and deserves the attention of the profession during the Industrial Exhibition of 1851, when so many foreigners, and especially Americans, will be collected together. The baths at the St. Charles's Hotel were also upon a magnificent scale, and were attended by a good-humoured Irishwoman, who had formerly held the situation of nurse in the establishment of Lady Norbury, and evinced a most rapturous delight on finding that I was acquainted with the family to which she was so much attached. The hotel was provided with accommodation for four or five hundred persons, and was altogether on a far more extended scale than anything which I had previously seen in Europe. Between three and four hundred persons daily sat down to a most sumptuous dinner, prepared under the direction of a first-rate maitre de cuisine from Paris, the dishes of which were almost numberless, and the bill of fare, which was printed daily for the information of the guests, bore resemblance to a THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 99 miniature gazette. Everything in this great establishment was conducted with celerity and perfect order. I awoke from a most refreshing sleep on the following morning, not only with the London cries in my ears, hut also a dense fog filling the atmosphere ; but unlike England, where the fog frequently turns to rain, here it is considered as a sure indication of fine weather. Immediately after breakfast, I sallied out to visit the crescent city, the appropriate name which has been assigned to it, from the circumstance of its lining the margin of the river in the form a young moon. The turmoil of business and pleasure had already commenced, carriages were running about in all directions, and although it was Sunday morning, yet the shops, as in Paris, were open, and but small relaxation was apparent. I attended the episcopal church, a handsome building. The clergyman who preached was a German, who unfortunately had but an indif- ferent knowledge of the English language ; it was therefore almost impossible to understand what he said, and as he used a great deal of broken English, his discourse could scarcely be considered as very dignified. The episcopal service in the United States is v*ery little altered from that of our own. In the liturgy, in place of offering up prayers for Her Majesty, they are offered up for all Christian rulers a generous change of expression which must be admired by every one. The Jewish synagogue is a fine building. It was formerly an episcopal church, but had been purchased by a wealthy Hebrew and presented to his brethren. In the afternoon I took a long walk through the city. I visited one of the lioman Catholic cemeteries, which was prettily laid out, the tombs being ornamented with flowers, in imitation of Pere-la-Chaise. In New Orleans, however, the dead are always buried, if I may so express myself, above ground ; large marble tombs being raised not only to the memory of the wealthy, but actually to contain their remains the poor having edifices of an humbler description. They are obliged to adopt that mode of burial, in con- sequence of the marshy and wet nature of the soil ; for should they dig but a few inches below the surface, water immediately fills the vacuum. At the season in which I visited New Orleans, the river was rrticularly low, and the soil therefore comparatively dry ; but was informed that, during a large portion of the year, the neighbouring country is continually under water, and even that small schooners were, during the spring of last year, navi- gating some of the principal streets. The small drains or H2 100 A GLIMPSE AT water-courses in the city, I observed, all flowed away from, rather than towards the river, indicating that a large portion of the town lay below the level of the Mississippi ; and proving that that river could not carry off much of the superabundant water which saturated the earth. The sun, acting upon a soil so impregnated with moisture, must naturally cause a great miasma and unhealthy effluvia, which, during the summer season, must probably be the cause of a vast amount of the sickness which exists, and which gives to this city the un- enviable character of being the most unhealthy in the world. During the hot season, all who can afford to do so fly from its precincts into the country, and business at that time is almost at a stand-still. The shell roads which enter the city in various directions, are certainly the most beautiful causeways I have ever seen. They are composed of finely-powdered shells, which, uniting in a solid mass, form a perfectly even surface, and may be con- sidered one of the peculiarities of this town. As I was re- turning to the hotel I saw a melancholy breed of dogs, their skins being entirely devoid of hair : this certainly did not improve their outward appearance, though I have no doubt that, in the warm weather, it might be a source of comfort to them. Near the hotel I observed a negro's funeral. It was a particularly mournful procession, the countenances of the party being in such perfect keeping both with their dress and the occasion. On the whole, the town of New Orleans re- minded me much of Rio Janeiro, but the surrounding scenery is exactly the reverse, being here one continued flat, whereas Rio boasts of the most beautiful mountains in the world. On my return to the hotel I met Mr. Baring ; he was on his way home from the Pacific Ocean, and had just crossed the Pampas of South America. I was surprised that, during my long journey, I should have met none of my countrymen travelling purely for amusement and instruction ; indeed, it is extra- ordinary how few English travellers visit this country purely for these purposes. On the following morning I rose early, and paid my first visit before breakfast to the market. It was well supplied with meat, vegetables, and poultry, and particularly with fruit, which last was offered for sale in luxurious abundance. The gas-works also struck me as being on a very extended scale. 1 walked towards the hotel by the bank of the river, and per- ceived that a large space had been left vacant in consequence of the receding of the water. Many men were actively em- ployed in clearing and smoothing it, and laying it out THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 101 paratory to building. Many streets have thus been added to the town, by the gradual shifting of the river ; and houses which, but a few years since, stood where its banks then were, are no.w far in the rear, behind the spacious blocks of buildings which have since been erected. I hired a small four-wheeled carriage and drove through the city, keeping upon the high levee on the left bank of the river. In passing the esplanade, I was reminded of the original French extraction of the inhabitants, by seeing the lamps hung over the centre of the street by a rope from either side. In the suburbs of the city each house was provided with a diminutive garden, in which were flourishing the banana and other tropical plants, and the orange-trees gracefully waved their golden fruit in the sun. The ladies were mostly employed in languidly rocking themselves in easy chairs under the shade of their verandahs, wearing out the day in conversation. We passed the negro slave-market and their barracks, where sat a vast herd of this unfortunate " property," totally unconscious of the degraded position which they occupied in the scale of society. They were of all ages and both sexes; some were manacled, but the greater portion of them were unshackled. Their countenances did not betray any unhappiness, but they eagerly surveyed the stranger, endeavouring to read their own fate, provided his attention appeared to be directed towards the barracoons. Passing along a square I observed a large party of French Creoles, who were amusing themselves by playing a game somewhat resembling "tennis;" each player was pro- vided with a pair of small racquets, somewhat resembling in Size large salad spoons, and at either end of the green was placed a paper screen or target, through which the art ap- peared to be skilfully to drive a ball. This game much resembled one which I had previously seen played by the Munseytown Indians, in the western part of Canada; and I have no doubt that it had been adopted from some of the Indian tribes. The Mint appeared a handsome building, though generally the public buildings at New Orleans have not much to boast of, the hotel of St. Charles far eclipsing them all. A custom-house of a superb design is in the course of erection, of granite, which, when finished, will probably equal any building in the United States. It possibly might have been placed in a better position, as it is now in too inclosed a space to allow its full proportions and architecture properly to be admired, I determined to visit the battle-ground where our arms, from various unfortunate circumstances, had been unsuccessful, after a series of victories in Europe and America > 102 A GLIMPSE AT which may allow any Englishman to hear this reverse with equanimity. About a mile from the city I passed the artillery barracks ; and I notice with sentiments of pleasure the intelli- gent civility of the soldiers at the gate. These barracks appeared very comfortable ; the men were clothed in blue cotton jackets, which were of light texture, and well suited to this hot climate. Having proceeded about four miles, we reached the scene of our former strife, " the battle-ground." Very little indeed now remained to enable me to discover the precise spot where so much British blood was fruitlessly shed. The ramparts erected by the Americans can scarcely now be traced ; and unless the spot were pointed out, it would be a vain task to endeavour to do so. Most accounts written by those who were present appeared to think that we ought to have got possession of New Orleans ; and no one attributes the blame of our non-success to a want of bravery in our troops, or of energy in our gallant commander, one of the most distin- guished officers of the Peninsular war. The traces of the works thrown up are so obliterated, that I could not pretend to throw any new light on the operations, which, on our part, were undertaken under circumstances of great local difficulty. On my return towards the city I saw some beautiful gardens and handsome country-houses. The Washington gardens, in particular, attracted my attention, with their beautiful orange- trees covered with fruit. The weeping-willows were finer than any I had seen, and the live oak, festooned with moss, added a novel and pleasing effect to the general scenery. The prairies, which I had also observed on fire the afternoon of my arrival, had not yet burned out, and towards evening cast a lurid glare over the southern horizon. I may here mention that a steam-propeller, belonging to the United States navy, did not escape my attention ; her principal use being directed to the rapid removal of troops upon an emergency, in case of difficulties occurring amongst the Indians either in Florida or Texas. It was evening by the time I again reached the city. In Ponchatrain market-house a long table was laid out, at which a number of persons were regaling themselves upon a good supper ; it was well lighted up, which added to the gaiety of the scene ; and in the neighbourhood were numerous oyster saloons. These were divided into small compartments, each fitted up with gaily-coloured curtains, red, blue, and yellow ; and most of these rooms were filled with an uncouth-looking company, who had all the appearance of being either borderers from Texas, or disappointed gold-diggers from California, of , THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 103 which latter there now hegan to arrive a large number at the sea-port towns. The Americans, I may here mention, are far more partial to oysters than any Europeans, and I have fre- quently seen one gentleman dispatch a small tureenfull of stewed oysters for supper. In the evening I attended a rural dance at the German " Garten," where many of the artisans, a vast number of whom are foreigners, amused themselves, after their own simple fashion, in waltzing and drinking beer. I also observed ii advertisement of a quadroon ball, which was to take place on the following evening, in which the public were duly apprised, that a strong body of police would be in attendance, and that gentlemen who carried bowie knives and pistols would be dis- armed prior to their being allowed to enter the ball-room. My time being circumscribed, I made my arrangements to leave the city of New Orleans on the following day. I had seen most of the objects of interest, and to have enjoyed the society of the place, which is reckoned the most recherche in the United States, I must have remained in it a considerable time ; but before I take my leave of New Orleans, I must say a few words respecting the wonderful rise of city property, or real estate, during the last fifty years, since, in fact, the State of Louisiana has been ceded to the Americans. That part of the city which may now be considered the most valuable, is where the hotel of St. Charles now rears its lofty dome. Not many years since, this spot and neighbourhood was all one dirty swamp. This land was then considered so valueless, that at the appraisement of a bankrupt's effects, the creditors did not think it even worth their while to enter a plot of ground which the debtor possessed into the schedule of his assets. This block of land, therefore, remaining in his hands, eventually descended to his family, and to show its increased value, they not long since parted with it for the sum of three hundred thousand dollars. Again, a gentleman told me that a block of land, which may now be estimated at a value of little less than half a million of dollars, was, about the period to which I have alluded, offered to his grandfather, and refused by him, for a case of French boots ; but as New Orleans is the only outlet to the sea of that vast and valuable continent, through which the Mississippi and its mighty tributaries flow, it is quite evident that, as this continent becomes settled and populous, so must the seaport flourish and increase ; and so far, in my opinion, is this city from having arrived at the zenith of its size and prosperity, it may scarcely be considered at its commencement, 104 A GLIMPSE AT and speculation, therefore, in real estate, may be looked upon as not only a safe but very profitable investment Although vast profits have almost invariably been the result of specula- tions in real estate, fewer competitors are in the market than might have been expected ; in the first place, because their gains are not immediate, and in the second, few men, in the Southern States of the Union, are content to invest their money in any way, however secure, that will not realize at least twelve or fifteen per cent, per annum ; most look for at least twenty or twenty-five per cent., and many seek, and actually obtain, fifty per cent, per annum, and even more, upon the capital they lay out. Many persons, I was informed, who had purchased city lots, fenced them round, and converted them into kitchen gardens ; in this way they were enabled to realize a present interest of four or five per cent., and when the oppor- tunity offers itself, either to build upon the lots themselves, or to dispose of them at the advanced price of the day. There is one feature in the United States which gives a won- derful energy to the proceedings of this mercantile community. Should any man make a bad hit in one speculation, provided he is not guilty of fraud, he will readily obtain fresh credit, and, starting anew, may perhaps be more fortunate another time. A man will thus one day be a farmer, a short time after a merchant, then a tavern-keeper, colonel of militia, and slave owner ; he will oftentimes be all these things, not only in succession, but at one and the same time, and he will not him- self frequently know whether lie be in the bond fide possession of one hundred thousand dollars, or in debt that sum to others. It certainly, however, surprises me that Englishmen should be found ready to invest vast sums of money in Continental securities and in foreign railroads, when a larger per cent, of interest, and undoubtedly far better security, can be obtained in State bonds, c., in this great Republic/ No doubt this is principally owing to a want of knowledge of the vast resources of this rising country, or of the real integrity which pervades the hearts of a majority of her citizens. But there is no doubt that the Americans have to blame themselves for the short- sighted and dishonest policy which the repudiating States practised, and which certainly has had the effect of driving capital from her shores. The American citizens, however, generally are well aware of the vast injury which this system of repudiation has brought upon their name in the opinion of the world ; and I now believe that they are ready to submit to any privations, whatever rather THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 305 