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Title: Flint's Letters from America, 1818-1820

Editor: Reuben Gold Thwaites

Author: active 19th century James Flint

Release date: September 1, 2024 [eBook #74346]
                Most recently updated: September 17, 2024

Language: English

Original publication: United States: The Arthur H. Clark Company

Credits: Carla Foust, Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLINT'S LETTERS FROM AMERICA, 1818-1820 ***






  Early Western Travels

  1748-1846

  A Series of Annotated Reprints of some of the best
  and rarest contemporary volumes of travel, descriptive
  of the Aborigines and Social and
  Economic Conditions in the Middle
  and Far West, during the Period
  of Early American Settlement


  Edited with Notes, Introductions, Index, etc., by

  Reuben Gold Thwaites, LL.D.

  Editor of “The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents,” “Original
  Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition,” “Hennepin’s
  New Discovery,” etc.


  Volume IX

  Flint’s Letters from America, 1818-1820

  [Illustration]

  Cleveland, Ohio

  The Arthur H. Clark Company

  1904




  COPYRIGHT 1904, BY
  THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


  The Lakeside Press
  R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY
  CHICAGO




CONTENTS OF VOLUME IX


  PREFACE. _The Editor_                                         9

  LETTERS FROM AMERICA, containing Observations on the
  Climate and Agriculture of the Western States, the Manners
  of the People, the Prospects of Emigrants, &c., &c.
  _James Flint_

      Dedication                                               19
      Author’s Table of Contents                               21
      Text                                                     25




ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME IX


  Facsimile of original title-page                             17

  Wooden fence (text cut)                                      40

  Horse rake (text cut)                                        41

  Buck saw (text cut)                                          61

  Cradle scythe (text cut)                                    125

  Island in the Ohio (text cut)                               159

  Typical township map (text cut)                             177

  Typical subdivision of a township (text cut)                178




PREFACE TO VOLUME IX


Had all the travellers from Great Britain who visited America during
the early decades of the nineteenth century been of so discriminating
a temperament as the Scotchman whose work we republish as volume ix of
our series, Americans might have lacked that sensitiveness that arose
from unjust and flippant portrayal and criticism of American manners.

James Flint was of a good family, had been carefully educated, and
possessed a sound and just judgment, with capacity for philosophic
insight. Coming to the United States to observe conditions, he
depicts them with candor and good will. While confessing favorable
preconceptions, due to a personal liking for democratic institutions,
our author does not omit the shadows in his pictures; but he presents
them with such dispassionate fairness that the sting of criticism is
removed.

Flint was particularly interested in the Middle West. Therefore, after
a brief sojourn in New York and Philadelphia, where he commented
judiciously on all that made for the higher life of these two young
cities, he followed the great Western thoroughfare which crossed
Pennsylvania to Pittsburg, then the gateway of trans-Allegheny America.
Here he purchased a skiff and floated down the Ohio, occasionally
landing to make visits and observations; from Portsmouth he proceeded
on a circuit through Ohio and Kentucky, settling at length at the falls
of Ohio, in the Indiana town of Jeffersonville.

A resident at this place for several months, his investigation
of Western conditions assumed a new phase. No longer the passing
traveller, noting the novelties and peculiarities of the people, Flint
began a systematic observation of American institutions in general,
and particularly the political, social, and economic life of the
Middle West. In his succinct but comprehensive study of the national
constitution and local state governments, he anticipates De Tocqueville
and Bryce. His comments upon the judicial system show an appreciation
of the stern necessities of primitive justice, coupled with the
law-abiding spirit characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race. His notes
upon the power of public opinion as a restraining force in political
life, and upon the universal veneration for the constitution, show that
he discovered the fundamental principles underlying American political
life. His comprehension of the historical development of the West is
remarkable for keen insight and prophetic vision. He realized what
the acquisition of Louisiana had meant in dispelling the dangers of a
Western secession from the republic; and showed that the true interests
of the West allied her with Eastern markets.

Looming large on the horizon, Flint discerned the second factor which
was to rend American life. The discussion of the Missouri Compromise
had scarce begun, but already he saw that the nation could not always
exist half-slave and half-free. He saw also that the long border line
forming a kind of moral boundary, was the crucial difficulty, and that
the acute stage in the controversy would be reached over the question
of fugitive slaves. To the present generation these seem self-evident
truths; but few Americans and fewer foreigners had the keenness to
perceive this before 1820. Flint, however, unlike many Englishmen of
his day, was no radical condemner of slavery; he appreciated its
patriarchal features and its real benefits for the negroes. He also saw
that the masters suffered more deterioration by the system than the
slaves; that the responsibility for the system rested not upon present,
but historic conditions; and that wholesale denunciation was not only
unjust, but useless.

In addition to his comments on this great social question, Flint throws
much light on general conditions in the young West. He studies the
spectacular drama of the camp-meeting revival not only from the point
of picturesqueness, but of educational and religious development.
He realizes the need of the people for education, but appreciates
the provisions made therefor in public lands. Throughout the West
he finds the saving remnant--people of culture and refinement, who
welcome strangers with hospitality, and are laboring to erect a worthy
civilization in this newest community. The social equality everywhere
evident among whites pleases him, and he remarks not unkindly upon the
general dislike for personal service that characterizes the ambitious
West. His satire on the excess of the honorary titles of “major,”
“colonel,” and “judge,” as well as upon the readiness with which the
“land of liberty” is vociferously proclaimed, is gentle and kindly.

But all these features of Flint’s work are secondary to his economic
study. Not only did he prove himself a wise and trained observer, but
he was a scientific economist, and had come to the United States for
research material. At each stage of his travels he sets forth the
ratio between prices and wages, explains the industrial aspects, and
the prospects for emigrants. Already, he tells us, nearly all the
best land of Kentucky and Ohio is taken up. Settlement is flooding
Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, where cheap lands are yet available.
He shows the sanitary disadvantages of this newer, more reeking soil,
as against the possibilities it offers to the emigrant to secure the
profits of his own industry. With keen indignation he condemns the
unsound banking system of the West, deprecates the booming of town
sites, and the “log-rolling” in state legislatures. But in the face
of criticism, and as though eager to forestall unfavorable judgments,
he contrasts American conditions with those of Great Britain, with no
undue favor for the latter, reminding his English readers that here are
no boroughs to monopolize business interests, no clergymen to control
education, no nobility to exact special privileges. “I have never heard
of any parson who acts as Justice of the Peace, or who intermixes his
addresses to _the Great Object of Religious Worship_, with the eulogy
of the Holy Alliance.... The farming interest has no monopoly against
manufacturing: nor has the manufacturing any positive prohibition
against the farmer.” Free industry is the dominating factor of American
life, the keystone of its prosperity.

In short, we have in Flint’s _Letters_ a remarkable study of American
life in the beginning of its new era, at the close of the second war
with England. Charitable, comprehending, thoughtful, he does not slur
over national faults nor unduly praise local virtues. Dangers, both
financial and political, are pointed out; but the basic principles of
American society are distinctly and clearly laid bare, and the progress
and possibilities of the New West revealed.

In the present reprint, the original edition, published in Edinburgh in
1822, has been followed; save that the Addenda given in the latter (pp.
303-330), have been omitted, as being composed of material of small
present importance:

1. Two letters from a Jeffersonville (Indiana) lawyer dated Dec.
20, 1820, and Aug. 1, 1821, commenting satirically upon the wildcat
currency of that day.

2. Three other letters, by various persons, giving an account of
material progress in Indiana.

3. “The American Tariff, with alterations and additions.”

In the preparation of this volume for the press, the Editor has had the
assistance of Louise Phelps Kellogg, Ph.D., Edith Kathryn Lyle, Ph.D.,
and Mr. Archer Butler Hulbert.

                                           R. G. T.

  MADISON, WIS., October, 1904.




FLINT’S LETTERS FROM AMERICA--1818-1820

Reprint of the original edition: Edinburgh, 1822




[Illustration:

  LETTERS

  FROM

  AMERICA,

  CONTAINING

  OBSERVATIONS ON THE CLIMATE AND AGRICULTURE OF
  THE WESTERN STATES, THE MANNERS OF THE PEOPLE,
  THE PROSPECTS OF EMIGRANTS, &c. &c.

  BY JAMES FLINT.

  “From the disorders that disfigure the annals of the Republics
  of Greece and Italy, the advocates of despotism have drawn arguments,
  not only against the forms of republican government, but against the
  very principles of civil liberty. They have decried all free
  governments as inconsistent with the order of society, and
  have indulged themselves in malicious exultation over its friends
  and partizans. Happily for mankind, stupendous fabrics reared on the
  basis of liberty, which have flourished for ages, have, in a few
  glorious instances, refuted their gloomy sophisms. And, I trust,
  America will be the broad and solid foundation of other edifices not
  less magnificent, which will be equally permanent monuments of their
  error.”--_General Alexander Hamilton._

  EDINBURGH:

  PRINTED FOR W. & C. TAIT, PRINCE’S STREET;

  AND LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN,

  LONDON.

  1822.

]




  TO

  JAMES STUART, ESQUIRE

  YOUNGER OF DUNEARN

  THE

  FOLLOWING SHEETS

  ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED

  BY

  THE AUTHOR




CONTENTS


  LETTER I

  Voyage from Greenock to New York--Circumstances of
     Passengers--Arrival, &c.                                        25


  LETTER II

  Observations on New York--Removal to Long Island--Miscellaneous
     Remarks--Return to New York--Farther
     Observations on the City                                        30


  LETTER III

  Journey from New York to Philadelphia--Observations on
     Philadelphia--Institutions--Manufactures--People                48


  LETTER IV

  Journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburg--Remarks on the
     Country--Notices of Emigrants, and occurrences by the
     way                                                             64


  LETTER V

  Pittsburg--Situation--Manufactures--Occurrences--People            82


  LETTER VI

  Descend the Ohio from Pittsburg to Beaver--Occurrences
     and Remarks there                                               89


  {vi} LETTER VII

  Descend the Ohio from Beaver to Portsmouth--Occurrences
     and Remarks Interspersed                                       100


  LETTER VIII

  Leave Portsmouth--Digression on Economical
     Travelling--Chillicothe--Progress of a Scotch
     Family--Game--Trees and Shrubs--Rolled Pieces of Primitive
     Rocks--Implements--Antiquities--Organic Remains--Missouri
     and Illinois--Paper Currency                                   114


  LETTER IX

  Lexington--Paper Currency--Bankers--Menials--Habits--Prices
     of Live Stock--Provisions, &c.--Slavery, and
     its Effects--Recrimination against Illiberal
     Reflections--Descend the Ohio to Cincinnati--Occurrences and
     Reflections                                                    132


  LETTER X

  Cincinnati--Weather--Descend the Ohio to the Falls of the
     Ohio--Taverns and Accommodation                                149


  LETTER XI

  Morals and Manners--Education--Generosity--The President
     of the United States                                           165


  LETTER XII

  On Emigration--The Prospects of Emigrants--Inconveniences--The
     Method of Laying out and Disposing of
     Public Lands                                                   173


  LETTER XIII

  Comparative Advantages of Different Parts of the United
     States--Temperature at Philadelphia and
     Cincinnati--Reflections on Slave-Keeping                       181


  LETTER XIV

  Lawyers--Doctors--Clergy--Mechanics--Justices of the
     Peace--Anecdotes--Punishments--Reflections                     194


  {vii} LETTER XV

  Outline of the American Constitution--From the Frequency
     of Revolutions in Europe, the Instability of the American
     Republic is not to be inferred                                 205


  LETTER XVI

  State Legislatures--Predilection for Dividing Counties, Laying
     out New Towns and Roads--The Influence of Slavery on
     the Habits of the People--Banking                              215


  LETTER XVII

  Depreciated Paper Money--Want of Employment--State
     Expenses--The Progress of New Settlements                      224


  LETTER XVIII

  Passage to Cincinnati--Trade--Manufactures--Institutions--
     Banks--Climate--Notice of three Indian Chiefs--Remarks
     on the Indian People                                           237


  LETTER XIX

  Descend the Ohio from Cincinnati to Madison--Notices of a
     Scotch Settlement--Excess of Male Population--Roads--
     Harvest--Crops--Orchards--Timber--Elections--Methodist
     Camp Meeting                                                   250


  LETTER XX

  Circumstances that Retard Manufacturing Industry, and
     Causes of its Prosperity                                       264


  LETTER XXI

  Circuit Court of Indiana--Lands--Crops--Salt
     springs--Corydon--Barrens--Caves--Tornado--Alluvial
     Lands--Large Trees--Wild Vines--Steam boats--the Falls
     of the Ohio--Bilious and Intermittent
     Fevers--Taciturnity--Americanisms                              276


  LETTER XXII

  Miscellaneous Remarks on the Manners and Habits of the
     People                                                         290


  {viii} LETTER XXIII

  Passage from the Falls of the Ohio to Cincinnati--Journey to
     Lake Erie--the Great Sciota--Pickaway Plains
     Prairies--Sickly State of the Country--Indians--People         296


  LETTER XXIV

  Passage on Lake Erie--The Falls of Niagara--Passage on
  Lake Ontario--Descend the River St. Lawrence--Falls--Montreal--
  Quebec--Indians--Remarks on the People--Timber
  Trade--Government--Climate                                        313




LETTERS FROM AMERICA




LETTER I

 Voyage from Greenock to New York--Circumstances of
 Passengers--Arrival, &c.


  _New York, July 10, 1818._

As I have already informed you, I sailed from Greenock on the 24th of
May last, in the American ship Glenthorn, Stillman Master, bound for
this place.

I observed that my fellow emigrants were much affected when about to
take a final leave of their native land: some regretting the separation
from their native soil, while others, mute and thoughtful, seemed to
suffer under feelings of a more tender kind.

To some it may appear inconsistent in people to regret leaving
their homes and their friends, while the emigration is voluntarily
undertaken; but on this occasion, the paradox will be explained, when
their circumstances and views are taken into consideration.

Of our party were three farmers, with their families, whose leases
were expired; all of them having declined engaging for a new term of
years, {2} under the apprehension of seeing their paternal stock, and
the savings of many years’ industry, divided between the landholder and
the collector of taxes. A native of Scotland, who had resided several
years in America, returned with the intention of resuming business in
the town where he was born, but the thick ranks of a necessitous and
half employed population, had closed on the place he had left. There
was a widow, with two children, on her way to put herself under the
protection of a brother in America. With us also were several of the
labouring class, whose utmost exertions could only procure the bare
support of existence; and ploughmen, who prudently refrained from
marrying with fourteen pounds a-year. In short, there was scarcely one
of our number whose condition might not perhaps be bettered, or whose
prospects could be rendered worse, by the change of country.

In a voyage from Europe to America, most passengers may expect to be
sea-sick. Nearly all of them on board the Glenthorn, on this occasion,
suffered more or less. For my own part, I never was entirely free
from it for more than three-fourths of the passage. This disease is
dispiriting while it continues, but as it is believed to produce no
permanent injury, but, on the contrary, is thought conducive to future
health, the attack is not at all dreaded. People unaccustomed to the
seafaring life ought to carry with them those kinds of provisions to
which they have been previously accustomed, as the stores of the ship
soon become loathsome to the sick. Potatoes will be found acceptable,
when the caprice of taste rejects almost every other food; and walking
on deck is of service, as the air is better, and the pitching of the
ship is considerably less felt, than below.

{3} It is very improper to go to sea in crowded vessels; as epidemic
diseases are engendered, and the most dreadful mortality is the
consequence. That law of Britain which allows only one passenger for
every five tons of burden in American ships (including seamen) is a
most beneficial regulation; and while, in American bottoms, the cabin
passenger pays L.21, and the steerage passenger L.12, the expense
cannot be complained of, while health and comfort are taken into
consideration. It is much to be regretted that the government of
England does not extend its humane restriction to its own Canadian
settlers, and to emigrants who sail for the United States in British
ships.

The 4th of July is celebrated by Americans as the anniversary of their
independence, declared in 1776. The captain and seamen were disposed
to be joyful in commemoration of this great event. The striped flag
was displayed, guns and pistols were fired, accompanied with loud
cheers. The passengers, no less enthusiastic, joined in the strongest
expressions of their devotedness to the democratic form of government.
They indulged in such sentiments as, a sincere wish that the United
States may long continue exempt from that excessive corruption, as they
thought, which has so long and so much degraded a large portion of the
human race;--and their avowed satisfaction at the near prospect of
becoming people of the Republic.

On the 8th we came in sight of Long Island, and the high lands of New
Jersey; a welcome occurrence to people who had been so long at sea. In
the afternoon a pilot came on board. He informed us that the city was
in great bustle, as the inhabitants were assembled to deposit the bones
of General Montgomery, who fell at Quebec, on the 31st of December,
1775.[1] The remains of the patriotic {4} leader were buried by the
ministerialists without the fort, and were to-day interred by his
grateful countrymen under the portico of St. Paul’s church, New York.
We were sorry that it was not in our power to witness the solemnity.

In the evening we were off the point Sandyhook. The smell of the new
hay on the adjacent fields regaled us very agreeably. All seemed elated
with joy. A bagpipe and two violins played by turns, and our young
people danced on deck till a late hour. During this season of mirth, we
were entertained by a sight, perhaps unequalled in the phenomena of an
European climate. Some dense black clouds which hung over Long Island,
were frequently illuminated by flashes of lightning. It is in vain to
attempt a description. About midnight we passed through the Narrows,
and soon afterwards anchored on the quarantine ground, about seven
miles from New York.

On the morning of the 9th of July, the inspecting surgeon visited us,
and allowed the anchor to be weighed. In this situation we had a full
view of the shores of Staten and Long Islands. The wooden houses are
neat, and the orchards and natural woods have a thriving appearance.
It would seem that the people here have a partiality to the Lombardy
poplar, which grows to a great height, shooting up its branches nearly
perpendicularly; assuming something of the appearance of a spire.
The straight rows of these trees, so common here, have an insipid
regularity and sameness, more like a file of armed soldiery than an
ornamental grove.

Some of the frame houses are painted red, those of the finer sort,
white; ornamental railings are also painted white. To an European eye,
these colours appear too glaring. The lands seen from the bay are sandy
and poor.

{5} The first glimpse of the city of New York is by no means a distinct
one. The buildings are much obscured by the forest of masts in front of
them; and as the site of the town rises but gently inland, the houses
in front conceal, in a great measure, those in the rear, so that the
shipping and the numerous spires are the objects most distinctly seen.

Before entering the port we were twice boarded by agents from the
Newspaper offices. They inquired for British newspapers, and generally
for the news of Europe; they noted down the names of several of our
passengers, which they intended to publish in the papers of the
afternoon. There are no less than seven newspapers printed in New York
daily; the competition of these Journalists is keen, and their industry
seems to be great.

We have experienced much good treatment from Captain Stillman. Every
passenger is so sensible of this, that a committee of their number was
requested to make public testimony of their esteem for him.

We landed yesterday about noon, all in good health and spirits. During
the voyage, passengers have experienced no kind of sickness, except
that peculiarly incident to the sea.

This letter cannot come immediately into the hands of all my friends;
most of them, I hope, will hear that I am arrived in this place in good
health. Should you adopt any way of making this and any subsequent
communications generally known to them, it will be very gratifying
to me, and, besides, will relieve me of the labour of writing many
letters; a labour, dictated by the strongest ties of gratitude and
affection, but one which it is doubtful if I can accomplish to the
satisfaction of my own mind.


FOOTNOTES:

[1] General Richard Montgomery (1737-1775) was a native of Ireland,
and served with Wolfe at Quebec in 1759. At the outbreak of the
Revolutionary War he was appointed commander of the American forces in
the Northern Department, being killed in his heroic assault on Quebec,
December 31, 1775. Through the courtesy of the British general his
body was buried with the honors of war within the unconquered walls
of Quebec. Forty-three years later the remains were disinterred, in
compliance with a special act of the New York legislature, brought to
New York City and deposited with great solemnity beneath a monument
in front of St. Paul’s church (July 8, 1818). A full account of the
ceremony is contained in the New York _Daily Advertiser_ of that
date.--ED.




{6} LETTER II

 Observations on New York--Removal to Long Island--Miscellaneous
 Remarks--Return to New York--Farther Observations on the City.


  _New York, August 4, 1818._

On entering New York, I was struck with its appearance. Streets lined
with lofty trees, most of them the Lombardy poplar, which affords a
very agreeable shade in hot weather; indeed, they are so numerous, that
the new comer, when he looks before him, is apt to suppose himself
in the midst of a wood. The streets, with a few exceptions, are too
narrow, and are deficient in sewers. Many parts of the town prevent me
from thinking that it deserves the character of extreme cleanliness
bestowed upon it. The greater part of the houses are of brick, neatly
built; but, to eyes accustomed to towns of hewn stone, New York has, on
the whole, what (for want of a more descriptive word) may be called a
gingerbread appearance.

The markets here are amply supplied with fine vegetables, and an
immense variety of excellent fish, a great proportion of which are sold
alive. Beef and pork are good, but the mutton and veal that I have seen
are of inferior quality. Marketing is carried on more after the manner
in some English country towns. No servants, but masters, attend and
carry home the provisions.

Beggars do not abound here as in some countries of Europe. I am told
that every man who is {7} able to work can earn a dollar per day, and
that his board costs two or three dollars per week; thus it is in his
power to banish every appearance of poverty, and to save some money,
provided he is disposed to economy. Mechanics have good encouragement.
Joiners one and three-quarters, and masons two dollars a-day. They
usually pay three dollars, or upwards, a-week for their board.

Many of the necessaries of life are here purchased at high prices.
Woollen cloths and most articles of wearing apparel imported, pay
duties, varying, in different cases, from 25 to 33 per cent. In
transacting with the merchant and the tailor, farther American
enhancements may be calculated upon. Washing and dressing of shirts,
neckcloths, &c. costs a dollar and a half per dozen. Every thing that
an American does, must be liberally paid for. This tends to render
living dear, even where provisions are cheap.

Some imported articles, as silks, wines, foreign spirituous liquors,
teas, sugar, and coffee, are much cheaper than in Britain. The
difference of custom-house duties is the cause of this.

The condition of animals bespeak the great plenty of food that falls
to their share. The horses employed in removing goods to and from the
wharfs, and in stage coaches, are fat, and in high spirits. They are
not so rough-legged, so broad, or so strong-limbed, as the draught
horses of Britain; but they are better adapted for speed. Hogs, running
in the streets, are numerous, but they are not starvelings. I have
seen several of them that would yield upwards of 300 lbs. of pork
without special feeding. Speaking of hogs, I would mention by the way,
that they are allowed to run at large for the purpose of cleaning the
streets. An economical way of procuring scavengers, {8} but one that
leads to a commutation of nuisance rather than a final removal of it.

_July 12._ Last night the heat was excessive, and not accompanied with
a breath of wind. It was in vain that I thrust my head out at an open
window to be cooled. The effluvia arising from the streets is, in a
great measure, occasioned by a high temperature. I imagine that a
copious evolution of phosphorized hydrogen gas goes on in such weather.
I could not sleep till three or four o’clock. This morning I heard that
some people who had suffered from the heat and stillness of the air,
had stretched themselves on carpets, or sat by open room doors, or in
passages. Nights so very oppressive are said to occur rarely. In high
and inland parts of the country they do not occur at all.

This is not the most proper season of the year for Europeans arriving
here. Yesterday and to-day the heat has been excessive, the thermometer
in the shade stood at 97¹⁄₂°. In such a degree of heat it is imprudent
to take much exercise. The temperature of the human body being lower
than that of the air, the former is deprived of the cooling process
usually produced by evaporation. Should the heat of the blood be
increased in such a case, fever commences. We had an example of this,
in a young man, one of the emigrants on board the Glenthorn, who
exerted himself too much in getting baggage ashore. He was this day
removed to Brooklyn, a high-lying village on Long Island, about a mile
from New York. Transitions from heat to cold are, perhaps, still more
dangerous; of late, eleven persons have died in the city by drinking
cold water. Several of them were strangers newly landed. Water should
not be drunk immediately from the {9} well, but should be allowed
previously to stand for a few minutes in the air. It should be taken in
small mouthfuls, and these heated in the mouth for two or three seconds
before swallowing. Precautions of this kind ought to be strictly
attended to, while heated by exercise or the sun’s rays. Spirits are
often mixed with water, to prevent the injurious effects of the latter.
This corrective, however much extolled, ought to be taken in very
small quantities. Here, as in Britain, there are many who resort to
spirituous liquors as the sovereign medicine, both in hot and in cold
weather.

Strangers lodge in boarding houses, and are charged from three dollars
to twenty a-week. I have got lodgings in a good one, where I find
interesting company. Previous to our meals a servant rings a small
hand-bell, summoning every lodger to the public room, where we all eat
together. A polite, well-dressed, hostess presides.

Servants are not here so attentive to their duty as elsewhere; many of
them are free blacks, slow in their motions, and often treating the
most reasonable commands with neglect. _Master_ is not a word in the
vocabulary of hired people. _Bos_, a Dutch one of similar import, is
substituted.[2] The former is used by Negroes, and is by free people
considered as synonymous with slave-keeper.

This afternoon much thunder was heard. After twilight the lightning
flashed incessantly, so that the illumination was almost permanent.
Thunder storms in America are more frequent, more severe, and often
accompanied with greater rains than in Europe. A respectable gentleman
of Delaware county, in this State, told me, that during a thunder
storm there, he laid his watch on the table, and found that an hour
and forty-eight minutes elapsed {10} without one cessation of sound.
He thinks it probable that the peal lasted about two hours, as a few
minutes must have passed before the idea of noting the time suggested
itself.

_July 13._ This evening, after dark, I was surprised to see a large
object standing in the centre of one of the principal streets; on
approaching it, I discovered that it was a frame-house, with a wheel
affixed to each corner. Its length was about twenty-two feet, breadth
about sixteen feet, and two stories high. I am just told that much
larger buildings than this are often dragged off by horses, with their
roofs, floors, plaster, doors, and windows, entire; furniture sometimes
included. This sort of removal happens at the expiry of leases of small
lots, where the occupier is not bound to leave the buildings.

_July 16._ For two days past, the skin of my face has been spotted,
accompanied with blotches, and with partial swelling. This is called
the prickly heat, from the pungent feeling that attends it. A medical
gentleman has told me, that this has been occasioned by a sudden
cooling, which has put a stop to perspiration. He congratulated me
on having escaped a fever, prescribed a hot bath, and subsequent
sea-bathing. I am about to set out for Long Island, in obedience to the
latter part of the Doctor’s prescription.

_Afternoon._ Arrived at New Utrecht, a village near the south-western
extremity of Long Island.[3] On leaving New York, I crossed the ferry
to Brooklyn, by a steam-boat of singular construction: this vessel
is composed of two hulls, at a little distance from, and parallel
to, one another; they are connected by a deck common to both. The
water-wheel, turned by a steam-engine, is placed between {11} the keels
of the boats. There is a rudder at each end, so that she can cross and
re-cross, without putting about.

A stage coach runs from Brooklyn to New Utrecht. The distance is nine
miles; and the fare for one person, half a dollar. This coach, like the
other public ones of the country, has no glass windows in the front or
the sides of it, these parts are furnished with curtains, which are
let down in bad weather. The coach is long, containing four seats that
run across; and travellers sit with their faces forward, as in the pews
of a church.

I have agreed to stop a few days at New Utrecht. My host is an
intelligent man, obliging, but not fawning; he and his wife take the
principal drudgery of the house upon themselves, as the slaves are
extremely slow in the execution of their work. Sometimes the landlord
presides at the head of the table, and at other times he acts as
servant. At dinner we were joined by the coach-driver who brought us
from Brooklyn; he is very unlike the drivers of some other coaches,
is well dressed, active, and attentive to his business, by no means
obsequious, answers every question with propriety, and without
embarrassment. He does not depend on the gratuities of travellers for
his wages. That system, which so universally prevails in Britain, is
unknown here.

At the inn there were three boarders, all Scotsmen. One of them, a
young gentleman from Edinburgh, who was confined to bed by a broken
thigh bone, occasioned by a horse running away with a gig, from which
he fell while attempting to disengage himself; he was occasionally
attended by a young lady, whose visits were frequent, although she
lived at the distance of ten miles. The people of the neighbourhood
were also very attentive to this {12} person, often calling for him;
and several of the young men sat with him all night by rotation. It was
pleasing to see so creditable a display of the benevolent affections.

The good people here are the descendants of the original Dutch
settlers. They are placed in comfortable circumstances, their style
of living somewhat resembling that of farmers in the more fertile and
improved parts of Scotland. If the situations of farmers in the two
countries were compared, it would appear that the advantage of the Long
Islanders consists in a climate highly conducive to vegetation, their
freedom from rent, being owners of the soil, and the total absence of
any heavy taxes; and that their comparative disadvantage is, the want
of such active domestic and agricultural servants as the farmer of the
other country employs.

Mr. Cobbett[4] is now farming about nine miles from this place. His
people (it is said) could not bear the opprobrious name _servant_, and,
with the exception of one person, left him.[5]

The fishermen here drag ashore many fishes in their seines. Without
other evidence than the vast quantities of smaller ones left on the
shore, the abundant supply of the New York market might be inferred. I
bathe twice a-day, on the spot where General Howe first effected the
landing of his army.[6] A farmer very obligingly gives me the key of
his fishing house on the beach, that I may dress and undress in it.
The farmers here catch great quantities of fish, with which they manure
their land.

There are still a considerable number of slaves in Long Island; they
are treated with a degree of {13} humanity that slaves in some other
parts of the world never experience; they are well fed, and the
whip is very seldom resorted to. Notwithstanding their comparative
advantages, they detest the unnatural yoke, and frequently run off.
It often happens that the master neither pursues nor inquires after
the fugitive. What becomes of the self-emancipated is not here well
understood. I have heard that many of them get to Boston, or some other
of the northern ports, from whence they are carried to the Southern
States, sold, and placed under a harsher treatment.

A great part of the slaves of the State of New York are to be
emancipated in the year 1827.[7] It is difficult to predict the
consequences of this liberation. It is to be feared that people
who have been compelled to work, will, of their own choice, become
banditti, rather than adopt industrious habits. Arrangements must
necessarily be made before the arrival of this revolution; but many
satisfy themselves by saying, that the legislature will devise some
plan that will enable them to get over the difficulty. Some suggest
that the Negroes shall be returned to Africa. On this measure, the
African Association, so much talked of in America, proceeds.[8]
The expense of transporting, settling, supporting, and governing
a new colony, must be immense. The design is as benevolent as the
difficulties to be encountered are great. The support it meets with in
slave-keeping states, looks like a pledge of sincerity, and an omen
that forebodes success to the undertaking.

{14} The project of removing blacks to the back-woods of America
seems to be altogether objectionable. It would be difficult, if not
impossible, to prevent their return from exile; their previous habits
and disposition render them ill-calculated to the work of subduing the
forests. Besides, they would commit depredations on the neighboring
settlers, and on the Indian people.

Long Island being composed of alluvial soil, surrounded by a high
beach, its surface is necessarily what is called a table land: for the
most part the surface is somewhat flat, the soil is dry, and at this
season, without streams of water. Near the surface I have observed
a substratum that is intermixed with clay. If a part of this was
raised above the ground, it would be made to approach to a loam, more
productive, and less liable to be injured by drought, than the present
sandy coating that covers the surface. A trenching, performed by the
spade or by the plough, would no doubt produce the good effect.

A labourer in Long Island receives half a dollar a-day, with his board,
and a dollar in harvest.

The weather, which is said to be hotter at present than it has been
for several years, begins to scorch the surface of the ground. The
stubble from which the hay has recently been removed, retains the
appearance of a newly mown field; pasture grass is withering. In some
fields a rank crop of weeds continues green; amongst these the cattle
are straying nearly two feet deep, but are in reality almost starving;
water is drawn from deep wells, and served out to them in rather too
small quantities. The cows are small, as may be expected. Good crops of
wheat, rye, and Indian corn, are raised. These require manure. Indian
corn is considered a good crop, when at the rate {15} of 40 bushels
per acre. Oats do not ripen well from the excessive heat, and are used
only for the feed of horses. Potatoes are small; their tops grow high
and slender, as when shaded by trees in your country; their leaves are
small and shrivelled. The greatest luxuriance to be met with in Long
Island is in the orchards, the branches of apple and pear trees are
bent down, and not unfrequently broken by the weight of the fruit.
Peach trees were lately productive, but are now falling into decay. I
have met with no one able to assign the cause. The woods are thriving,
but few of the trees are large; they are evidently a new growth, and
not contemporary with the thick trunks that opposed the first settlers.
The owners frequently spare their own timber, and purchase from other
parts of the State, or from New Jersey. In consequence of paying for
timber and carriage, building in Long Island is rendered more expensive
than in more late settlements.

It is not easy to state the price of land in Long Island, as much of
it has descended from father to son, from the first settlement; and
sales have been rare. A farm within ten miles of New York would perhaps
sell at 140 or 150 dollars (from L.31, 10s. to L.33, 15s.) per acre.
The practice of renting land is by shares, the occupier paying to the
proprietor one half of the actual price of the produce, the former
bearing the risk and trouble of collecting the money.

The fences are of wood. The figure is a representation of the railing
commonly adopted here.

{16} A fence of this sort, costs about a dollar for every ten yards
in length. Where the posts are of cedar, and the rails of chesnut,
the erection, it is said, may stand about fifty years. I examined one
reported to be thirty years old, and found it to be so strong, that
it may be expected still to last for years to come. There are neither
hedges nor stone fences to be seen in this neighbourhood.

[Illustration]

The crops, as in most parts of America, are cut down by what is called
the Cradle-scythe. I went into a field where a Negro was reaping wheat
with this sort of implement, and observed that about an English acre
was cut down. On making inquiry, it appeared that he had been engaged
about six hours in the work. The following dialogue ensued:

“You work very hard?”

“No Sir, I can do much more in the time, _but that of no use_.”

“You are not free then?”

“No Sir, I a slave, I longs to Jacob Van ----, there,” (pointing to the
farm house.)

“But you black people are very well treated here?”

“Oh yes, Sir, master very good to me, give me every thing to eat he eat
self, but no Sunday clothes.”

“You may live happier than some poor free people?”

“That may be true, Sir, but put bird in cage, give him plenty to eat,
still he fly away.”

I delay giving a description of the cradle-scythe, as I doubt if the
one that I have just seen is of the best construction.

After the crop is cut, the swath is collected by the hand, and tied
into sheaves; a small quantity of stalks still remain scattered over
the surface, {17} these are commonly collected by the hand-rake. To
facilitate the latter part of the process, a horse rake has been
recently invented; of which the following figure is a representation.

[Illustration]

AB is a beam about six inches square, and about twelve feet long. CD
is an upright rail that prevents the stalks accumulated by the machine
from falling over the beam AB, and so left behind. EF, _ef_, are two
supports to the rail, which also serve as handles for steering, and
occasionally upsetting the machine. ABHG is a tire of wooden teeth,
one and a half inches diameter, and about six inches distant from one
another. These teeth are sharpened at their extremities, and skim along
the ground with their points forward; raising up and collecting the
stalks. IK are trees to which the horses are yoked. The trees are
attached to the beam AB, by the rope BLA.

{18} The field in which I saw the horse rake used is flat and not
ridged; consequently the straight beam operated very well. To adapt a
beam to ridges, it would only be necessary to construct it with two
joints or hinges; one at each side of the handles, and to connect the
central part of the beam by a rope with the point of attachment L.
Otherwise, the implement may be moved across the ridges.

Four wheeled waggons are the vehicles used in carrying home the crops,
carrying manure into the fields, and produce to market. They are drawn
by two horses, which trot, whether loaded or not. Small one-horse
waggons are also used, they are neat, and are furnished with a seat for
conveying families to church, and elsewhere. Many of the farmers who
own but small properties, keep one horse gigs. Ladies drive dexterously.

The practice of housing the crops, and the ancient one of treading
them out by the feet of horses, shew that the Long Islanders have
yet something to learn in the way of dispatching their agricultural
business.

The high price of land prevents emigrants from settling here. The near
neighbourhood of a market, and the salubrity derived from dry land,
together with sea breezes, might, notwithstanding, form sufficient
inducements to many, who would pursue their immediate advantage; but
those who look forward to the future prospects of a family, commonly
prefer some part of the back country.


_July 24._ Saw the works in progress at Fort Diamond.[9] This is a
large battery raised on a shoal in the narrows, about 200 yards off
the western point of Long Island; _most of the workmen are British_.

{19} Crossed the Narrows to Staten Island. The fortifications are
extensive and commanding. The garrison consists of _one man_!

_25._ Left New Utrecht, where a residence of nine days has completely
cured my blotched face. The climate is delightful, and I have
entertained a very favourable opinion of the people.

The emigrant who was removed sick to Brooklyn, is dead; thus by far
the finest young man of our party, has fallen the first victim to the
climate: twenty-two years of age, of a mild and cheerful disposition,
and of a manly figure, and who had gained our universal esteem. Of a
family consisting of six persons, he was the only one who was able to
endure the fatigues of clearing away the forests. The feelings of the
survivors are deeply wounded, and the tender attachment that pledged
his early return to Scotland is blasted.

I returned to New York, and shall make some more remarks on the city.
The population, at the census of 1816, was 100,619, of which 6985 were
aliens, 9774 free people of colour, and 617 slaves. It is expected that
the enumeration of 1820 will disclose a vast increase.

Literature does not stand on such a broad basis here as in Europe.
Printing, particularly of newspapers, is carried on to a considerable
extent: but the style of many communications and advertisements
which appear in them, shews that the _public_ are not far advanced
in taste. Particular pieces are elegant. Many English publications
are reprinted, frequently with the addition of some introduction,
notes, or an appendix. For the additional matter a patent is procured,
which I suppose has generally the practical effect of securing an
exclusive privilege for the whole work. Some of Lord Byron’s latest
productions, the Memoirs of {20} the Fudge Family,[10] and the Brownie
of Bodsbeck,[11] are exhibited in the windows of the principal
booksellers. When I left Edinburgh the last mentioned book was not
published.

The Kaleidoscope of Dr. Brewster is here fabricated in a rude style,
and in quantities so great, that it is given as a plaything to
children.[12] An artist informed me that a journeyman of his proposes
to take a patent for an improvement he had made on it.

The public museum in this city is a recent collection. An Indian
mummy from the great saltpetre cave in Kentucky, a bear from Warwick
mountains, about sixty miles north of this place, which weighed 700
pounds, and an immensely large turtle, are as yet the most interesting
objects.

The town hall is a splendid building. Lightness, and an apparent want
of solidity in its parts, deprive it in some measure of the august
effect essential to sublime grandeur. The front and columns are made
of white marble of a foliated texture. The interior staircase is
both large and magnificent. It is circular, and furnished with two
elegant flights of steps that wind in contrary directions, so that the
one crosses the other alternately. Upon the whole, it displays that
elegance which becomes an edifice devoted to the administration of
justice.

When I visited the Court of Sessions, the judge on the bench appeared
a plain active-looking gentleman, not distinguished by any robes of
office. The business on hand was the taking of evidence in the case of
a man who had left a vault open during the night. A person passing in
the street happened to fall into the chasm, and raised an action of
damages, on the ground that he had received bodily hurt. The questions
put were numerous {21} and minute, the witnesses, notwithstanding, went
on in giving lengthened details, embracing particulars not asked, and
foreign to the subject. They seemed in no respect embarrassed by the
dignity of the court. The whole of the witnesses were present, and each
heard the examinations which preceded his own.

The Washington, a new ship of war, mounting 96 guns, is much visited
at present.[13] The seamen are a party of stout healthy looking men,
dressed in striped cottons, very suitable to the present hot weather,
and cleanly in the extreme. The decoration, cleanliness of the ship,
and the order that prevailed aboard, can scarcely be surpassed.
Diffident, however, as I am in forming an opinion on any naval affair,
I cannot avoid the impression that a vessel of such strength, and with
such a crew of freemen, must be an overmatch for any other vessel
constructed and manned as European ships of war were wont to be.

The steam-frigate is a novelty in naval architecture. The vessel
is bomb-proof, impelled by a powerful steam-engine; is said to be
furnished with apparatus for heating ball, for throwing hot water, for
moving a sort of arms to prevent boarding, and to carry submarine guns
of one hundred pounds shot.[14]

The steam-boat, Chancellor Livingstone, is the largest and finest
vessel of the kind perhaps ever built; she is 526 tons burden, length
165 feet, and breadth 50 feet. The power of the engine is estimated
as being equal to that of eighty horses. The boiler is of copper, and
weighs twenty tons. The cabin unites something like the horizontal
dimensions of a church, and a degree of elegance not exceeded by
any floating apartment. The Chancellor sails between New York and
Albany.[15]

{22} _August 3._ The theatre has some degree of resemblance in its plan
to that at Edinburgh, and is attended by a genteelly-dressed audience.
To-night the celebrated Mr. Incledon completed his engagement.[16] He
was highly applauded. The song, “Scots wha hae wi’ Wallace bled,” was
alike cheered by Scots and Americans.

During this season of the year, most people wear light cotton clothes;
the jacket is in many cases striped, and the pantaloons of Indian
nankin. A broad-brimmed straw-hat is commonly used, to prevent the
face from being scorched by the rays of the sun. Draymen, and other
labouring people, wear a sort of frock or hunting shirt of tow-cloth,
that hangs down to the knees. A tall, thin, swarthy-countenanced man,
with a frock, surmounted by a broad straw hat, is a figure somewhat
new to the Briton.

One of the greatest inconsistencies among a people professing liberty
and equality, is the degradation imposed on people of colour. In the
church of the most popular preacher of New York, I looked in vain for
a black face. There is a congregation of blacks in town, who have a
preacher of the same colour, where (it is said) a white man would be
equally singular. Blacks are not admitted into the public baths; and,
at some places of amusement the hand-bills have a note of this kind,
N.B. “A place is provided for people of colour.” I do not recollect of
having seen or heard of a black person who is in any degree eminent in
society, or who has acquired reputation in any mechanical or mercantile
business. This depression appears to be produced partly by the aversion
with which the white face looks on the black one, and partly by
bad education and habits. Something more than mere emancipation is
required, a moral change, {23} affecting both the black and the white,
must take place, before the condition of the negro can be completely
ameliorated.

The churches of New York are fifty-three in number, and are occupied by
seventeen religious sectaries. None of these are peculiarly privileged
by law, and none denied the common protection of citizens.

_August 4._ Now when about to leave New York, I feel a pleasure in
stating my conviction of the civilization and moral honesty of the
people. In the former respect, they may exult in any comparison with
the mass of many European cities. And in regard to the latter, I have
heard of no recent instance of housebreaking or riot. In hot weather,
people leave their windows open during the night, and street doors
are seldom closed during the whole of the evening; the inhabitants
not thinking their hats and umbrellas in much danger. Such traits are
perfectly unequivocal.


FOOTNOTES:

[2] From the Dutch _Baas_, meaning master.--ED.

[3] New Utrecht was in Kings County, New York, seven miles from New
York City.--ED.

[4] William Cobbett, a publicist known both in America and England,
was born on a farm in Surrey, March, 1762. After serving for several
years in the English army, he resigned and (1792) came to Philadelphia.
Here, under the name of “Peter Porcupine,” he advocated the cause of
the Federalists. Returning to London in 1800, he founded the _Weekly
Political Register_. His influence with the workingmen was so great
that the English government became alarmed, and he found it prudent to
spend two more years in America (1817-19). He published his experiences
as a Long Island farmer (1818), under the title _A Year’s Residence in
the United States of America_. Vigorously opposing the plans of Morris
Birkbeck and others to bring over colonies of British emigrants to the
United States, his attacks and the replies that followed brought on a
journalistic controversy which lasted until about 1825. (See volumes
x, xi, and xii of our series.) Upon his return to England, he was
elected to parliament as a Liberal in 1832, and served until his death
(1835).--ED.

[5] This person was English.--FLINT.

[6] Admiral Lord Richard Howe, British general in the Revolutionary
War, left Halifax with his fleet June 11, 1776, to effect a union with
General Clinton at New York. He arrived at Sandy Hook June 29, and July
2 took possession of Staten Island.--ED.

[7] By act of legislation, 31st March, 1817, “Every Negro, Mulatto,
or Mustee, within this State, born before the 4th day of July, 1799,
shall, from and after the 4th day of July, 1827, be free.”--FLINT.

[8] The American Society for the Colonization of the Free People of
Color of the United States, was organized at Washington, December,
1816. It rapidly gained favor, both North and South, and by February,
1820, sufficient money had been subscribed to send the first colony to
Liberia. But the free negroes disliked it; the colonists suffered great
hardships in Liberia; and the abolitionists soon opposed the project.
William Lloyd Garrison began to denounce the Society in 1829, and
thereafter it declined steadily in importance.--ED.

[9] Fort Diamond, later renamed Fort Lafayette, was the largest of the
forts planned in 1812 for the defense of New York harbor. It became
famous as a political state prison during the War of Secession, and was
then protected by seventy-five heavy mounted guns.--ED.

[10] A series of metrical epistles purporting to be written in Paris by
Thomas Moore.--ED.

[11] “The Brownie of Blednoch,” a folk-lore ballad, is the best known
of William Nicholson’s poems. He was a Galloway peddler (1782-1849),
who composed verses as he travelled from town to town.--ED.

[12] Sir David Brewster (1781-1868), experimental philosopher and
editor of the _Edinburgh Encyclopedia_, invented the kaleidoscope about
1816. Throughout these letters, Flint portrays large acquaintance with
the writings of the more noted of his fellow-countrymen.--ED.

[13] The “Washington” was built at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1814,
being the second ship of seventy-four guns (not ninety-six, as Flint
states) launched for the United States navy. She was the flagship of
Commodore Chauncey in the Mediterranean, from 1816 to 1818. In 1843 she
was broken up in New York harbor.--ED.

[14] This was the “Fulton,” the first steamship in the American navy.
Robert Fulton directed her construction, and she made her trial trip
June 1, 1815, a few months after his death. Her naval service was
unimportant. While employed as a receiving-ship at the Brooklyn docks
she blew up, June, 1829.--ED.

[15] The “Chancellor Livingstone,” built under Fulton’s direction, and
named in honor of his friend and patron, was completed in 1816. She
was one hundred and twenty-five tons larger than any boat then on the
Hudson. Her average speed was eight and a half miles an hour. In 1832
she was put on the route between Boston and Portland, being broken up
at Portland two years later.--ED.

[16] Benjamin Charles Incledon (1764-1826), a famous English
vocalist.--ED.




LETTER III

 Journey from New York to Philadelphia--Remarks on the country
 passed through--Notices of companions--Their conversation by the
 way--Observations on Philadelphia--Institutions--Manufactures--People.


  _Philadelphia, December 19, 1818._

This letter will give you the details of my journey from New York to
Philadelphia, and some particulars with regard to the latter city.[17]

{24} _August 5._ Got aboard of the Olive-Branch steam-boat for New
Brunswick. This is a large vessel, wrought by an engine of forty-five
horses’ power. She may at once be pronounced elegant and commodious.
The passengers dine on board.

In a company so large, the traveller has it in his power to select
the person with whom he would enter into conversation. The individual
I fell in with, on this occasion, was a mercantile gentleman from
England. He seemed to me a man of a good disposition, and one who
possessed considerable knowledge of the principal towns, and of the
different ways of transacting business in the United States. The
American character, according to his report, is by no means a good one.
He expressed himself as completely tired of the country, and proposed
returning to England. He told me that he had met with considerable
losses by villanous insolvencies. His account, instead of convincing
me that the Americans were sinners above all others, just shewed me
that he was a good-natured, credulous man, and that he had fallen into
the hands of several artful rogues; a class, it would seem, not wanting
in America.

The land on both sides of the strait, between Staten Island and the
main land, is light and sandy, in some spots almost sterile. People in
boats are busy with long wooden tongs, resembling forceps, taking up
clams from the bottom, in six or seven feet of water.

The land on both margins of the Raritan is very low and flat, covered
with a rank growth of reeds. These are cut for the cattle, and form a
coarse but a very bulky crop. The swamps, being liable to inundation,
are not made to yield any other herbage than their spontaneous produce.

{25} About four miles below New Brunswick, the red sandstone is met
with. It is the first rock toward the coast, the interval being high
alluvial land, containing vegetables and the bones of marine animals of
tribes still existing; facts that establish without a doubt that the
ocean has receded.

From New Brunswick to Trenton, travellers are conveyed by four-horse
coaches. Six of these wait the arrival of the steam-boat. In one of
these I took my seat, and found that only two gentlemen were to be
along with me; one of them an American who had travelled in Britain,
and the other an Englishman, who had just been out on an extensive tour
in the United States. Both appear men of talent and education; the one
a Virginian lawyer, and the other a person well acquainted with the
state of science and manufacture in his own country; they are equally
devoted to the representative form of government. Their only difference
of opinion arose from drawing a comparison between the national
characters of the two countries. The American claimed the superiority,
_in toto_, while the Englishman asserted the higher excellence of the
literary, the scientific, and the mechanical attainments of Britain;
but, at the same time admitted, with apparent candour, the superior
dexterity of Americans in traffic, and that, taken in a body, they
are without some of the ruder qualities of John Bull. Thus, in one
day, I have heard two intelligent Englishmen discuss the character
of the American people, and each draw opposite conclusions: a fact,
which proves how cautious we ought to be in forming an estimate of a
community; as we are in continual danger of judging of the great stock
from the small, and it may happen that an unfair sample may come within
the narrow limits of a single person’s observation.

{26} The land between New Brunswick and Princeton is chiefly of a poor
sand. The road is composed of the same material, with plank bridges
over ravines, where most of the streams are now dried up. The woods, to
a Briton, seem more remarkable for their height, than for the diameter
of the trees. The stems, even by the road side, where many are felled,
stand closely together, and their tops form a continued canopy, that
sheds a gloom over the surface of the ground. When proximity to the two
greatest cities in the Union is considered, it seems surprising that
the arm of man has effected so little. The farms by the road side are
neither numerous, nor are the cleared patches large. The passenger has
no way of knowing how the country is peopled or improved beyond the
first clearing; and where no opening occurs, he cannot see the light
more than about 200 yards into the woods. Rail fences, however, and
cattle amongst the trees, indicate that the whole is appropriated.

The cows are small, and of little value; and the few sheep which
I have seen, are long-legged and thin, perhaps the worst breed in
existence.

Princeton College is a large brick house, situated in a grass field.
The edifice has a retired, if not a gloomy appearance. It was here that
Dr. Witherspoon,[18] the author of the “Characteristics of Scottish
Clergy,” found an asylum, and the means of prosecuting useful labours.
By the way side stands a row of very large weeping willows, that are
highly ornamental to this small town. Their long slender twigs hang
down almost perpendicularly, and wave with every wind, displaying, as
it were, a sort of vegetable drapery.

From Princeton onward, the land is much better than that observed
to the north, and the {27} surface is finely diversified, but dusk
prevented me from seeing a part of the country next to Trenton.

The arrival of six four-horse coaches produced considerable stir in
the Inn at Trenton. No sooner had the passengers entered, than a pile
of trunks and portmanteaus was reared in the bar-room, that would make
a good figure in the warehouse of a wholesale merchant. The party at
supper was very large. There being three lines of conveyance between
New York and Philadelphia, the aggregate of the intercourse must be
great. Betwixt New Brunswick and this place, a distance of twenty-five
miles, we have not seen a single pedestrian. The heat of the weather
may in some measure account for this.

Trenton is beautifully situated at the head of the tide water of the
river Delaware. The orchards are luxuriant, and the pasture grounds
richer than any that I have hitherto seen in the country.

_August 6._ Trenton is celebrated by one of the most dexterous feats
of generalship on record. I shall take the liberty of stating some
particulars of the affair. On the 1st of January, 1777, the term of
enlistment amongst the American troops expired, and that day brought on
a dissolution of the best part of the army. General Howe, aware of the
occurrence, pressed forward on the 2d, with an army vastly superior.
The head of their column arrived at Trenton about four o’clock, and
attempted to cross Sanpink creek, which runs through the town, but
finding the fords guarded, halted and kindled their fires. The American
army was drawn up on the other side of the creek. In this situation the
latter remained till dark, cannonading the enemy, and receiving the
fire of their field pieces.

{28} Washington having discovered that the enemy designed to surround
his little army, ordered the baggage to be removed after dark. At
twelve o’clock, having renewed his fires, he decamped with his army,
unperceived by the enemy, and marched against Princeton by a circuitous
route, where he arrived by the rising of the sun, defeated the troops
there, and captured their stores.[19]

The Delaware is a delightful river, with many magnificent windings.
The convex shore of one extensive curve, is so imposing, that it is
called Point-no-Point, an apparent cape being always in sight, but
which recedes as the observer advances. The grounds adjacent to the
river are flat, and covered with a rich verdure; but the beach is of a
height sufficient to prevent a person from seeing far inland from the
river. Many large farm houses are to be seen, with extensive orchards,
and beautiful weeping willows adjoining. The last form large spreading
masses without any erect or principal top, the main or leading branches
rear themselves upwards, after acquiring a considerable degree of
strength; and the shoots immediately younger, are elegantly bent, as if
in the act of getting erect; while the youngest of all are completely
pendulous. The whole is singularly picturesque.

On approaching Philadelphia, I felt disappointed in seeing the shipping
so very inferior to that at New York; and the houses fronting the river
are old and irregularly placed, so that the idea of a port declining in
trade immediately occurred.

Philadelphia is situated between the rivers Delaware {29} and
Schuylkill. The streets are laid off agreeably to the cardinal points,
and cross one another at right angles, the principal ones running in
the east and west direction, crossing the neck of land between the two
rivers.

The streets, as at New York, are lined with trees; they are cleaner
kept, and are wider, and more regular, so that gaseous exhalations are
much less felt in them than in the other city. Most of the houses are
of brick, and many of them have the doors and windows surrounded by
white marble. Several public edifices are built of that material.

_August 7._ The general aspect of the city is more pleasant, and a
freer circulation of air is felt than in New York; of course the
natural inference is that Philadelphia must be the more salubrious of
the two. Dr. Mease, of the American Philosophical Society, has deduced
the same conclusion from the bills of mortality.[20] The daily average
of deaths being 5²⁄₃ in this place, and 6¹⁄₃ at New York. At the
time this computation was made, the population of Philadelphia was the
greater of the two, consequently something more is to be allowed in
favour of the relative healthfulness of Philadelphia.

The doctor has also compared the mortalities of Philadelphia and
Liverpool, and it appears that the deaths in the former city are, to
those in the latter, as 33 to 50. The comparison was made between the
number of deaths in 1810 for Philadelphia, and on another year for
Liverpool. This must have been occasioned from a want of data applying
to the same year in both places. My very short acquaintance with the
doctor gives me the utmost confidence in his candour, and in the
accuracy of his calculations.

{30} It is not to be kept out of view, that the mortality in
Philadelphia is considerably greater in summer than in winter, the
deaths in August, for example, may be fairly stated at twice the number
in December. This fact, not to mention the epidemical diseases with
which Philadelphia is sometimes visited, must give a decided preference
to Liverpool.

The religious sects of Philadelphia are eighteen in number; they
have thirty-four places of worship. The whole may be exhibited thus:
Swedish, three churches; Quakers, three; Free Quakers, one; Episcopal,
three; Baptist, one; Presbyterian, two; Catholic, four; German
Lutheran, two; German Calvinist, two; Associate Reformed Church, one;
Moravians, one; Associate Church, (Antiburghers,) one; Presbyterian
Covenanters, one; Methodists, four, (two for whites and two for
blacks;) Universalists, one; Unitarians, one; Independents, one; Jewish
Synagogues, two.

There are four state law courts in the city; four Banks, and eleven
Insurance offices.

The other institutions would be too tedious to enumerate separately,
probably the following includes most of them. Thirteen charitable
institutions, eight free school societies, three patriotic societies,
about twenty mutual benefit societies, five associations for the relief
of foreigners and their descendants, seven literary institutions,
three libraries, the American Philosophical Society,[21] the Society
of Artists, the Pennsylvanian Academy of Fine Arts, and a museum of
natural history.[22]

The American Philosophical Society meets frequently, and is well
attended. When I visited the institution, three of the foreign
ministers were {31} present. Professor Cooper[23] read very interesting
papers on the bilious fever, on a new mordant to be used in dyeing, and
on a new test for detecting arsenic where administered as a poison.
There is still zeal and talent in the association once distinguished by
a Franklin and a Rittenhouse.[24]

The Franklean library contains about 24,000 volumes; almost every
scientific work of merit may be seen. Strangers are allowed to read
and even to write in the great hall. On leaving a small deposit they
may carry books out of the library. The building belongs to the
institution, and has a herculean bust of the founder over the entrance;
and the following lines, by Alexander Wilson[25] the ornithologist,
hang in a frame in the great room.

    “Ye who delight through learning’s paths to roam,
    Who deign to enter this devoted dome;
    By silent awe and contemplation led,
    Survey these wonders of the illustrious dead!
    The lights of every age--of every clime,
    The fruits of science, and the spoils of time,
    Stand here arranged, obedient to your nod;
    Here feast with sages, and give thanks to God.
    Next thanks to him; that venerable sage,
    His country’s boast,--the glory of the age!
    Immortal Franklin, whose unwearied mind,
    Still sought out every good for all mankind;
    Search’d every science, studious still to know,
    To make men virtuous, and to keep them so--
    Living, he reared with generous friends this scene;
    And dead, still stands without to welcome in.”

The Atheneum is another excellent institution.[26] Here a great number
of American and foreign newspapers are read, and there is also a
collection of the reviews, periodical publications, and scientific
journals, of Britain and America. Strangers are introduced by the
subscribers.

The United British Emigrant Society meets frequently, and its business
in conducted with zeal{32} and ability. A book is kept open, in which
are inserted notices of labourers, &c. &c. wanted, with the names and
residences of the persons to whom they are to apply. On looking over
this record, I observed that many of the situations offered were in the
western country. Although the members of this society merit the utmost
credit for their benevolent exertions, the most cautious strangers will
always hesitate to undertake long journies, incurring a great expense,
the risk of meeting only with a trifling employment, and that of
cheapening their labour by the sacrifices which they make. Artifices
of this kind are not to be imputed to the society.

The museum contains a considerable collection of objects; and among the
rest a skeleton of an entire mammoth. Around the upper part of the wall
are arranged the portraits of several hundreds of the personages who
have distinguished themselves in the revolution, or in the legislature
of America. The design is praiseworthy, but the execution of the
pictures is bad.

