These violent transitions from heat to cold, are produced by means of the N.W. wind, which in this country is the most keen and severe of any that is to be met with on the face of the globe. It is much the most prevalent wind we have, and seldom fails to blow four or five days with great uniformity. This wind is perfectly dry, and so uncommonly penetrating, that I am convinced it would destroy all the plagues of Egypt in a very short time. You may recollect, I informed you of the astonishing effect of this powerful agent in stopping the yellow fever in a few hours, last year, at Baltimore.
Neither the prevalence, nor uncommon severity of this wind has been properly accounted for; but we may now expect something more satisfactory on this subject, from the celebrated Volney; who is here endeavouring to investigate the causes of this, and other phenomena, relative to the winds of this continent.
Our heats in summer are sometimes very great; but the excess seldom exceeds three days; the rotation is generally as follows; the first day perhaps the mercury rises to 86, the next to 90, and the 3rd to 97, and sometimes, though very rarely, to upward of 100 then comes a thunder gust, which restores the air to it's usual summer temperature, till another three days period of excessive heat begins and ends in the same manner, at intervals, through the season. The succession of the degree of cold in winter is exactly the same: I never knew the excess exceed three days; not that we have then a thaw but that the weather is moderate, till another excess commences of three days.
On these occasions the mercury sometimes descends to 10 or 12 degrees below 0. Rivers a mile broad are frozen over in one night, and the bay of Chesapeak traversed in waggons and sleighs!
Though this climate, compared with that of England, is not in my opinion on the whole so good, yet it possesses many advantages, such as the clearness of the atmosphere, greater equality of the length of the days, and certainty of settled weather; for though the transitions are more violent, they are by no means so frequent as in England; where you have the wind from every point of the compass, and experience all the seasons of the year in twenty-four hours!
Recollect these observations on the climate of America are confined to the middle states, including Virginia in this description. Those of the north, and south, are somewhat different; but I am informed the country to the S.W. of the Allegany Mountains is materially different. The distance the N.W. wind has to travel to this country, and the opposition it meets with from those mountains, in a great measure meliorates and destroys those penetrating qualities, which make this wind so formidable to the Atlantic States. I have heard so many extraordinary accounts of the South-western territory, that I have long made up my mind to visit that country: two trifling reasons alone prevented me; viz. want of time and money; and from some disagreeable intelligence I have lately received from Wells, instead of climbing the Allegany, I apprehend I shall soon be obliged to cross the Atlantic; in which case, I shall have the pleasure of returning you thanks in person for your obliging attention to my order concerning the……….. which I received by the Peggy.
At present I must content myself by assuring you of my being
Your obliged friend, &c.
Philadelphia, September 13th, 1796.
DEAR SIR,
I write this in my way to Boston, where I am going to fulfil my engagement with W——, the particulars of which I informed you of in a former letter.
When I arrived at Newcastle, I had the mortification to find upwards of one hundred irish passengers on board the packet.
For some time before I left Baltimore, our papers were full of a shocking transaction, which took place on board an irish passenger ship, containing upwards of three hundred. It is said, that, owing to the cruel usage they received from the captain, such as being put on a very scanty allowance of water[Footnote: By a law of the United States, the quantity of water and provision every vessel is obliged to take (in proportion to the length of the passage and persons on board) is clearly defined. A master of a vessel violating this law forfeits five hundred dollars.] and provision, a contagious disorder broke out on board, which carried off great numbers; and, to add to their distress, when they arrived in the Delaware, they were obliged to perform quarantine, which, for some days, was equally fatal.
The disorder was finally got under by the physicians belonging to the Health Office. We had several of the survivors on board, who confirmed all I had heard: indeed their emaciated appearance was a sufficient testimony of what they had suffered. They assured me, the captain sold the ship's water by the pint; and informed me of a number of shocking circumstances, which I will not wound your feelings by relating.
It is difficult to conceive how a multitude of witnesses can militate against a fact; but more so, how three hundred passengers could tamely submit to such cruelties, from a bashaw of a captain.
I am happy to inform you the Philadelphia Hibernian Society are determined to prosecute this flesh butcher for murder; As the manner of carrying on this trade in human flesh is not generally known in England, I send you a few particulars of what is here emphatically called a white Guinea man. There are vessels in the trade of Belfast, Londonderry, Amsterdam, Hamburgh, &c., whose chief cargoes, on their return to America, are passengers; great numbers of whom, on their arrival, are sold for a term of years to pay their passage; during their servitude, they are liable to be resold, at the death or caprice of their masters. Such advertisements as the following, are frequent:—
"To be disposed of, the indentures of a strong, healthy, irish woman; who has two years to serve, and is fit for all kind of house work.— Enquire of the printer."
"Stop the villain!
Ran away this morning, an irish servant, named Michael Day, by trade a tailor, about five feet eight inches high, fair complexion, has a down look when spoken to, light bushy hair, speaks much in the irish dialect, &c.:—Whoever secures the above described, in any gaol, shall receive thirty dollars reward, and all reasonable charges paid.—N.B.. All masters of vessels are forbid harbouring, or carrying off the said servant at their peril."
The laws respecting the redemptioners[Footnote: The name given to these persons.] are very severe; they were formed for the english convicts before the revolution. There are lately hibernian, and german societies, who do all in their power, to mitigate the severity of these laws, and render their countrymen, during their servitude, as comfortable as possible. These societies are in all the large towns south of Connecticut. In New England they are not wanting, as the trade is there prohibited. The difficulty of hiring a tolerable servant induces many to deal in this way. Our friend S—— lately bought an irish girl for three years, and in a few days discovered he was likely to have a greater increase of his family than he bargained for; we had the laugh sadly against him on this occasion; I sincerely believe the jew regrets his new purchase is not a few shades darker. If he could prove her a women of colour, and produce a bill of sale, he would make a slave of the child as well as the mother! The emigration from Ireland has been this year very great; I left a large vessel[Footnote: These vessels frequently belong to Philadelphia, but land their passengers here, as there is a direct road to the back parts of Pennsylvania.] full of passengers from thence at Baltimore: I found three at Newcastle: and there is one in this city. The number of passengers cannot be averaged at less than two hundred and fifty to each vessel, all of whom have arrived within the last six weeks!
While the yellow fever was raging in this city, in the year 1793, when few vessels would venture nearer than Fort Miflin; a german captain in this trade arrived in the river, and hearing that such was the fatal nature of the infection, that a sufficient number of nurses could not be procured to attend the sick for any sum, conceived the philanthropic idea of supplying this deficiency from his redemption passengers! actuated by this humane motive, he sailed boldly up to the city, and advertised[Footnote: I have preserved this advertisement, and several others equally curious.] his cargo for sale:—
"A few healthy servants, generally between seventeen and twenty-one years of age; their times will be disposed of, by applying on board the brig."
