SKETCHES IN NORTH AMERICA. 
 
SKETCHES 
 
 NORTH AMERICA; 
 
 WITII SOilE ACCOUNT OF 
 
 CONGRESS 
 
 AXD OP 
 
 THE SLAVERY QUESTION- 
 
 H. REID. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 LONGMAN, GKEEN, LONGMAN, & ROBERTS. 
 
" 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 T. HAEKILD, P*W*R, SHOE LAXE, 
 FLEET SIEEET. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THIS little volume has its origin in a belief 
 that,, at the present time, when the condition 
 of the American Republic is creating such 
 intense interest, some account of the Slavery 
 Question, which has led to the great events 
 going on there, and of the Parliament of the 
 Union, might be welcome to English readers. 
 To these I have added a few sketches of 
 various points of interest that have come 
 under my notice in North America. 
 
 Our American friends need not be surprised 
 that British writers should mark particularly 
 those points in which we may suppose that 
 their institutions are not working satisfactorily. 
 We have a tendency in the same direction; 
 and it is very important for us to gather any 
 indications we can of where that direction 
 leads. There are spots on the sun ; and there 
 is so much genius, greatness, and goodness in the 
 people of the United States, that they can well 
 afford to admit a few defects mingling with these. 
 Desirous of avoiding exaggeration or misrepre- 
 
 M18184L6 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 sentation of any kind, I have, by extracts from 
 papers and speeches, as much as possible, made 
 the Americans describe themselves. 
 
 The extraordinary development of energy, 
 liberty, and intellectual life, in the United 
 States of America, at once strike the traveller 
 as something great something new, that is 
 seen in no other nation on the face of the 
 globe. This, and the friendly feeling every 
 where evinced towards the British visitor, make 
 travelling through the States very agreeable 
 indeed, and rub off not a few prejudices. 
 Doubts and difficulties may occur to him, 
 but an impartial observer cannot avoid seeing 
 in the people of the United States a truly great 
 nation, exciting in the highest degree his in 
 terest, admiration, and warmest wishes for 
 their welfare. 
 
 X, March, 1861. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CIIAPTEE I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 YANKEE 9 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 CONGEESS 76 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 THE SLAYEHY QUESTION 155 
 
 CHAPTEE IT. 
 
 N CITIES HOTELS SCHOOLS WOMAN IN 
 AMERICA 222 
 
 CHAPTEE Y. 
 
 SCOTIA 276 
 
SKETCHES IN NOBTH AMEEICA, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 YANKEE. 
 
 " Would he were fatter !" ShaJcspeare. 
 
 " Jonathan may be described as the finished model of the 
 Anglo-Saxon, of which John Bull is the rough cast." Ame 
 rican Magazine* 
 
 AFTER a long sojourn in that dullest of all dull 
 places, Halifax, Nova Scotia, I was at last re 
 leased for a time, and set out to have a peep at 
 Brother Jonathan. Nova Scotia is almost an 
 island, the neck of the peninsula which connects 
 it with the mainland being only sixteen miles 
 in breadth, and it is difficult getting out of 
 Halifax to any place worth going to. The 
 nearest place of any interest is Boston, in the 
 United States, and the most direct way of 
 escape thither from Halifax is by steamer or 
 sailing-packet, a voyage of nearly two days in 
 the British mail-steamers, the best vessels that 
 run between the two places. There is another 
 
 B 
 
IQ ; V 
 
 SKETCHES IX 
 
 route to .Boston, by railway to "Windsor, on the 
 Bay of Fundy, across the bay by steamer to 
 the city of St. John, New Brunswick, and 
 thence by a coasting steamer to Boston, or to 
 Portland, in Maine, from which there is railway 
 communication to Boston; the whole journey 
 being accomplished in about three clays, of 
 which a night is spent at St. John. 
 
 "When so much money has been spent on 
 railways in British America, the traveller is dis 
 appointed to find that there is no railway route 
 from Halifax to the United States, nor even to 
 Canada. Railways in Nova Scotia have been 
 adapted, not so much to the wants of the coun 
 try as to the purpose of securing influence and 
 votes for a political party. There is little traffic 
 in the country, little prospect of any material 
 increase, and a small population of about three 
 hundred thousand, thinly scattered over a coun 
 try more than half as large as Scotland ; while 
 every part being so near the sea, the coasting- 
 trade will always retain a large share of the 
 transport business. Passenger traffic with the 
 great nations near them, and the railway con 
 nection of Halifax (the port on the continent 
 nearest Europe), with Canada and the United 
 States, were the only chances for railways to be 
 of use in the lower British provinces. Instead, 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 11 
 
 however, of pushing their railway system to 
 connect Europe with America, and to connect 
 themselves with the Canadian and American 
 railways, and thereby with a restless, active, 
 trading population of more than thirty millions, 
 the most travelling people in the world, the 
 Nova Scotians and New Brunswickers have 
 looked chiefly to their slight internal trade, in 
 planning their railways. The consequences are 
 that last year in Nova Scotia the total proceeds 
 from the railway were about 2000 short of 
 the working expenses, and the Government is 
 now making a desperate effort, by sweeping 
 reductions of the salaries of subordinates, to 
 preserve for their railway the decent appearance 
 of paying at least the cost of working if; in 
 New Brunswick one principal railway was not 
 working at all, being at a dead stand, the chief 
 sign of life about it being the mansion of the 
 manager, who had little or nothing to manage, 
 at the terminus, the largest and most stylish- 
 looking house in the village ; while the traveller 
 who desires to pass between Halifax and Canada, 
 or the United States, must be subjected to a 
 tedious and dangerous voyage, and the Canadian 
 visiting Europe, during six months of the year, 
 must pass through a foreign country, and embark 
 and disembark at a foreign port Portland, in 
 
12 SKETCHES IN 
 
 the United States. It appears surprising that 
 lines of communication so obviously wanted as 
 from Halifax to Canada and the United States, 
 have not been accomplished yet. The colonies 
 seem to have exhausted themselves on lines of 
 but secondary importance, fifty years in advance 
 of trade and population, and to be waiting for 
 assistance from England. One cannot avoid 
 wondering that countries so lightly taxed, and 
 with such a thriving population, should look for 
 aid to the British, who are so heavily taxed, 
 and are oppressed by so fearful an amount of 
 pauperism. But the colonies are ever crying 
 for "more." 
 
 In the middle of April, 1859, I set out 
 from Halifax by railway for Windsor, on the 
 Bay of Fundy coast, a distance of about forty- 
 five miles. The railway is a single line, con 
 structed for the Government, and, like many 
 railways in America, exhibits marks of haste 
 and scanty means. The banks are steep, and 
 the curves many and sharp; and, as if sharp 
 bends are not of themselves sufficiently objection 
 able, one of these is placed where the line 
 crosses a deep lake, or, rather, arm of the sea, 
 so that if by any accident the train runs off the 
 line at the sudden turn it is plunged into deep 
 water, and the passengers are sure to be drowned 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 13 
 
 if they escape being knocked to pieces. One 
 feels a little nervous at this dangerous pass, and 
 as I had to go through it rather frequently, I 
 may perhaps be excused for having a lively 
 recollection of it. 
 
 Another alarming looking railway drive is 
 that between Philadelphia and Baltimore, where 
 the line crosses some inlets of Chesapeake Bay. 
 It is laid upon piles, which scarcely rise above 
 the water, and the train seems to be skimming 
 over the surface without any solid bottom to 
 support it. The engineers may be satisfied, but 
 to the uninitiated it looks very unstable and 
 somewhat alarming. For about twenty miles 
 from Halifax the country is rocky and barren, 
 everywhere the ground is covered with huge 
 stones, masses of granite, or of the metamorphic 
 sandstone, which extends along the whole At 
 lantic coast of Nova Scotia. Although it was 
 the middle of April the lakes were still frozen, 
 there were yet no symptoms of reviving vege 
 tation, and what with the stones thickly strewed 
 over the soil, the stamps of trees in some 
 places, in others tall bare trunks, remains of 
 forest conflagrations, and the chilly aspect of 
 the frozen lakes, I have seldom witnessed such a 
 scene of desolation. With frosts and heavy 
 snows from November to March, and a .cold 
 
14 SKETCHES IN 
 
 ungenial spring in April and May, one cannot 
 but sympathize with the brave and hardy pioneers 
 of civilization settled in this wilderness. To 
 wards the Bay of Fundy coast there is much 
 alluvial deposit and disintegrated trap ; the soil 
 is rich and fertile, and this side of the peninsula 
 is usually described as the garden of Nova 
 Scotia. The north side, also, adjoining the 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence, is more productive and 
 enriched by mines of good coal near Pictou. 
 In the north-east of the province, at Sydney, 
 in Cape Breton Isle, there is a very fine coal, 
 which, as well as that from Pictou, is largely 
 exported to Halifax and other places in British 
 America, and to the United States. 
 
 Windsor is a small village, situated on the 
 estuary of the Avon ; a narrow channel, up 
 which we may see the famous Bay of Fundy 
 tide rushing with a furious rapidity that appears 
 very striking to one accustomed to the gentle rise 
 of the tide on most of the British coasts, and in 
 remarkable contrast with the tide at Halifax, on 
 the opposite side of the peninsula, which rises 
 and falls only from five to seven feet, its move 
 ments being almost imperceptible. At Wind 
 sor, the rise of the tide is about forty feet ; but 
 it reaches upwards of sixty feet in some places 
 on the Bay of Fundy. There are large quarries 
 
NOHTH AMERICA. 15 
 
 of gypsum, or plaster, as it is usually called, at 
 Windsor; from which about 57,000 tons, valued 
 at 1 1,200 are exported yearly to the United 
 States, partly for manure, partly for stucco. 
 The other exports from this little village are 
 potatoes, some hides, cattle and sheep, and 
 considerable quantities of the fish called shad, 
 and halibut, also sent chiefly to the United 
 States. 
 
 In America we are often agreeably surprised 
 at meeting familiar sounds, reminding us of 
 home, in the names of rivers, counties, towns, 
 etc., as Windsor, the Avon, the Trent, the 
 Mersey, the Thames, the Clydetokens of the 
 early settlers cherished recollections of their 
 native land. But the traveller is more pleased 
 still when he meets the names given to the 
 rivers, hills, etc., by the aborigines, which are 
 often retained ; those strange combinations of 
 sounds that bespeak, as surely as face or form, 
 another race that possessed the land before the 
 intruding Caucasian. In Nova Scotia and New 
 Brunswick, the land of the Mic-mac and Mil- 
 licete Indians, we find many picturesque native 
 names still preserved, with sh of very frequent 
 occurrence, as Mush-a-mush, Shubcnacadie, 
 Missaguash, Musquodoboit, Musquash, Digde- 
 guash, Magagaudewek, Washademoak, Oro- 
 
16 SKETCHES IN 
 
 mocto, Chebueto, Chignecto. There is yet a 
 third class of names found in these provinces, 
 which cannot be said to be picturesque or 
 romantic, or to have any pleasing or striking 
 association mingling with their sounds as they 
 strike the ear ; such are Salmon River (there is 
 no end of Salmon Rivers), Folly River, Great 
 Village River, Half-way River, Nine-mile 
 River, Inhabitants River, West, Middle, East 
 Rivers, and so on. The names of the counties 
 of Canada present a singular medley of historic 
 associations : Huron, Ottawa, Kamouraska, 
 Missisquoi, Arthabaska, tell of the Red Indian, 
 the original lord of the soil ; Champlain, Beau- 
 harnois, Richelieu, Montmorency, Montcalm, 
 recall the chivalrous nation that first colonized, 
 from Europe, the banks of the St. Lawrence ; 
 Wolfe, Wellington, Peel, Lambton, Elgin, Rus 
 sell, remind us of the sturdy Anglo-Saxons who 
 overthrew the first colonizers of Canada, and 
 now rule this great country. The towns of 
 Lower Canada are full of odd admixtures of 
 names. In Montreal we find such incongruous 
 sounds as Rue McGill, Rue Wellington; and 
 among the signs above the stores in a leading 
 street in that city may be seen the classic 
 French name of Cinq Mars, side by side with 
 the homely Scotch name James Boyd, Grocer. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 17 
 
 Such is the strange jumble of names we meet 
 with in many parts of America; there is a 
 similar jumble of people, feelings, ideas, which 
 it will require centuries to dissolve, or to fuse 
 I am afraid the process will be a fiery one 
 into a homogeneous mass. 
 
 At Windsor it was pleasing to meet with a 
 little oasis in the surrounding intellectual desert 
 KING S COLLEGE, a real college, with able 
 and accomplished men for its professors. Shut 
 up in this remote little village, cut off from the 
 society and intellectual life of Europe or the 
 United States, which they would at once enjoy 
 and adorn, these gentlemen have still a noble 
 task before them. They are sowing the seeds 
 of a higher intelligence, of superior tastes and 
 refinement, in this young province, where the 
 effect of their labours will be felt in time, 
 though these are hardly yet appreciated as they 
 should be. Colleges, D.D/s, and LL.D/s are 
 easily, cheaply, and quickly got up in North 
 America, where, in fact, they spring up like 
 mushrooms. Many of the so-called colleges 
 are little better than schools, and as to the D.D. s 
 and LL.D. s, the less that is said about them 
 the better. I have seen in respectable American 
 papers serious remonstrances as to the repre 
 hensible facility with which such honours may 
 
18 SKETCHES IN 
 
 be procured. But King s College, Windsor, is 
 of a higher class. While open to all sects, it 
 is under the direction of the Protestant bishop, 
 and the leading Episcopalians in the province. 
 Though not a large body (about 40,000), the 
 Episcopalians in Nova Scotia, as in the United 
 States, are the elite of the land ; and in this 
 small province it is to them that it is due that 
 anything like a collegiate education or instruc 
 tion in the sciences can be had. But for them 
 there would be no chair of the French and Ger 
 man languages, no professor of chemistry or 
 geology in the country. The college is main 
 tained chiefly by the liberal contributions of the 
 Episcopalian gentry, aided by a small grant from 
 the Government. The province is under great 
 obligations to the supporters of the college at 
 Windsor, who, by their liberality and unwearied 
 efforts, amid many discouragements, thus pro 
 vide for the youth of Nova Scotia the means of 
 procuring a first-class education. Other sects 
 have institutions for training up their youth to 
 the ministry. Were the different sects to unite 
 and have one college in the capital, a noble 
 institution might be maintained there, the only 
 place where there could be a prospect of any 
 considerable number of students. They could 
 have the chairs of secular knowledge, as classics, 
 
XORTH AMERICA. 19 
 
 mathematics, chemistry, in common, while each 
 sect might have its separate theological depart 
 ment. Such a scheme, however, implies a 
 certain amount of common sense and Christian 
 charity and good feeling between the different 
 religious bodies. A population of three hun 
 dred thousand cannot maintain more than one 
 efficient college ; but there is so much sectarian 
 bitterness and animosity in this little province, 
 that there is no prospect of such a union for 
 many years to come. At Windsor College I 
 feasted my eyes with the view of a library with 
 many learned-looking quartos and folios, of 
 retorts and crucibles, various philosophical in 
 struments, and other scientific and educational 
 materiel, the like of which had not blessed my 
 sight for some years. 
 
 I left Windsor in the morning, by steamer, 
 for St. John. There had been a fall of snow 
 during the night, and the ground was covered 
 to the depth of several inches. We reached 
 St. John after a pleasant passage of about nine 
 hours, not being delayed by hazy weather, 
 rather an uncommon event in the great region 
 of fish and fog. I hardly any other time arrived 
 at a port in these provinces without being de 
 tained by fog. The next time I went to St. 
 John, the passage was about twenty-four hours, 
 
20 SKETCHES IN 
 
 during twelve or thirteen of which we were 
 tossing about off St. John, till we got informa 
 tion from some fishermen as to our whereabouts. 
 St. John has a very fine natural harbour, with 
 a considerable amount of shipping in it, and 
 seems an active stirring place. The houses are 
 of wood and brick, with some fine stone build 
 ings. The town is at the mouth of the noble 
 river of the same name, the sail up which to 
 Eredericton, the capital of the province, is one 
 of the finest I have seen. 
 
 We left St. John at eight in the morning, 
 in a Yankee steamer, with the engine-beam 
 playing above the deck, and other peculiarities 
 of construction that distinguish American 
 steamers. One of these seems deserving of 
 imitation ; the steersman is in an elevated posi 
 tion near the bow of the vessel, so that he has 
 the best view that can be had of whatever may 
 be in the ship s course. About noon, we 
 reached Eastport, where we stayed a short time. 
 This is a small town or village, situated on an 
 island at the N.E. of the State of Maine, and, 
 like most of the American towns I saw, strikes 
 one immediately by its clean, neat, cheerful 
 aspect. In fact, it is quite a charming little 
 village ; most of the houses are of wood, nicely 
 painted or whitewashed, and almost all taste- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 21 
 
 fully constructed ; they are generally detached 
 from the adjoining houses, and each has a small 
 garden around it, prettily laid out. There are 
 trees in several of the streets, as in many towns 
 in America ; and, extending beyond the suburbs, 
 I found a luxury to which I had not lately been 
 accustomed side-walks of planks, so that in 
 the worst weather, one can get a clean, pleasant 
 footing in every part of the village. Eastport 
 is in the State which, by the boundary treaty 
 of 1842, so inconveniently indents the British 
 provinces, and which has become famous as the 
 inventor of the prohibitory liquor law r . This 
 enactment is so far successful that a stranger 
 passing through Maine unprovided with private 
 pocket companions, and unacquainted with the 
 ways of the place, is compelled to be very 
 temperate. I found, however, on a subsequent 
 visit, that good things are to be had easily by 
 those who know the where and the how, and 
 that the Maine Liquor Law is chiefly effective 
 as an obstacle to a traveller getting a refreshing 
 glass of ale or porter, but little impediment to 
 the people of the town procuring what they may 
 require. The House of Assembly of Nova 
 Scotia passed a prohibitory liquor law lately, 
 for which several members voted, quite against 
 their convictions, to please their constituents, 
 
22 SKETCHES IN 
 
 but in the hope that the Upper House (the 
 legislative council) would throw out the bill; 
 which that body did, much to the gratification 
 of the Government, the real majority of the 
 Lower House, and the intelligent part of the 
 community. As the revenue depends almost 
 entirely on import duties, Nova Scotia, by the 
 extraordinary facilities it affords for smug 
 gling by its extensive sea-board, is the last 
 country in the world where such a law could 
 be enforced. 
 
 At Eastport, I had the first sample of the 
 fire and energy which characterize the Yankees. 
 A variety of goods had to be put on shore, and 
 I stood on deck watching the operation, which 
 was the most rapid go-a-head scene of the sort 
 I ever witnessed. The men did not walk quietly 
 and soberly up the gangway with the heavy 
 packages or wheelbarrows ; they leaped, jumped, 
 ran, now a porter with a great box on his 
 shoulders, now a seaman, driving a wheelbarrow 
 before him, now some one pushing up a barrel, 
 all rushing up with their burdens and flying 
 down for a fresh load, as if they were running 
 for their lives, and chasing one another with a 
 sort of mad fury, like so many comical devils in 
 a pantomime. It was my first view of Yankee 
 going-a-head, and, slight as the incident was, 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 23 
 
 impressed me strongly with a sense of the fire 
 and intense activity of the people. 
 
 At about four in the morning the vessel 
 arrived at Portland, the chief port in Maine, at 
 the S.E. of that State, and there I left the 
 steamer, to proceed to Boston by railway, a 
 journey of about five hours. 
 
 The American railway carriages gave me 
 the first specimen I had of American " equality," 
 and in their comforts and superior accommoda 
 tion for all classes, showed that the " sovereign 
 people" were a real power in the United States, 
 and had to be attended to. There is only one 
 class, and that class has a comfortable seat with 
 cushions to sit upon and cushions to lean back 
 on, in closed, but cheerful and well lighted car 
 riages, that are properly warmed in cold weather. 
 The people are cared for there ; we do not see 
 in the United States anything like the mise 
 rable third (and some second) class carriages 
 found in this country, not only uncomfortable, 
 but by the cruel exposure, injurious to the 
 health, and that must, in this cold and wet 
 climate, have proved fatal to many aged and 
 delicate persons. An American is thunder 
 struck when he sees the carriages in which the 
 people have to travel in this country, thanks 
 his stars he is not a citizen of a State where the 
 
24 SKETCHES IN 
 
 masses are systematically subjected to sucli dis 
 comfort and degradation, and wonders at our 
 anxiety about the slaves in America, and our 
 neglect of the slaves at home, for such he con 
 siders the winter occupants of third-class car 
 riages on British railways. 
 
 The American railway carriage (or car, as it 
 is called) though not so luxurious as our first- 
 class carriage, has some important advantages 
 even over it in construction. The entrances 
 are by doors at the ends, up safe, easy, wide 
 steps, very different from our precipitous, dan 
 gerous ascents and descents at the sides. The 
 car is open from end to end, not divided into 
 compartments. A passage is kept between the 
 two doors from one end to the other, and the 
 guard (or passengers) can walk with perfect ease 
 and safety through the carriages, from one end 
 of the train to the other, instead of scrambling 
 outside, at the risk of his life, as we often see 
 the guard doing in trains on this side of the 
 Atlantic. The passengers can rise, walk to the 
 doors, and get the benefit now and then of a 
 change of posture and a little motion; while 
 persons selling newspapers, magazines, books, 
 or refreshments for the bod}^ are frequently 
 passing through the carriages. The seats, each 
 holding two persons, are placed across the car, 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 25 
 
 on each side of the passage, the passengers 
 facing the end of the car ; and, by an ingenious, 
 but very simple mechanism, the backs of the 
 seats are moveable, can be turned to either side 
 of the seat, so that the passenger can sit facing 
 either way, as he may prefer. A party of four 
 can thus sit, two facing two. In winter, two of 
 the seats are removed, and a stove is put up 
 with standing-room around it, and any one can 
 go from his seat to the stove, warm himself 
 thoroughly and return. In the European rail 
 way carriage, one feels quite cramped, " cabined, 
 cribbed, confined," after enjoying the ease and 
 comforts of the American car. From the num 
 ber of people in view, their movements, the 
 privilege of rising, changing one s seat, going to 
 the door, from the entrance of persons w r ith 
 newspapers, etc., for sale, the time passes much 
 more quickly and pleasantly in an American 
 car than in the European one, in which one 
 soon feels oppressed by ennui and weariness of 
 soul. It is also deserving of notice that in the 
 American trains, the passengers, guards, and 
 drivers have easy communication with one 
 another through the cars, which can be tra 
 versed quickly from end to end. 
 
 The defects of the American cars, as com 
 pared only with our first-class carriages for 
 
 c 
 
26 SKETCHES IN 
 
 they are immeasurably superior to the others 
 are, that the back of the seat is not high enough, 
 there being no support for the head and neck, 
 no soft, snug corner to nestle in, while the seat 
 is rather short for two at least for two goodly 
 Britishers; perhaps it may do for two lean 
 Yankees. On a railway on the broad guage, 
 between, I think, Elmira and Canandaigua, in 
 the west of New York State, the latter defect 
 does not exist, and there I saw the most com 
 fortable cars for a short journey that I ever met. 
 On long journeys, for half a dollar, one can get 
 a bed made up in a sleeping car, where, if we 
 do not sleep, we at least get rested, and in the 
 recumbent posture a very important point in a 
 night journey of ten or twelve hours. On the 
 great lines for passenger traffic, as between 
 Boston and New York, the case of the lovers of 
 tobacco is considered, and " smoking cars " are 
 provided. 
 
 It would be an improvement in the American 
 car were there some comfortable seats with high 
 backs, as in our first-class carriages, where also 
 one might be a little quiet (we must not say 
 " select/ in the United States), and not in the 
 midst of a restless crowd. But I suspect that 
 such exclusiveness would not be tolerated in the 
 great republic ; it would be considered " aristo- 
 
NORTH AMERICA, 27 
 
 eratic." In matters of public accommodation, 
 all must be served alike. The " sovereign 
 people " are fully impregnated with the doctrine 
 which Jefferson laid forth in the Declaration ot 
 Independence, that all men are created equal, 
 and they have " bettered his instruction/- to 
 make it mean somewhat more than he ever 
 intended by it. 
 
 There are excellent arrangements also as 
 to the baggage. It is given in charge to a 
 baggage-master, who gives in return something 
 to show for it a brass ticket with the number 
 marked in bold characters. When the train is 
 approaching a leading station, an agent of one 
 of the expresses (for forwarding goods) comes 
 into the cars, and, if you are willing, on receiv 
 ing your check, will take charge of your lug 
 gage, and forward it to any hotel or other 
 address you give him ; and you have no trouble 
 hunting up your goods ; you can go immediately 
 to your abode, where they will soon follow, if 
 they are not there before you. Attached to 
 every engine there is a large, loud-tongued bell, 
 which is always rung when a train starts, and 
 when it is approaching a station where it is to 
 stop a useful signal to passengers waiting the 
 arrival of a train, and which may also be a pre 
 ventive of accidents. 
 
28 SKETCHES IN 
 
 While speaking of railways, I may mention 
 that, in several instances, I found great want of 
 punctuality as to the arrival of trains. In some 
 long journeys, where I had a through ticket, for 
 a succession of railways under different com 
 panies, one train was often too late for the 
 connecting train ; and I was sometimes detained 
 hours, a day, or two days (if Sunday intervened). 
 This occurred repeatedly to myself, and I knew 
 of many other persons experiencing the same 
 irregularity ; not from unexpected accidents, or 
 impediments caused by the weather, but from 
 sheer negligence and indifference to keeping 
 faith with passengers. It seemed as if the 
 companies were in league with the inn-keepers 
 on the line, who were the only parties benefited 
 by the failure to perform what the advertise 
 ments held out, what could easily be done, and 
 what the ticket was sold for. I found the 
 Hudson River Railroad Company particularly 
 distinguished for such want of good faith ; the 
 delays on that line were frequent and shameful, 
 such as I do not believe ever occur on any 
 European railway, and quite discreditable to 
 any public company. Another unpleasant 
 thing on the American railways was the dis- 
 agreeableness of the conductors, the only class 
 of people in the United States, that came under 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 29 
 
 my notice, of whose manners I had cause to 
 complain. Cold, disobliging, and repulsive, 
 one could with great difficulty extract any in 
 formation from them, and yet a stranger is 
 greatly dependent on them ; as the companies 
 do not provide satisfactory time-bills, with the 
 clear, full, exact information one finds in Europe. 
 Comparisons are odious, but I could not help 
 contrasting the behaviour of the American 
 conductors with the frank, hearty, obliging 
 manners I have ever found in like officers on 
 the British or Continental railways. 
 
 The Americans exhibit extraordinary fer 
 tility of invention. When railways are esta 
 blished, and a large carriage is required for 
 the new mode of conveyance, we stick together 
 three coaches of the old sort, and even paint 
 the new one so as to look like the old one. 
 The American takes advantage of the necessary 
 enlargement to improve the construction, and 
 strike out something new. The Englishman 
 has a large inventive genius, but at the same 
 time a tendency to stand by the old ways ; the 
 American assumes at once that whatever is old 
 is wrong, and never rests till he has hit upon 
 something new. This spirit of innovation 
 greatly promotes invention. Ingenious and 
 convenient contrivances for saving time, trouble, 
 
30 SKETCHES IN 
 
 and expense, as well as promoting comfort, 
 abound everywhere in the United States. This 
 inventive spirit is encouraged by the easy terms 
 on which patents may be secured. The follow 
 ing is the tariff of fees for patents and caveats, 
 which, with one or two of the regulations, show 
 that everything is done to foster and promote 
 improvements in the useful arts. 
 
 DOLLARS. 
 
 Application for a design . . . . .15 
 
 Caveat 20 
 
 Application for a patent, if made by a citizen, or a 
 foreigner who lias resided in the States for 
 one year, and made oath of his intention to 
 
 become a citizen 30 
 
 Application for a patent 
 
 By a subject of Great Britain . . . 500 
 
 By any other foreigner 300 
 
 Application for an extension . . . .40 
 Copy of a patent or other instrument, 10 cents for every 
 
 100 words. 
 
 Eecording the assignment, 1 dollar up to 300 words ; 2 dol 
 lars for 300 to 1000 words; 3 dollars above 1000 
 words. 
 
 On a patent following a caveat, the charge 
 for the latter is allowed to stand as part of the 
 fee for the patent. An extension, after inquiry 
 and hearing of objections, is granted for seven 
 years. 
 
 If the application for a patent is rejected, 
 two-thirds of the charge are returned. It is 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 31 
 
 refused if " the same has been invented or dis 
 covered by any other person in this country 
 prior to the alleged invention or discovery 
 thereof by the applicant, or has been patented 
 or described in any printed publication in this 
 or any foreign country, or has been in public 
 use or on sale, with the applicant s consent or 
 allowance, prior to the application." If the 
 description is defective and insufficient, the 
 Commissioner of Patents " shall notify the 
 applicant thereof, giving him briefly such in 
 formation and references as may be useful in 
 judging of the propriety of renewing his appli 
 cation, or of altering his specification, to embrace 
 only that part of the invention or discovery 
 which is new." There is a Commissioner of 
 Patents, with a salary of 3000 dollars per annum, 
 with an efficient staff, consisting of clerks, a 
 draughtsman, and a machinist, and several prin 
 cipal examiners, with a salary each of 2500 
 dollars, and assistant examiners, with a salary 
 of 1500 dollars per annum. Each of these has 
 charge of some particular class of inventions. 
 The patentee must " furnish a model of his in 
 vention, in all cases which admit of a repre 
 sentation by model, of a convenient size, to 
 exhibit advantageously its several parts." This 
 is deposited in the Patent Office. 
 
32 SKETCHES IN 
 
 The PATENT OFFICE at Washington is one 
 of the sights of the country. This is a huge 
 building, with four sides and a court within,, 
 not much less than Somerset House. It is 
 constructed mostly of white marble, in the 
 Doric style ; and in it are deposited specimens 
 of the subject of every patent taken out. The 
 collection, as may be supposed, is overwhelm 
 ing. The nation is teeming with ingenuity, 
 and ever producing something new ; everybody 
 invents or improves something, takes out a 
 patent, and deposits his model or sample in the 
 Patent Office. I believe the people of the 
 United States surpass every nation on the 
 globe in the number of new inventions yearly 
 produced. If this inventive spirit continues, 
 and the population goes on increasing as 
 hitherto, ere long all Washington will hardly 
 suffice for a patent office. Last year no less 
 than 5638 patents were applied for, and 846 
 caveats were registered. Three thousand eight 
 hundred and ninety-six patents were issued, 
 and twenty-eight extended for seven years from 
 the expiration of the first term. The income of 
 the office for last year was 197,648 dollars 
 (about 40,000 sterling), and the expenditure 
 189,672 dollars, showing a surplus of 7976 
 dollars. In the Patent Office a variety of anti- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 33 
 
 quities, curiosities, and other objects of interest, 
 are deposited as the press at which Franklin 
 worked in London; the coat worn by General 
 Jackson at the battle of New Orleans ; the coat 
 worn by Washington when he resigned his 
 commission at Annapolis ; various treaties, as 
 with Louis XVI. ; the Declaration of Indepen 
 dence (a second copy, with the real signatures ; 
 the original, or first copy,, is preserved in the 
 State-Paper Office). 
 
 Grates and stoves have yielded great scope 
 for American ingenuity ; the variety of these is 
 extraordinary. The cooking- stove is now be 
 ginning to be used in this country, and perhaps 
 we might find it worth while to adopt some 
 form of the grate very generally used in North 
 America. I do not know that it is originally 
 an American invention, but the practical people 
 of the United States have appreciated its advan 
 tages. In places where fuel is dear, its use 
 would be greatly conducive to comfort and 
 economy. It is an open grate, giving a sight 
 of the fire and the cheerful blaze so welcome to 
 the Englishman ; but it is not, like our grate, 
 imbedded in the wall, sending half its heat up 
 the chimney, or into the dead mass behind it. 
 It stands out from the wall a little, throws out 
 heat on all sides into the room, not only by 
 
34 SKETCHES IN 
 
 radiation, but by direct contact with the air of 
 the room, which touches it on every side ; and 
 really gives out the whole heat produced, ex 
 cepting that small portion which must ascend 
 the flue in the warm column of air that creates 
 the draught. It need not project further into 
 the room than the present fender, gives no 
 offensive odour, and, in the newest forms, is 
 fitted with doors and regulators, and every 
 desirable convenience. In a place like London, 
 where the cold is sometimes severe and fuel 
 very high in price, one of these American 
 grates would, I feel confident, be a boon in 
 many a family. In the Northern States anthra 
 cite, a non-bituminous coal, that burns without 
 flame, like coke, is much used, often in stoves, 
 instead of grates. These stoves are sometimes 
 ill-constructed, and give out a most deleterious 
 gas, the frequent inhalation of which must be 
 very injurious to the health. 
 
 The first thing that interested me, on 
 arriving in the United States, was the look of 
 the people a point on which I had considerable 
 curiosity, so much has been said pro and con as 
 to an alleged change in the form and features 
 of the Anglo-Saxon race after a settlement of 
 some generations in America. About seventy 
 years since, in a work published in 1788, Dr. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 35 
 
 Smith, President of Princeton College, asserted 
 that then a change had begun to take place in 
 the inhabitants of European descent, in both 
 complexion and feature, consisting in an ap 
 proximation to the Indian type. Dr. Knox 
 holds that the climate of America causes the 
 Anglo-Saxon to degenerate, and that already 
 the United States man differs materially from 
 the European. Dr. Pritchard was informed that 
 the heads of Europeans in the West Indies 
 approach those of the aboriginal Indians in 
 form, independently of intermixture. Dr. Car 
 penter thinks that, in form of cranium and cast 
 of countenance, the Anglo-American races are 
 growing like the North American Indian ; and 
 the same doctrine is upheld by a recent writer in 
 the " Protestant Episcopal Magazine/ of New 
 York.* These opinions have been violently 
 
 * DR. MOETON, the distinguished American ethnologist, 
 regarded this notion as " wholly idle and gratuitous." But 
 he himself held " the doctrine of primeval diversities among 
 men an original adaptation of the several races to those 
 varied circumstances of climate and locality which, while 
 congenial to the one, are destructive to the other." Assuming 
 this adaptation of race to soil, etc., it does not seem unrea 
 sonable to suppose that " circumstances of climate and 
 locality " may, in time, cause an intrusive race to assimilate 
 in some degree to the race for which the region was specially 
 adapted. This doctrine of the original diversity of races is 
 
36 SKETCHES IN 
 
 protested against by American writers, and at 
 present no very positive proof can be adduced 
 on either side. It is difficult for one who is 
 but a short time in the country to distinguish 
 between the native descendants of old settlers 
 and descendants of recent immigrants ; and 
 when we find that since the close of the last 
 war with the United States no less than three 
 millions of persons have emigrated to that 
 country from the United Kingdom alone, it is 
 evident that care is necessary in forming an 
 opinion on the subject. 
 
 Still one cannot avoid acquiring some im 
 pression, and the conviction on my mind is that 
 the Anglo-Saxon has changed considerably in 
 America; that he is there lean and spare in 
 
 gaining ground in the United States. Its leading supporter 
 is AGASSIZ ; and two large works, by Messrs. Xott and 
 Gliddon, have been published, mainly intended to enforce 
 and illustrate this theory " Types of Mankind " and " In 
 digenous Races of the Earth." Agassiz says : "The boun 
 daries within which the different natural combinations of 
 animals are known to be circumscribed on the surface of the 
 earth coincide with the natural range of distinct types of 
 man." At the same time, JS"ott and Gliddon maintain that 
 geographical influences, even in a long series of years, can 
 effect no material change in a race. This part of the theory 
 is a favourite with the pro-slavery party, who infer from it 
 that the negroes never can improve so as to be fit for 
 freedom. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 37 
 
 form, slim, agile, with sharp features and an 
 anxious expression; the females thin, pale, 
 and delicate-looking. Brother Jonathan is 
 sadly changed (improved, he says) from that 
 grand, portly-looking John Bull, whose look 
 and figure are so familiar to every one who has 
 travelled in England. Seldom in the United 
 States do we meet the rosy lass or stout burly 
 fellow so common in the old country. Very 
 few are enormously fat and unwieldy-looking. 
 One does not meet there (or very rarely pro 
 bably a born Britisher) the large, rosy, well- 
 rounded, full-paunched John Bull, without a 
 wrinkle in his chubby cheeks, or a sign of care 
 in his whole countenance the personification 
 of ease, content, good humour, and much beef 
 and beer, so well described in the lines 
 
 " Round as a globe, and liquor d every cliink, 
 Goodly and great, he sails oehind his drink." 
 
 These lines find no illustrations among our 
 western cousins. 
 
 The Americans themselves admit that they 
 have, in point of fulness of outline, deviated 
 from the British type. One American writer 
 says, "Contrast the lean, lank, lackadaisical 
 Yankee with the ruddy, round, and robust 
 
38 SKETCHES IN 
 
 Englishman, his ancestor." Another remarks, 
 " The Americans are, undoubtedly, a thin peo 
 ple" " they may, probably, have a worn look" 
 "they have too much to do, and are too anxious 
 to do it well, to allow of the necessary repose 
 for the quiet accumulation of fat." "Our 
 women have not the embonpoint of the English, 
 but they don t imbibe London stout by the 
 imperial measure, nor retire to their couches 
 torpid with strong-brewed ale and old Stilton." 
 While amused by the explanations, we may 
 accept the writer s admission of the facts. He 
 says also that Jonathan, compared with John 
 Bull, is more cleanly cut, his proportions more 
 regular, his features more sharply chiselled and 
 his action more free."* 
 
 On no occasion did this difference strike me 
 more forcibly than on entering the British Mail 
 Steamer at Boston, suddenly encountering the 
 
 * The rest is too good to be lost : " The latter is alto 
 gether too superfluous and clumsy ; his proportions want 
 regulating ; his belly is too protuberant ; his neck too thick ; 
 his feet too spreading ; his hands too large and podgy ; his 
 lips too spongy and everted ; his cheeks too pendulous ; his 
 nose too lobular, blunt, and bottle-like ; his expression alto 
 gether too beef-eating. In a word, according to our taste, 
 John Bull won t do, and must be done over again." " The 
 American is an Englishman without his caution, his reserve, 
 his fixed habits, his cant, and his stolidity." 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 39 
 
 British physiognomy, with the American one 
 quite fresh in my recollection. It was like 
 coming amongst a different race. The seamen, 
 stewards, waiters, seemed so sleek, fat and rosy, 
 altogether so easy-going, content and comfort 
 able-looking, it was difficult to imagine that 
 they had the same origin as the lean, hard, 
 wiry, quick, restless, anxious-looking American. 
 That both men and women of the Anglo-Saxon 
 race undergo a great physical change in the 
 United States, I think there can be little 
 reason to doubt. Whether that physical modi 
 fication is to be termed degenerating, or im 
 proving, as some Americans think, time will 
 show. Mentally, there seems no decrease of 
 vigour. 
 
 But the Americans cannot be spoken of now 
 as one race ; climate and institutions are deve 
 loping at least two sections, nearly as distinct 
 as British and French, or English and Irish 
 the North and the South. 
 
 While all are more spare in figure than their 
 cousins in the old country, the Southerners 
 seem, in other respects, to have deviated least 
 from the type of their ancestors, having the 
 quiet and composed bearing of the English, 
 with much resemblance to them in look and 
 manner; and with the advantage of, I think, 
 
40 SKETCHES IN 
 
 less of the coldness and reserve which too much 
 characterize the latter. We know that, when 
 roused, they are impatient and fiery, reckless of 
 life and vindictive, ever ready, for a mere trifle, 
 with the bowie-knife or the revolver; still, the 
 gentlemen of the Southern States appear to me 
 more like the English in look and bearing than 
 any other cliiss of persons I saw in the United 
 States, and very different from the generality 
 of the inhabitants of the North. 
 
 But the Northerner, the New Englander, the 
 real Yankee in him we see a new race spring 
 ing up. Spare in face and figure, he is distin 
 guished by a clear penetrating eye, a singularly 
 intellectual aspect, a frank, open expression, a 
 quick, impulsive, nervous manner; his bearing 
 is marked by restlessness and a sort of explo 
 sive energy ; there is no repose in his character ; 
 one feels quite slow beside a genuine New Eng 
 lander. His temperament seems in a high 
 degree nervous- sanguine, with the former ele 
 ment preponderating. He has a constant 
 craving for action, for. change, for excitement. 
 He is the very embodiment of the spirit of 
 scheming, speculation, and enterprise, has faith 
 in himself, goes-a-head with a reckless confi 
 dence and headlong stick-at-nothingism, and, 
 more perhaps than any nation on earth, excm- 
 
NORTH AMEIUCA. 41 
 
 plifies the Scotch saying, " He will make a 
 spoon or spoil a horn." He often does spoil 
 the horn ; but, with wonderful elasticity, springs 
 up again, perhaps on the very spot where he 
 fell, like a Phoenix from the ashes perhaps in 
 the far west, into which he carries the same 
 dash and daring. An American and Nova 
 Scotian were discoursing of banking, after the 
 crisis of 1857. The latter was praising the 
 banking system pursued in his province, in 
 which, he said, the banks never fail. "What, 
 sir," said the lively Yankee, "your banks never 
 fail ! the people can have no enterprise." That 
 remark is a perfect picture of the disposition of 
 the New Englander. He is a great character; 
 he has made New England the envy and admi 
 ration of all America ; and has filled the great 
 west with his genius and his institutions. 
 
 Dispersed everywhere through the United 
 States, another countenance is to be seen, re 
 sembling neither the Englishman, the South 
 erner, nor the New Englander. In. many 
 Americans, one finds a peculiar and well-marked 
 expression, like the grave, grim look of the 
 North American Indian. This, denoted by a 
 long compressed upper lip, a marked expression 
 of firmness, with little adaptation for a smile, 
 I had noticed in Americans whom I had seen 
 
42 SKETCHES IN 
 
 in England, many years ago ; and found not a 
 few examples of it in travelling through the 
 States, though not so many as I had anticipated. 
 Is this the Puritan or the Red Indian type? 
 And if the latter, is it the result of an ethno 
 graphic modification produced by the climate, 
 or is it to be traced to Indian blood in the 
 veins? Possibly it may be, as the writers above 
 referred to have supposed, that the climate and 
 soil the geographical influences of America 
 have a tendency to develop the Indian type; 
 and that this appears only in those of the Anglo- 
 Saxons who, by constitution and character, are 
 already predisposed towards it. It docs not 
 seem likely that this change of expression will 
 go far or extend to more than a few; but that 
 it has taken place to a certain extent, there 
 seems every reason to believe, whatever expla 
 nation may be found for it. 
 
 In another point the look of " the people" 
 struck me forcibly, compared with the appear 
 ance of the lower classes in Europe. While all 
 are somewhat spare or lean, few are very lean ; 
 the great body of the working classes in the 
 British Colonies, as well as in the United States, 
 look well fed and comfortable ; very few, indeed, 
 are to be seen there, like the " needy, hollow- 
 eyed, sharp looking wretch" so frequently met 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 43 
 
 with in tlie large towns, and amongst the pea 
 santry, too, in Europe. Pinching poverty seems 
 rare ; all seem to have enough. It is distress 
 ing, on returning to England, to see the vast 
 number of poor very, very poor that abound 
 everywhere. In four weeks, in the vicinity of 
 London, I have seen more wretchedness, and 
 been accosted oftener by beggars, than in four 
 years in North America. Nova Scotia, New 
 Brunswick, and other parts of the British Set 
 tlements are crying out for labour. It seems 
 hard that we can neither bring the food to these 
 poor people, nor send them to it. Such is the 
 present advantageous position of the lower 
 orders in America ; but it is alleged that there 
 are already visible indications of an unfavour 
 able change. Grim poverty is beginning to 
 show itself in the crowded regions of the 
 Atlantic coast, as the outlets in the far West 
 are becoming closed up. The pauperism of the 
 State of New York is said to exceed, in propor 
 tion to the population, that of England and 
 AVales. I have not access to reliable statistics 
 on the subject ; but in an article in an American 
 paper of standing, it is stated that in this great 
 State, while in 1831 there was 1 pauper to 123 
 persons, the proportion has been gradually in 
 creasing, till now 1 out of every 13J is a 
 
44 SKETCHES IN 
 
 pauper. This might, in some degree, be antici 
 pated as to New York, the State in which the 
 great majority of poor emigrants disembark ; 
 but the amount of poverty is understood to be 
 excessive, even allowing for that. And the evil is 
 not showing itself there only. 
 