The state prison does honour to the jurisprudence of the country. The
culprit is not made a burden on the community, but is put to work,
and the first of his earnings applied to his support, a part of the
remainder is given to him at his dismissal; by this means he is not
under the necessity of resorting immediately to robbery or theft.
Habits of industry are acquired, and trades learned, by persons who
previously were pests to society. The strict order, and even silence,
that is maintained in the establishment, is conceived to be the
peculiarity that has produced the effects that distinguish it above
every institution of the kind. The provisions given to the inmates are
said to be plentiful and good, though furnished at the low rate of {33}
fourteen cents, or about seven-pence-half-penny English, per day.

Philadelphia does not abound in manufacturing establishments. The
predominance of British goods has shut up many workshops that were
employed during the late war. Paper is manufactured in great quantities
in Pennsylvania. Founderies for coarse cast iron articles are numerous.
In town there are two manufactories of lead shot. Printing is carried
on to a considerable extent, and executed in a superb style. It is said
that one of the late Edinburgh novels was here set up in types in one
day. The quarto edition of Joel Barlow’s Columbiad is an unrivalled
specimen of printing. The types were cast by Messrs. Binnie and
Ronaldsons, who, by their skill and individual exertions, have saved
the United States from importing these essential literary implements.
Mr. Melish’s[27] geographical establishment, is another prominent
concern. He is continually embodying the most recent government surveys
of the interior, into the general maps of the country. At Lehigh Falls,
on the Schuylkill, there is a mill for cutting brads, which produces no
less than two hundred in a minute. Philadelphia is in various respects
well adapted to manufacture; if the facilities which it presents for
its advancement are neglected, the city must decline, as the trade of
New York and Baltimore is making rapid progress. The new road from the
latter city to the Ohio,[28] and the extension of carriage, by steam
boats, through the Mississippi and the Ohio, are all circumstances
which tend to supersede Philadelphia as a market and as a thoroughfare.

At present, vast quantities of English goods are selling by auction
in the ports of the United States. New York is the chief mart in this
way. Merchants from the country, attend sometimes these {34} sales for
many days, and even for weeks together. Public sales, and the present
low prices, are very injurious to the merchants and manufacturers of
England.

Probably the market of Philadelphia displays the greatest quantity
of fruits and vegetables in the world. Boat loads are brought by the
Delaware, and numerous waggons come loaded from the interior. Peaches,
apples, pears, melons, cucumbers, pine apples, sweet potatoes, onions,
&c. are plentiful beyond example.

The cleanliness and the civil address of persons who vend provisions in
the market, are truly gratifying: if a speck is to be seen on the white
apron of the butcher, it may be inferred that it came there on the same
morning. Girls arrive on horseback, or driving light waggons, to sell
vegetables, or the produce of the dairy. Many of these females, I am
told, are the daughters of farmers who are in good circumstances. Here
are none of the lazzaroni hucksters of fruit and sweet-meats, that form
such a deplorable spectacle in the finest cities of Britain; nor of
the miserables who rise earlier than the sun, to pick from amongst the
ashes, the charred offal of their neighbour’s fire.

_September 3._ To-day I have seen a man sprawling on the ground in a
state of intoxication; he is a native of Ireland. This is the first
instance of the kind which I have seen in America. From this incident,
I do not mean to represent that the people here do not drink spirituous
liquors. The truth is, that many drink of them almost the moment after
they get out of bed, and also at frequent intervals during the day; but
though this fact has been noticed, the first conclusion is nevertheless
true, that excessive drinking is rare.

{37} The saw for cross-cutting timber for fuel, is a tool which, for
superior expedition, recommends itself to joiners and others. The
following figure is a representation of it.

AB is the blade, about thirty inches long, and about two inches broad.
It is very thin, and its teeth are very slightly bent to the right and
left, so that it makes a narrow cut, through which the slender blade
moves with little friction,--hence its facilities. The crooked stick
ECA is the handle, FDB is another crooked stick, into which the blade
is fixed at B. The wooden bar CD serves for fulcra, over which the
blade is stretched by twisting the small rope EF, by means of the peg
GH.

[Illustration]

The sawing of firewood, and many other sorts of hard labour, are
chiefly performed by black people. Happily, very few of these are
now slaves in Pennsylvania. Free blacks, it is understood, have no
difficulty in earning the means of subsistence, but the circumstance
of their being despised and degraded, has had bad effects on their
character. Even the Quakers, who have so honourably promoted negro
emancipation, allot a separate part of the church to people of colour.
In the state prison, too, they are separated from whites. These odious
distinctions should be abolished in a free country.

Negroes are stigmatized as an inferior race; indolent, dishonest,
and vindictive in the extreme. {38} There can be no doubt that, in
many instances, these characteristics are too just, but it cannot be
otherwise, while moral culture is, in a great measure, withheld from
them, while they are excluded from the society of the wise and the
good, and while the hope of applause gives no stimulus to the coloured
man. Moral or immoral, he is a negro. This, of itself, is enough to
keep him down. If Africans were placed on a similar footing, and with
the same opportunities, as their white neighbours, and if they still
kept behind, we might then begin to suspect a radical defect in their
nature. But, as they are, it cannot be pretended that the experiment
has been made.

For some time past, the democratic party have been nominating
candidates for their general support in the ensuing election. No doubt
is entertained of a democratic preponderance in the next session of
Congress. The Federalist cabal is now disconcerted in this part of the
Union. The mercenary avarice that would barter the independence of
America for English goods, was never less formidable than now.

Here, as at New York, boarding houses are to be found, varying from
the simplest accommodations, to elegance and luxury. The person who
lives in a house where a high price is paid for board, is separated
from the poorer class, and his acquaintances and associates are people
in affluent circumstances and polished education; he is as free in
the choice of his society as he possibly can be. Without doors,
however, persons of lesser note are not treated with _hauteur_, and in
transacting business the utmost affability prevails.

The dress worn in temperate weather is the same as in Britain, with
this difference only, that pantaloons {39} are almost universal: the
shorter small-clothes are used only by Quakers. On Sundays it would be
difficult to discriminate betwixt the hired girl and the daughter in a
genteel family, were drapery the sole criterion. Attentive observation
of the people on the streets, would convince any one of the general
diffusion of comfort and competence.

The symptoms of republican equality are visible in all the members
of the community. I have seen several curious instances of this,
which would surprise those accustomed only to the manners of the
old world. For example, the Mayor is a respectable-looking, plainly
dressed gentleman, and apparently a penetrating and efficient police
magistrate. On a late occasion the court was crowded, and the weather
hot; he desired a person in attendance to bring cold water. It was
brought in a brown jug, not accompanied with a glass. A person within
the railing (probably a lawyer or clerk, more thirsty than his honour)
intercepted the vessel, drank, and then handed it to the Judge.

On the Sabbath, we do not witness all the stillness and solemnity that
usually characterize a presbyterian town. On the _morning_ of that
day, I have seen loaded waggons start in the market street, for the
westward. A grocer, opposite to the house where I board, has two shops,
one of them he keeps open for the sale of liquor, segars, &c. In a
late newspaper, a complaint appeared against bringing cattle into the
street for sale on Sunday _afternoon_. If this complaint was founded
on truth, it is at least evident that it was addressed to citizens
who, it was believed, would suppress the evil. I am inclined to think
that a very great proportion of the people spend the day in the duties
of {40} religion; but some here, as in other places, employ it purely
as a day of rest; some as a day of amusement; and others in visiting
friends, or other convivial meetings. On a Sunday afternoon I have
heard many reports of guns, in the neighbouring woods or swamps. You
will consider all this as a foul blot on the fair character of the City
of Brethren; but I trust that your liberality will not impute to the
jurisprudence of America, pre-existing customs, that, at every stage
of the settlement, must have been imported from England; even from a
country which pays tithes, for the support of a priesthood.

Every day numbers of European emigrants are to be seen in the streets.
The ingress is greater than at any former time. I have never heard of
another feeling than good wishes to them. For my own part, I have met
with several receptions kinder than I ever could have anticipated;
and have become acquainted with a number of excellent citizens, whose
approbation will always be sufficient to convey a high gratification to
my mind.


FOOTNOTES:

[17] The author’s route from New York to Philadelphia was by boat to
New Brunswick, thence by stage to Trenton on the Delaware, where boat
was taken for Philadelphia. Stages, by this time, had practically
ceased running between New York and Philadelphia.--ED.

[18] James Witherspoon, born in Haddingtonshore, Scotland, in 1722, was
a descendant of John Knox. Graduating from Edinburgh University, and
receiving ordination as a Presbyterian minister, in 1768 he accepted
an invitation to become president of Princeton College, and brought
with him a considerable addition to the college library. From the first
he took an active part in the Revolutionary War; as member of the
provincial assembly, he assisted in overthrowing the royal governor;
as member of the continental congress he signed the Declaration of
Independence, and aided in initiating several important legislative
measures. After the close of the war, he retired to his farm near
Princeton, dying there in September, 1794.--ED.

[19] Washington’s Letters, vol. ii, page 4, Lond. 1795.--FLINT.

[20] John Mease, a wealthy and philanthropic Philadelphian, was born
in 1771. Although a graduate of the Medical College of the University
of Pennsylvania, he did not practice regularly, but devoted himself to
literary and scientific pursuits. In association with David Rittenhouse
and other members of the Philosophical Society, he was engaged in
numerous undertakings for the betterment of the city. His _Picture
of Philadelphia_, published in 1811, was for many years the best
travellers’ guide thereof.--ED.

[21] The American Philosophical Society, the oldest scientific
association in America, was organized by Franklin in 1743. In 1769 it
was combined with the American Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge,
and from that date (except for a few years during the Revolutionary
War) has never failed to meet regularly. Among its presidents may be
noted Franklin, Jefferson, Rittenhouse, and Caspar Wistar.

The Society of Artists, formed in 1810, to establish a school of
drawing and hold an annual exhibition of foreign and American
paintings, was dissolved soon after Flint’s visit to Philadelphia.

The Academy of Fine Arts was organized in 1805, largely through the
efforts of Charles Wilson Peale. The following year a building was
occupied, and the first exhibition opened in 1811, in conjunction with
the Society of Artists. The Academy has ceased to hold exhibitions, but
maintains a good permanent collection.

The Museum, opened by Peale at his residence in 1784, contained for
the most part portraits of Revolutionary heroes painted by himself.
When transferred to Independence Hall (1802), it included a large
collection of birds, insects, and the implements of primitive men.
The Philadelphia Museum Company acquired it in 1821; but later the
collection was sold and dispersed.--ED.

[22] Dr. Mease’s Picture of Philadelphia.--FLINT.

[23] Thomas Cooper, born in London in 1759, was eminent both as a
lawyer and a scientist. Educated at Oxford, he practiced law, first
in England, and after 1795 in Northumberland, Pennsylvania. Upon a
visit to France (about 1792), he studied chemistry, and continued his
researches in that science after coming to America. Upon being removed,
for arbitrary conduct, from a judgeship (1811), he was appointed
professor of chemistry at Dickinson College, later at the University
of Pennsylvania, and in 1820 became president of the college of South
Carolina. At the time of his death (1840) he was engaged in revising
the statutes of the latter state, and in writing pamphlets in favor of
state rights.--ED.

[24] For a brief biography of David Rittenhouse, see A. Michaux’s
_Travels_, volume iii of our series, note 75.--ED.

[25] Alexander Wilson was for many years a weaver and poet in Paisley,
Scotland. Trouble breaking out between the weavers and masters,
he emigrated to Philadelphia in 1794, becoming in turn weaver,
school-teacher, and peddler. In 1802 the scientist John Bartram became
interested in Wilson’s talents, and gave systematic direction to his
natural taste for ornithology, to which he devoted the remainder of his
life. He published his first volume of _American Ornithology_ in 1808,
and had nearly completed nine volumes before his death, in 1813.--ED.

[26] A public reading-room called the Atheneum was established by
private subscription in 1814. Ten years later it contained 3,300
volumes, including prominent foreign and American reviews. Rooms were
rented from the American Philosophical Society until 1847, when the
Atheneum building was erected.--ED.

[27] For a sketch of John Melish, see Bradbury’s _Travels_, volume v of
our series, note 129.--ED.

[28] For a brief description of the National Road, see Harris’s
_Journal_, volume iii of our series, note 45.--ED.




{41} LETTER IV[29]

 Journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburg--Lancaster--Elizabeth
 Town--The River Susquehana--Harrisburg--Carlisle--Chambersburg--Cove
 Mountain--Macconnel’s Town--Sidelong-hill--The
 river Juniata--Bedford--The Allegany
 Ridge--Stoystown--Laurel-hill--Lauchlinstown--Chesnut
 Ridge--Greensburg--Adamsburg--Pittsburg--Interspersed remarks on the
 Country, Taverns, &c.--Notices of Emigrants, and occurrences by the
 way.


  _Pittsburg, 28th September._

The contents of this will be composed of notes taken on my journey from
Philadelphia to Pittsburg.[30]

On the morning of the 20th of September, I went to the Coach-Office in
Philadelphia to take my seat. Such is the number of travellers that I
found it necessary to take out a ticket two days previously.

The mail-coach is a large clumsy vehicle, carrying twelve passengers.
It is greatly encumbered by large bags, which are enormously swollen by
the bulk of newspapers. As a substitute for glass windows, a large roll
of leather is let down on each side in bad weather.

During the greater part of the day our route was through a part of the
country of a clayey soil, moderately fertile, and of a flat insipid
surface. Late in the afternoon, we passed some land of a finer mould,
and more elegant structure, with fruit trees bending under their load.
The Indian {42} corn is nearly ripe, and is a great crop this year.
The stalks are generally about eight feet high. The people have been
picking the leaves off this sort of crop, and setting them up between
the rows in conical bunches, to be preserved as winter food for the
cattle.

We passed several family waggons moving westward. The young and the
strong walking, the aged and infants riding. Waggons for removing
families, and those for carrying goods to Pittsburg, have a canvass
cover, stretched over hoops that pass from one side of the waggon to
the other, in the form of an arch. The front is left open, to give the
passengers within the vehicle the benefit of a free circulation of cool
air.

Lancaster is a large town, well known for the manufacture of
rifle-guns. We were too late in the evening for having a distinct sight
of the place, or of the country towards Elizabeth Town, which is much
commended.

_September 21._ The coach stopped at Elizabeth Town, last night, for
three hours, and started again before three o’clock. We were near
Middletown (eight miles on our way) before the light disclosed to our
eyes a pleasant and fertile country.

It was near Middletown that we got the first peep of the river
Susquehana, which is here about a mile in breadth. The trees on the
east bank, confining the view to the right and left, produced an
illusory effect, almost imposing on the mind a lake instead of the
river. The highly transparent state of the air, and the placid surface
of the water, united in producing a most distinct reflexion of the bold
banks on the opposite side. Cliffs, partially concealed by a luxuriant
growth of trees, sprung from the detritus below, and by smaller {43}
ones rooted in the rifted rocks. Over these a rising back ground is
laid out in cultivated fields. The eye is not soon tired of looking on
a scene so richly furnished, and so gay.

Harrisburg, the seat of legislature of Pennsylvania, is a small town
which stands on a low bottom by the river; a pleasant, but apparently
an unhealthy situation. Opposite to the town is a small island in the
river, connected with the eastern and western shores by very long
wooden bridges. The waters of the Susquehana are limpid, but shallow at
this place, and ill adapted to navigation, except in times of flood.

The country immediately west of the Susquehana is truly delightful.
The soil, whether occupied by the natural woods, orchards, or crops,
is covered with a profuse vegetation; and the superficial aspect
altogether agreeable. The best sort of houses are of limestone; they
shew nothing of fine taste or neat workmanship, but are far superior in
durability and appearance to the wooden erections so common here. Barns
are much larger, and frequently neater than the adjoining dwellings.

Towards Carlisle, the road passes through lands inferior to the lower
country, seen in the forenoon. The surface of limestone rocks, and
large detached blocks of the same mineral, interrupt the plough in the
field, and the wheeled carriage on the road.

Carlisle, though in a newly settled country, has an appearance somewhat
antiquated. With so much grass growing in the streets, a suspicion
arises that there is not much traffic here.

Shippensburg is a place more recently founded than the last, but has,
notwithstanding, contracted something like the rust of time. Wooden
{44} erections soon acquire a weather-beaten appearance. The subsidence
of log houses discloses chinks, shewing that they are well ventilated
in summer, but not the most comfortable lodgments for the winter.

At Chambersburg the coach halted during the night. The rough roads
already surmounted, and the report of worse still before us, determined
two of the passengers, besides myself, to walk, as an easier mode
of travelling over the mountains. Chambersburg is 143 miles from
Philadelphia, and 155 from Pittsburg; and lies in the intersection of
the roads from York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Several branches of
what has been very properly called the current of emigration, being
here united, strangers from the eastern country, and from Europe,
are passing in an unceasing train. An intelligent gentleman, at this
place, informed me, that this stream of emigration has flowed more
copiously this year, than at any former period; and that the people
now moving westward, are ten times more numerous than they were, ten
years ago. His computation is founded on the comparative amount of the
stage-coach business, and on careful observation. This astonishing
statement is, in some degree, countenanced by a late notice in a New
York newspaper, that stated the number of emigrants which arrived in
that port during the week, ending the 31st of August last, to be 2050.
The gentleman alluded to, says, that shades of character, sensibly
different from one another, are forming in the western States. He
represents the Kentuckians to be a high-toned people, who frequently
announce their country, as if afraid of being mistaken for inhabitants
of Ohio State; and the Ohians, as having less pride of country, being
less assuming in their {45} demeanour, but not less agreeable in
conversation, nor less punctual in business transactions. Were it not
for the intelligence of my penetrating informant, and for his great
intercourse with travellers, I would certainly not have remarked the
supposed distinction of these provincial characters. If the difference
really exists, it will be difficult to assign any moral cause that is
adequate; unless it be the keeping slaves in Kentucky, a species of
stock not permitted by the constitution of Ohio.

_September 22._ We found a waggoner who agreed to carry our travelling
necessaries to Pittsburg. For my portmanteau, weighing about fourteen
pounds, he charged three dollars, alleging the trouble that attends
putting small articles within doors every night. This is an instance
of one man measuring his demand by the urgent situation of another.
The jolting that waggons undergo in this rugged country, render it
indispensable that baggage be packed with the utmost care.

The two young gentlemen with whom I started, are Americans, good
walkers, and cheerful companions.

One mile to the north of Chambersburg the road ascends a steep hill of
slate clay, the first stratified substance that I have seen overlaying
the limestone. The soil on the summit is so excessively poor, that I am
surprised to see such ground cultivated in this country.

Several taverns by the road are log-houses constructed by laying
squared trees horizontally, in a quadrangular position, in a way
similar to that in which house-joiners pile up boards to be dried. As
the erection advances, the last laid or uppermost log is notched on the
upper side, near both ends, for the reception of the next cross pieces.
{46} The interstices are filled up with lime or clay, and the roofs are
of shingles, or thin boards. Frame houses consist of erect posts, set
in sills or horizontal foundation beams. Over the tops of the posts
other horizontal pieces are laid, forming the summit of the wall.
The outside of the posts are covered over with thin boards, ranged
horizontally, the upper one uniformly overlaying the edge of that
immediately under it. The inside is most commonly lined with lathing
and plaster, but the last piece of finery is frequently dispensed with.

Near Baker’s tavern, six miles from Chambersburg, the waggon wheels
have uncovered a fine slate clay, fit to be used as slate pencils. The
same kind of substance is to be seen in the adjoining stream.

Around Campbell’s Town, seven miles from Chambersburg, the land is
bleak, and apparently poor; to the north-west an extended high ridge
exposes to view a large tract of romantic wood scenery.

At thirteen miles from Chambersburg is Loudon, a few houses only, two
of them taverns, situated at the foot of the ridge just mentioned,
which is called the Cove Mountain. A new road is formed over it. The
ascent is winding and gradual, so that seven miles are occupied in
surmounting the formidable barrier. The darkness of the night, and
the great quantity of timber on both sides, rendered this part of
our journey very gloomy. Not a sound was to be heard but that of the
Catadid, a large green insect, whose note resembles its name, as nearly
as it can any articulate sound. Near the top of the hill stands a
miserable log tavern filled with _movers_, a name for settlers removing
to the western country. At the summit, we were accosted in the Irish
accent. The individual {47} told us that he was so much exhausted, that
he could not proceed farther, and that he had laid himself down among
the trees.[31]

At Macconnel’s Town, we knocked at the door of a tavern, heard a noise
within, which convinced us that the people were astir, but not willing
to hear us. On making louder applications, the landlord saluted us,
“_Who’s there?_” With some reluctance he let us in, grumbling at
the lateness of our arrival, it being ten minutes past ten o’clock.
He affected to be unwilling to let us have supper; but while he was
refusing, a female commenced cooking for us.

_September 23._ From beds which we last night saw on the floor of the
bar-room, a numerous group of Swiss emigrants had arisen. One of them,
an old man with a long beard, has a truly patriarchal appearance. The
females wear hats, and are of a hardy and masculine form.

About a mile from Macconnel’s Town, is the foot of another steep
ridge; a new road over it is nearly finished. Here we met with a
foot traveller, who told us that he had settled in Illinois, by the
Wabash, about fifty miles above Vincennes. The ground, he said, “is as
good as ever man set foot on.”[32] He had not heard of Mr. Birkbeck’s
settlement: this, together with his appearance, convinced us that he is
a hunter of the woods. He was on his way to remove his family from New
York state, a journey of 1400 miles.

Called at Noble’s tavern for breakfast. The hostess could not
accommodate us with it. She was in great bustle, having thirty highway
labourers {48} at board, had no bread baked, and politely expressed her
regret at being so circumstanced, but assured us, that, by going half a
mile forward to the next tavern, we would be attended to. Mr. Noble is
a member of the Pennsylvania Senate; the frank and obliging disposition
of his wife demands my acknowledgment.

At the next tavern the prediction of a breakfast was verified: it was
largely furnished, but not with the greatest dispatch.

The forenoon was hot, something like the greatest heat I have felt
in Scotland. The mornings and evenings were agreeably cool, the air
usually still, and the sky highly serene.

Sidelong-hill is a steep ascent. The waggon path is worn into a deep
rut or ravine, so that carriages cannot pass one another in some parts
of it. The first waggoner that gets into the track, blows a horn, to
warn others against meeting him in the narrow pass. The waggoners are
understood to be as friendly toward one another as seamen are, and that
cases are not wanting, where one has waited several days, assisting
another to refit his carriage.

On Sidelong-hill we came up with a singular party of travellers,--a
man with his wife and ten children. The eldest of the progeny had
the youngest tied on his back; and the father pushed a wheelbarrow,
containing the moveables of the family. They were removing from New
Jersey to the State of Ohio, a land journey of 340 miles to Pittsburg.
Abrupt edges of rocks, higher than the wheel, occasionally interrupt
the passage. Their humble carriage must be lifted over these. A little
farther onward we passed a young woman, carrying a sucking child in
her arms, and leading a very little one by the hand. It is impossible
to take particular notice {49} of all the travellers on the way. We
could scarcely look before or behind, without seeing some of them. The
Canterbury pilgrims were not so diversified nor so interesting as these.

Crossed the river Juniata by a wooden bridge, supported by two strong
chains, hung in the manner of a slack rope, over the tops of posts,
(one at each end,) about twenty feet higher than the road. The curve
formed by the chain passes low enough to come under, and support
several of the cross beams under the middle of the bridge. Other parts
of the bridge are supported by perpendicular ties, that pass, from
the roadway upward, to the chains. The Juniata runs here in a deep
chasm, between cliffs of slate clay; the bridge has consequently a
magical effect. The river is shallow, but at other seasons of the year
is navigable. The land is poor and parched, and is formed of steep,
irregular knolls.

Passed Bloody Run, a town of a very few houses, but with two taverns.
A romantic site in a low valley of the Juniata. The declining light of
the evening had softened the outline of the timber on the hills beyond
the river, so that the scene brought to my recollection the heaths of a
well known land.

Stopped for the night in a tolerably good tavern, two miles from Bloody
Run. The bar-room is nearly filled with people. On our being shewn to
a more retired apartment, I could see one person make a wry face, and
then smile to his acquaintance. It would seem that our being separated
from the large party, was not attended by the most pleasant sensations.

_September 24._ Last night we slept in a large room containing five
beds. It was proposed that one of these should hold two of us.
My companions went together, and I congratulated myself on {50}
monopolizing one of the beds,--but here I reckoned without mine host.
About midnight a man entered the room, groped all the beds, and finding
that I was alone, tumbled in beside me. Such is a common occurrence, I
am told, in this country, but it is the first time that I have met with
it. In the morning I discovered that my neighbour was a person of good
address, and respectable appearance.

After resuming our journey, we came up to a family rising from their
beds by the embers of a fire in the wood. The father fired off a rifle,
which it would seem he had kept in readiness for defence. There can
be no great objection to sleeping in the woods, in such fine weather.
From several heaps of ashes that we have seen by the sides of the road,
it is evident that the practice is common, even where taverns are
numerous. Emigrants carry their moveables in one horse carts, or two or
four horse waggons, as the quantity of goods may require. They carry
much of their provisions from Philadelphia, and other towns, and many
of them sleep in their own bed clothes, on the floors of bar-rooms
in the taverns. For this kind of lodging they usually pay twenty-five
cents a family.

The dollar is the integer of money in the United States, as universal
as the pound is in Britain. In the former country, cents or hundredth
parts of a dollar are the lowest fractional parts in use. Rating the
dollar at four shillings and sixpence sterling, the cent of America
is eight per cent, more than the halfpenny of Britain. The fractional
divisions of the dollar, are ¹⁄₂, ¹⁄₄, ¹⁄₈ and ¹⁄₁₆, or 50 cents, 25
cents, 12¹⁄₂ cents, and 6¹⁄₄ cents. Silver coins representing all
these quantities are in circulation. The peculiarity in the convenience
of quantities {51} derived from continual bisection, is known to all
who are acquainted with the theory of numbers.

It is impossible to say whether it is cheaper to travel with a family,
by purchasing a waggon and horses at Philadelphia, or by hiring one of
the waggons that pass regularly to Pittsburg. This depends on the price
paid for carriage at the particular time, and also on that to be paid
for waggon and horses at Philadelphia. In the one case, the waggoner is
paid for the weight of the goods, and for that of the persons who ride;
and in the other case, the waggon and horses may be expected to sell
at, or under, half the price paid for them at the sea-port. The great
number of family waggons now on the road, amounts to a presumption that
this mode of travelling is now thought to be the cheaper.

Crossed the Juniata once more. The bridge is a new stone erection of
bad workmanship. We are told that it fell down repeatedly. To insure
its standing, a step is left on the head of each abutment, on these the
wooden centres rest. They are not withdrawn, so that the beams must
give way, before it can be ascertained whether the effective arch is
of wood or of stone!!! The parapets have been coped with boards, but
the wind has uncovered one of the sides!!!

The steep banks are covered with trees. Oak, ash, hickory, chesnut, and
walnut, are the most prevalent species.

Bedford, the head town of the county of that name, is a considerable
place, with some neat brick and stone houses.

In our progress this forenoon we have seen much poor scorched land.
Indian corn is short and shrivelled; pasture bad, and the woods without
the strength they attain in a richer soil. Orchards {52} bear well; the
traveller may knock down the apples that overhang the road, and may
probably pass without complaint. Pear trees are scarce, if at all to
be seen. Probably they are subject to canker on this light dry soil.
Peaches are small. A farmer by the road side, offered us a few of the
latter sort of fruit, unasked. Ironstone is abundant, in one place the
new road is formed of it. In another, we saw prismatic pieces of nine
or ten inches square, and about four feet long. The prevailing strata
are of clay schist; the surface is hilly and broken.

In the afternoon, we found ourselves climbing a steep, without being
aware that it was the side of the Allegany ridge, not having previously
seen any eminence through the woods. The mountain is itself so much
enveloped in foliage, that we can only with the utmost difficulty have
a single peep of the lower country behind. The lower country, where
seen, has nearly all the sameness of the surface of the ocean. The
farthest visible ridge appears blue, and its outline looks as smooth as
if it were not covered by timber. We could not recognise a trace of our
way hither.

Met several waggons descending; they are obliged to move along in a
narrow track, on the very brink of a precipice. The road winds round a
point of the hill, and slants along the side of a tremendous ravine,
that, as it were, cleaves the eastern side of the ridge in two parts.
The trees render it almost impossible to see across the chasm. The
scenery is naturally romantic, but not yet exposed to the eye of the
admiring traveller.

The large timber on the summit indicates a degree of fertility not
usual on hill tops; and far surpassing that of the country near the
south east foot of the mountain. The cleared ground by a {53} tavern
on the height is good. The top of this range of mountains is a table
land, swelled with irregularities, and in some parts strewed with large
detached blocks of sandstone; the same kind of mineral of which the
horizontal strata of the mountain is composed. Were it not for the
recollection of the steep ascended, we should never have surmised that
we were here on the “spine of the United States.”

Met with two young men going eastward. One of my companions saluted
them, “_You are going the wrong way_.” “_No_,” replied one of the
others, “_You are going the wrong way_. _I have been at Pittsburg and
in the State of Ohio_, and I declare _it is the most detestable country
in the world_.”

Stotler’s tavern was full of people; we had no sooner entered the door
than we were in a crowd. We could not remain for the night.

We set out for the next tavern, and at dusk came into a track so wet
and miry, that it would be considered impassable in some parts of
the world. We groped our way along the side of it, over logs, and
occasionally through the wood, to avoid the horrid bog. Two young men
of the neighbourhood came forward, told us that we had just entered
upon the worst part of the road, and, as they were going in the same
direction, offered to conduct us.

The next tavern was one where whisky is sold, but the occupiers of
it could not be troubled with lodging travellers. They told us that
there is another tavern a mile forward. The road still bad; but as our
conductors were going farther, we accompanied them.

The other tavern was so completely thronged with movers, that a
multitude of them had taken up their lodgings in a barn. We were
permitted {54} to stop, on condition of all three sleeping in one bed,
which was said to be a large and a good one. Two-thirds of the bar-room
floor was covered by the beds of weary travellers, lying closely
side by side, and the remaining part occupied by people engaged in
drinking, and noisy conversation. The room in which supper was taken,
was too small to admit any large proportion of the company at once,
of consequence we had to wait the alternation of a supper party and a
cooking, before we got to the table.

This accumulation of travellers is chiefly occasioned by people in
the eastern States having reaped and disposed of their crops at this
season, and on that account finding it a convenient time for removing
to the western country.

_September 25._ At half past five all were in bustle, preparing for
the road: Some settling bill with the hostess, others waiting to
settle: Some round a long wooden trough at the pump, washing, or
drying themselves with their pocket-handkerchiefs: Some Americans
drinking their morning’s bitters, (spirits with rue, wormwood, or other
vegetable infusion:) Some women catching children who had escaped
naked from bed, others packing up bed clothes, or putting them into
waggons: Waggoners harnessing their horses, &c.

The little piece of ground cleared here is very rich, the best pasture
I have seen in America; but the winter in this high region must be
severe.

Two miles onward there are fine fields and orchards. The interval land
is meadow. No Indian corn is to be seen. By the road side, what miners
call the vise of a bed of coal is perceptible.

Stoystown is delightfully situated on the north bank of a deep
vale.[33] The neighbouring grounds are but recently cleared. If we may
judge from {55} the appearance of the houses, tavern-keepers are the
principal men of the place; one of these is dubbed Major.

The land on this side of the Allegany ridge is much better than
immediately on the eastern side of it. At present travellers and horses
consume a great part of the produce, but as cultivation proceeds, the
distance from market must become more sensibly felt.

The ridge, Laurel Hill, is about seven miles broad from one side of the
base to the other. We observed a rattlesnake that had been recently
killed on the road; it was about three and a half feet long, and about
an inch and a half in diameter. The people say, that only two species
of serpents are poisonous here; but there are probably more, as no less
than thirty species have been enumerated in the United States.

Laurel Hill being broad, and considerably steep, must be of prominent
height. Of its elevation relatively to the Allegany ridge, I could not
even venture an opinion. To be continually enveloped in woods, without
seeing to any great distance, must be a condition disagreeable to the
inquisitive traveller, and to the geologist.

We lodged at Lauchlin’s Town;[34] near this place is a small furnace.
Malleable iron is sold at ten cents a-pound.

_September 26._ On this day there was a heavy shower of rain, the
first since our leaving Philadelphia. Passed Chesnut ridge, near
Somerset.[35] At a tavern here, some men were drinking and swearing
most hideously. It is much to be regretted that this vice is so
prevalent in a country where so many other things are to be commended.

Greensburg, the county town of Westmoreland, is a considerable place,
built on rising ground. {56} Here, and westward of this place, the land
is fine, but hilly. Stopped at Adamsburg, six miles from Greensburg.

_September 28._ Yesterday my companions set out for Pittsburg.
These young gentlemen have conducted themselves in the style which
distinguishes the well-bred from the uncultivated and obtrusive man.
They put no such questions as, “Where are you going?--What are you to
do there?” &c. so common in this land of liberty. Of my companions I
only knew their names, the States they came from, and that they are
going to the western country.

Yesterday morning the hoar-frost was faintly visible on the newly mown
grass, the first that has been observed this season. No danger is now
to be apprehended from the cold, as Indian corn, (the latest of the
crops,) is ripe. The woods and orchards have their young shoots well
matured, and will soon be coloured with their autumnal tinge.

A majority of the people in the neighbourhood of Adamsburg are
Germans, or their descendants. Although most of them can speak in
English, their conversation with one another is in German, and a
clergyman in the neighbourhood preaches in that language.

Resumed my journey; called at L--r’s tavern, eleven miles from
Greensburg. The hostess, after promising to give me breakfast, shewed
me into a front room. After waiting about twenty-five minutes, two
ladies on horseback, apparently turned of forty, alighted before the
window; the hostess ran forward, embraced and kissed them. Her salute
was the loudest articulation of the kind that I have heard. She came
into the room, and told {57} me, she had got so much engaged, that she
could not be troubled with my breakfast, and that there is a tavern
only half a mile forward where I would be attended to. The good lady
will be freed from every imputation of unkindness, since I have related
how cordially she welcomed her female friends who engrossed all her
attention.

Met with a man who asked me if I knew of “any traveller who would
rest himself and thrash for a few days?” To-day I begin to find the
estimate formed of foot travellers in this country of equality. It is
an undoubted truth that the rider is two steps higher than the footman.

Saw a drove of large cattle on their way from the State of Ohio for
Philadelphia. Their condition is good, the length of the journey taken
into consideration. In size and even fat, they are much superior to the
Pennsylvanian stock by the sides of the road. Indeed, it is somewhat
surprising to see such bad cattle on the rich lands of this State. The
causes merit the strictest inquiry.

Every where the wheat stubble is so much overgrown with annual weeds,
that the verdure at a distance is apt to be mistaken for pasture.
This growth is occasioned by the long course of hot weather, which
succeeds an early harvest. It would be advantageous if clover, or some
other useful herbage, were sown amongst the crops, that the farmer
might not only avail himself of the propensity to vegetation, but check
the dissemination of weeds so hurtful to adjoining fields, and to the
succeeding pasture.

The potato crops are better than those I have seen on the coast, the
plants are more vigorous, and the tubers much larger.

Land partly cleared, and with some rude buildings {58} thereon, sells
at from twenty to forty dollars an acre.

The new road from Philadelphia to Pittsburg is now in an advanced stage
of progress.[36] Much of it is finished, and corresponding parts of
the old track abandoned. Probably, by two years hence, the traveller
will have a turnpike from the one city to the other. The improvement
is important, but it is not one that deserves unqualified praise. In
multitudes of cases, it passes through hollows, and over eminences,
without regard to that minimum of declivity, which in a great measure
constitutes the value of a road. In some cases, the vertical curve,
formed by passing over rising grounds, is so long, that, applied
laterally, the eminence surmounted, would have been altogether avoided.
The road from Baltimore to Wheeling, now constructing at the expense
of the government, is understood to be more judiciously laid off. Its
competition must, ere long, give the proprietors of the Philadelphia
line, an instructive lesson on the economical application of labour.

Produce, in the higher parts of Pennsylvania, may be stated at the
rates of from twenty to twenty-five bushels of wheat, and from
twenty-five to thirty bushels of Indian corn, per acre. These
quantities are raised under slovenly management, and without
much labour. A farmer expressed his contentment under existing
circumstances; a dollar a bushel for wheat (he said) is a fair price,
where the farmer pays neither rent nor taxes to the government. His
farm, for example, pays four or five dollars a-year, for the support of
the state and county officers.

Labourers receive a dollar per day, and can find board for two dollars
a-week. Mechanics, in {59} most cases, earn more. Where health is
enjoyed, in this place, poverty bespeaks indolence, or want of economy.

Arrived at Pittsburg, after a pleasant journey, with almost
uninterrupted good weather. Some observations on this place will be the
subject of my next letter.


FOOTNOTES:

[29] For notes on the following places mentioned in this chapter,
see Post’s _Journals_, volume i of our series: Harrisburg, note 73;
Carlisle, note 75; Shippensburg, note 76; Loudon, note 78; Bedford,
note 81. F. A. Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our series:
Greensburg, note 16. Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series:
Elizabethtown, note 7; Middletown, note 9; Chambersburg, note 16;
Bloody Run, note 18.--ED.

[30] Flint’s route to Pittsburg was by way of the new Lancaster
pike--the first macadamized American road--and onward over the central
Pennsylvania route through Bedford, Ligonier, and Greensburg. Much
ado was made over the opening of the Cumberland Road across the
Alleghenies; but until the building of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway
to Cumberland, Maryland, in 1845, the central Pennsylvania route
seems to have been the popular one from Washington and Philadelphia
to Pittsburg. John Melish’s map in Morris Birkbeck, _Letters from
Illinois_ (Philadelphia, 1818), does not give the Cumberland Road,
although it outlines the old Northwestern turnpike from Cumberland
to Parkersburg, West Virginia. Almost all English travelers passed
westward over the Pennsylvania Road, which was two hundred and
ninety-four miles in length, according to Melish, _Traveller’s
Directory_, p. 69.--ED.

[31] The evening was warm, and, (not to exaggerate the difficulty
of removing him to the next town,) we judged that he was in no
danger.--FLINT.

[32] This was the well-known settlement established in 1818 by
the English philanthropists Morris Birkbeck and George Flower, at
Wanborough and Albion, in southeastern Illinois, within the present
Edwards County. For a full account of these settlements, see volume x
of our series.--ED.

[33] Colonel Bouquet constructed a fort at the present site of
Stoystown in 1758, and a small force was stationed there until
Pontiac’s War. The name Stoystown came from the patronymic of a
Revolutionary soldier who laid out the town. It is situated on Stony
Creek, ten miles from Somerset.--ED.

[34] Laughlin Town is about five miles south-east of Loudon.--ED.

[35] Somerset, situated near the centre of Somerset County, was first
settled by a party of frontiersmen about 1765. Laid out by a settler
named Bruner about twenty years later, it was for some time called
Brunerstown.--ED.

[36] This route was locally known as the Chambersburg and Pittsburg
turnpike, at either end being called by its opposite terminus. It
was built in general alignment with Forbes’s Road, cut along the old
trading-path through the forests in 1758. See Post’s _Journals_, volume
i of our series, p. 242.--ED.




LETTER V

 Pittsburg--Situation--Manufactures--Occurrences--People


In this letter I shall not confine myself to a description of the city
of Pittsburg. Occurrences and remarks, with, or without dates, will be
promiscuously introduced. This method may not be after the manner of
regular epistolary writing; but to me it is the easiest way, and it
may have the advantage of shewing you how a great part of my time is
occupied.

Pittsburg stands on the point of land formed by the confluence of the
rivers Allegany and Monongahela. The flat ground on which the greater
part of the buildings stand, is upwards of thirty feet above the level
of the rivers at low water. Part of the land adjoining to the Allegany
is only about twenty feet high, and liable to occasional inundations.
The Allegany here runs south-west by west, and the Monongahela nearly
due west, as does the Ohio in continuation. This, together {60} with
the Monongahela being broader than the Allegany, gives to the former
the appearance of being the principal river, and to the latter the
character of a tributary stream. The Monongahela is muddy and sluggish
opposite to the town; and though about 400 yards broad there, probably
furnishes much less water to the Ohio than does the Allegany, which is
only about half the width, but has a brisk current. The Allegany and
the Monongahela have been described as being each about the size of the
Tay; but the latter river is much inferior to either in magnitude; and
the comparison must have been influenced by the Tay’s being the fittest
river with which to compare it in Britain, and not by its actual parity
with either.

Between the rivers, there is a ridge of about 300 feet high, which
terminates with a gentle slope in the most inland part of the town.
This is the hill that a florid exaggerator has described as a solid
mass of coal. The description was unnecessary, as the coal field
in which the hills of Pittsburg lie, may be considered as the most
extensive that are known, although the only bed here is no more than
four and a half feet thick. The strata being horizontal, and the
out-burst of the coal about the middle-steep of the hill, it is not
necessary to make shafts, as it is level free, and may be quarried and
carried out in wheel barrows, like road-metal.

The hill on the west side of the Monongahela, is a craggy steep,
almost close to the river. It is covered with trees to the summit, and
tends, more than any other object, to give to Pittsburg a picturesque
appearance.

On the north-west side of the Allegany lies a beautiful plain, the
site of the new town Allegany.[37] Beyond the plain lies another ridge
corresponding {61} in elevation, and having a continuation of the same
strata that compose the two heights formerly noticed. Thus Pittsburg is
almost surrounded by high wooded grounds.

The heavy showers of rain that occasionally fall in this country, form
a great objection to the cultivation of steep lands. The torrents sweep
away much of the loose soil, cut deep ruts, and carry down slate-clay,
and spread it on the foot slopes, and on the flat grounds below.

The following enumeration of the manufacturing people of Pittsburg was
made last year. It gives some view of the nature and extent of the
business carried on.

                                           Hands
            Employers                     Employed

        1 Augur Maker                        6
        1 Bellows Maker                      3
       18 Blacksmiths                       74
        3 Brewers                           17
        3 Brush Makers                       7
        1 Button Maker                       6
        2 Cotton Spinners                   36
        7 Cabinet-Makers                    43
       11 Copper and Tin Smiths            100
        1 Currier                            4
        2 Cutlers                            6
        4 Iron Founders                     87
        3 Gun Smiths                        14
        2 Flint Glass Manufactories         82
        3 Green ditto    ditto              92
        2 Hardware Manufactories            17
        7 Hatters                           49
        1 Locksmith                          7
        1 Linen Manufactory                 20
        1 Nail     ditto                    47
        1 Paper Maker                       40
  {62}  1 Pattern Maker                      2
        3 Plane Makers                       6
        1 Potter (fine ware)                 5
        1 Rope Maker                         8
        1 Spinning Machine Maker             6
        1 Spanish Brown Manufactory          2
        1 Silver Plater                     40
        2 Steam-Engine Makers               70
        2 Steam Grist Mills                 10
        6 Saddlers                          60
        5 Silversmiths and Watch Repairers  17
       14 Shoe and Boot Makers             109
        7 Tanners and Curriers              47
        4 Tallow Chandlers                   7
        4 Tobacconists                      23
        2 Weavers                            9
        3 Windsor Chair Makers              23
        2 Woolen Manufactories              30
        1 Wire Drawer                       12
        1 White Lead Factory                 6
                                          ----
                                    Total 1280

Besides the above, it is surmised that there are three hundred and
fifty-seven manufacturing people, of which no estimate has been
furnished by the conductors. There is, besides, a chemical manufactory,
in which ammonia, copperas, lamp black, ivory black, and various
acids, are prepared.

Formerly large ships were built at Pittsburg, which sailed down the
river during floods: large keel boats, capable of either ascending or
descending the river.[38] Square arks, family boats, and small skiffs,
are built in great numbers. A steam-boat of 330 tons burden, for the
navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio, is nearly completed.

The conveyance of goods from Philadelphia {63} and Baltimore, together
with their warehousing and boating, produces much business here. In
the year 1813, no less than 4055 waggons, engaged in this trade, were
calculated to have passed the road. The number employed now must be
considerably increased.

Pittsburg also derives much advantage from its being the thoroughfare
of settlers for the western country. Here they sell their horses and
waggons; here they often remain waiting for a rise of water. Here also
they purchase boats, and lay in a stock of provisions for their passage
down the river.

The waters of the Ohio are now lower than they have been for many years
past. Merchants with their goods, and families with their baggage, find
it impossible to get downward. Some whose moveables are light, are
making the attempt. Many emigrants are proceeding with their waggons by
land. Where the distance does not exceed three or four hundred miles,
this will, at present, be found the more economical and expeditious
mode of travelling.

_September 30._ Emigrants continue to flock westward. To-day the
numerous inmates and followers of three large waggons arrived in a
body. It is truly interesting to see people of different countries,
and of different costumes, coming forward in the mail-coach, on
horseback, and on foot. At first view, this great migration leads to
the conclusion, that oppression, and the fear of want, are in extensive
operation somewhere to the eastward.

_October 4. (Sunday.)_ This afternoon three fights have taken place
in Bayardstown, a small appendage of Pittsburg.[39] These originated
from private quarrels in taverns. The combatants sallied from {64} them
to the street, where the battles were fought in the presence of the
passengers. There are five taverns in this place; of course only two
of them have escaped being scenes of action. This is not in perfect
agreement with the character of sobriety, absence of dissipation and
gross vices, that a late describer of Pittsburg has given of its
people.[40]

_October 9._ The people are in great ferment about the ensuing
election. Newspapers teem with the most virulent abuse; and one of the
candidates for Congress has fought with a lawyer in town. It would be
useless to inquire after particulars, as facts are always differently
represented by opposite parties.

A farmer, who lives at the distance of a few miles from this place,
told me that he is a native of Ireland, and that he had not fifty
dollars in the world, fifteen years ago; now, he would not take 4000
dollars for his property. He commenced alone, and has not followed any
other occupation than the cultivation of his farm, and the sale of
its produce. However strange this may appear in Europe, an individual
farming in the new settlements of America, is an occurrence too common
to excite wonder.

_October 13._ To-day the inhabitants of Pennsylvania elect their
Representatives in Congress, Members of the State Assembly, and County
Officers. I have gone repeatedly to the court-house of Pittsburg,
to see the popular proceedings. The citizens wrap up the names of
the candidates they recommend in a small slip of paper, which they
hand through the open pane of a window to the inspector, an officer
previously appointed for {65} counting the tickets. This way of
balloting, places the poor man beyond the control of his superior
or creditor. I have seen no riot or confusion. Populous cities, in
America, are divided into wards, where separate elections are held at
the same time; a salutary precaution, that prevents the assembling of
great crowds.

The shortness of my stay, and my limited acquaintance with the people,
do not allow me to say much of their character. A considerable degree
of industry is manifested by the bustle that pervades the town. This
virtue, however, does not prevail to the extinction of dissipation.
Swearing is certainly the most conspicuous vice. Some affirm that a
class of people, whom they denominate low Irish, are the most immoral
of the population. It gives no pleasure, to hear such a reflection
on the peasantry of a country, distinguished by the hospitality,
generosity, and bravery, of its people. In justice to humanity, it is
necessary to bear in mind, that they have not enjoyed the means of a
good education in their native country; and it is proper to mention,
that there are natives of Ireland here, who have risen to opulence, and
deserved eminence in society. The recollection of several of these,
and other worthy citizens of Pittsburg, will always be accompanied with
sentiments of my esteem.

The weather continuing clear, and without the least prospect of a
flood, I have procured a skiff, and determined on proceeding down the
river. The skiff is 15¹⁄₂ feet long, 3¹⁄₂ wide across the gunwale,
and 14 inches deep. This is supposed to be sufficiently large for
carrying myself and baggage, (about 800 lbs.) The sides are composed
of two boards of pine, three quarters of an inch thick; the bottom
flat, and of the same material. It is a light, {66} and certainly
not a strong bark. My other equipments are, a copy of the Pittsburg
Navigator, (a book recommended as useful, in pointing out the proper
course for avoiding bars, and the points where rapids are to be
entered;)[41] small quantities of bread, cheese, and dried deer; a
small flask with spirits; and a tinned cup, to be used both in drinking
water from the river, and in casting out bilge water. Over the after
part of the skiff three hoops are fixed, in the form of an arch. A
sheet stretched over these, will form a canopy under which I may sleep,
by the margin of the river.


FOOTNOTES:

[37] The Pennsylvania legislature, having purchased from the Indians
the land north and west of the Allegheny River, in 1789 ordered a
tract opposite Pittsburg to be laid off in lots and sold to satisfy
the claims of the state troops. Allegheny City, thus established, by
its proximity to Pittsburg shared in the rapid growth of the latter,
becoming a borough in 1828 and a city in 1840.--ED.

[38] The building of keel-boats, barges, and later brigs and schooners,
had been one of the foremost occupations of Pittsburg since 1790.
Seaworthy ships were here launched and floated to New Orleans, whence
they sailed to foreign as well as domestic ports. See Harris’s
_Journal_, volume iii of our series, pp. 349, 353. Steamboat building
was begun here by agents of Fulton, seven years previous to Flint’s
arrival.--ED.

[39] Stephen Bayard, a colonel in the Revolutionary army, later a
merchant in Pittsburg, bought from the Penns, when the town was laid
out (1784), thirty-two lots on the present Penn and Liberty streets; a
district known for many years as Bayardstown.--ED.

[40] An American writer.--FLINT.

[41] For the Pittsburg _Navigator_, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of
our series, note 43.--ED.




LETTER VI

 Descend the Ohio from Pittsburg to Beaver--Occurrences and remarks
 there


  _Atkinson’s Tavern, by Beaver,
  28th October, 1818._

As a great part of my notes since I last wrote, relate to rapids, bars,
islands, &c. I shall omit the description of many of them, as being
altogether uninteresting.

On the 14th of October, I embarked on the Monongahela, about half a
mile above its junction with the Allegany. A gentleman to whom I had
been introduced, very kindly assisted me in arranging my lading, and
rowed me down to the lower point of the town.

The Allegany being a clear, and the Monongahela {67} a turbid river,
their compound, the Ohio, as might be expected, is of the intermediate
character. The mud, that covers the gravel at the height of three
or four feet above the present level of the water, shows, that a
very slight rising of the river carries much soil along with it.
One of the earliest writers who gives a detail of the beauties of
this river, states, that the bottom, and even fishes, may be seen in
several fathoms of water. During the present dry season, the bottom is
indistinctly visible at the depth of five or six feet. The water, when
taken up in a bright tinned vessel, appears to be perfectly limpid; but
after standing in it for an hour, a very small sediment is deposited.
From the experience of boatmen, and others who drink this water, it is
understood to be healthful.

To me this was a novel method of travelling. Steep ridges of hills
on both sides of the river, about 300 feet above the surface of the
water, and these covered with a profusion of timber, now clothed in all
the variegated hues of autumn, form an avenue of the most magnificent
description. For nearly the length of six miles, the surface of the
water has all the smoothness of a mill-pond, which gave an additional
effect to the scenery, but which imposed on me the labour of rowing
incessantly. My boat, besides being without rudder, or even that short
piece of keel in the after-part which is so essential in moving forward
in a straight line, went on in a zig-zag direction, occasioning much
trouble, and promising no great degree of safety on my coming into
quick running water.

At a rapid, six miles from Pittsburg, a boat has recently been stove. I
saw the people on shore drying their goods. In this same rapid, my ill
sailing bark put about broadside to the current. On reaching the lower
extremity of the declivity, {68} my situation was rather alarming. Here
the violence of the current being opposed by deeper and more placid
water, produces a sort of heaving motion. The sidelong motion over this
swelling surface, was much aggravated by a top-heavy load. Travellers
are fortunate when they arrive early in the season, as the stream at
that period propels a boat much quicker than the most laborious rowing
can do now.

After having passed several rapids, which are commonly called ripples
in this country, I attempted to land for the night, on the head of Dead
Man’s Island, a low bar covered with small willows, but found the water
to be so shallow that I could not approach the dry ground, and that
with a short rope, I could not effect a mooring to any log, bush, or
fixed object. The possibility of an unforeseen rise of water in such a
long river caused me to determine not to sleep aground, without being
securely fastened. It was now nearly dark, and I judged it impossible
to cross to the opposite shore to find a mooring, as the roaring of the
Dead Man’s Ripple, (a furious rapid, between the island and the right
hand shore,) convinced me that I was already almost within its draught.
The only alternative which remained, was to push into the principal
stream. I adopted it, and was soon carried through an impetuous winding
channel, where I could perceive large dark-coloured masses, supposed to
be rocks, above water, at small distances on each side.

_October 15._ Last night I put ashore about half a mile below the Dead
Man’s Ripple. The margin was of a convenient depth, admitting my lying
aground, to avoid the danger of my leaky bark’s sinking in the night.
Having made it fast to a log, and piled up my boxes toward the prow,
and spread three pieces of board over the seats behind for a {69} bed,
I covered the three hoops with a sheet for a canopy, laid down my
portmanteau for a pillow, and wrapping myself in a blanket, I went to
rest.

As I neither saw any light, nor heard the voice of a human being, I
imagined that I was far from the neighbourhood of any house. The only
sounds that saluted my ear, arose from bells attached to cows in the
woods, and from the breakers produced by the Ripple. The sheet which
served me for a roof, was not long enough to reach the sides of the
boat, a cold wind that blew down the river, passed in a constant
current through my lodgment, and for a considerable time prevented
me from sleeping. About midnight I heard the noise of footsteps
approaching me on the gravel, and looked out to see what my visitor
might be: a faint glimmering of moonlight enabled me to discover the
white face of a young cow that had come down to drink.

It would be imprudent to sleep ashore and leave goods in a boat on the
river, boatmen being much blamed for stealing.

I put off about seven o’clock in the morning. A continuation of the
same ridges of hills, and the same woods, bounded the view on both
sides of the river. The bottom land is narrow, and the parts which have
been cleared are chiefly covered with crops of Indian corn. Bottom
land is of two sorts; the lower by the margin of the river; and the
higher by the foot of the ridge. The lower bottoms are about twenty
feet higher than the surface of low water; but as the trees on the
beach are peeled by ice and drifted wood, to the height of four or five
feet above the level of the ground, occasioned by floods; it follows
that the lower bottoms are subject to inundation, and that their height
must be increased {70} by the earth deposited from every high rising
of the waters. Nothing, in the present state of things, seems to offer
a solution of the formation of the higher bottoms, which are here
about twenty feet higher than the lower ones, and appear to be equally
flat, and forming plains parallel to them. I shall hereafter be very
attentive to facts with regard to this anomaly.

About six hundred yards above the mouth of Big Beaver Creek, my skiff
ran upon the top of a large mass of stone under water, which the
ripplings occasioned by a slight breeze of wind, prevented me from
seeing. In attempting to push her off, she upset, so as to admit a gush
of water all along the lower side. The hoops over her after part, not
allowing me to leap directly upon the stone, I plunged into the water
and mounted the stone just in time to catch the bark by the after part,
and prevent it from being carried down by the stream. By a considerable
exertion, I succeeded in keeping the after end close to the stone,
while the fore part sunk obliquely to a great depth in the water. Here
the cargo must unavoidably have slipped into the bottom of the river,
except for a large box, that wedged itself into the narrow forepart of
the boat, and the others, resting on it, were kept in their places.
Two black men came in a skiff to my relief. They took me in, and rowed
toward the shore, while I still retained my hold of the wreck, and
succeeded in getting it safely moored. This interruption happened
exactly before the door of a tavern, where I was accommodated with
board, and the means of having my baggage dried.

_Afternoon._ While exposing my books to the wind, a respectable looking
man, apparently a farmer, entered into conversation with me. His
inquiries {71} respecting the scientific and literary personages of
Edinburgh, and his acquaintance with the poetry and provincial dialect
of Scotland, were more minute than I could have expected in this part
of the world.

_October 16._ I have discovered that my skiff is too weak for carrying
any considerable weight. It is so much strained, that many of the nails
have their heads drawn half an inch out of the timber, and others much
more. The misfortune of the 15th, has probably saved me from a worse
one. The system of boat building at Pittsburg cannot be too strongly
reprobated. Defects in caulking, in the number, and in the strength of
the nails, were in the case of my boat, disgraceful[42]

_October 19._ A farmer, in removing Indian corn from an island to his
residence, had his flat sunk, and much of the cargo lost, within a few
yards of the point where I stopped short. I am resolved on procuring
a better skiff, and waiting a few days in hopes of a rise of water.
Floods at or before this season of the year, are considered annual
occurrences. The oldest residents recollect of only one year in which
there was no autumnal rise of the Ohio.

_October 20._ The mornings and evenings are now cool, usually about
34° of Fahrenheit’s scale. To-day, at two o’clock P.M. the temperature
of the sun’s rays was 90°. Thick fogs continue over the river in the
mornings, till eight or nine o’clock. These are no doubt occasioned by
the water being hotter than the air. The radiant heat passing upward,
necessarily carries humidity with it, which is immediately condensed,
and rendered visible by the colder air. Whenever the heat of the air is
of a temperature equal to that of the water, the phenomenon disappears.
The same principle may be {72} very plausibly applied, in explaining
the autumnal risings of the Ohio. The great and long continued heats of
summer in this country, render the air capable of accumulating a great
quantity of moisture. It is not till the sun recedes considerably to
the southward, and till a great portion of the atmosphere is cooled,
that rains are precipitated over any great extent of the country. The
Allegany mountains, and other high parts, are soonest cooled, and
first produce a deposition of rain. Hence autumnal floods occur, which
proceed from the higher country alone, without corresponding risings in
the lower tributaries of the Ohio. In seasons when the heat continues
long, the flood occurs late. With such hot days as we now enjoy, a
rising in the river is not to be expected.

_26th._ Went up Beaver Creek.[43] This is a large stream, with a rapid
descent over a sandstone bottom. Within three miles of its mouth
there are three saw-mills, a grist-mill, an iron furnace and forge, a
fulling-mill, a carding-mill, and a mill for bruising flax-seed. At the
iron furnace, cast goods are fabricated, the coarsest that I have ever
seen. Coal is abundant, but not used in reducing the ores.