Generous soul! thus nobly to sacrifice his own countrymen, pro bono publico. I never heard this honest german was properly rewarded; but virtue is it's own reward, and there is no doubt but the consciousness of having performed such an action is quite sufficient; at least, it would be to
Yours, &c.,
* * * * *
Boston, September 23rd, 1797.
DEAR FRIEND,
I set out for New York on the afternoon of the 16th. We had a pleasant journey, over a rich and well cultivated tract of country, to Bristol. We soon after crossed the Delaware, in a scow constructed to carry the stage and horses over in a few minutes, without even taking the latter from the carriage. We then entered the state of Jersey, and slept at Trenton, which we left before sunrise the next morning; a circumstance I regretted, as I wished to see the falls of the river Delaware in that neighbourhood, which I am informed are worthy the attention of a traveller.
Our journey across the Jerseys was pleasant; but the land is by no means so rich as on the other side of the Delaware. Pennsylvania is, in my opinion, justly called the Garden of America, at least of the United States East of the Allegany Mountains. We dined at New Brunswick, where there is a wooden bridge, with stone piers, thrown over a broad and rapid river. Our landlord informed us, several englishmen assured him, "It was very like Westminster Bridge." Though my conscience would not permit me, exactly to chime with my countrymen, it is but justice to acknowledge, that when the infant state of the country is considered, it is a work of equal magnitude, boldly designed, and neatly executed.
About four in the afternoon, we embarked in a small vessel for New York, which is situate on an island, in a bay, formed by the conflux of two large rivers, the Hudson or North, and the East river.
The city covers the south end of the island, and, as you approach it in that direction from the Jersey shore, seems like Venice, gradually rising from the sea. The evening was uncommonly pleasant; the sky perfectly clear and serene, and the sun, in setting with all that vivid warmth of colouring peculiar to southern latitudes, illuminated some of the most beautiful scenery in nature, on the north river, and adjacent country. For some minutes all my faculties were absorbed in admiration of the surrounding objects! I never enjoyed a prospect more enchanting; but this pleasure was of short continuance; I unfortunately cast my eyes towards the city, and immediately recollected two words I heard in the Jerseys (yellow fever); at which the delusion vanished!
New York, Sept. 18th.—My Jersey intelligence was too true; but the disorder is chiefly confined to one part of the city, and is effectually prevented from spreading at present by the N.W. wind, which is set in this morning with uncommon severity; a circumstance which sometimes happens at this season of the year, and is of long continuance. This kind of weather the Indians call half winter. Unfortunately for the Philadelphians, they had no half winter in the year 1793.—I spent this day in surveying the city, which, as well as the manners of the inhabitants, is more like England than any other part of America. New York is a London in miniature, populous streets, hum of business, busy faces, shops in style, &c.
Sept. 25th,—I spent this day in viewing the city with increasing admiration: It is certainly one of the first maritime situations in the world. The extensive settlements on the banks of the Hudson, which is navigable upwards of two hundred miles, amply supplies the city with exports and provision. The inhabitants boast of having the best fish-market in the United States; their own oyster-beds, and their vicinity to the New England states, give them this advantage[Footnote: There are fish on the coast of America which have certain boundaries, beyond which they never go; salmon, for instance, is never found south of a river in Connecticut; and certain southern fish never visit the New England coast.].—The governor's house, new theatre, and tontine coffee house, are magnificent buildings; the public walks well laid out, and pleasantly situate.
One advantage this city possesses peculiar to itself; you may be as much in the country as you can desire for five farthings english money: the fare is no more to Long Island, where you may be conveyed, from the heart of the city, in a few minutes, and meet with as great a variety of hill and dale, wood and water, as in any part of the world. This island is ninety miles in length.
Sept. 19th.—I intended proceeding to Boston, by the way of Rhode Island, as I was informed the passage through Hell Gates[Footnote: A dangerous strait, between stupendous rocks.] and the Sound is very pleasant at this season; but the fear of being obliged to perform a quarantine at my arrival prevented me. I set off this morning, in the stage. Our course lay the whole length of the island, which is barren and rocky; affording some romantic situations, in several of which I observed (to use a cockney phrase) snug little boxes; these, I was informed, belonged to the wealthy citizens; they commanded a view of the city, the North River, the Sound, and adjacent islands.
At noon we entered Connecticut, the most southerly of the New England states. Slept at Fairfield.
On the night of the 20th we reached Hertford, the capital of the state.— About five miles from it, a house was pointed out to me, where a very shocking circumstance took place a few years ago.—A merchant, not being able to bear a change in his circumstances from affluence to extreme poverty, coolly and deliberately shot his wife and five children, and afterward himself. He tried every means, for several days, to send his wife away; but she preferred dying with him and the children. He left a paper on the table, informing his friends, that his only motive for committing this rash action was to rescue his family from a situation, which he himself found insupportable.
Sept. 21st.—We this afternoon entered the state of Massachusetts. I found New England very different from any part of America I had before seen; the soil but very indifferent, rocky, and mountainous, interspersed with some rich tracts of land in the valleys; the up lands are divided by means of stone walls, as in Derbyshire, and some other parts of Great Britain.
They have few negroes, or european emigrants; so far from wanting the latter, as in the South, they send great numbers every year to the new settlements in the South-west.
When we made any stay at a tavern on the road, I observed one of my fellow travellers (who was very eloquent upon this subject) take every opportunity of singing forth the praises of New Virginia[Footnote: A rich tract of country, west of the Allegany Mountains.].—The north-west wind continuing, the morning of the 22d was very cold; and we breakfasted with a number of strangers. Our orator did not lose this opportunity of holding forth on his favourite topic. I recollect the latter part of his harangue was to the following effect:—"There," says he, (while the New Englanders were staring with their mouths open,) "when I clear a fresh lot of land on any of my plantations, I am obliged to plant it six or seven years with hemp, or tobacco, before it is sufficiently poor to bear wheat! My indian corn grows twelve or thirteen feet high; I'll dig four feet deep on my best land, and it shall then be sufficiently rich to manure your barren hills; and as to the climate, there is no comparison: this cursed cold north-west wind loses all it's severity before it reaches us; our winters are so mild, that our cattle requite no fodder, but range the woods all winter; and our summers are more moderate than on your side the Allegany; and as to——" Here the stage-driver put an end to his oration, by informing us, all was ready to proceed on our journey.
We must not be surprised, that numbers, who cultivate an ungrateful soil in this cold climate, should be induced, by such descriptions as the above, to emigrate to our orator's land of promise, I am informed ten thousand persons emigrated from these states to Kentucky alone, in one year. I have lately seen a flattering description of this country, published in London: that the accounts are exaggerated, I have no doubt, as it is said to be written by a speculator; deeply interested in the sale of lands in the new settlements. I had a strong suspicion our fellow traveller was of this description, and took every opportunity to cross-examine him on this subject; he stuck true to his text, insisted that all he advanced was literally true, but acknowledged he was going to receive a sum of money for land he had sold to some emigrants from the province of Main, and that he expected to sell a considerable tract before his return. I arrived at Boston the 23d instant, four hundred and seventy-four miles from Baltimore.
