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2002/05/21 0001

AMERICA HISTORICAL, STATISTIC, AND DESCRIPTIVE. BY James Silk BUCKINGHAM, ESQ.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. III.

LC

FISHER, SON, & CO.

NEWGATE ST. LONDON, RUE ST. HONORÉ, PARIS.

76901 5019–8 22 1841 Copy 2 0002 E165 B92 copy 2 1297 Exchange western Ontario U. 3/11/35
0003
CONTENTS OF VOL. III.

CHAP. I.

Stay in the city of Buffalo—Sketch of its history—Destruction by the British—Subsequent grant of Congress to repair its losses—Revival and rebuilding—Rapid progress from thence—Statistics of its commerce—Financial report to the state legislature—Prospects of future greatness—Advantageous and agreeable situation of Buffalo—The Welland canal from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario—Description of Buffalo, its buildings and population—Projected public buildings, university and exchange—Environs, rides, villas, prospects, climate—Steam-boats, schooners, brigs, and ships—Source of the great river St. Lawrence—Size, depth, and elevation of the lakes—Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, Ontario—Public meeting of the Bethel Society of Buffalo—American picture of the maritime population 1

CHAP. II

Visit to the settlement of the Seneca Indians—Statistics of this tribe in numbers and lands—Council of the chiefs in the open forest—Description of the tribe and their condition—Visit to the grave of the great chief Red Jacket—Anecdote of Red Jacket and Lafayette—History of the “White-woman,” wife of an Indian chief—Atrocities of the English leading the Indians—Testimony of Cornplanter, a retired Seneca chief—Corroborating narrative of the “White-woman”—Evils produced by the use of intoxicating drinks—Winters at Buffalo—Freezing of the lakes— Church-going, sleighing parties, and religious revivals—Progress of the Catholics in the Western cities—Alarm of the Protestant sects at this— Episcopalian measures of counteraction—Division of New York into two bishoprics—Newspapers of Buffalo, number and character—Discussion on the rise of water in the lakes—Curious theory broached on this subject—Journey from Buffalo to Rochester—Williamsville, Ransom's Grove, Pembroke—Batavia to Rochester by rail-road 24

0004

CHAP. III.

First settlement of Rochester—Contest with wild bears—Purchase of Indian land—Death and character of the original founder—Last pagan sacrifice of the Indians—Striking resemblance to the scape-goat of the Jews—First Christian church—Incorporation as a city—Education, Sunday-schools—Temperance societies—Plan of Rochester—Streets and buildings—Staple trade, wheat and flour—Extent of water-power—Genessee, or the Pleasant Valley—Poetical beauty of Indian names—Falls of the Genessee—West and Catlin—Fatal leap from the Falls by an American—Great flood—Carpet manufactory, paper mills, pianos—Edge-tools, iron-works, and machinery—Cabinet-making, cooperage—Impolicy and effect of the British corn-laws—Recent introduction of silk—Soil and productions of the Genessee Valley—Institutions of religion, benevolence, and literature—Comparison with towns of the same size in Britain—Erie Canal—Difficulties attending this work—Prospective views of General Washington—Opinions of Governeur Morris — Ceremony of opening the canal at Rochester—Love of display in public celebrations in America—Extent of inland navigation 46

CHAP. IV.

Geological peculiarities of Rochester—Ridge-road, formerly the margin of Lake Ontario—Boulders of primitive rock—Successive order of strata and fossil remains—Singular cavity of pebbles in bituminous shale—Polished rocks of the Falls—Parallel case at the Cataracts of the Nile—Climate of the Western portion of this state—Brightness of American skies—Splendour of autumnal sun-sets—Causes assigned for this, the mirrors of the lakes—Public baths—Mineral springs—Public walks—Cemetery—Hackney-coaches—Mails—Increase of post-office revenue—Negro population—Military parades of militia troops—Comparison with the army of England—Canada thistle and locust-borer—Fettigonia Septendicem—Newspapers—Agricultural Journal 78

CHAP. V.

Journey from Rochester to Canandaigua—History of the first settling of this tract—Eloquent speech of an Indian chief—Division of the land into townships—Munificent grant for the support of education—Canandaigua academy—Ontario female seminary—Military lands awarded to soldiers of the revolution—Classical names within this tract—Singular names of Indian chiefs—Northern and southern tribes—Reserved lands and annuities—Remains of ancient Indian forts—Narrative of the “White-woman,” wife of an Indian chief—Diseases among the aborigines—Conduct of the whites to Indians—Climate of Canandaigua—Water-spout on the lake—Democratic convention—Newspapers—Stage-coaches—English and East Indian acquaintances—Sensitiveness of Americans—House and grounds of Mr. Greig—Tablet to Patrick Colquhoun—Removing houses on rollers—Transfer of the court-house— Removal of a Methodist church and steeple 98

0005

CHAP. VI.

Journey from Canandaigua to Auburn—First sight of an American country funeral—Visit to the State prison—Condition of the establishment—Act of the legislature respecting prison labour—Statistics of crime, education, and intemperance—Moral and religious reform—Description of the edifice and its cells—Discipline and treatment of the convicts—Visit to the chapel during divine service—Defects of the Auburn system of prison discipline—Opinions of Dr. Lieber of South Carolina—Objections to the Pennsylvania system answered—Opinions of British inspectors on the Auburn system—Superiority of the Philadelphia system—Description of the town of Auburn 128

CHAP. VII.

Journey to Syracuse—Male academy and Female seminary—Salt springs at Salina—Water-lime—Rail-road—Locks—Canal—Tunnel under the canal—Depth of vegetable mould—Spontaneous vegetation—Muster of the militia—Their unpopularity—Museum of Syracuse—Scriptural group of Saul, Samuel, and the Witch of Endor—Onondaga Indians 149

CHAP. VIII.

Journey from Syracuse to Utica—Beauty of the country—Commencement of the autumnal tints—Fruitfulness of American orchards—Fruit given to feed cattle, instead of making cider—Lectures at Utica—Description of the city—History and progressive increase—Convention of the Whigs—Excursion to Trenton Falls—Stratification of the rocky bed—Fossil remains—Favosite—Description of the Falls—Fatal accidents—Beauty of the scenery—Variety of views—Comparison with Niagara—Journey from Utica to Schenectady—Beauty of the Mohawk valley—Journey from Schenectady to Saratoga 167

CHAP. IX.

Visit to Glen's Falls—Caldwell—Voyage up Lake George—Romantic scenery—Beautiful islands—Ruins of Fort Ticonderoga—Passage across Lake Champlain—Shoreham—Burlington steamer—Beautiful model and high order of this vessel—Scenery of Lake Champlain—Eclipse of the sun—Arrival at Burlington—Description of the town—Journey to Montpellier—Romantic scenery of the Green Mountains—Exquisite beauty of the autumnal tints—Montpellier, the capital of Vermont—State-house—History and description of Vermont— Resources and productions—Manufactures and commerce of the State—Increase of the population—Religious institutions—Journey from Montpellier to Danville—Extensive view—Elevation of the mountains—Thick forest—Gorgeousness of the trees—Danville—Village gossips—Inquisitiveness of the New England character—First bed with curtains, slept in, since leaving England 184

0006

CHAP. X.

Description of the White Mountains—Names and elevations of the principal peaks—Journey from the Mountain Pass to Conway—Stage-drivers and passengers from Conway to Centre Harbour—Winnipiseogee, or the beautiful Lake—Meredith—River Merrimack—Shaker village—Concord, the capital of New Hampshire—Excessive use of tobacco—Danville to Littleton—Road through the forest—Autumnal foliage—White Mountain House—Entry into the “Notch,” or pass through the mountains—Romantic wildness of the scenery—Accumulation of granite rocks—Lightning and storms—Descent of slides or avalanches from the mountains—Tragical instance—Fate of the Willey family—Concord and its public buildings—Suitors attending the court—Prolixity of legal proceedings—State of New Hampshire—History of the early settlement—Statistics of its population, manufactures, and trade—Institutions for education—Colleges of Dartmouth and Exeter—Religious establishments and sects in New Hampshire—Journey from Concord to Lowell and Boston 205

CHAP XI.

Stay at Boston—Delivery of lectures there—Resolutions presented at their close—Mr. George Combe's lectures on phrenology— Mr. Cushing's lecture on the influence of women—Governor Everett's lecture on the voyages of the Northmen—Afternoon lectures, and Madame Caradori's concerts—Public meetings in behalf of the “Sailor's Home”—Institutions visited in Boston—Public characters—Environs—Salem and Marble-head —Military levee 229

CHAP. XII.

Influence of institutions on character—Early history of Massachusetts—First charter to the Plymouth company—Origin of the name “New England”—Arrival of the Puritans—Charter of Charles the First—Solemn league and covenant of the settlers—Foundation of Plymouth and Salem—Boston, Charlestown, Dorchester, and Roxbury—First act of religious intolerance—First representative assembly—War with the Indians—Influence of the clergy—Female assemblies—Hazelrigge, Pym, Hampden, and Oliver Cromwell, emigrants — Rigour of the Puritan laws—First federal union of provinces—Foundation of Providence and Rhode Island—Conduct of the Quakers—Death inflicted on Quakers for entering the colony—Firmness of that body triumphing over their persecutors—Restoration of Charles the Second—Increased emigration—Statistics of New England at this early period—Laws for restraining indulgence in dress and amusements—Remarkable men—Sir William Phipps—Cotton Mather—Benjamin Frauklin 238

CHAP. XIII.

Provision made for education—Statistics, and state of manners in Boston— Gradual preparation of the colony for self-government—First outrage on 0007 their liberties—Impressment of seamen at Boston—Successful resistance by the population—Second infringement of their liberties—The stamp act—Representatives from America proposed by the historian Oldmixon—Representation advocated by Adam Smith and Franklin—Eloquent speech of Colonel Barré in the British House of Commons—Planting of the tree of liberty—Demolition of the stamp office—Public journals established, and sermons preached against the stamp-act—Resistance of America applauded by Pitt and Camden in England—Stamp-act finally repealed—Third invasion of rights—Project for taxing the colonies—Bill for imposing duties on tea—Independence of America proposed by Tucker, Dean of Gloucester—Characterized by Edmund Burke as a “childish scheme”—Admitted by George III. to be a wise one—Outbreak at Boston—Seizure of the tea and its destruction—First Congress formed—Stirring appeal of Patrick Henry—First blood shed at Lexington—Battle of Bunker's Hill—Installation of General Washington—Last act of the political drama—Declaration of American Independence 263

CHAP. XIV.

Description of the State of Massachusetts—Extent of area, soil, climate, and productions—Manufactures—Shipping and commerce—Colleges and academies for higher education—Public schools—Statistics and revenue—Religious establishments—Sects and churches—Legislature of Massachusetts—Governor—Number of members in each house—Qualification of voters—Scale of taxation—Principal cities, ports, and towns of Massachusetts—Progressive increase of population from 1700 to 1837—Analysis of males and females—White and coloured—Early attempt of New Englanders to abolish slavery—Opposition to this made by the British government—Annals of Boston from 1621 to 1832 280

CHAP. XV.

Description of the city—Streets and dwellings—Boston common—Hotels and boarding-houses—State house—Extensive panoramic view—Legislative chambers—City hall—Faneuil hall—Cradle of American liberty—Court house—Jails and custom house—The Odeon, Masonic Temple, and other halls—Literary institutions—Boston Athenæum—American academy of arts and sciences—Library society and Columbian library—Society of natural history—Massachusetts historical society—Mercantile, mechanics' and apprentices' libraries—Lectures delivered in Boston—Governor, ex-president, senators, judges, physicians, and divines 301

CHAP. XVI.

Public Schools—Statistics of Education—Course of studies in each class—Grammar schools for English, Latin, and Greek—Harvard College, or the University of Cambridge—Exhibition of the students—Speech of Mr. Adams on education 321

0008

CHAP. XVII.

Periodical literature of Boston—Statistics of the public journals—Quarterly and monthly publications—Newspaper press—Partisanship—Examples of political exaggeration— Opposition or indifference to abolitionism—Morals and manners turned to party account—Scenes in Boston theatre, and on the bridges 331

CHAP. XVIII.

Proportions of churches to each sect—Historical peculiarities—Unitarians, Presbyterians, Catholics, Universalists, Old South Church—King's Chapel—Ancient peal of bells—Revolutionary sermons—First Sunday-school—Roman Catholic worshippers—Convents—Nunneries—Influence on pupils—Bethel church for seamen—Preaching of Father Taylor—Chapel exclusively for children—Auxiliaries of education and industry—Chapel for the free use of the poor—Chapel for religious and benevolent meetings— Temperance hotel — Churches — Clergy — Services— Music, and singing 342

CHAP. XIX.

