The travelling bachelor; or, Notions of the Americans

GIFT OF
. H. Smyth

-

••

THE

r

TRAVELLING BACHELOR;

OR,

NOTIONS OF THE AMERICANS.

BY J. FENIMORE COOPER,

IN TWO VOLUMES,
VOL. I.

NEW EDITION.

NEW YORK:
STRINGER AND TOWNSEND,

1852.

\ Q P: £}
\ O ^

*PO

s^:/,,

Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to wit ;

****** BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the nineteenth rtay of

*L. S.* July, in the fifty-third year of the independence of the United

****** States of America, A. D. 1828, CA>EY, LEA & CAF.F.Y, of the

said district, have deposited in this office the title of a Book, the right

whereof they claim as Proprietors, in the words following, to wit :

" Notions of the Americans. Picked up by a Travelling Bachelor."

In Conformity, 'o.'tfte Act of; the; -Congress of the United States,
entitled, "An Act-foV* the ericouragymeivt o>? Learning, by securing the
copies or Maps, Chart's, an'd Boofts,' to' the' Authors and Proprietors of
such copiec diwii'.gthe, tknefi(tl?oreiu meftiofted."- And also to the Act
entitled, .'''An'.Act ruppJementary (o an A>:t, entitled 'An Act for the
Encoura$eMpr(t jjf JLeaf^iiEg', by ^e>;u,rn}g,'thei, espies of Maps, Charts,

and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies, during the
times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts
of designing, engraving, and etching, historical and other Prints."
D. CALDWELL, Clerk of the

Eastern District of Pennsylvania

TO

JOHN CADWALLADEIi,

OF CADWALLADER,

IN THE

STATE OF NEW-YORK, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

WITHOUT your aid and kindness these
pages could never have been written. What
ever other people may think of their merit,
it is quite probable that you and I believe
they contain some truths. We must there
fore endeavour to keep each other in good
humour, provided they shall happen to be
neglected rather more than our joint opinions
may lead us to think they deserve.

Shortly after my return to the queen of
cities, there was a happy reunion of all the
remaining members of the club. I know you
will be glad to hear, that, with a solitary
exception, this embraced every man whose
name has stood on the roll since its forma

IV DEDICATION.

tion. But, alas! there is an exception. The
poor Dane has fallen. The worthy professor
trusted himself, for too long a time, in seden
tary employments in a warm climate. 1 write
it with grief, but he was married at Verona,
about eleven o'clock on the morning of the
16th August last, to the daughter of an Ital
ian physician. Jules Bethizy and Waller
were both at Florence when he was first
taken, and they flew to his assistance with
the earnestness of a long tried friendship.
But remedies were too late. From the first
moment the symptoms seemed threatening;
and as the best advice was fortunately so
close at hand, there is reason to think the
malady was perfectly incurable. Bethizy has
some suspicions of foul play, and makes dark
allusions to philters and amulets; but the
father of the fair infection solemnly protests
that the whole is the effect of sun and soli
tude. We have done all that remained to
sorrowing friends. An epithalamium has
been written by the Russian, and it was set
to solemn music by the Abbate. A brass
plate has been let into the back of thefauteuit
of the derelict, containing an appropriate
inscription, arid two memento mori are cut in
its sides A wedding ring has also beer?

DEDICATION. V

Attached to the nose cf the portrait, which,
as I have often told you, is always suspended
over the chair of a member.

The question of a successor has been
deeply agitated among us. Nothing but the
exceeding liberality which pervades and col
ours our meetings could have insured the
result which has grown out of the election.
Yes, my friend, the empty fauteuil is yours:
and, as i know you have destroyed the coat
of arms of your European ancestors, I have
caused a design of my own to be emblazoned
in the proper place. It is a constellation of
twenty-four stars, surrounded by a cloud of
nebula with a liberty-cap for a crest, and two
young negroes as supporters. I was obliged
to adopt this equivocal blazonry, in order to
quiet all parties, for the election was not
without a struggle. A great deal was said
about liberality, but I believe you know that
liberality always infers certain reservations.
The Abbate objected a good deal to the
preponderance of the Protestant interest,
and I thought Waller was a little jealous of
having a member who might introduce a
dialect of his mother tongue. But Jules

£3

Bethizy stood by you like a man, and the
Russian swore you were his neighbour, and

A2

VI DEDICATION.

that in you should come. In short, the ques
tion was carried ; and now the agony is over,
both the Baronet and the Priest put the best
possible face on it.

Come to us, then, dear John, as soon as
you can tear yourself from the delights of
home. We contemplate a great and general
movement during the next three years' re
cess, and an honourable station shall be
assigned you in the task of peregrination.
There is a good deal of distrust manifested
by some unbelievers in our body concerning
the matter detailed in my letters; but tf im
port e, thirty years ago most of the worthy
members did not know the colour of the skin
of the people concerning whom I have writ
ten. They who live thirty years hence may
live long enough to discover, that what now
seems so marvellous will then be deemed
quite a matter of course. — Adieu.

PREFACE.

THE writer of these Letters is not without some of the
> earnings of paternity in committing the offspring of his
brain to the world. His chief concern is that the book may
pass as near as possible for what it was intended in the de
sign, however it may fall short in the execution.

A close and detailed statistical work on the United States
of America, could not keep its place as authority for five
years. What is true this year would the next become liable
to so many explanations, that the curious would soon cease
to consult its pages. The principles of the government, and
the general state of society, are certainly more permanent ;
but the latter varies rapidly in the different stages of a life
that is so progressive. Nothing more has, therefore, been
attempted here, than to give a hasty and general sketch of
most things of interest, and to communicate what is told in
as unpretending and familiar a way as the subjects them
selves would conveniently allow.

The facts of these volumes are believed to be, in common,
correct. The Author claims no exemption from error ; but
as he has given some thought and a great deal of time to the
subjects on which he has treated, he hopes that refutation
will not easily attack him in the shape of evidence. Ilia
reasoning — if rapid, discursive, and ill-arranged arguments
can aspire to so high a name — must, of course, depend on its
own value. A great number will certainly condemn it, for it
as certainly opposes the opinions of a vast number of very
honest people in Europe. Still, as he has no one object but

Vlll PREFACE.

the good of all his fellow-creatures in view, he hopes no un
worthy motive will be ascribed to his publication.

A great number of readers will be indisposed to believe
that the United States of America are of the importance
which the writer does not disguise he has attempted to show
that they are of to the rest of the world. On this subject
there must, probably, remain a diversity of opinion that time
only can decide. As it is quite probable that in this unfor
tunate dispute there will be many against him, the Author
wdl endeavour to content himself with the consideration that
time is working much faster than common on the points that
are most involved in the matter. He is quite satisfied with
the umpire.

There is a much graver offence against the rights of read
ers than any contained in the opinions of this work. A vast
deal has been printed that should not have been, and much
has been omitted that might have been properly said. But
circumstances allowed of no choice between great and ac
knowledged imperfections, or total silence. Something of
the extent of this demerit, therefore, must depend on the fact
of whether enough has been told to justify publication at all.
The writer has not treated the public with so little ceremony
as to usher a work on their notice without, at least, believing
a fair proportion of this apology is contained in its pages.
If he deceive himself, it will be his misfortune ; and if he
does not deceive his readers, he shall rejoice.

The circumstances to which allusion has just been made,
involve haste in printing no less than haste in selection.
There are errors of style, and some faults of grammar, that
are perhaps the mutual neglect of the author, the copyists,
and the printers. The word " assured " is, for instance, used
for "insured," and adverbs have, in several cases, been con
verted into adjectives. In one or two instances, negatives
have been introduced where it was not intended to use tneni.
But they who detect most of these blunders will know how
to make allowances for their existence ; and to those who do

PREFACE. IX

not, it will be a matter of but little interest. The Author
has far less ambition to be thought a fine writer, than to be
thought an accurate observer and a faithful narrator of what
he has witnessed.

It will be seen that much use has been made of the opin
ions and information of a native American. Without some
such counsellor, the facts of this book could never have been
collected. There is, perhaps, no Christian country on earth
in which a foreigner is so liable to fall into errors as in the
United States of America. The institutions, the state of
society, and even the impulses of the people, are in some
measure new and peculiar. The European, under such cir
cumstances, has a great deal to unlearn before he can begin
to learn correctly.

America has commonly been viewed in the exceptions
rather than in the rules. This is a common fault with ail
travellers, since it at once gratifies their spleen and indulges
their laziness. It is a bad compliment to human nature, but
not the loss true, to say that no young traveller enters a for
eign country without early commencing the task of invidious
comparison. This is natural enough, certainly, for we in
stantly miss the things to which we have been accustomed,
and which may owe half their value to use ; and it requires
time and habit to create new attachments. This trait of
character is by no means confined to Europe. The writer
can assure his contemporaries, that few men travel among
foreign nations with a more laudable disdain than the native
of the States of which these volumes treat. He has his joke
and his sneer, and not unfrequently his reason, as well as the
veriest pelit-mattre of the Thuilleries, or any exquisite of a
London club-house. Ere long he will begin to make books
too ; arid as he has an unaccommodating manner of separat
ing- the owner from the soil, it is not improbable that he may
find a process by which he will give all due interest to the
recollections of former ages, while he pays a passing tribute
to this.

X PREFACE.

The writer has not the smallest doubt that many orthodox
unbelievers will listen to what he has said of America in this
work, with incredulous ears. He invites all such stout ad
herents to their own preconceived opinions, to submit to a
certain examination of facts that are perfectly within their
reach. He would propose that they inquire into the state of
America as it existed fifty years ago, and that they then com
pare it with its present condition. After they have struck a
balance between the two results, they can safely be left to
their own ruminations as to the probability of a people, as
barbarous, as ignorant, and as disorganized, as they have
been accustomed to consider the Americans, being very likely
to work such miracles. When they have honestly come to
a conclusion, it is possible they may be disposed to give some
credit to the contents of the following pages.

It is not pretended that the actual names of the individuals
to whom these letters are addressed are given in the text.
£t is hoped that eight or ten single gentlemen can meet once
in three years in a club, and that they can pass the inter
mediate time in journeying about the world, occasionally
publishing a few ideas on what they have seen, without being
reduced to the necessity of doing so much violence to their
modesty as to call each other unequivocally by their proper
appellations. Had they not been disposed to lives of free
comment and criticism, it is more than probable that they
would have all been married men these years.

One more word on the subject-matter of these pages, and
the writer will commit them to the judgment of his readers
without further interruption. In producing a work on the
United States, the truth was to be dealt with fearlessly, or the
task had better be let alone. In such a country, existing facts
are, however, of consequence only as they are likely to affect
the future. It is of little moment to know that so many houses
are in a town, or so many straw beds in such a house, when
premises are at hand to demonstrate clearly, that in a year or
two the roofs of the city will be doubled, and the inmates of

PREFACE. XI

the dwelling will repose on down. The highest compliment
that is, or that can be, paid to the people of the United
States, is paid by writers, who are evidently guilty of their
politeness under any other state of feeling than that of com
placency. The Englishman, for instance (he is quoted, be
cause the most industrious in the pursuit,) lands in America,
and he immediately commences the work of comparison be
tween the republics and his own country. He is careful
enough to avoid all those topics which might produce an un
favourable result (and they are sufficiently numerous), but he
instantly seizes on some unfortunate tavern, or highway, or
church, or theatre, or something else of the kind, which he
puts in glaring contrast with, riot the worst, nor the middling,
but the best similar object in his own country. Really there
must be something extraordinary in a people, who, having
had so much to do, and so very short a time to do it in. have
already become the subjects, not only of envy, but of a seem
ingly formidable rivalry, to one of the oldest and wealthiest
nations of Europe ! It strikes the writer, that, while these
gentlemen are so industriously struggling to prove the exist
ence of tioarie petty object of spleen, they prove a great moral
truth in favour of America. What should we think of the
boy whose intellect, and labours, and intelligence, were drawn
into bold and invidious comparison with those of aged and
experienced men!

The writer has said very little on the subject of the ordi
nary vices of mankind ; for he has hoped that no one will
read his book, who has yet to learn that they exist every
where. If any one shall suppose that he wishes to paint the
people of America as existing in a state superior to human
passion, free from all uncharitableness and guile, he takes the
liberty to assure him he will fail into an egregious blunder.
He has not yet met with such an elysium in his travels.

If the bile of any one shall be stirred by the anticipations
in which the writer has indulged in favour of the United
States of America, he shall be sorry ; but as he cannot see

XII PREFACE.

how the truth is to be affected, or the fortunes of a great
people materially varied, by the dissatisfaction of this or that
individual, he has thought it safest for his own reputation to
«ay what he thinks, without taking the pains to ascertain to
how many it may be agreeable, or to how many disagreeable.
He has avoided personalities, and that, as a traveller, is all he
feels bound to do, and hopes he shall always do ; for he is not
of that impertinent class, who think the world cannot be suf
ficiently enlightened without invading the sacred precincts of
private life

LETTERS,

TO SIR FREDERICK WALLER, BART.

OF SOMERSETSHIRE, ENGLAND.

Liverpool, England, July 22d, 1824.
DEAR WALLER,

You are to express no astonishment at the place
where this letter is dated. I confess the engagement
to meet you under the walls of the Seraglio ; hut hear
me, before the sin of forgetfulness shall be too hastily
imputed to my charge. You know the inveterate
peregrinating habits of the club, and can judge, from
your own besetting propensity to change your resi
dence monthly, how difficult it might prove to resist
the temptation of traversing a soil that is still virgin, so
far as the perambulating feet of the members of our
fraternity are concerned. In a word, 1 am here,
awaiting the packet for America. Before you get
this letter, the waters of one half of the Atlantic will
roll between us. This resolution, seemingly so sud
den, has not, however, been taken without much and
mature thought.

Cosmopolites, and searchers of the truth, as we
boast ourselves, who, of all our number, has ever turn
ed his steps towards a quarter (I had almost written
half) of the globe, where new scenes, a state of so
ciety without a parallel, even in history, and so much
that is fresh, both in the physical and moral world,
VOL. I. B

S MEETING WITH A TRAVELLING COMPANION.

invite our attention? This reproach shall exist no
longer. If resentment against so much apparent
(ickleness can refrain the while, read, and you shall
knovtt thri reasons why you are left to wander, alone,
through ih'e streets of Fera, and to endure sullen
looks, from haughty Turks, without the promised sup-
po>^ Off ybiiir ihfi'del companion.

• " -On" the ' road be'tween Moscow and Warsaw, I
encountered a traveller from the states of North
America. He was about to end a long pilgrimage, in
Europe, Asia, and Africa, and to return, eager as
a discharged Swiss, to the haunts of his youth, in
the other hemisphere. He appeared like one who
was wearied with the seltishriess, struggles, and fac
titious distinctions of our eastern regions. Truly,
there was something so naif, and yet so instructed —
so much that was intellectual, and withal so simple —
a little that was proud, blended with something phi
losophical, in the temperament and manner of this
western voyager, that he came over my fancy with
the freshness of those evening breezes, for \vhich you
will be shortly panting, on the shores of the Darda
nelles. To be serious, he was an educated and a gift
ed man, with a simplicity of thought, as well as of de
portment, that acted like a charm on my exhausted
feelings. You are not to suppose that, at fifty, I have
fallen into the errors of five-and-twenty, and, that 1
am about to become, again, a convert to thrice-worn-
out opinions, new vamped, under the imposing name
of philosophy. The word has never escaped the lips
of Cadwallader (for so is my new acquaintance call
ed), even in the gravest of his moods.

An evening, passed in the company of this Ameri
can, at a miserable post-house on the frontiers of Po
land, only furnished a zest for the week in which it
was agreed we should travel together. At the end of
that week, my resolution was taken. I had heard so
much to excite curiosity — so much to awaken thought,

A TRAVELLING ARRANGEMENT. 3

in channels entirely new, that nothing short of a voy
age across the Atlantic can appease my longings.

Neither are you to be too hasty in believing, that
my companion has been soothing my ears with Ara
bian imagery. Nothing can be farther from the truth.
He is saturnine by nature, and. a Frenchman might
add, taciturn to a fault. From a certain expression
of melancholy, that often overshadows his counte
nance, I should think he had long been familiar with
regrets, which, from their nature, must be unceasing.
Still, I find great equanimity of temper, and the same
calm, deliberative manner of considering things, as
if he deemed himself already removed from most of
the great and moving interests of the world. Perhaps
these peculiar and individual qualities, in some mea
sure, quickened the desire I felt to examine his
country. I would give much, to know his private his
tory ; but I never before associated with one who
was, at the same time, so communicative, and, yet, so
reserved.

In short, I found this calm, reasoning American so
fresh, so original in his way of treating things, which
long use had rendered, to my imagination, fixed and
unalterable as the laws of nature themselves, and so
direct in the application of all his opinions to the prac
tices of the world, that I early became alive to the
desire of examining a state of society, which, I am
fond of believing, must have had some influence in
giving birth to so much independence and manliness
of thought.

Before we had reached the Rhine, it was arranged
between us, that we should cross the ocean together :
and Cadvvallader promised me his assistance and
advice, in making the preparations that might be
necessary, to render the journey both convenient and
profitable.

You will readily imagine, that, with the intention
of passing a year or two in the republics of North

4 ENGLISH WORKS ON AMERICA,

America, my curiosity to investigate their history and
institutions has not been suffered to slumber. While
in London, no opportunity of inquiring into the char
acter of the people, or of supplying myself with mat
ter of proper preliminary study, was neglected. As I
believed the English must, of necessity, possess a bet
ter knowledge of their transatlantic kinsmen than any
other people in Europe, I was diligent in storing my
memory with such facts, gleaned from the most ap
proved authorities, as might aid and direct my inqui
ries. By dint of extraordinary exertions, I soon suc
ceeded in collecting a little library of travels, pam
phlets, and political dissertations. This collection
was scrupulously kept a secret until complete, when,
anxious to impress my companion with a favourable
opinion of my earnestness in the research, an early
opportunity was taken to lay the result before him,
in the shape of a handsome display on the shelves of
a book-case. Cadwallader ran his eye coolly over
the titles, and, after saying a few words in commen
dation of my zeal, he appeared disposed to leave ITU
to the quiet enjoyment of my acquisitions. I was
struck with the singular air of indifference, to give it
no harsher term, with which he regarded the fruits of
my hard labour, and was not slow to ascribe it to the
fact, that I had omitted those works of native origin,
which treated on the same subject. In order to re
move any unfavourable impressions on this point,
something was muttered concerning regrets at not
being able to procure American books at such a dis
tance from the place where they were printed, with an
intimation, that on our arrival at New-York, my travel
ling library would of course be completed. Still no sign
of interest was elicited from the cold eye of my com
panion. He left me with another compliment to my
industry, which, I am obliged to confess, was pointed
with so much supererogatory courtesy, as to savour a
little of sarcasm. Nothing daunted, however, by this

AN HONEST TRAVELLER. 5

silent but intelligible criticism, no time was lost in
Aiming the new acquisitions to a profitable account.
Our stay in London was unavoidably prolonged to
three weeks, and by the expiration of that time I had
travelled over no small portion of the American ter
ritory, again and again, on paper, and at rates, too,
that would not have done discredit to the time-saving
authors of the books themselves. In short, the opin
ions of some six or seven English commentators on
American society and morals, were devoured so very
greedily, as to leave little or no leisure for a proper
digestion of the knowledge they imparted. But, once
possessed of sufficient matter for reflection, a voyage
of three thousand miles will afford abundant leisure
for rumination and digestion.

Oar arrival at this place had been so timed, as to
precede the departure of the packet by a few days.
The intervening period has given us an dpportunity
to complete the most minute of our arrangements,
among which I have ever kept in view the important
object of acquiring that information which may be use
ful in my contemplated journey by land. A Liverpool
banker, to whom 1 had early spoken on the subject,
placed in rny hands two volumes of travels in America,
.written by a merchant of this city, of the name of
Hodgson, in which he gave me reason to believe I
should find, mingled with a large portion of good sense,
far more liberality than it was usual to meet in the
works of his countrymen when writing on the subject
of their republican relatives. You are not to frown,
dear Waller, when I add, that even my own dulness
had already been able to detect, in the contents of
most of my newly acquired treasures, a certain dis
torted manner of viewing and of portraying things,
which struck me as manifesting a remarkable attach
ment to caricature. This amiable peculiarity may
perhaps furnish a sufficiently intelligible clue to the
small favour that the books seemed to enjoy in the
B2

0 OPINIONS OF AN AMERICAN.

eyes of Cadwallader. Under the expectation that
the work of Mr. Hodgson would afford him pleasure,

1 laid it on the table of my companion, and begged
that he would bestow on its perusal a few of those
hours for which I knew he had no very urgent em
ployment.

It was morning when he was put in possession of
the book, and the day was purposely permitted to
pass without any interruption from me. Late at night,
1 entered his apartment, and found him occupied in
sealing a note directed to myself. As this letter may
be supposed to contain the sentiments of an intelli
gent American on a subject which may not be with
out its interest, I shall freely copy it. It may pos
sibly contain expressions that are not quite in unison
with the temper of an Englishman ; but you, as a man
of the world, will know how to tolerate independence
of feeling, and are far too wise to neglect any favour
able opportunity of acquiring information that may,
in the course of events, very speedily become useful.

I may have misconceived your interest in this note ;
still it is curious, as containing the opinions of a per
fectly disinterested, and certainly an instructed Amer
ican. It may also serve for a sort of preface to my
own disjointed correspondence, the scattered frag
ments of which shall be collected at our regular tri
ennial meeting, when they may possibly serve to en
liven the gloom of a December day in Paris.*

Forgive me, that I prefer the rising stars of the
Western Constellation to the waning moon of your
Turk. — Adieu.

* See note A, at the end of the volume.

TO THE BARON VON KEMPERFELT,

CAPTAIN IN THE NAVY OF HIS NETHERLANDS MAJESTY

At Sea, August, 1824.

As I know that Sir Edward has given you a meet
ing at Rome, 1 shall presume you acquainted with
the change in my plans, no less than with the new
travelling companion with whom accident has made
me acquainted. Of all our associates I could gladly
have chosen you, my dear baron, for a co-adventurer
in this distant excursion. There is so much of the
true maritime spirit in the people I am about to visit,
that your experience and observation would have
proved both useful and pleasant assistants to my
own comparative ignorance. Still, I flatter myself
that a life of adventure, and fifty voyages by sea, fur
nish some few of the qualifications necessary for the
task I have assumed.

Cadwallader took the direction of all our arrange
ments into his own hands ; and well has he discharged
the trust. But the individual enterprise of the Ameri
cans has left very little of this nature to be performed
by the traveller. Capacious, beautiful, and excellent
ships, sail, on stated days, between many of the Eu
ropean ports and their own country. This system
of arrangement, so important to commercial interests,
and so creditable to the efforts of a young state, is
said to be extended still further. Lines of packets,
as they are termed, also exist between New- York
and the West Indies, South America, and between
most of the larger havens of their own sea-board.
They are not straitened, filthy, inconvenient vessels,
such as too often aspire to convey passengers in
Europe ; but ships that are not only commodious to

a degree I could not have anticipated, but even
gorgeous in many of their ornaments and equipments.
The sea, at the best, to those who, like myself, fail
of its true inspiration, is but a desolate and weary
abiding place ; but, as much as possible seems effect
ed in this ship towards lulling one into a forgetfulness
of its disagreeables. Should I venture to hazard a
criticism on so delicate a subject, it would be to say,
that I do not think the utmost judgment is mani
fested in the manner and nature of our food. It is
vain to expect the dainties of the land, in any perfec
tion, when a thousand miles from its numberless
facilities; meats and poultries become meagre and
tasteless at sea, for want of room and exercise ; and
the cookery of a camboose, can never equal that of
a well-ordered and scientific cuisine. There is a sort
of coquetry about most of your profession, which ren
ders them ambitious of demonstrating their perfect
equality with the occupants of terra firma. Like a
beauty on the decline, they would fain continue the
charms of other days and other scenes, when common
sense, which in these matters is taste, would teach
them that the fitness of things embraces time and
place. In the midst of sea-sickness and nausea, the
stomach is not very craving for old acquaintances,
though it might be tempted by the instigation of
novelties. On this principle, I think, always with
deep and reverential deference, that you sailors,
especially in passages that do not exceed a month,
should endeavour to purchase your culinary renown
by sea-pies and chowders, and other dishes that are
in good nautical keeping, instead of emulating the
savoury properties of roast beef and poulets, in lame
and tasteless imitations. Enough, however, on a sub
ject that a landsman can never approach, but he is
suspected of an intention of literally taking the " bread
out of your mouths.1'

At Liverpool I was struck with the number of

AMERICAN COMMERCE* 9

vessels that bore the American ensign. By far the
greater part of the immense trade which exists be
tween England and the United States, is carried on
from that port ; and it was evident to the senses, (a
fact which inquiry has served to corroborate), that
an undue proportion, or rather disproportion, of that
trade, is conducted under the flag of the latter coun-^
try, No political restrictions, to prevent a perfect
reciprocity of commercial rights, being in existence,
this simple circumstance is almost enough, in itself, to
establish the ability of the American, to compete suc
cessfully with the Englishman, in navigation. As the
subject is replete with interest, and most probably
pregnant with facts that may much sooner than is
now dreamed of, effect a division (if not a transfer) of
the commerce, and consequently of the wealth of the
civilized world, most of my time, during the passage,
has been devoted to its investigation. Cadwailader
is not only well supplied with documents, but he is
rich in knowledge and experience on matters that re
late to his own country ; and, by his aid, there is
some reason to believe my industry on this occasion,
at least, has not been entirely thrown away. Worth
less, or not, such as it is I shall offer its results, with
proper humility, to the inspection of your professional
criticism. To you, who are known to indulge in
such flattering views of the future, when allusion is
made to the golden days of De Ruyter and Van
Tromp, the subject may have a charm of its own.

The tendency to the sea, \s hich the American has
manifested since the earliest of the colonial establish
ments, is, no doubt, to be ascribed originally to the
temper of his ancestors. Nothing can be more ab
surd, however, than to argue, that although peculiar
circumstances drew him on the ocean, during the
continuance of the late and general hostilities, he will
return to his fertile valleys and vast prairies, now that
competitors for the profits of commerce and naviga-

10 AMERICAN NAVIGATION.

tion are arising among the former belligerents. The
argument implies an utter ignorance of history, no
less than of the character and sagacity of a people
who are never tardy to discover their individual in-
terests. It is, notwithstanding, often urged with so
much pertinacity, as to savour much more of the con
clusions of what we hope for, than of what our reason
would teach us to believe. The fact is, there never
has been a period, since society was first firmly organ
ized in their country, when the Anglo-Americans have
not possessed a tonnage greater, in proportion to their
population arid means, than that of any other people,
some of the small commercial cities, perhaps, alone
excepted. This was true, even previously to their
revolution, when the mother country monopolized all
of trade and industry that the temper of the colonies
would bear, and it is true now, to an extent of which
you have probably no suspicion. The present popu
lation of the United States may be computed at
12,000,000, while the amount of shipping materially
exceeds 1 ,400,000 tons.* Assuming that amount, how
ever, it gives one ton to every eight and a half of the
inhabitants. The tonnage of the British empire is in
round numbers, 2,500,000. This, divided among the
23,000,000 of the British islands alone, would give
but one ton to every nine of the inhabitants. In this
calculation the vast difference in wealth is forgotten.
But by the British Empire, we are to understand
Canada, the West Indies, and all the vast possessions
which are tributary to the wealth and power of that
great nation. I know not whether the shipping em
ployed in the East Indies ought to be enumerated in
the amount named. If it is, you will see the dispro
portion in favour of America is enormous. But assum
ing that it is not, it becomes necessary to add several
million? for their other dependencies. There is, how

* On the 30th Dec. 18.26, it had swelled to 1,534,000.

EFFECTS OF THE NAVIGATION LAWS. 1 I;

ever, still another point of view in which this com
parison should, xvith strict justice, be made. A large
proportion of the people of the United States are so
situated, that in the nature of things they cannot turn
much, if any, of their attention to navigation. If the
slaves and the inhabitants of the new states, where the
establishments are still too infant, to admit of such a
developement of their resources, be deducted from the
whole amount of the population, it will not leave
more than 7,000,000 of souls in possession of those
districts in which navigation can be supposed at all to
exist. The latter, too, will include all those states
that are called interior, where time has not been given
to eifect any thing like a natural division of the em
ployments of men. The result will show, that the
Americans, relatively considered, are addicted to nav
igation, as compared with Great Britain, in the pro
portion of more than seven to five ; nor has this com
mercial, or rather maritime spirit arisen under auspices
so encouraging as is generally imagined.

The navigation laws, adopted by the United States,
so soon as their present constitution went into opera
tion, are generally known. Their effect was to bring
the shipping of the country into instant competition
with that of foreign nations, from the state of tempo
rary depression into which it had been thrown by the
struggle of the Revolution. From that hour, the
superiority enjoyed by the American, in cheapness
of construction, provisions and naval stores, aided by
the unrivalled activity, and practical knowledge of
the population, put all foreign competition at defiance.
Of 606,000 tons of shipping employed in 1790, in the
foreign trade of the country, not less than 251,000
tons were the property of strangers. In 1794, while
the trade employed 611,000 tons, but 84,000 tons
were owned by foreigners. In 1820 (a year of great
depression) the trade gave occupation to 880,000 tons,
of which no more than 79,000 tons were foreign prop-

DISPOSITION TO THE SEA.

erty. This estimate, however, includes the intercourse
with the least, no less than that with the most maritime
nation. The trade between the United States and
England, which is the most important of all, in respect
of the tonnage it employs, was about three to one, in
favour of the former; with other countries it varies
according to the maritime character of the people,
but with all and each it is altogether in favour of the
United States.

Now, one would think these simple facts, which
have withstood the tests of colonial policy, and of
political independence ; of peace and of war ; of a
fair and of a specious neutrality ; of open violence
and of self-imposed restrictions, for more than a cen
tury, might be deemed conclusive of the ability no less
than of the disposition of the Americans to continue
what they now are — a people more maritime in their
habits and pursuits, compared with their numbers,
than any that exist, or who have ever gone before
them. Still there arc real or pretended sceptics. It
is contended that a continental nation, possessed of
territories so vast, and which are peopled by so spare
a population, cannot continue in pursuits to which
nature and interest present so many obstacles. The
proposition is somewhat as if one should say, Russia
is a country of extensive territory, that is but thinly
peopled, and so is America. Now, as Russia is not,
neither therefore can America be maritime. Nor are
the arguments by which this singular proposition is
supported, less absurd than the position itself. Not
withstanding the obstinate, glaring, and long-continued
fact, that the American has and does neglect the tillage
of his virgin forests, in order to seek more congenial
sources of wealth on the ocean, one hears it hotly
contended every day, that this state of things has been
created by adventitious circumstances, and must cease
as the influence of those circumstances ceases, and
that of others shall come into action. You are told

DISPOSITION TO THE SEA. 13

that America has such an interior of fertile plains as
helongs to few nations ; but you are not reminded by
these partisans, that she also possesses such an extent
of coast, such rivers, such bays, and such a number
of spacious and commodious havens, as are the prop
erty of no other people. If, in reply, you venture to
say that as England, for so long a time the most com
mercial and maritime nation of the world, is indebted
to her civil and religious liberty for the character of
industry and enterprise that she has so well earned,
so must America, possessing these inestimable bless
ings in a still greater degree, arrive at a still greater
degree of commercial and maritime prosperity, the
answer is ready. England is an island, and she has
an overflowing population. Java and Japan, Ceylon
and Madagascar, Sicily and Zealand, and hundreds
of others, are just as much islands as Great Britain.
It is therefore clear, something more than a mere
insular situation is necessary to induce a people to
become maritime, since there is a superabundance
of population in all the islands just named. England
herself was not eminently maritime until the reign of
Elizabeth, when the influence of that civil and religi
ous liberty which has made her what she is, began to
be felt fairly and generally in the realm. So late as
the reign of Henry VII., the "world-seeking Genoese'*
was compelled to find a patroness to his mighty enter
prise in the queen of an interior province of the Span
ish Peninsula ! Though Turkey in Europe is not
actually washed by the water on every side, still there
are few countries (including Greece) that possess so
many natural advantages for commerce and navigation.
That her flag is not now seen in every sea, is to be
ascribed more to the mental darkness which envelops
her empire, than to the immaterial fact that nature
has forgotten to run a strait between the Euxine
and the Adriatic. France lies on two seas, and has
long enjoyed the advantages of science and great
VOL 1. C

14 DISPOSITION TO THE SEA.

ntelligence ; and yet France, considered with refer
ence to her civilization and resources, is bat a second
ary power in respect to commerce and navigation.
If she has had fleets, they have not been the healthful
and vigorous offspring of her trade, but were main
tained, as they were created, by the more sickly
efforts of political care. Does any man believe, were
the Pyrenees and Alps another channel, that the con
dition of France, in this particular, would be materi
ally altered? The talents, and science, and enterprise
of France, have hitherto been mainly pressed into the
employment of the government. In whatever they
have arrived at perfection, they have been concen
trated in order to consolidate the power of the state,
instead of being dispersed to effect that vast accumu
lation of individual prosperity which constitutes the
real wealth of nations. Precisely as the situation of
England offers an exception to this general rule, just
in that degree has there been a misapplication also
of her advantages. In the one instance, a mighty
aristocracy has been created ; in the other, as mighty
a despotism. The latter country has now become
constitutional ; and though she has to contend against
long and inveterate habits, a national temperament
created by those habits, and many of the obstacles of
what may almost be termed, in this respect, an infant
condition, I think it will be found that she will become
more commercial, and consequently more maritime,
precisely as her institutions become more free. The
secret of all enterprise and energy exists in the prin
ciple of individuality. Wealth does not more infalli
bly beget wealth, than the right to the exercise of our
faculties begets the desire to use them. The slave is
every where indolent, vicious, and abject ; the free
man active, moral, and bold. It would seem that is
the best and safest, and, consequently, the wisest gov
ernment, which is content rather to protect than direct

(he national prosperity, since the latter system never

i

DISPOSITION TO THE SEA. 15

fails to impede the efforts of that individuality which
makes men industrious and enterprising. As pll ques
tions of politics are^ however, so perfectly practical,
I well know that in deciding on particular govern
ments, they should ever be considered with direct
referencr to the varied conditions into which abuse,
accident, or wisdom, has cast the different communi
ties of the world. But, if one can be found so favoured
by its physical advantages, so fortified by its moral and
intellectual superiority, as to enable it to leave man to
the freest aad noblest exercise of his energies and
will, is it wise, or is it even safe, to deny, merely be
cause they are vast, the very results which are admit
ted to be produced, in a lesser degree, by a state of
things in which the same operating causes are found
to exist under more limited modifications ? Herein, as
it appears to me, is. to be traced the real motive of
that glaring unwillingness to allow the natural effects
of the unprecedented liberty of America, which one
must be blind not to see, has taken so deep root in
the feelings of most of our eastern politicians. The
American himself, familiar with the changes and im
provements of his own time, big with the spirit that
has wrought them, and filled with the noblest and
most manly anticipations for the future, is derided be
cause he cannot bring his wishes to the level of the
snail-paced and unnatural progress of European soci
ety. I say unnatural, because power, or necessity
if you will, has so heavily cumbered it with artificial
restrictions. I have had leisure for some thought,
dear Baron, on this subject. I fear it is a theme that
is disposed of with too little ceremony by most of us
who dwell in the ancient hemisphere. Europe, with
all her boasted intelligence, has not even the merit of
foreseeing results that only become apparent as they
force themselves on her unwilling notice. For one
I am determined, in my own poor person, to profit as
much as may be by the situation into which I have

16 DISPOSITION TO THE SEA,

been accidentally thrown. Notwithstanding that I am
already deeply impressed with the opinion that Ame
rica is to be the first maritime nation of the earth, it
would be unpardonable ignorance to denj that the
great causes which are likely to induce this division,
if not transfer, of commercial ascendancy, rre liable
to many qualifying and counteracting obstacles. Most
of these minor circumstances were either beyond the
investigations of a stranger, or it exceeded my know
ledge of American history, to estimate the extent of
their influence. With a view to throw as much light
as possible on the inquiry, I have addressed a few
questions to my travelling companion, and have re
ceived his answers, which are transcribed for your
benefit If they are coloured by national partialities,
a man of your age and experience ought to he able
to detect them ; and if, on the other hand, they are
just and reasonable, it is due to ourselves and the
truth, to admit their force. You will at once per
ceive, that, in putting my queries, I have been gov
erned by those points which one hears pressed the
most when the European is willing to turn his eyes
from the contemplation of more interesting, because
more familiar, objects, in order to inquire into the new
order of things, that is almost insensibly, though so
rapidly, working a change in the comparative condi
tions of the different states of Christendom. You will
find my queries, with their answers, inclosed.* Neither
our situations nor inclinations admitted that the one
or the other should be very elaborate.

There is a cry of land, ind I must hasten on deck
to revel in the cheerful sight. Adieu.

* See note B, at end of the volume.

TO THE BARON VON KEMPERFELT,

New-York,

I THREW aside my pen abruptly, dear Baron, in
order to catch a first view of America. There is
something so imposing in the sound of the word —
continent, that I believe it had served to lead me into
a delusion, at which a little reflection has induced
me to be the first to smile. My ideas of this remote
and little known moiety of the world, have ever been
so vague and general, that I confess the folly of hav
ing expected to see the land make its appearance en
masse, and with a dignity worthy of its imposing
name. The mind has been so long accustomed to
divide the rest of the globe into parts, and to think
of them in their several divisions of countries arid
provinces, that one expects to see no more of each,
at a co^p deceit, than what the sight can embrace.*

* Tae Americans say, it is a common and absurd blunder of
the European to blend all his images of America in one confused
whole. Thus one talks of the climate of America! of the soil
of America ! and even of the people and manners of America !
(meaning always the continent too, and not the United States.)
No doubt there are thousands who know better; but still there
is a good deal of truth in the charge. The writer was frequently
amused, during his voyage, by hearing the passengers (mostly
Americans) relate the ridiculous mistakes that have been made
by Europeans, otherwise well informed, when conversing on the
subject of the transatlantic continent. Countries which lie on
different sides of the equator, are strangely brought into contact,
and people, between whom there is little affinity of manners, re
ligion, government, language, or, indeed, of any thing else, are
strangely blended in one and the same image. It would seem
to be an every-day occurrence, for Americans to have inquiries
made concerning individuals, estates, or events which exist, or
have had an existence, at some two or three thousand miles from
C2

18 EXTRAVAGANT EXPECTATIONS.

Now, ridiculous as it may seem, I had, unaccount
ably, imbibed the impression that America was to ap
pear, at the first glance, larger to the senses than the
little island I had left behind me. You are at perfect
liberty to make yourself just as merry as you please
at this acknowledgment ; but, if the truth could be
fairly sifted, I have no doubt it would be found that
most European adventurers, who seek these western
regions, have formed expectations of its physical or
moral attributes, quite as extravagant as was my own
unfortunate image of its presence. I have taken the
disappointment as a salutary admonition, that a trav
eller has no right to draw these visionary scenes, and
then quarrel with the people he has come to visit,
because he finds that he has seen fit to throw into a
strong light, those parts which nature has every where
been pleased to keep in shadow ; or to colour highest
the moral properties, which the same wise dame has
sagaciously kept down, in order that those qualities,
which it hgs been her greatest delight to lavish on
man, may for ever stand the boldest and most promi
nent in her own universal picture.

Instead of beholding, on reaching the deck, some
immense mountain, clad in a verdant dress of luxu
riant and unknown vegetation, lifting its tall head out
of the sea, arid imperiously frowning on the sister
element, my first view was of that same monotonous
waste with which my eyes had been sated to weari
ness, during the last three weeks. The eager question
of " Where is America ?" was answered by Cadwal-
lader, who silently pointed to a little, blue, cloud-like
mound, that rose above the western horizon in three
or four undulating swells, and then fell away to the
north and to thp. south, losing itself in the water. 1

their own places of residence, just as if the Dane should be ex
pected to answer interrogatories concerning the condition of a
Farm situate on the Po !

FIRST APPEARANCE OP THE COAST. 19

believe I should have expressed my disappointment
aloud, but for the presence, and, more particularly,
for the air of my companion. His eye was riveted
on the spot with all the fondness of a child who is
greeting the countenance of a well-beloved parent.
It appeared to me that it penetrated far beyond
those little hills of blue, and that it was gifted with
power to roam over the broad valleys, vast lakes, and
thousand rivers of his native land. I fancied that his
philanthropic spirit was deeply enjoying those scenes
of domestic happiness, of quiet, of abundance, and of
peace, which he has so often assured me exist, be
yond a parallel, within her borders. Perhaps a secret
consciousness of my own absurdity, came in season,
also, to prevent so unfortunate an exposure of my
high-wrought expectations.

The season of the year, a soft, balmy, southerly
breeze, and the air from the land, however, were all
present to restore good-humour. The little hillocks
soon swelled into modest mountains ; and then a
range of low, sandy, and certainly not inviting, coast,
was gradually rising along the western margin of the
view. The sea was dotted with a hundred sails, all
of which were either receding from, or approaching,
a low point that was as yet scarcely visible, and which
extended a few miles to the northward of the high
land already mentioned. Beyond, in that direction,
nothing more was as yet apparent, than the tame
view of the sea. Three or four small schooners were
lying off and on, under jib and mainsail, gliding about,
like so many marine birds soaring over their native
waters. From time to time, they threw pilots on
board of, or received them from, the different ships
that were quitting or entering the haven within the
Cape. On the whole, the scene was lively, cheei-
ing, and, compared to the past, filled with the most
animating expectations.

It was not long before a beautiful little sloop, of a

20 ASKING FOR NEWS.

formation and rig quite different from any I had cvel
before seen, came skimming the waves directly in our
track. Her motion was swift and graceful, and likely
to bring us soon within speaking distance. It was
a fishing smack, out of which the captain was dis
posed to obtain some of the delicious bass that are
said to abound on certain banks that lie along this
coast. We were disappointed of our treat, foi the
fisherman answered the signal hy intimating that he
had sold the last of his stock, but the manoeuvres of
the two vessels brought us near enough to hail. " Is
there any news ?" roared the captain, through his
trumpet, while we were gliding past each other, The
answer came against the breeze, and was nearly in
distinct. The words "Cadmus in," were, however,
affirmed by more than one eager listener, to form part
of the reply. Every body now pressed about our
commander, to inquire who or what was this Cadmus
and what he or she might be in? But the captain
was not able to gratify our curiosity. Cadmus was
the name of a ship in the French trade, it seemed,
and formed one in a line of packets between Havre
and New-York, just as our own vessel did between
the latter port and Liverpool. " It is not surprising
that she should be in," continued our honest com
mander, "for she sailed on the 1 3th, whereas, we only
got clear of the land, as you well know, gentlemen,
on the 18th of the same month ; a passage of one and
twenty days, at this season of the year, cannot be called
a bad one." As it was quite evident the ideas of the
worthy seaman were in a channel very different from
our own, we were fain to wait for some more satis
factory means of arriving at the truth. Another op
portunity was not long wanting. A large coasting
schooner. passed within two hundred feet of us. A tar
was standing on her quarter-deck, both hands thrust
into the bosom of his sea-jacket, eyeing our ship with
a certain understanding air that need not be explained

CONJECTURES. 21

/o one who claims himself to be so promising a chile
of Neptune. This individual proved to be the master
of the coaster, and to him our captain again roared
"Any ne\vs?" "Ay, ay; all alive up in the bay,'
was the answer. The vessels were sweeping by each
other with tantalizing rapidity, and without paying
the customary deference to nautical etiquette, some
six or seven of the passengers united in bawling out,
as with one voice, " What news, what news ?" The
envious winds again bore away the answer, of which
no more reached our ears than the same perplexing
words of "Cadmus i? in."

In the absence of all certainty, I ventured to ask
Cadwallader, whether an important election had not
just passed, in which some favourite namesake of the
founder of Thebes had proved successful. This sur
mise, however, was not treated with any particular
deference, and then we were left to devise our own
manner of explaining the little we had heard, by the
aid of sheer invention.

In the mean time the ship was pressing steadily to
wards her haven. The high land which, in contra
distinction to trie low, sandy beach, that extends four
hundreds of leagues along the coast of this country,
has obtained the name of " Neversink," ceased to rise,
and objects had become distinct on its brown acclivity.
A Ji.$ht-house on the Cape was soon plainly visible,
and a large buoy was seen, heaving and setting with
the unquiet waters, to mark the proper entrance to a
wid<', bay, that stretched, farther than the eye could
reach, to the westward. Just without this rolling
beacon, lay a low, graceful, rakish, little schooner, in
waiting to give us a pilot. The wind was getting
light, and there was no necessity to arrest the progre s
of the ship to receive this welcome harbinger of the
comforts of the land. It may be unnecessary to add,
that we all pressed around him, in a body, to attain

22 LA FAYETTE.

the solution of our recent doubts, and to hear the
tidings of another hemisphere.

I was struck with the singular air of exultation with
which this sturdy marine guide delivered himself of
the intelligence with which he was evidently teem
ing. To the usual question, he gave a quick answer,
and in nearly the same language as the seaman of the
fishing-smack. " Cadmus in," again rung in our ears
without leaving us any wiser than before we had
heard the inexplicable words. " She has been long
enough from Havre, to be out again," retorted our
captain, with a dry ness that savoured a little of dis
content. " If you think so much of the arrival of the
Cadmus in thirty days, from France, what will you say
to that of my ship, in twenty-one, from Liverpool ?"
" Your owners may be glad to see you, but then,
you've not got the old man aboard." "We have
them here of all ages : and, what is far better, some
of both sexes !" returned one of the passengers, throw
ing a glance at the interested features of a beautiful
young creature, who was eagerly listening to catch
the syllables that should first impart intelligence from
her native country. " Ay, ay ; but you have no La
Fayette in the ship." " La Fayette !" echoed, cer
tainly every American within hearing. " Is La
Fayette arrived ?" demanded Cadwallader, with the
quickness of lightning, and with an animation far
greater than I had ever given him credit for possess
ing. " That is he, safe and well. He has been on
the island with the vice-president since yesterday.
This morning he is to go up to town, where he will
find himself a welcome guest. The bay above is
ai've," our guide concluded, jerking his thumb over
OIK shoulder, and looking as if he were master of a
secret of some importance. Here, then, was a simple
and brief explanation of the event on which we had
been exercising our faculties for the last two hours.

INTEREST OF THE AMERICANS. 23

For myself, I confess, I was disappointed, expecting
little short of some revolution in the politics of the
state. But the effect on most of my companions was
as remarkable as it was sudden. Cadwallader did not
speak again for many minutes. He walked apart ; and
I saw, by his elevated head and pioud step, that the
man was full of lofty and patriotic recollections. The
eyes of the fair girl just mentioned, were glistening,
and her pretty lip was actually quivering with emo
tion. A similar interest in the event was manifested,
in a greater or less degree, by every individual in the
ship, who claimed the land we were approaching as
the country of his birth. The captain lost every
shade of discontent on the instant, and even the na
tive portion of the crew suspended their labour to
listen to what was said, with a general air of gratifica
tion and pride.

I will acknowledge, Baron, that I was touched my
self, at the common feeling thus betrayed by so many
differently constituted individuals ; and, at so simple
an occurrence. There was none of that noisy accla
mation with which the English seamen are apt to
welcome any grateful intelligence, nor a single exag
gerated exclamation, like those which characterize
the manners of most of the continental nations of
Europe, in their manifestations of pleasure.

It was not long ere Cadwallader had taken the
pilot apart, and was earnestly engaged in extracting
all the information he deemed necessary, on a subject
he found so interesting. I was soon made acquainted
with the result. It seems, that after an absence of
forty years, La Fayette had returned to visit -the land
in which he had laid the foundation of his fame.
That he had reached a country where hearts and
arms would alike be open to receive him, was suffi
ciently manifest in the manner of all around me ; and
I could not but felicitate myself, in being so fortunate
as to have arrived at a moment likely to elicit some

24 SPECULATIONS.

of the stronger emotions of a people, who are often
accused of insensibility to all lively impressions, and
most of whose thoughts, like their time, are said to
be occupied in heedful considerations of the future.
Here was, at least, an occasion to awaken recollec
tions of the past, and to elicit something like a popu
lar display of those generous qualities which consti
tute, what may not improperly be called, the chivalry
of nations. It would be curious, also, to observe, how
far political management was mingled, in a perfect
democracy, with any demonstrations of pleasure it
might be thought expedient to exhibit, or in what de
gree the true popular sentiment sympathized with feel
ings that, in one section of the earth, are, as you well
know, not unfrequently played off by the engines of
governmental power.

I was not sorry, therefore, to listen to the plans of
my companion. A boat, in the employment of the
journals of the city, was by this time alongside the
ship, and having obtained the little news we had to
impart, it was about to return into the haven, in or
der to anticipate the arrival of the vessel, which was
likely to be delayed for many hours by a flat calm
and an adverse tide. In this boat it was proposed thai
we should take passage, as far, at least, as the place
where La Fayette had made his temporary abode.
The earnestness with which Cadwallader pressed this
plan, was not likely to meet with any objections from
me. Tired of the ship, and eager to place my foot
on the soil of the western world, the proposal was no
sooner made than it was accepted. The boat was
instantly engaged for our exclusive benefit, and the
necessary preparations made for our departure.

And now a little incident occurred, which, as it
manifests a marked difference in the manners, and
perhaps jn the characters of those who inhabit this
republic, and the possessors of our own Europe, I
shall take the liberty to introduce.

YOUNG AMERICAN GIRL. 25

I have already mentioned a fair creature as being
Among our passengers. She is of that age when 5 in
our eyes, the sex is most alluring, because we know
it to be the most innocent. I do not think her years
can much exceed seventeen. Happily, your Belgic
temperament is too mercurial to require a tincture of
romance to give interest to a simple picture, in which
delicacy, feminine beauty, and the most commendable
ingenuousness, were admirably mingled. Neither am
I, albeit, past the time of day-dreams, and wakeful
nights, so utterly insensible to the attractions of such
a being, as to have passed three weeks in her society,
without experiencing some portion of that manly in
terest in her welfare, which, I fear, it has been my
evil fortune to have felt for too many of the syrens in
general, to permit a sufficient concentration of the
sentiment, in favour of any one in particular. I had
certainly not forgotten, during the passage, to manifest
a proper spirit of homage to the loveliness of the sex,
in the person of this young American ; nor do I think
that my manner failed to express a prudent and saving
degree of the admiration that was excited by her
gentle, natural, and nymph-like deportment, no less
than by her spirited and intelligent discourse. In
short — 'but you were not born in Rotterdam, nor
reared upon the Zuy der Zee, to need a madrigal on
such a topic. The whole affair passed on the ocean,
and, as a nautical man, you will not fail to compre
hend it. Notwithstanding 1 had made every effort to
appear, what you know I really am, sufficiently ami
able, during the voyage, and, notwithstanding Cad-
walladerhad not given himself any particular trouble
on the subject at all, it was not to be denied that
there was a marked distinction in the reception of
our respective civilities, and that always in his favour.
I confess that, for a long time, I was disposed (in the
entire absence of all better reasons) to ascribe this
preference to an illiberal national prejudice. Still, it
VOL. I D

26 SUSPICION.

was only by comparison that I had the smallest ra
tional grounds of complaint. But a peculiarly odious
quality attaches itself to comparisons of this nature.
There is a good deal of the Caesar in rny composition,
as respects the sex ; unless 1 could h(, tirst with the
Ho urics, I believe I should be willing to abandon
Paradise itself, in order to seek pre-eminence in some
humbler sphere. I fear this ambitious temperament
has been our bane, and has condemned us to the
heartless and unsocial life we lead ! Our fair fellow
passenger was under the care of an aged and invalid
grandfather, who had been passing a few years in
Italy, in pursuit of health. Now, it is not easy to
imagine a more cuttingly polite communication, than
that which this vigilant old guardian permitted be
tween me and his youthful charge. If 1 approached,
her joyous, natural, and enticing (I will not, because
a little piqued, deny the truth, Baron,) merriment
was instantly changed into the cold and regulated
smiles of artificial breeding. Nature seemed banished
at my footstep : and yet it was the artlessness and
irresistible attractions of those fascinations, which so
peculiarly denote the influence of the mighty dame,
that were constantly tempting me to obtrude my
withering presence en her enjoyments. With Cad-
wallader, every thing was reversed, In his society,
she laughed* without ceasing; chatted, disputed, was
natural and happy. To all this intercourse, the lynx-
eyed grandfather paid not the smallest attention. He
merely seemed pleased that his child had found an
agreeable, and an instructive companion; while, on
the contrary, there existed so much of attractiveness
in our respective systems, that it was impossible for
me to approach the person of the daughter, without
producing a corresponding proximity on the part of
the parent.

Something nettled by a circumstance that, to one
who is sensible he is not as interesting as formerly,

AMERICAN CUSTOMS. 27

really began to grow a little personal, I took occasion
to joke Cadwallader on his superior happiness, and
to felicitate myself on the probability, that I might
yet enjoy the honour of officiating, in my character
of a confirmed celibite, at his nuptials. He heard me
without surprise, and answered me without emotion.
" I thought the circumstance could not long escape
one so quick-sighted," he said. " You think I am
better received than yourself? The fact is indisput
able ; and, as the motive exists in customs that dis
tinguish us, in a greater or less degree, from every
other people, I will endeavour to account for it. In
no other country, is the same freedom of intercourse
between the unmarried of the two sexes, permitted,
as in America. In no other Christian country, is there
more restraint imposed on the communications be
tween the married: in this particular, we reverse the
usages of all other civilized nations. The why, and
the wherefore, shall be pointed out to you, in proper
time; but the present case requires its own explana
tion. Surprising, and possibly suspicious, as may
seem to you the easy intercourse I hold with my
young countrywoman, there is nothing in it beyond
what you will see every day in our society. The
father permits it, because / am his countryman, and
he is watchful of you, because you are not ! Men of
my lime of life, are not considered particularly dan
gerous to the affections of young ladies of seventeen,
for unequal matches are of exceedingly rare occur
rence among us. And, if I were what I have been,"
he added, smiling, " I do not know that the case
would be materially altered. In every thing but
years, the grandfather of the fair Isabel, knows that
I am the equal of his charge. It would be quite in
(he ordinary course of things, that a marriage should
grow out of this communication. Ninety-nine, in one
hundred, of our family connexions, are formed very
much in this manner. Taste and inclination, rather

28 THE LITTLE ISABEL,

guided, than controlled, bj the prudence of older
heads, form most of our matches ; and just as much
freedom as comports with that prudence, and a vast
deal more than you probably deem safe, is alkwed
between the young of the two sexes. We, who
ought to, and who do know best, think otherwise.
Women are, literally, our better halves. Their frailty
is to be ascribed to the seductions of man. In a com
munity like ours, where almost every man has some
healthful and absorbing occupation, there is neither
leisure, nor inclination, to devote much time to un
worthy pursuits. I need not tell you that vice must
be familiar, before it ceases to be odious. In Europe,
a successful intrigue often gives eclat, even to an
otherwise contemptible individual; in .America, he
must be a peculiarly fortunate man, who can with
stand its odium. But the abuse of youth and inno
cence with us, is comparatively rare indeed. In
consequence, suspicion slumbers; voila tout."

"But why this difference, then, between you and
me?" I demanded. "Why does this Cerberus sleep
only while you are nigh ? I confess I looked for
higher courtesy in a man who has travelled."

"It is precisely because he has travelled,"* my
friend interrupted, a little dryly. "But you can con
sole yourself with the expectation, that those of his
countrymen, who have never quitted home, will be less
vigilant, because less practised in foreign manners,"

This introduction brings me to my incident. It
was no sooner known that we were about to quit the
£hip, than a dozen longing faces gathered about us.
Our example was followed by others, and one or
two more boats from the land were engaged to
transport the passengers into the bay, in order tha
they might witness the reception of La Fayette. I
had observed a cloud of disappointment on the fair
brow of the little Isabel, from the moment our inten
tions were known. The circumstance was mentioned

GREAT CONFIDENCE. 29

to Cadwallader, who was not slow to detect its rea
son. After a little thought, he approached the grand
father, and made an offer of as many seats, in our own
boat, as might be necessary for the accommodation of
his party. It seems the health of the old man would
not permit the risk. The offer was, therefore, politely
declined. The cloud thickened on the brow of Isa
bel ; but it vanished entirely when her aged grand
father proposed that she should accompany us, at
tended by a maid, and under the especial protection
of my companion. In all this arrangement, singular
as it appeared to my eastern vision, there was the
utmost simplicity and confidence. It was evident, by
the tremulous and hesitating assent of the young lady,
that even the customs of the country were slightly
invaded ; but, then, the occasion was deemed suffi
ciently extraordinary to justify the innovation. "So
much for the privileges of two score and five," whis
pered Cadwallader, after he had handed his charge
into the boat. For myself, I admit I rejoiced in an
omen that was so flattering to those personal preten
sions which, in my own case, are getting to be a little,
weakened by time. Before closing this relation, of
what I consider a distinctive custom, it is proper
to add, that had not the parties been of the very-
highest class of society, even far less hesitation would
have been manifested ; and that the little reluctance
exhibited by Isabel, was rather a tribute paid to that
retiring delicacy which is thought to be so proper to
her sex, than to the most remote suspicion of any
positive impropriety. Had she been a young married
woman, there would, probably, have been the same
little struggle with timidity, and the same triumph of
the curiosity of the sex. But the interest which our
fair companion took in the approaching ceremony,
deserves a better name. It was plain, by her sparkling
eyes and flushed features, that a more worthy senti-
D2

30 LEAVING THE SHIP.

ment was at the bottom of her impulses — it was al
most patriotism.

Behold us then in the boat ; Cadwallader, the gen
tle Isabel, and our three attendants, and impelled by
the vigorous arms of four lusty watermen. We were
still upon the open sea, and our distance from the city
not less than seven leagues. The weather, however,
was propitious, and our little bark, no less than its
crew, was admirably adapted to inspire confidence.
The former was long and narrow, but buoyant, arid
of beautiful construction, being both light and strong.
The latter, it appears, are of a class of watermen, that
are renowned in this country, under the name of White-
hallers. 1 have every reason to believe their reputation
is fairly earned; for they urged the boat onward with
great speed, and with the most extraordinary ease to
themselves. I remarked, that their stroke was rather
short, and somewhat quick, and that it was made en
tirely with the arm, the body remaining as nearly up
right as possible when the limbs are exerted. At first, I
thought these men were less civil than comported with
their condition. They touched their hats to us, it is true,
on entering the boat, but it was rather too much in the
manner of a salutation of equality ; at least, there was
no very visible manifestation of a sense of inferiority.
Closer observation, however, furnished no additional
grounds of complaint. Their whole deportment was
civil, nor, though far from humble, could it be termed
in any degree obtrusive : still it was not precisely
European. There seemed no sin of commission, but
something of omission, that was offensive to the es
tablished superiority of a man of a certain number
of quartering^. Perhaps I was more alive to this
jealous feeling, from knowing that I was in a repub
lican country, and from the fact, that I had so recently
quitted one where the lower classes bow more, and
'he higher less, than among any other Christian people.

FORTIFICATIONS. 31

The strokesman of the boat took some interest in
seeing us all properly bestowed. With the utmost
coolness he appropriated the best place to Isabel, and
then with the same sang froid intimated that her at
tendant should occupy the next. Neither was he
ignorant that the object of his care was a domestic,
for he called her "the young woman," while he dis
tinguished her mistress as "the young lady." I was
a little surprised to see that Cad wallader quietly con
ceded the place to this Abigail ; for, during the pas-
sage, the distinctions of master arid servant always had
been sufficiently observed between all our passengers.
I even ventured to speak to him on the subject, in
German, of which he has a tolerable knowledge.
"Notwithstanding all that the old world has said of
itself on this subject," he coolly answered, "you are
now in the true Paradise of women. They receive,
perhaps, less idolatry, but more manly care here, than
in any country 1 have visited." Truly, Baron, I begin
to deem the omens propitious !

After passing at a short distance from the low sandy
point already named, we were fairly within the estu
ary. This bay is of considerable extent, and is
bounded on the north and on the south by land of
some elevation. It receives a river or two from the
west, and is partially protected from the ocean, on
the east, by a low beach, which terminates in the
point named, and by an island on the opposite side
of the entrance. The mouth is a few miles in width,
possessing several shallow channels, but only one of a
depth sufficient to admit vessels of a heavy draught.
The latter are obliged to pass within musket-shot of
the point, Cape, or Hook, as it is here called. Thence
to the city, a distance of some six leagues, the naviga
tion is so intricate as to render a pilot indispensable,

The ruins of an imperfect and insignificant military
work were visible on the cape; but 1 was told th.*
L;ovtrnment is seriously occupied in erecting morj

32 RARITAX BAY

formidable fortifications, some of which were shortly
visible. A shoal was pointed oat, on which it is con
templated to construct an immense castle, at a vast
expense, and which, with the other forts built and
building, will make the place impregnable against all
marine attacks. I have been thus diffuse in my de
tails, dear Baron, because I believe every traveller
has a prescriptive right to prove that he enters all
strange lands with his eyes open ; and, because it is
quite out of my power to say at what moment your
royal master, the good king William, may see fit to
send you at the head of a fleet to regain those posses
sions, of which his ancestors, of the olden time, were
ruthlessly robbed by the cupidity of the piratical
English f

I presume, that renowned navigator, the indefatiga
ble Hudson, laboured under some such delusion as
myself, when his adventurous bark first steered within
the capes of this estuary. My eyes were constantly
bent towards the west, in expectation of seeing the
spires of a town, rearing themselves from the water
which still bounded the view in that direction. The
boat, however, held its course towards the north,
though nothing was visible there, but an unbroken
outline of undulating hills. It seems we were only
in an outer harbour, on a magnificent scale, which
takes its name (Raritan Bay) from that of the princi
pal river it receives from the west. A passage through
the northern range of hills, became visible as we ap
proached them, and then glimpses of the cheerful
and smiling scene within were first caught. This
passage, though near a mile in width, is a strait, com
pared with the bays within and without, and it is not
improperly termed uthe Narrows." Directly in the
mouth of this passage, and a little on its eastern side,
arises a large massive fortress, in stone, washed by the
water on all its sides, and mounting some sixty or sev
enty pieces of heavy ordnance. The heights on the ad-

TRAIT OF CHARACTER. 33

joining shores, are also crowned with works, though
of a less imposing aspect. The latter are the remains
of the temporary defences of the late war, while the
former constitutes part of the great plan of permanent
defence, Labourers are, however, unceasingly em
ployed on the new forts,

The shores, on both hands, were now dotted with
marine villas and farm-houses, and the view was alive
with all the pleasing objects of civilized life, On our
left, a little distance above the passage, a group of
houses came into view, and some fifty sail were seen
anchored in the ofling* " That, then, is New- York!*1
1 said, with a feeling a little allied to disappointment,
My companion was silent, for his thoughts kept him
dumb, if not deaf. " Gentlemen are apt to think they
get into the heart of America at the first step," very
coolly returned our strokesman ; " we are eight good
miles from Whitehall slip, and that village is the
quarantine ground," This was said without any visi
ble disrespect, but with an air of self-possession that
proved our Whitehaller thought it a subject on which
long experience had given him a perfect right to be
stow an opinion. As 1 felt in no haste to take the
second step into a country where the first had proved
so unreasonably long, 1 was fain to await the develope-
ment of things, with patience. My companions did
not manifest any disposition to converse. Even the
petite Isabel, though her strong native attachments
had been sufficiently apparent, by her previous dis
course, was no longer heard. Like our male com
panion, a sentiment of deep interest in the ensuing
scene, kept her silent At length the exclamation of
" there they come !" burst from the lips of Cadwaila-
der ; and there they did come, of a certainty, in all
the majesty of a fine aquatic procession, and that too
on a scale of magnificence that was admirably suited
to the surrounding waters, and as an American would
also probably say, "to the occasion." In order that

el NEW-YORK HARBOUR,

you may form a better idea of the particular scene,
it is necessary that I should attempt a description of
some of its parts.

The harbour of New-York is formed by a junction
of the Hudson with an arm of the sea. The latter
connects the waters of Raritan Bay with those of a
large sound, which commences a few leagues further
eastward, and which separates, for more than a hun
dred miles, the state of Connecticut from the long
narrow island of Nassau. The Americans call this
district Long Island, in common parlance; but I love
to continue those names which perpetuate the recol
lection of your former dominion, Some six or seven
rivers unite here to pour their waters into a vast basir>,
of perhaps sixty or seventy miles in circuit. This
basin is subdivided into two unequal parts by a second
island, which is known by the name of Staten, another
memento of your ancient power. The Narrows is
the connecting passage. The inner bay cannot be
less than twenty miles in circumference. It contains
three or four small islands, and possesses water enough
for all the purposes of navigation, with good anchor
age in almost every part. The land around it is low,
with the exception of the hills near its entrance, and
certain rocky precipices of a very striking elevation
that on one side line the Hudson, for some miles, com
mencing a short distance from its mouth.

On the present occasion every thing combined to
lend to a scenery, that is sufficiently pleasing of itself,
its best and fullest effect. The heavens were without
a cloud; the expanse beneath, supporting such an arch
as would do no discredit to the climate of sunny Italy
herself. The bay stretched as far as eye could reach,
like a mirror, unruffled and shining. The heat was
rather genial than excessive, and, in fine, as our im
aginative young companion poetically expressed it,
" the very airs were loyal, nor had the climate forgot
ten to be true to the feelings of the hour !"

THE SUBDUED MANNER OF THE AMERICANS. 35

It is necessary to have seen something of the ordi
narily subdued and quiet manner of these people, in
order to enter fully into a just appreciation of the
common feeling, which certainly influenced all who
were with me in the boat. You probably know that
we in Europe are apt to charge the Americans with
being cold of temperament, and little sensible of lively
impressions of any sort. I have learnt enough t(
know, that in return, they charge us, in gross, with
living in a constant state of exaggeration, and with
affecting sentiments we do not feel. I fear the truth
will be found as much with them as against them. It
is always hazardous to judge of the heart by what the
mouth utters : nor is he any more likely to arrive at
the truth, who believes that every time an European
shows his teeth in a smile, he will do you no harm,
than he is right who thinks the dog that growls will
as infallibly bite. I believe, after all, it must be con
ceded, that sophistication is not the most favourable
science possible for the cultivation of the passions.
No man is, in common, more imperturbable than the
American savage ; and who is there more terrible in
his anger, or more firm in his attachments? Let this
be as it may, these republicans certainly exhibit their
ordinary emotions in no very dramatic manner. I had
never before seen Cadwallader so much excited, and
yet his countenance manifested thought, rather than
joy. Determined to probe him a little closer, 1 ven
tured to inquire into the nature of those ties which
united La Fayette, a foreigner, and a native of a coun
try that possesses so little in manners and opinions in
common with his own, to a people so very differently
constituted from those among whom he was bora and
educated.

" It is then fortunate for mankind," returned Cad
wallader, "that there exist, in nature, principles which
can remove these obstacles of our own creation.
Though habit and education do place wide and fre-

36 LA FAYETTE.

quently lamentable barriers between the sympathies
of nations, he who has had the address to break
through them, without a sacrifice of any natural duty,
possesses a merit, which, as it places him above the
level of his fellow-creatures, should, and will protect
him from their prejudices. It is no small part of the
glory of La Fayette, that while he has taken such a
hold of our affections as no man probably ever before
possessed in those of a foreign nation, he has never,
for an instant, forgotten that he was a Frenchman.
In order, however, to appreciate the strength and the
reasons of this attachment, as well as the glory it
should reflect on its subject, it is necessary to remem
ber the causes which first brought our present guest
among us.

" If any man may claim a character for manful and
undeviating adherence to what he has deemed the
right, under circumstances of nearly irresistible tempt
ation to go wrong, it is La Fayette. His love of lib
eral principles was even conceived under the most
unfavourable circumstances. The blandishments of
a sensual, but alluring court, the prejudices of a highly
privileged caste, with youth, wealth, and constitution,
were not auspicious to the discovery of truth. None
but a man who was impelled by high and generous
intentions, could have thrown away a load which
•weighs so many gifted minds to the earth. He has
the high merit of being the first French nobleman
who was willing to devote his life and fortune to the
benefit of the inferior classes. Some vapid and self-
sufficient commentators have chosen to term this
impulse an inordinate and vain ambition. If their
appellation be just, it has been an ambition which has
ever proved itself singularly regardful of others, and
as singularly regardless of self. In the same spirit of
detraction have these declaimers attempted to assail
the virtue they could not imitate, and to depreciate
services; whose very object their contracted minds

AMERICA AND LA FAYETTE. 37

have not the power to comprehend. I shall not speak
of events connected with the revolution in his own
country, for they form no other part of our admiration
of La Fayette, than as they serve to show us how
true and how fearless he has ever been in adhering
to what we, in common, believe to be the right. Had
he been fitted to control that revolution, as it existed
in its worst and most revolting aspects, he would hav
failed in some of those qualities which are necessary
to our esteem.

" In the remembrance of the connexion between
La Fayette and his own country, the American finds
the purest gratification. It is not enough to say that
other men have devoted themselves to the cause of
human nature, since we seek, in vain, for one who
has done it with so little prospect of future gain, or
at so great hazard of present loss. His » detracters
pretend that he was led into our quarrel by that long
ing for notoriety, which is so common to youth. It is
worthy of remark, that this longing should have been
as peculiarly his own by its commencement as by its
duration. It is exhibited in the man of seventy, under
precisely the same forms that it was first seen in the
youth of nineteen. In this particular, at least, it par
takes of the immutable quality of truth.

" Separate from all those common principles, which,
in themselves, would unite us to any man, there are
ties of a peculiarly endearing nature between us and
La Fayette. His devotion to our cause was not only
first in point of time, but it has ever been first in all
its moral features. He came to bestow, and not to
receive. While others, who brought little beside
their names, were seeking rank and emoluments, he
sought the field of battle. His first commission had
scarcely received the stamp of official forms, before
it had received the still more honourable seal of his
own blood. A boy in years, a native of a country
towards which we had a hereditary dislike, he caused

VOL. I. E

38 INTEREST IN LA FAYETTE

riis prudence to be respected among the most prudent
and wary people of the earth. He taught us to for
get our prejudices : we not only loved him, but we
began to love his nation for his sake. Throughout
the half century of our intercourse, a period more
fraught with eventful changes than any that has pre
ceded it, nothing has occurred to diminish, or to dis
turb, this affection. As his devotion to our cause
never wavered, not even in the darkest days of our
adversity, so has our attachment continued steady to
the everlasting obligations of gratitude. Whatever
occurred in the revolutions of the old world, the eye
of America was turned on La Fayette. She watched
his movements with all the solicitude of a tender pa
rent ; triumphed in his successes ; sympathized in his
reverses ; mourned in his sufferings, but always exulted
in his constancy. The knowledge of passing events
is extended, in our country, to a degree that is else
where unknown. We heard of the downfall of thrones ;
of changes in dynasties ; of victories, defeats, rapine,
and war, until curiosity itself was sated with repeti
tions of the same ruthless events. Secure in our
position, and firm in our principles, the political tor
nadoes, that overturned the most ancient establish
ments of the old world, sounded in our ears, with no
greater effect than the sighings of our own autumnal
gales. But no event, coupled with the interests of
our friend, was suffered to escape our notice. The
statesman, the yeoman, or the school-boy ; the matron
among her offspring ; the housewife amid her avoca
tions ; and the beauty in the blaze of her triumph,
forgot alike the passions or interests of the moment,
forgot their apathy in the distresses of a portion of the
world that they believed was wanting in some of its
duty to itself, to suffer at all, and drew near to listen
at the name of La Fayette. I remember the deep,
reverential, I might almost say awful, attention, with
which a school of some sixty children, on a remote

INTEREST IN LA FAYETTE. 39

frontier, listened to the tale of his sufferings in the
castle of Olmutz, as it was recounted to us by the
instructor, who had been a soldier in his youth, and
fought the battles of his country, under the orders of
the k young and gallant Frenchman.' We plotted
a,mong ourselves, the means of his deliverance ; won
dered that the nation was not in arms to redress his
wrongs, and were animated by a sort of reflection of
his own youthful and generous chivalry. Washington
was then with us, and, as he was said to be exerting
the influence of his powerful name, which, even at
that early day, was beginning to obtain the high as
cendancy of acknowledged virtue, we consoled our
selves with the reflection, that he, at least, could never
fail. Few Americans, at this hour, enjoy a happier
celebrity than Huger, who, in conjunction with a
brave German, risked life and liberty to effect the
release of our benefactor.

"Though subsequent events have tranquillized this
interest in the fortunes of La Fayette, we must become
recreant to our principles, before it can become ex
tinct. It is now forty years since he was last among
us ; but scarcely an American can enter France with
out paying the homage of a visit to La Grange. Our
admiration of his disinterestedness, of his sacrifices,
and of his consistency, is just as strong as ever ; and,
I confess, I anticipate that the country will receive
him in such a manner as shall prove this attachment
to the world. But, you are not to expect, in our
people, manifestations of joy similar to those you have
witnessed in Europe. We are neither clamorous nor
exaggerated, in the exhibitions of our feelings. The
prevailing character of the nation is that of modera
tion. Still am I persuaded that, in the case of La
Fayette, some of our self-restraint will give way be
fore the force of affection. We consider ourselves as
the guardians of his fame. They who live a century
hence, may live to know how high a superstructure

40 PREJUDICES AGAINST HIM IN EUROPE*

of renown can be reared, when it is based on tbc
broad foundations of the gratitude of a people like otif
own. The decision of common sense to-day, will
become the decision of posterity."

Cadwallader spoke with an earnestness that, at
least, attested the sincerity of his own feelings. I may
have given to his language the stiffness of a written
essay, but I am certain of having preserved all the
ideas, and even most of the words. The humid eyes
of the fair Isabel responded to all he uttered, and
even our Whitehallers bent to their oars, and listened
with charmed ears. — Adieu.

TO THE BARON VON KEMPERFELT,
&c. Sec.

New- York,

t CLOSED my last with the sentiments of my Ameri
can friend, on the subject of La Fayette. 1 confess
that the time was, when my feelings had not entirely
escaped the prejudice which is so common among
certain people in Europe, on the subject of the cha
racter of this distinguished individual. The French
Revolution led to so many excesses, that, under a
disgust of its abuses, the world has been a little too
apt to confound persons, in judging of its characters
and events. It is now time, however, to begin to
consider, whether its sacrifices have been made
without a sufficient object. If the consciousness of
civil rights, and the general intelligence which are
beginning to diffuse themselves throughout Christen
dom, are remembered, it will be generally admitted.
r believe, that France has not suffered in vain. I

A BETTER FEELING GAINING GROUND. 41

any man can be said to have foreseen, and to have
hoped for these very results, on which the kingdom,
no less than the enlightened of all Europe, is begin
ning to felicitate itself, it really seems to me, it must
be La Fayette. That he failed to stem the torrent
of disorder, was the fault of the times, or, perhaps,
the fault of those whose previous abuses had produced
so terrible a re-action. It was fortunate for Napoleon
himself, that his destinies did not call him into the
arena an hour sooner than they did. His life, or his
proscription, would, otherwise, have probably been
the consequence. The man who was so easily spoiled
by prosperity, might readily have sunk under the ex
traordinary pressure of the first days of the Revolu
tion. But, as it is my present object to write of Ame
rica, we will waive all other matter.

Had any of those ancient prejudices still existed. 1
should have been churlish, indeed, not to have partici
pated, in some degree, in .the generous feelings of my
companions. There was so much genuine, undis
guised, and disinterested gratification expressed in the
manners of them all, that it was impossible to distrust
its sincerity. The welcome of every eye was more
like the look with which friend meets friend, than the
ordinary conventional and artificial greetings of com
munities. Not a soul of them all, with the exception
of Cadwallader, had ever seen their visiter, and yet
the meanest individual of the party took a manifest
pleasure in his visit. But it is time that I should show
you that this feeling was not confined to the half-
dozen who were in my own boat,

At the exclamation of "there they come," from
Cadwallader, my look had been directed to the inner
bay, and in the direction of the still distant city. The
aquatic procession I saw, was composed principally
of steam-boats. They were steering towards the vil
lage of the Lazaretto, and their decks exhibited solid
masses of human heads. In order to conceive the
E2

42 PROCESSION OF THE STEAM-COATS.

beauty of the sight, you are to recall the accessories
described in my last letter, the loveliness of the day,
and it is also necessary to understand something of
the magnitude, appearance, and beauty of an Ameri
can steam-boat. The latter are often nearly as large
as frigates, are riot painted, as commonly in Europe,
a gloomy black, but are of lively and pleasing colours,
without being gaudy, and have frequently species of
wooden canopies, that serve as additional decks, on
which their passengers may walk. The largest of
these boats, when crowded, will contain a thousand
people. There was one, among the present collection,
of great size, that had been constructed to navigate
the ocean, and which was provided with the usual
masts and ringing of a ship. This vessel was manned
by seamen of the public service, and was gaily deco
rated with a profusion of flags. Our boat reached the
wharf of the Lazaretto, a few minutes after the pro
cession. One of the largest of the vessels had stopped
at this place, lying with her side to the shore, while
the others were whirling and sailing around the spot,
giving an air of peculiar life and animation to the
scene. Here I found myself, as it were by a coup de
main, transferred at once from the monotony of a
passage ship, into the bustle and activity -of the Ame
rican world. Probably not less than five thousand
people were collected at this one spot, including all
ages and every condition known to the society of the
country. Though the whole seemed animated by a
common sentiment of pleasure, I did not fail to ob
serve an air of great and subdued sobriety in the
countenances of almost all around me. As Cadwal-
lader had the address to obtain our admission into the
steam-boat that had come to land, and which was in
tended to receive La Fayette in person, I was brought
into immediate contact with its occupants. Closer
observation confirmed my more distant impressions.
I found myself in the midst of an orderly, grave, well

EXULTATION OF THE FRENCH. 43

dressed, but certainly exulting crowd. It was plain to
Bee that all orders of men (with a few females) were
here assembled, unless I might except that very infe
rior class which I already begin to think is not as
usual to be found in this country as in most others. I
heard French spoken, and by the quick, restless eyes,
and elevated heads, of some half-dozen, I could see
that .France had her representatives in the throng
and that they deemed the occasion one in which they
had no reason to blush for their country. Indeed I
can scarcely imagine a spectacle more gratifying to a
Frenchman, than the sight that was here exhibited.
The multitude was assembled to do honour to an in
dividual of their own country, for services that he had
rendered to a whole people. The homage he received
was not of a nature to be distrusted. It was as spon
taneous as had been the benefits it was intended in
some manner to requite ; it was of a nature, both in
its cause and its effects, to do credit to the best
feelings of man; but it was also of a nature to con
tribute to the just and personal pride of the country
men of him who was its object.

We had no sooner secured a proper situation for
the little Isabel, than I disposed myself to make re
marks still more minute on the assemblage. Cadwal-
lader kept near me, and, though big with the feelings
of home and country, his ear was not deaf to my in
quiries and demands for explanation. The first ques
tion was to ascertain the present residence of the
" General," as I found he was universally called, as
it were par excellence. They pointed out a modest
dwelling, embowered in trees, which might claim to
be something between an unpretending villa and a
large farm-house. It was the residence of the Vice-
President of the United States. This individual was
born in a condition of mediocrity, — had received the
ordinary, imperfect, classical education of the coun
try, and had risen, by popular favour, to the station

44 VICE-PRESIDENT.

of Governor of this, his native, state. Quite as much
by the importance of that state, as hy the weight of
his own character, (which is very ditferently estimat
ed hy different people,) he has been chosen to fill his
present situation; an office which, while it certainly
makes him the legal successor of the President, in
case of death, resignation, or disability, is nt t con
sidered, in itself, one of very high importance, since its
sole duties are limited to the chair of the Senate,
without a seat in the cabinet. There has been no
recent instance of a Vice-President succeeding to the
Presidency ; and I can easily see, the office is deemed,
among politicians, what the English seamen call a
"yellow flag." The present incumbent is said to be
reduced in his private resources, (the fate of most
public men, here as elsewhere, where corruption is
not exceedingly barefaced,) and is compelled to make
the dwelling named his principal, if not his only, resi
dence. Here La Fayette had passed the day_ after
his arrival, the sabbath, which it would seem is never
devoted by the Americans to any public ceremonies
except those of religion.

Cadwallader pointed out to me, among the crowd,
several individuals who had tilled respectable military
rank in the war of the Revolution. Three or four
of them were men of tine presence, and of great
gravity and dignity of mien : others had less preten
sion ; but all appeared to possess, at that moment, a
common feeling. There was one in particular, who
appeared an object of so much attention and respect,
that I was induced to inquire his history. He had
been an officer of a rank no higher than colonel — •
(few of the generals of that period are now living ;) — •
but it seems he had obtained a name among his coun
trymen for political firmness and great personal dar-
mg. He, however, appeared a good deal indebted
for his present distinction to his great age, which
could not be much less than ninety. Cadwaliader

APPROACH OF LA FAYETTE. 45

ihen pointed to a still firm, upright veteran of near
eighty, who had left the army of the Revolution a
general, and who had already travelled forty miles
that morning to welcome La Fayette. Others in the
crowd were more or less worthy of attention ; but the
principal object of interest soon made his appearance,
and drew all eyes to himself.

The General approached the boat escorted by a
committee of the city authorities, and attended by the
Vice-President. The latter, a man of rather pleasing
exterior, took leave of him on the wharf. La Fayette
entered the vessel amid a deep and respectful silence.
A similar reception of a public man, in Europe, would
have been ominous of a waning popularity. Not an
exclamation, not even a greeting of any sort, was
audible. A lane was opened through a mass of bodies
that was nearly solid, and the visiter advanced slowly
the deck towards the stern. The expression

his countenance, though gratified and affectionate,
seemed bewildered. His eyer remarkable for its fire,
even in the decline of life, appeared to seek in vain
the features of his ancient friends. To most of those
whom he passed, his form must have worn the air of
some image drawn from the pages of history. Half a
century had carried nearly all of his contemporary
actors of the Revolution into the great abyss of time,
and he now stood like an imposing column that had
been reared to commemorate deeds and principles
that a whole people had been taught to reverence.

La Fayette moved slowly through the multitude,
walking with a little difficulty from a personal infirm
ity. On every side of him his anxious gaze still sought
some remembered face ; but, though all bowed, and,
with a deep sentiment of respect and affection, each
seemed to watch his laboured footstep, no one ad
vanced to greet him. The crowd opened in his front
by a soit of secret impulse, until he had gained the
extremity of the boat, where, last in the throng, stood

48 HIS RECEPTION*

the greyheaded and tottering veteran I have men
tioned. By common consent his countrymen had paid
this tribute to his services and his age. The honour
of receiving the first embrace was his. I should fail
in power were I to attempt a description equal to the
effect produced by this scene. The old man extended
his arms, and, as La Fayette heard his name, he flew
into them like one who was glad to seek any relief
from the feelings by which he was oppressed. They
were long silently folded in each other's arms. I
know not, nor do I care, whether there were any
present more stoical than myself: to me, this sight,
simple and devoid of pageantry, was touching and
grand. Its very nakedness heightened the effect.
There was no laboured address, no ready answer,
no drilling of the feelings in looks or speeches, nor
any mercenary cries to drown the senses in noise.
Nature was trusted to, and well did she perform
part. 1 saw all around me paying a silent tribute
her power. I do not envy the man who could have
witnessed such a scene unmoved.

Greetings now succeeded greetings, until not only
all the aged warriors, but most of the individuals in
the boat, had been permitted to welcome their guest,
In the meanwhile the vessel had left the land, un*
heeded, and, by the time recollection had returned, I
found myself in an entirely new situation. The whole
01 the aquatic procession was in motion towards the
town, and a gayer or a more animated cortege can
scarcely be imagined. The deep, quiet sentiment
which attended the first reception, had found relief,
and joy was exhibiting itself under some of its more
ordinary aspects. The Castle of La Fayette (for so
is the fortress in the midst of the water called) was
sending the thunder of its heavy artillery in our wake;
while several light vessels of war (the steam-ship in
cluded) were answering it in feeble, but not less hearty,
echoes. The yards of the latter were strung with

MANNER OF APPROACH. 47

seamen, and occasionally she swept grandly along our
side, rending the air with the welcome peculiar to
your element. There was literally a maze of steam
boats. Our own, as containing the object of the com
mon interest, was permitted to keep steadily on her
way, quickening or relaxing her speed, to accommo
date her motion to that of those in company, but
scarce a minute passed that some one of this brilliant
cortege was not sweeping along one or the other of
our sides, bearing a living burthen, which, as it was
animated by one spirit, seemed to possess but one eye,
and one subject to gaze at. It was some little time
before I could sufficiently extricate my thoughts from
the pleasing confusion of such a spectacle, to examine
(he appearance of the bay, and of the town, which
soon became distinctly visible. Though the distance
exceeded two leagues, our passage seemingly occu
pied but a very few minutes. Before us the boats
began to thicken on the water, though the calmness
of the day, and the speed with which we moved,
probably prevented our being followed by an immense
train of lighter craft. Two of the steam-vessels, how
ever, had taken the Cadmus in tow, and were bearing
her in triumph towards the city. I had almost for
gotten to say, that in passing this ship, which had
been anchored off the Lazaretto, the son and secre
tary of La Fayette joined us, and received the sort
of reception you can readily imagine. We then passed
a few fortified islands, which spoke to us in their ar
tillery, and soon found ourselves within musket-shot
of the town.

At the confluence of the Hudson (which is here a
mile in width) and the arm of the sea already men
tioned, the city is narrowed nearly to a point. The
natural formation of the land, however, has been
changed to a fine sweep, which is walled against the
breaches of the water, while trees have been planted,
and walks have been laid out, on the open space

40 CASTLE GARDEN BATTERY.

which lies between the houses and the bay. This
promenade was once occupied by the principal forti
fication of the colonial town, from which circumstance
it has obtained the name of the " Battery." On a small,
artificial island, at the more immediate junction of the
two tides, stands a large circular work, of one tier of
guns, which was once known as " Castle Clinton." 1
has been abandoned, however, as a military post, and
having become the property of the city, it is now oc
cupied as a place of refreshment and amusement for
the inhabitants, under the mongrel appellation of "Cas
tle Garden." There is no garden, unless the area of
the work can be called one ; but it" seems that as the
city abounds with small public gardens, which are
appropriated to the same uses as this rejected castle,
it has been thought proper, in this instance, to supply
the space which is elsewhere found so agreeable, by
a name at least. This place had been chosen for the
spot at which La Fayette was to land. The ramparts
of the castle, which have been altered to a noble bel-
videre, a terrace at the base of the work, and the
whole of the fine sweep of the battery, a distance of
more than a quarter of a mile, were teeming with
human countenances. A long glittering line of the
military was visible in the midst of the multitude, and
every thing denoted an intention to give the visiter a
noble welcome. The reception I had already wit
nessed was evidently only a prelude to a still more
imposing spectacle; the whole population of the place
having poured out to this spot, and standing in rtfadi-
ness to greet their guest. To my e^e, there seemed,
at least, a hundred thousand souls. Our approach to
the shore was now positively impeded by the boats,
and La Fayette left us in a barge, which was sent to
receive him from the land, What passed about his
person, in the following scene, I am unable to say;
but I saw the rocking of the multitude as he moved
among them, and heard the shouts which, from time

THE LITTLE ISABEL. 49

to time, escaped a people whose manners are habitu
ally so self-restrained. It was easy to note his move
ments in the distance, for, wherever he appeared,
thither the tide of human beings set •, but oppressed
with the Lovelty of my situation, and anxious to lib
erate my thoughts from the whirl of so constant an
excitement, I was glad to hear Cadwallader propose
our seeking a hotel. We left the little Isabel at the
door of her father; and after being present at a meet
ing between a nation and its guest, I had the pleasure
to see the fair girl throw herself, weeping, but happy,
into the rums of those who formed her domestic world.
Still, ingenuous and affectionate as this young creature
is, she scarcely appeared to think of home, until her
foot was on the threshold of her father's house. Then,
indeed, La Fayette was for a time forgotten, and na
ture was awakened in all its best and sweetest sym
pathies. Our peculiar propensities, my worthy Baron,
may have left us with lighter loads to journey through
the vale of life ; but 1 hope it is no treason to the
principles of the club, sometimes to entertain a mod
erate degree of doubt on the score of their wisdom.

Our lodgings are at a house that is called the
City Hotel. It is a tavern on a grand scale, possess
ing the double character of an European and an
American house. We have taken up our abode in
the former side, the latter, in the true meaning of the
word, being a little too gregarious, for the humour
of even my companion. In order that you may
understand this distinction, it is necessary that I
should explain. I shall do it on the authority of
Cadwallader.

Most of the travelling in America is done either in
steam-boats, which abound, or in the public coaches.
This custom has induced the habit of living in com
mon, which prevails, in a greater or less degree, from
one extremity of the Republic, or, as it is called here,
" the Union," to the other. Those, however, who

VOL. I. F

50 THE CITY HOTEl,.

choose to live separately, can do so, by incurring a
small additional charge. In this house, the number
of inmates must, at this moment, greatly exceed a
hundred. By far the greater part occupy nothing
more than bed-rooms, assembling at stated hours at a
table d"1 hote for their meals, of which there are four
in the day. In some few instances more than one
bed is in a room, but it is not the usual arrangement
of the house ; the whole of which I have visited,
from its garrets to its kitchens. I find the building
extensive ; quite equal to a first-rate European hotel
in size, excelling the latter in some conveniences, and
inferior to it in others. It is clean from top to bottom ;
carpeted in almost every room ; a custom the Amer
icans have borrowed from the English, and which, in
this latitude, in the month of August, might be changed
for something more comfortable. Our own accom
modations are excellent. They comprise our bed
rooms, which are lofty, airy, and convenient, and a
salon, that would be esteemed handsome even in
Paris. We also might have our four meals, and at
our own hours: dining, however, at six o'clock, we
dispense with the supper. The master of the house
is a respectable, and an exceedingly well-behaved
and obliging man, who, of course, allows each of his
guests, except those who voluntarily choose to live at
his table d? hote, to adopt his own hours, without a
murmur, or even a discontented look. I believe we
might dine at midnight, if we would, without exciting
his surprise. Cadwallader tells me the customs, in
(his respect, vary exceedingly in America ; that din
ner is eaten between the hours of two and six, by
people in genteel life, though rarely later than the
latter hour, and not often so late. The table, d"1 hote
in this house is served at three.

The charges are far from dear, where we are es
tablished, though it is one of the most expensive
taverns in the country. The price for the rooms

LA FAYETfE. 51

sounded a little high at first; but when we took into
view the style of the accommodation, the excessive
abundance, as well as the quality of our food, and the
liberality with which lights, &c. &c., were furnished,
we found them much lower than what the same
articles could be got for in Paris, and vastly lower
than in London, or even in Liverpool. But of all
these things I intend to give some one of you (I think
it must be the colonel, who unites, to so remarkable
a degree, the love of his art with the love of good
cheer) a more detailed account at some future day.

I had almost forgotten to say, that La Fayette is
lodged in the same house with ourselves. Fie is liter
ally overwhelmed with kindness and honours. Pleas
ing as we find the circumstance in itself, I fear it will
oblige us to seek a different abode, since there is a
throng incessantly at the door; well dressed and or
derly, it is true, but still a throng. The very boys
are eager to shake his hand, and thousands of bright
eyes are turned towards the windows of our hotel to
catch fleeting glimpses of his person. His stay here
is, however, limited to a short period, an old engage
ment calling him to Boston, which, during the war of
the Revolution, was a place of more importance than
even this great commercial town. Adieu.

TO SIR EDWARD WALLER, BART
&c. &c.

New- York,--

*Lv consequence of this temporary separation from
Cadwallader, 1 was left for a few days the master of
my own movements. I determined to employ them
in a rapid excursion through a part of the eastern
states of this great confederation, in order to obtain a
coup deceit of a portion of the interior. It would have
been the most obvious, and perhaps the most pleasing
route, to have followed the coast as far as Boston :
but this would have brought me in the train of La
Fayette, where the natural aspect of society was dis
turbed by the universal joy and excitement produced
by his reception. I chose, therefore, a direction far
ther from the water, through the centre of Connecti
cut, entering Massachusetts by its southern border,
and traversing that state to Vermont. After looking
a little at the latter, and New-Hampshire, I returned
through the heart of Massachusetts to Rhode Island,
re-entering and quitting Connecticut at new points,
•and regaining this city through the adjacent county
of Westchester. The whole excursion has exceeded
a thousand miles, though the distance from New- York
has at no time been equal to three hundred. By
naming som^ of the principal towns through which I
passed, you will be able to trace the route on a map,
and may better understand the little 1 have to com
municate. I entered Connecticut near Danbury, and
left it at Suffield, having passed a night in Hartford,

* The commencement of this, and of many of the succeeding
letters, are omitted, since they contain matter already known t«j
the reader.

CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY VISITED. 53

one of its two capital towns. The river was follow
ed in crossing Massachusetts, and my journey in Ver
mont terminated at Windsor. I then crossed the
Connecticut (river) into New Hampshire, to Concord,
and turning south, re-entered Massachusetts, proceed-
ing to Worcester. The journey from this point hack
to New-York was a little circuitous, embracing Provi
dence and Newport, in Rhode Island, and New-Lon
don, New-Haven and Fairfield, in Connecticut.

As experience had long since shown me that the
people on all great, and much frequented, road?, ac
quire a species of conventional and artificial charac
ter, I determined, if possible, to penetrate at once into
that part of the country within my reach, which might
be supposed to be the least sophisticated, and which,
of course, would afford the truest specimen of the
national character. Cadwallader has examined my
track, and he tells me I have visited the very portion
of New-England, which is the best adapted to such an
object. 1 saw no great town during my absence, and
if I travelled much of the time amid secluded and
peaceful husbandmen, I occasionally touched at points
where all was alive with the bustle and activity of
commerce and manufactures.

A review of the impressions left by this short ex
cursion has convinced me of the difficulty of convey
ing to an European, by the pen, any accurate, general
impression, of even the external appearance of this
country. What is so true of one part, is so false of
the others, and descriptions of sensible things which
were exact a short time since, become so very soon
erroneous through changes, that one should hesitate
to assume the responsibility of making them. Still,
such as they are, mine are at your service. In order,
however, to estimate their value, some little prelimi
nary explanation may be necessary.

The six eastern states of this union comprise what
is called New-England. Their inhabitants are known
F2

54 EXPLANATION OF THE TERM YANKEE.

here by the familiar name of 'Yankees.' This word
is most commonly supposed to be a corruption of
*Yengeese,' the manner in which the mtive tribes,
first known to the colonists, pronounced 'English.1
Some, however, deny this derivation, at the same time
that they confess their inability to produce a plausible
substitute, tt is a little singular that the origin of a
soubriquet, which is in such general use, and which
cannot be of any very long existence, should already
be a matter of doubt. It is said to have been used by
the English as a term of contempt, when the American
was a colonist, and it is also said, that the latter often
adopts it as an indirect and playful means of retalia
tion. It is necessary to remember one material distinc
tion in its use, which is infallibly made by every Ame
rican. At home, the native of even New- York, though
of English origin, will tell you he is not a Yankee. The
term here, is supposed to be perfectly provincial in
its application ; being, as I have said, confined to the
inhabitants, or rather the natives, of New-England.
But, out of the United States, even the Georgian does
not hesitate to call himself a ' Yankee.' The Ameri
cans are particularly fond of distinguishing any thing
connected with their general enterprise, skill, or repu
tation, by this term. Thus, the southern planter, who is
probably more averse than any other to admit a com
munity of those personal qualities, which are thought
to mark the differences in provincial or rather state
character, will talk of what a ' Yankee merchant,' a
' Yankee negotiator,' or a ' Yankee soldier,' can and
has done; meaning always the people of the United
States. J have heard a naval officer of rank, who was
born south of the Potomac, and whose vessel has just
been constructed in this port, speak of the latter with
a sort of suppressed pride, as a ' Yankee man-of-war/
Now, I had overheard the same individual allude to
another in a manner that appeared reproachful, and
in which he used the word 4 Yankee,' with peculiar

GREAT HARMONY BETWEEN THE PEOPLE. 55

emphasis. Thus it is apparent, that the term has two
significations among the Americans themselves, one
of which may he called its national, and the other its
local meaning. The New-Englandman evidently
exults in the appellation at all times. Those of the
other states with whom I have come in contact, are
manifestly quite as well pleased to hy no claim to the
title, though all use it freely, in its foreign, or na
tional sense. I think it would result from these facts,
that the people of New-England are thought, hy the
rest of their countrymen, to possess some minor points
of character, in which the latter do not care to parti
cipate, and of which the New-Englandman is uncon
scious, or in which, perhaps, he deems himself fortu
nate, while, on the other hand, they possess certain
other and more important qualities, which are admit
ted to be creditable to the whole nation. Cadwalla-
der, who is a native of New- York, smiled wiien I
proposed this theory, but desired me to have a little
patience until I had been able to judge for myself.
After all, there is little or no feeling excited on the
subject. The inhabitants of states, living a thousand
miles asunder, speak of each other with more kind
ness, in common, than the inhabitants of adjoining
counties in England, or provinces in France. Indeed,
the candour and manliness with which the northern
man generally admits the acknowledged superiority
of his southern countrymen, on certain points, and
vice versa, is matter of surprise to me, who, as you
know, have witnessed so much illiberality on similar
subjects, among the natives of half the countries of
Europe,

New- England embraces an area of between sixty
and seventy thousand square miles. Thus, you see,
it is larger in extent than England and Wales united.
It has about seven hundred miles of sea-coast, and
contains a population of something less than 1 ,800.000.
This would give about twenty-seven to the square

50 RATE OF POPULATION TO THE SQUARE MILE.

mile. But in order to arrive at an accurate idea of
the populousness of the inhabited parts of the coun
try, it is necessary to exclude from the calculation,
that part of it which is not peopled. We should
then reject a very large portion of Maine, and a good
deal of land i.i the northern parts of Vermont and
New-Hampshire, including, perhaps, twenty thousand
square miles. This estimate would leave forty inhab
itants to the square mile. But we will confine our
selves to Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode
Island ; neither of which, for America, lias an unusual
quantity of vacant land. Their surface embraces about
14,000 square miles. The population is not quite a
million. This will give an average of a little less than
seventy to the square mile. Here, then, we have
what may be considered the maximum of the density
of American population on any very extended surface.
There is a fair proportion of town and country, and
a more equal distribution of the labour of society,
between commerce, manufactures, and agriculture,
than perhaps in any other section of the Union. You
are not. however, to suppose that this amount of pop
ulation is confined to these three states. A great deal
of New- York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and certain
districts in many other states, have attained, or even
exceed, this ratio. Thus the highest comparative rate
of population in this country, estimating it in districts
of any considerable extent, is a little less than that
of the whole kingdom of Denmark, and very mate
rially exceeding that of Spain.

Still you will scarcely be able to obtain a just idea
of the outward appearance of New-England from a
knowledge of these facts. You must have often ob
served, in travelling through the most populous coun
tries of Europe, how few of their people are seen.
France, for instance, only shows the millions with
which she is teeming, in her cities and villages. Nor
are you struck with the populousness of even the

DECEPTIVE APPEARANCE OF POPULATION. 6?

latter, unless you happen to enter them on fMes, or
have an opportunity of examining them in the even
ing, after the labourers have returned from the fields.
This is, more or less, true with every other country
in Europe. Even in England, one does not see much
of the population out of the towns, unless at fairs, or
merry-makings. Now T do not remember to have
ever travelled so far through any country which ap
peared more populous than the parts of New-England
described.* This peculiarity may be ascribed to sev
eral causes.

The whole country is subdivided into small free
holds, which are commonly tilled by their owners.
The average size of these estates is probably less
than a hundred acres. Each, as a general rule, has
its house and out-hopses. These buildings are usually
very near the public roads, and consequently in plain
view of the traveller. The field labour is also com
monly done at no great distance from the highway.
In addition to these reasons, the Americans are
thought to perform more journeys, and, consequently,
to be more before the eye of their visiters than com
mon. Cadwallader accounts for the latter circum
stance in various ways. The greatness of the inter
mediate distances is the chief of his reasons. But the
mental activity of the people, together with the ab
sence of want, are thought to have a proportionate
effect. I hear wonders of the throngs that are seen,
at certain seasons, on the avenues which lead from
tue interior to any oC the great markets. My com
panion assures me he once counted eight hundred
wagons in the distance of forty miles, most of which
were conveying \\heat t:> the city of Albany. On the
same road there were sixty taverns in a distance of as
many miles ; a sufficient proof in itself of the amount
of travelling.

* Part of the North of Italy may, perhaps, bo excepted.

58 APPEARANCE OY COUNTRY*

Now, all this does not at all comport with our
vague European notions of America. We are apt to
imagine it a thinly populated, wooded, and fertile^
though little cultivated region. Thinly populated it
assuredly is, when the whole number of its square
miles is compared to the whole amount of its popula
tion. But from what 1 have seen and heard, I feel
persuaded, that an American, who understood his
ground, might conduct a stranger, who knew nothing
of the true numbers of the country, over a territory
which shall greatly exceed France in extent, arid
leave the impression on the mind of his guest, that it
was more populous than the latter kingdom. In
hazarding this opinion, however, I except the effect
of the great towns, and of the villages on fete days
and at evenings. In continental Europe the traveller
often feels a sense of loneliness, though surrounded
by millions of human beings. He sees no houses out
of the villages ; he meets few on the highways ; even
the field labourers are half the time removed from
sight, and when he enters a wood, it is usually a
tenantless forest. In the parts of America I have as
yet visited, the very reverse is the case. Unless in
particular instances, houses occurred at very short
intervals *, the highways were not thronged as de
scribed by Cadwallader, it is true, but I saw more
travellers than is usual in the season of harvest; and
1 scarcely recollect the moment when my eye could
not discover groups of field labourers. Of wood
there was certainly plenty ; but of forests, with the
exception of now and then a mountain, scarcely any.
At the latter fact, no less than at the air of populous-
ness which distinguishes this portion of the country,
1 have been greatly surprised. I passed several com
paratively barren tracts which were suffered to sus
tain what wood they might, and I saw ridges of un
even, broken land, that probably still lay in then
native shades ; but the character of the whole dis-

WOOD FERTILITY OF SPOTS, ETC. £D

trict was that of a succession of fields, sprinkled with
houses, and embellished with little groves, that were
reserve<ybr the domestic supply of their respective
owners. Indeed, in some quarters, therr actually
appeared less wood than was necessary, when it i?
remembered the inhabitants use little other fuel, and
how expensive the transportation of an article so
heavy soon becomes.

I should not describe New-England as a particu
larly fertile region. A large proportion of its surface,
at least of the part I saw, was rugged and difficult of
tillage, though but little of it was positively sterile.
It is rather a grazing, than a grain country. For the
former, it is well adapted ; the land apparently pro
ducing rich and sweet grasses in almost every quar
ter. There were, however, Ir^ge districts of deep
alluvial soil, where any plant that will thrive in this
climate might he successfully grown. I scarcely re
member so beautiful a country, or a more fertile
looking one. than some of that I passed along the
borders of the Connecticut. The river bottoms were
loaded with their products, and the adjacent swells
were every where crowned with evidences of the
abundance they had lavished on their possessors, in
the shape of well-stored harns and spacious and com
fortable dwellings. In this excursion I first saw ex
tensive and luxuriant fields of that favourite Ameri
can plant — the maize. It is deemed an infallible test
of the quality of the soil, no less than of the climate,
throughout most of the Union. Where maize will
not grow, the husbandman is reluctant to dwell. It
furnishes a healthful nourishment for man and beast,
nor is there any useful animal that will not thrive
upon its food. I do not think I passed a solitary farm
that had not more or less maize in cultivation. It is
universally called "corn'1 par excellence. As it is
indigenous to the country, sometimes the word
Indian is prefixed. But when an American says

60 MAIZE NEW-ENGLAND VILLAGES.

" corn," he invariably means "maize." It is a spleri»
did plant as it grows in this country, surpassing in
appearance any other that appertains to husbandry.
It is said to be still finer and more luxuriant to the
south, but to me, there was great pleasure, as I saw
it here, in gazing at its broad, gracefully curving, dark
green blades, as they waved in the wind. It was in
the tassel, and its ordinary height could not be much
less than eight feet. Many fields must have exceeded
this growth.

New-England may justly glory in its villages !
Notwithstanding the number of detached houses that
are every where seen, villages are far from unfre-
quent, and often contain a population of some two
or three thousand. In space, freshness, an air of
neatness and of comfort, they far exceed any thing I
have ever seen, even in the mother country. With
now and then an exception of some one among them
that possesses a more crowded, commercial, or manu
facturing population, than common, they all partake
of the same character. I have passed, in one day,
six or seven of these beautiful, tranquil and enviable
looking hamlets, for not one of which have I been
able to recollect an equal in the course of all my
European travelling. They tell me, here, that vil
lages, or small towns, abound in the newer portions
of the northern and western states, that even eclipse
those of New-England, since they unite, to all the
neatness and space of the latter, the improvements
of a still more modern origin.

In order to bring to your mind^s eye a sketch of
New-England scenery, you are to draw upon your
imagination for the following objects. Fancy your
self on some elevation that will command the view
of a horizon that embraces a dozen miles. The coun
try within this boundary must be undulating, rising in
bold swells, or occasionally exhibiting a broken, if not
a ragged surface. But these inequalities must be

A NEW-ENGLAtfP LANDSCAPE. 6 i

counterbalanced by broad and rich swales of land,
that frequently spread out into lovely little valleys.
If there be a continued range of precipitous heights
in view, let it be clad in the verdure of the forest.
If not, wood must be scattered in profusion over the
landscape, in leafy shadows that cover surfaces of
twenty and thirty acres. Buildings, many white, re
lieved by Venetian blinds in green, some of the dun
colour of time, and others of a dusky red, must be
seen standing amid orchards, and marking, by their
positions, the courses of the numberless highways.
Here and there, a spire, or often two, may be seen
pointing towards the skies from the centre of a cluster
of roofs. Perhaps a line of blue mountains is to be
traced in the distance, or the course of a river to be
followed by a long succession of fertile meadows.
The whole country is to be subdivided by low stone
walls, or wooden fences, made in various fashions, the
quality of each improving, cr deteriorating, as you
approach, or recede from the dwelling of the owner
of the soil. Cattle ^re to be seen grazing in the fields,
or ruminating beneath the branches of single trees,
that are left for shade in every pasture, and flocks are
to be seen clipping the closer herbage of the hill sides.
In the midst of this picture must man be placed, quiet,
orderly, and industrious. By limiting this rural pic
ture to greater, or less extensive, scenes of sirnilai
quiet and abundance, or occasionally swelling it out,
until a succession of villages, a wider range of hills,
and some broad valley, through which a third-rate
American river winds its way to the ocean, are in
cluded, your imagination can embrace almost every
variety of landscape I beheld in the course of my
journey.

Concerning the character of the people, you cannot
expect me to write very profoundly on so short an
acquaintance. In order, however, that you may know
how to estimate the value of the opinions I shall ven-

VOL. I G

62 INTERCOURSE WITH THE PEOPLE.

ture to give, it is necessary that you should learn the
circumstances under which they have been formed.
Before parting from- Cadwallader, I requested he
would give me some brief written directions, not only
of the route I was to pursue, but of the manner in
which I was to regulate my intercourse with the peo
ple. I extract the substance of his reply, omitting
the line of route he advised, which is already known
to you.

" As respects intercourse with the inhabitants, your
path is perfectly plain. You speak the language with
what we call the intonation of an Englishman. In
America, while there are provincial, or state peculi
arities, in tone, and even in the pronunciation and
use of certain words, there is no patois. An Ameri
can may distinguish between the Georgian and the
New-Englandman, but you cannot. In this particular
our ears are very accurate, and while we can, and
do pass for natives every day in England, it is next to
impossible for an Englishman to escape detection in
America. Five out of six of the whole English nation,
let them be educated ever so much, retain something
of the peculiarity of their native county. The excep
tions are much fewer than they suppose themselves,
arid are chiefly in the very highest circles. But there
is also a slang of society in England, which forms no
part of the true language. Most of those who escape
the patois, adopt something of the slang of the day.
There is also a fashion of intonation in the mother
country which it is often thought vulgar to omit. All
these differences, with many others, which it may be
curious to notice hereafter, mark the Englishman at
once. I think, therefore, you will be mistaken for a
native of some of the less accurate counties of Eng
land. It will, in consequence, be necessary for you
to be more on your guard against offence than if you
were thought a German, or a Frenchman. The rea
sons for this caution are perfectly obvious. It is not

ENGLISH TRAVELLERS. 63

because the American is more disposed to seek
grounds of complaint against his English visiter, but
because he has been more accustomed to find them,
All young travellers are, as a matter of course,
grumblers ; but an Englishman is proverbially the
grumbler. It is generally enough for him, that he
meets an usage different from that to which he has
been accustomed, to condemn it. It is positively true,
that an intelligent and highly talented individual of
that country, once complained to me. that in the
month of January the days were so much shorter in
New- York than in London I* His native propensity
had blinded him to the -material fact, that the former
city was in 41 °, while the latter lay 1 0° higher. Now,
the Englishman may grumble any where else with
more impunity than in America, In France, in
Germany, or in Italy, he is riot often understood, and
half the time, a Frenchman, in particular, is disposed
to think his country is receiving compliments, instead
of anathemas. But with an American, there can of
course be no such mistake. He not only understands
the sneer, but he knows whence it comes* Though
far from obtrusive on such occasions, it is not rare
for the offended party to retort, whenever the. case,
will admit of his interference. The consequence has
been, that, as a class, the English travellers now be
have themselves better in America than in any other
country. But a character has been gained, and it
will require a good deal of time to eradicate it. The
servant of the respectable Mr, Hodgson tells his mas
ter that the people of the inns " are surprised to find
Englishmen behave so well."" But after all, with a

* This mistake is not, in truth, as absurd as it first seems. The
Iwilight, in high latitudes, serves to eke out the day, so as greatly
to subtract from the amount of total darkness. Had the gentle
man in question chosen any other part of England than London,
he might have found some pretext for his opinion.

64 NEW-ENGLAND INN-KEEPER.

great deal that is not only absurd, but offensive, there
is something that may be excused in the discontent
of an Englishman, when travelling in a foreign
country. The wealth of an immense empire has
centered at home, in a comparatively diminutive king
dom, and he who can command a tolerable propor
tion of that wealth may purchase a degree of comfort
that is certainly not to be obtained out of it. But
comfort is not the only consequence of those broad
distinctions between the very rich, and the very
poor. It is saying nothing new, to say that the lower
orders of the English, more particularly those who
are brought in immediate contact with the rich, ex
ceed all other Christians in abject servility to their
superiors. It may be new, but in reflecting on the
causes, you will perceive it is not surprising, that on
the contrary, the common American should be more
natural, and less reserved in his communications with
men above him in the scale of society, than the
peasant of Europe. While the English traveller, there
fore, is more exacting, the American labourer is less
disposed to be submissive than usual. But every atten
tion within the bounds of reason will be shown you,
though it is not thought in reason, in New-England
especially, that one man should assume a tone of -con
firmed superiority over the rest of mankind, merely
because he wears a better coat, or has more money
in his purse. Notwithstanding this stubborn temper
of independence, no man better undei stands the obli
gations between him who pays, and him who re
ceives, than the native of New-England. The inn
keeper of Old England, and the inn-keeper of New-
England, form the very extremes of their class. The
one is obsequious to the rich, the other unmoved, and
often apparently cold. The first seems to calculate
at, a glance, the amount of profit you are likely t«
leave behind you ; while his opposite appears only to
calculate in what manner he can most contribute to

HIS CHARACTER AND SITUATION IN LIFE. So

your comfort, without materially impairing his own
It is a mistake, however, that the latter is filled with
a sense of his own imaginary importance. It troubles
him as little as the subject does any other possessor
of a certain established rank, since there is no one to
dispute it. He is often a magistrate, the chief of a
battalion of militia, or even a member of a state legis
lature. He is almost always a man of character; Tor
it is difficult for any other to obtain a license to ex
ercise the calling. If be has the pride of conscious
superiority, he is not wanting ia its principles. He
has often even more : he has frequently a peculiar
pride in his profession. I have known a publican,
who filled a high and responsible situation in the gov
ernment of the first state of this confederation, offi
ciously convey my baggage to a place of security, be
cause he thought it was his duty to protect my prop
erty when under his roof. An English inn-keeper
would not have impaired his domestic importance
by such an act. He would have called upon John,
the head-waiter, and John \vould probably have
bid Thomas Ostler, or Boots, to come to his as
sistance. In both cases, the work would be done, I
grant you ; but under very different feelings. 1 pro
fess to no more knowledge of the boasted English
inn-keeper, than what any one may gain, who has
travelled among them, in every manner, from a seat
on the top of a stage-coach, to one in a post-chaise
and four. But, with the publican of New-England,
I have a long and intimate acquaintance, and I fear
lessly affirm, that he has been the subject of much
and groundless calumn),

"If servility, an air of empressement, and a merce
nary interest in your comforts, form essentials to your
happiness and self-complacency, England, with a full
pocket, against the world. But, if you can be con
tent to receive consister civility, great kindness, and
a temperate respect, ii which he who serves you

G6 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INN-KEEPERS.

consults his own character no less than yours, and all
at a cheap rate, you will travel not only in New-
England, but throughout most of the United States
with perfect satisfaction. God protect the wretch,
whom poverty and disease shall attack in an English
inn ! Depend on it, their eulogies have been written
by men who were unaccustomed to want. It is even
a calamity to be obliged to have a saving rega d to
the contents of your purse, under the observation of
their mercenary legions ! There seems an intuitive
ability in all that belongs to them, to graduate your
wealth, your importance, and the extent of their own
servility. Now, on the other hand, a certain reason
ing distinction usually controls the manner in which
the American inn-keeper receives his guests. He pays
greater attention to the gentleman than to the tin-
pedlar, because he knows it is necessary to the habits
of the former, and because he thinks it is no more
than a just return for the greater price he pays. But
he is civil, and even kind, to both alike. He some
times makes blunders, it is true, for he meets with
characters that are new to him, or is required to de
cide on distinctions of which he has no idea. A hale,
well-looking, active, and intelligent American, will
scarcely ever submit his personal comforts, or the
hourly control of his movements, to the caprices of
another, by becoming a domestic servant. Neither
would the European, if he could do any thing better.
It is not astonishing, therefore, that a publican, in a
retired quarter of the country, should sometimes be
willing to think that the European servants he sees,
are entitled to eat with their masters, or that he calls
both 'gentlemen.' A striking and national trait in
the American, is a constant and grave regard to the
feelings of others. It is even more peculiar to New-
England, than to any other section of our country.
It is the best and surest fruit of high civilization. Not
that civilization which chisels marble and gilds

ADVICE TO TRAVELLERS. 67

out that which marks the progress of reason, and
which, under certain circumstances, makes men pol
ished, and, under all, renders them humane. In this
particular, America is, beyond a doubt, the most
civilized nation in the world, inasmuch as the aggre
gate of her humanity, intelligence and comfort, com
pared with her numbers, has nothing like an equal.

"From these facts, you may easily glean a know-
ledge of the personal treatment you are likely to re
ceive in your approaching excursion. There will be
an absence of many of those forms to which you have
been accustomed, but their place will be supplied by
a disinterested kindness, that it may require time to
understand, but which, once properly understood,
can never be supplied by any meretricious substitute.
I never knew an American of healthful feelings, who
did not find more disgust than satisfaction, in the ob
sequiousness of the English domestics. For myself,
I will avow that the servility, which I can readily
understand may become so necessary by indulgence,
gave me a pain that you will, perhaps, find it difficult
to comprehend. I do not say it may not be necessary
in Europe, particularly in England, but 1 do say, thank
God, it is not necessary here.

" It will be prudent, at all times, to treat those who
serve you with great attention to their feelings. An
instance may serve as an example. A few years since,
I was in a boat, on one of our interior waters, accom
panied by a fine, gentlemanlike, manly, aristocratic
young Englishman, One of the boatmen incommoded
us with his feet. 'Go forward, Sir,1 said my English
companion, in a tone that would have answered bet
ter on the Thames, than on the Cayuga. The boat
man looked a little surprised, and a good deal deter
mined. There was an evident struggle, between his
pride and his desire not to give offence to a stranger.
We have scarcely room here for our feet,' I observed ;
\t you will go forward, we shall be more comfort-

63 ADVICE TO TRAVELLERS.

able.' 'Oh ! with all my heart, Sir,' returned the man,
who complied without any further hesitation. The
same individual, if left to his own suggestions, or not
assailed in his pride, would probably have plunged
into the lake for our pleasure, and that, too, without
stopping to consider whether he was to get six-pence
for his ducking. With this single caution you may go
from Maine to Georgia with perfect safety, and, most
of the distance, with sufficient comfort ; often with
more even than in England, and, generally, at a price
which, compared with what you receive, is infinitely
below the cheapest rate of travelling in any part of
Europe. It is a ludicrous mistake, that you must treat
every American as your companion in society, but it
is very necessary that he should be treated as your
equal in the eye of God."

I must leave you, for the moment, with this morceau
from the pen of Cadwallader, who writes as he speaks,
like a man who thinks better of his countrymen than
we have been accustomed to believe they deserve.
I must postpone, to my next, the commentaries that
my own trifling experience has suggested OA his the
ory.— Adieu.

TO SIR EDWARD WALLER, BART
Sec. &c.

New- York,

ALTHOUGH stages, as the public, coaches arc, by
corruption, called in this country, run on most of" the
roads travelled in my recent journey, I decided to
make the excursion, at a little cost, in a private con
veyance. A neat, light, and elegant pleasure- wagon
on horizontal springs, with a driver and a pair of fleet,

ISLAND OF MANHATTAN*. 69

well-formed horses, were procured for five dollars
a day. A coach might have heen had for the same
sum* This price, however, was the highest, and in*
eluded every charge* There was ample room for
Fritz and myself, with what baggage we needed, and
a vacant seat by the side of the coachman. Capa
cious leather tops protected us from the weather, and
good aprons could, if necessary, cover our feet. In
short, the vehicle, which is exceedingly common
here, is not unlike what is called a double, or travel-
line;, phaeton, in England. You are to remember,
there is no travelling post in America. Relays of
horses can certainly be had, between the principal
towns, at a reasonably short notice; but the great
facility, rapidity, ease, and cheapness of communica
tion by steam-boats, will probably for a long time
prevent posting from coming into fashion.

We left Manhattan island, on which New-York
stands, by a long wooden bridge that connects it with
the adjacent county of West-Chester. There is a
singular air of desertion about that portion of this
island which is not covered by the town, and which
I \vas inclined to ascribe to a sort of common ex
pectation in its owners that the ground would be
soon wanted for other purposes than plantations of
trees, or pleasure-grounds. It is said, however, that
a delay in the regulation of the great avenues and
future streets of the city, has produced the apparent
neglect. Let the cause be what it may, I do no
remember ever to have seen the immediate environs
of so large a town in such a state of general aban
donment. The island is studded with villas, cer
tainly ; but even most of these seemed but little
cared for. I did not, however, get a view of those
which lie on the two rivers.*

* Vast improvements have been made, in this part of the
eland, within the last three years.

TO HIGHWAYS.

I found West-Chester a constant succession of bilk
and dales, with numberless irregular little valleys;
though with nothing that, in English, is called a
mountain* The descripvion 1 have given you, in my
last letter, of the general appearance of New-Eng
land, will answer perfectly well also for this portion
of New-York, The villages were neither so beau
tiful, nor so numerous, as those 1 afterwards passed;
but in the character of the land, the situation and
number of the farm-houses, the multitude of high
ways, the absence of forests, and the abundance of
little groves, the two districts are precisely the same,
As respects the great frequency of the public roads,
the peculiarity is subject to a very simple explanation.
You will remember the whole country is subdivided
into- the small freeholds mentioned, and that each
citizen has a claim to have access to his farm. Each
township, as parishes, or cantons^ are here called,
has the entire control of all the routes within its own
limits, unless the road be the property of a chartered
company. These highways are periodically worked
by the inhabitants, agreeably to a rate of assessment,
which is regulated according to the personal means
of each individual. Every thing of a public nature,
that will readily admit of such an intervention, is, in
this republican government, controlled by the people
in their original character. Thus, all the officers of
each town are annually elected, by its inhabitants, iri
what are called " the town-meetings." These officers
comprise the assessors of taxes, their collectors, the
overseers of the highways, &c. &c., and, in short, the
whole of its police, with, perhaps, the exception of
the magistrates, who receive their appointments from
diiferent sources. Now, it is evident, that when the
power to construct and to repair roads and bridges is
removed, by so short an interval, from those who are
most aflected by their position and condition, that the
public servants, as the officers are here emphatically

HIGHWAYS, 71

called, must pay the utmost deference to the public
will. The ordinary routes of the country are, there
fore, arranged in such a manner as will most accom
modate those who work them. But, as this arrange
ment must often produce conveniences that are more
likely to satisfy individuals than the public, great
routes that unite important points of the country, are
often substituted for the local highways. These great
routes are constructed on two plans. In cases where
the convenience of the public requires it, laws are
enacted for the purpose by the legislatures, and the
route is made what is called a state-road. In others,
where it is believed capitalists may be induced to
invest their money, charters are given, a rate of toll
established, and the road becomes the property of a
company. The latter are numerous in New-England,
nor are the charges at all high.

It is evident that the labour of constructing the
vast number of roads and bridges which are neces
sary to satisfy the public and private wTants of a com
munity that does not exceed the population of Prus
sia, throughout a country as large as half Europe,
must be exceedingly burthensome. What I have
already seen, however, has given me the most re
spectful opinion of the native energy of this people ;
but I shall not anticipate impressions, which may be
increased, or, possibly, changed, as I " prick deeper
into the bowels of the land." Thus far I can say,
that nowhere, including great routes and cross-roads,
have I found better highways than in New-England,
the mother country alone excepted. If the former
are not so good as in England, the latter are, how
ever, often better. Perhaps I travelled at a favour
able time of the year; but the bridges, the cause
ways, the diggings, and the levellings, must be there
at all seasons.

On the morning of the second day, my coachman,
while trotting leisurely along an excellent path,

72 EXEMPTIONS FROM VISITS OF THE POLICE.

through a retired part of the country, pointed a-head
with his whip, and told me we were about to enter
the State of Connecticut. One hand was mechanic
ally thrust into my pocket, in search of a passport
and a glance of the eye was thrown at the trunks, in
order to recall the nature of the contraband articles
they might happen to contain. A moment of thought
recalled me to a sense of my actual position, and of
the extraordinary extent of the personal freedom in
which I was indulged. One of my first questions, on
landing, had been to inquire for the Bureau of the
Police, in order to obtain the necessary permission to
remain in the country, and to visit the interior. The
individual in the betel, to whom I addressed myself,
did not understand me! Further inquiry told me that
such things were utterly unknown in America. My
baggage was passed at the Custom-house without
charge of any sort, except a trilling official fee for a
permit to land it ; nor did any one present himself
to ask or claim compensation for what I could have
done better without him. I paid a cartman half-a-
dollar for transporting the trunks to my lodgings,
where, assisted by the servants of the house, they
were placed in the proper room, and then every body
silently disappeared, as if no more had been done
than what was naturally required by the circum
stances. These were the whole of the ceremonials
observed at my landing in America. My entrance
into Connecticut was not distinguished by any more
remarkable incidents. "When shall we reach the
frontier?'1 I asked of the coachman, after a little
delay. " I believe the line is along the wall of that
field," he said, pointing carelessly behind him. " What !
is there nothing else to distinguish the hoiridary be
tween two independent sovereignties'? No olticers of
the customs, no agents of the police, nor any one to
ask us where we go, or whence we come ?" The
driver looked at me, as if he distrusted my reason a

CONNEXION OF THE DIFFERENT STATES. . 73

little ; but he continued mute. This silent passage
from one state to another, gave me the first true im
pression I have obtained of the intimate nature of the
connexion which unites this vast confederation. One
may study its theory on paper for a twelvemonth,
without arriving at so just a conception of the identity
of the national character and interests of this people
as I have acquired in visiting, in the same quiet man
ner, six of their sovereignties, and in finding every
where so great a similarity of manners, customs, and
opinions, unmolested by a single official form. There
is something like it, certainly, in your own country ;
but you are governed by one prince, one minister
and one parliament. Here, each state enacts its own
laws, levies its own taxes, and exercises all the more
minute and delicate functions of sovereign power
The United States of America is the only civilizec
country, I believe, into which a stranger can entei
without being liable to intrusions on his privacy by
the agents of the police.* Assuredly this power is
now used, throughout all Europe, with great discre
tion and moderation ; but that country may deem
itself happy, that never feels any necessity for its ex
ercise. To what is this peculiar freedom owing? To
their position, their spare population, — to the absence
or to the height of civilization ? Colombia, and Mex
ico, arid Brazil, and a dozen others, are just as remote
from Europe, and far less populous. Absence of
civilization is not denoted by absence of restraint, in
countries where life, character, and property are more
than usually respected. 1 fear, Waller, that we have
been too apt to confound these Americans with their
soil, and to believe that, because the one is fresh, the
other must also exist in the first stages of society. At
all events, if not far beyond the rest of the world in

* FossiMy some of the British colonies can claim nearly the
same exemptions from the interference of the police.
VOL. I. H

74 PASSAGE OF A STATE FRONTIER.

the great desiderata of order and reason, they have
some most ingenious methods of imposing cri the senses
of a traveller, who, I can aflirm, is often at an uttei
loss to discover the machinery by which the wheel?
of the social engine are made to roll on so smoothly
so swiftly, and so cheap. I have not seen a bayonet
(except among the militia who received La Fayette,}
a gendarme, a horse-patrol, a constable, (to know
him,) nor a single liveried agent of this secret power,
In short, if one should draw somewhat literally on the
ten commandments for rules to govern his intercourse
with those around him, so far as I can see, he might
pass his whole life here without necessarily arriving
at the practical knowledge that there is any govern
ment at all.

" Now we are in New- York again," said my driver,
some ten or fifteen minutes after he had assured me
we had entered Connecticut The apparent contra
diction was explained by a winding in the road, which
had led us through the extreme point of an angle of
the latter state. I looked around me in every direc
tion, in order to discover if the least trace of anj
differences in origin, or customs, could be seen. 1
remembered to have heard Cadwallader say, that the
effects of the policy pursued by the different States
were sometimes visible, to an observant traveller, al
a glance, and that he could often tell when he had
passed a State line, by such testimony as his eye alone
could gather. As I could not then, nor have not
since, been able to detect any of these evidences of a
different policy, 1 am inclined to think that the Ame
ricans themselves make some such distinctions in the
case, ac those by which the connoisseurs can tell the
colouring of one painter from that of another, or those
by which they know the second manner of the divine
master of the art from his third,*

* A more intelligible distinction certainly became apparent
tetween the slave-holding and non-slave-holding stales.

JOHN JAY. 75

Before leaving the State of New- York the second
tune, I had an opportunity of paying a short visit to
one of those distinguished men, who, by acting with
so much wisdom, moderation, dignity, and firmness,
during the dark days of this republic, imparted to its
revolution a reputation that is peculiarly their own.
I have ever been an enthusiastic admirer of the con
duct of the Americans throughout those trying scenes
They need not hesitate to place it with confidence in
comparison with any thing that history may boast.
The deeds of the eighteenth century are less equivo
cal than the patriotism of Brutus, or the clemency of
Scipio. Men arc far more likely now to be judged
by their acts than their words, though even this direct
and literal people have uttered sentiments, which,
by their simplicity and truth, are entitled to be placed
on the same page with the finest sayings of antiquity.
The agents of the British government, who wished to
tamper with the loyalty of a distinguished patriot, re
ceived an answer that would have done honour to
any Roman. " Tell your employer," said the stern
republican, " that I am not worth buying; but such
as I am, the king of England is not rich enough to
make the purchase !"

The individual at whose residence I paid a passing
visit, as a species of homage due to public virtue, was
John Jay. This distinguished statesman had dis
charged many of the public trusts of his country, at a
time when life and death hung on the issue. He was
President of Congress during the war of the Revolu
tion, before the present system was adopted, and when
the country possessed no officer of higher dignity, or
greater power.* He was, however, early sent on

* A mistake is often made in Europe, by blending this ancient
officer with the President of the United States. Before the pres
ent constitution was adopted, (1789,) there was a President of
Congress. At present. Congress is divided into two branches, a

76 HIS SERVICES, AND PRESENT RETIREMENT.

foreign missions of great delicacy, and of the last im
portance. He resided a long time in Spain, unac
knowledged, it is true, but eminently serviceable by
the weight of his character, and the steadiness of his
deportment. He signed the treaty of peace, (in con
junction with Franklin and the elder Adams,) having
a singularly important agency in bringing about that
event which secured an acknowledgment of his coun
try's independence, and he negotiated the first treaty
of commerce and amity with Great Britain. An anec
dote concerning the second of these treaties had been
related to me, which is worthy of repetition, though I
dare not give you any better authority for its correct
ness, than to say that it is of such a nature that I be
lieve the circumstances, as I am about to relate them,
are essentially true. Indeed, it was one of the chief
inducements I felt for intruding on the privacy of a
man, whose past life and present character impart
a dignity that should render his retirement almost
sacred.

You undoubtedly know that, during the American
war, an alliance was formed between France and the

Senate and a House of Representatives, each of which has its
presiding officer. The Vice- President, of the United States is,
ex qfficio, the head of the Senate, though a substitute, to act on
occasion, is always appointed, who is called the President of the
Seriate. The style by which the Vice-President is addressed in
the Senate, is "Mr. President." The House of Representatives
has a Speaker, like the English parliament — he is addressed as
aMr. Speaker." An individual who belongs to the lower house
is, in common parlance, called a member of Congress, and one of
the upper, a senator, or a member of the Senate. These distinc
tions, with some trifling exceptions, .are observed in all the state
legislatures, where the lieutenant-g'overnors comrnonlv perform
'he duties in the upper houses, that the Vice-President discharges
in the "Senate of the United States. Thus, though there is a
President of the United States, a President of the Senate (the
Vioe-presldent of the United States), and a Speaker of the House
of Representatives, there is no such officer now known to tno
country as a "President of Congress."

ANECDOTE OF THE TREATY OF 1 783. 77

new power. One of the customary conditions of this
treaty was a stipulation that peace should not be
made by either party without the consent of both.
When England had become sufficiently prepared by
her reverses to listen to amicable propositions, the
American government ordered their minister in Spain
(Mr. Jay), and their minister in Holland (Mr. Adams)
to proceed to Paris, and by uniting themselves to the
minister in France (Dr. Franklin), to form a commis
sion authorized to manage the expected negotiation
on the part of the new republic. The latter of these
gentlemen had been long accredited near the court
of Versailles, where, by a happy union of great sim
plicity of manners, wisdom, and wit, he had become
an object of singular admiration and affection. But
the Americans say, that Franklin was a much better
philosopher than politician. Be this as it might, the
story adds, that France, now the drama was about to
:lose, began to cast about her for the profits of the
fepresentation. The Count de Yergennes had early
succeeded in persuading Dr. Franklin, that as England
could not, nor would not, formally acknowledge the
independence of America, his better course would be
to accept a truce, for twenty years, at the end of
which period his country would be sufficiently strong
to take what she needed for herself. The philosopher
is said to have acquiesced in this opinion, and began
to stir his mighty reason in maturing the terms of this
remarkable truce. In this state of mind he was found
by Mr. Jay, on his arrival from Madrid. The latter
was not slow to perceive the effects of such a course,
nor to detect the secret source whence the insidious
counsel flowed. His eyes had not been dazzled by
the splendour of a luxurious court, nor his ears sooth
ed by the flattery of a polished nation. For a long
time he had been content to dwell in obscurity in
Spain, sacrificing every thing but his country's inter
ests to his manliness and directness of character. He
112

78 ANECDOTE FRANKLIN, ETC.

had steadily declined an interview with the king of
the latter country, because he could not be received
openly as an accredited minister. In short, he ha<$
too long patiently submitted to mortifications and re
tirement, rather than compromise the character of his
nation, to see the substance at which he aimed so
easily converted to a shadow. Mr, Jay denounced
the policy of the Count de Vcrgennes, and declared
that the unqualified independence of his country must
be a sine qua non in any treaty which bore his name.
Mr. Adams soon joined the negotiation, and took the
side of independence. Franklin, who was at heart a
true patriot, suffered the film to be drawn from his
eyes, and perfect union soon presided in their coun
cils. But England had not been unapprized of the
disposition of America to receive a truce. Her com
missioner, Mr. Oswald, appeared with instructions to
fo no further. In this dilemma a step is ascribed to
Ir. Jay, that I believe is as remarkable for its bold
ness as for its good sense. He is said to have written,
with his own hand, to the English Secretary of State,
pointing out the bad consequences to England her
self, if she adhered to her present policy. By keeping
the truce suspended over America, she forced that
country to lean on France for support; whereas, by
admitting her, at once, into the rank of nations, Eng
land would obtain a valuable customer, and might
also secure a natural friend. Thus instructed in a
better policy, the English minister saw his error, and
the same courier who conveyed the letter of Mr, Jay,
returned with instructions to Mr. Oswald to acknow
ledge the independence of the United States. Find
ing themselves embarrassed by the evasions of Count
de Vergennes, believing they were betrayed, in the
spirit of their alliance at least, and knowing that
France could not find the smallest difficulty in settling
her own affairs without their agency, the American
commissioners proceeded to sign a treaty of peace,

OFFICES HELD BY MR. JAY, ETC. 79

in the very teeth cf their instructions, without the
knowledge of the French minister. When the latter
found that his policy had not succeeded, he wrote a
sharp note of remonstrance, which Dr. Franklin laid
before his brother commissioners. It was much easier
to perform a great act, like the one in which they had
been engaged, than to word a proper reply to this
communication. There was but one ground on
which their apparent want of faith could be justified,
and to give that to the Count de Vergennes, might
probably be much more true than polite. After a
good deal of hesitation, they discovered that the letter
bore the simple superscription of Dr. Franklin, and
the colleagues of the latter imposed on him the duty
of answering a note, which they gravely insisted was
not officially addressed to the commissioners. How
well the philosopher acquitted himself of this delicate
affair, my information does not say; but though a vote
of censure on the commissioners was proposed in
Congress, their conduct was thought, under the cir
cumstances, so very justifiable, that it was never
passed. Now, I repeat, for all this I cannot name
my authority, since living men are parties to the
transaction, but I will again say, that it is so respect
able, that I believe the anecdote to be substantially
correct.

On his return from Europe, Mr. Jay for some time
filled the office of Minister for Foreign Affairs. He
took a distinguished part in forming the present con
stitution of the United States. In conjunction with
Hamilton and Madison, he wrote the celebrated
essays under the signature of the Federalist, which
have since come to be a text-book for the principles
of the American government. He was then made
Chief Justice of the United States, having been edu
cated for the bar, which office he resigned, in order
to proceed to England to negotiate the treaty of
commerce. He wras afterwards six years governor

80 OFFICIAL RANK NO CERTAIN EVIDENCE.

of his native state (New-York,) after which be re
tired from political life altogether, refusing the office
of Chief Justice again, which vvj»s offered to him by
his old coadjutor Adams, then about also to retire
from the chair of the presidency of the United
States.

Since the latter period, near five and twenty years,
Mr. Jay has lived on the hereditary estate where 1
saw him, enjoying the profound, and I might also say,
idolatrous respect of all who enter his private circle.
As his manner of living may serve to give you a better
idea of the usages of this country, I will endeavour to
give a short description of so much of it, as may be
done without violating that respect which is due to
the hospitality and frankness of my reception. I shall
merely premise, I have already discovered that official
rank, in this country, furnishes no certain clue to the.
rank of an individual in ordinary society, nor conse-
sequently to the style in which he may choose to
regulate his establishment. In order that you may
understand me, however, it is necessary that I should
go a little into detail.

One hears a great deal in Europe of the equality
of the United States. Now, if you will make a
moderate allowance for the effects which are pro
duced by the division of property on the death of
its possessor, or the facility with which estates are
acquired, and to the fact that no legal orders exist in
the community, you may, with a certain qualification,
take the general rules which govern the associations
end habits of all other countries, as applicable to this.
In order, however, to measure accurately the degree
of influence the circumstances just named produce,
probably requires a greater knowledge of America
than I possess. Though it is quite apparent that
those conventional castes which divide the whole
civilized world into classes, are to be found here, just
as they are in Europe, they appear to be separated

REASONS WHY IT SHOULD NOT. . 81

oy less impassable barriers. The features of society
are substantially the same, though less strongly mark*
ed. You, as an Englishman, can find no difficulty in
understanding, that the opinions and habits of all the
different divisions in life may prevail without patents
of nobility. They are the unavoidable consequences
of differences in fortune, education and manners. In
no particular^ that I can discover, does the situation
of an American gentleman differ from that of an
English gentleman, except that the former must be
content to enjoy his advantages as a concession of the
public opinion, and not as a right. I can readily be
lieve that the American, whatever might be his name,
fortune, or even personal endowments, who should
arrogate that manner of superiority over his less for
tunate countrymen that the aristocracy of your coun
try so often assume to their inferiors, would be in
great danger of humiliation ; but I cannot see that he
is in any sense the less of a gentleman for the re
straint. I think I have already discovered the source
of a very general error on the subject of American
society. Short as has been my residence in the coun
try, I have met with many individuals of manners
and characters so very equivocal, as scarcely to know
in what conventional order they ought to be placed.
There has been so singular a compound of intelli
gence, kindness, natural politeness, coarseness, and
even vulgarity, in many of these persons, that I am
often utterly baffled in the attempt to give them a
place in the social scale. One is ashamed to admit
that men who at every instant are asserting their su
periority in intellect and information, can belong to
an inferior condition ; and yet one is equally reluc
tant to allow a claim to perfect equality, on the part
of those who are constantly violating the rules of
conventional courtesy. That the forms of even polite
intercourse, in this country, are different in very many
particulars from our own, is quite evident, but it is

8:3 GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY UNCONNECTED

far less apparent that Europe enjoys any very de»
cided advantage on this account If I should venture
to give an opinion, thus early, on a question that in
its nature is so very delicate, I should say, that we
give to hundreds of Americans a place in their own
society, which, in fact, they cannot claim, merely be
cause we discover in them certain qualifications that
few or none possess in Europe, who are not actually
members of her social elite. But this is anticipating
a subject on v, hich I may be much better prepared
to write a twelvemonth hence.

