A tour through North America

Voyage from St Louis to Cincinnati—Mississippi—Ohio—Falls of the Ohio—Passengers—Details of the Voyage—Notices in Natural History—Vessels on the River—Louisville—Hotel—Steam-boats—Inquisitive Irishman—Tobacco-squirting American—Advantages of Shabby Attire to Travellers—Mr Hamilton’s Account of Men and Manners in the Western Steam-boats—Cincinnati—Agricultural Notices.

Having made up my mind to pay a second visit to Upper Canada before returning to Britain, and wishing to take Cincinnati in my way, I hesitated whether to proceed by stages, through Illinois and Indiana to Louisville, or by a steam-boat down the Mississippi, and up the Ohio. Having more than once experienced the deceitfulness of information obtained from stage-office people in Britain, and disliking the information got at the offices of St Louis, I determined on travelling by water, and, learning the Helen Mar was to sail in a few hours afterwards, I immediately secured a berth.

The Helen Mar was a boat of the smallest size, and on this account well suited for the voyage at this season of the year, when there is a want of water in the Ohio for vessels of the second class. She proceeded at a rapid rate down the current, and made the first stop at Jefferson Barracks, ten miles below St Louis, on the west side of the river, where we were detained until nightfall, by receiving on board some officers of the United States army, with their families and luggage. In course of the night, one of the shafts broke, and the vessel continued her voyage with one paddle.

I found the Mississippi a very different looking stream from what it was at Alton. Instead of being a placid river, gliding gently between beautiful banks, it had assumed the character of the Missouri, impetuosity, muddiness, and devastated margins. In sailing down the Mississippi below St Louis, we were said to have passed the most interesting scenery in the night, and there was little seen by me calculated to impart pleasure or relieve the eye. The dense, and at this season, gloomy vegetation on the banks and islands, reminded me of the Lake of the Thousand Isles, at the opening of the St Lawrence. The turbid torrent, boiling and whirling in a thousand directions, was washing away the banks at one place, and leaving depositions at another. Indian corn was seen falling with masses of earth, and mingling with the stream, and uprooted trees, suspended from the banks with their branches under water, as if experiencing suffocation. Everything suggested to the mind desolation, and led me to think this such a river as despairing man might choose for his last plunge. The whole day was spent on deck, and I felt my spirits sinking when we approached the mouth of the Ohio, which forms a striking contrast to the Mississippi. The Ohio at its junction with the Mississippi, called by the Indians “the Father of Waters,” is broader than the parent stream, and after the junction of three such rivers as the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio, their mingled streams do not appear larger to the eye than any of them singly, which arises from the depth and rapidity of the united current. The same difference of colour in the waters which I had remarked at the confluence of the Ottawa and St Lawrence, and of Missouri and Mississippi, were here perceptible. The limpid and placid Ohio, dammed up by the larger stream, and resting without motion between smooth and verdant banks, resembled the stillness of sleep. The Mississippi was like maddened intoxication. Well might the French of old, after traversing the death-like Mississippi, and becoming acquainted with the Ohio, term it La Belle Rivière, the beautiful river, a title it justly merits. For some time the winding course and full stream reminded me of sailing on a lake, yet the banks are monotonous, being thinly settled, with the background hid from view, and but for the lovely tints which autumn had imparted to the foliage, would have been without much interest. On advancing up the Ohio, the channel became bound by sand plains, which are covered when the water is high, and many of the banks of the numerous islands showed, by the size of the trees, the successive depositions that are made to them, and I was enabled to count six rows of the same species rising in different gradations.

We at last reached what are termed the Falls of the Ohio, a name given to a succession of rapids, caused by a stratum of rocks crossing the channel of the river, and form the only obstruction to navigation in the whole course of the Ohio. The falls are about two miles in length, and the descent in that distance twenty-four feet. When the river is high, vessels pass up and down the falls, and when low, through a canal lately opened on the south side of the river, commencing a little below Louisville, and extending nearly two miles. The Helen Mar had some difficulty in getting over a bar and rapid below the entrance to the canal; on reaching which I walked forward to Louisville, over a verdant smooth turf, which I enjoyed greatly, after so long an absence from nature’s best carpeting.

The water in the Ohio was still low, although our captain had often been told on the voyage the river had risen eighteen inches in course of a few days. The rising of the Ohio and most of the western rivers in autumn is observed to take place annually, without a considerable fall of rain occurring in the lower part of their courses. This is generally accounted for by the diminished temperature of the atmosphere lessening evaporation on the earth’s surface. In all probability it is more owing to suspended vegetation, the falling leaves and decaying herbage ceasing to throw off moisture.

In the course of our voyage from St Louis to Louisville, a distance of six hundred and thirty miles, passengers were received and landed at many intermediate places, but the majority of them continued the whole distance. My time being spent chiefly in viewing the different objects on the rivers and their banks, I did not become intimate with any individual, except one, Mr Gemble, with whom I afterwards travelled by stage to Columbus in Ohio, and met at the Washington Hotel, on my return to New York. In course of conversation I learned he resided at St Louis, had travelled in the Rocky Mountains, and was on his way to the eastern shore to visit an aged parent. We spent a considerable part of fourteen days in close conversation, without making the slightest enquiry into each other’s birth, parentage, or past and present pursuits in life. On leaving St Louis, I observed him reading several books which he took from his portmanteau, and left exposed on his berth, as if to court others to read them. My only companion of this kind at the time was a small volume, entitled, “a View of the Valley of the Mississippi,” which I often referred to, and found useful, and which Mr Gemble asked me to allow him to look at, although travellers in American steam-boats generally seize on every book within reach, without obtaining the consent of the owner to peruse it. I had thus an opportunity of asking a return of the civility of Mr Gemble, which he readily granted, adding, “I would be happy to allow every person on board to read my volumes.” The first that I opened was one of small dimensions, entitled, “The Times of Christ,” which the preface stated to be from the pen of the gifted Harriet Martineau, which appeared in England as the “Traditions of Palestine,” and had been reprinted with a more suitable title, and the omission of some matter which the publisher did not consider in good taste with the rest of the work. The other volumes were of a religious nature, which might have led me to suppose Mr Gemble a spiritual teacher; but there was nothing in his conversation or deportment marking or violating this character. He was a tall, thin gentlemanly-looking person, well informed, and apparently possessing as much real philanthropy as any individual I ever met.

The other passengers consisted of both sexes, of all ages, and of different professions. The ladies were never seen but at meals, keeping their own cabin at other times. The gentlemen were well dressed, and invariably civil to each other, General A—— being the least polished in manners and appearance of any of the company. The captain was an unassuming person, whose voice was seldom heard, and never in connexion with an oath, either in the cabin or amongst the crew. There was only one cabin passenger addicted to swearing, who had formerly been captain of a steam-boat on the Mississippi, and was now engaged in trade at St Louis. The officers of the army, and one or two others, passed part of the evenings in playing cards, at a game which I did not understand, and at which they did not seem to hazard high stakes. On such occasions, I was sometimes amused at the group assembled around the table. Military men of the highest rank, when eagerly intent on the game, were joined by the steward boys without their coats, familiarly seating themselves at table, and looking on the hands of cards. The chewing and spitting of tobacco were incessant, the carpet serving as a receptacle for the moisture, when boxes were not within immediate reach; and on some cold evenings the fire in the cabin was almost overcome by squirting of tobacco juice.

