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THE

UNITED STATES

NORTH AMERICA

AS THEY ARE.

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LONDON :
PUBLISHED BY W. SIMPKIN AND R. MARSHALL,

STATIONER S irALt COURT.

MDCCCXXVIII.

LONDON:
Printed by William Clowes
14, Charing Cross.

PREFACE.

Fifty years have passed since the emanci
pation of the United States. This lapse of
time has solved two great questions. It
has exposed the fallacy of human calcu
lations, which anticipated only present
anarchy and ultimate dissolution for the
new Republics, and it has established the
possibility of a people governing them
selves, and being prosperous and happy.
Their political infancy is over, they have
approached to manhood ; and fully sensible
of their strength, their first magistrate has
ventured to utter the important words in his
message of 1823, " That notwithstanding
their neutrality they would consider any
attempt on the part of European powers to
extend their system to any portion of the
transatlantic hemisphere as dangerous to

VI PREFACE.
its peace and safety, and that they could
not admit of any attempt at colonisation on
the part of Europe." Thus for the first
time they have advanced, taking a part
de facto in the great political transactions
of Europe, and pronouncing their declara
tion in a tone which has certainly contri
buted to the abandonment of most of those
intentions which were fast ripening into
execution. Great has been the influence of American
liberty throughout the civilized world. The
French, and more recently the South Ame
rican revolutions, and the commotions in
Spain, Portugal, Naples, and in Piedmont,
owe their origin not to any instigation on
the part of the United States, but to the
influence of their example in raising the
standard of freedom, and more than all,
to the success which crowned their efforts.
On the other hand, great has been the
influence of European politics on the Ame
rican nation. A party existing since the
revolution, and extending its ramifications

PREFACE. Vll
over the whole United States, is now grow
ing into importance, and guided by the
principles of European diplomacy, is root
ing itself deeper and deeper, drawing with
in its circle the wealthy, the dissatisfied,
and thus adding every day to its strength.
We see, in short, the principle of monarch-
ism developing itself in the United States ;
and though it is not attempted to establish
it by means of a revolution which would
assuredly fail, there is a design to bring it
about by that cunning, cautious, and I may
add, American way, which must eventually
succeed, unless the spirit of freedom be
suflSciently powerful to overrule these sub
tle preparations.
There have been many changes in the
United States within the last ten years.
The present rulers have succeeded in so
amalgamating opinions, that whatever may
be said to the contrary, only two parties
are now existing there— the Monarchists
or the Governors, and the Republicans
who are the governed.

Vni PREFACE.
The object proposed in the following
pages, has been to exhibit to the eyes of
the world the state of American affairs,
without prejudice, and without party
spirit. Adams is a favourite with Great Britain.
This empire has, however, no just reason
to admire him. Should his plans succeed,
the cost to Great Britain would be the loss
of her last possession in North America,
while as long as the North American Re
public continues united, this unwieldy mass
of twenty-four States can never be dan
gerous. Social orders as yet there are none, but
they are developing themselves in the
same way as wealth, luxury, ambition, and
sciences, on the one side, and poverty, ig
norance, and indirect oppression on the
other, are increasing. Here, as every
where else, this is the natural course of
things. To show the state of society in general,
and the relative bearings of the different

PREFACE. IX
classes to each other, and thereby to affbrd
a clear idea of what the United States now
really are, is the second object attempted
in these pages.
To represent social intercourse and pre
vailing habits in such a manner as to enable
the future emigrant to follow the prescribed
track, and to settle with security and ad
vantage to himself and to his new country ;
to affbrd him the means of judging for him
self by giving him a complete view of
public and private life in general, as well
as of each profession or business in par
ticular, is a third object contemplated. The
capitalist, the merchant, the farmer, the
physician, the lawyer, the mechanic, will
find, I trust, adequate information respect
ing the course, which, in settling in the
Union, he will have to pursue. Further
explanation I think unnecessary. He who
may consider these sketches insufficient,
would not be better informed if I were to
enlarge the work to twice its size. Such
a one is unfit for a settler in a country

X PREFACE.
where so many snares beset his path.
Verbum sapienti sat.
The author is conscious that in treating
of the political state of America, his ob
servations may be deemed severe. This
severity of reproof may perhaps have be
come natural to him, from having, during
a residence of a series of years, been ac
customed to hear the President treated by
the Opposition with less deference than the
meanest citizen ; but he may be allowed
to say, that he has never permitted himself
any exaggeration, or even a solitary sar
casm at the expense of truth. He is per
suaded that time will confirm his statements.
He is equally aware of the many inaccu
racies of his style, but while he shrinks not
from fair criticism, he entreats that liberal
indulgence which a stranger is allowed to
claim at the hands of a great and generous
nation. London, June, 1827.

CONTENTS.

Chapter I. — Introductory Review of the Political,
Physical and Moral State of the Union of North
America, p. 1.
Chap. II. — Election of the President, 1824, p. 8.
Chap. III. — John Quincy Adams, President of the
United States — The Nation, p. 19.
Chap. IV. — ^The Ministry of State — Clay, Secretary
of State — Southard, Secretary of the Navy — Rush,
Secretary of the Treasury — Barbour, Secretary of
War — Marshall, Chief Justice — ^The Message of the
President, p. 27.
Chap. V. — The Republics of South America — Con
gress of Mexico — Policy of the Administration of the
United States in Regard to that Congress — Its Con
sequences, p. 43.
Chap. VI. — Opposition — Randolph— —Pennsylvania —
The Future Election, p. 61.
Chap. VII. — Major-General Andrew Jaclcson, p. 71.
Chap. VIII. — The Congress — Electioneering — ^The
Honourables, p. 89.

XU CONTENTS.
Chap. IX.' — Literature— Literary Institutions— Educa
tion — Libraries — Newspapers, p. 102.
Chap. X. — American High Life — Life in County Towns,
and in the Country, p. 1 18.
Chap. XI. — Religion — Clergy — Synods — Sects — Ro
man Catholics — Unitarians, p. 135.
Chap. XII. — The Lawyer — Courts of Common Pleas —
Title Deeds — Remarks, p. 169.
Chap. XIII.— The Merchant— The Storekeeper— The
Pedlar, p. 180.
Chap. XIV.— The Farmer, p. 189.
Chap. XV.— The Militia, p. 211.
Chap. XVI.— Physicians, p. 218.
Chap. XVII. — Manufacturers — Tradesmen, p. 223.
Chap. XVIII.— Conclusion, p. 232.

THE
UNITED STATES
OF
NORTH AMERICA.

Chapter I.
INTRODUCTORY REVIEW OF THE POLITICAL, PHYSICAL, AND
MORAL STATE OF THE UNION OF NORTH AMERICA.
The progress of the United States, during the
fifty years of their pohtical existence^ is unpa
ralleled in the history of nations. Thirteen states
have increased to twenty-four, two millions and
a half of inhabitants to eleven millions. The
public revenues, which in 1784 were scarcely six
millions of dollars, are now twenty-five millions.
The navy, from the very lowest beginning, com
mands the respect, and excites the jealousy of
the power which has hitherto been the ruler of
the ocean. Upwards of a thousand steam and
merchant vessels, surpassing in velocity those of
every other nation, are daily importing the pro
ducts of the most distant countries, and diffusing B

2 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. I-
them through the interior of the Union, by
means of rivers^ navigable for thousands of
miles *. A single state (New York) has com
pleted what is unexampled in the Old World,
China alone excepted, a canal, three hundred
and sixty miles in length. Another state (Ohio)
will have finished, in the course of next year, a
second canal, three hundred miles long, thus
establishing an artificial water communication of
nearly three thousand miles, beyond all com
parison the most extensive on the face of the
earth. Above thirty other canals are in pro
gress, among them the Pennsylvania and the Che
sapeake, the former partly finished, and scarcely
yielding in length to that of New York.
To crown the whole, the national debt amounts
» About twelve years ago there arrived at Leghorn, a ship,
built at Pittsburgh, and cleared out from that place. The master
presented his papers to the Custom-house officers, who would not
give credit to them, insisting that the papers must have been
forged, as there was no such a port as Pittsburgh, and accordingly
the vessel was to be confiscated. The captain laid before the
officer a map of the United States, directed his attention to the
Gulf of Mexico, pointed out the mouth of the Mississippi, led
him a thousand miles up the mouth of the Ohio, and from thence
another thousand miles up to Pittsburgh : " This, Sir, is the port
from whence my vessel has cleared out." The astonished officer
would as soon have believed that it had been navigated from the
moon.

^•"•PlJ OF NORTH AMERICA. 3
to no more than seventy-four millions of dollars,
and is rapidly diminishing. The clergy is with
out tithes, and peace and tranquillity prevail
without a secret police and without an army.
It would not be difficult to trace the causes
which have contributed to raise the Union of
North America to this astonishing height of
prosperity. A sea-coast of three thousand miles,
excellent harbours, important rivers, rising and
emptying themselves in its territory, a rich virgin
soil, a temperate climate, a population composed
of the descendants of the first nation in the world,
the sciences of the ancient, the experience of
modern times transplanted into a new and sus
ceptible soil, and both united to the most liberal
constitution that ever existed, were cei'tainly ele
ments which, well-employed and well-directed,
afforded reason to anticipate future greatness.
The Union happily found a genius fully com
petent to give it this direction in — ^Washington.
Ever the same at home, in the field and in the
cabinet, he imperceptibly gave to the nation the
impress of his character and his politics. A
character more firm, more composed, and, not
withstanding its simplicity, more dignified, than
this statesman's can scarcely be imagined. There
B 2

4 THE UNITED STATES -» [C'^P- '•
never existed a man who knew the true interest
of his country better than Washington, or sought
it in a simpler or wiser way.
His farewell address bears ample testimony to
his unbounded patriotism, and will ever be the
noblest document of his great and enlightened
mind. The experience of his long and splendid
career is, as it were, compressed into a few words,
and recommended with a warmth of feeling, of
which many thought him incapable, and which
may be attributed to the thorough conviction,
that through the adoption of those principles
alone his country could be happy. So true are
the principles he lays down in this celebrated
document, so wise the maxims he recommends,
that the Union and their President cannot desert
those counsels, without risking their welfare,
and even their political existence.
To the adoption of Washington's maxims, the
United States are undoubtedly, in a great mea
sure, indebted for their present unexampled pros
perity. " The great rule of conduct for us,"
says this great statesman, " in regard to foreign
nations, is, in extending our commercial rela
tions, to have with them as little political con
nexion as possible. So far as we have already

Ch"?- I] OF NORTH AMERICA. 5
formed engagements, let them be fulfilled. Here
let us stop. It is our true policy to steer clear
of permanent alliances with any portion of the
foreign world. The inducements of interests for
observing that conduct will best be referred to
your own i-eflections and experience. With me
a predominant motive has been to endeavour to
gain time to our country to settle and mature its
recent institutions, and to progress without in
terruption to that degree of strength and con
sistency, which is necessary to give it, humanly
speaking, the command of its own fortune.
This was the road recommended by him as the
only one by which they and their young republic
could attain that degree of power and wealth
which now furnishes so interesting a spectacle
to mankind.
Washington's successor (Adams), having dif
ferent views, pursued a different track. His party
(the Tories), his distinguished family -connexions,
and important public services, elevated him to the
post which Washington had occupied. Having
manifested extraordinary zeal against Great Bri
tain during the revolutionary war, these effer
vescences of a callous and ambitious mind were
mistaken by the republican party (the Federalists

D THE UNITED STATES [Chap. I-
and Democrats) for signs of genuine republican
ism. The nation, however, had very soon an
opportunity of convincing itself that the hatred
he bore to England had no other source than his
being under its government a mere colonist, and
his zeal no other aim than to make his party the
rulers of the people, and himself and his family
the head of that party. It is not without horror
that the American Democrats dwell on the scenes
of 1798—1801, when the tyranny of the black
cockades rendered the difference between them
and the Spartan Helots only a name. Happily
for the United States, his government was not of
long duration. Mr. Adams followed rather too
closely the example of the First Consul, and de
clared, in too unequivocal a manner, his intention
of domineering. The oppression and the insults
which the Democrats had to endure at this time
became so intolerable, and the infringement of
their rights so daring, as to excite general dis
content. Sedition-laws, arrests, imprisonments,
and gibbets, only augmented the evil. Pennsyl
vania gave the signal for general revolt, which
was prevented only by the dismissal of the Pre
sident. The Johns have never furnished high
specimens of a prudent government. The Eng-

^•"^P- 'J OF NORTH AMERICA. 7
lish John lost his dominions, the French his
liberty, the Bohemian his life, and the American
his second election. Jefferson, Madison, Mon
roe, whatever any of their opponents may object
against their party principles, were men whose
memory ought to be cherished by the people of
the United States. What Monroe was — the so
roughly treated Monroe — they have already felt,
and are likely to feel still more, in the present
dearth of .statesmen. John Bull has now the
satisfaction of knowing that brother Jonathan,
who prided himself not a little in having, as
he fancied, servants in lieu of Magistrates, has
already become the dupe of his second-hand
honourables, and is moreover in a pretty fair
way of being put, by their well-meant endea
vours, on an equal footing with the rest of the
world.

THE UNITED STATES [Chap. I.

Chapter II.
Election of the President, 1824.
Among the four candidates for the Presidency
in 1824, the Caucus candidate, as he was called,
Mr. Crawford, was the only one fit, in every
respect, to succeed to the chair once filled by
Washington. Less splendid than solid in his
political career, as a member of Congress, a
senator, an ambassador, and Secretary of the
Treasury, he expressed himself unequivocally in
behalf of the system hitherto pursued, and gave
the fairest expectation of his persevering in the
principles of Washington. Unhappily, however,
under the last three Presidents enormous abuses
had crept into the administration ; creatures of the
reigning party were appointed to all offices, almost
to the exclusion of the rest of the nation. Re
sponsibility was wholly out of the question. The
arrears in the post-department alone amounted to
many hundred thousand dollars. It was deemed
expedient to deviate from the existing mode of
accepting the Presidents from the hands of Con
gress, and high time to annul a privilege which

Cl'ap. II OF NORTH AMERICA. 9
that assembly seemed already to claim as a right.
The Democrats formed an opposition, in conse
quence, against Mr. Crawford, the candidate of
the democratic party, which was joined by most
of the democratic states. Virginia, so much fa
voured by the present state of things, together
with Georgia, the native state of Crawford,
adhered to the Secretary of the Treasury, not
choosing to desert him, even when his prospects
became hopeless.
The second democratic candidate was Mr. Jack'
son, Senator of the United States, and Major-
General. He was considered as the head of the
Radicals, who expected from his powerful hand a
thorough reform of the administration — that is to
say, a change of the magistrates and officers,
the chastisement of the Tories, correction of
abuses ; among the rest, of the enormous army
of 5,800 men, and of the navy, then consisting of
seven ships of the line ; a reduction of the public
expenditure for fortification, &c. The Pennsyl-
vanians, so fond of the saving principles, joined
the General, as did their neighbours, the people of
Ohio. The Southern States conceived themselves
indebted to Jackson for his gallant defence at New
Orleans, and therefor^ considered it their duty to

10 THE UNITED STATES [dap- "•
adhere to him. All the place-hunters in the Union
formed the rear-guard of the second candidate.
The Secretaryship was regarded as the usual
road to the Presidency. Mr. John Quincy Adams
was then Secretary of State : his party consisted
of the six New England States. A finished edu
cation, an intimate acquaintance with the belles
lettres, a high character as a diplomatist, an ele
gant style as an author, and the important office
of Secretary of State, attracted to his party the
fashionables throughout the Union; and New
York, for this reason, gave up Crawford and Jack
son, and joined Adams's party, which might be
considered as the very antipodes of Jackson's,
wishing for a more respectable navy and army, a
higher tone towards foreign powers, and the like.
Mr. Henry Clay, Speaker of the House of Re
presentatives, had also announced himself as a
candidate : his party consisted of the people of
Kentucky, Missouri, &c.; at the time, however,
he cared less about securing the Presidency for
himself than obtaining the election of a President
who was most likely to serve his interests, and
those of his party : to carry every measure by his
party, and to ensure his own elevation at the next
election, was his object. The States of Kentucky

Chap. H.] OF NORTH AMERICA. H
and Missouri had expressed their desire to their
constituents, to have their votes given to Andrew
Jackson, in case Clay should not have any chance
of succeeding to the Presidency ; for they had
every reason to expect a more ready concurrence
in their views and interests from Jackson, as se
nator for Tennessee, than from any other of the
candidates. Clay promised obedience to the order
of his constituents.
Of these four candidates, Crawford obtained
from Virginia and Georgia forty-two votes ; Jack
son from Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the
Southern States, ninety-nine ; Adams, from the
New England States, New York, &c., eighty-
four ; and Clay, from Kentucky, Missouri, &c.,
thirty-six votes *.
None of these four candidates having the con
stitutional majority of votes, the election devolved
on the House of Representatives, before whom
the three former candidates, Crawford, Jackson,
and Adams, were brought, agreeably to the law
of election, Clay being excluded.
* In the case where no candidate has two-thirds of the whole
votes viz. (261), the Constitution declares that the election de
volves upon the House of Representatives, before which the three
candidates are to be brought who have the most voles in the gene
ral election. Each State has then one vote, and the absolute
majority, i. c. 13, makes the election valid.

12 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. U.
The will of the people was manifested in too
clear a manner to admit of any doubt, or to afford
cause for any uneasiness respecting the issue of
the election. A disappointment was thought the
less probable, as the rivalship, or rather enmity of
Clay and Adams, since the Treaty of Ghent, was
notorious, and the severe attacks of the former in
the House of Representatives were still in remem
brance. What added to this security was, that
the majority of votes was for Jackson : expec
tation was, however, disappointed, and the pride
of the sovereign people of the United States could
scarcely be more humbled than by the use made
by their representatives of their delegated power.
Similar views and principles made Adams and
his party a compact body, who understood each
other perfectly, and acted on the same principles.
Besides being united, this party, consisting
chiefly of Yankees *, had the advantage of supe
rior information and talents, with what is always
the case with the Yankee — a proportionate addi
tion of trick and artifice. Great cunning was,
however, not requisite to outwit Jackson's party ;
for the honest, but phlegmatic Germans thought
* In order to obviate misunderstandings, we think proper to
state that, under the appellation Yankees, we mean the inhabi
tants of the six New England States.

Chap n.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 1-3
it sufficient to cling to their leader, as their an
cestors did in days of old to their chieftains. The
States whose votes were divided between Adams
and Jackson were induced, without great effort,
to join the party of Adams, who, in consequence,
obtained an equality of votes with Jackson, but
no majority.
The party of Crawford kept themselves in the
background, without listening either to the insi
nuations of Jackson's or Adams's party. Clay,
who at first chose likewise to stand neuter, now
deemed it the proper time to step forward, and to
assume the part of mediator ; his adherents, as we
mentioned, were Kentuckians : the credit of the
Kentuckians is not very firm. A certain fashion
able way of life, gambling, races, state bankrupt
cies, land speculations, an inveterate propensity to
tlie bottle, have caused much disorder in the
financial circumstances of these gentlemen : even
the honourable Speaker, Mr. Clay, was not thought
quite exempt from the general diseases of his State.
There was but one remedy — to get Mr. Clay into
the office of Secretary of State, and thus afford his
faithful friends the means of retrieving their for
tune and credit, by the gift of important offices.
Accordingly, his supporters thought it necessary
to reconnoitre the parties : a beginning was made

14 THE UNITED STATES [Ct'-P' ^^¦
with Mr. Jackson, who was asked what their
master had to expect from the General, in case
he should be elected by their co-operation. Either
Jackson did not choose to deliver himself into the
hands of Mr. Clay, or having no particular fancy
for Mr. Clay, as Secretary of State, he dechned
making any offers. The Representatives of Ken
tucky had been directed by their respective States
to give their votes, in the present case, without
any condition, to Jackson. To ensure their fidelity,
they were obliged to act in accordance with the
Speaker, whose enmity to Adams seemed to them
the surest means of securing his election.
Political enmities and friendships have this
much in common, that their duration is just so
long as the parties find it to suit their purposes.
If the nation has no other guarantee for the
fidelity of its servants, its interests are in bad
hands : unfortunately there was none.
The very circumstance which separated the po
litical antagonists was the cause of their union —
ambition. Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay found out
and understood one another. The very men who
but a week before hated each other most cordially,
and never met except on public and unavoidable
occasions, now spent whole nights together in a
clandestine manner. In what hght the nation

Chap.U.} OF NORTH AMERICA. 15
would view these proceedings, on the part of men
of their character, there could be no question :
Adams and Clay had succeeded in dispelling the
prejudices about the rights of the people. A
formal bargain was concluded, which gave the
nation for the term of four years into the hands
of Mr. Adams. The stipulated price for which
the Speaker bound himself to join Mr. Adams
was the Secretaryship of State. This being
agreed to, Mr. Clay, with his friends, went over
to Mr. Adams and his party.
In order to prepare the minds of his consti
tuents, and to exculpate himself for his accession
to the party of Adams, Clay addressed a letter to
Colonel W  , in Kentucky, desiring it to be
published, expressing his scruples in regard to
Jackson, and the necessity of declaring for Adams.
The subsequent election gave to Crawford four
votes, to Jackson seven, and to Adams thirteen
votes, and, of course, the Presidency.
To describe the temper of the nation after these
events is scarcely in my power. The suppressed
malicious smile of the Tories, who dared not ma
nifest their mischievous joy at their victory ; the
republican Federalist doubtfully shaking his head
at the triumph of a party which not many years

16 THE UNITED STATES [^'"P" "'
before actually intended to sell their country ;
the simple Democrat who had but an obscure
idea of the whole proceedings, and was unable to
comprehend how the great gentlemen could have
been so bHnd as to prefer a Tory to the second
Washington (Jackson) ; the Radicals, finally, who
had conceived, from Jackson's elevation, very
sanguine hopes respecting offices, and now saw
themselves so cruelly disappointed, loudly de
nouncing treachery, and crying out for civil war —
such were the scenes that might everywhere be
witnessed. The power which the law certainly
exercises upon the citizen of the United States
(at least the northern) was, on this occasion, seen
to advantage. Notwithstanding the disappoint
ment of his fondest hopes, he attempted not the
least opposition to the object of his hatred, who
was now elected his first magistrate. There were
several exhibitions and illuminations, at which
Mr. Clay was hung, and afterwards burnt in
effigy, while John Adams was mentioned in
rather less honourable terms ; but that was all.
The nation expected further light, and ob
tained it.
The first ghmpse of the proceedings between
Messrs. Adams and Clay was obtained through a

<^'"'P"'J OF NORTH AMERICA. 17
letter written by Mr. Cramer, member of Con
gress from the state of Pennsylvania, which ap
peared in the Colombian Observer, and alluded to
nightly interviews held at Washington, between
Messrs. Adams, Clay, and their parties. Clay,
to whom a printed copy of this letter was sent,
answered in a truly Kentuckian style, in the most
abusive language and with a challenge, at the
same time citing Cramer before the House of
Representatives. -
Cramer declined appearing before this as
sembly. He was not, however, a man calcu
lated to uni-avel the intricacies of this plot, or to
make head against the two gentlemen (Adams and
Clay), and the whole proceeding terminated in
a manner puerile and discreditable to the Penn-
sylvanian members "of Congress.
Clay, however, notwithstanding the superior
talents which cannot be denied him, was little
sensible of the inconsistency of which he was
guilty in publishing his circular to his constitu
ents, or he would have known that the very tone
of mind in which he composed this letter, was
his strongest accuser. Nothing but the Kentuc
kian arrogance, with which he looks down upon
the military chieftain, Jackson, and the ineffable C

18 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. II-
contempt with which he treats the effusions of
popular discontent in the smaller towns, could
equal the treachery to the people, of which he
was accused. The correspondence occasioned
by this letter of Mr. Clay, and the reminis
cences which it now revived in the minds of the
honourable members, needed nothing more than
confirmation on the part of Mr. Adams himself,
who was not backward in giving it, and in thus
stating the price for which the first magistracy
was obtained.

<=hi<P III] OF NORTH AMERICA. 19

Chapter III.
John Quincy Adams, President of the United States — The
Nation.
John Quincy Adams was already unpopular on
his father's account. Introduced at an early
period into the most important public offices, he
became accustomed to look down lipon the peo
ple. A Tory by birth and by education, he is as
staunch as his father ; but with less mental
capacity he is infinitely more dangerous. His
father's political errors and the embassies of
London, St. Petersburgh, and Paris, were the
schools in which he was trained ; cold, circum
spect, and free from passion, he disregards the
censures as well as the approbation of the peo
ple, above whom he considers himself elevated.
This pride or rather arrogance, is a family fail
ing, and so little is he able to suppress it, that
previously to his elevation, and while yet but a
candidate, he so far forgot himself as to threaten
an officer of the Bank, who presumed to con
sider his indorsement as no better than that of
another citizen, with the full weight of his dis-
C 2

20 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. HI.
pleasure. In private life he seems anxious to
conceal this passion under the mask of repub
lican carelessness, and a certain nonchalance. His
countenance betrays a cold ambitious mind, his
dark eye exhibits the heartless diplomatist. As
a pohtician, he adopts the axiom that the means
are justified by the end. Neither a Democrat
nor a Federalist, he joined both parties, and left
them as he found it best suited to his interest.
When Secretary of State he uttered the follow
ing memorable words : " The United States will
not be ranked among nations till the Presidency
becomes hereditary." When one of the repre
sentatives was introduced to a nightly interview
with him, and expressed his scruples respecting
the manner of the election, the characteristic
reply of Adams was, " Sir, the time will come,
even with the United States, when the govern
ment, and not a prejudiced populace destitute of
character, will determine the public opinion. The
question is, whether you. Sir, are sensible of the
importance and the advantages which must ne
cessarily accrue to you from the present course,
or whether you prefer the old system. — Your
determination in regard to the election is deci
sive."

Cbap.ni.] OF north AMERICA. 21
Adams is reputed by his party and the majority
of the people, to possess a great mind : this is far
from being the case. His talents are rather of an
ordinary kind, but they are not the less dangerous
on that account ; for it is not the greatest, but the
coldest and most persevering statesman, alike in
sensible to contempt and to praise, who is most
obnoxious to the freedom of a nation. His style,
a mixture of the elegant and the diplomatic, is
admired, because it is new to the United States.
It cannot be denied, that it is the most fit to
disguise his political opinions and his deep-laid
scheines. This motive and his predilection for
everything coming from the eastern courts, may
sufficiently account for his adoption of and fond
ness for it. If taken upon the whole, he may
he considered a most dangerous man to the
freedom of the Union, and if he had been sent
by Metternich himself, he could not pursufe more
closely the principles of the Holy Alliance*.
It was to be presumed that the temper of the
* This will, I hope, sufficiently account for the circumstance,
that the editor of the Austrian Observer, who is private secretary
to Prince Metternich, espouses on every occasion the party of
Mr. Adams against the attacks of his political adversaries. We
admire this. Friends will find out one another though separated
by a distance of four thousand miles.

22 the UNITED STATES [Chap. HI.
nation towards the new President would be some
what different from that which was manifested to
wards his predecessors (his father excepted); not
that the people expect to have a President chosen
without the ordinary intrigues incident to elec
tioneering. To these they are accustomed, and
there will hardly be found a constable in the
United States who obtains his petty office with
out intrigues.
But the manner in which the new President had
obtruded himself upon the nation, bespoke such
an utter disregard for the established and funda
mental principle of the constitution-^ — the sove
reignty of the people, to whose will, its organs,
the representatives, are bound to conform, was,
through the price with which Adams purchased
their treachery, so trampled upon, ahd so strongly
attacked in its foundations, that the nation could
not but be wholly alienated from him. The innate
arrogance of Mr. Adams, always kept him aloof
from the people. He never mingled with his fel
low-citizens on equal terms. Pretty much in the
manner of European grandees, who effect through
their dependents what they think beneath their
own sphere, he endeavoured to work upon them
by his public journals. But as brother Jonathan is

Chap. HI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 23
not yet so happy as to have Washington grandees,
and as he appreciates the heavy burden of sove
reignty too well not to keep it on his own shoulders ,
the cowp-de-main by which Adams endeavoured
to ease him of this trouble, and, by the assistance
of his followers and the honourable Speaker in
his own cabinet, to settle his fate, was far from be
ing looked upon with that deference and respect to
which he was accustomed in his diplomatic career.
The citizen of the United States is habituated to
scrutinize with an innate distrust the, measures of
his administration, even when enjoying his con
fidence. The Opposition generally take upon
themselves this interested attention. Adams had
no republican party in his favour ; his election
was the work of the Monarchists and of his own
genius. The nation, as was to be expected, has
shrunk from such an union, aud the; better part
is waiting with impatience for the moment which
shall deliver it from an administration, from
whose hostile tendency it cannot look for any
measures but such as are both dangerous to its
political freedom and to its general welfare.
The new President soon after his election,
had a good opportunity of ascertaining the public
opinion, from the ; conduct of several distin-

24 THE UNITED STATES tCbap. III.
guished men towards him. Previously to his
election, he caused the calumnies of Mr. Edwards,
who accused Mr. Crawford of mismanagement
in the treasury-department, to be inserted in the
public papers then at his command. This was
done in terms full of suspicion in regard to Craw
ford. At the same time he endeavoured, by all
possible means, to prevent the recall of the calum
niator, who was on his way to Mexico. The
new President had the magnanimity, as it was
called by his party, to offer the Secretaryship of
the Treasury to the very person whom he had
not long before represented as an object of public
suspicion, and in whose broken state of health and
ruined hopes he had the greatest share. Crawford,
in cold and dignified terms, declined the intended
honour of serving under him in his former capa
city, intimating in a rather unequivocal manner,
that he would not have any connexion with the
administration of Adams.
The same office was subsequently offered to Mr.
Clinton, Governor of New York, who refused it
in a still colder and almost contemptuous man
ner, quite in that lofty and cutting ton? which
Adams himself is so fond of employing, " He
values too highly the confidence of the people

Chap. Ill] OF NORTH AMERICA. 25
of the State of New York, who elected him to
the first magistracy in their gift, to exchange it
for a place under the adininistration of Adams."
The nation is quiet, and exhibits not the least
symptom of disorder, and even the most furious
partisans of Jackson are silent after his own ex
ample. The only public paper which encouraged re
volutionary movements (the Columbian Observer),
was in a short time silenced, and discontinued
by the most ardent friends of Jackson.
The American citizen has inherited from his
English ancestors, the respect due to the existing
authorities and to himself. It is self-esteem which
prevents him from degrading in the eyes of the
world the first Magistrate, although forced upon
him by the unprecedented faithlessness of his re
presentatives. But this does not hinder him from
venting the feelings of his aversion on every op
portunity. Last year a steam-boat was launched
from the wharfs at Pittsburgh ; she was des
tined to run between that place and New Orleans,
and was to start immediately on her first trip.
Thousands of people were collecting on the bank
of the Ohio (Monongehela) ; trunks, barrels, and
bales, lay ready for embarkation ; the passengers

26 THE UNITED STATES [ChaP- "I-
were going to enter their names; the public
attention was in suspense, and only waited for
the last act of this interesting scene. At length
the veil was removed from the bust placed at the
head of the vessel, and the name of the steam
boat appeared in letters of gold a yard long. In
less than five minutes, not a spectator, not a pas
senger, not a trunk, not a barrel, not a bale, was
to be seen : without uttering a word, the silent
multitude had disappeared. The name of the
steam-boat was Lady Adams, her bust, an ele
gant piece of carving in princely costume with a
diadem, was proudly displayed at the head of the
vessel. The owner; who had a few days pre
viously arrived from the south-west, and thought
to give the good people of Pittshurgh an agree
able surprise, found himself wofuUy disappointed,
and he replaced the elegant figure by that of the
martial-whiskered General Caffee ; and then only
did passengers, bales, and barrels return, though
not in half the number they had before presented
themselves.