I have told you that official rank in America has
very liltle connexion with rank in ordinary society.
This assertion, however, is liable to some little excep
tion. There are certain political stations of so much
dignity, as in a great measure to entail on their pos
sessors, and even on their families, the indefinable
privileges of caste, here as elsewhere, though from
what 1 can learn this is far from being invariably the
case. Thus, while the office of President of the
United States, or of Governor of a State, will, in their
very nature, open the doors of most houses to their
incumbents, a man may be a member of Congress, or
even a Senator, and continue to fill his original station
in ordinary life. This, also, you, as an Englishman,
ought to understand, nor will it be much longer un
intelligible in all those other countries of Europe,
where representative governments are opening the
avenues of political power to all men. Indeed, in
France, even under the old regime, government and
society were perfectly distinct Now, just as America
is more democratic in her institutions, just so much
the more is this blending of conditions discernible in
her distribution of political favours. Your country
men are very apt to make themselves merry with the
colonels and majors th.it are inn-keepers in America;
but really it appears lo me that these people have
much the best right to laugh in the matter, since they

AMERICAN COLONELS AND CITY WARRIORS. 83

can find individuals fit to fill such stations, in a condi
tion of life, that, in common, is occupied by men
qualified to do little or nothing else than discharge
the duties of their ordinary calling. But you have
had your train-hands, with their pastry-cook, and
fishmonger colonels, as well as the Americans. 1
know of but two points, then, in which you differ in
this particular from the very people whom you affect
to ridicule. I have not heard of any of your city
warriors, who can show their scars, or who have ever
encountered a danger, more formidable than effecting
a defile in face of a pump, without throwing their
phalanxes into confusion ; whereas, I have seen more
jhan one American veteran perform the offices of a
host, who had faced with credit the best of your
battalions, and who makes a matter of honest boast
ing that he has as often seen the back as the face of
his enemies, they too, having been both English and
French grenadiers. This is one, and no trifling point
of distinction between the two classes. The other is,
that your train-bands are rarely found beyond the in
fluence of the household troops, or such other mer
cenaries as may serve to set them a proper example
of loyalty, while the Americans, unhesitatingly, put
arms into the hands of all their people who are of an
ige to carry them. I believe the latter, after all, is
the true reason why colonels and majors so much
abound in this country.

While crossing the state of Massachusetts the Isst
time, I passed a night in the house of one of these
military Bonifaces, He was precisely the sort of
man Cadwallader had described ; kind, independent,
unassuming in fact, but unyielding in appearance ; a
colonel in the militia, a member of the State legisla
ture, and, in short, one who at need would give
vou his own blanket and think no more of it, but who
would refuse your money unless it were offered with
civility, and as a just return for what he had bestowed.

84 THE UTILITY OF STAXDIXG ARMIES.

I parsed a half hour conversing with the old man
who had seen a good deal of service during the wars
of '56 and '76. We spoke of the different military
systems pursued by England and America, and he
not only seemed willing to do justice to the troops of
the former, but he readily admitted that men who
did nothing but 'train,' as he termed it, ought to be
better soldiers than militia who entered the ranks
but once or twice a year. Encouraged by this con
cession, I ventured to suggest it was possible that his
nation was wrong in her policy, and that she might
do better to imitate the example of other countries in
her military policy at least. His answer was cer
tainly characteristic, and I thought it not without
some practical point. " Each people to their wants,'
he said. " In Europe you keep large standing armies
because you can't hold together without them, and I
conclude you pay for it. America has managed so
far to do her own fighting, nor do I see that she has
much need of doing that of any other people. As to
the quality of the troops, we often handled the French
roughly ; we drove the English out of the Bay State
in '76, and we have contrived to keep them out ever
since : so far as I can see, that is all we want of a
soldier, whether he be dressed in scarlet, or a coat
of brown homespun. As to keeping order at home,
we can still do that without using our muskets, thank
God." Now, whether a nation that has managed to
keep foreign invaders from her shores, and to presei ve
the most perfect order within her borders, without
the agency of any better colonels, than such as some
times act as inn-keepers, is entitled to the respect, or
to the derision of the rest of the world, is a question
I leave to your philosophy. At all events, communi
ties which husband their resources, enjoy the com
fortable assurance of having them at command, when
their possession may become a matter of the last im
portance.

THE DWELLING OF MR. JAY. 85

But all this is leading me from the subject. Al*
though a description of the establishment of Mr. Jay
should not mislead you into an impression that all
those who have enjoyed public favour, in this coun
try, live in a similar manner, it is certainly more true
as to those who have arrived to the high dignities he
once possessed. In point of size and convenience
the dwelling of this distinguished American is abou
on a level with a third-rate English country house, or
a second-rate French chateau. It has most of the
comforts of the former, with some luxuries that are
not easy to obtain in your island, and it is conse
quently both inferior and superior to the latter, in
very many particulars. There is a mixture of use
and appearance in the disposition of the grounds,
that I am inclined to think very common about the
residences of gentlemen of this country. The farm
buildings, &c., though a little removed, were in plain
view, as if their proprietor, while he was willing to
escape from the inconveniences of a closer proximity,
found a pleasure" in keeping them at all times under
his immediate eye. The house itself was partly of
stone, and partly of wood, it having been built at
different periods ; but, as is usual here, with most of
the better sort of dwellings, it was painted, and
having a comfortable and spacious piazza along its
facade^ another common practice in this climate, it
is not without some pretension externally; still its
exterior, as well as its internal character, is that of
respectable comfort, rather than of elegance, or
show. The interior arrangements of this, no Jess
than of most of the houses I have entered here, are
decidedly of an English character. The furniture
is commonly of mahogany, and carpets almost uni
versally prevail, summer and winter. There is a
great air of abundance in the houses of the Ameri
cans generally, and in those of the wealthy, it. is min
gled with something that we are apt to consider lux-

VOL I I

8G ARMORIAL BEARINGS, LIVERIES, ETC.

urious. I might have counted ten or twelve domestics
about the establishment of Mr. Jay, all quiet, orderly,
and respectful. They were both white and black.
You probably know that the latter are all free here,
slavery having been virtually abolished in New-
York.* The servants wore no liveries, nor did 1
see many that did out of the city of New-York
Though sometimes given, even there, they are fai
from frequent. They are always exceedingly plain,
rarely amounting to more than a round hat with a
gold or a silver band, and a coat, with cuffs and col
lars faced with a different cloth. Armorial bearings
on carriages are much more frequent, though Cad-
wallader tells me it is getting to be more genteel to
do without even them. He says the most ancient
and honourable families, those whose descent is uni
versally known, are the first to neglect their use. I
saw the carriages of Mr. Jay, but their pannels were
without any blazonry, I remarked, however, ancient
plate in the house that bore those European marks
of an honourable name, and which 1 did not hesitate
to refer to the period of the colonial government.
Mr. Jay himself is of French descent, his ancestor
having been a refugee from the religious persecution
that succeeded the revocation of the edict of Nantes.
There are many families of similar descent in the
United States, and among them are some of the first
names of the country. I passed a little town in the
county of West-Chester, that was said to have been
originally settled by emigrants from the persecuted
city of Rochelle. It bears the name of New Ro-
chelle, and to this hour, though much blended by
intermarriages with those of English origin, the peo
ple retain something of the peculiar look of their
French ancestry, I saw on the signs, the names of

It finally expired by law, July 4th, 1827.

THE HUGUENOTS. 87

Cuion, Renaud, Bonnet, Florence, Flanderau, Cou-
tant, &c. &c., all of whicl are clearly French, though
the sound is commonly so perverted, that it may be
said properly to belong to no language. There are
also one or two others of these settlements in this
state, and many more in different parts of the Union,
but their peculiar national customs have long since
been swallowed in the overwhelming influence of
the English. The language is entirely lost among
these children of France. I had, however, a trifling
evidence of the length of time ancient usages will
linger in our habits, even under the most unfavour
able circumstances. My driver encountered, near
New Rochelle, an old acquaintance, standing before
the door of his own habitation. The horses either
needed breath to mount a hill, or the worthy disciple
of Phaeton chose to assume it. " Why do you leave
the stumps of those dead apple-trees in your orch
ard t" demanded the coachman, who very soon be
gan to throw a critical eye over the husbandry of his
acquaintance. " Oh ! I gather all my morelles around
their roots. Without the mushrooms in the fall,* and
the morelles in the spring, I should be as badly found
as one of my oxen without salt." " Now, that is for
his French blood," said my driver to Fritz, while
mounting the hill; " for my part, I count a man a fool
who will run the risk of being poisoned in order to
tickle his palate with a mushroom." I have been told
that these little peculiarities of their ancient French
habits were all that was national which remained to
the descendants of the Huguenots. Their religion
had even undergone a change; the original French
Protestants being Calvinists, whereas their descend
ants have almost all become united to what is here
called the Episcopalian, or the Church of England.

* The Americans commonly call the autumn the ' fall ;' from
the falling of the leaf.

88 SIMPLE A\D DIGNIFIED HABITS OF MR. JAY.

I scarcely remember to have mingled with an)
family, where there was a more happy union of quiet
decorum, and high courtesy, than I met beneath the
roof of Mr. Jay. The venerable statesman himself is
distinguished, as much now, for his dignified simplic
ity, as he was, formerly, for his political sagacity,
integrity, and firmness. By one class of his country
men he is never spoken of without the profoundest
respect. It is evident that there are some who have
been accustomed to oppose him, though it is not diffi
cult to see that they begin to wonder why. During
my short stay beneath this hospitable roof, several of
the yeomanry came to make visits of respect, or of
business, to their distinguished neighbour. Their re
ception was frank and cordial, each man receiving
the hand of the " Governor," as he is called, though
it was quite evident that all approached him with the
reverence a great man only can inspire. For my
own part, I confess, I thought it a beautiful sight to
see one who had mingled in the councils of nations,
who had instructed a foreign minister in his own
policy, and who had borne himself with high honour
and lasting credit in the courts of mighty sovereigns,
soothing the evening of his days by these little acts
of bland courtesy, which, while they elevated others,
in no respect subtracted from his own glory. His age
and infirmities prevented as much intercourse as 1
could have wished with such a man, but the little he
did communicate on the scenes in which he had been
an actor, was uttered with so much clearness, sim
plicity, modesty, and discretion, that one was left to
regret that he could not hear more.

There is a very general opinion in America, thai
Mr. Jay has been much occupied, in later life, in
writing on the prophecies. Of course this is a sub
ject on which I know nothing, but something occurred
Hi the course of conversation which strongly inclines
me to hazard a conjecture that they are not true. We

NOTIONS OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF MR. JAY. 89

rvere speaking of some recent English works on the
Apocalypse, when he expressed, in general terms, his
sense of the fruitlessness of any inquiry, at the present
hour, into their hidden meaning. I am rather inclined
to think, that as this eminent man has endeavoured
so to model his life, that he may be prepared for any
and every developement of the mighty mystery, some
curious, but incompetent observers of his habits have
mistaken his motive, attributing that to a love of the
ory, which might, with more justice, be Lscribcd to
the humbler and safer cause of practice. And here
I must bid adieu to this estimable statesman ; but
before I take leave of you, I will mention a queer
enough instance of the vagaries of the human mind,
which has recently come under my observation, and
which is oddly enough recalled by the connexion be
tween Mr. Jay and his fancied avocations in retire
ment. It furnishes another proof of the precarious
quality of all conjecture.

Every body has heard of Zerah Colburne, one of
those inexplicable prodigies, whose faculties enable
them to assume a command over the powers of num
bers that is, probably, quite as much of a mystery to
themselves, as to the rest of mankind. High expect
ations were raised of the effects which education
might produce OP the capacity of this boy. He vs ent
to England ; exhibited ; calculated ; astonished every
body; was patronized; sent to school; became a man;
returned to his native country lately, and brought
back with him the literary offering of a tragedy ! I
have seen the manuscript, and must say that I think,
for once at least, "he has missed a figure." — Adieu.
I 2

TO SIR EDWARD WALLER, BART.
&c. &c.

New-York,-

THE six North-Eastern States of this great union
compose what is called New-England.* The appel
lation is one of convention, and is unknown to the laws.
It is a name given by a King of England, who ap
peared willing to conciliate that portion of his sub
jects, who had deserted their homes in quest of liberty
of conscience, by a high-sounding title. It will be
remembered that colonies of the Dutch and Swedes,
at that time, separated the northern possessions of the
English from those they held in Virginia. It is most
probably owing to the latter circumstance that the
inhabitants of the New-England provinces so long
retained their distinctive character, which was scarce^
ly less at variance with that of the slave-holding plant
ers of the south, than with that of their more imme
diate neighbours, the Dutch. The pacific colonists
of Penn brought with them but little to soften the
lines of distinction, and after New- York became sub
ject to the Crown of Britain, it was a melange of
Dutch quietude and English aristocracy. It was not
until the Revolution had broken down the barriers of
provincial prejudices, and cleared the way for the
unrestrained exercise of the true national enterprise,
that these territorial obstacles were entirely removed,
arid a thorough amalgamation of the people com
menced. A few observations on the effect of this
amalgamation, and the influence it has had on the char-

* Maine, Massachusetts, New-Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode
Island, and Connecticut.

THE PEOPLE OF NEW-ENGLAND. 91

acter of the nation, may not be thrown away here.
The little I shall say is written under the inspection
of Cadwallader, confirmed, if not improved, by my
own observation.

The people of New-England are, even to this hour,
distinguished among their own active and quick-witted
countrymen, for their enterprise, frugality, order, and
intelligence. The three latter qualities, taken in con
junction, I believe they have a right to claim to a de
gree that is elsewhere unequalled. The Scot and the
Swiss, the Dane and the Swede, the German, the
Belgian, or even the Frenchman, may be often as
frugal, but there is always something of compulsion
in European frugality. The inhabitant of New-Eng
land seems thrifty on principle ; since he neglects no
duty, forgets no decency, nor overlooks any of the
higher obligations in order to save his money. He is
eminently economical and provident in the midst of
abundance. A sentiment of deep morality seems to
influence his savings, which he hoards, in order that
the superfluity of his wealth may be serviceable, as
wealth should be, in securing his own private re
spectability, and in advancing the interests of the
whole. No doubt, in a great community, where
economy is rigidly practised as a virtue, some mistake
its object, and pervert a quality, which is so eminently
adapted to advance the general good, to the purposes
of individual rapacity. But it is impossible to jour
ney through New-England, and witness its air of
abundance, its decency, the absence of want, the ele
vation of character, which is imparted to the meanest
of its people, without respecting the sources whence
they flow. A prudent and discreet economy is, in
itself, an evidence of a reflecting and instructed being,
as- order is the necessary attendant of abundance and
thought. You may form some estimate of the degree
of intelligence which is diffused throughout the com
munity in New-England, by the facts contained in a

92 SCHOOLS IN NEW-ENGLAND.

report I lately read concerning the progress of gen
eral instruction in Massachusetts. That State con
tains nearly 600,000 souls, all of whom (of proper
age,) with the exception of about 400, could read and
write. It is probable that the latter number was
composed chiefly of foreigners, blacks from other
Slates, and those who laboured under natural disa
bilities. But reading, writing, and arithmetic, are fai
from being the limits of the ordinary instruction of
the lower American schools. A vast deal of useful
and creditable knowledge, moral and useful, is also
obtained in learning to read. 1 have known Cad-
wallader to say repeatedly, that in referring to fa
miliar history and geography, he invariably passes by
all his later acquisitions in the academies and uni
versity, to draw upon the stores he obtained during
his infancy in one of the common schools of the coun
try. Perhaps, in this particular, he differs but little
from most educated men every where; but it is an
important fact to remember that the children of his
father's tradesmen, and indeed of every other man in
the place, enjoyed precisely the same means of ob
taining this species of information, as the son of the
affluent landlord. He also pointed out another im
portant fact, as distinguishing the quality of the know
ledge acquired in the schools of America from that
which is obtained in a similar manner, in most, if not
all, of Europe. There is no lethargy of ideas in this
country. What is known to one (under the usual
limits of learning) soon becomes the property of all.
This is strictly true, as respects all the minor acqui
sitions of the school. It is also true as respects every
sudden and important political event, in any quarter
of the world. The former species of information is
obtained through new and improved editions of their
geographies, histories, and grammars, and the latter
through the powerful agency of the public press. A
new division of the German empire, for instance,

SCHOOLS — QUALITY OF INSTRUCTION. 93

would be change enough to circulate a new geography
through all the schools of America. Improved systems
of arithmetic are as numerous as the leaves on the
trees, nor is there any scarcity of annals to record the
events of the day. My companion pointed out the
difference between his own country and France for
instance, in this particular. He has three or four
young female relatives at school in the latter country.
Curiosity had induced him to bring away several of
the class-books that had been put into their hands, in
conformity to the system which governs these matters
there. In the history of F'ance itself, the Revolution
is scarcely mentioned ! The reign of Napoleon is
passed over in silence, and the events of 1814 and
1815 consigned to an oblivion, which does not con
ceal the sijge of Troy. One can understand the
motives of this doubtful policy; but Cadwaliader
pointed out defects in the geographies, which can only
be accounted for on the grounds of utter indifference.
One example shall suffice for numberless similar in
stances of gross and culpable neglect, since it could
not be ignorance, in a country where the science of
geography is certainly as well understood as in any
other part of the earth. With an excusable sensi
tiveness, he showed me, in a recent edition of an au
thorized geography, the account of his own confede
ration. It is said to be composed of eighteen States,
though twenty-one are actually named, and twenty-
four, in truth, existed ! Even the palpable contradic
tion seems to have escaped the proof-readers of the
work. Now this book, excessively meagre in itself,
is put into the hands of the future mothers of France.
Their own kingdom is certainly dealt with a litile
more liberally; but, though it is perhaps the highest
effort of human knowledge, to know one's self, in
order to a right understanding of our own character,
it is absolutely necessary to have a pretty intimate
acquaintance with those of other people. 1 speak

94 RELUCTANCE OF EUROPE

understandingly, when I tell you, that the geographies
and modern histories which are read by the com
monest American children, are vastly more minute
and accurate than those read in most of the fashion
able pensions of Paris*

The effect of this diffusion of common instruction
is pre-eminently apparent throughout New-England,
in the self-respect, decency, order, and individuality
of its inhabitants. I say individuality, because, by
giving ideas to a man, you impart the principles of a
new existence, which suoply additional motives of
concern to his respectabi'ity and well-being. You
are not to suppose that men become selfish by arriv
ing nearer to a right understanding of their own na
tures and true interests, since all experience proves
that we become humane and charitable precisely as
we become conscious of our own defects, and obtain
a knowledge of the means necessary to repair them.
A remarkable example of this truth is to be found in
Ne.w-England itself. Beyond a doubt, nowhere is to
be found a population so well instructed, in element
ary knowledge, as the people of these six States. It
is equally true, that I have nowhere witnessed such an
universality of that self-respect which preserves men
from' moral degradation. I very well know that in
Europe, while we lend a faint attention to these
statements concerning American order and prosper
ity, we are fond of seeking causes which shall refer
their origin to circumstances peculiar to her geo
graphical situation, and which soothe our self-love,
by enabling us to predict their downfall, when the
existence of European pressure shall reduce the
American to the level of our own necessities. I
confess, I entered the country with very similar im
pressions myself; but nearer observation has dis
turbed a theory which is generally adopted, because
it is both consolatory and simple. We are apt to say
that the ability of the Americans to maintain order at

TO BELIEVE IN AMERICAN" ORDER. 05

so little cost of money and personal freedom, is de
rived from the thinness of population and the absence
of want : but the American will tell you it proceeds
from the high civilization of his country, which gives
to every member of the community a certain interest
in its quiet and character. T confess, I was a little
startled to hear a people who scarcely possess a work
of art that attains to mediocrity, — among whom most
of the sciences are comparatively in their infancy, —
who rarely push learning beyond its practical and
most useful points, and who deal far less in the graces
than in the more simple forms of manners, speak of
their pre-eminent civilization with so evident a com
placency. But there is a simple dignity in moral
truths, that dims the lustre of all the meretricious gloss
which art and elegance can confer on life. I fear that
it is very possible to live in a gilded palace — to feast
the eyes on the beau ideal of form and proportions, —
to he an adept in the polished deceptions of conven
tional intercourse, — to smile when others smile, and
weep when others weep, — to patronize and to court,
— to cringe and to domineer, in short, to reach the
ne p.us ultra of eastern refinement, and still to have
a strong flavour of barbarity about one after all. There
can be no true humanity, which is the essence of all
civilization, until man comes to treat and consider man
as his fellow. That society can never exist, or, at least,
that it could never advance, under a too fastidiously
strict interpretation of this duty, needs no proof, since
all incentive to exertion would be deadened in a con
dition where each member of the community had an
equal right to participate in the general abundance.
The great desideratum of the social compact would
then seem to be, to produce such a state of things as
shall call the most individual enterprise into action,
while it should secure a proper consideration for the
interests of the whole ; — to avail of the talents of the
gifted few, while the long train of humbler beings

96 HABITS AXD MANNERS OF NEW-ENGLAND,

shall have scope and leisure also for the privileges of
their mortality : in short, to profit by the suggestions
of policy, without forgetting the eternal obligations
of humanity. If a union of the utmost scope to indi
vidual enterprise with the most sacred regard to the
rights and feelings of the less fortunate of our species,
he any evidence of an approximation to this desired
condition of society, I think the inhabitant of New-
England has a better right to claim an elevated state
of being than any other people J have ever visited.
The activity of personal efforts is every where visible
on the face of the land, in their comforts, abundance,
improvements, and progressive wealth, while the
effect of a humanity that approaches almost to refine
ment, was felt at every house I entered. Let me not
be misunderstood : I can readily conceive that an
European gentleman, who had not been, like myself,
put on his guard, would have found numberless
grounds of complaint, because he was not treated as
belonging to a superior class of beings by those with
whom he was compelled to hold communication.
Servility forms no part of the civilization of New-
England, though civility be its essence. I can say
with truth, that after traversing the country for near
a thousand miles, in no instance did I hear or witness
a rude act: not the slightest imposition was practised,
or attempted, on my purse; all my inquiries were
heard with patience, and answered with extraordi
nary intelligence : not a farthing was asked for divers
extra services that were performed in my behalf; but.
on the contrary, money offered in the way of douceurs
was repeatedly declined, and that too with perfect
modesty, as if it were unusual to receive rewards for
trifles. My comforts and tastes, too, were uniformly
consulted ; and, although I often travelled in a portion
of the country that was but little frequented, at every
inn I met with neatness, abundance, and a manner in
which a desire to oblige me was blended wJh a

DIFFUSIVE INTELLIGENCE. 07

singular respect for themselves. Nor was this rare
combination of advantages at all the effect of that
simplicity which is the attendant of a half-civilized
condition; on the contrary, 1 found an intelligence
that surprised me at every turn, and which, in itself,
gave the true character to the humanity of which I
was the subject. I repeatedly found copies of your
standard English authors, in retired dwellings where
one would not expect to meet any production of a
cast higher than an almanac, or a horn-hook ; nor
were they read with that acquiescent criticism which
gives a fashion to taste, and which makes a joke of
Moliere better than a joke of any other man. Young
women (with whom my situation, no less than my
tastes, oftencst brought me into literary discussions;
frequently surprised me with the extent of their at-
qaintance with, and the soundness of their opinions
concerning the merits and morality of Pope and Ad-
dison, of Young and Tillotson, and even of Milton and
Shakspeare. This may sound to you ridiculous, and
certainly, if taken without a saving clause for the other
acquirements of my female critics, it is liable to some
exception ; but I repeat I have often known professed
blues acquit themselves with less credit than did
several of my passing acquaintances at the tea-tables
of different New-England inns. I can, however,
readily conceive that a traveller might pass weeks in
this very portion of the country, and remain pro
foundly ignorant of all these things. In order to ac
quire information, one must possess the disposition to
learn. I sought out these traits of national character,
and 1 flatter myself that by the aid of good disposi
tions, and a certain something that distinguishes all
of our fraternity in the presence of the softer sex, a
commendable progress, in reference to the time and
opportunity, was always made in their kind estima
tion. The great roads, as I have said, and as you
well know, are rarely favourable in any country to ai;
VOL. I. K

98 OMISSION or TRAVELLERS.

accurate acquaintance with the character of its in
habitants. One may arrive at a general knowledge
of the standard of honesty, disinterestedness, and civi
lization of a people, it is true, by mingling with them
in much frequented places, for these qualities are
always comparative; but he who would form an
opinion of the whole by such specimens, must do it
under the correction of great allowances. I believe
the New-Englandman, however, has less reason than
common to deprecate a general decision of this nature.
A good deal of my journey was unavoidably on a
great route, and though I found some inconveniences,
and rather more difficulty in penetrating their domes
tic reserve there, than in the retired valleys oi the in
terior, still the great distinctive features of the popu
lation were every where decidedly the same.

Jt is worthy of remark that nearly all of the English
travellers who have written of America, pass lightly
over this important section of the Union. Neither
do they seem to dwell with much complacency on
those adjoining states, where the habits and charac
teristics of New England prevail to a great extent,
through the emigrants or their immediate descend
ants. I am taught to believe that, including the in
habitants of the six original States, not less than four
millions of the American people are descended from
the settlers of Plymouth, and their successors. This
number is about four-tenths of the white population.
If one recalls the peculiar energy and activity which
distinguish these people, he may be able to form some
idea of their probable influence on the character of
the whole country. The distinctive habits of the
Dutch, which lingered among the possessors of the
adjoining province of New-York even until the com
mencement of the present century, have nearly dis
appeared before the tide of eastern emigration ; and
there is said to be scarcely a State in the whole con-

OMISSION OF MR. HODGSON. 99

federation which has not imbibed more or less of the
impetus of its inexhaustible activity.

Suspicion might easily ascribe an unworthy motive
to a silence that is so very uniform on the part of in
terested observers. Volumes have been written con
cerning the half-tenanted districts of the west, while
the manners and condition of the original States, where
the true effects of the American system can alone he
traced, are usually disposed of in a few hurried pages.
It is true there are some few of the authors in my
collection, who have been more impartial in their
notices, but most of them appear to have sought so
eagerly for subjects of derision, as to have overlooked
the more dignified materials of observation. E^en
the respectable Mr. Hodgson, who seems at all times
ready to do justice to the Americans, has contented
himself with giving some thirty or forty pages to the
State of New-^ork, and disposes of all New-England
(if the extraneous matter be deducted), Pennsylvania,
New-Jersey, and Ohio, in about the same space that
he has devoted to a passage through the wild regions
on the Gulf of Mexico. Though the states just men
tioned make but a comparatively indifferent figure
on the map, they contain nearly, if not quite, half
of the entire population of the country. If to this be
added the fact, that in extent they cover a surface
about equal to that of the kingdom of France, one
may be permitted to express some surprise that they
are usually treated with so littl-3 deference. An Ame
rican would be very much inclined to ascribe this
uniform neglect to an illiberality which found no
pleasure in any description but caricature, though 1
think few of them would judge so harshly of the
author whose name I have just mentioned. As Cad-
wallader expressed it, even the mistakes of such a
man are entitled to be treated with respect. A much
more charitable, and in the instance of Mr. Hodgson,

100 INFLUENCE OF NEW-ENGLAND CHARACTER.

I am fully persuaded a more just explanation would
be to ascribe this apparent partiality to the woods,
rather to a love of novelty, than to any bare thirst of
detraction. There is little to appease the longings of
curiosity, even in the most striking characteristics ol
common sense : nor does a picture of the best endow
ed and most rational state of oeing, present half the
attractions to our imaginations, as one in which scenes
of civilization are a little coloured by the fresher and
more vivid tints of a border life.

Still he who would seek the great moving principles
\\hich give no small part of its peculiar tone to the
American character, must study the people of New-
England deeply. It is there that he will find the
germ of that tree of intelligence which has shot forth
so luxuriantly, and is already shading the land with
its branches, bringing forth most excellent fruits. , It
is ihere that religion, and order, and frugality, and
even liberty, have taken deepest root: and no liberal
American, however he may cherish some of the pe
culiarities of his own particular State, will deny them
the meed of these high and honourable distinctions.
It may be premature in one who has kept aloof from
their large towns, to pronounce on the polish of a
people whom he has only seen in the retirement and
simplicity of the provinces. Their more southern
neighbours say they are wanting in some of the nicer
tact of polite intercourse, and that however they may
shine in the more homely and domestic virtues, they
?jre somewhat deficient in those of manner. I think
nothing, taken with a certain limitation, to be more
probable.

1 saw every where the strongest evidences of a
greater equality of condition than I remember ever
before to have witnessed. Where this equality exists,
it has an obvious tendency to bring the extremes of
the community together. What the peasant gains,
the gentleman must in some measure lose. The

EQUALITY OF CONDITION AND IT? EFFECTS. 10!

colours get intermingled, where the sh&xies in oociecy
are so much softened. Great leisuie, nay, even idle
ness, is perhaps necessary to exclusive attention to
manner. How few, dear Waller, excel in it, even in
your own aristocratic island, where it is found that a
man needs no small servitude in the more graceful
schools of the continent, to figure to advantage in a
saloon. Perhaps there is something in the common
.labits of the parent and the child that is not favour
able to a cultivation of the graces. Institutions which
serve to give man pride in himself, sometimes lessen
his respect for others : and yet I see nothing in
a republican government that is at all incompatible
with the highest possible refinement. It is diffi
cult to conceive that a state of things which has a
tendency to elevate the less fortunate classes of our
species, should necessarily debase those whose lots
have been cast in the highest. The peculiar exterior
of the New-Englandman may be ascribed with more
justice to the restrained and little enticing manners
of his puritan ancestors. Climate, habits of thrift,
and unexampled equality of rights and fortune, may
have aided to perpetuate a rigid aspect. But after all,
this defect in manner must, as 1 have already said,
be taken under great limitation. Considered in ref
erence to every class below those in which, from
their pursuits and education, moje refinement and
tact might ceitainly be expected, it does not exist.
On the contrary, as they are more universally intel
ligent than their counterparts in the most favoured
European countries, so do they exhibit, in their de
portment, a happier union of self-respect with con
sideration for others. The deficiency is oftener man
ifested in certain probing inquiries into the individual
concerns of other people, and :n a neglect of forms
entirely conventional, but which by their generality
have become established rules of breeding, than by
any coarse or brutal transgressions of natural polite-
K 2

102 GROSS CARICATURE OF THEIR MANNERS.

ness. The former liberty may indeed easily degene
rate into every thing that is both repulsive and dis
agreeable ; but there is that in the manner of a New-
Englandman, when he most startles you by his fa
miliarity, which proves he means no harm. The
common, vulgar account of such questions, as " How
far are you travelling, stranger ? and where do you
come from ? and what may your name be ?" if ever
true, is now a gross caricature. The New-Eriglandman
is too kind in all his habits to call any man stranger*
His usual address is " friend,11 or sometimes he com
pliments a stranger of a gentlemanly appearance, with
the title of " squire." I sought the least reserved
intercourse that was possible with them, and in no
instance was I the subject of the smallest intentional
rudeness. t I say intentional, for the country phy
sician, or lawyer, or divine (and I mingled with them
all,) was ignorant that he trespassed on the rules of
rigid breeding, when he made allusions, however
guarded, to my individual movements or situation.
Indeed I am inclined to suspect that the Americans,
in all parts of the Union, are less reserved on per
sonal subjects than we of Europe, and precisely for
the reason that in general they have less to conceal.
I cannot attribute a coarser motive than innocent
curiosity, to the familiar habits of a people who in
every other particular are so singularly tender of
each other's feelings. The usage is not denied even
by themselves ; and a professor of one of their uni
versities accounted for it in the following manner.
The people of New-England were, and are still, inti
mately allied in feeling no less than in blood. Their

* Cadwallacler told me that this appellation is, indeed, used in
the new States to the south-west, where it is more apposite, and
subsequent observation has confirmed the fact.

t It is singular that every English traveller the writer has
read, in the rnidst of all his exaggerations, either directly or in
directly admits this fact.

PECULIAR COURTESY OF THE INHABITANTS. 103

enterprise early separated them from each other by
wide tracts of country; and before the introduction
of journals and public mails, the inhabitants must
have been dependent on travellers for most of their
passing intelligence. It is not difficult to conceive
thati in a country where thought is so active, inquiry
was not suffered to slumber. You may probably
remember to have seen, when we were last at Porn-
peii, the little place where the townsmen were said
to collect in order to glean intelligence from Upper
Italy. A similar state of things must, in a greater or
less degree, have existed in all civilized countries
before the art of printing was known; and, in this
particular, the only difference between New and
Old England probably was, that as the people of the
former had more ideas to appease, they were com
pelled to use greater exertions to attain their object.
But apart from this, I will confess startling familiarity,
there was a delicacy of demeanour that is surprising
in a population so remote from the polish of the large
towns. I have often seen the wishes of the meanest
individual consulted before any trifling change was
made that might be supposed to affect the comfort
of all. In this species of courtesy, I think them a
people unequalled. Scarcely any one, however ele
vated his rank, would presume to make a change in
any of the dispositions of a public coach, (for I left
my wagon for a time,) in a window of a hotel, or in
deed in any thing in which others might have an
equal concern, without a suitable deference to their
wishes. And yet I have seen the glance of one wo
man's eye, and she of humble condition too, instantly
change the unanimous decision of a dozen men.

By the hand of the fair Isabel, Waller there is
something noble and touching, in the universal and
yet simple and unpretending homage with which
these people treat the weaker sex. I am sure a wo
man here has only to respect herself in order to meet

104 THE SITUATION OF WOMEN.

with universal deference. I now understand what
Cadwallader meant when he said that America was
the real Paradise of woman. The attention and man
liness which he exhihited for the Abigail of the little
Isabel, is common to the meanest man, at least in
New- England. 1 traversed the country in harvest
time, and scarcely recollect to have seen six females
in the fields, and even they appeared there only on
the < merge ncy of some passing shower. When one
considers the price which labour bears, this solitary
fact is in itself pregnant with meaning. A little boy
whom 1 conveyed with his father in my wagon a
dozen miles, (for I neglected no opportunity to mix
with the people,) laughed aloud as he pointed with
his finger and cried, "There is a woman at work
among the men !" Had he seen her riding a war-
horse l en militaireS he could scarcely have been
more amused. After all, what nobler or more con
vincing proof of high civilization can be given than
this habitual respect of the strong for the weak ?
The condition of women in this country is solely
owing to the elevation of its moral feeling. As she
is never misplaced in society, her influence is only
felt in the channels of ordinary and domestic life.

I have heard young and silly Europeans, whose
vanity has probably been wounded in finding them
selves objects of secondary interest, affect to ridicule
the absorbed attention which the youthful American
matron bestows on her family ; and some have gone
so far in my presence, as to assert that a lady of this
country was no more than an upper servant in the
house of her husband. They pay us of the eastern
hemisphere but an indifferent compliment, when they
assume that this beautiful devotion to the first, the
highest, and most lovely office of the sex, is peculiar
to the women of station in America only. I have
ever repelled the insinuation as becomes a man ;
hut, alas ! what is the testimony of one who cau

RETIREMENT FROM THE WORLD, 105

point to no fireside, or household of his own, but the
dreaming reverie of a heated brain? Imaginary or
not, I think one might repose his affections on hun
dreds of the fair, artless creatures he meets with
jere, with an entire confidence that the world has
not the first place in her thoughts. To me, woman
appears to fill in America the very station for which
she was designed by nature. In the lowest conditions
of life she is treated with the tenderness and respect
that is due to beings whom we believe to be the
repositories of the better principles of our nature.
Retired within the sacred precincts of her own abode,
she is preserved from the destroying taint of exces
sive intercourse with the world. She makes no bar
gains beyond those which supply her own little per
sonal wants, and her heart is not early corrupted by
the baneful and unfeminine vice of selfishness ; she
is often the friend and adviser of her husband, but
never his chapman. She must be sought in the haunts
of her domestic privacy, and not amid the wranglings,
deceptions, arid heart-burnings of keen and sordid
traffic. So true and general is this fact, that I have
remarked a vast proportion of that class who fre
quent the markets, or vend trifles in the streets of
this city, occupations that are not unsuited to the
feebleness of the sex, are either foreigners, or fe
males descended from certain insulated colonies of
the Dutch, which still retain many of the habits of
their ancestors amidst the improvements that are
throwing them among the forgotten usages of an
other century.

The effect of this natural and inestimable division
of employment, is in itself enough to produce an im
pression on the characters of a whole people. It
leaves the heart and principles of woman untainted
by the dire temptations of strife with her fellows
The husband can retire from his own sordid strug
gles with the world to seek consolation and correc-

106 INFLUENCE OF WOMEN IN SOCIETY.

tion from one who is placed beyond their influence.
The first impressions of the child are drawn from the
purest sources known to our nature ; and the son,
even long after he has been compelled to enter on
the thorny track of the father, preserves the memo
rial of the pure and unalloyed lessons that he has re
ceived from the lips, and, what is far better, from the
example of the mother. Though in every picture of
life in which these bright colours are made, the
strongest must be deadened by deep and painful
shadows, I do firmly believe that the undeniable truth
I have just written may be applied with as much, if
not with more justice, to the condition and influence
of the sex in New-England as in any portion of the
globe. I saw every where the utmost possible care
to preserve the females from undue or unwomanly
employments. If there was a burthen, it was in the
arms or on the shoulders of the man. Even labours
that seem properly to belong to the household, were
often performed by the latter ; and I never heard the
voice of the wife calling on the husband for assistance,
that it was not answered by a ready, manly, and
cheerful compliance. The neatness of the cottage, the
farm-house, and the inn ; the clean, tidy, healthful, and
vigorous look of the children, united to attest the use
fulness of this system. What renders all this more strik
ing and more touching, is the circumstance that not
only is labour in so great demand, but, contrary to the
fact in all the rest of Christendom, the women materi
ally exceed the men in numbers. This seeming depar
ture from what is almost an established law of nature,
is owing to the emigration westward. By the census
of 1 820, it appears, that in the six States of New-
England there were rather more than thirteen females
to every twelve males over the age of sixteen.

It is vain to say that absence of selfishness, and all
the kinder and best feelings of man, are no more than
the concomitants of abundance and simplicity, which

INFLUENCE OF GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. 107

in themselves are the fruits of a spare population and
of provincial retirement. If this be so strictly true,
why do not the same qualities prevail in the more
favoured regions of this very continent ? why do not
order, and industry, and enterprise, and all the active
and healthful virtues, abound in South as in North
America ? why is not the fertile province of Upper
Canada, for instance, as much distinguished for its
advancement in all the useful arts of life as the States
of the neighbouring republic ? and why, under so
many physical disadvantages, are the comparatively
sterile and rocky States of New-England remarkable
for these very qualities amid their own flourishing
and healthful sisters ? It cannot be the religious prin
ciples they derived from their ancestors, since the
Pennsylvania!! and the New-Jerseyman, and even the
peaceful and honest Hollander of New-York, can
claim just as virtuous a descent. It cannot be any
exclusive succession to the principles and habits of
their English ancestors, since, with exceptions too
slight to affect the great body of the nation, this has
been an inheritance common to all. It cannot be
that time has matured their institutions, and given
play and energy to their mental advantages, since
Brazil, and Chili, and Mexico, and many other na
tions of this continent, date a century older, and
Virginia and New-York, Canada and Louisiana, are
of coeval existence. In short, it cannot even be their
elastic and inciting liberty, for that too is a principle
which has never been suffered to slumber in any of
the vast and varied regions of this great confederation.
We must seek the solution in a cause which is the
parent of all that is excellent and great in communi
ties, no less than in individuals. I mean intelligence.
That pitiful and narrow7 theory which, thank God,
is now getting into disuse in Europe, and which
taught the doctrine that instruction became dangerous
to those who could not push learning to its limits,

103 THE EFFECTS OF GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

was never in fashion here. The limits of learning ;
As if any one could yet pronounce on the bound
aries which the Almighty has been pleased to set
between the efforts of our reason and his own om
niscience. It is true that the wisest men are always
the most truly modest ; for, having outstripped their
competitors in the attainment of human knowledge
they alone can know how much there is necessarilj
beyond their reach, and how impossible it is for
mortals to attain it. But who could ever yet say he
had taxed his faculties to the utmost. The world
has been amusing itself with assumed axioms on this
subject, when it might have been better employed
in investigating the truth in its more useful and prac
tical forms. The self-sufficiency of pretenders has
been tortured into an evidence of the danger of em
piricism in knowledge. As well might the pedantry
and foibles of the student himself be perverted to an
argument against learning, as to say that thought must
be kept in subjection because it sometimes leads to
error. The fruits of knowledge are not to be weighed
by the credit they reflect on this or that searcher
after truth, but by the influence they produce on the
mass of society. The man, who, from defect of pow
ers, or from any other adverse circumstance, cannot
assist in the advancement of intelligence, may, not
withstanding, become the wholesome recipient of
truth ; and the community which encourages a dis
semination of the sacred quality, enjoys an incalcu
lable advantage over all others, inasmuch as each of
its members starts so much nearer to the goal for
which every people must strive, (and that too through
its individual members,) in order to secure a distin
guished place in the great competition of nations.

It is a remarkable fact, that the retired, distant, and
little regarded States of which I am writing, had
matured and were reaping the rare fruits of a sys
tem of extended general instruction, for quite a cen-

PECULIAR MERIT OF NEW-ENGLAND. 109

tury, when a distinguished advocate for reform (Mr.
Brougham), in the Parliament of your own country,
that country which was then, and is still giving les
sons to Europe in liberty and government, charmed
the ears of the liberal by visions of a similar plan for
yourselves, which then existed, as it now exists, only
in the wishes of the truly wise and benevolent. And
yet one hears of the great moral debt that the people
of New owe to the people of Old England ! The
common ancestors may have left a goodly inheritance
to their children ; but on this subject, at least, it ap
pears to me that the emigrant to the western hemi
sphere has made of his talent ten talents, while his
kinsman, who remained at home, has done little more
than imitate the example of him who met with any
thing but unqualified approbation.

In reviewing my letter, I see that I have written
warmly, and with a portion of that interest which
the two subjects that have been its themes rarely
fail to inspire. As I know you enter fully into all
my feelings, both for the fair and for general instruc
tion, (for however lame and defective may have been
the policy of your nation, compared with that of
your kinsmen here, there still exists in England, as
in Denmark, and a few other nations, a high and
noble spirit of emulation,) I shall not recall a single
sentence of that which has escaped my pen. But the
subject must be left, until further opportunity shall
be given to look into the society of New-England in
its large towns.

During the whole of my recent excursion, though
I purposely avoided encountering La Fayette, his
visit has been a constant and inexhaustible topic ot
conversation. His journey along the coast has been
like the passage of a brilliant meteor. In every vil
lage he has been received writh modest, but heartfelt
rejoicings, while his entrances into the cities have
been literally triumphant. That there have been

VOL. I L

JIG NEW-YORK.

some exhibitions of joy which a fastidious taste might
reject, cannot be denied; but you will remember that
the people of this country are left to express their
own sentiments in their own fashion. The surprise
should be, not that the addresses and receptions of
which you will doubtless see some account in Europe,
are characterized by so little, but that they are dis
tinguished by so much soundness of discrimination,
truth of principle, and propriety of manner. — Adieu.

TO THE BARON VON KEMPERFELT,
&c. Sec.

New-York, 1824.

I FEEL that a description of this ancient city of the
United Provinces is due to you. In dwelling on its
admirable position, its growing prosperity, and its
probable grandeur, I wish to excite neither your
hopes, nor your regrets. I have seen enough of this
country already, to know, that in losing the New-
Netherlands in their infancy, you only escaped the
increased misfortune of having them wrested from
your power by their own efforts at a more advanced
period, when the struggle might have cost you, like
that which England has borne, and Spain still suf
fers — an incalculable expenditure of men and money.
You are thrice happy that your dominion in this
quarter of America did not endure long enough to
leave, in its train, any mortifying and exasperating
recollections. The Dutch are still remembered here
with a feeling strongly allied to affinity, by thousands
of their descendants, who if, among their more rest
less and bustling compatriots of the east, they are not
distinguished for the great enterprise which is

WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN. Ill

liar to that energetic population, have ever main*
tained the highest character for thrift, undeniable
courage, and inflexible probity* These are qualities
which never fail to create respect, and which, by
some unfortunate construction of the human mind,
as rarely excite envy as emulation.

The name of the town, itself, is far from being
happy. The place stands on a long narrow island,
called Manhattan, a native appellation which should
have been perpetuated through that of the city.
There was a precedent for innovation which might
have been followed to advantage. It is a little sur*
prising that these republicans, who are not guiltless
of sundry absurd changes in their nomenclature of
streets, squares, counties, and towns, should have ne
glected the opportunity of the Revolution, not only
to deprive the royal family of England of the honour
of giving a name to both their principal State and
principal town, but to restore a word so sonorous,
and which admits of so many happy variations as the
appellation of this island. A " Manhattanese" has cer
tainly a more poetical sound than a "New-Yorker;11
and there is an euphony in the phrase of " Men of
Manhattan" that the lovers of alliteration may long sigh
in vain to hear equalled by any transposition of the
present unmusical and complex term. Nor would the
adoption of a new name be attended with half of the
evils in the case of a city or a county, as in that of a
street or a market, since the very notoriety and im
portance of the alteration would serve to apprise all
men of the circumstance. But a century and a half
have confirmed the present title; and while the city
of the white rose has been mouldering in provincial
quiet, her western god-child has been growing into
an importance that is likely to carry the name to
that distant period when the struggles of the adverse
factions shall be lost in the obscurity of time, or be
matter of vague and remote history.

12 THE BAYS AROUND NEW-YORK.

A nation as commercial and active as this, haa
only fairly to elect the position of its favourite mart
to put it on a level with the chief places of the earth.
London and Paris, Vienna, Rome, Carthage, and,
for any thing we know, Pekin and Nankin, can refer
the causes of their greatness to little beside accident
or caprice. The same might he said of hundreds
more of the principal places of antiquity, or of our
own times. But it is only necessary to sit down
with a minute map of the country before you, to
perceive, at a glance, that Nature herself has intend
ed the island of Manhattan for the site of one of the
greatest commercial towns in the world. The spirit
of its possessors is not likely to balk this intention ,
and it may be truly said, that the agents, both phys
ical and moral, are in the happiest possible unison
to accomplish the mighty plan. Although all de
scription must fail to give a clear idea of the advan
tages of such a position, yet, as your imagination
may be somewhat aided by one as imperfect as that
must necessarily be which comes from my pen, it
shall be attempted after my own desultory and irreg
ular manner.

You must have obtained, through my letters, some
general impression concerning the two great bays
which lie between New- York and the ocean. The
former, you will recollect, is known by the name of
"Raritan," and the latter forms what is properly
called the "Harbour.1" Raritan Bay is an extensive
roadstead, abounding with situations where vessels
may be partially protected from every wind that
blows. It is, in fact, only open to the sea on the
east ; but, by the aid of the low sandy cape I have
mentioned, shelter can be had in it against the hea
viest gales from that quarter, as it may also be found
in some one of its many anchoring grounds, against
the wind from every other point of the compass.
The harbour is still more secure ; a vessel being en-

HARBOUR, ANCHORAGE, ETC. 113

tireiy land-locked, when anchored a mile or two
within the Narrows. Here then are space and
security united to an extraordinary degree ; for, with
the exception of a few well-defined reefs, there is
scarcely a rock in the whole port to endanger a ship,
or even to injure a cable. But the true basins for the
loading and unloading of freights, and for the repairs
and construction of vessels, are in the Hudson river,
and in that narrow arm of the sea which connects
the waters of the bay with those of the sound. The
latter is most occupied at present by the ships en
gaged in foreign commerce. This strait is near half-
a-mile in width, has abundance of water for any
thing that floats, and possesses a moderately swift,
and a sufficiently accurate current. From the point
of its junction with the bay, to an island, which, by
narrowing its boundaries, increases the velocity of
its tides too much for the convenience of handling
ships at wharfs, the distance cannot be a great deal
less than five miles. The wharfs on Manhattan Island
already extend more than three of these miles. On
the opposite shore (Long Island) there is also a long
range of quays. In the Hudson, it is impossible to
fix limits to the facilities for commerce. As the river
is a mile in width, and possesses great depth, it is
plain that docks or wharfs may be extended as far
as the necessities of the place shall ever require.
The river is navigable for a heavy draught of water
about a hundred miles, and for sloops and lighter
craft some fifty or sixty more.

The time has .not yet come for the formation of
massive, permanent quays in the harbour of New-
York. Wood is still too cheap, and labour too dear,
for so heavy an investment of capital. All the wharfs
of New-York are of very simple construction. A
frame-work of hewn logs is filled with loose stone,
and covered with a surface of trodden earth. This
species of quay, if durability be put out of the ques«
L2

114 YELLOW FEVER BUT LITTLE DREADED.

tion, is perhaps the best in the world. The theory
that wood subject to the action of tides in salt water
may become the origin of disease, is, like a thou
sand other theories, much easier advanced than
supported. It is very true that the yellow fever has
often existed in the immediate vicinity of some of
these wharfs ; but it is quite as true that there are
miles of similarly constructed quays, in precisely the
same climate, where it has never existed at all. The
Americans appear to trouble themselves very little
on this point, for they are daily constructing great
ranges of these wooden piers, in order to meet the
increasing demands of their trade, while the whole
of the seven miles of water which fronts the city, is
lined with similar constructions, if we except the
public mall, called " the Battery,1' which is protected
from the waves of the bay by a wall of stone.

The yellow fever is certainly the only drawback
on the otherwise unrivalled commercial position of
New-York ; but the hazard of this disease is greatly
magnified in Europe. The inhabitants of the place
appear to have but little dread on the subject, and
past experience would seem, in a great measure, to
justify their indifference. So far as I can learn, there
never have been but three or four summers when that
fatal malady has committed any very serious ravages
in this latitude. These seasons occurred at the close
of the last, and at the commencement of the present
century. Since the year 1804, there have been but
two autumns when the yellow fever has existed to
any dangerous degree in New- York, and neither of
them proved very fatal, though it is certain that the
arrangements of the city were excessively inconve
nienced by its appearance. I believe it is admitted
by scientific men, that this dangerous malady, though
it is always characterized by certain infallible symp
toms, often exhibits itself under forms so very much
modified as to render different treatments necessary

FEVER OF 1819 AND 1322. 115

.in different seasons. The fevers of 1819 and of 1 822
in New- York, were accompanied by circumstances
so singular as to deserve a particular place in this
letter.

The wharfs of New- York form a succession of little
basins, which are sometimes large enough to admit
thirty or forty sail, though often much smaller. These
irregular docks have obtained the name of " slips.'
One of the former was shown me that was particu
larly foul and offensive. Around this slip, at the close
of the hot weather in 1819, the yellow fever made its
appearance. A few individuals became its victims be
fore the existence of the danger was fully established.
The city authorities took prompt and happy meas
ures for its suppression. The question of contagion
or of non-contagion had long been hotly contested
among the medical men, and a sort of middle course,
between the precautions inculcated by the two
theories, had begun to be practised. So soon as it
was found how far the disease extended, (and its
limits were inconceivably small,) the inhabitants were
all removed, and the streets were fenced, in order
to prevent access to what was proclaimed by au
thority to be " the infected district/' The sick were
conveyed into other quarters of the town, or to the
country, some dying and others recovering. When
the removal was made in time, or when the disease
did not make its appearance until after the patient
had experienced the benefit of pure air, the malady
was generally more mild, though still often fatal. No
one took the disease by contagion, it being affirmed
that every case that occurred could be distinctly
traced to " the infected district." The taint, cor
ruption, or animalculae in the air, whichever the
cause of the malady might be, gradually spread, until
it was found necessary to extend the limits of " the
infected district " in every direction. I am told that
thousands remained in their dwellings, within mus-

116 INSTANCE OF CONTRACTING THE DISEASE.

ket-shot of this spot dedicated to death, perfectly
satisfied that the enemy could make no inroads on
their security without giving notice of his approach
through some of those who dwelt nearest to the pro
scribed region. As the latter, however, acted as a
sort of forlorn hope, a very respectable space was
left around the fences, and, in one or two instances,
especially in 1822, the disease, for want of nearer
subjects, surprised a few who believed themselves
sufficiently removed from its ravages. In neither
year, however, did a case occur that could not be
distinctly traced to " the infected district,1' or to a
space that does not exceed one thirtieth part of the
surface of the whole city. The progress of the dis
ease was exceedingly slow, extending in a circle
around the point whence it appeared to emanate. I
heard several curious and well authenticated cir
cumstances, that serve to confirm these facts, one of
which I will relate.

A lady of fortune had retired to the country on the
first appearance of the fever. The house she left,
stood a few hundred feet beyond the limits of the
" infected district." Her son had occasion to visit
this dwelling, which he did without scruple, since
the guardians of the city were thought to be on the
alert, and hundreds were still residing between the
house and the known limits of the disease. On the
return of the young gentleman to the country he was
seized with the fever, but happily recovered. The
fortune and connexions of the youth gave notoriety
to his case, and the fences were removed under the
impression that the danger was spreading. After his

recovery, however, Mr. acknowledged that, led

by his curiosity, he had gone to the fence the day he
was in town, where he stood for some time contem
plating the solitude of the deserted streets. M.y in
formant, who could be a little waggish even on this
grave subject, added, that some pretended that the

THEORIES CONCERNING THE FEVER. 117

curiosity of the young gentleman was so strong as to
induce him to thrust his head through an opening in
the fence. He, however, gave credit to the story in
its substance.

The malady rarely appears before the last of
August, and has invariably disappeared with the first
frosts, which are commonly felt here in October.
The fever of 1 822 caused much less alarm than that
of 1819, though the infected district was far more
extensive, and occupied a part of the city that was
supposed to be more healthy. But experience had
shown that the disorder has its limits, and that its
march is slow and easily avoided. The merchants
estimate the danger of the fever in this climate at a
very low rate ; and, perhaps, like the plague, or those
fatal diseases which have ravaged London, and other
towns in the centre of Europe, it will soon cease to
create uneasiness at all.

I have endeavoured to glean all the interesting
facts in my power concerning this disease, from men
of intelligence, who have not, like the physicians,
enlisted themselves in favour of one or the other of
the conflicting theories of contagion or non-contagion,
importation or non-importation. It appears to be
admitted all round, that the disorder cannot be con
tracted in a pure atmosphere. If the circumstances
I have heard be true, and from the authority I can
not doubt their being so, it seems also to be a nearly
inevitable conclusion, that the disease is never gen
erated in this climate. This, however, is a knotty
point, and one that covers much of the grounds of
disagreement. That a certain degree and concen
tration of heat is necessary for the appearance of the
yellow fever, is a fact very generally admitted. There
is a common opinion that it has never been known
in New-York, except in summers \vhen the ther
mometer has stood something above 80 for a given
number of days in succession. And yet the tempera

113 FACTS CONCERNING THE DISEASE. THEORIES.

ture is often as high-, and for similar periods, without
the appearance of the fever. The seeds of the dis
ease are undoubtedly imported,, whether it is ever
generated here or not ; for it has often happened that
labourers who have been employed in vessels from
the West Indies, after the crews had left them, have
sickened and died* These cases must have arisen
from a contaminated air, and not from strict conta
gion. Indeed there is scarce a summer in which
some case of the fever does not occur at the Laz
aretto, through vessels from the West Indies, or the
more southern points of the United States. That
the disorder does not extend itself is imputed to the
pureness of the atmosphere at the time being. In a
question in which important facts are liable to so
much qualification, it is necessary, however, to admit
their inferences with great caution. So much must
depend, for instance, on the particular state of the
system of the individual, that each case seems to re
quire a close examination before any very conclusive
reasoning can be grounded on its circumstances.
One of the theories of the disorder, as you probably
know, assumes that it is no more than a high bilious
fever exhibited under a peculiarly malignant form.
All this may be very true, and yet the agent to pro
duce that malignity, may exist in the atmosphere in
such a condition as to render it capable of transport
ation, and if I may so express it, of expansion. There
is a vulgar opinion that certain vicious animalcule
are generated in the warmer climates, and when con
veyed to this latitude, if they meet with a genial
temperature, they thrive and propagate their species
like other people, until growing bold with their num
bers they wander abroad, are inhaled, and continue
to poison the springs of human existence., until a day
of retribution arrives in the destroying influence ot
a sharp frost. It is certain that the inhabitants 01
New- York, who would have considered their lives

CHARACTER OF NEW-YORK TOR HEALTH. 119

in jeopardy by entering their dwellings one day, tako
peaceable possession of them the morning after a
wholesome frost, with entire impunity. I have no
doubt that much of the embarrassment under which
this subject labours, is produced by the near resem
blance between the fever which is certainly imported,
and that which sometimes originates in the climate ;
though the latter, perhaps, is limited to those cases
in which the patient has a strong predisposition to
the malady. After all, the most exaggerated notions
prevail in Europe concerning the danger of the dis
ease in this latitude. Nine-tenths of the space cov
ered by this city never had an original case of yellow
fever m it, and its appearance at all is of rare occur
rence. Indeed, I am led to believe that New- York,
owing to its fine situation, is on the whole more
healthy than most large towns. It has also been
told to me, that the deaths by consumption, as re
ported, are probably greatly magnified beyond the
truth, since the family physician or friend of one who
has died, for instance, by excessive use of ardent
liquors, would not be apt to tell the disreputable
truth, especially as it is not exacted under the obli
gations of an oath. Though I have as yet seen no
reason to believe that intemperance, particularly
among the native Americans, abounds here more than
in other countries, yet I can readily believe it is very
fatal in its consequences in a latitude where the tem
perature is so high in summer. There are certainly
disorders that are more or less incidental to the cli
mate, but there are many others of a pernicious char
acter, that are either relatively innocent, or utterly
unknown. When it is remembered that, compared
with the amount of the whole population, a far greater
number than usual of the inhabitants of this city are
of that reckless and adventurous class that regard
indulgence more than life, and how easy it is to pro
cure indulgence here, I think it will be found by the

120 NEW-YORK A CLEAN TOWN.

official reports, that the city of New-York may claim
a high place among the most salubrious ports of the
world. This impression will be increased, when one
recalls how little has as yet been done towards ob
taining wholesome water, or to carry off the impuri
ties of the place by means of drains. Still, as it is,
New- York is far from being a dirty town. It lias
certainly degenerated from that wholesome and un
tiring cleanliness which it may be supposed to have
inherited from its first possessors. The houses are
no longer scrubbed externally, nor is it required to
leave one's slippers at its gates, lest the dust of the
roads should sully the brightness of glazed tiles and
glaring bricks. But Paris is foul indeed, and London,
in its more crowded parts, far from being cleanly,
compared to New- York. And yet the commercial
emporium of this nation bears no goodly reputation
in this particular, among the Americans themselves.
Her sister cities are said to be far more lovely, arid
the filth of the town* is a subject of daily moanings in
its own journals.

But admitting the evil in its fullest extent, it is but
a trifling blot on the otherwise high pretensions of
the place. Time, and a better regulated police, will
serve to remedy much greater evils than this. In
order to view the city in its proper light, it must be
considered in connexion with those circumstances
which are fast giving to it the character of the great
mart of the western hemisphere.

By referring to the description already given, you
will find that New- York possesses the advantages of
a capacious and excellent roadstead, a vast harbour,
an unusually extensive natural basin, with two out
lets to the sea, and a river that, in itself, might con
tain all the shipping of the earth. By means of the
Squn4, and its tributary waters, it has the closest
connexion with the adjoining State of Connecticut ;
and, through the ajacent bays, small vessels penetrate

SURROUNDING COMMUNICATION BY WATER. 121

in almost every direction into that of New-Jersey.
These are the channels by which the town receives
its ordinary daily supplies. Cadwallader pointed
out on the map seven considerable navigable rivers,
exclusive of the noble Hudson, and a vast number
of inlets, creeks, and bays, all of which were within
a hundred miles of this place, and with which daily
and hourly intercourse is held by means of sloops,
or steam-boats. Still these are no more than the
minor and more familiar advantages of New- York,
which, however they may contribute to her con
venience, become insignificant when compared U,
the more important sources of her prosperity. It is
true that in these little conveniences, Nature has
done the work that man would probably have to
perform a century hence, and thereby is the growth
of the town greatly facilitated, but the true springs
of its future grandeur must be described on a far
more magnificent scale.

New-York stands central between the commerce
of the north and that of the south. It is the first
practicable port, at all seasons of the year, after you
quit the mouth of the Chesapeake, going northward.
It lies in the angle formed by the coast, and where
the courses to Europe, to the West Indies, or to the
Southern Atlantic, can be made direct. The ship
from Virginia, or Louisiana, commonly passes within
a day's sail of New- York, on its way to Europe, and
the coaster from Boston frequently stops at the
wharfs of this city to deposit part of its freight before
proceeding further south.

Now, one so conversant with the world as yourself,
need not be reminded that in every great commercial
community there is a tendency to create a common
mart, where exchanges can be regulated, loans effect
ed, cargoes vended in gross, and all other things con
nected with trade, transacted on a scale commen-

VOL. I. M

122 INCREASE, AND CONSEQUENCE OF SUCCESS.

surate to the magnitude of the interests involved in
its pursuits. The natural advantages of New-York
had indicated this port to the Americans for that
spot, immediately after the restoration of the peace
in 1783. Previously to that period, the whole pro
ceedings of the colonies were more or less influenced
by the policy of the mother country. But for a long
time after the independence of the States was ac
knowledged, the possessors of the island of Manhat
tan had to contend for supremacy against a powerful
rivalry. Philadelphia, distant less than a hundred
miles, was riot only more wealthy and more populous
but for many years it enjoyed the tclat and advantage
of being the capital of the Union. Boston and Balti
more are both seaports of extensive connexions, and
of great and enlightened enterprise. Against this
serious competition, however, New-York struggled
with success $ gradually obtaining the superiority in
tonnage and inhabitants, until within a few years,
when opposition silently ..yielded to the force of cir
cumstances, and those towns which had so long been
rivals became auxiliaries to her aggrandizement. All
this is perfectly in the natural course of things, though
I find that a lingering of the ancient jealousy still
tempts many of the merchants of the other towns to
ascribe the ascendancy of New- York to any cause
but the right one. Among other things, the establish
ment of those numerous lines of packets, to which I
have alluded in a previous letter, is thought to have
had an influence on her progress. It appears to me
that this is mistaking the effect for the cause. If I
am rightly informed, the merchant of Boston already
sends his ship here for freight ; frequently sells his
cargo under the hammer of the New- York auctioneer
to his own neighbour, and buys a new one to send to
to some distant part of the world, without seeing,
from the commencement of the year to its close, the

CHARACTER OF POPULATION— GROWTH. 123

vessel which is the instrument of transporting his
wealth to the various quarters of the world. Phila-
delphians have been pointed out to me who are said
to be employed in pursuits of the same nature. The
whole mystery of these transactions rests on a prin
ciple that is within the compass of any man^s under
standing. Though articles can be and are sometimes
vended by itinerants in its streets, the material wants
of every great town are supplied in the common
market-place. It is easier to find a purchaser where
much than where little is sold, and it is precisely for
the reason that prices take a wider range in an ex
tensive than in a limited market, that men congre
gate there to feed their wants or to glut their avarice.
That New-York must, in the absence of any coun
teracting moral causes, at some day have become
this chosen mart of American commerce, is suffi
ciently evident by its natural advantages ; and that
the hour of this supremacy has arrived is, I think,
apparent by the facts which I have mentioned, sup
ported as they are by the strong corroborat;ng cir
cumstance, that hundreds are now daily quitting the
other towns to resort to this.

The consequences of its rapid growth, and the
extraordinary medley of which its population is
composed, serve to give something of a peculiar
character to New- York. Cadwallader tells me that,
with perhaps the exception of New-Orleans, it is the
only city in the Union that has not the air of a pro
vincial town. For my own part, I have found in it
such a melange of customs, nations, society, and
manners, all tempered, without being destroyed, by
the institutions and opinions of the country, tnat I
despair of conveying a correct idea of either by de
scription. We shall have more definite data in speak
ing of its unprecedented growth.

In 1756, the city of New- York contained 13,000
souls; in 1790,33,000; in 1800,60,000; in 1810,

124 INCREASE REASONS FOR A VARIATION.

96,000; in 1820, 123,000; and, in 1825, 166,000**
The latter enumeration is exclusive of Brooklyn, a
flourishing village which has arisen within the last
half dozen years from next to nothing ; which,
from its position and connexion with the city, is in
truth no more than a suburb differently governed ;
and which in itself contains about 10,000 souls.

By the foregoing statement, you will see that,
while the growth of New- York has been i ather reg
ular than otherwise, its population has doubled with
in the last thirty -five years nearly at the rate of once
in fifteen years. Between 1790 and 1800, the com
parative increase was the greatest. This was prob
ably owing to the fact that it was the moment when
the peculiar situation of the world gave an extraor
dinary impulse to the American commerce. Between
1800 and 1820, were felt the effects of a highly
thriving trade, the re-action of embargoes, non-inter
course and war, and the relative stagnation attendant
on the return of business to its more natural chan
nels. The extraordinary increase in the last five
years, during a period of ordinary commerce, is, I
think, to be imputed to the accessions obtained by
the silent acquiescence of her rivals in the future
supremacy of this town as the great mart of the na
tion. To what height, or how long this latter cause
may serve to push the accumulation of New-York
beyond what would be its natural growth, exceeds
my ability to estimate. Though it may receive
checks from the variety of causes which affect all
prosperity, it will probably be some years before the
influence of this revolution in opinion shall entirely
cease ; after which period, the gro\vth of the city
must be more regular, though always in proportion
to the infant vigour of the whole country.

* It is supposed to contain about 200,000 at the present moment.

ESTIMATE OF FUTURE SIZE. 125

It is a curious 'calculation, and one in which the
Americans very naturally love to indulge, to estimate
the importance of this place at no very distant day.
If the rate of increase for the last thirty-five years
(or the whole period when the present institutions
of the country have had an influence on its advance
ment) is to be taken as a guide for the future, the
city of New- York will contain about 900,000 souls
in the year 1860. Prodigious as this estimate may
at first seem, it can be supported by arguments of a
weight and truth of which you are most probably
ignorant. Notwithstanding the buoyant character of
this nation's prosperity, and the well-known fact that
the growth of towns is by no means subject to the
same general laws as that of countries, were it not
for one circumstance, I should scarcely presume to
hazard a calculation which wears the air of extrava
gance by its very amount, since, by merely adding
another fifteen years, you have the largest town in
Christendom as the reward of your addition. But,
in point of fact, in order to keep pace with the pro
gress of things in this extraordinary country, some
thing like that which elsewhere might be termed ex
travagance of anticipation becomes absolutely neces
sary. Although the ideas of my companion are
reasonably regulated by an extensive acquaintance
with the eastern hemisphere, I confess I have been
startled with the entire gravity with which he some
times speaks of the power of the United States ;
not as an event to affect the fortunes of future ages,
but as a thing that would be operative in the time ol
our own children, dear Baron, had not our egotistical
habits left us without the hope of living in those
who come after us. But when he paused this morn
ing in our promenade through the Broadway, a noble
street that runs for two miles through the heart of
the place, and pointed out the limits of the city, as
he himself had known them in his boyhood, and then
M2

126 IMMENSE INTERIOR TRADE.

desired me to look along the fine vista in front, which
[ knew was supported by vast masses of buildings
on each of its sides, I felt the force of the reasons
he had for entertaining opinions, that to me had just
before seemed visionary.

The circumstance to which this town is to be in
debted for most of its future greatness, is the im
mense and unprecedented range of interior which,
by a bold and noble effort of policy, has recently
been made tributary to its interests. By examining
the map of the United States, you can easily make
yourself master of all the facts necessary to a perfect
understanding of what I mean. The river Hudson
runs northward from New- York for the distance of
about two hundred miles. It is navigable for large
sloops to Waterford, a place that is situated near the
junction of the Mohawk with the former river, and
at a distance a little exceeding one hundred and fifty
miles from this city. Sixty miles further north brings
one to the head of Lake Champlain, which separates
Vermont from New-York, and communicates with
the St. Lawrence by means of a navigable outlet.
By following the route of the Mohawk westward,
you pass directly through the heart of this flourishing
state, until you reach a place called Rome, whence
the country to Lake Erie was found to be perfectly
practicable for water communication. Once in Lake
Erie, it is possible to extend a domestic trade, by
means of those little inland, fresh-water seas, through
a fertile and rapidly growing country, for a distance
of near or quite fifteen hundred miles further. As
if this were not enough, Nature has placed the head
waters of the Mississippi so near the navigable tribu
taries of the lakes Michigan, Superior, and Erie, that
there is nothing visionary in predicting that artificial
communication will soon bring them into absolute
contact.

MR. CLINTON GREAT CANALS. 127

It is a matter of dispute with whom the bold idea
of connecting the waters of the lakes with those of
the Hudson originated. The fact will probably never
be known, since the thoughts of one may have been
quickened by those of another, the speculations of
each successor enlarging on those of him who went
before, until the plaint of some Indian that nature had
denied a passage to his canoe from the Mohawk into
a stream of the lesser lakes, has probably given birth
to them all. But there can be no question as to the
individual, who, in a government so particularly cau
tious of its expenditures, has dared to stake his po
litical fortunes on the success of the hazardous under
taking. Mr. Clinton, the present Governor of this
State, is the only highly responsible political man who
can justly lay claim to be the parent of the project.
For many years, I am told, he was persecuted as a
visionary projector, and it was clear that his down
fall was to be the penalty of failure; though now that
success is certain, or rather realized, there are hun
dreds ready to depreciate his merits, and not a few
willing to share in all his honours. But these are no
more than the detractions which are known every
where to sully the brightness of a new reputation.
Time will remove them all, since posterity never
fails to restore with interest that portion of fame
which is temporarily abstracted by the envy or the
hostility of contemporaries.

The plan has been to reject the use of all the
rivers, except as feeders, and to make two canals,
one from the Lake Champlain, and the other from
the Lake Erie, which were to meet at the junction
of the Mohawk and the Hudson, whence they are to
proceed to Albany, and issue into the latter river.
The former of these canals is about sixty miles in
length, and the other three hundred and fifty. The

123 A CASE.

work was commenced in the year 1817, and is already
nearly completed.*

Really, reflection on this subject is likely to de
range the ideas of the gravest man. Imagine, for
instance, that Africa were a populous and civilized
region; that Spain were peopled by an active and
enlightened population ; that their habits were highly
commercial ; and then assume that Gibraltar was not
only one of the most noble, convenient and safe ha
vens of the world, but that, from its central position,
it had secured an ascendancy in European trade
Remove all serious rivals which chance or industry
had raised in the other parts of Europe, to the pros
perity of this unrivalled mart, placing it already fore
most among the cities of our hemisphere. Then,
suppose the Mediterranean, with all its tributaries, a
narrow, convenient river, having direct communica
tion with vast lakes, whose banks were peopled by
men of similar educations and opinions, wants and
wishes, governed by the same policy, and subject to
the same general laws, and I commit you to your
own imaginative powers to fancy what the place
would become in the space of a century.

With these views unavoidably before the- eye, it is
difficult to descend to the sober reality of existing
things. I can now easily understand the perspective
of American character. It is absolutely necessary to
destroy thought, to repress it. I fear we owe a good

* 1828. It is now not only finished, but is so eminently suc
cessful, that it has given rise to a multitude of similar works,
one of which, to connect the waters of the Ohio with Lake Erie,
is already far advanced, and will open an inland water commu
nication between New- York and New-Orleans, a distance of
more than 2000 miles. The tolls on the Erie canal amounted
the last year (1827) to 850,000 dollars, leaving a large surplus,
after paying the interest on the money borrowed for its construc
tion, and all charges of repairs, &c. &c.

HOUSES — THEIR MODERN CONSTRUCTION. 129

deal of our exemption from the quality we laugh at,
to the same penetrating faculty of the mind. A
state of things may easily exist, in which it is quite
as pleasant to look back as forward ; but here, though
the brief retrospect be so creditable, it absolutely
sinks into insignificance compared with the mighty
future. These people have clearly only to continue
discreet, to be foremost among the nations of the
earth, and that too, most probably, before the discus
sion as to their future fate shall be forgotten.

While a subject so great is intensely pressing itself
on the mind, as it unavoidably must on that of every
intelligent stranger who has sufficient philanthropy
to regard with steadiness the prosperity of a people
who may so soon be a formidable rival, it is difficult
to descend to those more immaterial and evanescent
customs and appearances that mark the condition of
the present hour. Still they are of importance as
they may influence the future, and are not without
interest by their peculiarities and national charac
teristics.

In construction, New- York embraces every variety
of house, between that of the second-rate English
town-residence, and those temporary wooden tene
ments that are seen in the skirts of most large cities,
I do not think, however, that those absolutely miser
able, filthy abodes which are often seen in Europe,
abound here. The houses of the poor are not indeed
large, like those in which families on the continent are
piled on one another for six or seven stories, but they
are rarely old and tottering ; for the growth of the
place, which, by its insular situation, is confined to
one direction, forces them out of existence before
they Lave had time to decay. 1 have been told, and
I think it probable, that there are not five hundred
buildings in New- York, that can date further back
(ban the peace of '83. A few old Dutch dwellings
yet remain, and can easily be distinguished by their

130 PECULIARITY OF APPEARANCE.

little bricks, their gables to the street, and those stepa
on their battlement walls, which your countrymen are
said to have invented, in order to ascend to regulate
the iron weathercocks at every variation of the fickle
winds.

Although poverty has no permanent abode, yet
New-York has its distinct quarters. I think they are
sufficiently known and understood. Commerce is
gradually taking possession of the whole of the lower
extremity of the island, though the bay, the battery,
and the charming Broadway, still cause many of the
affluent to depart with reluctance. The fashion of
the place is gradually collecting on the highest and
healthiest point of land, where its votaries may be
equally removed from the bustle of the two rivers
(for the strait is strangely enough called a river),
while other portions are devoted to the labouring
classes, manufacturers, and the thousand pursuits of a
seaport.

In outward appearance, New-York, but for two
things, would resemble a part of London that should
include fair proportions of Westminster (without the
great houses and recent improvements), the city, and
Wapping. The points of difference are owing to the
fact that, probably without an exception, the exterior
of all the houses are painted, and that there is scarce
a street in the place which is not more or less lined
with trees. The former fashion, unquestionably de
rived from your countrymen, gives the town a lively
and cheerful air, for which I was a long time puzzled
to account. At first I imputed it to the brightness of
the atmosphere, which differs but little from that of
Italy ; and then I thought it might be owing to the
general animation and life that pervaded all the prin
cipal streets. Cadwallader explained the causes, and
added, that the custom was nearly peculiar (with the
exception of wooden buildings) to the towns in tha
ancient colony of the United Provinces. The com

PUBLIC BUILDINGS CITY HALL. 131

moii practice is to deepen the colour of the bricks by a
red paint, and then to interline them with white ; a
fashion, that scarcely alters their original appearance,
except by imparting a neatness and freshness that are
exceedingly pleasant. But, in many instances, I saw
dwellings of a lively cream colour; and there are also
several varieties of stone that seem to be getting much
in use latterly.

The principal edifice is the City Hall, a building in
which the courts are held, the city authorities assem
ble, and the public offices are kept. This building is
oddly enough composed of two sorts of stone, which
impairs its simplicity, and gives it a patched and party-
coloured appearance. Neither is its facade in good
taste, being too much in detail, a fault the ancients
were not fond of committing. Notwithstanding these
glaring defects, by aid of its material, a clear white
marble, and the admirable atmosphere, it at first
strikes one more agreeably than many a better edifice.
Its rear is of a deep red, dullish freestone, and in a far
better taste. It is not unlike the facade of the Hotel
des Monnaies at Paris ; though not quite, so large,
more wrought, and I think something handsomer.

The moment the rear of the City Hall was seen, I
was struck with an impression of the magnificent
effect which might be produced by the use of its
material in Gothic architecture. It seems to me to be
the precise colour that good taste would select for the
style, and the stone possesses the advantage of being
easily worked, and is far less fragile than the common
building materials of the vicinity of Paris. While the
modern Gothic is much condemned, every body
appears willing to admit that it is the most imposing
style for churches. I can see no reason why that
which every body likes should not be done ; and
nothing is easier than to omit those horrible images
and excrescences which we should not tolerate in
the finest cathedrals of Europe, if they did not fur*

'32 LIBERALITY OF RELIGIOUS SECTS.

nish unequivocal evidences of the humours of the age
in which they were carved.

New-York is rich in churches, if number alone be
considered. I saw more than a dozen in the process
of construction, and there is scarce a street of any
magnitude that does not possess one. There must be
at least a hundred, and there may be many more,
But in a country where the state does not meddle
with religion, one is not to look for much splendour
in its religious edifices. Private munificence cannot
equal the expenditures of a community. Besides, I
am told it is a laudable practice of the rich in this
country, instead of concentrating their efforts to rear
up one magnificent monument of their liberality, to
bestow sufficient to meet the wants of a particular
parish in a style suited to its character, and then to
give, freely, aid to some other congregation of their
faith that may be struggling into existence, perhaps,
in a distant part of the country. Indeed, instances
are said to be frequent, in which affluent men con
tribute cheerfully and liberally to assist in the erec
tion of churches of a persuasion different from their
own. You are to recollect that a territory large as a
third of Europe, has to be furnished with places of
worship by a population which does not exceed that
of Prussia, and that too by voluntary contributions.
In estimating what has been done in America in all
things, it is absolutely necessary to do justice, and for
a right understanding of the case, to remember the
time, the means, and the amount that was to be execut
ed. An honest consideration of these material points
can alone show the true character of the country
For my own part, when I reflect on the extended
division of the inhabitants, arid on the absolute neces
sity of so much of their efforts being expended in
meeting the first wants of civilized life, I arn astonish
ed to find how much they have done to embellish and
irrprove it Under this view of the subject, though

CHURCHES TASTE RELIGION", 133

certainly under no other, even their works of art be
come highly respectable. There is not much preten
sion to good taste in a great majority of their public
edifices, nor is there much more ground to claim it
in any other country, so far as modern architecture is
concerned. Most of the churches in New- York are
of brick, and constructed, internally, with direct re
ference to the comfort of the congregations, who, as
you know, in most Protestant countries, remain when
they once enter the temple. There are, however,
some churches in this city that would make a credit
able appearance any where among similar modern
constructions ; but it is in the number, rather than
in the elegance of these buildings, that the Americans
have reason to pride themselves.

Whatever you may have heard concerning neglect
of religion on this side of the water, so far as the
portion of the country I have seen is concerned, dis
believe. It is the language of malice and not of truth.
So far as the human eye can judge, there is at least as
much respect paid to religion in the northern and
middle States, as in any part of the world I have ever
visited. Were the religion of Europe to be stripped
of its externals, and to lose that deference which the
influence of the state and of the clergy produces,
among a poor who are so dependant ; in short, were
man left to himself, or subject only to the impulses
of public opinion, and the influence of voluntary in
struction, as here, I am persuaded it would be found
that there is vastly more. There is much cant, and
much abuse of cant, in America, just as elsewhese ;
but I have been in numberless churches here-, watched
the people in their ingress and egress; have examined
the crowd of men no less than of women, that followed
the summons of the parish bell ; and, in fine, have
studied all their habits on those points which the con
science maybe supposed to influence, and, taking town
and country together, I should not know where to turn

VOL. I. N

134 APPARENT ATTENTION TO RELIGION.

to find a population more uniform in their devotions,
more guarded in their discourse, or more consistent
in all their practices. No stronger proof can be given
of the tone of the country in respect to religion than
the fact, that men who wish to stand well in popular
favour are compelled to feign it at least ; publis
opinion producing, in this way, a far more manifest
effect here than does state policy in our hemisphere,
These remarks are of course only made in reference
to what I have yet seen, but they may serve as a
standard to compare by, when we shall come to
speak of the other portions of the republic.

My paper is exhausted, and I shall refer you to
the colonel, whom I know you are to meet at Pa
lermo, for a continuation of the subject on some of
those branches in which his nicer tact may find
peculiar sources of interest. — Adieu.

TO THE COUNT JULES DE BETHIZY,

COLONEL EN RETRAITE OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD.

New-York,

A MAN who has revelled so often on the delicacies
of Very and Robert ; \vho has so long flourished with
eclat in the saloons of the modern queen of cities ;
who has sickened his taste under the arches of the
Coliseum, or on the heights of the Acropolis, and who
must have often cast a glance at that jewel of archi
tecture, the Bourse of Paris, as he has hurried into
its din to learn the fate of his last investment in the
three per cents of M. de Villele, may possibly turn
with disdain from a description of the inartificial
beauties of nature, a republican drawing-room, or a

POPULATION OF NEW-YORK, 135

mall in a commercial town of North America. But
you will remember how often I have passed the bridge
of Lodi in your company, (methinks I hear the whiz
zing of the bullets now !) how patiently I have listen
ed to your sonnets on the mien and mind of Sophie,
and how meekly I have seen you discussing the frag
ments of a pate, de foie gras, without so much as
begrudging you a mouthful of the unctuous morsel,
though it were even the last. Presuming on this
often tried, and seemingly inexhaustible patience, I
shall proceed to trespass on your more elevated pur
suits in the shape of one of my desultory accounts of
the manners and mode of life of the grave burghers
of New-York.

I may say openly to you, what consideration for
the national pride of Kemperfelt may have suppressed
in my letters to him, that very little of its former
usages can now be traced in the ancient capital of
the New-Netherlands. One hears certain sonorous
names in the streets to remind him of the original
colony, it is true, but with these rare memorials of
the fact, and a few angular, sidelong edifices, that
resemble broken fragments of prismatic ice, there is
ao other passing evidence of its former existence. I
have elsewhere said that the city of New- York is
composed of inhabitants from all the countries of
Christendom. Beyond a doubt, a very large major
ity, perhaps nine-tenths, are natives of the United
States ; but it is not probable that one-third who live
here first saw the light on the island of Manhattan.
It is computed that one in three are either natives
of New-England, or are descendants of those who
have emigrated from that portion of the country.
To these must be added the successors of the Dutch,
the English, the French, the Scotch and the Irish,
and not a few who came in their proper persons from
the countries occupied by these several nations. In
the midst of such a melange of customs and people;

138 INFLUENCE OF THE YANKEES— MARKETS,

it is exceedingly difficult to extract any thing like a
definite general character. Perhaps there is none
that can be given, without great allowance, to this
community* Though somewhat softened, a good
deal of that which is distinctive between the puritans
and their brethren of the other States, is said to con
tinue to exist for a long period after their emigration.
As the former generally go to those points where
they are tempted by interest, in great numbers, it is
probable that they communicate quite as much, or,
considering their active habits, perhaps more, of
character, than they receive. With these warnings,
to take all I say with due allowance, I shall proceed
to my task.

To commence ab origine^ I shall speak of the pro
ducts of nature, which, if endowed with suitable ca
pabilities, rarely fail of favour in your eyes, I know
no spot of the habitable world to which the culinary
sceptre is so likely to be transferred, when the art
shall begin to decline in your own renowned capital,
as this city. It is difficult to name fish, fowl, or beast
that is not, either in its proper person, or in some
species nearly allied to it, to be obtained in the mar»
kets of New- York. The exceptions that do certainly
occur, are more than balanced by che animals that
are peculiar to the country. Of fish alone, a gentle
man here, of a spirit not uncongenial to your own,
has named between seventy and eighty varieties, all
of which are edible ; most of which are excellent ;
and some of which it would be the pride of my heart
to see placed within the control of your scientific
skill. Of fowls there is a rare and admirable collec
tion ! I have had a list nearly, or quite as long as the
catalogue of fishes placed before me, and it would do
your digestive powers good to hear some of the semi*
barbarous epicures of this provincial town expatiate
on the merits of grouse, canvas-backs, brants, plover,
wild turkeys, and all the et cceteras of the collection.

FOWL, GAME, FRUITS, ETC. 137

In respect to the more vulgar products of regular
agriculture I shall say nothing. They are to be found
here, as elsewhere, with the exception, that, as a
great deal is still left to nature, perfection and variety
in vegetables is not as much attended to as in the vi
cinity of older and larger places. But of the game I
may speak with confidence ; for, little as I have yet
seen of it, at this particular season, one mouthful is
sufficient to prove that there is a difference between
a partridge and a hen, greater than what is demon
strated by the simple fact that one sleeps on a roost,
and the other in a tree. That delicious, wild, and
peculiar flavour, that we learned to prize on the
frontiers of Poland, and in the woods of Norway, ex
ists in every thing that ranges the American forest.
They tell me that so very dependent is the animal on
the food it eats for its flavour, that the canvas-back
of the Hudson, which, in the eyes of M. de Buffon,
would be precisely the same bird as that of the Ches
apeake, is in truth endowed with another nature ; that
is to say, in all those useful purposes for which a
canvas-back was beyond a doubt created. But these
are still matters of faith with me, though the delicacy
of the plover, the black-fish, the sheep's-head, the
woodcock, and numberless other delightful inhabitants
of these regions, disposes me to believe all I hear.

Of the fruits I can speak of rny own knowledge.
The situation of New-York is singularly felicitous in
this respect. In consequence of the great range of
the thermometer, there is scarce a fruit which will
endure the frost that is not found in a state nearly
approaching to perfection. Indeed, either owing to
the freshness of the soil, or the genial influence of the
sun, or to both, there is an extraordinary flavour im
parted to most of the animal and vegetable food which
I have tasted. Cadwallader reasons on the subject
in this manner, assuming, what I believe to be true,
that most of the meats, no less than the fruits, possess
N 2

138 INFLUENCE OF THE SUN ON THE PLANTS.

this peculiar richness and delicacy of taste. He says,
that in Europe the value of land is commonly so great.
that the cattle are obliged to crop all the herbage,
whereas, in America, the animal is usually allowed to
make its choice, and that, too, often amid such a de
licious odour of the white or natural clover of the
country, as might cause even a miserable victim of
the anger of Djezzar Pacha momentarily to forget his
nasal dilapidation. I wish now to be understood as
speaking literally, and not in those terms of exaggera
tion which are perhaps appropriate to the glories of
a well-ordered banquet. I scarce remember any fra
grance equal to that I have scented in the midst of a
field of this clover. My companion tells me he was
first made sensible of this peculiarity in the herbage
of his native country, by remarking how comparatively
devoid of scent was a field of buckwheat, by the side
of which he was once walking in the centre of France.
Now, buckwheat in this climate is a plant that exhales
a delicious odour that is often to be scented at the
distance of a quarter of a mile. In short, so far as
my own observation has extended, the sun imparts a
flavour to every grass, plant, or fruit here, that must
be tasted, and tasted with discrimination, in order to be
appreciated. Yet man has done but little to improve
these inestimable advantages. There is no extraordi
nary show of fruits in the public market-places.
Peaches, cherries, melons, and a few others of the
common sorts, it is true, abound; but the Americans
appear not to be disposed to make much sacrifice of
time, or money, to the cultivation of the rarer sorts.
I cannot close this subject, however, without mak
ing one remark on the nature of a peculiar difference
that I have noticed between the fruits of this country,
and those of your own capital in particular. A
French peach is juicy, and, when you first bring it in
contact with your palate, sweet, but it leaves behind
it a cold, watery, and almost sour taste. It is for this

DELICACY OF MELONS AND PEACHES. 139

reason so often eaten with sugar. An American is
exceedingly apt to laugh if he sees ripe fruit of any
sort eaten with any thing sweet. The peaches here
leave behind a warm, rich, and delicious taste, that
I can only liken in its effects to that which you
call the bouquet of a glass of Romanee. You who,
as a Parisian, say so much for, and think so much of,
your gout, may be disposed to be incredulous when
I tell you these people would positively reject the
best melon that ever appears on your table. There
is a little one to be picked up in the markets here
for a few sous, say twelve at the utmost, that exceeds
any thing, of its kind, that I have ever admitted into
the sanctuary of my mouth. I want terms to describe
it. It is firm, and yet tender; juicy, without a particle
of the cold, watery taste we know, and of an incom
parable flavour and sweetness. Its equal can only
be found in the Crimea, or the adjacent parts of
Turkey, and perhaps of Persia. The Americans
admit that it is the only melon that can appear on the
table of one who understands the difference between
eating and tasting, and to me it seems to have been
especially created for an epicure. In the gardens of
the gentlemen you find not only a greater variety,
but, a few common fruits excepted, a far better
quality than in the markets. I have tasted a great
many old acquaintances, transplanted from the eastern
to the western hemisphere, and I declare I do not
remember one that has not been benefited by the
change, in flavour, though not always in appearance.
It is a standing joke of Cadwallader to say his coun
trymen consult the substance much more than the
shadow, when I venture to qualify my praises by
some remark on externals. I remember, however,
one day he effectually silenced my criticism, by lead
ing me to a peach-tree that grew in the shade of an
adjacent building. The fruit was beautiful, exceed
ingly large, and without a blemish. Culling one of

MO PECULIARITY OF CLIMATE, APPLES, ETC.

the finest, I bit it, and involuntarily rejected what 1
had so incautiously admitted to my mouth. Then
placing a peach which had grown in the open air, in
my hands, my companion pointed significantly to the
sun, and walked on, leaving me to reflect on an ar
gument that was more potent than a thousand words.

And yet I have met, during my short residence in
America, Europeans who have affected to rail at, or
even to deny the existence of her fruits ! I have always
wished, on such occasions, that I could transport the
products of one of the laboured gardens of our hemi
sphere into this, and set them to culling without a
knowledge of the transfer. My life on it, their own
palates would contradict their assertions in the first
five minutes.

Indeed, one has only to remember that the United
States extend from forty-five to twenty-five degrees
of latitude, to see that Nature has placed their do
minions in the very centre of her most favoured re
gions. There is, too, a peculiarity of climate here,
which is unknown to similar parallels of latitude in
Europe. The apple and the peach are found in per
fection, side by side ; and in such a perfection too, as,
believe me, dear colonel, you must seek for the equal
of the one in Italy, and that of the other, I scarcely
know where.

Owing to the facility and constancy of intercourse
with the Southern States, the fruits of the tropics ai-e
found here, not quite as fresh, certainly, as when first
culled from the plant itself, but well flavoured, and
in absolute contact with the products of the temperate
zones. Pine-apples, large, rich, golden, and good,
arc sold from twelve to twenty-five sous ; delicious
oranges are hawked in the streets much cheaper than
a tolerable apple can be bought in the shops of Paris,
and bannanas, yams, water-melons, &c., are as com
mon as need be in the markets. It is this extraor
dinary combination of the effects of different climates,

STYLE OF LIVING— -ENGLISH COMFORT. 141

the union of heat and cold, and of commercial facil
ities, added to the rare bounties of Nature, that incline
me to think the empire of gastronomy will, sooner or
later, be transferred to this spot. At present it must
be confessed that the science is lamentably defective,
and, after all, perhaps, it is in those places where
Nature has been most liberal that man is apt to con
tent himself, without exerting those efforts of his own,
without which no perfect enjoyment in any branch
of human indulgence can exist

Passing from the means of gratification possessed
by these people, we will turn our attention, for a
moment, to the manner in which they are improved.
The style of living of all the Americans, in the
Northern States, is essentially English. As might
be expected in a country where labour is compara
tively high, and the fortunes, though great, still not
often so princely as in the mother country, the upper
classes live in a more simple form, wanting some of
the most refined improvements of high English life,
and yet indulging, under favour of their climate, sit
uation and great commercial freedom, in perhaps a
greater combination of luxury and comfort than any
other people of the world. In respect of comfort
itself, there is scarce any known in England, that is
not to be found here ; the point of difference is in its
frequency. You are, therefore, to deduct rather in
the amount of English comfort, than in its quality
and you are not to descend far below the refinements
at all, since all the substantiate of that comfort which
makes England so remarkable in Europe, are to be
found equally in America. There are points, per
haps, even in the latter, in which the Englishman
(rarely very much disposed to complacency) would
complain in America; and there are, certainly, others,
on which the American (who has a cast of the fam
ily likeness) would boldly vent his spleen in England.
I am of opinion the two nations might benefit a good

142 CONDITION OS1 PEOPLE

deal by a critical examination of each other. Indeed,
I think the American has, and does, daily profit by
his observation, though I scarce know whether his
kinsman is yet disposed to admit that he can learn
by the study of a people so new, so remote, and so
little known, as those of the United States.

After you descend below the middle classes in so
ciety, there is no comparison to be drawn between
the condition of the American and that of the native
of England, or of any other place. I have seen
misery here, it is true, and filth, and squalid, abject
poverty, always in the cities, however; but it is
rare ; that is, rare indeed to what I have been ac
customed to see in Europe. At first, I confess there
was a feeling of disappointment came over me at
seeing it at ail ; but reflection convinced me of the
impossibility of literally bringing all men to a state
in which they might profit by the advantages of their
condition. Cadwallader, also, who has a silent, sig
nificant manner of conveying truths, has undeceived
me more than once when I have been on the very
threshold of an error. I remember that one day,
while I stood contemplating, in the suburbs of this
city, a scene of misery that one might not have ex
pected to witness out of Europe, he advanced to the
door of the dreary hovel I gazed at, and asked the in
habitants how long they had resided in America. The
answer proved that he had not deceived himself as
to the birth-place of its luckless tenants. In this
manner, in more than a dozen instances, he has
proved that his own country has not given birth to
the vice and idleness which here could alone entail
such want. In perhaps as many more instances he
has passed on, shaking his head at my request that he
would examine the causes, admitting frankly that he
saw the subjects were natives. It is astonishing how
accurate his eye is in making this distinction. I do
not know that he has been deceived in a solitary in-

ANECDOTE' NEATNESS. 143

stance. Where misery is so rare, it is a vast deal
to admit, that perhaps half of its objects are the vic
tims of a different system than that under which it is
exhibited.*

There is something exceedingly attractive in the
exhibition of neatness and domestic comfort which
one sees throughout this country. I think the bril
liancy of the climate, the freshness of the paint, and
the exterior ornaments of the houses, contribute to
the charm. There is a species of second-rate, gen
teel houses, that abound in New-York, into which I
have looked when passing, with the utmost pleasure.
They have, as usual, a story that is half sunk m the
earth, receiving light from an area, and two floors
above. The tenants of these buildings are chiefly
merchants, or professional men, in moderate circum
stances, who pay rents of from 300 to 500 dollars a
year. Yon know that no American, who is at all
comfortable in life, will share his dwelling with an
other. Each has his own roof, and his own little
yard. These buildings are finished, and exceedingly
well finished too, to the attics; containing, on the

* Cadwallader related a little anecdote which goes to prove
the danger of hasty conclusions. Shortly after the war, an
English naval captain visited an estate of which he was the
proprietor in the State of New- York. He had occasion to get
his carriage repaired in a village of the interior. My friend
found him railing at the addiction of the Americans to the vice
of intoxication. He had been to three mechanics that morning,
to hasten the work, and two of them were too drunk to execute
his orders. Cadwallader demanded the names of the two de
linquents; both of whom proved to be countrymen of the captain,
while the only native American was a sober individual. The fact
is, the poor of Europe, when they find themselves transplanted
into the abundance of America, are exceedingly apt to abuse the
advantage. The Scotch, the Swiss, the French, and the Ger
mans, are said to be the most prudent, and the Irish and the
English the most indiscreet. With the latter it often happens
that the vice we speak of is the actual cause of their emigration.

144 FURNITURE 051 HOUSES

average, six rooms, besides offices, and servants1
apartments. The furniture of these bouses is often
elegant, and always neat. Mahogany abounds here,
and is commonly used for all the principal articles,
and very frequently for doors, railings of stairs, &c.
&c. Indeed, the whole world contributes to their
luxury. French clocks, English and Brussels car
pets, curtains from Lyons, and the Indies, alabaste.
from France and Italy, marble of their own, and from
Italy, and, in short, every ornament below the rarest
that is known in every other country in Christendom,
and frequently out of it, is put within the reach of
the American of moderate means, by the facilities of
their trade. In that classical taste which has been so
happily communicated to your French artisans, their
own are, without doubt, miserably deficient ; but they
are good imitators, and there is no scarcity of models.
While, in consequence of want of taste or want of
wealth, the Americans possess, in very few instances,
any one of the articles that contribute to the grace?
of life in the same perfection as they are known in
some one other country, they enjoy, by means of their
unfettered trade, a combination of the same species
of luxuries, in a less advanced state, that is found no
where else. They often, nay, almost always, fail in
the particular excellence, but they possess an aggre
gate of approximate perfection that is unrivalled,
perhaps, even in England ; certainly if we descend
below the very highest classes in the latter country.
But there are hundreds, I believe I might almost say
a thousand, houses in New-York of pretensions alto
gether superior to those just named, A particular de
scription of one belonging to a friend of Cadwallader,
by whose favour I was permitted to examine it, may
.serve to give you an idea of the whole of its class.
The proprietor is a gentleman of the first society of
the country, and of what is here called an easy for-

DESCRIPTION OF A PRIVATE RESIDENCE. 145

tune, though hundreds of his neighbours enjoy the
goods of this world in a far greater degree than him*
self.

The dwelling of Mr, — — — is on the Broadway,
one of the principal streets, that runs on the height
of land along the centre of the island, for the distance
of about two miles* It is the fashionable mall of the
city, and certainly, for gaiety, the beauty and grace
of the beings who throng it, and, above all, the glo
rious sun that seems to reign here three days out of
four, it may safely challenge competition with most
if not any of the promenades of the old world. The
house in question occupies, I should think, a front of
about thirty-four feet on the Broadway, and extends
into the rear between sixty and seventy more. There
are no additions, the building ascending from the
ground to its attics in the same proportions. The ex
terior necessarily presents a narrow, ill-arranged fa-
c,ade, that puts architectural beauty a good deal at
defiance. The most that can be done with such a
front is to abstain from inappropriate ornament, and
to aim at such an effect as shall convey a proper idea
of the more substantial comforts, and of the neatness
that predominate within. The building is of bricks,
painted and lined, as already described, and modestly
ornamented, in a very good taste, with caps, sills,
cornices, &c. &c. in the dark red freestone of the
country. The house is of four stories 5 the lower, or
rez de chaussee, being half sunk, as is very usual,
below the surface of the ground, and the three upper
possessing elevations well proportioned to the height
of the edifice. The door is at one of the corners of
the front, and is nearly on a level with the windows of
the first floor, which may commence at the distance
of about a dozen feet above the pavement of the
street. To reach this door, it is necessary to mount
a flight of steep, inconvenient steps, also in freestone,
which compensate, in a slight degree, for the pain of

VOL. I. O

146 NEATNESS, INCONVENIENCES, ETC.

the ascent, (neither of us, colonel, is as young now as
the clay you crossed the bridge of Lodi,) by their ad
mirable neatness, and the perfect order of their iron
rails and glittering brass ornaments. The entrance
is into a little vestibule, which may be some twelve
feet long, by eight in width. This apartment is en
tirely unfurnished, and appears only constructed to
shelter visiters while the servant is approaching to
admit them through the inner door. The general
excellence of the climate, and, perhaps, the customs
of the country, have, as yet, prevented the Americans
from providing a proper place for the reception of the
servants of their guests : they rarely wait, unless
during the short calls, and then it is always in the
street. As visiters are never announced, and as but
one family occupies the same building, there is little
occasion, unless to assist in unrobing, for a servant to
attend his master, or mistress, within the outer door.
From the vestibule the entrance is into a long, nar
row, high, and handsome corridor, at the farther ex
tremity of which are the principal stairs. This cor
ridor, or passage, as it is called here, is carpeted,
lighted with a handsome lamp, has a table, and a few
chairs ; and, in short, is just as unlike a French cor
ridor as any thing of the sort can very well be.
From this passage you enter the rooms on the first
floor ; you ascend to the upper, and descend to the
lower story, and you have egress from and ingress to
the house by its front and rear. The first floor is oc
cupied by two rooms that communicate by double
doors. These apartments are of nearly equal size,
and, subtracting the space occupied by the passage,
and two little china closets, that partially separate
them, they cover the whole area of the house. Each
room is lighted by two windows ; is sufficiently high;
has stuccoed ceiling, and cornices in white ; hanging?
of light, airy, French paper ; curtains in silk and in
muslin; mantel-pieces of carved figures in white

DEFECTS— BAD TASTE. 14?

marble (Italian in manufacture, I should think ;)
Brussels carpets $ large mirrors; chairs, sofas, and
tables, in mahogany; chandeliers ; beautiful, neat, and
highly Wrought grates in the fire-places of home work ;
candelabras, lustres, &c. &c., much as one sees them
all over Europe. In one of the rooms, however, is a
spacious, heavy, ill-looking side-board, in mahogany,
groaning with plate, knife and spoon cases, all hand
some enough, I allow, but sadly out of place where
they are seen. Here is the first great defect that 1
find in the ordering of American domestic economy.
The eating, or dining-room, is almost invariably one
of the best in the house. The custom is certainly of
English origin, and takes it rise in the habit of sitting
an hour or two after the cloth is removed, picking
nuts, drinking wine, chatting, yawning, and gazing
about the apartment. The first great improvement
to be made in the household of these people is to sub
stitute taste for prodigality in their tables ; and the
second, I think, will be to choose an apartment for
their meals, that shall be convenient to the offices,
suited to the habits of the family, plain in its orna
ments, and removed from the ordinary occupations
of those who are to enjoy it. In some houses this is
ajready partially effected ; but, as a rule, I am per
suaded that the American guest, who should find him
self introduced into a salle a manger as plain as that
in wtyich a French duke usually takes his repast,
would not think his host a man who sufficiently un
derstood the fitness of things. I have heard it said,
that the occupant of the White House* gives his din
ners in one of these plain rooms, and that the mean
ness of Congress is much laughed at because they do
not order one better furnished for him. Certes if Con
gress never showed a worse taste than this, they might
safely challenge criticism. As the President, or his

* The President of the United States.

148 EFFECTS OF CLEAR ATMOSPHERE.

wife, directs these matters, I suppose, however, the
great national council is altogether innocent of the
innovation,

You ascend, by means of the stairs at the end of
the passage, into what is here called the second story,
but which, from the equivocal character of the base
ment, it is difficult to name correctly. This ascent is
necessarily narrow, crowded, and inconvenient. The
beautiful railings in mahogany and brass, and the ad
mirable neatness of every part of an American house
of any pretension, would serve to reconcile one to a
thousand defects. As respects this cardinal point, I
think there is little difference between the English
and the Americans, at least, so far as I have yet seen
the latter ; but the glorious sun of this climate illu
mines every thing to such a degree, as to lend a
quality of brightness that is rarely known in Britain,
You know that a diamond will hardly glitter in Lon
don. It must also be remembered that an American
house is kept in this order by the aid of perhaps one
third of the domestics that would be employed in the
mother country.

On the second floor (or perhaps you will get a
better idea if I call it the first) of the house of Mr.
— — - , there is a spacious saloon, which occupies tlje
whole width of the building, and possesses a corres
ponding breadth. This apartment, being exclusively
that of the mistress of the mansion, is furnished with
rather more delicacy than those below. The cur
tains are in blue India damask, the chairs and &ofa
of the same coloured silk, and other things are made
to correspond. The library of the husband is on the
same floor, and between the two there is a room used
as a bed-chamber. The third story is appropriated
to the sleeping-rooms of the family ; the attic to the
same purpose for the servants, and the basement
contains a nursery and the usual offices. The whole
building is finished with great neatness, and with a

MANNER OF WORKMANSHIP, ETC. 149

solidity and accuracy of workmanship that it is rare
to meet in Europe, out of England. The doors of the
better rooms are of massive mahogany, and wherever
wood is employed, it is used with great taste and
skill, All the mantel-pieces are marble, all the floors
are carpeted, and all the walls are finished in a firm,
smooth cement.

I have been thus minute in my account, because

in describing the house of Mr. , I am persuaded

that 1 convey a general idea of those of all of the
upper classes in the northern section of this country.
There are, certainly, much larger and more pretend
ing buildings than his in New-York, and many far
richer and more highly wrought ; but this is the hab
itation of an American in the very best society, who
is in easy circumstances, of extensive and high con
nexions, and who receives a fair proportion of his
acquaintances. By extending the building a little,
adding something to the richness of the furniture, and
now and then going as far as two or three cabinet
pictures, you will embrace the establishments of the
most affluent ; and by curtailing the whole, perhaps,
to the same degree, you will include an immense
majority of all that part of the community who can
lay claim to belong to the class of les gens comme il
faut. It is here, as elsewhere, a fact that the par
venus are commonly the most lavish in their expend
itures, either because money is a novelty, or, what is
more probably the case, because they find it necessary
to purchase consideration by its liberal use. We will
now quit this dwelling, in which I am fond of ac
knowledging that I have been received with the most
kind and polished hospitality, by its execrable flight
of steps, and descend into the street.

The New-Yorkers (how much better is the word
Manhattanese !) cherish the clumsy inconvenient en
trances, I believe, as heir-looms of their Dutch pro
genitors. They are called "stoops," a word of whose
O2

150 HOUSES ARCHITECTURE.

derivation f am ignorant, though that may be of Hol
land too, and they are found disfiguring the archi
tecture, cumbering the side-walks, and endangering
the human neck, attached to the front doors of more
than two thirds of the dwellings of this city. A better
taste is, however, gradually making its way, and
houses with regular basements are seen, in which
the occupants can ascend to their apartments with
out encountering the dangers that in winter must
frequently equal those of an ascent to the summit of
Mont Blanc.

You will see, by the foregoing description, that the
family of an American gentleman in town, though not
always so conveniently, is on the whole about as well
lodged as the great majority of the similar class in
your own country. The house of Mr. con
tains, including three capacious saloons, ten consider
able rooms, besides offices, and servants1 chambers.
The deficiency is in the dining-room, in the inconve
nience of the narrow stairs, and in the bad division
of the principal apartments on the different floors; a.
fault that arises from the original construction of the
building. Though the ornaments are in general more
simple, the Americans have in very many things a
great advantage. Profiting by their nearly unshackled
commerce, they import any thing they choose, and
adopt, or reject its use, as fancy dictates. Almost
every article of foreign industry can be purchased
here at a very small advance on the original cost, and
in many instances even cheaper. Competition is so
active, and information so universal, and so rapidly
imparted, that a monopoly can hardly exist for a
week, and a glut is far more common than a scarcity.

You will also see by what I have written, that the
Americans have not yet adopted a style of architec
ture of their own. Their houses are still essentially
English, though neither the winters nor the summers
of their climate would seem to recommend them.

REASONS FOR THE INTERMEDIATE TASTE. 151

There is, however, something in the opposite charac
ters of the two seasons, to render a choice difficult.
A people in whose country the heats of Florence and
the colds of St. Petersburg periodically prevail, may
well hesitate between a marble fountain and a Rus
sian stove. I am not certain that, considering their
pursuits, and the peculiarity of climate, they are very
wrong in their present habits. But I shall for ever
protest against the use of carpets, while the ther
mometer is at 90°, nor shall I soon cease to declaim
against those hideous excrescences called "stoops.'"
Beautiful, fragrant, and cool India mats, are, notwith
standing, much in use in midsummer, in the better
houses. Still, with all my efforts, I have not been
able to find a room to sleep in, that it is not fortified
with a Brussels, or a double English ingrain. The
perspiration stands on my forehead while I write of
them! Another defect in the American establish
ments is the want of cabinets de toilette. They are
certainly to be found in a few houses, but I have oc
cupied a bed-room five and twenty feet square, in a
house, otherwise convenient, that had not under its
roof a single apartment of the sort. This is truly a
sad prodigality of room, though space be unquestion
ably so very desirable in a warm climate.

I should think about the same proportion of the
inhabitants keep carriages here as in France. But the
ordinary coaches of the stands in New-York are quite
as good, and often far better than those voitures de
remise that one usually gets by the day in Paris.
There is even a still better class of coaches to be or
dered by the day, or hour, from the stables, which
are much used by the inhabitants. The equipages
of this city, with the exception of liveries, and her
aldic blazonries, are very much like those of your own
mighty capital. When I first landed, coming as I
did from England, I thought the coaches so exceed
ingly light as to be mean; but, too experienced a

152 EQUIPAGES EFFECTS OF HABIT, ETC.

traveller to be precipitate, I waited for the old im
pressions to lose a little of their influence before an
opinion was formed, and in a short time I came to
see their beauties. Cadwallader told me that when
he first arrived in England, he was amazed at the
clumsiness of the English vehicles, but that time, by
rendering them familiar, soon changed his opinion.
We went together lately to examine a coach from
London, which its owner had abandoned, either in
distaste, or because he found it unsuited to the coun
try, and really it was calculated to renew all the
original opinions of my friend. I have heard of an
American who carried to England one of the light
vehicles of his' country, and after it had arrived, he
was positively ashamed to exhibit it among its pon
derous rivals. In this manner do we all become the
subjects of a capricious and varying taste that is mis
erably dependent on habit; a fact, simple as it is,
which might teach moderation and modesty to all
young travellers, and rather less dogmatism than is
commonly found among some that are older. — Adieu.

TO THE COMTE JULES DE BETHIZY,

Sec. Sec.

New-York,-

IT may be premature to pretend to speak with any
certainty concerning the true state of ordinary Ame
rican society. My opinions have already undergone
two or three revolutions on the subject, for it is so
easy, where no acknowledged distinctions prevail, for
a stranger to glide imperceptibly from one circle to
another, that the impressions they leave are very apt

MANNERS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. 153

to be confounded. I have never yet conversed with
any declaimer on the bad tone of republican man
ners (and they are not wanting), who has not been
ready enough to confess this, or that, individual
an eminent exception, Now, it never appears to
enter into the heads of these Chesterfieldian critics,
that the very individuals in question are so many
members of a great class, that very well know how
to marshal themselves in their ordinary intercourse
with each other, although, to a stranger, they may
seem no more than insulated exceptions, floating, as
it were by accident, on the bosom of a motley, and
frequently far from inviting state of society, I think,
however, that it is not difficult to see, at a glance,
that even the best bred people here maintain their
intercourse among each other, under far fewer arti
ficial forms than are to be found in almost any other
country. Simplicity of deportment is usually the
concomitant of good sense every where ; but, in
America, it is particularly in good taste. It would
be a gratuitous weakness in a people who have boldly
denounced the dominion of courts, to descend to
imitate the cumbrous forms which are perhaps neces
sary to their existence, and which so insensibly
become disseminated, in mawkish imitations, among
those who live in their purlieus. Direct in their
thoughts, above the necessity of any systematic coun
terfeiting, and in almost every instance, secure of the
ordinary means of existence, it is quite in nature that
the American, in his daily communications, should
consult the truth more, and conventional deception
less, than those who are fettered and restrained by the
thousand pressures of a highly artificial state of being.
The boasted refinement of the most polished court
in Europe is, after all, no more than expertness in a
practice, which the Persian, with his semi-barbarous
education, understands better than the veriest courtier
of them all. That rare and lofty courtesy, in which

154 LESS ARTIFICIAL THAN IN EUROPE.

the party knows bow to respect himself, by sacri
ficing no principle while he reconciles his companion
to the stern character of his morals by grace of mien
and chanty to his weaknesses, is, I think, quite as
common here as we are wont to find it in Europe.
In respect to those purely conventional forms, that
receive value only from their use, and which are so
highly prized by weak minds, because so completely
within their reach, and which even become familiar
to strong ones from an indisposition to dispute their
sway, are in no great favour here. Perhaps the
circumstance that people of education, fortune, con
nexions, and, of course, of similar turn of mind, are
so much separated by the peculiarity of the State
governments, into the coteries of twenty capital
towns instead of those of one, is the chief reason that
they are neglected ; for all experience proves that
fashion is a folly which merely needs soil to take deep
root. Indeed I am not sure that this species of exotic
will not, at some future day, luxuriate in America to
a greater degree, than it even thrives in the fertile
regions of the east. It is certain, that in England,
the country most resembling this, fashionable society
is more trammelled by fictitious forms, both of speech
and deportment, than in any other European nation.
Every where else, after certain sacrifices are made to
deception and the self-love of second persons, the
actor is left to play his part at the instigations of
nature ; but in England there is a fashion for drink
ing a glass of wine, for pronouncing, and mispro
nouncing a word, for even perverting its meaning,
for being polite, and what is still more strange, some
times for being rude and vulgar. Any one who ha?
lived twenty years, may recall a multitude of changes
that have occurred in the most cherished usages of
what is called good-breeding. Now, there must be
a reason for all this whimsical absurdity. Is it not
owing to the peculiarly vacillating nature of her aris-

INFLUENCE OF FASHION LESS DESPOTIC HERE. 156

iocracy ? In a country where wealth is constantly
bringing new claimants for consideration into the
arena of fashion, (for it is, after all, no more than a
struggle for notoriety, that may be more bloodless,
but is not less bitter than that of the gladiators,) those
who are in its possession contrive all possible means
of distinction between themselves and those who are
about to dispute their ascendancy. Beyond a doubt
what is called high English society, is more repulsive,
artificial and cumbered, and, in short, more absurd
and frequently less graceful than that of any other
European nation. Still the English are a rational,
sound, highly reasoning, manly and enlightened peo
ple. It is difficult to account for the inconsistency,
but by believing that the struggle for supremacy gives
birth to every species of high-bred folly, among which
is to be numbered no small portion of customs that
would be more honoured in the breach than in the
observance.

If like causes are always to produce like effects,
the day may come when the same reasons shall
induce the American fashionables of two generations
to lead the fashionables of one, a similar wild-goose
chase in quest of the ne plus ultra of elegance. As
the fact now stands, the accessions to the coteries are
so very numerous, and are commonly made with
strides so rapid, that it is as yet, fortunately, more
likely to give distinction to be rationally polite, than
genteelly vulgar.

Of one truth, however, I am firmly persuaded, that
nineteen out of twenty of the strangers who visit this
country, can give no correct analysis of the manners
which prevail in the different circles that divide this,
like all other great communities. The pursuits and
the inclinations of the men bring them much oftener
together than those of the women. It is therefore
among the females that the nicer and more delicate
shades of distinction are to be sought. The very prev-

156 INFLUENCE OF TALENTS, MONEY, ETC.

alent notion of Europe, that society must, of necessity,
exist, in a pure democracy, on terms of promiscuous
association, is too manifestly absurd to need any con
tradiction with one who knows life as well as yourself.

It would require the magical power which that
renowned philanthropist, Mr, Owen, ascribes to his
system, to destroy the influence of education, talents,
money, or even of birth. They all, in fact, exist in
America, just as they do with us, only modified, and
in some degree curtailed.

You may perhaps be startled to hear of distinction
conferred by birth among a people whose laws deny
it a single privilege or immunity. Even thousands
of Americans themselves, who have scarcely de
scended into their own system farther than is abso
lutely requisite to acquire its general maxims, will
stoutly maintain that it has no reality. I remember
to have heard one of these generalizes characterize
the folly of a young acquaintance by saying, with pe
culiar bitterness of tone, " he presumes on his being

the son of ." Now, if some portion of the

consideration of the father were not transmissible to
the descendant, the latter clearly could in no degree
presume on his birth. It is fortunate here, as else
where, to be the child of a worthy, or even of an
affluent parent. The goods of the latter descend,
by process of law, to the offspring, and, by aid of
public opinion, the son receives some portion of the
renown that has been earned by the merit of the
father. It is useless to dwell on those secret and
deep-rooted feelings by which man, in all ages, and
under every circumstance, has been willing to per
mit this hereditary reflection of character, in order
to prove that human nature must have sway in the
republics of North America, as in the monarchies of
the east. A thousand examples might be quoted to
show that the influence of this sentiment of birth,
(just so far as it is a sentiment and not a prejudice^)

r

HOW FAR BIRTH IS RESPECTED. 157

is not only felt by the people, but is openly acknow
ledged by the government of the country in its prac
tices. Unless I am grossly misinformed, the relative
of one who had served the state, for instance, would,
cceteris paribus, prevail in an application for the pub
lic favour, over a competitor who could urge no such
additional claim ; and the reason of the decision
would be deemed satisfactory by the nation. No one
would be hardy enough to deny, that, had Washington
left a child, he would have passed through society,
or even before the public, on a perfect equality with
men similarly endowed, though not similarly born.
Just as this hereditary advantage would be true in
the case of a son of Washington, it is true, with a
lessened effect, in those of other men. It would be
a weak and a vain, because an impracticable and an
unwise attempt, in any people, to reject so sweet an
incentive to virtue on the part of the parent, or so
noble a motive of emulation on that of the child. It
is enough for the most democratic opinions, that the
feeling should be kept within the limits of reason.
The community, in a government trammelled by so
few factitious forms, always holds in its own power
a sufficient check on the abuse of the privilege; and
here, in fact, is to be found the true point of distinc
tion, not only between the governments of this and
other countries, but between the conditions of their
ordinary society also. In America, while the claims
of individuals are admitted, it is easy to satisfy, to
weaken, or to lose them. It is not enough simply to
be the son of a great man ; in order to render it of
essential advantage, some portion of his merit must
become hereditary, or the claim had better be sup
pressed. Even an honourable name may become
matter of reproach, since, when the public esteem is
once forfeited, the recollection of the ancestor only
serves to heighten the demerit of his delinquent child.
There is no privileged rank under which he can
VOL. I. P

158 MORALS NECESSARY FOR INFLUENCE.

stalk abroad and flout at the morals, or offend the
honesty of men better than himself, and the councils
of the nation are for ever hermetically sealed against
his entrance.

In society, the punishment of this unworthiness,
though necessarily less imposing, is scarcely less direct
and salutary. Nothing is easier than for a member
of any circle to forfeit the privileges of caste, It is a
fact highly creditable to the morals of this people,
unless close observation and the opinions of Cad-
wallader greatly mislead me, that a circle confessedly-
inferior will not receive an outcast from one above it.
The great qualifications for all are, in moral essen
tials, the same. It is not pretended that all men, or
even all women, in the United States, are exemplary
in their habits, or that they live in a state of entire
innocence, compared with that of their fellow-mortals
elsewhere ; but there is not a doubt that the tone of
manners here requires the utmost seemliness of de
portment ; that suspicion even may become danger
ous to a man, and is almost always fatal to a woman ;
and that as access to the circles is effected with less
difficulty than with us, so is the path of egress much
more readily to be found.

There is a very summary way of accounting for
these things, by saying that all this is no more than
the result of a simple state of society, and that in the
absence of luxury, and especially in a country where
the population is scattered, the result is precisely that
which was to be expected. Why then is not the tone
of manners as high in South as in North America, or
why are the moralists in the cities quite as fastidious,
or even more so, than those on the most remote bor
ders ? The truth is, that neither the polity nor the
manners of the Americans bear that recent origin we
are wont to give them. Both have substantially en
dured the test of two centuries ; and though they are
becoming meliorated and more accommodating by

LUXURIES QUITE COMMON. 1,59

time, it is idle to say that they are merely the expe
riments of the hour. Nor is it very safe to ascribe
any quality, good or bad, to the Americans on account
of their being removed from the temptations of 1 jxury.
That they have abstained from excessive indulgence,
is more the effect of taste or principle, than of neces
sity. I have never yet visited any country where
luxuries were so completely within the reach of the
majority. It is true that their manners are not ex
posed to the temptations of courts ; but it is equally
true that they have deliberately rejected the use of
such a form of government as renders them necessary.
Before leaving this subject I must explain a little,
or what I have already written may possibly lead you
into error. The influence of birth, though undoubted,
is not to be understood as existing here in any thing
like the extent, or even under the same forms, as in
Europe.* The very nation, which, in tenderness to
the father, might be disposed to accord a certain de
ference to the child who had received his early im
pressions under such a man as Washington, would be
very apt to turn a cold and displeased eye on the
follies or vices of a more distant descendant. You
may be prepared to answer, c all this reads well, but
we will wait the effects of time on a system that pre
tends to elevate itself above the established prejudices

* We have the authority of a great contemporary (the biog
rapher of Napoleon) for believing that the science of heraldry
reverses the inferences of reason, by shedding more lustre on the
remote descendant than on the founder of an illustrious name.
This is, at the best, but an equivocal acknowledgment, and it is
undeniably far too sublimated for the straight-going common
sense of the Americans. The writer is inclined to believe that
the very opposite ground is maintained by the proficients in
American heraldry, or, in other words, that the great man him
self is thought to be the greatest man of his family, and that the
reflection of his talents, probity, courage, or for whatever quality
he may have been most remarkable, is thought to shed most lustre
on those of his offspring who have lived nearest to its influence.

160 ANECDOTE OF A FARMER*

of the rest of the world/ But in what is reason
weaker than prejudice, after its conclusions have
been Confirmed by practice ? I repeat, these people
are net experimenting, but living in conformity to
usages., and under institutions that have already been
subject to the trials of two hundred years, So far as
I can learn , instead of imperceptibly falling into the
train of European ideas, they have rather been silently
receding \ and if there has been the least approxima
tion between the opinions of the two hemispheres on
these subjects, the change has been wrought among
ourselves. While travelling in the interior of New-
England, an honest looking farmer endeavoured to
read the blazonry that, by the negligence of a servant,
had been suffered to remain on the plate of one of
my travelling cases. I endeavoured to solve the dif
ficulties of the good man by explaining the use and
meaning of the arms. No sooner did the American
find that I was disposed to humour his curiosity, than
he asked several home questions, that, it must be con
fessed, were not without their embarrassment. It
was necessary finally to tell him that these were dis
tinctions that had been conferred by different sove
reigns on the ancestors of the owner of the case. " If
there is no harm in't, may I ask for what?" •* "For
their courage in battle, and devotion to their princes.1'
The worthy republican regarded the plate for some
time intently; and then bluntly inquired "if this was
all the reward they had received?" As it was use
less to contend against the prejudices of an ignorant
man, a retreat was effected as soon as convenient.*

* The simplicity which one finds on these subjects in America,
is often not without amusement. The general use of books, and
the multitude of journals in the United Stater, certainly prevent
the inhabitants of the country from being as ignorant of the
usages of Europe, as the people of Europe, even of the better
classes, are commonly of them ; still there are thousands who

ARMORIAL EEARIXGS. 161

Notwithstanding these instances of ignorance, the
mass of the people are surprisingly familiar with the
divisions of a society that is so different from their
own. While alluding to armorial bearings, it may be
well to add, that I saw a great number, emblazoned
in different materials, suspended from the walls of the
dwellings, especially in New-England. They are
frequently seen on carriages, and perhaps oftener still
on watch-seals. My travelling companion was asked
to explain why these evidences of an aristocratical
feeling were seen among a people so thoroughly dem
ocratic. The substance of his answer shall be given:
" Though the Americans do not always venerate their
ancestors, for precisely the same reasons as are ac
knowledged in Europe, they are nevertheless descend
ed from the same sort of progenitors. Those who
emigrated to this hemisphere, brought with them most
of the opinions of the old world. Such of them as bore
coats of arms did not forget the distinction, and those
that you see are the relics of times long since past.
They have not been disposed of, for no other reason
that I can discover, than because it is difficult to find
a use for them. Most of the trinkets are heir-looms ;
though many individuals find a personal convenience
in the use of seals which are appropriate to themselves.
There are others who openly adopt arms for the sake
of this convenience, sometimes rejecting those which
have long been used by their families, simply because
they are not sufficiently exclusive ; and there are cer-

form droll opinions on the subject of our distinctive habits. A
German prince of the family of Saxe Weirnar, was travelling in
the United States during the visit of the writer. He made him
self acceptable every where, by his simplicity and good sense. A
little crowd had collected round an inn where he had stopped,
and a new comer inquired of one of his acquaintance, u why he
stared at the big man in the piazza?" " Oh, for nothing at all,
only they say he is a Duke !" " A Duke ! I wonder what he does
for a living?"

P2

162 ARISTOCRATIC USAGES DISAPPEARING.

tainly some who are willing to creep under the man
tle of gentility at so cheap a rate. Foreigners, when
they see these exhibitions, and find sel£established
heralds in the shape of seal-cutters, &c. in the country
sometimes believe that wealth is gradually producing
a change in the manners of the people to the prejudice
of democracy. But they fall into an egregious error.
The fact is, that even this innocent, though perhaps
absurd vanity, is getting rapidly into disuse, together
with most of the other distinctive usages of orders in
society, that are not purely connected with character
and deportment. No one, for instance, thinks now
of exhibiting the arms on any portion of the dwelling,
in hatchments, or on tombstones, though all were
practised openly within thirty years. Liveries are
scarcely so frequent now as formerly, while coaches,
coachmen, and footmen are multiplied fifty-fold. In
short, the whole country, not only in its government,
but in all its habits, is daily getting to be more purely
democratic, instead of making the smallest approaches
to the opposite extreme. I state this merely as a fact
that any well-informed American will corroborate,
leaving you to your own reasoning and inferences."

It is a peculiar feature of American democracy,
and it is one which marks its ancient date and its
entire security, that it is unaccompanied by any
jealousy of aristocracy beyond that which distin
guishes the usual rancour of personal envy. One
may sometimes hear remarks that denote the sour
ness of an unsuccessful rivalry, but the feeling can
nowhere be traced in the conduct of the nation. The
little States of Connecticut and Rhode Island contain,
beyond a doubt, the two most purely democratic
communities in the civilized world. In both, the pub
lic will is obeyed with the submission that a despot
would exact; and, m the latter, it is consulted to a
minuteness of detail that would be inconvenient, if
not impracticable, in a community of more extended

SOCIETY OF NEW-YORK. 163

interests. Now, mark one effect of this excessive
democracy which you may not be prepared to ex
pect. No less than three governors of Connecticut
have been named to me, who, in due progress of time,
and at suitable ages, have been selected to sit in the
chair which their fathers had filled with credit.
Many inferior offices also exist, which, were it not
for the annual decision of the people, might be
thought to have become hereditary in certain fami
lies.* Here is proof that the sovereign people can
be as stable in their will, as the will of any other
sovereign. Of the five Presidents who have filled the
chair, since the adoption of the present constitution
in 1789, but one has left a son. That son is now a
candidate for the same high office; and though the
circumstance, amid a thousand other absurdities, is
sometimes urged against his election, it is plain there
is not a man in the whole nation who deems it of
the least importance.?

As might be expected, the general society of New-
York bears a strong impression of its commercial
character. In consequence of the rapid growth of
the city, the number of families that may be prop
erly classed among those which have long been
distinguished in its history for their wealth and im
portance, bears a much smaller proportion to its
entire population than that of most other places. A
great many of the principal personages were swept
away by the Revolution. Under these constant and
progressive changes, as might be expected, the influ
ence of their manners is, I think, less perceptible
than, for instance, in Philadelphia. Still, a much
larger class of what in Europe forms the £lite of so-

* The writer was assured that the office of Secretary of State,
in Rhode Island, had been in one family for near seventy years.

tMr. John Quincy Adams: he was chosen the following win
ter, and is now President.

164 INFLUENCE OF MERCHANTS.

ciety exists here, than strangers commonly suppose.
My letters first threw me, as a matter of course,
among the mercantile men; and I found that mixture
of manners, information, and character, that distin
guishes the class every where. It was my lot fre
quently to occupy a seat at a banquet between some
iinc, spirited, intelligent individual, wThose mind and
manners had been improved by travel and education,
and, perhaps, another votary of Plutus, (one hardly
dare say of Mercury, in this stage of the world,) whose
ideas \vere never above the level of a sordid calcula
tion, and all of whose calculations were as egotistical
as his discourse. It strikes me that both a higher and
a lower order of men mingle in commerce here, than
is seen elsewhere, if, perhaps, the better sort of Eng
lish merchants be excepted. Their intimate relations
on " 'Change" bring them all, more or less, together
in the saloons ; nor can the associations well be avoid
ed, until the place shall attain a size, which must leave
every one the perfect master of his own manner of
living. That hour is fast approaching for New-York,
and with it, I think, must come a corresponding change
in the marshalling of its coteries.

When Cadwallader returned from the country, J
fell into a very different circle. His connexions were
strictly of New-York, and they were altogether among
the principal and longest established families. Here
I met with many men of great leisure and large for
tunes, who had imparted to their children what they
had received from their fathers ; and it would not have
lleea easy, after making some slight allowances for a
trifling tinge of Dutch customs, to have distinguished
between their society and that portion of the English
who live in great abundance, without falling into the
current of what is called high or fashionable life.
Although many, not only of the best informed, but of
the best bred of the Americans, are merchants, the
tone of manners in this circle was decidedly more

COLDNESS OF MANNER. 165

sven and graceful than in that which strictly belongs
to the former. But it is not difficult to see that so
ciety in New- York, in consequence of its extraordi
nary increase, is rather in a state of effervescence
than settled, and, where that is the case, I presume
you will not be surprised to know, that the lees some
times get nearer to the surface than is desirable.
Nothing is easier than lor a well-behaved man, who
is tolerably recommended, to get admission into the
houses of the larger proportion of those who seek no
toriety by courting a general intercourse; but I am
inclined to think that the doors of those who are
secure of their stations are guarded with the cus
tomary watchfulness. Still you will always remem
ber, that suspicion is less alert than in Europe; fo/
where temptations to abuse confidence are so rare,
one is not much disposed to clog the enjoyments of
life by admitting so sullen a guest. The effect of this
general confidence is a less restrained and more
natural communication.

There is a common accusation against the Amer
icans, men and women, of being cold in their man
ners. Some carry their distaste of the alleged defect
so far, as to impute it to a want of feeling. 1 have
even listened to speculations so ingenious, as to refer
it to a peculiarity in the climate — a reasoning that
was thought to be supported by the well-known im
perturbability of the Aborigines. Whether the theory
be true or false, the argument that is brought to
maintain it is of most unfortunate application. The
tornado itself is not more furious than the anger of
the Indian, nor is it easy to imagine a conformation
of the human mind that embraces a wider range of
emotions, from the fiercest to the most gentle, than
what the original owners of this country possess.
Civilization might multiply the changes of their hu
mour, but it would scarcely exhibit it in more de
cided forms. I confess, however, that even in Cad-

166 COLDNESS OF MANNER ANECDOTE.

wallader, I thought, during the first weeks of our
intercourse, something of this restraint of manner
was perceptible. In his countrymen, and more par
ticularly his countrywomen, the defect seemed no
less apparent. In New-England, notwithstanding
their extraordinary kindness in deeds, there was often
an apparent coldness of demeanour that certainly
lessened, though it could not destroy its effect.*

* An instance of this suppressed manner occurred while the
author was at New- York in the summer of 1825. An English
frigate (the Hussar) entered the port, and anchored a short dis
tance below the town. Her captain was the owner of a London-
built wherry, which he kept for his private sport, as his country -
rr.en on shore are known to keep racers. It seems that some
conversation concerning the model of this boat, and of those of
New-York, and perhaps, too, respecting the comparative skill of
four London watermen whom he was said to retain as a sort of
grooms, and the renowned Whitehallers, induced him to insert a
challenge in the journals, wherein he threw down the glove, for
a trial of speed, to all the mariners or sportsmen of the city.
The Whitehallers took up the gage, and a day was publicly
named for the trial. It was quite evident that the citizens, who
are keenly alive to any thing that affects their reputation on the
water, let it be ever so trifling, took great interest in the result.
Thousands of spectators assembled on the Battery ; and, to keep
alive the excitement, there were not five Englishmen or English
women in the city who did not appear to back the enterprise of
their countrymen. The distance run (about two miles) was
from the frigate to a boat anchored in the Hudson, and thence to
another which lay at a short distance from the Castle Garden,
already described. On board of the latter, the judges (who, it
is presumed, were of both nations,) had adopted those delicate
symbols of victory which had so recently been pitted against each
other in far less friendly encounters, i. e. the national flags. The
writer and his friend, who, notwithstanding his philosophy, felt
great interest in the result, took their stand on the belvidere of
the castle, which commanded a fine view of the whole bay. On
their right hand stood a young American naval officer, and on
their left a pretty and highly excited young Englishwoman.
The frigate fired a gun, and the two boats were seen dashing
ahead at the signal. One soon took the lead, and maintained it
to the end of the race, beating by near a quarter of a mile, though
the oarsmen came in pulling only with one hand each. For some
time, the distance prevented a clear view of which was likely to

REASONS FOR THE SAME. 16?

This national trait can neither be likened to, nor
accounted for^ by any of those causes which are sup
posed to produce the approximating qualities in some
of the people of our hemisphere. It is not the effect
of climate, since it exists equally in 45° and 30°. It
is not the phlegm of the German, for no one can be
more vivacious, frank, cordial, and communicative
than the American, when you have effected the easy
task of breaking through the barrier of his reserve.
It cannot be the insulated pride of the Spaniard,
brooding under his cloak on the miserable condition
of to-day, or dreaming of the glories of the past ; nor
is it the repulsive hauteur of the Englishman, for no

be the victor. A report spread on the left that it was the boat of the
frigate. The eyes of the fair Englishwoman danced with pleasure,
and she murmured her satisfaction so audibly as to reach the ears
of all near her. The writer turned to see the effect on his right-hand
neighbour. Pie was smiling at the feeling of the lady, but soon
gravely turned his eyes in the direction of the boats. He was ask
ed which was ahead. He answered, " the Whitehallers !" and
directed the attention to a simple fact to confirm his opinion. The
victors were pulling with so swift and equal a stroke, as to render
their oars (at that distance) imperceptible, whereas there were
moments when the blades of those in the beaten boat could be
distinctly seen. This the young lieutenant described as a " man-
of-war stroke," which, he said, " could never beat a dead White
hall-pull, let the rowers come from where they would." The fact
proved that he was right. The English flag was lowered amid
three manful cheers from the goal-boat, which was no other than
the launch of the Hussar. With the exception of a few boys, the
Americans, though secretly much elated, made no answer, and
it was difficult to trace the least change in the countenances of
the spectators. On quitting the Battery, the writer and his friend
met a French gentleman of their acquaintance descending the
Broadway to witness the race. He held up both hands, and
shook his head, by the way of condolence. His error was ex
plained. " Victors !" he exclaimed, looking around him in ludi
crous surprise, "I could have sworn by the gravity of every face
I see, that the Englishmen had beaten you half the distance !"
It is no more than fair to add, that something was said of an ac
cident to the Hussar's boat, of which the writer pretends to know
nothing, but of which he is sure the grave crowd by which he
was surrounded was quite as ignorant as himself.

168 EFFECT OF RELIGIOUS DOGMAS*

one is more disposed to admit of the perfect equality
of his fellow-creatures than the native of this country
By some it has been supposed to be the fruits of the
metaphysical, religious dogmas and stem discipline
that were long taught and practised in so many of the
original colonies. That the religion of the Puritans
and of the Friends left their impressions, is, I think,
beyond a doubt ; for the very peculiarity of manner
to which we have reference, is to be found, in differ
ent sections of the Union, modified by the absence or
prevalence of their self-mortifying doctrines. Still,
one finds degrees of this same exterior among the
Episcopalians of New-York, the Catholics of Mary*
land, the merchants of the east, the great landed pro
prietors of the middle States, and the planters of the
south. It is rather tempered than destroyed by the
division of States, of religion, or of habits. It is said
even to begin to exhibit itself among the French of
Louisiana, who are already to be distinguished from
their kinsmen in Europe by greater gravity of eye and
mien. It is even so contagious, that no foreigner can
long dwell within its influence without contracting
more or less of its exterior. It does not arise from
unavoidable care, since no people have less reason to
brood over the calamities of life. There is no Cas-
sius-like discontent to lead the minds of men into plots
and treasons ; for, from the time I entered the coun
try to the present moment, amidst the utmost latitude
of political discussion, I have not heard even a whis
per against the great leading principles of the gov
ernment.*

In despair of ever arriving at the solution of doubts
which so completely baffled all conjecture and expe-

* The author will add, nor to the hour of his departure. The
United States of America are, perhaps, the only country in
Christendom where political disaffection does not in a greater 01
Jess degree prevail.

COLDNESS OF MANNERS ACCOUNTED FOR* 169

Hence., I threxv myself on the greater observation of
Cadwallader for the explanation of a habit which,
the more I reflected, only assumed more of the char
acter of an enigma. His answer was sufficiently sen
tentious, though, when pressed upon the subject, he
was not unwilling to support it by reasons that cer
tainly are rather plausible, if not just, To the question
— " To what do you ascribe the characteristic grave
demeanour of your countrymen V1 the reply was,
" To the simplicity of common sense P This was
startling, and at first, perhaps, a little offensive 5 but
you shall have his reasons in his own words*

" You admit yourself that the peculiarity which
you mention is solely confined to manner. The host,
the friend, the man of business, or the lady in her
drawing-room^ who receives you with less empressc*
ment than you have been accustomed to meet else
where, ornits no duty or material act of kindness.
While each seems to enter less into the interests of
your existence, not one of them is selfishly engaged
in the, exclusive pursuits of his own.

"While the Americans have lived in the centre
of the moral world, their distance from Europe, and
their scattered population, have kept them, as re
spects association, in comparative retirement. They
have had great leisure for reflection. Even England,
which has so long and so richly supplied us with
food for the mind, labours under a mental disadvan
tage which is not known here. Her artificial and
aged institutions require the prop of concerted opin
ions, which, if it be not fatal to change, have at least
acquired an influence that it is thought dangerous to
disturb. In America, no such restraint has ever
hecn laid on the human mind, unless it might be
through the ordinary operation of passing prejudices.
But those prejudices have always been limited in
their duration, and have never possessed the impor-

VOL. I. Q

I /O COLDNESS OF MANNERS ACCOUNTED FOR.

tant prerogative of exclusive reverence. Men com
bated them at will, and generally with impunity.
Even the peculiar maxims of the monarchy came to
us, across the Atlantic, weakened by distance and
obnoxious to criticism. They were assailed, shaken,
and destroyed.