 In the United States, it is delightful to see 
 the bright, animated, intelligent look of the 
 working man, and the air of dignity and self- 
 respect that distinguishes him. We see in 
 these, in the superior tone of address that cha 
 racterizes him, and in his whole aspect and 
 bearing, the results of early education, comfort 
 able circumstances, taste and opportunities for 
 intellectual pursuits, of the universally diffused 
 feeling of " equality," and perhaps also of the 
 political privileges he enjoys. To the American 
 <f common people" much more than to the 
 British, are Goldsmith s lines applicable : 
 
 " Stern o er each bosom Reason holds her state, 
 "With daring aims irregularly great ; 
 Pride in their port, defiance in their eye, 
 I see the lords of human kind pass by ; 
 Intent on high designs, a thoughtful band, 
 By forms unfashioned, fresh from Nature s hand ; 
 Fierce in their native hardiness of soul, 
 True to imagin d right, above control ; 
 While e en the peasant boasts these rights to scan, 
 And learns to venerate himself as man." 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 45 
 
 But there is another side to the picture. In 
 England, the upper classes and the employers 
 are apt to be proud, haughty, and disdainful 
 towards the classes beneath them. In the United 
 States it is the reverse ; the employed and lower 
 classes are those who have a tendency to be 
 saucy and insolent ; their feeling of independ 
 ence runs to excess in that direction, the result 
 of comfortable circumstances and of the feeling 
 of equality, and the general jealousy of the 
 upper classes. One seldom meets in an Ame 
 rican store, the polite, attentive, almost obse 
 quious manner and anxiety to oblige that 
 characterize shopkeepers in England. An 
 American calls that " cringing," and scorns it 
 sometimes carries his way a little too far, and 
 so scorns to be civil. Such persons in the 
 United States are often quite regardless and 
 indifferent ; don t seem to care much whether 
 you are attended to or not, and won t put them 
 selves in the least about to serve you (I should 
 say, traffic with you serve is not the word for 
 America). Frequently on entering a store, not a 
 soul has moved to see what I required, and it 
 w r as at times a matter of some difficulty to find 
 from several careless attendants which was the 
 right one to apply to. I speak here only of 
 those who owe some duty or service to another, 
 
46 SKETCHES IX 
 
 and are at tlie same time of the less educated 
 and polished classes ; such persons are very 
 often so independent and morbidly afraid of 
 exhibiting any obsequiousness, that they run 
 into surliness or sauciness. Along with this, 
 there is a most unmistakeable air of self-confi 
 dence in all classes, including females and the 
 young. The air of perfect self-possession, seen 
 in the young, the women, and the lower classes, 
 is surprising; quite different from anything I 
 have seen elsewhere. 
 
 From my short experience of the Americans, 
 I should say too much has been written about 
 such small matters as the nasal twang, inquisi- 
 tiveness, and spitting; and too little of the 
 frank and agreeable manners of the people and 
 their friendly behaviour to strangers. The 
 nasal twang is comparatively rare, though 
 sometimes very well marked, especially in 
 Boston, where I have heard it amongst the 
 legislative officials. It is scarcely heard in 
 Congress. Having travelled thousands of miles 
 in the States, I seldom experienced that inqui- 
 sitiveness so much talked of, and can only re 
 collect of one occasion on which spitting was in 
 the least annoying. We do meet in the States 
 people a little brusque and eccentric in manners, 
 but not more in proportion than in other coun- 
 
AMERICA. 47 
 
 tries, allowing for the American hotel and rail 
 way systems, that bring all classes together, for 
 the independent character of the people, that 
 prompts a more free and outspoken bearing, 
 and for the comparative isolation in which, in 
 so large and newly settled a country, many 
 must reside. Take the great majority of the 
 people in any considerable American city, they 
 will be found as courteous and well bred as in 
 other cities, and, perhaps, more affable and 
 accessible than the like classes in Great Britain. 
 Now and then one does meet with an unplea 
 sant combination of cold English reserve and 
 surly American independence. But this is rare 
 and exceptional. That peculiar repelling look 
 which characterizes many in England, as if they 
 were indignant at something, and would be 
 greatly astonished if you should presume to 
 address them, is seldom seen in the United 
 States, where, in general, the people are frank, 
 hearty, and open, ready, when travelling, to 
 converse pleasantly, and so aid in passing the 
 time agreeably. Always* excepting at dinner in 
 a hotel ; there, I must say, I did not find 
 Brother Jonathan inclined to be sociable; he 
 would answer politely, but not encouragingly, 
 in such a way as to convey the impression that 
 he was engaged in a very important business, 
 
48 SKETCHES IN 
 
 requiring his undivided attention, for which his 
 time was rather limited, and so did not care to 
 be interrupted. The silence at the dinner-table 
 in many of the American hotels felt sometimes 
 oppressive ; at other times, ludicrous, when one 
 looked around, and saw a hundred or two 
 deeply intent and quite absorbed in the great 
 work of cramming, opening their mouths only 
 for the admission of victuals, or to call for 
 more, and heard nothing but the footsteps of 
 the waiters, the subdued tones of the various 
 orders, and the clatter of plates and dishes. 
 
 Fluency of language is undoubtedly a cha 
 racteristic of the Americans. They are trained 
 to it early ; they have an extraordinary number 
 of school-books on elocution, and are frequently 
 called on in their schools to speak out, give 
 demonstrations, and recite. They arc con 
 stantly reading, listening to, or making speeches, 
 and certainly appear to me to have a much 
 readier command of words than the British. 
 You never hear an American hesitate, no 
 hum-and-hawing, failure in finding a word, 
 going back to reconstruct the sentence : their 
 fluency, propriety, and readiness of speech are 
 surprising. I heard a great variety of speakers 
 in Congress; all spoke with perfect freedom 
 and fluency, quite at ease and unembarrassed* 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 49 
 
 with a facility that evinced not only consider 
 able previous practice, but a great natural com 
 mand of language. The majority were new 
 members, of whom, however, it is probable that 
 many had been members of some of the State 
 legislatures. Diffidence is scarcely to be met 
 with in the United States, which greatly pro 
 motes fluency of speech. Had Shakspeare 
 lived in modern America, he would hardly have 
 written 
 
 " Where I have come, great clerks hare purposed 
 To greet me with premeditated welcomes ; 
 "Where I have seen them shiver and look pale, 
 "Make periods in the midst of sentences, 
 Throttle their practis d accent in their fears, 
 And in conclusion, dumbly have broke off." 
 
 "Periods in the midst of sentences" and 
 " dumbly breaking off" are unknown in the 
 United States. Glib and voluble, but at the 
 same time correct and forcible in language, 
 Brother Jonathan is ever ready with words; 
 and, I should suppose, never finds himself in 
 the awkward "fix" in which we sometimes see 
 a rash John .Bull, bashful, blundering, and 
 stammering, who has mistaken his vocation, 
 and imagined he had a mission to make a 
 speech. The " gift of the gab " is a national 
 
50 SKETCHES IN 
 
 characteristic according to some of them 
 selves, a national nuisance. A gentleman was 
 applied to for a contribution to assist in estab 
 lishing a debating society in his native village. 
 He wrote back that he would gladly subscribe 
 to stop it, if he could ; that there was too much 
 talk already; that he was quite sick of it; 
 that the gift of the gab would be the ruin of 
 the country. It is even denounced from the 
 pulpit. In a fast-day sermon a clergyman said, 
 " The people of this country have talked too 
 much, have written too much. Verboseness is 
 one of the national sins." But they do talk 
 well, and by talking train the mind as well as 
 the faculty of speech, and are better able to 
 exhibit their talents and information. 
 
 One cause why the Americans deviate from 
 the British type may, I think, be adduced to 
 explain some points in their character and phy 
 sical constitution. They are not the descend 
 ants of the average of the British, but of 
 certain sections only. The stout, corpulent, 
 jolly-looking John Bull does not leave his 
 country ; he is at ease, and content, and does 
 not need to emigrate, which would be too much 
 trouble to him. He stays at home, and enjoys 
 " mine ease in mine inn." The Americans are, 
 for the most part, the descendants of the disap- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 51 
 
 pointed, restless, uneasy, lean, and discontented 
 part of the English 
 
 " All the unsettled humours of the land." 
 
 A constant succession of immigrants of this 
 peculiar description must, in time, give rise to 
 a different national character. This, with the 
 Puritanical descent of many, may explain 
 several of the characteristics of the American 
 features and character. At the same time, the 
 large amount of the Celtic element among the 
 settlers must also produce its share of the 
 change, and aid in forming the lively, restless 
 Yankee, in place of the more sober, staid John 
 Bull. "When his heterogeneous elements become 
 thoroughly intermixed he will be a compound 
 mainly of English, Irish, and German, and, if 
 the influence of climate and institutions per 
 mit, will probably be an improvement on the 
 original stock. 
 
 Climate must also have some effect in the 
 transformation going on. Though we do not 
 as yet know much as to the action of air, sun, 
 and soil, we can hardly doubt that a change 
 from the damp, cloudy, temperate clime of 
 Great Britain to the great summer heat, severe 
 winter cold, comparatively dry atmosphere and 
 
52 SKETCHES IN 
 
 serene sky and sunshine of North America 
 must affect the physical constitution consi 
 derably, and probably also have some action on 
 the mental characteristics. 
 
 Education and institutions also contribute 
 their share. From their very childhood the 
 Americans are inured to driving and excite 
 ment. The rousing and animated style wit 
 nessed in the infant schools is continued and 
 maintained during youth up to manhood, when 
 declamation, fiery debates, and never-ending 
 political struggles, keep up the eternal turmoil. 
 All are educated, all have votes and political 
 influence, and all are in a state of continual 
 excitement on public questions. Every four 
 years the country is stirred to its foundations 
 on the presidential election, the agitation for 
 which is in full operation a twelvemonth before 
 hand. Every two years a new Congress is 
 chosen ; and besides this each State has its 
 own legislature and governor to elect at short 
 intervals. Every city has its little parliament, 
 and the citizens of each State must attend, 
 more or less, to the doings of the other States. 
 Last year there were three long messages re 
 quiring the particular attention of the inhabi 
 tants of the city of New York the President s 
 message, the State Governor s, and the Mayor s. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 53 
 
 New territories are being settled, for eacli of 
 which laws and a constitution are wanted ; the 
 settlers are turned into as many Solons, and on 
 the principle of go-a-head, or " Excelsior/ they 
 strive to produce something more perfect than 
 ever was known in the world before. The ten 
 dency is ever onwards,, going further and 
 further in the direction in which they began; 
 liberty, equality, restriction of the authority of 
 judges and rulers, and the principle of govern 
 ment by the governed are pushed to an extreme. 
 Great public meetings, conventions, caucuses,* 
 platforms, demonstrations, are for ever going 
 on. In short, every man is a sovereign, per 
 petually occupied in governing the other sove 
 reigns. Thus the nation is kept in a continual 
 ferment. We may question if so cumbrous a 
 system of government, and so much legisla- 
 tiorial turmoil, are for the good of the country ; 
 but who can doubt that they must produce 
 an exciteable, quick-witted, restless people. 
 Thought and the power of speech are developed, 
 
 * A caucus meeting is a select preliminary meeting held 
 to prepare a course of action at the legislative assemblies, 
 some important convention, or other public meeting. A 
 platform is a declaration of the principles of a party that 
 upon which they stand ; each leading point is a plank in the 
 platform, and we sometimes hear even of a splinter of a plank. 
 
51< SKETCHES IN 
 
 with self-confidence and presumption, for all 
 are equal, and all are powers in the state. 
 Public life is fostered, home discouraged, and a 
 morbid craving for excitement created. 
 
 There can be little doubt that from all these 
 causes a new national character, a new race- 
 variety widely different from the British, will 
 grow up in the United States. The Americans 
 seem approximating to the French in character: 
 in exciteability, impulsiveness, restlessness, and 
 fluency of language, they are already far more 
 French than English. It is quite a pleasure to 
 see the inteUigence and animation which cha 
 racterize all classes. They are indeed a re 
 markably clever people, and we must hope that 
 there will remain amongst them enough of the 
 solidity (or stolidity, as the Americans call it) 
 of the Anglo-Saxon to preserve this truly great 
 nation from the dangers to which they are 
 exposed by their cleverness and impulsiveness, 
 and the trying circumstances and institutions 
 with which they have to contend. 
 
 No man can have lived a little in North 
 America, whether in the United States or the 
 British Colonies, without perceiving that im 
 patience of restraint and a morbid jealousy of 
 rulers penetrate the whole system of society. 
 The lower classes, servants, the employed, the 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 55 
 
 young, the women, in short, all who have any 
 one above them in authority or standing, are in 
 a state of chronic insubordination. There is no 
 organ of veneration in North America ; every 
 one in authority is looked upon with suspicion ; 
 as a possible oppressor, who must be narrowly 
 watched, and checked at the slightest manifes 
 tation of his natural tendency to be a tyrant. 
 This is seen in the audacious bearing of the 
 young, in the rowdyism in even the old-settled 
 large cities, not always confined to the mob, in 
 the intolerance of the federal authority by the 
 several States, and of the State authority by 
 its citizens, and in the increasing tendency to 
 give the people the election of judges, and to ap 
 point them for limited times only, thus placing 
 the judgment- seat in subservience to king 
 mob. The "Boston Courier" states, "The philo 
 sopher of Concord informed his fellow citizens 
 that it was on general principles the duty of the 
 States to resist the United States Government, 
 of the cities to resist the States, and of the 
 villages to resist the cities.- Why the philoso 
 pher stopped there, we do not know. He ought 
 to have added that it was the duty of each 
 household to resist the municipal authority of 
 the village, and of each individual to resist the 
 head of the family." The "Courier" might 
 
56 SKETCHES IN 
 
 have added that there really is, in the American 
 mind, an impatience of control and constant 
 tendency to resist, that renders government very 
 difficult indeed. It appears as if America had 
 but two cardinal points in her political creed, 
 derived from the Declaration of Independence, 
 that all men are equal, and therefore no one 
 should be subject to the control of another, and 
 that all in authority tend to be tyrants, and 
 thence the people have the right to resist their 
 governors ; and as if it was felt to be a duty, as 
 well as a right, to take every possible oppor 
 tunity of calling into action these fundamental 
 principles of trans-atlantic government. 
 
 The case of " the philosopher of Concord/ 
 referred to by the " Courier," well illustrates 
 this spirit of resistance. This was a Mr. San- 
 born, a teacher of that place, who, backed by 
 other philosophers and the House of Represen 
 tatives, at Boston, had the honour and glory of 
 bidding defiance to the Senate of the United 
 States. A committee of that body had been 
 appointed to inquire and report as to the John 
 Brown insurrection at Harper s Ferry, with 
 power to send for persons and papers. The 
 committee proceeded to summon as witnesses 
 various parties, who, it appeared, had been in 
 communication with Brown, with the view of 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 57 
 
 throwing some light on the subject. Of the 
 persons summoned, or expecting to be sum 
 moned, some found it convenient to disappear, 
 others gave evidence under protest. Mr. San- 
 born was bolder ; he would neither testify nor 
 run away. Having paid no attention to tho 
 summons, the sergeunt-at-arms was instructed 
 to bring him before the House, and an officer 
 was sent by the sergeant to arrest him. The 
 officer went to Mr. Sanborn s house in the 
 evening with a carriage and several assistants, 
 and Mr. Sanborn refusing to go with them 
 peaceably, they were dragging him by force to 
 the vehicle, when his cries brought down his 
 sister; she called out "murder" most lustily, 
 alarmed the neighbours, and it is said, got the 
 whip and lashed the horses, so that the mar 
 shals men were occupied in holding them, and 
 he could not force Sanborn into the carriage 
 alone. Soon the crowd who had gathered 
 protected him., till some one ran to a judge s 
 and got a writ of habeas corpus, which a deputy- 
 sheriff served, and took the prisoner from the 
 hands of the marshal. On this writ, Sanborn 
 was brought before the Supreme Judicial Court 
 of Massachusetts, at Boston, and liberated on 
 the ground that the sergeant-at-arms must 
 execute the warrant himself, and cannot, unless 
 
 E 
 
58 SKETCHES IX 
 
 specially authorized, depute to another the duty 
 of arresting a recusant witness. It was under 
 stood that there were innumerable other pleas 
 for resistance in reserve. This might be good 
 law, but it is remarkable that the Senate pro 
 ceeded no further in the matter; that the House 
 of Representatives at Boston took it up and 
 evinced a determination to support Sanborn, 
 even while the question was in the hands of the 
 judges j that at a public meeting at Concord, 
 resolutions were passed, justifying Sanborn s 
 resistance, declaring that " resistance to tyrants 
 is obedience to God," and organizing a Vigi 
 lance Committee to protect him for the future ; 
 while it is also said that determined and well- 
 armed men attended the court, and had car 
 riages ready outside, to rescue him and carry 
 him off, should the decision have been adverse 
 to him. 
 
 It was with great regret that I observed 
 many evidences of this turbulent and disloyal 
 spirit in Massachusetts. That little republic is 
 the gem of America ; one sees there so much to 
 praise, so much to excite admiration and respect, 
 so complete and highly-finished a piece of work 
 manship in state-craft, that one is sorry to find 
 its perfection marred by any serious defect. A 
 book might be filled with descriptions of the 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 59 
 
 excellent institutions for government, police, 
 reformation of juvenile offenders, education, 
 literary and scientific research, collection of 
 statistics, and the general advancement of all 
 classes ; betokening a humane and highly en 
 lightened spirit pervading the whole body of 
 the people. In the Legislature and Law Courts, 
 in its celebrated Harvard University, and its 
 admirable system of public schools, in its lite 
 rary, scientific, and historical societies, its public 
 libraries and lectures, its periodical press, and 
 the more enduring literature it produces,* its 
 men of science, historians, statesmen, its enter 
 prising merchants, bankers, manufacturers, its 
 neat, clean, cheerful-looking towns, its well-cul 
 tivated fields, and trim gardens, the numerous 
 common roads, railroads, docks and harbours, 
 and other public w r orks, one sees innumerable 
 signs of not only an energetic and a thriving 
 population, but of a fine-spirited, well-ordered, 
 intellectual community. And all this -which 
 
 * The Newspaper Press of Boston is of a very superior 
 character indeed; and from that line city emanate the two 
 foremost periodicals of the United States the " North Ameri 
 can Review," and the "Atlantic Monthly;" and one of the 
 best Almanacs in the world the "American Almanac ;" 
 while the " Massachusetts Annual Registration Report " is 
 one of the most complete things of the kind produced in any 
 country of the world. 
 
60 SKETCHES IN 
 
 will compare favourably with, any of the oldest 
 and most highly-civilized States in the world- 
 all this has been created out of the wilderness 
 in little more than two hundred years ! Massa 
 chusetts is truly a model republic; admirable 
 in itself, its influence for good has spread over 
 the whole of that vast country, to which it sets 
 a thousand excellent examples; if it could add 
 one more, that of respect for the law and the 
 government, it would be almost perfect. 
 
 Nothing is more striking to an Englishman, 
 accustomed to the respect for, and instant sub 
 mission to, the law, which prevail in Britain, 
 than the turbulent disregard of the legal au 
 thorities and their decisions evinced in the 
 British Colonies and the United States. A re 
 markable instance occurred in Nova Scotia 
 lately. 
 
 A leading member of the government was 
 convicted of bribery by the Election Com 
 mittee that tried the case. This was a terrible 
 blow to the government ; they had but a doubt 
 ful majority of only two or three, and one vote 
 lost might be ruin. Besides, this was by far 
 the most respectable man of the party; his 
 character and standing were of even more con 
 sequence to them than his vote. It was de 
 termined to support him at all hazards. It did 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 61 
 
 not matter that the decision of the Election 
 Committee was that of the court established by 
 ia\v for trying such cases ; that its members 
 were sworn, heard evidence and counsel, had 
 the witnesses confronted with them, and cross- 
 examined in their presence, and sifted the case 
 carefully and anxiously for weeks. The decision 
 was reversed immediately by a hasty party vote 
 of the House of Assembly, without any form of 
 trial at all, without hearing or even having an 
 opportunity of reading the evidence. It was a 
 desperate position ; the party had just grasped 
 the reins of office after waiting for three years ; 
 was the cup to be dashed from their lips ? 
 No ! a little coup d etat would save their man 
 and their places ; and so legal forms and the 
 established constitutional modes of procedure 
 were set at defiance, and it was carried by a 
 majority of two or three that black was white 
 and might was right. The same party, a short 
 time before, had, in their anxiety to gain a vote, 
 given notice in the House of Assembly, of a 
 motion to expel a member who was not even 
 petitioned against, and put one of their own 
 friends, who had contested the election in his, 
 place. They shrunk, however, from going on 
 with this outrageous project ; some said, because 
 they found they could secure their majority 
 
6.2 SKETCHES IX 
 
 without it, and thought it prudent not to be so 
 very wicked without an urgent necessity ; while 
 others alleged that they had a hint from a very 
 high authority that this was "rather too had/ 
 It is sometimes supposed that the British 
 Colonies differ much from ths United States, 
 because their governments are formed upon the 
 British model. But although the form is there, 
 the spirit is wanting ; the institutions are Brit 
 ish, but the working of them is altogether 
 American. The influence of the Imperial Go 
 vernment is little felt ; the wide extension of the 
 suffrage and the want of a class of high-minded 
 independent men for statesmen (or the shrink 
 ing of that class from public life), produce the 
 same fruits as in the United States a feeling 
 in the mob that they are the supreme authority, 
 a disrespect for the law, a turbulent spirit of 
 resistance against rulers, and the elevation of 
 an inferior class to stations of honour and 
 influence. 
 
 The jealousy of rulers and judges, and the 
 increasing tendency to limit their authority as 
 much as possible, and reserve power in the hands 
 of the people, are remarkably evinced in the 
 laws of the new States, or recent regulations of 
 some of the older States, as to the appointment 
 of judges. These appointments are being trans- 
 
NO11TII AMERICA. 63 
 
 f erred to the hands of the people, and conferred 
 for a limited time only. In Massachusetts the 
 judges are chosen by the Governor and Coun 
 cil for life, or during gooi behaviour. In North 
 Carolina, South Carolina, and Rhode Island, 
 they are elected by both Houses of the Legis 
 lature, during good behaviour. Bat in most of 
 the other States they are elected by the people, 
 and for limited terms only from 15 years in 
 Pennsylvania, to 8 (in New York), 7, 6, 5, and 
 4 years, the latter being the rule in Arkansas, 
 California, Georgia for the county judges, 
 Indiana (by a new law in 1859), and Virginia. 
 In New Jersey the judges are appointed by the 
 Governor and the Senate for 6 years; in Con 
 necticut (since 1855), by the two Houses of the 
 Legislature, for 8 years ; in Vermont they are 
 elected annually by the Legislature. A Mas 
 sachusetts paper, referring to the interference 
 of the Legislature in the Sanborn case, alluded 
 to above, expresses its apprehensions that the 
 constitution of that State, following the general 
 tendency, may be so altered as to place the 
 election of the judges in the hands of the people 
 and so make the judiciary a mere instrument 
 for registering the decrees of the majority for 
 the time being ; and a New York paper states, 
 "the system of electing judges is rapidly rais- 
 
64 SKETCHES IN 
 
 ing the rogues of this city to the dignity of a 
 third estate." With judges who are the nomi 
 nees of the people for short periods only, and 
 juries who are, as De Tocqueville says, " the 
 judicial committees of the majority/ one can 
 not wonder that the law commands little respect 
 in the United^ States. 
 
 Rowdyism is a characteristic feature of North 
 America, by no means confined to the United 
 States, though there it is certainly most ram 
 pant. It extends also to the British Colonies, 
 and even sits enthroned in high places there. A 
 new term is found readily in America when it 
 is required, and assuredly the word " Howdy J> 
 was much wanted. It seems to mean a rough, 
 violent, disorderly, unscrupulous person, with 
 no respect for law of any sort, determined on 
 having his own will, by whatsoever means, and 
 ready, in the lower forms, to lie, cheat, bully, 
 strike, stab, or murder, in order to get it. 
 Rowdyism seems an institution peculiar to the 
 new world. In Europe, there is no lack of vio 
 lence or murder, prompted by revenge or the 
 hope of plunder ; these, too, occur abundantly 
 in America, but in addition there are numerous 
 deeds of violence or assassinations, following a 
 hasty word between persons utterly unknown 
 to each other, and there is a large class predis- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 65 
 
 posed to such actions, ready, like the Malay, 
 to "run-a-muck." Rowdyism cannot be as 
 cribed alone to the present weakness of the 
 governments. I am afraid we must trace it 
 further back ; like that other giant evil of the 
 United States, slavery, it is an inheritance from 
 colonial times. The early colonists were in the 
 condition most favourable for the development 
 of rowdyism. Many were very rough, lawless 
 sorts of persons ; they had a wild, uncultivated 
 country around them, and had to go armed, to 
 defend themselves from Indians and savage 
 animals ; they had a ready escape to the back 
 woods or the prairie from the arm of the law ; 
 and instead of a strong government, w r hich the 
 circumstances of the case required, the colonial 
 authorities inspired neither awe nor respect, 
 had no adequate means of maintaining the 
 supremacy of the law, and were despised by 
 the people as the mere feeble delegates of a 
 power at the safe distance of thousands of miles 
 of ocean. Even had British institutions been 
 completely carried out, and strong local govern 
 ments been implanted in America, with a body 
 of men to administer them who commanded 
 respect, the peculiar condition of the country 
 must have led to some amount of this evil ; but 
 with such a proportion of rough, desperate men 
 
66 SKETCHES IN 
 
 amongst early settlers, rulers who did not inspire 
 respect, and Governments without force to back 
 them, the wonder is that the evil is not even 
 more developed than it is. 
 
 Rowdyism, which thus originated in the 
 circumstances of the early settlers, and the de 
 plorable weakness of their rulers, has doubtless 
 been fostered by the institutions of the re 
 public, and the emigration of great numbers 
 of ignorant, violent, disorderly persons since the 
 last war, and is now rampant in some of the 
 oldest cities in the Union, as Baltimore and 
 New York., where, if anywhere, one should 
 have expected law and order to be firmly esta 
 blished. The extent to which the spirit of mur 
 derous rowdyism prevails in the large cities, is 
 frightful and almost incredible. In the city of 
 New York, not long ago, rowdyism and assas 
 sination had reached such a pitch that the 
 authorities felt themselves called upon to enforce 
 the extreme penalty of the law upon a youth 
 little more than seventeen years of age, who had 
 wantonly killed a man by stabbing in a street 
 riot. In Cincinnati, last summer, a professor in 
 a college there, returning home at night with 
 two ladiesj heard some offensive remark from a 
 knot of rowdies loitering at a corner; he impru 
 dently turned back towards them; in a few 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 67 
 
 seconds the ladies heard a cry, and on looking 
 for their friend, found him alone, dead on the 
 street, stabbed to the heart with a bowie knife. 
 There is no reason to believe there was any 
 private revenge to gratify ; it is supposed that 
 his reproof or remonstrance led to angry words, 
 followed by the fatal blow with the ever ready 
 bowie knife. Baltimore, in 1859, exhibited an 
 extraordinary series of crimes. A man was 
 convicted of arson ; his brother assassinated the 
 policeman who was the chief witness against the 
 incendiary. The brother was tried for this 
 murder and convicted ; thereupon, a comrade, 
 repeating the very crime for which the brother 
 was tried, avenged him by assassinating another 
 policeman who had given evidence against his 
 friend. For these and other murders, four men 
 were executed at Baltimore shortly before I 
 visited that city, and the landlord of the hotel 
 at which I lived, told me, with an air of confi 
 dence, that they had now put down rowdyism, 
 and that the city was peaceable and safe. This 
 sense of security, however, was but short lived ; 
 at the ensuing municipal elections dreadful riots 
 took place, at which fire-arms were used, many 
 were wounded, and four or five citizens were 
 killed. Nor is this turbulent spirit confined to 
 the lower classes; the better classes are ever 
 
68 SKETCHES IN 
 
 ready to take the law in their own hands and 
 accomplish their ends by deeds of violence when 
 legal means fail. The recent destruction of the 
 buildings at the Quarantine Station, Staten 
 Island, was the work of a higher class of 
 rowdies and no one has been punished for the 
 outrage. 
 
 This fearful rowdyism this turbulent spirit 
 of resistance to authority is the great evil of 
 North America worse than slavery ; for the 
 latter is local and must, ere long, come to an 
 end ; the other is universal, no one sees how it 
 is to be checked, arid we cannot but look for 
 ward with great anxiety to the time, slowly, 
 but surely approaching, when population will 
 press upon the means of subsistence, when the 
 far west will no longer afford an outlet, and the 
 eastern regions will be crowded with a dense 
 mass of needy and desperate persons. That I 
 have not given an exaggerated view of the extra 
 ordinary development of this turbulent spirit, 
 will I think be evident from the following 
 statements, extracted from respectable New 
 York papers, which the reader will find well 
 worthy of his attention. 
 
 " An extraordinary state of things is pre 
 vailing here [Baltimore] . The law, the press, 
 nay, public opinion itself, is boldly defied by 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 69 
 
 organized gangs of ruffians, who pillage our 
 citizens by day and assassinate them under 
 cover of the night. The credit of our city has 
 been sadly tarnished within the last two or three 
 years by the bloody tumults which have broken 
 out in our streets, and which our authorities, 
 through fear or supineness, have failed to check 
 or punish. 
 
 "~\Ye have in Baltimore some three clubs, 
 or fraternities of reckless and abandoned 
 men, known under the grotesque appellations 
 of Plug Uglies/ < Kip Raps/ and * Black 
 Snakes/ These men have no bond of union 
 but the lowest dissipation, and no motive to 
 confederation but riot and bloodshed. At all 
 our elections these last three years these gangs 
 of cut-throats have driven from the polls, with 
 clubs and pistols, all classes of our citizens, 
 until the franchise has become a nullity. But 
 their violence has not stopped here. 
 
 " Our energetic District Attorney, Mr. 
 Milton Whitney, who prosecuted the assassin 
 Gambrill on Friday, is in hourly danger of his 
 life. Attempts were made to shoot him as he 
 left the court-house. Captain James, warden 
 of the city jail, had to call in the aid of forty 
 policemen, armed with muskets, to protect the 
 prisoner, Henry Gambrill, from the desperate 
 
70 SKETCHES IN 
 
 attempts to rescue him after his conviction on 
 Friday last, by the ringleaders of the clubs and 
 their followers. These unparalleled outrages 
 would never have been heard of but for the 
 impunity which has attended previous crimes. 
 Look at our criminal records for the last three 
 months. A chief of the Plug Uglies named 
 Chapman., enters a drinking saloon surrounded 
 by his myrmidons, demands drink, and refuses 
 to pay for it. The unfortunate barkeeper re 
 monstrates, and is shot dead by Chapman, who 
 receives three cheers for this atrocious murder. 
 
 " At any hour of the day or night, you may 
 be stopped by a facetious Plug Ugly/ who 
 informs you that his club intends giving a ball 
 next week, and he presents forthwith some four 
 or five tickets, price one dollar. If, sensible of 
 the honour, you take the tickets and give up 
 your money, it is well ; but should you be igno 
 rant of the consequences, and refuse, you are 
 knocked on the head and rolled into the gutter. 
 I appeal to the citizens of Baltimore if this be 
 not the actual condition of our city/ 
 
 * * * # * 
 
 " The boldest criminals escape in the face of 
 the most clear and irrefragable proofs. What 
 is the matter? 
 
 " We will tell you, gentle reader, what the 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 71 
 
 matter is ; and we will tell you that the matter 
 is not, as is generally charged, with the judges 
 or the laws. Never had country better laws 
 than ours ; and in the main, at any rate, in the 
 open adjudications of the bench, the judges are 
 upright and correct; but the true trouble is, 
 that the People are corrupt! The maxim of 
 All s fair in polities operating upon a popu 
 lation relaxed by an overwhelming prosperity, 
 cursed with a preternatural sharpness, and 
 haunted with that love of place which makes 
 murderers and perjurers of kings has de 
 bauched the morality of the whole nation, and 
 prepared every man to look with more or less 
 lenity upon the various phases of corresponding 
 guilt. The all s fair in politics, that will 
 carry a man to the poll to sw r ear in his vote, 
 will instruct him, when he comes away, to 
 defraud his partner ; to cause the bookkeeper to 
 make false entries, the clerk to plunder his em 
 ployer s drawer or forge his name; while 
 nothing is easier, for one and all of them, than 
 to violate or to forget a juror s oath, in favour of 
 parties whom they have become accustomed to 
 regard as no worse than themselves. In view, 
 therefore, of this rapid deterioration of society, 
 we can see no remedy but in such alteration of 
 the jury system as to cure this thirty-three and 
 
72 SKETCHES IN 
 
 one-third per centage of deterioration in the 
 public mind. The jury system was devised in a 
 country where the people were less fast than 
 here. It was founded on the theory that the 
 community was pure, and that twelve perfectly 
 honest men could easily be drawn to agree in 
 any case that required a decision. That the 
 basis of this theory is gone, so far as this coun 
 try is concerned, it needs no argument from us 
 to urge ; and, being gone, we consequently find 
 ourselves in the dilemma of an inevitable neces 
 sity for change. This change was proposed by 
 us, in other journals, in the shape of two-third 
 verdicts, years ago. 
 
 "We fear the continuance of the present 
 state of things. We wish to see a practical 
 remedy applied, before the increasing irritation 
 bursts into fury, and ends in the unmanageable 
 storm of revolution. The taxes this year, in this 
 single city (New York) amount to more than 
 eight (?) millions of dollars ; almost every public 
 officer is a plunderer of the treasury ; and crimi 
 nals cannot be convicted, because of the public 
 sympathies with crime. It is a fearful contem 
 plation for a citizen who loves his country. In 
 other lands, when laws are oppressive, and 
 dynasties become corrupt, the indignant people 
 rise in general in revolt, and crush their tyrants 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 73 
 
 into atoms ; the vengeance over, they sink 
 again into repose and satisfied submission : but, 
 when the new regime becomes as corrupt and 
 oppressive as the old, they rise once more, and 
 sweep that, also, to the winds. At every 
 tornado the atmosphere is purified; and the 
 masses, which performed the work, being honest 
 in themselves, a term of comparative happiness 
 and good government is secured. Here is an 
 alternative and a remedy; and, consequently, 
 always a ray of hope. With us, all rational 
 hope is gone. So long as the rulers of a people 
 only are dishonest, Liberty is safe ; but what is 
 to become of a nation, the people of which are 
 corrupt/- 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 "THE < BOYS OF NEW YORK. In New 
 York, on the Fourth of July, a gentleman 
 was quietly standing on his door-step ; a troop 
 of young rowdies was passing by, when one of 
 the number thrust his knife into the breast of 
 the unoffending citizen, and left him bleeding to 
 death at his own door. Referring to this das 
 tardly act, the New York Tablet says of the 
 boys of the city : 
 
 " If there be in the world a class in which 
 every moral instinct is dead, which bears, under 
 a human shape, the heart of a hyena, and the 
 
74 SKETCHES IN 
 
 combined savage instincts of all the meaner wild 
 beasts, that class is surely the so-called " boys" 
 of New York. Treacherous, cowardly before 
 equal, not to say superior, force, blasphemous, 
 fearing no authority, divine, parental, or legal, 
 immoral and unclean in word and deed, they 
 are the very lowest specimens of humanity, and 
 it is difficult to parallel them among the beasts 
 of the jungle and the forest. The air of our 
 streets is laden with their foul-mouthedness, 
 which daily assails the ears of our mothers, 
 wives, and sisters. Violence to man and woman 
 is their common pastime, and cold-blooded mur 
 der their highest enjoyment. 
 
 * * # * * 
 
 "We believe we express only the settled 
 judgment of reflecting men, when we say that 
 self-government, ivith universal suffrage, in large 
 cities, has proved a failure. It does not answer 
 the purpose of government. It does not give 
 us security either for our persons or our pro 
 perty. It does not preserve order or prevent 
 crime. It gives us neither clean streets nor 
 safe walks. It does not check ruffianism nor 
 prevent pauperism. It is neither a terror to 
 evil-doers nor a praise to them that do well. 
 It gives us dishonest law-makers, corrupt 
 judges, and imbecile executives. It elevates 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 75 
 
 the worst men to the highest places, and stifles 
 the voices of good men when raised even in 
 remonstrance. . . This is not the experi 
 ence of New York alone every city in America 
 is showing the same results and teaching the 
 same lesson." 
 
76 SKETCHES IN 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CONGRESS. 
 
 " Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors." 
 
 THE legislature of the great American republic 
 is called "Congress," and consists of two 
 bodies a House of Representatives, elected by 
 the people every two years, its numbers being 
 in proportion to the population as ascertained by 
 the decennial census ; and a Senate, consisting 
 of two members chosen by the legislature of 
 each State for six years. The number of 
 representatives at present is 37; of senators 
 66. The election of senators was so arranged 
 from the beginning that one -third go out every 
 two years, two-thirds of the body being thus 
 persons of some legislative experience. In the 
 formation of the constitution the smaller States 
 were afraid that their individual interests might 
 be swamped by a legislature chosen simply in 
 proportion to population, and, to conciliate 
 them, an equal voice (two votes) was assigned 
 to each State in the Senate. In estimating the 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 77 
 
 population entitled to members in the House of 
 Representatives, three-fifths of the slaves are 
 reckoned along with the free population: the 
 Slave States insisted upon this. Slaves are 
 spoken of in the constitution as " other 
 persons/ " persons held to service/ " such 
 persons as any of the States now existing shall 
 think proper to admit " (referring to those 
 brought in by the slave-trade). The words 
 " slave/ " slavery/ do not occur in this famous 
 document, though slavery, and the slave-trade 
 up to 1808, are distinctly recognized and sup 
 ported by the constitution. The House of 
 Representatives may be said to be chosen by 
 universal suffrage, the rule being, " the electors 
 in each State shall have the qualifications 
 requisite for electors of the most numerous 
 branch of the State Legislature." The Senate 
 represents the individual States; the House of 
 Representatives, the people as a whole, being 
 based strictly on population. New York elects 
 33 members; Pennsylvania, 25; Ohio, 21; 
 Massachusetts, 1 1 ; Rhode Island, 2 ; Virginia, 
 13; North Carolina, 8; South Carolina, 6; 
 Georgia, 8 ; Kentucky, 10 ; Tennessee, 10. 
 The members of Congress have each an allow 
 ance of about 600 a-year, besides travelling 
 expenses. No senator or representative can, 
 
78 SKETCHES IX 
 
 during the time for which he is elected,, hold 
 "any civil office under the authority of the 
 United States." Hence the ministers of state 
 do not appear in either House, and from this 
 arises the very long Presidential message, which 
 is, in fact, part of the ministerial statement for 
 the session. Long detailed reports are at the 
 same time laid before Congress by the Secre 
 taries of the Treasury, of the Interior, at War, 
 and of the Navy, as also by the Postmaster- 
 General. I was informed by some American 
 gentlemen that no material inconvenience was 
 felt from the absence of the leading ministers 
 from Congress; that all requisite information 
 was laid before the Houses by the President ; 
 that further information could be had on 
 request by a vote ; that adequate checks against 
 misgovernment were provided by committees of 
 inquiry, and by the executive action of the 
 Senate, this body, besides its legislative func 
 tions, being associated with the President not 
 only in making treaties, but in the appointment 
 of ambassadors, ministers, consuls, judges of 
 the supreme court, and the other officers of the 
 United States. From all I saw or heard of the 
 doings of Congress, however, it appeared to me 
 that there are very great advantages in the 
 European plan of bringing the great ministers 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 79 
 
 of state face to face with their real masters in 
 the legislature ; and I was told that the eminent 
 American jurist, Judge Story, had serious 
 doubts as to the expediency of the American 
 system. By all accounts, there is no reason to 
 believe that the latter mode secures a purer 
 administration of the great offices of govern 
 ment than the European system. Indepen 
 dently of other obvious considerations, there 
 seemed a want of connection and understanding 
 between the government and the legislative 
 bodies, and the country does not afford a suffi 
 cient supply of men of the highest statesman 
 ship for both the ministerial and the senatorial 
 functions, if these are not allowed to be com 
 bined in the same individual. It seems an 
 unhappy arrangement, that if the government 
 should require the services of such men as Mr. 
 Douglas or Mr. Seward, the foremost members 
 of the Senate, that body must be deprived of 
 its greatest ornaments and ablest leaders. 
 
 Congress meets annually, on the first 
 Monday in December, in the Capitol at Wash 
 ington, a noble building, beautifully situated. 
 This is one of the finest buildings I have ever 
 seen. It stands at the head of an acclivity, 
 commanding a magnificent view of the city and 
 surrounding country, with the river Potomac, 
 
80 SKETCHES IN 
 
 and in the midst of fine parks and gardens. 
 The principal front is turned from the town, 
 towards an open space, prettily laid ont with 
 trees, grass-plots, and public walks. In the 
 middle there is a statue of Washington, with 
 the inscription, "First in war, first in peace, 
 first in the hearts of his countrymen." The 
 other front faces the town, and is reached by 
 winding walks up a grassy bank, interspersed 
 with trees and flowers. Immediately at the foot 
 of this bank is PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, the prin 
 cipal street in Washington, of great length, with 
 trees at the sides; and WHITE HOUSE, the Pre 
 sident s mansion, and other government build 
 ings at the opposite end. The Capitol is in the 
 Corinthian style ; the body of freestone, painted 
 white ; the wings, only recently constructed, of 
 a beautiful white marble, and all exquisitely 
 finished in every part. Rising from the middle 
 is a huge dome, yet incomplete, but which 
 appeared to me too large for the structure 
 beneath. I should have supposed the build 
 ing architecturally perfect, and very elegant, 
 without the oppressive mass above it, which 
 _ooks as if it would sink down and crush the 
 edifice below it. The American flag waves over 
 each House on the top of the building, while it 
 is sitting, and is lowered when it adjourns, and, 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 81 
 
 from the elevated position of the Capitol, it is 
 known easily in the city when either House 
 rises. 
 
 The Americans seem an eminently practical 
 people, in material things at least, and nothing 
 can be more business-like or commodious than 
 the rooms in which their great legislative as 
 semblies meet ; while at the same time they are 
 neat, simple, and tasteful in design. The hall 
 in which the House of Representatives meet is 
 an oblong of about 100 feet long by 66 broad 
 on the floor but 139 by 93 feet above the 
 galleries ; the Speaker s chair is at the middle 
 of one of the longer sides, opposite the door; 
 the clerks are at desks beneath him ; and the 
 members are arranged semicircularly in front, 
 with a considerable space or "floor"" between 
 the clerks and members seats. The latter are 
 intersected by five passages, converging towards 
 the Speaker, so that members can easily get to 
 or leave their seats ; and those members who 
 require elbow-room in speaking, walk up and 
 down these passages, and sometimes even move 
 backwards and forwards in front of the other 
 members, between the seats, where there is 
 ample room for such evolutions.* In the four 
 
 * Tliis movement is probably impossible now, since desks 
 have been introduced. 
 
82 
 
 SKETCHES IN 
 
 corners of the room there are tables, with chairs 
 and writing materials, generally fully occupied 
 by members engaged writing. There are sofas 
 all rouridj where members can sit aside and 
 converse, and space at the ends where they can 
 walk about. I have seen two members walking 
 up and down in one of these spaces very lovingly, 
 like boys, the arm of one round the other s 
 shoulder, while the latter had his arm round 
 the waist of the former. All is free and easy 
 in Congress. The members seats had no 
 desks. This was the first session in the present 
 Hall, and the previous Congress had ordered 
 the House to be fitted up without desks. In 
 the old House, and in the present Senate, each 
 member had in front of him a desk on which he 
 could write and keep his papers under lock and 
 key. Members, however, were found to be so 
 busy writing, folding letters and documents to 
 their constituents,, etc., that the speakers were 
 annoyed and little attended to, while business 
 was greatly impeded. Accordingly, desks were 
 voted out in the new House. But when it 
 came to be tried, the great body of the members 
 were dissatisfied with the new arrangement. I 
 overheard one member speaking to a friend 
 very violently against it, and denouncing it as 
 " a contemptible imitation of the British Par- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 83 
 
 liament/ I understand that a vote of the 
 House has since ordered the desks to be 
 restored. 
 
 The galleries are very large and important 
 parts of the Houses of Congress.- The "sove 
 reign people " are not to be huddled up in a 
 corner, as in England. The walls of the body 
 of the House rise about 12 feet, and then slope 
 back all round for a gallery, with five rows of 
 seats, and, in the House of Representatives, 
 capable of containing from 1000 to 1200 people. 
 No order is required for admission. One side 
 is for gentlemen; another part for ladies and 
 gentlemen with them, but I saw many ladies 
 going unattended by any of the other sex. Other 
 parts of the gallery are reserved for reporters, 
 certain public officers, or special orders. When 
 I was there, the galleries were filled mostly 
 with ladies and gentlemen belonging, I should 
 suppose, to the best classes in the city. It was 
 difficult to hear in the gallery ; partly, I suppose, 
 from the construction of the House, and some 
 times from the " eternal hubbub and buzzing 
 amongst the members on the floor, " as a news 
 paper describes it ; greatly from the continual 
 talking of the visitors, which they did not take 
 any pains to confine to a low whisper ; and there 
 was no officer watching the auditors and com- 
 
84 SKETCHES IN 
 
 manding "silence." Indeed, the galleries on 
 several occasions gave expression to their feelings 
 with their hands and feet ; and these interrup 
 tions rose to such a height one day, that the 
 acting chairman had to reprove the audience, 
 and threatened to clear the galleries if they 
 were repeated. It appeared to me that "the 
 gallery " was a ( power " in the House, far out 
 numbering the members, and consisting, in 
 large proportion, of persons of wealth, station, 
 and intelligence, fully equal to the great body 
 of the representatives, and superior to many of 
 them. 
 
 The House is well lighted from the ceiling, 
 which is flat, and may be described as one great 
 horizontal window, with an iron frame. The 
 lighting by night is most ingenious and effective. 
 The lights do not appear in the House ; they 
 are placed above the ceiling, the glass of which 
 is obscured, and give a soft, equally-diffused light 
 through every part of the House, by which I 
 found that small print could easily be read. The 
 effect in the House is somewhat like twilight, or 
 rather like that peculiar light produced during 
 an annular eclipse of the sun, sometimes seen 
 also in certain stages of the atmosphere, when 
 sun and rain and clouds are struggling for 
 mastery. In the Music Hall at Boston there 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 85 
 
 is another mode of lighting from above. Innu 
 merable jets are placed all round at the cornices, 
 and shed an equal and pleasant light through 
 all parts of the house, while there is no flame 
 or glare against the eyes of the audience. 
 