than deny their responsibilities, and that the fundholder of any State may, for the future, rest assured that his dividends will be paid to him, unless some great catastrophe should occur, as unlooked-for as it is improbable. CHAPTER XIX. AT three o'clock in the afternoon of the 3rd of November I took my leave of the Crescent City. It gave me the utmost satisfaction to have visited the great emporium of the southern and western trade of so vast a continent, but I own that I had no desire to become a resident of New Orleans. The climate during the winter is exceedingly pleasant, and the town being thronged with rich planters from the neighbourhood, and the heads of all the mercantile houses being there collected together, one constant round of gaiety is the result, but during a large portion of the year, as I have before observed, all who can afford to do so fly from this unhealthy spot. There were two ways by which I was enabled to reach New York ; the first was, by embarking in one of the large steam- vessels, of which there is a regular line twice a-month, from New Orleans to the Havana, and from thence to New York ; the second route was that of landing at Mobile, and taking a hasty survey of the States of Alabama, Georgia, the two Carolinas, and Virginia; thus by Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, to reach New York, visiting on the way some of the principal towns in the south, such as Macon, Savannah, and Charleston, as well as some of the earliest settlements, and the capital of the great Republic itself. By the former route I should have had an opportunity of visiting Havana, as well as some of the principal Spanish settlements in the island of Cuba; but, on the other hand, I felt that, if I should miss this by taking the latter route, yet I should be most amply repaid by the many interesting places I should have the opportunity of seeing, in return for the loss of one. Having, then, determined to deviate but little from the direct mail route from New Orleans to New York, I first pro- ceeded by rail six miles to Lake Ponchatrain, a very large sheet of water on the eastern side of the former city. Myself and fellow passengers here found that a steamer, called the " Samuel Day," was ready to receive us ; she was the cleanest and best regulated steam-ship that I had seen in the United States, since quitting the "Mayflower" on Lake Erie; her engines were on the low pressure system, a delightful change 106 A GLIMPSE AT from the roaring and snorting which I had been subject to, during the long distance that I travelled in steamers containing the high pressure ones on the Mississippi. The captain was exceedingly attentive to those on board ; in the course of con- versation, he gave me a detailed account of the attack upon New Orleans by the British, in 1814. He said that he had often heard it related by the best authority, namely, that of old Quare, the pilot, who was taken prisoner by the British fleet, and obliged to act contrary to his own desires, in giving his assistance to the enemy against his own country. Q,uare attributed the defeat of the British to not having waited patiently, at the upper end of Lake Bourg, the place at which the army disembarked from the boats of the British squadron, until the whole of that army was collected together, ere they proceeded forward to the banks of the Mississippi River, and exposed themselves, as yet but a small portion of their force, to a destructive fire from a vessel in the river, as well as from a land force, who, perfectly acquainted with the country, were enabled to deliver upon them a cross-fire, both from their front and flank. Before retiring to rest, I had a long conversation with one of the passengers relating to slavery. As usual, he contended that the mind of the negro was not susceptible of cultivation; that the law of the state prohibiting education amongst them, was, in fact, a nullity, because they were incapable of properly receiving it when tendered to them, but that they were fit for nought but work. He even went so far as to say, that the least amount of black blood so tainted the whole system, as to render it equally impure, and that all who possessed it ought still to continue in slavery. I afterwards made some allowance for his ultra notions on this subject, from hearing that the bulk of his property was invested in slaves. In addition to the laws prohibiting education, there are enactments preventing a master from granting freedom to his slave, without the especial sanc- tion of the legislature, which in no case will be granted unless security is given that they shall never become a burthen upon their parish ; and they pretend that the interference of the northern people, in a question which does not concern them, has rendered necessary many of these severe enactments. Very early on the following morning we were roused by the large ship's bell. While dressing, I observed one of the black servants carefully arrange the passenger's boots in a circle, in the centre of which he placed a tray, putting a small silver piece, called a dime, into it, a sufficiently intelligible hint, that the passengers were expected to follow his example, and which THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 107 I observed they all did. In my travels in the United States, I observed that the Americans were particularly generous in rewarding attendants, although, in fact, they are seldom obliged to do so ; but they undoubtedly are a liberal race of people : this may perhaps be somewhat owing to the ease and rapidity with which they make their dollars, but also must, in a great measure, be attributed to an inherent generosity in their characters. In all cases of distress they are ever ready, with a most profuse and liberal hand, in relieving their, fellow men ; and as many, if not most, are the founders of their own fortune, they can better understand the heavy burdens which they lighten, and privations which they assist in mitigating, having themselves, perhaps, at some former period, suffered under them. In this they show an example to the world at large ; for even in Great Britain, which has acquired so just a reputa- tion for its generosity, I have sometimes heard individual charity excused upon the plea that to relieve it is the peculiar privilege of the state. Between eight and nine o'clock we entered the Bay of Mobile; about twenty large vessels, English and American, were anchored in the roads distant from the town of Mobile about thirty miles, the water being too shallow to allow them a nearer approach. This shallowness of the water causes- an immense deal of inconvenience in the transaction of business, but it is impossible to remedy it. These vessels were awaiting their cargoes of cotton and timber, and great was the extra labour which had to be undertaken in transshipping them to such a great distance from the port. The estuaries which lie adjacent to the mouths of the Mis- sissippi, are also shallow, the water in them is brackish, though by no means so salt as that of the open sea ; they contain a vast quantity of fish, and abound in oysters of a very good quality. The mouths of the Mississippi project in a singular way into the Gulf of Mexico, resembling the print of a gigantic crow's foot ; a narrow embankment of sand alone protecting each mouth of the river from the encroachments of the ocean, which entirely surrounds these outworks on all sides. I arrived at Mobile about nine o'clock on the morning of the 4th Novein her. My intention was to have proceeded at once up the Alabama River to Montgomery, distant about five hun- dred miles, in one of the many steamers which ply upon its waters. I however found that the channel at this season was eo nearly dry, that this voyage would now take six or eight 108 A GLIMPSE AT days, and perhaps even more. I therefore determined to take the mail line, by which, as the greater portion was by land, the distance would be much curtailed, although the roughness of the roads made it unpleasant even to contemplate. The mail road I knew to be little better than a track through the wood, and I had already experienced what the mail coaches in the states were like ; the distance however by this route was considerably shorter, being only forty miles by water and one hundred and eighty by land. I therefore secured a place at the office on the quay, where I was desired to be in readiness to depart at one o'clock ; the interim I determined to devote in visiting the city. Mobile is a considerable town and commands a great amount of trade, all the cotton grown upon the fertile banks of the Alabama River being shipped from this port ; indeed, to a certain degree it pretends to vie with New Orleans herself. It is situated at the head of an estuary twenty-eight miles from the open sea. Many of the streets are wide and spacious, and much busi- ness was apparently being transacted ; this, however, was the commencement of the busy season, the cotton crop having already partially arrived. I here observed a singular feature in many of the buildings, namely, that of their not having been erected at right angles to each other : this, although it might have saved some few inches of ground, gave to their rooms a sad misshapen appearance, which greatly disfigured their proportions. In the streets of Mobile a singular lingua Franca appeared to me the prevailing dialect ; a sort of mixture between French and Spanish, interlarded throughout with English words. The oiginal settlement of this country by natives of the two former nations will easily account for this circum- stance. Oysters and oyster saloons here abounded to such an extent, that one might have been led to imagine them to be the sole food of the inhabitants, although the sudden freshets of water, which occasionally descend from the interior of country during the spring season, I was informed, destroy vast quantities of this fish. Before leaving Mobile, a pretty little dinner was served up to me quite in the French style. The cookery in the Southern is far superior to that in the Northern states, in which latter, except in hotels of first-rate note, the unfortunate traveller is obliged to eat little else than tough beef-steaks, varied by " Despatch Cocks." The wines of Bordeaux are THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 109 almost as common in the Southern states as they are in France, and are infinitely pleasanter than those strong drinks which pervade the north. Embarking, then, about two o'clock on board a small and wretched steamer, the " Narcissa," we first proceeded about forty miles up the Kensas River, arriving about six P.M., at Stockton, where the mail coach was awaiting us. The river Kensas flowed through a low and thickly wooded country, interpersed with cane brakes, where it was said that deer and bears abounded. I here observed, for the first time, the marsh cypress tree, which has a curious swelling at its roots, from which peculiarity many other trees which grow in this marshy soil are not altogether exempt. The forest towards the mar- gin of the river was of the densest description, and many of the interlacing trees, festooned with brilliant scarlet-leaved creepers, were hung with weeping moss. Near the mouth of the Kensas River is situated the town of Blakeney ; in many respects this would have proved a far more eligible site for a city than Mobile ; standing on a point of land, it is within a few miles of the anchorage of fleets of merchantmen. It also commands a greater extent of river navigation, and in no one way did it appear to me less convenient in point of situation ; but Mobile having taken the lead, has steadily kept it, and Blakeney will probably find it impossible to surpass her. A proprietor of large estates on the Kensas River extolled most highly to me both climate and soil of his native country. He said that such was the fruitfulness of the soil, and its varied qualities, that he was almost independent of the world ; that he already grew his own tea, sugar, coffee, and cotton, in addi- tion to the common agricultural produce, and that he was making preparations for the culture of the vine, which he also felt certain would repay his labours. The stage proprietor, who travelled with us from Stockton, told us marvellous tales of the rapidity with which the govern- ment couriers carried their despatches on this road, and stated that the one with the news of the victory of Palo Alto, during the Mexican war, which was carried by a black boy, reached Montgomery, a hundred and eighty miles distant, in thirteen hours, a great contrast certainly to the very tedious pace at which we were proceeding, for we scarcely performed more than four miles an hour, nor could we beguile our journey with a little sleep, as our heads were constantly knocking against the sides and roof of the vehicle, and we were altoge- 110 A GLIMPSE AT fcher quite as uncomfortable as I had made up my mind that we should be. We stopped for supper, which consisted of tough doughy cakes, with fried squirrel and weak coffee, without milk, at about ten o'clock at night, at a single house, called Weather- bourn's ; the mistress of this house appeared to be a dreadfully cantankerous woman. She employed herself during our half- hour's stay in little else than scolding her slaves. Weatherbourn was the son of the chief of the Creek Indians, who was, for a series of years, a violent opponent to the Ame- ricans, when they were commanded by General Jackson ; while ten men of the Creek tribe remained together, Weatherbourn never would surrender, and at length he only did so when all his followers had either been killed, or deserted him. He then consented to receive a grant of land, and ever after was faithful to the Government. I had much conversation with a very entertaining person, a Mr. Carter, a large contractor on the railroads, one of our fel- low passengers ; he told me that the principal portion of his workmen were Irish, and that he found them a most attentive, hard-working set, and generally very sober. This was another proof to me how these people could throw off their habits of idleness and drunkenness, when a direct reward was clearly placed before them. Nearly the whole of the journey we were threading our way through one gigantic forest, sometimes of magnificent pine, at others of different hard woods, such as oak, maple, &c. Mr. Carter said that these forests abounded in game ; so much so, that while he had parties making the roads through them, he found it worth his while to keep two Indians in his pay, for the sole purpose of supplying his men with venison. He also told us that beaver dams were very numerous, some of which, indeed, we saw, and that his men were generally obliged to cut through two or three in each week, as they lie upon the line of railroad. Most of the beavers themselves had been de- stroyed, but those that remained were very laborious, making darns of thirty feet wide in a single night. In one or two of the houses at which we stopped I observed rery handsome chimney pieces, which had been cut out of a species of soap-stone ; this, when first manufactured, is very soft and easy to work, but after exposure to the air soon hardens, and has a good appearance. The houses were invariably built of wood, but most of the chimneys were composed of Adoba bricks, precisely similar to those used in Mexico and THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. Ill Spanish America, being composed of a sort of red clay baked in the sun. I had also many opportunities of seeing "dirt-eaters," or those who are constantly in the habit of picking up and mas- ticating pieces of earth, a vicious and unhealthy habit, here common amongst the children of all races, and, I believe, pecu- liar to this part of the Southern States. Those that are addicted to this propensity are easily detected, from an unwholesome appearance in their countenance, which assumes a pale, dirty, and livid look ; when once this habit is contracted, it is diffi- cult, and some assert impossible, for them to relinquish it. It is supposed to proceed from a disordered state of the digestive organs, the consequence of eating an undue quantity of molasses and other saccharine matter, which causes them to seek for something which will destroy the acidity on their stomachs. This I believe, to a certain degree, to be effected by chewing the clay, the remedy, however, being worse than the disease ; and by its constant indulgence they at length become confirmed " dirt-eaters." The wayside inns, at which we obtained refreshments, were especially uncomfortable, and we were charged most exor- bitantly for our wretched fare. Neither milk, eggs, nor bread, were to be obtained, nothing but tough meat, dough cakes, and green tea. At length I hit upon an expedient which answered completely; before I commenced my meal, I asked for milk, &c., and when I was told they had it not, I declined taking anything. When they saw that they would thus lose their money, the slaves were quickly put in motion, and I was offered the best they possessed