Benevolent societies—General hospital—Institution for the education of the blind—Humane society and Howard benevolent society—Asylum for indigent boys, and farm schools—Institutions for orphans and widows—Boston port society—Sailor's home—Bethel Union, for protecting sailors' rights—British and Irish charitable societies—Cultivation of music—Lyceums, libraries, and debating clubs—Society for promoting arts and manufactures—Massachusetts peace society—Sabbath school, bible, and missionary associations—Religious statistics of America and Scotland, 354

CHAP. XX.

The municipal government of the city of Boston— Police establishment—Probate and register office— Revenue and expenditure — Theatres—Museums 367

CHAP. XXI.

Commerce and manufactures—Shipping compared with New York—Bay and harbour of Boston—Navy yard—Dry dock and ropewalk—Ships of war, the Ohio and Columbus—Statistics of the American navy—Efficiency of their ships, officers, and crews—Causes of this, as compared with the British navy—Number and classes of American naval officers—Total annual expense of the American navy 377

CHAP. XXII.

Environs of Boston—Bunker Hill—Dimensions and cost of the Bunker Hill obelisk—Town of Chelsea and Richmond Hill—Brookline, Brighton, and Cambridge—Dorchester, Roxbury, Jamaica Plains, and Milton Hill—Beauty and advantage of these rural retreats—Mount Auburn, the cemetery 0009 of Boston—Description of its grounds and prospects—Imposing ceremony at Consecration Dell—Citizen engaged in preparing his own grave—Comparison of Mount Auburn with Pere la Chaise—Tomb of Hannah Adams—Death, interment, and monument of Spurzheim 386

CHAP. XXIII.

Visit to the Massachusetts State prison—System of management—Statistics of this prison—Chief causes of crime—Memorial of the convicts against dram-shops—Food and general health of the prisoners—Dress—Discipline and punishments—Efforts for their moral and religious improvement—Comparison with the prison system of Pennsylvania 400

CHAP. XXIV.

State elections — Specimens of partisan exultation — Local and general election at Boston—Statistics of intemperance—Silent progress of the abolition question—Denunciations of the Whig newspapers—Letter of an invited candidate—Address of the ex-president, John Quincy Adams—Speech on slavery by Dr. Duncan of Ohio 411

CHAP. XXV.

Population of Boston and its suburbs—Fewness of foreigners, Jews, and Quakers—Commercial and other occupations—Opinions of a native writer on the traders—Political parties—Whigs and Democrats—Aristocratical and Democratical Whigs—Spirit of fashion—New York review on the state of society—Observations on social parties from the pulpit—Extreme sensitiveness to English censure—Newspaper editors—Scriptural and classical names of New Englanders—Personal appearance of both sexes—Boys of Boston—Custom respecting mourning—Morning visits 421

CHAP. XXVI.

Last Sunday passed in Boston—Morning service at the king's chapel—Singular union of Royalty, Episcopacy, and Unitarianism—History of the King's chapel—Gift of plate from the king and queen of England—Selection of organ for the chapel by Handel—Church-rates levied by Dissenters on Episcopalians—Anecdote of Capt. Coram, founder of the Foundling—Alteration of the Church liturgy by Unitarians—Examples of the changes made in the service—Prayer against sedition and rebellion retained—Grounds alleged for revising the liturgy—Summary of the service as at present used—Description of the edifice, the Vassal monument—Choir led by the present mayor of Boston—Unitarianism in the ascendant and increasing—Affecting sermon of the Rev. Father Taylor—Affectionate exchanges of farewell—Last evening passed in Boston—Cordial regrets and anxieties of friends 439

CHAP. XXVII.

Journey from Boston to Providence—Lectures delivered here—Churches and pulpits occupied—Animated public discussions on the question “Is it right, expedient, and necessary to use legislative influence for the promotion VOL. III. b 0010 of the Temperance Reformation?”—Absence of any written constitution—Still governed by the royal charter of Charles II.—Area, statistics, and population of the State—Manufactures, commerce, and shipping—Legislature—Governor, senators, and public officers—Judiciary—Proportion of representatives—Rotten-borough system of unequal representation 458

CHAP. XXVIII.

Description of the city of Providence—Division of aristocracy and fashion, east and west end—Private dwellings, shops, hotels, and boarding-houses—Public buildings, State-house, the colleges—The arcade, churches, structures, and sects—Literary institutions—Brown University—Munificence of Mr. Brown, a merchant—Government and discipline of the colleges—Attendance at an exhibition of the students—Comparison with the exhibition at Cambridge—Library of the University—Manning Hall—Athenæum—Franklin and historical societies—Great French work on Egypt, Musee Française—Encouragement of literature and art—Admission of ladies—Opening address—Quaker college—State or public schools—Private schools—The drama 467

CHAP. XXIX.

Municipal government—Benevolent institutions—Commerce and manufactures of Providence—Statistics of manufactures—Shipping—State prison—Population of Providence, white and coloured—Classes, professions, trades, and pursuits — Anniversary of “Thanksgiving Day” in New England—Religious services, festivity—Public amusements, theatre, balls 486

CHAP. XXX.

Last visits made in Providence—Green Street school—Character—Address Bleaching establishment—Steam company's cotton mill—Average wages of males and females employed—Absence of married women from factories—Superior condition and appearance of all engaged — Causes of this suggested and explained—Lotteries for aiding the funds of the public schools—Fewness of dram-shops, and pawnbrokers 495

CHAP. XXXI.

Departure from Providence—Touch at Bristol — Land at Fall River—Journey to New Bedford—Religious services at New Bedford during our stay—Rev. Mr. Holmes' account of the regions of the west—Rev. Mr. Bent's farewell address to his congregation—Public meeting at New Bedford, for a sailor's home—Visit to the Bethel Church—Clothing store for seamen—Reading-room, and museum of curiosities—Tablet to an English seaman raised by Americans 505

CHAP. XXXII.

Plan and appearance of the town—Public and private buildings—Population and classes—Maritime character and connections of the inhabitants—Anecdote of New Bedford sailor-boys in the Persian gulf—Domestic manners, characteristics, and causes—Kindness and hospitality experienced 0011 —Skill in removing houses from their original positions— Visit to the village and port of Matapoissett—Extensive ship-building carried on— Manufacture of salt from the sea-water— Visit to the Rev. Dr. Robbins— Description of his curious and valuable library— Township of Rochester —Use of the word “town”—Americanisms generally old English phrases —Journey from New Bedford for Plymouth 516

CHAP. XXXIII.

Anniversary of the Landing of the Pilgrims—Ball at the Pilgrim Hall— Beauty of the ladies— Presentation of colours to the Standish guards— Oration of Dr. Robbins— Air of God Save the King—Ode to the Pilgrims —Temperance address at the orthodox church— Examination of the town and its records 530

CHAP. XXXIV.

History of the foundation of Plymouth colony—Affecting embarkation of the Pilgrims at Delfthaven—Sail from Plymouth in the Mayflower— Arrival off Cape Cod—Civil compact signed in the cabin of the Mayflower —Landing on Plymouth Rock— First treaty made with the native Indians —First offence punished among the English settlers— Community of property— Individual possessions— First introduction of trial by jury —First execution for crime— Severe sickness, and destroying hurricane— First code of laws— Fines for drinking, smoking, and Sabbath-breaking —Punishment of whipping, for extorting high profits& Instance of rigour and impartiality in executing the laws—Singular regulations respecting manners—Union of Plymouth with the colony of Massachusetts— Oliver Cromwell's commission to Governor Winslow—First notice of horses seen in the colony— Persecution of the Quakers— Selling criminals for slaves— Employment of native Indians as magistrates— Efforts of Plymouth in the temperance reformation—Jail and poor-house both empty, and distilleries of rum extinct— Native Indians in Plymouth 540

CHAP. XXXV.

Disadvantageous position of the town—Causes of this exception to a general rule—First house— First burial-ground— Cole's Hill — Forefathers' Rock, the first spot of landing— Population— Pursuits— General equality— Churches—Grave of Thomas Clarke, mate of the Mayflower— Prospect from the summit of the hill— Court House— Pilgrim Hall— Museum— Sargent's picture— Landing of the Pilgrims— Sword of Standish— Oriental inscription and talisman— Helmet of King Philip, the Indian chief— Chair of Governor Carver—Charter of Oliver Cromwell— Hotels — Banks —Newspapers of Plymouth— Slow advance of the town— Causes of this —Specimens of the poetry of the Pilgrims' daysw— Dr. Thacher, the historian of Plymouth— Miss White, a descendant of the Pilgrims— Antiquities in her cabinet— Parting from friends at Plymouth— Return to New Bedford —Journey to Providence and Stonington— Voyage by steam-vessel to New York 565

0012
ILLUSTRATIONS. VOL. III.

BUFFALO.

1 Light House and Harbour, from Lake Erie 10

2 Episcopal and Presbyterian Churches 11

3 American Hotel, and principal Street 12

ROCHESTER.

4 Two first Log-Cabins erected in 1812 48

5 Court House and Episcopal Church 58

6 Scenery of the Genessee River and Valley 61

CANANDAIGUA.

7 Mansion and Grounds of Mr. Greig 124

UTICA.

8 View from the Hill entering the Town 171

9 Trenton Falls, near the Mohawk 176

LAKE GEORGE.

10 View near the Narrows, in the Centre 187

11 Ruins of the Old Fort Ticonderoga 190

MONTPELIER.

12 State House for the Legislature of Vermont 197

WHITE MOUNTAINS.

13 Ravine and Valley of the Willey House 213

14 Log-hut near Lake Winnipiseogee 218

BOSTON.

15 View of the City from the opposite Shore 302

16 State House, or Capitol of Massachusetts 306

17 City Hall, and part of State Street 310

18 Faneuil Hall, the Cradle of Liberty 311

19 New Custom House and Wharf 313

20 Old Dwelling House of 1630 315

21 Residence of the Patriot Hancock 316

22 Harvard, University of Cambridge 327

23 Quincy Market, from the Harbour 371

24 Tomb of Spurzheim at Mount Auburn 399

PROVIDENCE.

25 East Front of the Arcade or Bazaar 471

26 Baptist and Unitarian Churches 472

27 Buildings of Brown University 474

PLYMOUTH.

28 Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, 1620 566

29 View of the Town from the Harbour 568

0013
LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS.

FOR THE ROYAL LIBRARY—ST. JAMES'S PALACE—TWO COPIES HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE ALBERT—BUCKINGHAM PALACE HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF SUSSEX — KENSINGTON

A.

His Grace the Duke of Argyll, Lord Steward of Her Majesty's Household

Right Hon. Lord Abinger, Chief Baron of Her Majesty's Exchequer

Right Hon. the Earl Amherst, late Governor-General of India Right Hon. Lord Ashburton

Henry Alexander, Esq., Director of the East India Company

James Alexander, Esq.

A. Alexander & Co.

John Angerstein, Esq.

James Anderton, Esq.

Neill Arnott, Esq., M.D.

Wolverly Attwood, Esq., M.P.

William Allen, Esq., F.R.S.

Sir George Arthur, Bart., K.C.B., late Governor of Upper Canada

B.

His Grace the Duke of Bedford

Sir Robert Bateson, Bart., M.P.

Right Hon. Lord Brougham, F.R.S.

Col. H. D. Baillie, M.P.

Right Hon. Gen. Lord Viscount Beresford, G.C.B., G.C.H.

Right Hon. Lord Bolton

John Brocklehurst, Esq., M.P.

Sir John Yarde Buller, Bart., M.P.

Beriah Botfield, Esq., M.P., F.R.S.

Sir Thos. Fowell Buxton, Bart.

Thomas Bish, Esq

Abraham Beaumont, Esq.

J. T. Barber Beaumont, Esq., F.S.A.

W. Behnes, Esq., Sculptor

Edward M. Barrett, Esq.

William Butterworth Bayley, Esq., Chairman of the E. India Company

John Britton, Esq., F.S.A.—2 copies

Samuel Boddington, Esq.

Charles Boyd, junior, Esq.

Timothy Bevington, Esq.

Richard Bethell, Esq., M.P.

Sir Chas. Merrick Burrall, Bart., M.P.

George Boulton, Esq.

Right Hon. the Earl of Burlington

Lieut. J. H. Brown, R.N.

John Ivatt Briscoe, Esq., M.P.