Chap. IV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 27

Chapter IV.
The Ministry of State — Clay, Secretary of State — Southard,
Secretary of the Navy — Rush, Secretary of the Treasury
— Barbour, Secretary of War — Marshall, Chief Justice
— ^The Message of the President.
The first measures of a new President are, his
message to the Seriate, the House of Representa
tives and the nation, — the next the composition
of his Cabinet.
The nation had now little doubt resjiecting the
proceedings at Washington, and spoke freely its
sentiments, intimating, that it would regard the
nomination of Mr. Clay to the office of Secretary
of State, as an unquestionablie proof of the truth
of the accusations to which we have alluded,
more especially as the character of Clay was so
diametrically opposite to that of Adams, their
enmity, till the week previously to the election,
so notorious, and Clay, notwithstanding his
talents, the last person upon whom Adams, if
unfettered, would have fixed his choice. Regard
for public opinion, and the offended feelings of

28 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. IV.
the people, must necessarily have instigated
Mr. Adams to another choice, if he had been at
liberty ; but the Secretaryship of State was the
price stipulated for the Presidency, and Mr. Clay
thus became first minister. '
In his earlier life this gentleman was a lawyer
in Kentucky, and he was afterwards chosen for
his oratorical talents as representative for that
State in Congress. In this capacity he distin
guished himself by a nervous, a natural, and a
practical eloquence — aA hominem. A quick pene
tration, and a self-possession which scarcely any
thing could disturb, procured him influence, and
a daring presumption common to the Kentuc
kians, gave him preponderance. Without clas
sical education, he knows how to assail the weak
part of human nature in a truly singular way.
At an early period of his public life he voted
against the interest of his constituents. After
his return from Washington, he met everywhere
with a cold reception. As if nothing had hap
pened, he mingled with his neighbours : no one
spoke to him ; he was shunned by all. Ap
proaching an old friend of his, a respectable
Kentucky farmer, he wished him a good day 
" I thank you," was the reply. " How d'ye you

Chap. IV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 29
do ?" — " Harry," replied the old farmer dryly,
" I presume we must part : thou canst not be
any longer our congressman." " Why so, -Sir?"
" Thou knowest better than I do, thou art a
cunning fellow, too cunning for us." After a
long pause, " Look !" said Clay, taking the
Kentucky man's rifle from his hand, and point
ing to it, " Do you remember the time when we
hunted many a buck together ?" " Yes !" —
" Then you have not yet given up your old
friend?" returning the rifle. — " Certainly not."
" And did he stick as faithfully to^oM?" "What
dost thou mean ?" " Has he never disappointed
you when the game was before his muzzle ?"
" Why, yes, sometiiues." " Then you have not
broken him to pieces ?" " Why should I — I
have given him another chance ?" " You have
done so, dear Tom, but your old friend and
trusty servant you are going to break because he
once disappointed you? Ah, Tom, could you
act thus with Harry, your old faithful Harry ?"
at the same time grasping his hand and press
ing it heartily. " G — d d — n me," exclaimed
the old Kentuckian, " if I do, I will try thee
again Harry !" And a shake of the hand which
would have broken the finger of any one but

30 THE UNITED STATES [Ch^P- I'*'-
a Kentuckian, sealed the reconciliation, and
assured Clay that he was restored to favour. In
less than one hour the apropos allegory was in
everyone's mouth; "Clay forever!" was voci
ferated on every side, and he was again unani
mously elected representative.
As Plenipotentiary at the Treaty of Ghent he
played rather an indifferent part, and quarrelled
with Adams. The explanations promised by him
to the nation, respecting Adams's' conduct at
Ghent, we are still waiting for. His influence
became overbearing, and so much power did he
possess over the Tuinds of his fellow-representa
tives, that there was little doubt of his being
elected President, in case of his return to the
house as one of the three candidates. His pecu
liar talent consists in making himself popular
with his State. In order to win his countrynaen
over to his interests, he plays as easily the part of
the drunkard and the gambler, as in good com
pany he can put on the gentleman. The Ken
tuckian, however, is apparent, and his coarse im
petuosity breaks forth on every occasion. This
latter circumstance, so far from affecting his popu
larity, renders him the idol of his countrymen.
" That is a mighty great man ! That is a wonder-

Chap. IV.] OF jstORTH AMERICA. 31
fully emment man !" That is the very first man in
the Union,, you may hear from every Kentuckian,
and be knocked, down if you should not be
precisely of the same opinion.
Clay has in his person very little that is attrac
tive ; a disagreeable face, gray piercing eyes, full
of a vvild and malicious fire, distinguish, the
shrewd and impetuous politician, who knows no
jdeUcacy in the choice of his means. No other
State but Kentucky would have forgiven Clay's
breach of trust. The Kentuckians were angry
only so long as they were unacquainted with the
price of this job en gros ; as soon as they had
the opening prospect of offices from their coun
tryman, the present Secretary of State, he again
became their favourite. It is no small honour
to the other States that they deeply feel the
vvound inflicted on the moral principle of the
Republic, and acGoroingly hold its author in
abomination. None of the twenty-two States
would i choose him under the present circum
stances for a constable. His private life is far
from being exemplary : a duellist and a gam
bler, he has neither principle nor a sense of what
is due to decorum.
It is certainly shocking to see the Speaker of

32 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. IV.
the House of Representatives of the United
States forget himself and his dignity, so far as to
reply to an anonymous attack in a newspaper
in the vilest terms, and with a challenge such as
might have been given by a coachman. This,
however, is his way of silencing his antagonists :
for this reason Randolph had to fight him. I
saw him in Cincinnati (Ohio) when a small
number of friends gave him a public dinner
against the sense of the majority of the people.
Though he was perfectly aware of the utter
abomination in which he was held by the inha
bitants, his conduct was such as if nothing had
happened. To shake hands with every one
who offered, and to affect a cordiality, which,
looking into his face, appeared rather to be a
satire, gave him, in the eyes of the prudent Ohian,
more the air of an impudent stage player. This
hunting after popularity, these smiles and false
hoods to no purpose, formed a scene more dis
gusting than I should have expected from a man
of Clay's standing and intellect.
The post of Secretary of the Navy was filled
by Mr. Southard, a man of a narrow mind, and
so completely the tool of Mr. Adams, that he is
certainly not a worthy subject of biography.

Chap. IV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 33
We shall confine ourselves to a short notice of
this gentleman. Formerly a schoolmaster, then
a lawyer, he performs the duties of his present
office, in a manner which clearly shews that he
has preserved only the very worst traits of his
former professions. In whatever he does, an
uhaccountable odium attaches to his measures.
The reappointment of the man who slew the
noble-minded Decatur, of the man who disho-
nourably struck his flag to the enemy, and, though
he consulted his personal safety, and retired to a
foreign country during the war, was called to fill
a post of honour in the United States' Navy, at
once convinced the American nation, that shoot
ing an adversary in cold blood and fidelity to
wards Mr. Adams, were sufficient qualifications
for advancement.
This appointment was intended to effect the hu-
mihation of Commodore Porter. Whatever may
have been the fault of this gentleman in feeling
the affront done to the flag of the United States,
and in releasing by force of arms his lieutenant,
who had been put in prison by the Mayor of
Portorico, then a place of shelter for pirates, he
was punished with more than ordinary severity,
by being conipelled to appear before a judge,
D

34 THE UNITED STATES (Chap. IV.
who was prejudiced against him, and who an
noyed him in a manner which must have been
truly galling to the feelings of the open-hearted
seaman. There is, in the naval Secretary, a
striking peculiarity of character, which is very
often to be found in low-minded men when
raised to elevated stations. Their peevish souls
delight in the infliction of every kind of torture
they can devise against their betters. Porter
felt so much humbled by questions calculated to
lower him in the public opinion, and in his own,
that he quitted the service in disgust.
Rush, the Secretary of the Treasury, is a harm
less man. Grateful for his promotion to an
office which was declined by Crawford and Clin
ton, he serves Mr. Adams with fidelity and zeal.
He is a mere cipher in all respects, if we except
the framing of the annual reports transmitted by
him to the House of Representatives. Mr;
Adams's object in making him Secretary of the
Treasury, was merely to gratify the good people
of Philadelphia, with whom, or rather with its
Tories, Mr. Rush possesses great influence.
Barbour, the Secretary of War, and Marshall,
the Chief Justice, are men of exalted character,
whatever may be their party principles. Of the

Chap. IV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 35
five gentlemen I have named, Messrs. Clay and
Southard may be considered as the instruments
of the President, Rush as his faithful servant,
and Barbour and Marshall as his ministers. The
choice of Mr. Adams was such, that he silenced
FederaHsts, Democrats^ and Tories, and secured
to himself all the power necessary for the execu
tion of his schemes. This amalgamation of
parties if continued, will produce more serious
consequences than the United States are aware of.
The President's Message.
The nation was accustomed to find in the mes
sage of its former Presidents, a solid and suc
cinct account of its relations. The navy, the
army, the roads, the posts, the resources, the
wants of the State, every subject that interested
and concerned the nation, was brought into re
view, and the political measures to be adopted
were represented in clear and distinct features.
Such were the messages of former Presidents,
such was that of Monroe ; and when the latter
declared in his message of 1823, " that the United
States, . .notwithstanding their system of par
tiality, would consider any attempt on the part
of European powers to extend their views to any
D s

36 THE UNITED STATES [Chap, IV.
portion of this hemisphere, as dangerous to the
peace and safety of the Union," ^c— we see in
this declaration the manly and dignified language
of the chief of a RepubUc, who, sensible of its
importance, abstains alike from raising premature
pretensions, and from holding out empty threa,ts ;
we also see in it the free magistrate of a free
country speaking his mind in plain terms, without
art or cunning. Mr. Adams's message presents a
striking contrast. We see a highly ornamenttid
rhetorical production, which labours to disguise
the ambitious schemes that are to he carried into
effect. Instead of taking a review of the politi
cal and economical state of the Union, it tells
us that the executive must not be obstructed
in its endeavours to carry into effect the plans:
and schemes which it considers to be expedient
for the welfare of the nation. We hear of an
observatory, desired by no one, and voyages ¦ of
discovery which are impracticable. The minis
ters of Napoleon or of Russia might have pro
posed to their sovereigns such enterprises; a
candidate of the Parisian academy might have
dehvered a similar speech. A President of the
United States should not be satisfied with pro
ducing fine-sounding phrases, he has other oh-

Chap. IV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 37
jects to attend to of a more important and press
ing nature. In a new Republic, one half of
whose territory is without bridges and without
roads, where the most essential means of social
intercourse are wanting, we can afford but little
attention to the erection of an academy of fine
arts and belles-lettres. I speak the language of
experience ; for none can entertain greater esteem
than I do for the arts and sciences, as well as
for their protectors. But the Parisian academy,
transplanted to Constantinople, would but vege
tate like orange-trees confined to greenhouses.
In the course of time America will have its
sciences and arts as well as Europe ; but it
evinces an unpardonable short-sightedness in the
chief of a commonwealth to dwell upon such
topics, where so many other things are to be
done, and where two-thirds of the Sovereigns of
the United States (as they please to call them
selves), have no gla^s in their window frames,
and are obliged to transport the produce of their
lands to the towns or mills on beasts of burden,
for a space of from ten to twenty miles, through
pathless woods and forests.
To produce excitement in the public mind by
some splendid novelties, to fill the world with

38 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. IV.
their names, to attain a high rank among the
great ones of the earth, and to be greeted by its
monarchs as brothers — these were the failings
of the father ; those of the son seem in their ten
dency, to be still more ruinous to the Union. The
father (John Adams) in his character of Vice
President, brought a motion before the Senate,
for changing the President's style and title from
that of Excellency to that of Highness and Pro
tector of our Liberties. The son is of opinion,
that the United States will not dare to aspire to
the rank of a nation of the first order, so long
as the Presidency is not established for life, and
of course hereditary in his family ; and he thinks
it high time to organize an important army and
navy, and to assume a more exalted tone in his
intercourse with' foreign powers. It was prin
cipally with this object in view that Mr. Clay was
directed to address a note to Mr. Middleton, the
ambassador from the United States to the Court
of St. Petersburgh, by which this gentleman was
instructed to urge, in the most earnest terms, the
ittterpositiori of the Russian Government, in
order to bring about a termination of the war
between Spain and its former colonies. This
conduct on the part of Mr. Adams, reminds me

Chap. IV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. -39
of a newly-created baronet waiting with impa
tience the moment when his new coat-of-arms
and his recently-acquired splendour are to be dis
played to the admiring world in the gorgeous
pomp of a state carriage. What in the name of
common sense could induce Mr. Adams and his
new friend to take upon themselves the part of
a second-hand mediator, and to send forth a
heavy, tedious, and after all insignificant memo
rial to the Russian Cabinet ? Was it not more
consistent with the status quo of the United
States, to observe a prudent silence about affairs
in which Messrs. Adams and Clay had no con
cern ? Was it not in the highest degree presump
tuous in them to assure the Russian Government
of their being satisfied with the present posses
sors of Cuba and Portorico, and that they could
not on the other hand remain passive spectators
of their occupation by a foreign power? We
forbear mentioning that this undiplomatic man
ner of determining with a third party, with re
spect to the possession of a second, savours a
little of. Buonaparte, and we shall only ask the
simple question. What could the administration
of the United States effect with their twelve
ships of the line, and twice as many frigates, if

40 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. IV.
Great Britain were to resolve upon occupying
Cuba ? If Adams, instead of acting with humble
arrogance through his organ Mr. Middleton, on
the Court of Russia, had declared in his message,
that the situation of the Southern States does not
admit of the forcible occupation and revolution
izing of Cuba on the part of the South American
Republics, such a declaration would have borne
at least a dignified character.
The Russian minister further replies in his
note, ''That justice, the law of nations, and the
general interest in having the indisputable titles
of sovereignty respected, could not allow the de
terminations of the mother-country, in this im
portant case, to be prejudged or anticipated, and
that it will not, therefore, be possible for his Im
perial Majesty to change principles in this nego
tiation, nor to institute . it separately ; and until
positive information has been received of the
ulterior views of Spain in regard to her American
possessions, of her decision upon the proposition
of the United States^ and of the opinion of her
allies in relation to the same subject, that, there
fore, Russia cannot give a definitive answer." We
hope that Adams will take the hint from this
courteous but sufficiently intelhgible lesson, that

Chap. IV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 41
he may in future spare himself the assuming of
the part of mediator, and he had better attend to
his own affairs. As for Mr. Clay, the author of
this specimen of Backwood diplomacy, the hint
is lost upon him ; any insinuation in order to
make an impression upon him, must be of a
coarse nature, and then Mr. Nesselrode would
incur the danger of being treated in a Kentuc
kian, or, which is nearly the same thing, in a
Cossack style. The conclusion of the Russian
answer is, " She (Russia) is however in the mean
while, pleased to hope, that the United States
(becoming every day more convinced of the evils
and dangers that would result to Cuba and Por
torico from a change of government, and being
satisfied, as Mr. Clay has said in his despatch, with
the present commercial legislation of these two
islands) will use their influence in defeating, as far
as may be in their power, every enterprise against
those islands, and in securing to the rights of his
Catholic Majesty, constant and proper respect."
It shews how quickly the artful statesman (Nes
selrode) understands the mode of directing these
two inconsiderate statesmen in the course which
they are expected to pursue.
Happy would it be for the United States, if

42 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. IV.
every ill-digested and immature pretension of
their administration, was attended with no worse
consequences than to be laid aside. This treat
ment, however derogatory it might be to the
national honour, would not affect its tranquillity,
which is now at stiake, and along with it the pub
lic peace and welfare. By the course which the
administration of the United States has adopted
with regard to the Congress of Panama or Mexico,
they have renounced the system of neutrality here
tofore adhered to — have involved themselves in
difficulties which, to speak within bounds, may
endanger their Union and political existence.

'^'"'P'^1 OF NORTH AMERICA. 43

Chapter V.
The Republics of South America — Congress of Mexico —
Policy of the Administration of the United States in
Regard to that Congress — Its Consequences.
The South American Republics are now in full
possession of their liberty: their governments
are acknowledged by the United States, Great
Britain, the Netherlands, and to a certain extent
by France. Spain does not possess a square
mile of ground on the American Continent. Ex
hausted by a long war, distracted by party spirit,
impoverished beyond description, she sees the im
possibility of continuing the contest any longer.
She has no hope left but in the assistance of her
allies, and in the counter-revolution of her former
colonies. To this circumstance is to be ascribed
her refusal to acknowledge those Republics, al
though at the peril of losing Cuba and Portorico,
her only remaining possessions in the western
world ; and to this cause we may attribute her
last effort to send out a squadron with the double
destination of protecting those islands, and in

44 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. V.
case of civil commotions in the new Republics,
of directing its operations accordingly.
On the other hand, the repubUcan form of
the new States, is so little adapted to their popu
lation, as to preclude all hope of its becoming
permanent. When the United States of North
America resolved to shake of the yoke of Great
Britain, the population of these thirteen States
were ripe for political emancipation. Descended
from the freest nation of Europe, they fled to the
wilderness in order to enjoy, unrestrained, their
religious and political liberty. The mere shadow
of oppression was to them insupportable ; and
measures which in South America, or on the
European Continent, would have been deemed
rather a benefit than a grievance, occasioned in
the United States a revolt at first, and afterward?
a complete revolution. After six years' warfare,
two millions and a half of people succeeded in
obtaining, not so much by their physical as by
their moral strength, perfect freedom and inde
pendence from the control of the wealthiest and
most powerful nation in the world. Quite dif
ferent is the case with the new Republics of the
South. The Spaniards came to America in
quest of weahh, not of freedom : as soon as

Chap, v.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 45
they had attained their aim, they returned to the
mother-country. Comparatively few respectable families re
mained in the colonies. The majority of the
Spaniards who emigrated to America, were adven
turers and idlers, attracted and detained by the
facility of earning a livelihood, and having no
thing to lose in their own country. They mostly ,
mixed with Negroes and Indians, and from this
intercourse originated a motley population, half
red, half -black, and half-yellow, whose mental
accomplishments go pari passu with their faces.
Religion and priests, or rather superstition and
monks, are not fit instruments to nourish liberal
and repubhcan ideas ! The necessity of emanci
pation, therefore, being only felt by the Creoles of
the better class, very few at first joined the cry of
independence ; few provinces took up arms, and
even in these, only the minority of the population.
It was not until the mother-country drove the
colonists to despair by its impolitic measures and
unprincipled cruelties, that revolt became more
general. From the year 1808 to the year 1825, a
population exceeding twenty miUions of inhabi
tants, favoured by their natural aUies, climate, and
disease, has been contending, with doubtful sue-

46 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. V.
cess, against an enemy whose strength was daily
diminishing, and who had to derive its scanty
resources from a distance of four thousand miles ;
and it was not until 1825, that the issue of the
battle at the Ayacucho decided the contest in
favour of South American independence. The
new Republics are no doubt emancipated from
the yoke of the mother-country, but there is yet
wanting the first principles requisite to the
formation and maintenance of a free common
wealth — a population whose elements are such as
to admit of its being virtually represented, aiid
thereby to ensure durability to their republican
institutions. At present the power is in the
hands of the Generals who secured the Repub
lican Independence,; Bolivar, Paez, &c., some of
whom wield the powers intrusted to them with
sovereign sway, and want nothing to complete
the character but the title. The Congresses of
the different new States are composed of Creolef
of the better class, and of priests and Spaniards
who declared jthemselves for the new order of
things — 'all; creatures of these despots.
The proportion of the. white to the yellow,
red, and black population, in most of the, new
Republics, is as one to ten, and of this tenth not

Chap, v.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 47
more than half can be considered as capable of
taking part in the pohtical affairs of the State.
The rest of the community are sunk in indolence,
poverty, ignorance, and sloth, little differing from
the negroes, by whom indeed they are excelled in
point of industry. To expect a representation
taken from all the elements of which the popula
tion is composed, and thereby to diffuse a propor
tionate jurisdiction among all classes of society,
would be an idle chimera. The Mestizo, Mulatto,
Negro, and Indian, may indeed be called free, but
nothing more. Superstition, bigotry, and igno
rance, render them the dupes of their priests, who,
with one eye turned towards Rome and Spain,
the other towards their new rulers, have already
shewn the extent of their dominion, by the es
tablishment of the Roman Catholic faith, as
the religion to which every inhabitant is bound
to pay homage, and by allowing nothing more
than an insecure toleration to other creeds. The
dissensions, and even civil wars that are spring
ing up in the Republics, are a clear indication of
the fate which sooner or later awaits them.
Sanguinary and violent in character, the Spanish
race is not born for freedom : they riiust either
subdue or be subdued. Whether the Mulattoes,

48 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. V.
Mestizoes, Indians, or Negroes, will eventually
submit to the yoke of their masters, time alone
will reveal. Where, however, the latter race
constitute the majority, it is to be feared that
we may witness a crisis which will terminate
the power of the Spanish descendants, by a ca
tastrophe that will be a signal revenge for all the
horrors committed by their ancestors.
That the present dictators, in the plenitude of
their power, are not without apprehension for
the future, is sufficiently obvious. To these
fears, or to the desire and necessity of uniting
together for the maintenance of the present order
of things, the Congress of Panama, now the Con
gress of Mexico, is indebted for its convocation.
Spain is erroneously supposed to be the occasion
of this Congress, just in the same manner as ten
years ago France was said to have occasioned the
Holy Alliance, though the one as well as the other
had ceased to be in an attitude to excite alarm.
The point of view in which the United States
have to consider this Congress, is so simple and
so manifest, that it does not require the intellect
of a statesman, but a mere common understand
ing to comprehend it.
That the new RepubUc would not be backward

Chap, v.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 49
in their endeavours to engage the United States in
their interest, was to be foreseen, so it was not less
natural, that their invitation should be attended
to, and that directions should be given to their
accredited ministers already sent to the new Re
publics, to repair to the appointed place of meet
ing. Great Britain had done the same in regard
to European Congresses. If, however, the Presi
dent of the United States has the intention of
forming an alhance with, or of putting himself
at the head of the new States, a measure for the
accomplishment of which preliminary steps have
undoubtedly been taken (as still more forcibly
appear from his message, from the tone in which
he fancies himself to soar above Washington's
policy, and from the enthusiastic sympathy which
he seems to feel in the fate and fortunes of
South America), nothing but the circumstance
of having future sovereignty in view, can account
for such an infatuation in a statesman, who is
fully conscious, that, by pursuing it, he endan
gers the very Union.
When Monroe, in his message of 1823, de
clared "that the United States would consider any
attempt on the part of the European powers to
extend their system to any portion of this hemi-

50 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. V.
sphere as dangerous to our peace and safety" —
there was then every reason to apprehend an
armed interference of the Holy Alliance in South
American affairs. Spain, at the time alluded to,
still possessed armies and strong holds on the
American Continent : a timely and powerful
succour on the part of the Holy Alliance, and
especially of France, would have been likely to
decide the contest in her favour. This is
not the case at the present time. The Spanish
armies are no more ; they have been annihilated
or taken prisoners ; their fortresses are in the
hands of the new States. The manly and well-
timed declaration of Mr- Monroe, combined with
that of England, had the desired effect of ope
rating as a salutary check against the intentions
of the Holy Alliance.
The re-conquest of the South American
States by Spain, even with the assistance
of the Holy AUiance, is an event no longer to
be apprehended. The independence of South
America is secured against Europe. The same
position which was assumed by England with
respect to the Holy Alhance and their Congresses,
is the proper position of the United States against
their antipodes, the military Republics of the

Chap, v.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 51
south, composed of the elements of the Spanish
character. As the King of England could not
have made common cause with the Powers of
Europe after the faU of Napoleon, without dis
regarding the fundamental principles of the
English constitution, so the administration of
the United States cannot form closer engage
ments with the Republics of the south, with
out violating the foundation of the principle of
North American liberty, — the Sovereignty of the.
people. •
The form of these Republics, as they call them
selves, is a military oligarchy. The sovereignty
is not in the people, but in the government, or
rather in the dictator. Sooner or later they
will become monarchical: religion, education,
character, all conduce to this end. The establish
ment of such a form of government, has only
been prevented by the hatred in which the mo
narchical system has been hitherto held. Time
and the influence of the priests will soften that
hatred, and prepare the way ; and if Mr. Adams,
who is notorious for never having acknowledged
the sovereignty of the people, is permitted to
join this confederacy, the United States are
most likely to reap the same effects from this
E 2

52 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. V.
unholy compact, as the nations of Europe have
experienced from their Holy Alliance. The
position of the United States, in regard to foreign
powers, becomes no less critical. They place
themselves at the head of a union, in direct op
position to the Old World, taking part against it,
and even against Great Britain, which maintains
a strict neutrality. When a country embarks
in a new measure t)f so much delicacy and hazard,
it is not in its power to say how far it may or
may not justly provoke a third nati«n to acts of
hostility. How long the good understanding of
these powers will continue, is uncertain ; and it
is very questionable whether this demonstraticyi
of arrogance, in putting themselves at the head
of South American affairs, will not provoke the
jealousy of Great Britain. If the United States
came out of the last war with honour, they may
thank their Perrys, their Bainbridges, and their
Jacksons, though the miniature victories of these
leaders were but a small compensation for the.
blows inflicted by, their opponents. That the
Union was not dissolved, may be ascribed to
Madison. The same success cannot be expected,,
from an administration raised by the assistance
of the very party, which in the last war thought

Chap, v.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 53
it more to their interest to join the New England
States to Canada, and to sell themselves to Great
Britain, in order to save their commerce. '
It is quite incomprehensible why the nation
should be exposed to such dangers for the sake
of an alliance with States, which were as much
under the Control of Monroe, as the Holy
Alliance is under that of Great Britain. The
United States have at no time assumed a higher
station, nor spoken in a more dignified tone, than
under Monroe, whose well-timed moderation was
blended with a due regard to the nation's charac
ter and honour. This commanding elevation
has been abandoned by the present administra
tion for an unnatural alliance with Republics,
which, from their rehgion, manners, and situa
tion, must ever hate the superiority and detest
the principles of the United States, and are des
tined by nature to become their antagonists.
That the Spanish character will never harmonize
with that of the descendants of the English, may
be seen from the conduct of the Mexican Go
vernment. At the time when the Government
of Mexico called upon the administration of the
United States to fulfil the memorable pledge
given by the President in his message to Con-

54 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. V.
gress (1823), they dechned to ratify a commercial
treaty formed on the basis of reciprocity, be
cause, as they candidly confessed, this treaty
would prevent them from assisting their brethren
of the south in case of a war. This treaty has
since been concluded; but we may infer from
these, and from several other vexatious proceed
ings of the, Mexican authorities towards mer
chant vessels, what the United States, have to
expect. A war may take place with all these
new Republics; with Mexico it is inevitable,
and will happen perhaps sooner than may be
imagined. The present administration, by
its parental care, has the merit of instructing
these Republics in the secret of their strength,
and of furnishing them with a pretext for exert
ing it. The reason why Great Britain is so
highly interested in the welfare of these coun
tries, is quite obvious ; they are her natural
allies against the United States, and it is con
sistent with her pohcy to foster them. But when
we see the United States' Government, who are
not unacquainted with the character of these
people, cherishing these gigantic military Re
publics with so much affection, this appears to
us a degree of inconsistency absolutely unpar^

Ghap. v.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 55
donable, if we consider the status quo of the
Southern States of the Union.
Nothing can be less solid, nothing can offer
less security for the future, than the bond of
the Union itself. A vast unwieldy body, held
together only by motives of self-interest and of
egotism. — One of the most important ques
tions which attacks the foundation of this very
egotism in its vital parts, and widens every hour
more and more the distance between the South
ern and the Northern States, is the possession of
slaves. It is not a mere party-question ; the
whole population are opposed to each other, and
the steps taken by the government in regard to
this essential point, are watched by the southern
people with a jealousy which is almost incredible.
Happily for the Union four of the Presidents
were citizens of Slave States, and, therefore,
treated the point in question with corresponding
delicacy, leaving it to time to remedy the evil.
It was for this reason that the Republic of Hayti
has not been acknowledged, notwithstanding the
clamour of the north, which was afraid of suffer
ing in its commercial interests by the refusal. It
was argued, and not without reason, that such an
acknowledgment could not but create in the

56 THE UNITED STATES [Chap.V.
southern black population, a tendency to renew
their sanguinary attempts. From the same
cause, the Southern States of the Union are so
adverse to an alhance with the Southern Re-
pubhcs, which latter are about to place all races
and colours upon the same footing, for the pur
pose of effecting a combination of so many con
flicting elements.
If Mr. Adams would have listened to the voice
of the people, and acted according to their interest,
he would not have produced so much excite
ment by his message. The minister to Mexico
or Columbia could have repaired to the Isthmus,
have conveyed to the assembled plenipotentiaries
the assurance of friendship, and have received such
communications in return, as they were pleased to
make. They might also have gone charged with
a solemn protest against the invasion of Cuba:
these were the steps which a sound policy dic
tated. In thi^ manner Spain would not have
been unnecessarily offended, nor the jealousy of
Great Britain excited, in a manner which is now
manifesting itself: thus the system of neutrality,
hitherto pursued for the welfare of the Union
would not have been infringed. If, on thecontrary,
the President declares in his message, " that the

C''"P- "^¦'i OF. NORTH AMERICA. 57
policy of Washington could not be applied to
the present circumstances," this evasive declara
tion leaves but httle doubt as to his deep-laid
schemes. Time will prove that it is particularly
to the South of America that Washington's
policy ought to be applied without reserve.
Those new Republics are destined to give the
United States, sooner or later, more trouble than
all the rest of the world put together. A wise
policy would keep them at a proper distance, as
long and as effectually as possible. This would
have been the system dictated by wisdom, and
founded on the stntus quo of the Union, on the
neutrality and on the delicate situation of the
Southern States.- — One reflection forces itself
upon the thinking observer. — ^When a man suc
ceeds, as Mr. Adams has done, in placing him
self at the head of affairs, it ought certainly to be
expected, that he would take such conciliatory
measures as were likely to heal the deep wounds
inflicted upon the feelings of the nation, and by
no means to proclaim sentiments which must
necessarily confirm the idea that he inclined to
wards monarchy. This was the course naturaUy
to be expected from a man so well versed in
diplomacy, who, moreover, has the warning ex-

58 THE UNITED STATES [Ch»P- V.
ample of his late father before his eyes. If the
new President on the contrary, avows without
disguise, in his first as well as in his last message,
the intention of stretching his power to the ut
most; if he does what even the Sovereign of
Great Britain would not venture to do, appoint
a Secretary of State, and support a man so wholly
unpopular as Mr. Clay; if he dare not only to de
clare his intention to recede from the system
hitherto pursued, but to maintain that declara
tion in opposition to the manifest feeling and
interest of the nation; if he constitute himself
the sole umpire of its internal and foreign rela
tions, without even condescending to consult its
opinion ; if he assume toward the Senators and
Representatives of a sovereign state, a tone be
fitting a monarch* only; then arises the ques
tion, whether such a man is not, de facto, a
* Last year a postmaster was to be appointed at Nashville. The
President nominated a Mr. Erwin, a dependant of Mr. Clay. The
most respectable citizens of this town, the first in rank of the State
of Tennessee, collected together to the number of six hundred,
and expressed their desire, through the Senator and the Represen
tatives of the State of Tennessee, in Washington, that the appoint
ment might be given to Mr. Currie. This petition was delivered'
by the Senators and Representatives of the State to the President.
Mr. Adams directed the Postmaster-General to return the petition,
" as a paper not proper for him to reoeive."