 There is a corridor round the House, occupy 
 ing the space under the galleries, for hats, 
 cloaks, and umbrellas ; the members do not sit 
 with their hats on as in the British House of 
 Commons. There is a regulation of the House 
 to this effect: " Every member shall remain 
 uncovered during the session of the House." 
 The room is ventilated by numerous openings 
 in the walls and floor, through which air is 
 forced by a fanner, worked by a steam-engine, 
 being suitably warmed in cold weather by steam- 
 pipes before entering the hall. 
 
 The American legislator partakes of the 
 activity and restlessness which characterize the 
 nation : he is always wanting something, a news 
 paper, an envelope, a glass of water, to post a 
 letter, or send a message to some one outside, 
 etc. On first entering the House I was sur 
 prised to see a number of boys on the floor or 
 among the seats, and to hear little cracks or 
 pops every now and then. These flying Cupids, 
 or pages as they are termed, are there to wait 
 upon the members and supply their various 
 
86 SKETCHES IN 
 
 wants. Spiritualism is but in its infancy, and 
 not being yet sufficiently advanced to provide 
 spirit-waiters, the United States legislators have 
 at present to put up with material attendants, 
 whom they select as like spirits, as small and 
 "light as can be had; hence the number of imps 
 whom I saw scattered through the House. TVhen 
 a member wishes one of these to come to him 
 he gives a light clap of his hands ; this explained 
 the little cracks every now and then like pop 
 guns going off, which puzzled me at first. The 
 nearest pages, two, or sometimes three, fly to 
 wards the sound, and attend to his wants. When 
 not engaged, these pages wait on the floor or 
 lounge on the vacant seats in a quite-at-home 
 sort of way. Young America is not encumbered 
 with much deference for years, or superior 
 station. 
 
 The House of Representatives is a most in 
 teresting, most lively scene. All round the 
 House is the gallery, itself a sight, with about 
 one thousand spectators, including numbers of 
 the "beauty and fashion/ and highest intelli 
 gence of the city. On the floor below are up 
 wards of two hundred chosen guardians of the 
 destinies of an empire nearly as large as 
 Europe, ostensibly seeking the interests of one 
 common country, but separated into two hostile 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 87 
 
 camps, the fiery sons of the South, indignant 
 that their " State sovereignty" and peculiar insti 
 tution should be interfered with ; and the ardent 
 (( sons of liberty" from the North, impatient of 
 the dark stain on the great republic all im 
 pulsive, excitable, animated, and all gifted 
 with an intolerable power of talk. Every spot 
 of that floor has something going on. In the 
 corners are members busy with all their might, 
 writing, folding, sealing, with attendant imps 
 wait in a: their orders. On the sofas all round 
 
 3 
 
 are representatives, conversing, reading, lolling 
 in every attitude; and the spaces at the ends 
 and near the door are filled with groups talking, 
 or more restless spirits walking up and down. 
 Pop, pop, go the signals for the pages, and 
 away they fly across the floor and among the 
 seats to answer the summons. Perhaps a 
 <e bore" has possession of the House a forest 
 of newspapers appears; the legislators can t 
 waste their time listening to his prosing ; so he 
 makes his speech to the Speaker, the reporters, 
 and the public ; probably it is mere " Bun 
 combe"* for his constituents. A member worth 
 
 * A member for a place called Buncombe, on one occa 
 sion made a strange rigmarole sort of speech not quite in 
 harmony with his supposed sentiments. His friends next 
 day remarked upon it, saying they did not understand \vhat 
 
88 SKETCHES IN 
 
 attending to rises ; down go the papers and all 
 eyes are fixed on him. He requires room, so 
 takes his place at the corner of one of the pas 
 sages, and a page brings him a little table on 
 which he has a glass of water, and his docu 
 ments, for he is going to demolish some one. 
 He walks down the passage towards the Speaker 
 and up again, across amongst the seats, and 
 with energetic action, never hesitating for a 
 word or a thought, denounces the gross incon 
 sistency of an antagonist (for that is very often 
 the subject of discourse), and having crushed 
 him by recalling sonic of his former sayings or 
 doings, turns triumphantly towards him, with 
 " How do you like that record, my friend ?"- 
 But "my friend," or " the distinguished gentle 
 man," as they often term each other, is ready 
 with his answer, "to balance the account," as 
 he says. He explains the apparent inconsist 
 ency, and soon carries the war into the enemy s 
 camp. He does not need to walk up and 
 down ; his energy gets vent in flinging his arms 
 
 he would be at. "Ah," said he, "I don t wonder at that ; 
 I did not understand it very well myself; it ^t cts meant for 
 Buncombe" so "Buncombe means a speech in the House 
 designed more particularly to wheedle the constituents of the 
 orator a sop to Cerberus. There is much Buncombe in 
 North America. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 89 
 
 about ; now lie lias one hand down in his pocket, 
 shaking the other with closed fist in the air; 
 now both hands are plunged deep into his 
 pockets; now he tosses his arms up above his 
 head ; and with most effective, and not ungrace 
 ful action, arrests the attention of the House. 
 He has piqued and roused the opposite party, 
 and the moment he has finished, a dozen spring 
 up to reply to him. The whole proceedings 
 are characterized by intense fire, energy, and 
 animation. 
 
 "\Vhile the House of Representatives in 
 many respects appears so stirring and lively, 
 compared with the British House of Commons, 
 in one point it is dull and lifeless, compared 
 Avith the latter. There is no " hear-hearing," 
 no cheering. Every speech is listened to in 
 silence, and concludes in silence ; a laugh, 
 when an occasion for that arises, is the only 
 audible sign of interest given by the House. 
 The orator is never helped on by the encou 
 raging " Hear, hear," of a supporter, nor 
 annoyed by the sarcastic " Hear, hear," of an 
 opponent. His happy hits are not rewarded by 
 " loud cheers," nor his peroration received with 
 " great and long-continued cheering." There 
 is a regulation of the House against any signs 
 of approval or disapproval. This is rendered 
 
 G 
 
90 SKETCHES IN 
 
 necessary by the presence of the vast crowd in 
 the gallery that could not be restrained from 
 sympathizing were the House to cheer, which 
 would not be convenient. So both are for 
 bidden to applaud, or utter any sign. Singular 
 enough, while the House generally adheres to 
 the regulation, the gallery does not. Again 
 and again I heard them applauding. The 
 House usually winks at their breach of the 
 rule, for voxpopuli is considered vox Dei in the 
 United States, and must be treated respectfully. 
 Some strange contests at times take place 
 between members tenacious of the dignity of 
 the House and the gallery. Though often 
 threatened, it is exceedingly rare that the 
 visitors in the galleries are punished for their 
 disorderly conduct by being turned out. This 
 was done lately in the Senate in consequence of 
 the conduct of the gallery, at the conclusion of 
 Mr. Benjamin s animated secession speech. 
 "As Mr. Benjamin concluded his speech he 
 was greeted with uproarious applause. All 
 over the galleries there were shouts and cheers, 
 and waving of handkerchiefs and hurrahs, and 
 the greatest confusion and excitement prevailed 
 all over the House." Mr. Mason moved that 
 the galleries be instantly cleared, which was 
 received with hisses and whistlings in the 
 
NOKTH AMERICA. 91 
 
 galleries; but the motion was carried and put 
 into execution, the first time for a number of 
 years. The following instances in which the 
 galleries carried the day occurred lately, the 
 first in the Senate, the second in the House of 
 Representatives : 
 
 " Mr. WIGFALL : I tell you that cotton is 
 king. (Laughter in the galleries.) 
 
 " Cries of order. 
 
 "The PRESIDENT said: The Sergeant-at- 
 Arms will clear the gallery if it occurs again. 
 
 "Mr. HALE (rep.), of N. H., said : Mr. Pre 
 sident, that threat was made one, two, or 
 three times yesterday. Now is the time to 
 carry it out. 
 
 " Order was restored. 
 
 "Mr. WIGFALL said if the exhibition of 
 feeling in the galleries occurs again, the gal 
 leries shall be cleared, and once being cleared, 
 we will proceed. I trust the Senate will act 
 upon it. Decency is looked for. 
 
 "Mr. DAVIS (opp.), of Mississippi, arose 
 from his seat, and said : I hope the Senate will be 
 permitted to proceed. I think we attach too 
 much importance to the expression of the gal 
 leries. I take it for granted that those warned 
 yesterday didn t repeat it to-day. Yesterday 
 there was one set, to-day there is a new set. 
 
92 SKETCHES IX 
 
 We will get them all instructed after a while. 
 (Tremendous approval from the galleries and 
 laughter from the senators.)" 
 
 Probably Mr. Davis had some fair friends 
 in the gallery whom he desired to save from 
 being turned out. The following occurred at 
 the close of an eloquent passage in a speech by 
 Mr. John Cochrane : 
 
 " (General and hearty applause throughout 
 the visitors 7 galleries, and partial applause from 
 members on the floor.) 
 
 " Mr. GARNETT (opp.), of Va : I trust, Mr. 
 Speaker, in considering a matter of such great 
 importance, that the deliberations of this House 
 will be allowed to proceed without interruption, 
 whether from this floor or from the galleries. 
 If not, I will call upon the chair to check all 
 manifestations of applause from the galleries. 
 Should the interruption be repeated, I will 
 move to have the galleries cleared. (Hissing 
 from the galleries.) 
 
 " Mr. GARNETT continued, excitedly : I now 
 move, as a matter of self-respect, and as due to 
 the dignity of this House, that the galleries be 
 cleared. (Hissing more general.) 
 
 Mr. GARNETT, more excitedly : This is dis 
 graceful, sir. Those blackguards in the gallery 
 (Hisses) while violating the rule of the House, 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 93 
 
 insult the dignity which is due to the represen 
 tatives of the Confederacy, and I move that 
 they be expelled from the galleries. 
 
 " Mr. Garnett while speaking pointed to the 
 north gallery, which was full of strangers at the 
 time. On concluding his remarks he was 
 again assailed with a chorus of hisses. 
 
 " Mr. LAMAR (opp.), of Mississippi, said it 
 was not strange to hear hissing in the House. 
 The same had been heard in Eden. 
 
 " The SPEAKER appealed to the people in 
 the galleries to preserve order." 
 
 When I was present the House of Kepre- 
 sentatives was debating as to the election of a 
 speaker, the clerk occupying the chair. This 
 debate, with innumerable ballots for the officer 
 to be chosen, continued for seven or eight 
 weeks, no real business being done during all 
 that time. In the election of a speaker, as in 
 that of a president, the person chosen must 
 have a majority of all the votes given ; it is not 
 enough that he has a greater number of votes 
 than any other candidate ; he must have more 
 than all the others taken together ; this is a 
 majority vote ; to decide by choosing him who 
 has merely the greatest number of votes is 
 called a plurality vote. For example, if a 
 hundred votes are recorded, the person chosen 
 
94 SKETCHES IN 
 
 must have at least fifty-one votes, a majority 
 of the hundred. If no one has that number, no 
 one is chosen, and another vote has to be taken. 
 In the session 1859-60,, which was the first of 
 the thirty-sixth Congress, the House, as usual, 
 met on the first Monday in December ; a suc 
 cession of gentlemen from different sides were 
 proposed, and it was not till the first of 
 February, on the forty-fourth ballot, that a 
 speaker was at last chosen. Of the 237 
 members of the House three were absent, and 
 one, the gentleman appointed, did not vote. 
 The votes stood as follows : 
 
 Whole number voting 233 
 
 Necessary for a choice 117 
 
 Mr. Pennington 117 
 
 Mr. M Clernand 85 
 
 Mr. Gilmer 16 
 
 Scattering (for several others) 15 
 
 233 
 
 Mr. Pennington, the gentleman chosen, 
 was a new member of the House; but that 
 does not matter in North America, where any 
 body is ready for any office at five minutes 
 notice. The Republican, or Anti-slavery party 
 had 113 votes in the House; ninety-three were 
 pro-slavery and supporters of the administra 
 tion ; the remainder were also pro-slavery, but 
 opponents of the government, and many of 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 95 
 
 them desired a speaker who would give his 
 influence against the government j the pro- 
 slavery party being thus divided, they could not 
 unite upon a speaker; but by the majority- 
 voting rule they prevented the largest united 
 party carrying their man. Sometimes, when 
 it is seen that no one has any reasonable 
 prospect of commanding a majority, the plu 
 rality rule is adopted at last, when he is cnosen 
 who has a greater number of votes than any 
 other. This was not the first time that the 
 business of Congress had been retarded by 
 delay in the choice of a speaker. On one 
 occasion there were 133 ballots, extending over 
 nine weeks, before the House succeeded in 
 obtaining a speaker, and then by the plurality 
 rule ; this was at the opening of the thirty- 
 fourth Congress, in 1855, and I think a speaker 
 was not chosen till after a fortnight, at the 
 beginning of the thirty-fifth Congress. 
 
 The selection of the speaker is a point of 
 no small party importance, as he has the 
 appointment of all the committees, "unless 
 otherwise specially directed by the House." 
 This throws considerable power into the 
 speaker s hands. A member, in recommend 
 ing Mr. Sherman, said that "Mr. S. was a 
 friend to the protection of domestic industry, 
 
96 SKETCHES IX 
 
 and would so organize the committees as to 
 secure tlie fair consideration of that question." 
 And another member said, "If we aided in 
 electing a democrat to the speakership, would 
 we have a chance of exposing the frauds of the 
 administration? I would not say that any 
 gentleman occupying that chair would fix the 
 committees so as not to expose the administra 
 tion ; but, from what I know of the democratic 
 party, I rather think they would. " (Shouts of 
 laughter.) 
 
 The difficulty of finding a speaker arose out 
 of the interminable slavery question; on that 
 subject parties were in a state of great irritation. 
 The mad attempt of John Brown to raise a 
 slave insurrection at Harper s Ferry, in Vir 
 ginia, was but of recent occurrence, and had 
 excited a strong feeling of resentment amongst 
 the slave-owners and their party. There was a 
 general disposition in the Southern States, and 
 not without some foundation, to attribute 
 Brown s insane excitement on the subject of 
 slavery to the violent writings and speeches of 
 the abolition party. Some went further, and 
 accused several of the republican party of being 
 implicated in the Brown raid ; but, on inquiry, 
 these charges were not supported. A Mr. 
 Sherman was at first proposed for the office of 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 97 
 
 speaker by the Republican or Anti-slavery party. 
 He was vehemently opposed by the Democratic, 
 or Pro-slavery, party, on account of the extreme 
 ground he had taken in opposition to the 
 upholders of slavery, by joining with others in 
 recommending for general distribution a work 
 against slavery, by H. R. HELPER. On the 
 first day of the session Mr. CLARK, of Missouri, 
 moved the following resolution : 
 
 " Whereas certain members of this House, 
 now in nomination for speaker, did indorse and 
 recommend the book hereinafter mentioned : 
 
 <c Resolved, that the doctrines and senti 
 ments of a certain book called The Impending 
 Crisis of the South : How to meet it; 7 purport 
 ing to have been written by one Hinton Jv. 
 Helper, are insurrectionary and hostile to the 
 domestic peace and tranquillity of the country, 
 and that no member of this House who has 
 endorsed and recommended it, or the compend 
 from it, is fit to be speaker of this House." 
 
 To understand political movements in 
 America arising out of the slavery question, we 
 must bear in mind what I think is sometimes 
 forgotten in this country that slavery is recog 
 nized and supported by the constitution of the 
 United States, and by repeated Acts of Con 
 gress ; that each State is regarded as sovereign 
 
98 SKETCHES IN 
 
 in respect to its own domestic institutions, with 
 which no other State, nor even Congress, has 
 the right to interfere ; that even the leaders of 
 the anti-slavery party, however recklessly they 
 may talk at times, distinctly abjure, in their 
 more guarded speeches and writings, all inten 
 tion of interfering with slavery in States in 
 which it is already established; and that all 
 humane, sober-minded, intelligent men, however 
 averse to the system, feel that it is a subject of 
 great delicacy indeed, surrounded by difficulties 
 of a most perplexing character, and shrink 
 from exciting appeals or denunciations that 
 inevitably tend towards a servile insurrection. 
 
 Such being the state of matters, when a 
 book on the subject of slavery was recom 
 mended for general circulation by the signatures 
 of no less than sixty-eight members of the 
 House of Representatives, as well as by Mr. 
 SEWARD, a member of the Senate and leader of 
 the Republican party, the work was necessarily 
 subjected to a searching examination; and, as 
 may be well conceived, a great outcry was 
 raised by the opposite party when the book was 
 found to be of a wild, violent, incendiary cha 
 racter. It is difficult to imagine how Mr. 
 Seward, a man of taste, talents, and accomplish 
 ments, could have indorsed such a work. We 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 99 
 
 should suppose that, like unlucky Mr. Sherman, 
 he had never read it, but signed on the recom 
 mendation of others; unfortunately, however, 
 he declared distinctly that he had read it with 
 deep attention. The book was not deserving 
 of the notice it received it was rabid, shallow, 
 and, in some parts, downright silly, by no 
 means creditable to the Republican party. A 
 few extracts will illustrate its character : 
 
 " The great revolutionary movement [by 
 which the colonies declared their independence] 
 which was set on foot in Charlotte, Mecklen 
 burg county, North Carolina, on the 20th day 
 of May, 1775, has not yet been terminated, nor 
 will it be, until every slave in the United States 
 is freed from the tyranny of his master." 
 
 "We believe the majority of Northern 
 people are too scrupulous. They seem to think 
 that it is enough for them to be mere free- 
 soilers, to keep in check the diffusive element of 
 slavery, and to prevent it from crossing over the 
 bounds within which it is now regulated by 
 municipal law. Remiss in their national duties, 
 as we contend, they make no positive attack on 
 the institution in the Southern States." 
 
 " Freemen of the North ! you have ap 
 proached but half-way to the line of your duty ; 
 now, for your own sakes and for ours, and for 
 
100 SKETCHES IN 
 
 the purpose of perpetuating this great republic, 
 we ask you, in all seriousness, to organize your 
 selves as one man under the banners of liberty 
 and to aid us in exterminating slavery." 
 
 " The non-slave-holders of the South would 
 be fully warranted in emancipating all the 
 slaves at once, and that, too, without any com 
 pensation whatever to those who claim to be 
 their absolute masters and owners." 
 
 "Now, chevaliers of the lash and conserva 
 tors of slavery ! You have a landed estate 
 of 173,024,000 acres, the present average 
 market value of which is 5 34 dollars per 
 acre ; emancipate your slaves on Wednesday 
 morning, and on the Thursday follov.ing, 
 the value of your lands, and ours too [the 
 non-slave-holders in the South] will have in 
 creased to an average of at least 28 07 dollars 
 per acre." 
 
 " For the services of the blacks from the 
 20th of August, 1620, up to the 4th of July, 
 18G9 an interval of precisely two hundred and 
 forty-eight years ten months and fourteen days, 
 their masters, if unwilling, ought, in our judg 
 ment, to be compelled to grant them their free 
 dom, and to pay each and every one of them at 
 least sixty dollars cash in hand." 
 
 " Frown, sirs ; fret, foam, prepare your wea- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 10-1 
 
 pons, threat, strike, shoot, stab, bring on civil 
 war, dissolve the Union, nay, annihilate the 
 solar system, if you will do all this, more, less, 
 better, worse, anything do what you will, sirs, 
 you can neither foil nor intimidate us; our 
 purpose is as firmly fixed as the eternal pillars 
 of heaven ; we have determined to abolish sla 
 very, and so help us God, abolish it we will." 
 
 Numbers 3 and 4 of the author s measures 
 for the abolition of slavery are worthy of atten 
 tion, and characteristic of the whole work. 
 
 " 3rd. No co-operation with pro-slavery 
 politicians ; no fellowship with them in religion ; 
 no affiliation with them in society." 
 
 "4th. No patronage to pro -slavery merchants; 
 no guestship in slave-waiting hotels ; no fees 
 to pro-slavery lawyers ; no employment of pro- 
 slavery physicians ; no audience to pro -slavery 
 parsons."* 
 
 We cannot wonder that the Southern mem 
 bers objected to being presided over by one so 
 
 * The work contained some curious and useful statistics, 
 verv damaging to the cause of slavery. The compendium, 
 after the publicity given to the work by the proceedings in 
 Congress, attained an enormous sale of about 140,000. The 
 original or larger work contained matter still more objec 
 tionable in style and tendency than the compendium. The 
 recommendation of this work by the Eepublican party has 
 compromised them much as statesmen. 
 
102 SKETCHES IN 
 
 much their enemy, as to recommend a book of 
 this extreme, violent, and reckless character; 
 and they ultimately succeeded in preventing the 
 appointment of Mr. Sherman as Speaker. On 
 the 30th of January, he withdrew from the 
 contest ; and two days after, the House chose 
 as speaker, Mr. Pennington, a member of the 
 Republican party, but who was not compro 
 mised by the endorsement of any wild incen 
 diary publications. The pertinacity with which 
 the Republican party, for seven or eight weeks, 
 endeavoured to force upon the House as 
 Speaker a man obnoxious to the majority, did 
 much to augment the bitterness between North 
 and South, and to foster the feeling in favour of 
 secession. Indeed, several leading men from 
 the South declared that the appointment of Mr. 
 Sherman would be a signal for secession. 
 
 This book, with which the Republican party 
 had unfortunately become identified, the recent 
 John Brown insurrection, and the slavery ques 
 tion generally, occupied the House when I was 
 at Washington, and for some weeks after. The 
 Republican party spoke little, professing great 
 anxiety not to waste time, but to elect a Speaker 
 and get to the business of the country; this 
 saved them from many rather awkward explana 
 tions. I had the pleasure of hearing several 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 103 
 
 very able speeches, by Messrs. Holman, John 
 Cochrane, Davidson, and Singleton. Their 
 general objects were to prove that the Repub 
 lican party had caused the late insurrection at 
 Harper s Ferry, that they did purpose interfe 
 rence with slavery in the existing States, and 
 that their speeches tended to such interference, 
 although they disclaimed it; and again and 
 again a celebrated speech delivered by Mr. 
 Seward at Rochester was referred to, in which 
 the term " irrepressible conflict," since so often 
 quoted, was first brought forward. That great 
 leader of the Republican party said " Shall I 
 tell you what this collision means? They 
 who think that it is accidental, unnecessary, the 
 work of interested or fanatical agitators, and 
 therefore ephemeral, mistake the case altogether. 
 It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing 
 and enduring forces, and it means that the 
 United States must and will, sooner or later, 
 become either entirely a slave-holding nation, 
 or entirely a free-labour nation." " It is the 
 failure to apprehend this great truth that in 
 duces so many unsuccessful attempts at final 
 compromise between the slave and free States, 
 and it is the existence of this great fact that 
 renders all such pretended compromises, when 
 made, vain and ephemeral. " And again 
 
lOi SKETCHES IN 
 
 "The interest of the white race demands the 
 ultimate emancipation of all men. Whether 
 that consummation shall be allowed to take 
 effect with needful and wise precautions against 
 sudden change and disaster,, or be hurried on by 
 violence, is all that remains for you to decide. 
 The white man needs this continent to labour 
 upon." This and similar speeches, have proved 
 very embarrassing to the moderate members of 
 the Republican party. They at once expose 
 the party to the imputation of encouraging the 
 slaves to rebel, and disqualify them from admi 
 nistering a government based upon harmony, 
 where they hold there must be an irrepressible 
 conflict, and upon compromises which they say 
 must be vain and ephemeral. 
 
 " In my opinion," said Mr. Davidson, " he 
 and his party have now committed the overt 
 act, for he and they are accessories before the 
 fact to the treason and murders committed- at 
 Harper s Ferry. And you, Northern men, who 
 endorse the sentiments of that compendium, are 
 responsible for its recommendation and results. 
 Who ever heard, until this advice was given and 
 this speech of irrepressible conflict was made 
 and circulated who ever heard, until Seward 
 and the Black Republicans of Congress recom 
 mended it, of any white man in the whole 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 105 
 
 country who was ready to put himself at the 
 head of an expedition for the murder of women 
 and children, merely because they held slaves ? } 
 The speeches of Mr. Seward were referred 
 to for the views of the Republican party, be 
 cause he was by far the ablest and most dis 
 tinguished man of that body, and looked to as 
 likely to be the next President, should his party 
 be able to carry the election. To the surprise 
 and disappointment of every one, Mr. Seward 
 was passed over at the convention which nomi 
 nated the v Republican candidate; and Mr. 
 Lincoln, a very different man, and compara 
 tively unknown, was chosen. It is generally 
 understood that the rejection of Mr. Seward 
 was due mainly to the animosity of a busy 
 newspaper editor, w r hose merits Mr. S. had 
 failed to appreciate when he had gifts at his 
 disposal as Governor of New York. But Mr. 
 Lincoln, though not previously a person whose 
 sayings or doings were noted, had given utter 
 ance to sentiments equally obnoxious to the 
 pro-slavery party. He had said, "In my 
 opinion it [the slavery agitation] will not cease 
 until a crisis shall have been reached and 
 passed. A house divided against itself cannot 
 stand/ I believe this Government cannot 
 endure permanently half slave and half free. 
 
106 SKETCHES IN 
 
 The opponents of slavery will arrest the fur 
 ther spread of it, and place it where the public 
 mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the 
 course of ultimate extinction ; or its advocates 
 will push it forward,, till it shall become alike 
 lawful in all the States, old as well as new 
 North as well as South." The same idea as 
 Mr. Seward s " irrepressible conflict," but pre 
 ceding that gentleman by some months. 
 
 Mr. JOHN COCHRANE, one of the members 
 for the State of New York, spoke -with, great 
 ability, handling delicate questions in a dignified 
 and courteous, yet forcible style. This gentle 
 man seems justly regarded as one of the ablest 
 men in the House, and representing the popu 
 lous, wealthy, and intelligent free State of New 
 York, his opinions are entitled to attention. 
 He said : 
 
 " I sympathize, sir, deeply sympathize with 
 our friends at the South, who are now in fearful 
 trepidation of the incendiary s torch ; and of the 
 assassin s knife, and who tremble as upon the 
 volcano of servile insurrection. I censure 
 and reprobate that which has occurred and is 
 occurring all over the North, endangering the 
 peace of the Union, and teaching rebellion to 
 its constitution." After referring to the recent 
 insurrection in Virginia, and showing the ten- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 107 
 
 dency of the speeches and writings of the Re 
 publicans to lead to such events, he concluded, 
 speaking for his party in the North 
 
 " "Whatever maybe the suffering, politically, 
 endured by the Southern States, they receive 
 the assurance of our earnest sympathy. They 
 can endure no hardship of which we will not 
 willingly partake ; nor can we enjoy prosperity 
 which they shall not share. "We are one in 
 interest,, one in lineage, one in faith. The same 
 organic law shields and one equal power pro 
 tects us all. Such is the language of the 
 democracy of the North to the democracy of 
 the South. Though attached to our own local 
 customs, we will respect those of yours, opposed 
 though they are to our habits and usages ; and 
 whenever your rights, secured by our common 
 constitution, are threatened or invaded, ten 
 thousand Northern swords will flame for their 
 defence, and Northern bayonets will bristle 
 upon Southern plains in defence of Southern 
 rights." 
 
 Mr. SINGLETON, one of the members for 
 the^State of Mississippi, gave a very lucid view 
 of the state of the slavery question, and in 
 respect to secession spoke as follows : 
 
 "The position taken by the Republican 
 party on this floor, of excluding slavery from 
 
108 SKETCHES IN 
 
 all the territories which now belong to us, or 
 which may hereafter be acquired,, and their 
 determination to repeal the fugitive slave law, 
 will, if persevered in, sooner or later prove the 
 destruction of every tie which binds us together. 
 If you imagine that the people of the South 
 will submit to be confined to their present area, 
 to be shut out from the common territories 
 acquired by the common blood and treasure of 
 the nation, that slavery will linger out a poor 
 and miserable existence within its present bor 
 ders, and that our slaves are to escape without a 
 law to recover them, I tell you to-day that you 
 may begin to prepare for a dissolution of the 
 Union. Every man upon this floor will counsel 
 their constituents though they need not be 
 counselled to that effect. Their determination 
 is fixed and unalterable, that they will have an 
 expansion of slave territory in this Union if you 
 will allow it, or outside of the Union, if they 
 must. Upon the supposition that the gen 
 tleman from Iowa speaks the sentiments of the 
 Black Republican party, and that their purpose 
 is fixed to exclude us for ever from the territo 
 ries and confine us to our present limits, and 
 that the fugitive slave law is to be repealed or 
 so altered as to render it inefficient, if you 
 desire to know my counsel to the people of 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 109 
 
 Mississippi, it is, that they take measures im 
 mediately, in conjunction with other Southern 
 States, to separate from you." (Dec. 1859.) 
 
 The following pleasant dialogue took place 
 between this gentleman and another member. 
 
 Mr. SINGLETON. " Whenever gentlemen 
 undertake to play that game with us [to chastise 
 the South] they will find us ready for them. 
 There is not a boy ten years old in the State of 
 Mississippi who does not know how to handle 
 the shot-gun and rifle. Whenever you under 
 take to speak of chastisement, just let us know 
 what you mean, and we will engage to take care 
 of ourselves/ 
 
 Mr. KILGORE. "I repeat that I did not use 
 the word in an offensive sense; but permit 
 me to say to the gentleman, that an acquaint 
 ance with the use of the shot-gun and the rifle 
 is not restricted to the South. They were the 
 toys of my youth and tools of my trade, with 
 which I in part earned my living in after days." 
 
 Mr. SINGLETON. "Well; I hope that when 
 the time comes round, and you undertake to 
 chastise us, you will come down with your shot 
 gun. I would advise you, however, not to 
 encumber yourself too much ; because, in your 
 flight, you might want to get rid of all unne- 
 cessarv articles." 
 
110 SKETCHES IN 
 
 Mr. KILGORE. " I would say to the gen 
 tleman, I am not one of the artillery that flies 
 from danger." 
 
 Mr. SINGLETON. Well, we will see when 
 you come down South. We shall then be able 
 to test you." 
 
 Mr. KILGORE. "But I am not going- 
 South." (Laughter.) 
 
 A Mr. ANDERSON, of Kentucky, had been 
 questioned and his conduct sharply criticised 
 by a colleague, member for the same district. 
 At the close of his reply, Mr. Anderson said, 
 Permit me, in good humour, to say a word to 
 my colleague who has interrogated me. He 
 has a right to do it, and I am perfectly willing 
 to respond; but I will tell him one thing, that 
 I once heard of a man in Virginia, in the 
 Western part of the State, who made a very 
 large fortune by attending to his own business 
 (great laughter) ; and I heard of another man, 
 in the Eastern part of Virginia, who made a 
 large fortune by letting other people s business 
 alone (renewed laughter). So far as I am 
 concerned, T am responsible to my constituents, 
 and not to my worthy colleague." 
 
 Although, as is well known, and might be 
 expected in such a country, with so many irri 
 tating public questions, there are violent out- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. Ill 
 
 bursts at times, it appeared to me that the 
 general tone of the debates was good-humoured 
 and gentlemanly. 
 
 An interesting occurrence took place in the 
 House on the day on which a Speaker was at 
 last chosen. The proceedings were opened 
 with prayer by a Jew. The following is the 
 newspaper notice : 
 
 " IMPRESSIVE ADDRESS TO THE THRONE or 
 GRACE. The proceedings were opened with 
 prayer by RABBI RAPHAEL. It abounded with 
 fervently-expressed patriotic and religious sen 
 timent. He implored the Divine blessing to 
 direct the House in the election of a Speaker 
 who may preside without favour and fear, and 
 that the members might speak and act for the 
 glory and happiness of their common country. 
 The prayer was listened to with marked atten 
 tion." 
 
 There was no regular chaplain till after the 
 Speaker was chosen ; but the daily proceedings 
 in the House were opened with a short prayer, 
 by clergymen of diiferent religious communions. 
 The officiating minister takes his place at the 
 side of the Speaker or President, and the mem 
 bers stand during the prayer. Afterwards a 
 chaplain was appointed, with a salary of 750 
 dollars for the session. Some members ex- 
 
112 SKETCHES IN 
 
 pressed a wish that ministers of all denomina 
 tions should be invited, to officiate alternately ; 
 and one moved to postpone the election till the 
 1st of July (when Congress usually has ad 
 journed). A great number were proposed, and 
 among them the llabbi Raphael ; but his name 
 and the names of several ethers were withdrawn 
 before the votes were taken, and, after one or 
 two ballots, a Mr. Stockton was chosen. 
 
 In the month of January, 1860, a curious 
 passage at arms took place between a member 
 of the House of Representatives and the New 
 York Herald. In consequence of some remarks 
 in the paper which gave offence to the mem 
 ber, whom we shall call Mr. Z., he favoured 
 the House with a very pungent sketch of the 
 character of the proprietor of the Herald, whom 
 he painted as very black, indeed, and made 
 some very strong statements, which, even if 
 true, one would be very reluctant to publish of 
 any one. The Herald took its revenge in the 
 following original manner. In the reports of 
 the debates of the three days following Mr. Z/s 
 attack, short notices were interpolated, such as 
 the following : 
 
 A" Y. Z. The filthy liar and libeller of 
 [the State he represented] said nothing. 
 
 Then, after the reports of various speeches 
 
NOKTH AMERICA. 113 
 
 A . I". Z., etc., as before, made no remark. 
 
 X. I". Z.j etc., made no speech to-day. 
 
 X. Y. Z., the shameless liar and calumniator 
 of , did not open his mouth. 
 
 X. r. Z., the brutal liar and slanderer of 
 , did not say a word. 
 
 Thirteen times were these elegant compli 
 ments repeated, with the member s name in 
 full. A member of the House brought forward 
 a motion to expel the reporters of the Herald, 
 who. it was admitted, had nothing to do with 
 the offensive interpolations; but the matter 
 dropped. It was remarked by another member 
 that " The official organ of the administration, 
 the Constitution, had so far forgotten its dig 
 nity as to stigmatize the Republicans as traitors, 
 using language foul and loathsome, and saying 
 they had been bought with a shilling. If the 
 axe is to fall, let it fall on all libellers. He 
 was a friend of freedom of the press, and if 
 gentlemen do not like the press to strike 
 back, they should themselves withhold the 
 blow/ 
 
 It would be unjust to let it be understood 
 that these are fair specimens of the American 
 press ; they are quite exceptional. There may 
 be, in the United States, a few papers that use 
 coarse language and an offensive style, but the 
 
114 SKETCHES IN 
 
 great majority of tlie newspapers are conducted 
 in a respectable manner. We do not see the 
 best class of United States papers in this 
 country. To those desiring to take an Ame 
 rican paper (and a good one is full of interesting 
 matter), I should recommend the weekly edition 
 of the BOSTON COURIER, on the Democratic 
 side, and the weekly edition of the New YORK 
 EVENING POST, on the Republican side. These 
 are large papers, price four cents (twopence) 
 each, with few advertisements,, a great amount 
 of well selected and interesting general reading, 
 able articles on the news of the day, and con 
 ducted with taste as well as talent. The dis 
 tinguished poet, W. C. BRYANT, is the chief 
 proprietor of the Post. 
 
 Congress has a peculiar method of providing 
 reports of the debates, which has been plea 
 santly described by a member as one of the 
 wonders of the world. The proprietors of the 
 Globe, at Washington, have a grant for executing 
 this work, and publish two editions a Daily 
 Globe, and one in quarto, called the Congres 
 sional Globe, which is the authorised edition, 
 the American " Hansard." It seems very diffi 
 cult to report proceedings in Congress, in con 
 sequence, I suppose, of the noise and disorder 
 that prevail; accordingly, the reporters avail 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 115 
 
 themselves of the assistance of members, to s~et 
 
 O 
 
 correct accounts of what has been said and 
 done, and the members avail themselves of the 
 opportunity to improve and polish their orations, 
 and prune off any exuberances that don t look 
 very well next morning. One gentleman 
 objected strongly to appropriating money to 
 publish speeches which are never made. He 
 said that it is well known that the speeches 
 that are published in the Globe are not the 
 speeches that are delivered upon the floor of the 
 House ; that members constantly go and strike 
 out what they please, and put in what they 
 think best on second consideration. He stated 
 further, that he had sometimes gone to revise 
 what he had said in putting a question, or 
 replying to one, and found next morning that 
 others had gone too, and had struck out from 
 their speeches the parts that had called forth 
 his remarks, so that they appeared in the Globe 
 without meaning of any kind. Members don t 
 always confine themselves to correcting their 
 
 V O 
 
 oT/n speeches; they sometimes strike out any 
 thing unpleasant they may see in an adversary s. 
 In a notable instance connected with a chal 
 lenge, which strangely did not lead to a duel, 
 one member admitted having done this. "I 
 erased no word which the reporter had written 
 
116 SKETCHES IN 
 
 upon his manuscript, but I felt myself autho 
 rised to erase an unwarrantable and impertinent 
 interpolation in the gentleman s own hand 
 writing." He was determined the objection 
 able interpolation should not appear, for he 
 erased it so effectually that neither reporters 
 nor printers could tell what were the words 
 which had been written. The Globe is almost 
 the only paper in which one finds full and 
 readable reports of the proceedings in Congress. 
 Some New York papers give them at consider 
 able length, but in print so small and close, 
 that it is a painful effort, even for strong eyes, 
 to wade through them. The greater number of 
 papers give summaries, with now and then a 
 notable speech in full. 
 
 There is one of the usages of Congress 
 which seems to have considerable advantages, 
 and an aspect of fairness, while it is certainly 
 a proof that the "tyranny of the majority" 
 does not prevail everywhere in American insti 
 tutions. When a committee of either House is 
 not unanimous, the minority may, if they think 
 proper, also present a report, and this is very 
 generally done with committees on important 
 questions. Sometimes the minority is divided, 
 and then there are two or more minority reports, 
 all of which are received, even though one of 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 117 
 
 the minorities be the smallest possible one 
 member only. 
 
 While the debates in Congress are very ani 
 mated, eloquent, and argumentative,, they are 
 by no means so instructive as those in the 
 British Parliament. This arises, I think, greatly 
 from the absence of the minfsters of state; these 
 are the persons possessed of the fullest and most 
 correct information on most of the subjects of 
 debate, and Congress not only loses the benefit 
 of the minute and accurate knowledge which 
 they could supply, but, unchecked by their 
 presence, members are apt to indulge in loose, 
 careless statements, and to speak a good deal 
 at random. Another cause is the number of 
 important subjects excluded from Congress by 
 the large legislative powers left to the indivi 
 dual States. The proceedings in the several State 
 legislatures are usually reported very briefly, 
 and seem to be but little regarded. All eyes 
 are turned intently on the great national assem 
 blies at Washington ; one parliament is quite 
 enough to attend to ; and thus, from the com 
 parative neglect of the local parliaments, much 
 valuable- information, and many useful political 
 lessons are lost. The American, too, has a great 
 tendency towards declamation and oratorical 
 effect. The British legislator is more a man of 
 
118 SKETCHES IN 
 
 facts and figures. The latter is not only less 
 excitable by nature than the American, but he 
 has, generally speaking, received a much superior 
 education, and is less in the habit of addressing 
 popular audiences who must be excited and inte 
 rested by strong statements and a frothy style. 
 The more one sees or hears of other assemblies, 
 the more we must admire the British Parlia 
 ment (I trust this is not mere national preju 
 dice). A great debate in the House of Com 
 mons, or House of Lords, is truly a masterly 
 performance, and one of the finest intellectual 
 displays the world affords. 
 
 A new Congress is chosen every two years, 
 and there is always a considerable number of 
 new members, particularly from the North. 
 When a Southern State, it was said, falls upon 
 a good representative, it knows his value and 
 keeps him ; but the North is fond of changes. 
 Of the present House (1859-61) of 237 mem 
 bers, only 112 were members of the previous 
 Congress, a majority, 125, being new members. 
 For a large number of members, it is a very 
 good thing being appointed to Congress ; they 
 have 600 a year for two years, and the chances 
 of what they may pick up at Washington. 
 Many representatives, I heard it freely said, 
 have been known to come to "Congress poor 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 119 
 
 men, and to leave it rich, or, at least, indepen 
 dent; especially chairmen of committees, by 
 getting bills passed. The Government has a 
 variety of good things to bestow, as contracts 
 for post roads, for carrying the mails, supplying 
 the army and navy, etc.; and the House itself 
 has some gifts worth looking after, such as the 
 printing for Congress. The appointment of 
 printer is usually given to some influential 
 party man in favour with the majority. Gover 
 nor Ford was re-elected printer in 1860. The 
 nominal printer is seldom really a printer. The 
 spoil is considerable. He gives a little to the 
 man who does the work, a good deal to the 
 various jackals who have helped him to the 
 job, and reserves the lion s share for himself. 
 Prom an investigation made lately, it appears 
 that about 100 cents have been charged to the 
 country for work that respectable printers offered 
 to do for from seven to fourteen cents. 
 
 On the recent national fast day, one clergy 
 man said in his discourse " The crowning 
 shame, and the damning stigma on the fore 
 front of the Republic, is bribery. Our fathers, 
 like Samuel, could call God and the people to 
 witness that no bribe had ever blinded their 
 eyes to pervert judgment ; while their degene 
 rate sons, in the high places of the nation, in 
 
120 SKETCHES IN 
 
 the halls of the State,, and of the city, and, 
 shall I say, in the tribunals of an elective and 
 poorly paid judiciary, are, like the sons of 
 Samuel, charged. with turning aside after lucre^ 
 and taking bribes and perverting judgment/ 3 
 
 The Republican party allege that jobbing 
 and corruption have been carried to a greater 
 extent by the administration now coming to a 
 close than by any former government : that 
 endeavours have been made to bribe the con 
 ductors of influential newspapers and even 
 members of Congress to procure their support. 
 The present House of Representatives is ani 
 mated by extremely hostile feelings towards 
 Mr. Buchanan, arising mainly out of the sup 
 port he has given to the pro-slavery party in 
 Kansas, and his efforts to force slavery upon 
 that new State, in opposition, as it is said, to the 
 wishes of the bond fide settlers. They made 
 two grand attacks upon him last session. By 
 a majority of 117 to 45, a committee was ap 
 pointed to inquire " whether the President of 
 the United States, or any other officer of the 
 government, has, by money, patronage, or other 
 improper means, sought to influence the action 
 of Congress, or any committee thereof, for or 
 against the passage of any law appertaining 
 to the rights of any State or territory, and 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 121 
 
 whether the President has failed or refused to 
 compel the execution of any law thereof" 
 referring to the charge that he had not used 
 means in his power to suppress the disorders in 
 Kansas. Mr. Buchanan sent to the House two 
 energetic protests against such an investigation, 
 on the grounds that the House has no authority 
 to take any steps against the President unless 
 by impeachment, for which a proper court, pre 
 sided over by the chief justice, has been ap 
 pointed; that Mr. Covode, the mover of the 
 committee, and his accuser, becomes one of his 
 judges; that in former cases of inquiry, the 
 subject was referred to a standing committee, 
 the judiciary committee, appointed without re 
 ference to any special case ; and that the inquiry 
 was vague and general, without any specific 
 charge; he said that since the times of the 
 S tar-Chamber and of general warrants, there 
 had been no such proceeding in England, and 
 that he had a right to be informed in the begin 
 ning of the nature of the accusation against 
 him. But the House held that it was not an 
 accusation, but an inquiry, and that they had a 
 right to inquire into the proceedings of the 
 government. The committee unfolded some 
 very strange doings in the course of their in 
 quiry, but I do not understand that they suc- 
 
 i 
 
122 SKETCHES IN 
 
 ceeded in implicating the President. The session 
 closed before there was time to act on the 
 report ; but, ostensibly on another ground, the 
 House passed a vote of censure on the Presi 
 dent, to the effect that "the Secretary of the 
 Navy has, with the sanction of the President, 
 abused his discretionary power in the selection 
 of a coal agent, and for the purchase of fuel for 
 the government," "that the distribution of 
 the patronage of the navy yards among mem 
 bers of Congress is destructive of discipline and 
 injurious to the public service ; that the Presi 
 dent and the Secretary of the Navy, in consider 
 ing the party relations of bidders and the effect 
 of awarding contracts pending elections, are 
 deserving of the reprobation of this House." 
 These resolutions were carried by a majority of 
 120 to 65. But when all the circumstances 
 are considered, the proceeding has somewhat of 
 the aspect of the " tyranny of a majority"- 
 for they were the resolutions of a minority of a 
 committee of the previous Congress appointed 
 to iuquire and report on the subject, and were 
 rejected by the committee which made the 
 investigation ; while resolutions of an opposite 
 character were carried and reported to the 
 House. The rejected resolutions were now 
 raised from the dead and brought forth to 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 123 
 
 annoy the President and Secretary of the 
 Navy. 
 
