$ g; i 8 < I i I CA ^i % I i I lOS ANGELfj 5 1 ET < s v calmly committing to them the external inte- tbey might cast their eyes, they would find melancholy evidences that the withering blasts of an unsparing despotism had passed over the land, blighting the choicest bounties of Providence, and leaving scarcely a solitary memorial of our former prosperity. They would look in vain for the animating scenes of successful industry, for the wealth and comforts of a thriving population, and for those mansions of hospitality which were once the seats of ele- gance, and the abodes of cheerfulness." Southern Eeview, Nov. 1828. p. 613. -;; THE TARIFF. 241 rests of her people, she would by this time have been the pattern and instructress of the civilised world, in the philosophy of production and com- merce. But she had not the knowledge nor the requisite faith; nor was it to be reasonably ex- pected that she should. Her doctrine was, and I fear still is, that she need not study political econo- my while she is so prosperous as at present : that political economy is for those who are under adver- sity. If in other cases she allows that prevention is better than cure, avoidance than reparation, why not in this ? It may not yet be too late for her to be in the van of all the world in economical as in political philosophy. The old world will still be long in getting above its bad institutions. If America would free her servile class by the time the provi- sions of the Compromise Bill expire, and start afresh in pure economical freedom, she might yet be the first to show, by her transcendent peace and pros- perity, that democratic principles are the true foun- dation of economical, as well as political, welfare. VOL. II. 242 MANUFACTURING LABOUR. SECTION II. MANUFACTURING LABOUR. So much is said in Europe of the scarcity of agri- cultural labour in the United States, that it is a matter of surprise that manufactures should have succeeded as they have done. It is even supposed by some that the tariff was rendered necessary by a deficiency of labour: that by offering a premium on manufacturing industry, the requisite amount was sought to be drawn away from other employments, and concentrated upon this. This is a mistake. There is every reason to suppose that the requisite amount of labour would have been forthcoming, if affairs had been left to take their natural course. It has been shown that domestic manufactures were carried on to a great extent, so far back as 1 790. From that time to this, they have never al- together ceased in the farm-houses, as the home- spun, still so frequently to be seen all over the country, and the agricultural meetings of New Eng- land, (where there is usually a display of domestic manufactures,) will testify. The hands by which these products are wrought come to the factories, when the demand for labour renders it worth while; MANUFACTURING LABOUR. 243 and drop back into the farm-houses when the de- mand slackens. It is not the custom in America for women (ex- cept slaves) to work out of doors. It has been mentioned that the young men of New England migrate in large numbers to the west, leaving an over-proportion of female population, the amount of which I could never learn. Statements were made to me ; but so incredible that I withhold them. Suf- fice it that there are many more women than men in from six to nine States of the Union. There is reason to believe that there was much silent suffer- ing from poverty before the institution of factories ; that they afford a most welcome resource to some thousands of young women, unwilling to give them- selves to domestic service, and precluded, by the customs of the country, from rural labour. We have seen how large a proportion of the labour in the Lowell factories is supplied by women. Much of the rest is furnished by immigrants. I saw English, Irish, and Scotch operatives. I heard but a poor character of the English operatives ; and the Scotch were pronounced " ten times better." The English are jealous of their ' bargain,' and on the watch lest they should be asked to do more than they stipulated for : their habits are not so sober as those of the Scotch, and they are incapable of going M 2 244 MANUFACTURING LABOUR. beyond the single operation they profess. Such is the testimony of their employers. The demand for labour is, however, sufficiently imperious in all the mechanical departments to make it surprising that prison labour is regarded with such jealousy as I have witnessed. When it is considered how small a class the convicts of the United States are, and are likely to remain, how essential labour is to their reformation, how few are the kinds of manufacture which they can practise, and that it is of some importance that prison establish- ments should maintain themselves, it seems wholly unworthy of the intelligent mechanics of America that they should be so afraid of convict labour as actually to obtain pledges from some candidates for office, to propose the abolition of prison manufac- tures. I believe that the Sing-Sing and Auburn pri- sons, in the State of New York, turn out a greater variety and amount of products than any others ; and they have yet done very little more than main- tain themselves. The Sing- Sing convicts quarry and dress granite : the Auburn prisoners make clocks, combs, shoes, carpets, and machinery. They are cabinet and chair-makers, weavers, and tailors. There were 650 prisoners when J was there ; and of these many were inexperienced workmen ; and all were not employed in manufactures. Jealousy of MANUFACTURING LABOUR. 245 such a set of craftsmen is absurd, in the present state of the American labour-market. I saw specimens of each of these kinds of la- bour. A few days after I entered the country, I was taken to an agricultural meeting, held annually at Pittsfield, Massachusetts. We were too late to see the best part of it, the dispensing of prizes for the best agricultural skill, and for the choicest domes- tic manufactures. But there were specimens left which surprised me by the excellence of their qua- lity; table and bed-linen, diapers, blankets, and knitted wares. There was an ingenious model of a bed for invalids, combining many sorts of facili- ties for change of posture. There were nearly as many women as men at this meeting ; all were well dressed, and going to and fro in the household vehicle, the country-wagon, with the invariable bear-skin covering the seat, and peeping out on all sides. A comfortable display, from the remains of the dinner, was set out for us by smart mulatto girls, with snow-berries in their hair. The me- chanics' houses in this beautiful village would be enough, if they could be exhibited in England, to tempt over half her operatives to the new world. The first cotton-mill that I saw was at Paterson, New Jersey. It was set up at first with nine hun- dred spindles, which were afterwards increased to fifteen hundred ; then to six thousand. Build- 246 MANUFACTURING LABOUR. ing was still going on when I was there. The girls were all well-dressed. Their hair was ar- ranged according to the latest fashions which had arrived, via New York, and they wore calashes in going to and fro between their dwellings and the mill. I saw some of the children barefooted, but carrying unbrellas, under a slight sprinkling of rain. I asked whether those who could afford um- brellas went barefoot for coolness, or other conve- nience. The proprietor told me that there had probably been an economical calculation in the case. Stockings and shoes would defend only the feet; while the umbrella would preserve the gloss of the whole of the rest of the costume. There seems, however, to be a strong predilec- tion for umbrellas in the United States. A con- vict, in solitary confinement in the Philadelphia prison, gave me the history of all his burglaries. The proximate cause of his capture after the last was an umbrella. He had broken into a good- looking house, and traversed it in vain in search of something worth the risk of carrying away. On leaving the house, he found it rained. He went back, and took a new cotton umbrella. It dawned as he entered the city, and he was afraid of being seen with the umbrella; but thought suspicion would be excited if he "heaved it away." He met an acquaintance who was further from home MANUFACTURING LABOUR. 247 than himself, and insisted on his accepting the loan of the umbrella. The acquaintance, of course, was caught, and told from whom he had had the umbrella ; and the burglar was, in consequence, lodged in jail. What English burglar would have thought of minding rain ? If, however, there ever was a case of amateur burglary, this was one. I visited the corporate factory-establishment at Waltham, within a few miles of Boston. The Waltham Mills were at work before those of Lowell were set up. The establishment is for the spinning and weaving of cotton alone, and the construction of the requisite machinery. Five hundred persons were employed at the time of my visit. The girls, earn two, and some three, dollars a-week, besides their board. The little children earn one dollar a-week. Most of the girls live in the houses provided by the corporation, which accommodate from six to eight each. When sisters come to the mill, it is a common practice for them to bring their mother to keep house for them and some of their companions, in a dwelling built by their own earnings. In this case, they save enough out of their board to clothe themselves, and have their two or three dollars a-week to spare. Some have thus cleared off mortgages from their fathers' farms; others have educated the hope of the family at college; and many are rapidly accu- 248 MANUFACTURING LABOUR. mulating an independence. I saw a whole street of houses built with the earnings of the girls ; some with piazzas, and green Venetian blinds; and all neat and sufficiently spacious. The factory people built the church, which stands conspicuous on the green in the midst of the place. The minister's salary (eight hundred dollars last year) is raised by a tax on the pews. The cor- poration gave them a building for a lyceum, which they have furnished with a good library, and where they have lectures every winter, the best that money can procure. The girls have, in many in- stances, private libraries of some merit and value. The managers of the various factory establish- ments keep the wages as nearly equal as possible, and then let the girls freely shift about from one to another. When a girl comes to the overseer to inform him of her intention of working at the mill, he welcomes her, and asks how long she means to stay. It may be six months, or a year, or five years, or for life. She declares what she considers herself fit for, and sets to work accordingly. If she finds that she cannot work so as to keep up with the companion appointed to her, or to please her employer or herself, she comes to the over- seer, and volunteers to pick cotton, or sweep the rooms, or undertake some other service that she can perform. MANUFACTURING LABOUR. 249 The people work about seventy hours per week, on the average. The time of work varies with the length of the days, the wages continuing the same. All look like well-dressed young ladies. The health is good ; or rather, (as this is too much to be said about health any where in the United States,) it is no worse than it is elsewhere. These facts speak for themselves. There is no need to enlarge on the pleasure of an acquaint- ance with the operative classes of the United States. The shoe-making at Lynn is carried on almost entirely in private dwellings, from the circumstance that the people who do it are almost all farmers or fishermen likewise. A stranger who has not been enlightened upon the ways of the place would be astonished at the number of small square erections, like miniature school- houses, standing each as an appendage to a dwelling-house. These are the " shoe shops," where the father of the family and his boys work, while the women within are em- ployed in binding and trimming. Thirty or more of these shoe-shops may be counted in a walk of half-a-mile. When a Lynn shoe manufacturer re- ceives an order, he issues the tidings. The leather is cut out by men on his premises ; and then the work is given to those who apply for it ; if pos- sible, in small quantities, for the sake of dispatch. M 5 250 MANUFACTURING LABOUR. The shoes are brought home on Friday night, packed off on Saturday, and in a fortnight or three weeks are on the feet of dwellers in all parts of the Union. The whole family works upon shoes dur- ing the winter ; and in the summer, the father and sons turn out into the fields, or go fishing. I knew of an instance where a little boy and girl maintained the whole family, while the earnings of the rest went to build a house. I saw very few shabby houses. Quakers are numerous in Lynn. The place is unboundedly prosperous, through the tem- perance and industry of the people. The deposits in the Lynn Savings' Bank in 1834, were about 34,000 dollars, the population of the town beingthen 4,000. Since that time, both the population and the prosperity have much increased. It must be remembered, too, that the mechanics of America have more uses for their money than are open to the operatives of England. They build houses, buy land, and educate their sons and daughters.* It is probably true that the pleasures and pains of life are pretty equally distributed among its various vocations and positions : but it is difficult to keep clear of the impression which outward circumstances occasion, that some are eminently desirable. The mechanics of these northern States * The deposits in the Lowell Savings' Bank for 1834, were upwards of 114,000 dollars. MANUFACTURING LABOUR. 251 appear to me the most favoured class I have ever known. In England, I believe the highest order of mechanics to be, as a class, the wisest and best men of the community. They have the fewest base and narrow interests : they are brought into sufficient contact with the realities of existence, without being hardened by excess of toil and care; and the knowledge they have the opportunity of gaining is of the best kind for the health of the mind. To them, if to any, we may look for pub- lic and private virtue. The mechanics of Ame- rica have nearly all the same advantages, and some others. They have better means of living : their labours are perhaps more honoured ; and they are republicans, enjoying the powers and prospects of perfectly equal citizenship, The only respect in which their condition falls below that of Eng- lish artisans of the highest order is that the knowledge which they have commonly the means of obtaining is not of equal value. The facili- ties are great : schools, lyceums, libraries, are open to them : but the instruction imparted there is not so good as they deserve. Whenever they have this, it will be difficult to imagine a mode of life more favourable to virtue and happiness than theirs. There seems to be no doubt among those who know both England and America, that the mechanics 252 MANUFACTURING LABOUR. of the New World work harder than those of the Old. They have much to do besides their daily handicraft business. They are up and at work early about this ; and when it is done, they read till late, or attend lectures ; or perhaps have their houses to build or repair, or other care to take of their property. They live in a state and period of society where every man is answerable for his own fortunes ; and where there is therefore stimulus to the exercise of every power. What a state of society it is when a dozen arti- sans of one town, Salem, are seen rearing each a comfortable one-story (or, as the Americans would say, two-story) house, in the place with which they have grown up ! when a man who began with laying bricks criticises, and sometimes corrects, his lawyer's composition ; when a poor er- rand-boy becomes the proprietor of a flourishing store, before he is thirty; pays off the capital ad- vanced by his friends at the rate of 2,000 dollars per month ; and bids fair to be one of the most sub- stantial citizens of the place ! Such are the outward fortunes of the mechanics of America. Of their welfare in more important respects, to which these are but a part of the means, I shall have to speak in another connexion. There are troubles between employers and their workmen in the United States, as elsewhere : but MANUFACTURING LABOUR. 253 the case of the men is so much more in their own hands there than where labour superabounds, that strikes are of a very short duration. The only re- medy the employers have, the only safeguard against encroachments from their men," is their power of obtaining the services of foreigners, for a short time. The difficulty of stopping business there is very great ; the injury of delay very heavy: but the wages of labour are so good that there is less cause for discontent on the part of the work- men than elsewhere. All the strikes I heard of were on the question of hours, not of wages. The employers are, of course, casting about to see how they can help themselves ; and, as all are not wise and experienced, it is natural that some should talk of laws to prohibit Trades Unions. There is no harm in their talking of such ; for the matter will never get beyond talk; unless, in- deed, the combinations of operatives should as- sume any forms, or comprehend any principles in- consistent with the republican spirit. The majo- rity will not vote for any law which shall restrain any number of artisans from agreeing for what price they will sell their labour ; though I heard several learned gentlemen agreeing, at dinner one day, that there ought to be such laws. On my objecting that the interest of the parties concerned would, especially in a free and rising country, set- 254 MANUFACTURING LABOUR. tie all questions between labour and capital with more precision, fairness, and peace, than any law, it was pleaded that intimidation and outrage were practised by those who combined against those who would not join them. I found, on inquiry, that there is an ample provision of laws against inti- midation and outrage ; but that it is difficult to get them executed. If so, it would be also diffi- cult to execute laws against combinations of work- men, supposing them obtained : and the grievance does not lie in the combination complained of, but somewhere else. The remedy is, (if there be indeed intimidation and outrage,) not in passing more laws, to be in like manner defied, while suffi- cient already exist ; but in enlightening the par- ties on the subjects of law and social obligation. One day, in going down Broadway, New York, the carriage in which I was, stopped for some time, in consequence of an immense procession on the side-walk having attracted the attention of all the drivers within sight The marching gentlemen proceeded on their way, with an easy air of genti- lity. Banners were interposed at intervals ; and, on examining these, I could scarcely believe my eyes. They told me that this was a procession of the journeymen mechanics of New York. Surely never were such dandy mechanics seen ; with sleek coats, glossy hats, gay watch-guards, and doe-skin gloves ! MANUFACTURING LABOUR. 255 I rejoice to have seen this sight. I had other opportunities of witnessing the prosperity of their employers ; so that I could be fairly pleased at theirs. There need be no fear for the interests of either, while the natural laws of demand and sup- ply must protect each from any serious encroach- ment by the other. If they will only respect the law, their temporary disagreement, and apparent opposition of interests will end in being mere re- adjustments of the terms on which they are to pur- sue their common welfare. 256 CHAPTER IV. COMMERCE. " He hath an argosy hound to Tripolis, another to the Indies : I understand moreover upon the Rialto, he hath a third at Mex- ico, a fourth for England : and other ventures he hath." Merchant of Venice. THERE is no need to say much about the extent of the Commerce of the United States, since it is already the admiration of Europe, and its history is before every one in the shape of figures. The returns of exports and imports annually published are sufficiently eloquent. Dollars. The Imports, for the year 1825, were in value, 96,340,075 1830, 70,876,920 1835, 126,521,332 COMMERCE. 257 Dollars. The Exports of domestic produce, for 1825 were, 66,944,745 of foreign produce - - - 32,590,643 Total 99,535,388 The Exports of domestic produce for 1830 were, 59,462,029 of foreign 14,387,479 73,849,508 The Exports of domestic produce for 1835, were, 81,024,162 of foreign 23,312,811 104,336,973 It will be seen, from these returns, how great a reduction in the commerce of the United States was occasioned by the tariff, which attracted a large amount of capital from commerce, to be in- vested in manufactures. The balance has been nearly restored by the prospect of the expiration of the protective system; and both commerce and manufactures are again rapidly on the increase. The foreign tonnage of Massachusetts has increased fifty-three per cent within the last five years, though, owing to a new mode of ship-construction, twice the quantity is stowed in the same nominal tonnage. The commerce of the south-west was in high prosperity when I was there. When I was at Mo- 258 COMMERCE. bile, in April 1835, 1 was informed that 183,000 bales of cotton had been brought down into Mobile since the beginning of the year.