Yours, &c.
P.S. I find we are to have a most vigorous theatrical opposition. A sort of dramatic mania has lately seiz'd the inhabitants. The primitive Bostonians would as soon have admitted the plague as a company of players; but the present inhabitants having more liberal sentiments, a company of comedians came to this town about four years ago, and ventured to exhibit dramatic pieces, under the title of Moral Lectures. At length a bill passed the General Assembly of Massachusetts to licence theatrical performances; and as it is natural for mankind to run from one extreme to another, they have this year two theatres, both of which are attended with a prodigious expence. Some of the performers are engaged at upwards of 20_l_. english per week; and Mrs. Whitlocke (sister to Mrs. Siddons, whom you may perhaps recollect at the Haymarket) is to have 180_l_. sterling for six nights. This opposition will in all probability end in the ruin of the managers, or rather of the subscribers, who are bound for the payments.
* * * * *
Boston, October 3d, 1796.
DEAR SIR,
The first leisure day after my arrival here, I went to Bunker's Hill, attended by two persons, who were spectators of the engagement, and were kind enough to point out and explain a number of particulars I wished to be acquainted with, for the purpose of enabling me to form a tolerable idea of this famous action. If general Howe meant only to give the Yankies a specimen of british valour, and his contempt of them and their intrenchment, he succeeded in both.—His enemies on this side the water say, "they gave him a Rowland for his Oliver; that he paid too dear for this victory; that a more prudent general would have found a better place to land the troops, and a safer mode of attack; that the price he paid for this little redoubt ought to have convinced him, he could not afford even to bid for Dorchester heights, if once the Americans got possession of those hills; that he should therefore have fortified them himself; that——" But as nothing is easier than to see all these thats when it is too late, I shall plague you with no more of them, but conclude with an inscription from a monument on the scene of action.
Yours, &c.
"ERECTED, 1794,
By King Solomon's Lodge of Free Masons,
[Footnote: General Warren was a brother.]
constituted at Charlestown, 1783,
In Memory of
MAJOR GENERAL JOSEPH WARREN,
AND HIS BRAVE ASSOCIATES,
Who were slain on this memorable spot,
June 17th, 1775.
None but they, who set a just value on the blessings of LIBERTY, are worthy to enjoy her. In vain we toil'd, in vain we fought, We bled in vain, if you, our offspring, Want valour to repel the assaults of her invaders."
CHARLES TOWN settled 1628. —————— burnt 1775. —————— rebuilt 1776.
P. S. I was yesterday introduced to Cox, the celebrated bridge-architect: he is famous for throwing a bridge over waters, where, from the depth or strength of the current, this operation was thought impracticable. He always constructs his bridges of wood, and endeavours to give as little resistance to the water as possible: his supporters are numerous, but slender; and there is an interval between each. He tells me this idea first struck him from reading Aesop's fable of the Reed and the Oak: the reed, by yielding, was unhurt by a tempest, which tore up the sturdy oak by the roots.
Cox served his apprenticeship to a carpenter; and it was late in life before he attempted bridge-building. He proved his new theory on a small bridge in the country, which answering beyond his most sanguine expectations, he delivered proposals for connecting Boston to the continent, at Charleston, by means of a draw-bridge. His plan was by some supposed to proceed from a distempered brain. It is usual for the ignorant to call a projector insane, when his schemes exceed the bounds of their shallow comprehensions.
After some time, a subscription was raised; and, to the confusion of his enemies, he erected a bridge 1500 feet long, by 42 wide, where there was, at the lowest ebb, 28 feet of water, and the flow of the tide was from 12 to 16 feet more. But what is the most surprising, this bridge has stood the shock of prodigious bodies of ice, sometimes three or four feet in thickness; which are, every thaw violently forced against it with a powerful current. He was rewarded with the sum of two hundred dollars above his contract. He then went to Ireland, where he built seven bridges; the largest was at Londonderry, 1860 feet long, by 40 wide; the depth of water 37 feet, and the flow of the tide from 14 to 18 feet more. He compleated this bridge so much to the satisfaction of the gentlemen who employed him, that he was presented with a gold medal and one hundred pounds above his contract.
He speaks feelingly, and with gratitude, of the many favours he received during his residence in that kingdom.
Farewell, yours, &c.
* * * * *
Boston, October 9th, 1796.
DEAR FRIEND,
Boston is situate in latitude 42 deg. 23 min. north, on a small peninsula, at the bottom of Massachusetts Bay. It was built in the manner cities were in England, at the time this settlement was formed; that is to say, with, the gable end of the houses in front, the streets are narrow, ill paved, and worse lighted. But recollect, I do not include the New Town, or West Boston, in this description; which, as well as those houses that have lately been erected in the Old Town, are in the modern style.
The harbour is one of the best in the States; and, as a sea port, Boston possesses advantages superiour to any I have seen in America: being too far to the north to have any thing to fear from the worms (see a former letter from Annapolis); and so near the ocean, that the navigation is open, when the ports of Philadelphia, Baltimore, and others, three or four degrees more to the south, are entirely frozen.
Several of the public buildings are well worthy the attention of a
Traveller.
The New State House will, when finished, add considerably to the beauty of the town. It is building on Beacon Hill, and commands a very extensive view of the bay of Massachusetts, and adjacent islands.
The long wharf is a bold design; it runs 1743 feet in a right line into the bay, where there is, at the lowest ebb, 17 feet of water. On this wharf are upwards of eighty large stores, containing merchandize to a great amount. I could never view these buildings without astonishment at the infatuation of the proprietors: they are, without a single exception, of wood, and the roofs covered with cedar shingles; were a fire to commence at either extremity with a brisk wind in the same direction, the whole must infallibly be consumed.
The new[Footnote: The old theatre has not been erected five years. Our opposition rages with great violence. Much ink has already been shed. One third of the public papers are crammed with what is called Theatrical Critique; but is in fact either the barefaced puff direct in favour of one theatre, or a string of abusive epithets against the other, equally void of truth and decency.
The dispute has lately taken political turn. It seems ours is the aristocratic theatre. The democrats at the New Theatre are commanded by the Moral Lecture manager. Mr. Powell informs his fellow-citizens, that on Monday evening will be performed the tragedy of the Battle of Bunker's Hill.—The English in this town affect to laugh at the eagerness with which the Bostonians swallow certain passages of this play. I laugh too, but justice obliges me to confess, that John Bull can swallow a fulsome clap trap as voraciously at any Yankee of them all.] theatre is a stupendous wooden building, that will contain one tenth of the inhabitants of the whole town.