 The office of member of Congress being so 
 desirable a thing, there are many who aspire to 
 it, and the constituency not being very select, 
 nor very stable or consistent, are easily per 
 suaded to give their votes for a new man who 
 has been undermining the present possessor. 
 New faces and new promises have charms for 
 the mob. The absent are always in the wrong : 
 
 v O * 
 
 besides, are they not very well off? they have 
 had it already for two years, or four years, and 
 so-and-so should have a chance now ! Fortu 
 nately, the Senate is chosen upon a different 
 system. Its members are selected by, perhaps, 
 the highest, most intelligent constituency the 
 State can furnish the State Legislature ; and 
 its members once chosen, retain their office 
 for six years. The Senate is the Conservative 
 element in the Constitution of the United 
 States the only drag upon the wheel of revo 
 lution, which has a constant tendency to be in 
 motion in the Great Republic. It is worthy of 
 remark that this body, chosen by a constituency 
 of high standing, contains many of the ablest 
 and most high-minded and independent men of 
 the nation; which cannot be said either of the 
 representatives or of the presidents, who are the 
 
124 SKETCHES IN 
 
 choice of universal suffrage. The first few pre 
 sidents, AVashington, Adams, Jefferson, really 
 were men of mark the foremost men of the 
 time. But when we study the history of the 
 United States during the last thirty or forty 
 years, we find Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Cass, 
 Everett, Douglas, Seward, in the front rank on 
 every trying occasion, distinguished above all 
 others by their talents, their high character and 
 standing, and their great public services but 
 we do not find their names in the list of presi 
 dents. Of these able and eminent statesmen, 
 one asks, Why have they never been elevated to 
 the dignity of president? Of the majority of 
 the presidents of the last forty years, it is asked, 
 Why have they been elevated to this office ? 
 There is one answer to both questions. Because 
 of the ignorance of a universal suffrage consti 
 tuency, and of the charlatanism and petty 
 jealousies of those who guide it. 
 
 In America, including the British Colonies, 
 a large proportion of men of the highest class 
 of those eminently fitted to be useful, faithful, 
 and judicious public servants stand aloof from 
 politics. Some shrink from subjecting them 
 selves to the rough, coarse, turbulent treatment 
 which public men must there undergo ; others 
 stand back on account of the uncertainty at- 
 
KORTH AMERICA. 125 
 
 tending public offices, some held by law for 
 only short periods, and all dependent directly 
 or indirectly on the caprice of popular elections. 
 In Britain we have, fortunately, a large class of 
 gentlemen of independent means, willing to 
 serve their country for no other object than 
 the gratification of a natural and harmless am 
 bition or the laudable desire to be useful : and 
 we have not (and I trust never will have) the 
 wretched systems of elections for short periods 
 and turning out every one on a change of Go 
 vernment. This independent class is very small 
 in North America, and, small as it is, numbers 
 of it are deterred by the prevalent system from 
 entering into public life. Popular election and 
 the short period of office deprive the American 
 Governments of the services of the majority of 
 the ablest and most honourable men in the 
 State ; men of an inferior stamp, noisy, ranting, 
 shallow, trading politicians, get possession of 
 place and power ; the Government is vulgarized, 
 corrupted, demoralized, and the nation with it. 
 The following is from a Boston paper : " We 
 heard a well-informed citizen, the other day, 
 reuly to the question why a very desirable can 
 didate was not appointed to a foreign mission of 
 importance, by saying, he had three great dis 
 qualifications first, he was a gentleman; 
 
126 SKETCHES IN 
 
 secondly, he was an accomplished scholar and 
 statesman ; and thirdly, he was an honest man." 
 This great evil is felt in the British Colonies 
 and in the State Legislatures of the United 
 States, as well as in Congress ; the latter, how 
 ever, in so large and populous a country, must 
 attract a considerable amount of talent, at 
 least ; while the Senate always contains several 
 men of great abilities and high standing. 
 
 It is sad to see, as one often does in America, 
 men of the highest class, who have deserved 
 well of their country, cast aside and deprived of 
 the station and honours which would gratify 
 their legitimate ambition, and solace the evening 
 of their days, and to which, by superior talents 
 and accomplishments, and a long career of public 
 usefulness, they had a natural right to look 
 forward; while far inferior, and sometimes quite 
 obscure persons, are preferred, and thrust into 
 offices which they degrade; but such are the 
 cruel disappointments which await the most 
 gifted and high-minded men under the rough 
 democratic system of North America. 
 
 I visited Congress several times, and have 
 since paid some attention to its proceedings. 
 When we think on the peculiar and unfavour 
 able circumstances of large tracts of that young 
 country that must still furnish members to 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 127 
 
 Congress, we cannot but admire the singular 
 ability and legislative capacity exhibited by the 
 two assemblies. Very few, indeed, of the 
 members have had educational advantages at 
 all to be compared with those enjoyed by the 
 great majority of the British legislators ; but 
 the general diffusion of a sound elementary 
 education, with the intellectual habits and natu 
 ral genius of the people, make up, to a conside 
 rable extent, for the want of this higher early 
 culture. It is true, there is much unprofitable 
 talk, and much empty declamation; we hear 
 now and then of short-comings, irregularities, 
 and occasional manifestations of the all-pre 
 vailing rowdyism ; and we, in Britain, are accus 
 tomed to a more sober, quiet, decorous style of 
 proceeding. But Rome was not built in a day. 
 Few governments have a right to boast of un 
 mixed success in their mission, and Europe has 
 not exhibited many national assemblies that can 
 be held forth as models. The elements of con 
 stitutional government are there ; there are the 
 representative system, and the responsibility of 
 the rulers to the nation in full action (though 
 that responsibility is not due exactly to the best 
 class of society). They derived these institu 
 tions from us; the two peoples should sympa 
 thize with each other, for they stand alone 
 
128 SKETCHES IN 
 
 amongst the nations, distinguished by the largo 
 measure of freedom which they enjoy, and by 
 the possession of those glorious instruments for 
 the preservation of freedom Congress and Par 
 liament. With all their faults, where, on the 
 face of the earth, can we find their equal? Con 
 gress has now flourished for a period of eighty 
 years ; her system has many imperfections, but 
 time will make them be felt, and suggest reme 
 dies. Her greatest trials are probably yet to 
 come ; but when we think of the talent, infor 
 mation, and sagacity, exhibited in the two 
 Houses, of the intelligence of the great body 
 of the people, of the ingenuity, fertile resources, 
 and practical character of the nation in other 
 respects, we are led to hope that the difficulties 
 will be surmounted, and freedom and good 
 government be permanently secured to this 
 great and most interesting people. 
 
 A few specimens of speeches and proceed 
 ings in Congress may be interesting. The firslr 
 extract is from the speech of Mr. HALE, a 
 Republican member for New Hampshire : 
 
 " We are trying an experiment, and I 
 believe we are in its crisis. I have never been 
 of that number of Fourth of July orators who 
 glorify the country. I have uniformly said we 
 are but in the beginning of an experiment. We 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 129 
 
 talk of our republic. Why, sir, it has not out 
 lived the ages of the soldiers who fought its 
 battles and gained its victories. I believe 
 Borne existed as a republic for 600 years. That 
 is something to be proud of. But we have not 
 survived a lifetime of the men who fought the 
 battles of liberty, or the patriots and sages who 
 formed our constitution and government. We 
 have obtained what we have obtained by great 
 effort and at great price. It was not the mere 
 price of the revolution, or the mere price of the 
 blood that was shed, or the patriot counsels 
 that formed the constitution ; but, away back, 
 centuries upon centuries, in English history, 
 when power and principle contended in all 
 those centuries there has been going on a 
 contest which is culminating in our experiment 
 here. No patriot blood poured out on the 
 battle-fields of civil war in England has been 
 insignificant in this conflict. I will add this, 
 that we shall present a mpst humiliating spec 
 tacle to this world, if, at this time, when, by 
 the acknowledgment of the President of the 
 United States, the blessings of heaven have 
 descended upon this people in all the channels 
 of their industry and business at a time when, 
 by the confession of the senator from Georgia 
 (Mr. Toombs) last year on this floor, this 
 
130 SKETCHES IN 
 
 general government was faithfully performing 
 all its functions in relation to the Slave States 
 and every State I say, under such circum 
 stances of a faithful government, and I will add, 
 of a subservient judiciary, if this confederacy 
 should burst, and this glorious community of 
 States be dissevered and fail, by the doubtful 
 contingency of State action, to carry out the 
 experiment of human liberty ; and when at the 
 very day and hour that we are coming to such 
 a result, the States of Italy, having for centu 
 ries gone through a baptism of blood, and been 
 taught by the despotism of centuries, are 
 coming together to unite their energies for 
 liberty and progress; then, if we, untaught 
 by all the past, and reckless of the present, and 
 blind to the future, should madly dash ourselves 
 upon this dark ocean, whose shores no eye of 
 prophecy or faith can discern, I do not know 
 what is to be the future." 
 
 The following is an illustration of the very 
 strong things that are sometimes said, even in 
 the Senate. The speaker is Mr. IVERSON, a 
 fiery son of the South and decided Secessionist, 
 member for the State of Georgia. The tyrant 
 for whom a Brutus is suggested, because he 
 opposes secession, is General Houston, the 
 Governor of Texas. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 131 
 
 " Though there is a clog in the way, in the 
 lone star of Texas, in the person of the Go 
 vernor, who will not consent to call the legisla 
 ture, yet the public sentiment is so strong that 
 even her Governor may be overridden ; and if 
 he will not yield to the public sentiment, some 
 Texan Brutus may arise to rid his country of 
 this old hoary-headed traitor. (Great sensa 
 tion.) There has been a good deal of vapour 
 ing and threatening, but they came from the 
 last men who would carry out their threats. 
 Men talk about their eighteen millions, but 
 we hear a few days afterwards of these 
 same men being switched in the face, and 
 they tremble like a sheep-stealing dog. There 
 will be no war. The North, governed by 
 such far-seeing statesmen as the senator from 
 New York (Mr. Seward), will see the futi 
 lity of this. In less than twelve months a 
 Southern confederacy will be formed, and it 
 will be the most successful government on 
 earth. The Southern States, thus banded 
 together, will be able to resist any force in the 
 world. We do not expect war, but we will be 
 prepared for it, and we are not a feeble race of 
 Mexicans either. But he hoped the Northern 
 States would allow them to form their govern 
 ment, and make friendly and commercial trea- 
 
132 SKETCHES IN 
 
 ties with them. They would allow the North 
 the advantage of a favoured nation. There was 
 a feeling of enmity between the two sections 
 deeper than the depths of hell. We are 
 enemies. The Northern people, he believed, 
 hated the South worse than England hated 
 France, and he could tell his brethren there was 
 no love lost between them. (Laughter in the 
 galleries.) He thought, under all these cir 
 cumstances, they had better separate. He 
 should not have said anything, but for the 
 remarks of the senator from New Hampshire, 
 who threatened war as if to frighten the South. 
 War is inevitable. Let the South take care/ 
 Let the war come, and we will meet the senator 
 from New Hampshire and all the myrmidons 
 of abolitionism, and, in the language of the 
 honourable representative from Ohio (Mr. 
 Cor win), in regard to the Mexican war, we 
 will welcome them with bloody hands to hos 
 pitable graves/ (Sensation.)" 
 
 Next follow some of the ideas of Mr. 
 DANIEL SICKLES, a member of the House of 
 Representatives for New York ; the same who 
 killed Mr. Key, in Washington, in the spring 
 of 1859. 
 
 " One of these delusions is that disunion 
 can be prevented by force ; that the Union can 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 133 
 
 by revolution be brought to the verge of de 
 struction, yet at the last that the strong arm of 
 power can stay the work. On the call for 
 force, come whence it may, no man would pass 
 the frontier of the city of New York to wage 
 war against a State which, through its consti 
 tuted authority, should, for its rights, interests, 
 and honour, seek safety in a separate existence. 
 The Union can be made perpetual by justice, but 
 not by force ; and if these truths were engraved 
 on the hearts of the people of the North and 
 the East and the West, all would be well. 
 Until these truths are recognized there cannot 
 be peace. The city of New York will cling to 
 the Union while a single hope is left; but 
 when there is no longer a Union, proud as she 
 is of her position as a metropolis, ready to 
 banish sectional prejudices, and willing to con 
 tribute all in her power to maintain her honour 
 at home and abroad when there is no longer a 
 Union, she will never consent to be an appen 
 dage or slave of a Puritan Province. She will 
 assert her own independence. There is no 
 sympathy now between the city and State of 
 New York, nor has there been for years. She 
 will open her free port to the commerce of the 
 world." 
 
 The proceedings of the House of Represen- 
 
134 SKETCHES IN 
 
 tatives are sometimes enlivened in a way that 
 rather startles us sober Britishers a little, but 
 is not thought much of amongst a people at 
 once so excitable and so free and easy. A few 
 reports of such scenes are subjoined, not that 
 they are frequent, or interfere materially with 
 the performance of a vast amount of useful work, 
 but because they illustrate the present condition 
 of things in America, and are characteristic of 
 Brother Jonathan : 
 
 " During the speech some one sent Mr. 
 Smith a tumbler of egg nogg, which he drank, 
 saying, f Merry Christmas to all of you/ (Great 
 laughter.) 
 
 " Mr. KILGORE inquired whether it was in 
 order for the gentleman to monopolize the 
 drinking of egg nogg, while the rest were 
 doing without it ? 
 
 " Mr. SMITH said that was one of the con 
 stitutional privileges of his side of the House. 
 (Laughter.) 
 
 " A VOICE. I d like to have some ; I m dry 
 as thunder. (Loud ha, haV all over the 
 House.) 
 
 " After further remarks Mr. Smith received 
 another tumbler of egg nogg, which he drank, 
 bowing to the ladies in the galleries, creating 
 much merriment. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 135 
 
 (! Mr. BURNETT. I rise to a question of 
 privilege. I desire to know whether this is a 
 private treat or not ? (Laughter.) 
 
 " Mr. MOORE, of Ky. (earnestly) I move 
 to adjourn to take some kind of treat. (In 
 creased laughter.) 
 
 " The CLERK. I do not feel authorized to 
 decide, but will submit the question to the 
 House. (Renewed laughter.)" 
 
 "In the Senate he reiterated that the 
 Homestead bill constituted a part of the Re 
 publican platform. 
 
 " Mr. PUGH. Where do you find it in the 
 Republican platform ? 
 
 " Mr. WIGFALL (pointing to Mr. Seward 
 and Lord Lyons, who were talking together on 
 one of the sofas). There it is, talking to Lord 
 Lyons. The British Minister and the platform 
 are together. 
 
 " Mr. PUGH. I deny that the Republican 
 platform says anything about the Homestead 
 bill. They have only taken it up, according to 
 their habit of picking up whatever they find 
 lying about loose. 
 
 " Mr. WIGFALL apologized for referring to 
 gentlemen by name, and then continued his 
 
136 SKETCHES IN 
 
 remarks, which were of a very discursive cha 
 racter." # * * * 
 
 " Mr. HASKIN asked if Clark agreed to this 
 programme. Clark replied at once, It s none 
 of your business. Haskin was greatly pro 
 voked, and was proceeding to make some state 
 ments respecting his colleague, when he was 
 called to order (he was not at that time entitled 
 to the floor) very vehemently by the democratic 
 members. In his violent gesticulations Mr. 
 Haskin unfortunately dropped a pistol from his 
 coat-pocket. He hastily replaced it in his coat, 
 but the action was seen by several Southern 
 democrats, who supposed that he was about to 
 use it. Then ensued a scene which defies de 
 scription. For several minutes a collision 
 seemed inevitable, but the Sergeant- at- Arms 
 and a score of peacemakers at last produced 
 quiet. Mr. Haskin then made an explanation, 
 Mr. Clark an apology, and the House adjourned. 
 Clemens, of Virginia, seemed disposed to con 
 demn Mr. Haskin for bringing a pistol into the 
 House ; but he must have been aware that, at 
 that moment, there were probably not five 
 Southern members in the House who were not 
 
 armed." 
 
 * * * # # 
 
 " The Avenue presented a very gay and ani- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 137 
 
 mated scene,, from the number of beautifully- 
 dressed ladies, who, even then, with two hours 
 before them, showed their anxiety not to be 
 behind time. 
 
 " At this moment the doorkeepers are ex 
 pelling gentlemen from the ladies galleries, and 
 the greatest excitement prevails as, whenever 
 one of the lords shows fight, the ladies come to 
 the assistance of the doorkeepers, and, as many 
 hands make light work, of course the refractory 
 disappears amid the tumultuous uproar of the 
 galleries. The pages below are reaping a har 
 vest from fallen jewellery. One shower, to the 
 right of the Speaker s chair, called forth a re 
 gular scramble among the crowds who were 
 perambulating the chamber, and some funny 
 falls and tumbles over were the result. 
 
 " Very few members have as yet taken their 
 sea.ts. They stand in groups on the right and 
 left. There is a general move below, and a few 
 favoured ladies are shooting across (in the body 
 of the House), like birds skimming over a lake, 
 to a point where seats have been placed for 
 them. The gentlemen who are not entitled to 
 seats upon the floor are slowly retiring before 
 the officers, and something like order is be 
 ginning to appear from the late chaos. 
 
 " The gavel strikes, and silence is restored, 
 
 K 
 
138 SKETCHES IN 
 
 as the chaplain takes his stand. Rev. Mr. 
 Kennard, in the course of his prayer, implored 
 the Almighty to come to the deliverance of the 
 country from its present excitement and danger, 
 and to renew the bond of confidence which for 
 merly existed as to our confederacy. 
 
 " It is a few minutes to one o clock, and the 
 greatest confusion prevails. Half a dozen mem 
 bers from the Democratic benches are up at once, 
 in fearful excitement, speaking to questions of 
 order, and creating the most dreadful disorder. 
 A motion is before the House for the exclusion 
 of the unprivileged from the floor. 
 
 " Mr. JOHN COCHRANE, as a question of 
 high privilege, moves that the ladies on the 
 floor be excepted. While this question is yet 
 undecided, Mr. Smith, of Virginia, in gratitude 
 to the sex, a merry member of which, it is said, 
 sent him the famous glass of egg nogg, is busy 
 providing seats for such as are pressing uncom 
 fortably upon the doorkeeper. There is a half 
 circle of them now seated on the Republican 
 side of the House, but an ample skirt here and 
 there at the doors, and a half-dozen faces glow 
 ing bright in the background, give note of the 
 anxious crowd who are yet unprovided for, and 
 Mr. Ashmore, making himself heard above the 
 din that reigns around, calls upon the Clerk to 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 139 
 
 enforce the orders of the House. { Is this/ he 
 asks, a dignified body a respectable body of 
 men ? No, Mr. Clerk, we are a mob nothing 
 but a mob. A hearty confirmatory response is 
 given from the galleries all round. If you in 
 tend to enforce the orders of the House in part,, 
 say so ; but if you extend the same courtesy to 
 all the ladies alike, throw open the doors, and 
 give seats to the wives and daughters of those 
 members who are yet excluded. (Cries of Good, 
 good/ from the galleries.) 
 
 "Mr. OLIN (Rep.), of N. Y., reminded 
 gentlemen that we have no rules. 
 
 " Mr. SMITH, of Va., replied We have the 
 parliamentary law. 
 
 " After a debate the floor was cleared of the 
 ladies, and many unprivileged persons of the 
 other sex, and the House decided to proceed to 
 a ballot." 
 
 * * * >fc * 
 
 " The session of the House last night was a 
 very stormy one, and it was very fortunate that 
 Mr. Dawes, of Massachusetts, was in the chair. 
 Mr. Pennington would have been trodden under 
 foot by the tumult, but Mr. Dawes held the 
 reins of government with a firm grasp, and 
 neither bullying nor coaxing would make him 
 swerve a hair to the right or left. A great 
 
140 SKETCHES IN 
 
 many strangers were upon the floor delegates 
 to the Baltimore Convention where they had 
 no right, and they added very much to the con 
 fusion. Martin, of Virginia, in a very loud 
 voice, begged the Speaker to make the door 
 keeper do his duty and clear the floor of the 
 strangers ; but the officer of the House found 
 it impossible, without resorting to force, to exe 
 cute the order of the House, and many of them 
 remained." 
 
 ?ic >jc sjc s$c ^ 
 
 On Thursday, in the House, Mr. Lovejoy, 
 of Illinois, in Committee of the Whole, nomin 
 ally on the tariff, maintained that polygamy 
 was no worse than slavery, and that both were 
 twin relics of barbarism. The report gives the 
 following account of the close of the discussion 
 on that day : 
 
 " Mr. Lovejoy, who had commenced his 
 remarks on the extreme left of the Republican 
 side, had gradually advanced into the space in 
 front of the Speaker s chair, and, as he warmed 
 in his subject, he began to gesticulate with 
 some vehemence. He was interrupted by Mr. 
 Pry or, of Va. (Dem.), who excitedly called him 
 to order, at the same time advancing towards 
 him with fierce gesticulations. He was under 
 stood to say, prefacing the remark with some 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 141 
 
 offensive adjectives, Keep your own side, sir ; 
 you shall not come over here, shaking your fists 
 in the faces of gentlemen ! 
 
 " Great confusion ensued. Members began 
 to rush towards the scene from all sides, some 
 shouting order, and others denouncing Lovejoy. 
 
 ( Mr. PHYOR. I call him to order, sir. He 
 shall not shake his fists in our faces, sir. It is 
 bad enough to let him stand over there and talk 
 his treason. 
 
 "Mr. BARKSDALE, of Mississippi (Dem.), 
 who had been in his seat with a heavy cane in 
 his hand, came forward with the crowd, shout 
 ing and flourishing the cane. The only words 
 understood from him above the din of the 
 Chairman s gavel, were, Keep his own side, 
 the rascal/ 
 
 " Mr. ADRAIN, of New Jersey (Anti-Le- 
 compton Dem.), and other gentlemen, moved 
 that the Committee rise ; and some called the 
 Sergeant- at- Arms. 
 
 The Chairman would receive no motion 
 till gentlemen resumed their seats. 
 
 " The crowd still increased, and a collision 
 seemed inevitable. 
 
 " Mr. Cox, of Ohio (Dem.), shouted I rise 
 to a point of order. The gentleman from Il 
 linois is out of his seat. He has no right to 
 
14.2 SKETCHES IN 
 
 leave his seat and come upon the Democratic 
 side. 
 
 " Mr. LOVEJOY, standing firm, was under 
 stood to reply, I will stand where I please/ 
 
 " He stood at this time on the Republican 
 side near the dividing aisle. " 
 
 # Sfc # S|C 5fc 
 
 " He (Lovejoy) proposed to hold up to the 
 retribution of public sentiment slaveholding in- 
 all its atrocity and hideousness, just as gentle 
 men had here polygamy. Public sentiment will 
 burn and scour out slavery, and the proper way 
 is by the action of the Slave States themselves. 
 He had endorsed the Helper book because he 
 wanted to do it ; he did so without asking the 
 gentleman from Missouri (Clark), or anybody 
 else. You shed the blood of my brother twenty 
 years ago, and I am here, free to speak my 
 mind. He wanted to say in Charleston what 
 he could say here. 
 
 "Mr. BONIIAM. You had better try it ! 
 
 " Mr. LOVEJOY. I can go to England and 
 there discuss the question of Church and State, 
 or any other British institution. But if I go 
 into the Slave States and talk against Slavery, 
 where is my protection ? 
 
 "Mr. MILES, of North Carolina (Dem.). 
 Can you go to England and incite the la- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 143 
 
 bouring classes there to assassinate the 
 Queen? 
 
 " Mr. LOVEJOY. I don t desire to do that. 
 I claim the right to discuss slavery everywhere 
 under the stars and stripes/ 
 
 %. $ $ $ $ 
 
 t( Every slave has a right to run away in 
 spite of your laws, and to fight himself away. 
 Were he (Lovejoy) a slave, and were it neces 
 sary to achieve his freedom, he would not hesi 
 tate to fill up the chasm and bridge it over with 
 the carcases of the slain. He loved the South. 
 
 " A voice. We don t love you." 
 * # * # * 
 
 "Mr. MARTIN, of Virginia (Dem.). If you 
 will come into Virginia, we will hang you 
 higher than we did John Brown. 
 
 " Mr. LOVEJOY. No doubt about it." 
 
 Some peculiarities in the regulations of 
 the House of Representatives are of interest. 
 
 The question is put, ay or no. Then, if the 
 Speaker doubt, or a division be called for, the 
 House shall divide ; those in the affirmative of 
 the question shall rise first from their seats, 
 and afterwards those in the negative. If the 
 Speaker still doubt, or a count be required, the 
 Speaker shall name two members, one from 
 
144 SKETCHES IN 
 
 each side, to tell tlie members in the affirma 
 tive; winch being reported, lie shall rise and 
 state the decision to the House, etc. The House 
 divides by each party rising, not by leaving the 
 Hall. In all cases of election by the House of 
 its officers, the vote is taken viva voce. The 
 names are called out by the Clerk, and each 
 member tells aloud for whom he votes. 
 
 All committees are appointed by the Speaker 
 unless otherwise specially directed by the 
 House, in which case they shall be appointed 
 by ballot ; and if, upon such ballot, the number 
 required shall not be elected by a majority 
 [see page 93] of the votes given, the House 
 shall proceed to a second ballot, in which a 
 plurality of votes shall prevail. In all other 
 cases of ballot than for committees, a majority 
 of the votes given shall be necessary to an elec 
 tion ; and where there shall not be such a 
 majority on the first ballot, the ballots shall be 
 repeated until a majority be obtained. 
 
 After six days from the commencement of a 
 second or subsequent session of any Congress, all 
 bills, resolutions, and reports which originated 
 in the House, and at the close of the next pre 
 ceding session remained undetermined, shall be 
 resumed and acted upon in the same manner 
 as if no adjournment had taken place. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 145 
 
 Members must confine themselves to the 
 question under debate, and avoid personality. 
 
 No member shall occupy more than one 
 hour in debate on any question in the House, 
 or in Committee; but a member reporting the 
 measure under consideration from a committee 
 may open and close the debate : Provided, that 
 where debate is closed by order of the House, 
 any member shall be allowed, in committee, five 
 minutes to explain any amendment he may 
 offer, after which any member who shall first 
 obtain the floor shall be allowed to speak five 
 minutes in opposition to it, and there shall be 
 no further debate on the amendment ; but the 
 same privilege of debate shall be allowed in 
 favour of, and against any amendment that may 
 be offered to the amendment, and neither the 
 amendment, nor an amendment to the amend 
 ment, shall be withdrawn by the mover thereof, 
 unless by the unanimous consent of the com 
 mittee. 
 
 No member shall speak more than once to 
 the same question without leave of the House, 
 unless he be the mover, proposer, or introducer 
 of the matter pending ; in which case he shall 
 be permitted to speak in reply, but not until 
 every member choosing to speak shall have 
 spoken. 
 
146 SKETCHES IN 
 
 While the Speaker is putting any question, 
 or addressing the House, none shall walk out 
 of, or across the House ; nor in such case, or 
 when a member is speaking, shall entertain 
 private discourse; nor while a member is speak 
 ing, shall pass between him and the chair. 
 
 Twenty-eight standing committees, of nine 
 members each, are appointed at the beginning 
 of each session,, on the following subjects : 
 1. Of nine members each: elections; ways and 
 means; claims; commerce; public lands; post- 
 office and post roads; the district of Columbia ; 
 the judiciary ; revolutionary claims; public ex 
 penditure ; private land claims ; manufactures ; 
 agriculture; Indian affairs; military affairs; the 
 militia ; naval affairs ; foreign affairs ; the ter 
 ritories ; revolutionary pensions ; invalid pen 
 sions ; roads and canals. 2, Of five members 
 each : on patents; public buildings and grounds; 
 revisal and unfinished business ; accounts ; 
 mileage; engraving (three members). 
 
 The committee of revisal and unfinished 
 business examines and reports what laws have 
 expired, or are near expiring, and require to be 
 revived or further continued; also, from the 
 journal of last session, all such matters as were 
 then depending and undetermined. 
 
 Six committees, of five members each, are 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 147 
 
 appointed to examine and report upon the public 
 accounts and expenditures of the department of 
 State, the treasury department, the department 
 of war, the department of the navy, the post- 
 office, and the public buildings. 
 
 A joint committee of the two Houses, of 
 three members from each, is appointed on the 
 public printing. 
 
 No spirituous liquor shall be offered for sale,, 
 or exhibited within the Capitol, or on the public 
 grounds adjacent thereto. 
 
 Having been but a short time in Washing 
 ton, so that I had few opportunities of acquiring 
 information, I am aware that my account of 
 Congress must be very imperfect. It requires 
 time, and friends whom ons can question freely, 
 to get below the surface of things. I regretted 
 my short stay at Washington. Congress in 
 terested me very much, and I could have wished 
 to become better acquainted with its character 
 jind proceedings. Of the Senate I saw little. 
 The delay in the election of a Speaker for the 
 House of Representatives retarded the public 
 business, and many of the leading senators 
 had not arrived. Twice or thrice when I went 
 to the Senate Chamber, the galleries were 
 cleared in a short time, as the senators were 
 
148 SKETCHES IN 
 
 about to enter on an executive session, from 
 which strangers are excluded. Congress and 
 the Falls of Niagara were the greatest sights I 
 saw in the States. The latter have often been 
 described. It is to be hoped that some one 
 with more time and better opportunities will visit 
 Washington during the sitting of Congress, and 
 give a full sketch of that great and most in 
 teresting assembly. 
 
 At Washington (December 1859) I attended 
 a curious lecture on the " Politics of the Times," 
 by Mr. Prentice, editor of a paper at Louisville, 
 in Kentucky. It seemed to be a sort of lament 
 over the degeneracy of the age, and consisted 
 mainly of general abuse of everything and 
 everybody. It was delivered viva voce, without 
 any aid from notes, and in a singularly chaste 
 and classic style; witty and epigrammatic 
 forcible and terse. He saw many signs of the 
 break-up of the Union, and deplored the 
 approaching downfall of " a government which 
 is the glory and admiration of the world." 
 That such is the character of their government 
 I found to be the first article in the political 
 creed of , every American. He pointed out 
 three giant evils in the present political con 
 dition of the United States : The want of an 
 adequate and systematic training to educate 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 149 
 
 the people in their political duties, and enlighten 
 them in the true principles of political science ; 
 the absence of any feeling of allegiance towards 
 the general government in the great body of 
 the people ; and the non-existence of a patriotic 
 feeling of nationality. Among the causes of 
 these evils he adduced the degeneracy of public 
 men; spoke of the talents, high standing, and 
 statesmanship of Webster, Clay, Jackson, and 
 Calhoun, and complained that there was now no 
 one to replace them ; said that the public men 
 of the present day were, three-fourths of them, 
 restless, turbulent, place-seeking, unscrupulous 
 demagogues, and the remainder " dainty ama- 
 teurs" without moral courage. The former pan 
 dered to every popular whim or passion to gain 
 their object; the latter gave them a faint, timid 
 opposition. Another cause was the extra 
 ordinary material prosperity of the country, 
 which raised numbers of an inferior class 
 suddenly to wealth and social position, and 
 invested mere riches with undue influence. 
 He did not enter into the subject of any 
 definite remedies for these evils. Mr. Prentice 
 was evidently a discontented man. His dis 
 course was marked by great ability, and, 
 as an intellectual effort, was well worth listen 
 ing to. For any political purpose, it seemed to 
 
150 SKETCHES IN 
 
 want definiteness and practical application, 
 though he undoubtedly presented some general 
 views of great interest. 
 
 The complaint made by Mr. Prentice, of 
 the degeneracy of public men in America, is 
 one which we meet repeatedly in the American 
 papers. It is now attracting the serious atten 
 tion of the most intelligent and patriotic minds 
 in the United States ; and it appears to me well 
 worth while for us to know what the American 
 press says on this all-important subject. The 
 subjoined extracts are from United States papers 
 of high standing : 
 
 " Citizens of far-sighted sagacity true 
 statesmen have gradually secluded themselves 
 from public notice within the last quarter of a 
 century, and small, petty, plundering interests 
 have invested with power politicians of corre 
 sponding calibre, who have usurped place for 
 the benefit of cliques and parties instead of the 
 general good of the nation. The source of all 
 our woes is, that while the country enjoys an 
 unparalleled degree of prosperity, and never 
 presented to the world so bright an (example of 
 greatness, its leading men are unworthy of its 
 fame, and unfitted to control its destinies. 
 Fifty years ago individuals did not dare to 
 aspire to positions of confidence in the gift of 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 151 
 
 the people, excepting upon some real or affected 
 basis of experience, sagacity, and worth. 
 Popular representatives in all stations, from the 
 President down to the village constable, were 
 selected with a view to their fitness to exercise 
 their respective functions, and to shield their 
 constituents from the troubles which are in 
 separable from the mutations of time, the in 
 stability of men s minds, and the fallibility of 
 human institutions. Political storms were little 
 feared, because the ship of State was known to 
 be staunch and strong, and to be guided by 
 skilful pilots. Within a quarter of a century 
 this happy state of things has slowly but surely 
 changed. Party lines have been gradually 
 drawn away from national to individual con 
 cerns, and the elective franchise has been pros 
 tituted to fill public offices with tricksters and 
 managers, so that place has become the inva 
 riable prey of the most venal jobber or cunning 
 and successful intriguer. Not only in our large 
 cities and upon our lines of communication, 
 but in the National and State capitals, moneyed 
 interests have successively outbidden each other 
 for power, until the very existence of great men 
 and pure minds has become frayed out of po 
 litical life. The nomination and election of 
 Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency of the United 
 
152 SKETCHES IN 
 
 States, are the last and most striking proofs of 
 the truth of this assertion. Without any reference 
 to personal merits or demerits, no individual so 
 obscure could, in more halcyon days, or in a 
 healthy state of the Confederation, have been 
 bought forward for an office so responsible as 
 the Chief Magistracy of thirty millions of 
 people." 
 
 "Popular governments that is, govern 
 ments resting upon a broad suffrage basis and a 
 free press cannot permanently retain in their 
 service the best men of the country. As the 
 stream will not rise higher than its fountain, so 
 a representative government, in the proper 
 acceptation of that term, will only attract to its 
 service the average talent and morality of the 
 people represented. We have been feeling for 
 years the silent operation of this law upon every 
 department of our government, state andnational. 
 Every one who has made the effort knows how 
 hard a thing it is to get our more worthy and 
 capable citizens to accept political trusts of any 
 description. To find America s great men we 
 must seek the shades of professional life, or 
 the great centres of material industry. We 
 take little risk in saying that there are more of 
 the higher qualities of manhood employed in 
 directing the productive industry of this country 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 153 
 
 than in all the executive departments of the 
 federal government combined. Of course we 
 must not be understood to intimate that first- 
 class men are never to be found in political life 
 among us, for the very statesman who has 
 awakened these reflections would be a living 
 and conclusive testimony against us. It cannot 
 be disguised that many of the cleverest men 
 this country has produced have devoted the best 
 energies of their lives to political employments. 
 So we often see men in other professions who 
 waste a large portion of their abilities from 
 never discovering, until it is too late, that they 
 were out of place. We only speak of the ten 
 dency of our institutions to attract the average 
 virtue and intelligence into the public service ; 
 and when they do attract a higher grade of men, 
 it is, as a general thing ; their misfortune ; it 
 conduces neither to their happiness nor to their 
 usefulness, and, in nine cases out of ten, dis 
 charges them from its service disappointed, if 
 not broken-hearted." 
 
 " They traced this degradation and danger 
 through the ramifications of trade, fashion, pro 
 fessional life, and manners, and almost demon 
 strated the essential truth of Macaulay s state 
 ments in regard to the effect of universal 
 suffrage on this continent. There was nothing 
 
 L 
 
154 SKETCHES IN 
 
 morbid, spiteful, or croaking in these views; 
 they were illustrated by facts, proved by sta 
 tistics, and the inference was irresistible that 
 the cure of these prolific evils the stay for this 
 downward tendency must be sought in social 
 reformation ; that individuals and communities 
 must take a stand, apart from old party organi 
 zations, on the same principle that volunteer 
 corps are raised during an invasion. There 
 must be a propaganda, a fraternity based on 
 disinterested fealty and reform acting, writing, 
 speaking in concert until power is transferred 
 once more to honest men, to intelligent citizens, 
 and to patriots. In great exigencies such social 
 combinations and protests have been effective 
 as witness the overthrow of the slave-trade, the 
 temperance reformation, etc. ; and the facts of 
 the hour, and prospects of the future, warn us 
 that the time approaches when, unless the good 
 men and true, the wise and patriotic, join hands, 
 and minds, and hearts, in this holy cause, what 
 is now a vague and elemental, will become an 
 organized and integral malady, fatal to the 
 grandest experiment in self-government the 
 world has ever seen ! " 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 155 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SLAVERY QUESTION AND THE WAR OF RACES. 
 
 " There is a poor, blind Samson in this land, 
 
 Shorn of his strength, and bound in bonds of steel, 
 Who may, in some grim re^el, raise his hand, 
 And shake the pillars of this Commonweal, 
 Till the vast temple of our liberties 
 A shapeless mass of wreck and rubbish lies." 
 
 LONGFELLOW. 
 
 THE New World by no means realizes the peace 
 and harmony of a golden age. Everywhere on 
 the continent of North America contests are 
 raging, arising chiefly out of the antipathy of 
 race to race, or the incompatibility of one race 
 or nation with another. The Pale Face and 
 the Red Indian, the Caucasian and the Negro, 
 the Celt and the Saxon, the French and the 
 English, the North and the South, are either 
 at open war or in a state of chronic discontent 
 with one another ; and, as if the prejudices of 
 race do not engender enough of bitterness and 
 animosity, religious feuds add fuel to the fire, 
 and the enmities of Catholic and Protestant 
 
J5G SKETCHES IN 
 
 contribute in no small degree to the prevalent 
 discord and strife. Of these perplexing questions 
 of race, the most difficult and most formidable 
 is that of the negroes, of whom there are nearly 
 four millions in a state of slavery, and many 
 others scattered through the United States and 
 the British Colonies. Though we speak of 
 them indiscriminately as one race, there are 
 many varieties of them, very different from each 
 other in character, disposition, and physical 
 features. The majority seem to be a very fine 
 race of people, light-hearted, cheerful, tract 
 able, and industrious, with countenances beam 
 ing with kindliness and good-humour. No one 
 who has resided for a day or two at the 
 Waverley Hotel, in Halifax, can forget the 
 very pleasant, polite, and really gentlemanly 
 coloured waiter there, apparently a negro of 
 unmixed blood; and in Halifax (where there 
 are many negroes), as well as in the United 
 States, numbers of similar countenances are 
 seen amongst the coloured races. But the 
 negroes are by no means all of such mild, 
 pleasant dispositions ; there are others of a very 
 different aspect indeed, different in form of 
 head and features, as well as in character and 
 expression of countenance, where the bold, 
 vigorous, determined, ruthless savage is written 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 157 
 
 plainly in the face and bearing; who strikes you 
 at once to be entirely out of place as the 
 humble, attentive waiter in a hotel, and more 
 fitted to seize and sell into slavery his fellow 
 negro in Africa, or to lead a bloody insurrec 
 tion against the whites in America. In a hotel 
 at Philadelphia I saw a tall, fine, " distin 
 guished " -looking negro, the very personifica 
 tion of disdain in look, attitudes, movements; 
 and many are seen in the States with the well- 
 marked expression of the fierce, relentless 
 savage. When one meets such countenances, 
 one cannot help fearing that a terrible day 
 awaits the slave-holders and their families. 
 The small, contracted forehead, generally found 
 in the negro race, appears to indicate but 
 moderate intelligence; and though some have 
 evinced considerable mental capacity, such in 
 stances are rare, and there can be little doubt 
 of the great natural inferiority of the negro to 
 the white race. This seems the general convic 
 tion of the most intelligent of those friends of 
 the negro in North America who have had the 
 best opportunities of judging of his powers. 
 Up to the age of about eleven or twelve years 
 they are as capable of education as the whites, 
 and able to stand their ground with them ; but 
 above that age, it is said, a marked difference 
 
158 SKETCHES IN 
 
 appears ; the negro comes to a stand, the white 
 advances and leaves him behind. 
 
 The poor negro is in a truly unhappy condi 
 tion in North America; there is no resting- 
 place for him on that continent. He is a con 
 tinual difficulty, to himself and to all classes of 
 the whites even to those who assume to be 
 his friends. Though no doubt kindly treated 
 and contented in many families in the South, 
 he has no security for that happiness ; is rigor 
 ously held to bondage, frequently cruelly used, 
 and everywhere in the Southern States exposed 
 to the action of very harsh laws, greatly aggra 
 vated in severity since the Northern abolition 
 movement. If he ever obtains freedom in the 
 South, there is too much reason to fear it will 
 only be by fighting for it, as the slave-holders 
 have committed themselves to extreme doc 
 trines on the subject of slavery, and seem to be 
 as fanatical on their side as the wild abolition 
 party on the opposite side of the question. 
 They now hold that the blacks are a race so far 
 inferior as to be incapable of maintaining their 
 position in competition with the whites; that 
 they are fit only for slavery, and happier in that 
 condition than they ever have been in freedom ; 
 and that the tropical soils cannot be cultivated 
 except by the coloured races, who, they say, 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 159 
 
 will labour only when compelled. The great 
 convenience of such doctrines, the constant 
 repetition of them, and the support they have 
 received from other influential quarters, disin 
 terested and intelligent, seem to have at last 
 impressed the slave-owners with a thorough 
 belief in them, as great fundamental principles 
 firmly established. In a debate in the Senate, 
 about the beginning of 1860, Mr. Brown, of 
 Mississippi, said, " I declare again, what I did 
 on a former occasion, that in my opinion slavery 
 is a great moral, social, and political blessing 
 a blessing to the slave and a blessing to the 
 master. As an evidence that it is no hardship 
 to the negro, I repeat the assertion that four 
 millions of the negro race in this Union 
 are to-day in better circumstances, morally, 
 socially, and religiously, than four millions 
 of the same race anywhere upon the habit 
 able globe. I submit that proposition to the 
 Senate; and if there be four millions of the 
 negro race so happy, well contented, well pro 
 vided for, so moral, religious, and occupying so 
 high a social position, tell me where they are to 
 be found ? If they are nowhere to be found, 
 then how can you assume that they have been 
 debased by their servile condition ? How will 
 you prove that slavery has degraded them if 
 
160 SKETCHES IN 
 
 they are better off here than anywhere else ? 
 Slavery is the normal condition of the negro, 
 whether we look at him as a moral, social, or 
 religious, or simply as a physical being. In 
 every possible aspect he is more prosperous 
 in slavery than in any other condition. Mr. 
 Brown also replied to the remark of Mr. Trum- 
 bull, that slavery was a wrong to the negro 
 because it violated his inalienable rights as a 
 man, by saying that the senator himself ad 
 mitted that all laws were, to a greater or less 
 degree, an infringement on these inalienable 
 rights. The only question, then, was whether 
 any political community were not best qualified 
 to judge, in its own peculiar condition, how 
 much restraint shall be imposed upon the 
 various classes of its members." 
 
 The same senator, in an address to his con 
 stituents, said " I want Cuba, I want Tamau- 
 lipas, Potosi, and one or two other Mexican 
 states, and I want them all for the same reason, 
 for the planting and spreading of slavery. And 
 a footing in Central America will powerfully 
 aid us in acquiring these other states. Yes, I 
 want these countries for the spread of slavery. 
 I would spread the blessings of slavery like the 
 religion of our Divine Master, to the uttermost 
 ends of the earth ; and, rebellious and wicked 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 1G1 
 
 as the Yankees have been, I would even extend 
 it to them." 
 
 In the House of Representatives, Mr. An 
 derson of Missouri, stated "We honestly and 
 conscientiously believe, that the fittest condition 
 for the negro race is that of slavery. We be 
 lieve that the master is necessary to the sup 
 port, comfort, and happiness of the slave, and 
 that the negro race is unfitted for the enjoyment 
 of civil liberty." 
 
 There can be little doubt that a large pro 
 portion of the slave-owners are perfectly sincere 
 in the opinion that slavery is advantageous to 
 the negro, and that it is the condition for which 
 he is best fitted. They have imbibed that doc 
 trine from their earliest years, their interests 
 are identified with it ; they hear it from their 
 own ministers of religion, and from some of the 
 most distinguished of the clergymen of the Free 
 States of the North ; the ethnologists of America 
 tell them so; and they are further strengthened iu 
 their convictions by the support of many of the 
 highest minds in all parts of the Union, by the 
 weak and shallow character of the writings of 
 many of the abolitionists; by the manifest repul 
 sion the whites of the North exhibit towards 
 the negro, and by his miserable condition in 
 freedom in Canada and the Northern States. 
 
16.2 SKETCHES IN 
 
 They would be more than mortal if they could 
 resist all these influences. 
 
 A leading New York paper says : " So far 
 from believing negro slavery a curse, we regard 
 it as a great blessing in the tropical climates, 
 and in the Southern States of our republic a 
 blessing to the slave, to the master, and to the 
 whole of this Union one of the great sources 
 of our national prosperity." Recently a number 
 of sermons have been delivered in the city of 
 New York, touching more or less on the subject 
 of slavery. In numbers of these, slavery has 
 been held not to be condemned by Scripture. 
 Among those who insisted on this, were three 
 very distinguished clergymen, in that great free 
 city the Rev. Henry J. Van Dyke, of the first 
 Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn ; the Rev. Dr. 
 Erancis Yinton, of Trinity Church (Episcopa 
 lian) , Broadway ; and the Rev. Dr. Raphael, 
 Rabbi of the Jewish Synagogue. In Nova 
 Scotia, I met with many who had visited both 
 the Southern States and the West Indies ; and 
 of these I found scarcely one who sided with 
 the Northern abolition party, some who in part 
 coincided with Southern opinions, and many, 
 who, deploring the existence of slavery and 
 admitting its evils, doubted the success of a 
 policy of emancipation, saw no prospect of free- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 163 
 
 dom for the slaves without some fearful convul 
 sion, and confessed frankly that it was a diffi 
 culty of a most perplexing character, and they 
 did not see their way to get rid of it. 
 
 Thus confirmed in their ideas, and scorning 
 to yield, the planters, whose courage and spirit 
 one cannot but admire, believe that they can 
 hold their own, and will take no steps for that 
 gradual emancipation which many of their best 
 friends think the only security for themselves, 
 and the only method of bringing about, peace 
 fully and safely, that freedom for the slaves, 
 which, sooner or later, must come probably all 
 the sooner if the slave States secede, and lose 
 the benefit of Northern protection. 
 