It has been suggested, that a navigation connecting Cayahogo, on Lake
Erie, with Alexandria on the Potomak, should pass through Big Beaver
Creek;[44] but it appears altogether improper that such a communication
should descend so low as the mouth of this creek, thereby incurring
the ascent of the Ohio to Pittsburg, and the Monongahela to the bases
of the Allegany ridge. The longer route to New York seems to be vastly
preferable, and, as it is now in progress, it must supersede the
Pennsylvanian line.

I saw some people thrashing buck wheat: they had dug a hollow in the
field, about twenty feet in {73} diameter, and six or eight inches
in depth. In this the grain was thrashed by the flail, and the straw
thrown aside to rot in the field. The wheat is cleared of the chaff by
two persons fanning it with a sheet, while a third lets it fall before
the wind.

Indian corn is separated from the husks or leaves that cover the ear,
by the hands. In the evenings neighbours convene for this purpose.
Apples are also pared for preservation in a similar way. These are
commonly convivial meetings, and are well attended by young people of
both sexes.

A respectable English family put ashore with a leaky boat, almost in
the act of sinking. They had run foul of a log in a ripple. The craft,
called family boats, are square arks, nine or ten feet wide, and
varying in length as occasion may require. They are roofed all over,
except a small portion of the fore part, where two persons row. At the
back end, a person steers with an oar, protruded through a hole, and
a small fire-place is built of brick. Such boats are so formed as to
carry all the necessaries of new settlers. The plough, and the body of
the waggon, are frequently to be seen lying on the roof; and the wheels
hung over the sides. The bottom is made of strong plank, not liable to
be stove in, except where the water is in rapid motion; and the whole
fabric is exempt from the danger of upsetting, except in violent gales
of wind. Family boats cost from thirty to fifty dollars at Pittsburg.
A great proportion of the families to be seen, are from the northern
parts of New York, and Pennsylvania, also from the state Vermont, and
other parts. They have descended the Allegany, a river that I have not
hitherto mentioned as a thoroughfare of travellers.[45]

The gentleman mentioned in a former paragraph, is Brigadier General
L----k,[46] who {74} is at present a member of the Senate of the United
States. I have had several accidental interviews with him, and find
that he is acquainted with the late works of imagination and taste
published in Edinburgh, down to the Second Series of the Tales of My
Landlord.[47]

_October 28._ Settlers continue to be much retarded in getting down
the river. Head winds oblige them to put ashore sometimes for a whole
day. Families for the eastern parts of Ohio State, are proceeding by
the road. The father may be seen driving the waggon; and the women and
children bringing up two or three cows in the rear. They carry their
provisions along with them, and wrap themselves in blankets, and sleep
on the floors of taverns. The hostess here does not charge any thing
for this sort of entertainment.

Travelling by land at this season is, for various reasons, economical.
Families by this means avoid delay and expense at Pittsburg; they are
not obliged to sell their waggons and horses at an under value there;
but take them along, as a necessary stock for their farms; and they
are not put to the expense of a boat, which would be ultimately sold
for a mere trifle, or left to rot by the water side. Besides, their
rate of travelling is now more speedy than by water. Those who go
below Wheeling will have a farther advantage, as the distance from
Pittsburg to that place is 38 miles shorter than by the river. The
waggons and horses must also be of immediate use to those, who settle
at a distance from navigable waters. It is impossible to state the
distance to which horses and waggons should be carried from Pittsburg;
this wholly depends on the state of the river, the quantity of goods
to be transported, the price of freight, (if paying passage instead of
purchasing a boat is contemplated,) the {75} price of a boat, and the
certain loss on selling horses and waggons at Pittsburg. Strangers will
do well to make strict inquiries, and the most careful calculations, of
the expense of both modes of travelling, previous to the adoption of
either of them.

After examining the advantage of the different ways of travelling, it
will be but an ordinary exercise of candour to state wherein I have
erred myself.--I purchased a skiff, too small and too weak for my
purpose, and I ought not to have undertaken the passage without taking
some person along with me, who would have been continually on the
outlook for stones or logs under water, and who occasionally would
have steered my bark. Being obliged to sit on a low seat with my back
forward, I was most unfavourably placed for observing obstacles in the
way, and, on approaching rapids, I was usually in the very draught of
them, before I could discern the proper channel.

The weather has of late been cold during the night, and the season is
so far advanced that I cannot calculate on sleeping hereafter in an
open boat. To enable me to put my baggage ashore every night, I have
procured smaller boxes, to supersede the use of larger ones. Travellers
in this country ought not to adopt large boxes, which are the most
liable to injury, from the jolting of waggons, and are comparatively
unmanageable on every occasion. Eighty or a hundred pounds, are enough
for each parcel.

There is not the least appearance of a rise on the river. I have
exchanged my pine skiff for a larger and a stronger oak one, and have
determined on getting once more upon the water.

During my stay here, I have had the satisfaction of living with a
polite and respectable family, which has treated me with the utmost
civility; {76} their integrity is beyond suspicion.--If I had
entertained any doubt on that head, the very repacking of my baggage
would at once have removed it.--My inventory is complete, not a single
article is wanting.


FOOTNOTES:

[42] Had Flint read his _Navigator_ carefully, he would have found
specific warnings on the subject of defective boats; these were on
every occasion palmed off on the uninitiated by Pittsburg sharpers.--ED.

[43] For the early history of Beaver Creek, see Croghan’s _Journals_,
volume i of our series, note 93.--ED.

[44] It was Washington’s favorite plan to unite the waters of the
Potomac and Ohio, and in turn, those of the Ohio and Lake Erie, by
means of canals. The Beaver River was always one of the possible links
in this chain of inland communication between the Great Lakes and
tidewater. As Flint observes, the Erie Canal (completed in 1825) was
the most feasible, and eventually the only successful, undertaking to
join the sea and the lakes.--ED.

[45] The Allegheny route was the common one for New England emigrants
who had journeyed through New York on the old Genesee Road; it
became of more importance after the Erie Canal was in operation. See
Buttrick’s _Voyages_, volume viii of our series.--ED.

[46] For a brief biography of General Lacock, see Cuming’s _Tour_,
volume iv of our series, note 57.--ED.

[47] “Tales of My Landlord,” by Sir Walter Scott, include _The Black
Dwarf_, _Old Mortality_, _The Heart of Midlothian_, etc. The two former
were published in 1816 and the latter in 1818.--ED.




LETTER VII[48]

 Descend the Ohio from Beaver--Georgetown--Steubenville--
 Wellsburgh--Warren--Wheeling--Marietta--Muskingum
 river--Guyandat river--Letarts rapids--Kanhaway river--Point
 Pleasant--Galliopolis--Big Sandy river--Portsmouth--Occurrences and
 Remarks interspersed.


  _Portsmouth, Ohio, 18th Nov. 1818._

On the 29th of October I again got afloat.--The weather clear and fine,
but the current of the river in most parts so slow that the eye could
scarcely discover its motion.--Passed the mouth of Big Beaver Creek,
29¹⁄₄ miles from Pittsburg.

Stopped for the night at a tavern 42¹⁄₂ miles from Pittsburg.
Opposite, on the Virginia shore of the river, stands Georgetown, a neat
village, with a public ferry.--On little Beaver Creek are several grist
and saw mills, a paper-mill, and several other machines. In the mouth
of a creek, I observed that the surface of the water was tinged with
the oil of naphtha.

A young gentleman, from Virginia, had stopped in the tavern sick; the
hostess and neighbours {77} were very attentive to the unfortunate
stranger.

_October 30._ At the distance of half a mile below Little Beaver Creek,
the meridional line crosses the river, which separates Pennsylvania
from Virginia on the south side of the river, and from the State of
Ohio on the north side.

Big Yellow Creek falls into the Ohio on the north side. A few miles
up this creek there is a settlement of Scotch Highlanders. The soil
occupied by them is said to be thin and poor.

After pulling all day against contrary winds, which, in some straight
parts of the river, raised waves that beat upon my boat with
considerable force, I lodged at the Black Horse Tavern, on the Virginia
side of the river, 63 miles from Pittsburg. The landlord told me that
his charges were, in some measure, regulated by the appearance of his
guests.--Where a family seem to be poor and clever, he does not charge
any thing for their sleeping on the floor. (By clever, he meant honest,
or of a good disposition.)

The hills that bound the narrow valley of the river are of sandstone
and clay schist, with a bed of coal four or five feet thick. People
acquainted with the country, say that the hills by the river, and
by the creeks, are of a poorer soil than those inland, which are
less steep. The process of inundation is probably the cause of the
difference.

There is a wider interval between the river hills here than in the
neighbourhood of Pittsburg, and the bottoms are of course wider; the
greater part of them being on the north side of the river. On the south
side negroes are numerous.

On the forenoon of the 31st a heavy rain fell, accompanied with loud
peals of thunder.--Reverberation {78} amongst the rocky hills and woods
greatly augmented the sound.

The margin of the river is lined with masses of sandstone of enormous
size. Others lie in the middle, with their rounded and scratched tops
exposed above water. All these must have been detached from the river
hills.

Arrived at Steubenville, on the right bank of the Ohio. This town
stands on a second or higher bottom, exempt from the inundations so
unpleasant on the first or lower plains. There are several hundred
acres of this dry ground adjacent to the town, the largest tract of the
kind that I have seen between the river and the hills.

This place is named Steubenville, from Baron Steuben, in consideration
of his philanthropic services rendered to America, during the
revolutionary war. It contains upwards of 2000 people; and it is
regularly laid out, and the houses built of brick, wood, and a few
are of stone, all covered with shingles. A newspaper is printed in
the town; it contains also a woollen manufactory, a paper-mill, a
grist-mill, and a small cotton-mill. These machines are wrought by
steam. There are also two earthenware manufactories, and a brewery in
the town, four preachers, six lawyers, five surgeons, twenty-seven
shops, sixteen taverns, two banks, and a considerable number of
artisans, necessary to the existence and increase of the place.

The aspect of the river hills, by Steubenville, convey the idea that
they are better land, and not so apt to be washed down by rains, as
those in the neighbourhood of Pittsburg.--I have had no opportunity of
inquiring into the cause.

If I am not mistaken, Steubenville contains a greater proportion of
orderly and religious people, {79} than some other American towns which
I have seen. I entertain a very favourable opinion of several citizens,
to whom I was introduced.

_November 3._ After having left the town, and proceeded about a mile
down the river, Mr. Hamilton the tavern-keeper, with whom I had lodged,
came along the bank, on horseback, calling after me. I landed, and he
delivered to me an article, that I had neglected to pack up.

Passed a young man in a small skiff; he had not ballast enough for
keeping head against the wind, which twirled his vessel round, and
occasionally drifted him up the stream. He put ashore, as did also a
family boat, that could not get onward.

The wind having increased, I found it expedient to land at Wellsburgh,
and wait till the gale abated. The waves were too large for such a
small bark, and, in making the crossings necessary to keep in the
proper channel, I was in danger of exposing the broadside too much to
the weather.

Wellsburgh, (formerly Charlestown,) stands on the Virginia side of the
river. It is a small town; I observed in it a court-house, a jail, a
large store-house, and several taverns. The margin of the river is so
shallow, that I could not push my skiff within twelve feet of the dry
ground. There is no wharf or artificial landing place here, or at any
of the towns that I have seen by the river. The floods sweep off almost
every thing that is erected within the banks; even the roads that are
scooped out of the beach are at times destroyed. Taverns (out of town)
have only a rude footpath cut in the bank, and many of them have not a
trace formed by the hands of man.

_Afternoon._ The wind calmed, and I proceeded downward. I came up with
two young men in a {80} small skiff; one of them put off his coat to
row, and the other paddled with an oar. Their intention was evidently
to keep before me, but they were soon disappointed. When one small
boat comes up with another, a sort of race is almost invariably the
consequence. I have already acted a part in several of them, and have
uniformly got foremost. On one occasion I was opposed by three men
in a smaller skiff than my own. I impute my success to the superior
construction of my vessel, and to the extraordinary breadth of my
oars. It has occurred to me, that the oars in general use are much too
narrow, and that by adopting broader ones, we would avail ourselves
more of the _vis inertiæ_ of the water, that of course is the sole
cause of locomotion in a vessel propelled by rowing.

On a dry bar, or island of gravel, I observed that none of the weeds
were close by the present margin of the water, and that they were all
on ground at least two feet higher than that line, an evident proof
that the surface of the water must have been about two feet higher
during the summer months. At that time it must have been a much easier
task to descend the river.

I landed in the evening at Warren,[49] a small town on the north bank.
At this place there was a pedlar’s boat, a small ark, which is removed
from one town to another. Internally it is a shop, with counter,
balances, &c. around the sides are shelves, with goods, in the usual
form.

_4th._ Last night the tavern had been in an uproar with a large party
of gamblers.--Their room had no door, and that in which I slept had
none, so that I heard much swearing and loud vociferation. About four
o’clock one of the gentlemen retired from play, and laid himself down
beside me. {81} A short time afterwards another entered the room, when
the bar-keeper advised him to become a third of our party; this he
declined. The bar-keeper next advised that he should take a part of the
clothes from our bed, and an adjoining one, and with them make a bed
for himself on the floor.--This he also declined; probably judging that
the attempt would be opposed.

This morning a contrary wind blew hard. Immediately below the town
there is a rapid current, not much ruffled by the breeze, but a long
stretch of deeper water beyond it is rolling with waves.[50] Where the
waves and the stream meet, white breakers are formed. Wishing to avoid
these as much as possible, I took a young man of the neighbourhood with
me, and availed myself of his local knowledge.

Wheeling is a considerable town on the left bank of the river,
ninety-six miles from Pittsburg. It is expected that the new road from
Baltimore to this place will be completed in the course of a year.[51]
This being a national highway, on which no tolls are to be levied,
and the shortest connection between a sea-port and the Ohio, a great
increase of trade is consequently anticipated.[52] Hereafter, Baltimore
will be the most proper landing place for Europeans who would settle
in western America. At present the carriage of goods from Baltimore to
Wheeling is cheaper than from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. From this it
is evident, that the new route is already the shortest and the cheapest.

About four and a half miles below Wheeling, I was surprised at hearing
the river making a great noise, the Pittsburg navigator not giving
any notice of a rapid, and as a thick fog prevented me from seeing
the cause, I went on shore to reconnoitre. Before reaching the place
from whence {82} the noise proceeded, a boy informed me that a great
fresh (flood) in M’Mahon’s Creek, happened last summer, at a time
when the Ohio was low, and that it had carried earth and trees from
the bottom land, together with a house and a family, into the river.
The devastation produced by this torrent is truly astonishing. It has
cut a great chasm through the bottom land, which is about twenty-five
feet high, and scooped it out many feet lower than the surface of the
Ohio. A large bar, that in some measure dams the river, has large trees
intermixed with it; their roots and branches standing above the water.
This is the obstacle and cause that occasion the noisy ripple.

The last tavern that we passed here, had no sign-board. In consequence
of which I supposed it to be a private house, and, after sailing
several miles down the river, was obliged to put ashore, when nearly
dusk, at a farm-house about nine miles below Wheeling.

_November 5._ The family with whom I lodged last night, seem to be
industrious and well disposed. Two daughters were busily engaged in
tailor work for the males. This, they said, is a common practice in
the country. They also told me of a young lady of the neighbourhood,
who had just gone to the house of her bridegroom, to make his marriage
suit. As this occurrence was told with some degree of disapprobation,
it is not to be viewed as in unison with the manners of the people.

Twelve miles and a half below Wheeling, and a quarter of a mile from
the river, on the left-hand side, there is a remarkable mound of
earth, called the Big Grave. This hill is about sixty-seven feet high,
a hundred and eighty feet broad at the base, and about twenty-two feet
broad at the top, which is a little hollow. Some have supposed that the
earth {83} has been brought from a distance; but, as something similar
to a ditch is to be seen on one side of it, and as the neighbouring
surface is uneven, there can be no strong reason to warrant the
conclusion. Several fallen trees on the sides, (for it is covered with
a strong growth of timber,) have exposed the component earth, which is
a fine vegetable soil. It is not known that the present Indian people
perform such works, nor is it believed that their traditions inculcate
veneration towards these monuments; hence their origin is perfectly
obscure.

On the right-hand side of the river, and about four miles below Grave
Creek, a bed of coal is wrought. It lies in a horizontal position, and
under high-water mark. Boats take in lading close by the mouth of the
mine.

Lodged at a tavern thirty-four miles from Wheeling, after rowing
against head-winds, which rendered the work somewhat fatiguing. In the
evening a number of young men came in from a husking of Indian corn in
the neighbourhood; they commenced drinking and swearing, all bawling
out and talking at once. Such noisy gabbling I never before heard.

_November 6._ To-day I got into a long stretch of the river, where
it is straight for seventeen miles. This part is called the Long
Reach.[53] The wind blew upward, and opposed a rolling surface to my
progress. The labour was hard, but the headway very small; family boats
have been obliged to land. I saw some young men in a canoe who had
just killed a deer in the act of crossing the river.

Lodged at a tavern about half way down the long Reach. Two old women,
(sisters,) were there, one was in quest of her husband, and the other
of her daughter. The uncle is forty-five years of age, and the niece
sixteen. Affinity and disparity of {84} age united, have not been
sufficient to prevent the elopement.

From Wheeling to near this place, coal, limestone, and sandstone are
abundant.

In my passage, I have seen twenty-five islands. Some of them are of
considerable size; the second below Pittsburg is six miles long.
Islands being covered with timber, varying in size from the shortest
willows by the water’s edge, to tall trees in the centre, have a
beautiful appearance when viewed from the river either above or below
them. I have descended twenty-two ripples. In a few of these, the
stranger is apt to feel a considerable anxiety from being swept hastily
along amongst logs, with their tops above water, and over stones and
logs sunk beneath its surface.

_November 7._ The inconvenience and expense that attend putting my
baggage ashore every night, and on board every morning, are great.
Tavern-keepers’ servants are usually of their own families. Freemen
in early life, they, in many cases, disregard the parental command,
however reasonable. If I mistake not, the assistance which I paid
dearly for, was sometimes procured by my own address rather than a
sense of duty on their part. Although I am now a good waterman, and
outsail every vessel I see, I resolved to adopt a more convenient,
though less expeditious way of travelling.

I applied to the master of a large keel boat, on its way for
Portsmouth, at the mouth of great Sciota river, to be taken on board.
He refused to take me as a passenger, but was willing to accept of me
on condition that I would row in the place of a man who was about to
leave him. I agreed to work; for in my skiff I wrought very hard. I
changed my place, but did not improve my condition.

{85} Keel boats are large shallow vessels, varying from thirty to
seventy tons burden. They are built on a keel with ribs, and covered
with plank, as ships are. They are very flat below, and draw only
about two feet of water. The gunwales are about a foot above water.
Something like a large box is raised over the boat, which serves for a
cover, leaving a narrow footpath on the outside all around. Four or six
men row near the prow, and a steersman behind plies a long oar, which
serves for a rudder.

_November 8. (Sunday.)_ The provisions of this and another boat in
company were nearly exhausted, and a supply was expected at Marietta.
Sailing appeared to be a work of necessity; but, independent of the
exigency, the boats would probably have moved on. Sailing on the
Sabbath is as common here as at sea. A boatman commenced a song, and
was interrupted by a Scots rustic. The American alleged that he was
in a “land of liberty” and that no one had a right to interfere. The
other affirmed that it was against law, and threatened to prevent the
violation in the most summary way. The boatman, perceiving that he was
to be assailed by a stronger man than himself, gave up the contest.
Every one present seemed well pleased with this termination of the
affair.

_November 9._ Marietta is beautifully situated on a fine green bottom,
immediately above the mouth of the Great Muskingum river. There
are many good brick and frame houses in the town; a church, and an
academy, which are both called fine buildings. The ferry-boat that
crosses the Muskingum is attached by wheels to a strong rope stretched
across the river, to which the boat is moored obliquely, so that it is
forced across by the {86} action of the stream. Marietta is subject to
inundations. I observed high water mark on the plaster of a room in the
tavern, about four and a half feet above the floor.

The first settlement formed by the United States in the territory
north-west of the Ohio, was effected by General Putnam, and forty-six
other persons, on the 7th of April, 1788, on the ground where Marietta
now stands.

_10._ This day we met a family boat sailing up the river. We convinced
them of their mistake, which happened in the following way. The people
went under the roof to avoid a shower, and during their stay, the
vessel turned round. They came out, and rowed till they had retrograded
about two miles.

Our way of passing the night was simple. We put ashore, and tied the
boat to a log or stake; took in firewood, which was plentiful all along
the banks; made a fire for cooking, in a large box filled with earth,
placed on the roof, and slept under the cover in our clothes, wrapped
in a blanket. In the morning we lost no time in dressing, having only
to loosen our cable, and get under weigh. In times of high water,
sailing by night is considered safe and agreeable, very little rowing
being necessary.

On the 11th we went down Letart’s rapids, a very violent run.[54] The
boat rushed through with great velocity. There is a floating grist and
saw mill here, which I visited. The whole is buoyant on a large flat
shallow vessel, moored in the current. The effective head of water is
about twenty inches high. The water-wheel is twelve feet in diameter,
and eighteen feet broad. The millstone is about thirty-eight inches in
diameter, and {87} makes a hundred and twenty revolutions in the minute.

We came up with a family boat, the people in which had killed a deer.
These animals often cross the river of their own accord; and frequently
to elude the pursuit of dogs.

The days are warm, reminding me of the month of August in Scotland; the
mornings and evenings are cool.

The ranges of hills that bound the view on both sides of the river
are composed of horizontal strata of the coal field formation; a bed
of this mineral lies at the height of fifty or sixty feet above the
level of the water. A large mass of sandstone is above the coal. This
may be observed for many miles along the banks. The ragged, and dented
edges of the strata, have led some to suppose that the river never
acted on them; but the very contrary must have been the case; for had
the cliffs now to be seen been exposed to the weather ever since the
commencement of the present order, their asperities, and sharp edges
had been rounded off, and smoothed, as in the case of rocks on hill
tops. The true explanation seems to be, that the river has undermined
the rocks, brought them down, and ground them to sand, by its powerful
attrition. The undermining process has no doubt been facilitated by
the softer subjacent strata, as clay-schist, and coal. The powerful
operation of the grinding process is strongly attested by the grooved
surfaces, and the figure of the large blocks in the bed of the stream.
These are uniformly rounded away on the end that lies farthest up the
river; whereas, the end facing down the river is comparatively flat,
and usually bounded by sharp edges.

{88} _November 13._ Passed the mouth of Kanhaway river. Here stands
a small town called Point Pleasant. The name is appropriate, and
descriptive of the site.

From the springs of Kanhaway river, a great supply of salt is procured
for the western country.

We landed at Galliopolis in Ohio State. The town stands on a high
bank above the reach of the river. The name was given by a colony of
a hundred French families, which settled here twenty-five years ago.
They purchased from a Company, whose original charter stipulated, that
the tract should be inhabited by a certain number of settlers, within
a specified period of time. The condition was not fulfilled; the land
reverted to the government, and the colony was dispossessed of its new
establishment.

_14._ The wind was violent, obliging us to remain on shore for three
hours. We moved again, and stopped after dark, about a mile above the
mouth of Big Guyandat river, where some ripples commence.

_15._ (_Sunday._) A strong contrary wind blew. No boat could move
downward. But we saw several keel boats carrying sail, that enabled
them to stem the ripples without manual labour. It is the wind, and not
the day, that is reverenced here.

On the morning of the 16th, we moved downward. We saw a man fire a shot
at a flock of wild turkeys. These fowl were so far from being coy, that
they flew only a little way, and alighted again, on the trees.

Passed Big Sandy river, which comes in on the left hand side, and forms
part of the boundary line between Virginia and Kentucky. In the evening
we stopped below Fergusson’s Bar, having sailed {89} thirty-one miles
in the course of the day,--a great space, considering the lowness of
the water.

On the 17th, we arrived at Portsmouth, a well built town. It has a
county court house, a newspaper office, a woollen manufactory, a
number of stores, (shops,) and several good taverns. Having resolved
on travelling a little way inland from the river, I immediately put
my baggage on board a boat for Limestone, in Kentucky, addressed to
a commission merchant there. Limestone is fifty-one miles from this
place, and four hundred and forty-one miles from Pittsburg, by the
river.

It gives me much pleasure to be relieved from the company of boatmen. I
have seen nothing in human form so profligate as they are. Accomplished
in depravity, their habits and education seem to comprehend every vice.
They make few pretensions to moral character; and their swearing is
excessive, and perfectly disgusting. Although earning good wages, they
are in the most abject poverty; many of them being without any thing
like clean or comfortable clothing. I have seen several whose trousers
formed the whole of their wardrobe, and whose bodies were scorched to
a brown colour by the rays of the sun. They are extremely addicted to
drinking. Indeed I have frequently seen them borrowing of one another a
few cents to quench their insatiable thirst, and in several instances
refusing to repay them. The Scotsman recently alluded to missed a
knife. On his accusing them of the theft, a degraded wretch offered to
buy the fork.

My next letter will contain the particulars of a journey in the States
of Ohio and Kentucky.


FOOTNOTES:

[48] For notes on the following persons and places mentioned in this
chapter, see Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our series: Yellow
Creek, note 93; Kanawha River, note 101. A. Michaux’s _Travels_,
volume iii of our series: Wheeling, note 15; Marietta, note 16. F. A.
Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our series: Pennsylvania-Virginia
boundary line, note 31; Gallipolis, note 34. Harris’s _Journal_, volume
iii of our series: Putnam, note 1. Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our
series: Georgetown, note 59; Steubenville, note 67; Wellsburg, note 67;
Grave Creek, note 78.--ED.

[49] As early as 1786 a few pioneers had established themselves at
the mouth of Indian Short Creek; but in 1805 the town was surveyed, a
public sale of lots held, and the name Warren given to it.--ED.

[50] It is interesting to note that, according to the Moravian
missionary John Heckewelder, the Ohio River received its name
from the white caps which often made canoe-travelling temporarily
impossible. When it was covered with white caps the Indians would say
“Kitschi ohio-peekhaune,” which means “verily this is a deep white
river.” See “Names which the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians ... had
given to Rivers, Streams, etc.,” in American Philosophical Society
_Transactions_, new series, iv, pp. 369, 370. The commonly accepted
derivation, that given by La Salle and the early French explorers, is
that “Ohio” is an Iroquois word, meaning “beautiful river.”--ED.

[51] The Cumberland National Road was completed to the Ohio (Wheeling,
West Virginia) in this year (1818).--ED.

[52] Being a national highway no tolls were originally levied on the
Cumberland Road; this being, however, a most logical method of raising
money for the necessary repairs, the road was ceded to the states
through which it ran (1830-35), and the latter erected toll-gates and
levied tolls.--ED.

[53] See list of Americanisms, _post_, pp. 289-290; also Croghan’s
_Journals_, volume i of our series, note 96.--ED.

[54] Letart’s Rapids, at a bend in the Ohio about twenty-five
miles above Gallipolis, are but a slight hindrance to navigation.
See Thwaites, _On the Storied Ohio_, pp. 113-117, for a recent
description.--ED.




{90} LETTER VIII

 Leave Portsmouth--Digression on economical
 Travelling--Salt-springs--Piketon--Chillicothe--Progress
 of a Scotch Family--Game--Forest Trees and
 Shrubs--Rolled pieces of Primitive Rocks dispersed over
 a Country of the Secondary Formation--Agricultural
 Implements--Antiquities--Bainbridge--Middletown--Organic
 Remains--Town of Limestone--Washington--Mayé Lick--Licking
 River--Millersburg--Paris--Notice of the Missouri and Illinois
 Countries--Paper Currency--Cut Coin--Remarks interspersed.


  _Lexington, Kentucky, Nov. 29, 1818._

On the 18th current I left Portsmouth, on the north bank of the
Ohio, for Chillicothe, which is situated on the Great Scioto river,
forty-five miles from Portsmouth by land, and about seventy by
following the meanders of the Scioto.

The Scotsman twice alluded to in my last letter, was also bound for
Chillicothe, and we set out together. He gave me the following account
of his economy in travelling. The owner of the boat which we had just
left, engaged him to work his passage from Pittsburg to Portsmouth
without wages, except having his trunk carried to the latter place,
artfully telling, that the passage would be completed in nine days. It
turned out that twenty-one days elapsed, before the boat reached her
destination. Had he, in the first place, hired himself as a boatman,
he might have got seventy-five cents per day, and might have had his
trunk carried for a dollar; and thus a profit of fourteen dollars and
{91} seventy-five cents would have been made. On his journey from
Philadelphia to Pittsburg, he managed better. He travelled along
with the waggon that carried his trunk; the waggon also carrying his
provisions. In this way he was never obliged to enter a tavern except
at night, when he slept in his own bed-clothes. His bed was a low one,
but he had always the satisfaction of knowing that it was clean, and
that he was exempted from having a bed-fellow intruded upon him. It is
true that by travelling alone, he might have reached Pittsburg about a
week sooner; but he would have arrived there without clean clothes, and
incurred the payment of a week’s board, while waiting the arrival of
his trunk.

Having made a digression on economical travelling, I am led to
make some further remarks on it. The subject is highly interesting
to emigrants whose funds are scanty, as every dollar parted with
may be, in effect, giving up half an acre of uncultivated land. A
steerage passenger pays only about half the freight that is charged
for a passage in the cabin of a ship; and, when he lays in his own
provisions, he has it in his power to be nearly as comfortable as
a sea voyage can permit. In the American port, the cabin passenger
is sometimes subjected to delay in entering his baggage at the
custom-house, and getting the taxable part valued, whereas the steerage
passenger has his goods entered by the captain, and is allowed to
proceed on his journey without loss of time. Baltimore being the
most convenient landing place for Europeans who intend to settle in
the western country, those who arrive at New York, Boston, or other
northern ports, will have a saving by re-shipping for the Chesapeake.
Strangers ought to be careful in ascertaining what sloop is to sail
first. By putting goods aboard of a wrong vessel, a delay for a {92}
week or so may be occasioned. Having sent my own baggage round the
Capes, from New York to Philadelphia, I had an opportunity of observing
that several skippers, at the same time, affirmed, that his own vessel
would sail first. Liverpool is the principal resort, in Britain, of
ships for Baltimore. I conceive that it is unimportant to the emigrant,
whether he reaches the latter place in an American coasting vessel, or
by sailing an equal distance to Liverpool, along the coast of Britain.

We stopped at a tavern, four miles from Portsmouth, and had breakfast.
The landlord told us, that bears and wolves are still numerous in the
uncleared hills; that they devour many hogs and sheep; and that he
heard wolves howling within a few yards of his house, on the preceding
night. His sheep had run off, and he did not know in which direction to
search for them.

About nine miles from Portsmouth, the saline nature of a spring is
indicated by the ground being much trodden by the feet of cattle.
The water is slightly brackish, and is not worth the expense of
evaporation. Salt is manufactured, in considerable quantity, a few
miles to the eastward.

Salt springs are called _licks_, from cattle and deer resorting to them
to drink of the water, or to lick the concrete salt deposited on the
rocks or stones, by the evaporation of the atmosphere. Riflemen also
resort to the licks, in the night, to shoot the deer, which are so
numerous in this neighbourhood, that they are sold at a dollar each.

The lower and richer lands are all entered, (appropriated by
individuals,) but the higher and poorer, a considerable portion of
which is too steep for the plough, remains as public property in the
market. The time for cultivating them is not yet come. I must remark
that the hilly, or what is here called {93} broken land, has many
fertile spots, and that the comparative salubrity of such parts of the
country forms a very strong recommendation to them. Coal and limestone
are not known within eight or nine miles of this part of Scioto river.

We lodged at Piketon,[55] the head town of the new county Pike,
so called in memory of General Pike, who, to the character of the
enterprizing explorer of Mexico, added that of the brave soldier. Three
years ago there were five houses here, now there are about a hundred.

_November 19._ We could not procure a breakfast at a tavern where we
called, because the family had a sick child.

At the next tavern, breakfast was prepared for some labourers on the
farm; but there was not enough of bread baked, to admit of our taking
breakfast _along with them_. We were told that if we chose to wait for
two hours, we might eat.--We went onward.

After travelling several miles, we arrived at a third tavern; here,
too, the bread was not prepared; but the people were obliging, and made
it ready for us in a short time. The landlord was a farmer. He told us
that Indian corn sells at twenty-five cents (1s. 1¹⁄₂d. English) per
bushel, and that he could procure twenty thousand bushels of it within
three miles of his house. This appeared to be somewhat surprising, on
considering that the cleared grounds form only small detached parcels,
when compared with the intervening woods.--Wheat sells at seventy-five
cents (3s. 4¹⁄₂d. English) per bushel. This sort of crop is, at
present, more profitable than Indian corn, as in most cases it yields
more than a third part by measure; it does not require to be cleared
of weeds; and is more easily carried to market. The predominance of
crops of {94} Indian corn is occasioned by the ease with which it is
disposed of in feeding hogs and other stock, and, perhaps, in some
degree, by prejudice. The bottoms are wide, and their soil rich. They
are often inundated by the Scioto and its numerous branches, the water
leaving great quantities of logs, and other vegetable matter, to be
decomposed on the surface of the ground. These facts convince us that
the situation is not healthy, notwithstanding the affirmations we heard
to the contrary; and we were the more fully persuaded of this, as we
saw a young man pale and meagre, in consequence of an attack of the
ague.

We came to a saw-mill near Paint Creek.[56] A woman asked us how we
proposed to get across the run. She told us that there was neither
bridge nor boat; and that the water would reach up to our middle. She
told us further, that travellers commonly hire a creature (a horse) at
her house. We ordered one, and her husband followed us with it. At the
Creek, we discovered that the water was shallow. Some of our party,
(now increased to five,) indignant at the hoax, waded the stream. The
water did not reach to the knee.

Chillicothe,[57] (formerly the seat of government, in the State of
Ohio, now transferred to Columbus,) is situated on an extensive high
plain, in a great bend of the Scioto, which here varies from one
hundred to one hundred and fifty yards in breadth. The town has a
court-house, an academy, two places of worship, two printing offices,
that publish a weekly newspaper each, a woollen manufactory, a cotton
manufactory, a grist-mill wrought by steam, a brewery, a tannery, a
variety of merchants’ shops, several taverns, and three banks. One of
the last establishments has its door {95} shut. There is a good wooden
bridge across the river, near the town.

_November 20._ I crossed Paint Creek, by the road toward Limestone.[58]
The bottoms are rich, but the greater part of them uncleared. The
cattle of this neighbourhood are better than those I have seen by the
river Ohio, and in the western parts of Pennsylvania. It is not here,
however, that the fine droves formerly noticed are reared. These must
have come from the more northerly part of the State, where the grass
on the prairies (lands without timber) is said to be abundant. All
accounts that I have heard of these prairies, say, that they are wet,
and unfavourable to health. The ease with which settlements are formed
on them, and the facility for rearing cattle, are, however, attracting
many settlers.

Visited a Scotch family about thirteen miles from Chillicothe. They
settled here twelve years ago. Their farm consists of three hundred
acres of first and second rate land; of which seventy acres are cleared
and fenced. They have met with two misfortunes; either of which, they
think, would have finally arrested their progress in Scotland. They
bought a bad title to their land; it being part of an old military
grant,[59] and omitted to see it traced back to the government. In
addition to this, their house, with most of their moveables, was
burnt. They have now surmounted these losses; and are in better
circumstances than at any former period. It is astonishing to see how
much this family have adopted the manners and customs of the Americans.
The father, who is seventy-five years of age, has almost entirely laid
aside the peculiarities of his native provincial dialect. Nothing
but the broad pronunciation of the vowel A remains. The son {96} has
acquired the dialect of the country perfectly; and has adopted the
American modes of farming; is a good axeman, and is in every respect
identified with the people. During the late war, he was out on a
campaign, on the frontier of Canada. This absence must have been
extremely painful to the father, who lost an amiable son in the fight
with the Indians, at Tippecanoe, in 1811.[60]

Religious and patriotic views seem to have supported this worthy old
man under every discouragement.

_November 21._ I made an excursion into the woods. A few deer and wild
turkeys remain. Squirrels are very numerous. They are of the grey and
black varieties: also of the striped or ground species. The two former
are much larger than the English squirrel, and are ate in America. Some
people esteem them as equal to chickens. Quails are abundant: they are
smaller than partridges, and are so tame that the report of a gun, and
the destruction of a part of the covey, do not always make them take
flight. It is a common practice to drive whole families of them into
nets. Rabbits are not plentiful; they lodge in the hollows of fallen
trees; and are not understood to burrow in the ground. The only fox
that I have seen, was of a small size, and of a light grey colour. It
does not require a thick population to exterminate bears, deer, and
turkeys. The beaver is destroyed by the first hunters who invade the
forests; and the buffalo retreats into more remote solitudes, almost on
the first approach of white men.

The woods are principally composed of _Quercus_, (Alba,) _White Oak_;
(Tinctoria,) _Black Oak_; (Coccinea,) _Red Oak_; (Primus accuminata,)
_Chesnut Oak_; _Platanus_, (Occidentalis,) _Sycamore_; _Fagus_,
(Ferruginea,) _Beech_; _Acer_, (Saccharinum,) {97} _Maple_, (sugar
tree;) _Fraxinus_, (Americana,) _Ash_; _Juglans_, (Nigra,) _Walnut_,
(black;) (Alba ovata,) _Hickory_; _Laurus_, (Sassafras,) _Sassafras_;
_Cornus_ (Florida,) _Dogwood_; _Fagus_, (Castanea,) _Chesnut_;
_Liriodendron_, (Tulipefera,) _Poplar_; _Ulmus_, (Americana,) _Slippery
Elm_; (Mollifolia,) _White Elm_; _Vitus_, (Labrusea,) _Fall Grape_;
(Serotina,) _Winter Grape_.

Amongst the shrubs, or underwood, the following may be noticed as
prevalent:

_Rhus_, (Glabrum,) _Sumach_; _Laurus_, (Benzoin,) _Spicewood_; _Rubus_,
(Fructicosus,) _Blackberry_; (Hispidus,) _Running do._; _Annona_,
(Glabra,) _Papaw_.

The prevalent strata are of slate clay, bituminous shale, and
sandstone. Coal is not known, and probably has not been sought after.
Rolled pieces of the latter mineral, and of granite, gneiss, quartz,
and flint slate, are mixed with the sandy gravel of the streams. Dr.
Drake[61] has pointed out a situation in this State, where large
detached masses of granite lie over strata of secondary limestone; and
has conjectured that they have been brought from the primitive country
north of the lakes, by the agency of water passing from north to south.
This hypothesis is countenanced by the vast quantities of alluvial
soil which lie far above the level of the present river, and by the
almost total absence of primitive rocks, between the eastern side of
the Allegany ridge, and the sources of the Missouri. The only exception
known is the tract between Lakes Ontario and Champlain,--a field so
narrow that we cannot view it as the probable source of fragments
profusely scattered over the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and
Kentucky.

In this part of Ohio State, first and second rate lands sell at four
or five dollars per acre. The richest ground is in bottoms: the hilly
has many {98} parts not accessible to the plough. Buildings are most
commonly erected on rising grounds. Such situations are believed to be
most salubrious, and abound most in good springs.

Farming establishments are small. Most cultivators do every thing for
themselves, even to the fabrication of their agricultural implements.
Few hire others permanently, it being difficult and expensive to keep
labourers for any great length of time. They are not _servants_, all
are _hired hands_: Females are averse to dairy, or menial employments.
The daughters of the most numerous families continue with their
parents. There is only one way of removing them. This disposition
is said to prevail over almost the whole of the United States. A
manufacturer at Philadelphia told me, that he had no difficulty in
finding females to be employed in his work-shop; but a girl for
house-work he could not procure for less than twice the manufacturing
wages. Some of the children of the more necessitous families are bound
out to labour for other people. The Scotch family, recently mentioned,
have a boy and a girl living with them in this way. The indenture of
the boy expires when he is twenty-one years of age; that of the girl at
eighteen. They are clothed and educated at the expense of the employer.
The boy, at the expiry of his contract, is to have a horse and
saddle, of value at least 100 dollars; and the girl at the end of her
engagement, is to have a bedding of clothes. It is said, that a law of
the State of Ohio, forbids females to live in the houses of unmarried
men.

The utensils used in agriculture are not numerous. The plough is short,
clumsy, and not calculated to make either deep or neat furrows. The
harrow is triangular; and is yoked with one of its angles forward, that
it may be less apt to take hold {99} of the stumps of trees in the way.
Light articles are carried on horseback, heavy ones by a coarse sledge,
by a cart, or by a waggon. The smaller implements are the axe, the
pick-axe, and the cradle-scythe; by far the most commendable of back
wood apparatus.

The figure [page 125] is descriptive of the cradle scythe. AEGB is the
shaft. In working, it is held by the left hand with the thumb upward,
near A; while the right hand holds the cross handle at H. BD is a post,
making an angle of about 78 degrees with the straight line AB. Into
this post the five wooden ribs, or fingers, MN, OP, QR, ST, and UV, are
fixed. These are round pieces of tough wood, of a curvature resembling
that of the back of the blade, as nearly as possible. They are upwards
of half an inch in diameter; and are pointed at the extremities MOQSU.
FG is another post, fixed in the shaft, parallel to BD, and about
seven inches distant from it. ED is a thin piece of wood, let into
the shaft at E, for retaining the posts BD, FG, in their positions. IK
is a small round post that passes through the fingers at the distance
of ten inches from the post BD. This small post passes through broad
parts of the fingers, which are left so for the sake of strength, and
its lower ends stands on the blade at K. The blade is such as is used
in cutting hay; but the point is allowed to stand about nine inches
farther out from the handle than the grass scythe. At L is a small iron
bolt, rivetted into the blade, near its back; the top of this bolt
passes through the lower finger, and is furnished with a hand-screw,
which holds the finger down, so that its point shall remain within
about half an inch of the blade. The points of the fingers MOQSU are
in a straight line, but recline backward, so that the upper finger is
about five inches shorter than the under one. Between {100} the posts
IK, and FG, are five small connecting stays of iron. Figure 2 is a
separate plan of one of the iron stays, shewing the manner in which it
is fixed to the upright bars or posts. AB is a part of the finger; C
the hole through which the small post (IK of the former figure) passes;
and D is the post FG of the former figure. EF is the iron stay; it is
about one-sixth of an inch in diameter; and it is thin and crooked near
the end E, where it is fastened to the finger by two small nails. From
G to F the stay is a small screw. At K, is a female hand-screw that
bears against D. At H, is a nut, also bearing against the post D. By
this screw the finger is firmly kept in its proper place. The fingers
are five inches apart, measuring from the centre of the one to that of
the other. The shaft of the scythe is five feet long, and the whole of
the parts are as light as is consistent with strength.

{101} _November 22._ About a mile distant from the house where I
lodged, the woods were on fire. It was supposed that the conflagration
had been begun by some mischievous person, who had kindled the dry
leaves, now strewed over the ground. In the evening, the glare of light
extending along a ridge for a mile and a half, was astonishingly grand.
Large decayed trees were converted into luminous columns of fire; when
these fell the crashing noise was heard within doors. Fires in the
woods usually excite alarm in their neighbourhood. People watch them by
night, their rail fences and wooden habitations being in danger.

[Illustration]

Some parts of this neighbourhood were purchased twelve or fourteen
years ago. Then proximity to Chillicothe was little regarded. The
increased population and trade of the town has now made it the market
of almost every disposable product. The lands near that place are
consequently much increased in value, and town lots sell at high prices.

_November 23._ I again resumed my way for Limestone. By the road side
are many conical mounds of earth, called Indian graves. About a mile
east of Bainbridge is a large camp.[62] The ditch is in every part
visible. One side is inclosed by a bend of Paint Creek, where the
opposite bank forms high and strong ground. I conjectured that the
fort contained nearly one hundred acres. It is not understood that
the aborigines have constructed any such works since Europeans became
acquainted with them. It is therefore a natural inference, that the
country must have been antecedently inhabited by a more civilized and
more powerful people.

From Bainbridge to Middletown the land is hilly; a small portion of it
is cleared, and it is much less {102} fertile than the grounds by the
river Scioto, and Paint Creek.

_November 24._ The ground west of Middletown is of clay, with a mixture
of siliceous particles, and the oxide of iron. Wheat is the most
prevalent crop. The health enjoyed on these high lands, is an ample
compensation for the lack of a few bushels. Wheat sells at a dollar per
bushel; Indian corn at thirty-three one-third cents; beef and pork at
four cents a-pound; labourer’s wages, fifty cents; joiners, a dollar,
with provisions.

_25th._ At ten miles from Limestone, the soil is good, but broken with
irregularities of surface. There was a little frost in the morning, but
the forenoon was warm. I observed several insects of the genus Vanessa,
(painted butterflies,) flying about in full vigour. The autumn is said
to be fine, almost beyond former example.

Near the river Ohio the soil is light, but much broken on the surface
by funnel-shaped hollows, not unlike those where the sides of coal-pits
have fallen in. These inverted cones are evidently excavated by the
infiltration of water, and indicate that the strata abounds with large
fissures or caverns.

In travelling over the last forty miles, limestone is the only
stratified mineral that I have seen. It lies in a position nearly
horizontal, and is literally conglomerated with organic remains.
Amongst these, the most remarkable is a species of terebratula, which
is very abundant, and varies from the size of a walnut to that of
a pin’s head. In addition to the concentric striated character, so
frequent amongst bivalve shells, it has large radiated grooves; the
grooves on one valve opposite to ridges on the other. The superior
margin is, of course, a zig-zag line, resembling the base of {103}
polyhedral crystals, where the sides of one pyramid are set on the
angles of another.

For some days past I have found the expense of travelling to be
uniformly three shillings and elevenpence farthing per day.

Limestone, sometimes called Maysville,[63] is a considerable landing
place on the Kentucky side of the river Ohio. The houses stand above
the level of the highest floods. There is a rope-walk, a glass-house,
several stores and taverns, and a bank, in the town.

On the 26th, I left Limestone by the road for Lexington, which is
sixty-four miles distant. The roads, hitherto scorched by drought,
were in a few minutes rendered wet and muddy by a heavy shower of rain.
The roads in this western country are of the natural soil.

The high grounds every where seen from the river, are called the river
hills; they are in reality banks, the ground inland of them being high.
To the south of Limestone it is a rich table land, diversified by
gentle slopes and moderate eminences.

At four miles from Limestone is Washington, the seat of justice in
Mason County. The town is laid out on a large plan, but is not thriving.

May’s Lick is a small village, twelve miles from Limestone. A rich
soil, and a fine undulated surface, unite in forming a neighbourhood
truly delightful. The most florid descriptions of Kentucky have never
conveyed to my mind an idea of a country naturally finer than this.

I lodged at a tavern twenty miles from Limestone. Before reaching that
place the night became dark and the rain heavy. As the tops of the
trees overhung the road, I had no other indication than the miry feel
of the track, to prevent me from wandering into the woods.

{104} _November 27._ Crossed the river Licking in a boat, at a small
town called Blue Licks, from the springs in its neighbourhood, from
which great quantities of salt were formerly procured. The adjoining
timber is exhausted, and the salt-works are abandoned.

After coming to a flooded creek, where there was neither bridge nor
boat, I waited a few minutes for the mail coach. The road is in several
parts no other than the rocky bed of the stream. It also crosses the
same creek four or five times. After riding a few miles, I left the
coach. There is no great degree of comfort in travelling by this
vehicle; stowed full of people, baggage, and letter bags; the jolting
over stones, and through miry holes, is excessively disagreeable: and
the traveller’s head is sometimes knocked against the roof with much
violence. A large piece of leather is let down over each side, to keep
out the mud thrown up by the wheels. The front was the only opening,
but as the driver and two other persons occupied it, those behind them
were almost in total darkness. A peep at the country was not to be
obtained.

Millersburg is a very small town, with several large grist-mills and a
bank.

To-day I have seen a number of young women on horseback, with packages
of wool, going to, or returning from, the carding machine. At some of
the houses the loom stands under a small porch by the door. Although
Miss does not wear the produce of her own hands, it is pleasant to see
such abundant evidence of family manufacture.

I lodged at Paris, the head town of Bourbon county. A cotton-mill, and
some grist-mills, are the manufactories of the place. The population
is considerable. Several of the taverns are large, and, like many of
the others in the western country, {105} have bells on the house-tops,
which are rung at meals.

A traveller has just returned from attending the sales of public lands
in the Missouri country.--They are exposed by auction, in quarter
sections of 160 acres each. A considerable part of them sold at from
three to six dollars per acre. Lots, not sold at auction, may be
subsequently bought at the land-office for two dollars per acre, on
paying half a dollar in ready money, and the remainder within five
years. Land dealers are very vigilant in securing for themselves great
quantities of the best land. It is not uncommon for reconnoitring
parties of them to lodge in the woods for a whole week. By such means
much of the best land, mill-seats, and other local advantages, are
withdrawn from the market at the first public sales. This gentleman
describes the Missouri country as one possessing a fine climate, and
containing many extensive prairies of a rich soil, but destitute of
timber and stone. The most advantageous purchases are considered to
be those on the edges of prairies, with a part of the open land, and
a part of the woods. Many of the settlers that I have seen by the
river, and elsewhere, were on their way for the Missouri territory. The
Illinois country, according to the account given by this traveller,
is a very unhealthy one. He travelled twenty days in that State, and
on his return home, found that many of the people were afflicted with
bilious fevers and agues. He affirmed that he had seen more sick people
during these twenty days than during the whole of his preceding life in
Kentucky. Other reports corroborate his statement, so that there can be
no doubt that the autumn has been a sickly one in that low country.

{106} The best taverns in town charge higher than those in the country,
where accommodation is inferior. At Paris I paid 62¹⁄₂ cents (2s.
9³⁄₄d. English) for supper and lodgings.

In this western country there is a great diversity of paper money.[64]
Small bills are in circulation of a half, a fourth, an eighth, and
even a sixteenth part of a dollar. These small rags are not current at
a great distance from the places of their nativity. A considerable
proportion of the little specie to be seen is of what is called cut
money.--Dollars cut into two, four, eight, or sixteen pieces. This
practice prevents such money from being received in banks, or sent
out of the country in the character of coin, and would be highly
commendable were it not for the frauds committed by those who clip the
pieces in reserving a part of the metal for themselves.

_November 28._ To-day I have crossed several flooded creeks: one by
a tree which has accidentally fallen across it, and one has a tree
that has been felled intentionally for a bridge; one I crossed on
an accumulated heap of driftwood; and _once_ by a horse, where a
farmer allows a Negro boy to derive a perquisite from carrying over
travellers.--Goods are now carried from Limestone to Lexington for a
dollar per hundred pounds weight.--This is somewhat lower than the
usual rate. Waggoners are occasionally interrupted by flooded streams.

Between the river Ohio and Lexington, limestone is the only rock
which I have observed. Like that noticed in Ohio State, it is crowded
with organic remains. The variety of the surface, in this part of the
country, is pleasant. The eminences are gentle swells rather than
hills, and the intervals between them are smooth, rich, and dry {107}
ground. Marshy land is scarcely to be seen.--These are convincing marks
of the excellence of the subsoil.


FOOTNOTES:

[55] Piketown, first settled about 1796 by pioneers from Pennsylvania
and Virginia, and laid out about 1814, is on the Scioto River
sixty-four miles south of Columbus, and about thirty miles from the
Ohio.--ED.

[56] Paint Creek, a stream about sixty miles long, empties into the
Scioto from the west, five miles below Chillicothe.--ED.

[57] For a brief description of Chillicothe, see F. A. Michaux’s
_Travels_, volume iii of our series, note 35.--ED.

[58] Flint travelled from Chillicothe to Limestone over Zane’s Trace.
For an account of this road, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our
series, note 135.--ED.

[59] The Virginia Military District, reserved by that state when she
ceded her possessions north of the Ohio River to the United States
Government, was a triangular tract, with the Ohio River shore between
Little Miami and Scioto rivers as its base, and the apex at the sources
of the Huron River. Large portions were given as bounty lands to
Virginia soldiers of the Revolution; the remainder was ceded to the
Federal Government in 1852. In 1871 the government retroceded this
district to the state of Ohio, which, in turn, donated it to Ohio State
University. See Hinsdale, _Old Northwest_ (New York, 1888), p. 292.--ED.

[60] For a brief account of the battle of Tippecanoe, see Evans’s
_Tour_, volume viii of our series, note 131.--ED.

[61] Dr. Daniel Drake, a native of Plainfield, New Jersey, whose
boyhood was spent in Kentucky, came to Cincinnati in 1800 to study
medicine. Graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1816,
he interested himself in establishing the Ohio Medical College, at
Cincinnati, and became its first president. From that time until his
death in 1852, he was connected with some medical college, either in
Ohio or Kentucky. In addition to his writings on medical subjects, he
published (1815) the book several times mentioned by Flint, _Pictures
of Cincinnati and the Miami Country_.--ED.

[62] The remains of the mound-building Indians on Paint Creek, near
Bainbridge, are among “the largest works in the Scioto valley.” See
Fowke, _Archæological History of Ohio_ (Columbus, 1902), p. 206; see
also Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series, note 76.--ED.

[63] For notes on the following places, see A. Michaux’s _Travels_,
volume iii of our series: Limestone, note 23; Paris, note 29. F. A.
Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our series: Washington, note 37;
May’s Lick, note 38; Millersburg, note 38. Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv
of our series: Blue Licks, note 117.--ED.

[64] The supply of specie in the Western country had always been
inadequate. Until the numerous state banks began to flood the country
with paper money, about the second decade of the century, barter was
regularly employed. Flint was in the West when the financial stringency
that followed the War of 1812-15 was beginning to be felt in that
region, and the reaction against the worthless state banks had set in.
See _post_; also McMaster, _History of the United States_, iv, pp.
484-487.--ED.




LETTER IX

 Lexington--Depreciated Paper Currency, and Fraudulent Bankers--Excess
 of Paper Money destructive to American Manufactures--Aversion
 to Menial Service--Atheneum--Dirking, Gouging, Kicking, and
 Biting--Prices of Live-stock--Provisions, &c.--Slavery--Effects
 of Slave-keeping on the White Population--Illiberal
 Reflections of British Tories against the Americans and
 against Free Government--Leave Lexington--Descend the Ohio to
 Cincinnati--Occurrences and Reflections intermixed.


  _Cincinnati, Ohio, 30th Dec. 1818._

Lexington, the county town of Fayette, was the capital of the state of
Kentucky, before the government was transferred to Frankfort.[65] It
is situated in north latitude, 38° 8′, and in west longitude 80° 8′.
The town is surrounded by a fertile and pleasant neighbourhood, and is
regularly built of brick and frame houses. It has a university, seven
places of worship, (three Presbyterian, one Episcopalian, one Baptist,
one Methodist, and one Roman Catholic.) Three printing offices,
where three weekly newspapers are published; a branch of the United
States Bank, and two other banking houses; {108} seven small cotton
factories; two paper-mills, two woollen factories, five rope-walks,
three grist-mills, many mercantile houses, and some good taverns. The
population is supposed to be about seven thousand; but the increase has
been slow for several years past.

There is here much trouble with paper money. The notes current in one
part, are either refused, or taken at a large discount, in another.
Banks that were creditable a few days ago, have refused to redeem
their paper in specie, or in notes of the United States’ Bank. In
Kentucky, there are two branches of the United States’ Bank; thirteen
of the Kentucky bank, and a list of fifty independent banks, some of
which are not in operation. In the state of Ohio, there are thirty
chartered banks, and a few others which have not obtained that
pernicious distinction. In Tennessee, the number of banks, including
branches, is fourteen. The total number of these establishments in
the United States, could not, perhaps, be accurately stated on any
given day. The enumeration, like the census of population, might be
affected by births and deaths. The creation of this vast host of
fabricators, and venders of base money, must form a memorable epoch in
the history of the country.--These craftsmen have greatly increased
the money capital of the nation; and have, in a corresponding degree,
enhanced the _nominal_ value of property and labour. By lending, and
otherwise emitting, their engravings, they have contrived to mortgage
and buy much of the property of their neighbours, and to appropriate
to themselves the labour of less moneyed citizens. Proceeding in
this manner, they cannot retain specie enough to redeem their bills,
admitting the gratuitous assumption that they were once possessed of
it. They {109} seem to have calculated that the whole of their paper
would not return on them in one day. Small quantities, however, of it
have, on various occasions, been sufficient to cause them to suspend
specie payments.

So long as a credulous public entertained full confidence in the banks,
bankers gave in exchange for their paper, that of _other banks, equally
good with their own_. The same kind of exchanges are still offered
now, when the people are very suspicious of the circumstances and
intentions of money manufacturers; and bankers console their creditors
by professing to be _as solvent as their neighbouring institutions_.
The holder of the paper may comply in the barter, or keep the notes,
such as they are; but he finds it too late to be delivered from the
snare. The people committed the lapsus, when they accepted of the
gew-gaws clean from the press. It is altogether surprising that the
people of this country have shut their eyes against the strongest light
of experience. If they had kept sufficiently in recollection the vast
issues, and the ultimate depreciation of continental money during their
revolutionary war, they might have effectually resisted the late influx
of paper. But the farmer, the mechanic, and the labourer, have been,
for a short time, pleased with what was, in name, a greater price, or a
greater hire. As every necessary of life has been proportionally raised
in nominal value, they do not find that their comforts or savings are
substantially enlarged. They are in reality diminished to the amount of
the gains that have arisen to the paper mint, and of the brokers who
deal in depreciated money. The immutable maxim, that productive labour
is the true source of wealth, has been lost sight of. Designing men
{110} have availed themselves of that apathy, and the deluded multitude
have been basely duped.