* A friend of mine, engaged in commerce there, told me of the enormous interest on money then ob- tainable. Eight per cent, is the legal interest; but double is easily to be had. Another, a wealthy gentleman of New Orleans, speculates largely every season, for the sake of something to do, and makes a fortune each time, by lend- ing out at high interest. He declares that he * The value of the cargoes which arrived at Mobile in 1830, By American vessels British In 1834, by American vessels British 388,811 The value of the cargoes which departed from Mo- bile in 1830, was, by American vessels . 1,517,663 British '".''- . 476,702 In 1834, by American vessels British 6,270,197 COMMERCE. 259 never loses, and never fails to gain largely ; the commerce is so flourishing, and the demand for ca- pital so intense. This is the region in which to witness the full absurdity of usury laws. They are evaded, as often as convenient, and serve no other purpose than to annex a kind of disgrace to a deed which must of necessity be done, loaning out money at higher than the legal interest. The same evasion takes place in Massachusetts, where the legal interest is six per cent. The interest there, as elsewhere, rises just as high as the de- mand for money must naturally bring it. I was acquainted with a gentleman who had lost seventy-five thousand dollars in an unfortunate speculation, and who expected to retrieve the whole the next season. The price of everything was rising. For my own share, I had to pay twelve dollars for my passage from Mobile to New Or- leans : and twenty-five per cent, higher for my voyage up the Mississippi than if I had gone the preceding year. The fare I paid was fifty dollars. These two fares were the only exceptions to the remarkable cheapness of travelling in the United States and these would not be considered high anywhere else. The Cumberland river, on which stands Nash- ville, the capital of Tennessee, and which empties itself into the Ohio, has scarcely been heard of in 260 COMMERCE. England ; yet, of all the tobacco consumed in the world, one-seventh goes down this river. I as- cended it in a very small steam-boat, one of twelve, six large and six small, then perpetually navigating it, and carrying cotton, tobacco, and passengers. Of these boats, one had carried, the preceding year, three hundred and sixty bales of cotton, of the value of three hundred and sixty thousand dollars. When we look at the northern ports, and ob- serve the variety, as well as the extent of their commerce, there seems good ground for the ex- pectation expressed to me by many American mer- chants, that the English language will finally be- come familiar, not only over all the east, but over all the globe. Salem, Massachusetts, is a remarkable place. This " city of peace" will be better known here- after for its commerce than for its witch-tragedy. It has a population of 14,000; and more wealth in proportion to its population than perhaps any town in the world. Its commerce is speculative, but vast and successful. It is a frequent circum- stance that a ship goes out without a cargo, for a voyage round the world. In such a case, the cap- tain puts his elder children to school, takes his wife and younger children, and starts for some semi-barbarous place, where he procures some odd kind of cargo, which he exchanges with advan- COMMERCE. 261 tage for another, somewhere else; and so goes trafficking round the world, bringing home a freight of the highest value. The enterprising merchants of Salem are hoping to appropriate a large share of the whale fishery ; and their ships are penetrating the northern ice. They are favourite customers in the Russian ports, and are familiar with the Swedish and Norwegian coasts. They have nearly as much commerce with Bremen as with Liverpool. They speak of Fayal and the other Azores as if they were close at hand. The fruits of the Mediterranean countries are on every table. They have a large acquaintance at Cairo. They know Napoleon's grave at St. Helena, and have wild tales to tell of Mosambique and Mada- gasca, and store of ivory to show from thence. They speak of the power of the king of Muscat, and are sensible of the riches of the south-east coast of Arabia. It entered some wise person's head, a few seasons ago, to export ice to India. The loss, by melting, of the first cargo, was one fourth. The rest was sold at six cents per Ib. When the value of this new import became kriown, it was in great request ; and the latter sales have been al- most instantaneous, at ten cents per pound : so that it is now a good speculation to send ice 12,000 miles to supersede salt-petre in cooling sherbet. The young ladies of America have rare shells from 262 COMMERCE. Ceylon in their cabinets ; and their drawing-rooms are decked with Chinese copies of English prints. I was amused with two : the scene of Hero swoon- ing in the church, from Much Ado about Nothing;' and Shakspeare between Tragedy and Comedy. The faces of Comedy and of Beatrice from the hands of Chinese ! I should not have found out the place of their second birth but for a piece of unfortunate foreshortening in each. I observed to a friend, one day, upon the beauty of all the new cord- age that met my eye, silky and bright. He told me that it was made of Manilla hemp, of the value of which the British seem to be unaware ; though it has been introduced into England. He mentioned that he had been the first importer of it. Eight years before, 600 bales per annum were imported : now, 20,000. The merchants doubt whether Aus- tralia will be able to surmount the disadvantage of a deficiency of navigable rivers. They have hopes of Van Diemen's Land, think well of Singapore, and acknowledge great expectations from New Zealand. Any body will give you anecdotes from Canton, and descriptions of the Society and Sand- wich Islands. They often slip up the western coasts of their two continents ; bring furs from the back regions of their own wide land ; glance up at the Andes on their return ; double Cape Horn ; touch at the ports of Brazil and Guiana; look COMMERCE. 263 about them in the West Indies, feeling there almost at home ; and land, some fair morning, at Salem, and walk home as if they had done nothing very remarkable. Such is the commerce of Salem, in its most meagre outline. Some illustration of it may be seen in the famous Salem Museum. In regard to this institution, a very harmless kind of monopoly exists. No one is admitted of the museum pro- prietary body who has not doubled, the Capes Horn and Good Hope. Everybody is freely admitted to visit the institution ; and any one may contribute, either curiosities or the means of procuring them ; but the doubling of the Capes is an unalterable con- dition of the honour of being a member. This has the effect of preserving a salutary interest among the members of the society, and respect among those who cannot be admitted. The society have laid by 20,000 dollars, after having built a hand- some hall for the reception of their curiosities ; but a far more important benefit is that it has now become discreditable to return from a long voyage without some novel contribution to the Museum. This sets people inquiring what is already there, and ensures a perpetual and valuable accretion. I am glad to have seen there some Oriental curiosities, which might never otherwise have blessed my sight : espe- cially some wonderful figures, made of an unknown mixed metal, dug up in Java, being caricatures of 264 COMMERCE. the old Dutch soldiers sent to guard the first colo- nies. A reasonably grave person might stand laughing before these for half a day. I had no idea there had been so much humour in the Java people. The stability of the commercial interest in the United States was put to the test by the great fire at New York. All the circumstances regarding this fire were remarkable ; no one more so than that not a single failure took place in consequence. For many days preceding this fire, the weather had been intensely cold, the thermometer standing at Boston 17 degrees below zero. On the Sunday before, (13th of December 1835,) I went to hear the Seamen's friend, Father Taylor, as he is called, preach at the Sailors' Chapel, in Boston. His elo- quence is of a peculiar kind, especially in his prayers, which are absolutely importunate with re- gard to even external objects of desire. Part of his prayer this day was, " Give us water, water I The brooks refuse to murmur, and the streams are dead. Break up the fountains: open the secret springs that thy hand knoweth, and give us water, water ! Let us not perish by a famine of water, or a deluge of conflagration; for we dread the careless wan- dering spark." I was never before aware of the fear of fire entertained during these intense frosts. It is a reasonable fear. A gentleman, bent upon daily bathing, was seen one morning disconso- COMMERCE. 265 lately returning from the river side ; he had em- ployed three men to break the ice, and they could not get at a drop of water. What hope was there in case of fire ? The New York fire broke out at eight in the evening of Wednesday, the 16th of December. Every one knows the leading facts, that 52 or 54 acres were laid waste ; many public buildings de- stroyed, and property to the amount of 18,000,000 of dollars. Several particulars were given to me on the spot, three months afterwards, by some observers and some sufferers. At a boarding-house in Broad- way, where some friends of mine were residing, there were several merchants, some with their wives, who dined that day in good spirits, and, as they afterwards believed, perfectly content with their worldly condition and prospects. At eight o'clock there was an alarm of fire. It was thought nothing of ; alarms of fire being as frequent as day and night in New York. After a while, a mer- chant of the company was sent for, and some little anxiety was expressed. Two or three per- sons looked out of the upper windows, but it was a night of such still, deep frost, that the reflection in the atmosphere was much less glaring than might have been expected. Another and then an- other gentleman was sent for. News came of the VOL. II. N 266 COMMERCE. absolute lack of water, and that there was no gun- powder in the city none nearer than Brooklyn. The gentlemen all rushed out ; the anxious ladies went from the windows to the fire-side ; from the fire-side to the windows. One gentleman and lady in the house, a young German couple, just arrived, and knowing scarcely a word of English, were un- aware of all this. None of their chattels, not even the lady's clothes, had been removed from their store in Pearl Street, where lay her books, music, wardrobe, and property of every sort. Pretty early in the morning the poor gentleman was roused from his slumbers, could not comprehend the cause, went down to Pearl Street, and, amidst the amaze- ment and desolation, just contrived to save his ac- count-books, and nothing else. In the morning, the lady was destitute of even a change of raiment, in a foreign country, of whose language she could not speak one word. There were kind hearts all around her, however, and she was quite cheerful when I saw her, a few weeks afterwards. The lady of the house was so worn, weary, and cold, by three in the" morning, that she retired to her room ; desiring her domestics to call her if the fire should catch Broad Street ; in which case, it would be time to be packing up plate, and moving furniture. In a little while, there was a tap at her door. Broad Street was not on fire, however; COMMERCE. 267 but some of the gentlemen had come home, smoked and frost-bitten, and eager for help and warm water. One gentleman, who had nothing more at stake than three chests of Scotch linen, (valuable because home-woven,) of which he saved one, losing a superb Spanish cloak in the process, was desirous that his wife should see the spectacle of the con- flagration. She walked down to the scene of the fire with him, after midnight. They took their stand in a square, in the centre of which an im- mense quantity of costly goods was heaped up. It was strange and vexatious to see the havoc that was made among beautiful things; cachemere shawls strewing the ground ; horses' feet swathed in lace veils ; French silks getting entangled and torn in the wheels of the carts. The lady picked up shawls and veils ; and when her husband asked her where she proposed to put them, could only throw them down again. After she had left the place, the houses caught fire, all round the square, fell in, and burned the costly goods in one grand bonfire. There had been occasional quarrels between the merchants and the carmen. The carmen conceived themselves injured by certain merchants. Whe- ther they had reason for this belief or not, I can- not pretend to say. They thought this a time for revenge. Some crossed their arms, as they leaned N 2 268 COMMERCE. against their carts, and refused to stir a step, un- less twenty dollars a load were paid them on the spot. Some few refused to help at all. This must have been a far more deadly sorrow to the suf- ferers than the ruin the fire was working. One carman was very provoking when a French gen- tleman had not a moment to lose in saving his stock. The gentleman said coolly at last, taking out his money, " For what sum will you sell your horse and cart ?" The temptation was irresistible to the carman. He named 500 dollars for his sorry hack and small vehicle, and was paid on the instant. The French gentleman saved goods to the amount of 100,000 dollars. It was a good bargain for both. At six in the morning, when the necessary ex- plosions had checked the fire, the gentlemen of the household I have mentioned, being completely ruined, for anything they knew to the contrary, came home ; and the ladies went to bed. Some of the least interested consulted what should be done at dinner-time ; whether the company in general could bear the subject; whether it was best to talk or be silent. It was a languid, sorrowful meal: the gentlemen looking haggard; their ladies anxious. The next day, they were able to talk, to describe, to relate anecdotes, and speculate on consequences. The third day, all were nearly as cheerful as if no- COMMERCE. 269 thing had happened: though some had lost all, and others, they knew not how much. The report of the fire spread as news through the upper part of the city, the next morning. Some friends of mine had walked home from a visit, up- wards of a mile, at eleven o'clock, and neither heard nor seen anything of the fire. The larger proportion of the New York mer- chants were thus deprived at a stroke of their buildings, stocks, in many cases of all books and papers, and, lastly, of the benefit of insurance. The insurance companies were plunged in almost a general insolvency. The only relief proposed, or that could be offered, was an extension of time, without interest, to the debtors of the government for payment of bonds given to secure the duties upon goods recently imported : and this small re- lief could not be obtained till too late to be of much use. Happily, the fire occurred at one of the least busy seasons of the year. The merchants could concert together for the saving of their credit : and they did it to some purpose. Their credit sus- tained the shock of all this confusion, uncertainty, and dismay. The conduct of the merchants who had not directly suffered, and of the banks, was admirable. They threw aside all their usual caution, and dispensed help and accommodation with the 270 COMMERCE. last degree of liberality. The consequence was, that not one house failed. It seems now as if the commercial credit of New York could stand any shock short of an earthquake, like that of Lisbon. Some merchants had the unexpected pleasure of finding themselves richer than they were be- fore. One was travelling in Europe with his lady, when the news overtook him that the hundred and fifty stores in which he had property were all burned down. He wrote that he and his lady were hastening to Havre, on their way home, where they must live in the most economical and laborious manner, to repair their fortunes. With such in- tentions they crossed the Atlantic ; and on land- ing were met by the intelligence that they had be- come very wealthy, from their ground lots having sold for more than ground, stores, and stock, were worth before. I saw the fifty-two acres of ruins in the following April. We traversed what had been streets, and climbed the ruins of the Exchange. The pedestal of Hamilton's statue was standing, strewed round with fragments of burnt calicoes, which people were disinterring. There was a litter of stone pannels, broken columns, and cornices. Bushels of coffee paved our way. A boy presented me with a half-fused watch-key from the cellar of what had been a jeweller's store. The blackened ruins of COMMERCE. 271 a church frowned over all. The most singular spectacle was a store, standing alone and unharmed, amidst the desolation. It belonged to a Jew, was fire-proof, and contained hay, not a blade of which was singed. This square-fronted, elongated, ugly building, standing obliquely, and as clean as if smoke had never touched it, had a most saucy ap- pearance: and so it might, so many erections, equally called fire-proof, having disappeared, while it alone remained. By the next July, the entire area was covered with new erections ; and long before this, doubt- less, all is to the outward eye, as if no fire had happened. But for the testimony afforded by this event, of the substantial credit in New York, the enormous prices given for land, the above-mentioned ground lots, for instance, might cause a suspicion that there was much wild speculation. I trust it is not so. The eagerness for land is, however, extraor- dinary. A lady sold an estate in the neighbour- hood of New York, for what she and her friends considered a large sum; and a few weeks after she had concluded the bargain, and soon after the destruction of eighteen millions of the wealth of the city, she found she might have obtained three times the amount for which she had sold her estate. The whole south end of the city is being rapidly turned into stores ; and it is obvious that the mer- 272 COMMERCE. cantile princes of this emporium have no idea of their conquests being bounded by any circumstance short of the limits of the globe. Is there anything to be learned here, as well as to admire ? any inference to be drawn for the be- nefit of other nations ? An English member of parliament wrote to a friend residing in one of the American ports, in- quiring whether this friend could suggest any coarse of parliamentary action by which the com- merce of England, or of both countries, could be benefited. The American replied by urging his friend to work incessantly at a repeal of the corn laws, and in any way which may keep the United States continually before the eyes of the com- mercial rulers of Great Britain. " You talk," said he, " of your commercial arrangements with Por- tugal. Well and good! but what is Portugal? She has two millions of priests and beggars ; and at the end of the century she will have two millions of priests and beggars stilL What will the wealth and productions of the United States be then ?' If the United States have now 18,000,000 of people, and their population is in- creasing at an unexampled rate, a free and an opulent population, the interest of Great Britain is plain ; to have a primary regard to the United States in the arrangement of her commercial policy. THE CURRENCY. 273 SECTION I. THE CURRENCY. The fundamental difficulty of this great question, now, one of the most prominent in the United States, is indicated by the fact that, while the practice of banking is essential to a manufacturing and commercial nation, a perfect system of bank- ing remains to be discovered. When it is remembered that the question of the Currency has never yet been practically mastered in the countries of the Old World ; that in America it has fallen into the hands of a young and inex- perienced people ; that it is implicated with con- stitutional questions, and has to be reconciled with democratic principles, it will not be expected that a passing stranger will be able to present a very clear view of its present aspect, or any decided opinion upon difficulties which perplex the wisest heads in the country. The mere history of bank- ing in the United States would fill more than a volume : and the speculations which arise out of it, a library. It is well known that there was an early split into parties on the subject of the constitutionality N 5 274 THE CURRENCY. of a national bank. Washington requested the opinions of his cabinet upon it in writing; and Hamilton gave his in favour of the constitutionality of a national bank : Edmund Randolph and Jef- ferson against it. The question has been stirred from time to time since ; while Hamilton's opinions have been acted upon. The ground of objection is a very strong one. It lies in the provision that " all powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor pro- hibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people." No power to establish corporations is, in any case, delegated by the con- stitution to the United States ; nor does it appear to be countenanced by any fair construction of the permissions under which its transaction of the ge- neral business is carried on. The answer to this is, that the supreme law of the country may give a legal or artificial capacity, (distinct from the natural,) to one or more persons, in relation to the objects committed to the manage- ment of the government : in other words, that the government has sovereign power with regard to the objects confided to it ; all the limitations of the constitution having relation to the number of those objects. This was Hamilton's ground ; and this is, I believe, the ground which has been taken since by those who shared his opinions on the main THE CURRENCY. 