" Thought is the inevitable fruit of a state of being
where the individual is thus permitted to enjoy the
best effects of the highest civilization, with as little as
possible of its disadvantages. I should have said
thought itself was the reason of that gravity you ob
serve, did I not believe it is more true to ascribe it
to the nearest approximate quality in which that
thought is exhibited. When there is much leisure,
and all the other means to reflect on life, apart from
those temptations which hurry us into its vortex, the
mind is not slow to strip it of its gloss, and to arrive
at truths that lie so near the surface. The result has
been, in America, to establish common sense as the
sovereign guide of the public will. In the possession
of this quality, the nation is unrivalled. It tempers
its religion, its morals, its politics, and finally, as in
the case in question, its manners. The first is equally
without bigotry or licentiousness ; the second are
generally consistent and sound ; the third are purely
democratic without the slightest approach to disor
der; and the last are, as you see them, less attractive
to you, perhaps, because unusual ; but more in con
sonance with common sense than your own, inas
much as they fail of an exaggeration which our reason
would condemn. Many nations excel us in the arts,
but none in the truths of human existence. The for
mer constitute the poetry of life, and they are desir
able so far as they temper society ; but when they
possess it to the exclusion of still nobler objects, their
dominion is dangerous, and may easily become fatal.
Like all other pursuits in which the imagination

COLDNESS OF MANNERS ACCOUNTED FOR. 171

predominates, they have a tendency to diminish the
directness with which reason regards every thing that
appertains to our nature.

"Although there is nothing incompatible between
perfect political freedom and high rational refine
ment, there is certainly a greater addiction to factitious
complaisance in a despotism than in a republic* The
artificial deference which, in the former, is exacted
by him who rules, descends through all the gradations
of society, until its tone becomes imparted to an en
tire nation. I think it will be found, by referring to
Europe, that manners, though certainly modified by
national temperament and other causes, have become
artificial in proportion as the sovereign 'power has
exercised its influence. Though France, under the
old regime, was not in theory more monarchical than
many of the adjoining countries, the monarch, in fact,
filled a greater space in the public mind. It would
be difficult to find any other nation in which sacrifices
so heavy, indeed, it may be said, so fatal, were daily
and hourly made to appearances, as under the reign
of Louis XIV. They were only the more dangerous,
inasmuch as the great advancement of the nation
made the most gifted men auxiliary to the propagation
of deception. The part which Racine with his piety,
Boileau with his wit, and even Fontaine with his
boasted simplicity, did not disdain to play, humbler
men might well desire to imitate. The consequences
of this factitious tone in manners prevail to the present
day in France, which, notwithstanding her vast im
provements, has yet a great deal to concede to the
immutable and sacred empire of truth, before either
religion, government, or morals, shall reach that
degree of perfection which each and all may hope to
attain. However agreeable habitual deference to
forms may become, the pleasure is bought too dearly,
when a just knowledge of ourselves, deceptive views
of life, or even of sacred liberty itself, may be the

172 COLDNESS OF MANNERS ACCOUNTED FOR.

price, I should cite America as furnishing the very
reverse of this proposition. Here, without pretend
ing to any infallibility of judgment, all matters are
mooted with the most fearless indifference of the
consequences. In the tossings and agitations of the
public opinion, the line and precious grains of truth
gradually get winnowed from the chaff of empiricism
and interestedness, and, to pursue the figure, literally
become the mental aliment of the nation. After the
mind is thoroughly imbued with healthful moral
truths, it admits the blandishments and exaggerations
of conventional politeness with great distrust, and
not unfrequently with distaste. When the principle
is pushed into extremes, men become Trappists, and
Puritans, and Quakers. Now, in this respect, every
American, taken of course with the necessary allow
ances, is, more or less, a Puritan. He will not tell
you he is enchanted to see you, when, in truth, he is
perfectly indifferent to the matter; his thoughts are
too direct for so gross a deception. Although he may
not literally mean what he says, he means something
much nearer to it than one meets with in what is
called good society any where else.

" The native of New-England has certainly more
of this peculiar exterior than the native of any other
part of our country. This difference is unquestionably
a result of the manners of the Puritans. But you are
right in believing that it is, more or less, to be seen
in the air of most Americans ; perhaps of all, with
the exception of those who have lived from infancy
in what is called the most polished, which of itself
implies the most artificial circles.

" A great deal of this exterior is also hereditary.
The Englishman is the man of the coldest aspect in
Europe, when you compare his ordinary tempera
ment with his deportment Has not the Englishman
a sounder view of life than any other man in your
hemisphere '( If not, he has been singularly fortunate

COLDNESS OF MANNERS ACCOUNTED FOR. 173

in preceding all his competitors in the enjoyment
of its most material advantages.

"France has been proverbial for grace of manner.
But the manners of France are undergoing a sensible
change, under the influence of the new order of
things. Her gentlemen are becoming grave as they
become thoughtful. Any one may observe, in pass
ing through French society, the difference between
the two schools. I confess that my taste is for the
modern. I have been so much accustomed to the
simplicity of American manners, as to find something
that is congenial in the well-bred English, that is
wanting in the \vell-bred French deportment, and
precisely for the reason that it is still a little more
natural. So far as this distinction goes, I honestly
believe the Englishman has the advantage. But,
with honourable exceptions, it will not do to push
English complaisance too far. Perhaps, if we at
tempt a comparison, I shall be better understood.

" The Englishman and the American have, in a
great degree, a common manner. I do not now
speak of the gentlemen of the two countries, for
much intercourse is rapidly assimilating the class
every where, but of the deportment of the two entire
nations. You will find both cold. There is certainly
no great difference in the men, though more may be
observed in the women. The English say that our
women are much too cold, and we say that theirs are
artificial without always being graceful. Of course,
I speak of the mass, and not of exceptions in either
case. Our women are, as you see, eminently femi
nine, in air, conversation, and feeling, and they are
aiso eminently natural. You may find them cold, for,
to be honest, they find you a little artificial ; but,
with their countrymen, they are frank, sincere, unre
served and natural, while I challenge the world to
produce finer instances of genuine, shrinking delicacy,
or of greater feminine propriety.

174 COLDNESS OF MANNERS ACCOUNTED FOR.

" The French gentleman has certainly one advan
tage over his island neighbour. He is uniformly
polite ; his conventional habits having apparently
gotten the better of all his native humours. You are
sure, so far as manner is concerned, of finding him
to-morrow as you left him to-day. There may be
some question on this point with the Englishman, but
none with the American. Common sense is quite as
equal as good-breeding. The American gentleman
is less graceful than the Frenchman, and maybe even
less conventional in his air than the Englishman, but
he is commonly gravely considerate of the feelings.
Were he disposed to abuse his situation, his country
men would not tolerate his airs. I have already told
you that humanity is a distinctive feature of Amer
ican intercourse. The men of secondary manners
may be more subdued in air than those of Europe,
but it is altogether confined to appearance. No man
is kinder in all his feelings or habits.*

44 But this digression is leading me from what you
call the peculiar coldness of the American manner.
The word is not well chosen, since coldness implies
a want of feeling, and want of feeling cannot exist
where every concession is made to humanity, except
in words and looks. Mr. Hodgson says, he does not
think the habit of which he complains is to be seen
in the better classes of the men, though he appears,

* The writer landed in England, on his return to Europe.
Curiosity led him to the gallery of the House of Commons. The
member on the floor was a stranger to him. A well-dressed
man stood at his elbow, and he ventured to ask him if he knew
who was speaking. " No," was the answer, and it was given
with an elevation and a peculiar sententiousness of voice which
cannot be committed to paper. The writer was induced to
repeat the experiment, simply as an experiment, four times, and
always with the same success, except that in the last instance lie
obtained the name, but in a note pitched in the same key. He
is bold to say, that the coldest looking man in America would
have answered in a tone of more "civilization"

COLDNESS OF MANNERS ACCOUNTED FOR. 175

unwillingly enough too, to admit, that the females are
not quite so free from the charge. Mr. Hodgson, it
will be remembered, was a bachelor, and he ought
to have known that this is a class of men far less in
demand in America than in England. Without ap
pearing to make the smallest allowance for the mo
mentary warmth that is always excited by countrymen
meeting in a foreign land, he puts the seeming cordi
ality of the wives of certain English soldiers whom
lie met at Niagara, in strong contrast with the cold
demeanour of the wives of the thousands of Ameri
cans whom he had just left. This gentleman does
not pretend that there was actually more of feeling
in the one case than in the other; he seems perfectly
willing to ascribe the difference to its true cause, viz.,
a simple difference in manner. Just to this extent 1
admit the justice of his remark, and I have endeav
oured to give you some reasons for its existence.
One would not gather from the book of Mr. Hodgson,
rational and candid as it is, that the author had ever
seen many countries besides his own ; if he has, he
must be aware that the air and manner of a French
paysanne would still be more likely to flatter his self-
complacency than the cordiality of the soldiers' wives.
It would not be difficult for you and me to quote still
stronger instances of the extent to which this manner
is carried among different people, and people, too,
who have no very extraordinary reputation either for
morals or civilization.

" I think it will be found, too, on reflection, that
the subdued manner (the word is more just than cold)
of the Americans, is more owing to the simple and
common sense habit they have of viewing things, than
even to rusticity, or indeed to any other cause. It
cannot be the former, since it is to be traced among
those who have passed their lives in the most polished
intercourse in the cities no less than in the country,
and amid elegance as well as rural simplicity. While

176 COLDNESS OF MANNERS ACCOUNTED FOR.

we have very few certainly who devote their leisure
to the exclusive cultivation of the mere refinements
of life, there is perhaps a smaller degree of rustic
awkwardness in the country than can be found among
an equal number of the inhabitants of any other
nation. The very quality which keeps down the
superfluous courtesy of the upper, has an agency in
elevating the manners of the lower classes who, con
sidering their situations, are at all times surprisingly
self-possessed and at their ease. A far more just ob
jection to the social usages of the Americans, might
be discovered in the rough and hardy manner in which
they support their opinions, than in this absence of
assumed cordiality. The latter, though it may be
come necessary by indulgence, can, after all, only
impose upon a novice, whereas the former may easily
become offensive, without in the slightest degree ad
vancing what they urge. But it is so difficult, and
even so dangerous, to say how far courtesy shall
infringe on truth, that one can tolerate a little incon
venience to favour the latter; and depend on it,
though the practice is often excessively unpleasant in
the individual (and much oftener here than in Eu
rope), it is a sound, healthful, national failing, that
purchases great good at a small price."

I shall make no comments on the opinions of my
friend. There is, however, one thing that may be
said on the subject which will go to prove the justice
of his theory. There is, at least, nothing conventional
in this coldness of manner of his countrymen. Men
do not admit it as a part of their gentility ; but it has
altogether the air of being either the effect of their
national temperament, or, as Cadwallader would
prove, of habits that proceed from a reflection so
general and uniform, as to have perfectly acquired
the simplicity and force of nature. I think also that
he has not laid sufficient stress on the effect of repub
lican institutions and the want of a court ; but one

TEELING FOR LA FAYETTE. 177

cannot expect so thorough a democrat to speak with
much reverence of the latter. He has explained that,
bj the prevalence of " common sense," he does not
mean that every man in America is wise enough to
discriminate between the substance and the shadow
of things, but that so many are, as to have given a
tone to the general deportment of the whole : a case
that may very well exist in a reading and instructed
nation,

TO THE COUNT JULES DE BETHIZY,

New-York, —

FROM the hour that we landed in America, to the
present moment, the voices of men, the journals, and
the public bodies, have been occupied in celebrating
the work of national gratitude. The visit of La
Fayette, his ancient services, his appearance, his
sayings, his tact, his recollection of, and meeting with
veterans whom he had known under other and more
adverse circumstances, are the constant themes of
press and tongue. The universal sentiment, and the
various scenes to which it has given birth, have not
failed to elicit many sparks of that sort of feeling
which is creditable to human nature, since it proves
that man, with all his selfishness and depravity, is the
repository of a vast deal that is generous and noble.
Two or three little anecdotes have come to my ears
that may serve to amuse, if not to edify you.

One of the familiar, and certainly not the least
touching manners, chosen by the Americans, to evince
their attachment to La Fayette, who has been well

178 ANECDOTE.

termed the " nation's guest," is by making offerings
of the labours of their own hands, in the shape of a
thousand trifling articles that may affect his personal
comfort, or at least manifest their zeal in its behalf
Among others, it seems that a hatter had even gone
so far as to send a hat, or hats, to France, as his por
tion of these little contributions, This kindness was
remembered, and a short time after their arrival,
M. George La Fayette went to the shop of the indi
vidual, and ordered a supply for himself. The hal
was furnished as a matter of course, with the direct
ness and simplicity that characterize these people.
The next thing was to demand the bill ; for you will
readily understand that the motive of M. La Fayette,
was to patronize a tradesman who had been so at
tentive to his father. " I was paid forty years ago
for all the hats I can make for any of the family of
La Fayette," was the answer.

A gentleman, who, from former acquaintance and
his situation in life, is much around the person of the
General, has related another instance of the deep and
nearly filial interest that is taken in his comfort, by all
classes of the citizens. It is well known that in com
mon with so many others, the fortune of La Fayette
suffered by the changes in France, no less than by
his own sacrifices. This circumstance had, as usual,
been exaggerated, until an impression has obtained
among many of the less informed, that he is actually
subjected to personal privations. Their 'guest' ap
peared among the Americans simply clad, in a coat
of black, which was not of a particularly fine fabric,
and with other habiliments equally plain. Now, it
so happens, that the American who is the least above
the labouring classes, habitually wears a finer cloth
than the corresponding classes even in England, writh
perhaps an exception in favour of the very highest
in the latter country. This peculiarity in the attire
of La Fayette, struck the eye of a mechanic, who did

LA FAYETTE RETURNS FROM BOSTON. 179

not fail to ascribe it to a want of means. He sought

an opportunity to confer with Colonel «— , from

whose mouth I have the anecdote, and after a little
embarrassment and circumlocution, explained his ob
ject. " I see, Colonel — , that our friend has not

as good a coat as he ought to wear, and I think he
should be the best dressed man in America. You
know very well that I am nothing but a plain me
chanic, and that I should not know what to say to a
man like La Fayette in such a case as this ; but you
are a gentleman, and can smooth the thing over a?
it should be, and I'll thank you just to get him a suit
of the best, in any way you please, and then the bill
can be given to me, and nothing further shall ever be
said of the matter."

I might fill a volume with similar instances of at
tachment and affection, with addresses, processions
and ceremonies, which have occurred since the re
ception of the veteran Frenchman, amongst these
usually quiet and rarely excited people. A brief
description of a fete at which I was present, and
which is, in some measure, connected with my own
movements, must, however, suffice for the present.
I shall describe it both for its peculiar nature, and
because it may serve to give a general idea of the
taste, manners, and appearance of the Americans, in
similar scenes.

At the return of La Fayette from his excursion to
Boston, the citizens of New- York determined to en-
tertain him in their collective capacity. He had been
feasted by corporate bodies innumerable ; but this
ball was to be given by subscription, and to include
as many of all the different classes of society, as could
well assemble in the place chosen for its celebration.
That spot was the abandoned fortress already men
tioned by the name of the Castle Garden, as the place
where he landed. The castle, you will remember,
stands on an artificial island, a few hundred feet from

ISO ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE FETE,

the promenade, that is called the Battery. The
work itself is a building of dark red freestone, almost
circular, and I should think near two hundred feet in
diameter. Most of this space is occupied by the area
in the centre, the work itself being little more than a
covered battery, which by subsequent changes has
been transformed into alcoves, and has a fine terrace,
or rather belvidere, around the whole of its summit.
A tall spar was raised in the centre of the area, and
a vast awning was constructed of the sails of a ship
of the line, to cover the whole. The interior side
of this awning was concealed by flags, arranged in
such a manner as to give a soft, airy finish to the
wide vault, and a roof that inclined inwards from
the ramparts for a little distance was covered with
grading, like the seats of an amphitheatre. Thus the
interior might be said to be divided into several parts.
There was the great salle, or the area of the garden :
the immense, low, vaulted, circular corridor, within
the work ; the gradins, a little below the belvidere »
supported by pillars, and the belvidere itself, all be
neath the awning. In addition to these, on the side
of the castle next the city, is a range of apartments,
some of which have been added since the new des
tination of the building, and are on a scale suited to
its present uses.

Cadwallader procured tickets for us both, and at
ten o'clock we proceeded to the centre of attraction.
Two of the principal streets of the city terminate
near each other directly in face of the castle garden.
The carriages entered the battery (the promenade)
by one, and left it by the other. Temporary fences
were erected to keep the coachmen in the line after
they had arrived on the mall. I can say with truth,
that I never knew a company set down and taken up
with more facility and order. You will recollect
there were six thousand guests, a number that is
rarely exceeded at any European entertainment. The

ORDER IN SOCIETY WITHOUT PRECEDENCY. 181

quiet which prevailed, is a sufficient proof that estab
lished orders in society are not at all necessary, at
least, for the tranquillity of its ordinary intercourse.
There were no genscfarmes, though I was told some
police officers were present, arid yet I saw no at
tempts to break the Jine, or any other instances of
those impertinences, with which coachmen with us
are apt to emulate what they conceive to be the im-
portance of their masters. Indeed, all my experience
goes to show, that the simplest way of destroying the
bickerings and heart-burnings of precedency and
rank, is to destroy their usages altogether. No doubt
human nature is just as active among these republic
ans, as it is in England or in Germany, and that A.
secretly envies or derides the claims of B. ; but it
would be perfectly absurd in either of the parties to
permit a public exposure of their pretensions, since
the world would be very apt to tell them both, the
distinction you enjoy is only by sufferance, and dig
nified and quiet behaviour is one requisite for its
possession at all. Thus, you see, however rancorous
may be the rivalry, third parties are at all events
spared the exhibition of its folly. But this truth is
abundantly proved in the saloons of your own fasci
nating metropolis, where one is daily elbowed by
peers, without being the least conscious of the hon
ours he is receiving, and where society is kept so
perfectly and so admirably distinct from government.
We alighted at the bridge which connects the island
to the battery. By the aid of awnings, carpets and
other accessories, this passage, over which armed
heels had so often trod, and lumbering wheels rum
bled with their groaning loads of artillery, was con
verted into a long, and prettily decorated gallery.
The light was judiciously kept down, so as to give
the entrance a subdued and pleasing, and a strikingly
romantic effect. You caught, in passing, glimpses of
the water, and heard its quiet washing in dull cou-

VOL. I. H

182 DESCRIPTION OF THE FETE.

trast to the strains of distant music. Steam-boats
were landing the guests by hundreds, on the narrow
terrace which surrounds the base of the castle, and a
never-ceasing current of gaily dressed and graceful
beings were gliding from out the darkness on either
hand, or along the gallery, towards a flood of lighi
which was shed through the massive frowning portal
of the fortress, as a sort of beacon to direct our foot
steps. Such a sight was not likely to fail of its .effect
on one as weakly constituted as myself, dear Jules,
and abandoning the pensive and deliberative step
with which I had loitered to contemplate the pecu
liar and pleasing approach to the scene, I hastened
on to plunge at once into its gayest vortex. I know
not whether it was owing to the contrast between
the judicious gloom of the romantic gallery and the
brilliant salle, to the magnitude of that salle, or to
the fact that with European complaisance I had
expected no very imposing exhibition of taste and
splendour among these people, but, certain is it, that,
though far from unaccustomed, as you well know, to
fetes and spectacles, I never entered one whose coup
(Peril produced an effect like this. As we hurried
towards the gate in hundreds, (for two or three steam
boats had just discharged their living cargoes), I had
been seized with a very natural apprehension, that
the whole was to terminate in one of those well-
dressed throngs in which it would be impossible to
see, hear, converse, dance, or, in short, to be alive
to any other sensations than those of excessive heat,
ennui, and, perhaps, a head-ache. But though so
many poured along the approaches, like water gush
ing through some narrow passage, the rush, the crowd,
and the inconvenience ceased as you entered the
principal space, like the tumult of that element sub
siding as it emerges into a broad basin. There were,
probably, five thousand persons in the salle when we
entered, and yet there was abundant room for all the

IMMENSE ASSEMBLY APPEARANCE, ETC. 183

usual pursuits of such an assembly. Some thirty,
or forty, or fifty, sets of quadrilles were in graceful
motion, hundreds were promenading around the dan
cers, and, literally, thousands were hanging over them
on the belvidere and among the gradins, looking down
with the complacency of those benignant beings to
whom poets give a habitation in the clouds.

It is, perhaps, not saying much for the self-posses
sion of two travellers who had passed through so
many similar scenes, but it is, nevertheless, strictly
true, that both Cadwallader and myself, instead of
passing on with suitable deference to the rest of the
guests, came to a dead halt on the threshold of this
scene, and stood, near a minute, gazing around us and
upwards, with wonder. We had, however, the con
solation to discover that we were not alone in our
underbred surprise, for a hundred pretty exclama
tions that escaped prettier lips, and the immense
pressure of the crowd at the spot where our steps
had been arrested, apprised us that the sensation was
common to all. Escaping from this throng, we had
leisure to study the details which had produced so
'mposing a tout- ensemble.

An immense cloud of flags, composed of all the
colours of the rainbow intermingled, was waving
gently in the upper air, shadowing the area at an
elevation of not less than seventy feet. The enor
mous spar which supported this canopy of ensigns
had been converted into the shaft of an immense
lustre, whose several parts were composed of entire
chandeliers. From these were streaming the floods
of noon-day light which gave to the centre of the salle
its extraordinary brilliancy, while countless shaded
and coloured lamps shed a fainter and softer glow on
those parts of the scene which taste and contrast
required to be kept down. Directly in front of the
entrance was a double flight of steps (one of half a
dozen which led to the gradins and the belvidere).

184 LA FAYETTE-— HIS ENTRANCE AND RECEPTION.

Beneath this double flight, a marquee of the dimen«
sions of a small chamber had been arranged for the
particular reception of the guest. It was gaily deco
rated; containing a supper-table, sofas, a chandelier,
and, in short, all the garniture of a separate room.
The curtains were withdrawn in such a manner, that
any who chose might examine its interior. Opposite
to this again, and directly over the portal, was the
orchestra, appended to the side of the building which
contained the eating apartments, and the ordinary
dwelling of the place.

Shortly after we had entered, La Fayette arrived.
The music changed to a national air, the gay sets
dissolved as by a charm, and the dancers who had
been dispersed over the floor of the salle formed a
lane, whose sides were composed of masses that
might have contained two thousand eager faces each.
Through this gay multitude the old man slowly pass
ed, giving and receiving the most cordial and affec
tionate salutations at every step. I had not seen him
since his departure for me east. But though the
freshness of his reception was past, his presence had
lost none of its influence. To me he appeared some
venerable and much respected head of a vast family,
who had come to pass an hour amid their innocent
and gay revels. He was literally like a father among
his children.

The assemblage was composed of every class in
the country, with the exception of those perhaps who
are compelled to seek their livelihood by positive
bodily labour. Still there was no awkwardness ap
parent, no presumption on the part of the one, nor
any arrogance on that of others. All passed off
simply, harmoniously, and with the utmost seeming
enjoyment.

My friend, who is very universally known, was
saluted at every step by some fair one, or some man,
who, to the eye at least, had the port and bearing of

NATURE OF THE COMPANY. 185

a gentleman. "Who is that?"' I asked him, after he
had paused an instant to speak to a young couple
who were promenading the room together. " That

is young and his bride. He has recently

returned from his travels, to take possession of a fine
estate, which has descended to him from the old
Dutch patricians of our State, and to marry that
sweet creature on his arm, who has had power
enough to retain her influence after his tour through
Europe, and who, by-the-bye, is a distant cousin of
rny own." "And that?" I continued. "A city poli
tician," returned Cadwallader, smiling. " He is am
bitious of ruling his ward, though a man of family,
fortune, and education ; and he to whom he has just
spoken is a brazier, and is his rival, and often too with
success. This grave-looking man in black is a state
politician ; and he who is lounging with those ladies
yonder, is one of the meridian of Washington. They
are all connected, and act in concert, and yet each
keeps his proper sphere as accurately as the planets.
Those half dozen fashionable looking young men are
the sons of gentlemen, and he who speaks to them in
passing, is the son of a mechanic who is in their em
ploy. They are probably brother officers in some
militia regiment." "And he to whom you have just
spoken ?" " That is my hatter, and a very good one
he is too. Now that man, in common, no more ex
pects to associate with me, or to mingle in my ordi
nary recreations, than I should, to sit at the table of
the king of France ; and yet he is sensible, discreet,
and in many things well informed. Such a man
would neither overlook an unnecessary slight, nor
would he be apt to presume beyond the mark between
us which his own good sense will be sure to prescribe.
He knows our habits are different, and he feels
that T have the same right to enjoy mine, that he
has to possess his own. You see we are very good
R2

J86 AREA OF THE CASTLE, BAY, AND SCENE.

friends, and yet this is probably the first time we
ever met in the same company."

In this manner we passed through the crowd,
until we had gained the terrace. Here we paused, to
take a more deliberate view of what I will not term
an assemblage, for its adjuncts and peculiar features
strictly entitle it to be called a prospect. The vast
extent of the salle lent an air of magic to the whole
scene. Slight, delicate beings* seemed to be floating
beneath us at a distance that reduced their forms to
the imaginary size of fairies ; while the low, softened
music aided in the deception. I never witnessed a
similar effect at any other fete. Even the glimpses
that were here and there caught of the gloomy re
cesses, in which artillery had formerly frowned, assist
ed in lending the spectacle a character of its own.
The side curtains of the canopy were raised for the
admission of air, and one had only to turn his eyes
from the dazzling fairy scene within, to look out
upon the broad, placid, star-lit bay, which washed
the foot of the fortress. I lingered on this spot near
an hour, experiencing an unsocial delight that may
seem to savour of the humour of our fraternity, espe
cially when one remembers the numberless tempta
tions to descend which were flitting like beings of the
air before my eyes. But a crowd of sensations and
reflections oppressed me.

Again and again I asked myself the question, if
what I saw were true, and if I really were standing
on the continent of Columbus. Could those fair,
graceful creatures be the daughters and wives of the
mechanics and tradesmen of a provincial town in
North America ? Perhaps, dear. Bethizy, it was as-

* The delicacy of the American women is rather peculiar. It
struck the writer that the females in common were under the size
of middle Europe, and the men rather over.

REFLECTIONS- A BACHELOR^ CONFESSIONS. 187

sailing me in my weakest part ; but I do not remem
ber, before or since, ever to have been so alive to
the injustice of our superficial and vague notions of
this country, as while I stood gazing down on some
two or three thousand of its daughters, who were
not only attending, but actually adorning such a
scene as this. Most of them certainly would have
been abashed, perhaps gauche, if transported into
one of our highly artificial coteries ; but, believe me,
the most laboured refinement of Europe might have
learned, in this identical, motley, republican assem
blage, that there is a secret charm in nature, which
it may be sometimes dangerous to attempt to super
sede. It has always appeared to me, that manner in
a woman bears a strict analogy to dress. A degree
of simple, appropriate embellishment serves alike to
adorn the graces of person and of demeanour ; but
the moment a certain line is passed in either, the in
dividual becomes auxiliary to the addition, instead of
the addition lending, as it should, a grace to the in
dividual. It is very possible, that, if one woman
wears diamonds, another must do the same thing,
until a saloon shall be filled with the contents of a
jeweller's shop ; but, after all, this is rather a con
test between bright stones than bright eyes. What
man has not looked a thousand times, even at beauty,
with indifference, when it has been smothered by
such an unnatural alliance ; but what man has ever
met beauty in its native attractions, without feeling
her power influencing his inmost soul ? I speak with
no dissembled experience when I answer — None !

I think the females of the secondary classes in this
country dress more, and those of the upper, less,
than the corresponding castes in Europe. The
Americans are not an economical people, in one
sense, though instances of dissolute prodigality are
exceedingly rare among them. A young woman of
the middling classes, for instance, seldom gives much

188 DEPORTMENT OF AMERICAN FEMALES,

of her thoughts towards the accumulation of a little
dowry ; for the question of what a wife will bring to
the common stock is agitated much less frequently
here than in countries more sophisticated. My com
panion assures me it is almost unprecedented for a
lover to venture on any inquiries concerning the for
tune of his fair one, even in any class. Those
equivocal admirers, who find Cupid none the less
attractive for having his dart gilded, are obliged to
make their demonstrations with singular art and cau
tion, for an American lady would be very apt to dis
trust the affection that saw her charms through the
medium of an estate. Indeed he mentioned one or
two instances in which the gentlemen had endeav
oured to stipulate in advance for the dowries of their
brides, and which had not only created a great deal
of scandal in the coteries, but which had invariably
been the means of defeating the matches ; the father,
or the daughter, finding, in each case, something par
ticularly offensive in the proposition. A lady of re
puted fortune is a little more certain of matrimony
than her less lucky rival, though popular opinion
must be the gage of her possessions until the lovei
can claim a husband's rights; unless indeed the
amorous swain should possess, as sometimes hap
pens, secret and more authentic sources of informa
tion. From all that I can learn, nothing is more
common, however, than for young men of great ex
pectations to connect themselves with females, com
monly of their own condition in life, who are penny-
less ; or, on the other hand, for ladies to give their
persons with one or two hundred thousand dollars,
to men, who have nothing better to recommend them
than education and morals. But this is digressing
from my immediate subject.

The facility with which the fabrics of every coun
try in the world are obtained, the absence of care oa
the subject of the future, and the inherent elevation

COSTUME OF THE LABOURING CLASSES. 189

of character which is a natural consequence of edu
cation, and a consciousness of equal rights, cause all
the secondary classes of this country to assume more
of the exterior of the higher, than it is common to see
with us. The exceptions must be sought among the
very poorest and most depressed members of the com
munity. The men, who are nowhere so apt at imi
tation as the other sex, are commonly content with
garments that shall denote the comfort and ease of
their several conditions in life, but the females are
remarkable for a more aspiring ambition. Even in
the country, though rusticity and a more awrkvvard
exterior were as usual to be seen, I looked in vain
for those marked and peculiar characteristics of dress
and air, that we meet in every part of Europe. In
but one instance do I remember to have seen any
number either of men or women, whose habiliments
conveyed any idea of provincial costume. The ex
ception was among the inhabitants of a little Dutch
village, in plain view of this city, who are said to
retain no small portion of the prejudices and ig
norance of the seventeenth century, and whom
the merry author of the burlesque history of New-
York* accuses of believing they are still subject to
the power of the United Provinces. As respects the
whole of New-England, I saw some attempt at imi
tating the fashion of the day, in even the humblest
individual, though the essay was frequently made on
a material no more promising than the homely pro
duct of a household manufacture. In the towns, the
efforts were, of course, far more successful, and I
should cite the union of individuality of air with con-
formance to custom as a distinguishing feature of the
women of the lower classes here. You will under
stand me better if I venture on that dangerous ex«
periment, a comparison. A grisette of Paris, for

* Washington Irving.

190 THE ATTIRE OF FEMALES.

instance, has a particularly smart and conventional
air, though her attire is as different as possible from
that of an d&gante. But the carriage, the demeanour,
and the expressions of one Parisian grisctte, is as
much like those of another as well can be. Now the
fashion of the attire, and riot unfrequently the material
of the dress of an American girl of a similar class,
diders from that of the lady only in quality, and per
haps a little in the air in which it is worn. As you
ascend in the scale of society, the distinctions, always
excepting those delicate shades which can only be
acquired by constant association in the best company,
become less obvious, until it requires the tact of breed
ing to trace them at all. As I stood regarding the
mixed assembly before me, I had the best possible
illustration of the truth of what I will not call the
levelling, for elevating is a far better word, effects of
the state of society, which has been engendered by the
institutions and the great abundance of this country.
Of some three thousand females present, not a sixth
of the whole number, perhaps, belonged to those
classes that, in Europe, are thought to have any claims
to compose the ilite of society. And yet so far as
air, attire, grace, or even deportment, were concern
ed, it must have been a sickly and narrow taste in
deed that could have taken exceptions. Although so
far removed from what we are accustomed to con
sider the world, the Americans, in general, have far
less of what is called, in English, the manner of the
'shop' about them, than their kinsmen of England.
These peculiar features are becoming every day less
striking every where ; but Cadwallader tells me they
never existed in America at all. Few men are so
completely limited to one profession, or trade, as not
to possess a great many just and accurate ideas on
other subjects ; and though it may be a consequence
that excellence is more rare in particular pursuits, it
is certain that, in manner and in general intelligence,

MANNERS OF THE WOMEN. 191

the nation is greatly a gainer. The effect of this ele
vation of character (I persist in the term) was abun
dantly conspicuous at the castle garden fete. Both
men and women deported themselves, and to all ap
pearances looked quite as well as a far more select
reunion in Europe. The distinguishing feature of
American female manners is nature. The fair crea
tures are extremely graceful if left to exhibit their
blandishments in their own way ; but it is very evi
dent, that a highly artificial manner in those with
whom they associate, produces a blighting influence
on the ease of even the most polished among them.
They appear to me to shrink sensitively from profes
sions and an exaggeration that form no part of their
own politeness ; and between ourselves, if they are
wise, they will retain the unequalled advantage they
now possess in carrying refinement no further than it
can be supported by simplicity and truth. They are
decidedly handsome: a union of beauty in feature and
form, being, I think, more common than in any part
of Europe north of the Adriatic. In general they are
delicate ; a certain feminine air, tone of voice, size and
grace being remarkably frequent. In the northern,
eastern and middle states, which contain much more
than half the whole population of the country, the
women are fair ; though brunettes are not unfrequent,
and just as blondes are admired in France, they are
much esteemed here, especially, as is often the case,
if the hair and eyes happen to correspond. Indeed
it is difficult to imagine any creature more attractive
than an American beauty between the ages of fifteen
and eighteen. There is something in the bloom, deli
cacy and innocence of one of these young things, that
reminds jou of the conceptions which poets and
painters have taken of the angels. I think delicacy
of air and appearance at that age, though perhaps
scarcely more enchanting than what one sees in Eng
land, is even more common here than in the mother

192 EARLY FADING OF THE WOMEN,

country, especially when it is recollected bow many
more faces necessarily pass before tbe eye in a given
time in the latter nation than in this. It is often said
that the women of this climate fade earlier than in
the northern countries of Europe, and I confess I was,
at first, inclined to believe the opinion true. That it
is not true to the extent that is commonly supposed,
1 am, however, convinced by the reasoning of Cad-
wallader, if indeed it be true at all. Perhaps a great
majority of the females marry before the age of
twenty, and it is not an uncommon thing to see them
mothers at sixteen, seventeen, or eighteen. Almost
every American mother nurses her own infant. It
i» far more common to find them mothers of eight,
or of ten children, at fifty, than mothers of two or
three. Now the human form is not completely de
veloped in the northern moiety of this Union, earlier
than in France, or in England, These early mar
riages, which are the fruits of abundance, have an
obvious tendency to impair the powers of the female,
and to produce a premature decay. In addition to
this cause, which is far more general than you may
be disposed to believe, there is something in the cus
toms of the country which may have a tendency, not
only to assist the ravages of time, but to prevent the
desire to conceal them. There is no doubt that the
animal, as well as the moral man, is far less artificial
here than in Europe. There is thought to be some
thing deceptive in the use of the ordinary means of
aiding nature, which offends the simple manners of
the nation. Even so common an ornament as rouge
is denied, and no woman dares confess that she uses
it. There is something so particularly soft and deli
cate in the colour of the young females one sees in the
streets here, that at first I was inclined to give them
credit for the art with which they applied the tints ;
but Cadvvailader gravely assured me I was wrong.
He had no doubt that certain individuals did, in secret,

COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE UNMARRIED. 193

adopt the use of rouge ; but within the whole circuit
of his acquaintance he could not name one whom he
even suspected of the practice. Indeed, several gen
tlemen have gone so far as to assure me that when a
woman rouged, it is considered in this country, as
prima facie testimony that her character is frail. It
should also be remembered, that when an American
girl marries, she no longer entertains the desire to in
terest any but her husband. There is perhaps some
thing in the security of matrimony that is not very
propitious to female blandishments, and one ought to
express no surprise that the wife who is content with
the affections of her husband, should grow a little
indifferent to the admiration of the rest of the world.
One rarely sees married women foremost in the gay
scenes. They attend, as observant and influencing
members of society, but not as the principal actors.
It is thought that the amusements of the world are
more appropriate to the young, who are neither bur-
thened nor sobered with matrimonial duties, and who
possess an inherent right to look about them in the
morning of life in quest of the partner who is to be
their companion to its close. And yet I could name,
among my acquaintances here, a dozen of the young
est-locking mothers of large and grown-up families
that I remember ever to have seen.

The freedom of intercourse which is admitted be
tween the young of the two sexes in America, and
which undeniably is admitted with impunity, is to
mo, who have so long been kept sighing in the dis
tance, perfectly amazing. I have met with self-suf
ficient critics from our side of the Atlantic, who be
lieve, or affect to believe, that this intercourse cannot
always be so innocent as is pretended. When ques
tioned as to the grounds of their doubts, thev have
uniformly been founded on the impression that what
could not exist with impunity with us, cannot exist
with impunity here. They might just as well pre-

VOL I S

194 RARELY ABUSED, AND REASONS WHY NOT.

tend, in opposition to the known fact, that a repub
lican form of government cannot exist in America,
because it could not well exist in Turkey as the Ot»
tornan empire is now constituted. That the confi
dence of parents is sometimes abused in America, is
probably just as true as it is that their watchfulness
is sometimes deceived in Europe; but the intelligence,
the high spirit, and the sensitiveness of the American
(who must necessarily be a party to any transgressions
of the sort) on the subject of female reputation, is in
itself sufficient proof that the custom is attended with
no general inconvenience. The readiness of the
American gentleman to appeal to arms in defence of
his wrounded pride is too well known to be disputed.
The duels of this country are not only more frequent,
but they are infinitely more fatal than those of any
other nation. We will hereafter consider the cause,
and discuss their manner. But no reasonable man
can suppose that a sagacious nation, which is so sen
sitive on the point of honour, would stupidly allow
their sisters and daughters to be debauched, when
their own personal experience must apprize them of
the danger to which they are exposed. The evil
would necessarily correct itself. The chief reason
why the present customs can exist without abuse, is
no doubt owing to the fact that there is no army, nor
any class of idlers, to waste their time in dissolute
amusements. Something is also due to the deep
moral feeling which pervades the community, and
which influences the exhibition of vice in a thousand
different ways. But having said so much on the sub
ject, you may expect me to name the extent to which
this freedom of intercourse extends. Under the di
rection of my friend Cadwallader, I shall endeavour
to acquit myself of the obligation.

You will readily understand that the usages of so
ciety must always be more or less tempered by the
circles in which they are exhibited. Among those

HABITS OF AN AMERICAN GIRL. 195

families which can claim to belong to the 6lite, the lib
erty allowed to unmarried females, I am inclined to
think, is much the same as is practised among the upper
classes in England, with this difference, that, as there
xs less danger of innovation on rank through fortune-
hunters and fashionable aspirants, so is there less
jealousy of their approaches. A young American
dances, chats, laughs, and is just as happy in the
saloon, as she was a few years before in the nursery.
It is expected that the young men would seek her
out, sit next her, endeavour to amuse her, and. in
short, to make themselves as agreeable as possible.
By the memory of the repentant Benedict, Compte
Jules, but this is a constant and sore temptation to
one who has never before been placed in the jeopardy
of such a contagious atmosphere ! But it is necessary
to understand the tone of conversation that is allowed,
in order to estimate the dangers of this propinquity.
The language of gallantry is never tolerated. A
married woman would conceive it an insult, and a
girl would be exceedingly apt to laugh in her adorer's
face. In order that it should be favourably received,
it is necessary that the former should be prepared to
forget her virtue, and to the latter, whether sincere
or not, it is an absolute requisite that all adulation
should at least wear the semblance of sincerity. Bat
he who addresses an unmarried female in this lan
guage, whether it be of passion or only feigned, must
expect to be exposed, and probably disgraced, unless
he should be prepared to support his sincerity by an
offer of his hand. I think I see you tremble at the
magnitude of the penalty ! I do not mean to say that
idle pleasantries, such as are mutually understood to
be no more than pleasantries, are not sometimes tol-
ciated; but an American female is exceedingly apt
to assume a chilling gravity at the slightest trespass
on what she believes, and, between ourselves, rightl-/
believes, to be the dignity of her sex. Here, you will

196 PECULIAR RESERVE IN CONVERSATION.

perceive, is a saving custom, and one, too, that it is
exceedingly hazardous to infringe, which diminishes
one half of the ordinary dangers of the free commu
nication between the young of the two sexes. With
out doubt, when the youth has once made his choice,
he endeavours to secure an interest in the affections
of the chosen fair, by all those nameless assiduities
and secret sympathies, which, though they appear to'
have produced no visible fruits, cannot be unknown
to one of your established susceptibility. These at
tractions lead to love ; and love, in this country, nine
teen times in twenty, leads to matrimony. But pure,
heartfelt affection, rarely exhibits itself in the lan
guage of gallantry. The latter is no more than a
mask, which pretenders assume and lay aside at pleas
ure ; but when the heart is really touched, the tongue
is at best but a miserable interpreter of its emotions.
I have always ascribed our own forlorn condition to
the inability of that mediating member to do justice
to the strength of emotions that are seemingly as deep
as they are frequent.

There is another peculiarity in American manners
that should be mentioned. You probably know that
in England far more reserve is used, in conversation
with a female, than in most, if not all of the nations
of the continent. As, in all peculiar customs, each
nation prefers its own usage ; and while the English
lady is shocked with the freedom with which the
French lady converses of her personal feelings, ail-
ings, &c., the latter turns the nicety of the former into
ridicule. It would be an invidious office to pretend
to decide between the tastes of such delicate dispu
tants ; but one manner of considering the subject is
manifestly wrong. The great reserve of the English
ladies has been termed a mauvaise honte, which is
ascribed to their insular situation, and to their cir
cumscribed intercourse with the rest of the world.
And yet it may be well questioned if the paysannt

CUSTOMS OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 197

cannot successfully compete with the elegante, in this
species of refinement, or whether a dame dcs halhs
cannot rather more freely discuss her animal functions
than a dame de la cour. This is a manner of dis
posing of the question that will not abide the test of
investigation, since it is clear that refinement makes
us reserved, and not communicative, on all such to
pics. Fashion, it is true, may cause even coarseness
to be sometimes tolerated, and, after all, it is no easy
matter to decide where true refinement ends, or sick-
liness of taste commences. Let all this be as it may,
it is certain that the women of America, of all classes,
are much more reserved and guarded in their dis
course, at least in presence of our sex, than even the
women of the country whence they derive their ori
gin. Various opinions are entertained on the subject
amongst themselves. The vast majority of the men
like it, because they are used to no other custom.
Many, who have got a taste of European usages, con
demn it as over-fastidious ; but my friend Cadwalla-
der, who is not ignorant of life in both hemispheres,
worships it, as constituting one of the distinctive and
appropriate charms of the sex. He stoutly maintains,
that the influence of woman is more felt and revered
in American society than in any other; and he argues,
with no little plausibility, that it is so because, while
she rarely or never exceeds the natural duties of her
station, she forgets none of those distinctive features
of her sex and character, which, by constantly ap
pealing to the generosity of man by admitting her
physical weakness, give strength and durability to
her moral ascendancy. I think, at all events, no in
telligent traveller can journey through this country
without being struck by the singular air of decency
and self-respect which belongs to all its women, and
S2

198 PRECAUTIONS USED IN UPPER CLASS.

no honest foreigner can deny the kindness and re
spect they receive from the men.*

With these restrictions, which cannot be infringed
without violating the rules of received decorum, you
will readily perceive that the free intercourse be
tween the unmarried is at once deprived of half its
danger. But the upper classes in this country are
far from neglecting many necessary forms. As they
have more to lose by matrimonial connexions than
others, common prudence teaches them the value of
a proper caution. Thus a young lady never goes in
public without the eye of some experienced matron
to watch her movements. She cannot appear at a
play, ball, &c. &c. without a father, or a brother, at
least it is thought far more delicate and proper that
she should have a female guardian. She never
rides nor walks — unless in the most public places,
and then commonly with great reserve — attended by
a single man, unless indeed under circustances of a
peculiar nature. In short, site pursues that course
which rigid delicacy would prescribe, without how-

* A conversation once occurred between a French and an
American gentleman on this subject, in presence of the writer.
The former insisted that the Americans did not treat their women
as politely as the French, though he did not deny thinking- their
treatment substantially kind. "Tor instance," he said, "you
will not, half the time, give a lac/ the wall in passing in the
street." "Very true," returned the American, "we carry our
politeness much further; we are humane. There is not a street
in all America without trottoirs, and most of them, as you well
know, are broad and comfortable. Jt is true, we inherit the
custom from England; but had we not, the necessities of woman
alone would have caused us to adopt some such plan for her re
lief. We commonly take the right in passing, because it is most
convenient to have a general rule. If any thing, the wall is>
neither so safe nor so agreeable as the outer side of the walk."
Now it appears to the writer, that this reply contains the very
essence of the kindness of man to woman in America. There
is littlfc show in it; but every thing that is considerate and
useful.

CONFIDING PRACTICE OF THE COUNTRY. 199

ever betraying any marked distrust of the intentions
of the other sex. These customs are relaxed a little
as you descend in the scale of society ; but it is evi
dently more because the friends of a girl with ten or
twenty thousand dollars, or of a family in middle
life, have less jealousy of motive than those of one
who is rich, or otherwise of a particularly desirable
connexion.

I shall close this long and discursive epistle with
one more distinctive custom, that may serve to give
you an idea of the tone and simplicity of this society.
There is something repugnant to the delicacy of
American ideas in permitting a lady to come, in any
manner in contact with the world. A woman of
almost any rank above the labouring classes, is averse
to expose herself to the usual collisions, bargainings,
&c. &c. of ordinary travelling. Thus, the first thing
an American woman requires to commence a jour
ney, is a suitable male escort ; the very thing' that
with us would be exceptionable. Nothing is more
common, for instance, when a husband or a brother
hears that a respectable acquaintance is about to
go in the same steam-boat, stage, or on the same
route, as that in which his wife or sister intends
to journey, than to request the former to become
her protector. The request is rarely refused, and
the trust is always considered flattering, and com
monly sacred. Here you see that the very custom
which in Europe would create scandal, is here re
sorted to, under favour of good morals and direct
ness of thought, to avert it. Cadwallader assures me
that he was pained, arid even shocked, at meeting
well-bred women running about Europe attended
only by a footman and a maid, and that for a long
time he could not divest himself of the idea, that they
wrere unfortunate in having lost all those male friends,
whose natural duty it was to stand between their
helplessness and the cold calculating selfishness of

200 LEAVES NEW-YORK FOR THE INTERIOR.

the world. There would be some relief to the ennui
of our desolation, gallant Jules, could our own single-
blessedness take refuge in the innocent delights of
such a servitude ! — Adieu.

TO THE COMTE JULES DE BETHIZY,
Sec. Sec.

New-York,-

THERE is a secret pleasure in discoursing of the
habits, affections, and influence of the sex, which
invariably leads me astray from all other objects. I
find, on perusing my letter-book, that the temptation
of treating on the usages of the American women,
completely lured me from a recollection of the
fete in which I was happy enough to see so many of
the fair creatures congregated It is now too late to
return to a description of a scene that would require
hours to do it justice, and we must, in consequence,
take our departure abruptly for the interior of the state
of New- York. It had been previously arranged that

Cadwallader and his acquaintance should

take passage in a steam-boat that was destined to
receive La Fayette, and which was to depart, at a
stated hour, from the terrace of the castle garden
itself.

It must be confessed that these republicans have
given a princely reception to their venerable guest.
It forms one portion of their plan of hospitality, that
he is to receive every accommodation to which he
is entitled by his rank and services, and every facility
of movement possible, without the least pecuniary
cost. At every city, and indeed at every hamlet he

SPONTANEOUS TRIBUTES TO LA FAYETTE. 201

enters, lodgings, table, carriage, and, in short, all the
arrangements of a well-ordered establishment, are
made at the expense of the citizens. The govern
ment has nothing further to do with it, than that it
offered him a vessel of war to conduct him to the
country, and that it has issued orders that their an
cient general should be received with the customary
military honours at the different military and naval es
tablishments, &c. that he may choose to visit. Every
thing else is left to the good-will and grateful affection
of the people, and nobly do they press forward to
lay their little offerings on the altar of gratitude. The
passage of La Fayette by land is invariably conduct
ed under an escort of local cavalry, from town to
town, while he never enters a State that he is not re
ceived either by its governor in person, or some suit
able representative, who charges himself with all that
is necessary to the comfort of the guest during the
time that he is to remain in those particular territo
ries. The receptions, entertainments, and contribu
tions of the several towns are made subject to this
general control, and by this means confusion is avoid
ed, and despatch, an important part where so much
is to be done, is commonly secured.

On the present occasion, La Fayette was to pre
sent himself in the towns on the banks of the Hud
son; to examine the great military school at West
Point, and to revisit many of those scenes of peculiar
interest in which he had been an important actor
five and forty years before. A capacious, comfort
able, and even elegant steam-boat, was appropriated
to his use.* It might readily have transported several

* The luxury of the American steam-boats is peculiar to the
nation. Those of England are certainly next to them in size,
show, and elegance ; but the writer thinks they cannot be said to
be tqual in either. Their number, considering the population
o! the country, is amazing. There cannot be less than fifty, that

DEPARTURE FOR ALBANY— HUDSON RIVER.

hundred souls, and one or two hundred could sleep
beneath the decks with as much comfort as is usually
found in the limited space of any vessel.

A little after midnight we were told it was neces
sary to depart. Our baggage and servants were
already on board, and following the motions of La
Fayette, who tore himself from a crowd of the fail
and affectionate daughters of America, that seemed in
truth to regard him with eyes of filial affection, we
left the brifliant scene together. The boat was in
readiness, and stepping on her decks from the lower
terrace beneath the walls of the castle, in five minutes
we were making swift progress along the noble river
of the north, as it is often called in this country. For
a few minutes we saw the halo of light which hung
about the scene we had quitted, and heard the soft
sounds of the distant music diffusing themselves on
the water, and then came the gloomier objects of the
sleeping town, with its tall, straight spires, its forests
of masts, and its countless rows of battlement-walls,
and of chimneys, in brick. The whole company,
which consisted of some fifty or sixty, immediately
retired to their births, and in a few minutes the dash
ing of the wheels against the water, and the dead,
dull movement of the engine, lulled me to sleep.

I was up long before most of the company. La

ply on the waters which communicate with the city of New-
York alone. On the Mississippi and its tributaries, there are
near a hundred, many of which are as large as small frigates.
Of their elegance it may be said that one is now running on the
Hudson, which, besides a profuse expenditure of marble, ma
hogany, the beautiful bird's-eye maple of the country, and all
the other customary ornaments, has its cabins actually sur
rounded by compartments painted in landscapes, &c. &c. by
artists who would occupy highly creditable situations among
their brethren in Europe. This boat has run from New-York to
Albany, a distance of about one hundred and forty-seven miles,
in eleven hours and a half. Every day, too, is exhibiting im
provements in machinery and form, as also in luxury and
comfort.

MORNING RIVER COMPARED TO OTHERS. 203

Fayette was on deck, attended by one or two
foreigners, who, like myself, were anxious to lose
as little as possible of the glorious scenery of this
renowned river, and two or three Americans, who
had reached that time of life when sleep is becoming
less necessary than it was in youth. The night had
been foggy and unusually dark, and we had lost some
time by touching on an oyster-bank that lies in one of
the broadest parts of the river. This delay, however,
though it served to disconcert some of the arrange
ments of the towns above, was certainly propitious
to our wishes, since it enabled us, who had never
before been on this water, to see more of its delight
ful landscapes. As I do not intend often to molest
you with descriptions that cannot be considered dis
tinctive, you will bear with me for a moment while
I make a little digression in favour of the Hudson,
which, after having seen the Rhine, the Rhone, the
Loire, the Seine, the Danube, the Wolga, the Dnieper,
and a hundred others, I fearlessly pronounce to em
brace a greater variety of more noble and more
pleasing natural objects, than any one of them all,

For the first fifty miles from its mouth, the Hudson
is never much less than a mile in width, and, in two
instances, it expands into small lakes of twice that
breadth, running always in a direction a little west of
north. The eye, at first, looks along an endless vista,
that narrows by distance, but which opposes nothing
but distance to the view. The western shore is a
perpendicular rock, weather-worn and venerable,
bearing a little of the appearance of artificial par
apets, from which word it takes its name. This rock
has a very equal altitude of about five hundred feet.
At the foot of this wall of stone, there is, occasionally,
room for the hut of some labourer in the quarries,
which are wrought in its side, and now and then a
house is seen seated on a narrow bottom, that may
furnish subsistence for a few cattle, or, perhaps, a

204 DESCRIPTION OF THE HUDSON.

garden for the occupant. The opposite bank is cul
tivated to the water, though it is also high, unequal,
and broken. A few villages are seen, white, neat,
and thriving, and of a youthful, vigorous air, as is gene
rally the case with an American village, while there
is scarcely an eligible site for a dwelling that is not
occupied by a villa, or one of the convenient and
respectable looking farm-houses of the country.
Orchards, cattle, fields of grain, and all the other
signs of a high domestic condition, serve to heighten
the contrast of the opposing banks. This description,
short and imperfect as it is, may serve to give you
some idea of what I should call the first distinctive
division of this extraordinary river. The second
commences at the entrance of the Highlands. These
are a succession of confused and beautifully romantic
mountains, with broken and irregular summits, which
nature had apparently once opposed to the passage
of the water. The elements, most probably assisted
by some violent convulsion of the crust of the earth,
triumphed, and the river has wrought for itself a
sinuous channel through the maze of hills, for a dis-
tance of not less than twenty miles. Below the
Highlands, though the parapets and their rival banks
form a peculiar scenery, the proportions of objects
are not sufficiently preserved to give to the land, or
to the water, the effect which they are capable of
producing in conjunction. The river is too broad,
or the hills are too low. But within the Highlands,
the objection is lost. The river is reduced to less
than half its former width, (at least it appears so to
the eye,) while the mountains rise to three and four
times the altitude of the parapets. Rocks, broken,
ragged, and fantastic ; forests, through which dis
jointed precipices are seen forming dusky back
grounds ; promontories ; dark, deep bays ; low sylvan
points ; elevated plains ; gloomy, retiring valleys ;
pinnacles ; cones ; ramparts, that overhang and frown

SECOND DIVISION OF THE SCENERY. 205

upon the water ; and, in short, almost every variety
of form in which the imagination can conjure pictures
of romantic beauty, are assembled here. To these
natural qualities of the scenery, must be associated
more artificial accessories than are common to Amer
ica. The ruins of military works are scattered pro
fusely among these wild and ragged hills, and more
than one tale of blood and of daring is recounted to
the traveller, as he glides among their sombre shadows.
To these relics of a former age, must be added the
actual and flourishing establishment at the " Point,"
which comprises a village of academic buildings, bar
racks, and other adjuncts. 1 remember nothing more
striking in its way than a view up one of the placid
reaches of this passage. The even surface of the
water, darkened here and there with broad shadows
from a pyramid of rock ; the glorious hue of a setting
sun gilding the green sides of a distant mountain,
over which the dark passage of a cloud was occa
sionally to be traced, resembling the flight of some
mighty bird ; with twenty or thirty lagging sails,
whitening the channel, from whose smooth surface
they were reflected as from that of a mirror, formed
the picture.

Above the Highlands, the river again assumes a
different character. From the bay of Newburg to
that of Hudson, a distance at least of sixty or seventy
miles, it appears like a succession of beautiful lakes,
each reach preserving the proportions and appear
ance of a separate sheet of water, rather than of part
of a river. There are a few of these detached views
that may compete with any of Italy, and to one in
particular there is a noble back-ground of mountains,
removed a few miles from the water, which are
thrown together in splendid confusion.

From Hudson to Albany, some thirty miles, (he
Hudson acquires more of the character of a river,
according to our European notions. It is dotted

VOL. I T

206 THIRD DIVISION OF THE RSVER,

with islands, much like the Seine above Caudebec,
and its scenery is picturesque and exceedingly agree
able. This character, indeed, is preserved even to
Waterford, a few miles further, and above the point
where its waters are increased by the contributions
of the Mohawk.

At Waterford, one hundred and eighty miles from
the sea, it becomes a reduced and rural stream, about
as large as the Seine at Paris, and can be traced for
leagues, sometimes still, lovely, and green with
islands, and sometimes noisy, rapid, and tumbling,
until you reach its sources in the rugged, broken
mountains of the northern counties of the State.
There are far mightier streams in this country than
the Hudson, but there is not one of scenery so diver
sified and so pleasing. The Rhine, with its cities, its
hundred castles, and its inexhaustible recollections,
has charms of its own ; but when time shall lend to
the Hudson the interest of a deeper association, its
passage will, I think, be pronounced unequalled.
At present, even, it is not without a character of
peculiar moral beauty. The view of all the im
provements of high civilization in rapid, healthful,
and unequalled progress, is cheering to philanthropy ;
while the countless villas, country-houses, and even
seats of reasonable pretensions, are calculated to as
sure one, that, amid the general abundance of life,
its numberless refinements are not neglected.

The Highlands had been the great military position
of the Americans during the struggle for their inde
pendence. The scattered population of the country,
at that time, lay along the shores of the Atlantic, be
tween the forty-third and the thirty-third degrees of
latitude. Perhaps one half of the entire physical
strength of the country then existed in the States ol
New-England. It is well known, that after the in
surrection had assumed the character of a war,
Hreat Britain, instead of maintaining, was obliged to

A FAVOURITE SCHEME OF THE WAR OF 1776, 207

resort to tjie more established principles of a regular
contest to recover her former dominion* She obtain
ed the possession of Montreal and New-York. Na
ture^ by means of the Hudson and the northern lakes,
offered extraordinary facilities of communication be
tween the two places ; and politicians, at the dis
tance of three thousand miles, as they studied the
map, vainly imagined that the cord of moral connex
ion could be severed as easily as one of a more per
ishable nature. It was believed, that by marching
armies from the opposite extremities, and leaving
sufficient garrisons at the most important points along
their routes, the intercourse between the eastern and
the other States could be so far interrupted as to ren
der conquest certain. There can be no doubt that
the success of such a plan would for a time have
thrown great embarrassment in the way of the
Americans, though it is morally certain it would
have assured the final failure of the royal cause.
The idea of covering a country, peopled like that in
dispute, with military posts, ought to have been
deemed too absurd for serious consideration. A
power stronger than even that of the bayonet had
already taught the intended victims of this plan confi
dence in themselves and in their cause, It is clear
that the scheme could only succeed in a nation,
whose people had been accustomed to consider
themselves as appendages to, instead of the control
lers of, a political system. It would have been giving
to the Americans a vast advantage already possessed
by their enemies, by dividing the power of the latter,
and in inviting attack, as it must have indicated the
points against which a superior force might have been
easily directed. The experiment was afterwards made
in the less populous States of the south, and complete
ly failed, most of the garrisons being captured in suc
cession. One might almost fancy he saw the stubborn
yeomanry of New-England leaving their ploughs for a

208 REASONS AGAINST ITS SUCCESS.

week, in order to mingle in the pastime of reducing a
hostile garrison. Tn short, the plan was German, and
however successful it might have been between the
Rhine and the Danube, it would have infallibly ended
in disgrace, on the banks of the Hudson. It did end in
disgrace, though time was not given for its complete
developement. The yeomanry of New-England, in
stead of waiting for that portion of the royal force
which debouched from the St. Lawrence to commu
nicate with their brethren on the Hudson, saw fit to
divert their course, and marched the whole of what
was, in that day, a powerful arrny, prisoners of war
to Boston. This was merely effecting in gross, that
which, under other circumstances, would have infal
libly been done in detail.

In America man had early discovered that the so
cial machine was invented for his use, and it would
have required something far more powerful than the
display of a line of ensigns to direct him from the
great object on which he had gravely, deliberately,
and resolutely determined. Still as every foot of land
acquired was so far a conquest as its sovereignty form
ed a portion of the disputed territory, it cannot be
supposed that the Americans were indifferent to the
possession of the strongest fortress of their country.
By holding the Highlands they rendered the commu
nications between the States more easy, and they kept
a constant check on the movements of the royal
forces in the vastly important city of New-York.
West Point, the heart of their positions in these
mountains, had been strongly fortified, and its defence
was justly enough considered as of the greatest mo
ment to their cause. After the arrival of the French
army at Rhode Island, a conquest winch had baffled
all the previous exertions of the British, should have
been abandoned as impossible. It would seem a hope
was indulged that what could not be achieved by
force of arms, might be effected by means less mar-

ANDRE MANNER OF HIS CAPTURE. 209

tial. The officer in command of West Point, a man
of talents and of great personal courage, but one of
depraved morals, was unfortunately disposed to make
advances which Sir Henry Clinton, the English com-
mander-in-chief, was glad to meet. It is well known
that the British Adjutant-General Andre was employ
ed as a negotiator on this occasion. La Fayette had
been an actor in some of the scenes connected with
this interesting event, and as we walked the deck to
gether, and gazed upon the mountains which environ
ed us, he revived his own recollections, and delighted
some half dozen greedy auditors, by dwelling on the
more familiar incidents of that day.

It appears that a British sloop of war had ascended
the river, and anchored in a wide bay a few miles
below the entrance of the Highlands. This sloop
(the Vulture) had brought Major Andre, and, having
landed him, was awaiting his return. The adjutant-
general was induced to enter within the lines of the
American sentinels for the purpose of acquiring a
knowledge of the force, condition, and defences of
his enemy ; an act that clearly committed him as a
spy. His retreat was rendered difficult, and instead
of returning to the Vulture, he assumed a disguise,
.and attempted to regain New- York by traversing the
intervening county of West-Chester. On his road he
was intercepted by three young American farmers,
who, according to the usage of the country, were in
ambush to await the passage of any small party of
the British, or of their friends, who might chance to
come that way. By these young men was Andre ar
rested. The Americans were in common parlance
termed the party above, (in reference to the course of
the river,) and their foes, the party below. As there
was nothing immediately in view about the person of
Major Andre to betray his real character, it is quite
possible that, had he retained his presence of mind,
he might, after a short detention, have been permit-
T2

210 WANT OF PRESENCE OF MIND.

ted to pass. But his captors manifested much more
sagacity than the British officer himself. Some allow
ance, however, ought in justice to he made for the
critical situation of the latter. He eagerly demanded
" To which party do you belong?1' The Americans
adroitly answered " below." To this simple artifice
he became a victim, immediately confessing himself a
British officer. Now, it is quite plain to us, who
speculate on the death of this young officer, that had
he possessed a quickness of intellect equal to the
questionable office he had assumed, his miserable
fate might have been averted. By assuming the char
acter of an American he would clearly have been
safest, let his captors prove to be what they would ;
since, if enemies, it might have lulled their suspicions,
or if friends, they would at most have conducted him
to the British camp, the very spot he was risking his
life to gain. Providence had ordained it differently.
He was searched, and plans of the works at the
Point, with other important communications, were
found about his person. It then became necessary
to entreat and to promise. Though the English were
known to pay well, and to possess the means of
bribing high, these young yeomen were true to the
sacred cause of their country. Neither gold, nor
honours, nor dread of the future, could divert them
from their duty. The helpless adjutant-general was
conveyed to the nearest post, delivered into the hands
of its commandant, was sent to head-quarters, tried,
and finally hanged.

During the time Arnold was maturing his work of
treason, Washington was absent from the army, in the
adjoining State of Connecticut, whither he had gone
to arrange a plan for the ensuing and final campaign
of the contest, with the commandant of the French
forces. La Fayette was of the party. It happened
that these military chiefs arrived in the mountains on
the very morning when the arrest of Andre (under a

EXTRAORDINARY COOLNESS OF ARNOLD. 211

fictitious name) was made known at 4 the Point.1
The residence of Arnold was on the east side of the
river. The principal fortress, or the 4 Point,' was
nearly opposite. Washington and his suite were
engaged to breakfast at the former place, but a de
sire to inspect certain posts in* the passes, interfered
with the arrangement. Two aides* were despatched
with an apology, and a promise to repair the failure
at dinner. The other guests were at table (at break
fast), when a letter was put into the hands of Arnold,
which he read without betraying any emotion. It
was the report of the officer in advance, that he had
arrested a "John Anderson," of the British army,
under circumstances of great suspicion. As this was
the name Andre had assumed by agreement, the trai
tor instantly knew his danger. After a moment's
pause, he left the table, at which a dozen officers of
rank had assembled to greet Washington, and ascend
ed to his chamber. His wife had been able to pene
trate an uneasiness which less anxious eyes had failed
to detect, Apologizing to her guests, she followed
her husband to his room. It is suspected that she
had been privy to his intentions to betray the Amer
ican cause. He communicated the failure of the
plan, and his own imminent danger, in as few words
as possible. He then left her in a swoon, stepping
over her insensible body, and telling a maid to give
assistance, he passed through the room, informing his
guests, with the utmost coolness, that his wife was
seized with a sudden indisposition, and that there
was a necessity for his own immediate departure for
the Point, in order to prepare for the military recep
tion of the command er-in-chief. Although the known

* Hamilton, an aide of Washington, afterwards so distinguish
ed in the history of his country ; and M'Henry, an aide of La
Fayette, subsequently Secretary of War. It is pleasant to trace
these young m-en in the events of their early lives, through thesa
familiar scenes.

212 HIS SUCCESSFUL AND NARROV/ ESCAPE,

cupidity of the man had excited very general disgust
his devotion to his country, which had been tiied in
so many battles, was not m the slightest degree dis
trusted. As yet, you will remember, he had all the
evidences of his guilt in his own possession.

Quitting the house, Arnold mounted a horse be
longing to one of his aides, and galloped a half a mile
to a place where his barge was in waiting. He en
tered the boat with a favourable tide, and command
ed the crew to pull down the river. His object was
to get as soon as possible beyond the reach of the
cannon of the forts. Of course he was obeyed, and,
as no suspicions had been excited, he was believed
to be at the Point, when, in truth, he was making
the best of his way along the lovely mountain-river
1 have endeavoured to describe. The distance to go
before he was safe, was seventeen or eighteen miles,
for all the commanding points were in the keeping of
his injured countrymen. By the aid of great encour
agement, his crew (who were deceived by a tale that
he was going on board the Vulture with a flag on
urgent business) made such exertions as enabled him
to get through the lower pass, before the courier with
the intelligence of his treason had arrived. Through
out the whole affair, this wretched man, who has ac
quired a notoriety that promises to be as lasting as
that of Erostratus, manifested the utmost coolness
and decision.*

Arnold had scarcely got beyond the reach of the
cannon on the Point, when Washington, La Fayette,
and Knox, another distinguished general, with their
several suites, arrived. The commander-in-chief was

* The writer has had the double advantage of listening to the
deeply interesting details of La Fayette, and of hearing Arnold's
own statement from a British officer, who was present when the
latter related his escape at a dinner given in New- York, with an
impudence that was scarcely less remarkable than his surprising
cielf-possession.

WANT OF SUSPICION IN WASHINGTON. 213

naturally enough surprised that his host was not at
home to receive him. An aide of Arnold (Major
Franks) apologized so warmly for the absence of his
general, as to create doubts of his own faith, when the
facts came to be known. After a short delay, Wash
ington, with most of the company, crossed the river
to the fortress. Some surprise was expressed, as they
approached the shore, that no movement was seen
among the troops ; and they landed without the
slightest evidence of their being expected visitors.
The officer in command soon appeared, and made his
excuses for not paying his superior the customary
honours, on the ground of ignorance that he was ex
pected. " Is not General Arnold here ?" demanded
Washington. " No, Sir ; we have not seen him on
this side of the river to-day." Some amazement was
expressed among the generals ; but treason was so
little in consonance with the feeling of the times, that
not the smallest suspicion was even yet excited.
Washington continued on the west side of the river,
until the hour for dinner was near, when he returned
to the abandoned residence of the fugitive, to comply
with his engagement of the morning. As the party
approached the house, Colonel Hamilton, who had
not crossed the river, was seen pacing its court-yard
in a high state of excitement. He held in his hands
a bundle of papers. He gave the latter to the com-
mander-in-chief, and they retired together. These
papers were the plans, &c. found on the person of
Andre, and they fully explained his object, and be
trayed the guilt of Arnold. Had not Washington
been so near, it is probable that Arnold would have
used his authority to liberate the British officer, and
then governed his own conduct by circumstances ;
but the presence of that illustrious man was fated to
be of service to his country in more ways than one.
As has been seen, the traitor had only time to con-

214 TREASON CONFINED TO ARNOLD.

suit his own selfish apprehensions. He fled like a
thief.

La Fayette, still ignorant of what had occurred,
was dressing for dinner, when his aide, M'Henry, en
tered for his pistols. Without explanation, he and
Hamilton mounted their horses, and gallopped through
the passes of the mountains, in order to interrupt the
flight of Arnold. It has since appeared, that the of
ficer in advance (a Colonel Jamieson) had despatched
his first messenger with the report that had reached
the hands of Arnold before examining the papers, but
that he lost no time in repairing the mistake the in
stant he had perused them. This short interval saved
the life of Arnold, and forfeited that of his associate.
When Washington and La Fayette met, the former
put the report of Jamieson into the hands of the latter,
and said, with tears in his eyes, " Arnold is a traitor,
and has fled to the British P"1 General Knox was
present at this scene.

Washington now sought an interview with the wife
of the traitor. He found her raving, though sensible of
his presence and character. She implored him not to
injure her, and was so completely under the influence
of terror as to beg " he would not murder her child."
Commending her to the care of the attendants, he left
the room. Notwithstanding the immense stake that
was involved in the treason, and his entire ignorance
of its extent, the self-possession of this extraordinary
man was undisturbed. For a single moment he had
appeared to mourn over the moral depravity that
could expose so fair a cause to so base an action,
but it would have baffled the keenest eye to have
traced in his countenance the existence of the slightest
alarm. He entered the dining-room calm and dig
nified as usual, and apologizing for the absence of
both host and hostess, he invited the company to be
seated. It was only in the course of the entertain
ment, so extended and complete was the influence

TREASON CONFINED TO ARNOLD. 215

of his collected and imposing manner, that the news
of the event was circulated from ear to ear in whis
pers.

The commandant of the advanced post of the High
lands, at Stony Point, was at hand. This officer (a
Colonel Cole) was a warm friend and a protege of Ar
nold. He had even carried his attachment so far, as
to have fought a duel in defence of the traitor's char
acter, but a short time before the exposure of the
treason. Washington now sent for him. " Colonel,"
he said, "we have been deceived in the character of
General Arnold; he has betrayed us. Your post may
be attacked this very night: go to it without delay,
and defend it, as I know you will." This noble con
fidence was not misplaced. Cole could with difficulty
speak. Pressing his hand on his heart, he found
words merely to utter — " Your excellency has more
than rewarded all I have done, or ever can do for my
country," and departed. Is there not something
noble, and worthy of the best days of classic recol
lection, in the single-minded and direct character
which marked the events of this glorious contest?
One loves to dwell on that integrity, which having
been compelled to give credit to one act of baseness,
refuses to believe that another can be meditated. I
know no fact more honourable to the American char
acter than the one which proves that, notwithstanding
the great trust and high character the traitor had once
enjoyed, his influence ended the instant he was known
to be unworthy of confidence. While on board the
Vulture, he essayed in vain to tempt the serjeant and
six men, who composed the crew of his own boat, to
follow his fortunes, though every offer which might
tempt men of their class was resorted to, in order to
induce them to change their service, " If General
Arnold likes the King of England, let him serve him,"
said the stubborn serjeant; "we love our country,
and intend to live or die in support of her cause.*'

216 IMPUDENT LETTER OF ARNOLD.

The traitor must have felt the bitter degradation of
his fall, even in this simple evidence of his waning
power. Exasperated at their refusal, Arnold would
have kept them as prisoners, but the English captain
was far too honourable to lend himself to so disgrace
ful a tiansaction. They returned as they came, under
the protection of a flag.

The day passed away in the reflections and pre
cautions iiuch a discovery would be likely to produce.
In the evening the barge returned from the Vulture,
bearing an insolent letter from the traitor to the com-
mander-in-chief, in which, among other undignified
and vain threats, he denounced the vengeance of his
new masters, unless certain conditions which he
wished to impose, were implicitly regarded. The
impetuous character of Washington's native temper
is as well known as the unrivalled self-command he
had acquired. While his eye glanced over this im
pudent and characteristic communication from Ar
nold, it appeared, by his countenance, as if a burst of
mighty indignation was about to escape him. Re
covering himself as it were by magic, he turned to
one of his aides with surprising moderation and dig
nity, and said, "Go to Mrs. Arnold, and inform her,
that, though my duty required no means should be
neglected to arrest General Arnold, I have great
pleasure in acquainting her that he is now safe on
board a British vessel of war."

It ought to be added that, while the American gov
ernment proceeded steadily to their object throughout
the rest of this interesting transaction, guided only by
their reason, and utterly disregarding the menaces of
the English general, the wife of the traitor continued
to receive every attention which delicacy could pre*
scribe. She was permitted to go first to her friends
in Philadelphia, and soon after was sent, under the
protection of a flag, to her husband in New- York.
There is something consoling to humanity to find,

SITUATION OF ANDRE. 2J7

even at a moment when war is assuming its most
revolting and horrid forms, that principles can be
grafted so deeply in our natures, as to leave no fear
that the more sacred ties of society shall be in danger
of violation, and that the feeble and dependent may
be confident of receiving the tenderness and protec
tion which are their due.

The fate of Andre became an object of the keenest
solicitude to both armies. From the commencement
of the struggle, to the last hour of its continuance,
the American authorities had acted with a moderation
and dignity that gave it a character far more noble
than that of a rebellion. In no one instance had the
war been permitted, on their part, to assume the ap
pearance of a struggle for personal aggrandizement.
It \vas men battling for the known rights of human
nature. But a crisis had arrived when it was to be
seen whether they would dare to expose the defence
less of their land, to the threatened retaliation of a
powerful foe. Such is the wayward feeling of man,
that it is far less offensive to his power to kill a gen
eral in open conflict, than to lead a subordinate de
liberately to an execution, which is sanctioned only by
a disputed authority. In the present instance, how
ever, the offender was not only an officer of a high and
responsible situation, but he was one who had made
himself dear to the army by his amiable qualities, and
eminently useful to its commander by his attainments.
I think, among men of high and honourable minds,
there can be but one opinion concerning the merit
of his enterprise. There is something so repugnant
to every loyal sentiment in treason, that he who is
content to connect himself, ever so remotely, with its
baseness, cannot expect to escape altogether from its
odium. It is true that public opinion has, of neces
sity, fixed bounds which military men may approach,
without committing their characters for manliness
and honour. Without this privilege, it is plain that

VOL. I. U

218 OPINION OF ANDRE'S ENTERPRISE.

a general could not arrive at the knowledge which is
requisite to enable him to protect his command against
attempts, that admit of no other control, than the
law of the strongest. But it is also true, that the
same sentiment has said it is dangerous to reputation
to pass these very limits. Thus, while an officer may
communicate with, and employ a spy, he can scarcely
with impunity, become a spy himself. There is no
doubt that the motive and the circumstances may so
far qualify, even more equivocal acts, as to change
their moral nature. Thus, Alfred, seeking to vindi
cate the unquestionable rights of his country, was no
less invested with the moral majesty of a king, while
wandering through the Danish camp, than when
seated on his throne; but it may be permitted to
doubt whether the young military aspirant, who sees
only his personal preferment in the distance, has a
claim to be judged with the same lenity.

Major Andre was the servant of a powerful and
liberal government, that was known never to reward
niggardly, and the war in which he served, was waged
to aggrandize its power, and not to assert any of the
natural rights of man. With doubtful incentives, and
for the attainment of such an object, did this accom
plished young soldier condescend to prostitute his high
acquirements, and to tamper with treason. He did
more. He overstepped the coy and reserved distance
which conscious dignity preserves, even while it
stoops to necessity, and entered familiarly and per
sonally into the details of the disgusting bargain. The
mere technicalities of posts and sentinels, though they
may be important for the establishment of rules which
are to soften the horrors of war, can have but little
influence on the moral views of his conduct. The
higher the attainments of the individual, the greater
must have been the flexibility which could see only
the reward in an undertaking like this. As' to the
commonplace sentiment of serving king and country,

MOTIVES FOR HIS PUNISHMENT. 219

every man of an honest nature must feel that he
would have done more honour to his sovereign and
to himself by proving to the world, that the high trust
he enjoyed was discharged by a man who disdained
lending his talents to the miserable work of decep
tion, than by degrading his office, his character, and
his name, by blending them all, in such familiar union,
with treachery. In short, while it cannot be denied
that the office of a spy may be made doubly honour
able by its motives, since he who discharges the
dangerous duty may have to conquer a deep moral
reluctance to its service, no less than the fear of
death, I think it must be allowed that the case of
Major Andre was one that can plead no such extra
ordinary exemption from the common and creditable
feeling of mankind.

The Americans were determined to assert the dig
nity of their government. The question was not one
of vengeance, or even one of mere protection from
similar dangers in future. It involved the more lofty
considerations of sovereignty. It wras necessary to
show the world that he who dared to assail the rights
of the infant and struggling republics, incurred a
penalty as fearful as he who worked his treason against
the majesty of a king. The calmness, the humanity,
the moderation, and the inflexible firmness, with which
this serious duty was performed, are worthy of all
praise. While the English general was vainly resort
ing to menaces, the American authorities were pro
ceeding with deliberation to their object. A feeling
of universal compassion was excited in favour of him
who had been captured, which probably received
some portion of its intenseness from the general indig
nation against him who had escaped. While the
necessity of an example, in an offence as grave as
this, was felt by all, it required no peculiar moral
vision to see that the real criminal was free. Some
time is said to have been lost, during which Wash-

220 -ADMIRABLE CANDOUR OF ANDRE.

ington had reasonable hopes of capturing Arnold,*
in which case he intended that justice should be
appeased by one victim, But this plan was frustrated
by an unforeseen occurrence, and then it became
necessary to let the law take its course.

It has often been erroneously stated, that, anxious
to vindicate himself in the eyes of foreign nations,
Washington employed the European generals in the
service, on the court which was to decide the fate
of Andre. Every general officer in his army was
a member, and the foreigners were necessarily in
cluded.

Whatever might have been the original error of
Andre, in accepting a duty of so doubtful a nature,
there is but one opinion of his subsequent conduct.
It was highly noble and manly. The delicacy of the
court, and his own frankness, were alike admirable.
Though admonished to say nothing that might com
mit himself, he disdained subterfuge, or even con
cealment. A pretence had been set up by the British
general, that he had entered the American ranks,
under the protection of a flag. He was asked if he
himself had entertained such an opinion. "Had I
come with a flag, 1 might have returned with a flag;"
was his noble answer. He had landed at the entrance
of the Highlands, and at a point where a sentinel had
not been posted for a long time. It was thought, in
the army, that Arnold had caused a sentinel to be
posted there anew as a precaution of safety, in the
case of detection. He might have pretended that his
only object was to entrap his enemy. Andre himself
confessed, that when hailed by this sentinel, he thought
himself lost. This confession, alone, had other proofs
been wanting, was enough to show his own opinion
of the legal character of his enterprise. He proceeded,
however, and was conducted by Arnold farther into

* See History of Serjeant Champe, in Lee's Memoirs.

HIS NOBLE CONDUCT, AND DISAPPOINTMENT. 221

the works, (how far is not known,) and then, he con
cluded, after having confessed these circumstances
himself, "I was induced to put on this wretched
coat !" laying his hand on the sleeve of the disguise
he had assumed. The opinion of the court was
unanimous : he was judged to come perfectly within
the technical denomination of a spy, and was sen
tenced to meet the fate of one.

After his condemnation, Major Andre received
every possible indulgence. A fruitless negotiation
took place between the adverse generals, with a
hope, on the part of Clinton, to intimidate, and on the
part of Washington in order to manifest a spirit of
moderation, no less than to give the time necessary to
complete the plan to arrest the arch-traitor. It was
once suggested to Andre that he might still be ex
changed for Arnold. "If Arnold could — " said Ham
ilton, who made the proffer. "Stop," returned the
condemned man, "such a proposition can never come
from me.1'

There is reason to think that Andre had soothed
himself in the earlier part of his captivity, with hopes
that were fated to be deceived. It had been the mis
fortune of the English to undervalue the Americans,
and it is quite in nature for a young man, who, it is
well known, had often indulged in bitter sarcasms
against enemies he despised, to believe that a nation
he held so cheap, must have some of his own awe of
a government and a power he thought invincible
It is certain he always spoke of Sir Henry Clinton
(the English commander-in-chief ) with the affection
and confidence of a child, until he received his last
letter, which he read in much agitation, thrust into
his pocket, and never afterwards mentioned his gen
eral's name. He confessed his ancient prejudices,
but admitted they were all removed by the tender
treatment he had received. He neither acknowledged
nor denied the justice of his sentence. It is known,
U2

222 HIS DEATH CONDUCT OF WASHINGTON.

that though he experienced a momentary shock at
finding he was to suffer on a gallows, he met his death
heroically, and died amid the tears of all present.

There were in England (naturally enough perhaps)
many who affected to believe this execution had
sullied the fair character of Washington. But these
miserable moralists and their opinions have passed
away; and while they are consigned to oblivion to
gether, the fame they thought to have impeached is
brightening, as each day proves how difficult it is to
imitate virtues so rare. Among impartial and intelli
gent men, this very act of dignity and firmness,
tempered as it was by so much humanity, adds to the
weight of his imposing character.

We came-to at West Point, where La Fayette
landed amid a magnificent uproar of echoes, which
repeated, from the surrounding mountains, the quick
discharges of a small park of artillery. The great
military school of the republic is established here.
The buildings stand on an elevated plain, which is
washed by the river on £wo of its sides, and is closely
environed with rocky mountains on the others. It is
altogether a wild and picturesque scene, equalling in
beauty almost any that I remember to have visited.
Perhaps a better site could not possibly have been
selected for the purpose to which it is at present
devoted, than West Point. The £l£ves, who are to all
intents young soldiers, enjoy, by means of the river,
and the great number of steam-boats that pass and
repass each hour of the day, the advantage of speedy
communication with the largest town in the country,
while they are as completely secluded by their nearly
inaccessible mountains, as can be desired. It is quite
common for travellers to pass a few hours at this spot ;
a circumstance which affords to the cadets the incen
tive of a constant interest in their establishment, on
the part of the better portion of the community, while
they are completely protected from the danger of

MILITARY ACADEMY. 223

intercourse with the worst. The discipline, order,
neatness, respectability, and scientific progress of the
young men, are all admirable. It is scarcely saying
too much to add, that perhaps no similar institution
in the world is superior. In Europe the military
student may enjoy some means of instruction that
cannot be obtained here, (though scarcely in the
schools,) but, on the other hand, there are high moral
advantages, that are peculiar to this country. As
detailed reports, however, are annually made con
cerning the state of this school, it is unnecessary for
me to enter into a more minute account of the situa
tion in which I found it. I shall therefore content
myself with adding, that there are between two and
three hundred students, who devote four years to the
school, that they undergo numberless severe examina
tions, and that those who are found wanting are
invariably dismissed, without fear or favour, while
those who pass are as regularly commissioned to serve
in the army of the confederation.

TO THE COMTE JULES DE BETHIZY,

New- York,

NEITHER the geographical situation of the United
States, nor the habits of their citizens, are very fa
vourable to the formation of a military character.
Though the republic has actually been engaged in
six wars, since the year 1776, only two have been
of a nature to require the services of land troops in
the field. The two struggles with England were
close, and always, for the number engaged in the

224 PHYSICAL FORCE OF THE MEN.

combats, obstinate and bloody, but the episode of &
war with France in 1799, the two with Algiers, and
that with Tripoli, only gave occasion for the courage
and skill of the marine.

By studying the character of the people, and by
looking closely into their history, it will be found
that they contain the elements to form the best of
troops. In point of physique they are certainly not
surpassed. So far as the eye can judge, I should say
that men of great stature and strength are about as
common in America as elsewhere ; while small men
are more rare. I am much inclined to think that the
aggregate of mere animal force would be found to be
somewhat above the level of Europe in its best parts.
This is not at all surprising, when one remembers
the excellence and abundance of nutriment which is
within the reach of the very poorest. Though little
men are, without doubt, seen here, they are by no
means as frequent as in England, in the southern
provinces of France, in Italy, Austria, and indeed
almost every where else.*

As might be expected, the military qualities which
the Americans have hitherto exhibited, are more re
sembling those which distinguish the individual char
acter of the soldier, than those higher attainments
which mark an advanced knowledge of the art of war.
As courage in its best aspect is a moral attribute, a
nation of freemen must always be comparatively
brave. In that collective energy which is the fruit of
discipline, the Americans, except in a few instances,
have been sadly deficient ; but in that personal spirit,
for which discipline is merely a substitute, they have
as often been remarkable. They are certainly the
only people who have been known to resist, with
repeated success, in their character of armed citizens,

* The writer afterwards found what he is almost tempted to
call a race of big men in the south-western States.

MILITIA— -ITS CHARACTER-— A COMPARISON. 225

the efforts of the disciplined troops of modern times.
The militia and national guards of Europe should not
be compared to the militia of America, for the for
mer have always been commanded and drilled by
experienced soldiers ; while the latter, though regu
larly officered, have been led to the field by men in
all respects as ignorant as themselves. And yet,
when placed in situations to rely on their personal
efforts, and on their manual dexterity in the use of
arms, they have often been found respectable, and
sometimes stubborn and unconquerable enemies*

The investigation of this subject has led me, per
haps, into a singular comparison. At the great battle
of Waterloo, the actual English force in the field is
said to have been 36,000 men. These troops un
dauntedly bore the assault of perhaps rather more
than an equal number. This assault was supported
by a tremendous train of artillery, and directed by
the talents of the greatest captain of the age. It en
dured, including the cannonading of the artillery, for
at least five hours. The official account of the British
loss is 9,999 men, killed and wounded. At the affair
of Bunker's hill, the Americans might have had be
tween 2,000 and 2,500 yeomen actually engaged.
Though these men were marshalled in companies,
their captains knew little more of military service
than the men themselves. There was positively no
commander, in the usual sense of the word. The
aptitude of these people soon enables them to assume
the form of an army; but it is plain that nothing ex
cept practice can impart the habits necessary to create
good troops. At Bunker's hill, they enjoyed, in their
preliminary proceedings, the advantage of a certain
degree of order and method, that elevated them some
thing, it is true, above an armed mob ; but it is prob
able that they could not have made, with any tolera
ble accuracy, a single complicated movement at their
greatest leisure, much less in the confusion of a com-

226 LOSSES OF WATERLOO AND BUNKER'S HILL.

bat. Just so far, then, as the ability to place them*
selves behind their imperfect defences with a certain
military front was an advantage, they might be deem
ed soldiers ; but in all other respects they were
literally the ordinary inhabitants of the country, with
very indifferent fire-arms in their hands, A great
deal has been said of the defences and of the position
of Bunker's hill. It is not possible to conceive a re
doubt better situated for an assault than the little
mound of earth in question. It could be approached
within a short distance with perfect impunity, and
might easily be turned. It zvas approached in this
manner, and it was turned. As to the rail fences on
the level land beneath, where much of the combat
was fought, and where the British were twice repulsed
with terrible loss, the defences were rather ideal than
positive. Now, against this force, and thus posted,
the English general directed 3,000 of his best troops.
His attack was supported by field artillery, by the fire
of a heavy battery on an adjacent height, and by that
of several vessels of war. The Americans were in-
capable of making any movements to profit by the
trifling advantages their position did afford, and they
had no artillery. They merely remained stationary
to await the assault, relying solely on that quality of
moral firmness, and on that aptitude which it is the
object of this statement to elucidate by a comparison
of the results of this combat with the results of Wa
terloo. The English made three different attacks.
Their average continuance under the fire of the
Americans was less than fifteen minutes. Their loss
was certainly 1056 men, and possibly more, for it is
not probable that their general would be fond, under
the peculiar circumstances, of proclaiming its full
extent Here, then, assuming our data to be true,
(and that they are substantially so I fully believe,)
we have a greater comparative loss produced by
2,500 husbandmen, armed solely with muskets, in

REASONS FOR APTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE. 227

forty-five minutes, than was produced by all the
reiterated and bloody attacks at Waterloo. After
making the necessary deductions for the difference in
effect between great and small numbers, it will be
found that there is something peculiar in the destruc
tion occasioned by the peaceful citizens of this coun
try. I should not have drawn this comparison, if it
were not to demonstrate what I believe to be one of
the inevitable consequences of the general dissemina
tion of thought in a people. The same directness of
application is observable in the manner that the
American handles his arms, as in handling his plough,
The battles of this country, both by sea and land,
when there has been sufficient inducement to make
their undisciplined bodies fight at ally have always
been distinguished for their destruction. Many of
their officers have been so certain of the fatal effects
of their own fire as to have implored their men
(militia) to give but two or three discharges, and
they would answer for the victory with their heads.
No doubt they often failed in their entreaties, for the
history of their wars is full of frank and manly ac
knowledgments of cases in which the militia yielded
to the force of nature; but it is also full of instances in
which their eloquence or influence had more effect,
and these have always proved fatally destructive to
their enemies. The battle of New-Orleans will fur
nish a subject for a similar comparison.

There is another point of view, in which it is con
solatory to study the short military history of this
country. The States of New-England, in which in
formation has been so generally diffused, have always
been the most dangerous to assail. A powerful force
(for the times and the duty) was,* in the war of 1775,
early driven disgracefully from their soil by the peo
ple of New-England. It is true, rapid, predatory ex
cursions were afterwards made in the country, but
always under the protection of a superior naval force,

(i2o QUALITY OF TROOPS WHEN DISCIPLINED*

and with the most jealous watchfulness of detention.
The only time that an army of any magnitude was
trusted to manoeuvre near their borders for a cam
paign^ it was assailed, surrounded, and captured.
Such are the fruits of intelligence, disseminated among
a people, that, while it adds to all their sources of
enjoyment, it gives a double security to their pos
session.

It would be vain to deny the excellence of the
American troops when properly equipped and disci
plined. If the English soldiers are admitted to be as
good as common, the Americans are equal to the best.
I have examined with deep interest the annals of both
their wars, and I can find but a solitary instance in
which (other things being equal) their disciplined
troops have been defeated in open combat. Their
generals have often been out-manoauvred and de
servedly disgraced ; but their disciplined soldiers,
when fairly engaged, have, except in the case named
(Hobkirk's hill,) invariably done well. The instances
in which drilled soldiers have been left to their own
efforts, are certainly rare, compared to those in which
they have been blended with nominal regulars and
militia ; but they are sufficiently numerous to show
the qualities of the troops. I refer you to the affairs
of Cowpens, Eutaw, and to the whole war of the
south, under Greene, which was almost all the service
that was exclusively done with drilled men in the
revolution, and to the battles on the Niagara, during
the late war. There are also many instances in which
the regular troops (drilled men) did excellent service,
in battles where they were defeated in consequence
of being too few to turn the fate of the day.

It is another evidence of the effects of general intel
ligence, that, disciplined or not, the Americans are
always formidable when entrenched. They have been
surprised (not as often, perhaps, as they have surpris
ed,) taken by siege, though rarely, and frequently dis-

PRESENT DISPOSITION OF THE COUNTRY. 229

graced by the want of ability in their chiefs, but sel
dom carried by open assault. Indeed, I can find but
one instance of the latter (if Bunker's hill be excepted,
where they retreated for want of ammunition, after
repelling the English as long as they had it,) in a case,
of any importance, and in that the assault partook of
the nature of a surprise (Fort Montgomery.) There
are fifty instances, on the contrary, in which they have
given their foes a rough reception, both against attacks
by land and by sea. Bunker's hill was certainly a
victory, while the means of resistance lasted. To these
may be added, the affairs of New-Orleans, Fort
Mifflin, Fort Moultrie, Sandusky, Red Bank, Tiger
River, Fort Erie, and numberless others.

With this brief review of their military character,
which does not stand as high as it deserves, merely
because there has been a sad dearth of efficient leaders,
capable of conducting operations on a concerted and
extensive scale, I think you will agree with me that
the Americans are not in much danger of being the
victims of a conquest. They turn the idea themselves
into high ridicule. Some of them go so far as to
assert, that Europe, united, could not subdue a people
so remote, so free, and protected by so many natural
advantages. It is very certain, that whatever Europe
might do now, she could not overturn this republic,
if it shall remain united, fifty years hence.

The Americans seem quite determined that a future
war shall not find them so entirely without prepara
tion as the last. In the great concerns of the day, few
of us, in Europe^ had time or inclination to lend our
attention to the details of that war ; and with the ex
ception of the actors, and perhaps a few of the leading
events, little is known of it, even by the English who
were parties to the struggle. As I intend to close
this chapter with a brief account of the present mili
tary system of the United States, it may be well to

VOL. I. X

230 EST MATE OF THE FORCES IN 1777.

revert to the means they employed in their two for
mer contests.

The insurrection of 1775, was commenced under
every military disadvantage. It is a well-known fact
that Washington kept the British army beleaguered in
Boston, with an undisciplined force not always nu
merically superior, and which was for a long period
so destitute of ammunition, that it could not have
maintained a sharp conflict of half an hour. Yet the
high resolution of this people supported them in the
field, not as an enthusiastic and momentarily excited
mob, but as grave and thoughtful men, intently bent
on their object, and who knew how to assume such
an aspect of order and method, in the midst of all
their wants, as should and did impose on their skilful
and brave enemies. Some minute calculations may
be useful in furnishing a correct opinion of that con
test, and, of course, in enabling us to judge of the ef
fects which intelligence (the distinctive property of
the American community) has on the military char
acter of a nation.

In the year 1790, there were in the United States
814,000 white males over the age of sixteen (frac
tions are excluded.) It is known that the population
of the country has doubled in about twenty-three
years. This calculation should give 407,000 of the
same description of males, in the year 1767; or about
600,000 in the year 1779, which was the epoch when
the final issue of the revolution might be said to have
been decided by the capture of Burgoyne. If we
deduct for age, physical disabilities, religious scruples,
(as among the Quakers,) and disaffection to the cause,
100,000, a number probably greatly within the truth,
we shall have half a million of men capable of bear-
•iig arms, to resist the power of Britain. I am sen
sible that this enumeration rather exceeds than falls
short of the truth. England employed, at one time,

OUTLINE OF ±H£ WAR OF 17?6, 231

not less than fifty thousand soldiers to reduce the re
volted colonies, and she was in possession of all the
strong holds of the country, at the commencement of
the contest The half million, badly armed, without
supplies, discipline, money, or scarcely any other
requisite but resolution, were scattered over a wide
surface!, a fact which, though, with their intelligence,
and determination, it was favourable to their success,
without it would have assured their defeat in detail
The formidable army of their enemies was sustained
by the presence of powerful fleets ; w^as led by expe
rienced generals, and always fought bravely, and with
perfect good will. Yet what was it able to perform 1
From ISeW-England, the only portion of the whole
Country where a tolerably dense population existed,
a great force was early expelled in disgrace. A few
cities on the sea-coast were held by strong garrisons,
which rarely ventured out with success. The only
great expedition attempted in the north, was signally
defeated. In the middle districts, marches of one or
two hundred miles were made, it is true, and several
battles Were fought, commonly to the advantage of
discipline and numbers ; but in the only instance
where an extended chain of communication was at
tempted, it was destroyed by the vigour of Washing
ton* In the south, a scattered population, and the
presence of slaves, allowed a temporary, but a treach
erous success. Reverses soon followed 5 the con
quered territory was regained, and triumph ensued
This is a summary of the outline of that war. If to
the soldiers, be added the seamen of the fleet, a
species of force nearly, or quite, as useful in such a
war as the troops, there could scarcely be less than
80*000 men employed in endeavouring to reduce the
malcontents. When the magnitude of the stake, and
the power of Britain, be considered, this number will
scarcely appear sufficient. Here, then, admitting
these estimates to be just, you have a regular, com-

232 BAD POLICY PURSUED IN 1812.

bined and disciplined force of 80,000 men, aided by
large bodies of the disaffected to the American cause,
contending against an unprovided, scattered, popula
tion of half a million of males, who had to resist, to
till their land, and to discharge all the customary obli
gations of society. The aid of the French was cer
tainly of great use to shorten the conflict ; but the
men who had gone through the dark period of 1776,
:77, and '78, and who had cleared the southern and
eastern States, by their own exertions, were not likely
to submit to a power they had so often baffled.

In the war of 1812, the country was much better
provided, though still miserably defective in military
preparation, and in scientific knowledge. The whole
population was about 8,000,000, and, though joined
as one man on the subject of independence, and the
maintenance of territory, nearly equally divided on
the question of the policy of the war. A capital
blunder was committed at the very commencement
of the struggle. Instead of placing young and talented
men at the head of the armies, officers of the revolu
tion were sought for to fill those situations. The
Greenes, the Waynes, the Lincolns, Knoxes, &c. of
that war had followed, or preceded, their great chief
to the tomb, and few or none were left, of sufficient
distinction, to yield a pledge for their future useful
ness. The very fact that a man had served in a
revolution without iclat, should have been prima
facie evidence of his incapacity. Still, ancient offi
cers, who had commanded regiments, or battalions,
in the war of 1770, were thought preferable to those
who had acquired their information in studying the
more modern tactics. The result proved as might
be expected. Not a single officer of the old school
(one excepted) did any thing to justify his appoint
ment, while several of them inflicted heavy disgraces
on the arms of the country. The exception was Gen
eral Jackson, who \vas far too young to have arrived

OUTLINE OF THE WAR OF 1812. 233

at eminence in the revolution, and who gained his
renown by departing from the Fabian policy of that
struggle, instead of pursuing it.

The last war commenced in the middle of 1812,
and terminated at the commencement of 1 8 1 5. With
the usual exceptions of personal enterprise and cour
age, the two first campaigns were disgraceful, expen
sive, and unmilitary. But time was already beginning
to correct the blunders of a fatal prejudice, or rather
fatal partiality. Men of character and talents forced
themselves into notice ; and although there existed,
in the conceptions of the manner in which the war
was to be conducted, a most lamentable impotency
in the cabinet, the campaign of 1814 was brilliant in
achievement. With the solitary exception of a rapid
expedition to Washington, through a barren and
nearly uninhabited country, the English were not
successful in a single attempt of any importance.
Four bloody affairs were fought on the Niagara, to
the advantage of the Americans ; formidable inva
sions on the north and on the south were successfully,
and, in one instance, brilliantly repelled; and, in fine,
the troops of the confederation, better drilled, and
better led, began to exhibit some of the finest qualities
of first-rate soldiers. There is no doubt that England
nobly maintained her colonies, which, of necessity,
became the disputed point in such a war ; but it is
just as true, that so soon as, encouraged by finding
herself unexpectedly released from her great Euro
pean struggle, she attempted conquest in her turn,
she was quite as signally foiled.

Another quarter of a century may be necessary to
raise the United States to the importance of a first
rate power, in the European sense. At the end of
that time, their population will be about 25,000,000,
which, though not compact, according to our ideas,
will be sufficiently available for all military purposes,
bv means of the extraordinary facilities of intercom-
X2 *

234 MILITARY POWER OF THE COUNTRY.

munication that already exist, and are hourly increas
ing in the country. I think, before that period ar
rives, the republic will be felt as a military (or, more
properly, a naval) power, in the affairs of Christen
dom. What she will become before the end of the
century, must depend more on herself than on any
thing the rest of the world can do to forward, or to
retard, the result.

The present military condition of the United States,
though far from imposing, is altogether more respect
able than it has ever before been. One who is ac
customed to see kings manoeuvre large bodies of
household troops as their ordinary playthings, might
smile to be told that the whole army of this great
republic contains but 6,000 men. The Bourbons
seldom lie down, dear Count, without as strong a
force to watch their slumbers. But he who estimates
the power of this people to injure, or to resist, by the
number of its regular troops, makes a miserable blun
der. The habit of discipline and the knowledge of
military details are kept alive by the practice of this
small force. They are chiefly employed on the west
ern frontier, or they garrison, by companies, the posts
on the seaboard. They answer all the objects of
preserving order on the one, and of guarding the pub
lic property in the other. But the vast improvement
of the country is in the progress, and in the gradual
diffusion of professional knowledge. All the subor
dinate ranks in this little army are filled by young
men, who have received rigid military educations,
tempered by a morality, and a deference to the insti
tutions of the land, that are elsewhere little cultivated,
and which tend to elevate the profession, by render
ing a soldier strictly the support, and not the master
of the community.

It is not probable that the jealousy of the Ameri
cans will ever admit of the employment of a very
large regular force in time of peace. They prefer

INFLUENCE OF GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. 235

trusting to the care of armed citizens. Though the
militia never can be, compared with its numbers, as
formidable as disciplined troops, it is certainly suffi
cient to maintain order, and to resist invasion. With
respect to the two latter objects, you may possibly
believe that America is peculiarly favoured by her
geographical situation. It is scarcely fair for govern
ments to refuse to give a population the necessary
degree of intelligence, and then to say it will be dan
gerous to entrust them with arms. We know that a
child may do mischief with a weapon, but we also
know that Nature has decreed that the time shall come
when it may be made highly useful to him. For
my part, I firmly believe, that if Europe would put
the school-book into one hand, the other might be
safely trusted with the musket. It is commonly the
interest of the vast majority in every nation to pre
serve order ; and they will certainly do it best, if the
means are freely furnished. When the interests of
the majority are in favour of a change, there is some
thing very like true wisdom and justice in permitting
it Fancy, for a moment, twelve or fifteen millions,
resembling the population of New-England, in posses
sion of a sufficient territory in the heart of Europe,
every man with a musket, a reasonable supply of
military munitions in readiness, and a moderate, dis
ciplined force to furnish the nucleus of a regular army.
What nation could hope to invade them with success ?
It is very true that the King of Prussia, now, is proba
bly more dangerous to his neighbours than he would be
at the head of such a nation; but a good deal of the truth
of all these questions lies in the fact, whether a nation
is any the better for being externally so very formi
dable. Three or four communities, intelligent, content
with their condition, and intrusted with arms, like
the Americans, properly dispersed over the surface
of Europe, would be sufficient to insure the tranquil
lity of one quarter of the globe of themselves. It is

236 THE BALANCE OF POWER.

odd enough that the world should have been con
tending so long about the balanced power, without
hitting on the cheapest mode of effecting it. Ink
costs far less than gunpowder ; and no reasonable
man can doubt that, if properly expended, it would
go farther, in one generation, to establish the natural
and useful boundaries of nations, than rivers of blood.
It is not a century since the fate of the British empire
was decided by less than twenty thousand soldiers.
It became Protestant, when it might have been Cath
olic. Here was a balance of power, so far as Eng
land and her dependencies were concerned, settled
by a handfull of men. It would require Europe
united to do the same thing over again, and all be
cause new generations have acquired more liberal
ideas of their natural rights. And yet England is far,
in this particular, very far, from what she might be.
Even this country has still a great deal to do in ad
vancing the mighty work of education.

We have an obstinate habit of insisting that, though
America is prospering with all her freedom and
economy, her system would be fatal to any European
nation. I once ventured to assert this position to my
travelling friend, who met my opinion by bluntly ask
ing — "How do you know it? In what age, or in
what country, did you ever try the experiment ? I
grant that certain desperate political adventures have
been attempted, in which a few good men have joined
a great many bad ones, in overturning governments,
and that the mockery of liberty has been assumed by
the latter, until it suited their convenience to throw
aside the mask, and then tyranny has succeeded
to the temporary deception, as a perfect matter of
course. But so far as the experience of Europe goes,
and considering the question altogether in a military
point of view, I think it will be found that the freest
nations have, cccteris paribus, always been found the
most difficult to conquer, I might quote Scotland,

TREE PEOPLE MOST DIFFICULT TO CONQUER. 237

Holland, and Switzerland, in favour of this theory,
You will sav, perhaps, that the first and the last were
more indebted for their independence to their peculiar
condition and poverty than to any actual political
institutions, more particularly the former. Granted.
And yet you find that it is only necessary to make a
man feel a direct interest in preserving his actual
condition to make him resolute in defending it. One
would think there was far less to fight for in the hills
of Scotland, than in the plains of Italy ; and yet Italy
has been overrun a hundred times by invaders, and
Scotland never. But you think the hills and the fast
nesses composed the strength of Scotland and Wales.
No doubt they added; but will any man accuse the
Netherlands, particularly Holland, of being a moun
tainous country ? Do you think Napoleon would
have ventured to march his vast army into a country
so remote from France as Russia, had the latter been
peopled with 20,000,000 of Americans, and had even
the climate been as temperate as that of Paris? What
were the facts in similar invasions, though certainly
on a greatly lessened scale ? Ten or twelve thousand
yeomen, intermingled with a few regular troops, who
were animated by the same spirit, intercepted arid
destroyed Burgoyne, at the head of ten thousand
regulars, who were quite as good troops as any in
the imperial guard. Prevost, at the head of an ad
mirable force of many thousand men, who had been
fighting the best battles of Europe, was checked by
a handfull of countrymen, and would have shared the
fate of Burgoyne near the same spot, had he not been
timely admonished to make a disgraceful retreat, by
the fortune of his predecessor. Jackson, with some
five or six thousand Tennesseans, Kentuckians, and
Louisianians, did not even permit his enemy to involve
himself in the difficulties of a distant retreat. The
situation of a wealthy city required that the spirit of
these freemen should be shown in its front; and well

238 PRESENT MILITARY RESOURCES,

did they make it known* A similar fate would have
attended the excursion to Washington, had time been
given for arrangement, and the collection of a force
sufficient for the object. But the experience of even
the most despotic governments goes to show how
much more formidable they become, when each
man is made to believe it is his interest to resist ag
gression."

But the Americans appear sensible, that while the
irresistible force of every nation exists in giving all
of its citizens the deepest possible interest in its
welfare, they do not neglect such rational means of
rendering their numbers as effective as may be, with
out rendering the system of defence unnecessarily
burthensorne. There can be no doubt, that in this
respect at least the republic is greatly favoured by
its geographical position. Removed from all the or
dinary dangers of external aggression, the country is
able to advance in its career of improvement, with
the freedom of a child, whose limbs are permitted to
grow, and whose chest expands, unshackled by the
vicious eifects of swaddlings, or any other artificial
correctives.

Compared with its state in 1812, the present mili
tary condition of the United States presents the fol
lowing points of difference. Instead of possessing a
few indifferently educated graduates of an infant mili
tary school, it has now hundreds, who have long en
joyed the advantages of far higher instruction. The
corps of engineers, in particular, is rapidly inproving,
and is already exceedingly respectable. A system of
order 'and exactitude has been introduced into the
police and commissariat of the army, which will
serve to render any future force doubly effective,
and which may be readily extended to meet the ex
igencies of the largest armies. Formidable fortresses
have been erected, or are in progress of erection,
which will give security to most of the coast, and

SENSITIVENESS OF THE POPULATION. 239

protection to the commerce of the country. By the
aid of canals and great roads, armies on the frontiers
can now be supplied at one sixth of the former cost,
and in half the time. Arms, artillery, and all the
munitions of war, woollen and cotton clothing, in
short, the whole materiel of an army, could now
be furnished in the country at a reasonable cost ;
whereas, as late as 1812, the Americans were so en
tirely dependent on their enemy for a supply, that
regiments were absolutely unable to march for want
of so simple an article as blankets. The population
has advanced from 8 to 12,000,000, and the revenue
in even a greater proportion. The debt is in about
the same ratio to the inhabitants as before the war ;
but as the expenditures are not increased in the pro
portion of the revenue, it is in the course of rapid
extinguishment. A very few years more of peace
will effect this desirable object.*

It is a mistaken idea that the Americans are a people
so much engaged in commerce as to be indifferent
to the nicer points of national honour and military
renown. It is far more true to describe them as a
people who have hitherto been removed from the
temptation of aggression, and in whom the native
principles of justice have, in consequence, never been
weakened. One hears a great deal in France, among
the upper classes, of the French honour, and in Eng
land of British character, &c. &c. ; but neither of these
nations has ever manifested one half the jealous
watchfulness of their rights as these simple repub
licans. They dared the war of their independence
in the maintenance of a perfectly abstract principle,
for no one pretends that the taxation of England was
oppressive in fact ; and at this hour, it becomes very
necessary for the graver heads of the nation to temper

* The average amount of customs for ten years before the
war, a little exceeded 12,000,000 of dollars a year ; it may now
bo stated at about 20,000,000.

240 THEIR PRESENT ATTITUDE.

the public mind, at the smallest rumour of any assault
on their dignity or national character. The politicians
are moderate, because they see that aggression bears
an aspect with them different from that which it
assumes towards other people. An aggression by
England, foi instance, on America, is much like an
insult offered by a man to a boy. The latter may
bear it, because he can say to himself, the other will
not dare to repeat it next year. Thus the American
politician reasons, or rather has reasoned, that time is
ail-important to them. Nations do not often go to war
for indemnity, but to maintain established rights by
showing spirit and force, or for conquest. Conquest
the Americans do not need, and there is no fear of
injuries growing into precedent against a people who
are rich, out of debt, free, intelligent, intrinsically
brave, however prudent they may be, and who in
fifty years will number 50,000,000 ! I think, however,
that the spirit of the people rather runs ahead of their
actual force, than otherwise. Perhaps their revolu
tion was twenty years too soon ; and now, though
lovers of peace, and frequently religiously indisposed
to war, it is quite easy to see that they chafe, to a
man, at the idea of any invasion on what they deem
their natural rights.

It may serve to give you an idea of the different
attitude which this country takes in 1 825, from what
it maintained in 181 2, by stating two facts. It is well
known that thousands of their citizens were impressed,
with impunity, into the British navy before the latter
period. There was a false rumour the other day,
that a similar act had occurred on the coast of Africa.
I heard but one qpinion on the subject. " We must
have explanation and justice without delay." Cad,
wallader says, that he can hardly imagine a case in
which two or three impressments (unless subject to
clear explanations) would not now produce a war,
The rumour, that England was to become mistress

AMERICA A PEACEFUL COUNTRY. 241

of Cuba, has also been circulated during my visit.
I have sought opportunities to demand the conse
quences. The answer has been, at least five times in
six, " war.'"1

It is not difficult to see, that the day is at hand
when this republic will be felt in the great general
political questions of Christendom. It may then be
fortunate for humanity, that the mighty power she
will shortly wield, is not to be exercised to satisfy the
ambition of individuals, but that they who will have
to bear the burthen of the contests, will also have a
direct influence on their existence. Neither the insti
tutions, nor the necessities of America, are ominous
of a thirst for conquest ; but, with her widely-spread
commerce, it will be impossible to avoid frequent
and keen collisions with other nations. I think, for
a long time to come, that her armies will be chiefly
confined to the defensive ; but another and a very
different question presents itself, when we turn our
attention towards her fleets.

TO SIR EDWARD WALLER, BART.
be. &c.

New-York, —

AFTER having ascended the Hudson as far as
Albany, in company with La Fayette, and taken our
leave of the veteran, our faces were turned west. At
that place we saw a few remaining evidences of the
Dutch, in the names and in the construction of a good
many houses; but the city (containing about 16,000
inhabitants) is chiefly modern. Our route, for sixty
or seventy miles, was along one of the great thorough-
VOL. I Y

242 DESCRIPTION OF A TOUR WESTWARD.

fares of the interior, when we inclined to the south,
and having traversed a considerable tract of country
to the southward of the beaten track of travellers, we
entered the State of Pennsylvania, west of the Sus-
quehannah, and proceeded to Pittsburgh. Thence
we descended the Alleghany river to the Ohio, made
a wide circuit in the State of the same name, and
returned, by the way of Lake Erie, to Buffalo (in
New-York), which is a thriving fresh-water lake-
port We spent, of course, a few days examining the
mighty cataract of Niagara, and in visiting the shores
of Lake Ontario. On our return east, we followed
the line of the great canal as far as Utica, where we
made a diversion towards the north, for a couple of
hundred miles, in order to permit Cadwallader to
visit an estate of which he is proprietor. This duty
performed, we made our way along the skirts of a
wild and nearly uninhabited region, to the famous
watering places at Saratoga and Ballstown ^ passed
the Hudson at Troy, and crossing a spur of the Green
Mountains, penetrated Massachusetts by its western
border; traversed a small portion of Connecticut in
a new direction ; re-entered New- York above the
Highlands, through which we journeyed by land, and
regained this city, after an absence of about six weeks.
We must have travelled, by land and water, between
twelve and fifteen hundred miles.

The three States named, are computed to cover a
surface of about 131,000 square miles; being a little
larger than the two islands of Great Britain and Ireland
united. Their population, at the present time, must
be something short of four millions.* If we fix it ai

* In 1820, the population of these three States, by the general
census, Was 3,003,614. But State censuses have since been
taken in several of the States. The Government of the United
States causes a census to be taken once in ten years, commencing
writh the year 1790. By this estimate the Representatives for
Congress are apportioned. When the States cause the intei •

I

NOTE OF THE POPULATION IN THREE STATES, 243

3,800,000, which is probably near the truth, it will
leave rather more than twenty souls to the square
mile. This is perhaps a little short of the rate of the
opulation of Russia in Europe, and more than one
greater than that of the kingdom of Sweden,
exclusive of Norway. But the same remark is appli
cable to those States, as that which has already been
made of New-England. There is a vast district in
the northern portion of New- York, which is not, nor
probably will not, for ages, be inhabited, except by a
tew hunters and lumber-men.* It must, however, be
remembered, that these States possess two second-
rate towns— New- York and Philadelphia i the former
of which contains 200,000, and the latter 150,000
inhabitants.! Those portions of New-York and Penn
sylvania which lie in their eastern sections, have
an air of populousness about equal to that already
described as belonging to New-England. The same
appearances are preserved by travelling on many of
the great routes to the interior, and there are num
berless counties, especially in New- York, extending
from its centre very nearly to its western border,
which not only appear, but which in truth are more
populous than many of the older districts. After
having left the Hudson some fifty or sixty miles, the
most material points of difference between the exter
nal aspect of New-England and of these States, are in
the newness and freshness of the buildings, orchards,
&c. &c., and in the greater recurrence of forest, or

mediate census to be taken, it is to answer the objects of their
internal policy. The representatives for the State legislative
bodies are frequently altered to meet the results. The census
of 1820 gave New-York 1,372*812 inhabitants; that of 1825,
1,616,000 5 the increase has been greatest, however, in the newer
State of Ohio, which has nearly doubled its population in tho
few intervening years.

* Men who fell the trees, and convert them into the various
objects of use, such as staves, shingles, &c.

t 1828.

244 HABITS OF SETTLERS- — EUROPEAN BLUNDERS.

of comparatively half-formed establishments, in the
latter than in the former.

You will always remember that the American, in
seeking a spot for his establishment, has great scope
for his election ; and that, in consequence, he invari
ably seeks the more fertile lands, or such spots as
afford desirable facilities for commerce or manufac
tures. Thus, valleys are occupied in succession fre
quently for a hundred miles, while the crests of the
mountains are left in the forest ; the fields of the hus
bandman gradually climbing their sides, as his grow
ing riches or greater necessities shall tempt him to
apply the axe. Some of the best of the land, and
many of the best agriculturists, however, are often
found on the summits of hills of a few hundred feet
in elevation. I think it is rather a peculiarity in
American scenery, that the mountains are, in com
mon, less abrupt, and more easily to be tilled, than
with us. This is a circumstance which adds to their
usefulness what it subtracts from their beauty. But
where such a variety of natural formation, no less
than of artificial improvement, exists in a country, it
is not easy to convey very accurate ideas of its ap
pearance, in a few words. The exceptions are so
numerous as to confound the images. You will know
how to make the proper allowances for my imper
fect descriptions, and I shall therefore pursue them,
in the confidence that I am addressing a man who
will not believe that a bear is to be seen in a dwell
ing, because he was told one was met in a forest at
no great distance from the place where it stands.
This confusion of ideas is the blunder of Europeans,
in picturing their images of American scenery as well
as of republican manners. They hear of churches,
academies, wild beasts, savages, beautiful women,
steam-boats, and ships; and, by means of a very su
perficial process, I am satisfied that nine in ten con
tract opinions which bring wolf, beauty, churches,

SAVAGES UNKNOWN IN THE OLDER PARTS. 245

and iwc/y-gun frigates in strange and fantastic collision.
Now, when one is in a thriving settlement, or suc
cession of settlements, in what is called the new
country, (and they are seen by thousands every
where), the only difference between the aspect of
things here and in Europe, is in the freshness of ob
jects, the absence of ancient monuments, the ordinary
national differences in usages and arrangement, an
air of life and business, always in favour of America,
and a few peculiarities which blend the conveniences
of civilized life with the remains of the wilderness,
in a manner that I shall shortly attempt to describe.

Once for all, dear Waller, I wish you to understand
that — a few peaceable and half-civilized remains of
tribes, that have been permitted to reclaim small
portions of land, excepted — an inhabitant of New-
York is actually as far removed from a savage as an
inhabitant of London. The former has to traverse
many hundred leagues of territory to enjoy even the
sight of an Indian, in a tolerably wild condition ; and
the latter may obtain a similar gratification at about
the same expense of time and distance, by crossing
the ocean to Labrador. A few degraded descend
ants of the ancient warlike possessors of this country
are indeed seen wandering among the settlements,
but the Indian must now be chiefly sought west of
the Mississippi, to be found in any of his savage
grandeur.

Cases do occur, beyond a doubt, in which luckless
individuals are induced to make their settlement in
some unpropitious spot where the current of emigra-
lion obstinately refuses to run. These subjects of an
unfortunate speculation are left to struggle for years
in a condition between rude civilization, and one ap
proaching to that of the hunter, or to abandon their
possessions, and to seek a happier section of the
country. Nine times in ten, the latter course is
adopted. But when this tide of emigration has set
Y2

246 THE PROGRESS OF A SETTLEMENT.

steadily towards any favoured point for a reasonable
time, it is absurd to seek for any vestige of a barba
rous life among the people. The emigrants carry
with them (I now speak of those parts of the country
I have seen) the wants, the habits, and the institu
tions, of an advanced state of society. The shop of
the artisan is reared simultaneously with the rude
dwelling of the farmer. The trunks of trees, piled
on each other, serve for both for a few years, and
then succeed dwellings of wood, in a taste, magnitude,
and comfort, that are utterly unknown to men of
similar means in any other quarter of the world,
which it has yet been my lot to visit. The little
school-house is shortly erected at some convenient
point, and a tavern, a store, (the American term for
a shop of all sales,) with a few tenements occupied
by mechanics, soon indicate the spot for a church,
and the site of the future village. From fifty or a
hundred of these centres of exertion, spread swarms
that in a few years shall convert mazes of dark forests
into populous, wealthy, and industrious counties.
The manufactures of Europe, of the Indies, and of
China, are seen exposed for sale, by the side of the
coarse products of the country; and the same indi
vidual who vends the axe to fell the adjoining forest,
can lay before your eyes a very tolerable specimen
of Lyons silk, of English broadcloth, of Nankins, of
teas, of coffees, or indeed of most of the more common
luxuries of life. The number and quality of the lat
ter increase with the growth of the establishment ;
and it is not too much to say, that an American vil
lage store, in a thriving part of the country, where
the settlements are of twenty years1 standing, can
commonly supply as good an assortment of the manu
factures of Europe, as a collection of shops in any
European country town; and, if the general nature of
their stock be considered, embracing, as it does, some
of the products of all countries, one much greater.

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE WILD BEASTS. 247

As to wild beasts, savages, &c. &LC. &c., they have
no existence in these regions. A solitary bear, or
panther, or even a wolf, wandering near the flocks
of a country twenty years old, has an effect like that
produced by an invasion. In the earlier days of the
settlement, it is a task to chase the ravenous beasts
from the neighbourhood. A price is offered foi their
heads, and for a time a mutual destruction against
the flocks on one side, and the beasts on the other, is
the consequence. In a year or two, this task is re
duced to an occasional duty. In a few more, it is
sought as an amusement : and ere the twenty years
expire, the appearance of a wolf among the Ameri
can farms is far less common than on the most ancient
plains of certain parts of France. Every man has
his rifle or his musket; and every man not only
knows how, but he is fond of using them against such
foes. Thus, you see, though wild beasts may be per
mitted, like Raphael's Seraphim, to encircle your pic
tures of American manners in faint relief, they must
rarely indeed be permitted to enter into the action
of the piece ; more especially if the scene be laid in
any of the settled portions of the three States that
form the subject of this letter.

We made part of this excursion in the public
stages, part with hired horses, and part in steam
boats. It is impossible to enter on a description of
the surface of the country we saw, for it included
mountains, valleys, and vast plains, intermingled in
such a manner as to render the task wearisome. We
had gone about fifty miles west of Albany, when my
companion desired the vehicle to stop, and invited
me to mount a gentle ascent on foot. On reaching
the summit, he turned and pointed to a view which
resembled none I had ever before witnessed.

We were travelling along the termination of a
range of mountains, which, running north and south,
fell gracefully away, in the former direction, into

248 AN AMERICAN INLAND VIEW.

what is called the valley of the Mohawk, before ihey
gradually rose again on the other side of that river.
The descent and the ascent were very similar, the
intervening country lying in broken and irregular ter
races, which often had the appearance of fertile val
leys, before the rich bottoms of the river are gained.
Our precise position was on the very brow of one
of the most projecting spurs of this broken range,
and it admitted of an uninterrupted prospect to the
north-east, and to the north-west, of the falling coun
try in our front, and of the rising hills opposite, that
could not have been contained in a circumference of
much less than two hundred miles. The view was
limited to what lay in advance of a line drawn nearly
east and west, the adjacent mountains presenting ob
stacles to our vision, further south. It was completely
an American scene, embracing all that admixture of
civilization, and of the forest, of the works of man,
and of the reign of nature, that one can so easily
imagine to belong to this country.

There was perhaps an equal distribution of field
and forest. The latter term is not, however, the best,
since it was a constant succession of open land and
of wood, in proportions which, without being exactly,
were surprisingly equal. You have stood upon a
height, and looked down upon a fertile French plain,
over which agriculture has been conducted on a scale
a little largerthari common. You may remember the
divisions formed by the hues of the grains of the
vineyards, -and of the grasses, which give to the whole
an air so chequered and remarkable. Now, by ex
tending the view to the size I have named, and en
larging these chequered spots to a corresponding
scale, you get a tolerably accurate idea of what I
would, describe. The dark green shadows are pro
duced by the foliage of a wood, reserved, perhaps,
for the use of half a dozen farms, and lying in a body,
(some common objection to culture influencing that

EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF THE VIEW. 249

number of proprietors to select adjacent ground for
their reservations,) and the fields of golden yellow,
or of various shades and hues, are produced by the
open fields. The distance diminishes the objects to
the eye, and brings the several parts so much in
union, as to lend to the whole the variegated aspect
of the sort of plain just mentioned. The natural
river which divides this glorious panorama in nearly
two equal parts, with its artificial rival,* and the
sweet meadows that border its banks, were conceal
ed beneath the brow of the last precipitous descent.
But countless farm-houses, with their capacious out
buildings, dotted the fields, like indicated spots on a
crowded map. From those in the near view, rose
the light vapoury summer smoke. The fields were
alive with herds, and with numberless and nearlj
imperceptible white atoms, which, but for their mo
tion, it would not have been easy to imagine flocks.
In the distance, though these more minute objects
were lost, habitations, barns, and pyramids of hay and
of grain, could be distinguished, until the power of
vision failed. Immediately at our feet, at the distance
of a few miles, lay a wide, rich terrace, intersected
with roads, that were bordered, as usual, by scattered
farm buildings, surrounded by their granaries and
barns. Near its centre, a cluster- of buildings assumed
the air of a hamlet. From among these roofs, rose
the spire of a country church. I was told that a
multitude of villages lay within the limits of the
view ; but as they were generally placed near some
stream, for the advantage of its water-power, the un
even formation of the land hid them from our sight.
The eye overlooked even the cities of Albany and
Troy, and rested, in that direction, on some of the
lesser spurs of the mountains of Vermont.

* The great canal, 360 miles in length.

250 PROGRESS OP SETTLEMENTS,

As I looked upon this scene, I felt it only wanted
the recollections and monuments of antiquity to give
it the deepest interest. The opinion might have
escaped my lips, amid the expressions of a sincere
delight. My companion gently touched an arm, and
directed my attention from the view to himself. He
was standing at my elbow with an open map of the
country in his hand. As he met my eye, he gravely
said, "You complain of the absence of association to
give its secret, and perhaps greatest charm which
such a sight is capable of inspiring. You complain
unjustly. The moral feeling with which a man of
sentiment and knowledge looks upon the plains of
your hemisphere, is connected with his recollections ;
here it should be mingled with his hopes. The same
effort of the mind is as equal to the one as to the
other. Examine this map. You see our position, and

S3u know the space that lies between us and the sea.
ow look westward, and observe how many degrees
of longitude, what broad reaches of territory must be
passed before you gain the limits of our establish
ments, and the consequent reign of abundance and
civilization." Here he dropped the map ; and I
fancied he even spoke with solemnity, as he con
tinued — "Count — ," he said, "you see that I

am a man of middle age : listen to what even my
short memory extends. Along the river which lies
hid in the deep valley before us, the labours of man
have existed for more than a century. There are
one or two shallow streams near us, along which the
enterprise of the settlers early directed itself. A few
miles to the west, we shall enter a little valley,
where a handfull of refugees from Ireland took up
their abodes some eighty years ago ; and there are
other insulated spots, where solitary individuals trust
ed to tlie savage, and raised their simple dwellings
before the war of the revolution. But that little
plain, at our feet, could have fed, and clothed, and

ASSOCIATION OF AN AMERICAN SCENE, 251

harboured all who were then scattered, not only
over the parts of the country I have shown you here,
but," sweeping his hand along the map, across states
and territories larger than those governed by most of
the European monarchs, "all of white colour, who
then inhabited these wide regions too. I remember
this country, Sir, as it existed in my childhood ; and
it is vain to say, it is a land without recollections
Draw a line from this spot, north and south, and all
of civilization that you shall see for a thousand miles
west, is what man has done since my infancy. You
exclude, by this boundary, far more than you gain in
the meagre exceptions. That view before you is
but a fac-simile of a thousand ethers* I know not
what honest pleasure is to be found in recollection,
that cannot be excited by a knowledge of these facts.
These are retrospects of the past, which, brief and
familiar as they are, lead the mind insensibly to
cheerful anticipations, which may penetrate into a
futurity as dim and as fanciful as any fictions the
warmest imaginations can conceive of the past. But
the speculator on moral things can enjoy a satisfaction
here, that he who wanders over the plains of Greece
will seek in vain. The pleasure of the latter, if he
be wise and good, is unavoidably tinged with melan
choly regrets ; while here all that reason allows may
be hoped for in behalf of man. Every one in medi
ocrity of circumstances has enjoyed some of that
interest which is attendant on the advancement of
those objects on which he has fastened a portion of
his affections. It may be the moral or physical im
provement of his child, — the embellishment of a gar
den, a paddock, a park, or of the conveniences of
some town ; but, depend on it, there is no pleasure
connected with any interest of this character, that is
commensurate with that we enjoy, who have seen
the birth, infancy, and youth, and who are now
about to become spectators of the maturity, of a

252 A PROSPECT FOR THE FUTURE.

whole country. We live in the excitement of a rapid
and constantly progressive condition. The impetus
of society is imparted to all its me mbers, and we ad
vance because we are not accusttmed to stand still.
Even the sagacious and enterprising New-England-
man, gets an additional impulse in such a living cur
rent ; the descendant of the Hollander is fast losing
his phlegm ; and men of all nations, hereditary habits
and opinions, receive an onward impulse by the
constant influence of such a communion. I have
stood upon this identical hill, and seen nine tenths of
its smiling prospect darkened by the shadows of the
forest. You observe what it is to-day. He who comes
a century hence, may hear the din of a city rising
from that very plain, or find his faculties confused
by the number and complexity of its works of art."

Cadwallader ceased, and we re-entered the car
riage in silence. He had spoken with his customary
warmth and decision, but I felt that he had spoken
the truth. I began to look around me with new eyes,
and instead of seeking subjects of exulting comparison
between what I saw here and what I had left behind
me, I found new subjects of admiration and of won
der at every turn. You may be assured I was not
so ignorant as to forget that the first step in all im
provements is more imposing than the subsequent ;
that to clear a country of its wood is in itself a greater
visible change, than to supply the place of the latter
with the more finished accompaniments of civiliza
tion ; but the progress of which I was a witness,
bounded itself by no such vulgar deception.

Shortly after this detention, we entered the village
of Cherry-Valley, which was the spot named by my
friend as the place originally occupied by the Irish
emigrants. It is a village of perhaps a hundred dwell
ings, seated on a little plain, and is remarkable for
nothing, amid its numberless, neat, spacious, and con
venient sisters. This place, now rather east of the

COOPERSTOWN — RATE OF POPULATION. 253

centre of the State, was, during the war of the revo
lution, the frontier settlement in this part of the
United States. At present, two thirds of the State
of New- York, and the whole of the large States of
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, lie nearly in a line due
west. It was ravaged and burnt by an incursion of
the British and Indians from Canada, during the war,
and many a dreary tale is told of the bloody incidents
of that day. I was shown a dwelling (a modern one)
on whose site a whole family had been cut off, with
the exception of a lad, then a boy at some distant
school. This boy, nearly if not the sole survivor of
his race, afterwards became one of the most distin
guished advocates of America. He is recently dead,
and is spoken of universally in terms of admiration
and esteem.*

Our route now lay, for many miles, amid moun
tains. The scenery was always striking — sometimes
wild and peculiar, at others as soft and lovely as val
leys, streams, and quiet, could make it. We passed
the night at Cooperstown, the shire or county town
of Otsego. As we were now completely off all the
great routes west, and in a part of the country that
had been settled about forty years, I profited by the
opportunity to make a few statistical inquiries, that
may serve to give a tolerably accurate general idea
of this portion of the country.

The county of Otsego covers, as near as I could
ascertain, less than a thousand square miles. Its
population in 1826 was 47,000 souls. By allowing
for the increase of numbers since, the proportion will
give rather more than fifty inhabitants to the square
mile. Cooperstown is the largest place in the county,
containing less than fifteen hundred inhabitants, and
consequently this is the rate of the agricultural and
manufacturing population of an entirely inland, and

* The late John Wells, of New-York.
VOL. I. Z

254 DESCRIPTIONS IN "THE PIONEERS."

rather secluded, portion of the State. The village is
neat, better built even than is common in America,
which is vastly better (for villages) than any thing of
the sort in Europe. It lies on one of the smallest of
those lakes with which New- York abounds.

There resided formerly near this village a gentle
man who is the reputed author* of a series of tales,
which were intended to elucidate the history, man
ners, usages, and scenery, of his native country. As
curiosity on American subjects has led to their re-
publication in Europe, you may possibly have seen
the books. One of them (the " Pioneers") is said to
contain some pretty faithful sketches of certain habits,
and even of some individuals who were known among
the earlier settlers of this very spot. I cannot pledge
myself for the accuracy of this opinion, nor could any
one be found here who appeared to possess sufficient
information on the subject to confirm it. But, so far
as natural objects are concerned, the descriptions are
sufficiently exact, and will fortunately save me the
trouble of repetition. My present object, however,
in referring to the book, is to lead you to a peculiarity
that, I think, distinguishes not only this precise spot,
but most others, within the limits of what is called
the " new countries. "t YOM will find the stumps,
wild-looking and dead trees, with other evidences of
a recent origin, frequently alluded to in the descrip
tions of the Pioneers. There is certainly some dif
ference in the duration of these relics of the forest,
according to the durable qualities of the original
growth of timber. Still, more or less of these rude

* The Americans, like the English, rarely put their names to
any light works.

t The Americans call all that portion of their territory which
has been settled since the revolution "new." If the State has
been created since that period, it is a " new State ;" but Otsego,
and indeed all of New- York, is already getting, by comparison,
to be " old."

MODL OF CLEARING LAJvD. 255

and ungainly accompaniments are still to be found
in two thirds of the landscapes of these regions. The
stumps of the deciduous trees disappear in a few sea
sons ; but where there have been many of a peren
nial growth, a century will scarcely serve to destroy
them.

You will recollect, that those descriptions of
girdled trees, of which we read in Europe, as forming
a part of American scenery, are rather exceptions,
than characteristic. It is a manner of improving
certainly m rh practised at the south, and sometimes
in the more northern States ; but it is far from being
either the best, or the ordinary mode of clearing land,
in any great section of the country. The tree is
commonly felled by cutting it at such a distance from
the earth, as may be most convenient to the stature
of the chopper. The trunk is then divided into suit
able lengths, and the branches are severed, and col
lected. With the exceptions of such trees as are
selected for lumber, the whole are piled in heaps of
sufficient size to insure their consumption by fire.
The latter process is called logging. The brand is
next applied, and the whole field is subjected to a
temporary, but fierce action of the element. Nothing
can be more dreary and savage in aspect, than an
extensive plain, or a valley, which has thus been com
pletely blackened by fire. They are frequent in the
newer districts, but comparatively rare in those of
ten or fifteen years' establishment.

The admixture of civilization with these wild-
looking memorials of a state of nature, is, indeed, the
chief distinctive feature between a landscape in the
newer districts of America, and one in our own Eu
rope. There are certainly other points of difference,
but I should describe this as the principal and most
striking. One can soon become accustomed to the
universal use of fences ; to even what appears to be

256 FRESH APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY.

a prodigal waste of wood in their construction ;* and
to that air of newness and freshness which is so very
striking, in the villages, farm-houses, out-buildings,
and, indeed, every thing artificial one sees. But time
and reflection are necessary to understand the situa
tion of a country, in which academies, churches,
towns, and, in short, most things which an advanced
state of civilization can produce, are blended with
objects that commonly mark an infant state of society.
There is no difficulty in comprehending the growth
of Petersburg, or of Odessa, for one s°es the hand
of the autocrat in their works; but in America,
all beyond that which nature has done, is the spon
taneous work of the population. There are certainly
vast tracts of country where these coarser evidences
of infancy have already disappeared; but they are
still to be found in many others, even in the com
paratively old establishments of the western parts
of New- York and Pennsylvania.

* The American fences vary according to the quarter of the
country in which they are situated. They are often well built,
and even handsome, low walls of stone. The writer saw not
only farms, but large districts, subdivided into fields of from five
to fifty acres in this manner. Next to these, are fences, of which
the basements are made of stone, and the summits of rails. Posts
and rails come next, and are found every where in the second
stage of improvement. A fence that is called a " worm fence,"
from its being composed of rails with the ends alternately laid
on each other, in the form of a screen, is much in use, especially
where the abundance of timber renders labour a greater object
than wood. The first, and certainly the most natural, if not
the most durable, division of the land, is by what is called the
" log-fence." This is formed by laying the trunks of trees in a
line, with their ends doubling for a couple of feet. Notches are
cut in the ends of these logs, and billets of wood are laid in them
to connect the ends. The upper sides of the billets are also
notched, and they serve for the foundations of new tiers. Three
logs piled in this manner make an efficient fence. The duration
is, of course, according to the quality of the tree. Perhaps ten
years may be fixed for the average. Hedges are very rare.
Fences are sometimes made of stumps, extracted by the roots
from the earth.

V 257 )

TO SIR EDWARD WALLER, BART.
&c. Sec.

New- York,

THE day after we had quitted Cooperstown, we
saw a collection of people assembled in front of an
inn, which was the principal edifice in a hamlet of
perhaps a dozen houses. Cadwallader told me this
was the first day of the State election, and that this
spot was one of the polls, a name which answers in
some degree to the English term, "hustings." Fortu
nately, the stage changed horses at the inn, and I had
an opportunity of examining the incipient step in
that process which literally dictates all the national
policy of this great republic.

Although each State controls its own forms, not
only in the elections, but in every thing elbe, a de
scription of the usages of one poll will be sufficiently
near the truth to give a correct general idea of them
all. I now speak literally only of the State of New-
York, though, generally, of the whole Union. The
elections occur once a year.* They last three days.
In the large towns, they are stationary, there being
no inconvenience in such an arrangement where the
population is dense, and the distances short. But in
the country they are held on each successive day at
a different place, in order to accommodate the voters.
The State is divided into counties, which cover, on
an average, 900 square miles each. Some are, how-

* There is one State where they occur twice — the little State
of Rhode Island, which is still governed by the form of its an
cient charter, as granted by Charles II. in 1663. As this is prac
tically the most democratic State in the Union, it affords pretty
good evidence that the experiment of a democratic government
is not so new in America as some pretend.
Z2

258 MANNER OF ELECTIONS.

ever, larger, and some smaller. These counties are
again subdivided into townships, covering, perhaps,
eighty or ninety square miles. There is, also, great
inequality in the size of these minor districts. These
are the two great divisions of territory for all the
ordinary purposes of government and police. The
counties have courts of their own, and a certain
sort of legislative body, which regulates many of
their financial affairs. In order that the whole sub
ject, however, may be rendered as clear as possible,
we will begin at the base, and ascend to the super
structure of their government.