for the Southerners, although more insouciant, have as keen a relish for their gains as any Yankee in the Northern States. We passed through many large plantations of cotton (sugar is, I believe, only cultivated in the States of Louisiana, Missis- sippi, Florida, and Texas). The houses of the planters were on a more contracted scale than 1 had expected to find them, but this district is considered rather in the back country. The planters appear to live very much in the style of the Irish squireens. A splendid piano, that cost five hundred dollars, may be found in a dilapidated tenement not weatherproof, or a handsome carriage and harness in a cow-shed. They will fre- quently haggle for fifty centimes for half of one day, and on the next they will cast down four or five hundred dollars at a single throw of the dice. They are very ignorant of the world ; many of them had just been persuaded to take shares in a railroad, which was 112 A GLIMPSE AT proposed to run through the line of country which we were travelling ; as an instance of their simplicity, they had agreed to pay a thousand dollars each, hesides hinding themselves, every one, to complete four miles of road, with the exception of laying the rails. They imagined that the sum of five thou- sand dollars a-piece would cover the outlay, whereas, hy Mr. Carter's calculation, it would equal, if not exceed, fifty thou- sand ; which from the undulations of the country, the quantity of timber and brushwood to be cleared, and rivulets to be bridged over, appeared much nearer the mark. To their utter dismay, he imparted this to some of them, who, to judge from their fallen countenances, would pass many a sleepless night. CHAPTER XX WE arrived at Montgomery, at the head of the navigable waters of the Alabama River, about four o'clock in the morn- ing of our second day's journey. Montgomery is evidently a very rising place, depending chiefly upon the cotton planta- tions, and the great shipments that are made. During my visit it happened to be court time, or, as we should call it, the assizes, and the town was therefore crowded. Law is not so costly in the United States, and consequently it is resorted to much more frequently, the cheap rate at which this luxury can be enjoyed being a sad curse to the country. We left Montgomery for Columbus and Macon about nine o'clock in the morning, and passed through many villages, all of them as usual in a very thriving condition. One of them I remember by no means inappropriately called Auburn, for it certainly was the " loveliest village of the plain." On the side of this road to Columbus, I observed that the telegraph were not supported as is usual by posts, but simply fixed from one tree to another through the forest. This method must have caused a vast diminution in the expense of its erection, while it did not diminish its utility. The Americans justly pride themselves upon being a most practical people : here, therefore, was an instance where hundreds of miles of instanta- neous communication were perfected at almost as small a cost as the line over which it ran would have been surveyed in England. In this country, I saw adopted the Portuguese and Spanish fashion of a man riding one of the mules in the shafts of a waggon, and driving eight or ten more. Mules are very commonly used in many of the Southern States, but especially in Alabama, and also in Tennessee, where they work on tha THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 113 cotton plantations, a large supply being bred in the former State, and sent to the latter. Many of the gentlemen in this country use nothing but mules in their carriages ; they are not able to draw so great a weight as a horse, but appear to stand the climate much better, and will thrive upon worse food. I subsequently met a gentleman at Barnsville, who was travelling with a light phaeton and four mules : three of these animals, he told me, were not more than two years old, and yet they performed the journey from Columbus to Barnsville, a distance of seventy miles, in less than one day, nor did they appear to me distressed by the journey, He also mentioned a curious system adopted in the Southern States, but which I never previously heard of, which was that of keeping a grey mare amongst a herd of them, as it is positively asserted here, that her presence so fascinates them that they will never stray so long as she is in their company. About two in the afternoon we arrived at Opeleika, where we quitted the railroad, and again betook ourselves to the stage. Our route lay through Columbus, a large city in Georgia, situated on the Chatapeochee River; the distance was ninety-three miles to Barnsville, where we were informed we should again join a railroad which would conduct us through Macon to Savannah. This stage was in all respects much better than any I had yet seen, and during a portion of the distance we travelled at least eight, and sometimes nine, miles the hour. In many parts of the South, the inhabitants were taking up, with much vehemence, the opposition shown in the Northern States to the fulfilment of the enactments relative to the late Fugitive Slave Law. Many of the merchants and slave-owners in the South gave out that they would not employ in shipping their cotton any vessel belonging to the part of Boston, nor even would they sell this, the staple produce of their country, to a merchant, unless his views were registered as favourable to slavery. Of one fact there can be no doubt, that the Northern cities are beholden for much of their wealth and prosperity to the Southern ones, who are large consumers of their manufac- tures; but the Southern cities, on the contrary, feel themselves under little or no obligation to their Northern brethren, because they are well aware that they can readily dispose, at least of their cotton crop, to foreign nations, who are only too anxious to obtain it. A large meeting was being held at Columbus, respecting the slave question, during my stay there, at which resolutions to counteract the Northern agitation were carried. It appeared to me, however, that there was no necessity for i 114 A GLIMPSE AT this counter-agitation in respect to so exciting a question. Upon the union of the States, one of the first principles of the constitution was, that slavery could only be abolished with the dissolution of that union, unless with the full consent of the Southern States, emanating from themselves. Early on the following morning I arrived at Barnsville. On descending from the coach, I perceived a boy, about fourteen t years of age, who was standing at the door of the inn, and who had the appearance of being a porter. I said to him, " Will you help me, my boy, with this portmanteau into the house ?" He turned towards me with a most indignant look : "Well," said lie, "if I'm a boy, what are men in your country ?" This will in some measure show the feelings of independence which the youths generally possess in the United States ; in short, in a country where provisions are so cheap, and labour so plentiful, they are soon freed from a reliance upon parental assistance, and thus little or no division of time exists between childhood and manhood. Before our departure from Barnsville, there arrived at the station five or six car- riages, containing a number of elegantly-dressed ladies, attended by some fashionable young men. The whole of this party evidently belonged to the first families of Georgia, and I imagined that a wedding was going forward ; upon inquiry, however, I ascertained that these young ladies were on their return to their studies at a ladies' college, and that the gentle- men at present in their company were relatives, who were bidding them adieu. At these institutions it appears that most of the young ladies in the South receive their education : these colleges are frequently conducted by governors and governantes of the Roman Catholic persuasion ; but this does not prevent Protestant parents from allowing their children to receive an education there. In a country where the government of the state and the national religion are distinct, where no rich ecclesiastical emoluments are at the disposition of the ministry, the bitter- ness of feeling between different sects may not be so manifest as in England, where the Church and State are united. In America, the results of a different system, to be shown by the advancement of true piety and morality, yet remain to be ascertained ; but with us the Protestant religion is so deeply identified with our liberties, that any aggression of Popery is resented by the whole population as an invasion of our Free Constitution. The entrance into Macon was very picturesque. The country was pretty and undulating. Crowning the eminences, and THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 115 interspersed among the trees, were the greatest number of gen- tlemen's residences which I had yet seen either in Alabama or Georgia. A few miles west of the town is a pretty village, called Vineville : a gentleman formerly made a large plantation of vines at this spot, being under the impression that the cul- ture of that plant would have there succeeded well, and that wine could have been produced of a quality certainly superior to that which is made near Cincinnati. Either the climate or the soil disappointed all his expectations, for, after great exer- tions, he found himself obliged to relinquish the undertaking. Immediately after my arrival at Macon, I walked out to see the town : although so new a place, the streets were laid out very handsomely, rows of trees lining the trottoirs, with one or more fountains in the centre of these avenues, casting their bubbling waters in the air. Those gentlemen's residences not immediately in the town were surrounded by pretty gardens, where both taste and expense had been with judgment dispensed. In short, Macon appeared to me by far the prettiest place 1 had yet seen in the Union. On descending the hill once more into the town, I was at- tracted by a conspicuous sign over a wide gateway, notifying in large letters that negroes were there for sale. I proceeded towards the spot, and found lounging about the yard a dozen or more black men and women, and the same number of little children. I made inquiry in regard to their respective value, asking one of the guards at the gate whethey they were will- ing to part the families, or whether it was a matter of neces- sity to purchase all the members of each. The owner, who was standing near, with a large stick in his hand, imme- diately answered that I was at liberty to take any that I might choose. " You may have them singly or by the lot, just as you wish." This answer clearly showed to me, that the stories which I had heard of families being never separated was not true; for here, without further trouble, I could have picked them as I wished. I had subsequently other opportunities of proving the fact. No doubt the practice of not separating families, and more especially the husband and the wife, is not commonly departed from, and never so by the really humane and phi- lanthropic, but it is certainly by no means a rule without an exception : indeed, I have heard it remarked, " Oh ! a slave can always find a wife on any plantation he may go to;" and although the sacred tie of marriage is not dissoluble at the will and pleasure of the owner, the compact, at all events, is ren- i2 116 A GLIMPSE AT dered nugatory by a forced separation, whenever his interests shall direct such to take place. On returning to the hotel, and while questioning the bar- keeper respecting the departure of the trains for Savannah, a gentleman called for pen and ink in order to make out a pass for his servant, as he was desirous of sending him a message, from the delivery of which he could not return until after sunset. I then ascertained that all slaves who are found out after dark without a proper pass, are seized and detained by the police, proving that their masters do not place that con- fidence in their affection which they appear anxious to impress upon strangers, that they do possess. Before my departure from Macon, I supped in the large room of the hotel. I had frequently observed the singular mixture which many of the Americans make at their meals ; I here observed that a gentleman, after calling for a glass of milk, deliberately shook a portion of the contents of the pepper-box into it, and having added a tea-spoonful of salt, stirred the whole together, and drank it. There is certainly no accounting for taste, but this, among all the strange com- pounds which I met with in the United States, was the most extraordinary. In many of the rooms of the hotel at Macon, as in other places of the Southern States, I observed some really good pic- tures. They were, generally speaking, copies from the Italian and Spanish masters, the principal part being after Titian and Correggio ; Venus appeared the favourite subject. And it was agreeable to observe this demonstration of a love of the arts when contrasted with its total absence in the Northern and Western States. CHAPTER XXI. AT dusk in the evening of the 8th of November, I started for Savannah by the railway. The country, as far as we could see, was flat and covered with pine timber ; the evening was bitterly cold, but in consequence of an immense fire kept up in the stove in the carriage, we were nearly suffocated with heat. I observed the conductor constantly opening the door and looking out at the rear of the carriages. I inquired the cause of his apparent uneasiness. He told me that frequent instances had happened of slaves escaping from the plantations by getting up behind the cars ; and he added, " We have to THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 117 be very particular now, because we are held responsible for them by law should they escape in this manner." We were detained upon the road longer than was usual, in consequence of the difficulty of obtaining water for the engine ; the country is sandy and dry, from which, at some seasons, as I was informed, great incovenience resulted. After an unpleasant night's journey, about seven o'clock on the morning of the 9th we arrived at Savannah. The entrance to this town was not unpleasing; the streets were spacious and well shaded on either side by handsome trees, one of which is called "the Pride of India," as well as a sort of dwarf palm. I got down at the Pulaski House, which, although a far inferior hotel to that which I had met with at Macon, yet was by no means uncomfortable ; it faces the square, in the centre of which stands a monument erected to the memory of General Pulaski, who fell in the great revolutionary struggle. Savannah must, during the summer months, be a very unhealthy place, in which opinion I was confirmed by the accounts from many of the inhabitants. I entered into con- versation with an Irish emigrant, who was loud in his praises of all in Savannah, with the exception of the climate. Wages, he said, were very high, work plentiful, and provisions cheap ; but the climate was bad in the summer, and the consequent sickness very great. He was then suffering under a peculiarly painful fever, the name of which I had previously heard mentioned; it is called "the broken-bone fever;" from the description, I presume, it is a species of acute bilious rheuma- tism, it is dangerous and painful, and accompanied by intense agony in every bone in the body. During the rainy reason at the termination of the summer, there must be much malaria, for this city appears to be surrounded by low, wet land. There formerly existed an extensive cultivation of rice close to the city; this within a distance of two miles has now been prohibited. No doubt the non-cultivation of this plant has diminished considerably the malaria, which formerly was en- gendered by the evaporation from so much moisture, without which it will not thrive. The weather at this season of the year was agreeable ; warm without being hot, the sky un- clouded, and an elasticity in the air, which, if it lasted throughout the year, would cause Savannah or any other spot on the globe where it existed, to be considered a perfect para- dise. In the prairies I had seen two or three bad days, but, with that exception, I had been fortunate in the enjoyment of fine weather, i 118 A GLIMPSE AT A great many cotton ships had already arrived, and more were coming daily into the harbour. I witnessed the opera- tion of a most perfect piece of machinery for pressing cotton by steam ; it worked with great rapidity and certainty, reduc- ing in about half a minute each bale to half its former size. It was erected in a warehouse close to the water's edge ; and no sooner had its purpose been effected, than the cotton was at once shipped on board the vessel in attendance for its reception. In my perambulations through the town, I found myself in the old burying-ground. It was with real pleasure that I inspected some of the most ancient monuments, for that which is a hundred years old may not improperly be styled ancient, amongst all that