275 question. To me it appears as unsatisfactory as any other mode of begging the question. If the power of making corporations is to be assumed by the general government, on the ground of its being implied, the whole country might be covered with corporations, to which should be entrusted the discharge of any function exercised by the general government. In countries differently governed from the United States, it appears as if it would be most reason- able either to have the currency made a national affair, transacted wholly by the government, on determined principles, or to leave banking entirely free. In neither case, probably, would the evils be so great as those which have happened under the mixture of the two systems. But in the United States, the committing the management of the currency to the general government is now wholly out of the question. Free banking will be the method, some time or other ; but not yet. There is not yet knowledge enough ; nor freedom enough of production and commerce to render such a policy safe. Meantime, various doctrines are afloat. Some persons are for no banking what- soever: but mere money-lending by individuals. Some are for the abolition of paper-money, and the establishment of one public bank of deposit and transfer in each State. Some are for private 276 THE CURRENCY. banking only, with or without paper money. Some are for State incorporations, with no central bank. Others are for restoring the United States Bank. No objections against banking arid paper-money altogether will avail anything, while commerce is conducted on its present principles. It answers no practical purpose to object to any useful thing on the ground of its abuse : and while the commerce of the United States is daily on the increase, and the only check on its prosperity is the want of capital, there is no possibility of a return to the use of private money-lending and rouleaus. The use of small notes may well and easily be discontinued. The experiment has been tried with success in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsyl- vania. The prohibition, might, perhaps, be carried as high as to notes of twenty dollars. There seems no adequate reason for the public being, further than this, deprived of the convenience of a repre- sentative of cash ; a convenience so great that there is much more probability that the ingenious Americans will devise some method of practically insuring its convertibility, than that they will sur- render its use. It has often occurred to me that out of the currency troubles of the United States, might arise such a discovery of the true principle (which yet lies hidden) of insuring the converti- bility, or other limitation, of a paper currency, as THE CURRENCY. 277 may be a blessing to the whole commercial world. This is an enterprise worthy of their ingenuity; and one which seems of probable achievement, when we remember how the American merchants are pressed for capital, and how all-important to them is the soundness of their credit. The prin- ciple lies somewhere, if it could but be found : and none are more likely to discover it than they. Private banking is, in the present state of affairs, necessary and inevitable ; so that there is little use in arguments for or against it. Capital is griev- ously wanted, in all the commercial cities. There must be some place of resort for small amounts, and for foreign capital, whence money may issue to supply the need of commercial men. There must, in other words, be money stores ; and, in the ab- sence of others, private banks must serve the pur- pose. The amount of good or harm which, in the present state of things, they are able to do, depends mainly on the discretion or indiscretion of their customers; who, in common prudence, must look well whom they trust. As for State incorporations, it cannot be said that they are absolutely necessary ; though the ar- guments in favour of their expediency are very strong. More and more money is perpetually re- quired for the transaction of commercial business ; and in a different ratio from that required by the 278 THE CURRENCY. affairs of farmers and planters ; since the latter receive their returns quickly ; while the merchants of the sea-board have theirs delayed for long periods, and consequently require a much larger amount of capital. These larger amounts must come mainly from abroad, whence money can be had at four and five per cent, interest; while at home, from six to twelve per cent, is paid, even while foreign capital is flowing in. It is obvious that this foreign capital will enter much more abundantly through the credit of a State bank than through private banks. Small amounts of capital, dispersed and comparatively unproductive, will also be more readily brought together, to be applied where most needed, in a State bank, than among many small firms. The States of New York and Pennsylvania have carried on their improvements, their canals and rail-roads, as well as much of their commerce, by means of foreign capital ; and the surpassing prosperity of those States may be con- sidered owing, in a great degree, to this practice. The incorporation of a bank is not always to be considered* in the light of a monopoly; it may be the reverse. It may enable a number of indivi- duals, by no means the most wealthy in the com- munity, to compete, by an union of forces, with the most wealthy. Corporations may be multiplied, as occasion arises, and, by competition, give the public THE CURRENCY. 279 the benefit of the greatest possible amount of ser- vice done at the least cost. Such are the leading arguments in favour of State Banks. The objections to them are in part applicable to faulty methods of incorporation, and not to the principle itself. The special exemption from liabilities to which individuals are subject; the imposing of such inhibitions elsewhere as ren- der the affair a monopoly ; the making respon- sibility a mere abstraction, are great, but perhaps avoidable evils. So are the methods by which charters have been obtained and renewed; the method of " log-rolling " bills through the legis- lature ; and other such corruption.* An objection less easily disposed of is, that by the creation of any great moneyed power, means are afforded of controlling the fortunes of indivi- duals, and of influencing the press and the political constituency. If these objections cannot be obvi- ated, they are fatal to banking corporations. If, however, any means can be devised, either by causing a sufficient publicity of proceedings, or by * " Log-rolling" means co-operation for a point which must be carried : on a new settlement in the wilds, by neighbours devoting a day to fell, roll and build logs, to make a house before night : in a legislature, by a coterie of members urging on a bill in which they are interested, and getting it passed in defiance of inquiry and delay. 280 THE CURRENCY. granting charters for a short term, renewable on strict conditions, or by any other plan for establish- ing a true responsibility, of uniting the benefits of incorporated banks with republican principles, it seems as if it would be a great benefit to all parties in the community. The difference of opinion which has made the most noise in the world 4 is about a National Bank. It appears to have been contemplated, in the first instance, to place the currency of the United States under the control of the general govern- ment; according to the spirit of the provisions of the constitution, that Congress should have power "to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin :" but without affording to Congress any power to control the fortunes of individuals, as may be done by certain banking operations. The state of the colonial currency had been de- plorable.* The object now was to substitute a * I have before me a collection of specimens of the colonial, and early west continental paper currency; such as brought ruin to all who trusted it. The colonial notes are such as any common prin- ter might forge. For instance, here is one, on common paper, with a border of stars, and within it, " Georgia, 1776. " These are to certify, That the sum of SIXPENCE sterling, is due from this Province to the bearer hereof, the same being part of Twelve Thousand Five Hundred and Seventy-two Pounds Nine- THE CURRENCY. 281 uniform and substantial currency, instead of the false representatives which had been in use : and to put it out of the power of the States to alter the terms of contracts by taking advantage of the faults of the currency. Nobody would take the continental bills; and gold and silver were de- ficient. A national bank was the resource; and the old United States Bank was chartered in 1791 ; it being ascertained that its issues were based on real capital, and a strict watch being kept over its operations. This bank was believed to be wanted for another purpose; to watch over and control the State Banks. It was not the first institution of the kind in the United States. The Bank of North Ame- rica had been chartered in 1781, under the authority of the Continental Congress : but by soon accept- ing a charter from the Legislature of Pennsylvania, it ceased to be a national, and afforded the pre- cedent of a State Bank. New York and Massa- teen Shillings Sterling, voted by Provincial Congress, for taking up and sinking that Sum already issued. 6d." Those of the early days of the war have on the back emblems, varying with the promissory amount, exhibiting bows, arrows, leaves of the oak, orange, &c. It would be absurd to argue against all use of a paper currency from such specimens as these. 282 THE CURRENCY. chusetts had soon State Banks also. They were prudently conducted; and their notes presently banished the coin. The power of Congress over the currency was gone. All that could be done now was for the National Bank to control the State Banks, and- keep their issues within bounds, as well as it could. Occasional disorders happened from the miscon- duct of country banks, prior to 181 1 . The renewal of the charter of the United States Bank was then refused. The government was pressed by the evils of war ; and the check of the superintendence of the Bank being withdrawn, the local banks, out of New England, came to the agreement, (too sense- less to be ever repeated,) to suspend specie pay- ments. All issued what kind and quantity of paper pleased themselves, till above twice the amount of money needed was abroad; and the notes were in some States five, in others ten, in others twenty, below par. The New England peo- ple, meantime, used convertible paper only; and under the law which provides that all duties, im- posts, and excises should be uniform throughout the States, were thus compelled to pay one tenth more to the revenue officers than the people of New York, who used the depreciated currency : and one-fifth more than the Baltimore merchants. This state of things could not last. A national THE CURRENCY. 283 bank was again established, in 1816, for the pur- pose of controlling the local banks. Its charter was for twenty years, with a capital of 35,000,000 dollars, to which the federal government subscribed one fifth. Its notes were made receivable for any debt due to the United States. Its purpose was presently answered. The local banks had, in three years, resumed cash payments. The management of the United States Bank, dur- ing the rest of its term, has been, upon the whole, prudent and moderate. That a power has not been abused is not, however, a reason for its con- tinued exercise, if it be really unconstitutional. President Jackson thinks, and the majority thinks with him, that it is contrary to the spirit of the constitution, (as it is certainly unauthorised by its letter,) that any institution should have the power, unchecked for a long term of years, of affecting the affairs of individuals, from the further corners of Maine or Missouri, down to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico ; of influencing elections ; of biassing the press ; and of acting strongly either with or against the administration. The majority considers, that if the United States Bank has great power for good, it has also great power for harm ; and that the general government cannot be secure of work- ing naturally in its limited functions, while this great power subsists, to be either its enemy or its ally. 284 THE CURRENCY. This seems to be proved by the charges brought against the late Bank by President Jackson. Whe- ther they are true or false, (and the gravest of them do not appear to have been substantiated,) they indicate that power is in the hands of a central in- stitution, which no federal establishment ought to have, otherwise than by the express permission of the constitution. As for President Jackson's mode of proceeding against the Bank, it is an affair of merely tem- porary interest, unless he should be found to have exceeded the authority conferred on him by his office. He does seem to have done so, in one par- ticular, at least. His first declaration against the renewal of the charter, was honest and manly. His re-election, after having made this avowal, was a sufficient evidence of the desire of the majority to extinguish the Bank. It was, no doubt, in reliance on the will of the majority, thus indicated, that the President removed the deposits in a peculiarly high-handed manner ; and also ex- ercised the veto, when the two Houses had passed a bill to renew the charter of the United States Bank. With the last of these measures, no one has any right to quarrel. He exercised a constitutional power, according to his long-declared convictions. His sudden removal of the deposits is not to be so easily justified. THE CURRENCY. 285 The President has the power of removing his Secretaries from office, and of appointing others, whose appointment must be sanctioned by the Senate. The Secretaries of State are enjoined by law to execute such orders as shall be imposed on them by the President of the United States : all the Secretaries but the Secretary of the Treasury. In his case, no such specification is made; obvi- ously because it would not be wise to put the whole power of the Treasury into the hands of the President. President Jackson, however, contrived to obtain this power by using with adroitness his other power of removal from office. Mr. Duane was appointed Secretary of the Treasury on the 29th of May, 1833; his predecessor having been offered a higher office. It is known that the pre- decessor had given his opinion in the cabinet against removing the Treasury deposits from the Bank ; and that Mr. Duane was an acknowledged enemy of the Bank. On the 3rd of June, the Pre- sident opened to the new Secretary his scheme of removing the deposits. Mr. Duane was opposed to the act, as being a violation of the government contract with the Bank. He refused to sign the necessary order. While he was still in office, on the 20th of September, the intended removal of the deposits was announced in the government news- paper. On the 23rd, Mr. Duane was dismissed 286 THE CURRENCY. from office ; and Mr. Taney, who had previously promised to sign the order, was installed in the office. On the 26th, the official order for the re- moval of the deposits was given. No plea of im- pending danger to the national funds, if such could have been substantiated, could justify so high- handed a deed as this. No such plea has been substantiated ; and the act remains open to strong censure. Just before the expiration of its charter, the United States Bank accepted a charter from the Legislature of Pennsylvania. It remains to be seen what effects will arise from the operation of the most powerful State Bank which has yet ex- isted. The problem now is to keep a sound currency, in the absence of an institution, believed to be un- constitutional, but hitherto found the only means of establishing order and safety in this most im- portant branch of economy. Here is a deficiency, which cannot but be the cause of much evil and perplexity. It must be supplied, either by increased knowledge and improved philosophy and practice among the people, or by an amendment of the Constitution. Meanwhile, it is only time and energy lost to insist upon the return to a mere metallic currency. Society cannot be set back to a condition which could dispense with so great an THE CURRENCY. 287 improvement as paper-money, with all its abuses, undoubtedly is. The singular order which last year emanated from the Treasury, compelling the payments for the public lands to be made in specie, will not have the effect of making the people in love with a me- tallic currency. If this measure is intended to be an obstacle to the purchase of large quantities of land, or virtually to raise the price, these are affairs with which the Treasury has nothing to do. If it is intended merely to compel cash payments, as far as the administration has power to do so, it seems a pity that those who undertake to meddle with the currency should not know better what they are about. The scarcity of money in the eastern States has been well nigh ruinous ; while large amounts of specie have been accumulated in the west, where they are not wanted. The mischief thus caused has been much in- creased by the injudicious method in which the deposits have been distributed among the States, according to the Deposit Bill of the session of 1836. The details of the extraordinary state of the money- market in America, last year, are too well known on both sides of the water, to need to be repeated here. One principle stands out conspicuously from the history of the last few years : that no President or 288 REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. Secretary should be allowed the opportunity of " taking the responsibility" of meddling with the currency of the country : in other words, the taxa- tion should be reduced, as soon as in equity and convenience it can be done, so as to bring down the revenue to a proportion with the wants of the go- vernment. If the general government is to have anything to do with the currency at all, it should be by such business being made a separate consti- tutional function. To let the Treasury overflow, and leave its overflowings to be managed at the dis- cretion of one public servant, removable by one other, is a policy as absurd as dangerous. The most obvious security lies, not in multiplying checks upon the officers, but in reducing the overflowings of the Treasury to the smallest possible amount. This is President Jackson's last recorded opinion on the subject It appears worthy to be kept on record. SECTION II. REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. There is less to be said on this head than would be possible in any other country. When it is REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. 289 known that the United States are troubled with the large surplus revenue accruing from the sale of the public lands, the whole story is told. The stranger will hear much lamentation in the Senate about the increase of the public expenses, and will see Hon. Members looking as solemn as if the nation were sinking into a gulf of debt : but the fear and com- plaint are, not of the expenditure of money, but of the increase of executive patronage. The Customs are the chief source of the revenue of the general government. They are in course of reduction, year by year. The next great resource is the sale of the public lands. This may be called inexhaustible ; so large is the area yet unoccupied, and so increasing the influx of settlers. This happy country is free from the infliction of an excise system ; an exemption which goes far towards making it the most desirable of all places of residence for manufacturers who value practical freedom in the management of their private con- cerns, and honesty among their work-people. The brewer and glass-manufacturer see the tax-gathe- rer's face no oftener than other men. The Post- Office establishment in America is for the advan- tage of the people, and not for purposes of taxation ; and every one is satisfied if it pays its own expenses. A small sum is yielded by patent fees ; and also by the mint. Lighthouse -tolls constitute another item. 290 REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. But all these united are trifling in comparison with the revenue yielded from the two great sources, the Customs and the Public Lands.