The most democratic assemblage known to the
laws, in which legal and binding resolutions can be
enacted, are the town meetings. Any number of the
people may assemble when and where they please,
to remonstrate, to petition, or even to plot, if they
see fit ; but their acts can only be recommendatory.
The town meetings are held annually, and every citi
zen who has attained his majority can vote. A mode
rator (no bad name for a perfectly popular assembly)
is chosen by acclamation to preside. The meeting
is commonly held in some school-house, but very often
in the open air. In some places, though rarely,
there are town-houses. At these meetings, all the
town officers are chosen. They consist of a super
visor ; three assessors, who apportion all the taxes
on the individuals, whether imposed by town, county,
state, or United States ; collectors, who collect all
the taxes, except those laid by the United States
government, which in time of peace, are just nothing
at all ; a town-clerk, who keeps certain registers ;
constable, poor-officers, overseers of highways, path-
masters, and a few others. The names of most of
these officers indicate their duties. The overseers
of the highway are the men who lay out the ordinary
roads of the town, and who say how much tax each
individual shall contribute in work or in money; and

PROCEEDINGS AT A TOWN MEETING. 259

the path-masters inspect the labour. Men of prop
erty and education frequently seek the latter employ,
ment. The voting in this popular assembly may be
by ballot, but it is generally done by acclamation.
There is a penalty if an individual refuse to serve,
though they are sometimes excused by the citizens,
if a good reason can be rendered. The courts have
also a discretionary power in imposing and in laying
fines. I was present during the course of this excur
sion at one of these town meetings. There might
have been two hundred citizens assembled before the
door of a large school-house. Much good-humour
was blended with a sufficient despatch of business.
The Americans mingle with a perfect consciousness
of their influence on the government, an admirable
respect for the laws and institutions of their country.
I heard jokes, and one or two open nominations of
men of property and character, to fill the humble
offices of constable and pound-keeper; but the most
perfect good sense and practical usefulness appeared
to distinguish all their decisions. There was a con
test for the office of supervisor, and it was decided
by a close vote. The two candidates were present,
and on seemingly very good terms. They were re
spectable looking yeomen, and he who lost told his
rival that he thought the people had shown their
judgment. There was no noise, no drinking, nor
any excitement beyond that which one would feel
in seeing an ordinary foot-race. One farmer ob
served, that the crows had got the taste of his
corn, and unless something was done, there could
be little hope for the year's crop. He therefore
would propose that a reward of six cents should be
paid for every dozen that should be killed, within
their town, for the next six months. The resolution
was opposed by a hatter, who insisted that he could
take care of his hats, and that the farmers ought to
take care of their corn. This logic was unsuccess-

260 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, WITH ITS POWER.

ful; the price was reduced a trifle, and the resolution
was passed. It was then just as much a law as that
which hangs a man for murder. The sum voted to
meet the expense was to be apportioned with the
other taxes, among the citizens, by the assessors, col
lected by the collector, received and paid by another
officer, &c. &c. After this important act of legisla
tion, the meeting adjourned.

The next body in the scale of the government is
the board of supervisors. It is composed of the su
pervisors of each town in a county, who have a very
similar legislative authority over the more familiar
interests of the county, as is possessed by their con
stituents in the towns themselves. They impose
taxes for all objects connected with the expenses of
the county. Their authority is, however, a good
deal circumscribed ; enactments by the State legisla
ture being often necessary to enforce their recom
mendations. When the question involves an expense
heavier than common, and its effects are entirely
local, the question is often referred to a final decision
of the people in their town meetings. This board
audits the accounts, and I believe it appoints a trea
surer for the county. So far you see the process of
government is exceedingly simple. The whole legis
lative duty is discharged in three or four days, and
yet the decisions have great influence on the comfort
and property of the people. The duties of the offi
cers named, continue for one year, but the same in
cumbents are frequently continued for a whole life,
especially the collectors, treasurers, constables, and
clerks.

Each town is also subdivided into school districts,
and road districts. There are overseers of the schools,
who regulate all that belongs to the familiar duties of
the common schools of the country, to which any
body may go.

Each township is also a petty electoral district of

ELECTORAL DISTRICTS. 261

itself, for all the ordinary purposes of the State and the
United States' elections, which are held at the same
time and place. The three stations taken for the
convenience of the elections, as already mentioned,
are selected by the inspectors of the poli, who are
five or six of the town officers, named by law, and of
course chosen annually by the people in their original
capacity Each county chooses its own representa
tives to the lower branch of the State legislature, the
number being according to the amount of the popu
lation. The State is again divided into what are
called senatorial districts, composed of se/eral con
tiguous counties, each of which chooses a certain
number of representatives, who sit in the upper body
of the State legislature. Each State has a right to
send to the lower House of Congress a number of re
presentatives, in proportion to its entire population.
These representatives must be chosen by the people,
but the States themselves may regulate the form
Some choose them by a general ticket ; that is to say
each citizen votes for the whole number ; and some
choose them by districts, in which case each citizen
votes for the member, or members, who represent
his particular district. The latter is the course
adopted by New- York, and in most of the other large
States, in which it is difficult for the characters of so
many individuals to be intimately known to every
body.

Now, complicated as this system may seem in
words, it is perfectly simple in practice. It is aston
ishing how clearly it is understood by those who ex
ercise it, and how difficult it is to make a foreigner
get a correct idea of its details. All the elections,
except those which are made at the town meetings,
where other duties necessarily assemble the citizens,
are held at the same time, and at the same place.
Thus an American, in one of the more populous
States, can exercise all his constitutional rights at an

262 MANNER OF BALLOTING.

expense commonly of a ride of four or fi\7e miles at
the outside, and of three hours of time.

The election on the present occasion embraced
senators, (always for the State,) representatives in
the assembly,* governor, lieutenant-governor, &c.
The inspectors were assembled in a quiet room of
the inn, with the ballot-boxes placed before them, on
a table. The voters entered at their leisure, and de
livered their different ballots to the officers, who,
holding them up as lottery numbers are usually ex
hibited, called the name of the voter aloud, and then
deposited the ballot in its proper box. " I challenge
that vote," cried an individual, as the name of one
man was thus proclaimed. It appeared that there
were doubts of its legality. An inquiry was instituted,
an oath proffered, explanations were made, and the
challenge was withdrawn. The vote was then re
ceived. Any one who votes may challenge. No
thing could be more quiet and orderly than this meet
ing. A few handbills were posted around the house,
proclaiming the names, and extolling the qualities of
the different candidates, and I heard one or two men
disputing the wisdom of certain public measures,
rather in irony than in beat. The election was not,
however, esteemed a warm one, and perhaps quite
one third of the people did not attend the polls at all.
Mr. Clinton, the governor, under whose administra
tion the canal policy, as it is called, has been fostered,
had declined a re-election, at the expiration of the
official term preceding the one now in existence.
His place had been filled by another. In the mean
time, his political adversaries, profiting by a momen
tary possession of a legislative majority, had ventured

* The more popular branch of the State legislature, as it ia
sometimes called, though both are popular alike. The difference
is principally in the term of service, and in some little exercise
of power.

MR. CLINTON AVENGED BY THE PEOPLE. 263

to assail him in a manner the people were not dis
posed to relish. He was removed from a seat at the
** canal board," a measure which was undoubtedly
intended to separate him, as far as possible, from a
policy that was already conferring incalculable ad
vantage on the State. The instant Cadwallader was
told of this ill-advised and illiberal measure, he ex
claimed, that the political adversaries of this gentle
man had reseated him in the chair of the government.
When asked for an explanation, my friend answered,
that the people, though they sometimes visited politi
cal blunders with great severity, rarely tolerated per
secution. The event has justified his predictions.
Although a popular candidate was selected to oppose
him, Mr. Clinton has triumphed in this election by
an immense majority, and, in a few days, he will
become governor of the State for another term of two
years.*

After quitting the poll, we familiarly discussed the
merits and demerits of this system of popular elec
tions. In order to extract the opinions of my friend,
several of the more obvious and ordinary objections
were started, with a freedom that induced him to
speak with some seriousness.

" You see a thousand dangers in universal suffrage,"
he said, " merely because you have been taught to
think so, without ever having seen the experiment
tried. The Austrian would be very apt to say, under
the influence of mere speculation too, that it would
be fatal to government to have any representation at
all ; and a vizier of the Grand Turk might find the
mild exercise of the laws, which is certainly practised
in Austria Proper, altogether fatal to good order.

* No voter can put in two ballots, since all are compelled to
place them in the hands of an inspector. In case two ballots
are found rolled together, both are rejected. Thus fraud is im
possible.

264 UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE.

Now we know, not from the practice of fifty years
only, but from the practice of two centuries, that it
is very possible to have both order and prosperity
under a form of government which admits of the ut
most extension of the suffrage. It is a never-failing
argument on these subjects, that American order is
owing to the morality of a simple condition of life,
and that our prosperity is incidental to our particular
geographical situation. There are many good men,
and, in other respects, wise men, even among our
selves, who retain so much of the political theory
which pervades the literature of our language, as to
believe the same thing. For myself, I cannot see the
truth of either of these positions. Our prosperity is
owing to our intelligence, and our intelligence to our
institutions. Every discreet man in America is deeply
impressed with the importance of diffusing instruction
among our people, just as many very well-meaning
persons in your hemisphere honestly enough entertain
a singular horror of the danger of school-books. Thus
it is, our natural means of safety to do the very thing
which must, of necessity, have the greatest possible
influence on the happiness, civilization, and power,
of a nation.

" There can be no doubt that, under a bald theory,
a representation would be all the better if the most
ignorant, profligate, and vagabond part of the com
munity, were excluded from the right of voting. It
is just as true, that if all the rogues and corrupt poli
ticians, even including those who read Latin, and
have well-lined pockets, could be refused the right
of voting, honest men would fare all the better. But
as it is very well known that the latter are not, nor
cannot well be excluded from the right of suffrage
any where, except in a despotism, we have come to
the conclusion, that it is scarcely worth while to do
so much violence to natural justice, without sufficient
reason, as to disfranchise a man merely because he

NATURAL PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT. 265

is poor. Though a trifling qualification of property
may sometimes he useful, in particular conditions of
society, there can be no greater fallacy than its re
presentation. The most vehement declaimers in fa
vour of the justice of the representation of property,
overlook two or three very important points of the
argument. A man may be a voluntary associate in
a joint-stock company, and justly have a right to a
participation in its management, in proportion to his
pecuniary interest ; but life is not a chartered insti
tution. Men are born with all their wants and pas
sions, their means of enjoyment, and their sources of
misery, without any agency of their own, and fre
quently to their great discomfort. Now, though gov
ernment is, beyond a doubt, a sort of compact, it
would seem that those who prescribe its conditions
are under a natural obligation to consult the rights
of the whole. If men, when a little better than com
mon, were any thing like perfect, we might hope to
see power lodged with safety in the hands of a rea
sonable portion of the enlightened, without any dan
ger of its abuse. But the experience of the world
goes to prove, that there is a tendency to monopoly,
wherever power is reposed in the hands of a minor
ity. Nothing is more likely to be true, than that
twenty wise men will unite in opinion in opposition
to a hundred fools ; but nothing is more certain than
that, if placed in situations to control all the interests
of their less gifted neighbours, the chance is, that
fifteen or sixteen of them would pervert their phi
losophy to selfishness. This was at least our political
creed, and we therefore admitted a vast majority of
the community to a right of voting. Since the hour of
the revolution, the habits, opinions, laws, and I may
say principles of the Americans, are getting daily to
be more democratic. We are perfectly aware, that
while the votes of a few thousand scattered individu
als can make no great or lasting impression on the
VOL. I. A a

266 EFFECTS OF AN EXTENDED SUFFRAGE.

prosperity or policy of the country, their disaffection
at being excluded might give a great deal of trouble.
I do not mean to say that the suffrage may not, in
most countries, be extended too far. I only wish to
show you that it is not here.

" The theory of representation of property says,
that the man who has little shall not dispose of the
money of him who has more.* Now, what say ex
perience and common sense? It is the man who
has much that is prodigal of the public purse. A sum
that is trifling in his account, may constitute the sub
stance of one who is poorer. Beyond all doubt, the
government of the world, which is most reckless of
the public money, is that in which power is the ex
clusive property of the very rich ; and, beyond all
doubt, the government of the world which, compared
with its means, is infinitely the most sparing of its
resources, is that in which they who enact the laws
are compelled to consult the wishes of those who
have the least to bestow. It is idle to say that an
enlarged and liberal policy governs the measures of
the one, and that the other is renowned for a narrow
ness which has lessened its influence and circum
scribed its prosperity. I know not, nor care not,
what men, who are dazzled with the glitter of things,
may choose to say, but I am thoroughly convinced,
from observation, that if the advice of those who
were influenced by what is called a liberal policy,
had been followed in our country, we should have
been a poorer and, consequently, a less important
and less happy people than at present. The relations
between political liberality, and what is called politi
cal prodigality, are wonderfully intimate.

" We find that our government is cheaper, and

* When the numbers of those who have nothing, get to be so
great as to make their voices of importance, it is time to think
of some serious change.

CAUSES OF AMERICAN ECONOMY. 267

even stronger, for being popular. There is no doubt
that the jealousy of those who have little, often in
duces a false economy, and that money might fre
quently be saved by bidding higher for talent. We
lay no claims to perfection, but we do say, that more
good is attained in this manner than in any other
which is practised elsewhere. We look at the ag
gregate of advantage, and neither our calculations
nor our hopes have, as yet, been greatly deceived.

" As to the forms of our elections, you see that
they are beyond example simple and orderly. After
an experience of near forty years, I can say that I
have never seen a blow struck, nor any other violent
proceeding, at a poll. These things certainly do hap
pen, but, in comparison with the opportunities, at
remarkably long intervals. So far from the frequency
of elections tending to disturb society, they produce
an exactly different effect. A contest which is so
soon to be repeated loses half its interest by famili
arity. Vast numbers of electors are content to be
lookers-on, rarely approaching a poll, except to vote
on some question of peculiar concern. The struggle
is generally whether A or B shall enjoy the temporary
honour or the trifling emolument in dispute, the com
munity seldom being much the better or the worse
for the choice. People talk of the fluctuations which
are necessarily the consequences of a popular gov
ernment. They do not understand what they say,
Every other enlightened nation of the earth is at this
moment divided between great opposing principles ;
whereas here, if we except the trifling collisions of
pecuniary interests, every body is of the same mind,
except as to the ordinarily immaterial question of a
choice between men. We have settled all the formi
dable points of policy, by conceding every thing that
any reasonable man can ask. The only danger which
exists to the duration of our confederacy (and that is
not a question of a form of government, but one of

268 EXTENDED CORRUPTION IMPOSSIBLE.

mere policy), proceeds from the little that is aristo-
cratical in our Union. The concentrated power of
a State may become, like the overgrown power of an
individual, dangerous to our harmony; though we
think, and with very good reason, that, on the whole,
even this peculiarity adds to the durability of the
Union.

" It is unnecessary to say, that so far as mere conve
nience goes, this method of election can be practised
by a hundred millions of people, as easily as by
twelve. As to corruption, comparatively speaking,
it cannot exist. No man can buy a state, a county,
or even a town. In a hotly contested election, it is
certainly sometimes practicable to influence votes
enough to turn the scale ; but, unless the question in
volve the peculiar interests of the less fortunate class
of society, it is clear both parties can tribe alike, and
then the evil corrects itself. If the question be one
likely to unite the interests and the prejudices of the
humbler classes, nine times in ten it is both more
humane and wiser that they should prevail. That
sort of splendid and treacherous policy, which gives
a fallacious lustre to a nation by oppressing those
who have the most need of support, is manifestly as
unwise as it is unjust. It violates the very principles
of the compact, since governments are not formed to
achieve, but to protect. After a sufficient force has
been obtained to effect the first great objects of the
association, the governed, and not the governors, are
the true agents in every act of national prosperity,
Look at America. What people, or what monarch,
if you will, has done half so much as we have done,
(compared to our means,) in the last half century,
and precisely for the reason that the government is
obliged to content itself with protection, or, at the
most, with that assistance which, in the nature of
tilings, strictly requires a concentrated action.

" It is of far less importance, according to our no-

THE AMERICANS ARE REFORMERS. 269

tions, what the executive of a nation is called, than
that all classes should have a direct influence on its
policy. We have no king, it is true, for the word
carries with it, to our ears, an idea of expenditure;
but we have a head, who, for the time being, has a
very reasonable portion of power. We are not jeal
ous of him, for we have taken good care he shall do
no harm.

" Though we are glad to find that principles which
we have practised, and under which we have pros
pered so long, are coming more in fashion in Europe,
I think you must do us the justice to say, that we are
not a nation much addicted to the desire of prose
lyting. For ourselves we have no fears, and as for
other people, if they make some faint imitations of
our system, and then felicitate themselves on their
progress, we are well content they should have all
the merit of inventors. That is a miserable rivalry,
which would make a monopoly of happiness. I think,
as a people, we rather admire you most when we see
you advancing with moderation to your object, than
when we hear of the adoption of sudden and violent
means. We have ever been reformers rather than
revolutionists. Our own struggle for independence
was not in its aspect a revolution. We contrived to
give it all the dignity of a war, from the first blow.
Although our generals and soldiers might not have
been so well trained as those they fought against, they
were far more humane, considerate, and, in the end,
successful, than their adversaries. Our own progress
has been gradual. It is not long since a trifling re«
striction existed on the suffrage of this very State.
Experience proved that it excluded quite as many
discreet men as its removal would admit of vaga
bonds. Now it is the distinguishing feature of our
policy, that we consider man a reasonable being, and
that we rather court, than avoid, the struggle be
tween ignorance and intelligence. We find that this

\ ft 9
j.V a ~

?70 THE AMERICANS INVITE CHANGE.

policy rarely fails to assure the victory of the latter,
while it keeps down its baneful monopolies. We
extended the suffrage to include every body, and
while complaint is removed, we find no difference in
the representation. As yet, it is rather an improve
ment. Should it become an evil, however, we shall
find easy and moderate means to change it, since we
are certain that a majority will be sufficiently saga
cious to know their own interests. You have only
to convince us that it is the best government, and we
will become an absolute, monarchy to-morrow. It is
wonderful how prone we are to adopt that which
expectation induces us to think will be expedient,
and to reject that which experience teaches us is bad.
It must be confessed that, so far, all our experiments
have been in favour of democracy. I very well
know that you in Europe prophesy that our career
will end in monarchy. To be candid, your prophe
cies excite but little feeling here, since we have taken
up the opinion you don't very well understand the
subject. But should it prove true, a la bonne heure ;
when we find that form of government best, depend
on it, we shall not hesitate to adopt it. You are at
perfect liberty, if you will, to establish a journal in
favour of despotism under the windows of the Capi
tol. I will riot promise you much patronage at first,
neither do I think you will be troubled with much
serious opposition. At all events, there is nothing in
the law to molest the speculation. Now look behind
you at the "poll" we have just left; reflect on this
fact, and then draw your conclusions, of our own
opinion, of 'the stability of our institutions. We may
deceive ourselves, but you of Europe must exhibit a
far more accurate knowledge of the state of our
country, before we shall rely on your crude prognos
tics rather than on our own experience."

I could scarcely assure myself that Cadwallader
was not laughing at me during a good deal of the time

OBSTINACY OF THE AMERICANS. 271

he was speaking, but after all, it must be confessed
there is some common sense in what he said. There
were three or four other passengers in the stage, men
of decent and sober exterior, among whom I detected
certain interchanges of queer glances, though none
of them appeared to think the subject of any very
engrossing interest. Provoked at their unreasonable
indifference to a theme so delightful as liberty, I asked
one of them " If he did not apprehend there would
be an end to the republic, should General Jackson
become the next President / " "I rather think not,"
was his deliberate, and somewhat laconic answer.
" Why not ? he is a soldier, and a man of ambition."
My unmoved yeoman did not care to dispute either
of these qualities, but he still persevered in thinking
there was not much danger, since " he did not know
any one in his neighbourhood who was much disposed
to help a man in such an undertaking."

It is provoking to find a whole nation dwelling in
this species of alarming security, for no other reason
than that their vulgar and every-day practices teach
them to rely on themselves, instead of trusting to the
rational inferences of philanthropic theorists, who
have so long been racking their ingenuity to demon
strate that a condition of society which has delusively
endured for nearly two hundred years, has been in
existence all that time in direct opposition to the
legitimate deductions of the science of government.

( 272 )
TO SIR EDWARD WALLER, BART.

Philadelphia, .

SINCE my last letter, I have visited New-Jersey,
the eastern parts of Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
With the exception of Maine, Illinois, and Indiana,
(quite new States,) I have now seen something of all
those communities, which, in common parlance, are
called the " free States," in contradistinction to those
which still encourage the existence of domestic
slavery. As respects this material point of policy,
the confederation is nearly equally divided in the
number of States, thirteen having virtually gotten rid
of slavery, and eleven still adhering to the system.
The difference between the white population, how
ever, is vastly more in favour of the " free States."
We shall not be far out of the way, in stating the
whole of the white population of the United States
at a little more than ten millions. Of this number,
near, if not quite, seven millions are contained in the
thirteen northern, middle, and north-western States.

This portion of the Union is governed by the same
policy, and its inhabitants seek their prosperity in the
same sources of wealth and in the same spirit of im
provement. More than half of them are either natives
of New-England, or are descended from those who
were born in that district of the country. Together,
the States I have named cover a surface of little less
than 300,000 square miles. If the territory of Michi
gan be included, (which is not yet sufficiently popu
lous to. be a State,) the amount will be swelled to
near 330,000. The former will give rather more
than twenty-three to the square mile, as the rate of
the whole population on the whole surface. But in

POPULATION FAVOUl*!iBLE TO LIBERTY. 273

making the estimate, what I have already said of the
vast regions that are not peopled at all, must be kept
in view. Perhaps one third of the territory should
be excluded from the calculation altogether. This
would leave something more than thirty to the square
mile, for the average. But even this estimate is neces
sarily delusive, as it is known that in the old States
there are sixty and seventy souls to the square mile,
and in some parts of them many more.

In the course of reflection on this subject, I have
been led to inquire when these republics are to reach
that ratio of population which, of necessity, is to
compel them to adapt their institutions to the usages
of European policy. The result is not quite so con
clusive as one might at first be disposed to believe. I
find that despotism flourishes with little or no oppo
sition in Russia, a country of about twenty-five to the
square mile; in Turkey, one of about fifty;* in Spain,
one of, say sixty; in Denmark, one of about eighty,
&c. &c. ; and that liberty is beginning to thrive, or
has long thriven, in England, one of more than two
hundred , in the Netherlands, one of an equal rate ;
and, in short, in France, in several of the most popu
lous states of Germany, some of which mount as
high as six and nine hundred to the square mile, more
particularly the free towns !

Here is pretty clear evidence, by that unanswer
able argument — fact, that the populousness of a
country is not necessarily to control the freedom or
despotism of its institutions. But the United States
have carried the freedom of their institutions too far,
since they go much farther than we have ever found
it wise or safe to go in Europe. England herself has
stopped short of such excessive freedom. The latter
position is certainly much nearer to the truth than
the other, and yet if we should assemble even the

* Both in Europe.

274 AN ARGUMENT IN THE CLUB.

travelled brethren of our own club, and put the ques
tion to them — "How far do you think that liberty
and equality of political rights can be carried in a
government, without danger to its foundations ?" — it
would be seen that the replies would smack a little
of the early impressions of the different worthies who
compose the fraternity. Let us fancy ourselves for a
moment in solemn conclave on this knotty point,
and we will endeavour to anticipate the different
answers. We will begin with the Prince Andre
Kutmynoseandeyesoff.

" I am of opinion," says our accomplished, intelli
gent, and loyal prince, " that without a vast standing
army, a nation can neither secure its frontiers, nor
on occasion bring them properly within a ring fence.
In what manner is a serf to be made to respect his
lord, unless he see that the latter can enforce his
rights by having recourse to the bayonet, or in what
manner is even rank among ourselves to be regulated,
without a common centre whence it must flow ? It
would be utterly impossible to keep an empire com
posed of subjects born in the arctic circle and sub
jects born on the Caspian, men speaking different
languages, and worshipping Jesus and Mahomet, to
gether, without such a concentration of power as
shall place each in salutary fear of the ruler. It is
quite clear that a nation without a vast standing
army "

"I beg pardon for the interruption, mon Prince,"
cries Professor Jansen : " I agree with you in toto,
except as to the army. Certainly no spectacle is
more beautiful than that of a kind and benevolent
monarch, dwelling in the midst of his people like a
father in the bosom of a vast family, and at once the
source of order and the fountain of honour. Still I
can see no great use in an overgrown army, which
infallibly leads to a waste of money and a mispend-
ing of time. Soldiers are unquestionably necessary

DIFFERENCE Ift OPINIONS. 275

to prevent invasion or aggression, and to be in readi
ness to look down any sudden attempts at revolution ;
but they are dangerous and extravagant playthings.
When a sovereign begins to stir his battalions as he
does his chess-men, one can never calculate what
move he means to make next ; and as to rank, what
can ba more venerable or more noble than the class
of Counts, for instance — [" Hear, hear," from Sir
Edward Waller] — a set of nobles who hold so happy
and so respected an intermediate station between the
prince and his people ? That is clearly the happiest
government in the whole world, where the labour of
•uling is devolved on one man : but I shall always
protest against the wisdom of a large standing army."

" Quant a moi" observes the colonel, making an
applogetic bow, " I cannot agree with either the one
or the other. An army before all things, but no des
pot ; and, least of all, a despot who does nothing but
stay at home and vegetate on his throne. If I must
have an absolute monarch, King Stork any day to
King Log. In my youth, I will confess, certain
visions of glory floated before my eyes, and conquest
appeared the best good of life ; but time and hard
service have weakened these impressions, and I can
now plainly perceive all the advantages of La Charte.
In a constitutional monarchy, one can enjoy the ad
vantages of a despotism without any of its disadvan
tages. You have an army to vindicate the national
honour, as ready, as brave, and as efficient, as though
the power of its head were unlimited ; and yet you
have not the constant danger of lettres de cachet, Das-
tiles, and monks. By a judicious division of estates,
those odious monopolies, which have so fatal a ten
dency to aristocracy "

" if vou stop there, dear Jules," interrupts a cer
tain Sir Edward Waller, " we shall be in the ma
jority, and the question is our own. Nothing can be
more dangerous than a despotism, every one must

276 SHADES IN REASONING.

allow" (though two worthy members had just held
the contrary doctrine.) " But you are touching on
the very thing now, that must unavoidably prove fatal
to your monarchy, la charte, and all, since it is clear,
that a monarch needs the support of an aristocracy,
and an aristocracy is nothing without money. — An
enlightened, unpaid, disinterested gentry, who pos
sess all the property "

4 Money !' echoes the colonel, in heat ; " it is that
money which is the curse of you English. You have
it all, and yet you see you are hourly in terror of
bankruptcy. Thank God, if the Revolution has done
nothing else, it has cut up root and branch all our
odious seignories, with their feudal follies ; and man
now begins to think himself the owner of the soil, and
not a plant."

" Nay, my dear Bethizy, keep your temper; you
are not now storming the bridge of Lodi. Reflect
one moment ; what will become of France when her
whole territory shall be subdivided in freeholds not
bigger than a pocket-handkerchief?"

" And your island ! what will the poor devils of

paupers do when Lord shall own the whole

island ?"

" I think," observes the abbate, perceiving that the
argument is likely to wax hot, " that it is a question
that will admit of much to be said on both sides,
whether a people will leave more lasting and brilliant
recollections, if their career has been run under a re
publican or a monarchical form of government. In
Italy, we find arguments to maintain both positions ;
though at present we are somewhat divided between
a hierarchy and such minute geographical divisions
as shall insure a close inspection into the interests of
all who have any right at all to be consulted in these
matters. I can neither agree with the prince, nor
with the professor, nor with the Count, nor yet with
Sir Edward, though I think all of us must be of

A REPLY. 277

opinion that a popular government is a thing quite
impracticable."

" Oh ! all, all, all, all."

" It is quite certain that your Lazzaroni would
scarcely know what to do with political power if
they had it," continues the abbate.

" Nor a serf," says the Prince.

" I can see no use in giving it even to a Count,"
mutters the Dane.

" Nor to a Manchester reformer," puts in Sir
Edward.

" It is quite certain the canaille do not know how
to use it," adds Jules Bethizy, with a melancholy
sigh ; and so the question is disposed of.

Now, if my friend Cadwallader were a member of
tlie club (and I hope to live long enough to see the
day when he shall become one,) he might give a very
different opinion from them all. Let us imagine, for
an instant, what would be the nature of his argument.
He would probably say, that, " my countrymen have
taken care there shall be neither Lazzaroni, nor serf,
(he might gag a little at the thought of the blacks,)*
nor Counts, nor Manchester reformers ; and any
opinions which may be formed on premises of this
nature are, in consequence, utterly inapplicable to us.
I dare say the abbate will very willingly admit, that
if there were nothing but cardinals in Italy, a popular
government would do very well ; and perhaps Sir
Edward will allow if the English population were all
baronets of seven thousand a year, the elective fran
chise might be extended even in his kingdom without
any very imminent danger. It is wonderful how very
difficult it is to make men comprehend that a thing

* It is manifestly unsafe to found any arguments concerning
the political institutions of this country on the existence of
slavery, since the slaves have no more to do with government than
inanimate objects.

VOL. I B b

278 A REPLY.

can be done by any one else, which they have long
been used to consider as exceeding their own ability
to perform. This feeling of selfishness, or of vanity,
whichever you please, insinuates itself into all our
actions, and finally warps our opinions, and obscures
our judgments.

" I do not believe it is in the power of man to
make a Turk comprehend the nature of English
liberty ; simply because, when he looks around him-
and sees the state of .society in which he himself vege
tates, he can neither understand the energy of char
acter which requires such latitude for its exertion,
nor the state of things which can possibly render it
safe. It appears to me, that it is very nearly as diffi
cult to make an Englishman comprehend that it is
very possible for a people to prosper under a degree of
liberty still greater than that he enjoys. His self-love,
his prejudices, and his habits are all opposed to the
admission. Experience and fact go for nothing. He
is determined there shall be some drawback to all
the seeming prosperity of a state of things which ex
ceeds his own notions of the sources whence pros
perity ought to flow : and though he may not be suf
ficiently conversant with the details to lay his finger
on the sore spot, he is quite confident there must be
one. He swears it is festering, and that by-and-bye
we shall hear something of it worth knowing. I re
member once to have conversed with a renowned
English statesman on this very subject. He was suf
ficiently complimentary on the institutions of my
country, and on the character of my countrymen, but
we were neither of us the dupes of such simple
courtesy. I believe he did me the justice to see that
I understood him, for he very soon took occasion to
remark that he should like the government of the
United States better if it were a ' Frank Republic.''
Perceiving that I looked surprised, and possibly un
derstanding the expression of my countenance to say

THE OPINION OF A STATESMAN. 279

how much I wondered that a man of his experience
should expect great frankness in any government, he
went on to explain ; i I mean,1 he continued, ' that I
should like your government better, if there were no
pageant of a head, and if Congress would act for itself
directly, without the intervention of a President.1

This conversation occurred shortly after the Senate
of the United States had rejected a treaty with Great
Britain, which the President had made (through the
public minister), and which the King of Great Britain
had previously ratified. iHinc illcz lachrym&S I con
fined rny answer to a simple observation, that the
actual power of the President was very little, but
that we should unnecessarily impede the execution
of the laws, and embarrass our intercourse with for
eign nations, by abolishing the office, which added
greatly to the convenience of the country, without in
the slightest degree invading or endangering the lib
erties of the people.

Now, what was the amount of the argument which
this gifted man agitated in his own mind, on a subject
so important to the policy of a great nation ? He could
understand that a right might exist somewhere to
annul the bargain of a minister, for in his proper
person he had just before refused to ratify a treaty
made by one of his own agents,* but he could not
understand that this power should, or could, with
propriety, be lodged in hands where he was not ac
customed to see it. Napoleon would have told him
that he himself submitted to a thousand vain and re
strictive regulations, which only tended to embarrass
his operations and to lessen his influence abroad.

Again, it is quite common for the American to
gather in discourse with Englishmen, either by inu-
endoes, or direct assertions, that there is little or no
religion in his country! Nine times in ten, the former

* With Mexico.

280 A FALSE IDEA.

is content to laugh in bis sleeve at what he terms the
egregious ignorance of his relative ; or perhaps he
makes a circle of friends merry by enumerating this
instance, among fifty others, of the jaundiced views
that the folks on the homestead take of the condition
of those who have wandered beyond the paternal
estate. But should he be tempted to probe the feel
ing (I will not call it reason) which induces so many
warm-hearted, and kindly intentioned individuals in
the mother country, to entertain a notion so unjust,
not to say so uncharitable, of their fellow-Christians,
under another regime :, he will find that it is in truth
bottomed on no other foundation than the circum
stance that we have no established church. And yet
it is a known fact that the peculiar faith of England,
is in America on the comparative increase, and that
in England itself, it is on a comparative decrease, one
half of the whole population being at this moment,
if I am rightly informed, dissenters from the very
church they think so necessary to religion, morals,
and order. In America, we think the change in the
latter country is owing to the establishment itself;
and the change in our own, to the fact that men are
always willing to acknowledge the merits of any thing
which is not too violently obtruded on their notice.
We may be wrong, and so may they ; but if the fact
were only half as well authenticated as is the one
that we are competent to maintain our present politi
cal institutions, I should consider it a question not
worth the trouble of discussion."

That Cadwallader would use some such manner
of reply I know, for the anecdote of his conversation
with the English statesman (now unhappily no more)
I have actually heard him mention. I confess the
justice of many of his remarks, for I am perfectly
conscious of having been the subject of a great many
of these vague and general conjectures on American
policy ; but a closer observation of the actual state

PREJUDICE. 281

of the country is gradually forcing me to different
conclusions. The more candid European will admit
that a vast number of our usages and institutions owe
their existence, at the present hour, to prejudice.
Now, is it not possible that prejudice may have quite
as active an agency in keeping down aristocracy, as
in keeping it up ? It is perfectly absurd to say, that
it is an ordering of nature; for nature, so far from
decreeing that the inequality of her gifts is to be per
petuated in a direct male line, and in conformity to
the rights of primogeniture, is commonly content with
visiting a single family with her smiles, at long inter
vals, and with a very unequal bounty. So far as
nature is concerned, then, she is diametrically opposed
to the perpetuation of power or consideration in the
regular descent. Neither talents, nor physical force,
nor courage, nor beauty, is often continued long in
any one race. But men do get, and do keep too, the
control of things in their own families, in most of the
countries of the earth. This is a practical argument,
which it will be found difficult to controvert. It is
precisely for this reason that I begin to think the
people of the United States will not soon part with
the power of which they are at present in such abso
lute possession. But knowledge you will say is power,
and knowledge is confined to the few. I am inclined
to think, after all, that the degree of knowledge which
is necessary to make a man obstinate in the defence
of rights which he has been educated to believe in
herent, is far from being very profound. It is well
known that despots have often failed in attempts on
the personal privileges of their subjects. Paul could
send a prince to Siberia, but he could not make a
Boyar shave. Now, the rights of suffrage, of perfect
political equality, of freedom in religion, and of all
other political privileges, are the beards of these
people. It will be excessively hazardous to attempt
to shorten them by a hair. The ornaments of the
Bb2

282 PERPETUITY OF THE INSTITUTIONS.

chin are not more effectually a gift of nature, than
are the political privileges of the American his birth
right. Great as is the power of the English aristoc
racy, there are limits to its exercise, as you very well
know, and any man can predict a revolution, should
they attempt to exceed them. I fancy the onlv dif
ference between the mother and child in this particu
lar is, that the latter, so far as political rights go, has
rather a richer inheritance than the former. Time
has clearly little to do with the matter beyond the
date of our individual existence, since a human life
is quite long enough to get thoroughly obstinate opin
ions on any subject, even though prejudice should be
their basis.

From this familiar and obvious manner of reason
ing (and I think it will be found to contain a fair pro
portion of the truth) it would seem to result that
there is quite as little likelihood the American will
lose any of his extreme liberty, as that the Dutch
man, the Frenchman, or the Englishman, will lose
any great portion of that which he now enjoys.
The question is then narrowed to the use the former
will make of his power.

The past speaks for itself, and in language suffi
ciently plain for any man to comprehend, who is not
obstinately bent on refusing credit to institutions to
which he is unaccustomed. The future is necessarily,
in some degree, matter of conjecture; but in order to
anticipate it with an approach to accuracy, we will
continue our investigation of facts.

You are already master of my opinions on the
general character of the inhabitants of New-England.
If I add the results of the observations made in the
recent tour, you will possess the remarks I have
made on more than half of the whole population of
the country, and this too without excluding the slaves
from the calculation.

The great national characteristics throughout this

COMMON SCHOOLS. 283

whole people, are, with few and limited exceptions,
every where essentially the same. But shades of
difference do assuredly exist, which may serve rather
to modify the several states of society, than to effect
any material change. I think the principal distinc
tions emanate from slavery, and from the greater or
less support that is given to the common schools.
The Americans themselves rightly esteem knowledge
as the palladium of their liberty, no less than the
mighty agent of their comparative importance ; and
wherever a sound and wholesome policy prevails,
the utmost attention is paid to the means of its diffu
sion. You should constantly remember, however,
that each State has the entire control of all these
subjects in its own hands. Consequently, although
the mighty truth is universally admitted, very different
means have been resorted to, in order to promote its
advancement.

The policy of New- York and Ohio differs but little
from that of New-England in this particular. Un
happily that of Pennsylvania is less enlightened. In
the former State during the current year (1824),
when the population is rather under 1,600,000, there
are 7,642 common schools ; 402,940 scholars have
been taught in these schools for an average of nine
months. These are in addition to all the private
schools, which are numerous, especially in the towns;
and which include all that push education beyond
reading, writing, arithmetic, and a little grammar and
geography.*

From these numbers, which are taken from offi
cial reports, you gain two important facts ; the extent
of the common education, and the number of the
children compared to that of the adults. During the

* In 1825, there were 7773 common schools, and 425,530
scholars, exclusive of those who attended 656 schools, from
which no returns were made in time to be included.

284 STATISTICS OF NEW-YORK.

same year (1824) there were 11,553 marriages,
61,383 births, and 22,544 deaths, or nearly three
births to one death. It must be remembered that
this State contains more populous towns than any
other, and that the deaths in the city of New-York
alone, from the wandering character of so great a
portion of its population, must necessarily exceed
the regular proportion of nature.

While on this subject, it may be well to advert to
a few other facts, of which I propose to make some
use, when further observation shall entitle me to
comment on the present condition and future fortunes
of the slaves. In 1790, the whole population of the
State of New-York was 340,120. Of this number
25,975 were blacks, chiefly slaves. In 1800 there
were 586,050 persons, of whom 30,988 were blacks,
chiefly slaves. In 1810, 959,049 persons, and 40,350
blacks, of whom, perhaps, nearly half were free. In
1820 the population was 1,372,812, of whom only
39,367 were blacks; viz., 10,088 slaves, and 29,279
free people of colour. In 1825 the population was
1,616,458, of whom 39,999 were blacks, all free, or,
what was the same thing, all to be free on the 4th of
July, 1827, and by far the most of them were free at
the time the census was actually taken.

It will be well to recollect that the State of
New- York, so far from being a place avoided by
the blacks, is rather one they seek. The scarcity
of domestics, and the large proportion of families
who keep servants, induce thousands of free people
of colour to resort there for employment. A great
many are also hired as the labourers on board of
vessels. Still they do not increase, amid the vast
increase of the whites. A trifling migration to Hayti
may have affected the returns a little, but there is no'
doubt that the migration into the State exceeds that
from it. One must remember how few marriages
take place among these people ; their moral condition,

DECREASE OF THE FREE BLACKS. 285

their vagrant habits, their exposure, their dirt, and all
the accumulated misfortunes of their race.*

I think it is quite fair to infer, from these state
ments, that freedom is not favourable to the con
tinuation of the blacks while society exists under the
influence of its present prejudices. The general
returns of the number of the free blacks in the whole
of the United States, certainly show that they are on
the increase ; but this fact is to be ascribed to the
constant manumissions, and not to any natural cause.
In Massachusetts, there have been no slaves since the
declaration of independence. It has, of course, been
a favourite residence of the blacks, some of whom
have risen to respectable situations in life. Among
them, there have been traders, ship-masters, and even
ship-owners ; and yet they have scarcely increased in
number, during the last thirty years. In 1790, there
were 5,463 blacks in that State; and in 1820, there
were 6,740. During the same time the whole popula
tion has advanced from 378,787 to 523,287.1 A vast
emigration to the new States has kept down the
population of Massachusetts. Thus, you see, that
while the whites have increased in thirty years
more than thirty-eight per cent., the blacks have not
reached the rate of twenty-four per cent., and this,
too, under as favourable circumstances, as they are
probably fated to enjoy, for a long time to come, in
these republics. But Massachusetts was alone for
many years, in the protection and favour she extended

* At the census of 1825, there were in the State of New-York
1,513,421 neat cattle; 349,628 horses; 3,496,539 sheep; 1,467,573
hogs ; 2,269 grist-mills, chiefly by water; 5,195 saw-rnills, almost
all by water; 1,222 fulling-mills; 1,584 carding-mills; 76 cotton,
and 189 woollen manufactories of cloth for sale. There were
645 deaf and dumb, 1,421 idiots, and 819 lunatics. It should,
however, be remembered, that unfortunate subjects of these
maladies, are frequently sent from other States to the benevolent
Institutions of this.

t Census of 1820.

286 DECREASE OF THE FREE BLACKS.

to this unfortunate race. The rate of their increase
was vastly greater, before the manumission laws
went into force in the adjoining States, than now.
Thus, between 1790 and 1800, they increased one
hundred and eighty per cent., a rate much greater
than that of the whites during the same period (a
consequence of the influx of the former, and of the
emigration of the latter). Between 1800 and 1810
their increase was forty-four per cent., and between
1810 and 1820 only five per cent. ; there being only
three more blacks in 1820 than in 1810, while the
whites, notwithstanding emigration, had augmented
51,116.

Now it is quite certain that, in a country subject
to so many changes as this, and where man is so
very active, all statistical calculations are liable to
the influences of minute and familiar causes, which
are very likely to escape the detection of a stranger.
When Cadwallader first directed my attention to the
foregoing reports, I was about to jump to the instant
conclusion, that the free blacks did not propagate
their species at all, and that, as the gross increase of
their numbers in the country was owing to manumis
sions, nothing remained but to give them all their
freedom, in order to render the race extinct. But
my companion, like most of his countrymen, is a
calculator too wary and too ingenious to fall into so
gross an error.

There is no doubt that the free blacks, like the
aborigines, gradually disappear before the superior
moral and physical influence of the whites, but the
rate of their decrease is not to be calculated by that
in the State of Massachusetts, nor even by that of
the native possessors of the soil. A black man, unlike
an Indian, can be easily civilized ; and perhaps there
are no peasants in the world wrho require a greater
indulgence of their personal comforts than the people
of colour in the northern and middle States of this

HABITS OF THE FREE BLACKS. 287

Union. In this respect they are like the menials of
most other nations, having acquired from their mas
ters a reflected taste fot luxury. But it is well known
that cold is not congenial to the physical tempera
ment of a black.* The free blacks are found hover-
ing as near as possible to the slave States, because
the climate of the south is what they crave. Thus,
in Pennsylvania they increase, while in New-York
they decrease. Some portion of this effect is no
doubt produced by the more extensive commerce of
the latter (which works up a great number of blacks
as sailors), and by the peculiar policy of the Quakers,
as well as of the descendants of the Germans, in the
former State, both of whom display singular care of

* AH experience proves, that ages and generations must
elapse before the descendants of the African can acquire habits
of endurance which shall enable him effectually to resist frost,
if, indeed, it can ever be done. Indeed, while the negro is often
powerful of frame, and generally supple and active, it may be
questioned whether he can endure extreme fatigue of any sort,
as well as a white man ; at least, as well as the hardy and vigor
ous whites of this country. A thousand instances might be
adduced to prove this position ; but two must suffice. A few
years since, an American whaler was struck by a whale in the
Pacific Ocean, and the vessel instantly bilged. The crew was
compelled to traverse half of that vast ocean in their boats, sub
ject to the utmost privation, and sustaining the most horrible
sufferings. But few survived to reach the land. The blacks,
of whom there were a fair proportion, died, being the first to
sink under their abstinence and labour. — A few years since, a
small vessel ran into a bay on Long Island, during a severe
snow-storm, at a time that Cadwallader was near the spot. She
was soon surrounded by a thin ice, and as her crew had no fire,
nor boat, they were reduced to the utmost distress. A signal
was made to that effect. A young gentleman proceeded to the
rescue of the unfortunate mariners, seconded by two servants,
one of whom was white, and the other black. The latter was a
farm labourer of great strength and activity. The ice was to be
broken near a mile, in the face of a cutting wind, and while the
thermometer (Fahrenheit) stood several degrees below Zero.
The crew were rescued, but the black was near dying, and
had to be landed before half the toil was completed, and a white
man was taken in his place.

288 AMERICAN EXAGGERATION.

their black dependants. But, on the whole, I think
it must be assumed as a fact for our future reasoning,
that the free blacks rather decrease than otherwise
(always excepting the effects of manumission) ; and
it is well known, that the whole white population
grows rather faster than the whole black.

Before closing these remarks I will add, that the
whites, with the exception of certain districts in the
southern states, attain a greater degree of longevity
than the blacks, and that it is known that the slaves
have more children than the free people of colour.

It is not improbable that there are some immaterial
errors in the reports, from which the number of chil
dren in the common schools of New- York have been
taken, since the State bestows its bounty in propor
tion to the wants of the district ; but, on the other
hand, it must be remembered, that the amounts are
gathered by public and qualified officers, and that
each school district is obliged to tax itself for just as
much money as it receives, in order to raise the sum
necessary to defray the current expenses of common
education, so that, on the whole, it is probable there
is no great exaggeration; nor is a traveller, who has
witnessed the immense number of white-headed and
chubby little urchins he sees all over the country, at
all disposed to suspect it.

We of Europe, when we listen to the wonders of
these regions, in the way of increase and prosperity,
are a little addicted to suspect the native narrators
of the prodigies of a love of the marvellous. I once
ventured to ask Cadwallader his opinion on this deli
cate point. His answer was sufficiently to the point,
and you shall have it, without the smallest qualifica
tion : —

" That the Europeans," he said, " will not believe
facts, which have a daily existence before our eyes,
proves nothing but their ignorance. In my own opin
ion, and this is but a matter c?f opinion, there is less

EUROPEAN IGNORANCE. 289

falsehood uttered in the United States (if you exclude
the slaves) than in any other Christian country, though
Heaven knows there is quite enough. In saying false
hood, I mean untruths, whether intentional or not.
A certain degree of gross credulity is absolutely ne
cessary, that one very numerous class of vulgar false
hoods should flourish any where. Our European
kinsmen, who are quite as enlightened as any other
people of your hemisphere, are far from being ex
empt from the foible of excessive credulity. The
tales one hears on the top of a stage-coach would
scarcely do in an American vehicle ; for the shrewd,
practical, quick-witted, and restless people of this
country, would be ashamed to believe, and conse
quently ashamed to tell, half the extraordinary feats
of such or such a subject of notoriety, merely be
cause they have been accustomed to think under-
standingly of what a man can do in almost every
situation in which he is ordinarily placed. No
where is a lie so soon and so thoroughly sifted as
here. Even the institutions of the country are fa
vourable to the discovery of truth, as no man is ex
ojfficin considered immaculate. Love of country, a
stronger passion in America than even in England, or
rather a more general one, has never protected an
officer in a false colouring of a victory or a defeat,
when the truth was within the reach of the multitude.
The attempts are comparatively rare, for the hazard
is notorious. During the war of the revolution, the
public documents of the natitfn, which were issued
in something like the form of bulletins, were found
to be so true, that the signature of the Secretary of
Congress was universally deemed conclusive as to all
interesting facts.

" In no one instance were the people ever inten
tionally deceived, and it is rare indeed that they were
ever deceived at all. History, in 1824, gives in sub
stance the same accounts of our battles, fortunes,

VOL. I. C c

290 EXCESSIVE CREDULITY AND INCREDULITY.

and reverses, as did Charles Thompson in 1776. In
deed, it would be just as impracticable for the gov
ernment to mislead, for any length of time, as it
would for an individual to make people think a man
could work a miracle, or get into a quart bottle.
Thus we are spared a prodigious amount of false
hood, which prevails elsewhere, merely because no
one will believe it ; or, at least, there will not be
enough of the credulous to permit an improbable lie
to flourish. Then the servile deception, which is a
necessary attendant of great inequality of condition,
cannot be, and is not, as frequent here as in Europe.
A mechanic will be very apt to tell any man his mind
who offends him, whether he be a governor or merely
a brother in the trade.

"Moral influence is also quite as strong in the
United States, as in the most moral countries of the
east. Indeed, I know but one cause why deception
should be more active here than in Europe, while I
can see and do know a multitude why it should not.
The frequency of elections certainly gives rise to a
greater frequency of those amiable misrepresenta
tions that are so peculiar to all political struggles.
But, in point of effect, these election lies, as they are
called, defeat themselves ; they indeed do even more ;
they often defeat the truth, as most people are pre
disposed to incredulity. And yet, four fifths of our
elections pass away like this you have just witnessed,
without exciting sufficient interest to raise a lie about
them at all.

" Facts, undeniable, manifest, and, to an American,
familiar facts, do certainly often assume to the un
practised ears of an European, an air of startling ex
aggeration. There appears in mankind a disposition
always to believe too much, or to believe too little.
The exact and true medium is hit by very few, who,
by uniting a sufficiency of experience to a necessary
amount of native penetration, are enabled to estimate

LEAVES NEW-YORK FOR THE SOUTH. 291

testimony with accuracy. I have repeatedly felt,
while in Europe^ the embarrassment of encountering
those who were disposed to believe miracles on the
subject of my country, and those who were not dis
posed to believe that things, under any circumstances,
could vary materially from the state in which they
existed, before their own eyes. Even educated
men cease to resemble each other in this respect,
for all the books in the world cannot qualify a
man to estimate the power of his species half so
well as personal observation. Our very obstinacy in
incredulity on practical things, goes to prove the
general sense of mankind concerning the value of
experience, by showing how apt we are to refuse
credit to acts which exceed any thing we have our
selves witnessed. Perhaps, in a country where so
much is actually done, there is some disposition, on
the part of vulgar minds, to exceed possibility in their
anticipations, and even in their narrations, but this
would prove the quality rather than the amount of
our misrepresentation. On the whole, I incline to
the opinion, that there are more untruths told in de
nying the unparalleled advances of this country, than
in affirming it."

TO SIR EDWARD WALLER, BART.

&C.&C.

Washington,

OUR passage from New- York to Philadelphia,
though the distance is less than ninety miles, was
made, as is so usual here, by land and by water. In
consequence of the unequalled facilities offered by
their rivers, bays, and sounds, the Americans enjoy,

292 ABUNDANCE ON THE TABLES.

in a very large portion of their country, the means
of travelling that are cheap and commodious to a
degree that is unknown in any other country. Of the
steam-boats I have already spoken; but 1 do not
remember to have said any thing concerning their
extraordinary cheapness. The passage money is
sometimes little more than nominal. I have been
conveyed in a spacious*, convenient, and even elegant
boat, the distance of forty miles, for something less
than a shilling sterling. This was certainly cheaper
than common, but the price of a passage, (food in
cluded,) from New-York to Albany, varies from two
to four dollars, according to the style and nature of
your accommodations. For the lowest sum, you
travel better than in any European boat I have ever
yet seen ; and for the highest, if the excessive crowds
be excepted, with a degree of comfort and abundance
that is really next to incredible.

I think the first thing that strikes you at an Ameri
can table, is the liberality with which it is supplied.
The excessive abundance is a fault. The innkeepers
seem to understand that a traveller can eat but a cer
tain quantity, and they appear nearly indifferent as to
the quality of the articles in which he may choose to
indulge. Thus game, fish, and flesh, are placed before
him in very liberal quantities, and he is allowed to
choose between them. What he leaves is silently
removed, pay being expected only for that which is
consumed. Of course the price? and the quality of
the viands, no less than the style in which they are
served, differ very materially in a country of such
vast extent. In the older States, particularly in the
vicinity of the large towns, the expenses of the inns
are greater than in the interior, though, compared
with their comfort and abundance, never equal to
that which we pay in most of Europe. Foreign
travellers are, however, often deceived on the sub
ject, from ignorance of knowing how to choose. The

MANNER OF TRAVELLING. 293

stage-houses, though frequently the hest inns, very
often deserve to be classed among the worst. The
traveller in a stage is commonly obliged to take such
fare as the stage-house affords. There is no posting,
and consequently those connected lines of excellent
inns, which are to be found over most of England,
and which are prepared for the accommodation of
travellers who are willing to pay a little more than
common, for personal indulgence, are unknown here.
But still, a native of the country, and especially one
of higher pretensions, travels in all the older States
of America, with vastly more comfort than a stran
ger would be apt to suppose. He is familiar with
his privileges, and he knows how to assert them with
out offence ; while the foreigner either submits unne
cessarily to privations, from an exaggerated opinion
of the danger of offending a people, of whose equality
he has an absurd and confused opinion, or he gives
rational cause of disgust, by assuming airs that should
be practised nowhere, and which can never with
perfect impunity be practised here.

We left New-York in a steam-boat for Brunswick,
a small city in the State of New-Jersey. At this place
we found no less than thirteen stages, ready to con
vey those who proceeded to the river Delaware.
The number of the coaches varies according to the
amount of travelling, and on some occasions I was
told it exceeded twenty.

In these vehicles, the passengers are disposed by
a very simple and quiet process, and with an expedi
tion that marks all the movements of these active
people. You are only to imagine a hundred pas
sengers, arriving with their baggage at a point of de
barkation, whence, in less than ten minutes of time,
they were to proceed in coaches, to fancy the uproar
nnd confusion that would occur in most countries.
The steam-boat lines, as they are called, manage the
matter differently.

Cc2

294 CLASSIFICATION OF THE TRAVELLERS.

Some little time before the boat arrives, the pas
sengers give in their names, and receive in return,
tickets, which bear the numbers of the coaches in
which they are to proceed. As the masters of the
boats have a method of making these arrangements,
which is analogous to the common sense customs of
the country on all matters which relate to the inte
rior regulations of society, I will explain it.

You will readily suppose that all classes of people
are to be found travelling in these public and cheap
conveyances ; some little address is therefore neces
sary to dispose of an assemblage which is so motley,
and whose members are of necessity to be brought
in such familiar contact. The master of the boat
knew Cadwallader, and to him he immediately gave
ticket No. 1 ; not that the stage was better than the
rest, but because it was necessary to keep some
division of the subject in his own mind, and this was
probably the most natural. My companion pointed
to me, and I received No. 1 , also. There were two
or three pretty, genteel looking women, with theii
male friends, who received the same sort of tickets,
until the stage was tilled. Then came Nos. 2, 3, 4,
5, and 6, with nearly the same quality of travellers,
fn one or two instances I heard requests urged, that
families, or parties, might be placed together, and
several changes were made in order to accommodate
the applicants. There were two or three vehicles
filled with jolly sons of the ocean, who appeared to
relish each other's society better than they would
have relished ours ; and the carriage in the rear
brought on a dark bevy of the descendants of Ham.
When we reached the shore, each one sought his
number; the baggage, which had been previously
marked with chalk, was transferred to its proper
vehicle, and the whole line was in swift motion, in
less than the prescribed time.

In order to get a view of the country, I had begged

A SAILOR COACHMAN ! 295

a seat on the dicky, by the side of the coachman.
As the driver of No. 1. gave the movement to all who
came after him, he was, of course, the most distin
guished whip of the whole procession. My com
panion certainly deserved his honours, for he not only
managed his team with great dexterity, hut he showed
the qualities of judgment and temper in that degree
which I think distinguishes most of the native coach
men of this country. They are commonly a reason
ing and discreet race, compared to so many of their
prototypes in Europe, and consequently they are
humane. A little discourse soon brought us acquaint
ed, and to my amazement I found the coachman was
also a sailor, and that a year or two before, he had
actually been the coxswain of a commodore ! He
had driven a public coach in England, a private
coach in South America, and now he was driving No.
1. of the steam-boat line at home ! " Where were you
born ?" I asked. " Over there, in that house you see
against the side of the hill," he answered, pointing
with his whip. " I took to the seas about the same
time I took to horses, and so I have been driving and
getting a wet jacket, turn about, two or three seasons
at a time, these tive and twenty years. But my pipe
is out now for the seas, since I broke my arm, in
which there is scarce strength enough left to hold a
bucket of water to the heads of my horses." Here
was a striking case of the diversity of employment
which is so common in America. The very pursuits
which, in Europe, are perhaps the most opposed to
each other, were here successfully exercised by the
same man. When I mentioned the fact to Cadwal-
lader, he told me that such professional incongruities
were far from rare, and that one of the best drivers
of a public coach he had eve** known, was a man
who had diversified his life by sometimes going to
sea. Indeed, I am persuaded there is no one thing
which will more astonish an observant and good-

296 A GOOD AMERICAN INN.

humoured traveller through this country, than the ex
traordinary aptitude that the common Americans dis*
play in the exercise of callings which are thought to
be as much opposed to each other in qualification as
that of a coachman and that of a coxswain of a man-
of-war.

We found the roads very tolerably good, the horses
excellent, the coaches, though not exceedingly easy,
well enough. When we entered Trenton, the coach
was stopped by Cadwallader, and we descended at
an inn, which, as it afterwards appeared, had no con
nexion with the stages. Our example was followed
by one or two more, the rest of the travellers pro
ceeding to the regular stage-house. I mention this
little circumstance, as it may serve to give an idea
of a description of inns in this country, of which even
observant travellers in it do not often get any notion,
but which, nevertheless, abound in all the northern
and eastern States. Under favour of my friend's
experience, I have entered fifty such, some not quite
as good, and some e^ven better than the one I am
about to describe : —

At Bispham's, Trenton, we were received by the
landlord with perfect civility, but without the slightest
shade of obsequiousness. The deportment of the
innkeeper was manly, courteous, and even kind ; but
there was that in his air, which sufficiently proved
that both parties were expected to manifest the same
qualities. We were asked if we all formed one party,
or whether the gentlemen who alighted from number
one, wished to be by themselves. The reply was,
that we wished to be alone. We were shown into
a neat well-furnished little parlour, where our supper
made its appearance in the course of twenty minutes.
The table contained many little delicacies, such as
game, oysters, and choice fish, and several things
were named to us as at hand, if needed. Cadwalla-

ITS COMFORTS AND CHEAPNESS. 297

der had tea, while I took coffee. The former was
excellent, the latter, as usual, indifferent enough.
The papers of New-York and Philadelphia were
brought in at our request, and we sat, with our two
candles, before a cheerful fire, reading them as long
as we pleased. Our bed-chambers were spacious,
well furnished, and as neat as possible, and the beds
as good as one usually finds them out of France. In
the morning we left the house before breakfast, in
order to rejoin our steam-boat line, which took the
river a short mile from the place where we slept.
Now, for these accommodations, which were just
as good, with one solitary exception, (water-closets,)
as you would meet in the better order of English
provincial inns, and much better in the quality and
abundance of the food, we paid the sum of 4s. Qd. ster
ling each. I confess I did not think it was enough, and
proposed to my companion to make an addition.
"Put up your purse," he said, smiling; "all we ask
is, that when you get back, you will merely tell
what you have seen. This man has his price, and
will take neither more nor less." You must also
remember, that in America, when you pay the regu
lar price for any thing, you commonly have paid all.
I have never known a servant ask for a douceur ;
and though people of a certain class generally give a
trifle to the man who cleans boots, or to him who
does any little extra services, neither waiter, cham
bermaid, nor any one else, demands it. It is just the
same in the steam-boats, stages, hackney-coaches,
&c., when you get the regular price, you know all
the necessary expense, and I use the word necessary,
in reference to custom no less than right.*

* A trifle is commonly expected for transferring the baggage
from the steam-boats to the coaches, and vice versa. Sometimes
an European, or an experienced American servant in the largo
towns, will look as if he expected a present.

298 SECOND ONLY TO ENGLISH

I have been in a vast number of these inns* So
far from putting people three in a bed, they apologize
for the necessity of putting friends in the same room
when it is necessary ; and on the slightest hesitation
at such an arrangement being manifested, they do all
they can to obviate the necessity.

I do not suppose that it is possible to arrive at any
very exact estimate of the taverns in this country.
They are certainly more numerous than I remember
to have ever seen them before, especially on all the
great routes. A vast number are very bad, and it
might be difficult for even a native to travel in his
own carriage any great distance without occasionally
encountering some of the sort; but, always confining
my remarks to the older and more northern States,
and making the exceptions which are peculiar to the
two countries, I am of opinion that there are quite
as many good taverns in America as in England,
while there are infinitely more bad ones. The former,
certainly, do not occur at every five miles ; but in
order to institute a fair comparison, it is necessary to
remember the vast difference in the sizes of the two
countries. In this simple fact exists the secret of the
apparent difference in the quality of the taverns.
But an American inn, and, indeed, the inn of every
other country except England, is almost always de
ficient in the one great nameless convenience already
mentioned in this letter. The servants here are not
so good as in Europe generally, and much inferior to
those in England. I make my comparisons with your
inns, because they are, as a class, more uniformly
good than those of any other country, and because
the best of yours are unquestionably among the best
of the world. I know no other country indeed in
which the inns will compare, on the whole, with
those of the older parts of America. The inns of
France, in the large towns, cleanliness excepted, are

HABITS OF THE EX-KING. 299

about equal to the inns in the large towns here ; but
the best inns of the villages are vastly inferior.*

The passage down the Delaware, though pic
turesque, and far from unpleasing, will bear no com
parison with that on the Hudson. Still, one may get
an idea of the great beauty of all these splendid
views by recalling the fact that numberless European
travellers who have made the excursion to Philadel
phia before going north, extol the former river to the
skies.

A few miles below Trenton, Joseph Bonaparte
has sought a retreat from the cares and mortifications
of the old world. He lives in a sort of retirement
which embraces a large circle of friends and de
pendants. The family of Bonaparte is already getting
to be numerous in America, and it is probable that in
a few years the name will be found in the rolls of
Congress : a century hence it may possibly be seen
on the signs of the cities. Besides '.he ex-king, (who
has assumed the title of Compte de Survilliers, the
name of a little village which lies adjacent to the
splendid chateau of Morfontaine,) there are a son of
Lucien, (married to the oldest daughter of Joseph,)
a son of Jerome by his first, or the American wife,
and two sons of the hapless Murat. Charles, the son
of Lucien, has childien born in the country, and who
consequently are possessed of the rights of natives.
This young man is already favourably known for his
devotion to, and for his attainments in science. He is
said to be simple in his habits, and to have found
favour among the republicans of these regions.

The Compte de Survilliers, I believe, does not
mingle much with the society of the country. He

* If we take cooking into the account, there are rnns now, in
Che northern and western parts of France, that are quite equal
to the best English provincial inns. Those who are very luxu
rious in their beds may even think them better.

300 NAPOLEON IN AMERICA.

does not speak the language ; and, as French is not
so generally understood here as in Europe, that cir
cumstance alone would oppose obstacles to his wishes,
did he even feel a desire to live more in the world.
He is said to be unassuming when he does appear in
public; and, in consequence, is rather in favour than
otherwise.* Many absurd conjectures were hazarded
at the time on the probable consequences, had Na
poleon succeeded in his project of reaching the United
States. These conjectures, like a thousand others
connected with the events of the hour, are already
forgotten among the evanescent interests of the past ;
but it was recalled to my mind as I gazed at the se
cluded and irregular chateau of his brother. " What
would Napoleon have done with your institutions,
had he reached your shores ?" was the question I put
to Cadwallader. "He would have found some agree
able site, like this of Joseph, and told his tales of Italy
and of France to travellers in the west, instead of
telling them to travellers in the ea^t. As no one man
had any exceeding influence in creating our institu
tions, rely on it they will not speedily fall before the
talents, or even virtues, of any single individual. That
which we owe to ourselves as the work of our own
hands, our own hands will preserve ; and while kings
can find on earth no more peaceful asylum than that

* A few years since, the house of the Compte de Survilliers
was burnt by accident. A few days after the conflagration, a
card appeared in a journal of the vicinity, in which the sufferer,
after returning thanks to the inhabitants of the neighbouring-
village of Bordentown, for their promptitude in coming to his
assistance, alluded to the circumstance, that none of his effects
had been purloined in the midst of the confusion in terms of
commendation. The writer understood that the thanks were
well enough received, for they were usual, but that a momentary
offence was given to the inhabitants, by any man presuming to
thank them for common honesty ! The people of the vicinity
have, however, already forgotten their pique, for they speak of
thier neighbour with great kindness.

PHILADELPHIA. 301

we offer them, imagination cannot conceive a less
profitable theatre for the enactment of a royal drama.
We are ready to extend hospitality to both parties —
subjects who are tired of their kings, and kings who
are tired of their subjects ; but the great political role
of this country must be played in our own simple
fashion, and with scenery and decorations that shall
suit the national taste."

I found Philadelphia remarkable fo-r its regularity
of construction, its neatness and its quietude. It has
much more the air of a better sort of English town,
or, in fact, of a quarter of London, than even New-
York, though there are points of marked difference,
as well as of resemblance, between the City of Broth
erly-love and the capital of the mother country. The
bricks are not painted, and the eye immediately misses
the gay, cheerful look which distinguishes New-York.
Herein it resembles a well-built and clean town of
England; but its exceeding neatness is almost peculiar
to this country, aided as it is by objects of ornament
that are not found in the streets of any English city.
A vast number of the door-steps are of white marble ;
many of the caps and sills of the windows, and even
parts of the side-walks, are chiselled in the same ma
terial. Indeed, the profusion of this stone in the best
streets serves to enliven the appearance of the place,
though I acknowledge that I have some doubts of the
taste which creates so violent a contrast as that be
tween white and red.

In architecture, Philadelphia, beyond all doubt,
excels its great commercial neighbour. The private
buildings do not materially vary from those I have
described, though I think it may be said there is less
taste for luxury, generally, in this place than in New-
York. If any thing, the furniture is more simple,
though always neat, and often exceedingly rich. A
gentleman of Philadelphia is about as well lodged as
that portion of the English nobility and gentry who

VOL. I. Dd

302 PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

are not the proprietors of capital town-houses. This
brings him on a level with most of the Frenchmen
below those who singly occupy large hotels.

Of public edifices there is a larger and better dis
play than in New-York, churches alone excepted.
A good and an improving taste is certainly prevalent
in this city on the subject of architecture. I believe
it is generally admitted, that the finest modern edifice
we know is the Bourse of Paris. You will be sur
prised, perhaps, when I say, that, next to this exquisite
work of art, I rank the Bank of the United States in
this city. There are certainly a hundred buildings
in Europe of a very similar style, and of far more
laboured ornaments ; but I cannot remember one, in
which simplicity, exquisite proportion, and material,
unite to produce so fine a whole. It is doric, without
side colonnades, not particularly large, though of
sufficient size for effect, and of white marble. The
church of the Madeleine at Paris, for instance, when
completed, should be an edifice of a vast deal more
of pretension ; but, notwithstanding its admirable po
sition, its great size, and its immense colonnades, I
do not believe it will ever produce so pleasing an
effect as this chaste and severe little temple of Plutus.
It is certain that the Madeleine stands in a position
to try its powers of pleasing to the utmost; for,
flanked by the Garde Meuble, and fronting the facade
of the Charnbre des Deputes, no imperfection is per
mitted to escape, without quick comparative criticism.
I am not sure that the Bank of the United States does
not owe some of its charms to the fact that it has no
rival near ; but even that circumstance is a merit in
the architect, since he could have had no other eye
than that of the mind to regulate his proportions.

Philadelphia has other clever edifices. There is
another banking-house in classic taste, and several
more buildings erected for the monied institutions, (a
tribute to gold, perhaps, to be expected here) are in

A MANUFACTURING CITY. 303

a very good style. An immense building is in the
course of construction for a Penitentiary, and wears
a promising air. The Fair Mount water-works are
well worthy the examination of every stranger.

But you, who know, by melancholy experience,
how little there is actually worth viewing in the
oldest countries of the earth, after the first interest
of curiosity has been appeased, should not be sur
prised to learn, that an American city can contain
very little to reward the eye, unless that which is seen
should be taken in connexion with the moral agents
that have assisted to bring it into existence. In the
latter respect, one has cause of astonishment at each
step taken in this rapidly advancing country, and in
no place more than in Philadelphia.

New- York is a great commercial town ; but this
city is more devoted to manufacturing. It is much
cheaper than the former place, and in many particu
lars admirably adapted to maintain its present pur
suits. There is no want of capital ; and it is highly
probable that the day is not distant when it shall
become a modified, or improved, Manchester or Bir
mingham. Its present population is about 140,000.*

I will not say we found in Philadelphia a better
bred, or a more enlightened society, than we found in
New- York, for this would not be strictly true ; but
we found it less interrupted by the intrusions of that
portion of the world which is purely commercial.
The constant and vast accessions to the population
of the latter city keep society in a constant state of
fermentation, as I have already mentioned : and it is
not always easy to tell into Avhich of its currents or
bubblings one has fallen. It is more easy to keep pace

* The writer has more than once said, that Philadelphia city
contains, at the present day, about 150,000, and New- York near
200,000, exclusive of the village of Brooklyn, a suburb on the
Long Island side of the strait or arm of the sea, which must
have of itself quite 12,000.

304 ROUTE BY THE INTERIOR.

with the movements of this tranquil town. With the
exception of those who are literally men of the world,
and they are not numerous, I should say also, that the
inheritance of Penn is in a slight degree more provin
cial in its habits and manners than the sister city.

Instead of following the river in our route to Balti
more, we went by a road of the interior. The first
day's journey was through one of the most highly cul
tivated and richest agricultural districts of this, or of
any other, quarter of the world. The appearance of
the country, with the exceptions already named, was
essentially English, though I have seen no part of
England where such farm-houses and barns are to be
seen as we met with here. The villages are few, and
but small, though there are two or three market-
towns of some size on the route. The natural scenery
was rather like that of Normandy than that of Eng
land, though the artificial parts were much in the
English taste, always excepting hedges.

The Susquehannah was crossed by a noble wooden
bridge, which was said to be a mile long. This was
the twentieth of these immense constructions in
wood, that I have seen since my landing ; nor are
they the smallest subjects of my surprize. The great
enterprise and exceeding ingenuity of the people are
here displayed to great advantage. It is only neces
sary to discover the want of a bridge, or a canal, to
insure an effort, and commonly a successful one, to
bring it into existence. A bridge, a quarter, a half,
or even a whole mile, in length, as is the case with
that of Columbia (across the Susquehannah), is no
extraordinary undertaking for the inhabitants of a
country which, forty years before, and often less, was
an entire wilderness. I scarcely know how to give
you a correct idea of one of these avenues of timber.
As they are commonly thrown across some vast river,
or perhaps a lake, on whose banks the native forest
is to be found, the material is cheap, and easy to be

IMMENSE BRIDGES. 305

transported. The cost, therefore, is in no proportion
to the magnitude of the work. They are built on
different plans ; some being as rude and simple as
possible, and others forming beautiful models of
scientific skill, and even of taste. I should think a
majority of them are suspended by chains. Some are,
however, suspended by wood, from arches of timber,
that rest either on piers of stone, or on well-secured
foundations of frame-work. The better sort are cov
ered, having roofs and even windows ; so that it often
happens that the traveller, perhaps whilst ruminating
)n the recent origin of this country, finds himself
journeying through an edifice which is from a quar
ter of a mile to a mile in length.

The State of Pennsylvania possesses a population,
less identified with the great national character, than
any other member of this confederation. It is com
puted that about one-third of all its inhabitants are
the descendants of German emigrants. They are
remarkably tenacious of their own customs and opin
ions, and even of their language, though the whole
are gradually giving way before the superior influence
of the English character. I conversed with several
of the yeomen of this description of inhabitants.
They spoke English with an accent as if it were a
language acquired after infancy, and it was easy to
trace a difference in the activity of their thoughts, as
compared with those of most of their countrymen.
I found them, however, possessed of the same notions
of political liberty, which have been so long estab
lished in this country, as to have become essential
ingredients in the characters of all its inhabitants.
I met with others, whose descent could only be
traced in their names ; their manners, language, and
opinions, having already undergone the final change.

The existence of so large a body of people, pos
sessing a language and prejudices of their own, and
living so near to each other, as to render it easy to
Dd2

306 CHARACTER OF THE POPULATION.

perpetuate them all (for a time at least), has not heen
without its inconvenience to the State. It is said, that
their hostility to innovation has induced these people
to oppose the introduction of common schools, a
policy which, if much longer persevered in, is in
itself sufficient to throw their community a century in
the rear of their neighbours. There are other estab
lishments of the Germans in different parts of the
Union, but none near so wealthy nor important as the
people just named. There are also the French of
Louisiana, the Spaniards of Florida, and a few Hol
landers in New-Jersey, New-York, &c. £c. But the
whole of these slight differences in identity of char
acter, are fast disappearing, and it is probable that
another generation will effect their extinction. As
near as I can learn, quite nine millions of the ten
who compose the white population of this country
are descendants of the English (Irish and Scotch
included); the rest may spring from half the other
nations of Europe, chiefly, however, the Germans, the
Dutch, and the French, and in proportions agreeably
to the order in which they are named. But of this
million, assuming the estimate to be exact, which in
itself is not quite certain, more than half have proba
bly lost all the distinctive marks of their origin, if we
except those who are actually Europeans by birth.*
I do not think one meets as many foreigners estab
lished in this country as the circumstances might give
reason to believe. There are particular places where
they assemble, and where they are rather striking by
their numbers, but, in the interior, I have frequently

* The writer is told that an immense emigration to the United
States has occurred since he left it. One statement says that
22,000 lrk;h alone, arrived at the city of New-York during the
last year. The citizens complain of their riotous and disorderly
conduct, and it is thought some severe remedy will be adopted
to cure an evil that is getting to be serious.

ENTRANCE OF A SLAVE STATE. 307

travelled days without meeting with an individual of
the sort to know him.*

Before we quitted the State of Pennsylvania, there
was a sensible change for the worse, in the appear
ance of the country, and we entered Maryland at a
point but little adapted to give us the most favour
able impressions of the effects of a slave population.
The aspect of things, however, changed materially
for the better as we approached Baltimore, whose
environs, seen as I saw them in a mild day late in the
autumn, when a second spring so often seems about
to open on the vegetation of this climate, were as
pleasing as those of any town I remember.

Baltimore is a neat, well-built city, of near 70,000
inhabitants. It contains many excellent private houses,
and some public edifices, in better taste than com
mon ; but, like Philadelphia, it wants the gay, ani
mated look which renders New-York so very remark-

* By the last census of the State of New- York, there were
40,430 aliens, in a population of 1,616,458. But this enumera
tion is liable to explanation. A native of Europe who has be
come a citizen is not an alien, while a native of the United States
who is not a citizen, is. The latter class, though not very im
portant, is more numerous than one would suppose. There were
many natives who took sides with the crown in the war of 1776,
and who still retain their characters of British subjects, being
pensioners, &c. &c. although they prefer to reside, and even
to leave their descendants in the place of their birth. Such per
sons are aliens of course, in the eyes of the law. There are
others who have come to the country with an intention to reside,
and to establish their children, who are averse to throw aside
their native allegiance. These continue aliens. There are others,
again, who intend to become citizens, but who have not yet
completed the term of probation. In addition to these explana
tions, the city of New- York receives more emigrants, perhaps,
than all the rest of the United States together, and it is the cho
sen residence of foreign merchants established in the country.
It may be well to add, that there were 5,610 paupers included in
this census of the State of New-York, or about one pauper to
every 288 of the inhabitants. Of this number, 1,742 were hi the
city of New-York alone. A vast number of paupers from Europe
are dishonestly thrown upon the shores of this country.

303 BALTIMORE.

able. The difference is to be ascribed to the want
of paint, and to the greater activity of business in the
latter place. We found here, as indeed on most of
our recent route, excellent inns, and took up our
abode for several days.*

I saw in this city, for the first time since my arri
val, a monument erected to Washington. It is a
noble column, in stone, and is admirably placed on
elevated ground, in what is now a suburb, but which
I believe it is intended shall one day become a public
square. The want of these squares is a great defect
in all the cities I have seen, though it is one which
will soon be repaired. The plans of most of them
embrace more or less areas of the sort, and some of
them are already beginning to be enjoyed. There is
also another monument, in very good taste, to per
petuate the memory of those citizens who fell in a
skirmish with the British, during the last war, in de
fence of this city. The whole number was not great,
(some thirty or forty militia, I believe,) but it was
thought their quality gave them a particular claim on
the gratitude of their townsmen.

You may remember that General Ross, after his
successful attack on Washington, mwie a movement
threatening Baltimore. Your countrymen possessed
an incalculable advantage in the command of the
sea, by means of which they not only directed their
attacks against the most defenceless points, but they
were always enabled to keep their adversaries in an

* An idea may be formed of the great amount of travelling in
the United States, by the size of the inns. One was building in
Baltimore before the writer left America, which promised to ex.'
oeed in size any he remembers. The City Hotel, in New-York,
is a vast edifice; and, in a great number of the western villages,
the writer saw taverns that were as large as many of the Paris
hotels. In a country where domestics are never abundant, and
are often bad, this disproportion between the number of the
guests and the attendants is a striking fault.

ATTEMPT OF THE ENGLISH. 309

embarrassing ignorance of their force. Thus, about
the period of the expedition to Washington, I see, by
the journals of that day, an opinion prevailed in
America that England, released from her European
war, had sent Lord Hill against them, at the head of
a large army. It is quite possible that agents of your
commanders were industrious in circulating a rumour
that seemed so very probable. The Americans say,
that their ignorance of the force of General Ross
alone saved him from destruction.

But Baltimore was a far more important place
than Washington, and time had been given to collect
an army of citizens. Th3 whole affair terminated in
a hot skirmish between an advanced party of some
two or three thousand Americans, and a portion of
the British army. The former retreated, as had been
expected, but the English commander lost his life in
the rencontre. His successor wisely abandoned an
attempt that must have terminated in the annihilation
of his force, which was neither strong enough to carry
the defences of the place, nor to protect itself against
an attack when suffering under reverses, and from an
enemy who would soon have been apprized of its
weakness. A bombardment of a fort, which was de
fended by regular troops, proved also totally useless.*

* It is worthy of remark, and deserving of explanation, that
no attack, of any importance, against an American fort by ships,
has ever been successful, while a great number have been sig
nally defeated. The reader of American history is familiar with
the affairs of Fort Moultrie, Fort Mifflin, Fort Boyer, £c. &c. ;
but where is he to find the reverse of the picture? The writer
has heard more than one professional man say, it is just as im
possible for ships to reduce forts (under tolerably equal circum
stances) as it is for forts to stop the passage of ships when fa
voured by wind and tide. This theory, if true, is consoling to
humanity, since one should always wish success to the assailed,
especially when they defend a town against the assaults of hire
lings. The exceptions of Algiers and Navarino prove nothing,
since the defenders were semi-barbarous ; and at Copenhagen,

310 RESIDENCE AT BALTIMORE.

We have been pleased with our residence at Bal
timore. It contains a great many polished and en
lightened men ; and perhaps, there is no part of this
Union where society is more elegant, or the women
handsomer. The latter circumstance soothed my
feelings during the delay of a fortnight. — Adieu.

the victory was over a flotilla rather than over the batteries.
The destruction of the little work on the Potomac, when the
British ascended that river, was clearly an evacuation and not a
defeat, and was decided on from an exaggerated notion of the
power of the troops in its rear, and not at all in consequence of
the marine attack. It was abandoned at the first shot.

NOTES.

NOTE A.— Page 6.

" I OWE you an explanation," my friend continued, after
the usual language of civility, « for the little interest that 1
have manifested in your persevering attempts to obtain such
English works as may form a preparation for your intended
travels in America. I will make no further secret of the
cause, and when you hear my sentiments on this matter, I
think you will learn those which are common to a very great
majority of my countrymen.

" At the period when I grew into manhood, that bitterness
of feeling which had been created in the United States to
wards Great Britain, by the struggle of the revolution, had
greatly subsided, in a return of the kindness which was natu
ral to affinity of blood, and to a community of language,
usages, and opinions. Our object in the war had been ob
tained. When we reverted to its events, it was rather with
exultation than hostility. Scenes of personal suffering, and
perhaps of personal wrongs, were forgotten in the general
prosperity. It is not necessary to ascribe any peculiar qual
ities of magnanimity, or of Christian charity, to the American
people, in order to maintain that fewer instances of a generous
and manly forgetfulness can be furnished in the history of
nations, than what they generally manifested towards their
former rulers. The past presented recollections on which
they were not ashamed to dwell, while the future was replete
with the most animating hopes. In such an enviable position,
a community, like an individual, must have been odiously
constituted to find pleasure in the contemplation of any but
the brighter parts of human character. We gave the English
credit for the possession of all those virtues, which, in the
weakness of natural vanity, we are fond of ascribing to our
selves. There were few excellencies on which we grounded
our own national pride, that we were disposed to deny them.
It would have been difficult to ascribe different results to
causes whose influence was thought to be felt by the two na
tions in common. They were brave, for they were free;
they were virtuous, for they were religious ; and they were
religious, because we worshipoed before the same altars. In

312 NOTES.

our eyes, there was perfection in their literature and arts, for
if it did not exist there, it was a stranger to us, since we
knew no other. In short, as our triumph was indisputable,
we could afford to forget the recent feud, and we were fond
of cherishing the present amity, since, with all the feelings of
a reading and highly civilized people, we delighted in the
glory of our fathers. Had we churlishly denied our connexion
with that of England, we should have left ourselves without
an ancestry. So very deeply was this sentiment engrafted in
our opinions, it might almost be said in our natures, that, with
some exceptions that grew out of the opposition of internal
politics, most of our sympathies were with the English, in the
fierce struggle that soon agitated Christendom. We exulted
in her successes over the arms of a people who had lent us
their treasure, and shed the blood of their brave in the quarrel
which gave us a rank among the nations of the world. A
momentary and heedless enthusiasm, which manifested itself
in favour of the French at the commencement of their revo
lution, had been checked in the government by the steadiness
of Washington, and had early been suppressed in the people,
by the excesses into which the leaders of that revolution suf
fered themselves to be hurried. Without reflecting how much
of the merit of evidence must depend on the character of indi
viduals, we gave credit to the official documents of England,
to the prejudice of all others ; and, removed ourselves from
the necessity of political deception, or of matured misrepre
sentation, we refused to believe it could exist in a people who
affirmed what they had to promulge, not only in our language
but with all those forms with which we had ourselves so long
been accustomed to add solemnity and weight to the truth.
Destitute of a literature of our own, but rich in the possession
of that which we derived from our ancestors, we were con
tent to submit our minds to the continued domination of wri
ters, on whom it was believed that the mantle of Elijah had
rested in virtue of their birth-right. So far as Europe was
concerned, for many years after the peace of 1783, the great
mass of the American people saw with English eyes, and
judged with English prejudices. This was a fearful position
to be occupied by a nation whose policy is so greatly con
trolled by the influence of public opinion. It was one which
could not peacefully continue, in the actual condition of the
world.

" To me the gloomy period of 1792 is almost a matter of
history. A mild and reflecting people, who, in their own case,
had known so well how to temper resistance to oppression,
could not long sympathize in the movements of men who

NOTES. 313

affected to think that liberty could only be propitiated by ob
lations of innocent blood. Particular sendees to ourselves
were forgotten in the general offences against justice and
humanity. I have heard that the brief ardour which had
been excited in favour of the French was succeeded by the
coldness of disappointment. It is mo~e than probable that
the reaction hastened the renewal of those ancient atta.ch-
ments to which I have alluded, and which ceitainly existed,
in the greatest force, at the time to which my personal recol
lections distinctly extend.

" Although the struggles of domestic politics had, in some
measure, created a sort of opposition to English supremacy,
it was altogether too feeble to shake the deep-rooted and
confiding faith of the nation. There was so much that was
true, blended with a great deal that was ideal in our admira
tion of English character, and, more than all, there was so
much which, admirable or not, resembled ourselves, that it
was not easy to depreciate its merits. Detractors were heard,
it is true ; but they either declaimed with vulgar coarseness,
or uttered their opinions so feebly, as to leave reasonable
doubts of their own sincerity. This extraordinary mental
bondage continued, with no very important interruption, dur
ing the first ten years of the present century. The amicable
feelings of the nation had, indeed, suffered some violent shocks
by the operation of the foreign policy of Great Britain, the
effects of which were as unceasingly proclaimed by one po
litical party of our country, as were those of the decrees of
Napoleon by the other. But the hostility they created was
directed rather to the English ministry than to the nation.
It is no small evidence of the extent of our prejudice, that,
while the maritime condemnations of the English, though
conducted with all the pomp of gown and wig, were mainly
imputed to the cupidity of individuals, those of Napoleon,
which were effected by a nod of his head and the agency of
a few gen* d'armes, were, with as little hesitation, ascribed
to the established perfidy of the French character! Had not
England herself disturbed this mental ascendancy, I do not
see any plausible reason why it might not have continued to
the present hour. The jealousy of a sensitive rivalry, how
ever, began to manifest itself prematurely ; and as an unrea
sonable desire of exercising, unduly, her political dominion
over the colonies precipitated a separation of the two coun
tries, so did her extreme sensitiveness on the subject of profit
hasten a mental emancipation that might easily have been
deferred, until at least the numbers and importance of the
American people had borne them beyond the possibility of

VOL. I. E e

314 NOTES.

foreign influence. I think that this jealousy may be divided
into two classes — that of calculation, and that of feeling.
The quick-sighted and practised merchants of England were
not slow to discover that there was reason to apprehend a
rival in a nation who possessed, in addition to all their he
reditary aptitude and knowledge, such rare, natural, commer
cial advantages. Though not fond of admitting the fact, they
could not deny, even to themselves, that the very absence of
personal restraint, which, by giving energy and interest to
the efforts of individuals, had accumulated the commercial
grandeur of their own empire, was possessed by the infant
republics to a degree that was hitherto unknown in the annals
of the civilized world. The politicians of England found
leisure, even amid the cares of their great European strug
gle, to turn their attention to a subject that is ever considered
by her statesmen with the watchfulness with which we re
gard the most remote assaults on the materials of our ex
istence. Had it not been their present interests to retain us
as customers, it is probable that the efforts of the English
ministry to curtail our growing prosperity, would have been
far more decisive and manifest. It is thought, too, that for a
long time they were deluded with the futile hope of seeing
our growing power weakened by a dissolution of the confed
eracy ; a movement that would have left us with all our wants,
and with a lessened ability to furnish them with a domestic
supply. There was, also, a period of political alarm when
the aristocracy of England trembled for its ascendancy. The
spectacle of a democratic government, existing on an ex
tended scale, could not, in such a crisis, find favour in their
eyes. The greater its success, the greater was its offence
against those prophetic opinions which had early predicted
its fall. Though a large proportion, even of the hereditary
counsellors of England, were exclusively occupied with the
more momentous concerns of the hour, or wilfully shut their
eyes on a perspective which presented so few objects of grat
ification, some there were too sagacious and too reasoning
not to see that the diffusion of intelligence, to which they
owed their own national supremacy, was in danger of being
exceeded, and that too from a quarter of the world which they
had been accustomed to regard with the complacency of ac
knowledged superiors. Still, circumstances beyond their
control admitted of no measures likely to retard the event
they deprecated. The States of America were therefore kept
as much as possible out of view, or were regarded with an
indifference in which there was much more of affectation than
of reality. In this state of things, a deep, settled aversion to

NOTES. 315

America grew in the minds of that portion of the English
community who possessed sufficient knowledge to be awai e
of her existence at all, or who did not believe us a people too
insignificant for attention. If there were any exceptions to
this rule, they were no more than the members of a class of
philanthropists which, unhappily, bears, in all countries, too
limited a proportion to the mass of mankind. In a nation
where pens are so active, there is but a brief interval between
the conception of an idea and its publication. By referring
to the daily and periodical journals of the country, you will
find that whenever it was thought necessary to mention
America, it was invariably done in terms of disparagement
and reproach. It is even said that the government of an em
pire that boasts itself to be the most enlightened and mag
nanimous in the world, not only employed mercenary pens to
vituperate, in periodical journals of the most pretending
character, a people they affected to despise, but that it
sought itinerant circulators of calumny, who journeyed, or
pretended to journey through our States, in order to discover
and to expose the nakedness of the land. The latter circum
stance I am inclined to discredit, for I cannot think that any
English ministry would have had the weakness to bestow
their money where there was so little talent to invite reward.
Of the former I shall say no more than that it is implicitly
believed by many enlightened men in America, arid that if it
be not true, it is unfortunate that more care had not been
taken to avoid the grounds of a suspicion that seems so
plausible. Here, then, you have the remarkable spectacle
of two people of a common origin, and possessing, in common,
so many of the governing principles which decide character
and control policy, acted on by directly contrary influences.
While the American was fondly, and, one might say, blindly
clinging to his ancient attachments, his advances were met
by jealousy, or repelled by contempt. Whatever may be the
future consequences of this unnatural repulse, America has
no reason to lament its occurrence. It has already relieved
her from the thraldom of mental bondage. So generally and
so forcibly is this truth felt, that while the war of '76 is called
the war of the revolution, that of '12 is emphatically termed
the war of independence. It is beyond a doubt that, as there
were in America men of spirits too lofty, and of an intelli
gence too enlightened not to have rebelled against the besot
ted dependence of their countrymen on foreign opinion, so
there were in England philanthropists too pure and too gene
rous not to rejoice in any human prosperity. But these were
no more than exceptions to those general rules which marked

316 NOTES.

the feelings and opinions of the two nations, so far as those
of England were at all active in the matter. I say active,
for it is certain that, even to this hour, the great majority of
that nation neither think nor care m the least ahout a people
so remote, and who have never acted a conspicuous part in
the struggles of their own hemisphere. Indeed, the Amer
ican, conscious of the possession of physical advantages which
are beyond most of the chances of worldly vicissitudes, and
firm in the belief that he enjoys a hio-her state of moral ex
istence than any other people whatever, little suspects, even
now, how completely his country is without the pale of Euro
pean thought. A vigorous and intellectual population of
twelve millions must ever force itself on the notice of states
men; but, could the fact be ascertained, I do believe it would
be found that three out of four of the inhabitants of Europe
not only believe we are a people of barbarous manners, but
that we have, to say the least, but doubtful claims to be com
puted among the descendants of Japhet at all. The proofs
of this opinion have often occurred to me during my travels ;

nor are you, my dear , the only European of education,

by a dozen, who has asked me if my flaxen hair and blue eyes
were not deemed a sort of physical anomaly on the other side
of the Atlantic !

" Mr. Hodgson says, he was assured by an intelligent
American, that had a man, like Wilberforce, travelled among
us, and given to the world a fair and honest account of the
state of society he saw, the war of 1812 would have been
averted. There can be but little doubt that the periodical
writers of England dipt their pens too deep in gall. They
overacted their parts, and the consequence must fall where it
may. I can only say, as a citizen of the United States, who
not only loves, but, strange as you may think it, who glories
in his country, that if such were the power of that excellent
friend of humanity, I rejoice he did not exert it. Though no
admirer of the wisdom in which that war was conceiverl. nor
of the skill with which it was conducted, I should be blind to
palpable truths, did I not see that it has left my country in
the occupancy of a station more worthy of her real power
and true character, than the equivocal condition from which
she emerged.

" With my opinions, then, of the character of most of the
works which form your travelling library, you cannot be sur
prised that I had so little desire to read them. The contents
of most of them, however, are already known to me. It
would be vain to deny that they contain many disagreeable
truths, for it would be arrogating to ourselves a perfection

NOTES. 317

which exists nowhere, to say that a traveller of ordinary ca
pacity, who journeys with a view to find fault, should be
baffled of his object in the States of America, alone. Still,
in most of the cases where I am willing to believe there did
exist, on the part of the writers, a fair proportion of honest
intention, there was so much utter incapacity to judge of a
state of society to which they were worse than strangers,
that their opinions may safely be considered little better than
worthless. It is often said that we are the subjects of a
peculiarly exacting national vanity, and that nothing short of
eulogies will ever meet with a favourable reception among
us. The good opinion which nations entertain of themselves,
is far from being limited to America, though it is not difficult
to understand that our pretensions should be particularly
offensive to a peopie, wTho have so long claimed an exclusive
right to those very properties on which we ground our pride.
This vanity is imputed to us, however, chiefly because it is
thought that, in contemplating the future, expectation out
runs probability too far. If it be meant that the people of
the United States anticipate more for their country than what
reason and experience will justify, I do not believe it. On
the contrary, I think that nine out of ten of mankind, there,
as elsewhere, fail in the ability to estimate the probable, and
speedy importance too, of our country in the scale of nations.
Your author, Mr. Hodgson, after a tolerably close inspection
of our means, frankly admits, that, were he an American, his
hopes would greatly outstrip those of the natives with whom
he conversed. But, if it be meant that the American often
fails in manner, when he is disposed to draw a comparison
between the prospects of his own country, arid those of other
people, I think nothing is more probable. It is quite evident,
that the greater the truth of these predictions, the heavier is
the offence against the comity of intercourse. A large ma
jority of those whose voices are loudest on this theme, are
men of a class that, in other nations, would either be toe
ignorant to indulge in any rational speculations on the future
at all, or too much engaged in providing for the wants of the
hour, to waste their breath on a subject that did riot teem
with instant profit. But, in what degree is this offence pecu
liar to Americans, except as hope is more grateful than recol
lection ? I have fifty times listened to the most self-compla
cent and sweeping claims to national superiority, that were
uttered by Englishmen, and by Englishmen of rank, too, who
should at least~have had the taste to conceal their exultation
in the presence of a foreigner. I apprehend that we are
einned against quite as much as we sin in this particular. No
F e 5

318 NOTES.

gentleman can deny that the coarse demands of general su
periority are alike offensive to taste and breeding. They
have created a disgust in the minds of the more intelligent
classes, who often, in the spirit of distaste, oppose the very
anticipations in which they fondly confids, for no other reason
than that they find them oppressive by the freedom with which
they are urged. But vanity is the foible of age in communi
ties, as it is of youth in individuals. We have not yet reached
that period of national dotage. There is little in the past,
however, of which England can fairly boast, in which Amer
ica -may not claim to participate. The arms of our ancestors
were wielded in her most vaunted fields; the geniuses of
Shakspeare and Milton were awakened in the bosom of a so
ciety from which we received our impressions, and if liberty
and the law have been transmitted to us from the days of
Hampden and Bacon, we have not received them as boons,
but taken them as the portions of a birthright. Glorious and
ample as has been our heritage, we challenge the keen-eyed
and ready criticism of the rest of the world, to decide whether
we have imitated the example of the prodigal son. And yet,
if it be permitted to a people, to value themselves on any
thing, it is surely more reasonable to exult in the cheering
prospects of a probable future, than to turn their eyes through
the perspective of recollections, in quest of a sickly renown
from the past. The greatness of the ancestor may, and does
often, prove a reproach to him who would claim a vain dis
tinction from circumstances that he could not have controlled,
while he wrho looks ahead, may justly point with pride to the
foundations of glory which his own hand has laid.

" I have said that feeling, no less than calculation, formed
one of the causes of the calumny England has undeniably
heaped upon America. The operation of this dislike is as
various and characteristic, as were the pursuits and humours
of its subjects. It was an offence against the geographical
sovereignty, which marks England for the seat of empire,
to the prejudice of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, to presume
to renounce her dominion at all. It was and is, a constant
offence to aristocracy every where,, to exhibit an instance of
a prosperous and happy democracy. It was a bitter offence
against the hierarchical establishment, to demonstrate that
religion and order, and morals, could exist without its aid ;
And it was an offence to the pride of that numerous class,
who exulted in being the bravest, because the freest people
of the earth, to argue at the bayonet's point, that there was
another quite as brave, who was determined to be a littlo
more free. To the American, the different expedients which

NOTES. 319

have been adopted to disprove, or to undervalue these advan
tages, are not without amusement. Our government has
been termed imbecile, for no better reason than that it did
not possess the power to suppress evils which have no ex
istence among us, though it does possess the inestimable
power of adapting itself to circumstances, without endanger
ing its foundations by the change. Our manners have been
derided, for the simple cause that they differed, and that too,
perhaps, less than might be wished, from their own, while
their own are far from being a model to the rest of Europe.
Our order has been denied, though it is rarely disturbed, ex
cept by the eleves of her own disciplined system, and our re
ligion scoffed at, though, I think, a reference to the use of
figures would demonstrate that while (since the separation)
their peculiar faith has been on a comparative decrease among
themselves, in consequence of the opposition created by the
establishment, it has, with us, been on a comparative increase,
because men seldom fail to confess the merits of that which
is not too violently obtruded on their notice.

" But, a more general and far safer method of disposing of
the question of our unworthiness, is by keeping America en
tirely out of view. To this hour, and with all the facts
known to the world, one reads every day, in works and jour
nals of talent and reputation, that England is the freest
among the nations ! You may see her claims to philanthropy
supported by the fact, that she was the first to destroy the
traffic in human flesh ; and her distinguished statesmen have
not hesitated to affirm, in the face of Europe, that to her is
the southern moiety of our hemisphere indebted, for the ori
ginal acknowledgment of its national existence ! It is easy to
predict that this is a manner of disposing of things, which may
be practised with more facility in the year 1825, than in the
year 1850.

" As respects the work of Mr. Hodgson, I have read it,
with both pain and pleasure. There is satisfaction at all
times, in dwelling on the opinions, though they may prove
erroneous, of a discreet and honest man. As he evidently
seeks the truth, with a desire of proclaiming it, his very errors
are entitled to be treated with respect. Nothing, for instance,
however, is more untrue, than to say that service in the revo
lution forms the chief, or even a very material claim to dis
tinction, in our ordinary intercourse. Society, in America, is
constituted precisely as in every other Christian country,
breeding, education, family alliances, and wealth, exerting
most of their customary influences. It is more true, cer
tainly, as to political distinction, though cases abound of

320 NOTES.

individuals who even opposed the war of '76, but who have
not been thought unworthy of popular favour by their placa
ble countrymen. He has been thrown, by accident, into a
highly respectable circle of ancient soldiers, whom he has
found in the enjoyment of all their native and merited con
sideration, and he has mistaken the particular instance for a
general rule. He has not, at least, like most of those who
went before him, passed wilfully over the abundance of order,
morals, religion, and intelligence which eminently distin
guishes the bosom of our community, to seek exceptions in
the skirts of society, which might serve to amuse at home
by their freshness, or to gratify the spleen of our haters by
their deformities.

" But there are deep sources of pain in finding, by the con
fessions of this very writer, how much more inveterate have
been the prejudices of his nation, than even one as familiar
with the subject as a traveller could have believed. To nine
millions of the population of America, it will appear incred
ible, that England has doubted, nay, still doubts, whether
religion or religious instruction exists among them ! I write
under the observation of four visits to England, and an exten
sive acquaintance with the habits of my own country, when
I affirm, that religion, to say the least, is as much inculcated,
and its prescriptions as rigidly observed, in all the northern
and middle, and some of the southern States of America, as
in the most favoured quarters of England. It is lamentable
that an error so injurious in its consequences, so false and so
uncharitable in its nature, should have an existence among
men who evidently wish to believe the best. Still, while as a
man, I lament this miserable error, as an American, I do not
fear the consequences. Wilful ignorance is sure to entail its
punishment. It has been the misfortune of England to re
main in ignorance of America, and of American character,
from the day when the pilgrims first touched the rock of Ply
mouth to the present hour. She banished our ancestors from
her bosom, because they would not submit to an oppression
against which she herself has since revolted. She cumbered
our infant efforts with her vicious legislation, and drove us to
a premature majority. It remains to be seen whether she
will have us, in our strength, as a friend or an enemy. The
time for her election is getting short, and more may hang on
the issue than millions, who exult in their present power, are
willing to believe. The steady, deluded and confiding friend
we once were, it is too late to expect. But a nation which
feels no pressure, and which is conscious of no unworthiness,
is neither vindictive nor obdurate. We may be disposed to

NOTES. 321

forgive, though it will be hard indeed to forget. Even the
moderated and cautious tone, which is certainly beginning to
prevail among her politicians and writers, is not extended to
the youthful Hercules with the grace that it might have been
offered to the infant in his cradle. We know as well as her
self, that the next duplication of our numbers will raise us to
her own level. Her dominion over our minds could not have
continued, it is true, after we had obtained a literature of our
own ; still the hold might have been relinquished in amity,
and not cast from her in disdain. But a generation has grown
to maturity during the prevalence of a miserable infatuation.
What a noble promise for the future has England not jeop
arded ! The decline of empires, though more tardy, is not
less certain than that of man. The wane of the British do
minion might have been distinguished by features that the
world has never yet witnessed." Her language, her institu
tions, and her distinctive opinions are spread wherever enter
prise has penetrated. Colonization, under her reign, has
been fruitful and prosperous beyond a parallel. Mighty na
tions are rising around her, as generations succeed genera
tions in the more familiar descent of families. Wisdom
might prescribe a course which would have secured a devoted
friend in every dependant as it was released from the do
minion of the parent. How far that course has been pursued
in respect to us, the past and the present time sufficiently
show. Why is Russia already occupying that place in Amer
ican politics which England should have nobly filled ? Why
did America choose England for her foe, when equal cause
of war \vas given by France, and when the former was cer
tainly most able to do her harm ? These are questions easily
answered by any man conversant with the state of the public
mind in our nation ; but I shall leave you to make your own
observations.

" I have treated this matter gravely ; for to me it always
seems a subject fraught with the gravest consequences. The
day is not far distant when the conflicting interests of the
two nations shall receive support from equal power. Whether
the struggle is to be maintained by the ordinary rivalry of
enterprise and industry, or by the fiercer conflict of arms,
depends greatly on the temper of America. To us the ques
tion is purely one of time. The result may be retarded ; but
he is deplorably ignorant of our character, of our resources,
and of our high intentions, who believes it can ever be avert
ed. That Almighty Being who holds the destinies of nations
in his hands, must change the ordinary direction of his own
great laws, or the American population will stand at the

322 NOTES.

head of civilized nations, long ere the close of this century .
It is natural that they who falsely identify individual happi
ness with national power, should rack their ingenuity in quest
of arguments that may refute omens that seem so unpropi-
tious. The most common, because, in truth, the only plausi
ble anticipation is, that our confederation will dissolve. It is
remarkable that England, with her party-coloured empire.
Austria, Prussia, Belgium, Sweden, and even our constant
friend the Russ, should shut their eyes to the fragments of
nations that compose their several powers, and complacently
predict, that we, a people of common origin, of common
opinions, of identified interests, and of perfectly equal rights,
should alone be subject to the influence of an unnatural
desire to separate. The people of France itself are not so
thoroughly amalgamated as the people of the United States.
The divisions of Catholics and Protestants alone, kept alive
as they are throughout most of Europe, are a greater source
of hostile feeling than all our causes of difference united.
The fact is, that you are accustomed to consider the strong
arm as the only bond of political union ; and Europe has not
yet had an opportunity of learning that the most durable gov
ernment is that which makes it the interest of every citizen
to yield it cheerful support. I defy the experience of the
world to bring a parallel case of submission to established
government, equal to that manifested by the people of the
United States, to their own restrictive laws — measures of
doubtful policy, and of nearly fatal effects, not to individuals
alone, but to whole communities — and to communities too,
that possessed all the organized means of separate govern
ments completely within the reach of their hands. That
which constitutes our weakness in European eyes, we know
to constitute our unconquerable strength. The bayonets of
England could not subdue us, an infant, impoverished, scatter
ed, and peaceful people ; but could she have yielded a moiety
of the rights we now enjoy, we might have been persuaded,
for a time longer, that our interests tied us to a nation in the
other hemisphere. And, after all, admitting that we shall
separate, the case, with respect to England, will not be greatly
altered. Instead of having one mighty rival in industry and
enterprise, she will have two. The issue will be protracted,
but not averted. The main question is, whether that rivalry
shall consist in manful, honourable, and amicable efforts, or
in bitter, vindictive, heartless warfare. Every good man will
wish the former, but every wise man must see how great is
the danger of the latter. More than ordinary prudence is
necessary to temper a struggle between nations, which, by

NOTES. 323

speaking a common language, so thoroughly understand each
other's taunts and revilings. I do not pretend to say that
the American, under a consciousness of similar innovations
on his pride and his privileges, would be either more wise or
more generous, than the Englishman has proved : but I do
say, that it behoves the discreet and moderate of both nations
to take heed, lest the growing dislike should degenerate into
a feeling that may prove discreditable to human nature.
There is, however, much mawkish philanthropy uttered on
this subject. For my own part, I believe the fault of Amer
ica has been that of 'a too cautious forbearance. Had we
earlier spoken in the open and manly tone that becomes us,
much of the miserable recrimination that I fear is in store
would have been avoided. Still, we begin to feel, that while
England has nearly exhausted her darts, our own quiver is
full. She forgets that, when we achieved our independence.
we conquered an equal right to the language ; and she ought
not to be surprised if we should sometimes descend to adopt
her own mode of using it. No doubt vulgar and impotent
minds have already commenced the pitiful task of recrimina
tion : nor can it be denied that men of even higher stamp
have been provoked to a forgetfulness of their self-respect, by
the unceasing taunts and revilings of our unwearied abusers ;
but if the latter think that they have yet felt the force of our
retorts, they have only to continue in their career to be soon
convinced of their error. If England believes she is not ob
noxious to the attacks of sarcasm, it is not the least of her
mistakes ; and nothing but occasion is needed to convince her
that no one can apply it, in her case, with half the malignant
power of those very people she affects to despise.

"At present, the feeling in America, in respect to England,
is rather that of indifference, than of dislike. We certainly
do not worship her government ; if we had, we should prob
ably have adopted it ; but we are far from being so unreason
able as to require that she should like our own. I know no
people that trouble themselves less about the political concerns
of other nations than my countrymen. It may be vanity, but
they think they have little to learn, in this particular, except
of themselves. There is, notwithstanding, one great and
saying quality, which, if W3 are wrong, should plead some
thing in extenuation of our self-delusion; we are neither
ashamed nor afraid to change.

" When an Englishman tells us of our common descent,
of the ideal homage we should both pay to the land and in
stitutions of our ancestors, he is heard with cold and incred
ulous ears ; we are no worshippers of stocks and stones. A

324 NOTES.

little extension of his principle would carry us into the ages
of monkish misrule, or leave us in the plains of Saxony.
But when an Englishman speaks to us of those moderated
and chastened principles which characterize our religion, and
refers to that mighty Spirit which inculcates the obligations
of universal charity, he approaches by an avenue that is open
to all, and which 1 pray God may never be closed against
nim, or any other of the children of men.

" As to the generation that must pass away before our
strength shall entirely equal that of our great relative, there
is little cause for apprehension. England has already done
and said her worst. We dread her power as a veteran dreads
the whizzing of bullets ; he knows the deadly messengers may
do him harm, but the sound is far too familiar to excite alarm.
Let those who believe England more powerful now than she
was fifty years since, ask themselves whether she can repeat
her efforts? — let those who wish to think of America in
1824, as they did in 1776, approach like yourself, and make
their own observations.

" I should describe the difference between the treatment
which the American receives in England, and that which the
Englishman receives in America, as being very marked.
Notwithstanding all that has passed, we admit the English
man freely arid cordially into our houses, and I think \ve treat
him, even now, rather as a distant relative than as an alien.
There is so much natural interest in the feeling which in
duces us to listen curiously to accounts of the country of our
fathers, that it may still require time to lose it altogether.
Almost every English traveller in America (who has pub
lished) admits the cordiality and kindness of his reception.
Though this acknowledgment is commonly made with some
such flourish as — ' we found the name of Englishman a gen
eral passport,' it is not the less an acknowledgment of the
fact. What is the other side of the picture ? Remember
that I do not speak of exceptions, but of rules ; not of men
whom good fortune, or merit, or caprice, or fashion, or curi
osity, or any other cause, has made the objects of attention ;
nor of those whose goodness of heart, and laudable desire to
study character as it is exhibited in nations as well as in in
dividuals, excite to kindness ; but of those of my countrymen
who travel as a body, and of those Englishmen who ordinarily
receive them as guests in their own island.

" In the first place, an American has evidently to overcome
a dislike to be received at all. This circumstance is betrayed
to us in a thousand ways. The first and most common is an
evident desire to avoid us. It is betrayed to us by foreigners,

NOTES. 325

who tell us distinctly of the fact ; and it is betrayed to us by
the very manner in which their civilities are offered when
circumstances induce them to depart a little from their cus
tomary reserve.

" The reception of an American in England is not without
amusement. I shall say nothing of the honest, blustering
hospitality of that class in whom prejudice cannot always
repress kindness, (especially if profit be in view ;) but rny
remarks are now made on a class who have no direct gain
before their eyes. These good folk are prodigious patron-
izers. Nothing makes them so happy as to get an American,
and to show him that they are not above treating him as an
equal ; and in order that the poor foreigner should have no
excuse for denying the condescension, they neglect no oppor
tunity of exhibiting it. These people are every moment
giving you solemn assurances that they are above the vulgar
prejudices of the rest of the world, and perhaps you are
gravely told that the party despises the theory which says
physical nature is not so perfect in America as in Europe, by
an individual who is gravely looking up in your face at an
angle of forty-five degrees. One of the best-bred, natural,
and easy women that I met in London was a countrywoman
of my own. A very cosmopolite took occasion to compliment
me on the subject; but, probably fearing he had said too
much, he concluded by telling me that ' she had been caught
young !' On another occasion I was assured, in the presence
of twenty people, that a countryman of my own ' could not
have been a finer gentleman than he was had he been edu
cated in London or Paris !' An American lady was dancing
in the midst of fifty Englishwomen, and her performance was
so creditable, that I was led to believe by a by-stander, that
he saw no difference in her grace and that of the belles of
his own island ! I should be ungrateful indeed, not to ac
knowledge the polished liberality of such concessions, which,
I candidly assure you, exceeds any thing in the same way I
ever heard in my own country. But these are cases to be
laughed at : I am sorry to say that others occur, in which
indignation destroys the spirit of merriment.

" Now, all this is exceedingly absurd and very pitiful.
Heaven knows that every rational American is willing enough
to admit what time, and money, and learning have done ibr
Europe ; nor do I think, unless provoked by superciliousness,
that we are too apt to remind her possessors of what they
have not done. But it is lamentable that the truly high
breeding and excellent sense of those who do possess these
qualities in an eminent degree, in England, cannot look down

VOL. I. F f

326 NOTES.

the overweening character of so many of the nation. That
they do not, my own experience, and the observations of
every intelligent man, will show. I do not say, that if we
were the old, and proud, and successful people, that we
should discover better taste, deeper humility, or more can
dour ; but this I do know, that being the people we are, we
are not likely to submit, quietly to the exhibition of an un
earned superiority in others. These things must be changed,
or the growth of the feelmg to which I have already alluded
appears to me to be inevitable. Hundreds of American
travellers are in Europe at this hour. Each year increases
the number, as it increases their influence on tha tone of
the public mind at home. Perhaps nine out of ten, place
their feet on the land of their ancestors with a feeling in
its favour ; and I am firmly persuaded, that, from the causes
I have named, nine out of ten leave it with satisfaction,
and return to it with reluctance. The same individuals
quit France, Italy, Russia, Switzerland and Germany, with
kind and friendly recollections. England and the United
States are placed in situations to make them respectful com
petitors, or downright haters. Love does not more infallibly
beget love, than dislike creates dislike. I honestly think we
are, as yet, substantially the defendants in this war of inuen-
dos. We have certainly returned abuse for abuse, and as
coarsely and as vulgarly, and frequently as ignorantly, as it
has been bestowed ; but there is nothing in our resentment
which wears the aspect of settled and calculating hostility.
I think our people have been wrong : they have often met
calumny with deprecation, when they would have better shut
its mouth by exhibiting spirit. We never got any thing from
England in the way of petition or remonstrance ; but we
have obtained a glorious empire by resolution. I am no ad
vocate for vindictive and vulgar recrimination ; but I think
the nation or the individual who would maintain his proper
position, must take justice and self-respect for his guides,
and care as little as possible for others.

" It would be as disgusting as it is unprofitable, to descend
into the paltry details of the manner in which prejudices
and contempt are fostered in England against America.
Some itinerant hears a gross expression from the lips of a
vulgar man in New-York, or a horrid oath in the mouth of
some blasphemous boatman on the Mississippi, and they are
instantly transferred to the pages of works like the Quarterly,
and half a dozen others similar to it, as specimens of Amer
ican manners ! Do those who preside over the publications
in question, believe that the art of objurgation is unknown

NOTES. 327

in their own country? I can tell them from close observation,
that sentences are daily and hourly uttered in London itself,
which, though they may want, and commonly do want, the
miserable ingenuity of those they quote, fail in none of the
blasphemy, ' Pretty considerable] is always dignified with
italics ; and the President of the United States is lucky if it
be not interpolated into his annual message ; but it may
appear, as it does appear, in page 64, lines 6 and 7, of the
famous Reflections on the French Revolution, by the Right
lion. Edmund Burke, in Roman insignificance !

" It behoves the wise, and the principled, arid the good of
the two nations, to put a stop to feelings which can so easily
give rise to all that is disagreeable. But truckling is not
wisdom in us, nor is condescension politeness in them. We
must meet at all times, and in all places, as equals : not in
concessions, that are wrung by policy, or perhaps by a still less
worthy motive ; but as mortals, who have but one nature and
one God. Until this shall be done, and not till then, it is
vain to expect the least revival of the feeling that might arise
from a common parentage and common principles. I have
reason to think that I do not stand alone, in this opinion, by
millions. The time is near, I had almost written frightfully
near, when two nations, who thoroughly understand each
other's vituperations, shall support a delicate rivalry by equal
power. That crisis is to be passed ere the danger of the
malady shall abate. For one, I can say, in all sincerity, that
I hope it may be done in peace ; but I should be blind to the
effect of natural causes, did I not see that it is a period at
tended with alarm. It is a thousand pities that the good
ness of heart, and the secret sympathies which bind the lovers
of humanity together, should be smothered by the grosser
and more active passions of the world ; but nature and self-
preservation point to only one course when the appeal is
seriously made to the patriot. It is by this unfortunate
supremacy of the coarser passions of life, that the best men
eventually get enthralled in the mental tyranny of prejudice
and hostility.

" You will perceive by what is here written, that words
and empty profession pass but for little in my poor estimate
of liberality. If I know myself, an Englishman is regarded
as any other man. When I find him, as I am happy to say I
have found hundreds, benevolent, kind of heart, and liberally
enlightened, he even draws nearer to my sympathies than
any other foreigner; but the instant any of the qualities men
tioned above, are discovered, distrust, coldness, and, not un-
frequently, unconquerable disgust, succeed. There is no

328 NOTES.

other object in mentioning my own instance, except as it
goes to prove what is the feeling of an individual who' has
never been the subject of any peculiar causes to make hia
case different from that of the mass of his nation. I believe
it is the state of mind of a vast majority of that portion of my
countrymen who are brought much in collision with the na
tives of Great Britain. But these sympathies may be blighted
too often. It is vain to say, that the mass of mankind are
ignorant, and prejudiced, arid obstinate, while you cannot add
that they are impotent. Men act and feel, they war arid they
destroy, in masses ; and it is as bodies, and not in their insu
lated exceptions, that they must be viewed.

" But I deny that the prejudice of England against America
is limited to the ignorant, though I am willing to admit, and
admit it I do with unaffected pleasure, that there are many
and manly exceptions. Still, a deep, settled, ignorant, and, I
think, an increasing hostility, to the people, the institutions,
and, I fear, to the hopes of the United States, exists in the
minds of a vast majority of the middling classes. I use the
term middling in an intellectual, no less than in its ordinary,
acceptation. It is not a month since a friend of mine acci
dentally met a clergyman's daughter, of good manners, of a
naturally kind heart, and of great general good sense, who
manifested this temper in an extraordinary degree. Chance
introduced the subject of America, and it is scarcely possible
to describe the quality of her abuse, which knew no other
bounds than what propriety of sex, and some little respect for
condition, would impose. On inquiry, it appeared that this
lady (for she was not at all unworthy of the appellation) had
never known an American in her life ! She had listened too
eagerly to misrepresentation and caricature ; and, perhaps,
her very intelligence added to her spleen, by giving the alarm
to her patriotism. But the progress of a great nation is not
to be stopped by angry words.

" You may be inclined to ask if the American is not often
guilty of the same weakness? No doubt he is — though al
ways with this marked difference : he disputes, arid often de
nies the claims of England, in this or that particular ; he is
disgusted with certain usages, and does not scruple to say so ;
he laughs at the self-delusion of her poets and dramatists ;
but he does not deny her general right to be considered among
the greatest nations of the earth. While he sees and acknow
ledges, and has often felt the equality of her courage, and
morals, and enterprise, he confesses no superiority, because,
in simple truth, it has no existence. I do not ever remember
to have heard one of my countrymen, however ignorant or

NOTES. 329

vulgar, refuse to admit an Englishman to most of the merit
of being a sufficiently Civilized man ; but it would be quite
easy to produce printed evidence, in works of character, to
show that there is no reciprocity in even this doubtful degree
of liberality.

"I shall close this long, and, I fear, tiresome note, by
writing still more frankly. I have heard a great deal of
professions of amity and kindness towards America, during
my recent visit to England. I feel that no man has a right
to distrust declarations that come from fearless and honest
natures. For my own part, I give credit to the sincerity of
the individuals who have made them. But when these
declarations corne, as they so often do come, openly and in
print, accompanied by sneers, and misrepresentations, and
caricatures, it would exceed the ordinary bounds of human
vanity to yield them faith. In order that no misconception
may exist on this head, I beg leave to direct your attention
to the Quarterly Review, a publication which, erroneously
or not, is said to enjoy a particular degree of the favour of
those who control the policy of England. Will any honest
or candid man say, that the spirit and language of this
journal are conciliatory? If the English nation wish to cher
ish an amicable temper with America, this is not the way
to effect their object, One is often at a loss to arrive at
the spirit which dictates these mongrel essays. Are their
writers so ignorant of human nature, as not to know, that
while one taunt v/ill be remembered, a thousand qualifying
commendations will be forgotten ? If they are written for
the English nation, do they not prove the existence of the
temper I have described? and if they are written for the
American, is it believed that we shall take our political creed
from known rivals ? If peace between England and America
be an object — and God knows, I consider it an object of deep
and momentous concern — it is not to be preserved by means
like these. There is one question alone, which must always
endanger the harmony of the two nations. I mean the
question of impressment. So long as this delicate and im
portant point remains at issue, England cannot war with any
other power without creating a fearful risk of drawing
America into the controversy. There exists no longer in the
United States, a blind and infatuated party to uphold a
foreign people in the support of a doctrine that is as untena
ble by common sense, as it is insulting to the sovereignty of
an independent nation, and this is a question, therefore, that
can only be disposed of by great conciliation and mutual for
bearance. But, admitting that the administration of the
F f2

330 NOTES.

United States should be disposed to cede a little, for a time,
to policy, until our sinews shall be still better strung-. Heaven
be praised, the American administration can do nothing against
the feeling and declared will of the American nation. Kind
words cost but little. He who does not choose to use them,
cannot expect to have his joke and keep his friend. It may
be very pleasant to laugh at the honest and sincere anticipa
tions of a people whose hopes have never yet been deceived ;
but it would be far wiser to consider what are called the
boastful exaggerations of the Americans, as so many indica
tions of the spirit with which the vast power they are so
shortly and so inevitably to possess, will be wielded. People
may not, and do not like to hear of these things ; but I appeal
to the candour of any honest man, if we tell them as often,
as plainly, and as forcibly as provocation and superciliousness
would justify ; nay more, I do not think we tell them ourselves
as often as they are betrayed by the jealousy of others. We
live in the quiet of a reasonable, and, I hope, of a grateful
security. There is one feature in the intercourse between
all Europeans a»d Americans that should never be forgotten.
The former proeeed on the assumption of premises which
were once true, are now false, and will shortly be absurd ;
and they talk on quietly, with an air of superiority, of which,
half the time, they are unconscious themselves — while the
American is thought an arrogant innovator, if lie pretend
even to equality.

" Turning from this picture of irritating and jealous con
tention, one scarcely knows where to seek the antidote to the
poison which is thus insidiously infused into the two nations.
It can only be found in the high principles and good sense of
the religiously disposed, and of the enlightened. The former
class may endure and deprecate, for their office is meek and
holy charity ; but it may be well questioned, if the know
ledge of man and worldly wisdom do not tell the intelligent
American, that his nation has already forborne too long.
When are we to expect the termination of these constant ap
peals to our forbearance, or when are we to look with confi
dence to the hour in which misrepresentation and calumny
Khali cease ? I refer you to the VII. Number of the Quarterly
Thelogical Review and Ecclesiastical Record, a work de
voted to the promulgation of Christian doctrines, as a striking
evidence of the temper which pervades so much of England
on the subject of America. It is vain to say, that the sermon
it affects to review is any justification of the language it con
tains There is nothing in that sermon but what a minister
of God had a perfect right to tell his people. But it seems

NOTES. 331

our Bishop is accused of having left an erroneous opinion of
his sentiments behind him in England. I hope his successors
will {.-refit by the hint, and deal a little more frankly, though
it should be done at some expense of politeness. If any thing
can serve to make the sweeping and ridiculous charges of this
review more absurd, it is the well-known fact, that millions
in Great Britain pine to enjoy the distant advantages of the
very regions the writer affects to undervalue. It is no small
refutation of a large portion of the calumny heaped upon us,
that no work, pretending to a religious character, could pub
lish such gross exaggerations of any other people, in Amer
ica, without meeting its punishment in the powerful rebuke
of a community that, knows well how to distinguish between
the professions and the duties of Christianity.

" But I have no wish to pursue the ungrateful subject fur
ther. If we do not recriminate and assail, it is not for want
of means, but for want of inclination. All of our travellers in
England have as yet been Hodgsons (at least in temper;) and
it is worthy of remark, that while so many English have been
journeying in America, to ridicule, to caricature, and to mis
represent, not a single American of the thousands who daily
visit and have visited England, has, to my knowledge, ever
undertaken the office of retaliation. I shall not offend your
good sense, by pretending you do not know how easy the task
would become, to an American who had the disposition and
the talents for its — I had almost written duty.

" I have treated this matter more gravely than the security
and indifference of most Americans would induce them to
believe necessary. But to me there seems a danger in the
subject that my countrymen, who now openly laugh at these
• paper bullets,' do not always see. It is plain to me, that
immense numbers in England have a secret presentiment
that there is great danger of a war between the two coun
tries. I take the often repeated disclaimers of a wish for
hostilities to be a bad omen. No man in America, thinks at
all on the subject. I do affirm that I have heard more said
about war in the last four weeks in England, than in the last
four years that I passed at home. I think one can trace
easily the cause of this difference of feeling. We are passive,
for we have neither distrust nor jealousy. We know we are
moving steadily to our object, and we think or care little
about what other people wish or contemplate. I t!o not be
lieve that two grave and thinking nations will ever enter into
hostilities on account of pasquinades ; but pasquinades can
produce a state of feeling that' may render it difficult to over
come serious obstacles to peace. That these obstacles have

332 NOTES.

arisen, and that they will constantly continue to arise, good
men may lament, but prudent men must foresee.

" Having very probably wearied you, my dear , with

a subject in which you may not feel as interested as myself,
you have a right to some advice concerning those preliminary
investigations on which you are so meritoriously inclined. I
scarcely know a book to which I can refer you. Most of the
travels are next to worthless. Even statistical works are
liable to so much explanation, in a country where changes
are so rapid, that they are apt to mislead. For this simple
reason, no book, for a long time to come, can be deemed a
standard work. It is found difficult, with the utmost industry,
for even the geographies to maintain their places in the
schools. What is true to-day, may, where so much activity
prevails, become erroneous to-morrow. It is a common say
ing, that an American who remains five years abroad, gets
behind his country. There are many and lamentable proofs
of its justice. It would have been just as safe for the
Austrians to believe Napoleon at Turin this week, because
he was at Milan the last, as it would be exact to calculate
that America is the same the present as she was found the
preceding year. A population that, in our infancy, amounted
to three millions, has already swelled to twelve, and thou
sands are now in being who will live to see it fifty ! All other
changes have kept equal pace with the unprecedented and
nearly incredible growth of our numbers.

" You will find, in the British Annual Register, a sufficient
ly correct history of the war of the revolution. It is often
coloured in matters that may touch the national pride ; but is
written with far too much talent to be vulgarly illiberal.
Many of the private memoirs of that period, English, Fiench,
and American, have merit as well as interest for those who
are disposed to seek it on so trite a subject : but Marshall,
with all his faults of arrangement, for candour, manliness,
and judicious weighing of testimony, is a model for all his
tories. His opportunities, too, for obtaining the truth have
probably never been equalled by any other historian. For
books of a later date, I scarcely know where to refer you.
The little episode of Anquetil on the American war, is won
derfully erroneous. He confounds names, dates, and events,
in a manner that is inexplicable. He is not alone in saying
that the mistress of Washington had betrayed his secrets I
Nothing can be more absurd than to suppose any woman had
the power of betraying the secrets of one so wise, unless it
be to suppose that woman was his mistress. A more profound
ignorance of the man, or of the people by whom he was in-

NOTES. 333

trusted, cannot easily be imagined. After all, you have chosen
the only course by which a tolerably correct idea of America
can be obtained. You will labour under one disadvantage,
however, of which it is impossible to get rid in years. An
European can scarcely spare sufficient time to acquire the
simplicity of habits, may I also say, simplicity of thought,
necessary to estimate our country. There is no people of
whom a superficial knowledge is so soon gained, for they are
communicative and without suspicion ; but long familiarity is
required to judge of a nation so eminently practical, and so
universally influenced by common sense. Of one thing you
may be assured, that nothing I can bestow shall be wanting
to make your visit both pleasant and profitable. And now,
my dear ," &c. &c.

NOTE B.— Page 16.

" WHAT effect did the general hostilities of Europe, from
1792 to 1814, produce on the maritime spirit or on the naviga
tion of your country ; and what was the counteracting influ
ence of the retaliating measures of the belligerents, of your
own restrictive laws, and of the war of 1812?"

" As to maritime spirit, I should answer, none. The
American has ever shown an inclination to the sea, and per
haps there is no branch of his industry and profit that he
would abandon with greater reluctance. You will find the
proofs of this disposition in history, in his professional skill,
in the restless enterprise of the national character, and in the
sagacity of the people, which is not likely to admit of their
being cajoled into an impression that they do not comprehend
their own interests. The long neutrality of the Americans
certainly added to the wealth of the nation, and enabled its
merchants to increase their tonnage to a comparatively enor
mous amount. In 1810, when the population of the" coun
try but a little exceeded 7,000,000, there were more than
1 ,400,000 tons of shipping under the American flag. After
allowing for errors and frauds, both of which existed at that
period to some extent, this was making one ton to every five
souls. To equal this ratio, Great Britain should possess a
tonnage of near five millions, and France one of six, and that
without computing the inhabitants of their dependencies.
But, great as was the effect of this neutral character on
America, it was by no means equal to that which would have
been produced by her natural advantages to profit by such a

334 NOTES.

position, had not the contest been marked by a singular dis
regard of the established usages of the world. The " orders
in council" of the English, and the " decrees" of the French
are not unknown to you. Under the operations of those novel
principles of belligerent rights, more than sixteen hundred
sail of American vessels were captured or sequestered by the
English, French, Spaniards, Danes, and Neapolitans. Of
this number, near a thousand were condemned, and, with
their cargoes, entirely lost to the nation. These captures
occurred during the enjoyment of our neutral character ! The
restrictive laws, a measure of our own forbearing policy, fol
lowed these heavy losses, and, for near two years, the foreign
trade of the country was entirely abandoned. To these again
succeeded a war of near three years, with a nation which
commanded the sea, which had little else to do on that ele
ment but to annoy our trade, and which, for much of the
time, had no other enemy. To all these checks, which, in
1814, had reduced the navigation of the country to about
one-twentieth of what it had been seven years before, suc
ceeded the general peace, a period when each community
returned to the enjoyment of its own peculiar advantages.
If we put the short and nominal interruption to the peace,
that was occasioned by the return of Napoleon, as a set-off
to the additional year that the American war continued, we
can suppose all the nations to have re-entered the lists of
commercial enterprise together. The result is known to you.
Though America has not regained her former ratio of ton
nage, (a thing not to be expected during a general peace,)
she has become again, compared with her population, the
most maritime nation of the earth. When one coolly reflects
on the shocks she sustained in her wealth, the long continu
ance of the restrictions she endured, and her infancy, the
impression must be irresistible that there exists, either in the
spirit of her people, or in the resources of America, or m
both, an operating cause to produce these effects, which is to
be found nowhere else. Does any man believe that there is
a single nation in Europe that could have recovered so soon
from similar shocks ? The restoration of the convalescent
child to its pristine powers, is riot more strongly contrasted
to the laboured and feeble efforts of age, than is the elasticity
with which America recovers from political pressure to be
compared to the cumbered efforts of the older and more arti
ficial communities of Europe."

" What effect is the continuance of peace likely to produce
on the navigation of your country?"

"• Peace will of course change, indeed it has already, in

NOTES. 336

some measure, changed the direction of our commerce. We
are now placed, as regards mere privilege, on a level with
other nations. That we are more than equal to maintain the
competition, wherever trade is conducted on principles of
reciprocity, is manifest by the fact that we conduct so large
a proportion of the intercourse between ourselves and the
rest of the world. The main result is already to be seen in
existing facts ; though it is undeniably in the power of other
countries to throw embarrassments in our way, just as it is in
our power to adopt measures of retaliation. It is useless to
carry this investigation into details, since the minute policy
of nations to-day may differ so much from that of to-morrow.
It appears to me that the question of the increase of our
navigation is altogether one of degree. That it must con
tinue to increase is just as capable of demonstration as the
facts that it has increased, and does increase, are notorious.
Let us look, for instance, at a branch of the trade that is al
most without exception within our own control. On exam
ination it will be seen, that while the foreign commerce of
the United States has vacillated with the changes of external
causes, the trade coastwise has been regularly, and, I might
add, naturally, on the increase. In America, the vessels
which are employed in the intercourse between one State and
another, or, in fact, between one port and another, are enu
merated in a different class from those which sail for ports
without the country. The former are known as registered,
and the latter as licensed vessels. The difference in name is
owing to the difference in the document which gives to each
its respective character. In all other respects the employ
ments are the same. When the destination of the vessel is
changed, it becomes necessary to change the evidence of
character. Now, in 1790, the licensed tonnage of the coun
try amounted to 103,775 tons. It exceeds, at the present
hour, tliis amount by seven-fold. The increase has been re
markably regular, and is always in a ratio rather exceeding
that of the population of the country.*

" The most rational way of anticipating the future state
of our commerce by the past, is to consider the ratio of the
increasing wants of the country in connexion with the ef
fects which repletion, if I may so term it, never fails to pro
duce on the moral no less than on the physical system. So
long as the animal is in a state of growth, ample sustenance
tends to aid that growth, by keeping the framo equal to its

* The reports of 1826, raise the tonnage of the United States to 1,534,000
tons, of which more than 800,000 are in the coasting trade and fisheries.

33G NOTES.

utmost powers of developement ; but as maturity approaches,
excessive nourishment gradually begins to defeat its own ob
ject. There are also points in the developement of the re
sources of all communities, where calculation must become
subject to the re-actions of a state of rest, and of a retro-
gradation, just as in the animal system allowances were to
be made for a condition of infant vigour. Should we as
sume, for a rule, the past ratio of the increase of our coast
ing trade, and with the exception of the last few years, it has
hitherto been exceedingly regular, we shall have, multiplying
the present amount by seven, a total of near five millions for
the licensed tonnage of the country in the year 1860. Under
a general impression of its improbability, the mind rejects
this enormous amount as exaggerated, and, no doubt, with
some reason. If we take the positive growth of the past
without any reference to its comparative rate of increase, it
will require another thirty years to add another 600,000 tons
to this branch of our trade. But as the United States are
still in the course of a vigorous and healthful developement
of their resources, there are those who would reject the prin
ciple of i;his manner of estimation, however they might be
satisfied with its result. If we take the known rate of the
increase of our population as a guide, we shall have a licen
sed tonnage of about 1,500,000 in the year 1850. With these
facts in view, you are nearly or quite as well qualified to judge
of this matter as myself, though all conjecture on the subject
must necessarily be made under a sense of the mutability of
human affairs. In order to form an opinion of this branch of
trade, however, and of its effects on the maritime character
of the nation, you will remember that the voyages are made
in vessels of from ten tons, to those of five hundred, and that
they are from twenty miles in extent to two thousand. Now,
this trade is all our own, and can never be materially invaded,
during peace, by the policy of any other people. It is in it
self such a germ of nautical power as exists nowhere else,
unless it may be in England, where it exists at all times sub
ject to the dangers of colonial discussions and conflicting in
terests. In short, it is such a healthful, safe, and increasing
source of commerce, as, I think, can never be long equalled
by the intercourse between principal and dependant."

" What effect will manufactures be likely to produce on
the maritime character of your people? How far will the
cheapness of land have a tendency to divert your population
from the ocean, and what will be the probable influence of
the inland States in opposing the commercial, or navigating
interests of the maritime ?"

NOTES. 337

" These are questions often asked ; but the two first of
them, at least, might be answered by the results of all expe
rience. Men navigate ships for precisely the same object
that they manufacture goods. They do both to enrich them
selves, or to prevent want. It is a good reason why the
islander should go to sea, that he can do nothing better ; but
it is just as good a one, that the inhabitant of a continent
should do the same thing, because he can do nothing else
half so profitable. Men can be led as well as driven. Now,
the American long ago made the discovery that, notwith
standing the high price of labour in his country, as he can sail
a ship cheaper than others, he is likely to reap most emolu
ment in turning his attention to the sea. In consequence of
this discovery, the nation has become maritime ; and it will
undeniably continue maritime so long as there is profit to be
derived from navigation. Land was cheaper thirty years ago
than to-day, and yet our citizens left it to earn their money
on the water. The ship-master who gains three or four hun
dred dollars a year on his farm, rents it, and goes to sea to
earn a thousand, and the labourer prefers twelve dollars a
month to eight. The very cheapness of land, by lessening
the value of its products, assists to create this state of things.
As the population increases, the relative prices of labour
will necessarily diminish, until the time shall come when men
will go to sea in America, as elsewhere, because they can do
nothing else. There is, however, another cause which must
never be lost sight of, when one reasons on the inducements
which tempt men to quit the land for the water. I mean the
restlessness of moral excitement. This cause is more active
in America, where the labouring classes read more, and hear
more of adventure than any where else. It is true, that pos
sibly one-third of the common seamen employed. in the foreign
trade of America are foreigners ; this fact is not, however,
owing to any indisposition to the sea on the part of the na
tives, but to the superabundance of the supply in Europe,
and. the higher inducements which the American ship-owner
is able to offer for labour. Nearly, or perhaps quite, in the
proportion, however, as strangers come to us, do our own
people go abroad. The American sailor is to be found all
over the world, and wherever he is known, he is liked for his
cleverness, arid generally for his comparatively quiet habits.
There is no political truth more certain in America, than that
all demands will meet with their supply. To those who are
familiar with the subject, it is often a matter of surprise to
witness how infallibly, and how soon an extraordinary de
mand for labour produces a glut in a country where every

VOL. I. G £

338 NOTES.

thing is more abundant than man. it is not unusual for
artisans or day-labourers to be informed of these demands,
by means of the public prints, and for adventurers to be seen
undertaking journeys of hundreds of miles, not to provide
ao-ainst want, but in order to reap the utmost possible emolu
ment from their personal efforts. In this particular, no
parallel can be drawn between America and any other coun
try, since no other country possesses such varied and cheap
means of intelligence and communication, nor a population
sufficiently active and intelligent to profit by them. As
respects enterprise and intelligence, the mass of our labouring
people may be placed on a level with the better instructed
English mechanic: without his particular excellence, it is
true, but with infinitely more general and useful information.
Men would come from the forest to the sea to meet a de
mand, just as men will go from the sea to the interior, when
that demand has more than met with its supply. So long as
the merchant can afford to pay for labour, he will never want
seamen in America, since it is commerce that makes mari
ners, and not mariners commerce. There are certain familiar
facts that have a more particular connexion with the present
state of our seamen, which we may find it useful to refer to,
when we shall come to consider America as a naval power.
But the subject must be postponed, until you have seen some
thing of the country itself.

" As respects the supposed difference between the interests
of what you call the maritime, and of the interior States,
it has no real existence, and can, therefore, never produce
any important results. It is difficult to imagine a state of
society where there is so little competition, (the source of
all discord,) between its members, as is to be found in the
United States. The unfortunate and lamentable grievance
of slavery ceases to be an evil in this respect. That momentary
collisions of opinion do arise between northern and southern,
between eastern and western policy, is undeniable ; but
they are far more the results of the right to complain, than
of any natural disability to maintain the connexion. Fancy
for a moment, that Ireland, Scotland, Canada, and the West
Indies, could make themselves, no.t heard, but felt in the
councils of their empire, and then figure to yourself the dis
cord that would follow ! Nay, look at that which does at this
moment 'exist, when their voices are so feeble, and their ef
forts so impotent. Now, in America, the southern planter
has need of the shipping and manufactures of some one.
He has only to ask himself whether he will use those of a
people in whose councils he shares, or those of strangers.

NOTES

The converse of the proposition exhibits the principle which
binds the northern to the southern man. On all the great
and leading questions of policy, their interests are identified,
and the harmony which has suffered so little interruption tor
half a century, shows how sensible they are of its truth. Any
departures from this accordance of opinion, are merely trifling
exceptions, which are only the more prominent from their
infrequency. If the States of Ohio, Tennessee, and Ken
tucky, had the exclusive power to legislate on the commerce
of the Union, they might encumber it from ignorance of ita
practices, though they would not be slow to perceive how
useful it is, even to themselves. But commerce is regulated
in the grand council of the nation, where men are assembled
who know how to compare their respective wants, and where
small sectional interests are completely silenced by the voices
of the majority. But after all, in considering this question, a
great deal too much stress is laid on the inland Stales of
America. The territorial limits of the States are ideal, so far
as commerce is concerned. As bodies politic, the States are
totally mute in the matter. Neither is extent of coast any
evidence of the maritime habits of a State. New- York, with
more shipping, has less coast (if an island without ports be
excepted,) than the two smallest States of the Union. Out
of twenty-four States, seventeen touch the sea, five lie on the
great lakes, and the remaining three have direct navigable
water communication with the port of New-Orleans, and will
shortly have an internal water communication with that of
New-York.

