THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 From the library of 
 
 Walter Colyer 
 
 Albion, Illinois 
 
 Purchased 1926 
 
 -~ A --^ 
 
 TuM 1STORICAC
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 UKIYEBS1H &F illi&OJS
 
 BEING 
 
 A JOURNAL OF A TOUR 
 
 TO 
 
 Clje ^anttefc States, 
 
 PRINCIPALLY UNDERTAKEN TO ASCERTAIN, BY POSITIVE EVIDENCE, 
 
 THE 
 
 CONDITION AND PROBABLE PROSPECTS 
 
 OF 
 
 BRITISH EMIGRANTS; 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 ACCOUNTS OF MR, BIRKBECK'S SETTLEMENT 
 IN THE ILLINOIS: 
 
 And intended to shew Men and Things as they are in America. 
 
 BY W. FAUX, 
 
 AN ENGLISH FARMER. 
 
 PRINTED FOR W. SIMPKIN AND R. MARSHALL, 
 
 STATIONER'S HALL COURT, LUDOATE STREET. 
 
 1823.
 
 
 niendatiou 
 
 . n in '.h' 
 
 ra' Before ii 
 
 a tho t'"~ie 
 
 y, Took* Court, 
 Line, London. 
 
 vo from Wit; library in
 
 F 2 7 
 co \o, a 
 
 TO 
 
 HIS GRACE, THE DUKE OF BEDFORD, 
 
 AND TO 
 
 THOMAS WILLIAM COKE, ESQ., M. P., 
 
 THE 
 DISTINGUISHED PATRONS OF THE AGRICULTURE 
 
 OF THEIR NATIVE COUNTRY, 
 THE FOLLOWING FAITHFUL PAGES, 
 
 INTENDED TO ENABLE 
 THE CAPITALISTS, YEOMEN, AND LABOURERS 
 
 OF ENGLAND, 
 
 TO FORM A JUST AND ' WELL-FOUNDED ESTIMATE 
 
 OF THE COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES 
 
 OF BRITISH FARMING 
 
 AND 
 AMERICAN EMIGRATION, 
 
 ARE, 
 
 WITHOUT PERMISSION, 
 BUT WITH THE GREATEST RESPECT, 
 
 INSCRIBED, 
 BY THEIR ADMIRER, FRIEND^ AND COUNTRYMAN, 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN any other point of view than with reference 
 to the facts and observations which are here sub- 
 mitted to the public, who I am, and what I am, 
 is certainly a matter of small moment; nor shall I 
 detain the reader with any observations on that 
 subject, on which sufficient information, through 
 the medium of the following pages, will probably 
 be found. 
 
 The motives which induced me to visit Ame- 
 rica, and afterwards to give to the public the re- 
 sults of my experience, originated in many favour- 
 able prepossessions for that country, and in a 
 strong desire to ascertain the naked truth, in all 
 particulars relating to emigration to that land of 
 boasted liberty. When I saw thousands of my 
 countrymen hurrying thither, as though they fled
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 for life, and from the city of destruction, I became 
 very anxious to know the real nature of their pros, 
 pects. To them, I felt assured, that a statement, 
 containing, to the best of the writer's belief, the 
 truth and nothing but the truth, plainly and fear- 
 lessly spoken, and calculated to give a correct im- 
 pression, would be of the most essential service; 
 and, upon those subjects to which my inquiries 
 were particularly directed, I may, perhaps, be al- 
 lowed to say, that I was, in some measure, quali- 
 fied to judge, by experience, and by the habits of 
 my life. With these views, 1 have endeavoured 
 to retrace my many steps, and to take the reader 
 with me, that he may see, taste, and know, things 
 as they are; the rough with the smooth; the bitter 
 with the sweet; the good with the evil. That he 
 may go where 1 go; hear all, see all, and, by evi- 
 dence, judging all, form his own resolutions and 
 conclusions. 
 
 1 may truly say, that throughout the whole of 
 this enterprize, I have been, in a great degree, 
 influenced by a sense of patriotic duty. The 
 same sentiment impels me to the completion of 
 my task, in the hope that the truth, so long per-
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 verted and concealed, may contribute to destroy 
 the illusions of transatlantic speculation, and to 
 diffuse solid, home-bred satisfaction amongst my 
 industrious countrymen. Deeply sensible, as I 
 am, of all the kindness which I met with in the 
 United States, and fond, as its natives are pro- 
 verbially known to be, of unmixed praise, I shall 
 yet speak of them and their country, as I, from 
 first impressions, corrected by subsequent reflec- 
 tion, thought, found, and felt, alternately and im- 
 partially blaming and praising, where I believe 
 censure and encomium to be honestly due. 
 
 To my many subscribers in both the old world 
 and the new, some apology for the delay which 
 has taken place in the publication of this volume, 
 may be thought necessary. It is simply this; 
 and found in one circumstance, over which I had 
 no control a long and painful paralysis, con- 
 tracted in America, which seemed, for some time, 
 to threaten my life. 
 
 Throughout the work, I have studiously avoid- 
 ed every thing which might savour of systema- 
 tical or methodical arrangement; it being ray wish
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 to give, as nearly as practicable, my Journal, as 
 it was begun, progressively continued, and ended; 
 and thus to make plain delineations and convey 
 correct impressions Pictures from life Things 
 as they are ! 
 
 Somersham, 
 June, 1823.
 
 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 A. 
 
 ATKINSON, Rev. John, Somersham. 
 
 Asplan, Mr. William, Bluntisham. 
 
 Asplan, Mr. ditto, for three friends, ditto, 3 copies. 
 
 B. 
 
 BEDFORD, His GRACE THE DUKE OF, Woburn Abbey. 
 
 Butler, Rev. Mr. London. 
 
 Bonfield, Rev. J. Chatteris. 
 
 Bon field, Mr. Wimblington. 
 
 Bird, Mr. Thomas, London. 
 
 Blake, Mr. John, Yarmouth. 
 
 Bigg?, Mr. Linton. 
 
 Brown, Mr. John, Earith. 
 
 Brown, Mr. Samuel, Somersham. 
 
 Barley, Mr. Edward, March. 
 
 Betts, Mr. Potton. 
 
 C. 
 
 COKE, T. W. Esq. M. P. Holkham. 
 Curwen, J. C. Esq. M. P. 
 
 Chowns, John, Esq. Welches, near Welwyn, Herts. 
 Chatfield, Rev. Dr. Chatteris.
 
 Xll LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 Cooper, Rev. Mr. Potton. 
 
 Chaplin, , Esq. Fulborn. 
 
 Culledge, , Esq. March. 
 
 Cockle, George, Esq. M. D. St. Jves. 
 
 Cockle, George, jun. Esq. Willingham. 
 
 Cole, Mr. G. Norwich. 
 
 Cole, Mrs. St. Ives. 
 
 Cooche, Mr. ditto. 
 
 Coote, Mr. William, ditto. 
 
 Coote, Mr. John, Wisbeach. 
 
 \ 
 
 D. 
 
 Dudley, Sir H. B. Bart. Ely. 
 
 Day, G. G. Esq. St. Ives, 4 copies. 
 
 Dawes, Frederick, Esq., M. D., Washington^ America, 
 
 100 copies. 
 v Dumbleton, Mr. E. Coppingford Lodge. 
 
 E. 
 
 Emery, Mr. T. W. Potton. 
 Ellis, Mrs. ditto. 
 
 F. 
 
 Fiske, Rev. Mr. Fulborn. 
 
 Farre, J. R., Esq. M. D. Charter-House Square, 
 
 Fryer, John, Esq. Chatteris. 
 
 Fryer, Thomas, Esq. ditto. 
 
 Fryer, Mr. Daniel, ditto, 6 copies. 
 
 Faulkner, William, Esq. Potton. 
 
 Freshwater, Mrs. ditto. 
 
 Fisher, T. E. Esq. St. Ives. 
 
 Fountain, Mr. J. Norwich. 
 
 Faux, William, sen. Sutton.
 
 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. Xlll 
 
 G. 
 
 Gurney, John, Esq. Serjeant's Inn, London. 
 
 Gifford, Mr. J. Cambridge. 
 
 Gray, Mr. Nathan, March. 
 
 Grey, Mr. G. Wimblington. 
 
 Groocock, Mr. W. A. St. Ives. 
 
 Gell, Miss, ditto. 
 
 Gray, Mr. Buckworth, (for the Kimbolton Book Society). 
 
 H. 
 
 Hunt, Henry, Esq. King's College, Cambridge. 
 
 Hardy, Johnson, Esq. March. 
 
 Hammond, John, Esq. Fenstanton. 
 
 Hatchard, Rev. John, Chatteris. 
 
 Holmes, Rev. Mr. Wisbeach. 
 
 Hill, James, Esq. ditto. 
 
 Hallack, Mr. Cambridge. 
 
 Huckberry, Mr. Spalding. 
 
 Harris, Henry, Esq. Peterborough. 
 
 Howson, Mr. sen. Huntingdon. 
 
 Hutchinson, Mr. Stoakley, Colne. 
 
 Hagger, Mr. Potton. 
 
 Hall, Mr. Biggleswade. 
 
 I. 
 
 Isaacs, Rev. Mr. Chatteris. 
 Johnson, Hardy, Esq. March. 
 Johnson, Mr. Catlin, Potton. 
 Jecks, Mr. Wisbeach. 
 Ilett, Edward, Esq. Chatteris. 
 Ilett, Mr. Jonathan, Earith. 
 Ingle, John, Somersham. 
 Ingle, Mr. Willingham.
 
 XIV LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 K. 
 King, Rev. , Prebendary of Ely. 
 
 L. 
 
 Lloyd, John, Esq. Potton. 
 
 Leeds, Mr John, Somersham. 
 
 Leigh, Mr. Thomas, Earith. 
 
 Livet, Mr. Richard, Cumberland Street, New Road, London. 
 
 M. 
 
 Moseley, L. Esq. Somersham. 
 
 Mason, William, Esq. ditto. 
 
 Martin, , E*q. Potton. 
 
 Martin, Downes, Esq. Godmanchester. 
 
 Margetts, Thomas, Esq. Hemingford Grey. 
 
 Margetts, Mr. P. ditto. 
 
 Morton, Mr. Potton. 
 
 Manning, Mrs. ditto. 
 
 Masters, Mr. ditto. 
 
 Massey, Mr. ditto. 
 
 Martin, Mr. sen. Somersham. 
 
 Mayfielcl, Mr. John, St. Ives. 
 
 N. 
 Nicholls, Mr. Bmkworth. 
 
 O. 
 
 Osborne, J. Esq. St. Ives. 
 Orris, Rev. , Somersham. 
 Owen, Mrs. Mepal. 
 
 P. 
 
 Pinchard, Dr. Haddenham. 
 Prince, , Esq. Balsham.
 
 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. XV 
 
 Pittiss, Edward, Esq. Newport, 2 copies. 
 Pryme, George, Esq. King's College, Cambridge. 
 Pratt, William, Esq. March. 
 Pratt, Mr. Norwich. 
 Pierson, Mr. Kimbolton. 
 Potto, Mr. Carter, Earith. 
 Peake, Mr. St. Ives. 
 Patrick, Miss, Potton. 
 
 R. 
 
 Rugeley, W. P. Esq. Potton. 
 
 Rugeley, Mrs. ditto. 
 
 Rugeley, Mr. H. St. Ives. 
 
 Robinson, Mr. Noble, ditto. 
 
 Rogers, Mr. John, Potton. 
 
 Robinson, Captain, of the Electra Packet. 
 
 S. 
 
 Smith, Major, Somersham. 
 
 Smith, Mrs. Coppingford Lodge. 
 
 Sewell, Thomas, Esq. Chatteris. 
 
 Sparrow, Mr. Norwich. 
 
 Starling, Mr. Yarmouth. 
 
 Sutton, Mr. G. St. Albarfs. 
 
 Setchfield, Mr. D. St. Ives. 
 
 Shaw, J. jun. Esq. King Street, Cheapside, 2 copies. 
 
 Smith, Mr. J. Chatteris. 
 Steed, J. London. 
 
 T. 
 
 Tillard, Rev. Richard, A. B. Bluntisham. 
 Thomson, George, Esq. Somersham. 
 Tebbutt, M. Esq. Bluntisham. 
 
 U. 
 Underwood, Mrs. Potton.
 
 XVI LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 \ 
 
 Underwood, James, Esq. Ordnance Office, Tower. 
 Underwood, Mr. Somersham. 
 Upsher, Mr. Thomas, Sutton. 
 Upsher, Joseph, Esq. St. Ives. 
 
 V. 
 
 Vipan, Benjamin, Esq. MepaL 
 Vipan, Joseph, Esq. Sutton. 
 
 W. 
 
 Wilson, Thomas, Esq. Houghton, St. Ives. 
 
 Wilson, John, Esq. Somersham. 
 
 Wilson, Mr. J. Oakes, ditto. 
 
 White, Mr. Thomas, Bluntisham. 
 
 White and Medcalf, Messrs., Oxford Street, London, 2 
 
 copies. 
 
 Wallis, Mr. R. Hemingford Grey. 
 Wells, Mr. Samuel, Huntingdon. 
 Wittingham, Rev. R. Potion. 
 Warner, Charles, Esq. Somersham. 
 Wright, Mr., Chemist, Wisbeach. 
 
 Y. 
 
 Youd, George, Esq. Wisbeach.
 
 JOURNAL. 
 
 HAVING, through the medium of the public prints, 
 advertized my intended departure, and made the 
 necessary preparations, I bade farewell to my good 
 and venerable father, whom I never expected to 
 see more, and tore myself from the embraces of 
 my wife, and of one dear and only child. On the 
 following day, being the 
 
 I 27th November, 1818, I reached London, on the 
 Defiance codch, after riding all day in the rain. 
 On the next day, I boarded, in the King's Dock, 
 the good ship Washington, which carried out Mr. 
 Fearon and Mr. Lancaster. The former gentle- 
 man was, I found, disliked by the captain, and, 
 indeed by all Americans, on account of the fide- 
 lity of his Sketches. I called on him and thought 
 him an interesting and intelligent man. I request- 
 ed of the tourist, letters to his friends; " J\o,"said 
 he, " my book has destroyed them : you will con- 
 firm my reports." 
 
 December \Qtli. I, this day, boarded the good 
 ship Ruthy, and paid 151. in part of passage, to 
 
 B
 
 2 MEMORABLE DAYS [January, 
 
 Captain Wise of Boston, to Charleston bound : 
 " We are," said he, " short of money in America ; 
 but sure of living." 
 
 2lst. Insured 120/. on rny luggage with Butler 
 and Wade, and tried in vain at several offices to 
 effect a life-insurance, the climate to which I was 
 destined being doubly hazardous. Received from 
 my physician a prescription, costing and really 
 worth three guineas, and fit for both land and sea. 
 Take two-thirds of Cheltenham salts, and one- 
 third of Epsom salts, mixed ; a quarter of an ounce, 
 dissolved in a pint of hot spring water, and drunk 
 an hour before rising, is a dose which may be 
 often repeated, if necessary, by patients disposed 
 to indigestion. 
 
 January 1st, 1819. On Monday last, five days 
 since, I came on board the Ruthy, then lying in, 
 and now creeping down the Thames; nothing^e- 
 markable having yet transpired. On Wednesday, 
 1 showed myself at the custom-house at Graves- 
 end. Now, twenty-five miles from the Downs. 
 Our crew and passengers consist of three English- 
 men, one Welshman, one Spaniard, and nine 
 sprightly Americans, including our youthful cap- 
 tain, twenty-five only, of very energetic habits, man- 
 ners, and aspect; possessing an air, an eye, and a 
 voice which say, arm; which create or annihilate; 
 which say be or not be. What a pity that so much 
 natural manly talent and efficiency should be mixed 
 up with so much frightful profaneness ! The ship
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 3 
 
 has yet no motion, nor is there any sickness, 
 except amongst the poultry, and first mate, who 
 seems sick and ready to die. I began an epistle 
 to my father, and assured him that my heart is a 
 compass, which will ever truly point towards Eng- 
 land, and that a ship is a prison, a house without 
 land, where life is most uncertain, and death al- 
 ways at hand. 
 
 Sunday, 3rd. Under weigh at half past eighty 
 but soon stranded ; struck and stuck fast on thfe 
 shallow sands above Margate roads. Somewhat \ 
 alarmed, but providentially off again at threeo'clock 
 tide, losing only an anchor and cable worth 100/. 
 Terrible language even on this day; but Sabbath 
 none here ! 
 
 4th. Safely anchored in the Downs, off Deal ; 
 where at six, p. in. the pilot left us. Boarded by 
 smugglers, offering best Hollands at 14s. and 12s. 
 6d. per gallon, which they keep sunk in the sea. 
 The captain traded, and thereby saved 100/. per 
 cent. Wind full south, right a-head; rough sea; 
 felt squeamish, not sick. 
 
 5th. Jn company with the captain, visited 
 Deal Castle, the seat of Lord Carrington, an an- 
 cient fortress, and fortified, during the reign of Eli- 
 zabeth, against the Spanish Armada. Called on 
 Edward Iggledon, Esquire, the American vice- 
 consul. The captain here evinced a laudable, and 
 obliging, yet barbarian curiosity. 
 
 Qth. Under weigh at noon. Passed Dover 
 B 2
 
 , 
 
 4 MEMORABLE DAYS [January, 
 
 Castle. Distinctly saw the coast of France. Part- 
 ed with our old friends, the Deal smugglers ; sea- 
 robbers, whose constant prayer is, " Give us a 
 good south-wester :" a wreckful gale in the fatal 
 Downs. Boarded by Lloyd's agent, who reports 
 the time of coming in and leaving the Downs. Saw 
 \ two bright light-houses, shining from the South 
 {Foreland. At eight, p. in. came on, right a-head, 
 k strong wind on a leeward shore, and a very 
 ^eavy, swelling, rough, angry sea, such as I had 
 never before seen, alternately lifting me on my 
 head and heels, while in bed. No sleep, all night. 
 
 7th. Both wind and sea more violent than 
 ever; the latter running deep, right over the ship, 
 and falling like claps of thunder on the roof of my 
 cabin. Continued thirty-six hours in bed with but 
 little sleep, drinking neat Hollands, and eating bis- 
 cuit only, so avoiding sea-sickness, though morally 
 sick at heart. 
 
 8th. Rose at eight. Fine morning, wind N.W. 
 The Jsle of Wight a-head. Visited the steerage, a 
 hole unfit for either man or beast. My simple 
 Cambrian friend found himself robbed of his dol- 
 lars; by the sailors artfully borrowing his keys. 
 Passed the Isle of Wight. At six, p. m., off the 
 Isle of Portland, another tremendous gale came 
 on, worse than the last, on a leeward shore ; no 
 port; a dismal atmosphere, with all the horrors of 
 Thursday night doubled. From the captain's 
 dark physiognomy I saw our danger, though not
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 5 
 
 willingly admitted by him. We could see no land 
 from the mast-head, only a dismasted vessel; and 
 knowing not where we went, suffered the ship, 
 without sail, to drift back. Felt iny nervous sys- 
 tem greatly shocked and impaired; passed a most 
 dreadful night, admitting of no sleep, but a fearful 
 looking out for death and swift destruction on the 
 rocks. At nine, p. m., the gale abated, and hope 
 dawned ; and we hailed an Isle of Wight pilot- 
 boat, which led us to Mother Bank, Portsmouth- 
 harbour. Great and general was the joy of all on 
 board, some being sick, and all worn down with 
 fatigue and excessive watching. Thunder this 
 morning. Off Ryde, at anchor, by eleven o'clock, 
 a. m. Felt great gratitude, but not commensurate 
 with the deliverance. The feeling during the gale 
 was that of overwhelming fear, and as one under 
 sentence of death, in dreadful suspense, waiting 
 the moment which was to sink us all in old ocean's 
 deep unfathomed caves. It was the most misera- 
 ble 24 hours of my life, but worse were to follow. 
 I was near resolving, that if I reached shore, I 
 would abandon my mission ! My hopes, objects, 
 prospects, and all the bright visions of the future, 
 seemed only as things passed away. When safely 
 anchored, I felt as one risen from the dead; and 9 
 though my fears tried to seduce me towards home, 
 shame, and my little remaining courage, impelled 
 me to proceed. 
 
 lith. The gale continues: how happily an-
 
 6 MEMORABLE DAYS [January, 
 
 chored ! Infinite mercy calls for infinite gratitude ! 
 In the gale, we damaged our cargo, and lost nearly 
 all our water ; the bung-holes of the casks being 
 left carelessly unclosed. If this had happened in 
 the midst of the western sea, we must have re- 
 turned, or have perished with thirst. 
 
 12th. In the stage for Newport, Isle of Wight, 
 to the hospitable board of Messrs. J. and Edward 
 Pittiss, where we were regaled like princes. This 
 town is London in miniature; it contains 6,000 
 people, and is as beautiful as any in Britain. 
 Viewed Carisbrook Castle, with its wonderful 
 well, 250 feet deep. Visited JVJr. Barnet of Cowes, 
 who has wild cattle on his estate. Left our good 
 and hospitable friends, and promised to ourselves 
 to return such kindness with interest, when oppor- 
 tunity occurred. 
 
 19th. Reached Roxhall-farm, near God's Hill, 
 to dine with John Arnold, Esq. whose house and 
 estate are delightful. Mr. Arnold has resolved on 
 emigration, with handsome property, good agri- 
 cultural knowledge, and first rate general intelli- 
 gence. He farms 400 acres of good land at 20$. 
 per acre, but has lost on it 300/. per annum for 
 some time past, which he thinks is an argument 
 in favour of emigration.* 
 
 25th. For the first time in my life it has been 
 
 * This gentleman and family, with 10 of the Pittiss family, 
 sons and daughters, brave and fair as Britain boast, have emi- 
 grated to the Western wilds.
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 7 
 
 my lot, while on board the Ruthy, and that too 
 in Portsmouth Harbour, to partake of chicken 
 which had died diseased, and pig killed because 
 it could no longer live, though well nursed during 
 its sickness. I, in consequence, dread starving 
 if I remain here ; the recollection of having thus 
 fed, quite destroying appetite. Mr. Pittiss this day 
 came on board with the present of a hare, which 
 was barbarously boiled, and slush (or melted fat) 
 poured over it for dinner. This was my last inter- 
 view with this respectable man, to whom 1 gave 
 introductory letters to friends in America. 
 
 %7th. To dinner this day at the Cornish Arms, 
 Portsmouth, the landlord of which always pre 
 sides, and at table toasts Bonaparte, by saying 
 aloud, " God bless Bonaparte, the man of the 
 people, the Frenchman's hope, and the glory of 
 the world !" Splendid portraits, too, hang in al- 
 most all parts of the house ; and one in particular, 
 in the drawing-room, must only be approached 
 bareheaded and bowing. Mr. Cole is quite an 
 original. At noon, a S. E. wind hurried us on 
 board, to prepare for sea. Received a pilot. 
 
 28^. Weighed anchor at five, and dropped 
 into Cowes harbour at ten, a. m., having in view 
 the beautiful hills of the Isle, adorned with castles 
 and mansions. Spoke the ship Plato, from Balti- 
 more to Bremen bound, and recently exposed to 
 the worst gales and weather, and much damaged
 
 8 MEMORABLE DAYS [January, 
 
 on the banks of Newfoundland, where the crew 
 were frost-bitten and lost their toes and fingers' 
 ends. 
 
 %9th. Sailed at six this morning. Wind at 
 S.E. Passed Yarmouth, Lymington, and Christ 
 Church, in full view, and, at one, p. m., those sub- 
 lime romantic rocks rising high out of the water, 
 and therefore called the Needles. Here the pilot 
 left us. 
 
 30th. Now off Plymouth, but no land in view. 
 Made, since yesterday, 130 miles. Felt possessed 
 of more courage than when last at sea, or rather a 
 sort of desperate, not pious, resignation. On leav- 
 ing St. Aldhams head, yesterday, saw no more of 
 poor old England. Peace to my dear native land! 
 
 31st. In lat. 48. Saw two Yankee brigs, for 
 England bound. Rose at midnight, and beheld 
 the pale moon illuminating the dark sea, which 
 looked like an infinite lake of quicksilver. 
 
 To my sorrow is it known, that the captain finds 
 his beef and porter (bought for good) good for no- 
 thing, the former having been a voyage to the East 
 Indies! Navigators up the Mississipi river, fre- 
 quently steal from 10 to 20 sheep at once from the 
 farmers, and think it no crime; it being more con- 
 venient to steal than to buy. Captain Wise, when 
 there, acknowledges he saw his crew dressing se- 
 veral sheep so stolen, but forbid them not; only 
 telling them they should not let him know of such
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 9 
 
 thefts. Alas ! poor honesty, how art thou dis- 
 carded ! 
 
 February 2nd. Fine day. Wind none. Eleven 
 sail in view: a dead calm. Lat. 48. 
 
 3rd. Almost a gale, and right a-head all day. 
 I perceive my fears lessen as 1 proceed. Huge 
 mountainous waves of a mile in length, but as 
 they do not break, as in the Channel, the ship gal- 
 lantly rides over them. Saw a fine mast afloat, 
 recently fallen from some ill-fated ship. Lat. 47', 
 and on the skirts of the Bay of Biscay. A large 
 shoal of sea-hogs, alias porpoises, played round our 
 ship; we harpooned one, which instantly became 
 a prey to its fellows. Its blood invites them to 
 destroy and devour it. 
 
 4th. Bad weather, wind west, right a-head; 
 lat. 47 30' at noon. At a recent anniversary in 
 Boston of Free Blacks, met to celebrate the aboli- 
 tion, or as they term it the Boblition of the slave- 
 trade; the chairman rose after dinner, and said, 
 " Gemmen, I be Massa Peter Guss, and give you 
 this toast, That President Madison be no more 
 like General Washington than pute finger in the 
 fire, and haul it out again !" great applause. And 
 another toast was, " Mr. Wilberforce be the blacky- 
 man's friend, and may he never want polish to his 
 boots." 1 give this anecdote, as I heard it from 
 an American ; but contempt of the poor blacks, or 
 niggers, as they are there called, seems the national 
 sin of America.
 
 10 MEMORABLE DAYS [February, 
 
 5th. Squally, and almost a gale all day. Felt 
 no fear, but hope and confidence in the good 
 hand which can deliver. Our first mate turned 
 into the steerage for disobedience this morning, 
 arid a fight near at hand between himself and the 
 captain. Our black steward is known as a cham- 
 pion of champions, having conquered a hero of his 
 own colour by butting on all fours, like two rams, 
 a mode of fighting common amongst blacks. 
 
 7th. In the bay, off Spain, and 170 miles from 
 the port of Corunna. 
 
 Qth. Lat. 44. Bad day, wind a-head, blowing 
 hard. Black superstition. Our steward has this 
 moment lost a drop of red blood, which involun- 
 tarily fell from his black pug nose. " There," 
 said he, " I have lost my mother a good friend." 
 This blood-losing he considers as a sure ornen of 
 death taking place, having more than once proved 
 it. 
 
 9fh. All's in the wrong. Head wind. No fire 
 in the cabin. So cold, that I am compelled to wear 
 two pair of hose, and my large box-coat. Coals 
 are few and our captain stingy, being one of those 
 Yankees (says our first mate) who, in the Southern 
 States, are said to skin a flea for the sake of its 
 hide and tallow. My liver, however, seems on 
 fire, through want of exercise and wholesome food. 
 I am pained in all positions, and every breath is 
 costly. This is an evil day. A small jug of 
 water fell of itself to the floor from the table, at
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 11 
 
 \vhich the captain in high rage rang for the poor 
 absent broken-backed steward, and accused him 
 of doing it. Then, doubling his fist, he knocked 
 the steward down twice, by violent blows on the 
 head, and, when down, set his foot on his neck, 
 and stamped three times on it violently. The 
 poor fellow gave no provocation, but only begged 
 for mercy, and said, " Captain, you must do as 
 you will with me now." He is a faithful creature, 
 and the captain's conduct brutal, but somewhat 
 national. 
 
 15th. Turned in this evening, much indisposed, 
 and in want of every good. Hapless is the pros- 
 pect; a long passage yet before us, with but little 
 water, no fire, weather cold, provisions bad and 
 few. The sailors already on short allowance 
 both of bread and water, and wind yet a-head. 
 At two this morning greatly scared by several 
 frightful squalls, one of which bellowed like loud 
 thunder, and nearly laid the ship on her Aee side ; 
 insomuch that I expected a visit from the grim 
 king of terrors, clad in his most dismal attire. At 
 eight, a. m. rose from my bed of horrors after a 
 racking of 38 hours; sad, as ever fell to the lot of 
 man ! In a gale, and laid to, for the two following 
 days. 
 
 19th. Wind still a-head. Find that the steer- 
 age, through want of cleanliness, swarms with 
 creeping things. Now, 3,000 miles in a direct 
 course from our destined port, Charleston city.
 
 12 MEMORABLE DAYS [February, 
 
 We are off those beautiful Western isles, the Azores, 
 abounding with herds, grapes, wine, oil, and earth- 
 quakes. Summer, this morning, suddenly burst 
 in upon us ; the air being, in the shade, warmer 
 than May in England. 
 
 ^Qth Fine day, dead calm, lat. 38; therm, in 
 shade 65, in the water 61, at night 70. Have now 
 taken leave of old winter. It is June ; no chilling 
 breezes. How delightful, to an Englishman, is 
 weather like this in February. Now, within 70 
 miles of the Azores, to which ship-loads of maho- 
 gany are annually drifted along the gulf stream, 
 from the bay of Honduras. 
 
 %3rd. Day-light from six to six in this de- 
 lightful climate. I saw, during the day, what 
 sailors call sun-dogs, a species of rainbow, with- 
 out either pillar or arch, having only a base, and 
 being thought symptomatic of windy, squally wea- 
 ther. The horizon at sun-set glowing with crimson, 
 pink, and blue, the perfection of beauty. This 
 being the 60th day of our passage, we have yet 3,000 
 miles to sail, and stores for 10 days only. Dis- 
 tress and famine are predicted. The men grumble 
 about long days' work, and short allowance of 
 food and sleep ; more of the latter is given, and as 
 to the former, they intend redressing themselves. 
 At this distance from land, we saw a land- 
 bird. 
 
 25th. Met a fine Grampus. Rose at five, a. m. 
 and laid aside my winter dress. Saw a few dol-
 
 1819.J IN AMERICA. 13 
 
 phins. I find my eyes glisten with returning 
 health, after a week's fine weather and a favour- 
 able wind, which has done more for us than the 
 three preceding weeks. 
 
 28th. Lat. 28, and a fine trade wind, N. E. 
 Every thing outward wears a propitious aspect, 
 but not so within. Only one ounce of ham for my 
 breakfast, and no meat for dinner; but soup made 
 of lean, dry, and dirty salt beef, stewed to rags, 
 and pudding made of flour and water only. Feel 
 however my spirits healed, and find mercy mixed 
 in this bitter cup, to be long remembered with 
 blessings and praise. 
 
 March 1st. Stripped to my shirt all day. Sail- 
 ing eight knots an hour, in lat. 32. Saw this night 
 the young moon in a position new to me, lying 
 horizontally, flat on her back, as the sailors say, 
 with her horns upwards; a sign of fine dry wea- 
 ther. A regular trade-wind, and at sunrise and 
 set, the sky full of beautiful blushing amber clouds, 
 of indescribable richness, but common in this lati- 
 tude. The sea, by reflection, becomes a flood of 
 gore, especially while these clouds fly round the 
 expansive horizon. The effect was greatly heigh- 
 tened by a huge rainbow at noon, which gave to 
 the waves all the changeful hues of the camelion. 
 
 2nd. Therm. 72, lat. 26. Find it necessary to 
 seek shade under the awning all day, and at the 
 second and third watch of the night to take an air- 
 bath, quite undressed ; when I saw Venus, the
 
 14 MEMORABLE DAYS [March, 
 
 bright morning-star, lighting the sky and sea like 
 a moon, casting a long broad shadow over the 
 bosom of the wave, and yielding a light nearly 
 equal to the moon in her first quarter. Being 
 now nearly in the tropic of Capricorn, all the lumi- 
 naries of Heaven blazed with a light and brilliancy 
 quite novel to me. Horrible dissatisfaction openly 
 reigns amongst the crew, because hard worked 
 and half starved. The captain, in reply, kindly 
 called them damned gluttons, and bid them go and 
 fare better if they could. He complained of my 
 talking to them, a condescension on my part 
 which, he said, teaches them insubordination, and 
 a liberty taken by me not allowable in a cabin 
 passenger. Saw many flying-fish, winged as a 
 bird, and also several beautiful tropical birds, a 
 species of sea-gull, having sharp long tails, formed 
 of only one quill, and called by sailors Neptune's 
 children. 
 
 Our brutish captain this day beat and bruised 
 the poor steward with a thick rope about his 
 broken back, head, and face, until a torrent of 
 red blood gushed from his thick black nose. For 
 what? Because the poor fellow had been smoking, 
 and could not by washing make his black face 
 white ! 
 
 oth. Therm. 78, lat. 22, long. 40, and now 
 midway between London and Charleston. Saw 
 a fine whale, reflecting in its course from the sun 
 all the hues of the rainbow ; and a large flock of
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 15 
 
 flying-fish, bright and silvery, and at a distance 
 easily mistaken for the feathered tribe. 
 
 Sunday, 7tk. Wind dead a-head ; a rather sin- 
 gular circumstance in the trades. The men busy 
 making coffee of roasted barley. Eat the pig, the 
 last killed yesterday. The captain full of dark, 
 savage thoughts. It is now a fortnight since a sail 
 was seen, and as all seems wrong, we droop and 
 hang our heads like bulrushes. 
 
 9tk. Lat. 21, therm. 78. Met a huge shark, 
 two dolphins, and a grampus. All hands now go 
 nearly naked, and quite stockingless and shoeless, 
 and frequently jump into the brine. A passenger, 
 being once seized with the cramp, soon found him- 
 self drowning; on which a line was thrown out, 
 and he seized it with his teeth until it was tied 
 round his arm, and he could be so hauled up. 
 
 llth. S. W. wind blowing a gale all day, a 
 rather remarkable thing in this latitude, being 
 within the tropic line, where a regular trade-wind 
 is expected from either the N. E. or S. E. All 
 hands now brought to short allowance; one bis- 
 cuit only, in 24 hours, for the crew ; and one and a 
 half for each man in the cabin. When I, as now, 
 omit the latitude, it is because we cannot get an 
 observation, and are driven backwards, and tossed 
 to and fro. Our hopes are very low. This evening, 
 immediately after the sun sunk, the full moon rose 
 from a huge pillowy cloud, and shone with an 
 angry redness and largeness, casting an awful
 
 16 MEMORABLE DAYS [March, 
 
 splendour on the dark sky and mountainous sea. 
 Still a gale, in direct opposition to the generally 
 received theory of the trades, which should blow 
 as above mentioned, says Captain Wise; but at the 
 command of God, how his works laugh at the 
 theories of man ! 
 
 12//*. Lat. 22 15'. A beautiful fat flying-fish 
 flew on board this morning, and furnished us with 
 a delicious breakfast. 
 
 Sunday, [4th. In lat. 22, long. 45. Wind 
 due west, dead a-head ; a hope-blasting wind. I 
 continued nearly all last night on deck during a 
 strong gale, it being better to see the worst than 
 to imagine it. This is the sad seventy- eighth day, 
 from the port of London. At three o'clock, p. m. 
 saw, distant from us 10 miles, a large Jndiaman; 
 hailed her with a signal of distress. At four, the 
 captain boarded her, the good ship Hamilton of 
 Boston, from Canton 92 days, returning from a tra- 
 ding voyage round the world, manned and com- 
 manded by Captain Martyn and a fine, efficient 
 crew of 30 men, and armed with 20 guns, mus- 
 quetry, swords, and pistols, and a large maga- 
 zine. Our captain now returned from the Hamil- 
 ton, with his boat laden with bread, pork, and 
 hams, tea, coffee, sugar, and rum. What a pro- 
 vidential supply! What joy shone in the faces 
 of all on board, who till now were greatly suf- 
 fering, and constantly meditating on what should 
 be their conduct in case of extremities. Captain
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 37 
 
 Martyn being told that a passenger, meaning my- 
 self, was very anxious to quit the Ruthy for his 
 noble ship, instantly ran on deck, and through 
 the mouth of a loud sounding brazen trumpet, 
 said, " Sir, come on board, you are welcome; I 
 shall charge you nothing, although yet 3,000 
 miles, in a direct course, to sail." Seeing I 
 hesitated a little, he sent off his boat and first 
 officers for me, and through them pressingly re- 
 newed his invitation. I now took my leave of the 
 Ruthy, and returning with them, found my new 
 captain a generous, gentlemanly man, having a 
 noble vessel stored with pigs, poultry, turtles, 
 and goats (for milk), all alive and fat, from Can- 
 ton city. There was besides on board, a profusion 
 of China sweetmeats, Jamaica rum, old oily brandy 
 and wine, and new bread, on table daily; and, at 
 night, a Chinese bed of down to receive me, all 
 from Asia, the Sandwich isles, and the north-west 
 coast of the American continent, where during 
 the last four years, this adventurous ship has been 
 trading to its awful hazard but great advantage. 
 It has netted to its owner in four years 20,000/. ; 
 to the captain seven and a half per cent, and to 
 the first mate one per cent. The present cargo 
 being composed of China silks, crapes, and teas, 
 is rich, and valued at 20,000/. It was received in 
 exchange for furs and skins, purchased by barter 
 from the Indians and South Sea islanders, who 
 gladly take in exchange train-oil, powder, shot, 
 
 c
 
 18 MEMORABLE DAYS [March, 
 
 knives, simple toys, and gaudy printed cottons. 
 This is a fine trade for men of capital. 
 
 i 6th. Fine day; wind fair, N. . lat. 22. 
 Owing to want of science, and inability to take 
 lunar observations, on board the Ruthy, I discover, 
 by Captain Martyn, our longitude to be 48 instead 
 of 45. We have on board a beautiful white Chi- 
 nese mouse working a wheel, like a squirrel ; and 
 a cage full of Java sparrows, with crimson beaks. 
 Caught this morning three beautiful dolphins, 
 which we fry and eat as a luxury. We now sail 
 nine knots an hour with little motion, and I amuse 
 myself with reading General Washington's inva- 
 luable Legacies. Beautiful silk umbrellas and 
 huge parasols from Canton, on board ; prime cost, 
 two dollars; and portraits, large as life, in elegant 
 frames, at eight dollars each. Living in style at 
 Calcutta, costs for a mess (several in number) one 
 dollar per day. 
 
 18^. Fine breeze, lat. 24, long. 52 15'. Caught 
 a fine fat porpoise weighing 200lbs., which sup- 
 plies us with beef-steaks, fried in oily fat. Saw 
 beautiful Canton crape, three dollars a piece, suffi- 
 cient for two dresses ; shawls of it equally low and 
 very rich, such as in England are almost unattain- 
 able except by the rich. Pictures, too, four of them 
 coloured, four feet in length, and one fan, all for 
 one dollar. These Chinese pictures want expres- 
 sion or impress of mind, yet display great inge- 
 nuity.
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 19 
 
 20th. Lat. 25, long. 56. As to-morrow is Sun- 
 day, we this morning kill a fat Canton pig with 
 little head and short legs, a delicious thing at sea. 
 It weighs 100 Ibs. (or 40 Ibs. Chinese), and is fatted 
 on rice-bran only, food on which an English pig I 
 suppose would starve. Saw a whale almost the 
 length and breadth of the ship. 
 
 The owner of the Ruthy, which I quitted, 
 though now a very rich man, the Honourable 
 Wm. Gray, of Boston, who has a ship at almost 
 every port, was once very poor, a little shoemaker- 
 His first mercantile speculation was a shipment of 
 warming-pans to the West Indies, which some 
 wag advised him to send thither; it was, of course, 
 a very successful shipment in so cold a country, 
 but not for the uses intended ; the pans were 
 used as ladles for molasses or treacle. 
 
 Sunday, %]st. Saw two sail to England bound, 
 and two whales sporting by our ship. What a 
 glorious transfer I have made, and how timely 
 and unexpected, just at the moment when, on 
 board the Ruthy, all our hopes had perished ! 
 How merciful is the God on whom I called ! For 
 instead of drowning, starving, or eating each 
 other, I am living on the new and interesting lux- 
 uries of the east, and surrounded with many rare 
 curiosities of unseen lands ; a bleating goat of 
 Owhyhee supplies me with milk ; and in the morn- 
 ing, the shrill clarion of Canton cocks, the cack- 
 
 c 2
 
 20 MEMORABLE DAYS [March, 
 
 ling of geese, and the grunting of swine early 
 rouse me from my warm and downy bed ; and, all 
 together, make me fancy 1 am in my farm-yard, 
 although 4,000 miles distant, 
 
 22wd. Lat. 27, long. 61. Now about 11 days 
 sail from Boston. The captain this morning turn- 
 ing out first, cast a cup of cold water into the 
 bosom of his clerk, who was yet in bed, and pro- 
 mised him a pailful if necessary. The clerk is 
 a pleasant young man of about 25, and only said, 
 " Captain, if you expect perfection of me you will 
 be disappointed; I am not perfect." Republicans 
 seem uncommonly tyrannical, and sometimes aris- 
 tocratical. We sail swiftly, and sometimes 228 
 miles in a day. 
 
 I now sleep in high style every night, having 
 under my pillow a bottle of madeira and a basket 
 of China sweetmeats; at my side nine muskets 
 and a huge broad-sword ; and underneath me a 
 magazine of gunpowder and balls. 
 
 24JA. Warm day, wind S. W. almost a calm, 
 lat. 30, long. 65, now opposite to and distant 40 
 miles from Bermuda, and 720 from Boston, our 
 destined haven. In this port (says our captain) 
 there is an old hump-backed pilot now living, to 
 whom some British officers once waggishly said, 
 " What's that on your back ?" He answered, 
 " What do you think ? Bunker's hill, to be sure, !" 
 a reply which silenced the facetious inquirers.
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 21 
 
 Lat. 32, long. 66, sailing all day 7, and 
 at night 10 knots an hour. The old Southern 
 goat, kid, Canton cocks, geese, hogs, and turtles, 
 begin to quake with northern cold. In the win- 
 ter of 1817-18, the fish generally experienced a 
 vast mortality; the shores and water, quite out at 
 sea, were literally covered with countless tons and 
 ship-loads of dead and dying fish : much to the dis- 
 comfiture of shipping, dependent on them for a sup- 
 ply of food. The cause is unknown, but supposed 
 to be volcanic;. as very frequently, loud subter- 
 raneous, or rather subaqueous sounds, like the 
 discharge of artillery, were heard in these deso- 
 late regions. 
 
 27th. Now only 440 miles from Boston, wind 
 a-head. At midnight it blew a gale, and we were in 
 serious danger of losing our masts through not 
 taking in sail in time. I rose at this awful hour, 
 and saw the horizon wearing a singularly angry 
 aspect. It is predicted that this gale will continue 
 three days. It did, in fact, last just three days: 
 some men are truly weather-wise, and 
 
 " Old experience doth attain 
 
 To something like prophetic strain." 
 
 Saw three sail ; one, a Frenchman, who seemed 
 disposed to conceal his colours, when we shewed 
 him the star-spangled banner, and then loaded, 
 pointed, and fired a cannon over, not at him, just
 
 22 MEMORABLE DAYS [March, 
 
 to teach him good manners. He now hoisted the 
 dirty white flag of Louis 18th, but would not speak 
 us. Spoke a Yankee brig, out five days from 
 Boston, and compared her longitude with ours, 
 by exhibiting both on a board, from the bows of 
 each ship. They agreed ; and so proved the nau- 
 tical skill of our captain to be of the first order. 
 
 It is now so cold that three coats are necessary, 
 although only six days since it was too hot to 
 wear one, or any thing else: we are now anxious 
 to see land. Saw the moon distinctly at nooi> 
 day. In stores for a long voyage, the Americans 
 take out roasted geese, ducks, fowls, partridges and 
 pigeons, in casks secured from external air by 
 closing the tops over with melted lard or mutton 
 fat, so keeping all good for several months : when 
 any are wanted, they are heated over the fire or in 
 an oven. As a luxury, pickled oysters are taken 
 for stewing, which eat as good as if then opened 
 alive from the shell. 
 
 30th. At eight last night came on a strong 
 breeze from S. W. carrying us from 8 to 10 miles 
 an hour, and increasing through this day, to 
 a gale of unprecedented fury. Lat. 36, long. 68, 
 by a correct lunar observation. At five this even- 
 ing, the affectionate mother of one dear and only 
 child was, by the violent rolling of the ship, im- 
 pelled overboard, and sunk to rise no more, being 
 buried instantly in a huge billow. She was a na-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 23 
 
 tive of Owhyhee, and is deeply lamented by all on 
 board, who had shared in her kindness, for she 
 was milk and honey to all during a long passage 
 from Asia. But what pen can depict the mad, 
 shrieking sorrows of her now motherless child, 
 who witnessed this sad catastrophe, and who be- 
 came a poor orphan, dependent on the humanity 
 of the captain or owner of the Hamilton! By 
 force only was the frantic child prevented from 
 plunging into its mother's grave. Its agonies made 
 the following night memorable. The gale, too, 
 continued with unabated fury, ready to blast all 
 hope. At midnight, we found ourselves in the 
 midst of the gulf stream, a current 60 miles broad, 
 and running eastward, in a calm, three miles an 
 hour. Here, until and after the dawn of day, we 
 experienced severe thunder and lightning, forming 
 altogether a horrible tempest ; a perfectly novel 
 scene, such as I had never witnessed. Up all 
 night. 
 
 3lst. The morning dawns, with a most dismal 
 frowning aspect; the air being full of blue fire 
 and crashing thunder, and the sea rising and fall- 
 ing over, on, and around us, like swelling moun- 
 tains of liquid fire. The captain apparently be- 
 wildered, not knowing how to act, and seemingly 
 overwhelmed with doubt and indecision. 
 
 At nine, a. m. we tried for soundings, but found 
 none, the gulf being unfathomable. At ten, fell a 
 smothering rain, succeeded by a short calm, when
 
 24 MEMORABLE DAYS [April, 
 
 the wind veered to N. W. and the air became 
 suddenly cold and clear, though in the gulf it was 
 singularly, warm and foggy ; the salt water was 
 there as warm as milk from the cow, and very 
 steamy, and sparkling like burning sulphur or 
 volcanic lava, having luminous particles large as 
 a hazel nut; but these, when touched by the finger, 
 disappeared. Lat. 39, long. 70 50'. Saw several 
 pieces of wreck. This is the last day of March, 
 and was expected to be the last of our lives. 
 
 April 1st. Wind N. W. dead a-head, brisk, 
 and colder than I ever felt it on a winter's day in 
 England. I resume my winter dress, but can- 
 not be warm. Tried for soundings, but our line 
 of 140 fathoms found no bottom. At present we 
 know not where we are. The captain, during 
 yesterday's gale sulked, and would eat nothing, 
 nor suffer any thing eatable to be cooked ; I was 
 therefore pining 24 hours on tea, coffee, wine, 
 China sweetmeats, and dry, hard biscuit. These 
 brave circumnavigators state, that during the last 
 four years' voyage, they met not a worse gale than 
 the equinoctial tempest of yesterday ; and the 
 captain says, that at six, a.m. he saw the most 
 dangerous sea he had ever witnessed. It was 
 mounting 15 feet above the ship, and ready to 
 burst over her stern ; a mighty mass of water, 
 more than sufficient to have swept the deck of 
 every man and beast and mast upon it, if not to 
 sink the ship itself. My fears were not great;
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 25 
 
 but I felt rather loth to die without telling ray own 
 tale, or enabling others to tell it for me. " The 
 chamber where the good man meets his fate," 
 seemed indeed a matter of envy, and " privileged 
 beyond the common lot." I desired and prayed 
 it might be mine, instead of sinking in these dark, 
 desolate, unfathomed waters. 
 
 At noon, we saw several indications of land ; a 
 land-sparrow on our rigging, and several fat 
 Yankee ducks and geese near us. At four, p. m. 
 got soundings in 100 fatboms water, on a sandy 
 bottom, by which we knew we were only 70 miles 
 from land ; Gay-head lighthouse. Loaded a can- 
 non, ready for calling a pilot, when we make the 
 said lighthouse, which we hope to do by four to- 
 morrow morning. At six, p. m. saw one sail to 
 the north. At eight, ten, and twelve, p. m. 
 sounded again in 40, 35, and 30 fathoms. Still 
 extremely cold. 
 
 2nd. Fine clear morning; in 10 fathoms white 
 water, just on the edge of a dangerous wrecking 
 shoal, but soon plunged into 20 fathoms. 
 
 At ten, a.m. blessed with the heart-cheering 
 sound of Land, O ! and saw the island of Nan- 
 tucket from our topmast, distant 15 miles, and 
 marked by three windmills and a few high white 
 houses. My heart now rebounded with gratitude, 
 at being made so signal a monument of providen- 
 tial mercy. 
 
 At eleven, a. m. saw distinctly a beautiful island,
 
 26 MEMORABLE DAYS [April, 
 
 1 6 miles round, of red and yellow ocbre, called Mar- 
 tha's Vineyard, now occupied principally by civi- 
 lized Indians, pilots, and fishermen. We hoisted the 
 patriot colours of South America, the best signal 
 for a pilot, who soon boarded us, and conducted 
 us to an anchorage in the bay, formed by the 
 above island and by a cluster of other smaller 
 isles, smothered with small hardy sheep, which 
 graze all winter upon them. Passed a huge group 
 of wreckful rocks, (some in and some out of the 
 water) called The Old Sow and Pigs. At six, 
 p. m. a fishing-boat came along side, and brought 
 us a fine fry in exchange for putrid South-Sea 
 pork. The head fisherman seemed a mighty fine 
 independent fellow, both in manner and conduct. 
 Found our fine huge China turtle (a present for 
 the ship-owner) quite frozen to death ; indeed [ 
 was myself half frozen, being colder than ever I 
 felt in England in my life. Absence, distance, 
 and difficulty, seem to enhance the value of the 
 unprized comforts which I leave behind me; my 
 heart is thereby enlarged for those too little loved 
 objects whom I have quitted, perhaps, to see no 
 more. 
 
 3rd. At six this morning weighed anchor in 
 HolnCs Hole harbour, a beautiful little port of 
 Martha's Vineyard. On leaving this pleasant vine- 
 yard, we fired a salute of five guns, which nearly 
 shook me out of bed. Saw a beautiful fleet, of 
 10 sail, around us. The island of Nantucket
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 27 
 
 alone sent oat last year 60 sail of whalers round 
 Cape Horn. At noon, we made Cape Cod, a 
 long neck of land running 100 miles into the sea, 
 and having four light-houses on it, offering to the 
 eye a singular scene; an immense bank or ridge 
 of dirty white sand, quite naked, and bare, with- 
 out grass, shrubs, or trees ; it is the most perilous 
 part of the coast. By midnight we made Boston 
 light, and fired two cannon for a pilot, who soon 
 came to us, and took the helm. 
 
 Sunday, 4th. At daybreak passed Fort Inde- 
 pendence, Fort Strong, and Fort William, which 
 are all founded by nature, and built upon two 
 little islands, a fine cluster of which surround and 
 ornament the mouth of this noble harbour of Bos- 
 ton, now lying, with all its towers, spires, and 
 masts, in full view before me; the hills around are 
 all capped with snow. At eight, a. in. we saluted 
 this town, the grand emporium of Yankee land, 
 with 16 guns. At nine, a. m. our ship was 
 
 boarded by its fortunate owner, Lyman, jun. 
 
 Esq. one of the richest men (says the captain) in 
 America. I was introduced to him by a polite 
 and friendly shaking of hands, in the presence of 
 the captain, who said 1 was an English gentleman 
 taken out of a ship in distress, belonging to his 
 neighbour, the Honourable W. Gray. He then 
 invited me to his town mansion, and saying that 
 he would see me again next morning, in the kindest 
 and most gentlemanly manner took his leave. I
 
 28 MEMORABLE DAYS [April, 
 
 now shaved and arrayed myself in the costume of 
 London ; and at ten o'clock, in company with the 
 captain, went on shore. With great gratitude, I 
 felt my foot press the earth once more, the free 
 earth of America ! On landing, curiosity brought 
 many gay, cheerful, free, easy, good-looking faces 
 to behold, and gaze, and guess, what I, the fo- 
 reigner, was, whence coming, whither going, and 
 why? Of the women whom I saw at first, I 
 thought but meanly, all being old or ugly; but 
 the men fair, and in their Sunday dress; the town, 
 too, though full of melting snow, was highly inte- 
 resting, especially when associated with the recol- 
 lection of its having so bravely fought for liberty, 
 and preferred it to English tea, sweetened with 
 taxation, and the milk of maternal monarchy. I 
 feel much nearer home than I am, and find good 
 fare, good wine, and good company at my board- 
 ing-house, the cost of which is one dollar per day. 
 My fellow boarders are moderately social. I ac- 
 companied one gentleman to church, an edifice 
 inwardly and outwardly splendid, and the congre- 
 gation fashionable; but I thought the service and 
 sermon very dull and insipid, and the worship 
 altogether inanimate. As Sunday here vanishes 
 with the daylight, I went in the evening to the 
 Town-hall, to Caucus, a grand political meeting 
 of thousands of the Monocracy, met to deliberate 
 upon the choice of a state governor, &c. The 
 orators, on the present occasion, being principally
 
 1819.1 IN AMERICA. 29 
 
 V 
 
 well educated federalists, seemed, some of them, 
 eloquent and ingenious abusers of the democrats, 
 who angrily retorted on their opponents. Thus I 
 found two strong parties, which I am at present 
 unable to define, except as mutual haters of each 
 other, like Whigs and Tories in England. 
 
 5th. The people here seem thankful for no- 
 thing, or rather, they do not shew it. Mr. Smith, 
 my landlord, a pleasant Scotsman, advises his and 
 my countrymen to keep at home, if they cannot 
 bring from 500/ to J,OOOZ. The poor, he says, 
 are not wanted here, nor any where in the state 
 of Massachusetts, where many are unemployed, 
 and nobody is satisfied. According to promise, I 
 met Mr. Lyman again, at his large commercial 
 office, who renewed his kind offer of any needful 
 services while in Boston. He then accompanied 
 me to the exchange, and there introduced me to the 
 richest merchant, save one, in America, the Ho- 
 nourable Wm. Gray, a gentleman of kind manners, 
 but of an eccentric look ; with long withered fea- 
 tures, pale complexion, white hair, and dressed 
 in an old cloak, and a hat, seemingly 20 years 
 old. Notwithstanding all this, he appeared on 
 change to be an influential object of attraction. 
 He kindly offered me a letter of introduction to his 
 friends and bankers, at Charleston, S. Carolina. 
 
 6th. Seemed pleased with every thing and 
 every body, and every body with me. Visited the 
 State house, where assembles the legislature, and
 
 30 MEMORABLE DAYS [April, 
 
 governor at its head. From the top of the dome 
 of this stately structure I surveyed the university 
 of Cambridge and Bunker's Hill, about two miles 
 distant. Boston, from this elevation, appears to be 
 encircled by the sea, and by broad rivers, over 
 which are bridges nearly a mile in length. The 
 beauteous hills and contiguous valleys shine with 
 villas, villages, and towns, which, together, make 
 the perspective rich and inviting to an English 
 stranger. Of churches there are here plenty ; but 
 churches create not religion. The new part of the 
 town glitters with elegant mansions, which strike 
 the eye of the stranger with surprise. In these 
 live rich or retired merchants. 
 
 1th. My trunks and person, this day, exposed 
 at the custom-house to a gentle scrutiny only, not 
 a British searching. This establishment is supe- 
 rior and well conducted. At noon very politely 
 introduced by Mr. Jonson to the Reading 
 Rooms, where I found nearly all foreign and do- 
 mestic newspapers. The morning's first salutation 
 from a gentleman to a young lady is, " Miss Lucy, 
 you look smart," or " you come out bright this 
 morning." Fine man, smart man, or woman, 
 seems the highest praise amongst the commonalty. 
 Took leave of my friendly guide, Mr. Burnham, 
 who left me for the interior. He presented me, at 
 parting, with a keepsake; an elegant burning- 
 glass, for kindling segars ; and, in return, carried 
 with, him my esteem and regards.
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 31 
 
 8th. By appointment 1 met on change and re- 
 turned home with Mr. Lyinari to dinner, where all, 
 within and without his establishment, is attractive. 
 The lady of my host is an accomplished daughter 
 of Otiss, Esq. the celebrated oratorical sena- 
 tor in congress from this state. In politics Mr. 
 Lyman is a very strong federalist, and his lady 
 also. She thinks America and its government far 
 inferior to ours, regrets the loss of the British 
 yoke, and ranks our Courier and Post amongst 
 her favourite papers. " And then," said she, 
 " how pleasant are even the cottages of your 
 poor!" Mr. Lyman and his lady seemed on all 
 subjects unanimous, and especially in giving pre- 
 ference to England, and every thing English. His 
 brother is now in England, on a visit to Holkham, 
 the seat of our illustrious commoner, Mr. Coke. 
 Mr. Birkbeck and emigration now became the 
 theme: " At that gentleman," said he, " I am asto- 
 nished. He is intentionally or unintentionally de- 
 luding your English farmers, who, if they come to 
 America, must drive their own carts, waggons, 
 and ploughs, into the field and to market, and 
 work here as hard as labourers work there, or not 
 live. And even in this state, you see, as to-day, 
 our farmers hauling their own produce, such as 
 hay and corn, to market, where they have to stand 
 all day, or hawk it about from house to house. 
 What would your smart English farmers think of 
 this, and how would they like it ? If however, Mr.
 
 32 MEMORABLE DAYS [April, 
 
 Birkbeck arid others must emigrate, why should 
 they go into our wilderness, far from society, or 
 at best mixing up with the refuse of our popula- 
 tion, with men of stained names, thieves, and in- 
 solvents, who go thither to hide themselves ; vo- 
 luntary exiles, of whom society is well rid, because 
 unable to endure them. The Caucus which you 
 attended on Sunday night, embodies the respect- 
 able part of the citizens, federalists, and democrats, 
 who differ but little in real principle: the former are 
 always most favourable to England, and think a 
 war with her always unnecessary, and an evil to be 
 avoided, the latter prefer France and the French." 
 My host seems to regret that his freehold and other 
 large estates give to him no more power than that 
 of the humblest citizen, and says that rny coun- 
 tryman, Joseph Lancaster, will be forbidden to in- 
 struct the black people of the South, it being in- 
 dispensably necessary that they should remain in 
 ignorance. 
 
 9tk. Agreeably to promise, I this morning vi- 
 sited the Honourable Wm. Gray, a moderate demo- 
 crat, a hoary honest patriotic chronicler of Ame- 
 rica long before the revolution. He is, in other re- 
 spects, a kind-hearted, intelligent, grandee of this 
 republic, highly influential both in commerce and 
 politics, filling and having filled the most respon- 
 sible stations in the state of Massachusetts. He 
 seems the exact reverse of Mr. Lyman, in state 
 matters and opinions: he feels sure that British
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 33 
 
 farmers and labourers, of steady habits, must, and 
 do benefit by emigration, to so good and flourish- 
 ing a country as America, and says, that English- 
 men are esteemed far above all other Europeans. 
 1 said I thought that feeling was mutual between 
 the people of both countries, but that little good- 
 will existed in our government towards revolted 
 America : he thought so too. " I wish you to call 
 on the British consul, an amiable man, to whom I 
 will introduce you ; he lives near my country seat; 
 and, sir, any advice or money of mine, is much 
 at your service. I regret 1 cannot pay you better 
 attentions, for 1 am greatly pleased to see English 
 gentlemen come amongst us, to witness, as to- 
 day, the fairness, freeness, and openness of our 
 elections, which you see are conducted in an 
 orderly, respectable manner. Here is no c/m- 
 fusion ; a voter has only to choose his ticket, and 
 give it as and to whom he pleases, and that secretly, 
 and unknown, if he thinks proper." While I 
 was thus snugly closetted with my honourable 
 friend, a gentleman abruptly entered and joined 
 our conversation. He was at the head of a manu- 
 factory of broad cloths, equal, he thought, to any 
 imported. An establishment of this kind, till 
 lately, was almost a novelty; he wished me to 
 view it. J now said, for the present, farewell ; and 
 was introduced by a professional gentleman, to 
 the floor of the supreme court, then in judgment as- 
 sembled, in a large and goodly building. I heard 
 
 D
 
 34 MEMORABLE DAYS [April, 
 
 but little eloquence, and saw nothing interesting 
 about their proceedings ; all seemed plain, simple, 
 and undignified, like a vestry meeting in England. 
 The lawyers or counsellors were easy and collo- 
 quial, and the judges by no means awful, nor in 
 anywise distinguished, but by a higher bench and 
 a silk gown. The former gentlemen are both wig- 
 less and gownless. A wig is thought superfluous, 
 when nature has given hair to the head, whether 
 of a judge or a barrister. 
 
 \Qth. By Mr. Gray I was this cjay introduced 
 to the most respectable bookseller in Boston, in 
 order that he, Mr. Armstrong, and others, might 
 view my friend Heath's sample of English quarto 
 Bibles, of unequalled elegance. I sent them ; but 
 a note, politely written, soon accompanied their 
 return ; stating that on account of the extreme 
 scarcity of money, the gentlemen declined pur- 
 chasing, but wished to do me service. 
 
 Intending to quit Boston on Monday, Mr. Ly- 
 man called on me, and took a formal leave, but 
 wished me to revisit him, now or at a future time ; 
 saying that his brother, a large proprietor and 
 farmer in the district of Maine, wished to see and 
 communicate with me on agricultural matters. 
 I also called on, and bid a final farewell to my 
 friend, Mr. Gray, who very kindly put into my 
 hand an introductory letter to his bankers and 
 agents at Charleston, with a liberal purse of dol- 
 lars, which he thought 1 should need before I
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 35 
 
 could arrive at my destination. This purse was 
 unsolicited, and received without absolute neces- 
 sity on my part, and without giving him any. se- 
 curity for it. I took it principally for the sake 
 of the singular confidence and liberality shewn 
 in the circumstance, and for the same reason I 
 here record it. "Take, sir/' said he, "more 
 money." " O this is more than enough," replied 
 [ ? " What ! enough ? Take more, and repay it 
 at your own time and convenience. I shall be hap- 
 py to hear of your happiness and safe arrival ; my 
 son and his lady sailed last week in one of my 
 best ships. I wish you had come in time for it : 
 you should have sailed with him to the south, 
 whither he is gone on a tour of health." 
 
 Sunday, \.1th. To chapel, once. Thought less 
 meanly of American worship than on Sunday last, 
 the sermon being rather eloquent, and containing 
 something more likereligion. Sunday commences 
 here on the Saturday eve; or, at any rate, ends at 
 sunset on the following eve. Taught three of my 
 fellow boarders, (revenue captains,) good manners. 
 They were all standing spread out before the fire, 
 to the complete exclusion of all around. 1 reached 
 two or three chairs for them. They all took the 
 hint, and were immediately seated at a fit distance 
 from the fire, while all the rest 'of the company 
 seemed greatly amus*ed by the silent lecture which 
 John Bull had so smartly given them. 
 
 Left the good Yankee town of Boston, 
 
 D2
 
 36 MEMORABLE DAYS [April 
 
 this morning, full of blessings on it and America, 
 but scarcely hoping to find another Boston, where 
 I wished a longer stay, because people of all ranks 
 and colours are so generally disposed to please 
 and be pleased. Left behind me a letter of thanks 
 to Captain Martyn of Cape Ann, who so gene- 
 rously snatched me out of the vile and starving 
 Ruthy, and kept and conveyed me well and safely 
 so many miles, without charging or wishing to 
 charge a single cent. At nine, a. m. got under 
 weigh on board the packet schooner, Swiftsure, 
 for Charleston, S. C. about 1,000 miles passage. 
 Met seven comical fellow passengers, besides a 
 country-woman of mine, Miss Jane Compere, an 
 ancient maid, who states that all emigrants with 
 whom she is acquainted, are disappointed ; but 
 that they settle in an unfit neighbourhood. She 
 is going to her reverend brother, a missionary, 
 living at Bethel town. I learn from her that the 
 Rev. Mr. Keeling, late ofWoburn, Bucks, Old 
 England, and known to J. Ingle, the patriarch of 
 Somersham, is now with his wife and children set- 
 tled in a church near Boston, and likely to suc- 
 ceed. Many of the followers of Mr. Keeling, who 
 accompanied him thither, felt and feel greatly 
 disappointed. 
 
 The captain discovers a few stray vermin in the 
 cabin, and I, two whales in sport, spouting water 
 at each other. 
 
 l%th. Awoke this morning and found myself
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 37 
 
 out of sight of land, and 150 miles from Boston, 
 lat. 40 59'. At nine, a. m. caught a fine fat ha- 
 libut, a most valuable fish, weighing 180 pounds; 
 the flesh of which partakes of fish, flesh, and fowl, 
 and is fit for broiling, frying, boiling, or stewing. 
 
 14th. The price of passage, in this vessel, to 
 Charleston, is 15 dollars ; to Havre, in France, 
 100 dollars. Picton, near Halifax, Nova Scotia, 
 is a good place for cheapness of passage to Eng- 
 land ; 12. and found in cabin. At three, a. m- 
 spoke a schooner, the Eloisa, 17 days from New 
 Orleans, to Boston bound, requesting our latitude 
 and longitude, and what distance from the south 
 shoal of Nantncket. It is no unusual thing for 
 some of the people of this country, on going to 
 Charleston, to take their free negroes w ith them 
 and sell them for slaves, by way of turning a 
 penny, or as they say, of making a good spec, of it. 
 Two white gentlemen, I was told, determined on 
 a plan to benefit themselves, and cheat the planter, 
 or slave buyer ; one blackened his face and body 
 and became a negro ; the other was his owner and 
 salesman, and sold his friend to the planter for 
 800 dollars, but in less than three days he re- 
 turned, a white free-man again, to divide the spoil, 
 nor was the imposition ever discovered to prose- 
 cution. Our captain had green peas, on the 1st 
 March, in abundance at Charleston. From two 
 passengers, (shoemakers), I learn that first-rate 
 hands will turn out from five to six pairs of
 
 38 MEMORABLE DAYS [April, 
 
 ladies' shoes, per day, and earn from 10 to 12 dol- 
 lars per week. One of these gentlemen, a staunch 
 republican, Mr. Atman, of Lynn, near Boston, 
 and an intelligent man, says, in reference to the 
 federalists, that for every Julius Cresar, there is a 
 Brutus. 
 
 16th. Spoke a brig, the James Monroe, from 
 New Orleans. Recommended my ship-mate, Mr. 
 Atman, to read Mr. Fearon's Sketches, which he 
 promised to do, but learning they were unfavour- 
 able to America, he said he thought he should not 
 read them. My Yankee friends love nothing but 
 unmixed flattery. My fellow passengers, one a co- 
 lonel, and the rest of the most respectable order of 
 the middle class, all seem of uncleanly manners 
 and habits ; with unwashed hands, and grossly in- 
 delicate in language. To the honour however of 
 this section of the land, there seem few or no idle 
 hands ; from the richest down to the poorest, 
 meanest citizen, none are seen eating the bread of 
 idleness ; even my rich friends, Mr. Lyman and 
 Mr. Gray, are no exception to this remark. The 
 former gentleman is found at his office after dinner, 
 till sunset ; and the latter, by sunrise throughout 
 the year. 
 
 17 Ih. Lat. 36, long. 74, a beautiful morning, 
 after much lightning and thunder, at six, a. m. 
 when all sail was taken in, in expectation of a ter- 
 rible squall. Saw an immense number of dog-fish 
 round our stern.
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 39 
 
 Sunday, 18th. A very warm dense fog to-day, 
 at noon, and therefore unable to get an observa- 
 tion ; but judge ourselves to be off Cape Hatteras, 
 260 miles from Charleston ; and, on sounding, 
 found 20 fathoms ; saw four sail ; the wind very 
 variable. 
 
 Wth. Rose at eight this morning, becalmed in 
 the gulf stream, and therefore drifting back with 
 the current, three miles an hour. The air and 
 water warm and steamy, and the sky summerish 
 and gleamy, and ornamented with huge pillar-like 
 thunder-clouds, from which we saw one small and 
 one very large water-spout, about one mile distant, 
 and dipping into the sea. It was formed like a 
 tunnel, bottom or tube upwards. Nine of these 
 phenomena are sometimes seen at once in this 
 tempestuous latitude, 34 40', long. 76, from 
 Greenwich. A fine breeze immediately followed 
 the bursting of these two spouts. 
 
 At midnight came on a terrific tempest, filling 
 the horizon above, and the sea beneath, with blue 
 forked lightning, and stunning the ear with loud- 
 sounding, crackling, rattling, crashing thunder, 
 presenting a scene more sublimely horrific than 
 1 had ever seen ; the lightning might almost be 
 handled, being what our captain calls " double- 
 twisted ropy" The gulf seemed, literally, a lake 
 of boiling fire and brimstone. 
 
 20M. Warm, calm, bright day, and 13 sail in 
 sight. Yankee sailors, says our captain, are now
 
 40 MEMORABLE DAYS [April, 
 
 so badly paid (14 dollars per month), that they 
 leave the sea, for ploughing land, and therefore 
 half the crews of our vessels are composed of Bri- 
 tish seamen. I find that watches, costing from 
 three and a half dollars to 20 dollars each, are 
 selling at Massachusetts from six to 30 dollars 
 
 each; made in Geneva, but marked London. 
 
 . te , > 
 
 2\st. At two this morning we were providen- 
 tially prevented from running our ship ashore, on 
 those dangerous shoals off Cape Look-out, by a 
 singular dream of the captain's, who awoke much 
 alarmed with the dream, in which he saw both 
 sides of the ship falling out, a complete wreck. 
 He rushed on deck, took soundings in 15 fathoms, 
 and again in only nine fathoms, just on the edge 
 of these fearful shoals, where, in less than twenty 
 minutes, we must, perhaps, have gone to pieces, 
 and sunk like lead in the mighty waters. But in 
 all this deliverance, there were none who seemed 
 to see and acknowledge the hand of Omnipotence. 
 
 Now, 120 miles from the city; spoke a schooner, 
 26 days from North Carolina, and in distress for 
 provisions, yet only bound to Savannah, about 
 400 miles from her starting. 
 
 22wd. After safely passing Cape Fear, again 
 greeted with the blessed sound of Land, O; and 
 saw the beautiful isles round Charleston where 
 I arrived at six, on the evening of this day; so 
 finishing a passage of 112 days, the longest, per- 
 haps, ever known between London arid this city.
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 41 
 
 Presented my kind introductory letter from Mr.W. 
 Gray to Messrs. Prescot and Bishop, two eastern 
 gentlemen, who politely introduced me to Mr. Bird, 
 landlord of the Planters' hotel, where I became 
 immediately acquainted with the high-minded Ge- 
 neral Young Blood, then boarding at this house, 
 and on a visit to the city, to meet his excellency 
 the governor, arid also the president of the United 
 States, who, on the morrow, was expected to make 
 his entry here. The general and I became very 
 friendly, and held a long and interesting conversa- 
 tion, and that without a formal introduction, which 
 is generally held to be indispensable amongst al- 
 most all ranks in this country. In our politics, 
 foreign and domestic, we seemed one. At nine 
 this evening, I plunged into a warm bath to wash 
 off all marine impurities, paying for it half a 
 dollar. I was then introduced by Mr. Bishop, to 
 the grand hall, where his excellency is to dine in 
 public next week, with all the grandees of this 
 aristocratical state. During my walk to and fro, 
 and on my landing, I felt immediately impressed 
 with the respectable, happy, and healthy appear- 
 ance of the slaves, with which the city seems to 
 swarm, and of whom I have now six or seven 
 males, and as many females, in constant attend- 
 ance, and one or two at all meals, surrounding 
 the long table, waving over it plumes of peacock's 
 feathers, to fan away hungry flies from eatables 
 and eaters. It is commonly asserted, and main-
 
 42 MEMORABLE DAYS [April, 
 
 tained, that slaves are happier here and better off 
 than free blacks. There seems, indeed, in this 
 city, no want of happiness amongst them. 
 
 23rd. Accompanied by my courteous and 
 obliging friend, Mr. Bishop, to my bankers, Mess. 
 Lovent and Wulf, Germans, of high commercial 
 repute, and to Mitchell King, Esq., now Judge 
 King, a Scotch gentleman of high reputation, to 
 whom, with several others too numerous to name, 
 T brought letters of introduction. At three o'clock 
 I returned to my hotel to dinner, where I again met, 
 
 in the chair, General Young Blood, Watts, 
 
 Esq., the Secretary of State, the French consul, and 
 many other grandees of this state, civil and military. 
 Besides turtle-soup and turtle-steaks, the number 
 of our viands was to me countless, and at present 
 indescribable ; and to every plate stood two half- 
 pint decanters of rum, brandy, or Hollands, to 
 drink at dinner, instead of ale. After dinner 
 came claret, champaigne, and cider, all of the best 
 kind, for those gentlemen who gave an order for 
 it, and to those who did not, the bottle seemed to 
 pass with the name of its proprietor, when both 
 socially drank to each other. In the evening, 
 
 after supper or tea, 1 was taken by Prescott, 
 
 Esq., to the grand new steam-ship, the Savannah, 
 a beautiful and superb vessel, then about sailing, 
 for the first time, to Liverpool and St. Petersburgh. 
 24th. Bought a piece of fine India bandanas, 
 seven in number, for 34*. Fixed on William, a
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 43 
 
 fine young yellow slave, as my body guard, to at- 
 tend my person within or without, and to dress 
 or undress if necessary. He so offered himself, 
 agreeable to the custom of this establishment, and 
 is considered always at command and faithful to 
 his trust. The population of this warm city 
 seems above half black and yellow. Called on 
 the venerable Nathaniel Russell, Esq., residing 
 in a splendid mansion, surrounded by a wilder- 
 ness of flowers, and bowers of myrtles, oranges, 
 and lemons, smothered with fruit and flowers. 
 This gentleman is near 90 years old, very cour- 
 teous and friendly, and willing to give any assist- 
 ance in promoting the object of my mission, being 
 the original trustee to the estate of my late ma- 
 trimonial uncles, Rowland and Henry Rugely, 
 Esqrs. These gentlemen were merchants here and 
 in London, previous to the American revolution, 
 in which they bravely fought as colonels under 
 Lord Cornwallis. The former, Rowland, a poet 
 of some celebrity, died a natural death in this 
 city, and the latter (Henry) at Potton Beds. Old 
 England lost in them two generous fellows, of 
 whom I shall hereafter say more. 
 
 Sunday, %5th. Conducted by Mr. Bird to the 
 seat of Patrick Duncan, Esq., a Scotsman, who 
 emigrated 36 years since, and is now the head of 
 a bank in this city. He is a rich, knowing old gen- 
 tleman, living in a garden of the choicest flowers 
 and fruits, breaking down the trees with their
 
 44 MEMORABLE DAYS [April, 
 
 weight. Although, nine days ago, I was freezing 
 amidst an icy, snowy winter, yet here is summer 
 in all her gay luxuriance, and down every street 
 is the Pride of India (a tree so called) in full 
 flowery perfection, forming an ornamental colon- 
 nade on every side. Met and parted with Dr. 
 Osgood, a physician of Boston. He kindly left 
 me introductory letters to two of his friends here, 
 a physician and a counsellor, each in his profes- 
 sion, the most eminent man in the city. 
 
 %6tk. Met my countryman, G. Beale Brown, 
 Esq. of the respectable firm of Bainbridge and 
 Brown, London, and gave him my introductory 
 letter from England. Thought him a clever, smart, 
 and efficient young gentleman, willing to further 
 the interests of my mission. Walked several miles 
 on a dusty, sandy road, under a scorching sun, in 
 expectation of seeing and meeting his excellency, 
 the President of the United States, who, this morn- 
 ing, made his public entry into this city. But he 
 passed by me in the tumultuous crowd, quite un- 
 observed. So many civil and military characters, 
 more imposing in figure, quite eclipsed the supreme 
 magistrate. We therefore returned as we went. 
 By Mr. Bishop, introduced to two noble young 
 fellows, Mr. Richmond of Philadelphia, and Mr. 
 Dodge of Providence, who kindly pressed me to 
 visit them in the north. 
 
 27/*. Promenaded round the city with Mr. 
 Brown, who introduced me to F. Fleming, Esq.,
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 45 
 
 and to the respectable firm of Messrs. Broadfoot 
 and M'Neale. 
 
 28^/i. After rising this morning, from my hot 
 and feverish bed, I found, by the inflammatory 
 eruptions on my hands, legs, and feet, that I had 
 been stung by the mosquitoes, which, in New 
 Orleans, are said to kill more men than the pesti- 
 lence; as a remedy, I bathed the parts stung and 
 swollen in brandy, and, at noon, took a warm 
 bath. A leno net, fine as a lady's veil, surrounded 
 my bed in future, and protected me from these 
 midnight blood-thirsty assassins, which seldom 
 annoyed me more. 
 
 May 1st. A waggoner, on the day of the presi- 
 dent's entry to this city, was commanded, by the 
 military, to move out of the road, and give place 
 to the coming show. " Pray," said he, " by what 
 authority do you stop me? It is more than the 
 president dare do. Shew me your authority. If 
 you had civilly asked me, I would have driven 
 into the ditch to obleege you." During the few 
 days spent here, several robberies, burglaries, and 
 attempts at murder, have disgraced and alarmed 
 this city. In the street where I sleep, for two 
 nights successively, our slumbers have been dis- 
 turbed by the cries of murder! At the theatre, a 
 gentleman has been stabbed by a Spaniard. This 
 morning presented a poor fellow lying all night 
 until nine, a. m. in the street, in a hot, broiling sun, 
 110 by the thermometer. He was found nearly
 
 46 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 murdered, having his legs both broken, and other- 
 wise terribly bruised about his head and breast, 
 and robbed of all he had, 15 dollars. To the dis- 
 grace of the nightly watch and city centinels, and 
 to the open day humanity of the citizens, here was 
 he suffered to lie, saturated with pestilential dew, 
 and, in the day, left to roast and be devoured by 
 flies, until an old Prussian colonel offered a dol- 
 lar to have him removed as a nuisance, too dis- 
 gusting to delicate nerves and sensibilities. Mr. 
 Brown, a landlord in Church Street, then called 
 out to two black men, " Here, June and July, 
 come and assist, and tell August to help you." 
 These three men w r ere so named ; and but for them 
 and the colonel, the poor forsaken sufferer must 
 have taken three months, literally, to effect his 
 removal. 
 
 Sunday, 2nd. Went in grand procession to the 
 elegant Scotch church, where I met, and was 
 seated near his excellency the President, James 
 Monroe, Esq , an amiable, mild-looking gentle- 
 man, of about 60, dressed in a common hat, plain 
 blue coat with gilt buttons, yellow kerseymere 
 waistcoat, drab breeches and white silk stockings, 
 and a little powder in his hair, just a sober grey. 
 His eyes beam with an expansive kindness, gen- 
 tleness, and liberality, not often seen in persons 
 of his elevated station, and his physiognomy, 
 viewed as a whole, announces a noble, well-judg- 
 ing, and generous mind.
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 47 
 
 3rd. Paid my hotel bill, 28 dollars and a half 
 for 11 days. The business of the bar-keeper, an 
 influential character, seems to be, to make a bill. 
 One bottle of madeira, in the bill, more than 1 or- 
 dered or drank. It is charged 2 dollars or 9s. 
 sterling a bottle, and cider half a dollar, the finest 
 in the world, and first cousin to champaigne ; it 
 is made in the north. Strong cider is procured 
 thus : set out a large cask, during winter, until the 
 whole body seems frozen; then bore into its centre, 
 from which runs an unfreezeable quantity, highly 
 spirituous. It is then bottled and closely corked, 
 and in summer comes forth, the pure sparkling 
 soul of the barrel. Parted with Mr. Richmond 
 for the north, a sober, sensible, honourable man. 
 
 5th. Wrote to J. Ingle in Illinois, and to my 
 cousin, Major Rugely, of Camden, S. Carolina, ap- 
 prizing them of my intended visit. General Young 
 Blood, the lieutenant governor of this state, took 
 his leave of us this morning for his country seat. 
 Introduced this day by my friend, Colonel M'Kin- 
 
 non, to a young gentleman, Edwards, Esq. of 
 
 Savannah, and others, who, with the young colonel, 
 had all there met as gay proud birds of a feather ; 
 men, I mean, who, in duels, had killed their man 
 each ! ! 
 
 6th. Colonel M'Kinnon was this day refused 
 claret at dinner. The landlord was called to ac- 
 count for so refusing, and instructing the bar- 
 keeper. He appeared, and said, " You, colonel,
 
 48 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 have referred me to your father for payment of 
 your bill of 250 dollars, contracted here during 
 the last three weeks, but he says he cannot and 
 will not pay any more for you. And that I know 
 from your father's friend, Captain Bell of the ship 
 Homer, now in port." After this, the colonel 
 looked thoughtful, and requested I would accom- 
 pany him to the captain. I did so. After the 
 captain had politely spread out his brandy, the 
 colonel, with pistols in his hand, said, " If you 
 will not meet me I will shoot you instantly." The 
 captain, with an angry laugh, replied, " O fear 
 not! I am ready with either sword or pistol, and 
 to-morrow morning, at ten, expect me at the hotel." 
 He fulfilled his promise, but the colonel had cooled 
 and fled. After our return from the ship, the co- 
 lonel wanted to shoot the landlord, and then at- 
 tempted to shoot himself, but had no prime. He 
 then begged round for prime, but could get none. 
 I endeavoured to reason with him, but with as 
 much effect as with a woman possessed with seven 
 devils. " I have a right, sir," said he, " to do as 
 Brutus did. ' What Cato did, and Addison ap- 
 proved, cannot be wrong.' I am a blasted lily 
 and a blighted heath." This young gentleman, 
 naturally witty and highly gifted, has married and 
 abandoned three wives, and yet is only 22 years 
 of age. 
 
 7th. Visited the supreme court, over which 
 preside six judges on the bench, but, from my
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 49 
 
 not understanding the nature of the cases under 
 consideration, the speeches of the several young 
 advocates seemed jargon, and little short of non- 
 sense. In court I met Patrick Duncan, Esq., 
 who knew a young gentleman, who once bought 
 a negro wench, the only slave he ever purchased ; 
 but, at his death, his heirs divided 70 slaves 
 amongst them, all her offspring and posterity, 
 during a period of only 35 years. Increase and 
 multiply is here the grand first order of the day. 
 Two men were this day sentenced to die; one 
 for the murder of a white man, and the other 
 for stealing a negro. A man may, here, murder 
 a negro almost with impunity, or by paying a 
 paltry fine to the state ; but, if he steals one, he 
 must be hanged for it, and almost without benefit 
 of clergy. 
 
 I find, that James Gregory, Esq., a gentleman 
 to whom I brought an introductory letter, stands 
 at present much in the way of my mission. Vi- 
 sited Judge King, my constant friend and adviser. 
 He came hither from lean-landed Scotland, bring- 
 ing nothing with him but his capacities. He 
 began as a schoolmaster, but, during his leisure 
 hours, gained a knowledge of law, in which, though 
 not great as an orator, he has become eminent as 
 an advocate and judge, because he is wise, honest, 
 and good. He came hither in his own proper napme 
 of Michael Kinggo, which, at the request of his 
 American friends, he changed into Mitchel King, 
 
 E
 
 50 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 his right name being obnoxious to national preju- 
 dices. . Y 
 
 Sunday, 9tk. Accompanied Mrs. Atkins, a 
 countrywoman of mine, once of St. ives, a lady 
 of good fortune, and amiable mind and manners, 
 to the new Episcopal church, to which a female 
 friend of hers has subscribed 4,000 dollars. Met 
 a small genteel auditory, in a splendid edifice ; 
 but the parson seemed dull. He prayed not for 
 George IV., but for the President ; nor for lords 
 temporal and spiritual in parliament assembled, 
 but for the congress, &c. I walked nearly all 
 day through a dissolving heat, and thought myself 
 the better for it. So necessary is exercise to the 
 continuance of health. 
 
 Wth. Leaving Planter's hotel for a season, I 
 took my place in the Columbia mail, 15 dollars 
 for 70 miles, and slept at the mail-house. Met 
 several travellers who knew my friends in the in- 
 terior, and found them talkative and agreeable on 
 subjects interesting (p me, after I had told them 
 who I was, what I was, whither going, and for 
 what purpose, 
 
 V2th. At four this morning we left the city by 
 the mail, four in hand, and drove on to a team-boat, 
 worked by eight horses, by which we were ferried 
 over the Ashley river, large ancj broad as the 
 Thames. We soon entered what seemed to be an 
 interminable forest, and rode 28 miles to breakfast, 
 m company with his Excellency J. Geddiss, Esq.,
 
 1810.] IN AMERICA. 51 
 
 Governor of South Carolina, an Irish gentleman of 
 much style, but apparently of easy, kind, sociable 
 and polite manners. We met accidentally; and 
 he presided at table, frequently helping and in- 
 viting me to beefsteak, chicken, cakes, coffee and 
 tea, for which we paid three quarters of a dollar 
 We passed a large deep black-looking pond, on 
 the banks of which are sometimes seen as many 
 as ten huge alligators, ten feet along. A puppy 
 carried thither and made to cry, calls them in- 
 stantly up from the bottom of the pond, when 
 they seize and eat it, as they would the carriers, 
 if they remained. 1 saw no plantation on which 
 I should like to live ; but the best are not viewed 
 from the road. Many, however, I observed 
 cleared, cultivated, worn out, and abandoned, 
 with their houses burnt down, or otherwise in 
 ruins. Passed, during the day, General Young 
 Blood and other gentlemen-travellers, who all 
 invariably bowed politely to me and to my fellow- 
 travellers. On inquiring the cause of this bowing 
 to strangers, I was given to understand that this 
 state boasts of a supereminent degree of civiliza- 
 tion. We slept and supped at a farm-house, on 
 roast leg of pork hot, price for all, one dollar; 
 but we longed for some of the many squirrels and 
 other game which we passed all day. 
 