is so new. I found one to the memory of Sir Patrick Houston, President of His Majesty in Georgia. There are two burial-places in Savannah, in addition to the one I have already mentioned ; one of these is devoted to strangers, the other, an extensive one, for the black people ; for as in life, so in death, the white man refuses companionship with the coloured race. In Savannah I saw many very good shops, in which were beautiful articles, the manufactures of Germany, France, and England, Bohemian cut glass, marqueterie work, and articles of every description from Birmingham. The bookseller, Mr, Cooper, possessed, also, a better shop than any I had seen of that class, in New Orleans. The hire of horses and carriages was most exorbitant ; but this cannot so much be wondered at ? when it is taken into consideration that every grain of oats and pound of hay is brought from the Northern States, which are distant nearly one thousand miles. While in Savannah and its neighbourhood I was most anxious to have seen some of the alligator tribe, which abound in many of the rivers in the vicinity of the town. The season was, however, rather too far advanced to enable me to gratify my curiosity. These alligators, I was told, were plentiful below the St. Mary's river, but especially in Florida, at a large sheet of water, surrounded by wild orange trees, called Orange Lake. Upon the whole, I rather took a liking to Savannah, but pos- sibly, this might have been owing to my having seen it under very favourable circumstances as to season and weather. It was a most lovely evening, with a half moon brightly shining:, when I bade adieu to Savannah in the steamer " Ge- neral Clinch," for Charleston, in South Carolina. Fortunately this steamer was not so crowded as is usually the case, which made our trip more agreeable. The distance to Charleston THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 119 from Savannah by the inner passage was 140 miles ; by far the greater portion of this voyage we were threading our way betwixt the islands and the main land. Many of these islands abound with game, and very extensive oyster-beds exist upon the banks adjoining them. These islan'ds are very numerous, the shore being studded with them for a considerable distance along this coast. After calling at different towns by the way, for the purpose of exchanging the mails, on the following morning we found ourselves well out at sea. The wind hourly increased, and the passage became unpleasant ; we, moreover, had a heavy head sea, which, setting right upon our bows, retarded our arrival at Charleston until twelve at noon. A few miles below the entrance of the harbour we passed an unfinished, though very strongly-situated fortress, called Fort Sumpter. Here, appa- rently, could be mounted more than fifty pieces of heavy artillery ; and, as the only channel runs close beneath its walls, every ship entering the harbour is obliged to steer well within the range of its powerful battery. We also passed a second fortress, called Fort Johnson, nearer to the town, as strongly situated, and as well defended with artillery. Shortly after we moored abreast of the pier. I soon found my way into a good hotel, but having so repeatedly suffered from the contemptuous indifference shown by many of the domestics, and, I may add bar- keepers, both in the large hotels, and in the steam-boats in the Northern portion of the Union, particularly in the State of New York, I shall, in future, better appreciate the civility so universally tendered in an English hotel ; many of the American gentlemen, however, are so unaccustomed to this conduct on the part of the domestics, that they are often led to misconstrue this civility as servile, and to imagine that it bespeaks a want of independence; at the same time they admit that it is agreeable in comparison with what they meet with at home. I then set off to see the city of Charleston. It appeared to me to contain some handsome buildings, but to be inferior to New Orleans. King-street, in Charleston, reminded me very much of High-street in Portsmouth, and I own I had infinite pleasure in recognizing the similitude. It struck me that an extraordinary proportion of the inhabitants were in mourning, which would argue a large bill of mortality ; but as a coun- terpoise to these sombre hues worn by the white population, the coloured race were decked out with peculiar gaiety. The military college appeared to be on an extensive scale ; the 120 A GLIMPSE AT dress of the hoys was a light Oxford mixture, hoth a sensible and a pleasing colour. The city guards were actively patrolling the streets day and night, for the purpose, as one of them told me, of "keeping down the niggers;" and if the sway of the Southern slaveholder is as paternal as is represented, the coloured race must, indeed, be ungrateful to require such restrictions and surveillance. On the outskirts of the city I here again observed a large number of turkey buzzards ; they no doubt are very useful animals, for as scavengers they cleanse the streets of a vast quantity of impure matter. At 3 o'clock P.M. I started in the mail-packet steamer "Wilmington," for the town of that name, in North Carolina. As the wind blew from the south-east, we had a very rough and stormy passage. The navigation can scarcely be called dangerous to those intimately acquainted with it, but it cer- tainly bears a most unpleasant appearance, both upon the chart, and in reality, by reason of the headlands and shoals which here obtrude themselves far into the Atlantic Ocean. Neither was the pleasure of the trip increased by the exceedingly dirty and uncomfortable state of the vessel, which was by no means an honour to the United States, more especially as it was the only direct line of mail communication between the north and the south of this vast and wealthy Republic. At eight o'clock on the morning of the llth we entered the river of Cape Fair, at the mouth of which is situated a small town, with a battery and block-house, called Smithsville. This town, they said, was resorted to by the inhabitants of Wil- mington, during the summer months, to enable them to breathe the pure sea breezes, and to enjoy sea-bathing. Four field- pieces were mounted on the remains of a fort which had been erected during the revolutionary war, and was afterwards de- stroyed by the British forces. 'This fort seems to have been composed of shells mixed with lime, and formed into solid masses resembling huge blocks of stone, by having been placed^ while in a liquid state, in boxes or cases, and allowed gradually to harden. The foundation appears very solid, but the structure^ itself is almost obliterated, and nothing perhaps strikes a traveller as more singular, because of its rarity, than anything like a ruin in this country where all is so new a The remnant, therefore, of an old building, however insignificant, appears like an old friend. Wilmington is a prettily situated and thriving town. Bruns- wick, which was the name of the first settlement in this district, was lower down the river, but having been burned by THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 12 1 the British in the revolutionary war, its site was abandoned for that of the present city. There was a great number of vessels lying at the different wharves on both sides of the river at Wilmington. A vast amount of pine timber is exported from thence, the whole country surrounding it for leagues being one continued pine forest. Turpentine also forms a considerable article of exportation ; the air of the whole town was, in fact, very strongly impregnated with its odour. As we daily approached the North, the weather gradually changed for the worse. Now no longer did the orange-tree, the palm, or the Pride of India, greet our path, or the lovely and clear evenings follow a mild warm day; but the towering pine- tree, varied occasionally by a cypress, was almost the only one we now ever saw, and rain and wind took the place of the more genial southern clime. This appeared rather strange to me, for during the last month, to the day of my arrival at Rock Island city, on the upper waters of the Mississippi, I had scarcely seen a shower of rain. But this afternoon it poured ; and the wind having veered round to the eastward and south, it blew a perfect gale. I had cause, therefore, to congratulate myself that I had left Charleston on the preceding day, otherwise, in all probability, I should that afternoon have been exposed to its fury. About a month subsequently to this period, great consternation was caused in the IN orth by the report that Jenny Lind and all her suite had been lost iii this passage. Happily this report was not correct. CHAPTER XXII. AT Wilmington I found a railway, which, running through North Carolina and Virginia, joins the Potomac River at Aqua Creek, about forty miles below Washington, thus connecting the link of steam communication between New Orleans and New*York, with but the two exceptions of which I have pre- viously made mention, namely, from Stockton to Montgomery, in Alabama, and from Opleika to Barnsville, in Georgia, by which I had travelled in the stage. The first portion of our journey from Wilmington lay through an interminable pine forest ; and for miles we passed rapidly over the ground, but still surrounded by pine trees. The sole variation was in their size, and also in the strange appearance which thousands of them bore, from having been scored for the purpose of ex- 122 A GLIMPSE AT trading the turpentine. This process is performed with a species of rake, which cuts deeply into the tree, inflicting a large wound, about eighteen inches long by six wide ; the tur- pentine, which flows freely out, being collected in a vessel placed beneath. Even this severe treatment does not always kill the tree, but indeed were it to do so, it would not ma- terially signify, for to destroy this forest of pine would pro- bably be the readiest means of converting the land to more useful purposes. Those portions of the pine forest which have already been destroyed, have been followed by an indigenous growth of oak, which singularly enough, here as well as elsewhere, invariably succeeds. The railroad, as we approached the great capital of the Republic, was gradually improving, and in stability was quite equal to the Albany and Buffalo line, in tbe State of New York, and very far superior to it in point of carriages, general attention and civility to passengers, and also in respect to the appearance of the travellers themselves. The inhabitants of the country through which we passed appeared sickly and pallid ; perhaps this may in some measure be accounted forbv the low, swampy ground which occasionally interspersed the sandy soil in which this pine forest almost universally flourished. The diet of the inhabitants, moreover, was reported to me as being of a more meagre description than the inhabitants of almost any other portion of the Union. They were said to exist almost entirely upon herrings, which are caught in countless numbers on this coast, in addition to the vegetable called the sweet potato. At three P.M. we arrived at Goldsborough ; we here found dinner awaiting us. Whilst getting into the cars I observed, standing near the door of one of them, a gang, as they were termed, of negroes. It consisted of three women and two children. In a moment the steam-vessel blew a shrill blast as usual, the signal for starting,. and commenced its movement. At the same time I observed two gentlemen at the door of the car, in conversation. One appeared rather well-dressed, the other was a short, stout, good-natured looking man. These, it appeared, were slave-dealers. " Come," said the dandy dealer, "I'll give you twenty-one hundred and fifty for the lot." " Say twenty -.two hundred," said the stout man, in a huge waterproof, "and they are yours." " Well, done," said the first ; " I hate not to do business." " Get in, you niggers," exclaimed both ; and the sale was completed between their white masters. These five fellow-creatures were sold ; nor did a compact. THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 123 embodying the happiness of five fellow beings even take the same time to ratify that we were employed at our repast, but actually was consummated after the signal had been given for the starting of the cars, and during the time indeed that they were on the move. Seeing that these slaves were all women, I inquired where their husbands, the probable fathers of these little children, were. No one appeared, however, sufficiently interested to vouchsafe even a thought, much less a reply. Both of these slave-merchants now fell into a long conversa- tion regarding their honourable employment, but presently the one who had sold the slaves came and seated himself near to me. It being the first transaction of the kind that I had wit- nessed, I felt the more interested, and made immediate in- quiries respecting the property he had just disposed of. Great was his astonishment to perceive that I should feel any interest whatever in the matter. I said, by way of commencing our conversation, that I considered the slaves dear at the price he had sold them. " Oh, no," said he, " niggers, sir, are regu- lated by the price of cotton ; cotton is now high, and niggers are ris !" He added, that the slave-merchant to whom he had sold them was a dealer from the lower Southern States ; that he would now take them to Georgia or Alabama, and sell them for three thousand dollars. " Why," added he, " one little girl is a mulatto, and, as you might have perceived, nearly white ; I purchased her, only a few days since, from her father, who is a planter, and resides not far from hence. He is about to marry, and fearing a disturbance with his future wife, he sold both his child and her mother." " How do the slaves," I inquired, " bear this change in their masters and location ?" " Why," answered he, " they take on dread- fully at first, but when they are well fed with pork, corn- bread, and molasses, they soon forget their former homes, and become reconciled to their new masters ; for in this country they are nearly starved, being fed upon nothing but fish and sweet potatoes; and many whom I have bought at the age of fourteen or fifteen, did not even know the taste of meat." He theu detailed an interesting account of his professional avocations. " Oftentimes," said he, "the residents of these Eastern swamps own more than one hundred slaves ; they are of not much service to them, but nevertheless they fre- quently can scarcely be induced to part with them ; 1, how- ever," added the slave-dealer, "get among them, and after a hit or two at cards, I soon make them turn some of the slaves over to me." " They sometimes, then," said I, " separate families, and even the husband and wife ?" " Oh, yes, cer- 124 A GLIMPSE AT tainly," said he ; "but a husband soon finds another wife, and the woman, if she is likely, gets another husband." "Do you often procure light-coloured slaves," I inquired; "and if so, are they in demand ? " " Oh, yes, some nearly white," he replied ; u and occasionally very intelligent and clever." This was the spontaneous and voluntary account given to me of his professional proceedings by the slave- dealer. How, then, in the face of these facts, can we believe, what so frequently is asserted> that families are never separated; that such parental care is evinced towards the slaves, that when- ever, from adverse and reduced circumstances, a slave-owner is obliged to part with them, neither the other planters, nor even the slave-dealers, will, from a tender regard to the feelings of these poor creatures, purchase any portion of a family without the whole ? So long as the purchase of slaves is permitted, so long as the traffic in human flesh and blood is allowable, so long will the love of gain, especially when sanctioned by law, break down philanthropic feelings ; and so long as such large profits are the reward of this system, it will continue to be protected. In the States of Pennsylvania and Delaware I am happy to learn that slavery is almost worn out ; it is a great pity that the measure of that humane and eminent statesman, Mr. H. Clay, instituting means for the gradual abolition of the entire system, should not have received the approbation of the legislature, or that the Wilmot proviso regarding the total abolition of slavery in the Territories of the Republic which have not yet been admitted into the Union, should have shared the same fate. Our night's journey between Wilmington and Richmond on the railroad was far from agreeable. All chance of sleep was denied to us by reason of the frequent visits of the conductors, who at each small stopping-place constantly made a request to see our tickets, and also in consequence of our being obliged to change four different times from one set of cars into others ; once, indeed, during the night we had to leave the railroad, and pass through a town in an omnibus. These changes cause much personal inconvenience, which, by a little arrangement and agreement between different companies, might readily be avoided. But I have observed that in the United States the details of a perfect plan are frequently slurred over, only look- ing to a general result ; in this new r country, so long as any grand measure is actually accomplished, the nicety with which it is* completed is of course a secondary consideration. It is certainly more for the convenience of the people at large in this THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 125 Republic of gigantic distances to have a railway extending some hundreds of miles, and thus connecting distant cities, although perhaps it may lack those perfections of detail which may be found in a country where wealth is more abundant. 