The favourite promenade of the Bostonians, is the Mall, which has trees on each side, as in St. James's Park, London. This walk commands some beautiful prospects of the adjacent continent.
Immediately opposite is the village and university of Cambridge.
To open an immediate communication between Boston and the university, the New Bridge was built on the plan of Mr. Cox during his absence in Ireland; a great undertaking, including the causeways, which are covered in the same manner as the water. This bridge is within a few feet of a mile in length, by means of which, the bridge at Charleston, and the neck of the peninsula, our communication with the continent is so complete, that we feel but few inconveniences from our insular situation. —We have a plentiful supply of provision. Our fish-market is an excellent one: the following species are larger than I remember seeing them in Europe; viz. hallibut, cod, mackarel, smelts, and lobsters. The first is often brought to market weighing two hundred pounds. Dr. Belknap, in his History of New Hampshire, says, that when full grown, they often exceed five hundred pounds weight. The cod are from seventy to eighty pounds. Mackarel often exceed four, and lobsters sometimes thirty-five pounds weight. I have preserved a claw of one of the latter, which weighed thirty pounds: this I shall bring home with me, lest my friends should think that, in this particular, I take too liberal an advantage of the traveller's privilege, which I assure you I do not, when I subscribe myself
Your sincere friend.
* * * * *
Boston, December 27th, 1796.
DEAR FRIEND,
There is no calamity the bostonians so much, and justly dread, as fire. Almost every part of the town exhibits melancholy proofs of the devastation of that destructive element. This you will not wonder at, when I inform you that three fourths of the houses are built with wood, and covered with shingles, thin pieces of cedar, nearly in the shape, and answering the end of tiles. We have no regular fire-men, or rather mercenaries, as every master of a family belongs to a fire-company: there are several in town, composed of every class of citizens, who have entered into a contract to turn out with two buckets at the first fire alarm, and assist to the utmost of their power in extinguishing the flames, without fee or reward.
I awoke this morning about two o'clock by the cry of fire, and the jingling of all the church bells, which, with the rattling of the engines, call for water, and other et caetera of a bostonian fire-alarm, form a concert truly horrible.
As sleep was impossible under such circumstances, I immediately rose, and found the town illuminated. When the alarm is given at night, the female part of the family immediately place candles in the windows. This is of great service in a town where there are few lamps.
I found the fire had broken out in one of the narrow streets, and was spreading fast on all sides. I was much pleased with the regularity observed by these amateur fire-men. Each engine had a double row, extending to the nearest water; one row passed the full, and the other the empty buckets. The citizens not employed at the engines were pulling down the adjacent buildings, or endeavouring to save the furniture; their behaviour was bold and intrepid. The wind blew fresh at N.W.; and nothing but such uncommon exertions could possibly have saved the town, composed, as it is, of such combustible materials. You will naturally inquire, whether they have no other. Yes, brick and stone in great plenty; but the cheapness of a frame, or wooden building, is a great inducement for the continuance of this dangerous practice: but there is one still greater, viz. a strange idea, universal in America, that wooden houses are more healthy, and less liable to generate or retain contagious infection than those of brick or stone. This notion has been ably controverted by one of their best writers[Footnote: Jefferson, vicepresident of the United States.], but with little effect; and, like all other deep-rooted prejudices, will not easily be eradicated.
Your papers have, I suppose, informed you of a set of diabolical incendiaries having set fire to Savannah, Charleston, Baltimore, and New York. The villainy of these infernals is likely to be productive of some good. The inhabitants of Charleston have agreed to prohibit the erection of wooden buildings in that city. The philadelphians had before come to this prudent resolution, within certain limits, I was present when this matter was agitated. It was violently opposed by the democratic party; who insisted, that in a free country, a man has a right to build his house of what materials he pleases. "True," said I, "of stone-brimstone —use gun-powder for lime, and mix it with spirit of turpentine," Farewell.
Yours, &c.
P.S. I thank you for the Apology. It has been already twice answered in this country, or rather, the bishop has been as often abused; first, by a deist of New York, for speaking too favourably of the Bible; and secondly, by a hot-headed frantic of New England; who, in a work he calls The Bible needs no Apology, rails at his lordship for the opposite reason, and consigns him to eternal damnation, for not insisting on every sentence of scripture being the inspired word of God.
Boston, January 7th, 1797.
DEAR FRIEND,
The states of Massachusetts and Connecticut were originally settled by brownists, and other puritans, and were, for many years, an asylum for dissenters of all denominations, who fled from persecution in Europe, to exercise a still greater degree of intolerance themselves, when in power in America. You have doubtless read or heard of the Blue Laws of Connecticut. Without insisting on the sanguinary code, said to be formerly in force under this title, I shall briefly, and without connexion, transcribe for you some extracts from Dr. Belknap, and others of their own writers on this subject; on the truth of which you may rely:—
EXTRACTS.
"Severe laws, conformable to the principles of the laws of Moses, were enacted against all kinds of immorality.
"Blasphemy, idolatry, unnatural lusts, rape, murder, adultery, man-stealing, bearing false witness, rebellion against parents, were all equally made capital crimes. The law against the latter was in these words:—'If any child or children, above sixteen years of age, and of sufficient understanding, shall curse or smite their natural father or mother, he or they shall be put to death. Exodus xxi, 17; Lev. x, 9.'
"A law was passed to prohibit, under a severe penalty, the smoking of tobacco, which was compared to the smoke of the bottomless pit. Drinking of healths, and wearing long hair, were also forbidden, under the same penalty: the first was considered as a heathenish and idolatrous practice, grounded on the ancient libations.
"Previous to putting the laws in execution against the latter, the following proclamation was issued, and is now preserved among the records at Havard College, Cambridge, near Boston:—
"Forasmuch as the wearing of long hair, after the manner of ruffians and barbarous indians, has begun to invade New England, contrary to the rule of God's word, Corinthians xi, 14, which says it is a shame for a man to wear long hair; as also the commendable custom generally of all the godly of our nation, until these few years; we, the magistrates who have subscribed this paper, (for the showing of our own innocency in this behalf,) do declare and manifest our dislike and detestation against the wearing of such long hair, as against a thing uncivil and unmanly; whereby men do deform themselves, and offend sober and modest men, and do corrupt good manners. We do therefore, earnestly intreat all the elders of this jurisdiction, as often as they shall see cause, to manifest their zeal against it in their public administrations, and to take care that the members of their respective churches be not defiled therewith, that so, such as shall prove obstinate, and will not reform themselves, may have God and man to witness against them.
"The 3d month, 10th day, 1649.
"Jo. Endicott, Governor. Tho. Dudley, Dep. Governor Rich. Bellingham. Rich. Salton Stall. Increase Nowell. William Hibbins. Tho. Flint. Rob. Bridges. Simon Bradstreet.'