 I3tk. This day's journey of 80 miles lies 
 through a valley of sand, nearly on a level with 
 the sea, and without any hills, stones, or peb&les 
 
 E 2
 
 52 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 on its surface. Roused at two this morning from 
 my refreshing bed in the bosom of this vast wilder- 
 ness, which, during the night, seems awfully dark 
 and still. Intermitting sounds are, however, 
 heard, something like the noise of a distant water- 
 fall, and produced (a poet would say) by the 
 trees becoming vocal and talking all together. 
 
 Language is inadequate to describe a journey 
 through this interesting, romantic, fantastic forest. 
 At one time the eye beholds large fleets or groves 
 of naked masts, trees which have been girdled, 
 and by time stripped of all their bark : at another, 
 roads apparently conducting to the houses of great 
 men ; spots, too beautiful for description, into 
 which the traveller enters by infinite serpentine 
 windings. To find what? Miserable negro huts, 
 and negroes, (if by night) with blazing torches in 
 their hands. The roads and paths are so con- 
 stantly and suddenly winding, and withal so 
 beautiful, that common mortals might fear to 
 proceed further, expecting to meet some mighty 
 prince or celestial spirit in these sacred haunts; 
 or perhaps some gigantic monster, rushing out of 
 these dark shades to annihilate all. Imagination 
 is here highly and almost fearfully excited. It 
 is, therefore, difficult to rid one's self of the idea 
 that one is certainly moving into some castle or 
 palace, by favourite concealed paths, ornamented 
 with magnolias. An archbishop seems conse- 
 crating the spot ; but, as I approach nearer, I fincj
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 53 
 
 the most reverend father is only the black stump 
 of a burnt tree, variegated with ashes. Immense 
 snakes, alligators, and hydras, appear in burnt 
 serpentine arms of trees, waiting to fall on and 
 destroy the poor traveller. But it is impossible 
 to convey a just idea of the beauties and decep- 
 tions of these singular regions. 
 
 A little before sunset, this day, we crossed the 
 fine river Wateree, a little below its falls and 
 rocks. On the banks of this river, stands Co- 
 lumbia, the capital of South Carolina, and the 
 seat of a flourishing university. Here, too, my 
 friend, Governor Geddiss, sits enthroned as king 
 over his parliament or state government annually 
 assembled. I sup and sleep at the house and 
 sumptuous table of Mr. Randolph, where for the 
 present I say good night. 
 
 14th. At breakfast, I found five or six sorts of 
 bread, hot and cold, with boiled rice and hominy, 
 Indian corn husked and boiled. Visited the 
 university and its president's house; Dr. Max- 
 well is the head. There are here 125 students who 
 are very disorderly, frequently disturbing congre- 
 gations on the Sunday, because the Doctor is too 
 idle to preach, and thereby keep them together. 
 Saw several of these learned young gentlemen 
 stretched on a table, with their learned legs care- 
 lessly hanging out of their chamber windows, 
 which seemed nearly all broken. Want of dis- 
 cipline is here too palpable, but there is no lark
 
 54 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 of whiskey. In company with the ladies of Mr. 
 Randolph's family, I attended a lecture given at 
 the house of the minister, an able man, who very 
 impressively said, " The Christian must swear on 
 the altar of his God never to forgive sin ; never to 
 be its friend ; as did Hannibal against the Romans." 
 
 15th. I left sweet Columbia this morning, well 
 pleased with the compliment paid to me and my 
 distant country, by Captain Strode, now here on 
 a visit from Fayette-Ville, who entrusted to me, 
 though a perfect stranger to him and all here, an 
 unsealed letter full of cash for his lady, to whom 
 1 was requested to forward it by the first safe 
 conveyance. " Before my marriage," said the 
 captain, " 1 had a splendid carriage and a pair of 
 the finest horses in the world, given me by a 
 friend, but now gifts are few and unwanted." 
 He seems to love his old mother-country, and 
 says, " I think king, lords, and commons to be 
 the best system of government for Old England, 
 if the commons were but good and faithful." 
 
 Arrived at fair Cain den at six o'clock, p. ni. 
 First and again crossed the Wateree river, in the 
 stage, on a flat. Called on I. K. Douglas, Esq., 
 who was not at home. Took a hasty view of this 
 good and growiug town, sacred to revolutionary 
 blood and battles, and where my uncle Henry, 
 the loyal British colonel, lived, loved, fought, ran 
 away, and lived to fight another day. 
 
 Sunday, \Qth. Called a second time at the
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 55 
 
 mansion of Mr. Douglas ; not at home. T thought 
 myself slighted, but found, on meeting him at the 
 Presbyterian church, that I was mistaken. He 
 had called at my hotel, and waited at the church- 
 door for me, where he kindly engaged to driye, or 
 find guard, horses, and carriage, to conduct me, 
 to his and my late uncle's friend, General Cantey. 
 From two gentlemen present, I learned many 
 anecdotes of my uncle, Colonel Rugeley. He 
 was a favourite royalist, but often hesitated ; 
 yet, by the advice and reasoning of his friend, 
 Colonel Chesnut, (lately dead) it was mutually 
 agreed, that Colonel Rugeley, being a man of in- 
 fluence, and then the richest of the British, should 
 remain true to his party, and that Colonel Chesnut 
 should adhere to the side of the rebels, in order 
 that each might be useful to the country, and 
 serve the sufferers on both sides, which they did 
 in an eminent degree, during that long day of trial 
 and unnatural strife. Attended three times this 
 day, at Presbyterian and Methodist churches, 
 where I met small congregations, little talent, 
 and, as I thought, less devotion. 
 
 Very politely waited on and invited to ride, 
 this evening, with five young, dashing, generous 
 Carolinians, who all came on horseback, with a 
 horse in their hand for me, in order to shew me 
 fields of revolutionary battles, and the solitary 
 house which Lord CornwalHs made his head- 
 quarters. Muring the battle of Camden.
 
 56 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 I saw, with some surprise, churches and the 
 tombs of citizens, all exposed on the common, 
 uninclosed, and without a grave-yard ; as though 
 man had died accidentally and was buried in like 
 manner. Some graves were distinguished by 
 shrubs, laurels, and flowers, planted on them, and 
 had rails around them, to prevent swine and cattle 
 from offering indignities to the dead, who here seem 
 to slumber in unregretted forgetfulness. But it is 
 patriarchal " to bury my dead out of my sight." 
 
 Negro's food. All that some planters deem 
 necessary is one peck of corn-meal and a little 
 salt for an adult, and six quarts for a child, with- 
 out either milk or bacon. Such is the allowance 
 for a whole week ! What gluttony ! What extra- 
 vagance in a land of scarcity ! Famine surely is 
 at hand. 
 
 nth. With a handsome introductory epistle 
 from Mr. Douglas, I met General Cantey, Captain 
 Cantey, and ladies, at one of his mansions, seven 
 miles off in the wilderness, on a beautiful planta- 
 tion of several thousand acres of cotton and corn, 
 and full of well-treated negroes. I went thither 
 on horseback, attended by a horseman (a slave of 
 Mr. Douglas) riding behind me, and remaining 
 with me all night until 1 returned. Graciously 
 and heartily received and entertained by the hos- 
 pitable general, who was a prisoner to the British 
 during the revolution, and was very rudely treated. 
 He is one of the finest old fellows I have met with
 
 1819J IN AMERICA. 57 
 
 in the South. " I once," said he, " told Colonel 
 Rugeley that I thought we rebels should succeed." 
 " What! they succeed?" rejoined the colonel, 
 " Aye ! you may as well expect the sky will fall, 
 to catch larks." What a miserable prophecy, my 
 uncle ! How soon didst thou find thyself mistaken, 
 and fly, a refugee, to the West Indies, to return 
 no more, until all was peace and pure republi- 
 canism. 
 
 18tk. A splendid breakfast this morning, with 
 the general, of tea and coffee, flowing from the 
 most elegant urns of silver, and other vessels of 
 corresponding beauty and costliness. Returned 
 to Camden after viewing the plantation, on which 
 I saw a small village of negro-huts well peopled, 
 and, in the garden, a long and beautiful dark 
 bowery walk, formed by grape-vines, laden with 
 fruit. Visited Messieurs M'Caws' store, where 
 I saw British broad-cloths, second quality, costing 
 seven, and selling at ten dollars, or 45s. per yard. 
 " A mighty fine price !" At a late hour this even- 
 ing, came an invitation from Mr. Douglas, for- 
 bidding my departure on the ensuing morning, and 
 insisting on my company to dinner at his house, 
 with General Cantey and family, and a large and 
 splendid circle of friends. I, being nothing loth, 
 obediently complied. 
 
 19th. Dined, this day, at four, p. m, at the ele- 
 gant and hospitable table of Mr. Douglas, where I 
 met General and Captain Cantey, and ladies, and
 
 58 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 James S. Day, Esq. a Yankee, one of the most in- 
 telligent and superior men I have ever seen in this or 
 in any country. He married a daughter of the late 
 Colonel Chesnut, an old friend of my late uncle, and 
 received a fortune of 25,0002. with his lady. His 
 attentions to me were very marked and kindly dis- 
 tinguishing. I know not that I have ever met 
 with in any other man, so happy a stock of ideas, 
 and so appropriate and pleasant a flow of language, 
 with which to express and adorn them. Our 
 table was rich, and groaned with a variety of 
 viands, wines, and cordials, finely coloured. Many 
 fine fruits garnish the table and tempt the palate 
 in Carolina. The whole of our dinner party re- 
 tired to the neighbouring house of Mr. Martin, to 
 tea and coffee, where the number of our ladies was 
 quadrupled. The mode of spending the evening 
 is here highly interesting. No cards nor any species 
 of gaming are introduced; bat the ladies, as all? are 
 connoisseurs in music, takein tarn the grand piano, 
 and play and sing to it delightfully ; while conver- 
 sation goes round in tete a t&te groups, as though 
 the voice of music were not heard. At a rather 
 late hour the party breaks up ; none of the ladies 
 walked home, but their family chariots were thick 
 in waiting round the door, and into them were all 
 led with great homage and attention, yet without 
 ajiy formality. Thus they meet and part, pleasing 
 and well pleased with each other. 
 
 '2Qt/t Just as I was mounting ray carriage and
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 59 
 
 leaving Camden, Mr. Douglas called to say that 
 he had engaged me to ride over the rich and 
 
 matchless plantations of M'Cray, Esq. in 
 
 company with the proprietor, Mr. Day and Mr. 
 Weatherspoon, who all waited on me at my hotel 
 for that purpose. I found from 1,000 to 2,000 acres 
 planted with cotton and corn, and all in a state of 
 high cultivation on a gardening system. Cotton in 
 good times is worth 100 dollars, or 22/. 10s. an 
 acre, and costs 25 dollars, or 51. 1 2s. 6d. This 
 gentleman (M'Cray) derives a net profit of 1O,000/. 
 to 12,000/. sterling a year, and is the proprietor 
 of 5,000 acres of valuable land. General Cantey 
 possesses 30,000 acres. Their black cattle (alias 
 slaves) do not breed freely, but destroy their young 
 in embryo, because they are slaves, but still they are 
 considered to be the best cattle kept. Their treat- 
 ment appears to be humane ; their day's work or 
 task being done by one o'clock, if they labour well. 
 Their condition seems in some respects better than 
 that of the paupers of my native land. It is said 
 that the blacks are unconscious of any degradation, 
 but of the truth of this assertion I greatly doubt. 
 The planters generally profess to abhor the force 
 and cruelty of the task- master or overseer, but still 
 think both indispensable, and that their estates 
 could not be cultivated without them. 
 
 This evening, in consequence of a polite card 
 of invitation from the stewards or managers, Cap- 
 tain Cantey and J. M'Caw, M. D., I attended a
 
 60 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 gay and glittering hymeneal ball of the gentry of 
 this town and neighbourhood. Soon after the 
 marriage of any couple of distinction, it is cus- 
 tomary for the bachelors to give a ball to the re- 
 cently wedded pair. The ladies were almost all 
 interesting in person and manners, and superbly 
 dressed ; and it was said, sure of large and good 
 fortunes. 
 
 2lst. Paid my bill, 16 dollars, and quitted 
 Camden, where many flattering marks of respect 
 constantly attended me. I wrote a few notes, ex- 
 pressive of my gratitude, and of rny most sincere 
 desire to return all their kindness. 
 
 I now re-entered the wilderness, in which botE 
 myself and guides were several times lost; but, at 
 length, found my destination, the lone log-house 
 and plantation of my cousin, Major Rowland 
 Rugeley, eldest son of the late Colonel H. Ruge- 
 ley. He was not at home, but his wife, a young 
 thoughtful woman, with two babes, received me 
 kindly, and, in a patriarchal style, found food for 
 me and my guides, and provender for our beasts. 
 The house has only three rooms ; no chambers nor 
 any windows of glass. To my hostess I was quite 
 a stranger, and kept myself so a considerable time. 
 I merely said, that I supposed her quiet was 
 seldom disturbed by the approach of a strange 
 guest like me. " Strangers," said she, " sometimes 
 call for refreshment, because this house was once 
 open for their accommodation." " Where," said I, 

 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 61 
 
 "is Mr. Rugeley?" She artlessly replied, " He is 
 gone to the bank at Columbia, to get money if he 
 can ; for he is unable to sell the crop of cotton, and 
 is therefore much harassed for money." " Where 
 lives Mr. Henry Rugeley?" " He, sir, lives near; 
 both families have long been accustomed to drink 
 at the same spring." 1 felt delighted with this pri- 
 mitive simplicity ; it seemed to carry me back to 
 the beginning of time. I now gave her my intro- 
 ductory letter from her aunt, Mrs. S. Rugeley of 
 
 Potton, in Old England, relict of the late 
 
 Rugeley, Esq. high sheriff of Bedfordshire. She 
 read it ; the secret was now out ; I was no longer 
 a stranger; she seemed highly pleased, and said, 
 " How happy will Mr. Rugeley be to see you !" 
 
 22wd. Major Rugeley, during the last night, 
 returned ; and this morning he received me, a 
 welcome guest. He spread a table full of good 
 things for me in the wilderness, and well garnished 
 it with ingenuous kindness. I was immediately at 
 home and treated as one of the family. After break- 
 fast we rode to the house of his brother, Capt. H. 
 Rugeley, a sprightly young planter with a young 
 wife, two babes, and 14 negroes, all his own. Re- 
 turned and dined with both, very patriarchally. 
 Met several ladies and gentlemen of the wilderness. 
 
 Rugeley anecdotes. Our uncle, the late Row- 
 land Rugeley, Esq. the facetious poet, and inuch- 
 loved companion of the ducal family of Montagu, 
 married a beautiful but poor girl, and both soon
 
 62 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 after died of the yellow fever, within a month of 
 each other. 
 
 Before, in, and after the long revolutionary war, 
 the late Colonel Rugeley lived one of the most es- 
 teemed of men. Although on the British side, he 
 was thought to be an American at heart; and his 
 extensive influence, as a first settler at Camden, 
 was generously exerted in doing good, and pro- 
 curing mercy for and from both parties. His good 
 opinion and favourable representation, were life 
 and salvation to hundreds on both sides, often 
 under confiscation and sentence of death, the fruits 
 of a hasty court-martial. Many Americans when 
 taken prisoners by the British, were suffered to be 
 at large on their parole of honour, never to fight 
 more ; but having broken their parole and being 
 taken again in arms, they were hanged and shot 
 instantly in great numbers. But if there were any, 
 on either side, who happily knew Colonel Rugeley, 
 that knowledge, and his confirmation of it, was 
 complete redemption. He was a favourite, also, 
 because he never suffered his soldiers to plunder, 
 as others did. Being once in an extremity, he cut 
 and marked some pine blocks, so as to resemble 
 cannon on an intrenchment, and in consequence 
 surrendered his regiment on good terms to the re- 
 publicans. In the consideration even of a genera- 
 tion unknown to him, his memory is precious. After 
 the peace, and the establishment of independence, 
 he returned home, and was prosecuted 36 times in
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 63 
 
 the American courts by men, whom, it was alleged, 
 his revolutionary troops had injured ; but he was 
 victorious in his defence of all the suits, out of 
 which he came, says a survivor, with honour un- 
 spotted. He was the most friendly and indulgent 
 of men towards neighbours and negroes, for he 
 loved and served all. He would not have returned 
 to die in England, but for the infidelity of his lady, 
 during his flight to the mother country. Her 
 guilty paramour was the colonel's confidential 
 overseer, who, after the final departure of his 
 master, married the lady. This affair, it is here 
 thought, broke the noble heart of the colonel ; who 
 soon after his return, slept, and was gathered unto 
 his fathers. 
 
 Sunday, 23<7. I dined, this day, at my cousin 
 Captain Rugeley's, with Mr. Irvin and family. At 
 sunset, I visited the negro-huts, in which I found 
 small nests or beds, full of black babies. The 
 women were cooking corn-cakes in pans over the 
 fire. Oak-leaves were laid over the cakes, and 
 then hot embers or ashes on them : thus they 
 are speedily baked. All seemed happy, having 
 kind treatment, full bellies, and little thought ; be- 
 ing unconsciously degraded, to the level of the 
 beasts that perish. Saw no church, nor heard 
 any thing of a sabbath. Slept at the Captain's 
 in a good bed, curtainless, alongside the one in 
 which himself and lady and children slept; all 
 in One room, the only one in the house; with
 
 64 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 a fine negro-wench on the floor, at our feet, as 
 our body-guard, all night, in readiness, to hush the 
 children. Thus patriarchally did I and my cou- 
 sins dress and undress, talk and sleep. What 
 lovely simplicity! It is all pure, unsophisticat- 
 ed nature a shining contrast to all 1 saw at 
 Camden. 
 
 *24th. All the morning hunting deer, but killed 
 none. Visited Captain Rugeley's rich plantations. 
 One negro to 12 acres of land, and one horse to 
 every 24 acres, are thought to be sufficient. Met 
 a large and social party, including Mr. J. Rochell 
 
 and Mr. M , two intelligent and gentlemanly 
 
 men, brothers-in-law of the Rugeleys. All these, 
 and many others, are here living in great ease and 
 independence, but still they seem dissatisfied, and 
 on the wing for another and better country, the 
 Alibama territory, where they have made pur- 
 chases of fresh land and new homes. An awful 
 tempest darkened and illuminated the mountain- 
 ous forest this evening, during which I noticed 
 large luminous sparks of fire in the trees, which I 
 found to be fire-flies, or as they are here called 
 lightning-bugs. These curious insects have been 
 seen in clusters, hanging on two trees on each 
 side of a road, and at a distance resembling two 
 lamps. 
 
 Introduced at Mr. Rochell's to an ancient black 
 woman of about 80 or 85, a favourite negro of the 
 late Colonel Rugeley, and once his cook. They
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 65 
 
 told her 1 was one of his English children. The 
 good old creature shed tears, and would have 
 kissed me for joy. 
 
 2oth. Dined with Mr. Irwin, and a kind family 
 party. Two gentlemen, planters, came this morn- 
 ing to the major to make for them the conveyance 
 of a negro, whom one had just bought of the other, 
 and who was warranted to him sound wind and 
 limb, and to be defended against all other claims. 
 If a negro dies soon after sale, or at the end of six 
 months, the physician is called in, not to restore 
 life, but to open the body, and thereby ascertain 
 whether the slave died from unsoundness and old 
 diseases, or from recent sickness. If from the 
 former cause, the purchase money is returned. 
 Negroes occasionally ride their masters' horses all 
 night, to the distance of many miles, on trading 
 excursions, selling what they have stolen during 
 the week. About three weeks since, a gentleman 
 planter of this neighbourhood, had one of his 
 slaves, a strong fellow, whipped to death for steal- 
 ing. The party who presided over this horrid 
 execution, were all, as well as the owner, drunk, 
 a circumstance which is here offered as an excuse 
 for murder; or rather for whipping away 1,000 
 dollars, the prime cost of the victim, 
 
 26M. Much alarmed last night, while in my 
 bed in the state-room. Something jumped on my 
 dressing table, drank up the water, broke the glass, 
 and disappeared. It was a rascally rat. 1 was
 
 W> MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 awakened again by a singular rustling, rattling 
 noise underneath my bed, and suspected it must 
 be a huge rattle-snake. What a bed-fellow ! It 
 came not however into bed, but continued to 
 annoy me all night with intermitting noises. What, 
 gentle reader, dost thou think it proved to be ? A 
 good motherly old hen on her nest, full of hatching 
 eggs, which she found it necessary to turn over 
 frequently. She disturbed me no more, but re- 
 mained my well-known companion. 
 
 27 'th. Dined this day With Mr. J. RocheU, a 
 fine hearty Carolinian, who promises me a hand- 
 some cane of ironwood as a keepsake. Here, 
 where slavery prevails in perfection, which Caroli- 
 nians call their curse, it is calculated that the 
 labour on a plantation costs nothing ; and that by 
 breeding freely, and by the consequent increase of 
 saleable slaves, the planter is even a gainer, exclu- 
 sive of the costless labour. The market price of 
 negroes fluctuates with the price of produce. 
 
 Buffaloes, which herd together in vast numbers, 
 are thus decoyed and taken ; but not alive. A 
 man dresses himself in one of their skins, and walks 
 on all fours to the brink of a stupendous precipice, 
 so concealed as to be unobserved by the hurrying 
 animals. The decoy steps aside, and down rush 
 and tumble the herd, and break their necks or legs 
 in falling. The skins and tongues are then taken 
 and the carcases left. 
 
 ZQth. Took leave of Captain Rugeley, and ac-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. (J7 
 
 companied Major Rowland Rugeley to the seat 
 and goodly plantation of his wife's venerable father, 
 
 Mickle, Esq. to dine and spend the day and 
 
 night ; being now on my return to the city, by 
 way of Columbia. Here I found a rich patriarchal 
 table, and at it, Major J. Jo. Mickle and J. Elliston 
 Pea, two only sons and favorites, young gentlemen 
 of fine fortunes. After dinner we went a hunting 
 but caught nothing, except one of the most veno- 
 mous serpents, called a Mocoson, and the rattle 
 of a rattle-snake. Examined a vegetable, said to 
 be efficacious as a remedy for the bite of these 
 deadly serpents, and received a root of it. It is 
 cultivated in gardens, but taken originally from 
 the forest. It resembles a fleur-de-lis, and the flag 
 which grows in English marshes, and is called 
 the Rattle- snake's Master-piece. When the leg or 
 hand of a man is bitten, the limb is buried in the 
 earth, until a milky decoction and fomentation can 
 be made from this herb, which, if promptly applied 
 externally and internally, is an unfailing specific. 
 The burying the parts affected,, prevents,, it is said, 
 the poison from circulating through the system to 
 the heart. I witnessed, at a late hour this even- 
 ing, a tempest remarkably awful, during which the 
 good old man prayed to the God of thunder, while 
 all the family surrounded its domestic altar. This 
 gentleman (Mr. Mickle, sen.) appears to me to 
 be a rare example of pure and undefiled religion ; 
 
 F 2
 
 68 MEMORABLE DAYS 
 
 kind and gentle in manners, and much resembling 
 good old Ingle, the Patriarch of Somersham. 
 
 Seeing such a swarm, or rather herd, of young 
 negroes, creeping and dancing about the door and 
 yard of his mansion, all appearing healthy, happy, 
 and frolicsome, and withal fat and decently clothed, 
 both young and old, I felt induced to praise the 
 economy under which they lived. " Aye," said 
 he, " I have many black people, but I never 
 bought nor sold any in my life. All that you see 
 came to me with my estate by virtue of my father's 
 will. They are all, old and young, true and faith- 
 ful to my interests ; they need no task-master, no 
 overseer; they will do all, and more than I expect 
 them to do; and I can trust them with untold 
 gold. All the adults are well instructed, and all 
 are members of Christian churches in the neigh- 
 bourhood ; and their conduct is becoming their 
 professions. I respect them as my children, and 
 they look on me as their friend and father. Were 
 they to be taken from me, it would be the most un- 
 happy event of their lives." This conversation 
 induced me to view more attentively the faces of 
 the adult slaves ; and I was astonished at the free, 
 easy, sober, intelligent, and thoughtful impression, 
 which such an economy as Mr. Mickle's had in- 
 delibly made on their countenances. Blush, ye 
 black whites of America, when ye behold these 
 white blacks !
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 69 
 
 29tk. At nine o'clock, after receiving the bless- 
 ing of this family and its venerable head, I moved 
 towards Columbia, greatly regretting that I could 
 stay no longer. I shall, perhaps, see him no more ; 
 but wheresoever this humble page shall bear his 
 honoured name, liberty, justice, and truth, shall 
 bless him, and make him a blessing. 
 
 At noon, we were overtaken in the forest by a 
 tremendous storm of wind, hail, rain, thunder and 
 lightning; huge trees fell around us ; houses were 
 unroofed ; and we were exposed to all its fury in 
 our chaise under a tree. The air seemed full of 
 thunder-bolts, insomuch that I fancied myself shot 
 through and through. Hail-stones, large as pigeons' 
 eggs, smote us and our horse, but were not per- 
 mitted to do us harm. 
 
 About 20 miles west of Columbia, we saw a 
 party of jurymen and other citizens, digging up 
 the body of a slave, who had been wantonly whip- 
 ped to death, and buried privately about a week 
 since, and that too by the hands of his own master. 
 As this is the second man thus murdered, the first 
 being left unburied for dogs to eat, I hereby re- 
 solve to give publicity to all the particulars of the 
 last case when I reach the city. The gentleman 
 who disclosed to the Coroner the secret of this 
 outrageous murder, came to us, stated the case 
 clearly, and invited us to go with him and behold 
 what was once man, but then a mis-shapen mass
 
 70 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 of putrescence. At sunset we reached Columbia, 
 and bid farewell to the kind and generous Major 
 Rugeley. I promised to revisit him, but could 
 not; a circumstance which I much regretted, be- 
 cause he and his sire had collected a museum, 
 containing many natural curiosities of the state, in 
 readiness for my return to them and England. 
 
 Sunday, 30th. Off by six o'clock. Saw a 
 large field of wheat ready for the harvest, and 
 white plums, dead ripe, in great abundance. Four 
 young negroes were offered for sale at 1,000 dollars 
 the lump, but found no customers, although they 
 would some time since have sold for double and 
 triple that amount. Saw a large venomous Mo- 
 coson. Slept this night 68 miles from Columbia; 
 a dreadful tempest, all night, almost equal to that 
 of yesterday. 1 found my bed alive with bugs, 
 fleas, and other vermin ; rose at two, a. m., to 
 shake myself, and enjoy a sort of respite from 
 these creeping, tormenting bedfellows. On open- 
 ing my window, I was annoyed by frogs innume- 
 rable, of two species ; some loudly whistling or 
 chattering, like English sparrows at pairing-time ; 
 others, bitterly lamenting, like thousands of 
 chickens deserted by their mother hens ; others, 
 bellowing like cows in sorrow for weaning calves. 
 This confusion from within and from without, from 
 above and from below, spoiled my night's rest, and 
 seemed to carry me back a few scores of centuries,
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 71 
 
 into Egyptian plagues. I was not a little pleased 
 and surprised to find that none of my restless bed- 
 fellows accompanied me. 
 
 3 1st. I started at three this morning. Noticing 
 during the preceding day, a large number of young 
 naked negroes, male and female, all very healthy 
 I praised their appearance. A gentleman, standing 
 ,by, seemed to enjoy and take that praise to him- 
 self. " They are mine, sir," said he, meaning 
 that he had bred them. " I treat them well. When 
 hungry, I feed them ; when sick, I send for a 
 doctor for them. My care over them is money 
 well spent. As to clothing, you see they want 
 none." We changed horses and stopped half an 
 hour at Mrs. Chandler's mail-house. At eight 
 o'clock, this evening, 1 once more found myself at 
 the Planter's hotel, to sleep in a bed without a 
 mosquito net, and to rise, growling at my old 
 negro chamberlain and landlady. Saw, during 
 the day, moss hanging in large ropy lengths from 
 the forest trees down to the earth ; a certain in- 
 dication of rich land, but of a sickly and pestilen- 
 tial situation. 
 
 June 1st. Closetted with Judge King. This 
 good and honest man deems a monarchical syste 
 of government, having a limited monarchy, the 
 best for all countries. The poor are kept in better 
 order by it. He believes also that the republican 
 system is not yet fairly tried in America; the 
 people being scattered over a wide surface, and
 
 72 MEMORABLE DAYS [Julie 
 
 therefore unable to concentrate or organise them- 
 selves against the system yet. He thinks also 
 that the national debt of England is a national 
 good ! " A good," rejoined I, " from which may 
 the Lord deliver both us and you!" 
 
 2nd. Waited on Doctor Benjamin Htiger, with 
 my introductory letter from Dr. Osgood. These 
 gentlemen were once fellow-students at the uni- 
 versity of Cambridge. I thought the doctor a 
 clever and interesting man. 
 
 3rd. Rose, this morning, stung and lamed by 
 mosquitoes. As a remedy I bathed the parts af- 
 fected in brandy, and then lay half an hour in a 
 warm bath, at 95 by the thermometer. Two of 
 my fellow-boarders, one a rich German Jew, a 
 jeweller, and the other a German quack-doctor, 
 came to me and requested that I would " make a 
 duel" between them. They had quarrelled about 
 a horse running in the Jew's curricle. " I want, 
 and wish, and will," said the doctor, " throw a 
 bullet into the Jew's shoulder." 1 declined com- 
 mencing manufacturer of duels. Robertson, 
 Esq., from Scotland, a near relative of the cele- 
 brated Dr. Robertson, the historian, came to 
 invite me to a dinner at Mrs. Monroe's to-morrow. 
 The party to be composed of Scotch and English 
 merchants only, and the dinner given by one of 
 the party in honour of King George. 
 
 4$. The birth-day of George III. Agreeable 
 to engagement, we celebrated this anniversary at
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 73 
 
 a sumptuous table, surrounded principally by 
 clashing Scotchmen, at which, in a shower of cham- 
 paigne, nearly all present were loyally drunk to 
 the honour of Great George. As this feast was 
 too highly seasoned with loyalty, no Americans 
 were admitted. 
 
 th. My resolution, made on the 29th, was 
 this morning carried into effect in the following 
 letter to the editor of the Courier, copies of which 
 I saw printed in other papers, nearly 2,000 miles 
 from this city. 
 
 From the Charleston Courier of June 5. 
 
 " The well taught philosophic mind, 
 
 To all compassion gives, 
 Casts round the world an equal eye, 
 And feels for all that lives !" 
 
 Mrs. Barbauld. 
 
 " Sir, On my way to this city, from a short 
 tour through the interior of this state, a few days 
 ago, 20 miles west of Columbia, I was suddenly 
 attracted to a spot of earth, over which a respecta- 
 ble company of citizens were deeply intent on wit- 
 nessing the exhumation of the body of an animal, 
 costing 1,200 dollars; but which its humane 
 owner, (one Kelly) and three other persons like- 
 minded, had seized and tied to a tree at midnight, 
 and each in turn wantonly whipped until sun-rise; 
 when, from excessive lashing, its bowels gushed 
 out, and it expired, and was instantly buried in a
 
 ^74 MEMORABLE DAYS [JuilC, 
 
 private corner on Sunday, the 23rd ult. But, on 
 inquiry, the said animal proved to be of the negro, 
 and by some was thought to be of the human 
 species ; and stood " guilty of having a skin not 
 coloured like our own." An offence for which 
 these arbiters of life and death, doomed it to die! 
 To their honour, it should be told, that, when 
 fainting, they threw cold water on its face, and 
 poured whiskey down its throat, in order to pro- 
 long- the sport. It, however, for several minutes 
 before it was untied, became speechless and mo- 
 tionless, as the tree to which it was bound. It 
 could feel and writhe and smart under the merci- 
 less lash no longer. 
 
 " Good God ! exclaimed I, where am I ? on the 
 earth which thou hast created, and didst once pro- 
 nounce blessed; or in the Pandemonium of the 
 heathen ? Heaven, I knew it could not be, for a 
 cruel task-master, his hands imbrued in human 
 blood, had just crossed my path ! Is it then, 1 
 continued, free America? an asylum for the dis- 
 tressed and oppressed of all other lands; the land 
 of my adored Washington ; the adopted country 
 of my dearest friends ; the only country on this 
 huge cursed earth, where liberty finds an ark, or 
 rest for the sole of her pained foot ; and the coun- 
 try to which I came with every fond prejudice and 
 predilection ! What! free, and yet offer up human 
 sacrifice! Monstrous anomaly! Go; fly these 
 hasty lines through the world ! Challenge offended
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 75 
 
 humanity to produce a spectacle so genuinely 
 hellish, or so purely demoniacal ! Did, sir, ever a 
 sabbath-sun dawn on a catastrophe so abhorrent 
 to your feelings, or those of 
 
 " Sir, your most obedient servant, 
 
 " W. FAUX. 
 
 " Planter's Hotel, Charleston, 
 June 2, 1319." 
 
 A great noise was heard as soon as the Courier 
 appeared ; some approving, others disapproving, 
 as interest or humanity prompted. James Gre- 
 gory, Esq. first called this morning, regretting 
 that I had thus written. He then introduced me 
 to a noble Marquis, now the French consul here, 
 with whom I dined, and who very condescendingly 
 offered to introduce me to his friend the British 
 consul. " I love England," said he, " in either 
 peace or war; in peace she is more friendly than 
 America ; and in war, she is a brave and noble 
 enemy. There is much honour in beating her, 
 and consequently but little disgrace in being 
 beaten by her." Soon after dinner came a gentle- 
 man, a candidate for legislatorial honours, Mr. 
 Condy, aid-de-camp to his Excellency the Go- 
 vernor, bearing a message and compliments to me 
 from the Governor, begging to know when I could 
 wait on the Attorney-General with Mr. Condy, to 
 make an affidavit of facts, touching the case stated 
 in my letter of to-day. T replied, I was engaged
 
 76 MEMORABLE DAYS [Julie, 
 
 for the present, but would accompany him to the 
 mansion of the Attorney-General next morning. 
 He then politely took his leave, promising to re- 
 visit me in the morning. 
 
 Sunday, 6th. At ten o'clock this morning I 
 went in due form with the governor's aid-de-camp 
 to Colonel Haines, the young Attorney-General, 
 who, when I entered, after a polite reception, ad- 
 dressed me as follows : " Now, sir, will you 
 please to open to me your sources of informa- 
 tion, touching this alleged murder? But, sir, 
 give me leave to say, that I think that you have 
 acted imprudently in publishing it so hastily, 
 inasmuch as it interferes with the province of a 
 jury." I replied, " My motives are good, and 
 they must shelter me. 1 fear not the conse- 
 quences. Too little publicity, I think, is given 
 to such cases : what 1 have done is calculated to 
 prevent a recurrence of such enormities." " But, 
 sir, you have stained the character of South Caro- 
 lina, and what you have thus written will be gree- 
 dily copied and extensively read to our injury, in 
 the northern and eastern states, and all over Eu- 
 rope. But, sir, let me tell you, further, that such 
 offences rarely occur in this state, which is always 
 prompt to punish the offenders. Will you or can 
 you give personal evidence ?" I answered, " 1 can- 
 not. 1 can do no more than I have done. My 
 publication and my conversation with you, sir, are 
 sufficient. From what I have said to you now,
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 77 
 
 the matter is tangible enough." "Well, sir," re- 
 joined he, "if that is all that you will do and 
 say, we must leave it, and 1 will write immediately 
 to the district attorney, and get Kelly indicted." 
 This conversation or examination occupied about 
 an hour, and was politely conducted. There is 
 no evidence, that the learned gentleman redeemed 
 his promise here given. A well written pamphlet 
 by my friend, J. Wright, reproaches Mr. Attorney- 
 General with direct breach of promise in this affair. 
 
 Dined and spent the day with Mitchel King, 
 Esq., at whose table 1 met the reverend minister 
 of the Scotch church, and heard him preach in 
 the evening. 
 
 The most eminent advocates in the law here, 
 rarely make above 2,000/. sterling, and the salaries 
 of the judges are under 1,000/. per annum. 
 
 I thought the reverend gentleman above named, 
 neither eloquent nor very interesting. Our con- 
 versation turned from lawyers to divines. We all 
 united in praising and admiring the Rev. Robert 
 Hall, of Leicester, who through the medium of the 
 press seems intimately known and highly valued, 
 here. Specimens of his oratory, from some of his 
 printed sermons, are given for examples to young 
 students in the ministry, and may be seen in a 
 work called, The American Pulpit Orator. 
 
 7th. Met my venerable friend Nathaniel Rus- 
 sell, Esq. and his son-in-law, Mr. Middleton, living 
 in a nest of roses, and both regretting the cause of
 
 78 MEMORABLE DAYS [Julie, 
 
 my letter respecting the negroes, because it would 
 make a deep impression to their prejudice in the 
 northern states. I saw and ate ripe figs, pears, ap- 
 ples, and plums in abundance, the rich productions 
 of this generous climate, which now fill -the mar- 
 kets, as though it were Autumn instead, of June. 
 Terribly stung by mosquitoes, fleas, and bugs. 
 Feeling inflammatory symptoms, something like 
 bilious fever, I took two grains of calomel, and a 
 very warm relaxing bath, and found relief. I drank 
 also less toddy and punch, which, in this country, 
 are certainly bilious. 
 
 I noticed to-day the galley-slaves all singing 
 songs in chorus, regulated by the motion of their 
 oars; the music was barbarously harmonious. 
 Some were plaintive love-songs. The verse was 
 their own, and abounding either in praise or satire, 
 intended for kind or unkind masters. 
 
 8tk. This morning, at the command of the Go- 
 vernor, and under the direction of the Attorney- 
 General, appeared in the Courier some vague 
 paragraphs on the subject of my examination, 
 before the latter gentleman on Sunday. It was 
 a vain endeavour to obliterate the deep impres- 
 sion made, and still making by my negro letter. 
 Soon after I began my morning walk, I was met 
 and rather rudely catechised by a Mr. Bee, who 
 much importuned me to accompany him to the 
 Times Office, and see the above reply, which ap- 
 peared in both papers. This tart republican de-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 79 
 
 fender of slavery, seemed disposed to quarrel with 
 me, but I had seen the article and declined his 
 invitation. " Go," said he, " and do justice to 
 injured Carolina." To do that would he to make 
 negroes and planters, for a few years, exchange 
 places and stations. 
 
 I dined, and spent the day and night on Sulli- 
 van's healthy island, four miles in the sea, east of 
 the city. On landing I found the elegant chariot 
 of Mr. Gregory, with two negroes in waiting on 
 the beach to take me up, and when I returned, I 
 was attended in like manner. At this gentleman's 
 summer seat, washed by the ocean, I met with an 
 agreeable dinner in the English style. But as I, 
 in the execution of the objects of my mission, had 
 called on Mr. G. to give an account of his long 
 stewardship, in the affairs of the Rugeley property, 
 and wanted money from him, I was not a very 
 welcome guest, nor he to me the most agreeable 
 host. His lady seemed a superior woman. 
 
 9th. On my return to the city, this morning, I 
 found a silly and ill-natured epistle in the Times 
 paper on the subject of my negro letter. It is 
 certainly honourable to this state that so much 
 excitement is seen, on touching its sore and 
 vulnerable part. Judge King regrets that I should 
 have so written, and says 1 must not answer my 
 opponents in the way I wish. It will be thought 
 time-serving, and be read to my prejudice on both
 
 80 MEMORABLE DAYS [June, 
 
 sides of the water. -"And moreover," says he, 
 " the Carolinians are chivalrous, and will pursue 
 you with the most determined animosity, if you 
 continue to provoke and wound them on this ten- 
 der point." Such being the state of public feeling, 
 in this free country, I was cautioned against being 
 out late in the evening. " Take care of yourself," 
 said my friends, " for dirking is the fashion.'' I 
 therefore declined further controversy; merely 
 saying, that though the paupers of England were 
 by the planters thought to be worse off than their 
 negroes, yet in England, bad as things are, not even 
 a lord may kill a man without being hanged for 
 it; a specific which I could recommend to all 
 negro-killers in America. 
 
 Wth. I visited the high court of justice, where 
 but little talent seems necessary, and where the 
 judge upon the bench and the counsel and crier 
 below, all seem upon an easy, familiar footing 
 of equality; consulting together, tete-a-tete, about 
 the time of opening court next day. His lordship 
 then left the bench, and stepping into his sulky, 
 with a negro-boy behind him, drove off. No cere- 
 mony, no trumpets told the multitude that he was 
 a judge, and that it was judgment day. 
 
 \\th. Thomas Ferreand, Esq., a Frenchman, 
 and an eminent merchant of this city, shot himself 
 on the eve of this day ; pecuniary embarrassment 
 was the cause. He had endorsed bills to a large
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA, 
 
 amount, for the accommodation of a friend in the 
 city, who had just failed and deceived him. Fer- 
 reand sent a challenge in consequence, but was 
 advised to- wait three days for an answer. Before 
 the end of April he shot himself in the following 
 manner. Accompanied by his servant, a male 
 negro, he went down to the battery hanging over 
 the sea, at ten o'clock at night, taking a pair of 
 loaded pistols with him. On his arrival, he took 
 off his coat, and gave the negro two letters just 
 written, one for his chief clerk, and the other for 
 his lady. The negro, now suspecting evil, began 
 to give an alarm ; when Ferreand, to hush him, 
 pointed one pistol at him, and discharging the 
 other into his own mouth, fell instantly dead over 
 the battery into the sea. 
 
 12th. I spent this day in the Court of Common 
 Fleas, witnessing the eloquence of the American 
 bar. The cause a negro wench, to whom two ci- 
 tizens laid claim. Twelve witnesses on both sides 
 swore to her identity. This trial, being the sixth 
 on the same case, lasted four whole days. Colonel 
 Haines, the young Attorney-General, displayed 
 a pleasant species of eloquence, quite conversa- 
 tional. Mr. Barrister Hunt was low and stormy. 
 The jury, unable to come to an unanimous deci- 
 sion, were locked up till midnight, when they could 
 dissolve themselves, but they remained until ele- 
 ven on Sunday morning. Food was furnished to 
 them by stealth. The state immediately altered
 
 82 MEMORABLE DAYS (June, 
 
 the law to compel juries to sit until they can de- 
 cide, or be liberated by consent of parties. On 
 the Monday, the jury again met, and were locked 
 up again for four days, and liberated by consent 
 of parties without giving a verdict. The case 
 therefore remains to be tried a seventh time. 
 
 Sunday, 13th. Accompanied Nathaniel Russell, 
 Esq. (whose son-in-law was a bishop) to an excel- 
 lent church, this morning, but saw, as I thought, 
 little piety or devotion. 
 
 14M. Again at court, to witness the form of 
 passing sentence on a criminal, the turnkey of 
 the prison, who was convicted of aiding the escape 
 of a murderer. He seemed a genteel or smart 
 young fellow, and with little emotion heard himself 
 doomed to be branded with the letter M on the 
 thick of his thumb, and imprisoned one year. The 
 judge, in a black silk gown, a very judicious, kind- 
 hearted man, shewed how just and reasonable was 
 the sentence pronounced. 
 
 I left the Planter's hotel, (Charleston,) where 
 funerals begin to be frequent, owing to pestilential 
 air, and took up my abode on Sullivan's cool, salu- 
 brious isle, to which I go with an agreeable young 
 Yankee, Mr. Coffin, bound to New Orleans and 
 Natches. 
 
 \6th. I find myself delightfully situated on this 
 island of White Land, where not a blade of grass 
 is seen; only hedges of bagonet plants and myrtles. 
 It is a naked island, of about eight miles in cir-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 83 
 
 cumference, variegated with summer mansions, 
 refuges from pestilence. The sea is tumultuously 
 roaring about one's ears all night, and kissing one's 
 feet all day. The houses are of wood 1 , and built on 
 wooden posts or pillars, so that the sea may flow 
 (at high-tide in winter) underneath. 
 
 \lth. In the city, to which I can go by steain 
 four times a day, I saw large flocks of vultures, 
 called turkey buzzards, because they are of the size 
 and form of a turkey. At a "neighbouring city, 
 Savannah, there is a law to enforce the fine of five 
 dollars for every bird of this species, wantonly 
 killed. They fly about like carrion-crows in Eng- 
 land, but so tame that you may walk amongst 
 and kill them easily. This, however, is not per- 
 mitted, as they devour all filth and putrescence, 
 and are considered as friends to the community 
 at large. 
 
 The judges, counsellors, senators, and repre- 
 sentatives, down to the constables, in this state, 
 are, it is said, the slaves of popularity. Laws are 
 therefore enacted and decisions made, unfriendly to 
 the public good. In the courts, the influence of 
 the bench over the bar is scarcely seen or felt ; or, 
 if at all used, it is done in the most gentle and 
 delicate manner, both seemingly mutually obliged 
 and obliging. The same conduct also exists in the 
 bar, towards witnesses, who audaciously mount 
 the judge's bench to give evidence. This love of 
 popularity is deemed by some an enemy to the 
 
 G 2
 
 84 MEMORABLE DAYS [June, 
 
 general weal. My landlady, Mrs. Calder, a Cale- 
 donian, grumbles greatly, because her billiard 
 table pays a tax of 100 dollars annually. How 
 hard ! 
 
 The Scotch people, of whom there are many 
 in this city and state, are the most successful 
 merchants; yet they abuse America violently, 
 and never become citizens. In time of war, the,y 
 are therefore very properly deemed and treated as 
 aliens and prisoner's, and ordered out of the sea- 
 ports into the interior, where they must quietly 
 continue until peace is made. 
 
 My landlord, Mr. Calder, during his last visit 
 to Scotland, was imprisoned on a charge of endea- 
 vouring to force his negro back to America. The 
 poor negro's chains fell off, when he reached old 
 Scotland, where he now lives, a free man. 
 
 At sunset, a few evenings since, while among 
 plantations, suddenly burst upon my ear an earth- 
 rending shout. It proceeded from negroes shouting 
 three times three, on finishing their task. 
 
 20th. The ladies of Carolina, it is said, prefer 
 a fair effeminate kind of man to one of a robust 
 habit, and swarthy dark complexion. This pre- 
 ference of delicate complexions originates in their 
 antipathy to any colour approaching to that of 
 the negro or mulatto, or yellow man, whom it is 
 sometimes difficult to distinguish from a white or 
 brown person. * 
 
 Squatters are natives who squat or settle on
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 85 
 
 vacant, unoccupied lands in the interior of the 
 country, and claim a title thereto by long undis- 
 turbed possession, in which the government pro- 
 tects them. The heirs of the late R. and H. 
 Rugeley have lost 80,000 acres, now in the hands 
 of Squatters. On the verge of barbarism, near the 
 Indian territory, when a respectable settler comes 
 with authority to occupy the lands, these squat- 
 ters are known to dress and disguise themselves 
 as Indians, and present themselves, with the rifle 
 and tomahawk, to the servants of the settlers, 
 whom they threaten with destruction. This is 
 intended to scare away all new comers, and has, 
 in some instances, had the desired effect. To 
 remedy this, it was proclaimed that the first Indian 
 seen, mock or real, should be shot without cere- 
 mony. Hence no more sham Indians were seen. 
 
 2lst. I sailed over to the city with his Excel- 
 lency Governor Geddiss, who seems friendly, and 
 generally known, shaking hands with nearly all in 
 the boat. It is a pleasing feature of this people 
 that all are outwardly social, bordering on some- 
 thing like equality. This feature, though delu- 
 sive, strikes, and is highly interesting to strangers 
 from old countries, and is beneficial to America, 
 to which it particularly attaches them ; and, per- 
 haps, both natives and adopted citizens are thereby 
 fraternised. 
 
 In the Washington City Gazette, I saw the good 
 speeches of Mr. , while chairman of the
 
 86 MEMORABLE DAYS 
 
 forum. My prophecies respecting this distinguish- 
 ed friend and excellent man are, I see, fast ful- 
 filling. With fair play, such men as he and Mr. 
 Pittiss, late of the isle of Wight, must succeed any 
 where, and therefore furnish no fair criterion of 
 success in emigration generally. 
 
 22wdf. My countryman, Mr. Beaumont of 
 Huntingdonshire, called, and introducing himself 
 to breakfast with me this morning, continued two 
 hours in conversation. He states that he came an 
 unrecommended stranger to this town, only two 
 years since. He advertised his wishes, and had 
 immediate offers of first-rale situations on planta- 
 tions. He engaged at 500 dollars the first year; 
 half the profits of the dairy, all the poultry : and 
 advances every year, either by an increased salary, 
 or by a per centage on the produce. He saves 
 money, and doubts not of being able to realize a 
 competency as an overseer ; but he thinks clerk- 
 ships in stores much more desirable and beneficial. 
 Any young man who is steady, must, he is sure, 
 do well there. Mr, Beaumont has introduced the 
 English system of agriculture, so far as practica- 
 ble, with success. The value of one acre of rice 
 is JOO dollars, or 22Z. 105. sterling, and its cost 
 about 30 dollars. 
 
 23rd. Yesterday, as a mark of special favour, 
 I received a present of a female slave from my 
 hostess, Mrs. Calder. Her name is Cassandra. 
 She was to be dressed as a man and pass for iuy
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 87 
 
 body guard to England, and then to be given to 
 ray neighbour George Thompson, Esq. of Somer- 
 sham, who had requested me to procure a pair 
 of negroes for the use of his establishment- On 
 communicating the news of this transfer to the 
 fair and youthful Cassandra, she wept bitterly, > 
 and tore her curly wool ; the thought of leaving 
 her old mistress and many young acquaintances, 
 was death to all her hopes. When I heard this, I 
 proceeded with her owner in due form to take pos- 
 session of my fair property. She looked piteously 
 at me. I told her she was mine and must accom- 
 pany me to England. She sighed and cried, and 
 said, "What, Massa! Go todat far off country?" 
 " Yes." " O, Massa ! let me go and see, and bid 
 good bye to all my dear children, and grandchil- 
 dren, and great grandchildren. I do love 'em 
 dearly." When J declined to accept the gift, her 
 tears vanished, like dew before the sun, and joy 
 lighted up her black wrinkled countenance ; for 
 she was turned of 80, and her woolly head was 
 white as snow. 
 
 %4th. Broadfoot, Esq., a merchant in the 
 
 city, informed me at dinner, that he was once on a 
 jury, in a cause where a female sued a white man 
 of this state for 60/., the amount of 12 years main- 
 tenance of her and his natural child. She gained 
 the cause, but he not being able to pay debt 
 and costs, or give security, was actually sentenced 
 to be sold for a term of years, until his labour
 
 88 MEMORABLE DAYS [June, 
 
 had paid the demand. How equitable ! how pa- 
 triarchal ! 
 
 I am here paying 3s. 6d. a bottle for bad Lon- 
 don porter, just 7001. per cent, above cost, and 
 18s. 8of. a gallon; three times dearer than real 
 French brandy, or any other spirits, the best of 
 which is sold at a dollar and a half a gallon. 
 
 At Charleston, no black man, though free and 
 rich, and having horses and carriages to let, as for 
 instance, John Jones, the landlord of the best 
 house in the city, is permitted to ride them for 
 pleasure as his own, nor to be seen out of his own 
 house after ten at night, when the thundering 
 drum and the centinels from the guard-house, go 
 round to clear the streets of all men, women, or 
 children, stained with negro blood. 
 
 Sunday, 27th. It was reported this morning 
 that the pestilence, called the yellow fever, had 
 made its entry into this city, and that the board of 
 health had, as is usual, requested all strangers and 
 visitors to depart. This report was, in part, un- 
 true ; one man in the hospital had just died of it, 
 but he brought it with him from the Havannah. 
 This disease in its nature seems at present not un- 
 derstood, nor correctly defined by the faculty here. 
 Disputes have arisen only to darken the subject. 
 Some hold it to be contagious, others infectious. 
 The houses, in which it first appears, are generally 
 pulled down ; while others are fumigated and 
 washed with strong lime-water, and the families
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 89 
 
 removed from the street to the fields and kept in 
 tents. This disease seems confined to the western 
 world, and to have been known there, from the 
 time of its discovery by Columbus ; but it prevails 
 most in the southern states, cities, and swamps. 
 It sometimes extends as far north as lat. 40. In 
 rainy seasons, and during a long westerly wind, 
 it is more fatal than common. In Charleston, it 
 is said not to be contagious. Its first symptoms 
 are a pain in the back and head ; then a vomiting 
 of black fluid, resembling coffee grounds; a mor- 
 tification next ensues, and the patient dies quickly 
 and easily in about three days after its commence- 
 ment. 
 
 My friend, Mr. Kelsall, a visitor at my hotel, 
 states that he lately met at the Planter's hotel a 
 party of thirteen gentlemen, eleven of whom had 
 each killed his man in duels. A military officer, 
 living in this city, kept a mistress, who knew and 
 disliked the friend of her gallant, then living at 
 New Orleans, and of whom she said many evil 
 things to her gallant, which he fully credited. 
 The New Orleans friend was then instantly chal- 
 lenged by letter, to which he answered personally, 
 saying the charge against him was false, and, in 
 explaining, he could prove it to be so. They met, 
 and the New Orleans man, with the first shot, 
 killed the accuser ; and that, says my informant, 
 deservedly. The survivor went up to shake hands 
 with the dying man, <r No," said he, with a bitter
 
 $0 MEMORABLE DAYS [June, 
 
 oath, " Have I missed you ?" The seconds then 
 asked him what were his last wishes. " I have a 
 pair of pistols, given me by a brave fellow, and I 
 should be sorry that they should fall into the 
 hands of a coward ; put them, I pray you, into my 
 coffin with me." The point of honour is main- 
 tained herein high perfection. A scoundrel, who 
 has cheated his creditors, if reproached with it, 
 calls out his man and kills him if he can. 
 
 28th. I quitted for ever Sullivan's pleasant isle 
 of myrtles, a sure refuge from pestilential heat and 
 poisonous mosquitoes, in the hot, sandy, stinking 
 city of Charleston, where the elements, earth, air, 
 and water, swarm with all that is noxious. At 
 11, a. m., we got under weigh in the good packet 
 General Wade Hampton, Captain Baker, com- 
 mander. I paid 30 dollars for my passage in the 
 cabin, full of genteel and agreeable passengers, 
 male and female, of the first rank and quality, all 
 bound to the city of Philadelphia. I left letters 
 of thanks behind me for the many civilities received 
 from Messrs. Prescot and Bishop, N. Russel, Esq., 
 (now no more) and several other gentlemen, to 
 whom may this page carry my grateful regards. 
 So great was the difference in exchange between 
 north and south, that I had to pay my banker 41. 
 per cent, for New York paper, and 71. per cent, 
 for specie, silver dollars, Southern paper is some- 
 what ragged in reputation at New York. Our 
 good captain, who is an honest gentlemanly man,
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 91 
 
 knows, in Carolina, a poor master-builder from 
 England, who landed without money, but who in 
 the course of a few weeks, by jobbing about among 
 the planters, saved money enough to send over for 
 his large family, now all with him, flourishing to- 
 gether to all their hearts' desire. As surely as the 
 sun shines, so will industry prosper in any almost 
 untaxed community. 
 
 30th. In the gulf-stream all last night, and 
 passed, unseen, Cape Hatteras, having sailed 400 
 miles since Monday. J. W. Ancrum, Esq. with 
 his lady and family, and six black servants, are on 
 board. Mr. Ancrum's lady is a branch of the 
 Washington family, a niece of the late General, and 
 he a senator of Carolina, to whose civilities I ac- 
 knowledge myself indebted. " At a recent con- 
 tested election," says he, " I saw a candidate soli- 
 citing the vote of a gentleman freeholder in our 
 state, where freeholders only, by the bye, have a 
 vote. The answer was this : " Why, colonel, I 
 always reckoned you was an independent man, 
 quite above begging. I now find I was grossly 
 deceived and mistaken. I came here purposely 
 to give you my vote, which is now in my hand ; 
 but as you have demeaned yourself so much as to 
 ask me for it, I shall not give it to you but to 
 your opponent." What a lesson is this to the 
 old world. But think not that candidates and 
 electors are, here, all incorruptible. A barbecued
 
 92 MEMORABLE DAYS 
 
 hog in the woods, and plenty of whiskey, will buy 
 birthrights and secure elections, even in America. 
 
 July 1st. We were greeted with the sight and 
 sound of Land a-head O ! the coast of Pennsyl- 
 vania and Philadelphia light-house; thus passing 
 from Charleston light-house to this, in the short 
 space of 60 hours, a distance of between six and 
 seven hundred miles, averaging ten miles an hour. 
 At six this evening, we anchored in the spacious 
 Bay of Delaware, 20 miles broad, dividing the 
 two states of Jersey and Delaware. At nine we 
 passed the quarantine establishment, (a noble 
 asylum) with but a slight scrutiny by the doctors, 
 although we expected detention, on account of 
 the sickness on board and of the pestilence left 
 behind us. 
 
 %d. At six this morning we reached Newcastle, 
 on the banks of the river Delaware, 40 miles from 
 Philadelphia. The scenery here, on both banks, 
 is enchanting. The hay and oat harvest, now 
 general along these lovely banks, perfumes the 
 air of the river with odours. Here, too, the con- 
 trast is heightened by the recent view of parched, 
 bare sands in the south ; for here all is green, gay, 
 and flowery ; and fine commodious farm-houses 
 and rich pastures, full of cattle and sheep, varie- 
 gate the perspective in every direction, quite up 
 to Philadelphia. In the south are no pastures; 
 in the north, plenty, well stocked with beeves or
 
 1819,] IN AMERICA. 93 
 
 bullocks of enormous size and weight. We passed 
 the bare Hessian bank, a sandy bluff on the river, 
 so called ; where, during the revolutionary war, 
 a post of poor hireling Hessian soldiers was sur- 
 prised and destroyed by the rebels. This spot, it 
 is said, is haunted by spectres, and the grass, 
 therefore, has never since grown upon it. We 
 landed in the city, at one o'clock, p. m. having 
 travelled 800 miles in four days, with a rapidity 
 seldom equalled. The city, viewed from the river, 
 is neither imposing nor interesting, nor does it 
 present any thing striking, until you reach its 
 centre. Quitting the good ship Wade Hampton, 
 which is formed of a part of William Penn's noble 
 tree, under which he made peace with the Indians, 
 I put up and dined at Jud's good hotel, with my 
 southern Irish friend, Moses Wood, Esq. an agree- 
 able and kind-hearted young gentleman, of a 
 good temper. In the evening, attended by a free 
 negro, 1 called with my several introductory let- 
 ters to Messrs. Price, whom I saw ; Krugg, 
 
 Esq. gone to Kentucky; Jerry Wardour, out; 
 Edward Wilson, at Baltimore ; Joseph Lancaster, 
 at Boston ; his representative, Mr. Jones, present, 
 and very attentive and polite. Such letters are of 
 little value unless they come from one friend to 
 another, both greatly esteeming each other, or the 
 bearer has plenty of money. Letters of intro- 
 duction, under other circumstances, will scarcely 
 procure the stranger a gratuitous dinner. If poor,
 
 94 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 he will be sent up the state by other letters, and 
 passed from house to house and town to town, 
 for work. 
 
 3d. In the evening, on horseback, with Mr. 
 Wood, Mr. Jones, &c. I took a delightful airing to 
 German's Town, along the romantic banks of the 
 Schuylkill to its falls. Bridges of singular beauty, 
 and roofed over, stretch across this pure, trans- 
 parent river, on the banks of which birds have 
 planted many cherry-trees, now of prodigious 
 size, and from which we and others wantonly 
 broke off large boughs, full of ripe cherries, and 
 laid them across our saddles, that we might eat 
 them as we rode along. In every direction, fruit 
 is ready to fall into the mouths of passengers. At 
 German's Town, I called upon and talked with 
 an old countryman, long settled here, Mr. Pysley, 
 once of my native Isle of Ely, who says that the day 
 for emigration is gone by. " I," said he, " came 
 here in the best of times, but I have had to work 
 hard on my stall, and have known no rest, from 
 the clamour of my awl, and my lapstone and 
 hammer. Let those who will come, expect to 
 work all their days, as I have done, and then only 
 just live." He talked and thought kindly of all 
 he left behind, but particularly of his dear native 
 land, which he can never behold more. 
 
 Sunday, 4th. Introduced to Mr. Maginnis, an 
 Irish lecturer on elocution, and to an English gen- 
 tleman, Mr. Hobson. Europeans, so far from
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. ; 95 
 
 home, meet and mix sweetly like milk md honey. 
 Attended Dr. Storton's chapel, &n immense, ele- 
 gant rotundity, like Rowland Hll's in the Surrey 
 road. The Doctor's pulpit w:(s supplied by an 
 American preacher of much saucy simplicity of 
 manner. I visited a noble mansion-house in this 
 city, erected purposely for and presented by the 
 citizens to General Washington, which he refused, 
 and which now stands a goodly monument of his 
 unequalled magnanimity. 
 
 The negroes in this state and city, are all free 
 and independent. A slave, thanks be given to 
 William Penn ! cannot live here. That they are 
 free and happy, need not be told : it is known by 
 only looking into their faces, and contemplating 
 their erect statures, both of which here lose every 
 thing negro-like but their colour, and acquire all 
 the majesty of man. 
 
 5th. Yesterday, being Sunday, the grand an- 
 niversary of Independence is necessarily celebrated 
 on this day, which is brother Jonathan's immortal 
 universal festival. Roaring cannon and merrily 
 ringing bells salute the morn, and, until midnight, 
 all is frolic and hilarity, from one end of this 
 mighty empire to the other. At night, in Vaux- 
 hall Gardens, 1 saw a representation or effigy of 
 the late General Washington, and heard an oration, 
 in which that illustrious man was compared to 
 Cincinnatus, and highly eulogized. I talked with 
 citizen Fleming and Jerry Wardour, jun. Esq.,
 
 96 MEMORABLE DAYS 
 
 both rich^and ihe latter particularly intelligent 
 and cormnunicatr-e, having great experience in all 
 matters touching ; emigrants and emigration, as 
 many thousands of persons and pounds are con- 
 stantly passing through his office and hands to 
 this country. He says that no body, who is living 
 comfortably in England, should think of emigrat- 
 ing. But to those who resolve to do so, he recom- 
 mends British settlement in Pennsylvania and the 
 eastern states, in preference to Illinois apd the 
 western country; because the latter is sickly, be- 
 ing exposed, in a high degree, to bilious fever; is 
 supplied with only bad water; and is so far from, 
 or rather altogether without a market for produce. 
 He had never heard of any persons, excepting visi- 
 tors, returning ; but of many, the most unfit, settling 
 down comfortably there, from Bond-street an 
 Holborn, London. Mr. Birkbeck still lives in a 
 log cabin, doing little or no business. The Flowers 
 and he are irreconcileable enemies. Grand-chil- 
 dren will reap the benefits of emigration thither, 
 but fathers and mothers, although they cannot 
 starve, must sacrifice themselves. Two long 
 years must pass before any thing can be made 
 from the land, which must be cleared at a cost of 
 22 dollars, or 41. 19s. an acre. It is therefore 
 better to give 91. for cleared land, or uncleared, 
 with house and good farm buildings on it, than 2/. 
 an acre in Illinois, where there is no market, no 
 house, no convenience, yet laud capable of raising
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 97 
 
 provisions sufficient for Great Britain's great and 
 many wants. New Orleans is their only mar- 
 ket for produce, which, being perishable, must 
 be sold, even for freight down the river, which it 
 is sometimes insufficient to pay. There are several 
 fine states nearer to that general market than 
 Illinois and Birkbeck's settlement; of which I 
 have (says Mr. Wardour) reported unfavourably, 
 and thereby offended Mr. Birkbeck, who, by the 
 bye, has much misrepresented and spoken un- 
 justly of the eastern states, and that without ever 
 having seen them. In these only, however, can 
 an English farmer flourish ; for here, indeed, when 
 you buy, you get either the land or the building 
 on it for nothing. In order to do business well, 
 a man must privately look about him ; he must 
 have his eyes in his head, and see who must sell ; 
 thus making a difference in the cost of 507. to 
 nearly 100/. per cent. This and next year offer 
 fine chances for buying, so great and pressing is 
 the want of money. There are many of your 
 countrymen who think of coming, and do corne, 
 quite unfit for this country, bringing with them 
 little variety of knowledge in different kinds of 
 labour, but all their old prejudices, the worst ware 
 they can bring; while the native American knows 
 every thing, and hates or fears nothing. The 
 Englishman thinks nothing good or right but what 
 is English, both in theory and practice. He thinks 
 his system and mode of farming must be best, but 
 
 H
 
 98 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 V v 
 
 he would do well to try it only on a small scale, 
 and not rashly lay aside what is American, and well 
 tried ; for those who have long lived on the soil, 
 must certainly know what is the best. In the 
 state of Ohio, though so flourishing, there are 
 none born in it who are 20 years old. It is of no 
 use travelling clown rivers to see and know coun- 
 tries, or get information about them ; you must ride 
 through them to and fro, and often stop. There 
 recently came, in one of my ships, an English 
 bricklayer, wife, and family, but their unfitness 
 for this land was quite ludicrous. They thought 
 they were to be nobles here, although sent from 
 your country by their parish officers. And then, 
 who would ever have thought of seeing librarians 
 from Bond Street come here, to start circulating 
 libraries, in the wilderness of Illinois. Your 
 friend John Ingle, however, now in Indiana, is a 
 good fit fellow, knowing what he is about." 
 
 Qth. At noon I left the good city of William 
 Penn. 1 am now swiftly gliding down the Dela- 
 ware in a superb steam-boat, 60 yards long, 14 
 broad, with 36 beds for gentlemen, and 20 for 
 ladies, all in the cabin; moving from 10 to 12 
 miles an hour. 
 
 At six, p. m., we quitted the boat and river, and 
 entered three coaches, which conveyed us through 
 Newcastle, 40 miles to French-town, on the Chesa- 
 peake bay ; where another huge boat received us 
 to supper and bed, en masse. It landed us to
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 99 
 
 breakfast at the city of Baltimore, 120 miles in 12 
 hours; fare six dollars. 
 
 1th. Jn this city, put up at Gadsby's hotel 
 (the best) containing 150 beds, fine warm and cold 
 baths, and a well stored reading-room, with files 
 of all domestic and foreign papers. Here I saw 
 my letter on negro-killing, copied into a paper, 
 1,500 miles from Charleston. At breakfast I 
 found meats in abundance, besides a peck of eggs, 
 and huge dishes of toast and rolls soaked in 
 butter, and smothered with cream, to make the 
 hard crust tender, I am now again in negro- 
 land, and all the comforts of slavery surround me. 
 In Philadelphia I seemed a man ; but here, a god 
 for negroes to worship. All is homage and black 
 attention. The city, seen from the bay, might be 
 mistaken for Rome, and the huge dome of the 
 Exchange for that of Holy St. Peter's. 
 
 At ten, a. m., entered Uncle Sanis mail for 
 Washington city, that is to be. During this long 
 journey, I saw no good land, save the marshes on 
 the banks of the Delaware. All seems exhausted, 
 worn-out, rusty, and hung up to dry, or rather to 
 bake in the sun. 
 
 Atfour,p. m., reached Washington, which, viewed 
 from the Capitol hill, looks like a Roman village, 
 for all is Roman or Grecian here. The streets 
 are a mile or two in length, with houses a quarter 
 of a mile apart, beautified by trees and swamps, 
 and cows grazing between. At first view, a 
 
 H 2
 
 100 MEMORABLE DAYS [Jly, 
 
 stranger might suppose that some convulsion of 
 nature had swept away whole streets, and laid 
 waste this far-famed metropolitan city. 
 
 At seven, p. m., T met, at a private table at the 
 house of a friend and countryman, several exiles, 
 to tea, or rather supper, where I was received and 
 treated with all imaginable kindness. Here I was 
 formally introduced to my countryman, Mr. El- 
 liott, of the City Gazette. I visited Messrs. Coote 
 and Dumbleton, good brewers of brown stout, on 
 the banks of the great river Potowmac, late of 
 Huntingdonshire, Old England. From the latter 
 gentleman, I learn that nearly all the British emi- 
 grants feel disappointed. " It is not sufficient," 
 says he, " that an Englishman lives; he expects 
 to do better than live." Mr. D. seems to have 
 done nothing for himself yet, but harm ; having, 
 together with his brother, spent all their money in 
 mechanical pursuits. Constant work cannot be 
 had, yet it is thought to be better than half a 
 crown per day, constant, in England. 
 
 8th and 9th. " Farming," say Messrs. C. and 
 D., the brewers, " is more comfortable and pro- 
 fitable in England than here; for large and tine 
 estates in Virginia do not keep families with ne- 
 cessaries. They send a little fire-wood to this 
 market, for the sake of a few dollars, which some 
 borrow one of another, for marketings daily. Nei- 
 ther is brewing so profitable as at home, although 
 less capital will suffice, there being no public-houses
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 101 
 
 to buy here; but all the malting barley must be 
 bought at once. Some, however, are not able to 
 do so. Porter is cheaper here than at home." My 
 now generous host, it is said, is almost the only 
 successful emigrant, doing more business, and 
 better too, than any other merchant; and yet 
 he came hither without capital. His superior 
 talents have insured success, which will, and 
 must follow him. He is deemed the smartest, 
 and wisest Briton in the city. Still, there are 
 several hundreds of fine young men here and in 
 Philadelphia, all out of employment ; men, who 
 ought not to have left England's overstocked com- 
 mon and glutted market. English labourers, and 
 first-rate mechanics, too, are seen working, at the 
 Capitol, for the low price of half a dollar per day, 
 or whatever the master-builder pleases. Many 
 firms, too, are lessening and disappearing, through 
 want of capital ; they hold so much unnegociable 
 paper, and must hold it until the indorser pleases 
 to cash it. 
 
 IQth. My host, every where the public eulogist 
 of America, says, " that England is the place for 
 men of fortune, but this land for the industrious 
 bees who cannot live there. Fools must not come, 
 for Americans are nationally cold, jealous, suspi- 
 cious, and knavish, have little or no sense of ho- 
 nour, believing every man a rogue, until they see 
 the contrary ; thinking imposition and extortion 
 fair business, and all men, fair game: kind, obliging
 
 102 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 conduct is lost upon them. A bold, saucy, in- 
 dependent manner towards them is necessary. 
 They love nobody but themselves, and seem inca- 
 pable of due respect for the feelings of others. 
 They have nothing original ; all that is good or 
 new, is done by foreigners, and by the British, and 
 yet they boast eternally." 
 
 Such is the rough sketch of an admiring artist, 
 once in a state of infatuation, but now getting sane 
 and sober. The scales have left his eyes, and he 
 begins to see, to his sorrow. I, too, fancy I see 
 something like a strong and general feeling of dis- 
 appointment, pervading almost all I meet, who 
 have recently emigrated ; and, on examination, I 
 find that my observation does not deceive me. 
 All have over-rated America. Hope told a flat- 
 tering, lying tale, and they believed her to their 
 own undoing. A visit to this country will increase 
 an Englishman's love for his own, whether he can 
 or cannot live in it. If he cannot, he comes here, 
 cursing the cause, hating the change, and hoping 
 to return, on some fair future day, which fate may 
 yet have in store for him. 
 
 Sunday, \\th. To-day, I received a long epis- 
 tle from Joseph Lancaster, very eulogistic on 
 my letter and conduct touching negro-killing, 
 but not so honorable to Carolina. " On mention- 
 ing this affair," (says lie,) " in a stage, it operated 
 like an explosion on all present." Met the Rev. 
 John Wright, who complimented me on having
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 103 
 
 dared to attack the beast in his temple, meaning 
 slavery in Carolina. He states, that Mr. Birk- 
 beck, if he had taken good advice, had never 
 gone to Illinois to deceive himself and others, 
 and injure many. Introduced to Messrs. Matchem 
 and Shanks, 'two native citizens, one in the go- 
 vernment, and both eloquent and ingenious men, 
 who openly accuse the English emigrants of shew- 
 ing contempt for America, by odious comparisons, 
 and by not socially mixing with the natives. Both 
 parties in this matter err, and alike stand in need 
 of correction. The American, so called, although 
 his father or grandfather was perhaps a British 
 convict, despises all recent emigrants, because he 
 fancies, that they who know most, must despise 
 him. Fancy and jealousy then, must bear the 
 blame. There seems so little here to remind me 
 that it is Sunday, that I had almost forgotten it. 
 Religion, however, became the theme. There is 
 more intolerance here than in England. Metho- 
 dists predominate, and are brimful of bigotry ; 
 and the Catholics are very fiery and violent in all 
 spiritual matters, but, having no power, they can- 
 not injure their fellow-citizens. All sects hate my 
 reverend friend, because he is an Unitarian, and 
 hates slavery, and therefore nothing good can be 
 in him or come out of him. 
 
 13th. Met and talked with both Dumbletons, 
 who have failed in two distinct enterprizes. The 
 elder in a brewing concern in Philadelphia, through
 
 104 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 uniting himself to a falling firm, at the head of 
 which was a thief and swindler ; and the younger 
 brother in a threshing machine, in the English 
 fashion, to hire out at 16 dollars per day; but he 
 was seldom able to get a job, the farmer not being 
 able to spare the dollars. Eight horses or oxen, 
 therefore, tread out the grain, 100 bushels a. day. 
 The machine was knocked to pieces, and the pro- 
 prietor set off, a poor pedestrian, to New Orleans, 
 walking to and fro, up and down the Ohio and 
 Mississipi, and that, without spending any money 
 save his earnings, of which he brought 10 dollars 
 home. He thus travelled 4,000 miles, to see, hear, 
 and know what he could of the western wilds, and 
 their towns and cities, where he could earn only 
 three dollars a week, (but slaves, six dollars,) and 
 that not constantly. Slaves are preferred all over 
 the west. While with his machine, he worked hard, 
 many days with his shirt off, under a roasting sun. 
 As I have his western journal, he may hereafter 
 speak for himself. Both these young men, as 
 well as the Chamberses, lived freely, and acted im- 
 prudently. They dressed in stile, and would 
 have dinners, which cost four dollars a week. Much 
 less beer is here made from the same quantity of 
 malt than in England ; about one half less. 
 
 14th. Met Mr. Cocken, late of Lincolnshire, 
 who came to this city with money, and has in- 
 creased it. " As good farms and farmers as any 
 in England, are," he says, " to be found in this
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 105 
 
 state of Maryland. My son a few years ago only, 
 purchased and began with 500/., and has now 
 made it 5,000/. If 1 were a young man now, I 
 would begin on the poor worn-out land round 
 this city, which is to be bought low, and may 
 soon be regenerated by plaster of Paris, one 
 bushel to the acre, from the port of Alexandria, 
 whence it is plentifully imported arid prepared 
 for sowing. The English system is wanted. I 
 have seen fine red clover, two or three tons on an 
 acre, foolishly spoiled by depasturing and stock- 
 ing hard, whereas it ought to have been cut and 
 used after the soiling mode." I conceive, as does 
 Mr. Cockeu, that English farmers, with skill and 
 a little money, must do well, though not rise or 
 fall so fast here as in England, things not being so 
 changeable. What is here gotten is a man's own, 
 it comes gradually, but surely. Dr. K Dawes, 
 and lady, late of Wisbeach, in the Isle of Ely, 
 with whom I dined this day, wish, but are re- 
 luctant to return, seeming to stay here only to 
 find fault with every thing. " No body," says he, 
 " is getting, or is able to raise any money." The 
 man of whom Mr. C. speaks in his letters, as 
 " getting money as fast as he can count it," is un- 
 able to raise 2,000 dollars for a farm, which he 
 wants to buy near his own ; and, if he were so 
 rich, would he, think you, come to Washington, 
 six or seven miles, with three Ibs. of butter under 
 his arm ? As to Mr. Long, from Lincolnshire, he
 
 10(5 MKMORAliLE DAYS [Jly, 
 
 lias removed three times; is dissatisfied with all 
 things, and thinks no man honest." 
 
 The history of a great number of emigrants 
 in this country shews unprincipled looseness in 
 morals, and but little or no real well founded 
 integrity. Public offices and government clerk- 
 ships are filled by men who really could be no 
 longer tolerated in trade, many having cleared 
 out, or as it is more commonly called, backed 
 out, four times in a few years. Yet such are 
 the most esteemed citizens, taking precedence of 
 tradesmen, and ranking with the aristocracy of 
 the city. Dirking, says my nameless friend, is a 
 common unnoticed offence ; a peccadillo which 
 renders no man uncomfortable, but him whose 
 body is the subject of it. We have too much li- 
 berty. Ours is a fine government in theory, but its 
 laws are neither respected nor enforced. Military 
 schools contain the seeds of death to American 
 liberty. It is the pride and pleasure of Ameri- 
 cans to get into debt, and then by avoiding pay- 
 ment, show how adroitly they can cheat and wrong 
 each other. Few look upon knavery with dis- 
 gust, but rather with a smile of approbation. It 
 is indeed difficult to trade with the people in an 
 old plain honest way. Knavery damns the North, 
 and slavery the South. Free blacks without a 
 certificate are here seized, put into our city gaol, 
 advertised a month, and then sold for gaol fees, 
 when they become slaves for life. Who would
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 107 
 
 expect to find a certificate always in the pocket 
 of a poor wandering African, who has become 
 free ? 
 
 16*7*. Introduced to Mr. Wm. Elliott of the 
 Patent office, the contents of which constitute a 
 splendid monument to the ingenuity and mecha- 
 nical genius of this country. Many models ap- 
 pear which have never been copied. Mr. Elliott 
 is an Englishman, descended from a noble family, 
 and was a neighbour of, and known to Archdeacon 
 Paley. He is, too, an eminent mathematician 
 and astronomer, philosopher, and public orator. 
 By him I was introduced to Mr. Adams, a learned, 
 highly intelligent, and honourable -Yankee. Re- 
 publicans affect to be no respecters of persons 
 merely, but they cannot conceal the effect and in- 
 fluence of property and authority. 
 
 I met again Mr. Adam Lyon, late of Chatteris, 
 Isle of Ely, now a butcher in this city. He 
 states, that farming at Honey, near his native 
 town, is better than any here, although he knows 
 of some farmers in Maryland who net great pro- 
 fits. A dollar in trade here is said to be equal to 
 a guinea in England, but business not so easily or 
 respectably managed. 1 received from Mr. Edw. 
 Dumbleton, an experimental brewer, a statement 
 of brewing porter in this country, by which it is 
 clear to him, that by a capital of 1,400/. 700/. or 
 50/. per cent, is to be netted by the brewer, while
 
 108 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 the retailer or publican with little or no capital 
 gains 100/. percent. 
 
 Mth With Messrs. T. Coote and Dnnibleton 
 1 visited the navy-yard, where 1 saw several emi- 
 nent mechanics, nearly all Englishmen, some of 
 whom are receiving not above J| dollar a day, 
 although at home they received 3/. a week. The 
 steam machinery is here "mighty fine," "superbly 
 elegant," as a native would call it, and the new 
 100 gun ship of war is a most noble vessel, a float- 
 ing battery worked and manned by 900 men, and 
 altogether as good and gallant a ship as John 
 Bull ever saw. Gouging still flourishes. His 
 Excellency, Mr. Monroe, while a young man, con- 
 stantly kept his hair closely shorn, in order that 
 his head might be less exposed to this brutal 
 practice. 
 
 Mr. J. D. is now retailing bottled porter at a 
 net gain of 71. sterling per month. Mr. Thomas 
 Coote, the brewer, prefers his chance to any 
 which he could take in England. So cheap is 
 all butcher's meat, and so dear are all vegetables, 
 that for some tables the latter cost more than the 
 former. A fat lamb or sheep will scarcely buy 
 one bushel of new potatoes ; but four bushels of 
 ripe peaches shovelled loose out of a waggon, will 
 just do it, if a sixpence is added. 
 
 Sunday, 18th. This being Sunday, I visited 
 the white and black Methodist congregations at
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 109 
 
 George town, to the latter of which (the black) 
 the white mayor of the town, a rich Englishman, 
 of long and high standing, is minister. At half a 
 'mile distant, we could distinctly hear their devo- 
 tional songs. We found a mighty assemblage of 
 priests and priestesses, for all preached, prayed, 
 and sung together. The pioos prayers, and sen- 
 sible, cheerful singing of the poor negroes, (who 
 are, however, apt to rise into wild enthusiasm), are 
 very honourable to black capabilities, and exone- 
 rate them from the charge of natural and moral 
 inferiority. 
 
 I9l/i. Talked with the Reverend John Wright, 
 Unitarian minister, proprietor of a critical review, 
 and of a store in the city, and late an object of 
 Episcopal prosecution at Liverpool. In England 
 he was at the head of a forum, and occupied some 
 space in the public mind. What he was there, 
 he is here; often fearlessly speaking, writing, and 
 inditing a good matter. He generally preaches 
 but to a few, although on one occasion he had the 
 honour of preaching in the speaker's chair before 
 the President and Congress ; a compliment for 
 which he was indebted to the Honourable Thomas 
 Law, the brother of the Right Reverend the Lord 
 Bishop of Chester. In this matter the two bro- 
 thers furnish a splendid contrast. Mr. Thomas 
 Law received him in a strange land ; paid him all 
 the respect in his power; and subscribed 100/. 
 towards building him a conventicle.
 
 110 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 Edward Wilson, an eminent merchant 
 of Philadelphia, an Englishman of unspotted 
 name, and a Quaker, brother to Thomas Wilson, 
 of Houghton, Hunts, says, " an emigrant recently 
 came to me with 5,000/. sterling, which he put into 
 ray hands, and in confidence wished me to use it 
 for him at my discretion. I did so, and returned 
 it to him in two years, having made the 5,000/. into 
 8,000/. He seemed well pleased with my steward- 
 ship. He left in England a discarded son, for 
 whom I prevailed on him to send. He came, and 
 the old man gave him 200/. to start in business 
 here, while he (the father) bought land in the wes- 
 tern country. In less than three years the son 
 was the richest man of the two. I said it would be 
 so." 
 
 By mail I received this morning 150 dollars from 
 Lorentand Wulf, which I acknowledged to Judge 
 King, but which I lent to Jew Jones of Washing- 
 ton city, and which he spent at New York ; when 
 I wanted it again he said he had never had it. 
 He was sued for it, and, as defendant, gained his 
 point, because he had not given me credit for it in 
 his ledger. He is not an Israelite, indeed, in whom 
 there is no guile. Two hundred and fifty emi- 
 grants arrived last week at Baltimore, and were 
 unable to get employment there : what disappoint- 
 ment to the poor pennyless wretches ! I observed 
 a venerable looking gentleman yesterday at meet- 
 ing, of the name of Washington, a cousin of the late
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 11 J 
 
 general, and much resembling him, it is said, in per- 
 son. The memory of that unequalled, man seems, 
 however, little revered, and his family is not more 
 respected than that of any other person. Mr. Sa- 
 vage, an emigrant from Downham in Norfolk, who 
 married my townswoman Miss Blinkhorn, intro- 
 duced himself this day to invite me clown to Marl- 
 borough, where he is well settled as a shoemaker. 
 His wife receives 10 dollars a year and has all the 
 wood she wants for fuel or other purposes, a 
 house, and four acres of land, with range for cows 
 and sows ; all for instructing two or three children 
 belonging to a richer neighbour. He loves the coun- 
 try. The people are willing to give or lend him 
 almost any thing. He states, that making shoes, 
 and raising tobacco, are both good trades, a crop of 
 the latter having been worth from 200 dollars to 
 300 dollars an acre; and costing only about 30 
 dollars ; a fine profit. 
 
 'list. I was formally introduced to Dr. Beat- 
 tie of George-town, the young sprightly eloquent 
 orator at the city forum, where he shines a public 
 defender of duelling. My reverend heterodox 
 friend joined us, and contended that the blacks 
 have no claim to a common origin from our father 
 Adam ; the form and construction of their bones, 
 and the difference of their colour, constituting so 
 complete a contrast with all other nations, are held 
 to be positive proofs that they spring from some
 
 112 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 other and inferior source. This doctrine is very 
 palatable to America. I regret that it should be 
 espoused by an Englishman. White men here sell 
 their own yellow children in the ordinary course 
 of business; and free blacks also sell their imme- 
 diate offspring, male and female. 
 
 Called on my townsfolk, Jack Bellcare and his 
 wife ; both are disappointed ; she would not have 
 left Sutton, could she have counted the cost and 
 sorrow of it, although they are getting a living, and 
 have disposed of their children. She keeps a little 
 store; he works and drinks heartily, but has not 
 yet spent all their Sutton money ; Jack left a 
 comfortable home and dairy behind him, and now 
 works bare-headed on the road, cursing the hot 
 climate. 
 
 Almost every private family chariot in this city 
 is found daily on the stand as a hackney coach 
 for hire, to either whites or blacks ; to all who can 
 pay. 
 
 22?. I heard this evening America's unequalled 
 preacher, Doctor Storton of Philadelphia. He 
 has one unpardonable sin ; he is an Englishman, a 
 refugee from the church of the late Reverend Sa- 
 muel Pearce of Birmingham. He preaches well, 
 and prays earnestly and eloquently, and that too, 
 for all white men, and red men, and black men in 
 Africa, but not for the poor negroes of North Ame- 
 rica, who are here quite forgotten by the priests,
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 113 
 
 who, would they use it, have an influence that 
 might work wonders in the black man's favour. 
 But this would be treason in Maryland. 
 
 23d, It is remarkable that the cows graze loose 
 all over this huge metropolis, and come and go of 
 themselves, night and morning, from and to their 
 owners' houses and yards for milking, after which 
 they are each fed with a quarter of a peck of corn 
 meal. 
 
 Ignorance and love of animal indulgence, it is 
 said, here frustrate and set at nought the system 
 of representation. A good man, therefore, cannot 
 get into Congress ; but a bad man, not fit for a con- 
 stable, often succeeds by the means of influential 
 whiskey. Flatter vice and folly, and you are po- 
 pular. I was here introduced by Mr. Elliott to 
 the Hon. Thomas Law, (a well known republican, 
 brother of the late Lord Ellenborough, Lord 
 Chief Justice of England) who received me kindly, 
 and on his courteous invitation I promised to 
 visit him. 
 