Miles Burkitt, Esq.

Benj. Guy Babington, Esq., M.D.

Thomas William Bramston, Esq., M.P.

Joseph Brotherton, Esq., M.P.

Right Hon. Sir Harford Jones Brydges, Bart.

C.

Right Hon. the Earl of Clarendon,

Lord Privy Seal

Right Hon. the Earl of Carlisle, K.G.

William Millar Christy, Esq.

His Excellency Sir Wm. Colebrook, Governor of New Brunswick

Gideon Colquhoun, Esq.

William Sharman Crawford, Esq.

John Patterson Clarke, Esq.

George Catlin, Esq., of New York

David Cannan, Esq.

Sir George Crewe, Bart., M.P.

Samuel Cartwright, Esq.

Aaron Chapman, Esq., M.P.

John Walbanke Childers, Esq., M.P.

Sir Thomas Cochrane, M.P.

Edward Stillingfleet Cayley, Esq., M.P.

Mr. Alderman Copeland, M.P.

0014

D.

His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, K. G., D. C. L.

Right Hon. the Earl of Derby, K.G.

The Lord Bishop of Durham

Admiral Sir Philip Durham, G.C.B.

Right Hon. Lord Dacre

Capt. Dundas, R.N., C.B., M.P.

Mrs. H. R. Drewry

T. Slingsby Duncombe, Esq., M.P.

Right Hon. the Earl of Devon

Edward Divett, Esq., M.P.

Lord Darlington, M.P.

E.

Right Hon. Lord Ebrington, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

Right Hon. Lord Francis Egerton, F.R.S., M.P.

Right Hon. Edward Ellice, M.P.

Wynn Ellis, Esq., M.P.

Mrs. Sarah Stickney Ellis

Neil Benjamin Edmonstone, Esq., East India Director

William Evans, Esq., M.P.

John Epps, Esq., M.D.

The Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, M.R.A.S.

F.

Lord Charles Fitzroy, M.P.

Sir Charles Forbes, Bart.

Miss Forbes

Captain Charles Forbes

George Forbes, Esq.

James Forbes, Esq.

Rev. Alexander Fletcher

Edward Fletcher, Esq.

John Fielden, Esq., M.P.

Major-General Fraser, E.I.C.S.

Captain J. W. Fraser, E.I.C.S.

William Freeman, Esq.

Thomas Fortescue, Esq., M.P.

William Feilden, Esq., M.P.

Sir Hesketh Fleetwood, Bart., M.P.

G.

Right Hon. Lord Gray

Robert Gordon, Esq., M.P., Secretary to the Treasury

Captain J. M. Grindlay—2 copies

Hudson Gurney, Esq.

Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, Esq., F.R.S.

Robert Green, Esq.

William Greig, Esq.—2 copies

George Greig, Esq.

Samuel Gurney, Esq.

Colonel Galloway; K.C.B., Director of the East India Company

Sir John Josiah Guest, Bart., M.P.

James Grattan, Esq. M.P.

H.

Lord Marcus Hill, M.P.

Major-General Right Hon. Sir Henry Hardinge, K.C.B., M.P.

Sir Henry Halford, Bart., G. C. H., F.R.S., President of the Royal College of Physicians

Sir Henry Hugh Hoare, Bart., F.S.A., Stourhead

John Hardy, Esq., Bradford

W. Hughes Hughes, Esq.

Daniel Whittle Harvey, Esq., Chief Commissioner of the City Police

B. R. Haydon, Esq., Historical Painter

Kedgwin Hoskins, Esq., M.P.

Henry Howell, Esq.

Joseph Hume, Esq., M.P.

James Hutchinson, Esq.

Rowland Hill, Esq.—Post Office

Frederick Harrison, Esq.

Sir Benjamin Heywood, Bart.

R. S. Holford, Esq. Edwin Hill, Esq., Bruce Castle

William Alers Hankey, Esq.

Thomas Hankey, Esq.

Frederick Huth, Esq., Director of the Bank of England

Matthew Davenport Hill, Esq., Queen's Counsel

Henry Handley, Esq., M.P.

Lord Claud Hamilton, M.P.

I.

Robert Ingram, Esq., M.P.

Henry Ibbotson, Esq.

Islington Literary Institution

J.

Earl Jermyn, M.P.

William Janson, Esq.

S. Jaudon, Esq., of Philadelphia

William Johnson, Esq.

Julius Jeffreys, Esq. F.R.S. Sir Richard Jenkins, Bart., G.C.B., M.P., Deputy Chairman of the East India Company

K.

Right Hon. Lord Kinnaird

Charles Kean, Esq.

Right Hon. Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bart., M.P.

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0021
AMERICA, HISTORICAL—STATISTICAL—AND DESCRIPTIVE.
CHAP. I.

Stay in the city of Buffalo—Sketch of its history—Destruction by the British—Subsequent grant of Congress to repair its losses—Revival and re-building—Rapid progress from thence— Statistics of its commerce—Financial report to the State legislature —Prospects of future greatness—Advantageous and agreeable situation of Buffalo—The Welland canal from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario—Description of Buffalo, its buildings and population —Projected public buildings, university and exchange— Environs, rides, villas, prospects, climate—Steam-boats, schooners, brigs, and ships—Source of the great river St. Lawrence— Size, depth, and elevation of the lakes—Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, Ontario—Public meeting of the Bethel Society of Buffalo—American picture of the maritime population.

We remained ten days at Buffalo, during which I had an opportunity of being introduced to most of the leading merchants and principal inhabitants of the place, of attending one public meeting for a benevolent object, and taking part in the proceedings of it; of enjoying the private hospitalities of the citizens in some agreeable evening parties, and of visiting all the remarkable places within and around the city, so as to make my acquaintance with it tolerably complete. From what I saw myself, therefore, and what I learnt of others, the following history and description of the place has been compiled. VOL. III. B

0022 2

Previous to the year 1814, Buffalo was a small village, surrounded by thick forests; and from about 1800, the period of its first settlement by any white inhabitant, its progress had been so slow, that there were not more than 200 dwellings in it, and these all small, and tenanted by very humble dwellers. In this year it was set fire to by the British, then at war with the United States, in retaliation, it is said, for a similar act of destruction first committed on some Canadian village, on the Niagara strait, by the Americans.

The conflagration was so effective, however, that only one house escaped destruction, and this, it is asserted, was spared at the earnest entreaty of a widow to whom it belonged, and who was bold enough to make her way to the commanding officer of the detachment, and personally to secure his order to exempt her house from the general devastation. The population fled into the wood for safety, and some time elapsed before they were re-assembled again. At the termination of the war, the sum of 80,000 dollars was appropriated by Congress to repair the injury sustained; and this giving a new motive to exertion on the part of the few inhabitants then remaining, they put forth their efforts to rebuild their town.

Up to the year 1825, however, there were not more than 2,000 inhabitants in Buffalo. But from this period it began rapidly to increase. The completion of the Erie canal, opening the navigation between the Atlantic and the Lakes, the transfer of the shipping from the adjoining village of Black Rock, and the liberal appropriation of the general government for the erection of a light-house and 0023 3 pier, in 1827, materially assisted its prosperity. In 1829, a branch of the United States' bank was established here, to which other banks soon followed. In 1831 an act of the State legislature conferred on the town the dignity of an incorporated city; and the village of 2,000 inhabitants in 1825, has become, in 1838, a city of 20,000 inhabitants at least.

The estimated amount of business transacted here, as compared with what was done ten years ago, makes the increase in that period 5,000 per cent. The tonnage, in sailing vessels and steam-boats, in 1830, was 1,950 tons. Last year it was 10,361 tons, being an increase of 430 per cent. in seven years. In 1832 the wheat, passing through the port, was 100,000 bushels. In 1837, it was 450,000 bushels; being an increase of 350 per cent. In 1832 the flour, passing through Buffalo, was 22,000 barrels. In 1837 it was 127,000 barrels; being an increase of 600 per cent. But the increase since the last year has been even still more remarkable. The canal tolls on the Erie canal have, for the first half of 1838, up to the 1st of August, already exceeded the whole receipts of the previous year, by 50,000 dollars; the wheat trade has increased from 265,000 to 463,000 bushels; and the flour trade, from 41,000 to 154,000 barrels, in the same or corresponding periods of time; being an increase of 163 per cent. in the exports of a single half year only. The following passages, from the last Financial Report of the Legislature of this State, are full of deeply interesting and important matter, illustrative of this subject:—

“The steady progress of population and wealth of that portion of our State which is tributary to the canal, needs little remark. Whether, owing to the growth of the country on its immediate B2 0024 4 borders, or to the influence of the lateral canals in swelling its commerce, the tables of tonnage exhibit a rate of increase which will probably be maintained for many years. Although the contribution thus furnished by this State to the revenues of the canal, at the present time is large, (for two-thirds of the whole of its tolls are now drawn from the trade of our own people,) yet the amount becomes relatively unimportant, when compared with the enormous results we are hereafter to derive from our commerce with the west. Let us advert briefly to the present extent and future progress of that commerce, and the probable effect which it is hereafter to produce upon our fiscal affairs.

“The western termination of the Erie canal looks out upon Lake Erie, the most southerly and central of that great chain of navigable lakes, which stretches far into the interior from our western boundary. Around these inland seas, a cluster of five great States is rapidly rising. The territory which they comprise, and which is to become tributary to the canal, embraces that great area, extending from the lakes on the north to the Ohio on the south, and from the western confines of this State to the upper Mississippi, containing 280,000 square miles. To measure its extent by well-known objects, it is fifteen times as large as that part of the State of New York, west of the county of Oneida—nearly twice as large as the kingdom of France—and about six times as extensive as the whole of England. It contains 180,000,000 of acres of arable land, a large portion of which is of surpassing fertility.

“In the brief period of twenty-one years, such has been the influx of population into this great district, that Ohio, the eldest member in this brotherhood of nations, now numbers 1,400,000 inhabitants, Indiana upwards of 600,000, Illinois and Michigan, (both of whom have organized their governments and come into the Union) 700,000; while west of Lake Michigan, not only is Wisconsin rapidly rising, but even beyond the upper Mississippi, 30,000 citizens have already laid the foundations of yet another State. Such is the onward march of this population, that the amount of its annual increase alone exceeds in number the white inhabitants of ten of the States in the Union. The population already embraced within the district in question falls short of three millions, and if the same rate of progress shall be maintained for the twelve years next to come, by 1850 is will exceed six millions

0025 5

“This group of inland states has two outlets for its trade to the ocean; one by the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico; the other through Lake Erie and the navigable communications of this State to the Atlantic. Whether it be attributable to similarity of origin, or laws, or habits, or to ties of consanguinity, or superior salubrity of climate, their people evidently prefer the market in the Atlantic, and they are making prodigious efforts to reach it. Three great canals, (one of them longer than the Erie canal,) embracing in their aggregate length about one thousand miles, are to connect the Ohio with Lake Erie, while another deep and capacious channel, excavated for nearly thirty miles through solid rock, unites Lake Michigan with the navigable waters of the Illinois. In addition to these broad avenues of trade, they are also constructing lines of rail-roads, not less than 1,500 miles in extent, in order to reach, with more ease and speed, the lakes through which they seek a conveyance to a sea-board. The undaunted resolution of this energetic race of men is strikingly evinced by the fact, that the cost of the works which they have thus undertaken, (and most of which are in actual progress,) will exceed forty-eight millions of dollars— a sum far exceeding all that New York, with two millions of inhabitants, and two hundred years of accumulated wealth, has ever attempted. The circumstance, moreover, is particularly important, that the public works of each of these great communities are arranged on a harmonious plan, each having a main line supported and enriched by lateral and tributary branches, thereby bringing the industry of their whole people into prompt and profitable action, while the systems themselves are again united on a grander scale, in a series of systems, comprising an aggregate length of more than 2,500 miles with Lake Erie as its common centre.

“It is estimated that the agricultural products which annually descend the Mississippi and its tributaries, have already reached 70,000,000 dollars. The value of the property transported on the canals of the State of New York during the year 1836, is shown by official tables to be 67,000,000 dollars. Of that amount, it may be estimated that 50,000,000 dollars consisted of property belonging exclusively to a portion of the population of this State not exceeding a million and a half in number, being at the rate of 33 dollars 33 cents for each inhabitant; and the amount which they paid for its transportation 0026 6 exceeded two millions of dollars. If the same scale of production and consumption shall be assumed for the population in the district in question, (and no reason is perceived why it should not be) the six millions of inhabitants in the west, who will resort to the Erie canal for the means of conveyance, will furnish tonnage, in exports and imports, of at least 200,000,000 of dollars in value. The experience of other nations will show that this amount is not over estimated. The food produced in England alone in the year 1835, by an agricultural population of about eight millions, was valued by their political economists at 604,000,000 dollars; and that of France was ascertained by its minister of finance to be 5,237,000,000 francs, or 980,000,000 dollars.