The comfort of the passengers was little attended to in the general arrangements of the vessel. Three times a-day, at breakfast, dinner, and supper, which also includes the repast known in the Eastern States, and in Britain, by the name of tea, the table was stored with supplies of animal food and vegetables, so very ample, that on one occasion I numbered thirty-one dishes placed on the supper-table for twenty-two passengers, and, perhaps, in no instance was there ever less than one dish for each individual. The food was coarsely prepared, and all placed on the table at once, and nearly cold before the company sat down. There was always a second company, consisting of part of the boat’s establishment, and such deck passengers as chose to pay for their food; and sometimes a third company collected, independent of the people of colour, servants or slaves to the passengers, and who satisfied their hunger on the veranda. The succession of companies received no additions to the fare originally placed on the table, and such an injudicious arrangement was the means of rendering it less palatable to all. The vessel called three or four times a-day at different places, yet, on one occasion, bread could not be had for breakfast, and milk or cream were more than once awanting without any notice being taken of it at table. There was no water for drinking or washing but what the rivers supplied, and this was even the case on the turbid Mississippi, the water of which was allowed to separate from the sediment before being presented at table. The inhabitants of the Western States are considered by those of the Eastern ones as wanting in refinement, and the table being loaded with the substantialities of life, while good water and milk, two of the most desirable of liquids, and which might at all times have been obtained on shore, were awanting, appeared a strong indication of coarseness. The passengers drank in the greatest moderation in my sight, only taking a tumbler of spirits and water occasionally when playing at cards, and never tasting wine or any kind of spirits at table at other times. I did not observe a person of any description on board, during the voyage, that appeared in the least degree intoxicated. The water for washing was always fresh drawn from the river, and I thought the Mississippi more likely to stain than clean any face. Many of the gentlemen attempted to clean their teeth and mouths with such mud, which I did not pass within my lips. My dressing-case did not contain soap, which I thought an article likely to be had everywhere, but on application to the steward, I was told there was none on board. An application to the captain, or some of the passengers, would have procured me this commodity, at least for shaving with, but there was something so ungracious in the steward’s refusal, that I was unwilling to hazard another denial. From necessity I had learned to shave without a mirror, while in the northern parts of Illinois, and now attempted the operation without soap, which I found so easy, that I continued the practice until reaching New York.

The cabin being in the stern of the vessel, I spent much of my time in the forecastle, for the purpose of seeing the scenery, which brought me in contact with the crew, and many of the deck passengers. In this class of people I found a considerable change of manner from any I had formerly come in contact with. Many of them swore disgustingly, and possessed a general levity and coarseness of manner, but in no instance did I experience incivility.

I had witnessed a great many cases of fever in course of my journey, and the accounts received in Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri, represented the season as unhealthy, and the population suffering considerably from its effects. On reaching the Mississippi I learned cholera had scourged the inhabitants in a dreadful manner, in the course of summer, and had now subsided. Several cases of fever occurred amongst the deck passengers during the voyage, and a poor child sunk under its attack. A rude coffin was prepared by a person on board, and the remains of the little innocent were interred at Smithland, on the mouth of Cumberland river, Kentucky. On the third day of the voyage, one of the firemen, a man of colour, became unwell, and I observed him rolling about near the furnace, and suffering much, unheeded by those around him. At last the attention of the captain was called to him, and the services of a medical gentleman, who was a cabin passenger, were requested. He pronounced it a bad case of cholera, and the poor fellow was carried on shore soon afterwards in the agonies of death. The consternation on board was great, and many of the passengers deserted the vessel.

Towards the mouth of the Ohio, vast numbers of geese were seen sitting on the extensive sand bars. The deck passengers often fired rifles at geese and other birds without effect. Two or three bald-headed eagles were seen quite near the vessel, and on Diamond Island five or six wild turkeys were observed running from the side of the river into the forest, and was the only time this bird was seen in a live state by me.

The vessels on the waters in the valley of Mississippi burn wood, and supplies are found everywhere on the banks of the rivers, which are speedily conveyed on board, with the assistance of the deck passengers, who are bound to aid in the operation. During the time of taking in wood, I almost universally examined vegetation on the banks, and obtained many new seeds by so doing. I also had an opportunity of conversing with the inhabitants, who, in such situations, depend chiefly on this trade for the means of subsisting. I was surprised at the vessels not using coal, which is very abundant in many places on the banks, and could be easily transported to places where it is not. I am satisfied coal would be found cheaper than wood, and if depots were formed, and provided with a crane to put the coal on board, the saving of time would be considerable in course of the voyage. None of the furnaces are, however, at present constructed for burning coal, and a considerable time is likely to elapse before it gets a fair trial.

In coming up the Ohio, I observed a great number of boats, or rather boxes or arks, of various sizes and shapes, floating down the river towards New Orleans, filled with farm produce, including sheep. These arks are built of strong timbers, fitted up with apartments for the navigators, and sold on reaching New Orleans, the crews returning by the steam-boats. The numerous steam-boats do not seem to have diminished this mode of conveying farm produce, and probably many of them are built on shallow streams in the interior of the country, where steam-vessels never can have access. These arks are simply kept in the current, which floats them down, and in this country, where the farmer has so much leisure time in autumn and winter, must be a cheap mode of conveying produce to market.

Louisville is situated on the south bank of the Ohio, at the mouth of a small stream called Bear Grass, in the State of Kentucky. It consists of several streets running parallel to the river, and the houses are composed of brick. There are many steam-engines employed in sawing wood, grinding wheat, and other purposes. Louisville is the most thriving place on the waters of the coast connected with the Mississippi, and contains about 14,000 inhabitants; it is 1448 miles distant from New Orleans by the river, and 590 from Washington.

On arriving at Louisville I could not obtain admittance into either of the two principal hotels, and afterwards had sufficient evidence to satisfy me the denial was entirely owing to my shabby appearance. My third application was at the American Hotel, a large and excellent establishment; and feeling somewhat annoyed at the manner of my previous refusals, I asked the bar-keeper if he would accommodate me for the night, and he answered in a smart tone of voice, “Certainly, sir; we are servants of the public, but I hope you will eat something.” The inmates of the house were assembling for supper in the Exchange room, and on ringing the bell, the rush up stairs into the banqueting apartment was excessive, there being nearly two hundred individuals assembled. The company were settled down at two large tables, and every thing passed off well, but not in the same quiet way I had observed at other large establishments.

The gentlemen were fashionably dressed, and several of them swore and stormed at the waiters in a manner I never witnessed elsewhere in America, which was perhaps owing to this being a slave state, and the individuals themselves slave owners. The waiters were chiefly people of colour; and much as I did feel disgusted at the language which in two or three instances was directed to them, yet I had often heard waiters in Britain similarly addressed.