" As to manufactures, they are clearly a means of aiding
commerce, when they exist in communities that can profit by
both. ' It will be adding one more to the other numerous
nautical resources of the country, let them thrive with us to
day, or fifty years hence, since, putting exportation out of the
question, they will clearly increase the objects of intercom
munication.

" I know of but one other manner of considering the mat
ter that is embraced by your query. It does not, in truth,
properly belong to the subject, though, as it is always forced
into view in Europe, I presume you may expect me to say
something concerning it. here. I mean the extent to which
emigration will affect navigation, by depriving the maritime
States of their seamen. I have already said, that should
there be a demand for seamen, it would produce, when neces
sary, a. counter-current. But it never can be necessary.
Of this truth you will be convinced by a simple statement
of facts. Though, perhaps, one-third, and sometimes one-

340 NOTES.

half of the seamen employed in our foreign trade may be
foreigners, the country has always possessed enough of its
own to conduct its commerce. Thousands live on shore for
years at a time, and thousands are induced to go abroad in
quest of adventure. In the trade, coastwise, fisheries, «fcc.
&,c. nine-tenths, or, perhaps, more are natives. Now these
men have been chiefly supplied by five of the New-England,
and the five middle States. In 1790, the population of these
ten States amounted to 2,264,536. In 1820, it had reached
4,003,974 ; that is to say, it had doubled in thirty years, not
withstanding the vast emigration they had sent to the west.
This increase is certainly liable to some explanation. During
this time, New- York, Pennsylvania, Maine, and New-Hamp°
shire, have been, comparatively speaking, new States. But
the two latter have never been favourites, and ail have, for
the last fifteen years, sent forth more emigrants than they
have received, and they have received few settlers that did
not come from some one of the other six. The increase of
these ten States between the years 1810 and 1820, a period
during which 1 hey must have been losers by the emigration,
was little short of 900,000 souls. Thus, you see, the question
has become exceedingly narrow. If the fact, that we have
now a sufficient number of native seamen, to conduct our
trade, be admitted, the tonnage of the country must double
in thirty years, or the increase of the population of these ten
States alone can furnish the necessary supply for the future.
In making these remarks, I have excluded foreign emigration
from the estimates, since it is well known that it produces no
visible effect on the population of the country. It has been
judiciously calculated that, all births allowed, the population
of the United States was scarcely augmented 200,000 souls,
by foreign emigration, in five-and-thirty years. It is said to
be increasing a little just now, a fact that will, of course,
only facilitate our ability to meet any extraordinary demand
for men."

END OF VOL. I.

THE

TRAVELLING BACHELOR;

OR,

NOTIONS OF THE AMERICANS,

BY J. FENIMORE COOPER.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

NEW EDITION.

NEW YORK:
STRINGER AND TOWNSEND,

1852.

Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to wtti

****** BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the nineteenth day of

*L. S.* July, in the fifty-third year of the independence of the United

****** States of America, A. D. 1828, CAKEY, LEA & CAREY, of the

said district, have deposited in this office the title of a Book, the right

whereof they claim as Proprietors, in the words following, to wit :

" Notions of the Americana. Picked up by a Travelling Bachelor."

In Conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States,
entitled, " An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the
copies o/Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of
such copies during the times therein mentioned.*' And also to the Act
entitled, "An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled 'An Act for the
Encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts,
and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies, during the
times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts
of designing, engraving, and etching, historical and other Prints."
D. CALDWELL, Clerk of the

Eastern District of Pennsylvania

LETTERS,

TO THE COUNT JULES DE BETHIZY,

COLONEL EN RETRAITE OP THE IMPERIAL GUARD.

Washington,

I WRITE you from the little capital of this great
republic. After lingering at Baltimore until reasons
for all further delay were exhausted, we reluctantly
turned our faces westward. Cadwallader had pointed
out to me sundry busy-looking travellers, who were
strolling through the streets of the town, with more
gravity of mien (assumed or natural) than is common
to meet in a city, and whispered in my ears that they
were members of Congress, on their way to the seat
of government. This was a hint not to be disregarded.
Tearing ourselves from the attraction of bright eyes
and soft voices, we gallantly entered a coach, and
broke the chain of attraction which, like the fabled
magnet of Mahomet's coffin, had so long kept me
suspended between heaven and earth. Heigho ! dear
Jules, I confess to twenty-four hours, when a treach
erous intention of resigning, to some less inexorable
successor, the stall which I so unworthily fill in our
self-denying chapter, was insidiously floating before
my imagination. But a resolution which has borne
me through so many similar dangers in triumph,

4 APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY.

(aided by the members of Congress), was victorious.
By-the-bye, I am grieved to the heart to hear of the
sad accident that has befallen the professor, and most
sincerely do I pray that the time may be long averted
when it shall become necessary to supply a vacancy
in our numbers, from a cause so fatal as a marriage.
The grave might be wept over, and time would
soften grief for the death of even a bosom friend, but
what could time do towards mitigating a penance
performed at the confessional of Hymen ? The more
sincere, and the more frequent the acknowledgments,
the more keen and helpless would the bitterness of
a spirit so thoroughly bruised become. If you pass
through the queen of cities this winter, order a new
cushion to my chair; I intend that the sittings of
1827 shall wear well into the mornings !

The road between Baltimore and Washington is
neither particularly bad nor particularly good.* It
passes through a comparatively barren, and a little
inhabited country. It was here that I first observed
the great difference between the aspect of the slave-
holding and the non-slave-holding States. In Penn
sylvania, at the distance of sixty miles north of our
present route, we should have seen a landscape, over

* It may be well to state, once for all, the following facts
concerning the American roads. In all the northern and eastern
States, for nine months in the year, they are, as a rule, toler
ably good in those parts of the country where the establishments
are old enough to admit of it. In the spring, and in the autumn,
there are periods when most of the roads are bad. There are
many roads, however, as good as the ordinary turnpike roads
of England, and which vary very little in quality throughout
the year. A traveller in an American stage-coach cannot well
compare the roads of the United States with those of England,
for the coaches of the former are not suspended on springs,
though the seats are sometimes supplied with them. As one
quits the older parts of the country, the roads gradually grow
worse, until, in the very newest settlements, they are often no
more than trees that are marked, or blazed^ to indicate the
courses of the route.

BLADENSBURGH.

which farm-houses, barns, and all the ordinary objects
of a prosperous husbandry, were profusely sprinkled,
while here the houses began to be distant from each
other, or were grouped in little clusters apart from
the highways. This portion of America bears a
greater resemblance to continental Europe, than the
States we have quitted. The dwelling of the planter
is the chateau ; and the huts of the slaves form the
contiguous village. A difference in the moral con
dition of the ages in which the two have been con
structed, has induced some very sensible alterations
in the plans of the buildings ; but, still the outline is
the same.

1 was surprised at the sterility and nakedness of
the country through which we journeyed, though I
was given to understand that a great deal of the State
of Maryland is land of the richest quality. There
were one or two small villages on the route, but
which, after those we had seen further north, wore
a miserable air. I am not certain, however, that
they are not quite as good in every particular as the
ordinary villages of Europe. Here I first saw fields
for the tobacco plant. It grows in hills, not unlike
the maize, and is rarely, or never, fenced, no animal
but man having a relish for the unsavoury weed.

At the distance of six or seven miles from Wash
ington, we stopped at the village of Bladensburgh, a
place notorious for two circumstances. It lies just
without the territory of the district of Columbia, and
is the spot usually chosen for the decision of private
combats ; and it is the place where the affair be
tween the English and the Americans was fought a
few hours before the former entered the city.

I confess I had thought it surprising that so small a
force (about 5000 men) could have taken possession
of the capital of so powerful a nation ; but a nearer
view has entirely dissipated the wonder. Tt was a
point where the Americans, having nothing of mill-
A2

6 BATTLE OF BLADENSBURGH.

tary importance to defend, had assembled no force,
and there is not probably on the whole line of their
coast, a more deserted and tenantless region than the
country traversed by the invaders. The troops ral
lied to resist the English, as their intention became
known, were merely the citizens of the adjoining
country, who assembled in a very imperfect state of
preparation, and who were very little, if at all, supe
rior in numbers to their antagonists. They had not
even the ordinary inducements to risk their lives
against those of hireling troops ; for, even to this hour,
it is difficult to find what object General Ross could
have had in hazarding his army in an expedition that
might have been attended with destruction. A man
like Jackson to oppose him would have insured it.

I alighted at Bladensburgh, and, accompanied by
my friend, walked in advance of the carriage over
the ground, attended by a sufficiently intelligent man
who had witnessed the whole affair. As it is a little
in your way, the details I gleaned shall be rendered
as an offering to your military gout. Should they fail
of the interest which has so often been thrown over
the entrances of Moscow and Paris, you know how
to make allowances for an inferiority in dramatic ef
fect, which is no more than a natural consequence
of the difference between the conquest of a city of
half a million of inhabitants, and of a town of eight
or nine thousand.

The country around Bladensburgh is gently undu
lating and moderately wooded. A small stream lies
near the village, and between it and the capital. It
is crossed by a wooden bridge. So much hurry and
indecision appear to have existed among the defend
ers, that even this bridge was not destroyed, though
it might have been rendered impassable in ten min
utes. ' It would seem, however, that many of their
troops, such as they were, only reached the ground
at the critical moment when they were wanted in

A LAWYER FOR A GENERAL.

the combat. The dispositions for resistance were
made along the crest of a gentle acclivity, at the dis
tance of rather more than a mile from this bridge.
The centre of their position was on the highway,
and its defence was intrusted to a few seamen and
two or three hundred marines, the only disciplined
forces on the ground. A few light troops (all militia)
were pushed in front to the banks of the stream, and
two pieces of artillery were placed at a point to
command the passage of the bridge. There was a
little skirmishing here ; and it seems, by the English
accounts, that they suffered severely from the artil
lery in crossing the bridge. The ground in front of
the seamen and marines was a gentle acclivity, and
perfectly open. Here there was some sharp fighting.
The British columns were obliged to open, and Gen
eral Ross began to manoeuvre. But the militia did
not wait to be turned, for they retired to a man (the
skirmishers excepted), without firing a gun. The
seamen and marines stood well, and were necessarily
brought off to prevent capture. The artillery was
all, or nearly all, taken. This is, in substance, what
is called the Battle of Bladensburgh. The Ameri
can loss was trifling, less than two hundred, and that
of the English perhaps three or four hundred.

It is easy to criticise the disposition of the Ameri
can commander. This gentleman was an able law
yer of the adjoining State of Maryland, who had lis
tened to the whisperings of that uneasy ambition
which sometimes makes men heroes. He had quitted
the gown for the sword a short time before, and
probably knew as little about his new profession as
you know of the one he had deserted. Lawyer or
not, had this gentleman placed his fellow-citizens (for
soldiers they cannot be called) in and about the Cap
itol, and had they only fought as well as they did, he
taking care not to give them any particularly favour
able opportunity of dispersing, I think General Ross

8 CITY OF WASHINGTON.

would have been spared the very equivocal glory of
burning all that then existed of that edifice ; viz. the
two wings. He listened to other counsels.

As we approached the capital, we saw before us
an extent of open country that did not appear to be
used for any agricultural purposes. It lay, without
fences, neglected, and waste. This appearance is
common just here, and is owing to the circumstance
that tobacco exhausts the soil so much, that, in a
country where land and its products are still so cheap,
it is not worth the cost of restoring it. We soon got
a view of the dome of the Capitol, and the whole of
the faqade of that noble edifice came into view, as
we mounted a slight eminence which had partly con
cealed it. As my eye first wandered eagerly around,
at this point, to gather together the scattered particles
of the city, I will take the present occasion to con
vey a general impression of its appearance.

The seat of government was removed from Phila
delphia to this place, in order that it might be more
central. So far as a line drawn north and south is in
question, this object is sufficiently answered. But
Washington stands so very far east of a central meri
dian as to render it probable that other considera
tions influenced the change. I have never heard it
so said, but nothing is more probable than that the
slave-holding States required some such concession
to their physical inferiority. At all events, every
body appears perfectly satisfied with the present
position of the capital. Perhaps, notwithstanding
the difference on the map, the place is practically
nearer the centre than if it stood farther west. The;
member from Alabama, or Louisiana, or Missouri,
arrives by sea, or by means of the great rivers of the
west, with about the same expense of money and of
labour as the member from Vermont, Maine, or New-
Hampshire. Some one must always have the benefit
of being nearest the political centre, and it is of no

PLAN OF THE CITY. 9

great moment whether he be a Virginian or an
Ohiese. As the capital is now placed, it is more
convenient for quick communication with Europe
than if farther inland, and it is certainly nearer the
centre of interests where it stands, than it would be
in almost any other spot in the confederation.

Had the plan of the city been as well conceived
as its locality, there would be less ground of com
plaint. The perspective of American character was
certainly exhibited to great advantage in the concep
tions of the individual who laid out the site of this
town. It is scarcely possible to imagine a more un
fortunate theory than the one he assumed for the
occasion. Me appears to have egregiously mistaken
the relative connexion between streets and houses,
since it is fair to infer he would not have been so
lavish of the one without the aid of the other, did he
not believe the latter to be made use of as accessories
to the former, instead of the reverse, as is every
where else found to be the case. And, yet I think,
both nature and art had united to point out the true
plan for this city, as I shall endeavour to convince
you without delay.

The ground occupied by the city of Washington,
may be described as forming a tolerably regular tri
angle. Two of its sides are washed by the two
branches of the Potomac, which diverge towards
the north-east and north-west, while on its third,
there are no limits to its extent, the land being a
somewhat gentle acclivity, gradual on the whole,
though undulating, and often broken in its minute
parts. The river below the point is a noble stream,
stretching for many miles to the southward, in full
view of the town. Both of its. branches are naviga
ble for near a league. At the distance of about two
miles from the point, the main river (west branch),
which had hitherto washed a champaign country,
enters a range of low mountains, and makes a still

10 DESCRIPTION OF WASHINGTON.

more decided inclination to the west. Here is the
head of tide and of navigation. The latter circum
stance had early pointed out the place for the site of
a town, and accordingly a little city grew on the spot,
whence tobacco and lumber were shipped for other
ports, long before the neighbourhood was thought of,
as the capital of a great nation. This place is called
Georgetown. It is rather well built than otherwise,
and the heights, in its rear, for it lies against an ac
clivity, are not only beautiful in themselves, but they
are occupied by many pretty villas. It contains in
itself, perhaps 9000 inhabitants. It has a college and
five churches, two of which are Episcopal.

Georgetown is divided, from what is termed Wash
ington City, by a rapid little stream called Rock
Creek.* The land, for a considerable distance after
the creek is crossed, is well adapted for a town. It
is sufficiently unequal to carry off the water, and yet
sufficiently level for convenient streets. Here is the
spot, I think, where the buildings should have been
collected for the new city. But at the distance of
about a mile and a quarter from the bridge, a vast
square is laid out. On one of its sides is the Presi
dent's House,t flanked by the public offices. A few
bouses and a church are on two more of its sides,
though the one opposite to the ' White House ' is as
yet entirely naked. From this square, sundry great
avenues diverge, as do others from another centre,
distant a mile and a half still further east. The
latter square is adorned by the Capitol. Across all

* The Americans often call a small river a creek, and brooks
of a large size are oftener called creeks than any thing else.
Schoharie Creek is as large as the Seine, at Paris. It is, to all
intents, a rapid river; but the size of many of their rivers is so
great as to produce a sort of impression that the smaller streams
should be of a different class.

t The Americans familiarly call the exceedingly pretty little
palace in which their chief magistrate resides, the " White
House," but the true appellation is the President's House.

POPULATION OF WASHINGTON. 11

these avenues, which are parallel to nothing, there
is a sort of net-work of streets, running at right
angles with each other. Such is Washington on the
map.

In point of fact, but few of the avenues or streets
are opened, and fewer still are built on. There is
one of the former running from the bridge at George
town to the first square, and another leads from the
President's House to the capitol. There are two or
three more which connect important points, though
only the two named are sufficiently built on to have
the least of the character of a town. There are
rather more streets open, though not one of them all
is absolutely built up from one end to the other.

In consequence of the gigantic scale on which
Washington is planned, and the different interests
which influence the population, its inhabitants (in
cluding Georgetown) are separated into four distinct
little towns, distant from each other about a mile.
Thus we have Georgetown in the west, containing
9000 souls ; the town immediately around the Presi
dent^ House, (extending towards the Capitol,) with
perhaps 10,000; that around the Capitol, of some
two or three thousand souls; and the buildings at
the Navy-Yard, which lies on the east branch, still a
mile further. The whole city* including its three
divisions, with here and there a few scattered build
ings, may now contain about 16,000 souls.

When the people of the United States determined
to have a more central capital, it was thought best
to give the general government absolute jurisdiction
over it. In order to effect this object, it was neces
sary to extinguish the State rights. This was done

* Georgetown, it will be remembered, is not properly a part
of the city of Washington, though in the district of Columbia ;
but, in point of fact, it is as nigh the President's House, as is the
Capitol. There is also a little group of houses at the junction
of the two branches of the Potomac.

12 GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

by Virginia and Maryland ceding sufficient territory
to make a district of ten miles square at the point 1
have described. In this little territory the President
exercises the authority which a governor commonly
exercises in a State, or rather, there is no interme
diate or concurrent executive authority between him
and the people, as in the several State? ; and Con
gress, though in fact elected by the citizens of the
States, does all the legislation. Thus the inhabitants
of this territory have no representation whatever;
neither voting for members of Congress, nor for mem
bers of any State legislature. But their voices are
often heard in the way of petitions and demands. It
is probable that when they shall become as numerous
as the smallest State, they will receive the right of
electing representatives.*

* The writer will take this opportunity of introducing a short
account of the formation of the government of the United
States, since it will assist to explain a good deal of that which
is to follow.

The executive power is in the President. He nominates to
office ; pardons all offences, except convictions under impeach
ments ; conducts negotiations ; sees that the laws are admin
istered, and is the military chief of the army and navy, subject
to the laws. He makes treaties with the consent of the Senate,
and gives his assent to all laws, though a law can be passed
without him, if two-thirds of both houses vote in its favour.
The Senate is the representation of the sovereignty of the States,
each State sending two members, who are chosen by their re
spective legislatures. They serve for six years, one-third va
cating their seats every new Congress. They have a concur
rent power with the lower house in enacting laws ; they ratify
treaties ; they approve of nominations to office, and they con
stitute a High Court of Impeachment. The Representatives
are elected directly by the people, one member being sent from
a regulated number of electors. They serve for one Congress,
which exists two years, commencing on the 4th of March of
one year, and ending on the 3d of March of the year but one
that follows. The official term of the President is for two of
these Congresses, and that of a Senator for three. The Kepre-
sentatives, or members of the lower house, have concurrent
power in the enactment of the laws, and being the grand in
quest of the nation, they can impeach an\ officer of the gov
ernment,

GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 13

I think you must be enabled to understand the
anomaly of the district of Columbia. It has been
necessarily fostered by the nation, for as it has been
entirely called into existence, as a separate commu-

Every citizen of the United States, who is twenty-one years
of age, and who possesses certain trifling qualifications, can
vote for a member of the House of Representatives, provided
he himself be a resident of a State. The confederation is only
of the States ; but there are vast regions belonging to them as
common property, which do not lie within the boundaries of any
State. This country is subdivided for the purposes of conve
nience, and is governed entirely by the authority of the Presi
dent and Congress, or according to laws enacted for that pur
pose. With the exception of one (the District of Columbia)
they are called territories. Thus, besides the twenty-four
States, there are the North-western, Michigan, Arkansas, and
Florida territories. Certain legislative rights are granted to
all the territories that have a sufficient population, but none is
yet granted to the District of Columbia. Some of the territories
even send delegates to Congress. These delegates can speak,
but they cannot vote. As the territories reach an established
rate of population, they are uniformly admitted into the con
federation, as States. It is probable that Michigan, Florida,
and Arkansas will be admitted as States soon after the next
census, after which a long period Avill be likely to elapse with
out any farther increase of the number of the States. The great
difficulty in making a foreigner comprehend the institutions of
the United States, exists in the double form of its government.
Neither the President, nor Congress, nor both, have authority
to interfere with government beyond the power which has been
conceded to them by the States. They can make war, raise
armies, lay taxes, send fleets to sea, and do many other things,
but they cannot punish a theft, unless committed on the high
seas, to which their jurisdiction of course extends, or in some
other place where they have the exclusive or a concurrent
power. Thus, the President of the United States, may pardon
a man convicted of robbing the United States' mail, though the
act should have been done in the most crowded street of the
city of New-York, because the regulation of the mail, being a
matter of public convenience, is vested in the government ol
the confederation, with all power necessary to its safety an(.
despatch ; but, if the same coach should be robbed in a forest,
and it did not contain a mail, or something else over which the
United States have jurisdiction, the robber would be pun
ished by the laws of the State where the offence was committed ,
In order that these laws may be executed, each government
has its own agents. Thus, there are judges of the State courts,
and judges of the courts of the United States. The former have
jurisdiction in cases that are strictly municipal, or rather which

VOL. IL B

14 GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

nity, for their use, it owes most of all it possesses to
the public grants and to the presence of the ministers
of the government. With a view to force a town,
establishments have been formed which will probably
linger in a doubtful state of existence for a long time
to come, if, indeed, they ever prosper. Among
others is that of the Navy- Yard.

The village around the Navy- Yard is the least im
portant of the three which properly constitute the
community assembled at Washington Proper. You
will remember that I now exclude Georgetown from
this enumeration. It possesses a different city gov
ernment, though it is, in point of fact, quite as near
the centre, or the President's House, as the Capitol.
Alexandria, a little city, also, of about 9000 inhabit-

are confined to their respective States, and the latter in cases
which arise under the laws of the United States, or in cases in
which the citizens of different States are parties. This latter
power of the courts of the general government is one of the
most important features of the confederation. It has a tendency
to equalize the State laws, by rendering them all subject to the
great principles of the constitution, as well as to those of natural
justice. It will be seen at once, that this confederation differs
from all that we have hitherto known by the complicated nature
of the action and re-action between the people and their general
government. It is much the same, in fact, as if charters were
given to certain towns, in a constitutional government, whether
monarchical or not, under favour of which the inhabitants of
those towns were authorized to enact certain laws for their own
private convenience, while they continued subject at the same
time to the general laws of the empire. The theory is cer
tainly different ; for here the power which belongs to the gen
eral government, is a concession from the particular States,
whereas, in the other case, the power exercised by the corpo
rations would be a concession from the principal government.
Still the cases bear so strong a resemblance, that one can readily
understand the nature of the two authorities which exist in this
country. But we in Europe, while we are accustomed to see
cities and universities, and even parts of empires, exercising
this species of divided sovereignty, have not been accustomed
to see them exercising it to the extent that is practised in
America. The difference arises from the common circum
stance, that the conceding party has, in both cases, seen fit to
retain the most of the power in its own hands.

NAVY-YARD. 15

ants, is equally within the limits of the District, but
it lies on the opposite side of the Potomac, and at a
distance of six miles. There are not many good
houses in the quarter of the Navy- Yard, and I should
think that a great portion of its inhabitants are people
dependent on the establishment for support. Notwith
standing there is a long river to navigate before a ship
can get into the bays below, a very considerable num
ber of the public vessels are built and repaired at this
spot. Seamen, there are none at Washington, for the
simple reason that there is no commerce. A few
ships are, indeed, seen at the wharfs of Georgetown
and Alexandria, but the navigation of the two places
united is far less than that of most of the fourth-rate
commercial towns of the Union.

As the department of the navy, and the board of
naval commissioners, are both established at Wash
ington, this yard may be of some service in the way
of modelling, and for the superintendence of inven
tions. A ship built here is said to cost more than
one built in any of the more northern ports, and it is
therefore plain, that when the size of their marine
shall compel the Americans to observe a rigid econ
omy in its construction, the relative importance of
this yard must cease. It may long continue a school
for experiments, but it can never become what was
once anticipated for it, a large and flourishing build
ing establishment.

I saw, in the Navy-Yard at Washington, the only
public monument in commemoration of the dead that
1 could find in the city, unless a few simple stones,
erected around the graves of members of Congress,
who have died while here in the discharge of their
official duties, can be so termed. This little monu
ment was erected to commemorate the deaths of the
officers who fell in the war with Tripoli ; a war to
which the United States1 marine owes its present
high and merited character. It is a simple column,

16 A MONUMENT.

wrought in Italy at the expense of the survivors, and
erected on this spot under the impulse of that stub
born feeling of independence which distinguishes this
people. The high-spirited contributors to the little
work, thought the Congress did not pay a suitable
respect to their petition for a site in a more public
situation. They were masters of the Navy-Yard,
and in disgust they caused their modest memorial to
be put up in the centre of its area. It may be doubt
ed, after all, if any other situation so appropriate, or
so touching, could have been found. This monument
has received some injury, by having one or two of its
ornamental figures broken. On one of its sides I read
the following inscription : " Mutilated by Britons,
August, 1814." This was the date of the inroad of
the English.

Now it struck me that this inscription was in sin
gularly bad taste. The incursion of General Ross
was not an affair in which either party should exult.
It was no extraordinary military achievement for
four or five thousand highly disciplined troops, to land
under the protection of an overwhelming naval force,*
and to make a forced march, for a few days, through
a perfectly defenceless, and nearly uninhabited coun
try ; to attack and disperse a hastily assembled body
of armed citizens, who were but little, if any, superior
to them in numbers ; to enter a line of straggling vil
lages ; to remain one night, and then to retreat at a
rate that was quite as precipitate as their advance.
Perhaps it was not bad policy, in the abstract, for a
people who possessed the advantages of the British,
to take this means of harassing their enemy. But I
doubt the policy, in a nation situated precisely as
England was and is, of proving so practically to a
nation with the spirit, the resources, maritime char-

* The frigates ascended the river to Alexandria.

BAD TASTE. 17

acter, and prospects of this, that a powerful navy is
so absolutely necessary to defend their coast. The
use that was made of the success, too, might admit
of some cavilling. But, on the other hand, the Amer
icans fell so far short in their defence of what even
the case admitted, and so very far short of what, even
under less propitious circumstances, they themselves
effected at New-Orleans, that wisdom would pre
scribe silence as the better course. It is permitted
for the defenders of Bunker's hill to allude to their
defeat, but the chisel of the Americans should have
been industriously employed to erase every vestige
of, and not to commemorate, even thus indirectly, the
occupation of their capital by an enemy. But, even
admitting that the defence of the town had been quite
equal to the means at hand, what was the immediate
offence that called for this particular punishment?
The English occupied the Navy- Yard, and, although
a little hurried, they certainly had time to have de
stroyed this small monument, instead of mutilating it,
by knocking the heads off one or two small marble
angels. The very nature of the injury proves it was
the act of an individual, and not of the authority,
which alone should be considered responsible for any
grave national accusation. Cadwallader is of my
opinion, as, indeed, were half-a-dozen naval officers
who showed us through the yard. The Batter said
that the inscription was by order of an officer of rank,
who had reasons for a special degree of antipathy
against their late enemy. No man, especially in a
country like this, should be permitted, however, thus
to interpose his personal resentments between a nation
and its dignity.

It is more than a mile from the quarter of the Na
vy-Yard to that of the Capitol. I have read accounts
of this place, which convey an idea that it was lately
a forest, and that the wood had been felled in order
to make a space to receive the town. There is some
B2

18 APPEARANCE OF THE VICINITY.

error in this impression. Most of the country* for
miles around Washington, was early devoted to the
growth of tobacco. It is a baneful consequence of
the cultivation of this weed, that, for a long time, it
destroys the fertility of the soil. Thus, one sees vast
fields here, which wear the appearance of neglected
heaths. A growth of low, stunted, dwarfish trees
succeeds in time, and bushes must, of course, first
make their appearance. I could see no traces of
wood in any part of this city, nor for some distance
around it, though it is not improbable that some
copses of a second growth did exist at the time the
plan was formed. All I mean to say is, that the vi
cinity of the Capitol has rather the appearance of an
old and an exhausted, than of what is here called a
new country. A great deal of the land in and about
the town is not fenced, and the whole appearance of
the place is that produced by the separate villages I
have described, lying on a great heath, which is be
ginning to be cultivated, and whose surface is irregu
larly waving. The avenues in those parts which are
not built, consequently, cross these open fields, and
the view is perfectly unohstructed on every side.

The quarter of the Capitol stands on elevated
ground, and is certainly the most picturesque portion
of the city proper. The Capitol itself is placed on
the brow "of a considerable declivity, and commands
a noble view. There is something exceedingly im
posing in the aspect of this building, with its power
ful accessories of scenery and of moral association.
I shall beg your patience while I attempt an imper
fect description.

The edifice is of a light greyish freestone. It has
been found necessary to paint it white, in order to
conceal the marks of the smoke left by the conflagra
tion of 1814. This is in better taste than the inscrip
tion on the monument. The effect of a clear, brilliant
white, under so fine a sun, is in itself exceedingly

THE CAPITOL ITS DEFECTS. 19

striking. The antiquarian may riot in the rust, but
every plain-viewing man sees that the coin is never
so beautiful as when it is new from the mint. This
freshness of air is rather a peculiarity throughout most
of the United States, and it is exactly the appearance
the country should wear in order to be in keeping
with its recollections.

The Capitol is composed of a centre and two
wings. The former is something more than 150 feet
square, or nearly square, and the latter are each just
100. The several parts are in a line on the eastern
front, and consequently the wings are thrown back
on the western. This irregularity of the western fa-
<;ade is a great defect: it impairs the unity, and con
sequently the majesty, of the edifice. There are too
many angles, those fatal blots on the beauty of archi
tecture. There is another serious defect in the build
ing as seen from the west: the centre is not only a
story higher, but it is also a story lower than the wings.
On this side the edifice stands on the brow of the hill.
In order to profit by the formation of the ground, a
basement, which is below the level of the earth to
the east, but not to the west, has been constructed
beneath the centre. But this basement necessarily
comes into the view ; and the fact of its being painted
white, coupled with its airy situation, gives the whole
construction the air of a mighty ostrich which is just
extending its little wings from the centre of a clumsy
body, not to fly, but to scud across the plain beneath.
The effect of a fine colonnade is much weakened by
this substructure of the edifice. But you, who have
so often seen the Louvre, can understand how easy
it is to give the basement too much importance in a
building; and you, too, who know the Garde Meuble
so well, must be sensible of the fine effect of a Judi
cious observance of the proper proportions, some
plan is in agitation to conceal this superabundance of
foundation ; but it is rare indeed that a capital defect

20 ITS BEAUTIES PLAN OF THE CITY.

in a building is successfully repaired by any second
hand expedients.

The eastern front of the Capitol promises to be
beautiful : it possesses unity of design, perfect sim
plicity of outline, and a noble colonnade. As it. is
not, however, yet completed, it would be premature
to pronounce with confidence on its final appearance.
The building stands in a spacious inclosure, which is
itself nearly surrounded by houses. These dwellings
are of bricks, three stories high, and decent, without
being in the least elegant. Much the greater part of
them are occupied as lodging-houses for the members
during the session. There are also a few short streets
built about the Capitol.

You will have understood that the plan of the city
is that of an infinite number of wide streets inter
secting each other at right angles, and which, in
their turn, are obliquely intersected by sundry great
avenues, which are intended to shorten the distances
between the more important points, and, I presume,
to beautify the city. Several of these avenues diverge
from the Capitol square, like radii from a common
centre. They are called after the different States.
One, the Pennsylvania Avenue, is the principal street
of Washington. Standing at the Capitol, the view
along this avenue is somewhat striking. It is built
on more than one-half of its whole length, and it is
terminated by an oblique view of the President's
House. You will bear in mind, that as very few of
the dwellings on this avenue approach the Capitol,
they form part of another quarter. Still, paved walks
and a few scattered buildings, serve to give them
something of the air of beginning to belong to the
same town.

The quarter of the President's House is less compact
and more populous than either of the four. It forms,
properly, the heart of the city. It approaches to
wards Georgetown on one side, and the Capitol on

BUILDINGS, AIR OF TOWN, ETC. 21

the other, without absolutely joining either. A few
of the streets have the air of a town, though there is
in every part of this place a striking disproportion in
magnitude between the streets and the houses. In
order to produce the effect intended, the buildings on
the Pennsylvania Avenue, for example, should be of six
or seven stories, whereas in fact they are some such
houses as one sees in an English country town. An
other striking defect in the plan is also made manifest
by the waste of room on this avenue. As the avenues
cross the streets obliquely, it is plain the points of
intersection must make a vast number of acute angles.
There is always on one side of each street, between
that street and the avenue, a gore of land that is so nar
row that it will never be built on until real estate shall
get to be far more valuable than it is likely soon to
become here. Consequently the distances are un
necessarily increased, and by this means, and its four
different quarters, Washington has all the inconve
nience of an immense town, without any, or scarcely
any, of its counterbalancing conveniences.

It is unnecessary to say any thing more of George
town, which is a well-built, clean, and rather pretty
town. The avenues between this place and the Navy-
Yard, a distance of near five miles, are like so much
grande route which runs through a little cultivated,
but open country, on which stands one straggling town,
and a village, and which terminates in a cluster of
houses. The buildings of the towns, or villages, on
the route, are much like those of other small towns,
with the exception of the public edifices, which are
like those one sees in a city. If you can reconcile all
these contradictions, you may get a tolerably accurate
notion of the capital of the United States of America.
You will recollect that the whole population of the
place, or places, (Georgetown included,) is about
25,000 souls. The whole district, Alexandria in
cluded, contains 40,000.

22 PRESIDENT'S HOUSE.

The President's House is a neat, chaste building,
of the Ionic order, built of the same material, and
painted like the Capitol. It stands on a public
square, and in a considerable garden, and is one
hundred and seventy feet in length, by eighty-five in
breadth. In a parallel line with one of its fronts,
though a little in advance, stand the offices of the four
great departments. They are large buildings of brick,
and are placed in pairs, on each side of the " white
house," one in front of the other, having open courts
between them. The two most in advance have plain
colonnades, but the other two are as naked as can be.
Besides these buildings there are one or two more in
a distant part of this straggling quarter, which merit
no particular description.

TO THE ABBATE GIROMACHI.
4rc. 4rc.

Washington,

MY attention, after our arrival at this place, was
early called to the great body, which was about to
assemble. We had taken a little suite of rooms in a
lodging-house, or rather tavern, which soon began to
fill with members of Congress from all quarters of the
country. Perhaps of the whole legislative corps of
the country, there is not a single individual who is
the proprietor of a dwelling at the seat of govern
ment. Those who are of sufficient estate to main
tain two houses, have their town residences in the
capitals of their own particular States, though a very
large majority of the members are far from being men

MANNER OF LIVING. 23

of large fortunes at all.* There are a few individuals
who appear at the capital with their wives and
families, but hy far the greater part of those who have
them, leave them at home. The common practice
is, for a certain number of the members who are ac
quainted with each other, to make what is called a
" mess," at some chosen boarding-house. Here they
reside together, during the session, like the members
of one large family. Even ladies are often included
in these arrangements. Others again choose to live
entirely secluded : and, in some few instances, fam
ilies keep their regular winter establishments, in such
narrow accommodations as the place affords. The
fact that a member is so completely dependent on the
public will, for his election, is enough in itself to
prevent any one but a man of very large estate from
incurring the expense of building on so uncertain a
tenure.

A member of the Congress of the United States is, in
fact, what the office professes to be, a representative
of the people. It is not pretended that he should be,
as a matter of course, a gentleman, in the ordinary
acceptation of the term. On the contrary, he is very
commonly a plain, though always a respectable yeo
man, and not unfrequently a mechanic. I remember
to have passed a night, in one of the northern States,
in a very good, cleanly, cheap and comfortable inn,
whose master was a member of the lower house. In
the southern States, where the white men of smaller
fortunes are by no means of so elevated a character
as their brethren of the north, a choice from the
middling classes rarely happens ; but from the more
northern, eastern, and north-western States, such
selections are by no means uncommon.

* Does net this fact go to confirm the opinion of Cadwallader,
that frugality in the public expenditure of a country, is by nc
means a necessary consequence of power resting in the hands of
the comparatively poor ?

24 THE CONGRESS.

When Cadwallader first directed my attention to
this fact, I confess a little surprise entered into my
view of the composition of the American legislature.
Perhaps the circumstance of so material a difference
between the Congress and the British Parliament was
at the bottom of my wonder ; for we in Europe are
perhaps a little too apt to try all experiments in liberty,
by those which England has so long practised with
such comparative success. I alluded, a little freely,
to the circumstance of their having so far departed
from the practice of the mother country, with a view
of extracting an opinion on the subject from my com
panion. The plan was successful.

"If departure from the policy of our ancestors is
to create your wonder, the feeling should be neither
new nor trifling. What we do now, in this particular,
we have practised, not only without inconvenience,
but with signal success, for near seven generations.
The representation under the crown differed but
little from that of the present day. It is, in truth, a
representation ; and the surprise should be, not that
the people choose so many men of a situation in life
closely resembling that of the majority, but rather
that they choose so few. There is a practical good
sense in the mass of the community, here, that tells
them a certain degree of intelligence and of respect
ability of character is needed in a representative of
the nation. No one will deny that they sometimes
deceive themselves, but, on the whole, they are suffi
ciently critical. For native talent, practical intelli
gence, moral character, and political honesty, the
Congress of the United States need not dread a com
parison with the legislature of any other country. I
do not mean to say that they are perfect, but I am
quite certain, from tolerably close observation, that
they do as much good and as little harm as any other
similar body in the world.

"He who enters the halls of Congress, expecting

REASON'S FOR ITS PRESENT CHARACTER. 25

to find the same conventional finish of personal de
portment, or the same degree of education, as he will
find in the British Parliament, or in the French
Chambers, enters it under a gross misconception of
the nature of its organization. But he who enters
either of the two foreign legislative bodies I have
named, expecting to meet with the same useful and
practical knowledge of life, in those details on which a
legislator is called every hour to act, the same degree
of native capacity, or even the same aptitude of ap
plying the great principles of government to their
direct and desirable uses, will fall into an error quite
as gross. We have men, and very many men, in our
legislature, that may be safely placed at the side of
the most eminent politicians of Europe ; and perhaps
no people in the world could more easily fill every
chair on the floors of the two houses with represen
tatives who, by their intelligence, practical know
ledge, independence, and honesty, would do high
credit to a nation, than ourselves. But there are
many reasons why we do not. The first, and the
most important of all, is, that we have happily got
the country into that onward movement, that there
is little or no occasion for legislative impulses. As a
rule, besides the ordinary grants of money, and the
usual watchfulness over the proceedings of the exec
utive, the less they do the better. We find it useful to
place the check of plain men, with moderated views
of life, on the speculations of educated theorists.
Besides, every class of society has its interests, and
it is proper that they should have their representation.
It is certainly true, that many members of Congress
sometimes believe it necessary to yield to the mis
taken prejudices of a majority of their constituents ;
but it may be well questioned, whether as much evil
to the community results from this pliancy, as from
that which obeys the beck of a minister. In America,
we have some of the former and none of the latter :
VOL. II. C

26 FACILITY FOR CHANGE.

in Europe, you have a great deal of the latter, and
none of the former. Now, in the United Slates, if
the mistake of the people entails inconvenience on
themselves, they are sure to get rid of it ; but I am
yet to learn in what manner you dispose of a blunder,
or of an intentional innovation, of a minister. You
must always remember that we claim no perfection;
it is not a quality of earth. All we wish to maintain
is, that our system is the best known, and perhaps
the best practicable; but if you will show us a better,
we will adopt it. Nothing can be more absurd, than
to accuse almost the only nation on the earth that is
constantly endeavouring to amend its institutions, of
a besotted opinion of its own immaculate wisdom. I
know you will say, that changes are frequently dan
gerous, and that they too often lead to evil. Now,
1 am not at all disposed to deny that you are partially
right as respects yourselves ; but we know that we
can improve, or even afford to deteriorate a little,
without much danger ; and therein we think \ve have
no small advantage over all the rest of the world. If
you doubt the fact, compare our actual situation, the
past, and what we have done and are doing, with
what other governments have done and are about,
and let the result speak for itself.

"You will" see on the floors of Congress men be
longing to every condition of society known to our
community, with the exception of that which neces
sarily infers great ignorance and vulgarity. All the
members are respectable, and very many of them
are gentlemen. There are some who are scholars,
and not a few have been improved by travel and by
observation of other countries. A remote frontier
district, however, must send such men as it possesses,
or trust . its peculiar interests to those who have but
little concern in its welfare. The Senate is, in some
respects, rather more select than the lower house,
because their constituents have a State instead of a

THE CONGRESS. 2?

district to choose from, and because that body is ex
pected to temper the proceedings of legislation with
a peculiar degree of moderation and dignity.

u In the British Parliament there is some show of
this universality of representation. Certain corpora
tions send men of their own stamp ; but in England
every thing has a tendency to aristocracy, while, in
this country, every thing which pertains to the gov
ernment must seek its support in the democracy. The
" worthy alderman," who may have commenced life
behind a counter, endeavours to forget his apron
when he takes his seat on the opposition benches.
Instead of returning to his shop when the session is
ended, he becomes a deserter to aristocracy, the mo
ment he has received the seal of office from the peo
ple. How far he may contribute to the boasted re
finement of the higher classes, I cannot pretend to
say; but it is certain that he does not, like his
American prototype, assist to give respectability and
elevation to that of which he was originally a mem
ber. It is this elevation of character among the mid
dling, and even among the more inferior classes of
our community, which chiefly distinguishes us from
all other nations. Europe must show a population
as much accustomed to political power, as moderate
in its exercise, as practised in all that controls the
general interests of life, and as shrewd in their esti
mate of character, as this of ours, before she should
pretend to infer the results of democratic institutions
by any facts drawn from her own experience. We do
not deny the universality of human impulses, we
only insist that governments have not the habit of
giving them fair play. The two houses of Congress
are, and ever have been, living proofs that the major
ity of men are not disposed to abuse power when it
is once fairly intrusted to them. There is not a
doubt that the comparatively poor and ignorant might
till all our legislative chairs with men of their own

28 INTERIOR OF THE CAPITOL.

class, and yet they rather take pride in seeing the
representation respectable for information. Some
part of this seeming generosity is, no doubt, owing
to the superior influence of intelligence ; but you
must allow there is a prospect of quiet and dura
bility under a system in which the majority find
no reason to complain, and in which the minority
must see the folly of usurpation. But as the two
houses are by this time organized, we will go to
the Capitol, and hear the message. When on the
.spot, I will endeavour to direct your attention to
such individuals as may serve to elucidate what you
have just heard."

We proceeded to the Capitol in a coach. Alight
ing at the foot of the hill, we mounted it to a door on
the western facade, and entered the edifice through
its substratum. Passing among a multitude of eating
rooms, &c. &c., we ascended, by a noble flight of
massive steps, to the true basement, or to that story
which runs through the whole building. Directly
under the dome is a gloomy vaulted hall, that I have
heard called the " caucus ;" more, I believe, from its
fancied fitness for the political meetings that are thus
termed, than from the fact that it has ever actually
been appropriated to such an use. It has the air,
however, of being admirably adapted to the pur
poses of a secret conclave, though, in truth, it is a
common thoroughfare of the building. Immediately
above the " caucus " is the principal hall. It is cir
cular, large, high, and covered with a fine dome.
There is not much richness in the ornaments of this
hall, though it is sufficiently wrought to prevent the
appearance of nakedness. It contains, among other
things, four bas-reliefs in stone, which are intended
to illustrate as many of the most striking incidents in
the original settlement of the country.* I have no

* The writer is himself but a traveller, and he should, there
fore, speak reverently of the craft. But he will seize this occa-

ORNAMENTS OF THE GREAT HALL. 29

disposition to criticise their execution. Historical
pictures are to be placed in the panels beneath.

From the great hall we passed into that of the
House of Representatives. My friend was formerly a
member, and by an usage he is permitted to enter the
body of the chamber, or rather to occupy a seat that
is only separated from those of the actual members
by a slight division. Under his auspices, and by the
aid of a little interest, I was permitted to be his
companion.

The hall of the House of Representatives, with
out being particularly rich, or highly wrought, is
one of the most beautiful apartments I have ever en
tered. The form is semicircular. It is lighted from
above, and from windows on its straight side. Be
tween these windows and the body of the hall, is a
sort of lobby or gallery, which is separated from the
other parts by a colonnade. Here the members and
privileged persons promenade, converse, stand, listen,
or repose, without, in fact, quitting the room. It is

sion to express his surprise at the very different view which he
has taken of visible objects from those of some others of the
class, who, like himself, have been pleased to put their observa
tions before the world. In the u Personal Narrative of Lieuten
ant the Honourable Frederic de Roos," p. 15, is the following
sentence, while speaking of the apartment just named: "The
walls are destitute of ornament, if we except some pieces of
sculpture, representing various wars and treaties with the In
dians. The artist might have selected subjects more creditable
to his country." Now, if the writer has not been greatly de
ceived, these four bas-reliefs are on the following subjects : the
landing of the pilgrims on the Rock of Plymouth; the Treaty
of William Penn with the natives for the possession of their
soil ; the beautiful and touching story of Pocahontas saving the
life of Captain Smith, and a personal rencontre of Colonel
Boon, the patriarch of Kentucky, with the savages. These are
four distinct historical events, which are connected with the set
tlement of the four principal parts of the Union. More illustri
ous incidents might have been chosen, beyond a doubt: but
there is certainly nothing discreditable to the American charac
ter in those they have selected for this pui pose.

C 2

30 HALL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

sufficiently withdrawn to prevent the appearance of
disorder, and yet near enough to render the debates
audible.

In the centre of the diameter which cuts the circle
is the Speakers chair. It is, in fact, a little sofa, suf
ficiently large to hold, on occasion, the President of
the United States, the President of the Senate, and
the Speaker. Immediately in front, and four or five
feet lower, is a chair for the presiding member, when
the house acts as a committee. On a line with the
Speaker the clerks have their places. In front of the
chair there is a vacant semicircular space of perhaps
five-and-twenty feet in diameter. Then the seats of
the members commence. They are arranged in semi
circular rows, preserving the form of the exterior
walls, and are separated by a great number of little
openings, to admit of a passage between them. Each
member has an arm-chair and a low desk, in mahog
any. In the first row, they sit in pairs, or there is a
vacant space between every two, and each successive
row increases its number by one member. Thus, in
the last row, some six dr seven are placed side by
side, as on a bench (though actually on chairs), while
those in front are in pairs. The practice is for those
who arrive first to choose their seats, and the choice
is invariably respected.

There is no such thing known as a political division
of seats. Members of the same politics certainly
often choose to be placed near to each other, and
sometimes the entire representation of a particular
State is to be seen as near together as possible. But
there is no rule in the matter.

The seats of the members are separated from the
semicircular passage in which Cadwallader and my
self were placed, by no other division than a low rail
ing. Sofas lined the whole of the exterior wall : and
as the floor rises a little from the centre, or the area
in front of the Speaker, we had the best possible op-

AGE, ETC. OF THE MEMBERS. 31

portunity for seeing and hearing. A spacious and
commodious gallery, of the same form as the hall,
completed the outline of the apartment. It was
raised several feet above the level of the chamber,
and is intended for the use of spectators.

The house was organized when we entered, and
was engaged in some business of form. Nearly all
the seats wrere occupied ; and, as the message was
expected, the gallery was crowded with ladies and
well-dressed men. The privileged places around the
floor of the hall were nearly all filled. The Speaker
was uncovered, but most of the members wore their
hats. No one appeared in costume, nor is there any
official dress prescribed to the members of Congress
for any ceremony whatever.

After what Cad wall acler had told me of the true
character of the representation of his country, I con
fess I was rather surprised with the appearance of
the individuals who composed this assembly. It was
to be expected that they should all be well attired,
but, on the whole, with some very few exceptions,
they had quite as much the air of the world about
them as those who compose the chambers of the two
first nations of Europe. No one is allowed to sit in
the lower house who has not attained the age of five-
and-twenty ; but, in point of fact, there is not, proba
bly, a single member of Congress who has seen less
than thirty years. The greater number seemed to
be men between the ages of thirty-five and fifty-five.
There were but very few who could be termed old.
All, or very nearly all, were natives of the country.

I was struck with the simple but imposing aspect
of this assembly. Though so totally destitute of any
personal decorations, the beauty of the hall, with its
magnificent row of massive columns,* the great neat-

* The roof of the hall of the House of Representatives is sup-
ported by a noble semicircle of columns of pudding-stone. They

32 A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT.

ness of the fauteuil and desks, the beautifully carpeted
floors, and the long range of sofas, serve to relieve a
scene that might otherwise have been too naked. It
appeared as if the members had said, thus much may
you do for the benefit of comfort, for the encourage
ment of the arts, and, perhaps, as a testimonial of the
respect due to the sacred uses of the place, but man
must be left in the fullest force of his simplicity. None
of the attendants even wore any badges of their
offices. There were neither swords, chains, collars,
stars, bayonets, nor maces, seen about the place,
though a quiet, and order, and decency, reigned in
the hall that bespoke the despotic dominion of that
mighty, though invisible, monarch — the Law.

A discussion on some question of order was getting
to be a little general, and one member was addressing
the chair [they speak from their places, as in the
British Parliament] with some earnestness, when the
principal door was thrown open, and an officer pro
claimed aloud, "A message from the President."
The members all rose in their places, the Speaker
included, when a young gentleman entered, and pass
ed through the body of the house to the chair. He
was attired in a neat morning-dress, and having placed
his document in the hand of the Speaker, he bowed
and withdrew. It was then decided that the commu
nication should be read.* There was much interest

are highly polished, and have a pleasing no less than a striking
effect.

* The instances of a propensity in Europeans to misconstrue
the political and moral condition of the United States are num
berless. One may be quoted here with propriety. Since the
return of the writer to Europe, he has, on more than one occa
sion, heard the fact that the President of the United States sends
a message to Congress, commented on in a significant manner,
as if the circumstance were portentous of some great political
change ! u Parliament would scarcely brook a message," said an
Englishman, with emphasis, when the subject was alluded to.
The writer saw nothing, at the time, in the thing itself, but the

EUROPEAN CONSTRUCTION OF AN USAGE. 33

to hear this document, which always contains a great
outline of the state of the republic. It was a clear,
succinct narrative of what had been done in the
course of the past year, of the condition of the

most perfect simplicity; but, determined to sift the matter to the
bottom, he mentioned the subject in a letter to his American
friend, and extracts a part of his reply : " I am not at all sur
prised," said Cadwallader, " that thousands in Europe should
easily pervert every possible circumstance into an evidence of a
state of things which they rather desire than seriously expect.
There has not been a single change, however, in all our usages,
which goes less to prove the justness of their anticipations, than
the fact you have mentioned. When the government, as it now
exists, was first organized, Washington met the two houses and
made his annual communication in a speech. The practice had
prevailed in the colonial legislatures. We have never been in a
hurry to make unnecessary innovations. Reform marches with
a dignified pace — it is revolution that is violent. The States
continued the practice of the colonies. It was quite natural that
the first Presidents should conform to existing usages for a time.
We have never been great sticklers for shadows, though no
principle is ever listened to that is likely to entail a disadvantage.
In the course of a few years, men began to ask themselves, why
does the President make a speech at the opening of a session ?
He sends messages at all other times, and why not on this occa
sion ? The substance of what he has to communicate, can be
told by a message quite as well as by a speech. The amount of
it all then is, that the parade of a speech is a mere matter of state
and show, and although some little ceremony is, perhaps, neces
sary, we ought to have as little as possible, since common sense,
which is our palladium, is always a sufferer in ceremonies. You
will understand me ; a state of society may exist, in which it is
good sense to adopt ceremony, but such is not the case in the
year 1827, in the United States of America. Every sage physi
cian adapts his remedy to the disease. Mr. Jefferson dispensed
with speeches, because they did no good, and might do harm by
drawing us nearer to the usages of Europe, when it is so often
our business to recede from them. For my own part, I think it
rather better as it is, though it cannot be a matter of much mo
ment. It is, however, odd enough, that the very usage which
has been adopted for its simplicity and republicanism, should be
tortured into a proof of a directly contrary tendency. It may
be a sufficient answer to the remark of your English friend,
'that the British Parliament would be apt to grumble at receiv
ing a message from the king,' to say that should Congress not

34 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.

finances, of the several negotiations, and concluded
with a statement of what the people had a right to
anticipate for the future.

When the message was ended, Cad wall ader intro*
duced me to several of the members to whom he was
personally known. Most of them were men of good
manners, and of education, though one or two were
certainly individuals who had paid far more attention
to the substance of things than to forms. The former
were of course of that class of society which, in
Europe, would be termed the gentry, and the others
were probably farmers, if not mechanics. There was
an air of great self-possession and decorum in the lat
ter; nor could the slightest visible difference be traced
between the respect which they received, and that
which their more polished confederates besto\ved on
each other. A simple, quiet courtesy is certainly the
tone of manners in Congress. While we stood to
gether in the lobby, a grave-looking, middle-aged
man, of a slightly rustic air, approached, and address
ed my companion. His manner was manly and inde
pendent, but at the same time decent, and I think it
was to be distinguished by a shade of respect. They
shook hands, and conversed a little concerning some
questions of local politics. Promises were made of

exchanging visits. " This is my friend, the ,"

said Cadwallader; "a gentleman who is travelling in
our country." The stranger saluted me, offering
his hand with the utmost simplicity. " If this gentle
man comes into our part of the country, I hope to see
him," he said, and soon after took his leave. When
he was gone, I learned that this individual was a mem
ber of Congress from the county in which the pater-

re< eive one from the President at a pretty early day in the ses
sion, they would be very apt to appoint a committee to inquire
why he had forgotten to lay the state of the nation before them.
I am no quarreller about terms, and I leave you to decide whero
the substance of things is to be found."

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. 35

nal estates of my friend lie ; that he was a farmer of
moderate means and good character, whom his fel
low-citizens had sent to represent them. His con
stituents might very possibly have made a better
choice, and yet this man was not useless, since he
served as a check on the schemes of those who would
be legislating for effect. A gentleman-like man of
sixty came next, and he and my friend met as equals
in all respects, except that the latter paid a slight
deference to the years of his acquaintance. I was
introduced. We touched our hats, and exchanged a
few words. The next day, I received this gentle
man's card, and as soon as his visit was returned, an
invitation to dine in his private lodgings followed.

This was Mr. , a man of immense hereditary

landed estate. His alliances, fortune, and habits,
(though tempered by the institutions of his country,)
are, to all intents and purposes, the same as those of
a gentleman or nobleman in Europe. His character
is excellent, and, in consequence, he is now, and
may be to the day of his death, the representative of
his native district. Here you have the two extremes
of the representation of this country — a yeoman, and
a great proprietor whose income would put him on
a level with most of the great men of our hemisphere.
They represent no particular interests, for all interests
unite to send them here. They happen to please their
constituents, and the fact that the one is a yeoman,
and the other a species of lord of the manor, pro
duces no effect whatever. These men meet in Con
gress on terms of perfect equality. It often happens,
that a yeoman, possessed of a vigorous native mind,
has vast influence.

While quitting the Capitol, two more members of
Congress spoke to Cadwallader. They walked with
us the whole length of the avenue. One of them was
a man of a fashionable air, and of exceedingly good
manners. He spoke French, and we conversed to-

36 MEMBERS OP CONGRESS.

gether for some time in that tongue. I found him
agreeable and intelligent, and was glad to perceive
he was disposed to renew the interview. But the
other individual puzzled me not a little. In dress
and externals, he differed but little from his more
agreeable companion. His air, however, was not
that of a man of the world, and his language was suf
ficiently provincial to be remarked. I should not
have taken him for one of a station in life to be found
in such company, did I not know his official rank,
and were I not prepared for the great admixture of
ordinary American society. But if I was a little per
plexed by the provincialisms of this individual, I was
not less surprised at his shrewdness and intelligence.
He used his words with great discrimination, and
with perfect grammatical accuracy; and he spoke
not only with good sense, but frequently with power,
and always with prodigious clearness. When we
parted, I again expressed surprise at the manifest
difference in manners that existed between the two
members.

"You will begin to know us in time," returned
Cadwallader. " Those men are both lawyers. He
whose air and language are so unexceptionable, is a
member of a family long known in this country for
its importance. You see he has not lost, nor will he
be likely to let his posterity lose, the manners of the
world. He is far from being rich, nor is he remark
able for talent, though rather clever. You find he
has a seat in Congress. The other is the child of an
affluent tradesman, who has given his son an educa
tion for the bar, but who could not give him what he
had not himself, — a polished exterior. But he is
gleaning, and, before he dies, he will be in the way
of imparting a better air to his descendants. In this
manner is the whole of our community slowly rising
in the scale of mere manners. As to talent, this pro
vincial lawyer, for he is provincial in practice as

EXECUTIVE OF THE UNITED STATES. 37

well as by birth, has, as you must have observed,
enough of it. He is a good man in Congress, what
ever he may be in the saloons. He has got the in
telligence, and no small part of the feelings, of a gen
tleman; he may never get the air, for he began too
late for that, and, like most men, he probably affects
to despise an unattainable advantage. But as it is
in nature to wish for distinction, rely on it, he is se
cretly determined to amend. Perhaps one of these
parties loses a little by the intimate association which
is a necessary consequence of their common situation ;
but the gradual approximation is, on the whole, pro
duced by the improvement of the other. In the great
essentials of soundness of feeling, morals, and com
mon sense, they are quite on an equality."

TO THE ABBATE GIROMACHI,

&cc, Sec.
FLORENCE.

Washington,

I HAVE been a daily visiter at the Capitol. The
proceedings of the two houses are never without in
terest, since they control the entire foreign policy of
this growing republic, which is daily becoming of
more importance in the eyes of Christendom. Some
of the peculiar practice of American legislation ma}
be of interest, and before I write of individuals, I will
attempt a brief outline of their forms.

You probably know already that the President of
the United States is assisted by a cabinet. It is com
posed of four Secretaries, (state, treasury, war, and
navy,) and of the Attorney-General. As the President
is alone answerable for his proper acts, these minis-

VOL. II. D

38 THE CABINET.

ters have no further responsibility than as their own
individual agency is concerned. They have no seats
in Congress, since the constitution forbids that any
officer of the general government should oe a repre
sentative either of a State (a Senator), or of the
people (a member of the House of Representatives).
Thus, the judges and generals, and colonels, of which
one reads in Congress, are not officers of the United
States, but of the States themselves. The difference
is material, since the authorities by whom they are
commissioned have no power over the measures on
which they are called to legislate. You will under
stand me better if T go a little into detail.

The President of the United States has no voice in
the appointment of any officer whatever, under the
government of a State. The government of a State
has no voice whatever in the enactment of the laws,
or in the appointment of the officers, of the United
States. There may be, and unquestionably there
sometimes is, a reciprocal influence exerted between
them ; but the instances are rare, and liable to a good
deal of explanation. It is not probable that the gov
ernment of the United States ever interests itselt
at all in the appointments of a State ; but, as the
appointments of the United States are often of a
nature to produce a direct effect on the interests of a
particular State, it is not uncommon for the members
of its government to lend their influence to such ap
plicants as they believe the most likely to be of benefit
to its community. Still, it is no more than influence ;
no two governments in the \vorld being more per-
tectly distinct from each other, than that of the
United States and that of an individual member of
the confederation, if we make the single exception,
that both are bound to respect the great principles
of the constitution.

It is an unsettled point whether Congress has a right
to admit the ministers to possess consultative voices in

USAGES IN CONGRESS. 39

the two houses. I think the better opinion is, that they
have ; but the practice has never yet been adopted.
Indeed, there is a sort of fastidious delicacy observed
on this subject, which, in effect, prevents the Secre
taries from attending the debates even as auditors.
I have never yet seen any member of the cabinet in
the chamber of either body. On the last day of the
session, it is the practice of the President to come to
the Capitol, and to occupy an apartment which is
fitted expressly for his use. The object of this visit
is to be near the legislative bodies, in order that he
may give his assent to, or rejection of, the bills that
always accumulate at that time. He is, of course,
attended by his cabinet, the members of which, I
am told, are then in the habit of sometimes entering
the halls. This is the only occasion on which the
President appears in the Capitol, unless it be at his
inauguration, or at some ceremony not at all con
nected with government.

The exclusion of tire ministers from the debates is
thought, by many people, to be a defect, since, instead
of the verbal explanations which they might give, if
present, it is now necessary to make formal demands
on the different departments for information. On the
other hand, it is contended that the existing practice
compels members to make themselves familiar with
details, and that they are none the worse legislators
for their labour. In no case could the minister be
allowed to vote, or even to propose a law, directly.

For the introduction of the laws, there are two
courses in practice, though only one in theory. Each
Secretary makes a formal report of the state of his
particular department at the commencement of every
session. In this report, he takes care to recommend
those measures that he deems needful for his imme
diate branch of the public service. The substance
of these reports is embodied in the message of the
President ; and it is the duty of that high officer to

40 USAGES IN CONGRESS.

invite the attention of the legislature to such subjects
as he may consider of national importance. The
matter of the message is necessarily divided into a
certain number of leading topics. Regular, or, as
they are here called, standing committees, are ap
pointed at the commencement of every Congress.*
To these committees all the usual matter of the
message is referred. Thus, whatever relates to the
finances is referred to " the committee of ways and
means ;" to the army, to " the military committee," &c.
&c. If the message should include any extraordinary
matter, as is usually the case, a special committee is
appointed to attend to it. At the head of each com
mittee, (they exist in both houses), there is placed
some member who is supposed to be more than com
monly acquainted with its business. As Congress is
so completely composed of practical men, these duties
are generally discharged with a good deal of dexterity,
and often with rare ability. These committees have
rooms of their own, where they assemble and get
through with all the drudgery of their duties. They
communicate with the departments ; and when there
is an agreement of opinion, the necessary bills are
framed between them. The chairman is the usual
organ of communication with the house. We will,
however, assume a case, and follow it through its
legislative forms, in order to render the usage as clear
as possible.

The President and his cabinet believe the public
good requires that a dozen regiments should be added
to the army. The fact is communicated to Congress,
in the annual message, accompanied by a statement
of the political events which haVe induced the neces
sity. Then comes the report of the Secretary, with
a detailed view of the present force, and a general
comparative statement of that which it is thought will

* Once in two years.

USAGES OF CONGRESS. 4i

be needed. The military committees enter into a
minute examination of the circumstances and esti
mates, and make such reports to the two houses as
they deem prudent. If it be in favour of an increase,
they recommend a bill. In order to get rid of certain
forms, and with a view to render legislation deliberate,
the whole house sit as a committee. This, you know,
is a practice derived from the English Parliament
The bill, amended or not, is first passed by the com
mittee of the whole house ; but its opponents have
still a chance to dispute its passage in the house
itself. When it has passed one of the houses, it is
sent to the other, where it goes through the same
forms. It is hardly necessary to say that the com
mittees of the two houses commonly consult together,
and make their reports as nearly alike as possible.
In general they are the same, though the fate of a
bill is by :io means sure because it has been approved
by the committees. All these forms do not prevent
individual members from offering bills of their own ;
it is merely a practice, adopted to favour examina
tion, and to expedite business.

When a bill has passed the two houses, it is signed
by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and
the President of the Senate, and sent to the President
for his approbation. That officer submits it to his
cabinet, as a matter of prudence and of courtesy,
though not of right. Should he choose it, however,
he can demand the written opinion of any of his
ministers, and then the individual who gives it may
be supposed to become responsible for the honesty of
his views. The President decides as he sees fit;
there remaining no alternative to the minister but sub
mission, or separation from an administration of
wh»se policy he disapproves. If the President sign
the bill, it is a law ; but if he does not sign it, he is
obliged to send it back to Congress with his reasons.
Should he neglect to do either, for ten days, it be-
D 2

42 USAGES OF CONGRESS.

comes a law without his agency; and should he then
refuse to sign it, he may be impeached and punished,
as, probably, might such of his ministers who, it could
be proved, had been accessary to his obstinacy. If
Congress be not satisfied with the objections of the
President, they put the bill to the question again ;
and should two-thirds of both houses support it, it
becomes a law, without his agency.

The Congress of the United States is not remark
able for the despatch of public business, nor is it
desirable that it should be. One of the greatest
merits of the peculiar government of the country, is
to be found in the fact, that the people are left, as
much as possible, to be the agents of their own pros
perity. The object of the laws is protection rather
than patronage. Haste is rarely necessary, where
such a state of society exists ; and though there may
be, and, undoubtedly, frequently is, inconvenience in
the delays that sometimes occur, more good than evil
is thought to follow the practice. The cause oi delay
most complained of, is the habit of making set
speeches, which is, perhaps, too common.

You are not, however, to suppose that a member
actually talks seventy-two hours without stopping, be
cause he is said to have occupied the house three days.
Though jEolus himself does not seem to be longer
winded than some of the American legislators, none
of them are quite equal to such a blast. If we say
nine hours, perhaps, we get the maximum of their
breath ; and even this period is to be divided into
three several and distinct divisions. The houses
meet at twelve o'clock. They are commonly occu
pied in the order of the day until two, when they go
into committees of the whole, or take up the deferred
business. This leaves the Demosthenes of the occa
sion but three hours each day for the exercise of his
oratory. But bottom enough for three days, on the
same subject, is not the fortunate quality of many

USAGES OF CONGRESS. 43

men : so, after all, very few members ever occupy
the house more than an hour or two. The evil does
not so much exist in the extraordinary length of the
speeches, as in the number of those who can arrange
words enough to fill an hour of time.

The Americans are fond of argument. They dis
cuss in society, a thing which is done nowhere else.
I believe. The habit is often disagreeable, since
their opinions are not unfrequently coarsely urged ;
but the truth is profusely shaken from its husks, in
these sharp, intellectual encounters. It is not sur
prising, that men, who have been accustomed all their
lives to have a word in what is passing, should carry
the desire to speak into a body which is professedly
deliberative. Still, if the trifling inconvenience of
these delays shall be put in contrast with the cold
and uncalculating injury, the prodigal expenditure,
and the quiet corruption with which legislation so
often flows on in its silent course, elsewhere, the ad
vantage will be found immensely on the side of these
talkers.

In point of manner, the debates in both houses of
Congress are conducted with decorum. Those in the
Senate are particularly dignified ; that body main
taining, at all times, rather more of gravity than the
other. In the Senate, the members are all uncovered ;
in the lower house, they wear their hats, if they please.
The arrangements of the two halls are very much the
same ; but the Senate chamber is, of course, much
the smallest. The members of the Senate may be,
on the whole, rather older than the representatives ;
though there are several between the ages of thirty
and five-and-forty. It is necessary to be thirty, in
order to sit.

The forms of the two houses are the same. They
meet at a stated hour (12 o'clock), and, after listen
ing to prayers, the regular business of the day is com
menced. You would probably suppose that, in a

44 USAGES OF CONGRESS.

country where there is no established religion, it
might be difficult for an indiscriminately collected
assembly to agree on the form in which these peti
tions should be offered up to the Deity. Nothing is,
however, more untrue. Each house chooses its own
chaplain, or chaplains, who are sometimes of one
denomination, and sometimes of another. Prayers
are vastly better attended than in England, on such
occasions. I remember once to have asked the
member from Cadwallader's county, how he recon
ciled it to his conscience, to listen to the petitions
offered up by a clergyman of a sect entirely different
from his own. The simple answer was, that he be
lieved the Almighty understood all languages.*

Although instances of want of temper and of vio
lent expressions have certainly occurred in Congress,
they are rare, and always strongly condemned. Each
new speaker is patiently heard, and there is no other
manner of manifesting indifference to his logic prac
tised, than those of writing letters, reading news
papers, and sometimes of quitting the hall. There is
tar greater silence than in the French Chambers,
though more moving about than in the House of
Commons, for the simple reason that there is more
i oom to do it in. There is sometimes a low laugh ;
but systematic coughing is never heard. Cries of ap
probation or of disapprobation, interruptions, unless
to demand order, or any other similar indecencies,
are unknown. These people appear to me to have
no fear of themselves, or of any body else, in matters

* The writer was afterwards present when a Roman Catholic
preached to both houses of Congress in the hall of the House of
Representatives, although it is not probable that more than one
or two 'of the members were of his religious persuasion, if, in
deed, there was one. Nearly all of the higher officers of govern
ment were present, though they were Protestants to a man. Nor
was there any show of liberality in the affair at all, but every
thing appeared natural, and quite as a matter of course.

USAGES OF CONGRESS. 45

that relate to government. They go on boldly, sys
tematically, and orderly, without any visible restraint.
It appears as if they knew that use and education had
implanted such general principles in every man, that
they know where to find him, on all grave occasions.
If they scatter firebrands freely in debate, and in their
journals, it is because they are sure there are no
combustibles into which they can fall. The gallery
of Congress is very capacious, and any one may enter
it, who pleases. If there could be a hazardous experi
ment tried on the government, I think it would be in
attempting to browbeat Congress. It would be quite
as safe to attempt to assassinate a sovereign, in the
midst of his guards. The members, the army, the
navy, the community, and even the women, would
rise in support of its privileges. The perfect security
of its rights might render the effort of an individual
too ridiculous for resentment ; but any serious plot
of the sort would be sure to draw down the indigna
tion of the whole republic. — Adieu.

TO THE COUNT JULES DE BETHIZY.
&c. &c.

Washington,

To you, who so stoutly maintain that the regula
tions of etiquette are necessary to order, it may be
surprising to learn with how little of preparation the
functionaries of this government get through the cere
monials of their offices. Just so far as etiquette is
of use in facilitating intercourse, is it rational ; but
these people very rightly believe, that their institu
tions enable them to move on with far less than is

46 ETIQUETTE OF WASHINGTON.

practised in Europe. We will seize a moment to
discuss the matter in some of its general bearings.

In point of style, there is none whatever practised
in addressing any one officer of the government
The naked appellation of the office is used in conver
sation sometimes, and commonly, though not always,
in notes and letters. The tone can be taken best
from the incumbents themselves. An invitation to
dine at the "White House," always runs, "The Pres
ident requests the pleasure," &c. A secretary com
monly says, "Mr. requests," &c. Now,

the best style, and that which is expected, is to reply
in the same form. Thus a note should be addressed

"To Mr. ," to "the President," "To Mr. Adams,

(the secretary of state)," or "To Mr. Southard (ths
secretary of the navy)." The use of honourable to
either, or indeed to any one else, is not deemed bon
ton. It is done, however, quite frequently by those
who are ignorant of the tone of the place. The use
of the terms " excellency" and " honourable," came
in with the colonial practices. I have more than once
had occasion to say that these people have never been
violent in their innovations. The changes in things
not deemed material, have always been gradual, and
the work of time. Washington, at the head of the
army, was called "his excellency," as a matter of
course, and he carried the title with him to the chair
of state. The colonial governors had the same title,
and one of the States (Massachusetts) continued it in
its constitution. But, though often observed, even
now, it is a practice gradually falling into disuse. It is
not seriously pretended there is any thing anti-repub
lican in giving a title to a public officer ; indeed many
contend it should be done, as a way of imparting
more consideration to the rank; but, as near as I
can learn, the taste of the nation is silently receding
from the custom. Cadwallader tells me that, twenty
years ago, it would have been thought rather a breach

ETIQUETTE OF WASHINGTON, 47

of politeness to address a letter to a member of Con
gress, without prefixing 'honourable' to the name,
though the better practice now is to omit it. When
T asked him if he saw any reason for the change, he
answered, none, but the fact that the thing grew
contemptible from its frequency.

" Twenty years ago," he continued, " an officer of
the militia, above the rank of captain, was sure of
bearing his title ; but now, among men of a certain
class, it is getting into disuse, unless one has reached
the rank perhaps of general. There is no general
rule, however, as the people of the country are fond
of calling a man by the title of an office which they
may have had an agency in conferring. I think there
is a quiet waggery in the nation, that takes pleasure
in giving quaint names. Thus, dwarfs are often
called 4 major'* — heaven knows why ! but I have met
three who all bore this title. I have a gardener, who
is universally styled judge, and an old black family
servant is never known by any other name than that
of governor. Nicknames are rather too much in use
with us. The liberty is not often taken, of course,
with men of the better orders. They are much dis
posed to dispense with all sorts of titles. We call a
gentleman an esquire, by courtesy, according to a
practice imported from England ; though some one
sided masters of ceremonies deny that any but magis
trates, counsellors, &c. have a right to the title ; just

* The writer has just seen an American play-bill, in which
Major Stevens, a dwarf, is advertised to enact the part of Tom
Thumb. There is also a strange effect, in the way of names,
produced by reading. The writer met several men, who were
called Don Sebastian, Don Alonzo, &c. &c. In one instance, he
knew a person who was called Lord George Gordon. The
latter proceeded from waggery, but the mothers of the former
had found names in books that captivated their fancy. Women
of a similar rank of life in Europe, would know but little of
titles beyond the limits of their own parishes.

48 ETIQUETTE OF THE GOVERNMENT.

as if even they could find better authority for their
claims than any body else. The truth is, the courts
continue a few of the colonial forms, which may be
well enough, and their officers sometimes think that
use has grown into a law. In New-England the
custom goes so far as to call a deacon of a church by
his title ; and I have even seen ' serjeant1 placed be
fore the name of a respectable yeoman. The practice,
as it confines the appellation to the office, is rather
republican than otherwise ; but, as I have just said,
it is getting into disuse, because it is no longer a dis
tinction."

In conversation, the actual President, I find, is
called Colonel Monroe. I am told his predecessors
were addressed as Mr. Madison, Mr. Jefferson, Mr.
Adams, and General Washington.* The Secretaries
and the members of Congress are addressed as other
gentlemen. In the two houses, the etiquette is to
speak of another member as " the gentleman from
Virginia," "the gentleman from Connecticut, who
spoke last," and, sometimes, as " the honourable gen
tleman," &c. The President is commonly alluded
to, in debate, as " the executive." Other indirect
means of indicating the members meant, are some
times adopted ; but, as in the British Parliament,
names are always avoided.

No civil officer of the government has a costume,
except the judges of the supreme court. The latter
wear, in court, plain black silk gowns. They com
menced with wigs and scarlet robes, but soon dis
carded them as inconvenient. The President might,
on occasion, appear attired either as a general or an
admiral ; and, in some instances, Washington did as
the former ; but it is the usage for the President to

* The present President (1828) is called Mr. Adams. The
writer never heard the term " excellency" used, in speaking to
him or to his predecessor.

SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 49

dress like any other gentleman, consulting his own
taste and appearance. The same is true of the Vice-
President, of the Speaker of the House of Represent
atives, and of all other officers and members. You
know there is no order of knighthood in the country.
At the close of the war of the revolution, the officers
of the army formed themselves into a society called
the society of Cincinnati. They adopted a little
enamelled hadge, which bears some resemblance to
a simple European cross. Even this immaterial dis
tinction gave offence, and some of the State societies
were abolished many years ago. The plan was to
perpetuate the feeling which had united them as a
corps, through their descendants, it being intended
that the eldest male heir should succeed to the father.
You may trace, in this little circumstance, the linger
ing of ancient prejudices. Still, had not Washington
been at the head of this society, and had not the
services of its members been so undeniable, and so
pitifully rewarded, this trifling consolation to their
pride would not have been endured even at that
time. The society is daily getting of less importance,
though possibly of more interest, and there is no
doubt but it will disappear entirely, with the indi
viduals who were personal actors in the scenes which
called it into existence. It is probable there will
be no more members of the Cincinnati a dozen years
hence.

The constitution has shown a marked jealousy of
the introduction of any distinctions that are not solely
attached to office, which, as you know, are fluctuat
ing, and entirely dependent on popular favour. Thus,
no American can receive a title, or a decoration,
from a foreign court, without losing his citizenship,
nor can any officer of the government receive even
a trifling present from another power. There are a
good many people here whose fathers bore titles. In
all cases, where use had not become too strong, they

VOL. II. E

50 A TERRITORIAL TITLE.

were dropped. In short, I think the tone in all such
matters in America, is to follow the natural course
of things. It is not natural for a community, like
this, to cherish hereditary titles, and yet it would be
doing violence to usage by attempting to change the
appellation of an individual, who had been known by
a title for perhaps half a century. The Dutch in
New- York had a sort of lords of the manor, who
were known by the title of patroons (paterons). Cad-
wallader tells me that, in his youth, he knew several
of these patroons. But they have all disappeared,
except one. The exception is a gentleman resident
at Albany, who is perhaps the greatest landed pro
prietor in the United States. Every body, who is
familiar with the haoits of that part of the country,
calls this gentleman " the patroon. " His father, and
several of his ancestors, bore the same appellation.
There is not the slightest jealousy or feeling on the
subject. He is a member of Congress ; and though
persons from other parts of the Union address him
by his real name, my friend always calls him " pa
troon.1' The immense estate of this gentleman was
entailed, and he came into possession about the time
of the revolution. But there are no more entails in
any of the States ; and although the possessions of the
patroon will undoubtedly go to his children, it is more
than probable that the appellation will cease w«th
his own life.

The etiquette of the American government is as
simple as possible. Some attention to forms is found
convenient, and as so many foreign ministers reside
here, perhaps it is necessary. The practice of all
American society, in respect to precedency, is very
much like your own, always excepting the great offi
cers of the two governments. Age, talent, and char
acter, exercise a great and a natural influence, and
there, I think, the matter is permitted to rest. A
governor of a State, or even a Senator of the United

ETIQUETTE OF THE COUNTRY. 51

States, would be expected to lead the mistress of the
house to the table, perhaps, just as a stranger, or a
man of particular personal claims, would be permit
ted to do the same thing. But the deference paid to
official rank would be very apt to end there. A mere
member of the lower house may receive certain dis
tinctions in public ceremonies, but scarcely in society.
It would be intolerable for a son of the President to
presume on his birth in any situation. He might,
and certainly would be more caressed, on account
of the circumstance; but he must always content
himself with precisely the degree of attention that is
offered. The son of any other gentleman is, in every
respect, his equal in society, and the son of any other
man his equal before the world. You will under
stand me to speak now with direct reference to
practice, for in theory there is no difference at all.*

* The writer, since his return to Europe, has had an opportu
nity of ascertaining how far the question of precedency is some
times pushed in England. At an entertainment given not long
since in London, there were present, besides many Englishmen
of rank, a Russian and a Roman Prince. The high-bred Eng
lish peers could not hesitate to give the pas to the strangers;
but these gentlemen were delicate in respect of each other. The
question was one far too awful for the mistress of the house to
attempt to decide. After the whole party had stood in reveren
tial silence for a sufficiently awkward minute, the ladies moved
to the banquet in a body, followed by the gentlemen in the same
solitary order. Within a fortnight of that memorable coup
d"1 etiquette, the writer was present at a similar entertainment at
Paris. Here there were also men of distinction from different
countries, without any graduated scale to determine their co-
relative rank. There was, however, one gentleman whose
claims, though a countryman of the hostess, might, in all fair
ness, be considered to be pre-eminent, since, to personal rank, he
united the highest talents, and the utmost private merit. The
lady of the house, in order to anticipate any doubts, took his
arm, and then, with exquisite grace and tact, she saw each of
the other claimants accommodated with a proper companion,
and every one advanced towards the salle a manger in less than
a minute.

52 AN ESSAY ON ETIQUETTE.

The present Secretary of State* undertook, in great
simplicity, to give his opinions lately on some ques
tions of etiquette connected with the subject of offi
cial intercourse. There was probably a great deal
of good sense in what he published, and no doubt the
practices he recommended were not without conve
nience. But it is generally thought he committed an
error in writing about them at all. Now, it is just in
this fact that I think the common sense of the Ameri
cans is to be traced. Whatever is convenient, in the
way of ceremony, they are very apt to adopt ; but
they are not disposed to make trifles matters of se
rious discussion. The Secretary was a good deal
quizzed for his essay, though I dare say most people
practised the very thing they laughed at.

At Washington official rank is certainly more attend
ed to than elsewhere. I cannot give you an insight
into the whole table of precedency, but some of its
secrets have been practically divulged in my presence.
The day after our arrival, Cadwallader and myself
left cards at the President's House ; at the houses of
the heads of departments ; at those of the foreign
ministers ; and at the lodgings of a dozen Senators.
We met sundry members of Congress, but my friend
did not appear to think it necessary to treat them as
personages entitled to particular deference. Their
claims form a disputed point, I find ; but Cadwallader
knows his own foothold in society too well to trouble
himself with a disputed point. We called on a few,
as " good fellows," but on none officially.

Our cards were all1 returned, except by the Presi
dent. During the session this functionary never visits,
though he receives twice a week. Between the
sessions, when the society of Washington is reduced
to a very few families, I understand he consults his
own pleasure. In the course of the week we received

* The actual President.

A VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT. 53

notes to attend the "evenings" of those who opened
their houses ; and invitations to dine with the Secre
taries soon followed. The dinner of the President
came last ; but as it contains the essence of all the
etiquette of this simple court, I shall select it for a
short description.

Cadwallader was personally known to Mr. Monroe
(the President), and we took an opportunity to repeat
our call between the time of leaving our cards and
the day of the dinner. The principal entrance of
the "White House" communicates with a spacious
vestibule, or rather a hall. From this we passed into
an apartment, where those who visit the President, in
the mornings, are to wait their turns for the interview.
Our names had been given in at the door, and after
two or three, who preceded us, had been admitted,
we were desired to follow the domestic. Our recep
tion was in a cabinet, and the visit of course quite
short. Colonel Monroe received us politely, but with
an American gravity, which perhaps was not mis
placed in such an officer. He offered his hand to me,
though an entire stranger, and asked the common
place questions concerning my visit to the country.
We took our leave in less than ten minutes.

I found the President a man of a gentlemanlike,
but of a grave and simple deportment. He expressed
his hope of seeing us soon again, in a way to make
me suspect we had rather been invited to his dinner,
as a matter of course, than by any express commands.
Let that be as it might, we went on the appointed
day, with as much confidence as if the banquet were
expressly spread in our behalf.

On this occasion we were honoured with the
presence of Mrs. Monroe, and of two or three of her
female relatives. Crossing the hall, we were admitted
to a drawing-room, in which most of the company
was already assembled. The hour was six. By far
the greater part of the guests were men, and perhaps
E2

54 A DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT.

two-thirds were members of Congress. It is unneces
sary to describe a company that was composed of a
very fair representation of Congress, which, as you
already know, is composed of a very fair representa
tion of the whole country, the very lowest classes
always excepted. There was great gravity of rnien
in most of the company, and neither any very marked
exhibition, nor any positively striking want, of grace
of manner. The conversation was commonplace, and
a little sombre, though two or three men of the world
got around the ladies, where the battle of words was
maintained with sufficient spirit. I do not know
that it differed materially from a reunion any where
else. To me the entertainment had rather a cold
than a formal air. When dinner was announced, the
oldest Senator present (there were two, and seniority
of service is meant) took Mrs. Monroe and led her to
the table.* The rest of the party followed without
much order. The President took a lady, as usual,
and preceded the rest of the guests.

The drawing-room was an apartment of a good size,
and of just proportions. It might have been about as
large as a better sort of Paris salon, in a private hotel.
It was furnished in a mixed style, partly English and
partly French, a custom that prevails a good deal
in all the fashions of this country. It was neat, suf
ficiently rich, without being at all magnificent, and,
on the whole, was very much like a similar apart
ment in the house of a man of rank and fortune in
Europe. The dining-room was in a better taste than
is common here, being quite simple, and but little
furnished. The table was large and rather handsome.
The service was in china, as is uniformly the case,
plate being exceedingly rare, if at all used. There
was, however, a rich plateau, and a great abundance

* The wife of the President is always styled the same as any
other lady.

SERVICE OF THE DINNER. 5o

of the smaller articles of table plate. The cloth, nap
kins, £c. &c., were fine and beautiful.

The dinner was served in the French style, a little
Americanized. The dishes were handed round, though
some of the guests, appearing to prefer their own cus
toms, very coolly helped themselves, tp what they
found at hand. Of attendants there were a good
many. They were neatly dressed, out of livery, and
sufficient. To conclude, the whole entertainment
might have passed for a better sort of European din
ner party, at which the guests were too numerous
<br general, or very agreeable discourse, and some of
them too new to be entirely at their ease. Mrs. Mon
roe arose at the end of the dessert, and withdrew,
attended by two or three of the most gallant of the
company. Being a stranger, Jules, I forgot the credit
of the club, and remained to see it out. No sooner
was his wife's back turned, than the President of the
United States reseated himself, inviting his guests to
imitate the action, with a wave of the hand, that
seemed to say, " Now have we a matrimonial fourth
of July.'11 Has it never struck you, Comte de Bethizy,
that these domestic subjects feel a species of moment
ary triumph, as they figure at the head of their tables
without any rival in authority near ? Your English
man, and his cis-atlantic kinsman, are the only real
slaves in their own households. Most other husbands
consider matrimony, more or less, a convenience;
but these downright moralists talk of its obligations
and duties, Obligations ! There is our triumph. It
is when they feel the man within them waxing bold,
as they imbibe courage with their wine, that the wife
prudently retires, rather than remain to dispute a
sway that she knows is about to weaken itself, by
libations to victory. I never feel so thoroughly inde
pendent as when I see one of your immoderately
henpecked heroes, bristling up and chuckling with
glee as he looks around on the domestic throne which

56 THE DRAWING-ROOM.

has just been momentarily abandoned by h<?r who is
seated there all the rest of the twenty-four hours. No
one need seek deeper into the history of customs, than
the date of this triumph, to find the origin of drunken
ness after dinner.

I cannot say that Colonel Monroe abused his op
portunity. After allowing all his guests sufficient time
to renew, in a few glasses, the recollections of similar
enjoyments of their own, he arose himself, giving the
hint to his company, that it was time to join the ladies.
In the drawing-room coffee was served, and every
body left the house before nine.

On the succeeding Wednesday, Mrs. Monroe open
ed her doors to all the world. No invitation was
necessary, it being the usage for the wife of the Presi
dent to receive once a fortnight during the session,
without distinction of persons. I waited for this
evening with more curiosity than any that I remember
ever to have sighed for. I could not imagine what
would be the result. To my fancy, a more hazard
ous experiment could not be attempted. " How dare
she risk the chance of insult — of degradation? or
how can she tolerate the vulgarity and coarseness to
which she must be exposed ?" was the question I put
to Cadwallader. " Nous -cerrons" was the phlegmatic
answer.

We reached the White House at nine. The court
(or rather the grounds) was filled with carriages, and
the company was arriving in great numbers. On this
occasion two or three additional drawing-rooms were
opened, though the frugality of Congress has prevented
them from finishing the principal reception-room of
the building.* I will acknowledge the same sort of
surprise that I felt at the Castle Garden fete, at find-

* The people furnish the entire house. It is the practice to
make a moderate appropriation for that purpose, at the accession
of each new President.

APPEARANCE OF THE COMPANY. 57

ing the assemblage so respectable, in air, dress, and
deportment. Determined to know exactly in what
view to consider this ceremony, I gave my companion
no peace until every thing was explained.

The " evening" at the White House, or the draw
ing-room, as it is sometimes pleasantly called, is in
fact a collection of all classes of people who choose
to go to the trouble and expense of appearing in
dresses suited to an ordinary evening party. I am not
sure that even dress is much regarded ; for I certainly
saw a good many men there in boots. The females
were all neatly and properly attired, though few were
ornamented with jewelry. Of course the poorer and
labouring classes of the community would find little
or no pleasure in such a scene. They consequently
stay away. The infamous, if known, would not be
admitted : for it is a peculiar consequence of the high
tone of morals in this country, that grave and notori
ous offenders rarely presume to violate the public
feeling by invading society. Perhaps if Washington
were a large town, the " evenings11 could not exist ;
but as it is, no inconvenience is experienced.

Squeezing through the crowd, we achieved a pas
sage to a part of the room where Mrs. Monroe was
standing, surrounded by a bevy of female friends.
After making our bows here, we sought the President.
The latter had posted himself at the top of the room,
where he remained most of the evening, shaking
hands with all who approached.* Near him stood
all the Secretaries, and a great number of the most

* It is a mistaken opinion, however, that shaking hands is a
custom not to be dispensed with in America. Most people prac
tise it certainly, for it is thought to be a frank, manly, and, if
you will, a republican usage. But in a certain class, it is not
considered a mark of breeding to be too free with the hand, in
casual introductions, Two gentlemen meeting would be apt to
touch their hats (unless intimates) just as in Europe, though
either of them would offer his hand to any one who he though!

58 CHARACTER OF THE COMPANY.

distinguished men of the nation. Cadwallader pointed
out the different judges, and several members of hoth
houses of Congress, whose reputations were quite
familiar to me. Individuals of importance from all
parts of the Union were also here, and were em
ployed in the manner usual to such scenes. Thus
far the " evening" would have been like any other
excessively crowded assembly ; but while my eyes
were roving over the different faces, they accidentally
fell on one they knew. It was the master of an inn,
in one of the larger towns. My friend and myself
had passed a fortnight in his house. I pointed him
out to Cadwallader, and I am afraid there was some
thing like an European sneer in my manner as I
did so.

" Yes, I have just shaken hands with him," re
turned my friend, coolly. " He keeps an excellent
tavern, you must allow ; and, what is more, had not
that circumstance been the means of your making
his acquaintance, you might have mistaken him for
one of the magnates of the land. I understand your

look, Count de , better than you understand

the subject at which you are smiling. Fancy, for a
moment, that this assembly were confined to a hun
dred or two, like those eminent men you see collected
in that corner, and to these beautiful and remarkably
delicate women you see standing near us ; in what,
except name, would it be inferior to the best collec
tions of your side of the ocean? You need not
apologize, for we understand one another perfectly.
I know Europe rather better than you know America,
for the simple reason, that one part of Europe is so
much like another, that it is by no means an abstruse

expected it. When an European, therefore, offers to shake hands
with an American of breeding, unless on familiar terms, he mis
takes the manners of the country. The natural feeling of gen
tlemanly reserve is the guide there, as it is with us.

CHARACTER OF THE COMPANY. 59

study, so far as mere manners are concerned; where*
as, in America, there exists a state of things that i«
entirely new. We will make the comparison, not in
the way you are at this moment employed in doing,
but in the way common sense dictates.

" It is very true that you meet here a great variety
of people of very many conditions of life. This
person you see on my left is a shopkeeper from New-
York : no — not the one in black, but the genteel-
looking man in blue — I dare say you took him for an
attache of one of the legations. And this lovely crea
ture, who demeans herself with so much elegance
and propriety, is the daughter of a mechanic of Bal
timore. In this manner we might dissect half the
company, perhaps ; some being of better, and some
of worse, exteriors. But what does it all prove ?
Not that the President of the United States is obliged
to throw open his doors to the rabble, as you might
be tempted to call it, for he is under no sort of obli
gation to open his doors to any body. But he chooses
to see the world, and he must do one of two things.
He must make invidious and difficult selections,
which, in a public man, would excite just remarks
in a government like ours, or he must run the hazard
of remaining three or four hours in a room filled with
a promiscuous assembty. He has wisely chosen the
latter.

" What is the consequence ? Your ears are not of
fended by improper discourse. Your individuality is
not wounded by impertinence, nor even your taste
annoyed by any very striking coarseness of manner.
Now it appears to me, that every American should
exult in this very exhibition. Not for the vulgar rea
son that it is a proof of the equality of our rights, for
it is a mistake to think that society is a necessary de
pendant of government. In this respect the ' even
ings ' are some such deception as that ceremony one
hears of in Europe, in which sovereigns wash the

60 EXPLANATION OT THE DRAWING-ROOM.

feet of beggars. But he should exult that the house
of his first magistrate can be thrown open to the
world, and an assembly so well-behaved, so decent,
so reasonable, so free alike from sheepishness and
presumption, in short so completely creditable, in
every point of view, is collected by the liberty.
Open the doors of one of your palaces in this man
ner, and let us see what would be the character of
the company*

" There is a good sense in our community, which
removes all dangers of unpleasant consequences from
too much familiarity. It imposes the necessity on
him who would be thought a gentleman, of being cir
cumspect and reasonable, but it leaves him sufficient
ly the master of all his movements and associations.
The seeming scarcity of high-bred men in this coun
try, compared with the number one sees in Europe,
is much less owing to our form of government, than
the fact that they are so widely scattered. Quite
half, too, of what is called fastidious breeding, is pure
ly conventional, and, to make conventions, men must
meet,

" I have known a cartman leave his horse in the
street, and go into a reception-room to shake hands
with the President. He offended the good sense of
all present, because it was not thought decent that a
labourer should come in a dirty dress on such an oc
casion ; but while he made a trifling mistake in this
particular, he proved how well he understood the
difference between government and society. He
knew the levee was a sort of homage paid to politi
cal equality in the person of the first magistrate, but
he would not have presumed to enter the house of
the same person as a private individual without being
invited,, or without a reasonable excuse in the way
of business.

" There are, no doubt, individuals who mistake
the character of these assemblies, but the great ma-

EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING-ROOM. 61

jority do not. They are simply a periodical acknow
ledgment, that there is no legal barrier to the ad
vancement of any one to the first association in the
Union. You perceive there are no masters of cer
emonies, no ushers, no announcing, nor indeed anv
let or hindrance to the ingress of all who please tc
come ; and yet how few, in comparison to the whole
number who might enter, do actually appear. If
there is any man, in Washington, so dull as to sup
pose equality means a right to thrust himself into any
company he pleases, it is probable he satisfies his
vanity by boasting that he can go to the White House
once a fortnight as well as a governor or any body
else. You will confess his pride is appeased at a
cheap rate. Any prince can collect a well-dressed
and well-behaved crowd by calling his nobles around
him ; but I fancy the President of the United States
is the only head of a nation who need feel no appre
hension of throwing open his doors to every body.
Until you can show an assembly composed of similar
materials, which shall equal this, not only in decency,
but in ease and in general manners, you ought in
reason to be content to confess your inferiority."

You will perceive the utter impossibility of having
an opinion of your own, dear Jules, when a man is
obstinately bent on considering things always in
reference to common sense, instead of consulting the
reverend usages which have been established by the
world, whether founded on prejudice or not. So far
as mere appearance goes, 1 must confess, however,
my friend was not very wrong, since the company
at the White House, on this occasion, was certainly
as well-behaved, all things considered, as could be
wished.

VOL. II. F

TO THE BARON VON KEMPERFELT,
&c. &c.

Washington,

WASHINGTON, as it contains all the public offices, is
the best place to ascertain the general statistical facts
connected with the condition of this country. I have
hitherto purposely avoided touching on the marine
of the United States, until I should have an oppor
tunity of getting the information necessary to do it
justice. On no occasion, however, have I neglected
to examine the ships and the navy-yards as I passed
through the seaports, though I have reserved all my
remarks until I had something material to communi
cate. It is my intention to dispose of the subject
altogether in this letter.

Until the period of the war which separated the
two countries, the American- mariners performed
most of their military service in the navy of Great
Britain. The history of the colonies, however, is
not altogether destitute of nautical incidents, that
were rather remarkable for skill and enterprise.
The privateers of this hemisphere were always con
spicuous in the colonial contests; and they were
then, as they have always been since, of a character
for order and chivalry that ought not to be too confi
dently expected from a class of adventurers who
professedly take up arms for an object so little justi
fiable, and perhaps so ignoble, as gain. But men of
a stamp altogether superior to the privateersmen of
Europe were induced, by the peculiar situation of
their country, to embark in these doubtful military
enterprises in America. There was no regular ser
vice in which to show their rna~tial qualities; and

THE WAR or 1745. G3

those among them who felt a longing for the hazards
and adventures of naval warfare, were obliged to
hoist these semi-chivalrous flags, or to stay at home.
Still, unless very wrongly informed, it was much the
fashion for the gentry of the colonies to place their
sons in the navy of the mother country ; and many
distinguished names, in the higher ranks of the British
marine at this day, have been pointed out to me in
corroboration of the circumstance. It is generally
believed that Washington himself was destined to
such a life, and that nothing but the unconquerable
reluctance of a tender mother prevented him from
figuring in a very different character from that which
he was afterwards enabled to enact with so much
usefulness and true glory.

The first evidences of a nautical enterprise, on an
extended scale, that I can discover in the history of
these people, are contained in the accounts of the
expedition against Louisbourg. The States of New-
England, or rather Massachusetts alone, undertook
to reduce that important fortress during the war of
1745. A considerable naval armament accompanied
the expedition, which was successful, though it con
tained no ship of a force sufficient to combat with the
heavier vessels of their enemy. Still it manifested
a disposition to the sort of warfare of which I am
writing, more especially as the mother country not
only possessed a squadron near, but actually employ
ed it in the service. A people whose maritime pro
pensities were less strong might have been content
to have thrown the whole of this branch of the un
dertaking on an ally that was so well qualified to dis
charge the duty with credit.

At the commencement of the struggle for indepen
dence, notwithstanding the overwhelming force of
their enemy, the Americans early showed the new
flag on the ocean. Almost any other people of the
world, under similar circumstances, would have re-

64 THE WAR OF 1776.

tired into their valleys and fastnesses ; but the pri«
vateers and public cruisers of America, while the
divided and feeble population at home were strug
gling daily for their political existence, continued,
during the whole of that war, to carry hostilities
even to the shores of Great Britain. Had the govern
ment of the country even wished to husband its re
sources for domestic defence, it is more than probable
it would have been found that it did not possess suffi
cient authority to repress the nautical temper of .the
country. It acted a wiser part. Although a more hope
less adventure could not apparently be conceived,
than for these infant States to contend against the
overwhelming power of England on the ocean, yet
the new government early directed a considerable por
tion of its scanty means to that object. Nor was the
desperate adventure without its benefits. It served to
make the nations of Europe more familiarly acquaint
ed with the power that was struggling into existence,
and it afforded an additional pledge of its final suc
cess, by furnishing visible evidence of the possession
of an enterprise that merited confidence and support.
Though the marine of the United States, in the war
of the revolution, was imperfectly organized, and
exceedingly weak, the spirit of their seamen was
often exhibited in a manner to show that the nation
possessed an extraordinary aptitude to that particular
species of service. Their discipline was not, nor
could not well be, better than that ordinarily observed
on board of private vessels of war, since the ships
were of necessity officered by men taken from the
trading vessels of the country ; still the battles of that
period were often bloody and severe, and were fre
quently attended with a signal and brilliant success.
At the peace of '83, the half-formed and imperfect
marine of the country disappeared. The confedera
tion, as it then existed, did not admit, without an
important object, of the exercise of a power that

WAR WITH ALGIERS. 65

involved so serious an expense as its maintenance.
Each State, at that time, collected its own imposts,
and imposed its own taxes. A few schooners, for the
security of the revenue, were kept in some of the
larger seaports ; but of a navy, either in officers or
ships, there was postively none.

When the constitution of the country, as it now
exists, was adopted (in 1789), Washington was placed
at the head of the country, filling, for the first time, its
highest civil station. He recommended the construc
tion of a few frigates, in order to protect its commerce
against the depredations of the Barbary powers, who
were then in the fullest practice of those lawless
robberies which were so long the scourge and dis
grace of the civilized world. This recommendation
was the foundation of the present navy of the United
States. Though, so far as the Algerines themselves
were concerned, a war actually existed, no cruizer
of this country took part in its operations. According
to the fashion of that day, peace was soon purchased.
But the capture of a few of their unarmed merchant
men had served to apprize the Americans of the
absolute necessity of a marine to protect their rights
as a commercial community.

This little affair was scarcely adjusted before a
misunderstanding occurred between the French arid
American republics. A sort of armed neutrality was
attempted by the latter ; but, though no declaration
of war was ever actually made, it soon terminated in
open hostilities. It was now thought prudent to ex
tend a still greater protection to the commerce of the
country, and a sudden and considerable increase to
the navy was made. In order to effect this purpose,
it became necessary to build or to purchase ships,
and to procure officers. Vessels were both bought
and constructed, and seamen of various degrees of
character were induced to abandon the peaceful for
the more warlike pursuits of their profession. A small
F 2

66 WAR WITH FRANCE.

corps of officers had been chosen to command the
first half-dozen frigates from among the veterans
who still survived the great struggle for independence ;
but this was a body soon exhausted, especially as it
was found necessary that a rigid selection should be
observed. To supply the deficiencies, spirited and
skilful young men were sought among the masters
and the mates of the merchantmen. A mixed marine
was by these means created, though it is scarcely
possible not to believe that in ships and commanders
there must have existed the utmost inequality of merit
and of fitness for the duty required of both. Still, as
the propensity of the nation is so decidedly maritime,
the war proved creditable. Many battles were fought,
and with a success that was invariable.

This maritime war occurred during the presidency
of Mr. Adams. The creation of a navy was thought
to be a favourite measure of his policy ; and as oppo
sition grew warm, the wisdom of so early and so
considerable an expenditure of the public money was
much disputed. Men who admitted that nature and
reason both pointed to the ocean as the place where
the rights of the nation were to be maintained, still
affirmed that the measure was premature. The
country was involved in a heavy debt, and the very
means that were resorted to, in order to protect the
wealth of the country, might induce quarrels which
would inevitably involve its loss. But this reason
ing did not immediately prevail, as the administra
tion contrived to keep its majorities in the two houses
until near the close of its constitutional period of
service.

In the midst of these disputes, the grave determina
tion of the country is to be traced in its permanent
legislative enactments. In 1798, a navy department
was created, and its Secretary was admitted to a seat
in the cabinet. Notwithstanding the clamour which
had been raised by the opposition against the marine,

REDUCTION OF 1801. 67

when the power passed into their hands no very
serious blow was meditated or practised against its
positive existence. So much had been said on the
subject of economy, that some reduction became
necessary. Perhaps in the peculiar circumstances
under which the officers and ships had been collect
ed, it was prudent. The vessels, which had been
purchased to meet the emergency, were therefore
sold, and by far the greater part of the officers were
discharged.

At one time, during the disturbance with France,
near sixty public cruisers were employed on the
American coast, or in the West Indies, under the flag
of the republic. Most of them were merchantmen
that had been purchased and altered to suit their
new destination, and many that were expressly built,
had been constructed in a hurry, and of course im
perfectly. Of the officers it is unnecessary to say
more than that they embraced, perhaps, the very best
and the very worst men of their class. Most of these
vessels were small, the largest only rating 44, and ac
tually mounting 54 guns. The majority were clumsy
sloops, carrying between 16 and 24 guns.

Now that the heat of opposition has passed away,
the best-informed men candidly admit that there was
but little inducement to retain officers or ships so
promiscuously and so hurriedly assembled. Notwith
standing its apparent hostility, the new government,
while reducing the service, was rather disposed to
cherish a good and efficient marine than to destroy it.

In 1 801, an act was passed, creating a naval peace
establishment. This was the law which gave form
and permanent existence to the present marine of
the country.

By the act of 1801, the number of the ships was
reduced to nine frigates, of various sizes, with a few
smaller vessels. A sufficient number of officers was
retained for their command. From that hour to this,

68 WAR WITH TRIPOLI.

the corps has never been reduced in the slightest
manner, though the army has been the subject of
repeated increases and of as frequent reductions.
The boy who now enters the navy a midshipman,
enters it with a conviction that, should he behave
with prudence and spirit, he has a highly creditable
employment for life.

The partial reduction of 1801, gave the marine
department an opportunity of making a selection
among the officers, as wrell as among the ships. Per
sonal interest, apart from personal merit, could have
no great influence on the movements of this govern
ment, especially in a case of so great notoriety as
that of a choice between officers of any rank. The
captains retained were men of character and expe
rience ; and it is probable that a finer corps of inferior
naval officers, than those who were retained on this
occasion, never had an existence.

In 1803, the bashaw of Tripoli commenced hostil
ities against the republic. Different squadrons were
sent into the Mediterranean to oppose the depreda
tions. His corsairs were driven from the sea, and
his town was blockaded. From watchfulness, the
Americans soon proceeded to attacks, until the slum
bers of the Africans were almost nightly broken by
the assaults of their weak but spirited foes. The
history of this \var, in miniature, is remarkable for
its romantic incidents, and for the high daring of the
actors. A few light cruizers, with a dozen gun-boats,
and a couple of ketches, backed by a single frigate,
would often lie for hours under the batteries and
shipping of the town, throwing their shot even into
the palace of the barbarian. On several occasions
the conflicts were still more serious. Battles were
fought in closest personal collision ; officers and men,
Christian and Turk, struggling fiercely for the vic
tory, hand to hand. It was to commemorate the
names of the brave youths who fell in these sanguinary

ROMANTIC ENTERPRISE. 69

struggles, that the little monument, already named,
was erected in the Navy-Yard at Washington,

The war with Tripoli was also distinguished by
an enterprise that was as remarkable for its concep
tion, as for the spirit and skill with wrhich it was con
ducted. The reigning bashaw of Tripoli was an usur
per, having, some years before, expelled his brother
from the throne. The banished prince had sought a
refuge among the Arabs of the desert in Upper Egypt.
The American consul to the regency of Algiers, was
a person of the name of Eaton. This gentleman had
once been a captain in the army of the Union. He
was a man distinguished for his reckless courage and
for a restless enterprise. During the time the squad
ron of his country was employed in harassing the
town of their enemy, Mr. Eaton, accompanied by
two or three officers of the navy, sought out the
exiled bashaw in the desert, and induced him to lend
himself to an attempt to recover his throne. A force,
consisting of Arabs, Turks, Christians, and of adven
turers from all countries, was soon assembled. It
entered the territories of Tripoli by its eastern fron
tier, and advanced rapidly upon Derne, the second
town of the principality. Here it was met and sus
tained by a few light cruizers from the American
squadron. A sharp skirmish was fought in the vicinity
of the town, and the place was carried. A crisis was
evidently at hand. Thsre was every prospect of
complete success to this chivalrous undertaking, when
the whole enterprise was defeated by an event as
mortifying as it was unexpected. A negotiator had
just before arrived from America ; conceiving it to
be his duty to terminate the war, he profited by the
terror excited in the bosom of the reigning bashaw,
by the success of his brother, and signed a treaty of
peace. But for this premature occurrence, the world
would probably have witnessed the singular spectacle
of a power of the western hemisphere commencing

70 THE SYSTEM OF GUN-BOATS.

thus early the work of retaliation, by setting up and
pulling down dynasties of the eastern.

The navy of the United States owes most of its dis
cipline, and of its high reputation for spirit and enter
prise, aided by the ambitious natural character of
the people, to the experience it obtained in the war
with Tripoli. The young men (chiefly of the best fami
lies of the country), who had commenced their milita
ry career in the affair with France, received their com
missions during, or at the close of this war ; and they
brought with them into the higher ranks of the ser
vice, the feelings and habits so necessary to their
class. Officers were now first seen in the command
of vessels, who had regularly risen from the lowest
ranks of the service.

From the time of the peace with Tripoli to that of
the war of England, the navy was employed in guard
ing the coast, and in aiding to enforce the restrictive
laws of the country, A few light vessels were built,
and a plan of defending the seaports, in the event of
need, by gun-boats, grew into favour. The American
naval officers say, that the latter scheme had nearly
proved fatal to the tone and discipline of their service.
It was, however, of short duration, and the subse
quent hostilities completely proved its fallacy.*

* Many absurd statements, concerning the organization of the
American navy, have been circulated in Europe. There is none
more false or more foolish than the story that young mates of
merchantmen are, or ever have been, taken for the first steps in
the service. Boys, between the ages of twelve and eighteen,
receive the appointments of midshipmen, and after having served
a certain number of years, they are examined for lieutenants.
These examinations are very rigid, and they are conducted with
the greatest impartiality. While the writer was in America, he
formed an intimacy with the commander of a frigate. One day
at Washington, he entered the room of the captain, just as a
naval officer of high rank was quitting it. u You met one of the
commissioners at the door," said the writer's acquaintance; uhe
has been to beg I would make his son, who is just ordered to my

THE NAVY OF 1312. 71

In 1812, the marine of the United States existed
rather as the nucleus of a future service, than as a
force to be directed to any of the more important
objects of warfare. It was sufficient to keep alive
the spirit, and to gratify the pride of the nation, but
not to produce any serious result on the great objects
of the struggle. So far as I can discover, the whole

ship, mind his books. They tell me the young fellow is clever
enough, and a very good sailor, but he has been twice defeated
in trying to get through with his mathematics, because he will
not study." In what other navy would the son of a lord of the
admiralty lose his commission, in two examinations, for want
of a little mathematics ?

The most severe system of examination, not only into profes
sional qualifications, but into moral character, is now rigidly
observed in the American army and navy. The lower ranks of
both branches of their service, are admirably filled. Midship-
men, instead of being taken from the merchant service, have
been often taken from the service, under furloughs, to command
merchant-ships. No man in the world is more jealous of his
rank, than the American navy or army officer. It would far
exceed the power of the President to push his own son an
inch beyond the steps he is entitled to by his age and service.
The Senate would refuse to approve of such a nomination. The
same impartiality is observed in respect to commands. A cap
tain, or commander, is not only sure of getting a ship, when his
turn comes, but he must have an excellent excuse or he will be
made to take one. Both establishments are kept within reason
able bounds, and promotions are slow and wary. There is not
a single officer necessarily on half-pay, either in the land or sea
service. There is not now, nor has there been for twenty years,
an officer in the American navy, in command of A ship, the four
or five oldest excepted, who did not regularly enter the marine
as a midshipman. Even the oldest entered as low as a lieuten
ant, quite thirty years ago. A Secretary of the Navy, during
the war of 1812, is said to have wished to introduce a brothei
from the merchant service, by giving him the command of a
cartel, but entirely without success. Some six or eight clever
men, who entered as sailing-masters, a class generally taken
from the merchant service, have been so successful as to get
commissions, a favour a little out of course, though sometimes
practised to reward merit. Several of these, even, were mid
shipmen who had resigned, and had re-entered as masters, in
the war, because thev thought themselves too old to begin anew
as midshipmen.

72 MISTAKEN POLICY.

navy of the country, at that time, consisted of the
following ships : three frigates, rating forty-four guns
each, and fighting fifty-four; three, rating thirty-six,
and fighting fifty ; one, rating thirty-two, and fighting
forty-two, or forty- four; two, rating twenty-four, and
fighting twenty-four or twenty-six ; and eight or ten
sloops and schooners carrying from ten to twenty
guns. There were three or four more frigates of no
great force : but they were rotten, and never employ
ed. Perhaps the whole marine might have included
twenty cruizers of all sizes. The events of that pe
riod are so recent as to be sufficiently known. The
war has, however, given a new impulse to the marine
of this country, and one which will probably lead io
the introduction of its fleets into the future contests
of Christendom.

The English are said to have employed more than
a hundred sail of cruizers on the coast of the United
States, between the years 1313 and 1815. Whatever
might have been the intentions of the British govern
ment, it is very certain that much useless annoyance
was given to peaceful people by the depredations of
some of these vessels. Even the expeditions which
were attempted on a larger scale, argued a great
ignorance of the character of this nation, since they
exhibited a very mistaken application of force to
attain what the world has every reason to believe
was the object of the assailants.

It is fair to presume that the English commanders
had determined to harass the country, with a view to
bring the war as near as possible to each man's door.
Now, it so happens, that, notwithstanding the large
bays and deep rivers of this continent enabled those
who had command of the water, to do a great deal
of injury, their attacks did not, nor could not, produce
the least effect on the mass of the nation. Harassing
expeditions, and burnings, and alarms, might serve to
exasperate, but in no degree did they serve to subdue.

EFFECTS OF THE WAR OF 1812. 73

They often wounded the pride, and excited the in
dignation of the Americans, without in the slightest
degree enfeebling their power. A government like
this is weak, or strong, for all offensive purposes,
exactly in the proportion that its efforts are popular.
It is well known that a serious opposition to the war
with England existed in the country from its com
mencement to its close. But it is just as well known,
that these very acts of exasperating hostility had
begun to shut the mouths of the friends of England,
while they permitted her enemies to declaim the
louder. Had the contest continued another year, it
is probable it would have afforded a very different
scene. The American government, strengthened by
the blunder, and excited by the inroads of its enemy,
was seriously turning its attention to the work of re
taliation. When peace was unexpectedly announced,
two squadrons of fast-sailing schooners, bought for
the purpose, were about to sail with orders to burn,
ravage, and destroy. The firebrand would have gleam
ed on the island of Great Britain itself; and God only
knows what horrid character the war would have
next assumed. All experience shows that this is a
nation, however patient and enduring it may seem
under contumely and aggression, which knows how
to rise in its anger, and to make itself dreaded even
by the strongest.

But the chief and the most lasting effect of the
British policy, during the war of 1814, has been to
bring a respectable American marine into a sudden
existence. This truth is proved by the fact, that the
Congress, which, in these matters, takes most of its
impulses from the people, exhibited the extraordinary
policy of increasing, instead of reducing, its arma
ments with the peace. The whole nation saw and
felt the necessity of protecting their coast, and the
friends of the navy have seized the happy moment to
interweave the policy with their institutions, in such

VOL. 11. G

74 THE LAST WAR WITH ALGIERS.

a manner as to render them henceforth inseparable.
That they ought to be inseparable, every man, in the
least familiar with the interests of this country, can
see ; but it was a great point gained to induce a peo
ple so wary of expenditure, to incur the cost of a
marine, without an immediate demand for its use.
You need not be told, that without a service in peace
a service in war is next to useless, since experience,
method, and even the high spirit necessary to con
tinued military success, are all the fruits of time. But
economical legislators, who count nothing but the
present cost, are not always so sagacious.

While passing rapidly over this subject, it may be
well to mention the little incident of the last war with
Algiers, since it serves to show the spirit with which
these people will enter on all similar enterprises,
when a little more age shall give maturity and strength
to their efforts. The barbarians had seized the op
portunity of the British war to commit depredations
on the American commerce. No sooner was the
peace of 1815 ratified, than Congress issued a solemn
declaration of war against the regency. A squadron
immediately sailed for the Mediterranean. It crossed
the Atlantic ; passed the Straits ; routed and destroy
ed the marine of their foe ; carried the war to the
mouth of his harbour ; and, in six weeks from the
day of sailing, it dictated an honourable and lasting
peace, under the cannon of the city. Ten years be
fore, it had sued for disgraceful terms from an infe
rior power of Barbary. This was the first treaty, I
believe, in which the right to lead prisoners into
slavery was formally disavowed by any of the Afri
can states.

During the war with England, several laws were
passed, empowering the President to add to the ma
rine. In 1813, four vessels of a force not less than
seventy-four guns, and six frigates of a force not less
than forty-four guns, were authorized. Squadrons

LAWS FOR THE INCREASE OF THE XAVY. 75

were constructed on the lakes, and sloops of war,
of various sizes, were built, from time to time. In
1816 the Act "for the gradual increase of the Navy
of the United States'" was passed. By the provisions
of this law, eight additional ships of the line, of not
less than seventy-four guns, and nine additional
frigates of not less* than forty-four guns, were com
manded. The President was instructed to procure
the timber of three more steam-batteries, which were
to be put in such a state as to admit of their soonest
possible construction in time of need. As the object
of this force was to anticipate the emergency of any
future war, a sum of one million of dollars was appro
priated annually, in order to procure the timber, and
to insure the best and most desirable construction.
In 1822, this law was altered, so as to extend the
time, and to reduce the annual appropriation one-
half.

Various other laws were passed, affecting the in
terests of the navy. Some were for the improvement
of the officers; others for the preservation of the live-
oak, the inestimable material always employed in the
construction of a valuable American ship. So minute
and cautious was the interest taken in the service,
that a law was even passed to regulate the manner
in which the vessels were to be named. A ship of
the line was to be called after a State ; the frigates,
after rivers ; and the sloops, after the larger towns.
The vessels authorized by the last law are now all
on the stocks, or they have been already launched.!

* Congress often gives discretionary power to the President,
limiting its exercise in this manner. From this practice has
arisen the mistake that the Americans mean to call three-deckers
seventy-fours.

t While the writer was in the country, a law was passed to
build ten additional sloops of war, and a frigate was bought
that had been constructed for the Greeks. Since he has left
America, another law has been passed, appropriating half a mil-

76 THE ACTUAL FORCE OF THE AMERICANS.

The actual naval force of this country afloat, or
which might be put afloat in the course of a few
weeks, is nearly as follows : one first-rate ; eight
second ditto, first class, and three ditto of second
class ; nine third-rates, first class, and three ditto of
second class ; and sixteen corvettes and sloops of
war. To these must be added a few schooners and
light vessels, whose number is constantly varying.
The materials of one forty-four are also prepared,
but, in consequence of the purchase of a frigate, her
construction is temporarily delayed. There appears
to be no use in urging the building of these vessels,
which are all the better for delay, and which are only
launched as they are wanted for experiments, or for
actual service. Perhaps we may call the force at
instant command, or which might be fitted before the
crews could be assembled, at fifty sail, of all sizes.*
This excludes the vessels on the lakes, the whole of
which were sold by a law of 1825, except two ships
of the line (on the stocks) on Lake Ontario. I ex
clude all vessels that are not actually intended to go
to sea. If there is any error, it is in the very smallest
vessels, whose number, as I have already said, is con-

lion of dollars annually, for six years, for the purpose of purchas
ing the materials for vessels of the different classes already
known in the service. By the report of the commissioners, it
seems that contracts have actually been made for the frames of
five sail of the line, five frigates, and five sloops, all of the first
class. Two dry docks are, also, now in the course of construc
tion, and a third is much urged in Congress. A new navy -yard
has also been established in the Gulf of Mexico. A naval acad
emy is pressed by the government. He believes these are the
principal measures taken since the year 1826.

* To these must shortly be added, the vessels whose frames
and materials are now in the course of collection. The rapid
manner in which the Americans run up a ship at need, is well
known. It is clear, that when the materials shall be in readiness,
their force could easily be increased to near or quite seventy sail,
small vessels included.

THEIR PROBABLE FORCE IN TIME OF WAR. 77

stantly varying, by shipwrecks, sales, and re-construc
tions.

With what force the Americans would absolutely
put to sea, in the event of an immediate war, that
should call for all their energy, might be difficult to
anticipate. This government is at once both the
strongest and the weakest in the world. It is weak
compared to its wealth and physical means, in all
cases of ordinary offensive operations, precisely as
other governments are weak or strong in proportion
to the absolute nature of the power they wield. But
in a popular war, when power shall be conceded
freely to the executive, it is so much the stronger as
the government is assured of a cordial and enthusi
astic support. I think the power of the United States,
in actual warfare, will always be found to be exactly
in proportion to the greater or less degree of cordiality
with which the mass of the people shall enter into
the views of the administration. The present navy
of the United States would be formidable under any
circumstances, to all second-rate maritime powers,
since the skill and enterprise of its officers, aided by
such legal support as a majority could always com
mand, would at all times enable them to act with
sufficient energy out of the country. I think also,
in the event of a war, clearly defensive, with any of
the greater powers, it would be unwise to calculate
on having less than the whole of the marine to op
pose, and that instantly. But we may form a better
opinion of these matters by going a little into detail.
It would require about 20,000 men, to man the
whole of the present marine of this country. This
may sound large to your ears, but it is necessary to
remember how very large a proportion of the esti
mated fifty sail are vessels of great size. Of this num
ber more than one thousand would be those officers,
who are always retained as a regular and durable
part of the service. The fifty sail will carry, as near
G 2

78 NUMBER OF SEAMEN.

as I can discover, about 2,500 guns. It is a rule to
put one marine to each gun. This proportion, in
cluding officers, non-commissioned officers, music,
&c., would make a corps of troops of, we will say,
2,500. For petty officers and seamen 10,000 would
be a very liberal allowance, leaving a deficiency of
6,500 to be composed of ordinary seamen, landsmen
and boys. These calculations may not be critically
exact, but I think that they are near enough to the
truth to answer the present object.

I think it can scarcely be doubted that the United
States possess 30,000 men, sufficiently skilful to be
rated as seamen, on board a vessel of war. If this
be admitted, the question is reduced to the inquiry,
of whether she can induce one-third of her seamen
to serve in her navy.

The plenty or scarcity of mariners in the United
States, is altogether a matter of demand and supply.
There is clearly no surplus population to beg em
ployment ; and there is also a general aptitude among
the natives, that enables them to gain their living
in more ways than one. A seaman is a sort of arti
san ; and he requires rather higher wages than the
labourer on shore, as a reward for his peculiar skill,
and a compensation for his greater privation. It is a
peculiarity of this country, that sailors, especially in
New-York, and in all the Eastern States, are often
found on land ; not begging their bread, or sweeping
the streets, but engaged in some creditable employ
ment that gives them support. To meet any extra
ordinary demand, these men commonly return to the
sea. Such of them as are impatient of a monotonous
life, and who are unwilling to serve for reduced
wages, as is at present the case, seek employment
elsewhere. The public and private cruizers of the
South American States, abound with such adven
turers.

Now, it is rather a striking feature in the character

ATTACHMENT TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY. 79

of the lower orders of the Americans, that they
rarely lose their native attachments. They have a
great and fixed contempt for all monarchies. It is
necessary to overcome a principle that has settled
into a prejudice, in order to make them respect any
sort of government but a republic. Money will buy
them, no doubt, but they require to be bought. They
are not accidents on the surface of society that are
willing to float, like most other mariners, whither the
current shall carry them, but they are men who can
only find the opinions which lie at the root of all
their habits, in their native land. Unlike the subject
of any other system on earth, the American, who is
unfortunate, can lay no part of his calamity to his
country. He was not born in a region where climate,
or monopoly, or excessive population, or any other
adverse cause, presses him of necessity to the earth.
He retains in all situations a respect, a love, and fre
quently a longing, for the place of his birth. With
money and opportunity, America might procure thou
sands of every nation . in Europe to serve in any
cause ; but it may be questioned if 'this whole coun
try furnishes one hundred men base enough to enlist
in positive warfare against its institutions or rights.
It is a consequence of this feeling, that the United
States are more sure than other powers of retaining
to themselves that portion of their population, which
has taken to the sea for a livelihood.

These feelings would recall, and have recalled, the
American sailor home, in the moment of hostilities;
a time when the mariners of other nations seek
opportunities of going abroad. He is not afraid to
stand, at any time, on his native soil, for he knows
that there is a law for him as well as for other men.
Though he may be the perfect master of his own
movements, a sailor is eminently a social creature.
He is ever inclined, as you know by experience, to fol
low a general impulse. I am of opinion that in a popu«

80 THE WAR OF 1798.

lar war, the naval rendezvous of this country would
be thronged ; though it is certainly easy to conceive
circumstances in which it would be difficult to pro
cure men.

In the war of 1798—9, crews were often got for
frigates in a single day. There were two reasons for
this abundance of men. Privateers were not profit
able against the trade of France, and the conflict
was particularly in unison with the feelings of all
nautical men. In the war with England, there was
sometimes a momentary difficulty in filling a crew ;
but then privateers abounded. There was also an
other reason why seamen were reluctant to enter
the national cruizers, during the war with England :
crews were often transferred, in gross, from the sea
board to the lakes. The latter was a service in bad
odour. There was no prize-money, nor did it at
all accord with the prejudices of a tar, to be running
in and out of a port on a great fresh-water pond.
Still, near the close of that war, though the services
of a great number of men were lost to the country,
by being captured in privateers, I am told, that such
crews were rarely known in the marine of any nation,
as then began freely to offer themselves.

These are familiar reasons that must have a greater
or less bearing on the facility of procuring seamen
for th public service in the United States. The in
fluence of a popular impulse can scarcely be esti
mated ; though it is quite within the reach of prob
ability that it should be exceedingly great. There are
also other influences, which might be very powerful
in producing a ready supply of men. A war would
be declared, either when many merchant-ships were
at sea, or when they were not. In the former case
the whole mercantile community would feel a direct
and powerful interest in manning their fleets ; and in
the latter, seamen would be out of employ. Then,
the government could at all times create a monopoly

MEANS OF MANNING VESSELS. 81

in its own favour, by refusing to grant private com
missions, or even by imposing an embargo. The
former has never yet been done, because it was the
policy of the country to encourage privateers, since,
heretofore, they have had no other very efficient
means of annoying their enemy.

On the whole, I incline to the opinion, that the
fifty sail, which this country now possesses, could be
manned, in a reasonable time, without resorting to
any extraordinary means of inducing the men to enter.
Still, in a country like this, so much depends on the
particular impulses of the day, that it is a question
which will admit of dispute. A situation of things
might be imagined in which a ship of the line would
readily get a crew in a day, and then, again, circum
stances might easily occur that would render enlist
ments tardy and reluctant. This is always supposing
the supply to be left to the ordinary operations of trade,
or to the influences of popular excitement. For the
purpose of any long-continued and serious naval ser
vice, the government has in reserve most of the ordi
nary resources of other nations.

Although impressment is not, ought not to be, nor
probably ever will be tolerated in the United States,
a naval draft would be perfectly just ; and if it be not
now, it might easily be made constitutional. As the
law stands, a seaman is exempted from all mili
tary duty, because it is the policy of the country to
encourage its commerce. But there is clearly no
reason in natural justice why a sailor should not risk
his life in defence of the rights of his fellow-citizens
as well as a landsman. This point being admitted, it
is both more politic and more humane that he should
perform the duty on an element to which he is ac
customed, and in a service that he understands, than
by doing violence to his habits by becoming a soldier.
There are a variety of ways in which the govern
ment of the United States might even now, with per-

82 INCREASING FORCE OF THE COUNTRY.

feet legality, place most of the seamen, which actually
exist in the country, more or less at its own disposal,
I have already mentioned an embargo as one power
ful means of manning a fleet.

It is not an exaggerated estimate to suppose that,
shortly after the commencement of the war with
England, 10,000 men were serving in the American
privateers. This number alone, added to the crews
in the regular service at the same period, would more
than man the whole of the present force of the coun
try. There can be no doubt that what the nation
did with a population of 8,000,000, and a tonnage of
1,200,000, it could now do, with far greater facility,
with a population of 12,000,000, and a tonnage of
near 1,600,000.

In almost every war into which the United States
can enter, their operations must, of necessity, be con
ducted on the water. Canada and Mexico excepted,
they have no immediate neighbours on the land. But a
war with Canada would be a war with England, and
the experience of the contest of 1812, has taught the
Americans, that neither their commerce nor their
shores are safe in such a war without a marine. Their
growing fleet owes its existence solely to this convic
tion. The present naval force of the country, com
pared to that which it possessed in 1812, is already
as twenty to one : not in the actual number of the
vessels, certainly, but in their size, and in their con
sequent ability to resist, or to attack. In 1812, the
Americans could show but seven frigates, only three
of which were of any magnitude, while now they
might show a line of twenty-seven sail, the smallest
vessel in which should be the largest vessel they
possessed in 1812, and the largest a ship of six times
the force of the latter. This change denotes, to say
the least, a serious intention to protect themselves.

The situation of the United States calls for no
very hasty, or over-jealous vigour, in military prepa-

COUNTRY FILLING UP. 83

ration. The people of the country know their unrival
led advantages. A war like that which England lately
waged with France, a war of twenty years, would, if
America were a party, be commenced with a nation
of 12,000,000, and be ended with one of 20,000,000
of souls! In the security of their remote position,
and of their rapidly increasing strength, the people
of this country are in no hurry to spend their money.
Their actual fleet, instead of being a forced and pre
mature establishment, is rather the result of inevitable
circumstances. What nation before this was ever
known to have 1,200,000 tons of shipping, with seven
frigates and eight or ten small cruizers for its protec
tion ? It appears to me, that so far from considering
the present maritime force of the United States as
the utmost they can do, it ought to be considered
rather as the result of what they cannot help doing.
Money, skill, materials, pride, interest, and even ne
cessity, unite to give birth to their fleets. The sur
prise should not be, that they are now creating a
marine, but that they have so long neglected the
duty. I am of opinion, that the past will be a guide
for the future, in this respect. The United States
may be driven to an exercise of their energies ; but,
if left to themselves, it will be found that all their
military establishments will rather follow than lead
the country. The natural order of things will accu
mulate the power of the republic quite fast enough
for its own happiness, or for the peace of the world.

Until now the Americans have been tracing the
outline of their great national picture. The work
of filling up has just seriously commenced. The Gulf
of Mexico, the Lakes of Canada, the Prairies, and the
Atlantic, form the setting. They are now, in sub
stance, a vast island, and the tide of emigration, which
has so long been flowing westward, must have its re
flux. Adventurers in the arts, in manufactures, in
commerce, and in short, in every thing else, are al-

84 EMIGRATION BEGINNING TO CEASE.

ready beginning to return from the western to the
eastern borders. It is true that the force of the cur
rent is still toward the newer countries, but the time
is near for those regions to give back some of their
increase. Thousands of single men already find their
way from Vermont, from the western counties of
New- York and Pennsylvania, and from even Ohio,
to the sea-shores, as labourers and traders. Popula
tion is becoming dense, and as it accumulates it will
acquire the energy of a concentrated force.

Although ages must elapse before necessity shall
drive man to beggary, or to abject dependence, in the
United States, the time for a more regular increase
of the people over the whole surface has commenced.
It is true, that large districts still remain empty ; but
a variety of causes has, in the first place, a tendency
to retard their settlement, and, in the second place, it
must be remembered how much sooner 1 2,000,000
can fill a vacuum than 4,000,000.

The people of the older States are getting a taste
for the arts and comforts of life, that disinclines vast
numbers to encounter the privations of the forest
New-England, the great hive of emigrants, was a
comparatively sterile and unfavoured region ; and,
twenty years ago, it possessed few other employments
than those of husbandry. But climate, richness of
soil, and moral considerations included, the more
eligible parts of the country are now occupied. The
emigrant (of 1790, and of 1800) to New- York or to
Ohio, returned with accounts of advantages to which
the inhabitant of Massachusetts or Connecticut was a
stranger ; but the emigrant to Illinois, to Indiana, to
Kentucky, or to Missouri, is apt to pine for things
that he has left behind him. Manufactures, and the
thousand additional pursuits of a growing wealth, are
beginning to chain men to their birth-places. The
effects are already to be traced in the returns of the
population.

PRESENT MANNER OF MANNING SHIPS. 35

New- York has been what is termed an emigrating
State, these twenty years, and yet her population has
increased near 18 per cent, within the last five.*

Although the supply of seamen must, for many
years, be limited to the demand, since men can find
support in other employments, the government can
at any time create a demand of its own, in order to
keep up the number necessary for the two services — •
viz. the navy and that of commerce. Hitherto no
artificial means of creating seamen have been adopted.
The government has as yet had no motive for such
extraordinary care. They employ, in point of fact,
only about twenty sail.t These vessels are manned
by a very simple system, and with little or no diffi
culty. Rendezvous are opened in the different ports
when men are needed ; and, as they enter, they are
placed on board of receiving vessels, where they con
tinue until a draft is made for a crew. They pay no
bounty, nor do the wages ever vary to meet the fluc
tuations in the price of seamen's wages in the mer
chantmen. The wages of a seaman are, however,
something higher than those paid by any other nation
to men in the public service.]: When the ships are

* The births exceeded the deaths, in New- York, (1825) 38,840
souls; or at a rate that, notwithstanding emigration, would
double its population once in forty years.

t The actual force of cruizers in commission (1828) is one ship
of the line, six frigates, two corvettes, ten sloops, and four
schooners. These vessels, including the ordinary, are manned
by live thousand three hundred and eighteen rnen.

$ A captain, commanding a ship of any force, receives 100
dollars a month, and eight rations a day; if he command a small
ship, his pay is 75 dollars, and six rations. The pay of the other
classes is as follows: — master commandant, 60 dollars, five ra
tions; lieutenant commandant, 50 dollars and four rations;
lieutenant, 40 dollars and three rations ; master, 40 dollars and
two rations; past-midshipman, 25 dollars and two rations; mid
shipman, 19 dollars and one ration ; boatswain, gunner, sail-
maker, and carpenter, 20 dollars and two rations ; petty officers,
19 dollars and one ration; seaman, 12 dollars and one ration:

VOL. II. H

86 MOTIVES TO SERVE,

manned, orders are given to stop the enlistments.
The supply varies, of course, a crew being sometimes
obtained in a few days, and sometimes not in many
weeks.

As the Americans add to the number of vessels em
ployed in their service, they will, certainly, facilitate
the means of a supply by increasing the demand. The
great outlet to the rest of the world, the path of ad
venture, and the only, at least the principal, theatre
for military achievements open to the people of this
country, is on the ocean. It is only necessary to in
vite adventurers, to attract to their flag all, whom
restlessness, ambition, misfortune, enterprise, or ne
cessity, shall induce to wander.

The progress of the physical force of this country
is not to be calculated by that of other nations. Inde
pendently of the gross amount of numbers, and the
rate at which the population increases, there is an
other important fact to be considered in making all
our estimates of the future power of this nation.
When we say that America, with so many millions
of people, has done this or that much, has furnished so
many soldiers, or so many seamen, it is necessary to
remark how very large a proportion of the population
are of an age to be dependants, instead of actors. In
1320, 17.1 1 of the wrhole population were boys under
ten years of age. Including girls, rather more than one-
third of the population had not yet reached that tender

ordinary ditto, 10 dollars and one ration ; boys, 6 dollars and
one ration ; chaplain and purser, 40 dollars and two rations ;
surgeon, 50 dollars and two rations ; surgeon's mate, 30 dollars
and two rations; captain of marines, 40 dollars and two rations;
first lieutenant ditto, 30 dollars and two rations; second ditto,
-25 dollars and three rations, &c. &c. The rations of all tho
officers are paid in money, if required, at the rate of 25 cents a
day for each, except the marines, who receive army pay and
allowances. An army ration is worth 20 cents a day. It is,
however, intended to increase the pay of most of the officers.
See note B. at the end of the volume.

AMERICA AS A MARITIME POWER. 87

period of life. So far$ therefore, from being assistants,
they had been clogs to the exertions of their parents.
Of 7,856,269 whites in the country at the census of
1820, 3,840,899 were under sixteen years of age. It
is a natural fact that the commerce of the country
should grow with its population; but it is evident that
the ability to furnish a supply of men, for all purposes,
must increase in an augmenting ratio. The propor
tion between whole numbers and active agents has
not yet reached the level of Europe, and the Ameri
can is, therefore, entitled to so much greater credit
for what his country has done, since, even supposing
other things equal, it has certainly been done, in con
sequence of this peculiarity, with a comparatively
diminished force.

The United States would certainly take a new
position in the event of another general war. So far
from being again the prey of the belligerents, she
would (unless an actor) be a neutral, whose weight,
thrown into either scale, might make her a power to
be dreaded on the ocean. England herself would
find the fifty, or a hundred sail, which these people
could, and, no doubt, would employ, highly embar
rassing. The country, without precocious, or un
natural efforts, has reached the point when it has
become an important ally. The West India seas
would even now lie greatly at her mercy, especially
if England, or France, had enemies nearer home. In
a very few years this republic will not be very wary
as to its choice of a foe, and in yet a few more, it will
be able to meet fearlessly the greatest power of the
earth in any way that man can elect for the gratifica
tion of his lawless propensities.

Still I think that the government of the United
States \vill not be very dangerous by its ambition.
That it will sweep its coasts of every hostile hold ;
that Bermuda, and all such places, will come into
the possession of the Americans in the course of the

88 AMERICA AS A MARITIME POWER.

next half century, no man can doubt, who has seen
how sagaciously they have already arranged their
frontiers, and who knows how to estimate their grow
ing strength. In fifty years it is physically certain
that these States will contain fifty millions of souls.
This number, supposing that the present marine
should increase only in a numerical proportion, would
give them a navy of rather more than two hundred
sail, of which one hundred and twenty would carry
more than fifty-four guns. With an empire, compact,
natural, and so constituted as to require no artificial
defence, this alone would be a more available force
than three times the number employed in protecting
distant colonies and divided interests. The game
which England has played with America, in their
two wars, by striking at the weak and most exposed
points, America will be able to play with England,
in the course of the next twenty years. It would be
too dangerous an experiment to lie in her rivers and
bays, even now, with the advanced improvements in
steam ; and as to their ports, they will, shortly, be
beyond aggression. The American citizen, a little
drilled, is as good a soldier, in a fort, as any man in
the world. The last war abundantly proved that no
numbers can expel active and skilful seamen from
the ocean ; and any one can calculate what an effi
cient fleet of twenty sail might do against a divided
empire. I know no more unsafe calculation than to
rely on the inactivity of an American sailor.

But it is a well-known fact, that the force and
wealth of nations are not so much in proportion to
their numbers as to their advancement in the arts of
life, and to their moral superiority. In every thing
that constitutes general moral superiority, these peo
ple are already in the foremost rank. Their popu
lation is getting compact; and as manufactures in
crease, and the usual divisions of employments follow,
they will become rich in a geometrical progression.

AMERICA AS A MARITIME POWER. 89

Should there be a necessity for such a force, there is
far more probability that their marine will contain
one thousand than two hundred sail in the year 1875.

Nor do I find a single plausible reason for disbe
lieving this result. Should a separation of the States
occur, an event quite as improbable as any other act
of suicide, and just as possible as all suicides, the
commercial and manufacturing States would still
keep together. I think, if any thing, their marine
would be larger than if the confederation should
exist as it now stands, since there would be but one
opinion on its policy, and its size would clearly be a
matter of greater necessity.

1 know but one other material point to be con
sidered in examining the American marine. With
reference to its immediate growth, the finances of the
country and the cost of ships are important. The
debt of the United States is about 60,000,000 of dol
lars,* the revenue rather more than 21,000,000,
without taxes. Including comparatively heavy sums
paid to build fortifications, and a half million, each
year, to the increase (not to the repairs) of the ma
rine,! the whole expenditure is about 13,000,000 of
dollars. This leaves an excess by which the debt
will be entirely extinguished in a few more years of
peace. A fair proportion of the moneys that shall
then remain will, beyond a doubt, be used in foster
ing so interesting an arm of the public defence as the
navy.

