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 LETTERS 
 
 FROM 
 
 AMERICA, 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ON THE CLIMATE AND AGRICULTURE OF 
 THE WESTERN STATES, THE MANNERS OF THE PEOPLE, 
 THE PROSPECTS OF EMIGRANTS, &c. &c. 
 
 BY JAMES FLINT. 
 
 " From the disorders that disfigure the annals of the Republics of Greece and Italy, the 
 advocates of despotism have drawn arguments, not only against the forms of republican 
 government, but against the very principles of civil liberty. • They have decried all free 
 governments as inconsistent with the order of society, and have indulged themselves in 
 malicious exultation over its friends and partizans. Happily for mankind, stupendous 
 fabrics reared on the basis of liberty, which have flourished for ages, have, in a few glori- 
 ous instances, refuted their gloomy sophisms. And, I trust, America will be the broad and 
 solid foundation of other edifices not less magnificent, which will be equally permanent 
 monuments of their error."— Geiural Alexander Hamilton. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 PRINTED FOR W. & C. TAIT, PRINCE'S STREET; 
 
 AND LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 1822.
 
 Printed by Balfour & Clarke. 
 Edinburgh.
 
 
 1 a 7 
 
 ',4l 
 
 TO 
 
 JAMES STUAET, Esquire, 
 
 YOUNGER OF DUNEARN, 
 
 THE 
 
 FOLLOWING SHEETS 
 ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Voyage from Greenock to New York— Circumstances 
 of Passengers— Arrival^ &c 1 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Observations on New York — Removal to Long Island 
 — Miscellaneous Remarks — Return to New York — 
 Farther Observations on the City 6 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Journey from New York to Philadelphia— Observations 
 on Philadelphia— Institutions — Manufactures — People 23 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburg — Remarks on 
 the Country — Notices of Emigrants, and occurrences 
 by the way 41 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Pittsburg — Situation — Manufactures — Occurrences — 
 People $g 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Descend the Ohio from Pittsburg to Beaver — Occur- 
 rences and Remarks there 66
 
 VI CONTENTS! 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Page 
 
 Descend the Ohio from Beaver to Portsmouth — Occur- 
 rences and Remarks Interspersed 76 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Leave Portsmouth — Digression on Economical Travel- 
 ling — Chillicothe — Progress of'a Scotch Family-- Game 
 — Trees and Shrubs — Rolled Pieces of Primitive 
 Rocks — Implements — Antiquities — Organic Remains 
 — Missouri and Illinois — Paper Currency 90 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Lexington — Paper Currency — Bankers — Menials — Ha- 
 bits — Prices of Live Stock — Provisions, &c. — Sla- 
 very, and its Effects — Recrimination against Illiberal 
 Reflections — Descend the Ohio to Cincinnati — Oc- 
 currences and Reflections 107 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Cincinnati — Weather — Descend the Ohio to the Falls 
 of the Ohio— Taverns and Accommodation 124 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 Morals and Manners — Education — Generosity — The 
 President of the United States 140 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 On Emigration — The Prospects of Emigrants — Incon- 
 veniencies — The Method of Laying out and Disposing 
 of Public Lands 148 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 Comparative Advantages of different Parts of the 
 United States — Temperature at Philadelphia and Cin- 
 cinnati — Reflections on Slave-Keeping 156 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Lawyers — Doctors — Clergy — Mechanics — Justices of 
 the Peace — Anecdotes — Punishments — Reflections 16?
 
 CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 Page 
 
 Outline of the American Constitution — From the Fre- 
 quency of Revolutions in Europe, the Instability of 
 the American Republic is not to be inferred 179 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 State Legislatures — Predilection for Dividing Counties, 
 Laying out New Towns and Roads — The Influence 
 of Slavery on the Habits of the People — Banking 188 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 Depreciated Paper Money — Want of Employment — 
 State Expenses — The Progress of New Settlements.... 198 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 Passage to Cincinnati — Trade — Manufactures — Insti- 
 tutions — Banks — Climate — Notice of three Indian 
 Chiefs — Remarks on the Indian People 210 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 Descend the Ohio from Cincinnati to Madison — Notices 
 of a Scotch Settlement — Excess of Male Popula- 
 tion — Roads — Harvest — Crops — Orchards — Timber- 
 Elections — Methodist Camp Meeting 224- 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 Circumstances that Retard Manufacturing Industry, 
 
 and Causes of its Prosperity 238 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 Circuit Court of Indiana — Lands — Crops — Salt springs — 
 Corydon — Barrens — Caves — Tornado — Alluvial 
 Lands — Large Trees— Wild Vines — Steam boats — 
 the Falls of the Ohio — Bilious and Intermitting Fe- 
 vers — Taciturnity — Americanisms 25 1 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 Miscellaneous Remarks on the Manners and Habits of 
 the People 26i
 
 viii CONTEXTS. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 Page 
 
 Passage from the Falls of the Ohio to Cincinnati — Jour- 
 ney to Lake Erie — the Great Sciota — Pickaway Plains 
 Prairies — Sickly State of the Country— -Indians — 
 People 270 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 Passage on Lake Erie — The Falls of Niagara—Passage 
 on Lake Ontario — Descend the River St. Lawrence — 
 Falls — Montreal — Quebec — Indians — Remarks on 
 the People — Timber Trade — Government — Climate, 287 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 %* In consequence of the autlior's absence, when the following sheets passed 
 through the press, the number of mistakes in the printing is considerable. 
 Some of them, he is sorry to find, materially affect the sense of the passages 
 in which they occur. 
 
 Page 8. line 7. for removed read occasioned. 
 
 13. line 16. after liberation insert it is to be feared that. 
 
 32. line 22. for picture read pictures. 
 
 41. line 4. for luniata read Juniata. 
 
 48. line 29. for this insert the State of Ohio. 
 
 54. line 23. for rice read rue. 
 
 54. line 34. for rise read vise. 
 
 56. line 11. for State read States. 
 
 58. line 12. for inequality read declivity. 
 
 60. line 22. for extensively read extensive that are 
 
 63. line 7. for derived read derives. 
 
 69. line 33. for piled up read peeled 
 
 74. line 16. after hostess insert here. 
 
 79. line 28. for rivers read river. 
 
 97. line 5. for Falipifera read Tidipefera. 
 101. line 15. for their read then. 
 121. line 30. for Castilians read Castilian. 
 137. line 12. for rivers read river. 
 148. line 14. for improved read unimproved. 
 
 152. line 2. for explanatory examples, read an explanatory example. 
 160. line 27. for Pleiro read Plein. 
 
 175. line 10. for ministerialist read ministerialists. 
 
 176. last line, for Burton's read Buxton's. 
 226. line 10. delete himself. 
 
 232. second line from the bottom delete then 
 236. line 18. for P. M. read A. M. 
 240. line 32. for these read that. 
 
 257. line 7. for fall read falls. 
 
 258. line 25. after this insert together with. 
 
 265. last line for Alabana read Alabama. 
 
 266. line second delete by 
 
 266. line 33. for come read coming. 
 
 274. line 28. for ditch read wall. 
 
 274. line 29. for deep read high. 
 
 299. last line, jbr Cachewaga read Cachncwaga.
 
 LETTERS 
 
 FROM 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Voyage from Greenock to New York — Circumstances of 
 Passengers — Arrival, Sf-c. 
 
 New York, July 10, 181 S. 
 As I have already informed you, I sailed from 
 Greenock on the 24-th of May last, in the Ameri- 
 can ship Glenthorn, Stillman Master, bound for 
 this place, 
 
 I observed that my fellow emigrants were much 
 affected when about to take a final leave of their 
 native land : some regretting the separation 
 from their native soil, while others, mute and 
 thoughtful, seemed to suffer under feelings of a 
 more tender kind. 
 
 To some it may appear inconsistent in people 
 to regret leaving their homes and their friends, 
 while the emigration is voluntarily undertaken j 
 but on this occasion, the paradox will be explain- 
 ed, when their circumstances and views are taken 
 into consideration. 
 
 Of our party were three farmers, with their fa- 
 milies, whose leases were expired ; all of them 
 having declined engaging for a new term of years, 
 
 B
 
 2 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 under the apprehension of seeing their paternal 
 stock, and the savings of many years' industry, di- 
 vided between the landholder and the collector of 
 taxes. A native of Scotland, who had resided 
 several years in America, returned with the inten- 
 tion of resuming business in the town where he 
 was born, but the thick ranks of a necessitous and 
 half employed population, had closed on the place 
 he had left. There was a widow, w T ith two children, 
 on her way to put herself under the protection of 
 a brother in America. With us also were several 
 of the labouring class, whose utmost exertions 
 could only procure the bare support of existence ; 
 and ploughmen, who prudently refrained from 
 marrying with fourteen pounds a-year. In short, 
 there was scarcely one of our number whose con- 
 dition might not perhaps be bettered, or whose 
 prospects could be rendered worse, by the change 
 of country. 
 
 In a voyage from Europe to America, most pas- 
 sengers may expect to be sea-sick. Nearly all of 
 them on board the Glenthorn, on this occasion, 
 suffered more or less. For my own part, I never 
 w r as entirely free from it for more than three-fourths 
 of the passage. This disease is dispiriting while 
 it continues, but as it is believed to produce no 
 permanent injury, but, on the contrary, is thought 
 conducive to future health, the attack is not at all 
 dreaded. People unaccustomed to the seafaring 
 life ought to carry with them those kinds of pro- 
 visions to which they have been previously accus- 
 tomed, as the stores of the ship soon become 
 loathsome to the sick. Potatoes will be found ac- 
 ceptable, when the caprice of taste rejects almost 
 every other food ; and walking on deck is of ser- 
 vice, as the air is better, and the pitching of the 
 ship is considerably less felt, than below. 
 
 4
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 3 
 
 It is very improper to go to sea in crowded 
 vessels ; as epidemic diseases are engendered, and 
 the most dreadful mortality is the consequence. 
 That law of Britain which allows only one pas- 
 senger for every five tons of burden in American 
 ships (including seamen) is a most beneficial regu- 
 lation ; and while, in American bottoms, the cabin 
 passenger pays L.21, and the steerage passenger 
 L.12, the expense cannot be complained of, while 
 health and comfort are taken into consideration. 
 It is much to be regretted that the government 
 of England does not extend its humane restriction 
 to its own Canadian settlers, and to emigrants 
 who sail for the United States in British ships. 
 
 The 4th of July is celebrated by Americans as 
 the anniversary of their independence, declared in 
 1776. The captain and seamen were disposed to 
 be joyful in commemoration of this great event. 
 The striped flag was displayed, guns and pistols 
 were fired, accompanied with loud cheers. The 
 passengers, no less enthusiastic, joined in the 
 strongest expressions of their devotedness to the 
 democratic form of government. They indulged 
 in such sentiments as, a sincere wish that the 
 United States may long continue exempt from 
 that excessive corruption, as they thought, which 
 has so long and so much degraded a large portion 
 of the human race ; — and their avowed satisfaction 
 at the near prospect of becoming people of the 
 Republic. 
 
 On the 8th we came in sight of Long Island, 
 and the high lands of New Jersey ; a welcome oc- 
 currence to people who had been so long at sea. 
 In the afternoon a pilot came on board. He in- 
 formed us that the city was in great bustle, as the 
 inhabitants were assembled to deposit the bones of 
 General Montgomery, who fell at Quebec, on the 
 31st of December, 1775. The remains of the pa- 
 is 2
 
 4 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 triotic leader were buried by the ministerialists 
 without the fort, and were to-day interred by his 
 grateful countrymen under the portico of St. 
 Paul's church, New York. We were sorry that it 
 was not in our power to witness the solemnity. 
 
 In the evening we were off the point Sandy- 
 hook. The smell of the new hay on the adjacent 
 fields regaled us very agreeably. All seemed 
 elated with joy. A bagpipe and two violins play- 
 ed by turns, and our young people danced on 
 deck till a late hour. During this season of 
 mirth, we were entertained by a sight, perhaps 
 unequalled in the phenomena of an European cli- 
 mate. Some dense black clouds which hung over 
 Long Island, were frequently illuminated by flashes 
 of lightning. It is in vain to attempt a descrip- 
 tion. About midnight we passed through the 
 Narrows, and soon afterwards anchored on the 
 quarantine ground, about seven miles from New 
 York. 
 
 On the morning of the 9th of July, the inspecting 
 surgeon visited us, and allowed the anchor to be 
 weighed. In this situation we had a full view of the 
 shores of Staten and Long Islands. The wooden 
 houses are neat, and the orchards and natural woods 
 have a thriving appearance. It would seem that 
 the people here have a partiality to the Lombardy 
 poplar, which grows to a great height, shooting up 
 its branches nearly perpendicularly; assuming 
 something of the appearance of a spire. The 
 straight rows of these trees, so common here, have 
 an insipid regularity and sameness, more like a file 
 of armed soldiery than an ornamental grove. 
 
 Some of the frame houses are painted red, 
 those of the finer sort, white ; ornamental rail- 
 ings are also painted white. To an European 
 eye, these colours appear too glaring. The lands 
 seen from the bay are sandy and poor. -^
 
 LETTERS EIIOM AMERICA. 5 
 
 The first glimpse of the city of New York is 
 by no means a distinct one. The buildings are 
 much obscured by the forest of masts in front of 
 them ; and as the site of the town rises but gently 
 inland, the houses in front conceal, in a great 
 measure, those in the rear, so that the shipping 
 and the numerous spires are the objects most dis- 
 tinctly seen. 
 
 Before entering the port we were twice boarded 
 by agents from the Newspaper offices. They in- 
 quired for British newspapers, and generally for 
 the news of Europe ; they noted down the names 
 of several of our passengers, which they intended 
 to publish in the papers of the afternoon. There 
 are no less than seven newspapers printed in New 
 York daily ; the competition of these Journalists 
 is keen, and their industry seems to be great. 
 
 We have experienced much good treatment 
 from Captain Stillman. Every passenger is so 
 sensible of this, that a committee of their number 
 was requested to make public testimony of their 
 esteem for him. 
 
 We landed yesterday about noon, all in good 
 health and spirits. During the voyage, passengers 
 have experienced no kind of sickness, except that 
 peculiarly incident to the sea. 
 
 This letter cannot come immediately into the 
 hands of all my friends ; most of them, I hope, 
 will hear that I am arrived in this place in good 
 health. Should you adopt any way of making 
 this and any subsequent communications generally 
 known to them, it will be very gratifying to me, 
 and, besides, will relieve me of the labour of writing 
 many letters ; a labour, dictated by the strongest 
 ties of gratitude and affection, but one which it is 
 doubtful if I can accomplish to the satisfaction of 
 my own mind. 
 
 b3
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Observations on New York — Removal to Long Island — 
 Miscellaneous Remarks — Return to New York — Far- 
 ther Observations on the City. 
 
 New York, August 4, 1818. 
 On entering New York, I was struck with its ap- 
 pearance. Streets lined with lofty trees, most of 
 them the Lombardy poplar, which affords a very 
 agreeable shade in hot weather ; indeed, they are 
 so numerous, that the new comer, when he looks 
 before him, is apt to suppose himself in the midst 
 of a wood. The streets, with a few exceptions, 
 are too narrow, and are deficient in sewers. Ma- 
 ny parts of the town prevent me from thinking 
 that it deserves the character of extreme cleanli- 
 ness bestowed upon it. The greater part of the 
 houses are of brick, neatly built j but, to eyes ac- 
 customed to towns of hewn stone, New York has, 
 on the whole, what (for want of a more descrip- 
 tive word) may be called a gingerbread appear- 
 ance. 
 
 The markets here are amply supplied with fine 
 vegetables, and an immense variety of excellent 
 fish, a great proportion of which are sold alive. 
 Beef and pork are good, but the mutton and veal 
 that I have seen are of inferior quality. Market- 
 ing is carried on more after the manner in some 
 English country towns. No servants, but masters, 
 attend and carry home the provisions. 
 
 Beggars do not abound here as in some coun- 
 tries of Europe. I am told that every man who is
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 7 
 
 able to work can earn a dollar per day, and that 
 his board costs two or three dollars per week; 
 thus it is in his power to banish every appearance 
 of poverty, and to save some money, provided he 
 is disposed to economy. Mechanics have good 
 encouragement. Joiners one and three quarters, 
 and masons two dollars a-day. They usually pay 
 three dollars, or upwards, a-week, for their board. 
 
 Many of the necessaries of life are here pur- 
 chased at high prices. Woollen cloths, and most 
 articles of wearing apparel imported, pay duties, 
 varying, in different cases, from 25 to 33 per cent. 
 In transacting with the merchant and the tailor, 
 farther American enhancements may be calcu- 
 lated upon. Washing and dressing of shirts, neck- 
 cloths, &c. costs a dollar and a half per dozen. 
 Every thing that an American does, must be libe- 
 rally paid for. This tends to render living dear, 
 even where provisions are cheap. 
 
 Some imported articles, as silks, wines, foreign 
 spirituous liquors, teas, sugar, and coffee, are 
 much cheaper than in Britain. The difference of 
 custom-house duties is the cause of this. 
 
 The condition of animals bespeak the great 
 plenty of food that falls to their share. The 
 horses employed in removing goods to and from 
 the wharfs, and in stage coaches, are fat, and in 
 high spirits. They are not so rough-legged, so 
 broad, or so strong-limbed, as the draught horses 
 of Britain ; but they are better adapted for speed. 
 Hogs, running in the streets, are numerous, but 
 they are not starvelings. I have seen several of 
 them that would yield upwards of 800 lbs. of pork 
 without special feeding. Speaking of hogs, I 
 would mention by the way, that they are allow- 
 ed to run at large for the purpose of cleaning the 
 streets. An economical way of procuring scaven-
 
 8 
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA, 
 
 gers, but one that leads to a commutation of nui- 
 sance rather than a final removal of it. 
 
 July 12. Last night the heat was excessive, 
 and not accompanied with a breath of wind. It 
 was in vain that I thrust my head out at an open 
 window to be cooled. The effluvia arising from 
 the streets is, in a great measure, removed by a 
 high temperature. I imagine that a copious evo- 
 lution of phosphorized hydrogen gas goes on in 
 such weather. I could not sleep till three or four 
 o'clock. This morning I heard that some people 
 who had suffered from the heat and stillness of 
 the air, had stretched themselves on carpets, or 
 sat by open room doors, or in passages. Nights 
 so very oppressive are said to occur rarely. In 
 high and inland parts of the country they do not 
 occur at all. 
 
 This is not the most proper season of the year 
 for Europeans arriving here. Yesterday and to- 
 day the heat has been excessive, the thermometer 
 in the shade stood at 97i°- In such a degree of 
 heat it is imprudent to take much exercise. The 
 temperature of the human body being lower than 
 that of the air, the former is deprived of the cool- 
 ing process usually produced by evaporation. 
 Should the heat of the blood be increased in such 
 a case, fever commences. We had an example of 
 this, in a young man, one of the emigrants on 
 board the Glenthorn, who exerted himself too 
 puch in getting baggage ashore. He w r as this 
 day removed to Brooklyn, a high-lying village on 
 Long Island, about a mile from New York. 
 Transitions from heat to cold are, perhaps, still 
 more dangerous ; of late, eleven persons have 
 died in the city by drinking cold water. Seve- 
 ral of them were strangers newly landed. Wa- 
 ter should not be drunk immediately from the
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 9 
 
 well, but should be allowed previously to stand 
 for a few minutes in the air. It should be taken 
 in small mouthfuls, and these heated in the mouth 
 for two or three seconds before swallowing. Pre- 
 cautions of this kind ought to be strictly attended 
 to, while heated by exercise or the sun's rays. 
 Spirits are often mixed with water, to prevent the 
 injurious effects of the latter. This corrective, 
 however much extolled, ought to be taken in very 
 small quantities. Here, as in Britain, there are 
 many who resort to spirituous liquors as the sove- 
 reign medicine, both in hot and in cold weather. 
 
 Strangers lodge in boarding houses, and are 
 charged from three dollars to twenty a-week. I 
 have got lodgings in a good one, where I find inter- 
 esting company. Previous to our meals a servant 
 rings a small hand-bell, summoning every lodger 
 to the public room, where we all eat together. A 
 polite, well-dressed, hostess presides. 
 
 Servants are not here so attentive to their duty 
 as elsewhere ; many of them are free blacks, slow 
 in their motions, and often treating the most rea- 
 sonable commands with neglect. Master is not a 
 word in the vocabulary of hired people. Bos, a 
 Dutch one of similar import, is substituted. The 
 former is used by Negroes, and is by free people 
 considered as synonymous with slave-keeper. 
 
 This afternoon much thunder was heard. After 
 twilight the lightning flashed incessantly, so that 
 the illumination was almost permanent. Thunder 
 storms in America are more frequent, more severe, 
 and often accompanied with greater rains than in 
 Europe. A respectable gentleman of Delaware 
 county, in this State, told me, that during a thun- 
 der storm there, he laid his watch on the table, and 
 found that an hour and forty-eight minutes elapsed
 
 10 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 without one cessation of sound. He thinks it 
 probable that the peal lasted about two hours, as a 
 few minutes must have passed before the idea of 
 noting the time suggested itself. 
 
 July 13. This evening, after dark, I was sur- 
 prised to see a large object standing in the centre 
 of one of the principal streets ; on approaching it, 
 I discovered that it was a frame-house, with a wheel 
 affixed to each corner. Its length was about twen- 
 ty-two feet, breadth about sixteen feet, and two 
 stories high. I am just told that much larger 
 buildings than this are often dragged off by horses, 
 with their roofs, floors, plaster, doors, and win- 
 dows, entire ; furniture sometimes included. 
 This sort of removal happens at the expiry of 
 leases of small lots, where the occupier is not bound 
 to leave the buildings. 
 
 July 16. For two days past, the skin of my 
 face has been spotted, accompanied with blotches, 
 and with partial swelling. This is called the 
 prickly heat, from the pungent feeling that at- 
 tends it. A medical gentleman has told me, that 
 this has been occasioned by a sudden cooling, 
 which has put a stop to perspiration. He congra- 
 tulated me on having escaped a fever, prescribed 
 a hot bath, and subsequent sea-bathing. I am 
 about to set out for Long Island, in obedience to 
 the latter part of the Doctor's prescription. 
 
 Afternoon. Arrived at New- Utrecht, a village 
 near the south-western extremity of Long Island. 
 On leaving New York, I crossed the ferry to Brook- 
 lyn, by a steam-boat of singular construction : this 
 vessel is composed of two hulls, at a little distance 
 from, and parallel to, one another ; they are con- 
 nected by a deck common to both. The water- 
 wheel, turned by a steam-engine, is placed between
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 11 
 
 the keels of the boats. There is a rudder at each 
 end, so that she can cross and re-cross, without 
 putting about. 
 
 A stage coach runs from Brooklyn to New 
 Utrecht. The distance is nine miles ; and the fare 
 for one person, half a dollar. This coach, like the 
 other public ones of the country, has no glass win- 
 dows in the front or the sides of it, these parts 
 are furnished with curtains, which are let down in 
 bad weather. The coach is long, containing four 
 seats that run across ; and travellers sit with their 
 faces forward, as in the pews of a church. 
 
 I have agreed to stop a few days at New Utrecht. 
 My host is an intelligent man, obliging, but not 
 fawning ; he and his wife take the principal drudg- 
 ery of the house upon themselves, as the slaves 
 are extremely slow in the execution of their work. 
 Sometimes the landlord presides at the head of the 
 table, and at other times he acts as servant. At 
 dinner we were joined by the coach-driver who 
 brought us from Brooklyn j he is very unlike the 
 drivers of some other coaches, is well dressed, ac- 
 tive, and attentive to his business, by no means 
 obsequious, answers every question with proprie- 
 ty, and without embarrassment. He does not de- 
 pend on the gratuities of travellers for his wages. 
 That system, which so universally prevails in Bri- 
 tain, is unknown here. 
 
 At the inn there were three boarders, all Scotsmen. 
 One of them, a young gentleman from Edinburgh, 
 who was confined to bed by a broken thigh bone, 
 occasioned by a horse running away with a gig, 
 from which he fell while attempting to disengage 
 himself; he was occasionally attended by a young- 
 lady, whose visits were frequent, although she liv- 
 ed at the distance of ten miles. The people of 
 the neighbourhood were also very attentive to this
 
 12 LETTERS FROM AMERICA, 
 
 person, often calling for him ; and several of the 
 young men sat with him all night by rotation. It 
 was pleasing to see so creditable a display of the 
 benevolent affections. 
 
 The good people here are the descendants of 
 the original Dutch settlers. They are placed in 
 comfortable circumstances, their style of living 
 somewhat resembling that of farmers in the more 
 fertile and improved parts of Scotland. If the situa- 
 tions of farmers in the two countries were compared, 
 it would appear that the advantage of the Long Is- 
 landers consists in a climate highly conducive to 
 vegetation, their freedom from rent, being owners 
 of the soil, and the total absence of any heavy 
 taxes ; and that their comparative disadvan- 
 tage is, the want of such active domestic and 
 agricultural servants as the farmer of the other 
 country employs, 
 
 Mr. Cobbet is now farming about nine miles 
 from this place, His people (it is said) could not 
 bear the opprobrious name servatit, and, with the 
 exception of one person, left him *. 
 
 The fishermen here drag ashore many fishes in 
 their seines. Without other evidence than the 
 vast quantities of smaller ones left on the shore, the 
 abundant supply of the New York market might 
 be inferred. 1 bathe twice a-day, on the spot 
 where General Howe first effected the landing of 
 his army. A farmer very obligingly gives me the 
 key of his fishing house on the beach, that I may 
 dress and undress in it. The farmers here catch 
 great quantities of fish, with which they manure 
 their land. 
 
 There are still a considerable number of slaved 
 in Long Island ; they are treated with a degree of 
 
 ' This person was English. 
 
 I
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 13 
 
 humanity that slaves in some other parts of the world 
 never experience ; they are well fed, and the 
 whip is very seldom resorted to. Notwithstand- 
 ing their comparative advantages, they detest the 
 unnatural yoke, and frequently run off. It often 
 happens that the master neither pursues nor in- 
 quires after the fugitive. What becomes of the 
 self-emancipated is not here well understood. I 
 have heard that many of them get to Boston, or 
 some other of the northern ports, from whence 
 they are carried to the Southern States, sold, and 
 placed under a harsher treatment. 
 
 A great part of the slaves of the State of New 
 York are to be emancipated in the year 1827 *• 
 It is difficult to predict the consequences of this 
 liberation. People who have been compelled to 
 work, will, of their own choice, become banditti 
 rather than adopt industrious habits. Arrange- 
 ments must necessarily be made before the arrival 
 of this revolution ; but many satisfy themselves by 
 saying, that the legislature will devise some plan 
 that will enable them to get over the difficulty. 
 Some suggest that the Negroes shall be returned 
 to Africa. On this measure, the African Associa- 
 tion, so much talked of in America, proceeds. The 
 expense of transporting, settling, supporting, and 
 governing a new colony, must be immense. The 
 design is as benevolent as the difficulties to be 
 encountered are great. The support it meets 
 with in slave-keeping states, looks like a pledge of 
 sincerity, and an omen that forebodes success to 
 the undertaking. 
 
 * By act of legislation, 31st March, 1817, " Every Negro, 
 Mulatto, or Mustee, within this State, born before the 4th day 
 of July, 1799, shall, from and after the 4th day of July, 1827, 
 be free.*'
 
 14 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 The project of removing blacks to the back- 
 woods of America seems to be altogether objec- 
 tionable. It would be difficult, if not impossible, 
 to prevent their return from exile ; their previous 
 habits and disposition render them ill calculated 
 to the work of subduing the forests. Besides, they 
 would commit depredations on the neighbouring 
 settlers, and on the Indian people. 
 
 Long Island being composed of alluvial soil, 
 surrounded by a high beach, its surface is necessa- 
 rily what is called a table land : for the most part 
 the surface is somewhat flat, the soil is dry, and at 
 this season, without streams of water. Near the 
 surface I have observed a substratum that is in- 
 termixed with clay. If a part of this was raised 
 above the ground, it would be made to approach 
 to a loam, more productive, and less liable to be 
 injured by drought, than the present sandy coat- 
 ing that covers the surface. A trenching, perform- 
 ed by the spade or by the plough, would no doubt 
 produce the good effect. 
 
 A labourer in Long Island receives half a dol- 
 lar a-day, with his board, and a dollar in harvest. 
 
 The weather, which is said to be hotter at pre- 
 sent than it has been for several years, begins to 
 scorch the surface of the ground. The stubble 
 from which the hay has recently been removed, 
 retains the appearance of a newly mown field j pas- 
 ture grass is withering. In some fields a rank 
 crop of weeds continues green ; amongst these the 
 cattle are straying nearly two feet deep, but are 
 in reality almost starving ; water is drawn from 
 deep wells, and served out to them in rather too 
 small quantities. The cows are small, as may be 
 expected. Good crops of wheat, rye, and Indian 
 corn, are raised. These require manure. Indian 
 corn is considered a good crop, when at the rate
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 15 
 
 of 40 bushels per acre. Oats do not ripen well 
 from the excessive heat, and are used only for the 
 food of horses. Potatoes are small ; their tops grow 
 high and slender, as when shaded by trees in your 
 country; their leaves are small and shrivelled. 
 The greatest luxuriance to be met with in Long 
 Island is in the orchards, the branches of apple 
 and pear trees are bent down, and not unfrequent- 
 ly broken by the weight of the fruit. Peach trees 
 were lately productive, but are now falling into 
 decay. I have met with no one able to assign the 
 cause. The woods are thriving, but few of the 
 trees are large ; they are evidently a new growth, 
 and not contemporary with the thick trunks that 
 opposed the first settlers. The owners frequently 
 spare their own timber, and purchase from other 
 parts of the State, or from New Jersey. In conse- 
 quence of paying for timber and carriage, build- 
 ing in Long Island is rendered more expensive 
 than in more late settlements. 
 
 It is not easy to state the price of land in Long 
 Island, as much of it has descended from father to 
 son, from the first settlement ; and sales have 
 been rare. A farm within ten miles of New York 
 would perhaps sell at 140 or 150 dollars (from 
 L.31, 10s. to L.33, 15s.) per acre. The practice 
 of renting land is by shares, the occupier paying 
 to the proprietor one half of the actual price of 
 the produce, the former bearing the risk and trou- 
 ble of collecting the money. 
 
 The fences are of wood. The figure is a repre- 
 sentation of the railing commonly adopted here. 
 
 ff\ rfL 
 
 =K 
 
 a 
 
 \b 
 
 OL 
 
 OL 
 
 a 
 
 I 
 
 E 
 
 go
 
 1G LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 A fence of this sort, costs about a dollar for 
 every ten yards in length. Where the posts are of 
 cedar, and the rails of chesnut, the erection, it is 
 said, may stand about fifty years. I examined 
 one reported to be thirty years old, and found it 
 to be so strong, that it may be expected still to 
 last for years to come. There are neither hedges 
 nor stone fences to be seen in this neighbourhood. 
 
 The crops, as in most parts of America, are cut 
 down by what is called the Cradle-scythe. I went 
 into a field where a Negro was reaping wheat 
 with this sort of implement, and observed that 
 about an English acre was cut down. On making 
 inquiry, it appeared that he had been engaged 
 about six hours in the work. The following dia- 
 logue ensued : 
 
 " You work very hard ?" 
 
 " No Sir, I can do much more in the time, but 
 that of no use" 
 
 " You are not free then ?" 
 
 " No Sir, la slave, I longs to Jacob Van , 
 
 there," (pointing to the farm house.) 
 
 " But you black people are very well treated 
 here ?" 
 
 " Oh yes, Sir, master very good to me, give me 
 every thing to eat he eat self, but no Sunday 
 clothes." 
 
 " You may live happier than some poor free 
 people ?" 
 
 " That may be true, Sir, but put bird in cage, 
 give him plenty to eat, still he fly away." 
 
 I delay giving a description of the cradle- scythe, 
 as I doubt if the one that I have just seen is of 
 the best construction. 
 
 After the crop is cut, the swath is collected by 
 the hand, and tied into sheaves ; a small quantity 
 of stalks still remain scattered over the surface,
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 17 
 
 these are commonly collected by the hand-rake. 
 To facilitate the latter part of the process, a horse 
 rake has been recently invented ; of which the 
 following figure is a representation. 
 
 AB is a beam about six inches square, and 
 about twelve feet long. CD is an upright rail 
 that prevents the stalks accumulated by the ma- 
 chine from falling over the beam AB, and so left 
 behind. EF, ef, are two supports to the rail, which 
 also serve as handles for steering, and occasionally 
 upsetting the machine. ABHG is a tire of wooden 
 teeth, one and a half inches diameter, and about 
 six inches distant from one another. These teeth 
 are sharpened at their extremities, and skim along 
 the ground with their points forward ; raising up 
 and collecting the stalks. IK are trees to which 
 the horses are yoked. The trees are attached to 
 the beam AB, by the rope BLA.
 
 18 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 The field in which I saw the horse rake used 
 is flat and not ridged ; consequently the straight 
 beam operated very well. To adapt a beam 
 to ridges, it would only be necessary to con- 
 struct it with two joints or hinges ; one at each 
 side of the handles, and to connect the central 
 part of the beam by a rope with the point of at- 
 tachment L. Otherwise, the implement may be 
 moved across the ridges. 
 
 Four wheeled waggons are the vehicles used in 
 carrying home the crops, carrying manure into 
 the fields, and produce to market. They are 
 drawn by two horses, which trot, whether loaded or 
 not. Small one-horse waggons are also used, they 
 are neat, and are furnished with a seat for convey- 
 ing families to church, and elsewhere. Many of 
 the farmers who own but small properties, keep 
 one horse gigs. Ladies drive dexterously. 
 
 The practice of housing the crops, and the an- 
 cient one of treading them out by the feet of 
 horses, shew that the Long Islanders have yet 
 something to learn in the way of dispatching their 
 agricultural business. 
 
 The high price of land prevents emigrants from 
 settling here. The near neighbourhood of a mar- 
 ket, and the salubrity derived from dry land, toge- 
 ther with sea breezes, might, notwithstanding, 
 form sufficient inducements to many, who would 
 pursue their immediate advantage; but those who 
 look forward to the future prospects of a family, 
 commonly prefer some part of the back country. 
 
 July 24t. Saw the works in progress at Fort 
 Diamond. This is a large battery raised on a 
 shoal in the narrows, about 200 yards off the wes- 
 tern point of Long Island ; most of the workme?i 
 are British.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 19 
 
 Crossed the Narrows to Staten Island. The for- 
 tifications are extensive and commanding. The 
 garrison consists of one man ! 
 
 25. Left New Utrecht, where a residence of 
 nine days has completely cured my blotched face. 
 The climate is delightful, and I have entertained 
 a very favourable opinion of the people. 
 
 The emigrant who was removed sick to Brook- 
 lyn, is dead ; thus by far the finest young man of 
 our party, has fallen the first victim to the climate : 
 twenty-two years of age, of a mild and cheerful dis- 
 position, and of a manly figure, and who had gained 
 our universal esteem. Of a family consisting of six 
 persons, he was the only one who was able to en- 
 dure the fatigues of clearing away the forests. The 
 feelings of the survivors are deeply wounded, and 
 the tender attachment that pledged his early re- 
 turn to Scotland is blasted. 
 
 I returned to New York, and shall make some 
 more remarks on the city. The population, at the 
 census of 1816, was 100,619, of which 6985 were 
 aliens, 9774" free people of colour, and 6 17 slaves. 
 It is expected that the enumeration of 1820 will 
 disclose a vast increase. 
 
 Literature does not stand on such a broad basis 
 here as in Europe. Printing, particularly of news- 
 papers, is carried on to a considerable extent: 
 but the style of many communications and adver- 
 tisement^ which appear in them, shews that the 
 public are not far advanced in taste. Particular 
 pieces are elegant. Many English publications 
 are reprinted, frequently with the addition of some 
 introduction, notes, or an appendix. For the addi- 
 tional matter a patent is procured, which I sup- 
 pose has generally the practical effect of securing 
 an exclusive privilege for the whole work. Some of 
 Lord Byron's latest productions, the Memoirs of 
 
 c 2
 
 20 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 the Fudge Family, and the Brownie of Bodsbeck, 
 are exhibited in the windows of the principal book- 
 sellers. When I left Edinburgh the last mentioned 
 book was not published. 
 
 The Kaleidoscope of Dr. Brewster is here fabri- 
 cated in a rude style, and in quantities so great, 
 that it is given as a plaything to children. An 
 artist informed me that a journeyman of his 
 proposes to take a patent for an improvement he 
 had made on it. 
 
 The public museum in this city is a recent 
 collection. An Indian mummy from the great 
 saltpetre cave in Kentucky, a bear from Warwick 
 mountains, about sixty miles north of this place, 
 which weighed 700 pounds, and an immensely large 
 turtle, are as yet the most interesting objects. 
 
 The town hall is a splendid building. Lightness, 
 and an apparent want of solidity in its parts, deprive 
 it in some measure of the august effect essential to 
 sublime grandeur. The front and columns are made 
 of white marble of a foliated texture. The inte- 
 rior staircase is both large and magnificent. It is 
 circular, and furnished with two elegant flights of 
 steps that wind in contrary directions, so that the 
 one crosses the other alternately. Upon the whole, 
 it displays that elegance which becomes an edifice 
 devoted to the administration of justice. 
 
 When I visited the Court of Sessions, the judge 
 on the bench appeared a plain active-lookinggentle- 
 man, not distinguished by any robes of office. The 
 business on hand was the taking of evidence in the 
 case of a man who had left a vault open during 
 the night. A person passing in the street happen- 
 ed to fall into the chasm, and raised an action of 
 damages, on the ground that he had received 
 bodily hurt. The questions put were numerous
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 21 
 
 and minute, the witnesses, notwithstanding, went 
 on in giving lengthened details, embracing parti- 
 culars not asked, and foreign to the subject. They 
 seemed in no respect embarrassed by the dignity 
 of* the court. The whole of the witnesses were 
 present, and each heard the examinations which 
 preceded his own. 
 
 The Washington, a new ship of war, mounting 
 96 guns, is much visited at present. The seamen 
 are a party of stout healthy looking men, dressed 
 in striped cottons, very suitable to the present hot 
 weather, and cleanly in the extreme. The decora- 
 tion, cleanliness of the ship, and the order that 
 prevail aboard, can scarcely be surpassed. Diffi- 
 dent, however, as I am in forming an opinion on 
 any naval affair, I cannot avoid the impression 
 that a vessel of such strength, and with such a 
 crew of freemen, must be an overmatch for any 
 other vessel constructed and manned as European 
 ships of war were wont to be. 
 
 The steam-frigate is a novelty in naval architec- 
 ture. The vessel is bomb-proof, impelled by a 
 powerful steam-engine ; is said to be furnished 
 with apparatus for heating ball, for throwing hot 
 water, for moving a sort of arms to prevent board- 
 ing, and to carry submarine guns of one hundred 
 pounds shot. 
 
 The steam-boat, Chancellor Livingstone, is the 
 largest and finest vessel of the kind perhaps ever 
 built ; she is 526 tons burden, length 165 feet, and 
 breadth 50 feet. The pow T er of the engine is esti- 
 mated as being equal to that of eighty horses. The 
 boiler is of copper, and weighs twenty tons. The 
 cabin unites something like the horizontal dimen- 
 sions of a church, and a degree of elegance not 
 exceeded by any floating apartment. The Chan- 
 cellor sails between New \ork and Albany. 
 
 c 3
 
 22 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 August 3. The theatre has some degree of 
 resemblance in its plan to that at Edinburgh, and is 
 attended by a genteelly-dressed audience. To-night 
 the celebrated Mr. Incledon completed his en- 
 gagement. He was highly applauded. The 
 song, " Scots wha hae wi* Wallace bled," was 
 alike cheered by Scots and Americans. 
 
 During this season of the year, most people wear 
 light cotton clothes ; the jacket is in many cases 
 striped, and the pantaloons of Indian nankin. 
 A broad-brimmed straw-hat is commonly used, 
 to prevent the face from being scorched by 
 the rays of the sun. Draymen, and other labour- 
 ing people, wear a sort of frock or hunting shirt 
 of tow-cloth, that hangs down to the knees. A 
 tall, thin, swarthy-countenanced man, with a 
 frock, surmounted by a broad straw hat, is a figure 
 somewhat new to the Briton. 
 
 One of the greatest inconsistencies among a peo- 
 ple professing liberty and equality, is the degrada- 
 tion imposed on people of colour. In the church of 
 the most popular preacher of New York, I 
 looked in vain for a black face. There is a con- 
 gregation of blacks in town, who have a preacher 
 of the same colour, where (it is said) a white man 
 would be equally singular. Blacks are not admitted 
 into the public baths j and, at some places of amuse- 
 ment the hand-bills have a note of this kind, 
 N. B. " A place is provided for people of colour." 
 I do not recollect of having seen or heard of a black 
 person who is in any degree eminent in society, or 
 who has acquired reputation in any mechanical or 
 mercantile business. This depression appears to 
 be produced partly by the aversion with which the 
 white face looks on the black one, and partly by 
 bad education and habits. Something more than 
 mere emancipation is required, a moral change, 
 
 4.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 23 
 
 affecting both the black and the white, must take 
 place, before the condition of the negro can be 
 completely ameliorated. 
 
 The churches of New York are fifty-three in 
 number, and are occupied by seventeen religious 
 sectaries. None of these are peculiarly privileged 
 by law, and none denied the common protection 
 of citizens. 
 
 August 4. Now when about to leave New 
 York, I feel a pleasure in stating my conviction of 
 the civilization and moral honesty of the people. 
 In the former respect, they may exult in any com- 
 parison with the mass of many European cities. 
 And in regard to the latter, I have heard of no 
 recent instance of house-breaking or riot. In hot 
 weather, people leave their windows open during 
 the night, and street doors are seldom closed dur- 
 ing the whole of the evening ; the inhabitants not 
 thinking their hats and umbrellas in much danger. 
 Such traits are perfectly unequivocal. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Journey from New York to Philadelphia — Remarks on 
 the country passed through — Notices of companions — 
 Their conversation by the way — Observations on Phil- 
 adelphia—Institutions — Manufactures — People. 
 
 Philadelphia, December 19, 1818. 
 This letter will give you the details of my journey 
 from New York to Philadelphia, and some particu- 
 lars with regard to the latter city.
 
 £4 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 August 5. Got aboard of the Oiive-Branch 
 steam-boat for New Brunswick. This is a large 
 vessel, wrought by an engine of forty-five horses' 
 power. She may at once be pronounced ele- 
 gant and commodious. The passengers dine on 
 board. 
 
 In a company so large, the traveller has it in his 
 power to select the person with whom he would 
 enter into conversation. The individual I fell 
 in with, on this occasion, was a mercantile 
 gentleman from England. He seemed to me a 
 man of a good disposition, and one who possessed 
 considerable knowledge of the principal towns, and 
 of the different ways of transacting business in the 
 United States. The American character, according 
 to his report, is by no means a good one. He ex- 
 pressed himself as completely tired of the country, 
 and proposed returning to England. He told me 
 that he had met with considerable losses by vil- 
 lanous insolvencies. His account, instead of con- 
 vincing me that the Americans were sinners above 
 all others, just shewed me that he was a good-na- 
 tured, credulous man, and that he had fallen into 
 the hands of several artful rogues ; a class, it would 
 seem, not wanting in America. 
 
 The land on both sides of the strait, between 
 Staten Island and the main land, is light and san- 
 dy, in some spots almost sterile. People in boats 
 are busy with long wooden tongs, resembling for- 
 ceps, taking up clams from the bottom, in six or 
 seven feet of water. 
 
 The land on both margins of the. Raritan is 
 very low and flat, covered with a rank growth of 
 reeds. These are cut for the cattle, and form a 
 coarse but a very bulky crop. The swamps, be- 
 ing liable to inundation, are not made to yield any 
 other herbage than their spontaneous produce.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. Q5 
 
 About four miles below New Brunswick, the red 
 sandstone is met with. It is the first rock toward 
 the coast, the interval being high alluvial land, con- 
 taining vegetables and the bones of marine animals 
 of tribes still existing ; facts that establish without 
 a doubt that the ocean has receded. 
 
 From New Brunswick to Trenton, travellers are 
 conveyed by four-horse coaches. Six of these 
 wait the arrival of the steam-boat. In one of 
 these I took my seat, and found that only two gen- 
 tlemen were to be along with me ; one of them an 
 American who had travelled in Britain, and the 
 other an Englishman, who had just been out on an 
 extensive tour in the United States. Both appear 
 men of talent and education ; the one a Virginian 
 lawyer, and the other a person well acquainted 
 with the state of science and manufacture in his 
 own country ; they are equally devoted to the 
 representative form of government. Their only 
 difference of opinion arose from drawing a 
 comparison between the national characters of 
 the two countries. The American claimed the 
 superiority, in toto, while the Englishman asserted 
 the higher excellence of the literary, the scientific, 
 and the mechanical attainments of Britain ; but, 
 at the same time admitted, with apparent candour, 
 the superior dexterity of Americans in traffic, and 
 that, taken in a body, they are without some of 
 the ruder qualities of John Bull. Thus, in one 
 day, I have heard two intelligent Englishmen dis- 
 cuss the character of the American people, and 
 each draw opposite conclusions: a tact, which 
 proves how cautious we ought to be in forming an 
 estimate of a community ; as we are in continual 
 danger of judging of the great stock from the 
 small, and it may happen that an unfair sample may 
 come within the narrow limits of a single person's 
 observation.
 
 26 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 The land between New Brunswick and Prince- 
 ton is chiefly of a poor sand. The road is com- 
 posed of the same material, with plank bridges 
 over ravines, where most of the streams are now 
 dried up. The woods, to a Briton, seem more re- 
 markable for their height, than for the diameter of 
 the trees. The stems, even by the road side, 
 where many are felled, stand closely together, and 
 their tops form a continued canopy, that sheds a 
 gloom over the surface of the ground. When 
 proximity to the two greatest cities in the Union 
 is considered, it seems surprising that the arm of 
 man has effected so little. The farms by the road 
 side are neither numerous, nor are the cleared 
 patches large. The passenger has no way of know- 
 ing how the country is peopled or improved beyond 
 the first clearing; and where no opening occurs, he 
 cannot see the light more than about 200 yards 
 into the woods. Rail fences, however, and cattle 
 amongst the trees, indicate that the whole is ap- 
 propriated. 
 
 The cows are small, and of little value j and the 
 few sheep which I have seen, are long-legged and 
 thin, perhaps the worst breed in existence. 
 
 Princeton College is a large brick house, situated 
 in a grass field. The edifice has a retired, if not 
 a gloomy appearance. It was here that Dr. Wo- 
 therspoon, the author of the " Characteristics of 
 Scottish Clergy," found an asylum, and the means 
 of prosecuting useful labours. By the way side 
 stands a row of very large weeping willows, that are 
 highly ornamental to this small town. Their long 
 slender twigs hang down almost perpendicularly, 
 and wave with every wind, displaying, as it were, 
 a sort of vegetable drapery. 
 
 From Princeton onward, the land is much 
 better than that observed to the north, and the
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. ^7 
 
 surface is finely diversified, but dusk prevented me 
 from seeing a part of the country next to Trenton. 
 
 The arrival of six four-horse coaches produced 
 considerable stir in the Inn at Trenton. No sooner 
 had the passengers entered, than a pile of trunks 
 and portmanteaus was reared in the bar-room, that 
 would make a good figure in the warehouse of a 
 wholesale merchant. The party at supper was 
 very large. There being three lines of con- 
 veyance between New York and Philadelphia, the 
 aggregate of the intercourse must be great. 
 Betwixt New Brunswick and this place, a distance 
 of twenty-five miles, we have not seen a single pe- 
 destrian. The heat of the weather may in some 
 measure account for this. 
 
 Trenton is beautifully situated at the head of 
 the tide water of the river Delaware. The or- 
 chards are luxuriant, and the pasture grounds 
 richer than any that I have hitherto seen in the 
 country. 
 
 August 6. Trenton is celebrated by one of 
 the most dexterous feats of generalship on record. 
 I shall take the liberty of stating some particulars 
 of the affair. On the 1st of January, 1777, 
 the term of enlistment amongst the American 
 troops expired, and that day brought on a disso- 
 lution of the best part of the army. General 
 Howe, aware of the occurrence, pressed forward 
 on the 2d, with an army vastly superior. The 
 head of their column arrived at Trenton about 
 four o'clock, and attempted to cross Sanpink 
 creek, which runs through the town, but finding 
 the fords guarded, halted and kindled their fires. 
 The American army was drawn up on the other 
 side of the creek. In this situation the latter re- 
 mained till dark, cannonading the enemy, and re- 
 ceiving the fire of their field pieces.
 
 28 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 Washington having discovered that the enemy 
 designed to surround his little army, ordered the 
 baggage to be removed after dark. At twelve 
 o'clock, having renewed his fires, he decamped 
 with his army, unperceived by the enemy, and 
 marched against Princeton by a circuitous route, 
 where he arrived by the rising of the sun, defeat- 
 ed the troops there, and captured their stores*. 
 
 The Delaware is a delightful river, with many 
 magnificent windings. The convex shore of one 
 extensive curve, is so imposing, that it is called 
 Point-no-Point, an apparent cape being always in 
 sight, but which recedes as the observer advances. 
 The grounds adjacent to the river are flat, and co- 
 vered with a rich verdure ; but the beach is of a 
 height sufficient to prevent a person from seeing 
 far inland from the river. Many large farm 
 houses are to be seen, with extensive orchards, and 
 beautiful weeping willows adjoining. The last, 
 form large spreading masses without any erect or 
 principal top, the main or leading branches rear 
 themselves upwards, after acquiring a consider- 
 able degree of strength ; and the shoots immediately 
 younger, are elegantly bent, as if in the act of get- 
 ting erect; while the youngest of all are com- 
 pletely pendulous. The whole is singularly pic- 
 turesque. 
 
 On approaching Philadelphia, I felt disappoint- 
 ed in seeing the shipping so very inferior to 
 that at New York ; and the houses fronting the 
 river are old and irregularly placed, so that the 
 idea of a port declining in trade immediately 
 occurred. 
 
 Philadelphia is situated between the rivers De- 
 
 * Washington's Letters, vol ii. page 4, Lond. 1795.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA* QQ 
 
 la ware and Schuylkill. The streets are laid off 
 agreeably to the cardinal points, and cross one 
 another at right angles, the principal ones running 
 in the east and west direction, crossing the neck 
 of land between the two rivers. 
 
 The streets, as at New York, are lined with 
 trees ; they are cleaner kept, and are wider, and 
 more regular, so that gaseous exhalations are much 
 less felt in them than in the other city. Most of 
 the houses are of brick, and many of them have 
 the doors and windows surrounded by white mar- 
 ble. Several public edifices are built of that ma- 
 terial. 
 
 August 7« The general aspect of the city is 
 more pleasant, and a freer circulation of air 
 is felt than in New York ; of course the na- 
 tural inference is, that Philadelphia must be 
 the more salubrious of the two. Dr. Mease, of 
 the American Philosophical Society, has deduced 
 the same conclusion from the bills of mortality. 
 The daily average of deaths being 5| in this place, 
 and (ji at New York. At the time this computa- 
 tion was made, the population of Philadelphia was 
 the greater of the two, consequently something 
 more is to be allowed in favour of the relative 
 healthfulness of Philadelphia. 
 
 The doctor has also compared the mortalities of 
 Philadelphia and Liverpool, and it appears that 
 the deaths in the former city are, to those in the 
 latter, as S3 to 50. The comparison was made 
 between the number of deaths in 1810 for Phil- 
 adelphia, and on another year for Liverpool. This 
 must have been occasioned from a want of data 
 applying to the same year in both places. My 
 very short acquaintance with the doctor gives me 
 the utmost confidence in his candour, and in the 
 accuracy of his calculations.
 
 30 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 It is not to be kept out of view, that the morta- 
 lity in Philadelphia is considerably greater in sum- 
 mer than in winter, the deaths in August, for exam- 
 ple, may be fairly stated at twice the number in De- 
 cember. This fact, not to mention the epidemical 
 diseases with which Philadelphia is sometimes vi- 
 sited, must give a decided preference to Liverpool. 
 
 The religious sects of Philadelphia are eighteen 
 in number j they have thirty-four places of wor- 
 ship. The whole may be exhibited thus : Swedish, 
 three churches; Quakers, three; Free Quakers, one; 
 Episcopal, three ; Baptist, one; Presbyterian, two ; 
 Catholic, four ; German Lutheran, two ; German 
 Calvinist, two ; Associate Reformed Church, one ; 
 Moravians, one; Associate Church, (Antiburghers,) 
 one ; Presbyterian Covenanters, one ; Methodists, 
 four, (two for whites and two for blacks ;) Univer- 
 salists, one ; Unitarians, one ; Independents, one ; 
 Jewish Synagogues, two. 
 
 There are four State law courts in the city ; 
 four Banks, and eleven Insurance offices. 
 
 The other institutions would be too tedious to 
 enumerate separately, probably the following 
 includes most of them. Thirteen charitable 
 institutions, eight free school societies, three pa- 
 triotic societies, about twenty mutual benefit so- 
 cieties, five associations for the relief of foreigners 
 and their descendants, seven literary institutions, 
 three libraries, the American Philosophical So- 
 ciety, the Society of Artists, the Pennsylvanian 
 Academy of Fine Arts, and a museum of natural 
 history *. 
 
 The American Philosophical Society meets fre- 
 quently, and is well attended. When I visited the 
 institution, three of the foreign ministers were 
 
 • Dr. Mease's Picture of Philadelphia.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 31 
 
 present. Professor Cooper read very interesting 
 papers on the bilious fever, on a new mordant to 
 be used in dyeing, and on a new test for detecting 
 arsenic where administered as a poison. There 
 is still zeal and talent in the association once dis- 
 tinguished by a Franklin and a Rittenhouse. 
 
 The Franklean library contains about 24,000 
 volumes ; almost every scientific work of merit 
 may be seen. Strangers are allowed to read and 
 even to write in the great hall. On leaving a small 
 deposit they may carry books out of the library. 
 The building belongs to the institution, and has a 
 herculean bust of the founder over the entrance ; 
 and the following lines, by Alexander Wilson the 
 ornithologist, hang in a frame in the great room. 
 
 " Ye who delight through learning's paths to roam, 
 Who deign to enter this devoted dome ; 
 By silent awe and contemplation led, 
 Survey these wonders of the illustrious dead ! 
 The lights of every age — of every clime, 
 The fruits of science, and the spoils of time, 
 Stand here arranged, obedient to your nod ; 
 Here feast with sages, and give thanks to God. 
 Next thanks to him ; that venerable sage, 
 His country's boast,— -the glory of the age ! 
 Immortal Franklin, whose unwearied mind. 
 Still sought out every good for all mankind ; 
 Search'd every science, studious still to know, 
 To make men virtuous, and to keep them so.— 
 Living, he reared with generous friends this scene ; 
 And dead, still stands without to welcome in." 
 
 The Atheneum is another excellent institution. 
 Here a great number of American and foreign 
 newspapers are read, and there is also a collection of 
 the reviews, periodical publications, and scientific 
 journals, of Britain and America. Strangers are 
 introduced by the subscribers. 
 
 The United British Emigrant Society meets 
 frequently, and its business is conducted with zeal
 
 32 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 and ability. A book is kept open, in which are 
 inserted notices of labourers, &c. &c. wanted, with 
 the names and residences of the persons to whom 
 they are to apply. On looking over this record, I 
 observed that many of the situations offered were 
 in the western country. Although the members of 
 this society merit the utmost credit for their benevo- 
 lent exertions, the most cautious strangers will al- 
 ways hesitate to undertake long journies, incur- 
 ring a great expense, the risk of meeting only 
 with a trifling employment, and that of cheapen- 
 ing their labour by the sacrifices which they make. 
 Artifices of this kind are not to be imputed to the 
 society. 
 
 The museum contains a considerable collection 
 of objects j and among the rest a skeleton of an en- 
 tire mammoth. Around the upper part of the wall 
 are arranged the portraits of several hundreds of 
 the personages who have distinguished themselves 
 in the revolution, or in the legislature of America. 
 The design is praiseworthy, but the execution of 
 the picture is bad. 
 
 The state prison does honour to the jurisprudence 
 of the country. The culprit is not made a burden 
 on the community, but is put to work, and the first 
 of his earnings applied to his support, a part of 
 the remainder is given to him at his dismissal ; by 
 this means he is not under the necessity of resort- 
 ing immediately to robbery or theft. Habits of 
 industry are acquired, and trades learned, by per- 
 sons who previously were pests to society. The 
 strict order, and even silence, that is maintained in 
 the establishment, is conceived to be the peculi- 
 arity that has produced the effects that distinguish 
 it above every institution of the kind. The pro- 
 visions given to the inmates are said to be plenti- 
 ful and good, though furnished at the low rate of
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 33 
 
 fourteen cents, or about seven-pence-halfpenny 
 English, per day. 
 
 Philadelphia does not abound in manufacturing 
 establishments. The predominance of British 
 goods has shut up many workshops that were 
 employed during the late war. Paper is manufac- 
 tured in great quantities in Pennsylvania. Foun- 
 deries for coarse cast iron articles are numerous. 
 In town there are two manufactories of lead shot. 
 Printing is carried on to a considerable extent, 
 and executed in a superb style. It is said that one 
 of the late Edinburgh novels was here set up in types 
 in one day. The quarto edition of Joel Barlow's 
 Columbiad is an unrivalled specimen of printing. 
 The types were cast by Messrs. Binnie and Ro- 
 naldsons, who, by their skill and individual exer- 
 tions, have saved the United States from importing 
 these essential literary implements. Mr. Melish's 
 geographical establishment, is another prominent 
 concern. He is continually embodying the most re- 
 cent government surveys of the interior, into the ge- 
 neral maps of the country. At Lehigh Falls, on the 
 Schuylkill, there is a mill for cutting brads, which 
 produces no less than two hundred in a minute. 
 Philadelphia is in various respects well adapted 
 to manufacture ; if the facilities which it presents 
 for its advancement are neglected, the city must de- 
 cline, as the trade of New York and Baltimore is 
 making rapid progress. The new road from the 
 latter city to the Ohio, and the extension of car- 
 riage, by steam boats, through the Mississippi and 
 the Ohio, are all circumstances which tend to super- 
 sede Philadelphia as a market and as a thoroughfare. 
 At present, vast quantities of English goods are 
 selling by auction in the ports of the United States. 
 New York is the chief mart in this way. Mer- 
 chants from the country, attend sometimes these 
 
 D
 
 31 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 sales for many days, and even for weeks together. 
 Public sales, and the present low prices, are very in- 
 jurious to the merchants and manufacturers of 
 England. 
 
 Probably the market of Philadelphia displays the 
 greatest quantity of fruits and vegetables in the 
 world. Boat loads are brought by the Delaware, 
 and numerous waggons come loaded from the in- 
 terior. Peaches, apples, pears, melons, cucum- 
 bers, pine apples, sweet potatoes, onions, &c. are 
 plentiful beyond example. 
 
 The cleanliness and the civil address of per- 
 sons who vend provisions in the market, are truly 
 gratifying : if a speck is to be seen on the white 
 apron of the butcher, it may be inferred that it 
 came there on the same morning. Girls arrive on 
 horseback, or driving light waggons, to sell vege- 
 tables, or the produce of the dairy. Many of 
 these females, I am told, are the daughters of far- 
 mers who are in good circumstances. Here are 
 none of the lazzaroni hucksters of fruit and sweet- 
 meats, that form such a deplorable spectacle in 
 the finest cities of Britain j nor of the miserables 
 who rise earlier than the sun, to pick from amongst 
 the ashes, the charred offal of their neighbour's 
 fire. 
 
 September 3. To-day I have seen a man sprawl- 
 ing on the ground in a state of intoxication j he is a 
 native of Ireland. This is the first instance of the 
 kind which I have seen in America. From this 
 incident, I do not mean to represent that the 
 people here do not drink spirituous liquors. The 
 truth is, that many drink of them almost the mo- 
 ment after they get out of bed, and also at fre- 
 quent intervals during the day ; but though this 
 fact has been noticed, the first conclusion is never- 
 theless true, that excessive drinking is rare. 
 
 3
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 35 
 
 To-day a vessel from Dumfries arrived ; and, a 
 few minutes after she was moored, one of the bro- 
 thers Messrs. JLonaldson went aboard, making in- 
 quiries after the views and circumstances of the 
 poorer class of emigrants. He employed one of 
 them, pointed out where several others would 
 find work, and gave advice to the rest. This is not 
 a new or a rare instance of such conduct on the 
 part of these gentlemen. Their benevolence is re- 
 corded on many a grateful heart. 
 
 The society of Quakers is a class that confers 
 much advantage and respectability on the city 
 of Philadelphia. Governed by, and amongst 
 themselves, their society exhibits the happiest 
 example of good order and good morals. The 
 Quaker is not to be seen standing a convict 
 at the bar of the Mayor's court, nor amongst 
 the inmates of the penitentiary. It is even be- 
 lieved that a Quaker has not, on any occasion, 
 been exhibited on the gibbets of England. Al- 
 though none is called upon to support the poor 
 of the Quakers, they are liberal, notwithstanding, 
 and benevolent to others. Forward in promot- 
 ing every philanthropic institution, and oppos- 
 ed to every species of vice, they seem to act on 
 the maxim of the illustrious founder of the colony : 
 " Banish poverty and idleness, and there will be 
 fewer crimes to punish." 
 
 The river Schuylkill is much inferior to the De- 
 laware in magnitude, but is environed by higher 
 banks, and a much more varied surface. It has 
 two good wooden bridges covered with shingles. A 
 few miles up the river, a canal is making for the 
 purpose of avoiding some currents. The head 
 dam is constructed partly of timber, and partly of 
 thin pieces of gneiss rock, loosely built, as if no 
 future floods were to be expected. 
 
 d2
 
 36 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 The orchards are planted in rows, wide between, 
 admitting the trees to put forth spreading tops, 
 and that the ground may be cropped. Ploughing 
 is found to renovate the fertility of old orchards. 
 
 Every American met with out of town sa- 
 lutes the passenger with a slight nod of the head ; 
 a piece of civility probably retained from the man- 
 ners of the first settlers. 
 
 September 15. The market-street is the resort 
 of waggons employed in the transfer of goods to 
 Pittsburg, &c« They are drawn by four, five, or 
 six horses : these are tied to the waggons all night, 
 and are not allowed to enter a stable. In summer 
 and winter this treatment is uniform. These ani- 
 mals are, notwithstanding, in high condition : they 
 seem to be of a cross breed, betwixt the draught 
 and the saddle horse. 
 
 The carriage of goods to Pittsburg now costs 
 7i dollars per hundred pounds weight. Six weeks 
 ago 62 were charged ; sometimes it is so low as 5. 
 Towards autumn, carriage usually costs more than it 
 does early in the summer. When families and their 
 baggage are to be transported, the persons who ride 
 are paid for by weight, at the same rate as goods. 
 The waggoner signs a bill of lading, and no other 
 person is held responsible for loss or damage. 
 Fraud on the part of waggoners is said to be ex- 
 tremely rare. I have heard of one instance of the 
 waggoner, with his team, and the goods, disappear- 
 ing ; but that happened several years ago. The 
 journey is commonly performed in eighteen or 
 twenty days. 
 
 Horses sell at from fifty to two hundred dollars; a 
 waggon for two horses may be had at from one hun- 
 dred to one hundred and twenty dollars; a light fa- 
 mily one, from eighty to a hundred ; and a gig from 
 three hundred, to three hundred and twenty dollars.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 37 
 
 The saw for cross-cutting timber for fuel, is a 
 tool which, for superior expedition, recommends 
 itself to joiners and others. The following figure 
 is a representation of it. 
 
 AB is the 
 blade, about 
 thirty inches 
 long, and a- 
 bout two in- 
 ches broad. 
 It is very 
 thin, and its 
 teeth are ve- 
 ry slightly bent to the right and left, so that it 
 makes a narrow cut, through which the slender 
 blade moves with little friction, — hence its facili- 
 ties. The crooked stick ECA is the handle, 
 FDB is another crooked stick, into which the 
 blade is fixed at B. The wooden bar CD serves 
 for fulcra, over which the blade is stretched by 
 twisting the small rope EF, by means of the peg 
 GH. 
 
 The sawing of fire- wood, and many other sorts 
 of hard labour, are chiefly performed by black 
 people. Happily, very few of these are now slaves 
 in Pennsylvania. Free blacks, it is understood, 
 have no difficulty in earning the means of subsis- 
 tence, but the circumstance of their being des- 
 pised and degraded, has had bad effects on their 
 character. Even the Quakers, who have so ho- 
 nourably promoted negro emancipation, allot a 
 separate part of the church to people of colour. 
 In the state prison, too, they are separated from 
 whites. These odious distinctions should be abo- 
 lished in a free country. 
 
 Negroes are stigmatized as an inferior race ; 
 indolent, dishonest, and vindictive in the extreme. 
 
 d 3
 
 38 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 There can be no doubt that, in many instances, 
 these characteristics are too just, but it cannot be 
 otherwise, while moral culture is, in a great mea- 
 sure, withheld from them, while they are excluded 
 from the society of the wise and the good, and while 
 the hope of applause gives no stimulus to the co- 
 loured man. Moral or immoral, he is a negro. 
 This, of itself, is enough to keep him down. If 
 Africans were placed on a similar footing, and 
 with the same opportunities, as their white neigh- 
 bours, and if they still kept behind, we might then 
 begin to suspect a radical defect in their nature. 
 But, as they are, it cannot be pretended that the 
 experiment has been made. 
 
 For some time past, the democratic party have 
 been nominating candidates for their general sup- 
 port in the ensuing election. No doubt is enter- 
 tained of a democratic preponderance in the next 
 session of Congress. The Federalist cabal is now 
 disconcerted in this part of the Union. The mer- 
 cenary avarice that would barter the independence 
 of America for English goods, was never less for- 
 midable than now. 
 
 Here, as at New York, boarding houses are to be 
 found, varying from the simplest accommodations, 
 to elegance and luxury. The person who lives in 
 a house where a high price is paid for board, 
 is separated from the poorer class, and his ac- 
 quaintances and associates are people in affluent 
 circumstances and polished education j he is as 
 free in the choice of his society as he possibly can 
 be. Without doors, however, persons of lesser 
 note are not treated with hauteur, and in transact- 
 ing business the utmost affability prevails, 
 
 The dress worn in temperate weather is the same 
 as in Britain, with this difference only, that pan
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 39 
 
 taloons are almost universal : the shorter small- 
 clothes are used only by Quakers, On Sundays 
 it would be difficult to discriminate betwixt the 
 hired girl and the daughter in a genteel family, 
 were drapery the sole criterion. Attentive ob- 
 servation of the people on the streets, would 
 convince any one of the general diffusion of com- 
 fort and competence. 
 
 The symptoms of republican equality are vi- 
 sible in all the members of the community. I 
 have seen several curious instances of this, which 
 would surprise those accustomed only to the man- 
 ners of the old world. For example, the Mayor 
 is a respectable-looking, plainly dressed gentle- 
 man, and apparently a penetrating and efficient 
 police magistrate. On a late occasion the court 
 was crowded, and the weather hot ; he desired a 
 person in attendance to bring cold water. It was 
 brought in a brown jug, not accompanied with 
 a glass. A person within the railing (probably a 
 lawyer or clerk, more thirsty than his honour) in- 
 tercepted the vessel, drank, and then handed it to 
 the Judge. 
 