The baneful consequence of the paper system are not confined to
internal derangements here, but are extended to every department of
foreign intercourse. The merchants and manufacturers of other countries
are enabled to sell their goods, and the produce of their labour,
nominally cheaper than the Americans. Imports are increased, and a
large balance of trade arises. This must be paid in specie. Foreign
capitalists, who engage their funds in American speculations, must also
have the dividends, or profits on their stock, paid in the precious
metals. The grain raised by the American farmer is sent abroad, but the
price is greatly reduced by expense and risk incurred by a voyage, also
by the profits of merchants on both sides of the Atlantic. The cotton
and the wool are sent to Europe under similar disadvantages, and a
repetition of them in reconveying the manufactured goods to America. A
few facts will set this impolicy in a strong light. Cotton, which now
sells in the United States for a few cents per pound, is, in certain
cases, sent to England, and returned to the wearer at nearly as many
dollars. A gentleman from Mount Sterling, about thirty miles east of
this place, told me that a good coat of English manufacture, costs
there thirty-six dollars. Indian corn sells at twenty-five cents per
bushel. The farmer, then, who wears such a coat, must pay a hundred
and forty-four bushels for it,--a quantity sufficient to be bread
for twelve men for a whole year. One pound of good tea costs twelve
bushels,--bread for one man for a year. A chemical manufacturer, at
Pittsburg, buys saltpetre imported from India, cheaper than he can
procure the spontaneous product from the {111} caverns of Kentucky.
Although most of the metallic and earthy substances, useful in
manufacture, are abundant in America, she imports jewellery, cutlery,
glass, crystal, earthen and porcelain wares. By this means the republic
discourages her own artizans, and pays the taxes of foreign monarchies.
Under the present money system it is in vain that nature has diffused
her mineral resources over the New World. In vain will the government
impose the highest restrictive duties on imported goods, while every
crop of flax augments the imaginary money capital to a greater extent,
and while there is the smallest residuum of specie left in the country.
It would be an interesting inquiry to find the number and the names of
legislators in the different states assemblies, who are interested in
banking concerns. The people would then see how the power that grants
chartered privileges to banks is constituted.

Although the convulsion which agitates bankers in the western country,
is but of recent date, their money is in various instances thirty per
cent. under par in the eastern states. Tavern keepers, grocers, and
others, receive the money of the banks nearest to them, although they
know that these banks will not pay specie for them. They see that,
without the rags now in circulation, they could have very little money.
Every one is afraid of bursting the bubble. How the country is to be
delivered from this dilemma, bankers have not yet shewn. They are still
strongly inclined to continue the traffic; but they cannot be expected
to support organized establishments of directors, presidents, cashiers,
clerks, offices, and empty coffers, without committing farther
spoliations on the people. When the sick system dies, the public will
see the full amount of the penance they have to suffer {112} for their
credulity. A smaller, but a more substantial capital, will be resorted
to, one better calculated to “place the manufacturer beside the farmer.”

_December 5._ To-day a shower of rain fell, and was followed by snow.
The part that lies unmelted is about an inch thick.

Among the succession of people at the tavern, many are polite
and obliging in their behaviour. Some are interesting in their
conversation, and some talk of horses and horse-racing. The latter
kind of discourse is mixed with swearing.

Lexington is still considered the capital of fashion in Kentucky.
There are here many genteel families, a few of which keep coaches.
The town, on a whole, exhibits a well-dressed population. The menials
are nearly all slaves. Free blacks detest every thing that they think
resembling their former condition. White people are still more averse
to live as hired people in families. Females, however idle, and however
great their difficulties may be, remain with their parents, till
removed by that great change that all hope for. In many cases, it is
said that their repugnance to support themselves, by the earnings of
hired labour, induces them here, as in other places, to lead a life of
profligacy and ruin.

_December 9._ For several days past the temperature has remained
steadily a few degrees below the freezing point. This morning the snow
disappeared, and through the day, the heat seemed to be much greater
than ever I felt at this season of the year.

_12._ The Atheneum, or reading-room, is much frequented. It is well
furnished with newspapers, and with the most distinguished periodical
publications; scientific journals, army and navy lists of {113}
Britain; Rees’ Cyclopædia, and some other books. Attached to the
institution is a small collection of objects in Natural History; and
some articles of the dress, arms, and tools of the Indian people. I
cannot omit mentioning some particulars:--A bowl of unglazed earthen
ware found along with a mummy in a cave in Tennessee. In shape it
resembles a modern cast iron pot; and is a specimen of manufacture
superior to that executed in some of the coarser works of the kind
amongst civilized people: an Indian register from the west of the
Mississippi, which is cut on a small piece of white marble. The subject
of it is a record of their wars. Those of long duration, or of great
extent, are represented by larger holes bored in the stone. Seven
great, and fourteen inferior wars, are indicated. When the nation
migrates, or when the tablet is filled with spots, they enter the
register on a black stone, and part with the white one. The tribe has
now five black stones in keeping. The solidity and wax colour of the
specimen rank it equal with the famous Parian marble.

To-day I saw a young man buy a dirk. The number of these weapons
exhibited in the jewellers’ shops show that a great sale of them
must be expected. The dirk has a pointed blade, four or five inches
long, with a small handle. It is worn within the vest, by which it is
completely concealed. The advocates for private arms openly declare
that they are for defence, but the dissipated, the passionate, and
the freebooter, urge a similar pretext for carrying the stilleto.
Quarrels must be conducted in a dangerous form; and murder must be made
a prelude to robbery, amongst a people who use concealed arms. Spain
exemplifies this truth--and it is from her colonists probably that the
southern and western Americans have learned this practice.

{114} Fights are characterized by the most savage ferocity. Gouging,
or putting out the antagonist’s eyes, by thrusting the thumbs into the
sockets, is a part of the _modus operandi_. An extension of the optic
nerve occasions great pain to the sufferer. Kicking and biting are also
ordinary means used in combat; I have seen several fingers that had
been deformed, also several noses and ears, which have been mutilated,
by this canine mode of fighting.

_December 13._ To-day a crowd of people were out witnessing the
immersion of seven Baptists in a pool near the town. Many of them have
a genteel and gay appearance; a slight shade of the ruddy complexion
makes me suppose that the climate of this place is the best that I have
known on this side of the Atlantic.

_Dec. 15._ Last night a man took the Sheriff of Fayette county aside,
on pretence of business, and immediately commenced an attack on him.
The officer of the law drew a dirk, and wounded the assailant.

I note down the prices of live stock, labour, some of the necessaries
of life, &c.

                                                     _Dollars_  _Cents_

  Price of a young male negro, arrived at puberty,         800       --

  Hire of ditto per annum, with provisions and
    clothes,                                        100 to 150       --

  Price of a young female ditto,                           600       --

  Hire of ditto, per annum, with provisions and
    clothes,                                               120       --

  Price of a work-horse, from                       100 to 120       --

  Price of a fine saddle horse,                     200 to 300       --

  Hire of a four horse team and driver, without
    provisions,                                              4       --

  Hire of a saddle horse per day,                            1       --

  Mechanics per day, with board,                     ³⁄₄ to   1       --

  Labourers per day, with board,                     ¹⁄₂ to           75

  Wheat per bushel,                                  1 to            75

  Rye,                                                               50

  Corn, (Maize)                                                   37¹⁄₂

  {115} Oats,                                               --    33¹⁄₃

  Potatoes,                                                 --    33¹⁄₃

  Flour per 100 lbs.                                         3       --

  Beef, per pound, from                                          5 to 6

  Pork,     ditto, from                                          4 to 5

  Mutton,   ditto, from                                     --   3 to 4

  Turkeys, from        50 cents                           to 1       --

  Hens and Ducks,                                                 12¹⁄₂

  Eggs per dozen,                                           --    12¹⁄₂

  Butter per lb.                                            --       25

  Cheese, ditto,                                            --       18

  Whisky per gallon,                                        --       40

  Tobacco, per 100 lbs.                                      5       --

  Hemp,                                                      8       --

  Wool, per lb.                                                   33¹⁄₃

The indolence and disorderly conduct of slaves, together with their
frequent elopements, occasion much uneasiness to their holders. It is
not uncommon to hear the master, in ill humour, say that he wishes
there was not a slave in the country; but the man who is tenacious of
this sort of stock, or who purchases it at a high price, will always
find it difficult to convince other people, that his pretensions to
humanity towards slaves are in earnest. Some say that the fault is with
the British, who first introduced them. Others reprobate the practice;
but affirm that, while the laws of the country permit it, and while
slaves must be somewhere, _we may have them as well as our neighbours_;
and there are a few who vindicate both principle and practice, by
declaring, that the negro is a being of an inferior species formed for
servitude: and allege that slave-keeping has the divine sanction, as in
the case of the Jews.

Negroes, even in America, are said to be more prolific than the white
variety of the species. They do not delay marriage because they are
not in possession of lands, slaves, horses, and the other essentials
of their masters: nor does the support of {116} their progeny give
them much concern; the coloured children being held as the property
of the owner of the mother. By him they are reared with more or less
tenderness, or sold to another, as he thinks fit.

The treatment of slaves is understood to be much milder in Kentucky
than in the south-easterly part of the Union, where provisions are
dearer, and blacks sell at a lower price. At Lexington slaves are well
fed, and have a healthy appearance, and the greater part of them are
well clothed. Some of the abettors of the system assert, that negroes
are happier here than the free poor of other countries; but there are
several circumstances which may be opposed to this position. The happy
Kentuckian slave lives under the danger of being cow-hided, (a term
signifying a whipping, with a stripe of half tanned leather, which is
twisted into the form of a tapered switch of a very rigid texture,)
for the slightest real or imaginary offence. His evidence is not
received in court when he is opposed to a white man. Thus he has not
the protection of the law, and less hope of bettering his condition.
The practice disregards the strongest ties of kindred and of nature.
The husband is torn from the wife, and the child from the parent, to be
sold into an unhealthy region, where a more galling yoke is imposed. He
must not eat nor even converse in the room where white men are. Every
degrading mark is set upon him. While white men ransack the Christian
volume, that they may find fit names to their children, heathenish
appellations, such as Pompey, Nero, &c. usually given to dogs, are
bestowed on the coloured infant. The ordinary names of dogs and horses,
the days of the week, and the months of the year, seem now exhausted in
the negro nomenclature.

{117} It does not require a high degree of philanthropic feeling to
regret the numerous obstacles which oppose their amelioration. The
governments of new territories are allowing vast tracts of country to
become markets; and the older slave-keeping states are converted into
nurseries, from which multitudes of slaves are procured. If this course
of policy is persisted in, the humane exertions of individuals, and the
benevolent associations in Britain, and elsewhere, cannot counteract
the growing abuse. Emancipation can scarcely be contemplated, where
its objects are multiplied with such rapidity. Amalgamation with the
whites, extermination, or ultimate preponderance, present themselves to
the penetrating mind.

The baneful effects of slave-keeping are not confined to negroes, but
are widely diffused amongst white people. The necessity of personal
labour being removed from the master, he either indulges in idleness,
or spends his time in amusements that are incompatible with industrious
habits. His progeny, seeing that every sort of useful labour is
performed by the slaves, whom they are taught to regard as an inferior
class of beings, naturally conceive that the cultivation of the earth
is a pursuit too degrading for white men. Where such early impressions
are entertained, we need not be surprised with the multitudes of
idlers, hunters, horse-racers, gamesters and dissipated persons, that
are here so prevalent. Were it not for the immaculate purity of the
female constitution, the most invaluable half of the human character
would be rendered susceptible of receiving a tinge. Fortunately for
white Miss, she is able to turn to her own advantage the apparently
adverse circumstances under which she is placed. The sable domestics
with whom she is constantly surrounded, and {118} who obey her every
nod, serve as a foil, or back ground, which, by drawing a contrast,
greatly enhances her charms. The female slaves performing every menial
and almost every household service, she has on this account much
leisure for the decoration of her person. She is also at her ease, and
acquires all the tenderness of frame which forms the delicate lady.
Here also, as in some other places, the society of the two sexes is
strictly regulated. Private interviews are guarded against with the
most jealous care. The suitor must announce the object of his first
visit, and the courtship must proceed under the eye of a parent, or
of some other confidential person. In this happy seclusion from the
scandalous affairs of the world, it is only through the medium of a
female negro secretary that evasions can be conveniently practised when
sentiment prevails over prudence. Married ladies also are relieved from
the drudgery of giving suck to their own children. It sometimes happens
that the infant boy entertains a stronger affection for his black nurse
than for his white mother; and that his affection for the sooty hue
may not be altogether effaced in maturer life. If the feeling is not
directly conducive to the happiness of slaves, it has, at least, a
tendency to abate prejudices arising from their colour.

How far parental prerogative applies to intercourse between young
people of different colours, I am not prepared to say; but the great
numbers of mulattoes to be seen furnish sufficient evidence to preclude
all indiscreet inquiry on this very delicate point. One striking fact
is not to be omitted. An instance of a semi-coloured person whose
origin is derived from a white mother, is exceedingly rare.

{119} You have frequently heard the adherents of an illiberal faction
pouring out a copious torrent of invective against the American people,
and their democratic form of government, on account of slave-keeping.
Such declamation must proceed from ignorance of the history of this
country, or from a degree of malignity, ill calculated to promote
the national character of Britain, or the reputation of the system
they adore. It is for these people to be told a few facts, or to keep
them in recollection, if they knew them previously. Thirteen North
American provinces were once British colonies, principally settled
by a British people. These colonies, like others subject to the same
parent country, were, at an early period, the resort of English
slave traders, who introduced a large proportion of African captives
amongst the white population. The colonists soon became sensible of
the moral evil, or of the future consequences to be derived from the
cupidity of the inhuman sellers, and the indolence of unprincipled
buyers amongst themselves. So early as the year 1703,[66] the colony
of Massachusetts (only seventy-four years after its first settlement,
and probably a much shorter time after the first introduction of
slaves) imposed a tax to prevent further importations. This same
settlement made attempts to prevent the import altogether in 1767
and 1774. Previous to the year 1772, no less than twenty-three acts
were passed by the legislature of Virginia, for applying taxes to the
trade, with a view to its restriction. In 1772, Virginia petitioned
the throne on the same subject; but obtained no redress. Several other
colonies made remonstrances at different times; but were repressed by
the opposition of British Governors. In these days the grand discovery
that taxation and representation ought to {120} be inseparable, was
first discussed between governors and the governed. A doctrine so
appalling to privileged orders was not to be adopted merely because it
was sanctioned by reason. War, the last reasoning of Tory ministration
was resorted to,--a war which terminated in the best soldiers of the
old world throwing down their arms before the husbandmen of the new.
The Americans, no longer the vassals of England, were at liberty to
pursue an independent course of policy. The subject of negro slavery
engaged their attention at an early period; but, unhappily for the new
government, their territory was overspread with an unfortunate race,
who, by education, habits, and resentment of former injuries, were the
enemies rather than the members of the social compact. In this state
of affairs, an immediate emancipation would have tolerated a free
communication of hostile feelings amongst a people whose antipathies
were as universal as their colour. In 1780, the State of Pennsylvania,
although then occupied in the struggle for independence, passed an
act for gradual manumission. Subsequently the whole country, north of
Virginia, consisting of eight States, has either effected the total
extinction of slavery, or obtained the very near prospect of it. In
1787, a law was passed, prohibiting slave-keeping in the vast tract of
country north of the Ohio, and east of the Mississippi.[67] By these
means the United States have, in thirty-eight years, almost produced a
total liberation of negroes, over half their jurisdiction,--a progress
vastly more rapid than England made in the introduction of a similar
system of release, in her dependencies. It is unnecessary to enter
here on the spirit and tendency of British domination in every quarter
of the globe. If the contrast between the policy of the governments
of the United {121} States and England is not sufficient to restrain
antijacobin tongues within the bounds of decorum, the common interest
of their faction may, perhaps, be a stronger inducement to silence, as
the subject affords a most striking example of popular representation
operating as a most admirable corrective of an abuse that has grown up
under the fostering care of aristocracy.

_December 19._ The inauguration of the professors of the university of
Lexington occasioned much stir to-day.[68] They paraded the streets
accompanied by music, the students, and a numerous assemblage of the
people. I witnessed a similar procession at New York; and am told that
this practice is usual at the commencement of college sessions in
America.

Another musical practice gained ground here some time ago. A newly
married couple procured a band of instrumental musicians to play before
their house on the evening of their marriage day. In a late instance
a great number of boys procured small conical tubes of tinned iron,
and joined in the concert, by blowing vehemently. The disconcerted
performers were overpowered by a more intense sound, and desisted. No
fair bride of Lexington has been since greeted by a serenade. This is
one of the few instances where the manners of this country are not to
be traced to British origin; but seem to be formed on the model of the
true Castilian.

_December 24._ Left Lexington. On this occasion I was the only
passenger in the mail coach. Clear frosty weather allowed the sides of
the carriage to be kept open, so that I enjoyed a view of the country.
The expedition in travelling is great, considering the badness of the
roads. The land that was beautifully verdant a short time ago, is {122}
now withered by the cold. No green herbage is to be seen.

A part of the country by Licking River is hilly, poor, and almost
covered over with detached pieces of limestone. The clearing of this
land waits for a more dense population than the present. In the spots
where the woods are cut down, crops of Indian corn are repeated without
intermission. Economical agriculture has no place here. The rude
implements are left to rot in the field; and the scythe allowed to hang
on a tree from one season to another.

_December 25._ The coach stopped at Washington, from seven o’clock,
last night, till three this morning. It overset on my way hither, and
though I received no injury, I resolved upon going no further with that
vehicle in the dark, and over such bad roads. About five o’clock I was
awakened by the firing of guns and pistols, in celebration of Christmas
day. I heard no one speak of the nature of the event that they were
commemorating. So universal was the mirth and conviviality of the
people, that I could not procure a person to carry my portmanteau to
Limestone. It remained for me to stop all day at Washington, or sling
my baggage over my own shoulders. I preferred the latter alternative,
and proceeded on my way.

At Limestone, negroes and boys continued their firing till late in the
afternoon.--Every sort of labour without doors was suspended.

A watermark on the beach showed that the Ohio had lately risen to the
height of fourteen or fifteen feet. It had now subsided to half that
quantity, and had more than a third part of its surface covered with
ice, in brisk motion downwards.

_December 26._ Two large family boats (tied end to end) were about to
leave Limestone for Cincinnati. {123} I agreed to go with them, and
moved off in the afternoon. Sailing amongst moving ice is not attended
with much danger, except at the commencement of the flood, when the
accumulation is sometimes very great. In other cases the boat acquires
nearly the same velocity with the ice.

The two boats contained upwards of forty New Englanders. Their activity
in this (to them) new way of travelling, shewed a considerable degree
of enterprise and ingenuity.

In the evening we moored by the margin of the river. In this situation
the craft were exposed to collision with the moving ice. The men were
sagacious enough to know, that lying ashore was more unsafe than
keeping in motion, but generously yielded to the mistaken timidity of
the females, who were much averse to sailing in the night.

_December 27._ The ice continued to float downward, and surrounded us
so much, that we could derive but little facility from rowing. Passed
Augusta, a neat village on the Kentucky side of the river.[69] Its
court house denotes that it is a county town.

_December 29._ This morning the frost was intense. A wild duck, frozen
to a large mass of ice floated past our mooring. A young man, who
accompanied me in a canoe in pursuit of it, had one of his hands wet;
the part was slightly frostbit.

New Richmond is a thriving town, on the north bank of the river.[70]
It consists of about a hundred houses. Four years ago there was not a
house.

We have seen some farming on the sides of the hills, near the river,
that is performed in a most slovenly manner. Indian corn is the only
crop, and is repeated continually. No part of the manure {124} is
returned to the fields. The houses are rude log cabins, built as
near the river as is consistent with security from the floods. Their
children are dirty and ragged in the extreme. The comforts of these
people must consist chiefly in having enough to eat and drink, and in
having no fear of the exactions of the landholder, the tytheholder, or
the collector of taxes.


FOOTNOTES:

[65] For a brief account of the origin of Lexington, see A. Michaux’s
_Travels_, volume iii of our series, note 28.--ED.

[66] The date of this law was December 5, 1705.--ED.

[67] Flint here refers to the Northwest Ordinance, passed by the
Congress of the Confederation, July 13, 1787.--ED.

[68] For a brief sketch of Transylvania University, see Cuming’s
_Tour_, volume iv of our series, note 126.--ED.

[69] Augusta, at that time the seat of Bracken County, is eighteen and
a half miles below Maysville.--ED.

[70] New Richmond, twenty miles above Cincinnati, was platted in 1814
by a former resident of Richmond, Virginia, hence its name. It was
incorporated in 1828.--ED.




LETTER X

 Cincinnati--Situation--Manufactures--Settlement and
 Progress--Weather--Credulity and Want of Education--Descend the
 Ohio--Islands--Jeffersonville--Louisville--Falls of the Ohio--Taverns
 and Accommodations--Expedition for Exploring the Missouri Country and
 Forming a Military Post there--Miscellaneous Observations interspersed.


  _Jeffersonville, (Indiana,)
  May 19, 1819._

I concluded my last letter, dated Cincinnati, 30th December last,
without taking any notice of the town; I shall therefore begin the
present one with some particulars respecting that place.

Cincinnati is no sooner seen than the importance of the town is
perceived. A large steam grist mill, three large steam boats on the
stocks, and two more on the Kentucky side of the river, and a large
ferry boat, wrought by horses, were the first objects which attracted
my attention. The {125} beach is lined with keel boats, large arks
for carrying produce, family boats, and rafts of timber. On shore the
utmost bustle prevails, with drays carrying imported goods, salt, iron,
and timber, up to the town, and in bringing down pork, flour, &c. to be
put aboard of boats for New Orleans.

The town is situated in north latitude 39° 5′ 54′′, and in west
longitude 85° 44′, according to the determination of Mr. Ellicott.[71]
The distance from Pittsburg is 305 miles by land, and 513¹⁄₄ miles by
the windings of the river. The streets are laid out in a rectangular
form, and are enlivened by drays, waggons, and an active people. The
houses are nearly all of brick and timber: about two hundred new
ones have been built in the course of the year. Merchants’ shops are
numerous, and well frequented. The noise of wheel carriages in the
streets, and of the carpenter, the blacksmith, and the cooper, make a
busy din. Such an active scene I never expected to see amongst the back
woods of America.[72]

The manufactories of this new place are more diversified than
extensive. An iron foundery, two breweries, several distilleries,
a woollen manufactory, a cotton-mill, an oil-mill, a grist-mill, a
nail-cutting machine, a tan-work, a glass-house, and a white-lead
factory, seem to be the principal ones. But the more numerous part
of the artizans are joiners, bricklayers, blacksmiths, plasterers,
shoemakers, tailors, hatters, bakers, tobacconists, cabinet-makers,
saddlers, &c. &c. Journeymen mechanics earn from one and three-fourths
to two dollars per day. Their board costs about three dollars per week.
Most of them dress well on the days they are not at work, and some of
them keep horses.

In the end of December, 1788, or beginning of January, 1789, Cincinnati
was first founded by about {126} twenty persons. For some time the
place was occupied more in the manner of a fort than of a town, the
neighbouring country being in the possession of hostile Indians, who,
on different occasions, killed several of the settlers. In 1790,
a governor, and the judges of a supreme court, for the territory,
arrived. In 1792, the first school and the first church were built. In
1799 the legislative authority of the governor was succeeded by that
of an assembly. In 1803, the State government of Ohio was instituted.
In 1806, the government was removed from Cincinnati to Chillicothe. In
1800, the town contained seven hundred and fifty people, and in 1805,
only nine hundred and sixty. It was subsequently to the last date that
Cincinnati showed indications of outgrowing a village and becoming a
town. Within three-and-a-half years past, the population is supposed
to have been doubled, and the amount is now believed to be nearly ten
thousand.

_January 1, 1819._ To-day the boys of the town made a great noise by
firing guns and pistols. They commenced last night about dusk. During
the night I heard much noise of fighting and swearing amongst adult
persons.

_January 3. (Sunday.)_ Works of necessity form a numerous class here.
To-day boats were loading pork, and drays carrying it down to the river.

_January 8._ To-day the river was almost covered with ice floating
downward. Many large pieces adhering together form boards of one or two
acres in extent. The pieces of hemlock tree intermixed make it plain
that these masses of ice are from the Allegany river.

_January 10. (Sunday.)_ Dealers in pork were (in one instance) busy
cutting up and salting. I {127} saw some young men in a small boat
examining the driftwood on the river; when pine logs came within their
reach they dragged them ashore. Others were intercepting timber of
every description, for fuel.

_January 11._ The weather frequently changes from frosty to humid.
Yesterday at two P.M. the thermometer stood at 76° in sunshine. The
hottest day since the ninth of December. To-day the temperature was 54°
in the shade.

_Jan. 13._ At seven o’clock in the morning, the thermometer indicated
21°. By mid-day, the sun’s rays softened the mud in the streets.
The people say that the winter has hitherto been milder than usual,
and some infer that we will have no severe cold during the season.
Last winter the thermometer was once observed to stand so low as 10°
below zero. The greatest cold from 1787 to 1806 was minus 18°. The
most intense frosts of this country have the effect of congealing
the moisture in forest trees, and splitting them with a loud noise.
Notwithstanding the moderation of the present season, the grasses
and weeds on the ground are withered to whiteness. In the woods no
evergreen plants are to be seen, except the tufts of mistletoe, which
are perched on the branches of the tallest trees.

Examples of credulity are not rare. Yesterday a woman was deriving
liberal emolument in town from fortune-telling, and from her supposed
sagacity in knowing every thing respecting stolen goods. She also
pretended to have the faculty of discovering springs of water and
metallic ores, by means of the divining rod. Her speaking in the
German language led me to suppose that she is descended from that
part of Europe, where _Rhabdomancy_[73] {128} is prevalent. Almanack
predictions of the weather are works of reference. I have seen several
family registers of marriages, and the births of children, in which the
sign of the zodiac in which the sun was, at the time of the particular
events, is recorded. The positions are believed to have propitious
or baneful influence on the fate of the individual. In some parts
of the Union, what are called snake-stones are relied on as certain
cures for the bite of the reptile, and of mad dogs, in opposition
to the remonstrances of medical men. Such articles of belief having
gained ground, a suspicion arises that the culture of the mind is
much neglected, but unfortunately the position is established by more
direct evidence. During my very short stay in this place, I have seen
persons applying to others to read the addresses on packages of goods,
or letters, and the sign-boards of merchants. A newspaper, in bewailing
the want of schools, feelingly observed, that “the Ohian is in many
cases growing up to manhood, with scarcely any other intelligence than
that derived from the feeble light of nature.”[74] Books are scarce.
I have seen a biography of General Washington; some notices of the
military and naval characters of America; a history of the war; the
Pittsburg Navigator; and some small almanacks more frequently than
any others. The advertisements of booksellers indicate that they deal
in romance. Many of the people are not in possession of a copy of the
_Apocrypha_; of course such Jewish stories as the Idol Bel, or Susanna
and the elders, are not often made the topics of conversation.[75]

{129} _January 14._ To-day I met with one of the passengers who came
over with me in the ship Glenthorn. He has settled with his family
about twenty-five miles from this place, having bought an hundred and
seventy acres of land, fifty acres of which are cleared and fenced.
There is a house, two barns, and a young orchard on the property. For
the whole he paid seventeen hundred and twenty-five dollars, and can
rent it out at twelve and a half per cent. on the price. He said that
he meditates making another purchase, and that he does not regret
having left his native country.

Since my arrival, I have seen an old acquaintance, who emigrated
upwards of two years ago. He bought an excellent farm, which was well
cultivated, in the State of Ohio, and paid two-thirds of the price in
ready money. The money with which he ought to have paid the remaining
part of the price, he imprudently lent to some neighbours, who never
repaid him. The ultimate instalment was soon demanded, which, being
unable to pay, he was obliged to sell the land. At this stage of the
business, he found that he had originally agreed to pay for the farm
twice its value, and was forced to leave it, after having lost nearly
all his money.

Two large steam-boats from Pittsburg, put in here on their way for New
Orleans.[76] One of them had been forty-eight hours, and the other
forty-six hours and fifty minutes, in descending the river. The
distance, as formerly stated, is 513¹⁄₄ miles.

The launching of a large steam-boat attracted a great assemblage of
spectators. A careful observation of their countenances convinced
me, that the complexion is more pale here than at Lexington. The
difference is sufficiently striking to induce the belief, that there is
a considerable disparity in the climate of the two places.

{130} Last week the weather was partly wet, and partly clear, the
temperature was usually about 50°.

_Jan. 28._ This has been a warm day, the temperature 52°in the shade,
the thermometer, exposed to sunshine, stood at 88°. The sky was clear,
without a single cloud. I have never seen in this country figured
icicles on the insides of windows during frosty weather. This is a
clear proof of the dryness of the climate.

_31._ I have some pleasure in stating my conviction, that honesty,
benevolence, and some other Christian virtues, are not singularities
in this town. Several congregations that I have attended, behave with
the attention and gravity which becomes the worship. It was easy to
recognise many persons, who go to church three times on the same
day. A preacher here of the Cameronian sect, is a man of talent and
information. His diligence is no less conspicuous than his abilities.
In addition to preaching three times on Sundays, he gives sermons in
private houses on other evenings of the week.

_February 4._ This evening there were several heavy showers of rain,
accompanied with more thunder than the residents have ever heard at
the same season of the year. For a week past, we have had no bright
sunshine; but westerly winds, and a temperature of 60° has been almost
uniform.

With candour towards the American name, I must state, that much of the
credulity recently hinted at, appears to be chargeable on people from
Germany and Ireland, and their descendants. Methodists are also said to
be true believers. It is at least certain, that the journal of their
great apostle, Lorenzo Dow, is replete with paragraphs not dictated by
the strictest accuracy.[77]

{131} _February 7._ To-day I left Cincinnati, on my way for
Jeffersonville, at the falls of the Ohio. The boat in which I proceeded
is a flat ark, loaded with flour and pork, for New Orleans. There
are five such boats in company, all belonging to the same owner,
who accompanies them. The wind has been south-westerly, and the
thermometer, exposed to the sunshine, (which is but dim) stood at
60°. The warm weather, of late, has been uniformly attended by wind
blowing up the river, importing, as it were, the air of a more southern
latitude.

The flower buds of the water-maple, the elm, and the leaves of the
weeping willow, are burst out, and the grass has become green. Dr.
Drake, the describer of this western country, has stated the usual
time of the flowering of the water-maple at a month later. It is to
be feared that this early vegetation will be checked by subsequent
frosts. Fruit trees, in that event, may be rendered unproductive for
the ensuing season.

We put ashore, at night, twenty-three miles from Cincinnati. Gusts of
wind, and a dark, clouded atmosphere, dissuaded us against sailing
during the night. Much rain and loud thunder ensued.

_8._ The boatmen are not obliged to row in the present moderately high
stage of the water. It is sufficient to make a few pulls occasionally
to keep off the shore. Two boats are tied alongside of each other, and
put about with the broadside to the stream. They float at the rate of
nearly four miles per hour.

_9._ Last night at dusk, we passed the Swiss settlement Vevay, which
lies on the Indiana side of the river.[78] These people are said to
be industrious cultivators of the ground. Wine is their staple {132}
product. It is procured from a round black grape, nearly the size of a
musket ball. The liquor is often of an acid taste, and apt to undergo
the acetous fermentation in keeping. We continued our course all night.
The owner and I slept in the boat by a fire, where we had scarcely room
enough to stretch ourselves. In all other respects this is a pleasant
way of travelling. The river, in most parts which we have lately seen,
appears to be from five hundred to six hundred yards broad, environed
with rich bottoms, and beyond these high limestone ridges. From
the tops of these to the water’s edge, the surface is covered with
stupendous woods, with cleared farms at intervals. A few of the houses
seem to be externally neat, but the majority of them are log cabins.
The north side of the river is more thickly settled than the south
side, where a negro population is to be seen along the banks.

In the afternoon we heard a remarkable sound issuing from a swamp near
the river. I was told that it was the croaking of frogs. There must
have been myriads of them in the place, as the noise was incessant,
like that of wind amongst trees, or the fall of water over a distant
cascade.

A contrary wind forced us to run ashore at a part where the limestone
ridge is within thirty yards of the beach. The rock is of the siliceous
kind, and the narrow bottom is strewed with large blocks that have
tumbled from the steep. In the evening there was much rain and thunder,
the wind continuing contrary and violent.

_10._ Early in the morning we heard the howling of wolves in the woods.
Scarcely a single patch of cleared ground is to be seen for several
miles.

Louisville is situated at the south-western extremity {133} of a
stretch of the river that passes in a straight line for six miles, so
that the town terminates a beautiful water prospect.[79] The river is
here half a mile in breadth.

The towns passed on the Kentucky side of the river, are, Port-William,
and West-Port. Those on the Indiana side, are, Laurenceburg, the Rising
Sun, Vevay, and Madison, all places of recent erection and thriving.

The Pittsburg Navigator enumerates sixty islands in Ohio above the
falls. They are so uniform in their character, that a description of
one of them will give a general idea of all the rest. The upper end is
broad, and intercepts part of the gravel that is moved downward during
floods, forming a wide bar which acts as a partial dam that divides the
stream into two parts, deflecting each of them toward the shores of the
mainland, as represented by the figure.

The two currents are then deflected from the shores toward the island,
which is thereby curtailed in its lower parts, and at its extremity
contracted almost to a point. The two currents unite below, and form
a deep channel. At the head of the island the water is shallow. The
largest and oldest timber stands on the lower end, and {134} younger
plants of willow, sycamore, &c. on the upper end of the island. It is
farther to be noticed, that the trees on islands, although of rapid
growth, are by no means so large as those on the adjoining banks and
bottom lands. The alluvial process deposits gravel at the head. Over
this, sand is precipitated; and lastly, a superstratum of mud and
driftwood is deposited, forming a rich soil for the growth of timber.
These facts, taken in connection, show that additions are continually
making at the head, and that the converging streams are simultaneously
carrying off the lower end of the island.

[Illustration]

In most instances, these are not the islands discovered by the first
white men who explored the Ohio. Nor are they those that will be known
by the same names, thirty, forty, or fifty years hence. Their being
gradually exchanged for others farther upward, produces an effect
similar to what would be occasioned by the same islands moving against
the stream, in their progress forcing the current against the shores,
and thereby preserving a capacious bed for the river.

From Cincinnati downward, the ridges which bound the valley of the
river on both sides are more broken, and divided into distinct hills,
and are, of course, more diversified and pleasant than the unvaried
ledges farther up. The traveller, notwithstanding, is apt to feel tired
of the insipidity of the scenery. The same woods obstruct his view, or
the same rude style of improvement meets his eye everywhere.

I landed at Jeffersonville, a small town on the Indiana side of
the river.[80] It stands on a high bank, and has the most pleasant
situation of any town that I have seen on the banks of the river.

{135} _February 12._ Visited Louisville, the town, next to Lexington,
the largest in Kentucky. The population probably amounts to about 3000
persons. The falls immediately below the town being navigable for
large craft only during times of high water, Louisville derives great
advantage from the carrying trade.

_13._ Went over the rapids. The fall is said to be twenty-two feet and
a half in less than two miles. Nearly the whole of the declivity is
distributed into three shoots or rapids, where the stream is very
swift, occasioning breakers amongst the rocks. Except in times of
very high water, boats are conducted downward by pilots who are well
acquainted with the falls. The temperature of this morning was 26¹⁄₂°.

_17._ Last night a gentleman from Carolina lodged in the tavern here.
After a hired man had given him slippers, and asked him for his boots
to be blacked, he exclaimed, “As I wish to see my Maker, I would not
live in a free state, where one white man cleans the boots of another.”

A small degree of aversion to frivolous detail does not prevent me
from describing a back-woods tavern. Like its owner, it commonly makes
a conspicuous figure in its neighbourhood. It is a log, a frame, or a
brick house, frequently with a wooden piazza in front. From the top
of a tall post, the sign-board is suspended. On it, a Washington, a
Montgomery, a Wayne, a Pike, or a Jackson, is usually pourtrayed,
in a style that might not be easily deciphered except for the name
attached. On the top of the house is a small bell, which is twice
rung before meals. Immediately after the second peal, travellers
and boarders assemble around the table, where they commence eating
_without preface_. In such promiscuous {136} parties, the governor of a
state, or a general of the militia, may be seen side by side with the
waggoner. The larger towns having taverns of different qualities, and
different rates of charges, a distinction of company is the natural
consequence. We breakfast and sup on coffee or tea, accompanied with
plenty of beef, bacon, chickens, and eggs. The hostess (or host if he
is unmarried) takes her seat at the head of the table, and dispenses
the tea. One or two _hired people_ (or slaves, in slave-keeping parts
of the country) wait at table. At dinner, wheaten and Indian corn
breads, beef, pork, venison, wild turkey, geese, and poultry, are
staple articles; with a profusion of vegetables, such as cucumbers,
onions, cabbages, beans, and preserved fruits. Lodging in taverns has
not generally all the convenience that could be wished for. It is
common to see several beds in the same room, and these are simple
bedsteads without hangings. There are no bells in the bed-rooms, and
other apartments; nor are menials accustomed to move at the signal of
the stranger. Water is rarely to be met with in bed-rooms; washing is,
of course, performed under a shed behind the house, or at the pump. A
full house is always the apology for causing two strangers to sleep
in the same bed; the propriety of the custom will always be admitted
by the person who arrives latest. It has been my lot to sleep with a
diversity of personages; I do believe, from the driver of the stage
coach, to men of considerable name. The noted cutaneous disease is
certainly not prevalent; if it was, the beds of taverns, which, like
burying grounds, lay all on a level, would soon make the disease as
prevalent in this country, as in some others in the old world.

{137} If Europeans and others, who indulge in censorious remarks on
western taverns and tavern-keepers, would make reasonable allowances
for the thinly-settled state of the country, the high price of labour,
and the great numbers of travellers, their criticisms might be somewhat
softened. The man who cannot enjoy a placid temper under privation of a
part of the comforts of a more advanced state of society, is surely to
be pitied for having business in the back woods of America.

A very inferior breed of cows and horses are to be seen almost every
where by the river. This may be partly imputed to the want of proper
fodder, and of shelter in the winter. Cattle are not housed in the
season, when every plant is withered to whiteness. Grass is not sown to
succeed the crops. A growth of tall weeds takes immediate possession of
the soil. Hay, therefore, is a scarce article. Indian corn is resorted
to as a substitute, but it appears to be too hard for mastication.
Butter and cheese sell at 25 cents (13¹⁄₂d. sterling) per pound.

_February 17._ This morning was clear and frosty. Temperature 32° in
the morning. Snow fell to the thickness of an inch in the forenoon. In
the afternoon it disappeared.

_18._ The morning was clear; temperature 20°. In the afternoon the ice
melted.

_19._ Temperature 29° in the morning. In the forenoon, snow fell to the
thickness of an inch and a half. In the evening it became liquid.

There is much wet ground in the vicinity of the falls. Intermittent
fevers afflict the inhabitants toward the end of summer and in autumn.
Last season an unusual degree of sickness was experienced.

New settlers continue to descend the river. Family boats are almost
continually in sight. In a {138} boat lying ashore to-day, a man was
busy in making shingles. He has brought with him pine timber from
Allegany river. Shingles give a good price here, where pine trees do
not grow, and they furnish him with employment at intervals. This
is a good specimen of the provident habits and the industry of New
Englanders, a people admirably adapted for taking possession of the
woods.

_March 1._ To-day the people of Jeffersonville elected a Squire,
(Justice of the Peace.) Two young men disagreed, and fought a furious
battle. In justice to the election, it is admitted that the fight was
in consequence of an old quarrel.

I have met with no less than eight Scotsmen to-day. We are said to be
the most national of all Europeans in America, and the most loyal to
old monarchy.

The weather is mild and clear, with the aspect of spring. Birds
begin to chirp in the woods; their plumage is fine, but they are not
songsters.

Jeffersonville contains about sixty-five houses, thirteen stores
(shops,) and two taverns; the land office for a large district of
Indiana, and a printing office that publishes a weekly newspaper,
and where the American copy of the most celebrated of all reviews is
sold. A steam-boat is on the stocks, measuring 180 feet long, and
forty broad; estimated to carry 700 tons. There are now thirty-one
steam-boats on the Mississippi and Ohio. Twenty-nine more are building,
and in a forward state.

At present, a passage from New Orleans to the falls of Ohio costs 100
dollars, including provisions. Goods are carried at 6¹⁄₄ cents per
pound weight. This high rate, with the danger of passing through a most
unhealthy climate, in case of arriving after the beginning of July,
{139} or before the end of October, gives Baltimore, Philadelphia, or
New York, a decided preference to Europeans who would settle in the
lower parts of the Ohio country, or on the Missouri. It is, indeed,
conjectured, that the increase of steam-boats will soon occasion a
competition, and a great fall in the freight; but, it is only after a
great deduction taking place, that New Orleans need be compared with
Baltimore, as the port for landing emigrants.

_May 19._ The steam-boat, Western Engineer and a number of keel-boats,
descended the falls to-day, with a considerable body of troops,
accompanied by a mineralogist, a botanist, a geographer, and a
painter.[81] Their object is to explore the Missouri country, and to
form a garrison at the mouth of Yellow Stone river, about 1800 miles
up the Missouri river. Five other steam-boats, besides other craft,
are expected to join the expedition. The Western Engineer has on the
bow, a large sculpture of the head of a snake, through which the waste
steam escapes; a device, independently of the general aspect of the
equipment, that might be enough to strike terror amongst the savage
tribes.

I shall conclude this, with mentioning two singular occurrences. The
passage of a steam-boat from Pittsburg to Louisville, seven hundred
miles in fifty hours; and the marriage of a girl in this place, at the
age of eleven years and three months.


FOOTNOTES:

[71] For a biographical sketch of Andrew Ellicott, see Cuming’s _Tour_,
volume iv of our series, note 213.--ED.

[72] For the early history of Cincinnati, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume
iv of our series, note 166.--ED.

[73] _i. e._ Divination by the wand. This science may be fashionable,
but unquestionably it must be a novelty, as the occult sciences,
particularly that of divination, can only exist with the vulgar.--FLINT.

[74] Portsmouth Gazetteer, No. 4.--FLINT.

[75] These stories are found in the apocryphal chapters of the book of
Daniel in the Old Testament; for Idol Bel, see chapter 14; for Susanna,
see chapter 13.--ED.

[76] The “New Orleans,” built for Fulton and Livingston at Pittsburg
in 1811, was the first steam-boat on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
Having made a triumphant journey down to New Orleans, an object of
wonder at every town on the way, she did not attempt to return, but
ran between that city and Natchez until her destruction in 1814. The
“Enterprise,” the fourth steam-boat on Western waters, after serving
Jackson in his defense of New Orleans, made the first attempt to
steam up the river, reaching Louisville in twenty-five days. But the
water was high and she frequently found an easy course over inundated
fields, so that it was reserved for the “Washington,” which made a like
journey in 1817, to demonstrate the value of the steam-boat for Western
commerce.--ED.

[77] Lorenzo Dow, a native of Coventry, Connecticut, began his work
as a Methodist preacher in New York in 1779. He spent some years
in Ireland, endeavoring to convert the Irish to Methodism; also in
England, where he introduced camp-meetings, not without opposition from
a large part of the English Methodists. Upon his return to America, he
travelled from place to place, holding revivals. During his later life
he was almost fanatical in his bitterness towards the Jesuits, and, as
Flint implies, his zeal led him to make extravagant statements.--ED.

[78] For the Swiss settlement at Vevay, see Bradbury’s _Travels_,
volume v of our series, note 164.--ED.

[79] For a brief account of Louisville, see Croghan’s _Journals_,
volume i of our series, note 106.--ED.

[80] Jeffersonville, on the site of old Fort Steuben at the falls of
the Ohio, was laid out in 1802 in accordance with a plan proposed by
President Jefferson. It soon superseded the older neighboring town of
Clarksville, upon the same tract of land.--ED.

[81] This was the expedition of Major Stephen H. Long. The object
stated by Flint was abandoned, due to bad management of the military
branch of the undertaking. While the party was wintering near the
mouth of the Platte River, Long, returning to Washington, received new
instructions from President Monroe, namely, to seek a pass through
the Rocky Mountains south of the route of Lewis and Clark, and on the
return journey to examine the source of Red River. Abandoning their
steamer, “Western Engineer,” the party mounted horses, followed the
south fork of the Platte to the base of the mountains, saw and named
Long’s Peak, crossed over to the Arkansas, and ascended it to the Royal
Gorge. There, despairing of success, they gave up the attempt and
started home. The Union Pacific Railway now follows, in large measure,
the route travelled by Long. In returning, he followed a stream which
he supposed was the Red, but which proved to be a tributary of the
Arkansas. For the journal of this expedition, see volumes xiv-xvii of
our series.--ED.




{140} LETTER XI

 Morals and Manners of the People--Defects in
 Education--Generosity--The President of the United States.


  _Jeffersonville, (Indiana,)
  June 28, 1819._

My residence at this place for some time past, prevents me from noting
down such occurrences as travellers usually meet with. This letter must
therefore be composed of other materials. Some remarks therefore on the
people will form the subject; premising that it is not the American
character in general that I treat of. My opinions and assertions are
founded on my own limited observation, and on what I conceive to be
authentic facts.

The European, on his first arrival in the United States, may perhaps
expect to find sound republican principles, and good morals, pervading
nearly the whole population. He has probably heard that capital
punishments are rare, and from that circumstance, may have inferred
that there are few crimes to punish. For some time this ideal
character may be entertained. Newspapers will naturally be looked to,
as the current records of delinquency; in these, multitudes of cases
regarding the proceedings against criminals are entirely omitted. After
some correspondence with the people, and after some observation of
incidents, a sojourner from the old world will be apt to modify his
original opinion.

{141} Last winter, a committee of inquiry into the state of the prison
at Baltimore, stated in strong terms the inadequacy of the present
modes of punishment, and the deplorable increase of offenders, who
by their numbers threaten to overwhelm every lenient corrective.
The confinement not being solitary, and the young being mixed with
older and more experienced desperadoes, the institution intended
for reformation is literally converted into a school of vice, where
plans for future depredations are regularly concerted. The speech
of Governor Clinton,[82] at the opening of the last session of the
legislature of New York State, is another authority on this subject.
That gentleman feelingly deplored the growth of depravity, and affirmed
that magistrates are unable to inflict deserved punishments on all, and
that, from the numbers committed, there is a necessity for extending
pardon to an undue extent, or of granting absolute impunity. He stated
farther, that the prisoner released is sometimes re-committed for a new
crime on the same day.

The river Ohio is considered the greatest thoroughfare of banditti in
the Union. Here the thief, in addition to the cause of his flight, has
only to steal a skiff, and sail down the river in the night. Horse
stealing is notorious in the western country, as are also escapes from
prison. Jails are constructed of thin brick walls or of logs, fit only
to detain the prisoner while he is satisfied with the treatment he
receives, or while he is not apprehensive of ultimate danger. Runaway
apprentices, slaves, and wives, are frequently advertised. I have heard
several tavern-keepers complain of young men going off without paying
for their board. This is not to be wondered at, where so many are
continually moving in this extensive country, without property, without
acquaintances, {142} without introductory letters, and without the
necessity of supporting moral character.

Swearing, as I have repeatedly mentioned, is a most lamentable vice.
If I am not mistaken, I have already heard more of it in America than
twice the aggregate heard during the whole of my former life.

A high degree of nationality is frequently to be observed, and
encomiums on American bravery and intelligence poured forth by men
who are not remarkable for the latter quality, and who, by their
ostentation, raise a doubt as to their possessing the former. Their
conduct seems to be more disgusting to cultivated Americans, than to
Europeans.

Here are multitudes of persons who have no accurate notions of decorous
behaviour. This, no doubt, may arise partly from their ideas of the
equality of men, without making due allowances for morals, manners,
intellect, and education. Accustomed to mix with a diversity of company
at taverns, elections, and other places of public resort, they do not
well brook to be excluded from private conversation. On such occasions,
they exclaim, “_This is a free country_” or a “_land of liberty_,”
adding a profane oath. They do not keep in view that one man has a
natural right to hear, _only_ what another is willing to tell him. Of
late I have several times found, that when I had business to transact,
a third party drew near to overhear it. Hired people, mixing with
families and their visitors, have ample means of gaining a knowledge
of other people’s affairs. I shall relate a story which I have on good
authority. A gentleman, in a State where slaves are kept, engaged
some carpenters from a neighbouring free State to erect a barn. On
the day of their first arrival they eat {143} along with himself. On
the second day the family took breakfast a little earlier than usual,
and caused the table to be covered anew for the mechanics, previous
to their coming in. They were so highly offended with this imaginary
insult, that they went off without finishing their work. This little
affair became so well known in the vicinity, that the gentleman could
not procure other workmen for some time. This extension of liberty
and equality is injurious, inasmuch as it prevents the virtuous part
of society from separating from the vicious; and so far as it removes
from the unprincipled and untutored part, the salutary incitement
to rest character on good behaviour and intelligence, instead of
citizenship, or an allusion to the _land of liberty_, or the favourite
maxim that one man is as good as another. I have frequently been asked
such questions as, “Where are you come from? Where are you going? What
are you to do there? What have you got in these here boxes? Are you a
merchant? I guess, then, you are a mechanic.”--Dr. Franklin did well in
wearing labels on his person, announcing his name, his residence, the
place he was travelling for, and his business there.

The abolition of titles and hereditary distinctions in America has not
been productive of all the simplicity of address that might have been
expected, or was perhaps intended by the illustrious founders. Squire,
the appellation designating a Justice of the Peace, or Magistrate,
is commonly retained for life, although out of office, or even when
dismissed for misconduct. It is so also amongst officers in the
militia. Men who are appointed Captains, or Majors, and may have been
present at trainings for a short time, are called Captains or Majors
ever afterwards. Of _ex officio_ corporals or serjeants I have heard no
mention made. The persons who {144} take charge of keel-boats are also
Captains. Except in cases where such names as those just alluded to
are applied, Mr. is the epithet of every man, and is applied on every
occasion. All are gentlemen. The wife is, of course, Mrs.; the daughter
and maid servant are indiscriminately saluted Miss, or Madam. All are
ladies. Thus the Christian name has fallen into disuse. I do not wish
to be understood as approving of giving an appellation to one man and
withholding it from another, but would only observe, that where all are
Mr. Mrs. and Miss, these terms do not imply a distinctive mark, and
that the simple Christian names would be more discriminately useful in
the affairs of life, if not almost as respectable.

A passion for money has been said to be a great characteristic of
Americans. To admit this would perhaps be conceding too much. It is
certain that security of property and high profits on capital, tend to
promote this disposition, and it therefore cannot be wonderful that
America has a full proportion of enterprizing citizens, and such as are
essential to the progress of a new country.

Polite behaviour, talents, education, and property, have influence in
society, here, as elsewhere. It is true that many who occupy the back
ground are obtrusive, and wish to act on the principle of equality, and
that violations of decorum are not repulsed with the same contempt as
in Britain; but it is only those who are agreeable in their manner and
conversation, that can be received as interesting companions amongst
accomplished men. The finer sympathies of human nature are not to be
taken possession of by force. Those who have believed in the equality
of society in America, have adopted a position physically and morally
impossible.

{145} Most of the defects noticed may be traced to the education of
youth, reared in families where the parents have not had the advantage
of early culture, and where the son becomes a mere transcript of the
father, the model after which he is formed. If he is sent to school,
in most cases he knows that the teacher is not allowed to whip him.
The teacher is thus rendered any thing but that object of reverence
which becomes his office, and it can scarcely be expected that the
young freeman will be much inclined either to follow the precepts or
to imitate the example of his tutor. He is practically taught to look
down on the learned man as an inferior, and to despise the most useful
attainments. The most efficient means of instruction, then, are those
of the family, where, in too many instances, the children are the
unrestrained offspring of nature. It gives no pleasing sensations to
hear them swearing, at an age when they ought to be learning to know
one letter from another, or to see them throwing off submission to
parents, and assuming all the confidence of manhood before they arrive
at half the stature.

There is one trait of character sufficiently generous to give a lustre
to the American name. The stranger is not insulted on account of his
country. I have not seen or heard of a single instance where a native
of Britain has met with a disagreeable reflection for having paid
taxes to the government so long inimical to the Republic, and that
has repeatedly leagued with savages in carrying bloodshed amongst her
people.

In almost every part where I have travelled, I have met with
intelligent and interesting individuals. In every town where my stay
was for any considerable length of time, I have become acquainted {146}
with citizens whom I should be happy to meet again. A few introductory
letters which I brought with me to this country, have not only procured
for me the most polite and friendly receptions, but other introductions
to respectable and eminent persons before me on my route; letters not
weakened by the distance of my friends, whose good wishes dictated the
first, but if possible stronger than the originals.

To give a summary character of the American people, or even of any
considerable portion of them, is beyond the reach of my observation
and intellect. It may be safe to state, that they are much diversified
by education, local circumstances, and the sources from which
the population has been derived. The manners of Britain seem to
predominate. The want of schools is a great desideratum in new
settlements. Hence it is, that in travelling from the coast into the
interior, the proportion of uneducated persons appears to be the
greater the farther to the westward: a fact that has been noticed
by many, and one showing that civilization follows in the rear of
population.

His Excellency James Munro, President of the United States, is now on a
tour through the southern and western parts of the country.[83] On the
24th current, three of our citizens, deputed by the inhabitants of the
town, went to congratulate him, on his arrival in the neighbourhood,
and to invite him to visit Jeffersonville. On accidentally meeting
with them returning, I felt myself at a loss for a trite phrase in
congratulating them, and could only tell them bluntly, that in Europe
we should say, You are very _loyal_. One of them was polite enough to
set me right, by informing me, that the object of their mission was to
make an expression {147} of _public respect_. Should you consider the
loyalty of Europe, and the public respect of America as convertible
terms, you will also have occasion to be set right, and this may
perhaps be best done by telling you, that the President does not engage
in dubbing knights or granting sinecures:--That public officers are
not appointed by his fiat, nor with the concurrence of a privy council
of his choice; but in conjunction with the Senate, whose members are
elected by the people. These officers are not only few, but their
salaries are merely remunerations for the services which they perform.
In short, the President is not regarded as a dispenser of public
money. On his part he has to regard public greetings as the spontaneous
sentiments of disinterested and independent men, without repulsing any
one in the language of James the First of Scotland, “What does the
cunning loon want?”

On the 26th the President arrived. A tall pole with the striped flag
was displayed on the bank of the river. A salute was fired, and a
large body of citizens waited his coming on shore. To be introduced
to the President was a wish almost universal, and he was subjected to
a laborious shaking of hands with the multitude. A public dinner was
given. This, too, was an object of ambition. Grocers left their goods,
and mechanics their workshops, to be present at the gratifying repast.
The first magistrate appears to be about sixty years of age. His
deportment is dignified, and at the same time affable. His countenance
is placid and cheerful. His chariot is not of iron, nor is he attended
by horse-guards or drawn swords. His protection is the affection of a
free and a represented people.


FOOTNOTES:

[82] De Witt Clinton (1769-1828) was from early manhood engaged in New
York politics. Beginning as secretary to his uncle, Governor George
Clinton, he was state senator from 1798-1802; mayor of New York from
1802-1815; and, with the exception of four years, governor from 1817
until his death. His interest in the Erie Canal is well known. In 1812
he urged its construction upon Congress; failing in that he drew up an
elaborate memorial to the state legislature, which had great weight
in inducing that body to undertake the enterprise. When the canal was
opened (1825), he was carried on a canal barge in triumphal procession
from New York to Lake Erie.--ED.

[83] For Monroe’s tour, see Buttrick’s _Voyages_, volume viii of our
series, note 28.--ED.




{148} LETTER XII

 On Emigration--The Prospects of Emigrants--Inconveniences--The method
 of laying out and disposing of public lands.


  _Jeffersonville, (Indiana,)
  August 2, 1819._

This letter will be devoted to such remarks on emigration so far as
my little experience and short residence in America enable me to have
made. Before entering upon the subject, I think it proper to state,
that I disown every intention of advising any one to leave his native
country; and that I disapprove of exaggerating the prospects held out
here, and underrating those of Britain, as uncandid and deceptive,
as appealing to the passions to decide in a matter which ought to be
determined by the sober exercise of reason.

In exchanging Britain for the United States, the emigrant may
reasonably expect to have it in his power to purchase good unimproved
land, and to bring it into a rude state of cultivation, with less
capital unquestionably, than that employed in renting an equal
proportion of good ground at home. He will not be burdened by an
excessive taxation, nor with tithes, nor poor’s rates; for there are no
internal taxes paid to the government, no privileged clergy, and few
people who live by the charity of others. His labour and his capital
will be more productive, and his accumulation of property more rapid,
(good health, industry, and economy, presupposed,) {149} and a stronger
hope may be entertained, that extreme poverty or want may be kept at a
distance. After residing five years in the country, he may become an
elector of those who have the power of making laws and imposing taxes.

The inconveniences or difficulties which attend removing, are upon no
account to be overlooked. The man who undervalues these is only holding
disappointments in reserve for himself. He must part with friends,
and every acquaintance to whom he is attached, a case that he may,
perhaps, not fully understand, till he acts his part in it. A voyage
and a long journey must be submitted to. He must breathe a new air,
and bear transitions and extremes of climate, unknown to him before.
His European tinge of complexion must soon vanish from his face, to
return no more. A search for the new home will require his serious
attention, a diversity of situations may soon be heard of, but it is
not easy to visit or compare many of them. Nor is the emigrant, on his
first arrival, an adequate judge of the soil of America. In a dilemma
of this kind advice is necessary. This is easily procured every where;
but it deserves attention to know, whether the informant is interested
in the advice he gives. Land dealers, and others, naturally commend
tracts of land which they are desirous to sell. The people of the
neighbourhood have also an interest in the settling of neighbouring
lands, knowing, that by every augmentation of population, the value
of their own property is increased. On several occasions I have met
with men who attempted to conceal local disadvantages, and defects
in point of salubrity, that were self-evident. I do not recollect of
having heard more than two persons acknowledge, that they lived in
an unhealthy situation. {150} In the high country of Pennsylvania, I
was told that Pittsburg is an unhealthy place. At Pittsburg, I heard
that Marietta and Steubenville are very subject to sickness. At these
places, the people contrast their healthy situation with Chillicothe,
which, I was told, is very unhealthy. At Chillicothe, the climate of
Cincinnati is deprecated; and at Cincinnati, many people seem willing
to transfer the evil to the falls of the Ohio. At this place the truth
is partially admitted; but it is affirmed that the Illinois country,
and down the Mississippi are very unhealthy. The cautious will always
look to the views and character of the man who would direct them, and
will occasionally rely on their own judgments.

In the public land-offices, maps of the new lands are kept. Sections
of a square mile, and quarter sections of 160 acres, are laid down.
The squares entered are marked A. P. meaning advance paid. This advance
is half a dollar per acre, or one-fourth of the price. Lands, when
first put to sale, are offered by public auction, and are set up at
two dollars per acre. If no one offers that price, they are exhibited
on the land-office map, and may be sold at that rate at any subsequent
time. New settlers, who are sufficiently skilled in the quality of
the soil, are in no danger from land-office transactions. Besides
the land-offices for the sale of national property, there are agents
who sell on account of individuals. I can mention Mr. Embree, of
Cincinnati, as a gentleman who does much business in this way, and with
much reputation to himself.