^'"'P-'^] OF NORTH AMERICA. 59
sovereign, and whether in a repubhc, where
such things take place without resistance, the
monarchical principle has not gained the ascend
ency? It would be under-rating Mr. Adams's
talents, to presume that he is not sufficiently
aware of his own strength to enforce the sugges
tions of a fanciful and an ambitious mind. He
is now again at the head of the party which so
evidently proved to the Union in 1812, that they
were tired of the Republican Constitution. He
renounced them at that time, because they
wanted to range themselves, not under his ban
ners, but under those of Great Britain. At pre
sent he is again in union with them ; they are lite
rally his phalanx, himself their chief. By means
of this party, he has all the New England States,
and part of New York and New Jersey on his
side. In both these latter States, as well as in Vir
ginia, public opinion amongst the higher classes
declares itself almost openly for monarchical go
vernment. To what extent corruption and de
pravity have arrived in the west, the Presi
dent's election has made manifest. Daily expe
rience tells us how patiently the nation submits.
What are we not to expect from a man who is
endowed with a sufficient stock of calculating

60 THE UNITED STATES [Chap.V.
prudence to wait for time and tide ? The United
States are approaching to a crisis which will
decide whether the republican or the monarchi
cal government is eventually to prevail. If Mr.
Adams should be capable of maintaining his
ground at the next election for the President's
chair in 1828, then the nation may be justly said
to have lost all sense of honour and of liberty,
and to be sufficiently tamed for the yoke. It will
then be as ripe for the blow, as the Romans were
with their expiring liberty, and without any violent
convulsion, Mr. Adams may pursue the measures
which he and , his party have prepared for his
usurpation and his eventual accession to a throne.
No doubt then remains about the fate of the
northern divisions. Its separation from the
Southern and Western States with an hereditary
President, perhaps a crowned head to govern
it, will be the natural consequence. The veil
will be then removed, and we shall be able to
discover why the same Mr. Adams, who opposed
so strenuously, when Secretary of State, the ac
knowledgement of the South American Repub-
hcs, is become at once their most enthusiastic
defender at the risk of incurring the irreconci
lable hatred of the Southern States of the Union.

.Chap. VI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 6l

Chapter VI.
Opposition — Randolph — Pennsylvania — Th e Future
Election.
It would be injustice to the nation to assert that
it is an indifferent spectator of these proceedings.
It is fully sensible of the injury done, and the
most distinguished men of the south and west,
have combined to avenge it, directing their attacks
against the present administration. But they have
not succeeded in giving the nation a clear idea
of its real situation, and of the views entertained
by its present leaders : they only discover in the
last election of the President, the corruption of
Mr. Clay. He is the object of all their hatred,
and he is treated by the members of the Opposi
tion like the stone which the dog is eager to seize,
forgetting the hand which set it in motion. — In
their opinion, for the breach of trust committed by
thfe Speaker and some of the representatives, the
whole House is to be punished, and the election
of President is in no case to be left to its deci
sion. They expect in this manner to secure

62 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. VI.
themselves against any future corruption, for
getting, at the same time, that in heahng a wound
they spread infection through the whole system.
It is with constitutions as with paper-money,
the more that is added, the more it becomes
depreciated in value and in credit. Whether
this paper bulwark would be strong enough to
resist the combined attacks of Mr. Adams and
his party, is very doubtful. It is not from the
form of the law of election, neither is it from the
Speaker, were he even a Clay, nor from the
House of Representatives, that the United States
can have grounds for future fear. Clay, with all
his depravity, and that of his Kentuckians, would
not have effected anything with Crawford, nor even
with Jackson, because they respect public opinion.
The coup d'eclat of Mr. Clay, bears so much the
character of depravity on the face of it, that it is
certainly doing him too much honour ta change
the law of election on his account, and to make
him the only object of attack. The man who
answers such attacks, no matter whether made
in the Senate or in the newspaper, in language
both scurrilous and abusive, will have influence
only in Kentucky. To the Union he is surely
not dangerous ; and to entertain the thought

Chap. VI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 63
of his being elected President is an absurdity.
But to observe most rigorously the laws of de
corum, and to be a strict economist, though at
the expense of a poor mantua-maker ; to keep the
statutes inviolate, neither to ride nor to play, nor
to indulge in the least pastime on a Sabbath, but
to study in silent meditation how on Monday to
deprive a neighbour and fellow-citizen of his pro
perty or his liberty ; to be liberal towards ministers;
to have no religion ; not to be put out of coun
tenance by the most sarcastic attacks of an adver
sary, but to wait with Christian patience, until
the opportunity offers for revenge in a diplo
matic style — this is what we must do if we desire
to obtain a character for steadiness with brother
Jonathan. Our prototype in the north is Jacob,
who robbed Esau of his birthright : and in this
similarity of character with the descendants of
Jacob, we may find the key to the rare and
sincere attachment of the northern people
to so consummate a leader as Mr. Adams.
The south does not admire this half-monkish,
half-hebrew turn of mind ; but to complete
the parallel, resembles old Isaac, who in his
blindness directed his whole attention to the
goat-skin, if it be not improper to call Mr.

64 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. VI.
Clay by so soft a name. Thus as Jacob of yore
conspired with his mother against Esau and Isaac,
so Adams with his party pursue their road un
molested, and establish their empire while the
spectators are thinking him a cipher or the crea
ture of Mr. Clay.— The best and most inteUigent
men of the Union, and even the shrewd Ran
dolph, have fallen into this unpardonable and
dangerous error. It cannot be reconciled with
sound reason to suppose, that Mr. Adams,
who is superior to Mr. Clay, if not in point of
talents, certainly in firmness, political foresight,
and discretion, should yield to this gentleman
and become his tool. Hovp little he cared for
this person, he sufficiently proved at Ghent, and
when Secretary of State, by his indifference to
the most sarcastic attacks upon him by Clay,
then Speaker of the House. Mr. Adams, con
sistent as he has always been, has not changed
since, and if he seems to retire for some time to
the back ground, he has certainly his reasons,
amongst which may be considered his endeavour
to work underhand with his party, and throw
most of the public odium on his Secretary.
Mr. Randolph understands, without doubt, the
real situation of affairs better than any one, and

Chap. VI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 65
he is certainly right if he hopes nothing from an
alteration in the legal enactments, and everything
from the Union of both the republican parties.
The existing monarchical party will not be over
come by any change in the Constitution. This
result can only be effected by the union of the
Democrats and Federalists, under a leader pos
sessed of sufficient strength to oppose the current
so strongly setting towards monarchy. Mr.
Adams and his party perceive the dangerous con
sequences of this, and poor Randolph is there
fore assailed in all the newspapers under their
control, as a madman, a slanderer, and a calum
niator. To the nation he is truly a valuable
citizen ; and the ardour with which he presses
upon Mr. Adams and his associates, renders him
a scourge to the administration. His duel with
Mr. Clay and the issue of the quarrel are well
known. They came to the ground: at a
second discharge from Mr. Clay, Mr. Randolph
reserved his fire. " Very well, Mr. Clay," said
Randolph laconicaUy, " I won't fire again, I would
not have fired the first time had not my pistol
gone off unawares. But you have shot a hole
in my coat, you ma.y get me another." A few
days afterwards he spoke in the Senate of his

66 THE UNITED STATES [Ch^P- VI.
duel, " how it was brought about by the fag-end
of European diplomacy coming amongst us to
poison our morals with their principles, and our
bodies with their French cookery eaten by candle-
hght." His speeches are far from being chef
d'oeuvres of oratory ; he is fond of discursion, and
often becomes colloquial and trivial ; but after
having for a time indulged his whims and enter
tained his friends with a variety of apparent non
sense, he throws such a volley of wit and over
powering argument into the face of his adversaries,
that they look at each other in utter astonish
ment and confusion. His eloquence is full of
sarcasm combined with good humour, with oc
casional flashes of genius, and he excels in hitting
a point. By these qualities he commands atten
tion to speeches of three or four hours' duration.
His characteristic descriptions are true, but ex
hibit neither delicacy nor forbearance. Like all
old bachelors, he is rather fond of painting in
shadows, which he enlivens with hghter hues,
and in this he may be said to be an adept, being
more than sufficiently versed in the Chronique
Scandaleuse of the Union. His independent for
tune, and the character of eccentricity he has
acquired, are circumstances of which he well

Chap.V!.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 67
knows how to avail himself. For the rest, he is
a rare curiosity in the class of bachelors.
With a meagre figure six feet in height, with
long arms, on which the best spectacles could
hardly discern an ounce of flesh, an arched fore
head, a squeaking voice, at the sound of which
one is inclined to close the offended organ, he
is animated with a certain life and spirit which
amply compensate for these defects. He is noted
for being fond of slander, rather self-conceited,
fond of talking for a great length of time, like
all bachelors, particularly if wealthy Virginia plan
ters. As a Senator of the United States, he is very
popular, and deservedly enjoys the regard paid to
him by the unprejudiced majority of his fellow-
citizens. The principal step, however, hitherto taken
against the present administration, was adopted
by Pennsylvania, with a firmness which proves
this State to be still animated by the same prin
ciples of justice and liberty, as it was in the year
1801, when it rose for the preservation of its
rights against the administration of the Presi
dent John Adams the first. The delegates of
the State assembled the 4th of April, 1826, in
Harrisburgh, to propose to their fellow-citizens F 2

68 THE UNITED STATES ' [Chap. VI.
a candidate for the appointment of governor.
They unanimously re-elected Mr. Andrew Shulze.
The transaction being thus concluded, the dele
gates were at liberty to return to their homes.
But they considered that so fair an opportunity
of declaring their opinion of the present ad
ministration ought not to be lost ; they framed
two resolutions, which passed by a majority of
ninety-eight votes to seven : the first expressing
their disapprobation of the election of Adams,
and of the present administration of the United
States ; the second was a virtual nomination of
General Andrew Jackson for the next Presi
dency (in 1828). To the administration these
proceedings were a blow as severe as it had been
unforeseen, the more so as Tennessee, scarcely
four months after Mr. Adams's election, had
also nominated Mr. Jackson for the ensuing Pre
sidency. The question is now, whether the State of
Virginia has sufficient republican strength left to
induce it to sacrifice the monopoly which it has
hitherto exercised. From this State, and from
the family of Adams, the six Presidents have
been chosen. The ordinary road to this office
was considered to be through that of the Secre-

Chap. VI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 69
tary of State, as the road to the latter is the
embassy to London, Paris, or St. Petersburgh,
all of which were obtained through relationship or
a close connexion with the President. Thus the
first magistracy has become in a certain degree
a family fief, and through the family of Adams, is
likely to change into a monarchy, and through
Virginia, into an oligarchy. The offices depend
ing upon the administration, were beset either
with the friends of the Adams's family, or by the
followers of the Virginia party. This was and is
the case with supreme judges, with post-masters,
collectors of sea-ports, &c. The rest of the
States, though not entirely excluded, had but
little share in the administration : this is now
on the eve of alteration. Mr. Jackson is neither
Secretary of State, nor a friend to either party ;
he is, as it were, a novus homo, who, to speak the
truth, has neither pleased the Virginians nor the
Tories. Whether Virginia will be so magnani
mous as to give up her hitherto exercised privi
lege for the sake of the general liberty, and to
join a party through which her influence over the
administration is likely to suffer, is the great
question, upon the determination of which the
freedom of the people hiost unquestionably de-

70 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. VI.
pends. If Virginia, to preserve her presidental
monopoly, should try again to form a party of
her own at the next election, then Mr. Adams
will certainly succeed, and the foundation of a
monarchical government will thus be laid. If
Virginia and Georgia should unite with Pennsyl
vania, not only the republican party may be con
sidered as triumphant, but the preponderance of
their principles, under the guidance of Jackson,
will necessarily produce a reform, and a salutary
riddance of that evil, which, during the course of
fifty years, has eaten into the very heart of thle
Union.

Chap, vn.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 71

Chapter VII.
Major-Genkral Andrew Jackson.
Never, perhaps, has public opinion been so di
vided about any man as it is about General
Jackson. Whilst the one party (Adams's) de
scribes him as a tyrant, a military chieftain, a
lawless soldier, the other represents him^as a
hero surpassing Washington himself. He is at
the head of the Opposition, and the ruling power
has, therefore, as much reason to depreciate him,
as his own party has to extol him to the skies.
The first view of Andrew Jackson is imposing,
but the impression he leaves is not an agreeable
one. A stature above the common size ; a body
which fatigues and hardships have cleared of all
superfluous flesh ; a physiognomy indicating
violent passions ; a face furrowed by deep lines ;
a grayish piercing eye bespeaking less of shrewd
ness than of impetuosity, and which age has not
robbed of its fire ; these, with a tincture of Irish
cunning, are the peculiarities that distinguish the
present hero of the Opposition, He lost his

72 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. Vll.
father in eariy life, and was thrown, when an
orphan of fourteen, into the vortex of the re
volutionary war. Having been taken prisoner,
he rescued himself with a firmness of purpose,
seldom to be met with at his age. His predilec
tion for a military life may be dated from this early
period. Shortly afterwards he gave himself up
to the study of the law : a curious incident laid
the foundation of his fame. On a journey from
his residence to a distant county-town, where
the quarter sessions of the court were to be held,
he met a farmer, whose sorrowful countenance
seemed to indicate that his -affairs bore a no less
sorrowful aspect. By his natural power of per
suasion, he soon learned the cause of the farmer's
grief — a hopeless lawsuit — Jackson inquired
more particularly into the matter, and asked his
companion if he would permit him to plead his
cause. The farmer, casting a side glance at
Jackson's wretched pony, and at the still more
wretched rider, expressed his disbehef of his
power to be useful in this case, adding, that the
first-rate lawyers could not give him any hope:
but at last he consented. The issue of the trial
was at hand ; the farmer's counsel was pleading;
the counsel of the opposite party as well as the

Chap.VII] OF NORTH AMERICA. 73
jury were about to retire. " Stop gentlemen," ex
claimed our young lawyer presenting himself at the
bar in front of the presiding judge, and exhibiting
his license : he was allowed to plead accordingly.
In less than fifteen minutes he succeeded in rivet-
ting the attention of the j udges, jury, and assembly,
all equally astonished at the forcible address' of
a peasant, who made his first appearance dressed
in a home-made coat, with a linen bag thrown
over his shoulders containing provisions for him
self and his horse. The jury retired, the verdict
was pronounced, the farmer recovered his pro
perty, and the young lawyer gained a name and
clients. He was afterwards appointed President-
Judge of the Quarter Sessions, which station he
filled with honour to himself, though he resigned
it at a later period, as well as other offices which
he then held. His military passion led him to
take the command of a body of militia destined
against the Indians. The character of a war
with these tribes is well known, and though,
perhaps, insignificant in the eye of an European
general, it is so full of dangers and hardships,
that none but those who have travelled through
the backwoods, the scenes of such wars, can
form any competent idea of their nature. Only

74 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. ril.
an American can bear these fatigues, and fol
low an enemy through swamps and trackless
woods, who is seen and disappears at the same
moment, and is close at the heels- of his foe
when supposed to be far distant. The Indian
never attacks in the open field, thinking it the
greatest folly to expose himself. To do this,
even should he vanquish his enemy face to face,
would rather subject him to degradation in the
eyes of his brethren, than be productive of glory
to him. Concealed behind trees, or under cover
of bushes and rocks, these people send forth their
deadly weapons, or fire at their foes. If they
have not the shelter of a cavern, they throw them
selves down in the grass, and are thus hidden
from view. Their foo^ consists of the Calabash
and a bundle of maize flour ; their weapons are
the tomahawk, and now generally a gun. They "
travel with surprising swiftness through forty or
fifty miles of country; they prefer making
nightly attacks, and in this kind of warfare they
are exceedingly expert. It is a well-known fact,
that in one of the recent wars, the nation of the
Sioux travelled above three hundred miles in
order to surprise their enemies, who, fancying
themselves secure, were off their guard: few

Chap.vil.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 75
escaped the tomahawk. Jackson knew the cha
racter of his opponents, and fought them in their
own way. After an unwearied pursuit from one
lurking place to another, he found them at last,
and forced them to a stand. During one of these
pursuits the brigadier and his corps fell short of
provisions ; most of the troops murmured, not
excepting the officers, and all desired to return
home. Jackson, informed of this discontent,
sent his officers an invitation to breakfast with
him on the following day. Surprised at such an
invitation, the officers made their appearance at
the hour appointed, their curiosity much excited
by the projected entertainment. A great quan
tity of acorns were spread on the floor of the
hut, which, was formed of branches ; the general
was seated on the ground. When his guests en
tered, he rose, and pointing to the acorns, civilly
said to them, " Gentlemen, as long as we have
these we have no reason to complain of want of
food : let us sit down." Without further cere
mony he resumed his place, and began to eat this
strange repast. The officers made many wry
faces, but were obliged to munch the acorns as
no roast beef was to be had.
Jackson's perseverance was crowned with sue-

76 THE UNITED STATES [Chap VII.
cess : he charged the Indians, and put them to
flight. On another occasion, part of his troops
made serious preparations to return home. Jack
son instantly summoned his officers, and selected
such troops as he could rely upon ; he then ordered
a line to be formed, declaring, at the same time,
that those who would attempt to desert him
should be summarily shot. His arbitrary con
duct on this and other occasions, is severely cen
sured, not only by his enemies, but even by his
impartial friends. If General Jackson compelled
his men to remain with him after their term of
service had expired, this act can by no means be
justified. Deficient as the militia regulations may
be, so long as they are not altered by a legal enact
ment, no general whatever has a right to strain
the military duty of any citizen beyond its bounds.
The serious mischief resulting to the common
wealth from such a violation of the liberty of a
citizen, cannot be counterbalanced by the most
splendid victories. There is as little excuse for
his conduct towards Governor Troup of Georgia:
but if in this instance he abused his power, and
that he did is beyond a doubt, why was he not
arraigned ? Why vindicate him publicly from the
accusation, thereby approving of his conduct?

Chap.VII.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 77
In this case, the circumstance that since the time
of the revolutionary war, he had been almost the
only one who eventually humbled the Indians
and inspired them with greater respect for the
United States, even this should not have pleaded
in his favour.
On the breaking out of the last war with
Great Britain, we find Jackson holding the rank
of Major-general at the military station of New
Orleans, the capital of Louisiana. Before the
British effected a landing in Louisiana, he had
chastised the Seminola Indians, who were insti
gated to hostilities against the United States.
He had taken Pensacola, and, after a feeble re
sistance, put the Spanish troops to flight, toge
ther with the civil and military authorities of the
the place, and returned with the rapidity of an
eagle to New Orleans.
The war against Great Britain was carried on
as might have been expected from so discordant
a body, whose unwieldy mass was directed by
nineteen different heads. Washington was burnt ;
the Tories declared against the war, and even
against the government, and the Union was on
the brink of dissolution. In a city mostly inha
bited by foreigners of a doubtful character. Jack-

78 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. VII.
son fancied himself surrounded by traitors, and
thought it incumbent upon him to secure his
post. He proclaimed martial law as soon as the
British landed in the State of Louisiana. The
inhabitants of this State are not considered by
the rest of the Union in the most favourable
light. Louisiana is looked upon as a property
acquired by purchase, in regard to which every
thing is allowable : the conduct of Jackson was
in accordance with this notion. The Creoles,
eager to prove themselves worthy their newly-
acquired citizenship, freely made Jackson an offer
of their own services, of their slaves, and of their
property for the defence of their country. Jack
son accepted these offers with the indiscreet hauteur
of a man in power. As long as the legislature
was sitting, he allowed the inhabitants to pur
sue their business without molestation, but no
sooner had the Assembly adjourned, than he
civilly requested those subject to military duty
either to form a corps, or to take officers' com
missions. When they protested against this,
he sent a company of soldiers as the shortest
way of putting an end to all resistance.
Towards foreigners he acted in a still more
summary manner. There were about fifty French-

Chap. VII.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 79
men of distinction at this time in New Orleans,
who were invited to take up arms against the
invader. They ..eclined the invitation, alleging
in excuse, the peace concluded and ratified be
tween Great Britain and France, and called his
attention to the fate which would await them if
they should be taken prisoners. " Well, Gen
tlemen, you must either fight or quit the city, for
we have no occupation for such as you ; it is not
the time for courting and making love now."
This was Jackson's reply ; and without further
ceremony they were conveyed to Natchez, three
hundred miles above New Orleans. One of the
most respectable foreigners refused to quit the
town, or even to fight, giving as a reason that he
had no landed property. " But you have cotton,"
replied Jackson. " Yes Sir." " How many
bales ?" " About three thousand." " Well, Sir, if
you will not help us to kill our enemies, you will
not refuse to assist in protecting us," The mer
chant not understanding the meaning of these
aphorisms, Jackson explained them by taking a
thousand bales. Hesitation was of no avail. The
thousand bales were afterwards returned to the
owner. The bashful Creole was astounded at this
conduct, which did not savour much of republi-

80 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. VII.
canism, and the foreigner had no remedy. But
these arbitrary proceedings did not succeed with
his fellow-citizens, Jackson caused one of them
who refused to comply with his orders to be ar
rested without a warrant. Judge N  set him at
liberty, Jackson, in return, had them both ar
rested and imprisoned. At the restoration of
peace he was arraigned before the court, tried
and sentenced to a fine of two thousand dollars.
The inhabitants of New Orleans generously
offered to pay it for him. "Gentlemen, I have
sinned, and must bear the punishment," was
Jackson's reply. There is in him a strange as
sociation of arbitrary violence united to repub
lican equality, The same person who could act
in a manner approaching to tyranny against
Tories, and persons whose patriotism admits of
doubt, treats the poorest militia-man as his equal.
— One of his neighbours, a Tennesee farmer, who
came with the troops from that State, wished to
speak to him. He was introduced, and Jackson
walking up to him, desired him to sit down, and
ordered two glasses of brandy. They drank to
each other's health, and of course destruction to
the invaders. " Well, Joe, what brings you to
me ?" — " General, I wish you would let me go

Chapvn.) OF NORTH AMERICA. 81
home again." "And why dear boy?" — "Why,
they always call me Nasty Joe, and you know 1
cannot bear nicknames ; but to tell you the truth
I want to see what my wife and my family are
doing." " Well, Joe, then we will go together."
" Why, General, what do you mean ?" " You
know, Joe, they used to call me Hickory *, and
like you, I am tired of nicknames, and to tell
you the truth, I want also to see how things are
going on in old Tennessee." " Why, General,
you cannot leave your station you know." " Yes,
that is true ; but can you Joe ?" Joe scratching
his head was for a moment silent. " Well, Joe,"
concluded Jackson, " I will tell you what we will
do, we will stay here awhile, and after we have
done our duty we will return together, and let
them have the satisfaction of calling us what
names they please." Joe seemed satisfied, and
went away.
Of the two protestant ministers in New Or
leans, a Mr. Hull is particularly distinguished.
He is by birth an Irishman, and is said to have
made himself remarkable during the troubles
• Hickory a nickname, or rather a favourite appellation given
to General Jackson, by his friends as well as by his enemies. G

82 THE UNITED STATES [C""?- VH-
of his native country ; at all events he is looked
upon as a clever man, and possessed of much
sound sense. He payed a visit to General- Jack
son, who accosted him on entering, thus : — " I
don't presume you will go with us to fight the
enemy ?" "Why not, General, if you will take me
along with you?" "How could you help us, dear
black coat?" " Why you know I have had some
rencontres with the red coats, and perhaps I
could be of some use to you." " Well, I am go
ing to take a ride to the lines, you may come
along with me ; have you a horse?" "No, Sir." —
" Bill," cried the General, " get Beelzebub sad
dled for the parson !" — And with judgment and
discretion, which did equal honour to his under
standing and to his republican sense, he availed
hiniself of the counsels of the rector, which, as I
was, assured by several respectable people, proved
to be neither superfluous nor unserviceable.
A company of militia-men wanted to return
home two days before the attack, their time of
service having expired. Jackson was apprized of
their intention, and ordered them to form in line
of battle. "¦ Gentlemen," said he, " you are not
going to leave us now ?" " Yes, General, our

Ghap. VII.J OF NORTH AMERICA. 83
time of service has expired." " Well," exclaimed
the General, advancing a few steps, " Attention !
Shoulder! March!" A company of riflemen
posted with fixed bayonets and loaded muskets
in their rear, left them no choice of the road they
were to take, and they moved on in silence to
wards the batteries.
The result of the attack on the 8th of January,
is well known, but it is to be hoped that two
nations equally united by the common ties of
blood and interest, will never more be engaged
against each other in a destructive war. The
more unexpected the fortunate result of this con
test, the greater was the joy of the inhabitants
and of the whole nation. From this day Jackson
became the man of the people.
He afterwards repeatedly fought and routed
the Indians, and compelled them to agree to the
terms prescribed. His quarrel with Governor
Troup of Georgia, and the atrocious execution
of Arbuthnot and of his companion occurred
about this time. The legislature of his own
State, Tennessee, appointed him a senator of
Congress, and afterwards in 1827, he was nomi
nated by that State a candidate for the Presi-
G 2

84 THE UNITED STATES [ChaP- VII.
dency and supported by others. During the
contest and election, he behaved in an upright
and dignified manner, taking no particular steps
to secure his election and bearing his subse
quent disappointment and the success of Adams,
with a calmness of mind little expected of him-
He returned with his lady to his plantation, two
miles from Nashville, where he is respected by
his fellow-citizens, and leads an independent life
upon an annual income of ten thousand dollars :
he has since resigned the senatorial chair.
According to the assurance of well-informed and
impartial persons, the prospect he had at first en
tertained of being elected President of the Union,
and his subsequent disappointment, have wrought
a change in this man which almost exceeds belief.
The lawless and rude soldier is metamorphosed
into the cheerful, dignified, and hospitable veteran.
His soul is elevated by the consciousness that he
is the champion of the liberties of his country.
There is no doubt, that the unsparing attacks of
political opponents, have contributed not a little
to his present forbearance and dignified compo
sure. That a man of so determined a character as

Chap.VII.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 85
Jackson, must necessarily have many enemies
is natural ; the assertion that, had it been in his
power, he would have caused all the members of
the Hartford convention to be hanged, was alone
sufficient to justify the animosity of his ene
mies. His most ardent friends have many rea
sons for wishing to obliterate the recollection
of his conduct at New Orleans towards Arbuth
not, and on several ..other occasions: these are
stains upon his character, which no subsequent
efforts for his country can remove ; and they
prevented not only the most distinguished men,
but even whole States from joining him in the
year 1824.
Whether this political delicacy will again
prevail, or whether the Federalists and Demo
crats will be convinced that Jackson, though
violent in his youth and in his maturer years, can
not be dangerous to their peace and safety when
upwards of seventy, the year 1828 will teach us.
The people of the United States can never have
anything to fear from men of Jackson's character.
This Republic is not French, and an 18th Bru-
maire, would fail of success. If Jackson should
ever lend himself to anv acts of violence, he

86 THE UNITED STATES [Chap.VII.
would assuredly be punished for it. The repubh
can principles which the citizen of the United
States has inherited from his father — his free
constitution and his own good sword — ^secure him
alike from the sudden attempts of ambitious revo
lutionists. These barriers cannot, however, secure
him from the pernicious fruits of European diplo^
macy, which, fostei'ed and ripened at St. Peters
burgh and Paris, those hot-b^ds of Machiavelism,
infect his principles with their poison, seduce his
representatives to crimes approaching to high-
treason, and, by extinguishing party-spirit, bear
down all opposition. If the springs of that diplo
macy can be continued in operation, the nation
will be forced into a dilemma, out of which it will
be unable to extricate itself, and will then consider
an hereditary ruler a pubhc benefit. — It is neither
the hero of New Orleans, nor his personal cha
racter that ought to influence the republican
parties in the election of 1828 : political prin
ciples alone should be the sine qua non in their
future President. If these are such in Jackson
as to quahfy him for a leader and organ, they
ought to choose him, so long as he is faithful
to them. That he never will abuse his power

Chap. VII.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 87
nor plunge the Union into a war with Great
Britain, his age is a security ; what the nation
on the contrary has to fear from Adams, its
present situation with respect to Great Britain
teaches. The republican parties are for the preser
vation of peace ; those of Adams for future wars,
for which they are making preparations in as far as
they augment the navy, and assume a tone which
finally must produce the apprehended result —
Even if Jackson should be inclined to abuse his
power he will not be able. The ascendency will
not be with him, but with the two republican par
ties, the Democrats and the Federalists, and the
extent of influence he may enjoy, must depend
entirely upon them : without the aid of both
parties, were he even President, he would be
powerless. Adams himself would not be dan
gerous without the aid of his Tories. Against
this man, Jackson is and must be the counter
poise, and we are firmly convinced, that he is
at present the only individual in the Union who
can apply a remedy to the existing evils. The
rays of political depravity which have been scat
tered over the United States ever since their
political existence, are now drawing to a focus ;

88 THE UNITED STATES [Chap.VII.
the nation is on the eve of a crisis, and the
year 1828 will decide whether this people, after
the lapse of another quarter of a century, will be
still free and united citizens, or divided and ob
sequious subjects.