 On the Sabbath, we do not witness all the still- 
 ness and solemnity that usually characterize a 
 presbyterian town. On the morning of that day, 
 I have seen loaded waggons start in the market 
 street, for the westward. A grocer, opposite to the 
 house where I board, has two shops, one of them 
 he keeps open for the sale of liquor, segars, &c. 
 In a late newspaper, a complaint appeared against 
 bringing cattle into the street for sale on Sunday 
 afternoon. If this complaint was founded on truth, 
 it is at least evident that it was addressed to citi- 
 zens who, it was believed, would suppress the evil. 
 I am inclined to think that a very great propor- 
 tion of the people spend the day in the duties of
 
 40 TF.TTEnS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 religion j but some here, as in other places, em- 
 ploy it purely as a day of rest ; some as a day of 
 amusement ; and others in visiting friends, or 
 other convivial meetings. On a Sunday afternoon 
 I have heard many reports of guns, in the neigh- 
 bouring woods or swamps. You will consider all 
 this as a foul blot on the fair character of the 
 City of Brethren ; but I trust that your liberality 
 will not impute to the jurisprudence of America, 
 pre-existing customs, that, at every stage of the 
 settlement, must have been imported from Eng- 
 land j even from a country which pays tithes, for 
 the support of a priesthood. 
 
 Every day numbers of European emigrants are 
 to be seen in the streets. The ingress is greater 
 than at any former time. I have never heard of 
 another feeling than good wishes to them. For 
 my own part, I have met with several receptions 
 kinder than I ever could have anticipated ; and 
 have become acquainted with a number of ex- 
 cellent citizens, whose approbation will always 
 be sufficient to convey a high gratification to my 
 mind.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 41 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburg — Lancaster—. 
 Elizabeth Town — The River Susquehana—Harrisburg— 
 Carlisle — Chambersburg — Cove Mountain — Maccon- 
 neVs Town — Sidelong-hill— The river Juniata— Bedford— 
 The Allegany Ridge — Stoystown — Laurel-hill — Lauclt- 
 linstown — Chesnut Ridge — Greensburg — Adamsburg— 
 Pittsburg — Interspersed remarks on the Country, Ta- 
 verns, S(-c. — Notices of Emigrants, and occurrences by 
 the way. 
 
 Pittsburg, Q8th September. 
 
 The contents of this will be composed of notes 
 taken on my journey from Philadelphia to Pitts- 
 burg. 
 
 On the morning of the QOth of September, I 
 went to the Coach-Office in Philadelphia to take 
 my seat. Such is the number of travellers that I 
 found it necessary to take out a ticket two days 
 previously. 
 
 The mail-coach is a large clumsy vehicle, car- 
 rying twelve passengers. It is greatly encumber- 
 ed by large bags, which are enormously swollen by 
 the bulk of newspapers. As a substitute for glass 
 windows, a large roll of leather is let down on each 
 side in bad weather. 
 
 During the greater part of the day our route 
 was through a part of the country of a clayey soil, 
 moderately fertile, and of a flat insipid surface. 
 Late in the afternoon, we passed some land of a 
 finer mould, and more elegant structure, with 
 fruit trees bending under their load. The Jndian
 
 42 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 corn is nearly ripe, and is a great crop this year. 
 The stalks are generally about eight feet high. 
 The people have been picking the leaves off this 
 sort of crop, and setting them up between the 
 rows in conical bunches, to be preserved as winter 
 food for the cattle. 
 
 We passed several family waggons moving west- 
 ward. The young and the strong walking, the 
 aged and infants riding. Waggons for removing 
 families, and those for carrying goods to Pittsburg, 
 have a canvass cover, stretched over hoops that 
 pass from one side of the waggon to the other, in 
 the form of an arch. The front is left open, to 
 give the passengers within the vehicle the benefit 
 of a free circulation of cool air. 
 
 Lancaster is a large town, well known for the 
 manufacture of rifle-guns. We were too late in 
 the evening for having a distinct sight of the 
 place, or of the country towards Elizabeth Town, 
 which is much commended. 
 
 September 21. The coach stopped at Eliza- 
 beth Town, last night, for three hours, and started 
 again before three o'clock. We were near Mid- 
 dletown (eight miles on our way) before the light 
 disclosed to our eyes a pleasant and fertile coun- 
 try. 
 
 It was near Middletown that we got the first 
 peep of the river Susquehana, which is here about 
 a mile in breadth. The trees on the east bank, 
 confining, the view to the right and left, produced 
 an illusory effect, almost imposing on the mind a 
 lake instead of the river. The highly transparent 
 state of the air, and the placid surface of the wa- 
 ter, united in producing a most distinct reflexion 
 of the bold banks on the opposite side. Cliffs, 
 partially concealed by a luxuriant growth of trees, 
 sprung from the detritus below, and by smaller
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 43 
 
 ones rooted in the rifted rocks. Over these a 
 rising back ground is laid out in cultivated fields. 
 The eye is not soon tired of looking on a scene so 
 richly furnished, and so gay. 
 
 Harrisburg, the seat of legislature of Pennsylva- 
 nia, is a small town which stands on a low bottom bv 
 the river j a pleasant, but apparently an unhealthy 
 situation. Opposite to the town is a small island 
 in the river, connected with the eastern and west- 
 ern shores by very long wooden bridges. The 
 waters of the Susquehana are limpid, but shallow 
 at this place, and ill adapted to navigation, except 
 in times of flood. 
 
 The country immediately west of the Susqueha- 
 na is truly delightful. The soil, whether occupied 
 by the natural woods, orchards, or crops, is cover- 
 ed with a profuse vegetation ; and the superficial 
 aspect altogether agreeable. The best sort of 
 houses are of limestone ; they shew nothing of 
 fine taste or neat workmanship, but are far supe- 
 rior in durability and appearance to the wooden 
 erections so common here. Barns are much larger, 
 and frequently neater than the adjoining dwel- 
 lings. 
 
 Towards Carlisle, the road passes through lands 
 inferior to the lower country, seen in the forenoon. 
 The surface of limestone rocks, and large detach- 
 ed blocks of the same mineral, interrupt the 
 plough in the field, and the wheeled carriage on 
 the road. 
 
 Carlisle, though in a newly settled country, has 
 an appearance somewhat antiquated. With so 
 much grass growing in the streets, a suspicion 
 arises that there is not much traffic here. 
 
 Shippingsburg is a place more recently founded 
 than the last, but has, notwithstanding, contract- 
 ed something like the rust of time. Wooden
 
 44 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 erections soon acquire a weather-beaten appear- 
 ance. The subsidence of log houses discloses 
 chinks, shewing that they are well ventilated in 
 summer, but not the most comfortable lodgments 
 for the winter. 
 
 At Chambersburg the coach halted during the 
 night. The rough roads already surmounted, and 
 the report of worse still before us, determined 
 two of the passengers, besides myself, to walk, 
 as an easier mode of travelling over the moun- 
 tains. Chambersburg is 143 miles from Phil- 
 adelphia, and 155 from Pittsburg ; and lies in the 
 intersection of the roads from York, Baltimore, 
 and Philadelphia. Several branches of what has 
 been very properly called the current of emigra- 
 tion, being here united, strangers from the eastern 
 country, and from Europe, are passing in an un- 
 ceasing train. An intelligent gentleman, at this 
 place, informed me, that this stream of emigra- 
 tion has flowed more copiously this year, than at any 
 former period ; and that the people now moving 
 westward, are ten times more numerous than they 
 were, ten years ago. His computation is founded 
 on the comparative amount of the stagecoach bu- 
 siness, and on careful observation. This astonish- 
 ing statement is, in some degree, countenanced by 
 a late notice in a New York newspaper, that 
 stated the number of emigrants which arrived in 
 that port during the week, ending the 31st of 
 August last, to be 2050. The gentleman alluded 
 to, says, that shades of character, sensibly different 
 from one another, are forming in the western 
 States. He represents the Kentuckians to be a 
 high-toned people, who frequently announce their 
 country, as if afraid of being mistaken for inhabi- 
 tants of Ohio State j and the Ohians, as having 
 less pride of country, being less assuming in their
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 4.5 
 
 demeanour, but not less agreeable in conversation, 
 nor less punctual in business transactions. Were 
 it not for the intelligence of my penetrating infor- 
 mant, and for his great intercourse with travellers, 
 I would certainly not have remarked the supposed 
 distinction of these provincial characters. If the 
 difference really exists, it will be difficult to assign 
 any moral cause that is adequate ; unless it be the 
 keeping slaves in Kentucky, a species of stock not 
 permitted by the constitution of Ohio. 
 
 September 22. We found a waggoner who 
 agreed to carry our travelling necessaries to Pitts- 
 burg. For my portmanteau, weighing about 
 fourteen pounds, he charged three dollars, alleg- 
 ing the trouble that attends putting small articles 
 within doors every night. This is an instance of 
 one man measuring his demand by the urgent 
 situation of another. The jolting that waggons 
 undergo in this rugged country, render it indis- 
 pensable that baggage be packed with the utmost 
 care. 
 
 The two young gentlemen with whom I started, 
 are Americans, good walkers, and cheerful com- 
 panions. 
 
 One mile to the north of Chambersburg the 
 road ascends a steep hill of slate clay, the first 
 stratified substance that I have seen overlaying the 
 limestone. The soil on the summit is so exces- 
 sively poor, that I am surprised to see such ground 
 cultivated in this country. 
 
 Several taverns by the road are log-houses con- 
 structed by laying squared trees horizontally, in a 
 quadrangular position, in a way similar to that 
 in which house-joiners pile up boards to be dried. 
 As the erection advances, the last laid or upper- 
 most log is notched on the upper side, near both 
 ends, for the reception of the next cross pieces.
 
 v^ 
 
 46 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 The interstices are filled up with lime or clay, and 
 the roofs are of shingles, or thin boards. Frame 
 houses consist of erect posts, set in sills or hori- 
 zontal foundation beams. Over the tops of the 
 posts other horizontal pieces are laid, forming the 
 summit of the wall. The outside of the posts are 
 covered over with thin boards, ranged horizon- 
 tally, the upper one uniformly overlaying the 
 edge of that immediately under it. The inside 
 is most commonly lined with lathing and plaster, 
 but the last piece of finery is frequently dispensed 
 with. 
 
 Near Baker's tavern, six miles from Chambers- 
 burg, the waggon wheels have uncovered a fine 
 slate clay, fit to be used as slate pencils. The 
 same kind of substance is to be seen in the ad- 
 joining stream. 
 
 Around Campbell's Town, seven miles from 
 Chambersburg, the land is bleak, and aparently 
 poor; to the north-west an extended high ridge ex- 
 poses to viewa large tract of romantic wood scenery. 
 
 At thirteen miles from Chambersburg is Loudon, 
 a few houses only, two of them taverns, situated 
 at the foot of the ridge just mentioned, which is 
 called the Cove Mountain. A new road is form- 
 ed over it. The ascent is winding and gradual, so 
 that seven miles are occupied in surmounting the 
 formidable barrier. The darkness of the night, 
 and the great quantity of timber on both sides, 
 rendered this part of our journey very gloomy. 
 Not a sound was to be heard but that of the Ca- 
 tadid, a large green insect, whose note resembles 
 its name, as nearly as it can any articulate sound. 
 Near the top of the hill stands a miserable log ta- 
 vern filled with movers, a name for settlers remov- 
 ing to the western country. At the summit, we 
 were accosted in the Irish accent. The individual
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 47 
 
 told us that he was so much exhausted, that he 
 could not proceed farther, and that he had laid him- 
 self down among the trees *. 
 
 At Macconnel's Town, we knocked at the door 
 of a tavern, heard a noise within, which convin- 
 ced us that the people were astir, but not willing 
 to hear us. On making louder applications, the 
 landlord saluted us, « Who's there ?" With some re- 
 luctance he let us in, grumbling at the lateness of 
 our arrival, it being ten minutes past ten o'clock. 
 He affected to be unwilling to let us have supper; 
 but while he was refusing, a female commenced 
 cooking for us. 
 
 September 23. From beds which we last night saw 
 on the floor of the bar-room, a numerous group of 
 Swiss emigrants had arisen. One of them, an old 
 man with a long beard, has a truly patriarchal ap- 
 pearance. The females wear hats, and are of a 
 hardy and masculine form. 
 
 About a mile from Macconnel's Town, is the foot 
 of another steep ridge ; a new road over it is nearly 
 finished. Here we met with a foot traveller, who 
 told us that he had settled in Illinois, by the Wa- 
 bash, about fifty miles above Vincennes. The 
 ground, he said, " is as good as ever man set 
 a foot on." He had not heard of Mr. Birkbeck's 
 settlement : this, together with his appearance, con- 
 vinced us that he is a hunter of the woods. He 
 was on his way to remove his family from New 
 York state, a journey of 1400 miles. 
 
 Called at Noble's tavern for breakfast. The 
 hostess could not accomodate us with it. She was 
 in great bustle, having thirty highway labourers 
 
 * The evening was warm, and, (not to exaggerate the difficul- 
 ty of removing him to the next town,) we judged that he was 
 in no danger.
 
 48 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 at board, had no bread baked, and politely expres- 
 sed her regret at being so circumstanced, but as- 
 sured us, that, by going half a mile forward to the 
 next tavern, we would be attended to. Mr. Noble is 
 a member of the Pennsylvanian Senate ; the frank 
 and obliging disposition of his wife demands my 
 acknowledgment. 
 
 At the next tavern the prediction of a breakfast 
 was verified: it was largely furnished, but not with 
 the greatest dispatch. 
 
 The forenoon was hot, something like the greatest 
 heat I have felt in Scotland. The mornings and 
 evenings were agreeably cool, the air usually still, 
 and the sky highly serene. 
 
 Sidelong-hill is a steep ascent. The waggon 
 path is worn into a deep rut or ravine, so that car- 
 riages cannot pass one another in some parts of it. 
 The first waggoner that gets into the track, blows 
 a horn, to warn others against meeting him in the 
 narrow pass. The waggoners are understood to be 
 as friendly toward one another as seamen are, and 
 that cases are not wanting, where one has waited 
 several days, assisting another to refit his carriage. 
 
 On Sidelong-hill we came up with a singular 
 party of travellers, — a man with his wife and ten 
 children. The eldest of the progeny had the young- 
 est tied on his back ; and the father pushed a wheel- 
 barrow, containing the moveables of the family. 
 They were removing from New Jersey to this, a 
 land journey of 340 miles to Pittsburg. Abrupt 
 edges of rocks, higher than the wheel, occasionally 
 interrupt the passage. Their humble carriage must 
 be lifted over these. A little farther onward we 
 passed a young woman, carrying a sucking child 
 in her arms, and leading a very little one by the 
 hand. It is impossible to take particular notice
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 49 
 
 of all the travellers on the way. We could scarce- 
 ly look before or behind, without seeing some of 
 them. The Canterbury pilgrims were not so di- 
 versified nor so interesting as these. 
 
 Crossed the river Juniata by a wooden bridge, 
 supported by two strong chains, hung in the man- 
 ner of a slack rope, over the tops of posts, (one at 
 each end,) about twenty feet higher than the road. 
 The curve formed by the chain passes low enough 
 to come under, and support several of the cross 
 beams under the middle of the bridge. Other 
 parts of the bridge are supported by perpendi- 
 cular ties, that pass, from the roadway upward, 
 to the chains. The Juniata runs here in a deep 
 chasm, between cliffs of slate clay ; the bridge has 
 consequently a magical effect. The river is shal- 
 low, but at other seasons of the year is naviga- 
 ble. The land is poor and parched, and is formed 
 of steep, irregular knolls. 
 
 Passed Bloody Run, a town of a very few houses, 
 but with two taverns. A romantic site in a low val 
 ley of the Juniata, The declining light of the even- 
 ing had softened the outline of the timber on the 
 hills beyond the river, so that the scene brought to 
 my recollection the heaths of a well known land. 
 
 Stopped for the night in a tolerably good ta- 
 vern, two miles from Bloody Run. The bar-room 
 is nearly filled with people. On our being shewn 
 to a more retired apartment, I could see one 
 person make a wry face, and then smile to his ac- 
 quaintance. It would seem that our being sepa- 
 rated from the large party, was not attended by 
 the most pleasant sensations. 
 
 September 24. Last night we slept in a large 
 room containing five beds. It was proposed that 
 one of these should hold two of us. My compa- 
 nions went together, and I congratulated myself on 
 
 E
 
 50 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 monopolizing one of the beds, — but here I reckon- 
 ed without mine host. About midnight a man 
 entered the room, groped all the beds, and finding 
 that I was alone, tumbled in beside me. Such 
 is a common occurrence, I am told, in this coun- 
 try, but it is the first time that I have met with 
 it. In the morning I discovered that my neigh- 
 bour was a person of good address, and respect- 
 able appearance. 
 
 After resuming our journey, we came up to a 
 family rising from their beds by the embers of a 
 fire in the wood. The father fired off a rifle, 
 which it would seem he had kept in readiness for 
 defence. There can be no great objection to 
 sleeping in the woods, in such fine weather. From 
 several heaps of ashes that we have seen by the 
 sides of the road, it is evident that the practice is 
 common, even where taverns are numerous. Emi- 
 grants carry their moveables in one horse carts, or 
 two or four horse waggons, as the quantity of goods 
 may require. They carry much of their provi- 
 sions from Philadelphia, and other towns, and 
 many of them sleep in their own bed clothes, on the 
 floors of bar-rooms in the taverns. For this kind 
 of lodging they usually pay twenty-five cents a 
 family. 
 
 The dollar is the integer of money in the Unit- 
 ed States, as universal as the pound is in Britain. 
 In the former country, cents or hundredth parts 
 of a dollar are the lowest fractional parts in use. 
 Rating the dollar at four shillings and sixpence 
 sterling, the cent of America is eight per cent, 
 more than the halfpenny of Britain. The fraction- 
 al divisions of the dollar, are £, h i and --, or 50 
 cents, 25 cents, 12h cents, and 64 cents. Silver coins 
 representing all these quantities are in circulation. 
 The peculiarity in the convenience of quantities
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 51 
 
 derived from continual bisection, is known to all 
 who are acquainted with the theory of numbers. 
 
 It is impossible to say whether it is cheaper 
 to travel with a family, by purchasing a wag- 
 gon and horses at Philadelphia, or by hiring one 
 of the waggons that pass regularly to Pittsburg. 
 This depends on the price paid for carriage at the 
 particular time, and also on that to be paid for 
 waggon and horses at Philadelphia. In the one 
 case, the waggoner is paid for the weight of the 
 goods, and for that of the persons who ride ; and 
 in the other case, the waggon and horses may be 
 expected to sell at, or under, half the price paid 
 for them at the sea-port. The great number of 
 family waggons now on the road, amounts to a pre- 
 sumption that this mode of travelling is now 
 thought to be the cheaper. 
 
 Crossed the Juniata once more. The bridge is 
 a new stone erection of bad workmanship. We 
 are told that it fell down repeatedly. To insure 
 its standing, a step is left on the head of each 
 abutment, on these tile wooden centres rest. They 
 are not withdrawn, so that the beams must give 
 way, before it can be ascertained whether the ef- 
 fective arch is of wood or of stone ! ! ! The para- 
 pets have been coped with boards, but the wind 
 has uncovered one of the sides ! ! ! 
 
 The steep banks are covered with trees. Oak, 
 ash, hickery, chesnut, and walnut, are the most 
 prevalent species. 
 
 Bedford, the head town of the county of that 
 name, is a considerable place, with some neat brick 
 and stone houses. 
 
 In our progress this forenoon we have seen much 
 poor scorched land. Indian corn is short and 
 shrivelled ; pasture bad, and the woods without 
 the strength they attain in a richer soil. Orchards 
 
 e 2 
 
 t 

 
 52 LETTERS FROM AMERICA, 
 
 bear well ; the traveller may knock down the ap- 
 ples that overhang the road, and may probably 
 pass without complaint. Pear trees are scarce, if 
 at all to be seen. Probably they are subject to 
 canker on this light dry soil. Peaches are small. 
 A farmer by the road side, ottered us a few of the 
 latter sort of fruit, unasked. Ironstone is abun- 
 dant, in one place the new road is formed of it. 
 In another, we saw prismatic pieces of nine or ten 
 inches square, and about four feet long. The pre- 
 vailing strata are of clay schist ; the surface is hilly 
 and broken. 
 
 In the afternoon, we found ourselves climbing a 
 steep, without being aware that it was the side of the 
 Allegany ridge, not having previously seen any emi- 
 nence through the woods. The mountain is itself 
 so much enveloped in foliage, that we can only 
 with the utmost difficulty have a single peep of 
 the lower country behind. The lower country, 
 where seen, has nearly all the sameness of the sur- 
 face of the ocean. The farthest visible ridge ap- 
 pears blue, and its outline looks as smooth as if it 
 were not covered by timber. We could not re- 
 cognise a trace of our way hither. 
 
 Met several waggons descending; they are oblig- 
 ed to move along in a narrow track, on the very 
 brink of a precipice. The road winds round a 
 point of the hill, and slants along the side of a tre- 
 mendous ravine, that, as it were, cleaves the eastern 
 side of the ridge in two parts. The trees render 
 it almost impossible to see across the chasm. The 
 scenery is naturally romantic, but not yet exposed 
 to the eye of the admiring traveller. 
 
 The large timber on the summit indicates a de- 
 gree of fertility not usual on hill tops ; and far sur- 
 passing that of the country near the south east 
 foot of the mountain. The cleared ground by a
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 53 
 
 tavern on the height is "good. The top of this 
 range of mountains is a table land, swelled with 
 irregularities, and in some parts strewed with large 
 detached blocks of sandstone ; the same kind of 
 mineral of which the horizontal strata of the moun- 
 tain is composed. Were it not for the recollec- 
 tion of the steep ascended, we should never have 
 surmised that we were here on the " spine of the 
 United States." 
 
 Met with two young men going eastward. One 
 of my companions saluted them, " You are goinv 
 the wrong way" " No" replied one of the others, 
 " You are going the wrong way. I have been at 
 Pittsburgh and in the State of Ohio, and I declare 
 it is the most detestable country in the world. 
 
 Stotler's tavern was full of people ; we had no 
 sooner entered the door than we were in a crowd. 
 We could not remain for the night. 
 
 We set out for the next tavern, and at dusk 
 came into a track so wet and miry, that it would 
 be considered impassable in some parts of the 
 world. We groped our way along the side of it, 
 over logs, and occasionally through the wood, to 
 avoid the horrid bog. Two young men of the 
 neighbourhood came forward, told us that we had 
 just entered upon the worst part of the road, and, 
 as they were going in the same direction, offered 
 to conduct us. 
 
 The next tavern w T as one where whisky is sold, 
 but the occupiers of it could not be troubled with 
 lodging travellers. They told us that there is 
 another tavern a mile forward. The road still 
 bad; but as our conductors were going farther, we 
 accompanied them. 
 
 The other tavern was so completely thronged 
 with movers, that a multitude of them had taken 
 up their lodgings in a barn. We were permitted 
 
 e3
 
 y 
 
 54 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 to stop, on condition of all three sleeping in one 
 bed, which was said to be a large and a good one. 
 Two-thirds of the bar-room floor was covered by 
 the beds of weary travellers, lying closely side by 
 side, and the remaining part occupied by people 
 engaged in drinking, and noisy conversation. The 
 room in which supper was taken, was too small to 
 admit any large proportion of the company at 
 once, of consequence we had to wait the alterna- 
 tion of a supper party and a cooking, before we 
 got to the table. 
 
 This accumulation of travellers is chiefly occa- 
 sioned by people in the eastern States having reap- 
 ed and disposed of their crops at this season, and 
 on that account finding it a convenient time for 
 removing to the western country, 
 
 September 9,5. At half past five all were in 
 bustle, preparing for the road : Some settling bill 
 with the hostess, others waiting to settle : Some 
 round a long wooden trough at the pump, wash- 
 ing, or drying themselves with their pocket-hand- 
 kerchiefs : Some Americans drinking their morn- 
 ing's bitters, (spirits with rice, wormwood, or other 
 vegetable infusion :) Some women catching chil- 
 dren who had escaped naked from bed, others 
 packing up bed clothes, or putting them into wag- 
 gons : Waggoners harnessing their horses, &c. 
 
 The little piece of ground cleared here is very 
 rich, the best pasture I have seen in America ; but 
 the winter in this high region must be severe. 
 
 Two, miles onward there are fine fields and or- 
 chards. The interval land is meadow. No In- 
 dian corn is to be seen. By the road side, what mi- 
 ners call the rise of a bed of coal is perceptible. 
 
 Stoystown is delightfully situated on the north 
 bank of a deep vale. The neighbouring grounds 
 are but recently cleared. If we may judge from
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 55 
 
 the appearance of the houses, tavern-keepers are 
 the principal men of the place ; one of these is 
 dubbed Major. 
 
 The land on this side of the Allegany ridge is 
 much better than immediately on the eastern side 
 of it. At present travellers and horses consume a 
 great part of the produce, but as cultivation pro- 
 ceeds, the distance from market must become more 
 sensibly felt. 
 
 The ridge, Laurel Hill, is about seven miles 
 broad from one side of the base to the other. We 
 observed a rattlesnake that had been recently 
 killed on the road j it was about three and a half 
 feet long, and about an inch and a half in diame- 
 ter. The people say, that only two species of ser- 
 pents are poisonous here ; but there are probably 
 more, as no less than thirty species have been enu- 
 merated in the United States. 
 
 Laurel Hill being broad, and considerably steep, 
 must be of prominent height. Of its elevation re- 
 latively to the Allegany ridge, I could not even 
 venture an opinion. To be continually enveloped 
 in woods, without seeing to any great distance, 
 must be a condition disagreeable to the inquisitive 
 traveller, and to the geologist. 
 
 We lodged at Lauchlin's Town ; near this place 
 is a small furnace. Malleable iron is sold at ten 
 cents a-pound. 
 
 September 26. On this day there was a heavy show- 
 er of rain, the first since our leaving Philadelphia. 
 Passed Chesnut ridge, near Somerset. At a tavern 
 here, some men were drinking and swearing most 
 hideously. It is much to be regretted that this 
 vice is so prevalent in a country where so many 
 other things are to be commended. 
 
 Greensburg, the county town of Westmoreland, 
 is a considerable place, built on rising ground.
 
 56 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 Here, and westward of this place, the land is fine, 
 but hilly. Stopped at Adamsburg, six mile9 from 
 Greensburg. 
 
 September 28. Yesterday my companions set out 
 for Pittsburg, These young gentlemen have con- 
 ducted themselves in the style which distinguishes 
 the well-bred from the uncultivated and obtru- 
 sive man. They put no such questions as, " Where 
 are you going ? — What are you to do there ?" Sec. 
 so common in this land of liberty. Of my com- 
 panions I only knew their names, the State they 
 came from, and that they are going to the western 
 country. 
 
 Yesterday morning the hoar-frost was faintly vi- 
 sible on the newly mown grass, the first that has 
 been observed this season. No danger is now to 
 be apprehended from the cold, as Indian corn, (the 
 latest of the crops,) is ripe. The woods and 
 orchards have their young shoots well matured, 
 and will soon be coloured with their autumnal 
 tinge. 
 
 A majority of the people in the neighbourhood 
 of Adamsburg are Germans, or their descendants. 
 Although most of them can speak in English, their 
 conversation with one another is in German, and 
 a clergyman in the neighbourhood preaches in that 
 language. 
 
 Resumed my journey ; called at L — r's tavern, 
 eleven miles from Greensburg. The hostess, after 
 promising to give me breakfast, shewed me into a 
 front room. After waiting about twenty-five mi- 
 nutes, two ladies on horseback, apparently turned 
 of forty, alighted before the window ; the hostess 
 ran forward, embraced and kissed them. Her sa- 
 lute was the loudest articulation of the kind that 
 I have heard. She came into the room, and told
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 5'J 
 
 me, she had got so much engaged, that she could 
 not be troubled with my breakfast, and that there 
 is a tavern only half a mile forward where I 
 would be attended to. The good lady will be 
 freed from every imputation of unkindness, since 
 I have related how cordially she welcomed her fe- 
 male friends who engrossed all her attention. 
 
 Met with a man who asked me if I knew of " any 
 traveller who would rest himself and thrash for a 
 few days ?" To-day I begin to find the estimate 
 formed of foot travellers in this country of equa- 
 lity. It is an undoubted truth that the rider is 
 two steps higher than the footman. 
 
 Saw a drove of large cattle on their way from 
 the State of Ohio for Philadelphia. Their condition 
 is good, the length of the journey taken into con- 
 sideration. In size and even fat, they are much 
 superior to the Pennsylvanian stock by the sides 
 of the road. Indeed, it is somewhat surprising to 
 see such bad cattle on the rich lands of this State. 
 The causes merit the strictest inquiry. 
 
 Every where the wheat stubble is so much over- 
 grown with annual weeds, that the verdure at a 
 distance is apt to be mistaken for pasture. This 
 growth is occasioned by the long course of hot 
 weather, which succeeds an early harvest. It 
 would be advantageous if clover, or some other use- 
 ful herbage, were sown amongst the crops, that the 
 farmer might not only avail himself of the propen- 
 sity to vegetation, but check the dissemination of 
 weeds so hurtful to adjoining fields, and to the 
 succeeding pasture. 
 
 The potato crops are better than those I have 
 seen on the coast, the plants are more vigorous, 
 and the tubers much larger. 
 
 Land partly cleared, and with some rude build-
 
 /58 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 inss thereon, sells at from twentv to forty dollars 
 
 an acre. 
 
 The new road from Philadelphia to Pittsburg is 
 now in an advanced stage of progress. Much of 
 it is finished, and corresponding parts of the old 
 track abandoned. Probably, by two years hence, 
 the traveller will have a turnpike from the one 
 city to the other. The improvement is important, 
 but it is not one that deserves unqualified praise. 
 In multitudes of cases, it passes through hollows, 
 and over eminences, without regard to that mi- 
 nimum of inequality, which in a great measure con- 
 stitutes the value of a road. In some cases, the 
 vertical curve, formed by passing over rising 
 grounds, is so long, that, applied laterally, the 
 eminence surmounted, would have been altogether 
 avoided. The road from Baltimore to Wheeling, 
 now constructing at the expense of the govern- 
 ment, is understood to be more judiciously laid off. 
 Its competition must, ere long, give the proprietors 
 of the Philadelphia line, an instructive lesson on 
 the economical application of labour. 
 
 Produce, in the higher parts of Pennsylvania, 
 may be stated at the rates of from twenty to twen- 
 ty-five bushels of wheat, and from twenty-five to 
 thirty bushels of Indian corn, per acre. These 
 quantities are raised under slovenly management, 
 and without much labour. A farmer expressed 
 his contentment under existing circumstances ; a 
 dollar a bushel for wheat (he said) is a fair price, 
 where the farmer pays neither rent nor taxes to 
 the government. His farm, for example, pays 
 four or five dollars a-year, for the support of the 
 state and county officers. 
 
 Labourers receive a dollar per day, and can find 
 board for two dollars a-week. Mechanics, in
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 5<J 
 
 most cases, earn more. Where health is enjoyed, 
 in this place, poverty bespeaks indolence, or want 
 of economy. 
 
 Arrived at Pittsburg, after a pleasant journey, 
 with almost uninterrupted good weather. Some 
 observations on this place will be the subject of 
 my next letter. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Pittsburg--~Situation-~Maniifacture$-—-Occurrences--~ 
 
 People. 
 
 In this letter I shall not confine myself to a des- 
 cription of the city of Pittsburg. Occurrences and 
 remarks, with, or without dates, will be promiscu- 
 ously introduced. This method may not be after 
 the manner of regular epistolary writing ; but to 
 me it is the easiest way, and it may have the ad- 
 vantage of shewing you how a great part of my 
 time is occupied. 
 
 Pittsburg stands on the point of land formed by 
 the confluence of the rivers Allegany and Monon- 
 gahela. The flat ground on which the greater 
 part of the buildings stand, is upwards of thirty 
 feet above the level of the rivers at low water. 
 Part of the land adjoining to the Allegany is only 
 about twenty feet high, and liable to occasional in- 
 undations. The Allegany here runs south-west by 
 west, and the Monongahela nearly due west, as 
 does the Ohio in continuation. This, together 
 
 I
 
 GO LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 with the Monongahela being broader than the Al- 
 legany, gives to the former the appearance of being 
 the principal river, and to the latter the character 
 of a tributary stream. The Monongahela is muddy 
 and sluggish opposite to the town ; and though 
 about 400 yards broad there, probably furnishes 
 much less water to the Ohio than does the Alle- 
 gany, which is only about half the width, but has a 
 brisk current. The Allegany and the Mononga- 
 hela have been described as being each about the 
 size of the Tay ; but the latter river is much infe- 
 rior to either in magnitude ; and the comparison 
 must have been influenced by the Tay's being the 
 fittest river with which to compare it in Britain, 
 and not by its actual parity with either. 
 
 Between the rivers, there is a ridge of about 300 
 feet high, which terminates with a gentle slope in 
 the most inland part of the town. This is the hill 
 that a florid exaggerator has described as a solid 
 mass of coal. The description was unnecessary, 
 as the coal field in which the hills of Pittsburg lie, 
 may be considered as the most extensively known, 
 although the only bed here is no more than four 
 and a half feet thick. The strata being horizon- 
 tal, and the out-burst of the coal about the middle- 
 steep of the hill, it is not necessary to make shafts, 
 as it is level free, and may be quarried and carried 
 out in wheel barrows, like road-metal. 
 
 The hill on the west side of the Monongahela, 
 is a craggy steep, almost close to the river. It is 
 covered with trees to the summit, and tends, more 
 than any other object, to give to Pittsburg a pic- 
 turesque appearance. 
 
 On the north-west side of the Allegany lies a 
 beautiful plain, the site of the new town Allegany. 
 Beyond the plain lies another ridge corresponding
 
 LETTERS FR03I AMERICA. 
 
 61 
 
 in elevation, and having a continuation of the same 
 strata that compose the two heights formerly no- 
 ticed. Thus Pittsburg is almost surrounded by 
 high wooded grounds. 
 
 The heavy showers of rain that occasionally fall 
 in this country, form a great objection to the cul- 
 tivation of steep lands. The torrents sweep away 
 much of the loose soil, cut deep ruts, and carry 
 down slate-ciay, and spread it on the foot slopes, 
 and on the flat grounds below. 
 
 The following enumeration of the manufactur- 
 ing people of Pittsburg was made last year. It 
 gives some view of the nature and extent of the 
 business carried on. 
 
 
 Hands 
 
 Employers. 
 
 Employed. 
 
 1 Augur Maker . 
 
 6 
 
 1 Bellows Maker . 
 
 3 
 
 18 Blacksmiths 
 
 74 
 
 3 Brewers ... . 
 
 17 
 
 3 Brush Makers 
 
 7 
 
 1 Button Maker . 
 
 6 
 
 2 Cotton Spinners 
 
 36 
 
 7 Cabinet- Makers 
 
 43 
 
 1 1 Copper and Tin Smiths 
 
 100 
 
 1 Currier . • 
 
 4 
 
 2 Cutlers . 
 
 6 
 
 4 Iron Founders . . • 
 
 87 
 
 3 Gun Smiths 
 
 14 
 
 2 Flint Glass Manufactories 
 
 82 
 
 3 Green ditto ditto 
 
 92 
 
 2 Hardware Manufactories 
 
 17 
 
 7 Hatters .... 
 
 49 
 
 1 Locksmith .... 
 
 7 
 
 1 Linen Manufactory 
 
 20 
 
 1 Nail ditto 
 
 47 
 
 1 Paper Maker 
 
 40
 
 62 
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 Employers. 
 
 1 Pattern Maker 
 
 3 Plane Makers 
 
 1 Potter (fine ware) 
 
 1 Rope Maker 
 
 1 Spinning Machine Maker 
 
 1 Spanish Brown Manufactory 
 
 1 Silver Plater 
 
 2 Steam-Engine Makers 
 2 Steam Grist Mills 
 
 6 Saddlers .... 
 
 5 Silversmiths and Watch Repairers 
 14 Shoe and Boot Makers 
 
 7 Tanners and Curriers 
 
 4 Tallow Chandlers 
 4 Tobacconists 
 
 2 Weavers .... 
 
 3 Windsor Chair Makers 
 2 Woollen Manufactories 
 1 Wire Drawer 
 
 1 White Lead Factory 
 
 Hands 
 Employed. 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 40 
 70 
 10 
 60 
 17 
 109 
 47 
 
 7 
 25 
 
 9 
 23 
 30 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 Total 1280 
 
 Besides the above, it is surmised that there are 
 three hundred and fifty-seven manufacturing peo- 
 ple, of which no estimate has been furnished by 
 the conductors. There is, besides, a chemical ma- 
 nufactory, in which ammonia, copperas, lamp black, 
 ivory black, and various acids, are prepared. 
 
 Formerly large ships were built at Pittsburg, 
 which sailed down the river during floods : large 
 keel boats, capable of either ascending or descend- 
 ing the river. Square arks, family boats, and 
 small skiffs, are built in great numbers. A steam- 
 boat of 830 tons burden, for the navigation of the 
 Mississippi and Ohio, is nearly completed. 
 
 The conveyance of goods from Philadelphia 
 
 4
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. ()3 
 
 and Baltimore, together with their warehousing 
 and boating, produces much business here. In 
 the year 1813, no less than 4055 waggons, engaged 
 in this trade, were calculated to have passed the 
 road. The number employed now must be consi- 
 derably increased. 
 
 Pittsburg also derived much advantage from its 
 being the thoroughfare of settlers for the western 
 country. Here they sell their horses and wag- 
 gons ; here they often remain waiting for a rise of 
 water. Here also they purchase boats, and lay 
 in a stock of provisions for their passage down the 
 river. 
 
 The waters of the Ohio are now lower than 
 they have been for many years past. Merchants 
 with their goods, and families with their baggage, 
 find it impossible to get downward. Some whose 
 moveables are light, are making the attempt. 
 Many emigrants are proceeding with their wag- 
 gons by land. Where the distance does not ex- 
 ceed three or four hundred miles, this will, at pre- 
 sent, be found the more economical and expedi- 
 tious mode of travelling. 
 
 September 30. Emigrants continue to flock 
 westward. To-day the numerous inmates and 
 followers of three large waggons arrived in a body. 
 It is truly interesting to see people of different 
 countries, and of different costumes, coming for- 
 ward in the mail-coach, on horseback, and on foot. 
 At first view, this great migration leads to the 
 conclusion, that oppression, and the fear of want, 
 are in extensive operation somewhere to the east- 
 ward. 
 
 October 4. {Sunday.) This afternoon three fights 
 have taken place in Bayardstown, a small append- 
 age of Pittsburg. These originated from private 
 quarrels in taverns. The combatants sallied from
 
 64 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 them to the street, where the battles were fought 
 in the presence of the passengers. There are rive 
 taverns in this place ; of course only two of them 
 have escaped being scenes of action. This is 
 not in perfect agreement with the character of so- 
 briety, absence of dissipation and gross vices, that 
 a late describer of Pittsburg has given of its peo- 
 ple *. 
 
 October 9. The people are in great ferment 
 about the ensuing election. Newspapers teem 
 with the most virulent abuse ; and one of the 
 candidates for Congress has fought with a lawyer 
 in town. It would be useless to inquire after par- 
 ticulars, as facts are always differently represented 
 by opposite parties. 
 
 A farmer, who lives at the distance of a few 
 miles from this place, told me that he is a native 
 of Ireland, and that he had not fifty dollars in the 
 world, fifteen years ago ; now, he would not take 
 4000 dollars for his property. He commenced 
 alone, and has not followed any other occupation 
 than the cultivation of his farm, and the sale of its 
 produce. However strange this may appear in 
 Europe, an individual farming in the new settle- 
 ments of America, is an occurrence too common 
 to excite wonder. 
 
 October 13. To-day the inhabitants of Pennsyl- 
 vania elect their Representatives in Congress, 
 Members of the State Assembly, and County Offi- 
 cers. I have gone repeatedly to the court-house 
 of Pittsburg, to see the popular proceedings. The 
 citizens wrap up the names of the candidates they 
 recommend in a small slip of paper, which they 
 hand through the open pane of a window to the 
 inspector, an officer previously appointed for 
 
 * An American writer.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 65 
 
 counting the tickets. This way of balloting, places 
 the poor man beyond the control of his superior 
 or creditor. I have seen no riot or confusion. 
 Populous cities, in America, are divided into 
 wards, where separate elections are held at the 
 same time ; a salutary precaution, that prevents 
 the assembling of great crowds. 
 
 The shortness of my stay, and my limited ac- 
 quaintance with the people, do not allow me to 
 say much of their character. A considerable de- 
 gree of industry is manifested by the bustle that 
 pervades the town. This virtue, however, does 
 not prevail to the extinction of dissipation. 
 Swearing is certainly the most conspicuous vice. 
 Some affirm that a class of people, whom they de- 
 nominate low Irish, are the most immoral of the 
 population. It gives no pleasure, to hear such a 
 reflection on the peasantry of a country, distin- 
 guished by the hospitality, generosity, and bravery, 
 of its people. In justice to humanity, it is neces- 
 sary to bear in mind, that they have not enjoyed the 
 means of a good education in their native coun- 
 try ; and it is proper to mention, that there are 
 natives of Ireland here, who have risen to opulence, 
 and deserved eminence in society. The recollec- 
 tion of several of these, and other worthy citizens 
 of Pittsburg, will always be accompanied with senti- 
 ments of my esteem. 
 
 The weather continuing clear, and without the 
 least prospect of a flood, I have procured a skiff, 
 and determined on proceeding down the river. 
 The skiff is \5h feet long, 3k wide across the gun- 
 wale, and 14 inches deep. This is supposed to be 
 sufficiently large for carrying myself and baggage, 
 (about 800lbsr) The sides are composed of two 
 boards of pine, three quarters of an inch thick; the 
 bottom flat, and of the same material. It is a light, 
 
 r
 
 Of) LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 and certainly not a strong bark. My other equip- 
 ments are, a copy of the Pittsburg Navigator, (a 
 book recommended as useful, in pointing out the 
 proper course for avoiding bars, and the points 
 where rapids are to be entered ;) small quantities 
 of bread, cheese, and dried deer ; a small flask 
 with spirits ; and a tinned cup, to be used both in 
 drinking water from the river, and in casting out 
 bilge water. Over the after part of the skiff three 
 hoops are fixed, in the form of an arch. A sheet 
 stretched over these, will form a canopy under 
 which I may sleep, by the margin of the river. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Descend the Ohio from Pittsburg to Beaver— Occurrences 
 
 and remarks there. 
 
 Atkinson's Tavern, by Beaver, 
 28th October, 1818. 
 
 As a great part of my notes since I last wrote, 
 relate to rapids, bars, islands, &c. I shall omit 
 the description of many of them, as being altoge- 
 ther uninteresting. 
 
 On the 14th of October, I embarked on the 
 Monongahela, about half a mile above its junction 
 with the Allegany. A gentleman to whom I had 
 been introduced, very kindly assisted me in ar- 
 ranging my lading, and rowed me down to the 
 lower point of the town. 
 
 The Allegany being a clear, and the Mononga-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 67 
 
 hela a turbid river, their compound, the Ohio, as 
 might be expected, is of the intermediate charac- 
 ter. The mud, that covers the gravel at the height 
 of three or four feet above the present level of the 
 water, shows, that a very slight rising of the river 
 carries much soil along with it. One of the ear- 
 liest writers who gives a detail of the beauties of 
 this river, states, that the bottom, and even fishes, 
 may be seen in several fathoms of water. During 
 the present dry season, the bottom is indistinctly 
 visible at the depth of five or six feet. The water, 
 when taken up in a bright tinned vessel, appears 
 to be perfectly limpid ; but after standing in it for 
 an hour, a very small sediment is deposited. From 
 the experience of boatmen, and others who drink 
 this water, it is understood to be healthful. 
 
 To me this was a novel method of travelling. 
 Steep ridges of hills on both sides of the river, 
 about 300 feet above the surface of the water, and 
 these covered with a profusion of timber, now 
 clothed in all the variegated hues of autumn, form 
 an avenue of the most magnificent description. 
 For nearly the length of six miles, the surface of 
 the water has all the smoothness of a mill-pond, 
 which gave an additional effect to the scenery, but 
 which imposed on me the labour of rowing inces- 
 santly. My boat, besides being without rudder, or 
 even that short piece of keel in the after-part which 
 is so essential to moving forward in a straight line, 
 went on in a zig-zag direction, occasioning much 
 trouble, and promising no great degree of safety 
 on my coming into quick running water. 
 
 At a rapid, six miles from Pittsburg, a boat 
 has recently been stove. I saw the people on 
 shore drying their goods. In this same rapid, my 
 ill sailing bark put about broadside to the current. 
 On reaching the lower extremity of the declivi- 
 
 f 2
 
 68 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 ty, my situation was rather alarming. Here the 
 violence of the current being opposed by deep- 
 er and more placid water, produces a sort of heav- 
 ing motion. The sidelong motion over this swell- 
 ing surface, was much aggravated by a top-heavy 
 load. Travellers are fortunate when they arrive 
 early in the season, as the stream at that period 
 propels a boat much quicker than the most labo- 
 rious rowing can do now. 
 
 After having passed several rapids, which are 
 commonly called ripples in this country, I attempt- 
 ed to land for the night, on the head of Dead Man's 
 Island, a low bar covered with small willows, but 
 found the water to be so shallow that I could not 
 approach the dry ground, and that with a short 
 rope, I could not effect a mooring to any log, bush, 
 or fixed object. The possibility of an unforeseen 
 rise of water in such a long river caused me to de- 
 termine not to sleep aground, without being securely 
 fastened. It was now nearly dark, and I judged 
 it impossible to cross to the opposite shore to find 
 a mooring, as the roaring of the Dead Man's Rip- 
 ple, (a furious rapid, between the island and the 
 right hand shore,) convinced me that I was already 
 almost within its draught. The only alternative 
 which remained, was to push into the principal 
 stream. I adopted it, and was soon carried through 
 an impetuous winding channel, where I could per- 
 ceive large dark-coloured masses, supposed to be 
 rocks, above water, at small distances on each side. 
 
 October 15. Last night I put ashore about half 
 a mile below the Dead Man's Ripple. The mar- 
 gin was of a convenient depth, admitting my lying 
 aground, to avoid the danger of my leaky bark's 
 sinking in the night. Having made it fast to a log, 
 and piled up my boxes toward the prow, and spread 
 three pieces of board over the seats behind for a
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERCIA. 69 
 
 bed, I covered the three hoops with a sheet for a 
 canopy, laid down my portmanteau for a pillow, 
 and wrapping myself in a blanket, I went to. rest. 
 
 As I neither saw any light, nor heard the 
 voice of a human being, I imagined that I was far 
 from the neighbourhood of any house. The only 
 sounds that saluted my ear, arose from bells attach- 
 ed to cows in the woods, and from the breakers 
 produced by the Ripple. The sheet which served 
 me for a roof, was not long enough to reach the 
 sides of the boat, a cold wind that blew down the 
 river, passed in a constant current through my 
 lodgement, and for a considerable time prevented 
 me from sleeping. About midnight I heard the 
 noise of footsteps approaching me on the gravel, and 
 looked out to see what my visitor might be : a 
 faint glimmering of moon-light enabled me to dis- 
 cover the white face of a young cow that had come 
 down to drink. 
 
 It would be imprudent to sleep ashore and leave 
 goods in a boat on the river, boatmen being much 
 blamed for stealing. 
 
 I put off about seven o'clock in the morning. 
 A continuation of the same ridges of hills, and 
 the same woods, bounded the view on both sides 
 of the river. The bottom land is narrow, and 
 the parts which have been cleared are chiefly 
 covered with crops of Indian corn. Bottom 
 land is of two sorts ; the lower by the margin 
 of the river ; and the higher by the foot of the 
 ridge. The lower bottoms are about twenty feet 
 higher than the surface of low water ; but as the 
 trees on the beach are piled up by ice and drift- 
 ed wood, to the height of four or five feet above 
 the level of the ground, occasioned by floods ; it 
 follows that the lower bottoms are subject to in- 
 undation, and that their height must be increased 
 
 f 3
 
 70 -LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 by the earth deposited from every high rising of 
 the waters. Nothing, in the present state of things, 
 seems to offer a solution of the formation of the 
 higher bottoms, which are here about twenty feet 
 higher than the lower ones, and appear to be 
 equally flat, and forming plains parallel to them. 
 I shall hereafter be very attentive to facts with 
 regard to this anomaly. 
 
 About six hundred yards above the mouth of 
 Big Beaver Creek, my skiff ran upon the top of a 
 large mass of stone under water, which the rip- 
 plings occasioned by a slight breeze of wind, 
 prevented me from seeing. In attempting to push 
 her off, she upset, so as to admit a gush of water 
 all along the lower side. The hoops over her af- 
 ter part, not allowing me to leap directly upon the 
 stone, I plunged into the water and mounted 
 the stone just in time to catch the bark by the 
 after part, and prevent it from being carried down 
 by the stream. By a considerable exertion, I 
 succeeded in keeping the after end close to the 
 stone, while the fore part sunk obliquely to a 
 great depth in the water. Here the cargo must un- 
 avoidably have slipped into the bottom of the river, 
 except for a large box, that wedged itself into the 
 narrow forepart of the boat, and the others, rest- 
 ing on it, were kept in their places. Two 
 black men came in a skiff to my relief. They 
 took me in, and rowed toward the shore, while 
 I still retained my hold of the wreck, and suc- 
 ceeded in getting it safely moored. This inter- 
 ruption happened exactly before the door of a 
 tavern, where I was accommodated with board, 
 and the means of having my baggage dried. 
 
 Afternoon, While exposing my books to the 
 wind, a respectable looking man, apparently a far- 
 mer, entered into conversation with me. His inquiries
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 71 
 
 respecting the scientific and literary personages 
 of Edinburgh, and his acquaintance with the po- 
 etry and provincial dialect of Scotland, were more 
 minute than I could have expected in this part of 
 the world. 
 
 October 16. I have discovered that my skiff is 
 too weak for carrying any considerable weight. 
 It is so much strained, that many of the nails have 
 their heads drawn half an inch out of the tim- 
 ber, and others much more. The misfortune of 
 the 15th, has probably saved me from a worse one. 
 The system of boat building at Pittsburg cannot be 
 too strongly reprobated. Defects in caulking, in 
 the number, and in the strength of the nails, were 
 in the case of my boat, disgraceful. 
 
 October 19. A farmer, in removing Indian corn 
 from an island to his residence, had his flat sunk, 
 and much of the cargo lost, within a few yards of 
 the point where I stopped short. I am resolved on 
 procuring a better skiff, and waiting a few days 
 in hopes of a rise of water. Floods at or be- 
 fore this season of the year, are considered annual 
 occurrences. The oldest residents recollect of 
 only one year in which there was no autumnal rise 
 of the Ohio. 
 
 October 20. The mornings and evenings are now 
 cool, usually about 34° of Fahrenheit's scale. To»day, 
 at two o'clock P.M. the temperature of the sun's 
 rays was 90°. Thick fogs continue over the river in 
 the mornings, till eight or nine o'clock. These are 
 no doubt occasioned by the water being hotter 
 than the air. The radiant heat passing upward, 
 necessarily carries humidity with it, which is im- 
 mediately condensed, and rendered visible by the 
 colder air. Whenever the heat of the air is of a 
 temperature equal to that of the water, the pheno- 
 menon disappears. The same principle may be 
 
 4
 
 / 
 
 7^ LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 very plausibly applied, in explaining the autumnal 
 risings of the Ohio. The great and long conti- 
 nued heats of summer in this country, render the 
 air capable of accumulating a great quantity of mois- 
 ture. It is not till the sun recedes considerably to 
 the southward, and till a great portion of the at- 
 mosphere is cooled, that rains are precipitated 
 over any great extent of the country. The Alle- 
 gany mountains, and other high parts, are soonest 
 cooled, and first produce a deposition of rain. 
 Hence autumnal floods occur, which proceed from 
 the higher country alone, without corresponding 
 risings in the lower tributaries of the Ohio. In sea- 
 sons when the heat continues long, the flood oc- 
 curs late. With such hot days as we now enjoy, a 
 rising in the river is not to be expected. 
 
 26th. Went up Beaver Creek. This is a large 
 stream, with R a rapid descent over a sandstone bot- 
 tom. Within three miles of its mouth there are three 
 saw-mills, a grist-mill, an iron furnace and forge, 
 a fulling-mill, a carding-mill, and a mill for bruising 
 flax-seed. At the iron furnace, cast goods are fa- 
 bricated, the coarsest that I have ever seen. Coal is 
 abundant, but not used in reducing the ores. 
 
 It has been suggested, that a navigation connect- 
 ing Cayahogo, on Lake Erie, with Alexandria on 
 the Potomak, should pass through Big Beaver 
 Creek j but it appears altogether improper that 
 such a communication should descend so low as 
 the mouth of this creek, thereby incurring the as- 
 cent of the Ohio to Pittsburg, and the Monongahela 
 to the bases of the Allegany ridge. The longer 
 route to New York seems to be vastly preferable, 
 and, as it is now in progress, it must supersede the 
 Pennsylvanian line. 
 
 I saw some people thrashing buck wheat : they 
 had dug a hollow in the field, about twenty feet in
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 73 
 
 diameter, and six or eight inches in depth. In this 
 the grain was thrashed by the flail, and the straw 
 thrown aside to rot in the field. The wheat is 
 cleared of the chaff by two persons fanning it with 
 a sheet, while a third lets it fall before the wind. 
 
 Indian corn is separated from the husks or leaves 
 that cover the ear, by the hands. In the even- 
 ings neighbours convene for this purpose. Apples 
 are also pared for preservation in a similar way. 
 These are commonly convivial meetings, and are 
 well attended by young people of both sexes. 
 
 A respectable English family put ashore with a 
 leaky boat, almost in the act of sinking. They had 
 run foul of a log in a ripple. The craft, called fa- 
 mily boats, are square arks, nine or ten feet wide, 
 and varying in length as occasion may require. 
 They are roofed all over, except a small portion of 
 the fore part, where two persons row. At the back 
 end, aperson steers with an oar, protruded through a 
 hole, and a small fire-place is built of brick. Such boats 
 are so formed as to carry all the necessaries of new 
 settlers. The plough, and the body of the wag- 
 gon, are frequently to be seen lying on the roof; and 
 the wheels hung over the sides. The bottom is made 
 of strong plank, not liable to be stove in, except 
 where the water is in rapid motion ; and the whole 
 fabric is exempt from the danger of upsetting, ex- 
 cept in violent gales of wind. Family boats cost 
 from thirty to fifty dollars at Pittsburg. A great 
 proportion of the families to be seen, are from the 
 northern parts of New York, and Pennsylvania, 
 also from the state Vermont, and other parts. 
 They have descended the Allegany, a river that I 
 have not hitherto mentioned as a thoroughfare of 
 travellers. 
 
 The gentleman mentioned in a former para- 
 graph, is Brigadier General L k, who
 
 74 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 is at present a member of the Senate of the Unit- 
 ed States. I have had several accidental inter- 
 views with him, and find that he is acquainted 
 with the late works of imagination and taste pub- 
 lished in Edinburgh, down to the Second Series of 
 the Tales of My Landlord. 
 
 October 28. Settlers continue to be much re- 
 tarded in getting down the river. Head winds 
 oblige them to put ashore sometimes for a whole 
 day. Families for the eastern parts of Ohio State, 
 are proceeding by the road. The father may be 
 seen driving the waggon ; and the women and 
 children bringing up two or three cows in the rear. 
 They carry their provisions along with them, and 
 wrap themselves in blankets, and sleep on the floors 
 of taverns. The hostess does not charge any thing 
 for this sort of entertainment. 
 
 Travelling by land at this season is, for various 
 reasons, economical. Families by this means avoid 
 delay and expense at Pittsburg ; they are not ob- 
 liged to sell their waggons and horses at an under va- 
 lue there ; but take them along, as a necessary stock 
 for their farms ; and they are not put to the expense 
 of a boat, which would be ultimately sold for a mere 
 trifle, or left to rot by the water side. Besides, 
 their rate of travelling is now more speedy than 
 by water. Those who go below Wheeling will 
 have a farther advantage, as the distance from Pitts- 
 burg to that place is 38 miles shorter than by the 
 river. The waggons and horses must also be of 
 immediate use to those, who settle at a distance 
 from navigable waters. It is impossible to state 
 the distance to which horses and waggons should be 
 carried from Pittsburg; this wholly depends on the 
 state of the river, the quantity of goods to be trans- 
 ported, the price of freight, (if paying passage in- 
 stead of purchasing a boat is contemplated,) the
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 75 
 
 price of a boat, and the certain loss on selling hor- 
 ses and waggons at Pittsburg. Strangers will do 
 well to make strict inquiries, and the most careful 
 calculations, of the expense of both modes of tra- 
 velling, previous to the adoption of either of them. 
 After examining the advantage of the different 
 ways of travelling, it will be but an ordinary exercise 
 of candour, to state wherein I have erred myself. — 
 I purchased a skiff, too small and too weak for my 
 purpose, and I ought not to have undertaken the 
 passage without taking some person along with 
 me, who would have been continually on the out- 
 look for stones or logs under water, and who occa- 
 sionally would have steered my bark. Being obliged 
 to sit on a low seat with my back forward, I was 
 most unfavourably placed for observing obstacles 
 in the way, and, on approaching rapids, I was usu- 
 ally in the very draught of them, before I could 
 discern the proper channel. 
 
 The weather has of late been cold during the 
 night, and the season is so far advanced that I can- 
 not calculate on sleeping hereafter in an open 
 boat. To enable me to put my baggage ashore 
 every night, I have procured smaller boxes, to su- 
 persede the use of larger ones. Travellers in this 
 country ought not to adopt large boxes, which are 
 the most liable to injury, from the jolting of wag- 
 gons, and are comparatively unmanageable on every 
 occasion. Eighty or a hundred pounds, are enough 
 for each parcel. 
 
 There is not the least appearance of a rise on 
 the river. I have exchanged my pine skiff for a 
 larger and a stronger oak one, and have determined 
 on getting once more upon the water. 
 
 During my stay here, I have had the satisfac- 
 tion of living with a polite and respectable family, 
 which has treated me with the utmost civility ;
 
 76 LETTERS FROM AMERTCA. 
 
 their integrity is beyond suspicion. — If I had en- 
 tertained any doubt on that head, the very repack- 
 ing of my baggage would at once have removed 
 it. — My inventory is complete, not a single article 
 is wanting. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Descend the Ohio from Beaver — Georgetown — Steubenville 
 — Wellsburgh — Warren — Wheeling — Marietta — Mus- 
 kingum river — Guyandat river — Letarts rapids — Kan- 
 haway river — Point Pleasant — Galliopolis — Big Sandy 
 river — Portsmouth-— Occurrences and Remarks inter- 
 spersed. 
 
 Portsmouth, Ohio, 18th Nov. 1818. 
 
 On the 29th of October I again got afloat. — 
 The weather clear and fine, but the current of the 
 river in most parts so slow that the eye could 
 scarcely discover its motion. — Passed the mouth 
 of Big Beaver Creek, 29i miles from Pittsburg. 
 
 Stopped for the night at a tavern 42£ miles 
 from Pittsburg. Opposite, on the Virginia shore 
 of the river, stands Georgetown, a neat village, 
 with a public ferry. — On Little Beaver Creek are 
 several grist and saw mills, a paper-mill, and se- 
 veral other machines. In the mouth of a creek, I 
 observed that the surface of the water was tinged 
 with the oil of naphtha. 
 
 A young gentleman, from Virginia, had stop- 
 ped in the tavern sick ; the hostess and neigh-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 77 
 
 bours were very attentive to the unfortunate stran- 
 ger. 
 
 October 30. At the distance of half a mile below 
 Little Beaver Creek, the meridional line crosses the 
 river, which separates Pennsylvania from Virgi- 
 nia on the south side of the river, and from the 
 State of Ohio on the north side. 
 
 Big Yellow Creek falls into the Ohio on the 
 north side. A few miles up this creek there is a 
 settlement of Scotch Highlanders. The soil oc- 
 cupied by them is said to be thin and poor. 
 
 After pulling all day against contrary winds, 
 which, in some straight parts of the river, raised 
 waves that beat upon my boat with considerable 
 force, I lodged at the Black Horse Tavern, on the 
 Virginia side of the river, 63 miles from Pitts- 
 burg. The landlord told me that his charges 
 were, in some measure, regulated by the appear- 
 ance of his guests. — Where a family seem to be 
 poor and clever, he does not charge any thing for 
 their sleeping on the floor. (By clever, he meant 
 honest, or of a good disposition.) 
 
 The hills that bound the narrow valley of the 
 river are of sandstone and clay schist, with a bed 
 of coal four or five feet thick. People acquainted 
 with the country, say that the hills by the river, 
 and by the creeks, are of a poorer soil than those 
 inland, which are less steep. The process of inun- 
 dation is probably the cause of the difference. 
 
 There is a wider interval between the river hills 
 here than in the neighbourhood of Pittsburg, and 
 the bottoms are of course wider j the greater part 
 of them being on the north side of the river. On 
 the south side negroes are numerous. 
 
 On the forenoon of the 31st a heavy rain fell, 
 accompanied with loud peals of thunder. — Rever-
 
 78 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 Deration amongst the rocky hills and woods great- 
 ly augmented the sound. 
 
 The margin of the river is lined with masses of 
 sandstone of enormous size. Others lie in the 
 middle, with their rounded and scratched tops ex- 
 posed above water. All these must have been de- 
 tached from the river hills. 
 
 Arived at Steubenville, on the right bank of the 
 Ohio. This town stands on a second or higher 
 bottom, exempt from the inundations so unplea- 
 sant on the first or lower plains. There are seve- 
 ral hundred acres of this dry ground adjacent to 
 the town, the largest tract of the kind that I have 
 seen between the river and the hills. 
 
 This place is named Steubenville, from Baron 
 Steuben, in consideration of his philanthropic ser- 
 vices rendered to America, during the revolution- 
 ary war. It contains upwards of 2000 people ; and 
 it is regularly laid out, and the houses built of 
 brick, wood, and a few are of stone, all covered 
 with shingles. A newspaper is printed in the 
 town ; it contains also a woollen manufactory, a 
 paper-mill, a grist-mill, and a small cotton-mill. 
 These machines are wrought by steam. There are 
 also two earthenware manufactories, and a brew- 
 ery in the town, four preachers, six lawyers, five 
 surgeons, twenty-seven shops, sixteen taverns, two 
 banks, and a considerable number of artizans, ne- 
 cessary to the existence and increase of the place. 
 
 The aspect of the river hills, by Steubenville, 
 convey the idea that they are better land, and not 
 so apt to be washed down by rains, as those in 
 the neighbourhood of Pittsburg.— I have had no 
 opportunity of inquiring into the cause. 
 
 If I am not mistaken, Steubenville contains a 
 greater proportion of orderly and religious people,
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 7$ 
 
 than some other American towns which I have 
 seen. I entertain a very favourable opinion of se- 
 veral citizens, to whom I was introduced. 
 
 November 3. After having left the town, and 
 proceeded about a mile down the river, Mr. Ha- 
 milton the tavern-keeper, with whom I had lodg- 
 ed, came along the bank, on horseback, calling af- 
 ter me. I landed, and he delivered to me an arti- 
 cle, that I had neglected to pack up. 
 
 Passed a young man in a small skiff ; he had not 
 ballast enough for keeping head against the wind, 
 which twirled his vessel round, and occasionally 
 drifted him up the stream. He put ashore, as did 
 also a family boat, that could not get onward. 
 
 The wind having increased, I found it expedi- 
 ent to land at Wellsburgh, and wait till the gale 
 abated. The waves were too large for such a 
 small bark, and, in making the crossings necessary 
 to keep in the proper channel, I was in danger of 
 exposing the broadside too much to the weather. 
 
 Wellsburgh, (formerly Charlestown,) stands on 
 the Virginia side of the river. It is a small town j 
 I observed in it a court-house, a jail, a large store- 
 house, and several taverns. The margin of the 
 river is so shallow, that I could not push my skiff 
 within twelve feet of the dry ground. There is no 
 wharf or artificial landing place here, or at any of 
 the towns that I have seen by the rivers. The 
 floods sweep off' almost every thing that is erected 
 within the banks ; even the roads that are scooped 
 out of the beach are at times destroyed. Taverns 
 (out of town) have only a rude foot-path cut in the 
 bank, and many of them have not a trace formed 
 by the hands of man. 
 
 Afternoon. The wind calmed, and I proceeded 
 downward. I came up with two young men in a
 
 SO LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 small skiff; one of them put off his coat to row, 
 and the other paddled with an oar. Their in- 
 tention was evidently to keep before me, but 
 they were soon disappointed. When one small 
 boat comes up with another, a sort of race is al- 
 most invariably the consequence. I have already 
 acted a part in several of them, and have uniformly 
 got foremost. On one occasion I was opposed by 
 three men in a smaller skiff than my own. I impute 
 my success to the superior construction of my ves- 
 sel, and to the extraordinary breadth of my oars. It 
 has occurred to me, that the oars in general use 
 are much too narrow, and that by adopting broader 
 ones, we would avail ourselves more of the vis iner- 
 iice of the water, that of course is the sole cause of 
 locomotion in a vessel propelled by rowing. 
 
 On a dry bar, or island of gravel, I observed that 
 none of the weeds were close by the present margin 
 of the water, and that they were all on ground at 
 least two feet higher than that line, an evident 
 proof that the surface of the water must have been 
 about two feet higher during the summer months. 
 At that time it must have been a much easier task 
 to descend the river. 
 
 I landed in the evening at Warren, a small town 
 on the north bank. At this place there was a ped- 
 lar's boat, a small ark, which is removed from one 
 town to another. Internally itis a shop, with coun- 
 ter, balances, &c. around the sides are shelves, 
 with goods, in the usual form. 
 
 4th, Last night the tavern had been in an up- 
 roar with a large party of gamblers. — Their room 
 had no door, and that in which I slept had none, 
 so that I heard much swearing and loud vocifera- 
 tion. About four o'clock one of the gentlemen 
 retired from play, and laid himself down beside me.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 81 
 
 A short time afterwards another entered the room, 
 when the barkeeper advised him to become a third 
 of our party ; this he declined. The bar-keeper 
 next advised that he should take a part of the 
 clothes from our bed, and an adjoining one, and 
 with them make a bed for himself on the floor.— 
 This he also declined ; probably judging that the 
 attempt would be opposed. 
 
 This morning a contrary wind blew hard. Im- 
 mediately below the town there is a rapid current, 
 not much ruffled by the breeze, but a long stretch 
 of deeper water beyond it is rolling with waves. 
 Where the waves and the stream meet, white break- 
 ers are formed. Wishing to avoid these as much 
 as possible, I took a young man of the neighbour- 
 hood with me, and availed myself of his local know- 
 ledge. 
 
 Wheeling is a considerable town on the left bank 
 of the river, ninety-six miles from Pittsburg. It is 
 expected that the new road from Baltimore to this 
 place will be completed in the course of a year. 
 This being a national highway, on which no tolls 
 are to be levied, and the shortest connection between 
 a sea-port and the Ohio, a great increase of trade is 
 consequently anticipated. Hereafter, Baltimore will 
 be the most proper landing place for Europeans who 
 would settle in western America. At present the 
 carriage of goods from Baltimore to Wheeling is 
 cheaper than from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. From 
 this it is evident, that the new route is already the 
 shortest and the cheapest. 
 
 About four and a half miles below Wheeling, I was 
 surprised at hearing the river making a great noise, 
 The Pittsburg navigator not giving any notice 
 of a rapid, and as a thick fog prevented me from 
 seeing the cause, I went on shore to recon- 
 noitre. Before reaching the place from whence 
 
 G
 
 82 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 the noise proceeded, a boy informed me that a great 
 fresh (flood) in M'Mahon's Creek, happened last 
 summer, at a time when the Ohio was low, and 
 that it had carried earth and trees from the bot- 
 tom land, together with a house and a family, into 
 the river. The devastation produced by this tor- 
 rent is truly astonishing. It has cut a great chasm 
 through the bottom land, which is about twenty- 
 five feet high, and scooped it out many feet lower 
 than the surface of the Ohio. A large bar, that 
 in some measure dams the river, has large trees 
 intermixed with it ; their roots and branches stand- 
 ing above the water. This is the obstacle and 
 cause that occasion the noisy ripple. 
 