1 may here instance the practical utility of the electric tele- graph in the United States ; in consequence of the rude way in which they are erected, the public are enabled to purchase their use at so moderate a price: whereas in England, from the great expense of the original undertaking, as well as the ex- pense of working it, its use is nullified as regards the poorer portion of the community. Early on the following morning we reached Richmond, the principal city in Virginia, which is beautifully situated. Rich- mond is the oldest looking town I had yet seen in the United States ; it is built altogether of brick and stone, and from not having even an admixture of frame buildings, has altogether a different appearance from any in the North or West. It ap- peared to me to possess a strong resemblance to one of onr inland manufacturing towns, both from the similarity in the structure of the houses, and from their uniformity, being com- posed of the same materials. Richmond is particularly noted as possessing the largest tobacco manufactures in the United States. In Virginia I was struck by the feeling of antagonism between the Southern and Northern States, far exceeding what I could have supposed to exist. It is here, as it were, that the two tides meet ; here is the line of demarcation betwixt two conflicting interests. Speaking of the Western States, a gentle- man observed to me, " Ah, the West is getting now quite spoilt ; not only are they overrun by French and Dutch (mean- ing German), but are cursed with no end of Yankees." Before this visit to the United States, I confess my ignorance was so great as to imagine that all the citizens of the Republic enjoyed the patronymic of Yankees, but I subsequently learned that it belonged of right only to the inhabitants of the New England States, after the same privilege that the Londoners at home are styled Cockneys. Virginia, moreover, claims a peculiar aristocracy, the early settlers in this State having been composed principally of ruined cavaliers, whereas those in Pennsylvania, and further north, were on the contrary mostly Roundheads. By way of illus- tration to my remark, I have made a list, which will take but small space, and may be read or overstepped by the reader at his pleasure. Of course I cannot vouch for the correctness of it, but give it as received by myself. 126 A GLIMPSE AT The New Englanders are called u Yankees" in New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maine : In the State of New York, Cockneys." Pennsylvania, " Flying Dutch." Ohio, " Buck-Eyes." Indiana, " Hosiers." Illinois, "Suckers." Missouri, " Pukes." Kentucky, " Corncrackers." Tennessee, " Buckshins." Arkansas. " Yahoos." Mississippi, " Sharpshooters." Virginia, " Tuckahoos." Carolina, South, Nullifyers." ,, North, " Rip-van- Winkles." Michigan, " Wolverines." After leaving Richmond, the country assumed a particularly pleasant aspect ; indeed, I could scarcely divest myself of the Idea that I was not passing through a part of England. Before reaching Aqua Creek, on the Potomac, the surrounding scenery much resembled parts of Berkshire, the fields being neatly inclosed with hedges, interspersed with copses, with wooded hills in the distance. About mid-day we arrived at Aqua Creek, where we found a small steamer, called the " Mount Vernon," waiting to con- vey us to Washington. It rained hard, and blew most fear- fully, but we managed notwithstanding to get on board without being very wet, and when there, were most comfortably enter- tained. This little boat, stemming the rapid stream with unusual speed, in about three hours brought us opposite Mount Vernon, the late residence of the immortal Washington. We had a fine view of both house and grounds, neither of which appeared extensive. Such is my unbounded admiration of this great man, that I esteem it a privilege to have seen the spot where he resided. Almost immediately opposite to Mount Vernon, and about ten miles below the city, we passed an extremely strong forti- fication, called Fort Washington, completely commanding the river, and about five, P.M., the steamer moored below the capital of this great Republic. A black servant on board the " Ver- THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 127 non" was particularly attentive in handing out my baggage, from which I afterwards discovered he had taken a pair of boots for his own use. I put up at Willand's Hotel, which needs no encomiums on my part, its excellence being known to all travellers. CHAPTER XXIII. EARLY on the following morning I was awoke by a low chant at my door, such as I had heard long since in the bogs of Allen. I recognised at once this wild Irish lay, but never ex- pected to have heard it so far from home. The servants in this house were, as usual, Irish, and many of them had landed but a few months since from their native country ; the song- stress, amongst the rest, was one who had left, as she expressed it, the doomed land. Although the city of Washington may, from its somewhat unconnected buildings, as yet deserve the name of the "city of magnificent distances," yet each year shows what rapid strides its inhabitants are making towards the filling up of these gaps by stately edifices ; and, in my opinion, it is a city which shows evidences of being well worthy of the Grand Re- public. The great check to the improvement of Washington, may be traced to its not being an emporium of commerce; but it is a part of the very genius of the constitution, that none of their senatorial cities should be places devoted to mercantile pursuits ; for it is the received idea, and with much reason, that otherwise these mercantile senators would give an undue attention to their own affairs, to the detriment of the public weal. Washington then is a city devoted to one object, that of making laws for the government of the Republic. Washington is a grand idea, and will probably one day be realized, when it will become what it now aspires to be, a magnificent city, which it must do when the United States become rich, settled, aristocratic, and luxurious, Each day verges towards that state of things, and ere long this will be effected. By-and-bye, as the present race of poor, dependent legislators are succeeded by wealthy and independent ones, the society of Washington will become the most intellectual in the Western hemisphere, and will possess every substantial benefit, conferred by a real aristocracy. Her streets, instead of being filled by hotels and boarding-houses, will possess a succession of beautiful palaces. 128 A GLIMPSE AT Republican senators will then assemble in a manner worthy of the Great Union which has delegated them to perform its duties; and senators and legislators, no longer seeking to obtain these situations for the stipends attached to them, will consider it the highest honour to serve their country for their country's good, for the renown their names will receive for so doing, and the proud prospect alone, of their being handed down to posterity as public benefactors. The electors them- selves, feeling a double assurance that those persons whom they have delegated to represent their interests can have but the purest motives for undertaking so honourable, but so arduous a task, and feeling convinced, moreover, that this motive alone can excite their ambition, as there would be neither pay nor emolument to reward them ; and from their being independent in principle as well as in fortune, even the highest offices of state, with the moderate salaries attached to them, connot hold out the bait of lucre, the form of government under which they exist, having neither tiles nor decorations to bestow, nor any other inducement to tempt the vanity which might endanger a weak mind. When that day arrives, which I cannot believe is far distant, much as the Great Republic is now to be admired, how much more justly will it then call down the just applause of the world ! Washington, although in some respects resembling the suburbs of some grand city, really possesses no suburbs at all. In distinct localities, truly magnificent objects strike the eye ; the Capitol, the President's House, the Treasury, and the new Patent Office, cause the smaller buildings upon which they look down, to appear insignificant ; and from the commanding position of the town, overlooking the valley beneath, through which that fine river the Potomac runs, a coup d'ceil is afforded of which few cities can boast. Of these the Capitol is the finest building, and situated in the most commanding posi- tion; unfortunately it is built of sandstone, which is of so porous a nature, that it has been deemed requisite to paint it, and they are obliged to renew it every five years ; the effect of this at a distance is very good, causing it to resemble marble. On being rebuilt, after its destruction by the British in 1814, it seems a pity that marble, which in the neighbourhood of Baltimore, at a distance of only forty miles, is so plentiful, had not been used. The Capitol, in its interior, is handsomely fitted up, and neatly decorated throughout. The circular gallery in its centre contains a series of paintings, peculiarly interesting to the Americans, representing scenes that were THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 129 enacted by their principal heroes during the revolutionary war. The Patent Office, with a museum attached to it, interested me greatly. The President's House is large and commodious ; the only apartments shown to strangers are the suite of reception-rooms, which are handsomely furnished. As a palace, it is hy no means grand enough for the chief magistrate of this great people and nation ; but it is even on too great a scale for the pitiful salary which they deem sufficient to accord to the President, the salary being five thousand pounds sterling, to cover every public and private expense, including the main- tainance of his establishment, servants, stables, &c. nothing being found for him but the house and furniture. Immediately below the President's House, and about one mile distant from it, is the commencement of a fine monument to Washington. The intention is to erect an obelisk, five hundred feet in height, and entirely composed of white marble ; about eighty feet have already been completed, and numerous workman are employed in prosecuting steadily their task. Already it has a fine appearance, but when four hundred and twenty more feet shall have been placed above what is now erected, it will be one of the most imposing structures of the kind in the world. The Egyptian obelisks would appear like pigmies by its side, and can boast of but one superior excellence, that of being single blocks. Between this monument and the Capitol, there is a large building of red stone, called the Smithsonian Institute. It is a sort of Gothic architecture, but altogether a poor perform- ance. This building is not nearly completed, but what has already been accomplished is of so imperfect a nature, that a large portion of the interior, I was informed, had already fallen down. The Smithsonian Institute is entirely devoted to scientific purposes, and is supported by the interest of a large fortune, left by a Mr. Smithson. On the whole, Washington is a fine city, and if the mind is allowed to wander into the future, it is impossible to imagine the magnificence to which she may not attain some years hence. The forethought of the Republican citizens has wisely given space for everything, looking rather to the future than to the present. The site upon which Washington city stands is Undulating and picturesque, the distant scenery noble in the extreme. One great disadvantage which the city of Washington labours under, is that the district of Columbia, of which it is the centre, possesses no representative in any legislature, being K 130 A GLIMPSE AT left to the charge of all ; some of her citizens complain that she is cared for by none, but 1 cannot help thinking that this complaint is unfounded, because I was informed that a large amount of money was annually voted by Congress towards the improvement of the city, a favour which is bestowed upon no other capital except herself, unless at the expense of its own citizens. With regard to slavery in this, the chief city of the Union, a sort of compromise has been arrived at, that although slavery may continue to exist, yet no slave can, in the district of Colombia, become a marketable commodity. I presume that this plan lias been adopted to soothe the feelings of the aboli- tionists and the Northern membeis of Congress. The distinc- tion, however, is rather comical, and would oblige a man who wishes to purchase another's sJave to make arrangements for the whole party to take a day's jaunt out of the district of Colombia, returning, when the bargain was completed, in unre- stricted convoy of his newly-acquired property. , From Washington to Baltimore is a distance of only forty miles ; a very good railroad joins the two cities. This distance, however, occupied three and a half hours, ere we arrived at the terminus within the latter city. In Baltimore, as in many cities in the United States, the rails are laid through some of the principal streets, which enables both passengers and baggage to enter the very heart of these towns, without the inconvenience of shifting to other carriages. The cars, however, are not propelled through the town by a steam-engine, but horses are attached to them in the suburbs. Many accidents have, nevertheless, occurred, from the weight of the carriages and the impossibility of arresting them quickly when once in motion. Although I arrived so late in the even- ing, I had time to attend the performance of Shakspeare's comedy, "As you like it," which was most miserably per- formed at the Museum. On my walk through the town on the following morning, I was astonished to see the immense amount of business here transacted. The quays and avenues near the water-side appeared as crowded with merchandize and drays containing every description of goods, as those of Liverpool or London. During my walk to Federal-hill, which commands a good view of the city and harbour, the noise produced by the con- stant hammering at ship-building, and steam-boilers* &c., c., was quite deafening. 