“But there are peculiar reasons why the proportion of agricultural exports of this great inland population should far exceed that of other nations. The exuberance of their soil, the salubrity of their climate, and the cheapness of their lands, (arising from the vast supply within their limits) will enable them always to furnish food to every other portion of the continent, on more advantageous terms than it can be elsewhere produced. Labour there reaps its best reward, and harvests of an hundred fold repays its exertions; and such will always be the superior productiveness of this region, that when the great series of public works shall be completed, and a bushel of wheat on the plains of Indiana shall be brought within a few cents in price of a bushel in New England, its production in New England must cease. The same cause will probably operate to change the culture of portions even of our own State; for the unequalled fertility of the west will always enable it to supply those products requiring richness of soil with a less amount of labour, and consequently at a cheaper rate, than they can be produced within our own borders.

“We know that the western part of our own State is increasing in numbers with considerable rapidity, and yet that it furnishes an export of at least 20,000,000 dollars in value. The States of the west, around the lakes, by the year 1845 will probably hold the same relative position in respect to the whole of the Erie canal, which the counties of New York, west of the Seneca lake, now bear to that part of the line east of Utica. Our trade will then be measured, not by counties, but by sovereign States, themselves 0027 7 containing their fifty counties; and our revenues, then no longer dependent on the villages and townships scattered along the borders of the canal, will be drawn from the wide-spread and populous communities, inhabiting the broad expanse between the Ohio and the Lakes.”

It is impossible to read these accounts of the immense resources for the production of food, which the United States of America contains, and which a journey across the State of New York alone is sufficient to verify, without lamenting the first imposition of any prohibitory laws against the freest intercourse between this country and Great Britain, in the interchange of their respective productions. The first effect of our refusing to receive American grain free of all duty, has been to induce the Americans to prohibit our manufactures by a high tariff, and to set up manufactories for themselves; and the next effect has been to keep up the price of food at so high a rate in England, as to put it out of the power of millions of our population to obtain sufficient for their full and proper nutriment. We thus do each other mutual injury, without the slightest countervailing good. If we would permit a free trade in grain, the Americans would take from us more than double the amount of manufactures that they now consume, paying us in wheat and flour, and would never think of becoming our rivals as manufacturers. But because we will not take their products in payment, therefore they not only will not buy of us, but they set up as our rivals or opponents; and, from their abundant food, they will in a short time produce goods at rates sufficiently cheap to meet us in foreign markets, while every year will increase our difficulties and lessen theirs, 0028 8 till they pass us in the race, and leave us unable to overtake them.

The most melancholy feature of this question, however, is this—that by our free admission of cotton and other southern products of America, we really uphold the system of slavery, under which these articles are produced; while by refusing the same free admission to the grain of the north, we force them to become manufacturers, and thus in a double sense take the bread out of the mouths of our own citizens.

It is, indeed, high time that this evil were corrected. There is, perhaps, yet time to amend it now, but if left for a few years longer, it will be too late; and those influential and powerful classes in England, who now vainly imagine that they are protecting their own incomes from land, by this fatal policy, will be among the first to lament that they did not take warning, before the labouring classes of the country were reduced to a state of want, of which the wealthiest among the landholders will then feel the burden.

Of all the daily extending commerce, already described, Buffalo may be said to be the chief point and centre in the west; as she is, to the navigation of the Lakes, what New York is to the navigation of the Atlantic, and New Orleans to the West Indies and the Gulf of Mexico—namely, the port of entry and departure, the place of deposit for sale, forwarding, and commission; she cannot fail therefore to increase in size, population, and wealth, with every succeeding year. The water-power for flour-mills is here capable of being made a source of employment to 10,000 persons at least. The manufacture of steam-engines 0029 9 for the Western lakes, could not have a better locality; as the pig-iron of Ohio and Pennsylvania is brought speedily and cheaply by water-carriage to the spot; and new discoveries of beds of the finest coal, within 30 miles of the port, in the State of New York, will furnish the fuel required.

The building of boats and ships for the canal and the lakes, with the noble timbers of Grand Island, supplied from Whitehaven, could be effected here cheaper and better than any where else; and all the various trades connected with shipping and commerce, such as smiths, coopers, &c. would furnish employment for 50,000 men more. With the constantly increasing facilities of intercourse, which bring Buffalo within 36 hours' distance of New York on the one hand, about the same distance of Detroit on the other, with all the vast range of country fringing the great upper lakes, and bordering the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri, all accessible in a few days, there would seem to be no bounds to the extent of the great commercial operations of which this internal maritime emporium may become the chief centre.

The situation of Buffalo is pleasing, as well as advantageous. It is at the north-eastern extremity of Lake Erie, and just at the entrance of the strait which carries the waters down over the Niagara Falls, into Lake Ontario. Of course, this communication between the two lakes is wholly unnavigable; but the Welland canal, which runs from Port Maitland, at the mouth of Grand River on Lake Erie, to Newark on Lake Ontario, a distance of 44 miles, furnishes a navigable channel for vessels of 0030 10 125 tons burden between these two inland seas. This canal has 334 feet of lockage, and 180,000 feet of excavation through the solid rock; and it is considered, for its length, one of the most remarkable canals in the west. The ground on which Buffalo stands, rises by a very gradual ascent from the edge of the lake, up to a fine and extensive level; and while the harbour, pier, wharfs, docks, canal, and warehouses, occupy the lower part of the town, all the principal streets and public edifices occupy the more elevated portion.

The city is well laid out, the streets being of ample length and breadth, and arranged with great symmetry. Main Street, which exceeds two miles in length, and is about 120 feet in breadth, is of finer proportions than the Broadway at New York, and has on each side of it massive piles of buildings, in 0031 11 shops, stores, dwellings, and hotels, which may vie with those of any other city in the Union, either for elegance of design, solidity of construction, internal comfort, or external appearance. Several squares are agreeably interspersed in different quarters of the town, enclosed by railings and planted with trees, on an area of beautiful lawn; while the views of the expanded surface of the lake and the more restricted area of the strait, which are seen from almost every part of the town, add great interest and beauty to the scene.

Of public buildings there are, the City Hall, a theatre, and 15 churches, of which the Presbyterian, the Baptist, the Episcopal, and the Methodist, are the principal. These are all large and substantial 0032 12 structures; and, like all those I have yet seen in America, they are remarkable for great nearness in their interior, and ample accommodation and comfort for their congregations, though of very irregular styles of architecture.

Of the hotels, the American is not only superior to all the others in Buffalo, but better than any that we had yet seen at since our landing in America. In all its rooms, space, elegance, and comfort were united; the drawing-rooms were furnished in the first style of a private dwelling, the bed-rooms were lofty and airy, and the beds excellent. The table was the best furnished and best attended of any at which we had yet sat, though this was the feature in which it was least excellent; and all its subordinate appointments were 0033 13 well maintained. If good cooks could be added, it might rank with any hotel in London, Liverpool, or Bath; but the Americans, as a nation, certainly do not appear to understand the difference between well-fed and tender, and ill-fed and tough provisions, whether in fish, poultry, or flesh-meats: and their modes of preparing and serving up that which they have, are so inferior to the processes used in England, that it will require many years to bring them to a standard of equality with us in this particular.

The population of Buffalo, now consisting of about 20,000, is almost wholly white. We did not remember to have seen 20 coloured people in the place, so thinly are they scattered; but these were well-dressed, and in an apparently prosperous condition. The bulk of the inhabitants are engaged in trade and commerce, though, of course, there are some few professional men, as physicians and lawyers, among them. Dutch and German emigrants abound, and Irish are not less numerous. It is from the former, that the domestic servants are chiefly taken, and the latter supply the daily labourers of the place. The general appearance of all classes indicates competency and comfort; but there is none of the style and fashion so apparent in the equipages and dresses of New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. The private parties of the more wealthy inhabitants exhibit, however, a happy union of ease and elegance, with more of social frankness, and less of pretension and etiquette, than those of the larger cities, and therefore, to us at least, they were far more agreeable.

Among the buildings projected here, but not yet completed, is a chartered University, to be called, 0034 14 “The University of Western New York,” and an Exchange, of more colossal proportions than those of London, Paris, Lisbon, or Amsterdam. The elevation of this edifice, gives, among its dimensions, the following: Frontage 245 feet, depth 200 feet, diameter of the pillars of the portico, 10 feet 2 inches; height of the pillars and entablature, 86 feet; platform above the roof of the building for support of a dome 93 feet square, and 40 feet high. Circular section above the square, 60 feet diameter, and 58 feet high; surrounded by a colonnade of 16 pillars, 4 feet 2 in diameter, and 32 feet high; dome above this, 60 feet diameter, and 34 feet high; entire height, from the side pavement to the centre of the dome 222 feet. Those who are conversant with architectural measurements will at least admire the scale of this edifice as to size: it was estimated to cost 5,000,000 of dollars, or upwards of a million sterling; and but for the recent derangement of all monetary operations, the sum would have been raised, and the building erected before this time.

In the neighbourhood of Buffalo are some agreeable rides, and many pretty villas of the more wealthy citizens, some finished and occupied, and others in a state of progress. The presence of the lake not only furnishes pleasing views in all directions, but supplies a never-failing breeze from the waters, in the morning and in the evening, and makes the nights always cool; so that we suffered less inconvenience from the heat here, with the thermometer at 90° in the day, than we did at Philadelphia and Albany with the thermometer at 85°.

Besides the numerous steam-vessels which are 0035 15 seen in the harbour of Buffalo, some of which navigate the Lakes to a distance of 3,000 miles, there were many schooners and brigs, and one handsome three-masted ship, of about 300 tons, employed in the navigation of these inland seas.

It has been well observed, that notwithstanding the separate names given to all these large sheets of water, they are, after all, but expansions of the great river St. Lawrence, in its course from its original fountains to the sea. The source of this great river may thus be found on the stream called the St. Louis, which rises about 155 miles N.W. of Lake Superior, and at an elevation of 1,200 feet above the level of the sea. In its course to Lake Superior it descends 551 feet, that Lake being 641, feet above tide-water. It is 300 miles in length, 80 in breadth, and 900 feet in mean depth, though there are some parts in which the depth is 1,200 feet. The river next descends for 60 miles through the Strait of St. Mary, from Lake Superior to Lakes Huron and Michigan, effecting a fall of 600 feet within that course. Lake Huron is about 200 miles in mean length by 95 in mean breadth; and Lake Michigan is about 300 miles in mean length, and 50 in mean breadth; each of these are about 1,000 feet in mean depth; the level of both being about 600 feet above that of the sea. From hence the river again passes through the Straits of St. Clair and Detroit, for a distance of about 90 miles, by which it enters Lake Erie, after a fall of about 30 feet.

This lake has considerably less water in it than either of the preceding, though it is still a large sea. 0036 16 It is about 230 miles in mean length by 35 in mean breadth; and though in some places its depth exceeds 300 feet, yet its average or mean depth is not more than 120 feet; and its elevation is 565 feet above the level of the sea. From hence the river passes onward by the Niagara Strait of 37 miles, after a fall of 334 feet, into Lake Ontario, which is 180 miles by 30 in mean length and breadth, and its mean depth 500 feet, though in some places it has been sounded with a line of 300 fathoms without reaching the bottom. It is, therefore, the deepest of all the lakes, compared with the extent of its surface, and Lake Erie is the shallowest. The river thus gaining its last expansion, is contracted into the strait of the Thousand Islands, and passes onward by Montreal and Quebec to the sea, forming in its course the several lakes and straits described, and being, in this point of view, one of the grandest and most remarkable rivers in the world.

During our stay in Buffalo, and while delivering my course of lectures on Egypt there, which were well attended, I was invited to take part in a public meeting at the First Presbyterian Church, to advocate the claims of the Bethel Society of the City, for the amelioration of the condition of the seamen, boatmen, and others, engaged on the adjoining waters. The church was crowded to excess, not less than 2,000 persons being present in it, while hundreds were said to have gone away for want of room; so that a deep interest was evident, in the object of the meeting.