 The last tavern that we passed here, had no sign- 
 board. In consequence of which I supposed it to 
 be a private house, and, after sailing several miles 
 down the river, was obliged to put ashore, when 
 nearly dusk, at a farm-house about nine miles below 
 Wheeling. 
 
 November 5. The family with whom I lodged 
 last night, seem to be industrious and well disposed. 
 Two daughters were busily engaged in tailor work 
 for the males. This, they said, is a common prac- 
 tice in the country. They also told me of a young 
 lady of the neighbourhood, who had just gone to 
 the house of her bridegroom, to make his marriage 
 suit. As this occurrence was told with some degree 
 of disapprobation, it is not to be viewed as in uni- 
 son with the manners of the people. 
 
 Twelve miles and a half below Wheeling, and a 
 quarter of a milefrom theriver, on the left-hand side, 
 there is a remarkable mound of earth, called the Big 
 Grave. This hill is about sixty-seven feet high, 
 a hundred and eighty feet broad at the base, and 
 about twenty -two feet broad at the top, which is a 
 little hollow. Some have supposed that the earth
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 83 
 
 has been brought from a distance ; but, as some- 
 thing similar to a ditch is to be seen on one side of it, 
 and as the neighbouring surface is uneven, there 
 can be no strong reason to warrant the conclusion. 
 Several fallen trees on the sides, (for it is covered 
 with a strong growth of timber,) have exposed the 
 component earth, which is a fine vegetable soil. It 
 is not known that the present Indian people per- 
 form such works, nor is it believed that their tra- 
 ditions inculcate veneration towards these mo- 
 numents ; hence their origin is perfectly obscure. 
 
 On the right-hand side of the river, and about four 
 miles below Grave Creek, a bed of coal is wrought. v 
 It lies in a horizontal position, and under high- 
 water mark. Boats take in lading close by the 
 mouth of the mine. 
 
 Lodged at a tavern thirty-four miles from Wheel- 
 ing, after rowing against head- winds, which ren- 
 dered the work somewhat fatiguing. In the even- 
 ing a number of young men came in from a husk- 
 ing of Indian corn in the neighbourhood ; they 
 commenced drinking and swearing, all bawling out 
 and talking at once. Such noisy gabbling I never 
 before heard. 
 
 November 6. To-day I got into a long stretch of 
 the river, where it is straight for seventeen miles. 
 This part is called the Long Reach. The wind 
 blew upward, and opposed a rolling surface to my 
 progress. The labour was hard, but the headway 
 very small \ family boats have been obliged to land. 
 I saw some young men in a canoe who had just kill- 
 ed a deer in the act of crossing the river. 
 
 Lodged at a tavern about half way down the Long 
 Reach. Two old women, (sisters,) were there, one 
 was in quest of her husband, and the other of her 
 daughter. The uncle is forty-five years of age, 
 and the niece sixteen. Affinity and disparity of 
 
 g2
 
 84 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 age united, have not been sufficient to prevent the 
 elopement. 
 
 From Wheeling to near this place, coal, lime- 
 stone, and sandstone are abundant. 
 
 In my passage, I have seen twenty- five islands. 
 Some of them are of considerable size; the second 
 below Pittsburg is six miles long. Islands being 
 covered with timber, varying in size from the 
 shortest willows by the water's edge, to tall trees in 
 the centre, have a beautiful appearance when view- 
 ed from the river either above or below them. I 
 have descended twenty-two ripples. In a few of 
 these, the stranger is apt to feel a considerable 
 anxiety from being swept hastily along amongst 
 logs, with their tops above water, and over stones 
 and logs sunk beneath its surface. 
 
 November 7. The inconvenience and expense 
 that attend putting my baggage ashore every 
 night, and on board every morning, are great. Ta- 
 vern-keepers' servants are usually of their own 
 families. Freemen in early life, they, in many cases, 
 disregard the parental command, however reason- 
 able. If I mistake not, the assistance which I paid 
 dearly for, was sometimes procured by my own 
 address rather than a sense of duty on their part. 
 Although I am now a good waterman, and outsail 
 every vessel I see, I resolved to adopt a more con- 
 venient, though less expeditious way of travelling. 
 
 I applied to the master of a large keel boat, on 
 its way for Portsmouth, at the mouth of Great 
 Sciota river, to be taken on board. He refused to 
 take me as a passenger, but was willing to accept 
 of me on condition that I would row in the place 
 of a man who was about to leave him. I agreed 
 to work ; for in my skiff I wrought very hard. 
 I changed my place, but did not improve my con- 
 dition.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 85 
 
 Keel boats are large shallow vessels, varying 
 from thirty to seventy tons burden. They are 
 built on a keel with ribs, and covered with plank, 
 as ships are. They are xery flat below, and draw 
 only about two feet of water. The gunwales 
 are about a foot above water. Something like a 
 large box is raised over the boat, which serves for 
 a cover, leaving a narrow footpath on the outside 
 all round. Four or six men row near the prow, 
 and a steersman behind plies a long oar, which 
 serves for a rudder. 
 
 November 8. (Sunday.) The provisions of this 
 and another boat in company were nearly exhaust- 
 ed, and a supply was expected at Marietta. Sail- 
 ing appeared to be a work of necessity ; but, inde- 
 pendent of the exigency, the boats would pro- 
 bably have moved on. Sailing on the Sabbath is 
 as common here as at sea. A boatman com- 
 menced a song, and was interrupted by a Scots 
 rustic. The American alleged that he was in a 
 H land of liberty" and that no one had a right 
 to interfere. The other affirmed that it was against 
 law, and threatened to prevent the violation in the 
 most summary way. The boatman, perceiving 
 that he was to be assailed by a stronger man than 
 himself, gave up the contest, livery one present 
 seemed well pleased with this termination of the 
 affair. 
 
 November 9. Marietta is beautifully situated 
 on a fine green bottom, immediately above the 
 mouth of the Great Muskingum river. There are 
 many good brick and frame houses in the town ; 
 a church, and an academy, which are both called 
 fine buildings. The ferry-boat that crosses the 
 Muskingum is attached by wheels to a strong rope 
 stretched across the river, to which the boat is 
 moored obliquely, so that it is forced across by the 
 
 g 3
 
 86 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 action of the stream. Marietta is subject to in- 
 undations. I observed high water mark on the plas- 
 ter of a room in the tavern, about four and half 
 feet above the floor. 
 
 The first settlement formed by the United States 
 in the territory north-west of the Ohio, was effect- 
 ed by General Putnam, and forty-six other per- 
 sons, on the 7th of April, 1788, on the ground 
 where Marietta now stands. 
 
 10. This day we met a family boat sailing up the 
 river. We convinced them of their mistake, which 
 happened in the following way. The people went 
 under the roof to avoid a shower, and during 
 their stay, the vessel turned round. They came 
 out, and rowed till they had retrograded about two 
 miles. 
 
 Our way of passing the night was simple. We 
 put ashore, and tied the boat to a log or stake ; 
 took in fire-wood, which is plentiful all along the 
 banks ; made a fire for cooking, in a large box 
 filled with earth, placed on the roof^ and slept 
 under the cover in our clothes, wrapped in a blan- 
 ket. In the morning we lost no time in dressing, 
 having only to loosen our cable, and get under 
 weigh. In times of high water, sailing by night is 
 considered safe and agreeable, very little rowing 
 being necessary. 
 
 On the 11th we went down Letart's rapids, a 
 very violent run. The boat rushed through with 
 great velocity. There is a floating grist and saw 
 mill here, which I visited. The whole is buoyant 
 on a large flat shallow vessel, moored in the cur- 
 rent. The effective head of water is about twen- 
 ty inches high. The water-wheel is twelve feet 
 in diameter, and eighteen feet broad. The mill- 
 stone is about thirty-eight inches in diameter, and
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 87 
 
 makes a hundred and twenty revolutions in the 
 minute. 
 
 We came up with a family boat, the people in 
 which had killed a deer. These animals often cross 
 the river of their own accord ; and frequently to 
 elude the pursuit of dogs. 
 
 The days are warm, reminding me of the month 
 of August in Scotland; the mornings and evenings 
 are cool. 
 
 The ranges of hills that bound the view on 
 both sides of the river are composed of hori- 
 zontal strata of the coal field formation ; a bed 
 of this mineral lies at the height of fifty or 
 sixty feet above the level of the water. A large 
 mass of sandstone is above the coal. This may 
 be observed for many miles along the banks. The 
 ragged, and dented edges of the strata, have led 
 some to suppose that the river never acted on 
 them ; but the very contrary must have been the 
 case ; for had the cliffs now to be seen been ex- 
 posed to the weather ever since the commence- 
 ment of the present order, their asperities, and 
 sharp edges had been rounded off, and smoothed, 
 as in the case of rocks, on hill tops. The true ex- 
 planation seems to be, that the river has under- 
 mined the rocks, brought them down, and ground 
 them to sand, by its powerful attrition. The un- 
 dermining process has no doubt been facilitated 
 by the softer subjacent strata, as clay-schist, and 
 coal. The powerful operation of the grinding 
 process is strongly attested by the grooved sur- 
 faces, and the figure of the large blocks in the bed 
 of the stream. These are uniformly rounded 
 away on the end that lies farthest up the river j 
 whereas, the end facing down the river is compa- 
 ratively flat, and usually bounded by sharp edges.
 
 88 
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 November 13. Passed the mouth of Kanhaway 
 river. Here stands a small town called Point 
 Pleasant. The name is appropriate, and descrip- 
 tive of the site. From the springs of Kanhaway 
 river, a great supply of salt is procured for the 
 western country. 
 
 We landed at Galliopolis in Ohio State. The 
 town stands on a high bank above the reach of the 
 river. The name was given by a colony of a hun- 
 dred French families, which settled here twenty-five 
 years ago. They purchased from a Company, 
 whose original charter stipulated, that the tract 
 should be inhabited by a certain number of set- 
 tlers, within a specified period of time. The con- 
 dition was not fulfilled ; the land reverted to the 
 government, and the colony was dispossessed of 
 its new establishment. 
 
 14. The wind was violent, obliging us to remain 
 on shore for three hours. We moved again, and 
 stopped after dark, about a mile above the mouth 
 of Big Guyandat river, where some ripples com- 
 mence. 
 
 15. (Sunday.) A strong contrary wind blew. 
 No boat could move downward. But we saw se- 
 veral keel boats carrying sail, that enabled them 
 to stem the ripples without manual labour. It is 
 the wind, and not the day, that is reverenced here. 
 
 On the morning of the 16th, we moved down- 
 ward. We saw a man fire a shot at a flock of wild 
 turkeys. These fowls were so far from being coy, 
 that they flew only a little way, and alighted again, 
 on the trees. 
 
 Passed Big Sandy river, which comes in on the 
 left hand side, and forms part of the boundary line 
 between Virginia and Kentucky. In the evening 
 we stopped below Fergusson's Bar, having sailed
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 89 
 
 thirty-one miles in the course of the day, — a great 
 space, considering the lowness of the water. 
 
 On the 17th, we arrived at Portsmouth, a well 
 built town. It has a county court house, a news- 
 paper office, a woollen manufactory, a number of 
 stores, (shops,) and several good taverns. Having 
 resolved on travelling a little way inland from the 
 river, I immediately put my baggage on board a 
 boat for Limestone, in Kentucky, addressed to a 
 commission merchant there. Limestone is fifty- 
 one miles from this place, and four hundred and 
 forty-one miles from Pittsburg, by the river. 
 
 It gives me much pleasure to be relieved from 
 the company of boatmen. I have seen nothing 
 in human form so profligate as they are. Accom- 
 plished in depravity, their habits and education seem 
 to comprehend every vice. They make few preten- 
 sions to moral character ; and their swearing is ex- 
 cessive, and perfectly disgusting. Although earning 
 good wages, they are in the most abject poverty ; 
 many of them being without any thing like clean or 
 comfortable clothing. I have seen several whose 
 trousers formed the whole of their wardrobe, and 
 whose bodies were scorched to a brown colour by the 
 rays of the sun. They are extremely addicted to 
 drinking. Indeed I have frequently seen them bor- 
 rowing of one another a few cents to quench their 
 insatiable thirst, and in several instances refusing to 
 repay them. The Scotsman recently alluded to 
 missed a knife. On his accusing them of the theft, 
 a degraded wretch offered to buy the fork. 
 
 My next letter will contain the particulars of a 
 journey in the States of Ohio and Kentucky.
 
 90 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 9 
 
 Leave Portsmouth — Digression on economical Travelling 
 — Salt-springs — Piketon — Chillicothe — Progress of' a 
 Scotch Family — Game — Forest Trees and Shrubs — Roll- 
 ed pieces of Primitive Rocks dispersed over a Country 
 of the Secondary Formation — Agricultural Implements 
 — Antiquities — Bainbridge — Middletown — Organic Re- 
 mains — Town of Limestone — Washington — Maye Lick 
 — Licking River — Millersburg — Paris — Notice of the 
 Missouri and Illinois Countries — Paper Currency— 
 Cut Coin — Remarks interspersed. 
 
 Lexington, Kentucky, Nov. 29, 1818. 
 
 On the 18th current I left Portsmouth, on the 
 north bank of the Ohio, for Chillicothe, which is 
 situated on the Great Sciota river, forty-five miles 
 from Portsmouth by land, and about seventy by 
 following the meanders of the Sciota. 
 
 The Scotsman twice alluded to in my last letter, 
 was also bound for Chillicothe, and we set out toge- 
 ther. He gave me the following account of his eco- 
 nomy in travelling. The owner of the boat which 
 we had just left, engaged him to work his passage 
 from Pittsburg to Portsmouth without wages, ex- 
 cept having his trunk carried to the latter place, 
 artfully telling, that the passage would be com- 
 pleted in nine days. It turned out that twenty- 
 one days elapsed, before the boat reached her des- 
 tination. Had he, in the first place, hired himself 
 as a boatman, he might have got seventy-five cents 
 per day, and might have had his trunk carried for 
 a dollar j and thus a profit of fourteen dollars and
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 91 
 
 seventy-five cents would have been made. On his 
 journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, he ma- 
 naged better. He travelled along with the wag- 
 gon that carried his trunk; the waggon also carrying 
 his provisions. In this way he was never obliged 
 to enter a tavern except at night, when he slept in 
 his own bed-clothes. His bed was a low one, but he 
 had always the satisfaction of knowing that it was 
 clean, and that he was exempted from having a bed- 
 fellow intruded upon him. It is true that by travel- 
 ling alone, he might have reached Pittsburg about a 
 week sooner; but he would have arrived there with- 
 out clean clothes, and incurred the payment of a 
 week's board, while waiting the arrival of his trunk. 
 Having made a digression on economical tra- 
 velling, I am led to make some further remarks on 
 it. The subject is highly interesting to emigrants 
 whose funds are scanty, as every dollar parted 
 with may be, in effect, giving up half an acre of 
 uncultivated land. A steerage passenger pays only 
 about half the freight that is charged for a passage 
 in the cabin of a ship ; and, when he lays in his 
 own provisions, he has it in his power to be 
 nearly as comfortable as a sea voyage can permit. 
 In the American port, the cabin passenger is some- 
 times subjected to delay in entering his baggage at 
 the custom-house, and getting the taxable part va- 
 lued, whereas the steerage passenger has his goods 
 entered by the captain, and is allowed to proceed 
 on his journey without loss of time. Baltimore be- 
 ing the most convenient landing place for Europe- 
 ans who intend to settle in the western country, 
 those who arrive at New York, Boston, or other 
 northern ports, will have a saving by re-shipping 
 for the Chesapeake. Strangers ought to be care- 
 ful in ascertaining what sloop is to sail first. By 
 putting goods aboard of a wrong vessel, a delay for a
 
 92 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 week or so may be occasioned. Having sent my 
 own baggage round the Capes, from New York to 
 Philadelphia, I had an opportunity of observing 
 that several skippers, at the same time, affirm- 
 ed, that his own vessel would sail first. Liver- 
 pool is the principal resort, in Britain, of ships for 
 Baltimore. I conceive that it is unimportant to the 
 emigrant, whether he reaches the latter place in an 
 American coasting vessel, or by sailing an equal 
 distance to Liverpool, along the coast of Britain. 
 
 We stopped at a tavern, four miles from Ports- 
 mouth, and had breakfast. The landlord told us, 
 that bears and wolves are still numerous in the un- 
 cleared hills ; that they devour many hogs and 
 sheep; and that he heard wolves howling within 
 a fewyardsof his house, on the preceding night. His 
 sheep had run off; and he did not know in which 
 direction to search for them. 
 
 About nine miles from Portsmouth, the saline 
 nature of a spring is indicated by the ground being 
 much trodden by the feet of cattle. The water is 
 slightly brackish, and is not worth the expense of 
 evaporation. Salt is manufactured, in consider- 
 able quantity, a few miles to the eastward. 
 
 Salt springs are called licks, from cattle and deer 
 resorting to them to drink of the water, or to lick 
 the concrete salt deposited on the rocks or stones, 
 by the evaporation of the atmosphere. Riflemen 
 also resort to the licks, in the night, to shoot the 
 deer, which are so numerous in this neighbourhood, 
 that they are sold at a dollar each. 
 
 The lower and richer lands are all entered, (ap- 
 propriated by individuals,) but the higher and poor- 
 er, a considerable portion of which is too steep for the 
 plough, remains as public property in the market. 
 The time for cultivating them is not yet come. 1 
 must remark that the hilly, or what is here called
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 93 
 
 broken land, has many fertile spots, and that the 
 comparative salubrity of such parts of the country 
 forms a very strong recommendation to them. Coal 
 and limestone are not known within eight or nine 
 miles of this part of Sciota river. 
 
 We lodged at Piketon, the head town of the 
 new county Pike, so called in memory of General 
 Pike, who, to the character of the enterprizing ex- 
 plorer of Mexico, added that of the brave soldier. 
 Three years ago there were five houses here, now 
 there are about a hundred. 
 
 November 19. We could not procure a breakfast 
 at a tavern where we called, because the family had 
 a sick child. 
 
 At the next tavern, breakfast was prepared for 
 some labourers on the farm ; but there was not 
 enough of bread baked, to admit of our taking 
 breakfast along with them. We were told that if 
 we chose to wait for two hours, we might eat. — 
 We went onward. 
 
 After travelling several miles, we arrived at a 
 third tavern ; here, too, the bread was not prepar- 
 ed ; but the people were obliging, and made it 
 ready for us in a short time. The landlord was a 
 farmer. He told us that Indian corn sells at twen- 
 ty-five cents (Is. l^d. English) per bushel, and that 
 he could procure twenty thousand bushels of it 
 within three miles of his house. This appeared to 
 be somewhat surprising, on considering that the 
 cleared grounds form only small detached parcels, 
 when compared with the intervening woods. — 
 W T heat sells at seventy-five cents (3s. 4£d. English) 
 per bushel. This sort of crop is, at present, more 
 profitable than Indian corn, as in most cases it yields 
 more than a third part by measure ; it does not re- 
 quire to be cleared of weeds ; and is more easily 
 carried to market. The predominance of crops of
 
 94 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 Indian corn is occasioned by the ease with which it 
 is disposed of in feeding hogs and other stock, and, 
 perhaps, in some degree, by prejudice. The bot- 
 toms are wide, and their soil rich. They are often 
 inundated by the Sciota and its numerous bran- 
 ches, the water leaving great quantities of logs, 
 and other vegetable matter, to be decomposed on 
 the surface of the ground. These facts convince 
 us that the situation is not healthy, notwithstand- 
 ing the affirmations we heard to the contrary j and 
 we were the more fully persuaded of this, as we 
 saw a young man pale and meagre, in consequence 
 of an attack of the ague. 
 
 We came to a saw-mill near Paint Creek. A 
 woman asked us how we proposed to get across 
 the run. She told us that there was neither bridge 
 nor boat ; and that the water would reach up to 
 our middle. She told us further, that travellers 
 commonly hire a creature (a horse) at her house. 
 We ordered one, and her husband followed us with 
 it. At the Creek, we discovered that the water 
 was shallow. Some of our party, (now increased 
 to five,) indignant at the hoax, waded the stream. 
 The water did not reach to the knee. 
 
 Chillicothe, (formerly the seat of government, 
 in the State of Ohio, now transferred to Colum- 
 bus,) is situated on an extensive high plain, in a 
 great bend of the Sciota, which here varies from 
 one hundred to one hundred and fifty yards in 
 breadth. The town has a court-house, an acade- 
 my, two places of worship, two printing offices, 
 that publish a weekly newspaper each, a woollen 
 manufactory, a cotton manufactory, a grist-mill 
 wrought by steam, a brewery, a tannery, a variety 
 of merchants' shops, several taverns, and three 
 banks. One of the last establishments has its door
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 9«5 
 
 shut. There is a good wooden bridge across the 
 river, near the town. 
 
 November 20. I crossed Paint Creek, by the 
 road toward Limestone. The bottoms are rich, 
 but the greater part of them uncleared. The cat- 
 tle of this neighbourhood are better than those X 
 have seen by the river Ohio, and in the western 
 parts of Pennsylvania. It is not here, however, 
 that the fine droves formerly noticed are reared. 
 These must have come from the more northerly 
 part of the State, where the grass on the prairies 
 (lands without timber) is said to be abundant. 
 All accounts that I have heard of these prairies, 
 say, that they are wet, and unfavourable to health. 
 The ease with which settlements are formed on 
 them, and the facility for rearing cattle, are, 
 however, attracting many settlers. 
 
 Visited a Scotch family about thirteen miles from 
 Chillicothe. They settled here twelve years ago. 
 Their farm consists of three hundred acres of first 
 and second rate land ; of which seventy acres are 
 cleared and fenced. They have met with two mis- 
 fortunes ; either of which, they think, would have 
 finally arrested their progress in Scotland. They 
 bought a bad title to their land ; it being part of an 
 old military grant, and omitted to see it traced 
 back to the government. In addition to this, their 
 house, with most of their moveables, was burnt. 
 They have now surmounted these losses ; and are 
 in better circumstances than at any former period. 
 It is astonishing to see how much this family have 
 adopted the manners and customs of the Americans. 
 The father, who is seventy-five years of age, has 
 almost entirely laid aside the peculiarities of his 
 native provincial dialect. Nothing but the broad 
 pronunciation of the vowel A remains. The son
 
 90 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 has acquired the dialect of the country perfectly ; 
 and has adopted the American modes of farming; is 
 a good axe-man, and is in every respect identified 
 with the people. During the late war, he was 
 out on a campaign, on the frontier of Canada. 
 This absence must have been extremely painful to 
 the father, who lost an amiable son in the fight 
 with the Indians, at Tippacanoe, in 1811. Reli- 
 gious and patriotic views seem to have supported 
 this worthy old man under every discourage- 
 ment. 
 
 November 21. I made an excursion into the 
 woods. A few deer and wild turkeys remain. 
 Squirrels are very numerous. They are of the 
 grey and black varieties : also of the striped or 
 ground species. The two former are much larger 
 than the English squirrel, and are ate in America. 
 Some people esteem them as equal to chickens. 
 Quails are abundant : they are smaller than part- 
 ridges, and are so tame that the report of a gun, 
 and the destruction of a part of the covey, do not al- 
 ways make them take flight. It is a common prac- 
 tice to drive whole families of them into nets. Rab- 
 bits are not plentiful ; they lodge in the hollows of 
 fallen trees ; and are not understood to burrow in 
 the ground. The only fox that I have seen, was 
 of a small size, and of a light grey colour. It does 
 not require a thick population to exterminate 
 bears, deer, and turkeys. The beaver is destroy- 
 ed by the first hunters who invade the forests ; 
 and the buffalo retreats into more remote solitudes, 
 almost on the first approach of white men. 
 
 The woods are principally composed of Quer- 
 cus, (Alba,) White Oak ; (Tinctoria,) Black 
 Oak; (Coccinea,) Red Oak ; (Primus acumina- 
 ta,) Chesnut Oak ; Platanus, (Occidentalis,) Syca- 
 more / Fagus, (Ferruginea,) Beech ; Acer, (Sac-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 97 
 
 charinum,) Maple, (sugar tree ;) Fraxinus, (Ame- 
 ricana,) Ash ; Juglans, (Nigra,) Walnut, (black j) 
 (Alba ovata,) Hickory ; Laurus, (Sassafras,) Sas- 
 safras ; Comas (Florida,) Dogwood ; Fagus, (Cas- 
 tanet,) Chesnut ; Liriodendron, (Falipifera,) Pop- 
 lar ; Ulmus, (Americana,) Slippery Elm ; (Molli- 
 folia,) White Elm ; Vitus, (Labrusea,) Fall Grape ; 
 (Serotina,) Winter Grape. 
 
 Amongst the shrubs, or underwood, the folio w- 
 ing may be noticed as prevalent : 
 
 Rhus, (Glabrum,) Sumach; Laurus, (Benzoin,) 
 Spicexvood ; Rubus, (Fructicosus,) Blackberry ; 
 (Hispidus,) Running do. ; Annona, (Glabra,) 
 JPapatv. 
 
 The prevalent strata are of slate clay, bituminous 
 shale, and sandstone. Coal is not known, and 
 probably has not been sought after. Rolled pieces 
 of the latter mineral, and of granite, gneiss, quartz, 
 and flint slate, are mixed with the sandy gravel ot 
 the streams. Dr. Drake has pointed out a situa- 
 tion in this State, where large detached masses of 
 granite lie over strata of secondary limestone ; and 
 has conjectured that they have been brought from 
 the primitive country north of the lakes, by the 
 agency of water passing from north to south. 
 This hypothesis is countenanced by the vast quan- 
 tities of alluvial soil which lie far above the level 
 of the present river, and by the almost total ab- 
 sence of primitive rocks, between the eastern side 
 of the Allegany ridge, and the sources of the Mis- 
 souri. The only exception known is the tract be- 
 tween Lakes Ontario and Champlain, — a field so 
 narrow that we cannot view it as the probable 
 source of fragments profusely scattered over the 
 States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. 
 
 In this part of Ohio State, first and second rate 
 lands sell at four or five dollars per acre. The 
 richest ground is in bottoms : the hilly has many 
 
 H
 
 98 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 parts not accessible to the plough. Buildings are 
 most commonly erected on rising grounds. Such 
 situations are believed to be most salubrious, and 
 abound most in good springs. 
 
 Farming establishments are small. Most culti- 
 vators do every thing for themselves, even to the 
 fabrication of their agricultural implements. Few 
 hire others permanently, it being difficult and ex- 
 pensive to keep labourers for any great length of 
 time. They are not servants, all are hired hands : 
 Females are averse to dairy, or menial employ, 
 ments. The daughters of the most numerous fa- 
 milies continue with their parents. There is on- 
 ly one way of removing them. This disposition is 
 said to prevail over almost the whole of the Unit- 
 ed States. A manufacturer at Philadelphia told 
 me, that he had no difficulty in finding females to 
 be employed in his work-shop ; but a girl for house- 
 work he could not procure for less than twice the 
 manufacturing wages. Some of the children of 
 the more necessitous families are bound out to la- 
 bour for other people. The Scotch family, recent- 
 ly mentioned, have a boy and a girl living with 
 them in this way. The indenture of the boy ex- 
 pires when he is twenty-one years of age ; that of 
 the girl at eighteen. They are clothed and edu- 
 cated at the expense of the employer. The boy, 
 at the expiry of his contract, is to have a horse and 
 saddle, of value at least 100 dollars; and the girl 
 at the end of her engagement, is to have a bedding 
 of clothes. It is said, that a law of the State of 
 Ohio, forbids females to live in the houses of un- 
 married men. 
 
 The utensils used in agriculture are not nume- 
 rous. The plough is short, clumsy, and not calcu- 
 lated to make either deep or neat furrows. Tile 
 harrow is triangular; and is yoked with one of its 
 angles forward, that it may be less apt to lake hold
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 99 
 
 of the stumps of trees in the way. Light articles 
 are carried on horseback, heavy ones by a coarse 
 sledge, by a cart, or by a waggon. The smaller 
 implements are the axe, the pick-axe, and the 
 cradle-scythe; by far the most commendable of 
 back wood apparatus. 
 
 The figure is descriptive of the cradle scythe. 
 AEGB is the shaft. In working, it is held by the 
 left hand with the thumb upward, near A ; while 
 the right hand holds the cross handle at H. BD 
 is a post, making an angle of about 78 degrees 
 with the straight line AB. Into this post the five 
 wooden ribs, or fingers, MN, OP, QR, ST, and 
 UV, are fixed. These are round pieces of tough 
 wood, of a curvature resembling that of the back 
 of the blade, as nearly as possible. They are up- 
 wards of half an inch in diameter ; and are point- 
 ed at the extremities MOQSU. FG is another 
 post, fixed in the shaft, parallel to BD, and about 
 seven inches distant from it. ED is a thin piece 
 of wood, let into the shaft at E, for retaining the 
 posts BD, FG, in their positions. IK is a small 
 round post that passes through the fingers at the 
 distance of ten inches from the post BD. This 
 small post passes through broad parts of the fingers, 
 which are left so for the sake of strength, and its 
 lower end stands on the blade at K. The blade is 
 such as is used in cutting hay ; but the point is 
 allowed to stand about nine inches farther out from 
 the handle than the grass scythe. At L is a small 
 iron bolt, rivetted into the blade, near its back ; the 
 top of this bolt passes through the lower finger, 
 and is furnished with a hand-screw, which holds 
 the finger down, so that its point shall remain with- 
 in about half an inch of the blade. The points of 
 the fingers MOQSU are in a straight line, but re- 
 cline backward, so that the upper finger is about 
 five inches shorter than the under one. Between 
 
 h 2
 
 100 
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 the posts IK, and FG, are five small connecting 
 stays of iron. Figure 2. is a separate plan of one 
 of the iron stays, shewing the manner in which it 
 is fixed to the upright bars or posts. AB is a part 
 of the finger; C the hole through which the small 
 post (IK of the former figure) passes ; and D is 
 the post FG of the former figure. EF is the iron 
 stay j it is about one-sixth of an inch in diameter; 
 and it is thin and crooked near the end E, where 
 it is fastened to the finger by two small nails. From 
 G to F the stay is a small screw. At K, is a fe- 
 male hand-screw that bears against D. At H, is 
 a nut, also bearing against the post D. By this 
 screw the finger is firmly kept in its proper place. 
 The fingers are five inches apart, measuring from the 
 centre of the one to that of the other. The shaft of 
 the scythe is five feet long, and the whole of the 
 parts are as light as is consistent with strength. 
 
 XT
 
 ■LETTERS FROM AMERICA, 101 
 
 November c 2%. About a mile distant from the 
 house where I lodged, the woods were on fire. It 
 was supposed that the conflagration had been be- 
 gun by some mischievous person, who had kindled 
 the dry leaves, now strewed over the ground. In 
 the evening, the glare of light extending along a 
 ridge for a mile and a half, was astonishingly grand, 
 Large decayed trees were converted into luminous 
 columns of fire ; when these fell the crashing 
 noise was heard within doors. Fires in the woods 
 usually excite alarm in their neighbourhood.— 
 People watch them by night, their rail fences and 
 wooden habitations being in danger. 
 
 Some parts of this neighbourhood were purchased 
 twelve or fourteen years ago. Their proximity to 
 Chillicothe was little regarded. The increased po- 
 pulation and trade of the town has now made 
 it the market of almost every disposable pro- 
 duct. The lands near that place are consequent- 
 ly much increased in value, and town lots sell at 
 high prices. 
 
 November 23. I again resumed my way for 
 Limestone. By the road side are many conical 
 mounds of earth, called Indian graves. About a 
 mile east of Bainbridge is a large camp. The 
 ditch is in every part visible. One side is inclosed 
 by a bend of Paint Creek, where the opposite bank 
 forms high and strong ground. I conjectured that 
 the fort contained nearly one hundred acres. It 
 is not understood that the aborigines have con- 
 structed any such works since Europeans became 
 acquainted with them. It is therefore a natural 
 inference, that the country must have been ante- 
 cedently inhabited by a more civilized and more 
 powerful people. 
 
 From Bainbridge to Middletown the land is hilly; 
 a small portion of it is cleared, and it is much less 
 
 h3
 
 102 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 fertile than the grounds by the river Sciota, and 
 Paint Creek. 
 
 November 24. The ground west of Middletown 
 is of clay, with a mixture of siliceous particles, and 
 the oxide of iron. Wheat is the most prevalent 
 crop. The health enjoyed on these high lands, is an 
 ample compensation for the lack of a few bushels. 
 Wheat sells at a dollar per bushel; Indian corn at 
 thirty- three one-third cents ; beef and pork at four 
 cents a-'pound ; labourer's wages, fifty cents j join- 
 ers, a dollar, with provisions. 
 
 95ih. At ten miles from Limestone, the soil is 
 good, but broken with irregularities of surface. 
 There was a little frost in the morning, but the 
 forenoon was warm. I observed several insects of 
 the genus Vanessa, (painted butterflies,) flying 
 about in full vigour. The autumn is said to be 
 fine, almost beyond former example. 
 
 Near the river Ohio the soil is light but much 
 broken on the surface by funnel-shaped hollows, 
 not unlike those where the sides of coal-pits have 
 fallen in. These inverted cones are evidently ex- 
 cavated by the infiltration of water, and indicate 
 that the strata abounds with large fissures or ca- 
 verns. 
 
 In travelling over the last forty miles, limestone 
 is the only stratified mineral that I have seen. It 
 lies in a position nearly horizontal, and is literally 
 conglomerated with organic remains. Amongst 
 these, the most remarkable is a species of terebra- 
 tula, which is very abundant, and varies from the 
 size of a walnut to that of a pin's head. In addi- 
 tion to the concentric striated character, so fre- 
 quent amongst bivalve shells, it has large radiated 
 grooves ; the grooves on one valve opposite to 
 ridges on the other. The superior margin is, of 
 course, a zig-zag line, resembling the base of po-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 103 
 
 lyhedral crystals, where the sides of one pyramid 
 are set on the angles of another. 
 
 For some days past I have found the expense of 
 travelling to be uniformly three shillings and ele- 
 venpence farthing per day. 
 
 Limestone, sometimes called Maysville, is a con- 
 siderable landing place on the Kentucky side of 
 the river Ohio. The houses stand above the level 
 of the highest floods. There is a rope-walk, a glass- 
 house, several stores and taverns, and a bank, in 
 the town. 
 
 On the 26th, T left Limestone by the road for 
 Lexington, which is sixty-four miles distant. The 
 roads, hitherto scorched by drought, were in a few 
 minutes rendered wet and muddy by a heavy show- 
 er of rain. The roads in this western country are 
 of the natural soil. 
 
 The high grounds every where seen from the ri- 
 ver, are called the river hills ; they are in reality 
 banks, the ground inland of them being high. To 
 the south of Limestone it is a rich table land, 
 diversified by gentle slopes and moderate emi- 
 nences. 
 
 At four miles from Limestone is Washington, 
 the seat of justice in Mason County. The town 
 is laid out on a large plan, but is not thriving. 
 
 May's Lick is a small village, twelve miles from 
 Limestone. A rich soil, and a fine undulated sur- 
 face, unite in forming a neighbourhood truly de- 
 lightful. The most florid descriptions of Ken- 
 tucky have never conveyed to my mind an idea of 
 a country naturally finer than this. 
 
 I lodged at a tavern twenty miles from Lime- 
 stone. Before reaching that place the night be- 
 came dark and the rain heavy. As the tops of the 
 trees overhung the road, I had no other indica- 
 tion than the miry feel of the track, to prevent 
 me from wandering into the woods.
 
 104 LETTERS FROM AMERICA* 
 
 November 2J. Crossed the river Licking in a 
 boat, at a small town called Bine Licks, from the 
 springs in its neighbourhood, from which great 
 quantities of salt were formerly procured. The 
 adjoining timber is exhausted, and the salt-works 
 are abandoned. 
 
 After coming to a flooded creek, where there was 
 neither bridge nor boat, I waited a few minutes 
 for the mail coach. The road is in several parts 
 no other than the rocky bed of the stream. It 
 also crosses the same creek four or five times. 
 After riding a few miles, I left the coach. There 
 is no great degree of comfort in travelling by this 
 vehicle ; stowed full of people, baggage, and letter 
 bags ; the jolting over stones, and through miry 
 holes, is excessively disagreeable : and the travel- 
 ler's head is sometimes knocked against the roof 
 with much violence. A large piece of leather is 
 let down over each side, to keep out the mud thrown 
 up by the wheels. The front was the only opening, 
 but as the driver and two other persons occupied it, 
 those behind them were almost in total darkness. 
 A peep at the country was not to be obtained. 
 
 Millersburg is a very small town, with several 
 large grist-mills and a bank. 
 
 To-day I have seen a number of young women on 
 horseback, with packages of wool, going to, or re- 
 turning from, the carding machine. At some of 
 the houses the loom stands under a small porch 
 by the door. Although Miss does not wear the 
 produce of her own hands, it is pleasant to see 
 such abundant evidence of family manufacture. 
 
 I lodged at Paris, the head town of Bourbon coun- 
 ty. A cotton-mill, and some grist-mills, are the 
 manufactories of the place. The population is con- 
 siderable. Several of the taverns are large, and, 
 like many of the others in the western country,
 
 LS FROM AMERICA, 105 
 
 have bells on the house-tops, which are rung at 
 meals. 
 
 A traveller has just returned from attending the 
 sales of public lands in the Missouri country. — - 
 They are exposed by auction, in quarter sections 
 of 160 acres each. A considerable part of them 
 sold at from three to six dollars per acre. Lots, not 
 sold at auction, may be subsequently bought at the 
 land-office for two dollars per acre, on paying half 
 a dollar in ready money, and the remainder within 
 five years. Land dealers are very vigilant in se- 
 curing for themselves great quantities of the best 
 land. It is not uncommon for reconnoitring par- 
 ties of them to lodge in the woods for a whole 
 week. By such means much of the best land, 
 mill-seats, and other local advantages, are with- 
 drawn from the market at the first public sales. 
 This gentleman describes the Missouri country 
 as one possessing a fine climate, and containing 
 many extensive prairies of a rich soil, but destitute 
 of timber and stone. The most advantageous pur- 
 chases are considered to be those on the edges of 
 prairies, with a part of the open land, and a part 
 of the woods. Many of the settlers that I have 
 seen by the river, and elsewhere, were on their 
 way for the Missouri territory. The Illinois coun- 
 try, according to the account given by this travel- 
 ler, is a very unhealthy one. He travelled twenty 
 days in that State, and on his return home, found 
 that many of the people were afflicted with bilious 
 fevers and agues. He affirmed that he had seen 
 more sick people during these twenty days than 
 during the whole of his preceding life in Kentuc- 
 ky. Other reports corroborate his statement, so 
 that there can be no doubt that the autumn has 
 been a sickly one in that low country.
 
 106 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 The best taverns in town charge higher than 
 those in the country, where accommodation is in- 
 ferior. At Paris I paid 62h cents (2s. 9|d. English) 
 for supper and lodgings. 
 
 In this western country there is a great diversity 
 of paper money. Small bills are in circulation of 
 a half, a fourth, an eighth, and even a sixteenth 
 part of a dollar. These small rags are not current 
 at a great distance from the places of their nativity. 
 A considerable proportion of the little specie to be 
 seen is of what is called cut money. — Dollars cut 
 into two, four, eight, or sixteen pieces. This prac- 
 tice prevents such money from being received in 
 banks, or sent out of the country in the character 
 of coin, and would be highly commendable w T ere it 
 not for the frauds committed by those who clip the 
 pieces in reserving a part of the metal for them- 
 selves. 
 
 November 28. To-day I have crossed several 
 flooded creeks : one by a tree which has accidentally 
 fallen across it, and one has a tree that has been 
 felled intentionally for a bridge ; one I crossed on 
 an accumulated heap of drift-wood ; and once by a 
 horse, where a farmer allows a Negro boy to de- 
 rive a perquisite from carrying over travellers. — 
 Goods are now carried from Limestone to Lexing- 
 ton for a dollar per hundred pounds weight. — 
 This is somewhat lower than the usual rate. Wag- 
 goners are occasionally interrupted by flooded 
 streams. 
 
 Between the river Ohio and Lexington, lime- 
 stone is the only rock which I have observed. Like 
 that noticed in Ohio State, it is crowded with orga- 
 nic remains. The variety of the surface, in this 
 part of the country, is pleasant. The eminences 
 are gentle swells rather than hills, and the inter- 
 vals between them are smooth, rich, and dry
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 107 
 
 ground. Marshy land is scarcely to be seen. — 
 These are convincing marks of the excellence of 
 the subsoil. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Lexington — Depreciated Paper Currency, and Fraudulent 
 Bankers — Excess of Paper Money destructive to Ame- 
 rican Manufactures — Aversion to Menial Service — Athe- 
 neum — Dirking, Gouging, Kicking, and Biting — Prices 
 of Live-stock — Provisions, Sj-c. — Slavery — Effects of 
 Slave-keeping on the White Population — Illiberal Re- 
 flections of British Tories against the Americans and 
 against Free Government — Leave Lexington — Descend 
 the Ohio to Cincinnati — Occurrences and Refections fa* 
 termixed. 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, 30th Dec. 1818. 
 
 Lexington, the county town of Fayette, was the 
 capital of the state of Kentucky, before the go- 
 vernment was transferred to Frankfort. It is situ- 
 ated in north latitude, 38° 8', and in west longi- 
 tude 80° 8'. The town is surrounded by a fertile 
 and pleasant neighbourhood, and is regularly built 
 of brick and frame houses. It has a university, 
 seven places of worship, (three Presbyterian, one 
 Episcopalian, one Baptist, one Methodist, and one 
 Roman Catholic. ) Three printing offices, where three 
 weekly newspapers are published; a branch of the 
 United States Bank, and two other banking houses;
 
 108 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 seven small cotton factories ; two paper-mills, two 
 woollen factories, five rope-walks, three grist-mills, 
 many mercantile bouses, and some good taverns- 
 The population is supposed to be about seven thou- 
 sand ; but the increase has been slow for several 
 years past. 
 
 There is here much trouble with paper money. 
 The notes current in one part, are either refused, 
 or taken at a large discount, in another. Banks 
 that were creditable a few days ago, have refused 
 to redeem their paper in specie, or in notes of 
 the United States' Bank. In Kentucky, there are 
 two branches of the United States' Bank ; thirteen 
 of the Kentucky bank, and a list of fifty indepen- 
 dent banks, some of which are not in operation. 
 In the state of Ohio, there are thirty chartered 
 banks, and a few others which have not obtained 
 that pernicious distinction. In Tennessee, the num- 
 ber of banks, including branches, is fourteen. The 
 total number of these establishments in the Unit- 
 ed States, could not, perhaps, be accurately stat- 
 ed on any given day. The enumeration, like the 
 census of population, might be affected by births 
 and deaths. The creation of this vast host of fa- 
 bricators, and venders of base money, must form a 
 memorable epoch in the history of the country. — 
 These craftsmen have greatly increased the mo- 
 ney capital of the nation ; and have, in a corres- 
 ponding degree, enhanced the nominal value of 
 property and labour. By lending, and otherwise 
 emitting, their engravings, they have contrived to 
 mortgage and buy much of the property of their 
 neighbours, and to appropriate to themselves the 
 labour of less moneyed citizens. Proceeding in 
 this manner, they cannot retain specie enough to 
 redeem their bills, admitting the gratuitous assump- 
 tion that they were once possessed of it. They
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 109 
 
 seem to have calculated that the whole of their pa- 
 per would not return on them in one day. Small 
 quantities, however, of it have, on various occa- 
 sions, been sufficient to cause them to suspend spe- 
 cie payments. 
 
 So long as a credulous public entertained full 
 confidence in the banks, bankers gave in exchange 
 for their paper, that of other banks, equally good 
 with their own. The same kind of exchanges are 
 still offered now, when the people are very suspi- 
 cious of the circumstances and intentions of mo- 
 ney manufacturers j and bankers console their cre- 
 ditors by professing to be as solvent as their neigh- 
 bouring institutions. The holder of the paper may 
 comply in the barter, or keep the notes, such as 
 they are ; but he finds it too late to be delivered from 
 the snare. The people committed the lapsus, 
 when they accepted of the gew-gaws clean from 
 the press. It is altogether surprising that the peo- 
 ple of this country have shut their eyes against the 
 strongest light of experience. If they had kept 
 sufficiently in recollection the vast issues, and the 
 ultimate depreciation of continental money du- 
 ring their revolutionary war, they might have ef- 
 fectually resisted the late influx of paper. But 
 the farmer, the mechanic, and the labourer, have 
 been, for a short time, pleased with what was, in 
 name, a greater price, or a greater hire. As every 
 necessary of life has been proportionally raised in 
 nominal value, they do not find that their comforts 
 or savings are substantially enlarged. They are in 
 reality diminished to the amount of the gains that 
 have arisen to the paper mint, and of the brokers 
 who deal in depreciated money. The immutable 
 maxim, that productive labour is the true source 
 of wealth, has been lost sight of, Designing men
 
 110 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 have availed themselves of that apathy, and the de- 
 luded multitude have been basely duped. 
 
 The baneful consequence of the paper system 
 are not confined to internal derangements here, 
 but are extended to every department of foreign 
 intercourse. The merchants and manufactur- 
 ers of other countries are enabled to sell their 
 goods, and the produce of their labour, nominally 
 cheaper than the Americans. Imports are increas- 
 ed, and a large balance of trade arises. This must 
 be paid in specie. Foreign capitalists, who en- 
 gage their funds in American speculations, must 
 also have the dividends, or profits on their stock, 
 paid in the precious metals. The grain raised 
 by the American farmer is sent abroad, but 
 the price is greatly reduced by expense and risk 
 incurred by a voyage, also by the profits of mer- 
 chants on both sides of the Atlantic. The cot- 
 ton and the wool are sent to Europe under simi- 
 lar disadvantages, and a repetition of them in 
 reconveying the manufactured goods to America. 
 A few facts will set this impolicy in a strong 
 light. Cotton, which now sells in the United States 
 for a few cents per pound, is, in certain cases, sent 
 to England, and returned to the wearer at nearly 
 as many dollars. A gentleman from Mount Ster- 
 ling, about thirty miles east of this place, told me 
 that a good coat of English manufacture, costs there 
 thirty-six dollars. Indian corn sells at twenty-five 
 cents per bushel. The farmer, then, who wears 
 such a coat, must pay a hundred and forty-four 
 bushels for it,— a quantity sufficient to be bread 
 for twelve men for a whole year. One pound of 
 good tea costs twelve bushels, — bread for one man 
 for a year. A chemical manufacturer, at Pittsburg, 
 buys saltpetre imported from India, cheaper than 
 he can procure the spontaneous product from the
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. Ill 
 
 caverns of* Kentucky. Although most of the me- 
 tallic and earthy substances, useful in manufacture, 
 are abundant in America, she imports jewellery, 
 cutlery, glass, crystal, earthen and porcelain wares. 
 By this means the republic discourages her own 
 artizans, and pays the taxes of foreign monarchies. 
 Under the present money system it is in vain that 
 nature has diffused her mineral resources over the 
 New World. In vain will the government impose 
 the highest restrictive duties on imported goods, 
 while every crop of flax augments the imaginary 
 money capital to a greater extent, and while there 
 is the smallest residuum of specie left in the coun- 
 try. It would be an interesting inquiry to find the 
 number and the names of legislators in the differ- 
 ent state assemblies, who are interested in bank- 
 ing concerns. The people would then see how 
 the power that grants chartered privileges to banks 
 is constituted. 
 
 Although the convulsion which agitates bankers 
 in the western country, is but of recent date, their 
 money is in various instances thirty per cent, un- 
 der par in the eastern States. Tavern keepers, 
 grocers, and others, receive the money of the banks 
 nearest to them, although they know that these 
 banks will not pay specie for them. They see that, 
 without the rags now in circulation, they could 
 have very little money. Every one is afraid of 
 bursting the bubble. How the country is to be 
 delivered from this dilemma, bankers have not yet 
 shewn. They are still strongly inclined to con- 
 tinue the traffic ; but they cannot be expected to 
 support organized establishments of directors, pre- 
 sidents, cashiers, clerks, offices, and empty coffers, 
 without committing farther spoliations on the peo- 
 ple. When the sick system dies, the public will see 
 the full amount of the penance they have to suffer
 
 
 112 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 for their credulity. A smaller, but a more sub- 
 stantial capital, will be resorted to, one better cal- 
 culated to " place the manufacturer beside the 
 farmer." 
 
 December 5. To-day a shower of rain fell, and 
 was followed by snow. The part that lies unmelt- 
 ed is about an inch thick. 
 
 Among the succession of people at the tavern, 
 many are polite and obliging in their behaviour. 
 Some are interesting in their conversation, and 
 some talk of horses and horse-racing. The latter 
 kind of discourse is mixed with swearing. 
 
 Lexington is still considered the capital of fa- 
 shion in Kentucky. There are here many genteel 
 families, a few of which keep coaches. The town, 
 on the whole, exhibits a well-dressed population. 
 The menials are nearly all slaves. Free blacks 
 detest every thing that they think resembling their 
 former condition. White people are still more 
 averse to live as hired people in families. Females, 
 however idle, and however great their difficulties 
 may be, remain with their parents, till removed by 
 that great change that all hope for. In many cases, 
 it is said that their repugnance to support them- 
 selves, by the earnings of hired labour, induces 
 them here, as in other places, to lead a life of pro- 
 fligacy and ruin. 
 
 December 9. For several days past the temper- 
 ature has remained steadily a few degrees below 
 the freezing point. This morning the snow disap- 
 peared, and through the day, the heat seemed to 
 be much greater than ever 1 felt at this season of 
 the year. 
 
 12. The Atheneum, or reading-room, is much fre- 
 quented. It is well furnished with newspapers, 
 and with the most distinguished perodicial publi- 
 cations ; scientific journals, army and navy lists of
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 113 
 
 Britain; Rees' Cyclopaedia, and some other books. 
 Attached to the institution is a small collection of 
 objects in Natural History ; and some articles of 
 the dress, arms, and tools of the Indian people. I 
 cannot omit mentioning some particulars : — A bowl 
 of unglazed earthen ware found along with a mum- 
 my in a cave in Tennessee. In shape it resembles 
 a modern cast iron pot; and is a specimen of ma- 
 nufacture superior to that executed in some of the 
 coarser works of the kind amongst civilized people : 
 an Indian register from the west of the Mississippi, 
 which is cut on a small piece of white marble. 
 The subject of it is a record of their wars. Those 
 of long duration, or of great extent, are represent- 
 ed by larger holes bored in the stone. Seven 
 great, and fourteen inferior wars, are indicated. 
 When the nation migrates, or when the tablet is 
 filled with spots, they enter the register on a black 
 stone, and part with the white one. The tribe 
 has now five black stones in keeping. The solidi- 
 ty and wax colour of the specimen rank it equal 
 with the famous Parian marble. 
 
 To-day I saw a young man buy a dirk. The num- 
 ber of these weapons exhibited in the jewellers' shops 
 show that a great sale of them must be expected. 
 The dirk has a pointed blade, four or five inches long, 
 with a small handle. It is worn within the vest, by 
 which it is completely concealed. The advocates 
 for private arms openly declare that they are for de- 
 fence, but the dissipated, the passionate, and the 
 freebooter, urge a similar pretext for carrying the 
 stilleto. Quarrels must be conducted in a danger- 
 ous form ; and murder must be made a prelude to 
 robbery, amongst a people who use concealed arms. 
 Spain exemplifies this truth — and it is from her co- 
 lonists probably that the southern and western 
 Americans have learned this pracice,
 
 114 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 Fights are characterized by the most savage fero- 
 city. Gouging, or putting out the antagonist's 
 eyes, by thrusting the thumbs into the sockets, is 
 a part of the modus operandi. An extension of the 
 optic nerve occasions great pain to the sufferer. 
 Kicking and biting are also ordinary means used 
 in combat; I have seen several fingers that had been 
 deformed, also several noses and ears, which have 
 been mutilated, by this canine mode of fighting. 
 
 December 13. To-day a crowd of people were 
 out witnessing the immersion of seven Baptists in 
 a pool near the town* Many of them have a gen- 
 teel and gay appearance ; a slight shade of the 
 ruddy complexion makes me suppose that the cli- 
 mate of this place is the best that I have known on 
 this side of the Atlantic. 
 
 Dec. 15. Last night a man took the Sheriff of Fay- 
 ette county aside, on pretence of business, and im- 
 mediately commenced an attack on him. The offi- 
 cer of the law drew a dirk, and wounded the as- 
 sailant. 
 
 I note down the prices of live stock, labour, 
 some of the necessaries of life, &c. 
 
 Price of a young male negro, arrived at Dollars. Cents. 
 
 puberty, .... 800 — 
 
 Hire of ditto per annum, with provisions 
 and clothes, . . . 100 to 150 — 
 
 Price of a young female ditto, . 600 
 
 Hire of ditto, per annum, with provisions 
 and clothes, . . . 120 — 
 
 Price of a work-horse, from . 100 to 120 
 
 Price of a fine saddle horse, . 200 to 300 
 
 Hire of a four horse team and driver, with- 
 out provisions, 
 
 Hire of a saddle horse per day, 
 
 Mechanics per day, with board, 
 
 Labourers per day, with board, 
 
 Wheat per bushel, 
 
 Rye, . . • . 
 
 Corn, (Maize) 
 
 4 — 
 1 — 
 
 f to 1 — 
 
 i to 75 
 
 1 to 75 
 
 50 
 
 37 i 
 
 ■j
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 115 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 Cents. 
 
 — 
 
 334- 
 
 — 
 
 33{ 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 5 to 6 
 
 — 
 
 4 to 5 
 
 — . 
 
 3 to 4 
 
 . to 1 
 
 __ 
 
 — 
 
 12i 
 
 — 
 
 12^ 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 — 
 
 IS 
 
 — 
 
 40 
 
 5 
 
 __ 
 
 8 
 
 __ 
 
 
 334 
 
 Oats, . .,-''-. 
 
 Potatoes, . 
 
 Flour per 100 lbs. 
 
 Beet* per pound, from 
 
 Pork, ditto, from 
 
 Mutton, ditto, from 
 
 Turkeys, from 50 cents 
 
 Hens and ducks, 
 
 Eggs per dozen, 
 
 Butter per lb. 
 
 Cheese, ditto, 
 
 Whisky per gallon, 
 
 Tobacco, per 100 lbs. 
 
 Hemp, 
 
 Wool, per lb. 
 
 The indolence and disorderly conduct of slaves, 
 together with their frequent elopements, occasion 
 much uneasiness to their holders. It is not uncom- 
 mon to hear the master, in ill humour, say that he 
 wishes there was not a slave in the country ; but 
 the man who is tenacious of this sort of stock, or 
 who purchases it at a high price, will always find 
 it difficult to convince other people, that his pre- 
 tensions to humanity towards slaves are in earnest. 
 Some say that the fault is with the British, who 
 first introduced them. Others reprobate the prac- 
 tice ; but affirm that, while the laws of the country 
 permit it, and while slaves must be somewhere, tve 
 may have them as well as our neighbours ; and there 
 are a few who vindicate both principle and practice, 
 by declaring, that the negro is a being of an inferior 
 species formed for servitude : and allege that slave- 
 keeping has the divine sanction, as in the case of 
 the Jews. 
 
 Negroes, even in America, are said to be more 
 prolific than the white variety of the species. They 
 do not delay marriage because they are not in pos- 
 session of lands, slaves, horses, and the other es- 
 sentials of their masters : nor does the support of 
 
 i 2 

 
 116 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 their progeny give them much concern ; the co- 
 loured children being held as the property of the 
 owner of the mother. By him they are reared 
 with more or less tenderness, or sold to another, as 
 he thinks fit. 
 
 The treatment of slaves is understood to be much 
 milder in Kentucky than in the south-easterly part of 
 the Union, where provisions are dearer, and blacks 
 sell at a lower price. At Lexington slaves are well 
 fed, and have a healthy appearance, and the greater 
 part of them are well clothed. Some of the abet- 
 tors of the system assert, that negroes are happier 
 here than the free poor of other countries j but 
 there are several circumstances which mav be 
 opposed to this position. The happy Kentuckian 
 slave lives under the danger of being cow-hided, 
 (a term signifying a whipping, with a stripe of 
 half tanned leather, which is twisted into the form 
 of a tapered switch of a very rigid texture,) for the 
 slightest real or imaginary offence. His evidence 
 is not received in court when he is opposed to a 
 white man. Thus he has not the protection of the 
 law, and less hope of bettering his condition. The 
 practice disregards the strongest ties of kindred 
 and of nature. The husband is torn from the 
 wife, and the child from the parent, to be sold into 
 an unhealthy region, where a more galling yoke 
 is imposed. He must not eat nor even converse 
 in the room where white men are, Every degrad- 
 ing mark is set upon him. While white men ran- 
 sack the Christian volume, that they may find 
 fit names to their children, heathenish appella- 
 tions, such as Pompey, Nero, &c. usually given to 
 dogs, are bestowed on the coloured infant. The 
 ordinary names of dogs and horses, the days of 
 the week, and the months of the year, seem now 
 exhausted in the negro nomenclature.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 117 
 
 It does not require a high degree of philanthropic 
 feeling to regret the numerous obstacles which op- 
 pose their amelioration. The governments of new 
 territories are allowing vast tracts of country to be- 
 come markets ; and the older slave-keeping states 
 are converted into nurseries, from which multitudes 
 of slaves are procured. If this course of policy is 
 persisted in, the humane exertions of individuals, 
 and the benevolent associations in Britain, and else- 
 where, cannotcounteract the growing abuse. Eman- 
 cipation can scarcely be contemplated, where its 
 objects are multiplied with such rapidity. Amal- 
 gamation with the whites, extermination, or ulti- 
 mate preponderance, present themselves to the 
 penetrating mind. 
 
 The baneful effects of slave-keeping are not con- 
 fined to negroes, but are widely diffused amongst 
 white people. The necessity of personal labour 
 being removed from the master, he either indulges 
 in idleness, or spends his time in amusements that 
 are incompatible with industrious habits. His 
 progeny, seeing that every sort of useful labour is 
 performed by the slaves, whom they are taught to 
 regard as an inferior class of beings, naturally con- 
 ceive that the cultivation of the earth is a pursuit 
 too degrading for white men. Where such early 
 impressions are entertained, we need not be sur- 
 prised with the multitudes of idlers, hunters, 
 horse-racers, gamesters and dissipated persons, that 
 are here so prevalent. Were it not for the immacu- 
 late purity of the female constitution, the most in- 
 valuable half of the human character would be 
 rendered susceptible of receiving a tinge. For- 
 tunately for white Miss, she is able to turn to her 
 own advantage the apparently adverse circum- 
 stances under which she is placed. The sable do- 
 mestics with whom she is constant! v surrounded, and 
 
 i 3
 
 118 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 who obey her every nod, serve as a foil, or back- 
 ground, which, by drawing a contrast, greatly en- 
 hances her charms. The female slaves perform- 
 ing every menial and almost every household ser- 
 vice, she has on this account much leisure for 
 the decoration of her person. She is also at her 
 ease, and acquires all the tenderness of frame which 
 forms the delicate lady. Here also, as in some other 
 places, the society of the two sexes is strictly regu- 
 lated. Private interviews are guarded against with 
 the most jealous care. The suitor must announce 
 the object of his first visit, and the courtship must 
 proceed under the eye of a parent, or of some 
 other confidential person. In this happy seclusion 
 from the scandalous affairs of the world, it is only 
 through the medium of a female negro secretary 
 that evasions can be conveniently practised when 
 sentiment prevails over prudence. Married ladies 
 also are relieved from the drudgery of giving suck 
 to their own children. It sometimes happens that 
 the infant boy entertains a stronger affection for 
 his black nurse than for his white mother; and 
 that his affection for the sooty hue may not be 
 altogether effaced in maturer life. If the feeling 
 is not directly conducive to the happiness of slaves, 
 it has, at least, a tendency to abate prejudices aris- 
 ing from their colour. 
 
 How far parental prerogative applies to inter- 
 course between young people of different colours, 
 I am not prepared to say j but the great numbers 
 of mulattoes to be seen furnish sufficient evi- 
 dence to preclude all indiscreet inquiry on this 
 very delicate point. One striking fact is not to 
 be omitted. An instance of a semi-coloured per- 
 son whose origin is derived from a white mother, 
 is exceedingly rare.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 119 
 
 You have frequently heard the adherents of an 
 illiberal faction pouring out a copious torrent of 
 invective against the American people, and their 
 democratic form of government, on account of 
 slave-keeping. Such declamation must proceed 
 from ignorance of the history of this country, or 
 from a degree of malignity, ill calculated to pro- 
 mote the national character of Britain, or the re- 
 putation of the system they adore. It is for 
 these people to be told a few facts, or to keep 
 them in recollection, if they knew them previously. 
 Thirteen North American provinces were once 
 British colonies, principally settled by a British 
 people. These colonies, like others subject to the 
 same parent country, were, at an early period, the 
 resort of English slave traders, who introduced a 
 large proportion of African captives amongst the 
 white population. The colonists soon became sen- 
 sible of the moral evil, or of the future consequen- 
 ces to be derived from the cupidity of the inhu- 
 man sellers, and the indolence of unprincipled 
 buyers amongst themselves. So early as the year 
 1703, the colony of Massachusetts (only seventy- 
 four years after its first settlement, and probably 
 a much shorter time after the first introduction of 
 slaves) imposed a tax to prevent further importa- 
 tions. The same settlement made attempts to pre- 
 vent the import altogether in 1767 and 1774. Pre- 
 vious to the year 1772, no less than twenty-three 
 acts were passed by the legislature of Virginia, for 
 applying taxes to the trade, with a view to its re- 
 striction. In 1772, Virginia petitioned the throne 
 on the same subject ; but obtained no redress. Se- 
 veral other colonies made remonstrances at differ- 
 ent times ; but were repressed by the opposition of 
 British Governors. In these days the grand dis- 
 covery that taxation and representation ought to
 
 K I-ETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 be inseparable, was first liscussed between gover- 
 iwrs and the governed. A doctrine so appallic r 
 privileged orders was not to be adopted me: 
 because it was sanctioned by reason. ar, the 
 last reasoning ofTory ministration, was resor e 
 — a war which terminated in the best soldiers of the 
 old world throwing down their arms before the 
 husbandmen of the new. The Americans, no long- 
 er the vassals of England, were at liberty to pursue 
 an independent course of policy. The subject of 
 negro slavery engaged their attention at an early 
 period ; but, unhappily for the new government, 
 their territory was overspread with an unfortunate 
 race, who, by education, habits, and resentment of 
 former injuries, were the enemies rather than the 
 members of the social compact. In this state of 
 afiairs, an immediate emancipation would have tole- 
 rated a free communication of hostile feelings 
 people whose antipathies were as uni- 
 ek colour. Inl7S0, the State of Penn- 
 thoogh then occupied in the struggle 
 .deuce, ::-• : :.-. . :: ::. ;:ci. :.. "".:.:'. .-■ 
 aequently the whole country, north 
 of Virginia, consisting' of eight States, has either 
 i~zZ'.zi the ::::. zx~.. :.::.::. .: s..ve:v. or :::«-:: 
 the very near prospec I :: In 17S7, a law was 
 
 pircd, prohibiting slave-keeping in the vast tract 
 of country north of the Ohio, and east ■:: the Mav 
 these means the Unite.. v :^:es have, 
 I years, almost produced a total L 
 roes, over half their jurisdiction, — 
 stly more rapid than England made 
 iction of a "n'milar system of release, 
 in her dependencies. It is unnecessary to enter 
 hen on the spirit and tendency of British domina- 
 tion in every quarter of the globe. Ii ntrast 
 between the policy of the governments 01 the Unit- 
 
 "• ■ e r s 2 *. ss : 
 
 ■ — • ; ; • *~ B 
 
 ? ■ ; 
 

 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 121 
 
 ed States and England is not sufficient to restrain 
 antijacobin tongues within the bounds of decorum, 
 the common interest of their faction may, perhaps, 
 be a stronger inducement to silence, as the subject 
 affords a most striking example of popular repre- 
 sentation operating as a most admirable corrective 
 of an abuse that has grown up under the fostering 
 care of aristocracy. 
 
 December 19. The inauguration of the professors 
 of the university of Lexington occasioned much 
 stir to-day. They paraded the streets accompani- 
 ed by music, the students, and a numerous assem- 
 blage of the people. I witnessed a similar proces- 
 sion at New York ; and am told that this practice 
 is usual at the commencement of college sessions 
 in America. 
 
 Another musical practice gained ground here 
 some time ago. A newly married couple procur- 
 ed a band of instrumental musicians to play before 
 their house on the evening of their marriage day. 
 In a late instance a great number of boys procur- 
 ed small conical tubes of tinned iron, and joined 
 in the concert, by blowing vehemently. The dis- 
 concerted performers were overpowered by a more 
 intense sound, and desisted. No fair bride of Lex- 
 ington has been since greeted by a serenade. This 
 is one of the few instances where the manners of 
 this country are not to be traced to British origin; 
 but seem to be formed on the model of the true 
 Castilians. 
 
 December 24. Left Lexington. On this occa- 
 sion I was the only passenger in the mail coach. 
 Clear frosty weather allowed the sides of the car- 
 riage to be kept open, so that I enjoyed a view of 
 the country. The expedition in travelling is great, 
 considering the badness of the roads. The land 
 that was beautifully verdant a short time ago, is
 
 122 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 now withered by the cold. No green herbage is 
 to be seen. 
 
 A part of the country by Licking River is hilly, 
 poor, and almost covered over with detached pieces 
 of limestone. The clearing of this land waits for 
 a more dense population than the present. In the 
 spots where the woods are cut down, crops of In- 
 dian corn are repeated without intermission. Eco- 
 nomical agriculture has no place here. The rude 
 implements are left to rot in the field ; and the 
 scythe allowed to hang on a tree from one season 
 to another. 
 
 December 25. The coach stopped at Washington, 
 from seven o'clock, last night, till three this morning. 
 It overset on my way hither, and though I received 
 no injury, I resolved upon going no further with 
 that vehicle in the dark, and over such bad roads. 
 About five o'clock I was awakened by the firing of 
 guns and pistols, in celebration of Christmas day. 
 I heard no one speak of the nature of the event 
 that they were commemorating. So universal was 
 the mirth and conviviality of the people, that I 
 could not procure a person to carry my portman- 
 teau to Limestone. It remained for me to stop 
 all day at Washington, or sling my baggage over 
 my own shoulders. I preferred the latter alterna- 
 tive, and proceeded on my way. 
 
 At Limestone, negroes and boys continued their 
 firing till late in the afternoon. — Every sort of la- 
 bour without doors was suspended. 
 
 A watermark on the beach showed that the 
 Ohio had lately risen to the height of fourteen or 
 fifteen feet. It had now subsided to half that quan- 
 tity, and had more than a third part of its surface 
 covered with ice, in brisk motion downwards. 
 
 December 26. Two large family boats (tied end 
 to end) were about to leave Limestone for Cincin-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. l l 23 
 
 nati. I agreed to go with them, and moved off in 
 the afternoon. Sailing amongst moving ice is not 
 attended with much danger, except at the com- 
 mencement of the flood, when the accumulation is 
 sometimes very great. In other cases the boat ac- 
 quires nearly the same velocity with the ice. 
 
 The two boats contained upwards of forty New 
 Englanders. Their activity in this (to them) new 
 way of travelling, shewed a considerable degree of 
 enterprise and ingenuity. 
 
 In the evening w T e moored by the margin of 
 the river. In this situation the craft were expos- 
 ed to collision with the moving ice. The men were 
 sagacious enough to know, that lying ashore was 
 more unsafe than keeping in motion, but gene- 
 rously yielded to the mistaken timidity of tne fe- 
 males, who were much averse to sailing in the 
 night. 
 
 December 2J. The ice continued to float down- 
 ward, and surrounded us so much, that we could 
 derive but little facility from rowing. Passed Au- 
 gusta, a neat village on the Kentucky side of the 
 river. Its court house denotes that it is a county 
 town. 
 