"Laws were made to regulate the intercourse between the sexes, and the advances towards matrimony. They had a ceremony of betrothing, which preceded that of marriage. Pride and levity came under the cognizance of the magistrates. Not only the richness, but the mode of dress, and cut of the hair, were subject to regulations. Women were forbidden to expose their arms or bosoms to view. It was ordered, that their sleeves should reach down to their wrists, and their gowns to be closed round the neck. Women offending against these laws were presentable by the grand jury.
"The following were some of their favourite arguments in favour of persecution. The celebrated Cotton, in a treatise published in 1647, laboured to prove the lawfulness of the magistrate using the civil sword, to extirpate heretics, from the command given to the jews, to put to death blasphemers and idolaters!
"After saying it was toleration, which made the world antichristian, he concludes his work with this singular ejaculation:—'The Lord keep us from being bewitched with the whore's cup, lest while we seem to reject her with our profession, we bring her in by a back door of toleration, and so drink deeply of the cup of the Lord's wrath, and be filled with her plagues!'
"During a war with the eastern Indians, a council was called, and a proposal made to draw upon them the Mohawks, their ancient enemy, though then at peace: the lawfulness of this proceeding was doubted by some tender consciences; but all their doubts vanished, when it was urged, that Abraham had entered into a confederacy with the Amorites, among whom he dwelt, and made use of their assistance in recovering his kinsman Lot from the hands of their common enemy."
* * * * *
"The quakers at first were banished; but this proving insufficient, a succession of sanguinary laws were enacted against them; such as imprisonment, whipping, cutting off the ears, boreing the tongue with a red-hot iron, and banishment on pain of death. In consequence of these laws, four quakers were put to death at Boston only; when their friends in England procured an order from king Charles the Second, which put a stop to capital executions."
And now, friend Joseph, what do you think of these primitive christians? When the real Christian William Penn arrived in America, what was his retaliation? He called his city Philadelphia, to perpetuate a memorial of the cords of peace and good will, which bound him, and all his followers, not only to one another, but even to his enemies at Boston, were they inclined to come and settle with them.—The following words of his proclamation ought to be written in letters of gold:—
"Because no people can be happy, if abridged of the freedom of their consciences, as to their religious professions and worship; I do grant and declare, that no person inhabiting this province, or territories, who shall acknowledge one Almighty God, the Creator, Ruler, and Upholder of the world, and live quietly under the civil government, shall in any case be molested, or prejudiced in his person or estate because of his conscientious persuasion or practice."
But to return to New England; happily for these states, the revolution has done away great part of the severity of their ancient laws; but the inhabitants still retain a taste for scriptural phrases and allusions in their writings. As you are fond of poetry, I send you two specimens of this kind of writing; the first is from a tomb-stone at Plymouth[Footnote: The oldest settlement north of Virginia.]. It was written by one of the first settlers, and is in the true spirit of those times.—
EPITAPH UPON GENERAL ATHERTON.
"Here lies our captain, and major,
Of Suffolk was withal,
A godly magistrate was he,
And major general.
Two troops of horse came here,
(Such love his worth did crave;)
Ten companies of foot also,
Mourning, marched to his grave.
Let all that read be sure to keep
The faith, as he has done.
He lives now crowned with Christ;
His name was Humphrey Atherton."
In order to understand the second, I must inform you, it is usual for boys, who expect christmas boxes, to present their masters' customers with a copy of verses, expressive of their good wishes, &c. The call-boy of the theatre, (a mechanic's son of this town,) had the following verses written in the usual style by the poet commonly employed on these occasions, and when printed, delivered one to each of the performers.—
"THE CALL-BOY OF THE THEATRE, FEDERAL-STREET, NEW YEAR'S WISH, 1797.
"Look up, worthy friends, from yonder bright hills
See how Phoebus smiles, to hail the new year:
I bring you a tribute—rejoice thus to find,
So many are living, and meet with us here.
"May health be confirm'd, and sickness remov'd;
May no sweeping flames take place in this state;
We sympathise deeply with neighbouring friends,
Whose cup has run over with this bitter fate.
"May teachers this day find help from above
To publish glad news, as heralds of grace,
While Zion is mourning her light shall break forth,
And shadows of midnight away from her chase.
"I wish through this year God's presence may smile
On all your just schemes at home or abroad;
I wish you his protection, by sea or by land;
May your theatrical works find favour in God.
[Footnote: The boy must surely mean the gods.]
"Gentlemen and ladies, accept these wishes sincere,
And I wish you all a happy new year."
Boston, January 1st, 1797.
DEAR FRIEND,
To answer your last, wherein you desire me to send you the exact state of negro slavery in this country, is a task to which I am unequal.
You will conceive the great difficulty of obliging you in this request, when you are informed, that on this subject each individual state has it's own laws. The only point in which they are unanimous, is to prohibit their importation, either from the Coast of Africa, or the West Indies. I can only inform you in general terms, that in the southern states there is little alteration in the negro code since the revolution; of course the laws are nearly the same as in the British West India islands. In the middle states, though negro slavery is allowed, their situation has been considerably meliorated, by a variety of laws in their favour, some tending to their gradual emancipation, others to render their servitude less irksome, &c.
Societies are formed in several of the large towns to enforce these lenient laws, and to purchase the freedom of a few of the most deserving slaves. The quakers, beside liberating all their negroes, have contributed liberally towards the funds these societies have established, for carrying their benevolent intentions into effect. In consequence of these measures, there are a number of free negroes in Philadelphia, whose situation is very comfortable. A handsome episcopalian church has been built for their use, and one of the most respectable negroes ordained, who performs all the duties of his office with great solemnity and fervour of devotion, assisted occasionally by his white brethren; and there are also two schools, where the children of people of colour are educated gratis; one supported by the quakers, the other by the abolition society.
Negro slavery, under any modification or form, is prohibited in this state (Massachusetts,) also in New Hampshire, the province of Maine, and, I believe, in all the New England states.
As to your other queries respecting the negroes, I send you my sentiments, infinitely better expressed by Jefferson, notwithstanding all that Imlay, Wilberforce, and other authors, have written against his assertion, viz., that "Negroes are inferiour to the whites, both in the endowments of body and mind." I am clearly and decidedly of his opinion. A strict attention to this subject, during three years residence in these states, has convinced me of the truth of every tittle of the following extract from his Virginia, which I enclose for your perusal, and am, most sincerely,
Yours, &c.
"The first difference that strikes us is colour. Whether the black of the negro reside in the reticular membrane, between the skin and scarf skin, or in the scarf skin itself; whether it proceed from the colour of the blood, the colour of the bile, or from that of some other secretion, the difference is fixed in nature, and is as real as if it's seat and cause were better known to us. And is this difference of no importance? Is it not the foundation of a greater or less share of beauty in the two races? Are not the fine mixtures of red and white, the expression of every passion by a greater or less suffusion of colour in the one, preferable to that eternal monotony, that immovable veil of black, which covers all the emotions of the other race? Add to these, flowing hair, a more elegant symmetry of form, their own judgment in favour of the whites, declared by their preference to them, as uniformly as is the preference of the oroonowtang for the black women over those of his own species? The circumstance of superiour beauty is thought worthy attention in the propagation of our horses, dogs, and other domestic animals; why not in that of man?