The land office maps are divided into townships {151} of six miles
square.[84] The figure represents a portion of the country laid out in
this way.

The positions of the townships relatively to the base line, are
expressed by the numerals I, II, III, &c. and their positions
relatively to the meridian are numbered on both sides of it east and
west, as marked on the top and bottom. The parallels marked I, I-II,
II-III, III, and so on, are called townships, Nos. I, II, III, &c.
north or south according as they lie on the north or south side of
the base line. Positions in regard of the meridian are indicated by
the numbers 1, 2, 3, &c. at top and bottom, east or west, as they lie
on the {152} east or west side of the meridian line, and are called
ranges, Nos. 1, 2, 3, &c. For an explanatory example, suppose the
designation of the township at the bottom of the right hand column
is required. The square in question, is in the parallel numbered V
south of the base line, and IV east of the principal meridian. It is
therefore called town five south, range four east.

[Illustration]

The townships are divided into sections of a square mile each, as in
town No. 4 north, range No. 3 east.

The figure [page 178] is a larger representation of a township, showing
how it is divided and numbered.

The faint lines represent the divisions of sections into quarters
of 160 acres each. At the auctions {153} of public lands, and at
subsequent sales, lots of this extent are frequently entered. The
sixteenth section of each township is reserved for the support of a
school.

[Illustration]

Lands entered at the public sales, or at the Register’s office, are
payable, one fourth part of the price at the time of purchase; one
fourth at the expiry of two years; one fourth at three years, and the
remaining fourth at four years. By law, lands not fully paid at the
end of five years, are forfeited to the government, but examples are
not wanting of States petitioning Congress for indulgence on this
point, and obtaining it. For money paid in advance at the land office
a discount of eight per cent, per annum is allowed, till instalments
to the amount of the payment become due. For failures in the payment
of instalments, interest at six per cent is taken till paid. The most
skilful speculators usually pay only a fourth part of the price at
entry, conceiving that they can derive a much greater profit than
eight per cent. per annum from the increasing value of property, and
occasionally from renting it out to others. Where judicious selections
are made, they calculate rightly.

The land system now adopted in the United States is admirable in regard
of ingenuity, simplicity, and liberality. A slight attention to the
map of a district, will enable any one to know at once the relative
situation of any section that he may afterwards hear mentioned, and
its direct distance in measured miles. There can be no necessity for
giving names to farms or estates, as the designation of the particular
township, and the number of the section is sufficient, and has,
besides, the singular convenience of conveying accurate information
as to where it is situated. By the new arrangement the boundaries
of possessions are most securely fixed, {154} and freed alike from
the inconvenience of rivers changing their course, and complexity of
curved lines. Litigation amongst neighbours as to their landmarks, is
in a great measure excluded. The title deed is printed on a piece of
parchment of the quarto size. The date, the locality of the purchase,
and the purchaser’s name, are inserted in writing, and the instrument
is subscribed by the President of the United States, and the agent of
the general land office.[85] It is delivered to the buyer free of all
expense, and may be transferred by him to another person without using
stamped paper, and without the intervention of a law practitioner. The
business of the land office proceeds on the most moderate principles,
and with the strictest regard to justice. The proceeds are applied
in defraying the expense of government, and form a resource against
taxation. The public lands are in reality the property of the people.

The stranger who would go into the woods to make a selection of lands,
ought to take with him an extract from the land office map applying
to the part of the country he intends to visit. Without this, he
cannot well distinguish entered from unentered grounds. He should
also procure the names of the resident people, with the numbers and
quarters of the sections they live on, not neglecting to carry with him
a pocket-compass, to enable him to follow the blazed lines marked out
by the surveyor. _Blaze_ is a word signifying a mark cut by a hatchet
on the bark of a tree. It is the more necessary for the explorer to
be furnished thus, as he may {155} expect to meet with settlers who
will not be willing to direct him, but, on the contrary, tell him with
the greatest effrontery, that every neighbouring quarter section is
already taken up. Squatters, a class of men who take possession without
purchasing, are afraid of being turned out, or of having their pastures
abridged by new comers. Others, perhaps meditating an enlargement
of their property, so soon as funds will permit, wish to hold the
adjoining lands in reserve for themselves, and not a few are jealous of
the land-dealer, who is not an actual settler, whose grounds lie waste,
waiting for that advance on the value of property, which arises from an
increasing population. The non-resident proprietor is injurious to a
neighbourhood, in respect of his not bearing any part of the expense of
making roads, while other people are frequently under the necessity of
making them through his lands for their own convenience. On excursions
of this kind, the prudent will always be cautious of explaining their
views, particularly as to the spot chosen for purchase, and without
loss of time they should return to the land-office and make entry.

The new abode being fixed, the settler may be surrounded by strangers.
Polite and obliging behaviour with circumspection in every transaction,
become him in this new situation.


FOOTNOTES:

[84] The township system of survey was adopted in the first ordinance
for the sale of public lands, passed May 20, 1785. The authorship of
the plan has been a subject of controversy. It is usually attributed to
Thomas Hutchins, first geographer of the United States, who had earlier
embodied the idea in a plan for establishing military colonies north of
the Ohio. See Hindsale, _Old Northwest_ (New York, 1888), p. 262.--ED.

[85] At every land office, a register of the weather is kept. Three
daily observations of the thermometer, the direction of the wind, the
aspect of the sky, whether clear or clouded, fair or rainy days; and
some other occasional phenomena, are noted down.--FLINT.




{156} LETTER XIII

 Comparative Advantages of several Parts of the United
 States--Temperature of the Climate at Philadelphia and at
 Cincinnati--Pennsylvania--Ohio--Kentucky, and the Western Part of
 Virginia--Indiana--Illinois--Missouri--Reflections on Slave-Keeping.


  _Jeffersonville, (Indiana,)
  October 16, 1819._

To determine the most proper parts of America for new settlers, is a
proposition interesting in its nature, but one that cannot be solved
with precision. This general fact is to be kept in view, that, in the
old populous settlements, land is already too dear to admit of that
spontaneous increase in value so profitable in back-wood districts.
The sea-board then is to be rejected by those who would go in search
of the most profitable investment of their capital, and some part of
the interior country is to be selected. The vast migration from the
eastern States to the western, is satisfactory evidence of this state
of the land market; and, besides, countenances the opinion, that the
country first peopled by Europeans is not destined to such population
and wealth as that rationally anticipated in the more fertile western
States.

In the most inland parts of the old States, there are still abundance
of good woodlands reserved for future cultivation, embracing an
extensive range of climate, and a great diversity of vegetable
products; but the natives of the temperate climes {157} of Europe
will, for the most part, be averse to live under the scorching sun of
Georgia, or the intense frosts of the province of Maine. Somewhere
between the extremes, probably between Hudson River and Chesapeake
Bay, affords the best approximation. At Philadelphia, for example, the
mean temperature of the year may be stated at 53.66°, that quantity
being a mean of the results obtained by the observations of Dr. Rush,
Dr. Cox,[86] and Mr. Legoux;--a determination nearly coinciding with
that of Mr. Playfair,[87] (53.58°) for the mean temperature of the
vegetative season, from the 20th of March to the 20th of October, at
Edinburgh, and only 5.86° higher than the mean temperature of the
latter place for the whole year. It is true that the extreme variations
are much greater at Philadelphia than at Edinburgh, but it will be in
vain to search for a situation in the United States, possessing that
equability of heat, that characterizes the British islands.

From the tract of country under consideration, Maryland and Delaware
will be deducted, as ineligible to the man who does not wish to live
amongst slaves. He may, indeed, live in either of these parts without
employing the involuntary labourer, but the man of acute sensibility
will usually be unwilling to injure the feelings of his neighbours, who
may conceive that his abstaining from the detested practice implies a
practical censure on their conduct. Slaves being addicted to theft and
other immoralities, form a strong objection against settling amongst
them. The whole stretch of country on the coast, including Maryland,
Delaware, part of Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, may be rejected, on
account of the high price of land. The inland parts of Pennsylvania
and New York States remain free from the objections just mentioned,
and {158} are believed to possess comparative advantages in respect of
climate and soil.

The winter of New York State is the more severe of the two, and seems
to point out Pennsylvania as preferable. With the single defect of
distance from market, Western Pennsylvania possesses great advantages.
The most prominent are, a healthy climate, a good soil, abundance of
coal, iron-ores, limestone, sandstone, and salt springs, circumstances
that render this country susceptible of a dense population, and a very
high state of improvement.

It being assumed that Pennsylvania lies between parallels of latitude,
the most temperate of any on the eastern coast, the inference is
natural, that the States Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and part of Kentucky,
must have a climate of similar warmth, slightly modified, no doubt, by
the elevation and prevalent winds of particular parts. Accordingly,
observations made at Cincinnati, (which lies fifty minutes south
of Philadelphia) show, that its annual mean temperature is only
six-tenths of a degree higher than that of the latter place.[88]

The lands of the State of Ohio are understood to be more fertile than
those of Pennsylvania.--With good culture, from sixty to a hundred
bushels of maize per acre, are produced. On an acre of land, near
the mouth of the Little Miami, one of the first settlers raised the
extraordinary quantity of one hundred and fourteen bushels. The
advanced state of population, in the southern part of the State, has
withdrawn the most choice tracts of ground from the land-office; good
lots, however, may still be bought from private individuals at a
moderate price. The higher country, lying nearly {159} equidistant from
the river Ohio and lake Erie, is understood to be healthy, fertile,
abounding in springs of water, and possessing a good navigation
downward, in wet seasons of the year, by means of the rivers Muskingum,
Scioto, and Miamis. The northern part of the State is described as
having many large prairies, of a rich quality, but unhealthy.

Kentucky, and the western part of Virginia, have much land of the first
rate quality; but the influx of new settlers is greatly prevented by
the insecurity of titles. Surveyed at an early period, when the country
was in the possession of the hostile aborigines, and before the new
method of laying out public lands was adopted, much confusion as to
boundaries prevails.[89] Many conflicting claims are frequently made
on the same tract, and a degree of litigation has ensued that appears
to be almost interminable. There is another cause tending to retard the
ingress of new comers which it would be invidious to repeat.

Indiana is a State more recently settled than any of the foregoing.
The part where the Indian title was extinguished, was, till lately,
comparatively small. Non-resident purchasers have shut up a large
proportion of it from immediate cultivation; some judicious entries
may still be made in the land-office, particularly by White River, and
in some other parts at a considerable distance from the Ohio. The land
office map for Jeffersonville district has many more vacancies in it
than that at Cincinnati, showing that it contains much more land not
yet appropriated by individuals. Here, as in Ohio State, the high lands
are considered the most healthy. A recent purchase from the Indian
tribes will make a valuable addition to the State of Indiana.[90] The
tract is supposed to contain about six {160} millions of acres, and
is to be soon abandoned by the natives. Already upwards of a hundred
families have entered it, for the purpose of rearing cattle and hogs.
These will have excellent opportunities for selling their stock when
purchasers take possession of the newly acquired territory, and will
have the advantage of becoming acquainted with the most valuable lands
previous to the sales. The surveyors, and other persons, who have
visited the new purchase, represent it to be rich, diversified in
surface, with the advantage of navigable waters in spring and autumn;
and that it is much better adapted to pasturage than the country
adjoining to the Ohio.

In the State of Illinois there are vast quantities of land to be
disposed of by the Government, besides the residuary of former
sales, standing open in the land-office maps at Shawneetown[91] and
Edwardsville.[92] The recent surveys bring about 3,730,000 acres into
the market. A great portion of this land lies on the Sangamon, a
southern branch of Illinois river; and I am informed by a gentleman
who has lately been there, that the country is the best that he is
acquainted with. At a period not far distant, a communication between
Lake Erie and Illinois river may be opened through the river Plein,
which empties itself into the lake.[93] Craft are said to have
already passed out of the one river into the other. A large portion
of Illinois, lying between Illinois river and the Mississippi, is a
military grant given to the troops who fought in the late war, and
divided amongst them at the rate of a hundred and sixty acres to each
man.[94] Shares of this land have been sold since its partition at a
dollar, and even so low as half a dollar per acre. The military grant
is chiefly low and flat. The soil is rich, and interspersed with {161}
prairies[95] but subject to agues: this, with a great proportion
of non-resident owners, must greatly retard the improvement of the
district. The northern parts of Illinois are understood to possess a
healthy climate.

In the Missouri Territory, large surveys are just completed, these
consist of about a million of acres near Osage river, and about two
millions toward the Mississippi, including the old settlements. The
reports of the Missouri country which I have heard, convince me, that
it contains a large quantity of good lands, and that it is favoured
with a fine climate. A gentleman who wintered at St. Louis, near the
mouth of the river Missouri, assured me that the cold is more severe
there than in the Ohio country. Although his opinion was formed from
his sense of feeling, without reference to the thermometer, it is
probably just, as the situation of St. Louis is relatively high, and
as much of the neighbouring country is without wood, admitting a free
circulation of winds, from higher and more northerly parts.

In the countries adjoining to Arkansau and Red rivers, about two
millions of acres are laid out for sale. The former of these rivers is
understood to be larger than the Ohio, and passes through a fertile
country. The post of Arkansau is situated a little northward of
latitude 34°.[96] A parallel that must be felt uncomfortably hot by
most Europeans. Cotton is the most profitable product; a vegetable
that has hitherto been almost exclusively cultivated by involuntary
labourers.

Michigan and north-west territories are understood to be fertile, and
well adapted to rearing cattle. Detroit is the capital of Michigan.[97]
In {162} the north-west territory there are two settlements; one at
Fort Howard, and the other Prairie du Chiens.[98] A military post is
to be formed at the mouth of St. Peter’s river, below the Falls of St.
Anthony.[99] These extensive regions lie in a latitude corresponding
with that of the New England States; and will probably be peopled by a
hardy race of freemen, when the lands of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois,
can be no longer procured at a low rate.

Those who would go in search of healthy situations may keep in view,
that their object can only be attained, at a distance from swamps,
and rivers which overflow their banks; it being well known, when the
former are dried up, and when the latter recede within their low-water
boundaries, vast quantities of mud and vegetable matters are exposed to
the heat of the sun, and a rapid decomposition immediately commences.
The gaseous constituents evolved give a perceptible taint to the air,
and are understood to form the miasmata that occasion agues, bilious
fevers, and liver complaints. The best navigable waters, and the most
healthy parts of the country, are, in some measure, incompatible,
and seldom admitting of immediate proximity to one another. Happily,
a moderate height of land is usually sufficient to prevent the
accumulation of stagnant waters, and to promote a motion in rivers,
that lessens the scope of their inundations, or retains them altogether
within their banks. A degree of elevation conducive to a comparatively
healthy climate, may be usually found within two or three miles of
the river; but as the contaminated air is liable to be transported by
winds, and probably not sufficiently diluted with the atmosphere in
passing over such small spaces; a greater distance from the source of
contagion {163} is no doubt preferable. I have, on various occasions,
seen persons from the higher country, about forty miles north of this
place, whose complexions are apparently more healthy than those of
the people who live on the banks of the Ohio; and several of late who
profess to have a reluctance to come down to the river on business, at
the present season of the year.

In the preceding part of this letter I mentioned the high country
lying near the heads of the northern tributaries of the Ohio, as having
a good climate. That part of it watered by the Muskingum, the two
Sciotas, and the two Miamis, possesses a downward navigation in spring,
and in the latter end of autumn, but as these rivers enter the Ohio
above the falls at Louisville, the upward navigation is interrupted
there during the summer months. This single circumstance amounts to
a weighty objection against the eastern part of the country under
consideration.

The western part has two great navigable streams, the Wabash, and
the Illinois. The Wabash is navigable for boats drawing three feet
of water, to the distance of about 400 miles from its mouth, and in
floods about 200 miles farther. Its largest tributary is White River,
which is navigable to a great distance upward. It waters a fertile
and delightful country, and joins the Wabash below all its rapids
except one run, which forms no great obstruction to the navigation.
The new seat of government is to be erected on the bank of one of
the streams of White River.[100] The Illinois is esteemed one of the
best navigations in western America. So early as 1773, a Mr. Kennedy
sailed upward to the distance of 268 miles from its confluence with the
Mississippi.[101] Sangamon river, one {164} of its principal streams,
is said to be navigable for 180 miles by small craft.

From the best information that I can procure, this western division of
the country, north of the Ohio, appears to be highly eligible to new
settlers. It unites the advantages of having high lands and navigable
waters in immediate contact, and a shorter and a better communication
with the ocean than any part of western America, that is to be
exclusively cultivated by freemen.

The country on Missouri river, has been already noticed as possessing
advantages in soil and climate, but the difficulty of the navigation
upward, amounts to a considerable objection against adopting that
territory. A convention of the people formed a constitution, and laid
before Congress their claim for being admitted as a State in the
Federal Union. The new constitution asserts the right of the people
to hold slaves, and of admitting more negroes from other parts of
the United States. Towards the conclusion of last Session of the
legislature, this question of right was warmly discussed, most of
the members from the Southern States maintained, that Congress have
no right to dictate to the people of any new State on this subject,
viewing it as a matter of internal policy, and one that does not
come under the jurisdiction of the general government,--and the
treaty of Session stipulated, that the Spanish colonists remaining
in the country, should retain their former rights and privileges. In
opposition to these doctrines, the members from Northern States argued,
that Congress has a constitutional right to interfere, and urged as a
precedent, the act prohibiting the introduction of slavery into the
country north-west of Ohio river, with other arguments too numerous
to be recapitulated here. It is painful {165} to learn that the
representatives of the nation are so much divided on this interesting
question, and, in the present instance, to reflect, that in most cases
their proceedings are expressions of the will of their constituents.
The affair waits the decision of next Session, and, in the meantime,
much solicitude prevails with regard to it. The most intelligent
citizens are at a loss to anticipate the result, and the members of
the Legislature are probably equally uncertain, whether the new State
shall become a receptacle of slaves, and its representatives the future
advocates of a Slave keeping interest. The slave keeping States,
and those which have prescribed the practice, commonly called free
States, seem to be struggling for predominance. There are now eleven
Slave keeping, and eleven free States, so that Missouri must give a
sort of numerical preponderance to one of the parties. The number of
representatives for free States, are apportioned according to the
number of free persons in each, and in Slave keeping States, they are
regulated by the number of free persons added to three-fifths of the
slaves, a method that has the effect of strengthening the influence of
the Southern party.

When the Missouri question is set at rest,[102] the people of the
United States will no doubt reflect on the singular line of demarkation
which they have drawn. Supposing that the _internal frontier_ was
produced to the Stony Mountains, or to the Pacific Ocean, every
speculative mind must contemplate it, not merely as a topographical
division, but also as a sort of moral boundary, separating a great
nation into two parts, very dissimilar in the habits and jurisprudence
of their people, and will seriously meditate on the possible
consequences of the unhappy difference. I do not {166} wish to make
any disagreeable reflection on the patriots who have already done so
much in circumscribing the boundaries of human misery; but regret,
that such a wide field still remains for their benevolent labours, and
that their opponents are pursuing a course imminently dangerous to
themselves, and ill calculated to promote the future tranquillity of
the republic. Many disagreeable incidents have already been occasioned
by the collision of principle and interest. Negroes frequently desert
from their masters, and fly into neighbouring free States. It may be,
that the people amongst whom they seek refuge, do not always show
much anxiety that the owners shall recover their property; and it is
perhaps partly on account of this indifference, that the pursuers of
slaves adopt forcible means instead of the legal redress prescribed by
free States. Peaceful communities are thus invaded by small parties
of armed men, who carry off blacks without certifying their right to
them. In two late instances, two free blacks in Indiana were kidnapped
by people from Kentucky, and the remonstrances made on the part of
the former State, were not followed by any satisfactory concession
on the part of the latter. The laws of free States, on this subject,
are in disagreement with the usages of slave-holders; a source of
contention that may not be easily removed. Hitherto no popular rupture
has been occasioned by affairs of this kind; but, it may be asked,
where is there any guarantee that similar discordances may not become
more frequent when a more numerous population of both colours shall
be crowded along the neighbourhood of the slave-line? And may not the
heart-burnings and provincial pride, now manifest, be wrought up to a
higher pitch at a period, perhaps not far distant, when the United
States will become confident of a degree of strength that cannot
require such a {167} complete co-operation as heretofore in repelling
the attacks of foreign force?

If the slave-holding party persist in the extension of the abuse,
it would well become them to give up their constitutional claims
for calling forth the militia of northern states “to suppress
insurrections,” and for protecting them “against domestic violence,” so
far as slaves may be the future disturbers of the peace. Whether they
make such a fair concession or not, it is for them to reflect whether
their northern neighbours, who have so uniformly and so wisely opposed
the evil, and who have so humanely laboured to eradicate it from
amongst themselves, will be willing to imbrue their hands in the blood
of the injured people who have never excited any of their feelings
except pity.

So long as the Missouri question remains unsettled, a hope may be
entertained that liberal sentiments may prevail. The northern people
seem to be almost universally in favour of the restriction, and a part
of the finest feelings, and the brightest talents in the Southern
States, are ranged on the side of humanity.


FOOTNOTES:

[86] Benjamin Rush (1745-1813), a signer of the Declaration of
Independence and member of the state convention of 1787, was the
most eminent American physician of his day, and by his theories
regarding the nature of yellow fever won recognition abroad. Serving
as physician-general in the Revolutionary army, for twenty-nine years
surgeon in the Pennsylvania Hospital, and throughout his life a
practicing physician, he nevertheless found time to become identified
with many public measures, notably the abolition of slavery, and the
extension of public schools, and was a member of nearly every important
literary and philanthropic society in Philadelphia.

John Redman Cox (1773-1864) was, like Rush, a Philadelphia physician,
being trained at the University of Edinburgh. He was for many years
professor of chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, and edited
several medical journals; but is best known as an early and pronounced
advocate of vaccination.--ED.

[87] John Playfair (1748-1819), an eminent Scottish mathematician and
astronomer.--ED.

[88] Dr. Drake’s Picture of Cincinnati, page 116.--FLINT.

[89] In Virginia and Kentucky the state made no surveys before
disposing of its lands. The settlers or speculators sought out a tract,
made a survey, generally marking it by “blazing” the trees, and had
it recorded in the state land-office. Areas of all shapes and sizes
were patented, and unpatented strips of irregular shape lay between.
Moreover, there was no limit to the number of patents that could be
taken out on the same piece of land, the land-office concerning itself
not at all with controversies over titles, merely guaranteeing an
entry if no previous title was valid. The original claim to hundreds
of thousands of acres in Kentucky was never settled, the land being
eventually held under possession titles.--ED.

[90] This refers to the Miami cession made at St. Mary’s, Ohio, October
6, 1818. By this treaty the Delaware and Miami Indians ceded all
central Indiana between the Wabash and White rivers.--ED.

[91] For the early history of Shawneetown, see Croghan’s _Journals_,
volume i of our series, note 108.--ED.

[92] Edwardsville, on Cahokia Creek, twenty miles north-east of St.
Louis, was founded in 1816, and named in honor of Ninian Edwards, first
governor of Illinois Territory.--ED.

[93] A canal connecting Illinois River with Lake Michigan was first
suggested by Jolliet in 1673, when he and Marquette returned by that
route from their exploration of the Mississippi River. Such a canal
was included in Gallatin’s system of internal improvements, proposed
in 1808. President Madison laid the matter before Congress in 1814;
Calhoun, as secretary of war, again called attention to it, in 1819;
and for twenty years it found a place in the governor’s annual message.
Finally (1836), its construction was undertaken by the state, aided by
large congressional land grants. The Illinois-Michigan Canal, extending
from La Salle, on the Illinois, to Lake Michigan, at the mouth of
Chicago River, one hundred miles in all, was completed in 1848, and
opened with much ceremony. In 1882 the state ceded the property to the
United States, in the hope that the latter would enlarge it for a ship
canal. But the next step was taken by the Chicago Sanitary District,
which at a cost of about $35,000,000 has completed the Chicago Drainage
Canal for the better disposal of the sewage of Chicago. This canal was
opened January 2, 1900, after seven years spent in its construction.
Flint’s reference is to the Des Plaines (Plein) River.--ED.

[94] The Illinois military grant was the peninsula between the
Mississippi and Illinois rivers, as far north as a line drawn west from
the confluence of the Illinois and Vermilion rivers. The value of the
land began to appreciate soon after Flint’s journey, and ten counties
were erected within it in 1824-25.--ED.

[95] Van Zandt’s description of the military grant.--FLINT.

_Comment by Ed._ Nicholas Biddle Van Zandt, _A full description of the
soil, water, timber, and prairies ... of the military lands between the
Mississippi and Illinois rivers_ (Washington, 1818). The author, the
title-page shows, was “Late, a clerk in the General Land Office of the
United States, Washington City.”

[96] For the Arkansas Post, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our
series, note 195.--ED.

[97] For the early history of Detroit, see Croghan’s _Journals_, volume
i of our series, note 18.--ED.

[98] For Fort Howard, see Evans’s _Tour_, volume viii of our series,
note 82.

The mouth of the Wisconsin had been the site of temporary trading-posts
during the French regime, but the first permanent settlement was
begun in 1781 by Indian traders. For the expedition thither the
following year, see J. Long’s _Voyages_, volume ii of our series, pp.
186-191. During the War of 1812-15 Prairie du Chien was alternately
in possession of the Americans and British; see _Wisconsin Historical
Collections_, xiii, pp. 1-164. Upon the return of peace, the Americans
built Fort Crawford (1816) which was for many years a military post and
Indian agency.--ED.

[99] Lieutenant Pike obtained the site for this fort from the Indians
in 1805, but no use was made of it until 1819, when Fort St. Anthony
was begun at the mouth of Minnesota (St. Peter’s) River. Upon the
recommendation of General Scott, who inspected it in 1824, the name
was changed to Fort Snelling, in honor of the military officer who
directed its construction. It was sold by the government at private
sale in 1857; but a congressional inquiry ensuing, a new arrangement
was made in 1871, whereby the fort was retained and the remainder of
the military reservation transferred to the purchaser.--ED.

[100] In the Indiana enabling act passed in 1816, Congress granted
to that state for a seat of government, any four sections of land
thereafter to be acquired from the Indians. Commissioners appointed
by the legislature selected the present site of Indianapolis in 1820.
However, it was then a wilderness over sixty miles from any store, and
the government was not actually transferred thither until 1825.--ED.

[101] Patrick Kennedy was a trader at Kaskaskia, in the Illinois
country, during British ascendency. The expedition referred to was
undertaken in search of copper mines, and extended as far as the mouth
of Kankakee River. His journal of this tour is published in Hutchins,
_A Topographical Description of Virginia_ (London, 1778).--ED.

[102] The historic Missouri question was settled by the Missouri
Compromise, passed by Congress February 27, 1821, admitting Missouri
as a slave state, but decreeing that slavery should be excluded from
all other territory north of latitude 36° 30′ N. (the south boundary of
Missouri).--ED.




LETTER XIV

 Lawyers--Doctors--Clergy--Mechanics--Justices of the
 Peace--Anecdotes--Punishments--Reflections.


  _Jeffersonville, (Indiana,)
  March 10, 1819._

The greater part of my letters from America have hitherto been
addressed to our late brother John. Since we have now to deplore that
he is removed {168} from all correspondence with us, I shall direct
this to you.

There are many particulars in the condition of this country, that
must appear surprising to any one who has not seen a community
in its infantine state. We have here lawyers who have not been
regularly educated in the knowledge of their profession. Blackstone’s
Commentaries are considered the great medium of instruction.

The young man who has carefully read these, and who has for a short
time wrote for a practising attorney, is admitted to the bar. It is
said that even the latter part of this preparatory course has, in
many instances, been dispensed with. The occupation of barrister
and attorney is usually performed by the same practitioner.[103] He
transacts with clients, writes and pleads before courts of justice, or
before a squire, as occasion requires. If we may judge from grammatical
and orthographic inaccuracies, we must be apt to believe that, although
some of them may be esteemed as lawyers, they are not good English
scholars. Lawyers here, as elsewhere, take their stand as being of
the first class in society, and a great proportion of our back-wood
legislators, in State assemblies, and in the general government,
are elected from among this body of gentlemen. Such are many of the
counsellors who grow up in Transmontane-America; but it would be unfair
to omit noticing that men of a very different character arise here.--I
shall only mention one example in Henry Clay, a Kentuckian lawyer, who
has for eight years made a distinguished figure in the conspicuous
situation of speaker of the House of Representatives at the capital.
Mr. Clay was commissioner on the part of the United States, at
the treaty of Ghent, in 1814, and plenipotentiary for commercial
arrangements with Great Britain in 1815. The profession {169} also owes
much of its respectability to the ingress of young gentlemen of liberal
education from the Atlantic States, who make diligent research in the
history of cases, and whose libraries are usually stored with law
authorities, and the best models of forensic eloquence in the English
language.

The medical men here are all _doctors_, nor is the inferior degree,
surgeon, at all recognised. In new settlements, many practise on life
and limb who have not obtained the diploma of any medical school. The
smallness of their laboratories renders it probable, that the universal
medicine is included. Here, too, there are honoured exceptions; and
the medical colleges instituted at Cincinnati and Lexington may soon
furnish more accomplished practitioners.

The clergy would perhaps excuse my not giving their order the
precedence, if they were told that men hold forth here, who can have no
pretensions to qualifications derived from human tuition. Many of their
harangues are composed of medley, declamation, and the most disgusting
tautology. I have chiefly in view itinerant preachers of the methodist
sect, who perhaps cry as loud as ever did the priests of Baal. Their
hearers frequently join in loud vociferations, fall down, shake, and
jerk in a style, that it would be in vain to attempt to describe.

Incapacity is not confined to those situations that ought to be
filled with men of learning, but extends to the rudest branches of
the mechanical arts. It is not thought wonderful to see a blacksmith
without a screw plate; and I have known of several very plain pieces
of joiner work that were stolen for patterns by unqualified workmen.
Almost every well-finished article is imported, and {170} so long as
this impolicy is continued, handicraft must remain in a low state.

We have here justices of the peace who would not be promoted to
the office of constable in some older communities. They are mere
petty-foggers, who are occasionally employed in collecting debts, and
raising suits to be brought before their own tribunals. In these cases,
they act in the double capacity of agent for one party, and judge,
and have no repugnance against collecting their fees in the hour of
cause. I shall relate two anecdotes. One of these _gentlemen_, who
lives at no great distance from the spot where I write, was hearing the
representations of two opponents in open court. They disagreed, and
commenced a fight. The squire, not adverse to this sort of decision,
joined with the constable and some other people in forming a ring for
the combat. A negro man and a white woman came before the squire of a
neighbouring township, for the purpose of being married. The squire
objected to the union as contrary to a law of the State, that prohibits
all sexual intercourse between white and coloured people, under a
penalty for each offence, but suggested, that if the woman could be
qualified to swear that there was black blood in her, the law would not
apply. The hint was taken, and the lancet was immediately applied to
the Negro’s arm. The loving bride drank the blood, made the necessary
oath, and his honour joined their hands, to the great satisfaction of
all parties.[104] The last of these squires {171} was not elected by
the people, but appointed under the late territorial government of
Indiana. He is a naturalized citizen of the United States, but a native
of England.

The election of a magistrate, is an affair that usually occasions a
considerable sensation in a little town. The most respectable citizens
naturally support the candidate that has the real interests of society
at heart; and the more licentious are as naturally averse to promote
the man who, they believe, would punish themselves. It is, therefore,
the relative numerical strength of the two parties, that frequently
determines the character of a town judge. It is understood, that in
new towns by the Ohio, the unruly part most commonly prevail, and that
as they advance in population and wealth, the more orderly people take
the sway. A case has come under my notice, where the conduct of {172}
a squire was at variance with the practices of a large proportion of
his constituents. He had resolved on exerting his power to suppress
fighting, swearing, and breach of the Sabbath, and to exact the
statutory penalties against the two last of these offences. On a
Sabbath soon after his election, a man carrying a gun and a wild duck
passed his door. He intimated his resolution of having the offender
brought to justice; but the culprit gave him much abusive language,
with profane swearing, and threatened to beat him for the interruption.
The squire soon perceived that he was losing his popularity, and that
his opposition to the will of the sovereign people was injuring his
business, and for that reason resigned his commission. In cases where
the squire is supposed to be remiss in the execution of his duty, the
people sometimes interfere extrajudicially. At this place, a tailor’s
shop was lately broke into by night, and a quantity of goods carried
away. On the following day, a stranger and the lost property were
discovered in an empty house adjoining. He was instantly carried before
one of our magistrates. On being interrogated, he confessed being
found in the house, but denied having any concern with the booty. The
squire dismissed him. But the young men of the town who had assembled
to hear the examination, were too sensible of the strength of the
presumptive circumstances of the case, and of the admitted act of
housebreaking, in entering the uninhabited apartment, to allow him to
escape with impunity. They caught him at the door, led him out behind
the town, where they tied him to a tree, and put the cowhide into the
hand of a furious young man, who happened to be half intoxicated.
The whipping was performed with such vigour, that the blood sprung
in every direction. A gentleman of {173} Cincinnati told me, that, a
few years ago, the citizens of that place had found it expedient to
punish in the most summary way; and that he had several times acted as
presiding judge, in what was called a court of uncommon pleas. Whipping
uniformly followed conviction. Cincinnati has now outgrown that stage
of population, that admits of this sort of jurisprudence, and is better
regulated than certain large European cities.

Sanguinary punishments are almost universally deprecated. The best of
citizens are opposed to them from philanthropic motives; and the worst
view them as subversive of liberties. A considerable proportion of the
humane, and perhaps most of the vicious, concur in arguing, that man
has no right to take away the life of man in the punishment of any
offence. A doctrine purporting, in plain terms, that the right or power
in the individual to commit crime, is stronger than that in society
to punish or to protect. Although this extremely lenient principle
has a vast multitude of supporters, it has not been introduced into
the criminal code of any state in the Union. Treason, murder, arson,
and piracy committed on the high seas, remain on the list of capital
crimes. The first of these offences is defined by the constitution
of the United States, as consisting “only in levying war against
them; or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.”
No infliction, on this ground, has been found necessary since the
epoch of the Federal Union. Other offences, as forgery, burglary,
robbery, larceny, &c. being treated as inferior misdemeanours, the
machinery of the executioner is seldom put into operation; and a
benevolent penetentiary system is adopted in parts of the country
where the population is sufficiently great to bear the expense. New
{174} settlements cannot afford the large establishments combining
the accommodation for solitary confinement and labour. Whipping is
therefore resorted to, as a matter of necessity rather than of choice.
It is chiefly to be lamented, that chastisement does not produce
immediate evidence of reformation, as the sufferer usually removes to
another part of the country; and may resume the character of gentleman,
even while his back is raw from the recent correction.

It is with painful sensations that I recollect of the illiberal and
ungenerous reflections, uttered by the minions of a faction in your
country, against supposed barbarism in this. Their favourite topics, as
to officers in the Militia becoming tavern-keepers, and tavern-keepers
acting as Justices of the Peace; the derided punishment of whipping,
and the equality of a sovereign people, might at least be mixed with
some allowances for local circumstances; or, if they please, in
making a contrast with the boasted condition of Great Britain, it is
obviously uncandid to draw the subjects of their animadversions from
the fag end of the United States, in the very act of being peopled
by a heterogeneous mixture, uniting in it a considerable proportion
of the most uncultivated of Americans and Europeans; not excluding
fugitives, who have fled before their creditors, and the public
prosecutors of England. Waving this consideration altogether, a very
striking comparison may be made out in detail. The officers of the
United States’ Militia are not professional soldiers, but citizens.
They are not disposable tools, to be employed in foreign aggressions,
or removed in time of peace from Maine to Georgia, and _vice versa_, to
intimidate into submission fellow citizens who are not their personal
acquaintances or immediate {175} kindred; but remain at home, where
they attend trainings, voluntarily and gratuitously. They are at
liberty to follow tavern-keeping, or any other kind of honest industry,
and do not burden their country with a half pay list. Justices of
the Peace, however unqualified they may be, and whatever disgrace
the conduct of individuals brings upon themselves, are not appointed
by the influence of a faction. They are not the “thorough paced”
ministerialists who “have been recruiting officers for the war, instead
of Justices of the Peace;”[105] nor are they the hirelings who promote
the revenue from which their own pensions are drawn, by levying ruinous
fines _upon an unrepresented people_, for the slightest infractions on
excise laws, or game laws. The punishment of whipping has been already
mentioned, with the causes of its being adopted in the back-woods.
Perhaps it might be difficult to assign reasons equally satisfactory
for resorting to it in the populous city of Dublin. The practice is
comparatively humane in America, as it is applied in cases that would
be punished with death in Great Britain. The States of Kentucky and
Ohio have erected penetentiaries, not for the purpose of punishment
alone, but also for the reformation of offenders. The horrible prison
scenes witnessed by Howard, Neild, Bennet, Buxton, Fry, and other
philanthropists in Britain, have no counterpart in America.[106] We
know of no examples here of imprisonment for a debt of a shilling,[107]
or for a supposed fraud of one penny.[108] Nor have I ever heard of
the verdict of an American {176} coroner’s inquest, announcing in their
verdict the death of a prisoner for want of food.[109] Debtors are
not obliged here, to sleep edgeways, for want of the breadth of their
backs on a prison floor.[110] Nor has any poor boy been imprisoned for
a month in Bridewell for selling religious tracts without a hawker’s
license.[111] The equality that consists in universal suffrage; the
absence of privileged orders, and unrestrained industry, is the
enviable felicity of the American nation. The people are, themselves,
the lords of the soil, and acknowledge no superiors who can dictate
to them in the election of other representatives than those of the
community. There are no boroughs where the members monopolize the
business of the place, or who chase away the stranger as if he were
an enemy; or who can exact town taxes contrary to the will of their
fellow citizens. Public accounts are not kept from public inspection.
There is no separate borough representation to be hired over, or owned
by the partisans of a ministry. The clergy are here exalted to the
dignity of citizens, whose interests are identified with those of the
people. Their condition, relatively to that of their adherents, is
in every respect similar to the situation of dissenting clergymen in
Britain. America elevates {177} no spiritual Lords, on wool-sacks, in
her senate, to oppose the introduction of parochial schools. Nor is
there any political body, which courts an alliance with the clergy.
I have never heard of any parson who acts as a Justice of the Peace,
or who intermixes his addresses to _the Great Object of religious
worship_, with the eulogy of the Holy Alliance. The free scope given
to industry is highly conducive to national prosperity. Every man is
allowed to exert his talents, in the pursuit of any honest scheme,
and in any part of the country, without being prevented by intolerant
restrictions or internal taxes. His profits are his own; and he has
no dread of their being wrested from him by the idle drones that
infest other countries. Hence it is, that the United States abound in
enterprizing people, who remove, without hesitation, to any part where
they can suppose any advantage may arise, and adopt projects that would
neither be tolerated nor thought of by people fettered by the trammels
of impolicy. The first failure of a scheme is not here contemplated
as finally ruinous, as a backward step is much more easily retrieved
than in countries more thickly peopled, and where the avenues of
commerce are narrowed by artificial obstructions. There are no branches
of manufactures or professions of any kind, restricted to those who
pay licenses to the government. The farming interest has no monopoly
against the manufacturing: nor has the manufacturing any positive
prohibition against the farmer. Local attachments are much weakened
by the open prospects of an extensive country, by the abolition of
primogenitureship, and by the introduction of laws that promote
family justice. The citizen is not bound to a particular spot for
the preservation of his privileges; for he can enjoy {178} the same
rights all over the Union. The mechanic and the labourer do not remain
unemployed in their native township, to establish their right to the
poor’s rates; for industry is not taxed in paying bounties to idleness.
The landholders of England may quietly enjoy the obeisances of their
pauper dependents, and pay in return their poor’s rates. They may be
assured, that the more equalized citizens of America are not ambitious
of this interchange of benefits; and that the excess of public burdens
has not yet rendered it customary for Americans to desert their own
country, and to resort to France, on account of the cheapness of
provisions.

The present state of North America affords the most conclusive
testimony of the sound policy of a free and unrestricted trade. The
United States allow commerce to regulate itself, according to its
own interests, except in cases where the conduct of other nations
imposes the necessity of following another course. Under legislative
forbearance on this subject, the country has made unexampled progress
in improvements and population. Under the jealous and illiberal
government of Spain, Florida remains a contemptible province, that
has scarcely a name amongst colonies. Under the fostering care and
restrictions of England, Canada continues to be but a mere remnant of
this great continent.


FOOTNOTES:

[103] In Great Britain attorneys are not permitted to plead in court on
behalf of their clients; that is the work of the barrister, who must
previously have belonged to one of the inns of court. Attorneys (or
solicitors) institute actions, advise clients, draw up legal papers,
and act as assistants to barristers.--ED.

[104] Equivocations of this sort have been so often noticed in the
United States, that they must be looked on as notorious. The practice
of naturalizing foreign seamen by the solemn farce of an old woman’s
first cradling bearded men, and then swearing that she rocked them;
and that of procuring pre-emption rights to land in new territories,
by sowing only a few grains of corn, and subsequently swearing that a
crop has been cultivated on the tract claimed, have been so frequent,
that it would be invidious to particularize. In England, affidavits are
often managed in a simpler way. _Swallowing_ a custom-house oath is
there a well known expression. Mercantile houses of London have kept
persons, called swearing clerks, to vouch for transactions, on being
paid at the rate of sixpence for each oath. If it is not true that
men stand at Westminster Hall with straws in their shoes, indicating
their willingness to undertake any dirty job, it is time that the foul
imputation were washed from that _pure_ fountain of justice. Before
prosecutions for conspiracies had become so fashionable in England
as they are now, a witness on behalf of the crown was convicted of
ten separate perjuries. It would appear that a false oath is a morsel
so hard, that it requires cooking before it can be masticated by the
immoral in America, and that a less delicate class in England can gulp
it down in the raw state. Without making any comment on regulations
that protect revenue at the expense of morality; those laws that set
the interests, and the very personal liberties of men at variance with
their consciences, and without inquiring how far evasive subterfuges
may palliate the conduct of the _ignorant_ in their own eyes, or in the
sight of the _great being_ invoked; it is suggested, in explanation,
that popular institutions have the innate property of impressing an
external reverence for the law, on the worst of men.--FLINT.

[105] Walker’s Review of Political Events, p. 125. London, 1794.--FLINT.

[106] This succession of philanthropists, whose labors extended over
the century from 1750-1850, worked tirelessly to stir up English public
sentiment against their criminal code, which contained over two hundred
and nineteen offenses punishable by death, and their deplorable system
of prison management. Consequently early English travellers were
particularly interested in the American system. In 1831 a Parliamentary
Commission was sent to investigate the prisons of Pennsylvania and New
York, and upon its return certain American methods were adopted.--ED.

[107] Evidence of Mr. Law, keeper of the Borough Compter, before the
Police Committee, 1814.--FLINT.

[108] Inquiry into Prison Discipline, by Thomas Fowell Buxton, Esq., M.
P.--FLINT.

[109] The case of J. Burdon in Tothilfields prison in 1817.--FLINT.

[110] In February, 1818, twenty persons confined in the Borough
Compter, slept in a space twenty feet long and six wide. The fact was
confirmed by the governor.--FLINT.

[111] G. M. a boy of about fourteen years of age; he was confined along
with twenty men and four boys. He was employed by one of them to pick
pockets, and steal from the other prisoners. Caught a fever in jail,
which was communicated to his father, mother, and three brothers, one
of whom died. From being a sober, orderly boy, he was changed into
a confirmed thief, and stole his mother’s Bible and his brother’s
clothes.--_Buxton’s Inquiry._--FLINT.




{179} LETTER XV

 Outline of the American Constitution--From the frequency of
 Revolutions in Europe, the instability of the American Republic is not
 to be inferred.


  _Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) Feb. 27, 1820._

The constitution of the United States is not that ephemeral erection,
which the enemies of free government would represent it to be.
Its fundamental principles may be partially traced through the
modern theoretical maxims, and the ancient usages of England. This
consideration, however, does not derogate from the wisdom of the
founders of the Republic, who have so successfully availed themselves
of the experience of other countries and other ages, in organizing
the system; and maturing it by the most unremitting diligence through
peace and war. A review of the progress of American politics, and of
the reasonings which guided the patriotic legislators, would be a
work of much interest. It would lay before us a large portion of the
best abilities, and the most tried virtue of the country, engaged
in inquiries conducive to the general interests of the nation. It
would disclose at every important crisis a venerable assembly, which
neither announced their proceedings as the greatest efforts of human
ingenuity, nor assumed the lofty tone of an “omnipotent” legislature,
but recurred to the will of their constituents for ratification, and,
keeping a view to the future as well as to the present circumstances,
provided the {180} means of revising and amending their decisions.
It was in consequence of this philosophical mode of proceeding, that
the present admirable fabric was gradually erected. It was thus that
the declaration of independence of 1776, a temperate, but energetic
manifesto, intimating the determination of the colonies to throw off
the foreign yoke, was succeeded by the articles of confederation in
1778. This compact, although efficient in time of public danger, was,
during the succeeding peace, found to be defective in not admitting
the dignity and promptitude necessary to the general government, and
not furnishing a sufficient guarantee for the permanence of the Union.
Under the articles of confederation, each State retained the right
of voting its own supplies for the common benefit, and to lay taxes
on such articles as were found most convenient; also, to impose such
imposts and duties on foreign trade as they thought proper. The amount
of supplies furnished by each State was apportioned to the value of
the lands,--a criterion that could never be applied with accuracy.
In this state of things, the acts of Congress could in various cases
be only complied with, through the intervention of thirteen separate
State Assemblies. The power given to Congress to adjust the affairs
of foreign relations, was rendered almost nugatory by the diversity
of commercial regulations of separate States. It became possible,
that a separate State might be at variance with a foreign nation, on
affairs not at all interesting to the other members of the Union, and
that internal discord might arise from opposite interests, rivalship
in commerce, the distribution of territory, and a variety of other
latent causes.[112] To avoid {181} these inconveniences and dangers,
the constitution was framed by a convention of delegates from the
States, whose session ended on the 17th of September, 1787. A Congress
was elected on the new establishment, and General Washington was
unanimously appointed President in the succeeding year.[113]

The constitution vests the legislative power in a Congress, consisting
of a House of Representatives, and a Senate, and the executive power in
the President. The members of the House of Representatives are elected
biennially by the people. Each State has at least one representative,
and not more than one for every thirty thousand persons in it, and two
Senators, who are elected by the State legislature, at intervals of
six years, and are distributed into three classes, so that the seats
of a third part of them are vacated biennially. The President, and
Vice-President are elected for four years by the ballot of electors
appointed by the legislatures of the States; the number of electors in
each State being equal to that of the representatives and senators,
whom the same state has a right to send to Congress.

Bills for raising revenue originate in the House of Representatives;
and every bill that passes both {182} houses, must be presented to the
President for his approbation. In the event of his disapproving of a
bill, it must be returned to the house where it was originated, and if
two-thirds of the members of both houses agree, on re-consideration,
to pass it, then the bill becomes a law. The President is
commander-in-chief of the army, navy, and militia, and may in certain
cases, grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United
States. With the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate, he appoints
ambassadors, and other public ministers, consuls, judges of the
supreme court, and all other officers of the United States, whose
appointments are not provided for by the constitution; but the Congress
has the power of making future laws for vesting appointments in the
President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
The President may fill up vacancies in the Senate during recess, by
granting commissions terminating at the end of next session. Whenever
two-thirds of both houses deem it necessary, they shall propose
amendments of the constitution; or shall call a convention for that, on
the application of two-thirds of the state legislatures.

The duties and powers of the general government are concisely defined
by the constitution, and may be expressed summarily, as embracing the
subjects of commerce, finance, negociation, and war. All other objects
are reserved, as falling under the jurisdiction of the separate state
assemblies. These include local legislation, administration of justice
between persons in the same states, and the supervision of agriculture.

Although it appears, that much care has been bestowed in drawing the
line that separates the prerogatives of the general government, from
those {183} of its individual members, still duties or powers derived
from implication, are occasionally assumed by both departments. We
have two recent examples in view. In 1819, the legislatures of several
states imposed a heavy tax on the branches of the United States Bank,
situated in the respective states. The United States Bank, it must be
noticed, is chartered by Congress, and is the organ through which the
national government transacts its pecuniary affairs. The bank refused
payment, and obtained a judgment in its favour by the supreme or
federal court.[114] Again, the admission of the territory of Missouri
as a State in the Union, has lately been discussed in Congress. One
of the principal points of the debate was the question, Whether the
pre-existing States have a right to dictate to States about to be
admitted into the Union, any restriction against slave-keeping? And
it is understood that scruples on this question of right have induced
several members to vote against the restriction, whose sentiments are
opposed to slavery.

The distribution of business, of which a brief outline has just been
given, is admirably adapted to an extensive sphere of action. The
national councils are thus devoted to national concerns, and not to
such petty affairs as framing public acts for demolishing the fences of
private property to make room for highways, nor in borough politics,
nor in deciding in the disputes of private individuals. Local affairs
are regulated by local authorities, who are best able to judge of them;
and this prevents any ground of complaint to arise against the national
government on account of these. The State legislatures are, besides,
filled annually by a free vote of the people, who have frequent
opportunities of allaying their own discontents by a change of men, and
a change of measures.

Those who predict an early dissolution of the {184} American Union,
and who affirm that the country is naturally divided into two nations
by the Allegany ridge, might with equal propriety say, that the Thames
and the Severn are destined to water the territories of two distinct
governments. And the remark that, in the event of the navigation of the
Mississippi being interrupted by an enemy, the western country would be
subjugated, is another position that may be applied to other rivers,
and to other countries. It is not to be forgotten that, previously to
the cession of Louisiana in 1801, the Spanish government claimed the
exclusive benefit of that river, and that the privilege of navigation
was the principal object that induced the government of the United
States to purchase the territory, in 1803. Louisiana being acquired
at the general expense, and not by the inhabitants of the western
country alone, makes it evident that the transaction was viewed as
an important national affair. Perhaps it was with the intention of
producing a dismemberment, that the ministry of England made the
attack on New Orleans. The defence was conducted in a national form,
and not exclusively by the people of the western country; and the
British government was not gratified by any overture of the inhabitants
for becoming tributary. The supposed conspiracy of Aaron Burr, for
detaching the transmontane country from the Eastern States, was not
found to amount to levying war against the Union.[115] The evidence
that could be obtained from his small party of associates and others,
was not sufficient to convict him. The demagogue is not looked on as
a personage dangerous to public tranquillity;--a decisive proof that
the American people are confident in the strength of the ties by which
they are knit together. The western settlements have the strongest
incitements to remain in close conjunction, with their eastern
neighbours. {185} A separation from them in times of war would cut off
all communication by land with the eastern coast; an inconvenience
that would greatly aggravate any attempt to blockade the mouth of the
Mississippi. A separation would retard the ingress of population; it
would injure internal trade; it would occasion an additional expense
in supporting a separate government, and it would deprive them of the
protection of the United States’ Navy. It will scarcely be alleged,
that the Eastern States have an interest in dissolving the compact
with the Western; as by that step they would not only forego a rapid
accumulation of strength, but would incur the danger of converting
fellow citizens into the most powerful enemies. They would lose that
important branch of revenue, which arises from the sale of public
lands, and they would no longer participate in the fur trade.

To infer the instability of the American republic from the frequency
of revolutions in Europe, is altogether preposterous. A different
state of society, and the difference of the political institutions to
be compared, remove that parity of condition essential to analogical
deduction. The executive power in America, does not extend to declaring
war at pleasure; nor to dissolving the legislature. The president,
whose term of service is only four years, has not the means nor the
motives for family aggrandizement which prevail under hereditary
succession. The members of the House of Representatives have their
seats from the universal suffrage of the people; and the senators get
their dignity and seats from the representatives in State Assemblies,
who are themselves popularly elected, and who cannot promote obnoxious
men without incurring public odium and future exclusion. The
representation is equally distributed. Placemen and pensioners {186}
are effectually debarred from being members of either house; under
these conditions the few have it not in their power to dictate to the
many. Ambitious projects, such as disfigure the histories of other
countries, are precluded. Accessions of territory are not obtained
by conquest, but by purchase. The object sought in these treaties is
the right of soil; and not the power of taxing or enslaving men. No
yoke is imposed but that upon the labouring steer. The domestic policy
of the United States exhibits twenty-four republics, each having its
own constitution, without any other restriction than conformity
to that of the nation. In regard of foreign relations and general
interests, all the States are cemented into one nation. If one or
more States are invaded, the citizens have a right to the protection
of the Union; and in the case of controversies or disputes between
States, the judicial power provided under the general constitution
is the umpire between them. Had the individual members of the United
States placed a hereditary sovereign at the head of each, and put the
reins of government in the hands of a few, we might have heard, before
this time, of American courtiers making treaties to last forever; and
violating them so soon as the strong found it convenient to attack the
weak; of wars furnishing pretexts for raising vast sums to support the
views of a party or a faction, perhaps for depriving the people of
their liberties, and subjugating their neighbours; and of winding up
the whole with holy leagues, admitting of no subsequent arbitrator but
the sword.

The organization, of which a brief outline has just been given, is, in
theory, well adapted to insure internal tranquillity, and protection
against invasion. In practice, it has hitherto been conducive {187}
to both these objects; and to a degree of national prosperity, that
is unparalleled in the present age. The people govern for themselves,
and are too sensible of the value of their rights to allow them to
pass into other hands. Power is delegated only for a short period;
and the representatives are closely watched by their constituents.
Should a congress propose to disfranchise a part of the people; or to
engraft a borough system on the present equal representation; or to
establish septennial elections; every member voting for the obnoxious
motion might expect to be marked out and expelled for ever. A case
somewhat in point occurred in 1817.[116] Congress then passed a law
for increasing the very moderate compensation for the services of
members. The act was conceived to be unconstitutional: an alarm was
sounded all over the country; the supporters of increased compensation
were left out in the election of 1818; and the offensive law was
repealed in the ensuing session. A veneration for the constitution is
probably the most universal characteristic of American citizens: but
they act, as if their united exertions were necessary to keep it in
force; and are sensible, that neglect on their part might soon render
the important document a dead letter. Every timely check given to the
progress of corruption, is removing the necessity of convulsion to a
later date. The people having the means of correction in their own
hands, the political institutions of this country are to be esteemed
as less mutable than the systems that consist entirely of the unmixed
ingredients of disease and death. It would be too sanguine to suppose
that the American people shall preserve their liberties for ever; but
it may be safe to affirm, that nothing decisive in the fate of this
country {188} is to be augured from the histories of republics without
representation, or of monarchies without popular control. Before
Americans relinquish free government, they must be ignorant of their
present knowledge; they must cease to teach their children to prize
their privileges; and no longer inculcate esteem for the memory of
their dauntless ancestors, who fought for the inheritance. Washington,
Franklin, and an host of other patriots, must be forgotten. The
avarice of foreign governments, and the sufferings of foreign people,
must pass into oblivion, and cease to be monitors. In short, a dark age
must arrive before the throne of despotism can be erected here.


FOOTNOTES:

[112] Those who would wish to have a collected view of the principles
of this subject, may consult the Federalist, a collection of
interesting essays on the new constitution, written in 1788, by Messrs.
Hamilton, Jay, and Madison.--FLINT.

[113] Some pious observers of the occurrences of Providence, have
remarked that the Spanish Armada, equipped for the invasion of Britain,
was destroyed in the year 1588; that the Revolution in that country
happened in 1688; and, in seeking for an event to mark the commencement
of another century, it has been observed by the loyal in Britain,
that his Majesty, George the Third, recovered from a most deplorable
visitation in 1788. If there be any American descendants of Britain,
who are pleased with a system of chronology that contemplates the great
events of Providence as revolving in a centenarian orbit, they may
also notice a corresponding occurrence in the consummation of their
liberties in the otherwise memorable year 1788.--FLINT.

[114] The power of a state to tax the United States Bank was settled in
the celebrated case of McCulloch _versus_ Maryland, handed down March
6, 1819 (4 Wheaton, 316). Ohio refused to be bound by this decision,
and her case was decided in 1824 (9 Wheaton, 738).--ED.

[115] A recent contribution to the history of the Aaron Burr
conspiracy, drawn largely from material in the Mexican archives, is
McCaleb’s _Aaron Burr Conspiracy_ (New York, 1903). Isaac Jenkinson’s
_Aaron Burr_ (Richmond, Indiana, 1902), throws new light on Burr’s
relations to Hamilton and Jefferson.--ED.

[116] This law was passed in March, 1816, and its effect was felt in
the elections of that same year. From Ohio, Delaware, and Vermont not
one congressman was re-elected; in Kentucky, but three out of ten;
in South Carolina, three out of nine; in Maryland, four out of nine;
and in Pennsylvania, thirteen out of twenty-three. Jefferson wrote to
Gallatin: “There has never been an instance before of so unanimous an
opinion of the people, and that through every state of the Union.”--ED.




LETTER XVI

 State Legislatures--A predilection for dividing Counties, laying out
 New Towns and Roads--The influence of Slavery on the habits of People
 who live in the neighbourhood of Slave-Keeping States--Elopements from
 Kentucky--Banking.


  _Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) March 10, 1820._

The legislatures of new States consist only of a few members. The
consequence is, that public acts for the exclusive advantage of
private individuals are occasionally passed through influence or
intrigue; and the commendations which I have bestowed on the general
government of America must not be held to apply indiscriminately to
the administration of the _local_ governments, at least in newly
established {189} states. Much of the business (it is said) is
privately arranged, before the questions are discussed in the house.
Combinations are formed for effecting particular purposes. These are
called _log rolling_; a very significant metaphor, borrowed from the
practice of several farmers uniting in rolling together large timber to
be burnt. A number of bills are frequently conjoined by their movers,
so that a member who takes a deep interest in one must vote for all
of them, to obtain the suffrage of the separate partizans. The member
who deserts from the cabal might be leaving his own motion without any
other supporter but himself. An enlightened gentleman told me, that
he was induced to vote for the ridiculous law of this State regarding
intercourse between white and coloured people, in consequence of its
being previously conjoined with other bills.