Chap. VIII.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 89

Chapter VIII.
The Congress — Electioneering — The Honourables.
A GLANCE at the Congress of the United States,
will solve the mystery of the last election. This
Congress is composed of so many States, vary
ing in degrees of civilization, that an infinite
diversity and contradiction in the views of the
honourable members must be the necessary con
sequence when assembled in Congress. The
cunning literate Yankee, the adventurous New
Yorker, the simple and honest Pennsylvanian,
the aristocratic Virginian, the proud Carolinian
and Georgian, have the same language with
the unfeeling and presumptuous Kentuckian,
but not the same views. Their manner of speak
ing, the course they pursue to attain their ends,
are, toto ccelo, different. The first interest with
every member of the Congress is of course his
own ; the station of a representative is to be
the stepping-stone to a permanent office. His
second object is to promote the views of his
party ; the next, the interest of his county, then

90 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. VIII.
of the particular State to which he belongs, and,
finally, that of the nation. A central point of
union could hardly be expected amidst so many
conflicting objects. The interests of the different
States clash in such a manner as not to admit of
a steady aim, such as is exhibited by the British
Parhament. The latter consists of Whigs and
Tories, whereas the Congress of the United
States, is an assembly of brokers, sent by their
respective States not to promote the welfare of
the Union, but of their own mean and sordid in
terests. One is expected to bring the turnpike
through his county, another a canal, a third is to
procure a lighthouse, a fourth an academy, or a
deaf and dumb asylum. These are the impor
tant affairs committed to the representatives : if
they succeed, messenger-like, in the execution of
their errands, they are called " excellent fellows."
The administration of course avails itself of these
opportunities, does all in its power to meet the
wishes of its " honourables" in matters of snch
vital interest, and is rewarded by corresponding
good offices in return. The Congress has precisely
the appearance of an exchange, where every one
manages his own business to the best of his
understanding, without troubling himself much

Chap.VII!.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 91
about the affairs of his neighbours, until his own
are terminated. — Men of talents are not wanting
in the Senate as well as in the House of Repre
sentatives, who might vie with the very first
members even of the British Parliament, cer
tainly not in point of education and learning, but
unquestionably in shrewdness.
Webster, Everett, Hamilton, M'Duffie, Liv
ingston, Sergeant, Randolph, are deservedly cele
brated names ; but as a set-off to such men of
genius, there are such men as Vance from
Ohio, Mr. Trimble from Kentucky, and most of
his western brethren. The well-informed mem
bers of Congress are generally from the New
England States and the sea-ports ; the most im
pudent and presumptuous the Kentuckians:
these are now hand in glove with the party of
the administration. In opposition to this party
are the Virginians and Georgians, both Caro-
linas, Pennsylvania, part of New York, Ohio,
Indiana, &c.
A person desirous of becoming well acquainted
with his own character and of repenting of sins,
over which ten and more years have thrown the veil
of oblivion, and of reviving them in his memory,
may present himself as a candidate for Congress,

92 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. VIII.
or any other station of importance. As soon as
his name appears in the newspapers, followed by
an address to his fellow-citizens, and an explana-i
tion of his merits and his principles, the notes of
the counter-party are at hand, generally worded
in well-meant letters to the editor, subscribed by
the popular signatures of a Democrat, a friend to
his country, or the more classic names of Cimon,
Aristides, &c. If a candidate happen to have
lived in another State, his well-meaning friends
of the opposite party are not slow in drawing
from thence all the information which they may
think worthy of public notice. If his family
connexions be not very extensive, then, after
having had his transgressions sounded through
out the Union, he is defeated ; this however
does not disturb his peace of mind. The election
expenses cannot be compared with those of a
member of the British House of Commons;
for the sum of five thousand pounds, one might
easily purchase the representative seats of a
whole State ! Instead of squandering money, of
which we are too fond to throw it away for the
ambitious purpose of corrupting our honest fel
low-citizens, we indulge in a little slander. We
have our negotiators as in Great Britain, but

Chap. VIII.) OF NORTH AMERICA. 93
they are not so much trusted, because we trust
nobody. All they have in their power to give,
is a pair of shoes, an imitation beaver hat, or the
like. The extravagancies in which the English
are said to indulge, such as the payment of
five guineas for a canary-bird, or ten for a dish
of greens to the wife of a freeholder, would be
deemed shameful in our honest country ! We
are indeed much too steady to imitate so bad an
example ! The utmost we give are dinners, with
plenty of whisky and brandy for gentlemen and
those we think worthy, and a treat, as we
usually call it, for the other " Sovereigns," at some
tavern ; this consists of genuine whisky, in the
proportion of two barrels for a county, at the
rate of three pounds for both barrels. The
highest expenses we incur, are with our news
papers, and these are said to be enormous ; for
two inches square we have to pay a dollar : of
course a Column often amounts to four or five
dollars. True it is, that the honest editors make
ample compensation to us for this expense, by
laying open and explaining our adversary's faults
in such a way, that Hogarth, had he lived
amongst us, would not have found it necessary
to visit ginshops and the haunts of vice, our

94 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. VIII.
newspapers would have furnished sufficient mat
ter whereupon to establish his name. Brother
Jonathan is known to carry his inquiries very
far, and even into the privacy of families ; and if
the lady of a would-be honourable, in some States,
does not happen to wash her husband's and chil
dren's linen, and make their clothes, he is as
suredly undone ; he has no claim to popularity ;
he is a proud man, a Federalist, a Tory, and
heaven knows what besides. This is pretty
much our mode from the Alleghany Mountains
to St. Louis, north of the Ohio. In cities the
case is rather different. In general the Americans
of German descent suffer most — the negotia
tors sent to them, have their hands most un
fettered. The majority of these honest people,
though living and amongst Anglo-Americans,
for the second and third generation, can neither
read nor write the English language. Passive un
der a kind of self-satisfied ignorance which never
consents to learn more than their forefathers,
and adhering to their axiom never to become
Irish (thus they designate the Anglo-Americans
who take the revenge by nicknaming them the
Dutch), they are contented with their own Ger
man idiom. This they know sufficiently to

Chap.Vin.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 95
enable them to spell one chapter of the Bible on
a Sabbath-day : this book and the Baltimore
Almanac constitute their library. If any of them
take a newspaper, it is a German one. These
German productions are the poorest things ima
ginable ; the style, the diction, the printing, the
paper, are all beneath censure. The negotiators
have an easy game to play with these simple
people, and accordingly mislead them from their
true interest. Respected as they deservedly are
for their industry and perseverance (for there is
not the least distinction made between Anglo and
German Americans), they never seek the com
pany of their American fellow-citizens, and can
have no opportunity of making acquaintance
with those who are best calculated to promote
their welfare.
The last election for Alleghany, County Penn
sylvania sufficiently shewed how far these good
people were behind their fellow-citizens in this
respect. The united Counties of Alleghany,
Buttler, Armstrong, and Beaver, are entitled to
send two members to the House of Represen
tatives : one of these gentlemen, Mr. S  ,
had resigned. Of the two persons who an
nounced themselves as candidates, Colonel O— ¦¦¦¦¦

96 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. VIII.
was the most popular. General S  the most
intelligent. The former, a young man of from
thirty-six to thirty-eight years of age, had served
as a captain of militia in the last campaign,
and by means of aunts and uncles, and no small
portion of artifice, he succeeded in rendering;
himself so popular, that he was chosen member
of the Assembly at Harrisburgh, Colonel of the
Militia, and Senator of the State of Pennsylvania.
In this capacity he was thought so passive, as
not to startle at any contradiction, and he was
therefore justly beloved by his fellow members,
because he "never interfered with their interests
or their views. His rival, General S  , on
the contrary, was a man of talents, connected"
with some of the leading men at Washington
and Philadelphia ; he was well acquainted with
the interests of Western Pennsylvania, and of
fered himself with the full conviction, that, under
the present circumstances, he alone should be
chosen, if the voters understood what was for
their own good : the result ought certainly to
have been in his favour. The neighbouring
Sister States, animated by the friendUest inten
tions, are endeavouring each one according to its
means. New York by her Great Canal, Virginia

Chap. VIII.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 97
by the Chesapeak and Ohio Canal, and Ohio by
the Cleveland Canal, to cut off the trade of Penn
sylvania in an indirect way. The moment is
urgent, and nothing but a canal, uniting the
Susquehanah with the Ohio, or a rail-road from
Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, will protect its trade
from ruin. These were certainly important
reasons why these counties should choose such
a member of Congress as would be likely to
promote their interests. Unfortunately, General
S  was proud, in the German sense of the
word ; he did not like to dress in worn-out or
home-made clothes, or to stop at every tavern
and drink bad whisky to the health of every
peasant: he accordingly failed in each of the
four counties. On an electioneering excursion
to the county town of Beaver, he stopped at
the house of one of the most influential free
holders. This old farmer was very near being
brought to the gallows under old Adams, owing
to the sedition laws then in operation, and he
had since this time sworn deadly enmity to every
Federalist. After having alighted from his gig,
the General entered the house, seated himself of
course with his hat on, according to the true
republican style, without speaking a word or
H

98 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. VIII.
waiting for permission. This was all very well,
and the farmer seemed pleased with his new
guest. General S  , after a pause, inquired
" How far do you call it to B  ?" " Twenty
miles," was the reply. " That is too far for me
to-night, don't you know where I could stop and
get a night's lodging ?" " Your manner of ask
ing," replied the gloomy farmer sullenly, "is
rather short and in an imperious tone. I guess
you are one of these G — d d — d Federalists?'
"Why d — d?" gently repHed General S  ?
" Then you are certainly one of them !" vocife
rated the old man, opening the door at the same
time, and leaving him no other choice than to
get back to his gig and return home. In a few
hours the story was spread all over the county,
the General was laughed at, and Colonel O 
was elected almost unanimously, without doing
anything more than treating the German pea
sants with whisky, and speaking to them of their
horses, their cattle, or their corn, and dressing
in clothes that had been worn by his grandfather.
The German population of the two other counties
were gained over by a promise to this effect : " If
you help us this time, we shall give you the next
chance." It availed the General nothing that he

Chap.Vin.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 99
obtained the majority in Pittsburgh and Alleghany
county. The result was such as may be antici
pated; the counties have no canal — but the House
of Representatives has one drowsy member more.
This is very much the way in which the honour
ables are elected, particularly in those counties
peopled by descendants from Germans, or where
these people constitute the majority of voters.
They never fail to select among the candidates
the man of the meanest understanding, and thus
the term of honest German is almost become
synonymous with stupid German.
This prevalent spirit of democracy no doubt
does very well in an enlightened State ; but if a
person is to be elected for no better reason than
that he is a potter or a carpenter, or for his hav
ing the manners of a journeyman, it shows a
poverty of understanding which provokes our
contempt. These very errors in the mode of
electing their representatives, are the causes
why the State of Pennsylvania is so much ne
glected, and its interests so little attended to.
It possesses neither the influence of the New
England nor of the Western and Southern States,
which, although democratic, are not so far ad
vanced in their predilection for these principles,H 2

100 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. VIII.
as to send none but tradesmen to Congress. No
wonder then that some worthies are to be found
among the representatives of the middle States,
who, to the no small scandal of the more fashion
able imitators of the British House of Commons,
are economical enough to send home, in a truly
republican manner, their dirty linen and worn-
out pantaloons franked by the mail ; the hnen to
be returned to Washington by the same con
veyance, the clothes to be altered by their ho
nourable ladies into second-hand trowsers for the
offspring of the parsimonious representative.
As soon as one of the members of Congress
opens his mouth, you may tell to what part of the
Union he belongs. The more literate Yankee
borrows from Shakspeare and Byron, blunder
ing through both these and other authors, in
order to embellish the offspring of his genius.
Should restitution be demanded of one of these
honourables, as once the Peacocks are said to
have reclaimed their own from the Jackdaw, we
should stand, a chance of witnessing a still more*
lamentable scene. The Kentuckian (Mr. Trim
ble) swears "By G— d," and "may heavenJs
lightning blast him if he meant any more, and
he hoped that the calumniator and perjured

Chap. VIII.] OF NORTH AMERICA, 101
felon (meaning Mr. M'Duffie) he has described,
may be delivered over to heaven's hangman, to
scourge the rascal naked round the horizon of
heaven's circumference." The poor Ohian
(Vance) tells us, " that he came from the very
lowest orders of society," and giving us a speci
men of lamentation, leaves us uncertain whether
he is not attempting to raise a subscription for
himself. The proud Georgian speaks of violated
rights and civil war, because he is not permitted
to drive the poor Indians into the wildernesses
of Oregan. The Carolinian declares that he is
going to live and to die with his slaves, while the
Pennsylvanian, quietly seated on his bench, seems
to be perfectly astounded and perplexed by the
wisdom, energy, good sense, learning, and ele
gance of his honourable brethren. Each is heard
to speak in a manner corresponding with his
education, and according to his degree of intelli
gence.

102 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. IX.

Chapter IX.
_ Literature— Literary Institutions — Education — Libraries —
Nevrspapers.
The literature of the United States of North
America, compared with the progress in political
importance, is in its infancy. It has taken its
general features from the literature of Europe,
although essentially differing in many respects.
It is often new, and sometimes original. Al
though the offspring of England, it confines
itself within its own limits, taking an interest in
the literature of other countries, only so far as it
is alhed to its own. The American literati are
deficient in the elegant, the polished, and the
classical taste of English writers ; they are equally
strangers to the systematic pedantry of the Ger
mans, who know every part of the world except
their own country — but in the art of a practical
application of their knowledge, they probably
excel both England and Germany. The American
universities, contrasted with those of Europe,
may, perhaps, be called compendiums of instruc-

Chap.iX.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 103
tion. Men of learning, natives as well as foreign
ers, are not wanting amongst them, but they
are generally too impatient, too egotistical, to
apply the necessary time to study the specula
tive sciences. If the American visit a college,
he does it not to improve his talents, but to
make money as speedily as possible : he wants to
learn quickly, and only to acquire what is abso
lutely necessary. Satisfied with the elements of
science, he supplies the rest by private reading,
by experience, and by natural shrewdness. This
may explain the reason why there is even in their
men of superior genius, so strange a mixture of
learning and home-breeding, if I may so express
myself, so much light thrown upon still more
shadow, so much wit and shrewdness with such
little logic and philosophy. The American sel
dom gives his attention to any science that is
not likely to be conducive to a livelihood : to
"make money" is the object, to which every other
is subservient. Philosophy he leaves to the
clergy, poetry to the ladies, and if any unfor
tunate should happen to wander into these fanci
ful regions, he is very likely to starve, unless he
expatriates himself, or is provided with a suffi
cient income. The Boston bard was actually

104 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. IX.
exposed to this danger, had he not very lately
been reheved by subscriptions. These occupa
tions are looked upon as idle pursuits. The
American takes an interest only in politics, law,
mathematics, and, perhaps, in medical science.
His progress in the three former is well known,
and these sciences have become popular ; an Ameri
can being generally more or less versed in politics,
in the law, and in mathematics. Here his talents
are truly astonishing, and men who would be
reckoned an ornament to any country, are prin
cipally indebted, for what they are, to their own
exertions. As long as the United States remain
free, and we hope they may long continue so, they
will doubtless produce great men in these sciences.
In modern times, music, poetry, and philosophy,
have been more especially fostered in monarchies,
and are not likely to flourish in the United States^
amidst the bustle of mercantile and public life,
as they were wont to do in the delightful regions
of Greece and of Italy. This kind of mental
activity not being calculated for " making money,"
will never become popular, and the very men
who in later periods have distinguished them
selves in pohte learning, are justly supposed to
be more or less inclined to monarchy.

Chap. IX] OF NORTH AMERICA. 105
Among the literary institutions, the academy
at Westpoint deserves particular mention. All
the branches adapted to military science and to
the sea and land service, are taught there with
a degree of perfection seldom to be met with
in any other country. Astronomy, geography,
universal history, and more particularly the his
tory of the United States, theoretical and prac
tical mathematics, are explained in the utmost
perfection, and young men are educated there
who would reflect honour on any country. The
professors are natives of the Union, and foreign
ers : the pupils must not be above twenty-one
years of age, nor under fifteen, all American born.
The institution is maintained by the central go
vernment, and the vacancies are filled up by the
President. The principal universities are those of Har-
ward at Charlestown, and of New York, and
Philadelphia. The Universities of Athens in
Ohio, and the Trans ylvanian University of Lex
ington, have nothing more than high-sounding
names to recommend them. Great expectations
are entertained from the new-established Vir
ginian University, the last proof of the indefati
gable activity of the great Jefferson ; besides the

106 THE UNITED STATES [ehap. IX.
study of the regular sciences, there has been
established a course of lectures on the best prin
ciples of government and on the Anglo-Saxon
language. Among the northern colleges, those of Dart
mouth and Bowdoin in the New England States,
Carhsle and MeadviUe in Pennsylvania, and
Beardstown in Kentucky, &c., deserve to be
mentioned. The elementary books in these
colleges, are extracts from English works and
literary magazines, in which, for the sake of
economy, the most heterogeneous subjects are
huddled together : sometimes not less than twenty
different studies in literature, belles lettres, phi
losophy, astronomy, mathematics, navigation,
physic, &c. It would be in vain to seek for
profound knowledge in these works.
Academies, at which grammatical reading and
writing, mathematics, geography, history, and
Latin are taught, are now established throughout
New England, New Jersey, New York, and Penn
sylvania, in the different county-towns of these
States ; and these may be considered, with the
free-schools, as the chief resorts of the great
body of American youths. Universities, colleges,
and academies, have their presidents, vice-presi-

Chap, IX.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 107
dents, and rectors, who are regularly appointed,
and have from five hundred to two thousand dol
lars a year. The temporal affairs of these insti
tutions are carried on and inspected gratuitously
by a board of trustees with a president at their
head. Their funds are raised either from grants
of lands, from donations, or from assignments
made by the government, and from private sub
scriptions. In the new States of Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Missouri, &c., the central government
has taken care to provide for public instruction ;
the thirty-sixth part of every township being as
signed for public schools, and a whole township
of twenty-three thousand acres for the university
of each State. These appropriations, being wood
lands, yield as yet little or nothing, there being
no settlers to improve them.
Free-schools are now established in the New
England States, New York, New Jersey, and
partly in the other States. The children of the
poor and the wealthy, here receive alike a gra
tuitous education. They are instructed in read
ing, writing, arithmetic, geography, and the his
tory of the Union. The instruction is the more
solid, as the teachers have to undergo an exami
nation previously to their appointment : the ex-

108 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. IX.
penses are defrayed by a tax, laid on all the
inhabitants whether married or single. It is to
these schools that the Northern States are so
much indebted for their mental improvement,
andfor a diffusion of knowledge, superior, perhaps,
to that of any other people. In the year 1825,
an attempt was made to introduce similar schools
into the State of Pennsylvania, to enable her to
keep pace with her more advanced Sister States.
The executive moved the question, which being
seconded by the legislature, the plan was commu
nicated to the counties, but failed in those where
the German population constitute the majority;
Every endeavour to bring these honest people
to reason proved unavailing. " Why," exclaimed
they in their own idiom, " our gentlemen would
have us again pay a tax for the purpose of esta-
bhshing offices, which we would then have the
further expense of maintaining, and our own
mother tongue would go for nothing; we won't
do that : and we see the effects of learning in
the Yankee tricks, the forging of bank-notes, and
in the natural consequence, the gallows !" Who
does not observe in the tenor of this language
the filial ties which, notwithstanding a distance
of four thousand miles, and their American birth

Chap. IX.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 109
Still bind these people to his apostolic Majesty,
to whom this fatal learning seems to be equally
obnoxious. Private schools in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and
those States where free-schools are not intro
duced, are good or bad according to the greater
or less capacity of their teachers, whose condition
in many cases is such, that, compared with it, the
fate of the schoolmaster in Old Mortality is truly
enviable. The instruction given in Sunday-schools is
well meant but inefficient. These institutions
are, however, highly creditable to the feelings of
the Americans, who display in splendid colours,
on this as well as on other occasions, their hu
manity and their respect for their poor fellow-
citizens. The unremitting zeal and patience which
the most respectable ladies and gentlemen be
stow on the instruction of the poorest children,
deserve the highest praise.
It may be presumed that in a country where
so much attention is paid to the fair sex, and
where it must be allowed that, generally speak
ing, th^ are so well entitled to it, proper at
tention is paid to their education. The female
wholly destitute of learning, is seldom to be met

110 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. IX.
with in the United States, and if there are any,
they will be found among the Irish emigrants, or
the Creoles of Louisiana. The wealthy famihes
usually send their daughters to boarding-schools
at Boston, New York, Philadelphia, or Balti
more. The price of the first class, is from four
to six hundred dollars a year, for board and
lodging, independently of tuition, which amounts
(every item included) to two hundred dollars
more. The instruction comprehends, writing,
reading, mathematics, drawing, painting, geogra
phy, astronomy, history, the French and Italian
languages, singing, the pianoforte, and the harp.
The prevailing custom of introducing the pupils
once or twice a week into the society of good
families, essentially Contributes to the improve
ment of their manners.
Paintings and drawings are executed by these
fair scholars which would often do honour to a
master ; and there is a map of the State of New
York, drawn by Miss R., which is deemed superior
to the best extant. The distance from which these
young ladies come, is sometimes above two thou
sand miles, being sent from Louisiana, and Missi-
sipi. As there is, however, no light without shade,
these schools have their drawbacks. The assem-

Chap. IX.] OF NORTH AMERICA. Ill
blage of so many ladies in one establishment,
fashionable society, and French teachers, all con
tribute, not unfrequently, to make young ladies
so immaturely wise, that we cannot help wish
ing for a more private education.
From this short sketch it may be seen that
there are more ample means provided for po
pular than for literary information. The free-
schools are, throughout, better adapted to their
objects than the universities and scientific insti
tutions, Westpoint excepted. This ought, how
ever, to be the case in a free country. Wherever,
the mass of the people constitute the sovereign
power, light ought to be diffused through the
whole body. The universities can only be at
tended by a few wealthy youths, whose fortune
sufficiently elevates them above their fellow-
citizens, and whose learning contributes still
more to widen the distance. The free-schools,
on the contrary, are intended for all : the ut
most attention ought, therefore, to be bestowed
upon them. In monarchical governments, univer
sities will generally be superior ; in republics, this
superiority should belong to free-schools. The
American is unquestionably more conscious of
self-dignity than any other man : the value which

112 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. IX.
he sets upon this dignity, is proved by the exist
ence of innumerable institutions, all springing
from the people. Even the Western States are
not so much behindhand as is generally supposed.
I have visited those countries several times,
spoken with thousands of their inhabitants, and
have not met with a single Anglo-American
wholly destitute of learning. The art of reading
and writing is widely diffused, and the assertions
of English travellers respecting the stupid igno
rance of these backwoodsmen, are mere sallies of
wit, and should be so understood. If I found
a man entirely unlettered, I could be sure of his
being an emigrant Irishman, or a descendant
from the French.
Libraries are now to be found in almost every
county-town. The more respectable inhabitants,
such as Lawyers, Physicians, Ministers, and Mer
chants, frequently put their libraries together, and
deposit them in a room of the court-house for the
use of every inhabitant in the county. Those who
borrow books from these libraries, pay a small
annual or monthly sum for the use of them. The
money thus raised is apphed to the purchase of
new works, or to repay the proprietors for the in
juries done to the old ones. These small collec-

Chap. IX.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 113
tions, seldom exceeding five hundred volumes,
contain generally the British Classics, Shakspeare,
Milton, Thompson, Pope, Johnson, Hume, Ro
bertson, Sterne, Byron, Moore, and Burke, toge
ther with Franklin, Jefferson, MarshaU's Life of
Washington, Botta's History of the Revolution,
Washington Irving, Cooper, &c. In large towns
the libraries are proportionably more extensive,
and those of Philadelphia, New York, Boston,
&c., if not very numerous, are certainly select,
mostly consisting of English works, except the
New Orleans library of eight thousand volumes,
which is chiefly composed of French authors.
Of the most important bulwark of a nation's
liberty, the freedom of the press, no people
make a more extensive use than the Ameri
cans. Their newspapers are justly considered
as the principal sources of public information.
The American attends to his newspaper not
like the Germans or the French, for the pur
pose of deriving a topic of conversation upon
politics in which they have no concern, but for
the regulation of his public and private life. A
rigid inquiry into the measures of government,
which would in some countries be deemed arro
gance, in others a crime, is with him a point of

114 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. IX.
duty. He is a member of the sovereign body
which elects its own representatives, who be
come responsible to him for their acts ; he, there
fore, is obliged to manifest his opinion as to their
proceedings. With him the measures of his
own immediate State, the acts of Congress, of
his Assembly, and his county, and the contests of
parties, are points of primary importance: the
affairs of foreign countries, Great Britain alone
excepted, are to him of less moment. No other
nation dares to express its sentiments on politi
cal, financial, military, judicial, and mercantile
affairs like the Americans, because no other
government can take so much interest in en
lightening their fehow-citizens upon matters
which may more or less concern them.
The newspapers, therefore, comprehend, the
whole life, public and private, of the Union.
The complaints of any particular State, against
grievances inflicted by the central government,
the grievances of the traveller whose landlord
or captain has ill-used him, are alike inserted
in these journals. The sheriff has not a surer or
less expensive mode of recovering a prisoner
who has escaped, or a planter of getting back his
runaway slave, than a public advertisement.

Chap. IX.) OF NORTH AMERICA. 115
Jonathan is, as it were by nature, a spy. If you
enter a tavern, the first questions of the landlord
will be, " Where do you come from ? Where
are you going? Who are ydu? What is your
profession ? What is your business ?" He asks
such questions, in short, as you are required to
write down for the police at every inn in France,
Prussia, and Austria ; an unsatisfactory answer
would expose you to criticisms and suspicions.
It is almost impossible for a suspected person to
escape ; his shrewdness seldom fails to find out
his man. Endowed as he is with a capacity for
retaining in his memory the dress, the look, the
physiognomy, and a thousand other circum-
stEinces, it will excite no wonder that out of one
hundred persons advertised in the public papers,
scarcely ten escape apprehension, owing to the
scrutinizing eyes of this popular and gratuitous
police. The advertisements before mentioned, and
others relative to ships, goods, discoveries, &c.,
&c., sufficiently account for the astonishing num
ber of American newspapers in circulation. Up
wards of one thousand are now printed in the
Union : Pennsylvania alone has one hundred and
fifty. There is hardly a county as far as the falls
of Ohio, which has not at least one public paper,
I 2

116 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. IX.
some of them meagre enough, but they answer
the purpose. The poorest man is thus enabled
to keep a newspaper, the cost of which does not
exceed three dollars (thirteen shillings) a year, as
there is no stamp duty attached, which he is
permitted to pay in produce. The central go
vernment has taken every care to facilitate the
circulation of these papers, the postage of each
amounting to only one cent in the State, and one
and a half if sent out of it.
Unrestrained in language and comment as John
Bull may be, Jonathan goes beyond him ; and I
am sure that if some of the members of the Holy
Alliance could read these papers in their original
language, they would operate like physic, and re
lieve many an oppressed country, by visiting the
readers with a bilious fever.
The best public papers are reckoned to be The
Richmond Enquirer, Neale's Weekly Register,
Noah's Advocate, and the newspaper of Mr.
Walsh, formerly a Jesuit. Religious, mercantile,
and agricultural papers are published in great
numbers, and as for reading-rooms, which are
now to be found almost in every town containing
two thousand inhabitants, they certainly may vie
with any other nation.

Chap. IX.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 117
The scientific or critical journals cannot be
compared with their patterns the British, though
they begin to be rather more than repetitions
of the Edinburgh and London Reviews. The
best are the North American Review, and the
Portfolio. For the ladies there are the Mirror,
the Arid, and other journals of the belles lettres.
These, with a number of academies for arts and
sciences, societies for the improvement of agri
culture and commerce, with medical, philoso
phical, and physical institutions, certainly consti
tute a fund of popular information, which though
in some instances defective, may fairly be con
sidered as superior to that of any country of
equal proportion and similar means.

118 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. X.