My bed was in a small apartment, indifferently lighted, in which were two bedsteads. The Exchange-room was as well filled in the morning with expectants for breakfast as it had been in the preceding evening; and although Louisville is in a slave state, and the establishment of the hotel chiefly composed of such beings, a white person, well dressed and of good appearance, stood at the entrance of the house with the room, and brushed every gentleman’s coat and hat who required his services.

Having seen the town before nightfall, I at one time thought of visiting the theatre, for the purpose of seeing Mr Forrest, a celebrated native actor, of whom the people of the States are extremely proud. On referring to the playbill in the Exchange-room, I observed a line in small type at the bottom, intimating that people of colour were not admitted. This appeared to me so absurd, to distinguish human beings at a place of public amusement by their complexion, and so illiberal, that I altered my intention. In walking through the streets in the evening, I was surprised at seeing so few people, and so many rats. These creatures were swarming, and I saw more of them in half an hour than I had seen in the previous course of my life.

Next morning, I embarked on board the Champlain for Cincinnati, where I found Mr Gemble and another passenger from the Helen Mar. The Champlain was an excellent vessel, with the cabin in the bow, which is much more agreeable than when it is in the stern, by allowing objects to be seen when approaching, instead of receding from them. The steam-boats on the eastern waters of the United States, and the Canadas, have their cabins in the hull of the vessel like those of Britain, and a deck above where passengers sit or walk. A different arrangement is followed on the western rivers. The lower part of the vessel is allotted for stowing away heavy freight, and the boilers are placed in the bow, with a cabin for the gentlemen behind, and one immediately above, for the ladies. The fore-part of the second deck is for the deck passengers. In other cases, the place for deck passengers is in the stern of the first deck, and the second one is divided, forming the ladies’ and gentlemen’s cabins. The Helen Mar was of the first arrangement, and the Champlain of the second. The size of the steam-vessels varies from eighty to five hundred tons, the smallest size being best suited for the summer months, when the rivers are low, and the largest can only be used from November to July. They are narrow, and stand so much above the water, as to resemble a floating-house. Almost all of them use high pressure engines, and are considered worn out in five or six years, except those made of live oak which last from eight to ten years. The perishable nature of the western steam-boat property is, no doubt, in part owing to the materials of which it is composed, and the navigation, which, from currents, sand-bars, and sunken trees or snags, is the most trying and dangerous.

In passing from Louisville to Cincinnati, a distance of 132 miles, the Champlain was well-filled with passengers, who landed and embarked at many intermediate places. The table was by no means so lavishly stored as that of the Helen Mar, and could not contain all the passengers, some of whom, after dinner, filled the berths of others without ceremony, stretching themselves at full length, with their boots on, and sleeping for hours. The deck passengers, being in the stern of the lower deck, were not seen, and the cabin ones exhibited a great diversity of character. I got into conversation with an Irishman, who resided in Kentucky, which had become his adopted country. He was plainly but respectably dressed, and evidently without much education. After stating the advantages of the States in many respects, and how determinedly all the inhabitants would fight in their defence, he asked me where I came from? On answering St Louis, he rejoined, “where were you raised?” It was my practice, while in the Western States, to answer readily every question that was put to me, for the purpose of ingratiating myself with the people, by which alone I could obtain information from them, and ensure personal comfort; and I must do them the justice to say, they seldom, in this respect, exceeded the people of my native country. On the present occasion there was something so prying in the Irishman’s expression of countenance and tone of voice, that I resolved to tease him a little, and to his second question answered, “in the East.”

“What part of the East?”

“Europe.”

“What part of Europe?”

“Mungoswells.”

“Where is that?”

“Near Haddington.”

“In what country is that?”

“Scotland.”

Here he told me that he was a native of Ireland; and I answered his language had made me aware of that the moment he entered into conversation.

“Where do you stay?”

“I am a wanderer on the face of the earth.”

“What are you doing?”

“Following the course of the river.”

“What would you do if you were on shore?”

“Follow my nose.”

“What would you like to be employed at?”

“In moving from place to place.”

“Where do you reside?”

“He had been told I was a wanderer, and might rely on what had been stated.” During this conversation, he did not seem to feel the import of my answers, and continued in conversation sometime afterwards.

While standing on deck, near the chimney, around which many gentlemen were assembled, for the heat it afforded, a person who was chewing tobacco, sprinkled a mouthful of juice on the tails of my surtout, which happened to be waving in the wind. As soon as the accident occurred, he pulled out his handkerchief, and when wiping off the filth, apologized for his conduct. There was something so sincere in the gentleman’s manner, and in his anxiety to remove the stain, that induced me to say, he could not have spit on any thing more worthless; and notwithstanding the nature of our introduction, we continued on intimate terms for the remainder of the voyage. There was nothing in America to which I was so long of getting reconciled, as the copious spitting, and my repugnance was chiefly overcome by the accident to my surtout. The use of tobacco in every shape is, to a certain extent, an abomination, and the preference or dislike given to one mode of consumption over another, arises from habit. The smoking Dutchman, chewing American, and snuffing Scotchman, may be objects of disgust to each other, and all of them perhaps abhorred by a fastidious person who dislikes the use of tobacco in any shape.

I have already alluded to the shabbiness of my attire on leaving Montreal, and after having travelled so long and so roughly, often not unrobing for the night, my clothes had become literally threadbare. My hat was originally of white silk-web of bad quality, and now almost without wool. My appearance would have betokened mendicity in Britain, and procured pecuniary assistance from the humane; but in the countries through which I had latterly travelled, charity is never asked nor bestowed, yet my garb had its advantages: It brought me in contact with all classes of the inhabitants, without exciting suspicions of any kind, and enabled me to see them in their real character. My unpretending appearance and deportment could not call forth the democratic rudeness which assumed or presumptuous superiority seldom fails to experience, in almost every portion of the United States; and the sycophant, if such exists in the valley of the Mississippi, had nothing to attract his notice.

The safety of my person and property may have been aided by the meanness of my dress, which possessed no allurement to the robber, thief, or swindler. My position as a traveller in the Western United States, and Upper Canada, differed from that of many British travellers who have visited the countries, and I shall leave others to judge if it was calculated to promote the object of my journey.

In passing up the Ohio, the temperature of the atmosphere became so cold, that I deliberated on the propriety of adding to my clothing, which was the more necessary from having left my flannel shirt in Michigan. The matter was decided by my shoulders and elbows making holes in my coat; after leaving Louisville, and on reaching Cincinnati, I adopted winter clothing, and concealed my external infirmities with a coarse great-coat, which hath since amused my friends in Scotland, by the queerness of its shape, and passed by the name of Mrs Trollope.

The scenery of the Ohio above Louisville, possesses more interest than the lower part of the river, the hills on the banks being higher, and the country better settled. Some beautiful villas are seen on approaching Cincinnati, which we reached before noon.