 " Sun-flowers," says Mr. Elliott, " breathe 
 each as much in one day as twelve men. I consi- 
 der them as highly propitious to health, particu- 
 larly in low and marshy situations ; and I there- 
 fore surround my hermitage with them." 
 
 Sunday, 25^. Young Rawlings, late of Chat- 
 teris, called to say that three of my simple-hearted 
 countrymen from Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire, had
 
 114 MEMORABLE DAYS 
 
 inquired for me, and represented me as a spy, but 
 still thought and talked kindly of and wished to see 
 me. By a spy, they did not mean a government 
 spy in the common acceptation of that term. This 
 young quaker is an assistant in a store at 300 dol- 
 lars a year and board. He saves only 100 dollars, 
 and, if he cannot become master of the concern, 
 thinks of returning home, where he can do better. 
 Yet he thinks 100 dollars here equal to 1001. 
 sterling in England. Mrs. Stile, late of Sutton in 
 the Isle, is ready to take the benefit of insolvency? 
 but has disposed of her daughters in matrimony. 
 
 Mr. Gale, a worthy, feeling, meritorious English- 
 man from Yorkshire, and once dandled on the 
 poetic knee of Montgomery, but now at the head 
 of the government organ, The National Intelli- 
 gencer, says, that British emigrants possess habits 
 and prejudices which render them 1 unfit to mix 
 with the natives down to the second generation. 
 They, therefore, should not attempt to associate 
 with North Americans, but should form distinct 
 settlements like the Germans. Such a step would 
 insure them success and happiness in a new coun- 
 try ; on coming into which they should depute a 
 confidential agent of their own to apply at the 
 National Land Office at Washington, where Mr. 
 Elliott and other Englishmen, forming a society to 
 instruct and guide emigrants, would point out to 
 them the best sections of land and climate, with
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 115 
 
 their local description, and that without the expense 
 and labour of looking and wandering all over the 
 empire to their ruin. 
 
 Mr. Cockin, an old experienced farmer from 
 Lincolnshire, says, that on good land 50 bushels 
 of Indian corn is raised at three quarters of a dollar, 
 or one dollar per bushel; and that the English sys- 
 tem, so far as is practicable, is much wanted here. 
 The American mode of ploughing wears out the soil 
 faster than the cropping. They just move and 
 pulverize the surface, which in wet or dry weather 
 either blows or washes away into the valleys. By 
 the English mode, fresh soil would be raised, and 
 the exhausted surface soil turned down to rest 
 and replenish itself. 
 
 26th. " A propensity to cheat and deceive," 
 says a shrewd informant, " pervades all classes of 
 this people, from the lowest mechanic and trades- 
 man, or companies in trade, up to nearly the first 
 officer of government. It is the boasted qualifica- 
 tion of the smart man. Thieving is a characteris- 
 tic feature of Maryland, which is peopled princi- 
 pally by Catholics, who correct all evil by absolu- 
 tion. The Carolinians keep and train up large 
 dogs for hunting and finding runaway or con- 
 cealed negroes, who are easily scented and found 
 by them, if they be in the woods. The mode of 
 training is thus : Set a young negro daily to strike 
 a pup, and then run from it. This is dog-training. 
 My cousin, Captain H. Rugeley, in my presence 
 
 i 2
 
 116 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 ordered a young negro to strike a half-grown cur, 
 which immediately seized the boy, who was wor- 
 ried a little, for my amusement and instruction. 
 Hence these dogs, though generally docile and 
 gentle to well dressed whites, instantly seize on any 
 strange black man who approaches the plantation, 
 just as an English greyhound flies .upon a hare. . 
 
 I am told that Mr. Long, late of Lincolnshire, 
 wrote his puffing letters to England, under feelings 
 of great disappointment, and said that he would 
 give 1,000 guineas to be reinstated in his farm in 
 Lincolnshire. , Letters from emigrants, 1 have 
 proved to be at best but questionable and doubt- 
 ful authority. Janson, author of The Stranger in 
 America, it is here said, came and returned a 
 stranger. Parkinson, too, the experienced farmer 
 and brewer of Doncaster, returned and said, the 
 land would not grow grass. This is not so great 
 a misrepresentation as it at first sight appears. 
 Jn many parts of Maryland and Virginia, the grass 
 seems indeed dead, and all that survives is artifi- 
 cial grass. 
 
 28JA. When Mr. T. C. Wright first came to 
 George-town, 17 years since, the forest approached 
 his door, but now it has receded a mile and a half. 
 The situation and prospect of things some years 
 ago justified the statements now called Puffs. , ,1 
 
 Certain approaches to something like equality, 
 and consequent familiarity of the rich with the 
 poor, both of which classes profess to be no respec-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 117 
 
 ters of persons, generate a manner highly repelling 
 to the aristocratical feelings of the well-bred Eng- 
 lish. Dr. Dawes was waited on to-day by an 
 American proprietor of land, offering his farm at 
 six dollars an acre; the Doctor asked what had 
 been its greatest produce per acre? At one time 
 15 bushels of wheat, but now only eight bushels. 
 He said he had lost money by farming, through 
 not pursuing a proper mode; but could tell the 
 Doctor of a better mode if he would buy the farm 
 offered. Land is frequently bought and sold, and 
 kept for many years/ but never paid for, unless an 
 offer above the original cost is made and accepted. 
 Interest money is paid or payable on the purchase, 
 which is held like a mortgage, and in time it reverts 
 to the vendor or his heirs. 
 
 I visited the Catholic university at George-town, 
 to witness the ceremony, previous to the vacation, 
 something like the Commencement, at Cambridge. 
 I found a large and splendid assemblage of bishops, 
 doctors, priests, pupils, and spectators of all ranks 
 and religions. The young gentlemen delivered 
 their orations, after which they received prizes and 
 degrees from the hands of the archbishop. This 
 institution is said to be highly respectable, and is 
 open to all sects and parties in religion or politics ; 
 it is therefore a nursery of great men for all sec- 
 tions of the empire. Although Catholic, it pro- 
 fesses not to make proselytes ; yet many pupils 
 are induced to adopt this faith, and nearly all seem
 
 118 MEMORABLE DAYS [Jly, 
 
 to part and meet with their preceptors here as 
 with kind and indulgent parents.' 
 
 Friend John Steed, a poor excommunicated 
 quaker, once of Earith and Wisbeach, introduced 
 himself to me this day. He feels grievously dis- 
 appointed, and wants temporary employment as 
 an assistant in a store. He is nearly broken in 
 both spirit and pocket, and finds charity cold, and 
 friends few or none. He is kindly housed by the 
 ever friendly Dr. Dawes, and thinks of returning 
 soon if he cannot succeed. He would not have 
 come here if he could have formed, on the other 
 side of the water, a correct idea of the state of 
 things in this country. 
 
 The poor white, or white poor, in Maryland, it 
 is said, scarcely ever work, but send their children 
 to beg, and live on corn-meal and dried fish only. 
 Working is disgraceful in a slave state, where 
 blacks only work. " Will you work ?" "What, 
 work ? I'm no negro, I guess." Thanks be given 
 to slavery for all this. 
 
 30th. His Excellency, James Monroe, Esq., 
 President of the United States, when out of office, 
 is poor, not more than able to maintain himself 
 and family, never having had time to gain a for- 
 tune. Our late President Madison," (says friend 
 Jenny, to whom I was this day introduced by Dr. 
 Dawes,) " was, and is a poor man. He married a 
 poor quaker girl, one of a large family of girls, 
 raised in a boarding-house, but now all married to
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 119 
 
 Congress-men. While Madison was President, his 
 wife, Dolly Madison, used frequently to visit our 
 friend's meeting-house in George-town, though she 
 was no longer a quaker." 
 
 I rode all day with friend Jenny, and slept 
 at his house. He is a shrewd land-jobber, who 
 has quickly enriched himself. His eyes are in 
 his head, and he sees all points of the compass at 
 one view. By him I was kindly accompanied to the 
 beautiful mansion and plantation of Lough- 
 borough, Esq., the most intelligent agriculturist 
 (except Mr. Day, of Camden,) whom I have yet 
 seen. This gentleman offers his beautiful much- 
 improved farm and mansion at 200 dollars, or 45/. 
 sterling an acre, just two miles from the city. 
 This price was thought too high. Mr. Jenny says, 
 that 100 acres of land is plenty for an industrious 
 family, who will net 1,000 dollars a year, exclusive 
 of maintenance. Land 15 miles N. W. of George 
 town, and about Rockville, is better than it ap- 
 pears to be ; for, out of cultivation, it has no 
 face, never having been sown with grass seeds. 
 Some time since it cost 7 dollars an acre, and is 
 now offered at 15 dollars, with good buildings, 
 fences, and other improvements. 
 
 Sunday, August 1st. I heard the Rev. Dr. 
 Allison, a judicious Gillite,* and chaplain to Con- 
 gress ; and, in the evening, I attended an interest- 
 
 * Calvinists are here called Gillites, or disciples of the late Dr. 
 John Gill.
 
 120 MEMORABLE .DAYS [August, 
 
 ing. conversation at the hospitable .seat of T. C. 
 Wright, where I met several native and adopted 
 citizens. Emigration was the theme, it was 
 agreed that emigrants should all come in the tem- 
 per and spirit of the fathers, the first settlers ; that, 
 ultimately, such pioneers as Birkbeck and Flower 
 in the wilderness, must benefit themselves, and 
 that the last twenty years' history of emigrants 
 furnishes encouragement still to emigrate. " The 
 English," says Mr. Wright, " who have to live 
 here by their own hands, make the most dissatis- 
 fied of labourers. They run all. over the land in 
 quest of the highest wages; and in so doing, lose 
 half the week in finding wages for the other half, 
 and part with the substance for a shadow. 
 . Two or three of, the English have this day and 
 recently fallen dead at the city fountains, in con- 
 sequence of drinking excessively of cold water, 
 while they were in high perspiration, under a heat, 
 by the therm. 98 and 100, in the shade. To avoid 
 this danger, it is only necessary to drink a wine- 
 glass half full of brandy first, and a pint of water 
 immediately after. Thirst is thus safely quenched 
 with much less water than would be necessary 
 without the spirits. 
 
 3rd. Previous to a heavy thunder-storm this 
 morning, a hurricane came on (a common precur- 
 sor) and raised dense clouds of dust, which thick- 
 ened and darkened the horizon, and made all look 
 like London in a dark smoky fog in November;
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 12J 
 
 but when the rain fell, the atmosphere resumed 
 its transparency. During the continuance of the 
 storm, the heat was the greatest ever known here, 
 being 101J in the shade. 
 
 Unnatural prematurity is here very common. 
 Boys look grave, and talk, act, and dress like 
 men, and expect and exact the same treatment as 
 men, though only 12 or 13 years old. 
 
 The poet Bloomfield, Author of The Farmers 
 Boy, has a sister living at Alexandria ; and in its 
 vicinity live two of the ancient family of Fairfax, 
 on immense estates, granted at an early period to 
 a branch of their house, but which, owing to want 
 of management and prudence, are found to be in- 
 sufficient for the support of their several house- 
 holds. 
 
 5th. That prominent want of respect for rule 
 and rulers apparent here, may I think be traced 
 to the disorderly economy of private families. 
 The children are rarely forbidden or punished for 
 wrong doing, being only kindly solicited to do 
 right; nor is strict discipline tolerated in schools. 
 Hence respect and obedience to parents, guard- 
 ians, masters, and governors, is never implanted, 
 or soon eradicated. Authority, in consequence, 
 whether public or private, civil or religious, is nei- 
 ther feared, nor willingly obeyed, through any 
 period of life. 
 
 Sunday, 8th. I heard this morning a Scotch- 
 man, Dr. Laurie, who at the end of every sen-
 
 122 MEMORABLE DAYS [August, 
 
 tence seems to have finished his oration. He ap- 
 peared to me to be a man of but little talent. The 
 psalms in use here would disgrace a school-boy's 
 theme. My first impressions on the subject of 
 religious worship in America are not removed. 
 Religion still appears to me to be a matter little un- 
 derstood and much less regarded than in England. 
 
 Doctor Dawes and Friend Steed. The former 
 has bought a farm of 400 acres of poor land, and 
 no buildings, seven miles from this city, at 10 
 dollars an acre. The latter (Steed) might engage 
 himself at 300 or 400 dollars a year and board. 
 What would they have more? Both, however, are 
 eternally croaking, and write home unfavourable 
 reports. They yet concede to me this fact; 
 namely, that in this country lives a population of 
 several millions, rapidly increasing in an unprece- 
 dented degree, and living (blacks excepted) as a 
 whole, in a state of society and animal ease, greater 
 than in any other country since the world began. 
 My friend Wilson, of Houghton, Hunts, is much 
 mistaken in his statements, in which he endeavours 
 to prove a net annual loss of 146/. in cultivating 
 200 acres of land in America. 
 
 9th. I this day visited Alexandria. When the 
 British invaded it last war, they took away and 
 freighted with flour, tobacco, bacon, and other 
 provisions, 21 vessels from Bermuda and the West 
 Indies. In this port, four miles from Washington, 
 were seen young men of the British navy, all armed
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 123 
 
 against their own fathers and brothers, emigrants 
 quietly settled here. 
 
 John Steed's quaker brother, an emigrant in 
 Pennsylvania, feels satisfied that he is away from 
 England. I received this morning a pressing 
 invitation by post, from John Ingle, my old 
 school-fellow, settled in Indiana only 1,500 miles 
 off me! He feels perfect satisfaction in a new 
 and flourishing settlement. I accept it. 
 
 11M. The attachment of goods here is com- 
 mon in the absence of the body. One state is a 
 refuge for the debtors of another, and this circum- 
 stance constitutes a perpetual inducement to plun- 
 der and migration. The British are much ad- 
 dicted to these practices. They may be followed 
 into other states, but so great is the expense and 
 difficulty of suing such refugees, that it is rarely 
 attempted. The peaches are very small this sea- 
 son, but Mr. Cocker, last year, saw them weigh- 
 ing from 12 to 14 oz. each. 
 
 The Carnmucks of George-town, two brothers 
 from Lincolnshire, came hither two years ago, 
 unable to pay their passage: now, one is buying 
 10 acres of rich land for 800 dollars, paying down 
 500 dollars on account. The other began with a 
 small school, and in three months was able to pay 
 the captain for his passage, and keep himself well, 
 and soon raised money enough to go to the West- 
 ern country. Friend Steed engages himself to 
 Jones and Co. and begins to repent of having
 
 124 MEMORABLE DAYS [August, 
 
 written such deplorable statements against this 
 country. Letters of emigrants and travellers 
 should not be rashly written, because they are 
 shown long after the writer becomes ashamed of 
 them. An emigrant, unable at New York and 
 Baltimore to get employment in his trade, and not 
 to be persuaded to try the towns near, paid his 
 passage this week for England, but first inquired 
 at the news offices for papers stating the number 
 out of employment, which amounts to 1500 fami- 
 lies collected in New York city, all in distress 
 seeking a refuge in Canada. Mr. Perry offered 
 several stone-masons, willing and able to work, to 
 the Pennsylvanian farmers at half a dollar per day, 
 and to keep themselves, but none were wanted. 
 There is no money to pay them with. 
 
 llth. Dined with Mr. Eno, late of Tyd, near 
 Wisbeach, a citizen of the world, a kind-hearted 
 man to emigrants generally, and who preserves 
 entire, for those who call at his tavern, all his 
 original English feelings mixed up with American 
 hospitality. He thinks that few emigrants ever 
 rise above their former stations, or meet with any 
 thing here which should induce them to quit their 
 homes in England ; while the bulk of those who 
 come, both masters and labourers, remain miser- 
 ably poor. " With respect to myself, (says he) if 
 I had a fortune I would live in England > as I have 
 not, I am better off here." 1 gathered from the 
 ground under a tree in his garden, plums half
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 125 
 
 roasted and too hot almost to hold in the hand or 
 mouth, and eating like fruit half baked. Heat 
 96* in the shade. This is a demoralizing climate, 
 and to it may be traced that prominent want of 
 industry and good habits invariably seen and felt 
 in this dissolving warmth. 
 
 Sunday, I 6th. Killing in a duel was last month 
 decided in a court at Halifax, to be no murder, 
 provided the matter was fairly conducted. Thus it 
 is that custom .obtains a power superior to the 
 law, which deems it murder. The law then, thus 
 insulted, had better be expunged from the statute 
 book of British America. Four grand duels 
 have been fought this week near this metropolis 
 by young men of the United States' navy and 
 army, who are always practising, by shooting at 
 targets and other marks. The President, for 
 such crimes as these, has the power to break and 
 disgrace any officer of either army or navy ; but, 
 such is. the power of custom, that he cannot and 
 dare not do it. 
 
 IQth. Picture of the condition of the American 
 people, agricultural and otherwise. Low ease; 
 a little avoidable want, but no dread of any want ; 
 little or no industry ; little or no real capital, nor 
 any effort to create any ; no struggling, no luxury, 
 and, perhaps, nothing like satisfaction or happi- 
 ness ; no real relish of life ; living like store pigs 
 in a wood, or fattening pigs in a stye. All their 
 knowledge is confined to a newspaper, which they
 
 126 MEMORABLE DAYS 
 
 all love, and consists in knowing their natural, 
 and some political rights, which rights in them- 
 selves they respect individually, but often violate 
 towards others, being cold, selfish, gloomy, inert, 
 and with but little or no feeling. The govern- 
 ment is too weak and too like-minded to support 
 and make the laws respected, or to teach the peo- 
 ple justly to appreciate their excellent, but af- 
 fronted constitution. " There are amongst them," 
 says Mr. Ferry, " no materials or seeds of ap- 
 preciation for it. It was by mere accident that 
 they ever had a constitution ; it came not from 
 wise choice or preference. In England only, 
 exists such a preference and real love of liberty. 
 She must continue to be the Great Nation in spite 
 of all her enemies, foreign or domestic, while 
 America, you see, is retrograding and quite un- 
 able of herself to achieve any thing grand. What- 
 ever she does is by instruction and foreign aid, 
 without which she cannot advance. If A, B, C, 
 be taught her, she cannot teach herself D ; yet 
 she possesses the boasting, vain-glorious egotism 
 of all-knowing Europe, although of and in herself, 
 knowing nothing. Almost all Americans are boys 
 in every thing but vice and folly ! In their eyes 
 Uncle Sam is a right slick, mighty fine, smart, big 
 man." 
 
 Great evil results to emigrants from not coup- 
 ling good and evil statements relating to America. 
 Not half the number would come, if they were but
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 127 
 
 properly informed and enlightened. Under such 
 impressions, those who would then come would 
 be generally of the right sort. 
 
 In October, at the fairs in Pennsylvania all is 
 fine, mighty fine, and dashy flashy. The Dutch 
 women then shine and look gay ; but at home are 
 like slaves, living hard, and ploughing all day in 
 the hot field. " More robberies and murders," 
 says Mr. Perry, " are committed in Virginia, than 
 in all England. Whole families are murdered at 
 once, and buried in a hole in the woods, and three 
 or four slaves are wantonly shot and buried at 
 once, when not useful nor marketable. But all 
 this seldom excites any notice, or is much known, 
 in or beyond the neighbourhood. It is indeed 
 good policy to conceal it, as the making it known, 
 it is said, might and does increase the evil. Hu- 
 man life is little valued in America." 
 
 In conformity with my resolution to give an 
 impartial account of all I meet with, I have men- 
 tioned Mr. Perry's statements and impressions, 
 which must, however, I am informed, be received 
 with much caution and qualification; because, 
 though capable of judging, he is not cool and 
 sober enough for unprejudiced, patient, and cor- 
 rect observation, 
 
 19th. I visited the beautiful rural seat and 
 pleasure grounds of the late poet and minister, 
 Joel Barlow, on the heights of George-town. I 
 made many inquiries after this celebrated author
 
 128 , * MEMORABLE DAYS [August* 
 
 of the Columbiad, before 1 could learn when, 
 where, and how he died and was buried ; circum- 
 stances now scarcely known. He. seemed almost 
 forgotten. He died while minister from this coun- 
 try to the court of the Emperor Napoleon, and in 
 pursuing him towards Russia, to obtain the re- 
 moval of decrees against commerce. A tomb, into 
 which I am now looking, was built for him on 
 this estate, but it is still empty. His body was 
 sought for, but, it is said, could not be found. A 
 few graves mark these forlorn domains. 
 - Visited Mr. Simpson, and viewed his English- 
 like farm, about which I had heard much boast- 
 ing, and much about his getting money as fast 
 as he could count it. I saw, however, nothing in 
 the English style but whitethorn quicks, or fen- 
 ces in the English form ; which, though old, were 
 so thin and full of gaps that stock are not kept in 
 without an inner fence of posts and rails. The 
 climate is thought to be unpropitious to the growth 
 of these beautiful and useful ornaments. This 
 estate is the only one on which I have seen the ex- 
 periment tried. Here is a low mean house and a 
 garden in ruins, and a small barn, surrounded by 
 little heaps, (not stacks) ; 60 acres of wheat, 30 of 
 oats, 20 of rye, no sheep, about 15 cow-kine; 
 wheat averages 10, oats 12 to 16, rye 10 to 12 
 bushels an acre. A large English' barn would 
 hold all the grain in the straw, although it is all 
 mowed or cradled. The straw and hay all goes
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 129 
 
 to the city market for the horses of the President 
 and Foreign Ambassador, who pay well for it, and 
 therefore, as the straw is worth almost as much as 
 the grain, little or no manure is made, and the 
 land is of course starved. Turnips, except a 
 patch, are never grown. Such a system wears out 
 the land, and if introduced into England would 
 soon cause famine, or make us dependant on 
 other lands for bread. I saw here a fine Spring 
 dairy; that is to say, a dairy of stone built over 
 a spring of pure cold water continually flowing 
 through, and round it, so that the milk and cream- 
 vessels may stand in water to prevent the butter 
 from turning to stinking oil, which it soon does 
 when exposed to the common atmospheric air. 
 These spring-dairies, and smoke-houses for dry- 
 ing bacon, are indispensable appendages to an 
 American farm. In the evening I sat and smoked 
 segars till bed-time, with this good, kind-hearted 
 man, in a honeysuckle bower, about which were 
 buzzing several humming birds. " You see," 
 said my host, " several large farms around you, 
 not able to maintain even their negroes from the 
 produce, so barbarous is their management ; yet 
 none of the land is so poor as not to bear almost 
 spontaneously, plenty of peaches, cherries, apples, 
 and plums, wherever men or birds plant them.'" 
 
 Zlst. In the navy-yard of this city is now living 
 a free black man, who, together with his wife and 
 a large family, all free, were stolen away from 
 
 K
 
 130 MEMORABLE DAYS [AugUSt, 
 
 their own house in -the dead of the night, and sold 
 into the distant state of Georgia. He alone ma- 
 naged to escape, but the rest have never since 
 been seen or heard of. Such outrages on hu- 
 manity and Christianity provoke no investigation, 
 for Mammon, the supreme deity, must not be af- 
 fronted. It is difficult to believe that a whole 
 family of free-born people, living in the core of a 
 free nation, the freest of the free, could thus fare in 
 the nineteenth century. 
 
 By the papers to-day, I learn that travellers to 
 the west were, last week, publicly assaulted and 
 plundered by hordes of labourers at work on the 
 great western road, who stopped the United 
 States' mail, demanding dollars and guineas from 
 all the travellers, and lifting up their axes to 
 strike all those who refused to deliver up their 
 cash. There is no redress, because on seeking 
 justice, the parties complaining must be bound 
 over to prosecute. But this is inconvenient, and 
 summary justice cannot be had; and therefore 
 the thief escapes with complete impunity. 
 
 The natural soil is never to be made so fruitful 
 as in England, for except in river bottoms, (land, 
 in the valleys of rivers,) it is water-proof, and in- 
 capable of saturation. The rain never soaks in, 
 but runs off as from a duck's back. Dig a spit 
 or two deep, and it is dry and dusty within a few 
 inches of the surface. This dryness contributes 
 to increase the great superabundant heat which is
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 131 
 
 here felt; for the soil reflects and retains the 
 sun's heat, which rises all night, and makes the 
 common air like the breath of an oven ; hence 
 the thermometer falls not, but is stationary night 
 and day in the shade ; these things are not so 
 where the earth can be saturated with rain. The 
 plaster of Paris so much talked of does riot en- 
 rich the soil ; it only kills a destructive species of 
 aninialcula, and insects which prey on the roots of 
 clover and grain. 
 
 The States of New York and Pennsylvania 
 are best for an English farmer of any condition, 
 who cannot live in England ; but, if he can by 
 any honest means make both ends meet, he ought 
 to stay at home, or if he will emigrate, let it not be 
 to the western wilderness of this country, nor to 
 any of the southern states. 
 
 23rd. In a long conversation with several emi- 
 grants, we decided that farms, whether small or 
 great, near cities and good towns in the eastern 
 states, are always to be preferred in point of inte- 
 rest to any in the wilderness or elsewhere. For 
 in them, society is comparatively good, and mar- 
 kets for produce sure in all years, for all that can 
 be raised ; whereas in the west there is no mar- 
 ket, except when England and Europe, (gene- 
 rally at peace with America,) are short of grain. 
 No home market can be expected until they be- 
 come thickly populated. The west is only fit 
 for emigrants of very small means, and large work- 
 
 K 2
 
 132 MEMORABLE DAYS [August, 
 
 ing families ; all workers. Those who, like Dr. 
 Dawes, come here to know that their evils at 
 home were comparatively imaginary and unreal, 
 cannot return too soou. 
 
 I visited and inspected the Doctor's farm, five 
 miles from the city, consisting of 400 acres all in 
 a wild, neglected, exhausted, and abandoned con- 
 dition, but susceptible of regeneration by good 
 management. The soil is deep and of a brown 
 loamy sand, which sparkles like silver ore, or 
 with what the Doctor calls mica. It is so deeply 
 bedded or rooted with sharp sedgy grass, that a 
 yoke of six oxen seems necessary for heaving it 
 the first and second time. He determines on sow- 
 ing it, when fit, with grass-seeds, tares, turnips, 
 and other green crops, but no corn or grain, until 
 he can double the quantity per acre grown by his 
 neighbours. The former proprietor was always 
 unable to support himself and his negroes on this 
 estate; and once, in a half-starved plight, went 
 for food to his neighbour, Mr. Simpson, who sup- 
 plied him with corn-meal. 
 
 Farms and Farming in Maryland and Virginia. 
 
 Ten bushels an acre were here deemed a living 
 profit by some farmers. " For ten years," says 
 Mr. Cocker, " they resisted plaster of Paris and 
 good management, as an innovation by which they 
 conceived the land would be spoiled. At last 
 they were, convinced by starvation, and by seeing,
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 133 
 
 under a better system, 20 or 30 bushels an acre, 
 where once they raised only seven, eight, or ten, 
 without plaster. Mr. Worsley, an English farmer 
 from Lincolnshire, now a first-rate manager in 
 Virginia, has in about 15 years gained 5,0001. by 
 farming, although he began with only 5001. He 
 says he has not introduced the English system, 
 because it is not suited to the climate, which, at 
 best, is unfavourable to agriculture, as instanced 
 in washing rains and forcing heats. The former 
 expose the roots of grain and rob them of the soil ; 
 and the latter draw the plants fast, and make 
 them, particularly if thickly sown, very weak and 
 long, before harvest. It is in consequence laid flat 
 on the surface, and the produce and quality are 
 not half so good and abundant as from a thin 
 standing crop. One bushel and a half of wheat for 
 seed is plenty. Three have been tried ; but far 
 from being any advantage, this additional quan- 
 tity rather injures the crop. Although manure is 
 not so necessary, nor so capable of being used to 
 the same advantage as in England, it is here too 
 much despised. To sell all the hay and straw, 
 when a good price can be obtained, and to buy 
 plaster, is held to be better than manuring, be- 
 cause the plaster is cheap, and there is no labour 
 in using it, and by binding and stiffening loose, 
 light, and hot soils, it protects them against the 
 washing rains." Mr. W. thinks ten bushels of 
 wheat per acre too little for the farmer. Even if
 
 134 MEMORABLE DAYS [AllgUSt, 
 
 it sells at one dollar per bushel, it pays little more 
 than the cost. " Labour," says he, " is quite as 
 costly as in England, whether done by slaves, or 
 by hired whites, and it is also much more trouble- 
 some. Although much of it is not needed, yet 
 more than is done ought to be done. It would 
 pay well, and be money well spent. We give three 
 quarters of a dollar per day, all the year about, ex- 
 cept in harvest, when it is H dollar, or 65. 9d. ster- 
 ling and board. A year in some farming States, such 
 as Pennsylvania, is only of eight months duration, 
 four months being lost to the labourer, who is 
 turned away as an useless animal to starve on a 
 bare common, if he has not laid up for this evil 
 day. Mr. Worsley's land is worth 100 dollars 
 per acre, but has only dead fences and no quicks, 
 or green hedges ; all woven fences. The greatest 
 produce of wheat and corn averages, under the 
 best management, from 1(5 to 20 bushels of wheat 
 20 to 30 of Indian corn Rye, 16 to '20 and 
 barley less than wheat. The system of cropping 
 is, Indian corn or Red Clover, before wheat. The 
 clovers, both white and red, are very abundant, 
 running high up to the breast of a man, but are 
 laid flat by the rains and their own weight of head 
 and leaf, producing in hay two tons per acre. It 
 seems a highly profitable species of produce; for 
 if depastured, it fattens all the cattle and pigs 
 without corn, before winter. Many sheep cannot 
 be kept in summer. Little mutton or wool is
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 135 
 
 wanted, and were they generally marketable, there 
 is no winter food for sheep. Turnips do not pros- 
 per j they cannot be raised so as to attain any 
 size, and if they could, even Swedish turnips, the 
 most hardy of all, would not endure the frosts. 
 All would rot, and the sheep, unless housed and 
 fed, must perish." 
 
 26th. With a large party of ladies and gentle- 
 men I visited the great falls of Potowmac, 15 miles 
 west of Washington. On my way thither I saw 
 no good farms nor farmers, but much land in 
 possession of people, who neither occupy nor 
 wish in anywise to improve it. They farm on a 
 swinish system, and raise from 10 to 15 bushels 
 of Indian corn, and eight to ten bushels of wheat 
 per acre. Poor, indolent farmers! Here I saw 
 plenty of peaches wild, and planted by birds. 
 About the rocky falls of this river all is wild, 
 romantic, savage, and sublime, to a degree beyond 
 my power to describe. Here are pits, or quarries 
 of marble, an infinite supply ! When polished, it is 
 beautifully veined; a dark blue grey, red and 
 black. The capital here finds its majestic pillars. 
 
 Mr. Birkbeck's letter to emigrants landing in 
 the eastern ports, appeared this day in the city 
 Gazette. It^contained little new; only wishing 
 them to examine and judge for themselves be- 
 tween his settlement in Illinois and those in 
 Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. 
 
 Mr. Worsley thinks that the west is the best 
 destination for poor industrious farmers, who will
 
 MEMORABLE DAYS [AllgUSt, 
 
 there live well on their own good land, and encrease 
 its value, but capital is best employed near cities 
 and towns, where there is a certain market. 
 " But/' says Mr. Perry, in reply, " ten acres 
 near New York or Philadelphia, or in such 
 states, are infinitely better for a poor man than 
 hundreds of acres in the west. J know of 60 
 acres at Feversham, in my native Kent, which 
 average 200/. a year net profit, after immense 
 taxes, tithes, and poor rates, are deducted. How 
 much happier must a man be there than in the 
 west, with 2,000 unprofitable acres. You talk 
 of your wild turkeys and your game, but they 
 are not there ; game is more scarce than in Eng- 
 land. No honest answer to inquiries can be had 
 in the west, or elsewhere. All praise and lie, be- 
 cause all wish to sell, and think the inquirer wants 
 to buy." Copmodore Barney admits the truth of 
 Perry's statemepts respecting the country gene- 
 rally. 
 
 30tk. Mr. Birkbeck (in this day's paper) ac- 
 cuses Mr. Cobbett of lending his active pen to eas- 
 tern land speculators, who wish to see Illinois set- 
 tlements in ruin and utterly discarded. Mr. Dunn, 
 however, of this city, says the west is the only 
 country for small capitals and large families, every 
 branch of which shall there fructify, and in due time 
 have each a farm of its own. Surplus produce is 
 marketable enough in the shape of pigs, horses, 
 beeves, and whiskey. The western people can 
 Jjetler afford to sell at half, than the eastern can
 
 1819.] JN AMERICA. 137 
 
 at whole price, because they grow double the 
 quantity per acre, and there is a rapidly encreas- 
 ing population. The western market is New 
 Orleans, and that only. It is 1,500 miles from 
 Illinois; the produce is sent down the Ohio 
 and Mississipi. A supercargo, or the owner of it, 
 must go with it to sell it, or the farmer is perhaps 
 cheated out of all, or at best sells at an incalcu- 
 lable loss. A ship's cargo, or Yankee speculation 
 to that city, is sometimes composed of iron coffins, 
 or nests of coffins filled with shoes, so accommo- 
 dating both the living and the dead. 
 
 Grasshoppers, so called, but in fact a species of 
 locust about the length of my little finger, swarm 
 in countless millions all over this and the conti_ 
 guous states, where oats and other crops are some- 
 times cut unripe to prevent their being devoured 
 by these almost worse than Egyptian locusts. They 
 hop, jump, and fly from about six to ten feet from 
 the ground, and devour every green thing above and 
 below. Ahatleftin the field was devoured in a night. 
 Their wings and trunks are beautifully colored. 
 On their rising from the surface they frequently 
 strike my nose. In all the plain round this city 
 they leave scarcely a blade of grass. It now looks 
 as rusty and dusty as a ploughed field, the grass 
 being eaten down to the very roots. The intel- 
 ligent Mr. Adams says, that when he was survey- 
 ing the territory on the Michigan, and other Lakes, 
 flies were seen falling in clouds, and lay dead and
 
 .138 MEMORABLE DAYS [Sept. 
 
 stinking on the land nearly knee-deep. What fine 
 manure! But how offensive to the Pharaohs of 
 the country ! By the papers to-day, I see that 
 Miss Courtney, the daughter of an emigrant in 
 Mr. Birkbeck's settlement, was killed in a few 
 hours by the bite of a huge spider, such as I saw in 
 Carolina, scattering thousands of eggs in my path. 
 It seized the unfortunate lady on her forehead ; no 
 cure could be had of the Indian, or other doctors. 
 Her head swelled to an enormous size, and after 
 her death was livid all over. The herb called the 
 Plantago is said to be a remedy, if applied in time. 
 The west country mail and travellers are now 
 repeatedly stopped and robbed by parties of men 
 at work on the Philadelphia road, who will not 
 suffer any person to proceed until plundered. 
 
 3rd. Lord Selkirk, while here, always deemed 
 it expedient and politic to travel in the disguise of 
 a poor man, to prevent his becoming a daily prey 
 to tavern imposition and wild outlawed thieves. 
 This mode is wise in any man moving in and 
 through a wild country. His Lordship's settle- 
 ment, so very near his heart, is said to be in ruins, 
 and a constant prey to the Indians, excited against 
 it by the north-west company, although he honour- 
 ably paid the barbarians for their land. Murder, 
 and acts amounting to civil war, have been com- 
 mitted on both sides and by all parties. 
 
 Sunday, bth. 1 left this city on an agricultural 
 tour into the states of Maryland and Virginia. I
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 139 
 
 was accompanied by Mr. Dunn, the friendly ser- 
 jeant-at-arms to Congress, who felt kindly anxious 
 that I should see and know his list of friends. We 
 travelled on horseback, resting the first night at 
 Squire Simpson's. We visited Mr. Webb, who 26 
 years since came here a London mechanic, and 
 bought 500 acres of poor land, which he has but 
 little improved, getting only from six to ten bushels 
 of wheat per acre. He thinks plaster of Paris, 
 without manure, of no real service on poor, worn- 
 out land. Plaster is found to operate on land by 
 attracting dew. More dew is always seen in 
 plants and grain growing on plastered fields. The 
 dew palpably shews where the plaster has been 
 used, and the land is cooled by it. Mr. Webb, the 
 father of a family, feels well satisfied that America 
 is the country for a poor and industrious man. 
 
 Farming. A gentleman of considerable pro- 
 perty plastered and clovered three years succes- 
 sively, without either mowing or depasturing. The 
 whole produce of the land was suffered to grow 
 and rot, and at the end of the third year, it was 
 ploughed and sown with wheat, and yielded thirty- 
 five bushels per acre. This was a novelty in 
 farming, and too expensive an experiment for far- 
 mers. Droves of cattle are bred in the southern 
 and western back-settlements, and sold to the 
 graziers on the Potowmac at one dollar per head, 
 and in a year after to the butcher at from 10 to 
 15 dollars, who in his turn makes 30 dollars, so
 
 140 MEMORABLE DAYS [Sept. 
 
 gaining 100 per cent on the cost. I cannot but 
 doubt the correctness of this statement, although it 
 seems to come from good authority. It appears 
 improbable to an Englishman, who never sells a 
 calf at a week old, under 4 dollars or 5 dollars. 
 Webb and Simpson, both Englishmen, think that 
 10 bushels of wheat an acre, gives a living profit, 
 and feel well assured that estates with, or near 
 a market, are infinitely better than the western 
 country, which they contend is without a market. 
 " We saw," say they, " two men who had returned, 
 preferring 100 acres of poor land, like ours, to 
 500 in 'the west, where there was no market, nor 
 money to be had or made. Even in the east, 
 where land is far off a market, or inconveniently 
 situated, it is not worth half so much as it would 
 otherwise be. The produce cannot be carried io 
 market, when most wanted in the winter. 
 
 6th. I reached and slept at Harper's Ferry, 
 where is Uncle Yarn's grand central depot of arms 
 and ammunition. I visited the armoury, which is a 
 magnificent establishment, replete with all that is 
 necessary for the destruction of the human family. 
 Here also is a manufactory of arms, conducted 
 on the most scientific principles, and abounding 
 with almost every species of ingenious machinery, 
 worked by steam, and supplied by water running 
 from the mountains near, and carried to the top of 
 the buildings, which, together with the town on 
 the banks of the river, stand in a fortification of
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 141 
 
 rocks. The traveller enters Harper's Ferry by a 
 steep declivity of two miles, so rugged, that I ex- 
 pected we should all break our necks. The 
 southern bank opposite to the town is perpendi- 
 cularly higher than the ball of St. Paul's cathe- 
 dral, and on it are growing huge forest trees, which 
 are cut and tumbled down this awful precipice, 
 and floated down the Potowmac. The romantic 
 and stupendous scenes of nature are here unri- 
 valled. No traveller should return from America 
 without seeing Harper's Ferry, which is very well 
 sketched by the late president Jefferson in his 
 Notes on Virginia. I ought to mention, that I 
 dined this day with Mr. Marlow, a kind-hearted 
 sociable gentleman, living out of society between 
 two huge mountains, the Chotocton and the Blue 
 Mountain, and losing the sun daily three quarters 
 of an hour sooner than other places in the neigh- 
 bourhood. He purchased his present estate, all 
 of fine land, save the mountain land, 300 acres, at 
 20 dollars an acre, about three years since, and is 
 now offered 60 dollars for it, but it is falling in 
 value. It is all in a state of cultivation and en- 
 closed, and is the third purchase on which 
 he has lived awhile and improved for sale ; 
 having thus gained 25,000, or 30,000 dollars, 
 without a cent to begin with. He thinks highly 
 of Illinois and the western states generally, but 
 considers Missouri to be the best, and to be pre-
 
 142 MEMORABLE DAYS [Sept- 
 
 ferred, as being the richest soil, and a land of ne- 
 groes. -"There," says he, " the market is good 
 and certain, and produce may be taken down the 
 Mississipi, to New Orleans and the eastern parts, 
 as cheaply as I can get mine to Washington, Bal- 
 timore, or Philadelphia, for I have to pay half a 
 dollar a barrel for 80 miles only, and the farmers 
 of the west can send it 2,000 miles for six dollars.' 
 Mr. Mailow gains nothing by cultivation merely, 
 but by making improvements, and by the en- 
 creased value of land, one third of which he al- 
 ways keeps ia wood, or rather uncleared, and 
 deems that part the most valuable. 
 
 7th. I visited and spent the night with Mr. 
 Worsjey, a first-rate practical farmer and grazier, 
 late of Lincolnshire. He owns a fine farm, 
 in a Maryland valley, of 350 acres, which 13 
 years ago he bought at 20 dollars an acre, but 
 which is now worth 60 dollars. It has averaged 
 yearly, exclusive of a good living, a net gain of 
 600 dollars by cultivation only. He finds 40 
 miles from a market of no importance, as the 
 carrying is done when men and horses have 
 nothing else to do. He is also paid for the car- 
 riage, and brings in return plaster, for which he 
 must otherwise have gone empty ; or if he pre- 
 ferred it, he might sell his grain to a neighbouring 
 miller at a city price, only allowing the miller for 
 the carriage to the city : " My expenses," says
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 143 
 
 he, " on an acre of wheat, amount to 12 dol- 
 lars, and it has always averaged 22 dollars, or 
 23 dollars at market, so netting near 100 per 
 cent. I have always 150 acres in grain and corn, 
 100 in clover, and 100 in wood, the latter of 
 which is worth, to sell, 150 dollars an acre, but 
 that must remain as indispensable to a farm with- 
 out any green hedges. I consider green clover 
 crops in value equal to grain, when fattening 
 beasts and pigs pays well. This dry year, the 
 four-years old beasts, which cost in, as stores, 35 
 dollars a-head, will sell out only for the same 
 money; a sad loss. All my time, keep, and 
 labour are wasted on them." I saw his herd of 
 swine, 100 in number; some fat, others only half 
 fat, all fed in clover only, and generally fat 
 enough for market in the autumn, but never fit for 
 his own use ; corn being necessary to make them 
 firm and fit for smoking into hams. This herd 
 seems now just fat enough for London porkers; 
 the citizens not desiring it thoroughly fat. Viewed 
 and examined the threshing floor, where 50 bushels 
 a day of wheat are trodden out by five or six oxen, 
 and a horse amongst them, and three or four men 
 to brush them up and shake off the straw, and 
 keep on a supply of fresh grain. The men drink, 
 and " muzzle not the ox which treadeth out the 
 corn." 
 
 Both man and beast seem to know and do their
 
 144 MEMORABLE DAYS [Sept. 
 
 business well. Mr, Worsley keeps five male 
 negroes all the year round, and in harvest five 
 extra hands, a fortnight only. Clover sown in 
 wheat or rye in March, is frequently mown in 
 great abundance after the grain is off: such is the 
 richness of the soil and climate, that two tons an 
 acre are often thus gotten. It runs up high as the 
 waist of a man, and pigs are fattened on it besides ; 
 thus are two crops, one of wheat, and the other of 
 clover, both gathered from the same field in the 
 same year. Mr. Worsley says, " I would not 
 have Dr. Dawes's land as a gift, if I must be con- 
 fined to live on and out of it. Mr. Simpson has 
 saved but little money, not half so much as he 
 ought; on good land, with his industry and skill, 
 he must have been worth ten times as much money 
 as he is." But he is hospitable, and keeps open 
 house to all, and he is never without visitors. 
 When the British burned the city, the ladies fled 
 to him. 
 
 Mr. Worsley began with 100J. borrowed 90QL, 
 had some with his wife, and is now worth 30,000 
 dollars. He was always a working, economical 
 man, spending nothing, selling every thing, and 
 turning all to some good account. Dr. Franklin's 
 theory is Worsley's practice : 
 
 tl ./Mi! ' " I.:::; 
 
 " Get what you can, and what you get hold ; 
 
 That is the stone which turns lead into gold."
 
 1819,] IN AMERICA. 145 
 
 Cost of one acre of Cropping on Mr. Worsley's 
 good farm : 
 
 Dollars. Cents. 
 
 Rent .2 
 
 Taxes 9 
 
 Seed Wheat 1 50 
 
 Ploughing by hire 3 
 
 Reaping or cradling .... 2 
 
 Carting and threshing .... 2 50 
 
 Carting to mill near home . . 1 
 
 1 bushel of plaster, at 60 cents 1 
 
 13 9 
 
 The average price and quantity 18 bushels at 
 1 dollar 25 cents. 
 
 Dollars. Cents. 
 
 22 50 
 13 9 
 
 9 41 
 
 Net profit on one acre of wheat which is raised 
 without a year's naked fallow. 
 
 Got 500 dollars by pigs last year, and some- 
 times more. 
 
 Proved a net gain of 1 30/. a-year, and a good 
 living for family, during 13 years. 
 
 The first cost of the farm, 360 acres, and stock- 
 ing 9,300 dollars. 
 
 Present stock and cash 6,000. 
 
 3,000 capital for seven years. 7 
 
 ,. _ . > employed. 
 
 3,000 ditto for six years. j
 
 146 MEMORABLE DAYS [Sept. 
 
 8th. I moved on to the seat and pleasant farm- 
 house of Johnson, Esq. a young gentleman 
 
 married to a delicate young lady of taste and 
 amiable manners. Mr. Johnson lives in capital 
 style in a house of stone, the labour only of which 
 cost 3,000 dollars, on a large estate near the Sugar- 
 loaf mountain. It was left him by his father, and 
 contains mines of iron and a foundry, very profit- 
 able. " I travelled," said he, " through the wes- 
 tern country by Kentucky, Ohio, and Tenessee, 
 seven years since, but saw nothing to induce me 
 to leave the eastern states. It is there impos- 
 sible to turn produce into cash when wanted: 
 no market but distant Orleans. Produce is sur- 
 rendered to enterprizing men, as they are called, 
 on the rivers, but who frequently prove to be 
 thieves ; for if the boat is stove in, or markets 
 are bad or dull, there are no returns; you hear 
 no more of either produce or the boat-men. Com- 
 panies and steam-boats' folks are safer to entrust 
 it with. To go yourself to market is impossible, 
 for while selling one crop, you would lose the 
 time for raising another. This impediment to the 
 success of capitalists in the west, is likely long to 
 continue, or to remove only slowly. The west is 
 only fit at present for a father who has many sons 
 whom he wishes to settle on estates of their own, 
 and who will be able to live there, but not in 
 eastern comfort and respectability. I know many 
 men of capital tempted to sell out in the east and
 
 1819.1 IN AMERICA. 147 
 
 purchase largely and settle down in the west, but 
 who continued there only a short time, being right 
 glad to sell out with loss and re-purchase their 
 old eastern estates, or others at a considerable 
 advance." 
 
 Mr. Johnson thinks these are good arguments 
 in favour of the east, with which he is satisfied, 
 and that satisfaction he gained by seeing the west. 
 Mr. Johnson, now only 32, was then gay and 
 young, and the west has been ever since improv- 
 ing ; several farmers having made fortunes trebling 
 and quadrupling their first capitals by purchasing. 
 
 " West country hospitality," says Mr. Johnson, 
 " is most abundant, and is well exemplified in the 
 conduct of many of the most respectable settlers, 
 towards a stranger who was waylaid and robbed 
 of 3,000 dollars. On making it known, colonels, 
 majors, captains, and lieutenants, all as one man, 
 instantly armed without fee or reward, and scour- 
 ing the country round for many miles, overtook 
 and seized the robber, and recovered all the cash 
 for the overjoyed stranger." 
 
 [ noticed to-day, that at lone houses a little out 
 of society, the children all rushed to the doors to 
 gaze upon us, and with a fixed, wild, staring 
 eye, seemed to say : We have never seen such 
 strangers before in this world. 
 
 Qth. Being now in the neighbourhood of his 
 excellency the president's country seat, or farm- 
 house, the patrimony of his family, I find that his 
 
 L 2
 
 148 MEMORABLE DAYS [Sept 
 
 neighbours are rejoicing because his excellency, 
 on corning here last week, was arrested three 
 times in one week by neighbours whom he ought 
 to have paid long ago ; the debts being money 
 borrowed on his estates. He has long been under 
 private pecuniary embarrassments, and offered 
 all his estates for sale in order to discharge the 
 demands of his creditors. 
 
 I reached the elegant farm mansion and table 
 of Colonel Thomas, to dine. Here I found many 
 interesting sons and daughters, who, together 
 with their sire and mother, seemed full of good- 
 will and generous hospitality to me, a stranger. 
 The colonel has two farms, one of 600, and the 
 other of 300 acres ; bought 30 years since at two 
 guineas an acre, all fine land, which averages 
 from 20 to 25 bushels of wheat per acre: one 
 dollar a bushel is a fair price if mechanics were 
 reasonable in their charges. Some of them soon 
 get fortunes: " On my farm of 300 acres,'* says 
 he, " I give to my steward one sixth of the pro- 
 duce raised, which to him is from 500 to 600 
 dollars annually, besides land for hemp and flax, 
 a cow, and all the poultry he likes to raise. I 
 think fanning a slow way of getting money, except 
 where the family are all workers, and live econo- 
 mically on bacon, potatoes, and sour skim milk, 
 as do many farmers of Dutch extraction. But 
 the children so raised, when they get the property 
 into their own hands, generally spend it faster than
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 149 
 
 it was gotten. I feel myself but little richer by 
 the boasted increased value of land while I keep 
 it. It maintained me at first, it only does so now : 
 housekeeping expenses for a genteel family have 
 increased in proportion, and, indeed, more than 
 either land or produce. I however prefer farm- 
 ing, because it is a certain independence. I think 
 highly of plaster of Paris and management, and 
 plough my land more than once for wheat." 
 
 The colonel has relatives in Illinois doing well, 
 and well pleased, and who took good capitals, and 
 workmen, and mechanics, and implements for 
 building first-rate houses. He thinks the west 
 the best country; the land there increases so fast 
 in value. " My store-bill," says he, " is here 
 6,000 dollars a year." 
 
 I bade farewell to the colonel, who desired 
 that I would visit his western friends, and report 
 of them, and re-visit him on my return. 
 
 10th. Supped and slept at New Town with 
 Mr. M'Gill, a venerable and highly respectable 
 merchant, who knows that farmers have made 
 large fortunes quickly, where disposed to economy 
 and industry. Still, many of the Virginians have 
 spent all as fast as it came, indulging in all manner 
 of luxury and excess ; giving their children most 
 expensive educations, which never turned to any 
 account, as they afterwards all sat down on small 
 plantations. Colonel Thomas (says he) has saved 
 much and spent liberally too, although he talks
 
 150 MEMORABLE DAYS [Sept. 
 
 to you of money being made slowly by farming. 
 Bacon, potatoe, and bonny claber fanners (Ger- 
 mans) have become invariably rich by cultivating. 
 On farms of 300 acres each, 100 is in wood, 100 
 in corn and rye, for the support of the farm and es- 
 tablishment, and 100 is in wheat, clear gain, which 
 might be put into the pocket every year. Twenty- 
 three thousand dollars capital is necessary for 
 every farm of 300 acres in this fruitful valley, and 
 about 10 per cent, profit on such capital is realized 
 where good management exists. He thinks highly 
 of the west, and feels anxious for the success of 
 Mr. Birkbeck's settlement. He must enrich him- 
 self, family, and followers by the increasing value 
 of land, and that without cultivating an acre, if he 
 does but retain the title-deeds in his own hands. 
 He feels sure that land on the Miami of the lakes 
 is fine and desirable for settlers, especially when 
 the canal from New York thence shall be finished, 
 and deems settlements on the Missouri flourishing 
 and inviting. Mr. M'Gill is of Scotch extraction, 
 and is a kind-hearted, well-informed man. 
 
 \\th. I dined, supped, and slept with Mr. T. 
 Hillery, a water-miller and planter of the most 
 complete kind, occupying two large plantations, 
 one rich, and the other poor, worn-out land. On 
 the former he gets from 35 to 40 bushels of wheat 
 an acre; on the latter poor land from two to five 
 bushels : he averages 25. He is satisfied with five 
 bushels for the first few years. The poor land he
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 151 
 
 bought at six dollars an acre, but is sure of greatly 
 increasing its value, although he shall gain nothing 
 but rather lose by cultivation, for on 500 acres he 
 could not support his family. Mr. Hillery is a 
 man of large capital, enterprizing habits, and great 
 industry; being always in the mill or the field, at 
 work from sun-rise to sun-set. He is one of a 
 large family of sons, who are all settled in a similar 
 way : their father, in great agricultural riches 
 and eminence, is still living. A poor man, (he 
 says,) must never buy poor land ; he must go to 
 the west ; but he is convinced that the east is the 
 best for the present employment of capital, which 
 cannot be invested with advantage in the west, 
 unless the farmer is a trader also. Then he may 
 succeed, but not by cultivating alone ; there being 
 no market there except New Orleans, where, if 
 produce can be sold, it is found not to be worth 
 raising. He has seen several who have returned, 
 preferring the eastern states : he never felt any 
 desire to emigrate, but means to visit the west for 
 the purpose of seeing and judging, and buying 
 estates for each of his children, in such parts as 
 are likely to become the most inviting to, and lie 
 in the channel of emigration. The poor man, if 
 any body, must be the pioneer in the western 
 regions. He showed me what he called his fine 
 large ears of wheat, which are of the white and 
 red bearded species, not half the length of the 
 English, nor so fine and large in the kernel and
 
 MEMORABLE DAYS [Sept. 
 
 quality. Mr. Hillery thinks well of plaster, but 
 by experience proves that it will not act bene- 
 ficially on poor, worn-out land without manure, 
 Its good effects are evident enough in suitable 
 land, so as to discover to an inch where it is 
 own. On clover the cattle will eat the pasture 
 bare where plaster has been sown ; but if a spot 
 has been missed, they leave that untasted, and 
 never touch it. It is seen to produce abundant 
 dew, and is thought .to contain alum and to stiffen 
 the soil, so as in time to destroy all vegetative 
 power. It is suitable only for light, warm soil. 
 Rethinks that ten per cent on capital or four per 
 cent in addition to comniQii interest is not gene- 
 rally made by cultivation, even on good land with 
 good management; but if liberal housekeeping is 
 taken into account on such improved soils, which 
 it is not customary to do, that a profit of 15 per 
 cent has been, is, or may be obtained. Wheat is 
 now only 36 cents or less than eighteen pence ster- 
 ling a bushel, and unsaleable at that or any other 
 price at Buffalo state, New York. The distance 
 from market makes it so. 
 
 Milling and Millers. Mr. Hillery, who owns 
 a most complete grist and saw-mill, worked by 
 water, buys no wheat, but has more of his own 
 and of his neighbours', than he can grind. He 
 takes the tenth for toll. He finds it almost im- 
 possible to get a careful, faithful miller at 500 
 dollars, or 1 \-2.l. a year !
 
 18I9.J IN AMERICA. 153 
 
 Sunday, Vlth. Last evening 1 re-appeared in the 
 Federal City, after spending a week in that beauti- 
 ful fruitful vale, 40 miles long, and seven broad, 
 partly in Maryland and partly in Virginia, and the 
 only fertile spot, north of Carolina, which I have 
 yet seen. Here I found much information, real 
 hospitality, honesty, great good will, genuine ur- 
 banity, and friendship, accompanied by wealth and 
 independence. I was pressed to return and revisit 
 these squires and farmers on some future day, and 
 spend weeks with them. For this kindness 1 am 
 indebted to my friend Mr. Dunn, to whom it 
 would give me pleasure, if this page should bear 
 my grateful remembrances. 
 
 f I saw a fine apple-tree, full of fruit, evidently 
 planted, as are many other choice trees, by the 
 hand of nature. 
 
 14/. "Aristocrats," says my friend Mr. Elliott, 
 "are breeding fast in America: no men in the world 
 are more aristocratical than the heads of depart- 
 ments ; they spurn, and cannot even speak to, 
 common men, unless it be to purchase popularity 
 cheaply. Four ranks variegate this demoralizing 
 country, (i. e.) the heads of departments, clerks 
 in office, merchants and traders, and the lower 
 orders. The third named are considered much 
 below the first, yet above the second, and are 
 therefore treated with more respect than the clerks 
 under government, who are mere slaves, dependent 
 and removable at pleasure without explanation.
 
 154 MEMORABLE DAYS [Sept. 
 
 There are already nobility in existence in the 
 Cincinnati society and military schools." 
 
 " Our great orator, Randolph, is an orator of 
 nature," says Mr. Jones, " and half an Indian. 
 He was once sneered at in the house on account 
 of his pedigree. He smartly replied, and boasted 
 of being descended, by his mother's side, from an 
 Indian princess and a Mr. Smith, an English 
 gentleman, an early settler in Virginia, who was 
 taken prisoner by the Indians, and about to be 
 offered up a sacrifice to their gods ; but at the 
 moment when the fatal tomahawk was raised to 
 destroy him, this princess stepped forward and 
 prevented the dreadful blow. He immediately 
 married his preserver." 
 
 15th. In the Michigan territory, on the borders 
 of the lakes, in July last, flies, thick as swarms 
 of bees on a bough, covered the face of the earth, 
 and for six days darkened the sun, moon, and 
 stars, making the air noisome and pestilential. 
 The sides and ends of houses on which the sun 
 shone not, were blackened by them. They seemed 
 to lose their skin daily and die by millions every 
 minute: cattle, swine, and the Indians, feed on 
 them luxuriously. Their length is three inches, 
 with the feelers which protrude from both head 
 and tail. Corn fields and large boughs of trees 
 were broken down by their weight. Mr. Adams, 
 two years before, saw the same phenomenon. 
 They are nondescripts in natural history, but
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 155 
 
 called by the French settlers of the neighbour- 
 hood Mosquito Hawks, as they feed upon mos- 
 quitoes and drive them away. 
 
 Intending on the morrow to leave this city, on 
 a tour through some of the northern states border- 
 ing on the lakes, and from thence by the falls of 
 the Niagara to the western country, I advertised 
 in the National Intelligencer for a travelling com- 
 panion, but not finding any offers agreeable to me, 
 I determined on starting unaccompanied. Two 
 or three kind introductory letters were put into 
 my hands by Messrs. Adams, Elliott, and Dunn, 
 to his Excellency Jonathan Jennings, governor of 
 the state of Indiana, Major Hooper of Hamilton, 
 N. Y., and Jacob Lowndes, Esq., the prison phil- 
 anthropist, the Howard of America. 
 
 16th. At six, a. m., 1 started for Philadelphia 
 and New York ; and in the Delaware river, passed 
 a packet-ship from London, brimful of emigrants. 
 
 18lh. I passed king Joseph Bonaparte's palace 
 on the banks of the Delaware on the Jersey side, 
 and many other delightful farms, houses, villas, 
 and villages, with fruitful and extensive salt and 
 fresh marshes, and meadows full of hay-stacks, 
 just such as are seen in Lincolnshire and Norfolk, 
 having the sea ready to burst in and over them, 
 and inclosed by water ditches, as in the fens of 
 England. At noon I landed for the first time at 
 the beautiful and justly famed city of New York. 
 
 Elegant hackney coaches were in attendance on
 
 156 MEMORABLE DAYS [Sept. 
 
 the wharfs, and took us to the Washington Hall, 
 the second best hotel in this city, where we dined 
 at a long public table, groaning under the weight 
 of luxuries. The company seemed of the first and 
 best grade, principally boarders and visitors from 
 the southern states. All seemed hungry and 
 thirsty, and as if living only to eat and drink. 
 
 After dinner I took a hasty walk about the city, 
 which seemed all bustle and confusion. It was 
 like Michaelmas or Lady-day in England; at 
 every door, in almost every street, carts and wag- 
 gons were seen lading or laden, removing furni- 
 ture, merchandize, and men from the city to the 
 country. Stores and offices, and firms were closed, 
 or only doing business as if by stealth. But why 
 all this? The yellow fever was raging and turning 
 citizens out of doors into the grave ; and on dis- 
 covering that one gentleman lay sick of it at our 
 Hall, we determined on quitting the city and re- 
 pairing to Philadelphia next morning. 
 
 I saw the once celebrated Aaron Burr, a little 
 lean, pale, withered, shabby looking, decayed, 
 grey-headed old gentleman, whose name is too well 
 known in transatlantic history to need my notice. 
 I saw also in court, but very indistinctly, Mr. Em- 
 niett, the distinguished lawyer, and long-persecut- 
 ed Irish refugee, the companion of Sampson, 
 whose life and sorrows have been recently written 
 in this city. All our plans were disconcerted by 
 this dreadful fever, and we therefore left this at
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 157 
 
 six in the morning after a stay of only nineteen 
 hours in this great mart for all America. 
 
 20/A. This day, 1 dined at Judd's hotel, Phila- 
 delphia. I talked long with friend Edward Wilson, 
 a rich English quaker and one of the best men I 
 have seen in Pennsylvania. He was a refugee 
 from Northamptonshire, and by trading in the im- 
 portation of British goods, has become opulent. I 
 was twice invited to dine with him, but could not. 
 
 " Though there is some distress here," says he, 
 " there is room for all, masters and labourers, in 
 agriculture ; but I cannot advise people, who are 
 comfortable in England, to come here, unless they 
 can appreciate the advantages arising to their 
 children and posterity generally. Fathers and 
 mothers should expect to sacrifice themselves for 
 their children. The rage for speculation has 
 ruined many, farmers not excepted, who purchased 
 lands now not worth half the cost. The banks 
 are the sources of that ruin ; but as they are nui- 
 sances fast removing, trade, though as bad, or 
 worse than in England, will soon become better. 
 Those farmers and merchants who have been pru- 
 dent, are either rich or well to do. There are not 
 above four houses in Philadelphia able to import 
 goods into it. I am declining the business myself, 
 it being far better to do no business than to do it 
 unsafely. As to slave states, if I were blind, I 
 could tell when I was entering any of them. I 
 can smell them ; the moral air is putrid. Ma-
 
 158 MEMORABLE DAYS [Sept. 
 
 nagement and every thing else tells a slave state. 
 The beautiful small rich favourite farms with com- 
 plete houses and offices on them, all of stone, 
 with the mail road and river Delaware in front, 
 sold this summer at 85 dollars an acre, though 
 worth 100 dollars. They average 25 bushels of 
 wheat per acre, and sometimes produce 40 bushels. 
 Your Mr. Long from Lincolnshire, and others, 
 have bought excellent lands in Pennsylvania 
 within 40 miles of this city, and nearer other mar- 
 kets, with all improvements, cleared and inclosed, 
 havingcomplete house and buildings, at only 1 5 and 
 18 dollars an acre, the cost only of the buildings, 
 or perhaps only of the fence, but which land three 
 years ago sold at 60 dollars an acre. One dollar 
 a bushel here is a living profit, and better than two 
 in England. Mr. Long, though of an unsettled 
 turn, has bought his land well and must do well. 
 He has waited long, though not in vain. There 
 is much fine land in and all over the eastern states, 
 particularly in this state, and in New York, to be 
 bought well (as much must be sold by the sheriff) 
 and with a fine market for every kind of produce, 
 and not in a slave state. The western-country 
 labourers return here, unable to get paid in any 
 way for their work, it being impossible to sell, any 
 where or at any price, the wheat which they re- 
 ceive in lieu of cash. One poor fellow, after thresh- 
 ing a month, returned quite unable to sell his 
 share or bring it away ; and if the farmer has 20
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 159 
 
 miles to carry it to the river, it is not worth his 
 while to grow it, for no money can be had for it, 
 but goods only, which he must receive at the 
 vendor's own price, and in like manner his pro- 
 duce. All is done by barter. I know several 
 whom I advised not to go westward, now repent- 
 ing and unable to raise ten dollars. They have 
 lost much by lending, and by the reduction of 
 their lands, which are now, though much improved, 
 unsaleable, or if saleable, at immense loss. My 
 partner's father (an Englishman) had 17,000 dol- 
 lars, when a few years since he went into the wil- 
 derness, but now is lie indeed a repenting man, 
 unable to raise or borrow ten dollars on or from 
 his estate." 
 
 22ftrf. " Young men in trade," says Mr. War- 
 dour, " and clerks from England, had better stay 
 at home, or if here, return home immediately." 
 Fifty passengers returned last week from this city 
 to England and Ireland. He conceives that no 
 accurate calculations have yet been made to prove 
 what are the profits in agriculture. He knows 
 that the rent of his purchase does not net above 
 three per cent, on the capital employed, though 
 situated so near to Philadelphia and with a man- 
 sion upon it. Both Wardour and Wilson have 
 great numbers of emigrants passing through their 
 hands, and establish many well. They send la- 
 bourers to masters, and advise them to begin a job 
 without a bargain; for, if good for any thing and
 
 160 MEMORABLE DAYS [Sept. 
 
 steady, they are sure to be remunerated in the east, 
 and treated with more respect and equality than 
 people coming from old countries can form an idea 
 of. It is true that many men labour during the 
 winter for their food, lodging, washing, &c. 
 
 I met a Pennsylvanian farmer in the steam-boat, 
 who states that plenty of labourers were to be had, 
 all the harvest, at half a dollar per day and board. 
 There were many more than could be employed. 
 Much distress is therefore expected in the coming 
 winter through excess of labourers. Messieurs 
 Price, Krugg, Wardour, and Wilson, all distinct 
 firms and personages, agree in opinion and evi- 
 dence that the eastern states are the best for the 
 employment of capital; yet they partially admit 
 that New Orleans will or may be a market, a grand 
 emporium for the western wilderness. Ships go 
 there to buy produce; but, Mr. Wardour says, 
 why should men of capital go to settle there, while 
 fine cleared and improved land in the east, with 
 every possible advantage can be bought any where,' 
 for the money it costs in fencing and enclosing. 
 Western land must be enclosed and cleared, and 
 at a much greater expense than the eastern, and 
 then after all be without a market for surplus pro- 
 duce, or purchasers for the land and its improve- 
 ments. Lands, even in the old and thickly settled 
 state of Kentucky, are so depressed in price and 
 so unsaleable, that a dollar cannot be raised upon 
 or from them. Living is uncommonly cheap ;
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 161 
 
 fowls 9s. sterling per dozen, and every thing in 
 proportion. Housekeeping is cheaper by 100 per 
 cent., and 30 per cent, for a genteel family, than at 
 Philadelphia. Mr. R. Flower, in a recent letter, 
 says that female servants and others are much 
 wanted, as well as mechanics of all sorts. The 
 females 'of every description have nearly all got 
 married or engaged. 
 
 24tk. 1 returned to Washington city this day, 
 after a journey of about 700 miles, during which 
 I saw many situations inviting to emigrants both 
 in Pennsylvania and in other states on the banks 
 of rivers ; but little or no good land elsewhere. 
 
 I feel some regret on quitting the purer air, the 
 fairer scenes and better tables of Pennsylvania 
 and New York, where, at almost every meal, rich 
 and precious fruits garnished the ever tempting 
 table, and sharpened the failing appetite. At 
 Philadelphia I thought the roasted beef equal to 
 that of Old England, and every thing at Judd's 
 good hotel, fair, sweet, and cleanly, just what an 
 Englishman loves, and deems indispensable to his 
 comfort. 
 
 I am forcibly struck every where with the pro- 
 minent boldness and forwardness of American 
 children, who seem unabashed, manly, and conver- 
 sable, because they are always, from early life, in- 
 troduced to all strangers at home or abroad. They 
 fear nothing, care for nothing, and never blush, 
 
 M
 
 162 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 but think themselves to be all-knowing men and 
 women, never to be slighted or affronted with im- 
 punity. 
 
 Sunday, October 3rd. By mutual agreement, a 
 band of philosophers, last evening, met to smoke 
 me off to the western wilderness; and smoke 
 we did till one o'clock this morning, when they 
 escorted me to, and saw me safely packed in 
 Uncle Sams western mail, and bade me a hearty 
 farewell for three months. Thus, with some re- 
 gret, left 1 city, summer, and civilization behind 
 me, as much from a wish to be faithful to my 
 promise, as to see, hear, and know. My eyes 
 and ears, indeed, begin to feel something akin to 
 satiety; but I had engaged, and solemnly vowed, 
 to the faithful patriarch, that [ would travel 3,000 
 miles to visit his well-beloved son in Indiana, if 
 he, the father, would continue my steward at 
 White Hall during my absence. Three thousand 
 miles is nothing of a journey here ; and now seated 
 and well shaken together with one of Uncle Sam's 
 high sheriffs, a gentlemanly colonel, and other 
 passengers, all very sociable, I move along gaily. 
 At noon, we passed through Frederick-town, a 
 very long promising place, quite English in its 
 appearance, and well situated in a fine rich valley, 
 which yields the finest Indian corn yet seen, and is 
 the best wheat land in America, being a part of, 
 or bordering on, the extensive fertile valley before 
 mentioned, which stretches through Virginia,
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 163 
 
 Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and shows the best 
 farms and fanners in the land. My agreeable 
 companion, the colonel, says that no land is here 
 selling by forced sales, nor any under 100 dollars 
 an acre, and that few or no persons within his 
 knowledge complain of hard times, but those 
 whose pride or imprudent speculations have in- 
 volved them. We supped and slept at Hager's- 
 town, a market town, with three Dutch gothic 
 churches, adorned with tall spires, and a good 
 court house. This town is highly delightful, and 
 almost surrounded by small mountains ; the sce- 
 nery is beautiful, and both in and around an 
 air of grandeur prevails; except, indeed, at our 
 tavern, where, though it is Sunday, all is smoke 
 and fire, and Bacchus is the god. 
 
 4tk. Early this morning we commenced a 
 perilous journey, ascending and descending the 
 Allegany mountains all day. All here is wild, 
 awfully precipitous, and darkly umbrageous, high 
 as the heavens, or low as perdition. I almost 
 resolved on not returning this way by mail, which 
 carries and keeps one in constant alarm, unless 
 the traveller has nerves of iron or brass. Such, 
 however, is the expertness of the drivers here, 
 that there is no ground for real apprehension. 
 
 Kennedy, Esq. and the high sheriff, both 
 
 highly intelligent men, deem the western country 
 the best for the employment of capital, because, 
 say they, we, if there, could send our surplus 
 
 M 2
 
 164 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 produce to New Orleans, at a less expense than 
 the Hager's-town people can send theirs to Bal- 
 timore. We think that in time to come, when 
 merchants of capital settle in Orleans, all western 
 produce will find a good market there ; and that 
 good land at reduced prices is not to be had 
 generally in the eastern states, for when a forced 
 sale is made, creditors commonly take good care 
 it shall make about its value, or sufficient to cover 
 the debts. Where there are no creditors, it may 
 sometimes, but not often, be otherwise. 
 
 5th. We rode this day over our English 
 General Braddock's grave. To prevent the Indians* 
 then in pursuit, from discovering his body, he 
 ordered it to be buried in the midst of the road, at 
 the foot of the Allegany mountains, in 1756. 
 
 I slept at Cumberland, on the Monongahela, 
 where are the remains of a British fort once used 
 against the Indians. 
 
 6th. Off, an hour before day-light, along the 
 banks of the Monongahela. Just as we were 
 starting, up came a Mr. Morgan and six negroes, 
 requesting of the gentlemen passengers that he 
 and his negroes might be graciously permitted to 
 share the stage with us: we consented. My com- 
 panions' compliance, indeed, surprised me a little, 
 and in came Morgan and his black cattle. He 
 had been round the country jobbing, like a pig- 
 jobber in England, and had bought half a score; 
 but they, feeling themselves in a free state, snuffed
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 105 
 
 up free air, and took the liberty to escape. He 
 was unable to recover more than six; four were 
 lost and most reluctantly abandoned. He bought 
 them, he said, for a gentleman planter, in the dis- 
 tant territory of Missouri, to which they were 
 going down the Ohio river. Within two miles 
 east of Washington, Pennsylvania, we found that 
 the strap, which confined our luggage, had given 
 way, and scattered Morgan's trunks and money a 
 few miles behind. We sent men and horses back, 
 and to our surprise found all safe. On leaving 
 Washington, several other gentlemen entered our 
 stage, but would not permit Mr. Morgan and his 
 negroes to enter. " What?" said they, " ride 
 with negroes?" Much strife now ensued, and a 
 battle was intended ; but to quiet the angry pas- 
 sions of both sides, a stage was provided for the 
 refusing party. Our ride, for the last three hours 
 of our journey, was fearfully romantic, amongst 
 huge rocks which hung over on both sides and 
 seemed ready to fall upon us, the effect of which 
 was greatly heightened by the moon-light. 
 
 Between twelve and one o'clock we reached 
 Wheeling, Virginia, on the Ohio, and went sup- 
 perless to bed. I shared mine with a young stu- 
 dent, Mr. Paul, of Washington Academy, now 
 bound to his father's house at Maddison Ville, 
 Indiana, who is there a Banker, or Bank Director. 
 
 1th. We found the Ohio river nearly dry, so 
 droughty has been the summer. It is now fed
 
 166 MEMORABLE DAYS , [Oct. 
 
 V- 
 
 only by mountain springs. Here I unexpectedly 
 met my friend Mr. Edney and lady from the Isle 
 of Wight, a branch of the Pittiss family of that 
 Isle. I dined with him at his boarding-house, and 
 agreed to visit his recently hired farm. I received 
 an invitation from a learned Doctor to ride 800 
 miles down the Ohio with him and his Excellency 
 Governor Miller, just chosen king of and going to 
 the Arkansaw territory. I waited five days for 
 his Excellency and his aquatic suite, but lack of 
 water prevented his arrival. 
 
 Mh I crossed the Ohio with Mr. Edney, to 
 view and examine his farm, on mountainous 
 banks, down to the margin of the river. It con- 
 sists of 500 acres, hill and dale, or river-bottom 
 and mountain land, the best and richest in the 
 state of Ohio, seven miles from Wheeling and 
 other good markets. Two hundred acres have 
 been cleared and cultivated twenty years. Two 
 hundred and fifty are in wood, mountain land, too 
 high and steep for the plough, and which, if 
 ploughed, would all wash away. Eighty acres 
 are in pasture, natural pasture, the richest, finest, 
 and most luxuriant I ever saw. So thick and 
 matted is it, with fine natural grass and white 
 clover, that it is with difficulty I can force my foot 
 through it to the soil, which is a sandy loam, and 
 has been crowded with cattle all this summer, 
 the dryest ever remembered. But all river-bot- 
 toms are cool, rich, anrd inexhaustible. The arable
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 167 
 
 land has been cropped fifteen years successively, 
 yet still the wheat-stubble and corn-stalks are 
 strong, thick, and rank, and the land on which 
 the wheat grew is well laid down, or seeded with 
 natural grass and white clover, a smothering plant 
 of both, and aft-done by the hand of provident 
 nature. So complete is it, that an English farmer 
 would say, " What a fool have you been, thus 
 to waste your grass seeds." It is now, two 
 months after harvest, a complete fattening pas- 
 ture, and, but for the stubble staring in it, might 
 be mistaken for an old home-stall poisoned with 
 manure, and too rich and rank, or sour, for use, 
 and therefore to be broken up. This bottom 
 land, however, may well be rich, for it has been 
 robbing the mountains from time immemorial. 
 Amongst the corn still standing, although well 
 horse-hoed six weeks ago, are seen rank weeds, 
 tall as the tall corn. The sun makes every inch 
 a hot-bed. Ploughing seems shamefully per- 
 formed, not half the land is turned over or down- 
 wards. It seems, (as we say at Somersham) as 
 though it was ploughed with a ram's horn, or the 
 snout of a hog, hungry after grubs and roots. 
 
 The mountain land is good, and well stored, 
 and enriched with huge sugar trees, which are 
 tapped every spring, and many cwts. made there- 
 from; but much of this land is too steep for cattle 
 to climb up it, and the timber is of little or no 
 worth save for the uses of the farm and fire. Mr.
 
 108 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 Edney has this estate, on lease of 14 years, from 
 Squire Zain, the head man of Wheeling. The rent 
 for the first three years, is 400 dollars; the next 
 three years, 500 dollars; the remaining eight years, 
 600 dollars. Three years' notice to be given if he 
 wishes, or is wished to leave before the expiration of 
 the lease. The cost of necessary farm-buildings to 
 be deducted from the rent. This land was, this 
 year, bought by Mr. Zain, at 18 dollars an acre, 
 but thought to be worth not above 12 dollars, 
 because received in lieu of a debt. Mr. Edney is, 
 it is thought, cheated; the good opinion of the 
 neighbourhood is against his bargain. " What he 
 will thus expend would have bought a better 
 farm. The landlord would have been glad of 
 him rent free." The farm, however, is very good, 
 and susceptible of great improvement. Nature 
 has here done all she can, and art little or nothing. 
 9t/i. A miserably wet (and as sailors say) 
 dirty day. I fell sick of Wheeling, imprisoned by 
 a high and almost inaccessible mountain, to the 
 top of which I climbed yesterday. I revisited 
 Mr. Edney, who has wrangled and parted with 
 his father-in-law, once my hospitable host at the 
 Isle of Wight. He with his family have settled 
 down on wood-land, all in wood, 40 miles in the 
 state of Ohio. One son is to be planted there, and 
 the rest, with himself, in better Missouri; but he 
 is very undecided, and finds that America is not 
 Neivport, in England. He lost all his horses,
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 169 
 
 cows, dogs, and men and maids brought over as 
 hired servants. The animals were stolen, or they 
 strayed and died, while his servants snuffed up 
 free air and fled, except one female who fell in 
 love, while on board, with the black steward, 
 and who, on landing, went to a magistrate, at 
 Baltimore, for marriage; but his worship said 
 that it was contrary to custom and the law of the 
 land, for a white woman to marry a negro, and 
 he could not and should not allow it. 
 
 Sunday, \0t/i. By free and frequent conversa- 
 tions with intelligent residents and travellers here, 
 I find that public opinion is favourable to location 
 in the western country,which they say has never yet 
 lacked a market for surplus produce; and as men 
 of capital only can raise produce, and as their 
 number is comparatively few, it is unlikely that 
 the surplus produce will ever greatly exceed the 
 demand. Much of what is raised will necessarily 
 be consumed by those who raise none; and 
 some will always be wanted at INew Orleans 
 and other river towns, cities, and new settle- 
 ments. This, in part, is true. Society, say they, 
 in the west is almost as cheaply attainable to 
 farmers as in the east, for in both he must seek 
 it in towns and distant cities, save what his own 
 family affords. Mellish, in a recent publication, 
 says, " the flower of the east is seen moving west." 
 I think so too, for what finer men can i expect to 
 meet than those whom I have seen moving from
 
 170 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 thence westward ? I called on Mr. Yaudal, a 
 gentleman whose ancestors accompanied William 
 Penn to this country. He seems proud of his 
 English origin ; and introduced me to an English 
 brewer, who (the people here say) is to gain 100 
 per cent, on his capital employed. He has bought 
 a brewery from a Wheeling gentleman, who is 
 fitting up another brewhouse in opposition, con- 
 trary to stipulations. Mr. Edney yesterday bought 
 two horses at 50 dollars, his own price, but not 
 worth above 25 dollars each. All in the neigh- 
 bourhood know that my green and liberal friend 
 has English money, and all conspire against it. 
 
 l\th. Waggons (not many) are daily arriving 
 with goods and emigrants for the river, down 
 which, when the waters rise, they are to float in 
 flat boats called arks, two and two of many living 
 creeping things, occasionally anchoring on the 
 banks and surveying the promised land. A gen- 
 tleman recently called at the Cincinnati bank for 
 specie, or good negotiable paper. " No," was 
 the answer, " we, sir, have neither." The paper 
 of that city, the pride of the west, is negotiable 
 only in the city for necessaries, and there only at 
 30 and 40 per centum below par, or United States' 
 paper. The best mode of dealing here is, on 
 your arrival, to go to the Cincinnati broker and 
 sell just so much of the United States' paper as 
 will get you enough of their paper for expenses at 
 the tavern or elsewhere ; all must be spent here,
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 171 
 
 none taken away, for out of the city it is mere 
 waste paper. Such are banks, banking, and 
 bankers ; let therefore the traveller hereafter not 
 depend on them, but take with him either hard 
 dollars or notes of the United States' bank or its 
 branches. 
 
 12th. I left Wheeling at eight this morning; 
 the tavern bill three and a half dollars per week for 
 board merely. I crossed the Ohio into the state 
 so, called, and passed briskly through St. Clair's 
 Ville and Morris -town, and a hilly country ; all 
 fine land in grain, corn, and pasture, with a beau- 
 tiful clover face, white as with a shower of sleet; 
 and abundance of flourishing orchards full, above 
 and below, of excellent fruit, although sixteen 
 years ago all was wild, and a complete forest. In 
 almost every orchard is seen a cider press, and 
 under every tree large apples, so thick that at 
 every step you must tread upon them, while the 
 boughs above are breaking down with their over- 
 laden weight. It is here no crime for either man 
 or beast to rob orchards. Land is worth from 
 15 to 30 dollars an acre, with all improvements 
 included, and a market, as yet, for all surplus 
 produce. At 30 miles' end, I rested for the night 
 at a homely but comfortable stage-house on the 
 road, with a young Irishman, Robert G. Ormsby, 
 Esq. of Louisville, Kentucky, aged 2t, of fine 
 person and manners, and a fellow student of the 
 celebrated Irish orator, Charles Phillips, Esq.
 
 172 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 He has been four years in this country with rich 
 uncles ; is a favourite with the ladies, and is now 
 on his way to Pittsburgh, to marry a beautiful 
 American with many thousands of dollars. " So 
 general," says he, " in Kentucky is the intercourse 
 between white men and black and yellow women, 
 that soon it will indeed be difficult to know and 
 distinguish who is who." 
 
 13th. I started alone at three this morning, 
 well pleased with Mr. Orinsby, who mounted his 
 stage for the east, and I mine for the west. In 
 consequence of thus meeting with this gentleman, 
 I determined for the future, on always breaking 
 through the custom of waiting for introductions 
 before entering into conversation. 
 
 At four this morning, on the driver getting 
 down to lock the wheel, the horses started, and 
 instantly struck a stump of a tree, and upset the 
 mail with a crashing fall, which bruised my side, 
 cut my face, and blackened my eyes ; the two 
 leaders escaped into the forest, and we saw them 
 no more. The driver went in pursuit of them, 
 and left me to guard and sleep one hour and a 
 half in the damaged vehicle, now nearly bottom 
 upwards. When I awoke it was daylight, and 
 I walked up to a farm log-house, the people of 
 which put their heads out of the window and 
 thus addressed me, " Stranger, come into the 
 fire !" and I went in, without being burned. At 
 five, the driver returned, and with two horses
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 173 
 
 only, we got under weigh, and moved on through 
 Cambridge and Washington to breakfast, and at 
 sun-set reached our inn at Zainsville, where I 
 determined on resting a few days to repair the 
 damages of the past day. 
 
 My inn is a good one, stored with newspapers, 
 and full of good things, and visitors to devour > 
 them ; and the town of Zainsville is very flourish- 
 ing, and likely to become a city. It is now a 
 county seat and a fountain of law and justice, 
 situated on the banks of the fair Muskingham 
 river, 84 miles from Wheeling ; eighteen years old, 
 with 3,000 inhabitants; good land 20 dollars an 
 acre ; plenty of coal and excellent water, being 
 well supplied by springs and the river, and afford- 
 ing good society; many strangers continually 
 passing to and fro. Here is kept a folio register, 
 in which travellers write their names, from whence 
 they come, and whither they are bound, with any 
 news which they bring with them. The bank 
 paper of this town is 20 or 30 per cent, below par. 
 The supreme court of assize is now sitting, and 
 the supreme judge, Wilson, who lodges at my 
 quarters, is now to be my nightly companion in 
 table-talk. His lordship calls me " stranger," and 
 guesses me to be an Irishman. He is surprised 
 that I speak so well, and wonders how many 
 " dialects," we have in England. " I saw," says 
 he, " lately, a lady from your country, who won- 
 dered at hearing the English language so well
 
 174 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 spoken here." " We seein, sir," said I, " a won- 
 der unto each other! In this western country you 
 see emigrants only of an uneducated class, a low 
 grade, full of provincialisms in their talk." Judge 
 Wilson is intimately known to and acquainted 
 with several nations of Indians. " Several per- 
 sons," says he, " have in my time voluntarily 
 turned Indians ; one, a child taken from Virginia, 
 is now a squaw, but more delicate in her conduct : 
 she of course retains her original colour, and 
 seems the better for her civilised origin." 
 
 14th. Rambling round and through the town 
 I saw a glass-house, and several fine mills, having 
 at command all the water of the river, which might 
 be made to work mills .without number, and 
 machinery of an infinite variety. I wandered in 
 the fields shooting pigeons, which is here fine 
 sport; they fly and alight around you on every 
 tree, in immense flocks, and loving to be shot. 
 They are rather smaller than English pigeons, 
 and have a lilac breast; but in other respects are 
 blue, or blue grey. They breed in the woods, and 
 seem to court death by the gun, the sound of 
 which appears to call them together, instead of 
 scaring them away ; a fowling-piece well charged 
 with dust shot might bring down a bushel of these 
 willing game dead at your feet. 
 
 At noon, I roamed into the supreme court, 
 where I saw my new friend, the supreme judge, 
 Wilson, on the bench, in the inidst of three rustic,
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 175 
 
 dirty-looking associate judges, all robeless, and 
 dressed in coarse drab, domestic, homespun coats, 
 dark silk handkerchiefs round their necks, and 
 otherwise not superior in outward appearance to 
 our low fen-farmers in England. Thus they sat, 
 presiding with ease and ability over a bar of plain 
 talkative lawyers, all robeless, very funny and 
 conversational in their speeches, manners, and 
 conduct; dressed in plain box-coats, and sitting 
 with their feet and knees higher than their noses, 
 and pointing obliquely to the bench of judges; 
 thus making their speeches, and examining and 
 cross-examining evidence at a plain long table, 
 with a brown earthen jug of cold water before 
 them, for occasionally wetting their whistles, and 
 washing their quid-stained lips : all, judges, jury, 
 counsel, witnesses, and prisoners, seemed free, 
 easy, and happy. The supreme judge is only 
 distinguished from the rest by a shabby blue 
 threadbare coat, dirty trowsers, and unblacked 
 shoes. Thus sat all their lordships, freely and 
 frequently chewing tobacco, and appearing as un- 
 interested as could be. Judge Wilson is, how- 
 ever, a smart intelligent man, rather jocular, and, 
 I think, kind-hearted. 
 