 December 29. This morning the frost was in- 
 tense. A wild duck, frozen to a large mass of 
 ice floated past our mooring. A young man, who 
 accompanied me in a canoe in pursuit of it, had 
 one of his hands wet; the part was slightly frost- 
 bit. 
 
 New Richmond is a thriving town, on the north 
 bank of the river. It consists of about a hundred 
 houses. Four years ago there was not a house. 
 
 We have seen some farming on the sides of the 
 hills, near the river, that is performed in a most 
 slovenly manner. Indian corn is the only crop, and 
 is repeated continually. No part of the manure 
 
 1
 
 124< LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 is returned to the fields. The houses are rude log 
 cabins, built as near the river as is consistent with 
 security from the floods. Their children are dirty 
 and ragged in the extreme. The comforts of these 
 people must consist chiefly in having enougli to 
 eat and drink, and in having no fear of the exac- 
 tions of the landholder, the tytheholder, or the 
 collector of taxes. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Cincinnati — Situation — Manufactures — Settlement and 
 Progress — Weather — Credulity and Want of Education 
 — Descend the Ohio — Islands — Jejfersonville — Louisville 
 — Falls qf the Ohio — Taverns and Accommodation — Ex- 
 pedition Jbr Exploring- the Missouri Country and Form- 
 ing a Military Post there — Miscellaneous Observations 
 interspersed. 
 
 Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) 
 May 19, 1819- 
 
 1 concluded my last letter, dated Cincinnati, 30th 
 December last, without taking any notice of the 
 town ; I shall therefore begin the present one 
 with some particulars respecting that place. 
 
 Cincinnati is no sooner seen than the importance 
 of the town is perceived. A large steam grist 
 mill, three large steam boats on the stocks, and 
 two more on the Kentucky side of the river, and 
 a large ferry boat, wrought by horses, were the 
 first objects which attracted my attention. The
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 125 
 
 beach is lined with keel boats, large arks for car- 
 rying produce, family boats, and rafts of timber. 
 On shore the utmost bustle prevails, with drays 
 carrying imported goods, salt, iron, and timber, up 
 to the town, and in bringing down pork, flour, &c. 
 to be put aboard of boats for New Orleans. 
 
 The town is situated in north latitude 39° 5' 54", 
 and in west longitude 85° 44', according to the de- 
 termination of Mr. Ellicott. The distance from 
 Pittsburg is 305 miles by land, and 513^ miles by 
 the windings of the river. The streets are laid 
 out in a rectangular form, and are enlivened by 
 drays, waggons, and an active people. The 
 houses are nearly all of brick and timber : about 
 two hundred new ones have been built in the course 
 of the year. Merchants' shops are numerous, 
 and well frequented. The noise of wheel carriages 
 in the streets, and of the carpenter, the blacksmith, 
 and the cooper, make a busy din. Such an active 
 scene I never expected to see amongst the back 
 woods of America. 
 
 The manufactories of this new place are more 
 diversified than extensive. An iron foundery, two 
 breweries, several distilleries, a woollen manufac- 
 tory, a cotton-mill, an oil-mill, a grist-mill, a nail- 
 cutting machine, a tan-work, a glass-house, and a 
 white-lead factory, seem to be the principal ones. 
 But the more numerous part of the artizans are 
 joiners, bricklayers, blacksmiths, plasterers, shoe- 
 makers, tailors, hatters, bakers, tobacconists, cabi- 
 net-makers, saddlers, &c. &c. Journeymen mechanics 
 earn from one andthree-fourthstotwodollarsper day. 
 Their board costs about three dollars per week. 
 Most of them dress well on the days they are not 
 at work, and some of them keep horses. 
 
 In the end of December, 1788, or beginning of 
 January, 1789, Cincinnati was first founded by about
 
 126 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 twenty persons. For some time the place was oc- 
 cupied more in the manner of a fort than of a town, 
 the neighbouring country being in the possession 
 of hostile Indians, who, on different occasions, kill- 
 ed several of the settlers. In 1790, a governor, 
 and the judges of a supreme court, for the territo- 
 ry, arrived. In 1792, the first school and the first 
 church were built. In 1799 the legislative autho- 
 rity of the governor was succeeded by that of an 
 assembly. In 1803, the State government of Ohio 
 was instituted. In 1806, the government was re- 
 moved from Cincinnati to Chillicothe. In 1800, 
 the town contained seven hundred and fifty peo- 
 ple, and in 1805, only nine hundred and sixty. It 
 was subsequently to the last date that Cincinnati 
 showed indications of outgrowing a village and be- 
 coming a town. Within three-and-a-half years 
 past, the population is supposed to have been dou- 
 bled, and the amount is now believed to be nearly 
 ten thousand. 
 
 January ], 1819. To-day the boys of the town 
 made a great noise by firing guns and pistols. They 
 commenced last night about dusk. During the 
 night I heard much noise of fighting and swearing 
 amongst adult persons. 
 
 January 3. (Sunday.) Works of necessity form 
 a numerous class here. To-day boats were load- 
 ing pork, and drays carrying it down to the river. 
 
 January 8. To-day the river was almost cover- 
 ed with ice floating downward. Many large pieces 
 adhering together form boards of one or two acres 
 in extent. The pieces of hemlock tree intermix- 
 ed make it plain that these masses of ice are from 
 the Allegany river. 
 
 Januarij 10. (Sunday.) Dealers in pork were 
 (in one instance) busy cutting up and salting. I
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 127 
 
 saw some young men in a small boat examining 
 the driftwood on the river ; when pine logs came 
 within their reach they dragged them ashore. 
 Others were intercepting timber of every descrip- 
 tion, for fuel. 
 
 January 11. The weather frequently changes 
 from frosty to humid. Yesterday, at two P.M. the 
 thermometer stood at 7^° in sunshine. The hot- 
 test day since the ninth of December. To-day the 
 temperature was 54° in the shade. 
 
 Jan. 13. At seven o'clock in the morning, the ther- 
 mometer indicated 21°. By mid-day, the sun's rays 
 softened the mud in the streets. The people say 
 that the winter has hitherto been milder than 
 usual, and some infer that we will have no severe 
 cold during the season. Last winter the ther- 
 mometer was once observed to stand so low as 
 10° below zero. The greatest cold from 1787 to 
 1806 was minus 18°. The most intense frosts of 
 this country have the effect of congealing the mois- 
 ture in forest trees, and splitting them with a loud 
 noise. Notwithstanding the moderation of the 
 present season, the grasses and weeds on the ground 
 are withered to whiteness. In the woods no ever- 
 green plants are to be seen, except the tufts of 
 misletoe, which are perched on the branches of the 
 tallest trees. 
 
 Examples of credulity are not rare. Yesterday 
 a woman was deriving liberal emolument in town 
 from fortune-telling, and from her supposed sa- 
 i gacity in knowing every thing respecting stolen 
 goods. She also pretended to have the faculty of 
 discovering springs of water and metallic ores, by 
 means of the divining rod. Her speaking in the 
 German language led me to suppose that she is 
 
 descended from that part of Europe, where Rhab-
 
 s 
 
 128 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 domancy * is prevalent. Almanack predictions of 
 the weather are works of reference. I have seen 
 several family registers of marriages, and the births 
 of children, in which the sign of the zodiac in 
 which the sun was, at the time of the particular 
 events, is recorded. The positions are believed 
 to have propitious or baneful influence on the fate 
 of the individual. In some parts of the Union, what 
 are called snake-stones are relied on as certain 
 cures for the bite of the reptile, and of mad dogs, 
 in opposition to the remonstrances of medical men. 
 Such articles of belief having gained ground, a 
 suspicion arises that the culture of the mind is 
 much neglected, but unfortunately the position is 
 established by more direct evidence. During my 
 very short stay in this place, I have seen persons 
 applying to others to read the addresses on pack- 
 ages of goods, or letters, and the sign-boards of 
 merchants. A newspaper, in bewailing the want 
 of schools, feelingly observed, that " the Ohian is 
 in many cases growing up to manhood, with 
 scarcely any other intelligence than that derived 
 from the feeble light of nature, t" Books are 
 scarce. I have seen a biography of General Wash- 
 ington ; some notices of the military and naval 
 characters of America ; a history of the war ; the 
 Pittsburg Navigator ; and some small almanacks 
 more frequently than any others. The advertise- 
 ments of booksellers indicate that they deal in ro- 
 mance. Many of the people are not in possession 
 of a copy of the Apocrypha ; of course such Jew- 
 ish stories as the Idol Bel, or Susanna and the el- 
 ders, are not often made the topics of conversation. 
 
 * i. e. Divination by the wand. This science may be fashionable, 
 but unquestionably it must be a novelty, as the occult sciences, 
 particularly that of divination, can only exist with the vulgar, 
 t Portsmouth Gazetteer, No. 4.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 129 
 
 January 14. To-day I met with one of the pas- 
 sengers who came over with me in the ship Glen- 
 thorn. He has settled with his family about twen- 
 ty-five miles from this place, having bought an hun- 
 dred and seventy acres of land, fifty acres of which 
 are cleared and fenced. There is a house, two 
 barns, and a young orchard on the property. For 
 the whole he paid seventeen hundred and twenty- 
 five dollars, and can rent it out at twelve and a 
 half per cent, on the price. He said that he medi- 
 tates making another purchase, and that he does 
 not regret having left his native country. 
 
 Since my arrival, I have seen an old acquaintance, 
 who emigrated upwards of two years ago. He 
 bought an excellent farm, which was well cultivated, 
 in the State of Ohio, and paid two-thirds of the price 
 in ready money. The money with which he ought 
 to have paid the remaining part of the price, he im- 
 prudently lent to some neighbours, who never repaid 
 him. The ultimate instalment was soon demanded, 
 which, being unable to pay, he was obliged to sell 
 the land. At this stage of the business, he found 
 that he had originally agreed to pay for the farm 
 twice its value, and was forced to leave it, after 
 having lost nearly all his money. 
 
 Two large steam-boats from Pittsburg, put in 
 here on their way for New Orleans. One of them 
 had been forty-eight hours, and the other forty- 
 six hours and fifty minutes, in descending the ri- 
 ver. The distance, as formerly stated, is 513i miles. 
 
 The launching of a large steam-boat attracted 
 a great assemblage of spectators. A careful obser- 
 vation of their countenances convinced me, that 
 the complexion is more pale here than at Lexing- 
 ton. The difference is sufficiently striking to in- 
 duce a belief that there is a considerable disparity 
 in the climate of the two places. 
 
 K
 
 130 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 Last week the weather was partly wet, and part- 
 ly clear, the temperature was usually about 50°. 
 " Jan. 28. This has been a warm day, the tempe- 
 rature 52° in the shade, the thermometer, exposed 
 to sunshine, stood at 88°. The sky was clear, with- 
 out a single cloud. I have never seen in this 
 country figured icicles on the insides of windows 
 during frosty weather. This is a clear proof of 
 the dryness of the climate. 
 
 31. I have some pleasure in stating my convic- 
 tion, that honesty, benevolence, and some other 
 Christian virtues, are not singularities in this 
 town. Several congregations that I have attended, 
 behave with the attention and gravity which becomes 
 the worship. It was easy to recognise many per- 
 sons, who go to church three times on the same day. 
 A preacher here of the Cameronian sect, is a man 
 of talent and information. His diligence is no less 
 conspicuous than his abilities. In addition to 
 preaching three times on Sundays, he gives sermons 
 in private houses on other evenings of the week. 
 
 February 4. This evening there were several 
 heavy showers of rain, accompanied with more 
 thunder than the residents have ever heard at the 
 same season of the year. For a week past, we 
 have had no bright sunshine -, but westerly winds, 
 and a temperature of 60° has been almost uni- 
 form. 
 
 With candour towards the American name, I 
 must state, that much of the credulity recently 
 hinted at, appears to be chargeable on peo- 
 ple from Germany and Ireland, and their de- 
 scendants. Methodists are also said to be true be- 
 lievers. It is at least certain, that the journal of 
 their great apostle, Lorenzo Dow, is replete with 
 paragraphs not dictated by the strictest accu- 
 racy.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 131 
 
 February 7. To-day I left Cincinnati, on my way 
 for JefFersonville, at the falls of the Ohio. The boat 
 in which I proceeded is a flat ark, loaded with flour 
 and pork, for New Orleans. There are five such 
 boats in company, all belonging to the same own- 
 er, who accompanies them. The wind has been 
 south-westerly, and the thermometer, exposed to 
 the sunshine, (which is but dim) stood at 60°. The 
 warm weather, of late, has been uniformly attend- 
 ed by wind blowing up the river, importing, as it 
 were, the air of a more southern latitude. 
 
 The flower buds of the water-maple, the elm, 
 and the leaves of the weeping willow, are burst out, 
 and the grass has become green. Dr. Drake, the des- 
 criber of this western country, has stated the usual 
 time of the flowering of the water-maple at a month 
 later. It is to be feared that this early vegeta- 
 tion will be checked by subsequent frosts. Fruit 
 trees, in that event, may be rendered unproduc- 
 tive for the ensuing season. 
 
 We put ashore, at night, twenty-three miles from 
 Cincinnati. Gusts of wind, and a dark, cloud- 
 ed atmosphere, dissuaded us against sailing dur- 
 ino" the night. Much rain and loud thunder en- 
 sued. 
 
 8. The boatmen are not obliged to row in 
 the present moderately high stage of the water. 
 It is sufficient to make a few pulls occasional- 
 ly to keep off the shore. Two boats are tied 
 alongside of each other, and put about with the 
 broadside to the stream. They float at the rate of 
 nearly four miles per hour. 
 
 9. Last night at dusk, we passed the Swiss 
 settlement Vevay, which lies on the Indiana side 
 of the river. These people are said to be indus- 
 trious cultivators of the ground. Wine is their sta- 
 le 2
 
 132 LETTERS FROM AMERICA, 
 
 pie product. It is procured from a round black 
 grape, nearly the size of a musket ball. The li- 
 quor is often of an acid taste, and apt to undergo 
 the acetous fermentation in keeping. We conti- 
 nued our course all night. The owner and I slept 
 in the boat by a fire, where we had scarcely room 
 enough to stretch ourselves. In all other respects 
 this is a pleasant way of travelling. The river, in 
 most parts which we have lately seen, appears to be 
 from five hundred to six hundred yards broad, 
 environed with rich bottoms, and beyond these 
 high limestone ridges. From the tops of these to 
 the water's edge, the surface is covered with stu- 
 pendous woods, with cleared farms at intervals, 
 A few of the houses seem to be externally neat, 
 but the majority of them are log cabins. The 
 north side of the river is more thickly settled than 
 the south side, where a negro population is to be 
 seen along the banks. 
 
 In the afternoon we heard a remarkable sound 
 issuing from a swamp near the river. I was told 
 that it was the croaking of frogs. There must 
 have been myriads of them in the place, as the 
 noise was incessant, like that of wind amongst trees, 
 or the fall of water over a distant cascade. 
 
 A contrary wind forced us to run ashore at a part 
 where the limestone ridge is within thirty yards 
 of the beach. The rock is of the siliceous kind, 
 and the narrow bottom is strewed with large 
 blocks that have tumbled from the steep. In the 
 evening there was much rain and thunder, the 
 wind continuing contrary and violent. 
 
 10. Early in the morning we heard the howling 
 of wolves in the woods. Scarcely a single patch 
 of cleared ground is to be seen for several miles. 
 
 Louisville is situated at the south-western ex-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 133 
 
 tremity of a stretch of the river that passes in a 
 straight line for six miles, so that the town termi- 
 nates a beautiful water prospect. The river is here 
 half a mile in breadth. 
 
 The towns passed on the Kentucky side of the 
 river, are, Port- William, and West- Port. Those 
 on the Indiana side, are, Laurenceburg, the 
 Rising Sun, Vevay, and Madison, all places of re- 
 cent erection, and thriving. 
 
 The Pittsburg Navigator enumerates sixty is- 
 lands in Ohio above the falls. They are so uni- 
 form in their character, that a description of one 
 of them will give a general idea of all the rest. 
 The upper end is broad, and intercepts part of the 
 gravel that is moved downward during floods, 
 forming a wide bar which acts as a partial dam that 
 divides the stream into two parts, deflecting each 
 of them toward the shores of the mainland, as re- 
 presented by the figure. 
 
 
 
 
 The two currents are then deflected from the 
 shores toward the island, which is thereby cur- 
 tailed in its lower parts, and at its extremity con- 
 tracted almost to a point. The two currents unite 
 below, and form a deep channel. At the head 
 of the island the water is shallow. The largest 
 and oldest timber stands on the lower end, and 
 
 k3
 
 134 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 younger plants of willow, sycamore, &c. on the 
 upper end of the island. It is farther to be no- 
 ticed, that the trees on islands, although of rapid 
 growth, are by no means so large as those on the 
 adjoining banks and bottom lands. The alluvial 
 process deposits gravel at the head. Over this, 
 sand is precipitated ; and lastly, a superstratum 
 of mud and driftwood is deposited, forming a 
 rich soil for the growth of timber. These facts, 
 taken in connection, show that additions are con- 
 tinually making at the head, and that the converg- 
 ing streams are simultaneously carrying off the low- 
 er end of the island. 
 
 In most instances, these are not the islands dis- 
 covered by the first white men who explored the 
 Ohio. Nor are they those that will be known by 
 the same names, thirty, forty, or fifty years hence. 
 Their being gradually exchanged for others far- 
 ther upward, produces an effect similar to what 
 would be occasioned by the same islands moving 
 against the stream, in their progress forcing the 
 current against the shores, and thereby preserving 
 a capacious bed for the river. 
 
 From Cincinnati downward, the ridges which 
 bound the valley of the river on both sides are more 
 broken, and divided into distinct hills, and are, of 
 course, more diversified and pleasant than the 
 unvaried ledges farther up. The traveller, not- 
 withstanding, is apt to feel tired of the insipi- 
 dity of the scenery. The same woods obstruct 
 his view, or the same rude style of improvement 
 meets his eye everywhere. 
 
 I landed at Jeffersonville, a small town on the 
 Indiana side of the river. It stands on a high 
 bank, and has the most pleasant situation of any 
 town that I have seen on the banks of the river.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 135 
 
 February 12. Visited Louisville, the town, next 
 to Lexington, the largest in Kentucky. The po- 
 pulation probably amounts to about 3000 persons. 
 The falls immediately below the town being navi- 
 gable for large craft only during times of high wa- 
 ter, Louisville derives great advantage from the 
 carrying trade. 
 
 13. Went over the rapids. The fall is said to 
 be twenty-two feet and a half in less than two miles. 
 Nearly the whole of the declivity is distributed in- 
 to three shoots or rapids, where the stream is very 
 swift, occasioning breakers amongst the rocks. Ex- 
 cept in times of very high water, boats are con- 
 ducted downward by pilots who are well acquaint- 
 ed with the falls. The temperature of this morn- 
 ing was 26i°. 
 
 17. Last night a gentleman from Carolina 
 lodged in the tavern here. After a hired man 
 had given him slippers, and asked him for his 
 boots to be blacked, he exclaimed, " As I wish to 
 see my Maker, I would not live in a free state, 
 where one white man cleans the boots of another." 
 
 A small degree of aversion to frivolous detail 
 does not prevent me from describing a back-woods 
 tavern. Like its owner, it commonly makes a 
 conspicuous figure in its neighbourhood. It is a 
 log, a frame, or a brick house, frequently with a 
 wooden piazza in front. From the top of a 
 tall post, the sign-board is suspended. On it, a 
 Washington, a Montgomery, a Wayne, a Pike, or 
 a Jackson, is usually pourtrayed, in a style that 
 might not be easily deciphered except for the 
 name attached. On the top of the house is a 
 small bell, which is twice rung before meals. Imme- 
 diately after the second peal, travellers and board- 
 ers assemble round the table, where they com- 
 mence eating without preface. In such promiscu-
 
 IS6 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 ous parties, the governor of a state, or a general of 
 the militia, may be seen side by side with the wag- 
 goner. The larger towns having taverns of dif- 
 ferent qualities, and different rates of charges, a 
 distinction of company is the natural consequence. 
 We breakfast and sup on coffee or tea, accompa- 
 nied with plenty of beef, bacon, chickens, and 
 eggs. The hostess (or host if he is unmar- 
 ried) takes her seat at the head of the table, and 
 dispenses the tea. One or two hired people (or 
 slaves, in slave-keeping parts of the country) wait 
 at table. At dinner, wheaten and Indian corn 
 breads, beef, pork, venison, wild turkey, geese, 
 and poultry, are staple articles ; with a profusion of 
 vegetables, such as cucumbers, onions, cabbages, 
 beans, and preserved fruits. Lodging in taverns 
 has not generally all the convenience that could 
 be wished for. It is common to see several 
 beds in the same room, and these are simple bed- 
 steads without hangings. There are no bells in 
 the bed-rooms, and other apartments ; nor are 
 menials accustomed to move at the signal of the 
 stranger. Water is rarely to be met with in bed- 
 rooms ; washing is, of course, performed under a 
 shed behind the house, or at the pump. A full 
 house is always the apology for causing two stran- 
 gers to sleep in the same bed j the propriety of the 
 custom will always be admitted by the person who 
 arrives latest. It has been my lot to sleep with a 
 diversity of personages ; I do believe, from the 
 driver of the stage coach, to men of considerable 
 name. The noted cutaneous disease is certainly 
 not prevalent j if it was, the beds of taverns, which, 
 like burying grounds, lay all on a level, would soon 
 make the disease as prevalent in this country, as in 
 some others in the old world.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 137 
 
 If Europeans and others, who indulge in censo- 
 rious remarks on western taverns and tavern-keep- 
 ers, would make reasonable allowances for the 
 thinly-settled state of the country, the high price 
 of labour, and the great numbers of travellers, their 
 criticisms might be somewhat softened. The man 
 who cannot enjoy a placid temper under privation 
 of a part of the comforts of a more advanced state 
 of society, is surely to be pitied for having busi- 
 ness in the back woods of America. 
 
 A very inferior breed of cows and horses are to 
 be seen almost every where by the rivers. This may 
 be partly imputed to the want of proper fodder, and 
 of shelter in the winter. Cattle are not housed in the 
 season, when every plant is withered to whiteness. 
 Grass is not sown to succeed the crops. A growth 
 of tall weeds takes immediate possession of the 
 soil. Hay, therefore, is a scarce article. Indian 
 corn is resorted to as a substitute, but it appears 
 to be too hard for mastication. Butter and cheese 
 sell at 25 cents (13id. sterling) per pound. 
 
 February 17. This morning was clear and 
 frosty. Temperature 32° in the morning. Snow 
 fell to the thickness of an inch in the forenoon. In 
 the afternoon it disappeared. 
 
 18. The morning was clear ; temperature 20°. 
 In the afternoon the ice melted. 
 
 19. Temperature 29° in the morning. In the 
 forenoon, snow fell to the thickness of an inch and 
 a half. In the evening it became liquid. 
 
 There is much wet ground in the vicinity of the 
 falls. Intermittent fevers afflict the inhabitants to- 
 ward the end of summer and in autumn. Last 
 season an unusual degree of sickness was expe- 
 rienced. 
 
 . New settlers continue to descend the river. Fa- 
 mily boats are almost continually in sight. In a
 
 138 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 boat lying ashore to-day, a man was busy in mak- 
 ing shingles. He has brought with him pine tim- 
 ber from Allegany river. Shingles give a good 
 price here, where pine trees do not grow, and they 
 furnish him with employment at intervals. This is 
 a good specimen of the provident habits and the 
 industry of New Englanders, a people admirably 
 adapted for taking possession of the woods. 
 
 March 1. To-day the people of Jefferson ville 
 elected a Squire, (Justice of the Peace.) Two 
 young men disagreed, and fought a furious battle. 
 In justice to the election, it is admitted that the 
 fight was in consequence of an old quarrel. 
 
 I have met with no less than eight Scotsmen to- 
 day. We are said to be the most national of all 
 Europeans in America, and the most loyal to old 
 monarchy. 
 
 The weather is mild and clear, with the aspect 
 of spring. Birds begin to chirp in the woods ; 
 their plumage is fine, but they are not songsters. 
 
 Jeffersonville contains about sixty-five houses, 
 thirteen stores (shops,) and two taverns ; the 
 land office for a large district of Indiana, and a 
 printing office that publishes a weekly newspaper, 
 and where the American copy of the most cele- 
 brated of all reviews is sold. A steam-boat is on 
 the stocks, measuring 180 feet long, and forty 
 broad ; estimated to carry 700 tons. There are 
 now thirty-one steam-boats on the Mississippi and 
 Ohio. Twenty-nine more are building, and in a 
 forward state. 
 
 At present, a passage from New Orleans to 
 the falls of Ohio costs 100 dollars, including pro- 
 visions. Goods are carried at (i^ cents per 
 pound weight. This high rate, with the danger 
 of passing through a most unhealthy climate, in 
 case of arriving after the beginning of July,
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 131) 
 
 or before the end of October, gives Baltimore, 
 Philadelphia, or New York, a decided preference 
 to Europeans who would settle in the lower parts 
 of the Ohio country, or on the Missouri. It is, 
 indeed, conjectured, that the increase of steam- 
 boats will soon occasion a competition, and a great 
 fall in the freight ; but, it is only after a great de- 
 duction taking place, that New Orleans need be 
 compared with Baltimore, as the port for landing 
 emigrants. 
 
 May 19. The steam-boat Western Engineer, and 
 a number of keel boats, descended the falls to-day, 
 with a considerable body of troops, accompanied 
 by a mineralogist, a botanist, a geographer, and a 
 painter. Their object is to explore the Missouri 
 country, and to form a garrison at the mouth of 
 Yellow Stone river, about 1800 miles up the Mis- 
 souri river. Five other steam-boats, besides other 
 craft, are expected to join the expedition. The 
 Western Engineer has on the bow, a large sculp- 
 ture of the head of a snake, through which the 
 waste steam escapes j a device, independently of 
 the general aspect of the equipment, that might be 
 enough to strike terror amongst the savage tribes. 
 
 I shall conclude this, with mentioning two sin- 
 gular occurrences. The passage of a steam-boat 
 from Pittsburg to Louisville, seven hundred miles 
 in fifty hours ; and the marriage of a girl in this 
 place, at the age of eleven years and three months.
 
 1 10 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 Morals and Manners of the People — Dejects in Educa- 
 tion — Generosity — The President of the United States. 
 
 Jeffersonville, (Indiana,') 
 June 28, 1819. ' 
 
 My residence at this place for some time past, pre- 
 vents me from noting down such occurrences as tra- 
 vellers usually meet with. This letter must there- 
 fore be composed of other materials. Some remarks 
 therefore on the people will form the subject ; 
 premising that it is not the American charac- 
 ter in general that I treat of. My opinions and 
 assertions are founded on my own limited obser- 
 vation, and on what I conceive to be authentic 
 facts. 
 
 The European, on his first arrival in the United 
 States, may perhaps expect to find sound republi- 
 can principles, and good morals, pervading nearly 
 the whole population. He has probably heard that 
 capital punishments are rare, and from that cir- 
 cumstance, may have inferred that there are few 
 crimes to punish. For some time this ideal cha- 
 racter may be entertained. Newspapers will na- 
 turally be looked to, as the current records of de- 
 linquency j in these, multitudes of cases regarding 
 the proceedings against criminals are entirely omit- 
 ted. After some correspondence with the people, 
 and after some observation of incidents, a sojourn- 
 er from the old world will be apt to modify his ori- 
 ginal opinion.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 1 H 
 
 Last winter, a committee of inquiry into the 
 state of the prison at Baltimore, stated in strong 
 terms the inadequacy of the present modes of pu- 
 nishment, and the deplorable increase of offenders, 
 who by their numbers threaten to overwhelm every 
 lenient corrective. The confinement not being soli- 
 tary,and theyoung being mixed with older and more 
 experienced desperadoes, the institution intended 
 for reformation is literally converted into a school of 
 vice, where plans for future depredations are regu- 
 larly concerted. The speech of Governor Clinton, 
 at the opening of the last session of the legislature of 
 New York State, is another authority on this sub- 
 ject. That gentleman feelingly deplored the 
 growth of depravity, and affirmed that magistrates 
 are unable to inflict deserved punishments on all, 
 and that, from the numbers committed, there is a 
 necessity for extending pardon to an undue ex- 
 tent, or of granting absolute impunity. He stated 
 farther, that the prisoner released is sometimes re- 
 committed for a new crime on the same day. 
 
 The river Ohio is considered the greatest tho- 
 roughfare of banditti in the Union. Here the 
 thief, in addition to the cause of his flight, has on- 
 ly to steal a skiff', and sail down the river in the 
 night. Horse stealing is notorious in the west- 
 ern country, as are also escapes from prison. Jails 
 are constructed of thin brick walls or of logs, fit 
 only to detain the prisoner while he is satisfied 
 with the treatment he receives, or while he is not 
 apprehensive of ultimate danger. Runaway ap- 
 prentices, slaves, and wives, are frequently adver- 
 tised. I have heard several tavern-keepers com- 
 plain of young men going off without paying for 
 their board. This is not to be wondered at, where 
 so many are continually moving in this extensive 
 country, without property, without acquaintances,
 
 142 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 without introductory letters, and without the ne- 
 cessity of supporting moral character. 
 
 Swearing, as I have repeatedly mentioned, is a 
 most lamentable vice. If I am not mistaken, I have 
 already heard more of it in America than twice 
 the aggregate heard during the whole of my for- 
 mer life. 
 
 A high degree of nationality is frequently to be 
 observed, and encomiums on American bravery 
 and intelligence poured forth by men who are not 
 remarkable for the latter quality, and who, by 
 their ostentation, raise a doubt as to their possess- 
 ing the former. Their conduct seems to be more 
 disgusting to cultivated Americans, than to Euro- 
 peans. 
 
 Here are multitudes of persons who have no accu- 
 rate notions of decorous behaviour. This, no doubt, 
 may arise partly from their ideas of the equality of 
 men, without making due allowances for morals, 
 manners, intellect, and education. Accustomed 
 to mix with a diversity of company at taverns, 
 elections, and other places of public resort, they 
 do not well brook to be excluded from private 
 conversation. On such occasions they exclaim, 
 " This is a free country," or a " land of liberty " 
 adding a profane oath. They do not keep in view 
 that one man has a natural right to hear, only what 
 another is willing to tell him. Of late I have se- 
 veral times found, that when I had business to 
 transact, a third party drew near to overhear it. 
 Hired people, mixing with families and their vi- 
 sitors, have ample means of gaining a knowledge 
 of other people's affairs. I shall relate a story 
 which I have on good authority. A gentleman, 
 in a State where slaves are kept, engaged some 
 carpenters from a neighbouring free State to erect 
 a barn. On the day of their first arrival they eat
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 143 
 
 along with himself. On the second day the fami- 
 ly took breakfast a little earlier than usual, and 
 caused the table to be covered anew for the me- 
 chanics, previous to their coming in. They were 
 so highly offended with this imaginary insult, that 
 they went off without finishing their work. This lit- 
 tle affair became so well known in the vicinity, that 
 the gentleman could not procure other workmen 
 for some time. This extension of liberty and 
 equality is injurious, inasmuch as it prevents the 
 virtuous part of society from separating from the 
 vicious ; and so far as it removes from the unprin- 
 cipled and untutored part, the salutary incitement to 
 rest character on good behaviour and intelligence, 
 instead of citizenship, or an allusion to the land of 
 liberty, or the favourite maxim that one man is as 5 
 good as another. I have frequently been asked such 
 questions as, " Where are you come from ? Where 
 are you going ? What are you to do there ? What 
 have you got in these here boxes ? Are you a 
 merchant ? I guess, then, you are a mechanic." — 
 Dr. Franklin did well in wearing labels on his per- 
 son, announcing his name, his residence, the place 
 he was travelling for, and his business there. 
 
 The abolition of titles and hereditary distinc- 
 tions in America has not been productive of all 
 the simplicity of address that might have been ex- 
 pected, or was perhaps intended by the illustrious 
 rounders. Squire, the appellation designating a Jus- 
 tice of the Peace, or Magistrate, is commonly retain- 
 ed for life, although out of office, or even when dis- 
 missed for misconduct. It is so also amongst officers 
 in the militia. Men who are appointed Captains, 
 or Majors, and may have been present at trainings 
 for a short time, are called Captains or Majors ever 
 afterwards. Of ex officio corporals or Serjeants I 
 have heard no mention made. The persons who
 
 144 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 take the charge of keel-boats are also Captains. 
 Except in cases where such names as those just 
 alluded to are applied, Mr. is the epithet of every 
 man, and is applied on every occasion. All are 
 gentlemen. The wife is, of course, Mrs. ; the 
 daughter and maid servant are indiscriminately 
 saluted Miss, or Madam, All are ladies. Thus 
 the Christian name has fallen into disuse. I do 
 not wish to be understood as approving of giving 
 an appellation to one man and withholding it from 
 another, but would only observe, that where all 
 are Mr. Mrs. and Miss, these terms do not imply 
 a distinctive mark, and that the simple Christian 
 names would be more discriminately useful in the 
 affairs of life, if not almost as respectable. 
 
 A passion for money has been said to be a great 
 characteristic of Americans. To admit this would 
 perhaps be conceding too much. It is certain 
 that security of property and high profits on capi- 
 tal, tend to promote this disposition, and it there- 
 fore cannot be wonderful that America has a full 
 proportion of enterprizing citizens, and such as are 
 essential to the progress of a new country. 
 
 Polite behaviour, talents, education, and proper- 
 ty, have influence in society, here, as elsewhere. 
 It is true that many who occupy the back ground 
 are obtrusive, and wish to act on the principle of 
 equality, and that violations of decorum are not 
 repulsed with the same contempt as in Britain ; 
 but it is only those who are agreeable in their 
 manner and conversation, that can be received as 
 interesting companions amongst accomplished 
 men. The finer sympathies of human nature are 
 not to be taken possession of by force. Those 
 who have believed in the equality of society in 
 America, have adopted a position physically anil 
 morally impossible.
 
 y 
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 14-5 
 
 Most of the defects noticed may be traced to 
 the education of youth, reared in families where 
 the parents have not had the advantage of early 
 culture, and where the son becomes a mere tran- 
 script of the father, the model after which he is 
 formed. If he is sent to school, in most cases he 
 knows that the teacher is not allowed to whip him. 
 The teacher is thus rendered any thing but that 
 object of reverence which becomes his office, and 
 it can scarcely be expected that the young freeman 
 will be much inclined either to follow the precepts 
 or to imitate the example of his tutor. He is 
 practically taught to look down on the learned man 
 as an inferior, and to despise the most useful at- 
 tainments. The most efficient means of instruc- 
 tion, then, are those of the family, where, in too 
 many instances, the children are the unrestrained 
 offspring of nature. It gives no pleasing sensations 
 to hear them swearing, at an age when they ought 
 to be learning to know one letter from another, or 
 to see them throwing off submission to parents, 
 and assuming all the confidence of manhood before 
 they arrive at half the stature. 
 
 There is one trait of character sufficiently gene- 
 rous to give a lustre to the American name. The 
 stranger is not insulted on account of his country. 
 I have not seen or heard of a single instance where 
 a native of Britain has met with a disagreeable re- 
 flection for having paid taxes to the government 
 so long inimical to the Republic, and that has re- 
 peatedly leagued with savages in carrying blood- 
 shed amongst her people. 
 
 In almost every part where I have travelled, I 
 have met with intelligent and interesting indivi- 
 duals. In every town where my stay was for any 
 considerable length of time, 1 have become ac- 
 
 L
 
 146 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 quainted with citizens whom I should be happy to 
 meet again. A few introductory letters which I 
 brought with me to this country, have not only 
 procured for me the most polite and friendly re- 
 ceptions, but other introductions to respectable 
 and eminent persons before me on my route ; let- 
 ters not weakened by the distance of my friends, 
 whose good wishes dictated the first, but if possi- 
 ble stronger than the originals. 
 
 To give a summary character of the American 
 people, or even of any considerable portion of 
 them, is beyond the reach of my observation and 
 intellect. It may be safe to state, that they are 
 much diversified by education, local circum- 
 stances, and the sources from which the population 
 has been derived. The manners of Britain seem 
 to predominate. The want of schools is a great 
 desideratum in new settlements. Hence it is, 
 that in travelling from the coast into the interior, 
 the proportion of uneducated persons appears to 
 be the greater the farther to the westward : a 
 fact that has been noticed by many, and one show- 
 ing that civilization follows in the rear of popula- 
 tion. 
 
 His Excellency James Munro, President of the 
 United States, is now on a tour through the sou- 
 thern and western parts of the country. On the 
 24th current, three of our citizens, deputed by the 
 inhabitants of the town, went to congratulate him, 
 on his arrival in the neighbourhood, and to invite 
 him to visit Jeffersonville. On accidentally meet- 
 ing with them returning, I felt myself at a loss for 
 a trite phrase in congratulating them, and could 
 only tell them bluntly, that in Europe we should 
 say, You are very loyal. One of them was polite 
 enough to set me right, by informing me, that the 
 object of their mission was to make an expression
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 147 
 
 of public respect. Should you consider the loyalty 
 of Europe, and the public respect of America as 
 convertible terms, you will also have occasion to 
 be set right, and this may perhaps be best done by 
 telling you, that the President does not engage in 
 dubbing knights or granting sinecures : — That pub- 
 lic officers are not appointed by his fiat, nor with 
 the concurrence of a privy council of his choice j 
 but in conjunction with the Senate, whose mem- 
 bers are elected by the people. These officers are 
 not only few, but their salaries are merely remu- 
 nerations for the services which they perform. In 
 short, the President is not regarded as a dis- 
 penser of public money. On his part he has to 
 regard public greetings as the spontaneous senti- 
 ments of disinterested and independent men, with- 
 out repulsing any one in the language of James 
 the First of Scotland, " What does the cunning 
 loon want ?" 
 
 On the 26th the President arrived. A tall pole 
 with the striped flag was displayed on the bank of 
 the river. A salute was fired, and a large body of 
 citizens waited his coming on shore. To be in- 
 troduced to the President was a wish almost uni- 
 versal, and he was subjected to a laborious shaking 
 of hands with the multitude. A public dinner 
 was given. This, too, was an object of ambition. 
 Grocers left their goods, and mechanics their 
 workshops, to be present at the gratifying repast. 
 The first magistrate appears to be about sixty 
 years of age. His deportment is dignified, and at the 
 same time affable. His countenance is placid and 
 cheerful. His chariot is not of iron, nor is he at- 
 tended by horse-guards or drawn swords. His 
 protection is the affection of a free und a repre- 
 sented people. 
 
 l l Z
 
 148 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 On Emigration — The prospects of Emigrants — Inconve- 
 niences — The method of laying out and disposing of 
 public lands. 
 
 Jejfersonville, (Indiana,) 
 August % 1819. 
 
 This letter will be devoted to such remarks on emi- 
 gration so far as my little experience and short resi- 
 dence in America enable me to have made. Before 
 entering upon the subject, I think it proper to state.. 
 that I disown every intention of advising any one 
 to leave his native country ; and that I disapprove 
 of exaggerating the prospects held out here, and 
 underrating those of Britain, as uncandid and de- 
 ceptive, as appealing to the passions to decide in a 
 matter which ought to be determined by the sober 
 exercise of reason. 
 
 In exchanging Britain for the United States, the 
 emigrant may reasonably expect to have it in his 
 power to purchase good improved land, and to bring 
 it into a rude state of cultivation, with less capital 
 unquestionably, than that employed in renting an 
 equal proportion of good ground at home. He will 
 not be burdened by an excessive taxation, nor with 
 tithes, nor poor's rates ; for there are no internal 
 taxes paid to the government, no privileged clergy, 
 and few people who live by the charity of others. 
 His labour and his capital will be more productive, 
 and his accumulation of property more rapid, 
 (good health, industry, and economy, presupposed,)
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 149 
 
 and a stronger hope may be entertained, that ex- 
 treme poverty or want may be kept at a distance. 
 After residing five years in the country, he may 
 become an elector of those who have the power 
 of making laws and imposing taxes. 
 
 The inconveniencies or difficulties which attend 
 removing, are upon no account to be overlooked. 
 The man who undervalues these is only holding dis- 
 appointments in reserve for himself. He must part 
 with friends, and every acquaintance to whom he 
 is attached, a case that he may, perhaps, not fully un- 
 derstand, till he acts his part in it. A voyage and a 
 long journey must be submitted to. He must 
 breathe a new air, and bear transitions and extremes 
 of climate, unknown to him before. His European 
 tinge of complexion must soon vanish from his 
 face, to return no more. A search for the new 
 home will require his serious attention, a di- 
 versity of situations may soon be heard of, but it 
 is not easy to visit or compare many of them. Nor 
 is the emigrant, on his first arrival, an adequate 
 judge of the soil of America. In a dilemma of 
 this kind advice is necessary. This is easily pro- 
 cured every where ; but it deserves attention to 
 know, whether the informant is interested in the 
 advice he gives. Land dealers, and others, natural- 
 ly commend tracts of land which they are desirous to 
 sell. The people of the neighbourhood have also 
 an interest in the settling of neighbouring lands, 
 knowing, that by every augmentation of popula- 
 tion, the value of their own property is increased. 
 On several occasions I have met with men who 
 attempted to conceal local disadvantages,and defects 
 in point of salubrity, that were self-evident. I do 
 not recollect of having heard more than two persons 
 acknowledge, that they lived in an unhealthy situa- 
 
 "l3
 
 150 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 tion. In the high country of Pennsylvania, I was 
 told that Pittsburg is an unhealthy place. At 
 Pittsburg, I heard that Marietta and Steubenville 
 are very subject to sickness. At these places, the 
 people contrast their healthy situation with Chilli- 
 cothe, which, I was told, is very unhealthy. At 
 Chillicothe, the climate of Cincinnati is depre- 
 cated ; and at Cincinnati, many people seem will- 
 ing to transfer the evil to the falls of the Ohio. 
 At this place the truth is partially admitted ; 
 but it is affirmed that the Illinois country, and 
 down the Mississippi are very unhealthy. The 
 cautious will always look to the views and charac- 
 ter of the man who would direct them, and will 
 occasionally rely on their own judgments. 
 
 In the public land-offices, maps of the new lands 
 are kept. Sections of a square mile, and quarter 
 sections of 160 acres, are laid down. The squares 
 entered are marked A. P. meaning advance paid. 
 This advance is half a dollar per acre, or one-fourth 
 of the price. Lands, when first put to sale, are 
 offered by public auction, and are set up at two 
 dollars per acre. If no one offers that price, they 
 are exhibited on, the land-office map, and may be 
 sold at that rate at any subsequent time. New 
 settlers, who are sufficiently skilled in the quality 
 of the soil, are in no danger from land-office trans- 
 actions. Besides the land-offices for the sale of 
 national property, there are agents who sell on ac- 
 count of individuals. I can mention Mr. Embree 
 of Cincinnati, as a gentleman who does much bu- 
 siness in this way, and with much reputation to 
 himself. 
 
 The land office maps are divided into townships
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 151 
 
 of six miles square. The figure represents a por- 
 tion of the country laid out in this way. 
 
 5 2 112 5 4 
 
 The positions of the townships relatively to the 
 base line, are expressed by the numerals I, II, III, 
 &c.and their positions relatively to the meridian are 
 numbered on both sides of it east and west, as 
 marked on the top and bottom. The parallels 
 marked I, I — II, II — III, III, and so on, are call- 
 ed townships, Nos. I, II, III, &c. north or south 
 according as they lie on the north or south 
 side of the base line. Positions in regard of the 
 meridian are indicated by the numbers 1, 2, 3, &c. 
 at top and bottom, east or west, as they lie on the
 
 152 
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA* 
 
 east or west side of the meridian line, and are call- 
 ed ranges, Nos. 1, % 3, &c. For explanatory ex- 
 amples, suppose the designation of the township 
 at the bottom of the right hand column is requir- 
 ed. The square in question, is in the parallel num- 
 bered V south of the base line, and IV east of the 
 principal meridian. It is therefore called town 
 five south, range four east. 
 
 The townships are divided into sections of a 
 square mile each, as in town No. 4 north, range 
 No. 3 east. 
 
 The figure under is a larger representation of a 
 township, showing how it is divided and num- 
 bered. 
 
 South. 
 
 The faint lines represent the divisions of sec- 
 tions into quarters of 160 acres each. At the auc-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 153 
 
 tions of public lands, and at subsequent sales, lots 
 of this extent are frequently entered. The six- 
 teenth section of each township is reserved for the 
 support of a school. 
 
 Lands entered at the public sales, or at the Re- 
 gister's office, are payable, one fourth part of the 
 price at the time of purchase ; one fourth at the 
 expiry of two years ; one fourth at three years, and 
 the remaining fourth at four years. By law, lands 
 not fully paid at the end of five years, are forfeit- 
 ed to the government, but examples are not want- 
 ing of States petitioning Congress for indulgence on 
 this point, and obtaining it. For money paid in 
 advance at the land office a discount of eight per 
 cent, per annum is allowed, till instalments to the 
 amount of the payment become due. For failures 
 in the payment of instalments, interest at six per 
 cent is taken till paid. The most skiful speculators 
 usually pay only a fourth part of the price at entry, 
 conceiving that they can derive a much greater 
 profit than eight per cent, per annum from the in- 
 creasing value of property, and occasionally from 
 renting it out to others. Where judicious selec- 
 tions are made, they calculate rightly. 
 
 The land system now adopted in the United 
 States is admirable in regard of ingenuity, simpli- 
 city, and liberality. A slight attention to the map 
 of a district, will enable any one to know at once 
 the relative situation of any section that he may 
 afterwards hear mentioned, and its direct distance 
 in measured miles. There can be no necessity for 
 giving names to farms or estates, as the designation 
 of the particular township, and the number of the 
 section is sufficient, and has, besides, the singular 
 convenience of conveying accurate information as 
 to where it is situated. By the new arrangement the 
 boundaries of possessions are most securely fixed,
 
 15-i LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 and freed alike from the inconvenience of rivers 
 changing their course, and complexity of curved 
 lines. Litigation amongst neighbours as to their 
 landmarks, is in a great measure excluded. The 
 title deed is printed on a piece of parchment of 
 the quarto size. The date, the locality of the pur- 
 chase, ■ and the purchaser's name, are inserted in 
 writing, and the instrument is subscribed by the 
 President of the United States, and the agent of 
 the general land office *. It is delivered to the 
 buyer free of all expense, and may be transferred 
 by him to another person without using stamped 
 paper, and without the intervention of a law prac- 
 titioner. The business of the land office proceeds 
 on the most moderate principles, and with the 
 strictest regard to justice. The proceeds are ap- 
 plied in defraying the expense of government, and 
 form a resource against taxation. The public 
 lands are in reality the property of the people. 
 
 The stranger who would go into the woods to make 
 a selection of lands, ought to take with him an ex- 
 tract from the land office map applying to the part 
 of the country he intends to visit. Without this, 
 he cannot well distinguish entered from unenter- 
 ed grounds. He should also procure the names of 
 the resident people, with the numbers and quarters of 
 the sections they live on, not neglecting to carry 
 with him a pocket-compass, to enable him to fol- 
 low the blazed lines marked out by the surveyor. 
 Blaze is a word signifying a mark cut by a hatchet 
 on the bark of a tree. It is the more necessary 
 for the explorer to be furnished thus, as he may 
 
 * At every land office, a register of the weather is kept. 
 Three daily observations of the thermometer, the direction of 
 the wind, the aspect of the sky, whether clear or clouded, fair 
 or rainy days ; and some other occasional phenomena, are not- 
 ed down.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 155 
 
 expect to meet with settlers who will not be will- 
 ing to direct him, but, on the contrary, tell him 
 with the greatest effrontery, that every neighbour- 
 ing quarter section is already taken up. Squat- 
 ters, a class of men who take possession without 
 purchasing, are afraid of being turned out, or of 
 having their pastures abridged by new comers. 
 Others, perhaps meditating an enlargement of their 
 property, so soon as funds will permit, wish to 
 hold the adjoining lands in reserve for themselves, 
 and not a few are jealous of the land-dealer, who 
 is not an actual settler, whose grounds lie waste, 
 waiting for that advance on the value of property, 
 which arises from an increasing population. The 
 non-resident proprietor is injurious to a neighbour- 
 hood, in respect of his not bearing any part of the 
 expense of making roads, while other people are 
 frequently under the necessity of making them 
 through his lands for their own convenience. On 
 excursions of this kind, the prudent will always be 
 cautious of explaining their views, particularly as 
 to the spot chosen for purchase, and without loss 
 of time they should return to the land-office and 
 make entry. 
 
 The new abode being fixed, the settler may be 
 surrounded by strangers. Polite and obliging be- 
 haviour, with circumspection in every transaction, 
 become him in this new situation.
 
 156 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 Comparative Advantages of several Parts of the United 
 States — Temperature of the Climate at Philadelphia and 
 at Cincinnati — Permsijlvania — Ohio — Kentucky, and 
 the Western Part of Virginia — Indiana — Illinois — Mis- 
 souri — Reflections on Slave-Keeping. 
 
 Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) 
 October 16, 1819. 
 
 To determine the most proper parts of America 
 for new settlers, is a proposition interesting in its 
 nature, but one that cannot be solved with pre- 
 cision. This general fact is to be kept in view, 
 that, in the old populous settlements, land is alrea- 
 dy too dear to admit of that spontaneous increase 
 in value so profitable in back-wood districts. The 
 sea-board then is to be rejected by those who would 
 go in search of the most profitable investment of 
 their capital, and some part of the interior country 
 is to be selected. The vast migration from the 
 eastern States to the western, is satisfactory evi- 
 dence of this state of the land market ; and, be- 
 sides, countenances the opinion, that the country 
 first peopled by Europeans is not destined to such 
 population and wealth as that rationally anticipat- 
 ed in the more fertile western States. 
 
 In the most inland parts of the old States, there 
 are still abundance of good wood-lands reserved for 
 future cultivation, embracing an extensive range 
 of climate, and a great diversity of vegetable pro- 
 ducts j but the natives of the temperate climes
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 157 
 
 of Europe will, for the most part, be averse to live 
 under the scorching sun of Georgia, or the in- 
 tense frosts of the province of Maine. Somewhere 
 between the extremes, probably between Hudson 
 River and Chesapeake Bay, affords the best ap- 
 proximation. At Philadelphia, for example, the 
 mean temperature of the year may be stated at 
 53.66°, that quantity being a mean of the results 
 obtained by the observations of Dr. Rush, Dr. Cox, 
 and Mr. Lego.ux ; — a determination nearly coin- 
 ciding with that of Mr. Playfair, (53.58°) for the 
 mean temperature of the vegetative season, from 
 the 20th of March to the 20th of October, at Edin- 
 burgh, and only 5.86° higher than the mean tem- 
 perature of the latter place for the whole year. It 
 is true that the extreme variations are much great- 
 er at Philadelphia than at Edinburgh, but it will be 
 in vain to search for a situation in the United States, 
 possessing that equability of heat, that characterizes 
 the British islands. 
 
 From the tract of country under consideration, 
 Maryland and Delaware will be deducted, as ineli- 
 gible to the man who does not wish to live amongst 
 slaves. He may, indeed, live in either of these 
 parts without employing the involuntary labourer, 
 but the man of acute sensibility will usually be un- 
 willing to injure the feelings of his neighbours, who 
 may conceive that his abstaining from the detest- 
 ed practice implies a practical censure on their 
 conduct. Slaves being addicted to theft and other 
 immoralities, form a strong objection against set- 
 tling amongst them. The whole stretch of country 
 on the coast, including Maryland, Delaware, part 
 of Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, may be rejected, 
 on account of the high price of land. The inland 
 parts of Pennsylvania and New York States re- 
 main free from the objections just mentioned, and 
 
 &
 
 158 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 are believed to possess comparative advantages, in 
 respect of climate and soil, 
 
 The winter of New York State is the more severe 
 of the two, and seems to point out Pennsylvania as 
 preferable. With the single defect of distance 
 from market, Western Pennsylvania possesses great 
 advantages. The most prominent are, a healthy 
 climate, a good soil, abundance of coal, iron-ores, 
 limestone, sandstone, and salt springs, circum- 
 stances that render this country susceptible of a 
 dense population, and a very high state of im- 
 provement. 
 
 It being assumed that Pennsylvania lies between 
 parallels of latitude, the most temperate of any on 
 the eastern coast, the inference is natural, that the 
 States Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and part of Kentucky, 
 must have a climate of similar warmth, slightly mo- 
 dified, no doubt, by the elevation and prevalent winds 
 of particular parts. Accordingly, observations made 
 at Cincinnati, (which lies fifty minutes south of 
 Philadelphia) show, that its annual mean tempera* 
 ture is only six-tenths of a degree higher than that 
 of the latter place*. 
 
 The lands of the State of Ohio are understood 
 to be more fertile than those of Pennsylvania. — 
 With good culture, from sixty to a hundred bushels 
 of maize per acre, are produced. On an acre of 
 land, near the mouth of the Little Miami, one of 
 the first settlers raised the extraordinary quantity of 
 one hundred and fourteen bushels. The advanced 
 state of population, in the southern part of the 
 State, has withdrawn the most choice tracts of 
 ground from the land-office ; good lots, however, 
 may still be bought from private individuals at a 
 moderate price. The higher country, lying nearly 
 
 * Dr. Drake's Picture of Cincinnati, page 11(3.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 15Q 
 
 equidistant from the river Ohio and lake Erie, is 
 understood to be healthy, fertile, abounding in 
 springs of water, and possessing a good navigation 
 downward, in wet seasons of the year, by means of 
 the rivers Muskingum, Sciota, and Miamis. The 
 northern part of the State is described as having 
 many large prairies, of a rich quality, but un- 
 healthy. 
 
 Kentucky, and the western part of Virginia, 
 have much land of the first rate quality ; but the 
 influx of new settlers is greatly prevented by the 
 insecurity of titles. Surveyed at an early period, 
 when the country was in the possession of the hos- 
 tile aborigines, and before the new method of lay- 
 ing out public lands was adopted, much confusion 
 as to boundaries prevails. Many conflicting claims 
 are frequently made on the same tract, and a de- 
 gree of litigation has ensued that appears to be al- 
 most interminable. There is another cause tend- 
 ing: to retard the ingress of new comers which it 
 would be invidious to repeat. 
 
 Indiana is a State more recently settled than any 
 of the foregoing. The part where the Indian title 
 was extinguished, was, till lately, comparatively 
 small. Non-resident purchasers have shut up a 
 large proportion of it from immediate cultivation ; 
 some judicious entries may still be made in the 
 land-office, particularly by White River, and in some 
 other parts at a considerable distance from the 
 Ohio. The land office map for Jefferson ville dis- 
 trict has many more vacancies in it than that at Cin- 
 cinnati, showing that it contains much more land 
 not yet appropriated by individuals. Here, as in 
 Ohio State, the high lands are considered the most 
 healthy. A recent purchase from the Indian tribes 
 will make a valuable addition to the State of In- 
 diana. The tract is supposed to contain about six 
 
 3
 
 160 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 millions of acres, and is to be soon abandoned by 
 the natives. Already upwards of a hundred fa- 
 milies have entered it, for the purpose of rearing 
 cattle and hogs. These will have excellent oppor- 
 tunities for selling their stock when purchas- 
 ers take possession of the newly acquired territory, 
 and will have the advantage of becoming acquaint- 
 ed with the most valuable lands previous to the 
 sales. The surveyors, and other persons, who have 
 visited the new purchase, represent it to be rich, 
 diversified in surface, with the ad vantage of navigable 
 waters in spring and autumn ; and that it is much 
 better adapted to pasturage than the country ad- 
 joining to the Ohio. 
 
 In the State of Illinois there are vast quantities 
 of land to be disposed of by the Government, be- 
 sides the residuary of former sales, standing open 
 in the land-office maps at Shawneetown and 
 Edwardsville. The recent surveys bring about 
 3,730,000 acres into the market. A great por- 
 tion of this land lies on the Sangamon, a southern 
 branch of Illinois river ; and I am informed by a 
 gentleman who has lately been there, that the 
 country is the best that he is acquainted with. At 
 a period not far distant, a communication between 
 Lake Erie and Illinois river may be opened through 
 the river Pleiro, which empties itself into the lake. 
 Craft are said to have already passed out of the 
 one river into the other. A large portion of Illi- 
 nois, lying between Illinois river and the Missis- 
 sippi, is a military grant given to the troops who 
 fought in the late war, and divided amongst them 
 at the rate of a hundred and sixty acres to each 
 man. Shares of this land have been sold since its 
 partition at a dollar, and even so low as half a dol- 
 lar per acre. The military grant is chiefly low 
 and flat. The soil is rich, and interspersed with
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 161 
 
 prairies * but subject to agues : this, with a great 
 proportion of non-resident owners, must greatly re- 
 tard the improvement of the district. The north- 
 ern parts of Illinois are understood to possess a 
 healthy climate. 
 
 In the Missouri Territory, large surveys are just 
 completed, these consist of about a million of acres 
 near Osage river, and about two millions toward the 
 Mississippi, including the old settlements. The 
 reports of the Missouri country which I have heard, 
 convince me, that it contains a large quantity of 
 good lands, and that it is favoured with a fine cli- 
 mate. A gentleman who wintered at St. Louis, 
 near the mouth of the river Missouri, assured me 
 that the cold is more severe there than in the Ohio 
 country. Although his opinion was formed from 
 his sense of feeling, without reference to the ther- 
 mometer, it is probably just, as the situation of St. 
 Louis is relatively high, and as much of the neigh- 
 bouring country is without wood, admitting a free 
 circulation of winds, from higher and more nor- 
 therly parts. 
 
 In the countries adjoining to Arkansau and Red 
 rivers, about two millions of acres are laid out for 
 sale. The former of these rivers is understood to 
 be larger than the Ohio, and passes through a fer- 
 tile country. The post of Arkansau is situated a 
 little northward of latitude 34°. A parallel that 
 must be felt uncomfortably hot by most Europeans. 
 Cotton is the most profitable product ; a vegeta- 
 ble that has hitherto been almost exclusively cul- 
 tivated by involuntary labourers. 
 
 Michigan and north-west territories are under- 
 stood to be fertile, and well adapted to rearing 
 cattle. Detroit is the capital of Michigan. In 
 
 * Van Zandt's description of the military grant. 
 
 M
 
 162 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 the north-west territory there are two settlements ; 
 one at Fort Howard, and the other Prairie du Chi- 
 ens. A military post is to be formed at the 
 mouth of St. Peter's river, below the Falls of St. 
 Anthony. These extensive regions lie in a lati- 
 tude corresponding with that of the New England 
 States ; and will probably be peopled by a hardy 
 race of freemen, when the lands of Ohio, Indiana, 
 and Illinois, can be no longer procured at a low 
 rate. 
 
 Those who would go in search of healthy situa- 
 tions may keep in view, that their object can only 
 be attained, at a distance from swamps, and rivers 
 which overflow their banks ; it being well known, 
 when the former are dried up, and when the latter 
 recede within their low-water boundaries, vast 
 quantities of mud and vegetable matters are ex- 
 posed to the heat of the sun, and a rapid decom- 
 position immediately commences. The gaseous 
 constituents evolved give a perceptible taint to the 
 air, and are understood to form the miasmata that 
 occasion agues, bilious fevers, and liver complaints. 
 The best navigable waters, and the most healthy 
 parts of the country, are, in some measure, incom- 
 patible, and seldom admitting of immediate proxi- 
 mity to one another. Happily, a moderate height 
 of land is usually sufficient to prevent the accumu- 
 lation of stagnant waters, and to promote a mo- 
 tion in rivers, that lessens the scope of their inun- 
 dations, or retains them altogether within their 
 banks. A degree of elevation conducive to a 
 comparatively healthy climate, may be usually 
 found within two or three miles of the river ; but 
 as the contaminated air is liable to be transported 
 by winds, and probably not sufficiently diluted 
 with the atmosphere in passing over such small 
 spaces j a greater distance from the source of con-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 163 
 
 tagion is no doubt preferable. I have, on various 
 occasions, seen persons from the higher country, 
 about forty miles north of this place, whose com- 
 plexions are apparently more healthy than those 
 of the people who live on the banks of the Ohio ; 
 and several of late who profess to have a reluc- 
 tance to come down to the river on business, at 
 the present season of the year. 
 
 In the preceding part of this letter I mentioned 
 the high country lying near the heads of the nor- 
 thern tributaries of the Ohio, as having a good cli- 
 mate. That part of it watered by the Muskingum, 
 the two Sciotas, and the two Miamis, possesses a 
 downward navigation in spring, and in the latter end 
 of autumn, but as these rivers enter the Ohio above 
 the falls at Louisville, the upward navigation is in- 
 terrupted there during the summer months. This 
 single circumstance amounts to a weighty objec- 
 tion against the eastern part of the country under 
 consideration. 
 
 The western part has two great navigable 
 streams, the Wabash, and the Illinois. The Wa- 
 bash is navigable for boats drawing three feet of 
 water, to the distance of about 400 miles from its 
 mouth, and in floods about 200 miles farther. Its 
 largest tributary is White River, which is navi- 
 gable to a great distance upward. It waters a fer- 
 tile and delightful country, and joins the Wabash 
 below all its rapids except one run, which forms no 
 great obstruction to the navigation. The new seat 
 of government is to be erected on the bank of one 
 of the streams of White River. The Illinois is es- 
 teemed one of the best navigations in western Ame- 
 rica. So early as 1773, a Mr. Kennedy sailed up- 
 ward to the distance of 268 miles from its conflu- 
 ence with the Mississippi, Sanganom river, one 
 
 m 2
 
 164 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 of its principal streams, is said to be navigable for 
 180 miles by small craft. 
 
 From the best information that I can procure, 
 this western division of the country, north of the 
 Ohio, appears to be highly eligible to new settlers. 
 It unites the advantages of having high lands and 
 navigable waters in immediate contact, and a short- 
 er and a better communication with the ocean than 
 any part of western America, that is to be exclu- 
 sively cultivated by freemen. 
 
 The country on Missouri river, has been already 
 noticed as possessing advantages in soil and cli- 
 mate, but the difficulty of the navigation upward, 
 amounts to a considerable objection against adopt- 
 ing that territory. A convention of the people 
 formed a constitution, and laid before Congress 
 their claim for being admitted as a State in the 
 Federal Union. The new constitution asserts the 
 right of the people to hold slaves, and of admit- 
 ting more negroes from other parts of the United 
 States, Towards the conclusion of last Session of 
 the legislature, this question of right was warm- 
 ly discussed, most of the members from the South- 
 ern States maintained, that Congress have no right 
 to dictate to the people of any new State on this 
 subject, viewing it as a matter of internal policy, 
 and one that does not come under the jurisdiction 
 of the general government, — and the treaty of 
 Session stipulated, that the Spanish colonists re- 
 maining in the country, should retain their former 
 rights and privileges. In opposition to these doc- 
 trines, the members from Northern States argued, 
 that Congress has a constitutional right to inter- 
 fere, and urged as a precedent, the act prohibit- 
 ing the introduction of slavery into the country 
 north-west of Ohio river, with other arguments too 
 numerous to be recapitulated here. It is painful
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 165 
 
 to learn that the representatives of the nation are 
 so much divided on this interesting question, and, 
 in the present instance, to reflect, that in most cases 
 their proceedings are expressions of the will of 
 their constituents. The affair waits the decision 
 of next Session, and, in the meantime, much solici- 
 tude prevails with regard to it. The most intelli- 
 gent citizens are at a loss to anticipate the result, 
 and the members of the Legislature are probably 
 equally uncertain, whether the new State shall be- 
 come a receptacle of slaves, and its representatives 
 the future advocates of a Slave keeping interest. 
 The slave keeping States, and those which have pre- 
 scribed the practice, commonly called free States, 
 seem to be struggling for predominance. There 
 are now eleven Slave keeping, and eleven free 
 States, so that Missouri must give a sort of numeri- 
 cal preponderance to one of the parties. The 
 number of representatives for free States, are appor- 
 tioned according to the number of free persons in 
 each, and in Slave keeping States, they are regulat- 
 ed by the number of free persons added to three- 
 fifths of the slaves, a method that has the effect of 
 strengthening the influence of the Southern par- 
 ty- , . . . 
 
 When the Missouri question is set at rest, the 
 
 people of the United States will no doubt reflect 
 on the singular line of demarkation which they have 
 drawn. Supposing that the internal frontier was 
 produced to the Stony Mountains, or to the Pa- 
 cific Ocean, every speculative mind must con- 
 template it, not merely as a topographical di- 
 vision, but also as a scrt of moral boundary, separ- 
 ating a great nation into two parts, very dissimi- 
 lar in the habits and jurisprudence of their peo- 
 ple, and will seriously meditate on the possible 
 consequences of the unhappy difference, I do not 
 
 m 3
 
 166 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 wish to make any disagreeable reflection on the 
 patriots who have already done so much in cir- 
 cumscribing the boundaries of human misery; but 
 regret, that such a wide field still remains for their be- 
 nevolent labours, and that their opponents are pur- 
 suing a course imminently dangerous to themselves, 
 and ill calculated to promote the future tranquillity 
 of the republic. Many disagreeable incidents have 
 already been occasioned by the collision of princi- 
 ple and interest. Negroes frequently desert from 
 their masters, and fly into neighbouring free 
 States. It may be, that the people amongst whom 
 they seek refuge, do not always show much anxi- 
 ety that the owners shall recover their property; 
 and it is perhaps partly on account of this indiffer- 
 ence, that the pursuers of slaves adopt forcible 
 means instead of the legal redress prescribed by 
 free States. Peaceful communities are thus in- 
 vaded by small parties of armed men, who carry oft" 
 blacks without certifying their right to them. In 
 two late instances, two free blacks in Indiana were 
 kidnapped by people from Kentucky, and the re- 
 monstrances made on the part of the former State, 
 were not followed by any satisfactory concession 
 on the part of the latter. The laws of free States, 
 on this subject, are in disagreement with the usages 
 of slave-holders; a source of contention that may 
 not be easily removed. Hitherto no popular rup- 
 ture has been occasioned by affairs of this kind ; 
 but, it may be asked, where is there any guarantee 
 that similar discordances may not become more 
 frequent when a more numerous population of both 
 colours shall be crowded along the neighbourhood 
 of the slave-line? And may not the heart-burnings 
 and provincial pride, now manifest, be wrought up 
 to a higher pitch at a period, perhaps not far dis- 
 tant, when the United States will become confident 
 of a degree of strength that cannot require such a
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 167 
 
 complete co-operation as heretofore in repelling 
 the attacks of foreign force ? 
 
 If the slave-holding party persist in the exten- 
 sion of the abuse, it would well become them to 
 give up their constitutional claims for calling forth 
 the militia of northern states " to suppress insur- 
 rections," and for protecting them " against do- 
 mestic violence," so far as slaves may be the future 
 disturbers of the peace. Whether they make such 
 a fair concession or not, it is for them to reflect 
 whether their northern neighbours, who have so 
 uniformly and so wisely opposed the evil, and who 
 have so humanely laboured to eradicate it from 
 amongst themselves, will be willing to imbrue their 
 hands in the blood of the injured people who have 
 never excited any of their feelings except pity. 
 
 So long as the Missouri question remains unset- 
 tled, a hope may be entertained that liberal senti- 
 ments may prevail. The northern people seem to 
 be almost universally in favour of the restriction, 
 and a part of the finest feelings, and the brightest 
 talents in the Southern States, are ranged on the 
 side of humanity. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Lawyers— Doctors— Clergy — Mechanics — Justices of the 
 Peace— Anecdotes— Punishments — Reflections. 
 
 Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) 
 March 10, 1819. 
 
 The greater part of my letters from America have 
 hitherto been addressed to our late brother John. 
 Since we have now to deplore that he is removed
 
 168 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 from all correspondence with us, I shall direct 
 this to you. 
 