"Beside those of colour, figure, and hair, there are other physical distinctions, proving a difference of race. They have less hair on the face and body. They secrete less by the kidneys, and more by the glands of the skin; which gives them a very strong and disagreeable odour. This greater degree of transpiration renders them more tolerant of heat, and less so of cold, than the whites. Perhaps a difference of structure in the pulmonary aparatus, which a late ingenious experimentalist, (Crawford) has discovered to be the principal regulator of animal heat, may have disabled them from extricating, in the act of inspiration, so much of that fluid from the outer air; or obliged them, in expiration, to part with more of it.
"They seem to require less sleep. A black, after hard labour through the day, will be induced by the slightest amusement, to sit up till midnight, or later, though knowing he must be out with the dawn of the morning. They are at least as brave, and more adventurous; but this may proceed from want of forethought, which prevents their seeing a danger till it be present; when present, they do not go through it with more coolness and steadiness than the whites. They are more ardent after the female; but love seems with them more an eager desire, than a tender delicate mixture of sentiment and sensation. Their griefs are transient. Those numberless afflictions which render it doubtful, whether Heaven has given life to us more in mercy, or in wrath, are less felt and sooner forgotten with them. In general, their existence appears to participate more of sensation than reflection. To this must be ascribed their disposition to sleep, when abstracted from their diversions, or unemployed in labour. An animal, whose body is at rest, and who does not reflect, must be disposed to sleep of course. Comparing them by their faculties of memory, reason, and imagination, it appears to me that in memory, they are equal to the whites; in reason much inferiour. As I think one could scarcely be found capable of tracing, and comprehending the investigations of Euclid; and that in imagination they are dull, tasteless, and anomalous. It would be unfair to follow them to Africa for this investigation. We will consider them here, on the same stage with the whites. And where the facts are not apocryphal on which a judgment is to be formed, it will be right to make allowances for the difference of condition, of conversation, and of the sphere in which they move. Many millions of them have been brought to, and born in America. Most of them indeed have been confined to tillage, to their own homes, and their own society; yet many have been so situate, that they might have availed themselves of the conversation of their masters; many have been brought up to the handicraft arts, and from that circumstance have always been associated with the whites; some have been liberally educated, and all have lived in countries where the arts and sciences are cultivated to a considerable degree, and have had before their eyes samples of the best work from abroad. The Indians with no advantages of this kind, will often carve figures on their pipes, not destitute of merit and design. They will crayon out an animal, a plant, or a country, so as to prove the existence of a germe in their minds, which only wants cultivation. They astonish you with strokes of the most sublime oratory, such as prove their reason and sentiment strong, their imagination glowing and elevated; but never yet could I find a black, that had uttered a thought above the level of plain narration[Footnote: "Sleep hab no massa," was the answer of a sleepy negro, who was told that his massa called him.—See Edward's History of Jamaica, 2d Vol.]; never see even an elementary trait of painting, or sculpture. In music they are more generally gifted than the whites with accurate ears for tune, and time; and they have been found capable of imagining a small catch[Footnote: "The instrument proper to them is the banjore, which they brought here from Africa, and which is the origin of the guitar, it's chords being precisely the four lower chords of that instrument." J—— N.]. Whether they will be equal to the composition of a more extensive run of melody, or of complicated harmony[Footnote: From this circumstance, I conceive our author's catch was improperly so called.], is yet to be proved. Misery is often the parent of the most affecting touches in poetry. Among the blacks is misery enough, God knows, but no poetry. Love is the peculiar oestrum of the poet: their love is ardent; but it kindles the senses only, not the imagination. Religion, or rather fanaticism, has produced a Phyllis Wheatly; but it could not produce a poet. Ignatius Sancho has approached nearer to merit in composition; yet his letters do more credit to the heart than the head; supposing them to have been genuine, and to have received amendment from no other hand; points which would not be easy of investigation. The improvement of the blacks in body and mind, in the first instance of their mixture with the whites, has been observed by every one, and proves their inferiority is not the effect merely of their condition in life.
"The white slaves, among the Romans, were often their rarest artists; they excelled too in science, insomuch as to be usually employed as tutors to their masters' children. Epictetus, Terence, and Phoedrus, were slaves. Whether further observation will, or will not, verify the conjecture, that Nature has been less bountiful to them, in the endowments of the head, I believe in those of the heart she will be found to have done them justice. That disposition to theft, with which they have been branded, must be ascribed to their situation, and not to any depravity of the moral sense. The man, in whose favour no laws of property exist, probably feels himself less bound to respect those made in favour of others. When arguing for ourselves, we lay it down as a fundamental, that laws, to be just, must give a reciprocation of right; that without this, they are mere arbitrary rules of conduct, founded in force, and not in conscience. And it is a problem which I give the master to solve, whether the religious precepts against the violation of property, were not formed for him, as well as his slave, and whether the slave may not as justifiably take a little from one who has taken all from him, as he would slay one that would slay him?
"That a change in the relation in which a man is placed should change his ideas of moral right and wrong, is neither new, nor confined to the blacks; Homer tells us, it was so 2600 years ago:—'Jove fixed it certain, that whatever day makes a man a slave, takes half his worth away.' But the slaves Homer speaks of were whites.
"But to return to the blacks. Notwithstanding this consideration, which must weaken their respect for the laws of property, we find among them numerous instances of the most rigid integrity; and as many as among their better instructed masters, of benevolence, gratitude, and unshaken fidelity.
"The opinion that they are inferiour in the faculties of reason and imagination, must be hazarded with great diffidence. To justify a general conclusion requires many observations, even where the subject may be submitted to the anatomical knife, to optical glasses, to analysis by fire or solvents: how much more, then, when it is a faculty, not a substance, we are examining; where it eludes the research of all the senses; where the conditions of it's existence are various, and variously combined; where the effects of those which are present or absent bid defiance to calculation; let me add too, in a circumstance where our conclusions would degrade a whole race of men from the rank in the scale of beings, which their Creator may perhaps have given them! To our reproach it must be said, though for a century and a half we have had under our eyes the races of black and red men, they have never yet been viewed by us as subjects of natural history. I advance it therefore as a suspicion only, that the blacks[Footnote: Where Jefferson makes use of the word Black, in this extract, it is rigidly confined to the Negroes originally from the coast of Africa, or their descendants.], whether originally a distinct race, or made so by time and circumstances, are inferiour to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind."
* * * * *
Boston, December 29th, 1796.