Chapter X.
American High Life— Life in County Towns, and in the
Country.
Domestic life in America has the appearance of
being cold and formal. The foreigner who
enters a private society, is inclined to think him
self among people who are utter strangers to
one another. The American conducts himself
towards his wife and his children, with very little
more familiarity than towards his neighbours:
this formality seems not quite in accordance with
republican manners, but, when closely consi
dered, will not be deemed out of place. To this
reserve it is principally owing, that in American
families so few instances are found of that bru
tality which too often disgraces the lower classes
of other nations. To break out into anything
like impassioned feelings, would be thought
highly improper, and their fire-sides exhibit the
utmost decency of conduct : the cause of this
is, perhaps, laid more deeply than is imagined.
American life is much more before the public
than that of any other people, and the citizen

^'•"P- ^-^ OF NORTH AMERICA. 119
may be sure that he is closely observed by his
best friends and neighbours, who do not fail to
keep an exact account of his doings and sayings,
in order to exhibit to his view a catalogue of all
his transgressions, if he should attempt to fill a
public station. He is, therefore, on his guard, and
rather inclined to hypocrisy, always demeaning
himself with more outward correctness amongst
his friends and neighbours than amongst stran
gers, who are of course indifferent to him. With
principles we have nothing to do in this case :
where waltzes and cards are in vogue, they are
seen waltzing and playing whist ; whereas at
home and in county-towns, they would not ven
ture to name cards without a shudder. It may
be thought that this kind of cunning is pushed
too far, but in America we are not liable to be
deceived by cunning, which, though current like
depreciated paper-money, only imposes upon the
ignorant. The wealthier families live in a style which, in
New York especially, exceeds all due bounds. The
ladies of New York, imitating the fashion of the
British metropolis, seem to forget that to assume
the character of Peeresses, something more is re
quisite than a Cachmere shawl, bonnets trimmed

120 THE UNITED STATES L^hap. X.
with Brussel's lace, and a London watch with a
gold chain, or an affected mdifference to the dis
play of these fineries, by throwing them off as the
sailor does his tarred trowsers.
The forenoon is employed by the fashionable
fair, in sea-ports, in preparations for dressing, in an
occasional touch upon the piano, and in other
trifling occupations : at twelve their female friends
drop in accompanied by a native dandy. After
having gone through the Chronique Scandaleuse of
the last twenty-four hours, they make the round
of the fashionable shops until three ; at three,
dinner is served ; this is followed by a ride, after
which they go to the Italian opera or to the
theatre, and then to supper. A ball changes the
order of things, and supersedes opera or theatre.
It is certainly not the fault of the ladies if they
do not attract attention ; their attractive powers
are great, and they are not wanting in endeavours
to set them off, especially if a stranger or a
foreigner of supposed rank should make his
appearance. Nothing can be more entertaining
than to watch them on such occasions ; all the
springs of female vanity and espionnage are put in
motion, and the adventurous spirit of the female
fortune-hunter has reached its highest pitch, if

Chap. X.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 121
the foreigner exhibit something like a diamond
about him. In a few days the diamond will often
change into a glass- stone, and the lord, count,
or baron, into a runaway adventurer, and our
embarrassed Miss resorts again to her virtuous
pride, which is ready at hand until another sub
ject is found. A number of stories are weekly
related on this interesting topic, and though half
of them prove mere fabrications, it requires
no very acute penetration to discover that the
American ladies, in point of prudence, are still
superior to their British cousins, whose love is
said to be in exact proportion to their marriage
settlements. Some years ago a young British
merchant came introduced to Mr. P  , and was
invited to dinner; he came — he saw — he con
quered. A few days were sufficient to ripen the
affair, and the young man was requested to give
a more exphcit account of himself; he did so,
and being young, handsome, and though not rich,
still being possessed of sufficient property to
begin business, he was accepted.
The wedding-day was fixed, when unhappily
arrived Mr. S  , a wealthy Virginia bachelor,
who was forty years of age, and possessed of
thrice as many slaves, with two plantations. This

122 THE UNITED STATES [d-ap- X.
gentleman, or rather his plantations, were too
respectable not to claim every attention on the
part of Miss P  , and of course the company
of the planter was preferred to that of John Bull,
who for a while was put aside. He withdrew,
and immediately returned the gages d' amour which
he had received, expecting the lady would do the
same. In a fortnight the old bachelor, who, as
might be supposed, was too well versed in affairs
of this kind to exhaust himself in such tokens,
took his departure, and access was again per
mitted to the discarded Englishman. John Bull,
however, despised the hint, and even threatened
to publish the affair if the presents were not re
turned. They were in consequence sent back,
and Miss P  , like many of her fair sisters,
had the threefold mortification of losing in a
fortnight, two lovers, a diamond-ring, a breast
pin, and ear-rings. Other examples of the kind
might be adduced, but, as we are afraid of offend
ing the fair candidates by dwelling too long upon
this matter, we forbear.
Any one to whose lot a lady of this description
falls, may be sure of not getting the very worst
of her sex. One little objection I should myself
feel to a union with one of these prudent ladies.

Chap. X.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 123
is, that they always live much longer than their
husbands. What they want in feeling, however,
they supply in prudence, and they become cau
tious, well versed in human affairs, and extremely
circumspect ; moreover, they behave with great
decency in company. In elucidation of such
characters, who are less rare than might perhaps
be imagined, the following, touching one of the
most respectable ladies in P  a, may be added.
Her son, a young lawyer, came to practise at
K  n ; being rather too much of a gentleman,
he was soon disgusted with the dry study of
Blackstone, and returned to his bibacious habit
of drinking brandy in Mr. M  's tavern : the
rest of his time was spent in bed. Notwith
standing his trembling hand, this hopeful son
met with an object who seemed likely to return
his addresses ; his mother was informed of it,
and ordered her son home, to the great dis
pleasure of the tavern-keeper. " William, are
you married ?" was his mother's address to him,
when he entered her room on his return from
his late residence, at a distance of upwards of
three hundred miles. " No, Madam !" " Well,
go to your room and wait my orders." These
were, that he should set out the next day to a

124 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. X.
distance of three hundred miles, in a direction
opposite to K  n. Some weeks afterwards,
Mr. and Mrs. P  arrived at Philadelphia, and
paid a visit to this lady. The conversation hav
ing turned upon her son, " Why," said the tender
mother, " I am very glad that it has been in my
power to prevent this unequal match ; I should
then perhaps have had to provide for his children
as well as himself. I do not know indeed what
to do with this young man ; he drinks so terribly,
and smokes so incessantly, that I shall be forced
to send him next summer to New Orleans : there
the yellow fever I hope will cure him."
Although the majority of fashionable ladies
are by no means of this way of thinking, yet
boarding-schools, and boarding-houses, dashing
foreigners, and especially the absence of all dis
tinctions of ranks in society, give them a certain
degree of assurance, which seems to be founded
on the idea that they are necessarily the central
point of man's attention. If you happen to meet
with them in company, on a journey, on board
a vessel or a steam-boat, they will not expect the
attendance of the gentlemen like their European
sisters, and be grateful for such gallantly, but
they will claim it as their right, and a lady is

Chap.x.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 125
even capable of sending word to any gentleman
who has not shaved himself clean, that " he is
expected to dress himself properly."
Want of delicacy, or rather want of feeling, is
never more apparent than on the occasion of
parting from their children. In several States the
father is entitled to the service of his son till he
has attained the age of twenty-one. This state of
vassalage has ceased in the wealthier families and
in cities, but a feeling of indifference still prevails.
It is a salutary custom in a country like Ame
rica, where ready means of existence and of ac
quiring a property are open to all^ that children
should have nothing to expect from their parents
before their decease ; but I should be happy to
find a corrective applied to that shocking want
of feeling so often exhibited in the separation of
parents and their children. One son is going to
Buenos Ayres, the other to Carraccas, and a
third to New Orleans, and yet the mother is no
more affected than if they were starting upon
an excursion from New York to Philadelphia.
There are many honourable exceptions to this
rule, sufficient, I flatter myself, to invalidate it,
but this does not render the existing examples
less revolting.

126 "fHE UNITED STATES [Chap, X.
If you wish to see Jonathan with all his pecu
liarities and those pecuhar shades which constitute
the national character, you must visit him in
county-towns or in the country. There, his
mode of living, though of course less fashionable
is more unfettered, and he appears in his original
and real character, the free member of an inde
pendent and extensive commonwealth. The
most distinguished statesmen retire to the country
or to county-towns. The would-be fashionables
and imitators of bon ton on a petty scale, who
are to be met with in every village of Europe,
you would seek in vain in America. The poorest
renter having the same vote as the wealthiest in
habitant of New York, his deportment and con
duct are the same. Their morals, if we except
a greedy pursuit of money, are pure, and the
living in any of the county-towns is extremely
cheap. A person possessed of seven or eight
hundred dollars a year (from one hundred and
sixty to one hundred and eighty pounds sterling),
may live on quails, pheasants, turkeys, and keep
three horses and two servants, especially if he
lives rent free. The same style of living would
cost in Philadelphia three thousand, in New York
four thousand, and in New Orleans six thousand

Chap.x.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 127
dollars a year. In Great Britaiuj the principal
attention in furniture is directed to the drawing-
room ; here it is the parlour — this is adorned
with chimney-pieces, looking-glasses, carpets, a
pianoforte, and a sideboard stored with abun
dance of decanters, filled with gin, brandy, whisky,
and Madeira. For six hundred dollars a country
parlour may be furnished tolerably well.
Amusements in the country chiefly consist of
eating and drinking. The hour of breakfast, we
might say dinner, is eight o'clock : this meal
consists of coffee or tea, chickens, beefsteaks,
mutton, veal, fish, cakes of corn, wheat, or buck
wheat cakes, and jellies. Another dinner is taken
at one o'clock, with a glass of brandy, gin, or
whisky, the ladies drinking cider, milk, or water.
At seven a third dinner, here called supper, is
served, and a regular tea-party of course increases
the stock of provisions, with all accessible dain
ties, such as turkeys, venison, hams, tongues,
jellies of every description. " We help our
selves," says the American, and "thank God,
just as John Bull is accustomed to do — but un
like him, we attend only to one occupation, that
of eating in silence, aware as we are, that the
teeth and the tongue cannot obey two masters at

128 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. X.
the same time." The tea-table being removed,
the party retire to the fire-side, and, quietly seated
round it, discuss the various talents as they occur.
If two lovers are present, they are permitted to
converse with each other in the same steady
manner, and to form those tender connexions
which finally end in matrimony.
They do not look so closely here as in mari
time cities after wealthy matches. A young man
of good figure and of some profession or trade, no
matter whether he be an American or a Russian,
has a fair chance of success with the ladies.
Their affections prevail even if the decision of the
inquisitorial tribunal should not prove satisfactory,
and the hymeneal ties prove generally more happy
when contracted with a steady youth, who, though
at present not rich, has the means hy his talents
of becoming so. A very proper feeling exists
upon this point.
They have quiet tea-parties, balls given either
on public occasions, such as the declaration of
the Independence, the anniversary of the birth
day of Washington, or the like. Supper and
refreshments, as rum, whisky, brandy, gin, are
amply provided, much too amply indeed for the
convenience of the ladies, who have often to

Chap. X] OF NORTH AMERICA. 129
dance after midnight witht heir tottering partners.
The dances are cotillons, country-dances, and at
private balls, waltzes. On these occasions much
awkwardness is often displayed, a fault springing
from our country ladies and country gentlemen,
who, unless they are educated in Philadelphia, or
in any other fashionable city, are seen heavily
stamping about, not very unlike bears, to the
music of an orchestra, consisting of one or at
most two violins. These are played by old Ger
man revolutionary soldiers, who know but one
tune, which they perform with corresponding dex
terity, so long as whisky and brandy have not
quite overpowered senses and nerves. But as
no such abhorrence of discordant sounds exists
here, the dance is continued until four o'clock,
when the company retire exceedingly delighted
with the superb entertainment. Of this an ac
count is immediately inserted in the newspaper,
to give the county an idea of the finished tone
which their fashionables have acquired.
Entertainments have here soinetimes a poli
tical tendency. I remember a ball given in
R  . The lawyers of this town had a certain
pique against their presiding judge, occasioned
hy an anxious desire of getting into his place.
K

130 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. X.
The wily S  was, however, too well aware of
their friendly disposition, and too conscious of
his foibles, to indulge in deep potations : he re
fused all invitations. At this particular time he
unfortunately arrived at R  with his daughter,
and, unable to resist her solicitations, he went to
the ball. She was well received, but no further
attention seemed to be paid to him ; not so, how
ever, with respect to his daughter, who, upon
her entrance, was immediately surrounded by a
crowd of fashionable country beaux. The poor
President Judge debated within himself the ques
tion to drink or not to drink, for nearly two hours.
Feeling at last secure from the little attention
which seemed to be shown to him, he ventured
to take one glass of the delicious brandy, then
another, and after having taken the third glass,
he was unable to resist the tempting seducer.
Indian like, he poured in as much as he could.
The gentleman of the house, with his lady, met
him half way, by substituting mead instead of
brandy. At one o'clock his honour was so over
powered with the good things of which he had
so copiously partaken, that it was found necessary
to carry him home in a country litter. Care
was taken to expose him as much as possible to

Chap. X.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 131
public view, and upwards of fifty persons saw the
honourable judge carried home in this degraded
state. On the next day the very person who
gave the ball, had an address drawn up, signed,
printed, and circulated, which petitioned the As
sembly for the deposition of his drunken wor
ship. The House of Assembly, however, inquired
more particularly into the affair, and having seen
through the conspiracy. Judge S  escaped
with a severe reprimand, and Mr. B  failed
in his ingenious attempt to succeed to the office.
It is difficult to form an idea of the simple and
industrious habits of the American farmers ; the
whole family are in motion from morning till
evening. Children from six to eight years of
age have their allotted tasks. As soon as the
school has ended, about the middle of February,
the sugar-boiling engages their time, the young
ones are seen carrying wood, emptying the small
troughs filled with maple-water into the barrels,
and the adults are chopping wood, or boiling sugar.
The labours of the field succeed ; while the lads
are ploughing and sowing, the daughters are
breaking flax, or spinning, weaving, or making
dresses for themselves and the family. The sons
until they have reached their sixteenth year, and
K 2

132 THE UNITED STATES t^hap. X.
the daughters until the age of fourteen, are
sent to school during the three winter months.'
After having been confirmed, their parents gene
rally permit them to work and so to provide
for themselves. If a lad has thus worked for the
space of two, three, or four years, and if his
finances have accrued to a sum deemed sufficient
for his establishment (though rarely exceeding
one hundred dollars), he thinks of marriage. The
object of his affections he knows from the meet
ings, or the maize bushings. He repairs to her
house before supper, which being ended, he ap
proaches the beloved object with his hat on. The
preliminaries of the treaty are short, and generally
in the same terms : " Do you like my company ?":
If the reply be "No," the matrimonial candidate
moves off with a " very well ;" if the reply be " I
don't, know," then there is hope ; if it be " perhaps
I could," this is a half consent ; and " yes I do,"
is decisive. In the latter case they sit up during
the night by the kitchen fire entertaining one
another in the best mode they can. The pa
rents care little about the proceedings of their
children in this point, unless the match should
appear too unequal : but even in this case the-
lad prevails. The clergyman is summoned, or.

ChapX.l OF NORTH AMERICA. 133
in default of one, the justice of the peace is ap
plied to, and it frequently happens that hymen
joins the couple on the following day. If the
parents are wealthy and satisfied with the match,
a dinner is provided ; if otherwise, then whisky
must suffice. The long and tedious courtships of
towns and cities are here unknown ; if the youth
be of age, and the girl likewise, they marry with
out asking leave of any one, and if not, they fre
quently do the same. If the justice of the peace or
the minister refuse to marry them, they go into
another township, and should the esquire be here
equally unwilling to expose himself to the
penalty of three hundred dollars for the sake of
the matrimonial fee of a dollar and a half, then
they go into another State, where at last the
romantic scene is concluded. These cases, how
ever, seldom occur: these youths, though adven
turous in the highest degree, being far from
romantic, for in that case they would forfeit their
portion. The portion of the farmer's son consists of a
horse, some agricultural implements, and seeds,
but, for a very obvious reason, no money. I'he
dowry of the girl, is her bedding, a cow, kitchen
utensils, and, if the parents are rich, a bureau,

134 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. X.
a table, and six chairs : with these moveables
and sixty or seventy dollars, to which the wife
adds fifteen or twenty out of her savings, the
couple begin their husbandry by purchasing one
hundred acres of woodland, at one dollar an
acre. With the assistance of neighbours they
build a cabin, with a stable and a barn, and in
the course of two years they are free from debt,
as they are both accustomed to work hard and
lead a plain life. Their pastimes are welshcorn-
huskings, and cabin-blockings, and such frolics,
besides the singing school. Generally they meet
for this purpose during the night preceding the
Sabbath from a distance of from three to five
miles.

Chap. XI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 135

Chapter XL
Religion — Clergy— Synods — Sects — Roman Catholics-
Unitarians.
One of the wisest resolutions ever taken by a
legislative body, was unquestionably that of al
lowing perfect freedom of conscience, and of
ample religious toleration, or rather of placing
all religions on equal terms. Whether this reso
lution be the result of philosophical inquiry, or
of the simultaneous principles and opinions of
the first leading characters of the Union, is of
little consequence. Whatever may have been
their views on that measure, the effects are no
less beneficial to the State. By giving the ascen
dency to none of the established forms of wor
ship, and by refusing to the minister of religion
any salary out of the public treasury (a measure
for ivhich the Union is principally indebted to the
immortal Jefferson, who laboured incessantly till he
had succeeded in rescinding all such grants), reli
gion, from being the means of livelihood to its
ministers, as in almost every Christian country

136 THE UNITED STATES [Ch^p- XI.
in Europe, became the property of the people,
and even when apparently deserted, its absolute
necessity became the more visible, and its domi^
nion was the more firmly established. Although
the dogmatic system of the different Christian
forms of worship may have suffered from this
adaptation of them to the popular opinion, and
though many an inquiry may have taken place,
at which an orthodox believer would have shud
dered, the true Christian religion cannot but
have gained by the change. The most unbelieving
sceptic must surely feel inclined to serious reflec
tions, when, in a country so perfectly free to
choose whether he will believe in religion or
not, he sees that religion, which was less than
twenty-five years ago an object of derision and
contempt on the continent of Europe, and is
only just reviving, displaying in America a multi
tude of churches erected to its honour, and fre
quented with an eagerness that affords the clear
est evidence of the truth of Christianity, and of
its natural and necessary operation upon the
human mind. The American is religiously in
clined, and if not so in reality, in appearance at
least, he is more sincere than the European.
In Philadelphia there are at present above

Chap. XI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 137
eighty churches and meeting-houses, all of which
are much more frequented on the Sabbath than
those on the continent of Europe. If we take
into consideration that the American has to pro
vide for the support of the church and its minis
ter, and that these expenses frequently amount
to more than the public taxes he has to pay, the
religious character of the people will appear in a
more striking light.
In Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and the
larger commercial towns, the style of buildings is
splendid, and exhibit a taste and liberality equally
conspicuous. These are visible in their elegant
carpets, splendid lustres, richly decorated pulpits
and communion-tables, together with a gilded
organ and tasteful pews. I allow that vanity
may have had some share in these embellish
ments, but the display of it on these occasions
is entitled to indulgence. In the flat country
from Philadelphia to Harrisburgh, a distance
of one hundred miles in length and breadth,
there are many churches in a style of architec
tural beauty, which would not disgrace any Eu
ropean city, and these are erected by country
congregations at their own expense. It is not
unusual to see a farmer in but moderate circum-

138 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XI.
stances, subscribe from two to three hundred
dollars. Pittsburgh, which is not more than
fifty years in existence, has now ten churches,
amongst which is the Trinity church, completed
in 1825, in a style of Gothic elegance, worthy an
European metropolis. Several members of its
congregation subscribed five hundred dollars;
and yet this city though, perhaps, wealthy, is far
from being very opulent. Greensburgh, on the
Philadelphia road, thirty miles on this side of
Pittsburgh, has, for a population not exceed
ing eighteen hundred souls, no less than four
churches, and the country congregation which is
without at least a wooden meeting-house, is
either very small, or a very poor one indeed.
About Greensburgh there are seven German
congregations, who have elegant brick churches,
each consisting of from fifty to sixty families.
Not long ago one of these was finished at the
expense of six thousand dollars. If we consider
that amongst the number of the congregation,
ten families may be said to possess some wealth,
fifteen or twenty with a bare sufficiency to
live upon, and the rest absolutely poor, who,
under the existing pressure and the low prices of
produce, can hardly contribute anything, it will

Cb.p. XI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 139
appear beyond a doubt, that to be religious
in the United States is very expensive. To
these expenses for the building of churches must
be added the minister's salary, from one to a
hundred dollars for each family ; unquestionably
the heaviest tax an American has to pay, and
which he is only brought to submit to, from the
circumstance of the tax being self-imposed, and his
having the power of selecting his own minister.
in most of the States which were formerly
subject to British government. Synods were
instituted, such as existed in New England;
in other States the congregations appointed
such ministers as they found in their way. Nu
merous dissensions and difficulties arose from
these selections; frequently when the preacher,
who was sometimes neither more nor less than
a Yankee schoolmaster, or pedlar, or a suspicious
character, was accepted by the one party, he was
infallibly rejected by the other. After every diffi
culty was removed, and the preacher was in fuU
exercise of his functions, reports were circulated
of his former life and character, through the me
dium of the newspapers, which obhged the reve
rend gentleman to disappear abruptly from the
scene of his ministerial labours. To obviate this

140 THE UNITED STATES [Ch.ip. XI.
evil, the ministers of almost all sects, after the ex
ample of the Presbyterians, resorted to the insti
tution of Synods, which are assembhes of or
dained ministers, into which none were received
who either could not prove their being ordained,
or who did not subject themselves to an exami
nation. Though neither these Synods nor the
management of ecclesiastical affairs in general,
are to be considered as connected with the go
vernment, or as supported by its authority, these
institutions enjoyed universal approbation, inas
much as that, without at all infringing by their ex
istence upon the liberty claimed by the congrega
tions to choose their own preachers, they pre
vented for the future, the appointment of any
who had not been examined and approved of.
At first these Synods were not numerously
attended ; there were at most, ten or twelve
ministers with as many deputies. In the course
of time new members joined them in whose ad
mission every precaution was used. The Synod
was nothing more nor less than what it is at
present, a private assembly of the clergy, who
with the consent and approbation of their con
gregations gave to themselves a kind of hierar
chical constitution. They were not authorized by

CliapXI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 141
any particular class, and no person was obliged
to join them ; but the very order of their pro
ceedings, and the great esteem which was paid to
the individual minister, as well as to the whole
convocation, contributed to increase their num
ber, and established a distinction between their
body and the various reverend vagrants dispersed
throughout the Union. Wherever a numerous
congregation was formedj they of course pre
ferred preachers approved by the Synods, who
could give some security for their good conduct,
and subject themselves to proper responsibility.
If they were found to lead an irregular life, or to
contravene the regulations of the Synod, they
were excluded : even then, however, it rested
wholly with the congregation to retain or to dis
miss them. The decrees as well as the regula
tions of the Synods are private acts ; and although
the congregations should refuse to submit to
them, the government never interferes except
ing when they have publicly engaged to main
tain their ministers, and have signed deeds
deposited in the county or state office. Then
the congregation as weU as the subscribers may
be compelled by law to adhere to such articles
as they have bound themselves to observe.

142 THE UNITED STATES [Ch.ip. XI.
However loose may be the ries of this hierar
chical Union, the best security for its perma
nency, and the confidence reposed in it, may
be found in the free will of the congregations,
and the publicity of its proceedings. These
Synods are now estabhshed in the Presbyterian,
German, Lutheran, and Reformed churches
throughout the United States, and comprehend
all the ordained ministers. They meet every
year at a place previously determined upon,
where they hold their sessions during four or five
days. All the affairs of the congregations under
the spiritual care of the members are considered
and revised : the President and Secretary are
chosen by the votes of the ministers and of the
deputies from the congregations. It is by means
of these Synods, instituted in the simple evan
gelical spirit of primitive times, that the hier
archical system of the United States has been
brought to. a condition which does not yield to
that of any other country. If there be at present
a congregation without a minister, application is
made to the Synod, which either sends one, or
incorporates the congregation into a neighbour
ing flock. If several congregations are without
spiritual aid, they are visited by a minister, who

Chap. XI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 143
performs divine service, and uses his best exer
tions to become popular with the leading mem
bers. If the majority of the congregation be in
his favour, and the subscription such as to an^
swer his expectations, the Synod is informed of
his election, and its approval invests him in his
spiritual office.
The present penury and scarcity of money have
had great influence over the churches and their
pastors, and they must now be satisfied with
diminished incomes : in the western countries
they are often paid in produce. This is particu
larly the case with those resident in the country,
of whose salaries of between four and eight hun
dred dollars, four-fifths at least are paid in this
way. The payment of ministers whose sub
scription is raised by the wardens or deacons of
the congregation, varies in amount, though never
exceeding five thousand dollars. Those of the
Episcopalian church are considered as the best
paid ; those of the Presbyterian, on the contrary,
have the lowest income. They, however, de
serve well their salaries, especially in the country,
their different congregations being often at a
distance of more than twenty miles from each
other. Still this is trifling compared with the

144 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XI.
hardships those of the western parts have to
endure. They often have to travel five or six
thousand miles in the year in the regular dis
charge of their ministry. The situation of these
preachers is certainly not enviable. Every Sun-t
day they have to preach two, and even three ser
mons, and to perform a journey of twenty and
more miles from one meeting-house to the other.
Creeks or rivers, snow or rain, heat or cold,
must not prevent their avocations, as the mem
bers of the congregation are never deterred by
such difficulties. They have to perform their
journeys through woods on horseback, for to
ride in a carriage is quite impossible, owing to
the impracticabihty of the roads, and their own
slender incomes.
Of the four churches belonging to the Epis
copalian, the Presbyterian, the Lutheran, and the
Catholic forms of worship, the former have
regularly established theological institutions,
though in order to become a teacher of any sect,
it is by no means necessary to have studied
divinity. The Lawyers Hopkins, Jenkins,
&c,, have turned preachers without having ac
quired any other information than from their
own private studies. Such examples are nume-

Chap. XI.] OK NORTH AMERICA. 145
rous, and the most admired preachers are gene
rally those who left other professions for the
pulpit. The ministers of the Episcopalian church,
from their principles of toleration and freedom of
conscience, are more popular among the better
classes of society than the gloomy Presbyterians,
who present many specimens that would remind
us of the Mucklewraths of old, though there may
be found amongst them many distinguished and
respectable men. Their best theological semi
naries are in the New England States, which are
the very nursery of preachers, and supply the
western and south-western States with " multi
tudes" of them.
The German ministers, amongst whom are
many very distinguished men, are instructed by
one of their pastors, with whom they reside for
one or two years. The preparation being finished,
the candidate is introduced to the Synod, ex
amined, and then either approved or rejected :
if admitted, congregations are assigned to him,
to which he repairs, and immediately enters upon
his functions. The Lutheran ministers, German
as well as English, eminently distinguish them
selves above their Reformed and Presbyterian L

146 THE UNITED STATES [Ch»P XI.
brethren. The preachers of these three churches,
as well as the Catholic priests, are considered in
the light of regular ministers, and live in perfect
harmony. Disputes are seldom heard of, and
they often unite their efforts to procure the erec
tion of a church. Families are known to sub
scribe in the same manner to the support of three
or four different preachers.
The Episcopalian clergy are beginning to grow
rather more zealous in their calling, owing to the
numerous desertions of their flocks, but particu
larly of the younger part of their congregations.
In the north of the United States the Sunday is
well known to be exclusively dedicated to the
performance of religious duties. A good Chris
tian family is seldom contented with one sermon;
generally they hear two or three. To hear none,
would, in the Northern States, and especially in
New England, New York, and Philadelphia, be
deemed unfashionable ; and a repetition of this
neglect, would subject the absentee to exclusion
from society. If they belong to the Episcopahan
congregation, they hear in the forenoon their
own minister ; in the afternoon they go to the
Presbyterian meeting, and as on the Sabbath every
species of entertainments would be thought, even

Chap. XI ] OF NORTH AMERICA. 147
by the more liberal part of the community, highly
indecorous, and even subject to a penalty in some
of the States, the female has no other alter
native than to go a third time to the Methodist
meeting, where they often become converts. —
The Methodist preachers, by the warmth of
their enthusiasm, and by the zeal which they
display in their calling, are found to attract
many pious women, to the no small uneasiness
of the established church, thereby necessarily
curtailed in its spiritual and temporal interests.
As, however, there is no remedy for this loss,
and the minister who would presume to raise
his voice against the evil, would be sure to loose
all popularity, as endeavouring to restrain the
liberty of conscience, he is forced into liberal
ity by the common example. This liberality ex
tends so far, that it would be thought highly
improper by the very members of his own con
gregation, if their minister should dare to in
veigh against other forms of religions. " In
every church we may be pious, and we are
all of us Christians," are expressions frequently
heard on these occasions, and they act accord
ingly. The child under the paternal roof, will
choose its religion without the smallest inter-
L 2

143 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XI
ference of its parents, unless it should evince a
preference for the Catholic faith. There are
famihes in which the father is an Episcopalian,
the mother a Presbyterian, one of the children a
Baptist, another a Methodist, all living peaceably
and quietly together, in the sedate and quiet
manner which marks the American character.
They never grow warm in debate ; every man
maintains his opinion, without regarding that of
his neighbour.
Some time ago. Miss B  from G  , was
desirous of being confirmed by Bishop W  '¦,
then on a tour through Pennsylvania. She had
no friends among the candidates for confirmation,
and requested a friend of hers to keep her company
and partake of the rite. Her friend who was a
Presbyterian, consented without the least hesita
tion, thereby deserting the religion of her parents,
who did not seem to notice it. On being asked
how she could so readily give way, she replied,
" Why, I could not let her go alone, and to tell
the truth, I like Mr. B  better than this old
snuffy T  ." This is not only the case with Miss
B  -, but with many steadier persons. It de
pends entirely on the minister, whether the Epis
copalian or Presbyterian, or any other church is

Chap. XI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 149
to be the most fashionable in town. If he should
succeed in rendering himself popular with the
majority of the inhabitants, which attempt, and
to deliver a good sermon, are the chief points to
be attended to, then he may reckon upon a full
meeting-house, and, consequently, upon a large
list of subscriptions. If he does not know how
to win popularity, or how to preserve it, his spiri
tual authority will assuredly cease before the year
is at an end, and he will have to place his travel
ling staff at a greater distance. The congrega
tion of the Episcopalian at P  was not veiy
numerous, although, as is generally the case, it
.consisted of the most respectable and wealthy in
habitants of the place. The rector, who had
quitted the bar and turned preacher, was at no
loss to discover the mode of increasing his con
gregation. He persuaded them to sell the old
church and to build a new one, of which he drew
out the plan. A majestic yet simple building of
Gothic form, was erected in a style of magnifi
cence far surpassing the other nine churches. No
fashionable family of the place could resist the
temptation of taking seats in the new church, so
splendidly decorated. The pews were rapidly
sold, and the subscription list was filled up in a

150 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XI.
manner that left the reverend gentleman no rea
son to regret his change. These pious stratagems
are, generally speaking, unattended with bad
consequences, as it is deemed in reality a very
indifferent question, which of the reverend com
petitors has the most auditors, or the most in
come, provided his conduct be in accordance
with his profession. On the other hand, the
bad conduct of ministers has often been attended
with pernicious consequences ; and cases could
be cited, where a single deviation has induced
a congregation to abstain for years from any in
tercourse with the teachers of religion .
The other sects have no regularly educated
ministers, and they are permitted to ascend the
pulpit without being previously examined. They
speak, to use their own words, " when they are
prompted by the spirit." This spirit seems often
to deceive these good people, at least they are
heard to utter gross absurdities. The religion
of the people in general, as well as that of a
certain class amongst them, is everywhere in
exact proportion to their understandings. The
enlightened and better classes in the United
States, are to be found mostly among the Epis-
copahans ; the middling classes, with numerous

Chap. XI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 151
exceptions, are Presbyterians ; the zealous and
enthusiasts of all classes are Methodists ; while
the poor and simple Backwoodsmen are among
the Ammonists, Mennonists Christians*, New
Men, Tunkers, &c. If the latter are questioned
about their religious principles, they look stead-
fastly with open eyes, and reply, " We keep our
selves according to the Bible." They celebrate
the Lord's Supper at midnight, they wash each
other's feet, wear long beards, and are baptized
in the rivers, where they wade to the chin either
in winter or in summer. One of them being
asked the reason of allowing his beard to grow,
went to his chest, took out an immense Bible
with woodcuts, and pointed to the beards of our
Saviour and the Apostles. There is no disput
ing such authority. The poorer classes join
these and similar sects, which in the Western
States are very numerous. Their preachers are
honest peasants, who explain the Bible as well
as they are able, and will discourse four or five
hours in a continued strain of simple eloquence,
without any apparent fatigue.
Happening to pass on a Sabbath-day through
Beaver, and being obliged to stay there, I was
* A new sect so designated.