 There are many particulars in the condition of this 
 country, that must appear surprising to any one who 
 has not seen a community in its infantine state. We 
 have here lawyers who have not been regularly edu- 
 cated in the knowledge of their profession. Black- 
 stone's Commentaries are considered the great me- 
 dium of instruction. The young man who has care- 
 fully read these, and who has for a short time wrote 
 for a practising attorney, is admitted to the bar. It 
 is said that even the latter part of this preparatory 
 course has, in many instances, been dispensed with. 
 The occupation of barrister and attorney is usually 
 performed by the same practitioner. He transacts 
 with clients, writes and pleads before courts of 
 justice, or before a squire, as occasion requires. If 
 we may judge from grammatical and orthographic 
 inaccuracies, we must be apt to believe that, al- 
 though some of them may be esteemed as lawyers, 
 they are not good English scholars. Lawyers here, 
 as elsewhere, take their stand as being of the first 
 class in society, and a great proportion of our back- 
 wood legislators, in State assemblies, and in the 
 general government, are elected from among this 
 body of gentlemen. Such are many of the coun- 
 sellors who grow up in Transmontane-America ; 
 but it would be unfair to omit noticing that men 
 of a very different character arise here. — I shall 
 only mention one example in Henry Clay, a Ken- 
 tuckian lawyer, who has for eight years made a 
 distinguished figure in the conspicuous situation 
 of speaker of the House of Representatives at the 
 capital. Mr. Clay was commissioner on the part 
 of the United States, at the treaty of Ghent, in 
 1814, and plenipotentiary for commercial arrange- 
 ments with Great Britain in 1815. The profession
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 169 
 
 also owes much of its respectability to the in- 
 gress of young gentlemen of liberal education 
 from the Atlantic States, who make diligent re- 
 search in the history of cases, and whose libraries 
 are usually stored with law authorities, and the 
 best models of forensic eloquence in the English 
 language. 
 
 The medical men here are all doctors, nor is the 
 inferior degree, surgeon, at all recognised. In new 
 settlements, many practise on life and limb who 
 have not obtained the diploma of any medical 
 school. The smallness of their laboratories renders 
 it probable, that the universal medicine is included. 
 Here, too, there are honoured exceptions ; and the 
 medical colleges instituted at Cincinnati and Lex- 
 ington may soon furnish more accomplished prac- 
 titioners. 
 
 The clergy would perhaps excuse my not giv- 
 ing their order the precedence, if they were told 
 that men hold forth here, who can have no pre- 
 tensions to qualifications derived from human tui- 
 tion. Many of their harangues are composed of 
 medley, declamation, and the most disgusting tau- 
 tology. I have chiefly in view itinerant preach- 
 ers of the methodist sect, who perhaps cry as loud 
 as ever did the priests of Baal. Their hearers fre- 
 quently join in loud vociferations, fall down, shake, 
 and jerk in a style, that it would be in vain to at- 
 tempt to describe. 
 
 Incapacity is not confined to those situations 
 that ought to be filled with men of learning, but 
 extends to the rudest branches of the mechanical 
 arts. It is not thought wonderful to see a black- 
 smith without a screw plate ; and I have known of 
 several very plain pieces of joiner work that were 
 stolen for patterns by unqualified workmen. Al- 
 most every well-finished article is imported, and
 
 170 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 so long as this impolicy is continued, handicraft 
 must remain in a low state. 
 
 We have here justices of the peace who would 
 not be promoted to the office of constable in some 
 older communities. They are mere petty-foggers, 
 who are occasionally employed in collecting debts, 
 and raising suits to be brought before their own 
 tribunals. In these cases, they act in the double 
 capacity of agent for one party, and judge, and 
 have no repugnance against collecting their fees 
 in the hour of cause. I shall relate two anecdotes. 
 One of these gentlemen, who lives at no great dis- 
 tance from the spot where I write, was hearing 
 the representations of two opponents in open court. 
 They disagreed, and commenced a fight. The 
 squire, not averse to this sort of decision, joined 
 with the constable and some other people in form- 
 ing a ring for the combat. A negro man and a 
 white woman came before the squire of a neigh- 
 bouring township, for the purpose of being marri- 
 ed. The squire objected to the union as contrary 
 to a law of the State, that prohibits all sexual in- 
 tercourse between white and coloured people, un- 
 der a penalty for each offence, but suggested, that 
 if the woman could be qualified to swear that there 
 was black blood in her, the law would not apply. 
 The hint was taken, and the lancet was immedi- 
 ately applied to the Negro's arm. The loving 
 bride drank the blood, made the necessary oath, 
 and his honour joined their hands, to the great sa- 
 tisfaction of all parties # . The last of these squires 
 
 * Equivocations of this sort have been so often noticed in the 
 United States, that they must be looked on as notorious. The 
 practice of naturalizing foreign seamen by the solemn farce of 
 an old woman's first cradling bearded men, and then swearing 
 that she rocked them ; and that of procuring pre-emption rights 
 to land in new territories, by sowing only a few grains of corn, 
 and subsequently swearing that a crop has been cultivated on
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 171 
 
 was not elected by the people, but appointed under 
 the late territorial government of Indiana. He is 
 a naturalized citizen of the United States, but a 
 native of England. 
 
 The election of a magistrate, is an affair that 
 usually occasions a considerable sensation in a little 
 town. The most respectable citizens naturally 
 support the candidate that has the real interests 
 of society at heart ; and the more licentious are 
 as naturally averse to* promote the man who, they 
 believe, would punish themselves. It is, therefore, 
 the relative numerical strength of the two parties, 
 that frequently determines the character of a town 
 judge. It is understood, that in new towns by the 
 Ohio, the unruly part most commonly prevail, and 
 that as they advance in population and wealth, 
 the more orderly people take the sway. A case 
 has come under my notice, where the conduct of 
 
 the tract claimed, have been so frequent, that it would be invi- 
 dious to particularize. In England, affidavits are often manag- 
 ed in a simpler way. Swallowing a customhouse oath is there 
 a well known expression. Mercantile houses of London have 
 kept persons, called swearing clerks, to vouch for transactions, 
 on being paid at the rate of sixpence for each oath. If it is not 
 true that men stand at Westminister Hall with straws in their 
 shoes, indicating their willingness to undertake any dirty job, 
 it is time that the foul imputation were washed from that pure 
 fountain of justice. Before prosecutions for conspiracies had be- 
 come so fashionable in England as they are now, a witness 
 on behalf of the crown was convicted of ten separate perju- 
 ries. It would appear that a false oath is a morsel so hard, that 
 it requires cooking before it can be masticated by the immoral 
 in America, and that a less delicate class in England can gulp 
 it down in the raw state. Without making any comment on 
 regulations that protect revenue at the expense of morality ; 
 those laws that set the interests, and the very personal liberties 
 of men at variance with their consciences, and without inquir- 
 ing how far evasive subterfuges may palliate the conduct of the 
 ignorant in their own eyes, or in the sight of the great being in- 
 voked ; it is suggested, in explanation, that popular institutions 
 have the innate property of impressing an external reverence 
 for the law, on the worst of men.
 
 172 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 a squire was at variance with the practices of a 
 large proportion of his constituents. He had re- 
 solved on exerting his power to suppress fighting, 
 swearing, and breach of the Sabbath, and to exact 
 the statutory penalties against the two last of these 
 offences. On a Sabbath soon after his election, a 
 man carrying a gun and a wild duck passed his 
 door. He intimated his resolution of having the 
 offender brought to justice ; but the culprit gave 
 him much abusive language, with profane swear- 
 ing, and threatened to beat him for the interrup- 
 tion. The squire soon perceived that he was los- 
 ing his popularity, and that his opposition to the 
 will of the sovereign people was injuring his busi- 
 ness, and for that reason resigned his commission. 
 In cases where the squire is supposed to be remiss 
 in the execution of his duty, the people sometimes 
 interfere extrajudicially. At this place, a tailor's 
 shop was lately broke into by night, and a quanti- 
 ty of goods carried away. On the following day, 
 a stranger and the lost property were discovered 
 in an empty house adjoining. He was instantly car- 
 ried before one of our magistrates. On being inter- 
 rogated, he confessed being found in the house, but 
 denied having any concern with the booty. The 
 squire dismissed him. But the young men of the town 
 who had assembled to hear the examination, were 
 too sensible of the strength of the presumptive cir- 
 cumstances of the case, and of the admitted act of 
 housebreaking, in entering the uninhabited apart- 
 ment, to allow him to escape with impunity. They 
 caught him at the door, led him out behind thetown, 
 where they tied him to a tree, and put the cow- 
 hide into the hand of a furious young man, who 
 happened to be half intoxicated. The whipping 
 was performed with such vigour, that the blood 
 sprung in every direction. A gentleman of
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. l^S 
 
 Cincinnati told me, that, a few years ago, the citi- 
 zens of that place had found it expedient to pu- 
 nish in the most summary way ; and that he had 
 several times acted as presiding judge, in what was 
 called a court of uncommon pleas. Whipping uni- 
 formly followed conviction. Cincinnati has now 
 outgrown that stage of population, that admits of 
 this sort of jurisprudence, and is better regulated 
 than certain large European cities. 
 
 Sanguinary punishments are almost universally 
 deprecated. The best of citizens are opposed to 
 them from philanthropic motives ; and the worst 
 view them as subversive of liberties. A conside- 
 rable proportion of the humane, and perhaps most 
 of the vicious, concur in arguing, that man has no 
 right to take away the life of man in the punishment 
 of any offence. A doctrine purporting, in plain 
 terms, that the right or power in the individual to 
 commit crime, is stronger than that in society to 
 punish or to protect. Although this extremely 
 lenient principle has a vast multitude of support- 
 ers, it has not been introduced into the criminal 
 code of any state in the Union. Treason, mur- 
 der, arson, and piracy committed on the high 
 seas, remain on the list of capital crimes. The 
 lirst of these offences is defined by the constitution 
 of the United States, as consisting " only in levy- 
 ing war against them ; or in adhering to their 
 enemies, giving them aid and comfort." No in- 
 fliction, on this ground, has been found necessary 
 since the epoch of the Federal Union. Other of- 
 fences, as forgery, burglary, robbery, larceny, &c. 
 being treated as inferior misdemeanours, the machi- 
 nery of the executioner is seldom put into opera- 
 tion ; and a benevolent penetentiary system is 
 adopted in parts of the country where the popula- 
 tion is sufficiently great to bear the expense. New
 
 174 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 settlements cannot afford the large establishments 
 combining the accommodation for solitary confine- 
 ment and labour. Whipping is therefore resorted 
 to, as a matter of necessity rather than of choice. 
 It is chiefly to be lamented, that chastisement does 
 not produce immediate evidence of reformation, 
 as the sufferer usually removes to another part of 
 the country; and may resume the character of 
 gentleman, even while his back is raw from the 
 recent correction. 
 
 It is with painful sensations that I recollect of 
 the illiberal and ungenerous reflections, uttered 
 by the minions of a faction in your country, against 
 supposed barbarism in this. Their favourite to- 
 pics, as to officers in the Militia becoming tavern- 
 keepers, and tavern-keepers acting as Justices of 
 the Peace ; the derided punishment of whipping, 
 and the equality of a sovereign people, might at 
 least be mixed with some allowances for local cir- 
 cumstances ; or, if they please, in making a 
 contrast with the boasted condition of Great Bri- 
 tain, it is obviously uncandid to draw the subjects 
 of their animadversions from the fag end of the 
 United States, in the very act of being peopled by 
 a heterogeneous mixture, uniting in it a conside- 
 rable proportion of the most uncultivated of" Ame- 
 ricans and Europeans ; not excluding fugitives, 
 who have fled before their creditors, and the pub- 
 lic prosecutors of England. Waving this conside- 
 ration altogether, a very striking comparison may 
 be made out in detail. The officers of the United 
 States* Militia are not professional soldiers, but 
 citizens. They are not disposable tools, to be em- 
 ployed in foreign aggressions, or removed in time 
 of peace from Maine to Georgia, and vice versa, to 
 intimidate into submission fellow citizens who are 
 not their personal acquaintances or immediate
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 175 
 
 kindred ; but remain at home, where they attend 
 trainings, voluntarily and gratuitously. They are 
 at liberty to follow tavern-keeping, or any other 
 kind of honest industry, and do not burden their 
 country with a half pay list. Justices of the Peace, 
 however unqualified they may be, and whatever 
 disgrace the conduct of individuals brings upon 
 themselves, are not appointed by the influence of 
 a faction. They are not the " thorough paced" 
 ministerialist, who " have been recruiting officers 
 for the war, instead of Justices of the Peace * ;" 
 nor are they the hirelings who promote the re- 
 venue from which their own pensions are drawn, 
 by levying ruinous fines upon an unrepresented 
 people, for the slightest infractions on excise laws, 
 or game laws. The punishment of whipping has 
 been already mentioned, with the causes of its be- 
 ing adopted in the back- woods. Perhaps it might 
 be difficult to assign reasons equally satisfactory 
 for resorting to it in the populous city of Dublin. 
 The practice is comparatively humane in America, 
 as it is applied in cases that would be punished 
 with death in great Britain. The States of Ken- 
 tucky and Ohio have erected penetentiaries, not 
 for the purpose of punishment alone, but also for 
 the reformation of offenders. The horrible prison 
 scenes witnessed by Howard, Neild, Bennet, Bux- 
 ton, Fry, and other philanthropists in Britain, 
 have no counterpart in America. We know of no 
 examples here of imprisonment for a debt of a 
 shilling f , or for a supposed fraud of one penny \. 
 Nor have I ever heard of the verdict of an American 
 
 * Walker's Review of Political Events, p. 125. London, 1794. 
 
 t Evidence of Mr. Law, keeper of the Borough Compter, be- 
 fore the Police Committee, 1814. 
 
 \ Inquiry into Prison Discipline, by Thomas Fowell Buxton, 
 Esq. M. P.
 
 176 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 coroner's inquest, announcing in their verdict the 
 death of a prisoner for want of food # . Debtors 
 are not obliged here, to sleep edgeways, for want of 
 the breadth of their backs on a prison floor t. Nor 
 has any poor boy been imprisoned for a month in 
 Bridewell for selling religious tracts without a 
 hawker's license i. The equality that consists in 
 universal suffrage ; the absence of privileged or- 
 ders, and unrestrained industry, is the enviable fe- 
 licity of the American nation. The people are, 
 themselves, the lords of the soil, and acknowledge 
 no superiors who can dictate to them in the elec- 
 tion of other representatives than those of the com- 
 munity. There are no boroughs where the mem- 
 bers monopolize the business of the place, or who 
 chase away the stranger as if he were an enemy ; 
 or who can exact town taxes contrary to the will 
 of their fellow citizens. Public accounts are not 
 kept from public inspection. There is no separate 
 borough representation to be hired over, or own- 
 ed by the partisans of a ministry. The clergy are 
 here exalted to the dignity of citizens, whose in- 
 terests are identified with those of the people. 
 Their condition, relatively to that of their adhe- 
 rents, is in every respect similar to the situation of 
 dissenting clergymen in Britain. America elevates 
 
 * The case of J. Burdon in Tothilfiekls prison in 181 7- 
 t In February 1818, twenty persons confined in the Borough 
 Compter, slept in a space twenty feet long and six wide. The 
 fact was confirmed by the governor. 
 
 J G. M. a boy of about fourteen years of age ; he was con- 
 fined along with twenty men and four boys. He was employ- 
 ed by one of them to pick pockets, and steal from the other 
 prisoners. Caught a fever in jail, which was communicated to 
 his father, mother, and three brothers, one ot whom died. From 
 being a sober, orderly boy, he was changed into a confirmed 
 thief, and stole his mother's Bible and his brother's clothes.— 
 Burton's Inquiry.
 
 I 
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 177 
 
 no spiritual Lords, on wool-sacks, in her senate, 
 to oppose the introduction of parochial schools. 
 Nor is there any political body, which courts an al- 
 liance with the clergy. I have never heard of 
 any parson who acts as a Justice of the Peace, or 
 who intermixes his addresses to the Great Object 
 of religious worship, with the eulogy of the Holy 
 Alliance. The free scope given to industry is 
 highly conducive to national prosperity. Every 
 man is allowed to exert his talents, in the pur- 
 suit of any honest scheme, and in any part of 
 the country, without being prevented by intole- 
 rant restrictions or internal taxes. His profits are 
 his own ; and he has no dread of their being 
 wrested from him by the idle drones that infest 
 other countries. Hence it is, that the United 
 States abound in enterprizing people, who remove, 
 without hesitation, to any part where they can sup- 
 pose any advantage may arise, and adopt projects 
 that would neither be tolerated nor thought of by 
 people fettered by the trammels of impolicy. The 
 first failure of a scheme is not here contemplated as 
 finally ruinous, as a backward step is much more 
 easily retrieved than in countries more thickly peo- 
 pled, and where the avenues of commerce are 
 narrowed by artificial obstructions. There are no 
 branches of manufactures or professions of any 
 kind, restricted to those who pay licenses to the 
 government. The farming interest has no mono- 
 poly against the manufacturing : nor has the ma- 
 nufacturing any positive prohibition against the 
 farmer. Local attachments are much weakened 
 by the open prospects of an extensive country, by 
 the abolition of primogenitureship, and by the in- 
 troduction of laws that promote family justice. 
 The citizen is not bound to a particular spot for 
 the preservation of his privileges; for he can enjoy 
 
 N
 
 178 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 the same rights all over the Union. The me- 
 chanic and the labourer do not remain unemploy- 
 ed in their native township, to establish their right 
 to the poor's rates ; for industry is not taxed in 
 paying bounties to idleness. The landholders of 
 England may quietly enjoy the obeisances of their 
 pauper dependants, and pay in return their poor's 
 rates. They may be assured, that the more equa- 
 lized citizens of America are not ambitious of this 
 interchange of benefits ; and that the excess of 
 public burdens has not yet rendered it customary 
 for Americans to desert their own country, and to 
 resort to France, on account of the cheapness of 
 provisions. 
 
 The present state of North America affords the 
 most conclusive testimony of the sound policy of a 
 free and unrestricted trade. The United States al- 
 low commerce to regulate itself, according to its 
 own interests, except in cases where the conduct of 
 other nations imposes the necessity of following 
 another course. Under legislative forbearance on 
 this subject, the country has made unexampled 
 progress in improvements and population. Under 
 the jealous and illiberal government of Spain, Flo- 
 rida remains a contemptible province, that has 
 scarcely a name amongst colonies. Under the 
 fostering care and restrictions of England, Canada 
 continues to be but a mere remnant of this great 
 continent.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 179 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 Outline of the American Constitution— From the frequen- 
 cy of Revolutions in Europe, the instability of the Ame- 
 rican Republic is not to be inferred. 
 
 Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) Feb. QJ, 1820. 
 
 The constitution of the United States is not 
 that ephemeral erection, which the enemies of free 
 government would represent it to be. Its funda- 
 mental principles may be partially traced through 
 the modern theoretical maxims, and the ancient 
 usages of England. This consideration, however, 
 does not derogate from the wisdom of the founders 
 of the Republic, who have so successfully availed 
 themselves of the experience of other countries 
 and other ages, in organizing the system ; and ma- 
 turing it by the most unremitting diligence through 
 peace and war. A review of the progress of Ame- 
 rican politics, and of the reasonings which guided 
 the patriotic legislators, would be a work of much 
 interest. It would lay before us a large portion of 
 the best abilities, and the most tried virtue of the 
 country, engaged in inquiries conducive to the 
 general interests of the nation. It would disclose 
 at every important crisis a venerable assembly, 
 which neither announced their proceedings as the 
 greatest efforts of human ingenuity, nor assumed 
 the lofty tone of an " omnipotent" legislature, 
 but recurred to the will of their constituents for 
 ratification, and, keeping a view to the future as 
 well as to the present circumstances, provided the 
 
 n2
 
 180 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 means of revising and amending their decisions. 
 It was in consequence of this philosophical mode of 
 proceeding, that the present admirable fabric was 
 gradually erected. It was thus that the declaration 
 of independence of 1776, a temperate, but energetic 
 manifesto, intimating the determination of the co- 
 lonies to throw off the foreign yoke, was succeed- 
 ed by the articles of confederation in 1778. This 
 compact, although efficient in time of public dan- 
 ger, was, during the succeeding peace, found to 
 be defective in not admitting the dignity and 
 promptitude necessary to the general government, 
 and not furnishing a sufficient guarantee for the 
 permanence of the Union. Under the articles of 
 confederation, each State retained the right of 
 voting its own supplies for the common benefit, 
 and to lay taxes on such articles as were found 
 most convenient j also, to impose such imposts and 
 duties on foreign trade as they thought proper. 
 The amount of supplies furnished by each State 
 was apportioned to the value of the lands, 
 — a criterion that could never be applied with ac- 
 curacy. In this state of things, the acts of Con- 
 gress could in various cases be only complied with, 
 through the intervention of thirteen separate State 
 Assemblies. The power given to Congress to ad- 
 just the affairs of foreign relations, was rendered 
 almost nugatory by the diversity of commercial 
 regulations of separate States. It became possible, 
 that a separate State might be at variance with a 
 foreign nation, on affairs not at all interesting to 
 the other members of the Union, and that internal 
 discord might arise from opposite interests, rival- 
 ship in commerce, the distribution of territory, 
 and a variety of other latent causes *. To avoid 
 
 * Those who would wish to have a collected view of the 
 principles of this subject, may consult the Federalist, a collec-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 181 
 
 these inconveniences and dangers, the constitution 
 was framed by a convention of delegates from 
 the States, whose session ended on the 17th of 
 September, 1787. A Congress was elected on 
 the new establishment, and General Washington 
 was unanimously appointed President in the suc- 
 ceeding year *. 
 
 The constitution vests the legislative power 
 in a Congress, consisting of a House of Represen- 
 tatives, and a Senate, and the executive power in 
 the President. The members of the House of Re- 
 presentatives are elected biennially by the people. 
 Each State has at least one representative, and not 
 more than one for every thirty thousand persons 
 in it, and two Senators, who are elected by the 
 state legislature, at intervals of six years, and are 
 distributed into three classes, so that the seats of 
 a third part of them are vacated biennially. The 
 President, and Vice-President are elected for 
 four years by the ballot of electors appointed by 
 the legislatures of the States ; the number of elec- 
 tors in each State being equal to that of the re- 
 presentatives and senators, whom the same state has 
 a right to send to Congress. 
 
 Bills for raising revenue originate in the House 
 of Representatives ; and every bill that passes both 
 
 tion of interesting essays on the new constitution, written in 
 1788, by Messrs. Hamilton, Jay, and Madison. 
 
 * Some pious observers of the occurrences of Providence, 
 have remarked that the Spanish Armada, equipped for the in- 
 vasion of Britain, was destroyed in the year 1588 ; that the 
 Revolution in that country happened in 1688 ; and, in seek- 
 ing for an event to mark the commencement of another century, 
 it has been observed by the loyal in Britain, that his Majesty, 
 George the Third, recovered from a most deplorable visitation in 
 1788. If there be any American descendants of Britain, who are 
 pleased with a system of chronology that contemplates the great 
 events of Providence as revolving in a centenarian orbit, they 
 may also notice a corresponding occurrence in the consummation 
 of their liberties in the otherwise memorable year 1788. 
 
 N 3
 
 182 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 houses, must be presented to the President for 
 his approbation. In the event of his disapprov- 
 ing of a bill, it must be returned to the house 
 where it was originated, and if two thirds of the 
 members of both houses agree, on re-consideration, 
 to pass it, then the bill becomes a law. The President 
 is commander-in-chief of the army, navy, and mi- 
 litia, and may in certain cases, grant reprieves and 
 pardons for offences against the United States. 
 With the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate, 
 he appoints ambassadors, and other public minis- 
 ters, consuls, judges of the supreme court, and all 
 other officers of the United States, whose appoint- 
 ments are not provided for by the constitution j 
 but the Congress has the power of making fu- 
 ture laws for vesting appointments in the Presi- 
 dent alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of 
 departments. The President may fill up vacancies 
 in the Senate during recess, by granting commis- 
 sions terminating at the end of next session. 
 Whenever two-thirds of both houses deem it ne- 
 cessary, they shall propose amendments of the 
 constitution ; or shall call a convention for that, 
 on the application of two-thirds of the state legis- 
 latures. 
 
 The duties and powers of the general govern- 
 ment are concisely defined by the constitution, 
 and may be expressed summarily, as embrac- 
 ing the subjects of commerce, finance, negociation, 
 and war. All other objects are reserved, as falling 
 under the jurisdiction of the separate state assem- 
 blies. These include local legislation, administra- 
 tion of justice between persons in the same states, 
 and the supervision of agriculture. 
 
 Although it appears, that much care has been 
 bestowed in drawing the line that separates the 
 prerogatives of the general government, from those
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 183 
 
 of its individual members, still duties or powers de- 
 rived from implication, are occasionally assumed 
 by both departments. We have two recent exam- 
 ples in view. In 1819, the legislatures of several 
 States imposed a heavy tax on branches of the United 
 States Bank, situated in the respective States. The 
 United States Bank, it must be noticed, is charter- 
 ed by Congress, and is the organ through which 
 the national government transacts its pecuniary 
 affairs. The bank refused payment, and obtained 
 a judgment in its favour by the supreme or federal 
 court. Again, the admission of the territory of Mis- 
 souri as a State in the Union, has lately been dis- 
 cussed in Congress. One of the principal points of 
 the debate was the question, Whether the pre-exist- 
 ing States have a right to dictate to States about 
 to be admitted into the Union, any restriction 
 against slave-keeping ? And it is understood that 
 scruples on this question of right have induced 
 several members to vote against the restriction, 
 whose sentiments are opposed to slavery. 
 
 The distribution of business, of which a brief 
 outline has just been given, is admirably adapted 
 to an extensive sphere of action. The national 
 councils are thus devoted to national concerns, 
 and not to such petty affairs as framing public acts 
 for demolishing the fences of private property to 
 make room for highways, nor in borough politics, 
 nor in deciding in the disputes of private individu- 
 als. Local affairs are regulated by local authori- 
 ties, who are best able to judge of them ; and this 
 prevents any ground of complaint to arise against 
 the national government on account of these. The 
 State legislatures are, besides, filled annually by a 
 free vote of the people, who have frequent oppor- 
 tunities of allaying their own discontents by a 
 change of men, and a change of measures. 
 
 Those who predict an early dissolution of the
 
 184 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 American Union, and who affirm that the country 
 is naturally divided into two nations by the Alle- 
 gany ridge, might with equal propriety say, that 
 the Thames and the Severn are destined to water 
 the territories of two distinct governments. And 
 the remark that, in the event of the navigation of 
 the Mississippi being interrupted by an enemy, 
 the western country would be subjugated, is an- 
 other position that may be applied to other rivers, 
 and to other countries. It is not to be forgotten that, 
 previously to the cession of Louisiana in 1801, the 
 Spanish government claimed the exclusive benefit 
 of that river, and that the privilege of navigation 
 was the principal object that induced the govern- 
 ment of the United States to purchase the terri- 
 tory, in 1803. Louisiana being acquired at the 
 general expense, and not by the inhabitants of the 
 western country alone, makes it evident that the 
 transaction was viewed as an important national 
 affair. Perhaps it was with the intention of produc- 
 ing a dismemberment, that the ministry of England 
 made the attack on New Orleans. The defence 
 was conducted in a national form, and not exclu- 
 sively by the people of the western country ; and 
 the British government was not gratified by any 
 overture of the inhabitants for becoming tributary. 
 The supposed conspiracy of Aaron Burr, for de- 
 taching the transmontane country from the East- 
 ern States, was not found to amount to levying war 
 against the Union. The evidence that could be ob- 
 tained from his small party of associates and others, 
 was not sufficient to convict him. The demagogue 
 is not looked on as a personage dangerous to public 
 tranquillity ; — a decisive proof that the American 
 people are confident in the strength of the ties by 
 which they are knit together. The western set- 
 tlements have the strongest incitements to remain 
 in close conjunction, with their eastern neighbours
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 185 
 
 A separation from them in times of war would 
 cut off all communication by land with the eastern 
 coast ; an inconvenience that would greatly aggra- 
 vate any attempt to blockade the mouth of the 
 Mississippi. A separation would retard the in- 
 gress of population ; it would injure internal 
 trade j it would occasion an additional expense 
 in supporting a separate government, and it would 
 deprive them of the protection of the United States' 
 Navy. It will scarcely be alleged, that the East- 
 ern States have an interest in dissolving the com- 
 pact with the Western ; as by that step they 
 would not only forego a rapid accumulation of 
 strength, but would incur the danger of convert- 
 ing fellow citizens into the most powerful enemies. 
 They would lose that important branch of reve- 
 nue, which arises from the sale of public lands, and 
 they would no longer participate in the fur trade. 
 To infer the instability of the American repub- 
 lic from the frequency of revolutions in Europe, is 
 altogether preposterous. A different state of so- 
 ciety, and the difference of the political institutions 
 to be compared, remove that parity of condition 
 essential to analogical deduction. The executive 
 power in America, does not extend to declaring 
 war at pleasure j nor to dissolving the legislature. 
 The president, whose term of service is only four 
 years, has not the means nor the motives for fami- 
 ly aggrandizement which prevail under hereditary 
 succession. The members of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives have their seats from the universal -suf- 
 frage of the people ; and the senators get their dig- 
 nity and seats from the representatives in State As- 
 semblies, who are themselves popularly elected, and 
 who cannot promote obnoxious men without incur- 
 ring public odium and future exclusion. The repre- 
 sentation is equally distributed. Placemen and pen-
 
 186 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 sioners are effectually debarred from being members 
 of either house; under these conditions the few have 
 it not in their power to dictate to the many. Am- 
 bitious projects, such as disfigure the histories of 
 other countries, are precluded. Accessions of ter- 
 ritory are not obtained by conquest, but by pur- 
 chase. The object sought in these treaties is the 
 right of soil ; and not the power of taxing or en- 
 slaving men. No yoke is imposed but that upon the 
 labouring steer. The domestic policy of the Unit- 
 ed States exhibits twenty-four republics, each 
 having its own constitution, without any other re- 
 striction than conformity to that of the nation. In 
 regard of foreign relations and general interests, 
 all the States are cemented into one nation. If 
 one or more States are invaded, the citizens have 
 a right to the protection of the Union ; and in the 
 case of controversies or disputes between States, 
 the judicial power provided under the general 
 constitution is the umpire between them. Had 
 the individual members of the United States placed 
 a hereditary sovereign at the head of each, and 
 put the reins of government in the hands of a few, 
 we might have heard, before this time, of Ameri- 
 can courtiers making treaties to last for ever ; and 
 violating them so soon as the strong found it con- 
 venient to attack the weak ; of wars furnishing 
 pretexts for raising vast sums to support the views 
 of a party or a faction, perhaps for depriving the 
 people of their liberties, and subjugating their 
 neighbours j and of winding up the whole with 
 holy leagues, admitting of no subsequent arbitrator 
 but the sword. 
 
 The organization, of which a brief outline has 
 just been given, is, in theory, well adapted to in- 
 sure internal tranquillity, and protection against 
 invasion. In practice, it has hitherto been con-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 187 
 
 ducive to both these objects j and to a degree of 
 national prosperity, that is unparalleled in the pre- 
 sent age. The people govern for themselves, and 
 are too sensible of the value of their rights to allow 
 them to pass into other hands. Power is dele- 
 gated only for a short period; and the repre- 
 sentatives are closely watched by their constitu- 
 ents. Should a congress propose to disfranchise a 
 part of the people ; or to engraft a borough system 
 on the present equal representation ; or to esta- 
 blish septennial elections ; every member voting 
 for the obnoxious motion might expect to be 
 marked out and expelled for ever. A case some- 
 what in point occurred in 1817. Congress then 
 passed a law for increasing the very moderate 
 compensation for the services of members. The 
 act was conceived to be unconstitutional : an 
 alarm was sounded all over the country ; the sup- 
 porters of increased compensation were left out in 
 the election of 1818; and the offensive law was 
 repealed in the ensuing session. A veneration for 
 the constitution is probably the most universal 
 characteristic of American citizens : but they act, 
 as if their united exertions were necessary to keep 
 it in force ; and are sensible, that neglect on their 
 part might soon render the important document a 
 dead letter. Every timely check given to the pro- 
 gress of corruption, is removing the necessity of 
 convulsion to a later date. The people having 
 the means of correction in their own hands, the 
 political institutions of this country are to be 
 esteemed as less mutable than the systems that 
 consist entirely of the unmixed ingredients of dis- 
 ease and death. It would be too sanguine to 
 suppose that the American people shall preserve 
 their liberties for ever ; but it may be safe to af- 
 firm, that nothing decisive in the fate of this coun-
 
 188 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 try is to be augured from the histories of republics 
 without representation, or of monarchies without 
 popular control. Before Americans relinquish 
 free government, they must be ignorant of their 
 present knowledge ; they must cease to teach 
 their children to prize their privileges ; and no 
 longer inculcate esteem for the memory of their 
 dauntless ancestors, who fought for the inherit- 
 ance. "Washington, Franklin, and an host of other 
 patriots, must be forgotten. The avarice of fo- 
 reign governments, and the sufferings of foreign 
 people, must pass into oblivion, and cease to be 
 monitors. In short, a dark age must arrive before 
 the throne of despotism can be erected here. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 State Legislatures — A predilection for dividing Counties, 
 laying out Nexv Towns and Roads — The influence of 
 Slavery on the habits of People who live in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Slave-Keeping States — Elopements from 
 Kentucky — Banking. 
 
 Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) March 10, 1820. 
 
 The legislatures of new States consist only of a few 
 members. The consequence is, that public acts for 
 the exclusive advantage of private individuals are 
 occasionally passed through influence or intrigue ; 
 and the commendations which I have bestowed on 
 the general government of America must not be 
 held to apply indiscriminately to the administration 
 of the local governments, at least in newly establish-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 189 
 
 ed states. Much of the business (it is said) is 
 privately arranged, before the questions are discus- 
 sed in the house. Combinations are formed for 
 effecting particular purposes. These are called 
 log rolling ; a very significant metaphor, borrowed 
 from the practice of several farmers uniting in rol- 
 ling together large timber to be burnt. A num- 
 ber of bills are frequently conjoined by their mov- 
 ers, so that a member who takes a deep interest 
 in one must vote for all of them, to obtain the suf- 
 frage of the separate partizans. The member who 
 deserts from the cabal might be leaving his own 
 motion without any other supporter but himself. 
 An enlightened gentleman told me, that he was 
 induced to vote for the ridiculous law of this State 
 regarding intercourse between white and coloured 
 people, in consequence of its being previously con- 
 joined with other bills. 
 
 The laying out of new counties, county towns, 
 and lines of road, seems to be a gratifying duty to 
 back-wood legislators. Where a county includes a 
 considerable tract of country, it must be divided 
 into two. Where it is not large enough to admit of 
 bisection, the county wanted must be made up from 
 the extremities of four or five which are contiguous. 
 A large population is not a prerequisite : yet the con- 
 venience of the people is the pretext. A few neigh- 
 bours who propose that their settlement should be 
 made the nucleus of the new establishment, peti- 
 tion the Assembly for a subdivision. If this is 
 granted, commissioners are appointed to fix the 
 new seat of justice. An eager contest for private 
 advantage ensues, and although the ostensible ob- 
 ject is public convenience, the new city is perhaps 
 placed near the outline of its jurisdiction. 
 
 You will be much surprised to hear ofthe avidi- 
 ty which prevails in this country for towns consist- 
 ing of a very few log cabins. For a convenient
 
 190 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 distribution of seats of justice, and for roads that 
 are at best openings cut through the woods, with 
 the stumps remaining, without side ditches, and 
 without any other bridges through marshes or 
 streams, than a few pieces of timber laid down side 
 by side across the way. But an explanation is 
 made, when you are told that pettifoggers by this 
 means create situations for themselves, and a few of 
 their constituents who are in the employment of 
 squires, county commissioners, prosecuting attor- 
 nies, supervisors of roads, and constables. With 
 numbers the design is to increase the value of their 
 contiguous lands at the public expense, instead of 
 improving them by their own industry. By such 
 means, they frequently succeed in selling at an 
 advance of fifty, or even a hundred per cent, per 
 annum ; and remove to more recent settlements, 
 where they are able to purchase a larger extent of 
 land, and where they can continue their favourite 
 trade of making counties, towns, and roads. 
 
 Towns are laid out by persons who sell lots of 
 about a fourth or a fifth part of an acre : these 
 sometimes sell at from a hundred to three hundred 
 dollars, even in situations where scarcely a single 
 spot of the neighbouring woods is cleared. Af- 
 ter a town has made some progress in point of 
 improvement and population, lots usually rise in 
 price, from three hundred to a thousand dollars j 
 and, in the larger towns, to a much higher value. 
 At present the mania of purchasing town lots is 
 rather declining. Holders are unwilling to see the 
 prices reduced. They continue to talk of former 
 rates, and to keep them up ; on exchanging one 
 lot for two, say, that for the better one, one thou- 
 sand dollars is paid in two lots worth five hundred 
 each. Their conduct very much resembles that of 
 a person who said, that he sold a dog at forty gui- 
 neas, and explained the transaction by stating,
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 191 
 
 " that he was paid in two dogs, each worth half 
 that sum." I lately saw a town lot sold for state 
 or county taxes, at a fourth part of the price paid 
 for it two years ago. The rents of the worst kind 
 of houses amount to upwards of fifty per cent, per 
 annum, on the price of erection, A miserable ca- 
 bin, that could scarcely be let at all in your coun- 
 try, or would not rent at £1 10s. a-year, gives here 
 as much per month. The people are of consequence 
 closely crowded together ; several families frequent- 
 ly inhabiting a house of one apartment, without 
 any inner door, so that when the street door is 
 open, passengers may see the inmates at table, and 
 the other particulars of the house. The beds are 
 ranged round the walls, like so many looms in a 
 weaver's work-shop. In various instances I have 
 seen families living in temporary huts, built of 
 small pieces of decayed timber collected in the 
 woods, laid upon one another in the manner in 
 which sawyers erect piles of timber to be dried. 
 The roofs were covered with bark, and the inter- 
 stices of the walls left open, so that at a distance I 
 could count the persons within, as if they had been 
 birds in a cage. Near to this place a family lately 
 lived, for several weeks, under an old waggon that 
 was turned upside down. In towns along the banks 
 of the Ohio, a class of people are to be seen, who 
 depend on traffic with travellers, and with the 
 scanty population in the rear of them. Without 
 extravagant profits on the trifling capital employ- 
 ed, they could not subsist. Many of them seem 
 to be immoral, dissipated, and without rural or 
 domestic industry. Few of their lots are cultivat- 
 ed as gardens ; and the spinning-wheel, ( so far as 
 I have observed,) is not to be seen in their houses. 
 The evils of slave-keeping are not confined to 
 the parts of the country where involuntary labour 
 
 2
 
 192 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 exists, but the neighbourhood is infected. Certain 
 kinds of labour are despised as being the work of 
 slaves. Shoe-blacking, and, in some instances, fa- 
 mily manufactures, are of this class of labours j 
 and it is thus, that in some of the small towns on 
 the north side of the Ohio, the mechanic and the 
 labourer are to be seen drawing water at the wells ; 
 their wives and daughters not condescending to 
 services that are looked upon to be opprobrious. 
 It was for the same reason, that on one occasion, 
 some paupers in a poor's house at Cincinnati 
 refused to carry water for their own use. 
 
 Elopements from Kentucky into Indiana are 
 frequent. Since my arrival in this very town, I 
 have witnessed two examples. I do not now al- 
 lude to slave-keepers losing their negroes, but their 
 white daughters, who escape to get married. In 
 a former letter I mentioned the watchfulness of 
 parents over young ladies in Kentucky, and would 
 only add, that there, as elsewhere, restraint does 
 not seem to be conducive to contentment. Those 
 who are acquainted with the state of society in 
 Turkey, are perhaps the most able to give a de- 
 cided opinion on this very interesting subject. 
 
 Of upwards of a hundred banks that lately 
 figured in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennes- 
 see, the money of two is now only received in the 
 land-office, in payment for public lands. Many 
 have perished, and the remainder are struggling 
 for existence. Still giving for their rags " bills 
 as good as their own ;" but, except two, none pay 
 in specie, or bills of the United States Bank. Dis- 
 count varies from thirty to one hundred per cent. 
 
 The recent history of banking in these western 
 States, is probably unrivalled. Such a system of 
 knavery could only be developed in a country 
 where avarice and credulity are prominent fea-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 1Q3 
 
 tures of character. About four years ago, the 
 passion for acquiring unearned gains rose to a great 
 height ; banking institutions were created in abun- 
 dance. The designing amongst lawyers, doctors, ta- 
 vern-keepers, farmers, grocers, shoemakers, tailors, 
 &c. entered into the project, and subscribed for 
 stock. Small moieties must actually have been 
 advanced to defray the expense of engraving, and 
 other incidents necessary to putting their schemes 
 in operation. To deposit much capital was out of 
 their power; nor was it any part of their plan. Their 
 main object was to abstract it from the commu- 
 nity. A common provision in charters, stipulated, 
 that the property of each partner was not liable, 
 in security, to a greater amount than the sum he 
 had subscribed. This exempted the banks from 
 the natural inconveniences that might be occasion- 
 ed by the insolvencies and elopements of members. 
 Money was accumulated in great abundance, as they 
 bought property j lent on security; and became rich. 
 But their credit was of short duration. When it 
 was found, that a few of them could not redeem 
 their bills, the faith of the people was shaken. A run 
 on the paper shops commenced ; and a suspension 
 of specie payments soon became general. Had the 
 people been at liberty to recover a composition, 
 as in the bankrupt concerns of Britain, the evil 
 might have, in some measure, been remedied be- 
 fore this time ; but chartered privileges granted 
 by legislators concerned in the fraud, prevented 
 legal recourse. Even these could not have been 
 sufficient protection, but for the co-operation of 
 subsequent laws dictated by the same interest. 
 The state of Indiana, for example, passed in 1818, 
 what was called " the replevy law," liberating the 
 debtor for a year from the claim of the creditor, 
 who refuses to accept depreciated money. This 
 
 o
 
 194 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 law, though sufficiently injurious to creditors, could 
 give no stability to swindling banks. It was, there- 
 fore, succeeded by an act during last session, 
 prohibiting landed property to be sold by execu- 
 tion, under two-thirds of the appraised value, and 
 that to be ascertained by five freeholders. The 
 debtor is by the same act allowed to set apart any 
 portion of his property he chooses, to discharge 
 execution. Freeholders, it may be observed, are 
 a class of men naturally averse to depreciating their 
 own land, by setting a low value on that of their 
 neighbours. This disposition is the more danger- 
 ous at present, especially when lands are falling con- 
 siderably in price, in consequence of the deprecia- 
 tion of the money which lately stamped such a high 
 value on property. In Kentucky, a total suspension 
 of law process for sixty days, was followed by a " re- 
 plevy law." In the State of Ohio, enactments similar 
 to those of Indiana were passed. Here is a combi- 
 nation of laws for the protection of knaves, who 
 have swindled the people ! Those who have either 
 bought property on credit, or borrowed money, 
 while rags passed at a high price, have got debts 
 of a great amount to pay, while property can no 
 longer be sold at former prices. Debtors of this 
 description have united with bankers, in getting 
 the infamous laws passed just noticed. While the 
 property law was pending in the Assembly of In- 
 diana, debtors were in full activity sending forward 
 petitions in favour of the impolicy, and persuading 
 the ignorant of the propriety of the measure. In 
 the small town of Jeffersonville, two petitions were 
 made. These unnatural expedients, however, can- 
 not long serve the purpose intended. Land con- 
 tinues to fall. The debtor may, for a short time, 
 be kept out of jail, and the peculator from being 
 stripped of his ill-gotten gains j but the public is
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA, 195 
 
 receiving dearly bought instructions, and must 
 set a watch over future elections. 
 
 Although the relations of debtor and creditor 
 are equal in the amount of property involved in 
 their transactions; and although the obligations 
 imposed by contracts naturally render creditors 
 the more powerful class in civilized society, the re- 
 cent proceedings of legislatures in this western 
 country, would lead us to believe, that a majority 
 in numbers or artifice, or perhaps in both, stands 
 on the debtor side of the ledger. Republicans 
 are not to be whipped like slaves, nor openly and 
 directly taxed to such extent as Europeans are, 
 but they may be deluded. Men of their own elect- 
 ing have practised upon them with success, and 
 the emoluments to be gained in this way, are ap- 
 parently the great stimulus that prompts men to 
 intrude themselves into State governments. No 
 rational mind can discover profit enough in two 
 dollars per day ; or patriotism enough in cheating 
 their constituents ; or popularity enough in elo- 
 quence that few can hear, and none can ever see 
 in print, to collect talent and integrity in council. 
 
 At first sight, it would appear to be a paradox, 
 that any individual State can be allowed to grant 
 charters to banks, or to frame laws that protect pe- 
 cuniary fraud, while a section of the constitution 
 of the United States prohibits such procedure by 
 the following words: — " No state shall coin money; 
 emit bills of credit ; make any thing but gold and 
 silver coin a tender in paying of debts ; pass any 
 ex-post facto law ; or law impairing the obligation 
 of contracts." The western States cannot avoid 
 being brought to issue with the above very distinct 
 clauses, as every charter granted by them, is an 
 act tolerating the substitution of paper, instead of 
 gold and silver ; and their replevy laws, and proper- 
 
 o 2
 
 196 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 ty laws, are in reality making paper a legal tender, 
 Besides, several establishments are chartered un- 
 der the appellations of State Banks ; and that in 
 Kentucky, for example, consists partly of stock 
 owned by the State. The conduct of Congress is 
 ~-iiot marked by any known act of partiality towards 
 the makers of unconstitutional money. On the 
 contrary, the collectors of the United States' re- 
 venue are not allowed to accept of depreciated 
 bills. Their receiving the money of inferior banks 
 while at par, though apparently countenancing 
 them, has been, in effect, the best means hitherto 
 adopted for effecting their ruin. The receivers of 
 revenue lodge the money received in the United 
 States' Bank, whose officers almost immediately 
 present the money to the Banks that issued it, and 
 demand payment in specie, or bills of the United 
 States' Bank. It has been in this way that many 
 of the paper manufacturers were obliged to sus- 
 pend specie payments ; and it was partly on ac- 
 count of this mode of operating on local banks, 
 that several State Assemblies voted an enormous 
 tax to be levied on the branches of the United 
 States' Bank situated in the respective States. — 
 That tax was mentioned in a former letter, with 
 a notice that the supreme court had given judg- 
 ment in favour of the National Bank ; and the 
 reasonings on which the decision was founded, 
 were published in a most luminous style. The su- 
 preme court being the arbitrator in all questions 
 rising out of the constitution, Congress have the 
 power of making the United States a party in de- 
 fending against encroachments in the prerogative 
 of the general government. In the present bank- 
 ing concern, they prudently decline interference, 
 seeing that experience will soon open the eyes of 
 a people who can, at any time, counteract the
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 197 
 
 abuse by excluding bankers, and their adherents, 
 from State legislatures. On this occasion, there 
 can be no necessity for forcing the interests of 
 the people down their throats, nor can there be 
 any danger that this infraction of the constitu- 
 tion will be perpetuated. That the present disorders 
 in banking are not extended over the whole of the 
 United States is manifested by the tables of ex- 
 change periodically published at New York. These 
 show that the depressions of money are chiefly 
 confined to the western country, where the sub- 
 stantial capita] is small, and where, (there is rea- 
 son to believe,) a large proportion of the people 
 are less acute. 
 
 The error committed in the Western States, is 
 not in consequence of any defect exclusively inhe- 
 rent in the democratic system of government ; as 
 the fraud is neither matured nor confirmed in the 
 older States, and as England suffers under an evil 
 of the same kind, and apparently in a more dan- 
 gerous form. Her restriction act of 1797> is not 
 understood to be opposed by any recognized con- 
 stitutional principle. It emanated from the high- 
 est authority in the land. It is not yet repealed, 
 and twenty-four bank-directors still have it in their 
 power to regulate the money value of all the pro- 
 perty in the empire *. 
 
 Amidst all the pecuniary inconveniences of this 
 country, the personal liberty of men is not in 
 danger of being assailed by the hand of constituted 
 authority. May the time soon come, when the 
 people shall have understanding enough to take 
 care of their property. 
 
 * Essay on the Justice and Expediency of Reducing the Inte- 
 rest of the National Debt. By Mr. J. R. M'Culloch. Edin- 
 burgh, 1816'. 
 
 o 3
 
 198 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 Depreciated Paper Money — Stagnation in Trade — Pro- 
 duce cheap — Labourers and Mechanics in want of Em- 
 ployment — The Poor and Pooj-'s Rates — Appropriations 
 for the Expenses of the State of Indiana, for the year 
 1820 — Objects and Rates of Taxation — County Taxes 
 ■ — A rude style of Improvement — The progress of New 
 Settlements — Lands about to be Forfeited to the Govern- 
 ment for non-payment oftlio price. 
 
 Jejfersonville, (Indiana, J May 4, 1820. 
 
 The accounts given in my last letter of the depre- 
 dations committed by bankers, will make you sup- 
 pose that affairs are much deranged here. Bank- 
 ruptcy is now a sin prohibited by law. In the 
 Eastern States, and in Europe, our condition must 
 be viewed as universal insolvency. Who, it may be 
 asked, would give credit to a people whose laws tole- 
 rate the violation of contracts ? Mutual credit and 
 confidence are almost torn up by the roots. It is 
 said that in China, knaves are openly commended 
 in courts of law for the adroitness of their manage- 
 ment. In the interior of the United States, law 
 has removed the necessity of being either acute or 
 
 honest. 
 
 The money in circulation is puzzling to traders, 
 and more particularly to strangers; for besides the 
 multiplicity of banks, and the diversity in supposed 
 value, fluctuations are so frequent, and so great, that 
 no man who holds it in his possession can be safe
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 199 
 
 for a day. The merchant, when asked the price of 
 an article, instead of making a direct answer, usu- 
 ally puts the question, " What sort of money have 
 yougot?" Supposing that anumber of billsare shown, 
 and one or more are accepted of, it is not till then, 
 that the price of the goods is declared ; and an ad- 
 ditional price is uniformly laid on, to compensate for 
 the supposed defect in the quality of the money. 
 Trade is stagnated— produce cheap — and merchants 
 find it difficult to lay in assortments of foreign ma- 
 nufactures. I have lately heard, that if a lady 
 purchases a dress in the city of Cincinnati, she 
 has to call at almost all the shops in town, before 
 she can procure trimmings of the suitable colours. 
 It is only about three years ago, that an English tra- 
 veller asserted, that in Cincinnati, " English goods 
 abound in as great profusion as in Cheapside *." — 
 Merchants in Cincinnati, as elsewhere, have got 
 into debt, by buying property, or by building houses, 
 but are now secure in the possession. Such people, 
 notwithstanding, complain of the badness of the 
 times, finding that the trade of buying without 
 paying cannot be continued. Those who have not 
 already secured an independence for life, may 
 soon be willing to have trade and fair dealing 
 as formerly. Property laws deprive creditors of 
 the debts now due to them j but they cannot force 
 them to give credit as they were wont to do. 
 
 Agriculture languishes — farmers cannot find 
 profit in hiring labourers. The increase of pro- 
 duce in the United States is greater than any in- 
 crease of consumpt that may be pointed out else- 
 where. To increase the quantity of provisions, 
 then, without enlarging the numbers of those who 
 eat them, will be only diminishing the price far- 
 
 * Fearon.
 
 200 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 ther. Land in these circumstances can be of no 
 value to the capitalist who would employ his funds 
 in farming. The spare capital of farmers is here 
 chiefly laid out in the purchase of lands. 
 
 Labourers and mechanics are in want of employ- 
 ment. I think that I have seen upwards of 1500 
 men in quest of work within eleven months past, 
 and many of these declared, that they had no mo- 
 ney. Newspapers and private letters agree in stat- 
 ing, that wages are so low as eighteen and three- 
 fourth cents (about ten-pence) per day, with board, 
 at Philadelphia, and some other places. Great 
 numbers of strangers lately camped in the open 
 field near Baltimore, depending on the contribu- 
 tions of the charitable for subsistence. You have 
 no doubt heard of emigrants returning to Eu- 
 rope without finding the prospect of a livelihood 
 in America. Some who have come out to this 
 part of the country do not succeed well. Labour- 
 ers' wages are at present a dollar and an eighth 
 part per day. Board costs them two three-fourths 
 or three dollars per week, and washing three- 
 fourths of a dollar for a dozen of pieces. On these 
 terms, it is plain that they cannot live two days by 
 the labour of one, with the other deductions which 
 are to be taken from their wages. Clothing, for 
 example, will cost about three times its price in 
 Britain : and the poor labourer is almost certain of 
 being paid in depreciated money j perhaps from 
 thirty to fifty per cent, under par. I have seen 
 several men turned out of boarding houses, where 
 their money would not be taken. They had no 
 other resource left but to lodge in the woods, 
 without any covering except their clothes. They 
 set fire to a decayed log, spread some boards along- 
 side of it for a bed, laid a block of timber across 
 for a pillow, and pursued their labour by day as
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 201 
 
 usual. A still greater misfortune than being paid 
 with bad money is to be guarded against, namely, 
 that of not being paid at all. Public improve- 
 ments are frequently executed by subscription, and 
 subscribers do not in every case consider them- 
 selves dishonoured by non-payment of the sum 
 they engage for. I could point out an interesting 
 work, where a tenth part of the amount on the 
 subscription book cannot now be realized. The 
 treasurer of a company so circumstanced, has only 
 to tell undertakers or labourers, that he cannot 
 pay them. I have heard of a treasurer who ap- 
 plied the funds entrusted to him to his own use, 
 and who refused to give any satisfaction for his 
 conduct. It is understood that persons who are 
 agents for others, frequently exchange the money 
 put into their hands for worse bills, and reserve 
 the premium obtained for themselves. Employers 
 are also in the habit of deceiving their workmen, 
 by telling them that it is not convenient to pay 
 wages in money, and that they run accounts with 
 the storekeeper, the tailor, and the shoemaker, and 
 that from them they may have all the necessaries 
 they want very cheap. The workman who consents 
 to this mode of payment, procures orders from the 
 employer, on one or more of these citizens, and is 
 charged a higher price for the goods than the em- 
 ployer actually pays for them. This is called pay- 
 ing in trade. 
 
 You have often heard that extreme poverty does 
 not exist in the United States. For some time af- 
 ter my arrival in the country supposed to be ex- 
 empt from abject misery ; I never heard the term 
 poor, (a word, by the by, not often used,) without 
 imagining that it applied to a class in moderate cir- 
 cumstances, who had it not in their power to live in
 
 202 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 fine houses, indulge in foreign luxuries, and wear 
 expensive clothing ; and on seeing a person whose 
 external appearance would have denoted a beggar 
 in Britain, I concluded that the unfortunate must 
 have been improvident or dissipated, or perhaps 
 possessed of both these qualities. My conjectures 
 may have on two or three occasions been just, as 
 people of a depressed appearance are very rarely 
 to be seen, but I now see the propriety of divest- 
 ing myself of such a hasty and ungenerous opi- 
 nion. Last winter a Cincinnati newspaper ad- 
 vertised a place where old clothes were received 
 for the poor, and another where cast shoes were 
 collected for children who could not, for want 
 of them, attend Sunday schools. The chari- 
 table measure of supplying the poor with public 
 meals, has lately been resorted to at Baltimore ; but 
 there is reason to believe, that most of the people 
 who are relieved in this way, are Europeans recently 
 come into America. In the western country, poors' 
 rates are raised in the form of a county tax. They 
 are, however, so moderate as to be scarcely felt. Con- 
 tracts for boarding the permanently poor are adver- 
 tised, and let to the lowest bidder, who has a right 
 to employ the pauper in any light work suited to the 
 age or ability of the object of charity. They are 
 said to be well treated. This sort of public exposure 
 must create a repugnance against becoming a pau- 
 per. In the Eastern States, work houses are esta- 
 blished. It is to be wished that those who follow 
 this plan will not lose sight of the example of Eng- 
 land. The operations of bankers, and the recent 
 decline in trade, have been effective causes of po- 
 verty ; and it seems probable that the introduction 
 of manufacturing industry, and a reduction of base 
 paper, would soon give effectual relief.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 20o 
 
 It is not from the number of benevolent institu- 
 tions, nor from the low condition of some families, 
 nor from the insolvency of individuals, that 1 draw 
 the conclusion that poverty prevails to a greater 
 extent than I at first imagined. The appropri- 
 ations for defraying the expenses of the State, 
 together with the ways and means, and the defici- 
 encies in payments, are highly illustrative. I shall 
 transcribe two documents. 
 
 ',' An act for making appropriations for the year one thou- 
 " sand eight hundred and twenty." 
 
 " Approved, January 22, 1820. 
 " Sec. I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State 
 " of Indiana, That the following sums be, and they are here- 
 " by appropriated for the following purposes ; to wit, For de- 
 * fraying the expenses of the present General Assembly, includ- 
 " ing pay to the members thereof, secretaries, clerks, door- 
 •* keepers, sergeants at arms, stationary, ink, ink-stands, fuel, 
 " printing, binding, and distributing the laws and journals, mak- 
 " ing marginal notes and indices to the same, together with 
 u all other just and necessary expenses, the sum of eight thou- 
 " sand five hundred dollars." 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 For the executive department . . . 2200 
 For the judiciary department, . . . 4900 
 For the interest on the public debt, . . 3000 
 For defraying the contingent expenses of the govern- 
 ment, for the year 1820, . . . 800 
 For the military department, including the salary of 
 
 the adjutant- general, . . 400 
 For defraying the premiums on wolf scalps unsatisfied, 500 
 For defraying warrants not yet presented in the judi- 
 ciary department, . . . . 875 
 
 12675 
 
 To make up the deficiency between the above 
 expenses and the sum appropriated, a separate act 
 authorizes the governor to borrow four thousand
 
 204 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 dollars on the credit of the State. The following 
 extract from an act, shows the sources of revenue. 
 
 " Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indi- 
 " ana. That there shall be levied a tax for State purposes, on 
 " the following objects of taxation, and after the following rates, 
 " to wit, For every hundred acres of first rate land subject to 
 " taxation, the sum of one dollar. On every hundred acres of 
 " second rate land, the sum of eighty-seven and a half cents. 
 " On every hundred acres of third rate land, the sum of sixty - 
 " two and a half cents; and in that proportion for a greater or less 
 " quantity. And on all Bank Stock actually paid in at the rate, 
 " twenty-five cents for every hundred dollars." 
 
 The expenses of the government of the State 
 for last year was 1 1,701^? dollars. Receipts of 
 bad money prevented payment of the interest of 
 the debt. On the 4th day of December, 1819, 
 there were arrears of taxes due for the years 1817 
 and 1818, amounting to 4991ifo dollars. 
 
 It is worthy of notice, that among the objects 
 of taxation quoted, that on bank stock is by the 
 act limited to " stock actually paid in" A most 
 decided proof of the preponderance of the bank- 
 ing interest, in exempting the villanous associa- 
 tions from an equal share of taxation ; and, at the 
 same time, countenancing an evasion of the secu- 
 rity pledged by bankers to the people. The re- 
 ceipts of bad money, noticed in last paragraph, 
 disclose a wickedness or a weakness on the part 
 of the Assembly which is altogether contemptible. 
 
 The following are the rates of taxes to be paid 
 for county purposes : For every horse, mule, or 
 ass, not exceeding 37s cents. For every horse kept 
 for covering ; once the rate at which he stands for 
 the season. Every tavern, not less than ten, nor 
 more than twenty-rive dollars. For every ferry, 
 not less than five, nor more than twenty dollars.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 205 
 
 Town lots in proportion to their value, (exclusive 
 of improvements thereon,) not exceeding fifty- 
 cents on every hundred dollars. A tax of fifty 
 cents to the clerks of the several circuit courts, at 
 the issuing of each writ of capias ad responden- 
 dum, A tax of fifty cents on each certificate of 
 magistracy, with the county seal attached thereto. 
 A tax on every pleasure carriage with two wheels, 
 of one dollar. A tax on every pleasure carriage 
 with four wheels, of one dollar and twenty-five 
 cents. A tax on every silver watch, twenty-five 
 cents. And a tax on each gold watch, of fifty 
 cents. 
 
 Town taxes for defraying the expense of digging 
 wells, forming streets, &c. are regulated by a com- 
 mittee of the inhabitants. The objects of taxation 
 in a town in this State were published last year. 
 Among these, a very moderate impost on bache- 
 lors and male dogs was mentioned. 
 
 Rich country signifies fertility of soil, and not 
 the opulence of its inhabitants. — It would be vain 
 to search for a rich district, according to the Eu- 
 ropean acceptation of the term. Almost every ob- 
 ject bespeaks a want of capital. Fine houses are 
 brick ones of two stories high, covered with shin- 
 gles, and frequently unfinished within ; and where 
 the work is completed, it is usually in a bad style; 
 the windows often broken; and the adjoining 
 grounds perhaps studded with the stumps of trees, 
 overgrown with rank weeds, or rutted by hogs. 
 The inferior buildings, as stables, barns, (and ne- 
 gro huts in slave States,) are unseemly log cabins, 
 frequently standing in front of the mansion; the 
 whole having more the appearance of a ruin than 
 the abodes of a people having taste for elegant 
 improvements. Gardening is performed in the 
 most slovenly manner imaginable ; the plough
 
 200 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 being in more general use than the spade. La- 
 bouring utensils are constructed without the appli- 
 cation of the joiner's plane. Iron is either sparing- 
 ingly used in their formation, or altogether dis- 
 pensed with. 
 
 All who have paid attention to the progress of new 
 settlements, agree in stating, that the first possession 
 of the woods in America, was taken by a class of 
 hunters, commonly called backwoodsmen. These, in 
 some instances, purchased the soil from the govern- 
 ment, and in others, placed themselves on the public 
 lands without permission. Many of them, indeed, 
 settled new territories before the ground was sur- 
 veyed, and before public sales commenced. For- 
 merly pre-emption rights were given to these squat- 
 ters ; but the irregularities and complicacy that 
 the practice introduced into the business of the 
 land-office, have caused its being given up, and 
 squatters are now obliged to make way for regular 
 purchasers. The improvements of a backwoods- 
 man are usually confined to building a rude log 
 cabin, clearing and fencing a small piece of ground 
 for raising Indian corn. A horse, a cow, a few 
 hogs, and some poultry, comprise his live-stock ; 
 and his farther operations are performed with his 
 rifle. The formation of a settlement in his neigh- 
 bourhood is hurtful to the success of his favour- 
 ite pursuit, and is the signal for his removing in- 
 to more remote parts of the wilderness. In the 
 case of his owning the land on which he has set- 
 tled, he is contented to sell it at a low price, and 
 his establishment, though trifling, adds much to the 
 comfort of his successor. The next class of set- 
 tlers differ from the former in having considerably 
 less dependence on the killing of game, in remain- 
 ing in the midst of a growing population, and in 
 devoting themselves more to agriculture. A man 
 
 1
 
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 207 
 
 of this class proceeds on a small capital ; he either 
 enlarges the clearings begun in the woods by his 
 backwoodsman predecessor, or establishes himself 
 on a new site. On his arrival in a settlement, the 
 neighbours unite in assisting him to erect a ca- 
 bin for the reception of his family. Some of them 
 cut down the trees, others drag them to the spot 
 with oxen, and the rest build up the logs. In this 
 way a house is commonly reared in one day. For 
 this well-timed assistance no immediate payment is 
 made, and he acquits himself by working to his 
 neighbours. It is not in his power to hire labour- 
 ers, and must depend therefore on his own exer- 
 tions. If his family is numerous and industrious, 
 his progress is greatly accelerated. He does not 
 clear away the forests by dint of labour, but gir- 
 dles the trees*. By the second summer after this 
 operation is performed, the foliage is completely 
 destroyed, and his crops are not injured by the 
 shade. He plants an orchard, which thrives and 
 bears abundantly under every sort of neglect. 
 His live-stock soon becomes much more numerous 
 than that of his back-wood predecessor ; but, as 
 his cattle have to shift for themselves in the woods, 
 where grass is scanty, they are small and lean. He 
 does not sow grass seeds to succeed his crops, so 
 that his land, which ought to be pasturage, is over- 
 grown with weeds. The neglect of sowing grass- 
 seeds deprives him of hay ; and he has no fodder laid 
 up for the winter except the blades of Indian corn, 
 which are much withered, and do not appear to be 
 nutritious food. The poor ainmals are forced 
 to range the forests in winter, where they can 
 scarcely procure any thing which is green, except 
 
 * The process of cutting the bark round trees, to destroy their 
 growth, is called girdling, or deadening.
 
 208 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 the buds of underwood on which they browse. — 
 Trees are sometimes cut down that the cattle may 
 eat the buds. Want of shelter in the winter com- 
 pletes the sum of misery. Hogs suffer famine during 
 the droughts of summer, and the frosts and snows of 
 winter; but they become fat by feeding on the acorns 
 and beech nuts which strow the ground in autumn. 
 Horses are not exempted from their share in these 
 common sufferings, with the addition of labour, 
 which most of them are not very able to undergo. 
 This second rate class of farmers are to be seen in 
 the markets of towns, retailing vegetables, fruits, 
 poultry, and dairy produce. One of them came 
 lately into this place on horseback, with ten pounds 
 of butter to sell ; but as he could not obtain a price 
 to his mind, he crossed the river to Louisville mar- 
 ket. In going and returning he must have paid 
 twenty-five cents to the ferryman — a considerable 
 expense, when it is considered that he had tra- 
 velled twelve miles with his little cargo. Another, 
 who lives at the distance of eight miles from this 
 place, brought a barrel of whisky, containing about 
 thirty-three gallons. He employed neither horse 
 nor vehicle in the transportation, but rolled the 
 cask along the road, which, by the by, is none of 
 the smoothest. Incidents of this kind may, per- 
 haps, cause you to suppose that the condition of the 
 second rate settler is similar to that of subtenants 
 in the north of Scotland, or in Ireland; but the high 
 price of labour in America explains the apparent 
 parity. Men perform offices for themselves that, 
 in Britain, would be done by hiring others. The 
 American farmer, it must be observed, is commonly 
 the proprietor of the land he occupies ; and, in the 
 hauteur of independence, is not surpassed by the 
 proudest freeholders of Britain. The settler of the 
 grade under consideration, is only able to bring a
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 209 
 
 i 
 
 small portion of his land into cultivation, his suc- 
 cess, therefore, does not so much depend on the 
 quantity of produce which he raises, as on the gra- 
 dual increase in the value of his property. When 
 the neighbourhood becomes more populous, he in 
 general has it in his power to sell his property at a 
 high price, and to remove to a new settlement, where 
 he can purchase a more extensive tract of land, or 
 commence farming on a larger scale than formerly. 
 The next occupier is a capitalist, who immediately 
 builds a larger barn than the former, and then a 
 brick or a frame house. He either pulls down the 
 dwelling of his predecessor, or converts it into a 
 stable. He erects better fences, and enlarges 
 the quantity of cultivated land ; sows down pas* 
 ture fields, introduces an improved stock of horses, 
 cattle, sheep, and these probably of the Merino 
 breed. He fattens cattle for the market, and 
 perhaps erects a flour-mill, or a saw-mill, or a 
 distillery. Farmers of this description are fre- 
 quently partners in the banks ; members of the 
 State assembly, or of Congress, or Justices of the 
 Peace. The condition of the people has necessarily 
 some relation to the age and prosperity of the set- 
 tlements in which they live. In Pennsylvania, for 
 instance the most extensive farmers are prevalent. 
 In the earliest settled parts of Ohio and Kentuc- 
 ky, the first and second rate farmers are most nu- 
 merous, and are mixed together. In Indiana, 
 backwoodsmen and second rate settlers predomi- 
 nate. The three conditions of settlers described, are 
 not to be understood as uniformly distinct; for there 
 are intermediate stages, from which individuals of 
 one class pass, as it were, into another. The first in- 
 vaders of the forest frequently become farmers of 
 the second order ; and there are examples of in- 
 dividuals acting their parts in all the three grada- 
 tions.
 