The laying out of new counties, county towns, and lines of road,
seems to be a gratifying duty to back-wood legislators. Where a
county includes a considerable tract of country, it must be divided
into two. Where it is not large enough to admit of bisection, the
county wanted must be made up from the extremities of four or five
which are contiguous. A large population is not a prerequisite: yet
the convenience of the people is the pretext. A few neighbours who
propose that their settlement should be made the nucleus of the new
establishment, petition the Assembly for a subdivision. If this is
granted, commissioners are appointed to fix the new seat of justice. An
eager contest for private advantage ensues, and although the ostensible
object is public convenience, the new city is perhaps placed near the
outline of its jurisdiction.

You will be much surprised to hear of the avidity which prevails
in this country for towns consisting of a very few log cabins. For
a convenient {190} distribution of seats of justice, and for roads
that are at best openings cut through the woods, with the stumps
remaining, without side ditches, and without any other bridges through
marshes or streams, than a few pieces of timber laid down side by
side across the way. But an explanation is made, when you are told
that pettifoggers by this means create situations for themselves, and
a few of their constituents who are in the employment of squires,
county commissioners, prosecuting attornies, supervisors of roads, and
constables. With numbers the design is to increase the value of their
contiguous lands at the public expense, instead of improving them by
their own industry. By such means, they frequently succeed in selling
at an advance of fifty, or even a hundred per cent, per annum; and
remove to more recent settlements, where they are able to purchase a
larger extent of land, and where they can continue their favourite
trade of making counties, towns, and roads.

Towns are laid out by persons who sell lots of about a fourth or a
fifth part of an acre: these sometimes sell at from a hundred to three
hundred dollars, even in situations where scarcely a single spot of
the neighbouring woods is cleared. After a town has made some progress
in point of improvement and population, lots usually rise in price,
from three hundred to a thousand dollars; and, in the larger towns, to
a much higher value. At present the mania of purchasing town lots is
rather declining. Holders are unwilling to see the prices reduced. They
continue to talk of former rates, and to keep them up; on exchanging
one lot for two, say, that for the better one, one thousand dollars
is paid in two lots worth five hundred each. Their conduct very much
resembles that of a person who said, that he sold a dog at forty
guineas, and explained the transaction by stating, {191} “that he was
paid in two dogs, each worth half that sum.” I lately saw a town lot
sold for state or county taxes, at a fourth part of the price paid
for it two years ago. The rents of the worst kind of houses amount
to upwards of fifty per cent, per annum, on the price of erection. A
miserable cabin, that could scarcely be let at all in your country, or
would not rent at £1 10s. a-year, gives here as much per month. The
people are of consequence closely crowded together; several families
frequently inhabiting a house of one apartment, without any inner door,
so that when the street door is open, passengers may see the inmates
at table, and the other particulars of the house. The beds are ranged
round the walls, like so many looms in a weaver’s work-shop. In various
instances I have seen families living in temporary huts, built of small
pieces of decayed timber collected in the woods, laid upon one another
in the manner in which sawyers erect piles of timber to be dried. The
roofs were covered with bark, and the interstices of the walls left
open, so that at a distance I could count the persons within, as if
they had been birds in a cage. Near to this place a family lately
lived, for several weeks, under an old waggon that was turned upside
down. In towns along the banks of the Ohio, a class of people are to
be seen, who depend on traffic with travellers, and with the scanty
population in the rear of them. Without extravagant profits on the
trifling capital employed, they could not subsist. Many of them seem to
be immoral, dissipated, and without rural or domestic industry. Few of
their lots are cultivated as gardens; and the spinning-wheel, (so far
as I have observed,) is not to be seen in their houses.

The evils of slave-keeping are not confined to the parts of the
country where involuntary labour {192} exists, but the neighbourhood
is infected. Certain kinds of labour are despised as being the work of
slaves. Shoe-blacking, and, in some instances, family manufactures, are
of this class of labours; and it is thus, that in some of the small
towns on the _north side_ of the Ohio, the mechanic and the labourer
are to be seen drawing water at the wells; their wives and daughters
not condescending to services that are looked upon to be opprobrious.
It was for the same reason, that on one occasion, some paupers in a
poor’s house at Cincinnati refused to carry water for their own use.

Elopements from Kentucky into Indiana are frequent. Since my arrival
in this very town, I have witnessed two examples. I do not now allude
to slave-keepers losing their negroes, but their white daughters, who
escape to get married. In a former letter I mentioned the watchfulness
of parents over young ladies in Kentucky, and would only add, that
there, as elsewhere, restraint does not seem to be conducive to
contentment. Those who are acquainted with the state of society in
Turkey, are perhaps the most able to give a decided opinion on this
very interesting subject.

Of upwards of a hundred banks that lately figured in Indiana, Ohio,
Kentucky, and Tennessee, the money of two is now only received in the
land-office, in payment for public lands. Many have perished, and the
remainder are struggling for existence. Still giving for their _rags_
“bills as _good as their own_;” but, except two, none pay in specie,
or bills of the United States Bank. Discount varies from thirty to one
hundred per cent.

The recent history of banking in these western States, is probably
unrivalled. Such a system of knavery could only be developed in a
country where avarice and credulity are prominent features {193} of
character. About four years ago, the passion for acquiring unearned
gains rose to a great height; banking institutions were created in
abundance. The designing amongst lawyers, doctors, tavern-keepers,
farmers, grocers, shoemakers, tailors, &c. entered into the project,
and subscribed for stock. Small moieties must actually have been
advanced to defray the expenses of engraving, and other incidents
necessary to putting their schemes in operation. To deposit much
capital was out of their power; nor was it any part of their plan.
Their main object was to extract it from the community. A common
provision in charters, stipulated, that the property of each partner
was not liable, in security, to a greater amount than the sum he had
subscribed. This exempted the banks from the natural inconveniences
that might be occasioned by the insolvencies and elopements of members.
Money was accumulated in great abundance, as they bought property; lent
on security; and became rich. But their credit was of short duration.
When it was found, that a few of them could not redeem their bills, the
faith of the people was shaken. A run on the paper shops commenced; and
a suspension of specie payments soon became general. Had the people
been at liberty to recover a composition, as in the bankrupt concerns
of Britain, the evil might have, in some measure, been remedied before
this time; but chartered privileges granted by legislators concerned
in the fraud, prevented legal recourse. Even these could not have been
sufficient protection, but for the co-operation of subsequent laws
dictated by the same interest. The state of Indiana, for example,
passed in 1818, what was called “the replevy law,” liberating the
debtor for a year from the claim of the creditor, who refuses to accept
depreciated money. This {194} law, though sufficiently injurious
to creditors, could give no stability to swindling banks. It was,
therefore, succeeded by an act during last session, prohibiting landed
property to be sold by execution, under two-thirds of the appraised
value, and that to be ascertained by five freeholders. The debtor is
by the same act allowed to set apart any portion of his property he
chooses, to discharge execution. Freeholders, it may be observed,
are a class of men naturally adverse to depreciating their own land,
by setting a low value on that of their neighbours. This disposition
is the more dangerous at present, especially when lands are falling
considerably in price, in consequence of the depreciation of the
money which lately stamped such a high value on property. In Kentucky,
a total suspension of law process for sixty days, was followed by a
“replevy law.” In the State of Ohio, enactments similar to those of
Indiana were passed. Here is a combination of laws for the protection
of knaves, who have swindled the people.[117] Those who have either
bought property on credit, or borrowed money, while _rags_ passed at a
high price, have got debts of a great amount to pay, while property can
no longer be sold at former prices. Debtors of this description have
united with bankers, in getting the infamous laws passed just noticed.
While the property law was pending in the Assembly of Indiana, debtors
were in full activity sending forward petitions in favour of the
impolicy, and persuading the ignorant of the propriety of the measure.
In the small town of Jeffersonville, two petitions were made. These
unnatural expedients, however, cannot long serve the purpose intended.
Land continues to fall. The debtor may, for a short time, be kept out
of jail, and the peculator from being stripped of his ill-gotten gains;
but the public is {195} receiving dearly bought instructions, and must
set a watch over future elections.

Although the relations of debtor and creditor are equal in the
amount of property involved in their transactions; and although the
obligations imposed by contracts naturally render creditors the more
powerful class in civilized society, the recent proceedings of
legislatures in this western country, would lead us to believe, that
a majority in numbers or artifice, or perhaps in both, stands on the
debtor side of the ledger. Republicans are not to be whipped like
slaves, nor openly and directly taxed to such extent as Europeans are,
but they may be deluded. Men of their own electing have practised upon
them with success, and the emoluments to be gained in this way, are
apparently the great stimulus that prompts men to intrude themselves
into State governments. No rational mind can discover profit enough
in two dollars per day; or patriotism enough in cheating their
constituents; or popularity enough in eloquence that few can hear, and
none can ever see in print, to collect talent and integrity in council.

At first sight, it would appear to be a paradox, that any individual
State can be allowed to grant charters to banks, or to frame laws that
protect pecuniary fraud, while a section of the constitution of the
United States prohibits such procedure by the following words:--“No
state shall coin money; emit bills of credit; make any thing but gold
and silver coin a tender in paying of debts; pass any ex post facto
law; or law impairing the obligation of contracts.” The western States
cannot avoid being brought to issue with the above very distinct
clauses, as every charter granted by them, is an act tolerating
the substitution of paper, instead of gold and silver; and their
replevy laws, and property {196} laws, are in reality, making paper
a legal tender. Besides, several establishments are chartered under
the appellations of State Banks; and that in Kentucky, for example,
consists partly of stock owned by the State. The conduct of Congress
is not marked by any known act of partiality towards the makers of
unconstitutional money. On the contrary, the collectors of the United
States’ revenue are not allowed to accept of depreciated bills. Their
receiving the money of inferior banks while at par, though apparently
countenancing them, has been, in effect, the best means hitherto
adopted for effecting their ruin. The receivers of revenue lodge the
money received in the United States’ Bank, whose officers almost
immediately present the money to the Banks that issued it, and demand
payment in specie, or bills of the United States’ Bank. It has been in
this way that many of the paper manufacturers were obliged to suspend
specie payments; and it was partly on account of this mode of operating
on local banks, that several State Assemblies voted an enormous tax to
be levied on the branches of the United States’ Bank situated in the
respective States.--That tax was mentioned in a former letter, with
a notice that the supreme court had given judgment in favour of the
National Bank; and the reasonings on which the decision was founded,
were published in a most luminous style. The supreme court being the
arbitrator in all questions rising out of the constitution, Congress
have the power of making the United States a party in defending against
encroachments in the prerogative of the general government. In the
present banking concern, they prudently decline interference, seeing
that experience will soon open the eyes of a people who can, at any
time, counteract the {197} abuse by excluding bankers, and their
adherents, from State legislatures. On this occasion, there can be no
necessity for forcing the interests of the people down their throats,
nor can there be any danger that this infraction of the constitution
will be perpetuated. That the present disorders in banking are not
extended over the whole of the United States is manifested by the
tables of exchange periodically published at New York. These show that
the depressions of money are chiefly confined to the western country,
where the substantial capital is small, and where, (there is reason to
believe,) a large proportion of the people are less acute.

The error committed in the Western States, is not in consequence of any
defect exclusively inherent in the democratic system of government; as
the fraud is neither matured nor confirmed in the older States, and
as England suffers under an evil of the same kind, and apparently in
a more dangerous form. Her restriction act of 1797, is not understood
to be opposed by any recognized constitutional principle. It emanated
from the highest authority in the land. It is not yet repealed, and
twenty-four bank-directors still have it in their power to regulate the
_money_ value of all the property in the empire.[118]

Amidst all the pecuniary inconveniences of this country, the personal
liberty of men is not in danger of being assailed by the hand of
constituted authority. May the time soon come, when the people shall
have understanding enough to take care of their property.


FOOTNOTES:

[117] This practically stopped execution sales, as the freeholders
appraised property so high that no bidder would offer two-thirds of the
appraised value. Flint regards the replevin laws as a protection to
knaves; as a matter of fact, they were a protection to the majority of
the people of the Western States, who had bought their lands on credit,
and in the depreciated state of paper money found themselves helpless
to pay, and their land about to be sold at a great sacrifice. See
McMaster, _History of the United States_, iv, pp. 506-510.--ED.

[118] Essay on the Justice and Expediency of Reducing the Interest of
the National Debt. By Mr. J. R. McCulloch. Edinburgh, 1816.--FLINT.




{198} LETTER XVII

 Depreciated Paper Money--Stagnation in Trade--Produce cheap--Labourers
 and Mechanics in want of Employment--The Poor and Poor’s
 Rates--Appropriations for the Expenses of the State of Indiana, for
 the year 1820--Objects and Rates of Taxation--County Taxes--A rude
 style of Improvement--The progress of New Settlements--Lands about to
 be Forfeited to the Government for non-payment of the price.


  _Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) May 4, 1820._

The accounts given in my last letter of the depredations committed by
bankers, will make you suppose that affairs are much deranged here.
Bankruptcy is now a sin prohibited by law. In the Eastern States, and
in Europe, our condition must be viewed as universal insolvency. Who,
it may be asked, would give credit to a people whose laws tolerate the
violation of contracts? Mutual credit and confidence are almost torn up
by the roots. It is said that in China, knaves are openly commended in
courts of law for the adroitness of their management. In the interior
of the United States, law has removed the necessity of being either
acute or honest.

The money in circulation is puzzling to traders, and more particularly
to strangers; for besides the multiplicity of banks, and the diversity
in supposed value, fluctuations are so frequent, and so great, that
no man who holds it in his possession can be safe {199} for a day.
The merchant, when asked the price of an article, instead of making
a direct answer, usually puts the question, “What sort of money
have you got?” Supposing that a number of bills are shown, and one
or more are accepted of, it is not till then, that the price of the
goods is declared; and an additional price is uniformly laid on,
to compensate for the supposed defect in the quality of the money.
Trade is stagnated--produce cheap--and merchants find it difficult
to lay in assortments of foreign manufactures. I have lately heard,
that if a lady purchases a dress in the city of Cincinnati, she has
to call at almost all the shops in town, before she can procure
trimmings of the suitable colours. It is only about three years ago,
that an English traveller[119] asserted, that in Cincinnati “_English
goods abound in as great profusion as in Cheapside_.”--Merchants in
Cincinnati, as elsewhere, have got into debt, by buying property, or
by building houses, but are now secure in the possession. Such people,
notwithstanding complain of the badness of the times, finding that the
trade of buying without paying cannot be continued. Those who have not
already secured an independence for life, may soon be willing to have
trade and fair dealing as formerly. Property laws deprive creditors of
the debts now due to them; but they cannot force them to give credit as
they were wont to do.

Agriculture languishes--farmers cannot find profit in hiring labourers.
The increase of produce in the United States is greater than any
increase of consumpt that may be pointed out elsewhere. To increase
the quantity of provisions, then, without enlarging the numbers of
those who eat them, will be only diminishing the price farther. {200}
Land in these circumstances can be of no value to the capitalist who
would employ his funds in farming. The spare capital of farmers is here
chiefly laid out in the purchase of lands.

Labourers and mechanics are in want of employment. I think that I have
seen upwards of 1500 men in quest of work within eleven months past,
and many of these declared, that they had no money. Newspapers and
private letters agree in stating, that wages are so low as eighteen
and three-fourth cents (about ten-pence) per day, with board, at
Philadelphia, and some other places. Great numbers of strangers lately
camped in the open field near Baltimore, depending on the contributions
of the charitable for subsistence. You have no doubt heard of emigrants
returning to Europe without finding the prospect of a livelihood in
America. Some who have come out to this part of the country do not
succeed well. Labourers’ wages are at present a dollar and an eighth
part per day. Board costs them two three-fourths or three dollars per
week, and washing three-fourths of a dollar for a dozen of pieces. On
these terms, it is plain that they cannot live two days by the labour
of one, with the other deductions which are to be taken from their
wages. Clothing, for example, will cost about three times its price
in Britain: and the poor labourer is almost certain of being paid in
depreciated money; perhaps from thirty to fifty per cent, under par. I
have seen several men turned out of boarding houses, where their money
would not be taken. They had no other resource left but to lodge in the
woods, without any covering except their clothes. They set fire to a
decayed log, spread some boards alongside of it for a bed, laid a block
of timber across for a pillow, and pursued their labour by day as {201}
usual. A still greater misfortune than being paid with bad money is
to be guarded against, namely, that of not being paid at all. Public
improvements are frequently executed by subscription, and subscribers
do not in every case consider themselves dishonoured by non-payment
of the sum they engage for. I could point out an interesting work,
where a tenth part of the amount on the subscription book cannot now
be realized. The treasurer of a company so circumstanced, has only to
tell undertakers or labourers, that he cannot pay them. I have heard of
a treasurer who applied the funds entrusted to him to his own use, and
who refused to give any satisfaction for his conduct. It is understood
that persons who are agents for others, frequently exchange the money
put into their hands for worse bills, and reserve the premium obtained
for themselves. Employers are also in the habit of deceiving their
workmen, by telling them that it is not convenient to pay wages in
money, and that they run accounts with the storekeeper, the tailor, and
the shoemaker, and that from them they may have all the necessaries
they want very cheap. The workman who consents to this mode of payment,
procures orders from the employer, on one or more of these citizens,
and is charged a higher price for the goods than the employer actually
pays for them. This is called _paying in trade_.

You have often heard that extreme poverty does not exist in the United
States. For some time after my arrival in the country supposed to be
exempt from abject misery, I never heard the term poor, (a word, by
the by, not often used,) without imagining that it applied to a class
in moderate circumstances, who had it not in their power to live in
{202} fine houses, indulge in foreign luxuries, and wear expensive
clothing; and on seeing a person whose external appearance would have
denoted a beggar in Britain, I concluded that the unfortunate must
have been improvident or dissipated, or perhaps possessed of both of
these qualities. My conjectures may have on two or three occasions been
just, as people of a depressed appearance are very rarely to be seen,
but I now see the propriety of divesting myself of such a hasty and
ungenerous opinion. Last winter a Cincinnati newspaper advertised a
place where old clothes were received for the poor, and another where
cast shoes were collected for children who could not, for want of
them, attend Sunday schools. The charitable measure of supplying the
poor with public meals, has lately been resorted to at Baltimore; but
there is reason to believe, that most of the people who are relieved
in this way, are Europeans recently come into America. In the western
country, poor rates are raised in the form of a county tax. They are,
however, so moderate as to be scarcely felt. Contracts for boarding
the permanently poor are advertised, and let to the lowest bidder, who
has a right to employ the pauper in any light work suited to the age
or ability of the object of charity. They are said to be well treated.
This sort of public exposure must create a repugnance against becoming
a pauper. In the Eastern States, work houses are established. It is to
be wished that those who follow this plan will not lose sight of the
example of England. The operations of bankers, and the recent decline
in trade, have been effective causes of poverty; and it seems probable
that the introduction of manufacturing industry, and a reduction of
base paper, would soon give effectual relief.

{203} It is not from the number of benevolent institutions, nor
from the low condition of some families, nor from the insolvency of
individuals, that I draw the conclusion that poverty prevails to
a greater extent than I at first imagined. The appropriations for
defraying the expenses of the State, together with the ways and means,
and the deficiencies in payments, are highly illustrative. I shall
transcribe two documents.

  _An act_ for making appropriations for the year one thousand
  eight hundred and twenty.

  Approved January 22, 1820.

 SEC. I. _Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of
 Indiana_, That the following sums be, and they are hereby appropriated
 for the following purposes; to wit, for defraying the expenses of
 the present General Assembly, including pay to the members thereof,
 secretaries, clerks, door-keepers, sergeants at arms, stationary, ink,
 ink-stands, fuel, printing, binding, and distributing the laws and
 journals, making marginal notes and indices to the same, together with
 all other just and necessary expenses, the sum of eight thousand five
 hundred dollars.

                                                            _Dollars_

  For the executive department,                                2200

  For the judiciary department,                                4900

  For the interest on the public debt,                         3000

  For defraying the contingent expenses of the government,
    for the year 1820,                                          800

  For the military department, including the salary of the
    adjutant-general,                                           400

  For defraying the premiums on wolf scalps unsatisfied,        500

  For defraying warrants not yet presented in the judiciary
    department,                                                 875
                                                              -----
                                                              12675
                                                              -----

To make up the deficiency between the above expenses and the sum
appropriated, a separate act authorizes the governor to borrow four
thousand {204} dollars on the credit of the State. The following
extract from an act, shows the sources of revenue.

 _Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana._ That
 there shall be levied a tax for State purposes, on the following
 objects of taxation, and after the following rates, to wit, For every
 hundred acres of first rate land subject to taxation, the sum of
 one dollar. On every hundred acres of second rate land, the sum of
 eighty-seven and a half cents. On every hundred acres of third rate
 land, the sum of sixty-two and a half cents; and in that proportion
 for a greater or less quantity. And on all Bank Stock actually paid in
 at the rate, twenty-five cents for every hundred dollars.

The expenses of the government of the State for last year was
11,701-90¹⁄₂/100 dollars. Receipts of bad money prevented payment
of the interest of the debt. On the 4th day of December, 1819, there
were arrears of taxes due for the years 1817 and 1818, amounting to
4991³⁴⁄₁₀₀ dollars.

It is worthy of notice, that among the objects of taxation quoted, that
on bank stock is by the act limited to “_stock actually paid in_.” A
most decided proof of the preponderance of the banking interest, in
exempting the villanous associations from an equal share of taxation;
and, at the same time, countenancing an evasion of the security pledged
by bankers to the people. The receipts of bad money, noticed in last
paragraph, disclose a wickedness or a weakness on the part of the
Assembly which is altogether contemptible.

The following are the rates of taxes to be paid for county purposes:
For every horse, mule, or ass, _not exceeding_ 37¹⁄₂ cents. For every
horse kept for covering; once the rate at which he stands for the
season. Every tavern, not less than ten, nor more than twenty-five
dollars. For every ferry, not less than five, nor more than twenty
dollars. {205} Town lots in proportion to their value, (exclusive of
improvements thereon,) not exceeding fifty cents on every hundred
dollars. A tax of fifty cents to the clerks of the several circuit
courts, at the issuing of each writ of _capias ad respondendum_. A tax
of fifty cents on each certificate of magistracy, with the county seal
attached thereto. A tax on every pleasure carriage with two wheels, of
one dollar. A tax on every pleasure carriage with four wheels, of one
dollar and twenty-five cents. A tax on every silver watch, twenty-five
cents. And a tax on each gold watch, of fifty cents.

Town taxes for defraying the expense of digging wells, forming streets,
&c. are regulated by a committee of the inhabitants. The objects of
taxation in a town in this State were published last year. Among these,
a very moderate impost on bachelors and male dogs was mentioned.

Rich country signifies fertility of soil, and not the opulence of
its inhabitants.--It would be vain to search for a rich district,
according to the European acceptation of the term. Almost every object
bespeaks a want of capital. Fine houses are brick ones of two stories
high, covered with shingles, and frequently unfinished within; and
where the work is completed, it is usually in a bad style; the windows
often broken; and the adjoining grounds perhaps studded with the stumps
of trees, overgrown with rank weeds, or rutted by hogs. The inferior
buildings, as stables, barns, (and negro huts in slave States,) are
unseemly log cabins, frequently standing in front of the mansion; the
whole having more the appearance of a ruin than the abodes of a people
having taste for elegant improvements. Gardening is performed in the
most slovenly manner imaginable; the plough {206} being in more general
use than the spade. Labouring utensils are constructed without the
application of the joiner’s plane. Iron is either sparingly used in
their formation, or altogether dispensed with.

All who have paid attention to the progress of new settlements, agree
in stating, that the first possession of the woods in America, was
taken by a class of hunters, commonly called backwoodsmen. These, in
some instances, purchased the soil from the government, and in others,
placed themselves on the public lands without permission. Many of
them, indeed, settled new territories before the ground was surveyed,
and before public sales commenced. Formerly pre-emption rights were
given to these squatters; but the irregularities and complicacy that
the practice introduced into the business of the land-office, have
caused its being given up, and squatters are now obliged to make way
for regular purchasers. The improvements of a backwoodsman are usually
confined to building a rude log cabin, clearing and fencing a small
piece of ground for raising Indian corn. A horse, a cow, a few hogs,
and some poultry, comprise his live-stock; and his farther operations
are performed with his rifle. The formation of a settlement in his
neighbourhood is hurtful to the success of his favourite pursuit,
and is the signal for his removing into more remote parts of the
wilderness. In the case of his owning the land on which he has settled,
he is contented to sell it at a low price, and his establishment,
though trifling, adds much to the comfort of his successor. The next
class of settlers differ from the former in having considerably less
dependence on the killing of game, in remaining in the midst of a
growing population, and in devoting themselves more to agriculture. A
man {207} of this class proceeds on a small capital; he either enlarges
the clearings begun in the woods by his backwoodsmen predecessor, or
establishes himself on a new site. On his arrival in a settlement, the
neighbours unite in assisting him to erect a cabin for the reception of
his family. Some of them cut down the trees, others drag them to the
spot with oxen, and the rest build up the logs. In this way a house is
commonly reared in one day. For this well-timed assistance no immediate
payment is made, and he acquits himself by working to his neighbours.
It is not in his power to hire labourers, and must depend therefore
on his own exertions. If his family is numerous and industrious, his
progress is greatly accelerated. He does not clear away the forests
by dint of labour, but girdles the trees.[120] By the second summer
after this operation is performed, the foliage is completely destroyed,
and his crops are not injured by the shade. He plants an orchard,
which thrives and bears abundantly under every sort of neglect. His
live-stock soon becomes much more numerous than that of his back-wood
predecessor; but, as his cattle have to shift for themselves in the
woods, where grass is scanty, they are small and lean. He does not sow
grass seeds to succeed his crops, so that his land, which ought to be
pasturage, is overgrown with weeds. The neglect of sowing grass-seeds
deprives him of hay; and he has no fodder laid up for the winter except
the blades of Indian corn, which are much withered, and do not appear
to be nutritious food. The poor animals are forced to range the forests
in winter, where they can scarcely procure any thing which is green,
except {208} the buds of underwood on which they browse.--Trees are
sometimes cut down that the cattle may eat the buds. Want of shelter in
the winter completes the sum of misery. Hogs suffer famine during the
droughts of summer, and the frosts and snows of winter; but they become
fat by feeding on the acorns and beech nuts which strow the ground
in autumn. Horses are not exempted from their share in these common
sufferings, with the addition of labour, which most of them are not
very able to undergo. This second rate class of farmers are to be seen
in the markets of towns, retailing vegetables, fruits, poultry, and
dairy produce. One of them came lately into this place on horseback,
with ten pounds of butter to sell; but as he could not obtain a price
to his mind, he crossed the river to Louisville market. In going and
returning he must have paid twenty-five cents to the ferryman--a
considerable expense, when it is considered that he had travelled
twelve miles with his little cargo. Another, who lives at the distance
of eight miles from this place, brought a barrel of whisky, containing
about thirty-three gallons. He employed neither horse nor vehicle in
the transportation, but rolled the cask along the road, which, by the
by, is none of the smoothest. Incidents of this kind may, perhaps,
cause you to suppose that the condition of the second rate settler is
similar to that of subtenants in the north of Scotland, or in Ireland;
but the high price of labour in America explains the apparent parity.
Men perform offices for themselves that, in Britain, would be done by
hiring others. The American farmer, it must be observed, is commonly
the proprietor of the land he occupies; and, in the _hauteur_ of
independence, is not surpassed by the proudest freeholders of Britain.
The settler of the grade under consideration, is only able to bring
a {209} small portion of his land into cultivation, his success,
therefore, does not so much depend on the quantity of produce which
he raises, as on the gradual increase in the value of his property.
When the neighbourhood becomes more populous, he in general has it in
his power to sell his property at a high price, and to remove to a new
settlement, where he can purchase a more extensive tract of land, or
commence farming on a larger scale than formerly. The next occupier is
a capitalist, who immediately builds a larger barn than the former, and
then a brick or a frame house. He either pulls down the dwelling of his
predecessor, or converts it into a stable. He erects better fences, and
enlarges the quantity of cultivated land; sows down pasture fields,
introduces an improved stock of horses, cattle, sheep, and these
probably of the Merino breed. He fattens cattle for the market, and
perhaps erects a flour-mill, or a saw-mill, or a distillery. Farmers of
this description are frequently partners in the banks; members of the
State assembly, or of Congress, or Justices of the Peace. The condition
of the people has necessarily some relation to the age and prosperity
of the settlements in which they live. In Pennsylvania, for instance
the most extensive farmers are prevalent. In the earliest settled
parts of Ohio and Kentucky, the first and second rate farmers are most
numerous, and are mixed together. In Indiana, backwoodsmen and second
rate settlers predominate. The three conditions of settlers described,
are not to be understood as uniformly distinct; for there are
intermediate stages, from which individuals of one class pass, as it
were, into another. The first invaders of the forest frequently become
farmers of the second order; and there are examples of individuals
acting their parts in all the three gradations.

{210} In the district of Jeffersonville, there has been an apparent
interruption of the prosperity of the settlers. Upwards of two hundred
quarter sections of land are by law forfeited to the government,
for non-payment of part of the purchase money due more than a year
ago. A year’s indulgence was granted by Congress, but unless farther
accommodation is immediately allowed, the lands will soon be offered
a second time for sale. Settlers seeing the danger of losing their
possessions, are now offering to transfer their rights for less sums
than have already been paid; it being still in the power of purchasers
to retain the lands on paying up the arrears due in the land office.
This marks the difficulty that individuals at present have, in
procuring small sums of money, in this particular district.


FOOTNOTES:

[119] Fearon.--FLINT.

_Comment by Ed._ Henry Bradshaw Fearon, a London surgeon born about
1770, was sent to the United States by an association of English
families to investigate suitable sites for their residence. He found
little that pleased him, as appears from his account, _Sketches in
America_ (London, 1818).

[120] The process of cutting the bark round trees, to destroy their
growth, is called girdling, or deadening.--FLINT.




LETTER XVIII

 Passage to Cincinnati--Depression of
 Trade--Population--Manufactures--Institutions--Banks--Climate--
 Temperature--Springs--Quantity of
 Rain--Thunder--Lightning--Aurora-Borealis--Tornadoes--Earthquakes--The
 Ohio unusually low in 1819--Meeting of the Citizens of
 Cincinnati--Notice of three Indian Chiefs on their way for Washington
 City--Remarks on the Pacific Disposition of Indians, and their motives
 for wars.


  _Cincinnati, (Ohio,) June 26, 1820._

I have come from the Falls of the Ohio to this place, by a steam-boat
in twenty-nine hours, the average rate of sailing being about 6¹⁄₄
miles per {211} hour. The downward passage is performed by the same
vessel in about fifteen hours, (nearly at the rate of twelve miles
an hour.) From this it appears that the current moves at the rate of
about 2⁷⁄₈ miles each hour. The late M. Volney[121] estimated the
hourly velocity of this river in very low stages of water, at two
miles. His result is probably a little more than the mean rate along
the whole length of the river. The steam-boat is one built exclusively
for the accommodation of passengers. She measures one hundred feet on
the keel, twenty-five feet on the beam, and draws only three feet and
three inches of water. The cabin is an elegant apartment, forty feet
long, and eighteen feet wide. Adjoining to it are eight very neat state
rooms. The water wheel is situated in an aperture astern, where it is
protected from coming in contact with logs, which are numerous in the
river.

Cincinnati suffers much from the decline in business. The town does
not now present any thing like the stir that animated it about a year
and a half ago. Building is in a great measure suspended, and the city
which was lately over crowded with people, has now a considerable
number of empty houses. Rents are lowered, and the price of provisions
considerably reduced. Many mechanics and labourers find it impossible
to procure employment. The same changes have taken place in the other
towns of the western country. Numbers of people have deserted them, and
commenced farming in the woods. They will there have it in their power
to raise produce enough for their families, but, with the present low
markets, and the probability of a still greater reduction, they can
have no inducement but necessity for cultivating a surplus produce.

{212} In 1819, the Cincinnati Directory, a small book containing a
list of the citizens, and many historical particulars, was published.
Some extracts from that work will give a condensed view of the present
magnitude and business of the place.

The enumeration of houses, made in March, 1819, was as follows:

  Of brick and stone, two stories and upwards,      387
      Do.        Do. of one story,                   45
  Of wood, two stories and upwards,                 615
      Do.  one story,                               843
                                                   ----
                                                   1890

                                                   ====

  Occupied as separate dwelling houses,            1003
  Mercantile stores,                                 95
  Groceries,                                        102
  Druggists’ stores,                                 11
  Confectionaries,                                    4
  Auction and commission stores,                      5
  Printing offices,                                   5
  Book and stationery stores,                         4
  Places of public worship,                          10
  Banks,                                              5
  Mechanics’ shops, factories, and mills,           214
  Taverns,                                           17
  College, court house, and jail,                     3
  Warehouses and other buildings,                   412
                                                   ----
                                             Total 1890
                                                   ====


_Population, as taken in July, 1819_

  White males,                                     5402
  White females,                                   4471
                                                   ----  9873
  Male persons of colour,                           215
  Females of colour,                                195
                                                   ----   410
                                                         ----
                                                        10283
                                                        =====


{213} _Manufactures_

                                            Work shops    Workmen

  Two iron and brass founderies,                              132
  Blacksmiths,                                           80 or 90
  Tin ware manufactories,                            6         32
  Copper,    Do.                                     4         14
  Nail factories,                                    2         13
  Silver smiths, (watch repairers included,)         9         22
  White smiths,                                                 3
  Gunsmiths,                                                    2
  Fire engine maker,                                 1          1
  Copperplate engraver,                              1          1
  Gilder,                                            1          1
  Maker of sieves and lattice-work, from wire,       1          1
  Cabinet work,                                     15         84
  Coopers,                                          16         50
  Coach and waggon makers,                           9         33
  Chair makers,                                      4         31
  House carpenters and joiners,         from 80 to 100
    and employing about                                       400
  Boat builders, employing                               60 or 70
  Ivory and wood clock factory,                                14
  Saddle tree makers,                                           9
  A plough maker; pump and block maker; a spinning
    wheel factory; a window maker; two turners
    of fancy wood-work; and one fanning mill maker.
  Shoemakers,                                       26        116
  Tailors,                                          23         83
  Saddlers,                                         11         32
  Tan-yards,                                         6         25
  Tobacconists,                                      6         70
  Bakers,                                           15         38
  Hatters,                                           5         37
  Soap boilers, and tallow chandlers,                7         19
  Distilleries,                                      9         20
  Rope-walks,                                        3         10
  Breweries,                                         2         20
  Potteries,                                         3         14
  Stone cutters,                                     2         15
  Brick-yards,                                      25        200

There are some other manufacturers, mechanics, &c. such as the
following, viz. Five book-binders; five painters and glaziers;
two brush-makers; one {214} comb-maker; two upholsterers; one
bellows-maker; two last-makers; one whip-maker; one hundred
bricklayers; thirty plasterers; fifteen stone masons; eighteen
milliners; one dyer; ten barbers and hair-dressers; ten street pavers;
one burr millstone factory.

Cincinnati has a city court, occasional sittings of the Supreme and
Federal Courts, and a court of common pleas; a museum of natural
history; a library; a reading room; a theatre; three newspapers; five
banks; an insurance company; three fire engines; a humane society
for the resuscitation of persons submersed in water; an agricultural
society; two Bible societies; two tract societies, (one of them for
distributing Bibles and tracts amongst boatmen on the river;) four
Sunday school societies; and three charitable societies. There are
twenty-five lawyers and twenty-two doctors in town.

Of four provincial banks in town, the paper of three is reduced to
about one-third part of the specie sums on the face of their notes,
and the people are making a brisk run on the fourth. This paper shop
is not paying in specie, but merely giving _money like its own_. When
the barter can be no longer continued, the house must be shut, and the
holders of the _pictures_ find them of no value.

The laws of the country, as formerly explained to you, give no redress.

The balance of trade in favour of England and India, together with the
exorbitant premiums to be paid in exchanging bad money for specie, or
bills of the United States Bank, are quite unfavourable to commerce
with foreign countries. The debts due to the merchants of England, and
to those in the Eastern States, might give little {215} annoyance, if
creditors were indulgent as to the past, and as liberal as usual in
future transactions. Property laws give full security in the meantime,
and the bankrupt laws of some States form a complete protection against
foreign claims. It is only to be feared, that foreign merchants will
not be sufficiently accommodating hereafter. The increasing numbers of
their agents in the seaports of America, augur no good to enterprizing
traders in this part.

The climate of this country, like that of other parts of North America,
is subject to extremes of heat and cold. We experience something like
the summer of tropical regions; the winter of Russia; the spring of
England; and the autumn of Egypt. The range of the thermometer is
well exemplified by a compilation from the register kept by Colonel
Mansfield, near Cincinnati, for eight years; 1806 and 1813 included.

        _Lowest_          _Highest_  _Range_
  1806,  9°                  94        85°
  1807, 11° below zero,      95       106
  1808,  4 do.               98       102
  1809,  2 do.               94        96
  1810,  7 do.               91        98
  1811,  8 do.               96       104
  1812,  5 do.               96       101
  1813, 10 do.               97       107
  Mean range nearly 100°.

The greatest range known at Cincinnati is 116°. At Salem, in
Massachussets, a range of 100° was long ago deducted from observations.

At Jeffersonville, in Indiana, a range of 96¹⁄₄° appears on the
register for six months past. The third column in the following table
shows the greatest change of temperature that occurred in each month,
between eight o’clock A.M. and two P.M.; a period of six hours.

            {216} _Maximum_      _Minimum_        _Range_
  January,          50°         2° above zero,      30°
  February,         78          4 do.               38
  March,            70         23 do.               35
  April,            92         20 do.               24
  May,              79         50 do.               27
  June,           98¹⁄₄         50 do.               36

As the above observations extend only to a space of six months, no
accurate determination can be derived from them. The most prominent
occurrence is a transition of 38° in six hours. Dr. Ramsay has observed
elsewhere a change of 50°, in the space of fifteen hours. These sudden
alterations are disagreeable to the sense of feeling, and injurious to
the health.

It is the popular belief that the greatest cold usually occurs about
sunrise, and the greatest heat about 3 P.M. The most sudden changes
are from cold to heat, the transition from heat to cold not being so
instantaneous. Except for the gradual progress of this change, it would
be more sensibly felt, and more dangerous.

The absence of figured icicles from the insides of windows was
mentioned in a former letter. Up to the present time, I have never seen
any of these incrustations in America,--a certain proof of the dryness
of the atmosphere during frost. In summer, rains are not frequent, but
when they do happen, they generally fall in torrents. They are often
attended by easterly winds, and are partially distributed, drenching
small tracts of country, and leaving adjoining parts dry. During the
summer of 1819, some parts of the country suffered under a severe
and long continued drought. The blades of the crops of maize became
shrivelled, the grass, and afterwards the weeds withered. Latterly,
part of the foliage of the woods was very much dried. {217} Travellers
were subjected to some inconvenience for want of water to their horses,
as were many families who lived in dry situations. Scarcity of water
is a calamity that is much aggravated by a hot climate. In taverns,
a bucket filled with this indispensable liquid, stands open to every
person who chooses to take up the ladle that floats in it, and drink.
In schools, churches, and courts of justice, water is provided.

The older settlers of this country affirm, that the quantity of water
issuing from springs is greatly augmented, by clearing away the timber
from the adjoining lands. From the number and the respectability of the
persons agreeing in this particular, the fact seems to be established.
This is not, however, to be explained simply by evaporation from the
earth, as that evaporation would be promoted by clearing away the
woods, which exposes the surface of the ground to the rays of the sun.
In this way the soil would absorb a less supply for springs than if
it were shaded by trees. It would seem probable, that the moisture
intercepted by trees in the shape of rain, dew, snow, and hoar-frost,
which is evaporated before reaching the ground, and the water withdrawn
from the earth by the organs of trees, are together greater than the
additional evaporation from the surface that is induced by removing the
trees.

In January last, the rain at Jeffersonville measured 3¹⁄₂ inches;
in February 5³⁄₄; in March 3¹⁄₄; in April 2¹⁄₂; and in May, three
inches; making an aggregate of eighteen inches in five months, a
quantity that is probably a little greater than the mean for any long
series of years.

Thunder occurs frequently; sometimes the peals are tremendous, and
almost incessant. They are generally accompanied with showers of
rain, so copious {218} as to cover flat ground with a sheet of water,
and the declivities with a broad stream. Many of the best houses
are furnished with rods for conducting the lightning. Judging from
notices of accidents from the electric fluid in the newspapers, I am
not led to believe that they are much more numerous than in Britain.
Although trees are bad conductors of electricity, they are frequently
struck, and it seems probable that the great abundance of lofty trees
lessens considerably the danger to buildings. An old gentleman, a man
of observation, told me that he never knew of a decayed tree that had
been struck with lightning. This information is the more worthy of
observation, as great quantities of withered trees are found amongst
the woods, and as the greater part of the lands of the western country
are cleared by deadening the timber, and allowing it to stand till
it is easily burnt, or falls by decay. Another person, who is well
acquainted with the habits of the Indians, informed me, that during
thunder storms, these people take shelter under beech trees, in
preference to other kinds of timber. Some comparative experiments on
the conducting properties of leaves, bark, and timber, are necessary
before the propriety of this practice can be established.

It would be difficult to form a conception of any thing in meteorology,
more sublime than the aerial lightning of this climate. In dark nights
the phenomenon is highly entertaining to every spectator to whom the
appearance is new. The vivid flashes seem to emanate from a point, and
diverge from thence in every possible direction. The eye has scarcely
time to trace the progress of these coruscations, which seem to sweep
round half the expanse of the heavens almost in an instant, and to
irradiate {219} the margins of the blackest clouds with a transitory
blaze.

I have never seen the aurora borealis in America. Two instances of its
appearing in 1814 are mentioned in the Picture of Cincinnati, which are
supposed to be the only unequivocal ones observed since the settlement
of the western country. This meteor is more frequently seen by the
people of the northern States.

The most prominent characteristics of the climate of this country are,
the superior transparency of the air in clear weather; the frequency
of a light yellow, but translucent tinge that is strongest at the
horizon, and fainter upwards, where it is blended with a sky of a fine
light blue, at the height of a few degrees. The number of foggy days
is small,[122] and the appearance of clouds, previous to rain, sudden.
Indeed, on several occasions, I have observed a clear atmosphere
transformed into one abounding with dark clouds and rain, in the space
of an hour. Changes of this kind are no doubt produced by sudden
transitions of temperature.

Severe gales of wind do not appear prevalent in western America,
if the two last winters can be admitted as sufficient examples, as
these seasons were much less stormy than those of Scotland. But it is
necessary to make an exception of the tornadoes, which occasionally
blow down houses, lay waste fields, and open avenues through the woods.
One of these tempests destroyed some {220} buildings at Cincinnati, on
the 28th of May, 1809. It was preceded by a wind from the south, and a
higher current blowing from the west, and was understood to commence in
the State of Tennessee. It crossed the Allegany mountains “and made its
exit from the continent” on the same day.[123]

Although earthquakes have been frequently felt in the United
States, the injury done by them has either been local, or of little
consequence. On the 16th of December, 1811, a concussion at Cincinnati
threw down some chimney tops, opened room doors that were shut by
a falling latch, and caused the furniture to shake. During the
year 1812, two considerable shocks, and many lesser vibrations were
observed.[124] It appeared that the centre from which the convulsions
proceeded, was in the neighbourhood of New Madrid, which lies on the
bank of the Mississippi, about seventy miles below the mouth of the
Ohio.[125] At that place a dreadful commotion prevailed in December,
1812. The trees beat upon one another, and were either twisted or
broken. The site of the town subsided about eight feet. Many acres of
land sunk, and were overflowed by the river, and the water rushed in
torrents from crevices opened in the land. Boats were sunk, and, (as if
the order of nature had been inverted) sunk logs of timber were raised
from the bottom in such quantities that almost covered the surface of
the river. Slight vibrations, at intervals of a few days, continue to
the present time. Many of the people deserted their possessions, and
retired to the Missouri, where lands were granted to them by Congress.
The inhabitants who remained, and others who have since joined the
{221} settlement, are now so accustomed to the tremor, that they talk
of it with little or no concern.

Last summer (1819) was unusually dry. The Ohio was not navigable for
steam-boats, subsequent to the middle of April, and there was no flood
till February last. West India produce, viz. coffee and sugar, became
scarce, and sold at more than twice the common price. Many of the
people in this land of plenty, seemed to look forward to a privation of
these articles, as to an approaching famine--_Apropos_ of coffee, as
I have heard that the grocers of your country are not allowed to sell
burnt beans as a substitute, it is fortunate for the revenue, that the
Atlantic is always _navigable_.

Since coming here, a numerous meeting of citizens was held, to take
into consideration the case of a Judge who occupied another public
situation at the time of his being placed on the bench. Appointments of
this kind are contrary to the constitution.

Three Indians, the chief, the counsellor, and the warrior of the Osage
nation,[126] on their way for the city of Washington, halted here for
a day. At the request of an hospitable gentleman in town, they dined
at his house. I had there an opportunity of having some conversation
with them, through the medium of their interpreter. Two of them are
men of large stature, and possess an unaffected dignity of deportment,
which, perhaps, might not be improved by any thing like the adulation
of European courtiers. They are cleanly in their persons, and their
skin is of a light copper colour. At table they acquitted themselves
with much ease and propriety. After dinner they severally sat to an
artist, who drew their portraits. During {222} this process, they
kept themselves immovable as statues, and were highly pleased with
the imitative art. The terrestrial globe was exhibited to them, and
briefly explained; as was also the hypothesis of a hollow sphere,
lately suggested by Captain Symmes of this place.[127] After a short
deliberation, the chief replied: “We are willing to believe all that
you have told us, but white men know these things best.” Their answers
to questions were always direct, concise, and calculated to avoid
giving offence. The principal peculiarity of their conduct was an
eagerness to examine the interior of the house. In this they were even
indulged without attendance. Their business at the seat of government,
is to effect an arrangement for obtaining the means of improvement in
the arts of civilized life; and to represent a grievance occasioned by
the government of the United States, having purchased the lands of a
neighbouring tribe, which now encroach on the hunting grounds of the
Osage nation. The chiefs say, that they have 1800 warriors, and are
able to destroy the tribes which have come into their country; but that
they are unwilling to go to war.

Despotic governments, wherever they are, might stand reproved by the
humanity of the aboriginal chiefs of America; and every people who are
oppressed by the rapacity of privileged orders, may derive valuable
instruction from the independent men of the forests, whose high spirit
does not submit to be enslaved or taxed. Wars against people of this
character present few allurements to the ambitious, and still fewer
to avaricious men. The pacific policy of the Indians may, perhaps, be
discredited, on account of the sanguinary wars that have thinned the
ranks of numerous tribes, and annihilated many others. But it must be
admitted, that this depopulation {223} has been accelerated, if not
entirely produced, by Europeans, who took possession of the country
by force, driving tribes into the territories of other nations. A
migration cannot be tolerated to any great extent, where the people
depend on hunting and fishing for their subsistence. Hence, the object
of Indian warfare has been extirpation. The practice of leaguing with
one tribe in fighting against another, has been a powerful cause of
mutual destruction. The presents given by Europeans in these cases,
and the promises made, could never have been inducements to wars purely
Indian. Add to this, the havock introduced by the small-pox, and the
use of spiritous liquors. We are almost totally unacquainted with the
remote history of the American tribes. The great magnitude of their
remaining works, prove that the population has once been comparatively
numerous. This fact is in some measure corroborated by the great number
of nations existing at the time of the first invasion of white people.
It follows, that the wars that occurred during the accumulation of
these people, have probably been less frequent, or less destructive
than those which have latterly exterminated a large portion of the race.


FOOTNOTES:

[121] Constantin François Chasseboeuf Volney, _View of the Climate
and Soil of the United States of America_, translated from the French
(London, 1804). Volney (1759-1820) was a journalist, scholar, and
statesman, who wrote on a great variety of subjects. He spent four
years in America (1795-1799), and intended to publish a criticism of
American institutions, but was dissuaded, it is said, by his friendship
for Franklin. After his return to France, he was made a member of the
Academy in 1813, and a peer by Louis XVIII in 1814.--ED.

[122] Dr. Drake has shown that the mean number of cloudy days in the
year, was 104.33 for a space of six years; and that the mean term of
variable days for the same period, was 82.16 days. Consequently, nearly
half the time must have been clear weather.--_Picture of Cincinnati_,
p. 103.--FLINT.

[123] See Dr. Drake’s _Picture of Cincinnati_.--FLINT.

[124] Ibid.--FLINT.

[125] For the early history of New Madrid, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume
iv of our series, note 185.--ED.

[126] For the Osage Indians, see Bradbury’s _Travels_, volume v of our
series, note 22.--ED.

[127] John Cleves Symmes (1780-1829), soldier and scientific
speculator, was a nephew of the pioneer promoter of the same name. His
much-ridiculed theory of the earth as a hollow sphere, was elaborated
in his volume, _Theory of Concentric Spheres, demonstrating that the
Earth is Hollow_ (Cincinnati, 1826).--ED.




{224} LETTER XIX

 Descend the Ohio from Cincinnati to Madison--Notices
 of a Scotch Settlement--Excess of Male
 Population--Roads--Harvest--Crops--Orchards--Timber--Elections--
 Methodist Camp Meeting.


  _Jeffersonville, (Indiana,)
  August 8, 1820._

On the day succeeding the date of my last, I descended the river to
Madison, a new town on the Indiana side of the river.[128]

About twelve miles north-east of Madison, and extending from thence
eastward, is a new settlement, consisting chiefly of Scots, who amount
to thirty-three families. The land which they have fixed on seems to
be of the second rate quality. It is uneven, and intermixed with many
deep ravines; in most of which the water is now dried up. The greatest
natural disadvantage of this situation is, the difficulty of having
roads over ground so much broken; but the industry displayed by the
settlers may remedy this before the present generation passeth away.
In the above enumeration of Scots, I used the term families for want
of a better; but it deserves notice, that two of these establishments
consist of two young men each, and one of them of three. Amongst the
bachelor cultivators I recognised one of the passengers who came
over with me in the ship Glenthorn. Another of them was lately a
journeyman tailor in Edinburgh. He has thrown aside the tools of his
former business, and taken up, in their stead, a more formidable {225}
weapon. I had an opportunity of conversing with five of these people.
The supposed horrors of a back-woods life, aggravated by a state
of celibacy, has by no means shed a gloom over their countenances.
Whatever their privations may be in the mean time, they have at least
a reasonable prospect of having them speedily removed. The lands which
they improve are their own. Whether they continue to cultivate or to
sell them, their capital will increase: and even in the event of their
taking wives, the probability of their children becoming paupers must
be greatly lessened, in consequence of their emigrating to America.
The excessive emigration of the men occasions a considerable paucity
of females in all new settlements. While at Pittsburg, I saw a young
widower with two infant children on his way for the military lands,
in the State of Illinois. Some one hinted to him, that to marry again
would be a prudential step on his part. He gave his assent to the truth
of the remark, but expressed some doubts of his finding a wife where
he was going. “I have lately been in that country,” continued he, “and
I believe that the girls there are _all married up_.” During the early
stages of the settlement of the colonies, the excess of male population
must have been thought a great inconvenience. It is on record that
the settlers of Virginia procured ladies from England in exchange for
tobacco. The necessity of importations of this kind has been long
ago removed, in that State; and the two sexes are now nearly equal
in point of numbers, although not quite equally distributed over the
country. Before dropping this digression on celibacy, I must mention my
conviction that a very great proportion of Scotsmen remain bachelors in
America. This is not asserted as a fact that applies to every part of
the country, but in {226} so far as my observation has gone, I state
it with much confidence. Whether we are less ardent in the pursuit
than other people, or whether we are more under the influence of the
prudential principle,--or whether our imputed loyalty, or some other
national peculiarities, make the fair daughters of this land repulsive
to us, I am not prepared to say. To return to the Scots settlement; J.
M. lately a blacksmith in the county of Edinburgh, has settled here.
He arrived with his wife, seven sons, two daughters, and a son-in-law,
about ten months before I met him. He has purchased 480 acres of land,
built two log-houses and a small stable; cleared and inclosed about 22
acres, which is nearly all under crop; deadened the timber of about 80
acres more; and planted an orchard. In addition to these improvements,
his sons have wrought for a neighbour to the amount of a hundred days’
work. He has a horse, a cow, a few hogs, and some poultry. I inquired
if he felt himself happy in a strange land; he replied, that he would
not return to Scotland though the property, of which he formerly rented
a part, were given to him for nothing.

Madison is a county town, consisting of about 100 houses. It is
situated on a northerly bend of the river Ohio; and is, therefore, a
place well adapted for intercourse with the interior of Indiana, and,
on that account, it may soon become a considerable town. While I was
there, the circuit court of the State was sitting. Two respectable
personages were on the bench, and several lawyers of polite address
were attending to the business on hand. The number of litigants is
extremely great when the thinness of the population is considered.

The roads are merely narrow avenues through {227} the woods; felling
and rolling away the timber being, in most cases, all the labour which
is bestowed upon them. Withered trees, and others blown down by the
wind, lie across, forming obstructions in many parts. The few bridges
which we do see are made of wood. In Indiana, the roads are opened and
occasionally repaired by an assessment from every man who has lived
thirty days in any particular county. In the present year this statute
labour has been increased from two days’ to six days’ work; and the
alteration is unpopular, because the poorest men in the State are
obliged to pay as much as the wealthiest landholders, and non-resident
landholders are exempted. I have seen several labourers who left the
State to avoid this obnoxious tax. I am not informed whether the
increase mentioned has been exacted in every part of the State. An act
of the legislature fixes six days’ labour, or a money commutation of
the same, as a maximum, leaving the actual increase in the option of
county commissioners. It does not appear probable that the road law
can exist long without being modified, as popular opinion regulates
every thing of the kind here.

On the 29th of June, wheat harvest was commenced on several farms to
the west of Madison. Oats, at that time, were headed out and luxuriant;
but the heat of the climate is uniformly unfavourable to the ripening
of this kind of crop. Its weight, relative to measure, is usually
about half of that of good grain in the better parts of Britain. The
growth of Indian corn is this season luxuriant. The only injury it has
suffered arises from squirrels that gathered a considerable quantity of
the seed in many fields. Squirrels are not so excessively numerous in
the uninhabited woods as in the vicinity of cultivated fields. Potatoes
are small and of a bad {228} quality. At Jeffersonville, so early as
the 29th of May last, new potatoes were in the market. Turnips (so far
as I have observed) do not grow to a large size, nor are they raised in
large quantities. Flax, in every field that I have seen, was a short
crop, with strong stems, and tops too much forked. Probably thicker
sowing would improve its quality. Hemp grows with great luxuriance.
The orchards are abundantly productive, and yield apples of the
largest size; but little care is taken in selecting or ingrafting from
varieties of the best flavour. Small crab apples are the most acid,
and produce the finest cider. Pears are scarcely to be seen. Peaches
of the best and worst qualities are to be met with. The trees bear on
the third summer after the seed is sown, and although no attention is
paid to the rearing them, the fruit is excessively plentiful, and is
sometimes sold at twenty-five cents (1s. 1¹⁄₂d. English) per bushel.
Last year I weighed a peach, and found its weight to be eleven ounces,
and I observed in a newspaper about the same time, an account of one
of the extraordinary weight of fourteen ounces. A rancid sort of
spirit is distilled from them, known here by the name of peach brandy.
Cherries are small. The earliest this season at Cincinnati, were ripe
on the 22d of May. Wild cherry trees grow to a great height in the
woods; the timber is of a red colour, and is used in making tables,
bureaus, &c. and forms a tolerable substitute for mahogany.

Ornamental gardening is a pursuit little attended to, and perhaps
will not soon be generally exhibited. The soil of the best land being
soft, the torrents of rain which almost instantaneously deluge the
surface convert it into a paste of a very unsightly appearance. Where
the ground has even a slight declivity, it is liable to have deep ruts
washed in it. Low walks and other hollows, are {229} often filled with
the soil carried down from higher parts of the ground. The severity of
the winter is another obstacle; it being difficult to preserve some
perennial and biennial plants, or to procure culinary vegetables in the
spring. The stock of cultivated flower roots is very small, and these
not well selected. Gooseberries and currants are scarce and small.
Cucumbers, melons, and a variety of products that require artificial
heat in Britain, grow here vigorously in the open air.

Several species of forest trees furnish excellent timber. The white oak
is at once tough, dense, flexible, and easily split. The black locust
is strong, heavy, not much subject to warping, and resists the effects
of the weather for a long period of time. This sort of timber resembles
laburnum more than any that you are acquainted with. White hickory is
tough and elastic in a high degree, and is the wood in general use for
handles to axes, and other tools. Black walnut grows to a great size,
and is considered a mark of the excellence of the soil on which it
grows. It is lighter, less curled in its texture, and probably weaker
than that of England. The sugar-maple is curled in its fibre, and is
used in making stocks for rifles. White or water maple is also curled,
of a fine straw-colour, and is sometimes introduced in cabinet-work
with much effect. White and blue ash trees are easily split, pliant,
and readily smoothed, but less fit to bear exposure to the weather
than the ash of Europe. Poplar grows to a great size, and is easily
converted into boards or scantling. Red cedar is exceedingly durable as
posts of rail-fences, and grows in great abundance by Kentucky river.
White and yellow pines, similar to those of Canada, are brought from
Allegany river, and are now sold here, in boards, at a cent per square
foot.

{230} A few days ago I witnessed the election of a member of Congress
for the State of Indiana.--Members for the State assembly and county
officers, and the votes for the township of Jeffersonville, were taken
by ballot in one day. No quarrels or disorder occurred. At Louisville,
in Kentucky, the poll was kept open for three days. The votes were
given _viva voce_. I saw three fights in the course of an hour. This
method appears to be productive of as much discord here as in England.
The States Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and all north of the
latter, vote by ballot, and the southern proceed verbally.[129]

The sales of land in the late Indian purchase in Indiana have commenced
at Jeffersonville.--They are now exposed by auction in lots of half
quarter sections, (80 acres.) Only a very small part of the quantity
offered has been sold. The price obtained is almost uniformly a dollar
and a quarter per acre, the minimum rate now established by act of
Congress. A few lots which present superior local advantages have
sold higher. I know of one, with an excellent mill-seat, that gave
three dollars per acre. The lands offered, but not sold at the present
auction, may afterwards be privately purchased at the land-office
for a dollar and a quarter per acre. No credit is given to those who
buy public lands. The purchasers, whose lands were by law forfeited
for non-payment, have got another year’s indulgence, but this act of
lenity does not extend to those who are not actual settlers. Quarter
sections are divided into half quarters, by south and north lines.
A considerable number of backwoodsmen, who had previously taken
possession of lands in the new purchase, attended the public sales for
about a week. During the night they lodged in a joiner’s shed, which
{231} is a mere temporary roof, composed of loose boards, for the
purpose of sheltering workmen from the direct rays of the sun.