The American ships, considering their quality, are
about as cheap as those of England. Some articles
are less costly, others more expensive. I find that
the Columbus, a ship on two decks, pierced for one

* It is actually 66,000,000, but the balance was created for
the purchase of bank-stock, which pays an interest, and which
can be sold without difficulty.

t This appropriation has been lately extended to six more
years. — See note A. at the end of the volume.
H2

90 RATING OF SHIPS.

hundred, and mounting about ninety-two ornineh-
four n'lins, stands charged, nearly ready for sea, at
426,931 dollars; the North Carolina, launched, but

not finished, at 343,251 ; Delaware ditto, ;it ;?7.5,735,
and the Ohio* ;U)o,000. The Potomac frigate waa
launched for 1.'>7,s:o dollars, and the Brandywine,
nearly completed tor sea, for OiU.tfTtJ. The two
latter are pierced for sixt\ guns, and actually mount
fifty-six, t

Before closing this Ions;, but 1 trust, to you, not
tiresome, letter, 1 will allude to another topic. The
Americans have boon ignorantly and coarselj charged
with deception on the subject of their navy, it has
been said that they constructed > ossels of exlraordi-
nan magnitude, and gave to them the appellations
and rates of frigates. What is the fact ' Frigates, as
you > cry well know, were originally ships of one gun-
deck. with a regular quarter-deck and forecastle, on
both of which guns can be mounted. At first, the two
latter decks were smaller than was necessary, and
the frigates were rated at the precise number of guns
that the> carried. Thus a ship that formerly carried
twentv-cijiht guns on her gun-deck, and ten guns on
her quarter-deck and forecastle, was called, in the
English navy, a thirty-eight in course of time four
teen guns were placed on the quarter-deck of the
same sort of ship ^a little enlarged"), and eight ports
were cut in the forecastle, so that she could, and did,
mount titty guns. Some of them were even pierced

* In the state in which she was seen by Mr. De Roos, or
nearly so.

t No American frigate, or ship of the line, with the exception
of a (it built for the (.J reeks, ami recently pure/Hist </ into the MT-
viee. mounts, or lias mounted, durinir the last rive-aml-t went v
years, inins in the waist. T: -nice the last \vav") havo

been piercevl for «;uns. in order that they may he shifted o\ er to
batter a town, or to defend a vessel at anchor, vVc. &e. but ham
mock* are always stowed there as in other vessels of war.

RATING OF SHIPS. '. ) ]

for more. Between the frigates and I he -hip- of the
line was a sort of mongrel class that properij belong
ed l.o neither. They had thf. con-.trurtion of the hit
ter, though their force was hut little superior to thf:
former. The.se retfell were called fifties and forfv-
fours. When the Americans first formed their mari;'if
(here was little method in its arrangement or el;.- -i-
fication. Ships like the English thirty -eights U
commonly caller] thirty-sixes. Hut experience had
shown that a lar-;er-.i/ffl frigate rniffht he huilt to
advantage; and they were not di-.po-.ed to perpefujjtft
the DMStaken notions of other-. Thev ro;]~lfuelf;rl
shi[)s, on one deck, to carry thirty ^uns helovv ftwen-
tj-IOUr pounders), and twenty-four ^uns on tlie <\n;\r-
ter-deek and forer-.astle. J5ut .so far from attempting
any dereption in tlie manner of rating, they enlJed
Oiern after the intcrrnf:diate ckflfl already •" named,
\ix., forty-fours. Even the Chesapeake, the smallest
thirty-ei^ht faecorrlin^ to the English method of
rating; ever known in their service, vva«, for a long
lime, through care!e--ne-, or ignoranee. termed a
forty-four; because, at first, hhe actually mounted
forty-four guns; while the New-York, a farger ship,
though of fewer guns was called a thirty-six. The
M^ex, a proper English thirty-two, was called a
thirty-two; while the John Adams, and the Adams,
both much inferior vessels, in size and in guns, were
rated the same.

Now all these vessels were sent openly to sea,
were visited freely, and were approved of or con
demned hy the officers of all the navies in the world.
Some nation- sneered at what the Americans deemed
an improvement, and some imitated it. Time h;^,
shown that the latter were the wi-e-.t.

Deception is a word more unjustly applied to this
nation than to any on earth. There is scarcely a
secret even pretended to he kept in its whole govern
ment or police. Every year the fullest and most satis-

92 UNCERTAINTY OF RATING.

factory documents, concerning its army, its finances,
and every thing else, are published to all who choose
to read them. Their navy-yards and arsenals are
open to every applicant. It is a singular fact that
foreign officers have accused these people of a wish to
practise deception, because they have discovered im
provements in their navy-yards, while unreservedly
enjoying, themselves, privileges that would, in their
own countries, be denied to an American seaman.
The officers of this country say that they are satisfied
with the manner in which their own marine is con
ducted. If other people have a reason for changing
their system of classification, let them do it, it is alto
gether an affair of their own. The object of rating
at all is to understand the relative size and force of
ships in the same service. It is not a matter of con
vention between nations. When an officer cap
tures an enemy, or is captured by one, he is a fool
if he does not state the actual force of his antagonist;
he is only a knave when he conceals, or misrepre
sents it. Besides, they say, and justly enough, that
the number of guns is no good criterion of the force
of a vessel. An English thirty-two (old rate) and a
thirty-six might, and often did, carry nearly the same
number of guns (from forty to forty-four guns), but
the latter is one-fourth larger, stronger, and heavier,
and, of course, more formidable, than the former.*

That there was great inaccuracy in the rating of
the American ships before and during the last war, is

* A ship carrying eighteen twenty-four pound carronades,
and a ship of eighteen thirty-two pound carronades, would bt
rated the same, if the number of guns were to be the only
guide ; whereas, if one should be called a sixteen, and the other
an eighteen, the mind would conceive a sufficiently just idea of
the difference in force which actually existed. There are sc
many considerations that properly enter into the estimate of
force in a vessel, that no one of them all can be safely taken as
a rule.

SINGULARITY IN THE AMERICAN MARINE. 93

certain ; but it is just as certain it was oftener against
their reputation than in their favour. They had three
large frigates, and these they honestly called by the
rates of vessels which fifty years since fought in the
line. It must be remembered these three vessels have
been built thirty years. They oftener over than un
derrated their other frigates. The same was true of
their sloops of war. The Argus, (brig,) for instance,
a vessel a third lighter every way than the regular
eighteen, was rated in that class. The Nautilus,
Vixen, Ferret, &c., were also overrated.

No nautical man, fit to command a vessel, would
trust to any rate but that of his own judgment. If
any people have got into difficulty by undervaluing
their enemies, it is far more manful to confess their
mistake, than to call improvements, which they are
eager to imitate, by so coarse a term as deception.
In this manner, clever men are, without bounds or
moderation, deceiving the rest of mankind daily.

TO THE ABBATE GIROMACHI,

Washington,

You ask me to write freely on the subject of the
literature and the arts of the United States. The
subjects are so meagre as to render it a task that
would require no small portion of the talents neces
sary to figure in either, in order to render them of
interest. Still, as the request has come in so urgent
a form, I shall endeavour to oblige you.

The Americans have been placed, as respects

94 EARLIEST PUBLICATIONS.

moral and intellectual advancement, different from
all other infant nations. They have never been with
out the wants of civilization, nor have they ever
been entirely without the means of a supply. Thus
pictures, and books, and statuary, and every thing
else which appertains to elegant life, have always
been known to them in an abundance, and of a qual
ity exactly proportioned to their cost. Books, being
/ the cheapest, and the nation having great leisure and
prodigious zest for information, are not only the most
common, as you will readily suppose, but they are
probably more common than among any other peo
ple. I scarcely remember ever to have entered an
American dwelling, however humble, without finding
fewer or more books. As they form the most essen
tial division of the subject, not only on account of
their greater frequency, but on account of their far
greater importance, I shall give them the first notice
in this letter.

Unlike the progress of the two professions in the
countries of our hemisphere, in America the printer
| came into existence before the author. Reprints of
* English works gave the first employment to the press.
Then came almanacs, psalm-books, religious tracts,
sermons, journals, political essays, and even rude at
tempts at poetry. All these preceded the revolution.
The first journal was established in Boston at the
commencement of the last century. There are sev
eral original polemical works of great originality and
power that belong to the same period. I do not know
that more learning and talents existed at that early
day in the States of New-England than in Virginia,
Maryland and the Carolinas, but there was certainly
a stronger desire to exhibit them.

The colleges or universities, as they were some
what prematurely called, date very far back in the
brief history of the country. There is no stronger
evidence of the intellectual character, or of the judi-

COLLEGES OR UNIVERSITIES. 95

ciotis ambition of these people, than what this simple
fact furnishes. Harvard College, now the university
of Cambridge — (it better deserves the title at this
day) — was founded in 1638 ; within less than twenty
years after the landing of the first settlers in New-
England ! Yale (in Connecticut) was founded in
1701. Columbia (in the city of New-York) was
founded in 1754. Nassau Hall (in New-Jersey) in
1738; and William and Mary (in Virginia) as far
back as 1691. Th*ese are the oldest literary institu
tions in the United States, and all but the last are in
flourishing conditions to the present hour. The first
has given degrees to about five thousand graduates,
and rarely has less than three hundred and fifty or
four hundred students. Yale is about as well attend
ed. The others contain from a hundred and fifty to
two hundred under-graduates. But these are not a
moiety of the present colleges, or universities, (as
they all aspire to be called,) existing in the country.
There is no State, except a few of the newest, with
out at least one, and several have two or three.

Less attention is paid to classical learning here
than in Europe ; and, as the term of residence rarely
exceeds four years, profound scholars are by no
means common. This country possesses neither the
population nor the endowments to maintain a large
class of learned idlers, in order that one man in a
hundred may contribute a mite to the growing stock
of general knowledge. There is a luxury in this ex
penditure of animal force, to which the Americans
have not yet attained. The good is far too problem
atical and remote, and the expense of man too cer
tain, to be prematurely sought. I have heard, I will
confess, an American legislator quote Horace and
Cicero ; but it is far from being the humour of the
country. I thought the taste of the orator question
able. A learned quotation is rarely of any use in an
argument, since few men are fools enough not to see

96 JVUMBER OF GRADUATES.

that the application of any maxim to politics is liable
to a thousand practical objections, arid, nine times in
ten, they are evidences of the want of a direct, natu
ral, and vigorous train of thought. They are the
affectations, but rarely the ebullitions of true talent.
When a man feels strongly, or thinks strongly, or
speaks strongly, he is just as apt to do it in his native
tongue as he is to laugh when he is tickled, or to
weep when in sorrow. The Americans are strong
speakers and acute thinkers, but'no great quoters of
the morals and axioms of a heathen age, because
they happen to be recorded in Latin.

The higher branches of learning are certainly on
the advance in this country. The gentlemen of the
middle and southern States, before the revolution,
were very generally educated in Europe, and they
were consequently, in this particular, like our own
people. Those who came into life during the strug
gle, and shortly after, fared worse. Even the next
generation had little to boast of in the way of instruc
tion. I find that boys entered the colleges so late as
the commencement of the present century, who had
read a part of the Greek Testament, and a few books
of Cicero and Virgil, with perhaps a little of Horace.
But great changes have been made, and are still
making, in the degree of previous qualification.

Still, it would be premature to say that there is
any one of the American universities where classical
knowledge, or even science, is profoundly attained,
even at the present day. Some of the professors push
their studies, for a life, certainly; and you well know,
after all, that little short of a life, and a long one too,
will make any man a good general scholar. In 1820,
near eight thousand graduates of the twelve oldest
colleges of this country (according to their catalogues)
were then living. Of this number, 1,406 were cler
gymen. As some of the catalogues consulted were
several years old, this number was of necessity greatly

PECULIAR EDUCATIOiY. 9?

within the truth. Between the years 1800 and 1810,
it is found that of 2,792 graduates, four hundred and
fifty-three became clergymen. Here is pretty good
evidence that religion is not neglected in America,
and that its ministers are not, as a matter of course,
absolutely ignorant.

But the effects of the literary institutions of the
United States are somewhat peculiar. Few men
devote their lives to scholarship. The knowledge
that is actually acquired, is perhaps quite sufficient
for the more practical and useful pursuits. Thousands
of young men, who have read the more familiar clas
sics, who have gone through enough of mathematics
to obtain a sense of their own tastes, and of the value
of precision, who have cultivated belles lettres to a
reasonable extent, and who have been moderately
instructed in the arts of composition, and in the rules
of taste, are given forth to the country to mingle in
its active employments. I am inclined to believe
that a class of American graduates carries away with
it quite as much general and diversified knowledge,
as a clais from one of our own universities. The
excellence in particular branches is commonly want
ing ; but the deficiency is more than supplied by va
riety of information. The youth who has passed four
years within the walls of a college, goes into the office
of a lawyer for a few more. The profession of the
lawjs not subdivided in America. The same man is
counsellor, attorney, and conveyancer. Here the
student gets a general insight into the principles, and
a familiarity with the practice of the law, rather than
an acquaintance with the study as a science. With
this instruction he enters the world as a practitioner.
Instead of existing in a state of dreaming retrospec
tion, lost in a maze of theories, he is at once turned
loose into the jostlings of the world. If perchance
he encounters an antagonist a little more erudite than
himself, he seizes the natural truth for his sheet-an-

VOL. II. I

98 EFFECTS OF EDUCATION.

chor, and leaves precedent and quaint follies to him
who has made them his study and delight. No doubt
he often blunders, and is frequently, of necessity, de
feated. But in the course of this irreverent treatment,
usages and opinions, which are bottomed in no better
foundation than antiquity, and which are as inappli
cable to the present state of the world, as the present
state of the world is, or ought to be, unfavourable to
all feudal absurdities, come to receive their death-
warrants. In the mean time, by dint of sheer expe
rience, and by the collision of intellects, the prac
titioner gets a stock of learning, that is acquired in
the best possible school ; and, what is of far more
importance, the laws themselves get a dress which
brings them within the fashions of the day. This
same man becomes a legislator perhaps, and, if parti
cularly clever, he is made to take an active part in
the framing of laws that are not to harmonize with
the other parts of an elaborate theory, but which are
intended to make men comfortable and happy. Now,
taken with more or less qualification, this is the his
tory of thousands in this country, and it is also an im
portant part of the history of the country itself.

In considering the course of instruction in the
United States, you are always to commence at the
foundation. The common schools, which so generally
exist, have certainly elevated the population above
that of any other country, and are still elevating it
higher, as they improve and increase in numbers.
Law is getting every day to be more of a science, but
it is sTsTience that is forming rules better adapted to
the spirit of the age. Medicine. is improving, and in
the cities it is, perhaps now^Tn point of practice,
quite on a level with that of Europe. Indeed, the
well-educated American physician very commonly
enjoys an advantage that is little known in Europe.
After obtaining a degree in his own country, he passes
a few years in London, Edinburgh, Paris, and fre-

LEARNED PROFESSIONS. 99

queritly in Germany, and returns with his gleanings
from their several schools. This is not the case with
one individual, but with many, annually. Indeed,
there is so much of a fashion in it, and the custom is
attended by so many positive advantages, that its
neglect would be a serious obstacle to any very emi
nent success. Good operators are by no means
scarce, and as surgery and medicine are united in the
same person, there is great judgment in their prac
tice. Human life is something more valuable in
America than in Europe, and I think a critical atten
tion to patients more common here than with us,
especially when the sufferer belongs to an inferior
condition in life. The profession is highly respecta
ble ; and in all parts of the country the better sort of
its practitioners mingle, on terms of perfect equality,
with the highest classes of society. There are several
physicians in Congress, and a great many in the differ
ent State legislatures.

Of the ministry it is unnecessary to speak. The
clergy are oF"aTl denominations, and they are edu
cated, or not, precisely as they belong to sects which
consider the gift of human knowledge of any impor
tance. You have already seen how large a propor
tion of the graduates of some of the colleges enter
the desk.

As respects authorship, there is not much to be
said. Compared to~the books that are printed and
read, those of native origin are few indeed. The prin
cipal reason of this poverty of original writers, is
owing to the circumstance that men are not yet
driven to their wits for bread. The United States are
the first nation that possessed institutions, and, of
course, distinctive opinions of its own, that was ever
dependent on a foreign people for its literature.
Speaking the same language as the English, and long
in the habit of importing their books from the mother
country, the revolution effected no immediate change

100 LITERATURE.

in the nature of their studies, or mental amusements-
The works were re-printed, it is true, for the purposes
of economy, but they still continued English. Had
the latter nation used this powerful engine with toler
able address, I think they would have secured such
an ally in this country as would have rendered their
own decline not only more secure, but as illustrious
as had been their rise. There are many theories en
tertained as to the effect produced in this country by
the falsehoods and jealous calumnies which have been
undeniably uttered in the mother country, by means
of the press, concerning her republican descendant.
It is my own opinion that, like all other ridiculous
absurdities, they have defeated themselves, and that
they are now more laughed at and derided, even
here, than resented. By all that I can learn, twenty
years ago, the Americans were, perhaps, far too much
disposed to receive the opinions and to adopt the
prejudices of their relatives ; whereas, I think it is
very apparent that they are now beginning to receive
them with singular distrust. It is not worth our while
to enter further into this subject, except as it has
had, or is likely to have, an influence on the national
literature.*

It is quite obvious, that, so far as taste and forms
alone are concerned, the literature of England and
that of America must be fashioned after the same
models. The authors, previously to the revolution,
[are common property, and it is quite idle to say that
'the American has not just as good a right to claim
Milton, and Shakspeare, and all the old masters of the
language, for his countrymen, as an Englishman. The

* The writer might give, in proof of this opinion, one fact.
He is led to believe that, so lately as within ten years, several
English periodical works were re-printed, and much read in
the United States, and that now they patronize their own, while
the former are far less sought, though the demand, by means
of the increased population, should have been nearly doubled.
Some of the works are no longer even re-printed.

THE NEWSPAPERS. 101

Americans having continued to cultivate, and to cul
tivate extensively, an acquaintance with the writers
of the mother country, since the separation, it is
evident they must have kept pace with the trifling
changes of the day. The only peculiarity that can, or
ought to be expected in their literature, is that which
is connected with the promulgation of their distinc
tive political opinions. They have not been remiss
in this duty, as any one may see, who chooses to ex
amine their books. But we will devote a few minutes
to a more minute account of the actual condition
of American literature.

The first, and the most important, though cer
tainly the most familiar branch of this subject, is
connected with the public journals. It is not easy
to say how many newspapers are printed in the
United States. The estimated number varies from six
hundred to a thousand. In the State of New-York
there are more than fifty counties. Now, it is rare
that a county, in a State as old as that of New-York,
(especially in the more northern parts of the coun
try), does not possess one paper at least. The cities
have many. The smaller towns sometimes have three
or four, and very many of the counties four or five.
There cannot be many less than one hundred and
fifty journals in the State of New- York alone. Penn
sylvania is said to possess eighty. But we will sup
pose that these two States publish two hundred jour
nals. They contain about 3,000,000 of inhabitants.
As the former is an enlightened State, and the latter
rather below the scale of the general intelligence of
the nation, it may not be a very bad average of the
whole population. This rate would give eight hun
dred journals for the United States, which is probably
something within the truth. I confess, however, this
manner of equalizing estimates in America, is very
uncertain in general, since a great deal, in such a
12

102 THE NEWSPAPERS.

question, must depend on the progress of society in
each particular section of the country.

As might be expected, there is nearly every de<
gree of merit to be found in these journals. No one
of them has the benefit of that collected talent which
is so often enlisted in the support of the more im
portant journals of Europe. There is not often more
than one editor to the best ; but he is usually some
man who has seen, in his own person, enough of men
and things to enable him to speak with tolerable dis
cretion on passing events. The usefulness of the
American journals, howrever, does not consist in their
giving the tone to the public mind, in politics and
morals, but in imparting facts. It is certain that,
could the journals agree, they might, by their united
efforts, give a powerful inclination to the common
will. But, in point of fact, they do not agree on any
one subject, or set of subjects, except, perhaps, on
those which directly affect their own interests. They,
consequently, counteract, instead of aiding each other,
on all points of disputed policy; and it is in the bold
and sturdy discussions that follow, that men arrive
at the truth. The occasional union in their own fa
vour, is a thing too easily seen through to do either
good or harm. So far, then, from the journals suc
ceeding in leading the public opinion astray, they are
invariably obliged to submit to it. They serve to
keep it alive, by furnishing the means for its expres
sion, but they rarely do more. Of course, the influ
ence of each particular press is in proportion to the
constancy and the ability with which it is found to
support what is thought to be sound principles ; but
those principles must be in accordance with the pri
vate opinions of men, or most of their labour is lost.

The public press in America is rather more decent
than that of England, and less decorous than that of
France. The tone of the nation, and the respect

AN ABUSIVE PRACTICE. 103

for private feelings, which are, perhaps, in some
measure, the consequence of a less artificial state of
society, produce the former ; and the liberty, which
is a necessary attendant of fearless discussion, is, I
think, the cause of the latter. The affairs of an in
dividual are rarely touched upon in the journals of
this country ; never, unless it is thought they have a
direct connexion with the public interests, or from a
wish to do him good. Still there is a habit, getting
into use in America, no less than in France, that is
borrowed from the English, which proves that the
more unworthy feelings of our nature are common
to men under all systems, and only need opportunity
to find encouragement. I allude to the practice of
repeating the proceedings of the courts of justice, in
order to cater to a vicious appetite for amusement in
the public.

It is pretended that, as a court of justice is open
to the world, there can be no harm in giving the
utmost publicity to its proceedings. It is strange
the courts should act so rigidly on the principle, that
it is better a dozen guilty men should go free, than
that one innocent man should suffer, and yet permit
the gross injustice that is daily done by means of this
practice. One would think, that if a court of justice
is so open to the world, that it should be the business
of the people of the world to enter it, in order that
they might be certain that the information they crave
should be without colouring or exaggeration. It is
idle to say that the reports are accurate, and that he
who reads is enabled to do justice to the accused, by
comparing the facts that are laid before him. A
reporter may give the expression of the tongue ; but
can he convey that of the eye, of the countenance,
or of the form ? — without regarding all of which, no
man is perfectly master of the degree of credibility
thfct is due to any witness of whose character he is
necessarily ignorant. But every man has an infallible

104 EFFECTS OF A BAD PRACTICE.

means of assuring himself of the value of these re
ports. Who has ever read a dozen of them with
out meeting with one (or perhaps more,) in which
the decision of the court and jury is to him a matter
of surprise? It is true he assumes, that those who
were present knew best, and as he has no great in
terest in the matter, he is commonly satisfied. But
how is it with the unfortunate man who is wrong
fully brought out of his retirement to repel an unjust
attack against his person, his property, or his charac
ter ? If he be a man of virtue, he is a man of sensi
bility; and not only he, but, what is far worse, those
tender beings, whose existence is wrapped up in his
own, are to be wounded daily and hourly, for weeks
at a time, in order that a depraved appetite should be
glutted. It is enough for justice that her proceedings
should be so public as to prevent the danger of cor
ruption ; but we pervert a blessing to a curse, in
making that which was intended for our protection,
the means of so much individual misery. It is an
unavoidable evil of the law that it necessarily works
some wrong, in order to do much good ; but it is
cruel that even the acquittal of a man should be un
necessarily circulated, in a manner to make all men
remember that he had been accused. We have
proof of the consequences of this practice in Eng
land. Men daily shrink from resistance to base
frauds, rather than expose themselves to the obser
vations and comments of those who enliven their
breakfasts by sporting with these exhibitions of their
fellow-creatures. There are, undoubtedly, cases of
that magnitude which require some sacrifice of pri
vate feelings, in order that the community should
reap the advantage ; but the regular books are suffi
cient for authorities — the decisions of the courts are
sufficient for justice — and the utmost possible oblivion
should prove as nearly sufficient as may be to serve
the ends of a prudent and a righteous humanity.

LIBERTY OF THE PRESS. 105

Nothing can be more free than the press of this
country, on all subjects connected with politics.
Treason cannot be written, unless by communicating
with an open enemy. There is no other protection to
a public man than that which is given by an indepen
dent jury, which punishes, of course, in proportion
to the dignity and importance of the injured party.
But the utmost lenity is always used in construing
the right of the press to canvass the public acts
of public men. Mere commonplace charges defeat
themselves, and get into discredit so soon as to be
lost, while graver accusations are met by grave re
plies. There is no doubt that the complacency of
individuals is sometimes disturbed by these liberties;
but they serve to keep the officers of the government
to their work, while they rarely do any lasting, or
even temporary injury. Serious and criminal accu
sations against a public man, if groundless, are, by
the law of reason, a crime against the community,
and, as such, they are punished. The general prin
ciple observed in these matters is very simple. If
A. accuse B. of an act that is an offence against law,
he may be called on for his proof, and if he fail he
must take the consequences. But an editor of a pa
per, or any one else, who should bring a criminal
charge, no matter how grave, against the President,
and who could prove it, is just as certain of doing it
with impunity, as if he held the whole power in his
own hands. He would be protected by the invinci
ble shield of public opinion, which is not only in con
sonance with the law, but which, in this country,
makes law.

Actions for injuries done by the presh, considering
the number of journals, are astonishingly rare in
America. When one remembers the usual difficulty of
obtaining legal proof, which is a constant temptation,
even to the guilty, to appeal to the courts ; and, on
the other hand, the great freedom of the press, which

106 PERIODICAL WORKS.

is a constant temptation to abuse the trust, this fact3
in itself, furnishes irresistible evidence of the general
tone of decency which predominates in this nation.
The truth is, that public opinion, among its other
laws, has imperiously prescribed that, amidst the ut
most latitude of discussion, certain limits shall not be
passed ; and public opinion, which is so completely
the offspring of a free press, must be obeyed in this,
as well as in other matters.

Leaving the journals, we come to those publica
tions which make their appearance periodically. Of
these there are a good many, some few of which are
well supported. There are several scientific works,
that are printed monthly, or quarterly, of respectable
merit, and four or five reviews. Magazines of a more
general character are not much encouraged. Eng
land, which is teeming with educated men, who are
glad to make their bread by writing for these works,
still affords too strong a competition for the success
of any American attempts, in this species of litera
ture. Though few, perhaps no English magazine is
actually republished in America, a vast number are
imported and read in the towns, where the support
for any similar original production must first be found.

The literature of the United States has, indeed, too
powerful obstacles to conquer before (to use a mer
cantile expression) it can ever enter the markets of
its own country on terms of perfect equality with
that of England. Solitary and individual works of
genius may, indeed, be occasionally brought to light,
under the impulses of the high feeling which has con
ceived them ; but, I fear, a good, wholesome, profit
able and continued pecuniary support, is the applause
that talent most craves. The fact, that an American
publisher can get an English work without money,
must, for a few years longer, (unless legislative pro
tection shall be extended to their own authors,) have
a tendency to repress a national literature. No man

THE TASTE OF THE PUBLIC. 107

will pay a writer for an epic, a tragedy, a sonnet, a
history, or a romance, when he can get a work of
equal merit for nothing. I have conversed with
those who are conversant on the subject, and, I con
fess, I have been astonished at the information they
imparted.

A capital American publisher has assured me that
there are not a dozen writers in this country, whose
works he should feel confidence in publishing at all,
while he reprints hundreds of English books without
the least hesitation. This preference is by no means
so much owing to any difference in merit, as to the
fact that, when the price of the original author is to
be added to the uniform hazard which accompanies
all literary speculations, the risk becomes too great.
The general taste of the reading world in this coun
try is better than that of England.* The fact is both
proved and explained by the circumstance that thou
sands of works that are printed and read in the
mother country, are not printed and read here. The
publisher on this side of the Atlantic has the advan
tage of seeing the reviews of every book he wishes
to print, and, what is of far more importance, he
knows, with the exception of books that he is sure
of selling, by means of a name, the decision of the
English critics before he makes his choice. Nine-
times in ten, popularity, which is all he looks for, is
a sufficient test of general merit. Thus, while you
iind every English work of character, or notoriety,
on the shelves of an American book-store, you may
ask in vain for most of the trash that is so greedily
devoured in the circulating libraries of the mother
country, and which would be just as eagerly devour
ed here, had not a better taste been created by a

* The writer does not mean that the best taste of America is
better than that of England ; perhaps it is not quite so good ;
but, as a whole, the American reading world requires better
books than the whole of the English reading world.

108 POVERTY OF LITERARY MATERIALS,

compelled abstinence. That taste must now be over
come before such works could be sold at all.

When I say that books are not rejected here, from
any want of talent in the writers, perhaps I ought
to explain. I wish to express something a little dif
ferent. Talent is sure of too many avenues to wealth
and honours, in America, to seek, unnecessarily, an
unknown and hazardous path. It is better paid in
the ordinary pursuits of life, than it would be likely
to be paid by an adventure in which an extraordinary
and skilful, because practised, foreign competition is
certain. Perhaps high talent does not often make the
trial with the American bookseller ; but it is precisely
for the reason I have named.

The second obstacle against which American lite
rature has to contend, is in the poverty of materials.
There is scarcely an ore which contributes to the
wealth of the author, that is found, here, in veins
as rich as in Europe. There are no annals for the
historian; no follies (beyond the most vulgar and
commonplace) for the satirist ; no manners for the
dramatist ; no obscure fictions for the writer of ro
mance ; no gross and hardy offences against decorum
for the moralist ; nor any of the rich artificial auxilia
ries of poetry. The weakest hand can extract a
spark from the flint, but it would baffle the strength
of a giant to attempt kindling a flame with a pudding-
stone. I very well know there are theorists who as
sume that the society and institutions of this country
are, or ought to be, particularly favourable to novel
ties and variety. But the experience of one month,
in these States, is sufficient to show any observant
man the falsity of their position. The effect of a
promiscuous assemblage any where, is to create a
standard of deportment ; and great liberty permits
every one to aim at its attainment. I have never
seen a nation so much alike in my life, as the people
of the United States, and what is more, they are n^t

AMERICAN POETS. 109

only like each other, but they are remarkably like
that which common sense tells them they ought to
resemble. No doubt, traits of character that are a
little peculiar, without, however, being either very
poetical, or very rich, are to be found in remote dis
tricts ; but they are rare, and not always happy ex
ceptions. In short, it is not possible to conceive a
state of society in which more of the attributes of
plain good sense, or fewer of the artificial absurdities
of life, are to be found, than here. There is no cos
tume for the peasant, (there is scarcely a peasant at
all,) no wig for the judge, no baton for the general,
no diadem for the chief magistrate. The darkest
ages of their history are illuminated by the light of
truth ; the utmost efforts of their chivalry are limited
by the laws of God ; and even the deeds of their
sages and heroes are to be sung in a language that
would differ but little from a version of the ten com
mandments. However useful and respectable all
this may be in actual life, it indicates but one direc
tion to the man of genius.

It is very true there are a few young poets now
living in this country, who have known how to ex
tract sweets from even these wholesome, but scent
less native plants. They have, however, been com
pelled to seek their inspiration in the universal laws
of nature, and they have succeeded, precisely in pro
portion as they have been most general in their ap
plication. Among these gifted young men, there is
one (Halleck) who is remarkable for an exquisite
vein of ironical wit, mingled with a fine, poetical,
and, frequently, a lofty expression. This gentleman
commenced his career as a satirist in one of the jour
nals of New-York. Heaven knows, his materials
were none of the richest ; and yet the melody of his
verse, the quaintness and force of his comparisons,
and the exceeding humour of his strong points,
brought him instantly into notice. He then attempt-

VOL. II. K

110 < AMERICAN POETS. .

ed a general satire, by giving the history of the early
days of a belle. He was again successful, though
every body, at least every body of any talent, felt
that he wrote in leading-strings. But he happened,
shortly after the appearance of the little volume just
named, (Fanny,) to visit England. Here his spirit,
was properly excited, and, probably on a rainy day,
he was induced to try his hand at a jeu d'esjprit, in
the mother country. The result was one of the
finest semi-heroic ironical descriptions to be found
in the English language.* This simple fact, in itself,
proves the truth of a great deal of what I have just
been writing, since it shows the effect a superiority
of material can produce on the efforts of a man of
true genius.

Notwithstanding the difficulties of the subject,
talent has even done more than in the instance of
Mr. Halleck, 1 could mention several other young
poeTs^oTlliis country of rare merit. By mentioning
Bryant, Percival, and Sprague, I shall direct your
attenttnnTolhe names of those whose works would
be most likely to give you pleasure. Unfortunately
they are not yet known in Italian, but I think even
you would not turn in distaste from the task of trans
lation which the best of their effusions will invite.

The next, though certainly an inferior branch of
imaginative writing, is fictitious composition. From
the facts just named, you cannot expect that the
novelists, or romance writers of the United States,
should be very successful. The same reason will be
likely, for a long time to come, to repress the ardour
of dramatic genius. Still, tales and plays are no nov
elties in the literature of this country. Of the for
mer, there are many as old as soon after the revolu
tion , and a vast number have been published within
the last five years. One of their authors of romance,

* This little morce.au of pleasant irony is called AlmvicK
Castle.

AMERICAN PROSE WRITERS. Ill

who curbed his talents by as few allusions as possible
to actual society, is distinguished for power and com
prehensiveness of thought. I remember to have read
one of his books (Wieland) when a boy, and I take
it to be a never-failing evidence of genius, that, amid
a thousand similar pictures which have succeeded,
the images it has left, still stand distinct and promi
nent in my recollection. This author (Mr. Brockden /
Brown) enjoys a high reputation among his country-'
men, whose opinions are sufficiently impartial, since
he flattered no particular prejudice of the nation in
any of his works.

The reputation of Irving is well known to you.
He is an author distingiltslTeHTbr a quality (humour)
that has been denied his countrymen ; and his merit
is the more rare, that it has been shown in a state of
society so cold and so restrained,. Besides these
writers, there are many others of a similar character,
who enjoy a greater or less degree of favour in their
own country. The works of two or three have even
been translated (into French) in Europe, and a great
many are reprinted in England. Though every writer
of fiction in America has to contend against the diffi
culties 1 have named, there is a certain interest in the
novelty of the subject, which is not without its charm.
I think, however, it will be found that they have all
been successful, or the reverse, just as they have
drawn warily, or freely, on the distinctive habits of
their own country. I now speak of their success
purely as writers of romance. It certainly would be
possible for an American to give a description of the
manners of his own country, in a book that he might
choose to call a romance, which should be read, be
cause the world is curious on the subject, but which
would certainly never be read for that nearly inde
finable poetical interest which attaches itself to a
description of manners less bald and uniform. All the
attempts to blend history with romance in America,

112 DIFFICULTIES OF FICTITIOUS WRITINGS.

have been comparatively failures, (and perhaps for«
tunately,) since the subjects are too familiar to be
treated with the freedom that the imagination abso
lutely requires. Some of the descriptions of the
progress of society on the borders, have had a rather
better success, since there is a positive, though no
very poetical, novelty in the subject; but, on the
whole, the books which have been best received, are
those in which the authors have trusted most to their
own conceptions of character, and to qualities thai
are common to the rest of the world and to human
nature. This fact, if its truth be admitted, will serve
to prove that the American writer must seek his re
nown in the exhibition of qualities that are general,
while he is confessedly compelled to limit his obser
vations to a state of society that has a wonderful ten
dency not only to repress passion, but to equalize
humours.

The Americans have always been prolific writers
on polemics and politics. Their sermons and fourth
of July orations are numberless. Their historians,
without being very classical or very profound, are
remarkable for truth and good sense. There is not,
perhaps, in the language a closer reasoner in meta
physics than Edwards ; and their theological writers
find great favour among the sectarians of their re
spective schools.

The stage of the United States is decidedly Eng
lish. Both plays and players, with few exceptions,
are imported. Theatres are numerous, and they are
to be found in places where a traveller would little
expect to meet them. Of course they are of all
sizes, and of every degree of decoration and archi
tectural beauty known in Europe, below the very
highest. The facade of the principal theatre in Phila
delphia, is a chaste specimen in marble, of the Ionic,
if my memory is correct. In New-York, there are
two theatres about as large as the Theatre Francois

THE AMERICAN STAGE. 113

(in the interior), and not much inferior in embellish
ments. Besides these, there is a very pretty little
theatre, where lighter pieces are performed, and an
other with a vast stage for melo-dramas. There are
also one or two other places of dramatic representa
tion in this city, in which horses and men contend for
the hays.

The Americans pay well for dramatic talent.
Cooke, the greatest English tragedian of our age,
died on this side of the Atlantic ; and there are few
players of eminence in the mother country who are
not tempted, at some time or other, to cross the
ocean. Shakspeare is, of course, the great author
of America, as he is of England, and 1 think he is
quite as well relished here as there. In point of taste,
if all the rest of the world be any thing against Eng
land, that of America is the best, since it unquestion
ably approaches nearest to that of the continent of
Europe. Nearly one-half of the theatrical taste of
the English is condemned by their own judgments,
since the stage is not much supported by those who
have had an opportunity of seeing any other. You
will be apt to ask me how it happens, then, that the
American taste is better ? Because the people, being
less exaggerated in their habits, are less disposed to
tolerate caricatures, and because the theatres are not
yet sufficiently numerous (though that hour is near)
to admit of a representation that shall not be subject
to the control of a certain degree of intelligence. I
have heard an English player complain that he never
saw such a dull audience as the one before which he
had just been exhibiting ; and I heard the same audi
ence complain that they never listened to such dull
jokes. NOWT, there was talent enough in both parties ;
but the one had formed his taste in a coarse school,
and the others had formed theirs under the dominion
of common sense. Independently of this peculiarity,
there is a vast deal of acquired, travelled taste in
K 2

114 DRAMATIC WRITERb.

this country, English tragedy, and high English
comedy, both of which, you know, are excellent,
never fail here, if well played ; that is, they never
fail under the usual limits of all amusement. One
will cloy of sweets. But the fact of the taste and
judgment of these people, in theatrical exhibitions,
is proved by the number of their good theatres, com
pared to their population.

Of dramatic writers there are none, or next to
Rone. The remarks I have made in respect to novels
apply with double force to this species of composi
tion, A witty and successful American comedy could
only proceed from extraordinary talent. There would
be less difficulty, certainly, with a tragedy; but still,
there is rather too much foreign competition, and too
much domestic employment in other pursuits, to invite
genius to so doubtful an enterprise. The very bald
ness of ordinary American life is in deadly hostility
to scenic representation. The character must be
supported solely by its intrinsic power. The judge,
the footman, the clown, the lawyer, the belle, or the
beau, can receive no great assistance from dress.
Melo-dramas, except the scene should be laid in the
woods, are out of the question. It would be neces
sary to seek the great clock, which is to strike the
portentous twelve blows, in the nearest church; a
vaulted passage would degenerate into a cellar ; and,
as for ghosts, the country was discovered, since their
visitations have ceased. The smallest departure
from the incidents of ordinary life would do violence
to every man's experience; and, as already mention
ed, the passions which belong to human nature must
be delineated, in America, subject to the influence
of that despot — common sense.

Notwithstanding the overwhelming influence of
British publications, and all the difficulties I have
named, original books are getting to be numerous in
(he United States. The impulses of talent and intel-

EXCELLENCE OF USEFUL IMPLEMENTS. 115

ligence are bearing down a thousand obstacles. I
think the new works, will increase rapidly, and that
they are destined to produce a powerful influence on
the worM. We will pursue this subject another
time. — Adieu.

TO THE ABBATE GIROMACHI,

FLORENCE.

Washington,

— You will -be satisfied with these reasons for the
abrupt conclusion of my last. I shall now tax your
patience for a short continuation of the subject.

Although there are so many reasons why an ima
ginative literature should not be speedily created in
this country, there is none, but that general activity
of employment which is not favourable to study,
why science and all the useful arts should not be
cultivated here, perhaps, more than any where else.
Great attention is already paid to the latter. Though
there is scarce such a thing as a capital picture in
this wrhole country, I have seen more beautiful, grace
ful, and convenient ploughs in positive use here, than
are probably to be found in the whole of Europe
united. In this single fact may be traced the history
of the character of the people, and the germ of their
future greatness. Their axe is admirable for form,
for neatness, and precision of weight, and it is wield
ed with a skill that is next to incredible. Reapers
are nearly unknown; but I have seen single indi
viduals enter a field of grain in the morning, and

116 PATENT OFFICE.

clear acres of its golden burthen, by means of the
cradle* with a rapidity that has amazed me. The
vast multitude of their inventions, as they are exhibit
ed in the Patent Office in this city, ought to furnish
food for grave reflection to every stranger. Several
large rooms are filled with the models, many of which
give evidence of the most acute ingenuity. When
one recollects the average proportion of adults to
which the population must have been confined during
the last thirty-five years,! the number of their inven
tions is marvellous. A great many of these models
contain no new principle, nor any new application
of an old principle; but, as in such cases money has
been paid by those who deposit them there without an
object, it is fair to presume that they were inventions
so far as the claimants were concerned. There are
so few means by which men, in remote districts of
this country, can profit by the ideas of other people
in these matters, that it is probable there are not a
dozer* machines lodged in the office, of which the
parties concerned did not honestly believe them
selves the inventors. You may estimate the activity
of thought, which distinguishes the mass of this na
tion from all other people, by this fact. It is in itself
a prodigious triumph to a young people to have given
form and useful existence to the greatest improve
ment of our age; but the steam-boats are not the only
gift of this nature, by many, that Europe has already
received from the western hemisphere.

The general accumulation of science in this coun
try is exceedingly great, though it is quite likely that
few men have yet attained to a very eminent degree
of knowledge in any one particular branch. Still it
is probable, that the amount of science in the United

* The writer does not know whether this implement is an
American invention or not.

f The whole period that the Patent Office has been in ex
istence.

ARCHITECTURE. 117

States, at this day, compared to what it was even
fifteen years ago, and without reference to the in
crease of the population, is as five to one, or even in
a still much greater proportion. Like all other learn
ing, it is greatly on the advance.
I In architecture the Americans have certainly no
'great r^a^orrttrexult. They appear to have inherited
the peculiarity of their ancestors, in all matters of
mere taste. Their houses are mostly built of wood
in the country and in the villages, and of bricks in
the towns. There are, however, exceptions, in all
cases, which reverse the rule. There are many
farm-houses, seats, churches, court-houses, &c. in the
country and smaller towns, which are of stone.
Marble and granite are getting a good deal into use,
too, in the more northern cities. The principal
motive which controls their taste is economy. It is
commonly cheapest to build of wood in the country,
but where stone is at hand, and of a good quality, it
begins to be preferred, in what may be called the
second and third stages of the settlements. As the
materials are cheap, the buildings are in common
much larger than would be occupied by men of the
same wealth in Europe. A house of forty or of forty-
five feet front, and of thirty or thirty-five feet in
depth, of two stories, with cellars, and garret, and
with offices attached, is a usual dwelling for the owner
of one or of two hundred acres of land, in a part of
the country that has been under cultivation thirty or
forty years. Such a man may be worth from five to
ten thousand dollars. He has his growing orchard ;
fifty sheep ; some eight or ten cows ; a stock of
young cattle ; three or four horses ; one or two yoke
of oxen ; hogs, poultry, and all the other provisions
of a small farm. He grows his own maize ; fattens
his own pork ; makes his own cider ; kills his own
beef; raises his own wheat, rye, and flax ; and, in
short, lives as much as possible on the articles of his

113 AMERICAN COUNTRY-HOUSES.

own production. There are thousands and tens of
thousands of these sturdy, independent yeomen in
the eastern, middle and north-western States.

The villas and country-seats are commonly pretty,
without ever attaining much elegance of size. A better
sort of American country-house will cover perhaps
sixty or seventy feet of ground in length, and from fifty
to sixty in depth. There are some of twice this size ;
but I should say the first was a fair average. There
are a great many a size smaller. The expense of
building is, of course, in proportion to the general
cost of every article in the particular place where
the house is erected. I am told the best buildings in
New- York cost from thirty to forty thousand dollars.
A few are even much more expensive. But the
town-houses, occupied by a majority of their gentle
men (those who own their own dwellings), cost prob
ably something under twenty thousand.* These are the
habitations of the rich, exclusively. They are every
where exceedingly neat, prettily furnished, frequently
with great elegance, and are always comfortable.

As some general idea of the state of the useful arts
must have been obtained, in the course of my pre
vious letters to the fraternity, I shall now pass to
those which are intended exclusively to embellish
life.

The United States, considered with reference to
their means and opportunities, have been exceedingly
prolific in painters. It is rather remarkable, that, in
a country where active and less hazardous employ-

* The writer afterwards saw a row of buildings in New-
York of the following cost and dimensions; twenty-five feet
front, (in marble) fifty-five feet deep, and of three stories, be
sides the basement. The lots were two hundred feet in depth.
The buildings were about as well finished as a third-rate Lon
don town-house. The cost of the whole was ten thousand
dollars, and the rent six hundred dollars a-year. These houses
were in the dearest city of America, but not in the dearest
part of the town.

AMERICAN PAINTERS. 119

ments are so open to talent, men should take an in*
clination to a pursuit that is rarely profitable, and in
which mediocrity is as annoying as success is tri
umphant. I cannot say that the majority of these
gentlemen acknowledge that the fine arts are greatly
encouraged in America, nor has it yet been my happy
lot to enter a country in which artists and authors
were very generally of opinion that the pen and the
pencil received the rewards and honours which no
, one will deny they merit. A very great majority of
p the American artists are portrait painters. Some of
i them are highly esteemed by fHeiF"own countrymen,
and certainly there are a few of a good deal of merit.
They are generally more distinguished for spirit and
character, than for finish or grace ; but it is quite
evident that, as a class, they are rapidly improving.
Drawing is the point in which they chiefly fail ; and
this, too, is probably an inherited defect, since most
of them are disciples of the English school.

There are some highly respectable professional
landscape painters. One of them (a Mr. Cole) pos-
sesseVtfie rare faculty of giving to his pictures the
impression of nature, to a degree so extraordinary,
that he promises to become eminent. You know
my eye is only for nature. I have heard both high
eulogiums and sneering critiques on the powers of
this young man, as an artist ; some declaring that he
has reached a point far beyond that attained by any
of his competitors, and others denying that he knows
how to make a sky look blue, secundum art em. To
rne his scenery is like the scenery from which he
drew ; and as he has taste and skill enough to reject
what is disagreeable, and to arrange the attractive
parts of his pictures, I only hope he will continue to
study the great master from whom he has drawn his
first inspirations. America has produced several his
torical painters. West, though a native of this coun
try, and, perhaps with a pardonable vanity, claimed

120 HISTORICAL AND CABINET PIECES.

as such by these people, was, to all intents and pur
poses an English artist. There are one or two of
his pupils who practise their skill here, and a few
others have aspired to the highest branch of their art.
One of them (Mr. Alston) is said to be employed on
a great and elaborate picture (the handwriting on
the wall ;) and as his taste and merit are universally
admitted, a good deal is expected from his pencil.
It may serve to give you a better idea of the taste
for pictures in this country, or rather of the desire
which exists to encourage talent, if I mention the
price he is to receive for this work. A company of
gentlemen are said to have bought the picture, in
advance, by agreeing to pay ten thousand dollars.
1 believe it is their intention to remunerate them
selves by exhibiting it, and then to deposit the work
in some public place. Cabinet pieces, by this artist,
are readily sold for prices of between three hundred
and a thousand dollars, and the pencil of Cole is
employed as much as he pleases. There are many
other artists that paint portraits and landscapes, who
seldom want orders. The government of the United
States has paid Trumbull thirty-two thousand dollars
for the four historical paintings that are destined to
fill as many compartments in the rotunda, or the
great hall of the Capitol.

It is plain that the system of elementary education
pursued by this country, must bring an extraordinary
quantity of talent, within the influence of those causes
which lead to renown. If we suppose one hundred
men in America to possess the same amount of native
talent as one hundred men in any other part of the
world, more of it will, of necessity, be excited to
action, since moie individuals are placed in situations
to feel and to improve their infant powers. Although
a certain degree of excellence in the higher branches
of learning and of art, may yet be necessary to create

PRICES PAID TO AUTHORS. 121

a standard, and even for the establishments of higher
schools or real universities, still the truth of this po
sition is proved by the fact, that there already exists,
among this people, a far more advanced state of im
provement in all that relates to the familiar interests
of life than among any other. It is true that a division
of labour, and vast competition, may create a degree
of minute perfection in many articles of European
manufacture, that is not known in the same articles
manufactured here ; but I think it will be commonly
found, in all such cases, that these wary people have
counted the profit and the cost with sufficient accu
racy. As circumstances vary, they instantly improve ;
and, once induced to persevere, they soon fearlessly
challenge competition.

The purely intellectual day of America is yet in
its dawn. But its sun will not arise from darkness,
like those of nations with whose experience we are
familiar ; nor is the approach of its meridian to be
calculated by the known progress of any other peo
ple. The learned professions are now full to over
flowing, not so much with learning as with incum
bents, Certainly, but so much so, as to begin to give
a new direction to education and talents. Writers
are already getting to be numerous, for literature is
beginning to be profitable. Those authors who are
successful, receive prices for their labours, which
exceed those paid to the authors of any country,
England alone excepted ; and which exceed even the
prices paid to the most distinguished authors of the
mother country, if the difference in the relative value
of money in the two countries, and in the luxury of
the press, be computed. The same work which is
, sold in England for six dollars, is sold in the United
States for two. The profit to the publisher is ob
tained out of a common rate of per centage. Now,
as thirty-three and a third per cent, on six thousand
L

122 THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

dollars, is two thousand,* and on two thousand dol
lars, only six hundred and sixty-six, it is quite evi
dent, that if both parties sell one thousand copies of
a work, the English publisher pockets three times the
most profit. And yet, with one or two exceptions,
and notwithstanding the great difference in the popu
lation of the two countries, the English bookseller
rarely sells more, if he does as many, copies of a
book, than the American. It is the extraordinary
demand which enables the American publisher to
pay so well, and which, provided there was no Eng
lish competition, would enable him to pay still better,
or rather still more generally, than he does at present.

The literature of the United States is a subject of
the highest interest to the civilized world ; for when
it does begin to be felt, it will be felt with a force, a
directness, and a common sense in its application, that
has never yet been known. If there were no other
points of difference between this country and other
nations, those of its political and religious freedom,
alone, would give a colour of the highest importance
to the writings of a people so thoroughly imbued with
their distinctive principles, and so keenly alive to
their advantages. The example of America has been
silently operating on Europe for half a century ; but
its doctrines and its experience, exhibited with the
understanding of those familiar with both, have never
yet been pressed on our attention. I think the time
for the experiment is getting near.

A curious inquiry might be raised as to the proba
ble fate of the English language, among so many
people having equal claims to it's possession. I put
this question to my friend, who has kindly permitted
me to give you the substance of his reply. You will

* This calculation supposes one-third of the price to go to
the trade in discount, one-third to the expenses, and the other
third to constitute the joint profit of the author and publisher.

FASHION IN LANGUAGE, 123

at once understand that this is a subject which re
quires a greater knowledge of the matter in dispute,
than what I, as a foreigner, can claim :—

" In order to decide which nation speaks the Eng
lish language best, it becomes necessary to refer to
some standard. If it be assumed that the higher
classes in London are always to set the fashion in
pronunciation, and the best living writers in Eng
land are to fix the meaning of words, the point is
clearly decided in their favour, since one cannot see
on what principle they are to be put in the wrong.
That the better company of London must set the
fashion for the pronunciation of words in England,
and indeed for the whole English empire, is quite
plain ; for, as this very company comprises all those
whose manners, birth, fortune, and political distinc
tion, make them the objects of admiration, it becomes
necessary to imitate their affectations, whether of
speech or air, in order to create the impression that
one belongs to their society. It is absurd to think
that either parliament, or the stage, or the universi
ties, or the church, can produce any very serious
effect on the slighter forms of utterance adopted by
this powerful caste. The player may hint at the laws
of prosody for ever, unless his rule happens to suit
the public ear, it becomes no more than the pronun
ciation of the stage. The fellow, when he gets be
yond his cloisters, is glad to conceal the habits of
retirement in the language of the world ; and as for
the member of Parliament, if he happen to be of the
caste, he speaks like the rest of them *, and if not, he
is no better than a vulgar fellow, who is very glad to
conceal his provincialisms by having as little said
about them as possible. In short, the bishop might
just as well expect to induce the exquisite to wear a
copy of his wig, or the representative of Othello, to
pet the fashion of smooty faces, as either of them to
think of giving the tone to pronunciation, or even to

124 INFLUENCE OF THE ARISTOCFxACY.

the meaning of words. A secret and lasting influ
ence is no doubt produced by education ; but fashion
is far more imperious than even the laws of the
schools. It is, I think, a capital mistake, to believe
that either of the professions named, produce any
great impression on the spoken language of England.
They receive more from fashion than they give to it ;
and they each have their particular phrases, but they
rarely go any farther than their own limits. This is
more or less the case in all other European nations.
The rule is more absolute, however, in England than
in France, for instance, because the former has no
academy, and because men of letters have far less
circulation, and, of course, far less influence in so
ciety there, than in the neighbouring kingdom. The
tendency of every thing in England is to aristocracy.
I can conceive that the King of England might very
well set a fashion in the pronunciation of a word,
because, being the greatest aristocrat of the nation,
the smaller ones might be ambitious of showing that
they kept enough of his company to catch his imper
fections of speech ; but, as for the King of France,
he sits too much on a pinnacle for men to presume
to imitate his blunders. A powerful, wealthy, he
reditary, but subsidizing aristocracy, rules all things
in England ; but, while wit gives up to the King and
la charte, the control of politics in France, it asserts
its own prerogative over every other interest of the
empire, religion, perhaps, a little excepted.

" There exists a very different state of things in
America. If we had a great capital, like London,
where men of leisure, and fortune, and education,
periodically assembled to amuse themselves, I think
we should establish a fashionable aristocracy, too,
which should give the mode to the forms of speech,
as well as to that of dress and deportment. Perhaps
the inlluence of talent and wit would be as much

STANDARD FOR LANGUAGE IN AMERICA. 125

felt in such a town as in Paris ; for it is the great
peculiarity of our institutions to give more influence
to talents than to any one other thing. But we have
no such capital, nor are we likely, for a long time to
come, to have one of sufficient magnitude to produce
any great effect on the language. In those States
where many men of leisure and education are to be
found, there are large towns, in w^hich they pass
their winters, and where, of course, they observe all
those forms which are more or less peculiar to them
selves. The habits of polite life, and even the pro
nunciation of Boston, of New-York, of Baltimore,
and of Philadelphia, vary in many things, and a prac
tised ear may tell a native of either of these places,
from a native of any one of the others, by some little
peculiarity of speech. There is yet no predominating
influence to induce the fashionables of these towns to
wish to imitate the fashionables of any other. If any
place is to possess this influence, it will certainly be
New-York ; but I think, on an examination of the
subject, that it can be made to appear that an entirely
different standard for the language must be established
in the United States, from that which governs so ab
solutely in England.

" If the people of this country were like the people
of any other country on earth, we should be speaking
at this moment a great variety of nearly unintelligible
patois; but, in point of fact, the people of the United
States, with .the exception of a few of German and
French descent, speak, as a body, an incomparably
better English than the people of the mother country.
There is not, probably, a man (of English descent)
born in this country, who would not be perfectly
intelligible to all whom he should meet in the streets
of London, though a vast number of those he met in
the streets of London would be nearly unintelligible
to him. In fine, we speak our language, as a nation,
L 2

128 AMERICAN PROVINCIALISMS.

better than any other people speak their language.*
When one reflects on the immense surface of country
that we occupy, the general accuracy, in pronuncia
tion and in the use of words, is quite astonishing.
This resemblance in speech can only be ascribed to
the great diffusion of intelligence, and to the inex
haustible activity of the population, which, in a man
ner, destroys space.

" It is another peculiarity of our institutions, that
the language of the country, instead of becoming
more divided into provincial dialects, is becoming,
not only more assimilated to itself as a whole, but
more assimilated to a standard which sound general
principles, and the best authorities among our old
writers, would justify. The distinctions in speech
between New-England and New- York, or Pennsyl
vania, or any other State, were far greater twenty
years ago than they are now. Emigration alone
would produce a large portion of this change ; but
emigration would often introduce provincialisms with
out correcting them, did it not also, by bringing acme
men together, sharpen wits, provoke comparisons,
challenge investigations, and, finally, fix a standard.

" It has been a matter of hot dispute, for the last
twenty years, in which of our large towns the best
English is spoken. The result of this discussion
has been to convince most people who know any
thing of the matter, that a perfectly pure English is
spoken nowhere, and to establish the superiority, on
one point in favour of Boston, on another in favour
of New- York, and so on to the .end of the chapter.
The effect of all this controversy is, to make men
think seriously on the subject, and thinking seriously
is the first step in amendment. We do amend, and

* Of course the writer calls Italy one nation, and all Germany
one nation, so far as language is concerned.

INFLUENCE OF LANGUAGE. 127

each year introduces a better and purer English into
our country. We are obliged, as you may suppose,
to have recourse to some standard to settle these
contentions. What shall this standard be ? It is not
society, for that itself is divided on the disputed
points; it cannot be the church, for there is none
that will be acknowledged by all parties ; it cannot
be the stage, for that is composed of foreigners, and
possesses little influence on morals, politics, or any
thing else ; nor the universities, for they are provin
cial, and parties to the dispute; nor Congress, for that
does not represent the fashion and education of the
nation ; nor the court, for there is none but the Presi
dent, and he is often a hot partisan ; nor the fashions
of speech in England, for we often find as much fault
with them as we do with our own. Thus, you see,
we are reduced to the necessity of consulting reason,
and authority, and analogy, and all the known laws
of language, in order to arrive at our object. This
we are daily doing, and I think the consequence will
be, that, in another generation or two, far more rea
sonable English will be used in this country than
exists here now. How far this melioration or purifi
cation of our language will affect the mother country,
is another question.

" It is, perhaps, twenty years too soon to expect that
England will very complacently submit to receive
opinions or fashions very directly from America.*''
[What she will do twenty years later, is a question
that little concerns us, dear Abbate, since I have not,
and you ought not to have, any very direct interests
in the fortunes of posterity.] "But the time has
already arrived, when America is beginning to re
ceive with great distrust fashions and opinions from
England. Until within the last fifteen years, the
influence of the mother country, in all things con
nected with mere usages, was predominant to an in-

128 PROBABLE FATE OF THE LANGUAGE.

credible extent ; but every day is making a greater
change.

" On a thousand subjects we have been rudely
provoked into comparisons, — an experiment that the
most faultless generally find to be attended with
hazard. We are a bold though a quiet people, and
names and fashions go for but little when set in op
position to the unaccommodating and downright good
sense of this nation. It may be enough for an Eng
lishman that an innovation on language is supported
by the pretty lips of such or such a belle of quality
and high degree; but the American sees too many
pretty lips at home, to be very submissive to any
foreign dictation of this sort. I think it plain, there
fore, that the language must be reduced to known
general rules, and rules, too, that shall be respected
as such rules should be, or else we shall have a dialect
distinct from that of the mother country. I have
not, however, the slightest apprehensions of any thing
of the kind arriving, since any one who understands
the use of figures can estimate the probable influence
of the two nations half a century hence. I think it
will be just as much the desire of England then to
be in our fashion, as it was our desire twenty years
ago to be in hers, and for precisely the same reason.
The influence of fifty millions of people, living under
one government, backed by enormous wealth, extend
ed intelligence, a powerful literature, and unrivalled
freedom, cannot be very problematical, in the eyes
of any man who is capable of regarding the subject
free from prejudice or passion. I very well know
there is a fashion of predicting the separation of our
States, and a consequent disorganization of society,
which would certainly weaken that influence. These
predictions were made fifty years ago with rather
more confidence than they are made now, and those
who know most in the matter, treat them with very
little deference. But, admitting that they should bo

PROBABLE FATE OF THE LAXGUAGE. 129

realized, in what particular will the result materially
affect the question before us ? A division of this re
public into two or three republics, is the utmost that
can be expected. There would still exist those inti
mate relations between the parts of our present em
pire which find their support in a conformity of
principles, and our intercourse and literature would
necessarily be essentially the same. I cannot see
that the impression on the language would in any
degree be weakened, except that, by dividing our
power, we might retard a little the period when the
weight of that power should obtain its natural and
necessary preponderance. You may be assured,
that, in thinking on this subject, I have not forgotten
that history supplies sufficient evidence that small
communities may exercise a vast influence over
larger; but I do not know where to find a precedent
for a large community, possessing equal activity and
intelligence, submitting to be controlled, either mor
ally or politically, by one physically much weaker. Our
own history already furnishes a striking example of
the very reverse ; and as we are bent on perpetuating
all the means of our present independence, it is fair to
presume that we shall gain a moral ascendancy in
the world, in proportion as we gain physical force.
If a pretty duchess can now set a fashion in speech,
what will not a combination of two hundred millions
of persons do, (the number is not at all exaggerated
if we carry the time forward a century and a half,)
more especially if all of them shall happen to possess
a reasonable knowledge of the use of letters.

" You may have a curiosity to know something of
the present state of the language in America. T have
already said that there is no patois throughout the
whole of this country. There is broken English
among the Germans, French, and other foreigners,
but nothing that is very widely distinct from the lan
guage of London. Still there are words of perfectly

130 THE PRESENT LANGUAGE OF THE U. S.

provincial use, most of which were brought from
certain parts of the mother country, and which have
been preserved here, and a few which have been in
troduced from wantonness or necessity. There is
much more difference in intonation, and in the pro
nunciation of particular words, than in the use of
terms unknown to England. The best English is
spoken by the natives of the middle States, who are
purely the descendants of English parents, without
being the descendants of emigrants from New-Eng
land. The educated men of all the southern Atlantic
States, especially the members of those families which
have long been accustomed to the better society of
their towns, also speak an English but little to be
distinguished from that of the best circles of the
mother country. Still there are shades of difference
between these very persons, that a nice and prac
tised ear can detect, and which, as they denote the
parts of the Union to which they belong, must be
called provincialisms. These little irregularities of
language solely arise from the want of a capital.

"Throughout all New-England, and among most
of the descendants of the people of New-England,
the English language is spoken with more or less of
an intonation derived, I believe, from the western
counties of England, and with a pronunciation that
is often peculiar to themselves. They form so large
a proportion of the entire population of the country,
that some of their provincialisms are getting to form
a part of our ordinary language. The peculiarity
of the New-England dialect (the term is almost
too strong) is most discernible in the manner in
which they dwell on the last word of a sentence,
or the last syllable of a word. It is not properly
drawling, for they speak very quick in common,
much quicker than the English; so quick, indeed,
as to render syllables frequently indistinct : but, in
consequence of the peculiar pause they make on the

PRONUNCIATION OF NEW-ENGLAND. 131

last word, I question if they utter a sentence in
less time than those who dwell more equally on its
separate parts.* Among men of the world and of
education, this peculiarity is, of course, often lost,
but education is so common, and the state of society
so simple in New-England, as to produce less apparent
distinction in speech and manners than it is usual to
find elsewhere.

"Another marked peculiarity of New-England is
in the pronunciation of a great many words. The
fact that a vast improvement has occurred in this
respect within the last thirty years, however, goes to
prove the truth of what I have just told you, no less
than of the increasing intelligence of the nation.
£""' "When I was a boy, I was sent from a middle
State, for my education, to Connecticut. I took with
me, of course, the language of my father's house. In
the first year I was laughed out of a great many cor
rect sounds, and into a great many vulgar and dis
agreeable substitutes. At my return home to pass a
vacation, I almost threw a sister into fits by calling
one of her female friends a 'virtoous em-gel,' pro
nouncing the first syllable of the last word like the
article. It was in vain that I supported rny new
reading by the authorities of the university. The
whole six weeks were passed in hot discussions be
tween my sister and myself, amidst the laughter and
merriment of a facetious father, who had the habit
of trotting me through my Connecticut prosody by
inducing me to recite Pope's Temple of Fame, to the
infinite delight of two or three waggish elder brothers,
who had got their English longs and shorts in a more
southern school. It was at a time of life when shav-

* The phrase of " I wonder if he did," is very common in New •
England". It is usually uttered " I wonder if he de-e-e-e-ed,''
with a falling of the voice at the last word, to nearly an octave
below the rest of the sentence. Sometimes there is more than
one resting point, in a sentence of any length.

132 NEW-ENGLAND PROVINCIALISMS.

ing was a delight instead of a torment. I remember
they were always sure of drawing me out by intro
ducing the subject of my beard, which I pedantically
called berd / or, for which, if pushed a little harder
than common, I gave them a choice between berd
and baird. Even to this hour, it is rare to find a
native of New-England who does not possess some
of these marked provincialisms of speech. By a sin
gular corruption, the word stone is often pronounced
stun, while none is pronounced noane, or nearly like
known. The latter is almost a shibboleth, as is
nothing, pronounced according to the natural power
of the letters, instead of nuthing. I think, however,
a great deal of the peculiarity of New-England pro
nunciation is to be ascribed to the intelligence of its
inhabitants. This may appear a paradox ; but it can
easily be explained. They all read and write ; but
the New-Englandman, at home, is a man of exceed
ingly domestic habits. He has a theoretical know
ledge of the language, without its practice. Those
who migrate lose many of their peculiarities in the
mixed multitudes they encounter; but into New-
England the current of emigration, with the excep
tion of that which originally came from the mother
country, has never set. It is vain to tell a man who
has his book before him, that cham spells chame, as
in chamber; or an, ane, as in angel; or dan, dane, as
in danger. He replies by asking what sound is pro
duced by an, dan, and cham. I believe it would be
found, on pursuing the inquiry, that a great number
of their peculiar sounds are introduced through their
spelling-books, and yet there are some, certainly, that
cannot be thus explained. It is not too much to say
that nine people in ten, in New-England, pronounce
does, dooze, when the mere power of the letters would
make it nearer doze. There is one more singular
corruption, which I shall mention before I go farther
south, and which often comes from the mouths of

VULGARITIES OF SPEECH. 133

men, even in Boston, who, in other respects, would
not be much criticised for their language : the verb
to show was formerly, and is even now, spelt shew,
and shewed in its participle ; I have heard men of
education and manners, in Boston, say, "he shew me
that," for, he showed me that.

"With these exceptions, which are sufficiently
numerous, and the hard sound they almost always
give the letter w, the people of New-England speak
the language more like the people of Old-England \
than any other parts of our country. They speak
with a closer mouth, both physically and morally,
than those who live further south and west. There
is also a little of a nasal sound among some of them,
but it is far from being as general as the other pecu
liarities I have named.

" The middle States certainly speak a softer Eng
lish than their brethren of the east. I should say,
that when you get as far south as Maryland, the soft
est, and perhaps as pure an English is spoken as is
any where heard. No rule on such a subject, how
ever, is without many exceptions in the United States.
The emigration alone would, as yet, prevent perfect
uniformity. The voices of the American females are
particularly soft and silvery; and I think the language,
a harsh one at the best, is made softer by our women,
especially of the middle and southern States, than
you often hear it in Europe.

"New-York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore^ have
each their peculiar phrases. Some of the women
have a habit of dwelling a little too long on the final
syllables, but I think it is rare among the higher
classes of society. I don't know that it exists at all,
as far south as Baltimore. As you go further south,
it is true, you get a slower utterance, and other slight
varieties of provincialism. In Georgia, you find a
positive drawl, among what are called the " crack
ers." More or less of this drawl, and of all the pe-

VOL. II. M

134 VULGARITIES OF SPEECH.

culiar sounds, are found in the south-western and
western States; but they are al] too new to have any
fixed habits of speech of their own.

" The usual vulgar phrases which are put into the
mouths of Americans, are commonly caricatured,
though always founded in truth. ;I guess,' is a phrase
of New-England. It is used a great deal, though not
as often, as 'you know,' by a cockney. It proceeds,
I think, from the cautious and subdued habit of speak
ing which is characteristic of these people. The
gentlemen rarely use it, though T confess I have heard
it, interlarding the conversation of pretty lips that
derived none of their beauty from the Puritans. You
see, therefore, that it has been partially introduced
by the emigrants into the middle States. Criticism
is here so active, just now, that it is rapidly getting
into disuse. The New-Yorker frequently says, ' 1
suspect,' and the Virginian, ' I reckon.' But the two
last are often used in the best society in the mother
country.*

" The difference in pronunciation and in the use
of words, between the really good society of this
country and that of England, is not very great In
America, we can always tell an Englishman by what
wre are pleased to call his provincialisms (and, quite
half the time, the term is correct,) I was struck at
the close resemblance between the language of the
higher classes in the mother country, and the higher
classes of my own, especially if the latter belong to
the middle States. There are certainly points of dif
ference, but they as often proceed from affectation in
individuals, as from the general habits of the two
countries. Cockneyisms are quite as frequent in the
language of an English gentleman, as provincialisms

* The negroes have a habit of saying, " you sabber clat," for,
you know that; can this be one of their African terms, or is it
a corruption of" saber," or of" savoir," that has found its way
to the continent from the neighbouring islands ?

ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION. 135

in the mouth of an American gentleman of the middle
States. 1 now use the word gentleman in its strict
meaning. I have heard many people of high rank in
England, for instance, pronounce 'yours' as if it were
spelt 'yers.' If affectations are to become laws, be
cause they are conceived in the smoke of London,
then they are right ; but, if old usage, the rules of the
language, and the voices of even educated men are
to prevail, then are they wrong. This is but one
among a hundred similar affectations that are detected
every day by an attentive and critical ear. But mere
rank, after all, is not always a criterion of correct
pronunciation in an Englishman or an Englishwoman.
1 have met with people of rank who have spoken in
very perceptible provincial dialects. Parliament is
very far from being faultless in its English, putting the
Irish, Scotch, and aldermen out of the question. I
have heard a minister of state speak of the 'o-casion,'
with a heavy emphasis ; and just before we sailed, I
remember to have burst into involuntary laughter at
hearing a distinguished orator denounce a man for
having been the 'recipient of a bribe of ten guineas.'
The language of Parliament is undeniably far more
correct than that of Congress ; but when it is recol
lected that the one body is a representation of the
aristocracy of a condensed community, and the other
a representation of the various classes of a widely-
spread people, the rational odds is immensely in our
favour. I am not sure that one, who took pleasure
in finding fault, might not detect quite as many cor
ruptions of the English language in the good society
of the mother country, as in the good society of our
own. The latter, strictly considered, bears a less pro
portion to our numbers, however, than the same class
bears to the population of England. The amount of
the whole subject I take to be simply this : allowing
for all the difference in numbers, there is vastly more
bad English, and a thousand times more bad gram-

136 LA FAYETTE.

mar spoken in England than in America ; and there
is much more good English (also allowing for the dif
ference in numbers) spoken there than here. Among
the higher and better educated classes, there are
purists in both countries, who may write and talk to
the end of time ; innovations have been made, are
made, and will be made in both countries ; but as
two nations now sit in judgment on them, I think
when words once get fairly into use, their triumph
affords a sufficient evidence of merit to entitle them
to patronage.

TO THE COMTE JULES DE BETHIZY,

Washington,

IF I have said nothing for a long time, concerning
your distinguished countryman, it has not been for
want of materials. The eclat which attends his pas
sage through the country, is as brilliant as it was the
day he landed ; but were I to attempt to give you a
continuous history of the ceremonies and pageants
that grow out. of his visit, my letters would be filled
with nothing else. One of the former has, however,
just occurred here, which may have a particular in
terest. I shall, therefore, attempt to describe a few
of its outlines. Before proceeding to this task, per
mit me to mention one circumstance, that has struck
me with, peculiar force, and which I beg you will
communicate to our friend the Abbate, when next
you write to him.

At Philadelphia, after a triumphal entry, in which
something like twenty thousand of the militia were

MOVEMENTS OF LA FAYETTE. 137

under anus, the citizens of all classes, according to
custom, paid visits of congratulation to their guest,
who received them in that famous hall, which has
become celebrated for being the place where the
separation of a portion of this continent from Europe
was first solemnly declared. Among the thousands
who crowded around the venerable Frenchman,
were all the clergy of the city. They were more
than sixty in number, and at their head appeared the
Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, with the
Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church at his side.
The former, who is a native of the country, and one
of its oldest divines, delivered the sentiments of his
brethren ; but had the latter, who is a foreigner, been
of a greater age, and of longer service, he would, un
doubtedly, have been selected to have performed
the same ceremony. It is much the fashion, in Eu
rope, to say there is no religion in the United States,
for no better reason than that there is no church es
tablishment, and, consequently, no exaltation of one
particular sect, and a consequent depression of all
others. But you will allow there is one evidence
of a Christian spirit, that is not always found else
where, viz. charity. Although, in theory, all de
nominations in the United States are equal before
the law, there is, in point of fact, no country in the
world that is more decidedly Protestant than this,
and yet, I do believe, it would give scandal to the
whole nation, to learn that a slight, or an offence
of any nature, were given to a priest, merely be
cause he happened to belong to the Roman Catholic
communion.

La Fayette arrived in Washington some time be
fore the meeting of Congress. He had an appropri
ate reception from the inhabitants of the district, and
was received into the house of the President. But
his time was too precious to be unnecessarily lost.
All were anxious to see turn, and he was, apparently,
M2

138 RECEIVED BY THE SENATE.

just as anxious to see all. Leaving Washington, after
a short residence, he paid a visit to Virginia, where
he found Jefferson and Madison, the two last Presi
dents, living in retirement, and where he must also
have spent several delightful days on the theatre of
that brilliant campaign, where, though but a boy, he
foiled all the sagacity and activity of an experienced
and enterprising general, (Cornwallis,) and prepared
the way for the final and glorious success with which
the war of 1776 was terminated.

On his return to this place, it was announced that
the House of Representatives intended to give him a
public and solemn reception. He was received by
the Senate in a simple, and more private, but in an
affectionate manner. I was in their hall, on this oc
casion, and was greatly struck with the quiet dignity
of the ceremony. There was a short address, and a
simple reply, after which La Fayette was invited to
take his seat on the sofa, by the side of the President
of the Senate.* He afterwards frequently visited
the Senate chamber, to hear the debates, and, on all
these occasions, he was seated in the same place.
There was something noble, as well as touching, in
the sight of a veteran returning to the scene of his
services, after a life like that of La Fayette, and of
being thus received so familiarly and affectionately
into the bosom of the highest legislative body of a
nation, that was enjoying a prosperity and ease far
exceeding that known to any other people.

On the day of the more public ceremony in the
hall of the Representatives, every one was seen
mounting the Capitol hill at an early hour. We got
places, as usual, on the floor of the house, where
we could both hear and see. The galleries were

* The Vice-President of that day, being often indisposed,
rarely presided, and a President pro tern., according to a cus
tom, performed his duties. The Vice-President (Mr. Tomp-
kins) died soon after.

RECEPTION BY THE REPRESENTATIVES 139

crowded to overflowing, being filled with fine women
and well-dressed men. The body of the house was,
of course, occupied by none but the members, while
the inner lobbies, or the circular space along the
walls, and behind the Speaker's chair, were occupied
by those who, of right, or by virtue of sufficient in
fluence, were allowed to enter.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is a
man of singular talents, and of great native eloquence.
rn person he is tall and spare, and he is far from be
ing graceful in his ordinary air and attitudes. His
countenance is one of those in which a pleasing
whole is produced by parts that are far from being
particularly attractive. In face and form, Mr. Clay
(the Speaker) is not unlike the pictures of the last
Pitt, nor is he unlike him in the power of addressing
puWic bodies. Notwithstanding these defects of the
physique, few men are capable of producing as great
an effect as Mr. Clay, when he is placed in situations
to exhibit his talents. His gesticulation is graceful,
and exceedingly dignified, his utterance slow, dis
tinct, and gentlemanly, and his voice one of the
sweetest imaginable.*

At the appointed hour, the doors of the hall were
thrown open, and a simple little procession advanced
with dignity into the body of the house. It was com
posed of the Senators of the United States, preceded
by a delegation of the lower house, who had been
sent to invite them to attend at the approaching cere
mony. They were in pairs ; the Senators of each
State walking together. Forty-eight chairs were
placed near the Speaker for their reception, and, after
exchanging bows with the members of the lower

* The Attorney-General of the United States (Mr. Wirt)
has the sweetest voice the writer ever heard in a public
speaker. It is something in the style of that of Mr. Peel,
though nothing can be more different than their usual man
ner of speaking.

140 ADDRESS OF MR. CLAY.

house, who were standing, the whole were seated
together. As the Senators never wear their hats, the
Representatives, on this occasion, took their seats
uncovered. A few minutes after, M. George La
Fayette and the secretary of the general, were shown
into the hall and provided with places.

The doors now opened again, and a deputation of
twenty-four members of Congress (one from each
State) slowly entered the hall. In their front was La
Fayette, supported by their chairman and a repre
sentative from Louisiana. The whole assembly rose;
the guest was led into the centre of the hall, and
then the chairman of the deputation said, in an audi
ble voice,

" Mr. Speaker, your committee have the honour
to introduce General La Fayette to the House of
Representatives."

A sofa had been placed for La Fayette, and he was
now invited to be seated. Both houses resumed their
chairs, and the guest occupied his sofa. A short pause
succeeded, when the Speaker rose with deliberation
and dignity. The instant the tones of his sweet voice
were heard in the hall, a silence reigned among the
auditors that equalled the stillness of death. La
Fayette stood to listen. The address was evidently
extempore, but it was delivered with the ease of a
man long accustomed to rely on himself, in scenes
of high excitement. He was evidently moved, though
the grace of manner and the command of words were
rather heightened than suppressed, by his emotions.
I shall endeavour to give you the substance of what
he said:

" General, — The House of Representatives of the
United States, impelled alike by its own feelings,
and by those of the whole American people, could
not have assigned to me a more gratifying duty, than
that of presenting to you cordial congratulations on
the occasion of your recent arrival in this country.

ADDRESS OF MR. CLAY. 14 J

In compliance with the wishes of Congress, I assure
you of the very high satisfaction which your presence
affords on this early theatre of your glorj^. Although
but few of the members who compose this body,
shared with you in the war of our revolution, all
have learned from impartial history, or from faithful
tradition, a knowledge of the perils, the sufferings,
and the sacrifices which you voluntarily encounter
ed, and of the signal services which you performed
in America, and in Europe, for an infant, a distant,
and an alien people. All feel and own the very great
extent of the obligation under which you have placed
the nation. But the relations in which you have ever
stood to the United States, interesting and important
as they have been, do not constitute the only motive
for the respect and admiration of this House. Your
consistency of character, your uniform devotion to
regulated liberty, through all the vicissitudes of a long
and arduous life, command its profound admiration.
During the recent convulsions of Europe, amidst, no
less than after the dispersion of, every political
storm, the people of the United States have beheld
you, true to your principles, erect in every danger,
and cheering, with your well-known voice, the vota
ries of liberty; a faithful and fearless champion, ready
to shed the last drop of that blood which here you
had already so freely and so nobly spilt in the same
holy cause.

" The vain wish has been sometimes indulged that
Providence would allow the patriot to return to his
country after death, and to contemplate the changes
to which time had given birth. To the American this
would have been to view the forest felled, cities built,
mountains levelled, canals cut, highways constructed,
the progress of the arts, the advancement of learning,
and the increase of population.

" General, — Your present visit is a realization of
the consoling object of that wish. You stand in the

142 ADDRESS OF MR. CLAY.

midst of posterity. Every where you must have been
struck with the physical and moral changes which
have occurred since you left us. This very city, bear
ing a name dear to you and to us, has since emerged
from the forest which then covered its site. In one
thing you behold us unaltered ; the sentiment of con
tinued devotion to liberty, and of ardent and pro
found gratitude to your departed friend, the father
of his country, and to you and to your illustrious asso
ciates in the field and in the cabinet, for the multi
plied blessings which surround us, and for the very
privilege which I now exercise of addressing you.
This sentiment, now fondly cherished by more than
ten millions of people, will be transmitted, with un
abated vigour, down the tide of time to the latest pos
terity, through the countless millions who are des
tined to inhabit this continent."

During this discourse, La Fayette was visibly af
fected. Instead of answering immediately, he took
his seat, which he retained for a minute, struggling to
conquer his feelings ; then rising, he replied in Eng
lish, and with powerful feeling, nearly as follows. 1
think the slight evidence of a foreign idiom, which
his reply contains, adds to its interest.

" Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of
Representatives — While the people of the United
States, and their honourable Representatives in Con
gress, have deigned to make choice of me, one of the
American veterans, to signify in his person their es
teem for our joint services and their attachment to
the principles for which we have had the honour to
fight and bleed, I am proud and happy to share those
extraordinary favours with my dear revolutionary
companions. Yet, it would be, on my part, uncandid
and ungrateful not to acknowledge my personal share
in those testimonies of kindness, as they excite in my
breast emotions which no words are adequate to
express.

REPLY OF LA F AYE! IE 143

"My obligations to the United States, Sir, far ex
ceed any merit I might claim. They date from the
time when I have had the happiness to be adopted
as a young soldier, a favoured son of America ; they
have been continued to me during almost half a cen
tury of constant affection and confidence ; and now,
Sir, thanks to your most gratifying invitation, I find
myself greeted by a series of welcomes, one hour of
which would more than compensate for the public
exertions and sufferings of a whole life.

" The approbation of the American people, and of
their representatives, for my conduct during the
vicissitudes of the European revolution, is che highest
reward I could receive. Well may I stand firm and
erect, when in their names, and by you, Mr. Speak
er, I am declared to have, in every instance, been
faithful to those American principles of liberty, equal
ity, and true social order, the devotion to which, as
it has been from my earliest youth, so it shall con
tinue to be a solemn duty to my latest breath.

" You have been pleased, Mr. Speaker, to allude
to the peculiar felicity of my situation, when, after
so long an absence, I am called to witness the im
mense improvements, the admirable communications,
of the prodigious creation of \vhich we find an ex
ample in this city, whose name itself is » venerated
palladium ; in a word, all the grandeur and prosper
ity of those happy United States, who, at the same
time they nobly secure the complete assertion of
American independence, reflect on every part of the
world the light of a far superior political civilization.

" What better pledge can be given of a persevering
national love of liberty, when those blessings are evi
dently the result of a virtuous resistance to oppres
sion, and of institutions founded on the rights of man
and the republican principle of self-government ?

"No, Mr. Speaker, posterity has not begun for
me, since, in the sons of my companions and friends,

144 HOUSE ADJOURNS.

I find the same public feelings, and, permit me to
add, the same feelings in my behalf, which 1 have
had the happiness to experience in their fathers.

" Sir, I have been allowed, forty years ago, before
a committee of a Congress of thirteen States, to ex
press the fond wishes of an American heart. .On this
day, I have the honour, and enjoy the delight, to
congratulate the representatives of the Union, so
vastly enlarged, on the realization of those wishes,
even beyond every human expectation, and upon the
almost infinite prospects we can with certainty anti
cipate. Permit me, Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of
the House of Representatives, to join to the expres
sion of those sentiments, a tribute of my lively grati
tude, affectionate devotion, and profound respect."

A deeper silence never pervaded any assembly
than that with which the audience listened to this
answer. There was so much of nature, of sincerity,
and of affection in the manner of the speaker, and
quite evidently so little of preparation in the lan
guage of his reply, that it produced a vastly greater
effect than any studied discourse, however elegant in
phraseology and thought.

After a short pause of a few minutes, during which
many of the members were manifestly stilling their
awakened feelings, the gentleman who had announced
La Fayette arose, and impressively moved that the
house should now adjourn. The question was put
and carried, and then all present, members and spec
tators, crowded about their guest, to renew welcomes
and felicitations which were reiterated for the thou
sandth time.

I do not know that the Americans have any par
ticular tact in their manner of conducting ceremo
nies, perhaps, on the contrary, they are not- much
practised in their mysteries ; but, as natural feelings
are as little disturbed as possible, I have ever found
in the receptions, greetings, and fetes they have given

~]

ASiECDOTE OF THE REVOLUTION. 145

to La Fayette, a simplicity and touching affection
that has gone directly to the heart. The veteran
himself has manifested, on all occasions, a wonderful
tact and readiness. Notwithstanding the gravity and
earnest air he has so often been compelled to en
counter, he has, in every instance, managed to strip
the ceremony of the stiffness of preparation, and to
give to the interviews the warmth and interest that
should distinguish a meeting between a parent and
his children.

After the business of the morning was ended, Cad-
wallader and myself joined a small party which con
tinued about the person of La Fayette, whom we
accompanied to his lodgings. The heart of the old
man was full, and he took an evident delight in
recurring to those events of the revolution which re
dounded to the credit of a people, in whose history
and character he seems to take the same pride that a
fond father would feel in witnessing the advance of a
promising son. During our ride, he mentioned sev
eral little circumstances that are worthy of repetition ;
but the limits of this letter must confine me to two.

In the year 1779 and 1780, La Fayette command
ed the light infantry of the American army. Most of
the soldiers were natives of New-England, or of the
middle States. With these troops he was sent from
the north to act against Cornwallis, in that mem
orable campaign in which he did himself so much
honour by his prudence and spirit, and which ter
minated in the capture of the latter. On reaching
Baltimore, the effects of climate, and of a removal
from home, became quite apparent on the spirits of
his men. They conversed among themselves of the
dangers of a summer passed in the low counties of
Virginia, and for a few nights there were repeated
desertions. It was of the last importance to put a
stop to a feeling that threatened destruction to the
service. The young Frenchman took counsel of his

VOL. II. N

14G ANECDOTE OF THE REVOLUTION.

own heart, and acted accordingly. He issued a gen
eral order, in which he set forth the dangers of the
climate, and the hazards and hardships of the contem
plated service in the plainest language, concluding hy
calling on those who felt unequal to the trial to pre
sent themselves, in order that they might be embodied
and sent back to the main army, since it was abso
lutely necessary that he should know the precise
force on which he might depend. Not a man came
forward to claim the promised favour; and, what is
far more remarkable, not another desertion occurred.
The second anecdote is still more worthy of relation.
Throughout the whole of the war of 1776, the
American army was rarely exempted from severe
suffering. They had to contend with disease and
hunger ; were often without shoes, even in winter,
and frequently without ammunition.* On one occa
sion, it is known that famine actually pervaded the
grand army while it lay at no great distance in front
of general Howe, who was at the head of a powerful
and an admirably appointed force. During the cam
paign of 1780, La Fayette, who, you will remember,
was an American general, was joined by a small
French force. He continued to command as the
senior officer. There was a scarcity in the camp,
and it became necessary to resort to severe measures
in order to provide for the allies. He boldly issued
an order that no American should receive a mouthful
until the French soldiers were furnished with full

* The writer made an acquaintance with two veterans of that
war, while in America. One of them assured him he marched
into the battle of Trenton (he was a lieutenant, and it was in
the depth of winter) without a shirt ; and the other, who was
in the cavalry, assured him, that by charging at the battle of
Eutaw into a thicket of black-jacks, (a sort of thorny bush,)
where the English infantry had thrown themselves, after the
principal rencontre, he lost a far more important vestment,
which he was not able to replace, until he luckily found a
piece of tow-cloth in the highway.

ANECDOTE. 147

rations, and for several days the camp exhibited the
singular spectacle of one portion of its inmates being
full fed, while the other was on an exceedingly lim
ited allowance. What renders the forbearance of
the native troops still more worthy of praise, is the
fact, that the officer who commanded the dangerous
distinction, wTas a countryman of those who were
wrell fed: yet no man heard a murmur! To me it
seems, that the mutual confidence exhibited in this
fact, is as creditable to him who dared to issue the
order, as to those who knew how to submit to it
without complaint.

TO THE PROFESSOR CHRISTIAN JANSEN,

SfC. fyc.

Washington,

— IT was a week before I recovered from the shock
of such an alarm. But on more mature thought,
(especially when I came coolly to reflect on some
recent dangers through which T had myself passed in
triumph, as well as on the numberless instances in
which I had felt symptoms of the same disorder,) I
began to consider your cause as far from hopeless.
We become more liable to these attacks as we ad
vance in life, and I \varn you of being constantly on
your guard against them. I also beg leave to recom
mend exercise and change of scene as the most
effectual cure. I am fully persuaded that had not
fortune made us all travellers, we should long since
have ceased to be the independent beings we are.
Waller spoke, in his last letter, of a Venetian beauty,

148 A PEDIGREE.

in language that seemed ominous ; but I know too
well that deep inward eccentricity of the man, which
he so prettily calls mauvctise honte, to dread any thing
serious from the affair. I think his eminently impar
tial manner of viewing things, will for ever save him
from the sin of matrimony. Besides, the girl is only
descended from two doges of the fifteenth century,
and four or five old admirals of the thirteenth and
fourteenth, a genealogy that surely cannot pretend to
compete with the descent of a Somersetshire baronet,
whose great-grandfather was an alderman of Lin
coln, and whose great-grandmother was the youngest
daughter of a British officer. If you doubt the truth
of the last circumstance, I refer you to the half-pay
list of lieutenants of dragoons, in the reign of George
the Second.

You have made a much more formidable request
than you appear to think, when you desire that I will
give you a detailed account of the system of juris
prudence, of the laws, and of the different courts of
this country. The subject, properly and ably con
sidered, would require a year of time, and infinitely
more legal science than 1 can lay claim to possess.
Still, as I may tell you some things of which you are
as yet a stranger, I shall not shrink from the task of
communicating the little I do know, under the stale
plea of iricompetency.

About a week after our arrival in this place, Cad-
wallader and myself had descended from the hall of
the House of Representatives to the caucus, and we
were about to leave the Capitol, when my friend
made a sudden inclination to the left, motioning for
me to follow. He passed into the basement of the
northern wing of the edifice. I had seen but a few
minutes before, by the naked flag-staff, that the Sen
ate had adjourned,* and, was about to say as much,

* A flag is kept flying over the wings in which the two houses
meet, when they are in session, and they are struck as either

SUPREME COURT OF THE UXITED STATES. 149

when I observed, that in place of ascending the stairs
which led to their chamber, he proceeded deeper inro
the lower apartments of the wing. Opening a simple
door, we entered a spacious, but low and far from
orilliant apartment. It was lighted only from one of
its sides. Directly in front of the windows, and a
little elevated above the rest of the floor, sat seven
grave looking men, most of whom had passed the
meridian of life. They were clad in simple black
silk robes, not unlike those worn by the students of
universities, and most of them were busily occupied
in taking notes. Immediately in their front, some ten
or twelve respectable men were seated, who had
nothing in attire to distinguish them from the ordinary
gentlemen of the country. There were two or three
others who had the air of being inferior employes of
some grave and importLiit body; though, with the
exception of the black silk robes, I saw no other
badges of office. On the right, and on the left, there
were benches in rows, and perhaps thirty or forty
more gentlemen were seated on them, listening to
what was said. Among these auditors, there might
have been a dozen genteel looking women. This
assemblage was composed of the judges, the advo
cates, the officers, and the suitors of the Supreme
Court of the United States. All present wHo did
not come within one or the other of the above-men
tioned denominations, were, like ourselves, merely
curious witnesses of the proceedings.

We staid an hour listening to the argument of a
distinguished advocate. He was a member of Con
gress from one of the eastern States, and by the sim
plicity of his language, and the acuteness and force
of his thoughts, he was clearly a man who would

body adjourns. These are signals that enable people at a dis
tance to learn whether the Senate, or lower house, are still to
gether or not.

N2

150 APPEARANCE OF THE COURT.

have done credit to any tribunal in the world. The
manner of the speaker was rather cold, but it was
dignified, and he paid the highest compliment to his
auditors, by addressing all he said to their reasons.
The judges listened with grave attention, and indeed
the whole scene wore the air of a calm and a highly
reasonable investigation.

My attention was given more to the severe sim
plicity which marked the aspect and proceedings of
this powerful tribunal, than to the particular subject
before it. I found high authority again reposing with
confidence on the most naked ceremonials, and I
again found it surrounded by an air of deep rever
ence, which proves how little the vulgar auxiliaries
of our eastern inventions are necessary to insure it
respect and obedience. On no other occasion was I
ever so completely sensible of the feebleness of an
artificial, or of the majesty of a true, because a natu
ral dignity, as on this. I have heard the wigs, and
robes, and badges of office of half the tribunals of
Europe laughed at, even by those who become fa
miliar with their absurdities ; but I do not know on
what the most satirical wit could seize, in a body like
this, to turn into ridicule. It is no small proof of the
superiority that is obtained by the habit of consider
ing things in their direct and natural aspects, that
wigs, and other similar encumbrances, which are
heaped upon the human form, with us, in order to
heighten respect, in this country are avoided, in or
der to protect those, who should be venerated, from
undeserved ridicule.

Considered in reference to its functions, and to the
importance of the trusts which it discharges, the Su
preme Court of the United States is the most august
tribunal of the world. It may not yet be called upon
to decide on causes which involve as great an amount
of property, perhaps, as some of the courts of Eng
land ; but, as the wealth and power of this country

SYSTEM OF JURISPRUDENCE. 151

shall increase with its growth, the matters it decides
will become still greater; and it now produces a
mighty influence on the interests of the whole Union.
You will better understand the subject, if we take a
rapid view of the judicial system of the confedera
tion, as it is connected with those of the several
States.

You already know that the theory of the American
government assumes that all power is the natural
and necessary right of the people. The accidental
circumstances of colonization had thrown the settlers
into a certain number of bodies politic, before the era
of their revolution. Until that event arrived, each
province was entirely distinct and independent of all
the others, except as they had common relations
through their allegiance to the crown of England,
and through those commercial and general interests
which united them as the subjects of the same em
pire.

For the purpose of achieving their independence,
the different provinces entered into a compact which
partook of the nature of an intimate and indissoluble
alliance. The articles of the confederation were a
sort of treaty, that was not, however, limited to defi
nite, but which embraced general objects, and which
was to know no limits to its duration, but such as
necessity must put to all things. Still it was little
more than an intimate alliance between thirteen
separate and independent governments. Money was
to be raised for avowed and general purposes ; but it
was done in the way of subsidies rather than of tax
ation. Each State collected its own resources in its
own manner, and it had fulfilled most of its obliga
tions to the confederation when it had paid its quota,
and when it permitted the few public agents appoint
ed by the Congress to discharge the particular trusts
that were delegated to the Union.

152 NATURE OF THE CONFEDERACY.

Notwithstanding this imperfect and clumsy organi
zation of their general government, the inhabitants
of the United States were, even at that early day,
essentially the same people. They had the same
views of policy, the same general spirit, substantially
the same origin,* and a community of interests that
constantly invited a more intimate association. The
country was scarcely relieved from the pressure and
struggle of the war of the revolution, before its wisest
citizens began to consider the means of effecting so
desirable an object. Peace was concluded in 1783 ;
and, in 1787, a convention was called to frame a
constitution for the United States. The very word
constitution implies the control of all those interests
which distinguish an identified community. If we
speak with technical accuracy, the convention of
1787 was assembled for the purpose of improving an
existing compact, rather than for the purpose of
creating one entirely new. But it will simplify our
theory, and answer all the desirable purposes of the
present object, if we assume that the States entered
into the bargain perfectly unencumbered by any pre
existing engagements.

Under this view of the case, each State possessed
all the rights of a distinct sovereignty, when it sent
its delegates to the convention. There was no power
which of necessity belongs to any other government
of the world, that each of these States could not of
itself exercise, subject always to the restrictions of
its own institutions and laws. But then, each State
possessed the power of altering its own institutions
as it saw fit ; it had its own laws, its own tribunals,
and it preserved its policy in all things, except that,
in point of fact, by the ancient confederation, it was

* A gross error exists in Europe, on the subject of the mixed
character of this people. The whole population of Louisiana,
for instance, but a little exceeded 75,000 souls (blacks included,;
in 1810, It was ceded to the Union in 1804.

STABILITY OF THE GOVERNMENT. 153

bound not to enter into wars, and certain other en
gagements, with foreign nations, without the rest of
the States being parties to the transaction.

The. constitution of 1787 wrought a vital change
in this system. The Americans now became one
people in their institutions, as well as in their origin
and in their feelings. It is important to remember
that the two latter induced the former circumstance,
and not the former the latter.

You can readily imagine that the principal point
to be decided in a body which had professedly as
sembled with such intentions, was that of the continu
ation or annihilation of the State governments. There
were not a few in favour of the first policy, though
the influence of those who supported the authority
of the States happily prevailed. I say happily, since,
1 think, it can be made plain that the existence of
the Union at the present hour, no less than its future
continuance, is entirely dependent on the existence
of the government of the several States.

In consequence of the policy that prevailed, a
species of mixed and complicated government was
established, which was before unknown to the world,
but which promises to prove that territory may be
extended ad libitum without materially impairing the
strength of a country by its extent. It strikes rne,
that as the confederation of the United States is the
most natural government known, that it is conse
quently the only empire on whose stability the fullest
confidence can be placed. It is a superstructure
regularly reared on a solid foundation, and not a
tower from which a number of heavy and ill-balanced
dependants are suspended. As to the prognostics of
its dissolution, they are founded on theories that are
getting to be a little obsolete; and the best argument
that is urged to prove their truth, after all, is merely
the fact that the confederation of the United States
has not existed more than the -full term of fifty years

154 JURISPRUDENCE OF THE COUNTRY.

during the last half century. Perhaps it may console
these impatient reasoners to know, that, while the
records of the country are certainly limited to the
brief period named, so far as improvement, wealth,
power, and a general advancement are concerned,
it has every appearance of having been in existence
two or three centuries.

In order to effect the material objects of the new
confederation, it became necessary that the States
should part freely with their power. The principle
was adopted that every thing which was necessary
to the general welfare should be yielded to the gen
eral government, while the States should, of course,
retain all the rest of their authority. But, with a view
to give the utmost efficiency to the new system, an
executive, courts, and subordinate functionaries were
created, who were to act on the people sometimes
through, but oftener without, the intermediate agency
of the State authorities. As our present business is
with the courts, we will confine ourselves to that
branch of the subject.

Although the several States preserve the outlines
of the judicial institutions which they inherited from
their ancestors, there are not, probably, two in the
whole confederation whose forms of jurisprudence
are precisely the same. There is necessarily a dif
ference in the policy of a large State and the policy
of a small one ; in that of a large, new State and that
of a large old one ; in that of a State without and in
that of a State with slaves ; in a commercial and in a
purely agricultural State ; and, in short, in a society
which exists under the direct influence of certain in
terests, and in a society which exists under the in
fluence, of certain others. You may trace in this
power of accommodating their minute policy to their
own particular condition, and, what is probably quite
as important, to their own pleasure, one of the great
reasons for the durability of the Union.

REFORMATION IN LAW. 155

Had I the necessary knowledge to impart it, you
would not possess the patience to read a detailed
account of the shades of difference which exist in the
jurisprudence of twenty-four separate communities.
I shall therefore take the outline of that of New- York,
the most populous of the States, and point out its con
nexion with that of the Union. It will be sufficiently
exact to give you an idea of the whole.

The foundation of the laws of New- York, is the
common law of England. Some of the provisions of
this law, and a few of its principles, have been de
stroyed by the constitution of the State, which, of
course, has substituted the maxims of a republic for
those of a monarchy. Statute law has changed, and
is daily changing certain other decrees of the com
mon law, which are found to be inapplicable to the
peculiar state of this society. I know no better evi
dence of the boldness and usefulness of reform, as it
exists in this country, than is to be found in the early
changes they made in the common law. It is now
near half a century since they destroyed the right of
entail, the trial by battle, the detestable and unnatural
law of the half-blood, and a variety of other similar
usages that are just beginning to become obnoxious
to European censure. The Americans themselves
say that New- York has still a great deal to do, and
daily complaints are heard against impediments to
justice, which are to be traced to the usages of n.
comparatively dark age.*

The lowest tribunal known to the laws, is what is

* There are people who may find it curious to know, that the
advancement of public opinion, and the consequent security
of liberty, is making bold inroads on those practices which are
known to have given birth to political rights. In the State of
Louisiana, and, the writer believes, in one or two others, the
use of a jury is dispensed with, in all civil cases, in which it is
not demanded by one of the parties. It is said that more than
five-sixths of the civil actions are tried by the court. Still the
right of a trial by jury is guarantied by the constitution of the
United States.

156 STATE COURTS, ETC.

called a justices' court, or the suits before a justice
of the peace. In each county there is also a regular
court for the trial of criminal causes, and for the
common pleas of that county. The presiding officers
of these courts are termed judges ; they are commonly
five in number, and are sometimes aided by what are
called assistant justices. In the older counties these
judges are usually men of education, and always men
of character. They are frequently lawyers, who con
tinue to practise in the higher courts, and they are
often men of landed estate, yeomen of good charac
ters and influence, and sometimes merchants. Their
criminal duties are not unlike those of the quarter
sessions in England. Executions in civil actions is
sued out of this court, take effect on all property
found within the limits of the county, and judgments
are liens on real estate, according to priority of date,
without reference to the courts W7here any other sim
ilar claims may be recorded.

The State is next subdivided into judicial circuits.
For each of these circuits there is one judge. This
officer presides at the circuit courts, assisted by the
judges of the county; and as the judgments obtained
under verdicts in this court are perfected before the
supreme court of the State, they have a lien on all
property belonging to the party concerned within the
bounds of the State. Both of these courts take cogni
zance of crimes.

The supreme court (of the State of New- York) is
composed of three judges. They constitute a court
of law, to which appeals are made from the inferior
tribunals. The judges do not regularly preside at any
of the circuits, though it is within the scope of their
powers to do so if they please.* They settle all causes,

* There has been a recent change in the courts of New-
York. A few years since there were five judges of the su
preme court, and they tried all causes at Nisi Prius, holding
the circuits in person. It was found that the business accu-f

STATE COURTS, ETC. 157

and the reports of their proceedings form the ordina
ry books of precedents.

There is a chancellor who hears and decides in
all cases where equity is claimed, and who exercises
the usual authority in granting injunctions against the
consummation of proceedings at law. In many of the
States, the equitable power is lodged in the same
courts as the legal, the judges hearing causes on what
is termed the equity side. The chancellor of the
State is purely a law officer, exercising no other func
tions, and holding his commission by the same ten
ures as the judges. In one or two of the States,
however, the governor acts as chancellor.

The Senate of the State, (of New-York,) assisted
by the chancellor and judges of the Supreme Court,
form a tribunal for appeals, and for the correction of
errors in the last resort. Their decision is final, un
less the defendant should happen to be a foreigner,
or a citizen of another State, in which case the cause
can be carried into the courts of the United States*
under certain circumstances. This court is not known
to many of the States.

The jurisdiction of the courts of a State, embraces
most of the ordinary interests of life. Nearly all of
fences against persons and things, whether considered
in reference to the protection of the individual, or in

mulated, and, in order to repair the evil, the circuit judges
were appointed ; those of the supreme court were reduced in
number, and the common duties of the latter were limited to
the terms. The better opinion in the State is, that this de
parture from a practice which has been sanctioned by so many
centuries is not successful. A return to the former system is
already contemplated, with an increase of the judges, that shall
make their whole number equal to the labour they have to un
dergo.

* The plaintiff, being an alien, or a citizen of another State,
can do the same thing in the first stages of the suit. But it is
impossible to be minute in a work like this ; the writer merely
aims at giving a general idea of the system of the jurisprudence
of the United States.

VOL. II. O

153 COURTS or THE UNITED STATES.

reference to the dignity and security of society, can
be tried before some one of the tribunals mentioned.
In many cases the tribunals have concurrent power,
those of the United States always being supreme,
when they have a right to interfere at all.

The lowest tribunal established by the United
States is that of the district courts. The rule is to
make each State a district for the trial of causes un
der the laws of the Union, though some of the larger
States are divided into two. Each of these courts
has its particular judge, its recording, and its execu
tive officers. The latter are called marshals ; they
exercise all the ordinary duties of an English sheriff.*
Original causes are tried before the district judge. If
A. should fail in the conditions of an ordinary con
tract made with B., the latter would bring his suit in
the county in which the former resided, or in the su
preme court of the State, as he might please ; but if
the contract had direct reference to matter which is
exclusively controlled by the laws of the United
States, he would probably bring his action in the cir
cuit court of the State in which the defendant lived.
In matters that arise from seizures under the cus
toms, or that affect any other of the direct interests
of the United States, the District Court is always
competent to proceed. If process issues on execu
tion from the courts of the State, it is to the sheriff;
but from the United States' courts it is directed to
the marshal. The same distinction is observed for
the execution of sentences under the respective crimi
nal laws of the two authorities. Thus, it would be
possible, as in the cases of an ordinary murder and
of piracy, for two convicts to issue from the same
gaol, and to go to the same gallows, though the one
should be hanged under the orders of a sheriff, and
the other under the orders of a marshal. Though

* Each county has a sheriff under the laws of the State.

COURTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 159

there are no points of collision, in matters of mere
dignity, the marshal is a man of more importance than
a sheriff, inasmuch as his bailiwick embraces a whole
Statg instead of a county ; and he executes the su
preme law of the land, though, in fact, his functions
are often limited to a course of concurrent, or rather
to a division of familiar powers.*

Each State also forms a district for the circuit
courts of the United States. At the circuit, a judge
of the supreme court of the United States presides,
assisted by the judge of the district. They hear
original cases, and such appeals as, by law, can be
brought from the tribunals of the State. It frequently
happens, that actions affecting parties residing in dif
ferent States, are brought in the courts of a particular
State, because the property in dispute lies there, and
the defendant then carries his appeal to one of the
circuit courts of the United States. You will see
that, of necessity, the laws of the several States must
be known to the judges of these circuits, as a great
deal of their power goes no further than to take care
that these laws shall not infringe on the rights which
are guarantied by the confederation.

The judges of the supreme court of the United
States sit once a year, to hear appeals and questions
of law. They have all the equity powers which are
necessarily incident to justice, there being no chan
cellor of the United States. Their decisions are final,
no appeal lying to any other body of the land. This
('ignitied and powerful tribunal not only decides on
the interests of individuals, but on the interests of

* The United States have, as yet, no gaols. There is such
perfect understanding between the two authorities, that the
States lend their gaols, court-rooms, &c..to the officers of
the United States, though it is probable that, ere long, provision
will be made for both. A convict, sentenced to hard labour by
a court of the United States, is sent to the Penitentiary of the
State where he is convicted, the former defraying any excess
of expense over the fruits of his earnings.

160 SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.

States. Communities that are, even now, larger than
the smallest kingdoms of Europe, can come before
them, in their corporate capacity, as suitors and de
fendants.

The affairs of this immensely important tribunal,
have ever been conducted with surprising dignity and
moderation. The judges are amenable to public
opinion, the severest punishment and the tightest
check in a free community, and their corruption can
be punished by impeachment. An instance of the
latter occurred during high party times, and while the
doctrines of Europe were more in fashion than they
are at present, but the accused was not found guilty.

The duties of the supreme court are often of a
highly delicate nature, but the judges have contrived
to create a great degree of reverence for, and of
confidence in, their decisions. As the population of
the country increases, the number of the judges will
be increased to meet its wants.*

You know that steam was first successfully applied
to boats in America. The celebrated Fulton obtained
a law (in the State of New- York) creating a mono
poly of its use in his favour for a term of years. At
first, the experiment was deemed so hazardous, that
he enjoyed this exclusive right without molestation.
But, when the immense profits of the speculation
became apparent, men began to question the legality
of the monopoly. Boats were built without the con
sent of the assignees of Fulton. The chancellor of
the State of New-York, regarding the act of his own
legislature, granted an injunction, prohibiting their
use. The parties then joined issue, and the case
was carried through the courts of the State, until it
reached the Court of Errors, where it was decided in
favour of the la\v of the State. New parties appealed
to the circuit court of the United States, as citizens

* It has recently been raised to nine.

AN IMPORTANT DECISION. 161

of another State, and as citizens claiming the protec
tion of the laws of the confederacy. It was contended
that the law of New-York was unconstitutional, in
asmuch as the States had conceded the right to pro
tect inventions, &c. &c. to the general government,
and that no State had a right to grant a monopoly on
waters, that might interfere with the commerce of
the whole country. So the supreme court decided,
and, since that decision, there has been an end of
the monopoly. Many of the States have enacted
laws, of different natures, that have always been
treated with great reflection and candour, but which
have been as effectually destroyed by this court.

In respect of mere dignity, the judges of the su
preme court of the United States stand foremost over
all others. A judge of the district court is, as a rule,
perhaps, about equal to a judge of the supreme court
of a State, though these parallels are entirely arbi
trary. In point of variety of power, the judges of
the States have much the most ; but, in point of im
portance, those of the United States are the greatest,
since appeals can be made to, but not from, them.

You can easily imagine that numberless questions
of jurisdiction between the courts of the confedera
tion and those of the States, still remain to be decid
ed. Although the laws of the United States, when
constitutional, are called supreme, yet there are
points where the two authorities must of necessity
meet. To take a strong case, the life of the citizen is,
in most instances, to be protected by the laws of the
State ; but it is possible to conceive a case ia which
some of the rights that are fairly enough incidental
to the discharge of the powers ceded to the United
States, might impair the force of a State law for the
protection of the iffe of its citizen. In such a case
reason must decide the limits of the two authorities,
as it has had to decide the limits of concurrent au
thorities elsewhere. It would be folly to say always
O2

IG2 THE LAW OF REASON.

that the United States law being paramount, should
prevail. In fact, in such questions, it is not supreme,
even in theory ; for the States, having reserved to
themselves all the power they have not expressly
yielded to the United States, have clearly the same
claim to the rights incidental to the powers reserved,
as the United States possess to the rights incidental
to the powers which have been conceded. The
courts of the States (which are hound to know and
respect the authority of the United States) might
have a natural leaning to extend these incidental
powers, and it is in fixing their limits that the su
preme court of the United States, which is placed
above all petty and local interests, exhibits most of
is usefulness and majesty.

A species of natural law is growing up under this
system, that promises to be eminently useful, inas
much as it is adapted to actual necessity. I am a
great venerator of those laws which are enacted by
custom, since I entertain the opinion that the stamp
of usage is worth a dozen legislative seals, especially
in a community where men, being as free as possible,
have every opportunity of consulting the useful.

The States h-ave conceded all power to Congress
to regulate commerce. Now, Congress has jurisdic
tion over more than twenty degrees of latitude. It
has not, however, yet seen fit to establish quarantine
regulations for the numerous ports within its jurisdic
tion, though it is scarcely possible to imagine any
measure which more intimately affects commerce
than these laws. But the States do continue to pass
quarantine laws, under their natural right to protect
the lives of their citizens. Should any State, under
this plea, attempt to pass such Jaws, however, as
would .operate unjustly towards another State, the
court of the United States might then pronounce a
decision affecting the question. There is as yet a
divided opinion, in theory, on the subject of this

INFLUENCE OF THE UNITED STATES COURTS. 163

right, while the practice is just what it ought to he ;
that is to say, those who are most familiar with the
subject provide for its wants, and should any abuses
arise, there is a power in the country competent to
put them down.

As its institutions get matured by time, the power
of the confederation is every day receiving strength.
A vast deal of constitutional law, however, remains
to be decided ; but as new cases arise, the ability to
make discreet decisions, grows with experience.
Laws are enacted to meet the regulations necessary
to the common good, and as the legislators are them
selves citizens of the States to be governed, and one
body of them (the Senate) are the legal protectors of
their corporate rights, there is little fear that the
general government will ever reach that point of au
thority that shall make it weak, by setting it up in
opposition to a force that it would vainly strive to
subdue. It may appear paradoxical, but the secret
of the actual durability of this confederation consists
in its apparent weakness. So long as the influence
of the several States shall be of sufficient importance
to satisfy their jealousy, I think it will endure ; and
so long as the present representative system shall
prevail, there is every motive to believe the States
\vill possess, with a reasonable portion of the power,
a share in all the honour, and the profit, and the secu
rity of being members of an Union that must shortly
stand foremost among the nations of the earth.

The true balance of power, which elsewhere is
found to exist in the hands of individuals, exists here
in the hands of legislative bodies, who are the direct
representatives of those whose interests are controlled
by the government.

( 164 )

TO SIR EDWARD WALLER, BART.

&iC. &C.

Washington,

A GREAT event has just been decided in this city.
The ceremony of the election of a President of the
United States, for the four years which shall com
mence oii the fourth day of March next, took place
yesterday. The circumstances which led to the pe
culiar forms of this choice, the characters of the can
didates, and the probable result that it will have on
the policy of the country, may not be without interest
to one who studies mankind as generally as yourself.
The first President, you know, was Washington.
He was succeeded by the Vice-President, the elder
Adams.* At the end of four years, a hot contest oc
curred between Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, the
President and Vice-President of the day, for the
chair. In order to give you a proper understanding
of the case, it will be necessary to explain the law
for the election to this high office.

You know that the sovereignty of the States is
represented by the Senate. Thus, Rhode Island,
with 70,000 inhabitants, has two members in the
Senate, as well as New- York with 1,700,000. But
the members of the lower house, which is the con
necting link between the States, are apportioned

* An absurd story is told by a recent traveller, or a pretend
ed traveller, in the United States, concerning the wish of Mr.
Adams, when Vice- President, to have the title of " Highness,
and Protector of our Liberties," given to the President of the
United States. It is said he introduced. a resolution to that
effect in the Senate. Now, it happens, independently of the
gross folly of the title, that the Vice-President, who is merely a
presiding officer, has no right to introduce any law or resolution
into the Senate at all.

ELECTION OF PRESIDENT. 165

according to the population. The State of Rhode
Island has, therefore, two Representatives, arid the
Slate of New- York thirty-four. In all ordinary
cases of legislation, each individual, whether a Sen
ator or a Representative, gives one vote. While
New-York has, consequently, eighteen times more
influence in the lower house than Rhode Island, in
the upper house they are equal. It is in this division
of power that another system of the checks and bal
ances of this government is to be traced.

For the election of the President, bodies are es
pecially convened that are at other times unknown
to the constitution. They are called electoral col
leges, of which there are as many as there are States.
These colleges are composed of citizens chosen in
each State, in such a manner as its own laws may
prescribe. They are sometimes elected by the legis
latures, sometimes in districts by the people, and
sometimes again by the people in what is called a
general ticket; that is to say, every citizen votes for
the whole of the electors that his State is entitled to
choose. The number is determined by the popula
tion of the State. The number of Representatives
is added to the two Senators, and the amount forms
the body of the electors. Thus New- York, having
thirty-four Representatives and two Senators, chooses
thirty-six electors ; while Rhode Island, having but
two of each class, is limited to four electors.

Within a certain number of days after their own
election, the electors of each State meet at some in
dicated place, and form the several colleges. The
time is fixed at so short a period as to prevent, as
much as possible, the danger of corruption. There
is undoubtedly a preconcert between parties, and an
understanding in the way of pledges; but there can
not well be any direct bribery on the part of power
ful individuals. Each elector gives one vote for
President, and another for Vice-President. As the

166 FORMS OF ELECTION.

constitution formerly stood, the citizen who received
the greatest number of votes, provided they made
more than half of the whole number, was chosen
for the former office, and the citizen who received the
next greatest number, under the same provision, was
chosen for the latter office. The constitution has,
however, been changed, so as to make it necessary
that each vote should express for which officer it is
given. These votes are counted in the presence of
the college, and of any body else who may choose to
attend, and the result is properly authenticated and
sent to the Department of State; the President of the
Senate opens and compares the returns in the pres
ence of both houses of Congress, after which the
result is officially announced to the country. But as
the votes of each State are known the day they are
actually given, the public press uniformly anticipates
the public documents by several weeks. If there
should be no election, the final choice is referred to
Congress.

In 1801, the contest between Mr. Adams and Mr.
Jefferson had a singular termination. Mr. Pinckney,
of South Carolina, was the candidate for the Vice-
Presidency, supported by the friends of the former ;
and Mr. Burr, of New-York, the candidate supported
by the friends of the latter. Adams was the head of
what was called the federal party, and Jefferson the
head of the democrats.* The election of. 1801 was

* A singular mistake is prevalent in Europe, concerning the
origin and objects of the two great political parties, which, for
twenty years, nearly equally divided the people of the United
States. It is often asserted, and sometimes believed, that the
federalists were the secret friends of a monarchy, and that the
democrats were, Avhat their name would imply, the only friends
of the people. The gross absurdity of this belief is completely
exposed., by the fact, that a great majority of the people of
New-England and of New- York were, for a long time, feder
alists; and it is difficult to conceive that the mass of communi
ties, so completely republican in practice, should entertain a
secret wish to overthrow institutions which they had been the

DEMOCRATS AND FEDERALISTS. 167

the first triumph of the democrats. Mr. Adams and
Mr. Pinckney were both handsomely defeated ; but,
by an oversight of the electors, Jefferson and Burr
received the same number of votes in the colleges.

first to form, and which were so completely confirmed by long
habit. Washington was, undoubtedly, a federalist, as, indeed,
were a very large proportion of the ancient officers and patriots
of the revolution. But this party was more lukewarm in the
cause of the French revolution, than the other, and its members
were the advocates of a rather stronger government than the
democrats. It is also true, that, as some of its leaders acknow
ledged more of the maxims of the ancient monarchy than their
opponents, all those who had a bias in favour of the mother
country joined their ranks, and served to keep alive an impres
sion which their enemies, of course, industriously circulated,
that the party leaned to aristocracy. It was easy to raise this
cry, both for the reasons named, and because a large proportion
of the men of wealth in the middle and eastern States, were
enrolled in its ranks. But there can be no greater absurdity
than to suppose, that any party has existed in America, since
the revolution, with an intention of destroying, or, indeed, with
the intention of seriously modifying, the present form of govern
ment. When the constitution was formed, and before all its
principles were settled by practice, it was to be expected that
men should differ on the subject of the degree of change that was
prudent; but, as early as the year 1800, the federalists and the
democrats were, essentially, nothing more than two great par
ties, struggling for place, and who adopted different politics
about as much for the purpose of opposition as for any other
reason. This got to be eminently the case a few years later,
when the federal party grew desperate in the minority, and lost
sight of character altogether, in the conduct it pursued on the
subject of the war with England. Some of the eastern poli
ticians, during that war, believing the moment favourable to
a final effort, concerted a plan, by which the whole of the east
ern, and some of the middle States were to unite in an attack
on the policy of the general government, the result of which
was to be the expulsion of the administration. This plan gave
rise to the famous Hartford Convention. The opponents of the
Hartford Convention accused its founders of a design to divide
the Union. It is difficult to say what crude projects may have
floated in the heated brains of individuals of that body, but this
is a country in which individuals do less than elsewhere, es
pecially in matters of srreat moment. The New-England States
themselves would never have encouraged a scheme so destruc
tive to their own interests ; but, had they entertained the wish,
it would have been a mad policy without the connivance of
New- York, a State that was then, and has been since, daily

168 CHOICE OF COXGRESS.

This left the question of the presidency to be still
decided, as the constitution then prescribed that the
choice should be in favour of the candidate who had
the greatest number of votes, provided always that he
had a majority of the whole number.

The choice of a President, by the provisions of the
constitution, now devolved on Congress. In the
event of a referred election, the Senators have no
voices, the Representatives of each State in the lower
house giving but one vote ; so that the final decision
is made by the States, and not by the people. In
1810, there were sixteen States in the confederation.
By a singular coincidence, two of these States had a
tie in themselves ; so that they defeated their own
votes ; and of the remainder, eight gave their votes

draining them of their population, and which already numbers
nearly, if not quite, as many souls as all New-England united.
It is well known that the great body of the federalists of New-
York refused to join the convention, even with a view to remon
strate, at the time when the country was engaged single-handed
against England. The best evidence of what would have been
the fate of an attempt to separate the Union, is to be found iu
the fact that the people of New-England themselves treat with
great coldness, the principal members of the Hartford Conven
tion, although most men acquit them of entertaining so mad a
scheme. But the federal party was destroyed by the policy it
pursued in the war. The Hartford Convention was its dying
effort, and its last moments were as impotent as those of any
other worn-out nature. The older members of the party some
times act together, now, from habit and intimacy, but the gen
eration that is just appearing on the stage, already read of the
party struggles in which their fathers were engaged as matters
of history. There is no such party known in the United States,
as a party unfriendly to their institutions, though, doubtless,
there are still a few men living who retain some of their ancient
attackment for the sort of government under which they were
born. It is worthy of remark, that the children of these men
are almost always decided democrats, and in many instances,
the complete success of the confederative system has overcome
the prejudices of old and bigoted tories. It must be remem
bered, also, that though a majority of the people of Massachu
setts, Connecticut, &c. were willing to try the experiment
of the Hartford Convention, there were powerful minorities in
every State concerned, without counting the influence of all
the rest of the Union.

OBSTINATE VOTING. 169

for Mr. Jefferson and six for Mr. Burr. You should
be told that the same law which referred this ques
tion to Congress requires that the successful candidate
should have a majority of all the States. Mr. Jeffer
son, therefore, required nine votes for success, which
was the number necessary to make a majority ot
sixteen.

The members of Congress voted thirty-five times
on this interesting question, and always with the same
result. At length, a member or two belonging to the
States which had lost their votes by a tie, changed
their minds, and gave their voices for Jefferson. This
decided the matter, and placed that distinguished
statesman in the chair for the next four years. At
the expiration of the regular period of service, he
was re-elected ; but, imitating the example of Wash
ington, he retired at the end of his second term.

Until now the Vice-President had been the succes
sor of the President : but although Mr. Burr, having
the next greatest number of votes, was necessarily
Vice-President for the first of Mr. Jefferson's terms
of office, he was superseded at the second election.
The constitution had been altered so as to stand as
at present, making it necessary to indicate the situa
tion it is intended the candidate shall fill. A veteran
of the revolution, but a man past the expectation of
further preferment, had been selected to supply the
place of Mr. Burr. The friends of the administration
now turned their eyes on the Secretary of State, as
a successor to the President of the day. This gen
tleman (Mr. Madison) was elected, and a sort of
change in the descent of power was effected. After
a service of two terms, Mr. Madison also retired, and
the Secretary of the time being (Mr. Monroe) became
the successful candidate. The second term of this
gentleman's service is now near its close, and he re
tires too, as a matter of course. You are not to sup
pose that the constitution prescribes any other limits

VOL. IT. P

170 MR. QUINCY ADAMS.

to the presidency of an individual, but that of a new
election every four years ; but the example of Wash
ington, and, perhaps, the period of life to which all
the Presidents have attained, after filling the chair for
two terms, have induced them, in succession, to de
cline elections for a third.

On the present occasion, an entirely new state o
politics presents itself. The old party distinctions
of federalists and democrats are broken down, and
the country is no longer divided into two great polit
ical factions. Mr. Adams, the Secretary of State (and
a son of the second President,) is considered by a
great number of people as the natural and the best
successor to Colonel Monroe. When I say natural,
you must confine the meaning of the word to a natu
ral expediency, and not to any natural right. His
claims consist of a long experience in the politics of
the country, great familiarity with foreign diplomacy,
and the intimate connexion that he has so long had
with the particular measures of the existing adminis
tration, lie is a man of extensive acquirements, great
honesty, and unquestionable patriotism. He is also
a northern, or, as it would be expressed here, an
eastern man (coming from New-England ;) and hith-
erlo Virginia has given four out of the five Presidents.
3ut the circumstance of birth-place has far less influ
ence than you would suppose in a government like
this. It is worthy of remark, that while Europeans
are constantly predicting sectional divisions in this
country, the people of the country themselves ap
pear to think very little about them. Mr. Adams
has both a warm support and a warm opposition in
the northern States, it being evident that men follow
the bent of their humours or judgments, without
thinking much on the question of north and south.
It is an important circumstance, which always should
be remembered in considering this subject, that though
the south has, in consequence of its physical inferiority

MR. CRAWFORD. 171

and peculiar situation, a jealous watchfulness of the
north, that the north regards the south with no such
feelings. It is clear that the sentiment must be active
enough in both to induce men to overlook their inter
ests, before it can produce any important changes.

Mr. Crawford, the Secretary of the Treasury, was
another candidate for the Presidency; Mr. Calhoun,
the Secretary of War, was a third; Mr. Clay, the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, a fourth ;
and General Jackson, a Senator of Tennessee, was
a fifth.

The two first of these gentlemen sit in the cabinet
with Mr. Adams, and present the singular spectacle
of men united in administering the affairs of the na
tion, openly and honourably opposed to each other
in a matter of the greatest personal interest.

Mr. Crawford was for a long time thought to be
the strongest candidate. He is said to have been a
man admirably qualified to fill the high station to
which he aspired ; but a paralytic attack had greatly
weakened his claims, before the meeting of the col
leges. His friends, too, had committed a vulgar
blunder, which is more likely to be fatal here than
in any country I know. They commenced their
electioneering campaign by bold assertions of their
strength, and the most confident predictions of suc
cess. I have heard a hundred men of independence
and of influence say that disgust, at having them
selves disposed of in this cavalier manner, disinclined
them to a cause that they might otherwise have been
induced to support. Jt is the opinion of Cadwallader
that Mr. Crawford would not have succeeded, had
his health not so unhappily suffered. He was but
little known to the northern States, and men of
character and talents always choose to have at least
the air of judging for themselves. He succeeded,
however, in receiving enough votes to include his
name among the three highest candidates, and con-

172 MR. CALHOUN MR. CLAY GEN. JACKSON.

sequently he came before Congress on the final
question.

Mr. Calhoun, who is still a young man, and who
probably aimed as much as any thing at getting his
name prominently before the nation, to be ready for
a future struggle, prudently withdrew from the con
test As he is universally admitted to be a man of
high talents, he was put up, in opposition to the cele
brated Albert Gallatin, for the Vice-Presidency; and
as that gentleman declined the election, Mr. Calhoun
was chosen by the colleges nearly unanimously.

Mr. Clay had many warm friends, and was sup
ported by his own State (Kentucky) with great zeal ;
but he failed in getting his name included on the list
of the three highest. He is a self-created man, of
unquestionable genius, and of a manner and elo
quence that will always render him formidable to
his opponents, and of immense value to his political
friends. His direct interest in this election, how
ever, ceased, of necessity, with the returns of the
colleges.

General Jackson is a gentleman who has long been
employed in offices of high trust in his own State, but
who only came prominently before the nation during
the late war. He is a lawyer by education, and has
rilled the civil stations of a judge, a member of Con
gress, and, lastly, of a Senator. In early life he serv
ed as a soldier, during the struggle for independence;
but he was much too young to be distinguished. As
a military man, his merit is unquestionable. He led
two or three difficult expeditions against the Indians
of the south with great decision and effect, and with
an uniformity of success that has been rare indeed
against the savages of this continent. In consequence
of the ' skill and energy he displayed on these occa
sions as a general of militia, he received a commis
sion in the regular army, soon after the declaration
of war against Great Britain. Fortunately, he was

GEN. JACKSON. 173

chosen to defend New-Orleans against the formidable
attack of that country. He was lying a short dis
tance above the town, with a small body of men,*
when it was unexpectedly announced that the enemy
had landed at a point, whence a forced march of two
or three hours would put them in possession of the
place. Mustering as many of his motley troops as
he could spare from other points of defence, (some
thing less than sixteen hundred men,) he led them to
the attack against a regular and much superior force,
whom he attacked with a spirit and effect which left
an impression that he was far stronger than the truth
would have shown. By this bold measure, he gain
ed time to throw up entrenchments and to receive
reenforcements. Before his works were completed,
or one-half of the necessary troops had arrived, the
British risked the celebrated attack of the 8th of
January. They were repulsed with horrible slaugh
ter to themselves, and with an impunity to the de
fendants that was next to a miracle. The works
were entered at an incomplete point ; but all who
presented themselves were either slain or captured.
The great modesty of the account of his success given
by General Jackson, is as worthy of commendation
as was his indomitable resolution. Contrary to the
usage of the times, he gave his opinion that the loss
of the enemy was several hundreds less than what
they acknowledged it to be themselves, and, indeed,
nearly a thousand less than what further observation
gave him reason to believe it actually was. If the
decision of this extraordinary man was so brilliantly
manifested in the moment of need, his subsequent

* Less than three thousand men. As late as the 29th Decem
ber, General Jackson, in an official letter, states his whole force
at three thousand effectives. In the report of the battle of the
8th January, he says, that though a detachment of Kentucky
militia had arrived, they added but very liltle to his force, as
most of them were unarmed.

P2

174 GEN. JACKSON.

prudence is worthy of the highest commendation-
Although he had not hesitated an instant to attack
nearly twice his force on the open plain, when
nothing short of desperate courage could save the
town, he did not allow success to lure him from a
position which experience had shown he could main
tain. He suffered his beaten, but still greatly supe
rior enemy to retire unmolested ; and it is probable
that, had they asked for succour, he would cheerfully
have yielded them assistance to embark.*

* The force with which General Jackson defended New-
Orleans, according to the official returns, was less than 6000
men, imperfectly armed and organized : and all of whom, with
the exception of a few marines and sailors, and two battalions
of new levies for the army, in all about one thousand men, were
the citizens of the country. It is believed that, sailors and ma
rines included, General Packenham landed nearly ten thou
sand men. It would be a curious study, to those who had any
desire to sift the truth, to examine the documents of England
and America in relation to the events of their two wars. The
writer must say he has met many Americans who are familiar
with the documents of England, but he never yet met one Eng
lishman who was familiar with those of America. Nations lose
nothing by looking a little closely into their own affairs, as well
as into those of other people. One circumstance first drew the
writer into a closer investigation of these subjects, than he might
otherwise have been induced to undertake. He will relate&it.

Jt is well known that, in 1814, a bloody battle was fought
near the great cataract of Niagara. The American general
says, that a brigade of his army met a portion of the British
army, and engaged it. That he arrived with reinforcements,
the enemy reenforcing at the same time ; that he was much an
noyed by certain pieces of artillery, stationed on an eminence
that formed the key of the English position ; that he carried this
hill at the point of the bayonet, and captured the artillery ; that
the enemy made three desperate attempts to refrain the position
and their guns, in all of which they were defeated, and that they
finally relinquished the attempt. He gives his enemy a small
superiority of force, and he conveys an implied censure against
the officer third in command, (he and his second in command
having been obliged to retire, from their wounds,) for not secur
ing the fruits of this victory on the morning succeeding the day
of the battle. So much for the American. On the other hand,
the English general gives a sufficiently similar account of the
commencement of the battle. He also admits the charge up
the hill, that " our artillerymen were bayoneted by the enemy
in the act of loading;" that " our troops having for a moment

GEN. JACKSOX. 175

General Jackson obtained immense popularity in
the country by this brilliant success. His political
honesty is unquestionable, and his patriotism without
a blot. Still his want of experience in matters of
state, and even his military habits, were strongly
urged against him. The former may be a solid ob
jection, but, it is more than absurd, it is wicked to
urge the military character of a citizen, who merito
riously leaves his retirement in the hour of danger to
carry those qualities with which nature has endowed
him, into the most perilous, and commonly the least
requited service of his country, as an argument
against his filling any station whatever. A thousand
falsehoods have been circulated at the expense of
General Jackson, and even some admitted inequality
of temper has been grossly exaggerated. Notwith
standing the industry and affected contempt of the
adversaries of this gentleman, he received more of
the electoral votes than the highest of the three can
didates in the returned list.

been pushed back, some of our guns remained for a few min
utes in the enemy's hands ;" that they were, however, soon re
covered ; and that, instead of his making attacks for the re
covery of the lost position, the Americans were the assailants;
and that they were uniformly defeated in their attempts. He
estimates the force of the Americans at nearly double what
their official reports state it to have been. Both parties nearly
double the (presumed) loss of their enemy; and the American,
though something nearer to the admission of the Englishman
than the Englishman was to the admission of the American,
estimated the force of his enemy considerably over the official
account.

The writer was struck with these official discrepancies. The
documents were uttered to the world under the same forms, in
the same language, and by people acknowledging the same
moral influences. He was induced to exclaim, Where is the
truth of history? The writer knows nothing more of the merits
of this question than is contained in the documents he has ex
amined, and which any one may also examine, who has a cu
riosity equal to his own. The circumstance should, however,
teach moderation to partisans, as it abundantly proves that the
data on which they found their opinions cannot always be of
the most unexceptionable nature.

176 ELECTION OF PRESIDENT.

The day of the final decision by Congress was one
of great interest here. All the candidates were on
the spot, in the discharge of their official duties, and
large bodies of their friends had assembled to witness,
and, if possible, to influence the result. Cadwallacler
obtained a convenient position, where we both wit
nessed the whole manner of the election.

Although three names were returned to Congress
for the choice, it was universally understood that the
selection would be made between Messrs. Adams
and Jackson. It would have been indecent in the
representatives to prefer Mr. Crawford over two
men, both of whom had received nearly double the
number of the popular votes that had been given in
his favour, though by the constitution they certainly
had a right to elect which of the three they pleased.
It was thought that the representatives of those States
in which the electors had given their votes for this
gentleman, would make a single demonstration in his
favour, and then give their voices for one or the
other of the two candidates, who, it was well known,
must eventually succeed.

The gallery of the hall of Congress was crowded
nearly to suffocation. The Senators wrere present as-
a sort of legal witnesses of the election, and many
men of high political consideration were in the lob
bies and behind the desks. In short, every one was
there who could gain admission by art or influence.
The arrangements for this important proceeding were
exceedingly unpretending, though remarkably im
posing by their simplicity, and that air of grave com
posure which usually reigns over all the legislative
proceedings of this country.

The members of the different States were now seat
ed together, since they composed so many separate
colleges which, on this momentous question, were to
pronounce the voices of their particular communities.
Here, sat the numerous and grave-looking repre-

FORMS OF TOE ELECTION". 177

sentation of the powerful State of New- York, and
by their side was a solitary individual, who, in his
own person, held all the authority that was to be
exercised on that important day, by the younger com
munity of Indiana. This gentleman, and one or two
others, were men of peculiar importance in an event
like this, since accident had placed them individually
on a level with large bodies of enlightened and dis
creet men. Still it is not probable that they dared
to depart from the known wishes of the people they
represented, so direct and certain is the punishment
which usually attends popular displeasure in this
country.

At the appointed hour, the States began to collect
the voices among themselves. The members voted by
ballot, having established for that purpose, a set of
simple forms by which the votes were collected and
reported to tellers appointed to receive them by the
house. Fraud was impossible, since each college
knew the precise number of its votes, and each indi
vidual deposited his ballot with his own hand. The
duty was soon performed by the smaller States, and
a moment of breathless suspense succeeded while
the representatives of New- York were collecting
their votes. The friends of Mr. Adams had counted
on twelve States with great confidence, but the num
ber and the peculiar policy of the members from
New- York had rendered their vote more doubtful.
The result was, however, soon known on the floor
of the house, as was quite apparent by the look of
suppressed triumph that was playing about the eyes
of certain partisans, and the air of forced composure
that was assumed by their adversaries.

The result was communicated to the Speaker,
(who had himself been a candidate before the elec
toral colleges,) and then it was officially announced
"that thirteen States had given their votes for John
Quincy Adams, for President of the United States

173 AN INTERRUPTION.

during the four years, commencing on the fourth of
March next, and that the said John Quincy Adams
was duly elected/1"'

While the sweet, clear, voice of Mr. Clay was an>
nouncing this important news, 1 never witnessed a
more intense silence in any assembly. The stillness
continued a moment after his words had ceased, and
then followed the low hum of whispers, and imme
diately after, a half involuntary and feeble clapping
of hands was heard in the galleries. This little burst
of exultation on the part of some indiscreet specta
tors, gave me an opportunity of witnessing the man
ner in which the American legislators maintain order
and assert their dignity. " Sergeant-at-arms, clear
the galleries !" commanded the Speaker, in a voice,
that of itself hushed the slightest sound of approba
tion. The officers of the house instantly performed
their duty, and in a few moments those spacious and
commodious seats which were so lately teeming with
conscious human countenances, presented nothing to
the eye but its magnificent colonnade and long rows
of empty benches.

The house soon adjourned, and every body quitted
the Capitol, some filled with joy they could ill sup
press, and others evidently struggling to conceal the
defeat of expectations which had probably been more
fed by hope than reason. The important question
was, however, irretrievably decided by a first vote,
notwithstanding hundreds had anticipated that a strug
gle similar to that of 1801 was about to occur again.

The election had been conducted with great heat,
especially in the public prints, and so much seeming
violence of denunciation had been used during the
discussion, that I confess I was induced to look about
rne, as we quitted the edifice, in quest of the legions
that were to tame so many unquiet spirits, and to

* Thirteen States being a majority of the twenty-four which
now compose the Union, were necessary to a choice.

AIR OF THE UNSUCCESSFUL. 179

teach them submission to an authority that exercised
its functions in forms so simple as those I had just
witnessed. I had heard so much of revolution, and
of the disorders of popular governments, that it did
not appear possible a question which, an hour before,
had filled the minds and voices of men with so much
bitterness, could peaceably subside in quiet, and in
submission to a force that was invisible.

During the preceding week, more than one foreign
functionary had whispered in my ear something that
implied a sneer on the folly of periodically throwing
society so near the verge of dissolution, by enlisting
the passions of the community in a question that em
braced so many important interests as these frequent
elections; and one of them had intimated an expecta
tion that, in the event of his failure, there would be
a rising in favour of a military hero, who was not
accustomed to defeat. I remembered the reply of my
quiet yeoman in the stage-coach, and did not cer
tainly carry my expectations quite so far ; but still it
was inconceivable that passions which had been so
strongly excited, should subside without at least some j
of the usual indications of a disappointed resentment.