 210 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 In the district of Jeffersonville, there has been 
 an apparent interruption of the prosperity of the set- 
 tlers. Upwards of two hundred quarter sections 
 of land are by law forfeited to the government, 
 for non-payment of part of the purchase money 
 due more than a year ago. A year's indulgence 
 was granted by Congress, but unless farther ac- 
 commodation is immediately allowed, the lands 
 will soon be offered a second time for sale. Set- 
 tlers seeing the danger of losing their possessions, 
 are now offering to transfer their rights for less 
 sums than have already been paid ; it being still in 
 the power of purchasers to retain the lands on pay- 
 ing up the arrears due in the land office. This 
 marks the difficulty that individuals at present have, 
 in procuring small sums of money, in this particu- 
 lar district. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 Passage to Cincinnati— Depression of Trade — Popula- 
 tion — Manufactures— Institutions-— Banks — Climate — 
 Temperature— Springs — Quantity of Rain— 'Thunder 
 — Lightning— Aurora-Borealis — Tornadoes — Earth- 
 quakes — The Ohio unusually low in 1819 — Meeting of 
 the Citizens of Cincinnati — Notice of three Indian 
 Chiefs on their way for Washington City — Remarks on 
 llie Paci/lc Disposition of Indians, and their motives 
 for wars. 
 
 Cincinnati, (Ohio,) June 26, 1820. 
 I have come from the Falls of the Ohio to this 
 place, by a steam-boat in twenty-nine hours, the 
 average rate of sailing being about 6\ miles per
 
 LETTERS PROM AMERICA. 211 
 
 hour. The downward passage is performed by the 
 same vessel in about fifteen hours, (nearly at the 
 rate of twelve miles an hour.) From this it ap- 
 pears that the current moves at the rate of about 
 2jt miles each hour. The late M. Volney estimat- 
 ed the hourly velocity of this river in very low 
 stages of water, at two miles. His result is proba- 
 bly a little more than the mean rate along the 
 whole length of the river. The steam-boat is one 
 built exclusively for the accommodation of passen- 
 gers. She measures one hundred feet on the 
 keel, twenty-five feet on the beam, and draws only 
 three feet and three inches of water. The cabin 
 is an elegant apartment, forty feet long, and eigh- 
 teen feet wide. Adjoining to it are eight very 
 neat state rooms. The water wheel is situated in 
 an aperture astern, where it is protected from 
 coming in contact with logs, which are numerous 
 in the river. 
 
 Cincinnati suffers much from the decline in bu- 
 siness. The town does not now present any thing 
 like the stir that animated it about a year and a half 
 ago. Building is in a great measure suspended, 
 and the city which was lately over crowded with 
 people, has now a considerable number of empty 
 houses. Rents are lowered, and the price of pro- 
 visions considerably reduced. Many mechanics and 
 labourers find it impossible to procure employ- 
 ment. The same changes have taken place in the 
 other towns of the western country. Numbers of 
 people have deserted them, andcommencedfarming 
 in the woods. They will there have it in their pow- 
 er to raise produce enough for their families, but, 
 with the present low markets, and the probability of 
 a still greater reduction, they can have no induce- 
 ment but necessity for cultivating a surplus pro- 
 duce. 
 
 p 2
 
 212 
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 In 1819, the Cincinnati Directory, a small book 
 containing a list of the citizens, and many histori- 
 cal particulars, was published. Some extracts from 
 that work will give a condensed view of the pre- 
 sent magnitude and business of the place. 
 
 The enumeration of houses, made in March, 
 1819, was as follows : 
 
 Of brick and stone, two stories and upwards. 
 
 Do. Do. of one story, 
 
 Of wood, two stories and upwards, 
 
 Do. one story, .... 
 
 387 
 
 45 
 
 615 
 
 843 
 
 1S90 
 
 Occupied as separate dwelling houses, 
 Mercantile stores, 
 
 • 
 
 
 . 1003 
 95 
 
 Groceries, 
 
 • 
 
 
 102 
 
 Druggists' stores, .... 
 Confectionaries, .... 
 
 • 
 
 • < 
 
 
 11 
 
 i 
 
 4 
 
 Auction and commission stores, 
 
 • 
 
 
 5 
 
 Printing offices, .... 
 Book and stationery stores, 
 Places of public worship, 
 Banks, . ... 
 
 > • 
 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 Mechanics' shops, factories, and mills, 
 
 
 
 214 
 
 Taverns, . . . 
 
 • 
 
 
 17 
 
 College, court house, and jail, 
 Warehouses and other buildings, 
 
 • 
 
 
 S 
 412 
 
 
 
 Total 1890 
 
 Pojmlalion, as taken in July, 1 8 1 J 
 
 ). 
 
 White males, 
 
 ■ * 
 
 5402 
 
 White females, 
 
 $ • 
 
 4471 
 
 9873 
 
 Male persons of colour, 
 Females of colour, , . 
 
 • 
 • • 
 
 215 
 195 
 410 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 10283
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 213 
 
 Manufactures. 
 
 
 Work shops. 
 
 Workmen. 
 
 Two iron and bi'ass founderies, 
 
 . 
 
 132 
 
 Blacksmiths, . .... 
 
 . 
 
 80 or 90 
 
 Tin ware manufactories, 
 
 6 
 
 32 
 
 Copper, Do. . 
 
 4 
 
 14 
 
 Nail factories, ..... 
 
 2 
 
 13 
 
 Silver smiths, (watch repairers included,) 
 
 9 
 
 22 
 
 White smiths, ..... 
 
 . 
 
 3 
 
 Gunsmiths, ..... 
 
 . 
 
 2 
 
 Fire engine maker, .... 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Copperplate engraver, 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Gilder, . ..... 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Maker of sieves and lattice- work, from wire 
 
 , 1 
 
 1 
 
 Cabinet work, . . • 
 
 15 
 
 84 
 
 Coopers, . ... 
 
 16 
 
 50 
 
 Coach and waggon makers, 
 
 9 
 
 33 
 
 Chair makers, . .... 
 
 4 
 
 31 
 
 House carpenters and joiners, from . 80 to 100 
 
 
 and employing about 
 
 • 
 
 400 
 
 Boat builders, employing 
 
 • 
 
 60 or 70 
 
 Ivory and wood clock factory, 
 
 • 
 
 14 
 
 Saddle tree makers, .... 
 
 • 
 
 9 
 
 A plough maker ; a pump and block maker 
 
 3 
 
 
 a spinning wheel factory; a window maker ; 
 
 
 two turners of fancy wood- work; and one 
 
 
 fanning mill maker. 
 
 
 
 Shoemakers, .... 
 
 . 26 
 
 116 
 
 Tailors, .... 
 
 
 . 23 
 
 83 
 
 Saddlers, 
 
 
 11 
 
 32 
 
 Tan-yards, 
 
 
 . 6 
 
 25 
 
 Tobacconists, 
 
 
 6 
 
 70 
 
 Bakers, . ..... 
 
 
 . 15 
 
 38 
 
 Hatters, 
 
 
 5 
 
 37 
 
 Soap boilers, and tallow chandlers, 
 
 . 
 
 . 7 
 
 19 
 
 Distilleries, ..... 
 
 
 . 9 
 
 20 
 
 Rope-walks, 
 
 
 . 3 
 
 10 
 
 Breweries, ..... 
 
 
 . 2 
 
 20 
 
 Potteries, ... . 
 
 
 , 3 
 
 14 
 
 Stone cutters, 
 
 
 2 
 
 15 
 
 Brick-yards, 
 
 
 25 
 
 200 
 
 There are some other manufacturers, mechanics, 
 &c. such as the following, viz. Five book-binders ; 
 five painters and glaziers ; two brush-makers j one 
 
 p 3
 
 214 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 comb-maker ; two upholsterers ; one bellows- 
 maker ; two last-makers ; one whip-maker ; one 
 hundred brick-layers ; thirty plasterers ; fifteen 
 stone masons; eighteen milliners ; one dyer ; ten 
 barbers and hair-dressers ; ten street pavers ; one 
 burr millstone factory. 
 
 Cincinnati has a city court, occasional sittings 
 of the Supreme and Federal Courts, and a court of 
 common pleas ; a museum of natural history ; a 
 library ; a reading room ; a theatre ; three news- 
 papers ; five banks ; an insurance company ; three 
 fire engines ; a humane society for the resuscita- 
 tion of persons submersed in water ; an agricultu- 
 ral society ; two Bible societies ; two tract socie- 
 ties, (one of them for distributing Bibles and tracts 
 amongst boatmen on the river ;) four Sunday 
 school societies; and three charitable societies. 
 There are twenty-five lawyers and twenty-two doc- 
 tors in town. 
 
 Of four provincial banks in town, the paper of 
 three is reduced to about one-third part of the 
 specie sums on the face of their notes, and the 
 people are making a brisk run on the fourth. This 
 paper shop is not paying in specie, but merely giv- 
 ing money like its oxni. When the barter can be 
 no longer continued, the house must be shut, 
 and the holders of the pictures find them of no 
 value. 
 
 The laws of the country, as formerly explained 
 to you, give no redress. 
 
 The balance of trade in favour of England and 
 India, together with the exorbitant premiums to 
 be paid in exchanging bad money for specie, or 
 bills of the United States Bank, are quite unfa- 
 vourable to commerce with foreign countries. 
 The debts due to the merchants of England, and 
 to those in the Eastern States, might give little 
 
 3
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 215 
 
 annoyance, if creditors were indulgent as to the 
 past, and as liberal as usual in future transactions. 
 Property laws give full security in the meantime, 
 and the bankrupt laws of some States form a com- 
 plete protection against foreign claims. It is only 
 to be feared, that foreign merchants will not be suf- 
 ficiently accommodating hereafter. The increasing 
 numbers of their agents in the seaports of America, 
 augur no good to enterprizing traders in this part. 
 The climate of this country, like that of other 
 parts of North America, is subject to extremes of 
 heat and cold. We experience something like the 
 summer of tropical regions j the winter of Russia ; 
 the spring of England ; and the autumn of Egypt. 
 The range of the thermometer is well exemplified 
 by a compilation from the register kept by Colo- 
 nel Mansfield, near Cincinnati, for eight years ; 
 1806 and 1813 included. 
 
 Lowest. 
 
 Highest. 
 
 Range. 
 
 1806, 9° 
 
 94 
 
 85° 
 
 1807, 11° below zero, 
 
 95 
 
 106 
 
 1808, 4 do. 
 
 98 
 
 102 
 
 1809, 2 do. 
 
 9* 
 
 96 
 
 1810, 7 do. 
 
 91 
 
 98 
 
 1811, 8 do. 
 
 96 
 
 104 
 
 1812, 5 do. 
 
 96 
 
 101 
 
 1813, 10 do. 
 
 97 
 
 107 
 
 Mean range nearly 100°. 
 
 The greatest range known at Cincinnati is 116°. 
 At Salem, in Massachussets, a range of 100° was 
 long ago deduced from observations. 
 
 At Jeffersonville, in Indiana, a range of 96T ap- 
 pears on the register for six months past. The 
 third column in the following table shows the 
 greatest change of temperature that occurred in 
 each month, between eight o'clock A.M. and two 
 P.M. , a period of six hours.
 
 216 LETTERS FROM AMERICA* 
 
 
 Maximum* 
 
 Minimum. Range. 
 
 January, 
 
 5CP 
 
 2° above zero, 30° 
 
 February, 
 
 78 
 
 4 do. 38 
 
 March, 
 
 70 
 
 23 do. 35 
 
 April, 
 
 92 
 
 20 do. 24. 
 
 May, 
 
 79 
 
 50 do. 27 
 
 June, 
 
 98£ 
 
 50 do. 36 
 
 As the above observations extend only to a space 
 of six months, no accurate determination can be 
 derived from them. The most prominent occur- 
 rence is a transition of 38° in six hours. Dr. Ram- 
 say has observed elsewhere a change of 50°, in the 
 space of fifteen hours. These sudden alterations 
 are disagreeable to the sense of feeling, and inju- 
 rious to the health. 
 
 It is the popular belief that the greatest cold 
 usually occurs about sunrise, and the greatest heat 
 about 3 P.M. The most sudden changes are from 
 cold to heat, the transition from heat to cold not 
 being so instantaneous. Except for the gradual 
 progress of this change, it would be more sensibly 
 felt, and more dangerous. 
 
 The absence of figured icicles from the insides 
 of windows was mentioned in a former letter. Up 
 to the present time, I have never seen any of these 
 incrustations in America, — a certain proof of the 
 dryness of the atmosphere during frost. In sum- 
 mer, rains are not frequent, but when they do hap- 
 pen, they generally fall in torrents. They are often 
 attended by easterly winds, and are partially distri- 
 buted, drenching small tracts of country, and leav- 
 ing adjoining parts dry. During the summer of 
 1819, some parts of the country suffered under a 
 severe and long continued drought. The blades 
 of the crops of maize became shrivelled, the grass, 
 and afterwards the weeds withered. Latterly, part 
 of the foliage of the woods was very much dried.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 217 
 
 Travellers were subjected to some inconvenience 
 for want of water to their horses, as were many fa- 
 milies who lived in dry situations. Scarcity of 
 water is a calamity that is much aggravated by a 
 hot climate. In taverns, a bucket filled with this 
 indispensable liquid, stands open to every person 
 who chooses to take up the ladle that floats in it, 
 and drink. In schools, churches, and courts of 
 justice, water is provided. 
 
 The older settlers of this country affirm, that 
 the quantity of water issuing from springs is great- 
 ly augmented, by clearing away the timber from the 
 adjoining lands. From the number and the res- 
 pectability of the persons agreeing in this particu- 
 lar, the fact seems to be established. This is not, 
 however, to be explained simply by evaporation from 
 the earth, as that evaporation would be promoted by 
 clearing away the woods, which exposes the surface 
 of the ground to the rays of the sun. In this way 
 the soil would absorb a less supply for springs 
 than if it were shaded by trees. It would seem 
 probable, that the moisture intercepted by trees in 
 the shape of rain, dew, snow, and hoar-frost, which 
 is evaporated before reaching the ground, and 
 the water withdrawn from the earth by the organs 
 of trees, are together greater than the additional 
 evaporation from the surface that is induced by re- 
 moving the trees. 
 
 In January last, the rain at JefFersonville measur- 
 ed 3i inches ; in February 5| ; in March 3± ; in 
 April %l ; and in May, three inches ; making an 
 aggregate of eighteen inches in five months, a quan- 
 tity that is probably a little greater than the mean 
 for any long series of years. 
 
 Thunder occurs frequently ; sometimes the peals 
 are tremendous, and almost incessant. They are 
 generally accompanied with showers of rain, so co-
 
 218 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 pious as to cover flat ground with a sheet of water, 
 and the declivities with abroad stream. Many of the 
 best houses are furnished with rods for conducting 
 the lightning. Judging from notices of accidents 
 from the electric fluid in the newspapers, I am 
 not led to believe that they are much more num- 
 erous than in Britain. Although trees are bad 
 conductorsof electricity, they are frequently struck, 
 and it seems probable that the great abundance 
 of lofty trees lessens considerably the danger to 
 buildings. An old gentleman, a man of observation, 
 told me that he never knew of a decayed tree that 
 had been struck with lightning. This information 
 is the more worthy of observation, as great quantities 
 of withered trees are found amongst the woods, and 
 as the greater part of the lands of the western coun- 
 try are cleared by deadening the timber, and al- 
 lowing it to stand till it is easily burnt, or falls by 
 decay. Another person, who is well acquainted 
 with the habits of the Indians, informed me, that 
 during thunder storms, these people take shelter 
 under beech trees, in preference to other kinds of 
 timber. Some comparative experiments on the 
 conducting properties of leaves, bark, and timber, 
 are necessary before the propriety of this practice 
 can be established 
 
 It would be difficult to form a conception of any 
 thing in meteorology, more sublime than the 
 aerial lightning of this climate. In dark nights 
 the phenomenon is highly entertaining to every 
 spectator to whom the appearance is new. The vivid 
 flashes seem to emanate from a point, and diverge 
 from thence in every possible direction. The eye has 
 scarcely time to trace the progress of these corusca- 
 tions, which seem to sweep round half the expanse of 
 the heavens almost in an instant, and to irradiate
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 219 
 
 the margins of the blackest clouds with a transi- 
 tory blaze. 
 
 I have never seen the aurora borealis in Ameri- 
 ca. Two instances of its appearing in 1814 are 
 mentioned in the Picture of Cincinnati, which are 
 supposed to be the only unequivocal ones observ- 
 ed since the settlement of the western country. 
 This meteor is more frequently seen by the people 
 of the northern States. 
 
 The most prominent characteristics of the cli- 
 mate of this country are, the superior transparency 
 of the air in clear weather ; the frequency of a 
 light yellow, but translucent tinge that is strong- 
 est at the horizon, and fainter upwards, where it is 
 blended with a sky of a fine light blue, at the 
 height of a few degrees. The number of foggy 
 days is small*, and the appearance of clouds, pre- 
 vious to rain, sudden. Indeed, on several occa- 
 sions, I have observed a clear atmosphere trans- 
 formed into one abounding with dark clouds and 
 rain, in the space of an hour. Changes of this 
 kind are no doubt produced by sudden transitions 
 of temperature. 
 
 Severe gales of wind do not appear prevalent in 
 western America, if the two last winters can be 
 admitted as sufficient examples, as these seasons 
 were much less stormy than those of Scotland. 
 But it is necessary to make an exception of the 
 tornadoes, which occasionally blow down houses, 
 lay waste fields, and open avenues through the 
 woods. One of these tempests destroyed some 
 
 * Dr. Drake has shown that the mean number of cloudy days 
 in the year, was 104.33 for a space of six years; and that the 
 mean term of variable days for the same period, was 82.16 days. 
 Consequently, nearly half the time must have been clear wea- 
 ther — Picture of Cincinnati, p. 103.
 
 220 LETTERS FROM AMERICA; 
 
 buildings at Cincinnati, on the 28th of May, 1809. 
 It was preceded by a wind from the south, and a 
 higher current blowing from the west, and was un- 
 derstood to commence in the State of Tennessee. 
 It crossed the Allegany mountains " and made its 
 exit from the continent" on the same day*. 
 
 Although earthquakes have been frequently- 
 felt in the United States, the injury done by them 
 has either been local, or of little consequence. On 
 the Kith of'December,1811,a concussion at Cincin- 
 nati threw down some chimney tops, opened room 
 doors that were shut by a falling latch, and caused 
 the furniture to shake. During the year 1812, two 
 considerable shocks, and many lesser vibrations 
 were observed f . It appeared that the centre from 
 which the convulsions proceeded, was in the neigh- 
 bourhood of New Madrid, which lies on the bank 
 of the Mississippi, about seventy miles below the 
 mouth of the Ohio. At that place a dreadful com- 
 motion prevailed in December, 1812. The trees 
 beat upon one another, and were either twisted or 
 broken. The site of the town subsided about eight 
 feet. Many acres of land sunk, and were over- 
 flowed by the river, and the water rushed in tor- 
 rents from crevices opened in the land. Boats 
 were sunk, and, (as if the order of nature had been 
 inverted) sunk logs of timber were raised from the 
 bottom in such quantities that almost covered the 
 surface of the river. Slight vibrations, at intervals 
 of a few days, continue to the present time. Many 
 of the people deserted their possessions, and re- 
 tired to the Missouri, where lands were granted to 
 them by Congress. The inhabitants who re- 
 mained, and others who have since joined the 
 
 * See Dr. Drake's Picture of Cincinnati. 
 1 Ibid.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 2'21 
 
 settlement, are now so accustomed to the tre- 
 mor, that they talk of it with little or no con- 
 cern. 
 
 Last summer (1819) was unusually dry. The 
 Ohio was not navigable for steam-boats, subse- 
 quent to the middle of April, and there was no 
 flood till February last. West India produce, viz. 
 coffee and sugar, became scarce, and sold at more 
 than twice the common price. Many of the people 
 in this land of plenty, seemed to look forward to a 
 privation of these articles, as to an approaching 
 famine — Apropos of coffee, as I have heard that 
 the grocers of your country are not allowed to sell 
 burnt beans as a substitute, it is fortunate for 
 the revenue, that the Atlantic is always navi- 
 gable. 
 
 Since coming here, a numerous meeting of citi- 
 zens was held, to take into consideration the case 
 of a Judge who occupied another public situation 
 at the time of his being placed on the bench. Ap- 
 pointments of this kind are contrary to the con- 
 stitution. 
 
 Three Indians, the chief, the counsellor, and 
 the warrior of the Osage nation, on their way for 
 the city of Washington, halted here for a day. At 
 the request of an hospitable gentleman in town, 
 they dined at his house. I had there an opportu- 
 nity of having some conversation with them, 
 through the medium of their interpreter. Two of 
 them are men of large stature, and possess an un- 
 affected dignity of deportment, which, perhaps, 
 might not be improved by any thing like the adu- 
 lation of European courtiers. They are cleanly in 
 their persons, and their skin is of a light copper 
 colour. At table they acquitted themselves with 
 much ease and propriety. After dinner they sever 
 ally sat to an artist, who drew their portraits. Dur*
 
 222 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 ing this process, they kept themselves immovable as 
 statues, and were highly pleased with the imitative 
 art. The terrestrial globe was exhibited to them, 
 and briefly explained ; as was also the hypothesis 
 of a hollow sphere, lately suggested by Captain 
 Symmes of this place. After a short deliberation, 
 the chief replied : " We are willing to believe all 
 that you have told us, but white men know these 
 things best." Their answers to questions were al- 
 ways direct, concise, and calculated to avoid giv- 
 ing offence. The principal peculiarity of their 
 conduct was an eagerness to examine the interior 
 of the house. In this they were even indulged 
 without attendance. Theirjbusiness at the seat of 
 government, is to effect an arrangement for ob- 
 taining the means of improvement in the arts of 
 civilized life ; and to represent a grievance occa- 
 sioned by the government of the United States, 
 having purchased the lands of a neighbouring tribe, 
 which now encroach on the hunting grounds of 
 the Osage nation. The chiefs say, that they have 
 1800 warriors, and are able to destroy the tribes 
 which have come into their country ; but that they 
 are unwilling to go to war. 
 
 Despotic governments, wherever they are, might 
 stand reproved by the humanity of the aboriginal 
 chiefs of America ; and every people who are op- 
 pressed by the rapacity of privileged orders, may de- 
 rive valuable instruction from the independent men 
 of the forests, whose high spirit does not submit to be 
 enslaved or taxed. Wars against people of this cha- 
 racter present few allurements to the ambitious, and 
 still fewer to avaricious men. The pacific policy of 
 the Indians may, perhaps, be discredited, on ac- 
 count of the sanguinary wars that have thinned the 
 ranks of numerous tribes, and annihilated many 
 others. But it must be admitted, that this depopu-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 22S 
 
 lation has been accelerated, if not entirely produced, 
 by Europeans, who took possession of the country 
 by force, driving tribes into the territories of 
 other nations. A migration cannot be tolerated to 
 any great extent, where the people depend on 
 hunting and fishing for their subsistence. Hence, 
 the object of Indian warfare has been extirpation. 
 The practice of leaguing with one tribe in fighting 
 against another, has been a powerful cause of mu- 
 tual destruction. The presents given by Euro- 
 peans in these cases, and the promises made, could 
 never have been inducements to wars purely In- 
 dian. Add to this, the havock introduced by the 
 small-pox, and the use of spiritous liquors. We 
 are almost totally unacquainted with the remote 
 history of the American tribes. The great mag- 
 nitude of their remaining works, prove that the 
 population has once been comparatively numerous. 
 This fact is in some measure corroborated by the 
 great number of nations existing at the time of the 
 first invasion of white people. It follows, that the 
 wars that occurred during the accumulation of 
 these people, have probably been less frequent, or 
 less destructive than those which have latterly ex- 
 terminated a large portion of the race.
 
 22 J< LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 Descend the Ohio from Cincinnati to Madison— Notices of 
 a Scotch Settlement — Excess of Male Population — 
 Roads — Harvest — Crops — Or ch ards — Ti m bcr — Elec- 
 tions — Methodist Camp Meeting'. 
 
 Jeffersoiwille, (Indiana,) 
 August 8, 1820. 
 
 On the day succeeding the date of my last, I de- 
 scended the river to Madison, a new town on the 
 Indiana side of the river. 
 
 About twelve miles north-east of Madison, and 
 extending from thence eastward, is a new settle- 
 ment, consisting chiefly of Scots, who amount to 
 thirty- three families. The land which they have fix- 
 ed on seems to be of the second rate quality. It is 
 uneven, and intermixed with many deep ravines ; 
 in most of which the water is now dried up. The 
 greatest natural disadvantage of this situation is, 
 the difficulty of having roads over ground so much 
 broken ; but the industry displayed by the settlers 
 may remedy this before the present generation 
 passeth away. In the above enumeration of Scots, 
 I used the term families for want of a better ; but 
 it deserves notice, that two of these establishments 
 consist of two young men each, and one of them 
 of three. Amongst the bachelor cultivators I re- 
 cognised one of the passengers who came over 
 with me in the ship Glenthorn. Another of them 
 was lately a journeyman tailor in Edinburgh. He 
 has thrown aside the tools of his former business, 
 and taken up, in their stead, a more formidable
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 225 
 
 ■weapon. I had an opportunity of conversing with 
 five of these people. The supposed horrors of a back- 
 woods life, aggravated by a state of celibacy, has by 
 no means shed a gloom over their countenances. 
 Whatever their privations may be in the mean time, 
 they have at least a reasonable prospect of having 
 them speedily removed. The lands which they im- 
 prove are their own. Whether they continue to cul- 
 tivate or to sell them, their capital will increase: and 
 even in the event of their taking wives, the probabi- 
 lity of their children becoming paupers must be 
 greatly lessened, in consequence of their emigrating 
 to America. The excessive emigration of the men 
 occasions aconsiderable paucity of femalesin all new 
 settlements. While at Pittsburg, I saw a young wi- 
 dower with two infant children on his way for the 
 military lands, in the State of Illinois. Some one 
 hinted to him, that to marry again would be a pru- 
 dential step on his part. He gave his assent to the 
 truth of the remark, but expressed some doubts of 
 his finding a wife where he was going. " I have late- 
 ly been in that country," continued he, " and I be- 
 lieve that the girls there are all married up." During 
 the early stages of the settlement of the colonies, 
 the excess of male population must have been 
 thought a great inconvenience. It is on record 
 that the settlers of Virginia procured ladies from 
 England in exchange for tobacco. The neces- 
 sity of importations of this kind has been long 
 ago removed, in that State ; and the two sexes 
 are now nearly equal in point of numbers, al- 
 though not quite equally distributed over the 
 country. Before dropping this digression on 
 celibacy, I must mention my conviction that a 
 very great proportion of Scotsmen remain bache- 
 lors in America. This is not asserted as a fact 
 that applies to every part of the country, but in 
 
 Q
 
 226 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 so far as my observation has gone, I state it with 
 much confidence. Whether we are less ardent in 
 the pursuit than other people, or whether we are 
 more under the influence of the prudential princi- 
 ple, — or whether our imputed loyalty, or some other 
 national peculiarities, make the fair daughters of 
 this land repulsive to us, I am not prepared to say. 
 To return to the Scots settlement ; J. M. lately a 
 blacksmith in the county of Edinburgh, has settled 
 here himself. He arrived with his wife, seven 
 sons, two daughters, and a son-in-law, about ten 
 months before I met him. He has purchased 
 480 acres of land, built two log-houses and a 
 small stable j cleared and inclosed about 22 acres, 
 which is nearly all under crop ; deadened the tim- 
 ber of about 80 acres more ; and planted an or- 
 chard. In addition to these improvements, his 
 sons have wrought for a neighbour to the amount 
 of a hundred days' work. He has a horse, a cow, 
 a few hogs, and some poultry. I inquired if he 
 felt himself happy in a strange land ; he replied, 
 that he would not return to Scotland though the 
 property, of which he formerly rented a part, were 
 given to him for nothing. 
 
 Madison is a county town, consisting of about 
 100 houses. It is situated on a northerly bend of 
 the river Ohio ; and is, therefore, a place well 
 adapted for intercourse with the interior of In- 
 diana, and, on that account, it may soon become 
 a considerable town. While I was there, the circuit 
 court of the State was sitting. Two respectable per- 
 sonages were on the bench, and several lawyers of 
 polite address were attending to the business on 
 hand. The number of litigants is extremely 
 great when the thinness of the population is con- 
 sidered. 
 
 The roads are merely narrow avenues through
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 227 
 
 the woods; felling and rolling away the timber be- 
 ing, in most cases, all the labour which is bestowed 
 upon them. Withered trees, and others blown 
 down by the wind, lie across, forming obstructions 
 in many parts. The few bridges which we do see 
 are made of wood. In Indiana, the roads are 
 opened and occasionally repaired by an assessment 
 from every man who has lived thirty days in any 
 particular county. In the present year this statute 
 labour has been increased from two days' to six 
 days' work ; and the alteration is unpopular, be- 
 cause the poorest men in the State are obliged to 
 pay as much as the wealthiest landholders, and 
 non-resident landholders are exempted. I have 
 seen several labourers who left the State to avoid 
 this obnoxious tax. I am not informed whether 
 the increase mentioned has been exacted in every 
 part of the State. An act of the legislature fixes 
 six days' labour, or a money commutation of the 
 same, as a maximum, leaving the actual increase 
 in the option of county commissioners. It does 
 not appear probable that the road law can exist 
 long without being modified, as popular opinion 
 regulates every thing of the kind here. 
 
 On the 29th of June, wheat harvest was com- 
 menced on several farms to the west of Madison. 
 Oats, at that time, were headed out and luxuriant j 
 but the heat of the climate is uniformly unfavour- 
 able to the ripening of this kind of crop. Its weight, 
 relative to measure, is usually about half of that of 
 good grain in the better parts of Britain. The growth 
 of Indian corn is this season luxuriant. The only 
 injury it has suffered arises from squirrels that ga- 
 thered a considerable quantity of the seed in many 
 fields. Squirrels are not so excessively numerous 
 in the uninhabited woods as in the vicinity of cul- 
 tivated fields. Potatoes are small and of a bad 
 
 q2
 
 228 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 quality. At Jefferson ville, so early as the 29th of 
 May last, new potatoes were in the market. Tur- 
 nips (so far as I have observed) do not grow to a 
 large size, nor are they raised in large quantities. 
 Flax, in every field that I have seen, was a short 
 crop, with strong stems, and tops too much fork- 
 ed. Probably thicker sowing would improve its 
 quality. Hemp grows with great luxuriance. The 
 orchards are abundantly productive, and yield ap- 
 ples of the largest size ; but little care is taken in 
 selecting or ingrafting from varieties of the best 
 flavour. Small crab apples are the most acid, and 
 produce the finest cider. Pears are scarcely to be 
 seen. Peaches of the best and worst qualities are 
 to be met with. The trees bear on the third sum- 
 mer after the seed is sown, and although no atten- 
 tion is paid to the rearing them, the fruit is ex- 
 cessively plentiful, and is sometimes sold at twenty- 
 five cents (Is. l^d. English) per bushel. Last year 
 I weighed a peach, and found its weight to be 
 eleven ounces, and I observed in a newspaper about 
 the same time, an account of one of the extraordi- 
 nary weight of fourteen ounces. A rancid sort of 
 spirit is distilled from them, known here by the name 
 of peach brandy. Cherries are small. The earliest 
 this season at Cincinnati, were ripe on the 22d of 
 May. Wild cherry trees grow to a great height in the 
 woods; the timber is of a red colour, and is used in 
 making tables, bureaus, &c. and forms a tolerable 
 substitute for mahogany. 
 
 Ornamental gardening is a pursuit little attended 
 to, and perhaps will not soon be generally ex- 
 hibited. The soil of the best land being soft, the 
 torrents of rain which almost instantaneously de- 
 luge the surface convert it into a paste of a very un- 
 sightly appearance. Where the ground has even 
 a slight declivity, it is liable to have deep ruts 
 washed in it. Low walks and other hollows, are
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 229 
 
 often filled with the soil carried down from higher 
 parts of the ground. The severity of the winter 
 is another obstacle ; it being difficult to preserve 
 some perennial and biennial plants, or to procure 
 culinary vegetables in the spring. The stock of 
 cultivated flower roots is very small, and these not 
 well selected. Gooseberries and currants are scarce 
 and small. Cucumbers, melons, and a variety of 
 products that require artificial heat in Britain, 
 grow here vigorously in the open air. 
 
 Several species of forest trees furnish excellent 
 timber. The white oak is at once tough, dense, 
 flexible, and easily split. The black locust is strong, 
 heavy, not much subject to warping, and resists 
 the effects of the weather for a long period of 
 time. This sort of timber resembles laburnum 
 more than any that you are acquainted with. White 
 hickory is tough and elastic in a high degree, and 
 is the wood in general use for handles to axes, and 
 other tools. Black walnut grows to a great size, 
 and is considered a mark of the excellence of the 
 soil on which it grows. It is lighter, less curled in 
 its texture, and probably weaker than that of Eng- 
 land. The sugar-maple is curled in its fibre, and 
 is used in making stocks for rifles. White or water 
 maple is also curled, of a fine straw-colour, and is 
 sometimes introduced in cabinet-work with much 
 effect. White and blue ash trees are easily split, 
 pliant, and readily smoothed, but less fit to bear 
 exposure to the weather than the ash of Europe. 
 Poplar grows to a great size, and is easily convert- 
 ed into boards or scantling. Red cedar is exceed- 
 ingly durable as posts of rail-fences, and grows in 
 great abundance by Kentucky river. White and 
 yellow pines, similar to those ofCanada, are brought 
 from Allegany river, and are now sold here, in 
 boards, at a cent per square foot. 
 
 0,3
 
 230 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 A few days ago I witnessed the election of a 
 member of Congress for the State of Indiana. — 
 Members for the State assembly and county offi- 
 cers, and the votes for the township of Jefferson ville, 
 were taken by ballot in one day. No quarrels or 
 disorder occurred. At Louisville, in Kentucky, 
 the poll was kept open for three days. The votes 
 were given viva voce. I saw three fights in the 
 course of an hour. This method appears to be 
 productive of as much discord here as in England. 
 The States Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, 
 and all north of the latter, vote by ballot, and the 
 southern proceed verbally. 
 
 The sales of land in the late Indian purchase 
 in Indiana have commenced at Jeffersonville. — 
 They are now exposed by auction in lots of half 
 quarter sections, (80 acres.) Only a very small 
 part of the quantity offered has been sold. The 
 price obtained is almost uniformly a dollar and a 
 quarter per acre, the minimum rate now establish- 
 ed by act of Congress. A few lots which present 
 superior local advantages have sold higher. I know 
 of one, with an excellent mill-seat, that gave three 
 dollars per acre. The lands offered, but not sold 
 at the present auction, may afterwards be private- 
 ly purchased at the land-office for a dollar and 
 a quarter per acre. No credit is given to those 
 who buy public lands. The purchasers, whose 
 lands were by law forfeited for non-payment, 
 have got another year's indulgence, but this act of 
 lenity does not extend to those who are not actual 
 settlers. Quarter sections are divided into half 
 quarters, by south and north lines. A considera- 
 ble number of back-woodsmen, who had previous- 
 ly taken possession of lands in the new purchase, 
 attended the public sales for about a week. Du- 
 ring the night they lodged in a joiner's shed, which
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 231 
 
 is a mere temporary roof, composed of loose boards, 
 for the purpose of sheltering workmen from the 
 direct rays of the sun. 
 
 I lately returned from visiting the camp meet- 
 ing of Wesleyan methodists, where I remained 
 about twenty-four hours. On approaching the 
 scene of action, the number of horses tied to fen- 
 ces and trees, and the travelling waggons stand- 
 ing in the environs, convinced me of the great 
 magnitude of the assemblage. Immediately round 
 the meeting a considerable number of tents were 
 irregularly disposed. Some of them were log cabins 
 that seemed to have served several campaigns, but 
 most of them constructed by poles, covered over with 
 coarse tow cloth. These tents are for the accom- 
 modation of the people who attend the worship for 
 several days, or for a week together. I had no sooner 
 got a sight of the area within,than I was struck with 
 surprise, my feet were for a moment involuntari- 
 ly arrested, while I gazed on a preacher vociferat- 
 ing from a high rostrum, raised between two trees, 
 and an agitated crowd immediately before him, 
 that were making a loud noise, and the most singular 
 gesticulations which can be imagined. On advanc- 
 ing a few paces, I discovered that the turmoil was 
 chiefly confined within a small inclosure of about 
 thirty feet square, in front of the orator, and that 
 the ground occupied by the congregation was laid 
 with felled trees for seats. A rail fence divided it 
 into two parts, one for females, and the other for 
 males. It was my misfortune to enter by the wrong 
 side, and I was politely informed of the mistake 
 
 by a Colonel P , of my acquaintance, who, it 
 
 appeared, had undertaken the duty of keeping 
 the males apart from the females. The inclo- 
 sure already mentioned was for the reception of 
 those who undergo religious awakenings, and was
 
 232 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 filled by both sexes, who were exercising violently. 
 Shouting, screaming, clapping of hands, leaping, 
 jerking, falling, and swooning. The preacher could 
 not be distinctly heard, great as his exertions were; 
 certainly had it not been for his elevated position, 
 his voice would have been entirely blended with the 
 clamours below. I took my stand close by the fence, 
 for the purpose of noting down exclamations ut- 
 tered by the exercised, but found myself unable 
 to pick up any thing like a distinct paragraph. — 
 Borrowing an idea from the Greek mythology, to 
 have a distinct perception of sounds, poured from 
 such a multitude of bellowing mouths, would re- 
 quire the ear of Jove. — I had to content myself 
 with such vociferations as glory, glory, jwwer, 
 Jesus Christ, — with " groans and woes unutter- 
 able." 
 
 In the afternoon a short cessation was allowed 
 for dinner, and those deeply affected were remov- 
 ed to tents and laid on the ground. This new ar- 
 rangement made a striking change in the camp, the 
 bustle being removed from the centre and distri- 
 buted along the outskirts of the preaching ground. 
 Separate tents, in which one or more persons were 
 laid, were surrounded by females who sung melo- 
 diously. It is truly delightful to hear these sweet 
 singing people. Some of their tunes, it is true, did 
 not convey, through my prejudiced ears, the so- 
 lemn impressions that become religious worship, 
 for I recognised several of the airs associated with 
 the sentimental songs of my native land. In one 
 instance a tent was dismantled of its tow cloth 
 covering, which discovered a female almost motion- 
 less. After a choir of girls around her, had sung 
 for a few minutes, two men then stood over her, 
 and simultaneously joined in prayer. One of them,
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 233 
 
 gifted with a loud and clear voice, drowned the 
 other totally, and actually prayed him down. 
 
 After dinner another orator took his place. The 
 inclosure was again filled with the penitent, or 
 with others wishing to become so, and a vast con- 
 gregation arranged themselves on their seats in 
 the rear. A most pathetic prayer was poured 
 forth, and a profound silence reigned over all the 
 camp, except the fenced inclosure, from whence 
 a low hollow murmuring sound issued. Now and 
 then, Amen was articulated in a pitiful and indis- 
 tinct tone of voice. You have seen a menagerie 
 of wild animals on a journey, and haveperhapsheard 
 the king of beasts, and other powerful quadrupeds, 
 excited to grumbling by the jolting of the wag- 
 gon. Probably you will call this a rude simile ; 
 but it is the most accurate that I can think of. 
 Sermon commenced. The preacher announced 
 his determination of discontinuing his labours in 
 this part of the world, and leaving his dear breth- 
 ren for ever. He addressed the old men present, 
 telling them that they and he must soon be remov- 
 ed from this mortal state of existence, and that 
 the melancholy reflection arose in his mind, — 
 What will become of the church when we are dead 
 and gone?" — Aloud response of groaning and 
 howling was sounded by the aged in the inclosure, 
 and throughout the congregation. He next no- 
 ticed that he saw a multitude of young men be- 
 fore him, and, addressing himself to them, said, 
 " I trust in God, that many of you will be now 
 " converted, and will become the preachers and 
 ** the pious Christians of after days." — The cla- 
 mour now thickened, for young and old shouted 
 together. Turning his eyes toward the female 
 side of the fence, he continued, " And you, my 

 
 234- LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 " dear sisters." — What he had farther to say to the 
 future " nursing mothers of the church," could not 
 be heard, for the burst of acclamation, on their 
 part, completely prevented his voice from being 
 heard, on which account he withdrew; and a 
 tune was struck up and sung with grand en- 
 thusiasm. The worship now proceeded with a 
 new energy ; the prompter in the pulpit had suc- 
 ceeded in giving it an impulse, and the music was 
 sufficient to preserve emotion. The inclosure was 
 so much crowded that its inmates had not the li- 
 berty of lateral motion, but were literally hob- 
 bling en masse. My attention was particularly 
 directed to a girl of about twelve years of age, 
 who while standing could not be seen over her 
 taller neighbours ; but at every leap she was con- 
 spicuous above them. The velocity of every plunge 
 made her long loose hair flirt up as if a hand- 
 kerchief were held by one of its corners and 
 twitched violently. Another female, who had ar- 
 rived at womanhood, was so much overcome 
 that she was held up to the breeze by two per- 
 sons who went to her relief. 1 never before saw 
 such exhaustion. The vertebral column was com- 
 pletely pliant, her body, her neck, and her ex- 
 tended arms, bent in every direction successively. 
 It would be impossible to describe the diversity 
 of cases j they were not now confined within the 
 fence, but were numerous among the people with- 
 out. Only a small proportion of them could fall 
 within the observation of any one bystander. The 
 scene was to me equally novel and curious. 
 
 About dusk I retired several hundred yards in- 
 to the woods to enjoy the distant effect of the 
 meeting. Female voices were mournfully predomi- 
 nant, and my imagination figured to me a multi- 
 tude of mothers, widows, and sisters, giving the 
 
 3
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 23«5 
 
 first vent to their grief, in bewailing the loss of a 
 male population, by war, shipwreck, or some other 
 great catastrophe. 
 
 It had been thought proper to place sentinels 
 without the camp. Females were not allowed to 
 pass out into the woods after dark. Spirituous 
 liquors were not permitted to be sold in the neigh- 
 bourhood. 
 
 Large fires of timber were kindled, which cast 
 a new lustre on every object. The white tents 
 gleamed in the glare. Over them the dusky woods 
 formed a most romantic gloom, only the tall 
 trunks of the front rank were distinctly visible, 
 and these seemed so many members of a lofty co- 
 lonnade. The illuminated camp lay on a declivity, 
 and exposed a scene that suggested to my mind 
 the moonlight gambols of beings known to us on- 
 ly through the fictions of credulous ages. The 
 greatest turmoil prevailed within the fence, where 
 the inmates were leaping and hobbling together 
 with upward looks and extended arms. Around 
 this busy mass, the crowd formed a thicker ring 
 than the famous Macedonian phalanx j and among 
 them, a mixture of the exercised were interspers- 
 ed. Most faces were turned inward to gaze on 
 the grand exhibition, the rear ranks on tip-toe, to 
 see over those in front of them, and not a few 
 mounted on the log-seats, to have a more command- 
 ing view of the show. People were constantly 
 passing out and into the ring in brisk motion, so 
 that the white drapery of females, and the darker 
 apparel of the men were alternately vanishing and 
 re-appearing in the most elegant confusion. The 
 sublimity of the music served to give an enchant- 
 ing effect to the whole. My mind involuntarily re- 
 verted to the leading feature of the tale of Alio- 
 way Kirk.
 
 236 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 " Warlocks and witches in a dance ; 
 Where Tarn o' Shanter 
 
 Stood like ane bewitch'd, 
 
 And thought his very een enrich'd." 
 
 Late in the evening a man detached himself 
 from the crowd, walking rapidly backward and for- 
 ward, and crying aloud. His vociferations were of 
 this kind : " I have been a great sinner, and was on 
 the way to be damned ; but am converted now, 
 thank God — glory, glory !" He turned round on 
 his heel occasionally, giving a loud whoop. A gen- 
 tleman with whom I am well acquainted, told me 
 that he had a conversation with a female who had 
 just recovered from the debility of the day. She 
 could give no other account of her sensations than 
 that she felt so good, that she could press her very 
 enemy to her bosom. 
 
 At half past two P.M. I got into a tent, stretch- 
 ed myself on the ground, and was soon lulled as- 
 leep by the music. About five I was awakened 
 by the unceasing melody. At seven, preaching was 
 resumed ; and a lawyer residing in the neighbour- 
 hood gave a sermon of a legal character. 
 
 At nine the meeting adjourned to breakfast. 
 A multitude of small fires being previously struck 
 up, an extensive cooking process commenced, and 
 the smell of bacon tainted the air. I took this 
 opportunity of reconnoitring the evacuated field. 
 The little inclosure, so often mentioned, is by the 
 religious called Altar, and some scoffers are wick- 
 ed enough to call it Pen, from its similarity to the 
 structures in which hogs are confined. Its area 
 was covered over with straw, in some parts more 
 wetted than the litter of a stable. If it could be 
 ascertained that all this moisture was from the 
 tears of the penitent, the fact would be a surpris- 
 ing one. Waving all inquiry into this phenome-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 237 
 
 non, however, the incident now recorded may- 
 be held forth as a very suitable counterpart to a 
 wonderful story recorded by the Methodistic ora- 
 cle Lorenzo Dow, of a heavy shower drenching a 
 neighbourhood, while a small speck including a 
 camp meeting was passed over and left entirely 
 dry. In Lorenzo's case, the rain fell all round 
 the camp, but in that noticed by me, the moisture 
 was in the very centre. 
 
 You can form no adequate idea of a camp meeting 
 from any description which can be given of it. Any 
 one who would have a complete view of enthusiasm 
 can only attain it by visiting such a meeting and 
 seeing it himself. I should be sorry to abuse the 
 Methodist sect by the illiberal application of such 
 terms as fanaticism superstition, or illusion. I 
 have known many of them who are valuable mem- 
 bers of society, and several who have rendered 
 important services to their country, but have not 
 seen any one prostrated, or even visibly affected, at 
 the camp meeting or elsewhere, whom I knew to be 
 men of strong minds or of much intelligence. Fe- 
 males seem to be more susceptible of the impres- 
 sions than men are. A quality perhaps that is to be 
 imputed to the greater sensibility of their feelings. 
 
 ******* 
 ******* 
 ******* 
 ******* 
 ******* 
 
 The awakenings in Kentucky that were some 
 years ago hailed by the religious magazines of 
 your country as the workings of the Divine Spirit,
 
 238 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 must have been those that occurred at camp meet- 
 ings of Methodists. These assemblages are now 
 said to be on the decline in Kentucky ; and when 
 meetings were held on a grand scale there, many 
 disorders were committed by immoral persons, 
 tending to the great scandal of religion, and occa- 
 sioning the precautionary measures already no- 
 ticed in this detail. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 Circumstances that retard Mamifacturing Industry, and 
 Causes of its prosperity. 
 
 Jejfcrsonville, ( Indiana,} Aug. 15, 1820. 
 
 In my letter of the 26th of June last, I mentioned 
 that mechanics were leaving the towns of the 
 western country, and becoming cultivators in the 
 back woods. In many cases, their former habits are 
 such as are not well calculated to reconcile them 
 with their new situations. It appears evident that 
 such people, placed in the forests, cannot for some 
 time raise a quantity of produce sufficient to pro- 
 cure in exchange such foreign luxuries as they 
 formerly consumed, and such articles of imported 
 dress as they have been accustomed to wear. 
 The former may be easily dispensed with, but for 
 the latter a substitute must be provided. Fa- 
 mily manufacture is the obvious resource ; but it 
 must proceed slowly in cases where the females are 
 not acquainted with this branch of industry, and
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 239 
 
 in the uncleared woods, which are not suitable pas- 
 tures for sheep. It is to be regretted that manu- 
 facturing establishments are not erected, as these 
 would not only furnish employment more conge- 
 nial to the habits of artizans, and preserve to them 
 their wonted accommodations, but would be of 
 vast national importance under the present cir- 
 cumstances of America. 
 
 I trust that a brief exposition of a few of the 
 principal causes which retard manufacturing indus- 
 try, and of the means of promoting it, in this 
 country, will not be unacceptable to you j espe- 
 cially as the policy of America, on that subject, 
 affects at once the interests of both countries. 
 
 The primary obstacle that has hitherto prevent- 
 ed Americans from fabricating their own necessa- 
 ries, from the products of their own country, is 
 universally acknowledged to be an extensive inter- 
 course with Great Britain, in exporting produce, 
 and importing manufactured goods in return 5 — 
 a correspondence that subjects American arti- 
 sans to a competition with a country in which 
 wages are low, labour subdivided, and in which 
 the most stupendous mechanical apparatus is em- 
 ployed. 
 
 The indecision which has heretofore characteriz- 
 ed the conduct of the United States, with regard to 
 manufactures, seems to have originated in the di- 
 versity of interests represented in the government. 
 The people of the southern States are, for several 
 reasons, averse to making concessions for procuring 
 home-made goods. They are comparatively little 
 devoted to mechanical pursuits, and still less ac- 
 quainted with the diversified operations of work- 
 shops. Their negroes are seldom trained to any 
 thing but agricultural and menial services, and the
 
 210 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 condition of these labourers is otherwise unfavour- 
 able to the acquisition of skill in new employ- 
 ments. This part of the country, besides, exports 
 large quantities of cotton, tobacco, and rice, arti- 
 cles that do not excite the jealousy of the landed 
 interest in Britain ; but, on the contrary, almost 
 enjoy a monopoly of the British market. It is 
 plain that the people who possess advantages of 
 this kind, have it more in their power to continue 
 traffic with England than their northern neigh- 
 bours, whose produce is excluded by the corn laws 
 of that country, which have been wisely enacted. 
 
 Traders who have capital vested in ships, and 
 in the importation of manufactured goods, form a 
 class that is more interested in opposing an inde- 
 pendent system than any other. Though their in- 
 fluence in Congress appears to be declining, some 
 time must elapse before their funds can be direct- 
 ed to other pursuits. 
 
 The import duties on foreign manufactures, 
 high as in most cases they appear to be, have not 
 the effect of protecting American artizans from 
 competition with those of other countries, who 
 ■work cheaper. This disadvantage has been pro- 
 duced by the profuse issues of a paper currency. 
 Money of this sort not taking the market abroad, 
 it remains in the country, where it operates against 
 industry, by augmenting the nominal price of la- 
 bour. " Hence people are complaining of want of 
 employment, while they depend on the labour of 
 foreigners for almost every artificial modification 
 of the materials raised on their own soil, or these 
 lie unheeded under their feet. Import duties are 
 not to be considered merely as enactments for 
 promoting American manufactures, for they con- 
 stitute the principal source of national revenue. 
 It might be difficult to form a conception of a re-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 241 
 
 venue that could be collected at less expense, or 
 of taxation raised in a more voluntary manner on 
 the part of the people. But as moderating these 
 duties must unquestionably, on every occasion, be 
 injurious to home industry, and as augmenting 
 them to the extent of the total prohibition of foreign 
 goods would introduce smuggling, the two objects 
 of the system are in some degree incompatible 
 in the present state of money affairs. 
 
 The capital vested in uncultivated lands, is a 
 mere dormant stock which cannot be applied to 
 such active employments as the erection of work- 
 shops, machinery, and other outlays necessary for 
 the establishment of manufactories, unless it is 
 replaced by other funds. Neither is it so easy to 
 procure money as formerly by mortgaging cultivat- 
 ed lands, now when the prices of produce are so low. 
 
 The expedients resorted to, in keeping base mo- 
 ney in circulation, are, with respect to manufactur- 
 ing interests, as impolitic as they are, in fact, un- 
 just. Bankers, who are virtually insolvent, are to be 
 ranked amongst the opposers of manufactures, as 
 it must be impossible for such men to contemplate 
 the reduction of the quantity of money so essen- 
 tial to industry, without dreading the retribution 
 that awaits them. 
 
 The present condition of the United States is 
 well suited to convince the people of the expe- 
 diency of making exertions for supplying their own 
 wants. Europe is no longer to be relied on as a 
 market for their produce, and Great Britain in 
 particular has in effect excluded the grain and the 
 timber of the United States from her markets, and 
 prohibits Americans from trading with her West 
 India colonies. Since these restrictions have taken 
 place, great quantities of British manufactures 
 have been imported into America, and the course 
 
 R
 
 
 24,2 
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 of exchange has shown, that a large money balance 
 has arisen in favour of Britain. Some persons in- 
 terested in the traffic, infer the prosperity of the 
 United States from their being able to pay a ba- 
 lance of trade. Though general doctrinesof thiskind 
 are sanctioned by several great economists, on the 
 broad principle that an exportation of money indi- 
 cates a corresponding importation of property, or 
 in other words, an accumulation of wealth ; before 
 adopting an assumption of this kind in any parti- 
 cular case, it may be safe to inquire whether the 
 imports consist of articles, which are permanently 
 beneficial, or of luxuries either of the more perishable 
 kinds, or of those more conducive to ornament than 
 utility. With regard to the late imports of the Unit- 
 ed States, it is thought sufficient to notice that 
 they have not furnished the ability to continue 
 them in their usual amount. 
 
 Farther, nothing can be more plain than the ne- 
 cessity of abridging the quantity of paper money in 
 circulation ; and when this is done to a sufficient ex- 
 tent, foreigners will find it impossible to procure dol- 
 lars here on terms so easy as formerly. Were money 
 rendered so scarce, that it would command three 
 or four times the quantity of the necessaries of 
 life that it does now, foreign labour would be ex- 
 cluded, and the American labourer, with a third 
 or a fourth part of his present nominal wages, 
 would find the only changes in his condition to be 
 a greater demand for his work, and an immediate 
 enlargement of his resources. The farmer would 
 eventually find the means of increasing his pro- 
 duce, and the advantage of a home market ; and 
 capitalists now engaged in foreign commerce, 
 would find employment for their funds in manu- 
 factures. Fortunately the impolitic course latter-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 243 
 
 ly pursued is leading to its own correction. Spe- 
 cie is seldom to be seen in the ordinary transac- 
 tions of business, except in small worn pieces of 
 inferior denominations, and cut money, from which 
 a portion of the metal has been fraudulently ab- 
 stracted. The deficiency in weight prevents this 
 part of the currency from being exported in direct 
 payments, and nothing but the recent deprecia- 
 tion of paper seems to prevent these remnants of 
 silver from being disposed of as bullion. 
 
 In former times, when Europe furnished a mar- 
 ket for almost every kind of produce, the strongest 
 inducements to agricultural industryprevailed. The 
 fertility and the vast extent of the United States en- 
 abled cultivators to increase in numbers, in a man- 
 ner that would have produced a disagreeable com- 
 petition, in a more thickly peopled country ; but 
 the recent state of commercial affairs shows that 
 America is not wide enough to prevent the incon- 
 veniences of competition in a narrow market. 
 The necessity of a new distribution of pursuits be- 
 comes every day more apparent, as without it the 
 people cannot enjoy the articles of comfort and 
 luxury hitherto imported. Some of the most po- 
 pular newspapers now advocate the cause of ma- 
 nufactures, and several public societies take a 
 deep interest in promoting the internal prosperity 
 of the country. The society at Philadelphia for 
 promoting American manufactures, have in some 
 of their papers reasoned in such a manner as to 
 prove that they possess a comprehensive know- 
 ledge of the subject, both of its effects on na- 
 tional wealth, and of manufacturing business. The 
 resolutions of the society lately instituted at Cin- 
 cinnati for the promotion of agriculture, manu- 
 factures, and domestic economy, are subjoined, 
 
 R 2
 
 214 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 as a mark of the patriotic spirit that now prevails *. 
 The committee of this society consists of people 
 of the greatest wealth and influence in the city 
 and neighbourhood. 
 
 Of the essays in favour of manufactures which 
 have been published, it may be observed generally, 
 that they recommend the adoption of higher im- 
 port duties. That these have not been resorted 
 to, need excite no surprise, as the secretary of the 
 treasury has shown that an increase of duties must 
 be followed by a decrease of national revenue, 
 
 * " 1st. We will not purchase, or suffer to be used in our fa- 
 milies, any imported liquors, fruits, nuts, or preserves of any 
 kind, unless they shall be required in cases of sickness. 
 
 " 2d. Being convinced, that the practice which generally pre- 
 vails of wearing suits of black as testimonials of respect for the 
 memory of deceased friends, is altogether useless, if not impro- 
 per, while it is attended with a heavy expense ; we will not 
 sanction it hereafter in our families, or encourage it in others. 
 
 " 3d. We will not purchase, for ourselves or our families, such 
 articles of dress as are expensive, and are generally considered 
 as ornamental rather than useful. 
 
 ** Mh. We will abstain from the use of imported goods of eve- 
 ry description, as far as may be practicable, and we will give a 
 preference to articles that are of the growth and manufacture 
 of our own country, when the latter can be procured. 
 
 " 5th. We will not purchase any articles, either of food or dress, 
 at prices that are considered extravagant, or that the citizens 
 generally cannot afford to pay ; but will rather abstain from 
 the use of such articles until they can be obtained at reasonable 
 
 prices. 
 
 " 6th. We will observe a rigid economy in every branch ot our 
 expenditures, and will, in all our purchases, be influenced by 
 necessity rather than convenience, and by utility rather than 
 
 ornament. - 
 
 " 1th. We believe that the prosperity of the country depends 
 in a great degree on a general and faithful observance of the 
 foregoing declaration ; we therefore promise that we will adhere 
 
 to it ourselves, and that we will recommend it to others." 
 
 Farnsrvorlh's Cincinnati Directory.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 245 
 
 and as the ultimate substitute, internal taxation, 
 would probably be unpopular, although imposed 
 with the most sparing hand. The spontaneous de- 
 crease in the amount of money capital now going 
 on, does not seem to be duly appreciated ; — an 
 occurrence that is evidently well calculated to 
 give an impulse to American industry. 
 
 When the United States shall abandon the spu- 
 rious money now in circulation, and proceed on a 
 smaller but more substantial capital, a new era of 
 national prosperity will commence. The govern- 
 ment will be freed from the danger, or rather the 
 certainty, of losing the revenue by a smuggled 
 trade, and will feel less necessity for resorting 
 to restrictive regulations. A less sum of mo- 
 ney will be sufficient to defray the public expen- 
 ses. The consequent cheapness of labour will 
 give the agriculturist new advantages in foreign 
 markets, and develop in a new degree the natural 
 resources of the country. The home market, oc- 
 casioned by a manufacturing population, will be se- 
 cure, as being beyond the reach of foreign govern- 
 ments, whose caprice is hostile to the security of 
 American trade. Whenever the country shall be 
 able to manufacture the whole, or the greater part 
 of its necessaries, the exports of produce must be 
 attended with an importation of specie. The in- 
 gress of foreign capitalists may also be calculated 
 on as one of the effects to be produced by the 
 change of system. 
 
 The introduction of manufactures must promote 
 internal improvements, as the making of roads and 
 the construction of works, for facilitating inland na- 
 vigation. The country will be rendered capable of 
 supporting a greater population than it can under 
 the present system, thereby removing much of the 
 inconvenience that attends their present settle- 
 
 r3
 
 2i6 LETTERS FROM AMERICA, 
 
 ments ; better opportunities for mental improve- 
 ment, and the means of more prompt national de- 
 fence, will be acquired ; foreign commerce and fo- 
 reign relations will be abridged, so that the hazard 
 of hostilities with other countries may be greatly 
 lessened. A small shipping trade evidently requires 
 less naval protection than an extensive foreign com- 
 merce, and the retrenchment may perhaps admit of 
 some relaxation in the present construction of ships 
 of war. The reverses so frequently injurious to the 
 manufacturers of Britain are less to be dreaded in 
 the United States. While their manufactures do 
 not exceed their own wants, it will always be prac- 
 ticable to prevent the home market from being 
 overstocked, and while the vacant back woods are 
 held in reserve, a manufacturing population need 
 not be reduced to pauperism by the want of a fo- 
 reign market for their fabrics. 
 
 The erection of manufacturing establishments 
 Was recommended some time ago by intelligent 
 citizens, who foresaw that the money capital of the 
 country could not long supply the great efflux of 
 specie. Now, a change of policy becomes a mat- 
 ter of necessity. It is chiefly to be regretted that 
 several State legislatures are too active in forcing 
 the circulation of degraded money ; — a procedure 
 which, in the meantime, retards the natural subsi- 
 dence of the convulsion, and keeps property out 
 of the hands of its real owners. However far 
 they may succeed in procuring indemnity for 
 past peculations, their efforts must be impotent 
 in opposition to the future interests of mau- 
 kind. The paper currency that they strive to 
 support falls in spite of their utmost exertions. I now 
 rind that my expense of living or of travelling is no- 
 minally the same that it. was in the autumn of 1818. 
 At that time I paid in specie, or in money, which
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 247 
 
 was considered as nearly equivalent to it, but of 
 late I have on various occasions found that paper 
 is accepted which is 50 per cent, worse than silver. 
 A person who collected a salary to the amount of 
 about eight hundred dollars, told me that he had 
 received only five dollars of that sum in specie. 
 You can easily perceive that, under this state of 
 things, very few will give specie to the tavern-keep- 
 er, grocer, or others, while he can previously procure 
 for it one and a half times, or twice its nominal 
 amount, in what is called current paper. Most of 
 the small towns have a person who follows the bu- 
 siness of money changing ; and merchants and 
 other persons transact in that way, so that specie 
 is almost entirely withdrawn from retail business, 
 and applied to the purchase of public lands, or 
 other objects, for which depreciated paper would 
 not be accepted of in payment. Under this con- 
 dition, an unsettled or precarious sort of internal 
 trade is carried on, but it is impossible to import 
 foreign goods as formerly. 
 
 The want of employment is another strong in- 
 ducement to adopt an independent system of eco- 
 nomy, but a cumbrous load of paper money 
 presses industry to the earth. It is found by ex- 
 perience that the farmer cannot pay 125 cents 
 per day to the labourer, and sell his corn for 25 
 cents per bushel, nor can the labourer work for 
 a small hire while he pays two and a half, or three 
 dollars a-week for his board, and an extravagant 
 price for his clothing. Similar obstacles occur in 
 almost every branch of industry that furnishes any 
 thing for exportation, or comes into competition 
 with the labour of foreign artizans, so that the 
 operations of this country now consist chiefly of 
 works of first necessity. A gentleman who has 
 opportunities of being well acquainted with the 
 2
 
 248 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 business of Philadelphia, has computed that in 
 that county alone, there are at least 15,000 per- 
 sons who are either entirely idle or are engaged in 
 unproductive labour. He stated that he has had 
 more than twenty applications for employment, 
 when he could give work only to one, and that se- 
 veral other manufacturers say, that they cannot 
 employ a tenth part of the applicants they meet 
 with. The same gentleman estimates that there 
 are about 150,000 unemployed persons along the 
 Atlantic coast, and that there are 350,000 persons 
 of the same description in other parts of the coun- 
 try *. It is not pretended that these enumera- 
 tions are derived from accurate data, or that they 
 are even very close approximations to the real 
 numbers ; but, taken in connection with other well 
 known facts, they may be received as satisfactory 
 evidence that the evil exists to a very considerable 
 extent f . 
 
 * Letter to the President of the United States, by John Me- 
 lish, Esq. Phil. 1818. 
 
 t From the paucity of the circumstances attended to in sta- 
 tistical inquiries, the most superficial observer might infer that 
 national pride is sufficiently gratified by the number of human 
 beings, without regard to that of useful or efficient citizens, and 
 that governments are satisfied with knowing little more of their 
 people than that they die, and that they were born. It were 
 to be wished that enumerations were made annually, instead of 
 at the usual long intervals of time ; and in addition to the parti- 
 culars ordinarily ascertained, such were embraced as, the num- 
 ber of those who can show that they procure their subsistence 
 by lawful means ; those who have fixed residences ; those 
 who have received a moral education ; the nature of employ- 
 ments ; the duration and immediate causes of their avocations ; 
 "bankruptcies ; convictions for specified crimes; the known or 
 proximate causes of deaths ; cases of lunacy ; felo de se ; epi- 
 demy and meteorological registers made in every department 
 of the country. The collection of information of this kind 
 might be conducted in a manner that would operate as a bene-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 249 
 
 Want of employment is here viewed as a want 
 of organization. With you it is represented to be 
 an indication of an overpeopled country. The 
 government of the United States does not attempt 
 to get rid of its people, but, on the contrary, it wel- 
 comes the stranger who arrives on their shores. 
 Your government pay for transporting their sub- 
 jects, or encourage their removal by giving them 
 lands gratis. Canada is wide enough to receive 
 them, but its connection with England does not 
 admit of a free trade. Multitudes of emigrants 
 find their comforts as narrow as before, and remove 
 into the United States. If facts of this sort indi- 
 cate any thing, it is that no extent of country can 
 compensate for mismanagement, or, in other words, 
 a nation is more easily overstocked from impolicy 
 than from want of soil. 
 
 The habits and institutions of the American 
 people are peculiarly favourable to the adoption 
 of manufacturing pursuits. They have no corpo- 
 rations with exclusive privileges, and no laws which 
 enact any specific period of apprenticeship. Their 
 well known spirit of enterprise, and the circum- 
 
 ficial supervision of society. It would furnish the police de- 
 partment with a new insight into the sources of delinquency. 
 Taken in connection with coexistent laws which affect trade and 
 revenue, and criminal laws, and the state of markets, political 
 economy would be furnished with new instruments for inves- 
 tigation. The approach of misery might frequently be antici- 
 pated and arrested without being exhibited on the poor's list, 
 in the workhouse, or in the shape of inability to pay taxes. 
 Crimes might be prevented, and better criteria obtained for 
 discriminating between offences committed against law, and 
 those perpetrated by law. A new light would be thrown on 
 several branches of physical science, and particularly on agri- 
 culture, climate, and the healing I art. It is but too easy to 
 discover that the desideratum is not in unison with the affairs of 
 the age, but it is probable that another Alfred, or a Lycurgus 
 must arise before it can be remedied.
 
 250 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 stance of almost every man's being acquainted 
 with handling the axe, the hammer, the saw, and 
 the joiner's plane, must give a facility to the acquisi- 
 tion of mechanical labour. Besides, it is understood 
 that a few weeks, or at farthest a few months, are 
 enough to communicate the knowledge of most 
 of those employments, and that the work can 
 soon be reduced to practice by subsequent appli- 
 cation. The progress already made in several 
 branches of manufacture tend to inspire a strong 
 hope as to future attainments. The fabrication 
 of coarse cotton cloths, called domestics, which 
 now undersell British goods of similar quality ; 
 the making of iron articles, of leather-hats, paper, 
 types, engravings, the construction of steam-boats, 
 and the building of ships, are mentioned as flatter- 
 ing examples. 
 
 As the disposition to promote American manu- 
 factures is progressive, and as popular opinion 
 dictates the measures of the government, it may 
 be safe to infer that commerce with England is 
 now in a deep decline, and that the erection of 
 workshops (though it should be on a moderate 
 scale) may be hailed as the liberation of the 
 United States from foreign monopoly.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 251 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 Circuit Court of Indiana — Laioyers — Presiding Judge- 
 Trial and Whipping of a Thief — Lands — Crops — Four- 
 teen-Mile-Creek — Salt Springs — Town of Cory don — 
 Drought — Barrens — Caves — Effects of a Tornado — 
 Formation of the Higher Alluvial Bottom Lands of the 
 Ohio — More Barrens — Salt River — Large Trees — Wild 
 Vines — Steam-Boats — The Falls of the Ohio— Preva- 
 lence of Bilious and Intermittent Fevers--Taciturnity — 
 Americanisms. 
 
 Jeffersonville, (Indiana J Sept. 8, 1820. 
 
 Since writing my last letter to you, 1 have made 
 several short excursions into the country. — 1 was 
 at Charlestown, the seat of justice in Clark county, 
 while the circuit court sat there, and had oppor- 
 tunities of hearing the oratory of several barristers, 
 which was delivered in language at once strong, 
 elegant, and polite. A spirit of emulation pre- 
 vails at the bar, and a gentleman of good taste 
 informed me, that some young practitioners have 
 made vast progress within two or three years past. 
 The United States certainly open an extensive 
 school for eloquence. The number of cases of 
 litigation before the various courts of justice is 
 very great; and there are numerous opportuni- 
 ties for exerting popular talent, as at elections, 
 where the harangues are called stump-speech- 
 es, from the practice of candidates mounting the 
 stumps of trees, and there addressing themselves 
 to the people, and in State Assemblies.
 