 Bat slavery is not the only discouraging 
 feature in the prospects of the negro race in 
 America; there is, besides, the rooted anti 
 pathy entertained towards them by the whites. 
 Slavery may, and probably will, be abolished 
 some day. This repulsion cannot be done away 
 with. It is manifested in a thousand ways in 
 the free States and in the British Colonies. 
 There the blacks are despised and shunned 
 treated as an inferior race thereby mortified 
 and degraded, and deprived of many oppor 
 tunities of evincing their capacities and im 
 proving their condition. In the cities in the 
 
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 northern United States separate omnibuses are 
 provided for " coloured persons." If, by any 
 chance, a negro boy gets admission to a school 
 beside white children (in British America ; this 
 could not be in the United States), the latter 
 move off from him as if he had some infectious 
 disease, and sit apart. In Halifax lately there 
 was a striking display of this feeling. A negro 
 volunteer corps had been formed; the other 
 companies would not allow them to come near 
 them, to mingle with them, in event of any 
 united movements rendering it desirable to 
 equalise the companies they must be kept at 
 a distance. They are not admitted into the 
 militia or upon juries in Massachusetts. In 
 Canada, lately, an English female missionary, 
 who married a coloured preacher, was mobbed 
 and insulted by, it is said, respectable citizens, 
 and sent to Coventry by the people of the place. 
 Recently the city of New York, by an over 
 whelming majority, has rejected the proposal to 
 extend somewhat the right of suffrage enjoyed 
 by the coloured race (at present limited to those 
 who possess freeholds of <50 in value) ; and a 
 leading paper of that metropolitan city declares, 
 tf The African race cannot be admitted to an 
 equal social and political status with the supe 
 rior white race." The new President of the 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 165 
 
 United States, Mr. Lincoln, the choice of the 
 Republican party, said, in 1858, in a speech on 
 the all- absorbing question : " Make them po 
 litically and socially our equals? My own 
 feelings will not admit of this; and, if mine 
 would, we know that those of the great mass of 
 white people will not. Whether this feeling 
 accords with justice and sound judgment is not 
 the sole question, if, indeed, it is any part of it. 
 A universal feeling, whether well or ill founded, 
 cannot be disregarded. We cannot, then, 
 make them equals." With such prejudices 
 against them, even among those most friendly 
 towards them, and having to compete with a 
 clever, well-educated, and most energetic people, 
 the coloured races are depressed and confined 
 to the lowest and poorest occupations. They 
 have no chance in North America of proving 
 their fitness for freedom. Indeed, one of the 
 free States last admitted into the Union, Oregon, 
 refuses the right of voting to " negroes, China 
 men, and mulattoes ;" and in a clause, carried 
 by a majority of 8,640 to 1,081 votes, denies 
 free negroes, in future, admission to the State- 
 " No free negro or mulatto, not residing in this 
 State at the time of the adoption of this 
 constitution, shall come, reside, or be within 
 this State, or hold any real estate, or make any 
 
166 SKETCHES IN 
 
 contracts, or maintain any suit therein ; and 
 the legislative assembly shall provide, by penal 
 laws, for the removal, by public officers, of all 
 such negroes and mulattoes, and for their effec 
 tual exclusion from this State, and for the punish 
 ment of persons who shall bring them into the 
 State, or employ or harbour them therein." 
 
 In Illinois, also a free State, negroes are not 
 now admitted to reside. Those already there 
 are not allowed to vote, to serve on juries, or to 
 marry white women. Mr. Lamar, of Mississippi, 
 in one of the never-ending debates on slavery, 
 retorted upon a Republican as follows : " It 
 was stated that the object of the revolutionary 
 war was to establish an absolute equality of 
 rights, socially and politically. The gentleman 
 from Connecticut who asserted this ought to 
 have had the candour to hold up his own State 
 to reprehension for violating these principles of 
 equality; for in Connecticut the negro is 
 neither politically nor socially equal with the 
 white man ; but, on the contrary, he is deprived 
 of the right of voting ; he is held incompetent 
 to be a witness ; he is precluded from the pri 
 vilege of intermarrying with whites ; and the 
 people guard, sedulously, against all contact 
 between them" It has been made abundantly 
 plain that the statement in the Declaration of 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 167 
 
 Independence, that all men are created equal, 
 and the consequences deduced from it, were 
 intended to be applied to the white race only. 
 The Republican party desires to get rid of them, 
 and several of their leaders have mooted a 
 scheme for sending them to some of the tropical 
 regions of America. Mr. Wade, a Kepublican 
 senator from Ohio, lately expressed himself as 
 follows regarding them : 
 
 "There was another project for which he 
 hoped not only the Republican party but phi 
 lanthropists of all parties would unite. The 
 free negroes in this country were despised by all, 
 repudiated by all, and outcasts upon the face of 
 the earth. They were the victims of a deep- 
 rooted prejudice. He would not argue whether 
 that prejudice was right or wrong, for he knew 
 that it was immoveable. These two races could 
 not occupy the same neighbourhood and both 
 be prosperous and happy. He therefore hoped 
 means would be provided, whereby this class of 
 unfortunate men might emigrate to some con 
 genial climate, where their mental, moral, and 
 physical natures might find development, and 
 where the white man degenerates in the same 
 proportion that the black man prospers. Let 
 them go to the tropics. He understood that 
 arrangements might be made with some of the 
 
1G8 SKETCHES IN 
 
 Central American States for this purpose. He 
 hoped to hear no more about negro equality at 
 the North, for there was no more desire to have 
 this class at the North than at the South. Let 
 them go to some place where they can rise in 
 the scale of being to their fullest development, 
 and enjoy all the rights and blessings of which 
 man is capable." 
 
 Amongst other causes of dislike, the whites 
 apprehend the amalgamation of races which 
 may take place, and the result of which they are 
 convinced, is to degrade the posterity, and make 
 them sink towards the level of the inferior race. 
 They fear the deterioration of their own race, 
 and desire to get rid of the coloured races alto 
 gether ; a great negro exodus to some tropical 
 region of America, is at present a favourite 
 scheme, though how it is to be brought about, 
 and the safety of such a negro nation, if it could 
 be brought about, in contact with filibustering 
 whites, are very far from being clear. Such is 
 the unhappy position of the negro race in North 
 America. All shun them and desire to get rid of 
 them, excepting those who make slaves of them. 
 
 Slavery, which there now seems reason to fear 
 will cause the break-up of the great American 
 Republic, has been a most embarrassing ques 
 tion from the beginning. Its present position 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 169 
 
 will be better understood by a glance at its pre 
 vious history. 
 
 Slavery and the slave-trade are inheritances 
 which the people of the United States derived 
 from their ancestors, the British colonists. Up 
 to a late period,, both were sanctioned by the 
 British people and Government. The British 
 slave-trade, which had enriched the merchants 
 of Liverpool and Bristol, was suppressed in the 
 year 1807; and slavery in the British dominions 
 was abolished in the years 1833-38; the West 
 India planters receiving from Parliament twenty 
 millions sterling in compensation. Some of the 
 colonies had, at times, protested against the 
 slave-trade, but their objections were overruled 
 by the British authorities. At a meeting in 
 Virginia, in 1774, at which Washington pre 
 sided, the persons present declared their l most 
 earnest wishes to see a stop put for ever to such 
 a wicked, cruel, and unnatural trade/ Towards 
 the close of the struggle for independence, the 
 state of Massachusetts put an end to slavery 
 within her limits. Pennsylvania (1780) and 
 other Northern States (1784) forbade the im 
 portation of slaves, and declared that thereafter 
 all born upon their soil should be free. Soon 
 there grew up a broad line of distinction 
 between free and slave States, or North and 
 
170 SKETCHES IN 
 
 South, which has increased and become more 
 marked up to the present time. Virginia, 
 Maryland, and North Carolina prohibited or 
 discouraged the importation of slaves (1778-86), 
 in which they were soon followed by New York 
 and New Jersey. Slavery did not cease entirely 
 in the latter States till 1830, or later. 
 
 The greatest of the statesmen who were 
 members of the Convention which formed the 
 Constitution in the year 1787, as Washington, 
 Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton, were strongly 
 averse to perpetuating the system of slavery. 
 But, it must be particularly noticed, that they 
 were unable to embody their views in the 
 Magna Charta of America. That great basis of 
 the Union most distinctly recognized and pro 
 tected slavery ; unless this had been done the 
 Union could never have been formed. And, 
 up to the present day, slavery has been equally 
 recognized and protected by the two authorized 
 interpreters of the Constitution, Congress and 
 the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
 1. The Constitution authorized the continu 
 ance of the slave-trade for twenty years till 
 1808. This traffic had been condemned by the 
 Continental Congress of 1774, but, in 1787, 
 for the purpose of securing the adhesion of 
 South Carolina and Georgia, it was sanctioned 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 171 
 
 till 1808. In reference to this and other pro 
 visions encouraging slavery, some member said 
 that such features in the Constitution were 
 " inconsistent with the principles of the Revo 
 lution, and dishonourable to the American cha 
 racter." To this it was replied, "Let every 
 State .import what it pleases. The morality 
 or wisdom of slavery is a consideration belong 
 ing to the States." "Religion and humanity 
 had nothing to do with this question. Interest 
 alone is the governing principle with nations/ 
 " The true question at present is, whether 
 the Southern States shall or shall not be parties 
 to this Union." To this threat of withdrawing 
 from the Union, the Northern members suc 
 cumbed, and, being conciliated by some favour 
 able commercial regulations, they conceded 
 what the slave States required of them. The 
 clauses in the national charter bearing upon 
 slavery, and the subsequent enactments of Con 
 gress upon the subject, have been, as on this 
 point, a long series of compromises. 
 
 2. While the slaves were not allowed votes, 
 three-fifths of their number were to be reckoned 
 as part of the population entitled to members 
 in the House of Representatives, by which a 
 considerable legislative power was thrown into 
 the hands of the whites in the slave States. 
 
172 SKETCHES IN 
 
 3. A Fugitive Slave Law was also specially 
 enforced in the Constitution. 
 
 The following are the clauses in the Consti 
 tution bearing directly or indirectly on the 
 slavery question : 
 
 "A. Representatives and direct taxes shall 
 be apportioned among the several States which 
 may be included within this Union, according to 
 their respective numbers, which shall be deter 
 mined by adding to the whole number of free 
 persons, including those bound to service for a 
 term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, 
 three-fifths of all other persons. 
 
 " B. The migration or importation of such 
 persons as any of the States now existing shall 
 "think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited 
 by the Congress prior to the year one thousand 
 eight hundred and eight ; but a tax or duty may 
 be imposed on such importation, not exceeding 
 ten dollars for each person. 
 
 " C. The citizens of each State shall be en 
 titled to all privileges and immunities of citizens 
 in the several States. 
 
 " D. No person held to service or labour in 
 one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into 
 another, shall, in consequence of any law or 
 regulation therein, be discharged from such ser 
 vice or labour, but shall be delivered up on the 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 173 
 
 claim of the party to whom such service or 
 labour may be clue. 
 
 " E. The Congress shall have power to dis 
 pose of, and make all needful rules and regu 
 lations respecting the territory or other pro 
 perty belonging to the United States. 
 
 "F. The United States shall guarantee to 
 every State in this Union, a Republican form of 
 Government, and shall protect each of them 
 against invasion; and, on application of the 
 Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legis 
 lature cannot be convened), against domestic 
 violence. 
 
 " G. The powers not delegated to the United 
 States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it 
 to the States, are reserved to the States respec 
 tively, or to the people. 
 
 " H. Congress shall have power to exercise 
 exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, 
 over such district (not exceeding ten miles 
 square) as may, by cession of particular States, 
 and the acceptance of Congress, become the 
 seat of the Government of the United States, 
 and to exercise like authority over all places 
 purchased by the consent of the legislature of 
 the State in which the same shall be, for the 
 erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, 
 and other needful buildings. - 
 
174 SKETCHES IX 
 
 It is sometimes supposed that Congress took 
 up a decided position against the extension of 
 slavery by the ordinance of 1787, which pro 
 hibited slavery in the north-west territory, 
 between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It is 
 true, that at the time, under the influence of 
 Jefferson, such was the disposition of Congress, 
 mainly because such was the wish of those who 
 ceded these lands. But t\vo years after, even 
 under the presidency of Washington, Congress 
 agreed to a quite different arrangement ; for 
 then, the Union accepted the western lands of 
 North Carolina, surrendered on the express 
 condition " that no regulation made, or to be 
 made by Congress, should tend to the eman 
 cipation of slaves;" and in 1802, Georgia made 
 the same stipulation when she ceded her western 
 territory to Congress. It must not be supposed 
 that Congress forced the prohibition of slavery 
 on those who ceded the north-western terri 
 tory ; she simply received the territory on such 
 conditions as were acceptable to those who gave 
 it. From time to time new States were formed 
 out of these various territories, and admitted to 
 join the Union, some as free States, some as 
 slave States. 
 
 Neither the Constitution nor the Acts of 
 Congress exhibit any fundamental principle or 
 
SOUTH AMERICA. 175 
 
 any definite line of action regarding this 
 troubled question; now one side has had the 
 advantage, now the other, according to the cir 
 cumstances of the case. Upon surveying the 
 whole course of Congress, it would appear that 
 the desires of the people of the region which 
 was the subject of dispute have generally been 
 complied with, though this was not explicitly 
 put forward as a guiding principle till the pas 
 sage of Mr. Douglas Kansas-Nebraska Act, in 
 1854, which established what is called Popular 
 Sovereignty for the territories ; that is, that a 
 new State should be slave or free according as 
 its inhabitants should desire. The only decided 
 action previously taken by Congress on the 
 subject of slavery was shortly after the forma 
 tion of the Constitution, abjuring all right of 
 interference with the States on the subject. In 
 consequence of petitions against slavery, it was 
 ordered to be entered on the journals, " That 
 Congress have no authority to interfere in the 
 emancipation of slaves, or in the treatment of 
 them in any of the States; it remaining with 
 the several States alone to provide any regula 
 tions therein which humanity and true policy 
 may require." 
 
 As it was thus settled that each State is 
 absolute sovereign as to its own internal regula- 
 
176 SKETCHES IN 
 
 tions, and that neither Congress nor any one 
 State has the right to interfere with slavery in 
 any of the States, it might have been supposed 
 that no agitation on the subject could arise to 
 disturb the peace of the Union. But four 
 questions connected with slavery have sprung 
 up the Fugitive Slave Law, slavery in the 
 District of Columbia, slavery in the territories, 
 and the demand for abolition raised in some of 
 the Northern States. 
 
 Slaves frequently escape from the slave into 
 the free States. By the Constitution the 
 owners have the right to follow them there, 
 and take them back. The great majority of 
 the people of the free States sympathize with 
 the poor negro endeavouring to escape from 
 bondage, aid him in every way in their power, 
 and by secret arrangements, known as the 
 underground railway, forward him to Canada, 
 where he is safe from pursuit. Even the autho 
 rities in the free States lend unwilling aid to 
 the slave-owner in this slave-hunt ; and at 
 times the people have been so excited that the 
 runaway could not be secured without the 
 aid of the military. Further, several of the 
 Northern States have, by their legislatures, 
 passed Personal Liberty Acts, calculated (though 
 ostensibly for defence of their own citizens) to 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 177 
 
 impede or prevent the capture of fugitive slaves; 
 acts at variance with the constitutional compact 
 between them and the slave States, as well as 
 with various deliberate acts of Congress. The 
 Southerners are enraged at this resistance to 
 the recovery of their property and defiance of 
 the provisions of the Constitution and the law 
 in their favour ; while the Northerners loathe 
 the odious task assigned to them of depriving a 
 fellow-creature of his liberty for no crime. A 
 constant and increasing irritation is kept up, 
 and North and South become more and more 
 alienated from each other. DANIEL WEBSTER, 
 one of the most distinguished statesmen and 
 orators of the North, in a great measure lost 
 his popularity and influence there because, in 
 1850, he lent his powerful aid in passing a bill 
 for rendering the Fugitive Slave Law more 
 efficient. However averse to the whole system 
 of slavery, it was his opinion, as a lawyer and a 
 statesman, that the slave States had a right to 
 this protection. This is one of the most diffi 
 cult to be adjusted of the points at issue between 
 the North and the South. The system of slavery 
 cannot be maintained in the Union without some 
 such law, and the free States of the North and 
 North-west cannot be reconciled to the part 
 they are required to take in enforcing it. 
 
178 SKETCHES IN 
 
 The DISTRICT or COLUMBIA is a small por 
 tion of the State of Maryland, on the left bank 
 of the river Potomac, which is the seat of the 
 Government of the United States, and under 
 the direct control of Congress. Its extent is 
 sixty-three square miles, and its population, in 
 1850, was 51,687, of whom 40,000 were in the 
 city of Washington. Of the 51,687, 38,027 are 
 whites, 9973 free coloured persons, and 3687 
 are slaves. The Anti-slavery party, assuming, 
 as they always do, that freedom is the national 
 rule, and slavery only an exception, allowed in 
 certain States by special compact, demand that 
 Congress should enforce the rule and free the 
 slaves in this district, over which it has exclu 
 sive control ; while the opposite party maintain 
 that the perfect neutrality of Congress is its 
 proper ground on the slavery question, and 
 oppose any interference of Congress with the 
 existing state of things ; and at the same time 
 they naturally object to freeing the negroes in 
 the District of Columbia, imbedded between the 
 slave States of Virginia and Maryland. 
 
 The irritation between the North and the 
 South on the subject of slavery is also kept up 
 by the violent proceedings and harangues of 
 the Northern abolitionists, ardent lovers of 
 liberty, who desire to extend to the negro the 
 
XOilTIl A.UEIllCA. 179 
 
 same freedom which they themselves enjoy, 
 and to blot out what they consider as a dark 
 stain on the great Republic. While thus ac 
 knowledging some good motives as prompting 
 them, it cannot be denied that they have been 
 rash and indiscreet in their officious inter 
 meddling with a delicate question, which num 
 bers of them seemed incapable of understanding; 
 that their conduct has been harsh, irritating, 
 and offensive towards the South ; that in their 
 schemes they have been reckless of every con 
 sideration of good faith or justice, and have 
 done much to endanger the lives of their 
 
 O 
 
 Southern fellow- citizens, and to disturb the 
 peace of the Union. But they will be best de 
 scribed by the words of the celebrated Dr. 
 Channing, well known as no friend or apolo 
 gist of slavery : 
 
 " The Abolitionists have done wrong, I 
 believe; nor is their wrong to be winked at 
 because done fanatically or with good inten 
 tions, for how much mischief may be wrought 
 with good designs ! They have fallen into the 
 common error of enthusiasts, that of exaggerat 
 ing their object of feeling as if no evil existed 
 but that which they opposed, and as if no guilt 
 could be compared with that of countenancing 
 and upholding it. The tone of their news- 
 
180 SKETCHES IN 
 
 papers, so far as I have seen them, lias often 
 been fierce, bitter, and abusive. They have 
 sent forth their orators, some of them tran 
 sported with fiery zeal, to sound the alarm 
 against slavery through the land, to gather to 
 gether young and old, pupils from schools, 
 females hardly arrived at years of discretion, 
 the ignorant, the excitable, the impetuous, and 
 to organize these into associations for the 
 battle against oppression. Very unhappily, they 
 preached their doctrine to the coloured people, 
 and collected them into societies. To this 
 mixed and excitable multitude, minute heart 
 rending descriptions of slavery were given in 
 piercing tones of passion, and slaveholders were 
 held up as monsters of cruelty and crime. The 
 Abolitionist, indeed, proposed to convert slave 
 holders ; and for this end he approached them 
 with vituperation, and exhausted on them the 
 vocabulary of Iris abuse. And he has reaped 
 as he sowed." 
 
 In the years 1832-6, there was extreme ex 
 citement in the United States on the slavery 
 question. Abolitionism w r as rampant in the 
 North, in great meetings, associations, speeches, 
 pamphlets, newspapers. It demanded that the 
 slave should be freed, without consideration for 
 the Constitution, the rights of the States, the 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 181 
 
 claims of the master, or the prospects of the 
 slave. Its violence produced a reaction against 
 it, even in the North itself. In the South, 
 post-offices were broken into, and anti-slavery 
 papers, which were thought calculated to excite 
 disaffection and insurrection, were seized and 
 destroyed; while a Southern movement in 
 favour of freeing the slave was arrested, dis 
 union and non-intercourse with the North 
 were talked of, a bitterness of feeling was 
 created which has never abated, and harsher 
 measures were adopted towards both the 
 coloured race and their Southern advocates. 
 Congress refused to receive memorials on the 
 subject of slavery. In 1859 Abolitionism cul 
 minated in the Harper s Ferry Insurrection in 
 Virginia, when John Brown, a man who, it is 
 said, had had some hard usage in Kansas, and 
 who, it is also alleged, had perpetrated some 
 very dark deeds there, with sixteen white men 
 arid five negroes, took forcible possession of the 
 United States armoury at Harper s Ferry, killed 
 four of the inhabitants, and seized others, who 
 were detained as prisoners. His intention was 
 understood to be to raise the slaves into insur 
 rection and establish a revolutionary govern 
 ment. But the slaves did not join him, and he 
 and his adherents were overpowered, brought to 
 
18.2 SKETCHES IN 
 
 trial, and executed. The Southern States were 
 greatly irritated by this; and still more by the 
 sympathy openly shown for Brown and his as 
 sociates in the Northern States. The Abolition 
 party in the United States has been in no small 
 degree encouraged in its reckless course by cer 
 tain sympathizers in this country. But they 
 have not gone to the most judicious quarters 
 for advice. There are no more zealous or 
 more able friends of emancipation than Lord 
 Brougham and the "Westminster Review;" and 
 it might have been better for America had this 
 party been animated by the temperate spirit 
 which characterized his Lordship s late letter 
 to some ardent Boston Abolitionists, and the 
 article on the slavery question in the last num 
 ber of that celebrated journal. 
 
 But the greatest of the questions at issue 
 between the North and the South are those re 
 lating to the territories : Shall slavery be per 
 mitted in them? shall the new States to be 
 formed from them be slave or free States? 
 Each State elects two members to the Senate, 
 from which each party desires to get possession 
 of the new States, merely as sources of direct 
 political power. The Southerners, especially 
 the non-slaveholding whites, who are, also, am 
 bitious to have slaves, desire to see new fields 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 183 
 
 opened for slave-labour ; and the Northern, 
 slave States may be regarded greatly as slave- 
 growing States, and look for new markets for 
 their peculiar produce. On the other hand, the 
 great Free- soil party of the North and West, 
 also seeking outlets for their population and 
 their enterprise, desire that the new States 
 shall be free from so pernicious an institution 
 as slavery. The Constitution is not definite 
 in its language bearing on such questions ; each 
 party interprets it according to its own prin 
 ciples, and hence the interminable and perplexed 
 disputes as to slavery in the territories. 
 
 Up to the year 1819, the parties were ex 
 actly equal as to the new States received into 
 the Union. Four free States had been ad 
 mitted Vermont, formed from part of the 
 territory of New York ; and Ohio, Indiana, and 
 Illinois, parts of the North-west territory 
 ceded to the Union in 1787. Four slave 
 States had been admitted Kentucky, formed 
 from the territory of Virginia ; Tenessee, from 
 the territory ceded by North Carolina ; Louisi 
 ana, acquired from France in 1803; and Missis 
 sippi, from South Carolina. 
 
 In 1819 another slave State, Alabama, part 
 of the lands ceded by Georgia and South Caro 
 lina, entered the Union; and, about the same 
 
184 SKETCHES IN 
 
 time, Missouri, a slave-holding territory, part of 
 the tract called Louisiana, west of the Missis 
 sippi, acquired from France, was proposed, 
 making a sixth slave State, while only four 
 free States had joined the Union. The Anti- 
 slavery party took alarm, and a memorable 
 contest ensued, which agitated the whole coun 
 try for upwards of two years. This party made 
 earnest opposition to the demand of Missouri 
 for admission, desiring to prevent the further 
 spread of the system of slavery, which appeared 
 to be not only becoming permanently fixed, but 
 increasing; and as a party, they resisted a mea 
 sure which would increase the slave power in 
 the Senate. They urged that slavery should 
 not be permitted in any State or territory where 
 it could be prohibited, holding that Congress 
 had power over the territories, and that the 
 prohibition of slavery in the North-west terri 
 tory in 1787, evinced the desire of Congress to 
 prevent the extension of slavery wherever it 
 could. They also represented that it was now 
 the turn for the admission of a free State ; the 
 last admitted, Alabama, being a slave State. 
 The other party said that forcing Missouri to 
 become a free State, would be a violation of 
 the Constitution, which leaves each State free 
 to settle for itself the question of slavery and 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 185 
 
 all other matters not expressly assigned to the 
 Federal Government that the voice of the 
 people was the guiding authority in all points 
 not settled by the Constitution; and that, as 
 the people of Missouri wished to keep slaves, it 
 would he arbitrary and despotic to coerce them 
 into the opposite system. These arguments 
 had great weight, from the acknowledged 
 system of independence and sovereignty of the 
 individual States, and the supremacy of the 
 popular will both fundamental principles of 
 the American system. It was urged in opposi 
 tion that Missouri was under the rule of Con 
 gress as a territory (see clause E, page 173), and 
 that she was not one of the original thirteen 
 between whom the compact of the Constitution 
 was made, and the inference was thence drawn 
 that Congress had the right to regulate the 
 terms of her admission. But the feeling pre 
 vailed that the new States should have the same 
 privileges of sovereignty in their internal affairs 
 as the original States assumed on forming the 
 contract of union. The will of the people then, 
 as now, had great force ; and, as Missouri de 
 sired slavery, and as the Pro-slavery party was 
 predominant in Congress, she was admitted as " 
 a slave State in the year 1821. At the same 
 time, Maine, north of Massachusetts, was ad- 
 
 N 
 
18G SKETCHES IN 
 
 mitted as a free State, and the opponents of 
 slavery were enabled to procure an enactment 
 prohibiting slavery in the territory north of the 
 parallel of latitude 36 deg. 30 min. north, ex 
 cept in the part of Missouri north of that line 
 the question being left open as to territory 
 south of that line. This was termed The Mis 
 souri Compromise, now quite famous in the 
 history of the United States. 
 
 This Compromise allayed the storm arising 
 out of the territorial question for nearly thirty 
 years. Up to the year 1850 six new States 
 joined the Union; three Free Michigan, Wis 
 consin, and Iowa; and three Slave States- 
 Arkansas, Florida, and Texas. There was great 
 opposition to the admission of Texas, partly on 
 account of the very questionable manner in 
 which the annexation of that republic was 
 brought about ; partly because being of very 
 large size, it was to form four States when the 
 population was sufficient, and would thus greatly 
 increase the political influence of the Pro- 
 slavery party. Slavery was to be prohibited 
 in new States formed out of that part of the 
 State north of 36 deg. 30 min. north latitude. 
 States formed out of Texas south of that line 
 (mucbthe greater portion) were to be "admitted 
 into the Union with or without slavery, as the 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 187 
 
 people of each State asking admission may de 
 sire/ Texas still remains a single State. 
 
 The immense accession of territory at the 
 close of the war with Mexico, in 1848, again 
 brought up the question as to slavery in terri 
 tories or new States. A large portion of the 
 new tracts of country, including about half of 
 California and the greater part of New Mexico, 
 was south of the Compromise line of 36 deg. 
 30 min., and the Pro-slavery party thought it 
 should be their own. It is true that by the 
 terms of the Act the Compromise line applied 
 only to the territory immediately west of the 
 river Mississippi, ceded by France to the United 
 States, under the name of Louisiana ; but the 
 upholders of slavery considered that it should 
 extend also through the newly-acquired terri 
 tory to the Pacific. But California, which had 
 increased greatly in population in consequence 
 of its rich gold mines, and very much by emi 
 gration from the free States of the Union, in 
 1849 applied for admission as a free State; 
 and the people of New Mexico were at that 
 time supposed to tend in the same direction. 
 The slave State, Texas, had also some claim on 
 the territory of New Mexico. Parties were 
 greatly excited. Senators from the South de 
 clared that the prohibition of slavery in these 
 
188 SKETCHES IX 
 
 regions would lead to a break-up of the Union. 
 Again and again it was moved to cut off from 
 the proposed new State of California all that lay 
 south of the parallel 36 deg. 30 min. north lati 
 tude, that southern part to be a territory to be 
 admitted as a State at a future time, with or 
 without slavery, as the people might then de 
 sire; but without success. At length a compro 
 mise,, supported, by the distinguished leaders, 
 Clay, of the South ; and Webster, of the North, 
 was agreed on. California, in her full extent, 
 was admitted as a free State. Utah, mostly 
 north of 36 deg. 30 min., and New Mexico, 
 mostly south of that line, were formed into 
 Territories, without any restriction as to slavery, 
 that being reserved for future adjustment. 
 Texas, for an indemnity of about J2,000,000 
 sterling, gave up its claim on New Mexico ; the 
 slave-trade was prohibited in the district of 
 Columbia; and a more efficient measure was 
 passed for the recovery of fugitive slaves. This 
 was the Compromise of 1850. 
 
 Though not settled till the year 1850, the 
 agitation as to the territory obtained by con 
 quest from Mexico had been going on, more 
 or less, for four years. Shortly after the war 
 commenced, in 1846, Congress, with prudent 
 foresight, placed a large sum at the disposal of 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 189 
 
 the President, to enable him to compensate 
 Mexico for any territory to be acquired on the 
 conclusion of a peace. A Mr. Wilmot moved 
 in the House of Representatives, that slavery 
 be prohibited in the territory to be acquired 
 from Mexico. This, usually known as the 
 Wilmot Proviso, passed the House of Represen 
 tatives, but was lost in the Senate. Thus, the 
 Congress of the United States was actually 
 occupied in making arrangements for the 
 government of a territory nearly two years 
 before it ceased to belong to another power ! 
 Who can deny that Brother Jonathan goes 
 a-head ? 
 
 The important question of slavery in the 
 Territories soon assumed a new phase, towards 
 which it had undoubtedly been tending for some 
 time, but which was not fully developed till the 
 passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. 
 In this new aspect it became more intricate, 
 involved in legal subtleties, and various difficul 
 ties as to the true interpretation of the Consti 
 tution, and the powers of Congress. 
 
 At the time of the formation of the Con 
 stitution (1787), the slave-holding party was 
 undoubtedly somewhat depressed. The slave- 
 trade was to be abolished after twenty years, and 
 some imagined that with its abolition slavery 
 
190 SKETCHES IN 
 
 would soon die out ; the great North-west ter 
 ritory, by a solemn ordinance of Congress in the 
 same year, was consecrated to freedom ; seven 
 of the thirteen States were, or soon were to be, 
 free States ; and the opinions of the great men 
 who were mainly instrumental in forming the 
 Constitution of the Union and bringing it into 
 successful operation, were known to be unfa 
 vourable to slavery. These circumstances en 
 couraged the Anti- slavery party to take for 
 granted assumptions upon which they have 
 constantly acted, that the free system of the 
 Northern States was to be regarded as the 
 system, countenanced by the Union ; that the 
 existence of slavery in any State was an unfor 
 tunate, but unavoidable exception ; that the in 
 stitution was tolerated there only by special 
 contract, and was everywhere else to be dis 
 couraged and prevented from spreading. But 
 this view has never been admitted by the other 
 party, who hold that strict neutrality on the 
 question is enjoined by the Constitution. In 
 short, the Republican party hold that slavery is 
 unlawful everywhere, except where a sovereign 
 State makes a special enactment sanctioning it. 
 The Democratic party hold that slavery is law 
 ful everywhere, except where such a sovereign 
 State has by special enactment forbid it. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 191 
 
 The slave States formed no less than six of 
 the original thirteen States, embracing a vast 
 territory, considerably larger than that of the 
 seven free States; up to 1850 they kept pace 
 with the latter in the admission of new States, 
 nine of each party having joined the Union 
 from the entrance of Vermont, in 1793, to that 
 of California in 1850. The soil of the slave 
 States is rich and fertile, and by its productive 
 ness has contributed materially to the wealth 
 and prosperity of the Union. Till lately, they 
 have had the control of the Legislature and the 
 Government, and hitherto, a very large pro 
 portion (I think, the greater proportion) of the 
 men of statesman-like talent has come from the 
 South, or been united to the party of the South. 
 They have been all along too numerous a party, 
 too influential, too talented, to accept the in 
 ferior position which the other party endea 
 voured to assign to them, as the adherents of a 
 barbarous institution, tolerated only for a time, 
 and exceptionally. 
 
 The slave States had sufficient influence to 
 assert perfect equality with other States in the 
 Constitution which cemented the Union, and 
 in legislative enactments, and the admission of 
 new States, up to the year 1850, when Cali 
 fornia, a free State, was admitted. But the last 
 
19.2 SKETCHES IN 
 
 slave State, Texas, had joined in 1845, and 
 there were no new slave States in prospect to 
 enable upholders of slavery to maintain their 
 power, while the North and West were rapidly 
 filling up with the free-soil party, and would 
 soon claim admission to the Union; in fact, 
 Minesota in 1858, and Oregon in 1859, have 
 been admitted as free States, and there is no 
 slave State to balance them. Cuba, so long 
 sought to strengthen the South, seems as distant 
 as ever. They will be in a minority in the 
 Senate, which is composed of two members 
 from each State ; they were in danger of being 
 swamped in the House of Representatives by 
 the rapid increase of population in the States 
 of the North and North-west; while there was 
 a fear that (what has actually taken place) a 
 President opposed to them might be chosen, 
 and thus the power of the Government thrown 
 into their enemies hands. Their power was on 
 the wane, unless something could be done to 
 stay the progress of the much-hated Black 
 Republicans. 
 
 The Missouri Compromise seemed to shut 
 them out from the North. They were still 
 strong enough, however, to overturn that 
 famous compact, and open out the wide regions 
 of the North to settlers with slaves, who, if in 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 193 
 
 sufficient numbers, would determine a new 
 State in favour of slavery. 
 
 The Pro- slavery party in the United States 
 has ever been rich in audacity and talent. 
 When pressed hard by the doctrines of the 
 Abolitionists, they boldly advanced to higher 
 ground, and maintained that slavery is right, 
 founded on justice, reason, and humanity, sup 
 ported by Scripture, and in reality a beneficent 
 institution, advantageous to the negro. In like 
 manner, when power seemed about to fall from 
 their hands by the increasing proportion of 
 free States in the Union, and increase of popu 
 lation in the free States, they drew from the 
 Constitution the doctrine of Popular Sove 
 reignty in the Territories, and used it to over 
 throw the Missouri Compromise, and bring the 
 whole of the Territories within their reach. 
 
 13 y the Constitution, Congress has the power 
 to " dispose of, and make all needful rules and 
 regulations for the Territory, or other property 
 of the United States." This is the only clause 
 which appears to authorize Congress to prohibit 
 slavery in a territory. But the Pro-slavery party 
 hold that, in reality, it conveys 110 such autho 
 rity. They argue that it applies to territory 
 only as land or property, not as a political com 
 munity; that rules and regulations for territory 
 
194 SKETCHES IN 
 
 as property, made by the temporary guardian of 
 it, never could have meant a permanent system 
 of legislation and government for its inhabi 
 tants; that such a supposition would make Con 
 gress a despot as regards the people of the Ter 
 ritories ; be opposed to the whole spirit of the 
 American Constitution, and particularly to that 
 part which it guards so jealously, the sove 
 reignty of each State as to its own internal 
 concerns; that in all preceding cases, Congress, 
 in granting admission to a State, had given it 
 the Constitution acceptable to its inhabitants 
 at the time of its entering the Union, and that 
 it would be better to place the settlement of 
 important questions directly in the hands of 
 those most interested; that any sweeping ex 
 clusion or enforcement of slavery in the Terri 
 tories would be prejudging a question which 
 its inhabitants, the best judges, should alone 
 have the power of determining; that the Ter 
 ritory was the common property of the whole 
 Union, and that, therefore, every citizen, of 
 whatever part of tho Union, had the right to 
 settle in it, with or without slaves, as he 
 thought proper, so long as it remained the pro 
 perty of the whole, and was not, by admission 
 as a State, assigned and set aside as the special 
 possession of the politically organized inhabi- 
 
NORTII AMERICA. 195 
 
 tants. It was further contended that the Com 
 promise of 1850 had practically set aside the 
 Missouri Compromise, the free State of Cali 
 fornia extending south of the line of 36 deg. 
 30 min. ; while Utah, north of it, and New 
 Mexico, were left to the pleasure of the settlers 
 as to their domestic institutions. 
 
 The general views regarding the Territories 
 just exhibited, were first presented publicly by 
 the distinguished American statesman, General 
 Cass, about the end of the year 1847, in a letter 
 on the subject of the Wilmot Proviso; and on 
 the principles of the American system, there 
 seemed much force in the considerations which 
 he brought forward on this difficult question. 
 The principle of allowing the settlers them 
 selves to determine whether their State should 
 be slave or free, seemed to flow logically from 
 the American system of the sovereignty of the 
 individual States; it had a democratic look, and 
 was so far successful for a time, that it was em 
 bodied in an act termed the Kansas-Nebraska 
 Act in 1854, the Missouri Compromise being at 
 the same time repealed, and slavery being allowed 
 north of that line, if it could gain a footing 
 there. Senator Douglas, from the free State 
 of Illinois, was the chief promoter of this 
 measure, which greatly irritated the Anti- slavery 
 
196 SKETCPIES IN 
 
 party, and may be said to have laid the foun 
 dation of the present powerful Republican 
 party. 
 
 Not long after, the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, in a celebrated decision in the 
 case of Dred Scott, a negro who claimed his 
 freedom from having resided with his master in 
 the territory north of 36 deg. 30 min. north 
 latitude, in which slavery was prohibited, pro 
 nounced the Missouri Compromise unconsti 
 tutional, beyond the power of Congress, and 
 altogether of no avail or force in law ; declared 
 that " the Constitution recognizes the right of 
 property of the master in a slave, and makes no 
 distinction between that description of property 
 and other property owned by a citizen ;" that 
 territory acquired, is acquired by the people of 
 the United States, for their common and equal 
 benefit, through their agent and trustee, the 
 Federal Government ; that Congress has no 
 right to prohibit the citizens of any particular 
 State or States from taking up their homes in 
 such territory, nor from taking any description 
 of their property there with them, including 
 slaves, since ,the Constitution recognizes slaves 
 as property ; and that Congress has no power to 
 exercise more authority over property of that 
 description, than it may constitutionally exer- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 197 
 
 cise over property of any other kind ; that the 
 only function of Congress in regard to a Terri 
 tory is to preserve it for the people to inhabit 
 it, who, when in sufficient numbers, are to form 
 a sovereign State, with whatever laws and insti 
 tutions they please, not opposed to the Con 
 stitution of the United States. 
 
 It would be presumptuous to dispute the 
 conformity of the strict letter of the Constitu 
 tion with the interpretation of it thus given by 
 the eminent lawyers who compose the Supreme 
 Court of the United States ; and their inter 
 pretation looks very logical and consistent 
 indeed. But there are powers above law and 
 constitutions, the powers of justice and hu 
 manity; circumstances arise which laws did 
 not contemplate and failed to provide for ; and 
 the free States of the North considered them 
 selves authorized and called upon by these 
 higher powers, and by such circumstances, to 
 do their utmost to check the spread of the dark 
 spot on the national banner ; they thought that 
 an Act of Congress, emanating from some of 
 the greatest statesmen of the nation, and in 
 force upwards of thirty years, could not, in 
 spirit, be very bad law; they judged that a 
 co-partnery like the Union could not be without 
 the power of excluding a proposed new partner 
 
198 SKETCHES IN 
 
 distasteful to tlie majority, and they set to vvitli 
 vigour to get a majority in Congress and the 
 Government based upon the great principle of 
 preventing the further extension of slavery. 
 There they are upon safe ground, whether 
 resting on the Constitution or not, in a position 
 in which they will command the sympathy and 
 respect of the civilized world. They now have, 
 or soon will have, the ascendancy, and (unless a 
 new compromise is entered into) will use their 
 power to exclude slavery from every new terri 
 tory. They will do so by the right of the 
 majority, and it will be a happy thing for the 
 Union. At the same time, it must be admitted, 
 that, as a general and permanent line of action, 
 it will be new, neither required by the Consti 
 tution nor in unison with previous Acts of Con 
 gress j hence the secession of the slave States 
 from the Union, which has entered on a new 
 course of policy, injurious to their interests. 
 
 The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 
 1851 was followed by one of the most extraor 
 dinary struggles ever witnessed in a civilized 
 country, and then by civil war. The scene of 
 the contest was the territory of KANSAS, in the 
 very centre of the United States, adjoining on 
 the west the slave State Missouri, and just 
 north of the compromise line of 36 deg. 30 min. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 199 
 
 Missouri, having the free States of Illinois and 
 Iowa on the east and north, feared to have 
 another free State on its western border, hy 
 which it would be in a manner imbedded in 
 freedom., a very bad position for slavery ; and 
 made every effort to plant settlers in Kansas,, 
 that when admitted as a State it might have a 
 majority of its inhabitants in favour of slavery. 
 The free States made similar exertions ; and 
 an " Emigrants Aid Society," established in 
 Massachusetts, gathered large funds, and in the 
 year 1855 sent out numbers of emigrants to 
 settle in Kansas. The Pro-slavery party ap 
 peared at first triumphant, and elected a legis 
 lative assembly in favour of their views. But 
 the other party protested energetically against 
 this body, and declared that its election was 
 vitiated by the votes of members not resident 
 in the State ; that large bodies of armed men 
 from the State of Missouri appeared at the 
 polls in most of the districts, and by most 
 violent and tumultuous carriage and demeanour 
 overawed the defenceless inhabitants, and by 
 their own votes elected a large majority of 
 the members of both Houses of the said 
 Assembly." Accordingly, the Anti-slavery party 
 held another election, and chose their own 
 legislature and public officers. As might be 
 
200 SKETCHES IN 
 
 expected, collisions ensued, which soon in 
 creased in number and violence, and the year 
 1856 saw something like a civil war, attended 
 by cruel outrages and murders, raging in the 
 heart of the Union. This was at length put a 
 stop to, by the interference of the President, 
 towards the close of the year. Though the 
 government is said to have given peculiar 
 encouragement to the Pro-slavery party, and 
 Congress has long refused to give Kansas ad 
 mission as a State, the settlers in favour of 
 freedom now predominate, and it is understood 
 that that territory will be admitted as a free 
 State during the present session, 1860-Gi. (It 
 has been admitted, at last, on Jan. 30, 1861.) 
 
 The overthrow of the Missouri Compromise, 
 first by Congress, and subsequently by the 
 Supreme Court, the violent proceedings in 
 Kansas, and the endeavours of Congress and 
 the Government to prevent that territory being 
 admitted as a free State, to which she seemed 
 entitled even by the Popular Sovereignty prin 
 ciple of their opponents, have only had the 
 effect of rousing the Anti- slavery party to more 
 vigorous efforts. These efforts have now been 
 rewarded with success in the election of a man 
 of their party to the high office of President, 
 and the placing the power of the Government in 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 201 
 
 their hands; and they have, it is believed, also 
 been able to secure in Washington, Utah, and 
 Nebraska, north of the Missouri Compromise 
 line, a population favourable to their views ; 
 regions, however, for which, from the climate 
 and products, negro slavery is not adapted. 
 
 The only remaining territories are those of 
 New Mexico, in which there are a few slaves, 
 and the Indian territory, both south of 36 deg. 
 30 min. It was at one time supposed that the 
 farmer would be peopled by Anti-slavery settlers; 
 but it has turned out otherwise ; and early in 
 18GO the Territorial Legislature of New Mexico 
 passed enactments not only sanctioning negro 
 slavery, but authorizing all servants to be cor 
 rected by their masters for neglect of their 
 duties as servants, provided " that such correc 
 tion shall nob be inflicted in a cruel manner 
 with clubs or stripes." The House of Repre 
 sentatives, by ninety-seven to eighty-nine, passed 
 a bill to declare these acts null and void, but it 
 was thrown out by the Senate. If the slavery 
 question were settled as to these two terri 
 tories, there remains none other, in the present 
 domains of the United States, as to which 
 disputes could arise. But, from the disor 
 ganized condition of Mexico and Central 
 America, the Southerners look to the accjuisi- 
 
202 SKETCHES IN 
 
 tion of new territory in these directions, and 
 will never agree to any compromise which 
 would exclude them from introducing slavery 
 in these regions. 
 
 The questions at issue regarding the black 
 races have thus led to a contest, charac 
 terized by the fiercest hostility and bitterness, 
 between two sections of the white race, the 
 North and the South. Abhorring slavery as I 
 do, and sympathizing heartily with every prac 
 ticable measure for its extinction, it yet appears 
 to me that the States of the North are in 
 great part responsible for the present condition 
 of this unhappy conflict and the bad feeling 
 between the North and the South. United by 
 a solemn compact in a great confederation, the 
 citizens of the different States were bound by 
 every consideration of good faith, humanity, 
 and common sense to adhere to the terms of 
 h at compact, and honourably carry out its 
 stipulations, so long as the compact existed. 
 If, as was very natural, the free States after 
 wards found reason to complain of the condi 
 tions of that compact, it was their part to 
 recede, or make known the conditions on which 
 they would abide by it. When the free States 
 came to loathe the odious task assigned to 
 them of delivering up runaway slaves, and 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 203 
 
 desired that the curse of slavery should not be 
 admitted into new regions, which they were 
 able to people with free men, and in which 
 they judged it right that only free institutions 
 should be implanted, their course was clear: 
 they should have given notice of their determi 
 nation to withdraw from a Union which im 
 posed an odious thraldom upon them, and to 
 break a connection the conditions of which 
 they found intolerable. This would have been 
 a straightforward and honourable course, would 
 have commanded universal respect, and would 
 have been a deadly, yet legitimate, blow at the 
 system with which they thus shrunk from 
 holding communion. 
 