While descending Capitol hill, we met a warm
partisan of the unsuccessful candidate, who was

known to us both. "Well, ," said Cadwalla-

der, " what do you intend to do now ? Your man has,
beyond all hope, lost the day." "We shall change
the face of things four years hence," was the answer.
The reply was given in the tone of one who seemed
conscious that he and his friends had been mistake::
in their force, but who, at the same time, felt that
legal means of obtaining a triumph were aftways be
fore him. I must acknowledge, when I found that
one of the most violent partisans I had ever met,
was for deferring his schemes of revenge to a day so
distant as four years, and that he even then contem
plated to effect his object by means of the ballot-box,

180 EFFECT OF THE ELECTIONS.

I began to despair of seeing a revolution in America
during my visit. It is true, that the defeated party
have begun already to raise a clamour against cor
ruptions and bargains; but it is very evident that
they are doing it as mariners place an extra anchor
to windward, to be in readiness for the tempest
which is known to come on periodically.*

The result of this election, and the sudden calm
that succeeded to so much apparent warmth, have
again led me to reflect on the vague and imperfect
impressions which we get in Europe, of the actual
political condition of America. During the war of
1812, one saw monthly accounts, in the journals of
England, that this, or that, State of the confederation
was on the verge of a separation from the Union, and
that distress had driven men to madness and all sorts
of political desperation. If these accounts were pub
lished in good faith, they imply an inconceivable igno
rance of the actual state of the country ; for, unless
the opinions of intelligent men of all parties grossly
deceive me, there never has been one hour since the
adoption of the present constitution, when probably
one thousand natives of the whole United States have
seriously contemplated any such event as likely to be
near. If the paragraphs to which I allude, were

* The writer had an excellent opportunity of witnessing the
effect of the American institutions, shortly after the event above
described, while on a visit to the city of Philadelphia. A for
eigner, who conducted a paper in that city, was so profoundly
ignorant of the people among whom he lived, as to invite a
meeting of the citizens of Pennsylvania, in order to provide
the means of marching to Washington to put down Mr. Adams,
who, it was affirmed, had been elected by means of corruption.
Curiosity dffew thousands of spectators to the appointed spot,
jn order to see what would be done at such a meeting. JN'o
officers appeared to oppose it, and yet the affair ended in the
utter disdain of the whole community. The miserable intruder
on the peaceful habits and common sense of the Americans
was too much despised to be punished for his impudence,
though he could not escape contempt and ridicule.

THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 181

published with a view to deceive the people of Eu
rope, it has induced the inevitable consequences of a
wilful ignorance, viz. disappointment. I am perfectly
satisfied, that a vast majority of the citizens of this
country have more confidence in their own institu
tions than in those of any other nation ; nor can I
find, on a reasonably close examination of the subject,
that they are so very wrong. One thing is certain,
that other nations have made much nearer approaches
to their opinions, during the last half century, than
they have made to the opinions of other nations.*

I have conversed freely on this matter with my
friend Cadwallader. I cannot say that he discusses
the subject with particular gravity ; but one of his
remarks struck me as possessing singular force. "How
is it," he said, "that you, or any stranger who enters
our country, can and does freely discuss the danger
of a dissolution of our confederacy, or the probability
that we shall one day become a monarchy, and that,
too, without giving offence or finding any difficulty in
meeting with disputants ? or how is it that an Ameri
can never goes into an European country, Switzer-

* What are all the changes that have occurred in so many
kingdoms on the continent of Europe, but approaches to the
American system ? It is certainly the fashion, and for obvious
reasons, to look to England as a model for the new constitu
tions, but what is England herself about? The American
would say, that the recent repeal or alteration of the Test Act,
the state of the Catholic question, the disfranchisement of rotten
boroughs, the improvement of the common law, and, in short,
the whole plan of rational reform which now pervades Eng
land, rests on principles, that rather than abandon, his ances
tors preferred to emigrate. When a man states this undeniable
truth, with a view to exult in the superior penetration of his
own people, he should be reminded how very far the most
faultless are from perfection in any thing; but when an Euro
pean insolently and ignorantlv assumes that the United States
are existing in a state of political insecurity, every day and
every hour, the citizen of the latter country lias a natural right
to throw these stubborn facts into the teeth of such supercilious
commentators.

VOL. II. Q

182 TWO SIDES OF THE QUESTION.

land, perhaps, excepted, without finding men, let
their breeding be what it may, who very unequivo
cally let him know that they consider his government
as a chimerical project, and the constitution of his
empire exceedingly frail ; while, on the other hand,
if the American attempt a comparison between his
own government and that of his assailant, he is gen
erally silenced by cold looks and an averted eye?
It is odd that all this sensitiveness, more especially
as the parties exhibiting it rarely fail of being bold
enough on the subject of American democracy,
should abide in the midst of such conscious security.
We all of us know, that most Europeans so far iden
tify themselves with their soil as to believe they have
a moral superiority over the American that is exactly
in proportion to the antiquity of their governments ;
but we also know a fact that commonly escapes their
acuteness. The practices of Europe form part of
our experience ; while Europe knows nothing of our
practices. Answer me one thing. Why does Amer
ica trouble herself so little about the governments of
Europe, while all Europe is demonstrating on papei
that our republics cannot endure ? I think, when
you find the motive of this marked difference, you
will not be far from the secret consciousness which
the two parties have in the strength and durability
of their respective systems."

The evening of the day of the election was one
of those on which Mrs. Monroe opens the doors of
the White House to the motley assemblage I have
already described. Great curiosity was felt by every
one to be present, because it was known that the
principal personages, who had been so recently ex
erting themselves in the question which was just de
cided, were in the habit of paying their respects, on
these occasions, to the wife of the first magistrate.
We went at ten.

Perhaps the company on this evening was a little

THE EVENING OP THE ELECTION. 183

rnor'j numerous than on the preceding drawing-room.
It was composed of the same sort of visiters, and it
was characterized by the same decency of exterior
and of deportment. We found the President and
Mrs. Monroe in their usual places ; the former en
circled by a knot of politicians, and the latter attend
ed by a circle of women, of rather brilliant appear
ance. Most of the Secretaries were near, conversing
cheerfully, like men who had just got rid of an irk
some and onerous toil ; and I thought, by the placid
air of the venerable chief justice, that he was well
content that the harassing question was decided.
The assistant justices of the supreme court were also
present, near the person of the President ; and a
group had collected in the s-ame room ; in the midst
of which I discovered the smiling features and play
ful eye of La Fayette. The Speaker was known to
have favoured the election of Mr. Adams, and I
thought I could trace secret satisfaction at the result
in a countenance that his height elevated above those
of most of his companions. There was no coarse
exultation on the part of the victors, nor any un
manly dejection on that of the defeated. Several of
the latter spoke to us ; and, in reply to the laughing
condolences .of my friend, they made but one re
mark — " We shall see what the next four years will
do."

" How do you do, General Jackson ?" said Cad-
wallader, as we passed out of one drawing-room into
another. The unsuccessful candidate returned the
greeting with his usually mild and graceful mien. I
watched his manly and marked features narrowly,
during the courteous dialogue that followed ; but,
with all my suspicions, it was impossible to trace the
slightest symptoms pf a lurking disappointment. He
left us laughing and conversing cheerfully with some
ladies, who induced him to join their party. A minute
before, he had been seen congratulating his success-

184 THE SUCCESSFUL MAN.

ful rival with great dignity, and with perfect good
nature.

We now entered the last apartment of the suite,
with the hope of finding a cooler atmosphere. A
group of men, among whom perhaps a dozen women
were intermingled, had collected about some object
of common interest. Drawing near, I caught a
glimpse of the cold air which, in contrast to an un
commonly fine and piercing eye, forms so remarka
ble an expression in the countenance of Mr. Adams.
He was certainly in good spirits ; though, had we not
known his recent victory, it is probable that his man
ner would not have been at all remarked. He soon
extricated himself from the crowd, and spoke to two
or three of us who stood together. " Why have you
not been to see us lately ?" he inquired of a member
of Congress, from Virginia : " Mrs. Adams complains
that you were not at her last evening.1" " I have
been there so often this winter, that I began to think
it necessary to be absent for the sake of form."" " Is
that the etiquette ?" " We must ask this question of
you ;" returned the Virginian, laughing, in allusion to
the Secretary's well-known strictures on the subject ;
"you are our authority in all matters of etiquette."
" Well then,11 returned the President elect, with great
good humour, and with the tact of a courtier; "4 1

pronounce it to be always etiquette for Mr. to

visit Mrs. Adams."*

* Mr. Adams and General Jackson are again candidates for
the presidency. As the contest is as yet confined to these two,
and it is so shortly to be decided (in December of 1828,) it is
probable that one of them will be chosen. What the writer
now states, he says understandingly. A good deal is certainly
said concerning the inexperience of General Jackson, and
some press the circumstance of his chief merit being military)
as a reason against him. There is not a man in the Union who,
however, seriously apprehends any danger from his election.
It is false that he is not supported by wary and prudent men.
The writer can name a hundred gentlemen in the middle States,
of education, of fortune, and of religion, too, who are his warm

( 135 }

TO SIR EDWARD WALLER, BART.

Washington,

YESTERDAY, while walking with Cadwallader on
the banks of the Potomac, we saw a group of gen
tlemen, in the midst of whom we distinguished the
animated features of La Fayette, moving towards a
steam-boat that was waiting their arrival. A moment
of explanation induced us to join the party, which
was about to visit the tomb of Washington.

Mount Vernon, an estate which the hero inherited
from an elder brother, lies on the river at the dis
tance of about two hours' sailing towards the sea.
The boat was rather more crowded than was desira
ble for such a visit ; but the circumstances left us no
choice. We passed the little city of Alexandria on
our route, and reached the point of destination within
a reasonable time of our departure.

The estate of Mount Vernon was left by the will
of its late possessor to his nephew, Mr. Bushrod
Washington, who has long been one of the assistant
justices of the supreme court of the United States.
The country, immediately about the dwelling, is much
wooded ; the land being neither particularly level,
nor yet very uneven. The house stands on a rather

friends. The question is altogether one of men, there being
scarcely a measure of policy that is likely to be much affected
by the result. A great deal of the popularity of General Jack
son is owing to an injudicious and presuming opposition, which
has foolishly ascribed a danger to his success, that is as false, a.s
his friends are determined to manifest it is ridiculous. But men
may well hesitate about rejecting so tried a patriot, and so ex
perienced a statesman, as Mr. Adams.

Q2

186 MOUNT VERXOX.

sudden rise, which may be elevated more than a
hundred feet above the level of the water. The
ascent from the river is quite precipitous, though the
ground falls away to the north and to the south, with
rather more regularity. The building is placed on the
highest point; a position which scarcely leaves room
for a very narrow lawn between it and the brow of
the declivity in front. In the rear, the formation of
the ground is level, for some distance, and tolerably
extensive gardens communicate with the inner or
back court.

The house of Mount Vernon is constructed of a
frame-work, whose interstices, I am informed, are
filled with bricks. The exterior covering is of planks,
concealed in such a manner as to give it, at a little
distance, the appearance of being made of hewn stone.
The interior finish is like that of any other better sort
of mansion. The length of the whole edifice cannot
greatly exceed one hundred feet; and I should think
that, in depth, it is something less than fifty. There
are, however, two semicircular chains of oilices,
which project from each of its ends towards the rear,
something in the form of sweeping galleries. These
additions serve to give the building much more of an
air of size from the side of the gardens than from that
of the river. Towards the east (the riverfront) there
is a colonnade which supports a roof that is continued
from the main edifice. Though the pillars are very
simple, the effect of a colonnade, so lofty and so long,
is rather striking ; and, on the whole, it leaves an im
pression that the house was one not altogether un
worthy of its simple but illustrious possessor.

The interior of the building is exceedingly irregu
lar, though far from inconvenient. I had full leisure
for its examination, while a solemn scene was taking
place at the tomb. La Fayette had been permitted to
go to this sacred spot, unattended by any except the
immediate members of the two families. I was per-

HOUSE OF MOUNT VERNON. 187

mitted, by an especial favour, to pass up the ascent
by another path, and to examine the rest of the
grounds and the mansion.

There was but one considerable apartment in the
dwelling. This was a drawing-room that occupied the
whole width of the house, with a proper proportion
of its length. The rest of the rooms were small, and
of arrangements to prove that they were constructed
before the master of the mansion was in the habit of
receiving more guests than fell to the share of a pri
vate gentleman. Most of the furniture was of the
time of the hero. It was exceedingly simple, though
I thought it quite good enough, in fashion and in form,
for a country residence. The principal drawing-room
had more the air of a reception-room than the others,
which were altogether in a quiet, comfortable, and
domestic taste. There was a library, that is rather
large for America, but which, in Europe, would be
thought very small for the habitation of a man of any
eminence.

I looked on all these things with a deep and in
creasing emotion. The house, at the moment, with
the exception of Cadwallader and myself, and a do
mestic who showed us through the rooms, was entirely
empty. More than once, as my hand touched a lock-
to open some door, I felt the blood stealing up my
arm, as the sudden conviction flashed on my mind
that the member rested on a place where the hand of
Washington had probably.been laid a thousand times.
That indescribable, but natural and deeply grateful,
feeling beset me, which we all are made to know
when the image of a fellow-mortal, who has left a .
mighty name on earth, is conjured before us by the
imagination in the nearest approaches to reality that
death, and time, and place, and the whisperings of an
excited fancy, will allow. There was a sort of secret
desire, rather than an expectation, of finding some
thing more than what reason told me to expect; and

183 A RELIC>

I passed from parlour to parlour, in my haste, until
my companions were left behind, and I found myself
alone in a sort of upper office of the mansion. I shall
never forget the sensation that I felt, as my eye gazed
on the first object it encountered. It was an article
of no more dignity than a leathern fire-bucket ; but.
the words "Geo. Washington" were legibly written
on it in white paint. I know not how it was, but the
organ never altered its look until the name stood be
fore my vision distinct, insulated, and almost endowed
with the attributes of the human form. The deception
was aided by all the accessories which the house
could furnish. Just at that instant, my friend, who is
a man of tall stature and grave air, appeared in the
adjoining door, without speaking. I felt the blood
creeping near my heart with awe, nor did the illusion
vanish until Cadwallader passed before me, and laid
a hand, with a melancholy smile, on the words, and
then retired towards the grounds, with a face that 1
thought he would gladly conceal.

We were shown into the gardens and green
houses. In the latter, the domestic culled us a bou
quet of hot-house flowers; and> turning to a box
which lay at hand, he took a sheet of paper, and,
enveloping their stems, presented them to my friend.
Cadwallader received them thoughtfully; but his
mind was too much occupied at the moment to attend
to so trifling an occurrence. We had returned to the
city, and were at our late dinner, when his eye seem
ed riveted, by some charm, on the paper that en
circled this little offering. Scattering the flowers on
evevy side of him, he laid the paper on the table, and
read its contents with breathless eagerness. It proved
to be a sheet torn from a farming journal of the mod
ern Cincinnatus, which had been kept in his own
hand. The writing was distinct, though there were
many technical abbreviations : the pages were with
out blot or erasure, and the precision of the language

RECOLLECTION OF M. GEO. LA FAYETTE. 189

and the minuteness of the details were rigidly exact.
The precious morsel was divided, and each of us took
his portion, like men who were well content with the
possession of some sacred relic.

When we left the green-house, we were joined hy
the party of the veteran Frenchman. We had part
ed at the margin of the water, and each of us had
found subjects for reflection that were alike pleasing
and painful. Just before we separated, there had
been a little hesitation in the choice of the path that
led to the mansion. " Let me show you the way,"
cried M. George La Fayette, eagerly, but with evi
dent emotion : " I know all the paths of Mount Ver-
non." Twenty-five years before, during the exile of
his natural parent, he had been intrusted to Wash
ington, as to a second father, and he now rushed for
ward, full of his recollections, to point out a route
that time and momentous scenes in another hemi
sphere, had not blotted from his memory. I shall
not attempt to describe what passed at the vault
during the visit of La Fayette. He was powerfully
affected, and the recess of the dead was opened to
his admission. When he joined us, it was evident
that his feelings had been wrought up to a high and
painful point ; and I thought his eye wandered over
the familiar objects of the dwelling, as if every thing
keenly reminded him that he who gave them life and
interest, had passed away from the moving scenes of
the earth into the solemn quiet of the place he had
just quitted. We took the occasion of his absence
from the spot, to go ourselves to the tomb. As Cad-
walladcr knew the way, I had no other companion.

The family vault of Mount Vernon stands near the
brow of the declivity, at a little distance from the
mansion, and at the point where the ground begins
to fall away to the south. It is as plain and simple
as can be well imagined. The excavation in the
earth is neither large nor deep, and the small portion

J90 THE VAULT WASHINGTON.

of the work that is visible in front, is a dead wall of
bricks. The door was low, humble and unornament-
ed— a more meek and fitting passage to the narrow
house of the dead than thresholds and arches of mock
ing architecture. The earth is rounded over the
summit of the vault, and a few stunted and sickly
cedars have taken root on and about it.

I have stood by the side of many a boasted and
admired tomb ; but by none with the awe and reve
rence with which I gazed on this. The dark days
of the revolution, the gloom and difficulties which
threatened the first hours of the present government,
the cheerful and prosperous scenes through which I
had so recently passed, crowded on my memory, and
produced a teeming picture in which the most prom
inent object was the form of the man whose ashes
were mouldering beneath my feet.

I have ever been an ardent, and were there not so
much reason to support me, I might say an enthusi
astic admirer of Washington. His character, unlike
that of the heroes of other days, is most illustrious
when seen at the nearest approach. Those who
lived the closest to his person, and who possessed
the best opportunity of studying his moral qualities,
are touched with the deepest reverence for his vir
tues. The narrative of his private deeds is the
counterpart of the history of his public acts. They
were alike founded on the immutable principles of
justice and truth. Men already regard him with the
admiration with which they gaze at a severe statue
of antiquity. He stands, naked of meretricious orna
ment, but grand in the majesty of reason.

Some, who know little of the history of the man,
or of his nation, confound the images of his renown,
by blending his merit with deeds that it was the for
tune of no one to perform in America. This was not
the country of Alexanders and Napoleons.

The useful career of Washington commenced at

WASHINGTON. 191

an age when men are occupied in fitting themselves
for the active scenes of life. Before he had attained
his majority, he was employed by his native province
in situations of high trust. Even at that early period
of life, he had established a character for firmness,
integrity, prudence, disinterestedness, and humanity,
which attended him to the jffcaceful grave in which
I found his venerated ashes. There was an unpre
tending, but imposing dignity thrown about the per
son and character of this extraordinary youth, that
distinguished him in every future scene. As a sol
dier, his career had been circumscribed, as a politi
cian, he had enjoyed no opportunities to earn distinc
tion, and yet, when the hour of trial came, the eyes
of a nation sought him anxiously. The Congress of
the Union, composed of men from differently consti
tuted and distant provinces, summoned him by a
common impulse to lead its armies. The influence
of his character had been silently extending itself
over the vast regions whose fortunes were trusted to
his care. His rise to power was degraded by no in
trigue ; its exercise was stained by no abuse. The
times required that a popple, jealous beyond prece
dent of their rights, should trust a large portion of
their destinies to the keeping of a single man. They
calmly, dispassionately, and wisely made their elec
tion ; confidence was nobly bestowed, meekly receiv
ed, and gloriously requited !

The sword of Washington did not leap from its
scabbard with the eagerness of military pride, or with
the unbridled haste of one willing to make human
life the sacrifice of an unhallowed ambition. It was
deliberately drawn at the call of his country, but with
a reluctance that came deep from the heart, and with
a diffidence that acknowledged the undisputed do
minion of his God. He went forth to battle with
the meekness of a mortal, the humanity of a Chris
tian, the devotedness of a patriot, and the resolution

192 WASHINGTON*

of a victor. As his object was limited by a righteous
moderation, so were his intentions to achieve it,
bounded only by success. In the air, the declarations,
and the pledges of such a man, we are not to look
for dramatic effect, or promises that were made tc
be forgotten. He took the trust his country offered;
because it was the pleasure of that country he should
do so ; and when its duties were excellently per
formed, he returned it to the hands from whence it
had come, with a simplicity which spoke louder than
a thousand protestations. The integrity of such a
mind needed no stimulants from the pages of history.
Its impulses were drawn from a higher source. Its
self-denial was not a victory over opportunity, and
occasion, and power, and all the natural promptings
of busy man ; but it was a silent, enduring, princi
pled, and unconquerable will to refuse to admit tempt
ation. So far as the human heart can be judged by
outward symptoms, there never was a moment \vhen
this true hero ever suffered his thoughts to change
their righteous and devoted direction; there never
was a moment when men, in the least competent to
speak on the subject, ever suspected him of any other
object than patriotism. It is impossible to look closely
into the conduct and motives of this man, and not
to feel that his simple rule of morals said, self before
dishonour, my country before self, and God before all.
It is the common fate of heroes to suffer by inti
macy ; but the private life of Washington was as
beautiful, as his public was glorious. The latter was
no more than an expansion of those principles which
controlled the former. The same sternness of in
tegrity, the same simplicity of purpose, could always
be traced in that familiar conduct in which most men
fail. It is a fact worthy of remark, that his most
confidential correspondence is still in existence, in
viting scrutiny, and challenging comment. There
was a time when reverses and calumny, and weari-

WASHINGTON. 193

ness of goffering, had made a party of his country
men impatient of his government. A few misguided
individuals would have elevated a chief of untried
abilities to the post he rilled. The machinations of
his enemies were known to Washington. Accident,
rather than merit, had placed his rival in a situation
to^reap a glory far exceeding that which had then
fallen to the share of any leader in the contest. But
the issue of events still rested on contingencies.
Washington saw the crisis from a distance, and though
unfortunate, and opposed to a victorious and power
ful foe, he stripped himself of force, in order to in
sure a good to his country, that would probably hasten
his own downfall. But the nation saw the sacrifice
and too well knew the estimate of merit to be de
ceived. Still it required that a high reward should
be bestowed on the successful general. He received
another trust, and sank under an incompetency that
no longer was supported by the extraordinary talent
of subordinates. Then it was that the soul of Wash
ington was exhibited in its native power. The bruised
spirit of foiled ambition was solaced, and so solaced,
that the disappointed rejoiced in the sympathy of
success.

The character of Washington was Doric, in all
its proportions. Its beauty is the beauty of harmony
between purpose and means, and its grandeur is ow
ing to its chaste simplicity. Like the order of archi
tecture to which I have ventured to ascribe a resem
blance, it is not liable to the details of criticism. You
see it in its majesty of outline, in its durability, and
in its admirable adaptation to usefulness ; but it rests
on a foundation too firm, and it upholds a superstruc
ture too severe, to be familiarly dissected. His fame
already resembles that which centuries have pro
duced for other men, while it owes no portion of its
purity to the mist of time. Truth, bold, clear, and
radiant, is the basis of his renown ; and truth will
VOL. IL R

194 WASHINGTON.

bear bis name to posterity in precisely tbe same sim
ple and just attributes as it was known to tbose who
lived in his immediate presence.

The age has been prolific of character, and it
should be prolific in the lessons it conveys. I think
a mighty moral is taught by the careers of Washing
ton and Napoleon. A parallel between these emi
nent men is impossible ; but a comparison is easy in
deed. To say that the former lived for others, and
the latter solely for himself, is to say no more than
what most men see, and feel, and acknowledge. To
endeavour to magnify the exploits of the latter, by
putting them in contrast with those of the former,
would°be unjust, since accident and not merit was at
the bottom of this distinction. It should, however,
never be forgotten, that the first achieved all he aimed
at, which was all that man should do ; and that the
last failed, from an incompetency of estimating his
own powers. The error of the latter is the more
unpardonable, since, to gross want of judgment, must
be added unworthiness of purpose ; nor is it in any
degree lessened by the circumstance that he sinned
in the presence of so bright and so glorious an ex
ample. If there be any so weak as to believe the
asseverations of Napoleon, that he fought for aught
but self, let them try his patriotism by the same test
as that of Washington. It is true that, in mere ex
tent of achievement, the hero of France vastly out
stripped the patriot of America ; but the latter not
only wanted a theatre for his actions, but he was of
ten^ deficient in means. Merit is of a nature too com
parative to be rashly reduced to results ; but strip
these men of their accidental and adventitious advan
tages, and regard them steadily. The military career
of Napoleon was run in the current of prosperity,
while that of Washington was a constant, but manly
struggle, against a combination of the most adverse
circumstances. In addition to this important fact,

WASHINGTON. 195

the one considered his troops as the devoted instru
ments of his own purposes, and he used them accord
ingly , while the other looked on his followers not
only as the sole guardians of a country to which they
were devoted, but as an important portion of that
community for whose happiness he was contending.
Napoleon was greatest in prosperity ; hut the fame
of Washington is as equal as his character.

They who believe that America would not have
been free without Washington, neither understand
the part he acted, nor the people who intrusted him
with power. The war of 1776 was purely a war
of principle. Remonstrance and petition had been
exhausted, and no duty of forbearance was neglected.
All that justice, and temper, and mercy required,
had been done before the sword was drawn at all.
When it was determined to resist, it became necessa
ry to choose a leader worthy of a cause so righteous ;
one who would give dignity to the quarrel in the eyes
of nations ; who would secure confidence at home,
and who could command respect from those who
were bent on submission to their will. These diffi
cult duties did Washington perform, in a manner to
exceed the hopes of the most sanguine. His enemies
never dared to assail his integrity. No man was ever
sufficiently hardy to affect to distrust his motives.
While he wielded a power little short of that of a
dictator, and wielded it firmly and with steadiness,
the governed never knew uneasiness. So far from
aiming at an unjust purpose, he checked, not with
Roman severity, but with the directness and sim
plicity of an honest man, the least approach to that
disorder or disaffection in his troops, which, if any
thing could do it in a country like this, would have
effected the views of a personal ambition. On all
occasions, he steadily regarded duty, and disregarded
self. Nor were opportunities wanting, of which a
man less pure might be tempted to profit. The dis-

196 WASHINGTON.

content of his unrequited army at the close of the
contest, might have deluded a less devoted patriot ;
and ambition itself could not desire a hetter pretext
for urging a stronger government on the nation, than
the resistance to the law, which occurred in the
powerful State of Pennsylvania so soon after his
election to the presidency. Perhaps history does
not record an instance of an insurrection which
threatened to be more dangerous to infant institu
tions than this ; and it is certain that history does
not record an instance in which resistance to the
laws was more promptly, and at a less expense of
blood, subdued. But the glory of Washington is to
be sought in the whole tenor of his life ; in the bright
example, and in the stern lesson of virtue that he
has exhibited to the age, and which he has bequeath
ed to posterity. lie is the only public man, since
the general use of letters has rendered communica
tion easy and judgments critical, that has, by com
mon consent, purchased an imperishable, and, what
is far more glorious, an unsullied name.

It is cheering to virtue to know how lasting and
more certain are its rewards, than the temporary and
doubtful fame which attends the mere conqueror.
In what but the accidental attributes of a more ad
vanced state of civilization, does Napoleon materially
differ from Jenghis Khan? His contemporaries are
already treating him with severity ; and, before an
other age is passed, and passion and personal antipa
thies shall have ceased, his career will lose one-half
of its lustre by the active agency of truth. How
different has been the lot of Washington ! Pie has
not yet been in his tomb for half the life of man, and
the world have already placed him at the side of the
brightest names of antiquity. The young, and the
restless, and the weak of mind, may still find matter
of applause in the career of Napoleon ; but it is the
thoughtful, the good, and the experienced, who see

WASHINGTON. 197

the most to admire in the deeds, and the most to
reverence in the character of Washington.

Until I stood by the side of the grave of this illus
trious man, 1 had never ceased to reproach his coun
try with neglect, in not having reared a monument
of marhle to his memory. But as I lingered, for
near an hour, about the humble vault which holds
his remains, it was impossible not to feel how much
stronger is the impression left by character, in a place
where no accessories of art exist to distract its mus
ings. If I were an American, it would be the wish
nearest to my heart to see the estate of Mount Ver-
non pass into the keeping of the nation, in order that
it might be preserved, as nearly as possible, in its
present condition. The vault should be kept in the
touching and peaceful quiet in which it is now seen ;
and when foreigners ask for the monument of their
hero, let them be referred, with honest pride, to that
liberty, and to those institutions which grew on the
confidence of the world, under his wise and patriotic
guidance. If there be a name in the records of his
tory that can afford to stand before the eyes of criti
cism devoid of artificial aid, it is that of the man who
now sleeps beneath a few stunted cedars, and with
in mouldering walls of brick, on the banks of the
Potomac.

( 198 )

TO THE PROFESSOR JANSEN,

SfC. %C.

Philadelphia,

CONGRESS necessarily rose on the night of the 4th
of March. You must have learned from my previous
letters, that a Congress lasts but two years, commenc
ing on the 4th of March of one year, and terminating
on the 3d of March of the year but one following.
Of course it would be necessary to convene the new
members, in order to proceed in legislation after the
prescribed period. This can be, and has been, done,
in times of need, but the usual practice is to let the
bodies separate, at the end of what is called the
"short session." The terms of short and long session
are easily explained. The constitution requires that
Congress should assemble on the first Monday in
December of each year, unless it has adjourned to a
different period, or is expressly convened by a call
from the President. On the first year of the service
of the members, it is plain they may sit as long as
they please; but on the second, their term of service
expires on the 3d of March, As one-third of the
Senators, and perhaps about the same number of the
Representatives, usually retire every two years, it
would be necessary to summon those who supply
their places, should the public service require an
immediate continuation of the legislative duties. The
Senate sometimes sits a day or two after the lower
house has adjourned, in order to attend to what is
called executive business (the approval of nominations
to office.) The practice is, I believe, uniform, at the
end of a presidential term, in order to give the new
incumbent an opportunity to name his cabinet. In

MR. JEFFERSON. 199

all such cases, the new Senators are summoned in
time to attend. Of course, no legislative business
can then be done.

Late on the evening of the 3d of March, Congress
rose ; but, in point of fact, the change of executive
power was not made until the President elect took
the oath of office. This ceremony took place about
noon of the following day. In 1801, when Mr.
Adams, the elder, went out of office, he made sundry
nominations which were confirmed by the old Sena
tors on the evening of the 3d of March. Mr. Jeffer
son, his successor, refused to ratify these appoint
ments. He took the ground that, as President, he
had the power to appoint to office, the Senate only
possessing, in effect, a veto. Now, the new function
aries had not received their commissions, and no one
could, constitutionally, sign them but the actual Presi
dent; this, the actual President refused to do, and of
course there were no appointments, since it is by no
means incumbent on the President to appoint an
officer, even after the Senate has approved of his
name, the power of the latter going no farther than
their negative. It could be of no moment, except in
the appointment of a judge, whether the President
appointed these officers or not, since, in all other
cases, he possesses the power of removal, the com
missions invariably running — " this commission to
continue in force during the pleasure of the President
of the United States for the time being.1"

. The President absolutely appoints certain inferior
officers of the government, such as midshipmen, mas
ters, gunners, &c. &c., in the navy, and all the cadets
that enter the army; but, in point of fact, a great deal
of republican equality is observed in the distribution
of even these small favours. The plan is to give to
each State officers in proportion to its representa
tives ; still the absolute selection is with the Presi
dent. All the postmasters in the country, who are,

200 APPOINTMENTS TO OFFICE.

in truth, only deputies of the postmaster-general, re
ceive their commissions from the latter oilicer. Of
course the President, who can at any time remove
the postmaster-general, has a controlling voice in all
the superior appointments of that department. The
Secretaries also appoint their own clerks, and there
is a considerable patronage in the hands of the Sec
retary of the Treasury, who names several hundred
officers, in the different custom-houses, that receive
salaries of between five hundred and a thousand dol
lars each. The constitution indicates certain officers
who shall be nominated to the Senate. It then s;oes
on to say, that all others must be similarly appointed,
unless Congress, by law, shall see fit to trust the
power in the President, or in the heads of depart
ments. As yet, Congress has seen fit to do both ; but
should the trusts be abused, it always possesses the
power to repeal its own enactments.

A great deal is said in Europe concerning the econ
omy of this government. It is the subject of much
ridicule, and of high praise, on our side of the Atlantic.
In order to form a just opinion on the subject, it is
necessary to ascertain some of the leading facts.

You will always remember, that as there exists a
double form of government, there are double sets of
officers to be paid. This circumstance, however,
does not add in any great degree to the expense,
since no duty is performed twice. The President of
the United States receives a salary of twenty-five
thousand dollars a year. This sum can neither be
increased nor diminished during his term of service.
He is also supplied with a furnished house. On this
salary the President can live like a gentleman who
receives a good deal of company, and it is thought he
may even lay by a reasonable excess yearly. Per
haps, considering the nature of the government, the
income is about what it should be. The heads of
departments receive six thousand dollars each, and

SALARIES. 201

no house. Their salaries are too low, since they
scarcely aiford the means of creditable subsistence to
men in their public situations. It is probable, how
ever, that the country will, ere long, erect buildings
for the residence of these officers, and increase their
pay a little. There is no plausible reason why it
should be so much inferior to that of the President.
The chief justice of the United States receives five
thousand dollars a year^and each of the assistant jus
tices four thousand five hundred. The judges of the
district courts are paid from eight hundred to three
thousand dollars a year, according to the amount
of their services. The Vice-President gets five thou
sand dollars a year. The members of Congress re
ceive eight dollars a day, each, while at Washington,
and eight dollars for every twenty miles of -their route
in going and returning. Ministers plenipotentiary
receive nine thousand dollars a year salary, the same
sum for an outfit, and one-fourth of it to defray the
expenses of their return home. This pay is much
too small, certainly ; and it is as unwise in its gene
rality, as in its amount. It is unjust to pay a man
who is compelled to live in London, for instance,
the same sum as a man who is compelled to live in
Madrid. It is unwise to neglect to use, in a rational
degree, an influence that other people acknowledge,
whatever may be its inherent merit, or whatever
may be the opinion of the people of the United
States themselves on the subject. Their motive in
sending ministers abroad, is interest: and we, who
know the effect of a little appearance in our hemi
sphere, know that he is a gainer who consults the
prejudices of those with whom he is required to
dwell. But independently of this truth, which must,
however, be taken with a proper degree of qualifica
tion, in many places, the agents of this government
cannot subsist with a proper degree of comfort on
their salaries. No man can maintain the establish-

202 SALARIES,

ment of a private gentleman and educate four or five
children well, on two thousand pounds a year, in
London. Consuls receive no pay (as such.) The
collectors of the customs are paid in proportion to
their duties, limiting the receipts to less than live
thousand dollars a year. A similar plan is observed
with postmasters, and sundry other officers ; the
maximum of pay varying according to the impor
tance of the office. Although*the higher functionaries
of this government are not often paid as well as they
should be, the lower officers are very generally well
rewarded. Salaries of two or three thousand dollars,
for situations of no great dignity, are not uncommon,
and there are many subordinates who receive from
eight to twelve hundred. In short, the object, though
it sometimes fails, is to make all classes of men com
fortable, without furnishing the means of a useless
splendour to any. The errors that have undoubtedly
been made, are the unavoidable results of a popular
government in which official men are sometimes re
luctant to incur a responsibility that leads to no very
important results. 1 think that time will correct
them ; and, should it not, the evil is one of far less
magnitude than that which is entailed by a lavish
expenditure of the public money.

The whole of the civil, diplomatic, and miscella
neous expenses of this government, for the year 1826,
were 2,600,177 dollars. This is, however, exclusive
of the cost of the State governments, and the cost of
collecting the revenue. The latter is about 750,000
dollars. The military expenditure was 6,243,236
dollars. But the greater part of this sum was for the
erection of fortifications, for ordnance, arming the
militia,. Indian department, and pensions of soldiers
of the revolution, &c. The actual cost of the army,
pay, subsistence and clothing included, was about
2,000,000 of dollars. That so extensive a country
can protect itself at so cheap a rate, is in some

EXPENSE OF GOVERNMENT. 203

measure owing to its remote situation, but chiefly to
its institutions, which trust its defence to the citi
zens. A vast deal is clearly gained, by thus limiting
resistance to its foreign enemies. I do not think that
the pressure of a crowded population can produce any
material difference, since the present system of Amer
ica must ever make it the interest of a great majority
to preserve order. A soldier in the army receives
five dollars a month pay, with his clothes and victuals.
The officers are paid according to rank.* The other
expenses of the army are of a temporary nature, and
furnish no clue to future estimates.

The nuvy of the United States, for the same year
(182G) cost 4,218,902 dollars. But this sum is also
liable to a great deal of explanation. The United
States, to be in readiness to meet any emergency,
maintain a corps of about 950 officers. Their pres
ent policy is to foster this corps, and consequently no
one member of it is put on half-pay, except at his
own desire. The pay and subsistence of the officers,
and the pay of the men, actually afloat (rather more
than 5,000 in all,) somewhat exceeds a million of
dollars. In this number, too, about one-tenth are
quarter-deck officers. Much of the money is for the
expenses of navy -yards, and the ordinary. About
300,000 dollars are for the provisions of the men.
The rest is for the increase of the navy, arrearages,
and for the support of the marine corps, of whom

* A soldier enlists for five years. He receives the following
articles of clothing during that period, viz. five uniform coats;
three cotton jackets with sleeves; three woollen ditto ditto;
ten pairs of gray woollen overalls; ten pairs of drilling ditto;
three fatigue frocks ; five trowsers ; ten pairs of laced boots ;
ten ditto shoes ; ten flannel shirts : ten cotton ditto ; ten pairs
of stockings ; ten ditto socks ; two leathern stocks ; one great
coat ; three blankets ; five pairs of wings ; four pompons f two
cockades and eagles; four bands and tassels ; one leathern cap-
cover, plate, scales and ball ; one forage-cap, and ten pairs of
flannel drawers.

204 EMOLUMENTS OF THE OFFICERS, ETC.

nearly 1 ,000 are employed. The latter are, of course,
in addition to the sea oiiicers and seamen. It would
be troublesome to separate the several parts of these
expenditures in ssuch a manner as to give a clear and
simple statement of each and all of them; but as the
American government publishes the most minute
documents on these subjects, it is in the power of airy
one to do it who has sufficient interest in the subject
to pursue so elaborate an inquiry. I shall content my
self with the main results, coupled with such facts of
a general nature, as I think may reward you for the
pain of deciphering my letters.*

* In the January number (LXXIII.) of the Quarterly Re
view, there is an article on the United States of America. The
reviewer speaks boldly of the American navy, for he professes
to treat of a work written by an English naval officer, who, in
his turn, had also written a little decidedly on the same subject.
In a note attached to the end of this volume, the writer has en
deavoured to show in what points his information differs from
that of both reviewer and reviewed, in respect to this important
branch of the American policy. His present object is, how
ever, confined to expenditure." In page 279 of the said Review,
is the following sentence: "With this small number of men"
(4,268,) " the establishments of the dock-yards on a very limited
scale, and the civil branches of the service, a mere trifle, the
sum expended for the naval department in 1826, was 4,222,952
dollars, or close upon one million sterling. In the printed
report of the secretary of the treasury, now before the writer,
Letter F. page 39, is a minute statement of the expenditure of
the naval establishment for the year 1826. The gross amount
is 4,218,902 dollars, 45 cents. From this Report the following
items are extracted • " Repairs of vessels, 485,970 ; ship-nouses'
44,296 ; gradual increase of the navy, 793,704 ; ten sloops of
war, 506,163; prohibition of slave trade, 22,220; pay and sub
sistence of marine corps (which is not included in the before
mentioned number of men,) 219,686:" and no less a sum than
294,380 for improvements and additions to navy-yards, besides
a number of small miscellaneous items, that make together
about 110.000 more. The figures are all meant to represent
dollars, and together they make 2,576,419, or something more
than one-half the sum that the reviewer has taken for premises
by which he wishes to show that the Americans maintain a
small force, at an enormous expense. Not one of the items here
enumerated, properly belongs to the expense of the small
number of men, the civil branches of the service, or the estab
lishments of the dock-yards, unless additions and improvements

EXPENSE OF GOVERNMENT. 205

All the appointments of a captain of the navy, in
command of a shore station, are worth something less
than four thousand dollars a year, exclusive of a
house. When in command of a vessel, his pay is
considerably less. There is a difference made in the
case of a vessel of a very small size, though the com
mander of a 44 receives as much as the commander
of a 74. But the pay of both the army and navy
should not be considered as permanently established,
especially of the latter service, which is just beginning
to receive, in all its branches, that grave attention that
its vital importance to the security and dignity of the
nation demands.

You will perceive that, as a rule, the inferior
agents of the American government are better paid
than the same description of individuals in the em
ployment of almost any other nation, while the higher
officers receive less.*

The positive annual expenses of the American
government are not far from 13,000,000 dollars. Of
this sum, rather more than three millions and a half
are for the interest of the national debt. But the odd
half million is met by the dividends of bank stock,
for the purchase of which several millions of the

to the latter can be thus considered. Independently of all this,
the balance not only supports the service afloat, &c. &c. but it
keeps all the officers of the navy (with perhaps a dozen volun
tary exceptions) on full pay. The writer here leaves the mat
ter between the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States,
and the contributor to the Quarterly Review. — See Note A.
end of the volume.

* The expenditure for the year 1828, is estimated as follows :
the result rarely differing materially from these calculations.
Civil, diplomatic, and miscellaneous, 1,828,385 dollars; mili
tary service, including fortifications, ordnance, Indian depart
ment, provisions, arming of militia, &c. 4,332,091 dollars;
naval service, including the gradual increase of the navy,
3,788,349 dollars, making a total for the regular expenses of the
government, including sums previously voted for erecting forts
•incl building ships, of 9,947, 125 dollars. The interest of the debt
is not contained in this amount.

VOL. II. S

206 EXPENSES OF GOVERNMENT.

debt were created. The actual outgoings, there*
fore, for the current service of the country, all im
provements and constructions included, are within
10,000,000 dollars. Every thing is so much on the
advance in the United States, that it is difficult to
arrive at an exact understanding of what is meant by
current expenditure. Thus, of 2,600,177 dollars,
which formed the amount of the civil, miscellaneous
and diplomatic head of the account (for the year
1826,) near 1,200,000 dollars were miscellaneous
enough, as the charges included 188,000 dollars for
light-houses, near 300,000 for canal stock, and more
than 200,000 for old claims arising out of the war of
1812. The real civil list of that year, exclusive of
diplomacy, was 1,256,745 dollars, and the cost of all
the diplomacy of the country was 180,103 dollars.
This trifling sum supported the whole expense and
contingencies, in short, the entire cost of more than
twenty different missions in Europe, Africa, and Amer
ica. It is worthy of remark, that the diplomacy of
this country is managed about as well as that of most
nations ; and I am of opinion, that, when its power
shall become sufficiently great to be dreaded, it will
be found to be still more successful.

The clear revenue of the United States, from the
customs alone, is now (1828) about 20,000,000 of
dollars. As this source of receipts produces in itself
a great excess over all the outgoings, there are no
direct impositions laid by the general government.
The debt is in the course of rapid extinguishment,
and as the interest is annually diminished, the ability
of the country to increase its expenditure is of course
increased. Notwithstanding this prosperous state of
the public purse, the most rigid economy is observed;
a circumstance that it is idle to say is produced by
any other cause than the direct agency of the people
on the administration.

Thus far we have not touched on the salaries of

EXPENSES OF GOVERNMENT. 207

the State governments at all. They are graduated,
however, on the same scale of expense, the richest
and largest of these communities rarely paying as
much to the public servants as the general govern
ment There is undoubtedly, in some few instances.
as in the legislatures and judiciaries, a double set of
officers to support ; but, when one remembers the
great extent of the country, it will be seen that, under
any other form of government, it would be impossible
to avoid this expense. No single set of judges could
travel over this great surface in times sufficiently
short to administer justice equally and promptly, nor
could one great and central legislative body enact all
the local laws that are absolutely necessary to a
country so new and so vast.

The only reply that the enemies of America (and
they are all the enemies of liberty) can urge, when
her example is pointed to in support of the doctrine
of economy, is founded on the fact of the double form
of its government, and the additional expense that is
consequently incurred, I know of but two ways in
which we can arrive sufficiently near the truth to
ascertain whether this additional cost raises the ex
penses of the American to the level of those of the
European or not. The one (and is it not infallible ?)
is to compare the amount of contributions paid by the
parties ; and the other is to attempt to reach the cost of
governing some particular portion of the confederacy,
and then to make the necessary comparisons between
it and some equal community in our hemisphere.
We will endeavour to do both.

The State of New-York contains one-seventh of
the entire population of the Union. One-seventh
of 2,600, 177 dollars, the whole amount of the " civil,
diplomatic, and miscellaneous expenses" of the gene
ral government for the year (182G) is 371,453. This
dividend includes more than one million of miscella
neous expenditure, such as " light-houses,'1 " stock in

EXPENSES OF GOVERNMENT.

canal companies," and " payment of claims for build
ings destroyed in the war;'' but no matter, we will
take the amount in gross. Now the whole expendi
ture of the civil list of the State of New- York, is about
350,000 dollars. The two sums make 721,453 dol
lars. Here you have 1,700,000 inhabitants receiving
justice at their own doors, internal protection, legis
lation in the utmost convenient form possible, and all
the more general advantages of government, for the
sum of less than half a dollar a head annually. If you
divide the military and naval expenses of the United
States by seven, you have the entire pecuniary charge
that they defray, not only for the current expenses,
but for the material provisions they are making for
future defence.* The States are at no other mate
rial expenses than those attached to the civil list,
unless it be for the purpose of domestic improve
ments, and even a great portion of the latter is thus
defrayed, in the salaries of the employes.

Of incidental expenses the American pays less,
considering his means, than the inhabitant of any
other nation. Their city corporations, with the ex
ception of one or two, are cheap, and little or no
money is expended in mere show. There are no
church establishments, and the religious contributions
are therefore voluntary. Still the clergy are support
ed. There are various manners of doing this, as you
may suppose, in a country so diversified in condition.
In many of the old congregations, there are endow-
rn< uts which have grown in value with the growth
of the country, and which now serve to relieve the
people of a large portion of the expense. A farm
bought for that purpose, and a house erected when
land and materials were cheap, become valuable and
useful in time. There is a common practice of

* It should be remembered that all the expenses of the gene
ral government (in time of peace^ are paid by the importation
duties.

EXPENSES OF GOVERNMENT. 209

erecting a church by contributions, and then renting
the pews, for the support of the clergyman. No
general rule is, however, applicable to this particular
branch of expense ; but as no one taxes himself be
yond his own pleasure, and as churches are, for the
circumstances, exceedingly numerous, it is fair to
presume that the population do not find the expense
of supporting the clergy burthensome. Trifling ad
ditional taxes are also laid in the counties and towns
to defray local expenses, and, among others, for the
maintenance of the common schools. These taxes
also vary according to circumstances, the county
which is building a court-house and jail, or which is
engaged in any other public work, paying more at
the moment than the county which has already dis
charged that duty. The whole tax paid on a farm
valued at 5,000 dollars in one of the older counties
of New- York, was five dollars. This included every
charge for that year, though the assessment is subject
to variations, being sometimes more and sometimes
less. As the United States, in point of fact, imposes
no taxes in time of peace, this charge was all the
owner of this farm had to pay (as such) for the entire
protection of government. It is true he contributed
something in the way of duties on imported goods,
but that is a contribution that depended entirely on
his personal expenditure. The impositions of the
general government are, as you already know, com
monly much lighter than those laid in other commer
cial nations.

In order to make a correct estimate, however, of
the comparative rate of the taxes paid by the Amer
ican, it is necessary to consider the value of what he
receives. He is required to pay for improvements
in the country, which produce a direct influence on
the increasing value of his property. The income
and the price of his farm keep equal pace with the
growth of the settlement in which he lives. He en-
S 2

210 EXPENSES OF GOVERNMENT.

joys the means of giving a creditable education to his
children, within a reasonable distance of his own
dwelling, and all for the sum included in the State
tax, if the cost of school-books, paper, &c. be ex-
cepted. He is certainly compelled to devote more
or less of his time to working the highways,* but
then he takes care that the route by his own door
shall be kept in as good order as that by the door of
any body else.

As a whole, the public impositions in America,
including taxes, duties, labour, militia service, clergy,
and every thing else, are exceedingly light. But it
is absolutely impossible to give any particular exam
ple which shall not be liable to so much exception
as to destroy it as a rule. So much of the contribu
tion is returned in the way of improvements which
affect the value of the property taxed, that, had I all
the statements in my head, I do not know that I
could give you a clear idea of their relative amount.
All those local impositions which exist in other coun
tries, as octrois, &c. &c. are utterly unknown here.

I have heard it imputed to America as a fault, that
her system leads to the loss of time and money in
excessive litigation. It is said that there are more
suits at law here, than among any similar number of
people in the known world. Although I cannot pre
tend to say that the fact is so, I should be surprised
to learn that it was otherwise.

The whole territory of the United States covers
2,000,000 of square miles. It is true that the title
to more than half of this immense surface still exists
in the government, where a vast deal of it will prob
ably continue for ages. But, in order to bring our

* This- imposition is laid according to the property of the
individual. A commutation in money at a very reduced rate
is allowed, but it is impossible to give its amount, since it is
an assessment that diminishes with the improvement of the
country.

AMOUNT OF LITIGATION. 211

calculations within the bounds of exactitude, let us
again look at New- York. This State has 46,000
square miles of territory, which is owned among, we
will say (1828,) 1,750,000 people. Now, to every
foot of this land there is a title somewhere. Very
little, indeed, is the property of the State. Here,
then, is a plain and direct resaon why the 1,750,000
inhabitants should have more questions about land
titles than the same number any where else, simply
because they are the owners of more of the article
in dispute. Land is also greatly subdivided in all the
older parts of America, and of course each subdivi
sion has its separate title. Then the rapid transfer
of property which is incidental to the condition of a
country in progress of settlement, multiplies convey
ances, and each new conveyance opens the way to
litigation. The revolution, with its changes, also
gave birth to disputes which time is just beginning to
settle, as indeed it is beginning to settle all other con
troversies that grow exclusively out of the transfers
of real estates.

The United States are, again, a more commercial
nation, compared with their population, than any
other in the world. Among such a people legal dis
putes must, of necessity, arise. Justice is compara
tively cheap, and easy of access. Men have confi
dence in her decrees ; and the fear of power, influ
ence, and corruption, is unknown. In such circum
stances, wrong-headed persons, who are ever apt to
fancy themselves in the right, make their appeals to
the tribunals boldly. I do not believe that the sys
tem of the United States encourages litigation, ex
cept as it brings all men before the court on terms
not of nominal, but of a true equality. Still 1 can
believe, that the great number of low practitioners
of the law who are scattered up and down the coun
try, do induce men to enter rashly into legal contests.

212 REASONS OF LITIGATION.

In the older and more regulated States, litigation is
far less frequent, cceteris paribus, than in those that
are more new. The same is true of the proportion
of taxes, as compared to the value of property. I
am of opinion that, were it not for the great number
of country lawyers in America, it would be found
that litigation is less resorted to than in many other
countries, notwithstanding the unavoidable causes of
contention which exist in a new country. The num
ber of the lawyers is undeniably an evil ; but, besides
being an evil which is likely to correct itself, and
which is already beginning to correct itself, it is one
that is not without its advantages. They serve to
keep alive an active knowledge of their rights among
the people ; and although much abused as pettifog
gers, they make, in common, exceedingly useful and
intelligent local legislators.

There is a great fashion of decrying men ot mod
erate acquirements in all things, as if life were not
more a matter of experience than of theories. It is
much easier to assume than to prove, that a set of
profound thinkers would legislate better for a com
munity than a set of active and half-educated men,
who are familiar with the practices of the world.
All the c6*mmon passions of man are as well, and
perhaps better known to the latter than to the former,
and after legislation has provided against the dangers
that are coincident to their existence, one must seek
the rest of its duties in the world and not in books.
But what says experience ? It would be difficult to
find any one country on earth in which the laws are
better adapted to promote the true interests of the
community, than in the most, I am not sure I could
not say the least, favoured of the States of this re
public. And yet legislation is the business of prac
tical men altogether. At all events, they have con
trived to obtain quiet and security at a cheaper rate

EXPEXCES OF GOVERNMENT, ETC. 213

than other people, and that, too, in many cases under
all the unpropitioas circumstances of great dispersion
and the first stages of society.

It is a rule which applies to all salaries in this
country, that little or no allowances are made for the
support of mere dignity. The dignity of government
is supposed to rest in the people themselves ; and
among their other provisions for its support, they
have taken care to retain most of the money. The
President receives a larger sum certainly than is ne
cessary for his mere subsistence ; but then the Presi
dent is liable to a vast number of expenses that other
functionaries escape ; and, in his case, it is thought
politic to bid a little higher than common, in order
to command talent. It is not too much to say, that
the President of the United States, if a prudent man,
can save quite as much money out of his salary, each
year, as a first-rate lawyer in practice would gain ;
and I confess I see but one reason why he has the
smallest right to ask any more. He has generally
reached a time of life when he retires, that forbids
further exertion ; and perhaps it is wisest to attach a
degree of consideration to this high office, which slxall
preclude men from descending subsequently to infe
rior duties. The latter point, however, is one that
will certainly admit of dispute, and I do riot think the
former as strong as it first appears. Necessity will
teach men the value of prudence and exertion in
early life ; nor is this the country that ought to wish
to see its chief magistrate setting an example of use
less, but attractive splendour. There are no vices
so contagious as the corruptions which flow from the
excessive use of money ; for the desire to possess it,
is a passion that all men feel, since it is the medium
by which all the ordinary good of life is obtained.
The accountableness af the public agents, and the
simplicity of men of station, are matters of so vast
importance in a republic, that the one should never

214 GRATITUDE TO LA FAYETTE.

be neglected, and as little occasion as possible should
be given to make any serious innovations on the
other.

We have just had a proof that the government of
the United States knows how to give with grace and
liberality on a proper occasion. When La Fayette
first came to America, he did not proceed on his dis
tant and hazardous expedition empty-handed. The
new States were then so poor, and they had been
kept, by the operation of colonial policy, so com
pletely dependent on the mother country for supplies,
that the contributions of an individual were not with
out moment to them. The arms and money of the
young Frenchman were scarcely less acceptable than
his sword and his heart. They had amply returned
his love; but it still remained to discharge a debt
whose obligations were scarcely less sacred.

During the last session, a bill was introduced, ap
propriating two hundred thousand dollars in money,
and a township of land, to extinguish this debt. It
was not pretended that the money borrowed, or
rather given (for the devotion of La Fayette to the
cause he had espoused knew none of the forms of
bargaining) had not been already returned. But the
Americans know that their venerable friend has long
been a heavy sufferer by the revolution in his own
country, and they also know that he took little ac
count of the pecuniary interests of this life. The
bill was not passed in enthusiasm, and with the hurry
of dramatic effect, but it went through the forms of
legislation with calmness and dignity. It was even
resisted by one or two sturdy republicans, who paid
a tribute to the manliness of the nation, by openly
contendmg that, as the infirm and poorer agents of
the revolution were still unrequited, they could no
vote to bestow money on another, for services that
were performed in common. But a vast majority of
the two houses were of opinion that injustice to a part

GRATITUDE TO LA FAYETTE. 215

was no apology for injustice to the whole, and the
case before them was one of too disinterested and
too brilliant service to admit of a parallel.

The claims of La Fayette on America, cannot,
surely, be likened to the claims of even Washington.
The immortal patriot of this country owed his alle
giance, his services, and his life, to the land of his
birth ; and his exceeding merit is in the faith and
ability with which he discharged the duties. But
nature had imposed no such obligation on La Fay
ette. We may admire and extol the filial piety of the
child in its degree ; but without it, altogether, the
offspring would become a reproach and a subject of
scorn before mankind. The stranger who yields his
aid under the influence of a general philanthropy, is
alone entitled to deep and unqualified gratitude, since
the universal obligations of society create indissoluble
connexions between the members of families and
the citizens of the same communities.

J5ut there was still a loftier claim, in the case of
La Fayette, to the homage of a nation. His devo
tion to the cause of America was a devotion to the
interests of humanity. The service he performed
was chivalrous in its conception, bold in its moral
attributes, and fearless in its execution. He dedicated
youth, person, and fortune, to the principles of lib
erty ; and it was fitting that an example should be
given to the world, that he who had suffered in such
a cause was not to go unrequited. In this view of
the case, it was just as incumbent on the Frenchman
to receive, as it was the duty of the American to
bestow. At a time when the servants of despotism
and abject submission are receiving such ample gifts
for their devotion, it is encouraging to see one splen
did instance, at least, of virtue, and disinterestedness,
and patient suffering, receiving a portion of the
worldly rewards that should be the exclusive prop
erty of men devoted to the good of mankind.

( 216 )
TO THE COMTE JULES DE BETHIZY,

Washington,

I HAVE just witnessed one of the most imposing
ceremonies of this government ; 1 allude to the inau
guration of the President of the United States. It-
took place ahout noon, on the 4th of March, when
the power of the late incumbent ceased, and that of
his successor commenced. It was simple in its forms,
hut it may possess sufficient interest to amuse a few
leisure minutes.

Every body was in the Capitol by the appointed
hour. As it is altogether a ceremony of convention
(with the exception of the oath of office) such persons
were admitted to be spectators, as the officers who
controlled the proceedings chose. But in a country
like this, exclusion must proceed on a principle, and
on such a principle, too, as shall satisfy the reason
of the community. In the first place, the galleries
of the hall of the House of Representatives were
thrown open to every body ; a measure that in itself
served to commence with a system of equality. The
floor of the house was next occupied, as a matter of
course, by the Senators and Representatives. The
foreign ministers and their suites, the officers of the
government, including those of the army and navy,
ex-members of Congress, and citizens of eminence
from distant States, and finally. strangers, who were
deemed worthy of attention, composed the rest of the
assembly.

The officers of the army and navy appeared in
uniforms ; and as there were a great many handsome
and well-dressed women present, the scene was suf-

i

MR. MONROE AND MR. ADAMS. 217

fidently gay. But here all attempts at display ceased.
There were no guards, no processions, no wands, no
robes, nor any of the usual' accompaniments of an
European ceremony.

At the proper time, the President (Mr. Monroe)
and the President elect (Mr. Quincy Adams) entered
the hall, accompanied by the great officers of state,
the judges of the supreme court, &c. &c. The two
former took their seats on the sofa of the Speaker,
while the others occupied chairs that had been re
served for them. After a short pause, the chief jus
tice of the United States arose, and ascended to the
little elevation on which the sofa stands. He held
in his hand the sacred volume. Mr. Adams then took
the oath, in the presence of the assembly, with so
lemnity and distinctness. The form was as follows :
;; I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully
execute the office of President of the United States,
and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect,
and defend, the constitution of the United States."

"With this brief but impressive office, a change in
the executive power of this vast republic was effected.
The moment Mr. Adams had pronounced the words
just qjioted, he was the chief magistrate of a great
nation, and his predecessor retired to the station of a
private citizen.

After a momentary delay, the new President com
menced what is called his " inaugural address." It
was long, and it was delivered with earnestness and
apparent sincerity. It is customary to recognise, on
this occasion, the leading principles of the constitu
tion, and for the new functionary to make some man
ifestation of the particular course of policy by which
he intends to be governed. Such professions arc,
however, rather general than minute, and seldom go
farther than a confession of political faith, that de
pends much more on received axioms than on any
private opinions. Still, there was a simplicity in the

VOL, li. T

213 THE NEW CAB1XET,

air of the President, and in the forms of the ceremo
ny, which irresistibly led to the belief you were lis
tening to professions that were entitled to more credit
than those which similar scenes elsewhere are wont
to create. When the address was ended, the assem
bly intermingled ; and after the congratulations and
compliments proper to such an event, the multitude
quietly dispersed. Immediately after, the Senators
proceeded^ their chamber, where the oath was ad
ministered to Mr. Calhoun, who then took the chair
of that body, in virtue of his office of Vice-President
of the United States. He made a short and pertinent
address, and the Senate soon after adjourned. During
the course of that, or the succeeding day, Mr. Adams
nominated Mr. Clay, the late Speaker of the House
of Representatives, to fill the vacancy (Secretary of
State) occasioned by his own election to the chair
of the chief magistrate. Mr. Crawford, the Secretary
of the Treasury, also retired ; and Mr. Rush, who
had recently been minister in England, was selected
to fill the situation. The place of Mr. Calhoun was
supplied by a gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Barbour.)
With these changes the new cabinet was complete,
the other incumbents retaining office. I understand
it is a practice for every member of the cabinet to
tender his resignation on the election of a new Presi
dent, which gives the latter an opportunity of making
such alterations as he may deem expedient, in the
most delicate manner possible. Two of the vacan
cies, in the present instance, were the results of pro
motions ; and it is understood that Mr. Adams would
have gladly retained Mr. Crawford, had that gentle
man been disposed to serve.

I confess T have been struck with the imposing
simplicity of such a quiet transfer of power. The
office of President of the United States is one of
great dignity and high trust, and its duties have al
ways been discharged with singular moderation and

THE PRESIDENT. 219

veal. The present incumbent is a prudent and
zealous patriot, and there is no reason to distrust his
intelligence or intentions.

It is a necessary consequence of an European edu
cation, that we should subject all things to the rules
that are known to govern life in our quarter of the
world. Under these impressions, a thousand absurd
and childish theories have been urged among us,
concerning the probable influence of such an officer,
as the one. whose inauguration I have just described.
It would teach some of us moderation, though it did
not teach us wisdom, did we thoroughly understand
the fact, that it is quite as unintelligible to the mass
of the Americans how we contrive to get on under
our systems, as it is to us how they manage to get on
with theirs.

I have already endeavoured to convey some idea
of the nature of the private intercourse which the
President holds with his fellow-citizens. He is uni
formly treated with personal respect, but never with
adulation. The tone of hie manners of the country-
is so much opposed to the practices of courts, that
artifice itself requires that some sacrifice should be
made to simplicity. Whenever the President appears
in his official character, he is received with the quiet
deference that is due to his office ; but whenever he
chooses to appear as a private citizen, he does it
without exciting more attention than is naturally be
stowed on an individual who occupies an elevated
and responsible station. The late President (Mr.
Monroe) made tours of observation through all the
States, and along the whole line of the national fron
tier. His journey was rather of a public nature, and
his receptions, in the towns and States, wore a good
deal of a public character. The ceremonies through
which he passed were a species of homage paid, in
remote quarters of the confederation, to the unity of
the nation in his person, though, in no instance, did

220 THE PRESIDENT.

they exceed the compliments of the governed to the
man who filled a station to which he had been elect
ed by the public will. When, on the other hand,
the President chooses to leave the seat of govern
ment on his private affairs, he passes through the
States like any other citizen, though it is not pos
sible to separate the man entirely from the consider
ation, or, indeed, from the actual power which at
tends the oilice. He journeys, on these occasions,
like other people, in the steam-boats and public
coaches ; and his passages through the towns are
distinguished by no other marks of attention than the
visits of compliment that he, or any other man of emi
nence, would naturally receive.

The constitutional power of the President is not
trifling, though it is always rigidly subordinate to the
law. He is commander-in-chief of the army ; but
while it might prove some palliation to plead an ille
gal order issuing from this source, as an excuse for
violating any law, it would not be the slightest justi
fication. The only supreme authority in this repub
lic is the law : and the President, not in words, but
in fact, is just as much its subject as the meanest cor
poral in the line. Should he venture to order a
subaltern to do an illegal act, the young man might
refuse to obey ; and should he order him to be pun
ished for his disobedience, there is an authority in
the country that would quietly take the supposed
offender out of his hands. Now this is not a naked
theory, but a rigid fact ; and the consequence is just
what it should be. Those who wield the public
power for the time being, take all possible care never
to be legally in the wrong ; for they well know, that
neither influence, nor situation, nor fear, nor any
other cause, can save the offender from open accusa-
tiori before the nation. It is easy to say that such a
system must give rise to insubordination and tumult,
and a thousand other evils : but where is the proof?

THE PRESIDENT.

The discipline of the army and navy of the United
States is as good as those in other services, though
submission to arbitrary power is far from being as
common. All the authority is here, though it is not
in the same hands as elsewhere.

I have mentioned this fact to show you, that while
there exists here the right to command for all legal
purposes, there exists no authority to intimidate
inferiors in!o a dangerous submission. These people
are horn and educated in a state of society, which
inculcates deep and settled respect for the laws,
without any respect for individuals. The President
of the United States is commander-in-chief, it is true;
but he could have no security for obedience beyond
the point where his views should become doubtful.

The risk is too certain, and the success too remote
and* doubtful, to leave any temptation before the
President to abuse his power. Four years is not time
enough to mature a plan that would be dangerous
to liberty, especially as the agency of a majority
of those who would be the losers by the change,
must be employed to insure success. I do not believe
you are silly enough to think that ten millions of
people, who are excessively impatient of any of the
forms of despotism, are likely to be subdued by a
four-years' monarch, though he should happen to be
another Napoleon ; more especially when he can
neither obtain, feed, clothe, arm, nor pay his troops,
without begging money annually of those whom he
would fain crush. If there shall ever be any great
alteration in. the principles of this government, rely
on it, it will proceed directly from a conviction, in
the mass of the people themselves, that such a change
is necessary to their happiness.

Though the patronage of the President is great, it

is subject to all the division of political support. In

most cases, he is glad to get rid of the responsibility

of appointments, since they oftener endanger, than

T2

222 THE PRESIDENT.

aid his popularity. He serves, therefore, rather as a
check on vicious recommendations, than as an active
source of emoluments and honour. On all high and
dignified appointments, he of course exercises a direct
influence, because he is supposed to know their dutie?
familiarly, and he ought to know the qualifications of
those he wishes to discharge them. But should he
he disposed to go wrong, the Senate would not ratify
his nominations, and then his power is just nothing
Let us suppose a desire of usurpation.

An unprincipled individual finds himself in the
chair of the presidency. He wishes to become a
king. He has but two ways of effecting this object;
force or persuasion. If he has art enough to effect
the latter, he is just as likely to succeed here as the
King of England, for instance, would be likely to be
come absolute by the same means. If he be a man
of common discretion, he will know that he must
make a party, or his force will amount to just nothing
at all. We will suppose him to have blinded the
nation as to his real character, and views, and to have
selected and secured his agents ; two pretty difficult
tasks, in the first place, you must allow. He has then
got to place these agents in ofiices of trust, or they
are no better than other men. In order to do this,
he must deceive, or corrupt, the Senate. But even
this difficult task must be done in two years, since
one-third of that body go out of office every other
year. Well, he has bribed a majority of the Senate,
and he gets his tools into power. He then goes to
work with the lower house, and soon brings two hun
dred men, who have been accustomed all their lives
to look on him as an equal, to become his dependants.
The two houses then give him an army, and vote
money freely, in order to bribe that army; for it is out
of the question to think that men who have been
nursed in liberty, will serve despotism for nothing.
Now, we have him, in the short space of two years,

THE PRESIDENT. 223

in possession of the two houses, of the treasury, and
provided with an army. It is high time he should
make a bold demonstration, or a new Congress will
require new bribes. He takes the field with a hun
dred thousand men, and finds himself opposed to a
million and a half of citizens unaccustomed to be
controlled illegally, and who are bent on resistance.
The odds are a little against him, you will allow,
even supposing all the traitors he has gained to con
tinue honest men, because they are in his service. I
will leave him to fight this second battle of Armaged
don, under the auspices of those wise heads, who
think they see signs in the clouds, and portents in the
air.

The legislative authority of the President is en
tirely negative. In this respect, he possesses much
power to do good, and none to do evil. His signature
is necessary to make a law, perhaps; but, if two-
thirds of both houses vote in its favour, he dare not
withhold it. He has, therefore, rather more of a
voice than any one, or any twenty members, without,
in truth, forming a separate estate. As he acts under
a higher resj onsibility, and it is supposed, with a
greater familiarity with the interests and policy of the
country, than the ordinary legislator, his influence
should be greater without putting it in his power to
defeat the intentions of Congress. It is easy to sup
pose cases in which the President can do much good.
We will take one that is the most obvious. The con
federation is nearly equally divided into slave-owning,
and what are called free States. These happen to be,
just now, eleven of the former, and thirteen of the
latter. In a few years more, the numbers will prob
ably stand thirteen to fourteen. Now each of these
States has two votes in the Senate, without whose
concurrence no law can be enacted. The superiority
of the representation of the free States, in the popular
branch, can effect nothing on any question that may

224 THE PRESIDENT.

be supposed to touch the delicate interests of slavery,
without obtaining the acquiescence of the Senate, It
is not easy to imagine a case when, at least, two of
the northern Senators would not be inclined to mod
erate views, should a contest arise that seriously in
volved any of the more important interests of the
Union, and which was likely to divide men into sec
tional parties. But should parties in Congress ever
proceed so far as to produce, by a trifling majority,
(it could not be a large one without materially uniting
northern to southern men, or vice versa,) a law that
should threaten serious danger to the harmony of the
confederation, the President has power to send it
back, and to demand that a question of this magnitude
should receive the assent of a number, that must, of ne
cessity, include a concesssion on one side or the other;
and concession, as you well know, is a great step to
wards harmony, ft is just as likely that the President,
in the first place, should be a southern man, as a
northern man ; and then he is expected to be, and,
in point of fact, is, commonly, above all the ordinary-
excitements of legislative contests. The nation which,
rarely, I may say, never, enters very blindly into the
party heat which affects all legislative bodies, would
expect moderation in the President, and would sup
port him in it. That such a case has not arisen,
proves nothing but the difficulty of obtaining even a
legislative majority on irritating and alarming ques
tions ; for it is certain that in one instance, at least,
such a question has been agitated. I mean the law
for the admission of the State of Missouri, (with the
privilege of holding slaves.) Had Congress passed
that law, and had the President good reason to think
that it would seriously endanger the harmony of the
confederation, he must have been an impotent man
indeed, not to have insisted that it should receive
the support of an unequivocal majority. I do not be
lieve that a refusal to admit Missouri to the Union,

THE PRESIDENT.

(with the privilege of holding slaves,) would have
produced any other immediate result than applica
tions to Congress to change their resolution ; and time
would therefore be given for the executive, (as well
as the nation,) to estimate and weigh the consequen
ces, even in the event of indecision on the part of
the President; and it is scarcely possible to conceive
a case, in which executive influence, and evident
danger to the confederation united, could not produce
a change of two votes, especially as the constant
changes in the members themselves, admit of such
an interference without involving personal vacillation.

This is one among a hundred similar familiar
means, by 'which any great danger that is likely to
arrive to this confederation, may, and would be
avoided.

The President also possesses the power of refer
ring a question to Congress, in order to demand a
majority of two-thirds on any question of general
policy. That public opinion will prevent the abuse
of this power, through vexatious interferences with
legislation, is known by experience, since it is diffi
cult to conceive a case, unless of extraordinary mag
nitude, in which an officer so directly amenable to
and dependent on public opinion, not only for his
authority, but for his comfort, would dare to offend.
The long neglect of the prerogative in England, is
sufficient evidence of what public opinion can do in
a case like this. But the neglect of the prerogative
in England does not infer a necessary neglect of the
salutary power of the President, since there is no
jealousy of the exercise of the latter, the person who
holds it being so shortly to be brought back into the
bosom of the nation as a private citizen. In short,
this is a power only to be resorted to in cases in
which the moderate and the wiser majority of the
whole people would be of one mind ; and it is one

226 THE PRESIDENT.

that it might then be more injurious to neglect than
to use.

The President commissions all the officers of the
general government, except those, who, by law, re
ceive their appointments from other functionaries.
The judges of the United States' courts hold their
offices during good behaviour.* With these excep
tions, all other officers of the United States' govern
ment can be removed by the President. There are
a great many officers of this government whose com
missions are given but for four years ; and though
they are commonly recommissioned, it is in the
power of the President to pass them by if he should
please. You remember, of course, that in all cases
which Congress has not named, by a law that can at
any time be repealed, the assent of the Senate is
necessary to an appointment.

In the army and navy, a regular system of promo
tion has been necessarily adopted ; and as the Senate,
without a good reason, would not confirm any irreg
ular nomination, preferment, in those two branches
of the public service, is always in due course, except
in cases where character is implicated. So admirable
is the practice of checks and balances throughout all
the departments of this government, and so powerful
and certain is the agency of public opinion, that no
political management, except in cases that, by com
mon consent, are thought to come fairly within the
scope of political manoeuvrings, can easily be exer
cised. The most commendable impartiality is ob
served in those appointments, which, in their nature,

* The judges of the State courts hold their oflices by different
tenures. Some are during good behaviour; others can be re
moved by .the governors on a presentation by two-thirds of the
two legislative bodies (which is, perhaps, the wisest provision of
all;) others serve until sixty years of age, as in New-York;
and some until seventy, as in Connecticut. All are, of course,
liable to impeachment.

THE PRESIDENT.

should be kepi superior to party influence. The
President cannot advance his son a step in either of
the two services named, unless the Senate consents ;
and the Senate would not consent, unless the young
man had clearly done something to merit the reward.

A case occurred a few years since, which goes to
prove the truth of what I tell you. A meritorious
lieutenant of the navy, who was entirely destitute of
the influence of connexions, came under the displea
sure of some of the powers about the department j
under which he served. His name was omitted in
the nominations to the Senate, and juniors were pro
moted over his head. Unprotected, and supported
only by the truth, this gentleman went to Washington,
and laid his case before the Senators. He convinced
them that justice had not been done him ; and the
executive, in order to get other nominations confirm
ed, was obliged not only to promote this gentleman,
but to give him a commission that restored the rank
he had lost. Here was a clear case of justice, in
opposition to influence ; for if the officer had been
guilty of any offence, he was subject to a code of
laws that, Heaven knows, is severe enough. If any
man believes that such a system destroys discipline,
let him go on board an American man-of-war, and
examine for himself. In my opinion, it has a contrary
effect, by placing inferiors less in the power of their
immediate superiors, and by consequently rendering
both parties equally watchful.

In relation to the more ordinary civil appoint
ments, the executive of the United States adopts a
sufficiently discreet and useful course. The situa
tions are, in general, well filled, and such a thing as a
sinecure does not exist in the whole government.
The President is, in fact, so far removed from the
familiar and personal interests of society, that it is
not difficult for him, even in a country as democratic
as this, to preserve a dignified moderation. One

223 THE PRESIDENT.

hears a great deal said, in the United States, of man
agement and intrigue ; hut it is necessary to remem
ber, that intrigue here, even when successful, does
no more than a downright dogged power does else
where : and then it is always necessary to recollect,
that the Americans, in complaining, compare them
selves with the abstract right, and not with other
people. Should one-tenth part of the executive
abuses exist here that exist elsewhere, the world
would ring with clamour.

You may form some idea of the truth of this opin
ion, hy an anecdote 1 shall mention. A New-York
merchant gravely assured me, that his countrymen
were in a had way ; that corruption had made great
strides among them ; and that he saw the downfall of
the nation in its advances. I begged he would men
tion a fact. Leading me into a corner, he solemnly
assured me, in a half whisper, that he knew, of his
own observation, that one of the clerks of the cus
tom-house of that city was in the habit of taking fees
that the law did not sanction. You may depend on
it, Jules, I gave him a sharp look, to see that the fel
low had no double meaning ; and then, convinced of
his sincerity, I thought it no more than humane to
offer the consolation of assuring him that these things
sometimes happened elsewhere. Now, is all this
owing to simplicity, and a new state of society? It
is a pity, then, it does not exist all over this continent
The President possesses the right to fill all vacancies
that occur, during the recess of the Senate, by com
missions that shall be valid until the termination of
the next session, unless full appointments shall be
sooner made. This power is in no danger of abuse,
since the President himself can be removed with
nearly the same ease as any other incumbent.

The authority of the President over the army and
navy, though that of a general or an admiral, as well
as of a civil magistrate, is always exercised by deputy.

THE PRESIDENT. 229

The Secretaries of the two departments are his or
gans, and they sign the orders with their own names.
Washington took the field, as President, to suppress
the Pennsylvania insurrection ; and, to his everlast
ing honour be it said, he effected his object without
shedding one drop of human blood.

The President has a full, unequivocal power to
pardon all criminals, except in cases of impeach
ment. It has been said (by Blackstone and Montes
quieu) that this power is incompatible with the na
ture of a democratic government. I know no better
answer to an argument than a fact, and the fact un
deniably is, that the most democratic communities
of the world exercise it with perfect safety. The
mistake of these two writers only shows how very easy
it is for the most acute rninds to get so enveloped in
prejudice, as in some measure to impair the faculties.
The essence of the difference between a democracy
and a despotism is not so much in the amount of
the power wielded, as in the manner in which it is
created.*

I believe I have now given you a hurried outline
of the authority and office of the President of the,

* It is surprising what vague and obstinate notions of govern
ment people acquire by habit. In America, the writer was
several times asked how it was possible that one man could
control the interests of a whole community; and in Europe,
he has often been pressed to say whether there is any authority
in the United States to repress the most common* evils. If
these worthy thinkers on civil polity would take the trouble to
tax their intellects a little, they would see that necessity is a
judicious legislator, and that no country can exist long, with
out such a state of things as shall render society reasonable,
quiet, and secure. The great point of difference is in the forms
by which its objects are effected. There is no doubt that one
people can do things that would be fatal to the order of another
(for a time at least) and it is quite certain that they who can
get all that government aims at, in the cheapest and simplest
manner, are the best off. The greafr desideratum is, to add se
curity to freedom of personal efforts; and this is a point that
varies in different situations of the world, just as much as intel
lect and intelligence themselves vary.
VOL. II. U

230 THE PRESIDENT*

United States. He possesses a reasonable portion
of power, but its exercise is balanced by a number
of constitutional checks, and, what is not less avail
able in the present state of the world, by the watch
fulness and force of public opinion. Society must
materially recede before this high functionary can
easily abuse his trust; and when that happens, the
Americans, in common with the rest of the world,
must be content to return to the political condition
from which all our ancestors emerged. It is impor
tant, also, to remember that the character, qualifica
tions, and usefulness of a. President, are pretty gene
rally sifted to the bottom, before the individual
reaches the station at all.

TO THE ABBATE GIROMACHI,

Washington, —

You inquire concerning the state of religion in the
United States. I presume you ask the question in
reference to its outward and visible signs, since it is
not to be supposed that a layman, like myself, is suf
ficiently versed in its mysteries to go deeper than
that which is apparent.

You know there is no establishment. Congress is
prohibited by the constitution from creating one, and
most (I believe all) of the State constitutions have
the same provision. In point of fact, there is none
whatever. The clergy, and all that pertains, there
fore, to religion, are supported by voluntary contri
butions, or by endowments that have been made by
devises, gifts, and other private means.

RELIGIOUS SECTS. 231

The first point to be considered, is the number
and the nature of the sects. If the Presbyterians
and Congregationalisms, between whom there exist
mere shades of difference in discipline and opinion,
shall be considered as forming one sect, they are cer
tainly the most numerous. It is computed that they
posssess near three thousand congregations. The
Baptists are known to have more than two thousand.
Perhaps the Methodists rank next in numbers. The
Protestant Episcopal church is greatly on the in
crease. I find, by the Ecclesiastical Register, that
it contains ten bishops, and three hundred and ninety-
four clergymen.* Most of the latter are settled, and
many have two or three congregations under their
charge. There are a good many Friends (Quakers)

* It may be interesting to those of a similar faith in England,
to understand the constitution of this church in the United
States. Where there are Episcopalians enough, the diocese
is confined to a single State. But, as there are ten bishops,
and twenty-four States, it is plain that several of the Slates
are contained in one diocese. There are, in point of fact,
however, eleven dioceses, that of Delaware being vacant. The
highest spiritual authority known is, of course, a bishop. Priests
and deacons being all the orders named in the Bible, are all the
other orders known or used in America. The highest authority
is exercised by the general convention. The general conven
tion is composed of two bodies, a house of bishops, and a house
of lay delegates. Each diocese has a convention for the regu
lation of its own affairs. The general convention consists of
the bishops, who form the house of-bisbops, and of laymen, who
are sent as delegates from the State convention. The object
of this body is to promote harmony and uniformity of doctrine
in the whole church. The State conventions contain the clergy
of the diocese, and a lay delegation from each church. In both
conventions, the clergy (or bishops, as the case may be) and the
laymen vote separately, a majority of each being necessary to
an ordinance. Clergymen are presented by their congrega
tions, and bishops are elected by the conventions of the diocese,
and are approved of by the house of bishops. There is no sala
ry yet given to any bishop, though provisions to a reasonable
amount are making for that object. At present, they are all
rectors of churches. The oldest bishop for the time being, is
called thue presiding bishop, though he enjoys no exclusive au
thority.. There have been, in all, twenty-one bishops of this
church in the United States, and they hold their ordination

232 USELESSNESS OF AN ESTABLISHMENT.

in Pennsylvania, New- Jersey, and New- York. The
two former States were originally settled by religion
ists of this persuasion. The Roman Catholics are
the most numerous in Maryland and Louisiana. The
first was a Roman Catholic colony, and the latter
has, as you know, been both French and Spanish.
The Floridas must also contain some Catholics.
Many of the Irish who come to this country, arid
who are settled in the more northern States, are
also Catholics ; but, including all, I should not think
they rank higher, in point of numbers, than the sixth
or seventh sect, after allowing for all the subdivisions
among the Protestants themselves. There are some
Lutherans and Moravians, and a great variety of less
numerous or local sects.

The most important point that is proved by the
condition of this country, is the fact that religion can,
and cloes, exist as well without as with the aid of
government. The experiment has been tried here,
for two centuries, and it is completely successful. So
far from competition (if I may use so irreverent a
term on so grave a subject) weakening, it increases
its influence, by keeping zeal alive. While the Epis
copalian clergyman sees the Presbyterian priest exist
ing in his neighbourhood, and enjoying all the advan
tages that he himself enjoys, he is clearly obliged to
do one of two things ; either to abandon the race, or
to contend with watchfulness and care. Now, this
is exactly what is done here. The clergy are as
chary as women of their characters, for they are cer
tain of being proved, not by tests of their own estab
lishing, but by those established by their competitors.

from the archbishops of Canterbury and York, and from the
non-juring bishops of the Episcopal church of Scotland, jointly.
The law recognises these authorities to a certain extent, as
it does the authorities of all other churches. The Catholics
have their archbishops and bishops, the Methodists their bishops,
and the Presbyterians, Baptists, &c. &c., their own particular
forms of government.

RELIGION. 233

You rn-ay be inclined to ask if such a rivalry does
not lead to strife and ill blood? Just the contrary.
Each party knows that he is to gain, or to lose influ
ence, precisely as he manifests the practice of the
doctrines he teaches: and that, I apprehend, so far as
Christianity is concerned, is charity and forbearance.
At all events, with now and then an insulated and
rare exception, great apparent good-will and cor
diality exist among the clergy of the different sects:
and, I fancy, it is precisely for the reason that there
is nothing to be gained, and a good deal to be lost,
by a different line of conduct. This is considering
the question solely on its temporal side, but you
know 1 commenced with professing ignorance of the
spiritualities.

Freedom of thought on matters of religion, is so
completely a consequence of intellectual advance
ment, that it is impossible to prevent men who think
much from doing one of two things ; they either
choose their own course, in secret, or they become
indifferent to the subject altogether. I have always
been of opinion that sects carry their articles of faith
too far, since it is next to impossible to get two intel
lectual men to view any long series of metaphysical
propositions in precisely the same light ; and it would
be better to leave them to the dictates of their own
consciences, and to the lights of their own intelli
gence in lesser matters, after they are once fairly of
a mind on the more material truths of their creed.
This desirable object is obtained in the United States,
to a certain degree, though not entirely, by allowing
every man to choose his church, without attracting
comment or censure. Charity is a consequence of
such a state of things, at least that charity which
manifests itself outwardly. The true object of reli
gion is, to teach men the path to heaven, and that is
an aifair more affecting the individual than any body
else. The moment society ceases to take the abso-
U2

234 ESTABLISHMENTS.

lute direction of the matter into its own hands, indi
viduals interest themselves rather than lose the object;
and, 'unless they do interest themselves, under any
system, I believe we are taught to think that estab
lishments will do them no great good.

Still society has a worldly interest in the existence
of religion — granted. But if it can obtain its object
without an establishment, of what use is the latter ?
It is true, one does not see as many churches in a
given number of square miles in America, as in a
given number of square miles in France or England:
nor are there as many people to use them. In order
to institute a fair comparison, all things must be con
sidered. In the first place, I am of opinion that the
Americans have more places of worship than twelve
millions of people in any other country of the globe;
a'hd if the peculiar condition of the new States be
considered, I believe they have, in point of moral
truth, twice as many. I am quite willing to admit
that the cheapness of construction, the freedom of
opinion, and necessity itself, may all contribute to pro
duce such a result, but I cannot see how this negative
proof is to demonstrate that religion suffers from the
want of an establishment. Let us examine the pro
gress of the sects in a parish.

Ten miles square of wilderness is laid out in a
township. Settlers come into it from all quarters, and
of all denominations. The State has reserved a few
hundred acres of land, perhaps, for the support of
religion. The first thing commonly done, is to erect
a shop for a blacksmith, and there is generally an inn
near it, both being, of course, established in some
convenient place. The school-house, or three or four
of them, soon follow, and then people begin to think
of a church. During the time that force for so im
portant ah object has been collecting, itinerant teach
ers, missionaries, &c., sent from the older parts of
the country, have been in the habit of collecting the

RELIGION IN A NEW SETTLEMENT. 235

people in the school-houses, barns, or some other
building, in order to keep alive the remembrance of
holy things. I think it may be taken as a rule, that
few settlements, in the more flourishing parts of the
country, exist fifteen years without reaching the
church-building age. Some do it much sooner, and
others, certainly, require more time to mature their
efforts. But the church (the building) must have
a faith, as well as its builders? Not necessarily.
Churches are frequently built and kept in abeyance
for a maturity of opinions, though nineteen times in
twenty the very disposition to erect a church pre
supposes an understanding as to the denomination it
is to serve. In coming to this understanding, the
minority are, of course, obliged to yield, which is
precisely what they would have to do if there were
an establishment. But an establishment would keep
men from error. Let us see how the truth lies on
this point. How do the establishments of Scotland.
England, Denmark, France, and Turkey, for instance,
agree? It is quite plain, I think, that establishments
have nothing to do with truth ; and is it not equally
plain, by the example of this country, that they are
not necessary to the existence of religion? But
America was settled by religionists, and the spirit
they infused in the country is not yet extinct ! Ad
mitted. Is there any more likelihood, had the an
cestors of the Americans been Atheists, that the
present generation would create an establishment,
than that it would receive religion in sects ? Did the
apostles come into favour under an establishment ? Or
would not a country be more likely to receive reli
gion in forms to suit tastes and opinions, than in any
one form that could not suit all faculties, or appease
all judgments ? Here then, I think, we have some
reason to believe that establishments neither intro
duce nor keep religion in a country. But let us go
back to our settlement.

236 ESTABLISHMENTS, ETC.

The church is built, and as the Presbyterians have
given the most money, and are far the most numerous,
the priest who is called is of their persuasion. Those
who are firm in their own particular faith, cherish it
in secret; and when the proper time comes, they
join a congregation of their own people. They could
do no more, if the church was built under an estab
lishment. Those who are not very rigid in their faith,
most probably drop quietly into the communion of
the church they find so convenient. An establish
ment would compel them to do precisely the same
thing. • In the course of a few years more, however,
the people begin to separate, or rather to follow their
own opinions ; and then every thing settles down as
quietly as men choose their wives, or make any other
important selection that they have reason to think is
particularly- interesting to their individual happiness.
But does not all this intermingling and indistinctness
produce disorder and confusion ? Just the contrary.
While society is in its infancy it produces harmony,
by inducing mutual support ; and it weakens preju
dice, and is fatal to superstition, by bringing the for
mer in subjection to all it wants to destroy it — fa
miliarity : and by rendering the other obnoxious to
the ridicule and exposed to the reason of competi
tors. It is a known fact, that a century ago, the
American religionists were among the most bigoted
of their respective sects ; and it is just as true now,
that they have immensely improved, and that they
are daily growing still more reasonable, as familiarity
with each other teaches them how very little better
any one man is than the rest of his fellow-creatures.

But it will become necessary, in time, to make
some use of the land which has been reserved for
the support of the gospel. How is this to be done
in such a manner as not to give offence to the mi
nority ? You will recollect that this fund has been
created in the most insensible manner, and not by the

RELIGION IX A NEW SETTLEMENT. 237

aid of any imposition that is felt by the citizen. It is
not so much a measure of general policy, as one that
is intended to aid, to a reasonable extent, the wishes
of the majority. Were there Jews or Mahomed-
ans enough in the land, to make such a measure
necessary, I take it for granted, they would get their
share. It is the great merit of this government, that
it does not aim so much to satisfy theories as to pro
duce wholesome practical results. It is the great
fault of its enemies, that instead of looking at it as a
government should be viewed, in its worldly and
positive aspects, they are for ever endeavouring to
find some inconsistency in theory which shall appease
a sense of secret uneasiness, that is beginning to get
a little too prevalent for their complacency, that it
is a more enviable state of society than they wish to
believe.

As respects the matter in question, the people of
New- York (for it is altogether an affair of the indi
vidual States,) have seen they must do nothing, under
the most favourable circumstances for doing a great
deal for the support of religion, or they must incur
the risk of invading some perfectly dormant princi
ple of a bald theory. They give land, which is of
no value at the time, leaving the people to dispose
of it when it does become of value. We will sup
pose this reservation now to be worth a division.
The inhabitants of the town are then required to
make their election. Every congregation, which is
in truth a congregation, gets its share, and there the
business is disposed of. The infidel, or the man of
indifference, or perhaps a solitary Catholic, gets no
thing, it is true, for he does not want it. You will
at once see that this sort of provision is of use only
to those who go through the hardship of settling a
town, since their successors may have different re
ligious persuasions ; but it is meant for the encourage
ment and consolation of those who do undergo the

238 INDIFFERENCE TO SECTS.

privations incident to such a service. The best pos
sible proof of the wisdom of the measure is, that it
does good, without doing the least harm to any body.
I can readily understand that they who have been
long accustomed to quarrel, and to see others quarrel
about the temporalities of churches, will find a thou
sand difficulties in disposing of such a grant as this 1
have named ; but fact is daily proving here that it
can be done, when men are once accustomed to meet
on such occasions in a spirit of amity, without any
difficulty at all.

I remember to have held a conversation with an
innkeeper, who resided within a few yards of an
edifice that was then in the course of erection as a
place of public worship. I asked him the denomi
nation of the people to whom it belonged. His an
swer was, "The Presbyterians." "And you, you
are a Presbyterian, no doubt?" "No, I was bap
tized in the Episcopal church, and I must say, I like
it best after all." " Ah, then you have nothing to do
with the cost of building this house?" "I have paid
my share." " But how is this, you pay for the sup
port of a church to which you do not belong ?" " I
do as I please, and I please to help my neighbours,
who will help me in some other way, if not in this ;
besides, they are Christians as well as myself: and
I mean to have a pew, and go and hear their parson
till I can hear one of my own church." " But you
may be converted ?" " Well," he said, smiling, " then
I shall be a Presbyterian, and my wife and myself
wrill be of the same mind ; we are not afraid ofjook-
ing the truth in the face in America, let it come out
of what pulpit it may."

In fact, the utmost harmony and good-will prevails
among the different sects. Controversy is but little
known, though I have been present at a dispute of a
very remarkable character. The parties were a Bap«
tist and an Universalist. They met in a field at an

HABITS OF SECTS. 239

appointed hour, and the ceremonial of the rencontre
was arranged with as much precision as if they had
met for a less pacific interview. They were to be
placed so many feet asunder, in order that their voices
should be audible. They were to speak alternately,
and by the watch, so many minutes at a time ; and
each was to confine himself, according to an estab
lished protocol, to a certain set of opinions, during
particular hours. The audience stood around as
silent listeners.

It was a remarkable, and not an uninteresting scene.
As you may suppose, the learning brought into the
combat \vas none of the deepest, but the zeal and
native shrewdness were great, and the discretion was
admirable. 1 left the" mooted point in as much doubt
as I found it, though a great deal of absurdity \vas
disposed of in the controversy, in a rough but sen
sible manner. This exhibition was, of course, as
much of a novelty to the people of the country as it
was to me.

I witnessed other scenes, that were alike impres
sive and beautiful. The Methodists have, at stated
periods, what are called camp meetings. They as
semble in thousands in some wood, and hold their
religious festivals in a manner that is as striking by
its peculiar simplicity, as it is touching by the inter
est and evident enjoyment they experience.

It is a fashion to ridicule and condemn these meet
ings, on the plea that they lead to excesses and en
courage superstition. As to the former, the abuse is
enormously exaggerated ; though, beyond a doubt,
there are individuals who attend them that would
seek any other crowd to shield their vices ; and as to
the latter, the facts show, that while new and awak
ened zeal, in ignorant persons, frequently breaks out
in extravagance and folly, they pass away with the
exciting cause, and leave behind them tender con
sciences and a chastened practice. What are the

240 EFFECTS OF LIBERALITY.

weaknesses of these men, to those that are exhibited
in countries.where faith is fettered by the law 1 Or,
if you maintain an establishment, and let men follow
their private opinions, in what does America differ
from other countries, except in things that are entirely
dependent on the peculiar temporal condition of the
republic, and which could not be avoided, if the cit
izens were all in full communion with the church of
Rome itself?

It is a mistake to believe that the liberality on re
ligious subjects, which certainly exists to so eminent
a degree in this country, is the effect of there being
no establishment. On the contrary, the fact that
there is no establishment is owing to the liberal insti
tutions, and to the sentiments' of the people. You
will remember, that the same political right to create
establishments is to be found in the State governments,
here, as is to be found any where else. All power
that can belong to governments, and which has not
been ceded to the United States, is the property of
the States themselves, in their corporate capacities.
It is true that most of them have decreed, in their
constitutions, that no religious tests shall be known ;
but it is necessary to remember who have framed
these imperative and paramount ordinances. The
powers, too, that decreed these limitations can change
them. But let us examine into the actual state of the
law on this interesting subject.

The provision contained in the constitution of the
United States is altogether prohibitory. It goes to
say, that the government of the confederacy shall pass
no law to create a religious establishment, or to pro
hibit the free exercise of religion. It is contained in
nn amendment, and is embodied in a paragraph which
exposes rather a declaration of the limits of congres
sional power, than any concession of power itself.
The object of this amendment was unquestionably to
afford a clearer evidence of the public mind, and to

THE PURITANS. 241

set at rest for ever any questions which, by construc
tions of any previously-conceded rights, might by
possibility arise on matters of such importance. Still
the declaration that Congress shall not have power
to do this or that thing, only leaves the individual
States more unequivocally in possession of the right
to do it, since they possess all the rights of govern
ment except those conceded to the Union.

New-England was settled by the Puritans. What
ever might have been the other good qualities of these
zealots, religious liberality was not one of their vir
tues. It argues a somewhat superficial know-ledge
of the subject to contend that the Americans owe all
their mental advancement, and freedom from preju
dices, to the circumstance that they came into the
country as reformers. It would be more true to say,
that they came as dissentients ; but though dissent
may, it does not necessarily, infer liberality. The fact
is, that no country ever possessed a more odious and
bigoted set of laws, on the subject of conscience, than
those first enacted by the Puritans. Independently
of the little favour that was extended to witchcraft,
it was made death for a Quaker to enter several of
their colonies ! This spirit, which they brought with
them from England, was part of that noble and much-
vaunted mental gift that the Americans received from
the mother country. Fortunately, they had wisdom
enough left to establish schools and colleges ; and
although it is quite probable that many worthy secta
rians, who aided in this labour, thought they were
merely fortifying their exclusive doctrines, the result
has shown that they then took the very measure that
was likely to introduce liberality and promote Chris
tian charity in their land.

The Quakers themselves, though less sanguinary,
for they did not deal in death at all, were not much
more disposed to the intercourse than their eastern
brethren. The Catholics in Maryland enacted the

VOL. II. X

242 RELIGION,

laws that Catholics are fond of adopting, and, in
short, genuine, religious liberality was only to be
found in those colonies where the subject was thought
to be of so little interest as not to invite bigotry. Out
of this state of things the present rational, just, char
itable, novel, and, so far as man can judge, religious,
rondition of society, has grown.

The unavoidable collision of sects has no doubt
contributed to the result. It was not in nature to
embitter life by personal and useless conflicts, and
collected force did not exist in situations to produce
combined oppositions. The Puritans had it all in
their own way in New-England, until time had been
given for reason to gather force : and, in the other
colonies, adventitious circumstances aided to smother
discussions. Liberality in politics, in some degree,
drew religious freedom in its train ; and when the
separation from England occurred, the public mind
was prepared to admit of great equality of rights in
all things. Slavery, which was certainly retained,
was retained much more from necessity than from
any other cause.

Still the advancement of thought in America was
rather gradual than sudden. Many of the original
provisions of the States, on the subject of religion,
imply a timid and undecided policy. In New-Jersey
no Protestant can be denied any civil right on account
of religion. This is clearly a defensive enactment.
In Pennsylvania, Mississippi, and Tennessee, a belief
in God, and a future state of rewards and punish
ments, is necessary to hold office. In North Carolina,
no person who denies the truth of the Protestant reli
gion, or the divine authority of the Old and New
Testament, was capable of holding office. Many of
these provisions have been changed, though some of
them still remain. There is scarcely a year passes, in
which some law, that has been a dead letter, is not
repealed in some one of the States, in order to bring

RELIGION. 243

the theory of the government more in unison with
the practice. I believe I have quoted, above, all the
States in which any thing approaching to religious
tests has existed, within the last ten years. Massachu
setts has certainly altered its constitution since that
period ; and a law disfranchising the Jews has just
been repealed in the State of Maryland, which you
know was originally a Catholic colony.

In New-Hampshire, the constitution authorizes
the legislature to make provision for the support
of Protestant ministers ; and in Massachusetts, the
same duty is enjoined. The practice is simply this,
An assessment is laid on all the inhabitants according
to their estates. It is, like all other assessments in this
country, exceedingly light, as its amount is regulated
by the people themselves, through their immediate
representatives. If a Baptist, for instance, resides in
a parish where there is no Baptist church, he is at
liberty to prove that he has paid the assessment to a
Baptist church any where else ; but should he not be
disposed to take this trouble, the money is paid to the
town collector, who gives it to the church nearest
his place of residence, I believe. A similar practice
prevailed not long since in Connecticut ; but, as I
have already said, gradual changes are making, and it
is a little difficult to get at the precise conditions of
the laws of so many different communities, that are
fearlessly adapting their institutions to the spirit of
the age.

In Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Ten
nessee, ministers of the gospel are not eligible to the
State legislatures. In South Carolina, Kentucky, and
Mississippi, they can be neither governors nor legis
lators. In Missouri, they can fill no other civil office,
but that of justices of the peace. In New- York,
Delaware, and Louisiana, they can hold no civil
offices at all. The constitution of the United States,
and of all the other States, I believe, are silent on the

544 NUMBER OF THE CHURCHES.

matter; and, of course, clergymen can serve in any
situation to which they may happen to be called. In
all cases, I understand, the construction put on these
regulations is applicable only to men in the actual ex
ercise of clerical functions. The opinions of the whole
nation are directly opposed to the union of civil and
religious duties in the same person.

1 have already told you, and I wish to repeat it, as
an important fact that is always to be remembered,
that, considering their scattered condition and cir
cumstances, the people of this country manifest great
zeal and interest in behalf of religion : I honestly
think more than any other nation I know, and I be
lieve it is simply because they are obliged to depend
solely on themselves for its comforts and security.
Perhaps the activity of the nation has its influence
on this as on other things. Mind, I do not say that we
see spires and holy places as often here as in Europe:
if we did, America would contain twenty times as
many places of worship as the largest empire we
have, being, Russia excepted, twenty times as large ;
and the State of New-York alone, with 1 ,750,000
souls, (1828) would possess two-thirds as many
churches as England with her twelve or fourteen
millions of people.

English writers have not been ashamed to dwell on
the comparative scarcity of churches in this country,
compared with those in their own, as if the circum
stance afforded any argument of a want of religion in
the people. They might just as well quote the fact
that there were not as many tombstones, to prove
the same thing ; or the American might make the cir
cumstance that this country possesses more trees than
England, a matter of moral exultation.

You would be astonished to witness the perfect
liberality between the sects, which has grown up
under this state of things. In the first place, there
is nothing temporal to quarrel about, and the clergy

RELIGIOUS CHARITY. 245

are driven to their bibles for their influence and
power. I have asked several members of Congress
how many Catholics there were in that body, and no
body knew. I once asked an individual, in the in
terior of New-YoTk (and in a thriving and beautiful
village,) to what denomination a certain person we
had just left belonged. " He is an Episcopalian," was
the answer. This was disputed by a third person
present. Proof was then adduced to show which was
right. All parties agreed that the individual in ques
tion was a strictly religious man. One insisted that he
had seen him commune the preceding Sunday in the
Episcopal church. "What of that?" returned the
other ; " and I have seen his wife commune among
the Presbyterians ; and every body knows that she
and all her family are Episcopalians." But every
body did not know any such thing, for the other dis
putant maintained exactly the converse of the propo
sition. An umpire was chosen in the street. This
worthy citizen " really did not know, but he thought
that man and wife were very pious people ! Stop,"
he continued, as he was coolly walking away, "you

are right, John ; Mr. is a Presbyterian, for I paid

him the pew money last fall myself; and he would
not have collected for the Episcopalians." But even
this was disputed, and so, determined to settle the
point, I went and asked the individual himself. He
was a Presbyterian. " But you sometimes commune
with the Episcopalians?" "Often." "And your wife?"
" Is an Episcopalian." " And your children ?" " We
endeavour to make them Christians, without saying
much of sects ; when they are old enough, they will
choose for themselves." " But which church do they
go to ?" " Sometimes to one, and sometimes to the
other." "But they are baptized?" "Certainly."
"And by which clergyman?" "By the Episcopalian ;
because my church does not deny the validity of his
ordination, though rnv wife's church disputes a little
X2

246 RELIGIOUS CHARITY.

the validity of the ordination of the Presbyterian."
" And your wife, what does she ihink about it her
self?" " I believe she is of opinion that there is a
good deal more said about it than is necessary.11 And
there the matter rested. Now this* may, according to
some people's opinion, be dangerous intercourse, but,
on the whole, I am inclined to think Christianity is
the gainer.

Religion is kept as distinct as possible from the
State. It is known that Mr. Adams, the President
just elected, is an Unitarian ; a persuasion that is
repugnant to most Christian sects, and yet you see
that he is in the chair. People at a distance would
infer indifference to the subject of religion from such
an excess of liberality, but the fact is, the most zeal
ous religionist in this country knows that the salva
tion of Mr. Adams' soul is a matter of more moment
to himself than to any body else, and that if he be in
error, it is misfortune enough, without condemning
him to a worldly persecution. Besides, they have
sagacity enough to know that there is no more infal
lible way to give strength to any party that cannot be
positively crushed, than by giving it importance and
energy by resistance.

The sheriff of the city of New- York, an officer
elected by the people, was, a few years ago, a Jew !
Now all the Jews in New- York united, would not
probably make three hundred voters. Some kind-
hearted people got up a society to convert the Jews
there, a short time since ; and a notice soon appeared
in a paper inviting the Jews to meet to concert
means of converting the Christians.

Notwithstanding all this, the .country is as much,
or more, a Protestant and Christian country than any
other nation on earth. I merely state a simple fact,
on which you are at liberty to reason at pleasure.
The sects are about as numerous as they are in the
mother country, and all that one hears concerning

SHAKING QUAKERS. 247

Thumpers and Dunkers, and other enthusiasts, is
grossly caricatured. They exist, when they do exist
at all, as insulated and meagre exceptions ; and it is
odd enough, that perhaps half of these fantastical sects
have been got . up by emigrants from disciplined Eu
rope, instead of being the natural offspring of the libe
ral institutions of the country itself. There is no doubt
that many people come from our side of the ocean
with strange notions of liberty and equality, and that
they either quarrel with the Americans for not being
as big fools as themselves, and then set to work, in
order to raise up creeds and political doctrines that
they fondly hope will elevate man far above any
thing heretofore known. In the mean time, the na
tives go on in their common sense and practical way,
and say as little as possible about liberty, equality, or
bigotry, and contrive to be the freest and the hap
piest, as they will shortly be, in my poor opinion, the
wealthiest and most powerful nation of the globe, let
other people like the prediction as they may.

I shall close this letter with giving you an account
of one sect, that is as remarkable for its faith as for
its practices. I mean the Shaking Quakers. I have
been at three of the establishments of these people,
viz. Hancock (in Massachusetts,) and Lebanon and
Niskayuna (in New- York.) 1 believe there is still
another establishment, in one of the south-western
States. The whole number of the sectarians is,
however, far from great, nor is it likely to increase,
since their doctrine denies the legitimacy of matri
mony, or any of its results. There may be a thousand
or fifteen hundred of them altogether.

The temporalities of the Shakers are held in com
mon. They are not an incorporated company, but
confidence is reposed in certain trustees, who are
selected as managers and guardians of all their real
estates, goods and chattels. They are an orderly>
industrious sect, and models of decency, cleanliness,

248 SHAKING QUAKERS.

and of morality too, so far as the human eye can
penetrate. I have never seen, in any country, vil
lages so neat, and so perfectly beautiful, as to order
and arrangement, without, however, being picturesque
or ornamented, as those of the Shakers. At Hancock,
the gate-posts of the fences are made of white marble,
hewn into shape and proportions. They are manu
facturers of various things, and they drive a consider
able trade with the cities of New- York, Albany, and
Boston. They are renowned retailers of garden-
seeds, brushes, farming utensils, &c. &c.

Though men and women, who, while living in the
world, were man and wife, are often to be found as
members of these communities, the sexes live apart
from each other. They have separate dormitories,
separate tables, and even separate doors by which to
enter the temple.

But it is to the singular mode of worship of these
deluded fanatics, that I wish to direct your attention.
You know, already, that no small portion of their
worship consists in what they term the "labour of
dancing." Their founder has contrived to lay his
finger on one or two verses of the Old Testament, in
which allusion is made to the custom of the Jews in
dancing before the ark : and, I believe, they also
place particular stress on the declaration of Solomon,
when he says, " there is a time for all things,'1 among
which, dancing is enumerated. It is scarcely neces
sary to say, that none but the most ignorant, and,
perhaps, the weakest-minded men, can join such a
sect from motives of conscience. I saw several ne
groes among them.

I went to attend their worship at Niskayuna. It
was natural to suppose that their dancing was a sorl
of imitation of that of the dervishes, in which en
thusiasm is the commencement, and exhaustion the
close. On the contrary, it was quite a matter of grave
preparation. The congregation (the Shakers) entered

SHAKING QUAKERS. 249

the meeting by different doors at the same time, the
elders of the two sexes leading the advance, and one
following the other in what is called single file. The
men arranged themselves on one side of the room,
and the women on the other. Their attire was rig
idly simple, and fastidiously neat. It was made
nearly in the fashion of the highly respectahle sect
of Friends, though less rich in material. When si
lence was obtained, after the movement of the entree,
the whole group, who were formed in regular lines,
commenced singing certain spiritual songs of their
own composition (1 believe) to lively tunes, and with
a most villarious nasal cadency. These songs were
accompanied by a constant swinging of the bodies ;
and, from this commencement, I expected the access
of the infatuated worship would grow by a regular
increase of excitement. On the contrary, the songs
were ended tranquilly, and others were sung, and
alw7ays with the same quiet termination. At length,
one of the elders gravely said, "Let us labour," just
as you hear priests say from their desks, " Let us
pray." The men then proceeded with gravity to take
off their coats, and to suspend them from pegs ; after
which they arranged themselves in rows on one side
of the room, the women occupying the other in the
same order. Those who did not join the sets, lined
the walls, and performed the duties pf musicians with
their voices. At the commencement of the song, the
dancers moved forward, in a body, about three feet
each, turned, shuffled, and kept repeating the same
evolutions during the whole time of this remarkable
service. It is scarcely possible to conceive any thing
more ludicrous, and yet more lamentable. I felt dis
posed to laugh, and yet I could scarcely restrain my
tears. I think, after the surprise of the ludicrous
had subsided, that the sight of so much miserable in
fatuation left a deep and melancholy regret: on the
mind.

250 THE SHAKERS.

They appear to have an idea that a certain amount
of this labour is requisite to salvation, for t learned
that many of the elders had reached perfection, and
that they had long since ceased to strive to reach
heaven by pirouetting.

Now the laws of the different States where the
small fragments of this sect exist, are far too wise and
too humane to give their deluded followers any trouble.
They are inoffensive and industrious citizens, and,
in one or two instances, the courts have interpret
ed the laws as humanely in their favour as circum
stances would reasonably allow. It is plain that the
true bond of their union is the effect which concerted
action and strict domestic government produce on
the comforts of the grossly ignorant ; but as the class
of the very ignorant is quite limited in this country,
and is daily getting to be comparatively still less nu
merous, there is no fear that this, or any other re
ligious sect that is founded altogether on fanaticism
and folly, will ever arrive to the smallest importance.

TO THE PROFESSOR CHRISTIAN JANSEN,

Washington,

— You know not what you ask! I have already
sent you an imperfect account (I must confess) of the
jurisprudence of the United States, and now you ask
me for what you are pleased to call an outline of its
civil and criminal law. Do you know there are
four-ancUtwenty States, one district, and four territories
in this country, and that each of them has its own
laws, varying in some particulars of form and of
policy from those of all the rest ? My answer shall,

PUNISHMENT OF CRIME. 251

therefore, be very short; nor should it be given at all,
did I not know that various absurdities are circulated
in Europe, on this very matter, by men who travel
here, and who rarely possess a knowledge of, or give
themselves the trouble to inquire into, the true con
dition of the society, whether considered in reference
to its conventional tone, or to its positive institutions.

The criminal law of the United States is more
sanguinary than that of any particular State. Piracy,
treason, murder, robberies of the mail, in which the
life of the person in charge is jeoparded, and a few
ether offences, are punished with death. Crimes
committed on the high seas, in certain reservations,
such as forts, light-houses, &c., are also punished by
the laws of the confederation. Smaller offences are
punished by fines, or imprisonment, or by both. Some
of the States inflict death for a variety of offences,
especially the slave-holding communities ; others again
are very tender of human life. In New- York, mur
der, arson, if the building be an inhabited dwelling,
and treason, can be punished with death. All crimes
that are exclusively military, are punished by the
military code of the general government.

The great fault in the exercise of the criminal law,
in most, if not all, of the States of America, is a
false humanity. The people have heard a great deal,
and a great deal justly, of the useless severity of the
laws in many European countries, and they very
naturally turn with horror from a system, that they
are fond of thinking is unnecessary to a nation in
their own condition. I cannot say I agree with them.
As there is less temptation to crime in the United
States, than in any other country, and, as more care
is taken to prevent it by the use of education, and
the entire absence of legal monopolies, it is as un
wise as it is unnecessary to reject those means of pre
serving the order of society which the experience of
all a^es has shown to be salutarv.

/

252 A FALSE HUMANITY.

The first and great duty of every government is to
remove, as far as possible, all temptations to crime.
This is to be done by the admission of equal rights,
and by as general a diffusion, as possible, of moral
influences. But after these solemn and imperative
duties are performed, little can be said against a stern
and wholesome exercise of justice. Punishment, in
order to be impressive, should be prompt and infal
lible. The indiscreet use of the prerogative of mercy
is one of the great errors of American criminal policy ;
though it is said that necessity often compels its ex
ercise, as the public penitentiaries cannot hold the
convicts that are accumulated by time, and which
embrace crimes that elsewhere would sweep the of
fender from the earth. I should think this argument
must prove some fault in the criminal code. It is
true, that an immense proportion of the convicts are
foreigners, or of the unfortunate race of blacks : but
still it is necessary to legislate for things as they are ;
and if rogues can emigrate from Europe, and a class
of ignorant and hapless wretches exist in the State
to swell the amount of crime, I should think both,
policy and justice require that a suitable provision
should be made to meet the evil.

I was particularly struck with the fact, that a re
port of the superintendents of the New- York State
Prison, commenced with premises like this : " As the
object of all punishment is the reformation of the
offender ;" now I take it, that the object of the pun
ishments which communities inflict, is for no such
purpose. Society punishes for its own protection,
though reformation may, and when practicable with
out losing sight of the great and principal cause of
legal punishments, it should ever be considered as a
collateral good, to be effected by the same means.
But it is dangerous, indeed, to assume that punish
ment has no other motive than reformation. If this
be true, why do we execute for murder, or whv are

A FALSE POLICY. 253

so many people taught to believe that Pie who holds
the destinies of the universe has decreed that sinners
shall expiate their offences in a lasting condemnation ?
It is very true, that as we can understand only our
relations to the Deity, without comprehending the
relations which the Deity holds to us, it may be dan
gerous, or even impious, to pretend to deduce any
reasoning from the great laws of God, which shall
be strictly applicable to the obligations which man
owes to his fellows. But we all know that the world
does not graduate punishments of offences against
society for the purpose of amending the criminal,
though we may all feel that an object so humane
should not be neglected when good opportunities for
effecting it are afforded.

America is peculiarly placed as respects crime. It
is a young, vigorous, abundant, and a highly commer
cial country, in which moveable property abounds,
and in which it is remarkably exposed to be pilfered
by the absence of a rigid police ; a sort of protection
that is not very suitable to the habits and opinions
of its people. The great and increasing intercourse
with an old nation, in which crime abounds to an
extraordinary degree, and the prodigious facilities of
a communication which every day is rendering still
more easy, tempt rogues from the mother country to
shift their scene of action. Thus, while the country
has been acting on a criminal lawr that is adapted,
perhaps well enough, to the degree of temptation
which exists in the nation itself, its cities are begin
ning to swarm with fugitive felons from England, who,
under favour of a common language, not only prac
tise all their artifices with equal dexterity as at home,
but, what is far worse, who bring corruption into the
land, and lead hundreds of youths into the paths of
vice. But this is an evil that will correct itself, though
I think the good people, especially of the large towns,
are little aware that their excessive lenity is not only

VOL. II. Y

254 LAW OF REAL PROPERTY.

mistaken on abstract principles, but that it is pecu
liarly wrong in a nation, that, however it may go to
the root of crime by diminishing temptation as much
as possible, must still, for a long time, be exposed to
a prodigious importation of vice.

The law of real property, in the United States, is
a good deal the same as that of England. Entails aie,
however, destroyed every where, and the doctrine
of descent has, in many of the States, been roughly
handled. In New-York — I quote this State oftenest,
as the most populous and the most important, though
you are to understand that the laws of New- York are
strictly applicable only to itself, while they are com-
monlv founded on principles that are general — in
New- York, the father is the next heir of a child who
leaves no issue. This is a wise, a humane, and a
natural departure from the dictum of the common
law, and it does much good in a country like this.
The next of kin inherit, after the father, in equal por
tions, without distinction of age or sex. The widow
is entitled to one-third of the personal estate of the
husband, and to the use of one-third of the real es
tate during life. The husband is owner of all the
personals of the wife, and he is the tenant by the cour
tesy of her real estate, according to the provisions of
the English common law. There is, however, a good
deal of difference in the rights of husbands and wives
in the different States. In some, the property of the
woman is much more respected than in others.

The party in possession of property in fee, can
devise it, without restriction, to whom he pleases.
This is, I think, a wiser provision than the law of
France, which renders natural. descent, to a certain
extent, unavoidable; but the law of France I take to
be an enactment that is intended to do away with
the custom of entails, which had gotten such deep
root in Europe. Rich men, here, often give more to
their sons than to their daughters; though it is very

LAW OF MARRIAGE. "255

common for men of small fortunes to make the daugh
ters independent at the expense of the sons. Of
course, any irregularity or alienation of property
from the descent (or ascent) prescribed by the law,
must be made by will.*

Marriage is, of course, altogether a civil contract.
Its forms are, however, more or less artificial, ac
cording to the policy of particular States. In some,
bans are necessary ; in others, evidence that would
establish any other contract would establish that of
marriage. As a breach of the marriage contract is
always criminal, the law requires, in cases of indict
ments for bigamy, rather more positive testimony
than would be required in those of inheritance and
legitimacy. Thus, a child would be considered born
in wedlock, in many States, under the reputation of
matrimony, though a man would scarcely be punish
ed for bigamy, without direct evidence of the two
contracts. The policy of the different States, how
ever, varies so much, to suit the particular conditions
of society, that no general rule can be laid down. In
portions of the country recently settled, it is the prac
tice to make the contract before a justice of the peace,
as in many parts of New- York ; but then, a justice
of peace has no more power to celebrate a marriage
than any other man. It is thought that his testimony, as

* The writer is hourly acquiring evidence of the gross igno
rance concerning the United States, which travellers are im
porting into Europe, where, Heaven knows, enough has long
existed He has lately read a book, written by an English
man, in a sufficiently amicable spirit, which says that a gentle
man of New-York, who is the proprietor of a large estate
(40,000 acres) is obliged by law to let it pass to his nephews and
nieces! It is possible that, in the case in question, a reversionary
interest might have been given by some former owner in fee, to
certain nephews and nieces ; but any owner in fee (of mature
age) can devise to whom he pleases. The law allows devises
to go as far as all people actually living, and to twenty-one
years after, by fixing age, sex, or any other qualification by
which the party to inherit can be accurately distinguished.

256 THE SOUTHERN STATES.

a public officer, is more imposing than that of a pri
vate individual, and these people always attach high
importance to legal rank. People of any condition
are always (unless in extraordinary exceptions) mar
ried by clergymen.

I can tell you little more that is distinctive in
American law, without dealing in exceptions ; since,
though the governing principles are always the same,
the policy of one State diners so much from that of
another.

TO SIR EDWARD WALLER, BART.

&c. &c.

New-York,

IT is an age since I wrote to any of the club. But
though my pen has been necessarily quiet, the inter
vening time has not been unemployed. In the inter
val, I have run over an immense surface in the
southern and western States. It would be idle to
attempt to describe all I have seen, and there would
be the constant danger of leading you astray by ex
ceptions, should I descend into detail. Still, as there
is a great deal that is distinctive, I shall endeavour
to convey to you some general ideas on the subject.

The (irst, and by far the most important feature,
which distinguishes these States from their northern
sisters, is slavery. Climate and productions induce
some other immaterial differences. The laws, usages,
institutions, and political opinions, with such excep
tions as unavoidably grow out of states of society
marked by such distinctions as the use or the absence
of domestic slaves, are essentially the same.

NUMBER OF THE SLAVES, ETC. 257

There is a broad, upland region, extending through
the interior of Virginia, the two Carolinas, and
Georgia, where slaves are used, more as they were
formerly used in New- York and in the eastern States,
than as they are now used in the other sections of
the States named. That is to say, the farmer is the
master of three or four labourers, and works in the
field at their sides, instead of being a planter, who
keeps a driver, and what are called gangs. Tennes
see, and Kentucky also, with some exceptions, em
ploy the negroes in a similar manner ; while on the
Mississippi, the Gulf of Mexico, and along the coast
of the Atlantic, as far north as the Chesapeake,
slavery exists much in the same forms as it is found
in the English West India islands.

The country, on the whole coast of the United
States, until one gets far northward and eastward, is
low and champaign. It is healthy, or not, according
to the degrees of latitude, and to local situation.
The uplands are invariably salubrious. There is no
region on earth more beautiful, or more fertile, than
large parts of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
There is also much barren, or otherwise little valu
able land, in the former State, as there is in the
neighbouring States of North and South Carolina.

South Carolina and Louisiana are the only two
States which, at the census of 1820, contained more
blacks than whites. The former had 231,812 white
inhabitants, and 258,497 blacks ; leaving a balance
of 26,685 in favour of the latter. Of the blacks,
251,783 were slaves, being 19,971 more slaves than
whites. Louisiana had, at the same time, 73,383
whites, and 79,540 blacks; of the latter, 69,064
were slaves, being rather fewer slaves than whites.
All people having black blood are enumerated as
blacks. Georgia is the next considerable community,
which has so large a proportion of blacks. It had,
in 1820, 189,566 whites, and 151,439 blacks. Vir-
Y2

258 PROPORTION OF BLACKS TO WHITES.

ginia had 603,0.08 whites, and 462,042 blacks ; and
North Carolina, 419,200 whites, and 219,629 blacks,
or nearly two whites to one black. In Kentucky
(here were 434,644 whites to 129,491 blacks; and
in Tennessee, which is much disposed to the habits
of a free State, there were 339,727 whites to 82,826
blacks ; a proportion of the latter not greater than
what formerly existed in New- York and New-Jersey.
Most of the blacks, in all these States, are slaves.

In 1790, there were 757,208 blacks in the United
States; in 1800, 1,001,729; in 1810, 1,377,810; in
1820, 1,764,836. By making premises of these facts,
and taking the past rate of increase as a rule for the
future, it would be found that there are now (1828)
about 2,000,000 of blacks in the United States. In
1820, there were 233,400/ree blacks in the United
States. As the free blacks do not increase at the
same rate as the slaves, this number cannot have
accumulated in a full proportion, by natural causes.
But emancipation has been busy since. New-York,
alone, has liberated more than 10,000 slaves since
1820. We will therefore assume that natural in
crease and emancipation have kept the fiee blacks
up to the level of the increase of the whole number.
This would leave us something like 1,750,000 for the
whole amount of slaves in the country, at the pres
ent moment (1828.) This result is probably not far
from the truth. You will see, however, that my
premises are a little faulty, because the increase of
blacks between the years 1800 and 1810 was a good
deal greater, in comparison with whole numbers, than
between 1810 and 1820. This fact is owing to the abo
lition of the slave trade, which occurred between the
two censuses of 1800 and of 1810, and which being
known by a prospective law, induced extraordinary
importations. Thus the increase between 1 800 and
1810 was 376,581, whereas between 1810 and 1820
it was only 387,026, although there was so much

VIEWS OF SLAVERY. 259

larger a stock to increase from. Still, I think the
amount of slaves cannot be much short of the num
ber 1 have named. The \vhite population, in the
whole country, is now about 10,000,000. Of this
number, however, at least 6,000,000, and probably a
great many more, are in the free States. If we put
the entire white population of the slave-holding
States at 3,500,000, we shall probably give them
quite as many as they possess. This would be making
two whites to one slave in those States, and it is
probably as near the truth as one can get at this dis
tance of time from the census. But it has already
been seen, that in many of these States the propor
tion of blacks is much larger than in others ; South
Carolina actually possessing more slaves than whites;
and Tennessee having four whites to one black.
There are, again, districts in these very States, in
which the proportion of the whites to the blacks, and
of the blacks to the whites, is even still greater.

In addition to these facts, it may be well to state
that the whole white population of the country is
known to have increased faster than that of the
coloured, though the black population of the south
ern, or slave-holding States, is thought to have in
creased a little faster than that of the whites.

In considering the question of slavery, as now
existing in the United States, the subject naturally
divides itself into the past, the present, and the
future. It has been often said, that a people, claim
ing to be the freest of the earth, ought to have
brought their practice more in conformity with their
professions, and to have abolished slavery at the time
they declared their independence. There are many
unanswerable reasons to this allegation ; or reasons
that will be deemed unanswerable, by that portion
of mankind who regard life as it actually exists, in
its practical aspects and influences. There is not
now, nor has there ever been since the separation of

260 CONDITION OF THE SLAVES.

the colonies from the mother country, any power to
emancipate the slaves, except that which belongs to
their masters. This reason might satisfy most prac
tical men of the impossibility of instantly achieving
so desirable an object. That sort of humanity, which
regards the evils of a distant and alien people, and
which, at the same time, turns a cold eye on the suf
ferings of those at hand, is, to say the least, as useless
us it is suspicious. There is scarcely a nation in Eu
rope, if, indeed, there be one, that has not a propor
tion of its population, that is quite equal to the pro
portion the slaves of America bear to the whites,
which is not quite as low in moral debasement, the
name of liberty alone excepted, and which, as a
whole, endure much more of physical suffering than
the negroes of America.

The condition of the American slave varies, of
course, with circumstances. In some few portions
of the country, he is ill dealt by. In most districts
his labour is sufficiently light, his clothing is adapted
to the climate, and his food is, 1 believe, every where
abundant. The strongest evidence, after all, which
can be given, that the amount of animal suffering
among the American slaves is not great, (there are
exceptions, of course,) is the fact that they are a light-
hearted and a laughing race. I am very ready to
grant that ignorance, and absence of care, are apt to
produce hilarity, and that some of the most degraded
and least intellectual people of the earth, are among
the gayest ; but I believe that it is a rule in nature,
that where there is much animal suffering there is an
animal exhibition of its existence.

There is still a higher, and a very numerous class
of American slaves, who are far better instructed,
better clothed, and better fed, and who are altogether
a superior race to the lowest class of the European
peasants. I mean the domestic servants, and those
who labour as mechanics and artisans.

MELIORATION OF THE CONDITION OF BLACKS. 261

While on this branch of the subject, I shall take
occasion to say, that yearly meliorations in the con
dition of the slaves (and of the blacks generally,) are
taking place in some one part of the country or other.
Several unjust and exceedingly oppressive laws, that
were the fruits of colonial policy, have been repealed,
or greatly qualified ; and public opinion is making a
steady advance to the general improvement, and, I
think, to the final liberation of the race. Although
these changes are not as rapid as they might be, even
with a due regard to policy, and far less rapid than
most good men could wish, it is a course that is more
likely to be attended with less positive injury to the
race of beings that true philanthropy would so gladly
serve, than one as headlong and as ill-advised as mere
declaimers and pretenders would dictate.

I think no candid man will deny the difficulty of
making two or three millions of people, under any
circumstances, strip themselves, generally of half
their possessions, and, in many instances, of all.
There are few nations in Europe, at this hour, in
which the poorer classes would not be relieved from
serious pressure, would they, who have the means,
tax themselves to discharge the debts which are the
causes of so much of the heavy impositions of their
respective governments. Now, this would be a meas
ure that would do good to millions, great and almost
inconceivable good, and harm to none but to them that
paid ; whereas, a sudden, or any very violent eman
cipation of the slaves of America, would ruin those
who did it, and scarcely do less than ruin half, or
even more, of those in whose behalf the charitable
act would be performed. Let me be understood. I
do not mean to say that much more than is done
might not be done, prudently, and with safety ; nor
do I mean to say that most of those who find them
selves in possession of a species of property, that they
have been educated to think a natural and just acqui-

262 THE SHAME OF THE SLAVE TRADE.

sition, think much of the matter at all ; but what 1
would wish to express is, that they who do think
calmly and sincerely on the subject, see and feel all
these difficulties, and that they weaken efforts that
would otherwise produce an effect more visible than
the sentiment which I think is silently working its
way throughout the whole of this nation.

In considering the question of American slavery,
in reference to the past, it is plain that Europe has
been an equal participator in all that there is of
shame, or sin, in the transaction. There can be no
charge more vapid and unjust, than for an European
to reproach the American with the existence of slave
ry in his country. That the American is in the en
joyment of greater power to do natural justice than
the European, is just as true, as that, in most things,
he does it. That slavery is an evil of which the great
majority of the Americans themselves, who have no
present agency in its existence, would gladly be rid
of, is manifest, since they have abolished it in so many
States already; but that it is an evil not to be shaken
off by sounding declarations, and fine sentiments, any
man, who looks calmly into the subject, must see.
But so far as a comparison between Europe and
America is concerned, let us, for an instant, examine
the exceedingly negative merit of the former. Is it
not a fact that the policy of all America was for more
than a century controlled by Europe, and was not
this scourge introduced under that policy ? Has that
policy, in Europe, been yet abandoned ? Let us take
the two most prominent nations boldly to task at
once ; does England or France, for instance, at this
moment, own a foot of land on earth, where black
slaves can be profitable, and where they do not use
them ?* It is absurd for France, or for England, to

* It is well known that a negro would be next to nothing in
the Canadas, £c.

EMANCIPATION. 263

say, we have no slaves in our respective kingdoms,
properly so called, when every body knows that the
one is at this moment filled with white beggars, arid
the other with paupers who are supported by the
public purse, and both for the simple reason that they
are overflowing with population. It is true, that two
centuries ago, when they had more room, they did
not import negroes from Guinea ; but it is7 also, just
as true, that they sent their ships to convey them to
colonies which are situated in climates where they
might repay them for their trouble. It is as puerile
as it is unjust, therefore, for these two countries,
(most others might be included,) to pretend to any
exclusive exemption from the sin or the shame of
slavery.

The merit of Christendom on the subject of the
wrongs of Africa, is, at the best, but equivocal. Yet,
such as it is, the meed is better due to the United
States than to any other nation. They were the
first to abolish the trade in human flesh, though the
nation, of all others, that might most have reaped
that short-sighted, but alluring profit, which tempted
men to the original wrong. Had not the Congress
of the United States abolished this trade, there is no
doubt millions of acres might have sooner been
brought into lucrative cultivation, and the present
generation at least would have been millions the
richer. The whole body of the whites might have
become a set of taskmasters to gather wealth from the
labour of the blacks. No doubt true policy dictated
the course they have taken, and they have but a very
negative merit in pursuing it : still it should always
be remembered, that what has been done, was done
by those who might have profited in security by a
different course, and by those, too, who had been
educated in the shackles of a deeply-rooted prejudice
on the subject.

Jn reproaching the Americans with incongruity

264 THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN MAN.

between their practices and their professions, two
or three points are very necessary to be remember
ed. In the first place, it is not true, as respects neaf
7,000,000 of the ten that comprise their population ;
for they have given freedom and (essentially) equal
rights to those blacks who remain among them. The
very condensation of the interests of slavery adds4
however, to the difficulty of the subject, since it
makes the loss fall on a comparatively reduced num
ber. The northern men had to do one of two things ;
to separate their fortunes from a portion of their
countrymen, to whom they were bound by the ties
of fellowship, blood, common interests, and common
descent, or submit to be parties to an union in which
some of the other parties were slave-holders. They
were, in fact, slave-holders themselves, at the time of
the compact, so that it would have been absurd to be
very fastidious in the matter; and there would have
been but little wisdom in rejecting so much positive
good, in order to assert an abstract principle, that
could be attended with no single practical benefit.
The southern States would have held their slaves,
had the northern refused to have joined them to make
one nation ; and, so far as humanity is concerned, the
negroes would not have been so well ofF, since they
now feel the influence of northern policy, while war
and bloodshed, and all the evils of a dangerous rivalry
that would have arisen between men whom nature
had made friends and brothers, are avoided. Jn short,
this is a reproach against the northern man, that is
more likely to be made by those who view the
Union, and the continued harmony which pervades
these vast regions, with unquiet jealousy, than by
any reasoning and practical philanthropist.

As to the southern man himself, he is placed, like
so many nations of other quarters of the globe, in an
unfortunate predicament, that time and society, and
all the multiplied interests of life, render so difficult

THEORY AND PRACTICE. 2G5

to change. The profession of the southern man is un
questionably that of equal rights ; and it is undeniable
that he holds the black in slavery : but this does not
involve quite so great an absurdity as one would at
first imagine. The slave-holders of the present day
(viewed as a body) are just as innocent of the crea
tion of slavery, as their fellow-citizens of New-York
or Connecticut ; and the citizens of New-1 *k 01
Connecticut are just as innocent of the creation of
slavery as the citizens of London or Pads. But the
citizens of the two former States have a merit in the
matter, that the citizens of neither of the towns named
can claim, since they have stripped themselves of
property to give freedom to their blacks, while those
who were parties to the original wrong have contrib
uted nothing to the measure they so much urge. But
is it not possible to assert a principle under acknow
ledged limitations ? The black man in the southern
States of this Union is not considered a citizen at all.
It would not be safe to consider him a citizen, in a
country of equal political rights, since he is far too
ignorant, and must, for a generation at least, remain
too ignorant, to exercise, with sufficient discretion,
the privileges of a citizen in a free government. It
would, if any thing, be more prudent for the Virginian
and Carolinian to admit boys of twelve years of age
to vote and to legislate, than to admit their blacks, in
their present moral condition, without having any
reference to the danger of a personal dissension.
Equal rights do not, in any part of America, imply a
broad, general, and unequivocal equality. It is the
glory of the institutions of this country, that they have
never run into practical excesses, in order to satisfy
craving theories. By equal rights, the citizen of Con
necticut, (and, I believe, no man doubts his rational
and unlimited freedom,) understands that all who have
reached a certain standard of qualification, shall be
equal in power and that all others shall be equal in
Vor, If. Z

266 THEORY AND PRACTICE.

protection. He does not give political power to the
pauper, nor to females, nor to minors, nor to idiots,
nor yet even to his priests. All he aims at is jus
tice ; and in order to do justice, he gives political
rights to all those who, he thinks, can use them
without abuse. He would be culpable only, if any
class existed in his community, who might, with a
little care, freely enjoy these rights, did he neglect to
resort to that care. He therefore excludes only those
who, on great, general, and lasting principles, are dis
qualified from exercising political power. The situa
tion of the Carolinian is different, but his principle is
quite the same : he excludes more ; for, unhappily,
when he arrived at the knowledge and the practice
of a liberal policy himself, he found a numerous class
of human beings existing within his borders, who
were not competent to its exercise. He had but a
choice between a seeming inconsistency, or the entire
abandonment of what he thought a great good. He
chose to make all equal, who could bear equality;
and in that, he has done exactly what his northern
countryman has done, and no more. Should he un
necessarily neglect, however, to qualify these excep
tions to enjoy a better state of being, he then becomes
inconsistent.

I think these considerations must lead us to the
conclusion, that most of the merits of this question
lie in the fact of how much has been done and is
now doing, towards effecting a change in what is ad
mitted to be a prodigious evil. I feel confident that
no discreet father, or husband, or brother, could ask
a Carolinian, who was existing in a state of highly
polished society, and who enjoyed all the advantages
of great moral improvement, to admit, at once, a body
of men .who had been nurtured in the habits of slave
ry, with all their ignorance and animal qualities, and
who are numerically superior, to a participation of
equal political rights. Such a measure would induce

EMANCIPATION. 267

an absolute abandonment of their country and prop
erty on the part of the whites, or it would involve a
degradation, and abuses that are horrible to reflect
on. Individuals may and have parted with their
means of personal indulgence to give liberty to their
slaves ; but it is too much to expect it from commu
nities : nor would discreet individuals do it, if it were
to be a general act, since a disorganization of society-
would be an inevitable consequence.

The true question, and that in which the friends
of humanity should feel the deepest interest, is that
connected with the steps that are taken to lead to
the general emancipation*, which must sooner or later
arrive.

At the period of the declaration of the indepen
dence of the United States, slavery existed in all the
British colonies. The blacks were not numerous in
the northern provinces, for, there, the white was the
better labourer. Still there were slaves in every one
of the thirteen original States of this Union. The
proportion of slaves in some of the middle States
was nearly equal to what it now is in some of the
southern. Massachusetts (which in 1790 had 5,463
blacks,) put such a construction on its own bill of
rights as abolished slavery. This was the first measure
of the sort that was ever taken on the American con
tinent, I presume. The example has been succes
sively followed, at different periods, by all the north
ern and middle States, until slavery is either abolished
in fact, or by laws that have a prospective operation,
in nine out of the fourteen States that adopted the
present constitution in 1789. You may form some
idea of the difficulty of getting rid of such an evil as
slavery, by observing the caution with which these
comparatively little encumbered States have ap
proached the subject. Perhaps twenty years are
necessary to effect the object humanely, even after
the policy of a community is perfectly decided.

268 EMANCIPATION.

Numberless influences have, at the same time,
been at work, however, to extend the limits in which
slavery might exist. Alabama and Mississippi formed
parts of Georgia; Kentucky and Tennessee were
within the ancient limits of Virginia ; and Louisiana,
and Missouri, and the Floridas, were acquired by
purchase. The people of Virginia and Georgia, in
ceding their territory, were not disposed to cede the
right of emigration, with the privilege of carrying
their wealth with them ; and slavery, in consequence,
became extended over the four States named. Slaves
were found in the two others, and in the Floridas.
In this manner the eleven present slave-holding States
came into existence. In the meanwhile, the States
of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, were organized off what
was once called the north-western territory. These,
added to the nine States that had abolished the policy
of slavery, and by the subsequent acquisition of Maine,
brought their whole number up to thirteen.

I think that the influence of free opinions, if I may
so express it, is steadily on the increase. It is not
the smallest evil of slavery, that it begets in the mas
ter an indifference to its existence, and that it gives
birth and durability to cruel and lasting prejudices.
That these prejudices must be rooted out of the ma
jority of the citizens of the southern States them
selves, ere slavery shall cease to exist, is indisputable,
since no power but their own can extinguish it. But
my friend assures me, that within his recollection, an
immense change has taken place in this particular.
Twenty years ago, even in New-York, a general and
deep prejudice existed against this unfortunate class
of human beings. It is rapidly disappearing. It is
true, that the sort of commingling of the races, which
a certain class of philanthropists are much fonder of
proclaiming than they would be fond of practising,
does not occur, nor is it likely very soon to occur in
this country. Still there is every disposition to do

IMPEDIMENTS TO MINGLING THE RACES. 269

the blacks justice, though there is none whatever to
mingle the blood. I have heard of instances in which
human beings of peculiar colour and form were
esteemed in Europe as curiosities ; but I fancy, if
they abounded in any country, there would be found
the same natural desire, in that portion of its in
habitants who believed themselves to possess the
physical advantage, to retain it, as is now found here.
It is odd enough, that Europe, which, for so many
centuries, has been making patents of nobility ob
stacles to matrimony, should decry so loudly against a
people who hesitate a little at intermingling colours.

But there will still be a greater objection against
this mingling of the races, for at least a long time to
come. With few exceptions, the blacks of America
belong to an ill-educated and inferior class. When
free, they are left, like other men, to look after their
own interests ; and most of those, who have charac
ter and talent enough to rise above the condition of
menials, push their fortunes in countries where they
are not daily and hourly offended by the degradation
of their caste. I think this circumstance must long
keep them in a station which will prevent intermar
riages. You will admit, too, that matrimony is very
much an affair of taste; and, although there well
may be, and there are, portions of the world where
white colour is not greatly admired, such is not the
case here. The deep reluctance to see one's pos
terity exhibiting a hue different from one's own, is to
be overcome, ere any extensive intercourse can oc
cur between the blacks and the whites.