* The expenditures of the general government are for salaries, pensions, (three or four hundred pounds,) territorial governments, the mint, surveys, and improvements, the census and other public documents, and the military and naval establish- ments. The largest item in the civil list is the pay- ment to Members of Congress, who receive eight dollars per day, for the session, and their travelling expenses. The President's salary is 25,000 dollars. The Vice-president's 5,000. Each of the Secre- taries of State, and the Postmaster-general's, 6,000. The Attorney-general's, 4,000. The seven Judges of the Supreme Court are salaried with the same moderation as other mem- bers of the federal government. The Chief Justice has 5,000 dollars ; the six Associate Judges 4,500 each. The Commissioned Officers of the United States army were, in 1835, 674. Non-commissioned Of- ficers and Privates, 7,547. Total of the United States army, 8,221. In the navy, there were, in 1835, 37 Captains and 40 Masters-commandant. The navy consisted * See Appendix 13. REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE, 291 of 12 ships of the line; 14 first-class frigates; 3 second-class; 15 sloops of war; 8 schooners and other small vessels of war. The revenue and expenditure of most of the States are so small as to make the annual financial statement resemble the account-books of a private family. The land tax, the proportion of which varies in every State, is the chief source of revenue. Licenses, fines, and tolls, yield other sums. In South Carolina, there is a tax on free people of colour ! The highest salary that I find paid to the govern- ment of a State is 4,000 dollars, (New York and Pennsylvania;) the lowest, 400 dollars, (Rhode Island.) The other expenses, besides those of government, are for the defence of the State, (in Pennsylvania, about forty pounds !) for education, (two thousand pounds, in Pennsylvania, the same year,) prisons, pensions, and state improvements.* Such is the financial condition of a people of whom few are individually very wealthy or very poor ; who all work ; and who govern themselves, appointing one another to manage their common affairs. They have had every advantage that na- ture and circumstances could give them; and no- thing to combat but their own necessary inexpe- * See Appendix B. o 2 292 REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. rience. As long as the State expenditure for defence bears the proportion to education of 407. to 2,000/., and on to 80,000/., (the amount of the school-tax, now, in Massachusetts,) all is safe and promising. There is great virtue in figures, dull as they are to all but the few who love statistics for the sake of what they indicate. Those which are cited above disclose a condition and a prospect in the presence of which all fears for the peace and virtue of the States are shamed. Men who govern themselves and each other with such moderate means, and for such unimpeachable objects, are no more likely to lapse into disorder than to submit to despotism. 293 CHAPTER V. MORALS OF ECONOMY. " Andyet of your strength there is and can be no clear feeling, save by what you have prospered in, by what you have done. Between vague, wavering capability, and fixed, indubitable performance, what a difference ! A certain inarticulate self-consciousness dwells dimly in us ; which only our works can render articulate, and de- cisively discernible. Our works are the mirror wherein the spirit first sees its natural lineaments. Hence, too, the folly of that im- possible precept ' know thyself,' till it be translated into this par- tially possible one, ' know what thou canst work at.' " Sartor Resartus, p. 166. Boston Edition. THE glory of the world passeth away. One kind of worldly glory passes away, and another comes. Like a series of clouds sailing by the moon, and growing dim and dimmer as they go down the sky, are the transitory glories which are only brightened for an age by man's smile : dark vapours, which 294 MORALS OF ECONOMY. carry no light within themselves. How many such have floated across the expanse of history, and melted away ! It was once a glory to have a power of life and death over a patriarchal family : and how mean does this now appear, in comparison with the power of life and death which every man has over his own intellect ! It was once a glory to be feared : how much better is it now esteemed to be loved ! It was once a glory to lay down life to escape from one's personal woes : how far higher is it now seen to be to accept those woes as a boon, and to lay down life only for truth ; for God and not for self ! The heroes of mankind were once its kings and warriors : we look again now, and find its truest heroes its martyrs, its poets, its artisans; men not buried under pyramids or in cathedrals, but whose sepul- chre no man knoweth unto this day. To them the Lord showed the land of promise, and then buried them on the confines. There are two aspects under which every individual man may be regarded : as a solitary being, with inherent powers, and an omni- potent will; a creator, a king, an inscrutable mys- tery: and again, as a being infinitely connected with all other beings, with none but derived powers, with a heavenly-directed will ; a creature, a subject, a transparent medium through which the workings of principles are to be eternally revealed. Both these aspects are true, and therefore reconcilable. MORALS OF ECONOMY. 295 The Old World dwelt almost exclusively on the first and meaner aspect : as men rise to inhabit the new heavens and the new earth, they will more and more contemplate the other and sublimer. The old glory of a self-originating power and will is passing away : and it is becoming more and more plain that a man's highest honour lies in becoming as clear a medium as possible for the revelations which are to be made through him : in wiping out every stain, in correcting every flaw by which the light that is in him may be made dimness or deception. It was once a glory to defy or evade the laws of man's phy- sical and moral being ; and, in so doing, to encroach upon the rights of others : it is now beginning to be shown that there is a higher honour in recognis- ing and obeying the laws of outward and inward life, and in reverencing instead of appropriating the pri- vileges of other wards of Providence. In other words, it was once a glory to be idle, and a shame to work, at least with any member or organ but one, the brain. Yet it is a law of every man's physical nature that he should work with the limbs : of every man's moral nature, that he should know : and knowledge is to be had only by one method ; by bringing the ideal and the actual world into contact, and proving each by the other, with one's own brain and hands for instruments, and not another's. There is no actual knowledge even 296 MORALS OF ECONOMY. of one's own life, to be had in any other way. Yet this is the way which men have perversely refused to acknowledge, while every one is more or less compelled to practise it. Those who have been able to get through life with the least possible work have been treated as the happiest : those who have had the largest share imposed upon them have been passively pitied as the most miserable. If the ex- perience of the two could have been visibly or tan- gibly brought into comparison, the false estimate would have been long ago banished for ever from human calculations. If princes and nobles, who have not worked either in war or in council, men sunk in satiety ; if women, shut out of the world of reality, and compelled by usage to endure the cor- rosion of unoccupied thought, and the decay of unemployed powers, were able to speak fully and truly as they sink into their unearned graves, it would be found that their lives had been one hollow misery, redeemed solely by that degree of action that had been permitted to them, in order that they might, in any wise, live. If the half-starved artisan, if the negro slave, could, when lying down at length to rest, see and exhibit the full vision of their own lives, they would complain far less of too much work than of too little freedom, too little knowledge, too many wounds through their affections to their chil- dren, their brethren, their race. They would com- MORALS OF ECONOMY. 297 plain that their work had been of too exclusive a kind ; too much in the actual, while it had been attempted to close the ideal from them. Nor are their cases alike. The artisan works too much in one way, while too little in another. The negro slave suffers too much by infliction, and yet more by privation; but he rarely or never works too much, even with the limbs. He knows the evil of toil, the reluctance, the lassitude ; but with it he knows also the evil of idleness; the vacuity, the hopelessness. He has neither the privilege of the brute, to exercise himself vigorously upon instinct, for an immediate object, to be gained and forgotten; nor the privilege of the man, to toil, by moral necessity, with some pain, for results which yield an evergrowing pleasure. It is not work which is the curse of the slave : he is rarely so blessed as to know what it is. If, again, the happiest man who has ever lived on earth, (excepting the Man of Sorrows, whose depth of peace no one will attempt to fathom,) could, in passing into the busier life to come, (to which the present is only the nursery mimicking of human affairs,) communicate to us what has been the true blessedness of his brief passage, it would be fdund to lie in what he had been enabled to do : not so much blessed in regard to others as to him- self; not so much because he had made inventions, o 5 298 MORALS OF ECONOMY. (even such a one as printing:) not so much be- cause through him countries will be better govern- ed, men better educated, and some light from the upper world let down into the lower ; (for great things as these are, they are sure to be done, if not by him, by another;) but because his actual doing, his joint head and hand-work have revealed to him the truth which lies about him ; and so far, and by the only appointed method, invested him with hea- ven while he was upon earth. Such a one might not be conscious of this as the chief blessedness of his life, (as men are ever least conscious of what is highest and best in themselves :) he might put it in another form, saying that mankind were grow- ing wiser and happier, or that goodness and mercy had followed him all the days of his life, or that he had found that all evil is only an aspect of ultimate good: in some such words of faith or hope he would communicate his inward peace : but the real meaning of the true workman, if spoken for him by a divine voice, (as spoken by the divine voice of his life,) is, as has been said, that his complete toil has enriched him with truth which can be no otherwise obtained, and which neither the world, nor any one in it, except himself, could give, nor any power in heaven or earth could take away. Mankind becomes more clear-sighted to this MORALS OF ECONOMY. 299 fact about honour and blessedness, as time unfolds the sequence of his hieroglyphic scroll ; and a transition in the morals and manners of nations is an inevitable consequence, slow as men are in deciphering the picture-writing of the old teacher ; unapt as men are in connecting picture with pic- ture, so as to draw thence a truth, and in the truth, a prophecy. We must look to new or reno- vated communities to see how much has been really learned. The savage chief, who has never heard the saying " he that -would be chief among you, let him be your servant," feels himself covered with glory when he paces along in his saddle, gorgeous with wampum and feathers, while his squaw fol- lows in the dust, bending under the weight of his shelter, his food, and his children. Wise men look upon him with all pity and no envy. Higher and higher in society, the right of the strongest is supposed to involve honour : and physical is placed at>ove moral strength. The work of the limbs, wholly repulsive when separated from that of the head, is devolved upon the weaker, who cannot resist ; and hence arises the disgrace of work, and the honour of being able to keep soul and body together, more or less luxuriously, with- out it. The barbaric conqueror makes his cap- tives work for him. His descendants, who have no 300 MORALS OF ECONOMY. prisoners of war to make slaves of, carry off cap- tives of a helpless nation, inferior even to them- selves in civilisation. The servile class rises, by almost imperceptible degrees, as the dawn of rea- son brightens towards day. The classes by whom the hand-work of society is done, arrive at being cared for by those who do the head-work, or no work at all : then they are legislated for, but still as a common or inferior class, favoured, out of pure bounty, with laws, as with soup, which are pro- nounced " excellent for the poor : " then they be- gin to open their minds upon legislation for them- selves ; and a certain lip-honour is paid them which would be rejected as insult if offered to those who nevertheless think themselves highly merito- rious in vouchsafing it. This is the critical period out of which must arise a new organisation of society. When it comes to this, a new promise blossoms under the feet of the lovers of truth. There are many of the hand-workers now who are on the very borders of the domain of head-work : and, as the encroach- ments of those who work not at all have, by this time, become seriously injurious to the rights of others, there are many thinkers and persons of learning who are driven over the line, and become hand-workers ; for which they, as they usually af- terwards declare, can never be sufficiently thankful. MORALS OF ECONOMY. 301 There is no drowning the epithalamium with which these two classes celebrate the union of thought and handicraft. Multitudes press in, or are carried in to the marriage feast, and a new era of society has be- gun. The temporary glory of ease and disgrace of la- bour pass away like mountain mists, and the clear sublimity of toil grows upon men's sight. If, in such an era, a new nation begins its career, what should be expected from it ? If the organisation of its society were a matter of will ; if it had a disposable moral force, appli- cable to controllable circumstances, it is probable that the new nation would take after all old na- tions, and not dare to make, perhaps not dream of making, the explicit avowal, that that which had ever hitherto been a disgrace, except in the eyes of a very few prophets, had now come out to be a clear honour. This would be more, perhaps, than even a company of ten or fifteen millions of men and women would venture to declare, while such words as Quixotic, Revolutionary, Utopian, remain on the tongues which wag the most industriously in the old world. But, it so happens it is never in the power of a whole nation to meet in conven- tion, and agree what their moral condition shall be. They may agree upon laws for the furtherance of what is settled to be honourable, and for the exclu- sion of some of the law-bred disgraces of the old world : but it is not in their power to dispense at 302 MORALS OF ECONOMY. will the subtle radiance of moral glory, any more than to dye their scenery with rainbow hues be- cause they have got hold of a prism. Moral per- suasions grow out of preceding circumstances, as institutions do ; and conviction is not communica- ble where the evidence is not of a communicable kind. The advantage of the new nation over the old will be no more than that its individual members are more open to conviction, from being more accessible to evidence, less burdened with antique forms and institutions, and partial privi- leges, so called. The result will probably be that some members of the new society will follow the ancient fashion of considering work a humiliation ; while, upon the whole, labour will be more honour- ed than it has ever been before. America is in the singular position of being nearly equally divided between a low degree of the ancient barbarism in relation to labour, and a high degree of the modern enlightenment. Wherever there is a servile class, work is considered a dis- grace, unless it bears some other name, and is of an exclusive character. In the free States, labour is more really and heartily honoured than, perhaps, in any other part of the civilised world. The most extraordinary, and least pleasant circumstance in the case is that, while the south ridicules and despises the north for what is its very highest ho- nour, the north feels somewhat uneasy and sore MORALS OF ECONOMY. 303 under the contempt. It is true that it is from ne- cessity that every man there works ; but, whatever be the cause, the fact is a noble one, worthy of all rejoicing : and it were to be wished that the north could readily and serenely, at all times, and in disregard of all jibes, admit the fact, as matter for thankfulness, that there every man works for his bread with his own head and hands. How do the two parties in reality spend their days ? In the north, the children all go to school, and work there, more or less. Asthey grow up, they part off into the greatest variety of employments. The youths must, without exception, work hard ; or they had better drown themselves. Whether they are to be lawyers, or otherwise professional ; or mer- chants, manufacturers, farmers, or citizens, they have everything to do for themselves. A very large proportion of them have, while learning their fu- ture business, to earn the means of learning. There is much manual labour in the country colleges ; much teaching in the vacations done by students. Many a great man in Congress was seen in his boyhood leading his father's horses to water; and, in his youth, guiding the plough in his father's field. There is probably hardly a man in New England who cannot ride, drive, and tend his own horse ; scarcely a clergyman, lawyer, or physician, 304 MO HALS OF ECONOMY. who, if deprived of his profession, could not sup- port himself by manual labour. Nor, on the other hand, is there any farmer or citizen who is not, more or less, a student and thinker. Not only are all capable of discharging their political duty of self-government ; but all have somewhat idealised their life. All have looked abroad, at least so far as to understand the foreign relations of their own country : most, I believe, have gone further, and can contemplate the foreign relations of their own being. Some one great mind, at least, has almost every individual entered into sympathy with ; some divine, or politician, or poet, who has carried the spirit out beyond the circle of home, State, and country, into the ideal world. It is even possible to trace, in the conversation of some who have the least leisure for reading, the influence of some one of the rich sayings, the diamonds and pearls which have dropped from the lips of genius, to shine in the hearts of all humanity. Some one such saying may be perceived to have moulded the thoughts, and shaped the aims, and become the under-cur- rent of the whole life of a thinking and labouring man. Such sayings being hackneyed signifies nothing, while the individuals blessed by them do not k-now it, and hold them in their inmost hearts, unvexed by hearing them echoed by careless tongues. " Am I not a man and a brother?" MORALS OF ECONOMY. 305 " Happy the man whose wish and care," &c. " The breaking waves dashed high," &c. (Mrs. Hemans's Landing of the Pilgrims,) " What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue," (Burke) these are some of the words which, sinking deep into the hearts of busy men, spring up in a harvest of thoughts and acts. There are a few young men, esteemed the least happy members of the community, who inherit wealth. The time will come, when the society is somewhat older, when it will be understood that wealth need not preclude work: but at present, there are no individuals so forlorn, in the northern States, as young men of fortune. Men who have shown energy and skill in working their way in society are preferred for political representatives : there is no scientific or literary class, for such individuals to fall into: all the world is busy around them, and they are reduced to the predi- cament, unhappily the most dreaded of all in the United States, of standing alone. Their method, therefore, is to spend their money as fast as pos- sible, and begin the world like other men. I am stating this as matter of fact ; not as being reasonable and right. .^ As for the women of the northern States, most have the blessing of work, though not of the ex- tent and variety which will hereafter be seen to be 306 MORALS OF ECONOMY. necessary for the happiness of their lives. All married women, except the ladies of rich mer- chants and others, are liable to have their hands full of household occupation, from the uncertainty of domestic service; a topic to be referred to hereafter. Women who do not marry have, in many instances, to work for their support ; and, as will be shown in another connexion, under peculiar disadvantages. Work, on the whole, may be con- sidered the rule, and vacuity the exception.* * In testimony of the fact that the working people of this re- gion are thinkers too, I subjoin a note written by the wife of a village mechanic, who is a fair specimen of her class. " SIR, Nothing but a consciousness of my own incompetency to form a just opinion on a question of such magnitude, and one too which involves consequences as remote from my personal ob- servation, as the immediate, or gradual emancipation of the slaves, has, for some time, prevented my being an acknowledged abo- litionist. With the Divine precepts before me, which require us to love our neighbour as ourselves, and ' whatsoever we would that others should do to us,' etc. etc., instructed and admonished too by the feelings of common humanity, I cannot hesitate to pro- nounce the system of slavery an outrageous violation of the re- quirements of God, and a lawless and cruel invasion of the rights of our fellow men. In this view of it, I am not able to under- stand how it can be persisted in, without setting at defiance the dictates of reason and conscience, and what is of more importance, the uncompromising authority of Scripture, the arguments of wise and talented men to the contrary, notwithstanding. The most superficial observer cannot fail to discern, in the universal interest and agitation, which prevail on this subject, a prelude to some MORALS OF ECONOMY. 