DEAR FRIEND,
Upon my arrival here, I had once more the mortification to find myself in the neighbourhood of the yellow fever, which had lately been imported. The uncommon, early, and severe north-west winds entirely prevented it from spreading; a fortunate circumstance for the inhabitants of Boston, as, from the narrowness of their streets, great population, and other circumstances, it must have been very fatal, had it not been by this means destroyed.
In order to give you the most regular account of this disorder I could procure, I must repeat several circumstances from former letters.
The yellow fever, which has lately been so fatal, is a new disorder, first brought to the West Indies, in a slave-ship from the coast of Africa, late in the year 1792. It spread rapidly from island to island, and in July, 1793, was first imported to the continent in a french schooner to Philadelphia. The physicians of that city, naturally concluding it was the usual yellow fever of the West Indies, applied the common remedies in that case: viz., bark, and other astringents. In nine cases out of ten, death was the inevitable consequence to all who took these medicines. The disease was equally fatal to the faculty. A universal despondency took place, till doctor Rush, suspecting this was a new disorder, applied an opposite method of cure, by mercurial medicines, and copious bleedings; which, when administered in the first or second stage of the disorder, had the desired effect.
I send you an extract from the doctor's pamphlet, wherein he explains his motives for adopting this method of cure, &c.
Speaking of the effect of the lancet, he says, "It was at this time my old master reminded me of Dr. Sydenham's remark, that moderate bleeding did harm in the plague, where copious bleeding was indicated, and that, in the cure of that disorder, we should leave Nature wholly to herself, or take the cure altogether out of her hands."
The truth of this observation was obvious:—By taking away as much blood as restored the blood-vessels to a morbid degree of action, without reducing this action afterward, pain, congestion, and inflammation, were greatly increased; all of which were prevented, or occurred in a less degree, when the system rose gradually from the state of depression which had been induced by indirect debility. Under the influence of the facts and reasonings which have been mentioned, I bore the same testimony in acute cases against what was called moderate bleeding, that I did against bark, wine, and laudanum, in this fever.—I drew from many persons seventy or eighty ounces of blood in five days.
* * * * *
After the cold weather had completely destroyed this disorder, it did not appear again in the United States till the next year, when it was imported to Baltimore and New Haven; a distance from each other of more than five hundred miles. The cold weather again destroyed it, till carried, in 1795, to Charleston and New York, equally distant from each other; and this summer it was imported to Charleston, New York, Boston, and Newbery Port; a distance of one thousand five hundred miles along the coast; but fortunately the early N.W. winds destroyed it in all these places before it had made any considerable progress.
A quarantine upon vessels from the infected islands would effectually prevent the importation of this plague; but if performed in the literal sense of the word, it would materially hurt the West India trade of the Americans.
You have little to fear from this disorder being brought to England; experience has clearly proved, this fever cannot exist in a cold climate; but was it to be imported to the south of Europe, the consequences would be dreadful indeed. I before told you, the negroes were not afflicted with the yellow fever, though universally employed as nurses to the sick.
A disease that will affect but one species of men is not new. About the year 1652, a very dreadful and uncommon plague ravaged this part of America, and actually extirpated several nations of the Indians, without, in a single instance, affecting the white emigrants, though continually among them. This strange circumstance the fanatics of New England accounted for in their usual way, as appears from several of their sermons, still preserved:—
"It was a just judgment of God upon these heathenish and idolatrous nations; the Lord took this method of destroying them, that he might make the more room for his chosen people." A philosopher would perhaps demand a better reason. Apropos of philosophers—An american writer has been endeavouring to investigate the age of the world, from the Falls of Niagara! According to his calculation (which, by the by, is not a little curious) it is 36960 years since the first rain fell upon the face of the earth!
Yours, &c.
Boston, December 19th, 1796.
DEAR SIR,
I before hinted to you, that the Americans pay very little attention to their fisheries.
Exclusive of the shad fishery, which is only two months in the year, there is not one individual, either in the city of Philadelphia, or it's vicinity, who procures a livelihood by catching fish in the Delaware, though that river abounds with sturgeon, perch, cat-fish, eels, and a vast variety of others, which would meet with a sure sale in the Philadelphia markets: but this is a trifle to their neglect of the greatest fishery in the universe; for such certainly is that on the banks of Newfoundland.
The Americans now being at peace with most of the piratical states of Barbary, will find an excellent market for their fish in the Mediterranean. This circumstance may induce congress to pay some attention to the hints thrown out by Dr. Belknap, in his Account of the American Newfoundland Fishery, which I transcribe for you perusal:—
"The cod-fishery is either carried on by boats or schooners. The boats in the winter season go out in the morning, and return at night. In the spring they do not return till they are filled. The schooners make three trips to the banks of Newfoundland in a season; the first, or spring cargo, are large, thick fish, which, after being properly salted and dried, are kept alternately above and under ground, till they become so mellow as to be denominated dumb fish. These, when boiled, are red, and of an excellent quality; they are chiefly consumed in these states. The fish caught in the other two trips, during the summer and fall, are white, thin, and less firm; these are exported to Europe and the West Indies; they are divided into two sorts; one called merchantable, and the other Jamaica fish.
"The places where the cod-fishery is chiefly carried on, are the Isle of Shoals, Newcastle, Rye, and Hampton. The boats employed in this fishery are of that light and swift kind called whale-boats; they are rowed either with two or four oars, and steered with another; and being equally sharp at each end, move with the utmost celerity on the surface of the ocean. The schooners are from twenty to fifty tons, carry six or seven men, and one or two boys. When they make a tolerable voyage, they bring over five or six hundred quintals of fish, salted and stowed in bulk. At their arrival, the fish is rinced in salt water, and spread on hurdles composed of brush-wood, and raised on stakes three or four feet from the ground. They are kept carefully preserved from the rain: they should not be wet from the time they are first spread on the hurdle till they are boiled for the table.
"This fishery has not of late years been prosecuted with the same spirit it was fifty or sixty years ago, when the shores were covered with fish-flakes, and seven or eight ships were annually loaded for Spain or Portugal, beside what was carried to the West Indies. Afterward they found it more convenient to cure the fish at Corscaw, which was nearer to the banks. It was continued there to great advantage till 1744, when it was broken up by the french war. After the peace it revived, but not in so great a degree as before. Fish was frequently cured in the summer on the eastern shores and islands, and in the spring and fall at home.
"Previously to the late revolution the greater part of remittances were made to Europe by the fishery; but it has not yet recovered from the shock which it received by the war with Britain: it is however in the power of the Americans to make more advantage of the cod-fishery perhaps than, any of the european nations. We can fit out vessels at less expense, and by reason of the westerly winds, which prevail on our coasts in February and March, can go to the banks earlier in the season than the Europeans, and take the best fish. We can dry it in a clearer air than the foggy shores of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. We can supply every necessary from among ourselves; vessels, spars, sails, cordage, anchors, lines, hooks, and provision. Salt can be imported from abroad cheaper than it can be made at home, if it be not too much loaded with duties. Men can always be had to go on shares, which is by far the most profitable way, both to the employer and fisherman. The fishing banks are an inexhaustible source of wealth; and the fishing business is a most excellent nursery for seamen; it therefore deserves every encouragement and indulgence from an enlightened and rational legislature."