 ]5th. Talked with a farmer from Pennsylvania, 
 who, ten years ago, bought his land near this town 
 at two dollars uncleared, and the best, he calls it, 
 in Ohio. The first crop of wheat was 35 bushels per 
 acre, but never so much after; it now averages 20
 
 176 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 to 25 bushels per acre, at 63 cents per bushel, 
 
 about 2s. Wd. sterling; then, not half that price : 
 
 40 bushels of oats, per acre, at 20 cents, about 9d. 
 
 sterling; but will be worth 60 cents, or 2s. 4d. 
 
 per bushel. He gave, this year, three dollars for 
 
 clearing land, 50 per cent, above the cost price 
 
 of fee simple. Clearing, means simply grubbing 
 
 up small surface roots in the way of the plough, 
 
 and cutting down a few large trees within about 
 
 three feet of the ground, and deadening or girdling 
 
 the rest, which is done by cutting out about three 
 
 feet of bark all round the body of the bugest 
 
 trunks, which then, root and branch, begin to die. 
 
 What are cut down, together with the lop, are 
 
 rolled by levers into heaps and burnt. He has 
 
 lived on it, and can now sell his estate, with all 
 
 improvements, at only ten dollars an acre. He 
 
 always found a market for produce, at some 
 
 price. He believes the land about Frederick and 
 
 Hager's towns much better than this, because 
 
 there it is limestone land, and therefore more 
 
 enduring. " I would leave Ohio," says he, " if I 
 
 could sell out well here, and return to the land of 
 
 fish and good oysters, my dear native Pennsylvania. 
 
 Plaster is never used here, but if the land were 
 
 fallowed, as in some parts of the east, we could 
 
 grow 40 bushels per acre." 
 
 Wth. At three this morning, I left Zainsville, 
 so called in honour of Mr. Zain, of Wheeling, who 
 has here a large estate given him by the state, for
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 177 
 
 cutting a road from Wheeling to this town. On 
 changing horses, I spoke to a potatoe farmer, who 
 raises only 100 bushels per acre on rich land, and 
 sells them at half a dollar per bushel; just 300 
 less in quantity per acre, and 100 per cent, more 
 in price than in England. " I guess," says he, 
 " that we Ohio folks do not manage potatoes so 
 well as they do in Ireland and England." " No, 
 sir, if I may judge by your quantity, you do not 
 indeed." " No, I guess not." Quantity of acres 
 of produce is here thought to be of much greater 
 importance than quantity per acre. The great ob- 
 ject is to have as many acres as possible cleared, 
 ploughed, set, sown, planted, and managed by as 
 few hands as possible ; there being little capital, 
 and therefore little or none to spare for hired la- 
 bour. Instead of five acres well-managed, they 
 must have 20 acres badly managed. It is not how 
 much corn can be raised on an acre, but how 
 much from one hand or man, the land being no- 
 thing in comparisou with labour. Eight hundred 
 dollars per hand is, and has been made from one 
 slave annually. 
 
 I passed all this day through a fine rich landed 
 country, full of the natural means of living well 
 by the sweat of the brow. The poor complain of 
 want of money, and others of a scarcity of it; but 
 none of want of common necessaries, such as 
 bread, meat, and whiskey. At my inn for the 
 night, I met and spent the evening with Mr. Chi- 
 
 N
 
 178 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 chester, a polished, gay, and interesting American 
 gentleman, travelling together with his mother and 
 sister, in their family carriage, attended by a 
 negro, from Kentucky to Virginia. I found them 
 very communicable and free with me on discover- 
 ing that I was an Englishman, bound to their 
 Illinois friends, the Flower family ; " who," they 
 say, " are very happy and content in their log 
 cabin, where balls and good society are often 
 found." " This family," says Mr. Chichester, 
 " is very popular, and of great benefit to all kinds 
 of settlers in the neighbourhood, disposed to build 
 and settle down. Mr. Flower must enrich him- 
 self and family by the increasing value of land 
 bought ; the only way now of making money any 
 where. Land generally in the west is fallen 50 
 per cent., and farming there is slow money-making, 
 but farmers can live." " And what more," said I, 
 " can they do in the east ?" He believes that rais- 
 ing and grazing cattle and pigs, is here a more cer- 
 tain game than agriculture, and, for a small family 
 with capital, he thinks that the east is to be pre- 
 ferred, especially as land improved can be now 
 purchased there at a low price, with the certainty 
 of a convenient market. He thinks that Ohio and 
 Kentucky do not average above 20 bushels of 
 wheat per acre ; nor even that, because the ma- 
 nagement is so bad: " There is more fgnorance, 
 sir, in the state of Ohio than in any other part of 
 the union. Not many are able to write their
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 179 
 
 names, and in the thinly settled parts of Kentucky, 
 ten dollars will procure you the life and bk>od of 
 any man. Negroes, you see, are here in Ohio 
 equal, and placed at the same table with whites. 
 1 knew a party of whites who last year in Ken- 
 tucky roasted to death, before a large log fire, one 
 of their friends, because he refused to drink. They 
 did it thus : Three or four of them shoved and 
 held him up to the fire until they themselves could 
 stand it no longer ; and he died in 20 hours after. 
 JNo legal inquiry took place, nor, indeed, ever 
 takes place amongst Rowdies, as the Back-woods- 
 men are called." 
 
 " In America," says Mr. Chichester, " gentle- 
 men seek not to marry young ladies with fortunes : 
 they are too high minded to have it said that they 
 marry for money; but, if the lady's father has 
 money, they expect that he will give her some, 
 either during his life or at his death. Children, 
 though you, sir, think differently, are very kind 
 and dutiful to their parents " 
 
 Sunday, nth. At Chilicoth6 to breakfast, 
 where 1 rest for the day and night. This town is 
 situated on the beautiful Sciota river, in a rich 
 valley of plantations. Its population is 3,000, and 
 its age 20 years. Many houses and town cots are 
 deserted for migration further west. The Ameri- 
 can has always something better in his eye, fur- 
 ther west; he therefore lives and dies on hope, a 
 
 N 2
 
 180 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 mere gypsey in this particular. The land is here 
 very fine, of a dark, loamy, rich soil, inexhaustible, 
 and apparently alluvial. The pasture, even during 
 drought, is full of clover. Jt is worth 20 dollars 
 an acre generally, if improved, that is, cleared. 
 It costs ten dollars an acre to clear and enclose it, 
 if all the trees are cut down and burnt, or other- 
 wise removed. Log heaving, that is, rolling trees 
 together for burning, is done by the neighbours in 
 a body, invited for the purpose, as if to a feast or 
 frolic. This custom is beneficial and fraternal, 
 and none refuse their laborious attentions. Nine 
 tenths of the adult population here own and culti- 
 vate land. A market, therefore, is not now so 
 certain, nor will it be in days to come, as in the 
 east, though some price is generally to be had for 
 produce (says my informant), at New Orleans ; 
 but when much land becomes cleared and pro- 
 ductive, the market every where, without foreign 
 demand, must be glutted. This evil, however, will 
 check itself; less produce will be raised when it 
 cannot be sold. But as the farmers have little 
 capital to employ in cultivation, the surplus pro- 
 duce will never be very superabundant. If, how- 
 ever, they had more capital they would not em- 
 ploy it in raising unmarketable commodities, but 
 turn it, if possible, into other channels. 
 
 Fat fowls are here one dollar per dozen ; pork 
 and beef four cents, or two pence per pound ; ba-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 181 
 
 con, 10 to 12 cents per pound, 50 per cent, being 
 gained by smoking and drying. Two years old 
 steers, fat and good, for 12 dollars each. 
 
 The qualifications for voting at an election in 
 Ohio are, that the voter must be a citizen, resident 
 two years in the state, one year in the county, and 
 21 years of age. Sometimes he is known to vote 
 from three to six times at one and the same elec- 
 tion, and sometimes strangers are brought in to 
 vote. 
 
 Corn and wheat are here prodigiously cheap ; 
 the first is IQd., and the latter 2s. 3d. sterling per 
 bushel. Seventy-five bushels of corn per acre cost 
 only six and a quarter cents, three pence half-penny 
 per bushel. Three men and three horses here 
 raise 100 acres, if they will, or 30 acres commonly. 
 Nothing is reckoned for land ; land is nothing ; 
 labour every thing. In England it was almost 
 vice versa, ten years since. 
 
 J saw an ancient mound of huge circumference 
 and great altitude, and a large bricked house (a 
 rare thing here) split, and its position altered by 
 the earthquake which visited Ohio in 1815. The 
 buildings generally vibrated from four to five 
 inches. Sugar loaves and tin vessels suspended 
 from the ceilings of shops and stores, violently 
 struck each other, and palpably shewed the exact 
 vibration. " It shook people," says my friend, 
 the Chilicothe squire, " out of their beds, knocked 
 down brick chimneys, and made the old log
 
 182 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 houses crack and rattle and on the Ohio banks, 
 the earth and trees rolled down in immense masses 
 into the bed of the river. On the Mississipi too, 
 the convulsive motion of the water was truly aw- 
 ful, running and rising mountains high, and in one 
 part of that river a stream of fire rushed from 
 and divided the water, while the solid land on the 
 high mountainous banks was seen in an undulat- 
 ing agitation, like the waves of the sea. New Ma- 
 drid sunk down several feet, without the earth 
 opening her mouth to swallow. The land, how- 
 ever, in many parts round this town, is covered 
 with water. It is frequently visited with a shock." 
 
 1 S/^. At nine this morning I left sweet Chilico- 
 the and the squire, who called to take his leave 
 of me, and who seemed to part from me with re- 
 gret, and I with him, on account of his intelligent 
 and communicative spirit. 
 
 A genteel young man was boarding here and 
 had a room to himself. " Who is it?" " Why, it 
 is Judge Grimpe." A gentlemanly man, seeming, 
 a recluse, of unsociable and steady studious ha- 
 bits, with a salary of 1^000 dollars a year, which 
 surely cannot compensate such a man for such 
 services. 
 
 The road from Wheeling in Virginia, through 
 this town, to Louisville, Kentucky, 360 miles, was 
 cut entirely by the father of the present Squire 
 Zain, a rich citizen, to whom I was introduced, 
 and who for such signal services had the power
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 183 
 
 of choosing the best land all along this road. 
 Hence he became very rich. Mr. Zain is friendly 
 to liberty, it is said, in the best sense of the word, 
 and is destined to leave behind him a town, 
 Zainsville, as a monument to the Zain family 
 for ever. 
 
 My landlord at Chilicothe, the first who has de- 
 meaned himself so much as to say at parting and 
 paying, " I am much obliged to you, sir," states, 
 tfiat he recently bought 75 acres of good land 
 in Ohio, at the small price of 75 cents, or 3*. 4d. 
 per acre. It was at a forced sale, and the land 
 has since been privately resold at three dollars an 
 acre, a profit of 350 per cent. Mr. Cowen of 
 Danville, Kentucky, one of the twelve fine men 
 in the stage; over the mountains, joined me again 
 to-day. He states, that Indians willingly sell 
 their lands and territories, as soon as white set- 
 tlers begin to approach and encroach upon them, 
 or when game and skins become scarce. A few 
 weeks since, a party of them passing quietly 
 through Ohio, from the lakes, were wantonly shot 
 at by a white man, when a pregnant squaw was 
 wounded and nearly killed. The offender was 
 
 V 
 
 instantly taken and put in jail for trial; the 
 neighbourhood shewed them every kindness, and 
 the civil authority lost no time in procuring them 
 justice. This was good policy. But the Indians, 
 if the squaw dies, insist on two white lives. An
 
 184 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth ; exact retali- 
 ation is their law. 
 
 Six miles west of Chilicothe, the land is re- 
 markably rich. Here I met and passed General 
 M'Carty, to whom my friend nodded and said, 
 " How do, General." The General looks dirty 
 and butcher-like, and very unlike a soldier in 
 appearance, seeming half savage, and dressed as a 
 back-woodsman. " Like General Jackson," says 
 my friend, " he is fit only for hard knocks and 
 Indian warfare." We passed his seat, very little 
 bigger and no better than my kitchen at Somer- 
 sham. " It is not now exactly what it was. 
 During the last war it was in part burnt down, 
 and he contents himself with just what the fire 
 left him a mere apology for a house. It stands 
 on an eminence close to the road, in the centre of 
 a large, uncultivated, but rich domain. I passed 
 plenty of sugar-trees, and troughs to hold the sap 
 or juice, and abundance of tall iron-weed five feet 
 high, in full flower; all sure indications of fine 
 land, and seen throughout the western country, 
 and always noted by land-hunters. I saw at 
 Chilieoth, and elsewhere, to-day, many ancient 
 mounds, and one regular extensive fortification 
 now defaced by the plough. Many such are 
 found over these wild regions. They are evi- 
 dently the handiwork of an unknown and dis- 
 tant age and people, whose history, and every
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. J85 
 
 relic by which they might perhaps have been 
 identified, have perished. 
 
 I had fine wild venison at dinner to-day, good 
 and fat as ever fell to the lot of a lord. There is 
 plenty of it in this section of the country; but 
 what is strange, no mutton, nor beef that is good, 
 where it ought to be the best. Every thing, 
 though wild, is generally good, except beef, which 
 is best tame, and fed on cultivated, instead of wild 
 vegetables, which make it ill-flavoured, dark, and 
 tough. Found iron-weed all day, and fine ex- 
 tensive peach orchards of several acres each, hav- 
 ing nearly half the trees spoiled, by hurricanes 
 breaking down their boughs when heavily laden 
 with fruit. These dead arms, or boughs, hang on 
 from year to year, until they rot and drop of them- 
 selves, and the sight is singularly desolate and 
 ruinous: all this for the want of a pruning knife 
 and hatchet. 
 
 At eight, p. m. I reached a poor log-house, to 
 lodge in, full of mean company, who must be 
 treated with as much respect as the highest, and 
 so I treat them, and receive much coarse kind- 
 ness in return. Kindness begets kindness ; nor 
 is it lost upon them. An Irish emigrant, said 
 my landlord at Chilicothe, recently rode in the 
 greatest possible haste all one night, to the land 
 office here, to make an entry of a section of land 
 uncleared, which pleased his eye. He foolishly 
 thought there would be twenty other competitors
 
 186 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 for it. He bought it, began clearing and fencing 
 it, by hired hands, determined to have it all in 
 cultivation immediately, as though it was the 
 only spot to be bought and farmed in this em- 
 pire of unnumbered acres, glutted and smothered 
 in superabundance. Poor Pat was mistaken ! 
 
 IQth. 1 started this morning at four o'clock in 
 frightful darkness, darkness which might be felt, 
 and over a horrid road ; but with an expert driver, 
 ^and good horses, we move on to daylight and a 
 breakfast fifteen miles off. Here we met, at break- 
 fast, the high sheriff of the county, a grey-headed, 
 rustic, dirty-looking old man, meaner than a vil- 
 lage constable in England, but a man of good 
 understanding. 
 
 The uncle of my friend Cowen, one of the first 
 settlers in Kentucky, during the Indian war, met 
 a hostile Indian in the woods: both had rifles, 
 and fired at each other at the same moment, but 
 both missed. It was a war of extermination. 
 The red man then threw his fearful tomahawk, 
 which also missed. They then came to close 
 quarters, rolling over each other, and struggling 
 for the Indian's huge hog-knife, which had grazed 
 along the throat of Mr. Cowen's uncle, who at 
 length got the knife, thrust it into the belly of his 
 antagonist, and leaving it in up to its hilt, set off 
 to the fort for a party to despatch the dying 
 warrior. To have fled from a pursuing enemy, 
 like him, would have been certain death, so swift
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 187 
 
 and sure-scented are they to track and find a 
 white man. 
 
 Three months since, a duel was agreed on in 
 Lexington city, K. Y. The party challenged 
 begged and obtained three months' time, for " set- 
 tling his worldly affairs, and making his peace 
 with God." But as the party so challenged has 
 the liberty of choosing weapons, and mode of 
 fighting, he fixed on muskets charged with grape- 
 shot and two balls ; the distance to be five paces. 
 The pert braggadocio, who had sent the challenge, 
 and whom the neighbourhood wished to see killed, 
 refused the mode and terms thus offered, and so 
 this affair of honour ended. The barbarous base- 
 ness and cruelty of public opinion, dooms young 
 men, when challenged, to fight. They must fight, 
 kill or be killed, and that for some petty offence 
 beneath the notice of the law. Established names 
 only (says Mr. Cowen) may refuse to fight, but 
 that is rarely done ; to refuse is a stain and high 
 dishonour. 
 
 I now pass many farm log-houses along the 
 road ; miserable holes, having one room only, and 
 in that one miserable room, all cook, eat, sleep, 
 breed, and die, males and females, all together. 
 When 1 see and know more, J will describe a 
 log-house minutely. 
 
 We passed through pleasant Maisville, in Ken- 
 tucky, on the banks of the Ohio, which we had 
 first to cross on a large team-boat, worked by
 
 188 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 eight horses, on to which we drove, stage arid all, 
 without quitting the stage. We have now tra- 
 velled 220 miles from the last crossing of this 
 noble river, which here runs through and waters 
 a valley of fine orchards and plantations of un- 
 : equalled fertility; river-bottom land, just such as 
 must fascinate a Lincolnshire farmer, who seeks 
 for pleasure and profit united. Here I lost my 
 gay, graceful, jovial fellow-traveller, who, tired of 
 his journey, wanted to luxuriate awhile in all- 
 accommodating Maisville. At six o'clock, p. m., 
 we stopped to rest, sup, and sleep, at Washing- 
 ton, K. Y., having a population of 1,000 souls, but 
 little or no good land to sell, by forced or other 
 sales yet. It is generally cleared and enclosed, 
 and worth, with all improvements, from 40 to 50 
 dollars an acre, in a fine country. 
 
 This is the third or fourth town of Washington 
 
 o 
 
 which 1 have passed since I quitted the metropolis 
 of Uncle Sam. 
 
 ZOlh. Welcomed to breakfast fifteen miles from 
 Washington, by a sensible, shrewd, old rustic 
 landlord, and farmer, who knows of little or no 
 land to sell, by forced sales yet; the improved 
 value is from 30 to 40 dollars an acre. He has 
 hitherto been always able to sell produce at some 
 price. The only market is Orleans, which is attend- 
 ed with difficulty, some expense, and much risk 
 of health, and loss of time, as some one or two of 
 the farmers must go with the produce.
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 189 
 
 Here was on a sick bed a stranger farmer, out 
 of funds, returning from New Orleans and Natches, 
 on foot. In the dismal swamps of the Mississipi, 
 he caught the bilious fever, and then the jaundice 
 and ague. " I left," said he, " the folks of the 
 two latter cities, dying faster than graves could 
 be dug to receive them. No papers have been 
 received from either city for some weeks past. 
 The printing-offices and presses, it is supposed, 
 are stopped, because the cities are deserted. No 
 animal food is allowed to be brought in or sold." 
 This sick moneyless stranger is, it appears, on his 
 way back to Chilicothe, and is very humanely 
 sent on by the stage, free of all expense, and is 
 received and fed at every tavern with gratuitous 
 kindness. Even my driver gave him, this day, a 
 dollar. This humanity and hospitality seem na- 
 tional in the west. 
 
 I rode over an extent of hills, 20 miles, so flinty 
 and barren, that the plough never could and never 
 will touch it. The hogs that grunt and roam 
 over it look lean, hungry, and starved. The few 
 inhabitants live by hunting and shooting squirrels 
 and good wild ducks. I saw a fresh- water turtle 
 on the edge of the creek. On these stony, flinty 
 hills, the first settlers of Kentucky fell, being most 
 of them destroyed by battling with the Indians, 
 who considered themselves invaded. They fired 
 from ambushes. The bones of the unfortunate 
 Kentucky ana still remain above ground, bleaching
 
 190 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 in considerable numbers, at the bottom of a deep 
 hollow of the mountains, into which their bodies 
 were thrown in heaps, for want of earth and in- 
 dustry to bury them. 
 
 Wheat, in this state, is. fine in quality, apd in 
 quantity averaging about -25 bushels an acre ; but 
 where the land is. fallowed, from 40 to 50 are, fre- 
 quently had. Fallow means corn land, or land 
 planted first with Indian corn, then with oats the 
 second year, and with wheat the next, wjrich is 
 generally more abundant than when sown imme- 
 diately after, or amongst the corn at the last 
 horse-hoeing ; for the land gets a good ploughing 
 for the oats, and another for the wheat. What a 
 curious idea of fallowing does this seem to an 
 English farmer, who knows of no fallow, positively 
 so, except a naked fallow ! 
 
 After passing the hills of stone and human 
 bones, all the land, which condqcts to the city of 
 Lexington, is rich, cultivated, cleared, and well 
 settled or located; and, with the exception of 
 wooden worm fences, looks much like the best 
 districts of Old England, only that the soil of 
 Kentucky is better. Here are fair green pastures 
 for cattle, and could green hawthprn fences be by 
 magic thrown around them, while I slept an hour, 
 I should, on awaking, fancy myself in Leicester- 
 shire. At five tjhis evening I entered the city, 
 the far-famed metropolis of old Kentuck. 
 
 Rambled through and round the city of
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 191 
 
 Lexington, seated in the fairest, richest plain of 
 Kentucky. None of the streets are yet filled up ; 
 the outline, is large, and resembling Philadelphia, 
 particularly in the form and construction of the 
 market, which is built over a small rivulet, now 
 quite dry, and concealed by the market, sheds, and 
 structures. Unfortunately for this city there is 
 no navigable river nearer than the Kentucky river, 
 ten miles distant, which empties itself into the 
 Ohio. Every edifice, saving the college, a beauti- 
 ful building, seems filthy, neglected, and in ruins, 
 particularly the court-house, the temple of jus- 
 tice, in the best square, which, with its broken 
 windows, rotten window-frames, rotten broken 
 doors, all ruined and spoiled for lack of paint and 
 a nail, looks like an old abandoned bagnio, not fit 
 to be compared with any workhouse in England. 
 This city, it is here said, is retrograding, but in it 
 are many comfortable abodes, and the best society 
 of Kentuckyi 
 
 Called at the seat of Squire Lidiard, a rich Eng- 
 lish emigrant, who with his lady and two elegant 
 daughters, came to this western country and city 
 in consequence of having read and credited Birk- 
 beck's notes and letters, and having known and 
 visited the Flower family in England. Mr. Lidiard 
 was well known on 'Change; had a counting-house 
 in London, and a house at Blackheath. When I 
 first called upon him, he was from home. 1 left a 
 message for him, saying, that an old countryman,
 
 J92 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 known to his friend Wardour of Philadelphia, had 
 called, and was at the stage-house. On his return 
 home to dinner he soon came down to me and 
 said I should accompany him to pot-luck. I did 
 so. The sight of an English face was mutually 
 refreshing, and a sufficient introduction to each 
 other. Mr. Lidiard scarcely knows what induced 
 him to emigrate, having a fortune enabling himself 
 and family to live in ease any where. " One thing, 
 however, which weighed with me, was the proba- 
 bility of seeing my children well married in Ame- 
 rica. I must, however, complain much of Ameri- 
 can roguery. Hardly any body cares about poor 
 honesty and punctuality. If a man can, or is dis- 
 posed to pay, he pays ; if not so disposed, or not 
 able, he smiles, and tells you to your face, he shall 
 not pay. I saw an execution defeated lately by 
 that boasted spirit, which they call liberty, or inde- 
 pendence. The property, under execution, was put 
 up to sale, when the eldest son appeared with a 
 huge Herculean club, and said, " Gentlemen, you 
 may bid for and buy these bricks and things, 
 which were my father's, but, by God, no man living 
 shall come on to this ground with horse and cart 
 to fetch them away. The land is mine, and if the 
 buyer takes any thing away, it shall be on his 
 back." The father had transferred the land, and 
 all on it, to the son, in order to cheat the law. No- 
 body was, therefore, found to bid or buy. I, there- 
 fore," continues Mr. L., " decline all transactions
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 193 
 
 with Americans, it being impossible with safety 
 to buy or sell auy thing of importance under their 
 present paper system. I keep my money in the 
 funds. Housekeeping is very cheap; lOOlbs. of 
 fine flour costs only two dollars ; a fine fat sheep, 
 two dollars; beef equally cheap, three or four 
 cents, two-pence per pound, the hide and tallow 
 being thought the most valuable ; one dozen of fat 
 fowls from three quarters to one dollar. Land 
 here gives a man no importance; store-keepers 
 and clerks rank much above farmers, who are 
 never seen in genteel parties and circles. Yet, 
 here is the finest arable and pasture land in the 
 known world, on which grass, the most luxuriant, 
 is seen rotting for want of cattle. Just kill a few of 
 the large trees (where there is no underwood) and 
 you have a beautiful clover-field and other grass 
 intermixed, as ever art elsewhere produced. There 
 is no laying down here; it is all done by nature 
 as if by magic. The land is full of all useful 
 grass seeds, which only want sun and air to call 
 them into a smothering superabundance. But 
 what is land, however rich, without population to 
 cultivate it or a market to consume its produce, 
 which is here bought much under what either T 
 or you could raise it for. Farmers are conse- 
 quently men of no importance. They live, it is 
 true, and will always live, but I much doubt if 
 ever the important English farmer could be satis- 
 fied with such living and farming. I feel great 
 
 o
 
 194 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 difficulty iii advising any friends on the subject of 
 emigration. I mean to wait two years longer before 
 I do it. Liberty and independence, of which you 
 and I thought so much and so highly, while on the 
 other side of the Atlantic, sink and fade in value on 
 a nearer view. Nobody here properly appreciates, 
 but almost all abuse, this boasted liberty. Liberty 
 here means to do each as he pleases ; to care for 
 nothing and nobody, and cheat every body. If I 
 buy an estate, and advance money before I get a 
 title, it is ten to one but I lose it, and never get a 
 title that is worth having. My garden cost me, 
 this summer only, 50 dollars, and all the produce 
 was stolen by boys and young men, who professed 
 to think they had the liberty to do so. If you 
 complain to their friends and superiors, the answer 
 is, * Oh, it is only a boyish trick, not worth notice.' 
 And again, I tell the gentlemen, that if I wished 
 to be social and get drunk with them, I dare not ; 
 for they would take the liberty to scratch me like 
 a tiger, and gouge, and dirk me. I cannot part 
 with my nose and eyes. The friendly equality and 
 intercourse, however, which can be had with all 
 ranks and grades, and the impossibility of coming 
 to absolute poverty, are the finest features of this 
 country. You are going to Birkbeck's settle- 
 ment?" " I am, sir." " I visited both Birkbeck 
 and Flower in June last. Birkbeck is a fine man, 
 in a bad cause. He was worth about 10,0007. 
 sterling, but has deceived himself and others.
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 195 
 
 Both his, and Flower's settlement (which are all 
 one), is all a humbug. They are all in the mire 
 and cannot get out ; and they, therefore, by all 
 manner of means and arts, endeavour to make the 
 best of it. Birkbeck tells me, the reason why he 
 does not cultivate his land is, because he can buy 
 produce cheaper at Harmony, much cheaper than 
 he can raise it, although its price is double what I 
 am giving at Lexington market. The Harmonites 
 all work, and pay nothing for labour. Mr. Birk- 
 beck, in June last, was the proprietor of 10,000 
 acres, and forfeited his first deposit, ten cents an 
 acre, on 30,000 acres, which prove to be, as is his 
 settlement generally, the worst land in Illinois. 
 Nobody now cares to buy of, or settle down, with 
 either him or Flower. I like Flower the least ; I 
 would prefer Birkbeck for a neigh hour, dressed up, 
 as he is, in a little mean chip hat, and coarse domes- 
 tic clothes from Harmony, living in a little log-house, 
 smoking segars, and drinking bad whiskey, just 
 as I found him, rough as he was. Mr. G. Flower 
 is inducing mechanics to come from all parts to 
 settle, although there is no employment for them, 
 nor any market now, nor in future, at New Orleans 
 or elsewhere, for produce, unless a war conies, 
 which may require America to supply other na- 
 tions in want. Sometimes I think Birkbeck is 
 right. But still I think that both he and Flower 
 will get rid of all their dollars, and never raise 
 more ; dollars and they will part for ever. They 
 
 o 2
 
 196 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 will live, but not as they did, and might have lived 
 in England or in the eastern states. Labour costs 
 more than double what it does in the east. The 
 west is fit only for poor men, who are the only 
 proper pioneers of the wilderness. 1 do not believe 
 that land will improve in value, but that much 
 money will be wasted in improvements. Slavery, 
 sir, is not so bad as we thought it to be, provided 
 the slaves are not hired out like pack-horses, but 
 kept by their own proper owners. They would 
 then be gentlemen-servants. You know that we 
 never prize a pack-horse, nor treat it so kindly as 
 one of our own." 
 
 22nd. After breakfast this morning I visited 
 the seat and pleasure-grounds of Mr. Speaker 
 Clay, who concluded the peace of Ghent, now 
 gone to his chair in Congress. The house is 
 pleasantly situated on fine land about two miles 
 from the city, but is far inferior to the old house 
 of my matrimonial cousin, G. Thompson, Esq. 
 of Somersham, Hants. The windows are broken, 
 and the frames and doors are rotten for want of 
 paint or tar; the gardens in a piggish state, full 
 of weeds, the walks gullied by heavy rains; the 
 grass borders and lawn, wild, dirty, and unmown, 
 and every thing else inelegant; although the soil 
 is rich to excess, and almost all kinds of vege- 
 tables spring spontaneously and grow luxuriantly, 
 and the house is brimful of negroes, who might 
 keep all in the neatest order. I saw in one en-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 197 
 
 closure near the house, the finest after-grass and 
 the coarsest hay in the world. The grass is so 
 tough and old before it is mown that it is little 
 better than dry straw after. Mr. Clay is the pride 
 and glory of Kentucky, whose inhabitants think 
 their state monopolizes talent and intelligence. 
 They are gay and voluptuous to a proverb, and 
 seem, it is said, better abroad than they are at 
 home. 
 
 Cheap living. Visited the market. Beef, best 
 cuts, six cents common cuts, three cents per lb.; 
 a whole fat mutton, for two and a half dollars, one 
 hundred pounds weight. Fowls, fat, three quar- 
 ters of a dollar per dozen. Good nag horses fit for 
 any man, from 80 to 100 dollars. No money 
 is now to be had or raised on mortgage of land or 
 houses, however good, nor from any thing else but 
 negroes; nothing but black flesh and blood can 
 command money. A fine English family from 
 Lincolnshire passed yesterday through this city 
 on their return from Birkbeck's settlement, witty 
 which they seem quite disgusted, and fully satis- 
 fied and assured that it would not, could not do. 
 They were quite out of funds, pennyless strangers 
 in a strange land; but they were able to borrow 
 some money from the United States' branch bank 
 to enable them to proceed on to Philadelphia. 
 
 23rd. At nine this morning I left the city of 
 the plains, which will continue to flourish when 
 other cities fade and die. Jt has now a popu-
 
 198 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 lation of 6,000 white souls. How many blacks I 
 know not. 
 
 At three, p. ni., I ended this day's journey at 
 Frankfort, the seat of government, and metropolis 
 of Old Kentucky. This pleasant town stands in 
 a fine valley, roomy enough to contain it, and but 
 little to spare. Nature has fortified and shut it in 
 with inaccessible rocks and hills all around, but 
 the rocks are neither rough nor broken. The 
 town boasts a good state, or parliament house, and 
 prison, and a church or two, and altogether dis- 
 plays more taste and cleanliness than Lexington 
 city. It is seated on the Kentucky river, navi- 
 gable to the Ohio, and has the best inn or tavern 
 which I have yet seen in the state. Here is all 
 the accommodation I need. The rocks and hills, 
 which now hang over me, seem as perpendicular 
 as walls in some parts, and as though they were 
 formed by art. I ought to mention passing- 
 through two neat and interesting baby towns, 
 called Paris-town and George-town. The land 
 hereabouts, though there are few forced sales, is 
 selling at one quarter its former price and value. 
 
 Sunday, %Uh. I left pleasant Frankfort at nine, 
 a. m., and reached Shelby ville at four, p. m., a 
 good-looking, youthful town, so named in honor 
 of the governor of Kentucky. 
 
 General Jackson, (says my intelligent fellow 
 traveller) although thought to be irritable and 
 quarrelsome, is one of the warmest of friends and
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 199 
 
 neighbours, and to visitors most frank, generous, 
 and hospitable. During his late eastern visits, his 
 conduct to all persons and parties was kind and con- 
 ciliating, insomuch that those who once thought 
 they hated the warrior despot, were compelled to 
 love the man. If private humble citizens invited 
 the General to dinner, he invariably went there in 
 preference to a public dinner. He is of unalter- 
 able determination, but very slow, thoughtful, 
 and cautious in coming to it. His manners are 
 mild, simple, and plain. He lives in an old log- 
 house, which, though another and better house 
 is building, he determines on never quitting but 
 for the grave. " 1 cannot," (says the hero of the 
 wilderness) " I cannot desert an old friend." 
 
 During the last conversation, I passed in the 
 forest the lone grave of an unfortunate stranger 
 and traveller. A ridge of logs or trees was laid 
 over it to mark the spot where he died and was 
 buried. He was found dead with a gold watch 
 in his pocket, and his horse grazing at a short 
 distance from him ; both horse and rider were of 
 elegant appearance. He had been robbed of 3,000 
 dollars, and from some unknown hand had re- 
 ceived a rifle ball, which entered the back of his 
 head and came through and out between his eyes; 
 he evidently never saw the hand which fired, nor 
 felt the ball. A fellow living near, who was seen 
 to follow the traveller with a rifle, was suspected, 
 apprehended, and tried for the murder, but as no-
 
 200 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 thing, save circumstantial evidence, could be pro- 
 duced against him, (which, however strong, will 
 not convict here) he was acquitted. Public 
 opinion, however, condemned him, and unmer 
 cifully pulled down his house about his ears, 
 which we passed in ruins ; and he accordingly fled, 
 blackened and blasted, to another distant refuge 
 in the wilderness. 
 
 I saw this day a party at cricket, and one man 
 in a barn threshing with a flail, an odd sight here. 
 Yesterday a gentleman, drunk, in the stage, drew 
 his dirk, the common appendage of a Kentuckian. 
 He had the stage stopped, jumped out and fought 
 the other passengers, myself excepted. They dress- 
 ed him soundly, disarmed him, and with the una- 
 nimous consent of the screaming ladies, left him 
 behind, on the road, to fight with and spit fire at 
 the trees. 
 
 25/z. A fine fat buck crossed our road this 
 morning, the first 1 had yet seen. In the evening I 
 reached flourishing Louisville, a grand river-town 
 and port of Kentucky, on the banks of and op- 
 posite the big rocky falls of the Ohio, here a mile 
 broad; 700 miles by water and 360 miles by land 
 from Wheeling, Virginia; and about midway 
 between Washington city and New Orleans. The 
 land here, and all round this town, and in the 
 valley, to Shelbyville, is excessively rich and the 
 finest in the state, but I fear is sickly to its inha- 
 bitants. Louisville must become a place of high
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 201 
 
 importance, if pestilence prevent not. Our hotel, 
 called Union-hall, is very capacious and full of 
 company, composed of polished military and mer- 
 cantile gentlemen of New Orleans, many of whom 
 are waiting for the troubling or rising of the 
 waters, and consequent movement of the steam- 
 boats. Board here, with five in a bed-room, is two 
 and a quarter dollars per day, a shameful piece 
 of extortion, when it is remembered that pro- 
 visions of all kinds here, cost a mere trifle ; yet 
 in the hall, an immense dining-table seems crowd- 
 ed with good company. Notices, however, are 
 posted in several rooms, by the landlord, stating, 
 that unless gentlemen-boarders pay up, further 
 credit will be discontinued. 
 
 ZGtk. I rode in a hackney coach to Shipping- 
 port, a sort of hamlet of Louisville, standing on 
 the margin of the river, opposite to a flourishing 
 new town on the other side, called Albion, in 
 Indiana. Counted from twelve to sixteen elegant 
 steam-boats aground, waiting for water. Boarded 
 and examined the Post-boy, which cost 50,000 
 dollars, and is intended only for passengers up 
 and down the Ohio and Mississipi waters, con- 
 taining fifty births or beds, a separate dining- 
 room, a ladies' room, and state room, with a fine 
 promenade at top, having three decks, with all 
 necessary and elegant appurtenances. The boat 
 called the United States, is much superior to the 
 Post-boy, being of 700 tons burthen, a complete
 
 202 MEMORABLE DAYS [Get, 
 
 floating hotel, little less than the London Tavern, 
 The passage down from hence to Orleans is 75 
 dollars, a price which competition, and the unne- 
 cessary number of boats built, will greatly reduce. 
 Entered and dined at a low (but the best) tavern 
 in Shipping-port, intending, if I liked it, to board 
 and wait here for the troubling of the waters ; but 
 owing to the meanness of the company and pro- 
 visions, I soon left, and returned to head-quarters 
 at Louisville. The traveller, who must necessarily 
 often mix with the very dregs of society in this 
 country, should be prepared with plain clothes, or 
 the dress of a mechanic ; a gentlemanly appear- 
 ance only exciting unfriendly or curious feelings, 
 which defeat his object, and make his superiority 
 painful. 
 
 The American, considered as an animal, is 
 filthy, bordering on the beastly; as a man, he 
 seems a being of superior capabilities ; his atten- 
 tion to his teeth, which are generally very white, 
 is a fine exception to his general habits. All his 
 vices and imperfections seem natural; those of 
 the semi-barbarian. He is ashamed of none of 
 them. Labourers and mechanics are here rather 
 scarce, although so many are said to have returned 
 home to England from New York; the former 
 receive one and a half dollars to two dollars a day, 
 and the latter, two and a half dollars, with pro- 
 visions very cheap. Emigrants, of this description, 
 should never linger about eastern cities, and sup-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 203 
 
 pose that, because there is no employment there, 
 none is to be found in America. 
 
 The new steam-ship, now at New York, cost 
 120,000 dollars, is intended only for passengers, 
 and to run from New York to Charleston, Sa- 
 vannah, and New Orleans, twelve times a-year, 
 taking, in the year, 5,000 passengers, at 200 dollars 
 each, the voyage. The steam-boat, Vesuvius, from 
 New Orleans to Louisville, freighted, in one trip, 
 47,000 dollars, and cleared half, that is 23,500 
 dollars net profit. Sixty or seventy of these fine 
 boats are now on the Ohio and M ississipi rivers. 
 
 27/a At sun-rise I left Louisville, in Colonel 
 Johnson's carriage and pair, for Vincennes, in In- 
 diana, well pleased to turn my back on all the spit- 
 ting, gouging, dirking, duelling, swearing, and star- 
 ing, of old Kentucky. 
 
 I crossed the Ohio at Portland, and landed at 
 New Albion, a young rising village, to breakfast, 
 where, for the first time in America, I found fine, 
 sweet, white, home-baked bread. The staff of 
 life is generally sour, and, though light and 
 spongy, very ill-flavoured, either from bad leaven, 
 or the flour sweating and turning sour in the 
 barrel. 
 
 At eleven, a. m., I rested, and baited at a farm 
 log-house, having one room only ; the farmer came 
 to it ten years ago, and has settled on two quarter 
 sections of land. He has a good horse-mill at 
 work, night and day, to which people come with
 
 204 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oft. 
 
 grist, from 10 to 15 miles, working it with their 
 own horses, four in number, and leaving him (the 
 miller) an eighth for his toll. " My land" (says he) 
 " is good, but not like that of old Kentuck. I get 
 from 40 to 60 bushels of corn, and wheat, 25 to 
 30 bushels per acre, and a market at my door, 
 in supplying gentlemen-travellers, and emigrants." 
 The first house is, for five or six years, a miserable 
 hole, with one room only, after which, rises a 
 better, and the old one remains for a kitchen. 
 This man seems full of money, and knows all 
 things ; he damns the state government for deny- 
 ing him the privilege of slavery, and of using his 
 Kentucky negroes, who, in consequence, (he says) 
 are hired and exposed to cruelty. " 1 was raised 
 under a monarchy government, in Virginia, where 
 every man did as he pleased. This Indiana a 
 free state, and yet not at liberty to use its own 
 property ! You tell me to quit it, I guess, if I 
 do not like it." " Yes, I do." " Well then, the 
 government, d n it, has the power, it seems, to 
 drive me out." This strange man was very civil 
 and coarsely kind to me, and whispered aside to 
 my driver, that he knew I was a very large pro- 
 prietor in this state. 
 
 I travelled till sun-set, 32 miles from the Ohio, 
 and slept at Mrs. Moore's farm-log-house tavern, 
 with three rooms, and a broken window in. each ; 
 all moderately comfortable, until the pitiless, pelt- 
 ing storms of winter come, when it will snow and
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 205 
 
 blow upon the beds. My hostess would, in Eng- 
 land, pass for a witch, having a singularly long, 
 yellow, haggish, dirty, face and complexion. She 
 has three fine sons, but no servants. They do 
 all the household work, and that on the farm, 
 themselves, hiring none. They clear five or six 
 acres every year, have cleared 60 acres, and mean 
 that the other 60 of their quarter section should 
 remain in wood. They located themselves here 
 eight years since, and find good land, good crops, 
 and a market at the door. Two of the young 
 Moores mounted their horses, and, with five dogs, 
 set off hunting at bed-time, until midnight, after 
 racoons, foxes, wolves, bears, and wild cats. 1 
 saw a skin of the latter animal, much like a tame 
 cat, only bigger, and its tail shorter ; they live on 
 partridges and young pigs, and poultry when they 
 can get them ; they never mew and call out like 
 the domestic cat. Here is a pet bear, which took 
 an ear of Indian corn out of my hand. One of 
 these pets recently broke its chain, and came into 
 the house, where lay a sick and bed-ridden man, 
 and an infant child on the floor, with which the 
 bear, much pleased, marched off. The poor old 
 man, not knowing, till then, that he was able to 
 turn himself in bed, suddenly acquired super- 
 natural strength, sprung out, and running after 
 the bear, threw him down, rescued the screaming 
 babe, unhugged and unhurt, and then jumped 
 into bed again.
 
 206 MEMORABLE DAYS 
 
 . Now quite out of society ; every thing 
 and every body, with some few exceptions, looks 
 wild, and half savage. To his honor Judge Chara- 
 bers's, to breakfast. His log-tavern is comfort- 
 able ; he farms two and a half quarter sections, 
 and raises from 40 to 60 bushels of corn an acre. 
 Nearly all the good land on this road is entered. 
 " I had," says he, " hard work for the first two 
 or three years." The judge is a smart man of 
 about 40, and not only a judge, but a senator 
 also, and what is more, the best horse-jockey in 
 the state. He seems very active, prudent, cau- 
 tious, and industrious, and, like all the rest of the 
 people on this road, kind-hearted. He fills the 
 two-fold station of waiter and ostler in part ; I say 
 in part, for, as he has no servant, the drudgery 
 must be done by the traveller himself, if he have 
 a horse or horses. His honor left my driver to 
 do all, and hastily rode off to a distant mill for 
 his grist, now much wanted, and with which he 
 returned in about two hours, while her honor, 
 Mrs. Judge, and the six Miss Judges, prepared 
 my good breakfast. These ladies do all the work 
 of the house, and some of the field ; every thing 
 seems comfortable and easy to them, although 
 the blue sky and the broad sun stare and peep 
 through cracks and crevices in the roof of their 
 house. While I sat at breakfast, his honor's 
 mother, a fine smart young woman of four-score, 
 came briskly riding up, and alighted at the door ;
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 207 
 
 as good a horsewoman as ever mounted a side- 
 saddle. She had been to pay a distant visit, and 
 seemed as though her strength and youth were 
 renewed, like the eagle's. She reminded me of 
 Moses, " with his eye not dim, nor his natural 
 force abated." 
 
 At noon, I stopped at another log-house, quar- 
 ter-section farmer's, with two fine healthy boys, 
 much civilized, who, of themselves, have cleared 
 forty acres of heavily timbered land, such as is 
 seldom seen, and cropped it twice in eighteen 
 months. What prodigious industry ! It is, they 
 say, worth ten dollars an acre clearing. It is; 
 and an Englishman would, indeed, think so, and 
 demand double and treble that sum, for that 
 quantity of excessive labour. They, however, 
 now wish to sell out their improved quarter 
 section, and remove further from the road. These 
 young men drink spring water, and like it better 
 than whiskey, and look heartier and healthier than 
 any settlers I have yet seen in the wilds. 
 
 I rested all night at another quarter-section 
 farmer's, who, together with his brother and wife, 
 has cleared thirty acres in eighteen months, with- 
 out hired hands, and is now rearing a second 
 log-house. They find a market at their door for 
 all they can raise, and ten times as much, if they 
 could raise it. They burn all the logs and trees 
 rolled together in immense heaps, and prefer the 
 wood-land to the barrens, the latter being thinly
 
 "208 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 .timbered with dwarfish trees and shrubs. The 
 wife, husband, brother, and three wild children, 
 sleep in one room, together with three or four tra- 
 vellers, all on the floor, bedless, but wrapt up in 
 blankets. J, being a mighty fine man, was put into 
 the new house, which, though without either doors 
 or windows, was distinguished by one bed on a 
 bedstead, both home-made, and as soft as straw 
 and wood could be. Into this bed was I honour- 
 ably put, and at midnight favoured with a bed- 
 ,-fellow, a stranger Yankee man whom I had seen 
 on the mountains ; and at my feet, on the floor, 
 slept two Irish, and one poor sick American, all 
 pedestrians, who had wandered here in quest of 
 employment. Thus housed and bedded, we were 
 faithfully watched. and guarded by several huge 
 hunting dogs, lying around the entrance of our 
 bed-room, barking and growling to the howling 
 wolves, bears, foxes, and wild cats, now roam- 
 ing around, and seeming ready to devour us. 
 Our hostess hung on the cook-all, and gave us 
 fowls, ill-flavoured bacon, and wild beef, all stewed 
 down to rags like hotch-potch, together with coffee 
 and home-made sugar, for supper and breakfast. 
 All was coarse, wild, and ill-flavoured. 
 
 *29tk. At sunrise I passed two waggons and 
 herds of cattle and people, very wild-looking and 
 Indian-like, rising from camp, having camped out 
 all night after the fashion of English gypsies. 
 Stopped at a wretched cabin, having only one
 
 18ia] IN AMERICA. 209 
 
 room, and that brimful of great dirty boys and 
 girls, all very ragged and half naked; and again 
 at the house of a Mr. Lewis, from Virginia, where 
 every thing presented a fine contrast; clean, 
 healthy, civilized children. I 
 
 Breakfasted at an infant ville, Hindostan, on the 
 falls of the White River, a broad crystal stream, 
 running navigable to the Ohio, over a bed of sand 
 and stone, smooth and white as a floor of marble. 
 This baby ville is flourishing ; much building is in 
 progress, and it promises to become a pleasant, 
 healthy, large town, before I see it again. The 
 land, too, is rich and inviting. I now crossed, in 
 my chariot, White River, and in two hours after 
 stopped at a quarter-se'ction farmer's, who has 
 never cleared nor inclosed any of his land, because 
 sick or idle; being, however, well enough to hunt 
 daily, a sport which, as he can live by it, he likes 
 better than farming ; " and besides," says he, 
 " we had at first so many wild beasts about us, 
 that we could not keep pigs, poultry, sheep, nor 
 any thing else." Called on another quarter-sec- 
 tion man, sick, and who therefore has done but 
 little himself; two young boys have cleared five 
 or six acres. The tavern keeps them all ; a tavern, 
 with one miserable hole of a room. 
 
 1 stopped again at a two quarter-section far- 
 mer's, who said ; " I am an old man, and have 
 only my boys ; we cannot hire, but we do all the 
 labour, and get 60 bushels of corn per acre, but 
 
 p
 
 210 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 no wheat of any consequence yet. We can always 
 sell all the produce we raise from the land to tra- 
 vellers like you, and others, new comers." " But," 
 said' I, " what will you do when your said new 
 comers and neighbours have as much to spare and 
 sell as you have?" " O, then we'll give it to cat- 
 tle and pigs, which can travel to a market some- 
 where. I see no fear of a market in some shape 
 or other." This was a shrewd old fellow. 
 
 I met and passed five or six huge waggons laden 
 with goods, chattels, and children, and families, 
 attended by horsemen, cattle, and footmen, and 
 many negroes, all returning from the Missouri 
 territory to their native home and state of Ken- 
 tucky, which they had rashly left only two months 
 since. Having sold out there in good times at 30 
 dollars an acre, and being now scared out of 
 Missouri by sickness, they are returning to repur- 
 chase their former homes in Kentucky at 15 dol- 
 lars an acre; or perhaps, says my informant, they 
 may return to the Missouri, when the fear of sick- 
 ness subsides. They have left their father behind, 
 as a pledge of returning; but still 100 acres in 
 Old Kentuck are worth 300 in Missouri, except in 
 river-bottoms, that is, valleys of rivers. 
 
 Passed another Washington, a young county 
 seat (or town) and several fine neighbourhoods of 
 rich land, full of iron-weed, but not so rank as in 
 Kentucky, yet bearing plenty of huge sugar-trees. 
 Every state in this mighty Union seems emulous of
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 211 
 
 building iowns, monumental piles of immortality 
 to General Washington. 
 
 Rested for the night at a good bricked house 
 tavern on the White-river ferry, but without one 
 glass window in it. It is getting old find wearing 
 out before it is finished. Here I found a good 
 supper of buck venison, fowls, whiskey, and coffee. 
 My hostess, the owner, was lately a rich widow, 
 and might have remained so, but for a Yankee 
 soldier with a knapsack at his back, whose lot it 
 was to call at her house. They are now married, 
 and he is lord of the tavern, land and all. My 
 host had a large party of distant neighbours as- 
 sembled to effect a corn shucking, something like 
 an English hawkey, or harvest home. All, gentle 
 and simple, here work hard till eleven at night. 
 Corn shucking means plucking the ears of Indian 
 corn from the stalk, and then housing it in cribs, 
 purposely made to keep it in, for winter use. The 
 stalk is left in the field; the leaves, while half green, 
 are stripped off, and tied up in bundles, as hay 
 for horses and cattle, and good food it is, much 
 resembling in form the flags in English marshes. 
 After I had retired to bed the hawkey supper 
 commenced ; alt seemed fun, created by omnipotent 
 whiskey, with which they plentifully supplied me, 
 although in bed. " The Doctor, the Squire, the 
 Colonel," said they, rt shall drink and lack no 
 good thing." I was consequently pressed to rise 
 and join them, about one o'clock. I refused 
 
 p 2
 
 212 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 " Then," said they, " Doctor, you shall drink in 
 bed." My charioteer had foolishly called me 
 Doctor, Squire, Colonel, and what not, during 
 the whole of this wilderness journey ; hence, I was 
 here applied to as an eminent physician. 
 
 30th. Travelled 12 miles to breakfast on fine 
 buck venison at three farthings per pound, or one 
 dollar for the buck, at the house of a shrewd old 
 kind-hearted Pennsylvanian, now nearly worn out 
 and ready to sleep, either with or without, his fa- 
 thers. " I have," says he, " lately lost my son, 
 and my farms are running fast to ruin. I have 
 200 acres, some of which I hire out, and I have 
 just finished what my son began, a good new log- 
 house. This Indiana is the best country in the 
 world for young men. Were I a young man I 
 would live no where else in all the universal world." 
 " Although," says he, " many hundreds of wag- 
 gons, with droves of men and beasts, four or five 
 hundred in a drove, and at least 5,000 souls from 
 Kentucky have passed my house since last har- 
 vest, all bound for the Missouri." 
 
 At eleven, p. m., I reached Old Vincennes, the 
 first and oldest town in this state, situated in a fine 
 woodless Prairie on the banks of the big Wabash, 
 a fine broad, clear, and generally deep stream, 
 running to the Ohio by Shawneese town, but when 
 its waters are low, weeds rise from the bottom, and 
 grow, and rot, and impregnate the air with pesti- 
 lence. On passing through this place, a farmer
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 213 
 
 said that last spring he lost seven cows, and that 
 hundreds were poisoned by some unknown herb 
 found growing in their pastures on river-bottom 
 land. A medical botanist was here much wanted. 
 An immense quantity of land in the neighbouring 
 state of Illinois, is here, I see, posted up in this town 
 for sale or lease, for a term of years, at one peck 
 of corn per acre, per annum. But who will hire, 
 when nearly all can buy ? I passed away my 20 
 dollar note of the rotten bank of Harmony, Penn- 
 sylvania, for five dollars only ! so losing 31. 7s. 6d. 
 sterling. I was indebted five dollars to my faith- 
 ful driver, who was now to leave me behind and 
 press on to St. Louis, Missouri. 1 said, " Now, 
 driver, which will you have ; five silver dollars, or 
 the 20 dollar note; or what more than your de- 
 mand will you give for the said note?" " No- 
 thing." " Then take it, and bless banks and bank- 
 ing for ever." Bank paper is here an especial 
 nuisance, an ever fruitful source of evil, and ever 
 very unfriendly to honesty, peace, and good will 
 amongst hosts and travellers, who meet and part, 
 cheating and cheated, cursed and cursing, conti- 
 nually. My landlord here is very obliging, and 
 puts me into the best room and bed in the Vin- 
 cennes .hotel, where I am sleeping with a sick 
 traveller from St. Louis, who states that rnahy die 
 daily, and his doctor there had 150 patients to 
 visit every day, or oftener. So much for the 
 healthiness of the ever-tempting Missouri.
 
 214 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 Sunday, 3\st. The town of Vincennes is more 
 than 200 years old ; older than Philadelphia ; but 
 being of French origin, and in the neighbourhood 
 of the Indians, ever hostile to the inhabitants and 
 settlers round it, has grown but slowly, and is an 
 antique lump of deformity. Although long the 
 capital and mother town of the state, it looks like 
 an old, worn out, dirty village of wooden frame 
 houses, which a fire might much improve, for im- 
 provement generally has to travel through flames. 
 Here is no church, save the Catholic church, the 
 inhabitants being principally French Canadians, 
 and the rest the refuse of the east, whose crimes 
 have driven them hither, or dissipated young men 
 unable to live at home. Hence Sunday is only a 
 day of frolic and recreation, which commences on 
 the Saturday evening, when every preparation is 
 devoutly made for the Sabbath, and off they start 
 in large parties on foot and on horseback, all rifle- 
 men, and cunning hunters, into the deep recesses 
 of the forest, camping out all night in readiness 
 for sabbath sacrifices, the bucks, the bears, the 
 squirrels, and the turkeys, ready to be offered up 
 by peep of day. This holy day is consequently 
 ushered in by guns, which continue to roar in and 
 around the town all day until sunset. The stranger 
 might think it was closely besieged, or that an 
 enemy was approaching. The steam flour-rnill, a 
 large grinding establishment of extortion, giving 
 only 301 bs. of flour for one bushel of wheat, weigh-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 215 
 
 ing 60lbs. is in operation all this day, and on 
 other days, day and night, and blacksmiths 7 shops 
 are in high bustle, blazing, blowing, and hammer- 
 ing in direct opposition to a law against Sunday 
 business and pleasure, but which is never feared, 
 because never enforced. The refuse, rather than 
 the flower of the east, seems, with some excep- 
 tions, to be here. But still good is coming out of 
 evil. The east is thus disencumbered, and the 
 west is peopled. Posterity will shew a better face. 
 Such is the process of empire. 
 
 I rambled round the town to the court-house, 
 or shire-hall, really externally an elegant building, 
 but decaying before finished, as though the state 
 were unable to finish what it had so well begun 
 before counting the cost. The State Seminary, a 
 very respectable edifice, but in little better plight, 
 was built by Uncle Sam, and endowed with an 
 ample township in the state. It is, however, only 
 a nominal seminary, because the trustees are not 
 empowered to sell any of its land for raising funds, 
 but must derive them from hiring and leasing it 
 out in farms. But while plenty of uncleared or 
 cleared farms can be bought at two dollars an 
 acre, who will ever think of hiring? 
 
 I saw two Indian graves on the eastern banks 
 of the Wabash. Each hillock is carefully arched 
 over with broad stripes of bark, each three feet 
 wide, with logs and sticks, or bands across. The 
 bodies are buried from one to two feet deep only.
 
 216 MEMORABLE DAYS [Oct. 
 
 Visited the house of J. Lowndes, Esq., .the prison 
 philanthropist and Howard of America, but did 
 not see him. He was gone, as an Indian ambassa- 
 dor, to the government in Washington city assem- 
 bled, and I passed him unconsciously on Thurs- 
 day last, when J saw and noted in a handspme 
 chariot, a venerable, gentlemanly, dignified coun- 
 tenance. It was that of this good and honourable 
 man. I presented his lady, once the widow of the 
 late Judge Vanderburgh, with my introductory 
 letter to her husband, which I had brought from 
 one of my friends at Washington city. She re- 
 gretted the absence of her spouse, and received me 
 graciously. This generous man is gone a third 
 time to the President on behalf of the Indian chiefs 
 who call him their father, having appointed and 
 chosen him as the only honest American whom 
 they have ever known ; all with whom they before 
 had dealt or treated, tricked them out of their 
 lands. Mr. Lowndes knows their language, and 
 has a speech always put into his mouth by these 
 barbarian grandees. " Go," said they, " go, fa- 
 ther, and tell our great father, the President, how 
 we are deviled and cheated, and if he does not do 
 us justice, go, tell him he is a hog, and that we 
 would burn up the land if we could." Mr. L. re- 
 plied, " that this was an undutiful speech for chil- 
 dren to send to their father ;" but in great rage 
 they rejoined in their own tongue, " He is only a 
 man." The chiefs, whom Mr. Lowndes represents,
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 217 
 
 are of the Delaware tribe, the posterity of those 
 from whom William Perm so honourably bought 
 Pennsylvania, and who traditionally revere his me- 
 mory down to this day. 
 
 November 1st. During the last month the 
 weather has been cold and dry, but generally 
 clear and without fogs, and in the night frosty, 
 shewing ice half an inch thick. Summer and I 
 parted on the last of September, at Washington 
 city, where she lingers until Christmas. Late 
 last evening my host returned from his Sunday 
 hunt, heavily laden with his share of the game, 
 namely, two wild ducks, one wild turkey, seven 
 squirrels, and one fine fat buck of 130lbs. weight. 
 Hunting seems the everlasting delight of this town. 
 When I went to bed last night the prairie and fo- 
 rest were both enveloped in a wide- spreading, 
 sky-reddening blaze, which the hunters had kin- 
 dled to drive out and start the game. 
 
 I met this morning Mr. Baker of Philadelphia, 
 an intelligent traveller, who knows my friend J. 
 Ingle, living eighty miles further west of this place, 
 and who has kindly borrowed a horse for me, and 
 agrees to pilot me thither to-morrow. I saw a 
 large party of Miami Indian hunters, accompa- 
 nied by their ugly squaws, all on horseback, and 
 all astride, with their tomahawks and frightful 
 knives girdled round them, dressed in blankets 
 and turbans, and painted red, green, black, and 
 white; every feature having a different shade of
 
 218 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 colour, and all, save the squaws, apparently half 
 drunk, having their bottle of fire-water, or whiskey, 
 with them, which, after drinking from it them- 
 selves, they stopped and handed to me and my 
 friend Baker. We took it and applied it to our 
 lips, it being considered the perfection of rudeness 
 and barbarism, and little short of enmity, to refuse 
 any thing so kindly offered. This tribe had ap- 
 proached the town for the purpose of selling their 
 venison. Each horse carried two or three quarters, 
 fat and fine, ready skinned, and hanging down its 
 sides. The price was only a quarter dollar for 
 30lbs., not an English halfpenny per pound. 
 
 Although Vincennes is an old mother town, 
 abounding in rich land, it is uncultivated, and 
 there is occasionally a scarcity of necessaries, 
 particularly of milk and butter, which, with the 
 worst tea, are dealt out very sparingly; no lump 
 sugar, no brandy, no segars, no spitoons are seen 
 at this hotel. 
 
 All persons here, and all whom I have met, 
 hitherto, during this western pilgrimage, whether 
 they have or have not visited Birkbeck, think very 
 meanly of both him and his settlement. The 
 
 English emigrants particularly, (says Mr. ) 
 
 deem themselves deceived and injured by his books 
 and mis-statements. 
 
 2?id. Yesterday at noon came on a heavy gale, 
 which filled the atmosphere for the remainder of 
 the day and night, with a strange mixture of hot
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 219 
 
 smoke, ashes, and dusty sand, to the density and 
 hue of a London fog in December. The sun was 
 completely shorn of his beams, and the whole ho- 
 rizon, for unknown miles in circumference, filled 
 with a blinding commotion, like a gale in the great 
 desert ; and at night to the N. W. the sky blazed 
 and reddened over a great extent, while the big 
 Wabash blushed, and the whole atmosphere be- 
 came illuminated, as though it was the kindling 
 up of the last universal conflagration. 
 
 At ten this morning I left old Vincennes for 
 Prince-town. The horse which my friend Baker 
 had borrowed for me was mean, and mis-shapen, 
 but covered with buffalo skins, which hide all 
 defects. The horses here are nearly all mean, 
 wild, deformed, half grown, dwarfish things, and 
 much in taste and tune with their riders. The 
 pigs, every where in great abundance, seem more 
 than half wild, and at the approach of man fly, 
 or run like deer at the sight of an Indian rifle. 
 Throughout the western regions they look starved 
 to death. This, however, is a bad season for them, 
 there being little mast, that is, acorns, nuts, and 
 other wild fruit and herbage. I passed over an 
 extensive, sandy, black, burning prairie, the cause 
 of yesterday's and to-day's thick hazy atmosphere, 
 the sun looking more like the moon, and as if 
 turned into blood. At noon, I rode through a 
 large rich river-bottom valley, on the banks of the
 
 220 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 White River, and which, in winter, is as yet over- 
 flowed, from six to ten feet of water above the sur- 
 face, as the trees prove by circles round their 
 trunks, and by their boughs dipping and catching 
 the scum of the surf. This land, of course, is the 
 finest for meadow, if it were wanted, but as the 
 prairies are all meadow, it is of no value. In it 
 stand such enormous trees as are seldom seen 
 elsewhere, having trunks like towers. Here, too, 
 flourishes, the long and far-famed, ever-green mis- 
 tletoe, planted by birds, or propagated only by 
 seed or berries, which are sown or deposited on 
 decayed branches and arms of oak and other trees, 
 to beautify the desolation of the winter forest. 
 Excessive drinking seems the all-pervading, easily- 
 besetting sin of this wild hunting country. Plenty 
 of coal is found on the Wabash banks, and there 
 are salt-springs in this state, but sad Yankee tricks 
 are played off in the working and making salt from 
 them. Grease and fat are used, to make it retain 
 a large portion of water, which assists in filling 
 the bushel with deception. Although fat is so 
 abundant, yet it is sold at 20 cents, or Wd. per Ib. 
 and candles at 37^ cents, or Wd. per Ib. Milk, 
 too, in a land which might flow with milk and 
 honey, is 12J cents, or 6d. per quart, and not a 
 constant supply at that price, nor at any other 
 price, unless a cow is kept. Butter, bad, at 25 
 cents per Ib. Beef, six cents per Ib. by the quarter, 
 which lies on the ground all day at the tavern doors,
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 221 
 
 as if brought for dog's meat. Tavern doors are 
 here never closed. 
 
 Saving two comfortable plantations, with neat 
 log-houses and flourishing orchards, just planted, 
 and which sprout and grow like osiers in England, 
 I saw nothing between Vincennes and Princeton, 
 a ride of forty miles, but miserable log holes, and 
 a mean ville of eight or ten huts or cabins, sad neg- 
 lected farms, and indolent, dirty, sickly, wild-look- 
 ing inhabitants. Soap is no where seen or found 
 in any of the taverns, east or west. Hence dirty 
 hands, heads, and faces every where. Here is 
 nothing clean but wild beasts and birds, nothing 
 industrious generally, except pigs, which are so of 
 necessity. Work or starve is the order of the day 
 with them. Nothing happy but squirrels; their 
 life seems all play, and that of the hogs all work. 
 I reached Princeton at sun-set. 
 
 3rd. I looked round Princeton, a four-year old 
 town and county-seat. Here I found and called 
 on my countryman Mr. Phillips, who canae a 
 visitor from Somersetshire, but fixed on a plea- 
 sant good farm of 300 acres close to the town, 
 which he bought with some improvements, such 
 as a small log-house, and a few acres cleared by 
 art and nature, at 20 dollars an acre; " the only 
 farm (says he) which I would have in this state of 
 Indiana, but which I mean to improve and re-sell, 
 and then return to England. I hate the prairies^ 
 all of them; insomuch that I would not have any
 
 222 MEMORABLE DAYS [J\OV- 
 
 of them of a gift, iff must be compelled to live on 
 them. They are all without water, except what is 
 too muddy and distant for use. I am much per- 
 plexed with labourers; both the English and na- 
 tives are good for nothing; they know nothing, 
 and it is impossible to get any kind of business 
 well done, either with or without money. Money 
 cannot be gained by cultivation. There is no cer- 
 tain good market; farm produce may, perhaps, be 
 sold at some price, but you cannot get your money 
 of the cheats and scum of society who live here. 
 I think that Birkbeck is right in not cultivating 
 his land, though wrong and mortified in having 
 written so hastily and prematurely. He and 
 Flower are both sinking and scattering money, 
 which they will never see more or gather again. 
 They cannot even hope to gain or increase their 
 capital, but by the contingent increase in the value 
 of their land, which is not the best of its kind. 
 With hired labour and a market, I should prefer 
 the western country, but here, though there is no 
 visible want, yet is there poverty indeed, and but 
 little or no friendship. No sharing things in 
 common; idleness, poverty, and cheating, are the 
 order and temper of the day." 
 
 Mr. Phillips and his wife both looked very 
 shabby, wild, and dirty. He apologized to me 
 for his dishabille, and said, " Sir, if a stranger 
 like you had found me in this plight in England, 
 and I could have seen you coming up to my door,
 
 1019.] IN AMERICA. 223 
 
 I should have hid myself. Here, however, no 
 shame is felt, but pleasure, at a visit from one of 
 my countrymen, whom I shall be happy to meet 
 again." He keeps an housemaid only, his wife 
 doing nearly all the drudgery herself, although in 
 England, a lady, unaccustomed to soil her hands, 
 or let her feet stray from the parlour carpet. 
 
 I had a long and interesting conversation with 
 a young lawyer, the supreme Judge Hart, living 
 in this town, but proscribed and suspended for 
 sending a challenge to three agents of his estates 
 in Kentucky, who, after injuring him, caricatured 
 him, and then refused to fight. The judge says 
 that English labourers know nothing, and are 
 worth nothing in agriculture here ; hewing, split- 
 ting, clearing, grubbing, and ploughing among 
 roots, being a business which they do not, and 
 wish not, to understand. It is true that they are 
 handy with the spade, and that only. They feel 
 too free to work in earnest, or at all, above two 
 or three days in a week. Every English body 
 here is above work, except the good little farmer, 
 like your friend, John Ingle, and old Phillips, 
 the former of whom is likely to kill himself with 
 hard work. He was sick twice in consequence, 
 and once nearly unto death. Mrs. Ingle and her 
 husband gain and deserve a good name, and feel 
 happy and contented on a good farm, which is 
 too near the road, They bought a log-house, 
 town lot, pro tempore, at Princeton, at a forced
 
 224 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 sale, for 300 dollars ; which they now let for 
 forty dollars a year, to Mr. and Miss Fordham, 
 Flower's nephew and niece, who were sick of 
 the prairie of Illinois, where health could not 
 attend them. Your friend, J. Ingle, lost his 
 horses for three weeks. He is expecting more of 
 his English friends to follow him. Mr. Birkbeck 
 is disappointed and unhappy ; I know him well. 
 He has not cultivated nor raised, as yet, any thing 
 from his land, although the Harmonites refused 
 to sell him produce, because they thought it was 
 his duty to raise it himself, and plainly told him 
 so. He will never make a farmer, nor money by 
 farming there. It is idle to attempt to import 
 English labourers for the use of yourselves exclu- 
 sively, for Birkbeck and Flower lost all. The 
 same, says Mr. Pittiss, late of the Isle of Wight. 
 Women and girls, too, are here above assisting in 
 the house, at a price per day or week. Wives 
 and daughters must do all themselves. The girl, 
 or white servant, if one can now and then be had, 
 at one dollar per week and board, is pert and 
 proud as her mistress, and has her parasol at six 
 dollars, and bonnet at ten or twelve dollars, 
 and other articles in character, which, as dress 
 generally does with all grades, seduces' them from 
 a virtuous regard for their duties, says this young 
 and sprightly lawyer. People here, though poor 
 and idle, feel above thieving, the facility of Jiving 
 without, and the certainty of exposure and sum-
 
 1810.] IN AMERICA. 225 
 
 mary punishment, seem to conquer the propensity, 
 where it may happen to exist. 
 
 I feel convinced that none but working farmers, 
 like John Ingle, ought to come to this western 
 land. Water is bad, white, or milky, at Prince- 
 ton ; but beds are good, with the bed-room doors 
 next the street, unlocked all night, in order that 
 ingress and egress may be free, which is the more 
 necessary, as there are, as is very generally the 
 case here, none of those accommodations, either 
 within or without doors, which an Englishman 
 looks upon as quite indispensable. 
 
 1 met and talked with old Squire M'Intosh, 
 who, although he has lived 35 years here, away 
 from his dear native Scotland, still regrets it. " I 
 now live," says the squire, " on the grand rapids 
 of the big Wabash, a mile above the White River 
 ferry; call and spend a night with me on your 
 way to Birkbeck's settlement, which is the reverse 
 of every thing which he has written of it, and 
 described it to be. The neighbourhood, however, 
 do not think he intended to misrepresent and 
 deceive, but that he wrote too soon, and without 
 knowing the real state of things, and understand- 
 ing his subject, or knowing where to find the 
 best land. He ought to have examined, in com- 
 pany with one of Uncle Sam's surveyors; he 
 would not then have entered land in the lump, or 
 mass, a great deal of which is not good, nor ever 
 can be, being wet, swampy, cold prairies, something 
 
 Q
 
 226 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 t i 
 
 like undrained marshes in England. Mr. Birk- 
 beck entered much at the land-office, but sold 
 little, only such half sections as he ought to have 
 bought and kept for himself and friends. Mr. 
 Phillips, on whom you have just called, say the 
 gentlemen round me, is the slave of his own 
 English notions and passions; he is, therefore, 
 always hesitating and undecided ; sometimes, when 
 things run crossly and crooked, he is seen and 
 heard heartily execrating this country and people ; 
 and, at other times, he is well pleased. He is an 
 odd man, surrounded with eight fierce dogs, and 
 has a fine, never-failing mill spring, running a mile 
 through his farm, which, one year ago, cost 20 
 dollars, but is now worth only ten dollars an 
 acre, with all improvements. This is turning a 
 penny quickly ! Despatch is the life and soul of 
 business." 
 
 4th. The Supreme Judge, Hart, is a gay young 
 man of twenty-five, full of wit and humorous elo- 
 quence, mixing with all companies at this tavern, 
 where he seems neither above nor below any, dress- 
 ed in an old white beaver hat, coarse threadbare 
 coat and trowsers of the same cloth (domestic,) 
 and yellow striped waistcoat, with his coat out at 
 the elbows; yet very cleanly in his person, and re- 
 fined in his language. What can be the induce- 
 ment for a young man, like him, equal to all 
 things, to live thus, and here? 
 
 Judge Hart deems merchandizing to be the most
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 227 
 
 profitable pursuit in the west, and the liberal pro- 
 fessions the last and worst. 
 
 Mr. Nicholls, a cunning Caledonian, says, that 
 farming, except near the rivers, cannot answer; 
 but raising and feeding cattle and pigs may. 
 Store-keeping is here evidently the best of all em- 
 ployments, if cents and dollars enter into the esti- 
 mate. Money spent in improving land is seldom 
 more than returned with interest, and often lost by 
 reselling or selling out, especially if the labour is 
 not all done by the farmer ; and if it is done by 
 his own instead of hired hands, he is not more than 
 fairly paid for his time and labour, which are both 
 money. It is therefore best for the mere capitalist 
 to buy rather than make all the improvements, as 
 he certainly buys them much cheaper than he can 
 create them. He should confine himself to the 
 east. 
 
 Mr. Phillips, the English gentleman on whom 
 I called yesterday, returned my call this evening. 
 He seems a mass of contradiction, and states that 
 this western country is the best he knows, but 
 that it costs more to live in it than in London ; that 
 it is idle for a fanner to raise more produce than 
 he can use himself; but that there are farmers 
 making money as fast as they can count it, by rais- 
 ing large quantities of farm produce in this and the 
 neighbouring state of Illinois ; that others might 
 do the same ; that there is now a market better 
 than in the east, and that in five or seven years the 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 MEMORABLE DAYS [NOV. 
 
 market at New Orleans down the river will be 
 good and great ; yet that the parties to whom you 
 
 must sell are all d d rogues. Feeding beef 
 
 and pork he deems a good trade, especially when 
 the land shall come to be clovered and sown with 
 other grass seeds. He thinks there is little or no 
 good beef in the wilderness, because it is raised 
 and fed on natural wild vegetables, many of which 
 are ill-flavoured and poisonous. Beasts often die 
 suddenly in the fall of the year in consequence of 
 being confined to such food. The natural white 
 clover, in the month of June, salivates cattle and 
 horses, which, however, still devour it greedily, 
 and seem to thrive thereon. 
 
 Our party this evening were all agreed in this 
 particular; that the western country is only fit 
 for the little hard-working farmer with a small ca- 
 pital. He must live, and better than he could 
 elsewhere, on and from the productions of his own 
 hands and lands. He can retail his produce, and 
 be gardener and farmer both; vegetables every 
 where being scarce and dear, because people are 
 too idle to raise them. Wholesale farmers from 
 England expecting to cultivate from 300 to 1,000 
 acres, and sell the farm produce in lumps, will 
 come here only to be disappointed. Small retail- 
 ing farmers only are wanted here. Mr. Phillips 
 deems that Birkbeck, Flower, and Mr. Dunlop of 
 London, wfyo have bought so many thousands of 
 acres, and the latter of whom pays treble tax as a
 
 1819.J IN AMERICA. 229 
 
 non-resident, will greatly benefit at some future 
 time by capital so employed, although they may 
 never cultivate an acre, or touch the land. The 
 capital seems to be idle and sleeps, but it will 
 one day, he thinks, awake, and find itself giganti^ 
 cally augmented. Mr. Phillips, whose opinion is 
 not respected here, was never a farmer until he 
 came here. His improvements do honour to his 
 intuition. 
 
 General Evans, who this day formed one of our 
 circle, is in part the owner of this town of Prince- 
 ton, and of Evansville, which bears his name. He 
 is a pleasant, rustic, rniddle-aged man, living here 
 in a little log-house, together with his lady and 
 daughter, who, having no servant, do all the work 
 of their establishment themselves. Servants are 
 not to be had. The same may be said of all the 
 rest of the inhabitants. Envy and invidious com- 
 parisons have, therefore, no place at Princeton. 
 
 General Boon, during the last war, (says the 
 General) lost two sons killed ; and his favourite 
 daughter and her friend were stolen by the Indians, 
 who marched the fair captives two days without 
 resting, and intended marrying them, but were over- 
 taken by the colonel and his son, and a lover of the 
 lady. The young couple, previous to this event, 
 were on the point of marriage, and are now living 
 as husband and wife in Kentucky. The captives 
 cunningly indented the ground all the way from 
 the Colonel's house with their high-heeled shoes,
 
 230 MEMORABLE DAYS [NOV. 
 
 80 that they might be tracked; and when they 
 saw their brave deliverers coming up full speed, 
 they fell flat on the earth, while the firing of rifles 
 commenced on the Indians, who tried in vain to 
 kill their fair prisoners by throwing their knives 
 and tomahawks at them; but the pursuers triumph- 
 ed, and all were recovered and restored unhurt. 
 General Boon now lives in solitude 600 miles up 
 the remote Missouri. He is 80 years old, very 
 active, very poor, a hunter and a recluse by choice, 
 and trains up his sons in the same path, feeling 
 more happiness than he possibly could in society, 
 where he would have lived and died, if he had 
 willed it, full of scars, and honours, and days. 
 His parents were always poor ; his disposition is 
 kind and hospitable ; his manners simple and gen- 
 tle ; preferring to live meanly and rudely as a hardy 
 hunter and squatter, wanting nothing but what na- 
 ture gives him, and his own hands get him. He 
 sleeps on a bear-skin, and clothes himself in dressed 
 deer-skin, and though shy, is kind to intruding 
 strangers. The western country is indebted to 
 him, as he leads the way into the best spots of the 
 wilderness. He was the first white man in Old 
 Kentucky, and the wide, wild west is full of his 
 licks. A flourishing settlement always rises where- 
 ever he has once squatted, and whenever any set- 
 tlers begin to approach near his location, he quits 
 it for ever, and moves on further west ; and the 
 place, which he thus abandons, is called Boon's
 
 18J9.] IN AMERICA. 231 
 
 Lick. He never wants much land ; only a spot 
 sufficient for the supply of his household. 
 
 I saw a man this day with his face sadly dis- 
 figured. He had lost his nose, bitten off close 
 down to its root, in a fight with a nose-loving 
 neighbour. 
 
 Judge Hart deems it foolish policy in English- 
 men wishing to form English settlements and 
 neighbourhoods, and thereby to perpetuate Eng- 
 lish distinctions and prejudices, so offensive to 
 their adopted country, and so unprofitable to 
 themselves. Nothing is good with them but what 
 is English, whereas they should rather endeavour 
 to forget the name, which ever kindles unfriendly 
 feelings. 
 
 I saw a fine fat buck, fat as a Lincolnshire 
 wether sheep, and weighing, when dressed and 
 with the head off, I40lbs. It sold for two dollars, 
 less than three farthings per pound. 
 
 Politeness, in manner and address, is more ne- 
 cessary here than in Bond-street, for here you in- 
 variably receive it, and to give it in return is justly 
 due. The titles, " Sir" and " Madam," (not Ma'am) 
 are pleasant to and expected by all ; for however 
 mean may be the exterior of a citizen of this free, 
 equal country, there is a spirit and an intelligence, 
 and often sprightliness about him, which decorate 
 any thing and make even rags respectable. 
 
 Two months ago the High Sheriff of Chilicothe, 
 Ohio, went to jail for want of bail. He had seized,
 
 232 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 \ 
 
 personally, on the funds of the United States' 
 branch bank. This was hard! 
 
 Birkbeck, (say my companions) complained at 
 first of our slovenly state of things, and the indo- 
 lence of farmers and labourers, and boasted of 
 what might be done, and what he should do, but 
 has, at the end of four years, done nothing but 
 talk of doing. The facility of a living for all, and 
 the consequent difficulty of procuring labour, even 
 for money, together with the sickly, relaxing 
 warmth of the climate, are obstacles which over- 
 whelm all industry. The principal care is how 
 to live easy. Time, and not man, effectually clears 
 and improves land in this country. Time here 
 changes his character, and preserves and reple- 
 nishes, while man destroys and wears out what he 
 can. 
 
 The reason (says Judge Hart) why Scotchmen 
 always get money, in this and all other lands to 
 which they wander, is, because they leave no 
 means untried. 
 
 The season, called the Indian summer, which 
 here commences in October, by a dark blue hazy 
 atmosphere, is caused by millions of acres, for 
 thousands of miles round, being in a wide-spread- 
 ing, flaming, blazing, smoking fire, rising up 
 through wood and prairie, hill and dale, to the 
 tops of low shrubs and high trees, which are 
 kindled by the coarse, thick, long, prairie grass, 
 and dying leaves, at every point of the compass,
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 233 
 
 aftd far beyond the foot of civilization, darkening 
 the air, heavens and earth, over the whole extent 
 of the northern and part of the southern continent, 
 from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and in neigh- 
 bourhoods contiguous to the all-devouring con- 
 flagration, filling the whole horizon with yellow, 
 palpable, tangible smoke, ashes, and vapour, which 
 affect the eyes of man and beast, and obscure the 
 sun, moon, and stars, for many days, or until 
 the winter rains descend to quench the fire and 
 purge the thick ropy air, which is seen, tasted, 
 handled, and felt. 
 
 So much for an Indian summer, which partakes 
 of the vulgar idea of the infernal. Why called 
 Indian ? Because these fires seem to have origin- 
 ated with the native tribes, and are now perpetu- 
 ated by the White Hunters, who by these means 
 start, disturb, and pen up the game, and destroy 
 the dens of both man and beast, and all this with 
 impunity. 
 
 To-morrow, through floods and flames, I shall 
 endeavour to make good my desperate way to 
 the retreat of my good friend, John Ingle, in 
 Indiana. 
 
 6tk. At nine, a. m. I left Princeton on a horse 
 carrying double, me and my guide, through the 
 wilderness, to my friend John Ingle's, who had 
 sent the said horse and boy twenty-five miles for 
 my accommodation. The little town just quitted, 
 and at which I paid the extravagant price of two
 
 234 MEMORABLE DAYS [NOV. 
 
 dollars a day for board, has nineteen streets, and 
 about one hundred and five houses, one prison, 
 and one meeting-house, or church, all of wood ; 
 one supreme judge, and four other judges; and 
 in the unpeopled county are another quorum of 
 judges, and three generals. It is called Princeton, 
 in honour of its living founder, Judge Prince. 
 
 We rode all day through thick smoke and fire, 
 which sometimes met in pillar-like arches across 
 the road, and compelled us to wait awhile, or turn 
 aside. We passed only one comfortable abode, 
 and three or four filthy one-room log-holes, sur- 
 rounded by small patches, cleared samples of the 
 bulk, which seems good land. I called at one of 
 the three, a tavern, to beg for bread, but got none ; 
 only some whiskey. I saw a deer-lick, at which 
 I dismounted and took a lick. The earth thus 
 licked and excavated by many tongues, is of the 
 colour of fuller's earth, not ill-flavoured, but a 
 little salt and saponaceous, always attractive to 
 the beasts of the forest. 
 
 At five o'clock, p. m., I reached the welcome 
 abode of my Huntingdonshire friends, Mr. and 
 Mrs. John Ingle, who, together with their English 
 maid-servant, Rebecca, and six children, rushed 
 out to embrace and welcome their old friend, 
 school-fellow, neighbour, and fellow-countryman, 
 and great was the joy of our meeting. 
 
 Here I found good sweetbread, like the English, 
 and hot corn-cake, and supped, on what I sup-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 235 
 
 posed fine pork steaks. " This meat (said I to 
 Mr. Ingle) is most delicious." " Well then, you 
 like it, do you?" " I do indeed." " What do you 
 think it is?" " Why, pork to be sure." " Well, 
 we thought we would not tell you until after sup- 
 per, lest you should fancy it was not good and 
 refuse to eat Bear" " Oh," said I, " if this be 
 bear, give me bear for ever." 
 
 My friend's log-house, as a first, is one of the 
 best I have seen, having one large room and a 
 chamber over it, to which you climb by a ladder. 
 It has, at present, no windows, but when the 
 doors are shut the crevices between the rough 
 logs admit light and air enough, above and be- 
 low. It is five yards square and twenty feet high. 
 At a little distance stand a stable for two horses, 
 a corn crib, a pig-stye, and a store; for store- 
 keeping is his intention, and it is a good one. Two 
 beds in the room below, and one above, lodge us 
 in the following manner ; myself and Mr. Ingle 
 in one bed ; in the second, by our side, sleep six 
 fine but dirty children ; and in the chamber, Mrs. 
 Ingle and a valuable English maid. Thus, on 
 my account, husband and wife are divided. It is 
 not unusual for a male and female to sleep in the 
 same room uncurtained, holding conversation 
 while in bed. In a yard adjoining the house are 
 three sows and pigs half starved, and several cows, 
 calves, and horses, very poor, having no grass, 
 no pasture, but with bells about their necks,
 
 236 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 eternally ringing. Shame, or rather what is called 
 false shame, or delicacy, does not exist here. 
 Males dress and undress before the females, and 
 nothing is thought of it. Here is no servant. The 
 maid is equal to the master. No boy, or man- 
 servant. No water, but at half a mile distant. 
 Mr. Ingle does all the jobs, and more than half 
 the hewing, splitting, and ploughing. He is all 
 economy, all dirty-handed industry. No wood 
 is cut in readiness for morning fires. He and the 
 axe procure it, and provender for the poor hungry 
 cattle, pigs, and horses. His time is continually 
 occupied, and the young boys just breeched are 
 made useful in every possible way. 
 
 Nothing is English here but friendship and 
 good-will. American labourers here, as usual, 
 are very villainous ; one, a preacher, took a piece 
 of land to clear for my friend, and received, before 
 he began, forty dollars on account, but refused 
 to perform his contract. To sue him was idle 
 My friend, in the presence of the fellow's son, 
 called him a right reverend rascal and thief. 
 " Call him so again," said the son, doubling his 
 fist ready to strike. My friend repeated it, and 
 taking up an axe, said. " Now strike, but if you 
 do, as I was never yet afraid of a man, I'll chop 
 you into rails." Money rarely procures its value 
 in labour. He deems that as much money is to 
 be made from 200 acres of land here, as in 
 England, while here the land is made your own.
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 237 
 
 To do that in England, is the top of a farmer's 
 ambition. Here, a man can make all that he 
 cultivates his own. He says that he shall live and 
 gain money this first year, though only sixteen 
 acres are in cultivation. Mrs. Ingle, maid, and 
 children, suffered much in crossing the sea and 
 mountains. They slept on the floor, in a hole, with 
 waggoners, and other male blackguards, where 
 the stench, both by sea and land, was little short 
 of pestilential. 
 