152 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XI,
amused at hearing one of their sermons, in which
the preacher discussed the question of Noah's
Ark, how it was pitched within and without ; he
calculated the quantity of pitch and tar which
the builder must have consumed. This honest
man, as he further explained, had examined
rather too minutely a keelboat at Pittsburgh, on
its way down the Ohio and the Mississippi, and
having seen the caulking of these vessels, he
edified his auditors with a description of Noah's
proceeding in rather a colloquial manner, doubt
less to their no small spiritual comfort. " Jona
than has made an extremely fine speech," the
good people would be heard to say, " I am of the
notion that he beats all those learned longheads,
and all is God's word — all is in the Bible, I have
read it myself." And with ejaculations corre
sponding with their capacities, they left the barn
which was their place of meeting ; the more
wealthy to seek their horses and ride home two
or three astride each animal, the poor returning
on foot. These Tunkers have highly attractive
powers for the poor, and were it not for their
long beards, which as they learned from their
grandfathers are only worn by the Jews, their
numbers would be still greater. Considered in

Chap. XI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 153
the proper light, these sects are far from being
contemptible ; they are, on the contrary, in many
respects very beneficial, as the connecting ties
of poor families, which would otherwise be left
to themselves in these Backwoods. They hold
strongly together, mutually relieving and sup
porting each other, and in time of need or of
sickness, their indigent brother may rely upon
their aid. They keep up an exemplary discipline.
A member guilty of drunkenness or any other vice,
" is thrown over the fence," or, in unfigurative
language, he is excommunicated. The families
are under mutual inspection, and have a regular
divine service. It would, however, be desirable,
if they took somewhat more care of the educa
tion of their children, who, as the parents think
learning a sinful thing, remain grossly ignorant.
Another reason for the great numbers of these
sectarians, and especially the Methodists, is the
quickly ripened hierarchy of the established
forms, with all the appendages of pious ambition,
egotism, hypocrisy, and supercilious humihty,
as circumstances call them into operation. The
American of the Western States, who is anything
but over-religious, holds such conduct in abhor
rence, and prefers, therefore, the Methodists or

154 THE UNITED STATES , [Chap. XI.
Baptists, whose enthusiastic zeal appears to him
more appropriate, and less expensive. The Epis
copalian on the contrary, and especially the
Presbyterian ministers, dwell more upon moral
and political topics, enlarging upon the merits of
their favourites, and forgetting the Bible and its
contents. They seem particularly fond of Mr.
Adams ; and the influence which he exercises
over a vast proportion of his countrymen,
through these devoted spiritual emissaries, can
hardly be exceeded by the French Jesuits.
This is certainly the case with the Yankee
ministers who are spread over a vast portion of
the Union. The ministers from other parts of
the United States conduct themselves in a be
coming manner. But to return to the Me
thodists. These, and especially the Methodists
of the Episcopalian church, have indeed done
much to propagate the Christian religion; and
whatever may be said of them, the western parts,
where they sent missionaries, and distributed
thousands of Bibles, are standing records of their
usefulness. The western settlers, especially on
the extremities of the different States, had lost
almost every trace of Christianity ; the majority
were not even christened. Being in a state of

Chap. XI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 155
continual warfare with beasts and Indians, they
became so barbarous, that they scarcely exhibited
the remains of civilization ; and were it not for
their dress, and the hghter hue of their skin,
many of them could hardly be recognised from
native Indians.
In order to appreciate the labours of the mis
sionaries, it is but fair to speak of the hardships
and privations to which they were exposed . To
ride several hundred and even thousand miles,
through uninhabited and pathless wilds, in quest
of petty settlements of from five to ten cabins,
to deliver a sermon to very unwilling ears, and
to encounter a rough and unfriendly reception,
was too often the lot of these devoted men. I
am acquainted with a young man, now the pos
sessor of a beautiful farm on the banks of the
Miami, in the State of Ohio, who was appointed
Missionary to the territory of Arkansas ; he went
three hundred miles beyond the town of Little
Rock, to find out a settlement of Kentuckians,
which was represented to him as established
there. After incredible hardships he arrived, and
found eight cabins inhabited by seven white, and
twice as many negro families. In five houses,
each distant from the other about half a mile.

156 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XI.
lodgings for the night were absolutely refused: he
was about to seek refuge in the woods, when the
intercession of an old negro- woman procured him
a shelter, and some ears of corn for his supper.
Divine service was announced for the next even
ing, none appeared but the n egress, her master,
and a negro. Regardless of this want of atten
tion he preached a sermon ; — the next evening
his auditors increased to ten, the following to
twenty, and the fourth night all the settlers
came with their children and their negroes, the
latter to be baptized. He continued his instruc
tions during several days, and promised to pro
vide them with Bibles, which were sent accord
ingly to Little Rock, from whence they were to
be fetched. The good seed, however, had fallen
on stony places. Though they afterwards came
to Little Rock, they did not think proper to
trouble themselves with the tokens of remem
brance which had been sent to them.
On the other hand it cannot be denied, that the
religious exercise of the Methodists, their camp-
meetings in particular, are of a nature offensive to
rehgion and to morality. I had heard of so many
circumstances respecting these meetings, that I
resolved some years ago to convince myself of their

Chap. XL] OF NORTH AMERICA. 157
truth or falsehood. Accordingly I made an excur
sion to MeadviUe, forty miles from my residence,
where a camp-meeting was about to be held. The
next day I rode, accompanied by several acquaint
ances, to the place of the meeting. We arrived at
a wood with an open free ground, on the left of
which was a farm-house. About four thousand
people with twenty preachers were present; part
of them were at work erecting huts, with trees and
branches. At ten o'clock the religious exercises
began, which only differed from other forms of
worship, by the ranting of the preacher, and the
deep groanings of his audience. We returned
to MeadviUe, to revisit the place in the afternoon.
• The scene was now changed ; one of their most
violent enthusiasts was in the pulpit, and his theme
was the love of Christ, and the hatred of sin :
the stream of his eloquence overflowed with love.
At the words " You are to love Christ fervently,
you are to hold him in your arms," the whole
assembly sighed deeply, and such ejaculations
were now heard, as almost to bereave me of
every sense. The preacher growing warmer and
more violent, exclaimed at last, " There I see
Christ — there he is sitting"— nodding to me. —
" There is Christ," exclaimed one of the auditors.

158 THE UNITED STATES [Chap, XI.
" I have him in my arms," cried another. A
third and a fourth joined in the exclamation,
and such a scene of sighing, jumping, leaping,
and beating their breasts ensued, as became only
a company of madmen ; this, however, was only
the prelude to what was to follow. The preacher
after a short pause began to speak of sin ; how
Christ and sin were incompatible, how sin was
the work of the devil, and brought us or would
bring us to hell. The sighing now changed into
groanings, reminding the hearer of a field of
battle. The more the preacher enlarged upon
the torments of hell, the deeper was the groan
ing. On a sudden one of the women was seized
with violent convulsions, her face became livid, •
her eyes were distorted, a cold perspiration ran
down her forehead ; she was raised, as if by a
supernatural power, and fell senseless to the
ground. A howling ensued which was heard at
the distance of two miles : many of the women
threw themselves down beating their breasts, and
tearing their garments ; others jumped like Bac
chantes, their hair flying in disorder, their
breasts thrown open, until exhausted with shrieks
they sank down by the side of their sisters.
Life seemed to have fled with decency from these

Chap. XI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 159
fanatics: half naked they lay senseless on the
ground, until removed by the preachers and
elders. I observed with shuddering and dismay,
to what an extraordinary degree of madness re-
hgious fanaticism may lead. The evening ser
vice was held immediately after supper (a meal
which every one had brought with him), and lasted
till half-past ten ; it differed but little from the
former scene : at eleven the pious fanatics retired
to their huts. When the reader is informed
that these four thousand sectarians were, almost
without exception, of the lower orders, unedu
cated and uninformed, and mostly young people
of both sexes, who having waited for this oppor
tunity with the utmost impatience, arrived from a
distance of from ten to twenty miles, he will not
be surprised to hear it stated, that scenes of illicit
intercourse followed, over which, though delicacy
draws the veil, truth commands us to pronounce
to be the natural effects of the previous unholy
excitement. The next day the same scenes
were acted ; on the third day both preachers and
auditors were so exhausted that they returned
home. Though the existence of these Methodists in
the United States, is but the growth of the last

160 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XI.
thirty- six years, they are already separated into
several sects, who have either the Episcopahan
or Presbyterian form of church government, and
their hatred of each other is inveterate. This
enthusiasm, however, appears to be rather on the
decline ; and it is to be expected, that in a coun
try where enthusiasm is permitted to have such
free course, and to ferment unimpeded, it wiU,
like its predecessors, soon evaporate.
It cannot be denied, that whatever good there
may be in these sects, they have also their dark
side. They are invariably marked by a certain
narrow mindedness, which can only rejoice in the
welfare of their sectarian brethren, and is indif
ferent to the rest of their fellow-creatures. And
whatever may be said in favour of the Quakers,
their peaceable demeanour, their industry and fru
gality, their principle of mutual assistance, still
the true patriot has many objections against
a society which disclaims one of the most import
ant public duties, the defence of their country,
and whose cares are confined within the limits
of a sect, to the no small disadvantage of the
general weal. They would not even contribute,
by a pecuniary assistance, towards the defence
of the State of which they are members;

Chap. Xl] OF NORTH AMERICA. 161
and the forbearance and delicacy exhibited at
their refusal, by the State of Pennsylvania in
the last war, is a brilliant proof of the liberal
principles displayed by the American govern
ment. The regard which the American bears to free
dom of religion and of thought, is founded on
the nature of his situation. Thousands of his
fellow-citizens live in the Backwoods, and are de
prived of every opportunity of visiting churches.
The Bible is their teacher; by constant perusal
they become well versed in its contents. It re
quires no great sagacity to discover much dis
cordance between the doctrines it contains, and
the various creeds which man has established ;
common sense and solitude teach them to rely
less on fallible authority, and to distinguish be
tween divine and human precepts. Conscious
of their liberty they pursue their own way : they
find supporters as well as opponents among their
neighbours ; ambition is awakened, each party
defends its opinions with corresponding warmth,
the question excites interest, and a sect is esta
blished. The government could not prevent this
without appointing a minister, a course not easily
to be effected in these Backwoods, independently M

162 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XI.
of its being at variance with the fundamental
principles of the Constitution: for although the
Americans submit to receive ministers sent to
them by their bishops and Synods, they would
not acknowledge them if the government were
to interfere.
This is the cause which alienates the American
from the Catholic church, whose priests he knows
are in the interest of the Court of Rome. Not
that there are any restraints laid upon Catholics,
they are, in the exercise of the forms of their re
ligious worship, as free as any other church ; they
would, however, attempt in vain to render their
creed popular, being considered as not having at
tained to freedom of opinion, but to be still in
mental fetters. The simplest sectarian is re
garded, in respect to his religion, with a more
kindly feeling than the Catholic : this may be at
tributed to the different point of view in which
this church stands to the nation. The Protes
tant minister acknowledges the sovereignty of
the people, the Catholic that of the Pope; the
Protestant feels every interest in enlightening
his congregation, the Catholic priests keep them
in darkness ; the latter, who are commonly Irish
and French, are monarchical in principles, the

Chap. XI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 163
Protestant are Republicans : in several States,
therefore, the road to pubhc offices, though not
altogether closed against Catholics, is certainly
made very difficult to them. They seem particu
larly obnoxious to the Presbyterians, and a Ca
tholic and a Heathen are with them almost syno
nymous terms. The number of Roman Catholics
is, however, great, amounting to upwards of a
million. Of late years the Roman Court seems to
have paid great attention to its transatlantic flock.
Numerous priests were sent over from Ireland,
Italy, and France, and there is not a moderate-
sized town in which one or more do not officiate.
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans,
&c., have their bishops, among whom several are
men of profound learning. The number, how
ever, of this church faUs off considerably ; and if
not increased by emigrations from Ireland, there
would, with the exception of Louisiana, soon be
little necessity for a bishop. The seeds of the
" true church," will hardly grow in this here
tical soil ; and powerful as are the exertions of
the Jesuits everywhere else, in the United States
this community is but little noticed, and it would
have died away, if it had not been recruited from
France and Italy. The Court of Rome, we hope,
M 2

164 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XI.
wUl be satisfied with exercising its spiritual do
minion over the southern part of the transatlantic
hemisphere. A particular mention ought to be made of a
sect which is daily becoming more numerous in
the Union, and is greatly adding to its numbers
from the higher orders of society, I mean the
Deists, or, as they call themselves. Unitarians *,
who at present have their meeting-houses in
almost every considerable town. There may be
persons who find in their peculiar views and in
the power of their minds, a compensation for the
comforts which they reject by refusing their belief
in revelation. We are far from interfering with
them, only adding, that all their philosophical
researches taken together, have not yet made a
single iota of the New Testament superfluous.
Whole congregations of male and female philo
sophers diffused throughout a continent, ex
hibit, however, too absurd a picture, to leave any
doubt of their ultimate and even early extinction.
That this may be the case, is devoutly to be
wished by every friend of society, and by every
reflecting man. There can be no doubt, that the
* Unitarianism in the United States, especially the Western, is
pure Deism, and not as in England a partial belief in revelation.

Chap. XI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 165
prosperity of the Union, as a State, is seriously
affected by the baneful principles of Infidelity
and Deism. Where the barriers erected for the
security of the individual are so few, and so easily
to be overcome, — where none of those general
ties called national habits, love of country, or vene
ration for the Constitution are to be found, — where
the citizen parts with his house and removes to a
foreign country, just as he would part with a bank
note, — where he is perpetually amending and
altering his Constitution *, there ought to be at
least one tie to bind him, which is placed beyond
* The mania for improving (as they have it) the Constitutions
of the single States, and even that of the Union itself, is carried
to such an extent, that during the last years (1825-1826) the
question was seriously agitated in Kentucky and some of the
South-western States, whether it would not be better for their
greater independence to have no Constitution. Even the steady
Pennsylvania begins to be infected with this mania for change,
thinking it derogatory to its dignity, to be fettered by a Constitu
tion framed by others, even were it the great legacy of Franklin
himself. " We have the same right," exclaim these Backwood
politicians, " nay, considering our advanced intellect and civiliza
tion, a greater right to frame laws for ourselves, than our ances
tors in their ignorance of existing circumstances had to impose
laws upon us." Whether to apply our pity or our contempt to
such absurdities, is hardly worth the inquiry. We are certainly
not unfavourable to political reforms rendered necessary by the
progress of events, or by the spirit of the times; but we may be
allowed to ask. What rank would Great Britain now hold among
nations, had her Constitution been changed every year?

166 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XI.
the reach of all contingencies, and which will not
be affected by the workings of his fancy or by an
overruling power, a tie to which, under every cir
cumstance, he will shew proper respect and defer
ence. Religion alone can be that tie, and no other
than the Christian rehgion. The Union is well
secured against the danger of religion becoming a
political engine, as is the case in Europe, Uni
tarians may do in rotten monarchies where the
Sovereign is the deity, and his will the law ; but
in a young and a free country, deistical congre
gations are a phenomenon from which our hearts
and minds must recoil. Neither Rome, Greece,
nor Switzerland, knew anything of them in the
days of their splendour, and the wisest of all
Greeks forfeited his life by poison, for having
dared to confess these doctrines : Great Britain
holds them in abhorrence. What guarantee can
a Christian nation have that Unitarians chosen
for magistrates will pay respect to its rights and
its laws, which are both founded on Christian
principles? Assuredly none! Whoever disre
gards the most respectable constitution of an
tiquity (if I may be aUowed so to speak of
Revelation), wUl not pay any respect to one
of a more modern date ; whosoever fancies him-

Chap. XI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 167
self raised above the common standard of in
tellect in these most important concerns, will
not on any occasion defer to the opinions of
others ! I am well aware that some of the very
first men of the Union, were Deists or Unita
rians, and yet they were men whose intellectual
powers and moral principles were firm enough
to direct them in their course of life. But they
are exceptions, and do not invalidate the truth
of what has been urged : and if the great Franklin
was a Deist, the still greater Washington was
a Christian. That this philosophizing habit of
mind, if it should extend further, must necessa
rily corrode the Constitution of the State, and be
the source of the greatest evils, we are taught to
apprehend from the example of a Western State,
where the doctrine of Deism, as being the most
convenient, is generally found to prevail. For
this reason the majority of its citizens are devoid
of honesty*, the State is without credit, its laws
* In the summer of 1825, four Kentuckians crossed the Ohio
on their way from Cincinnati to their own State, with a negro
whom they claimed as a runaway slave, and who was secured to
the tail of one of their horses. As he was known in Cincin
nati to be a free negro, several respectable citizens hastened to
rescue the wretched victim from his oppressors. Accordingly the
slave was taken from the four kidnappers in an almost dying state

168 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. Xl.
are ineffectual, and the murderer lives unmo
lested. The recent history of Kentucky, is
too well known to need any further illustration.
Other causes may have combined to produce this
deplorable condition ; the general demoralization
is assuredly owing to Unitarianism.
and secured in the county jail of Boon county. The four Ken
tuckians were cited to prove their right, and these four felons
hesitated not a moment to make oath, one and all, that the negro
was their slave. They were of course convicted of perjury by
more than ten Cincinnati witnesses. But what may we not infer
from the fact of four men, two of them farmers, combining toge
ther to effect their purpose by such infamous means.

Chap. XII.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 169

Chapter XII.
The Lawyer— Courts of Common Pleas — Title Deeds —
Remarks.
Two years ago I was obliged to attend the court
at Indiana county, Pennsylvania. An important
trial for a murder had gathered the whole county
within the precincts of Indiana. Riflemen in their
hunting coats, farmers on horseback, holding
large sticks in their hands, and accompanied
by their wives and daughters, who were also
mounted on horseback, with baskets of eggs and
apples hanging on each side, and hams suspended
to the horses' necks. Here and there a country
lawyer dismounting from his horse, taking his
saddle-bag under his arms, and stalking into the
tavern with all due self-importance in order to
change his dress— these, and the venders of the
dainties of these parts, gingerbread, apple-pies,
cider, and ale, were the exhibitions that contri
buted to enliven Indiana for five days. I fol
lowed the throng rushing out of the town-inns,
preceded by the honourable the President of the

170 the united states [Chap. xn.
Quarter Sessions, with a gentleman next to him,
whose very plain and simple attire bespoke a
farmer, but who was in reality the assistant-judge.
The second assistant-judge walked behind them,
supported by two gentlemen of the bar, as he was
unable to bear up under the effect of the copious
libations of spirits in which he had just indulged.
It was on a Tuesday, and the court, which was
opened on the preceding afternoon, was now
• about to commence business. When they arrived
at the court-house, the judges took their seats in
the tribune, below them was the prothonotary as
clerk of the court, on his right on a bench sat
the county officers, the coroner, the sheriff, the
commissioners, and the jury. The lawyers arriv
ing by degrees, to the number of twenty-five, from
the several inns where they had been engaged in
the important affair of making themselves popu
lar, were placed in chairs round the rostrum.
The customary preliminaries of administering
the oaths to the jury being gone through, the
trial began. In the year 1823, a couple of oxen
belonging to a man named Shara, were pubhcly
sold in Indiana county for a debt due to a neigh
bouring farmer. Shara, enraged at the loss of
his cattle, declared he would revenge himself.

Chap.XlI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 171
and ran with full speed to the house of his pro
secutor. On arriving there, he knocked the old
man down, dragged him out, and despatched him
with a club. The son of the victim, who, upon
the entrance of Shara, had fled for assistance,
met him on his return home. " Well, well,"
says Shara, " you may go home, your father has
done for this life, he will not sell any more oxen."
ITie murder was of so shocking a nature, that no
one doubted of his being executed. A thousand
dollars,however, which were collected by the Irish
Catholic countrymen of the prisoner, engaged
the powerful lungs of Mr. F  in his service,
and accordingly the prisoner was only found
guilty of manslaughter, and thus escaped with
three years imprisonment, perhaps with only one
year, as it is an object of economy to save board
and lodging in the Penitentiaries.
The next court, twenty-five miles distance, was
held in Armstrong county in the succeeding
week. One of the trials was as follows : — Two
men came down the Alleghany River in a raft.
Part of the raft having got loose, was carried for
several mUes down the river. A young farmer
coming out of his house, and seeing it floating,
got into his skiff, and when in the act of secur-

172 THE UNITED STATES [Chap.XlI.
ing the timber, was met by the two fellows. One
of them, without saying a word, leveUed a blow
at his head, and the unfortunate man dropped
from his skiff into the water. His wife seeing
the atrocious act, hastened to the county-town
eighteen miles distant. The two men were
arrested ; they were tried, acquitted, and libe
rated. The previous permission of giving bail
enabled them to dispose of their raft, and to raise
one hundred dollars ; for this sum Lawyer B 
undertook their defence, which ended in the re
sult we have stated.
The next court held on the following week at
Buttler county, twenty-five miles distant from
the county-town of Armstrong, exhibited a scene
of another description. A young man owed to
a Mr. M  ten dollars ; having absconded
without payment, the constable was desired to
arrest him. This officer being prevented from
doing so in person, requested a young man to
act for him. The latter accordingly went in
pursuit of the debtor, met him at a place two
miles distant, and desired he would go along
with him, but as he was not provided with a
warrant, the debtor was in the act of going
away : the young man, on seeing this, levelled

Chap.XlI] OF NORTH AMERICA. 173
his gun, and shot him through the body. The
murderer was committed to gaol, and at the
present court was discharged by the aid of five
hundred dollars paid to three lawyers for under
taking his defence. In this manner were three
murderers acquitted in the space of three weeks.
I am far from maintaining that the people of the
United States are a lawless or a blood-thirsty
race of savages. They yield in point of morality
to no other people in the world ; but should they
in future have less moral feeling, it will be justly
attributable to the lawyers. Provided you can
hire them, there is scarcely any crime of which
they would not undertake to save you from the
penalty. Exempla sunt odiosa.
He who would have a true idea of the nature
and extent of civil lawsuits, has only to refer to
land titles for information. We shall confine
ourselves to a few specimens. Pennsylvania was
the property of the heirs of William Penn ; the
government, after having rescinded the grant by
which it was held, indemnified them by tracts of
land and a sum of money. To have the country
surveyed, and to divide it into sections, as is the
present practice in the New States, was not then
thought of, and indeed could not have been

174 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. Xll.
effected at a time when settlers and money were
equally scarce. The Dutch and other foreign
companies took immense sections of land for
their pecuniary advances ; private citizens were
also purchasers, but the greatest part remained
in the possession of the State. The question is
not how the government should have acted, but
that they acted injudiciously, is beyond all doubt.
In order to accelerate the settlements, a law was
enacted, securing to each bond fide settler four
hundred and twenty acres of land. To have
built a cabin on this estate, and to have slept in
it three successive nights, were sufficient acts of
possession to obtain the fee-simple from the land-
office. This would have been well enough ;
there were however speculators, generally law
yers, who knew what lands were vacant, and
endeavoured to establish settlers upon them;
they then took out the necessary deeds from
the office, and thus got possession of vast tracts,
appertaining by right to the poor ignorant occu
piers. Thousands of acres passed in this manner
into the hands of these legal swindlers. Others
got tracts of from fifteen to twenty thousand
acres of regularly surveyed land, on the promise
of forming settlements upon it, but the whole of

Chap. Xll] OF NORTH AMERICA. 175
which grants were subject to forfeiture, in case
of the non-performance of the contract within
a stipulated time. During the period aUowed
them, they sold off many thousands of acres, but
being unable to settle the whole, the land re
verted to the State, and hundreds of poor families
who had purchased from these intermediate pro
prietors, lost all their purchase money.
Others were even less scrupulous, and sold
tracts of land to which they had not the least
claim, the proprietors of which were residing in
distant countries, and the deluded purchasers were
compelled to buy the estates again. There are
many farmers who purchased their lands two and
three times.
Some of these gentlemen of the law went even
a step further. In G  h there is a Judge Pre
sident of the Quarter Sessions, a Mr. Y  g,
a Scotchman by birth, who had come to the
United States in rags and wretchedness ; his
desolate situation procured him friends, and
amongst others, a lawyer who instructed him in
the mysteries of his profession. After he had
been examined, and had received his license, he
moved to G  h, where he applied himself to
the study of the German language, in order to

176 THE UNITED STATES [Chap.XlI.
make himself understood by the objects of his
speculation. To acquire popularity, he went to
the houses of his acquaintance with the farmer's
daughters when they brought provisions, and by
his agency, assisted them in selling their pigs,
chickens, and other marketable commodities.
The consequences exceeded his most sanguine
hopes, and he became very popular with the un
suspecting descendants of the Germans. But the
shrewd Scotchman wanted something more sub
stantial than popularity. In A  and W 
counties there were several highly improved
farms, originally vacant lands. These were un
questionably the property of the farmers who had
acquired them by the legal service, and who had
only to procure their deeds from the land-office
at Reading (now Harrisburgh), or to wait a few
years longer until they had completed a settle
ment of twenty-one years. The poor people
were ignorant of this last right. The Scotch
man persuaded them that the land was his, as he
had taken the titles from the land-office, but he
would not disturb them if they would acknow
ledge themselves his tenants. The Germans fell
into the snare, and thus from having been real
proprietors of the soil, they became mere renters

Ch,ip. XII.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 177
of plantations, which, after immense labours and
hardships, they had succeeded in clearing and
improving. Houses, barns, everything is now
the property of this "Honourable" impostor.
Of the many poor dupes he thus entrapped, one
alone applied for assistance, but of course in
vain. This was the manner in which the Ho-
nourable President Judge Y  g came into the
possession of more than eighteen thousand acres
of land, with at least thirty farms, two-thirds of
which are stolen property. These spoliations
were at one time so frequent, that they consti
tuted the principal source of wealth of the north
ern lawyers. The lawsuits to which they con
tinue to give rise, are also an inexhaustible mine
of treasure to them.
The commission sales are another. The pro
prietors of lands have to pay their county-taxes,
whether the property be forest or improved. If
the payment of this tax should fall into arrear
for two years, the lands are sold by commission
ers. As many of these proprietors live either in
other States or in foreign countries, and are of
ten without agents, these sales frequently occur.
Speculators buy and resell them as their undis
puted property. The real proprietors, notwith- N

17S THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XO.
Standing the pubhc sale of their lands, are en
titled at any time within twenty-one years to re
claim possession, and to redeem their estates, by
defraying aU the expenses incurred in the sale
and purchase. Numerous suits are the necessary
results of such laws, and the expenses are often
two and three times greater than the actual value
of the soU. I am particularly alluding to Penn
sylvania and the Northern States. In some of
the western, on the other side of the river Ohio,
these proceedings are worse, especially in Ken
tucky, and thousands of families are there robbed
of their property under the sanction of the ex
isting laws. The foreign emigrant is recom
mended to be on his guard in those States where
the lands are not sold by the central government,
or by the land-office, and wherever the smallest
doubt exists as to the soundness of the title, the
safest way is always to apply to the land-office.
From Mr. Noah *, the right worshipful self-
created taxer of his Hebrew brethren, down to
* That the uninformed reader may not suppose that I allude
to the antediluvian Patriarch of this name, I beg to state for
his information, that Mr. Noah is an American Jew who has
recently published a manifesto constituting himself " Judge of
Israel," and in this ancient character, is about to levy taxes on
his Hebrew subjects throughout the world.