Mr. Hiram Pratt, the principal banker of the city, and president of the Bethel Society, was called 0037 17 to the chair, and opened the business of the meeting. * The Rev. Mr. Charles, of the Baptist church, and Mr. Hastings, of the New York bar, proposed and seconded a resolution; after which I was invited to address the audience on the subject; and as the improvement of the condition of seamen had always been an object near my heart, I could speak with great earnestness and some knowledge of the subject on their behalf. The effect appeared to be beneficial; and the impressions left, such as produced a timely and valuable addition to the funds of the institution.

* This gentleman has since deceased.

I was much struck with the melancholy picture of this large and unfortunate class of men, as presented in an appeal on their behalf, prepared and issued under the sanction of the American Bethel Society, from which, as there is the strongest reason to believe its details authentic, the following extracts may be made; and, considering them to be an American portraiture of an existing class of the American community, published on the very spot where that class is best known and challenging contradiction, it is more valuable than anything from an English pen:

“The theatre of commercial enterprise in the United States is immense. With a country rich in resources beyond a parallel—fertilized by a thousand lakes and rivers—and furnished with every facility for sectional intercourse, we have become, and must remain, essentially a commercial people. Our internal arrangements for the transmission of property, and for the convenience of travel, are destined to an almost infinite enlargement. Our inland waters are already covered with boats and vessels, charged with the freights of every clime, and crowded with a mass of human life that astonishes the beholder. But when our magnificent forests shall have been removed, and our soil fully appropriated to the productions of agriculture VOL. III. C 0038 18 —when our mineral resources, nearly unexplored as yet—shall have been laid open, and brought into healthful action—and, especially, when our population shall have become so extended as densely to cover our territories, the carrying trade will have assumed an importance, and commanded an agency, altogether outranking every other employment. It is destined to gather and disburse the products of an empire.

“It is, perhaps, impossible to ascertain with anything like precision, the amount of capital now devoted to this object. But if we take into view the great extent of our natural water-courses, the multitude of steam-boats and other vessels which float upon their surfaces; if we then cast our eye upon the canals which intersect these water-courses, and survey their various appendages of boats and horses; and if we then add the warehouses and men necessary to the system, we cannot but conclude that the amount is incalculably great. If we could take in at a single glance, from some lofty eminence, the windings of the great arteries of our republic—the Mississippi—the Ohio—the Hudson, with their tributary branches, as well as our vast inland seas—and if we could then cast our vision beyond the Rocky Mountains, upon the inlets of wealth from that region—a region yet to be filled with a redundancy of life, our minds would be oppressed with the result. We should then be prepared rightly to estimate the magnitude and influence of this employment.

“Of the agents now employed in this business, by far the greatest proportion are watermen, whose numbers have been variously estimated. But it is believed, that they will number at least one hundred thousand, the majority of whom, as to morals, are abandoned. The vices of sailors have become so proverbial, that virtue shrinks from all association with them. As they enter our ports, they are welcomed only by that class of moral outlaws, who infest our cities, and who live about the docks, ‘seeking whom they may devour.’ We need not wonder, then, that they travel swiftly the downward course—that their race is quickly run. Their average life, after entering upon the water, is only about twelve years. Accustomed to constant privations and hardships, they soon become reckless of danger, and, to a great extent, regardless of life. Their moral sense is soon extinguished; but their animal and social propensities 0039 19 still survive, and hence they ordinarily approach our shores with their vicious appetites sharpened aad inflamed by a coerced and protracted abstinence. Thus prompted, they immediately congregate in those dens of pollution which have been aptly described as the very ‘nostrils of hell.’ Driven to desperation by the frauds and abuse of their associates, they are ready to avenge themselves upon the community by outrage and violence. The harbours of our lakes, and the large villages upon our canals, have consequently become a general rendezvous for vagabonds and sharpers.

“Let the same causes be continued for a few years, without abatement, and we shall have at least two hundred thousand desperadoes, carrying devastation and death throughout the length and breadth of our land. That these are no idle fears, is sufficiently evinced by facts. The calendars of our prisons, and the records of our criminal courts, could they be consulted, would read us a lesson on this subject of the most fearful import. We should there learn, that seven-tenths of all the crimes committed in the United States within the last five years, have been committed in the immediate vicinity of our navigable waters. The State prison at Auburn, during the last year, has received into its cells, three hundred convicted witnesses of the truth of this remark, from the immediate vicinity of the Erie canal. Robberies, thefts, and murders have been so frequent on the line of this canal for the last two or three years, that our business-men have become most seriously alarmed, and are beginning to feel that something must be done to stay the progress of this evil.

“To what combination of causes are we to attribute the degradation of sailors? They are familiar with some of the sublimest objects in nature; and were the contemplation of such objects sufficient to secure elevation of character, we should expect a different result. They are familiar, too, with sudden dangers and providential escapes. But neither fear of the one nor gratitude for the other are found to be efficacious. Men need restraint, and without it, they rapidly degenerate. In all our inquiries, in reference to the moral or physical degeneracy of men, philosophy teaches us to look, as well to their social condition, as to their physical circumstances. Look at the watermen on these great thoroughfares, in C 2 0040 20 each of these aspects, and the causes of their degradation will be easily developed.

“Their social condition is in many respects deplorable. Professional associations, in civilized communities, generally tend to the elevation of individual character. But watermen are not within the pale of this influence. Their professional associations, owing to the general degradation, have an opposite tendency. Their very first lessons of seamanship are connected with profane and licentious allusions. Take almost any young man of promise, and throw him into a business of this kind, where he is compelled to submit to the professional teachings of vicious associates, and you give him over to hopeless ruin. In this feature of their condition, watermen are peculiarly exposed; and this exposure is fearfully increased by their libidinous associations on shore.

“The domestic relations constitute, in the social economy, the great balance-wheel by which the whole system is regulated. Let these be perverted, or their influence disturbed, and a train of causes is put in operation, which will banish from the community all sense of moral obligation. Without the initiatory discipline of the domestic circle, there could be no point of social attraction. The Jacobins of France could never have deluged that unhappy kingdom with the blood of its slaughtered citizens, had they not first laid their ruthless hands upon its domestic altars. The relations of husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, carry with them a weight of obligation, a force of example, and a power of attraction, more efficacious in the promotion of morals, than the combined influence of law and government. But these sacred influences are rarely felt by the poor sailor. He is an insulated being ‘whose home is upon the waters,’ and whose best affections, by sensual indulgences, are frittered away and destroyed.

“Another prominent feature in the condition of watermen, consists in their entire exclusion from the influences of a well-directed public sentiment. It is generally considered that public opinion, as a standard of morals, is defective. Yet in restraining vice, it is often an instrument of great efficiency. A large portion of the world adopt it as their only standard of action, and a still larger portion avoid its inflictions with instinctive dread. In all well-regulated communities, public opinion exerts a most powerful 0041 21 influence as well in the prevention as in the detection of crime. But wherever the social system is deranged, by the substraction of any of its essential elements, this influence is perverted, and rendered subservient to the purposes of evil. Thus, among sailors and watermen, the substraction of the domestic relations, and the sabbath, has been followed by a public sentiment, utterly powerless in favour of virtue, but in its tendency to vice, most deeply exciting.

“They are destitute of moral and religious instruction. Whatever differences of opinion may exist upon questions purely religious, no one can deny that some kind of religious and moral training is essential to the formation of a virtuous character. To expect the fulfilment of an obligation from one who knows not the relations on which it is based, is preposterous. ‘Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?’

“The sabbath is another instrument in the formation of character, entitled to the highest respect. It is a specific allotment of time to those studies and duties which constitute its chief basis. An unrelieved activity in the pursuit of any secular business, has a tendency to lessen the weight of moral obligation. A mind thus employed, is goaded onward in its narrow pathway, without the least regard to surrounding objects. It takes no note of other interests—it forms no plans for the relief of human misery. But when this pursuit is relieved, by a day periodically set apart for other duties, involving other interests, other motives, and other feelings, we have a right to expect a different result. Hence we shall always find, among that class of men who respect the sabbath, an elevated state of morals. The claims of the sabbath, therefore, as a mere civil institution, are of high import. But when we come to add its religious bearings, it will be seen to lie at the very foundation of all that is valuable in human society. Sailors and watermen, however, are excluded from its healthful influences. To them it brings neither instruction nor rest, and we ought not to wonder at their consequent degradation.

“The physical circumstances of watermen are unfavourable to virtue. Their, exposure to the weather at all times, and under every variety of hardship, occasions a great waste of physical energy, for which there is no adequate supply. We are taught by the conditions of our being that, while labour exhausts our frame, rest invigorates 0042 22 it. But our watermen are required to ‘make their full tale of brick, notwithstanding they have no straw.’ It has long since been demonstrated that the rest of the Sabbath is as essential to bodily vigour as to moral health. Now the great mass of our watermen are required to work night and day, with only an occasional hour for sleep, and are also deprived of the physical rest of the Sabbath. It ought not to be a matter of surprise, therefore, that, in the absence of moral restraint, they are led to seek artificial stimulants to recall their wasted energies. To this source, the intemperance of thousands may without fear be attributed. Having taken one step in the downward road, they are easily led to other irregularities—to vice—to crime, and eventually to a premature grave. The physical circumstances of watermen, then, are not only unfavourable to virtue, but they become strong incentives to vice.

“The way is now prepared to inquire for a remedy. We have seen that the evils to be encountered are both secular and moral— secular, because they tend to the derangement of commerce by increasing its hazards—and moral, because they threaten to sap the foundations of the social system, by scattering ‘firebrands, arrows, and death.’ The inquiry, then, is not only important, but it must be met and answered.

“To avoid an effect we must remove the cause. It has been already shown, that the causes now in question are various; and yet it will be seen that they are so intricately involved, as to render it impossible wholly to eradicate them. Some may be obviated, but others must be counteracted. We may protect our watermen from excessive labour, and from unnecessary exposure; and we can give them rest. By a proper division of labour, we may prevent excessive draughts upon their physical energies, and secure to them the requisite time for sleep. But, above all, we can restore them the Sabbath, and thus, at a single blow, remove the most prominent cause of their degradation and vice.

“The physical causes being removed, we then can give them books in the hope that they will be read. By placing well-selected libraries on board their vessels and within their reach, we can afford them intellectual, moral, and religious instruction, suited to their condition and employment.

0043 23

“The Sabbaths being restored, we can give them chapels and living teachers. We can then give them the best of all possible substitutes for the influences of the domestic relations, the gospel of the Son of God. Christianity, whether true or false, is the only system of morals—infidelity herself being judge—which can effectually restrain the passions and vices of men; and by giving this— if true—we give them the hopes of another and a better world.”

Of the plain good sense and true philanthropy of all this, who can doubt; and of the zeal and earnestness with which the object of moral reform is carried out by those who have here undertaken it, I had abundant proofs. The same evils, I know—and produced, to a great extent, by the same causes—exist among our boatmen, watermen, and canal men in England: and if those members of the British parliament who oppose all legislation for the cessation of labour on the Sabbath, could but be brought to see how much it would be for the temporal and secular interests of the labourers themselves, they would never raise the senseless cry against the measure of its being “a war of the rich against the privileges and enjoyments of the poor;” the poor being the very class who would benefit most largely, if all travelling in public conveyances, all transportation of goods, and all labour of traffic or profit, were strictly prohibited on the Sabbath-day, the observance of which, as a day of rest, is as beneficial in a physical, as it is in a moral point of view, and would tend to national happiness as well as to national gain.

0044
CHAP. II.

Visit to the settlement of the Seneca Indians—Statistics of this tribe in numbers and lands—Council of the chiefs in the open forest—Description of the tribe and their condition—Visit to the grave of the great chief Red Jacket—Anecdote of Red Jacket and Lafayette—History of the “White-woman,” wife of an Indian chief—Atrocities of the English leading the Indians— Testimony of Cornplanter, a retired Seneca chief—Corroborating narrative of the “White-woman”—Evils produced by the use of intoxicating drinks—Winters at Buffalo—Freezing of the Lakes—Church-going, sleighing parties, and religious revivals—Progress of the Catholics in the Western cities—Alarm of the Protestant sects at this—Episcopalian measures of counteraction—Division of New York into two bishoprics—Newspapers of Buffalo, number and character—Discussion on the rise of water in the lakes—Curious theory broached on this subject—Journey from Buffalo to Rochester—Williamsville, Ransom's Grove, Pembroke—Batavia to Rochester by rail-road.