1 observed many pretty clippers in the harbour, for which class of schooner this town is celebrated. THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 131 The city of Baltimore is very extensive, and a portion of it contains some good-looking buildings. Near the Washington testimonial, which itself is a very handsome column, I saw some fine houses. I endeavoured to obtain admittance to one of them not occupied, but without success, which I regretted, as few things give so good an idea of the refined state to which society has arrived, as a well-appointed house or esta- blishment. At Baltimore, I renewed my acquaintance with Dr. Hintzer, a gentleman whom I had previously met during his tour in the Canadas. He very kindly received me into his house, and took much pains in showing me the lions of Baltimore. I accompanied him in his carriage to Fort Henry, distant from the city about two miles. We fortunately arrived on the plateau, immediately without the fort, just at. the commence- ment of a field-day, of a battery of the United States' artillery. The battery consisted of four brass six-pounders ; these guns were heavier in point of metal than our own, and on that account more cumbrous in movement, and less serviceable, if^ as with us, celerity in the field be a great desideratum. They were kept brightly polished, which looks well to the eye, but has some disadvantages. The men were principally young soldiers, who as yet could scarcely be called perfectly instructed. The term of enlistment being only for five years, it is a very up-hill task for the officers. No sooner is a soldier well and thoroughly acquainted with his duties, than he returns into civil life, and the same drudgery is to be recommenced with another recruit ; but this is more especially provoking in this particular branch of the service, the entire term of his enlistment being barely sufficient to make the artilleryman thoroughly acquainted with his various obligations, which are so much more difficult than those of the cavalry or infantry soldier. The horses were, perhaps, equal to those we possess in Canada ; in one troop they were superior, for they were generally younger ; but they certainly lacked that smartness of appearance upon which we pride ourselves, and I should say were not so completely at command of the gunner and driver as our horses. The dress and accoutrements of the gunner were in very fair order : the movements were per- formed with more celerity and precision than could have been expected from any body of men who for the most part had been but a short period under instruction. I was particularly struck with the marked courtesy of the Commandant, as well as all the officers, who displayed much cordiality and the utmost readiness to give me a clear insight K2 132 A GLIMPSE AT into all military minutise connected with their service. This feeling should always he cultivated "between great countries,, and especially "between Great Britain and America, hoth famed for their love of freedom, both proud of the historical recollec- lections of their common country, and hoth taking the deepest, interest in its literature, laws, and institutions. This feeling of relationship, as springing from a common origin, will in- crease with the power and civilization of the United States; hut in the military profession this courtesy is in all countries most desirahle, as tending to mitigate the horrors of war, and elevate the defenders of their country to that honourable position in which they should ever he regarded by the chival- rous of all nations. The chapel in the fort was a particularly neat edifice ; it had been built by a united subscription of tbe inhabitants of the city of Baltimore, and was alike open to the religious instruction of all Christian pastors. In the evening I attended an oyster party, given by a gentle- man in one of the saloons which, in all large towns in the United States, are fitted up peculiarly for this purpose. The oysters were much larger than those of the British Channel, and I never tasted better fish, not excepting the far-famed Malahide, " Poldoodies of the right sort." About nine in the evening of the 14th of November, I started per rail for Philadelphia, distant ninety-nine miles. Shortly after quitting the terminus at Baltimore, I left my seat for a few moments to speak to the conductor, who was in an adjoining car, but to my surprise, on my return I found it occupied by two men ; upon my remonstrating, one of them flew into a most violent passion, and said, 1 might walk over his dead body to my seat. I calmly explained to him that for such a trifle as any particular seat in a railway car I had neither a wish to take his life, nor to lose my own in such an absurd contest; that there were plenty of vacant seats, concerning which there appeared no choice; upon which he became as quickly pacified, and desired his companion instantly to quit his seat for me. After a few moments' silence, turning round to me, he said, "I would have lost my life sooner than have given up that seat ; but you talked so pretty-like, you quite conquered me." At the first halting- place, he was extremely desirous I should enjoy a glass of cocktail at his expense, and on my declining, he appeared to have half a mind to recom- mence his quarrelsome behaviour; but suddenly taking up his coat, he vanished from the car. I mention this circumstance, because, during my entire excursion of upwards of five thou- sand miles in the United States, part of which journey was T11E GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 133 through so wild a country, this was the only instance in which 1 met with anything bordering on rudeness of a personal character. CHAPTER XXIV. WE reached Philadelphia at an early hour, and had sufficient time to enjoy a comfortable rest at a very good hotel. The time which I could allow myself to devote to this city, one of the grandest and most opulent of the Union, was but limited. I however lost none. 1 first proceeded to the reser- voir, which is constructed in the most solid manner, and upon the grandest scale : it is supplied by force-pumps from tiie clear water of the beautiful Schuylkill Kiver. From thence I pro- ceeded to Girard College. On entering the grounds of this establishment, my astonishment was boundless at beholding a building at once so unique and beautiful as scarcely any country in the world can boast its equal. It was exactly after the same model as the Madeleine at Paris, but much larger, and entirely constructed of the purest white marble, even the roof being composed of the same material. The columns which surround this building are fluted, and with capitals of the Corinthian order ; the staircases, the door-posts, and the landing-places on each floor in the interior of this structure are of beautiful white marble. The different lecturing halls were simply and well furnished, and heated to a pleasant temperature with warm air. On either side of this magnificent centre huilding are two immense structures, also entirely of white marble. These are the sleeping apartments and dining-halls of the students, who, if I hazard an opinion, are treated more luxuriously than the sons of the English nobility, warm baths, drying closets, hot-air flues, &c., being fitted up in these buildings, things which at Eton never entered into our phi- losophy. A sixth building has been recently added, but in such bad taste, and so utterly dissimilar in its architecture to the other five, that were it possible, it would mar their fine effect. The grounds, which are very extensive, were well laid out, a portion being set aside for the purpose of instructing the youths of this institution in gardening. This college was founded by a Monsieur Girard, a handsome statue of whom, in beautiful Florentine marble, may be seen upon first entering the great doorway, in the centre building. By birth this gentleman was a Frenchman ; when first he arrived in the United States, it was in the character of a forlorn 134 A GLIMPSE AT cabin boy, without one dollar in his pocket. By carefulness, good luck, and assiduity, or rather by having invested his early gains in city property, he amassed great wealth. The greater portion of his fortune lie bequeathed in charity. He instituted the Girard College for the education of three hundred and fifty orphans, natives of the town of Philadelphia ; and to support it he assigned property which now yields an annual income of more than one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. The property principally consists of real estate in Philadelphia, but there is also considerable landed property on the Mississippi, the trustees to this institution having determined to bring into the market this spring no less than one hundred and twenty thousand acres of coal-field that lie adjacent to that river. I was much impressed with Girard College. I had no ex- pectation, in so new a country, and where I had erroneously been taught to imagine few, if any, fine public buildings existed, to find embodied in a private charity a structure, which in beauty of design, and skilfulness of architecture, and in the size and magnificence of its proportion, cannot be sur- passed by any in the world. I should be ungrateful if I were to quit this subject without doing justice to the great attention I received from those who showed me over the building. The attendants^ although interdicted from receiving the slightest remuneration, nevertheless took far more care in detailing each interesting particular than most cicerones do who are paid highly for their services* I next visited the cemetery on the banks of Schuylkill river, a pretty little place, which evinces far better judgment in the inhabitants of this fine city, than the crowded burial- places for the dead both in the metropolis and most large towns in England, where they are still confined within the narrow limits and haunts of the living. From thence I went to the model Penitentiary, a prison whose system and merits have been canvassed by the world at large. The method of conducting this prison has of late years undergone a great amelioration. The silent system, at one time so strictly enforced, lias in a measure been relinquished, and the prisoners are ROW allowed at stated periods to converse with those who are placed over them, to instruct them for some hours daily in various trades, of which the science of gardening forms a conspicuous part. Great care is however taken to pre- vent these prisoners from having any conversation one with another, as the desire is that they should only learn what is useful and good, and receive no contamination from the mouth of crime. Before this amelioration in their discipline, a very THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 135 large proportion of those incarcerated went mad, and I was in- formed that the relaxation which I have mentioned has heen attended, both in this and other respects, with the very best possible effects. Very cruel punishments were formerly in- flicted upon refractory prisoners, such as screwing down their windows in extremely hot weather, stopping their exercise, &c. ; but now I was informed by the Governor of the Penitentiary that an unfailing means had been discovered for bringing all troublesome subjects to their senses, which was nothing more than tbat of stopping their allowance of chewing tobacco. The Governor of the prison added, tbat through this simple re- striction, there was no prisoner he could not place upon his knees before him, and that no punishment was half so effectual for the refractory as the loss of his pigtail. The prisoners were exceedingly well fed, daily receiving a full ration of meat and bread. In this Fentitentiary the awards are principally for capital offences ; the sentences therefore are generally for very long periods, for ten, twelve, or fourteen years, and indeed sometimes for life. / I paid a visit to the painted chamber, which is described so well by Mr. Dickens, in his tour in the United States, and which to this moment remains precisely as it was at the period of his visit. It reminded me most strikingly of one of the small painted chambers in the ruins of Pompeii. In many of the cells I found the inmates busily employed in weaving, which appeared to be the favourite amusement of all. The amount accruing from the sale of the produce of their labour is saved up until they bid adieu to this establishment, and the whole of it is left for their own benefit, and acts as a wonderful stimulus to their industry; and, provided they have really con- tracted moral and good habits during their confinement, may serve as the very best means of causing them eventua^y to be- come useful citizens, feeling that they even possess a stake in the welfare of the Republic. Instances are recorded of an industrious prisoner having received as large a sum at parting as one thousand dollars, the proceeds, during a long incarcera- tion, of zealous industry. The great proportion of the prisoners are coloured men, which race certainly appear to possess far less control over their passions than the white ; and generally the crimes for which they have been imprisoned are those ot' the deepest dye. Petty larceny, and such like misdemeanours, are rare in the United States. The temptations to which poor persons are subject in Europe are almost unknown in this country, where labour can be commanded by all who seek it, and good wages, with cheap living, are the lot of the industrious. 136 A GLIMPSE AT Here, as usual, I conversed with the Irish emigrants who had lately landed, and found that they were, almost invariably, each in receipt of one dollar per diem ; whereas the general amount of their expenditure, commanding all they could desire, and far more than they were accustomed to, was defrayed by less than half their receipts. The distance from Philadelphia to New York was ninety miles ; twenty by water, the rest by railway. Starting at halt- past five, we reached New York at eleven at night. The weather was extremely wet and unpleasant, and the constant changes which we had to undergo, from steamers to railway carriages and ferry-boats, &c., did by no means improve the pleasure of our trip. Arrived at New York, I put up at the New York Hotel, in Broadway, which I believe, in all essential respects, to be the best hotel there. Throughout the Union, however, the rooms which they are pleased to think good enough for bache- lors, or gentlemen travelling without their families, are prover- bially uncomfortable, whereas in all good hotels the ladies' apartments are the reverse. The parlours or sitting rooms at this hotel were furnished with every comfort and luxury, and the respective families who were staying in the hotel here congregated at pleasure, as if they were one. In dress they are always the best Parisian models, from which they rarely or never give themselves the slightest relaxation, even in the most minute details. The large dining hall was most splen- didly fitted up ; the meals were excellent, and served in the French style, the servants most attentive, which was the more agreeable from its novelty in New York. It was certainly painful to my English notions to see so many young men lounging about the bar-rooms of the hotels at New York, with apparently no employment whatever. The parents, however, of these American youths reside inva- riably in cities; they have no country seats to retire to, at least in the English sense of that term ; and having been rather nurtured to look up to the current prices in the market, and to look down upon healthy pastimes as a waste of time, they therefore neither properly understand nor appreciate them. Trotting- matches and horse-racing, with an occasional day's rifle shooting, are now their only country recreations; and as these afford no real hard exercise, the healthy glow so general in England on the countenances of all, from the plough-boy to the scion of nobility, is seldom or rarely met with in any part of this great Republic. I visited Jenny Lind's new concert- room, which is a fine building ; but although it can contain THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 137 a vast number of guests, yet I cannot speak in terms of high commendation of its comfort, the seats being so close and narrow, it is painful to sit long in them. Its decorations are simple and very beautiful. As most of the foregoing notes contain the impressions of what I saw in the western wilds of the Union, I have no intention of giving an account of the eastern cities, which have been so constantly and ably described by many recent tra- vellers. I cannot, however, resist acknowledging how sur- prised I was with the immense quantity of shipping which I saw in the neighbourhood of the city of New York. No one thing can give a better idea of the mercantile wealth and resources of the Union than this; but when I review, in my mind, the large amount of commercial enterprise which I saw, taking it in the aggregate, at the different ports of the Union, in conjunction with the vast agricultural resources of this country, as, also, with the large amount of industry and talent wbich, each year, is added to her already intelligent citizens by emigration from Europe, and consider that, after all, the United States are but, as yet, in their infancy, my mind is deeply impressed with the idea of the height to which this Republic must ere long attain in the scale of nations. On a previous occasion I much regretted my inability to visit West Point ; I therefore determined not to let slip the present opportunity of so doing. West Point is the military academy of the United States, combining the instruction imparted to young men, in England, at the three establishments of Sandhurst, Woolwich, and Chatham. It is situated about eighty miles up the Hudson River, in a commanding and most salubrious position, and is surrounded by as grand and lovely scenery as the world can boast of. I had a most agreeable journey on the railroad which runs on the verge of the Hudson River. On my arrival at West Point I was received by the Commandant with great affability, and an officer of artillery was immediately requested to show me over the college. A vast range of new buildings have lately been constructed, to which the old ones, by being- pulled down, are gradually, as these are completed, made to give place. They are situated on a plateau, or broad step, on the lofty mountain side, by which they are sheltered in winter, and which, in summer, causes a cool draught of air constantly to circulate around them. The cadets were very comfortably lodged, two in each room ; but from the method in which they were arranged they might, more appropriately, be said to possess each a small sleeping apartment, and one common 138 A GLIMPSE AT sitting-room for the two. The library is a handsome edifice, and, in the interior, very well fitted up. It was well stored with books, and decorated with numerous trophies from the Republic at Mexico. The cadets number about 250, the appointments resting in the hands of the members of Congress, who each have the opportunity of presenting about one mili- tary