 Their forefathers made the compact for them 
 at a time when the evil was one of far inferior 
 magnitude; since that time, not only has the 
 evil been enormously increased, but the pro 
 gress of humanity has altered men s views re 
 garding it, and they had a right to withdraw 
 from sanctioning in any way an institution they 
 felt as at once unjust and inhuman : or, if they 
 had not, by the Constitution, the legal right of 
 withdrawing (and that is a doubtful point), the 
 actual right could not have been withheld from 
 them ; they are by no means scrupulous as to 
 constitutional obligations, and, in fact, a little 
 
204 SKETCHES IN 
 
 rebellion is quite constitutional in the Ne\v 
 England States. But they desired to retain 
 the advantages of the Union without fulfilling 
 its stipulations,, and to soothe their consciences 
 at other people s expense. They first ruptured 
 the Union by deliberate legislative enactments,, 
 interfering with the execution of the Fugitive 
 Slave Law ; by violent denunciations of it, and 
 declarations at public meetings that they would 
 oppose it proceedings which were pronounced 
 by the most eminent lawyer and statesman of 
 the North to be distinctly treasonable. With 
 a blind or reckless disregard of the delicate 
 and dangerous position of their brethren of the 
 South, they have laboured to expose them by 
 inflammatory speeches and harangues to the 
 horrors of a servile insurrection. A subject 
 requiring peculiar and gentle treatment has met 
 the roughest handling from a large portion of 
 the Anti-slavery party. Thus the slave-owners 
 of the South have been maddened by the wild 
 and incendiary proceedings of the Northern 
 Abolitionists. Having this truly black inhe 
 ritance handed down to them from their fore 
 fathers, and extended by the extraordinary de 
 velopment of the cotton trade, irritated by the 
 insults and reproaches of the demagogues of 
 the North, stung by the superior tone assumed 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 205 
 
 towards them by those who have had the good 
 fortune to be born free from this bad institu 
 tion, enraged at the cool proposition of many 
 to deprive them, without compensation, of their 
 property and means of living, and trembling 
 for the safety of their families from causes 
 which Northern proceedings tend greatly to 
 aggravate, we cannot be surprised that the 
 South hates the North with a fierce hatred that 
 has never been surpassed, or that the Southern 
 States desire to secede and save themselves 
 from the tyranny of an arrogant and insulting 
 Northern majority. There is not, and cannot 
 be, any union of feeling between them ; there 
 is an active and violent repulsion; as stated 
 truly by Mr. Seward, there can be no per 
 manent compromise between parties so utterly 
 opposed in principles and feelings. Secession 
 seems an inevitable necessity. 
 
 Though long threatened, the first exciting 
 causes of the recent secession feeling in the 
 South were the long persistence in the attempt 
 to force upon them, in the House of Represen 
 tatives, a presiding officer peculiarly obnoxious 
 to them, and the extraordinary sympathy exhi 
 bited by the North towards the leaders of the 
 John Brown insurrection, at the close of the 
 year 1859. I was in the United States at that 
 
206 SKETCHES IN 
 
 time, and saw and heard of innumerable ma 
 nifestations of that sympathy. They were 
 "heroes," and <f gallant martyrs/ whose me 
 mory was to be revered for their brave efforts 
 in the cause of freedom. That was much more 
 offensive than the insurrection itself, which was 
 the act of a few desperate men, led on by a 
 half- fanatical leader. But the way in which 
 the rising was received in the North showed 
 a deep-seated feeling of hostility towards the 
 South, widely spread through a great com 
 munity. The Southerners never forgave that : 
 they could not. It was a declaration of war 
 against them. It was not confined to rabid 
 speeches at meetings, or wild articles in abo 
 lition newspapers, or private subscriptions for 
 Brown s family ; it was manifested by many of 
 the public authorities in the free States ; and 
 thus revealed a state of public sentiment that 
 proved to the South that the North was their 
 foe, feeling as a foreigner towards them, re 
 joicing in their dangers and afflictions, and 
 lamenting the fall of those who would have 
 stirred up a bloody revolution amongst them. 
 In the message of the Governor of the State of 
 Massachusetts, in the beginning of the year 
 1860, long passages were devoted to the subject 
 of slavery, with its recent history, and the 
 
AMERICA. 207 
 
 doings of the Pro-slavery party were enumerated 
 and spoken of with great severity; but there 
 was no condemnation of the Harper s Ferry in 
 surrection, not even a regret ; its leaders were 
 mentioned sympathisingly as "persons who 
 suffer from misfortunes, or are required to pay 
 the penalties of the law," and a high eulogium 
 was passed on the character of John Brown. 
 And yet Massachusetts wonders that the South 
 does not love her, and desires to break off all 
 communion with her. 
 
 In December, 1859, the Northern States 
 were full of that wild, fanatical spirit on the 
 subject of slavery; it has continued unabated 
 ever since, and a twelvemonth later prompted 
 an invitation to Lord Brougham, from Massa 
 chusetts, to cross the Atlantic Ocean, to cele 
 brate the anniversary of the execution of John 
 Brown, for endeavouring to raise a slave insur 
 rection in the sister State of Virginia. It does 
 not seem to have moderated, and in verifying 
 the incautious words of the Republican leaders, 
 Seward and Lincoln, that freedom and slavery 
 are committed to an "irrepressible conflict," 
 till one or other prevails, renders it not un 
 natural that the slave States of the South should 
 desire to evade this conflict, to secure in time 
 a position of independence, and to avoid being 
 
208 SKETCHES IN 
 
 under the control of an offensive and impracti 
 cable party ; to be free, instead of remaining 
 in subjection to a majority, animated by the 
 hostile spirit which has been made so manifest 
 towards them, and which they have reason to 
 fear might become aggressive when in com 
 mand of power. Policy dictates secession: they 
 desire to secure their peculiar institution from 
 interference, and to spread it into new regions ; 
 they look to free-trade in the reduction or 
 abolition of the duties on imports established 
 for the benefit of Northern manufacturers, and 
 they hope to raise up in the South great marts 
 of commerce, like Boston and New York. On 
 the other hand, besides the general disadvan 
 tages of having a foreign power on their fron 
 tier, secession exposes the slave States, as such, 
 to peculiar risks; and their truest interest 
 might be to bear a good deal, and still stand 
 by the Union. But feeling, as well as policy, 
 has a large share in secession. Their pride is 
 wounded; having long been the ruling party, 
 they feel humiliated at the prospect of being 
 the minority; they could bear the taunts, re 
 proaches, insults of a few abolitionists, while 
 they had power in their hands, but now that it 
 seems about to part from them, the thought 
 of being ruled by a party so obnoxious to 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 209 
 
 them, is a mortification too bitter to be en 
 dured. 
 
 The election of Mr. Lincoln was not the 
 only cause of secession : this may be said to 
 have been in progress more than twenty years. 
 It was only the last feather that turned the 
 scale; but it was an important one, not only 
 as an evidence of a deep and wide- spread feel 
 ing, but as throwing the power and prestige of 
 the Government into the hands of the enemies 
 of slavery. 
 
 Matters seem now to have gone too far for 
 reconciliation ; and the South demands what 
 the North will consider as high terms. To 
 satisfy the slave-owners, they must have access 
 to the Territories with their slaves so long 
 as they are in the territorial condition ; an 
 efficient fugitive slave law ; neutrality of the 
 general Government as to the slave-trade be 
 tween the States and slavery in the District of 
 Columbia ; and, perhaps, the right of retaining 
 their slaves during temporary residence in, or 
 when passing through any State. With less 
 than these, they will feel not upon an equal 
 footing with the people of the free States, at a 
 disadvantage compared with them, and thereby 
 humiliated. They are proud and high-spirited ; 
 it is too much to be feared that there can be 
 
210 SKETCHES IN 
 
 no permanent adjustment. The Mahomedan 
 does not detest the Christian, nor the Venetian 
 the Austrian, with half the bitterness with 
 which the South hates the North in the United 
 States. No person who has attended to the 
 course of this struggle, or read the recent 
 speeches in Congress, can doubt as to the burn 
 ing hatred with which the North is viewed by 
 the South. With such feelings, with commer 
 cial interests at variance, with so much sove 
 reign power retained by the individual States, 
 and such a strong spirit of resistance to autho 
 rity pervading the public mind, it is almost 
 impossible to hope for the preservation of the 
 Union, whatever may be done in the way of 
 patching up a compromise. The Republican 
 party will damage themselves in the eyes of a 
 large body of their supporters, if they depart 
 from their Chicago platform of 1860, which 
 declared - 
 
 " That the new dogma that the Constitu 
 tion, of its o\vu force, carries slavery into any 
 or all of the territories of the United States, 
 is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with 
 the explicit provisions of that instrument itself, 
 with contemporaneous exposition, and with 
 legislative and judicial precedent." (This re 
 fers to the Dred Scott decision.) 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 211 
 
 " That the normal condition of all the ter 
 ritory of the United States is that of freedom ; 
 that as our Republican fathers, when they had 
 abolished slavery in all our national territory, 
 ordained that no person should be deprived of 
 life, liberty, or property, without due process of 
 law/ it becomes our duty, by legislation, when 
 ever such legislation is necessary, to maintain 
 this provision of the Constitution against all 
 attempts to violate it ; and we deny the autho 
 rity of Congress, of a territorial legislature, or 
 of any individuals, to give legal existence to 
 slavery in any territory of the United States." 
 
 It is difficult to see how, with this declara 
 tion of principles, the Republican party can 
 accede to the proposed compromise of giving 
 over to slavery all south of 36 deg. 30 min. north 
 lat., reserving that north for freedom. With 
 less than that, the South never will be satisfied. 
 
 While the legal right of the Southern States 
 to secede is doubtful, and its policy still more 
 questionable, one cannot but be amused at the 
 very large talk about coercion, and the high 
 tone in support of the Federal Government now 
 assumed by the Northern States. It is, indeed, 
 strange to hear the good people of the North 
 denouncing the secessionists of the South as 
 traitors and rebels, accusing them of treason, 
 
212 SKETCHES IN 
 
 and great crimes against the State ; discoursing 
 in a high-sounding style about crushing sedition, 
 and giving themselves the loftiest airs, like 
 potentates of a dynasty that had reigned a thou 
 sand years over one consolidated people. If we 
 consider how recent the union between these 
 States is, and how loose it is, how long they had 
 previously existed as governments perfectly in 
 dependent of each other, and the large powers 
 of self-government left to the individual States 
 at the union, we must perceive that, whatever 
 may be the strict law of the question, secession 
 is not at all like what is commonly understood 
 as treason or rebellion, but rather to be con 
 sidered as analogous to the withdrawal of one 
 of the partners from a Company ; and that a 
 high-handed attempt at coercion is not the 
 treatment suited for so very peculiar a case. 
 But, setting that aside, for the people of New 
 England to reproach the South with treason, is 
 truly admirable ! They practise a good many 
 little treasons and some large ones themselves ; 
 they have ever been ready to burst into rebel 
 lion when the Federal Government did anything 
 to displease them. They had a little insurrec 
 tion in the very infancy of their independence 
 of Britain, in 1786-7; the famous Hartford 
 Convention in 1814, and other Northern pro- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 213 
 
 ceedings daring the trying period of the second 
 war \\ith Britain, were as near treason and rebel 
 lion as possible, if they did not actually reach 
 so far ; and Rhode Island had a private rebellion 
 of its own in 1841-2. This very secession, which 
 they denounce as treason, has been in great part 
 caused by the treason of Northern States in defy 
 ing, by deliberate acts of their legislatures, the 
 provisions of the Constitution, and of acts of Con 
 gress; and these high-handed crushers of sedition 
 have openly expressed their sympathy with endea 
 vours to raise insurrection in a sister State of 
 the Union ; they write and talk, and by their 
 legislatures enact treason, but insist on having 
 a monopoly of it ; they live in an atmosphere 
 of resistance to authority, but are quite shocked, 
 and assume the magniloquent tone and severe 
 aspect of a government founded on Divine right 
 and established for centuries, when another State 
 desires to exercise a little of that liberty of re 
 sisting which they have so long indulged in. 
 
 Q.uis tulerit Gracchos de seditione quercntes. 
 
 The South will never submit to coercion. 
 They have too much pride and too much courage 
 for that; and they will have the advantage of the 
 defensive, and of the patriotic feeling of resist 
 ance to invaders. They have a vast territory, of 
 
214 SKETCHES IX 
 
 which the larger part is at a great distance from 
 the resources of the North. It is earnestly to 
 be hoped that force will not even be hinted at ; 
 this will only exasperate the South still more, 
 and destroy the faint prospect which still exists 
 of some amicable arrangement to preserve this 
 great Union. To talk of secession as treason 
 and rebellion in the ordinary acceptation of 
 these terms,, to be put down with the strong 
 arm of the law, or the military force, is to shut 
 one s eyes and ignore all the peculiarities of the 
 case. If the North, puffed up with its newly 
 acquired power, vain of its elevation to " sove 
 reignty," and indignant that any of its antici 
 pated subjects should refuse to pay it homage, 
 ventures on war to reduce them to obedience, 
 the result must still be secession, with the addi 
 tion of a waste of blood and treasure, ruin to 
 trade, and more embittered feelings than ever 
 between those who might, though separate, still 
 remain friendly and of mutual benefit to each 
 other. 
 
 I have already quoted one distinguished 
 Northern, an opponent of slavery, Dr. Chan- 
 ning. I think my readers will be pleased to 
 see the views of another eminent Northern, well 
 known on both sides of the Atlantic, Mr. 
 Everett, as to the difficulties which surround 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 215 
 
 this great question. He says, " Have those, 
 who rebuke the South for the continuance of 
 slavery,, considered that neither the present 
 generation nor the preceding one is responsible 
 for its existence ? The African slave-trade was 
 prohibited by Act of Congress fifty-one years 
 ago, and many years earlier by the separate 
 Southern States. The entire coloured popula 
 tion, with the exception, perhaps, of a few hun 
 dreds surreptitiously introduced, is native to the 
 soil. Their ancestors were conveyed from 
 Africa in the ships of Old England and New 
 England. They now number between three and 
 four millions. Has any person, of any party or 
 opinion, proposed, in sober earnest, a practical 
 method of wholesale emancipation ? I believe 
 most persons, in all parts of the country, are of 
 opinion that free labour is steadily gaining 
 ground. It would, in my judgment, have 
 already prevailed in the two northern tiers of 
 the slave-holding States, had its advances not 
 been unhappily retarded by the irritating agita 
 tions of the day. But has any person, whose 
 opinion is entitled to the slightest respect, ever 
 undertaken to sketch out the details of a plan 
 for effecting the change at once, by any legisla 
 tive measure that could be adopted? Consider 
 only, I pray you, that it would be to ask the 
 
216 SKETCHES IN 
 
 South to give up one thousand millions of pro 
 perty, which she holds hy a title satisfactory to 
 herself, as the first step. Then estimate the 
 cost of an adequate outfit for the self-support of 
 the emancipated millions ; then reflect on the 
 derangement of the entire industrial system of 
 the South, and all the branches of commerce 
 and manufactures that depend on its great 
 staples ; then the necessity of conferring equal 
 political privileges on the emancipated race, 
 who, being free, would be content with nothing 
 less, if anything less were consistent with our 
 political system ; then the consequent organiza 
 tion of two great political parties on the basis 
 of colour, and the eternal feud which would 
 rage between them; and finally the overflow 
 into the free States of a vast multitude of 
 needy and helpless emigrants, who, being ex 
 cluded from many of them (and amonc: others 
 
 */ O 
 
 from Kansas), would prove doubly burdensome 
 where they are admitted. Should we, sir, with 
 all our sympathy for the coloured race (and I 
 do sincerely sympathize with them, and to all 
 whom chance throws in my way, I have through 
 life extended all the relief and assistance in my 
 power), give a very cordial reception to two or 
 three hundred thousand destitute emancipated 
 slaves ? Does not every candid man see, that 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 217 
 
 every one of these steps presents difficulties of 
 the most formidable character, difficulties for 
 which, as far as I know, no man and no party 
 has proposed a solution ?" 
 
 The preceding is from the speech of Mr. 
 Everett, at the great Union meeting, held at 
 Boston, on the 8th of December, 1859, in 
 support of the Union, and to protest against 
 the sentiments of the sympathizers with the 
 recent insurrection in Virginia. One resolu 
 tion stated 
 
 " We regret that the main body of our 
 citizens, too much through the neglect of their 
 political duties, have been often falsely exhibited 
 in the eyes of the nation by those whose coun 
 cils and conduct do not command the general 
 approbation." 
 
 When we consider statements such as these, 
 by such men as Dr. Channing and the Hon. 
 Edward Everett, and review the history of the 
 slavery question, it will be seen that those who 
 have set themselves forward as the friends of 
 the negro are by no means so harmless and 
 discreet, nor the other party so utterly wicked 
 and unreasonable, as numbers in Europe seem 
 inclined to suppose. As foreigners, we must 
 naturally incline to be cautious in our judgments 
 on a question involved in so many difficulties 
 
 p 
 
218 SKETCHES IN 
 
 and peculiar! tics, which it is not easy for us to 
 appreciate. To our ancestors the fastening of 
 this great evil upon the United States is due; 
 we have only recently wiped out the stain from 
 our own soil, and for us to do so was a com 
 paratively light and easy matter ; while, by our 
 recent commercial policy, we have given no 
 small encouragement to slavery. The Southern 
 States, whether in a separate confederacy or in 
 the Union, are in anything but an enviable 
 situation, and, without abating our desire to 
 see slavery come to an end, or at all approving 
 of the conduct of the planters, some allowance 
 and consideration for the difficulties and perilous 
 position which they have inherited might be not 
 altogether out of place. 
 
 The question of secession, now of such deep 
 interest, does not appear to have been provided 
 for by the Constitution, unless indirectly, in 
 Article V., which treats of amendments to the 
 Constitution. This article enacts that amend 
 ments must be proposed by two-thirds of both 
 Houses of Congress, or by a convention of the 
 people on the application of the legislatures of 
 two-thirds of the several States; and that such 
 amendments must ^.ratified by the legislatures 
 of three-fourths of the States, or by conventions 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 219 
 
 in three-fourths of the States, according as 
 Congress may determine on one or other mode 
 of ratification. 
 
 If these conditions are not fulfilled, there 
 seems 110 other way in which secession can 
 be constitutionally sanctioned; and, legally, 
 Congress and the President are justified in 
 the course which seems to have been resolved 
 on by Mr. Lincoln, to ignore any act of se 
 cession not effected in the mode appointed 
 by the Constitution, and to collect the duties 
 and retake and hold the Federal forts in the 
 seceding States, as if they had not seceded. 
 Every one will sympathize with the new Presi 
 dent and the Republican party in their desire 
 to do all in their power to preserve the Union, 
 which stands so great before the world, and has 
 had so glorious a career. But the questions 
 arise, can it be preserved by force? Are not 
 the separate interests and feelings of resentment 
 of the Southern States so powerful that there 
 can be no real or beneficial union with the 
 Northern States ? Are they not so great and 
 so determined that only a long, bloody civil 
 war could subdue them, that result being even 
 then doubtful? Do not the large legislative 
 and governing powers possessed by the several 
 States Sovereign States, as they are termed 
 
220 SKETCHES IN 
 
 and their different commercial and other 
 interests, sanction in reason, though they may 
 not in the strict letter of the law, their with 
 drawal from a union when it ceases to be a 
 benefit to them ? 
 
 Granting the general inadmissibility of a 
 right of secession, are there not, in this 
 instance, features quite peculiar, which set 
 aside general rules? Is this a case for the 
 rigid enforcement of the law, or one of those 
 emergencies that rise above law, and demand 
 an equitable adjustment solely upon their in 
 trinsic merits ? Mr. Lincoln is said to have 
 taken for his model the conduct of General 
 Jackson in 1832-3, when he declared his fixed 
 resolution to employ force to collect in South 
 Carolina the heavy protective duties imposed to 
 favour the Northern manufacturers, and which 
 she endeavoured to resist or nullify, as inju 
 rious to her interests. It is true that South 
 Carolina deferred her resistance, and the deter 
 mined front shown by the President seemed to 
 prevail ; but the nullifying State only delayed, 
 in hopes of support from the other Southern 
 States, or of relief by Congress from the duties" 
 complained of. By a compromise measure, 
 devised mainly by the distinguished statesman 
 Henry Clay, Congress did yield what satisfied 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 221 
 
 the Southern party, and the nullification storm 
 passed away. But opposing commercial inte 
 rests still remain to separate North from 
 South; and the fierce and bitter feud as to 
 slavery is superadded. 
 
222 SKETCHES IN 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AMERICAN CITIES HOTELS SCHOOLS WOMAN 
 
 IN AMERICA. 
 
 Tis Education forms the common mind ; 
 Just as the twig is bent the tree s inclined. 
 
 THE cities and the schools are the glory of the 
 United States. Perhaps the people themselves, 
 if asked, might give " the Constitution " as the 
 greatest thing they have done. They hoast of 
 it a good deal, have a sovereign contempt for all 
 other constitutions, and every American man, 
 woman, boy, and girl seems able, and very wil 
 ling, to give a long lecture on its manifold per 
 fections. However, as we find that, notwith 
 standing many admirable provisions, evincing 
 the care and judgment of its founders, it can 
 hardly maintain law and order, and does not 
 prevent the grossest political corruption, we 
 must look elsewhere for something of which the 
 people of the United States have a right to 
 boast. 
 
 I think they may be proud of their cities. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 223 
 
 Nowhere Lave I seen anything to equal them in 
 neatness, cheerful aspect and general elegance. 
 Compared with them, a city in the Old World is 
 dull and dingy looking. No doubt, in the gene 
 rality of the large towns in Europe, there are 
 numerous fine old buildings which excite our 
 admiration and interest ; we cannot reasonably 
 expect anything like them in the comparatively 
 new cities of America. But it is not a fine 
 building here and there which determines the 
 appearance of a city : it is the character of the 
 ordinary buildings the houses and stores 
 which are everywhere. In the United States, 
 these arc so tasteful and elegant, and of such 
 superior material, that it is quite a treat to walk 
 along the streets, which have a highly rich, 
 lively, and variegated appearance, from the 
 variety of stone of which the houses are built, 
 and the variety of beautiful architectural de- 
 si "-ns which thev exhibit. Chestnut and Walnut 
 
 * 
 
 streets, in Philadelphia ; in New York, Broad 
 way, and the streets which run from the lower 
 part of it to the water Fifth Avenue, and the 
 streets in the vicinity ; in Boston, Washington, 
 Hanover, Franklin, and State streets, arc per 
 fectly magnificent. I have seen nothing worthy 
 of being compared with them on this side of 
 the Atlantic. The houses or stores are lofty, 
 
SKETCHES IX 
 
 built of a rich red or fawn-coloured freestone, 
 granite, marble, iron, or brick, and always 
 with some architectural decoration that pleases 
 the eye, and interests and excites the taste of 
 the observer. In no buildings erected in the 
 leading streets within the last ten or twenty 
 years do we find that hideous-looking structure 
 so common in England the dull, dead surface, 
 with regular monotonous rows of windows, 
 without any projection, curve, or decoration to 
 break the stiff, flat, rectilinear uniformity; bare, 
 miserable, and utilitarian in its aspect. 
 
 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia is certainly 
 one of the prettiest streets I have ever seen. 
 There is scarcely a plain, common-looking build 
 ing in its whole length. Many of the banks and 
 stores are of granite or marble; a new tasteful 
 design meets the eye at every step ; trees on 
 both sides grace and enliven the view, and at 
 one part, where the street widens, and the fine 
 building, Independence Hall, rears its quaint 
 old front, in strange contrast with the sur 
 rounding modern structures, the effect is re 
 markably pleasing. Independence Hall is the 
 old State House ; it is built of brick, apparently 
 of the period of Queen Anne, or the early 
 Georges, and has somewhat of the look of Chelsea 
 Hospital. The room in which the famous Decla- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. J^O 
 
 ration of Independence was signed on the 4th 
 of July, 1776,, is shown; it contains a number 
 of portraits of the signers,, and a variety of inte 
 resting memorials of the event ; and the polite 
 and agreeable attendant in charge of it takes 
 particular pleasure in pointing out all the 
 curiosities to a Britisher. It is not only in 
 the leading streets, public buildings, and large 
 stores, that this taste for neatness and elegance 
 is manifested in the architecture of Philadelphia; 
 it is seen in the smaller streets and humbler 
 houses in the suburbs; they are of brick, but 
 with marble steps at the door, and a marble 
 basement, which relieve the monotony of the 
 flat surface, and give a lively, tasteful aspect to 
 the street. The Quaker city is truly very un- 
 quaker-like, but looks, more almost than any 
 city I have seen, bright, cheerful, and elegant. 
 But let the visitor avoid the suburbs on a Satur 
 day morning; then Philadelphia is cleaning it 
 self. This it does with characteristic American 
 energy, and there is such scrubbing, washing, 
 and splashing at the door of every house, that 
 it is best to be out of the way. 
 
 Certainly, architectural taste has made great 
 progress amongst the Americans; and that 
 taste does not develop itself in merely planting 
 fine public buildings here and there necessarily 
 
226 SKETCHES IN 
 
 few and far between : it impregnates every-day 
 life, and gives the people a pleasure in seeing 
 the scenes of their daily work surrounded with 
 forms of grace and beauty; and, if continued 
 for a very few years longer, will render each 
 American city a city of palaces. In some 
 instances the decoration is overdone, and there 
 is a profusion of ornament ; but generally speak 
 ing, a very good taste prevails in the designs of 
 the house and store fronts in the United States. 
 I am told that the new cities in the West rather 
 exceed than fall short of those near the Atlantic 
 coast in their magnificence and ornate style of 
 architecture. 
 
 Having seen a number of large cities of the 
 Old World, I confess I was a little startled to 
 find them so much eclipsed in architectural 
 beauty by these comparatively modern towns 
 of the United States. Nowhere have I seen a 
 street at all to be compared with Broadway, 
 New York, in grandeur and richness of appear 
 ance. This it owes to its breadth, the loftiness 
 of the buildings, the fine material of which 
 they are made (often a beautiful white marble) _, 
 and the elegant and varied architecture. Regent 
 Street, Oxford Street, and the Strand in London, 
 as well as the Boulevards of Paris, must hide 
 their diminished heads when contrasted with 
 
XClllII AMERICA. 
 
 the great street of the commercial capital of the 
 States. Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, and 
 Birmingham look dull, dingy, and monotonous, 
 when compared with Boston or Philadelphia. 
 The smaller towns, too, have a clean, tasteful, 
 and cheerful aspect. The suburban villas in 
 such places as Fall River and Newhaven are 
 singularly elegant ; and the cottages of the 
 workmen in the latter, isolated, and in the 
 midst of a bit of garden ground, are remark 
 ably neat and comfortable-looking. There are 
 trees in most of the streets; the houses, whether 
 of wood, stone, or brick, are, by some pretty 
 design, and painting or whitewashing, made to 
 please the eye ; and in all the New England 
 towns and villages there was a bright sunshiny 
 look, that I could not but envy and admire. 
 
 The geology of a country has much to do 
 with the character of its architecture. Where 
 there is abundance of a material capable of re 
 ceiving and preserving beautiful forms, there, 
 sooner or later, they will arise under the hands 
 of the sculptor and architect. The oolite in the 
 vicinity of Bath, and the fine freestone near 
 Edinburgh, have rendered these cities the most 
 elegant in Britain. But a great part of Eng 
 land is in the tertiary formation, where clay is 
 more plentiful than good building stone; and 
 
228 SKETCHES IN 
 
 as neither bricks nor outside coverings of plaster 
 are well adapted for architectural ornaments, 
 London and other towns in the middle and 
 south of England are, and will probably re 
 main, inferior to most other cities in the ap 
 pearance of the buildings. An architect in 
 Philadelphia told me that he considered that 
 city and Edinburgh to be the prettiest cities 
 he had seen. Everywhere, along the Atlantic 
 coast, fine building-stone seems to be at hand, 
 or easily accessible; and to this, in part, we 
 must attribute the superior appearance of the 
 cities. Some fine building material, freestone, 
 of a fawn or rose tint, is imported into the 
 United States, from New Brunswick and Nova 
 Scotia. 
 
 Another reason for the superior style of the 
 buildings in the American cities may be found 
 in the circumstance that, from the decay of the 
 previous wooden tenements, or the rapid exten 
 sion of business, requiring them to be replaced 
 by larger structures, many houses and stores 
 even whole streets have been rebuilt within the 
 last few years ; and everywhere, in both Britain 
 and America, there has been, within that time, a 
 decided re-action against the taste (?) for plain, 
 grim, ugly buildings which prevailed through 
 out] the British empire from about the time of 
 
XOiiTH AMERICA. 229 
 
 "William III. Nothing can be more elegant 
 than the new parts of Edinburgh and Glasgow 
 and of London (so far as brick and plaster will 
 permit), or the schools, churches, villas, rail 
 way-stations, etc., erected in Britain during the 
 last fifteen or twenty years. This happy re 
 vival of architectural taste has taken place also 
 in the United States, and the fine building ma 
 terial and frequent opportunities for rebuilding 
 have co-operated with this fortunate renaissance 
 in adorning the cities of the great Republic. 
 
 Besides, the American is extravagant, and 
 fond of having things about him handsome and 
 stylish-looking. In matters of taste, go-a-head 
 is still the rule ; he likes show and dash, and to 
 have his house, his furniture, his store, his 
 equipage, his wife and daughters finer than his 
 neighbours. Not only must he have his own 
 private carriage elegant, but he will not ride 
 in a poor, common-looking public conveyance. 
 There is no cheap, handy cab or fiacre to be 
 had in the American cities (or, at least, in many 
 of them) like the one-horse cabs of London or 
 Paris, that will take you a short drive for six 
 pence, and a long way for one shilling or one 
 shilling and sixpence. Yankee scorns such a 
 shabby-looking vehicle ; his street conveyance is 
 a huge thing, like a country gentleman s family 
 
230 SKETCHES IN 
 
 coach, very handsome, and drawn by two horses ; 
 but for the honour of driving in which you 
 must pay extravagantly, so much so, that one 
 seldom thinks of it unless two or three are to 
 gether, and one is going a long way. More 
 than once, when remarking on the want of some 
 small vehicle, the reply was, " Ah ! that would 
 be a poor affair. " In some of the large towns, 
 the want of this cheap cab is less felt in certain 
 parts of the town, at least from the very con 
 venient street-railways, which are now laid along 
 most of the great thoroughfares. 
 
 The Americans have a somewhat unromantic 
 way of naming the streets in their towns by 
 numbers, or the letters of the alphabet, instead 
 of giving them the names of countries, rivers, 
 distinguished men, etc., according to the usual 
 method. But this plan of street nomenclature 
 is attended with very great convenience, par 
 ticularly to a stranger. The greater part of an 
 American town having been planned out long 
 before any of it was built, the streets have been 
 arranged so as to be mostly at right angles to 
 one another. This is the case in Washington 
 with all the streets, excepting a few called 
 avenues, which cross the others obliquely, and 
 have the names of the States assigned to them, 
 as Pennsylvania Avenue, Massachusetts Avenue. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 231 
 
 The other streets are denominated by numbers 
 and letters. Those running east and west are 
 A, B, C, D, etc. ; those crossing them, in a 
 north and south direction, 1,2, 3, 4, etc. Thus, 
 wherever you may be,, you can find out exactly 
 in a moment, by looking at the letters and 
 numbers at the corners of the streets, which 
 way you have to go to a street in any part of 
 the town. Further, if a proper address has 
 been given, you know how far you have to go, 
 that is, to what part of the street. The address, 
 10th street, between F and G, or K (street), 
 between 12 and 13, indicates, at once, the part 
 of the street, or block of houses, for which, you 
 have to look. The same principle, though not 
 so completely carried out, is found in other 
 towns in the United States, as New York and 
 Philadelphia. It is pleasing to find that the 
 citizens of the United States have taken advan 
 tage of the newness of their towns to introduce 
 this extremely convenient and useful mode of 
 naming the streets ; one more example, in ad 
 dition to the numbers that meet one every 
 where, of the ingenuity and eminently practical 
 character of the people. 
 
 Several of the cities have admirable muni 
 cipal arrangements, and publish yearly reports, 
 exhibiting everything of interest regarding the 
 
232 SKETCHES IN 
 
 condition of the city during the past year. One 
 of the most complete and satisfactory of these is 
 that of the city of Boston. A gentleman of that 
 distinguished city favoured me with a copy of 
 its Forty-sixth Annual Report, being for the 
 financial year 1857-8. The following parti 
 culars, extracted from this volume one of 
 three hundred pages may be interesting. 
 
 The revenue from ordinary sources, applic 
 able to the payment of the current expenses of 
 the city, was 2,303,050 dollars, of which 
 2,219,979 were derived from direct taxation. 
 The population of the city in that year was nearly 
 170,000, which gives, therefore, a taxation of 
 thirteen dollars per head, or 2 14s. sterling. 
 The national taxation amounts to about two 
 dollars per head, which gives fifteen dollars, or 
 3 2s. as the average amount levied in the 
 form of taxes (direct and indirect) on every 
 individual in Boston. Thus it will be seen that 
 the people of that city, at least, are by no means 
 lightly taxed. It must be observed, however, that 
 poor-rates are included in the above, and that 
 the citizens have the right, of which many avail 
 themselves, of a free education for their children. 
 
 The taxes are essentially four a poll or 
 head tax of one and a-half dollars on every male 
 resident citizen of the age of twenty or upwards, 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 233 
 
 and taxes on real estate, personal estate, and 
 income from profession, salary, or trade. The 
 three latter are compounded into one. The 
 personal estate consists of goods, merchandise, 
 money, furniture, and plate in use above a 
 thousand dollars in value, ships, mortgages, 
 and moneys at interest more than interest is 
 paid on, stocks of all kinds (except United 
 States stock), horses, cattle, carriages, etc. The 
 income-tax is charged only on the amount of 
 income over 600 dollars. 
 
 Taxes are assessed on the combined value 
 of real and personal estate on the following 
 basis. If the person owns real estate to the 
 estimated value of 5000 dollars, and personal 
 estate valued at 3000 dollars, and his salary 
 or other income from trade or profession is 
 valued at 1500 dollars, he is taxed as follows : 
 
 DOLLAKS. 
 
 Real estate, however much it may be mort 
 gaged, at its full value .... 5000 
 Personal estate, same .... 3000 
 Income, 1500, less GOO .... 900 
 
 8900 
 Supposing the rate for the year to be 7 
 
 dollars on every 1000, his tax on real DDLS. CTS. 
 
 and personal estate and income would be 62 30 
 Poll tax . 1 50 
 
 Total tax, dollars 63 80 
 Q 
 
231 SKETCHES IN 
 
 Thus it will be seen that the Bostonians, in 
 their system of taxation, favour the man who 
 lives on the precarious income dependent on 
 his own life and exertions in two ways : first, in 
 leaving 600 dollars of that untaxed ; next, in 
 assessing annually the whole value of all real and 
 personal estate, instead of its annual proceeds. 
 
 From loans, bonds, and mortgages, and 
 land sales 1,373,110 dollars were raised during 
 the year, making the total revenue 3,676,160 
 dollars.* 
 
 The net expenditure was 3,371,04.2 dollars, 
 including among others the following items : 
 Bridges, 26,117; fire department, 107,355; 
 celebration of the 4th of July, 16,242; health 
 and quarantine department, 107,708; houses of 
 industry, reformation, etc., 102,541 ; the poor, 
 about 60,000; police, 201,840; schools and 
 ordinary repairs of school -houses, 345,519; 
 streets, paving, lighting, etc., 417,614; contri 
 bution to the State tax, 337,945 ; public 
 library building, 129,050. 
 
 THE AMERICAN HOTEL is a great invention, 
 characteristic at once of the practical head, 
 republican equality, and travelling propensities 
 
 * The rate of taxation had increased from 6 dollars per 
 1000 in 1847, to 9.30 dollars per 1000 in 1857. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 235 
 
 of Brother Jonathan. It is simply the applica 
 tion of the co-operative principle to cheapen the 
 expenses of travelling. A number of people 
 agree to breakfast and dine together instead of 
 separately, by which they can do so much more 
 cheaply than if each ordered a separate meal 
 for himself; and the landlord arranges the 
 mutual co-operation for them, without giving 
 the guests any trouble about it. The result is 
 a great reduction in hotel expenses. In the 
 best hotels in Boston you have everything you 
 require, of the finest quality, and including ices 
 and dessert after dinner, as well as servants 
 fees, and all in the handsomest style, for two 
 and a-half dollars (about 10s. Qd.) per day; in 
 others, equally good in every respect, but not 
 so noted as fashionable resorts, for two dollars 
 (8s. 3d.~) per day; and I was in a hotel in 
 Philadelphia where the charge was 6s. per day, 
 the only material differences being, that there 
 were negro waiters, and no ices; while there 
 are some so low as 5s. or 4s. per day. Some 
 hotels in New York, Washington, etc., charge 
 12s. per day; but in these, excepting a little 
 more luxuriance in furniture, and the presence 
 of a richer class, there is little advantage over 
 those at two and a-half dollars daily, which is 
 the general rate in the best hotels. In Boston, 
 
236 SKETCHES IN 
 
 I usually went to the AMERICAN HOUSE, at 
 8*. 3d. per day, where I had every comfort,, 
 every luxury I desired, so far as they could be 
 had upon the American plan a large, very hand 
 some, well-conducted hotel indeed. Breakfast 
 was going on from about seven in the morning till 
 eleven o clock, dinner from one to near live, tea 
 from six to nine, and those who wished it could 
 have a little supper besides from nine to twelve 
 o clock. There was a well-furnished bar, at 
 which every kind of liquor could be had, or it 
 might be brought to you at table. There was an 
 excellent news-room, well stocked with papers 
 from all quarters, a writing-room, a comfortable 
 and handsomely furnished sitting-room for 
 gentlemen, another for ladies and gentlemen 
 with them, a visitors room, and a large hall or 
 lobby with well- cushioned seats, where you 
 could sit and smoke, and be amused by the 
 never-ending crowds going out and in. 
 
 At any of the hotels charging from two 
 dollars per day upwards, abundance was sup 
 plied of the best articles, dressed in the best 
 style. In the printed bill of fare for dinner at 
 the American House, for January 9, 1860, 
 there were, besides soup and fish, six varieties 
 of boiled meats, three of cold meats, ten entrees, 
 six roasts, besides a variety of vegetables, relishes, 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 237 
 
 puddings and pastry, pineapple ice-cream, 
 blanc-raange, nuts and raisins, etc. The other 
 meals were in the same style. I mention these 
 to show what is done in the United States, in 
 hotels, by the application of the co-operative 
 principle. I suppose that in England one would 
 pay nearly double for the same extent of accom 
 modation and entertainment. A hotel upon the 
 American plan, with a restaurant attached, 
 would probably meet with great success in any 
 of our large towns. 
 
 The one advantage of the American hotel is 
 its cheapness ; in every other respect the 
 English hotel is preferable. In. the latter, you 
 have a dining-room or a little side table, as the 
 case may be, to yourself, which is your "English 
 man s house is his castle " for the time being ; 
 you order what you please, when you please ; 
 you are not lost in a crowd ; you are a great 
 man ; the waiter bows low, the landlord treats 
 you with respect ; they seem to be paying atten 
 tion to you alone; you sit comfortably in your 
 snug parlour or almost equally snug corner in 
 the public room, and rest yourself after a meal, 
 instead of hurrying out of a huge, dismal hall, 
 which is merely a place for feeding in ; you 
 enjoy <! mine ease in mine inn." 
 
 All this is very pleasant and very comfort- 
 
238 SKETCHES IN 
 
 able, but it has to be paid for. In the Ameri 
 can hotel, on the other hand, you are nobody ; 
 the landlord is the great man, so great that he 
 is seldom to be seen you are merely one out 
 of two or three hundred, "classed amongst 
 creatures/ as Byron says, must be at hand at 
 the proper hours, are huddled in with the mob, 
 get not always enough of elbow room, wait 
 your turn in silence, for chit-chat is not en 
 couraged, take what is provided for you and be 
 thankful, hurry out immediately you have 
 finished, no doubt with the wants of the ani 
 mal machine supplied ; but this is not "dining.-" 
 It is unpleasant to those not " to the manner 
 born;" but it is cheap. The waiters in the 
 best hotels are mostly Irish ; in the others, ne 
 groes. The humble position of a waiter is below 
 the dignity of a Yankee. 
 
 The number of large hotels, even in towns 
 of but moderate size, is surprising, and shows 
 that the Americans are greatly given to travel 
 ling. I am aware it is said that these hotels 
 are not occupied by travellers only, but also by 
 others unmarried gentlemen, or families not 
 inclined to incur the troubles of housekeeping. 
 But the number of such parties is not great ; 
 and there can be no doubt of the locomotive 
 propensities of the people of the United States. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 239 
 
 In travelling along an American railway, even 
 in winter, the cars are repeatedly almost emptied 
 and filled again, and crowds are waiting at every 
 station. Indeed, the cheap railway fares, com 
 fortable cars, and moderate hotel charges, tempt 
 people to travel : they have done so in the 
 United States, and, doubtless, would have the 
 same effect in this country. 
 
 Besides the large or public hotels, there are 
 innumerable private hotels or boarding-houses 
 in North America, which take the place of our 
 "furnished apartments." These are extremely 
 convenient. This arrangement is a very agree 
 able one for solitary persons, or couples without 
 families, as well as for those who must practise 
 economy. By this combination, one can com 
 mand many more comforts and luxuries than 
 in lodgings with the same means ; and there is 
 always some society to cheer one and help to 
 while away hours that would otherwise be lonely. 
 It is true, one cannot choose one s society in 
 a boarding-house, and it might be supposed 
 that many unpleasant encounters of temper and 
 caprice must occur. But the people get used to 
 the system, learn to smooth down their corners, 
 and generally, so far as I could see or hear, live 
 very happily together. I was told by an English 
 man, who lived several years in a very respectable 
 
240 SKETCHES IX 
 
 boarding-house, where there were some per 
 manent residents and many coming and going 
 for short periods,, that, in all that time, lie met 
 only one who did not amalgamate pleasantly 
 with the others. This was a crnsty old gentle 
 man who had a temper of his own. But he did 
 not stay long ; he left, ostensibly, because his 
 dignity was offended by another gentleman, 
 who had to go out early in the morning, getting 
 his breakfast first ; it was slyly hinted, however, 
 that the seceder was jealous of the gentleman s 
 attentions to his wife, a very agreeable elderly 
 lady, nearer sixty than fifty years of age. Such 
 are the droll occurrences that take place in 
 boarding-houses occasionally. The boarding 
 system in America greatly promotes the happi 
 ness and comfort of that large class of persons, 
 especially females, who are left alone in the 
 world, and who, in their own houses or in 
 lodgings, have so many hours of dreary lonely 
 pining. For such persons, for those with limited 
 incomes, and for strangers in a place, the board 
 ing-house is a very happy arrangement, that 
 might, with great advantage, be more exten 
 sively introduced in this country. In North 
 America the weekly charge for board varies 
 from ten dollars to four, or even three dollars ; 
 seven dollars per week (1 8s. 6d.) should 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 241 
 
 afford every comfort, in a good style, and with 
 the society of a well-educated, intelligent, and 
 respectable circle. It is an evil in the boarding 
 system that it sometimes tempts families to 
 give up housekeeping, and the children are 
 without a proper home or father s fireside ; and 
 there are yet other evils, which need not be re 
 ferred to here. But it is attended with very 
 great advantages for large classes/whose happi 
 ness and comfort it greatly promotes. The 
 solitary furnished lodging of the Englishman, 
 and the social boarding-house of the American 
 are national characteristics. 
 
 AMERICAN SCHOOLS. Travelling in the 
 United States is quite exhilarating; it is drink 
 ing in continual draughts of intellectual cordial. 
 There is such a look of fire and intelligence in 
 the people, such an activity and energy of busi 
 ness, so many clever contrivances, inventions, 
 projects, and " notions," meeting one at every 
 turn ; so many conflicts of mind with mind, in 
 which all partake ; so many associations, public 
 meetings, demonstrations; so many cheap 
 papers and journals, instructing, arguing, as 
 serting, denying, opposing; so noble, widely- 
 diffused, and prominent a system of education 
 for all classes, and in which all classes take a 
 lively interest ; and such an universal develop- 
 
242 SKETCHES IX 
 
 ment of freedom, progress, and intellectual life, 
 that one is forced to admit in the Americans a 
 great, energetic, most intelligent, and original 
 people, such as the world has never seen before. 
 
 Of the great doings of the people of the 
 United States of America, the greatest and 
 most honourable to them is their system of 
 common schools. The universal diffusion of 
 these schools, the liberal scale on which they 
 are established and conducted, and their com 
 pleteness and efficiency, render them the just 
 pride, as well as the hope, and perhaps the 
 safety, of the nation. 
 