Clap. XJI,] OF NORTH AMERICA. 179
the rude country lawyer who became initiated
in the mysteries of Themis and of Blackstone
in the Backwoods, all enjoy themselves at the
expense of others, uncontrolled and absolute in
their dominion. This was not the case fifteen
years ago ; it was then next to impossible for a
gentleman of the bar (in the country at least) to
get elected member of Congress. There is no
doubt that a revolution in America will never
be effected by the bayonet, but by the artifices
of the bar : this new political catastrophe is in
slow but steady progress. As may be supposed,
nineteen out of twenty of their lawyers are under
the influence of Adams, and in possession of
every office of distinction. Their profession is
the high road to the Presidency, the Bureaux of
the Secretaries of the Departments of the sena
torial seats, and of the bench of representatives.
They are in exclusive possession of the depart
ments of justice in all their branches, and in
the absence of an aristocracy they now consti
tute the gentry of the country, and inspire that
sort of respect which is due to men who have
life and property under their almost unbounded
control.

N 2

180 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XIII.

Chapter XIII.
The Merchant — The Storekeeper — The Pedlar.
It must have been a curious spectacle for the
people of Kingston and of Jamaica in general,
some years ago, immediately before the opening
of their ports, to have seen American vessels
waiting at the entrance of the harbour, just as
the mob is seen crowding the entrance of a thea
tre to secure the best shilling place, and when
the port was opened, to have beheld these vessels
rushing in, laden with every article of Yankee
husbandry, in the true old republican way, garlics
and onions hanging from the sides, and having
on deck potatoes, cider, apples, peaches, and
well-beloved whisky, just in the order in which
you find them in the green market.
There is not indeed a place too distant, too deso
late, or too dangerous, to deter Jonathan, if by the
voyage he can make a httle money. But notwith
standing this highly adventurous, or as they please
tocaU it, enterprising spirit of their citizens, not
withstanding an extensive sea-coast, excellent

Chap. XIII.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 181
harbours, and a corresponding mercantile govern
ment, whose every measure is .directed to encou
rage adventurous habits, the balance is still
against them ; they are falling off every year, the
population becomes poorer, and the commerce is
rather an evil than a blessing. They have not
yet arrived at the point which has been attained,
we need not say by Great Britain, but even by
the less sagacious Dutchman, that of enjoying a
trade and a credit beneficial to the community,
as it is to the individuals, and which possesses
the confidence of their fellow-citizens, and of
foreigners. One might at first be inclined to ascribe this
want of confidence to the swarms of foreigners
who have settled in the United States, and
who, in their progress from extreme poverty to
wealth, might be supposed to have been guilty
of such practices as would destroy or endanger
the commercial credit. No such thing : they are
generally very circumspect, and are among the
steadiest people (in the American sense of the
word), in so far that they would rather sell their
country than hazard the object for which they
came to the Union— Money.
The cause of the discredit into which Ame-

182 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. xni.
rica has fallen, may be found in our Yankees
themselves, and in that Hebrew spirit which is
unfortunately fostered and encouraged by the
government. It is a curious fact, which fully
justifies the little confidence placed in the Ame
rican mercantile character, that they are actually
apprehensive of passing a bill which might have
the effect of curtailing the facility afforded to
bankruptcies, leaving these regulations to our
well-known honesty. Though a motion was
made during the last session of Congress, for in
troducing such a law, and has been repeated this
session, yet it was not proceeded in, but was again
laid on the table, and we must of course indulge
a hope that it will lay there for several years,
either until their credit is entirely gone, or they
begin to love themselves less.
There are gentlemen, especially in the highly
fashionable city of New York, who do not hesi
tate to begin a business with a capital of ten
thousand dollars, which would require at least ten
times the sum ; but as something more is requisite
for a merchant than mere Yankee tricks, the re
sult is a failure. This, however, does not put his
enterprising spirit out of countenance, and he
next tries his fortune in Charlestown, establishes

Chap, xiu.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 183
himself with the assistance of friends who are his
securities, and with the wreck of his property,
and again fails in the following year. On he
goes to New Orleans, and meeting there with
a similar fate, he moves back to Mobile. Some
time ago a Mr. H  having failed in New
Orleans, he was asked why he did not go to the
North ; " Where should I go" he replied inge
nuously, " I have failed in Boston and in Charles
town, I might still go to Savannah, but I will try
my luck in Mobile." A number of the first-rate
houses in New York, Philadelphia, and New
Orleans, have failed several times. This is consi
dered as a mere trifle, they take another partner
and begin again.
However hazardous may be the speculation, the
wholesale merchants are not deterred from em
barking in it. An adherence to one line of busi
ness, as was formerly the case with the English or
with the Dutch, and even with the Germans, is
quite out of the question with this commercial
people : they would '^ make haste to be rich,"
In Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, the
merchants are acquiring a better character for
steadiness. New York, however, stiU takes the
lead among the adventurous. They will yet have

184 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XIII.
to endure nmny a shock before they are brought
to comprehend that bank-notes are not eagles*,
and that a fictitious capital is not real.
To a merchant possessed of a moderate capi
tal, the United States no doubt present a flatter
ing prospect. Perfect security for property, a
firmly established government, unlimited com
merce with almost every nation in the world,
moderate taxes, the certainty of a fair profit in
steady commercial speculations, are considera
tions and inducements sufficiently attractive for
the honest and enterprising young merchant, and
such prospects are not held out by any other
country. The foreigners I am acquainted with
here, with very few exceptions, have succeeded
beyond their most sanguine hopes. New Orleans
in particular may be recommended to wholesale
and commission merchants on their first esta
blishment in business. Of the state of commerce
in this city we intend to speak more at length.
What the wholesale merchant is in the maritime
cities, the storekeeper is in the country, a re
spected and influential member of the common
wealth. The storekeeper generally begins with
very scanty means, not exceeding one thousand
* A gold coin often dollars.

Chap. XIII] OF NORTH AMERICA. 185
dollars : as soon as he is provided with a license,
he repairs to Philadelphia, Baltimore, or New
York, where auctions afford him an opportunity
of obtaining whatever is adapted to his wants.
His goods are loaded and sent home, a store has
been previously taken, the goods are put in
order, and he commences his establishment as a
second-rate merchant, or, as he is designated, a
storekeeper. His store should contain gro
ceries, such as brown and loaf sugar, tea, spices ;
pottery and glass, as plates, pots, tumblers, glasses,
bottles ; cutlery, knives, forks, scissors, &c. ;
locks and ironmongery of every description —
hats, bonnets, boots, shoes, tin-wares, drugs,
paintings, dyeing stuffs ; all the appendages of a
country toilette, shawls, ribands, linen, muslins,
imitation Leghorn hats, brushes, all in peaceable
company with hams, butter, cheese, whisky,
brandy, gin, home-distilled wines> and a thousand
other things, qu(e nunc prescribere longum est.
The country people have of course to pay twice
the price demanded for the same article in Phila
delphia. The storekeeper, however, cannot ex
pect to be paid for his goods in cash, and is
obliged to barter, if he wishes to have business.
Flour, rye, wheat, whisky, maple-sugar, venison,

186 THE UNITED STATES [Cl«p. XIII.
hams, pork, beef, eggs, butter, cheese, &c., are the
articles he takes in return. His object is to sell
these on the most advantageous terms, either
in the town or in a sea-port. When his goods
are sold, he again repairs to New York, Phila
delphia, or any other convenient city, to renew
his purchases. It is quite common with this
class of people to amass, in the space of four
or five years, a fortune of from ten to fifteen
thousand dollars, without having any other no
tion of business than that of buying cheaply
and selling to a profit : they never hazard any
thing, provided they give no credit. Their ex
penses are trifling ; the license is fifteen dollars,
the charges of conveyance from Baltimore to
Wheeling, a distance of upwards of three hun
dred miles, amounts to three dollars for every
hundred weight, tolls included.
If, however, brother Jonathan is not possessed
of adequate means, he begins business as a pedlar,
with a bundle under his arm of the value of from
one to four pounds : these industrious people are
seen moving about with neckerchiefs, penknives,
and such articles for sale. Their mode of prais
ing their ware is so unique, that it is really to
be lamented that this eloquence should be thrown

Chap. XILI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 187
away on such trifling objects. Brother Jona
than exhibits on these occasions, a patience truly
singular ; he will listen for half an hour to the
oratory of his vagrant fellow-sovereign, will ex
amine the goods, put them carefully back again
in their former places, and turn his back without
uttering a syllable. Our pedlar, however, is by
no means discouraged ; with the same ready elo
quence he makes a second attack. One of these
peripatetic Yankee merchants once offered to
sell me a nutmeg ; I was about to pay him,
when it occurred to me to try it with my
penknife. It was made of walnut-wood in so
good an imitation, as to baffle detection unless
tried with a knife. " Stop, Sir, there is another
one," interrupted the Yankee, afraid of a further
trial. I took it in order not to discompose the
fellow, who in such cases was provided with one
genuine amongst several imitations.
When the itinerant dealer has sold his goods,
he procures a new stock, and in this way he goes
on until industry transforms the pedlar with
a bundle at his back, into the owner of a cart
with a pony. He continues in this way, tiU he is
able to settle himself in a county-town as a store
keeper, or to take up another mode of living.

188 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XIII.
We are now approaching the most numerous
as well as the most solid and respectable class of
society in the United States of North America,
viz., the farmers, who enjoy, in the full sense of
the word, that moral liberty which others are de
prived of through their own selfishness or their
ambition.

Chap. XIV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 189

Chapter XIV.
The Farmer.
If you are desirous of beholding the elegant
farm which combines every species of agricul
tural pursuit, and exhibits, especially in the breed
of cattle, a high degree of perfection, you may
go to Massachusets, Rhodisland, and New York,
and you will even find in the environs of Boston,
Providence, and New York, farms rivalling those
of England, although a smaller capital is em
ployed upon them.
If you wish to see the solid farmer who prides
himself upon shewing his lands in the most im
proved state, you should visit the German-Ame
rican about Germantown, Reading, Lebanon,
and Lancaster in Pennsylvania ; and you readily
discover the traits of German descent in a breed
of horses more robust, but less elegant, and in a
less degree of attention to the breed of cattle, but
you will see fields highly cultivated and pro
tected by substantial fences, together with sohd
farm-buildings.

190 THE UNITED STATES " [fh^P XIV.
The poor German or Irish settler, whose hard
beginning is neither favoured by capital, nor by
property acquired by inheritance, and who has
no other resources than his faithful axe, and the
labour of himself and of his wife, will be found
in the north-eastern part of Pennsylvania. In
cessant hard labour, during twenty-five years,
though it has left him a contented, has not made
him a wealthy, freeholder. His industrious ha
bits have become natural, and though in the pos
session of two or four hundred acres of land, and
perhaps more, he undergoes the same fatigues
and toils as at his first outset. Many of these
people came twenty or twenty-five years ago to
America, and were sold as redemptionists ; in a
few years they earned their freedom, and their
first business was to marry, and in the company
of their buxom wives to travel to the western
part of Pennsylvania. There, perhaps, they found
an unsettled tract of land, became naturalized,
and after a few years they took out the fee-simple
from the land-office, and thus grew into inde
pendent freeholders.
The gentleman farmer lives in a style of proud
hospitahty ; a tobacco planter on the James river
(in Virginia), surrounded by a herd of slaves

Chap. XIV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 191
whom he is now selling, like a true aristocrat, to
Louisiana, his lands beginning to be exhausted
by frequent tobacco crops.
His descent from four or five ancestors who
before him were possessed of this plantation,
and having a certain number of tenants to whom
he leases small parcels of poor lands which he
cannot turn to any account, and who always
appear before him with hat in hand, are circum
stances which have contributed to give him an
idea of self-importance, have tended to disturb
his notions of republicanfreedom, and to establish
in his mind the firm conviction, that his own will
is to be the supreme law to all who are so happy
as to come into contact with so consequential a
personage. There is nothing repugnant to his feelings in
the thought of transforming his plantation into
a lordship. He declares, without disguise, that
Virginia and its appendages, the other twenty-
three States, will never be happy unless the con
stitution of Great Britain be introduced, at least
so far as relates to Lords and Commons. In
this case he would condescend to accept the title
and dignity of a lord, leaving the Commons to

192 THE UNITED STATES t^^hap. XIV.
his poor d  s of neighbours, the people of
Pennsylvania and New York,
However great has been the progress of agri
culture in New England, New York, Pennsyl
vania, in many points, Ohio and Illinois have got
the start of them. Nowhere will the energy
and enterprising spirit of the American farmer
be seen to such advantage as in the latter States,
Nature has destined Pennsylvania rather for a
manufacturing country, owing to its inexhausti
ble mines of coal, iron-ore, and perhaps precious
metals. New York and the New England States
are invited to commercial pursuits by the vicinity
of the Atlantic shores, whereas the inhabitants
of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, must of necessity
be farmers. And if we are to judge from what
has been done in the thirty-six years of the set
tlement of these States, farming will obtain in it
the highest degree of perfection.
It is truly astonishing what the labour of a
few years, and, comparatively speaking, of a
few hands, has performed in these countries. He
who traverses the colossal maple, and beech
forests of Ohio, will often unexpectedly enter a
lane which runs deep into the woods and indi-

Chap. XIV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 193
cates a farm. The fences are quite new ; the
fields bear a striking resemblance to a decaying
forest, the immense trees had been kUled in the
preceding spring by means of a wide ring cut
into the bark to prevent the rising of the sap.
Between these withered trees Welshcorn is
planted, which, notwithstanding the branches
that are strewed upon the ground, and the luxu
riant growth of underwood and weeds of every de
scription, springs up with astonishing rapidity. A
second lane brings you to the humble mansion of
the farmer; and judging from the grayish aspect
of the fences, and of the barkless trees, whose
feebler branches having disappeared, stretch their
giant arms into the air in proud memorial of their
former gi:andeur, you will conclude this land
has been under improvement for two years. The
finest wheat grows between the trees, and rises
to the height of a man. As you advance, the
ridge declines into bottom lands, and the mea
dows appear. Here the trees are partly kiUed,
partly verdant, to protect the grass from the rays
of the sun. On the other side are the orchard
newly laid out, parcels of land for hemp and flax,
and close to the house the kitchen-garden. The
dweUing-house is buih with logs, having the
o

194 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XIV.
intervals fiUed up with loam and gravel inter
mixed with lime, and generally contains no more
than one room. The chimney on the outside is
either built of stone or of wood, in which latter
case the interstices are also filled up so as to
resist the fire.
The inside of the house, or rather of the room,
shows the cleanliness and economy of the in
cipient settler, who has for the present renounced
all idea cf comfort. On the walls of this room,
which also serves for a kitchen, close to the
chimney the culinary utensils are suspended ;
these are followed by horse-whips, one or two
rifles, and the wardrobe of the farmer and his
wife. The walls are covered with old news
papers in lieu of tapestry, and they may help to
pass away your time for an hour or two. The
huge connubial bed is placed in the background,
and below that, one of smaller dimensions for the
younger members of the family. Round the
house runs a fence, outside of which, at some
distance, is the double log-barn for threshing,
with a large aperture, instead of a door, for taking
in the grain. Under this barn are the stables for
cattle and horses, and on each side are smaller
receptacles for corn, with two or three pigsties ;

Chap. XIV] OF NORTH AMERICA. 195
the chickens, turkeys, and hogs, which are not
intended for fattening, pass the night in the
woods. These improvements are the work of
two years.
The possessor of this farm is a German or an
Anglo-American, Yankee, New Yorkian, or
Pennsylvanian. After the decease of his father
he inherited a fifth part of the farm lands, his
brothers having each an equal share, the daugh
ters receiving theirs in money. He improved
his inheritance by erecting, with the assistance
of his neighbours and relations, the necessary
farm buildings, and by turning his inheritance
to the best possible account. By-and-by, how
ever, his family increased, as he, like his Yankee
brethren, had lost no time in marrying. He re
solves, therefore, upon settling in the west. A
purchaser for his property being found, and the
necessary money provided, he mounts a good
horse, and starts for the Western States. The
journey there and back may be between fifteen
hundred and two thousand miles, but this is no
obstacle to him. If relations have settled before
him in the west, he takes care to call upon them,
in order to obtain information about the quality
of land. If he has no connexions there, he is
O 2

196 THE UNITED STATES tChap. XIV.
provided with a map, and searches for such as
are best suited to his purpose, and with which he
is sufficiently acquainted by the official accounts
of surveyors, and by the information of his coun
trymen. He may rely on meeting everywhere the warm
est encouragement to settle. Distrustful, how
ever, of the sincerity of his informants, who
generally praise their lands in the most extra
vagant manner in order to attract settlers, he
examines everything himself, preferring to sleep
for some nights under the canopy of heaven,
rather than trust their interested praise.
If an Anglo-American, he will be determined
in the selection of the spot he is in search of,
not only by its fertility, but by the vicinity of a
river, or at least of a creek, which affords him
the prospect of erecting future mills or manufac
tories ; coal mines are equally objects of his
search. If he be of German descent, he will
probably seek only for good land, without con
sidering that, though he may be likely to raise
more produce, he will sell to less profit than his
more prudent neighbour.
Having at last found the desired tract, and
which has not yet been bought by a land specu-

Chap. XIV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 197
lator or by another settler (a circumstance he
ascertains from the next farmer), he repairs to
the land-office, and pays two hundred and sixty-
six dollars, one-third of the price for a section
of six hundred and forty acres — if he purchases
two sections, then double that sum. Having
settled this business, he returns, and having sold
his farm of fifty acres at the rate of thirty dollars
per acre, the common price for middle land in
the Eastern States, he has a capital of fifteen
hundred dollars. His grain, his cattle, his fur
niture, are disposed of at an auction held in his
house, and produce him a thousand dollars more.
Out of the sale of his property, thus amoilnting
to two thousand five hundred dollars, he may
expect at least one half in ready money. His
most necessary domestic or kitchen utensils, his
furniture, bedding, together with flax, hemp, and
wool, for the employment of the women during
the winter evenings, and some dozens of hams,
with cheeses, the necessary supply of tea, coffee,
and sugar, half a barrel of whisky, dried apples
and peaches, are all loaded on two waggons,
having each two or more horses. With this
equipage he starts for his new settlement. The
passengers consist of himself, his wife, probably

198 THE UNITED STATES ICh^P- XIV.
two or three grown daughters, as many sturdy
lads, and two or three children, generally form
ing together a family of from nine to ten mem
bers. The expenses of the journey are comparatively
trifling. The provisions, such as meat, bread,
Indian corn for the horses, are sold to them in
taverns, always at the market price. They pre
pare their own meals, and use their own bedding
on the journey. These emigrations are so nu
merous, that the tavern-keepers seldom dare to
take advantage of the travellers, impatient as the
landladies may sometimes be at the girls running
about their premises. When they start, the sons
carry their rifles, and kill such game as they may
find by the way ; the daughters are knitting on
the waggons, or walking by the side of them,
dressed in a clean, and often in an elegant, attire.
After a journey of from three to four weeks, they
arrive at the land of promise. They usually set
out in the beginning of autumn, the finest season
in North America.
On their arrival, accommodations for the first
week are found at the next farm. The farmers
with their sons, for the distance of from four to
five mUes, are invited to the frolic (as it is

Chap. XIV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 199
termed) of cutting down timber, an invitation
they never decline. From forty to fifty axes
resound in the woods ; the timber is prepared in
a few days, and the log-cabin is erected at the
place determined upon, which is always, if pos
sible, near a spring. The neighbouring farmers
and their sons who assist, are treated with plenty
of whisky and provisions. The roofing and the
building of the chimney are left to the new settler.
Boards for the floor and the ceiling are procured
from the next saw-mill, and in a few weeks the
house is ready to receive its new inmates. The
windows and doors are finished after they have
taken possession of the house. In the mean
time, the bed-linen and the under garments of
the female part of the family serve for windows,
until the carpenters (who are now to be found
everywhere) have finished their work.
The next principal care of the settler, is to
clear as many acres as are thought necessaiy to
satisfy the demands of the ensuing year. Having
at least one thousand two hundred and fifty
dollars out of the sale of his property, of which
he applies five hundred and thirty-three dollars
in payment of the first-third of his two sections,
he has now six hundred doUars after deducting
his traveUing expenses : with this sum he wiU

200 THE UNITED STATES [CH»p. XIV.
be able to perform much in the way of improve
ment. For the clearing of one acre, which is
effected, as we have stated, by ringing the trees to
destroy vegetation, he pays from three to four
dollars — for a hundred fencing rails, twenty-five
cents — and to a journeyman for a day's work a
similar sum. With one hundred dollars he may
clear before the next spring about twenty or thirty
acres, and surround them with fences. This is
sufficient for the first year.
Generally he divides the cleared lands into
three parts ; the first is allotted to Indian corn,
the principal object with an American farmer,
the second to summer wheat, the third is appro
priated partly to meadows, and the rest is planted
with potatoes, hemp, and flax. The laying out
of an orchard is reserved for the following year.
He procures cattle without delay, and is enabled
to keep them at little expense during the winter ;
in the spring, summer, and fall, they find suffi
cient food in the woods. The neighbours, four
weeks after his arrival, are again invited to assist
him in the erection of a barn, and from fifty to
sixty youths join in this "frolic," in return for
which act of complaisance he is likewise -to ap
pear with his sons if called upon.
The expenses of his household are not very

Chap. XIV.) OF NORTH AMERICA. 201
great, though he has to buy almost everything,
a circumstance which is always a great drawback
to a farmer. With a hundred bushels of corn,
he will be able to keep four horses till the next
harvest, and with one hundred doUars more he
provides for the necessities of his household.
Want of occupation is what neither he nor his
family can have to complain of. During the
winter the upper room is put in order, if a snow
falls they go out hunting, and seldom return
without having killed a deer, or at least some
wild turkeys. The females remain spinning,
weaving, and knitting for the family, who, for
the subsequent two years, wear only home-made
clothes — the winter passes on with these and
similar occupations. Their peace is seldom inter
rupted, unless the cows, which they have bought
from a neighbouring farmer, have strayed, or re
turned to their former home. This is generaUy
an occasion of trouble twice in every week.
As spring approaches, they proceed to clear
the lands. When this is done they commence
sowing corn, wheat, and grass seeds. The inter
mediate time between sowing and harvest, is
employed in eradicating underwood, which is
done by ploughing with a single horse between

202 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XIV.
the rows of maize. The harvest yields the
farmer at least sixty times his seed, and he has
raised upwards of four hundred bushels of wheat,
six hundred bushels of Indian corn, and sufficient
hay for his horses. The first and most difficult
year is over.
Before the next autumn he can with ease clear,
at least, from fifty to sixty acres, which are again
divided and improved in the manner we have
stated. He now thinks of laying out his or
chard, for which he reserves from three to four
acres. His capital is already doubled, and his
lands, two sections of which cost him one thou
sand six hundred dollars, he wpuld not part with
for less than three thousand. In this way he
improves his estate, and increases his wealth the
more rapidly, as his enterprising industry is nei
ther checked by the prejudice of established
usage, repressed by timidity, nor over-ruled by
arbitrary power.
If we proceed three or four miles further on,
the next farm will exhibit, in the clearest light, a
proof of what the estate we have just described
will be in the course of six or seven years. The
underwood and huge barkless trees are gone from
the fields adjoining the house, though in the

Chap. XIV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 203
more distant part of the farm they are still seen.
Two hundred acres of the best lands are cleared
and covered with beautiful wheat, corn, grass,
tobacco, and other products of a more southern
climate. For oats and rye the soil is too strong,
they grow too rapidly, and even the potatoes are
not mealy.
The original rude fences have been replaced by
a more elegant and solid enclosure of the fields
next to the farm-house and the orchard. The
house is surrounded with a light railing, which
encloses aneat kitchen and peach-garden, through
which a wide avenue from thirty to forty feet
long leads to the double steps which terminate
in a staircase : the entrance is frequently sup
ported by pillars. The American farmer is never
deterred by that modesty in his building plans,
which distinguishes those of other countries. He
will build his house in the same style as the Pre
sident, who is like himself a farmer. There are
farm-houses erected in the Gothic, Italian, or
Greek styles, just as the taste or fancy of their
possessors may dictate.
The inside of the house shows wealth and
comfort, without any strict adherence to the
rules of fashion. The parlour is carpeted : in-

204 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XIV.
stead of the rude chimney, where wood formerly
was consumed, you observe the elegant iron
coal grate, the sine qua non of an American fire
side. A sofa, a dozen of imitation Windsor
chairs, a sideboard covered with four or five
bottles containing rum, whisky, brandy, gin,
ingredients for the much-beloved doddy, and a
looking-glass above the mantel-piece, constitute
the furniture of the parlour : the rest of the
house is fitted up in an equal style of comfort.
The same man who eight years ago was hardly
worth three thousand dollars, has now a property
of twenty thousand, for which he is indebted to
an enterprising industry, and to a magnanimous
renunciation of most of the comforts of life for
six months. This is the mode pursued by thou
sands, and aided by a sound understanding and an
active and persevering spirit, it will always lead
to the same results — wealth and independence.
The Englishman reproaches the American far
mer for his wandering, or rather his adventu
rous, disposition. That the Yankee merchant,
the lawyer, the physician, the speculating board
ing-schoolmistress, with her niece or daughter on
her hands, should emigrate to the land of promise,
the cities of New Orleans and Natchez, in spite

Chap. XIV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 205
of the yellow fever, which not unfrequently car
ries off some thousands of these vagrants, does
not excite his wonder; but when he sees the
steady and respectable farmer, quitting, without
hesitation, his native place, his relations, all
the dearest social ties, and removing to a dis
tance — not of fifty or a hundred, but of six or
eight hundred miles — this he conceives argues an
adventurous, restless, and erratic disposition,
which only looks to self-advantage. The cor
rectness of this opinion, I think, will have been
disproved, by the specimen the reader has just
had of difficulties overcome, and comfort esta
blished. Did the American yield to excessive
sensibility, either in personal or local attach
ments, the beautiful plains of the west would
remain unoccupied and deserted. That John
Bull does not quite relish brother Jonathan's
establishment in the western and south-western
parts of the Union, especially toward the Pacific
Ocean, is well known, though his declamatory
vituperations may be less owing to his moral
sensibilities, than to a certain patriotic aversion
not yet entirely subdued. This, however, is un
generous ; for in spite of all trifling discussions
and bickerings, John Bull is now a greater fa-

206 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XIV.
vourite with Jonathan than ever ; and if John
is wise he wUl neither break oft' from his kins
man, which could be of no advantage to him, nor
treat him with a contempt which he does not
deserve. To return to our farmer. His taxes are
trifling ; the two most important are the county
and the road-tax. The first is destined to defray
the judicial and other expenses of the county,
and its amount is from a half, to one and two
cents per acre, most of which tax is paid in county
bills which the farmer receives as a recompense
for his attendance as juryman and for other ser
vices. The road-tax is only paid in case he
should refuse to work in person, or by means of
his servants on the public roads. The only
serious difficulty to which the American farmer
has been exposed during the last six years, and
which rendered his situation less favourable, is
the want of a market for his produce. As long
as wars continued, America, from its neutrality,
became to a certain extent the granary of Europe.
As the exportations of flour amounted in the
year 1817, to nearly twenty millions of dollars,
the farmer found a ready demand, and by means
of the vast water communications, his produce

Chap. XIV] OF NORTH AMERICA. 207
could be easily transported to a maritime town.
These times are past, and the change has been
for the worse, the export of flour declining from
twenty to four millions. The sea-ports are ac
cordingly over-stocked with pork, beef, and flour,
to an immense amount. In New Orleans the
farmer of Ohio and Kentucky, Indiana or Illi
nois, may have a better chance of a market, but
even in the spring of the year 1826, flour was to
be had in abundance at two and a half and three
dollars a barrel. However great may be the in
crease of population in cities, it is not in propor
tion to the supply.
Notwithstanding these disadvantages, how
ever, the farmers have still considerable re
sources, of which they make but an indifferent
use. The breeding of cattle and sheep will
always secure a considerable return. These latter,
even in the Northern States, have been too much
neglected, though an improvement is commenc
ing in their sheep, by crossing them with the
Saxon breed, purchased at a very high price,
from two to four hundred dollars a head. Cider
and whisky are generally sold at good prices ;
and the two canals between the river Ohio and
Lake Erie, with the great canal of New York,

208 THE UNITED STATES IChap. XIV.
and the growth of silk, which it is intended to
promote, as we find by a report of the Secretary
of the Treasury, cannot fail to give a new impulse
to the agricultural population of the Union.
What principally distinguishes the American
farmer from the farmers of other countries, is
the circumstance that his agricultural pursuits
never make him lose sight of the citizen and
republican. Three objects engage his particular
attention : his country and its offices — the State
which he inhabits with its representatives, sena
tors, and governor — and, finally, the Congress of
the Union. The other States are only of interest
to him, as he may be connected with them in
any occurrence, or as they come in collision with
his own. The affairs of foreign countries, with
the exception of England, are indifferent to him.
He claims not only the right to elect his own
officers and magistrates, but to prescribe to them
(in meetings convened for the occasion) the mea
sures they are expected to adopt, watching their
proceedings with the distrustful eye of a true
republican. His deficiency of knowledge in poli
tical affairs, he supplies by a due portion of sus
picion: this is especiaUy directed against lawyers;
and whatever character and forms they may

Chap. XIV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 209
assume for a time, his common sense never fails
to detect and to see things in their true light.
He obliges the member of the Assembly and
Congress to lay before him, in particular cases,
the questions to be decided upon. From the
constable up to the President, he is accustomed to
consider his magistrate as the public servant,
who is bound to act according to the public will.
If a functionary fail in his duty, meetings are
convened, proceedings are organized, and reso
lutions passed either in approval or disapproba
tion of his conduct. All this is done in a style
of perspicuity, the very reverse of diplomatical.
These resolutions pass from country papers to
numberless others. His independence is greatly
nourished by his solitary mode of living in the
woods, (his residence being at a distance of from
one to two miles from his nearest neighbour,)
a course of life which originated in necessity
and at last became familiar to him. A more
populous neighbourhood would be painful to his
love of independence, and he would rather re
nounce all intercourse with his neighbours, than
alter his unsocial habits. ViUages are inhabited
by journeymen, trades-people, tavern-keepers,
blacksmiths, &c., who hold small parcels of land,
P

SIO THE UNITED STATES fChap.XlV.
but from whom the farmer, properly so called,
lives at some distance. After the lawyers, the
farmers and planters are the most numerous in
the Congress of the United States. It is much to
be wished, however, that their knowledge would
keep pace with their independence and industrious
habits, as the distance between them and their
co-senators the lawyers, is much too dispropor-
tioned. They maintain the same spirit of independ
ence in respect to all other professions, and
firmly adhere to their own mode of life, drinking,
if necessary, tea raised on their own lands, and
speedily adjusting disputes with their neighbours,
thus baffling storekeepers and lawyers. Even
the ties which unite him to his preacher are not
very binding, to whose support, if he be not
pleased, he refuses to subscribe ; he will read his
Bible at home, or choose another meeting-house-
In short, he may be considered as an independent
man ; than whom, no one enjoys more liberty in
its widest sense, or is more conscious of his self-
importance.