Boston, March 4th, 1797.
DEAR FRIEND,
Being very busy in making preparation for my voyage to England, I have not leisure to write you a long epistle, but enclose you one I sent to an american friend in the south.—Farewell.
This will most likely be the last letter you will receive from me on this side of the Atlantic. The French have already taken two hundred sail of american vessels. I hope my next may not be dated from Brest.
To Mr.————,
State of————.
DEAR SIR,
In consequence of my promise at parting, I sit down to give you some account of Yankee Land. You were perfectly right in telling me I should find the New England states very different from your part of America.
The first object that would strike you is the population of the country. In one day's journey through Connecticut, I saw as many towns, villages, and houses, as I ever remember seeing, when travelling the same distance in England; a prospect you Buck-skins can have no idea of.
The next is the beauty of the women, (I beg their pardon; that would be the first object that would strike you!) Their great superiority in that respect may be accounted for, from their being of engllsh descent. Your women have not all that advantage, ('True english prejudice this!' methinks I hear you mutter): great part are of dutch, or german descent. The close iron stoves they have introduced among you are terrible enemies to beauty. Why you so obstinately persist in a custom so prejudicial to health, I cannot imagine. Your plea, that the coldness of the climate makes them indispensable, I can-not admit of; you know, that we are here three degrees to the north of you, and that the present is the coldest winter since the year 1780-81; and yet I have not seen a close stove since I left New York. The tavern bills in these states are near one hundred per cent under yours. The exorbitant charges of your tavern-keepers are a disgrace to the country: I could never account for your submitting so quietly to their impositions.
Whether it be owing to the abolition of negro slavery, and the sale of irish, and german redemptioners, (which, by the by, is nearly as bad, and ought not to be tolerated in a free country,) or to the great population, or to the produce of the land being of less value than in the south: I say whether it be owing to any, or to all of these causes, I know not; but certain it is, a greater strain of industry runs through all ranks of people than with you; and it is equally certain, that the lower order of citizens receive a better education, and of course are more intelligent, and better informed. This you will not wonder at, when I tell you there are seven free schools in Boston, containing about nine hundred scholars, and that in the country schools are in a still greater proportion. They are maintained by a tax on every class of citizens, therefore education may be claimed by all as a right.
This climate is much colder, compared with yours, than I can account for geographically; but it may perhaps be owing to our having a greater proportion of easterly winds, which, coming immediately from the banks of Newfoundland, are attended with a cloudy sky, and thick atmosphere. These may tend to mitigate the heats of summer, but are very disagreeable in the other seasons. The coldness of the climate is plainly to be perceived in the birch tree, which is here common in the woods; and the want of the mocking bird, the red bird, and a great variety of others, that visit you in the glimmer from South America. The fox squirrel too is scarce, and the gray squirrel almost white. We cannot cultivate the sweet, or tropical potatoe, but import it from Carolina. Even the peach is late, small, and acid. The coldness of the climate, and the fanaticism of the inhabitants, make the New England states by no means such desirable places of residence, as those of the south, to
Yours, &c.
* * * * *
Dover, April 22nd, 1797.
DEAR FRIEND,
On the 12th of March I embarked in the Betsy, captain Hart, for London; my live stock consisted of some fowls, four brace of partridges, a flying squirrel, and a young racoon. We sailed about midnight, with a good breeze at S.W., and were in a few hours clear of the land.
On the evening of the 13th, we met with a hard gale at N. E. by N.—The degree of cold was intolerable. We shipped some heavy seas, and our rigging being intirely incrusted with ice, our captain was resolved to stand to the south, in search of better weather. The next morning being on the edge of the gulf stream, we were witness to a strange struggle between the warmth of the current, and the coldness of the surrounding ocean and atmosphere: the stream actually smoaked like a caldron! We ran as far to the south as latitude 38, when the wind shifting to the S. W., in a few hours we found a wonderful change of climate: the degree of heat was, at least, equal to that of a usual summer day in England, without the disagreeable pressure experienced from a thick atmosphere. The air was perfectly clear, elastic, and animating, nothing could be more charming; but this was of short continuance; the next morning the wind shifted to the N. E., and blew a gale, which lasted eighteen hours. We had then a calm, which was succeeded by westerly winds,
On the 27th, we had run down half our longitude, four degrees of which we sailed in the last twenty four hours.
On the 29th, we met with another very severe gale at E.N.E., which soon obliged us to strike our top-gallant-yards, and lie too, under our mizen and mizen stay sail. During the confusion of the night, my racoon got loose, and found means to kill all my partridges! and, as misfortunes seldom come alone; a large spanish cat we had on board, caught my flying squirrel. The loss of my partridges was the more provoking, as they were in perfect health, and I had no doubt of landing them safe: so ends my project of propagating the breed of these birds in England.
In a former letter, wherein I gave you my motives for making this attempt, I mentioned their extreme hardiness; of this I had now additional proofs: these birds were in a coop on the deck, and I expected every sea we shipped over our quarter during the first gale, they certainly would be drowned; but was agreeably surprised, when the gale was over, to find them very little the worse for their severe ducking.
April 14th.—For the last eight days we have been beating against an easterly wind, a few leagues to the westward of the chops of the channel, subject to continual alarms from french cruisers, of all situations the most disagreeable. This evening we had soundings at 80 fathom, and a favourable change of the wind to the westward.
On the 15th we saw an american-built ship standing athwart us, by her course and appearance evidently a french prize, bound to Brest. She had her anchors over her bows, and most likely had been but a few days from some port in St. George's Channel. About five hours after we were boarded by the Spitfire, british sloop of war; we informed the lieutenant of the exact course of the prize, and he immediately gave chace.
The next day we made the Bill of Portland. Our passage up the channel was very pleasant, till within six leagues of Dover, when we once more encountered a violent easterly gale, which, for the fifth time, reduced us to our courses. Night coming on, and not being able to procure a pilot, we were a little uneasy. The gale abating the next day, a pilot came on board. He had the conscience to demand three guineas to put me on shore! but took one third of the sum, which I think he deserved, as we were six hours making this harbour. I found the custom house officers, and their myrmidon porters, exactly as Smollet has described them; two of these gentlemen had the impudence to charge me half a guinea for bringing my trunk seventy yards.—So ends my tour. I am once more landed in Old England, after an absence of three years and nine months, with a plentiful lack of money and some experience!—
Farewell.
Yours, &c.