During our stay at Buffalo, we paid a visit to the nation of Seneca Indians, whose settlement is about six or seven miles south of this city. These form one of the six Indian nations whose few remaining members still linger in different parts of the State of New York. They are, therefore, one of the parties to the treaty, discussed in our presence the other day, among the Tuscorora Indians, whom we visited at Niagara, and their assent would accordingly be necessary before the amended treaty could be carried into execution.

0045 25

A grand council was to be held here, as at Tuscorora; and as the Indians were more numerous, and would be joined also by some of the Onandagas and Cayugas, greater preparations were made to give dignity to its proceedings. The council was intended to be opened on Monday last, in the usual council-house; but there being a great number of dissentient chiefs, they would not allow it to be held there, as they were averse to the whole proceeding. A new house had been temporarily erected for the purpose; but that was speedily burnt down by some of the discontented Indians, so that the council was ordered to be opened to-day in the deep shade of the grove adjoining their settlement.

We went there with an agreeable party, about 12 o'clock, in a carriage, and found there Generals Gillett, Porter and Deaborn, of the American army, Judge Striker, of the circuit court, who opened the council, and a large number of American ladies and gentlemen. The Indians assembled were not more than 100, but they were all chiefs, and there were neither women nor children, as at the former. The men were more Indian in their physiognomy and costume than the Tuscororas, and a great number of them came with their tomahawks in their hands. They stretched themselves along in the most careless attitudes beneath the trees, and enjoyed the shade and repose, while they listened to the opening address of the Judge, and the speech of the Commissioner, both of which were translated, sentence by sentence, by one of their own body, acting as interpreter; to which they paid great attention, without, however, moving a muscle to betray any emotions, and smoking 0046 26 their pipes with the utmost gravity. The whole scene was far more picturesque and aboriginal than the council held in the church of the Tuscororas.

I learnt on the spot, from conversation with some of the chiefs, that their nation at present numbered about 2,500—the extent of their reserved lands being 60,000 acres, in four different portions, the largest of which came up almost to the very borders of the town of Buffalo. Of their whole number, not more than one-fourth were even nominal Christians; and of these, it was doubted whether more than a very small number really understood and felt the influence of religion. The other three-fourths were Pagans, as they are here called, clinging to their ancient superstitions, and celebrating every year a festival, in which two white dogs are slain, with peculiar ceremonies.

Respecting the proposed treaty, we were assured that nine-tenths of the whole body of the Seneca Indians were opposed to it, and indeed averse to any removal at all. Of the chiefs, who were 96 in number, more than half were openly hostile to the measure; and it was said, by the Indians themselves, that those who supported it had been bribed by the government to express favourable opinions. In this way they feared that a great many of the more dissolute and drunken of their number would be brought over, with dollars and whisky, to give their assent, and thus the tribe would be sold; but they seemed to have great reliance on a chief who was present, named Big-kettle, to oppose the fallacy of the treaty, and rouse the whole tribe to oppose it. The business of the day ended, however, with the commissioner's 0047 27 statement, and at three o'clock the council adjourned till the following day.

On our return homeward, we halted at the spot near the Mission-house and church, built on the grounds of the Indian reservation, for the purpose of visiting the tomb of Red Jacket, the famous Seneca Chief, who was buried here about seven years ago: and the grave of Mary Jameson, “the white-woman,” as she was always called, who was born of Irish parents on their voyage out from England to America as emigrants, was afterwards captured by the Indians, and subsequently married and survived two Indian chiefs as husbands, leaving by them a large family of half-bred Indian children, who are now members of the Seneca nation. The part taken by Red Jacket in resisting the encroachment of the whites, and defending the right of the red man to the soil of his ancestors, gave him unbounded popularity among his tribe, and spread his reputation among the Indian nations generally. In the first treaty between the United States and the Six Nations after the revolution in 1784, Red Jacket first rose into notice, and the narrative of this is thus given, in Mr. O'Reilly's History of the Lands of the Six Nations.

“The cession of their hunting-grounds northwest of the Ohio was vigorously, though unavailingly, opposed by several of the red men. Saguaha, or Red Jacket, then young and nameless among the head-men, rose rapidly in favour with the Senecas for his hostility to the measure—while the popularity of their great chief, Corn-planter, suffered severely among his race for his partiality to the whites in the arrangement. The reservation on the Alleghany river, whereon his descendants still abide, formed part of the gratuity bestowed on the half-breed chief, (for Corn-planter was the son of John Abeel or O'Bail) whose exertions contributed so largely 0048 28 to the furtherance of the views of the American government. The patriotism of Red Jacket was then thoroughly aroused, and his wisdom and eloquence were both zealously employed to vindicate the rights of the red man against the encroaching influence of the ‘pale faces.’ He was elected a chief among the Senecas soon after this treaty, and his influence was great among the Indian confederacy for upward of forty years, till death prevented him from witnessing the complete success of the policy (which he had resolutely opposed) for the total expatriation of his race by the removal westward of the fragments of the Six Nations yet lingering in Western New-York.

“The hostility of Red Jacket to the treaty of Fort Stanwix was so ingenious and enthusiastic, that it was vividly remembered by Lafayette (though the name of the orator was forgotten) on his last visit to the United States. It is not surprising that the name should have been forgotten, as, at the time of the treaty, Red Jacket was young and nameless among his tribe; his character having then only begun to develop itself, though he had not been backward among the warriors, whose hostilities in the revolutionary war provoked the summary vengeance inflicted on their confederacy by the expedition of General Sullivan. When at Buffalo on his tour through the Union, Lafayette was reminded by Red Jacket of the treaty of Fort Stanwix. “The occurrences are fresh in my memory,” said the veteran general; “and what became of the young warrior who then so eloquently opposed the burying of the tomahawk, and who so zealously resisted the cession of lands to the whites?” “HE IS NOW BEFORE YOU!” said Red Jacket.

“An anecdote characteristic of Red Jacket has been mentioned to us by an old settler. At the conference for the formation of the treaty, Colonel Pickering commenced making memoranda, as Red Jacket was speaking. The Indian orator, while depicting the wrongs which the red men had suffered from the encroachments of the whites, paused suddenly, addressed himself with energetic dignity to Colonel Pickering, and exclaimed—‘Look up from the table, brother, and fix your eyes upon my eyes— that you may see that what Saguaha says is the truth, and no lie! ’

0049 29

Of the “White Woman,” whose tomb lies side by side with that of Red Jacket, a biographical memoir was drawn up in 1823, by Mr. J. E. Seaver of Genessee, assisted by Mr. D. W. Barrister and others, who were enabled to obtain from her lips the record of many facts, which would otherwise have passed into obscurity or oblivion by her death. The work was entitled, “A Narrative of the Life of Mary Jameson, who was taken by the Indians in the year 1755, when only about twelve years of age, and has continued to reside among them to the present time; containing an account of the murder of her father and his family; her troubles with her sons, who were killed in feuds among themselves or with others; barbarities of the Indians, in the French and revolutionary war; the life of Hiokatoo, her last husband, (a Seneca chief, who died at the age of 103,) his exploits against the Cherokees, Catateas, and other southern Indians; and many historical facts never before published, carefully taken down from her own words, November 29, 1823.”

Among the atrocities perpetrated by the Indians during the revolutionary war, the conduct of an Englishman, named Ebenezer Allen, often called the Indian Allen, surpassed that of any of his red allies. The White Woman, in her narrative, says of him, “While prowling with his Indian allies in the Susquehannah Valley, he surprised the inmates of a dwelling, by bursting suddenly upon them in their beds. The father, springing up to defend his family, was killed by one blow of Allen's tomahawk. The head of the murdered man was thrown at his feeble wife, from whose arms the infant was torn, and 0050 30 dashed to death before his eyes! It has been said,” continues the White Woman, “though I will not relate it for a certainty, that after perpetrating these murders, he opened the fire, and buried the quivering corpse of the infant beneath the embers:” and she adds, “I have often heard him speak of the transactions of that family, as the foulest crimes he had ever committed.”

This Allen was one of the English tories who opposed the American revolution, and fought with the Indians against the colonists. He seems, as his biographer justly remarks, to have united “the lasciviousness of the Turk, with the blood-thirstiness of a savage, and his whole career appears to have been made up of lust, rapine, and cruelty; adulteries and murders were his daily food;—he married wives, and then put them to death; stole virgins, and then cast them off; took captives for concubines, and then drowned them, as well as their former husbands, with a degree of barbarity that was perfectly demoniacal. He died on the river De French, at the town of Delaware, in 1814, leaving two white widows, an Indian squaw, and several children to survive him.

The accuracy of this narrative of the White Woman, is corroborated by the history of General Sullivan's expedition against the Indians of the Six Nations, published in 1824 by Mr. Salmon, who died during the last year, 1837. This expedition of General Sullivan was undertaken in 1779, when the American Congress recommended, and General Washington adopted, the most rigorous measures to avenge the atrocities perpetrated by the Indians, “whose deeds were inscribed with the scalping-knife 0051 31 and the tomahawk, in characters of blood, on the fields of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and on the banks of the Mohawk.

Of these cruelties, stimulated and often perpetrated by the English tories, leading the Indians, and acting with them, the following is only one of many specimens. It occurred in the attack of the British Rangers, under Colonel Butler, and is given in Salmon's narrative, and corroborated by several other authorities.

“A party of Indians, then in the British employ, had entered a house, and killed and scalped a mother and a large family of children. This was at a spot on the west side of the Genessee river, where a small town called Leicester now stands. The Indians had just completed their work of death, when some Royalists belonging to their party came up, and discovered an infant still alive in the cradle. An Indian warrior, noted for his barbarity, approached the cradle with his uplifted hatchet. The babe looked up in his face and smiled; the feelings of nature triumphed over the ferocity of the savage; the hatchet fell from his hand, and he was in the act of stooping down to take the infant in his arms, when one of the royalists, cursing the Indian for his humanity, took it up on the point of his bayonet, and, holding it up, struggling in the agonies of death, exclaimed, “This, too, is a rebel!”

Such are the atrocities of war; and such the extinction of all humanity even in the breasts of the loyal, the chivalrous, and the devout, the upholders of the divine right of kings, and the defenders of church and state, as the great bulwarks of Christianity.

0052 32

Some remarkable exposures of the agency of Great Britain, in producing these atrocities, have been brought to light from time to time; and two of them are sufficiently remarkable to be quoted here. The first was a communication made by the great Indian rival of Red Jacket, a chief also of the Seneca tribe, named Corn-planter, who was always as friendly to the whites as Red Jacket was hostile to them; and whose testimony is unexceptionable on this point. So recently as 1822, when residing on the banks of the Alleghany river, where he had a tract of land on which he dwelt, he makes the following disclosure to the legislature of Pennsylvania, then in session at Harrisburg, He says,

“I will tell you now, brothers, who are in session in the legislature of Pennsylvania, that the Great Spirit has made known to me that I have been very wicked, and the cause thereof was the revolutionary war in America. The cause of the Indians having been led into sin at that time was, that many of them were in the practice of drinking and getting intoxicated. Great Britain requested us to join in the conflict against the Americans, and promised the Indians money and liquor. I myself was opposed to joining in the conflict, as I had nothing to do with the difficulty that existed between the two parties.”

The other authority is that of the White Woman, whose narrative was taken down from her own lips in 1823, without concert with Corn-planter, who was then at a distance, and had for years lived estranged from the tribe, in consequence of his being opposed to the policy of Red Jacket, and thought to be too favourable to the whites. Their statement, therefore, 0053 33 independent as it is of the other, and going much more into detail, must be regarded as strikingly corroborative of the truth of Corn-planter's averment; and though it places the conduct of the British, in a most detestable light, it is right that the nation itself, and the world, should know to what atrocities colonial misgovernment may lead. The White Woman says,

“After the conclusion of the French war, [or, rather, after the termination of the difficulties consequent on the connexion of the Senecas with the conspiracy of Pontiac], our tribe had nothing to trouble them till the commencement of the revolution. For twelve or thirteen years the implements of war were not known, nor the war-whoop heard, save on days of festivity; when the achievements of former times were commemorated in a kind of mimic warfare, in which the chiefs and warriors displayed their prowess, and illustrated their former adroitness, by laying the ambuscade, surprising their enemies, and performing many accurate manœuvres with the tomahawk and scalping-knife; thereby preserving and handing down to their children the theory of Indian warfare. During that period they also pertinaciously observed the religious rites of their progenitors, by attending, with the most scrupulous exactness and a great degree of enthusiasm, to the sacrifices at different times, to appease the anger of the evil deity, or to excite the commisseration and friendship of the great good Spirit, whom they adored with reverence as the author, governor, supporter, and disposer of every good thing of which they participated.