307 What is life in the slave States, in respect of work? There are two classes, the servile and the im- perious, between whom there is a great gulf fixed. The servile class has not even the benefit of hearty toil. No solemn truths sink down into them, to cheer their hearts, stimulate their minds, and nerve their hands. Their wretched lives are passed be- tween an utter debasement of the will, and a con- flict of the will with external force. The other class is in circumstances as unfa- vourable as the least happy order of persons in the old world. The means of educating children are so meagre* that young people begin life under great disadvantages. The vicious fundamental principle of morals in a slave country, that labour is disgraceful, taints the infant mind with a stain which is as fatal in the world of spirits as the negro tinge is at present in the world of society. It made my heart ache to hear the little children un- mighty revolution. If this ' war of words' is the worst that will precede or accompany it, I shall be happily disappointed. With these feelings, sir, you will readily believe the assurance, that I have been greatly interested, and instructed, in reading the mild, comprehensive, intelligent ' lecture,' of your lamented brother." * See Appendix C : an admirable sketch by a resident of Charleston, of the interior of a planter's family. It unconsciously bears out all that can be said of the educational evils of the exist- ing state of society in the south. 308 MORALS OF ECONOMY. consciously uttering thoughts with which no true religion, no true philosophy can coexist. " Do you think / shall work ?" " O, you must not touch the poker here." " You must not do this or that for yourself: the negroes will be offended, and it won't do for a lady to do so." " Poor thing ! she has to teach : if she had come here, she might have mar- ried a rich man, perhaps." " Mamma has so much a-year now, so we have not to do our work at home, or any trouble. 'Tis such a comfort !" When children at school call everything that pleases them " gentlemanly," and pity all (but slaves) who have to work, and talk of marrying early for an establishment, it is all over with them. A more hopeless state of degradation can hardly be con- ceived of, however they may ride, and play the harp, and sing Italian, and teach their slaves what they call religion. " Poor things !" may be said of such, in return. They know little, with their horror of work, of what awaits them. Theirs is destined to be, if their wish of an establishment is fulfilled, a life of toil, irksome and unhonoured. They escape the name ; but they are doomed to undergo the worst of the reality. Their husbands are not to be envied, though they do ride on white horses, (the slave's highest conception of bliss,) lie down to repose in hot weather, and spend their hours between the MORALS OF ECONOMY. 309 discharge of hospitality and the superintendence of their estates; and the highly honourable and laborious charge of public affairs. But the wives of slave-holders are, as they and their husbands declare, as much slaves as their negroes. If they will not have everything go to rack and ruin around them, they must superintend every household ope- ration, from the cellar to the garrets : for there is nothing that slaves can do well. While the slaves are perpetually at one's heels, lolling against the bed-posts before one rises in the morning, standing behind the chairs, leaning on the sofa, officiously undertaking, and invariably spoiling everything that one had rather do for one's-self, the smallest possible amount of real service is performed. The lady of the house carries her huge bunch of keys, (for every consumable thing must be locked up,) and has to give out, on incessant requests, what- ever is wanted for the household. She is for ever superintending, and trying to keep things straight, without the slightest hope of attaining anything like leisure and comfort. What is there in re- tinue, in the reputation of ease and luxury, which can compensate for toils and cares of this nature ? How much happier must be the lot of a village milliner, or of the artisan's wife who sweeps her own floors, and cooks her husband's dinner, than that of the planter's lady with twenty slaves to wait 310 MORALS OF ECONOMY. upon her ; her sons migrating because work is out of the question, and they have not the means to buy estates; and her daughters with no better prospect than marrying, as she has done, to toil as she does ! Some few of these ladies are among the strongest- minded and most remarkable women I have ever known. There are great draw-backs, (as will be seen hereafter,) but their mental vigour is occa- sionally proportioned to their responsibility. Women who have to rule over a barbarous society, (small though it be,) to make and enforce laws, provide for all the physical wants, and regulate the entire habits of a number of persons who can in no re- spect take care of themselves, must be strong and strongly disciplined, if they in any degree discharge this duty. Those who shrink from it become per- haps the weakest women I have anywhere seen : selfishly timid, humblingly dependent, languid in body, and with minds of no reach at all. These two extremes are found in the slave States, in the most striking opposition. It is worthy of note, that I never found there a woman strong enough voluntarily to brave the woes of life in the pre- sence of slavery ; nor any woman weak enough to extenuate the vices of the system; each knowing, prior to experience, what those woes and vices are. MORALS OF ECONOMY. 311 There are a few unhappy persons in the slave States, too few, I believe, to be called a class, who strongly exemplify the consequences of .such a principle of morals as that work is a disgrace. There are a few, called by the slaves " mean whites ;" signifying whites who work with the hands. Where there is a coloured servile class, whose colour has become a disgrace through their servitude, two results are inevitable: that those who have the colour without the servitude are disgraced among the whites ; and those who have the servitude without the colour are as deeply dis- graced among the coloured. More intensely than white work-people are looked down upon at Port- au-Prince, are the " mean whites" despised by the slaves of the Carolinas. They make the most, of course, of the only opportunity they can ever have of doing what they see their superiors do, despis- ing their fellow-creatures. No inducement would be sufficient to bring honest, independent men into the constant presence of double-distilled hatred and contempt like this ; and the general character of the " mean whites" may therefore be anticipated. They are usually men who have no prospect, no chance elsewhere ; the lowest of the low. When I say that no inducement would be suffi- cient, I mean no politic inducement. There are inducements of the same force as those which drew 312 MORALS OF SLAVERY. martyrs of old into the presence of savage beasts in the amphitheatre, which guided Howard through the gloom of prisons, and strengthened Guyon of Marseilles to offer himself a certain victim to the plague, there are inducements of such force as this which carry down families to dwell in the midst of contempt and danger, where everything is lost but, the one object which carries them there. " Mean whites" these friends of the oppressed fugitive may be in the eyes of all around them ; but how they stand in the eye of One whose thoughts are not as our thoughts, may some day be revealed. To themselves it is enough that their object is gained. They do not want praise; they are above it: and they have shown that they can do without sympathy. It is enough to commend them to their own peace of heart. SECTION I. MORALS OF SLAVERY. This title is not written down in a spirit of mockery ; though there appears to be a mockery somewhere, when we /contrast slavery with the MORALS OF SLAVERY. 313 principles and the rule which are the test of all American institutions : the principles that all men are born free and equal ; that rulers derive their just powers from the consent of the governed; and the rule of reciprocal justice. This discrepancy between principles and practice needs no more words. But the institution of slavery exists ; and what we have to see is what the morals are of the society which is subject to it. What social virtues are possible in a society of which injustice is the primary characteristic? in a society which is divided into two classes, the servile and the imperious ? The most obvious is Mercy. Nowhere, perhaps, can more touching exercises of mercy be seen than here. It must be remembered that the greater number of slave-holders have no other idea than of holding slaves, Their fathers did it : they them- selves have never known the coloured race treated otherwise than as inferior beings, born to work for and to teaze the whites; helpless, improvident, open to no higher inducements than indulgence and praise ; capable of nothing but entire de- pendence. The good affections of slave-holders like these show themselves in the form of mercy ; which is as beautiful to witness as mercy, made a substitute for justice, can ever be. I saw endless manifestations of mercy, as well as of its opposite. 314 MORALS OF SLAVERY. The thoughtfulness of masters, mistresses, and their children about, not only the comforts, but the in- dulgences of their slaves, was a frequent subject of admiration with me. Kind masters are liberal in the expenditure of money, and (what is better) of thought, in gratifying the whims and fancies of their negroes. They make large sacrifices occa- sionally for the social or domestic advantage of their people; and use great forbearance in the exercise of the power conferred upon them by law and custom. At the time when the cholera was ravaging South Carolina, a wealthy slave-holder there refused to leave the State, as most of his neighbours were doing. He would not consent to take any further care of himself than riding to a distance from his plantation (then overrun by the disease) to sleep. All day he was among his slaves : nursing them with his own hands ; putting them into the bath, giving them medicine himself, and cheering their spirits by his presence and his care. He saved them almost all. No one will suppose this one of the ordinary cases where a master has his slaves taken care of as property, not as men. Sordid considerations of that kind must have given way before the terrors of the plague. A far higher strength than that of self-interest was necessary to carry this gentleman through such a work as this ; and it was no other than mercy. MORALS OF SLAVERY. 315 Again : a young man, full of the southern pride, one of whose aims is to have as great a display of negroes as possible, married a young lady who, soon after her marriage, showed an imperious and cruel temper towards her slaves. Her husband gently remonstrated. She did not mend. He warned her, that he would not allow beings, for whose comfort he was responsible, to be oppressed; and that, if she compelled him to it, he would de- prive her of the power she misused. Still she did not mend. He one day came and told her that he had sold all his domestic slaves, for their own sakes. He told her that he would always give her money enough to hire free service, when it was to be had; and that when it was not, he would cheerfully bear, and help her to bear, the domestic inconveniences which must arise from their having no servants. He kept his word. It rarely happens that free service can be hired ; and this proud gentleman assists his wife's labours with his own hands ; arid (what is more) endures with all cheerfulness the ignominy of having no slaves. Nothing struck me more than the patience of slave-owners. In this virtue they probably surpass the whole Christian world ; I mean in their patience with their slaves ; for one cannot much praise their patience with the abolitionists, or with the tariff; or in some other cases of political vexation. When p 2 316 MORALS OF SLAVERY. I considered how they love to be called " fiery southerners," I could not but marvel at their mild forbearance under the hourly provocations to which they are liable in their homes.* It is found that such a degree of this virtue can be obtained only by long habit. Persons from New England, France, or England, becoming slave-holders, are found to be the most severe masters and mistresses, however good their tempers may always have ap- peared previously. They cannot, like the native proprietor, sit waiting half an hour for the second course, or see everything done in the worst pos- sible manner; their rooms dirty, their property wasted, their plans frustrated, their infants slighted, themselves deluded by artifices, they cannot, like the native proprietor, endure all this unruffled. It \ seems to me that every slave-holder's temper is j subjected to a discipline which must either ruin or 1 perfect it. While we know that many tempers are * I went with a lady in whose house I was staying to dine, one Sunday, on a neighbouring estate. Her husband happened not to be with us, as he had to ride in another direction. The carriage was ordered for eight in the evening. It drew up to the door at six ; and the driver, a slave, said his master had sent him, and begged we would go home directly. We did so, and found my host very much surprised to see us home so early. The message was a fiction of the slave's, who wanted to get his horses put up, that he might enjoy his Sunday evening. His master and mis- tress laughed, and took no further notice. MORALS OF SLAVERY. 317 thus ruined, and must mourn for the unhappy creatures who cannot escape from their tyranny, it is evident, on the other hand, that many tempers are to be met with which should shame down and silence for ever the irritability of some whose daily life is passed under circumstances of comparative ease. This mercy, indulgence, patience, was often pleaded to me in defence of the system, or in ag- gravation of the faults of intractable slaves. The fallacy of this is so gross as not to need exposure anywhere but on the spot. I was heart-sick of being told of the ingratitude of slaves, and weary of explaining that indulgence can never atone for in- jury : that the extremest pampering, for a life-time, is no equivalent for rights withheld, no repara- tion for irreparable injustice. What are the greatest possible amounts of finery, sweetmeats, dances, gratuities, and kind words and looks, in exchange for political, social, and domestic existence ? for body and spirit ? Is it not true that the life .is more than meat, and the body than raiment? This fallacious plea was urged upon me by three different persons, esteemed enlightened and reli- gious, in relation to one case. The case was this. A lady of fortune carried into her husband's esta- blishment, when she married, several slaves, and among them a girl two years younger than herself, 318 MORALS OF SLAVERY. who had been brought up under her, and who was employed as her own maid. The little slaves are ac- customed to play freely with the children of the fa- mily a practice which was lauded to me, but which never had any beauty in my eyes, seeing, as I did, the injury to the white children from unrestricted intercourse with the degraded race, and looking for- ward as I did to the time when they must separate into the servile and imperious. Mrs. had been unusually indulgent to this girl, having allowed her time and opportunity for religious and other instruction, and favoured her in every way. One night, when the girl was undressing her, the lady expressed her fondness for her, and said, among f other things : " When I die you shall be free ;" a dangerous thing to say to a slave only two years younger than herself. In a short time the lady was taken ill, with a strange, mysterious illness, which no doctor could alleviate. One of her friends, who suspected foul play, took the sufferer entirely under her own charge, when she seemed to be dying. She revived ; and as soon as she was well enough to have a will of her own again, would be waited on by no one but her favourite slave. She grew worse. She alternated thus, for some time, according as she was under the care of this slave or of her friend. At last, the friend excluded from I her chamber every one but the physicians : took in MORALS OF SLAVERY. 319 the medicines at the room door from the hands! of the slave, and locked them up. They were all analysed by a physician, and arsenic found j in every one of them. The lady partially reco- vered ; but I was shocked at the traces of suffering in her whole appearance. The girl's guilt was brought clearly home to her. There never was a case of more cruel, deliberate intention to murder. If ever slave deserved the gallows, (which ought to be questionable to the most decided minds,) this girl did. What was done ? The lady was tender- hearted, and could not bear to have her hanged. This was natural enough ; but what did she there- fore do ? keep her under her own eye, that she might at least poison nobody else, and perhaps be touched and reclaimed by the clemency of the per- son she would have murdered ? No. The lady sold her. I was actually called upon to admire the lady's conduct ; and was asked whether the ingratitude of the girl was not inconceivable, and her hypocrisy too ; for she used to lecture her mistress and her mistress's friends for being so irreligious as to go to parties on Saturday nights, when they should have been preparing their minds for Sunday. Was not -the hypocrisy of the girl inconceivable? and her ingratitude for her mistress's favours ? No. The girl had no other idea of religion, could have no 320 MORALS OF SLAVERY. other than that it consists in observances, and, wicked as she was, her wickedness could not be called ingratitude, for she was more injured than favoured, after all. All indulgences that could be heaped upon her were still less than her due, and her mistress remained infinitely her debtor. Little can be said of the purity of manners of the /whites of the south ; but there is purity. Some few examples of domestic fidelity may be found : few enough, by the confession of residents on the spot ; but those individuals who have resisted the contagion of the vice amidst which they dwell are pure. Every man who resides on his plantation may have his harem, and has every inducement of custom, and of pecuniary gain,* to tempt him to the common practice. Those who, notwithstanding, keep their homes undefiled may be considered as s^ of incorruptible purity. Here, alas ! ends my catalogue of the virtues which are of possible exercise by slave-holders to- wards their labourers. The inherent injustice of the system extinguishes all others, and nourishes a whole harvest of false morals towards the rest of society. The personal oppression of the negroes is the * The law declares that the children of slaves are to follow the fortunes of the mother. Hence the practice of planters selling and bequeathing their own children. MORALS OF SLAVERY. 321 grossest vice which strikes a stranger in the coun- try. It can never be otherwise when human beings are wholly subjected to the will of other human beings, who are under no other external control than the law which forbids killing and maiming ; a law which it is difficult to enforce in individual cases. A fine slave was walking about in Colum- bia, South Carolina, when I was there, nearly help- less and useless from the following causes. His master was fond of him, and the slave enjoyed the rare distinction of never having been flogged. One day, his master's child, supposed to be under his care at the time, fell down and hurt itself. The master flew into a passion, ordered the slave to be instantly flogged, and would not hear a single word . the man had to say. As soon as the flogging was over, the slave went into the back yard, where there was an axe and a block, and struck off the upper half of his right hand- He went and held up the bleeding hand before his master, saying, " You have mortified me, so I have made myself useless. Now you must maintain me as long as I live." It came out that the child had been under the charge of another person. There are, as is well known throughout the country, houses in the free States which are open to fugitive slaves, and where they are concealed till the search for them is over. I know some of p 5 322 MORALS OF SLAVERY. the secrets of such places ; and can mention two cases, among many, of runaways, which show how horrible is the tyranny which the slave system au- thorises men to inflict on each other. A negro had found his way to one of these friendly houses ; and had been so skilfully concealed, that repeated searches by his master, (who had followed for the purpose of recovering him,) and by constables, had been in vain. After three weeks of this se- clusion, the negro became weary, and entreated of his host to be permitted to look out of the window. His host strongly advised him to keep quiet, as it was pretty certain that his master had not given him up. When the host had left him, however, the negro came out of his hiding-place, and went to the window. He met the eye of his master, who was looking up from the street. The poor slave was obliged to return to his bondage. A young negress had escaped in like manner ; was in like manner concealed ; and was alarmed by constables, under the direction of her master, en- tering the house in pursuit of her, when she had had reason to believe that the search was over. She flew up stairs to her chamber in the third story, and drove a heavy article of furniture against the door. The constables pushed in, notwithstanding, and the girl leaped from the window into the paved street. Her master looked at her as she lay, declared she MORALS OF SLAVERY. . 