Chap. XV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 21 1

Chapter XV.
The Militia.
Little as the American cares about titles and
distinctions unless they are connected with the
main-spring of all his actions, money-making, he
is not indifferent to the title of captain, major, or
colonel of the militia, and he seldom refuses these
honours when offered to him, although his years
might excuse him from military service. Every
citizen, from the age of twenty-one to forty-five,
is obliged to serve in the militia: none are ex
empt but magistrates, the clergy, physicians, and
teachers. The opulent join volunteer compa
nies, the less wealthy attach themselves to rifle
corps, while the poor, and those less fond of
military parade, are enrolled in the militia of their
country. The volunteers in their appearance
differ very little from the regulars, and are con
sidered to have a very martial air. They wear
blue uniforms, a ci-devant hat transformed into
a czacko with a cockade, and home-made sashes;
these, and epaulettes made of a piece of sheep-
P 2

212 the united states [Chap. xv.
skin, pantaloons, and Monroe boots, a musket,
and a sabre, complete the equipment of a volun
teer. The officers are rather better dressed, with
sashes and silver epaulettes; the serjeant has
the latter of an immense size, of tinsel. The
rifleman wears a cotton dress, with white or red
lace, a fur cap, pantaloons and shoes, a hunting-
pouch instead of the cartridge-box, an immense
powder-horn, and a poignard by his side. The
officers wear the same dress, but of finer mate
rials. The mUitia-men appear in their common
dress, with their rifles, and frequently with a
stick. The standard is procured at the expense
of the county, the ladies supplying the ribands.
When the officers are chosen, a time and place
are appointed, the latter generally a tavern, at
which the militia are to meet. The subalterns and
captains are chosen by their companies, the majors
by the battalion, the colonels by the regiments,
and the brigadier-generals by the brigade. The
election of the staff officers is confirmed by the
governor, as Commander-in-chief of the State
militia. At the election of officers, the vote of
the common soldier is equivalent to that of the
major, who at the next election may happen to
be in the ranks as a private.

Chap. XV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 213
The officer elected never fails to show his gra
titude for the honour done to him, by treating the
voters with a quantity of whisky or brandy, suf
ficient to make many of them miss both horse
and road, and take up a night's lodging in a turn
pike ditch. Every captain has the right to call
out his men for field exercise. It would not,
however, be advisable in him to make too fre
quent a use of his privilege, unless he wishes
to be turned again into a militia-man in the
following year. Two fifes and as many drums
constitute the whole of the military band. Bri
gade reviews are held twice a year, and every
militia-man has to appear on these occasions,
unless he chooses to pay a fine. The Washing
ton guards, the county volunteers and guards,
riflemen, and the rest of the militia, all appear
together at these reviews. The staff-officers ar
rive on horseback, and are dressed in blue, with
immense scarfs not unlike the grand cordon
of a military order, large epaulettes, and a sword
left behind by some Enghsh dragoon, and either
round or three-cornered hats, according to the
taste of the wearers.
The brigade being assembled, they put them
selves in motion, first parading through the town.

214 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XV.
and if there is but one street, they march three
or four times up and down, and then on an open
space, where they exhibit their progress in mili
tary evolutions. If one or two companies hap
pen to keep in something like military order, the
rest do all they can to bring the whole again into
confusion, in spite of every remonstrance from
the officers. Brother Jonathan is too fond of
his liberty not to avail himself even of this op
portunity to manifest it. The defects of military
science are supplied by dexterity in shooting
at a mark, and among two thousand riflemen
in the interior of the country, there are hardly
five hundred who are not capable of shooting a
squirrel at the distance of eighty yards.
Some years ago a Frenchman from N  ,
accompanied by his lady, came to see me. He
had served as an officer under Buonaparte. We
went in a carriage to the review of N  county.
The Frenchman thought the evolutions abomina
ble, and indeed the men were all stumbling and
marching in the utmost disorder and confusion,
talking, smoking cigars, and even taking drams
from the bottles they carried about them, without
the least attention from the officers to such unmili-
tary practices ; which were truly disgusting to the

Chap. XV.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 215
eye of our Frenchman. An hour's rest to the
troops gave him an opportunity of opening his
mind to the brigadier. " Well, well," replied the
American, " still we could beat you Frenchmen,
and I will show you how." The riflemen came for
ward and began shooting at a mark. After twenty-
five had discharged their rifles, the Frenchman,
who at first indignantly shook his head, expressed
his opinion that in such a Backwood country as
Pennsylvania, riflemen, though they were no
soldiers, could be of some use.
Captain B  , a young lawyer, desirous of
showing to his lady the extent of the authority
with which he was invested, commanded his
troops to march at a time when the guards were
regaling themselves with twelve bottles of porter ;
he ordered them immediately to be taken away.
" D — n," exclaimed his men, " he shan't take
our porter from us again." Accordingly Cap
tain B  turned out next year as a com
mon militia-man, and so general was his unpopu
larity in consequence of the act, that he also
faUed in his electioneering campaign for the
Assembly of the State.
It is much to be wished, however, that the
higher ranks in the militia were filled by

216 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XV.
men, who, besides other qualifications, had at
least some notion of the military science. At
present the Union can place very little reliance
on the one million eight hundred thousand
militia-men, as is sufficiently proved by the war
of 1812, and the numerous reverses during its
continuance. As Jacksons and cotton bales
are not to be found everywhere, it would be but
just, as well as politic, to place the flower of the
American population on such a footing, as to
inspire other nations with some respect, and
prevent the militia from being any longer a
laughing-stock to foreigners who visit the coun
try. If the mob of Philadelphia have shown of
what they are capable, by 'choosing the hostler
Pluck for a colonel of a regiment, and by com
pelling Governor Shulze to approve their choice,
we do not quarrel with them for the absurdity ;
but if the better classes of society can find the
broom and corn sticks of the militia-men, and
the periwigs and mock dresses of their colonel,
so very entertaining, we must be permitted to
judge of their understanding accordingly. That
the militia system must be reformed, is beyond
all doubt ; but if it is proper to effect this refor
mation by turning military rank, already suf-

Chap. XV.) OF NORTH AMERICA. 217
ficiently degraded from the circumstance of every
tavern-keeper being a colonel, into ridicule and
contempt, then the citizens only prove that they
are undeserving the privilege of electing their
own officers.

218 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XVI.

Chapter XVI.
Physicians.
I AM aware that the Americans will take offence
at many things which I have mentioned in the
progress of these pages, but the fault is not
mine. They would fain persuade the world that
their physicians are of the very first order, and
that their medical institutions are even superior to
those of Europe. We know this proneness to ex
aggeration, and it is but fair to correct it. Their
best medical institutions, the Harward, New
York, and Philadelphia Universities, the Bowdoin
and Dartmouth Colleges, are in no respect to
be compared with those of London, Edinburgh,
Vienna, Paris, and Berlin. Several branches,
such as anatomy, materia medica, theoretic and
practical medicine, chemistry, are well taught, and
in these the American physicians have made
some progress ; but this is all that can be said.
Botany, physiology, and the higher branches of
medical science are considered to be superfluous ;
and although these medical or rather surgical

Chap, XVI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 219
institutions are regularly resorted to, the number
of students bears no comparison to the increasing
population ; at the most they but supply the
wants of the larger cities. Boston, New York,
Philadelphia, Baltimore, &c., have experienced
physicians. Several of them have studied in
London or Paris, the greater number in the
American Universities ; and though these latter
might be rather called surgeons than physicians,
yet many of them have acquired by private study
that information which the universities Are not
able to afford them. But the number of physi
cians is wholly inadequate to the demands of the
country, and even in the cities, only the wealth
iest people can apply to physicians, who are paid
for their visits at an enormous price. Persons
of less fortune must therefore resort to family
medicines or to druggists.
In the country, however, there is an evil beyond
all bounds, every quack being freely allowed to
practice. The generality of " doctors," as they
call themselves, are Irishmen or Germans, who
have served in some foreign troops, and who
begin their career either with false testimonials,
or with none. They usuaUy announce them
selves as coming from London, Edinburgh, or

220 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XVI.
Paris, to offer the benefit of their experience to
the inhabitants of the county. If the medical
vagrant happens to be questioned about his cre
dentials, he regrets having lost them during a
stormy passage at sea, but he will write imme
diately for duplicates to the medical faculty in
Paris or Edinburgh, the members of which are all
on most intimate terms with him, and will not fail
to give ample testimonials of his great abilities.
Whatever may be the complaints of his patients,
he never fails to administer his sovereign remedy
' — mercury. The mischief which these quacks are
doing in the country is incredible. An amiable
young couple in A  g county, lost, by the
ignorance of a would-be doctor of this kind, two
of their children in four weeks; the third and last
was at the point of death, when the parents sent
for a physician to Pittsburgh, who restored the
child to health in less than twenty-four hours. I
shall abstain from mentioning any other victims
of these empirics ; suffice it to say that the evil
exceeds aU bounds, and that there is assuredly
no civUized nation where the life and health of
its citizens are less secure than in the United
States of North America.
In the Western States, Ohio, Kentucky, &c.

Chap. XVI.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 221
the physicians, or rather surgeons, have formed
societies after the manner of the clergy, into
which none are received until duly examined and
approved of. Although the knowledge of these
sot disant doctors is confined to a little surgery
and the administering of drugs, this measure has
already been attended with salutary effects to the
States. In the legislature of Pennsylvania, a
motion which had been made on the subject, of
not being allowed to practise without proper tes
timonials, was thrown out.
The foregoing is a short but a true sketch of
a profession so respectable in itself, and so im
portant to the welfare of the human race. To the
scarcity of well-educated medical men, may be at
tributed that mortality which is far greater in the
Union than in any portion of the European con
tinent, Holland excepted. Much of it may be
owing to the variations of climate, manner of
hving, &c. The want of proper physicians how
ever, may be another cause ; but the principal
reason may be found in the ignorance of these
quacks, who, administering nothing but calomel,
destroy a great part of the younger population
when yet in its infancy. Very few Americans
are found to retain their teeth to the age of

222 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XVI.
thirty. Rheumatisms and consumptions are the
frequent and ordinary consequences of perverted
medical treatment.
Few people are more indifferent to the pre
servation of their health. However wilhng an
American may be to pay the exorbitant charges
of his pseudo-doctor, and the expenses of his
sickness, he is reckless of its result. His life
has been exposed to so many hardships, dangers,
and hair-breadth escapes, that he looks with a
certain degree of resignation, or rather apathy,
on its termination ; and even when it has not
been so adventurous, his cold and indifferent
nature never forsakes him in his last moments.

Chap. XVII.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 223

Chapter XVII.
Manufacturers — Tradesmen.
Nothing can exceed the admiration with which
everything from England is regarded by the
Americans. From a pin, to the splendid dress, aU
is universally sought for ; and an American lady
would think herself exceedingly unfashionable, if
she could not sport even a second-hand reticule
from England, and display it to public gaze.
However Jonathan may pride himself upon his
own unlimited freedom, and despise the rest of
mankind whom he deems slaves, to England he
pays the utmost deference, though much against
his inclination, and English manners and (in
fashionable houses) English furniture and dress
prevail to the absolute exclusion of those of
every other nation. In this he differs widely
from the English ladies, who think themselves
quite out of fashion, unless France has contri
buted to their embeUishment. That the supe
riority of England is shewn by this predilection

224 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XVII.
for her manufactures, there can be no doubt ;
and while this predilection exists (and it will exist
so long as American merchants persist in being
the mere brokers of England), her manufactures
wUl always have a decided advantage over do
mestic ones.
But there is another observation to be made,
however unpalatable. Though they may hap
pen to get a tailor for their next P  1, there
is in the southern and south-western States, a
secret pride which scorns every kind of handy-
craft work. To buy every article from other
countries, and to have, as it were, foreign nations
for workmen, is so gratifying to republican pride,
that although money is in the estimation of the
Americans the only object worth living for, they
disregard the advantages resulting from manu
factures, they sell the raw material, and buy the
manufactured articles at three times the value.
To this pride we are indebted for those specimens
of eloquence andsound judgment delivered some
ten years ago in Congress, to the effect that " the
increase of manufactures is not to be encouraged,
because the population would crowd to manu
factories and produce all the evils attendant upon
them, such as debility, sickness, or an enervated

Chap. XVII.] OF NORTH AMERICA. 225
generation." Jonathan is aware that being with
out money he can no longer sustain the part of a
gentleman, and have his tradesmen in Europe ;
he therefore sends a number of Yankee spies
into the manufacturing districts of England, who
acquire as much of the manufacturing system as
they are permitted to do, and having thus ob
tained sufficient information, he is beginning to
establish manufactories after these models.
Massachusets and Pennsylvania may be con
sidered as taking the lead. The cotton and cloth
manufactures of the former, already rival those of
other nations. This latter State has now one
hundred and thirty-six manufactories of different
kinds : New York has nearly the same number,
P.ennsylvania excels in iron, cloth, and glass, al
though the iron wares of this State, cannot yet
vie with those of Great Britain. Of the glass
and cloth manufactories, however, some are found,
such as Bakewell and Co., in Pittsburgh, with
others in Philadelphia and Lancaster, which are
assuredly not inferior to the most improved esta
blishments of the kind. American cloth and
cotton goods are now worn even by fashionables,
and the latter are beginning to be much in vogue.
The advantage which the American commis- 0

226 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XVII.
sion merchant derives from the commerce with
Great Britain, outweighs the interest he would
otherwise take in patronising his own manu
factures. He is mostly inclined to lay out his
capital in mercantile undertakings, or in ship
ping business, leaving internal improvement to
foreigners. The government evince a great desire to pro
mote the manufacturing establishments, and the
tariff of 1824, has already contributed, in a great
measure, to rouse a spirit of enterprise, and to
direct it to that object. To foreign manufac
turers possessing some capital, the United States
can at no time offer so many inducements as at the
present moment. The cheapness of every article
of food, the low rate of wages, and the ready
market presented by the Western States, wiU in
fallibly secure success to such an undertaking.
Two years ago Mr. B  arrived in New
York, from Great Britain. Wanting a new suit
of clothes he was directed to a tailor in Water
Street ; he goes there and has his measure taken,
and in two days his dress is to be sent home. On
the foUowiiig morning he accompanies one of his
friends, a respectable merchant in -the city, to

Chap. XVII.) OF NORTH AMERICA. 227
visit the Mechanics Bank, where he meets his
tailor, with whom his friend enters into close
conversation, and who promises to send him next
morning ten thousand dollars. " What, for
heaven's sake, has my tailor to do with the
Bank?" asked Mr. B  , who had listened to
the coUoquy. " Very much indeed ! he is the
president of it !" A tailor, president of a bank,
having a capital amounting to more than a mil
lion of dollars, was a financial anomaly to the
Englishman ; however, not a word of astonish
ment escaped him. On the next day they went
to the parade of a militia regiment, in which his
friend held the rank of captain. The staff makes
its appearance ; the young Englishman beholds
his tailor dressed as a General, and commanding
with such an air of authority, that on his return
he exclaimed, " I would rather go to the devil
than to this tailor : I should not know how to
address him." " Well," rephed Mr. C  " you
address him as plain Mr. N  and nothing
more." To these functions our tailor adds another of
no less importance, that of a member of the city
council. He still carries on his business, and
has lately taken a partner. Q 2

228 THE UNITED STATES rf'">P- >'VII-
Mr. W  a tailor in the same city, was colonel
of a militia regiment. When on the parade, and
at the head of his regiment, he was asked by one
of his officers " whether his coat was ready ?"
" You may ask me that question when I am in
my workshop, now I am a General. You will
give up your sword, and put yourself under ar
rest." He did so to the no small satisfaction of
his brother officers.
Thus it is all over the Northern States ; and
a coppersmith or a confectioner may keep one
of the most fashionable houses, and receive the
best company in the State, be elected a member
of the Assembly, of the Senate, or of Congress,
and in fact many of the legislative Solons are
carpenters, potters, and masons. There is much
sound judgment in all this. The American will
always be found to proportion his esteem to the
talents, the enterprise, and the success of an in
dividual without distinction, although at first he
may be distrustful and suspicious of the foreigner.
The exemplary pastor will enjoy universal popu
larity ; the eloquent speaker at the bar may be
called his oracle ; while he looks at the mere
lawyer, or preacher, with perfect indifference.
Whosoever combines talents with industry.

Chap, xvil] OF NORTH AMERICA. 229
may be sure of meeting with patronage, and even
with occasional pecuniary assistance. There is
certainly not a nation whose citizens are less
prejudiced against emigrants or foreign artists.
The enterprising, active, and wealthy mechanic,
ranks with the eminent lawyer in the Northern
States, and may aspire to the most distinguished
stations. In the Southern States the case is rather dif
ferent, and lawyers, planters, and merchants, are
treated with a decided preference. As however,
fewer opportunities are afforded for mechanics
to evince very high talents, the less so as their
mental improvement is generally not of the high
est order, they are kept (even in the north) in
that class which is most suited to their situation
in life. This is also the case in other countries,
with this difference, that talents and persever
ing industry may lead in the United States to
wealth, and distinction, and offices ; whereas
elsewhere the mechanic must always remain as
he began.
The majority of tradesmen are stiU English,
French, Irish, and Germans ; and however sure
the skilful mechanic may be of success, he must
not rely upon receiving at first a friendly recep-

230 THE UNITED STATES [Chap.XVll.
tion, or a very hearty welcome ; the astonishing
increase of population having nearly supplied the
deficiency which once prevailed in this respect
in the United States. Architects, surveyors,
masons, and carpenters, are still welcome. Dis
tillers, confectioners, cabinet-makers, and hatters,
acquire an independence in a very few years, and
an enterprising brewer, with a moderate capital
of three thousand dollars, may depend upon being
eventually successful, the more so, as the bever
age called beer in the Union, is generally dele
terious in the highest degree. Even tailors and
shoemakers will frequently make a fortune ; the
former assume commonly the more genteel name
of merchant-tailors. Most of these people, es
pecially if English, become rich in a few years,
change their trade and turn speculators, buying
and selling parcels of lands and houses. On the
other hand, there are in Europe certain trades
which are either unknown or would be very un
successful in America.
It may be taken as a rule, that trades and
handicrafts connected with the immediate wants,
will meet in every part of the Union with encou
ragement and success; but artists who are sub
servient to the luxuries of life, are only in request

Chap. XVII.) OF NORTH AMERICA. 231
in the maritime cities, and even then but so far
as they contribute to that species of refinement
which corresponds with the genius of Anglo-
American, or what is nearly the same — British
luxury.

232 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XVIII

Chapter XVIII.
CoNCLUSlpN.
Although there are in the United States no
regular orders of society, yet as wealth is the
standard by which the worth of every one is
estimated, a higher respect is paid to those pro
fessions which are most likely to attain it. These
are the lawyer and the merchant. There is not
a country where the influence of the former is
greater, for as he is the sole expounder of the
law, he will be often found to wrest it to his
own selfish purposes, there being no supreme
power to control his expositions. In the east,
the clergy, notwithstanding their being entirely
dependant on the people, have much influence,
which shews that wherever wealth is accumulated,
the esprit du corps is invariably the same.
Though the United States exhibit a greater
uniformity of manners than any other nation,
yet there is still found a striking difference
amongst them. In the eastern sea-ports you
will find the manners of an European metropolis.

Chap, xvill.) OF NORTH AMERICA. 233
alloyed by the pride of wealth, which, as it is the
only mark of distinction, is not calculated to en
courage courteous and social habits. In the
central parts, from the Alleghany Mountains down
to Cincinnati, a truly republican character is
more than anywhere conspicuous. It is liberal,
unassuming, ho.spitable, and independent. Fur
ther on we find the half-cultivated indigence of
a rising population.
The different States themselves, vary not less
in their characteristic features ; and a Yankee of
Massachusets is in many respects as dissimilar
to a Kentuckian, as the Irishman differs from a
Scotch highlander. Situation, climate, and oc
cupation, gradually lend a distinct feature to
each separate State ; contending interests also
contribute to establish a character which differs
more or less with that of its neighbour.
The ruling passion of the American is the
love of money. Vain indeed would be the
attempt to vindicate his character on this point ;
with him, worldly prosperity and merit are in-
dissolubly connected. Something, however, may
be conceded to this feeling, when it is considered
as springing from the very nature of his public
institutions ; for in the absence of artificial distinc-

234 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XVI'I.
tions, wealth is the grand passport to public and
private importance.
Though this cupidity is certainly too far ex
tended, and a sordid love of money is every
where prevalent, yet it is but fair to state, that
there is not a people on earth, who, when in pos
session of wealth, make a more beneficial and
liberal use of it. An American, it its true,
will consult his own interest ; he will not hesitate
to sacrifice health and everything dear to him,
and will even not be over-scrupulous in the se
lection of means to accomplish his purpose. But
wealth obtained, he will not only contribute to
the comfort of his family, but to that of the
people in general ; he will not only advance the
improvement of his immediate locality, and en
courage the institutions of his county or state,
but with the same eagerness he will give his sub
scriptions to colleges and churches five hundred
miles distant from his residence, and often in
preference to those around him, if productive of
more beneficial consequences. Thus, as we have
stated, sprung up most of the literary institutions
and churches in the north. There are a thou
sand examples of this liberality.
The liberality of the American, and, what is

Ch.ip. xviII] OF NORTH AMERICA. 235
still better, his sound sense, is nowhere more
striking than in the cities, and the public and
private buildings of the United States,
It is not the mere regularity, the rectangular
main-streets, from sixty to one hundred and
twenty feet wide, the straight lines of elegant
brick buildings in the cities, of brick and frame
houses in the towns and villages, which deserve
admiration ; it is the strict regard, which, even
in the most remote villages of the Union, is
generally paid to the public health and comfort.
The site of the town is either near a river, or in
some other advantageous position : even a vil
lage of one hundred houses has its market
place. The elegant, though mostly simple court
houses, the side-walks, and the general neatness
which, notwithstanding a still visible insufficiency
of means, is everywhere apparent, evince the
soundest views, and the most correct judgment.
It would be worse than narrowness of mind to
expect from a country, only of a political ex
istence of fifty years, the same splendour and
comfort which the English capital and cities
display, and which is the result of a liberal appli
cation of a wealth accumulated during centuries.
In this respect, English cities only are superior

236 THE UNITED STATES [Chap.Xvin.
to the American. As you may discover the mo
narch in the splendid palaces of the Tuilleries,
Versailles, the Louvre, and in the magnificent
royal squares and gardens of Paris, so the small
est American village will serve to indicate that
the sovereignty is in the people. The gorgeous
and often whimsical palaces of royalty you would
seek in vain in the United States; but even Paris
suffers in comparison with the airy, light, com
fortable, and elegant American cities. Of these.
New York is the most splendid. The Broadway,
commanding on the one side a perspective view of
the State House, and the vast expanse of waters,
with the various islands on the other, is unrivalled
for beauty, perhaps, in the whole world. It is
not yet so imposing as Regent Street, or Rue de
la Paix, but it is certainly more elegant, Boston
is the most solid, as it is the most literary and
refined city of the Union ; Philadelphia is the
plainest and most aristocratic. Washington is
laid out in the grandest style, though its comple
tion will, perhaps, never be effected ; but even
Baltimore, Richmond, New Albany, New Or
leans, Cincinnati, are handsome cities. In these,
as everywhere else, the enterprising spirit of the
people is immense.

Chap. XVUI.) OF NORTH AMERICA. 237
On my first tour to the grandest sight in na
ture, the faUs of Niagara, the road from Albany
to the Cataract was nearly a wilderness. When
I passed three years afterwards (1825), the whole
line of the New York Canal teemed with an
industrious population ; one spot was especially
remarkable. In the space of three years, from
a native forest it became an elegant little town,
inhabited by eighteen hundred people*. The
energy of the American, in this respect, is truly
astonishing ; he will leave farm-house, home,
friends, and everything, and seek a better abode.
For this he will surmount every obstacle, face
every danger, and no difficulty nor hardship
deters him from attaining his ends. If he is not
able to sell his property, he will let it lie waste,
and eagerly repair to the better spot which pro
mises more advantage and profit.
Notwithstanding his adventurous enterprise,
there is an economical spirit visible throughout,
of which experience only can form an adequate
idea. The American, in all his undertakings,
goes at once to the main point ; he looks at the
* I have forgotten the name of this place. It may, however,
easily be discovered, as even in America it has excited a lively
and very general interest.

238 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XVIU.
principal end, and endeavours to obtain it in the
cheapest way. This prudent economy is not only
the result of a popular government, where its
functionaries are strictly responsible for the public
expenditure, it is in a greater degree the conse
quence of their origin. They were (as every
nation is in the beginning) poor, and even com
paratively poorer than other nations. They
brought with them when they emigrated to
America, only the most necessary utensils of
common life, and even of these an insufficient
supply. Most of them had to wander into the
interior of the trackless forests destitute of almost
every requisite, and to live with their children
without the most necessary articles of comfort.
Thus they were accustomed to look at things
which even much less enlightened nations cannot
dispense with, as mere trifles, and that axiom of
philosophy, " The fewer the wants the greater
the independence," was the practical result.
The United States will never present the world
with an Escurial, a Versailles, or a Winter Palace,
but their improvements are of a more solid and
of a more beneficial nature. On the Mississippi
alone there are upwards of a hundred steam
boats, more (with the exception of England)

Chap. XVUI.) OF NORTH AMERICA. 239
than the whole continent of Europe can boast
of. They have begun the great national road
from Washington to New Orleans, a distance of
more than thirteen hundred miles, and which,
when continued to Mexico, will be nearly three
thousand. The canals of the Susquehannah, of
Ohio, Delaware, &c., are in progress. The
Lehigh coal mines alone are a work which would
be creditable to England. These, and other public
improvements, are carried on here in a spirit of
liberal economy (if I may so speak) truly praise
worthy. Instead of such immense fortresses as
Ehrenbreitstein, Strasburgh, Cologne, Mentz,
which consumed the income of a whole country
for a series of years, there will be found the small
forts in Louisiana, in the Delaware, in the Poto-
mack, for scarcely one thousand, and some for
not more than five hundred men. But these forts
are laid out on a plan, which proves, that though
the Americans have not been brought up under
a Vaughan, or in the military school at Brienne,
that they know how to build fortresses suited to
their purpose.
This intelligence is stiU more strikingly dis
played in the naval establishment of the Union,
both mercantUe and public. One must have

240 THE UNITED STATES [Ci.ap. XVlll.
seen an American man-of-war, have seen the
elegant compactness of these vessels, the extreme
order and alertness of their seamen, to judge of
them accurately.
Taken on the whole, the American national
character is certainly aspiring, energetic, shrewd,
and intelligent ; but this character, though re
spectable, is not altogether amiable. It is neither
that of the steady, noble, and generous English,
nor has it the sincerity nor the intense feeling
of the German, nor the lively, and even in its
levity, the still amiable disposition of the French.
It exhibits the unnatural picture of a cold phi
losophical youth, united with the worst vice of
age — avarice. There is not a nation, which, ab
stracted from its political institutions, has less
friends, or whose intrinsic powers and excellent
qualities have been more slighted and ridiculed
by English writers. There is but one voice re
specting these insults from Boston down to New
Orleans, from Washington to St. Louis, and it
is that of bitter complaint. The fault is on both
sides. It would be in vain to shelter the Ame
ricans from those faults and vices which we have
already mentioned, and many of which we should
not have expected from English descendants.

Chap. XVUI.] OF NORTH AMERICA, 241
So it would be unreasonable to expect a very
friendly disposition from two nations, the one of
which is in possession of the commerce of the
world, and of the dominion of the ocean, and
the other which aspires to wrest this superiority
from the grasp of Great Britain,
But it must not be disguised that those Eng
lish writers of travels, who speak of the United
States, were generally prejudiced, and always not
qualified to form a correct opinion of this rising
and powerful nation. These writings exhibit, if
not a total want of information, such an absence
of that philosophical research so necessary to give
Englishmen a correct idea of their shrewd and
intelligent rival, that it is not to be wondered at
that so much error and prejudice exist. The re
sult has been highly injurious to the cause of
truth and to the interests of Great Britain. Her
leading Journals, adopting these opinions, have
contributed by their systematic attacks to elevate
and strengthen the national character of the Ame
ricans, and to concentrate its energies against a
country, whose most distinguished literary talents
they see array§d against their advancement. The
national honour and the national feeling, which
would for a while have slumbered, have awakened 11

242 THE UNITED STATES [Chap. XVl;l.
to prove that such sarcasms are unmerited. He
must personally have witnessed through a series
of years, the exasperation, the rankling animosity,
which these attacks, repeated in numberless news
papers, have spread through millions of freemen,
to be a fair judge of their powerful operation on
the American character. They see themselves
slighted by the only nation for whom they have
a real esteem. Though the resources of the
United States are not to be placed in comparison
with those of Great Britain, yet to exasperate the
spirit of this infant giant, and to direct its accu
mulating energies against herself — and to do this
merely for the occasion of indulging in a sneer —
is neither generous, nor politic, nor just.

THE END.