candidate annually. Although the United States' army is linited, yet from this source alone almost every other vacancy is filled up ; for, although the President possesses the power of giving commis- sions, yet he very rarely exercises it. Taking all branches of the service collectively, there occur about fifty vacancies in the army per annum, and should the usual period of study at this college have elapsed prior to a vacancy having occurred, to prevent any idle habits being engendered, the young men are attached to different corps, to do duty as supernumeraries, until they can regularly be provided for. While at the college they receive pay at the rate of twenty-eight dollars a month, besides rations and clothing. This sum is about equivalent to their expenses, and as the pay of an officer is quite sufficient to support him handsomely, and the system of purchasing promotion is unknown, a military presentation to West Point is tantamount to a provision, for life. The studies are very severe in the spring, autumn, and winter ; but during the two summer months all work within doors is laid aside, a camp, on the plateau, is formed, and the students live in tents, sleeping on boards, no bedding, beyond a soldier's blanket, being allowed them. They are then instructed, practically, in field fortifications, throwing up entrenchments and other field- works, besides practical gunnery, in all its branches, and a thorough course of laboratory work, such as making fusees, filling shells, &c. c. The usefulness of this practical instruc- tion cannot be too highly commended, and as every cadet who is about to enter any branch of the service is obliged to undergo it, each and every one of them must understand a considerable portion of the rudiments, at least, of all branches of the pro- fession ; and in this respect, I make bold to observe, some little improvement might take place in the instruction of our mili- tary cadets at home. This system of universal military instruction has many benefits ; it ensures that an officer, in whatever branch of the profession he may be, must have a certain knowledge of all the rest ; and, should he be placed in a critical position, it will enable him to place a reliance on his own resources, and enable him to judge for himself: whereas, if he were ignorant of all THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 139 but the immediate branch of the army in which he serves, he must be entirely dependent in respect to all the rest, upon those who are about him. A troop of sixty horses is kept for the use of the cadets, who not only receive instruction in the school, but certain classes of them, at stated periods, ride in the country. I may add, that I was much gratified with my visit to the school of design, drawing, fortification, c. There is no senior department at West Point, but a certain number of officers are detailed from the duties of the regular army to overlook the young cadets. These appointments are agreeable to them, for the present service of the American army cannot but be considered as arduous and unpleasant; whereas few opportunities of distinction are open to its officers, the army being universally now detached on the frontiers of civilization in New Mexico, California, Oregon, &c., in small parties at such stations as Fort Larami, which is a thousand miles beyond St. Louis, or at the Salt Lake, or over the passes in the Rocky Mountains, or the territories of New Mexico, where they see few but gold-seeking emigrants, Mormons, and the wildest of citizens. As in America there is no nobility, either hereditary or for life, as in France before the late Revolution, no order of knighthood, or distinction of this class ; neither officers nor citizens, however zealously they perform their duty to their country, can gain any title of distinction beyond the approba- tion of their fellow-men, which is generally evinced in choos- ing them as their leaders in the councils of their nation ; but although the spirit of the constitution may be contrary to the European method of granting rewards by distinguished appel- lations, I can see no reason why a medal, in commemoration of the services of her brave soldiery, should be denied to them. Depend upon it, that the great Republic will ere long find out that there is no method so certain for calling forth the zeal of her soldiery, and certainly none so cheap, as the method which has been adopted by older nations, of granting to their warriors an honourable memento of their successful bravery. I must here remark, that, before quitting New York, I observed some encroachments upon democracy ; liveried ser- vants were occasionally to be met with ; and, notwithstanding universal equality, the arrival of " distinguished individuals" was duly noted in the newspapers of the day. I merely men- tion these facts to show, in a country whose republicanism is its boast, that aristocratic habits will occasionally force them- 140 A GLIMPSE AT selves upon society, and wealth place itself in antagonism to equality. I could not help observing, that behind most of the carriages, very handsome knotted cords are placed, awaiting only the orders of "republican aristocrats" for their liveried footmen to lay hold of them. As yet I did not observe so bold an invasion upon the feelings of the independent citizens, except in one instance, and that was of General Tom Thumb, who was per- mitted to parade the streets with all the paraphernalia of European aristocracy. CHAPTER XXV. THE distance by railroad, via Springfield, from New York to Boston, was two hundred and thirty-seven miles; but, thanks to a good road, we accomplished it in little better than eight hours; in all respects this road appeared as well con- ducted as one of our best at home ; and the supper which was provided for us at Springfield, where there is a proverbially good hotel, really deserves mention. I arrived at Boston in the middle of the night, and put up at the Rivere House, an excellent hotel, resembling in the comforts of its apartments an English inn of the first class. When I looked about me on the following morning, I was quite delighted with Boston. It had the appearance of being so thoroughly English, all was so clean and neat, that few, if any, English cities can in this respect claim priority over it. The streets, moreover, are winding and serpentine, and do not therefore possess the almost universal American characteristic of rectangular sameness. The Senate-house is a particularly fine building, and an ex- tensive view from the summit well repaid my trouble in the ascent. In one of its chambers I observed a drum, a soldier's pointed cap, and a musket trophies obtained from the British during the war of independence at Bunker's-hill ; and subse- quently, in walking through the city, I saw a twenty-four pound cannon-shot sticking in the front wall of Brattle-square Church, which I heard had been fired during the battle of Charleston, which suburb is situated on the north side of the city of Boston. The reservoir directly in the rear of the Senate-house is a fine piece of architecture ; it is built of masonry, and stands exactly in the centre of the city, and could plentifully supply it with water were its resources cut THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 141 off from other quarters. The fountains in the gardens below gave a most refreshing aspect to all around, and, if possible, added to the cleanly appearance of what already looked so neat and elegant. I afterwards paid a visit to the cemetery of Mount Auburn, which was the prettiest place of the kind I had yet visited, and much more so, in my opinion, than " Pere la Chaise." 1 observed a notice, desiring persons to be careful lest they should be convicted of having tortiously plucked the flowers, which strange term certainly had one effect, namely, that of calling my attention to the notice itself. On the road to Mount Auburn we passed a number of small lakes, which are more valuable as water than they would be as dry land. These lakes during the winter season are frozen to a great depth beneath their surface ; and when in that state, the ice is cut out into solid blocks and stowed in large ware- houses built upon their banks. At the early spring this is shipped and dispatched to all those ports whose inhabitants can afford to purchase this luxury. The waters of these little lakes consequently find their way to China, to India, and the West Indian Islands; and at Calcutta, ice is to be had from America at about one half of its cost in London. The city of Boston in some respects has a peculiar charac- teristic ; for although it is not built, like Venice, actually on the water, yet on all sides it is surrounded by lagoons, some of which are sufficiently deep to float ships of a considerable size. The communications with the country on either side of the city are kept up by means of long wooden causeways, removeable at pleasure, and which, when taken away, would place considerable difficulties in the way of any attacking force. PflHffffl4t F-fonMT At the Rivere Hotel, a most comfortable room was fitted up in the style of an English drawing-room ; this was called the "gent's" parlour. It was fitted up with the most luxurious sofas and lounging chairs, smoking being strictly prohibited in it. I was delighted to observe that there appeared no use whatever for the spittoons, which in the West and South have become a most essential but disagreeable article of furniture. This room was crowded during the afternoon with gentle- manly-looking men, amongst whom one single theme pervaded their conversation. Dollars and Cents formed not only the principal, but, as it appeared to me, the sole subject of their discourse, and upon this one gentleman expatiated so well that it might have set the hair of an Israelite on end in astonish- ment at the profitable investments which he had made with his money, thousands and tens of thousands he had placed in 142 A GLIMPSE AT various locations ; and, according to his own account, he pos- sessed shares in every land and sea company from St. Anthony's Falls to Rio Grande, from New Yarmouth to Savannah. For a nation or an individual to be utterly devoid of vanity, would argue that he lacked self-confidence, without which he would not possess that energy and perseverance essential to prosperity ; but, probably amongst no people on the face of the globe is ambition to excel more strongly developed than among the Americans; far from being ready to disclaim talent that may be imputed to them, they are ever ready to speak frankly on their affairs, and are open and without reserve. Their Eng- lish cousins are more discreet; but our silence, arising from shyness, is a very doubtful merit, and in travelling had better be dispensed with. One peculiar feature of the New Englanders is great astute- ness in the performance of the various avocations of life, and I was rather amused by a sharp trick, for which the Bostonians got credit last summer. Cheap excursion trains had been arranged for Montreal to Boston city and back, and as it is well known that those who can least afford amusement are the first on these occasions to avail themselves of it, a posse of Bostonian creditors posted themselves at Burlington, on Lake Cham plain; no sooner did the mass of travellers land from the steamer, preparatory to taking the railroad, than these Bostonians selected their individual debtors, and no less than sixteen fish were caught in the first haul. It was a cruel fate, when bent upon pleasure to be arrested and placed in jail ; but the law was supreme, and until some arrangement could be entered into with their sharp-sighted creditors, they had no resource but to submit to their fate. I quitted Boston by rail on the 21st for Fitzburgh ; the first twenty miles of our journey lay through a well cultivated country. Near Fitzburgh it assumed a different aspect, more resembling- parts of Ascot Heath, bordering on Windsor Forest; the ground, however, was more undulating, somewhat in the style of the country in the neighbourhood of Shooter's Hill in Kent, but on a wilder and more extended scale. The air was cold, and as most of the small streams were coated with ice, an unmistakable sign of approaching winter was thus presented to me, proving also that the course I had been travelling was to the dreary north. The country gradually bore that appearance peculiar to Scotland or the north of Ireland, the fields being divided by stone fences. The character of the soil, also, was less generous, which led me to understand the reason why so large a number of the enterprising inhabitants part with their THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 143 possessions and remove to the distant prairies of Iowa and Illinois; concerning which I have written so much at the com- mencement of these pages. At twelve at noon we crossed the Connecticut River, at a most romantically situated rapid in this considerable stream, called Bellows Falls. We soon after encountered a very heavy snow-storm, which was blown towards us from the Canadian frontier by a strong northerly wind. In less than fourteen days, what a wonderful change in cli- mate had I experienced, from the orange groves in Georgia to the ice and snow of a Canadian winter! As great a change had previously occurred to me in Europe, when making a voyage through Spain and Portugal to England. Within one week of my lounging in the beautiful groves of Seville, and drinking the wine of Colares in the valleys of Cintra, I landed on the snow-covered shores of Cornwall ; but crossing over such a large expanse of water as that portion of the Atlantic Ocean, I was the better prepared for so great a change ; whereas, in the present instance, until stern reality convinced me, I could scarcely credit that I had passed over so many degrees of latitude, travelling so many hundred miles in so brief a period. In journeying so rapidly, the changes of climate which $1 encountered were both sudden and severe. At Savannah and Charleston an Italian autumn surrounded me, in all its warmth and glowing hues; at Wilmington and Richmond, in North Carolina, this had given place to an English autumn ; at New York I met with a Parisian winter ; and at Bellows Falls a severe Canadian winter was evidently at hand. But how sin- gular is it to reflect, when surrounded by the icy hand of mid- winter, in these severe latitudes, that a few days' journey by the present mode of travelling can again restore the climate and luxurious fruits from which the traveller has so recently de- parted ! We were now passing over the Green Mount range of hills; under their present auspices they looked rather bleak and desolate, but this added to their grandeur ; I was within one day of home, and I need not add that in whatever guise the hills of Vermont appeared to others, to me, in gladness of heart, they seemed vertes montagnes. Late in the evening I arrived at Burlington, and put up at a very tolerable hotel. At eight A.M., on the following morning, I embarked on Lake Champlain, in the "Francis Saltus" steamer. She was bound for St. John's, on the Richelieu River. There were many steam-boats at the wharf, and, as my course lay north, I inquired for the boat bound up. I was directed on board one whose direction I by chance discovered 144 A GLIMPSE AT was to the southward. I expostulated with the porter for directing me wrong, upon which he answered, " You asked me for the boat up. and I showed you the southern hoat; is not n p : ' south, and down north? well, it is singular, hut none of the travelling folks seem to know that." I remarked, that in Vermont they certainly appeared to me to turn things upside down. At eleven A.M., on the 22nd, I reached Rouse's Point. This is a commanding headland, jutting out into Lake Cham- plain, at the narrow part of its northern end, upon which a strong fort has heen erected, completely enfilading the entrance so the lake. This fort is the property of the Americans, and when commenced by them, they stated they were under an impression that this point of land was within their own boundaries, that is to say, that it was south of the forty- fifth line of north latitude, but ere they had progressed very far in their works they were undeceived by the British authorities. Passing Rouse's Point I once again had the happiness to feel myself within the British territories, which I had quitted seven weeks since at Niagara Falls. At half-past two I got into the railway car, for La Prairie. I found them less com- fortable than those in the States, being exceedingly cold, from having no stoves ; I however scarcely felt cold or discomfort, in the assurance that my journey Avas so nearly terminated. At four o'clock, the St. Lawrence burst upon my view at five I was at Montreal. And now at the conclusion of my travels, I must own that I had not seen a handsomer city than this, the capital of the Canadas ; more especially when viewed from the water its stately cathedral, and other edifices of stone, standing out in bold relief from the dark hill