323 would never be good for anything again, and went back into the south. The poor creature, her body bruised, and her limbs fractured, was taken up, and kindly nursed ; and she is now maintained in Bos- ton, in her maimed condition, by the charity of some ladies there. The following story has found its way into the northern States (as few such stories do) from the circumstance that a New Hampshire family are concerned in it. It has excited due horror wher- ever it is known ; and it is to be hoped that it will lead to the exposure of more facts of the same kind, since it is but too certain that they are common. A New Hampshire gentleman went down into Louisiana, many years ago, to take a plantation. He pursued the usual method ; borrowing money largely to begin with, paying high interest, and clearing off his debt, year by year, as his crop were sold. He followed another custom there; taking a Quadroon wife : a mistress, in the eye of the law, since there can be no legal marriage be- tween whites and persons of any degree of colour : but, in nature and in reason, the woman he took home was his wife. She was a well-principled, amiable, well-educated woman ; and they lived happily together for twenty years. She had only the slightest possible tinge of colour. Knowing 324 MORALS OF SLAVERY. the law that the children of slaves are to follow the fortunes of the mother, she warned her hus- band that she was not free, an ancestress having been a slave, and the legal act of manumission having never been performed. The husband pro- mised to look to it : but neglected it. At the end of twenty years, one died, and the other shortly followed, leaving daughters ; whether two or three, I have not been able to ascertain with positive certainty; but I have reason to believe three, of the ages of fifteen, seventeen, and eighteen : beau- tiful girls, with no perceptible mulatto tinge. The brother of their father came down from New Hampshire to settle the affairs; and he supposed, as every one else did, that the deceased had been wealthy. He was pleased with his nieces, and promised to carry them back with him into New Hampshire, and (as they were to all appearance perfectly white) to introduce them into the society which by education they were fitted for. It ap- peared, however, that their father had died insol- vent. The deficiency was very small : but it was necessary to make an inventory of the effects, to deliver to the creditors. This, was done by the brother, the executor. Some of the creditors called on him, and complained that he had not de- livered in a faithful inventory. He declared he had. No : the number of slaves was not accurately MORALS OF SLAVERY. 325 set down: he had omitted the daughters. The executor was overwhelmed with horror, and asked time for thought. He went round among the cre- ditors, appealing to their mercy : but they answered that these young ladies were " a first-rate article," too valuable to be relinquished. He next offered, (though he had himself six children, and very little money,) all he had for the redemption of his nieces ; alleging that it was more than they would bring in the market for house or field labour. This was refused with scorn. It was said that there were other purposes for which the girls would bring more than for field or house labour. The uncle was in despair, and felt strongly tempted to wish their death rather than their surrender to such a fate as w r as before them. He told them, abruptly, what was their prospect He declares that he never before beheld human grief; never before heard the voice of anguish. They never ate, nor slept, nor separated from each other, till the day when they were taken into the New Or- leans slave-market. There they were sold, sepa- rately, at high prices, for the vilest of purposes: and where each is gone, no one knows. They are, for the present, lost. But they will arise to the light in the day of retribution. It is a common boast in the south that there is less vice in their cities than in those of the north. This can never, as a matter of fact, have been as- 326 MORALS OF SLAVERY. certained; as the proceedings of slave households are, or may be, a secret : and in the north, what licentiousness there is may be detected. But such comparisons are bad. Let any one look at the positive licentiousness of the south, and declare if, in such a state of society, there can be any security for domestic purity and peace. The Quadroon connexions in New Orleans are all but universal, as I was assured on the spot by ladies who cannot be mistaken. The history of such connexions is a melancholy one : but it ought to be made known while there are any who boast of the superior mo- rals of New Orleans, on account of the decent quietness of the streets and theatres. The Quadroon girls of New Orleans are brought / up by their mothers to be what they have been ; the mistresses of white gentlemen. The boys are some of them sent to France ; some placed on land in the back of the State ; and some are sold in the slave-market. They marry women of a somewhat darker colour than their own ; the women of their own colour objecting to them, " ils sont si degou- tants !" The girls are highly educated, externally, and are, probably, as beautiful and accomplished a set of women as can be found. Every young man early selects one, and establishes her in one of those pretty and peculiar houses, whole rows of which may be seen in the Remparts. The connexion now and then lasts for life: usually MORALS OF SLAVERY. 327 for several years. In the latter case, when the time comes for the gentleman to take a white wife, the dreadful news reaches his Quadroon partner, either by a letter entitling her to call the house and furniture her own, or by the newspaper which announces his marriage. The Quadroon ladies are rarely or never known to form a second con- nexion. Many commit suicide : more die broken- hearted. Some men continue the connexion after marriage. Every Quadroon woman believes that her partner will prove an exception to the rule of desertion. Every white lady believes that her hus- band has been an exception to the rule of seduction. What security for domestic purity and peace there can be where every man has had two con- nexions, one of which must be concealed ; and two families, whose existence must not be known to each other ; where the conjugal relation begins in treachery, and must be carried on with a heavy secret in the husband's breast, no words are needed to explain. If this is the system which is boasted of as a purer than ordinary state of morals, what is to be thought of the ordinary state ? It can only be hoped that the boast is an empty one. There is no occasion to explain the management of the female slaves on estates where the object is to rear as many as possible, like stock, for the south- ern market : nor to point out the boundless licen- 3'28 MORALS OF SLAVERY. tiousness caused by the practice : a practice which wrung from the wife of a planter, in the bitterness of her heart, the declaration that a planter's wife was only "the chief slave of the harem." Mr. Madison avowed that the licentiousness of Vir- ginian plantations stopped just short of destruction ; and that it was understood that the female slaves were to become mothers at fifteen. A gentleman of the highest character, a southern planter, observed, in conversation with a friend, that little was known, out of bounds, of the reasons of the new laws by which emancipation was made so difficult as it is. He said that the very general con- nexion of white gentlemen with their female slaves introduced a mulatto race whose numbers would become dangerous, if the affections of their white parents were permitted to render them free. The liberty of emancipating them was therefore abo- lished, while that of selling them remained. There are persons who weakly trust to the force of the parental affection for putting an end to slavery, when the amalgamation of the races shall have gone so far as to involve a sufficient number ! I actually heard this from the lips of a clergyman in the south. Yet these planters, who sell their own offspring to fill their purses, who /have such off- spring for the sake of filling their, purses, dare to raise the cry of "amalgamation" against the abo- MORALS OF SLAVERY. 329 litionists of the north, not one of whom has, as far as evidence can show, conceived the idea of a mix- ture of the races. It is from the south, where this mixture is hourly encouraged, that the canting and groundless reproach has come. I met_with_no candid southerner who was not full of shame at the monstrous hypocrisy. It is well known that the most savage violences that are now heard of in the world take place in the southern and western States of America. Burning alive, cutting the heart out, and sticking it on the point of a knife, and other such diabolical deeds, the result of the deepest hatred of which the human heart is capable, are heard of only there. The frequency of such deeds is a matter of dispute, which time will settle.* The existence of such deeds is a matter of no dispute. Whether two or twenty such deeds take place in a year, their per- petration testifies to the existence of such hatred as alone could prompt them. There is no doubt in my mind as to the immediate causes of such outrages. They arise out of the licentiousness of manners. The negro is exasperated by being de- prived of his wife, by being sent out of the way that his master may take possession of his home. He stabs his master ; or, if he cannot fulfil his de- * 1 knew of the death of four men by summary burning alive, within thirteen months of my residence in the United States. 330 MORALS OF SLAVERY. sire of vengeance, he is a dangerous person, an object of vengeance in return, and destined to some cruel fate. If the negro attempts to retaliate, and defile the master's home, the faggots are set alight about him. Much that is dreadful ensues from the negro being subject to toil and the lash : but I am confident that the licentiousness of the masters is the proximate cause of society in the south and south-west being in such a state that 110- thing else is to be looked for than its being dissolved into its elements, if man does not soon cease to be called the property of man. This dissolution will never take place through the insurrection of the negroes; but by the natural operation of vice. But the process of demoralisation will be stopped, no doubt, before it reaches that point. There is no reason to apprehend serious insurrec- tion ; for the negroes are too degraded to act in concert, or to stand firm before the terrible face of the white man. Like all deeply-injured classes of persons, they are desperate and cruel, on occasion, kindly as their nature is ; but as a class, they have no courage. The voice of a white, even of a lady, if it were authoritative, would make a whole regi- ment of rebellious slaves throw down their arms and flee. Poison is the weapon that suits them best : then the knife, in moments of exasperation. They will never take the field, unless led on by MORALS OF SLAVERY. 331 free blacks. Desperate as the state of society is, it will be rectified, probably, without bloodshed. It may be said that it is doing an injustice to cite extreme cases of vice as indications of the state of society. I do not think so, as long as such cases are so common as to strike the observation of a mere passing stranger; to say nothing of their incompatibility with a decent and orderly fulfilment of the social relations. Let us, however, see what is the very best state of things. Let us take the words and deeds of some of the most religious, re- fined, and amiable members of society. It was this aspect of affairs which grieved me more, if possible, than the stormier one which I have pre- sented. The coarsening and hardening of mind and manners among the best ; the blunting of the moral sense among the most conscientious, gave me more pain than the stabbing, poisoning, and burning. A few examples which will need no comment, will suffice. Two ladies, the distinguishing ornaments of a very superior society in the south, are truly un- happy about slavery, and opened their hearts freely to me upon the grief which it caused them, the perfect curse which they found it. They need no enlightening on this, nor any stimulus to acquit themselves as well as their unhappy circumstances allow. They one day pressed me for a declaration 332 MORALS OF SLAVERY. of what I should do in their situation. I replied that I would give up everything, go away with my slaves, settle them, and stay by them in some free place. I had said, among other things, that I dare not stay there, on my own account, from moral considerations. " What, not if you had no slaves ?' "No." "Why?" "I could not trust myself to live where I must constantly witness the exercise of irresponsible power." They made no reply at the moment : but each found occasion to tell me, some days afterwards, that she had been struck to the heart by these words: the consideration I mentioned having never occurred to her before ! Madame Lalaurie, the person who was mobbed at New Orleans, on account of her fiendish cruelty to her slaves, a cruelty so excessive as to compel the belief that she was mentally deranged, though her derangement could have taken such a direction nowhere but in a slave country ; this person was described to me as having been " very pleasant to whites." A common question put to me by amiable ladies was, "Do not you find the slaves generally very happy ?" They never seemed to have been asked, or to have asked themselves, the question with which I replied : " Would you be happy" with their means ?" One sultry morning, I was sitting with a friend, MORALS OF SLAVERY. 333 who was giving me all manner of information about her husband's slaves, both in the field and house ; how she fed and clothed them ; what indulgences they were allowed ; what their respective capabi- lities were ; and so forth. While we were talking, one of the house-slaves passed us. I observed that she appeared superior to all the rest ; to which my friend assented. " She is A.'s wife? 1 ' said I. "We call her A.'s wife, but she has never been married to him. A. and she came to my husband, five years ago, and asked him to let them marry : but he could not allow it, because he had not made up his mind whether to sell A. ; and he hates parting hus- band and wife." " How many children have they ?" " Four." " And they are not married yet ?" " No ; my husband has never been able to let them marry. He certainly will not sell her : and he has not determined yet whether be shall sell A." Another friend told me the following story. B. was the best slave in her husband's possession. B. fell in love with C., a pretty girl, on a neighbour- ing estate, who was purchased to be B.'s wife. C.'s temper was jealous and violent; and she was always fancying that B. showed attention to other girls. Her master warned her to keep her temper, or she should be sent away. One day, when the master was dining out, B. came to him, trembling, and re- lated that C. had, in a fit of jealousy, aimed a blow 334 MORALS OF SLAVERY. at his head with an axe, and nearly struck him. The master went home, and told C. that her tem- per could no longer be borne with, and she must go. He offered her the choice of being sold to a trader, and carried to New Orleans, or of being sent to field labour on a distant plantation. She preferred being sold to the trader ; who broke his promise of taking her to New Orleans, and disposed of her to a neighbouring proprietor. C. kept watch over her husband, declaring that she would be the death of any girl whom B. might take to wife. " And so," said my informant, " poor B. was obliged to walk about in single blessedness for some time ; till, last summer, happily, C. died." " Is it possible," said I, " that you pair and part these people like brutes ?" The lady looked surprised, and asked what else could be done. One day at dinner, when two slaves were stand- ing behind our chairs, the lady of the house was telling me a ludicrous story, in which a former slave of hers was one of the personages, serving as a butt on the question of complexion. She seemed to recol- lect that slaves were listening ; for she put in, " D. was an excellent boy," (the term for male slaves of every age.) " We respected him very highly as an excellent boy. We respected him almost as much as if he had been a white. But, &c. " A southern lady, of fair reputation for refine- MORALS OF SLAVERY. 335 ment and cultivation, told the following story in the hearing of a company, among whom were some friends of mine. She spoke with obvious uncon- sciousness that she was saying anything remark- able : indeed such unconsciousness was proved by her telling the story at all. She had possessed a very pretty mulatto girl, of whom she declared her- self fond. A young man came to stay at her house, and fell in love with the girl. " She came to me," said the lady, " for protection ; which I gave her." The young man went away, but after some weeks, returned, saying he was so much in love with the girl that he could not live without her. " I pitied the young man," concluded the lady ; " so I sold the girl to him for 1,500 dollars." I repeatedly heard the preaching of a remarkably liberal man, of a free and kindly spirit, in the south. His last sermon, extempore, was from the text " Cast all your care upon him, for He careth for you." The preacher told us, among other things, that God cares for all, for the meanest as well as the mightiest. " He cares for that coloured per- son," said he, pointing to the gallery where the peo- ple of colour sit, " he cares for that coloured person as well as for the wisest and best of you whites." This was the most wanton insult I had ever seen offered to a human being ; and it was with difficulty that I refrained from walking out of the 336 MORALS OF SLAVERY. church. Yet no one present to whom I afterwards spoke of it seemed able to comprehend the wrong. " Well !" said they : " does not God care for the coloured people ?" Of course, in a society where things like these are said and done by its choicest members, there is a prevalent unconsciousness of the existing wrong. The daily and hourly plea is of good intentions to- wards the slaves ; of innocence under the aspersions of foreigners, They are as sincere in the belief that they are injured as their visitors are cordial in their detestation of the morals of slavery. Such uncon- sciousness of the milder degrees of impurity and injustice as enables ladies and clergymen of the highest character to speak and act as I have re- lated, is a sufficient evidence of the prevalent gross- ness of morals. One remarkable indication of such blindness was the almost universal mention of the state of the Irish to me, as a worse case than American slavery. I never attempted, of course, to vindicate the state of Ireland : but 1 was surprised to find no one able, till put in the way, to see the distinction between political misgoverument and personal slavery : between exasperating a people by political insult, and possessing them, like brutes, for pecuniary profit. The unconsciousness of guilt is the worst of symptoms, where there are means of light to be had. I shall have to speak hereafter of MORALS OF SLAVERY. 