When walking about Cincinnati, I observed, in several booksellers’ windows,—“Men and Manners in America, by the author of Cyril Thornton,” printed in large characters, and purchased the volume. Mr Stewart’s “Three Years’ Residence in America,” and Mrs Trollope’s “Domestic Manners of the Americans,” had been sent to New York with my trunks, but as the walking part of my journey was over, Cyril Thornton’s work was not expected to incommode me. I had heard of the publication being in the press before leaving Britain, and on opening the book, I naturally turned to the account of the country in which I was then situated. The description of the company in the steam-boats of the Ohio, was so different from what I had experienced, that I shall quote the author’s remarks in passing down from Wheeling to Cincinnati:—“These western regions are undoubtedly the chosen abode of plenty. Provisions are so cheap, that no one ever dreams of economy. Three times a-day was the table literally covered with dishes, wedged together as closely as a battalion of infantry in solid square. Though the passengers were only twenty in number, there was always dinner enough for a hundred. Joints, turkeys, hams, and chops, lay spread before us in admired confusion. Brandy bottles were located at judicious intervals, and porter was to be had on paying for it. I had asked for wine, but in vain. So, being at the luxurious city of Cincinnati, and tolerably tired of the poison called brandy, I sent for a bottle of champagne from the inn. The bottle came, but on being opened, the contents were much more like sour cider than champagne. In short, the stuff was decidedly too bad for drinking, and was accordingly pushed aside. But the appearance of this anomalous-looking flask evidently caused some commotion among the passengers. The wine was probably one which few of them had tasted, and many of them were evidently determined to seize the earliest opportunity of enlarging their experience. ‘I should like a glass of your wine, sir, if you have no objections?’ said my old enemy the Virginian doctor. I immediately pushed the bottle to him, and he filled his tumbler to the brim. Observing this, the persons about him, without ceremony of any kind, seized the bottle, and its contents incontinently disappeared.

“In regard to the passengers, truth compells me to say that any thing so disgusting in human shape I had never seen. Their morals and their manners were alike detestable. A cold and callous selfishness, a disregard of all the decencies of society, were so apparent in feature, word, and action, that I found it impossible not to wish that their catalogue of sins had been enlarged by one more—hypocrisy. Of hypocrisy, however, they were not guilty. The conversation in the cabin was interlarded with the vilest blasphemy, not uttered in a state of mental excitement, but with a coolness and deliberation truly fiendlike.

“There was a Baptist clergyman on board, but his presence did not seem to operate as a restraint. The scene of drinking and gambling had no intermission. It continued day and night. The captain of the vessel, so far from discouraging either vice, was one of the most flagrant offenders in both. He was decidedly the greatest gambler on board, and was often so drunk as to be utterly incapable of taking command of the vessel. There were few female passengers; but with their presence we were only honoured at meals. At all other times they prudently confined themselves to their own cabin.

“One circumstance may be mentioned, which is tolerably illustrative of the general habits of the people. In every steam-boat there is a public comb and hair-brush suspended by a string from the ceiling of the cabin. These utensils are used by the whole body of the passengers, and their condition the pen of Swift could alone adequately describe. There is no tooth-brush, simply, I believe, because the article is entirely unknown to the American toilet. A common towel, however, passes from hand to hand, and suffices for the perfunctory ablutions of the whole party on board. It was often with great difficulty that I procured the exclusive usufruct of one, and it was evident that the demand was not only unusual but disagreeable.”

There is so much discrepancy between this account and what I experienced, that it may be difficult for some people to believe the same part of the world is alluded to. The time which elapsed between Mr Hamilton’s visit and mine was a little more than three years, and in course of that time the manners and customs of the people must either have undergone an extraordinary change, or we must have viewed things through a different medium. It is far from my intention to charge that gentleman with exaggeration or intentional misrepresentation, but objects are so well known to be affected by circumstances, that it may be worth while to enquire how he was situated to enable him to see and judge impartially. With his career in life and the place he occupied in British society, I am utterly unacquainted, and unless be is something immeasurably above ordinary humanity, both would influence his opinions. But it appears to me unfortunate that a man of such powers, as he has proved himself to be possessed of, should have sought information regarding “Men and Manners,” in a part of the world, accompanied by a servant, where he was ashamed to avail himself of his services. This circumstance of itself was sufficient to sour him with all the country contained, as well as to create in others an unfavourable impression towards himself. It was surely an odd proceeding to send “for a bottle of champagne from the inn,” when he was on board a steam-boat. The reason assigned for having done so—“tolerably tired of the poison called brandy”—perhaps accounts for much he has written regarding America—a potation of this liquid, followed by “champagne,” being one of the most deceptious mediums which things can be viewed through, and I shall leave future visitants of the United States to determine whether much he has described was reality, or the fantasies of his imagination.

My situation was different from Mr Hamilton’s, not having tasted any liquid but water and tea since my departure from Montreal, with exception of half a glass of spirits amongst water at Detroit, and the glass of wine at St Charles, formerly mentioned. I do not recollect of seeing brandy on the dinner-table of any steam-boat in America; and feel quite certain that neither wine nor spirits of any kind were on the table of those of the Ohio and Mississippi. I did not see or hear of an intoxicated person on board of any steam-vessel but those of Lake Ontario. “A public comb and hair-brush, suspended by a string from the ceiling of the cabin,” or placed in any other position in the vessel, was not observed by me in the steam-boats of America, and I am sure they did not exist in the vessels I sailed with. Afterwards, I observed a hair-brush suspended by a string in a passage-boat on the Erie Canal, and they are occasionally found in the bar-rooms of inferior hotels. People are not, however, compelled to use them, and they are certainly an accommodation to some individuals. A tooth-brush was used by almost every passenger in the Helen Mar, and I remarked dozens of storekeepers at Detroit washing their teeth in the mornings at the door, and in one or two instances narrowly escaped being soused with superfluous water from tumblers they had been using.

The manners of the people at St Louis, and from that place to Cincinnati, are unquestionably different from the inhabitants on the shores of the Atlantic, being rougher in all respects, but I did not witness any thing approaching to rudeness or disgusting vulgarity amongst cabin passengers. The firemen, engineers, and many of the crew of the steam-boats were habitual swearers, and so were many of the stage-drivers and passengers in travelling through Ohio. But this bad habit did not pervade the inhabitants generally with whom I came in contact.

On landing at Cincinnati, I entered an excellent hotel in a square fronting the river, the name of which I have forgotten. On applying at the bar I was requested, as usual, to enter my name; and on asking for a bedroom to wash, a bell was rung, and a man of colour, who answered it, was desired to conduct me to No. 23, and to see that I got every thing I wanted. This was before any alteration had been made in my dress, and water, towel, and soap, were supplied me. Indeed, water in my bedrooms was furnished everywhere in the United States, with the exception of that part of my tour from Detroit to Louisville.

I had time to examine the greater part of the town before dinner, after which I walked to the top of the hills on the east side of the city, and then to the west end. The situation of Cincinnati, as seen from the height, is singularly fine, being in the midst of a circle of hills, through the centre of which the beautiful Ohio flows. The diameter of the circle is about three miles, and the river is not seen beyond the circle. The city is on the north side of the stream, and on the south, or Kentucky side, stand the thriving villages of Newport and Covington, divided by the river Licking, which joins the Ohio. Cincinnati contains about 30,000 inhabitants, the buildings are of brick, and many streets run parallel and at right angles with the river. I found the market plentifully supplied with every commodity, in stalls and waggons, and the bustle and activity of the place was much greater than I expected to find in a city so remotely situated. The streets were clean at the time of my visit, and the general appearance of the place indicated considerable advancement in luxury. Coals sell at ten cents, wheat at fifty-six, Indian corn at twenty-five, and oats at twenty-two cents per bushel. I shall quote a few particulars relating to Cincinnati, from a recent Philadelphia publication, entitled, a “View of the Valley of the Mississippi.”