“They also practised in various athletic games, such as running, wrestling, leaping, and playing ball, with a view that their bodies might be more supple, or rather, that they might not become enervated, and that they might be enabled to make a proper selection of chiefs for the councils of the nation and leaders for war. No people can live more happy than the Indians did in times of peace, before the introduction of spirituous liquors among them. Their lives were a continual round of pleasures. Their wants were few, and easily satisfied; and their cares were only for to-day; the VOL. III. D 0054 34 bounds of their calculations for future comforts scarcely extending to the incalculable uncertainties of to-morrow. If ever peace dwelt with men, it was in former times, in the recesses from war, among those who are now termed barbarians. The moral character of the Indians was (if I may be allowed the expression) uncontaminated. Their fidelity was perfect, and became proverbial; they were strictly honest; they despised deception and falsehood; and chastity was held in high veneration—a violation of it was considered sacrilege. They were temperate in their desires, moderate in their passions, and candid and honourable in the expression of their sentiments on every subject of importance.

“Thus, at peace among themselves and with the neighbouring whites, though there were none at that time very near, our Indians lived quietly and peaceably at home till a little before the breaking out of the revolutionary war, when they were sent for, together with the chiefs and members of the Six Nations generally, by the people of the States, to go to German Flats, and there hold a general council, in order that the people of the States might ascertain, in good season, whom they should esteem and treat as enemies and whom as friends, in the great war which was then upon the point of breaking out between them and the king of England.

“Our Indians obeyed the call, and the council was holden, at which the pipe of peace was smoked, and a treaty made, in which the Six Nations solemnly agreed that, that if a war should eventually break out, they would not take up arms on either side; but that they would observe a strict neutrality. With that the people of the States were satisfied, as they did not ask their assistance, and did not wish it. The Indians returned to their homes, well pleased that they could live on neutral ground, surrounded with the din of war without being engaged in it.

“The treaty here referred to was made by General Schuyler with the Indian council assembled at German Flats on the 14th of June, 1776, pursuant to an act of Congress of the 6th May, providing ‘that treaties should be held with the Indians in the different departments as soon as practicable,’ &c.

“About a year passed off,” says the White Woman, “and we, as usual for some years before, were enjoying ourselves in the employments 0055 35 of peaceable times, when a messenger arrived from the British commissioners, requesting all the Indians of our tribe to attend a general council which was soon to be held at Oswego. The council convened; and being opened, the British commissioners informed the chiefs that the object of calling a council of the Six Nations was to engage their assistance in subduing the rebels, the people of the States, who had risen up against the good king their master, and were about to rob him of a great part of his possessions and wealth. The commissioners added, that they would amply reward the Indians for all their services.

“The chiefs then rose, and informed the commissioners of the nature and extent of the treaty which they had entered into with the people of the States the year before, and that they should not violate it by taking up the hatchet against them. The commissioners continued their entreaties without success till they addressed their avarice and appetites. They told our people that the people of the States were few in number, and easily subdued; and that, on account of their disobedience to the king, they justly merited all the punishment that it was possible for white men and Indians to inflict upon them. They added, that the king was rich and powerful, both in money and subjects; that his rum was as plenty as the water in Lake Ontario; that his men were as numerous as the sands upon the lake shore; and that the Indians, if they would assist in the war and persevere in their friendship to the king till it was closed, should never want for money or goods. Upon this the chiefs concluded a treaty with the British commissioners, in which they agreed to take up arms against the rebels, and continue in the service of His Majesty till they were subdued, in consideration of certain conditions, which were stipulated in the treaty, to be performed by the British government and its agents.

“As soon as the treaty was finished, the commissioners made a present to each Indian of a suit of clothes, a brass kettle, a gun, a tomahawk, a scalping-knife, a quantity of powder and lead, and a piece of gold; promising likewise a bounty on every scalp that should be brought in. Thus richly clad and equipped, they returned home, after an absence of about two weeks, full of the fire of war, and anxious to encounter their enemies.” D 2

0056 36

This introduction of rum and whisky among the Indians, a curse which they owe entirely to the whites, has been a more powerful agent in their demoralization and destruction than any other that has ever been brought to act on them. In their semi-civilized state, the propensity to drink, which pervades all classes among the Indians, makes them indolent, stupid, and treacherous, and renders them an easy prey to any designer who will only apply this mode of destruction. Among the Western tribes, remote from civilization, it produces the same effects, and so aggravates all the symptoms of the most fearful diseases, that every year sees thousands of their numbers swept away to a premature grave by the cholera, the black sickness, or the small-pox, in all attacks of which, spirituous liquors are freely drank as the preventive, and this serving only to aggravate all the symptoms, hundreds breathe their last with the rum-bottle in their hands! At all councils, it is still freely distributed, either before or pending the negotiations. When treaties are signed, presents for rum are passed from one party to the other; and for weeks afterwards drunkenness and dissoluteness are seen in the most aggravated forms among the Indians. The two following paragraphs, taken from the Rochester Democrat, of August 27, are strikingly illustrative of the ravages committed among all classes by this destructive poison.

Rail-road Accident. —While the train of cars on the Lockport and Niagara Falls' Rail-road was going west on Saturday last, the train ran over an Indian squaw who was lying drunk across the track, in the Tuscorora Reservation. Both legs were severed from her body, and she died soon after.

0057 37

“ Distressing Rail-road Accident. —As this morning's train of cars from Stonington was approaching the village of Greenwich, Rhode Island, a deaf-and-dumb man chanced to be crossing the rail-road at the very moment the cars rushed by. Of course neither the bell attached to the engine, nor the shrill sound of the steam-whistle, both of which had given their timely warning when the train was nearing the cross-roads, could notify him of his danger. Walking deliberately up to the locomotive, a blow from the projecting part of the frame-work felled him to the ground, and so severely injured the poor creature by breaking his arm and dreadfully fracturing his skull, that when the cars left him with his friends, it was evident he could survive but a few moments. We learn that not the slightest blame can be attached to the engineer on the road. A whisky bottle , which was found shivered to atoms in the pocket of the dying mute, accounts for the stupefaction under which his other senses—generally so acute and vigilant in persons deprived of their hearing—must have been labouring, to have allowed him thus to walk into destruction itself.”

There are two classes of human beings—“the poor untutored Indian,” and “the helpless deaf and dumb,” for whom our sympathies are so often appealed to, and who are so largely entitled to our protection, literally murdered, and sent to a premature grave by this licensed and authorized traffic in a poison; the only excuse for the sale of which is, that it enables the maker and vender to grow rich on the sufferings, diseases and deaths of their fellow-creatures. When will the legislatures of civilized countries see that humanity, religion, and sound policy all concur to recommend the instant extinction of such a baleful and blighting traffic as this? *

* See some beautiful lines on this subject, by Mrs. Sigourney, the American poetess, in the Appendix, No. I.

After our return from the settlement of the Seneca 0058 38 Indians, we remained some days longer in Buffalo, and, as the weather, though warm, was deliciously fresh and agreeable to the feelings, owing to the daily breeze from the Lake, we enjoyed our excursions and perambulations in and around the town and its vicinity. In the winter, we were told, the weather is extremely cold, the entire surface of the Lake being frozen over, the Erie canal shut up, and the thermometer frequently below zero. This necessarily leads to a general suspension of business, as the transport of goods is impracticable; and this is the season in which the time of the inhabitants is divided between church-going, which is more frequent than in the summer, evening visits, sleighing parties, and religious revivals. These things stand in singular juxtaposition; but we heard from the lips of a clergyman of the city, some time resident here, and thoroughly conversant with the state of society, the statement, that, to use his own language, “there was a great deal of mechanism employed in the getting-up of religious revivals, for which the winter was found to be most favourable in the cities, because of the leisure, and consequent disposition to excitement.” The permanent good produced by these revivals thus “got up,” is a question that would admit of great difference of opinion.

The Catholics, who are continually increasing their numbers from the large body of German, Swiss, and Irish emigrants, that every year flock to this quarter in search of employment, make equal exertions with the Protestants to keep alive the flame of religious zeal, though they take different means to accomplish their object. Great alarm seems to prevail among 0059 39 the Protestant sects in general, as to the progress making by the Catholics in the west, and it is undoubted that large and costly churches are springing up in every city, the funds of which are believed to be transmitted from Europe, as there are no visible sources of income for such undertakings here.

At Buffalo, a new Catholic church is building outside and over the old one; which is left standing in the middle of the new edifice, so that the congregation may continue their worship there until the exterior church is finished, all but the pavement, when it will be taken down, and all its materials removed. It is thought, from the plans and drawings, that this new Catholic church will far outstrip, in size and splendour, all the Protestant edifices of Buffalo; and this external display, no doubt, has very powerful attractions for the uneducated multitude.

The Episcopalian Protestants who follow the doctrines and ritual of the Church of England, are, on the whole, the most strongly opposed to the progress of the Catholics, and are making corresponding efforts to counteract their influence. One of their measures is to divide the State of New York into an eastern and western diocese, and thus to have two bishops intead of one. For this purpose a convention of the Episcopal church is now holding at Utica, at which the present bishop of the diocese, Dr. Onderdonk, presides; and of the clerical members sent to this convention by the respective churches, all seem disposed to favour this division of the diocese into two—the creation of a second bishop, and the augmentation of the clerical body. When it is considered that the area of the state is nearly as great as 0060 40 that of England and Wales united, and that the bishop is expected to visit every part of it personally in the course of the year, it must be admitted that it is more than one man could adequately superintend.

The public press of Buffalo numbers four daily newspapers—the Journal, the Patriot, the Star, and the Buffalonian. The first two are whig or conservative in their politics, the third is democratic, and the fourth, which is a penny paper, is neutral. They are conducted with average talent, but with all the one-sidedness of partisanship, which is so characteristic of American newspapers generally. The smaller paper, like most of its class, deals much more in personalities and private gossip than the larger ones, and is much less political. It is curious that this should be the case with nearly all the cheap papers I have seen in America; and this fact has made me less anxious than I once was, to see cheap newspapers multiplied in England. There are bad productions enough, it is true, among the expensive journals; but the smaller penny papers here are certainly worse, more personal, more disposed to invade the sanctity of private life, and less scrupulous than the dearer ones at bringing matters wholly of a private nature before the gaze of the public eye.

This must arise, to a certain extent, from the depraved taste of the community: for unless such topics were acceptable to a very large class, such papers could not command the extensive circulation they enjoy; and without an extensive circulation no papers at so cheap a price could sustain their existence. The remedy for this evil is undoubtedly a better education 0061 41 for the humbler classes, not merely to embrace solid and useful knowledge, but to include a refinement of taste and purity of manners; in that case, the newspapers printed for their use would of necessity come up to their standard of intelligence and taste, for without this they could not be made acceptable to their readers.

Among the discussions that have recently relieved the political strife of the newspapers in this quarter, one has been on the rise of the water in the Upper Lakes—Michigan, Huron, and Erie—and on the causes of this phenomenon. Of the fact there seems no doubt, at least all parties to the controversy admit that of late years there has been a sensible increase in the waters of these Lakes, and a consequent elevation of their surface, though the statements are not sufficiently accurate to speak with confidence as to the exact extent. Among the various theories advanced by different writers to account for this increase, the following has the greatest novelty in it, and receives general credit here.

“ Rise of Water in the Lakes. —A new idea on this subject has been broached by a writer in the Rochester Democrat, founded on the discoveries of Dr. Sherwood in magnetism. According to the theory of Dr. S. (says the writer,) the water in the lakes will continue to rise so long as the magnetic pole is in their neighbourhood, and which traverses around the north pole, in the arctic circle, from east to west, making one revolution in 666 years, consequently it moves at the rate of 32 minutes 26 seconds annually, which in this latitude is about 24 geographic miles. The magnetic pole is now just north of Hudson's bay, and the magnetic meridian passes through the county of Erie, and crosses Lake Erie somewhat obliquely from south to north, about 70 miles west of this city. It will require about five years to reach Detroit, twelve to reach 0062 42 Lake Michigan, and fifteen to reach the western limit of Lake Superior, during the whole of which period the water in the lakes will probably continue to rise. At this time the magnetic pole and meridian will have completed about half their journey over the western hemisphere, or one quarter of their revolution; after this they approximate to the Mississippi, and then the Rocky Mountains, when it is probable that the accumulating waters, snow, and rain, that obey their influence and follow their track, will find a different outlet and vent to the ocean, viz. by the Mississippi, Oregon, &c. instead of the St. Lawrence, after which the waters of the lake will begin to decrease.”