337 the state of religion throughout the country. It is enough here to say that if, with the law of liberty and the gospel of peace and purity within their hands, the inhabitants of the south are unconscious of the low state of the morals of society, such blind- ness proves nothing so much as how far that which is highest and purest may be confounded with what is lowest and foulest, when once the fatal at- tempt has been entered upon to make them co-exist. From their co-existence, one further step may be taken ; and in the south has been taken ; the mak- ing the high and pure a sanction for the low and foul, Of this, more hereafter. The degradation of the women is so obvious a consequence of the evils disclosed above, that the painful subject need not be enlarged on. By the degradation of women, I do not mean to imply any doubt of the purity of their manners. There are reasons, plain enough to the observer, why their manners should be even peculiarly pure. They are all married young, from their being out-numbered by the other sex : and there is ever present an un- fortunate servile class of their own sex to serve the purposes of licentiousness, so as to leave them un- tempted. Their degradation arises, not from their own conduct, but from that of all other parties about them. Where the generality of men carry secrets which their wives must be the last to know ; where VOL. II. Q 338 MORALS OF SLAVERY. the busiest and more engrossing concerns of life must wear one aspect to the one sex, and another to the other, there is an end to all wholesome confi- dence and sympathy, and woman sinks to be the ornament of her husband's house, the domestic manager of his establishment, instead of being his all-sufficient friend. I am speaking not only of what I suppose must necessarily be ; but of what I have actually seen. I have seen, with heart-sorrow, the kind politeness, the gallantry, so insufficient to the loving heart, with which the wives of the south are treated by their husbands. I have seen the horror of a woman's having to work, to exert the faculties which her Maker gave her; the eager- ness to ensure her unearned ease and rest ; the deepest insult which can be offered to an intelligent and conscientious woman. I know the tone of con- versation which is adopted towards women ; different in its topics and its style from that which any man would dream of offering to any other man. I have heard the boast of the chivalrous consideration in which women are held throughout their woman's paradise; and seen something of the anguish of crushed pride, of the conflict of bitter feelings with which such boasts have been listened to by those whose aspirations teach them the hollowness of the system. The gentlemen are all the while unaware that women are not treated in the best possible MORALS OF SLAVERY. 339 manner among them: and they will remain thus blind as long as licentious intercourse with the lowest of the sex unfits them for appreciating the highest. Whenever their society shall take rank according to moral rather than physical considera- tions"; "when ever they shall rise to crave sympathy in the real objects of existence : whenever thev shall begin to inquire what human life is, and wherefore, and to reverence it accordingly, they will humble themselves in shame for their abuse of the right of the strongest ; for those very arrangements and ob- servances which now constitute their boast. A lady who, brought up elsewhere to use her own faculties, and employ them on such objects as she thinks pro- per, and who has more knowledge and more wisdom than perhaps any gentleman of her acquaintance, told me of the disgust with which she submits to the conversation which is addressed to her, under the idea of being fit for her ; and how she solaces herself at home, after such provocation, with the silent sympathy of books. A father of promising young daughters, whom he sees likely to be crushed by the system, told me in a tone of voice which I shall never forget, that women there might as well be turned into the street, for anything they are fit for. There are reasonable hopes that his children may prove an exception. One gentleman who de- clares himself much interested in the whole subject, Q 2 340 MORALS OF SLAVERY. expresses his horror of the employment of women in the northern States, for useful purposes. He told me that the same force of circumstances which, in the region he inhabits, makes men independent, in- creases the dependence of women, and will go on to increase it. Society is there, he declared, " always advancing towards orientalism." " There are but two ways in which woman can be exercised to the extent of her powers ; by genius and by calamity, either of which may strengthen her to burst her con- ventional restraints. The first is too rare a circum- stance to afford any basis for speculation : and may Heaven avert the last !" O, may Heaven hasten it ! would be the cry of many hearts, if these be in- deed the conditions of woman's fulfilling the pur- poses of her being. There are, I believe, some who would scarcely tremble to see their houses in flames, to hear the coming tornado, to feel the threatening earthquake, if these be indeed the mes- sengers who must open their prison doors, and give their heaven-born spirits the range of the universe. God has given to them the universe, as to others : man has caged them in one corner of it, and dreads ;heir escape from their cage, while nian does that ivhich he would not have woman hear of. Pie puts genius out of sight, and deprecates calamity. lie las not, however, calculated all the forces in nature, ^f he had, he would hardly venture to hold either MORALS OF SLAVERY. 341 negroes or women as property, or to trust to the abseriCe-of -genius- and calamity. One remarkable warning has been vouchsafed to him. A woman of strong mind, whose strenuous endeavours to soften the woes of slavery to her own dependents, failed to satisfy her conscience and relieve her human affections, has shaken the blood-slaked dust from her feet, and gone to live where every man can call himself his own : and not only to live, but to work there, and to pledge herself to death, if necessary, for the overthrow of the system which she abhors in proportion to her familiarity with it. Whether we are to call her Genius or Calamity, or by her own honoured name of Angelina Grimke, certain it is that she is rous- ing into life and energy many women who were unconscious of genius, and unvisited by calamity, but who carry honest and strong human hearts. This lady may ere long be found to have mate- rially checked the " advance towards orien- talism." Of course, the children suffer, perhaps the most fatally of all, under the slave system. What can be expected from little boys who are brought up to consider physical courage the highest attribute ol manhood ; pride of section and of caste its loftiest grace; the slavery of a part of society essential to the freedom of the rest ; justice of less account than 342 MORALS OF SLAVERY. generosity ; and humiliation in the eyes of men the most intolerable of evils ? What is to be expected of little girls who boast of having got a negro flogged for being impertinent to them, and who are surprised at the " ungentlemanly" conduct of a master who maims his slave? Such lessons are not always taught expressly. Sometimes the re- verse is expressly taught But this is what the children in a slave country necessarily learn from what passes around them ; just as the plainest girls in a school grow up to think personal beauty the most important of all endowments, in spite of daily assurances that the charms of the mind are all that are worth regarding. The children of slave countries learn more and worse still. It is nearly impossible to keep them from close intercourse with the slaves ; and the attempt is rarely made. The generality of slaves are as gross as the total absence of domestic sanc- tity might be expected to render them. They do not dream of any reserves with children. The consequences are inevitable. The woes of mothers from this cause are such that, if this " peculiar do- mestic institution"" were confided to their charge, I believe they would accomplish its overthrow with an energy and wisdom that would look more like inspiration than orientalism. Among the incal- culable forces in nature is the grief of mothers weeping for the corruption of their children. MORALS OF SLAVERV. 343 One ^theabsolutely inevitable results of slavery is a disregard of human rights : an inability even to comprehend them. Probably the southern gentry, who declare ~ that the presence of slavery enhances the love of freedom; that freedom can be duly estimated only where a particular class can appropriate all social privileges ; that, to use the words of one of them, " they know too much of slavery to be slaves themselves," are sincere enough in such declarations ; and if so, it follows that they do not know what freedom is. They may have the benefit of the alternative, of not knowing what freedom is, and being sincere ; or of knowing what freedom is, and not being sincere. I am disposed to think that the first is the more common case. One reason for my thinking so is, that I usually found in conversation in the south, that the idea of human rights was sufficient subsistence in re- turn for labour. This was assumed as the defini- tion of human rights on which we were to argue the case of the slave. When I tried the definition by the golden rule, I found that even that straight, simple rule had become singularly bent in the hands of those who profess to acknowledge and apply it. A clergyman preached from the pulpit the following application of it, which is echoed un- hesitatingly by the most religious of the slave- holders : " Treat your slaves as you would wish to '344 MORALS OF SLAVERY. be treated if you were a slave yourself." I verily believe that hundreds, or thousands, do not see that this is not an honest application of the rule ; so blinded are they by custom to the fact that the negro is a man and a brother. Another of my reasons for supposing that the gentry of the south do not know what freedom is, is that many seem unconscious of the state of co- ercion in which they themselves are living ; coer- cion, not only from the incessant fear of which I have before spoken, a fear which haunts their homes, their business, and their recreations ; co- ercion, not only from their fear, and from their being dependent for their hourly comforts upon the ex- tinguished or estranged will of those whom they have injured ; but coercion also from their own laws. The laws against the press are as peremp- tory as in the most despotic countries of Europe :* as may be seen in the small number and size, and poor quality, of the newspapers of the south. I never saw, * No notice is taken of any occurrence, however remarkable, in which a person of colour, free or enslaved, has any share, for fear of the Acts which denounce death or imprisonment for life against those who shall write, print, publish, or distribute anything having a tendency to excite discontent or insubordination, &c. ; or which doom to heavy fines those who shall use or issue lan- guage which may disturb " the security of masters with their slaves, or diminish that respect which is commanded to free people of colour for the whites." MORALS OF SLAVERY. 345 in the rawest villages of the youngest States, news- papers so empty and poor as those of New Orleans. It is curious that, while the subject of the abolition of slavery in the British colonies was necessarily a very interesting one throughout the southern States, I met with planters who did not know that any compensation had been paid by the British nation to the West India proprietors. The miserable quality of the southern newspapers, and the omis- sion from them of the subjects on which the people most require information, will go far to account for the people's delusions on their own affairs, as compared with those of the rest of the world, and for their boasts of freedom, which probably arise from their knowing of none which is superior. They see how much more free they are than their own slaves; but are not generally aware what liberty is where all are free. In 1834, the number of newspapers was, in the State of New York, 267; in Louisiana, 31; in Massachusetts, 108; in South Carolina, 19; in Pennsylvania, 220; in Georgia, 29. What is to be thought of the freedom of gen- tlemen subject to the following law ? " Any person or persons who shall attempt to teach any free person of colour, or slave, to spell, read, or write, shall, upon conviction thereof by indictment, Q5 346 MORALS OF SLAVERY. be fined in a sum not less than two hundred and fifty dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars."* What is to be thought of the freedom of gen- tlemen who cannot emancipate their own slaves, ex- cept by the consent of the legislature ; and then only under very strict conditions, which make the deed almost impracticable ? It has been mentioned that during a temporary suspension of the laws against emancipation in Virginia, 10,000 slaves were freed in nine years; and that, as the institution seemed in peril, the masters were again coerced. It is pleaded that the masters themselves were the repealers and re-enactors of these laws. True : and thus it appears that they thought it necessary to deprive each other of a liberty which a great number seem to have made use of themselves, while they could. No high degree of liberty, or of the love of it, is to be seen here. The laws which forbid emanci- pation are felt to be cruelly galling, throughout the * Alabama Digest. In the same section occurs the following : " That no cruel or unusual punishment shall be inflicted on any slave within this territory. And any owner of slaves authorising or permitting the same, shall, on conviction thereof, before any court having cognizance, be fined according to the nature of the offence, and at the discretion of the court, in any sum not exceed- ing two hundred dollars." Two hundred dollars' fine for torturing a slave : and five hun- dred for teaching him to read ! MORALS OF SLAVERY. .'347 south, I heard frequent bitter complaints of them. They are the invariable plea urged by individuals to excuse their continuing to hold slaves. Such individuals are either sincere in these complaints, or they are not If they are not, they must be under some deplorable coercion which compels so large a multitude to hypocrisy. If they are sin- cere, they possess the common republican means of getting tyrannical laws repealed : and why do they not use them ? If these laws are felt to be oppressive, why is no voice heard denouncing them in the legislatures ? If men complainingly, but voluntarily, submit to laws which bind the conscience, little can be said of their love of liberty. If they submit involuntarily, nothing can be said for their possession of it. What, again, is to be thought of the freedom of citizens who are liable to lose caste because they follow conscience in a case where the perversity of the laws places interest on the side of conscience, and public opinion against it? I will explain. In a southern city, I saw a gentleman who appeared to have all the outward requisites for commanding respect. He was very weal thy 5 had been governor of the State, and was an eminent and peculiar be- nefactor to the city. I found he did not stand well. As some pains were taken to impress me with this, I inquired the cause. His character was declared 348 MORALS OF SLAVERY. to be generally good. I soon got at the particular exception, which I was anxious to do only because I saw that it was somehow of public concern. While this gentleman was governor, there was an insurrection of slaves. His own slaves were ac- cused. He did not believe them guilty, and re- fused to hang them. This was imputed to an un- willingness to sacrifice his property. He was thus in a predicament which no one can be placed in, except where man is held as property. He must either hang his slaves, believing them inno- cent, and keep his character; or he must, by saving their lives, lose his own character. How the case stood with this gentleman, is fully known only to his own heart. His conduct claims the most candid construction. But, this being accorded as his due, what can be thought of the freedom of a republican thus circumstanced ? Passing over the perils, physical and moral, in which those are involved who live in a society where recklessness of life is treated with leniency, and physical courage stands high in the list of virtues and graces, perils which abridge a man's liberty of action and of speech in a way which would be felt to be intolerable if the restraint were not adorned by the false name of Honour,- it is only necessary to look at the treatment of the abo- litionists by the south, by both legislatures and in- MORALS OF SLAVERY. 349 dividuals, to see that no practical understanding of liberty exists there. Upon a mere vague report, or bare suspicion, persons travelling through the south have been arrested, imprisoned, and, in some cases, flogged or otherwise tortured, on pretence that such per- sons desired to cause insurrection among the slaves. More than one innocent person has been hanged ; and the device of terrorism has been so practised as to deprive the total number of persons who avowedly hold a certain set of opinions, of their con- stitutional liberty of traversing the whole country. It was declared by some liberal-minded gentle- men of South Carolina, after the publication of Dr. Channing's work on .Slavery, that if Dr. Channing were to enter South Carolina with a body-guard of 20,000 men, he could not come out alive. I have seen the lithographic prints, trans- mitted in letters to abolitionists, representing the individual to whom the letter was sent hanging on a gallows. I have seen the hand-bills, purporting to be issued by Committees of Vigilance, offering enormous rewards for the heads, or for the ears, of prominent abolitionists. If it be said that these acts are attributable to the ignorant wrath of individuals only, it may be asked whence arose the Committees of Vigilance, which were last year sitting throughout the south 350 MORALS OF SLAVERY. and west, on the watch for any incautious person who might venture near them, with anti-slavery opinions in his mind?' How came it that high official persons sat on these committees ? How is it that some governors of southern States made formal application to governors of the northern States to procure the dispersion of anti-slavery so- cieties, the repression of discussion, and the punishment cf the promulgators of abolition opi- nions? How is it that the governor of South Carolina last year recommended the summary ex- ecution, without benefit of clergy, of all persons caught within the limits of the State, holding avowed anti-slavery opinions ; and that every sen- timent of the governor's was endorsed by a select committee of the legislature ? All this proceeds from an ignorance of the first principles of liberty. It cannot be from a mere hypocritical disregard of such principles ; for proud men, who boast a peculiar love of liberty and aptitude for it, would not voluntarily make themselves so ridiculous as they appear by these outrageous proceedings. Such blustering is so hopeless, and, if not sincere, so purposeless, that no other supposition is left than that they have lost sight of the fundamental principles of both their federal and State constitutions, and do now actually suppose that their own freedom lies in MORALS OF SLAVERY. 351 crushing all opposition to their own will. No pre- tence of evidence has been offered of any further offence against them than the expression of ob- noxious opinions. There is no plea that any of their laws have been violated, except those recently enacted to annihilate freedom of speech and the press : laws which can in no case be binding upon persons out of the limits of the States for which these new laws are made. The amended constitution of Virginia, of 1830, provides that the legislature shall not pass " any law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press." North and South Carolina and Georgia decree that the freedom of the press shall be pre- served inviolate ; the press being the grand bulwark of liberty. The constitution of Louisiana declares that " the free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man ; and every citizen may freely speak, write, and print, on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty." The Declaration of Rights of Mississippi declares that " no law shall ever be passed to curtail or restrain the liberty of speech, and of the press." The constitutions of all the slave States contain declarations and pro- visions like these. How fearfully have the de- scendants of those who framed them degenerated in their comprehension and practice of liberty, vio- 352 MORALS OF MANUFACTURES. lating both the spirit and the letter of their ori- ginal Bill of Rights ! They are not yet fully aware of this. In the calmer times which are to come, they will perceive it, and look back with amazement upon the period of desperation, when not a voice was heard, even in the legislatures, to plead for human rights ; when, for the sake of one doomed institution, they forgot what their fathers had done, fettered their own presses, tied their own hands, robbed their fellow-citizens of their right of free travelling, and did all they could to deprive those same fellow-citizens of liberty and life, for the avowal and promulgation of opinions. Meantime, it would be but decent to forbear all boasts of a superior knowledge and love of free- dom. Here I gladly break off my dark chapter on the Morals of Slavery. SECTION II. MORALS OF MANUFACTURES. One remarkable effect of democratic institutions is the excellence of the work turned out by those MORALS OF MANUFACTURES. 