beyond ; its handsome quays, crowded with shipping ; its busy market- place, giving the best proof how unfounded is the libel re- specting the modern Hochelaga's premature decline. During this excursion I visited every State in the Union, with the exception of six. I travelled over fifty-three hundred miles of the Republic, by railway, by river, and by road ; and this my long journey was accomplished in exactly fifty-three days, and my expenses amounted to about the sum of fifty-three pounds sterling. And now let me add, that if Thad gained nothing more on my tour, I certainly had made an addition to my stock of he'alth, physically and mentally ; and a journey which might have proved more a labour than a pleasure, was accomplished with scarcely a moment's discomfort, greatly owing, I am con- vinced, to a strict attention to the following rule : Early THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC, 145 rising, hard exercise, and a very temperate diet ; and therefore, let me say, that the best cure for the hypochondriacal or dys- peptic, is to follow this system, and attend to these rules. If any of the above lines have caused offence, I crave pardon of that great Republic which I have unintentionally offended. Those who are rich in good qualities can afford to be generous ; and if the United States men possess some faults, their virtues are too numerous not to stand forth in prominent relief. I have to acknowledge that, in my character of a stranger, I was invariably received in all parts of the Union with hospitality, and was constantly pressed to remain and be a partaker of the kindest proofs of friendship ; and I should be wanting indeed in gratitude were I not cordially to confess it. Many of the Americans still retain a grudge against their parent country. This proceeds from wrongs which their fathers suffered, and which are constantly detailed to them in the various seminaries of education throughout the States, and also from the remem- brance of the many bitter passages in life to which a large portion of the emigrants were subjected before they left the land of their nativity. Unfortunately we cannot deny that, in many cases, this feeling is not devoid of reasonable founda- tion. It is rapidly giving way to kindlier sentiments ; they know we admire their wonderful energy of character, and they respect ours. As thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, amongst the most intelligent of republican citizens will, no doubt, during the ensuing summer visit our shores, let us join in welcoming our brotherhood with affection and esteem ; and I am convinced that a demonstration of this feeling, on our part, will be met with a hearty 'reciprocity on theirs, which will go far to eradicate the last smouldering embers of ill-feeling which may lurk in the breasts of either party. Let us demon- strate to them practically that , we are in truth that frank, open-hearted nation which is our boast, and that our generosity not only consists in hospitality, and in extending the hand of friendship to all nations, but especially to those who, springing from the same stock as ourselves, are verily our brethren. CHAPTER XXVI. I CANNOT close these pages without saying a few words respecting the Canadas, its people, and country. The world does not contain a fairer land, a more propitious clime, or better soil, taken as a whole, than this portion of Her Majesty's dominions. The inhabitants of Canada are as widely 146 A GLIMPSE AT different in their tastes and desires, as they are in language, manners, and customs ; and to class them as one people would be greatly misrepresenting them. I am well aware that it is the fashion at home to imagine, that because the Lower Cana- dians are of French extraction, they are both inimical to our institutions and our rule : that they would prefer that their rulers should be composed of persons speaking their own lan- guage, and of the same religion with themselves, is very natural ; but I am convinced there are but few, if any, who would willingly now place themselves under the present Re- public of the French. The feeling of the lower province are in favour of the ancien regime of France ; and knowing that a return to this rule is utterly impossible, its revival having for ever passed away, they very naturally prefer the rule of a powerful monarchy, securing to them their religion, with its emoluments to their pastors, and assuring to them their ancient feudalities ; they would deprecate any change by which all these should be swept away, receiving in their place that which they by no means covet or believe in, nominal democratic free- dom. In my opinion, it is the greatest mistake to imagine that the population of Lower Canada are not content with being under the British government. That they have been often dissatisfied with the colonial government and legislature is true enough, the principal reason for their being so has been the versatility of its policy, and the instability of its measures; but now that they feel more assured that the system of respon- sible government is to be firmly adhered to, and they can per- ceive that in sober reality they govern themselves by the voice of their delegates in parliament, they begin to be better satis- fied that, look where they may, they never could possess so much real freedom, or be so lightly burthened with taxation, as under their present rulers ; nor can they imagine, from searching the pages of history, that they could ever find a government who would act up more honourably to the treaties secured to them at the conquest, than the generous sovereign to whom they have the happiness to be subject. Travellers who have made a summer tour through the United States and Canada West, frequently remark upon, and with some reason, the want of progress in Canada East. There is no denying that the Canadians of French extraction are exceedingly tardy and backward in improvement. For much of this it is difficult to assign a satisfactory reason : two circumstances militate against an effective competition, either with the inhabitants of the United States or with the Western Canadians. One of these is certainly under the control of THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 147 man ; the other is far beyond it. In the first place, the seigneurial laws are a bar to all improvement ; and until these laws are ameliorated or abrogated, a really flourishing state of things can scarcely be expected to commence. In the second, during the long and severe winter, which throughout Lower Canada lasts for six, and in some parts for seven months in the year, no agricultural pursuits can be carried on ; and the poor farmer during these months is obliged to consume almost all the fruits of his five months' summer labour for the subsist- ence of himself and family during the winter ; he has, there- fore, no produce for sale, and has great difficulty in paying for labour. Let any of the numerous summer travellers visit this country in January, who have only seen it in July, and they will scarcely believe their sense of sight, so totally does it differ. This compulsory idleness during so many months, in addition to a torpidity of temperament engendered by the cold, greatly encourages slothful habits, which, once acquired, are so difficult to shake off ; in addition to which, the inhabitants are generally well aware that by the antiquated system of the above-named seigneurial laws, although they may desire to be active and industrious, eventually the greater portion of the proceeds of their labour will flow into the hands of their lords and masters. These, then, in a few words, are the great draw- backs of Canada East, which it is undoubtedly by no means the interest of the Roman Catholic priesthood to assist in modifying, although this priesthood is far too wise to wish the Canadians to lapse from the firm, yet benevolent, rule under which they now live, being well assured that there is no other- nation on the face of the globe that would regard with such scrupulous fidelity the privileges which she granted to them by treaty, when they came by right of conquest under her sway. In Canada West, the population is of a more enterprising character; and being perfectly free from those laws and feudal institutions which trammel the industry of the lower provinces, and also chiefly springing from the Saxon race, they are fast going a-head of those who, from their earlier settlement and greater original numbers, have had many advantages over them. The climate, moreover, in the Western provinces is much more favourable ; winter there does not last more than five, seldom indeed more than four months, and is therefore of service rather than inconvenience ; indeed, by many it is considered of the greatest benefit, enabling them to bring the produce of their farms and loads of wood into the neighbouring towns for sale, before the returning spring again calls them to L2 148 A GLIMPSE AT their agricultural occupations. Moreover, their light taxation, and immunity from many burdens which sit so heavily upon the inhabitants of older countries, act as a counterpoise against the difficulty of occasionally wanting a market in which to dispose of the redundant harvest which so constantly repays their labour. From the position, however, of the Canadas, its inhabitants have constant communication with those of the United States ; they therefore become tinged with the notions of republican freedom, and, tickled with the sound, are too apt, in admiring the shadow, to lose sight of the substance, forgetful that lhat which they covet the possession of, is positively within their grasp, whilst they imagine it to be out of their reach; namely, a free elective franchise, a responsible government, a perfect freedom from taxation except for the support of their local expenditure, and up to the present period (though hastening to an end) a perfect indemnity from any expense attending the defence of their country, a voluntary maintainance of the ministers of their religion, and their laws, mild yet effective, I challenge any one to dispute that they possess these blessings and very many others, a repetition of which would but exhaust the patience of the reader if I were to detail them. Some few of the inhabitants, who consist principally of those who follow mercantile pursuits and reside in cities, are never- theless dissatisfied with the various benefits which I have already detailed. Discontented with so many advantages, they look for more ; and being rich in all the reasonable comforts of life, indeed commanding many of its luxuries, their ambi- tion is, moreover, to amass rapid fortunes, forgetful or unmind- ful at whose expense only this can be accomplished. Unlike the colonists of France, Germany, or Spain, who, when they relinquish their native shores, reconcile themselves to the countries where they have cast their lot, our colonial aspirants only think how soon they can make a fortune and return to their own country, to vie with those whom on their departure they so much envied ; and whatever militates against the accomplishment of this one engrossing object of their mind, whether it be for the weal or woe of the resident citizens of the colony, so long as it is detrimental to their supposed interests, is certain to meet with their condemnation in no measured terms. From whom, then, are these fortunes to be acquired from their brother colonists ? It is out of the question. From the Americans? Still more difficult ; for they are all sharply engaged in this game of acquisition. They must be gained, THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. 149 then, by means of enactments made in the mother country, such as will favour this class of colonists beyond all foreign na- tions, and enable them to dispose of their colonial produce on more advantageous terms than are allowed to foreigners, with whom a reciprocity of trade is more advantageous to the parent country. At the same time these colonists would claim the right to supply their wants in the cheapest market, forgetting that the parent country has paid the entire expense of their defence, &c. In fact, they can only be enriched by the sweat of the brow of the British artisan and labourer. This alone will satisfy a class of greedy storekeepers, who are constantly spurring on the foolish and unwise to be dissatisfied with that rule under which all might live so happily and be so prosperous. There is another party, who look with eager eyes to any disruption of the union between great Britain and this colony. These are political adventurers, who, with a bitter enmity, common to that class, to all that is ancient, imagine that, should a separation take place, they might, by loud declama- tion and low intrigue, rise to power, and gain for themselves a portion of the spoil ; and that even should Canada be annexed to the United States, they have a hope that their own services would not be utterly disregarded. I am persuaded that the Canadas, taken as a whole, were never more firmly attached to the British rule than they are at this moment, or more sensible of the great advantages which they enjoy thereby. The tumult which occurred in Montreal, during the early part of 1849, in which the Par- liament House was burned, was an emeute, supposed to have been got up for party purposes. Many who promoted it were of opinion that the threat of a fresh rebellion in the North American provinces, would, in the hopes of averting so un- pleasant a circumstance, induce the British Parliament to pass enactments more favourable to this colony, but in their effect, less just towards her British subjects, already so highly bur- thened. The promoters of this movement were short-sighted politicians, or they might have foreseen the discussion which immediately followed in every portion of the colony, enlight- ening the people as to the value of their franchise, the proper merits of which they had never justly appreciated. It con- vinced them unmistakably of the really free position in which they stood, and that, as the Rebel Indemnity Bill was carried by a majority of their own delegates whom they had sent to Parliament, whose votes had made it law, it followed that, if they had cause for discontent, the blame must rest upon their own shoulders, and that their remedy for the future depended 150 THE GREAT WESTERN REPUBLIC. upon themselves in showing more discrimination in the selec- tion of their representatives. The liberal policy which our home Government has pur- sued towards our colonies, may have placed our colonists upon a higher footing than they formerly enjoyed. This policy will, I hope, he as safe as it appears to he just, and I trust he every day better appreciated by those who have been called upon to exercise larger powers in the duty of self- government ; but this advantage in managing their own internal affairs must entail upon the colonists corresponding responsibilities ; and no doubt they will feel the first effects of the change, in being required to pay a larger share in the expenses of the province, and the people of England a smaller share than that hitherto borne. The adjustment of the quota of the military force to be paid by the colonist, and the propor- tion to be paid by Great Britain, will be an important point to settle. Considering the distance of North America from Eng- land, and the River St. Lawrence closed in the winter months, a portion of the general military force of the empire must be maintained by the Crown in North America, and the remainder paid for by the colony. But in all these important changes, affecting so valuable a part of the British Empire, I trust that no serious misunderstandings will arise in their settlement, leading to the dismemberment of the Empire, being convinced that the connexion between British North America and the mother country cannot be dissolved without great injury to both. APPENDIX. A TABLE of Dates and Distances travelled during the fore- going Excursion. Miles. Sept. 30. Montreal Oct. 1. Lachine - Ogdensburgh 90 Kingston 63 Sacket's Harbour 43 2. Oswego 44 Syracuse 38 Rochester 87 Buffalo 95 3' Niagara 22 4. Buffalo 22 5. Detroit 325 6. New Buffalo 240 Chicago 45 12. Environs, Chicago 142 13. LaSalle 100 15. Princetown 22 16. Cambridge % 43 17. Rock Island City 25 18. Fort Maddison 102 19. Keokurk 25 21. St. Louis 178 26. Cairo 172 29. Memphis 239 30. Napoleon 181 31. Natchez 307 N v. 2. New Orleans 299 4. Mobile 161 5. Stockton 40 7. Montgomery 180 Opeleika 65 Carried up 3,404 1 52 APPENDIX. Miles. Brought over ... ... 3,404 Nov. 7. Barnesville 98 8. Macon 40 9. Savannah 170 10. Charleston 140 11. Wilmington 175 12. Richmond 248 Washington ... 121 13. Baltimore f 40 15. Philadelphia 99 16. New York 90 18. West Point and back 106 19. Boston 237 21. Burlington 233 St. John's 75 La Prairie 15 Montreal 9 5,300 MEMORANDUM. Ah sent from Montreal 53 days. Travelled ... 53 hundred miles. Expenses amounted to 53 sterling. PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SON, LONDON GAZETTE OFFICE, ST. MARTIN'S LANJC.