“There are ten founderies, including a brass and bell foundery, and one for casting types.

“There are three or four cotton factories, about fifteen rolling mills, and steam engine factories, and shops.

“There are five breweries.

“There is a button factory, and a steam coopering establishment.

“Two steam flour-mills, and five or six steam saw-mills.

“There are probably not less than forty different manufacturing establishments driven by steam-power.

“The imports, of which dry goods are a principal item, exceed $5,000,000. The exports, consisting of various articles of produce, of which pork is the chief, and of manufactures, of which iron articles, and cabinet furniture, are the chief, probably exceed the imports in value.

“There are two banks, and a savings’ fund association; two museums, very interesting to strangers; and two hospitals.

“There is a company which supplies the city with water, which is elevated by steam power from the Ohio.

“There are several literary and scientific institutions, of which the Lyceum, Athenæum—established by the Catholics, and which is really a college, and cost about $20,000—Medical College, having seven or eight professors, Academy of Medicine and Law, and Theological Seminary are the chief.

“In 1831, there were eighteen public schools, embracing 2,700 scholars, at an expense of $6,610 for teachers’ wages. This city is imitating the noble example of Boston, in establishing free-schools for the whole population. The number of private schools and academies is great.

“There are three library companies, which have, in all, nearly 10,000 volumes of books.

“There are thirty-four charitable associations, and twenty-five religious societies.

“There are six Presbyterian churches, five Methodist, four Baptist, two Episcopal, one Lutheran, one Associate, one Catholic, one Unitarian, one Friends’ Meeting, one Swedenborgian, one Jewish Synagogue, one African, one Christian.

“There are three daily, two semi-weekly, six weekly, (four of which are religious,) two semi-monthly, two monthly, and one quarterly, (medical,) publications—sixteen in all, issued in this city.”

In four months, during 1831, there were issued from Cincinnati press, 86,000 volumes, of which 20,300 were of original works. In the same time, the periodical press issued 243,200 printed sheets.

Cincinnati is generally said to be in a declining state, but I could not discover evidence of decay. Houses were building, and bricks manufacturing in all directions. Streets and roads were undergoing extensive improvement in and around the city, while villas were being erected on the surrounding heights. The ship yards were full of bustle, and craft of various kinds were rising into existence. At the close of the year 1832, one hundred and thirty steam-boats had been built at Cincinnati.

The city is built on the site of some Indian tumuli, one of which I saw, near the western extremity, in tolerable preservation. I hope the inhabitants will protect this monument of a former race, by enclosing it with an iron railing, and adorning the foreground with flowers.

I attended the theatre in the evening. Amongst the players were Sinclair, Thorne, Mrs Knight, and Miss Clara Fisher. The audience were numerous, and somewhat noisy in their plaudits.

The agriculture, seen from the waters of the Mississippi and Ohio, is very limited, and which I cannot well describe. Cultivation becomes extended on approaching Cincinnati, and fields of wheat were seen on the sloping banks. The hills, three or four hundred feet high, which I ascended, to the east of the city, were covered with verdant pasturage of grasses and clovers, on which excellent cattle and sheep were browsing. Waggon loads of pumpkins were passing into the town, and I observed many working oxen eating this vegetable in courts.

Journey from Cincinnati to Detroit—Macadamized road—Lebanon—Passengers—Agricultural Notices—Pawpaws—Cider making—Hotels of the United States—Customs of the Country—Columbus—Details to Sandusky—Mr Hamilton on the Prospects of the Union—Sandusky—Cider making—Perrysburg—Mamee—Ohio—Michigan.

At two o’clock next morning, I was seated in a stage-coach, on my way to Canada, through the state of Ohio, and no less than two hours were spent in calling and waiting on different passengers, before getting out of Cincinnati. I was delighted to find Mr Gemble amongst the number who intended to have gone up the Ohio to Wheeling, by steam, but learning the water was too low to admit of vessels sailing with certainty, he was induced to proceed by land. When day dawned, we were passing through an undulating country, over an excellent macadamized road, newly formed by a company, in the most complete manner, to the distance of twelve miles. There was a toll-bar on the road, which is to be extended to Springfield, in the state of Ohio, and there communicate with what is called the National road. We passed through the village of Lebanon, the parent seat in this country of the religious sect of Shakers. The village is of considerable size, and the bar-room of the hotel was filled with a set of drunkards, which I had not seen any thing resembling since leaving Canada. Xenia, in Green County, is a neat place, and we reached Springfield after dusk.

Next morning we left Springfield at three o’clock with the same stage party that had come from Cincinnati the day before. When light appeared, the ground was thickly covered with hoar-frost, and ice was seen in several places. This was on the 12th October, in 40 degrees of latitude. Ten miles from Springfield the stage had to wait half an hour for a change of horses, the driver being in bed when we arrived. Here one of the passengers, a lady travelling with her husband, complained of being sick and cold. A cup of coffee was suggested to her. The hostess of the tavern, a very old woman, boiled water and prepared coffee with incredible despatch. I know not whether the beverage was good, but it was agreeable to see the old creature moving about like a girl in her teens, and manifesting anxiety to please her guests. The lady was from Baltimore, and had resided several months in the west, on account of her health. She had a most delicate appearance, a sylph-like form, regular features, and a lively manner. Notwithstanding the coldness of the weather, and her delicate state of health, she was dressed in silk stockings, and it was with reluctance she consented to draw a pair of worsted ones over her shoes, which her husband purchased for her. Like many of her countrywomen, she had feet and ankles of exquisite formation, and perhaps in the display of this gift of nature, she made a sacrifice of her health.

We reached Columbus in time for dinner, where I remained for the night, the stage proceeding on with the party for Wheeling. I found myself pleasantly situated with the passengers from Cincinnati, who conversed sensibly on a variety of subjects, and made themselves agreeable to each other. On leaving Columbus, each of them came up, and bade me farewell. In particular, I regretted parting with Mr Gemble, whose moral worth and unobstrusive manners pleased me the more I was in his company.

The country from Cincinnati to Springfield, Ohio, was chiefly a good clay of a yellow colour. The surface undulating, and in some places picturesque. The farm-houses were of large size, and generally brick. The soil was dry, and where seen, in making the road, six feet deep, of yellow coloured clay. There were no furrows in the fields, and wheat was above ground, and well sown. Herds of cattle and flocks of sheep were seen browsing on pastures as verdant as if in spring. Numbers of handsome hogs were fattening, in enclosures of worm fence, on Indian corn, without straw to lie on. Hogs are generally fatted in the open air in America, and whether kept in enclosures or small pens I never saw one of them have straw, and they make their beds in mud or sand. The waggons seen moving towards Cincinnati were in charge of men who rode on the shaft-horse, whether the vehicle was drawn by two or more horses. The country for twenty miles east of Springfield is level, rather wet, and not so fertile as that from Cincinnati. After passing this distance, there are many small prairies, most of which are wet and uncultivated. This tract is thinly settled, the soil, clay of a dark colour, and inferior to the yellow tinged clay. The bottoms of the Scioto are fine rich soil.