 Sunday, 7th. More than half last night, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Ingle, and maid, were out in the woods 
 extinguishing the wide spreading fires, which 
 threatened to consume their fences, houses, and 
 corn-fields. The whole horizon was brilliantly 
 illuminated. These fires, if not arrested, or watch- 
 ed, sweep away houses, stacks of corn and hay, 
 and every thing within reach. So fared Mr. Grant, 
 late of Chatteris, who is now dead. The sound of 
 the axe, splitting fire-wood, salutes the ear every 
 morning, instead of the birds' song. I was smoked 
 to death all night : our friends rested all day absent 
 from meeting, but still the knees of all present were 
 bent to the God of their good fathers. Sunday 
 passes unnoticed in the English prairie, except 
 by hunting and cricket matches. 
 
 The bears, during the summer, are Jean and 
 hungry, and seize the hogs and eat them alive. 
 It is no uncommon thing to see hogs escape home
 
 238 MEMORABLE DAYS [IVoV. 
 
 with the loss of a pound or two of living flesh. 
 These creatures sleep all the winter quite fat. 
 Rattle-snakes abound here. Mr. Ingle killed four 
 or five beautiful snakes of this species this summer, 
 and one or two vipers. 
 
 Sth. 1 accompanied J. Ingle, and water-cart, 
 to the spring, half a mile off, on the farm of Major 
 Hooker, a hunter, who sold us half a fat buck at 
 three cents a pound ; thus killing and selling from 
 four to six per week, besides turkeys, pheasants, 
 rabbits, racoons, squirrels, and bears. This half 
 buck, weighing 70 pounds, Mr. Ingle carried 
 home on a shoulder-stick. The major's, and other 
 families here, raise cotton for domestic uses, which, 
 in warm and dry seasons, flourishes well. What 
 I saw in pods, and that which the women were 
 spinning, seemed of excellent quality. The seed 
 of this plant was, in slave states, thought nutri- 
 tious enough, when boiled, for the support of 
 negroes; but as many died in using it, it was 
 abandoned. 
 
 The China leaf, or tea-plant, has been propa- 
 gated at Princeton, in Mr. Devan's garden, and 
 at Harmony, from seed brought from China. It 
 is said to grow luxuriantly, yielding more leaf 
 than is used, and making a useful decoction, 
 similar in flavour, though not so pleasant, as that 
 procured from the imported plant. It is manu- 
 factured by sweating it in an oven, and when
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 239 
 
 taken out, it cools and curls up, and becomes fit 
 for use. The indigo also is a little cultivated. 
 The woods abound with medical herbs. The Ching 
 Sang and Ipecacuanha are found, for emetics. The 
 vine is very luxuriant, and cultivated at Harmony 
 with success; while the trees are full of gum. 
 The Dogwood Bark is also found as efficient as 
 the Peruvian, and the Sassafras tea is in general 
 
 7 O 
 
 use for two or three months. 
 
 Great idleness prevails in the Illinois; little or 
 no produce is yet raised. G. Flower had con- 
 tracted with the American hunters, to raise and 
 cultivate 500 acres of corn and grain ; he finding 
 land and seed, and they all the labour of raising 
 and getting it fit for market, at nine dollars an 
 acre. This bargain became void. 
 
 9th. A doctor, of little or no skill, lives twelve 
 miles distant, and this little settlement of Sanders- 
 ville has no school for the children, who remain 
 at home pestering their parents, and retrograding 
 into barbarism. Mrs. Ingle dreads their mixing 
 and associating with the race of children who 
 surround them. A schoolmaster here would be 
 welcomed with a salary of from 400 to 500 dol- 
 lars a year, although riot one of the first grade, 
 but he must be content to live in a wilderness. 
 
 I feel, every day, more and more convinced that 
 the western country is suited only to working 
 families, like those of J. Ingle ; where Mrs. Ingle, 
 (delicately bred) and all turn out to work, as to-
 
 240 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 day, and the other night to put out the approach- 
 ing fires. 
 
 The bears and wolves have devoured several 
 sows while farrowing; they are then weak and 
 defenceless, and therefore an easy prey. Never 
 did I behold such ghostly pigs as here. Soap, 
 candles, sugar, cotton, leather, and woollen clothes, 
 of a good quality, are here all made from the land, 
 but not without the most formidable, unremitting 
 industry on the part of the females. Filth and 
 rags, however, are often preferred. Imperious 
 necessity alone commands extraordinary exertion. 
 Yesterday, a settler passed our door with a bushel 
 of corn-meal on his back, for which he had tra- 
 velled twenty miles, on foot, to the nearest horse- 
 mill, and carried it ten miles, paying 75 cents 
 for it. This said corn is invaluable to both man 
 and beast ; black and white men both profess to 
 think they should starve on wheat meal without 
 corn. 
 
 The everlasting sound of falling trees, which, 
 being undermined by the fires, are falling around 
 almost every hour, night and day, produces a 
 sound loud and jarring as the discharge of ord- 
 nance, and is a relief to the dreary silence of these 
 wilds, only broken by the axe, the gun, or the 
 bowlings of wild beasts. 
 
 Retrograding and barbarizing is an easy pro- 
 cess. Far from the laws and restraints of society, 
 and having no servants to do that for us which
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 241 
 
 was once daily done, we become too idle in time 
 to do any thing, but that which nature and neces- 
 sity require; pride and all stimuli forsake us, 
 for we find ourselves surrounded only by men 
 of similar manners; hence, the face is seldom 
 shaved, or washed, or the linen changed except 
 on washing-days. The shoes are cleaned, per- 
 haps, never; for if, indeed, a servant, from Eng- 
 land, is kept, he, or she, is on a happy equality, 
 rising up last and lying down first, and eating 
 freely at the same time and table. None here 
 permit themselves to have a master, but negroes. 
 A voyage in the stinking steerage of a ship, and 
 then a journey over the mountains in waggons, 
 sometimes camping out all night, or sleeping, like 
 pigs, as did Mrs. Ingle and six children and maid, 
 on the dirty floor of a bar-room, amongst black- 
 guards, and then floating in a little stinking ark, 
 full of unclean things, will prepare the mind and 
 body for barbarizing in a little log-hole, like that 
 in which I dined yesterday, belonging to Mr. Fer- 
 rel, who, with his family, some adults, male and 
 female, in all ten souls, sleep in one room, fif- 
 teen feet by ten, only half floored, and in three 
 beds, standing on a dirt floor. The table, or 
 thing so called, is formed by two blocks and a 
 broad board laid on them, and covered with a 
 cloth, and seats or forms, in like manner, on each 
 side of the table, which is only knee-high. Proper 
 chairs and tables, they have none. When it rains, 
 
 R
 
 242 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 boards are laid over the chimney-top, (which I 
 can reach with my hand) to prevent the rain put- 
 ting the fires out. This good natured man has 
 thus. settled and removed, eight times, from one 
 degree of barbarism to another. The victuals are 
 served up in a hand-bason; and thus one room 
 serves for parlour, kitchen, hall, bed-room, and 
 pantry. The settlers, too, here, are without im- 
 plements, but such as they can patch and form 
 together of themselves; they are too distant and 
 expensive to buy. What they have must cost 
 nothing, like their houses, which are raised in a 
 day by the neighbours all meeting together, so 
 going in turn to serve each other, as we did yes- 
 terday. 
 
 lOt/t. Mr. Peck, late of Chatteris, introduced 
 himself to me this day. Born and bred a labourer, 
 he at length became a little farmer, on the dear- 
 est land in Chatteris, from which he brought a 
 wife, four daughters, one son, a man, and 500/.; 
 all, the perfection of British industry. Feeling 
 themselves likely to lose all, they came here to 
 two quarter sections, costing 145/. to be paid, in 
 three years, by instalments; so leaving 3551. for 
 stock, seed corn, and housekeeping, until they 
 shall have cleared twenty acres, and raised pro- 
 duce. He begged 1 would come and dine with 
 him, so that I might hear particulars of his former 
 state, present condition and prospects, and be 
 able to tell his old neighbours of his comforts and
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 243 
 
 satisfaction. " Now," says he, " I feel I can live, 
 and live well, by working, and without fretting 
 and working, seventeen, out of the twenty-four 
 hours, all the year round, as J used to do at Chat- 
 teris. And what is sweeter than all, I feel I am 
 now the owner of 300 acres of land, all paid for, 
 and free from all poor-rates, parsons, and tax- 
 gatherers, and that I shall be able to give and 
 leave each of my children, 100 acres of good land 
 to work upon, instead of the highway, or Chat- 
 teris work-house. No fear of their committees 
 now, nor of Ely jail." 
 
 It was pleasant to witness the boasting satis- 
 faction of this good, honest fellow, and his family 
 of young Pecks. 
 
 I saw an old, dirty, stinking Irishman, very well 
 to do, settled on a quarter section here, but who 
 says, were it not for his family, he could do better 
 in Ireland ; and therefore, for the sake of his fa- 
 mily, he is content to live a little longer, and die 
 here. They will be better off. He came to break- 
 fast with us, and borrowed a razor to shave his 
 beard, for once, instead of clipping it off. 
 
 Meeting Mr. Hornbrook, the first settler here, 
 I said to him, " How is it, that you, and others, 
 can do with such houses here, when you had 
 such comfortable ones in England." " Oh," said 
 he, " after our voyage and journey, we are glad 
 to get into any hole, although we know, that in 
 
 R2
 
 244 MEMORABLE DAYS [NOV. 
 
 England, they would think them not good enough 
 for stables." 
 
 On the eve of this day, a heavy battering rain 
 came, and put out the fires, and cleared the air, 
 and poured water down upon our beds. Great 
 lumps of the clay, or daubing, stuffed between 
 the logs, also kept falling on our heads, and into 
 our beds, while it rained. We needed an um- 
 brella. 
 
 Mrs. Ingle, a woman of superior sense and feel- 
 ing, states that the prospect of seeing herself, hus- 
 band, and children dependant on grandfathers 
 and grandmothers, and uncles and aunts, and 
 thereby lessening the resources of two distinct 
 and worthy families, impelled them to emigrate. 
 It ceased almost to be matter of choice. Still, love 
 of country, former friends and comforts, from which 
 they tore themselves, is inextinguishable, and fre- 
 quently a source of painful thought. Such a good, 
 proud feeling is very honourable, for with fair play 
 in England, it would have kept them there, and 
 increased rather than diminished the resources of 
 grandfathers, &c. 
 
 \\th. By a conversation with old Ferrel, I 
 find he began, thirty years ago, with nothing but 
 his own hands. Striking each hand, he said, 
 " This is all I had to begin with ;" and it seems, 
 that excepting his children, he has little more 
 now, merely a quarter section just entered, and a
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 245 
 
 log raised on it. All seem very improvident and 
 extravagant, the family sometimes eating four or 
 five pounds of butter a-day, the produce of all their 
 cows. Thus, with the corn-cake and bacon, a part 
 of the year, (for they are almost always destitute 
 of fresh meat, tea and sugar) is their table supplied. 
 Ferret is a man of experience and discernment, 
 and states that he would not fetch corn from 
 Princeton, twenty miles off, of a gift, if he could 
 grow it, nor would he carry it to the Ohio for sale, 
 because it would not pay carriage and expenses. 
 When (if ever) they shall have surplus produce, 
 he will give it to pigs and cattle, which will walk 
 to market. He always, and every where, had a 
 market at the door, and he always expects it, be- 
 cause of the number of idle people who do not, 
 or cannot raise produce. He says, that as Mr. 
 Ingle was no judge of the quality of land here, he 
 has chosen that which is not lasting, namely black 
 oak land. It is kind and useful, but after three 
 crops, he will see and believe, though he does not 
 now, that his old American neighbours know and 
 have got the best land. He thinks that a slave 
 state, with negroes, well chosen, is the best for 
 capitalists, who need not, or cannot work them- 
 selves. He still thinks that hiring when you can, 
 in a free state in the west, may sometimes pay, but 
 as nearly all feel themselves masters instead of 
 labourers, it is impossible to be regularly sup-
 
 246 MEMORABLE DAYS [NOV. 
 
 plied with hands. Kindness, equality, persuasion, 
 and good pay will sometimes effect it. He says, 
 that a man is seldom more than paid for improve- 
 ments. 
 
 Supped with a Mr. Maidlow, a most intelligent 
 and respectable Hampshire farmer, a neighbour 
 of Cobbett's, who left England and his large farm, 
 at about 16*5. an acre, because, from a fair trial, he 
 found it impossible to farm without losing money, 
 although his wheat-land averaged six quarters an. 
 
 acre, and his landlord, Jervis, Esq., had 
 
 lowered the rent 20 per cent. He brought a con- 
 siderable capital and English habits and feelings, 
 the best in the world, into the neatest and cleanest 
 log-cabin that I have seen, and is building already 
 a second, larger and better, for the preservation 
 of all that is comfortable and respectable in the 
 English character, being determined that neither 
 himself nor family shall barbarize. This is im- 
 possible: all barbarize here. He has bought six 
 quarter sections, and hopes not to do more than 
 keep his property, get land for his family, and live 
 and die comfortably. Riches he thinks out of the 
 question, and it is his wish that the settlement 
 should feel and act towards each other as one 
 family ; the reverse of Illinois, in which he in- 
 tended to settle, and to which he was attracted by 
 the books of Mr. Birkbeck, who refused him land, 
 except at an advanced price, although he had
 
 1819,] IN AMERICA. 247 
 
 30,000 acres retained for people in England, who 
 never came; while those who applied, many and 
 respectable practical farmers, were denied. 
 
 The settlers here being all out of wheat-flour 
 and Indian corn- meal, Mr. Ingle, self, a boy, and 
 two children began, at noon, to gather and shell 
 ears of corn for grinding into meal, and finished two 
 bushels by night, ready for the mill, ten miles off* 
 next day; when a boy on a horse started with it 
 early, expecting to return on the following Sunday 
 morning, if not lost in the woods. 
 
 12th. Visited Mr. Potts's cabin and farm, 400 
 acres of good land, on which he lives, without a 
 woman, but has a good man from Stockport in 
 Cheshire, where they both came from, and thus they 
 alone manage both the house and the field. They 
 have dug a well, many feet through the solid rock, 
 without finding water. I saw here an experiment 
 which I little expected to see ; the eighth of an 
 acre of upland rice; three quarts were sown on it 
 in May, in drills, eighteen inches asunder, and the 
 increase is three bushels. The straw is like barley 
 straw, and the stubble rank and stout, and not to 
 be known from oat stubble, on rich fen land, only 
 brighter. 
 
 Saw a poor Englishman, who some time since 
 broke his leg, which from want of skill in the 
 doctor, was not properly set; he is therefore now 
 a cripple for life. This is an evil to which all are 
 exposed. Many are now dying at Evansville of a
 
 248 MEMORABLE DAYS [NOV. 
 
 bilious disorder; the doctor employed has lost 
 nearly all who applied. 
 
 River banks are here always unhealthy. A 
 family from Lincolnshire, attracted by fine land, 
 on one of the prairie creeks, where no American 
 would live on any terms, all fell sick, one died, 
 and the farmer and his wife both lay unable to 
 help themselves, or get help, except from one 
 of their little boys, who escaped the contagion. 
 Birkbeck strongly remonstrated with them against 
 settling there. 
 
 The farmers (Americans) indebted to the store- 
 keepers, are now forced to sell all their corn at 
 one dollar a barrel, and buy it again for their 
 spring and summer use at five dollars, a fine 
 profit for the monied merchant. Forty bushels 
 per acre of corn pays better (says the old farmer) 
 than wheat, with only twenty to twenty-five. The 
 land here, though good, is not first rate, or of the 
 most durable quality. 
 
 A pigeon roost is a singular sight in thinly set- 
 tled states, particularly in Tenessee in the fall of 
 the year, when the roost extends over either a 
 portion of woodland or barrens, from four to six 
 miles in circumference. The screaming noise they 
 make when thus roosting is heard at a distance of 
 six miles; and when the beech-nuts are ripe, they 
 fly 200 miles to dinner, in immense flocks, hiding 
 the sun and darkening the air like a thick passing 
 cloud. They thus travel 400 miles daily. They
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 249 
 
 roost on the high forest trees, which they cover in 
 the same manner as bees in swarms cover a bush, 
 being piled one on the other, from the lowest to 
 the topmost boughs, which so laden, are seen 
 continually bending and falling with their crash- 
 ing weight, and presenting a scene of confusion 
 and destruction, too strange to describe, and too 
 dangerous to be approached by either man or 
 beast. While the living birds are gone to their dis- 
 tant dinner, it is common for man and animals to 
 gather up or devour the dead, then found in cart- 
 loads. When the roost is among the saplings, on 
 which the pigeons alight without breaking them 
 down, only bending them to the ground, the self- 
 slaughter is not so great ; and at night, men, with 
 lanterns, and poles, approach and beat them to 
 death without much personal danger. But the 
 grand mode of taking them is by setting fire to the 
 high dead grass, leaves, and shrubs underneath, 
 in a wide blazing circle, fired at different parts, at 
 the same time, so as soon to meet. Then down 
 rush the pigeons in immense numbers, and inde- 
 scribable confusion, to be roasted alive, and ga- 
 thered up dead next day from heaps two feet 
 deep. 
 
 13ih. Major Hooker frequently shoots, and 
 then cooks and eats the huge wild cats, while 
 Mr. Birkbeck and his family eat the rattle-snake, 
 the flesh of which, says Mr. Ingle, is fine, sweet, 
 and white, as an eel. Pigs also eat them
 
 250 MEMORABLE DA\S [Nov. 
 
 ciously. Armstrong-, a hunting farmer, this day 
 shot four deer, while he is too idle to inclose his 
 corn-field, which is devoured by cattle and horses, 
 save when a boy watches it to keep them off. 
 This man and family then, though with plenty of 
 land, must buy corn, and depend upon wild meat 
 for the support of his idle family, who have either 
 a feast or a famine. They keep several cows, but 
 as calves are constantly with them (having no sepa- 
 rate inclosure) and as the family eat 5lbs. of butter 
 a day, for three days in the week, which consumes 
 all the dairy at once, they go without during the 
 remainder of the week. They never sell any, 
 though it is 25 cents per pound. No fear of sur- 
 plus produce from such farmers. 
 
 The hope, it seemed, of preserving and increasing 
 his property, was amongst Mr. Birkbeck's ruling 
 motives for emigration. To those to whom he is 
 known, he is very hearty and sociable. To J. Ingle 
 he said, " There are so many thousand dollars in 
 that drawer ; they are of no use to me : go, and 
 take what you like." He is very careless and im- 
 provident, like the rest of his literary fraternity, 
 and unconscious of what his powerful pen and high 
 reputation were effecting by exciting a strong feel- 
 ing in favour of emigration, at a moment when the 
 people of England were despairing ; so strong, in- 
 deed, that what he did and wrote, burst in upon 
 them like a discovery. Unconscious of all this, he 
 left undone all which he ought in common policy to
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 251 
 
 have done. The weakest head could see that 
 after purchasing land and alluring settlers, he 
 ought to have guarded against a famine by pro- 
 viding for their accommodation, building a few 
 log-houses, store-houses, and a tavern, and culti- 
 vating corn, so that the numerous callers in this 
 inhospitable waste might have found food, and a 
 shelter, and a person to shew the land, which he 
 had to resell. Whereas a stable, a covered wag- 
 gon, and prairie-grass, formed their only shelter 
 and bed ; and not having food sufficient for himself, 
 there was little or none for strangers, and no per- 
 son to shew the land, nor did he know himself 
 where it lay. He idly thought that if they wished 
 land they would find it themselves; and being 
 in expectation of many such families from Eng- 
 land, he thought he had no land to spare, so that the 
 real practical farmers of both worlds who called, 
 turned away disgusted to other and better neigh- 
 bourhoods, the Kaskasky, and Missouri, and Red 
 River, where more important settlements are rising. 
 He, therefore, as the rich families did not come, 
 has no real farmers in his settlement, and hoped J. 
 Ingle, being one, would come and make one soli- 
 tary farmer amongst them. Trusting too, to his 
 own judgment, he has settled down on and entered 
 indiscriminately good and bad land, much of 
 which will never be worth any thing, being wet, 
 marshy, spongy, on a stratum of unporous clay, 
 over which pestilential fogs rise and hang conti-
 
 252 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 nually. A United States' surveyor would, for a 
 few dollars, have prevented such a choice. Com- 
 mon policy and prudence, too, ought to have in- 
 duced him to reduce his fine farming theory into 
 practice, otherwise it seemed as if intended merely 
 to deceive others. Even if he should, (as he now 
 says) lose by it, or could buy produce cheaper 
 than he could raise it, he still ought not so to buy 
 it, but set an example of farming. For of what 
 use is land, if it is not worth cultivating? 
 
 As a proof of his improvident conduct, and bad 
 management, his thirteen horses were all miser- 
 ably poor and unfit for use, and when any were 
 wanted, he would say to a hunter, " Here's five 
 dollars for you, if you find and drive up the 
 horses ;" for he had no inclosure. The man knew 
 where they were, and soon found them and re- 
 ceived the fee; none then were fit for use. " Oh ! 
 don't tease me about horses." 
 
 This evening, J. Ingle sat down by the fire, and 
 cleaned the shoes of all the family, which he does 
 every week. 
 
 Sunday, l&th. Called on a Caledonian Yankee 
 farmer, busy at work in his garden, who said he 
 had no Sunday in his week, but would buy one if 
 he could. He is a quarter-section man, without 
 wife or child, shoes or hose. 
 
 After a meeting of 16 persons of this little settle- 
 ment, in the log-house of my friend, who read a 
 sermon and prayed for all present, J visited Mr,
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 253 
 
 Hornbrook's, a respectable English family from 
 Devonshire, on a good quantity of land, living in 
 two or three log-cabins. 
 
 Amongst the inducements of the Flower family 
 to emigrate, may be reckoned the probability of 
 their wasting all their property by farming their 
 own estate, about 500 or 600 acres at Marsden. 
 It was badly farmed, and the Merino trade failed, 
 which was Mr. Flower's hobby-horse ; and seeing 
 his favourite son was determined to live in America, 
 emigration now ceased to be a matter of choice. 
 They intended to settle in the ^ast. G. Flower, 
 who brought a letter from the celebrated Marquis 
 de la Fayette to Mr. Jefferson, whom he visited, 
 bought an estate of 500 acres at 10 dollars an 
 acre, near Jefferson's, where they were to have 
 lived ; but, as Mr. Birkbeck could not approve it, 
 on account of slavery, it was abandoned. 
 
 15th. The English settlement in Indiana, up 
 to this time, contains 12,800 acres entered, and in 
 possession of actual settlers, 53 families having 
 capital to the amount of 80,000 dollars. 
 
 Dolls. Cents. 
 
 Expenses of clearing and inclosing an acre 
 of land, ready for planting, 6% dollars ; 
 ditto of planting, with four ploughings 
 and four hoeings, and harvesting, and 
 stacking for market, at your own door, 
 six dollars an acre; so making, the first 
 year, an acre cost . . 12 50
 
 254 MEMORABLE DAYS [NOV. 
 
 Dol. Cent. Dol. Cent. 
 
 Brought up 12 50 
 
 Second year, wheat 1^ bushel seed 1 50 
 Ploughing once, 75 cents ; clearing 
 dead timber, breaking up stumps, 
 and hoeing sprouts, one dollar 50 
 
 cents 2 25 
 
 Reaping 1.J- bushel an acre, or in cash 1 
 Carting, threshing, &c 3 50 
 
 Cost of one acre, in two years . 
 
 Produce of an acre of Indian corn, 35 
 
 bushels, at 50 cents, the first year . . 1 7 5Q 
 
 Ditto, wheat, 25 bushels, at 75 cents, the 
 second year 18 75 
 
 Value of the acre, in two years . . . . 36 25 
 Deduct cost 20 75 
 
 Profit 15 50 
 
 In the next two years, the two acres will cost 
 less by 8 dollars 75 cents, which, added to 1 5 dol- 
 lars 50 cents, makes the net profit on two acres 
 24 dollars 25 cents, besides the increased value of 
 the land. 
 
 The proper expenses of a farmer, arriving with 
 a capital of 2,000 dollars, that is to say, his ne- 
 cessary expenses in establishing himself and family 
 the first year :
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 255 
 
 Dolls. 
 
 First year. Entry of half section, or 320 
 
 acres of land 160 
 
 House and stable, 80 dollars; smoke-house, 
 
 pigsty e, and hen-house, 40 dollars ... 120 
 Two horses, good, 160 dollars ; two ploughs 
 
 and harness, 40 dollars 200 
 
 Four axes, four hoes, 16 dollars; waggon, 
 
 100 dollars; harrows, 12 dollars ... 128 
 Spades, shovels, six dollars ; two cows, 36 
 
 dollars ; four sows in pig, 20 dollars . . 62 
 
 Corn crib and barn 60 
 
 Clearing 20 acres of land first year, foot and 
 
 under, and fenced well 130 
 
 Ploughing, planting, hoeing, and turning . 130 
 
 990 
 Twelve months' maintenance of family . . 250 
 
 1,240 
 
 So leaving him at harvest 800 dollars of his 
 2,000 dollars for the uses of the coming year; but 
 still, this money will not be wanted, as the farm 
 will now maintain itself and family; the money 
 then should be at use. 
 
 " The foregoing statements," says Mr. Ingle, 
 " I will swear are correct, and they are in part re- 
 duced to practice this year." I think, however, 
 that the money should be at command for his own
 
 256 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 use, as twenty acres more clearing, &c. unless he 
 does most of it himself, (which he ought to do) 
 wants 260 dollars the second year. All the la- 
 bour, however, is to be done the first year" by 
 hired hands, if they can be found, and, if possible, 
 to be done at a price per acre, not by the day. 
 
 Mr. Ingle insists on it that none of the old funds 
 will be wanted the second yeai f , but that the farm 
 will maintain itself and family; as the pigs will 
 supply plenty of bacon to eat and some to sell, 
 besides the surplus of the first crop of corn, which 
 will supply some money; but the second year, the 
 work upon the farm must be principally done by 
 himself and family. 
 
 He thinks that no more land should be under 
 cultivation and fence, (say about forty or fifty, and 
 thirty acres of grass) than the farmer can manage 
 without hiring, which, at present, it is impossible 
 to do with any thing like comfortable benefit and 
 English regularity. He will not be so grasping as 
 in England. A little will satisfy him ; he is not so 
 disposed to disquiet himself in Tain. The habits 
 and examples of the country will at length be 
 imperceptibly followed. 
 
 New settlers in this state, men, women, and 
 children, seem all exposed to an eruption, ten 
 times worse than the itch, inasmuch as it itches 
 more, runs all over the body, crusting and fester- 
 ing the hands and other parts, and is not to be
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 257 
 
 cured by the common treatment for the itch, which 
 has been tried without effect, and one instance has 
 been known, where the sulphur and grease killed 
 the patient by obstructing perspiration, and driving 
 in the eruption. The doctors know of no remedy, 
 and suffer it to take its tedious course. It comes 
 in the spring and fall, but not to the same person, 
 it is hoped, more than once. It is attributed to the 
 air, soil, and climate. Mr. Ingle's family are all 
 suffering severely under it. Although the climate 
 seems finer here than in the east, more humid and 
 temperate, yet the bite of every insect and reptile, 
 however insignificant, is highly poisonous ; an evil 
 not to be remedied at present. New comers and 
 fresh flesh suffer most, and sometimes much in- 
 flammation is caused ; but when the land becomes 
 more cleared, it is hoped this scourge will be less 
 afflictive. 
 
 Fine yeast: Take a small handful, or a good nip 
 of hops, and boil them ten minutes, in one quart of 
 water, then strain away the hops, and pour the 
 liquor into a quantity of flour, sufficient to give 
 the consistency of batter well beaten ; a tea-cup, 
 full, or something less than the usual quantity of 
 brewer's yeast, is sufficient for a half-stone loaf; 
 two spoonfuls of brewer's yeast to work the first 
 making; then, ever after, a little of the last made; 
 the yeast to be put to it while milk-warm, and kept 
 so until it ferments, which it generally does in 
 summer very soon, and in winter in a day, but it 
 
 s
 
 258 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 must not be used until it does ferment. In winter 
 it keeps one month, in summer (American) one 
 week, two in England, and is a fine saving and a 
 great convenience. 
 
 16tk. A poor emigrant farmer from Devon- 
 shire, called here in search of a home. His fa- 
 mily, yet on the river, had been nine weeks hi a 
 stinking ark, coming from Pittsburgh, and ever 
 since April last in getting from England, by way 
 of Canada, hither. I asked him if he repented 
 leaving England. " I do," said he, " a good deal, 
 and so does my poor wife;" and then he burst 
 into tears. The tears of a man are hard-wrung 
 drops. " You were getting, I suppose, a com- 
 fortable living in England?" " Oh no! taxes, 
 tithes, rates, &c." " What money did you bring 
 away?" " But a little, and besides my passage to 
 Canada, where I could have had 100 acres for no- 
 thing, I have spent 50Z. in getting to this western 
 country. The captain told me that Canada was 
 my best way, and I have now but little left." He 
 thought of going to the Prairie. I told him he had 
 better settle here. They of the Prairie were proud, 
 and wanted only high-bred English. I encouraged 
 this poor, desponding, ill-advised, -weak man to 
 hope for better times in this good land, where he 
 said he was willing to labour. 
 
 Taverns are always charitable to moneyless tra- 
 vellers, if they are sure of their poverty, feeding 
 them gratis as they pass along, as instanced in a
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 2->9 
 
 moneyless female, and a sick man whom I met in the 
 stage coming here. The Scots frequently plead 
 poverty, and get fed gratis, while their pockets are 
 full of dollars. 
 
 Mr. J. Ingle and maid started this morning, with 
 a waggon, to Princeton, for boards, though living 
 in a forest full of boards when sawn. He drove 
 the waggon himself, and she was to get groceries 
 and butter, if she could get it under twenty-five 
 cents per Ib. Thus, for two days, we were left 
 without water, or an axe to hew firewood, or any 
 person to milk and feed a kicking cow and pigs. 
 
 17th. A stranger called and brushed out of the 
 rain. He said he was short of money, and came 
 ten miles to sell two pigs, fat, weighing 400lbs. the 
 two, but was not able to sell them at more than 
 four dollars a cwt. ; he could not afford to make 
 pork at that price. No pigs fat this year at mast, 
 only passable pork; but when quite fat they must 
 have corn for two or three weeks to harden them, 
 though they get no fatter, or else the bacon would 
 drip all summer, and when boiled, the fat become 
 oil and run out into the water. He has seventeen 
 acres of corn ; a bad crop, not enough for his own 
 use. Few farmers are ever able to hire labourers, 
 though he thinks it would answer if they could; 
 still it is best to do all the work by one's-self or 
 family. 
 
 I went to turn the grindstone for J. Ingle's 
 carpenter, at Mr. Maidlow's, one mile and a half 
 
 s 2
 
 260 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov 
 
 off. Went over his fine farm, that is to be. I 
 think it is the best I have seen in this settlement. 
 On it I saw a lick of singular size, extending over 
 nearly half an acre of land, all excavated three feet, 
 that is to say, licked away, and eaten, by buf- 
 faloes, deer, and other wild animals. It has the 
 appearance of a large pond dried. The earth is 
 soft, salt, and sulphurous, and they still resort to 
 it. Mr. Maidlow thinks that Cobbett is much 
 nearer the truth than Birkbeck, in his account of 
 the west. Had he now the chance of choosing, 
 he would purchase, in the east, improvements at 
 eighteen dollars an acre, like the farm of Mr. 
 Long, as he finds that making improvements in 
 the west costs much money. He believes Birk- 
 beck is spending money fast. He does not think 
 that capital employed in farming here will answer, 
 or that cultivation will pay, if done by hired labour. 
 Out of 900 acres, (all he intends buying) he means 
 to cultivate and graze only about 100 acres; no 
 more than they can manage of themselves. He 
 does not expect to increase his capital, but by the 
 increase in value of land. He means to build a 
 mill, and plant a large orchard ; is digging a well, 
 and finds some fine good burning coal in it, and a 
 vast mine of rich blue marl. The Missouri, says 
 he, is full of all the rich resources of nature; land, 
 very fine. Here is a large family of men, and 
 Mrs. Maidlow and daughter are drudges to the 
 house, cooking, scouring, and scrubbing, conti-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 261 
 
 nually. A young lady cleaning knives! How 
 horrid ! ! 
 
 i8th. A few months since, J. Ingle agreed 
 with a neighbouring Kentuckyan hunter, to build 
 him a log-house, to be begun and finished in a 
 given time. The fellow was procrastinating, and 
 too idle to begin, yet for ever promising. At 
 length Mr. Ingle told him, that unless he began on a 
 certain day, at noon, at latest, the contract should 
 be void, and others should begin it. He came on 
 the day mentioned, but not until six in the even~ 
 ing, when others had begun the job. Greatly 
 enraged, he said, he had come, and would begin 
 ,iii spite of any body. Mr. Ingle said he should 
 never touch it. He said he would, or have Mr. 
 Ingle's blood ; " and to-morrow morn, I will come 
 with men, and twenty rifles, and I will have your 
 life, or you shall have mine." Mr. Ingle thought 
 of having recourse to the civil power, which is very 
 distant, insomuch that the people speak and seem 
 as if they were without a government, and name it 
 only as a bugbear. 
 
 J. Ingle returned this evening with his poplar 
 boards, not worth carriage, and without being 
 able to buy any tea, sugar, butter, cheese, or 
 apples, for his use, at Princeton, though a county 
 town, having a fine store out of stock, which it 
 receives only once a-year. 
 
 19th. A parson, with his wife, and sixty 
 others, about eighteen months ago, came from the
 
 26*2 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 east, as settlers, to the big prairie of Illinois ; in 
 which, during the sickly season, last fall, an eighth 
 of their number died in six weeks. Having lost 
 his wife amongst the rest, he has cleared out, and 
 lives by his itinerant ministrations. 
 
 It is useless to fence much more land than is 
 cleared, because, until the country is cleared round 
 about, the autumnal fires would destroy the fences. 
 The cattle, therefore, must range in the woods, 
 until some small inclosures, for pasture, can be 
 made. Through the summer, both night and day, 
 but mostly in the night, the mosquitoes, both in 
 Indiana and Illinois, but chiefly in the latter, were, 
 in their attacks, almost sufficient to drive English 
 settlers out. If a man had been lashed naked to 
 a post, he must have been stung to death, or unto 
 madness. At Sandersville, says J. Ingle, they 
 blinded several persons. 
 
 The Cherokee nation once wishing to war 
 against the United States, sent their favourite 
 chief, old Double head, to Philadelphia, to sound 
 parties, and return with his opinion either for or 
 against it. " Oh," said he, on his return, " we 
 must not war ; I have seen more white men in 
 one town, than would be sufficient to eat all the 
 Indians, if made into a pie." They have never 
 since thought of war, but what few remain, are 
 friendly and civilized, and fight for Uncle Sam. 
 Some cultivate their land, and possess negroes. 
 20/A. At nine this morning, after a fortnight's
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 263 
 
 stay at Sandersville, f mounted the neck of an ill 
 mis-shapen, dull, stumbling beast, called a horse, 
 the best that friendship and good-will could pro- 
 cure, for conveying me, in company with J. Ingle, 
 to the state of Illinois, by way of the far-famed Har- 
 mony. I rode, in fear, all day, through woods and 
 wilds ; sometimes almost trackless. We were lost 
 twice. The people seem to know nothing of time, 
 and distance of places from each other; some telling 
 us it was ten, when it was two, and three, when it 
 was twelve o'clock; and as to distance, twenty 
 when it was twenty-seven, and fifteen, when it was 
 ten miles to Harmony. I expected to camp out 
 all night, with no means of getting a fire. I saw 
 nothing but good land, and (where any) fine corn ; 
 but no comfortable dwellings; all, miserable little 
 log-holes, having neither springs nor mill-streams. 
 We were very courteously shewn our way by a 
 worshipful magistrate of Indiana, at work by the 
 road side, hewing and splitting wood. 
 
 We rested, twenty minutes, at the log of one 
 of Cobbett's Yankee farmers, with a fine family 
 of boys, big enough for men, and handsome, 
 sprightly, and free-looking, as ever walked the 
 earth. I would have given something for a picture 
 of them, being self-taught shoemakers, butchers, 
 wheelwrights, carpenters, and what not, and hav- 
 ing cleared, from 320 acres, 60 acres, and cropped 
 them twice in two years. The mother sat, smoking 
 her pipe, fat and easy. The father is ready to sell
 
 264 MEMORABLE DAYS [NoV. 
 
 out at 1,200 dollars ; a fair price, says Mr. Ingle. 
 They think well of this country, but were able to 
 grow more wheat per acre in Pennsylvania; there, 
 thirty-four, here, twenty to twenty-four bushels an 
 acre ; they can have seventy-five cents at home, or 
 carrying it twenty miles or less, one dollar a 
 bushel, for wheat. The old fellow says that the 
 Harmonites do their business of all kinds better 
 than any body else. 
 
 I saw, on the Harmony lands and fields, of 
 great size, wheat, finer and thicker, planted with 
 two bushels, than in England with three and a 
 half bushels per acre. The fields, however, lie in 
 a vale of prodigious richness. 
 
 I reached Harmony at dusk, and found a large 
 and comfortable brick tavern, the best and cleanest 
 which I have seen in Indiana, and slept in a good, 
 clean bed-room, four beds in a room, one in each 
 corner ; but found bad beef, though good bread, 
 and high charges, one dollar, five cents, each. 
 
 A stranger present, asked our landlord of what 
 religion were the community of Harmony. In 
 broken English, and rather crossly, he replied, 
 " Dat's no matter ; they are all a satisfied people." 
 The spell, or secret, by which these people 'are 
 held in voluntary slavery, is not to be known or 
 fathomed by inquiry. We asked if strangers were 
 permitted to go to their church to-morrow. " No," 
 was the answer. This is unprecedented in the 
 civilized world.
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 265 
 
 Sunday, 21 st. At Harmony till ten o'clock, 
 when we were told, " we must then depart, or 
 stay until after the morning service," which com- 
 mences at ten o'clock. At the moment the bells 
 began chiming, the people, one and all, from every 
 quarter, hurry into their fine church like frighted 
 doves to their windows ; the street leading to the 
 temple seems filled in a minute, and in less than 
 ten minutes, all this large congregation, 1,000 men, 
 women, and children, all who can walk or ride, 
 are in the church, the males entering in at the 
 side, the females at the tower, and separately 
 seated. Then enters the old High Priest, JVIr. 
 Rapp, of about eighty, straight and active as his 
 adopted sou, Frederick, who walks behind him. 
 The old man's wife and daughters enter with the 
 crowd, from his fine house, which looks as if the 
 people who built it for him, thought nothing too 
 good for him. This people are never seen in idle 
 groups; all is moving industry ; no kind of idling; 
 no time for it. Religious service takes place three 
 times every day. They must be in the chains of 
 superstition, though Rapp professes to govern 
 them only by the Bible, and they certainly seem 
 the perfection of obedience and morality. People 
 who have left them say, that Rapp preaches, that 
 if they quit the society, they will be damned, for 
 his way is the only way to Heaven. He does much 
 by signs, and by an impressive manner, stretch- 
 ing out his arm, which, he says, is the arm of God,
 
 266 MEMORABLE DAYS [NOV. 
 
 and that they must obey it; and that when he dies, 
 his spirit will descend unto his son Fred. The 
 people appear saturnine, and neither very cleanly 
 nor very dirty. They are dressed much alike, 
 and look rather shabby, just as working folk in 
 general look. None are genteel. The women are 
 intentionally disfigured and made as ugly as it is 
 possible for art to make them, having their hair 
 combed straight up behind and before, so that 
 the temples are bared, and a little skullcap, or 
 black crape bandage, across the crown, and tied 
 under the chin. This forms their only head- 
 dress. 
 
 I rode round the town, which will soon be the 
 best and first in the western country. At present, 
 the dwellings, with the exception of Rapp's, and 
 the stores and taverns, are all log-houses, with a 
 cow-house and other conveniences. One is given to 
 each family, and a fine cow, and nice garden ; other 
 necessaries are shared in common. Their horses, 
 cattle, and sheep, are all in one stable; herds 
 and flocks are folded every night, in comfortable 
 sheds, particularly an immensely large flock of Me- 
 rino sheep ; and so secured from the wolves. They 
 have a fine vineyard in the vale, and on the hills 
 around, which are as beautiful as if formed by 
 art to adorn the town. Not a spot but bears the 
 most luxuriant vines, from which they make ex- 
 cellent wine. Their orchards, too, are of uncom- 
 mon size and fertility; and in a large pleasure
 
 18 1&] IN AMERICA. 267 
 
 garden is a curious labyrinth, out of which none 
 but those who formed it, or are well acquainted 
 with it, can find their way. 
 
 Their granary is superb and large, and the barns 
 and farm-yards are singularly capacious, as well 
 as their cloth and other manufactories. It is the 
 wise policy of this people to buy nothing which it 
 is possible for them to make or raise, and their in- 
 dustry and ingenuity are irresistible. They have 
 much to sell, at their own price, of almost every 
 thing domestic and foreign. They cannot make 
 shoes half so fast as they could sell them. It is 
 not doubted but they are immensely rich, begin- 
 ning in Pennsylvania with only 4,0001., and being 
 now worth 500,0002. They keep no accounts, and 
 all business is done and every thing possessed in 
 Frederick Rapp's name. They have been in this 
 Harmony five years only ; they bought a huge ter- 
 ritory of the richest land, which is all paid for, and 
 keep an immense quantity in high cultivation, and 
 continue to buy out bordering settlers, thus ever 
 enlarging their boundaries. An American widower, 
 with ten children, joined them some time ago, in 
 distress for his children ; all are well off now. 
 
 They work very gently, but constantly. At 
 eleven I left Harmony, wishing to see more of this 
 singular community. Rapp came hither a poor, 
 unlettered weaver from Germany. 
 
 I entered the woods again, on the banks of the 
 fine river, the Big Wabash, wider than the Thames
 
 268 MEMORABLE DAYS {Nov. 
 
 at London. There are no regular roads ; but, over 
 creeks and swamps, and the Black River, now dry, 
 we took our way, and met six bastard Indian-like 
 horsemen, drinking whiskey in the woods, looking 
 wild and jovial, dressed in sky-blue and scarlet. 
 Crossed the Big river into Illinois, after being lost 
 one hour. Started a fine buck, and rode along rich 
 bottom land, ten feet deep of water, in winter, and 
 passed some smoke-dried women and children. 
 
 At four, p. m., I reached the English prairie, 
 presenting a wide, rusty, black prospect, the fire 
 having passed over it. 1 met Wood and Shepherd, 
 the only two farmer-like men; saw no corn-fields; 
 nothing done ; rode into Albion at dusk, and 
 called on Speculator Pugsley and Mr. . P. Ford- 
 ham, who never means to return to England, ex- 
 cept rich or to be rich. If he fails here, he will 
 turn hunter and live by his rifle on the frontiers. 
 I supped and went to bed in a hog-stye of a room, 
 containing four filthy beds and eight mean per- 
 sons; the sheets stinking and dirty; scarcity of 
 water is, I suppose, the cause. The beds lie on 
 boards, not cords, and are so hard that I could 
 not sleep. Three in one bed, all filth, no com- 
 fort, and yet this is an English tavern ; no whiskey, 
 no milk, and vile tea, in this land of prairies. 
 
 22nd. At sun-rise [ rose from our filthy nest. 
 Mr. Simpkins, a dirty idle wife, with sons and 
 daughters, late of Baldock, Herts, are the ma- 
 nagers of this prairie tavern. A better one of brick
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 269 
 
 is building by Mr. R. Flower, who owns the 
 former, from which Simpkins is about removing 
 to Evansville, because he and family, though all 
 poor, are above being at the beck and call of every 
 body, and pleasing nobody ; and besides (says 
 Simpkins) the great folks are too aristocratical for 
 me, and endeavour to oppress their countrymen. 
 This, I believe, is not true. Simpkins, and better 
 folks than he, need not come here, if they are un- 
 willing to put their shoulders to the yoke. I walk- 
 ed round Albion. It contains one house only, 
 and about ten or twelve log-cabins, full of dege- 
 nerating English mechanics, too idle to work, and 
 above every thing, but eating, drinking, brawling, 
 and fighting. The streets and paths are almost 
 impassable with roots and stumps, and in front of 
 every door is a stinking puddle, formed by throw- 
 ing out wash and dirty water. A good market- 
 house, and a public library, is at the end, in which 
 a kind of Unitarian worship is held on a Sunday, 
 when a sermon and the church service purified is 
 read by any one who pleases. The books are do- 
 nations from the Flower family and their friends 
 in England. By sending donations, people be- 
 come honorary members, and Mrs. Flower has, 
 by all legal means, secured perpetuity to this in- 
 stitution, which few expect to find in this distant 
 wilderness. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Doctor Pugsley, late of London, 
 live in the only house, which, if it had a servant,
 
 270 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 would boast of English comforts, politeness, and 
 hospitality. She sighs to revisit England, where 
 she might see her friends, and rest her delicate 
 hands, now destined to all kind of drudgery. He 
 has purchased land largely, on speculation, with- 
 out intending to cultivate any, and offers it at 
 three dollars an acre, or at a corn rent. Much of the 
 land has been thus purchased by capitalists here, 
 and is offered again on these terms, because the 
 Kentucky speculators, it is said, would otherwise 
 have bought all up and charged more for it, and 
 because the profit demanded, is thought to be 
 reasonable. But what is the effect? That of 
 driving away good little practical farmers to other 
 neighbourhoods. I was introduced to the young 
 Birkbecks, riding through Albion, and was struck 
 by their polished and prepossessing appearance. 
 I was introduced also to R. Flower, Esq., and 
 engaged to dine with him and his family, at their 
 house in the prairie. This gentleman much re- 
 sembles the celebrated Benjamin Flower, though 
 of a finer person ; but is fast fadiog away. The 
 shock which he received by the death of a favorite 
 son, a victim to the climate, has, together with 
 some disappointments, greatly impaired the vigor- 
 ous mind and body of this noble man, and true 
 fearless friend of liberty all over the world. Mr. 
 G. Flower lives in the cornpletest log-cabin I have 
 ever seen, near his father. It contains six or seven 
 rooms, with other needful buildings, and as a log-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 271 
 
 establishment, I will venture to say, possesses 
 more comfort and elegance than any ever seen in 
 America. It is a model for all future log-builders. 
 This gentleman is very polite, mild, gentle, and 
 unassuming; trying scenes have made him rather 
 silent and sombre. His lady seems the happiest 
 and most elegant female I have seen, and perfectly 
 suited to her present or any situation, being nei- 
 ther above the cottage nor below the palace. Well, 
 indeed, might four gentlemen con tend for the prize * 
 
 " If some few failings to her portion fall, 
 Look in her face and you'll forget them all." 
 
 The gay, graceful, modest, hearty, anticipating 
 kindness of this lady, makes every guest feel him- 
 self at home and loth to depart. 
 
 This family (the Flowers) own a large and beau- 
 tiful domain of prairie, containing unnumbered 
 acres of fine land, beautified by British park sce- 
 nery. The visitor, coming here out of the forest, 
 fancies himself in England, especially if he looks 
 at the country through the windows of Messrs. 
 Flower's and Birkbeck's houses, during the green 
 and flowery season, when the scenery presents a 
 wide waste of grass, flowers, and shrubs, of every 
 hue ; but the flowers have no fragrance, the birds no 
 song. The sight of a flock of 500 Merino sheep, 
 and a large herd of cattle, all their own, is indeed 
 a novel and unexpected pleasure in these wild re-
 
 272 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 gions; and, added to all these, the comfort of such 
 houses and harmonious families, escaped from the 
 embarrassments and anxieties of England, to quiet 
 rest and independence, makes it indeed a delight- 
 ful spectacle. All say they have nothing to regret, 
 and are full of satisfaction, except the wish that 
 more friends would follow; whom, unless they 
 follow, they shall see no more. They acknow- 
 ledge that they have much to do here, from want 
 of servants. One female, Biddy by name, recently 
 came and engaged to do only what she pleased, 
 and to sit at the same table. The terms were com- 
 plied with, but a plan to cure Biddy was laid. 
 On a certain day many visitors were invited to 
 dinner, at which Biddy was not allowed to rise, 
 even to help herself to any thing, but all present 
 vied with each other in attending on Miss Biddy, 
 who, in great confusion, left the room, fully sen- 
 sible of her folly, and next day determined to be 
 a servant for the future. 
 
 Mr. Flower and family recently visited Rapp, 
 the High Priest of Harmony. After dinner a band 
 of musicians entered. Mr. F. thinks highly of this 
 community, who, in religion and doctrine, are 
 Lutherans ; in discipline, Presbyterians. He says, 
 that house-keeping here is nothing compared with 
 England. A fat buck, one dollar ; beef, five cents ; 
 mutton, six cents, per pound; and game, fine 
 prairie-hens, like grouse and turkeys, in sickening 
 abundance.
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 273 
 
 J. Ingle and family, eight in number, out of bu- 
 siness, lived for four dollars a week at Princeton ! 
 
 Mr. Flower would not live on woodland as a 
 gift, if prairie land could be bought. The latter 
 certainly seems most adapted for an English far- 
 mer ; yet it costs as much to fence, and bring it 
 into cultivation as woodland ; for though less ma- 
 nual, yet more horse labour is necessary than in 
 .the woods. Six horses are necessary for the first 
 ploughing, as the grass and shrub roots are deep 
 down and uncommonly tough, having been grow- 
 ing for ages. It is, therefore, worth five dollars an 
 acre to effect the first ploughing, and three or four 
 dollars, the second. A summer's fallow is, be- 
 sides, necessary for rotting the roots, and properly 
 pulverizing the soil ; and, unless so managed, it 
 is badly managed. Both Flower and Birkbeck 
 sowed nothing the first year, which came to any 
 use. The latter planted corn, which the cattle 
 destroyed, through want of a good fence, which 
 must be hauled from the woodland, a considera- 
 ble distance, to the prairie; the inclosing is, there- 
 fore, more expensive than on the woodland* 
 
 23rd. Spending this day with Mr. G. Flower, 
 I rode from ten till five o'clock round the prairie, 
 in which is their fine park-like domain, and some 
 smaller estates purchased for their friends in Eng- 
 land, of which there is one with a house and some 
 improvements belonging to Wed Nash, Esq., of 
 Royston, Herts., arid more rich and beautiful than 
 
 T
 
 274 MEMORABLE DAYS [NOT. 
 
 any he can see from the bleak, barren, chalky 
 hills ofhis native town. I called at an adjoining 
 farm, rented by a dirty, naked-legged French fa- 
 mily, who, though born in this country, know 
 nothing of the English language. Then at Mr. 
 Hunt's, who is deaf and dumb, (the brother of 
 Henry Hunt, the Champion of Reform), who with 
 his nephew, a son of Henry, came here, about a 
 year since, to three quarter sections of land ; of 
 which they have cultivated only six acres. They 
 live in a little one-room miserable log-cabin, doing 
 all the labour of the house and land themselves, and 
 without any female. We found them half-naked 
 and in rags, busily greasing a cart, or mending a 
 plough. They appeared only as labourers, but, on 
 being introduced to them by Mr. Flower, their best 
 friend, good sense and breeding shone through the 
 gloom of their forlorn situation. We entered their 
 cabin, and took some boiled beef on a board, and 
 sat on their bed and boxes, having no chairs, 
 stools, or tables, and only the mean clothes they 
 then wore ; a fire having recently destroyed their 
 first cabin with all its contents. Being disap- 
 pointed in English remittances, and unable to get 
 letters from thence, which they thought had been in- 
 tercepted, they were out of funds, and their land was 
 uncultivated, unsown, and selling for the payment 
 of taxes. To prevent this, Mr. Flower called this 
 day. Mr. Hunt has a fine, animated, rather agi- 
 tated countenance. He converses in writing, with
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 275 
 
 great ease and rapidity, on any subject interesting 
 to him ; and his nephew, the orator's son, aged W, 
 is a fine, tall, active, kind-hearted youth, pretty 
 well reconciled to his situation. I offered to bear 
 any commands, or render them any services in my 
 power, on returning to England ; an offer which they 
 gratefully embraced. I rode on towards the planta- 
 tion of Mr. Lewis ; but losing our way, we return- 
 ed without seeing him. He spent much of his 
 capital idly in Philadelphia, and now, without 
 cultivating an acre of his land here, he has resold 
 it, intending to keep a boarding-house in Albion. 
 He, like the rest of his neighbours, knows nothing 
 of agriculture. The land here seems very tempting 
 to a British farmer, quite ready for the plough with- 
 out any hewing or cleaving, or a blade of grass to 
 obstruct the plough. The fire has laid the sur- 
 face black and bare as a stubble ground, burnt in 
 the fens of England. But what is land with men 
 ignorant of, and too idle to work it? Without any 
 cultivation at all, it annually offers an infinite sup- 
 ply of hay and grass, for any who choose to mow 
 and gather it, or graze it ; yet few or none, saving 
 Birkbeck and Flower, have done so. What is ga- 
 thered, is green and fragrant, but not so sweet as 
 fine English hay. It is hard, harsh, and dry. 
 Beef is well fattened on the grass, during the sum- 
 mer, the finest meat I ever saw ; and sheep, with 
 the assistance of corn, are fattened and now killing 
 from Mr. Flower's flock, which all day ranges over 
 
 T 2
 
 276 MEMORABLE DAYS [NOV. 
 
 the prairies with a shepherd, who pens them at 
 night close to the farm-house, away from the 
 wolves, which yesterday, in spite of the good shep- 
 herd, scattered them and devoured fifty. I trem 
 ble for the fate of this flock, which is now without 
 grass or any substitute. The grass all dies in Octo- 
 ber; hard and dry food, which would starve an 
 English flock, is now and must be their lot all 
 winter. They drink constantly when water is 
 near, like cattle, and water must be given them in 
 troughs. And thus will they fare at lambing. 
 What wasting, worrying, scattering, and death 
 may not be expected? Would it not have been 
 better to have waited for inclosures of cultivated 
 grass for the herds and flocks ? 
 
 Yesterday one of their fat bullocks was found 
 dead near the Wabash, maliciously shot by a 
 hunter; for the discovery of whom they offered 
 50 dollars reward. 
 
 It is the intention of these families to plough the 
 land two years, and then turn it into English pas- 
 ture, a portion every year. Mrs. G. Flower, while 
 in Virginia, kissed a beautiful black babe before 
 the owner, a lady, who felt great disgust and in- 
 dignation at the act." Oh, take it away !" 
 
 Mr. Flower intends to form a society for freeing 
 blacks, and employing free blacks. It is to be on 
 the Harmony plan. He promises me the plan 
 when matured. He thinks that 100/. in France is 
 equal to 300/. in England for the support of a
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 277 
 
 family, and in the former all is kindness, pleasure, 
 and peace. He visited the Marquis de la Fayette, 
 whose income is very small. By him he was 
 furnished with a letter to the Hon. Thomas Jeffer- 
 son, with whom he spent many happy days. 
 This great philosopher and statesman, during the 
 last 30 years, has been always up with the sun, 
 noting down at sunrise the state of the mercury. 
 He lives splendidly, in French style, on the top of 
 the beautiful mountain M outecello, with his grand- 
 children and son-in-law, Mr. Randolph (not the 
 orator). His last days are spent in writing ince& 
 santly a work for posterity. His patrimony is fast 
 wasting, as it is in the slave states generally. 
 
 The hunters, or Illinois Rowdies, as they are 
 called, are rather troublesome. They come rudely 
 with their hats on into the parlour, and, when 
 drunk, threaten Mr. Flower's life ; but they are 
 great cowards; firmness and a fearless resolution 
 are necessary in dealing with them. One of a 
 large offended party came drunk to Mr. Flower's 
 house, and said, he would enter and shoot him. 
 Mr. Flower got his rifle and pointed it at the fel- 
 low, on which he rushed up and put his mouth 
 madly to the muzzle, and said, " Fire." Mr. F. 
 then laid it down, seeing the effect was not good, 
 and some less drunken members of theparty dragged 
 the fellow away. Law has no influence over these 
 Rowdies. Violence must be opposed to violence. 
 The Flower family has bought out a good many
 
 278 MEMORABLE DAYS [NOV. 
 
 of these wretches. One, however, more violent 
 and lawless than any yet known, still remains, of 
 the name of Jack Ellis, the son of an old and in- 
 dustrious settler from Indiana, who says that he 
 expects this son will some time murder his mother; 
 and that if God does not take him, he, his father, 
 must kill him himself. 
 
 This rascal, with several others, in addition to 
 their hunting, go round stealing free negroes, on 
 pretence of being employed to find runaways, 
 The poor blacks are thus cruelly taken and sold 
 at New Orleans. I saw Jack with his rifle after 
 a negro, in the employ of Mr. G. Flower, who had 
 armed the poor fellow in defence of himself against 
 Jack, whom the settlement wish to be shot. 
 
 Mr. Flower, sen., one day found it necessary to 
 have his family carriage ferried over the river in a 
 flat, which had only one man to manage it, and 
 get the carriage on and off. Much delay being the 
 consequence, and the man unable to do alone, 
 Mr. Flower complained, and said, " If you do 
 not go and tell your master to send more help, I 
 will fine you for detaining me." The fellow very 
 rudely said, " / have no master, nor shall I go for 
 more help. I am not a servant." " How is that,'* 
 said Mr. F., " the proprietor hires you ; you serve 
 him, and he pays you. I am not above assisting 
 you ; and being your servant, and you shall pay 
 me too." When landed on the other side, Mr. 
 Flower had two dollars demanded. " Very well,"
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 279 
 
 said he, " 1 have done half the work, and there- 
 fore I charge one dollar for my service !" The 
 fellow leered and looked humbled. 
 
 24th. Left Mr. Flower and Albion for Wan- 
 borough, a village rising on the estate of Mr. 
 Birkbeck, and named after the village in Surrey, 
 where he last lived. Industry seems to have 
 done more for this village than for Albion; 
 every log-house has a cleared inclosure of a few 
 acres attached, and what is done, is done by the 
 occupants or owners, and not by Mr. Birkbeck ; 
 whereas, in Albion, all has been done by the purse 
 of Mr. Flower. Both villages are the abode only 
 of the humble mechanic. The farmers live on their 
 quarter-sections, and both are but scantily sup- 
 plied with water at a distance. Wells, however, 
 it is hoped, will soon be dug with an unfailing- 
 supply. Wanborough has, 1 believe, and will have 
 the advantage over Albion, as it regards water; 
 but both Flower and Birkbeck have never-failing 
 water in wells close to their houses, to which peo- 
 ple by permission come to draw it. Springs and 
 streams are found in other prairies. On stopping 
 at the tavern in the ville, we were met by the 
 young Birkbecks, who welcomed and conducted 
 us to the seat of their celebrated father, whom we 
 met near the house returning from shooting, 
 dressed in the common shooting jacket, &c., of 
 an English farmer, sporting over his own lands. 
 Knowing my friend, he received us both very gra-
 
 280 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 ciously, and with a hearty welcome conducted us 
 in to the ladies. He approached us at first as 
 strangers, and, as is common with him, with a re- 
 pelling sternness and earnestness of manner, seemed 
 to say, " Who are you ?" But this manner, if he is 
 pleased with appearances, soon dies away into 
 smiling kindness and hospitality, which makes all 
 at home. " If I am not," said he, " pleased with 
 all who come, and I cannot, and will not, they go 
 away abusing me and the settlement." Gentler 
 : and kinder manners, perhaps, to strangers indiscri- 
 minately coming from afar, would be no bad po- 
 licy. Mr. Birkbeck is of a small, unformidable, 
 but erect stature, and swarthy Indian complexion. 
 The contour of his face, with the exception of a 
 fine nose, possesses little that is striking ; and the 
 face, viewed as a whole, indicates little of the ex- 
 actness, ripeness, sweetness, and finished taste, 
 which are known to distinguish him. Notwith- 
 standing the shock his feelings recently received, 
 he seems enviably happy in the bosom of his fa- 
 mily, which consists of four sons and two daugh- 
 ters, mistresses of the lyre and lute, and of many 
 other accomplishments. Mr, B., and every branch 
 of this happy family, with the exception of his son 
 Richard, retire at ten every evening to their sleep- 
 ing rooms, where a fire is kindled for them to read 
 and study by, half the night. " I am happy," 
 said he, " in my family !" His favourite son Mor- 
 ns, a finished scholar, disliking a rustic life, is
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 281 
 
 about returning to England. Mr. Birkbeck had 
 not the advantages of his children, but still is 
 master of the dead and several of the modern lan- 
 guages. He, only a few days since, returned from 
 a tour through Illinois, by way of Kascasky, where 
 he was chosen President of the agricultural so- 
 ciety of Illinois, one grand object of which will 
 be, to rid the state of stagnant waters. He visited 
 many settlements, but saw none so desirable as 
 his own. On the Little Wabash, is one, of which 
 he says Mr. Grant of Chatteris farms a part, very 
 fine rich land, but rather sickly, and during the 
 winter and spring inaccessible, by the overflowings 
 of the Little Wabash, which then becomes five 
 miles wide, imprisoning the settlement. Mr. Grant 
 has been burnt out once, and lost cabin and all it 
 contained. His daughter lives away from him at 
 board. Not wishing to become prisoner to the 
 Little Wabash, I declined, though I once intended, 
 visiting this first-rate English farmer, late of Chat- 
 teris-ferry in the Isle of Ely. This gentleman died 
 shortly afterwards, a victim to the climate. 
 
 Mr. Birkbeck says the Missouri territory par- 
 takes of an European character, in some respects, 
 and is preferred by some English families on 
 account of slavery, or rather the facility of getting 
 labour and servants. Colonel Boon now lives 
 thirty miles only from St. Louis, and in that 
 flourishing town, Clark, the celebrated traveller 
 up the Missouri river, lives, and has a museum.
 
 282 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 Colonel Boon and his party, being without bread 
 for six months, used wild turkey to their meat as 
 a substitute. 
 
 After this conversation within doors, we agreed 
 to walk out and view the house and estate. The 
 first is very capacious and convenient, furnisted 
 with winter and summer apartments, piazzas, and 
 balconies, and a fine library, to which you ascend 
 by an outward gallery. Every comfort is found 
 in this abode of the emperor of the prairies, as he 
 is here called. It is situated out of the village, 
 and on an elevation, having a fine view of his 
 estate, and the prairies generally, in front. It is a 
 pity that it is not built of brick or stone, instead 
 of wood ; once on fire, it will be inextinguishable, 
 and the loss of comfort and property considerable, 
 and, moreover, irrecoverable. There is no lime- 
 stone here for mortar, but what is made, expen- 
 sively, twelve miles off, of shells from the Wabasb. 
 Brick buildings are laid in muddy clay ! 
 
 This estate, consisting of 16,000 acres, which he 
 sells as customers offer, comprises some fine, and 
 some wet land ; and, at present, with the exception 
 of a few acres of wheat just sown, too late, it is all 
 uncultivated. Many acres are, however, enclosed 
 by a ditch and rail fence, formed by stakes, bands, 
 and split rails, which will oftener need repairing 
 than the worm fence, without being so complete a 
 protection. Less timber, however, is needed in 
 this mode; and timber, drawn from a distance, is
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 283 
 
 now, and, in times to come, will, if no green 
 fences are raised, become a matter of great impor- 
 tance. I believe this fence will not be imitated by 
 any American. Land here is of no value without 
 fences, which will keep cattle in and pigs out. He 
 does not intend to farm much ; " I had enough of 
 farming for thirty years in England. I came here 
 to rest. It ought not to be expected of me that I 
 should incumber myself with much business." He 
 means to plough two years, and then turn the land 
 into pasture, it being not desirable to have a large 
 surplus produce above what can be consumed by 
 the settlement ; but of this there is little fear, as not 
 above six original farmers are yet here. Mr. B. 
 discovers that ditching and fencing removes the 
 cause of the fogs which hang over the low prairies. 
 About nine to twelve inches of surface, good soil, 
 rather light, is found. Underneath is white clay, 
 which an animal like a crab, but called a craw- 
 fish, throws up into numerous hills, bigger than 
 the large ant-hills in old English pastures. This 
 white clay, thus mixed, is, by Mr. B., deemed a 
 benefit. These curious creatures delve down into 
 the water under the soil. They are, like moles, 
 seldom seen but in their effects. 
 
 During our pleasant morning walk, John Ingle 
 said, " His father (the patriarch) wished to come, 
 but found it difficult, as his daughters were marry 
 ing, and giving in marriage, and therefore impeding 
 the father's wishes." " What," replied Mr. Birk-
 
 284 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 beck, " What! stay and breed beggars in Eng- 
 land! Well! with industry, we shall always have 
 an asylum for them here, but not soft independ- 
 ence.'' 
 
 Mr. B. said the Rowdies had threatened him 
 with assassination; but showing and convincing 
 them that he would shoot them if they attempted 
 to enter his house without permission, they had 
 abandoned their design. This circumstance, no 
 doubt, gave birth to a report of his death, which I 
 saw entered in the news-book at Wheeling, and at 
 Zainsville, Ohio. 
 
 251/2. After sleeping and breakfasting at Mr. 
 Birkbeck's, I called and dined with Joseph Hanks, 
 Esq. and his fine Irish family of sprightly sons, and 
 one little motherless daughter. They are Protest- 
 ants, and lived, as long as they could keep their 
 comforts, in Ireland. He was a banker, and a 
 correspondent of the Right Hon. N. Vansittart, and 
 George Canning, Esq. while the young sons were 
 the dandies of Dublin; but here, the father is a store? 
 keeper, and the sons are cooks, housemaids, car- 
 penters, and drudges for all work. He brought 
 considerable property away. He has bought no 
 land, and professes to dislike the prairies and 
 America generally. He would have bought from 
 Mr. Birkbeck, but could get only a " cup," that is, 
 a swamp. He says his funds are yet entire, and he 
 means to leave the country, and live in England, 
 in a garret, in either London or Dublin, rather
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 286 
 
 than remain here, if he should be cast in a suit in 
 which he is the plaintiff, against the magistrates 
 of Illinois, who, he thinks, have unjustly taken 
 Birkbeck's part against him ; he and his family 
 having quarrelled with Mr. B. and family, about 
 water, &c. Mr. Hanks, is a wild, hot-headed, 
 sprightly Irishman, charging Mr. Birkbeck's wri- 
 tings with falsehood and deception, and him as a 
 deceiver, idly spending already 30,000 dollars ; no 
 farmer, and now out of funds, and embarrassed. 
 " I was caught," said he, " by his fascinating 
 writings ; it was impossible to resist them. Who 
 could? Did ever man write like him? I read his 
 letters to him; he could not bear it. Persons were 
 employed to buy them up in the east. I admire 
 both him and his writings, and notwithstanding 
 all I say against him, I love him still. Whatever 
 may be his opinions, I hope and believe the 
 Almighty will never let such a man slip through 
 his fingers. He must, however, fail in his enter- 
 prize. JNever come here, sir: here is no money, 
 no labourers. The English are the most dis- 
 honest." He says, Mr. Birkbeck maintained his 
 father during the last six years of his life. I re- 
 turned to sup and sleep at Birkbeck's, who, 
 on hearing where we spent the day, said, " You 
 have heard much falsehood. Hanks is a bad man, 
 having quarrelled with me, and nearly all around 
 him." 
 
 Cobbett now became the theme ; I said he had
 
 286 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 sent the bones of Tom Paine to be enshrined at 
 Botley. "He cannot be such a fool?" "His 
 writings have been useful, and extensively read," 
 said I. " Yes, that is true, but he sticks not to 
 truth ; he is a caricaturist, and a dishonest man." 
 He then showed me his manuscript reply to Mr. 
 Cobbett's attack. Jn giving my opinion of it, I 
 pointed out what I conceived to be a grand omis- 
 sion, that of not noticing " no market for a sur- 
 plus produce," and said, " he will fasten upon 
 that." "Yes, he probably will, but that is a 
 general question applicable to the whole western 
 country." " He will," said I, " have a rejoinder 
 for you." " Well, I must write again." 
 
 His opinion of Rapp and Harmony is unfriendly 
 to such a community. It is not firm as to temporals, 
 and as to spirituals, it is a priestly tyranny, interest- 
 ed in enslaving body and conscience, in order that 
 a few may some day divide the spoil. They keep no 
 accounts, and as the land is conveyed to Rapp and 
 his followers, those followers, by good management, 
 may become very few ; then Harmony will be 
 divided. " No pleasurable feelings possess a man 
 who contemplates this community." 
 
 26tfA. At breakfast, this morning, the young 
 Birkbecks said they had seen a general employed 
 in pig-killing, and a judge driving his own wag- 
 gon. I asked the young ladies how they relished 
 the rattle-snake. They said, as it was of a pro- 
 digious size and tough and old, it was scarcely eat-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 287 
 
 abie, though it looked white and delicate, and 
 tasted like a chicken. 
 
 The term elegant is no where so little under- 
 stood as in this country. One of Mr. B.'s neigh- 
 bours' sons falling sick, the father applied to 
 Mr. B.'s chest for medicine, and received it. Mr. 
 B. next morning said to the father, " Well, sir, 
 how did the medicine operate?" " Oh, sir, ele- 
 gantly," was the reply. 
 
 The hour was now come for quitting this dis- 
 tinguished man and harmonious family. He wished 
 me to stay longer, and to hear of and from me 
 after my return to England, and that his son, 
 Morris, who is coming to a mercantile concern 
 at Bristol, might accompany me. 
 
 I dined, on fine roast beef, with Dr. Pugsley, 
 physician to the settlement. Here are English ele- 
 gance and comfort, but no servant. What a change! 
 And, as the settlement is said to be healthy, what 
 a chance for a mere doctor ! In the afternoon 1 call- 
 ed on Mr. Cowling, late of Spalding, Lincolnshire, 
 who, with his brother, is settled on a corner of a 
 quarter-section, living without any female, and fast 
 barbarizing, in a most miserable log-cabin, not 
 mudded, having only one room, no furniture of any 
 kind, save a miserable, filthy, ragged bed for him- 
 self and his brother, whois lamed, and prostrated on 
 the floor, by a ploughshare, and who, though un- 
 able to move, yet refuses a doctor. Both were more 
 filthy, stinking, ragged, and repelling, than any
 
 288 "MEMORABLE DAYS [NOV. 
 
 English stroller or beggar ever seen; garments 
 rotting off, linen unwashed, face unshaven and un- 
 washed, for, I should think, a month. Yet Mr. 
 Cowling is a sensible, shrewd man, quite a philo- 
 sopher, though filthiness is against the law of na- 
 ture. " Here (says he) a man learns philosophy 
 and its uses!" He expects his sisters and brothers 
 into this miserable abode. What a shock will such 
 a spectacle be to their feelings ! He went, during 
 the summer, five miles for water, though a well 
 might have been dug on his farm. He grumbles 
 about having given 60L per cent, profit to Birk- 
 beck for his land, for by this policy the latter has 
 injured the settlement and himself; and as he does 
 not farm, as was expected, he must lose his ca- 
 pital as well as Mr. Flower. He says prairie 
 lands cost as much getting into cultivation as the 
 woodland. People coming here without fortune, 
 must have industry and work, if they would live. 
 He does not, however, regret emigrating, but people 
 should be taught the truth, and come with no in- 
 flated notions. Birkbeck has deceived himself 
 and the public. Cobbett's rubs against him are 
 good, but some are false. 
 
 I rested this night at the one-room log-cabin of 
 Mr. Woods and family, a real Nottinghamshire 
 farmer, on 400 acres of good land. Here we found 
 an excellent cleanly supper, good whiskey, se- 
 gars, and a friendly welcome. The room con- 
 tained four beds, for nine of us, standing on a
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 289 
 
 dirt floor, while the chimney poured nearly all its 
 smoke upon us. With a scolding wife, instead of 
 his pretty, cleanly English niece, things had been 
 complete. But Mr. Woods lost his wife on the 
 Ohio river, where many poor English, this sum- 
 mer, have either died or been drowned. He has 
 brought with him four bushels of English haw- 
 thorn, for green fencing; without green fencing, 
 woe be to the prairies! Mr. Woods seems a plain, 
 judicious, industrious man, sensible of the wisdom 
 of his choice. The Woods are men either for the 
 prairie or the wood country. Not far from Mr. 
 Woods live a Mr. Bentley and lady, late of Lon- 
 don, who, here, with a little property, have turned 
 farmers, doing all the labour in the field and log- 
 house themselves, and, it is said, seem very cheer- 
 ful, happy, and healthy. In London he had the 
 gout, and she the delicate blue devils, but here 
 milking, fetching water, and all kinds of drudgery, 
 in doors and out, have cured her, and ploughing, 
 him. He never, he says, loved her or she him, 
 half so much as in Illinois. At a distance of five 
 miles from any dwelling live also two young gay 
 gentlemen, late of London, of the name of Millor, 
 now called children of the wood, who cultivate 
 one quarter section, and shift for themselves in 
 great comfort, cleanliness, and satisfaction, though 
 they never saw a plough before. Here they do all. 
 Mr. J. Cookson, of Bond-street, is now in Ford- 
 ham's store. 
 
 u
 
 290 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 , By appointment, I revisited the Flower 
 family. When it became known in England that 
 they were about to emigrate, they were constantly 
 assailed on the road and at home by inquiries* 
 insomuch that it was necessary, for several days, 
 to keep a servant posted at the anti-room door, to 
 give a general answer to such inquiries, by saying 
 that they neither wished nor wanted any body to 
 go to America. At this time Mr. Birkbeck's notes 
 appeared, after some difficulty in finding a re- 
 spectable, independent bookseller, Mr. Ridgway. 
 Mr. Flower read to me a manuscript letter, in- 
 tended for publication, which he had recently 
 written, addressed to Mr. Birkbeck, respecting 
 the conduct of the latter gentleman; the object 
 of which is to put him on his defence in all mat- 
 ters, public and private, relating to their mys- 
 terious and unfortunate quarrel. As I have heard 
 both sides, from both parties, or at least as much 
 of both sides as the parties, voluntarily and un- 
 questioned, thought proper to give me, I shall en- 
 deavour to give a faithful account of what 1 heard. 
 The Flowers charge Mr. B. with an intention of 
 driving their family out of Illinois, and of deceiv- 
 ing the public generally, in the hope of monopo- 
 lizing all the prairies to himself, so that he might 
 sell, at what advanced price he pleased, to such of 
 his countrymen as came hither, induced by his 
 tempting publications. The second letter of that 
 volume is to Mr. Flower, sen. Wishing to visit
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 291 
 
 America, to relieve himself from domestic unhap- 
 piness, Mr. G. Flower was the precursor of Mr. 
 Birkbeck, who then was opposed to emigration, 
 but who, soon after Flower's departure, suddenly 
 changing his opinion, determined on his present 
 measure, and wrote to G. Flower to that effect, who 
 was so much pleased with the country, that he 
 bought land in Virginia, intending to settle on it, if 
 he could induce his family to follow. Mr. Birk- 
 beck now met the Flower family, to persuade them 
 to emigrate with him to their son George Flower, 
 and make one property and share all things in com- 
 mon, a measure too Utopian for Mr. Flower, sen. 
 to approve. Mr. Birkbeck then reproached Mr. 
 Flower with croaking; and the emigration of the 
 Flower family was deferred, while Mr. Birkbeck 
 prepared for his departure. The Miss Birkbecks 
 seeing a young lady at Mr. Flower's, Miss An- 
 drews, wished her to accompany them to America, 
 a measure to which the father objected, but soon 
 afterwards consented, and away they sailed to 
 Norfolk, in Virginia, where they were met by 
 George Flower, who agreed to accompany them 
 westward. Miss Andrews and George Flower, 
 unknown to Birkbeck, were agreeing to marry ; 
 and on arriving at Vincennes, both parties made it 
 known to Mr. Birkbeck, who, with considerable 
 agitation and surprise, gave his consent and sanc- 
 tion to the marriage. This consent, however, was 
 wildly given, and apparently with extreme reluc- 
 
 u 2
 
 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 tance, for he also was attached to this lovely fe- 
 male. Mr. Birkbeck having shewn strong feel ings 
 arid emotions on this occasion, Mr. Flower and 
 the Birkbeck family, in consequence, felt much 
 alarm. Mr. Flower did not expect it, though he 
 knew of the unfortunate attachment, for the fond- 
 ness so little encouraged was but too evident; bu^ 
 as he had ingenuously told Mr. Birkbeck, and 
 advised with him on the measure, and he had con- 
 sented and acquiesced with apparent kindness, 
 Mr. G. Flower had hoped that his strong emo- 
 tions would subside. He offered to leave Mr. 
 Birkbeck and his family for ever, to which Mr. 
 B. would not consent, but, on leaving the happy 
 pair at Vincennes, went on to Princeton, where 
 all, in a few days, met in friendship, and proceed- 
 ing into Illinois, subsequently settled in the prai- 
 ries, as one family, until Birkbeck showed symp- 
 toms of violent attachment, which excited alarm 
 as to consequences. It was then thought advise- 
 able, as Mr. G. Flower was going to England, 
 that Mrs. F. should not continue there, but go 
 eastward, and remain there until her husband re- 
 turned. She did so, and Mr. Birkbeck parted with 
 them in friendship, promising to prepare houses 
 and purchase land for them and the family before 
 they returned. Mr. G. Flower was also the bearer 
 of Mr. Birkbeck's celebrated letters for publica- 
 tion in England and Philadelphia. All seemed 
 peace, and money was sent over express from
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 293 
 
 England to Mr. Birkbeck, for purchasing and 
 building; but, when the Flower family arrived, he 
 had done nothing, nor purchased any thing for them, 
 and on Mr. George Flower calling on Birkbeck, 
 the latter, shaking his head, turned his back, say- 
 ing, " f aru sorry to see you, 1 had rather not see 
 you I cannot, will not see you." " But," said 
 Mr. Flower, " I must see you ; I have money for 
 you, and business with you." "A third person will 
 do; I name your brother." Mr. Flower then de- 
 parted to his lady and brothers, now homeless 
 and exposed, in a little old, ruinous, dirt-floor 
 cabin, without doors or windows, or furniture, or 
 food, or water; and here, thus exposed to the damp 
 ground, camping out all night, in pestilential dews, 
 all fell sick but Mr. and Mrs. Flower, who had to 
 ride twenty miles for food, physic, and furniture, 
 denied them by Mr. Birkbeck. At length Mr. 
 Flower fell sick, and thus was Mrs. Flower, the 
 only person in health, compelled to be servant of 
 all work to all, having water to draw and carry 
 herself from a distance, and wood to hew for the 
 fire, and no neighbours but the barbarian hunters, 
 who tendered that assistance which their dear 
 friend Birkbeck refused. Mr. Flower's favorite 
 son, thus exposed and sick, never recovered. The 
 senior branches of the Flower family were now at 
 Lexington, ignorant of these evils, until a letter 
 from Mr. Birkbeck reached them, wishing they 
 should settle in the east, (where he supposed them
 
 294 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 to be,) telling his reasons for so advising them, 
 namely, because he thought that they would all 
 make common cause with their son, George 
 Flower, and that he had not bought them any 
 land, but ordered the funds to be returned to 
 their banker in Philadelphia. Mr. Flower an- 
 swered with great bitterness and asperity, accus- 
 ing Mr. Birkbeck of fraud, treachery, and cruelty, 
 threatening summary justice, and expressing a 
 determination to come and live there, to protect 
 his son and family against his malice. Mr. Birk- 
 beck then offered peace, at least to Mr. Flower, 
 sen. ; " but," said Mr. Flower, " I could not take 
 him by the hand now; it would be loss of cha- 
 racter. I had done nothing to offend him, and why 
 was I thus made to suffer ? I am bound up with 
 my family; their lives are precious in my sight." 
 This was a part of his letter to Birkbeck, which 
 he read to me, but when he came to that part, he 
 burst into tears, and rushed out, putting it into 
 my hands. I not being able to read it, Miss 
 Flower concluded it. IN either Mr. R. Flower, 
 nor Mr. G. Flower, have ever since met Mr. Birk- 
 beck. " I avoid seeing him," says Mr. R. 
 Flower, " because, if 1 came near, I must lay 
 violent hands on him ; I must knock him down. 
 I will never see him, or speak to him more ; a re- 
 conciliation is impossible, to me it would be a 
 stain and loss of character." All the evil to both 
 families, and to the settlement, they impute to Birk-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 295 
 
 beck. They wonder why lie should have so chang- 
 ed, when he had sanctioned the conduct of George 
 Flower, and given him the lady in marriage. They 
 deem it hypocrisy, of the first order, as well as the 
 greatest impolicy; "but," say they, " he is now pu- 
 nished for it, being nearly in the situation of an 
 embarrassed man." Mrs. G. Flower, however, 
 more charitably, imputes nothing in Mr. Birk- 
 beck's conduct to vile or corrupt motives, but all 
 to love, and to that kind of revenge, which such a 
 disappointment was likely to generate, when the 
 mind was lonely and abandoned to its own feel- 
 ings. They deem the event a great evil to them- 
 selves and to the settlement, because it happened at 
 a time when the joint exertions of these two fa- 
 milies were so necessary for its success. It de- 
 ranged every thing; and all connected with, or 
 who came nigh the prairies, wondered and felt the 
 evil, because the secret was unknown. Mr. G. 
 Flower professes not to defend his departure from 
 law and custom, in this second marriage, but very 
 ingenuously confesses, that having missed his 
 chance of happiness in his first, he was deter- 
 mined to try a second marriage, which promised 
 better things; and as Mr. Birkbeck knew his situ- 
 ation intimately, he would not have censured him, 
 had he not wished to marry the lady himself. As 
 this could not be, he and Mr. Birkbeck had, in- 
 stead of consulting the good of the settlement, laid 
 by to give each other mortal stabs, or rather to
 
 296 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 blast each other's good name. This ends one side 
 of the case. 
 
 Mr. Birkbeck in reply, takes a disinterested, 
 high, moral stand, suffering nothing to escape him 
 relating to his own disappointments, though in a 
 letter to Mr. Mellish, he admits " that scandal is 
 busy with his name and affairs." He states, that 
 soon after landing in this country, and being join- 
 ed by Mr. G. Flower, he began to suspect a con- 
 nection was forming between Miss Andrews and 
 George Flower. At length it became unequivo* 
 cal, and he consented to and sanctioned their 
 marriage, as the least of two unavoidable evils; for 
 the parties had determined either on marriage (if 
 not impracticable), or at least on cohabitation ; 
 and, as he respected both as his children, he con- 
 sented to the former as the least evil. The grand 
 cause of a change of conduct to them (so much 
 wondered at by the Flowers), and of not fulfilling 
 his promises of purchasing and building for the 
 reception of the families, will be seen in the follow- 
 ing circumstances. He had been deceived; while 
 G. Flower was gone to London, he became unde- 
 ceived ; he learnt, from the best authority, that 
 Miss Andrews had been the cause of all the jea- 
 lousy, unhappiness, and separation in G. Flower's 
 former marriage ; and that the senior branches 
 had placed this young lady in his family for the 
 express purpose of effecting their purposes, namely 
 of marrying her to their son ; a circumstance cal-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 297 
 
 culated to injure the honour of himself and family 
 in the eyes of an uncharitable world. Seeing him- 
 self, then, to have been made the innocent tool of 
 such iniquitous measures, it no longer remained a 
 matter of choice whether he should receive or 
 abandon them ; it was impossible for him to act 
 otherwise than he had done, if he intended to pre- 
 serve his reputation. It was certainly not his wish 
 to quarrel with Mr. R. Flower, but as father and 
 son were one, it was impossible to avoid it; he 
 therefore declined purchasing the promised land 
 or using their money in any way. He conceives 
 that Mr. Flower should not have taken part with 
 his son, but rather endeavoured, by all manner of 
 means, to make reparation for the indignity at- 
 tempted to be put on his (Birkbeck's) family by 
 their illicit conduct. 
 
 Mr. Birkbeck rids himself of the charge of fraud 
 and breach of trust, by saying, in reply to Mr. 
 Flower's severe letter, that it was optional whether 
 he purchased lands with the money sent ; it was 
 not binding upon him to do it. And, moreover, 
 he thought it for the interest of both families, under 
 such circumstances, to be more distantly situated. 
 
 Thus have I given both sides of the question, as 
 completely as they could be gathered from verbal 
 statements. 
 
 The two villes of Albion and Wanborough, the 
 abodes of contention, party spirit, speculation, and 
 feuds, arose out of this greatly to be regretted
 
 298 MEAIORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 quarrel. If it had produced competition and ex- 
 traordinary exertions in agriculture, and a desire 
 to conciliate, accommodate, and invite settlers, it 
 had been well ; but the reverse was the conse- 
 quence. It is true that no man, since Columbus, 
 has done so much towards peopling America as 
 Mr. Birkbeck, whose publications, and the autho- 
 rity of whose name, had effects truly prodigious ; 
 and if all could have settled in Illinois, whom he 
 had tempted to cross the Atlantic and the moun- 
 tains, it had now been the most populous state in 
 the Union. America, and the western country 
 generally, are benefitted by and indebted to him ; 
 but, not being a man of business, and therefore ill 
 calculated to appreciate properly his advantages, 
 the time to benefit himself is not yet come. He 
 has land enough ; but what is land without popu- 
 lation and cultivation ? Mr. Birkbeck declines the 
 responsibility of advising people to emigrate; and 
 Mr. Flower says, " Tell your countrymen to stay 
 at home by all means, if they can keep their com- 
 forts." 
 