 In the matter of education, the Americans 
 exhibit no f ignorant impatience of taxation;" 
 on the contrary, they impose upon themselves, 
 and cheerfully submit to, heavy taxes for the 
 purpose of educating the people. It is difficult 
 to ascertain exactly how much they expend 
 yearly upon their public schools; but as an 
 approximation not very remote from the truth, 
 it may be said, that a large part of the nation 
 pays annually at the rate of a dollar a head for 
 public education ; or (if that rate were universal), 
 thirty-one millions of dollars, nearly six and 
 a-half millions of pounds sterling for the whole. 
 The rate is different in different States the 
 north and north-west contributing most liberally 
 
XORTH AMERICA. 243 
 
 to this great object. In the financial year 
 1857-8, Massachusetts, with a population of 
 1,132,369, raised by taxes for the promotion of 
 education 1,341,252 dollars. In the same year, 
 1857-8, the City of Boston, with a population 
 then of about 170,000, expended 345,519 dollars 
 on schools and ordinary repairs of school-houses, 
 being at the rate of two dollars per head. The 
 City of New York, with a population of less 
 than 800,000, in 1857, expended in that year 
 1,101,081 dollars on public education; of which 
 898,175 dollars, or more than one dollar per 
 head, were raised by the tax on. real and per 
 sonal estate ; the remainder was received from 
 the State school-fund. In Philadelphia, 475,781 
 dollars were expended on public schools, in 1858, 
 with a population of about 500,000. In the 
 same year, the State of Ohio, with a population 
 a little above two millions, laid out 2,739,837 
 dollars on educating its people ; and Missouri, 
 a slave State, in 1857, with a population of 
 about 700,000, expended upwards of 630,000 
 dollars on public education. The ample means 
 provided for education are derived partly from 
 a State school-fund, originating in the school 
 lands allotted for the purpose in the early stage 
 of the settlement of the State, and partly from 
 taxes. The State of Wisconsin, a compara- 
 
244 SKETCHES IN 
 
 lively new State, admitted to join the Union in 
 1848, now with a population of 600,000, had, in 
 1858, a school-fund of 3,107,484 dollars, giving, 
 at seven percent., an annual revenue of 217,523 
 dollars, and being constantly increased by the 
 sale of school lands ; and 334,000 dollars were 
 raised by taxation, for educational purposes, 
 during the year. Besides this, there was a 
 University fund of 316,365 dollars, the interest 
 of which at seven per cent, was applied for the 
 benefit of the State University at Madison. 
 
 The great majority of the youth of the United 
 States are educated at the public schools, and 
 these are now, in most districts, so very effi 
 cient, that some of the wealthier classes also 
 send their children to them. But I believe the 
 greater part of the latter are sent to private 
 schools. Parties connected with the public 
 schools seemed unwilling to admit this, as to 
 boys at least, though they allowed that the girls 
 of the better classes mostly received their educa 
 tion at private establishments. In 1858, in 
 eighteen leading towns in Massachusetts (Bos 
 ton not included), 30,553 children Attended the 
 public schools, at a cost to the State (exclusive 
 of any charge for school-houses) of 259,379 
 dollars, or eight dollars forty-nine cents, as the 
 cost of the instruction of each child. In the 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 245 
 
 same towns, in the same year, it was calculated 
 that 2750 children were educated in 121 pri 
 vate schools, at a cost of 82,780 dollars, or more 
 than thirty dollars for each. 
 
 The schools are generally free there being 
 no charge whatever; in many, even the school- 
 books are supplied gratuitously. In Baltimore, 
 a charge of one dollar per quarter is made iu 
 some of the schools for<morc advanced pupils, 
 books being liberally supplied; but free admis 
 sion will be given to those whose parents are 
 unable to pay ; and, to the same class of persons, 
 books will be given freely, in places where the 
 custom is to let the pupils pay for their own 
 school-books. 
 
 There are different arrangements in the 
 different States; but, generally, there are three 
 classes of schools the Primary, for those under 
 ten or eleven years of age; the Grammar 
 Schools, for those from about ten to fifteen years 
 of age ; and the High Schools, for those from 
 sixteen to twenty years of age : the latter is, in 
 reality, a kind of college, at least for those who 
 stay long enough to go through the complete 
 course. Above these still are the Universities, 
 such as Harvard College, near Boston; Yale 
 College, in Xewhaven. The following shows 
 the annual cost for each pupil, furnished gra- 
 
246 SKETCHES IX 
 
 tuitously by the public, in five of the High 
 Schools : 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 Boston Latin High School ... 58 
 
 ., English High School . . .83 
 
 Girls High and formal School . 43| 
 New York Free Academy . . . .57^ 
 Philadelphia High School .... 35 
 
 These differences depend partly on the repu 
 tation and success of the schools, the expense 
 for each being less when the school is crowded, 
 and partly on the different ideas of the managers 
 as to the requisite number of professors and 
 subjects of instruction. 
 
 The yearly cost of instruction per pupil in 
 the lower schools (grammar and primary) was, 
 in New York city, five and a quarter dollars ; 
 in Philadelphia, six and a quarter dollars; in 
 the country districts it is somewhat less. The 
 cost in the Boston primary schools is nine 
 and one-third dollars ; in the Boston grammar 
 schools, eighteen and a half dollars. 
 
 The school houses are large, substantial, 
 handsome-looking buildings, most completely 
 supplied with every sort of educational furniture 
 and apparatus, of good material. That great 
 educational improvement, the single isolated 
 seat and desk for each scholar (or one for two 
 together) is adopted almost everywhere. This 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 247 
 
 is attended with great advantages, isolating 
 each scholar from the rest, and enabling him 
 to come out of his place without disturbing the 
 others. The expense is spared in materiel that 
 will tend to make the school comfortable, 
 agreeable, and efficient. In the estimated 
 school expenditure for the city of New York, 
 for 1858, I find 9000 dollars set clown for the 
 Ward (grammar) schools to supply them with 
 pianos; in the expenditure of the year 1857, 
 689 dollars for instruments, apparatus, and 
 chemicals for the use of the Free Academy of 
 that city ; and the State of Massachusetts, up to 
 the end of the year 1858, had supplied to the 
 schools throughout the country, for the use of 
 the teachers and scholars, 3581 copies of 
 Webster s large English Dictionary, and 116 of 
 Worcester s, at a cost to the State of 14,556 
 dollars. Everything is on the most liberal 
 scale : taste, and imparting a handsome, cheer 
 ful aspect to the school rooms, are consulted as 
 well as efficiency ; they are spacious, and almost 
 elegantly furnished; and there is a clean, 
 bright, lively look about them, that render 
 them agreeable to the inmates, and pleasant to 
 visitors. 
 
 The salaries of the teachers are different in 
 different districts. The average pay of the 
 
248 SKETCHES IN 
 
 male teachers in the State of Massachusetts 
 (Boston included), is about COO dollars, or 120 
 sterling per annum ; of the female teachers, 
 235 dollars yearly, or 47 sterling. In Ohio, 
 male teachers are paid at the rate of 335 dollars 
 per annum; females, 156 dollars. In some of 
 the country districts they are not employed 
 during the whole of the year. In the cities, 
 the pay is much higher, and employment con 
 stant, or permanent at least. In the Boston 
 primary schools, the teachers, mostly (or alto 
 gether) females, receive 390 dollars per annum. 
 I have not been able to learn the exact average 
 salaries, for the whole of Boston, of the teachers 
 in the next higher class of schools, the grammar 
 schools, but it is not far from 600 dollars. In 
 the Dwight grammar school for boys, which I 
 visited, there are two teachers, a master, an 
 usher, and eight female teachers, and the total 
 amount of teachers salaries was 5760 dollars, 
 (giving an average of 576 dollars), of which, no 
 doubt, the two male teachers have the lion s 
 share. I do not find in the Boston report any 
 data for the salaries of the different grades of 
 teachers in the grammar schools, nor in the 
 report for the city of New York. But in these 
 cities, the proportions are probably not very 
 different from what they are in Philadelphia, as 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 249 
 
 to which detailed information is supplied. In 
 the grammar schools of that city, the usual 
 arrangement is as follows : in a boys school, 
 with 275 on the books, and an average attend 
 ance of 255, there is a male principal, with a 
 salary of 1200 dollars,, and four female teachers, 
 with, respectively, 350, 280, 260, and 240 
 dollars yearly salary. In a girls school, with 
 the same numbers, everything was the same, 
 except that there was a female principal, with a 
 salary of 600 dollars ; that being the highest 
 amount paid to any female teacher in the public 
 schools cf Philadelphia. In the secondary 
 schools of that city, conducted entirely by fe 
 males, the salaries are from 350 dollars, that of 
 the principal, to 220 dollars ; and in the primary 
 schools, also conducted by females, from 300 
 dollars to 200 dollars, the latter being the lowest 
 amount paid to female teachers in Philadelphia. 
 Female teachers, as must have been observed 
 from statements already made, are much em 
 ployed in the tuition of boys in the United 
 States, and this tendency is rather on the in 
 crease. In Philadelphia, in the year 1857, of 
 fifty-eight new teachers appointed fifty-seven 
 were females. In New York, in 1858, of 1400 
 teachers in the public schools, 1200 were females, 
 200 males. The system is cheap, and seems to 
 
250 SKETCHES IX 
 
 \vork well ; the females appeared to Lave an 
 aptitude for teaching, and good discipline was 
 preserved. The services of an able, intelligent, 
 well instructed woman may be procured at half 
 the cost of those of a male, and for the junior 
 schools her labours are nearly equally efficient ; 
 the Americans say, more so in certain cases, 
 and have some fine-spun theories to prove that 
 in this case what is cheapest happens also to be 
 best adapted for the purpose. But there is no 
 doubt that economy is the prime mover of the 
 substitution of female for male teachers, which 
 is now going on so extensively in the United 
 States. In a number of schools, I had the plea 
 sure of seeing female teachers of great ability 
 indeed, who did their work thoroughly and well, 
 several in quite a masterly style. Many were 
 highly accomplished and very superior women. 
 But I cannot say that they appeared healthy 
 or happy : a careworn look was frequent. That 
 prevails, in some degree, in all American women, 
 but it seemed more marked amongst those en 
 gaged in teaching. Their labours are very 
 valuable to society, and it is better for them 
 selves to work than to pine and mope or starve ; 
 but still that is not their mission. 
 
 The schools are under the direction of a 
 General Board of Education for the State, Dis- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 251 
 
 trict, or City, chosen by the people, so many 
 committees having charge of certain school dis 
 tricts, and others of certain subjects as elec 
 tions, rules and regulations, salaries, accounts, 
 text-books, school-houses, music, etc. Boston 
 is divided into eighteen school districts, each 
 having a grammar school and a number of pri 
 mary schools, under the superintendence (sub 
 ject to the rules laid down by the General 
 Board) of a school committee of about six or 
 seven members. Few respectable men are to 
 be met with in any part of the United States 
 who are not, or have not been members of 
 some school committee ; and these gentlemen 
 take great interest in their appointed work, and 
 are usually extremely well informed on every 
 thing relating to the cost, working, and general 
 condition of the schools under their control. 
 Thus, the whole of the more intelligent part of 
 the community is brought into direct acquaint 
 ance and intimate connection with the school 
 system, which greatly contributes to its strength 
 and popularity, and to the public interest in it. 
 There is usually a superintendent of public 
 schools, with assistant inspectors, who visit 
 them frequently (which the members of the 
 committee do also), and submit reports to the 
 General Board. 
 
252 SKETCHES IN 
 
 In the Massachusetts public schools,, there 
 are 218,198 children on the roll in winter,, or 
 about 1 in 7 of the population; of these 12,370 
 are under 5 years of age, 16,894 above 15. It 
 is believed that 74 per cent, of those between 
 the ages of 5 and 15 years of age are in actual 
 attendance at school. 
 
 I visited a great number of the schools 
 several more than once, and in some spent a 
 considerable time. The general impression 
 left on my mind was that the teaching was 
 most thorough and efficient. I speak of the 
 primary and grammar schools those that train 
 the great body of the population, which is 
 always comprised in the class that leaves school 
 before reaching sixteen years of age. In such 
 schools, classics and geometry were not taught 
 (the latter a little perhaps), and the great means 
 of intellectual training were grammar and arith 
 metic, with algebra. These were made the in 
 struments of most thorough mental exercise, 
 grammatical analysis and the principles of arith 
 metic being explored to their depths, and the 
 pupils being perfectly familiar with them in all 
 their parts. Any teacher who has examined 
 the very superior school-books on these subjects, 
 published in the United States, will be satisfied 
 that they are there taught in a very thorough 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 253 
 
 manner. It is an admirable practice, very 
 general in the American schools, to make the 
 pupil go to the board and work out there him 
 self the whole sum in arithmetic or algebra, 
 or the grammatical analysis, explaining every 
 step of the operation as he goes along ; to draw 
 maps on the board, or give demonstrations in 
 subjects of physical science, drawing the neces 
 sary illustrations. Again and again, I heard 
 girls of about eleven years of age and under, 
 after having worked sums on their slates in 
 rule of three, interest, fractions, etc., rise, and 
 with their slates before them, describe the whole 
 operation, with all the whys and wherefores, in 
 masterly style ; and all were alert, all anxious 
 to be called upon. Not only is the common 
 (< mental arithmetic," working sums mentally, 
 much practised, but that higher mental arith 
 metic, the study of the theory of the operation, 
 is very much cultivated. It is the same with 
 parsing, the same with such parts of physical 
 science as are taught to them. A girl of about 
 fifteen years of age stepped out to the board, 
 and making the necessary sketches as she went 
 along, demonstrated, by a variety of reasons, 
 the earth s rotundity, in a clear and systematic 
 style ; in fact, she spoke like a book, as one 
 might say. The girls exhibited remarkable 
 
254 SKETCHES IN 
 
 composure, self-confidence, and freedom from 
 embarrassment. This practice of giving out a 
 subject, and making the pupil expound it en 
 tirely, without any aid in questions from the 
 teacher, gives both command of thought and 
 language, fixes the matter in the mind, and en 
 ables a visitor to see what the pupils know and 
 can do. Both pupils and teachers seemed to be 
 pleased to show oil before the Britisher; but I 
 was in too many of their schools, and too long, 
 often arriving unexpectedly, and heard too many 
 examined, for any " showing off" in the unfa 
 vourable meaning of that expression; and it 
 certainly appeared to me that the work which 
 these schools professed to do, is well and 
 thoroughly done. As a native of the old 
 country, both teachers and pupils evinced the 
 greatest courtesy and good- will towards me. 
 And their politeness and friendly behaviour, 
 and the remarkable animation, intelligence, and 
 ability exhibited, made those very pleasant hours 
 indeed that I spent in the American schools. 
 .Frequently I was requested by the teacher, or a 
 member of the committee, to say a few words. 
 From all I could see or hear, there appeared to 
 prevail, amongst both teachers and pupils, a 
 very good feeling towards the (< old country." 
 Besides the subjects referred to above, the 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 2OO 
 
 history of the United States and early British 
 history are taught very fully in these schools; 
 geography and elocution receive a large share 
 of attention. All are taught algebra (girls as 
 well as boys), and seem to like it arid make 
 great progress in it ; it is introduced at an 
 earlier stage than amongst us. All are care 
 fully instructed in " the Constitution of the 
 United States;" physiology is fully taught, and 
 instruction in music is very general. 
 
 In the higher schools those semi-colleges 
 of the large cities science, especially physio 
 logy, is much cultivated. In the Free Academy 
 of New York there is a professor of chemistry 
 and physics, and one of " natural history, 
 anatomy, physiology, and hygiene ;" in the 
 Central High School of Philadelphia there are 
 two professors, devoted to the same subjects; 
 and in the Baltimore Central High School 
 natural philosophy and physiology are promi 
 nent parts of the course of instruction. In 
 these three institutions, also, there arc chairs 
 of mental and moral science. These are schools 
 for general, not professional education, meant 
 chiefly for youth from fifteen to eighteen years 
 of age ; and in these, as well as many others in 
 the United States, the two subjects, physiology 
 and mental science, seem to be especial favour- 
 
256 SKETCHES IN 
 
 ites, and to occupy a large portion of the pupil s 
 attention. It is interesting to notice that 
 EUCLID is almost banished from the United 
 States. Yale College, in Newhaven, was the 
 only place at which I saw it enumerated 
 amongst the text-hooks. The most usual sub 
 stitute is the work of the distinguished French 
 geometer,, LEGENDRE ; other condensed courses 
 are in use, but all seemed to be based on the 
 work of Legendre. 
 
 The schools being free, the liberal scale on 
 which they are supported, the efficient and 
 thorough character of the instruction given, 
 and the characteristic energy which pervades 
 every department, must, ere long, render the 
 people of the United States by far the best 
 educated nation in the world. Nor is it merely 
 a common or elementary education which is 
 thus extended freely to all ; those who desire it 
 can enter the more advanced institutions, and 
 pursue their education, in the highest branches, 
 up to nineteen or twenty years of age, or 
 further. The capacities and peculiar aptitudes 
 of all, even of the poorest, are called forth. To 
 the American people, education, in all its stages, 
 is free as the air they breathe. 
 
 Although the Americans generally take 
 great pride and pleasure in their public school 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 257 
 
 system, there is no want of objections to it. 
 Some hold that it is too costly, blame it as ex 
 travagant, and as a public burden that will not 
 be borne, at least to the same extent, and com 
 plain that the schools are much too good. 
 Probably these complaints emanate mainly 
 from those who send their children to private 
 schools, and who finding heavy charges there, 
 and seeing the very efficient education given in 
 the public schools, are a little out of humour at 
 being taxed for the support of the latter. But 
 now that it has taken root it will be difficult to 
 effect any reduction that would render the 
 schools less efficient. The great middle and 
 lower classes have the power in their hands, 
 and the taxes they pay are as nothing compared 
 with the return they receive in a superior edu 
 cation, free, for their children. 
 
 It is also urged " that the public schools are 
 worse than valueless injurious to the morals 
 and fatal to the religious interests of the pupils, 
 and that the alleged deterioration in the morals 
 of the community is justly chargeable to the 
 public schools." " That the frightful increase 
 of lawlessness, violence, and crime which is 
 apparent in our midst is attributable, to a very 
 great extent, to the legalised absence in our in 
 stitutions of religious teaching and Christian 
 
258 SKETCHES IN 
 
 and moral discipline." New York Sixteenth 
 Annual Report of the Board of Education, 1858. 
 
 The Board, in remarking upon the subject, 
 refers the alleged evils to "the principles of 
 trade, as more recently taught, by which it is 
 given up to free selfishness and competition ; 
 the doctrine practically set up that national 
 wealth is the highest national good; the tactics 
 of political parties, so full of temptations to 
 evil ; the wonderful activity with which crimes, 
 and even the rumours and suspicions of crimes, 
 are sought for and gathered up, painted in 
 vivid and romantic colours, and spread before 
 the whole people every day in the columns of 
 our able and interesting newspapers;" and 
 another cause, "more powerful than all other 
 causes put together, the thousands of idle and 
 ignorant children who never enter a school; 5 
 to remove which, industrial schools, under the 
 direction of the various religious denomina 
 tions, are recommended. 
 
 It is probable that these charges against the 
 schools are somewhat exaggerated ; but, on the 
 other hand, the replies do not seem altogether 
 satisfactory. Two important considerations are 
 not referred to, first, that any school can do but 
 little to implant religious principles; and next, that 
 secular or non-sectarian schools do least of all. 
 
XORTII AMElllCA. 259 
 
 That education forms the common mind is 
 true only when the word is taken in a large 
 souse, as including all the influences that 
 operate on the minds of the young; school 
 education is but one of these, by no means the 
 most powerful, quite inferior in force to the 
 home and parental influences. If the Ameri 
 cans are a religious people themselves, their 
 children will probably grow up religious also, 
 but not otherwise. Religion in the young is 
 derived from home, from the church, from the 
 Sunday-school, very little from the day-school, 
 where implanting information and cultivating 
 the intellect must ever be the great work ; 
 while the crowd, the bustle, the influence of the 
 youth on each other, and the but weak moral 
 power of one whose influence does not operate 
 through the affections, and of whose actions 
 little is seen, prevent any very impressive reli 
 gious effect being produced. But if any day- 
 school can do but little towards promoting 
 religious feelings, still less is in the reach of the 
 non-sectarian school. The abstraction which 
 we may term Christianity in general has a ten 
 dency to be no religion in particular. When 
 every sectarian principle is removed, the resi 
 duum is apt to prove but a caput mortuum, with 
 little rousing or vivifying effect. A passage of 
 
260 SKETCHES IN 
 
 Scripture read in the morning, without note 
 or comment, the routine daily repetition of the 
 Lord s Prayer and the Commandments, moral 
 injunctions by the teacher, " songs imbued 
 with the purest principles of Christian mo 
 rality/ have but little influence compared with 
 the daily systematic teaching of a Church 
 Catechism, enforced and impressed upon the 
 heart by the energy of a lively faith and earnest 
 convictions ; by the enthusiasm and authority of 
 a great religious institution holding a promi 
 nent place in the everyday lives and affections 
 of those who surround the child, mingling with 
 all it sees and hears ; the frequent visits of the 
 clergyman and elders, the connection between 
 these and like home and church influences, 
 mutually sanctioning and strengthening each 
 other. The education together of children of 
 different sects has many beauties and advan 
 tages, but, for any religious effect, is quite 
 feeble ; and it is useless expecting the secular 
 school to compete with the sectarian one 
 in this respect. If the Americans wish 
 their schools to do something towards training 
 up their youth religiously, they must bring 
 them under an energetic sectarian influence. 
 But they will not do that ; the being open to 
 all sects is a vital principle with them ; then 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 2G1 
 
 their only hope must be the example of their 
 own religious lives, the influence of the church, 
 the pastor, and the Sunday-school. 
 
 If it be true, as alleged by some of the 
 Americans themselves, that there is a " deterio 
 ration in the morals of the community," we may, 
 perhaps, find the chief causes of this in the 
 excessive development of freedom of thought and 
 action, and impatience of control, which pervade 
 the whole American system, rather than in the 
 schools. Though commencing with political 
 liberty, and a spirit of resistance to laws and 
 public authorities, the tendency of these is to pass 
 to excessive individual liberty in other things and 
 impatience of every kind of restraint; and from 
 many things which occur in the United States, 
 there appear some grounds for the opinion, that 
 the extent to which freedom from restraint by 
 public authorities is carried, is leading, in all 
 classes, to an inclination for freedom from moral 
 restraint. When, with the pride in being free, 
 there is conjoined the pride of intellect, so 
 highly developed by the schools, the press, and 
 the political system of the United States, it is 
 not impossible that there may be a general 
 weakening of the force of those moral influences 
 and checks, which, in communities less advanced 
 politically and intellectually, have so powerful an 
 
262 SKETCHES IX 
 
 effect for good. If these be causes of the moral 
 deterioration referred to, they will be by no 
 means confined to the United States, though 
 pushed much further there; for we are all tending 
 in the same direction in which the Americans, 
 by their liberty and equality, and immense 
 energy, are far a-head of other nations. Con 
 nected with this subject is the curious result 
 said to have been found in some of the states of 
 continental Europe that crime is not less, but 
 rather more frequent, in those places where 
 education and intellectual development have 
 been pushed furthest. 
 
 If well founded, it is a serious objection to 
 the management of the American schools, that 
 the health of the children is injured by exces 
 sive work. It is very difficult to judge as to 
 this ; several medical men of eminence in the 
 United States have asserted that this is the 
 case ; but the tremendous energy of the people, 
 and the competition between the several schools, 
 soon cause these warnings to be forgotten or 
 neglected. In some places, I heard, the com 
 mittees had forbidden lessons being given out 
 for home study; which, however, will be a great 
 loss as to the development of a power of self- 
 education. I should think that many young 
 girls in these schools are so much confined, 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 263 
 
 and have their brains so taxed, not only by 
 much work, but by being early pushed too far 
 forward, as to injure the health of both them 
 selves and future generations. I have seen not 
 a few little girls much concerned with the con 
 sequences which flow from the product of the 
 means being equal to the product of the ex 
 tremes ; or with the constitutional course of 
 procedure of the President in vetoing a bill, 
 who, as I imagined, would have been much 
 more advantageously occupied with their dolls, 
 hoops, or skipping-ropes. These are difficulties 
 we are all perplexed about. The true solutions 
 seem to be, not sending children so early to 
 school, and when they are sent, for a consi 
 derable time placing them there only for two or 
 three hours daily, instead of the long oppres 
 sive six hours. But this implies mothers 
 able to educate their children in their early 
 years, willing to do so, and not looking upon 
 the school as a happy means of getting rid of 
 them. 
 
 In the United States, as well as in the pro 
 vinces of British America, the Roman Catholics 
 seem dissatisfied with the public schools, and 
 desire to have their share of the public school 
 fund, to establish separate schools in which their 
 youth may be brought up according to their own 
 
261- SKETCHES IN 
 
 religious system. In Boston, lately, there was a 
 disturbance in one of the public schools., arising 
 out of this question. The Catholic children 
 had been instructed not to repeat the Ten Com 
 mandments, nor join in the Lord s Prayer. 
 " There was a general disturbance and disorder 
 in the different school-rooms during the usual 
 reading of the Bible. The boys scraped with 
 their feet, and made much disturbance by 
 whistling and muttering; they afterwards all 
 refused to say the Lord s Prayer, or recite the 
 Ten Commandments." The father of one of 
 the boys who was punished for this misconduct, 
 made a complaint in the police-court against 
 the teacher who had inflicted the punishment ; 
 but the latter was supported by the court. In 
 New York, also, there is much trouble on this 
 subject, and in some of the schools the religious 
 exercises had to be omitted. These are of so 
 very slight and general a nature, that they can 
 hardly give a leaning towards, or from any reli 
 gion at all; but the Catholics wish their religion 
 taught to their youth at school, and for this 
 purpose desire separate schools. It is natural 
 that they should wish this, as the tendency of 
 free intermixture with the other children during 
 their school career is to weaken the force of 
 Catholic principles in the minds of the children 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 265 
 
 of that community. It has been said that 
 numbers of the families of Catholic emigrants 
 in the third generation, are found to abandon 
 the old faith. The emigrant himself remains 
 steadfast ; his children, brought up under the 
 influence of his faith and zeal, conform at least ; 
 but the accumulating influence of the heretical 
 atmosphere of America, tells upon the next 
 generation. The Americans, however, are proud 
 of their non-sectarian schools, and the educa 
 tional boards have steadily resisted every en 
 deavour to make them swerve from the plan 
 they have laid down. 
 
 WOMAN IN AMERICA. The New World 
 has not been more successful than the Old one 
 in finding the solution of the great woman- 
 problem How to procure for woman that situa 
 tion in life for which nature evidently designed 
 her, but which so many women are unable to 
 attain, and in default of which we find so much 
 bad health, vice, or listless pining among the 
 fairer portion of the human race. But the 
 eminently practical genius of the United States, 
 if it has not found the means of removing the 
 evil, has freely opened the door for palliations, 
 and made important steps towards lessening it, 
 by giving women access to employments, that 
 afford them at once the means of becoming 
 
266 SKETCHES IN 
 
 independent, and of having some useful work 
 with which to occupy and interest themselves. 
 They are beginning to be employed in printing 
 offices, as clerks, and at the Smithsonian s In 
 stitution, at Washington, I found a female 
 engaged in this capacity. They are extensively 
 employed as teachers, of boys as well as of girls ; 
 and the medical profession has been opened up 
 to them, not only with advantage to themselves, 
 but, it is said, greatly for the benefit of society, 
 that finds, in the peculiar aptitudes of females, 
 the supply of certain wants that had been over 
 looked or not sufficiently attended to. 
 
 At Philadelphia, I visited the Female Medical 
 College of Pennsylvania. This institution was 
 established in the year 1850, and up to the end 
 of the seventh session, upwards of 150 female 
 students had matriculated at it, some desiring 
 to pursue the complete course and take the 
 degree of M.D., others merely desiring to 
 attend particular classes. The candidate for the 
 degree must have studied medicine for three 
 years, attended two courses of lectures on each 
 of seven leading subjects specified, presented 
 a thesis of her own composition and penman 
 ship, and passed an examination by each of the 
 professors. The cost of instruction for the 
 whole course, and of the graduation fee, amounts 
 
N011TH AMERICA. 267 
 
 to 175 dollars. Seven ladies graduated in the 
 sixth year; four in the seventh year. There 
 are seven professorships, two filled by females. 
 Ann Preston, M.D., is Professor of Physiology 
 and Hygiene; Emeline H. Cleveland, M.D., 
 Professor of Anatomy and Histology, and De 
 monstrator of Anatomy. In her valedictory 
 address for the session 1857-8, Dr. Ann Preston 
 says, " The question of the success of woman 
 as physician is not now an open one. Her 
 success is already a matter, not of hope or of 
 prophecy, but of history. That women, as well 
 as men, who are unqualified and incompetent, 
 have entered the ranks, we cannot deny; but 
 there are medical women, in practice, amply 
 sustained pecuniarily, who walk daily amid the 
 benedictions of those whom their skill and 
 knowledge have relieved." Professor Emeline 
 Cleveland, in her introductory lecture for the 
 session 1858-9, states, "It has become an 
 established fact, that women shall henceforth 
 form a part of the medical profession, and 
 though prejudice has not yet entirely worn 
 away, we are most happy to know and to assure 
 you that its strength has departed ; that the 
 popular mind is apprehending the need of 
 enlightened, intelligent female physicians ; that 
 the public press is on the side of our enter- 
 
268 SKETCHES IN 
 
 prize/ etc. So far as I could ascertain, these 
 statements of the learned professors are not 
 without foundation. In Philadelphia, and in 
 some other places in the United States, there 
 are very respectable, regularly educated female 
 physicians in considerable practice. I asked 
 one or two medical men their opinions on the 
 subject, but they did not seem, to like it, and 
 talked rather disparagingly of the movement. 
 Everything new has a charm for the Americans ; 
 but as this novelty seems to be getting a foot 
 ing, the following extract from the appeal of 
 the governors of the above college for support, 
 may be interesting : 
 
 " They find the demand for female phy 
 sicians wide-spread and increasing, and regard 
 the study and practice of medicine as peculiarly 
 adapted to the nice perceptions of woman, and 
 the tenderness and refined graces of her nature. 
 
 " They consider that woman, as a wife and 
 mother, pre-eminently needs a clear understand 
 ing of the functions of the human body and 
 the means of preserving health ; and that high- 
 toned and intelligent female physicians, from 
 their relations to their sex, must be most im 
 portant instrumentalities in imparting such 
 knowledge, where it is most needed and will do 
 the most good. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 269 
 
 " It is well known that there is a vast amount 
 of suffering among women, which is left with 
 out relief, from the shrinking delicacy of its 
 victims ; and it is therefore a demand of hu 
 manity that women should be put in possession 
 of the requisite knowledge to administer the 
 required treatment in such cases. 
 
 :c They also desire a scientific medical edu 
 cation for woman, because it will furnish her 
 honourable and profitable employment giving 
 her a new sphere of usefulness and happiness, 
 where duty and the sympathies of hei- nature 
 lead her in the chambers of the sick and suf 
 fering." 
 
 The American independence, freedom, and 
 impatience of control, have, as might be sup 
 posed, operated more powerfully in changing 
 the character of the female than that of the 
 other sex. Under the influence of the ideas of 
 liberty and right of self-control^ which prevail 
 in America, woman seems there to be under 
 going a serious change in. character and social 
 position. A great experiment is going forward, 
 of the probable results of which it is difficult to 
 judge at present. She claims the right to 
 more extended fields of employment, which is 
 being conceded to her : and certainly, by her 
 energy and ability, she is proving herself well 
 
270 SKETCHES IN 
 
 qualified for a variety of occupations, from which 
 she has hitherto been excluded. She demands 
 laws which will place her property and earnings 
 under her own control when married; these, 
 in some States, she has obtained, or is in the 
 course of obtaining. In March, 1860, the Le 
 gislature of the State of New York passed an 
 enactment extremely favourable to her in this 
 respect. It declared all real and personal pro 
 perty, belonging or bequeathed to her, to re 
 main her sole and separate property, not subject 
 to the control of her husband, nor liable for 
 his debts, except such as have been contracted 
 for the support of herself or their children; 
 allowed her to dispose of her real estate with 
 out his consent on showing cause before the 
 county court; made her absolute mistress of 
 her personal property, and joint guardian of 
 the children with her husband, with equal 
 rights and powers. Many say this act has 
 gone too far, and that the immense constituency 
 of henpecked husbands in the State of New 
 York were ably and too faithfully represented 
 in the last Legislature. She claims, also, in 
 the Woman s Rights Conventions, the right to 
 vote, to enter the Legislature, and to be released 
 by divorce from a permanently discordant union. 
 Some go still further, according to the state- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 271 
 
 ments in an extraordinary article, by a physi 
 cian of standing in New York, on the Causes 
 of the Present Decline of American Women, 
 which appeared recently in the " Knickerbocker 
 Magazine." Of all the new ideas, projects, 
 notions, to which the excessive liberty, inventive 
 spirit, and go-a-headism of the United States 
 give rise, none are more startling than those 
 relating to woman. 
 
 There seems to be an increasing tendency to 
 facilitate the obtaining of divorce, particularly 
 in the Western States. At the Tenth Woman s 
 Rights Convention, held not long since, resolu 
 tions were passed, but not unanimously, to the 
 effect that, as men make serious mistakes in 
 the selection of partners in business, teachers 
 for their children, ministers of religion, legis 
 lators, and the same weakness and blindness 
 must attend in the selection of matrimonial 
 partners, " the dictates of humanity and com 
 mon-sense alike show that the latter and most 
 important contract should be no more perpetual 
 than either or all of the former." Dr. W. F. 
 Channing, of Massachusetts, states, " I found, 
 at once, that a broad line divided the Eastern 
 and Western policy with regard to marriage and 
 divorce." " At the West, the doctrine was 
 substantially held, that it is the duty and in- 
 
272 SKETCHES IN 
 
 terest of society to release the parties to a per 
 manently discordant union." "In becoming a 
 citizen of Indiana, I sought release from an 
 oppressive obligation, already null in its essen 
 tial human conditions. I sought and obtained 
 this release for its own sake, as a matter of 
 personal and social duty. I did not seek it 
 in order to marry a new affinity/ At the 
 same time I reserved to myself the right to 
 marry whenever I considered it conducive to 
 my own welfare, having also due regard to the 
 welfare of others." He considers the continu 
 ance of marriage, when there is a permanent 
 mental unfitness for union, as the cause of great 
 social misery and evil. 
 
 Wendell Phillips, of Boston, a clever but 
 eccentric speaker, and well known as a violent 
 abolitionist, is also a prominent advocate of the 
 emancipation of that other slave, as he considers 
 her, woman. The following extracts from re 
 ports will convey some idea of the doctrines of 
 this champion of the fair sex : 
 
 " You have granted woman s right to be 
 hanged, therefore you must grant her right to 
 vote. No class is safe unless government is so 
 arranged that it can protect itself. That is the 
 essence of democracy, and the corner-stone of 
 progress. This republic admits the principle 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 273 
 
 that the poor are not to be protected by the 
 rich ; but that they are to have the right and 
 the power to protect themselves. Each class is 
 to hold the sceptre in its own hands. 
 
 " He claimed for woman something more 
 than to merely live in a house and e look pretty/ 
 This is a one-sided civilization, and is to be 
 banished as soon as possible. Take a woman 
 who is married; she amounts to nothing, 
 only to look after a child or care for a 
 parlour. But let her lose her husband, and 
 be overtaken by poverty, and she soon develops 
 the powers within her in a broad and successful 
 life. 
 
 te By what right do you make woman a 
 mere incident to man ? The central idea of the 
 whole matter is the right of woman to vote. 
 She is to have the ballot box as her A, B, C. 
 Women should enter more generally into govern 
 ment matters, as her presence was needful to 
 the settlement of such questions as slavery and 
 war. We don t want a world which is all trees, 
 or all land, or all water, but a proper quantity 
 of each. Let her have the ballot box and the 
 opportunity to labour. Fill her mind with 
 education and literature as you do man s. 
 Make her a writer, thinker, speaker, a scientific 
 investigator; give her something to do with 
 
274 SKETCHES IN 
 
 her head, heart, and hand, and the world 
 achieve a height not yet attained," etc. 
 
 In the United States, the freedom conceded 
 to all gives woman more scope for the develop 
 ment of her talents and capabilities. This, with 
 the very superior education given in the common 
 schools, in which the females have their full 
 share, and the still higher education in the more 
 advanced colleges for females now springing up,* 
 will raise up a class of extremely smart, clever, 
 and intelligent women amongst all classes of so 
 ciety. They are trained early to talk and think, 
 to expound, demonstrate, and lay down the law 
 on every subject. They are growing up very 
 well informed, very intellectual, and very inde 
 pendent. This may not be favourable for 
 the unfolding of the submissive charms ; but it 
 would be a little unreasonable and somewhat 
 cruel to exact submission from females, when 
 all around them are practising and enjoying 
 independence, and the right of resistance. In 
 beauty and elegance, as is well known, the 
 
 * The Legislature of Illinois lately chartered a " Female 
 Aid Fund Association, in connection with a female college at 
 Chicago," to establish by " contributions, bequests, lectures, 
 and otherwise, a fund to assist all such worthy and needy 
 young ladies as may apply, in acquiring a complete scientific 
 or classical education, and thus qualify themselves for the 
 highest stations within the sphere of woman." 
 
NORTH AMERICA. ^VO 
 
 women of the United States compare favourably 
 with those of other nations; in intellectual 
 development and accomplishments they will 
 soon have no superiors. They do not appear 
 healthy, however, a point which is now engag 
 ing the anxious consideration of American 
 physiologists. In the following little sketch j 
 I am glad to shelter myself under the protec 
 tion of an American writer already quoted : 
 " American women are too formal and statu 
 esque ; they carry themselves with a hauteur, as 
 if they were entitled to homage, without giving 
 anything in return. They will turn out a full 
 omnibus of men, or a score of male worshippers 
 from their church seats, without deigning to 
 give in return the cheap courtesy of a smile or 
 a bow, or the small change of thank you/ 3: 
 
276 SKETCHES IN 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 NOVA SCOTIA. 
 
 " Acadie, the home of the happy." LONGFELLOW. 
 
 " No one who has not witnessed it can imagine the bitter 
 ness of party feeling in this colony, or the virulence of the 
 language in which it is expressed." THE G-OVEENOK or NOVA 
 SCOTIA. 
 
 THIS little province is one of the most recent 
 acquisitions of Britain, though her claims upon 
 it date from an early period. The peninsular 
 part,, or mainland, was ceded to the British by 
 France at the treaty of Utrecht in the year 
 1713; and the adjacent island of Cape Breton 
 was acquired, along with Canada, at the close 
 of the Seven Years War, in 1763. Systematic 
 colonization by the British was begun in 1 749, 
 when a body of emigrants from England settled 
 at Chebucto, a fine harbour on the Atlantic 
 coast, and gave the name of HALIFAX to the 
 town they founded there, in honour of the Earl 
 of Halifax, president of the Board of Trade and 
 Plantations. The area of the peninsula is about 
 15,600 square miles, and that of Cape Breton 
 3000 square miles. In 1850 the population of 
 
NOHTH AMERICA. 277 
 
 the former was 221,239; of the latter, 54,878; 
 in all, 276,117. 
 
 Nova Scotia has a motley population; Scotch, 
 English, and Irish emigrants; French, descen 
 dants of the old settlers ; a few descended from 
 American loyalists, who left the United States 
 in 1783, when peace was established between 
 Britain and her revolted colony ; and some of 
 German extraction. The latter are settled at 
 Lunenburg, where German is still spoken ; in 
 Arichat, in Isle Madame, near Cape Breton, 
 three languages maybe heard, English, French, 
 and Gaelic; and there are many from the High 
 lands of Scotland in Cape Breton Isle. The 
 Roman Catholics are the largest religious body 
 in the province, numbering about 70,000. The 
 Church of Scotland in this province was a large 
 and influential body, till broken up by the great 
 feud about patronage, which caused the disrup 
 tion of the established Church of Scotland in 
 1813, and spread, with no less bitterness and 
 violence, to the Colonies, where there was no 
 patronage. The Baptists are about 42,000, the 
 Church of England a little less than 40,000. 
 There are also about 24,000 Methodists, 28,000 
 Antiburgers, and a few Congregationalists, 
 Lutherans, and Universalists. Grand Pre (now 
 Horton) on the Basin of Minas, or Bay of Fundy 
 
278 SKETCHES IN 
 
 coast, was the scene, in 1755, of a sad and cele 
 brated event the expulsion of numbers of the 
 French Acadians from the country. They were 
 suspected of assisting the French in their con 
 tests with the British in America, then com 
 mencing, and were forcibly torn from their 
 homes, to the number of several thousands, and 
 dispersed through the other British colonies, 
 families being in some cases separated, never to 
 meet again. This has been taken as the foun 
 dation of Longfellow s beautiful tale, " Evange- 
 line." 
 
 " Wives were torn from their husbands, and mothers, 
 
 too late, saw their children 
 
 Left on the land extending their arms, with wildest 
 entreaties." 
 
 THE CLIMATE of Halifax, and indeed of the 
 whole of the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, is 
 very peculiar, one of the most singular, I should 
 suppose, on the face of the globe. In England, 
 we are accustomed to regard our climate as ex 
 tremely fickle ; bat the changes here are perfect 
 constancy compared with those on the east side 
 of Nova Scotia. We might expect it to be so 
 on considering the geographical position of this 
 little peninsula. It is in the very debateable 
 land of climate, where a variety of opposing 
 forces meet ; now one prevails, now another 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 279 
 
 overcomes it, to be soon overthrown in its turn. 
 In that region, the battle of the climatic in 
 fluences is continually raging, and if any one 
 wishes to set up as an oracle on the much vexed 
 question of the weather, let him confine him 
 self to the prediction, that "we shall have a 
 change soon." Nova Scotia lies on the parallel 
 45 deg. N. lat., midway between the Equator 
 and the North Pole, and thus is on the very 
 battle ground between tropical and polar influ 
 ences ; it is on the margin of a great continent, 
 characterized by severe cold during the great 
 part of the year, and considerable heat during 
 the remainder, and it borders a vast ocean, tem 
 perate during all the year ; it receives some of 
 the genial influence of the great gulf-stream, 
 which passes it at a short distance, while it is 
 chilled by the Arctic currents which skirt the 
 coast in their southern course, and by the 
 large body of ice so long pent up in the Gulf 
 of St. Lawrence. Where so many hostile 
 powers encounter one another, there must be a 
 turmoil. 
 
 During four months, December to March 
 both inclusive, the weather is almost conti 
 nually oscillating bet\reen severe frost and 
 thaw. For a great part of that time, besides 
 minor changes, there is a decided change from 
 
280 SKETCHES IN 
 
 frost to thaw, or the reverse, about every three 
 days on an average, one kind of weather seldom 
 continuing above a week, while, occasionally, 
 there are three or four changes in that time. I 
 have sometimes seen the thermometer at about 
 15 deg. below zero, between seven and eight in 
 the morning, and, in a day or two, at 50 deg. in 
 the shade about noon. Heavy snows fall at 
 times; soon there is a warm wind from the 
 south, the streets of Halifax are one mass of 
 slush, and it is hard and disagreeable work to 
 go but a short way along them. At other times, 
 when the snow has lain a little, the surface, 
 melted slightly during the day, is frozen at 
 night, and the streets are a smooth field of ice ; 
 when in this state, not unfrequently, wind and 
 rain supervene ; the streets being steep, the ice 
 and rain giving a very slippery basis, and the 
 wind blowing one about at its pleasure over this 
 unstable bottom, it is quite a feat to get home 
 at all ; to arrive without a few falls is a great 
 performance. Many wear creepers, with little 
 spikes, on their feet. Notwithstanding these 
 frequent and violent changes, there is reason to 
 believe that Halifax is a very healthy place. 
 The inhabitants do not concern themselves with 
 statistics, but the military find it a healthy 
 station. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 281 
 
 A season like this is called an lc open " 
 winter. Now and then, a Canadian, or, as it is 
 called, an " old-fashioned winter " occurs, when 
 there is steady frost, with a few heavy falls of 
 snow about Christmas, which is cleared off the 
 side-walks, and remains piled up the greater 
 part of the winter. Such winters and heavy 
 falls of snow are said to be much less frequent 
 than formerly ; this seems to be the universal 
 testimony of all the " oldest inhabitants," and, 
 I presume, must be accepted as an established 
 fact. Some attribute this change to drainage, 
 and the clearing of forests going on in British 
 America ; but when we consider the vast extent 
 of that country, the great climatic influences of 
 that immense tract of land, and of the ice- 
 movements and currents in the adjacent seas, 
 it seems difficult to imagine that so slight a 
 cause could have any material effect, side by 
 side with powers so great. 
 
 Although the w r eather is so severe and so 
 changeable, there seems more sunshine and 
 more blue sky to be seen in Nova Scotia in 
 winter than in Britain ; occasionally, also, even 
 during frost, there is a balmy, delicious feeling 
 in the atmosphere that makes one quite enjoy 
 the open air. In such a state of the air, on a 
 moonlight or starry night in winter, during 
 
 T 
 
282 SKETCHES IN 
 
 hard frost, I have seen tlie audience coming out 
 from an evening lecture, go a-walking instead 
 of going home, and stay out an hour or more. 
 At times, on such occasions, the trees, on every 
 branch and twig, are coated with ice, and the 
 moon s rays striking upon these natural lustres, 
 produce a beautiful effect, especially if there is 
 a slight breeze to set them in motion. 
 