353 who live under them. In a country where the whole course is open to every one; where, in theory, everything may be obtained by merit, men have the strongest stimulus to exert their powers, and try what they can achieve. I found master- workmen, who employ operatives of various na- tions, very sensible of this. Elsewhere, no artisan can possibly rise higher than to a certain point of dexterity, and amount of wages. In America, an artisan may attain to be governor of the State; member of Congress ; even President. Instead of this possibility having the effect of turning his head, and making him unfit for business, (as some suppose, who seem to consider these opportunities as resembling the chances of a lottery,) it attaches him to his business and his master, to sober habits, and to intellectual cultivation. The only apparent excess to which it leads is ill- considered enterprise. This is an evil sometimes to the individual, but not to society. A man who makes haste to be famous or rich by means of new inventions, may injure his own fortune or credit, but is usually a benefactor to society, by furnish- ing a new idea on which another may work with more success. Some of the most important im- provements in the manufactures of the United States have been made by men who afterwards be- came insolvent. Where there is hasty enterprise, 354 MORALS OF MANUFACTURES. there is usually much conceit. The very haste seems to show that the man is thinking more of himself than of the subject on which he is em- ployed. It naturally happens that the conceited originator breaks down in the middle of his scheme ; and that some more patient, modest thinker takes it up where he leaves off, and completes the in- vention. I was shown, at the Paterson mills, an invention completed by two men on the spot, whose discovery has been extensively adopted in England. A workman fancied he had discovered a method by which he could twist rovings, fastened at both ends, quicker than had ever been done before. Asa more thoughtful person would have foreseen, half the twisting came undone, as soon as the ends were unfastened. The projector threw his work aside : but a quiet observer among his brother workmen offered him a partnership and a new idea, in re- turn for the primary suggestion. The quiet man saw how quickly the thread might be prepared, if the rovings could be condensed fast enough for the twisting. He added his discovery to what the first had really achieved ; and the success was complete. The factories are found to afford a safe and use- ful employment for much energy which would otherwise be wasted and misdirected. I found that in some places very bad morals had prevailed be- MORALS OF MANUFACTURES. 355 fore the introduction of manufactures ; while now the same society is eminently orderly. The great evil still is drunkenness : but of this there is less than there used to be ; and other disorders have almost entirely disappeared. A steady employer has it in his power to do more for the morals of the society about him than the clergy themselves. The experiment has been tried, with entire suc- cess, of dismissing from the mills any who have been guilty of open vice. This is submitted to, because it is obviously reasonable that the sober workmen who remain should be protected from association with vicious persons who must be of- fensive or dangerous to them. If any employer has the firmness to dismiss unquestionable offen- ders, however valuable their services may be to him, he may confidently look for a cessation of such offences, and for a great purification of the society in which they have occurred. The morals of the female factory population may be expected to be good when it is considered of what class it is composed. Many of the girls are in the factories because they have too much pride for domestic service. Girls who are too proud for domestic service as it is in America, can hardly be low enough for any gross immorality ; or to need watching ; or not to be trusted to avoid the conta- gion of evil example. To a stranger, their pride 356 MORALS OF MANUFACTURES. seems to take a mistaken direction, and they ap- pear to deprive themselves of a respectable home and station, and many benefits, by their dislike of service: but this is altogether their own affair. They must choose for themselves their way of life. But the reasons of their choice indicate a state of mind superior to the grossest dangers of their po- sition. I saw a bill fixed up in the Walthani mill which bore a warning that no young lady who attended dancing-school that winter should be employed : and that the corporation had given directions to the overseer to dismiss any one who should be found to dance at the school. I asked the mean- ing of this ; and the overseer's answer was, " Why, we had some trouble last winter about the dancing- school. It must, of course, be held in the even- ing, as the young folks are in the mill all day. They are very young, many of them ; and they forget the time, and everything but the amusement, and dance away till two or three in the morning. Then they are unfit for their work the next day ; or, if they get properly through their work, it is at the expense of their health. So we have forbid- den the dancing-school ; but, to make up for it, I have promised them that, as soon as the great new room at the hotel is finished, we will have a dance once a-fortnight. We shall meet and break up MORALS OF MANUFACTURES. 357 early ; and my wife and I will dance ; and we will all dance together." I was sorry to see one bad and very unnecessary arrangement, in all the manufacturing establish- ments. In England, the best friends of the poor are accustomed to think it the crowning hardship of their condition that solitude is wholly forbidden to them. It is impossible that any human being should pass his life as well as he might do who is never alone, who is not frequently alone. This is a weighty truth which can never be explained away. The silence, freedom and collectedness of solitude are absolutely essential to the health of the mind ; and no substitute for this repose (or change of activity) is possible. In the dwellings of the English poor, parents and children are crowded into one room, for want of space and of furniture. All wise parents above the rank of poor, make it a primary consideration so to ar- range their families as that each member may, at some hour, have some place where he may enter in, and shut his door, and feel himself alone. If possible, the sleeping places are so ordered. In America, where space is of far less consequence, where the houses are large, where the factory girls can build churches, and buy libraries, and educate brothers for learned professions, these same girls 358 MOHALS OF MANUFACTURES. have no private apartments, and sometimes sleep six or eight in a room, and even three in a bed. This is very bad. It shows a want of inclination for solitude ; an absence of that need of it which every healthy mind must feel, in a greater or less degree. Now are the days when these gregarious habits should be broken through. New houses are being daily built : more parents are bringing their chil- dren to the factories. If the practice be now adopted, by the corporations, or by the parents who preside over separate establishments, of partition- ing off the large sleeping apartments into small ones which shall hold each one occupant, the expense of partitions and windows and trouble will not be worth a moment's consideration in comparison with the improvement in intelligence, morals, and manners, which will be found to re- sult from such an arrangement. If the change be not soon made, the American factory population, with all its advantages of education and of pecu- niary sufficiency, will be found, as its numbers increase, to have been irreparably injured by its subjection to a grievance which is considered the very heaviest to which poverty exposes artisans in old countries. Man's own silent thoughts are his best safeguard and highest privilege. Of the full MORALS OF COMMERCE. advantage of this safeguard, of the full enjoyment of this privilege, the innocent and industrious youth of a new country ought, by no mismanage- ment, to he deprived. * SECTION III. MORALS OF COMMERCE. It is said in the United States that Commerce and the Navy are patronised by the federal party ; as agriculture is, and the army would be, if there was one, by the democratic party. This is true enough. The greater necessity for co-operation, and therefore for the partial sacrifice of independ- ence, imposed by commercial pursuits, is more agreeable to the aristocratic portion of society than to its opposite. Yet, while commerce has been spreading and improving, federalism has dwindled away ; and most remarkably where com- merce is carried on in its utmost activity : in Mas- sachusetts. The democracy are probably finding out that more is gained by the concentration of the popular will than is lost in the way of indivi- dual independence, by men being brought together for objects which require concession and mutual 360 MORALS OF COMMERCE. subordination. However this may be, the spirit of commerce in the United States is, on the whole, honourable to the people. I shalf have to speak hereafter of the regard to wealth, as the most important object in life, which extensively corrupts Americans as it does all other society. Here, I have to speak only of the spirit in which one method of procuring wealth is prose- cuted. The activity of the commercial spirit in Ameri- ca is represented abroad, and too often at home, as indicative of nothing but sordid love of gain : a making haste to be rich, a directly selfish desire of aggrandisement. This view of the case seems to me narrow and injurious. I believe that many de- sires, various energies, some nobler and some meaner, find in commerce a centre for their activity. I have studied with some care the minds and man ners of a variety of merchants, and other persons engaged in commerce, and have certainly found a regard to money a more superficial and intermit- ting influence than various others, The spirit of enterprise is very remarkable in the American merchants. Beginning life, as all Americans do, with the world all open before them, and only a head and a pair of hands wherewith to gain it, a passionate desire to overcome difficulties arises in them. Being, (as I have before declared MORALS OF COMMERCE. 361 my opinion,) the most imaginative people in the world, the whole world rises fair before them, and they, not believing in impossibilities, bug to con- quer it. Then, there is the meaner love of distinction ; meaner than the love of enterprise, but higher than the desire of gain. The distinction sought is not always that which attends on superior wealth only ; but on world.- wide intercourses, on extensive affairs, on hospitality to a large variety of foreigners. Again ; there is the love of Art. Weak, imma- ture, ignorant, perhaps, as this taste at present is, it exists : and indications of it which merit all re- spect, are to be found in many abodes. There are other, though not perhaps such lofty ways of pursuing art, than by embodying conceptions in pictures, statues, operas, and buildings. The love of Beauty and of the ways of Humanity may indi- cate and gratify itself by other and simpler me- thods than those which the high artists of the old world have sanctified. If any one can witness the meeting of one kind of American merchant with his supercargo, after a long, distant voyage, hear the questioning and answering, and witness the delight with which new curiosities are examined, and new theories of beauty and civilisation are put forth upon the impulse of the moment, and still doubt the existence of a love of art, still suppose VOL. II. R 362 MORALS OF COMMERCE. the desire of gain the moving spring of that man's mind, may Heaven preserve the community from being pronounced upon by such an observer ! The critic with the stop-watch is magnanimous in comparison. Again; there is the human eagerness after an object once adopted. In this case, it may be mo- ney> as in other cases it may be Queen Anne's farthings, the knockers of doors, ancient books, (for their editions and not their contents,) pet ani- mals, autographs, or any other merely outward ob- ject whose charm lies in the pursuit. Several men of business, whose activity has made them very wealthy, have told me that, though they would not openly declare what would look like a boast, and would not be believed, the truth was that they should not care if they lost every dollar they had. They knew themselves well enough to perceive that the pleasure was in the pursuit, and not in the dollars : and I thought I knew some of them well enough to perceive that it would be rather a relief to have their money swept away, that they might again be as busy as ever in a mode which had become pleasant to them by habit and suc- cess. Of course, I am not speaking of such as of a very high and happy order ; as to be for a moment compared with the few whose pursuits are of an unfailing but perpetually satisfying kind ; MORALS OF COMMERCE. 363 with those whose recompense is incessant, but never fulfilled. I am only declaring that the eager pursuit of wealth does not necessarily indicate a love of wealth for its own sake. What are the facts ? What are the manifesta- tions of the character of the American merchants? After their eager money-getting, how do they spend it ? How much do they prize it ? Their benevolence is known throughout the world : not only that benevolence which founds and endows charities, and repairs to sufferers the mis- chief of accidents ; but that which establishes schools of a higher order than common, and brings forward in life the most meritorious of those who are educated there ; the benevolence which watches over the condition of seamen on the ocean, and their safety at home ; the benevolence which busies itself, with much expense of dollars and trouble, to provide for the improved civilisation of the whole of society. If the most liberal institutions in the northern States were examined into, it would be found how active the merchant class has been, be- yond all others, in their establishment. Again : their eager money-getting is not for pur- poses of accumulation. Some many, are deplo- rably ostentatious ; but it seemed to me that the ostentation was an after-thought ; though it might lead to renewed money-getting. Money was first 364 MORALS OF COMMERCE. gained. What was to be done with it? One might as well outshine one's neighbours, especially as this would be a fresh stimulus to get more still This is bad ; but it is not sordidness. Instances of accumulation are extremely rare. The miser is with them an antique, classical kind of personage, pictured forth as having on a high cap, a long gown, and sit- ting in a vaulted chamber, amidst money-chests. It would, I believe, be difficult there to find a pair of eyes that have looked upon a real living and breathing miser. My account of the doings of a miser whom I used wondering to watch in the days of my childhood never failed to excite amazement, very like incredulity, in those I was conversing with. The best proof that the money-getting of the emi- nently successful merchants of America is not for money's sake, lies in the fact, that in New Eng- land, peopled by more than 2,000,000 of inhabit- ants, there are not more than 500, probably not more than 400 individuals, who can be. called af- fluent men; possessing, that is, 100,000 dollars and upwards. A prosperous community, in which a sordid pursuit of wealth was common, would be in a very different state from this. The bankruptcies in the United States are re- markably frequent and disgraceful, disgraceful in their nature, though not sufficiently so in the eyes of society. A clergyman in a commercial city declares MORALS OF COMMERCE. 365 that almost every head of a family in his congrega- tion has been a bankrupt since his settlement. In Philadelphia, from six to eight hundred persons annually take the benefit of the insolvent laws ; and numerous compromises take place which are not heard of further than the parties concerned in them. On seeing the fine house of a man who was a bankrupt four years before, and who was then worth 100,000 dollars, I asked whether such cases were common, and was grieved to find they were. Some insolvents pay their old debts when they rise again ; but the greater number do not. This laxity of morals is favoured by the circumstances of the community, which require the industry of all its members, and can employ the resources of all, first, of men of character, and then of speculators. But, few things are more disgraceful to American society than the carelessness with which specula- tors are allowed to game with other people's funds, and, after ruining those who put trust in them, to lift up their heads in all places, just as if they had, during their whole lives, rendered unto all their dues. Whatever may be the causes or the palliations of speculation ; whatever may be pleaded about currency mistakes, and the temptations to young men to make fortunes by the public lands, one thing is clear ; that no man, who, having failed, and afterwards having the means to pay his debts .R 3 366 MORALS OF COMMERCE. in full, does not pay them, can be regarded as an honest man, and ought to be received upon the same footing with honest men, whatever may be his accomplishments, or his subsequent fortune. What would be thought of any society which should cherish an escaped (not reformed) thief, because a large legacy had enabled him to set up his car- riage? Yet how much difference is there in the two cases ? It is very rarely a duty, more rarely than is generally supposed, to mark and shun the guilty. Jt is usually more right to seek and help him. But, in the case of a spreading vice, which is viewed with increasing levity, the reprobation of the honest portion of society ought to be very dis- tinct and emphatic. Those who would not asso- ciate with escaped thieves should avoid prosperous bankrupts who are not thinking of paying their debts. The gravest sin chargeable upon the merchants of the United States is their conduct on the aboli- tion question. This charge is by no means general. There are instances of a manly declaration of opi- nion on the side of freedom, and also of a spirit of self-sacrifice in the cause, which can hardly be sur- passed for nobleness. There are merchants who have thrown up their commerce with the south when there was reason to believe that its gains were wrung from the slave; and there are many MORALS OF COMMERCE. 367 who have freely poured out their money, and risked their reputation, in defence of the abolition cause, and of liberty of speech and the press. But the reproach of the persecution of the abolitionists, and of tampering with the fundamental liberties of the people, rests mainly with the merchants of the northern States. It is worthy of remembrance that the Abolition movement originated from the sordid act of a mer- chant. While Garrison was at Baltimore, studying the Colonisation scheme, a ship belonging to a mer- chant of Newburyport, Massachusetts, arrived at Baltimore to take freight for New Orleans. There was some difficulty about the expected cargo. The captain was offered a freight of slaves, wrote to the merchant for leave, and received orders to carry these slaves to New Orleans. Garrison poured out, in a libel, (so called,) his indignation against this deed, committed by a man who, as a citizen of Massachusetts, thanks God every Thanksgiving Day that the soil of his State is untrod by the foot of a slave. Garrison was fined and imprisoned ; and after his release, was warmly received in New York, where he lectured upon Abolition; from which time, the cause has gained strength so as to have now become unconquerable. The spirit of this Newburyport merchant has dwelt in too many of the same vocation. The 368 MORALS OF COMMERCE. Faneuil Hall meeting was convened chiefly by merchants ; and they have been conspicuous in all the mobs. They have kept the clergy dumb : they have overawed the colleges, given their cue to the newspapers, and shown a spirit of contempt and violence, equalling even that of the slave-holders, towards those who, in acting upon their honest convictions, have appeared likely to affect their sources of profit. At Cincinnati, they were chiefly merchants who met to destroy the right of discus- sion ; and passed a resolution directly recommen- datory of violence for this purpose. They were merchants who waited in deputation on the editor of the anti-slavery newspaper there, to intimidate him from the use of his constitutional liberty, and who made themselves by these acts answerable for the violences which followed. This was so clear, that they were actually taunted by their slave -holding neighbours, on the other side of the river, with their sordidness in attempting to extinguish the liberties of the republic for the sake of their own pecuniary gains. The day will come when their eyes will be cleansed from the gold-dust which blinds them. Meanwhile, as long as they continue active against the most precious rights of the community ; as long as they may be fairly considered more guilty on this tremendous question of Human Wrongs than MORALS OF COMMERCE. 369 even the slave-holders of the south, more guilty than any class whatever, except the clergy, let them not boast of their liberality and their bene- volence. Generosity loses half its grace when it does not co-exist with justice. Those can ill be esteemed benefactors to the community in one di- rection, who are unfaithful to their citizenship in another. Till such can be roused from their de- lusion, and can see their conduct as others see it, the esteem of the world must rest on those of their class who, to the graces of enterprise, liberality, and taste, add the higher merit of intrepid, self- sacrificing fidelity to the cause of Human Rights. END OF VOL. II. LONDON : PRINTED BY IBOTSON AND PALMER, SAVOY STREET. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. I LII7 i i'l irr *