After dining at Columbus, I strolled into the woods north of the village in search of the pawpaw fruit, which I had heard much extolled by some of my fellow-travellers. This plant grows plentifully as underwood on most of the rich soils in this part of the country. I found the fruit growing on slender trees or shrubs fifteen or twenty feet high; it resembles, in size, shape, and colour, the jargonelle pear of Britain. I found them variable in quality, and the best might rank with a third-rate pear of Scotland. The forests were now clothed in the splendour of autumn, and the richness and variety of their tints was of the most pleasing description. The oak, maple, beech, and dogwood, seemed to vie in brilliancy, and I often observed many leaves on the same lateral branch, exhibiting every shade from vivid green to the darkest purple.

I found so much to interest me in the productions of the forest and its feathered inhabitants, that my walk was insensibly prolonged, till at length the declining sun reminded me of the necessity of returning to Columbus. On emerging from the forest, I observed people engaged in making cider, and walked towards them to enquire my way, having lost the direction of the city, by wandering in the woods. The apples were collected into an immense heap, from which two men were engaged in carrying them to a mill, consisting of vertical cylinders, turned by the power of two oxen, which reduced the fruit to a pulp. A shovel was used in removing the pulp, which, by means of straw and wattles, was piled above a receptacle for the juice, and pressed by a powerful screw. The people engaged in cider-making, asked me to partake of the expressed juice, and to fill my pockets with the choicest fruit. I learned from them cider was very plentiful this season, and did not pay much more than the expense of making, being delivered at Columbus for 75 cents per barrel of 32 gallons. Some forest land, of medium quality, in the neighbourhood, had lately been sold by public sale at $2½ and $2¾ per acre. Wheat at the present time was worth 50 cents, and Indian corn 20 cents per bushel.

I found my distance from Columbus was five miles, and supper was over before I reached the National hotel. On stating to the bar-keeper I had been detained in the woods, he ordered me fresh tea; and although I mentioned to him it was not my practice to eat meat in the evening, a newly broiled fowl was placed before me, and a variety of preserves. Next morning, after the usual preparatory bell had tolled for breakfast, the landlord called me personally, stating, that as I was a stranger in the country, and might not be aware of its customs, the breakfast would be on the table in ten minutes. The waiters were all white people, smart in their calling, and attentive to guests.

I found the hotels gradually improve on leaving Springfield, Illinois, and many of those in the state of Ohio appeared to be every thing a reasonable person could wish, with the exception of the want of single-bedded rooms. Water was always placed for washing without being asked for, and a bell communicated with each room. The waiters and helps of the States are said to dislike being summoned by the sound of a bell, and many travellers have assigned this as a reason for the want of bells. But such a feeling in all probability never existed, as the guests of every hotel are first warned, and afterwards summoned to each meal, by sound of bell, and it is preposterous to say waiters are averse to the like call. Meals are served at fixed hours, when all the company sit down together. In good establishments, the principal joints at dinner are carved by the landlord and waiters, often at side tables, and the company seldom assist in the office. Abundance of iced water is on the table during summer, occasionally cider, and very rarely brandy. Wine may be had for payment. The company leave the banqueting room when the meal is over, and do not gain admittance until summoned. A number of smart attentive waiters skip about the room, and often anticipate your wants. They are generally addressed in a whisper, and in all the eastern states of the Union a loud tone is never heard at table. The conduct of some people in Britain, who command attention by oaths and noise, does not suit this region of America, where the mild and unassuming are never neglected. A friend of mine, on his first entrance to the public tables of New York, spoke to the waiters in the strains he had unfortunately accustomed himself to in Britain; they pretended not to hear him, and he found difficulty in getting his plate changed; while his companions, by adopting a different course, had the waiters pressing them to the principal dishes on the side-table, and paying the most assiduous attention. Civility is at all times duly appreciated by the establishment of hotels, and foreigners will find much annoyance in attempting to dispense with it. The morning and evening meals are served with the same regularity, and ample attendance, as the dinner, &c. A profusion of animal food is placed on the table, and the quantity increases in proportion to want of refinement in the people of the district. Boots and shoes are deposited at night in a fixed place, where they are found cleaned in the morning. Slippers, and bedroom lights, are obtained at the bar. As a general rule, wants are stated at the bar, and from this place orders are given to servants for supplying them. All the bells of the house communicate with the bar-room, and the bar-keeper sees that the call of a bell is attended to. Throughout the whole of my intercourse with hotels in the United States, I did not receive an uncivil answer, or experience neglect from any one connected with the establishment, and every request which I made was cheerfully complied with. The landlords are much less fawning in manner than those of Britain, but equally civil and anxious to oblige.

The hotels of America are such as might be expected from the state of the country. Servants being particularly expensive, and difficult to be had, is the cause for having fixed hours for meals, and one table for the company as well as for most orders passing through the bar-keeper. Were another system adopted, a greater number of servants would be necessary, and there would be more difficulty in obtaining them. The plain and meagre furnishing of the hotels may also be traced to expensiveness of servants, and so also may the number of people which frequent them. The furniture of the bedrooms, consisting of a bedstead, without posts or curtains, and counterpane of small size, washing-stand, and solitary chair, seemed to me admirably fitted for promoting a circulation of air, which was the greatest luxury during the season I was in the country, and I doubt much if bedroom furnishings will be more ample in summer, when the wealth of the population becomes greater than it now is.

The circulation of air, in connexion with shade from the sun-rays, will account for the use of the calash as a head-dress for females, so generally met with in the States of New England, and which I imagine to be the most agreeable summer wear that can be devised. On the same grounds may be justified the New England gigs with hoods, having an aperture behind; thus the customs of a country will generally be found to have originated from circumstances connected with it, and to be well suited to the inhabitants.

Columbus is the capital of the state of Ohio, and beautifully situated on the east bank of the river Scioto. The public buildings are extensive and good. The village having been founded in 1812, the buildings, which are chiefly of brick, are well arranged. The state prison is a new and substantial stone-building. The population is about 3000. A lateral branch of the Ohio and Erie canal communicates with Columbus.

Next morning, after breakfast, I left Columbus for Sandusky city, formerly called Portland, on Lake Erie, passing through Delaware, Marion, and Bucyrus. The first part of the road lay on the banks of the Whetstone, a small river with very little bottom land. The country was thinly settled; and the soil second rate. The night was passed in a very bad hotel at Marion, and by three o’clock in the morning I was again in the stage. When day dawned, the stage was passing through a country between oak-opening and prairie, seemingly wet and unsettled. A good deal of forest was also passed through, thinly peopled. I reached Sandusky a little after nightfall.