 The argument for and against speculation, so 
 offensive and repelling to emigrants coming to the 
 prairies, assumes the following shapes. First, It 
 is necessary to keep out the Kentucky non-resi- 
 dent speculators, who are capricious and extrava- 
 gant in their demands and profits, and remotely 
 situated. Secondly, It is reasonable and just that 
 speculators of capital, living on the spot, and who
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 299 
 
 have encountered the difficulties of first settlers, 
 and smoothed the way for followers, should derive 
 some remuneration from the latter, who now find 
 themselves surrounded with neighbours, facilities, 
 and conveniences of all kinds. Thirdly, That no 
 reasonable man can come, expecting to have the 
 land, under such circumstances, at the Old Con- 
 gress price. Fourthly* That it is better worth four 
 dollars an acre now, than it was worth two dollars, 
 when they found it an inhospitable wild. Fifthly, 
 That as they have bought large quantities in the 
 mass, good and bad together, without knowing that 
 they should ever sell an acre, and that as they per- 
 mit people to pick and choose, leaving much un- 
 saleable land on their hands, they are entitled to get 
 all they can for what is good and saleable. Against 
 it, it is said. First, It is never right to do evil that 
 good may result; but, as evil is the consequence 
 of speculating, it is unjust, unreasonable, and un- 
 necessary; and, besides, the public would rather 
 buy of native than of English speculators, if any 
 must speculate, and it is better that nuisances 
 should live at a distance. Secondly, That no be- 
 neficial improvements being made, the owners are 
 not entitled to any other remuneration than what na- 
 turally results from good neighbourhood. Thirdly, 
 That no reasonable honest man could desire it, 
 under such circumstances. Fourthly, That it is 
 foolish and impolitic to buy land in the mass, good 
 and bad together, when an infinite supply of the
 
 300 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 good could be had separately in a better situa- 
 tion. Fifthly, That as property is created gra- 
 dually by population only, then land, without fol- 
 lowers, must sink rather than rise in value. Sixthly, 
 That as speculation had driven away settlers 
 calculated to improve and cultivate land, it had 
 become an evil, which should, if possible, be re- 
 sisted and destroyed, and that no country affords 
 greater facilities than America for resisting the 
 prairie speculation. It was expected of English- 
 men that they came to farm, not to speculate and 
 prey upon their more needy countrymen. 
 
 Sunday, 2Qth. At breakfast this morning, Mr. 
 Flower, regretting the habit of duelling, said, that 
 a lady of Lexington, finding her nephew not in- 
 clined to fight a duel, encouraged him to go out; 
 and immediately on his departing for the fatal 
 spot, said to her black servant, " John, light up 
 and get the large drawing-room ready for the re- 
 ception of a corpse." This order was given with 
 great sang froid; and in less than an hour, the 
 room was occupied by the corpse of her nephew ! 
 
 So severely is the want of labourers felt here, 
 that Mr. Flower said he would pay to parishes in 
 England half the expense of getting their surplus 
 poor here. 
 
 We were now leaving this hospitable family and 
 the prairies, perhaps, for ever. We exchanged 
 blessings, and received parcels, letters, and kind 
 messages for friends in England ; wild flower-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 301 
 
 seeds, and a monstrous acorn from the ladies, and 
 a racoon-skin from the young gentlemen, for a 
 lady at Royston. " Enjoin," said Mr. G. Flower, 
 " all those of our friends, who come, not to encum- 
 ber themselves with merchandize and ventures ; 
 it is certain loss. When on the journey, they must 
 endure with patience unto the end, or they will 
 lose the reward of their toil. Tell them that I, 
 whom they knew, and my father, have all our ex- 
 pectations answered ; that we believe the country 
 to be more healthy and suitable to Englishmen 
 than any part ; that we have soil, climate, and 
 market. I am sure that were Archer, Greaves, 
 J. Foster, and Elias Fordham here, they would 
 enjoy themselves more than in any other place. 
 You will, of course, tell what you have seen, 
 which will do more to give my acquaintance a 
 correct impression than a hundred letters. They 
 must be confounded by the contradictory state- 
 ments they hear." 
 
 We rode off on our-way to Princeton, Indiana, 
 through a cold, wet, marshy prairie, over which 
 hang dense fogs, and on which lies water knee- 
 deep in summer. When seen at a distance, it looks 
 like a large lake of water, but on coming into it, 
 the green grass, four feet high, conceals the stink- 
 ing, stagnant, steaming water. 
 
 I crossed the Big Wabash, quarter of a -mile 
 wide, at La Valette's ferry, where is beautiful 
 land, fine young orchards, and two lonely families
 
 302 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 of naked-legged French settlers, from whom 1 re- 
 ceived two curious ears of poss corn. I thus* 
 quitted lonely Illinois, in which, this morning, I 
 saw, for the first time, one running spring. The 
 wild ducks on the river were very fat and fine, like 
 our tame ones in England. One just shot floated 
 dead to our flat. About eight miles from the 
 river, we crossed a dismal swamp two miles wide, 
 which, in winter, is ten feet deep of water from 
 the river, and cuts off communication with Illinois, 
 except by water. At the verge of this swamp, 
 I stopped at a farmer's, sick and yellow with a 
 bilious fever. My horse escaped from me, but 
 was stopped by Judge Emberson. I rode all day 
 without dinner, but reached Princeton to a good 
 supper at Brown's tavern, which, but for Mr. 
 Birkbeck, had been annihilated. 
 
 Mr. Birkbeck seems to have no theory on the 
 formation of the ancient mounds and fortifications 
 in the western country, but thinks them to be the 
 work of the present race of Indians. Nor has he 
 any hypothesis on the subject of the immense 
 prairies. Though but partially planted with tim- 
 ber, he does not think the soil unfriendly to the 
 growth of it, but deems the cause to be in the 
 annual fires which run over the surface, checking 
 the young plants, or destroying the seeds, or 
 rather in a want of seed ; and the decaying, dwarf- 
 ish appearance of the trees, he attributes to the 
 same fiery cause. That the prairies have been
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 303 
 
 lakes of water he much doubts. General Evans, 
 a gentleman with whom I, this day, held an in- 
 teresting conversation on the subject, and who 
 has explored the prairie country generally, thinks 
 that as they are contiguous to the immense lakes 
 of Michigan, &c. without being intercepted by 
 any hills of magnitude, they must have been 
 formed by the receding of the lakes of which they 
 once constituted a part, and to this day, in the 
 sand, traces of surf and driving water are still 
 evident on and round about the gentle hills and 
 skirts of the prairies. This idea is opposed by 
 some, because, of the prairie rivers, some are found 
 running north into the lakes, and others south into 
 the Ohio and the Mississipi. The soil and sand, 
 however, of the prairies, are such as are found on 
 the lake shores, and shew, upon and below the 
 surface, the operations of water. 
 
 For the general purposes of agriculture, the 
 intelligent General considers the best prairie soil 
 to be deeper and more lasting than the woodland, 
 though at present more uncertain. It wants more 
 rain, and frequently fails in droughty seasons. 
 Cultivation, he conceives, will render it less porous 
 and more retentive of moisture : time is necessary 
 for rotting the tough, wiry grass-roots ; its richness 
 and durability are proved by its having been con- 
 stantly in cultivation at Vincennes, during the 
 last 200 years. The best prairies known in this 
 country, abounding with healthy situations, and
 
 304 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 fine running never-failing springs, sufficient for 
 mill-streams, he saw from 70 to 100 miles above 
 Birkbeck's, on the banks of the Wabash, up to 
 its head waters, beyond Fort Harrison, and ex- 
 tending to the lake-streams. Between the Wa- 
 bash, and a lake river, is only nine miles of land 
 carriage. Here is the richest land in the western 
 country, though at present more distantly situated 
 from market. The waters of the lakes, he thinks, 
 have recently experienced no diminution. 
 
 29M. Two years ago, a young Yankee, of 
 the name of Williams, became the object of a 
 malicious prosecution here, on suspicion of robbing 
 a store. Circumstantial evidence of the worst 
 kind only could be adduced, and he was, as is 
 common in this country, acquitted. The people 
 of the place, however, prejudiced against him, as 
 a Yankee, deputed four persons to inform him, 
 that unless he quitted the town and state imme- 
 diately, he should receive Lynch's law, that is, a 
 whipping in the woods. He departed, with his 
 wife and child, next day, on foot; but in the 
 woods, four miles from Princeton, they were over- 
 taken by two men, armed with guns, dogs, and a 
 whip, who said they came to whip him, unless he 
 would confess and discover to them the stolen 
 money, so that they might have it. He vainly 
 expostulated with them; but, in consideration of 
 his wife's entreaties and cries, they remitted his 
 sentence to thirteen lashes. One man then bound
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 305 
 
 him to a tree and lashed him with a cow-hide 
 whip, while the other held and gagged him ; the 
 alarmed wife, all the time, shrieking murder. 
 He was then untied, and told to depart from the 
 state immediately, or he should receive another 
 whipping on the morrow, as a warning and terror 
 to all future coming Yankees. 
 
 This poor fellow was of respectable parents at 
 Berlin, in the state of New York, and possessed 
 a well-informed mind. He quitted the state, and 
 returning, soon after, to prosecute his executioners, 
 died at Evansville, before he had effected so desi- 
 rable an object. Here was liberty, with a ven- 
 geance ! This poor fellow, a victim to popular 
 prejudice, had the liberty to travel 3,000 miles on 
 foot, twice, to this state, for a settlement; and no 
 sooner was he in it, than the inhabitants had the 
 liberty to whip him out again. He left behind 
 him an account of his journey, and of the treat 
 ment he here received. In walking through Ken- 
 tucky, he found the people very inhospitable to- 
 wards him, because he was a walking, working 
 Yankee man, on a journey, and, therefore, consi- 
 dered as nothing better than, or below, a nigger. 
 
 Thieving, it must be observed, at all times, and 
 in all places, thought to be most inexcusable, is 
 here deemed worse than murder, in consequence 
 of the very great facility of living. 
 
 30th. Introduced last night to, and slept at 
 the farm log-house of the Rev. Mr. Devan, the 
 
 x
 
 306 MEMORABLE DAYS [Nov. 
 
 minister of a congregation, and one of the members 
 of a convention tb form the government of this 
 state. He is a self-taught man of considerable 
 intelligence, originality, and amusing anecdote, 
 living on a quarter section of the richest land I 
 ever saw, bearing Indian corn, fifteen feet high, 
 yielding 80 bushels an acre. He has more land 
 than he occupies. His family is numerous; his hogs 
 almost innumerable, 400 in the wood, many wild, 
 and breeding faster in a wild, than in a tame state. 
 From these, the squatters supply themselves, in 
 defiance of a strict law against the act. Then the 
 wolves, wild cats, and bears, destroy, annually, a 
 great number. Until pigs are weaned, the wild 
 animals destroy them by cunningly quarrelling 
 with the sow, while a party of the wolves seize 
 the pigs in their nests. Mr. Devan, this morning; 
 shot a fat pig between the eyes; it fell dead instantly 
 the English mode, he says, is murder. He offered 
 me a fine pet deer, which follows him every where, 
 leaping over ten feet fences, and giving chace to 
 the fleetest dogs, which she instantly distances. 
 She holds communication with the wild bucks of 
 the wood, three or four of which follow her. I 
 regretted that I could not transport this beautiful 
 animal. 
 
 Mr. Devan manufactures and cultivates the tea 
 of China; I received from him some seed and tea for 
 use. The shrub resembles young quicking, or two 
 years old hawthorn. Its seed should be sown in
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 307 
 
 the autumn, and it will vegetate in May. He states 
 that flax and currants are found wild in perfection, 
 1,500 miles up the Missouri territory, where also 
 buffaloes are tamed for the yoke. He has a fine 
 apple orchard, yielding plenty of fruit, the third 
 year after being planted small from the nursery, 
 and peach-trees from the seed, growing faster than 
 osiers in England, being now from fifteen to 
 twenty feet high, full of bearing branches. Fifteen 
 years in England would not, I think, produce 
 such an orchard. He has twelve children, and 
 expects to leave them one quarter section each of 
 improved rich land. The old gentleman tells many 
 anecdotes respecting the uncommon cunning of 
 the Indians. He believes that Birkbeck is sink- 
 ing his capital by unskilful purchases and manage- 
 ment, and by employing bad labourers, and omit- 
 ting to cultivate. But the money goes, never to re- 
 turn. His land may rise to 15 or 20 dollars an acre, 
 if he keeps it. He believes that skilful capitalists, 
 even here in Indiana, after the second or third year, 
 might enrich themselves from hired labour. Some 
 have done it. Riches are relative things. Capita- 
 lists, however, not working themselves, would 
 gain more money, in a good slave state, with good 
 negroes. He thinks that J. Ingle's land is poor, 
 but useful. An old settler upon it, says he, never 
 got more than twenty bushels of wheat an acre, 
 after corn; but, if fallowed, it would bring much 
 more ; as it is, fifteen or sixteen is the average. 
 
 x 2
 
 308 MEMORABLE DAYS [Dec. 
 
 Mr. Devan, when preaching at Mr. Ingle's, 
 stripped at it, taking off coat, waistcoat, and cra- 
 vat, unbuttoning his shirt collar, and wildly throw- 
 ing about his arms. He made the maddest gesti- 
 culations, for the space of two hours, ever seen in 
 a man professing sanity. At parting with this ec- 
 centric, warm, true-hearted man, I said, " Tell me 
 honestly whether or not we English should emi- 
 grate hither?" " In the language of the apostle," 
 answered he, " Be ye content with such things as 
 ye have. Remain where providence has placed 
 you ; but send me your travels." Be not offended, 
 friend Devan ! 
 
 December \st. Returned to Mr. Ingle's this 
 evening. Till within the last five days, the last 
 month has been warmer than an English summer, 
 the mercury varying between 65 and 72, and with 
 the exception of the all-pervading smoke, which 
 vanished on the first coming rain, it has been the 
 brightest and most delightful month I ever saw. 
 How unlike an English .November! I met, and 
 shall meet daily, at the same table, J. Pedley, a 
 native of Sutton, near Ely, once my father's plough- 
 boy, who, with his wife and children, has begged 
 his. way to America, and all through it, 1,200 
 miles, to this place. The greatly needed hospita- 
 lity and kindness which they met with, in passing 
 down the river, in a pennyless condition, are highly 
 honourable to this good poor-man's country. Our 
 neighbour, Major Hooker, has killed fourteen
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 309 
 
 deer and one bear. The deer now killed, in such 
 abundance, fine and fat, are merely skinned, and 
 the hind quarters taken, while all the rest is left 
 rotting on the ground. Cook also met. a fine bear, 
 which after he had fired thrice at it, in great rage 
 chased its destroyer, while the dogs were worry- 
 ing its hind quarters; and, but for the dogs, Cook 
 had been worried by the bear. Two balls more 
 brought it to the ground, wondrous fat and fine, 
 a daily repast, three times a-day, in steaks, for 
 our table, and its skin for wigs for my host's aged 
 sire, the patriarch of Slyers. This morning Mr. 
 Ingle, in descending a ladder from his cock-loft 
 bed-room, into which sun, moon, and stars peep, 
 and all the winds and storms of heaven blow upon 
 us, was left suspended by his arms to the cham- 
 ber-floor, while the ladder fell from under him. 
 Such are the miserable shifts to which people 
 here submit without grumbling. 
 
 2nd. Both our wooden chimneys caught fire, 
 which soon would have left us in the woods with- 
 out a shelter. One building so fired, containing 
 3,000 dollars worth of store goods. What folly to 
 build wooden chimneys, as though a wooden house 
 were not hazardous enough ! But a stone chimney 
 would cost a few dollars. Rather, too, than dig a 
 well at the door, Mr. Ingle and others yoke out a 
 horse and water-cart, bringing twelve gallons at a 
 time from a mile distance, having, he states, since 
 he came here, spent, in this work, 700 valuable
 
 310 MEMORABLE DAYS [Dec. 
 
 hours, much more than equal to digging the well. 
 I feel mad with people imposing inconveniences 
 upon themselves, which they would not have sub- 
 mitted to at home, though they might have gained 
 by it. 
 
 Saw twenty-two chattering parroquets on one 
 bough. Mr. Ingle, this day, offered ten dollars 
 an acre for cutting down all the timber, burning 
 some with the grubbing, and sawing others into 
 three lengths, but it was refused. 
 
 A young man came to the door and boldly ask- 
 ed if he could have a breakfast with us, and a job 
 of work after. 
 
 During the last month, three travellers in the 
 state of Illinois, on the lonely road from Vin- 
 cennes to St. Louis, and one in Indiana, were 
 murdered ; two being shot, and two having their 
 throats cut, one of whom recovered sufficiently 
 to tell his tale. The unfortunate man in Indiana 
 was sleeping at a lone tavern, in a room with ano- 
 ther. In the morning, the landlord found that 
 both were gone, but following the traces of blood 
 on the floor, and along the road, into the wood, 
 they found the body covered with leaves. Law 
 and justice extend not thus far at present. 
 
 I met Mr. Maidlow, jun., who has abandoned 
 his wife in England. She would not come. I 
 saw also a poor man, of the name of Hall, just 
 come from Surrey, where he was a gardener, and 
 during his last year lost 50/. Finding it impos-
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 311 
 
 sible to live without spending all, he came away 
 with money enough to enter half a quarter section. 
 The gentry of Surrey, who respected him, endea- 
 voured to prevent his coming. 
 
 9th. Owing to want of pot-hooks, which are 
 dispensed with, because they cost money, we lost 
 our dinner. The pot, placed on the fire, became 
 dried, and pudding, meat, and sauce, all took fire, 
 and in the absence of all were burnt up. A black- 
 smith lives close by who could make pot-hooks, 
 but it is said a pair from Pittsburgh, 900 miles 
 off, will cost less money; they therefore wait, 
 suffering the pot to fire, or tumble off the logs. 
 There are several English families living without 
 bread, butter, milk, tea or coffee, for months, who, 
 if deprived of one of those articles in England, 
 would have cursed it and all in it, as the worst 
 country under Heaven. Some three families cook 
 and bake in one iron skillet, called the cook-all, 
 though plenty might be bought, or ovens made of 
 the stone near them. Some boast of having learnt 
 to do without sugar, because it is so dear in this 
 un taxed land, flowing with sugar, milk, and honey! 
 It is, perhaps, wise to reduce our wants, or rather 
 necessaries. 
 
 Met Mr. Stockwell, who is intimately ac- 
 quainted with Messrs. Birkbeck and Flower. He 
 says that the former, though he refused purchasing 
 land for his friends in England, is now turning 
 over his own unsaleable land to them. He has
 
 312 MEMORABLE DAYS [Dec. 
 
 done no one thing which he promised lo do. Corn 
 was carried in skiffs, from Harmony, down the 
 Wabash, at the enormous cost of two dollars a 
 bushel, yet the settlement has plenty of labourers, 
 land, and horses. Mr. Birkbeck is very much 
 embarrassed, and G. Flower very short of cash. 
 The flock of sheep must perish, or subject him to 
 great loss. When Mr. Stockwell called, in the 
 summer, on Mr. Birkbeck, the family was not up. 
 He rode to the house, through watery swamps 
 and wondrous fogs, insomuch that Mr. Birkbeck 
 found it necessary to apologize for the weather 
 and the fogs, saying, " it was the first fog seen, all 
 summer." Mr. Stockwell is sure that all the 
 prairies, known to him, are naturally sickly, from 
 the lakes north, to the Gulf of Mexico south. 
 The cause is natural, and not to be completely re- 
 moved in this climate. The numerous deaths, and 
 the yellow appearance of the native settlers, are 
 proofs not to be disputed. Mr. Birkbeck felt sure 
 of constructing a plough, (which he did) and 
 ploughing up the tough prairie turf, with a very 
 small horse power, but he broke his plough at the 
 beginning, and instead of 100 acres of corn, had 
 half an acre of potatoes ! The experienced native 
 farmers have found from six to eight oxen neces- 
 sary for breaking up the land in the autumn; then 
 it lies till spring, and in summer is fallowed, and 
 lies a second winter till spring; then, being com- 
 pletely rotten, it is sown with corn.
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 313 
 
 I dined to-day with Mr. Wheeler, a mealman 
 and baker, from Chelsea, who, having a wife and 
 eight children, was determined on emigration, by 
 soberly looking into his affairs, and finding that 
 he had an increasing family and decreasing pro- 
 perty, having lost, during his last year, amongst 
 his tradesmen, 1,500/. He came here in expecta- 
 tion of finding America a land of labour, and had 
 confidence in the prospect. He is not deceived, and 
 expects many to follow him, but shall advise them 
 all to come in their working jackets, and do as he 
 and his family do, hew and split wood, and clear 
 land themselves, without hiring. He finds that a 
 house here, though he grows the wood, will cost 
 nearly as much as a brick-house in England, finish- 
 ed both in the same style ; the finishing determines 
 the expense. He gave us for dinner a fine wild tur- 
 key, weighing 20lbs. The wild cat is a tiger cat; 
 it kills the deer and pigs. 
 
 Mr. Kelhorn never expected to gain money by 
 farming, but only by the increased rate of land. 
 He is sorry that he settled not near flourishing 
 Maddison, on land, at five dollars per acre. He 
 abhors the prairies, which are all sickly, being 
 either without water or drowned, with skiffs mov- 
 ing over swamps, covered with pestilent fogs and 
 steamy heats. Birkbeck must fail, and Flower 
 too! 
 
 \th. Visited Scott's still-house, now building 
 of rough logs, where corn and rye are to be turned
 
 314 MEMORABLE DAYS [Dec. 
 
 into whiskey, half of which goes to the distiller; 
 the grain to be brought, and the spirits to be car- 
 ried away at the farmer's cost; so making the 
 spirits as dear, if not dearer, than what can be 
 bought of spirit-merchants. Besides, it is expected 
 that Scott will take the best half for himself. 
 
 Farmer Montgomery came 10 miles this morning 
 with one of his fat bullocks to kill for the English 
 here. He killed and dressed it himself, or rather 
 murdered it. The animal is either shot, or knocked 
 down, in any part of the yard ; then it is skinned 
 and cut out immediately, not jointed, or cut into 
 joints, but quartered, while hot, and drenched in 
 blood, for it is not hung up to cool and dry. I 
 begged for J. Pedley, the fine fat head and horns 
 which the pigs had begun to devour. The farmer 
 will not carry any out, but makes people come for 
 it, and waits, if it is two days, or until all is sold. 
 It was a fine treat to us, as we had not tasted 
 tame meat for the last fortnight; nothing but lean, 
 poor venison. I bought half a quarter, at four 
 cents a pound, and fine beef it was. ,_,, 
 
 Mr. Maidlow has bought several loads of corn, 
 at thirty-three cents a bushel, IQd. English, and 
 carted by the farmer, twelve miles, into the bargain. 
 Forty bushels is a load for four horses, through 
 the worst roads, taking two days, at four dollars 
 a day for carriage, so leaving only 17s. sterling, 
 for forty bushels, to the poor farmer! Or if bought 
 at 25 cents, as it often is, only 9s. for the 40 bushels ! !
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 315 
 
 But surely imperious necessity only cau compel 
 the farmer so to sell, because if able to keep it 
 until summer, he gains from 100 to 200 per cent. ; 
 but he is sued and the corn goes. And in summer 
 he buys it at one dollar per bushel, for his own 
 eating ! 
 
 Fifty cents is the usual price of carriage for 
 lOOlbs. for every 20 miles ; sometimes higher, 
 never lower. One bushel of corn weighs 50 to 
 561bs., so that if it was hauled by weight, it would 
 not pay the carriage for 20 miles. 
 
 Western labourers, some of whom are quarter- 
 section farmers, very poor, dirty, and wretched, 
 because idle and seini-barbarians, work about 
 half the day and camp out all night, in all sea- 
 sons and weathers. They surround a large fire, 
 and lie on leaves under a clap-board tent, or 
 wooden umbrella, wrapped in a blanket, with their 
 clothes on. Their houses and families (if any) are 
 perhaps, from 12 to 20 miles off, to whom they go 
 when the job is done, or their shirts are rotting off 
 their backs. They rarely shave, but clip off the 
 beard, and their flesh is never washed ; they look 
 pale, wan, yellow, and smoke-dried. They live on 
 the deer which they shoot. They are high-minded, 
 not suffering their children to go to service, be- 
 cause it is disgraceful, but not so to live at home, 
 in rags, idleness, and filth. The father is seldom 
 at home, because of being sued. If he has land, 
 he farms it not, because of bailiffs. He must then
 
 316 MEMORABLE DAYS [Dec. 
 
 work out, until judgment is had against him; 
 when he either pays or makes arrangements, or the 
 property, real and personal, is sold. These la- 
 bourers, though complete workmen when they like, 
 are pests to the English farmers for whom they 
 work, generally, at meals, haunting the fire-side, 
 where they stand in pairs with their backs towards 
 the fire, to the exclusion of the family, at whom 
 they gaze, expecting to be asked to dinner, break- 
 fast, or supper. They come too, for work, and 
 brush in at meal times with their hats on, expecting 
 to be fed; but they never invite themselves, nor ex- 
 press thanks if invited ; and if requested to reach this 
 or that to the host, they do it ungraciously, saying, 
 " Why, I can, 1 guess." If the female of the fa- 
 mily is in bed, they stand and see her get out and 
 dress. They will not be affronted with impunity, 
 and it is necessary to shew or threaten them with 
 a pistol. When the English first came to Evans- 
 ville settlement, these Rowdey labourers had nearly 
 scared them out. Time is not property to these 
 men ; they are eternal triflers. 
 
 Visited Evansville on the bluffs of Ohio. Be- 
 hind it is an almost impassable road through a 
 sickly swamp, none of which near the road is 
 yet cultivated. It seems too wet. Here I met a 
 few English mechanics regretting they had left 
 England, where they think they could do better. 
 J. Pedley, though he does well, says he would not 
 have come could he have known what he must
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 317 
 
 have suffered. Apples are here selling in boats 
 from Cincinnati at eight dollars per barrel, and 
 flour at eight dollars. A barrel of apples is two 
 bushels and a half, and the barrel of flour contains 
 five bushels of wheat which, to the consumer here, 
 costs eight shillings sterling per bushel, though 
 wheat is only 75 cents, or 3s. 6d. a bushel. 
 
 Cook, yesterday, shot another bear. He was 
 camping out, and in the dead of the night saw 
 Bruin, and with the first fire broke his neck. He 
 weighed 400lbs. I bought the skin at four dol- 
 lars ; worth four pounds in England. 
 
 The wolves last night howled horribly and 
 prowled into town. 
 
 The case of first settlers here, particularly Eng- 
 lish, is hard, and their characteristic selfishness 
 by no means tends to soften it. Nothing is to be 
 had in the shape of necessaries but with great trou- 
 ble, not even butter, cheese, or meat. They think 
 that these are more trouble than they are worth, 
 and that it is better to do without. The Americans 
 make no trouble of it. If they can have money 
 or credit, and can get good things, they have them. 
 The English are too selfish to be provident ; their 
 boast is that they can do without such a thing, and 
 the habit of doing without is esteemed a fine thing, 
 and causes those who express dissatisfaction to be 
 despised. Thus my countrymen barbarize. 
 
 A skiff, last week before daylight, was seen 
 floating on the Ohio, having in it one oar, a suit
 
 318 MEMORABLE DAYS [Dec. 
 
 of shabby English clothes, two watches, and a 
 small keg of whiskey half full. The owner, it 
 was supposed, had tumbled out and was drowned, 
 as have been many English before, on this excur- 
 sion down the river. 
 
 The Rowdies of Kentucky, and in thinly settled 
 parts of Tenessee where they are farmers, fre- 
 quently decoy travellers, supposed to have money, 
 out of the road, and then shoot them. A traveller, 
 some two or three years since, had taken money 
 near Red Banks, and was waylaid in the above 
 manner by two farmer Rowdies, who shot him and 
 were detected in the act, bearing away the travel- 
 ler's horse and carriage. One was hanged, and 
 the other nearly whipped to death, and ordered 
 out of the state by the regulators, without time to 
 sell his property. At another time the regulators 
 overtook and shot a murderer, and stuck his head 
 on a pole in Tenessee. 
 
 These regulators are self-appointed ministers of 
 justice, to punish or destroy those whom the law 
 cannot touch, such as suspected persons, persons 
 acquitted through false witnesses, or lack of good 
 evidence, but whom public opinion deems guilty. 
 Such individuals rarely benefit by a legal acquittal. 
 Whipping, death, or banishment, is inflicted by 
 these regulators. The law, in itself inefficient, per- 
 mits or winks at such matters. 
 
 Judge Waggoner, who is a notorious hog-stealer, 
 was recently accused, while sitting on the bench,
 
 1819.] IN AMEUICA. 319 
 
 by Major Hooker, the hunter, gouger, whipper, 
 and nose-biter, of stealing many hogs, and being, 
 although a judge, the greatest rogue in the United 
 States. This was the Major's answer to the ques- 
 tion Guilty, or Not Guilty, on an indictment pre- 
 sented against him. The court laughed, and the 
 Judge raved, and bade Hooker go out and he 
 would fight him. The Major agreed, but said, 
 " Judge, you shall go six miles into the woods, 
 and the longest liver shall come back to tell his 
 tale!" The Judge would not go. The Major 
 was now, in his turn, much enraged by the Judge 
 ordering him into court to pay a fine of ten dollars 
 for some former offence, the present indictment 
 being suffered to drop. 
 
 17th. I was visited this day by General John- 
 son, a gentlemanly man, and Judge M'Creary, both 
 of this state, the latter of whom is a preacher, and 
 a shrewd, experienced, well-informed man, whom 
 I promised to visit, but regret I did not. He said, 
 " 1 will keep you well ; come and stay a month 
 or so, and I'll find you a good horse to carry you 
 whithersoever you list." His son, a fine rustic 
 youth of gentle manners, presented me segars of 
 his own growth and making, better than the Spa- 
 nish. 
 
 " For the appropriation of land," said the judge, 
 " I prefer the western country ; but for informa- 
 tion and education, the eastern states." He com- 
 plains greatly of the choice of land made here by
 
 320 MEMORABLE DAYS [Dec, 
 
 the British. He wonders they could not better 
 inform themselves, because when they came, there 
 was plenty of good land to be had, if not in bodies, 
 yet in sections, or half-sections. " The soil," said 
 he, " is as thin as a clapboard, or a deer-skin. I 
 would not give one of my quarter-sections for all 
 the neighbourhood of the barrens. They must 
 have been deceived by speculators. But all the 
 English must herd together." He deems Birk- 
 beck's land much better ; it is good land. " If the 
 land, settled on by the deceived British, and thus 
 near the Ohio, had been good, it would have been 
 entered long ago. I gave my opinion, as above, to 
 Hornbrook, the father of the settlement, whom it 
 offended. I did not intend it ; I was only giving 
 him a friendly opinion, the result of my long expe- 
 rience in this state; but I smoothed him over a 
 Jittle, and said, " the soil would, though thin, 
 deepen and improve." 
 
 20th. This day four acres of woodland, (not 
 thickly wooded) were put out to clear in the fol- 
 lowing manner, at ten dollars an acre, half in cash, 
 half in store goods. All the wood to be cut down 
 and burnt, save what is wanted for fencing the 
 land with rails in the worm fashion, which rails 
 they are to make and plant, and to root up the 
 small roots, which is called grubbing, so as to 
 render the land fit for the plough ; and the grub- 
 bings are to be*burnt. Thus land at twelve dollars 
 an acre is bought and made fit for the plough.
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 321 
 
 ,1 visited Mr. Canson and his agreeable wife, 
 both young people, and one of the thirty-nine fami- 
 lies, for whom Mr. Fearon was deputed to find 
 an asylum. He brought a respectable sum, 1,500/. 
 and now cares not about any business, except that 
 of growing produce enough for his own consump- 
 tion. He will receive Mr. Potts, a neighbour, as 
 his partner in farming, not caring much about pro- 
 fits. This freedom from care is a fine thing. On 
 his marriage in London, where he was a school- 
 master, he protested against all the absurdities of 
 the marriage ceremony. When he removes from 
 this settlement, it will be into the eastern states. 
 
 %lst. Met young Delaware Armstrong, the 
 handsome simple son of a hunting Rowdey farmer, 
 who grew only 80 bushels of corn off his whole 
 farm last year. 
 
 This young man states his blood to be half 
 Irish, half Scotch from his grandfather. He likes 
 an English girl as well, or better than an Ameri- 
 can, if, as a wife, she could but make his clothes. 
 But at any rate she must milk; he could not ne- 
 glect his business to milk. Milking is disgrace- 
 ful ; or, if he agrees to do the milking, she must do 
 all the washing herself, though it is common for 
 him, and his father, and other farmers to assist in 
 the washing. " Many a day," said he, " have I 
 and father washed." I said, if he agreed to milk 
 for his English wife, who certainly would not, he 
 must always do it, or she would comb his hair, 
 
 Y
 
 322 MEMORABLE DAYS [Dec. 
 
 pull his ears, scratch his eyes, or take the hot 
 poker to him. " 1 can't always milk, and she 
 would thus act only once; but if we could not 
 agree, I would go to Squire Russel's and be part- 
 ed. 1 would leave her, and marry again in ano- 
 ther state. But if she did scratch and poker me, 
 I would knock her down, and the devil's a hog, if 
 I would not kill her." Before this, he said his 
 mode of courtship would be, on the first time of 
 meeting, to put the question whether she would 
 have him ; he should see at first sight if she liked 
 him ; he would not try again if she refused him. 
 I told him our ladies always refused at first, 
 though they meant otherwise, and wished him to 
 come again, and look silly, and say little things. 
 " That," said he, " cannot be right ; she cannot 
 be an honest woman who so acts." " But," said I, 
 " you must get your quarter-sections, horse, cows, 
 pigs, orchard, &c., before you take an English 
 wife ; she likes all these things." " Aye, but I 
 would not let her know that I had any thing but 
 what's on my back ; she should not have me at all ; 
 for all I should want her to bring from her father 
 would be decent clothes, and a bed and bedding. 
 You English despise a man, and leave him to 
 starve in England, if he is poor. We are a hospita- 
 ble people. If a fellow, sick or poor, cornes to us, 
 we feed, and keep, and treat him as one of the family 
 as long as he likes; and if he can work a little, give 
 him half a dollar a day besides, and grumble not
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 323 
 
 if he makes not above an hour or two a day. 
 When I court, I shall go at noon and sit up all 
 night with her, and go once a week." 
 
 23rd. Met a party of Rowdey hunters, who 
 state that the bear in the month of June is fierce 
 and chases the hunters, and all who molest it. They 
 say that it climbs the tallest tree and falls from 
 the top without injury, rolled up in the form of a 
 ball. 
 
 The mode of tempering clay (which is used as 
 mortar) is to confine and feed hogs upon it. Corn 
 is strewed on it daily, and they tread and turn it 
 all over with great industry. 
 
 Cock and hen, or common poultry feathers, are 
 made to furnish down for beds in the following 
 manner, fill a barrel with these feathers, and place 
 it under a shed, bottom upwards, on the earth ; 
 when, in a few months, the common earth-worms 
 eat up all the stalk or stem of the feather, and leave 
 the remainder a well manufactured mass of down, 
 fit for use. 
 
 Mr. Maidlow states that Judge Waggoner, at 
 the celebration of the 4th of June last at Evans- 
 ville, was chairman, when by some gentlemen pre- 
 sent it was proposed that due provision should 
 be made for the coming day in the form of a sub- 
 scription. This, without passing to a vote, was 
 amended by another rising to say, " 1 motion, that 
 as some cannot command money they should bring 
 vegetables, such as beef, mutton, venison, and 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 MEMORABLE DAYS [Dee. 
 
 pork !" which amendment was put by the judge, 
 and carried in the above form. 
 
 A traveller through Illinois to Missouri was, 
 while in bed, twice disturbed in one night by a 
 fellow entering with an axe on his shoulder. The 
 traveller pointed his pistol and told him that if he 
 did not start, he would shoot him ; he retired, but 
 in two hours after returned, and was repulsed 
 again by the wakeful traveller. A line of houses 
 on the lonely road to Missouri is, (says Mr. Birk- 
 beck to Mr. Wheeler) in existence, and kept up by 
 these Rowdey robbers and murderers for the re- 
 ception of travellers, and villains to rob them. 
 These houses are known by extravagant, unpre- 
 cedented charges, such as 20 dollars a night for 
 man and horse, which must be paid, or the traveller 
 is exposed to robbery, and, perhaps, murder. 
 
 24^. I was indebted to Mr. Phillips for the 
 company of Mr. Wheeler, a pleasant young Eng- 
 lishman from Bristol, with his wife, seeking a re- 
 fuge here. 
 
 At midnight a severe hail-storm preceded a heavy 
 fall of snow. The hail fell thick through the roof 
 and floor on my pillow, and into my mouth, and I 
 licked in the hail-stones as a luxury. 
 
 25th. Partridges, or quails, are here so tame, 
 that, at noon-day, a man may kill them by throw- 
 ing a stick into the covey ; or, by staking a large 
 net, coveys are drawn into it with great ease. 
 
 Met a Mr. Gordon, from the Isle of Ely, who
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 325 
 
 states that the English at, and near Cincinnati, 
 are much dissatisfied, and wish themselves back 
 again. Many have purchased land at thirty to 
 sixty dollars an acre. 
 
 John Pedley bargained to-day with Mr. Ingle for 
 one year, to receiv. thirteen dollars a month, and 
 to have a house, and four acres of cleared land, 
 for his use, while he continues in his service. 
 
 Sunday, e 26tk. At noon, this day, Colonel 
 M'Greary called at Mr. Canson's with Major 
 Hooker, and others, and demanded whiskey, either 
 to be given or sold to them. They were quite 
 drunk, and armed with rifles from their camp, in 
 which they had lain all night. Mr. C. refused them ; 
 when they attempted to force the door, threaten- 
 ing to kick Mrs. C. out, and whip and shoot 
 Mr. C. who had treated them rather coarsely, and 
 with great impolicy. Hooker wished to shake 
 hands and forget it. Mr. C. refused. They then 
 became more furious. These Rowdies do not 
 always mean violence. They only want whiskey; 
 and there is little to fear from them, if properly 
 treated. Mr. Canson applied to Squire Russel 
 for a warrant against the Rowdies for the outrage. 
 Visited the Chatteris Pecks. Twelve of us sat 
 down to tea and coffee without milk, sugar, or 
 butter. The females and the son think of Chat- 
 teris with regret, and would not have come, if 
 they could have known what they now know. 
 The father is an exception to this, but he regrets
 
 326 MEMORABLE DAYS [Dec. 
 
 that so much untruth, in favour of America, 
 should have been said. 
 
 6 27th. I went one mile and a half, to borrow, 
 from Mrs. Delight Williams, six tumblers, for the 
 use of our coming Christmas party. This step was 
 necessary, or our friends, the Dons of the settle- 
 ment, must drink out of tin cups or pots. Mrs. 
 Williams is the widow of the whipped Yankee, 
 whose story I have related ; she lives in a house 
 without a chimney, having only a hole in the roof 
 to let out the smoke, the fire being made in any 
 part. She was rather unwilling to lend these 
 tumblers, because they came from England, and 
 money could not replace them if broken. She 
 should expect five dollars, though, in England, 
 one dollar bought six. 
 
 Mr. Hornbrook observed, this evening, that he 
 did not intend to cultivate much ; he did not care 
 much about business. 
 
 28A. A young man, from the state of New 
 York, near White's town, reports that the farmers 
 are nearly all farming their own land, which is, 
 however, deeply mortgaged. They keep no house- 
 servants, and would think it ruin to do so; all 
 work, and the women milk. They give no money 
 in marriage with daughters, but sometimes a little 
 land, or stock, or a bed. They hire but little, 
 and only in harvest. People are comfortable, but 
 have no money to employ him and other mecha- 
 nics. Gentlemen, one or two, here and there,
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 327 
 
 have a negro or two in the house. Wheat is one 
 dollar a bushel. 
 
 Mr. Ingle spent 200/., out of 550/., in getting 
 here. He bought a house at Princeton for 300 
 dollars, to let. He has seventeen acres the first 
 year, and will have forty acres the second year, 
 in cultivation ; his stock consists of three horses, 
 one cow, eight buds, and many hogs, or small pigs. 
 He bought four hogs, half fat, 600lbs. weight, for 
 twenty dollars. If he had money, he could buy 
 bacon at four dollars, and sell it at sixteen dollars; 
 and sugar, from New Orleans, would pay fifty per 
 cent.; costing ten cents, and selling at twenty-five 
 cents : two and a half cents being deducted per Ib. 
 for carriage. The store goods, bought at Wash- 
 ington, which he is selling cheaper than his neigh- 
 bours, pay twenty-five per cent, profit. He has 
 640 acres of land entered, for which the first in- 
 stalment is paid, and the next is to be paid in 
 twelve months hence. He has entered, for G. 
 Sutton, 328 acres. 
 
 After a sound dressing of aqua-fortis and grease, 
 and scrubbing and washing in strong hot lie, I 
 prepared for quitting Indiana, to-morrow, and 
 wrote the following epistle to T. Drakard, Esq. 
 in Old England.
 
 328 MEMORABLE DAYS [Dec. 
 
 " Once for all, from an inquiring Englishman in 
 the United States. 
 
 To the Editor of the Stamford News. 
 
 Ingle's Refuge, Banks of Ohio, State 
 of Indiana, 25<A December, 1819. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 To my esteemed friends and countrymen, 
 living within the wide circuit of your paper, and 
 expecting many long promised epistles, say that 
 the task is impracticable, and therefore justly aban- 
 doned. What they need, truth, is always difficult 
 to attain; and a correct impression of things, made 
 by weight of unwilling, or long concealed evidence, 
 examined and cross-examined, will, perhaps, be 
 found in my journal, calculated to undeceive, dis- 
 appoint, and, as usual, offend, nearly all those of 
 whom, and for whom I have written. 
 
 It is, I regret to say, too true, that the writings 
 of emigrants, however respectable, present a par- 
 tial or unfaithful portraiture ; " shelving things as 
 they should be, not as they are" Such authority, 
 then, is questionable and deceptive. Each indi- 
 vidual destined never to return, wants, and tempts, 
 his friends to follow ; the motive, perhaps, is in- 
 nocent, or venial, but the consequences are evil 
 and disastrous. 
 
 My peregrinations, visits, and visitations, to 
 many points and intersections of the compass, and
 
 1819J IN AMERICA. 329 
 
 to all ranks of native and adopted citizens, on this 
 continent, are little short of eight thousand miles. 
 Of those visited, and added to the number of my 
 acquaintance, exclusive of excellencies, honour- 
 ables, generals, majors, captains, judges, and 
 squires, are our two distinguished expatriates, 
 Birkbeck and Flower, with whom 1 have spent 
 days more interesting than fall to the lot of tra- 
 vellers in common. Of their success or failure, 
 satisfaction or disappointment, I, at present, say 
 nothing. By me, they were met with feelings of 
 respect, and quitted with regret. 
 
 My inquiries have been, as promised, directed 
 to one grand object; that of ascertaining, by first- 
 rate means, the past and present condition, and 
 future probable prospects, of British emigrants, 
 and the consequent good or evil of emigration, in 
 the hope of clearly defining and exposing its 
 character, so that it may no longer remain a doubt- 
 ful or desperate enterprize, a journey in the dark, 
 alternately praised or blamed, but a cause, attach- 
 ing to it certain consequences, which, for some 
 persons to embrace, or shun, is become a visible, 
 tangible, matter of duty. 
 
 To my countrymen disposed to emigrate, but 
 who can, by encreased exertion, keep their un- 
 equalled comforts and honour unimpaired, I 
 would say, in a voice which should be heard 
 from shore to shore, " Stay where you are; for 
 neither America, nor the world, have any thing to
 
 330 MEMORABLE DAYS [Dec. 
 
 offer you in exchange !" But to those of decreas- 
 ing means, and increasing families, uprooted, wi- 
 thering, and seeking a transplantation somewhere, 
 full of hard, dirty-handed industry, and with means 
 sufficient for location here, I would say, " Haste 
 away; you have no other refuge from poverty, 
 which, in England, is crime, punishable with neg- 
 lect, and contempt everlasting! But, if you come, 
 come one and all of you, male and female, in 
 your working jackets, with axes, ploughshares, 
 and pruning-hooks in your hands, prepared long to 
 suffer many privations, expecting to be your own 
 servants, no man's masters ; to find liberty and 
 independence, any thing but soft indulgence; and 
 America, a land only of everlasting, well-reward- 
 ed labour. Thus, morally and physically qua- 
 lified, the dark, lonely wilds and interminable 
 forests, which now surround me, shall bow before 
 you, yielding to your cultivation every common 
 good thing, but not satisfaction, which is not of 
 earthly growth ! For you, even you, escaped from 
 prisons and pauperism, will, sometimes, ' hang 
 your harps on the willow, and weep,' when you 
 remember distant England. Very few emigrants, 
 whatsoever may have been their disgusts and evils 
 in the old country, or their successes in the new, 
 can forget their * dear native land.' The recollec- 
 tion is, indeed, an impediment to their prosperity ; 
 distance only enhances her value, and, as a 
 much-loved, ungrateful mistress, her charms only
 
 1819.] IN AMERICA. 331 
 
 are remembered and cherished. This seems an 
 indestructible feeling ; the incurable mania of the 
 British exile. 
 
 I am now living on wild bucks and bears, mix- 
 ed up, and barbarizing with men almost as wild 
 as they : men, systematically unprincipled, and in 
 whom the moral sense seems to have no existence : 
 this is the lot of all coming here. The climate is 
 not good in any season, and though better here than 
 east of the mountains, is yet unfriendly to industry 
 every where. Summer, amidst breezy shades, 
 champaigne and brandy; and winter, with two 
 down beds, one over and one under you, and a hic- 
 cory fire continually, are just tolerable ! The au- 
 tumn is pleasant enough, but too generally pesti- 
 lential. 
 
 Having to commence in the morning, a journey 
 of one thousand miles, on horseback, on my way 
 to England, through the Cities of Washington and 
 Charleston, and the worst roads and weather in 
 the universe, the mercury being now three degrees 
 below zero; riding, and not writing, presses on 
 the attention of, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 W. FAUX. 
 
 30th. I bade a long, final farewell, to this kind 
 family, and the best woman in Indiana, whom I left 
 in tears. In company with Mr. Ingle, I mounted 
 a young colt, three years old, bought for me at 
 100 dollars. My saddle was covered with a bear-
 
 332 MEMORABLE DAYS [Jan. 
 
 skin ; myself dressed in three shirts, two waist- 
 coats, three coats, three pair of breeches, three 
 pair of hose, and a seal-cap. [ called to warm at 
 Squire Russell's, who makes his own shoes, in a 
 one-room log hole, where hung a wild turkey on 
 the chimney-piece, for dinner. He could not find 
 a man to serve the warrant, at the suit of Mr. 
 Canson, on Hooker, and means to impanel a 
 Rowdey jury, and try the matter before himself. 
 The cold this day is two below zero. 
 
 We reached Princeton at four o'clock ; and here 
 I met Mr. R. Birkbeck, a partner with Mr. Peel 
 in the store at Wanborough. 
 
 31 st. Intense cold, three below zero, the wind 
 blowing from the North Lakes ; the water on my 
 head and face freezes, while I am washing, and 
 much cuts my lips and face. Three suns rose 
 this morning, say the astronomers of Princeton. 1 
 spent the evening with Judge Hart. Fifty pounds 
 per cent, profit is made on store goods in the west. 
 
 January 1st, 1820. I left Princeton at ten 
 / o'clock, with Mr. Phillips and Mr. Wheeler; and 
 here parted with my good and kind friend Ingle. 
 
 I met and spoke, ten miles off, with two hog- 
 jobbing judges, Judge Prince and Judge Daniel, 
 driving home twenty fat hogs, which they had just 
 bought. 
 
 I reached, and rested at Petersburg!), consist-" 
 ing of fifteen houses. I passed good farms. Our 
 landlord of this infant town, though having an
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 333 
 
 ostler, was compelled to groom, saddle, unsaddle, 
 and to do all. himself. Having fifty dollars owing 
 to him, from a gentleman of Evansville, he arrested 
 him, when he went into the bounds ; then he sued 
 one of the bondsmen, who also entered the bounds. 
 The squire is next to be sued, who, it is expected, 
 will do likewise. 
 
 Sunday, 2nd. 1 rode thirty-one miles this day, 
 and rested at Edmonstone, in a little cold log- 
 hole, out of which I turned an officer's black cat, 
 which jumped from the roof into our faces, while 
 in bed ; but she soon found her way in again, 
 through a hole in the roof. The cat liked our fire. 
 We got no coffee nor tea, but cold milk and pork, 
 and corn cake. 
 
 3rd. Travelled all day, through the mud-holes 
 formed by springs running from countless hills, 
 covered with fine timber, to breakfast, at three 
 o'clock, p. rn. I supped and slept at Judge Cham- 
 bers's, a comfortable house, and saw again the 
 judge's mother, of eighty, whose activity and su- 
 perior horsemanship, I have before mentioned. I 
 smoked a segar with Mrs. Judge, while she 
 smoked her pipe, (the first pipe I have seen here.) 
 She, as well as the old lady, is a quaker. The 
 judge was gone to the metropolitan town of Co- 
 ridon, being a senator, on duty. The land which 
 I passed over all this day, seemed poor, but full 
 of wild turkeys and bears. 
 
 4th. I reached Miller's to supper, but found no
 
 334 MEMORABLE DAYS [Jan. 
 
 coffee; cold milk only, as a substitute. The ride 
 hither is interesting, through a fine rolling coun- 
 try. The wolves howled around us all night. 
 
 5th. Passed the Silver Hills, from the summit 
 of which is a fine, extensive prospect of Kentucky, 
 the Ohio, and of Louisville, where we breakfasted. 
 I called with Mr. Flower's letter to Archer, who 
 was out. I received the present of a cow-hide 
 whip, from a lady, and promised to treat the beast 
 kindly, for her sake. Judge Waggoner recently 
 shook hands at a whiskey-shop, with a man com- 
 ing before him that day, to be tried for murder. 
 He drank his health, and wished him well through. 
 
 I rode seven miles with an intelligent old Ken- 
 tucky planter, having four children, who cultivate 
 his farm, without negroes. He says, " Kentucky is 
 morally and physically ruined. We have been 
 brought up to live without labour: all are demora- 
 lized. No man's word or judgment is to be taken 
 for the guidance and government of another. De- 
 ception is a trade, and all are rogues. The west has 
 the scum of all the earth. Long ago it was said, 
 when a man left other States, he is gone to hell, 
 or Kentucky. The people are none the better for a 
 free, good government. The oldest first settlers are 
 all gone or ruined. Your colt, sir, of one hundred 
 dollars, is worth only fifteen dollars. At Louis- 
 ville, as good a horse can be bought at ten dollars, 
 or fifteen dollars. You are therefore cheated." 
 
 The Missouri, territory boasts the best land in
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 335 
 
 the country, but is not watered by springs. Wells 
 are, however, dug, abounding in good water, says 
 our hearty landlord, just returned from viewing 
 that country. 
 
 The bottom land is the finest in the world. 
 Corn, from sixty to eighty bushels, and wheat, 
 from forty to sixty bushels an acre. The best 
 prairies are full of fine grass, flowers, and weeds, 
 not coarse, benty, sticky grass, which denotes the 
 worst of prairie land. Grass, of a short fine quality, 
 fit for pasture or hay, every where abounds. The 
 country is full of wild honey, some houses having 
 made seven and eight barrels this season, taken 
 out of the trees, which are cut down without kill- 
 ing the bees. These industrious insects do not 
 sting, but are easily hived and made tame. Our 
 landlord likes the Missouri, but not so well as 
 Old Kentucky. 
 
 Two grim, gaunt-looking men burst into our 
 room, at two, this morning ; and by six, the land- 
 lord disturbed us by cow-hiding his negro, threat- 
 ening to squeeze the life out of him. 
 
 6th. I rode all day through a country of fine 
 plantations, and reached Frankfort to supper, with 
 the legislative body, where 1 again met my gay 
 fellow-traveller, Mr. Cowen. It was interesting 
 to look down our table, and contemplate the 
 many bright, intelligent faces around me: men who 
 might honour any nation. As strangers, we were
 
 336 MEMORABLE DAYS [Jan. 
 
 invited by the landlord, (the best 1 have seen) to 
 the first rush for a chance at the table's head. 
 
 7th. I travelled this day through a fine country 
 of rich pasture and tillage, to Lexington City, to 
 Keen's excellent tavern. I drank wine with Mr. 
 Lidiard, who is removing eastward, having spent 
 1,100/. in living, and travelling to and fro. Fine 
 beef at three cents per Ib. Fat fowls, one dollar 
 per dozen. Who would not live in old Kentucky's 
 first city ? 
 
 8th. Being a wet day, I rested all day and this 
 night. Prairie flies bleed horses nearly to death. 
 Smoke and fire is a refuge to these distressed ani- 
 mals. The Indian summer smoke reaches to the 
 Isle of Madeira. 
 
 Visited the Athenaeum. Viewed some fine horses, 
 at two hundred dollars each. 
 
 Sunday, 9th. I quitted Lexington, and one of 
 the best taverns in America, for Paris, Kentucky, 
 and a good, genteel farm-house, the General Wash- 
 ington, twenty- three miles from the city, belonging 
 to Mr. Hit, who, though owning between four hun- 
 dred and five hundred acres of the finest land in 
 Kentucky, does not think it beneath him to enter- 
 tain travellers and their horses, on the best fare 
 and beds in the country. He has been offered 
 sixty dollars, and could now have forty dollars an 
 acre, for his land, which averages thirty bushels of 
 wheat,. and sixty bushels of corn per acre, and, in
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 337 
 
 natural or artificial grass, is the first in the world. 
 Sheep, (fine stores) one dollar per head ;. beef, 
 fine, three cents per lb., and fowls, one dollar per 
 dozen. 
 
 10th. Rode all day in the rain and mud, and 
 through the worst roads in the universe, frequently 
 crossing creeks, belly deep of our horses. Passed 
 the creek at Blue-lick, belly deep, with sulphu- 
 rous water running from a sulphur spring, once a 
 salt spring. The water stinks like the putrid stag- 
 nant water of an English horse-pond, full of ani- 
 mal dung. This is resorted to for health. 
 
 Five or six dirkings and stabbings took place, 
 this fall, in Kentucky. 
 
 llth. Breakfasted at Washington, (Kentucky) 
 where we parted with Mr. Phillips, and met the 
 Squire, and another gentleman, debating about 
 law. Rested at Maysville, a good house, having 
 chambers, and good beds, with curtains. The 
 steam-boats pass this handsome river town, at the 
 rate of fifteen to twenty miles an hour. To the 
 passenger, the effect is beautiful, every minute'' 
 presenting new objects of attraction. 
 
 12th. Crossed the Ohio in a flat, submitting to 
 Kentuckyan imposition of seventy-five cents a 
 horse, instead of twenty-five, because we wei3 
 supposed to be Yankees. " We will not," said the 
 boat-man, " take you over, for less than a dollar 
 each. We heard of you, yesterday. The gentle- 
 man in the cap (meaning me) looks as though he 
 
 z
 
 338 MEMORABLE DAYS [Jan. 
 
 could afford to pay, and besides, he is so slick 
 with his tongue. The Yankees are the smartest 
 of fellows, except the Kentuckyans." Sauciness 
 and impudence are characteristic of these boat- 
 men, who wished I wduld commence a bridge 
 over the river. 
 
 Reached Union town, Ohio, and rested for the 
 night. 
 
 l,m -Breakfasted at Colonel Wood's. A fine 
 breakfast on beef, pork-steaks, eggs, and coffee, 
 and plenty for our horses, all for fifty cents each. 
 Slept at Colonel Peril's, an old Virginian revolu- 
 tionary soldier, living on 400 acres of fine land, 
 in a good house, on an eminence, which he has 
 held two years only. He now wishes to sell all at 
 ten dollars an acre, less than it cost him, because 
 he has a family who will all want as much land 
 each, in the Missouri, at two dollars. He never 
 had a negro. He knows us to be English from 
 our dialect. We passed, this day, through two 
 or three young villages. 
 
 14th. Breakfasted at Bainbridge, where is 
 good bottom land, at twenty to thirty dollars an 
 acre, with improvements. The old Virginian com- 
 plains of want of labourers. A farmer must do 
 all himself. Received of our landlady a lump of 
 Ohio wild sugar, of which some families make 
 from six to ten barrels a-year, sweet and good 
 enough. 
 
 Reached Chilicothfc, on the Sciota river, to
 
 1820.] .I,N AMERICA. 339 
 
 sup and rest at the tavern of Mr. Mad era, a sen- 
 sible young man. Here I met jVfr. Randolph, a 
 gentleman of Philadelphia, from Missouri anfl Il- 
 linois, who thinks both sickly, and not to be pre- 
 ferred to the east, or other parts of the west. I 
 saw three or four good houses, in the best street, 
 abandoned, and, the windows ,and doors rotting 
 out for want of occupants. 
 
 15t/i. I rode all day through a fine interesting 
 country, abounding with every good thing, ,and 
 full of springs and streams. Near Lancaster, I 
 passed a large high ridge of rocks, which nature 
 has clothed in everlasting green, being beau- 
 tified with, the spruce, waving like feathers, on 
 their bleak, barren tops. I reached Lancaster to 
 rest; a handsome county seat, near which land is 
 selling occasionally from sixteen dollars, to twenty 
 dollars. A fine farm of 170 acres, 100 being 
 cleared, with all improvements, was sold lately 
 by the sheriff, at sixteen dollars one cent an acre, 
 much less than it cost. Labour is. to be had at fifty 
 cents and board, but as the produce is so Jow, it 
 is thought farming, by hired hands, does not pay. 
 Wheat, fifty cents; corn, 33J cents; potatoes, 33 
 cents a bushel; beef, four dollars per cwt.; pork, 
 three dollars; mutton none; sheep being kept only 
 for the wool, and bought in common at 2*. Sd. per 
 head. 
 
 Met Judge and General , who states 
 
 that four miilipns of acres, of land will this year 
 
 z 2
 
 340 MEMORABLE DAYS [Jail. 
 
 be offered to sale, bordering on the lakes. Why 
 then should people go to the Missouri? It is not 
 healthy near the lakes, on account of stagnant 
 waters, made by sand bars, at the mouth of lake 
 rivers. The regular periodical rising and falling 
 of the lakes is not yet accounted for. There is 
 no sensible diminution, or increase of the lake- 
 waters. A grand canal is to be completed in five 
 years, when boats will travel. 
 
 Sunday, Wth. I left Lancaster at peep of day, 
 travelling through intense cold and icy roads to 
 Somerset, eighteen miles, in five hours, to break- 
 fast. Warmed at an old quarter-section man, a 
 Dutch American, from Pennsylvania. He came 
 here eleven years since, cleared seventy acres, has 
 eight children, likes his land, but says, produce 
 is too low to make it worth raising. People com- 
 fortably settled in the east, on good farms, should 
 stay, unless their children can come and work on 
 the land. He and his young family do all the 
 work. Has a tine stove below, warming the first, 
 and all other floors, by a pipe passing through 
 them. 
 
 I slept at a good tavern, the keeper of which is 
 a farmer. All are farmers, and all the best far- 
 mers are tavern-keepers. Farms, therefore, on the 
 road, sell from 50 to 100 per cent more than land 
 lying back, though it is no better in quality, and 
 for mere farming, worth no more. But on the 
 road, a farm and frequented tavern is found to be
 
 J820.] IN AMERICA. 341 
 
 a very beneficial mode of using land; the produce 
 selling for double and treble what it will bring at 
 market, and also fetching ready money. Labour 
 is not to be commanded, says our landlord. 
 
 I7tk. Started at peep of day in a snow-storm, 
 which had covered the ground six inches deep. 
 Breakfasted at beautiful Zainsville, a town most 
 delightfully situated amongst the hills. Twelve 
 miles from this town, one Chandler, in boring for 
 salt, hit upon silver; a mine, seven feet thick, 150 
 feet below the surface. It is very pure ore, and 
 the proprietor has given up two acres of the land 
 to persons who have applied to the legislature to 
 be incorporated. He is to receive one-fifth of the 
 net profits. 
 
 18th. I rode all day through a fine hilly country, 
 full of springs and fountains. The land is more 
 adapted for good pasture than for cultivation. 
 Our landlord, Mr. Gill, states that wheat at fifty 
 cents is too low ; but, even at that price, there is no 
 market, nor at any other. In some former years, 
 Orleans was a market, but now it gets supplied 
 from countries more conveniently situated than 
 Ohio, from which it costs one dollar, or one dollar 
 and a quarter per barrel, to send it. Boats carrying 
 from 100 to 500 barrels, sell for only 16 dollars. 
 
 From a conversation, with an intelligent High 
 Sheriff of this county, I learn that no common 
 debtor has ever lain in prison longer than five
 
 342 MEMORABLE DAYS [Jan. 
 
 days. None need be longer in giving security for 
 the surrender of all property. 
 
 19th. Reached Wheeling late at night, passing 
 through a romantic, broken, mountainous country, 
 with many fine springs and creeks. Thus I left 
 Ohio, which, thirty years ago, was a frontier state, 
 full of Indians, without a white man's house, be- 
 tween Wheeling, Kaskasky, and St. Louis. 
 
 *2Qth. Reached Washington, Pennsylvania, to 
 sleep, and found our tavern full of thirsty classics, 
 from the seminary fn this town. 
 
 21s; Reached Pittsburgh, through a beautiful 
 country of hills, fit only for pasture. I viewed 
 the fine covered bridges over the two rivers Mo- 
 nongahela and Allegany, which cost 10,000 dol- 
 lars each. The hills around the city shut it in, 
 and make the descent into it frightfully precipi- 
 tous. It is most eligibly situated amidst rocks, 
 or rather hills, of coal, stone, and iron , the coate 
 lying up to the surface- ready for use. One of 
 these hillsj' or coal banks, has been long on fire, 
 and resembles a volcand. Bountiful nature hds 
 done fevery thing for this rising Birmingham of 
 AhSerica. 
 
 We slejjt at Wheeling, at the good hotel of Ma- 
 jor Spfiggs, otie of General Washington's revolu- 
 tionary officers, riOw near 80, a chronicle of years 
 departed. 
 
 . Bought a fine buffalo robe for fivte dol-
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 343 
 
 lars. The buffaloes, when Kentucky was first 
 settled, were shot, by the settlers, merely for their 
 tongues ; the carcase and skin being thought worth 
 nothing, were left where the animal fell. , 
 
 Left Pittsburgh for Greensburgh, travelling 
 through a fine, cultivated, thickly settled country, 
 full of neat, flourishing, and good farms, the oc- 
 cupants of which are said to be rich. Land, on 
 the road, is worth from fifteen to thirty dollars; 
 from it, five to fifteen dollars per acre. The hills 
 and mountains seem full of coal-mines and stone- 
 quarries, or rather banks of coal and stone ever 
 open gratuitously to all. The people about here 
 are economical and intelligent; qualities charac- 
 teristic of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Sunday, 23rf. We agreed to rest here until the 
 morrow; finding one of our best horses sick; and 
 went to Pittsburgh church. 
 
 2,4th. My fellow traveller finding his horse get- 
 ting worse, gave him away for our tavern bill of 
 two days, thus paying 175 dollars for two days 
 board. While this fine animal remained ours, no 
 doctor could be found, but as soon as he became 
 our landlord's, one was discovered, who engaged 
 to cure him in a week. Mr. Wheeler took my 
 horse, and left me to come on in the stage, to 
 meet again at Chambersburgh. 
 
 The country round about here is fine, but there 
 is no market, except at Baltimore, at five dollars a 
 barrel for flour. The carriage costs two and half
 
 344 MEMORABLE DAYS [Jan. 
 
 dollars. I saw two young ladies, Dutch farmers' 
 daughters, smoking segars in our tavern, very 
 freely, and made one of their party. Paid twelve 
 dollars for fare to Chambersburgh. 
 
 Invited to a sleying party often gentlemen, one 
 of whom was the venerable speaker (Brady) of 
 the senate of this state. They were nearly all 
 drunk with apple-toddy, a large bowl of which 
 was handed to every drinker.- One gentleman re- 
 turned with a cracked skull. 
 
 25/*. Left this town, at three o'clock in the 
 morning, in the stage, and met again at Bedford, 
 and parted, perhaps, for ever, with my agreeable 
 fellow-traveller, Mr. Wheeler, who passed on to 
 New York. Passed the Laurel-hill, a huge moun- 
 tain, covered with everlasting green, and a refuge 
 for bears, one of which was recently killed with a 
 pig of J50lbs weight in his mouth. 
 
 %6th. Again mounted my horse, passing the 
 lonely Allegany mountains, all day, in a blinding 
 snow-storm, rendering the air as dense as a No- 
 vember fog in London. Previous to its coming 
 on, 1 found my naked nose in danger. The noses 
 of others were wrapped up in flannel bags, or cots, 
 and masks for the eyes, which are liable to freeze 
 into balls of ice. 
 
 Passed several flourishing villages. The people 
 here seem more economical and simple, than in 
 other states. Rested at M'Connell's town, 100 
 miles from Washington city.
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 345 
 
 . Crossed the last of the huge Allegany 
 mountains, called the North Mount, nine miles 
 over, and very high. My horse was belly deep in 
 snow. 
 
 Breakfasted at Mercersburgh, at the foot of the 
 above mountain, and at the commencement of that 
 fine and richest valley in the eastern states, in 
 which Hagar's town stands, and which extends 
 through Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, 
 from 100 to 200 miles long, and from 30 to 40 
 broad. Land here, three years ago, sold at 100 
 to 120 dollars, although now at a forced sale, 160 
 acres sold for only 1,600 dollars, with improve- 
 ments, in Pennsylvania. And if, says my in- 
 formant, the state makes no law to prevent it, 
 much must come into the market, without money 
 to buy, except at a ruinous depreciation. 
 
 Passed Hagar's town, to Boonsburgh, to rest 
 all night, after 37 miles travel. 
 
 The old Pennsylvanian farmer, in answer to 
 ** How do you do without negroes ?" said, " Bet- 
 ter than with them. I occupy of my father 80 
 acres in this valley, and hire all my hands, and 
 sell five loads of flour, while some of the Mary- 
 landers and Virginians cannot raise enough to 
 maintain their negroes, who do but little work." 
 
 28tk. Breakfasted on the road; passed Mid- 
 dletown, with two fine spires, a good town; and 
 also Frederick town, a noble inland town, and 
 next to Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, and the first
 
 346 MEMORABXE DAYS [Jan. 
 
 in the United States. It has three beautiful spires. 
 It is much like a second rate English town, but 
 not so cleanly; something is dirty, or in ruins. It 
 stands at the foot of the Blue Ridge, in the finest, 
 largest vale in the world, running from the eastern 
 sea to the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 Rested at Windmiller's, a stage-house, thirty 
 miles from Washington, distinguished only by 
 infamous, ungenerous, extortion from travellers. 
 Here I paid 75 cents for tea; 25 cents for a pint 
 of beer, 9*. sterling for a bushel of oats and com, 
 and 50 cents for hay for the night. The horses 
 cost 6s. 9d. in one night. 
 
 %Qth. Rode from seven till eleven o'clock, 
 sixteen miles to breakfast, at Montgomery-court- 
 house, all drenched in rain. I reached Washington 
 city, at six this evening. Here, for the first time, 
 I met friend Joseph Lancaster, full of vision- 
 ary schemes, which are unlikely to produce him 
 bread. 
 
 Sunday, 30th. Went to Congress-hall, and 
 heard grave senators wrangling abput slavery. 
 Governor Barbour spoke with eloquence. 
 
 Friend Lancaster's daily and familiar calls on 
 the great, and on his Excellency, the president, 
 about schooling the Indians, and his praises of 
 the members, are likely to wear out all his former 
 fame, already much in ruins. J was this day in- 
 troduced by him to Parr, Esq., an English 
 
 gentleman of fortune, from Boston, Lincolnshire,
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 347 
 
 who has just returned from a pedestrian pilgrimage 
 to Birkbeck arid the western Country. 
 
 February 1st. I again went to Congress, where 
 I heard Mr. Randolph's good speech on the Mis- 
 souri question. This sensible orator continually 
 refers to English authors and orators, insomuch 
 that all seemed English. These American statesmen 
 cannot open their mouths without acknowledging 
 their British origin and obligations. I shall here 
 insert some observations on the constitution and 
 laws of this country, and on several of the most 
 distinguished members of Congress, for which I am 
 indebted to the pen of G. Waterstone, Esq., Con- 
 gressional Librarian at Washington. 
 
 Observations on the Constitution and Laws of the 
 United States, with Sketches of some of the most 
 prominent public Characters. 
 
 Like the Minerva of the ancients, the American 
 people have sprung, at once, into full and vigo- 
 rous maturity, without the imbecility of infancy, 
 or the tedious process of gradual progression. 
 They possess none of the thoughtless liberality and 
 inconsiderate confidence of youth; but are, al- 
 ready, distinguished by the cold and cautious 
 policy of declining life, rendered suspicious by a 
 long acquaintance with the deceptions and the 
 vices of the world. 
 
 Practitioners of jurisprudence have become al-
 
 348 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 most innumerable, and the great end of all laws, 
 the security and protection of the citizen, is in 
 some degree defeated. It is to the multiplicity 
 and ambiguity of the laws of his age, that Tacitus 
 has ascribed most of the miseries which were then 
 experienced ; and this evil will always be felt 
 where they are ambiguous and too numerous. In 
 vain do the Americans urge that their laws have 
 been founded on those of England, the wisdom 
 and excellence of which have been so highly and 
 extravagantly eulogized. The difference, as Mably 
 correctly observes, between the situation of this 
 country and that is prodigious;* the government 
 of one having been formed in an age of refinement 
 and civilization, and that of the other, amidst the 
 darkness and barbarism of feudal ignorance. In 
 most of the states the civil and criminal code is 
 defective; and the latter, like that of Draco, is 
 often written in blood. Why should not each 
 state form a code of laws for itself, and cast off 
 this slavish dependence on Great Britain, whom 
 they pretend so much to dislike? 
 
 With a view of explaining more perfectly the na- 
 ture of this constitution, I will briefly exhibit the 
 points in which the British and American govern- 
 ments differ. 
 
 * Observations sur le Gouvernement et lea Lois des U. S. p. 20.
 
 18 4 20.] 
 
 IN AMERICA. 
 
 349 
 
 In England. 
 
 I. The king possesses im- 
 perial dignity. 
 
 II. This imperial dignity 
 is hereditary and perpetual. 
 
 III. The king has the sole 
 power of making war and 
 peace, and of forming trea- 
 ties with foreign powers. 
 
 IV. The king alone can 
 levy troops, build fortresses, 
 and equip fleets. 
 
 V. He is the source of all 
 judicial power, and the head 
 of all the tribunals of the 
 nation. 
 
 VI. He is the fountain of 
 all honour, office, and privi- 
 lege ; can create peers, and 
 distribute titles and digni- 
 ties. 
 
 VII. He is at the head of 
 the national church, and has 
 supreme control over*it. 
 
 VIII. He is the superin- 
 tendent of commerce ; regir- 
 lates the weights and mea- 
 sures, and can alone coin 
 money and give currency to 
 foreign coin. 
 
 IX. He is the universal 
 proprietor of the kingdom. 
 
 In America. 
 
 There is no king; the pre- 
 sident acts as the chief ma- 
 gistrate of the nation only. 
 
 The presidency lasts only 
 four years. 
 
 The president can do nei- 
 ther, without the consent of 
 Congress. 
 
 The president has no such 
 power: this is vested in Con- 
 gress. 
 
 The executive has only 
 the appointment of judges, 
 with the consent of the se- 
 nate, and is not connected 
 with the judiciary. 
 
 The president has no such 
 power. There are no titles, 
 and he can only appoint to 
 office, by and with the con- 
 sent of the senate. 
 
 There is no established 
 church. 
 
 The president has no such 
 power. 
 
 The president has nothing 
 to do with the property of 
 the United States.
 
 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 X. The king's person is The president is nothing 
 sacred and inviolate; he is more than an individual, is 
 accountable to no human amenable like all civil offi- 
 power, and can do no wrong, cers, and considered as ca- 
 pable of doing wrong as any 
 other citizen. 
 
 XI. The British legisla- There are no nobles, and 
 ture contains a house of both houses of Congress are 
 lords, 300 nobles, whose elected. 
 
 seats, honours, and privi- 
 leges are hereditary. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be unnecessary to adduce 
 more points of difference to illustrate the nature 
 of the American government. These are amply 
 sufficient to demonstrate the entire democratic 
 tendency of the constitution of the United States, 
 and the error under which those persons, labour, 
 who believe that but few differences, and those 
 immaterial and unimportant, exist between these 
 two governments. They have, indeed, in com- 
 mon the Habeas Corpus and the Trial by Jury, 
 the great bulwarks of civil liberty, but in almost 
 every other particular they disagree. 
 
 The second branch of this government is the 
 legislature. This consists of a Senate and House of 
 Representatives ; the members of the latter are 
 chosen every two years by the people; and those 
 of the former, every six years by the legislatures 
 of the different states. Jt is in this branch that the 
 American government differs from, the republics 
 of ancient and modern times ; it is this which
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 351 
 
 makes it not a pure, but a representative demo- 
 cracy; and it is this which gives it such a decided 
 superiority over all the governments in the world. 
 Experience has demonstrated the impracticability 
 of assembling a numerous collection of people to 
 frame laws, and their incompetency, when assem- 
 bled, for judicious deliberation and prompt and un- 
 biassed decision. The passions of illiterate and 
 unthinking men are easily roused: into action aud 
 inflamed to madness. Artful and designing dema- 
 gogues are too apt to take advantage of those im- 
 becilities of our nature, and to convert them to 
 the basest purposes. 
 
 The qualifications of representatives are very 
 simple. It is only required that they should be 
 citizens of the United States, and have attained 
 the age of twenty-five. The moment their period of 
 service expires, they are again, unless re-elected, 
 reduced to the rank and condition of citizens. If 
 they should have acted in opposition to the wishes 
 and interests of their constituents, while performing 
 the functions of legislation, the people possess the 
 remedy and can exercise it without endangering the 
 peace and harmony of society ; the offending mem- 
 ber is dropped, and his place supplied by another, 
 more worthy of confidence. This consciousness 
 of responsibility, on the part of the representatives, 
 operates as a perpetual guarantee to the people, 
 and protects and secures them in the enjoyment of 
 their political and civil liberties.
 
 352 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 It must be admitted that the Americans have 
 attained the Ultima Thule in representative legisla- 
 tion, and that they enjoy this inestimable blessing 
 to a much greater extent than the people of Great 
 Britain. Of the three distinct and independent 
 branches of that government, one only owes its ex- 
 istence to the free suffrages of the people, and this, 
 from the inequality of representation, the long in- 
 tervals between the periods of election, and the 
 liability of members, from this circumstance, to be 
 corrupted, is not so important and useful a branch 
 as might otherwise be expected. Imperfect, how- 
 ever, as it is, the people, without it, would indeed 
 be slaves, and the government nothing more than 
 a pure monarchy. 
 
 The American walks abroad in the majesty of 
 freedom ; if he be innocent, he shrinks not from the 
 gaze of upstart and insignificant wealth, nor sinks 
 beneath the oppression of his fellow-man. Con- 
 scious of his rights and of the security he enjoys, 
 by the liberal institutions of his country, indepen- 
 dence beams in his eye, and humanity glows in his 
 heart. Has he done wrong? He knows the limits of 
 his punishment, and the character of his judges. 
 Is he innocent? He feels that no power on earth can 
 crush him. What a condition is this, compared 
 with that of the subjects of almost all the Euro- 
 pean nations ! 
 
 As long as it is preserved, the security of the 
 citizen and the union of the states, will be guaran-
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 353 
 
 teed, and the country thus governed, will become 
 the home of the free, the retreat of misery, and the 
 asylum of persecuted humanity. As a written com- 
 pact, it is a phenomenon in politics, an unprece- 
 dented and perfect example of representative de- 
 mocracy, to which the attention of mankind is now 
 enthusiastically directed. Most happily and ex- 
 quisitely organized, the American constitution is, 
 in truth, at once " a monument of genius, and an 
 edifice of strength and majesty." The union of its 
 parts forms its solidity, and the harmony of its 
 proportions constitutes its beauty. May it always 
 be preserved inviolate by the gallant and high- 
 minded people of America, and may they never 
 forget that its destruction will be the inevitable 
 death-blow of liberty, and the probable passport 
 to universal despotism ! 
 
 The speaker of the House of Representatives is 
 Mr. Clay, a delegate from Kentucky, and who, not 
 long ago, acted a conspicuous part, as one of the 
 American commissioners at Ghent. He is a tall, 
 thin, and not very muscular man; his gait is stately, 
 but swinging; and his countenance, while it indi- 
 cates genius, denotes dissipation. As an orator, 
 Mr. Clay stands high in the estimation of his 
 countrymen, but he does not possess much grace- 
 fulness or elegance of manner ; his eloquence is 
 impetuous and vehement ; it rolls like a torrent, 
 but like a torrent which is sometimes irregular, 
 and occasionally obstructed. Though there is a 
 
 2 A
 
 354 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 want of rapidity and fluency in his elocution, yet 
 he has a great deal of fire and vigour in his expres- 
 sion. When he speaks he is full of animation and 
 earnestness; his face brightens, his eye beams with 
 additional lustre, and his whole figure indicates 
 that he is entirely occupied with the subject 
 on which his eloquence is employed. In action, 
 on which Demosthenes laid such peculiar em- 
 phasis, and which was so highly esteemed among 
 the ancients, Mr. Clay is neither very graceful nor 
 very imposing. He does not, in the language of 
 Shakespear, " so suit the word to the action, and 
 the action to the word, as not to o'erstep the mo- 
 desty of nature." In his gesticulation and atti- 
 tudes, there is sometimes an uniformity and awk- 
 wardness that lessen his merits as an orator, and 
 in some measure destroy the impression and effect 
 his eloquence would otherwise produce. Mr. 
 Clay does not seem to have studied rhetoric as>a 
 science, or to have paid much attention to those 
 artificial divisions and rhetorical graces and orna- 
 ments on which the orators of antiquity so strongly 
 insist. Indeed, oratory as an art is but little 
 studied in this country. Public speakers here 
 trust almost entirely to the efficacy of their own 
 native powers for success in the different fields 
 of eloquence, and search not for the extrinsic em- 
 bellishments and facilities of art. It is but rarely 
 they unite the Attic and Rhodian manner, and still 
 more rarely do they devote their attention to the ac-
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 355 
 
 quisition of those accomplishments which were, in 
 the refined ages of Greece and Rome, considered 
 so essential to the completion of an orator. Mr. 
 Clay, however, is an eloquent speaker ; and not- 
 withstanding the defects I have mentioned, very 
 seldom fails to please and convince. His mind 
 is so organized that he overcomes the difficulties 
 of abstruse and complicated subjects, apparently 
 without the toil of investigation or the labour of 
 profound research, It is rich, and active, and 
 rapid, grasping at one glance, connections the 
 most distant, and consequences the most remote, 
 and breaking down the trammels of error and the 
 cobwebs of sophistry. When he rises to speak he 
 always commands attention, and almost always 
 satisfies the mind on which his eloquence is in- 
 tended to operate. The warmth and fervor of his 
 feelings, and the natural impetuosity of his cha- 
 racter, which seem to be common to the Ken- 
 tuckians, often indeed lead him to the adoption 
 of opinions, which are not, at all times, consis- 
 tent with the dictates of sound policy. Though 
 ambitious and persevering, his intentions are good 
 and his heart is pure ; he is propelled by a love 
 of country, but yet is solicitous of distinction ; he 
 wishes to attain the pinnacle of greatness without 
 infringing the liberties, or marring the prosperity 
 of that land of which it seems to be his glory to 
 be a native. 
 
 2 A 2
 
 356 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 The prominent traits of Mr. Clay's mind are 
 quickness, penetration, and acuteness; a fertile 
 invention, discriminating judgment, and good me- 
 mory. His attention does not seem to have been 
 much devoted to literary or scientific pursuits, un- 
 connected with his profession; but fertile in re- 
 sources, and abounding in expedients, he is seldom 
 at a loss, and if he is not at all times able to am- 
 plify and embellish, he but rarely fails to do justice 
 to the subject which has called forth his eloquence. 
 On the most complicated questions, his observa- 
 tions made immediately and on the spur of the oc- 
 casion, are generally such as would be suggested 
 by long and deep reflection. In short, Mr. Clay 
 has been gifted by nature with great intellectual 
 superiority, which will always give him a decided 
 influence in whatever sphere it may be his destiny 
 to revolve. 
 
 Mr. Clay's manners are plain and easy. He has 
 nothing in him of that reserve which checks confi- 
 dence, and which some politicians assume ; his 
 views of mankind are enlarged and liberal ; and 
 his conduct as a politician and a statesman has 
 been marked with the same enlarged and liberal 
 policy. As Speaker of the House of Representa- 
 tives, he presides generally with great dignity, and 
 decides on questions of order, sometimes, indeed, 
 with too much precipitation, but almost always 
 correctly. It is but seldom his decisions are dis-
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 357 
 
 puted, and when they are, they are not often re- 
 versed. * 
 
 " A Statesman," says Mirabean, " presents to 
 the mind the idea of a vast genius improved by ex- 
 perience, capable of embracing the mass of social 
 interests, and of perceiving how to maintain true 
 harmony among the individuals of which society 
 is composed, and an extent of information which 
 may give substance and vmion to the different 
 operations of government." 
 
 Mr. Pinkney is between fifty and sixty years of 
 age; his form is sufficiently elevated and com- 
 pact to be graceful, and his countenance, though 
 marked by the lines of dissipation, and rather too 
 heavy, is not unprepossessing or repulsive. His 
 eye is rapid in its motion, and beams with the ani- 
 mation of genius; but his lips are too thick, and 
 his cheeks too fleshy and loose for beauty ; there 
 is too a degree of foppery, and sometimes of 
 splendor, manifested in the decoration of his per- 
 son, which is not perfectly reconcileable to our 
 
 * The House of Representatives, like the House of Commons, is 
 sometimes very disorderly. Heat and cold have the same effect 
 upon the feelings of the members; for both make them quit their 
 seats, and the authority of the speaker often fails to bring them 
 back. It is in vain to call to order ; cold has benumbed their 
 fingers, or heat has dissolved their solids, and they can neither 
 think nor act.
 
 o58 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 ideas of mental superiority, and an appearance of 
 voluptuousness about him which cannot surely be 
 a source of pride or of gratification to one whose 
 mind is so capacious and elegant. It is not im- 
 probable, however, that this character is assumed 
 merely for the purpose of exciting a higher admira- 
 tion of his powers, by inducing a belief that, with- 
 out the labour of study or the toil of investigation, 
 he can attain the object of his wishes and become 
 eminent, without deigning to resort to that painful 
 drudgery by which meaner minds and inferior in- 
 tellects are enabled to arrive at excellence and dis- 
 tinction. At the first glance, you would imagine 
 Mr. Pinkney was one of those butterflies of fashion, 
 a dandy, known by their extravagant eccentri- 
 cities of dress, and peculiarities of manners ; and 
 no one could believe, from his external appear- 
 ance, that he was, in the least degree, intellec- 
 tually superior to his fellow men. But Mr. Pink- 
 ney is indeed a wonderful man, and one of those 
 beings whom the lover of human nature feels a de- 
 light in contemplating. His mind is of the very 
 first order; quick, expanded, fervid, and power- 
 ful. The hearer is at a loss which most to ad- 
 mire, the vigour of his judgment, the fertility of 
 his invention, the strength of his memory, or the 
 power of his imagination. Each of these faculties 
 he possesses in an equal degree of perfection, and 
 each is displayed in its full maturity, when the
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 359 
 
 magnitude of the subject on which he descants 
 renders its operation necessary. This singular 
 union of the rare and precious gifts of nature, has 
 received all the strength which education could 
 afford, and all the polish and splendour which 
 art could bestow. Under the cloak of dissipation 
 and voluptuousness his application has been inde- 
 fatigable, and his studies unintermitted: the oil of 
 the midnight lamp has been exhausted, and the 
 labyrinths of knowledge have been explored. 
 
 Mr. Pinkney is never unprepared, and never off 
 his guard. He encounters his subject with a mind 
 rich in all the gifts of nature, and fraught with all 
 the resources of art and study. He enters the list 
 with his antagonist, armed, like the ancient cava- 
 lier, cap-a-pee ; and is alike prepared to wield the 
 lance, or to handle the sword, as occasion may re- 
 quire. In cases which embrace all the complica- 
 tions and intricacies of law, where reason seems 
 to be lost in the chaos of technical perplexity, and 
 obscurity and darkness assume the dignified cha- 
 racter of science, he displays an extent of research, 
 a range of investigation, a lucidness of reasoning, 
 and a fervor and brilliancy of thought, that ex- 
 cite our wonder, and elicit our admiration. On 
 the driest, most abstract, and uninteresting ques- 
 tions of law, when no mind can anticipate such an 
 occurrence, he occasionally blazes forth in all the 
 enchanting exuberance of a chastened, but rich
 
 360 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 and vivid imagination, and paints in a manner as 
 classical as it is splendid, and as polished as it 
 is brilliant. In the higher grades of eloquence, 
 where the passions and feelings of our nature are 
 roused to action, or lulled to tranquillity, Mr. 
 Pinkney is still the great magician, whose power 
 is resistless, and whose touch is fascination. His 
 eloquence becomes sublime and impassioned, ma- 
 jestic and overwhelming. In calmer moments, 
 when these passions are hushed, and more tem- 
 pered feelings have assumed the place of agitation 
 and disorder, he weaves around you the fairy 
 circles of fancy, and calls up the golden palaces 
 and magnificent scenes of enchantment. You 
 listen with rapture as he rolls along : his defects 
 vanish, and you are not conscious of any thing but 
 what he pleases to infuse. From his tongue, like 
 that of Nestor, " language more sweet than honey 
 flows;" and the attention is constantly rivetted by 
 the successive operation of the different faculties of 
 the mind. There are no awkward pauses, no he- 
 sitation for want of words or of arguments: he 
 moves forward with a pace sometimes majestic, 
 sometimes graceful, but always captivating and 
 elegant. His order is lucid, his reasoning logical, 
 his diction select, magnificent, and appropriate, 
 and his style, flowing, oratorical, and beautiful. 
 The most laboured and finished composition could 
 not be better than that which he seems to utter
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 361 
 
 spontaneously and without effort. His judgment, 
 invention, memory, and imagination, all conspire to 
 furnish him at once with whatever he may require 
 to enforce, embellish, or illustrate his subject. 
 On the dullest topic he is never dry : and no 
 one leaves him without feeling an admiration of 
 his powers, that borders on enthusiasm. His sa- 
 tire is keen, but delicate, and his wit is scintillating 
 and brilliant. His treasure is exhaustless, pos- 
 sessing the most extensive and varied information. 
 He never feels at a loss; and he ornaments and 
 illustrates every subject he touches. Nihil quod 
 tetigit, non ornavit. He is never the same; he 
 uses no common place artifice to excite a momen- 
 tary thrill of admiration. He is not obliged to 
 patch up and embellish a few ordinary thoughts, 
 or set off a few meagre and uninteresting facts. 
 His resources seem to be as unlimited as those of 
 nature; and fresh powers, and new beauties are 
 exhibited, whenever his eloquence is employed. 
 A singular copiousness and felicity of thought and 
 expression, united to a magnificence of amplifica- 
 tion, and a purity and chastity of ornament, give 
 to his eloquence a sort of enchantment which it is 
 difficult to describe. 
 