 '252 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 The circuit court consists of a presiding judge, 
 who makes a progress over the whole State, and 
 who meets with two associate judges at the seve- 
 ral seats of justice. Associate judges are local, 
 and only act in their respective counties. One of 
 these gentlemen opened the court at Charlestown 
 last year in the absence of the presiding judge. — 
 A large jug, for holding cold water, that stood 
 on the bench, had a caricature portrait of a judge 
 painted on it, and several lawyers, on coming for- 
 ward to open their cases, bowed to the figure, and 
 directed their eyes to it during their speeches, 
 occasioning much laughter in the house. It was 
 not till the arrival of the presiding judge that the 
 contempt was checked. Freedoms on the part of 
 lawyers seem to be promoted in the back-country, 
 in consequence of the bench being occasionally 
 filled with men who are much inferior to those at 
 the bar. The salary of the presiding judge (I have 
 been told) is only seven hundred dollars a-year. 
 As he is engaged in public business and in travel- 
 ling nearly the whole of his time, that sum can only 
 defray his expenses, even under the most econo- 
 mical management, so that there can be no great er- 
 ror in supposing that he acts gratuitously. The pre- 
 sent presiding judge is a man who has distinguish- 
 ed himself in Indian warfare. Whatever opinion 
 you may form of the bench here, you may be as- 
 sured that it is occupied as a post of honour. 
 
 Amongst the business of the court, the trial of a 
 man who had stolen two horses excited much 
 interest. On his being sentenced to suffer thir- 
 ty stripes, he was immediately led from the 
 bar to the whipping-post. Every twitch of the 
 cow-hide, (a weapon formerly described,) drew a 
 red line across his back. This was the second 
 infliction of the kind that had been sanctioned by
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 253 
 
 court in the State, since my coming into it. I do 
 not notice the infrequency of punishments as 
 wishing to occasion a belief that misdemeanours 
 are seldom committed. Indeed, were it not for the 
 absolute impunity obtained in most cases, we might 
 soon see the partial development of a new system 
 of physiognomy, one not founded on the features 
 of the face, but on the striped lineaments of the 
 back. Never, till now, did I so much value the 
 usage of Scotland, where the inhabitant, on remov- 
 ing from one parish to another, carries with him 
 the testimonial of the church. 
 
 The surface of the land in the neighbourhood 
 of Charlestown is beautifully diversified, varying 
 between gently undulated and steep or broken 
 ground. The soil is of the first rate quality, and 
 covered with luxuriant crops of Indian corn. The 
 crops of wheat are what you would call a second 
 rate crop, and several fields of oats, which I saw, 
 were headed out, and were as bulky as any that I 
 have seen in Mid-Lothian ; but, for a reason former- 
 ly stated, the grain cannot be expected to arrive at 
 fine quality. The banks of Fourteen-Mile-Creek, 
 (which joins the Ohio at the distance of fourteen 
 miles above the falls,) are cliffs of limestone that 
 are overtopped by tall woods, and form, by their 
 windings, many romantic scenes, of which I can con- 
 vey no adequate idea. The stream is at present al- 
 most entirely dried up, but the extent of its bed, 
 and the marks of inundation by its margin, con- 
 vince me that its floods are nearly equal to those 
 of the Clyde at Glasgow. Some salt springs that 
 percolate through the rocks in the bottom, have 
 been discovered during the present dry season : 
 the existence of these were first surmised by an in- 
 genious gentleman, with whom lam well acquainted. 
 He proceeded by introducing a small tube into a
 
 •254 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 deep and still part of the river, and drew water 
 from the bottom that was perceptibly saline. He 
 has now some people engaged in boring, by which 
 means the discharge of water has been consider- 
 ably augmented, and has commenced evaporating 
 on a small scale. This process is usually perform- 
 ed by filling a number of iron kettles, of about 
 three feet in diameter, and six inches deep, with 
 the water, and placing them on loose stones, or 
 over a trench that is dug in the ground for receiv- 
 ing the fuel. Boring for salt water is a work that 
 is occasionally accompanied with a considerable 
 degree of difficulty. Where the bore communi- 
 cates with a fresh water spring, on a higher level 
 than the saline one, a tube of tinned iron is let 
 down to exclude the former. At the salt-works by 
 Kanhaway River, perforations have been made in 
 the lime-stone rocks to the depth of two hundred 
 feet. There a hundred gallons of water are said 
 to yield a bushel of salt; but there are waters eva- 
 porated in other parts of the country that do not 
 yield more than a fourth, or even a sixth part of 
 that quantity. 
 
 Corydon, the capital of the State of Indiana, is 
 a small village, situated in an obscure valley of 
 Indian Creek, and is surrounded by high and broken 
 wooded lands. The weeds which cover the clear 
 parts of the town plot are withered to whiteness by 
 the drought, as is most of the ground in this part 
 of the country, swamps and lands under crop ex- 
 cepted. The site of a new capital for the State 
 is determined to be on the east branch of White 
 River, where the lands are still in the hands of the 
 government. Future convenience, and the pros- 
 pect of promoting the sale of land in the late In- 
 dian purchase, seem to have, on this occasion, tri-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 25 
 
 .-: 
 
 umphed over private interest. — No name has yet 
 been assigned to this inland metropolis. 
 
 Between Corydon and the river Ohio, (about 
 twenty-five miles,) the surface is of a rolling struc- 
 ture, and the soil good. Grass, at all times scanty 
 on account of the small quantity of cleared ground, 
 is now withered. The surface, where closely shad- 
 ed by large trees, scarcely exhibits any thing that 
 is green ; rotten logs, and the leaves of last autumn, 
 are strovved over the ground, presenting the most 
 gloomy picture of desolation. Where large trees 
 are thin, a growth of underwood prevails. Grounds 
 called barrens are interspersed with the woods in 
 this part of Indiana. — These are covered over with 
 small copse wood, as hazel and briars, also with 
 grasses, and an immense variety of deciduous plants. 
 — The name barrens must have arisen from the 
 lands so denominated not producing such a large 
 growth of vegetable matter as the forests, rather 
 than from sterility. They are, in reality, much 
 better pasturages than the woodlands, and, when 
 cultivated, produce the best crops of wheat. 1 
 found travelling through the barrens to be some- 
 what uncomfortable, on account of exposure to the 
 ravs of the sun, and the dust of the road, which 
 was continually raised, in a little cloud, by the mo- 
 tion of the horse's feet. This sort of ground is 
 dry, and without the vast quantity of decaying ve- 
 getable matters to be seen in the woods, and for 
 these reasons it is probably more conducive to 
 health. 
 
 A great portion of the soil of western America 
 lies immediately over immense strata of horizon- 
 tal limestone, in which are numerous fissures. I 
 have often seen the presence of these indicated in 
 Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, by hollows in the
 
 256 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 ground in the form of inverted cones, which are 
 here called sink holes. Some of these fissures 
 have openings to the surface. A stupendous one 
 in Kentucky, known by the name of the great 
 cave, has been explored to the distance of nine 
 miles from its entrance *. The nitrate of potash 
 has been found in some of these caves, and the 
 sulphate of magnesia in others. Many of them 
 abound in stalactites of calc sinter ; and copious 
 streams of water pass through some of them. One 
 of these in Kentucky turns a subterraneous mill, 
 to which access is obtained by a sink-hole ; and a 
 
 Colonel C of Indiana told me that a settler in 
 
 his neighbourhood, on digging a well, penetrated 
 into a stream of water, and found blind fishes in 
 itt. 
 
 During the last and the present summer, this 
 country has suffered droughts, which the inhabit- 
 ants consider extraordinary. Between Corydon 
 and the Ohio the water was very muddy. Some 
 people in that part are obliged to carry water 
 from a distance of two miles. It is not uncom- 
 mon now to see mill streams entirely dried up. I 
 have seen several peach trees, with the fruit nearly 
 ripened, almost dried up by the scorching heat ; 
 and, in some instances, the woods assuming the 
 appearance of autumn prematurely, from the same 
 cause. The disadvantage of the want of water 
 will be thought less appalling, when it is recollect' 
 ed that the clearing of the ground has a tendency 
 to increase springs ; and when it is considered that 
 
 * A description of this cave was written by John H. Farnham, 
 Esq., and by him transmitted to the American Antiquarian 
 Society, instituted by the legislature of Massachusetts. 
 
 t Since the above was written, a notice of blind fishes has 
 appeared (if I mistake not) in the memoirs of the Wernerian 
 Society of Edinburgh.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 257 
 
 the dryness of rivers is not occasioned by the total 
 want of springs, but by the evaporation from the 
 bottoms of water-courses j and farther, that water 
 in most situations may be procured by digging 
 wells. 
 
 Immediately on the north bank of the Ohio, 
 and about thirty miles below the fall, I crossed an 
 avenue in the woods, 600 or 700 yards wide, 
 which had been devastated by a tornado that had 
 passed from west to east, and in its way cleared 
 the ground almost entirely. The largest trees 
 were either torn up by the roots or broken. In 
 the part that I observed, nothing but underwood 
 and the shattered fragments of trees remained. 
 On making inquiries as to the hurricane, I was in- 
 formed that it swept over the country to the 
 length of several hundred miles; and that, on the 
 Kentucky side of the river, it totally obstructed a 
 road with timber which has not yet been removed. 
 
 It is also about thirty miles below the falls that 
 the range of high land, called the knobs, intersects 
 the river. This is the ridge that crosses the lower 
 part of Indiana, and part of Kentucky, which the 
 late M. Volney noticed under the name of the Sil- 
 ver Creek hills ; and by him supposed to have once 
 formed a dam, that retained a lake in the valley of 
 the Ohio, extending from the ridge just mentioned, 
 to the place where Pittsburg now stands. That phi- 
 losopher attempted to show that the higher bottom 
 lands, which are above the level of the present in- 
 undations, were deposited in the bottom of the 
 lake ; and that, on the water's making a gap in 
 the barrier, the lake was drained, and the Ohio 
 withdrawn into its present lower and less capa- 
 cious bed. That the knobs once formed a dam I 
 am forced to admit, from having seen marks on a 
 high level on the limestone rocks in the gap, which
 
 258 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 clearly indicate the action of a cataract: but I am, 
 notwithstanding, led to agree with Dr. Drake's 
 hypothesis, which explains the formation of the 
 higher bottom land, as being the alluvion of the 
 Ohio at a time when that river was much larger 
 than at present. The facts relating to this subject 
 that have come within the reach of my own obser- 
 vation, may perhaps be inserted in a well-known 
 scientific journal. In the meantime, it may be 
 sufficient to say, it is now ascertained, that the wa- 
 ters of Erie, and other great lakes, formerly flowed 
 southward into the valley of the Ohio ; and that 
 a cataract, more tremendous than the falls of Nia- 
 gara, raged among the rocks of Silver Creek hills. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Salt River and Green 
 River, in Kentucky, there are extensive tracks of 
 barren wastes. Small hazel bushes from two to three 
 feet in height abound in these ; and the quantity of 
 nuts produced exceeds any thing of the kind which 
 I have ever seen. The soil of these wastes seems 
 to be very similar to that of the adjoining woods ; 
 and on account of the trees diminishing gradually 
 in size, from the forest towards the waste, it is 
 sometimes impossible to discover a line where 
 the one stops and the other begins. This, being 
 told by an old settler, that some small saplings 
 which stood on his farm twenty years ago, are now 
 become tall trees, leads me to adopt the opinion 
 entertained by some, that the wastes or barrens owe 
 their characteristic form to the Indians, who set fire 
 to dried grass and other vegetables with the de- 
 sign of facilitating their hunting. 
 
 Salt River is between 100 and 150 yards wide 
 where it unites with the Ohio, and is navigable for 
 about sixty miles. The name is derived from salt 
 springs in its vicinity that are now wrought. Op- 
 posite to the mouth of this river, on the north
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 259 
 
 bank of the Ohio, stands a sycamore tree of stu- 
 pendous size, which is hollow within. I measured 
 the cavity, and found one diameter to be twenty- 
 one feet, and the other twenty feet. In one side 
 of it, a hole is cut sufficiently large to admit a man 
 on horseback. It was probably a sycamore consi- 
 derably less than this that is noticed in the Pitts- 
 burg Navigator, (edition printed in 1818, p. 29,) 
 in the following words : — " There is one of these 
 huge trees in Sciota county, Ohio, on the land of 
 a Mr. Abraham Miller, into whose hollow thirteen 
 men rode on horseback, June 6, 1808 ; the four- 
 teenth did not enter, his horse being skittish, and 
 too fearful to advance into so curious an apart- 
 ment, but there was room enough for two more." 
 
 There is perhaps no vegetable in this country 
 that strikes the mind with greater surprise than the 
 wild vine. I have seen one with a stem nine inches 
 in diameter, and heard of others measuring eleven 
 inches. Some detached trees have their tops close- 
 ly wreathed with the vines in a manner that forms 
 an elegant and umbrageous canopy, into which the 
 eye cannot penetrate. In the woods they overtop 
 the tallest trees, and from thence hang their pen- 
 dulous twigs almost to the ground, or pass their 
 ramifications from the branches of one tree to 
 others, overshadowing a considerable space. In 
 many instances their roots are at the distance of 
 several feet from any tree, and their tops attached 
 to branches at the height of sixty or eighty feet, 
 without coming into contact with the trunks of 
 trees, or any other intermediate support. To make 
 the case plain, I have only to say, that the positions 
 of some of these vines have a near resemblance to 
 the stays, and some other ropes of a ship. The ques- 
 tion, how they have erected themselves in this man- 
 ner? is frequently put. Boats that descend the 
 
 s 2
 
 260 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 Ohio are often moored without any other cable 
 than a small vine. If a notch is cut in the stem 
 of a vine in the spring season, clear and tasteless 
 water runs out, not in drops, but in a continued 
 stream. I have several times quenched my thirst 
 from sources of this kind. 
 
 For upwards of two months, the Ohio has been 
 low ; steam-boats cannot now pass from the falls 
 at this place to the Mississippi, nor can boats, de- 
 scending with produce, get down the same rapids 
 without unloading the greater part of their car- 
 goes. The trade of the country is of consequence 
 much interrupted. In spring, 1818, there were 
 thirty-one steam-boats on the Mississippi and Ohio ; 
 at present there are sixty on these waters. This in- 
 crease of craft, together with the decreasing quan- 
 tity of goods imported, has lowered the freight from 
 New Orleans to the falls of the Ohio, from six 
 cents to two cents per pound. The rates paid by 
 passengers, however, are not reduced in the same 
 proportion. 
 
 The falls of the Ohio are occasioned by a bed 
 of horizontal limestone that stretches across the 
 river, which is upwards of a mile in breadth. At 
 the head of the falls, the river is about a mile broad, 
 including a small island, but in dry seasons of the 
 year the waters are much contracted in breadth, 
 leaving a great portion of the rocky bottom en- 
 tirely dry. The interruption to the navigation is 
 not a precipitous cascade, as the name would im- 
 ply, but a rapid, which is extremely shallow at the 
 head in dry weather, and runs over an uneven bot- 
 tom, at the rate of about fourteen miles an hour. 
 After passing the upper, or principal shoot, nearly 
 the whole of the waters are collected into a deep 
 but narrow channel, close by the Indiana shore, 
 leaving some small islands toward the opposite side j
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 261 
 
 the second, or lower shoot, is less violent, having 
 deeper water, and is always navigable for loaded 
 boats passing downward. The lives of a number 
 of strangers have lately been lost, by venturing 
 down without pilots. The whole fall, at the low- 
 est known stage of water, is nearly twenty-four 
 feet ; but in floods the declivity is distributed over 
 a large portion of the river, and is imperceptible 
 to the eye. The rocks contain vast quantities of 
 organic remains, as madrepores, millepores, favo- 
 cites, alcyonites, corals, several species of tere- 
 bratulse, trilobites, trochites, &c. &c. These re- 
 mains being harder than the water-worn rocks, ap- 
 pear prominent, as if in relief, and many of them 
 almost entirely detached. They are so numerous, 
 that the surface is literally studded with them. 
 Volney, who visited this place, has represented the 
 rocks to be destitute of such subjects. It must 
 have been at a time when they were covered by 
 water. 
 
 The inhabitants in the neighbourhood of the Falls 
 have been visited by attacks of bilious fever andague. 
 A considerable number of persons have been carried 
 off by the former of these complaints, and the con- 
 valescent of both are much debilitated. A surmise 
 lately appeared in a Louisville newspaper, that many 
 poor people had suffered from the want of medical 
 assistance, and hazarded the opinion, that a num- 
 ber had died in cases where seasonable applications 
 might have been efficacious. Accounts from Vin- 
 cennes say, that about a third part of the people 
 there are confined to bed by sickness, and that 
 much of the Wabash country, both in Indiana and 
 Illinois, are now subject to the same evil. Reports 
 from the settlements on the lower parts of White 
 river represent that sickness prevails there and 
 along other water courses. There are many peo- 
 
 s a
 
 262 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 pie who act as if they were not sufficiently sensible 
 of the disadvantages resulting from settling in un- 
 healthy situations. Fertility of soil and commer- 
 cial advantages are the great attractions, but men 
 who look to these as primary considerations, obvi- 
 ously undervalue some of the strongest checks to 
 population and public prosperity. The endemical 
 distempers of this country, so far from being chief- 
 ly confined to the weak and the aged, seem to com- 
 mit their greatest devastations amongst the young 
 and the strong. Surviving sufferers are frequently 
 rendered unfit for labour for a third or fourth part 
 of the year, and receive an irreparable injury to 
 their constitutions ; regimen and medicine become 
 almost as indispensable as food ; productive labour 
 is thus diminished, and an additional cost imposed 
 on life. 
 
 Tavern-keepers observe that travellers are not 
 nearly so numerous as they were last year. The 
 change is to be imputed solely to the decline in 
 trade, and to depression in the price of lands. The 
 fact shows that a proportion of the populace remains 
 at home through necessity or economical motives. 
 Happy it is for them, that the pressure of the times 
 does not, as in certain other countries, turn out a 
 numerous class in the condition of houseless poor. 
 Travellers, however, are still so numerous, that a 
 stranger, not fully aware of the rapidity with which 
 new settlements are forming, and of the great po- 
 pulace of eastern States, might be apt to ima- 
 gine that Americans are a singularly volatile peo- 
 ple. 
 
 In the whole of my correspondence with the un- 
 lettered part of the people of the western country, 
 I have observed a brevity of language, that seems to 
 be occasioned by their not being acquainted with
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 263 
 
 an extensive vocabulary. Their manner of speech 
 is grave, apparently earnest, and adapted to busi- 
 ness more than to intellectual enjoyment. It is 
 seldom that any thing jocular, or any play of words, 
 or circumlocution, or repartee, is uttered by them. 
 If a question is put, it is usually answered in the 
 shortest manner possible. Sometimes abridg- 
 ments are made that render expressions inconclu- 
 sive, and give them the form of the inuendo, even 
 where ambiguity is not intended, and by people 
 who, if they were accosted in ironical terms, would 
 make no other reply than an astonished gaze. 
 Technical language is, for obvious reasons, much 
 limited. I have had opportunities of seeing a num- 
 ber of Americans and Irish, who were engaged in 
 the same sort of employment, and could not omit 
 noticing the contrast formed. Where work was 
 let by the piece, the Irish (although previously 
 strangers to one another) uniformly joined in work- 
 ing together in large groupes, and amused them- 
 selves by conversation, occasionally introducing the 
 song, the pun, and the bull ; while Americans, un- 
 der similar conditions, preferred working alone, or 
 in parties not exceeding three, and attended to their 
 business in silence. The conversation of those whom 
 you would call the lower orders, shows that they 
 have a very considerable knowledge of the institu- 
 tions of their country, and that they set a high va- 
 lue on them, Their discourse is usually intermix- 
 ed with the provincialisms of England and Ireland, 
 and a few Scotticisms. This might be expected, 
 since America has been partly peopled by the na- 
 tives of these countries. They also use some ex- 
 pressions the original applications of which I have 
 not been able to discover. These I must call 
 Americanisms, and will subjoin some examples.
 
 264 
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 Movers 
 
 Fresh 
 Bos 
 
 Hired Girl 
 Hired Man 
 
 Reach 
 
 Raised . 
 
 Tot ... 
 
 Carry the horse to water 
 Chores 
 
 Rowdy 
 Truck 
 
 A Machinery 
 
 Floy 
 
 Clever . 
 
 Creature 
 
 Roo&ter, or he-bird 
 
 for People in the act of removing 
 from one place to another. 
 
 — Flood in a river. 
 
 — Master. 
 
 — Servant Girl. 
 
 — Servant Man. 
 
 — A part of a river that gontinues 
 
 for a considerable distance 
 nearly in a straight line. 
 
 — Bred or reared, the participle 
 
 passive of to breed, (frequent- 
 ly applied to the human spe- 
 cies.) 
 
 — Carry. This is said to be of ne- 
 
 gro origin. 
 
 — To take or lead the horse to the 
 
 water. 
 
 — Probably derived from chars ; lit- 
 
 tle, odd, detached or miscella- 
 neous pieces of business. 
 
 — Blackguard. 
 
 — Culinary vegetables ; sometimes 
 
 applied to baggage. 
 
 — A Machine. 
 
 — Dirty or foul. 
 
 — Honest, or of good disposition. 
 
 — Horse. 
 
 — Cock, the male of the hen. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 Miscellaneous Remarks on the Manners and Habits of the 
 
 People. 
 
 Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) Sep, 11, 1820. 
 
 In your letter of the 15th of May last, you men- 
 tion your apprehension that I am living amongst 
 a half civilized people. Perhaps this is partly occa- 
 sioned by my having, in former letters, mentioned 
 a considerable number of disagreeable incidents.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. %65 
 
 Matters of public notoriety always attract atten- 
 tion, while the more gratifying affairs of private 
 life, as the most pleasant family scenes, the strict- 
 est integrity, and even acts of the most disinte- 
 rested generosity, are, from their more frequent 
 occurrence, omitted as less interesting. Hence it 
 is, that the stories of travellers, however authentic 
 they may be, and however amusing to their read- 
 ers, are often more calculated to promote prejudi- 
 ces than to convey accurate information regarding 
 society and morals. It is the energy and the ten- 
 dency of public institutions that form the best in- 
 dex to national character. 
 
 I have at different times called your attention to 
 the disadvantages here in respect of opportunities 
 of education, and the influx of immoral strangers. 
 In these respects the back-woods are mere colo- 
 nies in comparison with the better state of society 
 in the eastern country. Had I lived in Connec- 
 ticut or Massachusetts, instead of Indiana, I might 
 have met with fewer irregularities to relate. My 
 acquaintance with many persons from the older 
 communities of the Union, causes me to enter- 
 tain the highest opinion of the attainments there, 
 and convinces me that it would be nearly as unfair 
 to collect the ingredients for forming the charac- 
 ter of the British people in their foreign posses- 
 sions, as it is to infer the state of American society 
 from the habits and manners of people in new set- 
 tlements. Adopting this view of the matter, it 
 may be asked, in which of the British colonies is 
 a thirty-sixth part of the soil set apart for the sup- 
 port of schools ? which of them make their own 
 laws, and appoint their own governors ? or which 
 has produced such an example of availing them- 
 selves of the lights of the age, as has the new State 
 of Alabana, in rejecting usury laws.
 
 $66 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 There is no course of conduct that would belie 
 my feelings more than by attempting to misrepresent 
 the character of the American people. From the 
 time of my first landing in the country till the 
 present, I have enjoyed intercourse with people of 
 eminence in society, and have uniformly met with 
 the most polite receptions, and, on many occasions, 
 with such marks of kindness that I can never have 
 sufficient opportunities to requite. Names would 
 be altogether uninteresting to you, but there are 
 many here that I cannot recal to recollection with- 
 out associating them with those of the personages 
 whom I most admire, and of the friends whom 
 I most esteem. 
 
 The American community is not, like that of Bri- 
 tain, divided or formed into classes by the distinc- 
 tions of title and rank, neither does political party 
 seem to form such a complete separation amongst 
 men, and the unequal distribution of property 
 operates much less. The effects of these condi- 
 tions are, that the individuals who compose our 
 society are less mutually repellent to one another 
 than with you, and the distinctions formed here 
 are of a more natural kind, such as those founded 
 on public services and talents, and the more unin- 
 terrupted associations that proceed from the sympa- 
 thies of human nature. I am almost of opinion that 
 the more extended bonds of American society are 
 much strengthened by universal suffrage, and the 
 frequent recurrence of elections, for this reason, 
 that the candidates having no boroughs to be 
 treated with in the wholesale way, and the con- 
 stituents being too numerous, and come too often 
 in the way, to admit of their being bought over, 
 expectants are obliged to depend on their popula- 
 rity, and do not find it their interest to repulse any 
 one. It is only from these causes that 1 could at-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 267 
 
 tempt to account for the affability of manners which 
 are almost universal. The inhabitants of Ameri- 
 can towns are not, like some of the people of your 
 cities, ignorant of the names of the persons who 
 live in the nearest adjoining houses, or who perhaps 
 enter by the same outer door, and the new settler 
 in the woods is soon so well known, among a wide 
 circle of neighbours, that almost any person, with- 
 in ten miles of him, can direct the stranger to his 
 residence. The civilities exchanged by people who 
 meet on the roads, or in taverns, and the readiness 
 amongst strangers to converse together, are matters 
 of surprise to natives of Britain. 
 
 A short time ago I went on business to the re- 
 sidence of a gentleman of high military rank, who 
 has made a distinguished figure in Indian warfare, 
 in the late war on the Canadian frontier, and by 
 his eloquence in Congress. His hospitality and the 
 urbanity of his manners are not less conspicuous 
 than his other great qualities. His house, from the 
 numbers of his visitors, has a great resemblance to 
 a tavern. He has on his property a great num- 
 ber of people who rent land on shares, (a term 
 formerly explained to you.) When one of 
 these tenants, or when almost any other stranger of 
 respectable appearance, happens to come to his 
 house about the time of dinner, he usually in- 
 vites him to table. Amongst his party at dinner 
 I observed an old man, who joined in conversation 
 for about half an hour after the cloth was remov- 
 ed. On his rising to depart the host politely ac- 
 companied him to his horse. It was not till after 
 mounting that the stranger intimated the object 
 of his call. — " I have," (said he,) " for a long time 
 
 " wished to see General , and now I am satis- 
 
 " tied." In the afternoon he walked over his farm, 
 and gave directions to some people making hay,
 
 268 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 and to others employed in a distillery, in which he 
 uses the corn paid to him as rents. That article 
 now sells at twenty-five cents per bushel, but when 
 converted into spirits, it yields him at the rate of 
 a dollar per bushel. In the evening two itinerants, 
 a presbyterian preacher and his wife, arrived with 
 an introduction from an acquaintance. After some 
 conversation, the preacher performed worship in the 
 family. In the morning, after breakfast, the Ge- 
 neral contributed a few dollars to the support of 
 religion, and held the horses while the two travel- 
 lers mounted. It would be of little use to multi- 
 ply facts showing that people of the first conse- 
 quence, in the free States of this country, do not 
 keep numerous hordes of menials, and that they 
 know how to help themselves, as the high price 
 of labour might alone lead you to infer this as a 
 consequence. I shall only relate an example in 
 point. The gentleman with whom I board keeps 
 a tavern ; he is an officer who fought tor the liber- 
 ties of his country, during the revolutionary war, 
 and is now adjutant-general of the militia of this 
 State. One morning I found him engaged in clean- 
 ing his own shoes, in the absence of a boy who 
 usually does work of this kind for him. 
 
 The laws and the usages of America in respect 
 of foreigners, reflect the highest honour on the 
 country. The stranger is not only protected in 
 his person and property on his first arrival, but it 
 is in his power to become an elector, and eligible to 
 situations of honour and trust. He may depend 
 on being here esteemed according to his behaviour 
 and usefulness, without regard to his former con- 
 dition or his former country. I have in various 
 instances seen men enjoying the benefits of the tree 
 institutions of the United States, and the respect 
 of their neighbours, who, a few years ago, invaded
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 26{) 
 
 the country with British arms in their hands. You 
 may contrast this liberality with the Alien laws, 
 and with the spirit of the corporations and privi- 
 leged orders of your country, and ask yourself, 
 Who are the semi-barbarians ? Who are the " half- 
 civilized people ?" 
 
 The comforts that I enjoy here are perhaps 
 somewhat greater than you suppose. I board with a 
 respectable family, the members of which do every 
 thing in their power to render my situation agree- 
 able. In our small town and neighbourhood, there 
 is a considerable number of accomplished people, 
 amongst whom I have much of that sort of enjoy- 
 ment which consists in hearing elegant conversation, 
 and the reciprocation of those little civilities and 
 services that give a relish to social life. The situ- 
 ation of this place at an important point on the 
 river, and on the line of an extensive communica- 
 tion by land, renders it a very considerable thorough- 
 fare. This of itself, has been the means of mak- 
 ing me extensively acquainted amongst the public 
 characters of the State, and many interesting indi- 
 viduals from other parts. We have abundance of 
 newspapers, some of which are judiciously con- 
 ducted, and in which many excellent original arti- 
 cles are to be found ; and all of them devote a part 
 of theircolumns to thepublic occurrences of Britain* 
 I occasionally read some of the latest publications 
 from your country, and have frequent opportunities 
 of seeing the Reviews, and Literary and Scientific 
 Magazines. At short intervals, I have commonly 
 letters from Scotland, and frequently communica- 
 tions from friends in different parts of this country. 
 In short, were I discontented with the society 
 amongst which I live, I might occasion a suspicion 
 that 1 am unworthy of mixing in it.
 
 270 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 Passagefrom the Falls of (lie Ohio to Cincinnati — Drought 
 — Banks — Militia — Journey to Lake Erie — Reading — 
 iShakertown — Lebanon — Little Miami — Wood Pigeons 
 — Insects — Clarkville anclLeesburg — Greenjicld and Old- 
 town — Large quantities of Grain raised by Individuals 
 — The Great Sciota — Pikaway Plains — Wet Prairies — ■• 
 Nezo Lancaster — Lebanon — Newark — Mount Vernon — 
 Owl Creek — Clear Fork — Roads — Mansfield — Trucks- 
 ville — Summit of the Country between the Ohio and Lake 
 Erie — Munro — Sick?iess — The Great Pra irie — The for- 
 mer Beach of Lake Erie — Bloomingtown — Bank — Mi- 
 neral Strata — Portland — Venice — Sickness — Indians — 
 Tavern Keepers — People. 
 
 Portland, (Ohio,) Oct. IS, 1S20. 
 
 I left the Falls of the Ohio on the 12th ult. and 
 took my passage in a steam-boat which plies between 
 that place and Cincinnati.— There was no other 
 passing on the Ohio at that time, on account of 
 the lowness of the water. 
 
 From the difference of time occupied in ascend- 
 ing and descending the river, it appeared that the 
 mean velocity of the stream was reduced to one 
 mile per hour. In several ripples, the deepest part 
 of the channel measured only three feet. The 
 vessel repeatedly ran aground, so that an anchor 
 was put out, and it became necessary that every 
 man on board should work at the capstane. The 
 boat was the same in which I ascended the river 
 in June last, and of which I noted down the di- 
 mensions in my letter of the 26th of that month. 
 
 5
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 271 
 
 She is here considered to be a small vessel, and 
 the best for navigating the river in dry seasons. 
 On computing the velocity of the water wheel, I 
 found that the boat would move at the rate of 8^ 
 miles per hour, supposing that it proceeded in the 
 manner of wheel carriages, and that the actual ve- 
 locity through still water was seven miles per hour. 
 This gives a very good measure of the vis inertia; 
 of the fluid. 
 
 We did not arrive at Cincinnati till the 15th, 
 being obliged to stop during the night, as it was im- 
 possible to keep in the proper channel in the dark, 
 at the present low stage of the river. The vessel 
 returned downward nearly empty, to be laid up till 
 the next rise of water. 
 
 The hills in the neighbourhood of Cincinnati, 
 which were beautifully verdant in June last, are 
 now withered to whiteness, by the scorching 
 drought *. 
 
 The trade of Cincinnati continues to be dull. 
 Two of the banks have given up business altoge- 
 ther, and two others are struggling for existence. 
 Their money is 33± and (JO per cent under par. 
 One of these establishments has been in the habit 
 of giving in exchange for its own notes, those of 
 another paper shop at a considerable distance ; 
 when the paper so obtained is presented at the se- 
 cond, it is taken in exchange for the money of a 
 third bank still farther off. At the third, the bills 
 are exchanged for the money of the first. This is 
 in reality making banks " equally solvent with 
 their neighbouring institutions." Some of the stock- 
 
 * Dr. Drake, who is a native of the western country, after no- 
 ticing the effects of a dry summer, adds, " But, fortunately, such 
 «« extraordinary droughts occur too seldom, and are too limited 
 " in their extent, to be regarded as any great calamity." Pic- 
 ture of Cincinnati, page 105.
 
 272 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 holders, who are themselves the debtors of the 
 banks, procure a part of the money, which is either 
 much depreciated, or entirely sunk to satisfy for the 
 same debts. 
 
 Females of a certain description are not to be 
 seen in the streets of Cincinnati after dusk. This 
 is attributed, not so much to police regulations, as 
 to the boys, whose practice it is to chase them. 
 
 On the 23d, a regiment of Militia was re- 
 viewed. The state of discipline is so bad that 
 every movement is accompanied with disorder. 
 The time occupied in training is short, and the 
 practice of privates electing their own officers is 
 not considered conducive to subordination, espe- 
 cially in time of peace. They are, however, arm- 
 ed with good rifles, and are formidable troops in 
 the woods. 
 
 The last number of the Edinburgh Review, 
 Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk, Blackwood's 
 Magazine, and the Monastery, are the current 
 works of the day. When lately at Louisville, I 
 found an acquaintance reading Ivanhoe ; during 
 my stay with him, which was only about an 
 hour, two persons applied for a loan of the 
 book. He told me that there were seven or eight 
 copies of it in that town, and that they are no 
 sooner read by one than they are lent to another. 
 Two copies of the Monastery had just then arrived 
 in town, and were, if possible, more in request 
 than the former. The natives of Britain, in Ame- 
 rica, have the satisfaction of mixing with a people 
 who are descended from the same ancestors, who 
 §peak the same language, who are instructed by 
 the same standard books, who are amused by the 
 same novels, and who sing the same songs. 
 
 In giving you details of my journey from the 
 Ohio to Lake Erie, 1 shall confine myself almost
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. QJS 
 
 entirely to a transcript of notes taken by the 
 way. 
 
 On the 26th of September I left Cincinnati. 
 My travelling equipment consisted of a light wag- 
 gon, drawn by a Yankee mare. The animal was 
 spirited, but at the same time docile, and obedient 
 to the rein ; and the roads, though rough in some 
 parts, and covered with dust, were such as are in this 
 country called good. The atmosphere was clear, 
 without a single speck of cloud, and the tempera- 
 ture of the air agreeable. I got forward with a de- 
 gree of ease and good spirit, that might well be- 
 come a ride undertaken for pleasure. 
 
 Reading is a small town with a good tavern, 
 twelve miles north-east of Cincinnati. 
 
 I lodged for the night with a tavern-keeper, who 
 has, within these four years past, cleared a good farm 
 on which he lives. He is a penetrating and in- 
 telligent old man. Without being told, he was 
 able to discover my native country, and attempt- 
 ed to make himself agreeable by dilating on the his- 
 tories of Wallace and Bruce. His son, who is ar- 
 rived at manhood, asked if Wallace was an Ameri- 
 can ? The father is a native of the eastern coun- 
 try, and has had better opportunities of being edu- 
 cated than the son seems to have met with in this 
 newly settled country. Closely adjoining to this 
 place is Union or Shakertown, the settlement of a 
 remarkable society called Shakers, I suppose from 
 dancing forming a principal part of their worship. 
 They have established a community of goods, and 
 prohibited marriage and the propagation of the 
 species. Although this restriction is in general reli- 
 giously observed, it is said thatseveral of their daugh- 
 ters have been carried off from the settlement by 
 young men of the neighbourhood. In the Session of 
 1810 — 1811, the legislature found it proper to inter- 
 fere, in causing the society to provide for some fami-
 
 274" LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 lies that were deserted by their husbands. The 
 people in the vicinity admit that the Shakers are 
 characterized by sobriety, a peaceable disposition, 
 (and, what appears to be surprising,) industry, fru- 
 gality, and cleanliness. 
 
 Sept. 27. Passed through Lebanon, a small town 
 composed partly of brick houses. It is, however, the 
 seat of justice for a county, and has a newspaper 
 printing-office, and a bank. The number of two 
 and four horse waggons which pass along the road 
 would indicate much business ; but a deduction is 
 to be made for the smallness of the loads. Far- 
 mers were engaged in carrying home their crops of 
 maize, or in piling them up in the fields, and 
 some in preparing the ground for sowingtheir wheat. 
 The orchards were nearly cleared of their fruit. 
 Cyder is here made in considerable quantities. 
 
 The country between the two rivers Miamis is said 
 to be one of the most fertile in America, but the 
 part of it that I have seen is not the best watered. 
 Many of the people have to draw water from wells 
 for themselves and their cattle, happy at the pre- 
 sent time, if the springs do not fail altogether. 
 
 Crossed the little Miami, a name that is now 
 perfectly descriptive of the river. The bottom 
 land is rich, and the banks on both sides steep. On 
 the top of the east bank the remains of an ancient 
 fortification stand. The ditch, which is about 
 fourteen feet deep, is overgrown with large timber, 
 and incloses a considerable space of land. 
 
 Much of the road in the east side of the little 
 Miami is over wet clay land. Logs are split, and 
 laid side by side across the road, as a way for car- 
 riages. The jolting over these is disagreeable, and 
 the progress slow. At this dry season, the soil 
 would serve the purpose better, but would be im- 
 passable in wet weather.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. T/5 
 
 The woods abound in pigeons, a small species 
 of fowls which migrates to the southward in winter, 
 and return to the north in spring. Their num- 
 bers are so immense that they sometimes move in 
 clouds, upwards of a mile in length. At the time 
 when they are passing, the people have good sport 
 in shooting them, as one flock frequently succeeds 
 another before the gun can be reloaded. The 
 parts of the woods where they roost, are distinguish- 
 ed by the trees having their branches broken off, 
 and many of them deadened by the pressure of the 
 myriads that alight upon them. 
 
 The number of grasshoppers is amazingly great. 
 A swarm of them rises from amongst the grass 
 or weeds, at every footstep of the pedestrian. 
 Some large species are winged, and can fly to the 
 distance of twelve, and even twenty yards. This 
 remark applies to every part of America which I 
 have seen. The country abounds with a multitude 
 of insects, much diversified in species, colours, and 
 habits. Wasps and hornets are extremely nu- 
 merous. I have not suffered from musquitoes 
 in the degree that I had been taught to expect. 
 
 Sept. 28. Clarkville and Leesburg are two very 
 small towns. Passed a young man who was lame, 
 I believe, from a rheumatic affection, a complaint 
 that is pretty frequent in this country, from the quick 
 transitions in the temperature of the climate. This 
 traveller told me that he was on his return from New 
 Orleans, having gone down the river in the capaci- 
 ty of boatman, and that he had travelled most of 
 the way homeward on foot. On my suggesting 
 that he should remain with a farmer for a few days, 
 where he might work at the harvest, a kind of la- 
 bour which does not require much locomotion, he 
 told me that he had applied to several, but they 
 refused to give him employment. 
 
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 276 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 The road between Leesburg and Munro is over 
 high ridges and deep ravines. The country here 
 (Highland County) is allowed to be healthy, but 
 a dense population must be accumulated before 
 the natural obstacles to communication can be 
 surmounted. The bridges here, as in other new 
 settlements, are nothing more than two long trees 
 thrown over the stream, about eight feet apart, 
 with split or round pieces of timber laid across 
 these, side by side. In the case of a deep ravine, 
 the road is directly down the bank to the end of 
 the bridge. 
 
 Sept. 29. Greenfield and Oldtown are two 
 small towns. The former has made considerable 
 progress of late. The woods were assuming the 
 colours of autumn. This change was accelerated 
 by slight frosts which occurred on two mornings, 
 about the time of the equinox. The sugar-maple, 
 the dogwood, and the beech, were the most for- 
 ward. 
 
 I remainedfor the nightwith an old tavern-keeper, 
 who had been a soldier in the revolutionary service. 
 He is proprietor of a good f arm,which is occupied by 
 his son-in-law, who, last year, raised nine hundred 
 bushels, including corn and wheat, by his indivi- 
 dual exertions. I had previously heard of a negro 
 from Kentucky, who, in the same year, settled on 
 a prairie near Vincennes, and there raised a thou- 
 sand bushels of corn. The last of these quantities 
 may be assumed as a full maximum of the produce 
 that may be raised by one man, even where great 
 fertility of soil, industry, and health, conspire to- 
 gether. But as this quantity of grain would 
 now sell for only two hundred and fifty dollars, 
 without deducting the expense of carrying it to 
 market, or allowing any thing for the provender 
 of a horse, while the wages of a labourer may be
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 277 
 
 now fairly stated at three hundred and fifty dol- 
 lars for a year, it is evident that farmers, from 
 such a small return, cannot hire the labour of other 
 people. 
 
 On the 30th I crossed the Great Sciota, a river 
 that is great indeed in times of wet weather j but 
 the ford, which is at the head of a stream, was 
 not then more than eight or nine inches deep. 
 The river, notwithstanding, retains a grandeur 
 that is not unbecoming its name. The stream is 
 broad, covering nearly the whole of its capacious 
 bed. The water is limpid, and the banks are 
 covered with a growth of stupendous sycamores 
 and other large trees. 
 
 Pickaway Plains consist of flat land.' The clear 
 part is a prairie, entirely destitute of trees, and 
 is about seven miles long and five broad. To a 
 European, who has been upwards of two years im- 
 mersed in the woods, such a clear space is truly ex- 
 hilarating. It was while proceeding along a fine 
 smooth road, at a brisk trot, that I suddenly disco- 
 vered I was making my entree into the plain. — 
 The air was still, clear, and admitted of the most 
 distinct vision, so that I could see a distant blue 
 ridge of high land, which I supposed to be in 
 Kentucky. After having advanced about half a 
 mile into the open space, I observed a long cloud 
 of dust over the road. The fore part of this train 
 seemed at my horse's feet, and under my vehicle, 
 and the other end of it was in that part of the 
 wood from whence I emerged. Possibly a native 
 of the American woods might be more surprised 
 on his first entering a prairie than I was, but I have 
 a doubt whether his sensations would be as pleasant 
 as mine were. 
 
 The soil is of a dark coloured earth, apparently 
 mixed with a large portion of vegetable matter, and 
 
 t3
 
 ^78 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 lies on a gravelly subsoil. When extremely rich 
 lands are spoken of in this part of the country, they 
 are apt to be compared with Pickaway. The inha- 
 bitants of the plain are occasionally visited by 
 agues. 
 
 I believe that I have not heretofore mentioned 
 any particulars respecting the dust of the roads of 
 this country. The clothes of travellers are frequently 
 covered with it, and it passes through the smallest 
 crevices, into trunks and packing boxes. This may 
 probably arise from the heat of the climate, which 
 dries the mud very much, or from the fine divi- 
 sion of the earthy particles, and perhaps from the 
 abundance 'of vegetable matters intermixed. 
 
 I lodged at a tavern about two miles west of 
 New Lancaster. The landlord removed from 
 Pennsylvania to this neighbourhood about twenty 
 years ago. The site of the house in which he now 
 lives, is the third that he has cleared of the timber 
 with his own hands, since his arrival. His build- 
 ings and farm, by their neatness, bespeak his 
 industry, and he seems to enjoy the comforts of 
 affluence as the reward of his labours. In the 
 neighbourhood of this place are some high ridges 
 of a coarse-grained sand- stone, with some small 
 pine trees on their summits. The lower lands are 
 rich. The landlord showed me a pumpkin that 
 weighed a hundred and sixty pounds. 
 
 Monday, Oct 2. On the morning of this day, 
 and on the afternoon of the 30th ultimo, I passed 
 through several low prairies of small size ; the soil 
 is of a black vegetable matter, that is somewhat bi- 
 tuminous, and appears to be imperfectly decom- 
 posed. Some chinks of two or three inches wide, 
 that are to be seen in the surface, show, that at 
 other seasons of the year, this ground is wet. Ex- 
 cept for the heat of the climate, it is probable that
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 279 
 
 these prairies would have been mosses similar to 
 the peat earth of Europe. 
 
 New Lancaster is a county town, with a court- 
 house and a bank. The situation is pleasant, and 
 the town contains some good brick houses. Neat- 
 ness and comfort are apparent there. 
 
 Lebanon is a small place, situated on high 
 ground. It is entirely built of wood. Several per- 
 sons affirmed to me, that the ague is not prevalent 
 in this place. 
 
 Newark is a county town of a pleasant aspect. 
 Some parts of the lands adjoining are moist, and 
 naturally fitted for being converted into meadows. 
 Good iron is made in the neighbourhood, and sold 
 at four cents per pound. There was a young man 
 in the tavern there, who said, that he had come di- 
 rectly from Philadelphia, and that he had seen a 
 considerable number of families on their journey 
 to the eastward, after finding themselves dissa- 
 tisfied with their prospects in the western country. 
 
 On the evening of the 2d and on the 3d, much 
 rain fell. On the 4th, I resumed my journey. — 
 I observed much land well adapted for meadow, 
 and a few small patches actually occupied in 
 that way ; and noticed that the ground in general 
 yields more grass, and has preserved its verdure 
 better than that in the lower parts of the State. 
 I halted for the night at Mount Vernon, which is 
 another county town, and the place of the Owl 
 Creek Bank, well known among the paper manu- 
 factories of this country. 
 
 Owl Creek is one of the head waters of Mus- 
 kingum River, and is a copious stream of clear 
 water. It is crossed by a large wooden bridge, 
 and turns an extensive mill, which is in sight of 
 the road.
 
 280 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 On the 5th, I travelled over some high, rugged 
 land, where chesnut trees are numerous and of 
 a large size. The presence of this kind of timber, 
 is understood to be an indication of the poverty of 
 the soil on which it grows; but it is valued princi- 
 pally on acount of its resisting the effects of the 
 weather for a great length of time. In the after- 
 noon a heavy shower of rain fell, which obliged me 
 to stop at a tavern at the Clear Fork, which is only 
 fifteen miles from Mount Vernon. 
 
 The Clear Fork is another head branch of Mus- 
 kingum River, and has a plentiful run of water. It 
 seems that the river Ohio derives the greater part 
 of its waters, in dry seasons,from the springs which 
 rise in the high lands at a considerable distance 
 from it. I have, at various times, observed that 
 most of the streams that originate in the lower 
 country are either entirely dried up, or are very 
 small runs in summer, while the tributaries in 
 the higher parts of the country run copiously. 
 This fact is corroborated by the present supe- 
 rior verdure of the high country, in showing, that 
 the quantity of rain is greater than in the lower 
 parts. A lower temperature, and the intermix- 
 ture of breezes from the valleys of the Mississippi 
 and the Ohio, with those from the lakes and the 
 river St. Lawrence, are to be inferred as the most 
 probable causes. 
 
 Oct. 6. Between the Clear Fork and Mansfield 
 (91 miles) the ground is hilly, and part of it, like 
 that travelled over on the 5th, abounding with 
 chesnut trees. Except for the strength and spirit 
 of my horse, I had not succeeded in carrying my 
 baggage over this rugged part of the country. 
 The roads are not laid out under proper supervi- 
 sion, but pass over steep land, or round the fences 
 of inclosed fields, at the will of interested persons.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 281 
 
 They calculate badly, however, who disregard uti- 
 lity. 
 
 Mansfield is another county town, and is favour- 
 ed as the seat of a bank. I lodged at Trucksville, 
 a new town, consisting of about half a dozen of 
 frame-houses. The lands of the neighbourhood 
 appeared excellent. 
 
 On the 7th, I passed through a part of the coun- 
 try with a surface which is gently undulated. The 
 little intervales seem to be nearly horizontal in 
 their bottoms. This, with the woods that obstruct 
 the view everywhere, imposes the aspect of a low 
 flat country, an illusion that I could only dispel 
 by recollecting that throughout my journey I had 
 travelled in a direction contrary to the motion of 
 the rivers, and by observing that the waters run in 
 different directions, part towards the Ohio, and 
 part towards Lake Erie. 
 
 It might be difficult to form a conception of 
 any topographical inquiry more interesting to the 
 State of Ohio, and some other parts, than the 
 structure and conditions of the high grounds which 
 separate between the waters of the river Ohio and 
 Lake Erie. It remains to be ascertained, whether 
 a sufficient quantity of water can be found for sup- 
 plying the summit level of the contemplated canal 
 between the river and the lake, and through what 
 point in the ridge the lowest, or otherwise most 
 eligible line may be drawn. When the first of 
 these questions is solved, it will be easy to say whe- 
 ther New Orleans or New York will be the future 
 emporium of this part of the country. I believe 
 the only specific information on the subject, that 
 has been published, is in a paper by Governor 
 Brown, of the State of Ohio, who has repeatedly 
 recommended that the legislature should pass an 
 act for causing the necessary surveys to be made,
 
 282 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 but without effect. It is curious that it was the le- 
 gislature of the same State (Ohio) that, a few years 
 ago, made an overture to the Congress, for ascer- 
 taining whether it is practicable to make a canal 
 between the Gulf of Mexico aud the Pacific 
 Ocean. 
 
 The country between New Lancaster and the 
 heads of the waters that fall into Lake Erie (about 
 a hundred miles) is high, fertile, well watered, 
 and comparatively exempt from the endemical sick- 
 nesses which annoy the inhabitants of lower lands. 
 The country over which I travelled on the 8th, 
 is intermixed with flat lands. The great holes and 
 ruts in the roads showed that they are occasionally 
 drenched with water. If my olfactory organs did 
 not deceive me, the air was somewhat tainted. 
 
 At Munro, a small branch of Huron liiver, I 
 had some difficulty in procuring a breakfast. All 
 the familyin the tavern were either sick, or so much 
 emaciated by recent disease, that they were scarce- 
 ly able to do any thing. Every person in the town, 
 old and young, had been attacked, two individuals 
 being only excepted. For two years past, the place 
 has been more unhealthy than formerly ; and the 
 people believe that the change has been occasioned 
 by the erection of a mill-dam in the creek. The 
 surmise is probably just, as the dam is now dry, 
 and both the mud and vegetable matters are expos- 
 ed to the heat and consequent decomposition, evolv- 
 ing hydrogen gas, which is understood to be de- 
 leterious. 
 
 At the distance of about fourteen miles from 
 Portland, the road enters the great prairie that 
 stretches along the south side of the lake. It is 
 covered with coarse grass, of a luxuriant growth, 
 and an immense variety of weeds. Some slight 
 eminences are wooded, and resemble islands or
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 283 
 
 peninsulas in the plain. In passing along, I per- 
 ceived openings which seemed to extend to the dis- 
 tance of twelve or fourteen miles. 
 
 For several miles the road is over a ridge, sixty 
 or eighty feet in breadth, about eight feet higher 
 than the plain, and five or six feet higher than the 
 flat ground immediately to the southward. This 
 ridge or step runs in a winding line, forming a 
 convexity towards the lake, where it crosses the 
 higher parts of the prairie, and recedes to the 
 southward, forming a concave curve round hollows 
 in the ground, thus preserving a horizontal posi- 
 tion. A doubt of this having been once the margin 
 of the lake can scarcely be entertained. 
 
 The ridge just mentioned is dry and of a gra- 
 velly soil. It is preferred by the settlers for the 
 sites of their houses. Some patches of the prairie 
 are inclosed by worm fences, and produce large 
 crops of maize. Cattle range in the prairies, and 
 are larger and fatter than those reared by the 
 Ohio River. A few stacks of coarse natural hay 
 stand on the ground that produced them. 
 
 Bloomingtown is a town consisting of about ten 
 houses, and is situated on a sandy eminence in the 
 edge of the prairie : — a small place, but deserving 
 of notice from its abortive Bank. A company was 
 formed, plates engraved, and the bank notes brought 
 to the spot. At the time when this happened, the 
 peoplehad just become jealous of unchartered banks. 
 The company applied to the Legislature of the 
 State for a charter, which was refused. The bank- 
 ers not venturing to sign the pictures, but unwill- 
 ing to lose the expense of manufacturing them, 
 sold them by auction. They were afterwards sub- 
 scribed by a fictitious president and cashier, ancj 
 fraudulently put into circulation.
 
 284 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 Near the lake the shell limestone appears. This 
 seems to be the base on which the strata of the 
 higher country rests. The higher country, near 
 Pittsburg, the Muskingum, and Sciota rivers, 
 the Silver-Creek hills, and the high land, over 
 which I have recently come, has strata of sand- 
 stone, slate-clay, bituminous shale, and, in various 
 places, coal. 
 
 Portland is a town situated on the shore of the in- 
 denture in the south-western extremity of Lake Erie, 
 called Sandusky Bay. It is only three years since it 
 was founded, and contains thirty dwelling houses, 
 four warehouses, and has four temporary wharfs. At 
 present the trade is in salt, brought from Onondago 
 in New York State, and in imported goods. There 
 is a boat at one of the wharfs, which carries ten 
 and a half tons ; it was built in Connecticut, 
 and was carried by land over several portages in 
 the way ; and I have been told that there is a ves- 
 sel of fifty feet keel on the lake, that was carried 
 over the same obstructions, which lie between Hud- 
 son River and Lake Erie. A steam-boat which sails 
 between Detroit and Buffalo touches at this place. 
 Portland has had a share of the sickness of the 
 season, a number of persons being now confined to 
 bed, and many meagre convalescents are to be seen 
 walking about the street. In addition to the fe- 
 vers and the ague, so prevalent, some have been 
 afflicted by an influenza, and are wearing shades 
 over their faces on account of sore eyes. 
 
 Venice is another new town, which stands about 
 three miles farther west the bay. It has more 
 houses than Portland, but has now only one family 
 in it, a mortal sickness having carried off a consi- 
 derable part of the population, which caused the 
 survivors to desert the place. The bay nodoubt con-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 285 
 
 tributes to disease, as the water is shallow, and out 
 of the course of the principal current of the lake, 
 and produces grasses and confervas that are wash- 
 ed ashore in times of wind, and emit a disagreeable 
 effluvia. 
 
 Although I have been in the country possessed 
 by the Indians during the two last days of my jour- 
 ney, I did not happen to see any of these people 
 by the way. Since coming to Portland, I have seen 
 a few of them in town. One party had brought 
 for sale a few pots of honey, which they had taken 
 out of hollow trees, and some mats, fabricated from 
 dyed rushes, which were beautifully divided into 
 compartments of different colours. Most of them 
 were clothed with a piece of blanket wrapped round 
 them, and with leather mocasins, or shoes, on their 
 feet, and the habiliments of others approached very 
 near to the form of clothing worn by civilized 
 people. Some of the men are sprightly and well 
 formed in their persons, displaying an energy and 
 frankness in their countenances which indicate the 
 absence of suspicion and fear. 
 
 My journey has been, on the whole, more pleasant 
 than I could have anticipated. The principal ob- 
 structions in the way were the stumps and roots of 
 trees, which obliged me to drive with much caution, 
 and often restricted my horse to a walk. At taverns 
 I sometimes found that the landlord was from home, 
 and that no hostler was kept, and found it neces- 
 sary to feed and water my horse, and to yoke or 
 unyoke as occasion required ; but every landlord 
 that I met with acted in an obliging manner, and 
 of some of them I conceived the most favourable 
 opinion. 
 
 In the last hundred and fifty miles which I 
 travelled, I met with few travellers, but several
 
 286 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 of these few were well dressed and polite men. I 
 have also seen some elegant ladies by the way. 
 Indeed, I have often seen among the inhabitants of 
 the log-houses of America, females with dresses 
 composed of the muslins of Britain, the silks of 
 India, and the crapes of China. During the jour- 
 ney just detailed, I must confess that I never saw a 
 people more exclusively devoted to agriculture, and 
 proportionally fewer idle men lounging in taverns, 
 than I did in the more populous parts of the 
 country. The most disagreeable quality that I disco- 
 vered, was the inquisitive dispositions of some of 
 them.-—" What are you loaded with ?" was reiter- 
 ated almost every day ; and, " Where are you 
 going? Where are you come from? Are you pedling? 
 Is it goods or plunder that you have got* ?" were 
 also questions asked. In justice to them, I must 
 say, that they do not seem to be sensible of the 
 indecorum of such conduct; and I believe that 
 when similar interrogations are put to them, they 
 answer without hesitation. 
 
 * Plunder is a cant term used in the western country, signi- 
 fying travelling baggage.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 287 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 Passage on Lake Erie — Presque Isle — Buffalo— The 
 Falls of Niagara — Kingston — Youngstown — Newark 
 — Passage on Lake Ontario — Scotch Settlement in 
 Upper Canada — Descend the River St. Lawrence — 
 Thousand Islands — Brokeville — Prescott — Ogdensburgh 
 — Rapids — St. Regis — Lake St. Francis — Falls — Cotu- 
 du-Lac — The Cedar Falls and Village — Lake St. Louis 
 — La Chine — Cachnewaga — Montreal — Passage down 
 the St. Lawrence — Sorel — Lake St. Peter's — Trois 
 Rivieres — Settlements in Lower Canada — Ths Falls of 
 Richelieu — Quebec — Heights of Abraham — Lorete— 
 Indians — Remarks on the People — Lumber Trade- 
 Government — Climate. 
 
 Quebec, Nov. 9, 1820. 
 
 Since writing my last letter to you I have remov- 
 ed from the head of Lake Erie to this place — a 
 very considerable distance; but as I proceeded 
 most of the way by water, I had very little com- 
 munication with the shore, and very scanty means 
 of making myself acquainted with the country. 
 
 On the 14th I went on board the American 
 steam-boat Walkin-lhe-Water, a fine vessel of 330 
 tons burden, with two masts, and rigged, for taking 
 advantage of the winds in the manner of sea- 
 craft. The interior of this vessel is elegant, and 
 the entertainment is luxurious. There were twelve 
 cabin passengers of genteel appearance and polite 
 manners, and about an equal number of persons 
 in the steerage; the whole indicating a degree
 
 288 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 of intercourse and refinement which I did not ex- 
 pect to see on Lake Erie. The southern bank 
 only was in sight. It is low, and many clear- 
 ed patches were to be seen at intervals amongst 
 the woods. Probably the time is not far distant 
 when the anticipation of Campbell will be rea- 
 lized, 
 
 " There shall the flocks on thymy pasture stray, 
 And shepherds dance at summer's op'ning day ; 
 Each wand'ring genius of the lonely glen 
 Shall start to view the glittering haunts of men." 
 
 There are numerous islands in the lake, which 
 are all covered with a growth of timber, and were 
 then beautifully variegated with the tints of the 
 season. These are the islands in which rattle- 
 snakes and other reptiles are said to be so nume- 
 rous that it is dangerous to land on them. 
 
 During the afternoon, and a part of the night, we 
 experienced the most severe gale that our mariners 
 had felt on the lake. The swell rose to a great 
 height, and occasionally immersed one of the 
 wheels deeply, while the other was almost entire- 
 ly out of the water, causing the vessel to heave and 
 flounce very disagreeably. Most of the passengers 
 were affected by the same kind of sickness, similar 
 to that which prevails at sea. 
 
 Nov. 15. We continued in sight of the 
 United States side of the lake, but without enjoy- 
 ing a single peep of the Canadian shore. The 
 summit of the country between the lake and the 
 Ohio was in sight. It is high land, but what may 
 be called a flat ridge of the most evenly contour, 
 without any pointed hills or conspicuous promi- 
 nences. Land birds perched on the rigging. The 
 water appeared to be green, showing that its deptli 
 is considerable. In some parts it has been sound- 
 ed and found to be thirty-five fathoms deep. Altoge-
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 289 
 
 ther, the lake presents much of* the phenomena of 
 the ocean. 
 
 Erie, formerly called Presque Isle, is a small 
 town. Before this place, the British squadron cap- 
 tured during the late war, is sunk for preservation. 
 Some of our people who went ashore here, were 
 told that a schooner with eight men was lost in 
 the storm of the preceding night. 
 
 The numbers of water-fowl seen in the lake is 
 truly astonishing. These migrate to the southward 
 in the winter. 
 
 Late on the evening of the 16th, we anchored 
 off Buffalo, and on the morning of the 17th drop- 
 ped two miles down the river, to Black Rock. 
 
 Buffalo is a thriving town in the State of New 
 York. Coaches pass from thence to Albany, which 
 is on the route to the city of New York. When 
 the great canal between Hudson River and New 
 York is completed, Buffalo must become a place 
 of considerable importance, 
 
 The New York canal is a work not only inte- 
 resting to a large portion of the United States, but 
 also to Upper Canada. Already ninety miles of 
 the line is completed and in operation, and the 
 continuance of the present exertions must in a 
 short time finish the whole. Should the govern- 
 ment of Britain continue to neglect the improve- 
 ment of the inland navigation of Canada, and persist 
 in excluding the colonies from the advantages of a 
 free trade, and give their grain a nominal prefer- 
 ence in the British market, while that market is in 
 reality shut against it, a new interest must arise in 
 the upper province. England may still give Ca- 
 nadian lands gratis, and garrison the frontier posts 
 with an idle soldiery, but she cannot shut the eyes 
 of her subjects against the facilities to be derived 
 
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 290 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 from an uninterrupted navigation to the port of 
 New York, which is free to the flags of all nations, 
 and open to the sea at every season of the year. 
 
 Opposite to Buffalo is Fort Erie, on the Cana- 
 dian side of the river, — a pleasant situation, but 
 apparently without any thing like the bustle that 
 animates the southern shore. 
 
 At Black Rock, the river Niagara is about a 
 mile in breadth, and runs at the rate of eight knots 
 per minute, and its greatest depth is said to be 
 about ten fathoms*. The lake, forming an extensive 
 reservoir, greatly equalizes the discharge of wa- 
 ter, particularly as this river is without the floods 
 that characterize most other streams. 
 
 One of the passengers on board the steam-boat, 
 a Captain of the United States army, on his way 
 to Fort Niagara, agreed to travel along with me. 
 We hired a two-horse waggon to carry ourselves 
 and baggage. The actual postage to the falls of 
 Niagara is only seven miles ; but as we found that 
 there was no boat in readiness to sail from Black 
 Rock, we resolved to proceed the whole way by 
 land, which is thirty-four miles. The gentleman 
 with whom I travelled was on his return from 
 Green Bay, an inlet of Lake Michigan, where he 
 had gone with some soldiers who were banished 
 to that place. Green Bay is a place of exile, so 
 far removed from the other settlements of the 
 United States, that culprits have it not in their 
 power to escape from thence. 
 
 Our journey down the southern bank of the ri- 
 ver was extremely pleasant. The banks are low 
 
 * Morse has stated the average depth at this place (the ferry) 
 to be twenty-five feet. According to him, its average rapidity 
 from thence to Chipeway is six miles an hour, and that at the 
 terry it is much greater.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 291 
 
 and verdant to the water's edge, and the margin, 
 in most parts, forming fine curves, smooth as if 
 finished by art. The islands are also low and co- 
 vered with luxuriant timber. It is the extent of 
 water-prospect, bounded in every direction by 
 woods, that constitutes the. grandeur of this part. 
 At the lower extremity of Grand Island, the sheet 
 of water seems to be about three miles broad. 
 The soil is good, and yields better pasturage and 
 hay than the lands of the more southern parts of 
 the continent. A happy compensation for the se- 
 verity of the northern winter. 
 
 On approaching within two or three miles of 
 the falls, a cloud of spray is to be seen rising 600 
 or 700 feet into the air. At that distance, the 
 noise of the waters has something like the effect 
 of a strong wind among the trees of a forest. 
 
 Immediately above the precipice, there is an 
 island beautifully wooded, with a mixture of white 
 cedars and other ever-green trees, which divides 
 the river into two unequal parts, leaving the prin- 
 cipal channel toward the Canadian shore. The 
 head of this island, and the beach of the United 
 States side of the river, are connected by a rude 
 wooden bridge, which must have been construct- 
 ed with great difficulty, as the bottom is of rock, 
 and the water runs with great velocity. On both 
 sides of the island the declivity is great, and the 
 furious stream is broken at intervals by falling over 
 shelving rocks. The division of the rapids toward 
 the Canadian side, would have been remarked as 
 highly interesting, had it been situated somewhere 
 else than immediately adjoining to the great falls 
 of Niagara. 
 
 The stranger, on arriving at the point of land 
 close at the head of the cataract, and that juts over 
 
 u 2
 
 292 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 the tremendous abyss, is in a moment arrested by 
 the awful grandeur of the scene, or if he is at all 
 inclined to motion, it is to recede from the preci- 
 pice. The sight of an immense volume of water 
 poured over a perpendicular cliff, situated almost 
 under his feet *, into tho chasm below, and the 
 thundering noise, are calculated to excite a degree 
 of astonishment that borders on dismay. 
 
 The part of the river which passes between the 
 island and the south-easterly shore, falls over the 
 abrupt edge of a precipice that has a few small 
 gaps in it ; the water discharged is necessarily 
 deep in these, and forms green columns, which de- 
 scend twenty or thirty feet before they assume 
 the whiteness that is uniform over other parts of 
 the sheet that here spends its fury on a heap of 
 large blocks which have been undermined and de- 
 tached from the rocks above. A vast body of 
 dense spray deflected from those large masses of 
 stone, flies off horizontally, and in every other di- 
 rection, and completely obscures the bottom of 
 the fall, and a considerable portion of the chasm 
 adjoining. 
 
 The chasm, from the falls downward, is bound- 
 ed on both sides by perpendicular cliffs. After 
 descending seventy or eighty feet by a wooden 
 stair, the way to the water's edge is down a steep 
 footslope, amongst large blocks of stone, and small 
 trees of white cedar which line the banks, and add 
 much to the beauty of this grand ravine. 
 
 A small skiff is kept for the convenience of those 
 who would have a view of the falls from below. 
 Sailing here sometimes exposes the traveller to 
 
 * The height of the division of the falls that lies between the 
 island and the south-east shore has been formerly estimated at 
 160 feet. I have been told that a measurement made last 
 summer has determined it to be 162 feet.
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 293 
 
 have his clothes wet from the falling vapours, the wa- 
 ters being so much agitated ; but as the commo- 
 tion is nothing more than the heavings of an eddy 
 that comes into contact with the stream, no danger 
 whatever is to be apprehended, and I am apt to be- 
 lieve that few visitors will forego the pleasure of 
 crossing at this place. 
 
 Jt was not till I got afloat on the river that I 
 obtained a comprehensive view of the whole ca- 
 taract. The part between the island and the 
 north-western shore, forms a hollow curve that is 
 called the Horse-shoe Bend. It is in the inmost re- 
 cess of this bay that the greatest quantity of wa- 
 ter is precipitated, and from this part the most 
 deep-toned sounds seemed to proceed. The great 
 body of water which dashes from the summit of the 
 Horse-shoe Bend, is evidenced by the majestic curve 
 that the liquid forms, where it rolls over the top 
 of the rock, and by the green colour that it retains 
 till the vast column is concealed by the waters 
 which rise in revulsion from the vortex below. It is 
 also over the Horse-shoe Bend, that the vapour as- 
 cends in the thickest cloud, and to the greatest 
 height. 
 