 Fogs prevail during a great part of the year, 
 though not extending far inland ; they are most 
 frequent during the long ungenial spring, from 
 April to June, during which there is much ice 
 on the coast, drifting south. These mists render 
 navigation somewhat precarious : four ocean 
 steamers the Columbia, the Humboldt, the 
 Indian, and the Hungarian, have been lost on 
 the fatal shores of this small peninsula. The 
 Nova Scotians, having heard of the dark, dense 
 fog that envelops London for a few days to 
 wards the close of the year, have concluded that 
 we live in continual fog, and seldom get a sight 
 of the sun. They would not believe that I had 
 seen more fog in six months in Halifax, than 
 in six years in Britain. But there is certainly 
 more cloud in the latter country. Putting fog 
 out of consideration, there seems to be more 
 sun and sky to be seen during the year in Nova 
 Scotia than in this country. The sky is of a 
 
XOKTH AMERICA. 283 
 
 deeper tint, and moon and stars seem brighter 
 tlian in England. 
 
 Halifax is nearly 7 deg. south of London, 
 and hence, in winter, enjoys a more elevated 
 sun, which also remains longer above the hori 
 zon ; yet the winter temperature of the former, 
 24 deg. Fahr., is about 15 deg. below that of 
 London, a, striking illustration of the effects of 
 oceanic currents, position as to land and water, 
 and of an eastern coast in temperate latitudes. 
 So near the Atlantic ocean, and nearly sur 
 rounded by water, the heat is seldom great in 
 summer. The mean temperature for the whole 
 year is 43 deg., about 6 deg. below that of 
 London. Halifax has a much more temperate 
 climate, in both summer and winter, than Mon 
 treal or Quebec, where the summer heat and 
 winter cold are extreme. The average summer 
 heat of Quebec is 68 deg. ; of Halifax, 61 deg. 
 The winter temperature of the former is 14 deg. 
 As far as regards climate, I should suppose that 
 emigrants from Britain would find Nova Scotia 
 preferable to most other parts of British 
 America. 
 
 Halifax is prettily situated on an acclivity 
 which rises gently from the water side to an 
 eminence called Citadel Hill. This is strongly 
 fortified ; and, from the summit, there is a very 
 
284 SKETCHES IN 
 
 fine view of the surrounding country, with, the 
 harbour or basin penetrating seven or eight 
 miles further up, the banks of which are wooded, 
 and variegated by gentle undulations and pro 
 montories, that make a pretty intermixture of 
 land and water in the scenery. At the shores, 
 the ground dips somewhat abruptly, and gives 
 deep enough water for large vessels at all states 
 of the tide. Those of the merchants who are 
 fortunate enough to have sites adjoining the 
 water have, perhaps, as pleasant offices as any 
 place in the world affords. The wharves, sup 
 ported on piles, shoot out a little into the 
 water. The store or place of business is on the 
 shore end of the wharf, and the merchant steps 
 from it in a few seconds to his vessel lying at 
 the other end, and has, at the same time, if he 
 chooses to look at it, a very pleasing view of 
 the fresh blue waters and the opposite coast. 
 Placed on so fine a harbour, with deep water 
 at all times, which is seldom frozen and never 
 very rough, the nearest port to Europe on the 
 mainland, and in the centre of the great fish 
 region, Halifax has no common commercial 
 capabilities, and will, if connected by railway 
 with Canada and the United States, be the seat 
 of a very large transit trade. Indeed, its trade 
 is already great. Its imports, in 1859, amounted 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 285 
 
 to 1,261,901 sterling, of which about half a 
 million were from Great Britain, a third of a 
 million from the United States, 187,860 from 
 British America, 25,408 from the British 
 West Indies, 197,619 from other countries, 
 as Cuba, etc. Of the British goods, cotton, 
 linen, silk, and woollen manufactures, amounted 
 to a quarter of a million. Of the imports from 
 the United States, wheat, flour, corn, and corn- 
 meal, leather and leather manufactures, pork 
 and hams, and tobacco, were the largest items. 
 Molasses, to the amount of 11,700, formed 
 the chief import from the British West Indies ; 
 codfish (77,380) and herrings (31,393) from 
 British America ; molasses (78,742) and sugar 
 (87,890) from other countries. 
 
 The exports amounted to 874,243, of 
 which the leading items were as follows : 
 
 Codfish .... 249,884 
 
 Mackerel .... 105,589 
 
 Herrings .... 104,401 
 
 Sugar .... 55,794 
 
 Molasses .... 49,785 
 
 Also furs (10,754), lumber (6,408), oil 
 (23,712), oats and barley (13,274), and 
 other fish (alewives, lobsters, scale fish, salmon) 
 about 38,000. The largest portion of these 
 exports (281,245) is sent to the other parts of 
 
286 SKETCHES IN 
 
 British America; next to the United States 
 (235,323) ; next to the British West Indies 
 (178,551); next to other countries (157,388); 
 and the least to Britain (21,736). 
 
 The returns for the whole province for the 
 same year were imports, 1,620,191 ; exports, 
 1,377,826. This, for a recently settled 
 country, with a population of only 276,117 in 
 1850, betokens no small industry, enterprise, 
 and progress. The following articles, exported 
 mostly from other places than Halifax, are of 
 interest : Apples and plums (6,244), butter 
 (24,704), coals (85,682), gypsum (17,479), 
 lumber (95,176), potatoes and vegetables 
 (77,315), fire-wood (19,877). 
 
 With about 1,000 miles of coast, innumer 
 able convenient harbours, and waters swarming 
 with excellent fish, the Nova Scotia fisheries, 
 already important, as will be seen by the above 
 returns, are yet believed to be capable of vast 
 extension. With, such stores of wealth in the 
 surrounding waters, valuable coal and iron and 
 other mineral treasures, and its fortunate geo 
 graphical position, Nova Scotia will one day 
 occupy a high position in the commercial 
 world. 
 
 On the opposite side of the harbour, at a 
 distance of about a mile and a half, is the 
 
X011TH AMERICA. 287 
 
 village of Dartmouth, which seems to be 
 
 O * 
 
 thriving, notwithstanding some serious checks 
 it has received. In 1751, the year after it was 
 founded, it was the scene of an attack by the 
 Indians,, \vho surprised it during the night, 
 scalped several of the settlers, and carried off a 
 number of prisoners. Some of the inhabitants 
 of Halifax put off to their assistance, but the 
 Indians had retired before aid could reach the 
 unfortunate colonists. Thirty-four years later, 
 a very promising whale-fishery trade was estab 
 lished at Dartmouth, which, if not interfered 
 with, might have gone on and nourished, and 
 proved of great value to the province. In 1787 
 seventeen vessels were fitted out, navigated by 
 238 men, the proceeds of which year s voyage, 
 amounting to .=27,500, were exported to 
 London in the following year. But this grow 
 ing trade was suddenly checked. The British 
 Government, anxious to oppose the French, 
 who were fostering a similar trade at Dunkirk, 
 induced the Dartmouth seamen to establish 
 themselves at Milford Haven, in England, and 
 soon Dartmouth became almost a deserted vil 
 lage. A small steamer plies every half hour 
 between Halifax and Dartmouth, the deck of 
 which, as it was going backwards and forwards, 
 I found a very agreeable promenade when I 
 
288 SKETCHES IN 
 
 desired a little exercise, without wading through 
 those sloughs of despond, the mud rows or 
 melted snows of Halifax. The Dartmouth boat 
 was quite an ethnological study. There were 
 to be seen, within a space of a few square yards, 
 specimens of three races, from far apart regions 
 of the earth s surface, the Caucasian, the negro, 
 and the Indian. And all ranks were to be met 
 with there. The premier, leader of the govern 
 ment during the greater part of the time when 
 I was in Nova Scotia, was frequently to be 
 seen there ; lie resided in a pretty villa in the 
 woods near Dartmouth. He was a man of a 
 tall, striking figure, venerable aspect, and quite 
 a (t distinguished " appearance, who impressed 
 you at once with the combined idea of gentle 
 man and man of high intelligence. Mild and 
 courteous in his manners, with thought, saga 
 city, dignity, and many cares written in his 
 countenance, he might have been selected from 
 among ten thousand as the type for a senator 
 or judge. Of his appearance in court a local 
 paper says most justly, " There is that about 
 him which tells you he is the greatest there." 
 " Why sits he there, while in the motley crowd 
 that is around and above him [on the bench] 
 there is not one equal, scarcely one second to 
 him ? The judge who listens to him knows and 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 289 
 
 feels that he is fitter to be his disciple than his 
 teacher, yet the bench has never received him, 
 and perhaps never will. 1 * This is too true. 
 Universally respected in the province for his 
 estimable character and long and honourable 
 career, he has yet been deprived of the reward 
 so justly duo? to his great services by the unfor 
 tunate system prevalent in public appointments, 
 which virtually, though not so directly as in the 
 United States, vests the election of the judges 
 in the people. In Nova Scotia one must 
 " stoop to conquer," and stoop pretty low. 
 This gentleman was above such artifices. But 
 he commands the sympathy and esteem of the 
 education, the intelligence, and the respecta 
 bility of the province. 
 
 There, too, we may see the pride of the 
 colonies, the brave and hardy settler, who has 
 laboured night and day at digging, draining, 
 fencing, and manuring, at felling trees and 
 clearing away stones, who has conquered the 
 wilderness and succeeded in turning the desert 
 into a garden, and has enriched his country 
 while he has made himself independent. He 
 is lord of the soil, pays no rent to landlord, has 
 a comfortable and tasteful wooden cottage, with 
 a pretty garden around it, keeps his own little 
 vehicle, and has probably been over at the 
 
290 SKETCHES IN 
 
 markets at Halifax, where lie has business once 
 or twice a week, and where he has a snug 
 balance at his banker s. He is clad in gray 
 homespun, with an easy wide-awake hat, and 
 most probably exhibits the steady, persevering 
 Scot in his countenance and dialect a true 
 Anglo-Saxon in speech, features, and character. 
 He looks a little rough at first, but this is only 
 the effect of the out-door, somewhat rugged life 
 he has led ; and on conversing with him, you 
 find him, like his hat, quite wide-awake, well 
 informed, and intelligent, perhaps a little puri 
 tanical in his ideas. 
 
 On the deck of the same little vessel may 
 be seen numbers of a far different race, any 
 thing but the pride of Nova Scotia, the un 
 lucky negroes, who abound in Halifax and the 
 vicinity. During the last war with the United 
 States some of our ships captured a number of 
 slaves, and took them to Halifax, to be free, to 
 be frozen, and to starve. In them Nova Scotia 
 truly caught a Tartar. They have a settlement 
 a few miles from Dartmouth, where they culti 
 vate a little land and carry on a few simple 
 branches of industry, such as making brooms, 
 casks, etc. ; and they may often be met in the 
 Dartmouth boat, bringing their produce to 
 market, or returning with their little purchases. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 291 
 
 With all their industry, they are in but a poor 
 way, scarcely able to make the two ends 
 meet. With their inferior organization and the 
 universal prejudice against them (as strong in 
 Nova Scotia as in the Northern United States), 
 they cannot compete with the intelligent and 
 energetic Caucasian, and mostly sink to the 
 very bottom of the social scale. It seems a 
 very hard case, that of the negro race in North 
 America; they are not wanted, there seems no 
 place for them. In the words of Mr. Seward, 
 " the white man needs this continent to labour 
 upon/ and he takes it. In spite of their ex 
 treme and evident poverty, however, a happy 
 disposition proves some compensation; they 
 seemed a light-hearted and cheerful people, 
 always laughing and making merry 
 
 " Contented -wi little, and canty \vi mair." 
 
 It was strange to hear these dark-skinned 
 Ethiopians speaking a far purer English than 
 the majority of the emigrants from the old 
 country; but it was still more startling when 
 you came suddenly upon them, as on turning a 
 corner, to have forced upon you instantaneously 
 the resemblance to another order of the class 
 mammalia; to which, however, according to 
 some hypotheses, we may all be more nearly 
 
292 SKETCHES IN 
 
 related than is agreeable to reflect upon. While 
 such is the condition of the majority of the 
 negroes in or near Halifax, it would be unjust 
 to that unfortunate and ill-used people not to 
 mention two cases in that city (and there may 
 be more) of negroes, apparently of unmixed 
 blood, who by their industry and intelligence 
 had obtained a superior and very respectable 
 position. 
 
 Yet another and a widely different tribe of 
 men is to be met in the Dartmouth boat the 
 Red Indian, the heathen and barbarian, the 
 original owner of the country, from which the 
 Christian and civilized man is gradually ex 
 terminating him. The Nova Scotia Indians, 
 the Mic-macs, are the gipsies of the country; 
 and, indeed, the cast of countenance of some 
 Indian lads I have seen in New Brunswick and 
 Nova Scotia frequently recalled to my mind the 
 faces of gipsy boys in Murilio s well-known 
 pieces. In head, form of feature, expression 
 and air, we say at once, here is a very superior 
 race to the negro. Yet the latter surpasses him 
 (speaking generally) in steady industry and 
 other capacities for civilization, which are un- 
 suited to the lord of the prairie and the forest. 
 Although some tribes of Indians in Canada and 
 the United States have acquired steady habits, 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 293 
 
 aud settled down to regular employments,, this 
 is not the case with the generality of the Mic- 
 macs. They live in their wretched wigwams in 
 the woods, fish, hunt (where that can be done 
 now), sometimes make brooms, cricket-bats, 
 baskets, and beg. On passing a wigwam, the 
 children run out and salute you with " Gie me 
 coppa !" (give me coppers). Their attire is most 
 dilapidated, and rather scanty, generally cast-off 
 clothing supplied them by the settlers. The 
 chiefs have sometimes a fine light blue coat, 
 made expressly for themselves, ornamented with 
 bead-work (and the females, now and then, have 
 pretty head-dresses) ; but the generality are 
 dressed in second-hand clothing, and have very 
 much the look of reduced gentlemen; for, in 
 spite of all, there is something like a gentleman 
 in the aspect of the Indian. He speaks little, 
 is grave and reserved ; when you pass him on a 
 country road he nods, but without a word, or 
 the least indication of a smile. He appears like 
 a ruin crumbling to pieces, and, like it, will soon 
 pass away and be seen no more. Many of the 
 females are handsome, fine-looking women, 
 who, suitably dressed, and in other scenes, 
 might be taken for brunettes of the Caucasian 
 race. The Indians seem, generally, to live a 
 most precarious, wretched existence, though the 
 
294 SKETCHES IN 
 
 Government is not unmindful of them, giving 
 them blankets and a few other supplies during 
 the winter. 
 
 The arrival of the Admiral s ship, or fleet, 
 on the station, is an important event in Halifax. 
 This usually takes place in May, the squadron 
 spending the winter in the West Indies, the 
 summer in Halifax. The vessels lie quite shel 
 tered, and close to, or a stone s throw from, the 
 shore, so that they are of easy access to the 
 citizens, and officers and men can get ashore at 
 all times, in a few minutes and with little 
 trouble. Then commences a round of visits 
 and entertainments. There is a large house 
 appropriated to the Admiral, and he usually 
 keeps open doors ; the citizens invite the officers, 
 and frequently the latter return the compliment, 
 by giving a ball on board ship. All the flags 
 are put in requisition, and formed into a gay 
 canopy above the deck; the upper deck is the 
 reception-room ; the lower deck, where the Ad- 
 miraPs band is stationed, the ball-room. Boats 
 are at the wharf to take the company out ; they 
 skim gaily over the blue waters with their pre 
 cious cargoes, and set them safely and pleasantly 
 on board, for it is never very rough in Halifax 
 harbour. Promenading, introductions, chit 
 chat, admiring the scenery, etc., go on for a 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 295 
 
 while; soon the ball, or bonnet-dance, be 
 gins; there is a " sound of revelry" on the 
 deep : Nova Scotia s capital 
 
 * * * had gather d then 
 Her beauty and her chivalry, and bright 
 
 The lamps shone o er fair women and brave men. 
 
 The young officers are very happy, and make 
 some of the young civilians a little miserable. 
 Sometimes we see a lively captain, or one still 
 higher in rank, who is not very young, enjoying 
 the dance as much as his juniors, and monopo 
 lizing the fairest, for the elderly officers have an 
 excellent taste. Those who do not dance, stand 
 on the upper deck, and survey the lively scene 
 below, or walk about, inhaling the fresh and 
 exhilarating breeze ; some dive down amongst 
 the berths or the cabins, to visit friends and try 
 the grog. Ere long, the jolly tars exhibit their 
 hospitality, and take each his partner down-stairs 
 to a sumptuous collation, where capons and 
 cannons, roasts and ropes, blanc-mange and 
 bullets, custards and cutlasses, wine, women, 
 and war, mingle in odd contrast and confusion. 
 This is the most agreeable entertainment given 
 at Halifax ; the sea, the sky, and the rest of the 
 natural scenery around, the uniforms and the 
 breezes, the flags and the bullets, and the 
 
296 SKETCHES IN 
 
 thoughts of other scenes acted upon these 
 decks, give it a piquancy that no ordinary ball 
 room can have. The army also returns the 
 hospitalities of the citizens by one or two balls 
 during the winter season. It is the army and 
 navy that keep Halifax alive; but not for no 
 thing. They capture a good many fair prizes, 
 some richly laden. I should advise any young 
 ladies in England, who have very particular 
 friends in the army or navy, to keep a sharp 
 look-out after them when they are ordered to 
 Halifax. It is rather a dangerous locality ; the 
 merchants are rich, and their daughters are fair, 
 and the mingled charms and dollars have a 
 powerful effect upon her Majesty s service. 
 There are delightful pic-nics in the summer 
 season, for which the surrounding country is 
 favourable ; and these are often followed by an 
 interesting Church service, beginning with 
 " Dearly Beloved/ and ending with "Amaze 
 ment/ at which a gallant officer and Halifax 
 belle play leading parts. A good-looking young 
 officer, who is known not to be dependent on 
 his pay alone, and to be of a genteel or aristo 
 cratic family, is beset with kind attentions. 
 There never was so popular an Admiral on the 
 station as one who declared on arriving at Hali 
 fax that he intended to have his miserable 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 297 
 
 bachelors made happy there, and set about 
 making his words good by entertaining hospit 
 ably, at Admiralty House, and introducing 
 the navy to the beauty and fashion of the 
 place. 
 
 This little colony, with a population less 
 than that of Manchester or Glasgow, and a 
 revenue of about 125,000 sterling, has a cum 
 brous machinery for its government, like that 
 of Great Britain. There is a House of Assembly 
 of fifty-five members, elected by universal suf 
 frage at least once every four years ; a Legislative 
 Council of twenty-one members, nominated for 
 life by the Crown, that is, by the Colonial 
 Government ; a Governor ; a Cabinet, called the 
 Executive Council; and a national debt, in 
 curred for the railway, to complete the resem 
 blance. The leading officers of State, who, with 
 sometimes one or two without office, form the 
 Executive Council, are, the Attorney- General, 
 the Solicitor-General, the Provincial Secretary, 
 (Home Secretary), the Financial Secretary 
 (Chancellor of the Exchequer), and "Receiver- 
 General (resembling the British Board of Trea 
 sury) . The Chairman of the Kailway Board is 
 sometimes a member of the Executive Council. 
 The members of the Legislative and Executive 
 Councils are dignified by having prefixed to 
 
298 SKETCHES IN 
 
 their names " The Honourable," the one only 
 title found amongst the republican institutions 
 of North America. The session of Parliament 
 usually opens about the end of January, and 
 continues from two to three months. The 
 members are paid 16$. sterling per day and 
 travelling expenses ; and it is said that some of 
 them have no objection to see the session pro 
 longed. They do not work very hard, meeting 
 usually from three o clock till about seven in 
 the evening ; but they talk very hard ; a debate 
 often continuing for a week or ten days some 
 times a fortnight or more. 
 
 The prime movers in the politics of Nova 
 Scotia, when I was in the province, were the 
 struggles of two lawyers for the succession to 
 the chief justice- ship ; the efforts of a demagogue 
 whom l the people" delighted to honour, and 
 his hangers-on to be provided for at the public 
 expense ; and the malignant and intolerant feel 
 ing towards Roman Catholics entertained by 
 a section of the Presbyterian body. There was 
 no want of gentlemen who had the real interests 
 of the country at heart, but their voice was 
 comparatively feeble and powerless ; there were 
 other and better motives in operation, but it 
 was notorious that their force was trifling and 
 really of no avail compared with that of the 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 299 
 
 above three,, which were at the bottom of poli 
 tical movements in this distracted little colony. 
 Acadie is no longer the home of the happy. 
 It is, in two words, a political pandemonium, 
 if there is one upon earth. The governor has 
 described it most truly in the words quoted at 
 the head of this chapter. The discords, coarse 
 personalities, bitter strife, heartburnings, and 
 riots with bloodshed, that take place in Nova 
 Scotia are discreditable to a free and civilized 
 comrn unity, where no class can complain of 
 privation or any -sort of political oppression. 
 The people are well off, in fact, all thriving; 
 they are very lightly taxed, enjoy the most 
 perfect religious and political freedom, and have 
 neither king, aristocracy, nor established church 
 to set up for standing grievances. But they 
 have demagogues who want places, fiery reli 
 gious zealots who want power, and universal 
 suffrage for these to delude and make a tool of. 
 The grand struggle is for the loaves and fishes ; 
 and this aim is proclaimed with surprising can 
 dour, without any hypocritical disguise as a 
 homage of vice to virtue. Shortly after I 
 arrived in Nova Scotia, the premier openly gave 
 his sanction to the American political maxim, 
 that " To the victors belong the spoils." That 
 was the first great political principle I heard 
 
300 SKETCHES IN 
 
 set forth in Nova Scotia. He knew well, no 
 man better, the odious character and injurious 
 tendency of such a line of action, and tried to 
 save himself by saying, " The principle that to 
 the victors belong the spoils I will neither 
 affirm nor deny j" but as he did not deny it, 
 and practised it, people saw in these equivo 
 cating words only another example of 
 
 " A hovering temporiser, that 
 Canst with thine eyes at once see Good 
 And Evil, inclining to them both." 
 
 This vicious policy of removing public officers 
 for a mere difference of political opinion was 
 first practised on a large scale by General Jack 
 son, President of the United States, who is 
 said, within a month after his entrance into 
 office, to have removed more persons from the 
 public service than during the forty years pre 
 vious since the adoption of the Constitution. 
 He had supporters in the Senate, where it was 
 boldly preached, in 1831, that "to the victors 
 belong the spoils of the vanquished. " But the 
 American people protested against it as "detri 
 mental to the interests, corrupting to the morals, 
 and dangerous to the liberties of the people." 
 It is, however, unavoidable in countries such as 
 the United States and Nova Scotia, where the 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 301 
 
 public men that lead the people are mostly 
 trading politicians, whose means of existence 
 depend on getting hold of the spoils of the van 
 quished. In the latter province lately, a new 
 party attaining power deprived a registrar of 
 deeds of his office to find a place for a partisan. 
 
 It may be asked, Why is that class of public 
 men so predominant ? Where are the solid, in 
 telligent, honest, independent gentlemen of the 
 country, who ought to be the true leaders of 
 the people and statesmen to rule in the councils 
 of the nation ? There are such in Nova Scotia ; 
 but they are few in number, because it is a 
 small, poor country, where there is no landed 
 aristocracy, not many wealthy merchants, and 
 the great majority are labourers and small 
 farmers and shopkeepers: and those few mostly 
 stand aloof from politics, for the same sort of 
 reason for which one gives a sweep or a coal- 
 heaver a wide berth in passing him. They 
 shrink from contact with the rough blustering 
 demagogues who are called into existence by the 
 easy prey which they find in the simple-minded, 
 impulsive, ill-informed, and readily deluded 
 class that, by the wide extension of the suffrage, 
 swamps every other. 
 
 If English legislators who advocate exten 
 sion of the suffrage were to spend some time in 
 
30.2 SKETCHES IN 
 
 the British American colonies, or in the United 
 States, I do not think they would feel inclined 
 to carry such extension far. They would have 
 before them too many evidences that a wide 
 constituency is not a discriminating constitu 
 ency, and becomes an easy prey to the reckless 
 demagogue or place-hunter. Representation 
 in proportion to mere numbers, as in America, 
 has undoubtedly proved a failure ; it does not 
 at present produce good government, and its 
 prospects for the future are anything but en 
 couraging. Again, and again, I have heard 
 leading men on both sides of politics in Nova 
 Scotia express their regret that universal suf 
 frage had been established in the province, and 
 their determination to make an endeavour to 
 limit the franchise in some way, such as con 
 fining it to real freeholders. A step backwards 
 is very difficult in such a case ; they will pro 
 bably find it so difficult that they will not dare 
 to make the attempt. It seems to be generally 
 supposed that there is a necessity for widening 
 the doors of the suffrage in Britain ; if so, the 
 experience of America seems to show that it 
 should be done very cautiously and gradually, 
 aecording to classes, not mere numbers, and 
 only in the direction of those who, by some un 
 equivocal test, are known to be educated and 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 303 
 
 intelligent. A property test would not only be 
 inadequate, but offensive to large classes. Surely 
 some educational test (or some test, which, if 
 not ostensibly, is virtually an educational one) 
 might be devised, which, by the extension of 
 means of procuring instruction, would be acces 
 sible to numbers in every class of society, and 
 which, while representing all classes and in 
 terests, would avoid overwhelming the consti 
 tuency by one class, and that the least qualified 
 for its temperate and judicious exercise. 
 
 While this unhappy little colony is thus 
 afflicted by the place-hunting demagogue class, 
 it is also distracted by religious feuds. A new 
 sect, which was not wanted, intruded itself into 
 the country, and has endeavoured to make it 
 self appear of use and importance by insulting 
 and offensive attacks on the Roman Catholics, 
 who form a large proportion of the people. The 
 bad feeling thus created was greatly increased 
 by a series of letters attacking both Irishmen 
 and Catholics, written by the Hon. Joseph 
 Howe. This gentleman (at the time Chairman 
 of the Railway Board) fell into a quarrel with 
 some Irishmen, from alleged interference on 
 their part with his efforts to recruit for the 
 Crimean army in the United States. Irritated 
 by this, and, it is said, desiring to overthrow 
 
304 SKETCHES IN 
 
 the Government, with which he was connected, 
 which was supported by the Roman Catholics, 
 and to unite with the opposition, he commenced 
 a Protestant and Saxon crusade against Catholic 
 and Celt. The letters which he published on 
 the subject, in the Morning Chronicle, first 
 attracted my attention to Nova Scotian politics. 
 They were calculated to rouse up the worst feel 
 ings between Catholics and Protestants, and, 
 undoubtedly, had this effect. He was not con 
 tented with the questions of the day, but went 
 back hundreds of years to show how bad Eoman 
 Catholics and Irishmen had been, as if he wished 
 to undo the good work of the great conciliatory 
 act of 1829, which every Government since, and 
 every governor of a British colony, have so 
 faithfully endeavoured to carry out. It is doubt 
 ful if a series of letters of so mischievous a ten 
 dency ever before emanated from a public man 
 in the British dominions. But he quite out 
 witted himself. The opposition spurned his 
 advances ; the Catholic members in the House 
 of Assembly abandoned the Government, joined 
 the other party in a body, and a vote of want of 
 confidence was carried, which sent Mr. Howe 
 and the rest of his party into the cold shade of 
 opposition for three years. Then came a bitter 
 contest for power. Numbers, for years pre- 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 305 
 
 viously in close alliance with the Catholics, and 
 who had not before been known to be anything 
 in particular, found themselves, all of a sudden, 
 zealous Protestants and fierce No-Popery men. 
 An alliance with Catholics was now denounced 
 as disgraceful, and a Protestant alliance sprung 
 into activity ; the most absurd and outrageous 
 calumnies were circulated and believed by the 
 good, simple, country people. A desperate agi 
 tation was carried on over the whole country ; 
 riots, in which one was killed, took place ; the 
 moderate, reasonable men had no chance in the 
 struggle with the zealots and the rowdies ; and 
 when Parliament was dissolved, in 1859, the in 
 tolerant party carried the day, though by a 
 small majority. 
 
 The coarse and insulting language em 
 ployed by several of the public men, and the 
 generality of the press, the offensive personali 
 ties, the angry recriminations, the misrepre 
 senting and finding fault with everything 
 that a political opponent says or does, indica 
 tions of the rude contests of an inferior class for 
 place, are sickening to a stranger and to the 
 more respectable portion of the community. 
 The bitter feelings thus roused spread to still 
 lower classes, where they pass into brutality and 
 violence ; and it is no exaggeration to say that 
 
306 SKETCHES IX 
 
 the style of the press and that of some of the 
 leading men, have a powerful influence in cor 
 rupting and brutalizing the people throughout 
 the length and breadth of the land. An En^- 
 
 c o 
 
 lish statesman (Tierney, I think) said pleasantly, 
 " It is the business of the opposition to oppose 
 everything, and turn out the Government." 
 That, taken literally, and carried out as offen 
 sively as possible, faithfully represents the course 
 of the opposition when I was in the province. 
 
 In the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia, 
 members allow themselves extraordinary license 
 in personalities. Amongst others, one very 
 notable instance took place when I was in the 
 province. A leading member a man who is 
 said to have had some education, and should 
 have known better (whom we may call X) 
 having disputed the accuracy of some statement 
 made by another, said, after relating the well- 
 known story about Bruce the traveller, <e Bruce 
 after this was known by the name of the 
 Abyssinian lyre. But here we are more fortu 
 nate ; for we have one of native growth, known 
 in every corner of the province as the Nova 
 Scotian Lyre. Mark me, Mr. Speaker, the 
 Nova Scotian L-y-r-e," spelling the word care 
 fully, letter by letter. But in a very few 
 minutes he must have repented heartily of this 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 307 
 
 mean slander. His opponent, whom we shall 
 call Mr. S. in every respect a gentleman, as 
 well as a man of talent rose and administered 
 to Mr. X. such a castigation, as hardly ever 
 was given before in a Legislative Assembly. 
 X. s public career had been somewhat tortuous 
 and tricky. S. had a retentive memory, and 
 had it all before him. He described several of 
 the leading incidents, with the turn necessary 
 for his purpose, and at the end of each, turning 
 to X., and looking him full in the face, he said, 
 " And now, I am sure we must all agree with 
 the hon. gentleman when he says that there is 
 a L-y-r-e in Nova Scotia." He went over several 
 awkward transactions in this manner, X. looking 
 as if he wished to sink into the earth. Gentle 
 men present described this scene as one of the 
 most extraordinary they ever witnessed in a 
 public assembly. It would be well if such 
 attacks as that made by X. were the worst; 
 but some members (certainly few) will go 
 further still ; they will drag before the House 
 something in the private lives of their opponents 
 if they think by so doing they can damage them 
 or wound their feelings. One member taunted 
 another (a man as far his superior in intellect 
 and every other respect as one man can be to 
 another) with having negro blood in his veins. 
 
308 SKETCHES IN 
 
 Some slanderous tittle-tattle was going about 
 as to a leading member untrue, and, even if 
 true, entirely of a private nature ; his adversary 
 threw it in his teeth in debate. He was instantly 
 challenged to produce proof, denounced as a 
 slanderer, called upon for his authority, defied 
 to repeat it where not protected by his parlia 
 mentary privilege. He had nothing to say, but 
 that he heard it when down in the country. It 
 is doings such as these that deter many of 
 the best qualified men in Nova Scotia from 
 entering into public life. They naturally shrink 
 from exposing themselves among persons who 
 cannot differ with an adversary without hinting 
 that he is a L-y-r-e. 
 
 A member who takes the lead in this style 
 of attack once so far forgot himself as to read a 
 lesson on the subject to another. This called 
 forth a veteran, who remarked " Sir, I listened 
 to the hon. gentleman s remarks on the subject 
 with a strange feeling. The past and the 
 present mingled. Why, sir, the very founda 
 tion of his career was laid in slander and abuse, 
 not alone by attacks on public men, but by 
 assailing character in private life, by lacerating 
 the tenderest feelings in the domestic circle, 
 and forcing the shafts of calumny and detraction 
 into the quiet of men s homes." 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 309 
 
 These offensive personalities of leading men 
 have a very bad effect on the people. 
 
 The people of Nova Scotia seem to be 
 endowed with much natural talent;* and 
 although many of the best men avoid political 
 life, from the roughness and violence which 
 mingle with it, still a good deal of ability finds 
 its way into the House of Assembly. There 
 are one or two members of that House, suffi 
 ciently notable and noisy, of whom I prefer not 
 to speak further than to say, that they are con 
 sidered by many, on whose information and 
 judgment I confide, as the bane of the province. 
 Of others, it is a pleasure to speak. Two 
 of these, the Hon. J. W. Johnston and Charles 
 Tupper, Esq., would grace any Legislative 
 Assembly. The latter, I feel confident, would 
 rise to distinction in the British House of 
 Commons. Without any oratorical pretensions, 
 he has such command of appropriate language, 
 is so clear and distinct in his statements, so 
 animated and forcible in style, goes so directly 
 to the point, never overlaying it, is altogether 
 so business-like, and, at the same time, with a 
 most capacious memory, is so ready and feli- 
 
 * Many of the youth of all classes in Halifax came under 
 iny notice, as apt, clever, intelligent, and with as fine dispo 
 sitions as any class of boys I ever had experience of. 
 
310 SKETCHES IN 
 
 citous in reply, that he seems to have all 
 the qualities for what Sir Robert Peel was 
 described to be, a great member of Parliament. 
 In the places where I lived, I had the pleasure 
 of meeting several members of the Assembly, as 
 independent, faithful, intelligent, and valuable 
 public servants as any country can boast of. 
 Among these were my much esteemed friends 
 " The Doctor,"* and the late Financial Secre 
 tary ; but, alas ! they were against proscription 
 of the Catholics, and against loading the country 
 with debt to build railways that would barely 
 pay the cost of working them (if so much), and 
 were therefore relieved by their constituents 
 from their parliamentary duties at the last 
 election. 
 
 There is nothing more to be deplored in 
 some of the British Colonies than the character 
 of the appointments to important public offices. 
 I saw and heard of many instances in differ ent 
 colonies, a few of which I will mention. In 
 one colony, a lawyer, by the turn of the politi 
 cal wheel, came to be the leader of the Govern 
 ment; he had a brother, who had not been 
 
 * Of seventy-three members of the two Legislative 
 Assemblies, four were medical men when I was first in the 
 province ; there were also numbers of lawyers. 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 311 
 
 fortunate in life, and, at the time, as a last 
 resort, was keeping a small store; something 
 must be done for him ; this is too precious an 
 opportunity to be lost; he is appointed to 
 organize and superintend the education of the 
 country ! In another colony, this important 
 and delicate office was conferred on a man who 
 had been notorious chiefly for his coarse 
 and virulent attacks on the Roman Catho 
 lics (who formed a large proportion of the 
 people whose education he was to superintend), 
 and to whom he had rendered himself pecu 
 liarly offensive, and who was well known to be 
 disqualified, as being rough and overbearing in 
 his manners. But he was a follower of the 
 party in power, had served them, and must have 
 something given to him. There was no want 
 of able and accomplished men fitted for the 
 office, of character and standing, and courte 
 ous and gentlemanly bearing ; there is abund 
 ance of ability in the colonies. A high judicial 
 office was vacant; there were two gentlemen 
 peculiarly fitted for the office, learned, eloquent, 
 eminently skilled in the law, of the highest 
 character, universally esteemed and respected, 
 who would have done honour to the bench in 
 any country. Every intelligent man in the 
 
312 SKETCHES IN 
 
 province knew that the choice ought to fall on 
 one of these two ; the difficulty was to choose 
 between them. But neither was taken ; a party 
 politician was appointed, the opposite of the 
 above two gentlemen, in almost every particular, 
 whose qualifications were a certain pompous 
 school-boy power of declamation, and having 
 truckled to an unscrupulous demagogue, who 
 needed a legal tool, and whom he served by 
 gaining an election by the force of a weighty 
 purse. This was felt, by every man of education 
 and respectability in the country, as a heavy 
 blow and great discouragement to the public 
 service. What high-minded man will look to 
 that service as a means of honourable support, 
 when preferment is to be reached only by means 
 to which he cannot stoop, when the most emi 
 nent qualifications for a judicial office are passed 
 by, and it is given to him whose gift is to 
 hang by the skirts of those who sway the mob ? 
 Another case may be judged of by the follow 
 ing reply to the holder of a high office in the 
 colonies, given by the editor of a newspaper, 
 whom he had roughly assailed : " He," the 
 editor, " has never been placed in charge of an 
 important public office, and therein embezzled 
 large sums from the revenues of his country ; 
 he has never, when entrusted to disburse a large 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 313 
 
 sum of money for a specified object, surrepti 
 tiously appropriated to his own use some hun 
 dreds of pounds of it, and retained them until 
 accident led to a discovery of the fact/ Simi 
 lar statements have been openly made by other 
 newspapers, and by respectable members of the 
 House of Assembly. 
 
 The Governor of a British province is in a 
 peculiar position ; one not very enviable. He 
 is cut off from society of his own class and 
 standing, and from many of the intellectual 
 enjoyments of civilization; and often society, 
 by no means the best the colony affords, is 
 thrust upon him by the state of parties. He 
 is accustomed to the quiet, steady, orderly work 
 ing of the British Government, and has to wit 
 ness and sometimes sanction proceedings that 
 his respect for law and courtesy revolt against. 
 He is soon made to feel that he is viewed as a 
 mere ornamental appendage, to be endured 
 while the British connexion is maintained, and 
 as long as he is subservient to the rule of the 
 majority, but in case of differing from that 
 majority, threats to appeal to the Home Go 
 vernment, and indications of a desire for the 
 American system of electing governors, are 
 pretty plainly conveyed to him. He may be 
 thankful if, on failing to please all the strange 
 
 x 
 
314 SKETCHES IN 
 
 people lie is called upon to meet, he escapes 
 being subjected to such outrages as some of the 
 discontented threatening to hire a nigger to 
 horsewhip him. Lately, the leader of the op 
 position did appeal to the British Government 
 against the Governor of Nova Scotia ; but the 
 latter was entirely supported by the Home 
 Government, as well as by the moderation and 
 intelligence of the province. In his letter to the 
 Colonial Secretary, seeking redress, the Opposi 
 tion leader had the singular good taste to hint 
 that the Colonies might become Republics ! 
 
 The press of Halifax carries out to extra 
 ordinary lengths the peculiar style indulged in 
 by some of the public men of the country. I 
 shall never forget my astonishment at the first 
 newspaper I saw in that city at the coarse 
 Billingsgate with which it assailed the judges, 
 gentlemen deservedly esteemed and honoured 
 in the country. Without one or two speci 
 mens, it would not be believed that such a 
 press could exist in the British dominions. An 
 editor and leading politician is described as fol 
 lows : (c The drivelling toady the sour bigot 
 the impudent jackanapes, who dared to call 
 some of his constituents perjurers, and to de 
 fame the noble kingdom from which most of 
 them are sprung ; who plotted with 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 315 
 
 to get up the Titus Gates cry ; the sneak, 
 
 with vacant face and dark heart, has fallen." 
 Then follows something so indecent that it 
 cannot be quoted. The editor so compli 
 mented, thus, in his turn, characterizes a bro 
 ther editor : " The most universally despised 
 and detested creature in the province ;" and 
 another paper says of one of the foremost men 
 of the country, " If he is a great man, he is 
 also a great blackguard." These are three out 
 of hundreds that might be adduced; and, from 
 a notable religious paper, that enjoys a bad pre 
 eminence, we might select specimens of such 
 brutality (there is no other word for it) as 
 would hardly be believed when seen. But the 
 press of Halifax is a pluralist, of a kind that is 
 not to be endured. Besides being wicked, it 
 is intolerably stupid. A Halifax paper is the 
 dearest article sold in the colony, though only a 
 penny. It is small, less than the London Globe, 
 and three pages are filled with advertisements. 
 These are not to be despised when they are 
 new, but a considerable proportion are old, kept 
 up to save the trouble and expense of looking 
 out and setting up new and interesting matter. 
 I have seen often an advertisement of a 
 meeting weeks after it had taken place. The 
 one page reserved for news contains puffs of 
 
316 SKETCHES IN 
 
 quack medicines, notices of extraordinary large 
 cabbages, or a wonderful pig that weighs more 
 than ever pig weighed in the world before; 
 thanks for a piece of bridescake the editor has 
 received, and his best wishes to the happy pair; 
 or an intimation that some favoured restaurant 
 has got a fine turtle or some delicious salmon ; 
 an acknowledgment of a bottle of hair -oil that 
 has been sent; and long stories about every 
 poor wretch that is found drunk and fined 5s. 
 by the magistrate. Exhausted by these efforts, 
 the editor fills up the remaining space by huge 
 gaps between the paragraphs. While the world 
 is teeming with events, the press with interest 
 ing and instructive works on history, biography, 
 science, one finds nothing in the Halifax papers 
 but party squabbles and abuse, and news such 
 as the above. The debates in the legislative 
 bodies are given about a fortnight or three 
 weeks after they have taken place. You get in 
 Nova Scotia the debate of any day in the 
 British Parliament before the debate of the 
 same day in the Nova Scotia Parliament 
 appears. You learn American news from the 
 British papers, European news from the United 
 States papers. The Boston papers speak of 
 "the benighted press of Halifax." I once saw 
 a Yankee in a Halifax hotel, with time hanging 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 317 
 
 heavy on his hands, take up paper after paper, 
 laying each down in about three minutes, and 
 when he had perused them all, he exclaimed, 
 with a sigh, " Ah ! a Halifax paper don t last a 
 man long." And these papers are the only 
 literature that reaches a large portion of the 
 people of Nova =Scotia. 
 
 When on my way to Nova Scotia I was 
 greatly disappointed and discouraged by the 
 bitter contempt with which I heard Canadians 
 and Americans speak of the province and its 
 capital. I consoled myself by attributing this 
 to national prejudice. But I understood it 
 when I saw the press of Halifax, and learned 
 the style and conduct of several of the public 
 men. These (the press and the public men) 
 are the representatives of a country amongst 
 foreign nations. 
 
 Halifax is a city with great capabilities and 
 a great future before it ; it is already one of the 
 richest cities for its size in North America; 
 there is no want of able men, of education, in 
 telligence, and refinement ; but they must not 
 remain, as Mr. Prentice says, "dainty ama 
 teurs without moral courage;" they must come 
 forward boldly, and rescue the country from 
 the hands of those who corrupt and debase it, 
 and degrade it in the eyes of other nations. 
 
318 SKETCHES IN 
 
 In conclusion, I may say a few words as to 
 what the Americans think of us. Amongst the 
 better informed classes, there seems to be quite 
 a kindly feeling towards the English; of this 
 I saw innumerable examples. Other feelings 
 exist, but chiefly among the Irish part of the 
 population, or less educated classes; though 
 now and then a stump orator says pretty 
 strong things against us for some party pur 
 pose. The Americans generally seem to con 
 sider the British a good, well-meaning sort of 
 people, but stolid, prejudiced, old-fashioned, 
 wedded to antique forms, oppressed by the 
 aristocracy, and intolerably slow. I have more 
 than once astonished some intelligent Ameri 
 cans, by enumerating what we have done in the 
 way of improvement, from the amelioration of 
 our criminal code, begun by Eomilly and Peel, 
 down to our great free-trade and educational 
 movements. They admitted readily that this 
 was immense progress, more, perhaps, than 
 ever any nation in the world achieved in so 
 short a time without a revolution. Often, on 
 comparing notes, the American declaimed 
 strongly as to the wretched condition of our 
 peasantry, which seemed well known to him, 
 and our cumbrous, tedious, and costly legal 
 forms. Even the Nova Scotiau boasts of the 
 
NORTH AMERICA. 319 
 
 superior simplicity and expeditiousness of his 
 modes of legal procedure. I do not know that 
 I was ever so much at a loss for defence or 
 explanation, as when a wide-awake Yankee, 
 -who had been in England, urged our rejection 
 of the proposal to decimalize the currency, as 
 a proof of our being rather stupid, difficult to 
 move, and quite behind the age. Judging from 
 the inferior condition and uncouth dialects of 
 many of the emigrants, they set us down as a 
 semi-barbarous people, without education ; and 
 condemn us severely for our neglect of the 
 great labouring class, as evinced by the rude, 
 imperfect education, and the low condition of 
 the agricultural labourer. Of the latter I heard 
 again and again ; the contrast between the 
 wealth of the landlord, and the extreme poverty 
 of those who mainly create that wealth, was 
 ever ready in the mouth of the American. 
 
 For the man who labours with his hands, 
 America, at present, while her rich, unoccupied 
 lands afford outlets, seems the country where 
 he has the best prospect of securing comfort 
 and independence. Further, a man has there 
 much better chances of rising in the world, if 
 he is capable of that ; and if he is a schemer 
 or inventor, America is undoubtedly the field 
 for him. For other classes, Britain presents 
 
320 SKETCHES IN NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 advantages in the superior character of its lite 
 rature of every description, the steady, solid, 
 reliable nature of the people, the prevalent 
 respect for law and the powers that be, and the 
 very high standing, morally and intellectually, 
 of those who lead and rule men whom one is 
 not ashamed to be governed by. The tem 
 perate climate of Britain renders that country 
 more agreeable to live in than the extremes 
 of North America, while, as an older and more 
 completely cultivated country, England appears 
 a perfect garden compared with the rural dis 
 tricts of the United States, or British America. 
 A visit to America exhibits to our view a great, 
 prosperous, and rising country, and a singularly 
 clever, active, and ingenious population, with 
 numerous points of interest ; but makes us 
 value all the more, the temperate clime, lovely 
 fields and meadows, quiet, sober ways, solid 
 institutions, estimable public men, and rich 
 literature of Old England. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 London : Thomas Harrild, Printer, Shoe Lane, Fleet Street. 
 
 / *~ 
 
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