 Mr. Pinkney's mind is in a high degree poe- 
 tical ; it sometimes wantons in the luxuriance of 
 its own creations; but these creations never vio- 
 late the purity of classical taste and elegance. He
 
 362 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 loves to paint when there is no occasion to reason ; 
 and addresses the imagination and passions, when 
 the judgment has been satisfied and enlightened. 
 J speak of Mr. Pinkney at present as a forensic 
 orator. His career was too short to afford an 
 opportunity of judging of his parliamentary elo- 
 quence ; and, perhaps, like Curran, he might have 
 failed in a field in which it was anticipated he 
 would excel, or, at least, retain his usual pre-emi- 
 nence. Mr. Pinkney, I think, bears a stronger 
 resemblance to Burke than to Pitt; but, in some 
 particulars, he unites the excellences of both. He 
 has the fancy and erudition of the former, and the 
 point, rapidity, and elocution of the latter. Com- 
 pared with his countrymen, he wants the vigour 
 and striking majesty of Clay, the originality and 
 ingenuity of Calhoun ; but, as a rhetorician, he 
 surpasses both. In his action, Mr. Pinkney has, 
 unfortunately, acquired a manner, borrowed, no 
 doubt, from some illustrious model, which is emi- 
 nently uncouth and inelegant. It consists in rais- 
 ing one leg on a bench or chair before him, and 
 in thrusting his right arm in a horizontal line from 
 his side to its full length in front. This action is 
 uniform, and never varies or changes in the most 
 tranquil flow of sentiment, or the grandest burst 
 of impassioned eloquence. His voice, though not 
 naturally good, has been disciplined to modula- 
 tion by art; and, if it is not always musical, it is
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 363 
 
 never very harsh or offensive. Such is Mr. Piuk- 
 ney as an orator; as a diplomatist but little can 
 be said that will add to his reputation. In his 
 official notes there is too much flippancy, and 
 too great diffuseness, for beauty or elegance of 
 composition. It is but seldom that the orator pos- 
 sesses the requisites of the writer ; and the fame 
 which is acquired by the tongue sometimes eva- 
 porates through the pen. As a writer he is infe- 
 rior to the present Attorney-General, who unites 
 the powers of both in a high degree, and thus in 
 his own person illustrates the position which he 
 has laid down, as to the universality of genius. 
 
 Mr. R. King is a senator from the State of New 
 York, and was formerly the resident minister at the 
 court of St. James's. He is now about sixty years 
 of age, above the middle size, and somewhat in- 
 clined to corpulency. His countenance, when se- 
 rious and thoughtful, possesses a great deal of 
 austerity and rigour ; but at other moments it is 
 marked with placidity and benevolence. Among 
 his friends he is facetious and easy ; but when 
 with strangers, reserved and distant; apparently 
 indisposed to conversation, and inclined to taci- 
 turnity; but when called out, his colloquial powers 
 are of no ordinary character, and his conversation 
 becomes peculiarly instructive, fascinating, and 
 humourous. Mr. King has read and reflected 
 much ; and though long in public life, his atten-
 
 364 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 tion has not been exclusively devoted to the poli- 
 tical sciences; for his information on other sub- 
 jects is equally matured and extensive. His re- 
 sources are numerous and multiplied, and can 
 easily be called into operation. In his parliamen- 
 tary addresses he always displays a deep and in- 
 timate knowledge of the subject under discussion, 
 and never fails to edify and instruct if he ceases 
 to delight. He has read history to become a 
 statesman, and not for the mere gratification it 
 affords. He applies the experience of ages, which 
 the historical muse exhibits, to the general pur- 
 poses of government, and thus reduces to practice 
 the mass of knowledge with which his mind is 
 fraught and embellished. As a legislator he is, 
 perhaps, inferior to no man in this country. The 
 faculty of close and accurate observation by which 
 he is distinguished has enabled him to remark 
 and treasure up every fact of political importance, 
 that has occurred since the organization of the 
 American government; and the citizen, as well as 
 the stranger, is often surprised at the minuteness 
 of his historical details, and the facility with which 
 they are applied. With the various subjects im- 
 mediately connected with politics, he has made 
 himself well acquainted; and such is the strength 
 of his memory, and the extent of his information, 
 that the accuracy of his statements is never dis- 
 puted. Mr. King, however, is somewhat of an
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 365 
 
 enthusiast, and his feelings sometimes propel him 
 to do that which his judgment cannot sanction. 
 When parties existed in this country, he belonged 
 to, and was considered to be the leader of what was 
 denominated the federal phalanx; and he has often, 
 perhaps, been induced, from the influence of party 
 feeling, and the violence of party animosity, to 
 countenance measures that must have wounded 
 his moral sensibilities ; and that now, when reason 
 is suffered to dictate, cannot but be deeply regret- 
 ted. From a rapid survey of his political and par- 
 liamentary career, it would appear that the fury of 
 party has betrayed him into the expression of sen- 
 timents, and the support of measures, that were, 
 in their character, revolting to his feelings; but 
 whatever he may have been charged with, his in. 
 tentions, at least, were pure, and his exertions, as 
 he conceived, calculated for the public good. He 
 was indeed cried down by a class of emigrants 
 from the mother country, who have far too great 
 a sway in the political transactions of the United 
 States; and though, unquestionably, an ornament 
 to the nation which has given him birth, his coun- 
 trymen, averse to him from party considerations, 
 joined in the cry, and he became a victim, perhaps, 
 to the duty he owed, and the love he bore to his 
 country. Prejudice, however, does not always 
 continue, and the American people, with that good 
 sense which forms so prominent a feature of their 
 character, are beginning justly to appreciate those
 
 366 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 virtues and talents, they once so much decried. 
 Mr. King has a sound and discriminating mind, 
 a memory uncommonly tenacious, and a judg- 
 ment, vigorous, prompt, and decisive. He either 
 wants imagination, or is unwilling to employ a fa- 
 culty that he conceives only calculated to flatter 
 and delight. His object is more to convince and 
 persuade, by the force of reason, than to amuse 
 the mind by the fantastic embroidery and gaudy 
 festoonings of fancy. His style of eloquence is 
 plain, but bold and manly; replete with argument, 
 and full of intelligence ; neither impetuous nor ve- 
 hement, but flowing and persuasive. His mind, 
 like that of Fox, is historical ; it embraces conse- 
 quences the most distant with rapidity and ease. 
 Facts form the basis of his reasoning. Without 
 these his analysis is defective, and his combinations 
 and deductions are often incorrect. His logic is 
 not artificial, but natural : he abandons its formal 
 divisions, non-essentials, moods, and figures, to 
 weaker minds, and adheres to the substaritials of 
 natural reason. Of Mr. King's moral character I 
 can say nothing from my own personal knowledge, 
 as my acquaintance with him has not been long 
 and intimate enough to enable me to judge cor- 
 rectly. I have not, however, heard any thing al- 
 leged against it calculated to lessen his reputa- 
 tion as an honourable statesman, or a virtuous 
 member of society. He is wealthy, and has, no 
 doubt, something of pride and hauteur in his man-
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 367 
 
 ner, offensive to the spirit of republicanism, and 
 inconsistent with the nature of equality ; but, as a 
 father, husband, and friend, I have not yet heard 
 him charged with any dereliction of duty, or any 
 violation of those principles which tend to har- 
 monize society, and to unite man to man by the 
 bonds of affection and virtue. I must now beg 
 permission to despatch the portrait of Mr. King, in 
 order to submit to your inspection an imperfect 
 likeness of another member of the same body. 
 This is not the country to look for the blazonry 
 and trappings of ancestry; merit alone claims 
 and receives distinction ; and none but the fool or 
 the simpleton, ever pretends to boast of his ances- 
 try and noble blood, or to offer it as a claim to re- 
 spect or preferment. The people alone form the 
 tribunal to which every aspirant for fame or ho- 
 nour must submit; and they are too enlightened 
 and too independent to favour insignificance, 
 though surrounded by the splendour of wealth, or 
 to countenance stupidity, though descended from 
 those who were once illustrious and great. 
 
 James Barbour is a senator from Virginia, his 
 native state. He was in his youth a deputy she- 
 riff of the county in which he was born, and re- 
 ceived an education which was merely intended 
 to fit him for an ordinary station in life. He felt, 
 however, superior to his condition, and stimu- 
 lated by that love of fame which often character- 
 izes genius, he devoted himself to study, and be-
 
 368 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 came a practitioner of the law. He rose rapidly 
 in his profession, an'd soon acquired both wealth 
 and reputation. Like most of the barristers of 
 this country, he conceived that to be a lawyer 
 was necessarily to be a politician, and he rushed 
 forward into public life to extend his fame and 
 enlarge his sphere of actioit. From a member of 
 the house of delegates he was elevated to the gu- 
 bernatorial chair of Virginia, and received the 
 highest honour his native state could confer. Gra- 
 tified thus far in the wishes he had formed, he be- 
 came desirous to enter on a more enlarged theatre, 
 where his talents would have a greater field of 
 action, and his eloquence a wider range and bet- 
 ter effect, and he accepted the situation of senator 
 of the United States. 
 
 Mr. Barbour commenced his career with a 
 speech against the establishment of the national 
 bank, which was then in agitation. He had come 
 fraught with prejudices against this mammoth 
 institution, and in the fervor of the moment gave 
 vent to those prejudices in a manner certainly 
 very eloquent, but not very judicious. When he 
 had soberly weighed the good and evil with which 
 it might be attended, the peculiar condition of 
 his country, and the necessity of adopting some 
 scheme by which the difficulties of government 
 should be obviated, and its financial embarrass- 
 ment relieved, he very candidly confessed the er- 
 ror into which his feelings had betrayed him, and
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 369 
 
 in a speech, conceived and uttered in the very 
 spirit of true eloquence, supported the measure. 
 
 Mr. Barbour is, in person, muscular and vigor- 
 ous, and rather inclined to corpulency. His eye- 
 brows are thick and bushy, which gives to his 
 countenance a little too much the appearance of 
 ferocity, but this is counterbalanced by a peculiar 
 expression in his visage, that conveys a sentiment 
 of mildness and humanity. He seems to be above 
 forty years of age, and is about five feet ten inches 
 high. Of his mind, the prominent characters are 
 brilliancy and fervor. He has more imagination 
 than judgment, and more splendor than solidity. 
 His memory is not very retentive, because it has 
 never been much employed, except to treasure up 
 poetical images, and to preserve the spangles and 
 tinsel of oratory. As an orator, Mr. Barbour has 
 some great defects. His style is too artificial and 
 verbose, and he seems always more solicitous to 
 shine and dazzle than convince or persuade. He 
 labours after splendid images, and strives to fill 
 the ear more with sound than sense. His sen- 
 tences are sometimes involved and complicated, 
 replete with sesquipedalia verba, and too much 
 charged with " guns, trumpets, blunderbuss, and 
 thunder." He has unfortunately laid down to 
 himself a model, which, with reverence be it 
 spoken, is not the best that could have been 
 adopted. Curran has gone a great way to cor- 
 rupt the taste of the present age. His powers 
 
 2B
 
 370 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 were certainly very extraordinary, but his taste 
 was bad, and by yielding too much to the impulse 
 of a highly poetical imagination, he filled the mind 
 of his hearer with fine paintings indeed, and left 
 it at last glowing, but vacant, delighted, but un- 
 convinced. Too many of the youths of this 
 country seem to be smitten with the model which 
 he has thus given, and which is certainly calcu- 
 lated to fire an ardent mind, and lead it astray 
 from the principles of correct taste and genuine 
 oratory. Mr. Barbour, however, is frequently not 
 only very fluent but very persuasive, and he often 
 employs his full flowing oratorical style to great 
 advantage in setting off his argument, and in de- 
 corating and enforcing his reasoning. From the 
 want of opportunities, his reading, like that of most 
 of the politicians of this country, has been confined, 
 and his, range of thought, from the absence of that 
 knowledge which books afford, is necessarily li- 
 mited. He has, indeed, derived advantages from an 
 association with men of literary and scientific attain- 
 ments, but he has still much to acquire to render 
 him eminent as a statesman. The contributions, 
 which, from this circumstance, he is compelled to 
 levy on his own unaided native resources, have, 
 however, tended to sharpen his intellectual powers, 
 and to give them vivacity and quickness. Mr. Bar- 
 bour seldom thinks deeply, but he is always rapid; 
 and though his observations are sometimes trite 
 and ordinary, there is almost always something
 
 1820.] %. IN AMERICA. 371 
 
 new and gratifying in the manner in which they 
 are uttered. His mind does not appear organized 
 for long continued investigation, and nature has 
 formed him more for a poet than a mathematician. 
 He is rather too anxious to be thought a great 
 orator, and this over-ruling propensity is manifest- 
 ed even. in common conversation; when, instead 
 of ease, simplicity, and conciseness, he discovers 
 the formal elocution of the public speaker, on 
 the most unimportant and incidental subjects. 
 In private circles, Mr. Barbour is always very 
 pleasant, and exhibits a politeness, which, flowing 
 from the heart rather than the head, delights all 
 who have the pleasure of his acquaintance, and 
 renders him an acceptable guest, and an agreeable 
 companion. 
 
 There is a native openness and benevolence in 
 his character, which excite the love of all who 
 know him, and which powerfully attract the 
 stranger as well as the friend. He seems superior 
 to the grovelling intrigues of party, and always 
 expresses his feelings, in the bold and lofty lan- 
 guage of conscious independence and freedom. 
 There is a marked difference between this gen- 
 tleman and his brother, Mr. Philip P. Barbour, 
 a member of the House of Representatives, in 
 the respective faculties of their mind; the latter 
 is more logical, and also more laborious and in- 
 defatigable. He seems to have a peculiar tact for 
 those constitutional and legal questions which 
 
 2 B 2
 
 372 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 are involved and obscure, and possesses that clear- 
 ness and vigor of mind necessary to unfold what 
 is complicated, and illuminate what is dark. He 
 casts on such subjects so powerful a light, that 
 we wonder we should ever have doubted, and be- 
 hold at once the truth, stripped of all its obscu- 
 rity. The former seldom attempts an analysis of 
 such questions. He reasons, but his reasoning 
 is not so much that of a mathematician, as of 
 an advocate who labours to surprise by his no- 
 velty, and to fascinate by the ingenuity of his 
 deductions, and the ease and beauty of his elocu- 
 tion. He has more genius than his brother, but 
 less judgment; more refinement and elegance, but 
 less vigor and energy. It appears to me that there 
 is avast deal of what maybe denominated law mind 
 in this country, which will ultimately reach a point 
 of excellence that must astonish the world. The 
 fondness for the profession of the law, at present, 
 is wonderful ; almost every man, whatever be his 
 means of support, or grade in society, if he have* 
 children, endeavours to make one of them, at least, 
 a disciple of Coke, or a " fomentor of village vex- 
 ation," and you cannot enter a court-house, with- 
 out being astonished at the number of young men, 
 who are either studying or practising the law. 
 This, however, is not a matter of surprise, when 
 we consider the facility with which this profession 
 leads to preferment and distinction, and the ease 
 with which it seems to be acquired. Amidst such
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 373 
 
 a mass of law mind, therefore, as exists here, ex- 
 cellence must hereafter be attained, if it has not 
 now reached its climax; and the Cokes, the Mans- 
 fields, and Ellenboroughs of England are, or will 
 soon be, equalled in this country. The future des- 
 tinies of this republic cannot be fully anticipated; 
 the march of mind is progressive and resistless, 
 and intellectual pre-eminence must be attained 
 where so many inducements are offered to effect, 
 and so few impediments exist to prevent it. Mind 
 is often regulated by the circumstance in which it 
 is placed, and fashioned by the objects by which 
 it is surrounded. This country is, therefore, pe- 
 culiarly favorable for the expansion and develop- 
 ment of the intellectual powers. Physical, as well 
 as moral causes, operate to this end. The eye of 
 an American is perpetually presented with an 
 outline of wonderful magnificence and grandeur; 
 every work of nature is here on a vast and ex- 
 pansive scale; the mountains, and lakes, and rivers, 
 and forests, appear in a wild sublimity of grandeur, 
 which renders the mountains, lakes, and rivers of 
 Europe, mere pigmies in comparison. The political 
 and religious freedom, too, which is here experi- 
 enced, removes all shackles, and gives an elasti- 
 city, a loftiness, and an impetus to the mind that 
 cannot but propel it to greatness. Thus operated 
 upon by moral and physical causes, what must be 
 the ultimate destiny of the people of this country, 
 and the range and expansion of intellect which, they
 
 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 will possess? Devoted as they are for the most 
 part to studies and professions, which have a ten- 
 dency to enlarge and liberalize the mind, and in- 
 fluenced by the causes I have mentioned, it would 
 be worse than stupidity to suppose they could 
 long remain an inferior people, or possibly avoid 
 reaching that point of elevation of which mankind 
 are capable. The law mind of this country has 
 now attained a high degree of splendor, and is in 
 rapid progress to still greater excellence. There 
 are many men, in this country, though so much 
 calumniated by British writers, who would shed 
 a lustre on the bench of that nation, and not suffer 
 by a comparison with some of the brightest lumi- 
 naries of English jurisprudence. 
 
 Before I quit this body of American worthies, 
 I must introduce to your acquaintance, as suc- 
 cinctly as possible, another member of the senate, 
 who, though not so conspicuous as the two former, 
 in the walks of public life, is not inferior to any 
 in this country, in all that constitutes and dignifies 
 the patriot and the statesman. Mr. Roberts is 
 from Pennsylvania. He is a plain farmer, and 
 was, once, I understand, a mechanic. Though 
 he cannot boast of a liberal education, yet nature 
 has given him a mind, which, with early improve- 
 ment, would have made him prominent in any 
 sphere in life. It is vigorous and powerful in no 
 ordinary degree, and the sophistry of art, and the 
 dexterity of learning, are often foiled and defeated
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 375 
 
 by the unaided and spontaneous efforts of his native 
 good sense. But he has that which is of more ster- 
 ling advantage, both to himself and his country, 
 immoveable political and moral integrity. It is gra- 
 tifying, in this age of corruption and voluptuous- 
 ness, to contemplate men like Aristides, Fabricius, 
 and Cato. They exhibit to us the true dignity of 
 man, and hold out examples that we must feel 
 delighted to imitate. They show us to what 
 pitch of excellence man is capable of attaining, 
 and rescue the exalted condition of human nature 
 from that odium and disgrace which profligacy 
 and corruption have heaped upon it. No spec- 
 tacle can be more sublime or more elevating than 
 he, who, in the hour of public danger and trial, 
 and amidst the allurements and fascinations of 
 vice, stands like a rock in the ocean, placid and 
 immoveable, and endures the dangers that sur- 
 round, and braves the storms and tempests that 
 beat upon him, with undeviating firmness, for the 
 safety of his country and the glory of his God ! 
 The mind rests upon such a character as the 
 eye upon a spot of fertility, amidst deserts of 
 sand, and we rise from the blood-stained page of 
 history, and the corruptions of the living world, 
 with a heart filled with love, admiration, and re- 
 verence, by the cbntemplation of the few who 
 have shed an imperishable lustre on the exalted 
 character of man. This description is not exag- 
 gerated ; it is drawn from nature and truth, and
 
 376 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 fancy has nothing to do with the picture. But I 
 must now hasten to finish my portraits of Ame- 
 rican characters. 
 
 Mr. Bagot,* the English minister to this govern- 
 ment, appears to be about thirty-five years of age. 
 He is tall, elegant, and rather graceful in his per- 
 spn, with a countenance open and ingenuous, an 
 English complexion, and eyes mild though dark. 
 He has ingratiated himself with the Americans, 
 by the real or affected simplicity of his manners, 
 and by assimilating himself to their usages and 
 customs. He has thrown aside the reserve and 
 hauteur of the English character, as nofat all suited 
 to the meridian of this country, and attends to all 
 with equal courtesy and politeness. I can say 
 nothing of the powers of his mind, but they do not 
 appear to be more than ordinary. It has always 
 seemed to me very strange policy on the part of 
 the British cabinet, to appoint ministers to this 
 country of inferior capacity and inconsiderable re- 
 putation, while the Americans send to our court 
 only their most prominent and leading men, who 
 have distinguished themselves by their ability and 
 their eloquence. 
 
 The French minister, M. Hyde de Neuville, 
 is a " fat, portly gentleman," with a broad chest, 
 big head, and short neck, which he seems almost 
 incapable of turning ad libitum. He is full of 
 
 * Now Sir Charles Bagot.
 
 1820.J IN AMERICA. 377 
 
 Bourbon importance and French vivacity; has 
 petits soupers every Saturday evening during the 
 winter, and spends his summer at the springs, or 
 his country residence, in extolling the virtues of his 
 beloved Louis le desirt. I do not think that M. 
 Neuville, though an amiable, and, I understand, 
 a benevolent man, has that kind of talent which 
 would qualify him for the station he holds, or that, 
 in the event of any difficulty arising between this 
 country and France, he could counteract the in- 
 trigues of diplomatic ingenuity, or benefit his 
 nation, by inducing the American cabinet, though 
 J believe he is highly esteemed, to adopt any 
 measure not manifestly advantageous to the United 
 States. He has been many years a resident of 
 this country, and was driven from France by the 
 persecutions of Buonaparte. He is said to have 
 evinced for his exiled countrymen much feeling 
 and interest, and to have given them, while stran- 
 gers and unknown in a foreign land, all the aid 
 he could afford. His acts of benevolence cer- 
 taiuly redound to the credit of his heart, and I 
 should be sorry to say any thing that would dis- 
 parage the qualities of his head. He is too much 
 occupied with his own, or other people's concerns, 
 to attend to the little or the complicated intrigues 
 of courts, and though he resides here as a repre- 
 sentative, yet he now represents a cypher.
 
 378 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 4th. To tea with J. C. Wright, Esq., to meet 
 a young man, Mr. Dawson, who is giving up a 
 school here to go as " Teacher to the Cherokee 
 nation of Indians." Much enthusiasm takes him 
 there; little will be needed to bring him back 
 again. Since my return, Washington has been 
 visited by some very distant and interesting tribes 
 of Indians, with the following account of whom 
 I have been favoured by a friend residing there. 
 
 Some account of the Indians who visited all the 
 Chief Cities in the Eastern States, and made a 
 long- stay in Washington in the winter of 1821. 
 
 These Indians were the chiefs and half-chiefs of 
 tribes from the most western part of this continent 
 with which we are at all acquainted, and came 
 under the guidance of Major O'Fallan from the 
 Counsel Bluffs. All of them are men of large sta- 
 ture, very muscular, having fine open countenances, 
 with the real noble Roman nose, dignified in their 
 manners, and peaceful and quiet in their habits. 
 There was no instance of drunkenness among 
 them during their stay here. The circumstances 
 which led to their visit were singular. A mis- 
 sionary, who had been amongst them a few years 
 back, on renewing his visit recently, found an old 
 chief, with whom he was acquainted, degraded 
 from his rank, and another appointed in his place. 
 This led to inquiries after the cause, which proved 
 to be that this chief having, during a considerable
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 379 
 
 absence from his tribe, visited some of the cities of 
 the whites, carried back such a report of their 
 houses, ships, numbers, wealth, and power, that 
 they disbelieved his account, and degraded him as 
 a man unworthy of being longer their chief. They 
 inquired of their missionaries, who confirmed the 
 statement, and they met in council with other 
 tribes, and resolved that a deputation should, in 
 company with the representative of the great fa- 
 ther, " see if things were so," and if they were, the 
 chief should be reinstated. They have returned, 
 saying the " half was not told them." Red Jacket 
 (of whom you have heard) used to say, that " the 
 great spirit was too great a being to overlook red 
 men; that he listened to the talk of red men as well 
 as to the talk of white men ;" but these natives of 
 the forest thought the great spirit favoured white 
 men more than red. An anecdote is related of 
 one of the chiefs (a Pawnee) which is a well au- 
 thenticated fact, and recorded by Dr. Morse in his 
 account of visits to the western regions. The 
 tribe of the Pawnees had taken a woman prisoner 
 from a neighbouring tribe with whom they were 
 at war, and, as was their custom, they made every 
 preparation to offer her a sacrifice to the great 
 spirit. Every thing was prepared, the wood, the 
 green withes, and the fire, and the victim, when 
 this chief suddenly flew and seized her, carried 
 her under his arm to a neighbouring thicket, where
 
 380 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 he had prepared horses for her and himself, and 
 riding away at speed, he, after three days' tra- 
 velling through the woods, returned her in safety 
 to her tribe and friends. This event was consi- 
 dered by the Pawnee tribe as an interference of 
 the great spirit in her favour, and on the return of 
 the chief no questions were asked him on that 
 subject, nor has a woman been offered a sacrifice 
 by that tribe since. As a compliment justly due 
 to his gallant exploit, a number of ladies in this 
 city had a medal made, and presented to him in 
 due form, in the presence of all the Indians; on 
 one side of which was represented the preparation 
 for the sacrifice, and on the reverse the chief run- 
 ning off with a woman under his arm, and two 
 horses stationed at a short distance, surmounted 
 by this inscription, " To the bravest of the Braves," 
 (the Pawnees are also called the Braves). These 
 Indians excited so much interest from their digni- 
 fied personal appearance, and from their peaceful 
 manner, that they received a great number of rich 
 presents, sufficient to fill six large boxes in New 
 York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington; 
 these were forwarded before they left us. Their 
 portraits, which are gone with them, were taken 
 in oil by Mr. King in their native costume, buffalo 
 skins, with the hair inside, turned back at the 
 neck and breast, which looked very handsome, 
 like fur collars. Eight, however, the chiefs and
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 381 
 
 the squaw, Mr. King copied and keeps himself. 
 He received 400 dollars from Uncle Sam for it. 
 There was a notice in the papers that the Indians 
 would dance and display their feats in front of 
 the President's house on a certain day, which 
 they did to at least 6,000 persons. They shewed 
 their manner of sitting in council, their dances, 
 their war whoop, with the noises, gesticulations, &c. 
 of the centinels on the sight of an approaching 
 enemy. They were in a state of perfect nudity, 
 except a piece of red flannel round the waist and 
 passing between the legs. They afterwards per- 
 formed at the house of his Excellency M. Hyde 
 de Neuville. They were painted horribly, and 
 exhibited the operation of scalping and tomahawk- 
 ing in fine style. 
 
 The Otta half-chief and his squaw have taken 
 tea with and frequently visited us. She was a 
 very good natured, mild woman, and he shewed 
 great readiness in acquiring our language, being 
 inquisitive, retaining any thing that he was once 
 informed, and imitating admirably the tones of 
 every word. He spent the evening with us before 
 they finally left the city. 1 took himself and squaw 
 into Dr. Barber's room, and opened gently the 
 skeleton case. He looked slyly in, and the wife 
 wanted to look, but he put himself in an attitude 
 to represent a dead person, and said, " no good, 
 no good." She still wanted to see, but he would
 
 382 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 not let her. Three others came afterwards want- 
 ing to see it, who, when I opened it, raised them- 
 selves up in a dignified manner and said, " very 
 good" one of them taking hold of the hand said, 
 " how you do."* The Otta half-chief and squaw 
 afterwards saw it together and were very well 
 pleased. Our children were all full of play with 
 them, and the squaw nursed the younger ones. 
 Margaret wanted to go with them. The calumet 
 of peace (the tomahawk pipe and their own su- 
 mach tobacco) frequently went round, and they 
 expressed a wish to see us again. 
 
 I have recorded much of the vocabulary of these 
 Indians, and would transcribe it, but have not 
 room. They count by tens as we do, for instance, 
 noa/t, two; taurny, three; crabraugh, ten; era- 
 braugh no ah, twenty; crabraugh taurny, thirty, 
 &c. They hold polygamy as honourable; one 
 wife, no good; three, good; four, very good. In 
 their talks with the residents they shew no wish 
 to adopt our habits. 
 
 5th. To dine with Dr. Dawes at his poor, 
 worn out farm, of which he is already tired. The 
 Doctor seems one of the best Englishmen I have 
 met in America. 
 
 Sunday, 6th. Dr. Rice preaching this day in 
 Congress-hall before the senate, and representa- 
 
 * I made them understand tbe man was hung for murder, 
 which seemed to please them.
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 383 
 
 tives, called the assembly, polite, just, respected, 
 respectable, and deemed it unnecessary to men- 
 tion sin and human depravity. 
 
 American husbands abound in outward polite- 
 ness and respect to their wives ; and gentlemen, in 
 general, are excessively attentive to the fair sex, 
 rising and leaving their seats, even at church, to 
 accommodate the late coming ladies. I gave much 
 offence, on a recent occasion, by my want of gal- 
 lantry in this particular. Thfc meanest white wo- 
 man is here addressed by the title of Madam. 
 
 It may also be mentioned, as a proof of superior 
 civilization and refinement in manners, that a 
 stranger cannot, in this country, enter and join a 
 party or social circle, without being publicly pre- 
 sented byname, and exchanging names and hearty 
 shakes of the hand with all present. Should he, 
 however, happen to enter and take his seat with- 
 out submitting to this indispensable ceremony, he 
 must remain dumb and unnoticed, as an intruder, 
 or as a person whose character renders him unfit 
 for introduction, and for the acquaintance of any. 
 But, on the other hand, when properly presented, 
 he is instantly at home ; and ever after, at any dis- 
 tance of time and place, acknowledged as entitled 
 to the goodwill and friendship of all who thus met 
 him. Friendships are thus formed and propagated, 
 and the boundaries of society in the new world ex- 
 tended. It would hence be impracticable for me 
 to be half an hour, as has happened to me in Eng-
 
 384 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 land, unknowingly present with a person of dis- 
 tinction ; and many unpleasant mistakes and mis- 
 understandings are thus obviated. 
 
 8th. 1 heard Mr. Speaker Clay deliver a splen- 
 did speech of four hours long on the Missouri slave- 
 question. His voice fills the house ; his action is 
 good and generally graceful. 
 
 I met this evening Mr. Smith, a young gentle- 
 man from Lincolnshire, the fellow-traveller of Mr. 
 Parr, who walked through the west, and admired 
 all! He is not determined on continuing here; he 
 has a good farm in England. He and Mr. Parr 
 have been introduced by a member of Congress to 
 the President, who sat half an hour familiarly talk- 
 ing with them, in a plain, domestic, business-like 
 manner. 
 
 Sunday, 13th. From the Speaker's chair in 
 Congress-hall, I heard the young, learned, and re- 
 yerend professor Everett, of Cambridge University, 
 (aged 29) preach most eloquently to the President 
 and legislature of this great empire. His voice, 
 bewitchingly melodious, yet manly, filled the 
 house, and made every word tell, and every ear 
 hear. " Time is short," was the subject. His 
 discourse was full of high praise of this land, it 
 being, he said, (in my own language) " the only 
 resting place for liberty, who, when driven hence, 
 must ascend in her pure, white robes to heaven. 
 No more new continents will be discovered for 
 her reception, and therefore let this nation wisely
 
 IN AMERICA. 385 
 
 keep her asylum here." He then spoke very 
 warmly against kings, lords, and priests, and what 
 he called the toleration of man and his rights. 
 " In England they tolerate liberty ; and what is 
 liberty there? A shadow ! But here, a substance ! 
 There her existence is only nominal. She is mock- 
 ed by her very name." Independent of its mo- 
 ral instruction, this sermon was a fine specimen 
 of oratory, and greatly interested the members of 
 both houses, who very cordially shook the preacher 
 by the hand. Though not forgetting slavery in 
 his discourse, the professor seemed too partial 
 to it. 
 
 This gentleman had just returned from his tour 
 through Europe, where he visited Sir Walter 
 Scott, and other distinguished literati, and preach- 
 ed in London. 
 
 I met Mr. Lowndes, the Howard of America, 
 at Mr. Elliott's. He says, that " Harmony pre- 
 sents much moral philosophy in practice. Flesh 
 and blood had hard work at first, but now they 
 have but few desires to gratify. Nature seems 
 under the hatches, and they have little to wish, 
 want, or fear. But theirs is a stagnant life." 
 
 14th. Read Mr. John Wright's pamphlet on 
 Slavery, in which he uses my name in reference to 
 my negro letter, and shows very clearly the evil 
 effects of slavery on the character of this country, 
 and proves the unalterable nature of the black 
 man's right to liberty, and its benefits. 
 
 2 c
 
 386 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 Mr. Rufus King, a member for New York, a 
 gentlemanly English-like speaker, confines himself 
 to business, and to the grand fundamental princi- 
 ples of every political question, and the conse- 
 quences likely to result from extending slavery 
 over the continent. " In time," says he, " you will 
 enable the blacks to enslave the whites. Why y 
 therefore, should we of the free, be compelled to 
 suffer with you of the slave states ?" 
 
 \8th. I supped with Dr. Alison, Chaplain to 
 Congress, a gentleman possessing every variety of 
 knowledge. He is the friend and correspondent of 
 the Ex-presidents Jefferson and Adams, and of the 
 present President, and is known all over the coun- 
 try by his virtues. This gentleman was visited by 
 the black Baron de Vasey, and his friend, from St. 
 Domingo, who supped with him. On their quit- 
 ting the room, the doctor's black servant set up a 
 laugh, which might be heard by the baron, and all, 
 far and near. " What's the matter, Sam?" said the 
 doctor. " Why, two niggers sat and took tea with 
 my massa, at the same table! !" In Virginia, the 
 doctor complained of his fears of being murdered 
 by the negroes, one hundred of whom were owned 
 by his hostess. She cried and said, " she hoped 
 the Lord would protect her." "Oh, no! you 
 must not look to the Lord for it ; it is not there." 
 She said she would free them, if she could find 
 any body to support them. Freed slaves must 
 quit the states, or be sold by it for slaves again !
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 387 
 
 Colonel Taylor has a black uncle, a slave, for his 
 body guard, and most owners are related to their 
 black cattle. A gentleman of Washington, too 
 kind-hearted to whip his house-negroes himself, 
 leaves it to his wife, a fashionable, beautiful 
 female, holding, and going to levees, yet able to 
 cow-hide her negroes, whose screams, under the 
 lash, scare Mrs. Little and family. A cow-hide 
 is no uncommon appendage of ladies here ! 
 
 Squire Simpson, an old emigrant from England, 
 whom I have before mentioned as living near this 
 city, once acted as a magistrate. Two parties 
 came before him for justice, but neither of them 
 seemed disposed to submit to his worship's deci- 
 sion. At last, the most choleric of the two thus 
 addressed Mr. Simpson : " Well ! I don't see, I 
 guess, that we can settle it fairly. So here's at 
 you. I'll fight you, Squire!" Both then went 
 out, magistrate and man, and decided the affair 
 by battle. Simpson was victor. 
 
 24th. Revisited Dr. Dawes, who is full of im- 
 proving his farm by a summer fallow, and turning 
 it into grass without a crop. He has paid only half 
 the cash for his farm of 500 acres, because the title 
 cannot be completed. Any one, says ex-squire 
 Simpson, would take it off his hands. The doctor 
 deems, as does Sir H. Davy, that plaster of Parfe 
 is the natural food of plants ; and it is found, more 
 or less, in almost all soils, particularly in England, 
 
 2 c2
 
 388 MEMORABLE DAYS [Feb. 
 
 where manuring with plaster is found to have but 
 little effect, but in this country vice vers&. 
 
 Visited Mr. Plant, who holds 400 acres, all 
 cleared and enclosed long ago, and exhausted too, 
 at 100 dollars a year rent, offered for sale at fif- 
 teen dollars an acre, poor but useful, light, sandy 
 loam, shining bright with silvery mica. He ma- 
 nages this estate without a capital, by the labour 
 of himself, one slave and a boy; he hires none. 
 He has sold Bradford's Rest, a large estate, costing 
 seven dollars, for 20 dollars per acre; well sold ! 
 
 V.Gth. I rode this day to the bench of his wor- 
 ship, Squire Arden, with Doctor Dawes, who was 
 served with a warrant for a small debt for goods. 
 J carried the Doctor's diploma, to prove him a 
 physician, authorized to write prescriptions. The 
 plaintiff is a neighbour of the Doctor's, who had 
 prescribed for his family, and therefore pleaded a 
 set off. The plaintiff then swore he would prove 
 that the Doctor never was sent for nor came ! The 
 Doctor considers almost all here as unprincipled 
 and conspiring against his cash. Quitting the di- 
 ploma for the plough, he gave up a practice of 400 
 or 500 pounds a year, at Wisbeach, in England, 
 where he was highly esteemed. His humanity 
 here to poor exiles, distinguishes him as a patriot 
 and a philanthropist, and entitles him to the ap- 
 plause and goodwill of all mankind. In Sep- 
 tember last, poor John Steed, the English Quaker,
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 389 
 
 was fed, housed, physicked, and restored to health, 
 by this benevolent man. Steed was returning to 
 England; but how to return without money ? 
 There was money for him ! My warm-hearted 
 friend, the watchman, a dear friend of the Rev. I. 
 Leathes, brother-in-law of the late Bishop of Bris- 
 tol, put into Steed's empty hands a purse, amply 
 sufficient for his land and sea expenses. This was 
 noble! It is well to praise man for his humanity 
 to a suffering brother, but better to ascribe all the 
 glory to his Maker, who gives all, and blesses him 
 with a generous heart, and who has promised that 
 " He who deviseth liberal things, by liberal things 
 shall he stand." 
 
 March lith. I revisited the astronomical, 
 mathematical, and philosophical Mr. W. Elliott, 
 dining on vegetables only. He states that it is 
 impossible for a sensible, honest Englishman to 
 prefer this country to his own ; and in knowing that 
 he has quitted England for ever, he experiences 
 a feeling indescribably painful. To return no more 
 is a word next to death. Although he would not, 
 at present, desire to live in England, yet he would 
 not advise any to quit who can live in it. The 
 soil here is unfit for man, and for an Englishman 
 particularly. Both mind and body barbarize and 
 degenerate. He feels, at first, sanguine, but soon 
 after he begins to judge and compare, and finds 
 that though the government allured him here, yet 
 that all is not gold that glitters. He becomes
 
 390 MEMORABLE DAYS [March, 
 
 weak and emaciated, and drinks into the habits 
 of the country, where he is no longer the man he 
 thought himself at first. The labouring poor here 
 are far behind, and more miserable than the- poor, 
 bold peasantry of England. No man needs labour 
 here long, if he would work and not drink exces- 
 sively ; but he drinks and is undone. 
 
 Sunday, Ylth. Met J. C. Wright, Esq. who has 
 consumed, in segars, for his own use, since he be- 
 gan smoking, twenty years since, 700 barrels of 
 flour, at the present price. One hundred and fifty 
 dollars annually is the cost of his smoking. 
 
 14th. The Hon. T. Law brought, it is said, 
 half a million sterling with him to this country, 
 but has lost two-thirds of it. He married the 
 niece of General Washington, the most beautiful 
 lady in Virginia; and, at her uncle's request, Mr. 
 Law settled on her, in case they parted, 15,000 
 dollars a year. The event, which seemed thus 
 to be anticipated, soon after occurred; for Mr. 
 Law visiting England soon after his marriage and 
 'leaving his wife in America, she, during his ab- 
 sence, eloped with a young dashing officer in the 
 army. Mr. Law returned only to part with one 
 of the most accomplished ladies in the land. She 
 still lives in high style, and her house is the resort 
 of the most fashionable parties. 
 
 By Mr. Sutton, an English gentleman from 
 Cheshire, I was this day introduced to an hour's 
 conversation with Mr. John Law, a lawyer of this
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 391 
 
 city, son of Mr. Thomas Law, above mentioned. 
 This gentleman occupies a mean office, but seems 
 very sprightly and acute, and though a plain re- 
 publican, has much of the blood of the Laws in 
 him. He states that he is in expectation of re- 
 ceiving 80,OOOJ. from Sir Wm. T , for pur- 
 chasing land in the wilds of the west, which is to 
 increase in value greatly in twenty years. For 
 the same purpose, he also wishes to get 150,000/. 
 from English capitalists, who never mean to emi- 
 grate, but who only wish to invest money in wes- 
 tern lands. There are several millions of acres 
 
 
 
 some of which, military lands in Illinois, are sell- 
 ing at 37 and 50 cents an acre. Mr. Law pro- 
 poses to be the agent, and live on the spot, to 
 settle poor emigrants from England on it, by find- 
 ing them implements and money for commencing, 
 which is to be repaid in produce. They are to 
 live seven years rent free. He would make it his 
 business to interest emigrant societies in favor of 
 this speculation, by which the posterity of such 
 capitalists are to benefit greatly. Mr. Law is to 
 receive only one quarter of the cash for his own 
 trouble, that is, only about 37,000/. or 40,000/. 
 out of the 150,000/. 
 
 Birkbeck (he says) must be rich in ten years ; 
 which ten years of life he admits a man must sa- 
 crifice before he can arrive at comforts. Ohio, he 
 states, has proved what time can do for a wilder- 
 ness ; and I say, that time has proved that those
 
 392 MEMORABLE DAYS [March, 
 
 enriching improvements made by hands, and not 
 by time, can be bought any where for less than 
 they cost in that State, or almost in any other, 
 Kentucky perhaps excepted. 
 
 A. reflection or two on litigation ! The Judges 
 here have not legal knowledge enough for their 
 station ; and of course not weight of character or 
 dignity sufficient to fill it well. Counsellor Jones 
 and Key, of " star-spangled banner" fame, influ* 
 ence, and carry their honours almost as they 
 please. The bar is greater than the bench ! 
 
 Litigation frequently arises here from the ima- 
 ginary independence which one man has, or fan- 
 cies he has of others, to show which, on the least 
 slip, a suit is the certain result. It is bad for the 
 people that law is cheap, as it keeps them con- 
 stantly in strife with their neighbours, and anni- 
 hilates that sociability of feeling which so strongly 
 characterizes the English. From the constant li- 
 tigation amongst the people of this country arise 
 that antisocial apathy, and want of those kindly 
 feelings of the heart, which shew themselves on 
 all occasions, in the conduct and character of the 
 people of the old country. There were more suits 
 for debt in Washington county court, in a late 
 term, (seventeen hundred), than, perhaps, in all 
 .England ! Further comments are left to the reader. 
 Judge Parsons, while only an advocate, com- 
 pletely upset the evidence against a prisoner who 
 employed him, and that in the following manner.
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 393 
 
 The witnesses against the prisoner were all sailors. 
 The advocate disguised himself as a sailor, and of- 
 fered to bet them twenty dollars that the accused 
 would not be hanged. They readily accepted the 
 bet, and when they came, over anxious to give evi- 
 dence and convict the prisoner at the bar, the 
 learned counsel confounded them with their bet, 
 the court spurned their evidence, and the prisoner, 
 though guilty, escaped by this learned stratagem. 
 At another time, iii an important case of law, 
 where several parties were interested, he was re- 
 quested to plead, he said, " No ! I cannot see my 
 way clear." They then offered him 1,000 dollars 
 for his neutrality, which he took. The other side 
 then came. " No," said he, as before. " Well then," 
 said they, " if you will not plead for us, we will 
 give you 1,000 dollars not to be against us;" which 
 sum he took, and left other advocates to talk. 
 
 Edward C , late in the service of Joseph 
 
 Vipan, Esq. of Sutton, is here elevated from the 
 smock frock and stable, to the dress and society 
 of a merchant in this city. So great is the change 
 and so mighty the tyranny of custom, that what 
 were his duties last year, would now be a dis- 
 grace to him. Another would-be gentleman, in 
 the same store, was requested to assist his em- 
 ployer, a polished Englishman, in rolling a barrel 
 of dried fish out of the cellar into a cart only. 
 " Oh! no, that is niggers work," said he; and 
 then left a good situation within two hours after
 
 394 MEMORABLE DAYS [March, 
 
 he came to it. Such are the blessed effects of 
 slavery ! 
 
 15th. Met Mr. Cooper, an English gentleman, 
 at Washington, who has grown comfortably rich, 
 and has recently bought about 300 acres of land, 
 near this city, so exhausted, that no produce can 
 be had from it for years to come. The system 
 pursued here, if carried into the old country, 
 would soon lay it waste, more effectually than 
 either fire or sword. It is more difficult to raise 
 a hundred dollars here than a hundred pounds in 
 England. Individuals, who are rich in land, are 
 generally without cash, and have their personalty 
 seized, and sold for small debts, of a few dollars 
 only. 
 
 16th. All kinds of fruit and vegetables (potatoes 
 excepted) are now remarkably scarce, and enor- 
 mously dear, insomuch that they are not seen, 
 during the winter and spring, except on the ta- 
 bles of the rich. In summer they cost as much 
 or more than butcher's meat; yet thousands of 
 acres, all round the city, close to water and ma- 
 nure, are to be had by any body free of rent! In 
 summer the potatoes were one dollar fifty cents 
 per bushel ; now, eastern potatoes sell for 50 to 75 
 cents, and nothing but potatoes come on the ta- 
 bles of the bulk of the people. What is the cause ? 
 " Why," says one, '* the gardeners get rich and 
 ride in their single horse chaise, because the busi- 
 ness is so profitable. They have no competition .
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 395 
 
 Whatever they send to market is sold only at their 
 own price. It is their will to have 150 per cent, 
 above the value of an article. Rather than under- 
 sell, they would carry home their vegetables for 
 the cattle and pigs !" So that the will of the gar- 
 dener governs the price, although the means of op- 
 position are open to all ! The poor farmer comes 
 to market with his flour, but his will is to take 
 just what is offered him. He is not in the gar- 
 dener's secret of insisting and willing to have ten 
 dollars a barrel for flour, when worth only four 
 dollars and a half. But what is the real cause of 
 the high price of vegetables in this soil and climate 
 of Washington? Why, no body gardens; not even 
 the rich ; because they can buy cheaper than they 
 can raise them ; and it is found that none but the 
 poor, humble man, who has no capital, will at- 
 tempt it, because others can employ capital more 
 profitably than in gardening. It is therefore an 
 undoubted fact, that the soil and climate do not 
 admit of vegetables being raised, at a much lower 
 price than that, at which they are actually sold. 
 In summer, continual watering and shading are 
 absolutely necessary, and the soil is poor into the 
 bargain; insomuch that the ^eed rises so weak, 
 that the sun would burn up the plants instantly, 
 without great attention to shade and watering, 
 and if this were not so, myriads of grasshoppers 
 would eat all in spite of any measures for their 
 preservation.
 
 39*3 MEMORABLE DAYS [March, 
 
 Winter Prices of Garden-stuff. 
 
 Winter greens, lightly put in, one quarter dol- 
 lar per peck. 
 
 Spinach, the same. 
 
 Cabbages, of about four oz. weight, yellow and 
 bad, having been buried from the frost, four cents 
 each. 
 
 Potatoes, seventy-five cents a bushel. 
 
 Carrots, bad and scabby, 9d. sterling, to one 
 quarter dollar per peck. 
 
 23rd. Commodore Stephen Decatur fell this 
 day in a duel, having killed five men in the same 
 way himself. He swore shamefully at the doctors 
 while dying, because they could not extract the 
 fatal ball from his bowels. He is called by the 
 National Intelligencer, " One of the bright stars 
 of Columbia, set for ever!" And the country is 
 summoned to mourn for him. The president and 
 the heads of departments, with military and naval 
 officers and citizens, walked in procession at his, 
 funeral. The laws of heaven and earth, on this 
 subject, are here quite insulted, by common con- 
 sent. A lady of this district, hearing that her hus- 
 band was gone to fight a duel, fifty miles off, sent 
 an express, charging that he should be brought 
 home a corpse rather than disgraced. It is a rule 
 here always to take skilful aim, and if one party 
 chooses to reserve his fire, he may go up and 
 shoot the other, if he does not beg for his life.
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 397 
 
 A gentleman once would not beg it, but the other 
 said, " If your life is not worth asking for, it is 
 not worth taking!" And so fired in the air. 
 
 A sinecure, or something in the nature of one, 
 is held by Joseph Paulding, Esq. of Washington. 
 The holder of this situation is enjoined to write 
 in defence of the American character and govern- 
 ment, and at the same time to vilify the British. 
 Mr. Colvin, late editor of the National Register, 
 in a critique on Lancaster's lectures, says, " that 
 we (meaning America) are more virtuous than the 
 people of other nations, I cannot believe. It is 
 sufficient that we are equal, not worse." That 
 there is no great superiority of moral worth on 
 the part of America, the following anecdote will 
 prove. A gentleman seduced the sister of his 
 own wife, and then, to hide her disgrace* dis- 
 guised his wife in the uniform of a lieutenant of 
 the United States' navy, and married the young 
 woman to her. The lieutenant of course went to 
 sea immediately, and, poor man! was never heard 
 of more. The nuptials were celebrated by candle- 
 light, and all the gay company, except the priest, 
 were parties to this ingenious trick ! 
 
 24A. Flour now is only four dollars and a half 
 a barrel, five bushels to a barrel. After hauling, 
 grinding, and the cost of the empty barrel, are de- 
 ducted, it is seen that the farmer only receives two 
 dollars fifty cents, for five bushels of fine wheat. 
 Under such circumstances, where is profit?
 
 398 MEMORABLE DAYS [March, 
 
 Sunday, 26th. I left this city and old friends, 
 to return, perhaps, no more. At Baltimore, on 
 my way to Philadelphia, I met Joseph Lancaster, 
 teaching a few small children. 
 
 28#A. Again at Philadelphia, where British and 
 French goods are selling at 200 per cent, under 
 cost. So great is the distress for money, that the 
 regular merchants are sending their stock to auc- 
 tion. 1 visited Mr. Potter, an English merchant, 
 who has been established here ever since the peace 
 of 1786. He is now rich, but loves England still. 
 He was intimately known to the Duke of Kent. 
 He says that corruption is rising into an English 
 sense, even here; and adding the state and general 
 taxes together, they make a sum little short of 
 English taxation. 
 
 %9tk. Six hundred prisoners are this day in a 
 state of mutiny, endeavouring to escape by violence 
 from the Philadelphia state prison. One is shot, 
 and three or four are wounded. The mail robbers 
 now in custody killed the driver of the mail, but 
 they have restored all the money, and pray that 
 they may not be hanged. 
 
 31 st. I parted with my old friend C., who 
 promised to meet me again at Baltimore, in June. 
 I reached Newcastle, Delaware State, and visited 
 its old Golgotha, on a bluff, near the river Dela- 
 ware, which washes the feet of the dead, exposes 
 a great part of the coffin, and bleaches the skulls 
 and bones of men. Numbers of horses tread on the
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 399 
 
 graves and break in the coffins, for here is nothing 
 to protect these bones from insult. 
 
 I saw the effect of the late freezing rain on the 
 trees, which, over an extent of country six times 
 as large as England, has despoiled trees as com- 
 pletely as if chain shot had passed through them 
 all. The trees and shrubs are laden with ice, a 
 weight ten times that of their own boughs. Many 
 farmers lost nearly all their timber and orchards: 
 a ship also was upset by the great weight of the 
 ice adhering to her rigging. 
 
 April 7th. I met with a black gentleman who 
 has bought a beautiful farm, with a good house 
 and improvements, six miles only from Phila- 
 delphia, at twenty dollars an acre, at a sheriff's 
 sale. A law has just passed to prevent any more 
 selling under two thirds of a fair valuation. A 
 quaker whom I met, states that Joseph Lancaster 
 injured himself by going to Baltimore. He did 
 not succeed at Philadelphia, the only place where 
 he could have succeeded, because he expected 
 more attention from the inhabitants of that city, 
 than they ever pay to any body. 
 
 Visited Peale's museum, a fine collection of 
 native and foreign curiosities, amongst the former 
 of which are the skeleton of a mammoth, 15 feet 
 high, and horns, nine feet long, under the belly of 
 which, as under an arch, a horse might run full 
 gallop. I crept down the throat of an alligator.
 
 400 MEMORABLE DAYS [April, 
 
 Several bodies of Indian chiefs are here to be 
 seen dried, standing in their usual dresses and at- 
 titudes, as well as some Otaheiteans. There is 
 also the skin from the thighs and legs of an Indian, 
 tanned by Indians into fine leather, for thus they 
 use their prisoners taken in battle. I saw the 
 manuscript of a poem of Major Andre, penned 
 about two months before his execution. Here is 
 also a fine collection of national portraits. 
 
 8tk. 1 this day set sail from Philadelphia for 
 Charleston, in the General Wade Hampton, and 
 anchored at Newcastle in the evening. 
 
 Sunday, 9th. I rode with the captain, in his 
 chariot, to the beautiful seat and extensive pow- 
 der mills of E, S* Dupont, Esq. on the Brandy- 
 wine creek, a fine stream full of natural falls and 
 working many mills. We went for 500 barrels of 
 gunpowder. Mr. Duporit, who pressingly invited 
 us to dine, seems a liberal, intelligent Frenchman, 
 of large capital, which sometimes vanishes by ex- 
 plosion, together with the doors and windows of 
 his elegant mansion. 
 
 During this twenty miles ride, I observed that 
 thorn-quicks are here generally used as an out- 
 ward fence, but they are badly managed, I saw, 
 on poor wet lands, large heaps of lime, formed by 
 oyster shells and stone, gathered and burnt for ma- 
 nure; in this way cheaply turning stone into bread; 
 
 We received this evening three or four phy-
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 401 
 
 sicians and other passengers, to the number of 
 ten or twelve, on board the Wade Hampton. 
 
 Wth. At three, this morning, we got under 
 weigh, sailing into the bay of Delaware, and by 
 noon arrived opposite to the light-house. 
 
 A family (says the Captain) from England, of 
 the name of Clementsdn, recently bought an estate 
 from a scoundrel old countryman, of the name 
 of Watson, living at Philadelphia, at a price 200 or 
 300 per cent, above its value. They paid in part 
 about 6,000 dollars, but being unable to pay the re- 
 mainder, and having no written contract, he induced 
 them to quit and go to the wilds of Ohio, where, 
 he said, he had much land at a low price, which 
 they should have for the money in his hand. He 
 also kindly gave them a letter of credit to his agent 
 there; but on arriving, they found that he was un- 
 known, and had no land, nor agent; and they were 
 in consequence forced to sell their horses, waggon, 
 and every necessary, to enable them, in unspeaka- 
 ble distress, to return to prosecute this scoundrel ; 
 but they had no evidence against him, and there- 
 fore found it advisable to lose their money with- 
 out going to law. Having about 2,000 dollars 
 left, they purchased and stocked a farm bigger and 
 better than the one for which they were to have 
 paid 8,000, or 10,000 dollars. Old countrymen, it 
 is said, make the most complete rascals. 
 
 \\tli. Now at sea, exposed to head-winds and 
 sea-sickness. An Irish gentleman from Missouri, 
 
 2 D
 
 402 MEMORABLE DAYS [April, 
 
 states that last week, on board the steam-boat, he 
 met a black archbishop and several of his inferior* 
 clergy. This most reverend father in God was en- 
 deavouring to prove that Adam, Noah, and all the 
 prophets, and patriarchs, down to Jesus Christ, 
 were blacks, and that a small portion of mankind, 
 and that the worst, are whites, of whom Cain is 
 the progenitor. 
 
 The Missouri Irishman has invested 50,000 dol- 
 jars in land, the advantages of which he deems to 
 be yet dubious and prospective. He says that 
 society is bad, and that the people are unprinci- 
 pled. 
 
 12M. Two old German gentlemen, heroes of the 
 revolution, now on board, state, that they knew 
 the accomplished and unfortunate Major Andre. 
 When taken by three militiamen, in the capacity 
 of a British spy, endeavouring to seduce West 
 Point, he was dressed as a citizen, instead of ap- 
 pearing in the regimentals of his country, which 
 greatly aggravated his crime. He offered his gold 
 watch and purse, and large pecuniary compensa- 
 tion to be released, but the three men were firm. 
 Both sides regretted, and were unwilling to witness, 
 his death ; and the American government would 
 have saved him, if the British would have given up 
 the traitor Arnold. He was fairly tried, and no 
 precipitation evinced towards him. He thanked 
 the court martial for their gentlemanly treatment, 
 submitted to his fate as a matter of course, and
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 403 
 
 with great firmness prepared himself for it. Three 
 months elapsed between his apprehension and 
 execution. But when he was led out to exe- 
 cution, and saw the gallows instead of the rifle, 
 his firmness, in some measure, forsook him. He 
 was elegantly dressed in his martial suit, and on 
 giving his cravat to his waiting man, only said, 
 " I die for the honour of my king and country;" 
 at which General Green, the American commander, 
 who presided in the midst of the surrounding 
 army on this sad occasion, shook his head, and ob- 
 served, " No! you die for your cowardice, and 
 like a coward !" 
 
 General Washington signed the order for his 
 death with great reluctance; but the army were 
 dissatisfied and demanded the sacrifice. The ex- 
 ample was necessary and salutary, and in its ge- 
 neral consequence calculated to deter men of ho- 
 nour and respectability from such military mean- 
 ness. Major Andr6 hoped to the last to escape. 
 The tories, of whom he was one, had previously 
 murdered some of the citizens and officers, in con- 
 sequence of which, General Washington deter- 
 mined on retaliation by executing one of the British 
 tory officers then prisoners, and ordered them to 
 draw lots to decide who of their number must die. 
 The lot fell on Sir Charles Asgill, who, but for the 
 French influence of Count Vergennes, and a most 
 pathetic letter from the baronet's mother, would 
 have been executed. 
 
 2 D 2
 
 404 MEMORABLE DAYS [April, 
 
 The quakers, about New Jersey, were very 
 loyal, and locked up the wells, and withheld all 
 aid from the rebels ! 
 
 Sunday, Wth. Fine breeze; sailing by Cape 
 Hatteras, to pass which occupied two days. A 
 strong current of air is here found, rushing to the 
 land, accompanied generally with tempestuous 
 gales. A gap in the Allegany mountains, towards 
 which this current rushes, is said to be the cause. 
 
 18th. At three o'clock this afternoon I landed 
 at Charleston, and found all nature in its most 
 beautiful attire. Peas and all kinds of summer ve- 
 getables are in great abundance, and the peach- 
 trees full of fruit. I found that my much respect, 
 ed friend, N. Russell, Esq. had died only a fort- 
 night since; he kindly inquired after me in his 
 extremity. 
 
 19th. I met my old shipmate, Mr. Moses 
 Wood. I bought twilled nankeen trowsers for 
 two dollars and a half. London clothes of good 
 and best kinds sell at lower prices than in London. 
 
 Rattlesnakes. A gentleman informed me that 
 he once shot a rattlesnake as thick as his thigh, 
 and 26 years old. Its age is known by its tail. 
 It was near biting him. A neighbour of his left 
 his house in search of his swine, and being long 
 away, his wife went after him and found him dead, 
 killed by a snake, to the bite of which the poor 
 deceased had applied a quid of tobacco, then 
 found sticking on the wound. Another neighbour,
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 405 
 
 who was also bitten, managed to walk home be- 
 fore he fell, but died very soon after his arrival. 
 I was told, also, of a planter, out with his dogs and 
 rifle after a deer, which he shot; but on bringing 
 it to lay on the horse, a rattlesnake struck the 
 man, who was found dead, with the buck and 
 horse, which being tied to a tree was starved to 
 death. Thus they were all found dead in one heap 
 together. 
 
 20tk. By conversation with Judge King, to 
 whom I presented J. Wright's pamphlet on slavery, 
 I learn that my negro case was much noticed, and 
 its exposure much and indignantly regretted. Mr. 
 King says that it was indiscreet in me to report 
 facts, except from the evidence of my own senses ! 
 If no testimony is to be received, but that of our 
 own eyes, half the evidence in the world is worth- 
 less. The Carolinians love slavery, and hate all 
 who hate it. Both Mr. King and Mr. Duncan state, 
 that in consequence of that affair, and of my being 
 a foreigner, a stranger in a strange land, if Gregory 
 should prosecute me for an advertisement, which 
 I found it necessary, in pursuing the claims on the 
 Kngeley property, to publish against him, I should 
 meet with but little mercy from the jury ! 
 
 21s. Called on Patrick Duncan, Esq., and 
 took a final leave of him and his beautiful gardens, 
 in which are oranges, figs, sugar-canes, pomegra- 
 nates, and the prairie grass of South America, soft 
 as silk in hand.
 
 406 MEMORABLE DAYS [April, 
 
 Received, from my warm-hearted Irish friend, 
 Mr. Wood, 50 dollars, an unsolicited loan, al- 
 though he knows me not. Here is faith, greater 
 than almost any I have yet found in America. 
 
 The slave-owners, in this state, must maintain 
 all their helpless and infirm slaves, or kill them 
 privately. They cannot become chargeable to the 
 parish, or state. O humanity, where art thou ! ! ! 
 As a punishment for the lassitude of age, or the 
 idleness of youth, a nigger is stripped naked, well 
 flogged, then dressed all over with treacle (or mo- 
 lasses) and hung up by his heels on a tree, in a 
 swamp full of flies and mosquitoes, which lick up 
 the sweets, and sting and bleed him dreadfully into 
 the bargain. He is then a living lump of inflamma- 
 tion. What ingenious torture this! how refined! how 
 honourable to the taste and ingenuity of a nation, 
 the freest of the free, and who boast of superabun- 
 dant polish and civilization ! 
 
 When with my cousin, Major Hugely, in May 
 last, I was presented with a beautiful black female 
 qaby, that could just creep, and which was given 
 and intended to be sent as a keepsake to my lady 
 in England ; but I, not being qualified for a nurse 
 at sea, nor indeed by land, declined this well-in- 
 tended gift. The Major then possessed a poor ne- 
 gro, who wishing to die, was constantly detected 
 in the act of eating dirt or lumps of earth, a habit 
 which procured for him a cow-hiding daily! I 
 might have had him, and branded him with my own
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 407 
 
 brand, F. As cattle it is necessary so to distinguish 
 one herd from another, and if they stray, or are 
 stolen, to advertise their persons, correctly de- 
 scribing the mark, or brand, which is deeply burnt 
 in, and never obliterated, unless it is cut out ! 
 
 Sunday, 23rd. 1 bade, this morning, a willing 
 and final farewell to Charleston city, and to all its 
 bugs, mosquitoes, negroes, and alligators, and a 
 race of people, many of whom seem not much bet- 
 ter than they. I left behind me some copies of J. 
 Wright's pamphlet on slavery, for his Excellency, 
 Governor Geddiss, the Attorney-General Haines, 
 the editor of the Courier, Mr. Thomas Mitchel, 
 and Mr. Judge King, the latter of whom promised 
 to keep his a profound secret. The press seems 
 here to be more enslaved than under the most des- 
 potic government. At night I found myself at 
 sea, 60 miles from Charleston, in the President for 
 New York. Fare, 25 dollars. 
 
 '25th. I saw two young alligators emigrating 
 to the north. Mr, Morse (the son of the geogra- 
 pher, Dr. Morse) states, that at Newhaven Univer- 
 sity, Connecticut, an education of four years costs 
 only 1,000 dollars, board included. The same 
 gentleman states, that in Connecticut, republican- 
 ism and equality exist in greater purity than in 
 any other part of the union. The farmers and 
 people generally live economically and comforta- 
 bly, surrounded with a cheap abundance of all the
 
 408 MEMORABLE DAYS [April, 
 
 necessaries of life, but they keep no domestic ser- 
 vants, gpde or female. They are their own ser- 
 vants. As to negroes, scarcely one is to be seen 
 in a day's travel. The people generally are so 
 well educated in this state, that almost any man is 
 qualified for a schoolmaster in any of the sister 
 states. Dr. Paley's moral philosophy is a text 
 book in their college. 
 
 26tk. A young gentleman on board, from the 
 state of Albania, says that Mobile, out of 600, lost 
 e530 inhabitants, by the yellow fever last summer. 
 In winter the population is from 2 to 3,000. 
 
 A dashing English gentleman travelling through 
 this state with a white servant behind him, rode 
 up to a one-room log-tavern, and begged the land- 
 lord to let him have a room to himself, which 
 was agreed to. In a few minutes up came two 
 native travellers, equals, who entered without ce- 
 remony, when the Englishman began to curse the 
 landlord for permitting the intrusion. He replied, 
 that he meant that the gentleman should have the 
 room to himself until other travellers came up. 
 
 29^. At ten this morning we made Sandyhook 
 light-house. The scenery here, all the way up to 
 the city of New York, is delightful. Perhaps the 
 views presented by this city and neighbourhood 
 are unequalled, both as it respects the beauties of 
 nature and the works of art. 1 landed at six 
 o'clock, and was introduced by Messrs. Morse
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 409 
 
 and Co. to the boarding-house of Mrs. Mudge, 
 where 1 met Mr. D wight, a brother of the late 
 eminent Dr. Dwight, now editor of the New York 
 Advertiser. In person this gentleman is said to 
 be much like the Doctor. 
 
 Sunday, 30th. I accompanied Mr. Morse to 
 the splendid Presbyterian church of the eloquent 
 Dr. Romaine, whose prayers are the most appro- 
 priate in manner and matter, and whose sermons 
 are, with the exception of Dr. Storton's, superior 
 to any I have heard in America. On this day, 
 the appearance of this large city is most orderly 
 and christian-like. This laudable change is at- 
 tributed to Sunday-schools. All places of wor- 
 ship are thronged, How unlike Washington city ! 
 Mr. Morse states that not only in New York, but 
 in all the east, a religious feeling generally per- 
 vades the people. 
 
 May \st. Passed over to Brooklyn, a beautiful 
 gay-looking village of great extent in Long Island, 
 in quest of my old friend, and western fellow-tra- 
 veller, Mr. Wheeler, whom I found three miles 
 from the city, living on a hired farm of about 
 30 acres of arable land, and six in wood, or rather 
 cedar, on which is a beautiful house, to which I 
 was warmly welcomed. It consists of six small 
 rooms and piazzas on each side, standing in an 
 orchard fronting the public road, which, for four 
 miles, is like one continued suburban village all 
 the way from New York. The farm cost, two
 
 410 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 years ago, without a house or well, 3,500 dollars, 
 and the house and well have since cost 1,500 
 dollars. Mr. Wheeler has hired this situation for 
 one year only, at the rent of 300 dollars, ten dol- 
 lars an acre, all poor and long-exhausted land, 
 insomuch that nothing can be raised without ma- 
 nure, which is bought at one dollar per load, and 
 hauled three miles. 
 
 Land, thus situated, is expected to be devoted 
 to raising garden-stuff, or to be occupied only as 
 a suburban retreat. The mere farmer can scarcely 
 live out of it, even if it is his own, unless he culti- 
 vates vegetables, and carries his milk to New 
 York market, in small quantities, daily. Those 
 who have lived here eighteen or twenty years, on 
 their own estates, have only just lived, saved no- 
 thing, and been always their own servants. Mr. 
 Wheeler has three servants, one black man, and a 
 white man and woman. The white man has 100 
 dollars a-year; the black man ten dollars a month; 
 and the woman five dollars and board, working 
 from sun-rise to dark. 
 
 2nd. After dinner, Mr. Wheeler ordered out 
 of the plough into the carriage, his pair of hand- 
 some greys, when, with the ladies, we drove to 
 the beautiful neighbouring villages of New-town, 
 Flushing, and Jamaica, at the latter of which is 
 the residence of Rufus King, Esq. a house by no 
 means equal to those of the village squires of 
 England, yet very inviting. Perhaps no where,
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 411 
 
 except in the vicinity of London and Bath, can a 
 more attractive ride of twenty miles be found ; 
 the whole distance of road, from the city, seeming 
 one continued village of new and handsome farm- 
 houses, with either a pleasure-garden, or green 
 pasture, or orchard, or all of them, in front of 
 almost every house, any of which may be bought, 
 boards being up, For sale, this farm. But the land, 
 in every direction, is poor, except where superior 
 and expensive management exists. Every thing is 
 sold from the land, which might make manure and 
 enrich it. The leaves of the forest trees now begin 
 to appear. The spring is late, yet the orchards 
 are in full bloom. The frost was severe last night. 
 
 Though he has three servants, Mr. Wheeler 
 cleans his own boots. They would not absolutely 
 refuse, but would do it reluctantly, and feel dis- 
 graced by the act; yet two of them are good 
 servants. A black servant lately broke into the 
 cellar and dairy of Mr. Wheeler, and stole all the 
 bread and meat he could find ; he is now in gaol. 
 About two years ago, in great rage with his sis- 
 ter, he caught hold of her head, and endeavoured, 
 with an axe, to chop it off; but not being able to 
 get it into a fit place, he chopped off two of her 
 fingers, and nailed them on the door-post ! 
 
 4th. I made, on horseback, the tour of York 
 island, about ten miles in length and two in 
 breadth. On one side is the noble Hudson, or great 
 North River, and on the other, the East River
 
 412 MEMORABLE DAYS 
 
 and Hell-gate, and the beautiful villages of Man- 
 hattan, Haarlem, and Greenwich. All the road 
 from the city, to the extremity of, and beyond the 
 isle, is adorned, on both sides, with the country- 
 seats and pleasure-grounds of rich citizens, who, 
 like those of London, every morning and evening 
 drive to and fro in great numbers. Perhaps 110 
 city in the world is so happily situated as that of 
 New York, standing on this island, with the sea 
 to the south, and these majestic rivers, from one 
 to two miles wide, on the north and east, the 
 banks of which are very high, and for twelve 
 miles crowned with mansions. The houses on 
 the roads, thus leading through the isle to the 
 city, have each from five to ten acres of green 
 pasture, park, or pleasure-gardens, which renders 
 them more rural, though less splendid than those 
 on the roads leading to London. I saw from fifty 
 to 100 convicts, heavily ironed, forming a new 
 road for the state ; receiving no pay nor shirts, 
 but only food. 
 
 1 visited the supreme court, and inquired for 
 Messrs. Emmett and Sampson, but saw not these 
 celebrated refugees. 
 
 Mr. Wheeler agreed to purchase a quantity of 
 seed corn from a neighbour, which was to be 
 picked, but much of it came in rotten. Mr. W. 
 returned the rotten part, and begged other corn 
 to be sent in its place. " No, send it all back ! 
 that is not the way we deal here ;" in great rage,
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 413 
 
 said the farmer, " you may do so in your country, 
 but not here." 
 
 5lh. Bade farewell to Long Island, and my 
 much esteemed friends, the Wheelers, who pres- 
 singly invited me to stay longer. I renewed my 
 invitation to them to come and make Whitehall 
 their home, when, if ever, they came to England. 
 
 I quitted New York, for Philadelphia, at ten 
 this morning. Left a history of Somersham for 
 Mr. F. Morse of JNewhaven. 
 
 Visited one of the packet-ships, the James 
 Monroe, the most complete I ever saw; every 
 birth is a state room. For forty guineas, it trans- 
 ports passengers to Liverpool in high style. All 
 are fed luxuriously. 
 
 6th. At six this morning, I left Borden town, on 
 the Delaware, where are the ruins of Joseph Bo- 
 naparte's house, about to be rebuilt. Sixty men 
 are employed already. The estate, consisting of 
 300 acres, all poor land, is now laying out into 
 pleasure-grounds, and park, enclosed with a fine 
 fence; it cost five dollars an acre. Joseph came 
 hither, it is said, with ten millions of dollars from 
 the Spanish treasury. 
 
 1 reached the City of Philadelphia at ten this 
 morning, just twenty-eight days after I left it, 
 since which time I have travelled about 2,000 
 miles, and rested eleven days. 
 
 Sunday, 1th. I was present when Dr. Storton,
 
 414 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 administered the rites of baptism to a large, re- 
 spectable auditory. He is rather pompous in his 
 expressions, and theatrical in his action and man- 
 ner, but certainly an accomplished man. He has 
 said that there is no preaching talent in America 
 but what is imported ; but this is not strictly true. 
 1 \.th. I wrote the following epistle to Mr. Day, 
 of St. Ives in England, by the ship Electra, bound 
 for London. 
 
 1820. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 At this distance of time and place, the recollec- 
 tion of you is replete with all that is good and 
 pleasant to me ; while the esteem and regard al- 
 ways professed and felt for you demand, at least, 
 one epistle, as a thing not to be withheld. I should 
 have had great pleasure in your correspondence, 
 but it is now too late, as my duties here are nearly 
 at an end, and by the time this reaches you, I hope, 
 under the guidance of gracious Providence, that 
 the compass," in unison with my heart, will be 
 pointing me towards my own home and country. 
 
 The inducements to emigrate, and the facilities of 
 living here, are neither so great nor so many as I 
 wished and expected to find them. The majority 
 of those who come are without capital and above 
 useful labour. Of this kind seem our friends 
 - and - , and others known to you, whose
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 415 
 
 prospects are, I assure you, very shadowy. I 
 speak impartially. Even capital, I believe, can 
 any where be better employed than here. And 
 as to labourers, there are more than can be paid. 
 By the late report of this city, it appeared that 
 1 1,000 within these walls were in a state of unem- 
 ployed pauperism ; while in one prison only, are 
 600 thieves and incendiaries, the natural fruits of . 
 increasing poverty. 
 
 Land, generally, is not property in this country, 
 because there is infinitely more than enough ; the 
 surplus, therefore, is worth nothing. What is al- 
 ready in cultivation by hired hands lessens, rather 
 than augments capital. Even potatoes, you know, 
 cannot be produced from one without the agency 
 of the other. The markets are all glutted, and 
 without foreign demand, a surplus produce is not 
 desirable, because unsaleable and perishable. 
 
 All travel is restless labour, and " vanity and 
 vexation of spirit." Its idea was once so supremely 
 fascinating to my ambition, that I thought I never 
 could have enough of it, and therefore wished my- 
 self doomed to perpetual travel. I have my wish, 
 or something like it, and it disappoints me. Dur- 
 ing the last two years I have indeed found " no 
 continuing city;" it is well if I seek and find one 
 to come. 1 fly from city to city, town to town, 
 state to state, climate to climate, with the velocity 
 of an eagle. I have frigid and tropical latitudes, 
 polar cold and equinoxial heat, wintry desolation,
 
 416 MEMORABLE" DAYS [May, 
 
 and the summery foliage of oranges and myrtles, 
 all in the short space of one week, or less. For 
 although this beautiful city of William Penn lies in 
 an Egyptian latitude, winter has not long been 
 over; whereas, it never enters the city of Charles- 
 ton, which I have just quitted, where 
 
 " Blossoms and fruits and flowers together rise, 
 " And all the year in rich confusion lies." 
 
 The male youth generally of this, and other cities, 
 are remarkably polished, sprightly and prepos- 
 sessing in their exterior; being of tall and slender 
 figures, and looking free and easy, without any thing 
 like levity, for each puts on all the airs, manners, 
 actions, and opinions of men, with hisjirst pair of 
 breeches, and expects to be treated as a man. But 
 ringlets decorate the faces of both sexes, and in 
 other respects all are dandies, male and female ! The 
 young ladies generally are not so handsome as the 
 males ; though beauty is not rare amongst them. 
 A woman's duties and province are, I think, yet 
 undiscovered. She is here, that is, in all sections 
 south of the Delaware, a little divinity, to whom all 
 must bend, give place, and pay idle homage; her 
 tyranny is great, her influence unbounded. Her 
 lover, or husband, is outwardly her slave; but as 
 a wife, mother, mistress, she must yield to my un- 
 equalled countrywomen. Youth here, is of very 
 short duration; all soon look old; and "all the 
 days of the years of this vain life," soon come to 
 an end. Religion and duty seem but little under-
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 417 
 
 stood, and less regarded, except it be to ascertain 
 how little of either may suffice. Paley's Moral 
 Philosophy has been, m perhaps, the text book of 
 the educated, who are very numerous; yet but 
 few live and die practical philosophers. Death is 
 little dreaded, and often, as in duelling 1 , voluntarily 
 embraced. Two selfish gods, Pleasure and Gain* 
 enslave the Americans. The scum of all the earth 
 is drifted here. 
 
 As this is sent off about a month after my other, 
 and will be my last letter from this country, I wish 
 you to inform my good father, if living, and Mr. 
 Fugle, of my present refuge and intended return, 
 and assure them of my best regards. My beloved 
 child, who, by-the-bye, would become in part your 
 ward if I returned no more, is very precious in my 
 sight; if you knew her, I should beg you to pro- 
 nounce a father's blessing on her ; but it comes to 
 her on every western breeze. When I can, I will 
 teach her to esteem you, and perpetuate, what is 
 of little value, the disinterested and most sincere 
 friendship of, 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Your very obedient servant, 
 W. FAUX. 
 
 llth. Mistrust and suspicion are general in 
 Philadelphia. The cause is a general disregard 
 or violation of duty. Two respectable quakers 
 
 would not suffer Mr. to owe them eight 
 
 2 E
 
 418 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 dollars for a day or two, though guaranteed by 
 a second person, who, for any thing they knew, 
 might be respectable ; so they took out two pieces 
 of muslin to reduce the bill down to the funds in 
 hand. " Notwithstanding this guarantee," said the 
 quaker, " I will, and must have the thing squared." 
 The representative of my friend then paid the com- 
 plete balance. I was present at this transaction, 
 and feeling both pained and amused, began to spe- 
 culate upon it, and to consider what could have 
 generated this general suspicion and mistrust. It 
 is the common effect of some cause. What cause? 
 A general violation or neglect of some prominent 
 duties, not directly guarded by the laws, but the 
 observance of which is indispensable to the good 
 of mankind every where. Culpability of this kind, 
 in not doing to others as we would be done by, 
 does more injury to the world than all the thieves 
 and incendiaries put together ; because the conse- 
 quence in one case is particular, in the other illi- 
 mitable. If I act justly towards my neighbour, 
 I confer both temporal and moral good on him and 
 on myself. But it stops not here : he learns there- 
 by its value, and acts in like manner towards 
 others. On the other hand, if I violate my duty to 
 him, he retaliates not only on me, but on others 
 indiscriminately. He thinks he has been honest 
 and unsuspicious long enough, and bids adieu to 
 rectitude perhaps for ever. 
 
 Last month at Dover, Delaware, Squire Loper
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 419 
 
 received sentence of the court for passing forged 
 notes, knowing them to be so. He had been in 
 the commission of the peace for 20 years, and re- 
 ceived the forged notes from a gang convicted be- 
 fore him of forgery. The notes had remained in 
 his hands ever since. A month ago, he desired a 
 gentleman, a neighbour of his, going to Philadel- 
 phia, to buy him some iron, and meeting the gen- 
 tleman privately, gave him fifty dollars, saying, 
 " Take notice it is a fifty dollar note," and gave 
 it him carefully wrapped in paper. When the 
 bearer offered it for the iron, it was discovered to 
 be one of the forged notes, well known to have 
 been offered by the gang before. The gentleman 
 had some difficulty in keeping out of the Peniten- 
 tiary. On proving himself not to be a party con- 
 cerned, and promising to bring the Squire forward, 
 he was released. The Squire admitted the note 
 to be forged, and said, he gave it to his friend only 
 in joke. On being arrested, he was treated with 
 great liberality, but he acted haughtily and fool- 
 ishly. On his trial he would not employ counsel 
 nor set up any defence ; but in a cool, sneering man- 
 ner said, that the note was given in joke, and the 
 court might do as they would. He was sentenced 
 to six months' solitary confinement, thirty-nine 
 lashes, and never after to pass out of his own house 
 in Dover without the letter F, a foot long in scarlet, 
 on his back, on pain of another six months' confine- 
 ment and thirty-nine stripes. But so great was the 
 
 2E 2
 
 420 MEMORABLE DAYS 
 
 public pity for him, in court and out, both with 
 judge and jury, that the prison door was left open 
 for him in hope that he would escape and quit the 
 neighbourhood for ever. He did escape into the 
 town only, and came back to prison voluntarily, 
 where no such chance is again to be afforded him. 
 
 At night, 1 went to the black church, where the 
 black minister shewed much uncultivated talent. 
 After sermon they began singing merrily, and con- 
 tinued, without stopping, one hour, till they became 
 exhausted and breathless. " Oh ! come to Zion, 
 come!" " Hallelujah, &c." And then, " O won't 
 you have my lovely bleeding Jasus," a thousand 
 times repeated in full thundering chorus to the 
 tune of " Fol de rol." While all the time they 
 were clapping hands, shouting, and jumping, and 
 exclaiming, " Ah Lord ! Good Lord ! Give me 
 Jasus! Amen." At half-past ten this meeting 
 broke up. For an hour it seemed like Bedlam 
 let loose. At the close, one female said, striking 
 the breasts of two male friends, " We had a 
 happy time of it." 
 
 IQth. Last week, in the state of Delaware, the 
 High Sheriff had to perform the duty of Jack 
 Ketch, and hang his own nephew, for the murder 
 of his own mother, the Sheriff's sister. The youth 
 killed her by striking her with a club on the temple. 
 In the same neighbourhood and the same week 
 another youth was sent to gaol for poisoning his un- 
 cle, a rich old gentleman, who being childless, had
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 421 
 
 taken this nephew into the house and made him 
 heir to all; but the youth being impatient, went to 
 a dru^i st for arsenic, which he said was to kill 
 the rats, that every night kept his uncle from 
 sleeping. He mixed a portion of it in a glass of 
 apple-toddy and gave it to his uncle, but in so 
 large a portion that it began to operate immedi- 
 ately, on which the old man said, "You have 
 given me something to do me harm." The youth 
 denied it, but the old man grew rapidly sick, and 
 feeling conscious that he was poisoned and should 
 die before the distant doctor could arrive, got 
 out the will in favor of the ungrateful youth, and 
 having burnt it, died soon after. 
 
 A short time ago, the friends of a murderer, 
 under sentence of death in Pennsylvania, con- 
 spired together to procure a pardon from the go- 
 vernor, by threats and intimidation. Their plan 
 was to get the governor into a room to themselves, 
 and offer him his own life for the pardon of Lieut. 
 Smith, the convict, who had cohabited with Mrs. 
 Carson, and taken possession of her house and 
 property, during the absence of her husband, Cap- 
 tain Carson. When the latter returned and de- 
 manded his wife and property, he was shot dead 
 in his own house by Smith. The governor had 
 intelligence of the plot, and seized the conspirators 
 before they could carry their design into effect. 
 
 Sunday, 2lst. Quitted Philadelphia on board 
 the steam-boat. A gentleman, Lieut. Skinner, 'of
 
 422 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 the United States' navy, from the Franklin, just 
 arrived from Gibraltar, states, that the sailors, on 
 settling accounts, will go on shore and spend the 
 balance, several hundred dollars, in two or three 
 days, lavishing from 100 to 200 dollars a-day, un- 
 til all is gone, when they re-enter. So indifferent 
 are they to the use and value of money, that they 
 give it away, and suffer any person to plunder 
 them with impunity. The cause, says he, of this 
 indifference and insane extravagance, is to be found 
 in the strictness and severity of the discipline on 
 board, where money is of no use to them. 
 
 Duelling. So frequent were these meetings be- 
 tween the officers of the United States' navy and 
 the British garrison, that the governor felt com- 
 pelled to interfere, in order to save life, as one or 
 two duels occurred daily, originating in the most 
 foolish disputes. 
 
 The parties met always on neutral ground. For 
 any expression uttered by one officer of the 64th 
 regiment, a general challenge was sent by the offi- 
 cers of the United States' navy to the regiment; 
 wishing to include all, from the colonel down to 
 the lowest in rank. 
 
 Two young Americans, of New York, at Gib- 
 raltar, met in consequence of a trifling dispute. 
 The offending party fired three times without hit- 
 ting, while his opponent fired every time into the 
 air, begging the other to apologize, saying, " If I 
 take aim I shall kill you, but I can stand all your
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 423 
 
 fires." This concession was, however, obstinately 
 refused ; on which the seconds stepped forward, 
 and said to the party who had acted so generously, 
 " Sir, you must fire in your own defence !" Both 
 again charged, and Sands, the aggressor, fell dead. 
 The survivor was arrested, but acquitted with ho- 
 nour ; being told by his commander, that if he had 
 not acted thus, he would not have received him 
 again into the service. The young reprobate who 
 fell, was a classical scholar, of fine person and 
 great mental accomplishments, but ripe for per- 
 dition. 
 
 I'lnd. I reached Washington city, now emptied 
 of the wise men, and which, after quitting Phila- 
 delphia, seems mean, indeed, both morally and 
 physically. All the bogs and swamps, in and 
 round the city, are now full of melody, from the 
 big, bellowing bull frog, down to the little singing 
 mosquito, while rotting carcases and other nui- 
 sances perfume the warm southern breezes. 
 
 A lady, in a letter to Mr. Thomas Coote, from 
 New Orleans, states that eighteen American pi- 
 rates under sentence of death, in the jail of that 
 city, have many friends, much intent upon effect- 
 ing a rescue, by forcing the prison, which is 
 strongly guarded by the military. Every night 
 almost, for this purpose, mobs collect around it 
 and set fire to distant parts of-the city, in order to 
 divert the attention of the guards from the prison. 
 Great alarm exists on the subject, and it is feared,
 
 424 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 that on the day of execution, much blood will be 
 spilt. 
 