I lately returned from visiting the camp meeting of Wesleyan
methodists, where I remained about twenty-four hours. On approaching
the scene of action, the number of horses tied to fences and trees,
and the travelling waggons standing in the environs, convinced me of
the great magnitude of the assemblage. Immediately round the meeting a
considerable number of tents were irregularly disposed. Some of them
were log cabins that seemed to have served several campaigns, but most
of them constructed by poles, covered over with coarse tow cloth.

These tents are for the accommodation of the people who attend the
worship for several days, or for a week together. I had no sooner
got a sight of the area within, than I was struck with surprise, my
feet were for a moment involuntarily arrested, while I gazed on a
preacher vociferating from a high rostrum, raised between two trees,
and an agitated crowd immediately before him, that were making a loud
noise, and the most singular gesticulations which can be imagined.
On advancing a few paces, I discovered that the turmoil was chiefly
confined within a small inclosure of about thirty feet square, in front
of the orator, and that the ground occupied by the congregation was
laid with felled trees for seats. A rail fence divided it into two
parts, one for females, and the other for males. It was my misfortune
to enter by the wrong side, and I was politely informed of the
mistake by a Colonel P----, of my acquaintance, who, it appeared, had
undertaken the duty of keeping the males apart from the females. The
inclosure already mentioned was for the reception of those who undergo
religious awakenings, and was {232} filled by both sexes, who were
exercising violently. Shouting, screaming, clapping of hands, leaping,
jerking, falling, and swooning. The preacher could not be distinctly
heard, great as his exertions were; certainly had it not been for his
elevated position, his voice would have been entirely blended with the
clamours below. I took my stand close by the fence, for the purpose of
noting down exclamations uttered by the exercised, but found myself
unable to pick up any thing like a distinct paragraph.--Borrowing an
idea from the Greek mythology, to have a distinct perception of sounds,
poured from such a multitude of bellowing mouths, would require the ear
of _Jove_.--I had to content myself with such vociferations as _glory,
glory, power, Jesus Christ_,--with “groans and woes unutterable.”

In the afternoon a short cessation was allowed for dinner, and those
deeply affected were removed to tents and laid on the ground. This
new arrangement made a striking change in the camp, the bustle being
removed from the centre and distributed along the outskirts of the
preaching ground. Separate tents, in which one or more persons were
laid, were surrounded by females who sung melodiously. It is truly
delightful to hear these sweet singing people. Some of their tunes,
it is true, did not convey, through my prejudiced ears, the solemn
impressions that become religious worship, for I recognised several
of the airs associated with the sentimental songs of my native land.
In one instance a tent was dismantled of its tow cloth covering,
which discovered a female almost motionless. After a choir of girls
around her, had sung for a few minutes, two men stood over her, and
simultaneously joined in prayer. One of them, {233} gifted with a loud
and clear voice, drowned the other totally, and actually prayed him
down.

After dinner another orator took his place. The inclosure was again
filled with the penitent, or with others wishing to become so, and a
vast congregation arranged themselves on their seats in the rear. A
most pathetic prayer was poured forth, and a profound silence reigned
over all the camp, except the fenced inclosure, from whence a low
hollow murmuring sound issued. Now and then, _Amen_ was articulated in
a pitiful and indistinct tone of voice. You have seen a menagerie of
wild animals on a journey, and have perhaps heard the king of beasts,
and other powerful quadrupeds, excited to grumbling by the jolting
of the waggon. Probably you will call this a rude simile; but it is
the most accurate that I can think of. Sermon commenced. The preacher
announced his determination of discontinuing his labours in this part
of the world, and leaving his dear brethren for ever. He addressed
the old men present, telling them that they and he must soon be
removed from this mortal state of existence, and that the melancholy
reflection arose in his mind,--“_What will become of the church when
we are dead and gone?_”--A loud response of groaning and howling was
sounded by the aged in the inclosure, and throughout the congregation.
He next noticed that he saw a multitude of young men before him, and,
addressing himself to them, said, “I trust in _God_, that many of you
will be _now_ converted, and will become the _preachers_ and the pious
Christians of after days.”--The clamour now thickened, for young and
old shouted together. Turning his eyes toward the female side of the
fence, he continued, “And you, my {234} dear sisters.”--What he had
farther to say to the future “nursing mothers of the church,” could
not be heard, for the burst of acclamation, on their part, completely
prevented his voice from being heard, on which account he withdrew; and
a tune was struck up and sung with grand enthusiasm. The worship now
proceeded with a new energy; the prompter in the pulpit had succeeded
in giving it an impulse, and the music was sufficient to preserve
emotion. The inclosure was so much crowded that its inmates had not the
liberty of lateral motion, but were literally hobbling _en masse_. My
attention was particularly directed to a girl of about twelve years of
age, who while standing could not be seen over her taller neighbours;
but at every leap she was conspicuous above them. The velocity of every
plunge made her long loose hair flirt up as if a handkerchief were held
by one of its corners and twitched violently. Another female, who had
arrived at womanhood, was so much overcome that she was held up to the
breeze by two persons who went to her relief. I never before saw such
exhaustion. The vertebral column was completely pliant, her body, her
neck, and her extended arms, bent in every direction successively.
It would be impossible to describe the diversity of cases; they
were not now confined within the fence, but were numerous among the
people without. Only a small proportion of them could fall within the
observation of any one bystander. The scene was to me equally novel and
curious.

About dusk I retired several hundred yards into the woods to enjoy
the distant effect of the meeting. Female voices were mournfully
predominant, and my imagination figured to me a multitude of mothers,
widows, and sisters, giving the {235} first vent to their grief, in
bewailing the loss of a male population, by war, shipwreck, or some
other great catastrophe.

It had been thought proper to place sentinels without the camp. Females
were not allowed to pass out into the woods after dark. Spirituous
liquors were not permitted to be sold in the neighbourhood.

Large fires of timber were kindled, which cast a new lustre on every
object. The white tents gleamed in the glare. Over them the dusky woods
formed a most romantic gloom, only the tall trunks of the front rank
were distinctly visible, and these seemed so many members of a lofty
colonnade. The illuminated camp lay on a declivity, and exposed a scene
that suggested to my mind the moonlight gambols of beings known to
us only through the fictions of credulous ages. The greatest turmoil
prevailed within the fence, where the inmates were leaping and hobbling
together with upward looks and extended arms. Around this busy mass,
the crowd formed a thicker ring than the famous Macedonian phalanx; and
among them, a mixture of the exercised were interspersed. Most faces
were turned inward to gaze on the grand exhibition, the rear ranks on
tip-toe, to see over those in front of them, and not a few mounted
on the log-seats, to have a more commanding view of the show. People
were constantly passing out and into the ring in brisk motion, so that
the white drapery of females, and the darker apparel of the men were
alternately vanishing and reappearing in the most elegant confusion.
The sublimity of the music served to give an enchanting effect to the
whole. My mind involuntarily reverted to the leading feature of the
tale of Alloway Kirk: {236}

    “Warlocks and witches in a dance;

Where Tam o’Shanter

            ----Stood like ane bewitch’d,
    And thought his very een enrich’d.”

Late in the evening a man detached himself from the crowd, walking
rapidly backward and forward, and crying aloud. His vociferations were
of this kind: “I have been a great sinner, and was on the way to be
damned; but am converted now, thank God--glory, glory!” He turned round
on his heel occasionally, giving a loud whoop. A gentleman with whom I
am well acquainted, told me that he had a conversation with a female
who had just recovered from the debility of the day. She could give no
other account of her sensations than that she felt so good, that she
could press her very enemy to her bosom.

At half past two A.M. I got into a tent, stretched myself on the
ground, and was soon lulled asleep by the music. About five I was
awakened by the unceasing melody. At seven, preaching was resumed;
and a lawyer residing in the neighbourhood gave a sermon of a legal
character.

At nine the meeting adjourned to breakfast. A multitude of small fires
being previously struck up, an extensive cooking process commenced,
and the smell of bacon tainted the air. I took this opportunity of
reconnoitring the evacuated field. The little inclosure, so often
mentioned, is by the religious called _Altar_, and some scoffers are
wicked enough to call it _Pen_, from its similarity to the structures
in which hogs are confined. Its area was covered over with straw, in
some parts more wetted than the litter of a stable. If it could be
ascertained that all this moisture was from the tears of the penitent,
the fact would be a surprising one. Waving all inquiry into this
phenomenon, {237} however, the incident now recorded may be held
forth as a very suitable counterpart to a wonderful story recorded
by the Methodistic oracle Lorenzo Dow, of a heavy shower drenching a
neighbourhood, while a small speck including a camp meeting was passed
over and left entirely dry. In Lorenzo’s case, the rain fell all round
the camp, but in that noticed by me, the moisture was in the very
centre.

You can form no adequate idea of a camp meeting from any description
which can be given of it. Any one who would have a complete view of
enthusiasm can only obtain it by visiting such a meeting and seeing it
himself. I should be sorry to abuse the Methodist sect by the illiberal
application of such terms as fanaticism, superstition, or illusion.
I have known many of them who are valuable members of society, and
several who have rendered important services to their country, but have
not seen any one prostrated, or even visibly affected, at the camp
meeting or elsewhere, whom I knew to be men of strong minds or of much
intelligence. Females seem to be more susceptible of the impressions
than men are. A quality perhaps that is to be imputed to the greater
sensibility of their feelings.

       *       *       *       *       *

The awakenings in Kentucky that were some years ago hailed by the
religious magazines of your country as the workings of the _Divine
Spirit_, {238} must have been those that occurred at camp meetings of
Methodists. These assemblages are now said to be on the decline in
Kentucky; and when meetings were held on a grand scale there, many
disorders were committed by immoral persons, tending to the great
scandal of religion, and occasioning the precautionary measures already
noticed in this detail.


FOOTNOTES:

[128] Madison, Jefferson County, was to Indiana what Maysville was to
Kentucky and Shawneetown to Illinois, an important _entrepôt_ and place
of debarkation for pioneers moving to the interior. The early railways
built to Madison and Maysville, emphasize this.--ED.

[129] Flint’s generalization regarding the Southern states is too
sweeping. Virginia and Kentucky were the only commonwealths in which
the people voted _viva-voce_. North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee,
Alabama, and Louisiana, authorized the written ballot in their
constitutions, and in South Carolina it was established by statute.
The use of the ballot was a custom of long standing in New England,
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, dating from the middle of the seventeenth
century. In New York it was introduced as an experiment in 1778, and
permanently adopted ten years later. Virginia changed to the written
ballot for all popular elections, in her constitution of 1864, and
Kentucky in hers of 1891; so that at present it is universal in the
United States.--ED.




LETTER XX

 Circumstances that retard Manufacturing Industry, and Causes of its
 prosperity


  _Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) Aug. 15, 1820._

In my letter of the 26th of June last, I mentioned that mechanics
were leaving the towns of the western country, becoming cultivators
in the back woods. In many cases, their former habits are such as are
not well calculated to reconcile them with their new situations. It
appears evident that such people, placed in the forests, cannot for
some time raise a quantity of produce sufficient to procure in exchange
such foreign luxuries as they formerly consumed, and such articles
of imported dress as they have been accustomed to wear. The former
may be easily dispensed with, but for the latter a substitute must
be provided. Family manufacture is the obvious resource; but it must
proceed slowly in cases where the females are not acquainted with this
branch of industry, and {239} in the uncleared woods, which are not
suitable pastures for sheep. It is to be regretted that manufacturing
establishments are not erected, as these would not only furnish
employment more congenial to the habits of artizans, and preserve
to them their wonted accommodations, but would be of vast national
importance under the present circumstances of America.

I trust that a brief exposition of a few of the principal causes which
retard manufacturing industry, and of the means of promoting it, in
this country, will not be unacceptable to you; especially as the policy
of America, on that subject, affects at once the interests of both
countries.

The primary obstacle that has hitherto prevented Americans from
fabricating their own necessaries, from the products of their own
country, is universally acknowledged to be an extensive intercourse
with Great Britain, in exporting produce, and importing manufactured
goods in return;--a correspondence that subjects American artisans to a
competition with a country in which wages are low, labour subdivided,
and in which the most stupendous mechanical apparatus is employed.

The indecision which has heretofore characterized the conduct of the
United States, with regard to manufactures, seems to have originated in
the diversity of interests represented in the government. The people
of the southern States are, for several reasons, averse to making
concessions for procuring home-made goods. They are comparatively
little devoted to mechanical pursuits, and still less acquainted with
the diversified operations of workshops. Their negroes are seldom
trained to any thing but agricultural and menial services, and the
{240} condition of these labourers is otherwise unfavourable to the
acquisition of skill in new employments. This part of the country,
besides, exports large quantities of cotton, tobacco, and rice,
articles that do not excite the jealousy of the landed interest in
Britain; but, on the contrary, almost enjoy a monopoly of the British
market. It is plain that the people who possess advantages of this
kind, have it more in their power to continue traffic with England than
their northern neighbours, whose produce is excluded by the corn laws
of that country, which have been wisely enacted.

Traders who have capital vested in ships, and in the importation of
manufactured goods, form a class that is more interested in opposing an
independent system than any other. Though their influence in Congress
appears to be declining, some time must elapse before their funds can
be directed to other pursuits.

The import duties on foreign manufactures, high as in most cases they
appear to be, have not the effect of protecting American artizans
from competition with those of other countries, who work cheaper.
This disadvantage has been produced by the profuse issues of a paper
currency. Money of this sort not taking the market abroad, it remains
in the country, where it operates against industry, by augmenting
the nominal price of labour. Hence people are complaining of want of
employment, while they depend on the labour of foreigners for almost
every artificial modification of the materials raised on their own
soil, or that lie unheeded under their feet. Import duties are not to
be considered merely as enactments for promoting American manufactures,
for they constitute the principal source of national revenue. It might
be difficult to form a conception of a revenue {241} that could be
collected at less expense, or of taxation raised in a more voluntary
manner on the part of the people. But as moderating these duties must
unquestionably, on every occasion, be injurious to home industry, and
as augmenting them to the extent of the total prohibition of foreign
goods would introduce smuggling, the two objects of the system are in
some degree incompatible in the present state of money affairs.

The capital vested in uncultivated lands, is a mere dormant stock
which cannot be applied to such active employments as the erection of
workshops, machinery, and other outlays necessary for the establishment
of manufactories, unless it is replaced by other funds. Neither is it
so easy to procure money as formerly by mortgaging cultivated lands,
now when the prices of produce are so low.

The expedients resorted to, in keeping base money in circulation, are,
with respect to manufacturing interests, as impolitic as they are, in
fact, unjust. Bankers, who are virtually insolvent, are to be ranked
amongst the opposers of manufacturers, as it must be impossible for
such men to contemplate the reduction of the quantity of money so
essential to industry, without dreading the retribution that awaits
them.

The present condition of the United States is well suited to convince
the people of the expediency of making exertions for supplying their
own wants. Europe is no longer to be relied on as a market for their
produce, and Great Britain in particular has in effect excluded the
grain and the timber of the United States from her markets, and
prohibits Americans from trading with her West India colonies. Since
these restrictions have taken place, great quantities of British
manufactures have been imported into America, and the course {242} of
exchange has shown, that a large money balance has arisen in favour of
Britain. Some persons interested in the traffic, infer the prosperity
of the United States from their being able to pay a balance of trade.
Though general doctrines of this kind are sanctioned by several great
economists, on the broad principle that an exportation of money
indicates a corresponding importation of property, or in other words,
an accumulation of wealth; before adopting an assumption of this kind
in any particular case, it may be safe to inquire whether the import
consist of articles, which are permanently beneficial, or of luxuries
either of the more perishable kinds, or of those more conducive to
ornament than utility. With regard to the late imports of the United
States, it is thought sufficient to notice that they have not furnished
the ability to continue them in their usual amount.

Farther, nothing can be more plain than the necessity of abridging
the quantity of paper money in circulation; and when this is done to
a sufficient extent, foreigners will find it impossible to procure
dollars here on terms so easy as formerly. Were money rendered so
scarce, that it would command three or four times the quantity of the
necessaries of life that it does now, foreign labour would be excluded,
and the American labourer, with a third or a fourth part of his present
nominal wages, would find the only changes in his condition to be
a greater demand for his work, and an immediate enlargement of his
resources. The farmer would eventually find the means of increasing
his produce, and the advantage of a home market; and capitalists now
engaged in foreign commerce, would find employment for their funds in
manufactures. Fortunately the impolitic course latterly {243} pursued
is leading to its own correction. Specie is seldom to be seen in the
ordinary transactions of business, except in small worn pieces of
inferior denominations, and cut money, from which a portion of the
metal has been fraudulently abstracted. The deficiency in weight
prevents this part of the currency from being exported in direct
payments, and nothing but the recent depreciation of paper seems to
prevent these remnants of silver from being disposed of as bullion.

In former times, when Europe furnished a market for almost every
kind of produce, the strongest inducements to agricultural industry
prevailed. The fertility and the vast extent of the United States
enabled cultivators to increase in numbers, in a manner that would have
produced a disagreeable competition, in a more thickly peopled country;
but the recent state of commercial affairs shows that America is not
wide enough to prevent the inconveniences of competition in a narrow
market. The necessity of a new distribution of pursuits becomes every
day more apparent, as without it the people cannot enjoy the articles
of comfort and luxury hitherto imported. Some of the most popular
newspapers now advocate the cause of manufactures, and several public
societies take a deep interest in promoting the internal prosperity
of the country. The society at Philadelphia for promoting American
manufactures,[130] have in some of their papers reasoned in such a
manner as to prove that they possess a comprehensive knowledge of the
subject, both of its effects on national wealth, and of manufacturing
business. The resolutions of the society lately instituted at
Cincinnati for the promotion of agriculture, manufactures, and domestic
economy, are subjoined, {244} as a mark of the patriotic spirit that
now prevails.[131] The committee of this society consists of people of
the greatest wealth and influence in the city and neighbourhood.

Of the essays in favour of manufactures which have been published, it
may be observed generally, that they recommend the adoption of higher
import duties. That these have not been resorted to, need excite no
surprise, as the secretary of the treasury has shown that an increase
of duties must be followed by a decrease of national revenue, {245}
and as the ultimate substitute, internal taxation, would probably be
unpopular, although imposed with the most sparing hand. The spontaneous
decrease in the amount of money capital now going on, does not seem to
be duly appreciated;--an occurrence that is evidently well calculated
to give an impulse to American industry.

When the United States shall abandon the spurious money now in
circulation, and proceed on a smaller but more substantial capital, a
new era of national prosperity will commence. The government will be
freed from the danger, or rather the certainty, of losing the revenue
by a smuggled trade, and will feel less necessity for resorting to
restrictive regulations. A less sum of money will be sufficient to
defray the public expenses. The consequent cheapness of labour will
give the agriculturist new advantages in foreign markets, and develop
in a new degree the natural resources of the country. The home market,
occasioned by a manufacturing population, will be secure, as being
beyond the reach of foreign governments, whose caprice is hostile to
the security of American trade. Whenever the country shall be able to
manufacture the whole, or the greater part of its necessaries, the
exports of produce must be attended with an importation of specie. The
ingress of foreign capitalists may also be calculated on as one of the
effects to be produced by the change of system.

The introduction of manufactures must promote internal improvements,
as the making of roads and the construction of works, for facilitating
inland navigation. The country will be rendered capable of supporting
a greater population than it can under the present system, thereby
removing much of the inconvenience that attends their present
settlements; {246} better opportunities for mental improvement, and
the means of more prompt national defence, will be acquired; foreign
commerce and foreign relations will be abridged, so that the hazard
of hostilities with other countries may be greatly lessened. A small
shipping trade evidently requires less naval protection than an
extensive foreign commerce, and the retrenchment may perhaps admit
of some relaxation in the present construction of ships of war. The
reverses so frequently injurious to the manufacturers of Britain are
less to be dreaded in the United States. While their manufactures do
not exceed their own wants, it will always be practicable to prevent
the home market from being overstocked, and while the vacant back woods
are held in reserve, a manufacturing population need not be reduced to
pauperism by the want of a foreign market for their fabrics.

The erection of manufacturing establishments was recommended some time
ago by intelligent citizens, who foresaw that the money capital of the
country could not long supply the great efflux of specie. Now, a change
of policy becomes a matter of necessity. It is chiefly to be regretted
several State legislatures are too active in forcing the circulation
of degraded money;--a procedure which, in the meantime, retards the
natural subsidence of the convulsion, and keeps property out of the
hands of its real owners. However far they may succeed in procuring
indemnity for past peculations, their efforts must be impotent in
opposition to the future interests of mankind. The paper currency that
they strive to support falls in spite of their utmost exertions. I
now find that my expense of living or of travelling is nominally the
same that it was in the autumn of 1818. At that time I paid in specie,
or in money, which {247} was considered as nearly equivalent to it,
but of late I have on various occasions found that paper is accepted
which is 50 per cent. worse than silver. A person who collected a
salary to the amount of about eight hundred dollars, told me that he
had received only five dollars of that sum in specie. You can easily
perceive that, under this state of things, very few will give specie to
the tavern-keeper, grocer, or others, while he can previously procure
for it one and a half times, or twice its nominal amount, in what
is called current paper. Most of the small towns have a person who
follows the business of money changing; and merchants and other persons
transact in that way, so that specie is almost entirely withdrawn
from retail business, and applied to the purchase of public lands, or
other objects, for which depreciated paper would not be accepted of
in payment. Under this condition, an unsettled or precarious sort of
internal trade is carried on, but it is impossible to import foreign
goods as formerly.

The want of employment is another strong inducement to adopt an
independent system of economy, but a cumbrous load of paper money
presses industry to the earth. It is found by experience that the
farmer cannot pay 125 cents per day to the labourer, and sell his
corn for 25 cents per bushel, nor can the labourer work for a small
hire while he pays two and a half, or three dollars a-week for his
board, and an extravagant price for his clothing. Similar obstacles
occur in almost every branch of industry that furnishes anything for
exportation, or comes into competition with the labour of foreign
artizans, so that the operations of this country now consist chiefly of
works of first necessity. A gentleman who has opportunities of being
well acquainted with the {248} business of Philadelphia, has computed
that in that county alone, there are at least 15,000 persons who are
either entirely idle or are engaged in unproductive labour. He stated
that he has had more than twenty applications for employment, when he
could give work only to one, and that several other manufacturers say,
that they cannot employ a tenth part of the applicants they meet with.
The same gentleman estimates that there are about 150,000 unemployed
persons along the Atlantic coast, and that there are 350,000 persons
of the same description in other parts of the country.[132] It is not
pretended that these enumerations are derived from accurate data, or
that they are even very close approximations to the real numbers; but,
taken in connection with other well known facts, they may be received
as satisfactory evidence that the evil exists to a very considerable
extent.[133]

{249} Want of employment is here viewed as a want of organization.
With you it is represented to be an indication of an overpeopled
country. The government of the United States does not attempt to get
rid of its people, but, on the contrary, it welcomes the stranger who
arrives on their shores. Your government pay for transporting their
subjects, or encourage their removal by giving them lands gratis.
Canada is wide enough to receive them, but its connection with England
does not admit of a free trade. Multitudes of emigrants find their
comforts as narrow as before, and remove into the United States. If
facts of this sort indicate any thing, it is that no extent of country
can compensate for mismanagement, or, in other words, a nation is more
easily overstocked from impolicy than from want of soil.

The habits and institutions of the American people are peculiarly
favourable to the adoption of manufacturing pursuits. They have no
corporations with exclusive privileges, and no laws which enact
any specific period of apprenticeship. Their well known spirit of
enterprise, and the circumstance {250} of almost every man’s being
acquainted with handling the axe, the hammer, the saw, and the
joiner’s plane, must give a facility to the acquisition of mechanical
labour. Besides, it is understood that a few weeks, or at farthest a
few months, are enough to communicate the knowledge of most of those
employments, and that the work can soon be reduced to practice by
subsequent application. The progress already made in several branches
of manufacture tend to inspire a strong hope as to future attainments.
The fabrication of coarse cotton cloths, called _domestics_, which
now undersell British goods of similar quality; the making of iron
articles, of leather-hats, paper, types, engravings, the construction
of steam-boats, and the building of ships, are mentioned as flattering
examples.

As the disposition to promote American manufactures is progressive,
and as popular opinion dictates the measures of the government, it may
be safe to infer that commerce with England is now in a deep decline,
and that the erection of workshops (though it should be on a moderate
scale) may be hailed as the liberation of the United States from
foreign monopoly.


FOOTNOTES:

[130] The Philadelphia Society for Promoting Domestic Manufactures,
organized in 1803, with Stephen Girard as president, was incorporated
in 1805. A central warehouse was established, where articles of
American manufacture could be concentrated and sold, thus doing away
with the expense of middlemen. The society was active in advocating a
protective tariff.

The Cincinnati Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Manufactures,
and Domestic Economy was organized in 1819. Quarterly meetings were
held, and prizes offered for the best essays on subjects relating to
agriculture and domestic manufactures.--ED.

[131] “_1st._ We will not purchase, or suffer to be used in our
families, any imported liquors, fruits, nuts, or preserves of any kind,
unless they shall be required in cases of sickness.

“_2d._ Being convinced, that the practice which generally prevails of
wearing suits of black as testimonials of respect for the memory of
deceased friends, is altogether useless, if not improper, while it is
attended with a heavy expense; we will not sanction it hereafter in our
families, or encourage it in others.

“_3d._ We will not purchase, for ourselves or our families, such
articles of dress as are expensive, and are generally considered as
ornamental rather than useful.

“_4th._ We will abstain from the use of imported goods of every
description, as far as may be practicable, and we will give a
preference to articles that are of the growth and manufacture of our
own country, when the latter can be procured.

“_5th._ We will not purchase any articles, either of food or dress, at
prices that are considered extravagant, or that the citizens generally
cannot afford to pay; but will rather abstain from the use of such
articles until they can be obtained at reasonable prices.

“_6th._ We will observe a rigid economy in every branch of our
expenditures, and will, in all our purchases, be influenced by
necessity rather than convenience, and by utility rather than ornament.

“_7th._ We believe that the prosperity of the country depends in a
great degree on a general and faithful observance of the foregoing
declaration; we therefore promise that we will adhere to it ourselves,
and that we will recommend it to others.”--_Farnsworth’s Cincinnati
Directory._--FLINT.

[132] Letter to the President of the United States, by John Melish,
Esq. Phil. 1818.--FLINT.

[133] From the paucity of the circumstances attended to in statistical
inquiries, the most superficial observer might infer that national
pride is sufficiently gratified by the number of human beings, without
regard to that of useful or efficient citizens, and that governments
are satisfied with knowing little more of their people than that they
die, and that they were born. It were to be wished that enumerations
were made annually, instead of at the usual long intervals of time;
and in addition to the particulars ordinarily ascertained, such were
embraced as, the number of those who can show that they procure their
subsistence by lawful means; those who have fixed residences; those
who have received a moral education; the nature of employments; the
duration and immediate causes of their avocations; bankruptcies;
convictions for specified crimes; the known or proximate causes of
deaths; cases of lunacy; _felo de se_; epidemy and meteorological
registers made in every department of the country. The collection of
information of this kind might be conducted in a manner that would
operate as a beneficial supervision of society. It would furnish the
police department with a new insight into the sources of delinquency.
Taken in connection with coexistent laws which effect trade and
revenue, and criminal laws, and the state of markets, political economy
would be furnished with new instruments for investigation. The approach
of misery might frequently be anticipated and arrested without being
exhibited on the poor’s list, in the workhouse, or in the shape of
inability to pay taxes. Crimes might be prevented, and better criteria
obtained for discriminating between offences committed _against_
law, and those perpetrated _by_ law. A new light would be thrown on
several branches of physical science, and particularly on agriculture,
climate, and the healing art. It is but too easy to discover that the
desideratum is not in unison with the affairs of the age, but it is
probable that another Alfred, or a Lycurgus must arise before it can be
remedied.--FLINT.




{251} LETTER XXI

 Circuit Court of Indiana--Lawyers--Presiding Judge--Trial and Whipping
 of a Thief--Lands--Crops--Fourteen-Mile-Creek--Salt Springs--Town
 of Corydon--Drought-Barrens-Caves-Effects of a Tornado--Formation
 of the Higher Alluvial Bottom Lands of the Ohio--More
 Barrens--Salt River--Large Trees--Wild Vines--Steam-Boats--The
 Falls of the Ohio--Prevalence of Bilious and Intermittent
 Fevers--Taciturnity--Americanisms.


  _Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) Sept. 8, 1820._

Since writing my last letter to you, I have made several short
excursions into the country.--I was at Charlestown, the seat of justice
in Clark county,[134] while the circuit court sat there, and had
opportunities of hearing the oratory of several barristers, which was
delivered in language at once strong, elegant, and polite. A spirit of
emulation prevails at the bar, and a gentleman of good taste informed
me, that some young practitioners have made vast progress within two or
three years past. The United States certainly open an extensive school
for eloquence. The number of cases of litigation before the various
courts of justice is very great; and there are numerous opportunities
for exerting popular talent, as at elections, where the harangues are
called stump-speeches, from the practice of candidates mounting the
stumps of trees, and there addressing themselves to the people, and in
State Assemblies.

{252} The circuit court consists of a presiding judge, who makes a
progress over the whole State, and who meets with two associate judges
at the several seats of justice. Associate judges are local, and
only act in their respective counties. One of these gentlemen opened
the court at Charlestown last year in the absence of the presiding
judge.--A large jug, for holding cold water, that stood on the bench,
had a caricature portrait of a judge painted on it, and several
lawyers, on coming forward to open their cases, bowed to the figure,
and directed their eyes to it during their speeches, occasioning much
laughter in the house. It was not till the arrival of the presiding
judge that the contempt was checked. Freedoms on the part of lawyers
seem to be promoted in the back-country, in consequence of the bench
being occasionally filled with men who are much inferior to those at
the bar. The salary of the presiding judge (I have been told) is only
seven hundred dollars a-year. As he is engaged in public business and
in travelling nearly the whole of his time, that sum can only defray
his expenses, even under the most economical management, so that
there can be no great error in supposing that he acts gratuitously.
The present presiding judge is a man who has distinguished himself in
Indian warfare.[135] Whatever opinion you may form of the bench here,
you may be assured that it is occupied as a post of honour.

Amongst the business of the court, the trial of a man who had
stolen two horses excited much interest. On his being sentenced
to suffer thirty stripes, he was immediately led from the bar to
the whipping-post. Every twitch of the cowhide, (a weapon formerly
described,) drew a red line across his back. This was the second
infliction of the kind that had been sanctioned by {253} court in
the State, since my coming into it. I do not notice the infrequency
of punishments as wishing to occasion a belief that misdemeanours
are seldom committed. Indeed, were it not for the absolute impunity
obtained in most cases, we might soon see the partial development of a
new system of physiognomy, one not founded on the features of the face,
but on the striped lineaments of the back. Never, till now, did I so
much value the usage of Scotland, where the inhabitant, on removing
from one parish to another, carries with him the testimonial of the
church.

The surface of the land in the neighbourhood of Charlestown is
beautifully diversified, varying between gently undulated and steep of
broken ground. The soil is of the first rate quality, and covered with
luxuriant crops of Indian corn. The crops of wheat are what you would
call a second rate crop, and several fields of oats, which I saw, were
headed out, and were as bulky as any that I have seen in Mid-Lothian;
but, for a reason formerly stated, the grain cannot be expected to
arrive at fine quality. The banks of Fourteen-Mile-Creek, (which joins
the Ohio at the distance of fourteen miles above the falls,) are cliffs
of limestone that are overtopped by tall woods, and form, by their
windings, many romantic scenes, of which I can convey no adequate idea.
The stream is at present almost entirely dried up, but the extent of
its bed, and the marks of inundation by its margin, convince me that
its floods are nearly equal to those of the Clyde at Glasgow. Some
salt springs that percolate through the rocks in the bottom, have
been discovered during the present dry season: the existence of these
were first surmised by an ingenious gentleman, with whom I am well
acquainted. He proceeded by introducing a small tube into a {254} deep
and still part of the river, and drew water from the bottom that was
perceptibly saline. He has now some people engaged in boring, by which
means the discharge of water has been considerably augmented, and
has commenced evaporating on a small scale. This process is usually
performed by filling a number of iron kettles, of about three feet in
diameter, and six inches deep, with the water, and placing them on
loose stones, or over a trench that is dug in the ground for receiving
the fuel. Boring for salt water is a work that is occasionally
accompanied with a considerable degree of difficulty. Where the bore
communicates with a fresh water spring, on a higher level than the
saline one, a tube of tinned iron is let down to exclude the former.
At the salt-works by Kanhaway River, perforations have been made in
the limestone rocks to the depth of two hundred feet. There a hundred
gallons of water are said to yield a bushel of salt; but there are
waters evaporated in other parts of the country that do not yield more
than a fourth, or even a sixth part of that quantity.

Corydon,[136] the capital of the State of Indiana, is a small village,
situated in an obscure valley of Indian Creek, and is surrounded by
high and broken wooded lands. The weeds which cover the clear parts
of the town plot are withered to whiteness by the drought, as is most
of the ground in this part of the country, swamps and lands under
crop excepted. The site of a new capital for the State is determined
to be on the east branch of White River, where the lands are still in
the hands of the government. Future convenience, and the prospect of
promoting the sale of land in the late Indian purchase, seem to have,
on this occasion, triumphed {255} over private interest.--No name has
yet been assigned to this inland metropolis.

Between Corydon and the river Ohio, (about twenty-five miles,) the
surface is of a rolling structure, and the soil good. Grass, at all
times scanty on account of the small quantity of cleared ground, is now
withered. The surface, where closely shaded by large trees, scarcely
exhibits any thing that is green; rotten logs, and the leaves of last
autumn, are strowed over the ground, presenting the most gloomy picture
of desolation. Where large trees are thin, a growth of underwood
prevails. Grounds called barrens are interspersed with the woods in
this part of Indiana.--These are covered over with small copsewood,
as hazel and briars, also with grasses, and an immense variety of
deciduous plants.--The name _barrens_ must have arisen from the lands
so denominated not producing such a large growth of vegetable matter
as the forests, rather than from sterility. They are, in reality, much
better pasturages than the woodlands, and, when cultivated, produce
the best crops of wheat. I found travelling through the barrens to be
somewhat uncomfortable, on account of exposure to the rays of the sun,
and the dust of the road, which was continually raised, in a little
cloud, by the motion of the horse’s feet. This sort of ground is dry,
and without the vast quantity of decaying vegetable matters to be seen
in the woods, and for these reasons it is probably more conducive to
health.

A great portion of the soil of western America lies immediately over
immense strata of horizontal limestone, in which are numerous fissures.
I have often seen the presence of these indicated in Ohio, Kentucky,
and Indiana, by hollows in the {256} ground in the form of inverted
cones, which are here called sink holes. Some of these fissures have
openings to the surface. A stupendous one in Kentucky,[137] known by
the name of the great cave, has been explored to the distance of nine
miles from its entrance.[138] The nitrate of potash has been found
in some of these caves, and the sulphate of magnesia in others. Many
of them abound in stalactites of calc sinter; and copious streams of
water pass through some of them. One of these in Kentucky turns a
subterraneous mill, to which access is obtained by a sink-hole; and a
Colonel C---- of Indiana told me that a settler in his neighbourhood,
on digging a well, penetrated into a stream of water, and found blind
fishes in it.[139]

During the last and the present summer, this country has suffered
droughts, which the inhabitants consider extraordinary. Between Corydon
and the Ohio the water was very muddy. Some people in that part are
obliged to carry water from a distance of two miles. It is not uncommon
now to see mill streams entirely dried up. I have seen several peach
trees, with the fruit nearly ripened, almost dried up by the scorching
heat; and, in some instances, the woods assuming the appearance of
autumn prematurely, from the same cause. The disadvantage of the want
of water will be thought less appalling, when it is recollected that
the clearing of the ground has a tendency to increase springs; and when
it is considered that {257} the dryness of rivers is not occasioned
by the total want of springs, but by the evaporation from the bottoms
of water-courses; and farther, that water in most situations may be
procured by digging wells.

Immediately on the north bank of the Ohio, and about thirty miles below
the falls, I crossed an avenue in the woods, 600 or 700 yards wide,
which had been devastated by a tornado that had passed from west to
east, and in its way cleared the ground almost entirely. The largest
trees were either torn up by the roots or broken. In the part that I
observed, nothing but underwood and the shattered fragments of trees
remained. On making inquiries as to the hurricane, I was informed that
it swept over the country to the length of several hundred miles; and
that, on the Kentucky side of the river, it totally obstructed a road
with timber which has not yet been removed.

It is also about thirty miles below the falls that the range of high
land, called the knobs, intersects the river. This is the ridge that
crosses the lower part of Indiana, and part of Kentucky, which the
late M. Volney noticed under the name of the Silver Creek hills; and
by him supposed to have once formed a dam, that retained a lake in the
valley of the Ohio, extending from the ridge just mentioned, to the
place where Pittsburg now stands. That philosopher attempted to show
that the higher bottom lands, which are above the level of the present
inundations, were deposited in the bottom of the lake; and that, on
the water’s making a gap in the barrier, the lake was drained, and the
Ohio withdrawn into its present lower and less capacious bed. That the
knobs once formed a dam I am forced to admit, from having seen marks
on a high level on the limestone rocks in the gap, which {258} clearly
indicate the action of a cataract: but I am, notwithstanding, led to
agree with Dr. Drake’s hypothesis, which explains the formation of
the higher bottom land, as being the alluvion of the Ohio at a time
when that river was much larger than at present. The facts relating to
this subject that have come within the reach of my own observation,
may perhaps be inserted in a well-known scientific journal. In the
meantime, it may be sufficient to say, it is now ascertained, that the
waters of Erie, and other great lakes, formerly flowed southward into
the valley of the Ohio; and that a cataract, more tremendous than the
falls of Niagara, raged among the rocks of Silver Creek hills.

In the neighbourhood of Salt River and Green River, in Kentucky, there
are extensive tracks of barren wastes. Small hazel bushes from two to
three feet in height abound in these; and the quantity of nuts produced
exceeds any thing of the kind which I have ever seen. The soil of
these wastes seems to be very similar to that of the adjoining woods;
and on account of the trees diminishing gradually in size, from the
forest toward the waste, it is sometimes impossible to discover a line
where the one stops and the other begins. This, together with the fact
told by an old settler, that some small saplings which stood on his
farm twenty years ago, are now become tall trees, leads me to adopt
the opinion entertained by some, that the wastes or barrens owe their
characteristic form to the Indians, who set fire to dried grass and
other vegetables with the design of facilitating their hunting.

Salt River is between 100 and 150 yards wide where it unites with the
Ohio, and is navigable for about sixty miles. The name is derived from
salt springs in its vicinity that are now wrought. Opposite to the
mouth of this river, on the north {259} bank of the Ohio, stands a
sycamore tree of stupendous size, which is hollow within. I measured
the cavity, and found one diameter to be twenty-one feet, and the other
twenty feet. In one side of it, a hole is cut sufficiently large to
admit a man on horseback. It was probably a sycamore considerably less
than this that is noticed in the Pittsburg Navigator, (edition printed
in 1818, p. 29,) in the following words: -- “There is one of these huge
trees in Sciota county, Ohio, on the land of a Mr. Abraham Miller,
into whose hollow thirteen men rode on horseback, June 6, 1808; the
fourteenth did not enter, his horse being skittish, and too fearful to
advance into so curious an apartment, but there was room enough for two
more.” [140]

There is perhaps no vegetable in this country that strikes the mind
with greater surprise than the wild vine. I have seen one with a stem
nine inches in diameter, and heard of others measuring eleven inches.
Some detached trees have their tops closely wreathed with the vines
in a manner that forms an elegant and umbrageous canopy, into which
the eye cannot penetrate. In the woods they overtop the tallest trees,
and from thence hang their pendulous twigs almost to the ground, or
pass their ramifications from the branches of one tree to others,
overshadowing a considerable space. In many instances their roots are
at the distance of several feet from any tree, and their tops attached
to branches at the height of sixty or eighty feet, without coming into
contact with the trunks of trees, or any other intermediate support.
To make the case plain, I have only to say, that the positions of some
of these vines have a near resemblance to the stays, and some other
ropes of a ship. The question, how they have erected themselves in this
manner? is frequently put. Boats that descend the {260} Ohio are often
moored without any other cable than a small vine. If a notch is cut
in the stem of a vine in the spring season, clear and tasteless water
runs out, not in drops, but in a continued stream. I have several times
quenched my thirst from sources of this kind.

For upwards of two months, the Ohio has been low; steam-boats cannot
now pass from the falls at this place to the Mississippi, nor can
boats, descending with produce, get down the same rapids without
unloading the greater part of their cargoes. The trade of the country
is of consequence much interrupted. In spring, 1818, there were
thirty-one steam-boats on the Mississippi and Ohio; at present there
are sixty on these waters. This increase of craft, together with the
decreasing quantity of goods imported, has lowered the freight from
New Orleans to the falls of the Ohio, from six cents to two cents per
pound. The rates paid by passengers, however, are not reduced in the
same proportion.

The falls of the Ohio are occasioned by a bed of horizontal limestone
that stretches across the river, which is upwards of a mile in breadth.
At the head of the falls, the river is about a mile broad, including
a small island, but in dry seasons of the year the waters are much
contracted in breadth, leaving a great portion of the rocky bottom
entirely dry. The interruption to the navigation is not a precipitous
cascade, as the name would imply, but a rapid, which is extremely
shallow at the head in dry weather, and runs over an uneven bottom, at
the rate of about fourteen miles an hour. After passing the upper, or
principal shoot, nearly the whole of the waters are collected into a
deep but narrow channel, close by the Indiana shore, leaving some small
islands toward the opposite side; {261} the second, or lower shoot, is
less violent, having deeper water, and is always navigable for loaded
boats passing downward. The lives of a number of strangers have lately
been lost, by venturing down without pilots. The whole fall, at the
lowest known stage of water, is nearly twenty-four feet; but in floods
the declivity is distributed over a large portion of the river, and is
imperceptible to the eye. The rocks contain vast quantities of organic
remains, as madrepores, millepores, favocites, alcyonites, corals,
several species of terebratulæ, trilobites, trochites, &c. &c. These
remains being harder than the water-worn rocks, appear prominent, as
if in relief, and many of them almost entirely detached. They are so
numerous, that the surface is literally studded with them. Volney, who
visited this place, has represented the rocks to be destitute of such
subjects. It must have been at a time when they were covered by water.

The inhabitants in the neighbourhood of the Falls have been visited by
attacks of bilious fever and ague. A considerable number of persons
have been carried off by the former of these complaints, and the
convalescent of both are much debilitated. A surmise lately appeared
in a Louisville newspaper, that many poor people had suffered from
the want of medical assistance, and hazarded the opinion, that a
number had died in cases where seasonable applications might have been
efficacious. Accounts from Vincennes [141] say, that about a third part
of the people there are confined to bed by sickness, and that much
of the Wabash country, both in Indiana and Illinois, are now subject
to the same evil. Reports from the settlements on the lower parts of
White river represent that sickness prevails there and along other
water courses. There are many {262} people who act as if they were not
sufficiently sensible of the disadvantages resulting from settling
in unhealthy situations. Fertility of soil and commercial advantages
are the great attractions, but men who look to these as primary
considerations, obviously undervalue some of the strongest checks to
population and public prosperity. The endemical distempers of this
country, so far from being chiefly confined to the weak and the aged,
seem to commit their greatest devastations amongst the young and the
strong. Surviving sufferers are frequently rendered unfit for labour
for a third or fourth part of the year, and receive an irreparable
injury to their constitutions; regimen and medicine become almost as
indispensable as food; productive labour is thus diminished, and an
additional cost imposed on life.

Tavern-keepers observe that travellers are not nearly so numerous as
they were last year. The change is to be imputed solely to the decline
in trade, and to depression in the price of lands. The fact shows
that a proportion of the populace remains at home through necessity
or economical motives. Happy it is for them, that the pressure of the
times does not, as in certain other countries, turn out a numerous
class in the condition of houseless poor. Travellers, however, are
still so numerous, that a stranger, not fully aware of the rapidity
with which new settlements are forming, and of the great populace of
eastern States, might be apt to imagine that Americans are a singularly
volatile people.

In the whole of my correspondence with the unlettered part of the
people of the western country, I have observed a brevity of language,
that seems to be occasioned by their not being acquainted with {263}
an extensive vocabulary. Their manner of speech is grave, apparently
earnest, and adapted to business more than to intellectual enjoyment.
It is seldom that any thing jocular, or any play of words, or
circumlocution, or repartee, is uttered by them. If a question is put,
it is usually answered in the shortest manner possible. Sometimes
abridgments are made that render expressions inconclusive, and give
them the form of the inuendo, even where ambiguity is not intended, and
by people who, if they were accosted in ironical terms, would make no
other reply than an astonished gaze. Technical language is, for obvious
reasons, much limited. I have had opportunities of seeing a number of
Americans and Irish, who were engaged in the same sort of employment,
and could not omit noticing the contrast formed. Where work was let by
the piece, the Irish (although previously strangers to one another)
uniformly joined in working together in large groupes, and amused
themselves by conversation, occasionally introducing the song, the pun,
and the bull; while Americans, under similar conditions, preferred
working alone, or in parties not exceeding three, and attended to their
business in silence. The conversation of those whom _you_ would call
the lower orders, shows that they have a very considerable knowledge
of the institutions of their country, and that they set a high value
on them. Their discourse is usually intermixed with the provincialisms
of England and Ireland, and a few Scotticisms. This might be expected,
since America has been partly peopled by the natives of these
countries. They also use some expressions the original applications of
which I have not been able to discover. These I must call Americanisms,
and will subjoin some examples.

  {264} Movers                 _for People in the act of removing
                                  from one place to another._
  Fresh                        --_Flood in a river._
  Bos                          --_Master._
  Hired Girl                   --_Servant Girl._
  Hired Man                    --_Servant Man._
  Reach                        --_A part of a river that continues for a
                                    considerable distance nearly in a
                                    straight line._
  Raised                       --_Bred or reared, the participle passive
                                    of to breed, (frequently applied to
                                    the human species.)_
  Tot                          --_Carry. This is said to be of negro
                                    origin._
  Carry the horse to water     --_To take or lead the horse to the
                                    water._
  Chores                       --_Probably derived from chars; little,
                                    odd, detached or miscellaneous
                                    pieces of business._
  Rowdy                        --_Blackguard._
  Truck                        --_Culinary vegetables; sometimes applied
                                    to baggage._
  A Machinery                  --_A Machine._
  Floy                         --_Dirty or foul._
  Clever                       --_Honest, or of good disposition._
  Creature                     --_Horse._
  Rooster, or he-bird          --_Cock, the male of the hen._


FOOTNOTES:

[134] Charlestown, first settled in 1808, is near the centre of Clark
County, twelve miles north of Jeffersonville, and has always been the
county seat.--ED.

[135] This was Benjamin Parke, a leading man in Indiana under both
territorial and state governments. Emigrating from his native state,
New Jersey, in 1797, he came first to Lexington, where he studied law,
then removed to Vincennes in 1801. He was chosen the first territorial
delegate to Congress, but resigned (1808) to become a territorial
judge. Upon the admission of Indiana to the Union, he was appointed
by President Madison United States district judge with circuit court
powers, a position held until his death in 1835. He took part in the
battle of Tippecanoe, and was for several years an Indian agent.--ED.

[136] The capital of Indiana Territory was moved from Vincennes to
Corydon in 1813, and remained there until 1825 (see _ante_, note 100).
Corydon is near the center of Harrison County, twenty-five miles west
of Louisville.--ED.

[137] Mammoth Cave, about ninety-five miles south-west of Louisville,
was accidentally discovered by a hunter in 1809. At the present time
two hundred and twenty-three of its avenues have been explored, making
a total length of one hundred and fifty miles. During the War of
1812-15, salt was manufactured from the nitrous earth in its caverns,
and transported across the mountains to Philadelphia and Baltimore. The
close of the war rendering this industry unprofitable, the cave has
since been used only for exhibition.--ED.

[138] A description of this cave was written by John H. Farnham, Esq.,
and by him transmitted to the American Antiquarian Society, instituted
by the legislature of Massachusetts.--FLINT.

_Comment by Ed._ “Extract of a letter .... describing the Mammoth Cave,
in Kentucky,” in American Antiquarian Society _Transactions_, i, p. 355.

[139] Since the above was written, a notice of blind fishes has
appeared (if I mistake not) in the memoirs of the Wernerian Society of
Edinburgh.--FLINT.

_Comment by Ed._ This was a Scottish Society composed of the followers
of the German geologist, Abraham Gottlob Werner (1750-1817), who
promulgated the doctrine of the aqueous origin of rocks. His followers
were known also as Neptunists.

[140] It was common for early Western travellers to mention large trees
as indicative of the richness of the soil. Among others, the following
mention the great trees of the West: Washington, Harmar, William Brown,
Cutler, Harris, Baily, Hildreth, and Birkbeck. Most of these trees were
sycamores, such as that monster which Washington measured on his tour
in 1770. Some very large apple-trees are also mentioned.--ED.

[141] For the early history of Vincennes, see Croghan’s _Journals_,
volume i of our series, note 113.--ED.




LETTER XXII

 Miscellaneous Remarks on the Manners and Habits of the People


  _Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) Sep. 11, 1820._

In your letter of the 15th of May last, you mention your apprehension
that I am living amongst a half civilized people. Perhaps this is
partly occasioned by my having, in former letters, mentioned a
considerable number of disagreeable incidents. {265} Matters of public
notoriety always attract attention, while the more gratifying affairs
of private life, as the most pleasant family scenes, the strictest
integrity, and even acts of the most disinterested generosity, are,
from their more frequent occurrence, omitted as less interesting. Hence
it is, that the stories of travellers, however authentic they may
be, and however amusing to their readers, are often more calculated
to promote prejudices then to convey accurate information regarding
society and morals. It is the energy and the tendency of public
institutions that form the best index to national character.

I have at different times called your attention to the disadvantages
here in respect of opportunities of education, and the influx of
immoral strangers. In these respects the back-woods are mere colonies
in comparison with the better state of society in the eastern country.
Had I lived in Connecticut or Massachusetts, instead of Indiana, I
might have met with fewer irregularities to relate. My acquaintance
with many persons from the older communities of the Union, causes me to
entertain the highest opinion of the attainments there, and convinces
me that it would be nearly as unfair to collect the ingredients
for forming the character of the British people in their foreign
possessions, as it is to infer the state of American society from the
habits and manners of people in new settlements. Adopting this view
of the matter, it may be asked, in which of the British colonies is a
thirty-sixth part of the soil set apart for the support of schools?
which of them make their own laws, and appoint their own governors? or
which has produced such an example of availing themselves of the lights
of the age, as has the new State of Alabama, in rejecting usury laws.

{266} There is no course of conduct that would belie my feelings more
than attempting to misrepresent the character of the American people.
From the time of my first landing in the country till the present,
I have enjoyed intercourse with people of eminence in society, and
have uniformly met with the most polite receptions, and, on many
occasions, with such marks of kindness that I can never have sufficient
opportunities to requite. Names would be altogether uninteresting
to you, but there are many here that I cannot recal to recollection
without associating them with those of the personages whom I most
admire, and of the friends whom I most esteem.

The American community is not, like that of Britain, divided or
formed into classes by the distinctions of title and rank, neither
does political party seem to form such a complete separation amongst
men, and the unequal distribution of property operates much less. The
effects of these conditions are, that the individuals who compose our
society are less mutually repellent to one another than with you, and
the distinctions formed here are of a more natural kind, such as those
founded on public services and talents, and the more uninterrupted
associations that proceed from the sympathies of human nature. I am
almost of opinion that the more extended bonds of American society are
much strengthened by universal suffrage, and the frequent recurrence
of elections, for this reason, that the candidates having no boroughs
to be treated with in the wholesale way, and the constituents being
too numerous, and coming too often in the way, to admit of their being
bought over, expectants are obliged to depend on their popularity,
and do not find it their interest to repulse any one. It is only from
these causes that I could attempt {267} to account for the affability
of manners which are almost universal. The inhabitants of American
towns are not, like some of the people of your cities, ignorant of the
names of the persons who live in the nearest adjoining houses, or who
perhaps enter by the same outer door, and the new settler in the woods
is soon so well known, among a wide circle of neighbours, that almost
any person, within ten miles of him, can direct the stranger to his
residence. The civilities exchanged by people who meet on the roads, or
in taverns, and the readiness amongst strangers to converse together,
are matters of surprise to natives of Britain.

A short time ago I went on business to the residence of a gentleman
of high military rank, who has made a distinguished figure in Indian
warfare, in the late war on the Canadian frontier, and by his eloquence
in Congress. His hospitality and the urbanity of his manners are not
less conspicuous than his other great qualities. His house, from the
numbers of his visitors, has a great resemblance to a tavern. He has
on his property a great number of people who rent land _on shares_,
(a term formerly explained to you.) When one of these tenants, or
when almost any other stranger of respectable appearance, happens to
come to his house about the time of dinner, he usually invites him to
table. Amongst his party at dinner I observed an old man, who joined
in conversation for about half an hour after the cloth was removed. On
his rising to depart the host politely accompanied him to his horse.
It was not till after mounting that the stranger intimated the object
of his call.--“I have,” (said he,) “for a long time wished to see
General ----, and now I am satisfied.” In the afternoon he walked over
his farm, and gave directions to some people making hay, {268} and to
others employed in a distillery, in which he uses the corn paid to him
as rents. That article now sells at twenty-five cents per bushel, but
when converted into spirits, it yields him at the rate of a dollar per
bushel. In the evening two itinerants, a presbyterian preacher and
his wife, arrived with an introduction from an acquaintance. After
some conversation, the preacher performed worship in the family. In
the morning, after breakfast, the General contributed a few dollars to
the support of religion, and held the horses while the two travellers
mounted. It would be of little use to multiply facts showing that
people of the first consequence, in the free States of this country,
do not keep numerous hordes of menials, and that they know how to help
themselves, as the high price of labour might alone lead you to infer
this as a consequence. I shall only relate an example in point. The
gentleman with whom I board keeps a tavern; he is an officer who fought
for the liberties of his country, during the revolutionary war, and is
now adjutant-general of the militia of this State.[142] One morning I
found him engaged in cleaning his own shoes, in the absence of a boy
who usually does work of this kind for him.

The laws and the usages of America in respect of foreigners, reflect
the highest honour on the country. The stranger is not only protected
in his person and property on his first arrival, but it is in his
power to become an elector, and eligible to situations of honour and
trust. He may depend on being here esteemed according to his behaviour
and usefulness, without regard to his former condition or his former
country. I have in various instances seen men enjoying the benefits of
the free institutions of the United States, and the respect of their
neighbours, who, a few years ago, invaded {269} the country with
British arms in their hands. You may contrast this liberality with the
Alien laws, and with the spirit of the corporations and privileged
orders of your country, and ask yourself, Who are the semi-barbarians?
Who are the “half-civilized people?”

The comforts that I enjoy here are perhaps somewhat greater than you
suppose. I board with a respectable family, the members of which
do every thing in their power to render my situation agreeable. In
our small town and neighbourhood, there is a considerable number of
accomplished people, amongst whom I have much of that sort of enjoyment
which consists in hearing elegant conversation, and the reciprocation
of those little civilities and services that give a relish to social
life. The situation of this place at an important point on the river,
and on the line of an extensive communication by land, renders it a
very considerable thoroughfare. This of itself, has been the means
of making me extensively acquainted amongst the public characters of
the State, and many interesting individuals from other parts. We have
abundance of newspapers, some of which are judiciously conducted, and
in which many excellent original articles are to be found; and all
of them devote a part of their columns to the public occurrences of
Britain. I occasionally read some of the latest publications from your
country, and have frequent opportunities of seeing the Reviews, and
Literary and Scientific Magazines. At short intervals, I have commonly
letters from Scotland, and frequently communications from friends in
different parts of this country. In short, were I discontented with the
society amongst which I live, I might occasion a suspicion that I am
unworthy of mixing in it.


FOOTNOTES:

[142] Henry P. Coburn was adjutant-general of Indiana from December,
1819, to December, 1822. A native of Massachusetts and graduate of
Harvard College (1812), he came to Indiana in 1816 and practised law
in the southern part of the state until 1820. In that year he was made
clerk of the supreme court, holding the position until his death in
1852.--ED.




{270} LETTER XXIII

 Passage from the Falls of the Ohio to
 Cincinnati--Drought--Banks--Militia--Journey to Lake
 Erie--Reading--Shakertown--Lebanon--Little Miami--Wood
 Pigeons--Insects--Clarkville and Leesburg--Greenfield and
 Oldtown--Large quantities of Grain raised by Individuals--The
 Great Sciota--Pickaway Plains--Wet Prairies--New
 Lancaster--Lebanon--Newark--Mount Vernon--Owl Creek--Clear
 Fork--Roads--Mansfield--Trucksville--Summit of the Country
 between the Ohio and Lake Erie--Munro--Sickness--The Great
 Prairie--The former Beach of Lake Erie--Bloomingtown--Bank--Mineral
 Strata--Portland--Venice--Sickness--Indians--Tavern Keepers--People.


  _Portland, (Ohio,) Oct. 13, 1820._

I left the Falls of the Ohio on the 12th ult. and took my passage in a
steam-boat which plies between that place and Cincinnati.--There was no
other passing on the Ohio at that time, on account of the lowness of
the water.

From the difference of time occupied in ascending and descending the
river, it appeared that the mean velocity of the stream was reduced to
one mile per hour. In several ripples, the deepest part of the channel
measured only three feet. The vessel repeatedly ran aground, so that
an anchor was put out, and it became necessary that every man on board
should work at the capstane. The boat was the same in which I ascended
the river in June last, and of which I noted down the dimensions in my
letter of the 26th of that month. {271} She is here considered to be a
small vessel, and the best for navigating the river in dry seasons. On
computing the velocity of the water wheel, I found that the boat would
move at the rate of 8¹⁄₂ miles per hour, supposing that it proceeded
in the manner of wheel carriages, and that the actual velocity through
still water was seven miles per hour. This gives a very good measure of
the _vis inertiæ_ of the fluid.