The stage was nearly empty all the way from Columbus to Sandusky. A young joiner travelled from Columbus to Marion. Two striplings rode a mile or two near the village of Caroline, who were rude swearing fellows, and smelling strongly of onions and whisky.

The hotel at Sandusky was small and crowded with passengers. I found myself ushered into a small bedroom, with two individuals, with a bed for each. One of the persons rose in the middle of the night, smoked tobacco, and made himself as disagreeable as possible. The other opened the window to admit air to purify the sty. This was the only unpleasant circumstance that occurred to me from sleeping in apartments with others, and sufficiently illustrates how disagreeable the practice may occasionally become.

Sandusky city is a small village on Lake Erie, containing perhaps five or six hundred souls, and has a considerable trade. There is plenty of stone in the immediate neighbourhood, and some of the buildings are of this material. I found the price of beef at Sandusky was from three to five cents per lb., and hind quarters of mutton four cents. Wheat was 75 cents per bushel.

It was my intention to have proceeded from Sandusky to Detroit by one of the steam-boats passing up Lake Erie, but tempestuous gales of wind a day or two before my arrival, having totally wrecked one vessel and disabled another, I was detained two days in suspense. I could not go far from the hotel during this period, lest a steamer should pass in the interval; and my time was in part occupied in reading Mr Hamilton’s beautifully written work of “Men and Manners in America.”

In the early part of my tour, I remarked that, without sound judgment to discriminate and appreciate information, the gleanings and impressions of a traveller will be as apt to mislead as instruct, and his lucubrations will often be found more illustrative of his own character than of the people and country he visits. When penning this sentence, I had not another individual in view than the one treated of, and it is, perhaps, fraught with more truth than may at first sight appear. The wielders of the pen and pencil seem to be fond of portraying their own likeness, and the narrative of most travellers will be found stamped with their character. Truth ought to be the first object with every writer of travels, and is perhaps, like beauty, “when unadorned, adorned the most,” and wherever it is lost sight of, the highest endowments may become prostituted in misleading others. It must, however, be admitted, that the best intentioned writer may become the dupe of appearances, resulting, perhaps, from his own feelings and prejudices. There are also some writers who aim at producing an effect on their readers unconnected with the subject treated of, and in such cases a traveller’s narrative frequently becomes absolute fiction. I shall not say in which class of travels “Men and Manners in America” may be ranked, or whether parts of the work appertain to different classes; but I do not hesitate in saying, that the author’s conclusions did not always appear to me to be just or consistent with sentiments expressed in other parts of the work. This seemed to be particularly the case in some speciously written paragraphs on the political prospects of the Union, which many of the people in Britain, who read the work, did not perhaps observe.

“In that city (New York) a separation is rapidly taking place between the different orders of society. The operative classes have already formed themselves into a society, under the name of ‘The Workies,’ in direct opposition to those who, more favoured by nature or fortune, enjoy the luxuries of life without the necessity of manual labour. These people make no secret of their demands, which, to do them justice, are few and emphatic. They are published in the newspapers, and may be read on half the walls of New York. Their first postulate is ‘EQUAL AND UNIVERSAL EDUCATION.’ It is false, they say, to maintain that there is at present no privileged order, no practical aristocracy, in a country where distinctions of education are permitted. That portion of the population whom the necessity of manual labour cuts off from the opportunity of enlarged acquirement, is in fact excluded from all the valuable offices of state. As matters are now ordered in the United States, these are distributed exclusively among one small class of the community, while those who constitute the real strength of the country, have barely a voice in the distribution of those loaves and fishes, which they are not permitted to enjoy. There does exist, then, they argue, an aristocracy of the most odious kind,—an aristocracy of knowledge, education, and refinement, which is inconsistent with the true democratic principle of absolute equality. They pledge themselves, therefore, to exert every effort, mental and physical, for the abolition of this flagrant injustice. They proclaim it to the world as a nuisance which must be abated, before the freedom of an American be something more than a mere empty boast. They solemnly declare that they will not rest satisfied, till every citizen in the United States shall receive the same degree of education, and start fair in the competition for the honours and the offices of the state. As it is of course impossible—and these men know it to be so—to educate the labouring classes to the standard of the richer, it is their professed object to reduce the latter to the same mental condition with the former; to prohibit all supererogatory knowledge; to have a maximum of acquirement, beyond which it shall be punishable to go.

“But those who limit their views to the mental degradation of their country, are in fact the MODERATES of the party. There are others who still go farther, and boldly advocate the introduction of an Agrarian Law, and a periodical division of property. These unquestionably constitute the extreme gauche of the Worky Parliament, but still they only follow out the principles of their violent neighbours, and eloquently dilate on the justice and propriety of every individual being equally supplied with food and clothing; on the monstrous iniquity of one man riding in his carriage, while another walks on foot, and, after his drive, discussing a bottle of Champagne, while many of his neighbours are shamefully compelled to be content with the pure element. Only equalize property, they say, and neither would drink Champagne or water, but both would have brandy, a consummation worthy of centuries of struggle to attain.

“All this is nonsense, undoubtedly, nor do I say that this party, though strong in New York, is yet so numerous or so widely diffused as to create immediate alarm. In the elections, however, for the civic offices of the city, their influence is strongly felt; and there can be no doubt, that as population becomes more dense, and the supply of labour shall equal, or exceed the demand for it, the strength of this party must be enormously augmented. Their ranks will always be recruited by the needy, the idle, and the profligate; and, like a rolling snow-ball, it will gather strength and volume as it proceeds, until at length it comes thundering with the force and desolation of an avalanche.

“This event may be distant, but it is not the less certain on that account. It is nothing to say, that the immense extent of fertile territory yet to be occupied by an unborn population, will delay the day of ruin. It will delay, but it cannot prevent it. The traveller, at the source of the Mississippi, in the very heart of the American continent, may predict with perfect certainty, that, however protracted the wanderings of the rivulet at his feet, it must reach the ocean at last. In proportion as the nearer lands are occupied, it is very evident that the region to which emigration will be directed must of necessity be more distant. The pressure of population, therefore, will augment in the Atlantic States, and the motives to removal become gradually weaker. Indeed, at the present rate of extension, the circle of occupied territory must, before many generations, be so enormously enlarged, that emigration will be confined wholly to the Western States. Then, and not till then, will come the trial of the American constitution; and until that trial has been past, it is mere nonsense to appeal to its stability.

“Nor is this period of trial apparently very distant. At the present ratio of increase, the population of the United States doubles itself in about twenty-four years; so that in half a century it will amount to about fifty millions, of which ten millions will be slaves, or, at all events, a degraded caste, cut off from all the rights and privileges of citizenship. Before this period, it is very certain that the pressure of the population, on the means of subsistence, especially in the Atlantic States, will be very great. The price of labour will have fallen, while that of the necessaries of life must be prodigiously increased. The poorer and more suffering class will want the means of emigrating to a distant region of unoccupied territory. Poverty and misery will be abroad; the great majority of the people will be without property of any kind, except the thewes and sinews with which God has endowed them; they will choose legislators under the immediate pressure of privation; and if in such circumstances, any man can anticipate security of property, his conclusion must be founded, I suspect, rather on the wishes of a sanguine temperament, than on any rational calculation of probabilities.