The probable future fate of the blacks of Ameri
ca, is a subjecf of deep and painful interest. I con
fess, however, I am not one of those who see any
great danger to the whites in their increasing num
bers. While they remain ignorant, their efforts must
always be feeble and divided, and, as they become
enlightened, they must see the utter impossibility of
Z2

270 A MISTAKEN OPINION.

any continued success in a rising against a force nu
merically arid morally so superior. Although the
distances in America seem very great on the map,
the inhabitants have contrived the means of bringing
themselves wonderfully near to each other. The
whites in the whole country increase faster than the
blacks ; and I think it will be found, that as emanci
pations multiply, the disproportion in numbers will
be still greater, and always in favour of the former.
It would not only be the duty of the northern men,
but it would be a duty readily performed, to fly, in
case of need, to the assistance of their southern neigh
bours. It is not easy to suppose circumstances in
which the white population of the southern States,
already (as a whole) two to one against the slaves,
armed, intelligent, organized, and possessing the im
mense moral superiority of their domestic relations,
should not be sufficient of themselves to protect their
persons and property against a rising. The only
circumstances in which the danger could be very im
minent or extensive, would be in the event of a foreign
war; and then their common country would be a
party, and the aid of States that will shortly number
of themselves twenty or thirty milllions, could be
commanded in their defence.

But the danger of slavery, so far as it is connected
with numbers, has its own cure. No man will keep
a negro after he ceases to be profitable, any more
than he will keep an extra supply of other animal
force. If Carolina can bear 500,000 slaves, Carolina
will probably accumulate that number ; but after she
has reached the point where policy says she must
stop, instead of resorting to laws to retain her ne
groes, she will have recourse to laws to get rid of
them. This, to an European, and particularly to an
Englishman, who knows that excessive population is
the greatest burthen of his own country, may seem
difficult; but in order to form a correct opinion of a

EXCESS OF BLACK POPULATION. 271

question purely American, it is necessary to consider
the actual state of things on this side of the Atlantic.

The already vast, and constantly increasing coast
ing trade of the United States, offers an easy, natural,
and perfectly practicable drain, to the black popula
tion of the south. The blacks furnish, already, thou
sands of sailors, and quite useful sailors too, and they
constitute a very important material of the supply of
seamen, in considering the future commercial and
nautical power of this confederation. The demand
for domestics at the north, too, will, for many years,
continue beyond the probability of a white supply.
You will remember that experience has shown that
the free blacks have very little natural increase, and
both these growing demands must therefore meet
with most of their supplies from the slave-holding
States. Then, again, the proximity of the West In
dies, of Mexico, and of the South American States,
in which a commingled population already exists,
offers facilities for emigration, that Europe does not
present. The slave population of the United States
may reach 4 or 5,000.000, but (after a very short time)
at a diminishing rate of increase,* and then I think it
will be found that new means will be taken to get
rid of them.

In forming these conjectures, I have not regarded
the narrowing of the limits of slavery by the constant
advancement of opinion. It is true, that the surface
on which slavery, in fact, exists, has, on the whole,

* At present the slave-holder has a motive for increasing his
slaves, since he can sell them in the new States ; but this de
mand will, of course, cease as the new States get full. Louisiana
has recently passed a law, prohibiting the importation of slaves;
a fact which the writer thinks proves the truth of his theory.
The reader will always recollect that slaves cannot be imported
into the United States, but that they can be transported from
one State to another, unless prohibitions are made by the States
themselves. This was part of the original compact, without
which the southern States would not have consented to the
present constitution

272 MISSOURI.

been rather enlarged than otherwise, since the ex
istence of the confederation ; but we should not lose
sight of the circumstances under which this extension
of the slave region has been effected.

It has spread with the diffusion of population, over
districts that were originally the property of the slave
holders; and in no respect, except in mere territorial
division, has there been any virtual enlargement of
its political limits, unless one can thus call the en
largement of the borders of society. It is true, that
when Missouri was admitted to the Union, an effort
was made by the friends of the blacks (I use the term
technically) to abolish slavery in that State. Had
they succeeded, it would have been an inroad on the
ancient limits; but their defeat ought not to be deem
ed an extension of the surface occupied by slave?,
since slaves were there before. It was a sort of at
tempt to turn the flank of slavery, or to get into its
rear; whereas I think it manifest that the great vic
tory over habits and prejudices, which true policy
will be sure to gain in time, is to be gained by press
ing steadily on, in an open, manly, but cautious and
conciliating manner, in its front. Ardent and steady
a friend of universal liberty as you know me to be, I
am by no means sure, that, had I been a member of
that Congress, I would have given so violent an alarm
to the slave-holders of the south, as to have contributed
to attempt to carry that law.

It is only necessary to witness the immense supe
riority that free labour possesses over slave labour,
and to examine the different conditions of society in
a State without slaves, and in one with, to see that a
close contact must be destructive to the principles
of slavery. The friends of emancipation have now
a noble front, extending from the Atlantic to the Mis
sissippi. I even think that accident has contributed
to throw those communities most in advance, which
are the least likely to retard the progress of emanci-

MARYLAND. 273

pation. The honest and affluent, but quiet popula
tion of Pennsylvania, for instance, is much less suited
to give the alarm to their neighbours of Maryland,
than would be done by the more restless, ever-busy
people of New-England ; while their example is left
to produce its undiminished effect. If I have been
correctly informed, public opinion and sounder views
of policy are making great progress in the latter State.
The inhabitants begin to see that they would be richer
and more powerful without their slaves than with
them. This is the true entering wedge of argument;
and juster views of moral truth will be sure to follow
convictions of interest, as they have followed, and
are still following, emancipation further north.

The first and surest sign of a disposition to give
freedom to the slaves, is the accumulation of the free
blacks, since they are not only a positive proof that
emancipation exists, but they argue an indifference
to slavery in the whole community. In Maryland,
there were 145,429 blacks in 1810, and 147,128 in
1820. During the same time, the whites increased
from 235,117 to 260,222. Emigration retarded the
increase of the two races, no doubt ; and yet, you
see, contrary to the law of increase in most of the
slave-holding States, the whites grew faster than the
blacks. Now, of this number of 147,128 blacks,
39,730 were free. This is a very large proportion,
and I hail it as a most auspicious omen. In point of
fact, there were 4,109 fewer slaves in Maryland in
1820, than in 1810; while the whites had increased
25,105. Indeed, I heard very many enlightened and
respectable men in Maryland regret that slavery ex
isted among them at all ; and the opinion is getting
to be quite common, that free labour is the most
profitable. Even in Virginia, the whites have in
creased 51,474, during the same ten years, while the
blacks have increased only 38,954. It is true, the
emigration renders these results a little doubtful ; but

274 PROSPECTS OF EMANCIPATION.

the fact that there were, in 1320, 36,389 free blacks
in Virginia, proves something. It is also of impor
tance, that there exist, in so many of the slave-holding
States, large bodies of their respective communities,
who have very little interest in the perpetuation of
the evil, except as their own personal welfare is con
nected with that of society. Although the latter in
fluence is one of moment, it is also one that may in
fluence a man both ways, since he may be as likely
to believe that the interests of society call for some
relief against the evil, as to think he ought to sup
port it.

I have endeavoured to lay this important subject
before you in a practical form. It has been done
rapidly, and, I am quite certain, very imperfectly. It
is proper to understand, there is so much of intimate
detail necessary to view the state of American slavery
with discretion, that it is highly probable I may have
fallen into error; but I still think you will find the
views I have taken of it not without some plausibility.
I shall sum them up, together with the leading facts,
in as few words as possible.

I think liberal sentiments towards the blacks are
rapidly gaining ground in most of the southern States.*
Positive, political freedom is granted, or is in the
course of being granted to them, in thirteen of the
twenty-four communities of the confederation. Eman
cipation, geographically speaking, has now reached
a formidable point of resistance (on account of the
numbers of the slaves,) but it is steadily advancing
through the powerful agency of public opinion.
When it has passed this point, its subsequent march
will, I think, be easier and more rapid. Tennessee
and Kentucky, the States that flank Virginia, have by
no means as deep an interest in the maintenance of

* The writer does not mean that every man becomes in some
degree sensible of the evil, but that a vast number do, and of
men, too, who are likely to have an effect on legislation.

SUMMARY VIEW OF THE SUBJECT. 275

slavery, as the States further south ; and I think it is not
chimerical to hope that, by the aid of prospective laws,
many are now living who may see slavery limited to
the shores of the Atlantic, and to the Gulf of Mexico,
with perhaps a belt for a little distance on each side
of the Mississippi. In the mean time, the advance
of opinion is steady and great. Unless the Christian
world recedes, its final success is inevitable. I shall
not incur the charge of empiricism by pretending to
predict the precise period.

I do not think that slavery, under any circum
stances, can entail very serious danger to the dominion
of the whites in this country, for at least a century
or two. Districts might be ravaged, beyond a doubt;
but the prodigious superiority of the whites, in every
thing that constitutes force, is the pledge of their
power.

I am of opinion that the number of the slaves
will be limited, as a matter of course, by necessity.
There is a point beyond which they would be a
burden. Nor is that point so distant as we commonly
imagine. Perhaps it has been already obtained in
some of the older States.

I think that the free black population (except in the
way of emancipation) does not increase, or, at least,
not materially; and that the proportion between the
whites and the blacks is steadily growing in favour
of the former ; that, in future, it will even grow faster ;
that emigration, the navy, commerce, and unsettled
habits, will tend to repress the increase of the blacks,
and to consume their numbers ; and that the time of
the intermingling of the races to any great extent is
Btill remote.

Though there is much in these views to excite the
regrets of a man of pure philanthropy, it appears to
me that the cause of emancipation is far from being
as bad as it is generally supposed to be in Europe.

276 A MORAL WRONG.

Impatience is a characteristic of zeal. But impa
tience, though creditable to the feelings of the Eu
ropean, sometimes leads him, on this subject, into
assertions that might provoke comparisons which
would not be so honourable to his own society, per
haps, as he is apt to fancy. Impatience, however,
on the part of the American, may even do worse ; it
may retard the very consummation he wishes. Mild
ness, candour, and conciliation, are his weapons ; and
I think they will be irresistible. Although an ardent
wisher of the happjt moment of general emancipation,
I always turn with disgust from those cold and heart
less paragraphs which occasionally appear in the
northern journals of this country, and which, under
a superficial pretension to humanity, trifle with the
safety and happiness of two of their fellow-citizens,
in order to give an affected aid to the undoubtedly
righteous cause of one black man. If this species of
irritating language did good, if it did no harm by
hardening men in their opinions, it would be dis
agreeable ; but under the actual state of things, it is
far worse than useless. The general tone of the
press, however, is sufficiently amicable ; and all those
who understand the difference between argumenta
tion and judgment, have reason to hope it may long
continue so.

But physical suffering, especially in a country like
this, is not the prominent grievance of slavery. It is
the deep moral degradation, which no man has a
right to entail on another, that forms the essence of
its shame. God has planted in all our spirits secret
but lasting aspirations after a state of existence,
higher than tint which we enjoy, and no one has a
right to say that such are the limits beyond which
your reason, and, consequently, your mental being,
shall not pass. That men, equally degraded, exist
uqder systems that do not openly avow the principle

THE INDIANS. 277

of domestic slavery, is no excuse for the perpetuation
of such a scourge, though circumstances and neces
sity may urge a great deal in extenuation of its
present existence.

TO SIR EDWARD WALLER, BART.

New-York,

THE next subject of interest, after the unfortunate
descendants of the Africans, that has been brought
into my notice by this southern tour, is the remnant
of the original possessors of these regions. By far
the most numerous, and the most important of the
native tribes, which still continue in the immediate
vicinity of the whites, are those which occupy re
servations in Georgia, the Floridas, Alabama, Missis
sippi, and Tennessee. The lingering fragments of a
hundred tribes are certainly seen scattered over the
immense surface of this country, living on greater or
less tracts that had been secured to them, or dwelling
by sufferance in the woods ; but the only people now
residing east of the Mississippi who can aspire to the
names of nations, are the Creeks, the Choctaws, the
Chickasaws, the Cherokees, and the Seminoles, all
of whom dwell in the portion of country I have
named.

As a rule, the red man disappears before the supe-
lior moral and physical influence of the white, just
as I believe the black man will eventually do the
same thing, unless he shall seek shelter in some other
region. In nine cases in ten, the tribes have gradu
ally removed west; and there is now a confused as-

VOL. II. A a

278 THE INDIANS.

semblage of nations and languages collected on the
immense hunting grounds of the Prairies.

It is impossible to say any thing of the numbers of
the Indians, except by conjecture, since they are not
considered as coming properly within the computa
tions of the censuses. Perhaps the five nations
named may contain not far from twenty thousand
souls. It is not probable that all the Indians that
live within the boundaries of the United States,
stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, materially
exceed 120,000, if indeed they reach that amount.
Still I do not pretend to any great accuracy in my
estimates. Their numbers, in this quarter of America,
have always been exaggerated; and the sounding
terms of nations and tribes have contributed to the
extension of a mistaken idea of their importance.

The ordinary manner of the disappearance of the
Indian, is by a removal deeper into the forest. Still,
many linger near the graves of their fathers, to which
their superstitions, no less than a fine natural feeling,
lend a deeper interest. The fate of the latter is in
evitable; they become victims to the abuses of civil
ization, without ever attaining to any of its moral
elevation.

As might be supposed, numberless divisions of these
people, when the country was discovered, were found
in possession of districts along the coast, and deriving
a principal means of support from the ocean. They
were fishermen rather than hunters, though the savage
state ordinarily infers a resort to both pursuits. Most
of these people, too, retired reluctantly from a view
of " the great salt lake," but some were environed by
the whites before they were properly aware of the
blighting influence of the communion ; and, getting
gradually accustomed to their presence, they prefer
red remaining near the places where they had first
drawn breath. Trifling districts of territory have
been, in every instance in which they were sufficient-

THE INDIANS. 279

Iy numerous to make such a provision desirable, se
cured to them, and on these little tracts of land many
of them still remain. I have visited one or two of
their establishments.

In point of civilization, comforts, and character,
the Indians, who remain near the coasts, are about
on a level with the lowest classes of European peas
antry. Perhaps they are somewhat below the English,
but I think not below the Irish peasants. They are
much below the condition of the mass of the slaves.
It is but another proof of the wayward vanity of man,
that the latter always hold the Indians in contempt,
though it is some proof that they feel their own con
dition to be physically better : morally, in one sense,
it certainly is not.

Many of these Atlantic Indians go to sea. They
are quite often found in the whalers, and, in some in
stances, in the vessels of war. An officer in the navy
has told me that he once knew a Montauk Indian
who was a captain of the main-top in a sloop of war ;
and in another instance, a flag officer had his gig
manned by Indians. They make active and very
obedient seamen, but are never remarkable for
strength. The whole number of them who now go
to sea, does not, however, probably exceed a hundred
or two.*

* The writer, while in America, heard an anecdote which
may give some idea of the notions of retributive justice which
linger so long in the philosophy of an Indian, and which is,

Erobably, the basis of his desire for revenge, since he is well
nown to be as eminently grateful as he is vindictive. The
whalers always take their reward in a portion of the profits of
the voyage. An Indian made several voyages in succession, in
the same ship ; he found, at his return, that bad luck, advances,
and the supplies of an extravagant family at home, left him
always in debt. " What shall I do?" was the question put to
his owner, as each unfortunate balance was exhibited. " You
must go to sea." To sea he went, and, as stated, for four or
five years, always with the same result. At length, good for
tune, with a proper amount of preventive castigation on hisirn-

280 A SACHEM.

1 accompanied Cadwallader on a visit to a con
nexion, who lives within forty miles of New-York,
on the adjacent island of Nassau (Long Island.)
The uncle of my friend was a man of an extensive
hereditary estate, on which there might have been
a reservation of a few thousand acres of woods.
While shooting over this forest, one day, the proprie
tor asked me if I felt any desire to see an Indian
king. Surprised at such a question, in such a place,
an explanation was requested. He told me that an
Indian, who claimed to be a descendant of the ancient
Sachems, then held his court in his woods, and that
a walk of fifteen minutes would bring us into the
presence of King Peter. We went.

I found this Indian, dwelling with his family, in a
wigwam of a most primitive construction. It was in
the form of a bee-hive, or rather of a very high dome.
The covering was made of a long, tough grass, that
grows near the sea, and the texture was fine and even
beautiful. A post in the centre supported the fabric,
which was shaped by delicate curving poles. A hole
in the top admitted the light, and allowed the smoke
to pass out ; and the fire was near enough to the up
right post to permit a kettle to be suspended from
one of its knots (or cut branches) near enough to feel
the influence of the heat. The door was a covering
of mats, and the furniture consisted of a few rude
chairs, baskets, and a bed, that was neither savage,
nor yet such as marks the civilized man. The attire
of the- family was partly that of the one condition, and
partly that of the other. The man himself was a
full-blooded Indian, but his manner had that species

provident wife, before he sailed, brought the balance on his side.
The money was of course tendered ; but for a long time he re
fused to receive it, insisting that justice required that his owners
should now go to sea, where it would seem he had not enjoyed
himself quite as much as he believed the other party to the
contract had done on shore.

INDIAN RESERVATIONS. 281

of sullen deportment that betrays the disposition
without the boldness of the savage. He complained
that " basket stuff" was getting scarce, and spoke of
an intention of removing his wigwam shortly to some
other estate.

The manufacture of baskets and brooms is a com
mon employment of all the Indians who reside near
the settlements. They feed on game, and, sometimes,
like the gypsies, they make free with poultry, though
in common they are rigidly honest; nearly always so,
unless corrupted by much intercourse with the whites.
With the proceeds of their labour they purchase
blankets, powder, and such other indulgences as ex
ceed their art to manufacture. King Peter, I was
told, claimed a right, in virtue of his royal descent,
to cut saplings to supply his materials, on any estate
in the island. He was permitted to enjoy this species
of feudal privilege in quiet, it being well understood
that he was not to exceed a certain discretion in its
exercise.

In the more interior parts of the country, I fre
quently met families of the Indians, either travelling,
or proceeding to some village, with their wares.
They were all alike, a stunted, dirty, and degraded
race. Sometimes they encamped in the forests, lighted
their fires, and remained for weeks in a place ; and
at others, they kept roaming daily, until the time
arrived when they should return to their reservations.

The reservations in the old States, and with tribes
that cannot aspire to the dignity of nations, are man
aged on a sufficiently humane principle. The laws
of the State, or of the United States, have jurisdic
tion there, in all matters between white men, or be
tween a white man and an Indian ; but the Indians
themselves are commonly permitted to control the
whole of their own internal policy. Bargains, ex
ceeding certain amounts, are not valid between them
and the whites, who cannot, for instance, purchase
A a 2

282 TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS.

their lands. Schools are usually provided, in the more
important tribes, by the general government, and in
the less, by charity. Religious instruction is also
furnished by the latter means.

t saw reservations in which no mean advances had
been made in civilization. Farms were imperfectly
tilled, and cattle were seen grazing in the fields.
Still, civilization advances slowly among a people
who consider labour a degradation, in addition to the
bodily dislike that all men have to its occupations.

There are many of these tribes, however, who fill a
far more important, and altogether a remarkable posi
tion. There is certainly no portion of country within
the admitted boundaries of the United States, in which
their laws are not paramount, if they choose to exert
them. Still, savage communities do exist within these
limits, with whom they make treaties, against whom
they wage open war, and with whom they make
solemn peace. As a treaty is, by the constitution,
the paramount law of the land, the several States arc
obliged to respect their legal provisions.

That neither the United States, nor any individual
State, has ever taken possession of any land that, by
usage or construction, might be decreed the property
of the Indians, without a treaty and a purchase, is, I
believe, certain. How far an equivalent is given, is
another question : though I fancy that these bargains
are quite as just as any that are ever driven between
the weak and the strong, the intelligent and the igno
rant. It is not pretended that the value of the ter
ritory gained is paid for ; but the purchase is rather
a deference to general principles of justice and hu
manity, than a concession to a right in the Indians,
which itself might admit of a thousand legal quib
bles. The treaties are sufficiently humane, and,
although certain borderers, who possess the power
of the white man with the disposition of the savage,
do sometimes violate their conditions, there is no just

INDIAN DEPARTMENT. 283

reason to distrust the intentions or the conduct of the
government. But you may desire to know something
of the detail of the intercourse.

You have seen that the expenses of the war de
partment of this government, for the year 182G, was
6,243,236 dollars. Among other charges, I find the
following items included in the gross amount. The
sums are all in dollars. Civilization of Indians,
14,914; pay of Indian agents, 29,860; sub-ditto,
12,131; presents to Indians, 16,387; contingencies
of Indian department, 130,542; general councils
with Indians on Lake Superior, 270,000 ; relief of
the Florida Indians, 7,249 ; treaties with ditto, 3,218 ;
Creek treaties, 109,471; Choctaw treaty, 2,056;
Choctaw schools, 2,804 ; treaties with Choctaws and
Chickasaws, 15,000; other Indian treaties, 183,568;
annuities to Indians, 243,542, &c. &c.

The annuities are sums paid for grants of land.
At the treaties, presents are always made to the
tribes, and the agents and sub-agents are men em
ployed to maintain the influence of the government,
and at the same time, to see that the rights of the
Indians are respected.

There is a bureau of the war department that is
called the " office of the Indian affairs." A humane
and discreet individual is at its head, and a good deal
is endeavoured to be done in mitigating the sufferings
and in meliorating the condition of the Indians,
though, owing to the peculiar habits and opinions of
these people, but little, I fear, is effected. I see by
the report of the current year, (1827) that, in nine
months, requisitions towards the support of the ob
jects of this bureau, were made to the amount of
759,116 dollars, or at the rate of a little more than
a million of dollars a year. This, you will remem
ber, is one-tenth of the current expenditure of the
whole government, and nearly as much as is paid for
the support of the whole civil list, strictly speaking.

284 POLICY or THE GOVERNMENT.

The manner in which the money is appropriated, can
be seen in the extracts already quoted for the year
1826.

The government, it would appear by the reports,
puts the utmost latitude on the construction of their
constitutional powers, by even paying money for the
support of missionaries among the Indians. I believe,
however, that the alleged and legal object of this
charge, is for general instruction, though in point of
fact, the teachers are missionaries. They are of all
sects, Protestant and Catholic, the question of creed
being never discussed at all. I see by the reports;
that (in 1327) there were 1291 scholars in the differ
ent schools that come under the superintendence of
the government. It is not probable that all the In
dians belonging to the tribes that receive this instruc
tion, much exceed, if indeed they reach, the total
number of 30,000. I think it is therefore apparent,
that quite as good provision for elementary instruc
tion is made in behalf of the Indians, as is commonly
made for the people of any country, except those of
the United States themselves. There is no reason to
suppose that all the children who present themselves,
are not taught ; and there is much reason for believ
ing that efforts are constantly making to induce all
to come. The number of teachers is 293, which is
quite enough to instruct ten times the number. You
are not to suppose, however, that all these teachers
are men hired expressly for that purpose. They are
the missionaries, their wives and families, and some
of them are for the purpose of instructing in the arts
of life, as well as in reading and writing. Much of
the expense is defrayed by charitable associations.
The sum actually paid by the government for the
express object of instruction, is 7,150 dollars, or
enough to maintain rather more than forty teachers
at stipends of 150 dollars each. It is probable that

WHITES AND INDIANS* 285

some receive more, and some less. It is said that the
schools are generally in a flourishing condition.

Where there is much intercourse between the
very strong and very weak, there is always a ten
dency in the human mind to suspect abuses of power.
I shall not descend into the secret impulses that give
rise to these suspicions : but in this stage of the world,
there is no necessity for suspecting a nation like this
of any unprovoked wrongs against a people like the
savages. The inroad of the whites of the United
States has never been marked by the gross injustice
and brutality that have distinguished similar inroads
elsewhere. The Indians have never been slain ex
cept in battle, unless by lawless individuals; never
hunted by blood-hounds, or in any manner aggriev
ed, except in the general, and, perhaps, in some de
gree, justifiable invasion of a territory that they did
not want, nor could not use. If the government of
the United States was poor and necessitous, one
might suspect it of an unjust propensity; but not
only the facts, but the premises, would teach us to
believe the reverse.

A great, humane, and, I think, rational project, is
now in operation to bring the Indians within the pale
of civilization. I shall furnish you with its outline
as it is detailed in a recent report of the head of the
Indian office.

Most, if not all of the Indians who reside east of
the Mississippi, live within the jurisdiction of some
State or of some territory. In most cases they are left
to the quiet enjoyment of the scanty rights which
they retain ; but the people of their vicinity com
monly wish to get rid of neighbours that retard civil
ization, and who are so often troublesome. The
policy of States is sometimes adverse to their con
tinuance. Though there is no power, except that of
the United States, which can effect their removal
without their own consent, the State authorities can

286 A PLAN FOR THE

greatly embarrass the control of the general govern
ment. A question of policy, and, perhaps, of jurisdic
tion, lately arose on this subject between Georgia
and the general government. In the course of its.
disposal, the United States, in order to secure the
rights of the Indians more effectually, and to pre
vent any future question of this sort, appear to have
hit on the following plan.

West of the Mississippi they still hold large regions
that belong to no State or territory. They propose
to several tribes (Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees,
<fcc.) to sell their present possessions, improvements,
houses, fences, stock, &c., and to receive, in return,
acre for acre, with the same amount of stock, fences,
and every other auxiliary of civilization they now
possess. The inducements to make this exchange
are as follow: — Perpetuity to their establishments,
since a pledge is given that no title shall ever be
granted that may raise a pretext for another removal ;
an organization of a republican, or, as it is termed, a
territorial government for them, such as now exist in
Florida, Arkansas, and Michigan ; protection, by the
presence of troops ; and a right to send delegates to
Congress, similar to that now enjoyed by the other
territories.

If the plan can be effected, there is reason to think
that the constant diminution in the numbers of the
Indians will be checked, and that a race, about whom
there is so much that is poetic and fine in recollec
tion, will be preserved. Indeed, some of the southern
tribes have already endured the collision with the
white man, and are still slowly on the increase. As
one of these tribes, at least, (the Chickasaws,) is in
cluded in this plan, there is just ground to hope that
the dangerous point of communication has been
passed, and that they may continue to advance in
civilization to maturity. The chief of the bureau on
Indian affairs gives it as his opinion that they (the

CIVILIZATION OP THE SAVAGES. 287

Chickasaws) have increased about ten per cent,
within six years. Their whole number is computed
at four thousand souls.

Should such a territory be formed, a nucleus will
be created, around which all the savages of the west,
who have any yearnings for a more meliorated state
of existence, can rally. As there is little reluctance
to mingle the white and red blood, (for the physical
difference is far less than in the case of the blacks,
and the Indians have never been menfa1? slaves,) I
think an amalgamation of the two races 'would in
time occur. Those families of America who are
thought to have any of the Indian blood, are rather
proud of their descent, and it ir, a matter of boast
among many of the most considerable persons of
Virginia, that they are descended from the renowned
Focahontas.

The character of the American Indian has been
too often faithfully described to need any repetition
here. The majority of them, in or near the settle
ments, are an humbled and much degraded race. As
you recede from the Mississippi, the finer traits of
savage life become visible ; and, although most of the
natives of the Prairies, even there, are far from being
the interesting and romantic heroes that poets love
to paint, there are specimens of loftiness of spirit, of
bearing, and of savage heroism, to be found among
the chiefs, that might embarrass the fertility of the
richest invention to equal. I met one of those he
roes of the desert, and a finer physical and moral
man, allowing for peculiarity of condition, it has
rarely been my good fortune to encounter.

Peterlasharroo, or the young knife chief of the
Pawrnees, when I saw him, was a man of some six or
seven-and-twenty years. He had already gained re
nown as a warrior, and he had won the confidence
of his tribe by repeated exhibitions of wisdom and
moderation. He had been signally useful in destroy-

238 A PAWNEE CHIEF.

ing a baneful superstition, which would have made a
sacrifice of a female prisoner, whose life he saved by
admirable energy, and a fearless exposure of his own.
The reputation of even this remote and savage hero
had spread beyond the narrow limits of his own
country ; and, when we met, I was prepared to yield
him esteem and admiration. But the impression pro
duced by his grave and haughty, though still cour
teous mien, the restless, but often steady, and bold
glance of his dark, keen eye, and the quiet dignity of
his air, are still present to my recollection. With a
view to propitiate so powerful a chief, I had pre
pared a present of peacock's feathers, which were
so arranged as to produce as much effect as the fine
plumage of that noble bird will allow. He received
my offering with a quiet smile, and regarded the boon
with a complacency that seemed to find more of its
motive in a wish to be grateful, than in any selfish
gratification. The gift was then laid aside, nor was
it regarded again, during the whole of a long and in
teresting interview. You may judge of my surprise,
when I afterwards learned that this simple child of
the plains considered my gift in some such light as
a courtier would esteem a brilliant. The interpreter
assured me that I had made him able to purchase
thirty horses, a species of property that constitutes
the chief wealth of his tribe. But, notwithstanding
my unintentional liberality, no sign of pleasure, be
yond that which I have related, was suffered to es
cape him, in the presence of a white man.

( 289 )

TO SIR EDWARD WALLER, BART.

Washington, ...

You can scarcely expect a very minute descrip
tion of what I have seen in my southern tour. Still
I may put a few general facts before your eyes, in a
new, and, perhaps, not uninteresting manner.

The eleven slave-holding States of this confedera
tion contain about 489,000 square miles of territory.
If Arkansas and the Floridas (not yet States) shall
be included, they will swell the amount to about
600,000, or something less than double the extent of
the whole thirteen northern, or free States, including
Michigan, which, together, cover a surface of 334,000
square miles. Thus, you see, that about one-half of
the whole computed territory of the United States
is so far settled, as to have arrived at the point of
establishing the State or territorial governments. But
there is no probability that any other community will
be speedily formed, on this side of the Rocky Mountains,
of sufficient importance to aspire to the possession of a
separate government. The Prairies, and the deserts
of the west, present natural obstacles to the further
progress of the population in that quarter; and cli
mate opposes a serious reason to the comfortable ex*
istence of man towards the north-west. That all
these regions will, in time, come to have a popula
tion of their own, is certain ; but, in a country where
there is still so much room for the employment of
men, that day is necessarily distant.

I have estimated the whole white population, who
are now in possession of these 600,000 square mile.*,
at 3,500,000, and the blacks at less than 1,900,000,

VOL, II. B b

290 RATE OF POPULATION TO THE SQUARE MILE.

of which number, as you know, I think something
like 1 ,750,000 may be slaves. The free blacks in the
free States, in 1820, amounted to 112,281; 10 or
12,000 have been manumitted since, by the opera
tion of the laws. The estimate of the whole num
ber of blacks in the United States, must materially
exceed 2,000,000, or I have given quite enough to
the southern States. Supposing these estimates to
be near the truth, (it is impossible that they should
be exact,) the whole of the 600,000 square miles are
occupied by 5,400,000 souls, exclusive of Indians ;
or at the rate of nine inhabitants to the square mile.
But the remark which I have made concerning the
districts of country, entirely uninhabited, to the north,
is also applicable to similar regions to the south.
There are also fewer villages to the south than to
the north. The same is true with respect to towns
of all sizes. Baltimore, the largest city in the slave-
holding States, contains, perhaps, about half as many
inhabitants as Philadelphia ; and New-Orleans, and
Charleston, and Richmond, the only other three
towns of any magnitude, are not, all together, as
large as Boston. After the places just named, there
is no town that reaches 10,000 inhabitants, and few
that come up to half that number. There are, how
ever, one or two new thriving places on the bays of
the Gulf of Mexico, where cities will probably be
formed, though, I think, there is scarcely a town now
in existence, except Baltimore, New-Orleans, Charles
ton, and Richmond, in the whole of this immense
region, that contains 10,000 souls.

In forming an idea of the appearance of a country
thus inhabited, in addition to the general fact of dis
tricts that are entirely untenanted, you are to call
into view the peculiar division of property which
occurs on nearly all the coast. Extensive plantations,
on which none but the best land is worked, make
fearful interruptions in the agricultural character 0*

UPLANDS. 291

the country : and the vast pine barrens that occur
along the Atlantic, and even on the Gulf, leave wide
spaces of unoccupied ground, even in the longest set
tled parts of these States.

But there are States, or parts of States, that present
a very different picture. Some of the counties of
Maryland and Virginia are in a high degree beautiful;
and the uplands of the Carolinas and Georgia are of
an entirely different character from the coasts. Ten
nessee has not only a fine climate and a fertile soil,
but a population that, in common, might vie with the
population of any country for all the best attributes
of man.

You will see that the great physical force of this
nation, however, lies in the more northern States.
If we except Kentucky, Tennessee, and the uplands
generally, I think chis must long continue to be the
fact. The arts of life are more cultivated there than
to the south ; and as they get still more into use, men
will cling to their indulgence with all the tenacity of
acquired habits. Emigration to the south-western
States has been chiefly fed by Virginia, Georgia, and
the two Carolinas. These four States contained, in
1 790, 1 ,463,932, and in 1 820, 2,535,493. Emigration
to the new northern States has been chiefly fed by
New-England. In 1 790, New-England had 1 ,009,522
souls; and in 1820, 1,659,864. Here you see that
the rate of increase is rather in favour of the latter ;
but if we look into the increase of the States that
have been fed by this emigration, it will be found to
be still more in favour of the northern portion of the
country. In 1790, all the free States had 2,033,248
inhabitants, and in 1820, 5,225,117. In 1790, all the
slave-holding States contained 1,890,080 souls; and
in 1 820, 4,400,6 1 7. Here you see that, notwithstand
ing the vast superiority of the southern States over
the northern in extent, the increase of population
in the latter is in a ratio considerably in their favour.

292 RATE OF INCREASE OF POPULATION.

fn 1790, the slave-holding States had 137,168 fewer
inhabitants than their northern sisters; whereas, in
1320, the northern States had 824,500 the most.
After allowing for the difference of capital, the excess
is nearly 400,000 too many for the regular proportion
of the increase. It is also known that many adven
turers go from the northern States into the southern,
while comparatively few southern men come north,
though it is certainly done. If we take 6,500,000 as
the present population of the northern States, (and
I believe it is within bounds,) there will remain
5,500,000 for the southern. This will show again
that the southern States are beginning to maintain
their own ; but their present growth is more owing
to the vast regions of fertile land that have lately been
opened for sale at the south, than to natural increase,
since every man who emigrates counts two in the
amount of comparative numbers.

The inducements that carry the northern man far
south, must be exceedingly strong to overcome the
effects of climate, and the repugnance he is apt to
feel to slavery. Still these inducements do exist, and
in some parts of the country the climate itself is among
the reasons for emigration. It is the coast, chiefly,
which is unhealthy; and even on the coast, there are
found many delightful and salubrious situations, where
northern men gladly resort for the purposes of trade.
It is quite natural that the northern population, having
occupied most of their own best lands, should begin
to find their way into the southern, and particularly
into the south-western States.

There is a considerable difference of character
between the people of the northern, and between
some of the people of the southern States of this
Union. . I do not allude to the distinctive traits which
form the habits of a border man, and a man of the
towns ; for these exist between the frontier inhabitant
of New- York and the inhabitant of the ciiy of that

GENTLEMEN OF THE SOUTH. 293

name. But slavery itself, and the dispersed establish
ments of the whites, which are a consequence of
slavery, have a direct effect on the manners of the
southern inhabitants.

The owner of slaves, whatever may be his correla
tive standing with men of his own colour, is a species
of aristocrat, so far as manners are concerned. He
is kept, in his own person, from the pursuits and em
ployments that are commonly thought to degrade
men, and of course he acquires the opinions of a su
perior caste. Where opportunity of sufficient asso
ciation is allowed, he gets the habits, also, of this
caste. I am of opinion, that in proportion to the
population, there are more men who belong to what
is termed the class of gentlemen, in the old southern
States of America than in any other country of the
world. So far as pride in themselves, a courteous
air, and a general intelligence, are concerned, they
are, perhaps, quite on a level with the gentry of any
other country, though their intelligence must neces
sarily be chiefly of that sort which is obtained by the
use of books, rather than of extensive familiarity with
the world. In respect to conventional manners, they
are not so generally finished as the upper classes of
other countries, or even of some classes in their own ;
though I do not know where to find gentlemen of
better air or better breeding throughout, than most
of those I have met in the southern Atlantic States.

The American who has had the advantage of early
association with men of breeding, and who possesses
the advantages of fortune and education, occupies a
station in society that the gentleman, or nobleman, of
no country of different political institutions can ever
fill. He sees, and knows that he exists without a su
perior. He has wealth, and manner, and education,
and beyond this, neither he nor any of his country
men can go. No man can, in truth, go beyond them
any where; .though artificial distinctions may have the
Bb 2

294 SOUTHERN GENTLEMEN.

effect to reduce men below the consideration that
these advantages should produce. So long as society
shall be governed by its ordinary and natural feelings,
it is not possible to deprive money, intelligence, and
manners, of their influence ; but it is quite possible to
give an artificial importance to other causes of distinc
tion, to which society must bend by its own ordi
nances. It is true, that in some countries, actual
power is connected with nominal rank ; but it is just
as true, that actual power is to be attained in America,
though by different means. Thus, the English gentle
man may become a peer, and the American gentle
man may become a Senator ; and, although the former
is certain of transmitting his rank to his posterity, still
it is a rank which, while it has many inferiors, has
some superiors. The American who sees himself in
possession of the three great requisites of an elevated
condition, meets the President as an equal, who is in
trusted for a time, with honourable powers, but who
merely fills a station that he himself may one day
occupy,

It is the fashion of Europe to talk a great deal
of the levelling institutions of the United States.
I have elsewhere said, that elevating would be a bet
ter word. It is difficult to conceive how institutions
that admit of the strongest temptations for every man
to aspire, can have the effect of placing a nation be
low the level of other communities. All rational
theory, and wrhat is of far more importance, the facts,
prove exactly the reverse. I would defy any nation
on earth to produce as many men (and women too) as
the United States, allowing for their opportunities and
their numbers, who have reached a creditable moral
elevation of character. I include manners, no less
than principles, intelligence, and other requisites.
That this class will increase, both in quality and
quantity, as the population becomes more dense, is,

THE FUTURE. 295

I think, unavoidable ; and then we shall have a new
face put upon certain ancient theories.

Let us suppose these States inhabited by one hun
dred millions of people. It is, for our present purpose,
a matter of indifference whether they shall live under
one government, or under twenty. Their men of
fortune, breeding, and education, have reached the
acme of human elevation, (of course no allusion is in
tended to religion,) for a patent of nobility does no
thing towards raising the qualifications of its possessor,
however it may serve to depress his inferiors. We
will suppose some four or five millions of these men
acknowledging, and actually possessing no earthly
superior, in full communion with the rest of the world.
What do you think will be their effect on the condi
tion of society ? They will claim to be equal to ranks
that are admitted to be superior to the immense ma
jorities of other nations. Nor do I see how their claim
is well to be denied. They will be quite equal in
manners, in wealth, in general elevation of character,
(even admitting that they shall be subdivided again
and again as States in political power,) and they will
insist on being equal, in society, to the highest ranks
of other countries. Now, my dear Somersetshire
baronet, what are we to do in order to maintain our
present unquestionable superiority over these gentry,
who are contriving to get above us by their levelling
institutions. We cannot pistol them down, for, unhap
pily, a democrat can shoot as well as an aristocrat,
and in point of numbers, they will be ten to one ; we
cannot laugh them down, for the joke will be on their
side ; we cannot look them down, for they will have
a full share of the substantiate, and by present symp
toms, I think they will have more ; nor can we send
them to Coventry, for, independently of getting so
many motley nations as Europe contains, to be ex
actly of one mind, they will care less about the
association than we.

296 EXAGGERATION.

I have been led into this train of reflections, by
studying the character of the better classes of these
people, more especially as I have found them in the
southern States. Their conventional manners vnry,
of course, according to circumstances ; but that high
and manly principle of fearless independence, which
is almost peculiar to this country, forms a conspicuous
feature in their characters. I very well know, that
where manners are wanting, this bold quality may
make men exacting and coarse ; but where manners
do prevail, and, considering the circumstances, they
prevail here to an extraordinary degree, it makes men
truly noble.

Slavery is not favourable to the milder qualities in
the master. It may polish, but it never subdues his
manner. But he who governs many human beings,
without having much intercourse with his equals, is
apt to acquire habits of impatience and self-will.
That these qualities exist in a much greater degree
in the southern than in the northern States of Amer
ica, is, I believe, undeniable ; though I do not think
they exist to the degree that the theory would lead
us to suppose.

The accounts of the violence and vindictive tem
pers of the people of the southern States of America
are, I am quite satisfied, grossly exaggerated, not only
in Europe, but in America itself. It is commonly
sufficient that rare exceptions of any thing extraordi
nary should occur, any where, to give circulation to
reports that such things are distinctive of national
character. I recollect to have seen a caricature, in
the Palais Royal, of an Englishman leading his wife
to be sold with a halter round her neck ; and I make
no doubt, that to thousands of the spectators it con
veyed an idea of a common national usage, if not of
a law. When I descended the Ohio and the Missis
sippi, it was not done without some terror for my
eyes ; but I cannot say that I saw any body gouged

DUELS. 297

(luring the whole journey. Sundry marvellous tales
were told me; but, like all other marvellous exploits,
they would not endure examination. Such things
must have occurred, or the rumour would not have
been raised; but, if it were ever common, the prac
tice is certainly getting into disuse. That rude and
violent men should have navigated these endless
rivers when their banks were nearly un tenanted, is
quite probable ; but the manners of the boatmen now
are about as good as those of boatmen in Europe ; in
many things, they are much better.

I have elsewhere alluded to the duels of America,
and as they may properly be introduced here, we
will endeavour to discuss the subject. Personal com
bats are, beyond a doubt, the relics of an age when
man had the desires of high civilization, without any
other means of attaining them than by appeals to
force. The principle on which they are grounded,
says, that a man is willing to prove that he cares less
for his life than he does for his reputation. I fear,
too, that more or less of a desire to punish aggression,
or of personal feelings, are mingled with the senti
ment ; but as it is a chivalrous subject, we will give
it its most chivalrous construction. In the eastern
States of America, in New-York, (the city of that
name excepted.) and in parts of Ohio and Pennsyl
vania, duels are less frequent than, perhaps, in any
other civilized country, especially in a country where
men have as high a respect for themselves as they
have in this. My friend, who has known the more
western counties of New-York intimately for thirty
years, assures me that he does not recollect but one
duel in all that time, and that was fought full five-
and-twenty years ago. He does not pretend that this
combat stands alone ; bnt he thinks that he should
have heard of them had there been many more. He
also excepts those meetings which took place be
tween officers while the troops and seamen were

298 DUELS*

serving within the districts named. A duel in New-
England is exceedingly rare. He accounts for this
fact on his favourite principle of common sense. Re-
ligious education may do a great deal, hut then com
mon sense has something to do with religion. There
are many instances in which English clergymen have
been engaged in duels : and I fancy that it is not an
uncommon circumstance for men who are in full com
munion with their respective churches, in Europe,
to meet in private combats. Such a thing could
scarcely occur in the United States, the reason of the
people being much too exacting to allow of so broad
a contradiction between profession and practice. Cad-
wallader thinks, and my own observation confirms
his opinion, there is a greater proportion of men (in
high situations of life too) in the United States, who
dare, and who would, refuse, and who have refused to
fight duels, on the ground of the absurdity of the
practice, than in any other nation he has visited. I
must say that this is the only people among whom I
have found gentleman-like men who have openly
laughed at the gross folly of the usage, and who, it
was understood, considered themselves as too rational
to be guilty of so great an act of folly. It must be
admitted that common sense has done all it can do
with these individuals.

Next to this class, which is very numerous in the
portions of country named, come those who live
in the great towns, and all the rest of the middle
States. Duelling is about as common in this portion
of the country, as it is in France or in England.
Perhaps the older parts of Virginia and the two
Carolinas may be included in this division ; though,
as it is thought, and I believe justly, that men in
warm climates have quicker and more sensitive pas
sions than men in colder, it is possible they may be
rather more frequent.

The whole of the remainder of the Union may be

DUELS. 299

included, with certain exceptions, in another division,
in which duels are probably, considering the amount
of the white population, as at least four to one, com
pared with Europe, or even in a higher rate of dis
proportion.

It is necessary, however, to bear in mind one cir
cumstance which has had a great influence in ob
taining a character for the Americans, not only as
duellists, but as a semi-barbarous people, in Europe.
Nothing occurs the least out of the ordinary course
of events, and in which the law is offended, that does
not go the rounds of their thousand journals. It is
also fair to suppose that the ingenuity of an editor
on a remote frontier is often at a loss to give interest
to his sheet, and that when an opportunity does occur,
he suffers none of the more interesting, which is al
ways the exciting, portion of the incidents to be kept
in shadow.

A century ago, men met in detachments of five and
six on a side, to settle some trifling point of honour
between two. After this, it was thought that every
man might purge himself of disgrace in his own per
son. Swords were used, until common sense began
to teach men that it was folly to pre-suppose the
same degree of strength and personal activity and
skill in any two men. Then came pistols. For a
long time (the practice still exists in some places)
the injured party was to call out the offender, and to
stand up and be shot at, before" he could with pro
priety get a chance to redress his wrongs. This prac
tice can surely only be accounted for by supposing
that the object of the challenger was to purge him
self of disgrace by risking his life.

As I understand the matter, the rough, steady, un
accommodating fashion, which the Americans have
of viewing things, had long induced them to chafe
under these equivocal practices. Common sense did
its work thoroughly on a great proportion of the na-

300 DUELS.

tion, who said plainly, we shall not do so ridiculous
a thing as to let a man shoot at us hecause he has
done us a wrong; and as for revenge, we think it
nobler to forgive. But common sense did not go so
far with, perhaps, a. moderate majority. They con
tinued to fight in the European fashion. About five-
and-twenty years ago, there was a great intellectual
crisis in this nation. They began to cut up certain
antiquated opinions, freely, and to talk with more
boldness than before, of all things connected with
government, morals, and customs. When two men
went into the field and both returned unharmed, the
non-combatants were apt to ask, with a sneer, for
what did you go there ? This sort of language, which
was used openly, and with something of the air of
contempt, compelled the combatants to give some
proof that they had been in a little jeopardy, and, in
short, it set common sense at work on their side of
the question. They were not sufficiently under its
influence to join the non-combatants, but they had
too much directness of thought not to make the prac
tice consistent with itself. When they looked at their
pistols, which were fixed with hair-triggers, and
which bore a most bloody aspect, and which, by the
bye, underwent all these preparations in Europe,
whence they were imported, they were induced to
inquire into the object of so much arrangement. The
result was, that in addition to the absurdity of fight
ing at all, they had incurred the absurdity of fighting
with so little danger, as to make the practice doubly
ridiculous in the eyes of those who determined to
look at the naked truth. So they began to take aim,
and to practise, and to get skill, until they reached
the present honourable standard.

This system of stripping a thing, that is foolish in
itself, of all its inconsistent folly, has brought the
custom under a certain set of rules. The true object,
of every duel is, or it ought to be, to exhibit courage.

DUELS. 301

A shall not injure B without incurring a certain risk;
and he shall, at least, be driven to prove that he has
spirit to meet that risk. It is true, that the world
admits a degree of vengeance into the custom, since
it says, that certain offences require two shots, and
certain others may be expiated by one. But I think,
on the whole, that even this extraordinary bloody-
mindedness takes the aspect of an additional purga
tion to the man who has received the wrong. That
courage which is willing to endure the pain of a
wound, but which shrinks from the danger of death,
say the American duellists, (in their practice) is, like
the courage of a boxer, of a very inferior quality.
They, therefore, deal in that which is thought to be
superior.

It is quite plain that fighting is a serious thing, and
serious things become a little absurd, unless done in
a serious manner. But it is plain, that there must be
a medium in the serious character of a duel, or men
might put the pistols into each other's mouths at once,
and then absurdity on the other side, would be gain
ed, and a practice, that is sufficiently foolish in itself,
is obliged to get as near the true medium as possible,
or it could not exist in a common sense nation. This
little prelude brings us to the field of battle.

The American brings on the ground, just as much
skill with the weapon he is to use, as he can ; which,
you will see, is just what the swordsman did, or the
great masters of the art, the ancient chivalry of
Europe. When confronted to his antagonist, he finds
himself thrown on the severest possible trial of his
steadiness and nerves, or on the very quality whose
prepossession he came thus to prove. He knoxvs
that his life is the penalty of a blunder, just as a false
guard would have been fatal with the other weapon.
The result is, certainly, that, perhaps, in every two or
three duels, one man falls, and, in almost all, some
body is hurt. The usual forms are much as they are

VOL. II. C c

302 DUELS.

in Europe. As*, however, skill is deemed not only
fair, but necessary, when there is reason to suspect
that either party is inferior to the other in the use of
the weapon, his second takes care to propose some
alteration in the distance, which destroys skill, and
throws the combatants more completely on their
nerves. In some few instances, rifles and muskets
have been used, to produce this equality, especially
among border men, who have been most used to
these weapons. This, is, clearly, no more than an
other change like that from the lance and the casque
to the small-sword, and from the small-sword to the
pistol And still, so completely do we get to be the
slaves of custom, that \ve shudder at hearing of a
duel with a rifle, while we think nothing of a duel
with a pistol ! Surely the change from the small
sword to the pistol, was greater than the change from
the pistol to the rifle. For my own part, I wish they
would introduce artillery; for I feel perfectly con
vinced, that so long as men can maintain a reputation
for spirit, at a rate so cheap as one life in ten or
twelve duels, the barbarous custom will continue. It
will go out of use in something like an explosion of a
magazine. It is a pity that the friends of humanity
had not hit on some less suspicious plan of furthering
their views, than one so very equivocal as that which
teaches us to believe, that this sort of honour can be
maintained at the least possible danger.

With respect to the causes of the frequency of the
American duels, a great deal can be said. The mili
tary and naval men have fought more duels than they
would otherwise have done, on account of their long
peace. Swords get impatient of quiet, and courage
is a quality so vital to a soldier, that he is often un
easy until he has had an opportunity of proving its
existence. They are said to be much less frequent
now than formerly ; especially, when the increased
number of the officers is remembered.

DUELS* 303

Duels of mere manners are, if any thing, (out of
the two services,) less common here than in Europe*
The Doctors' Commons heals no breaches in the
United States. The offence is rare, but the pistol is
always the proctor. I am inclined to think that the
political institutions of the nation, hy bringing men
of different breeding and education, more in contact
than they are found in other countries, give rise to
many duels.

The frequent recurrence of the elections, while
they render the polls more quiet than they would be
under any other system, produce a greater propor
tion of grave political quarrels than elections do, for
instance, in England. Then the dispersed, secluded
situation of the planters, in the soutnern States, has
a tendency to foster morbid sensibility, while their
habits brino; them, frequently, into a species of irri
tating association.

The laws of England, and of most of the States
of this country, are the same on the subject of duels.
To kill a man in any violent rencontre, which can
be readily avoided, is, by the common law, murder.
Nor is it a legal plea, that mere honour was a suffi
ciently compulsory motive. Now, the same common
sense and directness of thought, which, in some cases,
makes the American refuse to fight at all, and induces
him, in others, to fight in a reasonably dangerous
manner, produces another difference in the practices
of the mother and child, on this subject. In Eng
land, when a man is killed in a duel, the survivor is
tried, and all things being found fair, he is acquitted
according to opinion, and not according to law ;
whereas, in America, the direct and unaccommodating
way these people have of considering matters, pre
cludes such a result. The law is the same as in
England, but their construction on it would be dif
ferent. A man, who had killed another in a duel,
would, most probably, be sentenced to be hanged,

304 HOSPITALITY.

and the conventional opinion of society is, therefore,
exhibited in not trying him at all. There is an occa
sional struggle between the combatants and the non-
combatants to bring some particular case before a
jury ; but the former are always too wise to incur
the risk; they therefore get out of the way. You
may see, in this very fact, a striking difference in the
manner in which thought is exercised in the two
nations.

The people of this country have fought many duels
with the English, while they scarcely ever fight with
any other foreigners. This was, perhaps, for many
reasons, to be expected. Their wars were irritating ;
their policy has often been conflicting ; and the citi
zen of the young nation may have often been too
sensitive, and the subject of the old nation may some
times have been too exacting. I know no more of
the matter than that the people of both nations think
that their own countrymen have been right in these
quarrels, and the foreigners wrong; which is only
another proof that there is no great reason in any
thing that appertains to the practice.

No hospitality, kindness, or courtesy, can exceed
that of most of the planters of the southern States of
this confederation. It was a practice, long in use,
for a stranger to drive up to the door of a dwelling,
of any pretension, and to ask food and lodging for the
night. The custom is not entirely neglected, even
now, though increased travelling, and the greater fre
quency of inns, have conspired to put a stop to it.
This freedom of intercourse is, clearly, no more than
a natural consequence of simplicity of manners, and
of absence of suspicion. It is even practised in the
northern States. I remember to have seen a country-
house, which had the air of the residence of a man
of fortune, while travelling in the interior of New-
York. Cadwallader demanded its owner's name of
a man by the road side. " It is near dinner-time,"

HOSPITALITY. 305

he then coolly said, " and we shall not fare well in

these woods at the inn ; let us try Mr. 's

table." " Do you know him, then ?" " Not at all ;
I know his family, and he must know mine.'1 Of
course I was anxious to see the result of such an in
terview. A servant was asked if Mr. was

at his residence? The answer was favourable. We
were ushered into a genteel saloon, where we found
a very gentleman-like man, a well-bred woman, and
two or three charming daughters. "I am Mr. John

Cadwallader, of Cadwallader, in county,'"

said my friend, " and I have taken the liberty to pay
my respects to you in passing." Our host held out
both hands, and expressed his satisfaction at the com
pliment $ I was then introduced, and we found the
dinner so abundant, and the wines so delicious (to
say nothing of the young ladies) that we were in
duced to stay till next day for a second trial. In fifty
other instances, have gentlemen who had heard of
our presence in their neighbourhoods, ridden miles
to meet us, and to invite us to their dwellings ; and
I do firmly believe, that through Virginia and the
Carolinas, and in several other States, we might have
travelled without spending a sixpence, or eating,
drinking, or sleeping in an inn. Indeed, I am per
suaded that this hospitality is one reason why the
inns are not better in the southern States, for, out of
the towns, they are generally worse than they are
found to be farther north.

From what I have written, you must have already
gathered that the southern States are to be divided
into two classes of society, or, rather, that in some
instances, one State may, in itself, contain both. I
allude to the material difference which exists between
the small proprietors, who are, to all intents, capital
farmers, with from four, or even from one, to twenty
slaves, and the great planters, who own several him
dreds. The former generally grow wheat, corn,
C c2

306 MR. PAULDING.

(maize) and all the other articles of a divided hus
bandry; while the others produce tobacco, rice, cot
ton, or sugar. They are, however, beginning to grow
tobacco in some of the free States, as in Ohio.

But I have not room, or knowledge enough, to en
ter into the endless details which such a state of so
ciety, and regions so vast, can produce. You will
see some curious accounts of manners and customs
in the " Letters from the South," a book that is as
cribed to Mr. Paulding, an American writer, who
stands among the highest of his countrymen for talent,
and who, being a gentleman generally known to his
countrymen, has had the best opportunities for observ
ing their manners in those parts of the country that
he has visited.

TO THE COUNT JULES DE BETHIZY,

Boston,

I ARRIVED here about a fortnight since, in order to
see the town, and to witness a ceremony that took
place yesterday. Before attempting a description of
the latter, I shall give a brief answer to your question
concerning the movements of your countryman.

During my recent excursions to the south, I fre-
ruently met La Fayette, who has now been in nearly
all, if not in every one, of the twenty-four States of
this Union. So far from the warmth and cordiality
of his reception having in the least abated, he is just
as much the object of affectionate and sincere atten-

FIREMEN. 307

tion to-day as he was the hour he landed. We were
in New-York together lately, when there was a con
stant succession of entertainments in his honour, and
as earnest a desire manifested to press about his per
son as in the interviews I have so often related.

Among the different public exhibitions got up on
this occasion, there was one which is worthy of be
ing particularly mentioned, by its singularity. There
is a great deal of wood used in the construction of
most American houses. Until within the last twenty
years a great many in New- York (more especially in
the less pretending quarters of the town) were built
of this material altogether. There arc, consequently,
an extraordinary number of fires in that city. Fires
are infinitely more frequent in all parts of America
than in Europe, from this very cause. In a city like
New- York, it is also a consequence of frequent dan
ger from such an enemy, that there exist admirable
skill and preparation to suhdue it. It is often said,
and, from repeated observation I believe it to be true,
that the firemen of New-York are more expert and
adventurous than those of any other town in the
world. When an alarm is given, the citizens, in
general, give themselves no trouble in the matter,
unless chance has placed them in the immediate vi
cinity of the danger. The cry is sounded by boys
and repeated by the firemen themselves, for a minute
or two, and then a few or more bells, according to
the degree of the danger, ring the alarm. In the
day these frequent cries produce no extraordinary
sensation, but when they break in upon the stillness
and security of the night, I scarcely know a more
startling or disagreeable interruption to one's slum
bers. There is a defect in this part of the arrange
ment, though it is difficult to see how it can be well
remedied under the present system. The firemen
are citizens ; chiefly shop-keepers and mechanics,
and they pursue their ordinary employments at all

303 A FIRE IN NEW-YORK.

times, except when required to meet to render aid,
or occasionally for the purpose of discipline. The
latter is little needed, however, in a place where
there is so much serious practice.

I remember to have been at one of these fires in
the night. A vast pile of pine boards, which filled
a lot adjoining a row of noble brick houses, \vas
in flames when I reached the place. Within fifty
feet, on the other side, there stood a small temporary
wooden building. The sheets of the element flashed
upwards against a battlement of brick, which they
even surmounted, and bending like the tongue of the
serpent, they wound themselves along the cornices
of the adjoining dwelling. It was too late to save
much of the lumber, and all the attention of the fire
men was given to the buildings. Engine arrived after
engine, with great rapidity ; and with the most beau
tiful accuracy, the captain of each machine took his
station in the place he was ordered to occupy. There
might have been two thousand persons collected at
the spot ; but scarcely any other sound was heard
than the whizzing of the streams of water, the strokes
of the engines, and the crackling of the conflagration,
Water was thrown from one machine to another, by
means of conducting leathern tubes. One of those,
near which I stood, burst. I followed the man who
was sent on the errand that immediately succeeded
the discovery of the accident. He approached a
carriage loaded with the article he needed, and com
municated the fact ; u So many feet of hose," said
the person to whom he addressed himself, with per
fect quiet ; it was supplied, and the damage was re
paired without the slightest confusion, and without
the least unnecessary delay. From time to time, the
flames were seen kindling on the roof of a small
wooden building, and then the engine nearest the
conflagration directed its stream, for an instant, to
the spot. No rifleman could have sent his deadly

FIRE ENGINES. 309

messenger with surer aim, than the water fell upon
the little torch-like flame.

The families continued in the adjoining houses,
and the proprietor of the building next the lumber,
resolutely refused to open his doors for the removal
of the furniture, though his cornices were frequently
blazing. He was right; for the steadiness, activity,
and skill of the firemen, soon reduced the glaring
torrent of the elements to a pile of black smouldering
ruin.

The ceremony to which I alluded in the opening
of this letter, was a review of these firemen by La
Fayette. The engines, with their companies, were
all assembled in the little park (paddock would be a
better name,) in front of the City Hall. These engines
bear some such comparison to the engines of Europe,
as the English mail-coaches, on a birth-day, bear to
the ordinary French diligences in the provinces. No
nobleman's carriage is more glossy, neater, or, con
sidering their respective objects, of more graceful
form. They are also a little larger than those we
see on our side of the Atlantic, though not in the
least clumsy. When La Fayette had passed in front
of these beautiful and exquisitely neat machines,
they formed themselves in a circle. At a signal the
engines were played, and forty limpid streams shot
upward, toward an imaginary point in the air. It
appeared to me that they all reached that point at
the same instant, and their water uniting, they formed
a jet dSeau that was as remarkable for its conceit as
for its beauty.

But the ceremony yesterday, was of a very diffrr-
ent description. It was the anniversary of the battle
of Bunker's hill. Fifty years ago, the yeomanry of
New England first met the battalions of England, in
open and deadly conflict. The affair of Lexington
had occurred a few weeks earlier ; but, though blood
was first drawn in that straggling contest, it neither

310

produced the important results, nor was it character
ized by so many striking and memorable incidents as
the affair on the hill.

In the battle of Bunker's hill, the Americans had
no positive leader. A thousand men, chiefly youths
under the age of five-and-twenty, passed over in the
night from the adjacent country, into the peninsula
of Charlestown. It was intended to occupy a high
conical eminence called Bunker's hill, at the distance
of long cannon-shot from the batteries in the town
of Boston. By some mistake, the working party
advanced much nearer to the enemy, and took pos
session of a much lower ridge of land, that termin
ated suddenly at a short distance in their front, quite
near to the shore. The latter hill was, in fact, known
by the name of Breed's.* Here a small redoubt,
flanked by a low entrenchment, was thrown up. The
party who performed this labour, was led by a gen
tleman of the name of Prescott, who had seen some
service in the colonial wars, and who held the rank
of colonel in the levies of the province of Massa
chusetts Bay. You will remember that the affair oc
curred in the summer of 1775, and, as the indepen
dence of the colonies was not declared until July
1776, the appellation of States was then unknown.

There was an eminent physician in Boston, of the
name of Warren, who had acted a conspicuous part
in all the political measures that preceded the quar
rel. This person was distinguished for his high moral
intrepidity. As he was a man in the vigour of life,
and of a daring mind, the provincial congress of Mas
sachusetts had chosen him a major-general in their
levies only the day before the battle.

General Warren appeared on Breed's hill in the

* Bunker and Breed are the names of two families of New-
England. Individuals of those names were, or had been, the
owners of the two hills in question.

A MONUMENT. 311

morning, bearing a musket, though not with any de
sire to exercise his newly acquired military authority.
Delicacy to his veteran countryman, and perhaps
some incompleteness in the forms of his appointment,
might have forbidden such an assumption of power.
It is said that Mr. Prescott offered him the command,
and that he declined assuming it. In the course of
the movements that preceded the conflict, General
Putnam, a well-known partisan officer of the adjoin
ing province of Connecticut, led some small bodies
into the peninsula, over whom, he of course exer
cised a species of authority. But the chief command,
if it belonged to any one, was the right of Mr. Pres
cott, who constructed, and who held the half-finished
redoubt. The result of the battle is well known ;
but, unhappily, at its close, Mr. Warren, or as he is
usually called from the nature of his death, General
Warren, fell, by a musket-ball which passed through
his head.

The exceeding merit and unquestionable patriot
ism, no less than the high rank which this gentleman
was destined by his countrymen to fill, induced them
to consider his loss, and very justly, as the greatest
calamity that befell them on that day. A small, un
pretending monument, of very perishable materials,
had, therefore, been erected to his memory, on the
precise spot where he fell. But it is now intended
to rear a column in granite, which shall be more
worthy of the great occasion, and more in conformity
with the augmented means of the State, to perpetu
ate an event which is deemed to be so creditable to
their exertions in the conflict. The ceremony of
yesterday was to lay the corner-stone of this monu
ment.

I shall not pretend to enter into a detail of pro
ceedings that were alike noble and affecting. Tens
of thousands were on the hill, and Mr. Webster, a
distinguished citizen of Boston, addressed his coun-

312 BOSTON.

hymen from a stand where his words reached the
ears of a multitude. I saw La Fayette in the occu
pancy of a high place, and when the orator spoke of
his particular services, there were a few minutes of
intense and delightful interest. There was also a little
group of gray-headed and tottering veterans, who,
fifty years before, had risked their lives, or shed their
blood, on the precise spot where so many people had
now assembled in prosperous and peaceful security.
Altogether it was one of the most interesting ceremo
nies I ever witnessed, and I regret that my limits ab
solutely forbid its description. Among other things,
there was an entertainment spread on the hill, of
near or quite four thousand covers.

Boston is a wealthy, a thriving, and decidedly a
picturesque town. It stands on an uneven surface,
and it occupies nearly the whole of a peninsula of
several miles in circuit. Large villages are rising
on the adjoining shores, at the different points where
the numerous bridges connect the town with what
may be called the main. The population, within a
circumference of twelve miles, must, 1 think, exceed
eighty thousand souls. The harbour is beautiful, and
dotted with islands. It is one of the most secure in
America, and would easily contain five or six hun
dred sail. But there is no fixing its limits, as it is
several miles to the open sea, and warehouses might
be erected to advantage on most of the islands, espe
cially if a few breakwaters were constructed.

One of the best, and the oldest of the universities
of the United States, is within a few miles of Boston.
We visited this institution, as well as that of Yale, in
our journey to this place. We dined in the commons
of the latter, with one of the tutors. I was struck
with one circumstance on this occasion, which, as it
is in striking contrast with what occurs in the univer
sities of the mother country, 1 shall mention.

Cadwallader has a kinsman at Yale, who is de-

YALE COLLEGE. 313

scended from one of the wealthiest and best known
families of this country. The young man himself,
who is a fine, gentleman-like and manly youth, is
actually in possession (or will be on attaining his
majority) of a fortune that would be deemed very
large in most countries. He dined at a table within
twenty feet of us. 'During the repast, which was
exceedingly simple and without any beverage but
water and cider, I observed one of the servants
coolly seated by the side of, and in close conference
with, the kinsman of my friend. In a few minutes
the domestic arose to hand the bread to one of the
young gentlemen. In the course of the evening,
when we were at our inn, I ventured to ask the
youth if the servants of the university were permit
ted to take such liberties. The face of the young
man flushed, and he told me he did not understand

me. I explained. " Ob, that was ; he is a

class-mate: but he waits, during the meals, in order
to pay his board: he is poor, and can do no better."
" And you make a companion of him ?" " Why not :
is poverty a shame?" I was silenced, and when
— had left us, the conversation was renewed
between Cadwallader and myself.

" There is a singular but gross error prevalent in
Europe," said my friend, uon the subject of the in
fluence of wealth in America. Money is a positive
good every where, since it buys not only necessaries,
but commands, in a greater or less degree, the re
spect of those who wish to profit by it. But money
is more within the reach of individuals here than any
where else, at least, a sufficiency of money to leave
men in the possession of those independent feelings
which belong to nature, and which must be suppress
ed by some artificial cause, or they will be found in
every bosom, inasmuch as they depend on the inhe
rent qualities of pride and will. I think money of
more importance in England, than in any country 1

VOL. II. D d

314 INFLUENCE OF WEALTH.

have ever visited. It is obviously necessary it should
be so, since, without it, men are reduced to scanty
means of subsistence, and to a straitened and often
miserable economy. I have seen* people in England
with incomes of t\v 3 or three hundred a year, exist
ing in narrow lodgings, compelled to calculate closely
the amount of their daily consumption, and positively
enjoying no one exclusive advantage ; when men of
the same income, in America, might dwell in houses
of three times their size, better furnished, and sup
plied in abundance with every necessary of life ; in
deed, in an abundance that is scarcely known in any
part of Europe. I know this fact from close observa
tion. People may wish to dispute it ; but the prices
of things are sufficient evidences of its truth. There
is scarcely a necessary of life, clothes and some few
manufactured articles excepted, that is not to be had
at about half the cost in America that it can be had
in England. But most of the exceptions are articles
to be purchased rarely: in the articles of luxury,
there is no comparison. It is, therefore, no more
than a natural consequence of such abundance, thai
money should be less esteemed than where indul
gences are dearer. Then our institutions, our habits,
and our opinions, give no artificial importance to
wealth. A man can neither buy preferment in church,
state, army, navy, nor in any thing else, with his dol
lars. He can give dinners, and he can educate his chil
dren, and give them manners, and, in this direct and
natural manner, advance his own or their importance ;
but there the benefits of money cease. I do not
mean to say that society is not penetrated in America
by the use of money, for it is to be penetrated every
where by its agency ; but it must be done here ex
actly as it is done in France, for instance ; and it has
vastly less instrumentality in effecting that object than
it has in England. A rich widow cannot get prece*
dency of her superiors, by giving her hand to any

INFLUENCE OF MONEY. 315

possessor of a high title ; nor can a seat in Congress
be bought, and dollars be made the entering wedge
of further advancement, except as people choose to
yield to their influence in the shape of entertain
ments, extravagance, and show. In point of fact,
money, without character, will do little here beyond
what it can get in plain barter. But you have been
at Oxford. There, young men can buy silk gowns,
and, with silk gowns, consideration, and with consid
eration that is bought by money, they get exaggerated
and unnatural ideas of its importance. You see

young never dreamt that his class-mate was

poor, though he himself has more than twenty thou
sand a year. I affirm, for I have passed the ordeal,
and I know it, that the thought of distinction from
money never enters the head of an American school
boy, unless, indeed, it may be the child of some ex
ceedingly vulgar parvenu.

"Now, what can be more absurd than the fact that
grave English writers are constantly aflirming, that
there is no other ground of distinction in America
than money? This incessant habit of asserting so
glaring a falsehood can only proceed from a con
sciousness of the exorbitant influence of wealth among
themselves. There is no sort of doubt, that when
money is united to merit and talent, in the United
States, it can do more than when the latter quali
ties stand unsupported by so powerful an ally ; but
among all the unjust and ridiculous charges brought
against us, there is not one more absurd than this,
that money places men in power, or at the head of
society, or high in the estimation of their fellow-citi
zens. With the exception of the Patroon, there is
not a decidedly wealthy man in the whole represent
ation of the State of New-York. Mr. Clinton is no
toriously very poor. Of all the Presidents, only one
could be called rich. There is not a man of any
great fortune in any one of the higher offices of the

316 INFLUENCE OF MONEY.

general government ; and it is not thought very repu
table for a man of good estate to fill a situation of
mere emolument. Indeed, his countrymen would
not let him have it, for the simple reason that he had
enough alreadyT unless his peculiar talents were
needed.

" As to society, it must always support that part
of its influence which is dependent on show and ex
pense, by money; hut in large towns, where there is
competition in wealth, as in other things, money does
but little in this way, and it is every hour doing less.
You scarcely saw a parvenu, unless he had merit,
(and a large proportion of our parvenus have merit,)
in the circle into which 1 introduced you, though you
saw a vast number of men of breeding and character,
who had very little money. It is impossible to pre
vent people who have money from riding in coaches
and giving entertainments, and it is not possible to
prevent people of grovelling minds from envying them
these enjoyments; but it is possible for a community
to be so constituted as to limit the superiority of mere
money; and if such a community exists on the globe,
it exists here. I dare say that men who have made
their money, get purse-proud, in the United States, as
they do in other places ; but it must be proved that
men who have not money are abject, and time-serv
ing, and spiritless, before any thing is made out to
wards establishing that money does more in America
than it does in France, or half as much as it does in
England."

I must say, that my own observations confirm this
opinion. There was a beautiful simplicity in the
conduct of young , that denoted an entire ab
sence of the coarser influence of money, and which
spoke volumes in favour of the wise regulations of
the institutions of his college. I am assured, and, so
far as opportunity will allow me to speak,! have every
where seen the most perfect and just equality in the

INFLUENCE OF MONEY. SI 7

'treatment of the youths, in all the public schools I
have visited. I am told that this was not always the
case. In Harvard College, for instance, before the
revolution, the aristocratic classification of the mother
country prevailed, and boys were taught from earliest
life, to consider the adventitious circumstances of
wealth and birth as being things of primary good. As
Cadwallader says, they who write of this country,
should know more of the actual state of its society
before they affirm so boldly that this or that influence
controls society, on authority no better than the
habits of those who live under systems so totally dif
ferent. I have certainly seen sneers in the public
journals, and heard them uttered too, against the
sudden elevation of this or that individual, by means
of his wealth; but I find, on examination, that his
rise is little more than the style he can display, at the
cost of money, and that the bottom of the complaints
is generally envy. The boldness and distinctness writh
which these remarks themselves are made, are proofs
that there is no overwhelming, since there is not even
a silencing, influence attached to the possession of
wealth.

TO THE COMTE JULES DE BETHIZY.
&c. be.

Washington,

MY pen grows weary, for I have seen so much,
and written so little to the purpose, that I feel dis
posed to throw it away altogether. After making
the tour of the coast of New-England, and seeing all
its large towns, I have returned here to prepare for
rny departure. I cannot quit the country, however,
without giving you a summary of the information \
Dd2

318 A SUMMARY.

have gained, or without indulging a little in specula-'
tions to which that information must naturally give
rise.

The first reflection that is excited in the mind of
an intelligent foreigner, after visiting these States, is
an inquiry into the causes that have affected so much
with means so limited, and in a time so short. A
century ago, the whole of the 1,000,000 of square
miles that are now more or less occupied by these
people, did not contain a million of souls. So late
as the year 1776, the population was materially under
3,000,000 ; nor at the time did they actually cover
more than 200,000 square miles, if indeed they cov
ered as much. But since the peace of 1783, activity,
enterprise, intelligence, and skill, appear to have been
contending with each other, and they have certainly
produced a result that the world has never before
witnessed. I have heard Europeans say, that when
they have heard that the Americans, of whom they
had been accustomed to think as dwellers in remote
and dark forests, possessed a million of tons of
shipping, they believed their neutral character had
made their flag a cloak for the enterprise and wealth
of other nations. No doubt their commerce was a
little unnaturally forced, and many frauds did exist ;
but the motives for deception have ceased these dozen
years, and still America has a million and a half of
tonnage. Perhaps no one demonstration of the energy
of this population has excited in Europe the surprise
that has been created by the boldness and dexterity
with which they have constructed canals, that put to
shame all similar works any where else. We under
stand the nature and the expense of this description
of public works, and we know how to make a proper
estimate of the enterprise necessary to effect them.
But although the system of canals, which has broke
so suddenly into existence in the United States, within
the last ten years, argues an advanced and advancing

A SUMMARY. 319

state of society, it manifests no new principle of en
ergy. It may be a higher exhibition of the quality,
since the stage of improvement demands a superior
manifestation of skill ; but, believe me, the spirit
which has produced it has not been dormant an hour
since the British colonies have achieved their inde
pendence.

Although circumstances have lessened the interest
which Europe has felt in America, it may be well
questioned, whether the United States do not, at this
hour, enjoy a higher consideration, on our side of the
Atlantic, than the political doctrines, formerly in
fashion, would have given to a people so dispersed,
so few in numbers, and so remote. Their vast and
growing commerce, alone, makes them an object of
the greatest attention ; and the sure conviction that
the child of that commerce, a marine, is likely soon
to play its part in the great game of nations, gives
additional interest to this republic. Still our antici
pations are vague, founded on data but imperfectly
understood, and, at all times, fettered by the preju
dices and distinctive opinions of our own hemisphere.

In the first place, the influence of emigration on
the growth of the United States has been usually
overrated by Europeans. I have had occasion to
say, already, that for thirty years it did not add many
more than five thousand souls, annually, to the popu
lation. The fact is sufficiently known by the returns
of the custom-houses, where all masters of vessels are
obliged to report the number of their passengers. It
is true, that thousands, who leave the mother country
for the British provinces, find their way into the re
public by land ; but, perhaps, an equal number of
natives have removed into the Canadas, the upper
province of which is nearly, or quite half, peopled by
emigrants from the States, or their descendants.

The first, the most important and the least under
stood, cause of the exceeding advance of the Ameri-

320 A SUMMARY.

can States, is to be found in the character of their
population. The general diffusion of a respectable
degree of intelligence, would, of itself, produce an
effect that it might be difficult to estimate precisely,
but which may be always traced in its strongest point
of view, in the respective conditions of the savage
and of the civilized man. In addition to this general
and mighty cause, the actual necessities of society
supply an incentive to ingenuity and talent, that are
wanted elsewhere. Were the American an indolent
and contented being, nurtured in dulness, and kept
in ignorance of the incentives which prompt men to
exertion, this very state of necessity might serve to
depress him still lower in the scale of heing. But
there is nothing more surprising in the country, than
the universal knowledge which exists of the condition
of Europe. Their wants, therefore, feed their de
sires, and, together, they give birth to all the thou
sand auxiliaries of exceeding ingenuity. A proof of
this fact is to be found in the manner in which the
first canal of any importance was constructed. As it
speaks volumes on the subject, I shall relate it.

Five-and-twenty years ago, engineers from Europe
began to make their appearance in America. They
brought with them the rules of science, and a compe
tent knowledge of the estimates of force, and the
adaptation of principles to results ; but they brought
them, all calculated to meet the contingencies of
the European man. Experience showed that they
neither knew how to allow for the difficulties
of a novel situation, nor for the excess of intellect
they were enabled to use. Their estimates were
always wild, uncertain, and fatal, in a country that
was still experimenting. But five-and-twenty years
ago was too soon for canals in America. It was wise
to wrait for a political symptom in a country where
a natural impulse will always indicate the hour for
action. Though five-and-twenty, or twenty, or even

A SUMMARY. 321

fifteen years, were too soon, still ten were not. Ten
years ago, demonstrations had been made which en
abled keen observers to detect that the time for ex
traordinary exertion had come. The great western
canal of New- York was conceived and planned. But
instead of seeking for European engineers, a few of
the common surveyors of the country were called to
the aid of those who were intrusted with the duty
of making the estimates ; and men of practical know
ledge, who understood the people with whom they
had to deal, and who had tutored their faculties in
the thousand collisions of active life, were brought
to the task as counsellors. The result is worthy of
grave attention. The work, in its fruits and in its
positive extent, exceeded any thing of a similar na
ture ever attempted in Christendom. The authority
to whom responsibility was due, was more exacting
than any of our hemisphere. Economy was incul
cated to a degree little known in other nations ; and,
in short, greater accuracy than usual was required
under circumstances apparently the least favourable
to attain it. Now, this canal was made (with such
means) at a materially less cost, in infinitely less
time, and with a boldness in the estimates, and an
accuracy in the results, that \vere next to marvellous.
There was not a man of any reputation for science
employed in the work. But the utmost practical
knowledge of men and of things was manifested
in the whole of the affair. The beginning of each
year brought its estimate of the expense, and of the
profits, and the close its returns, in wonderful con
formity. The labour is completed, and the benefit
is exceeding the hopes of the most sanguine.

In this sketch of the circumstances under which
the New- York canal has been made, we may trace
the cause of the prodigious advance of this nation.
Some such work as this was necessary to demonstrate
to the world, that the qualities which are so exclu-

322 A SUMMARY.

sively the fruits of liberty and of a diffused intelli
gence, have an existence elsewhere than in the de
sires of the good. Without it, it might have been said,
the advance of America is deceptive; she is doing no
more than our own population could do under cir
cumstances that admitted of so much display; but
she will rind the difference between felling trees, and
burning forests, and giving the finish which denotes
the material progress of society. The mouths of such
critics are now silenced. The American can point
to his ploughs, to his ships, to his canals, to his bridges,
and, in short, to every thing that is useful in his par
ticular state of society, and demand, where a better
or a cheaper has been produced, under any thing
like circumstances of equality ?

It is vain to deny the causes or the effects of the
American system, dear Bethizy; nor should a man as
philanthropic as yourself wish to deny them, since
they rest on principles that favour the happiness and
prosperity of the human race. We should not cavil
about names, nor minor distinctions, in governments,
if the great and moving principles are such as con
template the improvement of the species in the mass,
and not in exclusive and selfish exceptions.

The second great cause of the advancement of the
United States is the abundance which is the conse
quence of room and of intelligence united, and which
admits of so rapid an increase of its positive physical
force. It is known that the population has doubled
in about twenty-three years, though it is supposed
that this rate of increase is gradually diminishing. It
is probable that in the next fifty-five years, there will
be two more duplications of the amount. Of this
number, supposing that slavery continues in its pres
ent form, and under its present influences, (two things
that cannot be rationally supposed,) seven millions
will be slaves, and forty-three millions freemen. But
slavery, though on the increase, as a whole, is known

A SUMMARY. 323

not to be on the increase in a ratio equal to that of
the whites.

The third cause of the great progress of this coun
try, and it is one intimately blended with all the
other moral causes, is the perfect freedom of its civil
and religious institutions, which give the utmost pos
sible play to the energies, and the strongest possible
inducements to the laudable ambition of man.

There is unquestionably a powerful action and re
action between all these influences, which produce a
vast combined result. A rapid review of what has
been done in the way of general improvement, in the
nation, may serve to give some idea of their effects.

I shall not write here of the condition of the army,
and navy, and militia, since enough has been already
said to furnish a sufficiently accurate knowledge of
those branches of the subject.

The finances of the United States, you know to
be prosperous. The public debt, at the close of the
last war, (1815,) amounted to about 120,000,000.
On the first of October, 1827, it was 68,913,541 dol
lars. But as seven millions of this debt was created
for the purchase of the bank stock so often named,
the true debt should not be estimated at more than
61,913,541 dollars.* This debt pays an interest of
6, 5, 4|, and 3 per cent. On 1 3,296,247 dollars, an
interest of 3 per cent, is paid ; on 28,831,128, an in
terest of 6 per cent, is paid ; on 1 5,993,972, an interest
of 4j per cent, is paid; on 5,792,000, an interest of
5 per cent, is paid. These sums make the amount
named. The gradual diminution of the debt is taking
place as fast as the terms of the loans will admit,

* On the first of January 1828, it was estimated to be
67,4 13,377 dollars; or, deducting the seven millions for bank
stock, at 60,413,377. The writer has since seen it announced,
that 5,000,000 of principal will be paid on the 1st of July, 1828,
so that the debt of the United States, on that day, will be about
55,413,377 dollars, if the cost of the bank stock shall be deduct
ed. (See next page.)

324 A SUMMARY.

and on those portions which pay the highest rate of
interest. The last may he redeemed in 1 835, and
probably will he redeemed, at the present rate- of
diminution, before the end of the next dozen years,
unless some new causes for loans should occur. In
addition to these facts, it must be remembered that a
stock which pays but three per cent, is never worth
par. Thus, if the 1 3,296,247 of the 3 per cents, can
be bought for 80 dollars in the 100, this portion of
the debt is also reduced in point of fact to 10,596.968
dollars. So that, all things considered, the whole
actual debt of the United States cannot be consider
ed as being more (on the 1st of July, 1828) than
52,714,098 dollars, or something less than 12,000,000
of pounds sterling.

In a country so united in interests, but so separated
by distance, a system of extended and easy internal
communication is of vital importance. Without it,
neither commerce, nor political harmony, nor intelli
gence, could exist to the degree that is necessary to
the objects of the confederation. It has therefore
been effected at some cost, but in a manner that is
already retiming its reward in pecuniary profit, as
well as in the other great essentials named. The
subject naturally divides itself into three branches,
viz. that of information, that of internal trade, and
that of personal communication.

For the first, the general post-office, with its num
berless dependencies, has been established. The
diffusion of intelligence is justly considered by the
American statesmen to be no less important to the
preservation of their institutions, than to the general
advancement of the character and power of the na
tion. There are in the country about 7000 post-
offices, (1828,) and a nearly incalculable distance of
post route.. The chief of this department says, that
there is now scarcely an inhabited district of any
size in all these vast regions, to which the ramitica?

A SUMMARY. 325

tions of these routes do not extend. The same admi
rable economy exists in the management of this de
partment, as in all the others of the government.
Although it is quite plain that comparatively little
correspondence can exist to defray the expenses of
routes so extended, yet the department not only pays
for itself, but it is beginning to yield a small revenue
to the country. One would think that, under such
circumstances, the cost of letters and journals was
greater here than elsewhere. You shall judge for
yourself. A letter for less than thirty miles pays six
cents ; for less than eighty, arid over thirty, ten cents ;
for less than one hundred and fifty miles, and over
eighty, twelve and a half cents ; for all distances over
four hundred miles, twenty -five cents. A cent is one
hundredth part of a dollar, or about an English half
penny : thus a letter will be transferred fifteen hun
dred miles, for a shilling sterling. Double letters
pay double, until they attain a certain weight, when
they begin to pay by the ounce. Printed sheets,
journals, or any thing else, pay one cent, for less than
one hundred miles, per sheet, and one cent and a half
for all distances over. The editors of public journals
receive all their printed sheets gratis. The mail is
carried in coaches a great proportion of the distance,
in sulkies in other portions, and on horseback the rest.

The personal communication is effected by means
of stage-coaches and steam-boats. The vast rivers,
and the prodigious facilities that are offered by means
of the bays, enable passengers to travel with astonish
ing ease, rapidity and cheapness. The traveller may
leave Boston by land ; a ride of forty-five miles brings
him to Providence ; here he embarks for New-York,
200 miles further, by the way of the sound of Long
Island ; the Raritan carries him to Brunswick ; a few
miles more of land carriage takes him to the Delaware ;
the river and bay of that name bring him to New
castle ; three hours by land, and he is on the waters

Vor, II. E e

326 A SUMMARY*

of the Chesapeake ; from the bay he may ascend half"
a dozen rivers, or proceed along the coast. At Nor
folk, he enters a canal, and by means of sounds, bays,
and trifling land carriage, it is quite possible to reach
the southern limits of Georgia. Most of this route is
travelled in the manner I have described, and the rest
of it is daily getting to be more so.

The internal commerce of America exists with the
least possible encumbrance. It is conducted chiefly
by water, and an immense deal of it is done coast
wise, by means of the rivers, that are so many arte
ries penetrating the country in every direction. A
license costs a few dollars, (two I believe,) and when
a vessel is provided with such a document, there is no
impediment to its passage into any of the public wa
ters of the country. The whole confederation is un
qualifiedly one nation in respect to commerce.

The government of the United States is also mak
ing certain military roads that are intended to inter
sect the country in those directions in which water
does not flow. In addition to these improvements,
States and chartered companies are effecting a vast
deal more in the same way, that I have neither the
room nor the knowledge necessary to communicate.
As the debt is discharged, and larger sums come into
the disposal of Congress, it is to be presumed that
they will increase the expenditures, by advancing the
improvement of the country in all things that properly
belong to their power.

In manufactures, the Americans have made im
mense progress, since their separation from the mother
country. The great Lord Chatham declared it should
be the policy of England to prevent her colonies from
manufacturing even a hobnail ; and this plan of mo
nopolizing wealth was tolerably successful, so long
as the Americans were dependent on England, and
even for many years afterwards. But, although the
importations of this country, for home consumption,

A SUMMARY. 327

are greater now than they ever have been, its own
manufactures have increased fifty-fold.

The question of protecting manufactures hy legis*
lative enactments, is the one which involves more
political warmth, at the present time, than any other
question of mere policy. Indeed, it may be said to
be the only one. The disputants are chiefly men that
are immediately interested in the result, though it is
certain, that a few leading politicians adopt the op
posite sides on policy or on principle. The only real
point in dispute is, whether America has reached the
period when it has become her interest to encourage
her manufactures, at some little expense to her com
merce, or rather at some little expense and loss to
those who are engaged in particular branches of
commerce, since it is obvious that nothing can have
a greater tendency to increase the trade between dif
ferent sections of a country like this, than increasing
its objects. A vast deal is said, pro and con, on this
subject. One party contends that it will destroy the
shipping, and prove fatal to the revenue. If this
reasoning be true, then the time is inevitable when
the shipping and revenue of the United States must
disappear, for nothing is more certain than that the
time will come, when a vast proportion of their
population will find that no great community can
exist in prosperity, without a division of employment.
But it is plain that these partisans utter absurdities,
since it is a matter of perfect indifference to the citi
zen to whom or by what process he pays the dollar
of duty that he is now obliged to pay for his coat.
If the collector of some port does not receive it,
some other collector can and will. But this dollar
will be paid on an increased price, since the Ameri
can manufacturer cannot put his goods in the market
as cheap as the foreign manufacturer, or he would
not ask for protection. This may be true at the mo
ment, and I am of opinion, that, with the exception

328 A SUMMARY.

of articles that are deemed important to defence, and
perhaps to certain articles that require some little
tUne to give them the perfection necessary to compe
tition, no laws will he passed immediately on the sub
ject. The question of manufactures is, however,
clearly one of interest. Of their usefulness, and of
their being one of the most active agents of wealth,
as well as of the comfort of society, there can be no
doubt. It is therefore like so many other questions
in America, purely one of time. Although it may not
accord with her policy this year, to encourage them,
or for her citizens to embark in them, the result is
inevitable. A nation that lives as fast' as this, does
not compute time by ordinary calculations. Fifty
years ago, they manufactured next to nothing. They
now manufacture almost every article of familiar use,
and very many of them, much better than the arti
cles that are imported. They even begin to export.
The coarse cotton goods of this country are already
sent to South America, and I am told that they are
preferred to the British. Importations of coarse cot
tons from India have entirely ceased; and indeed I
was assured that their coarse cottons were greatly
preferred in their own markets to any other.

The American manufacturer has to contend with
one difficulty, that is not known to the manufacturers
of other countries. The unobstructed commerce of
the United States admits of importations from all
quarters, and of course the consumer is accustomed
to gratify his taste with the best articles. A French
duke might be content to use a French knife or a
French lock ; but an American merchant would re
ject both : he knows that the English are better. On
the other hand, an English duchess (unless she could
smuggle. a little) might be content with an English
silk ; but an American lady would openly dress her
self in silk manufactured at Lyons. The same is
true of hundreds of other articles. The American

A SUMMARY. 329

manufacturer is therefore compelled to start into ex
istence full grown, or nearly so, in order to command
success. I think this peculiarity will have, andjjas
had, the effect to retard the appearance of articles
manufactured in the country, though it will make
their final success as sure as their appearance will be
sudden.

It is impossible to speak with certainty on the de
tails of a question so complicated. A thousand articles
are manufactured already, and may be considered as
established. Twenty years ago, the Americans im
ported all their good l.ats; fifteen years ago, they
imported most of their coarse cottons ; and ten years
ago, they imported most, if not all, of their fine glass
and ornamental hardware, such as fire-grates, &c.
A vast deal of these importations have ceased, and I
am told that, considering the increase of the consum
ers, they are diminishing daily.

Though the particular matter that is now in dis
pute may be one of deep interest to certain mer
chants and manufacturers, it is clearly riot the main
question. Manufacturing is a pursuit so natural, and
one so evidently necessary to all extended communi
ties, that its adoption is inevitable at some day or
other. The policy of the Americans wisely leaves
them, in all cases except those of extraordinary ne
cessity, (which become exceptions of course,) to the
operation of natural influences. Policy will, nineteen
times in twenty, indicate its own wants. If it be ad
mitted that a people, who possess the raw materials
in abundance, who enjoy the fruits of the earth to an
excess that renders their cultivation little profitable,
must have recourse to their ingenuity, and to their
industry, to find new employments and different
sources of wealth, then the Americans must become
manufacturers. When the true hour shall arrive, it
will he vain to utter speculative reasons, for the
wants of the nation will work out their own cure.
E e 2

330 A SUMMARY.

If restrictive laws shall be necessary to effect it, the
people will allow of a lesser evil to get rid of a
greater. When the manufacturers of America have
once got fairly established, so that practice has given
them skill, and capital has accumulated a little, there
will be no fear of foreign competition. The exceed
ing ingenuity and wonderful aptitude of these people
will give them the same superiority in the fabrication
of a button or of a yard of cloth, as they now pos
sess in the construction of a ship, or as they have
manifested that they possess in the construction of a
canal. A sufficient motive is all that is necessary to
induce exertion. They have taken the infallible
measure to insure success, in bringing the greatest
possible number of competitors into action, by dif
fusing intelligence so widely, and to an extent so
creditable. 1 think that most questions of manu
facturing will be settled practically in the next five-
and-twenty years.

The vast extent of the United States affords all the
means of wealth and comfort that climate, mines, and
other natural facilitie-s, can supply. They are known
to possess lead, copper, gold, iron, salt, and coal.
The lead mines of Missouri are very extensive, and,
with little or no skill, are already productive. The
gold of Carolina is probably quite as abundant as
is desirable. Copper is found in many places, but it is
not yet much wrought. Iron is abundant, much work
ed, and some of it is more esteemed than any import
ed. Salt abounds, and could easily supply the whole
country, or even furnish the article for exportation.
It is not mined for yet, since the springs are found so
saturated with the mineral as to. render the process
of boiling and evaporation more profitable. Coal
exists in various parts of the country. It is procured,
however, chiefly in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Rhode
Island. It is of various kinds, and of different degrees
of excellence. That most in use is of the class an

A SUMMARY. 331

thracite. Of this species there are several gradations
of quality. That of Pennsylvania is said to be the
best. Mountains of coal exist in that State, and the
people of the growing manufacturing town of Pitts
burgh cut it out of the hills with as much facility as
they would bring away an equal weight of dirt. Ca
nals and railways are made to several of the coal
mines, or rather coal mountains, and domestic coal is
getting into very general use. The coal of eastern
Pennsylvania is most fortunately placed. It lies within
sixty or seventy miles of Philadelphia, to which place
it is already conveyed by water. Philadelphia has a
large capital, is now a great manufacturing town, and
will probably be one of the largest in the world in
the course of half a century. When at Philadelphia,
coal, or any thing else, can be carried by water to
any part of the country which has a water commu
nication with the ocean.

The cultivation of the vine has commenced. Wine
is already made ; though, as time is absolutely neces
sary to produce excellence in the quality of the grape,
and as capital is still easily convertible to so many
lucrative uses, it is possible that half a century may
elapse before the United States shall export their
liquors. That they will sooner or later do so, is, I
think, beyond a doubt. The silk-worm is also be
ginning to attract attention, and plantations of the
olive are coming daily more into fashion. In short,
there are no means of comfort, indulgence, or wealth,
that the Americans, in some one part of their coun
try, cannot command ; and it would be as weak, as
it will unquestionably be false, to suppose that a peo
ple so sagacious and so active will neglect them be
yond the moment when circumstances shall render
their adoption profitable or convenient.

The construction of canals, on a practical scale,
the mining for coal, the exportation of cotton goods,
and numberless other improvements, which argue an

332 SUMMARY.

advancing state of society, have all sprung into ox«
istence within the last dozen years.* It is a know
ledge of these facts, with a clear and sagacious un
derstanding of their immense results, coupled with
the exciting moral causes, that render the American
sanguine, aspiring, and confident in his anticipations.
He sees that his nation lives centuries in an age, and
he feels no disposition to consider himself a child,
because other people, in their dotage, choose to re
member the hour of his birth.

How pitiful do the paltry criticisms on an inn, or
the idle, and, half the time, vulgar comments on the
vulgarity of a parvenu, become, when objects and
facts like these are pressing themselves on the mind!
I have heard it said, that there are European authors
who feel a diffidence of contracting acquaintances
with American gentlemen, because they feel a con
sciousness of having turned the United States into
ridicule ! I can tell these unfortunate subjects of a
precipitate opinion, that they may lay aside their
scruples. No American of any character, or know
ledge of his own. country, can feel anything but
commiseration for the man who has attempted to
throw ridicule on a nation like this. The contest is
too unequal to admit of any doubt as to the. result,
and the wiser way will be for these Quixotes in lit
erature to say and think as little as possible about
their American tilting match, in order that the world
may not liken their lances to that used by the hero
of La Mancha, and their helmets to barbers' basins,

* Forty ) ears ago, no cotton was raised in the United States,

( 333 )

TO SIR EDWARD WALLER, BART.

Washington,

HAVING given so much of our attention to the sub
ject of the sources of the national importance pos
sessed by the Americans, it may not be without its
use to devote an hour to the consideration of the
manner in which they will probably be used. The
points of main interest are, whether the present re
publican institutions of the country will endure, and
whether the States will long continue to act as one
people, or will submit to be divided into two or
more confederacies.

The first fact that strikes an intelligent man, in
considering the structure of this government, and the
state of society that exists under it, is its perfectly
natural formation. It is scarcely possible, I am not
sure that it is possible, to conceive of a community
which has attained the advantages of high civiliza
tion, that is less artificial.

In order that individual efforts should be excited
(without which nations must inevitably become slug
gish, and finally barbarous, though dwelling in any
abundance,) the rights of property are respected.
Beyond this the law leaves every man (the slaves in
the southern States exceptea) on grounds of perfect
equality. This equality is, however, an equality of
rights only; since talents, money, and enterprise,
being left to their natural influences, produce their
natural effects, and no more.

In respect to the continuation of the present re
publican institutions of this country, every fact, every
symptom, and all reasoning, is, 1 think, in their fa-

334 PERPETUITY OF THE* INSTITUTIONS.

vour. In the first place, they have, in substance,
continued Tor nearly, and in some instances for quite,
two centuries. The habits of the people, their edu
cation, their feelings, and their interests, unite to
preserve them. It is true, there are not many in
stances in the world, of .governments on an extended
scale, existing for any great length of time, in forms
nearly resembling those of the United States ; but
there are examples enough to prove that governments
have endured for centuries on principles that will
make this endure, though policy were less active
than it is in contributing to its preservation. We
will endeavour to find some of them. The govern
ment of England is representative, and to a great
degree it is free ; that is to say, it is a government
of la ws, instead of being a government of will, which
I take it constitutes the essential difference between
liberty and despotism. Now, the main point of dif
ference between the government of England, and
that of the United States, is in the bodies that are
the respective repositories of power. In the former
country, the power is in the aristocracy ; in the lat
ter country, it is in the people. That the latter is
more natural, is sufficiently evident, from the fact that
England itself has been quietly tending towards the
same result, during two centuries, under circum
stances that have been calculated to bring natural
influences into play. It is true, that the power still
rests in the aristocracy, but it is not an aristocracy
that is exclusive. To speak of the governing aris
tocracy of England, as a class of nobles, is absurd;
it is the aristocracy of wealth, of talents, and of en
terprise, that rules Great Britain. Were the avenues
to political power closed against the approach of
new aspirants, the government of Great Britain would
be overturned in a dozen years. It is not in the
power of art to repress the energy of natural hi'
iluences, when they have once gathered head. The

PERPETUITY OF THE IXSTITUTIONS. 335

effect of vast commerce, of intelligence diffused to a
certain degree, and of individual enterprise, has been
to wrest the power from the crown, to curtail its in
fluence in the lords, and to repose most of its exercise
in the commons. Now, all that democracy can do
without recourse to violence in England, is here
done, because it is obeying a natural law. But the
very difficulty which is found in effecting a final tri
umph, (as by compelling the lords to acquiesce at
all times in the wishes of the commons,) proves the
difficulty of completely wresting power from those
who hold it, though they may happen to be the few.
So far it is an argument in favour of the perpetuity
of the American democracies, for they, too, are used
to the authority of the people. Still, public opinion,
which is no more than popular law, is so triumphant,
that it is difficult to conceive a question on which
a clear majority of the people of England should be
decidedly united, that the three estates would incur
the risk of opposing. Let us turn the picture to the
side of America.

H-ere we have a government in which the people
are the sources of power. The state of society is
precisely that (though in a still higher degree) which
in England has wrought a change from absolute mon
archy to a species of qualified aristocracy. Instead
of waiting for the march of natural events, circum
stances permitted that they should be anticipated.
They have been anticipated, and so far from a reac
tion being the result, greater harmony is daily occur
ring between causes and effects, as the government
gets more adapted to practical objects.

I see but one possible manner in which the people
of the United States can ever lose any of their liberty.
They may enact laws of a more rigid character as
the advancement or corruption of society shall re
quire them, and they may possibly be driven to some
slight curtailments of the franchise for the same

336 PERPETUITY Of THE INSTITUTIONS.

reason : but this will, in no degree, change the prin
ciple of their government. By losing their intelli
gence, the people of the United States may lose the
consciousness of their rights, and with it their enjoy
ment. But all experience goes to show how difficult
it is to wrest vested rights from communities.

But the vulgar argument aerainst the perpetuity of
the American government, is the impossibility that
the rich should not govern the poor, and the intel
lectual the weak of mind. The continuation of
property in families, and its consequent accumulation
in individuals, by entails, is a provision of aristocracy
in order to secure its power. The very provision
itself argues a consciousness of natural weakness.
It is evident, that it is as unjust, as it is opposed to
our common affections, to make one child affluent
at the expense of half a dozen others. No man, left
to the operation of natural feeling, would do so cruel
an act. This fact is sufficiently proved by the ex
ample of the Americans themselves, who have a
perfect right to do this injustice if they please, by
simply making those in existence, and who have a
natural hold on their affections, the subjects of the
wrong. Still no man does it. It is true that the
father of an only son might create a sort of short
entail, that should work injustice to descendants he
could not know ; or a father who was educated under
an artificial system, where advantages are actually
established from the practice, might do the same
thing; but we have proof in the United States, that
the father will not do it, under the operation of nat
ural causes. Now, the Americans have taken care
that this artificial state of things shall not occur, for
strict entails cannot be made; and if one father
should be so obdurate and unnatural as to do a
wrong, in order to rob parties who were strangers to
him, of their natural rights to his estate, he has no
pledge that his son will be as absurd as himself,

PERPETUITY OF THE INSTITUTIONS. 337

There is no truth more certain, than that property
will regulate itself when left to itself. It will change
hands often, and become the reward of industry,
talent, and enterprise. But we have no need of
speculating in order to know what effect money will
produce on the institutions of America. There are
thousands of rich men here, and of very rich men
too, and there is not a class of the community that
has less political power. There are many reasons
why it should be so.

Wealth gives no direct influence in politics. Seats
in Congress are not bought and sold. Then the owners
of great wealth are two-thirds of the time more
agreeably employed in its increase, than in courting
popularity, without which, nothing political can be
done ; and there is also a reluctance to give men,
who have much money, places of much profit at all.
But it is plain, that wealth, even supposing it could
be brought to act in concert throughout a country
like this, can never work a change in its institutions,
until it can be accumulated for generations ; and that
is a result the institutions themselves forbid. Indeed,
so little do 1 think a danger that is so often named
is to be dreaded, that I think there would be vastly
more danger, that the people of a nation like this
would find means to strip any given set of men of
exorbitant wealth, than the set of men themselves
would find means to strip the nation of its liberties.
Neither case is likely to occur, however, since the
danger is scarcely within the bounds of a reasonable
probability.

Talents may unite to destroy the rights of the peo
ple. I take it, that talents are just as likely to regu
late themselves, and to produce an equality, as money.
It is not in nature, that any great number of talented
men should conspire to overturn the government,
since, in the first place, it would require an improb
able unanimity of talent, and, in the second place, a

VOL. II F f

338 PERPETUITY OF THE INSTITUTIONS.

majority of the conspirators would be literally sell
ing their birthrights for messes of pottage. If there be
a country in the world where talent has already a
certain and manly road to preferment, it is in this.
Under the present system, each man can work for
himself, whereas, by changing it to a monarchy, the
many would have to toil for the advantage of the
few. As to those inducements which are known to
influence men in Enrope, such as titles, and decora
tions, they are entirely artificial ; and I know, from
observation, that it would be a difficult matter to get,
even now, a vast proportion of the Americans to con
sent to use them. We are completely the creatures
of habit in all these matters, and it is the habit of
the American to look on distinctions of this nature
with a cold eye. This peculiarity of opinion is gain
ing ground daily, for there was, for a time, on pre
cisely the same principle of habit, a lingering of the
ancient prejudices. We should never forget that the
moral influence of this nation is beginning to mani
fest itself in stronger colours every hour. The time,
I think, is near, when the American gentleman will
pride himself as much on his peculiar simplicity, as
gentlemen of other nations take pride in their quar-
terings and titles. The strength of this feeling will
keep even pace with the power of the nation, until
it will become difficult indeed, to persuade a man
that glories in having no worldly superior, to submit
to a division of society, that, by an artificial arrange
ment, shall place him beneath so many others. You
will remember, that the great difference between this
government and most others, is the important fact,
that the Americans began at the bottom to raise their
superstructure, whereas we have, in nearly every in
stance, began at the top to work downwards. Men
have been elevated towards the throne in our sys
tems ; but in what manner are you to elevate a man
who finds himself already at the .summit? It is truey

PERPETUITY OF THE INSTITUTIONS. 339

that if a hundred, or a thousand Americans could
monopolize the honours and emoluments of a change
of government, that number might conspire to keep
their present elevation, and force the rest of the na
tion below them. But a thousand, nor ten thousand
men of the highest talent, could not persuade a mil
lion to give up rights that they are educated to be
lieve inherent, even if these ten thousand could agree
among themselves as to the gradations of their own
rewards. A nobleman of France, or of England,
cannot understand the sort of veneration that a vizier
feels for the Grand Turk; and any attempt on the
part of the sovereigns of these two countries, to bring
the peers into the abject submission that is practised
in the seraglio, would induce a singular commotion.
Now, to the American it is just as inconceivable how
one man can yield precedency, or respect, or sub
mission to another, merely because he happens to be
born an eldest son. You see all this is artificial, and
the fact of its long existence in the world establishes
nothing, but the opinions of the world. Opinions
that are the nearest to nature, are the least liable to
change. The world thought that the sun moved
round the earth until quite lately, and yet the fact, I
believe, is not so. We will sum up this argument
in a very few words. Ten centuries ago, one century
since, nay, twenty years since, very different opinions
existed in Europe on the subject of governments
from those that are now getting into fashion. The
tendency is to natural rights, at the expense of artifi
cial institutions. In some few instances, change has
been attempted by revolution; but revolution is a
dangerous remedy. The Americans had no revolu
tion, strictly speaking ; they have only preceded the
rest of Christendom in their reforms, because circum
stances permitted it. If they have gone farther than
it may be wise for other nations to follow, it is no
reason that they are not safe themselves. So has

340 PERPETUITY OF THE INSTITUTIONS.

England gone farther than France, and France far
ther than Sweden, and Sweden farther than Russia.
There is no danger of reaction in America, for there
has been no blow to produce the rebound. The
progress has been steady and natural ; and there must
be a gradual return to the ignorance of the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries, to effect any material
change. It is odd enough, that in an age when even
despotism is fettered by public opinion, men should
'affect to believe that a people who feel its influence
more than any other, who have fortified their insti
tutions by law, by habit, and by common sense, are
liable to be affected by causes that are hourly losing
their ascendancy in every other country.

I shall state one more simple fact, leaving you to
reason on it for yourself. So far from increasing
familiarity and intercourse with the system of Europe
producing any desire for imitation on the part of
those Americans who are brought in contact with our
privileged orders, it is notorious, that it produces
quite a contrary effect.

But the question of infinitely the most interest is
that which touches the durability of the confedera
tion. It is the only one of the two that is worthy of
grave comment.

If we fix the habitable territory of the United
States, east of the Rocky Mountains, at 1,000,000 of
square miles, we shall not exceed the truth. By giv
ing a population of 150 to the square mile, we get a
gross amount of 150,000,000 for the population of
this republic. In 1850, the population will probably
be 24,000,000; in 1880, 48,000,000; and in 1920,
near, or quite, 100,000,000. I do not think there are
sufficient reasons to distrust the increase so far as the
period named. If any thing, I believe I am mate
rially within bounds.

Now the first impression that strikes the mind, is
the impossibility that 100,000,000 of people should

PERPETUITY OF THE INSTITUTIONS. 341

consent to live quietly under the same government.
It is quite certain that such vast masses of intelligent
men could not be controlled by force ; but it re
mains to be proved that they cannot be kept together
by interest. Let us examine how far the latter agent
will be active.

The people of the United States can, under no
other arrangement, enjoy protection against foreign
wars at so cheap a rate. Aggression on their rights
will be out of the question, should they remain
united. Should they separate, they would make
rivals, and of course enemies, at their own doors.
Nature has adapted these vast regions to profit by in
ternal trade. This species of commerce can never
be conducted on terms so favourable as those offered
by the Union. Should they separate, a thousand
irritating and embarrassing questions about the right
to navigate the rivers and bays, would unavoidably
occur, which now are unknown. They are a people
of peculiar institutions, and vast political weight is
necessary to secure the proud and manly population
of this country, the respect they claim in foreign
countries. They have felt the degradation of being
contemned ; they are beginning to know the privileges
of being respected ; and they will shortly enjoy the
advantages of being feared. It is not in nature to
suppose that men will wilfully and blindly throw
away their superiority. I think there will also be
an outward pressure that will tend to unite them still
closer.

The confederated government of the United States
has not power enough to make itself dangerous to
the rights of the States. In the first place, it is no
more than a representation of the people in another
form ; and there is little probability that any decid
edly unpopular policy can long continue, if, indeed,
it could be adopted at all. Each hour lessens the
danger of particular States receding from the Union,
Ff2

342 PERPETUITY OF THE INSTITUTIONS.

by lessening their relative importance. Even New-
York, with ten millions of inhabitants, would be
embarrassed, surrounded by a powerful rival of fifty
or sixty millions. The great communities would be
safer, and more important, by exercising their natural
influence in the confederation, and the smaller could
not exist separately. But it may be thought that
the separation will take place in such a manner as
to divide the present Union into two great nations.
That these expectations are vague, and founded on
a general reasoning that may be false when applied
to a particular case, is evident by the fact that men
are divided on the grounds of this separation. Some
say that the slave-holders will separate from their
northern brethren; and some think that the line will
be drawn north and south. Now, in point of fact,
there is no solid reason in either of these opinions,
except as they have a general reference to the difficul
ty of keeping such masses of men together. My own
opinion is, that the United States are now passing,
or, in fact, have in a great measure passed, the ordeal
of the durability of the Union.

As to grave shakings of the head, and general as
sertions, they prove nothing, unless, as they often do,
they prove ignorance. Forty years ago, unbelievers
would have shaken their heads, had they been told
that a constitutional government would now exist in
France. We must look at plain, direct, and natural
causes, for the influences that are to support, or to
destroy, this confederation. We can easily see the
advantages of the connexion, now let us endeavour
to seek the disadvantages.

The first objection that presents itself is distance.
But distance is an object that has more force now,
when roads and communication by water are in
their infancy, than it can ever have hereafter. Ex
isting facts, therefore, not only show that the United
States are sufficiently near to each other for all prac-

PERPETUITY OF THE INSTITUTIONS. 343

tical and desirable purposes of general government,
but that in truth the empire might still be extended
without material inconvenience.

The next objection is the question of slaves and
of freedom. The control of the slaves is a matter
left entirely to the States who hold them ; and, so far
as they have any direct influence on the durability
of the Union, it is, I think, in its favour, by adding
an additional motive for its continuance to the
southern States. One might acknowledge a danger
of a difference of habits arising under the slave policy,
that would induce a dangerous difference in char
acter, were it not for the fact, that this state of things
has existed so long, and that the people of the north
and the people of the south are rather assimilating
than becoming more widely distinct in their habits
and opinions.

Next comes local interest. This, after all, is the
only point worthy of much consideration. It is a
branch of the subject that presents two or three dif
ferent aspects. That of employment, that of geo
graphical inducements to divide, and that of minute
separate interests. It is plain that the people of a
country in which there is so great a diversity of soil
and of climate, must pursue different employments.
But is riot this fact rather a motive of harmony than
of dissension? They can supply each other's wants,
without incurring the danger of rivalry. The north
ern man will exercise his ingenuity, and will be the
mariner; the man of the middle States will grow the
primary necessaries of life ; and the southern man
will supply both with luxuries. The manufacturer
will buy wheat, and tobacco, and wine, and fifty
other necessaries, of the Virginian, Marylander, &c.
and cotton, and sugar, and olives, and fruits, of the
southern man. They are necessary to each other-,
and it is therefore plain their interests are united.

As to the geographical inducements to separate, it

344 PERPETUITY OF THE INSTITUTIONS.

is impossible (when distance is admitted to be con
quered) to discover more than one. There might,
under certain circumstances, be a reason why coun
tries that lie on the tributaries of the Mississippi, for
instance, should wish to be under one government
But they are under one government already, and by
what process can they be more so than they are at
this moment? The Kentuckian, and Tennessean,
and Ohiese, and Indianian, might lose some advan
tages, in the way of geographical inducements, by
separating from New-York to cling to Louisiana, or
vice versa; but what could he possibly gain? There
might have been a danger of such a separation, when
the outlet of the Mississippi was the property of an
other nation ; but the outlet of the Mississippi is now
the property of the republicans themselves. The
citizen of New-Orleans has just as much influence in
the general government as the citizen of New-York
or Boston. Independently of these facts, which, I
think, contain an unanswerable argument, each day
is so ramifying and connecting interests throughout
the whole of this Union, as to render it difficult to
the States, which might be thought to be the most
exposed to what I have called geographical induce
ments, to make a selection, even in circumstances
that should compel a choice.

The control of minute interests might easily lead
to dissensions, in a free country. But the natural
and exceedingly happy constitution of American so
ciety leaves the States the control of all matters that
do not require concentrated action ; it leaves even
the counties and towns, also, the right of controlling
their more minute interests.

Now, where are we to seek a rational argument
for believing that this confederation will dissolve?
Its plan of government leaves as few matters of con
tention as possible ; while the interests, the habits,
the feelings, and the history, of the people, are the

PERPETUITY OF THE INSTITUTIONS. 345

same. Moral and physical causes unite to keep
them together, while nothing indicates that they
must divide, but sage and incredulous shakings of the
head ! I make no doubt, that if Coeur de Lion had
been told his brother would be forced to grant a
charter to his barons, his head would have been
shaken too ; and that Queen Elizabeth would not
have believed that the royal veto could ever slumber
for a century; or that Isabel might have entertained
rational doubts of her American provinces becoming
more important dominions than her own Aragon —
and yet all these things have come to pass ! Are we
to believe for ever only what we wish? We are
told that China contains a hundred and fifty millions
of people, in one empire ; and why are we to believe
that semi-barbarians have more wisdom than a na
tion that has shown itself as shrewd, as firm, and as
constant as the Americans ?

Let us give one moment's attention to the political
history of this republic since its establishment.

Between the years 1775 and 1789, a confederation
existed, which, though it imperfectly answered the
objects of the war, partook of that flimsiness of tex
ture which has proved the bane and weakness of so
many previous political unions. The Americans, in
stead of becoming impatient and restive under ac
knowledged difficulties, deliberately went to work
to remedy the evil. The present constitution was
formed. Its chief merit consists in its yielding to
unavoidable evils, its consulting natural objects, and
its profiting by those advantages which had endured
the test of time. This is a broad foundation on
which to repose the fabric of government.

Until near the end of Washington's administration,
the Americans were scarcely treated with the cour
tesy that was due to a nation. The character of that
illustrious man lent a dignity to his government,
which adventitious circumstances would have re-

346 PERPETUITY OF THE INSTITUTIONS.

fused. England boldly held military posts within
the undeniable limits of the country ; and a thousand
indignities, and numberless acts of injustice, disgraced
the history of that period. Commanders of vessels
of war exercised a lawless authority on the coasts
of the republic ; and there is an instance on record
of a captain of a sloop of war, openly and insolently
refusing to obey the civil authorities of the country,
because he knew that he commanded a greater
nautical force than that of the whole republic united.
At that day, Europeans generally believed these
people black and barbarous ; and they listened to
accounts of their proceedings, as we listen to the
events of farther India.

Then followed the general war, with its abuses.
The vast commerce of America grew, but it became
a prey to all the belligerents. Acts, that would dis
grace any man of the smallest pretension to char
acter, were committed by boastful nations, under the
pitif'il plea of power ; and the complaints of a remote
people, were despised and ridiculed, for no other
reason than that they were a nation weak and dis
persed. But a mighty spirit was in the land. The
statesmen were wary, firm in their principles, yield
ing to events while they protested against injustice,
and watchful to let no opportunity of regaining their
rights pass without improvement. At this period,
an immense region, which possessed countless posi
tive advantages, which offered a foothold to rivals,
and which was a constant temptation to division
among themselves, was peaceably acquired. The
purchase of Louisiana was the greatest masterstroke
of policy that has been done in our times. All the
wars, and conquests, and cessions of Europe, for the
last hundred years, sink into insignificance, compared
with the political consequences that are dependent
on this increase of territory. Spain had been acces
sory to the wrongs, and Spain too was quietly made

PERPETUITY OF THE INSTITUTIONS. 347

to contribute to the peace and security of the repub
lic, by a cession of the Floridas.

A new era is now about to dawn on this nation.
It has ceased to creep ; it begins to walk erect
among the powers of the earth. All these things
have occurred within the life of man. Europeans
may be reluctant to admit the claims of a competi
tor, that they knew so lately a pillaged, a wronged,
and a feeble people; but Nature will have her laws
obeyed, and the fulfilment of things must come. The
spirit of greatness is in this nation: its means are
within their grasp ; and it is as vain as it is weak to
attempt to deny results that every year is rendering
more plain, more important, and more irresistible.

NOTES.

NOTE A.— Pages 89 and 205.

SOON after the writer arrived in England, he read an
article in the LXXIII. number of the Quarterly Review,
which created some surprise, as it imparted very different
opinions on the subject of the United States' navy, from those
which he had communicated to his friends. The article to
which he alludes, professes to review the " Personal Narrative
of Travels," &c. " with Remarks on the present State of the
American Navy, by Lieutenant the Honourable Frederick
Fitzgerald de Roos, Royal Navy," and another book on the
same country, to which it is not necessary to refer. Anxious
to know whether it was possible that he himself could have
fallen into so many gross errors on the subject of the Amer
ican marine, he took the following plan of arriving, as near
as circumstances would allow, to the truth. He sent the Re
view and Travels to an American naval officer, now in Eu
rope, with a request that he would read them, and favoui
him with his written opinion of the professional facts con
tained in both. The answer is below.

" I shall comply with your request quite cheerfully. You
are at liberty to make such use of the little information I
shall impart, as you may think proper : though I have some
delicacy in placing my name before the world as an author,
which, as you very well know, implies a pursuit but little iu
accordance with the education and habits of a sailor.

" I presume you do not intend that I shall touch on any
matters contained in either of the works you have sent me,
but those which are strictly professional. Were any one
disposed to enter into a critical examination of the Review,
or of the ' Travels,' I think very many points would present
themselves for critical examination. The reviewer, for in
stance, might be asked on what authority he pronounced that
' ten thousand of the men that fought at Waterloo, would
have marched through North America,' when it is matter of
history, that twelve or fourteen thousand of the same men,
went to the right about, after penetrating the State of New .

VOL. II. G g

350 NOTES.

York some forty or fifty miles, for fear of the militia of his
diaffected New-England, which was flocking across Charn-
plain to oppose them in thousands, and who, forty years
before, had led the precise number he has named (10,000)
captives to Boston ! I had thought the battles of Chippewa,
Niagara, and the two affairs of fort Erie, to say nothing of
Bunker's Hill, New-Orleans, Plattsburgh, Saratoga, and a
multitude of other places and events, might have spared us,
in 1828, the vapourings that were so much in fashion in 1775.
I incline to the opinion that the reviewer is no better soldier
than I am myself: and I think it will be in my power to
show that he has not the utmost possible familiarity with
naval subjects. Mr. de Roos might also be asked on what
authority he says ' that most of the respectable inhabitants
of New-York are seen in turn' in the bar-room of the City
Hotel. If it be the same authority which induced him to say
that ' New- York is situated on the Peninsula which separates
the Hudson and the East River,' I beg to assure him, that it
is not entitled to the smallest credit. But we will quit these
general subjects, for those on which I am more particularly
at home.

" The reviewer commences his nautical career by saying,
* It is not for us to decide on the policy of the American
government, with regard to the increase of its naval force.'
I take this to be the least exceptionable declaration in the
whole article. I shall pass over every point that requires
argument to support it, for it is my intention to deal as much
as possible with facts. The reviewer says, ' it will require a
long time, &c. before America can deal single-handed with
the navy of any of the maritime powers of Europe.' Now,
I think, the facts would show that, England and France ex-
cepted, there is not another navy in the world as strong as
that of the United States. « Viewing it in its greatest extent,'
&c. says the reviewer, ' it (the American navy) may be con
sidered to consist of twelve sail of the line, twelve frigates,
nine sloops, and a few barges, &c.' The navy of the United
States consists of twelve sail of the line, one sixty, twelve
forty-fours, three thirty-sixes, sixteen corvettes and sloops,
with a few smaller cruizers. These vessels are all on the
ocean. There is (as you say by an error of the press) an
omission of several frigates in your own letter, page 76 of
Vol II., of the sheets you have obligingly permitted me to
read. Your total amount of our marine is correct, but the
omission has been made in the detail. Considering the size
and condition of these vessels, what other marine, except
those named, is as strong ? The reviewer says, that ' the

NOTES. 351

order of Congress for building these ships (of the line) limited
their size to that of seventy-fours,' &c. Now it happens that
the limitation was just the other way, the law saying that
they should not be less than of seventy-four guns. I do not
understand what the reviewer means, when he says a ship
is not intended to be launched, ' being built under sheds.'
Does he believe the Americans build ships to look at ? Next
comes a minute division of an erroneous account of our force.
(See Review, page 273, near the bottom.) One instance of
its mistakes shaH suffice. ' Of the twelve frigates, five have
been built,' &c. The United States, the Liberator, the
Guerrier, the Java, the Macedonian, the Constitution, the
Congress, the Brandywine, and the Potomac, are all afloat,
and most of them have been used. In this detailed account
the reviewer rightly gives two ships rating twenty-four guns,
' but which,' he continues, ' can mount many more.' One
word on this subject in passing. The John Adams, twenty-
four, is an American-built ship. She is pierced for twenty-
four guns, and mounts twenty-four guns, and is rated twenty-
four guns. The Cyane, the other vessel in question, was
captured from the English. She mounts thirty-two guns,
mounted thirty-two, if not thirty-four, when taken, was put
down at that time, in Steele's list, at twenty guns, and is now
rated by us at twenty-four guns. I mention these circum
stances, in order that they may be proved to be wrong if I am
mistaken. Your remarks on the subject of the rating of
vessels, I believe to be correct. It is worthy of observation,
that the reviewer, in his enumeration of our total force, (page
273,) omits these two twenty-fours, though he introduces
them in the close of the same paragraph.

" I am well content that the reviewer should believe the
Caledonia more than a match for the Pennsylvania ; but, I
must say, I think it would have been more prudent not to
hazard any prophetic opinions on the subject. Ships of one
hundred and thirty guns seldom lower their flags to opinions
and it would have been well to have had the result of an ex
periment, before so much theoretical confidence was mani
fested. I have not the smallest doubt that there are many
brave men in the British navy, (in command of the Caledonia)
who would seek a conflict with the Pennsylvania, in the event
of so great a calamity as a war ; but I am quite sure that
any man among them who is likely to be successful in so se
rious a struggle, would be conscious of all its hazards. I
shall say nothing on the subject of the reasoning of the re
viewer in relation to the size of ships and the weight of metal.
I am old enough to remember very similar doctrines much in

NOTES.

fashion in relation to frigates, but as I am very certain that
each nation will pursue its own policy in the construction and
armament of its vessels, there is no use in making it a mat
ter of argument. If there be any thing connected with my
profession for which I have an especial aversion, it is whip
ping a ship on paper.

" The reviewer is just as confident, that in all the naval
battles of the late war, the Americans had a decided su
periority of force, as he is now, that even against this supe
riority of force, the Caledonia could capture the Pennsylva
nia. I am content that he should think so, though I am by
no means disposed to give implicit credit to the erudite au
thority he quotes (Mr. James) in support of this opinion.

" There is a remarkable declaration of the reviewer (page
278) to which I desire to call your attention. He says that
the United States, being an agricultural and commercial
nation, ' it is their obvious policy to avoid war as much as
possible, consistent with national honour.' If I were not a
sailor and a Yankee, and he a reviewer and an Englishman,
I should venture to say, that I presume he means ' consistently
with national honour.' I give you this little grammatical
flourish much in the same humour that the reviewer gives us
his professional knowledge, and, perhaps, quite as ignoraritly.
But, retreating to my deck, I would ask if the reviewer means
to imply that England goes to war for other objects?

" The next fact that I shall allude to, is the complement
of the North Carolina. The reviewer states, that it is ' con
siderably more than 1,100 persons.' I am compelled to say
he has been grossly deceived. If he will look at page 236,
letter B [1] of the documents of the Secretary of the Navy
for the present year, he will see the detail of the complement
of the Delaware, (a sister ship of the Carolina) including
every person on board, from the commodore to the boys, ex
clusively of the marines. The total is 720 souls. At page
257, No. I. [1] he will find the estimate for her marine, viz.
117, including the staff of a squadron. The two sums to
gether make 837 souls, wrhich, I can assure the reviewer, is
the full war complement of the ship, with a flag officer, band,
marine staff, &c. &c. though liable as in all ships, to be di
minished by service, or temporarily increased by a few super
numeraries, particularly by an officer or two, now and then.

" You have sufficiently exposed, in your own note, the mis
take of the reviewer on the subject of the cost of maintaining
our navy.

" Perhaps the most singular assertion in the whole article
is the following : ' The American timber is so bad, that three

NOTES 353

of the line-of-battle ships are already in a state of decay.' All
good American ships are built of live oak and locust; I should
be glad to know where better timber is to be found. It is
true, that during the war, we were compelled to construct
several vessels in a hurry, and that a little other timber was
admitted, rather than not get the ships in time, and that such
timber has been found decayed. I write with a detailed re
port of the Commissioners of the Navy for the year 1827, be
fore me. It mentions the particular condition of every vessel in
the* service. I extract the following : ' Ohio, seventy-four : out
side plank much decayed, from the rail to the ways, and some
spots of decay inside, in the plank across the stern, in the
ceiling, and gun-deck clamps.' « Washington, seventy-four :
will require considerable repairs in her planking, top-timbers,
beams and floor-timbers: the copper should be examined
before she goes to sea.' ' Franklin, seventy-four: will require
planking from near water's edge to the rail, and an examina
tion of her copper.' As these three ships are hi much the
worst condition of any of the twelve, I presume they are the
vessels alluded to. The foregoing is the official statement of
those who are best informed in the matter. The Washing
ton has been built fourteen years, the Independence thirteen,
and the Ohio ten. If the reviewer thinks that British ships
do not often want planking above water, I presume he is mis
taken. But the Washington is, confessedly, defective in
many of her timbers. The Washington was built in the war,
and, I believe, of mixed timber. I have also heard, though I
will not vouch for its truth, that she was, in part, built of
captured timber, which had been intended for the British
navy. A sufficient evidence of the quality of our timber is,
however, contained in the fact, that we have never been
obliged to break up a ship that was built expressly for a
cruizer, larger than a sloop of war, since the regular estab
lishment of our navy in 1797. The Java was thought to be
the worst ship, of her size, we ever had ; but, on examination,
it was found that she would very well bear repairs. But
what interest has the reviewer in proving we have rotten
ships ? did he ever know an American officer apologize for a
defeat on account of a rotten ship ?

" The next topic worthy of notice, is the dry docks. The
reviewer proves, to his own satisfaction, that a dry dock in
England costs 15, OOO/. less than one in America. In other
words, ten of these dry docks, which would be sufficient for
the largest navy in the world, would cost, in America, an ex
cess of 150,000^. I do not see that the point is worthy of a
discussion, since they are not perishable things.
Gg2

S54 NOTES.

" I had forgotten to comment on the opinion of the re
viewer, that England possesses * coal and iron in greater
quantities than any other country of the world.' The assump
tion is a little gratuitous, and I think an intelligent examina
tion of the facts would convince him of his error.

" There is a strange perversion of the frank and manly ex
position of certain acknowledged defects in our dock-yards
and naval system, which it is the duty of the secretary of the
navy to make to Congress, and which, I presume, he will
continue to make annually until they are amended. One is
tempted to believe such ministerial candour is unusual, or the
reviewer could not mistake its motive. A wise man would
he induced to believe it a proof of a desire for reformation ;
but the reviewer appears to think it infers a confession of
imbecility. Perhaps, however, something should be allowed
for the course of policy pursued by the two nations in exec
utive matters.

" In page 284, there is another gauntlet thrown (by the
reviewer) from the Barham of fifty guns, to any American
sixty gun frigate. ' She (the Barham) being in all respects
a much finer ship.' I shall not dispute the prowess nor the
perfection of the Barham, though I must still doubt the pru
dence of saying so much about them. There is a renowned
dramatic hero who destroyed a whole army very much in the
same way. I cheerfully acquit every British naval officer of
the indiscretion.

" I shall venture again to step beyond my proper limits.
What does the reviewer mean by stating that ' Diplomatic
Treaties, &e. cost the United States 5,140,099 dollars?' (See
Review, page 285.) He foots up the ' civil department of the
state' at 7,155,307 dollars. This is a good deal worse than the
Barham ! The official statements of the whole expenditure
of the United States' government for the year 1826, are
now before me. The whole amount of the ' civil, miscellane
ous, and diplomatic' expenses for that year, are 2,600,177
dollars 79 cents. (See Document, page 35, [4] Treasurer's
Report, 1826.) I follow your example, and extract items.
'Light-house establishment, 188,849;' ' Marine-hospital es
tablishment, 54,336;' 'Public buildings in Washington,
91,271 ;' « Stock in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Com-
pnny, 107,500;' '•Slock in the Dismal Swamp Company,
150,000;' ' Stock in the Louisville and Portland Canal Com
pany, 30.000;' 'Payment of claims for buildings destroyed,
per act of March, 1825, 208,311 ;' ' Diplomatic department,
152,476 40 cents;' ' Mission to the Congress of Panama.,
9000;' ' Contingent expenses of foreign intercourse, 18.627

NOTES. 355

&c. &c. All the expenses that can by possibility be con
strued to belong to ' Diplomatic Treaties,' &c. are footed
up separately, and, together, -they make the sum of 232,719
8 cents ! ! The miscellaneous charges are also footed sepa
rately, and make 1,110,713 23 cents; and the civil make
1,256,745 48 cents. I do not wonder that a writer who sees
figures through such a medium should say immediately after
wards, ' it is the obvious policy of the governing powers of a
country like that we have been describing to cultivate peace
and amity with all the world.' I am quite of his mind, though
seemingly for very different reasons. It is lucky for tins
writer that he has not fallen into the hands of one of our reg
ular quill-drivers, or he would be beaten out and out, not
withstanding his singular felicity in deciding combats on
paper.

" Let us look at one more of his weak points. In page 279
he says we expended (he refers to the year 1826} 4,222,952
dollars to support our navy. He is silent as to me expense
of building ships, though we had several frigates and ships
of the line on the stocks that year, and had just commenced
building ten sloops of war, three of which were actually
launched before the month of June. Of the army he says
nothing for that year, though he tells us, that in 1824 it cost
5,270,254 dollars. Why he selected the year 1824, it is im
possible for me to say, when the reports of 1826 were just as
clear, and probably they were before him. But we will take
his own premises. His American * civil department of state'
cost 7,155,307 dollars ; his support of the American navy cost
4,222,952 dollars; and his army for the year 1824 cost
5,270,254 dollars. (It actually happened, including fortifica
tions, Indian department, road surveys, &c. &c. that the ex
penditure belonging to the war department, for 1826, was
upwards of 6,000,000.) Now all these sums make 16,648,513
dollars, to say nothing of the expenses of building ships and
forts. On the same page the reviewer puts the net revenue
of the country at 20,385,430 dollars, which leaves an excess
of 3.636,817 dollars for the other expenses of the govern
ment. Immediately after, he says, ' the public debt on the
1st of October, 1825, was 80,985,537.' This, at five per cent,
about a fair average, would require 4,049,276 dollars to pay
the interest. But he admits that the debt had been diminished
nearly 10,000.000 of dollars in the years 1824 and '25. The
•Secretary of the Treasury says, page 6 of his last report, that
in the years 1825 and 1826, 21,297,210 dollars were paid on
the principal of the public debt. I should like to know
where the money came from, since, by the reviewer's show-

356 NOTES.

ing, the whole expense of the government exceeded the whole
receipt 1,412,359 dollars. If he believes his own premises, he
will at least allow us the credit of having a very clever
iinancier somewhere about the Treasury. But I must stop,
or he will be apt to think that I belong to that class of Amer
icans whom he accuses of indulging in a ' cold, calculating
tone of argumentation.'

" If, as he says, the government of the United States ia
' ostentatious,' it must be the ostentation of this cold tone of
argumentation, for every body knows they get very little
money to figure with. I shall not animadvert on the close of
his sentence. If any American minister at the English court
has failed in ' courtesy and civility,' let it be proclaimed in a
manly manner to the world, or spare us inuendos. You can
not expect that I should go any further with this writer. 1
know nothing of boundary lines : all I hope is, that they may
be peaceably settled.

" As to the German, or pretended German author, review
ed, 1 have nothing to say to him. He either knows a vast
deal more of my country than I know myself, or he knows
nothing at all about it. Mr. de Roos being a professional
man, and coming out under his own name, is entitled to more
respect.

" I think it unfortunate that this gentleman did not give
himself sufficient time to make his observations.

" Mr. de Roos is hasty in his inferences. He thinks a
dock-yard was placed at Philadelphia because the people
were ' unwilling to be behind-hand with her neighbours in
the possession of such an advantage.' It appears to me a suf
ficient reason, that Philadelphia was one of the largest, and,
what has hitherto been an object with us, one of the safest
sea-ports in the country. Baltimore is as large a town now
as Philadelphia was when the yard was established, and yet
Baltimore has no dock-yard, while Portsmouth, Gosport, and
Mobile (all three quite small places) have dock-yards.

" At Washington, Mr. de Roos entered the navy-yard.
He saw the house of the commissioner, (captain of the yard ;)
but ' could observe no other residence belonging to officers.'
I take this acknowledgment to be another proof of his haste,
as the master-commandant has a very neat and commodious
dwelling within a few rods of the other house, and nearly in
its front. I think, too, he must have passed the extensive
quarters of the officers of the marine corps, which are very
near the gate, and before which there are always sentinels.
Mr. de Roos is mistaken in calling the inclined plane Com
modore Porter's : it was built under the inspection of Com-

NOTES. 357

modore Rodgers. He is also unfortunate in his opinion of
the fate of the Potomac (on that plane,) for she was launched
without difficulty, shortly after he saw her. (See page 17.)
' The shed, or rather houses, under which they build their
ships, are not of an approved construction.' B) whom? — by
Mr. de Roos? Mr. de Roos says, ' It has been the fashion
of travellers to accuse the Americans of a habitual violation
of veracity in conversation;' but then he thinks this accusa
tion is without foundation. I am happy that he found reason
to think so.

" In New York, Mr. de Roos describes a peculiarity in the
construction of the Boston sloop of war, on board of which
vessel he unquestionably believed he had paid a visit. I can
assure him that the Boston sailed for the coast of Brazil some
months before he visited New- York, and she had not returned
as late as March, 1828. Mr. de Roos says that < only one
vessel (a sixty gun frigate) was building' at New- York. He
is again mistaken : there were two frigates (the Sabine and
the Savannah) on the stocks there the whole of the year
1826. The Lexington and Vincennes sloops were launched
in March and May of the same year.

" Mr. de Roos next describes the Ohio. 74, which he terms
a splendid ship. I am glad to hear that a professional gen
tleman has reason to be pleased with any of our vessels ; but
I think he labours under some error when he adds, ' I after
wards learned that this vessel (the Ohio) was an instance of
the cunning, I will not call it wisdom, which frequently ac
tuates the policy of the Americans.' The substance of his
charge is, that we fit out fine ships, and send them abroad to
create a false idea of our power. Not being in the secret of
the commissioners of the navy, who select all the vessels
used, I shall not venture an opinion on the matter ; but it is
clear the Ohio has never been used in this manner, since, so
far from ever having been at sea at all, she has never even
been entirely finished. It is also some presumption that lie
has been led into an error, that the Franklin and Washing
ton, the former of which looked ' quite small, after seeing tho
Ohio,' have both been much in actual service.

"Mr. de Roos is wrong when he says we pay bounties foi
seamen. I presume his error arises from the advance which
is always paid to a sailor in America, whether it be for a
vessel of war, or for a merchant-ship. I do not well see
how he can be right in supposing that the recruiting officer
made his report while he (Mr. de Roos) was in the yard,
Bince that officer makes his report only to the department at
Washington. How does Mr. de Roos reconcile « the raw

353 . NOTES.

recruits from the inland States,' page 66, with « the war com
plement of their choicest seamen,' page 63 ?

" If Mr. de Roos is of the same mind as Mr. Halliburton,
(whom he quotes,) in believing that all circumstances go to
show the difficulties of our having a navy, I hope he will be
disposed to give us the more credit, should the result differ
from his expectations.

" Mr. de Roos is entirely mistaken in what he says about
Boston. Nearly, if not quite half of the whole naval force
that has sailed from the United States since 1812, has sailed
from that port. He is also wrong in calling the Natchez a
74, when she is a sloop of war. As these are most of the
naval facts touched upon by Mr. de Roos in his brief account,
I shall now turn my attention to your own statement.

" I have already noted the error in the detailed account of
our force, and which you state to be an omission of the press.
Your estimate of the number of men necessary to man our
present ships is sufficiently correct, though you have not cer
tainly allowed officers enough. The ships of the line alone
would require near 800 officers, including all those who are
commissioned, or have warrants. The frigates would need
as many more, and the sloops and smaller vessels quite half
as many mere. Two thousand officers would be employed,
at least, if all our ships were manned. This is a little more
than twice our present number ; but it is intended to increase
the lists, I believe. At all events, we could at any moment
create the necessary number by promoting qualified mid
shipmen.

" I presume, when you say that the United States must
be admitted to possess 30,000 seamen, you mean what are
technically called able seamen. The estimate is, I think,
sufficiently low.

" I shall close this note by adverting to a part of the re
view that had escaped me in running my eye rapidly over its
contents. I am sorry to see the reviewer treating the sub
ject of impressment in so cavalier a manner. Of course, I
allude to the impressment of American seamen into the
British service. This is a grave question, and plain dealing
in time of peace will be very likely to prevent trouble here
after. Though the reviewer takes it as part of his premises,
there is no more unsafe calculation than to believe ' the past
will speak for the future' in relation to America. We do not
dispute the right of England to make her own municipal
laws ; but we do dispute her right to exercise them in any
way that shall make it unsafe for an American to navigate
the ocean. I admire the coolness with which the reviewer

NOTES. 359

says, * If they (the Americans) have any plan to offer, by
which American seamen may be protected against serving in
our fleets, and British seamen from entering theirs, Great
Britain will undoubtedly be ready to discuss it.' We have a
plan for the protection of our seamen. The Pennsylvania, and
ner five noble sisters, whose frames are now providing, the.
Alabama, the Delaware, the Ohio, the New-York, the Ver
mont, the North Carolina, &c. &c. &c., furnish a hint of its
outline.

" I intend to part in good humour with my unknown friend,
the reviewer; and, in order to let him see it, I shall give him
a piece of perfectly disinterested advice. If England wishes
to discuss any question connected with a right to impress men
out of American ships, the sooner she does it the better ; for,
in a very few more years, it will not do even to talk about "

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