 One hundred sail of slave-ships, full of slaves, 
 appeared in sight, one day, during this spring, off 
 the coast of Africa. Several of them were fast- 
 sailing vessels, built, owned, and manned by the 
 free citizens of free America. Some were chased 
 and taken by the British and American navy. 
 This trade is now considered to be more extensive 
 than ever. 
 
 30th. Visited Mr. Dunn, who states that the 
 small red squirrel, of this state, is seen to seize and 
 castrate, in a moment, the large grey squirrel, 
 which greatly fears and always flies at the sight of 
 the former. 
 
 Are those English people who are now in Ame- 
 rica happier than they were in England ? I will 
 take upon me to pronounce, that in the aggregate, 
 they are not. Happiness and misery are not mere 
 localities, for as God is the father of all, the earth 
 is his and the fulness thereof; his frowns or smiles 
 are not bounded by geographical lines and lati- 
 tudes; the whole human family are under his wise 
 economy. God's management is always right. 
 He can blast prosperity and bless disappointment, 
 so as to keep it from disappointing; thus bringing 
 good out of evil, light out of darkness, blessings 
 out of curses, and curses out of blessings. Bless- 
 ings unblessed are curses in disguise, and adver- 
 sity blessed is a blessing. We need his bless-
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 425 
 
 ing upon every thing, even on his blessings. I am 
 sorneHmes disposed to think that the blessings of 
 American liberty are unblessed. 
 
 Mr. Elliott deems universal suffrage, as it exists 
 in America, an universal evil, because the worst 
 and meanest of mankind, who are the most nu- 
 merous every where, are enabled to exert an over- 
 whelming influence over the good and the honour- 
 able. .Every man here is a segment of the govern- 
 ment. Mean and evil men seek to represent their 
 like. A good man cannot descend to the mean 
 mode of popularity; he cannot bribe with whiskey; 
 he cannot promise what is evil to perform; and 
 therefore but few good men are in the government. 
 Antipathy to Englishmen, and whatever they sug- 
 gest, is general and nearly national. 
 
 For the following very interesting, original, and 
 last letter of a distinguished, yet unfortunate artist, 
 1 am indebted to an old philosophical friend, 
 whose well-judged opinions of and extensive ac- 
 quaintance with men and things, make his senti- 
 ments precious and almost oracular. Let him 
 here receive my thanks for the many pleasant 
 hours which I spent in his company, and for the 
 rich materials of thinking gathered from him. 
 
 Washington, September 5th, 1820. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I embrace the opportunity of writing to you by 
 the favour of Mrs. Orris. I enclose a letter received
 
 426 MEMORABLE DAYS [May, 
 
 from the celebrated Francis Guy, landscape pain- 
 ter, who lately died at New York. He was at the 
 head of his profession in this country, and per- 
 haps m<he world. He was born near Keswick, 
 in Cumberland, England. I knew him well, and 
 esteemed him highly, as well for his virtues as his 
 talents. In this letter, (which I believe was the 
 last he wrote, it being dated only a few days be- 
 fore his death) you will know the opinion of many 
 artists, who have left their country to seek for 
 food and fame in this, and see how they are re- 
 warded for the exercise of their talents in this 
 great republic of North America. He (Guy) told 
 me that he had not received 50 cents per day for his 
 labours I You are welcome to any use of this 
 letter. 
 
 Buildings seem to rise very fast, notwithstand- 
 ing the badness of the times, as they are termed. 
 
 Please to favour me with a letter as soon as con- 
 venient. I am in daily expectation of the nuts, 
 &c. The ground has been ploughed some weeks 
 for their reception. I am in good health, but my 
 mother, my wife, my brother, his wife, and oldest 
 child are all very sick. 
 
 Please accept my best wishes for your welfare. 
 The club also wish to be remembered to you. 
 
 Your Old Friend. 
 To Mr. Faux.
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 427 
 
 Brooklyn, Long Island, 
 June 29th, 1820. 
 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 I received yours, with its inclosures, in due 
 time, and it would be a difficult thing for me to 
 describe the pleasure I feel at seeing such a proof 
 of your continued friendship. There is, indeed, a 
 something in a real upright and downright honest 
 John Bull, that cannot be found in the sly, say-no- 
 thing, smiling, deep speculating, money-hunting Jo- 
 nathans of this all-men-are-born-equally-free-and- 
 independent, negro-driving, cow-skin republic. 
 
 It is surely wrong to be content with nothing, 
 because not blessed with all. We see bad effects, 
 we hate them, and we grumble, but ten to one it is 
 because we are unacquainted with the cause from 
 whence they spring; but there is one self-evident, 
 hell-born cause of endless ills in this land, which, 
 for want of a better name, we will call avarice. 
 From Maine to Georgia, on all occasions, the 
 general question is, How much shall I get by it? 
 What will it fetch me? Pray what benefit will that 
 be to me? &c. &c. From this, man-stealing, mail 
 robberies, piracy, murders, thefts, swindling, for- 
 geries, lying, cheating, slavery, whips, gags, chains, 
 and all the black catalogue of monstrous ills pro- 
 ceed. Indeed, that angel who is described by Mil- 
 ton as being more fond of admiring Heaven's 
 golden pavement, than any thing glorious aloft, 
 is the ruling god of this nation ; and in imitation
 
 428 MEMORABLE DAYS [June, 
 
 of him, they are for ever chasing dollars, walking 
 half bent under the accursed dominion of selfish 
 views. But death, the mighty hunter, will catch 
 them all, and then, in company with their god 
 Belial, they will enjoy the name, title, and privi- 
 lege of fools. There is a national church liturgy 
 in England, and if ever there should be one adopted 
 here, the following I think ought to form a part of 
 it. 
 
 Money, money, is all our cry, 
 
 Money, the total sum ! 
 Give us money or else we die j 
 
 O let thy money come ! 
 
 But I am rambling from the Capitol. Your son 
 has drawn it very well, but I wish he had drawn 
 it on a larger scale, that the order of columns and 
 windows might have been more distinct. However, 
 it is the wrong side of the building; it is the east 
 front and north end that I must paint, looking 
 down to wards George-town, and the place I sketch- 
 ed the view from was just above your house; there- 
 fore I must paint the east front and north end. 
 This, like a fool, I forgot to inform you of; but if 
 both fronts are to be alike, then what you have 
 sent will do; if not, then I will thank both you 
 and him to send me another drawing, at least so 
 far as the centre of the east front differs from that 
 of the west. 
 
 Since I wrote the above, Mr. King, the painter, 
 has been in this place, and informs us that both
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 429 
 
 fronts of the capitol will be the same; therefore, if 
 that be so, what you have sent will answer; and 
 when I come to your place in the fall, I will re- 
 ward your son for his drawing, or if he choose to 
 make a charge, I will send the money by the post, 
 whatever it may be. 
 
 Give my dutiful respects to Dr. Thornton, and 
 tell him that 1 wish he could see the picture of 
 Washington city when it is .finished I think it 
 will be a grand sight. I am now painting a large 
 view of Chichester, in England, for Governor Clin- 
 ton; in which his likeness, with those of Judge 
 Miller and Doctor Mitchel, are to be painted on 
 the fore-ground. 1 wish the doctor could see this 
 paradise scenery also. You talk of coming to 
 York ; I wonder if ever I shall have the pleasure 
 of seeing you here. In your last, you ask if J 
 have any communications to send. Perhaps 1 may 
 have some to send concerning myself, for be as- 
 sured that if we do not now condescend to go out 
 of our old beaten track, we must fall through thick 
 and thin. When that should be, it would be no sin 
 to do one of the worst things in the world, that is, 
 turn one's own trumpeter. 
 
 God prosper you in all your good ways, keep 
 you from all .bad ones, and may you live con- 
 tented, and die happy ! 
 
 FRANCIS GUY. 
 
 Thus you see I have written a letter, and on one
 
 430 MEMORABLE DAYS [June, 
 
 account or another delayed sending it until there 
 is need to write another, to make an apology for 
 the neglect. Indeed, my good wife has been very 
 unwell, and my concern for her made me forget 
 every thing else. This I know you will say is a 
 good and weighty excuse. JF. G. 
 
 June Wt/i. News of firing the City of New 
 Orleans, in order to effect a rescue of the pirates, 
 reached this city this day. We hear, also, of the 
 Choctaw Indians fighting, 150 opposed to 150, to 
 avenge the death of an old woman, killed for a 
 witch. They fought until both sides, with the 
 exception of ten or twelve, were all killed. 
 
 A man was taken and nearly killed, last week, 
 disguised as the devil, in the act of extorting 150 
 dollars from a farmer. He was dressed, and spit 
 fire and brimstone, like a proper devil. He is 
 now in prison. A Yankee traveller, lodging for 
 the night, struck this felonious devil to the ground 
 with a club, at the second visit to receive dollars, 
 instead of paper, as at first offered by the farmer 
 for the ransom of his body and soul. 
 
 12th. I met again Mr. Perry from Carlisle, 
 Pennsylvania. He states that the land and farms 
 there are the best in America; the average of 
 wheat being about eighteen bushels an acre. The 
 best land is to be bought occasionally at fifty 
 dollars an acre, with improvements which have 
 cost all the money; so that the land is given.
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 431 
 
 Here, he says, an English farmer may, as a far- 
 mer, find much animal comfort, but no good so- 
 ciety ; the mass of the farmers and people being 
 vile, dishonest, and without any good principles 
 whatever. All try to rob and wrong you, and 
 each other, and will do it if you associate, or deal 
 in any way with them ; and they will do it with- 
 out any shame, being shameless. An honest man, 
 though rich, must be soon ruined, if he puts con- 
 fidence in them. " All are tarred with the same 
 brush." The farmers all work. One, worth ten 
 or twelve thousand dollars, brought in to Mr. 
 Perry a waggon load of hay, which he warranted 
 was a ton, though it was only sixteen cwt. Out 
 of a farm of good land, consisting of 500 acres, a 
 farmer does not find above 300 dollars a-year for 
 the purchase of such necessaries as the "family 
 need from the store. No money is, therefore, to 
 be made by farming, and the poor live in want all 
 winter, at which time their labour is to be had for 
 victuals only, and now for 25 cents a-day. From 
 sober calculation, he finds that four per cent, is the 
 most that can be obtained from capital employed 
 in agriculture, though six per cent, is the legal 
 interest. He would, a thousand times, rather give 
 five or six guineas an acre rent, for land at Fever- 
 sham in Kent, than have it here rent-free ; for, after 
 paying this heavy rent and taxes and labour, he 
 should have a good living profit in England, 
 where the climate is good, but here, one year
 
 432 MEMORABLE DAYS [June, 
 
 wears you out more that seven in England. 
 Grasshoppers too, here, are a plague, destroying 
 everything, in the pestilential months of August 
 and September. There is no money; all is done 
 by barter. 
 
 He would recommend me and others to stick 
 by England while we can live in it, for he is sure, 
 that if people in England would attend to their 
 duties, and condescend to the meannesses and 
 drudgeries every where practised here, they must 
 live, and live better at home than ever they can 
 here. And besides, though things are bad, there 
 is a hope of better times. Here, there is no hope; 
 things will be worse; for, with such an unprinci- 
 pled, vile race of people, how is it possible that 
 liberty and happiness can be secure? They know 
 nothing of the nature of liberty, nor want to know. 
 Law, justice, equity, liberty, are things unknown 
 amongst them. In England, there is a good 
 sound core, and seed that must always vegetate ; 
 here, all is rottenness. Mr. Perry believes, that 
 grazing cattle in Pennsylvania, would pay much 
 better than cultivating. 
 
 18/A. I re-visited Dr. Dawes's farm, which 
 being in a state of complete exhaustion, is unable 
 to produce again even the seed of any thing sown; 
 the rye not affording 'what is commonly scattered 
 for gleaners in England, while the peas, tares, and 
 lentils rise not a foot high. This land can only 
 be restored to fruitfulness by rest, clover, plaster,
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 433 
 
 and manure, and plenty of cattle and sheep to 
 depasture and manure it. 
 
 ISth. This being a beautiful morning, the 
 Doctor ordered out his curricle, and we drove to 
 the seat and plantation of the Right Honourable 
 T. Law, accompanied by Mr. Joel Simpson. I 
 having been introduced to Mr. Law, was appointed 
 spokesman, and stood rapping at the hall of 
 entrance ten minutes before I was heard. At 
 last came a naked, dirty-legged, bare-footed little 
 girl, to say that Mr. Law was not at home, nor 
 likely to be before night. Soon after, came her 
 father, the overseer, who " regretted that Mr. Law 
 was absent at an agricultural dinner, as he was 
 happy to see all callers." He, at my request, 
 shewed us the garden, the farm, and the stock. 
 The farm, about 250 acres, is beautifully situated 
 on high hills, two miles from the Potowmac, but 
 so stony and unfruitful, that its cultivation is a 
 serious expense, rather than a benefit, it being un- 
 able to maintain itself. The garden and orchard, 
 a few acres, seem equally poor ; small quantities 
 of its produce are, however, sent from it occasion- 
 ally to market. At the bottom of it is a spa, or 
 mineral spring, in which the proprietor bathes. 
 The horses are all poor and fleshless, but the 
 cattle and cows, about twelve in number, fat. A 
 cow and a bull of the Yorkshire breed, from 
 England, dislike (says the man) this climate. 
 
 2 F
 
 434 MEMORABLE DAYS [Jlllie, 
 
 The cow gives but little miik, and pines for the 
 sweet, green pastures of her dear native land. 
 
 The English labourers, sent over to this farm, 
 are all gone, being drunken and worthless, and 
 withal, so uncivil and conceited, that Mr. Law, 
 who likes men to talk freely with him, could 
 scarcely get a civil answer from any of them. We 
 were at last conducted into the house, and intro- 
 duced to a pint of whiskey. We saw no house- 
 servants, but heard one, a female slave recently 
 bought, the only slave Mr. Law owns. He lives in 
 great simplicity. The house is better than the 
 best American farm-houses ; still, it is not a man- 
 sion, but rather something between both. In the 
 centre and front, is a large oblong room, the 
 largest in the house, and resembling a hall of 
 entrance, at each end of which is a smaller room 
 for the winter, and on the other side, being a 
 double house, are three small summer rooms, 
 and chambers over the whole. The road through 
 the farm up to the house is serpentine, and planted 
 with dying shrubs. It is rough, stony, and diffi- 
 cult of ascent, and the entrance-gate (where might 
 stand a porter's lodge) is meaner than a hog-pen- 
 gate. In this retreat dined the President and 200 
 gentlemen last week. The society admitted here 
 is select, and the principal attraction to it is Mr, 
 Law, who is kind, agreeable, and benevolent to 
 all. In his personal appearance, he is small, lean,
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 435 
 
 withered, and rustic. His nose, however, is noble, 
 like Lord Ellenborough's, but his mind is per- 
 haps nobler than that of any of the family, al- 
 though he lives in greater simplicity than a coun- 
 try squire of England. 
 
 21 st. An old Scotsman, a perfect stranger, 
 this morning conscientiously brought back cloth 
 
 to Mr. 's store, to be re-measured, the 
 
 same containing, he found, several yards more 
 than he had paid for, or expected to find. A mis- 
 take had occurred in measuring. An American 
 lady of respectability, also of this city, was stand- 
 ing by, and, in the greatest astonishment, ex- 
 claimed : " What ! bring it back because there 
 is too much measure? Well, who ever heard 
 the like? I would not have done so, I'll warrant 
 ye." " O, my dear madam," said he, " 1 could 
 not, would not, have it without paying for it ; it is 
 not mine." The proprietor of the store observed, 
 very significantly, looking her ladyship in the face, 
 " Madam, I know of only one rule, and that is, 
 to do unto others as you would that they should 
 do unto you." She blushed, and said no more. 
 This shameless, unprincipled, selfishness is very 
 universal. It is customary, with this people, never 
 to point out defects in goods, or errors in accounts, 
 when such defects and errors exist in their favour. 
 The qualities, honesty and dishonesty, as exem- 
 plified in these two characters, seemed as if they 
 were natural. 
 
 2 F 2
 
 436 MEMORABLE DAYS . [June, 
 
 -23rd. The mayor of this city, Samuel N. 
 Smallwood, Esq. now mayor for the second time, 
 came here, twenty years ago, a penny less me- 
 chanic, but being industrious, grew with the 
 growth, and strengthened with the strength, of 
 this infant metropolis. His mother was a yellow 
 woman, and his origin is still distinguishable in 
 his curled hair, which he keeps close shorn. This, 
 further south, would have been a sin never to be 
 forgiven. He is a man of talent, and lives much 
 respected. 
 
 This day I passed a pleasant farm on the eas- 
 tern branch of the Potowmac, half of it bottom 
 land, and running a mile and a half along the shore, 
 with a good house and offices, orchards, and 
 large gardens. The hills are poor, and covered 
 with woods, amongst which cattle and pigs graze, 
 and breed, and fatten. It contains 667 acres, to 
 be bought at sixty dollars an acre, works twenty, 
 and might work thirty negroes, worth 9,000 dol- 
 lars. It requires an additional capital of 6,000 or 
 7,000 dollars, for cultivating. Although much 
 of this pleasant plantation is in wood, yet it is said 
 to produce annually, t
 
 J820.] IN AMERICA. 437 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 Of Tobacco, 3,000 
 
 Corn and grain, 3,000 
 
 Garden-stuff, 3,000 
 
 Cattle and pigs, bred and fed, . . 2,000 
 
 Rent of fishery, ....... 500 
 
 Butter, J,000 
 
 If the fishery were fished by the owner, 
 it would make additional 
 
 Thus is a capital of 55,000 dollars employed, 
 
 , netting twelve per cent., but the authority relied 
 
 upon, in thus stating the case, is not the best. 
 
 The Patriot pilot-boat, last war, sailed from 
 New York to Charleston city, for the Governor of 
 South Carolina's Lady, Mrs. Allstone, Mr. Burr's 
 daughter, then at Charleston, who, with Mr. 
 Green, her brother-in-law, and servant, plate and 
 specie, sailed from Charleston. They were heard 
 of no more, until last mouth, when one of the 
 pirates, under sentence of death at New Orleans, 
 confessed that he and others, of the crew of the 
 Patriot, rose upon the captain and the passengers, 
 confined them below, scuttled the vessel, and 
 abandoned her, taking to the boat, in which, with 
 all the money and plate they could find, they
 
 438 MEMORABLE DAYS [JuilC, 
 
 landed on the coast of North Carolina, while the 
 vessel, and all it contained, sunk to rise no more. 
 
 30th. I re-visited the seat of Mr. Law, in com- 
 pany with Mr. Elliott, and the Rev. J. Wright. 
 Mr. Law was dining out, three miles from home. 
 I saw him not, but kept possession of the house 
 three hours. 
 
 Mr. Law told a friend of mine that he brought 
 100,000 guineas in gold, but could not now raise, 
 by any means, at a short notice, 1,000/. City lots 
 and land allured him almost to ruin. Land seems 
 a substance, but is yet only a shadow in many 
 neighbourhoods. 
 
 A common hot day at Washington. The wind 
 southerly, like the breath of an oven; the ther- 
 mometer vacillating between 90 and 100; the 
 sky blue and cloudless ; the sun shedding a blaz- 
 ing light; the face of the land, and every thing 
 upon it, save trees, withered, dusty, baked, and 
 continually heated, insomuch that water would 
 almost hiss on it ; the atmosphere swarming with 
 noxious insects, flies, bugs, mosquitoes, and grass- 
 hoppers, and withal so drying, that all animal 
 and vegetable life is exposed to a continual pro- 
 cess of exhaustion. The breezes, if any, are per- 
 fumed by nuisances of all sorts, emptied into the 
 streets, rotting carcases, and the exhalations of 
 dismal swamps, made vocal and alive with toads, 
 lizards, and bellowing bull-frogs. Few people 
 are stirring, except negroes ; all faces, save those
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 439 
 
 of blacks, pale, languid, and lengthened with las- 
 situde, expressive of any thing but ease and 
 happiness. Now and then an emigrant or two 
 fall dead at the cold spring, or fountain; others 
 are lying on the floor, flat on their backs; all, 
 whether idle or employed, are comfortless, being 
 in an everlasting steam-bath, and feeling offensive 
 to themselves and others. At table, pleased with 
 nothing, because both vegetable and animal food 
 is generally withered, toughened, and tainted ; 
 the beverage, tea or coffee, contains dead flies; 
 the beds and bed-rooms, at night, present a smo- 
 thering unaltering warmth, the walls being tho- 
 roughly heated, and being withinside like the 
 outside of an oven in continual use. Hard is the 
 lot of him who bears the heat and burthen of this 
 day, and pitiable the fate of the poor emigrant 
 sighing in vain for comforts, cool breezes, whole- 
 some diet, and the old friends of his native land. 
 At midnight, the lightning-bugs and bull-frogs 
 become luminous and melodious. The flies seem 
 an Egyptian plague, and get mortised into the 
 oily butter, which holds them like bird-lime. 
 
 Having requested some communication on the 
 subject of farming, and other matters, in Penn- 
 sylvania, from a friend, possessing great experi- 
 ence, I was favoured with the following heads, 
 which contain much information in a condensed 
 form.
 
 440 MEMORABLE DAYS [June, 
 
 \st. Pennsylvania. The land is of the first 
 quality, and the best farming in the United States 
 is found here. The climate is of a medium tem- 
 perature, but the extremes meet as in the olher 
 states. 
 
 2nd. Crops. The average produce is sixteen 
 bushels, per acre, of wheat; other grain in pro- 
 portion ; but the crops are very subject to the 
 Hessian fly and mildew. 
 
 3rd. Fruit. As in the other states, it is inferior 
 to that of Europe, and no dependence is to be 
 placed on crops. 
 
 4th. Garden. One acre of land in England, 
 produces more vegetables than five acres in the 
 United States, taking the year throughout. N.B. 
 This matter has been most grossly misrepresented. 
 
 6th. Grazing Land. During five months in the 
 year, there is no pasture for cattle. 
 
 6tk. Price of Land. Varies from 50 to 100 
 dollars with improvements, that is, with a good 
 house and barn. 
 
 7th. Timber. Sufficient exists at present ; but 
 should the population increase rapidly, it will 
 become a scarce article. 
 
 8th. Game. Scarce; which is generally the 
 case through the States. No country in the world 
 is worse supplied with game, and in a few years 
 the game will be entirely annihilated, owing to 
 the extreme inclemency of the winters, and there 
 being no cover for them in the woods.
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 441 
 
 9th. Fish. Taking the States through, the sup- 
 ply of this article is trifling. 
 
 Wth. Farmers. The generality of this class are 
 Germans of the lowest grade ; industrious, but 
 nothing further, and forming no society for an Eng- 
 lish yeoman. The rest of the population is com- 
 posed of descendants of the old settlers and of low 
 people of Irish origin. 
 
 llth. Residence. An emigrant requires at the 
 least twelve months. N.B. The United States 
 teem with jobbing lawyers, land speculators, and 
 swindlers. 
 
 IZth. Grazing and stall-feeding cattle for mar- 
 ket. This line might be followed to advantage 
 with a capital of 4,000 dollars, and with what is 
 of more consequence, the knowledge of dealing or 
 trafficking, for without such knowledge the noble 
 \vould soon be reduced to nine-pence. A twelve 
 months' residence is, therefore, indispensably ne- 
 cessary, for without being fully initiated in the dia- 
 bolical arts of lying out, swearing out, swindling 
 out, and thieving out, ruin is inevitable. 
 
 13th. Society. There is none for an English- 
 man of the old school, who would scorn to tell a 
 lie, or see his fellow man in want. 
 
 14th. Happiness. Must be found in your own 
 family ; the fruits of your farm will supply every 
 want, and whilst the government of the United 
 States continues as at present, you will be secured 
 in that happiness.
 
 442 MEMORABLE DAYS [June, 
 
 15th. One matter I had almost forgot, which 
 I, must not omit to mention, as you most likely 
 will be asked questions on the subject by many of 
 that most useful and invaluable class, English hus- 
 bandmen. . 
 
 1st. Wages. The highest wages given at this 
 time for harvest are, 2s. 3d. per day, English mo- 
 ney, and found in provision and bad whiskey. 
 
 2nd. Working hours. From sunrise to sunset, 
 full sixteen hours. 
 
 3d. How long- does the harvest last? About 
 three weeks. 
 
 4th. Is it warm in harvest time? Excessively 
 so. The thermometer ranges from 86 to 120. It is 
 impossible to have a just idea of it without actual 
 experience. And, what is of more consequence, an 
 English husbandman would be more debilitated in 
 three years in the United States, than in sixteen 
 years in England. 
 
 5th. How long in the year can labour be pro. 
 cured? About six months. 
 
 6th. Are wages paid regularly ? Very rarely. 
 Mostly defrauded. 
 
 7th. Then who are the persons that can do ? 
 A man with a family of hard-working children, 
 possessing 300/. sterling, and who should reside 
 twelve months in the States before he purchases 
 land. And it is greatly to be feared that both the 
 emigrant and his family must lay in all the low 
 cunning, and earn to defraud and cheat, as prac-
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 443 
 
 tised here, and entirely forget old English principles 
 and society, or else ruin and misery will be his 
 portion. 
 
 3th. Mechanics. Any part of the world before 
 the United States, for, whatever they may earn, 
 they will be sure to be defrauded out of half. 
 
 9t/i. Wages. Not so much as in England, tak- 
 ing the year through. 
 
 July 6th. Visited the house of the President, a 
 good, substantial, pleasant abode, but neither so 
 elegant, superb, nor costly as the seats of our nobi- 
 lity. I saw nothing about it remarkable ; no pic- 
 tures, save Washington's; no curiosities, no painted 
 ceilings. The walls are covered with French paper, 
 and the rooms are furnished with French furniture. 
 Its front looks over the Potowmac and Alexandria, 
 down to Mount Vernon, through a vast extent of 
 Southern Virginian scenery. A favourite Eng- 
 lish butler shewed us all, and regaled us with 
 good biscuit, brandy, and sherry. 
 
 7th. This morning the Hon. Thomas Law, ac- 
 companied by Mr. Elliott, made me a call in re- 
 turn for minev He very politely regretted his ab- 
 sence when I called, and invited me to come and 
 spend a day or two with him at his farm, for the 
 purpose of concluding the conversation now com- 
 menced in the following words. 
 
 Mr. Law. " You, Mr. F., saw my farm and 
 garden. They are poor, but 1 will improve the 
 gravelly hills by carting earth on to them from the
 
 444 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 valleys. The English labourers sent to me by Mr. 
 Curwen, I have dismissed. They could do nothing 
 but plough ; they were stupid, conceited, uncivil, 
 and latterly drunken ; whiskey, and the company 
 they met, seduced them. When I began farming 
 I knew not wheat from rye, or rye from barley ; 
 but 1 well know what are the benefits of farming." 
 " You, Sir, pursue it only for your pleasure?" 
 " No, Sir, I want profit." " In the present dis- 
 tressed state of agriculture little profit is to be 
 had." "Truly so; but a paper circulation is 
 wanted. Mr. Crawford fully agreed with me on 
 this point, but disingenuously seceded from it in 
 his report, on which account I have addressed se- 
 veral pointed letters to him, which I will send you 
 as well as my address to the agricultural society 
 of Prince George's county." 
 
 " On my return home shall I advise and recom- 
 mend my countrymen to emigrate here ?" " Why, 
 Sir, I cannot answer that question. I have never 
 recommended emigration, nor caused any to quit 
 their country ; every thing is strange and unsuita- 
 ble to English farmers and labourers; he can cul- 
 tivate with success only by slaves." " Have you, 
 Mr. Law, no regrets at having spent so much of 
 your time in this country ?" " No, Sir, none what- 
 ever." " What, Sir, none at the loss of that so- 
 ciety which you must have had in common with 
 your family in England?" Here Mr. Law hesi- 
 tated a little as if at a loss for an answer. " Why,
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 445 
 
 Sir, I once with Lord Cornwallis governed India. 
 I returned and saw my acquaintance sliding into 
 commerce, brewers, manufacturers, and merchants, 
 to be cheated ; such a course had no attractions 
 for me, and I was opposed to the French war and 
 other government measures. I therefore determined 
 on visiting and ultimately on living in this country, 
 where I have spent my time much to my satisfac- 
 tion, never being at a loss for amusement. I write 
 and read, and talk and visit, on the most familiar 
 and friendly terms with my neighbours, with 
 whom I frequently stay all night; and whenever 
 I please, I can without ceremony go and talk fre- 
 quently and freely with the President, Mr. Craw- 
 ford, Calhoun, and all the heads of the govern- 
 ment, and therefore I have the best society the 
 land affords." " But, Sir, there are the honours 
 and emoluments of England which must have been 
 yours." " My wants were then, and have always 
 been, very few. I believe I have always been 
 happier than any of my brothers. As I never 
 knew how to say * My lord' to any man, I did not 
 seek or want honours or emoluments. I saw my 
 family and friends dependant on the funds which 
 are likely some day to beggar them and many 
 others ; a situation from which I fled." " What, 
 Mr. Law, is likely to remedy the diseases of Eng- 
 land ?" " Sir ! England is over-peopled. It is not 
 wholly the fault of the government. A famine will 
 be the remedy." " Could not the surplus popula-
 
 446 MEMORABLE DAYS [Jly, 
 
 tion be transported to the colonies ?" " No, Sir. 
 A famine is the only remedy." " But, Sir, is not 
 a famine calculated to plunge the country into a 
 dreadful political convulsion and revolution?" " It 
 is, Sir, but the government is not blameable." 
 
 " Morally considered, or with respect to morals, 
 do you not think the population of this country 
 inferior to that of England ?" " The people in the 
 mass are here more intelligent. You now see them 
 at the worst time. You see them generally acting 
 unworthily and meanly, but their poverty and not 
 their will consents^ As to slaves, they steal." 
 " And they have a right to steal," said a third 
 person. I answered, " They, to be sure, have 
 been robbed on a broad scale." " Why, Sir, the 
 friends of slavery insist on it that slavery is essen- 
 tial to the existence of liberty. To what conclu- 
 sions will they not come?" 
 
 " Is there, Mr. Law, no aristocratical feeling in 
 this country ?" " Yes, Sir, amongst the black po- 
 pulation." " You mean, Sir, amongst the masters 
 of blacks ?" " Yes, Sir. You, Sir; have visited 
 Mr. Birkbeck?" " I have." " Is he not a very 
 pleasant, intelligent man?" " He is highly so-." 
 "What is he doing?" " Fast spending dollars." 
 "Had he raised any produce?" "None." "Why?" 
 " He had been, he said, occupied in settling his 
 neighbours, who together with himself have been 
 supplied with provisions from Harmony at 100 per 
 cent, above their value; but cheaper, they have
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 447 
 
 said, than they could have then and there raised 
 them." " I, Sir, do not approve of going into the 
 wilderness away from market and society, while 
 land is to be had with both. What is Harmony?" 
 " It is a most flourishing settlement, and indeed 
 the only flourishing one I saw in the wilderness. 
 What think you, Mr. Law, of the climate ?" 
 " Why, Sir, as Lloyd says, 
 
 " With things at once so hot and cold, 
 I can no friendship hold." 
 
 Mr. Law talks in an oratorical manner, and with 
 an energy of action which makes him appear much 
 in earnest. He is full to overflowing, and quite 
 inexhaustible. " His worth," says Mr* Elliott, 
 " is not one-tenth of it known, but is thrown away 
 upon this country." 
 
 "It is said, Sir, that the population of this country 
 is systematically unprincipled, and almost without 
 virtue." " That, Sir, is not true. In the cities, since 
 the commercial distress, the people seem dishonest. 
 The commercial demand from England, and the 
 withdrawing a paper capital by this government, 
 have driven the people to desperation. They are 
 unjustly done by. They were once esteemed good 
 customers. A circulating medium only is wanted 
 to heal the breach. In the country the people are 
 anxious to meet their engagements." " Djo you, 
 Sir, think that no remedy but famine remains for 
 England?" "No, Sir! no other." " Then the 
 sooner it comes the better." " But, Sir, (said he)
 
 448 MEMORABLE DAYS [Jlj r , 
 
 such confusion, and horror, and calamity, will cha- 
 racterize the catastrophe as the world has not 
 seen." " Do you think it will exceed the French 
 revolution? Will the people of England be more 
 bloody and heartless in such a struggle than the 
 French ?" " The desperation of their situation will 
 make them so. Consider, Sir, the rage, anguish, 
 and collision of so many starving millions, screwed 
 up into a space not larger than our state of Vir- 
 ginia. Here, Sir, we have plenty, and whether 
 sleeping or waking are safe in our houses, and 
 liberty and prosperity are secure. You, I find, 
 are deputed to collect information. Dine with me 
 on Monday, and 1 will get my sons out to meet 
 you." 
 
 Mr. Law finding that I wished a protection or 
 special passport from the British minister, Mr. An- 
 trobus, went and applied for it, but did not succeed, 
 it should seem, because I was acquainted with 
 
 on the black books of the government. 
 
 " Mr. C.," said Mr. Law, " is a very intelligent 
 man, but I find he carried things with a high, offen- 
 sive hand in England. He, I believe, Sir, wrote the 
 Watchman and alarmed the church and the Bishop 
 of Ely." 
 
 Mr. Law seems not to like the radicals. " When," 
 says he, " I came to this country from India, it 
 seemed at first like going down to the grave. I 
 seemed buried. Tell my family that I drink daily 
 rye-coffee and whiskey.
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 449 
 
 Recipe for making rye-coffee, equal to the West 
 Indian, after Mr. Law's fashion. Swell the rye in 
 warm water before you roast it. 
 
 8th. I received the following letter from Mr. 
 Law. 
 
 Saturday, 8th July, 1820. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I wish you, if you see Mr. Elliott of the Patent- 
 office, to desire him to come and dine on Monday. 
 If you can visit me early, I will shew you the 
 neighbourhood, and in conversation you may ob- 
 tain whatever opinions I have formed from expe- 
 rience respecting this country. It is most desira- 
 ble that correct information should be given to 
 those who are necessitated to seek an asylum here. 
 
 An European ought not to travel far into the 
 interior, as he must sacrifice every comfort during 
 life. Want of society, want of hands, want of a 
 market, \r.ant of medical aid; in short, almost every 
 want is experienced for many years ; discontent 
 soon destroys the harmony of associates, and 
 former attachments to those left behind have dou- 
 ble power to excite regrets. 
 
 The Americans are a migrating race, and quit 
 their farms to seek rich back lands ; but more of 
 this when I have the pleasure to see you. 
 Yours most obediently, 
 
 T. LAW. 
 
 Sunday, 9th. By appointment, I breakfasted 
 with Major Young, 45 years from Ireland, and 
 
 2 G
 
 450 MEMORABLE DAYS [J u ty> 
 
 from the first an enthusiast in the cause of Ame- 
 rica, throughout the revolution up to this time, 
 having been the companion in arms of General 
 Washington, and appointed to the honour of de- 
 livering Lord Cornwallis his discharge from his 
 parole of honour. His lordship graciously re- 
 ceived it from the Major at his house in London, 
 much pleased that he was not compelled to return 
 to America to discharge his parole, having been ex- 
 changed for Mr. Laurens in the Tower. " Major,'' 
 said his lordship, " I feel obliged to you and others, 
 and will hold myself under obligation to serve you 
 at any time." The Major gave him an opportunity, 
 and was served. Mr. Laurens, while in the tower, 
 was consulted by a friend of Lord Hillsborough, 
 ihe minister, on this question : " What, Mr. Lau- 
 rens, would you, as a friend to America, advise 
 England to do at the present juncture." " Why, 
 Sir, the experience of ages proves that an ounce of 
 honey is worth a ton of vinegar." His lordship on 
 hearing this, in great rage rejoined, " America 
 has had too much honey; she shall have more 
 vinegar." 
 
 Mr. John Law, during the attack on Washing- 
 ton, served in the United States' army as a ser- 
 jeant ; but after the British got possession, he laid 
 aside his uniform, and telling the British officers 
 that he was the nephew of Lord Ellenborough, 
 invited them to his house, where they spent a 
 joyful evening together.
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 451 
 
 IQth. By Mr.Elliott, I was introduced to Major 
 Roberts, at the public department of engineers. I 
 was accompanied by Mr. John and Mr. Edmund 
 Law, two natives of Asia, to the seat of their father 
 to dinner, where we met Mr. Carter, Mr. Elliott, 
 Colonel Heb, and his friend, a Cantab. Our din- 
 ner consisted of lamb, ham and chicken, and black- 
 berry pie, with claret, brandy, and whiskey, the 
 latter 15 years old. Here was all ease and no ce- 
 remony. Every guest seemed as free as if at home, 
 and eat, drank, and talked as he pleased. As this 
 dinner was on my account, Mr. Law placed me 
 on his right hand as his guest. The two Asiatic 
 sons of Mr. Law seem generous, kind-hearted, and 
 most intelligent young gentlemen, free from all 
 aristocratic pride. 
 
 Mr. John Law, during our ride to dinner, ob- 
 served that his father's objection to slavery was 
 rooted in mere prejudice, because, though he 
 might buy slaves, he could emancipate them when 
 he pleased. I told Mr. Law, their father, what 
 they said of this prejudice. " Aye," said he, 
 " call it what they please, I am acting from a good 
 and proper motive. Wherever there are blacks, 
 the white population is seen to decrease. The 
 blacks will free themselves in the south ; their re- 
 sistance and insurrection will be horrid and irre. 
 sistible ; the free states will never stir an inch to 
 oppose the blacks or to assist the planters, who 
 have no feelings in common with the farmers and 
 
 2 G 2
 
 452 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 people of free states. The former oppose domes- 
 tic manufactures, because they think England can 
 give them more for produce than their country- 
 men, and therefore they are willing that their coun- 
 trymen should be drained of money for the sup- 
 port of British manufactures." 
 
 Free blacks, in all the above states, are an espe- 
 cial nuisance, because they are deemed the cause 
 of insurrection amongst slaves, and act as brokers 
 to them, or receivers of whatever the slaves steal. 
 
 Birkbeck and Flower became the theme of the 
 evening. Mr. Law, and all present, regretted that 
 they did not settle in this, or some populous neigh- 
 bourhood, where they might have lived as the most 
 distinguished citizens, and at a much less cost than 
 now. They might have visited and been visited by 
 the President, and all the heads of departments; 
 had a town and country house, plenty of land, in- 
 creasing in value, and good markets; plenty of 
 comforts of all kinds; farms, houses, orchards, 
 gardens, and every convenience formed to their 
 hands, at less than the cost of improvements, so 
 that the land is a gift into the bargain. What mad- 
 ness to go into the wilderness ! Their land is not 
 advanced in value by their mere residence on it. 
 They might have invested money, on land, in the 
 best western neighbourhoods, and, without sacri- 
 ficing themselves, their posterity would have reap- 
 ed the benefit, which must be slow, but which is 
 sure to come with population and population only.
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 453 
 
 They thought that land must increase in value in 
 the west, forgetting that there was an infinite sup- 
 ply at the same price; and, besides, how could they 
 be sure that settlers would follow and give an ad- 
 vance. It was madness so to spend this short life. 
 They ought to have known that working Yankee 
 families, who do all the labour themselves, are the 
 only proper pioneers. Gentlemen-farmers should 
 not remove into the west, until they can live and 
 do better there than here. At any rate it is time 
 enough to go when they can be the third or fourth 
 buyers of farms; when they can have the improve- 
 ments at less than the cost, and the land nearly 
 into the bargain. Society and visiting, so indis- 
 pensable to such intelligent Englishmen, they 
 might here have cheaply. " I entertained (conti- 
 nued Mr. Law) the President and heads of de- 
 partments, and 100 friends besides, to dinner, at 
 this house, on such a dinner as we have had to- 
 day, and a little light wine, and the cost of all 
 was only 40 dollars. My good neighbours, it is 
 true, sent me hams and rounds of beef, ready 
 cooked, because they thought I should find it 
 difficult to cook for so many. If I were in Eng- 
 land, I must have my Lord , and others of th 
 
 same rank; all must be splendid, costly, and pom- 
 pous; but all this is not the hospitality which I 
 like and find here. Here we go and come, as, and 
 when we please; no previous notice is necessary;
 
 454 MEMORABLE DAYS 
 
 we give and take freely of such things as we have, 
 and no one is inconvenienced. In England a 
 house is alarmed by the arrival of an unexpected 
 visitor. As neighbours and visitors we are all 
 equal, and share good things in common." 
 
 We walked through the large garden, where 
 Mr. Law boasted that he should have 2,000 ce- 
 lery plants for market at 12|- cents each. All 
 farmers send their garden produce three times a 
 week to market. " What I send (says Mr. Law) 
 pays the expense of the gardener, and puts 100 
 dollars into my pocket, exclusive of my butter, 
 which furnishes me with butcher's meat, &c. My 
 farm, at present, does not, but it will, more than 
 support my establishment." 
 
 He has two women, one white, one black, two 
 or three negro children, and five or six labourers 
 hired at from eight dollars to twelve dollars per 
 month, most of whom are to leave in winter. 
 
 At eight o'clock the company departed, except 
 myself. Mr. Law pressed me to stay and spend 
 a day or two longer, so that we might visit Colonel 
 Heb next day, and see the neighbourhood. 
 
 We were seated together alone, on the lawn, in 
 the cool of the evening, until ten o'clock, when 
 Mr. Law, with a light in his hand, kindly con- 
 ducted me to my bed-room. During these two 
 hours we talked freely; first, on the state of Eng- 
 land, which, he says, must fall in a few years. " With
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 455 
 
 such a debt, and so many drones, and having all 
 the world rivalling and excluding British manu- 
 factures, and with such a superabundant popula- 
 tion, it is impossible that she can long exist in her 
 present condition. A famine must certainly sweep 
 away superfluous millions. It will be brought 
 about, first, by a scarce year, and secondly, by the 
 want of specie to pay for foreign grain; for specie 
 only will do, when manufactures shall not be want- 
 ed in exchange for grain. Then the British people, 
 instead of lying down and dying willingly like the 
 Hindoos, a scene which I witnessed, will rise with 
 an irresistible fury, sweeping all authorities before 
 them." " After such a storm, will they dispense 
 with monarchy, &c. ?" " No, Sir, I think not. 
 King, lords, and commons, seem acceptable to 
 the people. The church and the debt only will 
 be annihilated. My friends and others in the funds 
 see that this catastrophe is coming. They are there- 
 fore unhappy. I see they are eaten up by anxiety; 
 I am happier than any of them. Many of the rich, 
 and several of my friends and family, live on the 
 European continent, to spend their money in ease 
 and peace. They are all unhappy in their pros- 
 pects. It is true that I have been unsuccessful in 
 my speculations here, but my wants are few. I 
 was advised by General Washington to invest my 
 money in and about this city, which every one 
 then deemed a good speculation, and it would 
 have been so but for the stupidity and blundering
 
 456 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 ignorance of this government, which by diminish- 
 ing the currency, has reduced our estates 50 or 
 60 per cent, and rendered all unsaleable. There 
 is no money for use. It is impossible that a people 
 can flourish without a circulating medium ; a float- 
 ing capital, which creates a fixed capital. This 
 government, however, will see the need of it and 
 resort to it; for, if the capital once in circulation 
 had remained so, the public lands would have 
 doubled their present value, and the industrious 
 have flourished instead of sinking into ruin. The 
 poor and industrious are the only proper objects 
 of the care and protection of government." " You 
 knew Paley. What think you of his philosophy, 
 &c.?" " I knew him well; he was a good man, but 
 his philosophy is false. Utility is made its basis; 
 but impulse and feeling furnish the best moral 
 guide. Every feeling in man points him to good, 
 ness." " But, Sir," said 1, " is not his philosophy in 
 accordance with Christianity?" " Perhaps it is." 
 I rejoined that 1 could not help revering it, and that 
 after reading it I thought myself both wiser and bet- 
 ter. " That may be." " You knew and esteemed 
 Sir Win. Jones in India. Was he not a Christian?" 
 " Why sir, Lord Teignmouth has endeavoured to 
 make him appear so; but he was a freethinker, 
 and unusually vain. Instead of studying his du- 
 ties and introducing good laws, he was ambitious 
 of learning all languages, and of being a finished an- 
 tiquarian and poet. He fell a victim to his intense
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 457 
 
 application. He would never travel, except by 
 night; the sun must not see him. He once tra- 
 velled through my district by night, and I accom- 
 panied him. At sunset he would inquire: ' Is 
 my enemy down?' If answered, * Yes,' he would 
 then start." 
 
 " Did you see M. Volney, during his tour in 
 this country?" " I did; he came, introduced to 
 me by General Washington, and spent some days 
 with me; he spoke our language well, and was a 
 very wise man." 
 
 llth. Mr. Law and myself rose about sunrise. 
 I walked, while he was engaged in writing some 
 materials or arguments for my journal. He writes 
 with great velocity. 
 
 After breakfast we rode to the pleasant farm of 
 Colonel Heb to dine, where, with his lady and 
 family, we met a young Cantab, and his lady, who 
 sweetly sung and played for Mr. Law on the 
 piano, with which he seemed enraptured. 
 
 We then viewed the Colonel's estate, consisting 
 of 600 acres, of hill and dale, 90 of which are 
 meadow irrigated, and which produces 2,000 dol- 
 lars in hay annually, while the tobacco * crop is 
 
 * From the seed of the best species of Maryland tobacco re- 
 ceived from this gentleman, my neighbour, Major Smith, of 
 Somersham, in England, has, unaided by art, planted and ma- 
 nufactured tobacco, of a superior fragrance and flavour, and 
 which he introduces to his friends on special occasions, when it 
 is used as prime Canaster from Havannab.
 
 458 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 commonly worth from 100 to 150 dollars an acre. 
 Here is a marl bank, by which the Colonel has 
 improved the estate, which, including its first cost, 
 employs 20,000 dollars, and nets, from 12 to 15 
 per cent. It is cultivated by from 12 to 20 ne- 
 groes, who seem happy and well treated, singing 
 and working merrily. The Colonel thinks slaves 
 are better off than free-men. All slave-holders 
 think so, especially those idle men who keep them 
 merely for hiring out, that they may live entirely 
 by the labour and breeding of blacks. Free blacks, 
 in a slave state, are most of them unhappy. 
 
 Mr. Law thinks that Colonel Heb saves little 
 or nothing from this estate, after deducting the 
 expenses of hospitality, education, and other out- 
 goings. Part of bur dessert, at dinner, was straw- 
 berries, which, during the summer, bear fruit con- 
 tinually, each month yielding a fresh supply. We 
 quitted this hospitable abode at seven, p. m., and, 
 on reaching home, resumed our conversation till 
 bed-time. 
 
 Mr. Law said, that when last in England, he 
 visited his brother, the now Bishop of Chester, 
 then living on a small benefice, at Kelshall, near 
 Royston, where all the neighbourhood seemed 
 dissenters. " My brother did all he could to please 
 them, but they would not come to church. My 
 brother did not like it, and feared that his con- 
 gregation would be reduced to the clerk and 
 his own family. Indeed it seldom was more.
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 459 
 
 What a nest," said Mr. Law, " is the church for 
 hypocrites. All churches are evils, especially 
 when they condemn a difference of opinion, and 
 compel the dissenters therefrom to support the 
 church. Religion is matter of opinion; all have 
 a right to think freely thereon. I wonder how my 
 brother got preferment, when I know he was re- 
 fractory, and could not submit to the pride and 
 domination of Lord Ellenborough." 
 
 " The convulsion in England," says Mr. Law, 
 " will not last long, but it will be horrid; it will 
 sweep away the drones. I saw my friends spend- 
 ing their days ingloriously, and descending to the 
 grave, sick of themselves, and without doing any 
 good to the world. 
 
 " My good brother, the Irish Bishop, the most 
 learned of our family, came from Ireland, pur- 
 posely to see me. He is now dead. There is no 
 independence about bishops. They only seek 
 preferment." 
 
 Mr. Law repeated to me some satirical lines 
 which he wrote against the * * * * * * 
 " These lines his lordship feared should be shown. 
 He made peace with me and gave up to me. His 
 lordship said, ' I must give up to Tom, or he 
 will expose me to my brother lawyers, and I shall 
 become their butt.' ' These lines represented the 
 * * * as the perfection of pride, 
 and seeking to be Chancellor, being already one in 
 insolence.
 
 460 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 " You have not, I suppose, at any time, directly 
 or indirectly, formed a part of this government?" 
 " No, Sir, I would see them at the d 1 first." " Is 
 Mr. President Monroe a man of business ?" " Yes, 
 Sir. The Presidents are all slaves to their du- 
 ties, scarcely able to breathe abroad or take air." 
 On passing by the Capitol, 1 said, " Does this 
 sumptuous Capitol accord with the plainness of 
 republicanism?" " No, Sir, but laying stones one 
 upon another rarely injures any nation; and be- 
 sides, republics are vain, and public buildings 
 gratify their vanity, and attach them to the coun- 
 try. Inasmuch (said Mr. Law) as this govern- 
 ment has left unprotected the manufacturers of 
 the country, and withdrawn the circulating me- 
 dium from the people generally, it has done all 
 which an enemy to this or any country could do, 
 or wish to see done." I asked Mr. Law if it was 
 worth while to visit Mount Vernon. He said, 
 " Mount Vernon is inviting, but Judge W. knows 
 nothing." 
 
 . In our ride to the city this morning, 
 with a negro behind us, two gentlemen, Mr. 
 Law's neighbours, overtook us, but being anxious 
 to get on before us, apologized for leaving us. 
 " Oh ! gentlemen !" said Mr. L., " we do not 
 want you to wait for us. Go, I pray you, to the 
 devil if you will !" 
 
 At parting with Mr. Law this morning, he pro- 
 mised to send me letters of introduction to his
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 461 
 
 Right Rev. Brother, the Bishop of Chester, and 
 his distinguished cousin, J. C. Curwen, Esq. M. P. 
 which letters, together with the following curious 
 observations, purposely written by him for the use 
 of this journal, were soon after transmitted to me. 
 Observations by Mr. Law. " [ have lately 
 perused an address to the public from the dele- 
 gation of the United Agricultural Society of Vir- 
 ginia. If, after repeated perusals, I had been 
 convinced that the exclusion of such foreign ma- 
 nufactures as we can make ourselves, by legisla- 
 tive measures, such as high duties or prohibitions, 
 would be injurious to agriculturists, 1 should im- 
 mediately acknowledge my acquiescence iii their 
 reasoning. To oppose the opinions and argu- 
 ments of such able men, and of such united mem- 
 bers, exposes any one to the imputation of vanity, 
 and to inevitable ridicule, should his reasoning 
 prove inconclusive. I have always been an ad- 
 vocate for permitting men to pursue their interests 
 unobstructed by governmental interference, accord- 
 ing to the suggestions of their reason, and to seek 
 future salvation according to the dictates of their 
 conscience; and I have always been convinced 
 that men will employ their capitals and industry 
 in that business which produces most profit. This 
 is, indeed, an incontrovertible axiom in political 
 economy; and the only question to determine, is 
 whether the exclusion of foreign manufactures be
 
 462 MEMORABLE DAYS [Juty, 
 
 not a salutary exception to the rule. The dele- 
 gation above mentioned, accuses the petitioning 
 manufacturers of soliciting a monopoly. A mono- 
 poly, according to my definition of the term, means 
 an exclusive privilege in favour of an individual, 
 or a certain class of men, in preference to all 
 others, who are injured thereby. Now to me it 
 appears that the duties or prohibitions solicited, 
 are solely for the encouragement of domestic ma- 
 nufactures, and for the discouragement of foreign 
 ones ; nay, in my opinion, it seems a request in 
 the name of all Americans, to be shielded from 
 foreign monopoly. This observation will at first 
 surprise you, but after my explanation it will, 1 
 trust, have more verisimilitude in it than you 
 can now imagine. Suppose a sovereign to say 
 that in a certain county, or department, he would 
 make a donation of capital for building machinery, 
 &c. to those who would establish a certain manu- 
 facture. Should any other of his subjects attempt 
 rivalship, with his, or -their own funds, could not 
 those, who had their capitals gratis, undersell the 
 competitor or competitors ? Say that the buildings 
 and machinery cost 100,000 dollars, and that 
 50,000 dollars, current capital, were required to pay 
 workmen, and buy materials. The former aided 
 by the sovereign, if they made ten per cent, on 
 their current capital, would receive 5,000 dollars 
 per annum, but the latter, if he obtained only a
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 463 
 
 profit of 5,000 dollars on his 150,000 dollars laid 
 out, would only receive three and a third per cent. 
 Now the foreign manufacturer has a capital from 
 his father, which is useless to him, if not employed. 
 Say his buildings, machinery, and 50,000 dollars 
 current capital, produce him 15,000 dollars. If he 
 finds foreigners, who heretofore purchased from 
 him, attempting to set up for themselves, will it 
 not be good policy in him to reduce his profits 
 two thirds, to ruin his incipient rivals ? Mr. 
 Brougham, in the House of Commons, used the 
 following language, when speaking of the loss to 
 merchants by an excessive exportation of manu- 
 factures : it was worth while to incur a loss, in 
 order, by the glut, to stifle in the cradle those 
 rising manufactures in the United States, which 
 the war had forced into existence, contrary to the 
 natural course of things. 
 
 " Would it not have been humane and judicious 
 in Congress, to have prevented this ruinous glut, 
 which contributed, with the order to resume 
 specie payments, to crush our manufacturers, 
 merchants, and storekeepers, and to injure far- 
 mers, &c. ? How have foreigners obtained above 
 30,000,000 of our stocks, but by manufactures ? 
 The importation of manufactures is now much 
 diminished, and manufactures are rising, and the 
 price of labour falling. Will, however, any pru- 
 dent man commence manufacturing till shielded
 
 464 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 from a glut? Our manufactures, till then, can- 
 not prosper, and we must remain dependent on 
 foreigners. If all men relied upon handicraft, as 
 formerly, then the general rule, before alluded to, 
 would apply, and we might be supplied by home- 
 spun. Were all patriots, the nation would prefer 
 home-spun, if even a little dearer than foreign 
 articles of a similar kind ; but, as many will prefer 
 their own to the general interest, the general go- 
 vernment must, in respect to foreign commerce, 
 interfere. The farmer in England obtains from 
 85. to 10*. a bushel for his wheat; our farmers 
 obtain 4s. 6d. ; the manufactures in England 
 amount to about 1 00,000,000/. sterling; ours, to 
 less than that amount in dollars. 
 
 " The distress occasioned by the sudden reduc- 
 tion of our circulating medium from 100,000,000 
 dollars, to 45,000,000 dollars, has reduced all 
 property far below its intrinsic value; thf? banks 
 are prosecuting to recover sums loaned, mortgages 
 are foreclosed, and landholders in debt are com- 
 pelled to sell. When an European purchases 
 land in the western countries, he has to clear and 
 fence, and to build house and barn and stable, at 
 a great expense. In the old states, as they are 
 termed, the land is sold at so much per acre, and 
 the house, barn, &c. are thrown into the bargain. 
 Land, from four to eight miles from this city, may 
 be averaged at twenty dollars an acre, ready to
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 465 
 
 be occupied. Navigation is near; the market is 
 near ; the newspapers, as essential almost to an 
 Englishman as his breakfast, may be received 
 three times a-week by market-carts. Society is 
 good ; the expense of a long journey, and a thou- 
 sand inconveniences experienced by new settlers, 
 are avoided. Horses and oxen, I believe, can be 
 bought cheaper in this neighbourhood. If a man 
 wants to remove his family and to sell, he can 
 find purchasers more readily than in the western 
 wilds. Sickness almost always occurs on the first 
 exposure of new land to the sun. State taxes and 
 county levies fall heavily on settlers in a new 
 country, requiring public buildings, roads, bridges, 
 &c. ; labour is dear, and not always attainable. 
 A New England man succeeds in a new country, 
 because he is a jack-of-all-trades; he can make his 
 own log-house, mend his cart, &c. There is an old 
 adage, that " fools build, and wise men purchase." 
 Suppose 150 acres, purchased in this neighbour- 
 hood, at twenty dollars an acre, making 3,000 dol- 
 lars, the fencing, and building, and clearing, would 
 cost at least that sum. When three or four 
 Englishmen wish to purchase together, they ought 
 to keep it a secret, and to employ some American, 
 not in high life, who can be confided in, to sound 
 persons wanting to sell ; for if a stranger offers to 
 buy, it is immediately reported over all the neigh- 
 bourhood, and prices are raised, and it exaggerates 
 the value. Americans are remarkably shrewd.
 
 466 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 Englishmen, in general, are credulous and san- 
 guine. All bargains ought to be legally formal, 
 under signature and seal. 
 
 " Question. Is Great Britain capable of sustain- 
 ing its national debt for any length of time? 
 
 " There are operating against the possibility of 
 this, 
 
 1st. The rivalship of manufactures of other 
 nations, knowledge and skill not being an exclu- 
 sive advantage. 
 
 2nd. The encrease of poor-rates, by a super- 
 abundant population, and reduction of wages. 
 
 3rd. The augmentation of payments abroad to 
 British residents, who avoid taxation by removing 
 to foreign countries. 
 
 4th. The transfer of sums by the timid and 
 enterprizing, who, foreseeing embarrassments at 
 home, make purchases abroad of stock and lands. 
 The British funds yield less than five per cent.; 
 the French and American yield six. 
 
 "These four causes, combining against British 
 prosperity, almost preclude the hope of supporting 
 the immense load of taxes. The army cannot, 
 with safety, be much diminished, for as discontent 
 increases with the addition of burthens, the power 
 of the government must be increased. It is sur- 
 prising that the " tight little island" prospers as it 
 does ; there cannot be a stronger proof of a good 
 internal management. 
 
 " The industrious classes cannot support, in
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 467. 
 
 any community, more than a certain proportion 
 of drones. The important question is whether the 
 army, navy, state creditors, hierarchy, servants, 
 residents abroad, tax-gatherers, &c. can be sup- 
 ported by the industrious. The rapid increase of 
 poor rates, evinces that a nation has arrived at its 
 acme. 
 
 " The arrival of monied men in this country, to 
 purchase lands and to avoid an apprehended con- 
 vulsion, is ominous of the approaching crisis. It is 
 painful to forebode misfortune, and an unwelcome 
 task to predict evil. Could I anticipate improve- 
 ments similar to those of Arkwright, &c. to be 
 long exclusively enjoyed, and were there lands 
 still to be cultivated, to support augmenting po 
 pulation, I could indulge the hope of liquidating 
 the debt. At present I behold an inverted pyramid, 
 propped by machinery, which is giving way. Your 
 own journey, your own inquiries, must make a 
 forcible impression, that present profits are pre- 
 carious, and that happiness is alloyed with appre- 
 hensions for the future." , 
 
 13/A. During a conversation this day with Dr. 
 Thornton, of the post-office, he observed that this 
 city, like that of ancient Rome, was first peopled 
 with thieves and assassins, and that, during his 
 residence in it, he had found more villains than 
 he had seen in any other part of the world. When 
 he was a magistrate, such instances of unblushing 
 villainy and want of principle amongst the people 
 
 2H 2
 
 468 MEMORABLE DAYS 
 
 had come to his view, as he could not suppose 
 existed any where. " There are, however," said 
 the doctor, " many good men now in it." There is 
 a disposition generally amongst the citizens to live 
 above their income. Persons who live as indepen- 
 dent gentlemen, often run into debt with their 
 butchers, &c., to the amount of several hundred 
 dollars, and delay a year and a half before they 
 attempt to pay, suffering themselves to be dunned 
 continually, always promising payment, but never 
 being punctual in performance, and ultimately 
 paying by instalments of five, ten, or fifteen dol- 
 lars ; a mode of payment from which the meanest 
 man in England would shrink. 
 
 1 5th. T received a farewell visit from Mr. 
 Thompson, late of Boston, who states that he 
 finds the inducements to emigrate much fewer 
 and smaller than he expected. Society, as it at 
 present exists, shews great want of organization, 
 great want of religion, honour, and virtue, and 
 the country generally seems destitute of English 
 comforts and advantages. Yet he is now about 
 to make a commercial attempt, by way of experi- 
 ment, which, if not successful, he will return into 
 his former sphere, well content to remain in it, 
 without again wandering five miles from it. He 
 believes that none of the tables in America afford 
 the comforts of an English table. He thinks that 
 the government in its neglect of seminaries entails 
 imperfection on the people. A bitter sectarian
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 469 
 
 spirit prevails, and is more vicious than in Eng- 
 land, and there is a miserable, petty feeling of 
 aristocracy. It seems to him that republicanism 
 is suited only for an infant people. 
 
 This evening 1 took my farewell of the claret 
 club, the focus of liberal principles and of friendly 
 feelings. 
 
 Sunday, IQth. Accompanied by Mr. Elliot and 
 the Rev. J. Wright, I drove to Mount Eagle, the 
 hired seat of Ferdinand Fairfax, Esq., on our 
 way to Mount Vernon. This gentleman, an Eng- 
 lish lord, gave us an introductory letter, penned 
 on the top of a post, to the supreme Judge, Wash- 
 ington, who received us coldly and reluctantly 
 before he read the letter, and said, " 1 do not like 
 to see people on this day, but you may walk 
 round." He then turned away while Mr. Elliot 
 muttered, " We consider it no act of impiety to 
 visit the tomb of General Washington, and thus 
 to come on pilgrimage to the shrine of your illus- 
 trious ancestor." On reading the letter his seve- 
 rity relaxed, and he sent two of his servants to 
 conduct us to the tomb, through the house and 
 gardens, and to point out whatever was curious. 
 The road, through the estate, leading to the man- 
 sion, is rough and worn into gullies. Every thing 
 bespeaks the neglect and apathy of the present 
 owner. The land is poor; the estate is separated 
 on all sides by a rail fence, that is, rails split and 
 mortised into posts; and the gardens are sur-
 
 470 MEMORABLE DAYS 
 
 rounded with evergreen cedar fences, all of which 
 are the work of the late General, for whom every 
 thing here seems to mourn. The house contains 
 nothing curious save the huge old iron key of the 
 French Bastile, kept in a glass case, and the re- 
 collection of its being once the abode of General 
 Washington. Instead of carpets, you see Indian 
 matting on the floors. The furniture is mean and 
 common, and was brought here by Judge Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 The exterior of the house is of wood, sanded 
 over, in imitation of stone. It suffers for want of 
 paint, while bricks seem falling from the chimneys 
 without being replaced. Here are no pictures of 
 any value. The only likeness of the late General 
 is cut from a Chinese pitcher! The grass upon 
 the lawn and garden, in front and rear of the 
 house, is rotting and seeding down; it is never 
 mown. 
 
 The tomb containing the General, and his bady, 
 and brother, and others of this renowned family, 
 might be mistaken for a dog-kennel, or a mound, 
 much resembling a potatoe grave in England. It 
 is situated at the extremity of the garden, and on 
 the brow of a hill. No monument marks it. Ever- 
 green cedars of Lebanon grow thick upon it, a 
 branch of which is often stolen as a sacred relique. 
 I bore away one for the king of England. In like 
 manner did the Russian minister carry one to his 
 Imperial master, Alexander. No pilgrim is for-
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 471 
 
 bidden thus to pilfer. The tomb is formed by ex- 
 cavating the earth, and then arching it over with 
 bricks; three feet of earth is then cast on to the 
 arch, which completely hides every thing but the 
 entrance at one end, through a door, formed of 
 half inch fir board, now rotting away. Such a 
 door would disgrace an English pig-stye. Were 
 pigs to range here, they would soon enter the 
 tomb, which was built by the brother of the late 
 General, the latter of whom is to sleep here until 
 a national 2;rave is made by lottery. Graves and 
 cathedrals are raised, in this country, by means of 
 lotteries ! 
 
 While seated on this monumental hill, 1 ex- 
 claimed with Gray. " The paths of glory lead 
 but to the grave." Mr. Elliot replied. " Why, 
 Sir, I look on my grave, already made, with 
 pleasure, and in the same manner as a weary 
 traveller does to a down bed at the end of a long 
 jouraey. I anticipate, with joy, the rest which 
 there awaits me." " Such a feeling," said I, " is 
 desirable, but how few the number of those who 
 so feel!" 
 
 We were next taken to the green-houses, which 
 in winter, are filled with all species of choice ex- 
 otics, from all quarters of the earth, gifts to the 
 late General. They now stand out in front of the 
 green-house, with myrtles, oranges, and lemons, 
 ripe, and in great abundance. There are aloes too 
 of enormous size; plantains, mace, and coffee trees.
 
 472 MEMORABLE DAYS 
 
 I gathered ripe coffee, which is contained in a kind 
 of rich fruit or berry, of delicious flavor. The 
 pine-apple also bears in the green-house, but it 
 seemed in a withering state. 
 
 The approach to the house is marked by negro 
 huts, and negroes of all ages, male and female. 
 In the General's time, all was well managed, par- 
 ticularly the farm and gardens. He, the Cincin- 
 natus of his time, was up early, and always vigi- 
 lant. Now all is ruin, and ruin personified mourns 
 for him. 
 
 The Judge is cold and reserved in his manners, 
 and more than commonly plain in his dress. He 
 seems to be between 50 and 60 years of age, of 
 small stature, and lean habit of body. His fea- 
 tures possess but little expression, and he is, in- 
 deed, as unlike the late General, as any man in 
 the United States. 
 
 After having seen all we wished, we re-entered 
 the house to thank the Judge, but he appeared no 
 more, simply sending a message that we were 
 " welcome, and he hoped pleased." He is, we 
 were informed, an amiable, good man, but of li- 
 mited knowledge. We appeared, in his esteem, 
 as sabbath-breakers. On this account he excused 
 his inhospitality to us; and, besides, the saying 
 of the late General, " I would not trust any man 
 an inch beyond my nose, who would set an open 
 example of sabbath-breaking," might rise in his 
 recollection much to our prejudice. I felt the
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 473 
 
 Judge's answer to us as a reproof, because I hold 
 it essential to the good of society that Christian 
 sabbaths should be respected. 
 
 The scenery in the neighbourhood of the house 
 and estate is very interesting. The umbrageous 
 mount, on which the house stands, is a mile high 
 from the shores of the great Potowmac, which is 
 here two or three miles broad. 
 
 The British, and all the foreign diplomatic per- 
 sonages, visited this spot by water, and with the 
 marine band saluted it with solemn dirges. Our 
 guide told us that none but great gentlemen were 
 permitted to see the house and gardens on Sun- 
 day. I asked if the Judge preached or kept a par- 
 son? He himself reads prayers, morning and even- 
 ing, and therefore keeps no parson. 
 
 From an attentive perusal of the American his- 
 tory, and a close examination of the character of 
 
 Washington, says Mr. , it appears to me that 
 
 the principal faculty of his mind was judgment, 
 which always led him to avoid the dangers of pre- 
 cipitancy, and the errors which sometimes result 
 from a more vivid and brilliant imagination. The 
 dictates of that judgment constituted the line of 
 his conduct, which was of course marked with 
 the most consummate prudence. This virtue seems 
 never to have deserted him, either as a statesman 
 or a warrior, in a public or private capacity. His 
 prudence and caution were particularly observable 
 in his military career, and, like Pericles, he never
 
 474 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 willingly came to an engagement, when the danger 
 was considerable, and the success very uncertain; 
 nor did he envy the glory of those Generals, who 
 are admired and applauded, because their rash 
 enterprizes have been attended with success. He 
 had many difficulties to encounter, but these diffi- 
 culties were readily surmounted. Patriotism ani- 
 mated him, and prudence conducted him to tri- 
 umph. With a limited education and little patron- 
 age, he paved his way to greatness, and by his 
 virtues, cast a blaze of glory around his character, 
 which time can only increase, and which posterity 
 must contemplate with enthusiasm and rapture. 
 There is no parallel for such a man in the annals 
 of the world; so singular a combination of virtues 
 with so few vices. Such disinterested patriotism 
 and such unimpeachable integrity, with so many 
 temptations to swerve and so many inducements 
 to betray, were never before united. Immoveable 
 in the hour of danger, no difficulties could shake, 
 no terrors appal him. He was always the same, 
 in the glare of prosperity, and in the gloom of ad- 
 versity. Like Fabricius, he could not be moved 
 from the paths of virtue and honor, and like Epa- 
 minondas, he made every thing bend to the in- 
 terests of his country. His country was his idol, 
 and patriotism the predominant feeling of his mind. 
 Personal aggrandizement and individual resent- 
 ment and interest, were alike sacrificed to this 
 overwhelming passion, which no difficulty could
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 475 
 
 weaken and no neglect destroy. Washington was 
 reserved, without being haughty; religious, with- 
 out being bigotted ; great in all stations, and sub- 
 lime in all his actions, whether he moved in the 
 sphere of domestic obscurity, or employed his 
 energies in wielding the destinies of his country. 
 Antiquity would have made him a god. Posterity 
 will make him more. Every nation can boast of 
 its heroes, its statesmen, and its bards, but there 
 are few that have produced their Washingtons. 
 He stands alone in the history of the world, and 
 will be venerated while virtue and patriotism have 
 an influence on human action. 
 
 " You will, (says the same eulogist,) no doubt, 
 be astonished to understand, that the remains of 
 this great and excellent man still repose in a 
 humble sepulchre on the estate at which he re- 
 sided, and from which, like Cincinnatus, he was 
 several times called by his country. The Ameri- 
 cans are certainly not ungrateful, but they seem 
 to have an aversion to perpetuate a man's name 
 by " monumental brass," or to express their gra- 
 titude by splendid tombs, or ponderous and mag- 
 nificent mausolea. Your long acquaintance with 
 Westminster Abbey, where the high and the low, 
 the great and the obscure, the good man and the 
 villain, are alike honoured by their country or 
 their friends, may, perhaps, draw from you a burst 
 of indignation, at the imaginary apathy and in- 
 difference of this great republic, to the memory
 
 476 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 and past services of its illustrious dead, but I 
 question whether it be not correct policy. To 
 begin would be to have no end, and the erection 
 of a monument to Washington might terminate, 
 as in Russia, with a monument to a dog. Since 
 the invention of writing, and the present extent of 
 knowledge, the " storied urn and animated bust," 
 have become almost useless. History will record 
 with fidelity the illustrious actions of him who 
 has deserved well of his country, and his name 
 will be as perpetual as if Pelion had been piled 
 on Ossa, to preserve his memory. It was doubt- 
 less owing to the want of this art, that the humble 
 tumuli of the Celts, and the massy pyramids of 
 the Egyptians, were formed; they had no other 
 mode of expressing their gratitude, or of perpetu- 
 ating the memory of their dead. After all, per- 
 haps, the best monument is " to read their history 
 in a nation's eyes." 
 
 " It is but justice, however, to state, that though 
 the American government have refused to erect a 
 monument to the memory of their illustrious hero, 
 his countrymen have not been quite so fastidious; 
 and the citizens of Baltimore, with that enthusiasm 
 and public spirit which have done them so much 
 credit, are now engaged in building a monument 
 that will, at once, evince their gratitude, their pa- 
 triotism, and their taste. It may be safely asserted, 
 that the Americans pay less attention to the depo- 
 sitories of their dead, than almost any other nation.
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 477 
 
 They seem to be no sooner laid in the earth, than 
 they are forgotten; and the tear of sorrow, and the 
 hand of affection, neither bedews nor decorates 
 the sward, under which the friend, the parent, or 
 the relative reposes. Among the ancients, you will 
 recollect, this was a part of their religion, and we 
 owe to the tenderness and affection of a Corinthian 
 nurse for her deceased charge, the rich and splen- 
 did capital which beautifies the Corinthian shaft. 
 It is in vain to look into the burial grounds of this 
 country, for the pensive cypress, or the melan- 
 choly willow, the virgin weeping over the urn of 
 her departed lover, or the mother hanging over 
 the grave of her darling child. No flower blooms, 
 bedewed with the tear of affection. All is waste 
 and dreary, and dead as the sunken grave over 
 which you pass ; and a few stones, on which are 
 engraved the name and age of the deceased, are 
 all that remain to manifest the affection of the 
 living, to those who have passed away and are no 
 more. 
 
 " Bushrod Washington, the present proprietor of 
 Mount Vernon, is the nephew of the General. He 
 seems to be about 60 years of age, is below the 
 middle size, and apparently nervous and feeble; 
 his complexion is pale and cadaverous, but his 
 countenance has the lineaments of benevolence 
 and good nature. He has long been one 6f the 
 judges of the supreme court of the United States, 
 and has, during that period, discovered no defi-
 
 478 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 ciency in his acquaintance with the law. His deci- 
 sions are, I believe, generally correct, though not 
 very remarkable. I know not whether he ever 
 was distinguished for his eloquence at the bar; 
 but little seems to be known of his powers as an 
 advocate or a lawyer, and that little does not tend 
 to place him much beyond the grade of mediocrity. 
 Satisfied with the reputation which the fame of his 
 uncle, the situation he holds, and the wealth he 
 possesses, cast around him, he feels no motive to 
 exertion, and no desire to render himself illustrious 
 by his own efforts. He appears to be one of those 
 men to whom the pleasures of the domestic circle 
 are more seducing than the fitful, though capti- 
 vating splendour which surrounds the temples of 
 the statesman or the warrior, and he prefers what 
 the world would term the inglorious repose of 
 domestic felicity, to the feverish agitation and 
 sickly turmoil of public life. 
 
 " Mount Vernon has become, like Jerusalem and 
 Mecca, the resort of travellers of all nations, who 
 come within its vicinity. Veneration and respect 
 for the memory of the great and illustrious chief, 
 whose body it contains, lead all who have heard 
 his name, to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of 
 patriotism and public worth, and to stroll over 
 the ground which has been consecrated by the 
 repose, and hallowed by the ashes, of heroism and 
 virtue. A twig, a flower, or even a stone, be- 
 comes interesting, when taken from the spot
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 479 
 
 where Washington lived and died, and no man 
 quits it without bearing with him some memento 
 to exhibit to his family and friends." 
 
 \lth. I was revisited yesterday and to-day by 
 Mr. Law, who, in speaking of my new acquaintance 
 Mr. Fairfax, says, " he is an amiable, good, and 
 learned man, but like Charles II. ' he never said a 
 foolish thing, nor ever did a wise one.' He is ever 
 unprepared to protect himself from cheats. This 
 gentleman is the great great grandson of the fa- 
 mous Sir Thomas Fairfax, Cromwell's favourite ge- 
 neral; he was once the richest man in America, but 
 exchanged 100,000 acres of Virginia land for the 
 same quantity in the west country, which he was 
 told abounded in iron, silver, and other mines; he 
 thus parted with a substance for a shadow." " He 
 still," says Mr. Elliott, " possesses 100,000 acres, 
 and one of the warmest and truest hearts in the 
 world. He was brought up at Mount Vernon, a 
 favourite of General Washington's, who predicted 
 great things of him." But, says Mr. Law, he has 
 long been living in prison bounds. His lady la- 
 mented to us on Sunday her want of a carriage, 
 and the hot walks she had to make to town. This 
 gentleman's brother, Thomas Fairfax, Esq., com- 
 monly known as Lord Fairfax, who, in his own 
 right is a British peer, possesses large unproduc- 
 tive estates, and lives frequently in disgrace, but 
 both, though lords in England, would feel them-
 
 480 MEMORABLE DAYS [July, 
 
 selves highly insulted were they so to be addressed 
 here. Both are staunch republicans. 
 
 I yesterday added to my acquaintance a lord- 
 chancellor, a lord, and two princes of the Ossage 
 nation of Indians, who with two other chiefs, last 
 week, went in state (naked) to the Secretary of 
 war, and stamped, and said, in great anger, they 
 came not here to be cheated out of their lands. 
 They are fine dignified fellows, speaking only their 
 own wild language. 
 
 Mr. Law, during conversation this day, observed 
 that if this government would, and he believed 
 they would, adopt his financial system, the peo- 
 ple here would soon flourish again, and every 
 wild spot become a garden. " Mr. Crawford, the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, although he has re- 
 commended a contrary measure, is exactly of my 
 opinion. We are both as much alike on this sub- 
 ject as pea to pea." 
 
 I said, " Mr. Law, would not a visit to Eng- 
 land be agreeable ? Would it not tend to lengthen 
 your life?" " O, Sir, it would, but I could not now 
 live in England : I must be active, and doing that 
 which I deem for the good of mankind. My opi- 
 nions would run counter to the powers which be." 
 " But, Sir," rejoined I, " is it not our duty to be 
 prudent and to seek the peace of the land we live 
 in? Because in its peace we shall have peace." 
 " Certainly i such is the duty of every good man.
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 481 
 
 Why should he sacrifice himself and family ? Mr. 
 
 A , your envoy here, seems suspicious of you 
 
 on account of your acquaintance with Mr. . 
 
 I am sorry Mr. should have given such toasts 
 
 at the dinner on the4 th of July, in favour of the 
 radicals. What have the radicals to do with 
 America? These toasts will be sent home by 
 
 A . Envoys have nothing- to do but to watch 
 
 the conduct of British subjects and give reports. 
 I am sorry that Mr. , who is a good, kind- 
 hearted, polite man, should thus expose himself, 
 and you, and other friends, to suspicion and mis- 
 representation." 
 
 Wth. I received the following letter from Mr. 
 Law, addressed to me at Mr. 's. 
 
 Washington, 18th July, 1820. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I enclose you a list of garden seeds; if you will 
 make a statement of the probable amount, I will 
 pay now, or answer your draft after the purchase. 
 A pound or two of Swedish turnips and of Nor- 
 folk turnips may be added. I shall be happy to 
 pay every attention to any of my countrymen 
 coming here, and to give them any information in 
 my power. I regret that I formed your acquaint- 
 ance so late. My hay turns out better than I ex- 
 pected, and I hope to have four or five acres of 
 turnips, as I am sowing between my rows of corn. 
 
 Any farming information I shall be very thankful 
 
 2 i
 
 482 MEMORABLE DAYS [July 
 
 for. I remain, with wishes for a safe and speedy 
 voyage, 
 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 Pray write to me by what vessel you send the 
 seeds. 
 
 The following letter from Edward Meacher, 
 gardener to Mr. Law, is a specimen of the easy 
 freedom and familiarity of Yankee labourers. It 
 is addressed 
 
 To Thomas Law, Esq. 
 
 July, 1820. 
 Sir, 
 
 Considering my ill behaviour towards you the 
 other day, I consider myself culpable; therefore to 
 prevent such like trouble in future to you, I shall 
 declare upon oath against spirituous liquors, such 
 as brandy, rum, gin, and whiskey, except three 
 drams in the course of each day, as long as I live 
 with you. Three drams a day will not injure my 
 health or temper. Upon these conditions I expect 
 not to displease you in future, which will be a 
 cause, I hope, for you to encourage me in your 
 employment. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 From your faithful servant, 
 EDWARD MEACHER.
 
 1820.] IN AMERICA. 483 
 
 20th. This day I bade farewell to Washington 
 city and America, and to all the bright and vivid 
 spirits I found in it. 
 
 21st. In company with Mr. . Dumbleton, and 
 my wicked, beautiful, silver grey squirrel, a native 
 of Maryland, whose brushy tail is his nightcap, 
 and who eats razors, buttons, bibles, &c., and is 
 therefore sentenced to transportation for life, 1 
 embarked on board the good ship Minerva of Bos- 
 ton, to Amsterdam bound, and from Alexandria 
 sailed gently down the great river Potowmac. 
 
 After a passage of about 30 days, we arrived at 
 the Isle of Wight. Here I had the honour to pre- 
 sent my most gracious Sovereign with a precious 
 relic a cedar-cane cut from the grave of General 
 Washington ; together with six gallons of " ele- 
 gant, mighty fine claret," purposely sent on a 
 Yankee voyage of 10,000 miles, to ripen for the 
 use of British royalty.
 
 484 MEMORABLE DAYS [Jly, 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 V 
 
 HAVING reached home, partially recovered what 
 seemed irrecoverably gone, my long lost health, 
 and told my story, there seems little or nothing 
 to add, except a few retrospective observations, 
 summarily bearing on the preceding descriptions, 
 opinions, and decisions, which throughout are 
 frankly and fearlessly rendered, chiefly aiming to 
 enlighten the ignorant, and to abash the wicked. 
 " But," says the reader, " to emigrate or not to 
 emigrate ? That is the question !" It is easier to 
 propound than to answer this inquiry. To seek 
 a refuge from danger, and to fly from the coming 
 storm, is on the one hand in accordance with one 
 of the first laws of nature ; and on the other hand, 
 it may be said, that to abandon our hearths, homes, 
 and altars, because our country mourns and is in 
 trouble, is cowardly. That numbers have gone, 
 are now going, and will continue to go, is certain ; 
 for when there is a surplus population, and the hive 
 swarms, what shall set bounds to the free-born ? 
 To those, then, who are inevitably destined to 
 roam, friendless, homeless, really lone strangers in 
 a strange land, and to see their old, much-loved 
 homes, and the tombs of their fathers no more, 1 
 would say: Study the preceding well-meant pages. 
 I know your wants and feelings. Study, then, 1
 
 1820J IN AMERICA. 485 
 
 would say, by every attainable qualification, prin- 
 ciple, and sentiment, to fortify your minds, and 
 make yourselves all which you ought to be. Plague 
 not yourselves nor the land of your adoption, by 
 importing and giving perpetuity to home-bred pre- 
 judices. A nest you will find; but every where, like 
 that of the nightingale, a thorn within it. Learn, 
 therefore, yourselves to forget, and as far as in you 
 lies, teach your posterity also to forget, and to re- 
 member only what they ought to remember. A 
 British origin will be ever honourable in their he- 
 raldry. This is well worth remembrance, and may 
 they never stain, never dishonour it; but into 
 whatsoever lands they wander, may they seek the 
 good and peace of that land, for in its good and 
 peace they shall have peace themselves ! 
 
 To those whose disgusts and moral and physical 
 disabilities point them homewards, as prodigals to 
 the house of their fathers, the broad Atlantic, in the 
 words of the Hon. J. Q, Adams, offers a highway 
 for their return ; having undergone a process by 
 which they shall, perhaps, learn the vast sum and 
 value of English homes and comforts. 
 
 The old family quarrel has evidently made the 
 natives of both countries somewhat incommiscible ; 
 else how is it that the French, Dutch, Germans, 
 Irish, and strangers of any other land, are more 
 acceptable to America than the children of the 
 common parent, Great Britain. For to the latter 
 the most distinguished Americans have heretofore
 
 486 MEMORABLE DAYS 
 
 proudly traced their pedigree, unless some rank 
 and cancerous blemish was in the root and core of 
 it. Hence all grades blush not to own and call her 
 mother, though she is denounced by many, and it 
 must be owned with some justice, as an unnatural 
 parent. But those events have long since become 
 matter of historical record, and it is not good po- 
 licy to visit the sins of the fathers upon the chil- 
 dren, from generation to generation. Let both 
 countries wisely learn to think correctly of their 
 several governments, and kindly of each other. 
 Peace and goodwill, in all their fruitful ramifica- 
 tions, will ever bring more silver dollars to the one, 
 and more golden guineas to the other, than fire- 
 ships, torpedos, battles, blazing cities, and heroes 
 covered with glory ! 
 
 " Well ! 1 guess, after all," exclaimed a Yankee 
 friend, " it is a good land with small faults ; ne- 
 cessary evils ; seeming evils ; good in disguise." 
 " Yes, it is a good land," rejoined another, in love 
 with it at first sight, " mine eyes have seen it for 
 myself, and not another. I am fascinated with it. 
 My return from it would be impossible, but for 
 the adamantine chain which binds me to my coun- 
 try. My heart tempts me, but my duty forbids me 
 to break it." Hasty conclusions like hasty matches, 
 are rarely happy, and so it was with our enthu- 
 siast; for in less than two years of patient trial 
 and perpetual travel, he very gladly returned to 
 his native country, joyfully repeating,
 
 1B20.] IN AMERICA. 
 
 " Whoe'er thou art, 
 
 Cling to thy home. If there the meanest shed 
 Yield thee a hearth and shelter for thy head, 
 And some poor plot with vegetables stor'd, 
 Be all that heav'n allots thee for thy board, 
 Unsavoury bread, and herbs that scatter'd grow 
 Wild on the river bank, or mountain brow, 
 Yet ev'n this cheerless mansion shall provide 
 More heart's repose than all the world beside." 
 
 Finally; were, however, America, of which I 
 now perhaps take my leave for ever, every thing 
 that the purest patriotism could make it, yet the 
 climate is an evil, a perpetual evil, a mighty draw- 
 back, an almost insurmountable obstacle to the 
 health, wealth, and well-being of all, except the 
 native red and black man, the genuine aboriginal, 
 and the unstained African, for whom alone this 
 land of promise, this vast section of the earth, this 
 new and better world, seems by nature to have been 
 intended. Otherwise, it is argued, would noisome 
 pestilence annually desolate its cities and districts, 
 and every where unsparingly and prematurely peo- 
 ple the grave? In spite, however, of climes, tropi- 
 cal or changeful, torrid or frigid, and of constitu- 
 tional predisposition to sickness, health, physical 
 and moral, is much more at the command of man- 
 kind than she is generally supposed to be. Tem- 
 perance, abstinence, and exertion, approximating 
 to labour, in free air, are the essential handmaids to 
 health, and enable a man to laugh at doctors, and 
 to withstand the effects of climate. Hence, then,
 
 488 MEMORABLE DAYS IN AMERICA. 
 
 in whatsoever climes, stations, or circumstances, 
 my reader may be found, let him learn to think 
 health worth a sacrifice. To persons, whose for- 
 tune it may be to encounter the risks of this dan- 
 gerous and debilitating climate, I would especially 
 say: Let ablutions and affusions of pure, cold 
 spring water, become habitual with you, and as a 
 beverage, let water be substituted for wine, whis- 
 key, and alcohol in all its forms. Let milk supply 
 the place of tea, coffee, and other stimulants; and 
 let tobacco, snuff, and all the family of narcotics, 
 be abandoned. Surely health is ever, what a late 
 venerable friend of his species was often wont to 
 call her, the Sugar of Life. He who thinks and 
 acts otherwise rarely finds health, and never de- 
 serves her. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 * 
 
 J. M'Creery, Tookj Coun. 
 
 Chancery Lam-, London.