 On the margin of the river, I observed some logs 
 of timber, that had been put ashore by the eddy. 
 They were large round trees, which appeared to have 
 been cut across at the lengths of twelve and sixteen 
 feet, such as are cut into boards at saw-mills. Se- 
 veral of them were split asunder throughout their 
 whole length. Others of them had some of the 
 annular layers of the timber peeled off) 'and the re- 
 maining surfaces bruised and marked, as if they 
 had been beat all over with a weighty hammer 
 or a blunt axe. The ends of the logs were rounds 
 somewhat resembling a parabolic figure, 
 
 v 3
 
 294 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 The ascent of the northern bank, is performed 
 by climbing the steep foot-slope by a rugged path 
 that winds amongst large stones, and ultimately 
 surmounting the cliff by a wooden stair ; — a fati- 
 guing task, but one which is amply repaid by the 
 commanding situation of the high ground on the 
 Canadian side. As the cascade runs obliquely 
 across the river, and exposes the concavity to the 
 northward, the spectator is here, as it were, placed 
 a little beyond the focus of the grandest amphi- 
 theatre. It is also in his power to approach close to 
 the extremity of the pitch, and overlook the smok- 
 ing Horse-shoe Bend, and peer down on the awful 
 but indescribable convulsions that agitate the foam- 
 ing bay. 
 
 The falls of Niagara are much visited by stran- 
 gers, as during our short stay there we met with se- 
 veral persons who were examining them. There 
 is a large tavern on each side of the river, and in 
 the album kept at one of these, I observed that up- 
 wards of a hundred folio pages had been written 
 with names within five months. 
 
 Immediately before reaching Kingston, we de- 
 scended a steep ridge or step in the country. 
 Opposite to this place is Queenstown, on the Can- 
 adian side of the river. Both these towns are at 
 the lower end of the portage of Niagara. The 
 chasm through which the river runs from the falls 
 to this place, renders it highly probable that the 
 cataract once poured itself over the ridge just no- 
 ticed, and that it has subsequently made its progress 
 upward to its present place. It would be interest- 
 ing to ascertain the relative levels of the ridge 
 above Kingston, and the old beach of Lake 
 Erie, that has been observed in the great prairie. 
 
 Late in the evening we stopped at Youngstown, 
 a small village near the confluence of the river
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 29-5 
 
 Niagara with Lake Ontario. At this place I heard 
 the noise of the falls, which were eighteen miles 
 distant. 
 
 On the 18th, I crossed the river to the town 
 of Niagara, now called Newark. On the Unit- 
 ed States side of the mouth of the river stands 
 the old fort Niagara ; on the Canadian side is Fort 
 George, of later erection. The 18th was a day 
 of much parade there ; the governor of the upper 
 province being engaged in reviewing the troops 
 of the garrison. 
 
 The banks of the river Niagara are, at its mouth, 
 about sixty feet high, and the ground in the 
 neighbourhood forms a delightful plain, but the 
 people are said to be much afflicted with ague, a 
 complaint common to both sides of the river. 
 
 In the afternoon I went on board a large steam- 
 boat, called Fronteniac, which then sailed for 
 Kingston. Toward evening we saw the spray over 
 the falls of Niagara. It did not then appear to be a 
 blue smoky-coloured, and almost transparent va- 
 pour, as when I was near it on the 18th, but 
 a dark-coloured dense cloud. This fact agrees 
 well with the opinion that asserts the vesicular 
 formation of clouds, and with the observation fa- 
 miliar to every one, that clouds appear to be dark- 
 coloured and opaque at a distance, and that when 
 they actually approach and fall in the form of rain, 
 their dark colour and opacity disappear. 
 
 The waters of Lake Ontario indicate great depth 
 by their dark green colour. It is reported that a 
 line of 350 fathoms has been let down in various 
 parts without rinding a bottom. The islands are 
 low, and covered with small timber, and the shores 
 rocky. Salmon abound in the lake, and in some of 
 its tributary streams.
 
 296 "LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 19th. Arrived at Kingston, which is situated at 
 the north-eastern extremity of Lake Ontario. 
 This place contains about 3000 people, and is the 
 largest town in Upper Canada. It was here that 
 the war ships which navigated the lake during the 
 late war were built, and several vessels of a larger 
 size than any on the ocean, are still on the stocks. 
 An island before Kingston, appears to be strongly 
 fortified. 
 
 To the north of Kingston, and toward the Uta- 
 was, or Grand River, is the new town of Perth, and 
 the settlement of a considerable body of Scots who 
 emigrated in 1815. One of these people, who was 
 on board the steam-boat, told me that the settlers 
 had succeeded well ; and a gentleman who lives in 
 their neighbourhood assured me, that they have al- 
 ready attained to a more comfortable style of liv- 
 ing: than the French in the older settlements of the 
 lower province. 
 
 On the 20th I sailed in a steam-boat for Pres- 
 cott, which is seventy miles down the river. In 
 immediate continuation with the eastern extre- 
 mity is an expansion of the river St. Lawrence, 
 which is called the lake of the thousand islands, 
 from the great number of small islands it contains. 
 These are rocky, and covered over with small pine 
 trees, forming a romantic labyrinth, in which it is 
 not always easy to discriminate between islands 
 and the main land. Markings on the rocks show, 
 that the waters rise occasionally to the height of 
 four feet, but these slight floods must be occasion- 
 ed by winds, rather than the immediate effect of 
 rainy weather. 
 
 Brokeville is a new town on the north side of the 
 river. The name is in honour of the British Ge- 
 neral Broke who fell in the late war. The houses
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 297 
 
 are chiefly of stone, and have a neat appearance. 
 In consequence of the settlements forming to the 
 northward, Brokeville is of some importance as a 
 landing place, and in its trade. 
 
 Prescott is a considerable town, with a small 
 fort on the Canadian side of the river. It is a 
 curious fact, that the thriving town of Ogdensburg, 
 on the United States shore, is directly opposite, 
 and though within the range of British cannon, is 
 without defensive works, and without a garrison. 
 
 There being a number of rapids in the river be- 
 tween Prescott and Montreal, the intermediate navi- 
 gation is performed by small flat-bottomed ves- 
 sels, called Durham boats, which carry about three 
 hundred barrels of flour each. These boats have 
 no other decks than narrow footways round the 
 gunwales, leaving the middle space open, where the 
 cargo is piled up. 
 
 On the 21st I left Prescott in a Durham boat, 
 in which there were three passengers besides 
 myself. Two of these were Americans from Ar- 
 kansaw river, on their way for Quebec, a journey 
 of 2100 miles, and the other an Englishman, who 
 had gone out to see the lands in Upper Canada, 
 and was on his return to England, where he intends 
 to give up a small farm that he holds in lease, 
 and remove his family to the back woods near 
 Kingston. From hearing the swearing and rude 
 conversation of the boat's crew, I concluded that 
 they were persons of the lowest character. 
 
 The waters of the St. Lawrence appear green, on 
 account of the great depth of the river, but when 
 taken up in a vessel, they seem perfectly transpa- 
 rent. The islands below Prescot are of a rich 
 soil, and, like the banks on both sides of the river, 
 are low, and covered with grass almost to the mar- 
 gin of the water. We passed over four rapids on
 
 298 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 the 21st, viz. the Rifts le Galete, the Flat Rifts, the 
 Long Falls, and the Maligne Rifts. All these run 
 with great velocity; and at the lower end of each, 
 where the stream rushes into waters that run on a 
 lesser declivity, a great swell or heaving motion is 
 produced. We stopped for the night at Cornwall, 
 a considerable village on the Canadian shore. I 
 was there told the river opposite to that place is 
 so deep, that when the people attempted to drag 
 it in search of the body of a man who had been 
 drowned, the bottom was not felt. 
 
 On the 22d we passed St. Regis, an Indian 
 town, which is built with stone. Below this place, 
 the boundary line which separates the United 
 States from Canada leaves the river. Lake St. 
 Francis is an expansion of the river that is about 
 thirty miles long, and from four to six miles broad. 
 The banks are low, and the declivity of the neigh- 
 bouring lands is very moderate. To the south- 
 east, a number of high mountains in New York 
 State are to be seen. Their distance from the 
 river seems to be about thirty miles, and they are 
 covered with trees to their summits. 
 
 On the northern bank of Lake St. Francis, is a 
 settlement of Canadian French. It extends to the 
 length of seven or eight miles, and is only about 
 one mile broad. The farms are said to consist of 
 one hundred acres each, and as they extend from 
 the lake back to the woods, they are long narrow 
 stripes of land, each having the dwelling-house, 
 barn, &c. almost close to the bank. The houses are 
 white-washed, and externally very neat. Their be- 
 ing almost completely uniform in size and appear- 
 ance, might cause any stranger to believe that their 
 owners are nearly on a parity in wealth. 
 
 At the east end of the lake are the falls of St. 
 Francis. These are furious rapids, and a canal 
 1
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 for avoiding them has been cut at the village Cotu 
 du Lac, but as the cut is not deep enough, the 
 work is of very little use. Of the falls of St. Law- 
 rence river, it may be remarked generally, that as 
 there are no high floods, and as the banks are low, 
 there can be no great difficulty in improving the 
 navigation. There is a very small Fort at the Co- 
 tu du Lac, which is garrisoned by about half a 
 dozen of soldiers. 
 
 On the 23d we took in a pilot, who conduct- 
 ed us over the Cedar Rifts, the Thicket Falls, and 
 Le Trou Falls. The former of these rapids runs 
 with tremendous fury. The two latter canals 
 are cut, but, like that at the Cotu du Lac, they are 
 too shallow to admit loaded boats. The Cedar vil- 
 lage is most delightfully situated on the north side 
 of the river. 
 
 The Utawas, or Grand river, forms the division 
 line between Upper and Lower Canada, and falls 
 into the St. Lawrence by two mouths, one above 
 and the other below the island of Montreal. The 
 great magnitude of the former river is manifested 
 by the dark colour of its waters, which are suffici- 
 ent to give a tinge to the Lake St. Louis, in which 
 the two rivers meet. On this lake a new steam- 
 boat has lately begun to ply. 
 
 La Chine is a small town on the Island Mon- 
 treal, and at the head of the falls of St. Louis. 
 In consequence of this interruption to the naviga- 
 tion, La Chine is at the head of a portage over 
 which a great portion of the produce and goods 
 that pass upward of Montreal are carried. The in- 
 habitants of this place are Canadian French, many 
 of whom are employed as carters between the 
 landing place and the city, which is about seven 
 miles distant. Cachewaga, on the opposite side of
 
 $00 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 the rivef, is an Indian town, built of stone, and 
 of a neat appearance. 
 
 On the 24th I proceeded by land to Mon- 
 treal. The soil in that part is good, and well 
 adapted to pasturage. I observed some farms that 
 are occupied by Scotsmen, and cultivated in a neat- 
 er style than any thing of the kind that I have ever 
 seen in America. Several iron ploughs which were 
 made at Uddingstone, on the Clyde, were lying by 
 the side of the road. The horses are small, but 
 elegantly formed and hardy. 
 
 The language in most common use here is the 
 French. People of every possible shade of colour, 
 between the French complexion and the copper 
 colour of the Indian, are to be heard conversing in 
 that tongue. 
 
 The suburbs of Montreal are composed of nar- 
 row dirty streets. The houses are of stone, plas- 
 tered over with lime. A few private houses, and 
 the court-house and jail, are built of hewed stone. 
 The roofs of many of the houses are covered witli 
 small plates of tinned iron, which preserves its 
 metallic lustre well, and produces a disagreeable 
 glare during sunshine. In the end of the market 
 place, is a monument in memory of Lord Nelson. 
 It is a Doric column, with a plaster bust of the 
 hero on the top, and some naval figures in relief 
 upon the pedestal. This compound substance is 
 already yielding to the weather, and probably will 
 not long resist the effects of this rigorous climate. 
 To the north of the town, there is a hill covered 
 with timber, which contributes much toward giv- 
 ing the place a picturesque appearance. In the 
 neighbourhood there are a few neat villas, and 
 many luxuriant orchards. In the streets people 
 are to be seen driving small carts drawn by dogs)
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. SOI 
 
 they are usually loaded with sticks, ashes, and 
 other light articles. Montreal has a great trade, 
 being the emporium of the upper country, and 
 the residence of the principal agents of the 
 North West Company. The port is accessible to 
 large ships from the ocean, but is not a tenable 
 harbour in the winter, on account of its being ex- 
 posed to the breaking up of the ice. Montreal is 
 the seat of justice for the upper district of Lower 
 Canada. The court is composed of a chief jus- 
 tice, and three puisne judges. There is in the 
 city, a barrack occupied by a small body of troops. 
 A square in the form of a terrace, called the Place 
 d'Arms, for the exercising of soldiers ; a college, 
 and a convent, where a considerable number of 
 nuns are kept. The clergy of the Roman Catho- 
 lic religion retain the tithes of the island. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 25th I sailed in a 
 steam-boat for Quebec. There are now twelve 
 large vessels of this kind which ply between Mon- 
 treal and that place, and one that crosses between 
 La Prairie and Montreal. 
 
 The steam-boats, on their passage between Mon- 
 treal and Quebec, touch at the town of Sorel, at 
 the mouth of Sorel river. Sorel is a small town, 
 and its principal business is ship-building. It 
 was formerly" called Fort William Henry, known 
 as the place of the earliest settlement of Europe- 
 ans in North America, and as the scene of the 
 cruel massacre committed by the Indians under 
 the French General Montcalm, in I757. 
 
 The Lake St. Peter's is another expansion of 
 the river, about twenty miles long and fifteen broad. 
 The great lakes in the upper country, and the 
 smaller ones in the course of the St. Lawrence, 
 have the effect of equalizing the stream, and pre-
 
 £02 LETTERS FROM AMERICA* 
 
 vent inundations, which are very injurious to the 
 neighbourhood of most large rivers. 
 
 In the afternoon, the vessel was anchored in 
 consequence of a contrary wind, which was accom- 
 panied with a fall of snow, the first that had oc- 
 curred during the season. The town Trots Ri- 
 vieres, (Three Rivers,) then in our sight, is a large 
 place, and is the seat of justice for one of the three 
 districts of Lower Canada. Most of the inhabi- 
 tants here, as in the other parts of the lower pro- 
 vince, are Canadian French. The houses are co- 
 vered with tinned iron. 
 
 On both sides of the river, a row of farm houses, 
 placed at very short intervals, stretches along almost 
 without interruption; These houses are white- 
 washed, and have throughout a degree of simila- 
 rity in size and appearance which I have not ob- 
 served in any other part except the banks of the St. 
 Lawrence. These houses are white-washed, and 
 have each a barn and other inferior houses attached. 
 As the grain is housed, and the barns seem to be of 
 no great dimensions, it is a proof that the crops are 
 certainly small. In viewing these ranges of farming 
 establishments obliquely, the whole has the aspect 
 of a continued village on both sides, with churches 
 at very short distances from one another. Were 
 it not for seeing the uncleared woods, which are in 
 most parts only about a mile from the river, and 
 for recollecting that the number of white people 
 in Lower Canada was, a few years ago, estimated 
 at only 200,000, I should have been induced to 
 believe that this is a populous country. 
 
 On the 26th we proceeded downwards with a 
 fair wind. The tide reaches to the distance of 
 about sixty miles above Quebec. We descended 
 the Falls of Richlieu, by the joint action of wind, 
 tide, steam, and the stream, at the rate of fifteen
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 303 
 
 miles an hour. These falls are furious rapids at 
 low stages of the tide, but in times of high water 
 they are covered up and smooth. The banks are 
 of a dark coloured schistous substance, very steep, 
 and about a hundred feet high, and the soil inferior 
 to that farther up the river. 
 
 On approaching Quebec, I was shown the steep 
 recess of the rock through which General Wolf 
 conducted his army on the night previous to his 
 memorable victory. — This narrow defile retains the 
 name of Wolfe's Cove. 
 
 The first sight of Quebec that is obtained in de- 
 scending the river, is imposing; the shipping view- 
 ed in the direction of the line that it forms along 
 the wharfs, has something like the appearance of a 
 thick forest of deadened pine-trees, and the dark- 
 coloured rock, which rises almost from the water's 
 edge, towers high in air. An angle of the fort that 
 stands on the edge of the precipice, and a stone 
 tower and a signal-post that occupy a still higher 
 summit in the rear, are the most prominent objects. 
 On advancing farther, it is discovered that the low 
 ground below widens to the westward, and is oc- 
 cupied by a part of the lower town, and a consi- 
 derable extent of the circumvallation that occupies 
 the top of the cleft, and incloses the castle of St. 
 Louis, and some other high buildings. The situ- 
 ation and aspect of the castle of St. Louis, (the resi- 
 dence of the governor,) reminds me of the barracks 
 on the west side of the castle of Edinburgh. Indeed 
 the whole of the northern front of Quebec has a gene- 
 ral resemblance to the ancient Scottish fortress. 
 
 Quebec stands on a point of land formed by the 
 junction of the rivers St. Lawrence, and is divided 
 by the cliffs into two parts, the Lower and the 
 Upper town. The Lower town, adjoining to the 
 wharfs, is narrow and dirty, and the wharfs are
 
 S04 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 disconnected from one another by the intervention 
 of houses. The Upper town is inclosed within the 
 fort, and is much better built and more clean than 
 the lower division of the city. The whole of the 
 works occupy ground of the most commanding 
 description, and are well furnished with the appa- 
 ratus necessary for defence. 
 
 On the Heights of Abraham, the place is shown 
 where Wolfe fell, and, till lately, the granite block 
 remained on which the hero expired. There are 
 some fragments still to be found, lying at a small 
 wooden house adjoining, which will probably be 
 soon broken into smaller pieces and carried off by 
 strangers. 
 
 To the west of Quebec is Lorete, an Indian 
 town, which is built of stone ; and the neighbour- 
 ing fields seem to be well cultivated. At Point 
 Levi, on the opposite bank of the St. Lawrence, 
 a tribe of Indians encamp occasionally for the 
 purpose of trading. It is curious that the abori- 
 gines remain so long amongst the thickest settle- 
 ments in Lower Canada, while in other parts of 
 the continent they disappear before a very thin 
 population of whites. This must have been oc- 
 casioned by the French, who have at all times in- 
 gratiated themselves with the natives, and even 
 intermarried with them, and by the Indians be- 
 coming proselytes to the Roman Catholic religion. 
 
 The Canadian French are universally acknow- 
 ledged to be true Roman Catholics, strict in their 
 observance of holidays, submissive to the exac- 
 tions of their priesthood, and the loyal subjects 
 of Britain. They seem to retain the depressed 
 characters of a conquered people. Their bow is 
 low, and apparently obsequious, and they are 
 usually ready to make out of the way of any one 
 who walks rapidly along the streets. Many of
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 305 
 
 them are dirty and coarsely clothed, and instead 
 of buttoning their coats, they tie them with a sort 
 of sash that is wrapped round their middle. At 
 meals each produces his pocket knife, the same, 
 perhaps, with which he cuts his tobacco, and spits 
 on the blade, and then rubs it on his clothes pre- 
 vious to eating. They are slovenly agriculturists, 
 and use the most wretched implements, and yoke 
 their oxen by the horns. A gentleman told me that 
 he lately asked one of them, why they did not yoke 
 these animals by the shoulders as other people do ? 
 The other replied — because the strength of the 
 head would be lost. It is not uncommon to see 
 the Canadian coming into market with only one 
 or two bushels of wheat. Here, as at Montreal, 
 the cruel practice of causing dogs to draw carts, 
 prevails. On seeing a young man riding in one 
 of these little vehicles, and whipping the docile 
 creature till it lay down and turned up its feet, I 
 was much shocked at the conduct of the wretch ; 
 and, though you may not altogether approve of 
 the principle, I felt considerable satisfaction from 
 the circumstance, that the profane imprecations 
 which he with great fluency uttered, were not pro- 
 nounced in the English language. 
 
 Timber is the principal article exported here. 
 The period for which Canadian timber is exempt- 
 ed from paying duty in Britain, is about to ex- 
 pire, and a fear is entertained that a tax may be 
 imposed by Parliament at their next session. The 
 subject excites much interest at present, and in 
 the event of a timber tax being enacted, it may 
 operate as a test for Canadian loyalty. 
 
 The government of the Canadas consists of a 
 governor, a legislative council, and a house of as- 
 sembly in each province. This organization is vest- 
 ed with the power of making such laws as are not 
 
 x
 
 306 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 
 
 contrary to the acts of the British Parliament. The 
 legislative council is summoned by the governor, 
 under the authority of the king, and its members 
 are appointed for life. The assembly is elected 
 by freeholders, whose qualification is possessing 
 landed property to the yearly value of forty shill- 
 ings or upwards j or possessing a dwelling house 
 and lot of ground in towns to the yearly va- 
 lue of five pounds, or paying for one year, at 
 least a rent of ten pounds. These assemblies con- 
 tinue for four years at most, but can be dis- 
 solved before the termination of the full period. 
 Quebec is the seat of justice for the lower dis- 
 trict of the lower province. The court con- 
 sists of a chief justice and three puisne judges, 
 and public business is conducted by a solicitor- 
 general and an attorney-general. The criminal 
 laws are the same as those of England, but in civil 
 cases the old coutume de Paris is retained. The 
 existence of French laws in the lower province is 
 said to be repulsive to people from Britain, and is 
 probably one of the causes that determines many 
 of them on settling in Upper Canada. 
 
 The climate of Canada varies between extremes 
 of heat and cold. A temperature of 96° of Fah- 
 renheit's scale has been observed at this place in 
 summer, and it is believed that mercury has been 
 frozen by the cold in winter. I am not able to 
 judge of the inconvenience which attends wintering 
 here, but the inhabitants look forward to that sea- 
 son as the gayest of the year. Most of the labours 
 without doors at this season are suspended, and the 
 people sally forth in their sledges on excursions 
 of pleasure, or in visiting their friends. The 
 deep and long continued snows in this country 
 protect the crops of wheat from being injured by 
 the frosts, and enable the Canadians to drag the
 
 LETTERS FROM AMERICA. 307 
 
 largest trees to the rivers, a work that would 
 otherwise be difficult in the woods, where there are 
 no good roads. Just now the ground is covered 
 with snow, and the cold, which increases daily, shows 
 that winter is about to commence in earnest. At 
 least three-fourths of the ships that were here a 
 week ago have sailed down the river, and the sea- 
 men who remain in port are all in a bustle, prepar- 
 ing for going to sea. Probably by a few days 
 hence there will not be a ship left. 
 
 x 2
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 Extracts from a Letter from John H. Farnham, 
 Esq. Counsellor at Law. Dated Jeffersonville, In- 
 diana, December 12, 1820. 
 
 " To ascend a little from village affairs, our le- 
 gislature are engaged in * breaking- one of our 
 villanous Justices, for prostituting his office, in 
 arresting a free negro, with a view to run him out 
 
 of the State. B is his name. You have heard 
 
 of the circumstances — Isaac, the negro, recovered 
 
 a thousand dollars against B , in damages, at 
 
 the last Charlestown Court for his conduct, the 
 whole amount laid in the declaration 5 and, I be- 
 lieve, if he had laid them at quadruple, the jury 
 would have given him every cent. So I trust we 
 are improving by degrees ! 
 
 " Kentucky appears to derive no wisdom 
 from experience. Her legislature have been 
 in session seven weeks, and passed a " Mam- 
 moth" Bank Law *, or rather loan-office-bill. Ca- 
 
 * The bones of the Mammoth, found in western America, 
 show that that animal has been much larger than any other 
 known quadruped. Hence, Mammoth has been adopted as a 
 provincial figure of speech, denoting the vast magnitude of any 
 thing. It is thus that the great cave in Kentucky is called the 
 Mammoth Cave, although none of the remains of that animal 
 have been found in it, and it is in this sense that the writer of 
 the above has introduced it as a humorous and characteristic 
 expression. 
 
 x 3
 
 310 ADDENDA. 
 
 pital three millions, owned by the State, and found- 
 ed on the expected proceeds of a million of acres 
 of public land belonging to the State. Not a cent 
 in specie is subscribed ; 600,000 dollars worth of 
 stock owned by the State, in the old bank of Ken- 
 tucky, whose charter expires this winter, is to 
 commence the new bank. Her notes are to be 
 lent to the citizens in all parts of the State on 
 real security, not exceeding 1000 dollars to any 
 one man, who must first swear what he wants the 
 money for ! Branches to be distributed in the dif- 
 ferent towns of the State. It is thought that laws 
 will be passed to prop the circulation of these new 
 rags, by making them receivable at the State Trea- 
 sury for taxes, and by making them a partial ten- 
 der, causing the creditor to wait for two, three, 
 and four years, if he refuse to take the new bank 
 notes. Without this they would not be worth ten 
 cents in the dollar. It is a most flagrant violation 
 of the United States' Constitution, which expressly 
 says, " No State shall emit bills of credit, or make 
 any thing but gold and silver a tender in pay- 
 ment of debts. 
 
 " Mr. Munroe, it is ascertained, is unanimously 
 re-elected President, a circumstance with regard to 
 that office, that will probably never happen again. 
 
 * * 
 
 " There is one circumstance in my native State, 
 Massachusetts, which it gives me some pleasure to 
 mention. The venerable John Adams, in his 
 87th year, was unanimously elected President of 
 the convention now sitting, to amend the consti- 
 tution of that State. Forty years ago, he was a 
 member of the convention that formed it, and it 
 is exactly fifty years since he took a conspicuous 
 stand before the public as one of the advocates of
 
 ADDENDA. 311 
 
 free government. The convention complimented 
 him on the occasion with a handsome recapitula- 
 tion of his services. He declined the honour, but 
 acknowledged the compliment in a letter which is 
 touching and sublime, and which will for ever do 
 honour to this worthy revolutionary patriot. The 
 old oak still weathers the storm of time, and I 
 earnestly wish he may live to see his son Presi- 
 dent of the United States. A circumstance, pro- 
 bably that will never meet with its parallel in this 
 nation." 
 
 From the same, (J. H. F. Esq. J 
 
 Jeffersonville, {Indiana,) Aug. 1, 1821. 
 
 " The bank of Vincennes, our old and only spe- 
 cie-paying bank, has exploded, leaving a debt due 
 to the government of the United States for land- 
 office money deposits of 215,000 dollars; not a cent 
 of which, in all probability will ever be recovered. 
 This ugly affair has hurt the character of the State 
 abroad very much, but the swindling and rascality 
 is confined to three or four men who had the offi- 
 cial charge of the bank. You know the bank- 
 ing system is based on fraud, and it is somewhat 
 surprising that the people have not discovered that 
 in public as well as private affairs " honesty is 
 the best policy." A few more draughts will cure 
 them. We have here no currency (paper) in the 
 State. The branches are all down, not worth 
 twenty cents in the dollar. They are kept by 
 some to sell to bank-debtors, but have no circula- 
 tion. The bank at Madison still pays specie, but 
 has withdrawn her notes from circulation. There
 
 312 
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 are a i'ew notes of the branch of Madison (Lau- 
 renceburg) in circulation, which may be consider- 
 ed an exception to the above remark, value forty 
 per cent, below specie. When I wrote you last, 
 I told you that Kentucky was about establishing 
 a general loan office. She concluded to call it a 
 " Bank of the Commonwealth," and without a so- 
 litary cent of specie, or even any future provision 
 to get it, ordered three millions of dollars to be 
 issued at the discretion of the directors. Princi- 
 pal bank at Frankfort, and twelve branches distri- 
 buted through the State ; they have issued about 
 two millions, I understand. When it commenced, 
 the paper was thirty per cent, below specie, and 
 in six weeks fell to fifty and sixty. It afterwards 
 retroceded toward a specie standard, and for six 
 weeks has been at forty below specie. It is re- 
 ceivable in all payments due the State, and two 
 years stay « replevy" is allowed on all judgments 
 where plaintiff in execution refuses to take this 
 kind of paper. Nobody now in Kentucky pre- 
 tends to pay debts in specie, but those who owe, 
 or who wish to make speculations and bargains, 
 and who have hoarded specie, carry it to market, 
 and sell it for this new paper, and the late rise of 
 the paper from fifty-five and sixty, has been owing 
 to the quantity of silver in market to purchase 
 these notes, but it will go down again shortly. 
 The next legislature will, in all probability, at- 
 tempt to prop it up by making the notes bear an 
 interest of five or six per cent. This paper is 
 lent only to citizens of the State, and upon 
 pledges of real estate or appraisement by State 
 Commissioners, double of the value of the sum 
 borrowed. At this time, this very paper consti- 
 tutes the largest part of our circulating medium.".
 
 ADDENDA. 313 
 
 From Mr. A. M. to a Relation in Scotland. 
 
 Jefferson County, (Indiana,) Oct. 4, 1821. 
 
 " You will wish to know how we come on in 
 this land of liberty. Tolerably well, although not 
 altogether so well as we expected. If we have not 
 got quit of all our grievances, we have got a 
 change of some of them. What improvements we 
 now make are our own, and these are consider- 
 able. We have got forty acres of land cleared of 
 all the timber under eighteen inches in diameter, 
 and the remaining large trees well deadened, which, 
 I think, average six trees to an acre. After they 
 stand deadened two or three seasons, by felling 
 them to the ground, they can be consumed by 
 fire without the trouble of rolling them together. 
 We have it all in good fence and in crop. We 
 have also cleared eight acres and built a neat ca- 
 bin on another quarter section, half a mile distant, 
 in which R. G. and his wife live at present. Our 
 stocking consists of one horse, four cows and 
 calves, three year old queys, and thirty hogs. We 
 do not intend to buy any more stock except a mare 
 or two for breeding, as we think it better to raise 
 them for ourselves, and as they do not find a quick 
 market. Horses are not much cheaper here than 
 with you *, but cows are sold at only from twelve 
 to twenty dollars each. This season we have re- 
 moved all our houses, in the notion of having them 
 in a better situation. Wooden houses are easily 
 raised here, and they are very well adapted to the 
 purposes of farming offices, but are not the most 
 comfortable dwellings. However, we have plen- 
 ty of stones, lime, and sand, of which materials we 
 
 * The writer of the above emigrated from Scotland in 18 19,
 
 314 ADDENDA. 
 
 intend to build a house soon ; and we think the 
 time is at no great distance when we shall have an 
 elegant farm, with good houses, orchard, and well 
 stocked with all kinds of cattle. Our soil and cli- 
 mate are capable of producing a great variety of 
 vegetables, from the tall grape-vine to the most 
 diminutive of plants. The garden-stuffs that we 
 raise, almost without any trouble, would be a feast 
 for your eyes could we present them to your view. 
 We wish that all our poor friends were here : — 
 How easily we could supply them with the neces- 
 saries of life ! ; • * # * 
 
 # * # * * * 
 
 " Congress, in their last session, passed a bill for 
 the relief of those who are indebted for the price 
 of public lands, allowing eight years for the pay- 
 ment of arrears, at equal annual instalments, or S7£ 
 per cent, discount on prompt payments. All pub- 
 lic lands to be sold hereafter must be paid in rea- 
 dy money, at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five 
 cents per acre, which is fixed as a minimum price. 
 
 * ^ n ^ ^ # 
 
 " 1 have just finished thebuilding of a stone house, 
 containing three rooms, a kitchen, and a cellar, for 
 one of our neighbours. I worked by the day, and 
 had only one dollar for each, with bed and board, 
 and was paid in money about one third part below 
 specie value. You must know that times have ta- 
 ken a very adverse turn in respect of earning mo- 
 ney. Since we came here, (not quite three years 
 ago,) it was easier to earn two dollars than it is to 
 procure one now. We keep our health well, and 
 consider this to be a healthy place. This settle- 
 ment has never suffered from any prevalent sick- 
 ness. Several towns along the river and other low- 
 lying districts are said to be sickly ; but according 
 to the best information I can get, I would not
 
 ADDENDA. 315 
 
 exchange this place for any other in America in 
 point of healthiness. Three months in spring, and 
 three in autumn, I think, excel the climate of 
 Scotland in pleasant weather. The summer is a 
 little too hot and the winter a little too cold." 
 
 Extract from a Letter from G — H — TV — , Esq. 
 dated Philadelphia, January 8, 1822. 
 
 " Every thing is going on much better than 
 when I left this country sixteen months ago. Ma- 
 nufacturers are doing wonders. All is life, spirit, 
 and bustle. There are astonishing improvements 
 making, particularly in farming. Canals, roads, &c. 
 are going on at a great rate. Every one seems to 
 be doing well, and I hear no complaints of any 
 kind. This will shortly be a glorious country, and 
 I thank God that I am again in it. I expect to pur- 
 chase a farm in this neighbourhood, and to sit down 
 in peace and comfort unmolested by any one. — 
 This is more than the inhabitants of any other coun- 
 try can say." 
 
 From John H. Farnham, Esq. 
 
 March 20, 1822. 
 
 " There are not many local changes since you 
 left this vicinity. We have erected, in this place, 
 a State prison, under the name of a penitentiary, 
 a three-story brick-building, pretty strong, where 
 are five convicts confined to hard labour. Our 
 laws have been modified so as to substitute peni- 
 tentiary confinement for whipping. Our cur- 
 rency (Indiana) is the same as when I wrote to you
 
 316 ADDENDA. 
 
 last. Kentucky paper is afloat to the amount of 
 between three and four millions. Specie is now 
 seventy per cent, in advance of this paper, that is, 
 for a dollar and seventy cents paper you can pur- 
 chase one dollar in specie. The last Kentucky Le- 
 gislature took no step to fortify its credit ; but, on 
 the contrary, ordered the bank to issue a million 
 more than they had judged it prudent or expedient 
 to do ! ! ! The State of Ohio has wonderfully im- 
 proved in her currency. Her sham banks are pros- 
 trate, and specie is the currency of the State. Her 
 business and credit are fast reviving, and I predict 
 she will leave Kentucky a long distance in the 
 rear in every quality that gives credit and respec- 
 tability to a State. Her population, by the last 
 census, (recently taken,) is five hundred and eighty- 
 one thousand. Kentucky five hundred and sixty- 
 four thousand, of whom one hundred and thirty 
 or one hundred and forty thousand are slaves. The 
 population of Indiana one hundred and forty-seven 
 thousand six hundred. Ten years ago the actual 
 enumeration of Indiana was twenty-five thousand. 
 Congress, after a long conflict, have recently fixed 
 the ratio of representation on the basis of the new 
 census at forty thousand free whites for one re- 
 presentative. This ratio increases the present 
 House of Representatives to the number of two 
 hundred and twelve. Another great conflict is 
 now going on in Congress between the friends 
 and enemies of an uniform system of bankrupt 
 law throughout the Union. I fear this bill will not 
 pass. * * * * 
 
 " Our harvest was abundant and good, excepting 
 the wheat, which was injured by the rains. 1 ne- 
 ver knew provisions cheaper than they were last 
 winter. The best beef and pork were bought here 
 for a dollar and fifty cents per hundred weight."
 
 THE 
 
 AMERICAN TARIFF, 
 
 WITH 
 
 ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS AGREEABLY TO ACTS 
 
 OF CONGRESS. 
 
 TABLE I. 
 
 HATES OF DUTY OF ARTICLES SUBJECT TO 
 AD VALOREM ". 
 
 Arabic, Gum ..... 
 
 Arms, Side and Fire .... 
 
 Artificial Flowers ..... 
 Articles, all composed wholly or chiefly of gold, silver, pearl, 
 
 and precious stones . 
 
 Articles, all not free, and not subject to any other rate of 
 
 duty, (See Gold Leaf) .... 
 
 .Balsams ...... 
 
 Blue, Prussian ..... 
 
 Bleached, or coloured, (See Cotton Yarn) 
 
 Books, Blank ..... 
 
 Bonnets for Women .... 
 
 Brass, manufactures of all articles from, or of which Brass is 
 
 the material of chief value 
 Brasswire ..... 
 
 Bridles ...... 
 
 Bristol Stones ..... 
 
 Brushes ...... 
 
 Buckles, of all kinds .... 
 
 Importations in 
 
 American 
 
 Vessels. 
 
 Foreign 
 Vessels. 
 
 Per Cent. 
 
 PerCent 
 
 7 1 
 20 
 
 Si 
 22 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 7 1 
 f * 
 
 n 
 
 i 
 
 15 
 
 16J 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 s 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 7 1 
 30 
 
 6| 
 33 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 * N. B. In all cases where an ad valorem duty shall be charged, it shall be calculated on 
 the nett cost of the articles at the place whence imported, (exclusive of packages, cr.mmis- 
 sions, and all charges,) with the usual addition, established by law, of 20 per cent, on all mer- 
 chandise imported from places beyond the Cape of Good Hope, and of 10 percent, en arti- 
 cle! imported from all other places.
 
 318 
 
 AMERICAN TARIFF. 
 
 Importations in 
 
 Buttons 
 Button Moulds 
 
 Cabinet Wares 
 
 Cannon 
 
 Canes 
 
 Capers 
 
 Caps for Women 
 
 . or Hats of Wool 
 
 . do. of Fur 
 
 do. of Leather . 
 
 -. do. of Chip 
 
 do. of Straw 
 
 do. of Silk 
 
 Carriages, of all descriptions, and parts thereof 
 
 Chip, (See Hats or Caps, &e.) 
 
 China Ware . 
 
 Clothing, ready made 
 
 Cloth, Hempen, ) Except Russian and German Linens, 
 
 Sail, j" Russia and Holland duck. 
 
 Coloured, or bleached, (See Cotton Yarn, &c.) 
 
 Comfits, of all descriptions, preserved in Sugar or Brandy 
 
 Copper, manufactures of all articles from or of which it is the 
 
 material of chief value .... 
 
 Cosmetics • • 
 
 Cotton, Stockings of . • • • 
 
 - manufactures of all descriptions, or of which it is the 
 
 material of chief value, till the 30th of June, 1819. 
 (After that day 20 per cent.) 
 
 Twist, do. do. 
 
 Yarn, do. do. 
 
 Thread, do. do. 
 
 Cloths, or cloths of which Cotton is the material of 
 
 chief value, (excepting Nankeens imported direct from 
 China,) the original cost of which at the place whence im- 
 ported, with the addition of 20 per cent, if imported fiom 
 the Cape of Good Hope, or from places beyond it, and 10 
 per cent, from any other place, shall be less than 25 cents 
 per square yard, shall, with such addition, be taken and 
 deemed to have cost 25 cents per square yard, and shall be 
 charged with duty accordingly 
 
 Unbleached and uncoloured, the original 
 cost of which shall be less than sixty 
 cents per pound, shall be deemed and 
 taken to have cost 60 cents per pound, 
 and shall be charged with duty accord- 
 ingly, 
 Yarn, bleached or coloured, the original cost of which 
 
 American | 
 Vessels. | 
 
 Per Cent. 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 30 
 '20 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 
 20 
 30 
 
 20 
 
 30 
 
 25 
 30 
 
 20 
 
 Cotton Twist, 
 
 Yarn, 
 
 Thread, 
 
 shall have been less than 75 cents per pound, shall be taken 
 and deemed to have cost 75 cents per pound, and shall be 
 charged with duty accordingly 
 
 25 
 25 
 25 
 
 •>:> 
 
 Foreign 
 Vessels. 
 
 Per Cent. 
 
 22 
 
 22 
 
 33 
 22 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 
 22 
 
 33 
 
 22 
 
 33 
 
 274 
 
 33 
 
 22 
 
 27 A 
 
 27i 
 27« 
 27^ 
 
 2?.'. 
 
 27*
 
 AMERICAN TARIFF. 
 
 319 
 
 Importations in 
 
 American 
 Vessel*. 
 
 Per Cent. 
 
 Cotton Piece Goods, imported in vessels of the United States, 
 which shall have sailed therefrom before the 27th of April, 
 1816, and shall arrive therein between the 30th of June, 
 1816, and the first of June, 1817, the original cost of which 
 cotton piece goods, at the place whence imported, shal' have 
 been less than 25 cents per square yard, shall be admitted 
 to entry, subject only to a duty of 33^ per cent on the cost 
 of said cotton piece goods in India, and on the usual addition 
 of 20 per cent, on that cost 
 
 Coach and Harness Furniture 
 
 Cutlery ...... 
 
 Cut Glass, (See Glass, Cut) 
 
 Dying Drugs, and materials for composing dyes, not subject 
 to other rates of duty .... 
 
 Earthen Ware . . . 
 
 Embroidery . . . 
 
 Epaulets .... 
 
 Fans • 
 
 Feathers .... 
 
 Fire Arms . . 
 
 Flags, mats of 
 
 Floor Cloths, painted 
 
 Flowers, artificial 
 
 Frames, or sticks, for umbrellas or parasols 
 
 Fur, hats or caps of 
 
 Gilt Wares, of all kinds 
 
 Glass, cut . 
 
 Glass manufactures, other than window glass, and black 
 
 glass quart bottles 
 Gold Watches 
 Gold Lace 
 Gold (See articles all composed of, &c.) 
 Gold Leaf, and all articles not free, and not subject to any 
 
 other rate of duty ... * 
 
 Grass, mats of .... • 
 
 Gum, Arabic 
 
 33£ 
 
 25 
 20 
 
 7> 
 '5 
 
 20 
 
 7 1 
 
 30 
 30 
 20 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 
 20 
 30 
 
 20 
 
 n 
 
 n 
 
 Senegal 
 
 Harness 
 
 Furniture, (See Coach and Harness Furniture) 
 
 Hangings, paper 
 Hats, or caps of wool 
 fur 
 
 '*€% ..i leather 
 
 —— — — — chip 
 
 >•■ 4> » straw 
 silk 
 
 15 
 
 30 
 
 n 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 30 
 
 Foreign 
 Vessels. 
 
 Per Cent. 
 
 27 1 
 22" 
 
 9* 
 
 22 
 
 n 
 
 33 
 33 
 22 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 
 22 
 
 33 
 
 22 
 
 *l 
 
 16i 
 33 
 
 8^ 
 
 33 
 
 33 
 
 33 
 33 
 
 a:] 
 
 3:', 
 b.i 
 33
 
 320 
 
 AMERICAN TARIFF. 
 
 Importations in 
 
 Head Dresses, ornaments for 
 Hempen Cloth, (See Cloth) 
 
 American 
 Vessels. 
 
 Per Cent. 
 30 
 
 Iron, manufactures of all articles from, or of which it is the 
 material of chief value .... 20 
 
 Japanned Wares, of all kinds 
 Jewellery 
 
 Laces, ~\ 
 Lace veils, f 
 — — shawls, f 
 shades, J 
 
 of thread or silk 
 
 { 
 
 Lace, gold 
 
 silver 
 Laces, 
 Lace veils, 
 
 shawls 
 
 shades 
 Lead, manufactures of all articles from, or of which it is the 
 
 material of chief value .... 
 Leaf, gold (See Gold Leaf) 
 
 Leather, and all manufactures thereof, or of which it is the 
 material of chief value «... 
 
 Manufactures of all articles from Brass, Copper, Iron, Steel, 
 Pewter, Lead, Tin, or of which either is the material or' 
 value . 
 
 Manufactures, (See Woollen, &c.) 
 
 ■ (See Cotton, &c.) 
 
 ■ (See Leather,) 
 
 of wood, &c. (See Wood, &c.) 
 
 Materials for composing dyes, not subject to other rates of 
 duty, 
 
 Mats, of Grass 
 
 — — of Flags 
 
 Millinery, of all sorts 
 
 Moulds, Button 
 
 Muskets 
 
 Mustard 
 
 Needles 
 Nitre 
 
 Oil, Salad 
 
 Olives 
 
 Ornaments for head dresses 
 
 Painted Floor Cloths 
 
 Paper of every description 
 
 Paper Hangings 
 
 Parasols, of whatever materials 
 
 — — sticks or frames for 
 
 Pasteboard 
 
 Parchment 
 
 20 
 
 30 
 
 20 
 
 Foreign 
 Vessels. 
 
 Per Cent. 
 33 
 
 22 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 1\ 
 
 8^ 
 
 n 
 
 8j 
 
 7i 
 
 H 
 
 n 
 
 »; 
 
 n 
 
 Bi 
 
 n 
 
 »-; 
 
 n 
 
 H 
 
 22 
 
 33 
 
 22 
 
 n 
 
 8* 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 74 
 
 8* 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 33
 
 AMERICAN TARIFF. 
 
 Pastework 
 
 Pearls of all kinds, set or not set 
 
 Pearl, all articles composed wholly or chiefly of 
 
 Perfumes 
 
 Pewter, all articles manufactured from, or of which it is the 
 
 material of chief value 
 Pins 
 Pickles 
 
 Plated Wares of all kinds 
 Porcelain . . 
 
 Preserves, (See Sweetmeats) 
 Precious Stones of all kinds, set or not set 
 Precious Stones, all articles composed wholly or chiefly of 
 Printing Types .... 
 
 Prussian Blue 
 
 Rugs, (See Woollen manufactures, &c.) 
 
 Saddlery, Silver Plated 
 
 Saddles 
 
 Sail Cloth, (See Cloth) 
 
 Sallad Oils 
 
 Saltpetre 
 
 Senegal Gum 
 
 Shawls, Lace, of Thread or Silk, 
 
 Shades, do. do. do. 
 
 Side Arms 
 
 Silk Hats or Caps 
 
 Silver, (See articles all composed, &c) 
 
 Silver Watches 
 
 Steel, manufactures from, of all kinds, or of which it 
 
 material of chief value 
 Sticks, or frames for Umbrellas or Parasols 
 
 Sticks, Walking 
 
 Stones, precious, of all kinds, set or not set . 
 
 Bristol 
 
 Stone-ware 
 
 Stockings, of wool or cotton 
 Straw, (See Hats or Caps,) 
 Stuff" Goods, (See Woollen manufactures, &c.) 
 Sweetmeats, of all descriptions, preserved in Su 
 Brandy, 
 
 is the 
 
 ar or 
 
 Thread, (See Lace, Lace Shawls, &c. ) 
 
 Tin, manufactures from, of all articles, or of which it is tlte 
 
 material of chief value 
 Types, for Printing 
 Twist, (See Cotton manufactures, &C.) 
 
 Unbleached and uncoloured, (See Cotton Twist, &c.) 
 Umbrellas . • • 
 
 321 
 
 Importations in 
 
 Foreign 
 Vessels. 
 
 Per Cent. 
 
 8* 
 
 8* 
 8* 
 
 33 
 
 22 
 
 22 
 33 
 
 22 
 22 
 
 American 
 Vessels. 
 
 PerCent. 
 
 H 
 H 
 
 7 1 
 30 
 
 20 
 20 
 30 
 20 
 20 
 
 20 
 20 
 
 25 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 n 
 n 
 n 
 
 7 1 
 20 
 30 
 
 7 1 
 
 ' 2 
 
 20 
 30 
 30 
 
 7 X 
 
 2 
 
 7> 
 20 
 20 
 
 30 
 
 20 
 20 
 
 30 
 
 8i 
 
 22 
 22 
 
 27* 
 33" 
 
 33 
 
 H 
 
 n 
 
 8« 
 22 
 33 
 
 8i 
 
 22 
 
 33 
 
 33 
 8* 
 8| 
 
 22 
 
 22 
 
 33 
 
 22 
 22 
 
 S3
 
 8W 
 
 AMERICAN TARIFF. 
 
 Veils, Lace, of Thread ©r Silk 
 Vellum 
 
 Wafers 
 
 "Walking Sticks 
 Wares, Cabinet 
 Ware, China 
 
 Earthen 
 
 Stone 
 
 Wares, of all kinds, Gilt 
 
 do. Plated 
 
 do. Japanned 
 
 Washes 
 
 Watches, all kinds of, and parts of 
 
 Whips 
 
 Wire, Brass 
 
 Woollen, manufactures of all descript:__ 
 
 Wool is the material of chief value, until the 30th of 
 
 June, 1S19 
 
 Ar.er that day, 20 per cent, excepting Blankets, Woollen 
 Rugs, Worsted and Stuff Goods, 
 
 Wood, all manufactures of 
 
 Wool, Stockings of 
 
 Yam, (see Cotton manufactures, &c.) 
 
 ions or of which 
 
 Importations in 
 
 American 
 
 Foreign 
 
 Vessels. 
 
 N esstls. 
 
 PerCent. 
 
 Per Cent- 
 
 7| 
 
 Bi 
 
 30* 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 1\ 
 
 8* 
 
 30' 
 
 33 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 25 
 
 30 
 20 
 
 27i 
 
 33 
 
 22 
 
 TABLE II. 
 
 American 
 
 OF ARTICLES SUBJECT TO SPECIFIC Vessels. 
 
 KATES OF DUTY. CgniSm 
 
 Ale, in bottles ... 15 
 
 otherwise than in bottles . . 10 
 
 Aium .... 200 
 
 Almonds .... 3 
 
 Anchors .... 2 
 
 Bars, ) Iron in, excepting iron manufactured 
 Bolts, J by rolling . . 75 
 Bars, ) Iron in, when manufactured by roll- 
 Bolts, / ing ... 150 
 Bars, Lead in ... l 
 Beer, in bottles . . . 15 
 
 otherwise than in bottles . . 10 
 
 Bottles, black glass quart . . 144 
 
 Boots .... 150 
 
 Bolts, Copper ... 4 
 
 Composition ... 4 
 
 Bohea, { See Teas) 
 
 Importations in 
 
 Foreign 
 Vessels. 
 
 Cents. 
 
 Per 
 gal. 
 
 Cwt. 
 lb. 
 
 Cwt 
 
 lb. 
 gal. 
 
 gross 
 pair 
 lb. 
 
 16.5 
 
 11 
 220 
 3.3 
 2.2 
 
 S2.5 
 
 1G5 
 1.1 
 16.5 
 11 
 158.4 
 165 
 4.4 
 4.4
 
 AMERICAN TARIFF. 
 
 S23 
 
 Importations in 
 
 Brads, (See Tacks, &c.) 
 
 Brown Sugar 
 
 Bristles 
 
 Burgundy, (See Wines) 
 
 Cards, Playing 
 Cables 
 Candles, Tallow 
 
 Wax 
 
 Spermaceti 
 
 Candy, Sugar 
 
 Chinese, Cassia 
 
 Cheese 
 
 Chocolate 
 
 Champaign, (See Wines) 
 
 Children, shoes and slippers for 
 
 Cinnamon 
 
 Cigars 
 
 Cloves 
 
 Clayed, white or powdered Sugar 
 
 Cordage, tarred 
 
 — — — Untarred 
 
 ■ Yams 
 
 Twines 
 
 Pack Thread 
 
 Seines 
 
 Coal, (Heaped) 
 
 Cocoa 
 
 Coffee 
 
 Composition, Rods, Bolts, Spikes or Nails 
 
 Copperas 
 
 Copper, Rods, Bolts, Spikes or Nails 
 
 Cotton 
 
 Currants 
 
 American 
 Vessels. 
 
 Cents. 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 30 
 3 
 3 
 6 
 6 
 
 12 
 6 
 9 
 3 
 
 15 
 
 25 
 
 250 
 
 25 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 100 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 Duck, Russia, not exceeding 52 archeens, each 
 
 piece . 
 Ravens, not exceeding 52 archeens, each 
 
 piece .... 
 Holland, not exceeding 52 archeens, each 
 
 piece < • • • 
 
 Fayal, (See Wines) 
 
 Figs .... 
 
 Fish, foreign caught . • 
 
 Mackarel 
 
 ___ Salmon . o 
 
 ... all other pickled 
 
 Glass Bottles, Black quart 
 
 200 
 
 250 
 
 3 
 
 100 
 150 
 
 200 
 100 
 
 144 
 
 Per 
 
 lb. 
 
 pack 
 lb. 
 
 pair 
 
 lb. 
 
 thous. 
 
 lb. 
 
 bush, 
 lb. 
 
 Cwt. 
 lb. 
 
 piece 
 
 lb. 
 
 quint, 
 bbl. 
 
 gross 
 
 Foreign 
 Vessels. 
 
 Cents. 
 
 3.3 
 3.3 
 
 33 
 3.3 
 3.3 
 6.6 
 6.6 
 
 13.2 
 6.6 
 9.9 
 3.3 
 
 16.5 
 
 27.5 
 
 275 
 
 27.5 
 
 4.4 
 
 3.3 
 
 4.4 
 
 4.4 
 
 4.4 
 
 4.4 
 
 4.4 
 
 5.5 
 
 2.2 
 
 5.5 
 
 4.4 
 
 110 
 
 4.4 
 
 3.3 
 
 3.3 
 
 220 
 137.5 
 
 275 
 
 110 
 165 
 220 
 110 
 
 15S.1
 
 324 
 
 AMERICAN TARIFF. 
 
 Importations in 
 
 Glass, Window, not above 8 inches by 10 
 
 not above 10 by 12 
 
 above 10 inch by 12 
 
 Glue . 
 
 Gomee, and ) c ~ . 
 
 Gunpowder, / ( See Teas ) 
 
 Hemp 
 
 Holland, (See Duck) 
 
 Hoops, sheets and rods, iron in 
 
 Hyson, (See Teas) 
 
 Imperial, (See Teas) 
 Indigo 
 
 Iron, or steel wire, not exceeding No. 
 over No. 18. 
 
 IS 
 
 rolling 
 
 n bars or bolts, except manufactured by 
 
 in sheets, rods, or hoops 
 
 — in bars or bolts, when 
 rolling . . 
 in Pigs 
 
 manufactured by 
 
 Castings 
 
 Lead, in Pigs, Bars, or Sheets 
 
 manufactured into shot 
 
 red or white, dry or ground in oil 
 
 Lisbon, (See Wines) 
 
 Loaf Sugar . . 
 
 Lump Sugar . 
 
 Mace 
 
 Madeira, (see Wines) 
 
 Manufactures of Iron into bars or bolts by roll- 
 ing ... 
 
 Manufacture of Lead into Shot 
 
 Manufactured Tobacco, other than Snuff and 
 Segars 
 
 Molasses . 
 
 Muscadel Raisins 
 
 Nails, Copper 
 
 - Composition 
 
 • • • • 
 
 Nutmegs 
 
 Ochre, dry 
 
 in oil 
 
 Oil, Spermaceti of foreign fishing 
 
 American 
 Vessels. 
 
 Cents. 
 
 250 
 
 275 
 
 325 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 150 
 250 
 
 15 
 5 
 9 
 
 75 
 
 250 
 
 150 
 50 
 
 75 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 12 
 10 
 
 100 
 
 Per 
 
 100 sq, 
 feet 
 
 lb. 
 
 lb. 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 lb. 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 lb. 
 
 lb. 
 
 150 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 165 
 
 2 
 
 lb. 
 
 2.2 
 
 10 
 
 ,„ 
 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 gal. 
 
 5.5 
 
 3 
 
 lb. 
 
 3.3 
 
 4 
 
 lb. 
 
 4.4 
 
 4 
 
 __ 
 
 4.4 
 
 4 
 
 — 
 
 4.4 
 
 60 
 
 — 
 
 66 
 
 1 
 
 lb. 
 
 1.1 
 
 1.5 
 
 __ 
 
 1.65 
 
 25 
 
 gal. 
 
 27.5 
 
 Foreign 
 Vessels. 
 
 Cents. 
 
 275 
 302.5 
 357.5 
 5.5 
 
 8.8 
 165 
 
 275 
 
 16.5 
 5.5 
 9.9 
 
 82.5 
 275 
 
 165 
 65 
 82.5 
 
 1.1 
 
 2.2 
 3.3 
 
 13.2 
 11 
 
 110
 
 AMERICAN TARIFF. 
 
 3^25 
 
 
 
 Importations in 
 
 
 
 American 
 
 
 Foreign 
 Vessels. 
 
 
 
 Vessels. 
 
 
 
 
 Cents. 
 
 Per 
 
 Cents. 
 
 Oil, Whale or other fish Oil of foreign fishing 
 
 15 
 
 gal. 
 
 16.5 
 
 Olive Oil, in casks 
 
 . 
 
 25 
 
 — 
 
 27.5 
 
 Oporto, (See Wines) 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pack Thread, (See Cordage) 
 
 
 
 
 
 Paris White 
 
 . . 
 
 1 
 
 lb. 
 
 1.1 
 
 Pepper 
 
 . 
 
 8 
 
 — 
 
 8.8 
 
 Pimento 
 
 . . 
 
 6 
 
 — 
 
 6.6 
 
 Pickled, (See Fish) 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pigs, Lead in 
 
 . • 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 1.1 
 
 Playing Cards 
 
 . 
 
 30 
 
 pack 
 
 33 
 
 Plumbs 
 
 • 
 
 3 
 
 lb. 
 
 3.3 
 
 Portugal, (See Wines) 
 
 
 
 
 
 Porter, in Bottles 
 
 . 
 
 15 
 
 gal. 
 
 16.5 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 __ 
 
 11 
 
 Prunes 
 
 • 
 
 3 
 
 lb. 
 
 3.3 
 
 Raisins, Muscadel 
 
 . . 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 3.3 
 
 in jais 
 
 . • 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 3.3 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 ^^ 
 
 3.3 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 2.2 
 
 Ravens, (See Duck) 
 
 
 
 
 
 Red Lead, dry or ground in oil 
 
 . 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 3.3 
 
 Rhenish, (See Wines) 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rods, (See Copper, Composition 
 
 , Iron) 
 
 
 
 
 Russia, (See Duck) 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sheeting, white, not exceeding 52 ar 
 
 
 
 
 cheens each piece 
 
 
 250 
 
 piece 
 
 275 
 
 do. do. brown 
 
 
 160 
 
 — 
 
 176 
 
 Salt 
 
 
 20 
 
 b.561b. 
 
 22 
 
 Segars 
 
 
 250 
 
 thous. 
 
 275 
 
 Seines 
 
 
 4 
 
 lb. 
 
 4.4 
 
 Shoes, of Silk 
 
 
 30 
 
 pair 
 
 33 
 
 of Leather 
 
 
 25 
 
 — 
 
 27.5 
 
 for children 
 
 
 15 
 
 — 
 
 16.5 
 
 Sheets, Iron in 
 
 
 250 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 275 
 
 Lead in 
 
 
 1 
 
 lb. 
 
 1.1 
 
 Shot, manufactured of Lead 
 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 2.2 
 
 Sicily, (See Wines) 
 
 
 
 
 
 Slippers, of Silk 
 
 
 30 
 
 pair 
 
 33 
 
 ■ of Leather 
 
 
 25 
 
 — 
 
 27.5 
 
 , for children 
 
 
 15 
 
 ___ 
 
 16.5 
 
 SnurT 
 
 
 12 
 
 lb. 
 
 13.2 
 
 Soap 
 
 . ■ 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 3.3 
 
 Souchong, (See Teas) 
 
 
 
 
 
 Spirits, from Grain, 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 1st proof 
 
 ■ • 
 
 42 
 
 gal. 
 
 46.2 
 
 2d do. 
 
 . . 
 
 45 
 
 — 
 
 49.5 
 
 3d do. 
 
 • • 
 
 48 
 
 — 
 
 52.8 
 
 ■ 4th do. 
 
 • • 
 
 52 
 
 — 
 
 57.2
 
 326 
 
 AMERICAN TARIFF. 
 
 Importations in 
 
 Spirits, 5th proof 
 
 Above 5th do. 
 
 Sheetings, Russia, (see Russia Sheetings) 
 Spirits, from other materials than grain, 
 — 1st proof 
 
 2d do. 
 
 3d do. 
 
 - 4th do. 
 
 5 th do. 
 
 ■ Above 5th do. 
 
 Spermaceti Oil 
 Spikes 
 
 Copper 
 
 Composition 
 
 Sprigs, (See Tacks, &c.) 
 
 Steel 
 
 Steelwire, not exceeding No. 18 
 
 above No. 18. 
 
 Sugar, brown 
 
 white clayed or powdered 
 
 — lump 
 
 Loaf 
 
 Candy 
 
 Tarred Cordage 
 
 Tallow 
 
 Tallow Candles 
 
 Tacks, Brads and Springs, not exceeding 16 oz. 
 
 per M. 
 Ditto do. exceeding 16 oz. per M. 
 Teas from China 
 
 Bohea . 
 
 Souchong and other black 
 
 Imperial, Gunpowder and Gomee 
 
 Hyson and Young Hyson 
 
 Hyson Skin and other Green 
 
 Teas from any other place than China 
 
 Bohea t 
 
 Souchong and other Black 
 
 Imperial, Gunpowder and Gomee 
 
 Hyson and Young Hyson 
 
 Hyson Skin and other Green, 
 
 Teneriffl', (See Wines) 
 
 Tobacco, manufactured other than Snuff and 
 
 Segars .... 
 
 Tokay, (See Wines) 
 Twines, (See Cordage) 
 
 Untarrcd Cordage, (See Cordage) 
 
 Wax Candles 
 Whiting 
 
 American 
 Vessels. 
 
 
 Cents. 
 
 Per 
 
 60 
 
 _ 
 
 75 
 
 — 
 
 38 
 38 
 
 gal. 
 
 42 
 
 — 
 
 48 
 
 
 
 57 
 
 — 
 
 70 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 lb. 
 
 4 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 — 
 
 100 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 5 
 
 lb. 
 
 9 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 4 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 lb. 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 M 
 
 4 
 
 — 
 
 12 
 
 lb. 
 
 25 
 
 — 
 
 50 
 
 — 
 
 40 
 
 — 
 
 28 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 lb. 
 
 34 
 
 _ 
 
 68 
 
 — i 
 
 56 
 
 — 
 
 38 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 — 
 
 r> 
 
 lb. 
 
 1 1 
 
 
 Foreign 
 Vessels. 
 
 Cents. 
 
 66 
 
 82.5 
 
 41.8 
 
 41.8 
 
 46.2 
 
 52.8 
 
 62.7 
 
 77 
 
 27.5 
 
 3.3 
 
 4.4 
 
 4-4 
 
 110 
 
 5.5 
 
 9.9 
 
 3.3 
 
 4.4 
 
 11 
 
 13.2 
 
 13.2 
 
 3.3 
 1.1 
 
 3.3 
 
 5.5 
 4.4 
 
 14 
 34 
 68 
 56 
 38 
 
 15.4 
 37.4 
 74.8 
 61.6 
 41.8 
 
 11 
 
 6 
 1.1
 
 AMERICAN TARIFF. 
 
 327 
 
 Importations in 
 
 White, Paris 
 
 White Lead, dry or ground in Oil 
 
 White, Clayed or Powdered Sugar 
 
 Wines, Madeira 
 
 — — Burgundy 
 
 — — — Champaign 
 
 Rhenish and 
 
 Tokay 
 
 Sherry and ) 
 
 ■ St. Lucar J 
 
 On other Wine not enumerated, when im- 
 ported in bottles or cases 
 Wines, Lisbon 
 
 Oporto 
 
 and other Wines of Portugal and Sicily 
 Teneriffe 
 
 ■ Fayal and other Wines of the Western 
 
 Islands 
 All other Wines when imported, otherwise 
 than in cases and bottles 
 Wire, Iron or Steel, not exceeding No. 18 
 
 do. do. above No. 18 
 
 Window Glass, (See Glass) 
 
 Yarns, (See Cordage) 
 
 American 
 Vessels . 
 
 Cents. 
 
 1 
 3 
 4 
 
 100 
 
 60 
 
 70 
 
 50 
 
 40 
 
 25 
 5 
 9 
 
 Per 
 lb. 
 
 gal. 
 
 lb. 
 
 Foreign 
 
 Vessels. 
 
 Cents. 
 
 1.1 
 
 3.3 
 
 4.4 
 
 110 
 
 66 
 
 77 
 
 55 
 
 44 
 
 27.5 
 5.5 
 9 9 
 
 TABLE III. 
 
 OF ARTICLES FREE OF DUTY. 
 
 Anatomical Preparations. 
 
 Animals, Imported for Breed. 
 
 Antimony, Regulus of, 
 
 Antiquities, all Collections of, specially imported, &c. * 
 
 Apparel, Wearing, and other Personal Baggage, in actual use. 
 
 Apparatus, Philosophical, specially imported by order and for the use of any 
 society incorporated for philosophical or literary purposes, or for the en- 
 couragement of the fine arts, or by order and for the use of any seminary of 
 learning. 
 
 Articles, all imported for the use of the United States. 
 
 » N. B. In all eases where the articles are stated as " specially imported," they are go- 
 verned by the conditions and restrictions expressed under the head " apparatus philoso- 
 phical."
 
 328 AMERICAN TARIFF. 
 
 Baggage, Personal, in actual use. 
 
 Barilla. 
 
 Bark, of the Cork Tree, unmanufactured, 
 
 Bars, Brass in, 
 
 ■ Copper in, 
 Tin in, 
 
 Books, Specially Imported, &c 
 
 Botany, Specimens in, 
 
 Brass, in Pigs, Bars or Plates, 
 
 - Old, fit only to be re-manufactured. 
 Brazil Wood. 
 Braziletto. 
 
 Breed, Animals Imported for, 
 Brimstone, or Sulphur. 
 Bullion. 
 
 Burr-Stones, Unwrought, 
 Busts, Specially Imported, &c. 
 
 Cabinets of Coins. 
 
 Calaminaris Lapis. 
 
 Calmwood. 
 
 Casts, specially imported, &c. 
 
 Charts, do. 
 
 Cloth rags of any kind. 
 
 Clay unwrought. 
 
 Coins, Cabinets of do. 
 
 Coin, Gold or Silver. 
 
 Collections of antiquities, specially imported, &c. 
 
 Cork -tree, bark of unmanufactured. 
 
 Copper imported in any shape for the use of the mint. 
 
 ■ in pigs, bars or plates, suited to the sheathing of ships. 
 
 ■ old, fit only to be re- manufactured. 
 
 Drawings, specially imported, &c. 
 Drawing, do. do. 
 Dye Woods. 
 
 Engravings, specially imported, &c. 
 Etching or Engraving, do. 
 
 Furs, of all kinds undressed. 
 Fustic. 
 
 Gems, specially imported, &c. 
 Gold Coin. 
 
 Hides, raw. 
 
 Instruments, Philosophical, specially imported, Ac. 
 Implements of Trade of persons arriving in the United States. 
 Inventions, models of. 
 
 Lapis Calaminaris. 
 Logwood.
 
 AMERICAN TARIFF. 829 
 
 Maps, specially imported. 
 Medals, do. 
 Mineralogy, specimens in. 
 
 Mint, Copper in any shape imported for the use of the. 
 Modelling, specially imported. 
 Models of Inventions. 
 — — — of Machinery. 
 
 Natural History, specimens in. 
 Nicaragua Wood. 
 
 Old Brass, fit only to be re-manufactured. 
 Old Copper, fit only to be re-manufactured. 
 Old Pewter, fit only to be re-manufactured. 
 
 Paintings, specially imported, &c. 
 
 Painting, do. do. 
 
 Pewter, old, fit only to be re-manufactured. 
 
 Personal baggage in actual use. 
 
 Persons arriving in the United States, their tools or implements of trade. 
 
 Philosophical apparatus, specially imported, &c. 
 
 Pigs, Brass in. 
 
 Copper in. 
 
 Plaister of Paris. 
 
 Plants. 
 
 Plates, Brass in, 
 
 ■ Copper in, suited to the sheathing of ships. 
 
 Preparations, anatomical. 
 
 Rags of any kind of Cloth. 
 Raw skins. 
 
 Regulus of Antimony. 
 Redwood. 
 
 Re-manufactured, old Brass fit only to be. 
 . old Copper do. 
 
 - — old Pewter do. 
 
 Sculpture, specimens of, specially imported. 
 
 Sheathing Copper in plates for ships. 
 
 Ships, Copper in plates for sheathing. 
 
 Silver Coin. 
 
 Skins, raw. 
 
 Speltor. 
 
 Specimens of Botany. 
 
 __— . in Natural History. 
 
 _____ in Mineralogy. 
 Statues, specially imported, &c. 
 Statuary. do. do. 
 
 Stones, Burr, unwrought. 
 Sulphur or Brimstone. 
 
 Teutenague. 
 
 Tin, pigs or bars in.
 
 330 AMERICAN TARIFF. 
 
 Tools of trade of persons arriving in the United States. 
 
 Trade, implements, or tools of persons arriving in the United States. 
 
 Trees. 
 
 United States, all articles imported for the use of. 
 Unmanufactured bark of the cork tree. 
 
 — wood of any kind. 
 
 Unwrought Burr Stones. 
 
 Clay. 
 
 Undressed Furs. 
 
 Wearing Apparel, and other personal baggage in actual use. 
 
 Woods for dyeing. 
 
 unmanufactured of any kind. 
 
 Zinc 
 
 - Brazil, Log, Nicaragua, and Red. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 Printed by Balfour & Clarke, 
 Edinburgh, 1SS2.
 
 ■