“It is the present policy of the government to encourage and stimulate the premature growth of a manufacturing population. In this it will not be successful, but no man can contemplate the vast internal resources of the United States,—the varied productions of their soil—the unparalleled extent of river communication—the inexhaustible stores of coal and iron spread even on the surface—and doubt that the Americans are destined to become a great manufacturing nation. Whenever increase of population shall have reduced the price of labour to a par with that of other countries, these advantages will come into full play; the United States will then meet England on fair terms in every market of the world, and, in many branches of industry at least, will attain an unquestioned superiority. Huge manufacturing cities will spring up in various quarters of the Union, the population will congregate in masses, and all the vices incident to such a condition of society will attain speedy maturity. Millions of men will depend for subsistence on the demand for a particular manufacture, and yet this demand will of necessity be liable to perpetual fluctuation. When the pendulum vibrates in one direction, there will be an influx of wealth and prosperity; when it vibrates in the other, misery, discontent, and turbulence will spread through the land. A change of fashion, a war, the glut of a foreign market, a thousand unforeseen and inevitable accidents are liable to produce this, and deprive multitudes of bread, who but a month before were enjoying all the comforts of life. Let it be remembered, that in the suffering class will be practicably deposited the whole political power of the state; that there can be no military force to maintain civil order and protect property; and to what quarter, I should be glad to know, is the rich to look for security, either of person or fortune?

“There will be no occasion, however, for convulsion or violence. The Worky convention will only have to choose representatives of their own principles, in order to accomplish a general system of spoliation, in the most legal and constitutional manner. It is not even necessary that a majority of the Federal legislature should concur in this. It is competent to the government of each state to dispose of the property within their own limits as they think proper, and whenever a numerical majority of the people shall be in favour of an Agrarian law, there exists no counteracting influence to prevent, or even retard its adoption.

“I have had the advantage of conversing with many of the most eminent Americans of the Union, on the future prospects of their country, and I certainly remember none who did not admit that a period of trial, such as I have ventured to describe, is, according to all human calculation, inevitable. Many of them reckoned much on education as a means of safety, and, unquestionably, in a country where the mere power of breathing carries with it the right of suffrage, the diffusion of sound knowledge is always essential to the public security. It unfortunately happens, however, that in proportion as poverty increases, not only the means but the desire of instruction are necessarily diminished. The man whose whole energies are required for the supply of his bodily wants, has neither time nor inclination to concern himself about his mental deficiencies, and the result of human experience does not warrant us in reckoning on the restraint of individual cupidity, where no obstacle exists to its gratification, by any deliberate calculation of its consequences on society. There can be no doubt, that if men could be made wise enough to act on an enlarged and enlightened view of their own interest, government might be dispensed with altogether; but what statesman would legislate on the probability of such a condition of society, or rely on it as a means of future safety?

“The general answer, however, is, that the state of things I have ventured to describe, is very distant. ‘It is enough,’ they say, ‘for each generation to look to itself, and we leave it to our descendants some centuries hence to take care of their interests as we do ours. We enjoy all manner of freedom and security under our present constitution, and really feel very little concern about the evils which may afflict our posterity.’ I cannot help believing, however, that the period of trial is somewhat less distant than such reasoners comfort themselves by imagining; but if the question be conceded that democracy necessarily leads to anarchy and spoliation, it does not seem that the mere length of road travelled over is a point of much importance. This, of course, would vary according to the peculiar circumstances of every country in which the experiment might be tried. In England, the journey would be performed with railway velocity. In the United States, with the advantages they possess, it may continue a generation or two longer, but the termination is the same. The doubt regards time, not destination.

“At present the United States are perhaps more safe from revolutionary contention than any country in the world. But this safety consists in one circumstance alone. The great majority of the people are possessed of property; have what is called a stake in the hedge; and are, therefore, by interest, opposed to all measures that may tend to its insecurity. It is for such a condition of society that the present constitution was framed; and could this great bulwark of prudent government be rendered as permanent as it is effective, there could be no assignable limit to the prosperity of a people so favoured. But truth is undeniable, that as population increases, another state of things must necessarily arise, and one, unfortunately, never dreamt of in the philosophy of American legislators. The majority of the people will then consist of men without property of any kind, subject to the immediate pressure of want, and then will be decided the great struggle between property and numbers; on the one side hunger, rapacity, and physical power; reason, justice, and helplessness on the other. The weapons of this fearful contest are already forged; the hands will soon be born that are to wield them. At all events, let no man appeal to the stability of the American government as being established by experience, till this trial has been overpast. Forty years are no time to test the permanence, or, if I may so speak, the vitality of a constitution, the immediate advantages of which are strongly felt, and the evils latent and comparatively remote.”

On re-perusing the quoted paragraphs, the love of champagne and brandy was conspicuous in the second one, and the whole of them seemed like a maudlin dream, in which truth and probability were altogether wanting, told in strains admirably fitted to delight the ear and obscure the understanding of the reader. To me, who had made an extensive tour in the territory of the United States, and from all I had seen personally, and learned from the best sources of information, concluded that nine-tenths of the surface are still unemployed in the production of human sustenance, the idea of an agrarian law was ludicrous in the extreme. Whether there is such a society as “The Workies,” and my after enquiries while at New York rendered the point doubtful, did not seem to affect the matter, as the only legitimate inference that could reasonably be deduced from the sentiments which Mr Hamilton has imputed to its members, is, that America does not exempt humanity from aberrations of mind. This seems to be admitted in the third paragraph, where it is stated, “all this is undoubtedly nonsense,” yet the dream which is confessedly founded on man’s infirmity, has been received by a portion of the British public as infallible wisdom. The quotations being founded on “nonsense,” do not admit of criticism. An ordinary mind, however, cannot fail of observing that in almost every paragraph, the author raises up and demolishes a fantasy, and turns from one position to another, like fevered excitement tossing on an uneasy couch.

The following quotations from “Men and Manners in America” are of a different tenor from the preceding ones. “It is the fashion to call the United States the land of liberty and equality. If the equality be understood simply as implying that there exists no privileged order in America, the assertion, though not strictly true,^[2] may pass. In any wider acceptation, it is mere nonsense. There is quite as much practical equality in Liverpool as New York. The magnates of the Exchange do not stand less proudly in the latter city than in the former; nor are their wives and daughters less forward in supporting their pretensions. In such matters legislative enactments can do nothing. Man’s vanity, and the desire of distinction, inherent in his nature, cannot be repressed. If obstructed in one outlet, it will only gush forth with greater vehemence at another. The most contemptible of mankind has some talent of mind or body—some attraction—virtue—accomplishment—dexterity—or gift of fortune—in short, something real or imaginary, on which he arrogates superiority to those around him. The rich man looks down upon the poor, the learned on the ignorant, the orator on him unblessed with the gift of tongues, and he that is a true-born gentleman, and stands upon the honour of his birth, despises the roturier whose talents have raised him to an estimation in society, perhaps superior to his own.