We did not arrive at Cincinnati till the 15th, being obliged to stop
during the night, as it was impossible to keep in the proper channel in
the dark, at the present low stage of the river. The vessel returned
downward nearly empty, to be laid up till the next rise of water.

The hills in the neighbourhood of Cincinnati, which were beautifully
verdant in June last, are now withered to whiteness, by the scorching
drought.[143]

The trade of Cincinnati continues to be dull. Two of the banks have
given up business altogether, and two others are struggling for
existence. Their money is 33¹⁄₂ and 60 per cent under par. One of
these establishments has been in the habit of giving in exchange for
its own notes, those of another paper shop at a considerable distance;
when the paper so obtained is presented at the second, it is taken in
exchange for the money of a third bank still farther off. At the third,
the bills are exchanged for the money of the first. This is in reality
making banks “_equally solvent with their neighbouring institutions_.”
Some of the stockholders, {272} _who are themselves the debtors of the
banks_, procure a part of the money, which is either much depreciated,
or entirely sunk to satisfy for the same debts.

Females of a certain description are not to be seen in the streets
of Cincinnati after dusk. This is attributed, not so much to police
regulations, as to the boys, whose practice it is to chase them.

On the 23d, a regiment of Militia was reviewed. The state of discipline
is so bad that every movement is accompanied with disorder. The time
occupied in training is short, and the practice of privates electing
their own officers is not considered conducive to subordination,
especially in time of peace. They are, however, armed with good rifles,
and are formidable troops in the woods.

The last number of the Edinburgh Review, Peter’s Letters to his
Kinsfolk,[144] _Blackwood’s Magazine_, and the Monastery,[145] are
the current works of the day. When lately at Louisville, I found an
acquaintance reading Ivanhoe; during my stay with him, which was only
about an hour, two persons applied for a loan of the book. He told me
that there were seven or eight copies of it in that town, and that they
are no sooner read by one than they are lent to another. Two copies of
the Monastery had just then arrived in town, and were, if possible,
more in request than the former. The natives of Britain, in America,
have the satisfaction of mixing with a people who are descended from
the same ancestors, who speak the same language, who are instructed by
the same standard books, who are amused by the same novels, and who
sing the same songs.

In giving you details of my journey from the Ohio to Lake Erie, I shall
confine myself almost {273} entirely to a transcript of notes taken by
the way.[146]

On the 26th of September I left Cincinnati. My travelling equipment
consisted of a light waggon, drawn by a Yankee mare. The animal was
spirited, but at the same time docile, and obedient to the rein; and
the roads, though rough in some parts, and covered with dust, were such
as are in this country called good. The atmosphere was clear, without a
single speck of cloud, and the temperature of the air agreeable. I got
forward with a degree of ease and good spirit, that might well become a
ride undertaken for pleasure.

Reading is a small town with a good tavern, twelve miles north-east of
Cincinnati.[147]

I lodged for the night with a tavern-keeper, who has, within these four
years past, cleared a good farm on which he lives. He is a penetrating
and intelligent old man. Without being told, he was able to discover my
native country, and attempted to make himself agreeable by dilating on
the histories of Wallace and Bruce. His son, who is arrived at manhood,
asked if Wallace was an American? The father is a native of the eastern
country, and has had better opportunities of being educated than the
son seems to have met with in this newly settled country. Closely
adjoining to this place is Union or Shakertown,[148] the settlement of
a remarkable society called Shakers, I suppose from dancing forming a
principal part of their worship. They have established a community
of goods, and prohibited marriage and the propagation of the species.
Although this restriction is in general religiously observed, it
is said that several of their daughters have been carried off from
the settlement by young men of the neighbourhood. In the Session of
1810-1811, the legislature found it proper to interfere, in causing
the society to provide for some families {274} that were deserted by
their husbands. The people in the vicinity admit that the Shakers are
characterized by sobriety, a peaceable disposition, (and, what appears
to be surprising,) industry, frugality, and cleanliness.

_Sept. 27._ Passed through Lebanon,[149] a small town composed partly
of brick houses. It is, however, the seat of justice for a county, and
has a newspaper printing-office, and a bank. The number of two and four
horse waggons which pass along the road would indicate much business;
but a deduction is to be made for the smallness of the loads. Farmers
were engaged in carrying home their crops of maize, or in piling them
up in the fields, and some in preparing the ground for sowing their
wheat. The orchards were nearly cleared of their fruit. Cyder is here
made in considerable quantities.

The country between the two rivers Miamis is said to be one of the
most fertile in America, but the part of it that I have seen is not
the best watered. Many of the people have to draw water from wells for
themselves and their cattle, happy at the present time, if the springs
do not fail altogether.

Crossed the little Miami, a name that is now perfectly descriptive
of the river.[150] The bottom land is rich, and the banks on both
sides steep. On the top of the east bank the remains of an ancient
fortification stand. The wall, which is about fourteen feet high, is
overgrown with large timber, and incloses a considerable space of land.

Much of the road in the east side of the little Miami is over wet clay
land. Logs are split, and laid side by side across the road, as a way
for carriages. The jolting over these is disagreeable, and the progress
slow. At this dry season, the soil would serve the purpose better, but
would be impassable in wet weather.

{275} The woods abound in pigeons, a small species of fowls which
migrates to the southward in winter, and return to the north in spring.
Their numbers are so immense that they sometimes move in clouds,
upwards of a mile in length. At the time when they are passing, the
people have good sport in shooting them, as one flock frequently
succeeds another before the gun can be reloaded. The parts of the woods
where they roost, are distinguished by the trees having their branches
broken off, and many of them deadened by the pressure of the myriads
that alight upon them.

The number of grasshoppers is amazingly great. A swarm of them rises
from amongst the grass or weeds, at every footstep of the pedestrian.
Some large species are winged, and can fly to the distance of twelve,
and even twenty yards. This remark applies to every part of America
which I have seen. The country abounds with a multitude of insects,
much diversified in species, colours, and habits. Wasps and hornets are
extremely numerous. I have not suffered from mosquitoes in the degree
that I had been taught to expect.

_Sept. 28._ Clarkville and Leesburg are two very small towns. Passed
a young man who was lame, I believe, from a rheumatic affection, a
complaint that is pretty frequent in this country, from the quick
transitions in the temperature of the climate. This traveller told me
that he was on his return from New Orleans, having gone down the river
in the capacity of boatman, and that he had travelled most of the way
homeward on foot. On my suggesting that he should remain with a farmer
for a few days, where he might work at the harvest, a kind of labour
which does not require much locomotion, he told me that he had applied
to several, but they refused to give him employment.

{276} The road between Leesburg and Munro is over high ridges and deep
ravines. The country here (Highland County) is allowed to be healthy,
but a dense population must be accumulated before the natural obstacles
to communication can be surmounted. The bridges here, as in other new
settlements, are nothing more than two long trees thrown over the
stream, about eight feet apart, with split or round pieces of timber
laid across these, side by side. In the case of a deep ravine, the road
is directly down the bank to the end of the bridge.

_Sept. 29._ Greenfield and Oldtown are two small towns. The former has
made considerable progress of late. The woods were assuming the colours
of autumn. This change was accelerated by slight frosts which occurred
on two mornings, about the time of the equinox. The sugar-maple, the
dogwood, and the beech, were the most forward.

I remained for the night with an old tavern-keeper, who had been
a soldier in the revolutionary service. He is proprietor of a good
farm, which is occupied by his son-in-law, who, last year, raised nine
hundred bushels, including corn and wheat, by his individual exertions.
I had previously heard of a negro from Kentucky, who, in the same
year, settled on a prairie near Vincennes, and there raised a thousand
bushels of corn. The last of these quantities may be assumed as a full
maximum of the produce that may be raised by one man, even where great
fertility of soil, industry, and health, conspire together. But as
this quantity of grain would now sell for only two hundred and fifty
dollars, without deducting the expense of carrying it to market, or
allowing any thing for the provender of a horse, while the wages of
a labourer may be {277} now fairly stated at three hundred and fifty
dollars for a year, it is evident that farmers, from such a small
return, cannot hire the labour of other people.

On the 30th I crossed the Great Sciota, a river that is great indeed
in times of wet weather; but the ford, which is at the head of a
stream, was not then more than eight or nine inches deep. The river,
notwithstanding, retains a grandeur that is not unbecoming its name.
The stream is broad, covering nearly the whole of its capacious bed.
The water is limpid, and the banks are covered with a growth of
stupendous sycamores and other large trees.

Pickaway Plains consist of flat land.[151] The clear part is a prairie,
entirely destitute of trees, and is about seven miles long and five
broad. To a European, who has been upwards of two years immersed in
the woods, such a clear space is truly exhilarating. It was while
proceeding along a fine smooth road, at a brisk trot, that I suddenly
discovered I was making my _entrée_ into the plain.--The air was
still, clear, and admitted of the most distinct vision, so that I
could see a distant blue ridge of high land, which I supposed to be
in Kentucky. After having advanced about half a mile into the open
space, I observed a long cloud of dust over the road. The fore part of
this train seemed at my horse’s feet, and under my vehicle, and the
other end of it was in that part of the wood from whence I emerged.
Possibly a native of the American woods might be more surprised on his
first entering a prairie than I was, but I have a doubt whether his
sensations would be as pleasant as mine _were_.

The soil is of a dark coloured earth, apparently mixed with a large
portion of vegetable matter, and {278} lies on a gravelly subsoil. When
extremely rich lands are spoken of in this part of the country, they
are apt to be compared with Pickaway. The inhabitants of the plain are
occasionally visited by agues.

I believe that I have not heretofore mentioned any particulars
respecting the dust of the roads of this country. The clothes of
travellers are frequently covered with it, and it passes through the
smallest crevices, into trunks and packing boxes. This may probably
arise from the heat of the climate, which dries the mud very much, or
from the fine division of the earthy particles, and perhaps from the
abundance of vegetable matters intermixed.

I lodged at a tavern about two miles west of New Lancaster. The
landlord removed from Pennsylvania to this neighbourhood about twenty
years ago. The site of the house in which he now lives, is the
third that he has cleared of the timber with his own hands, since
his arrival. His buildings and farm, by their neatness, bespeak his
industry, and he seems to enjoy the comforts of affluence as the
reward of his labours. In the neighbourhood of this place are some
high ridges of a coarse-grained sandstone, with some small pine trees
on their summits. The lower lands are rich. The landlord showed me a
pumpkin that weighed a hundred and sixty pounds.

_Monday, Oct. 2._ On the morning of this day, and on the afternoon of
the 30th ultimo, I passed through several low prairies of small size;
the soil is of a black vegetable matter, that is somewhat bituminous,
and appears to be imperfectly decomposed. Some chinks of two or three
inches wide, that are to be seen in the surface, show, that at other
seasons of the year, this ground is wet. Except for the heat of the
climate, it is probable that {279} these prairies would have been
mosses similar to the peat earth of Europe.

New Lancaster is a county town,[152] with a court-house and a bank. The
situation is pleasant, and the town contains some good brick houses.
Neatness and comfort are apparent there.

Lebanon is a small place, situated on high ground. It is entirely built
of wood. Several persons affirmed to me, that the ague is not prevalent
in this place.

Newark[153] is a county town of a pleasant aspect. Some parts of the
lands adjoining are moist, and naturally fitted for being converted
into meadows. Good iron is made in the neighbourhood, and sold at four
cents per pound. There was a young man in the tavern there, who said,
that he had come directly from Philadelphia, and that he had seen a
considerable number of families on their journey to the eastward,
after finding themselves dissatisfied with their prospects in the
western country.

On the evening of the 2d and on the 3d, much rain fell. On the 4th, I
resumed my journey.--I observed much land well adapted for meadow, and
a few small patches actually occupied in that way; and noticed that
the ground in general yields more grass, and has preserved its verdure
better than that in the lower parts of the State. I halted for the
night at Mount Vernon,[154] which is another county town, and the place
of the Owl Creek Bank, well known among the paper manufactories of this
country.

Owl Creek is one of the head waters of Muskingum River, and is a
copious stream of clear water. It is crossed by a large wooden bridge,
and turns an extensive mill, which is in sight of the road.

{280} On the 5th, I travelled over some high, rugged land, where
chesnut trees are numerous and of a large size. The presence of this
kind of timber, is understood to be an indication of the poverty of the
soil on which it grows; but it is valued principally on account of its
resisting the effects of the weather for a great length of time. In the
afternoon a heavy shower of rain fell, which obliged me to stop at a
tavern at the Clear Fork, which is only fifteen miles from Mount Vernon.

The Clear Fork is another head branch of Muskingum River, and has
a plentiful run of water. It seems that the river Ohio derives the
greater part of its waters, in dry seasons, from the springs which
rise in the high lands at a considerable distance from it. I have, at
various times, observed that most of the streams that originate in the
lower country are either entirely dried up, or are very small runs in
summer, while the tributaries in the higher parts of the country run
copiously. This fact is corroborated by the present superior verdure
of the high country, in showing, that the quantity of rain is greater
than in the lower parts. A lower temperature, and the intermixture of
breezes from the valleys of the Mississippi and the Ohio, with those
from the lakes and the river St. Lawrence, are to be inferred as the
most probable causes.

_Oct. 6._ Between the Clear Fork and Mansfield (9¹⁄₂ miles) the
ground is hilly, and part of it, like that travelled over on the 5th,
abounding with chesnut trees. Except for the strength and spirit of my
horse, I had not succeeded in carrying my baggage over this rugged part
of the country. The roads are not laid out under proper supervision,
but pass over steep land, or round the fences of inclosed fields, at
the will of interested persons. {281} They calculate badly, however,
who disregard utility.

Mansfield is another county town,[155] and is favoured as the seat
of a bank. I lodged at Trucksville, a new town, consisting of about
half a dozen of frame-houses. The lands of the neighbourhood appeared
excellent.

On the 7th, I passed through a part of the country with a surface
which is gently undulated. The little intervales seem to be nearly
horizontal in their bottoms. This, with the woods that obstruct the
view everywhere, imposes the aspect of a low flat country, an illusion
that I could only dispel by recollecting that throughout my journey I
had travelled in a direction contrary to the motion of the rivers, and
by observing that the waters run in different directions, part towards
the Ohio, and part towards Lake Erie.

It might be difficult to form a conception of any topographical inquiry
more interesting to the State of Ohio, and some other parts, than the
structure and conditions of the high grounds which separate between the
waters of the river Ohio and Lake Erie. It remains to be ascertained,
whether a sufficient quantity of water can be found for supplying
the summit level of the contemplated canal between the river and the
lake, and through what point in the ridge the lowest, or otherwise
most eligible line may be drawn. When the first of these questions is
solved, it will be easy to say whether New Orleans or New York will be
the future emporium of this part of the country. I believe the only
specific information on the subject, that has been published, is in a
paper by Governor Brown,[156] of the State of Ohio, who has repeatedly
recommended that the legislature should pass an act for causing the
necessary surveys to be made, {282} but without effect. It is curious
that it was the legislature of the same State (Ohio) that, a few years
ago, made an overture to the Congress, for ascertaining whether it is
practicable to make a canal between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific
Ocean.

The country between New Lancaster and the heads of the waters that fall
into Lake Erie (about a hundred miles) is high, fertile, well watered,
and comparatively exempt from the endemical sicknesses which annoy the
inhabitants of lower lands.

The country over which I travelled on the 8th, is intermixed with
flat lands. The great holes and ruts in the roads showed that they
are occasionally drenched with water. If my olfactory organs did not
deceive me, the air was somewhat tainted.

At Munro, a small branch of Huron River, I had some difficulty in
procuring breakfast. All the family in the tavern were either sick, or
so much emaciated by recent disease, that they were scarcely able to do
any thing. Every person in the town, old and young, had been attacked,
two individuals being only excepted. For two years past, the place
has been more unhealthy than formerly; and the people believe that
the change has been occasioned by the erection of a mill-dam in the
creek. The surmise is probably just, as the dam is now dry, and both
the mud and vegetable matters are exposed to the heat and consequent
decomposition, evolving hydrogen gas, which is understood to be
deleterious.

At the distance of about fourteen miles from Portland, the road enters
the great prairie that stretches along the south side of the lake. It
is covered with coarse grass, of a luxuriant growth, and an immense
variety of weeds. Some slight eminences are wooded, and resemble
islands or {283} peninsulas in the plain. In passing along, I perceived
openings which seemed to extend to the distance of twelve or fourteen
miles.

For several miles the road is over a ridge, sixty or eighty feet in
breadth, about eight feet higher than the plain, and five or six feet
higher than the flat ground immediately to the southward. This ridge
or step runs in a winding line, forming a convexity towards the lake,
where it crosses the higher parts of the prairie, and recedes to the
southward, forming a concave curve round hollows in the ground, thus
preserving a horizontal position. A doubt of this having been once the
margin of the lake can scarcely be entertained.

The ridge just mentioned is dry and of a gravelly soil. It is preferred
by the settlers for the sites of their houses. Some patches of the
prairie are inclosed by worn fences, and produce large crops of maize.
Cattle range in the prairies, and are larger and fatter than those
reared by the Ohio River. A few stacks of coarse natural hay stand on
the ground that produced them.

Bloomingtown is a town consisting of about ten houses, and is situated
on a sandy eminence in the edge of the prairie:--a small place, but
deserving of notice from its abortive Bank. A company was formed,
plates engraved, and the bank notes brought to the spot. At the time
when this happened, the people had just become jealous of unchartered
banks. The company applied to the Legislature of the State for a
charter, which was refused. The bankers not venturing to sign the
pictures, but unwilling to lose the expense of manufacturing them,
sold them by auction. They were afterwards subscribed by a fictitious
president and cashier, and fraudulently put into circulation.

{284} Near the lake the shell limestone appears. This seems to be
the base on which the strata of the higher country rests. The higher
country, near Pittsburg, the Muskingum, and Sciota rivers, the
Silver-Creek hills, and the high land, over which I have recently come,
has strata of sandstone, slate-clay, bituminous shale, and, in various
places, coal.

Portland is a town situated on the shore of the indenture in the
south-western extremity of Lake Erie, called Sandusky Bay.[157] It is
only three years since it was founded, and contains thirty dwelling
houses, four warehouses, and has four temporary wharfs. At present
the trade is in salt, brought from Onondago in New York State, and in
imported goods. There is a boat at one of the wharfs, which carries
ten and a half tons; it was built in Connecticut, and was carried by
land over several portages in the way; and I have been told that there
is a vessel of fifty feet keel on the lake, that was carried over the
same obstructions, which lie between Hudson River and Lake Erie. A
steam-boat which sails between Detroit and Buffalo touches at this
place.

Portland has had a share of the sickness of the season, a number of
persons being now confined to bed, and many meagre convalescents are
to be seen walking about the street. In addition to the fevers and the
ague, so prevalent, some have been afflicted by an influenza, and are
wearing shades over their faces on account of sore eyes.

Venice is another new town, which stands about three miles farther west
the bay. It has more houses than Portland, but has now only one family
in it, a mortal sickness having carried off a considerable part of the
population, which caused the survivors to desert the place. The bay
no doubt contributes {285} to disease, as the water is shallow, and
out of the course of the principal current of the lake, and produces
grasses and confervæ that are washed ashore in times of wind, and emit
a disagreeable effluvia.

Although I have been in the country possessed by the Indians during
the two last days of my journey, I did not happen to see any of these
people by the way. Since coming to Portland, I have seen a few of them
in town. One party had brought for sale a few pots of honey, which they
had taken out of hollow trees, and some mats, fabricated from dyed
rushes, which were beautifully divided into compartments of different
colours. Most of them were clothed with a piece of blanket wrapped
round them, and with leather mocasins, or shoes, on their feet, and the
habiliments of others approached very near to the form of clothing worn
by civilized people. Some of the men are sprightly and well formed in
their persons, displaying an energy and frankness in their countenances
which indicate the absence of suspicion and fear.

My journey has been, on the whole, more pleasant than I could have
anticipated. The principal obstructions in the way were the stumps and
roots of trees, which obliged me to drive with much caution, and often
restricted my horse to a walk. At taverns I sometimes found that the
landlord was from home, and that no hostler was kept, and found it
necessary to feed and water my horse, and to yoke or unyoke as occasion
required; but every landlord that I met with acted in an obliging
manner, and of some of them I conceived the most favourable opinion.

In the last hundred and fifty miles which I travelled, I met with
few travellers, but several {286} of these few were well dressed
and polite men. I have also seen some elegant ladies by the way.
Indeed, I have often seen among the inhabitants of the log-houses of
America, females with dresses composed of the muslins of Britain,
the silks of India, and the crapes of China. During the journey just
detailed, I must confess that I never saw a people more exclusively
devoted to agriculture, and proportionally fewer idle men lounging
in taverns, than I did in the more populous parts of the country.
The most disagreeable quality that I discovered, was the inquisitive
dispositions of some of them.--“What are you loaded with?” was
reiterated almost every day; and, “Where are you going? Where are you
come from? Are you pedling? Is it goods or plunder that you have
got?”[158] were also questions asked. In justice to them, I must say,
that they do not seem to be sensible of the indecorum of such conduct;
and I believe that when similar interrogations are put to them, they
answer without hesitation.


FOOTNOTES:

[143] Dr. Drake, who is a native of the western country, after
noticing the effects of a dry summer, adds, “But, fortunately, such
extraordinary droughts occur too seldom, and are too limited in
their extent, to be regarded as any great calamity.”--_Picture of
Cincinnati_, p. 105.--FLINT.

[144] A series of lively sketches of Edinburgh society by John Gibson
Lockhart (1794-1854), published in _Blackwood’s Magazine_ during
1819.--ED.

[145] Scott’s novel, _The Monastery_, was published in 1820.--ED.

[146] In order to view the country, Flint pursued a singular route
from Cincinnati to Lake Erie. His course was through Warren, Clinton,
Highland, Ross, Pickaway, Fairfield, Licking, Knox, Richland, Huron,
and Erie counties. The principal points touched were Lebanon in Warren,
Lancaster in Fairfield, Newark in Licking, and Mansfield in Richland.
He reached Lake Erie at the present Huron, at the mouth of Huron River.
His roundabout tour brought him through some of the very best portions
of the state.--ED.

[147] Reading was first settled in 1794 by Abraham Voorhees, who
laid out the town four years later. It was for some time called
Voorheestown, but rechristened out of compliment to some of the early
settlers who came from Reading, Pennsylvania.--ED.

[148] The Kentucky religious awakening of 1800, spreading into southern
Ohio, caused such a state of religious excitement that the Shakers of
New Lebanon, New York, thinking it a profitable field in which to plant
their doctrines, sent three missionaries to Warren County in 1805. They
found many converts among the excited people, and Union Village, or
Shakertown, soon sprang up. They were called Shakers not so much from
the dancing, as from the handshaking, head shaking, and other bodily
contortions in their religious exercises.--ED.

[149] The four proprietors, who were also the only settlers on the site
of Lebanon, laid out the town in 1802. Becoming the county seat of
Warren County, it thereafter grew rapidly, and in 1809 was chosen as
the site for Miami University.--ED.

[150] The road crossed the Little Miami near the border line between
Warren and Green counties.--ED.

[151] For the Pickaway Plains, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our
series, note 143.--ED.

[152] For the early history of Lancaster, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume
iv of our series, note 145.--ED.

[153] Newark was settled and laid out in 1802 by William Schenck, of
Newark, New Jersey. In the fall of that year a considerable colony came
from Pennsylvania. It was incorporated in 1826.--ED.

[154] Mt. Vernon, the seat of Knox County, was laid out in 1805, and
named after Washington’s home on the Potomac, its early settlers having
come from Virginia and Maryland.--ED.

[155] James Hedges, a government surveyor, laid out the town of
Mansfield in 1808, naming it in honor of Colonel Jared Mansfield,
surveyor-general of the United States. In 1820 it contained about 250
inhabitants.--ED.

[156] Ethan Allen Brown was elected governor of Ohio in 1818. He
resigned his office to accept a seat in the United States senate.--ED.

[157] For the early history of Portland, see Buttrick’s _Voyages_,
volume viii of our series, note 34.--ED.

[158] Plunder is a cant term used in the western country, signifying
travelling baggage.--FLINT.




{287} LETTER XXIV[159]

 Passage on Lake Erie--Presque Isle--Buffalo--The Falls of
 Niagara--Kingston--Youngstown--Newark--Passage on Lake Ontario--Scotch
 Settlement in Upper Canada--Descend the River St. Lawrence--Thousand
 Islands--Brokeville--Prescott-Ogdensburgh--Rapids--St. Regis--Lake
 St. Francis--Falls--Cotu-du-Lac--The Cedar Falls and Village--Lake
 St. Louis--La Chine--Cachnewaga--Montreal--Passage down the St.
 Lawrence--Sorel--Lake St. Peter’s--Trois Rivieres--Settlements
 in Lower Canada--The Falls of Richelieu--Quebec--Heights
 of Abraham--Lorete--Indians--Remarks on the People--Lumber
 Trade--Government--Climate.


  _Quebec, Nov. 9, 1820._

Since writing my last letter to you I have removed from the head
of Lake Erie to this place--a very considerable distance; but as I
proceeded most of the way by water, I had very little communication
with the shore, and very scanty means of making myself acquainted with
the country.[160]

On the 14th I went on board the American steam-boat
_Walk-in-the-Water_, a fine vessel of 330 tons burden, with two
masts, and rigged, for taking advantage of the winds in the manner
of sea-craft.[161] The interior of this vessel is elegant, and the
entertainment is luxurious. There were twelve cabin passengers of
genteel appearance and polite manners, and about an equal number
of persons in the steerage; the whole indicating a degree {288} of
intercourse and refinement which I did not expect to see on Lake Erie.
The southern bank only was in sight. It is low, and many cleared
patches were to be seen at intervals amongst the woods. Probably the
time is not far distant when the anticipation of Campbell will be
realized,

    “There shall the flocks on thymy pasture stray,
    And shepherds dance at summer’s op’ning day;
    Each wand’ring genius of the lonely glen
    Shall start to view the glittering haunts of men.”

There are numerous islands in the lake, which are all covered with a
growth of timber, and were then beautifully variegated with the tints
of the season. These are the islands in which rattle-snakes and other
reptiles are said to be so numerous that it is dangerous to land on
them.

During the afternoon, and a part of the night, we experienced the most
severe gale that our mariners had felt on the lake. The swell rose to a
great height, and occasionally immersed one of the wheels deeply, while
the other was almost entirely out of the water, causing the vessel
to heave and flounce very disagreeably. Most of the passengers were
affected by the same kind of sickness, similar to that which prevails
at sea.

_Nov. 15._ We continued in sight of the United States side of the lake,
but without enjoying a single peep of the Canadian shore. The summit
of the country between the lake and the Ohio was in sight. It is high
land, but what may be called a flat ridge of the most evenly contour,
without any pointed hills or conspicuous prominences. Land birds
perched on the rigging. The water appeared to be green, showing that
its depth is considerable. In some parts it has been sounded and found
to be thirty-five fathoms deep. Altogether, {289} the lake presents
much of the phenomena of the ocean.

Erie, formerly called Presque Isle, is a small town. Before this
place, the British squadron captured during the late war, is sunk for
preservation. Some of our people who went ashore here, were told that a
schooner with eight men was lost in the storm of the preceding night.

The numbers of water-fowl seen in the lake is truly astonishing. These
migrate to the southward in the winter.

Late on the evening of the 16th, we anchored off Buffalo, and on the
morning of the 17th dropped two miles down the river, to Black Rock.

Buffalo is a thriving town in the State of New York. Coaches pass from
thence to Albany, which is on the route to the city of New York. When
the great canal between Hudson River and New York is completed, Buffalo
must become a place of considerable importance.[162]

The New York canal is a work not only interesting to a large portion
of the United States, but also to Upper Canada. Already ninety miles
of the line is completed and in operation, and the continuance of the
present exertions must in a short time finish the whole. Should the
government of Britain continue to neglect the improvement of the inland
navigation of Canada, and persist in excluding the colonies from the
advantages of a free trade, and give their grain a nominal preference
in the British market, while that market is in reality shut against
it, a new interest must arise in the upper province. England may still
give Canadian lands gratis, and garrison the frontier posts with an
idle soldiery, but she cannot shut the eyes of her subjects against the
facilities to be derived {290} from an uninterrupted navigation to the
port of New York, which is free to the flags of all nations, and open
to the sea at every season of the year.

Opposite to Buffalo is Port Erie, on the Canadian side of the
river,--pleasant situation, but apparently without any thing like the
bustle that animates the southern shore.

At Black Rock, the river Niagara is about a mile in breadth, and runs
at the rate of eight knots per minute, and its greatest depth is said
to be about ten fathoms.[163] The lake, forming an extensive reservoir,
greatly equalizes the discharge of water, particularly as this river is
without the floods that characterize most other streams.

One of the passengers on board the steam-boat, a Captain of the United
States army, on his way to Fort Niagara, agreed to travel along with
me. We hired a two-horse waggon to carry ourselves and baggage. The
actual portage to the falls of Niagara is only seven miles; but as we
found that there was no boat in readiness to sail from Black Rock, we
resolved to proceed the whole way by land, which is thirty-four miles.
The gentleman with whom I travelled was on his return from Green Bay,
an inlet of Lake Michigan, where he had gone with some soldiers who
were banished to that place. Green Bay is a place of exile, so far
removed from the other settlements of the United States, that culprits
have it not in their power to escape from thence.

Our journey down the southern bank of the river was extremely pleasant.
The banks are low {291} and verdant to the water’s edge, and the
margin, in most parts, forming fine curves, smooth as if finished by
art. The islands are also low and covered with luxuriant timber. It
is the extent of water-prospect, bounded in every direction by woods,
that constitutes the grandeur of this part. At the lower extremity of
Grand Island, the sheet of water seems to be about three miles broad.
The soil is good, and yields better pasturage and hay than the lands of
the more southern parts of the continent. A happy compensation for the
severity of the northern winter.

On approaching within two or three miles of the falls, a cloud of spray
is to be seen rising 600 or 700 feet into the air. At that distance,
the noise of the waters has something like the effect of a strong wind
among the trees of a forest.

Immediately above the precipice, there is an island beautifully wooded,
with a mixture of white cedars and other evergreen trees, which divides
the river into two unequal parts, leaving the principal channel toward
the Canadian shore. The head of this island, and the beach of the
United States side of the river, are connected by a rude wooden bridge,
which must have been constructed with great difficulty, as the bottom
is of rock, and the water runs with great velocity. On both sides of
the island the declivity is great, and the furious stream is broken
at intervals by falling over shelving rocks. The division of the
rapids toward the Canadian side, would have been remarked as highly
interesting, had it been situated somewhere else than immediately
adjoining to the great falls of Niagara.

The stranger, on arriving at the point of land close at the head of
the cataract, and that juts over {292} the tremendous abyss, is in a
moment arrested by the awful grandeur of the scene, or if he is at all
inclined to motion, it is to recede from the precipice. The sight of
an immense volume of water poured over a perpendicular cliff, situated
almost under his feet,[164] into the chasm below, and the thundering
noise, are calculated to excite a degree of astonishment that borders
on dismay.

The part of the river which passes between the island and the
south-easterly shore, falls over the abrupt edge of a precipice that
has a few small gaps in it; the water discharged is necessarily deep
in these, and forms green columns, which descend twenty or thirty feet
before they assume the whiteness that is uniform over other parts of
the sheet that here spends its fury on a heap of large blocks which
have been undermined and detached from the rocks above. A vast body
of dense spray deflected from those large masses of stone, flies off
horizontally, and in every other direction, and completely obscures the
bottom of the fall, and a considerable portion of the chasm adjoining.

The chasm, from the falls downward, is bounded on both sides by
perpendicular cliffs. After descending seventy or eighty feet by a
wooden stair, the way to the water’s edge is down a steep foot-slope,
amongst large blocks of stone, and small trees of white cedar which
line the banks, and add much to the beauty of this grand ravine.

A small skiff is kept for the convenience of those who would have
a view of the falls from below. Sailing here sometimes exposes the
traveller to {293} have his clothes wet from the falling vapours, the
waters being so much agitated; but as the commotion is nothing more
than the heavings of an eddy that comes into contact with the stream,
no danger whatever is to be apprehended, and I am apt to believe that
few visitors will forego the pleasure of crossing at this place.

It was not till I got afloat on the river that I obtained a
comprehensive view of the whole cataract. The part between the island
and the north-western shore, forms a hollow curve that is called the
Horse-shoe Bend. It is in the inmost recess of this bay that the
greatest quantity of water is precipitated, and from this part the most
deep toned sounds seemed to proceed. The great body of water which
dashes from the summit of the Horse-shoe Bend, is evidenced by the
majestic curve that the liquid forms, where it rolls over the top of
the rock, and by the green colour that it retains till the vast column
is concealed by the waters which rise in revulsion from the vortex
below. It is also over the Horse-shoe Bend, that the vapour ascends in
the thickest cloud, and to the greatest height.

On the margin of the river, I observed some logs of timber, that
had been put ashore by the eddy. They were large round trees, which
appeared to have been cut across at the lengths of twelve and sixteen
feet, such as are cut into boards at saw-mills. Several of them were
split asunder throughout their whole length. Others of them had some
of the annular layers of the timber peeled off, and the remaining
surfaces bruised and marked, as if they had been beat all over with
a weighty hammer or a blunt axe. The ends of the logs were round,
somewhat resembling a parabolic figure.

{294} The ascent of the northern bank, is performed by climbing the
steep foot-slope by a rugged path that winds amongst large stones,
and ultimately surmounting the cliff by a wooden stair;--a fatiguing
task, but one which is amply repaid by the commanding situation of
the high ground on the Canadian side. As the cascade runs obliquely
across the river, and exposes the concavity to the northward, the
spectator is here, as it were, placed a little beyond the focus of the
grandest amphitheatre. It is also in his power to approach close to the
extremity of the pitch, and overlook the smoking Horse-shoe Bend, and
peer down on the awful but indescribable convulsions that agitate the
foaming bay.

The falls of Niagara are much visited by strangers, as during our short
stay there we met with several persons who were examining them. There
is a large tavern on each side of the river, and in the _album_ kept at
one of these, I observed that upwards of a hundred folio pages had been
written with names within five months.

Immediately before reaching Kingston, we descended a steep ridge or
step in the country. Opposite to this place is Queenstown, on the
Canadian side of the river. Both these towns are at the lower end of
the portage of Niagara. The chasm through which the river runs from the
falls to this place, renders it highly probable that the cataract once
poured itself over the ridge just noticed, and that it has subsequently
made its progress upward to its present place. It would be interesting
to ascertain the relative levels of the ridge above Kingston, and the
old beach of Lake Erie, that has been observed in the great prairie.

Late in the evening we stopped at Youngstown, a small village near the
confluence of the river {295} Niagara with Lake Ontario. At this place
I heard the noise of the falls, which were eighteen miles distant.

On the 18th, I crossed the river to the town of Niagara, now called
Newark. On the United States side of the mouth of the river stands
the old fort Niagara; on the Canadian side is Fort George, of later
erection. The 18th was a day of much parade there; the governor of the
upper province being engaged in reviewing the troops of the garrison.

The banks of the river Niagara are, at its mouth, about sixty feet
high, and the ground in the neighbourhood forms a delightful plain, but
the people are said to be much afflicted with ague, a complaint common
to both sides of the river.

In the afternoon I went on board a large steam-boat, called Fronteniac,
which then sailed for Kingston. Toward evening we saw the spray
over the falls of Niagara. It did not then appear to be a blue
smoky-coloured, and almost transparent vapour, as when I was near it
on the 18th, but a dark-coloured dense cloud. This fact agrees well
with the opinion that asserts the vesicular formation of clouds, and
with the observation familiar to every one, that clouds appear to be
dark-coloured and opaque at a distance, and that when they actually
approach and fall in the form of rain, their dark colour and opacity
disappear.

The waters of Lake Ontario indicate great depth by their dark green
colour. It is reported that a line of 350 fathoms has been let down in
various parts without finding a bottom.[165] The islands are low, and
covered with small timber, and the shores rocky. Salmon abound in the
lake, and in some of its tributary streams.

{296} 19th. Arrived at Kingston, which is situated at the north-eastern
extremity of Lake Ontario. This place contains about 3000 people, and
is the largest town in Upper Canada. It was here that the warships
which navigated the lake during the late war were built, and several
vessels of a larger size than any on the ocean, are still on the
stocks. An island before Kingston, appears to be strongly fortified.

To the north of Kingston, and towards the Utawas [Ottawa] or Grand
River, is the new town of Perth, and the settlement of a considerable
body of Scots who emigrated in 1815. One of these people, who was on
board the steam-boat, told me that the settlers had succeeded well; and
a gentleman who lives in their neighbourhood assured me, that they have
already attained to a more comfortable style of living than the French
in the older settlements of the lower province.

On the 20th I sailed in a steam-boat for Prescott, which is seventy
miles down the river. In immediate continuation with the eastern
extremity is an expansion of the river St. Lawrence, which is called
the lake of the thousand islands, from the great number of small
islands it contains. These are rocky, and covered over with small pine
trees, forming a romantic labyrinth, in which it is not always easy to
discriminate between islands and the main land. Markings on the rocks
show, that the waters rise occasionally to the height of four feet,
but these slight floods must be occasioned by winds, rather than the
immediate effect of rainy weather.

Brokeville is a new town on the north side of the river. The name is
in honour of the British General Broke who fell in the late war.[166]
The houses {297} are chiefly of stone, and have a neat appearance. In
consequence of the settlements forming to the northward, Brokeville is
of some importance as a landing place, and in its trade.

Prescott is a considerable town, with a small fort on the Canadian
side of the river. It is a curious fact, that the thriving town of
Ogdensburg, on the United States shore, is directly opposite, and
though within the range of British cannon, is without defensive works,
and without a garrison.

There being a number of rapids in the river between Prescott
and Montreal, the intermediate navigation is performed by small
flat-bottomed vessels, called Durham boats, which carry about three
hundred barrels of flour each. These boats have no other decks than
narrow foot-ways round the gunwales, leaving the middle space open,
where the cargo is piled up.

On the 21st I left Prescott in a Durham boat,[167] in which there were
three passengers besides myself. Two of these were Americans from
Arkansaw river, on their way for Quebec, a journey of 2100 miles, and
the other an Englishman, who had gone out to see the lands in Upper
Canada, and was on his return to England, where he intends to give up
a small farm that he holds in lease, and remove his family to the back
woods near Kingston. From hearing the swearing and rude conversation
of the boat’s crew, I concluded that they were persons of the lowest
character.

The waters of the St. Lawrence appear green, on account of the great
depth of the river, but when taken up in a vessel, they seem perfectly
transparent. The islands below Prescott are of a rich soil, and, like
the banks on both sides of the river, are low, and covered with grass
almost to the margin of the water. We passed over four rapids on {298}
the 21st, viz. the Rifts _le Galete_, the Flat Rifts, the Long Falls,
and the _Maligne Rifts_. All these run with great velocity; and at
the lower end of each, where the stream rushes into waters that run
on a lesser declivity, a great swell or heaving motion is produced.
We stopped for the night at Cornwall, a considerable village on the
Canadian shore. I was there told the river opposite to that place is so
deep, that when the people attempted to drag it in search of the body
of a man who had been drowned, the bottom was not felt.

On the 22d we passed St. Regis, an Indian town, which is built with
stone. Below this place, the boundary line which separates the United
States from Canada leaves the river. Lake St. Francis is an expansion
of the river that is about thirty miles long, and from four to six
miles broad. The banks are low, and the declivity of the neighbouring
lands is very moderate. To the south-east, a number of high mountains
in New York State are to be seen. Their distance from the river seems
to be about thirty miles, and they are covered with trees to their
summits.

On the northern bank of Lake St. Francis, is a settlement of Canadian
French. It extends to the length of seven or eight miles, and is only
about one mile broad. The farms are said to consist of one hundred
acres each, and as they extend from the lake back to the woods, they
are long narrow stripes of land, each having the dwelling-house,
barn, &c. almost close to the bank. The houses are white-washed, and
externally very neat. Their being almost completely uniform in size and
appearance, might cause any stranger to believe that their owners are
nearly on a parity in wealth.

At the east end of the lake are the falls of St. Francis. These are
furious rapids, and a canal {299} for avoiding them has been cut at
the village _Cotu du Lac_, but as the cut is not deep enough, the work
is of very little use. Of the falls of St. Lawrence river, it may be
remarked generally, that as there are no high floods, and as the banks
are low, there can be no great difficulty in improving the navigation.
There is a very small Fort at the _Cotu du Lac_, which is garrisoned by
about half a dozen of soldiers.

On the 23d we took in a pilot, who conducted us over the Cedar Rifts,
the Thicket Falls, and Le Trou Falls. The former of these rapids runs
with tremendous fury. The two latter canals are cut, but, like that
at the _Cotu du Lac_, they are too shallow to admit loaded boats. The
Cedar village is most delightfully situated on the north side of the
river.

The Utawas, or Grand river, forms the division line between Upper and
Lower Canada, and falls into the St. Lawrence by two mouths, one above
and the other below the island of Montreal. The great magnitude of the
former river is manifested by the dark colour of its waters, which are
sufficient to give a tinge to the Lake St. Louis, in which the two
rivers meet. On this lake a new steam-boat has lately begun to ply.

La Chine is a small town on the Island Montreal, and at the head of
the falls of St. Louis. In consequence of this interruption to the
navigation, La Chine is at the head of a portage over which a great
portion of the produce and goods that pass upward of Montreal are
carried. The inhabitants of this place are Canadian French, many of
whom are employed as carters between the landing place and the city,
which is about seven miles distant. Cachnewaga, on the opposite side
of {300} the river, is an Indian town, built of stone, and of a neat
appearance.

On the 24th I proceeded by land to Montreal. The soil in that part is
good, and well adapted to pasturage. I observed some farms that are
occupied by Scotsmen, and cultivated in a neater style than any thing
of the kind that I have ever seen in America. Several iron ploughs
which were made at Uddingstone, on the Clyde, were lying by the side of
the road. The horses are small, but elegantly formed and hardy.

The language in most common use here is the French. People of every
possible shade of colour, between the French complexion and the copper
colour of the Indian, are to be heard conversing in that tongue.

The suburbs of Montreal are composed of narrow dirty streets. The
houses are of stone, plastered over with lime. A few private houses,
and the court-house and jail, are built of hewed stone. The roofs
of many of the houses are covered with small plates of tinned iron,
which preserves its metallic lustre well, and produces a disagreeable
glare during sunshine. In the end of the market place, is a monument
in memory of Lord Nelson. It is a Doric column, with a plaster bust
of the hero on the top, and some naval figures in relief upon the
pedestal. This compound substance is already yielding to the weather,
and probably will not long resist the effects of this rigorous climate.
To the north of the town, there is a hill covered with timber, which
contributes much toward giving the place a picturesque appearance.
In the neighbourhood there are a few neat villas, and many luxuriant
orchards. In the streets people are to be seen driving small carts
drawn by dogs; {301} they are usually loaded with sticks, ashes, and
other light articles. Montreal has a great trade, being the emporium
of the upper country, and the residence of the principal agents of the
North West Company. The port is accessible to large ships from the
ocean, but is not a tenable harbour in the winter, on account of its
being exposed to the breaking up of the ice. Montreal is the seat of
justice for the upper district of Lower Canada. The court is composed
of a chief justice, and three puisne judges. There is in the city, a
barrack occupied by a small body of troops. A square in the form of a
terrace, called the _Place d’Arms_, for the exercising of soldiers; a
college, and a convent, where a considerable number of nuns are kept.
The clergy of the Roman Catholic religion retain the tithes of the
island.

Early on the morning of the 25th I sailed in a steam-boat for Quebec.
There are now twelve large vessels of this kind which ply between
Montreal and that place, and one that crosses between La Prairie and
Montreal.

The steam-boats, on their passage between Montreal and Quebec, touch at
the town of Sorel, at the mouth of Sorel river. Sorel is a small town,
and its principal business is ship-building. It was formerly called
Fort William Henry, known as the place of the earliest settlement of
Europeans in North America, and as the scene of the cruel massacre
committed by the Indians under the French General Montcalm, in
1757.[168]

The Lake St. Peter’s is another expansion of the river, about twenty
miles long and fifteen broad. The great lakes in the upper country, and
the smaller ones in the course of the St. Lawrence, have the effect of
equalizing the stream, and prevent {302} inundations, which are very
injurious to the neighbourhood of most large rivers.

In the afternoon, the vessel was anchored in consequence of a contrary
wind, which was accompanied with a fall of snow, the first that had
occurred during the season. The town _Trois Rivieres_, (Three Rivers,)
then in our sight, is a large place, and is the seat of justice for one
of the three districts of Lower Canada. Most of the inhabitants here,
as in the other parts of the lower province, are Canadian French. The
houses are covered with tinned iron.

On both sides of the river, a row of farm houses, placed at very short
intervals, stretches along almost without interruption. These houses
are white-washed, and have throughout a degree of similarity in size
and appearance which I have not observed in any other part except the
banks of the St. Lawrence. These houses are white-washed, and have each
a barn and other inferior houses attached. As the grain is housed,
and the barns seem to be of no great dimensions, it is a proof that
the crops are certainly small. In viewing these ranges of farming
establishments obliquely, the whole has the aspect of a continued
village on both sides, with churches at very short distances from one
another. Were it not for seeing the uncleared woods, which are in most
parts only about a mile from the river, and for recollecting that the
number of white people in Lower Canada was, a few years ago, estimated
at only 200,000, I should have been induced to believe that this is a
populous country.

On the 26th we proceeded downwards with a fair wind. The tide reaches
to the distance of about sixty miles above Quebec. We descended the
Falls of Richlieu, by the joint action of wind, tide, steam, and the
stream, at the rate of fifteen {303} miles an hour. These falls are
furious rapids at low stages of the tide, but in times of high water
they are covered up and smooth. The banks are of a dark coloured
schistous substance, very steep, and about a hundred feet high, and the
soil inferior to that farther up the river.

On approaching Quebec, I was shown the steep recess of the rock through
which General Wolf conducted his army on the night previous to his
memorable victory.--This narrow defile retains the name of Wolfe’s Cove.

The first sight of Quebec that is obtained in descending the river,
is imposing; the shipping viewed in the direction of the line that it
forms along the wharfs, has something like the appearance of a thick
forest of deadened pine-trees, and the dark-coloured rock, which rises
almost from the water’s edge, towers high in air. An angle of the
fort that stands on the edge of the precipice, and a stone tower and
a signal-post that occupy a still higher summit in the rear, are the
most prominent objects. On advancing farther, it is discovered that
the low ground below widens to the westward, and is occupied by a part
of the lower town, and a considerable extent of the circumvallation
that occupies the top of the cleft, and incloses the castle of St.
Louis, and some other high buildings. The situation and aspect of the
castle of St. Louis, (the residence of the governor,) reminds me of
the barracks on the west side of the castle of Edinburgh. Indeed the
whole of the northern front of Quebec has a general resemblance to the
ancient Scottish fortress.

Quebec stands on a point of land formed by the junction of the rivers
St. Lawrence, and is divided by the cliffs into two parts, the Lower
and the Upper town. The Lower town, adjoining to the wharfs, is narrow
and dirty, and the wharfs are {304} disconnected from one another by
the intervention of houses. The Upper town is inclosed within the fort,
and is much better built and more clean than the lower division of
the city. The whole of the works occupy ground of the most commanding
description, and are well furnished with the apparatus necessary for
defence.

On the Heights of Abraham, the place is shown where Wolfe fell, and,
till lately, the granite block remained on which the hero expired.
There are some fragments still to be found, lying at a small wooden
house adjoining, which will probably be soon broken into smaller pieces
and carried off by strangers.

To the west of Quebec is Lorete, an Indian town, which is built of
stone; and the neighbouring fields seem to be well cultivated. At Point
Levi, on the opposite bank of the St. Lawrence, a tribe of Indians
encamp occasionally for the purpose of trading. It is curious that the
aborigines remain so long amongst the thickest settlements in Lower
Canada, while in other parts of the continent they disappear before
a very thin population of whites. This must have been occasioned by
the French, who have at all times ingratiated themselves with the
natives, and even intermarried with them, and by the Indians becoming
proselytes to the Roman Catholic religion.

The Canadian French are universally acknowledged to be true Roman
Catholics, strict in their observance of holidays, submissive to the
exactions of their priesthood, and the loyal subjects of Britain. They
seem to retain the depressed characters of a conquered people. Their
bow is low, and apparently obsequious, and they are usually ready to
make out of the way of any one who walks rapidly along the streets.
Many of {305} them are dirty and coarsely clothed, and instead of
buttoning their coats, they tie them with a sort of sash that is
wrapped round their middle. At meals each produces his pocket knife,
the same, perhaps, with which he cuts his tobacco, and spits on the
blade, and then rubs it on his clothes previous to eating. They are
slovenly agriculturists, and use the most wretched implements, and yoke
their oxen by the horns. A gentleman told me that he lately asked one
of them, why they did not yoke these animals by the shoulders as other
people do? The other replied--because the strength of the head would
be lost. It is not uncommon to see the Canadian coming into market
with only one or two bushels of wheat. Here, as at Montreal, the cruel
practice of causing dogs to draw carts, prevails. On seeing a young
man riding in one of these little vehicles, and whipping the docile
creature till it lay down and turned up its feet, I was much shocked
at the conduct of the wretch; and, though you may not altogether
approve of the principle, I felt considerable satisfaction from the
circumstance, that the profane imprecations which he with great fluency
uttered, were not pronounced in the English language.

Timber is the principal article exported here. The period for which
Canadian timber is exempted from paying duty in Britain, is about
to expire, and a fear is entertained that a tax may be imposed by
parliament at their next session. The subject excites much interest at
present, and in the event of a timber tax being enacted, it may operate
as a test for Canadian loyalty.

The government of the Canadas consists of a governor, a legislative
council, and a house of assembly in each province. This organization
is vested with the power of making such laws as are not {306} contrary
to the acts of the British Parliament. The legislative council is
summoned by the governor, under the authority of the king, and its
members are appointed for life. The assembly is elected by freeholders,
whose qualification is possessing landed property to the yearly value
of forty shillings or upwards; or possessing a dwelling house and lot
of ground in towns to the yearly value of five pounds, or paying for
one year, at least a rent of ten pounds. These assemblies continue for
four years at most, but can be dissolved before the termination of the
full period. Quebec is the seat of justice for the lower district of
the lower province. The court consists of a chief justice and three
puisne judges, and public business is conducted by a solicitor-general
and an attorney-general. The criminal laws are the same as those of
England, but in civil cases the old _coutume de Paris_ is retained.
The existence of French laws in the lower province is said to be
repulsive to people from Britain, and is probably one of the causes
that determines many of them on settling in Upper Canada.

The climate of Canada varies between extremes of heat and cold. A
temperature of 96° of Fahrenheit’s scale has been observed at this
place in summer, and it is believed that mercury has been frozen by
the cold in winter. I am not able to judge of the inconvenience which
attends wintering here, but the inhabitants look forward to that season
as the gayest of the year. Most of the labours without doors at this
season are suspended, and the people sally forth in their sledges on
excursions of pleasure, or in visiting their friends. The deep and
long continued snows in this country protect the crops of wheat from
being injured by the frosts, and enable the Canadians to drag the {307}
largest trees to the rivers, a work that would otherwise be difficult
in the woods, where there are no good roads. Just now the ground is
covered with snow, and the cold, which increases daily, shows that
winter is about to commence in earnest. At least three-fourths of the
ships that were here a week ago have sailed down the river, and the
seamen who remain in port are all in a bustle, preparing for going to
sea. Probably by a few days hence there will not be a ship left.


FOOTNOTES:

[159] For notes on the following persons and places mentioned in this
chapter, see Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our series: Presque
Isle, note 62. J. Long’s _Travels_, volume ii of our series: Fort
Niagara, note 19; Ogdensburg, note 15; Cedars, note 27; La Chine, note
34; Caughnawaga, note 9; Trois Rivieres, note 8; Lorette, note 92.--ED.

[160] Flint’s route from Ohio to Quebec was by way of Buffalo, Niagara
Falls, Kingston, and Montreal.--ED.

[161] This first steam-boat on Lake Erie was launched at Black Rock
(now Buffalo), May 28, 1818. It was named from a Wyandot chieftain, and
in 1821 was lost in a storm.--ED.

[162] The Erie Canal was begun at Rome, New York, July 4, 1817, being
completed in eight years.--ED.

[163] Morse has stated the _average_ depth at this place (the ferry) to
be twenty-five feet. According to him, its average rapidity from thence
to Chipeway is six miles an hour, and that at the ferry it is much
greater.--FLINT.

_Comment by Ed._ Jedidiah Morse, _American Gazetteer_ (Boston, 1797).

[164] The height of the division of the falls that lies between
the island and the south-east shore has been formerly estimated at
160 feet. I have been told that a measurement made last summer has
determined it to be 162 feet.--FLINT.

[165] Lake Ontario averages six hundred feet in depth.--ED.

[166] For an account of General Isaac Brock, see Buttrick’s _Voyages_,
volume viii of our series, note 6.--ED.

[167] Durham boats were heavy freight craft built along the lines of an
Indian canoe. Their designer (about 1750) was Robert Durham, manager
and engineer of the Durham furnace, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The
ordinary Durham boat was sixty feet long, eight feet wide, and two feet
deep. When laden with fifteen tons, it drew twenty inches of water.--ED.

[168] Flint seems here to have obtained his facts from a typical
guide-book. Fort William Henry, the scene of the massacre, stood at the
head of Lake George; Montcalm captured it in 1757, and spread terror to
Albany, and even as far as New York. Many of the prisoners of war were
massacred by Indians, over whom the French claimed to have had little
or no control.--ED.




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_The_ Philippine Islands

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as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the
political, economic, commercial, and religious conditions of those
Islands from their earliest relations with European Nations to the end
of the nineteenth century.


_Translated, and edited and annotated by_ E. H. BLAIR _and_ J. A.
ROBERTSON, _with introduction and additional notes by_ E. G. BOURNE.


With Analytical Index and Illustrations. Limited edition, 55 volumes,
large 8vo, cloth, uncut, gilt top. Price $4.00 net per volume.

 “The almost total lack of acceptable material on Philippine history in
 English gives this undertaking an immediate value.”--JAMES A. LE ROY
 in _American Historical Review_.

 “With our freshened interest in the Far East, American readers ought
 not to neglect the new possessions in that region which now fly the
 Stars and Stripes.”--_Chicago Evening Post._

 “Now at least there should be no difficulty for the American student
 to gain a clear view of the difficulties which both the Spaniards
 and their successors have had to contend with in these islands, when
 they have this work before them, and have not, as formerly, to obtain
 information from obscure Spanish sources, in a language hitherto
 comparatively little studied in the United States, ... welcome to all
 students of the Far East.”--_English Historical Review._




 “We cannot thoroughly understand our own history, local or National,
 without some knowledge of these routes of trade and war.”--_The
 Outlook._

The Historic Highways of America

by ARCHER BUTLER HULBERT

 A series of monographs on the History of America as portrayed in the
 evolution of its highways of War, Commerce, and Social Expansion.


Comprising the following volumes:

          I--Paths of the Mound-Building Indians and Great Game Animals.
         II--Indian Thoroughfares.
        III--Washington’s Road: The First Chapter of the Old French War.
         IV--Braddock’s Road.
          V--The Old Glade (Forbes’s) Road.
         VI--Boone’s Wilderness Road.
        VII--Portage Paths: The Keys of the Continent
       VIII--Military Roads of the Mississippi Basin.
         IX--Waterways of Westward Expansion.
          X--The Cumberland Road.
    XI, XII--Pioneer Roads of America, two volumes.
  XIII, XIV--The Great American Canals, two volumes.
         XV--The Future of Road-Making in America.
        XVI--Index.

Sixteen volumes, crown 8vo, cloth, uncut, gilt tops. A LIMITED EDITION
only printed direct from type, and the type distributed. Each volume
handsomely printed in large type on Dickinson’s hand-made paper, and
illustrated with maps, plates, and facsimiles.

Published a volume each two months, beginning September, 1902.

PRICE, volumes 1 and 2, $2.00 net each; volumes 3 to 16, $2.50 net each.

FIFTY SETS PRINTED ON LARGE PAPER, each numbered and _signed by the
author_. Bound in cloth, with paper label, uncut, gilt tops. Price,
$5.00 net per volume.

 “The fruit not only of the study of original historical sources in
 documents found here and in England, but of patient and enthusiastic
 topographical studies, in the course of which every foot of these old
 historic highways has been traced and traversed.”--_The Living Age._

 “The volumes already issued show Mr. Hulbert to be an earnest and
 enthusiastic student, and a reliable guide.”--_Out West._

 “A look through these volumes shows most conclusively that a new
 source of history is being developed--a source which deals with
 the operation of the most effective causes influencing human
 affairs.”--_Iowa Journal of History and Politics._

 “The successive volumes in the series may certainly be awaited with
 great interest, for they promise to deal with the most romantic
 phases of the awakening of America at the dawn of occidental
 civilization.”--_Boston Transcript._

 “The publishers have done their part toward putting forth with proper
 dignity this important work. It is issued on handsome paper and is
 illustrated with many maps, diagrams, and old prints.”--_Chicago
 Evening Post._

       *       *       *       *       *




Transcriber’s note


Numbers in braces (i.e., {27}) are page references to the original
manuscripts.

Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Spelling
of names, hyphenation, and italicized titles and dates have been
standardized.

Spelling has been retained as originally published except for the
spelling of names mentioned above and the corrections below.


  Page 13: “alterations and addiions”     “alterations and additions”
  Page 23: “Billious and Intermitting”    “Bilious and Intermittent”
  Page 27: “is much to he regretted”      “is much to be regretted”
  Page 65: “those fo carrying goods”      “those for carrying goods”
  Page 106: “The Pittsburg navigator”     “the Pittsburg navigator”
  Page 310: “inclosed by worm fences”     “inclosed by worn fences”
  Page 332: “The assembly is elècted”     “The assembly is elected”


Footnote Corrections:

Footnote 124: Footnote number was missing in original.
Footnote 125: Footnote number corrected from 25 to 125.





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