After a stay of about ten days in Buffalo, we prepared to leave it for Rochester; but on the morning of our departure, we were visited by two old acquaintances of mine, now residing in the neighbourhood of Buffalo; one, a gentleman whom I had known in England as teacher at one of the most popular academies in the neighbourhood of London—and the other, Captain Truscott, of the navy, who for many years commanded the India ship, General Palmer, from London to Madras. These were pleasant rencontres at so distant a spot from home, and seemed equally agreeable to us all.

We found it most convenient, as our party consisted of four, to take an “exclusive extra,” as a private hired carriage is called, to convey ourselves and all our baggage, which gave us the entire command of our own time in setting out and arriving; and as these “extras” are always of the full size of stage-coaches, with seats for nine inside, we rode at great ease. Yet, though we had this roomy vehicle, and four good horses, which, with the driver, was changed every eight or ten miles, the expense was less than a postchaise would have cost in England. Our distance 0063 43 from Buffalo to Batavia was forty miles, for which we paid eighteen dollars, or 3l. 12s. sterling, with no fees to coachman, ostler, or turnpikes, all being covered by the sum named; and the persons and baggage together being more than two post-chaises would have been willing to take in England, each one of which, at eighteenpence a mile posting, and sixpence for postboys, ostlers, and turnpikes, would have made 4l. sterling. We had, moreover, the additional comfort of never changing the coach throughout the whole distance, and driving four horses all the way. The roads were for the greater part, tolerably good; but one piece of genuine corduroy road, about a mile in length, composed wholly of logs, or trees with the bark on, laid horizontally across the road, and the interstices loosely filled up with earth, shook us terribly, and gave us some idea of the misery of travelling, for any length of time, on such a rough and jolting way. We performed the distance of forty miles in six hours; but the regular stage-coach, which set out about the same time, being heavily laden with nine inside passengers, and their full complement of baggage, was nine hours in performing the same journey.

We passed between Buffalo and Batavia, three pleasant and flourishing little villages, at distances of eight or ten miles apart, namely Williamsville, Ransom's Grove, and Pembroke, in each of which was a good inn, and a population of from 500 to 1,000 inhabitants each. The country was in many places only just cleared of its wood, the stumps of the felled trees still remaining in the ground, and in the centre of the cleared patches, rude log-huts were raised for the 0064 44 accommodation of the first settlers. The carts and other vehicles that we met on the way, were all much longer and narrower than those used in England, and the fore and hind wheels much more distant from each other. In almost all, two horses were driven abreast, and many had four horses in two pairs, but few being driven by a single line or team. The use of the buffalo skin, with its thick shaggy brown fur, as the covering for the seat occupied by the riders, was universal, and contributed very much to give the whole scene a wild Indian air, when seen in association with dense masses of thick and impenetrable forests, small patches of recently cleared land, log-huts, and stumps of trees on fire, with their trunks lying along, and still encumbering the ground.

At Batavia we found an extremely pretty town, with an arsenal and powder magazine at its entrance, and a number of handsome villas surrounded by gardens in the neighbourhood. Here, as every where else throughout the inland towns of America, the streets are of ample width, never less than 100 feet and often 150—with excellent side-walks shaded by rows of full-foliaged trees. Several good hotels are found at Batavia—the one at which we dined, being as clean, airy, and well furnished as any we had seen in the road; and the spacious piazza or balcony running in front of the house, adding comfort to beauty. The signs of the hotels and inns are not so varied as in England or France; the greater number are designated chiefly by the names of the persons keeping them. The signs are rarely affixed to the houses, or embellished with any pictorial representation. They are mostly circular or oval 0065 45 pieces of wood, placed on a high and strong wooden pillar, at some distance in front of the house, like a large target, visible from a considerable distance on the road, uniting great simplicity, strength, and distinctness.

At Batavia—which, from its appearance may be regarded as a very prosperous town, and contains at present about 6,000 inhabitants—we took the railroad to Rochester, the distance being 32 miles, the time occupied two hours, and the fare one dollar and a quarter, or five shillings sterling each.

We reached Rochester about eight o'clock in the evening on Saturday the 25th of August; and at the place of the rail-road cars stopping, the crowd of persons attending on behalf of the hotels, canal packets, stages, and rail-roads was immense; at least fifty voices were heard at the same time vociferating, “Eagle Tavern,” “Rochester House,” “splendid rooms,” “excellent table,” “persons and baggage conveyed free of charge,” and similar temptations. The competition is intense, and each hotel sends its own coach for passengers, and cart and porters for baggage, though sometimes in the confusion the passenger is taken to one house and his trunks to another, when he is sure to displease one party at least. We were speedily transferred to the Eagle, where we found comfortable quarters and obliging attendants; and here, therefore, we took up our abode.

0066
CHAP. III.

First settlement of Rochester—Contest with wild bears—Purchase of Indian land—Death and character of the original founder—Last pagan sacrifice of the Indians—Striking resemblance to the scape-goat of the Jews—First Christian church—Incorporation as a city—Education, Sunday schools—Temperance societies—Plan of Rochester—Streets and buildings—Staple trade, wheat and flour—Extent of water-power—Genessee, or the Pleasant Valley—Poetical beauty of Indian names—Falls of the Genessee—West and Catlin—Fatal leap from the Falls by an American—Great flood—Carpet manufactory, paper mills, pianos —Edge-tools, iron-works, and machinery—Cabinet making, Cooperage—Impolicy and effect of the British corn-laws—Recent introduction of silk—Soil and productions of the Genessee Valley—Institutions of religion, benevolence, and literature—Comparison with towns of the same size in Britain—Erie Canal—Difficulties attending this work—Prospective views of General Washington—Opinions of Governeur Morris—Ceremony of opening the canal at Rochester—Love of display in public celebrations in America—Extent of inland navigation.

We remained in Rochester for ten days, comfortably accommodated at the Eagle hotel; and my Course of Lectures on Egypt having been very numerously attended in the Bethel Free Church, in which they were delivered, I was soon brought in communication with the principal residents of the city, and our stay was rendered agreeable by their personal kindness and attention. Among these individuals were several of the first settlers in the city, its first mayor, Mr. 0067 47 Child; and its best historian, Mr. Henry O'Reilly, the present postmaster of Rochester, who has produced, from the most authentic sources, chiefly living witnesses, an excellent volume, published in the present year, 1838, entitled “Settlement in the West, or Sketches of Rochester, with Incidental Notices of the State of New York.”

In the various excursions which we made in the vicinity of the city, as well as in the examination of all that was curious or interesting within the city itself, I was greatly assisted by the courtesy and experience of the individuals named; and from the oral information thus obtained, the documentary evidence in the production named above, and my own personal observation, I was enabled to prepare the following account of the history and statistics of Rochester, as well as a description of its present appearance and condition, under circumstances the most favourable that could be desired, for ensuring fulness and fidelity combined.

The spot where Rochester now stands was, in 1808, a completely uncleared and untrodden forest; and in its neighbonrhood were two small settlements called Pittsford and Perrinton, each containing only a few pioneer families, who had penetrated thus far, and literally cut their way through the wilderness. The river Genessee, at the point on which the present bridge of Rochester is built, appearing to these settlers to offer a favourable spot for the erection of a bridge; the nearest bridge then across the stream being at Avon, a distance of twenty miles to the south—the settlers in these two hamlets joined in petitioning the State legislature of New 0068 48 York, then sitting at Albany, for an act to authorize its construction. This measure was, however, strongly opposed by several members of the legislature, one of whom used the following language, as descriptive of the spot:—“It is,” said he, “a God-forsaken place, inhabited by musk-rats, visited only by straggling trappers, through which neither man nor beast could gallop, without fear of starvation, or fever and ague;” and although the act was ultimately passed, it continued to be reprobated by many as an extravagant waste of the public money, to erect a bridge in such an “outlandish and unfrequented spot.”

In 1812, there were two wooden-frame buildings only on the spot, each consisting of a single room, the one occupied by Mr. Isaac Stone, and the other by his relative, Mr. Enos Stone, one of which is still existing, in its original state, in the heart of the present 0069 49 town. At this period, but a small patch of land was cleared around each of these humble dwellings; and a few acres of Indian corn, planted among the stumps of the recently felled trees, was all the crop they could yet command. This was, however, so exposed to the depredations of the wild bears, that the utmost vigilance on the part of the planters was necessary, to save their corn; and a furious contest took place between Enos Stone and one of the largest she-bears that had ever been seen in this part of the country, which, after innumerable difficulties of burning out and smoking from tree to tree, he at length succeeded in shooting; and her shaggy skin was for a long while preserved as the trophy of his victory.

The first allotment of land for building a village was made in 1812, on the tract which was purchased by Phelps and Gorham for a “timber yard” to supply the saw-mill they proposed to erect on the river here; and for this purpose they persuaded the Indians to assign them a territory of 24 miles long, by 12 broad along the banks of the Genessee, from this spot to the Lake Ontario! This “mill-yard,” as it was also called, had passed from the original purchasers into the possession of Sir William Pulteney, an English baronet, from whom it was purchased in 1802 at 17 dls. 50 cts. or about 3l. 10s. per acre for the fee simple, by three individuals, Nathaniel Rochester, Charles H. Carroll, and William Fitzhugh. These were the founders of the hamlet of Rochester; and the first of these purchasers, after whom the place was named, lived to see it grow into a large and flourishing city, as his death occurred only seven years ago, on the 17th of May 1831, when, such was the veneration VOL. III. E 0070 50 and respect entertained for his character, and such the regret felt for his loss, that all the public bodies of Rochester united in demonstrations of esteem and sorrow. The courts of law suspended their sittings to attend his funeral; the city corporation followed their example; and the clergy, the army, and the citizens at large, all attended his remains to the grave: and his biographer closes the affecting narrative of his death, at the venerable age of eighty, by saying, “The good old man has gone from among us! Long will his survivors cherish the remembrance of the venerable form, the silvered locks, and easy dignity, of the patriarch. Long may we cherish the example of his simplicity, integrity, disinterestedness, and faith! Filial affection may build for him the marble tomb, public gratitude may grave the recorded eulogy—but they are not needed. He has erected his own monument, splendid and enduring: it is sculptured by his own hand, and we have only to reply to him who asks us in what shrine it is set up, in the simple and majestic epitaph of England's proudest temple, (the inscription over the tomb of Sir Christopher Wren in his own noble edifice, the Cathedral of St. Paul's in London) ‘ Si Quæeris Monumentum—circumspice. ’”

In 1813, the native Indians of the Seneca tribe were still encamped here, and in that year some of their pagan ceremonies were performed for the last time; though similar ceremonies continue to be observed by them in the neighbourhood of Buffalo to the present day. The Indians of this tribe have five feasts annually, at which they return thanks to Nauwanew, or the Great Spirit, for his blessings, and pray him to spare his wrath. At these festivals 0071 51 also the chiefs hold their councils, and urge on the people the duty of so conducting themselves as to ensure the favour of the Great Spirit in peace and in war. Their first festival is after planting, and the others at successive periods of ripening, gathering, and the close of the year. The following is the narrative of one of these pagan festivals, given in detail in Mr. O'Reilly's interesting work already referred to. Speaking of the Indian festival which occurs at the close of the year, he says:

“The latter ceremonial was performed for the last time in Rochester in January, 1818. The concluding rites were seen by some of the few persons then settled in ‘these parts.’ From Mr. Edwin Scranton, now a merchant of the city, who was among the spectators, we have had an account of the ceremonial, as far as he beheld it, which corresponds with the accounts given by the Rev. Mr. Kirkland, long a missionary among the Six Nations, and by the ‘White Woman,’ that remarkable associate of the Senecas.

“The latter personage related, that when the Indians returned from hunting, ten or twenty of their number were appointed to superintend the great ‘sacrifice and thanksgiving.’ Preparations were made at the council-house, or other place of meeting, for the accommodation of the tribe during the ceremonial. Nine days was the period; and two white dogs, the number and kind of animals formerly required for the festival; though in these latter days of reform and retrenchment, (for the prevailing spirit had reached even the wigwams and the altars of the Senecas,) the time has been curtailed to seven or five days, and a single dog was made the scapegoat to bear away the sins of the tribe! Two dogs, as nearly white as could be procured, were usually selected from those belonging to the tribe, and were carefully killed at the door of the council-house by means of strangulation; for a wound on the animal, or an effusion of blood, would spoil the victim for the sacrificial purpose. The dogs were then fantastically painted with various colours, decorated with feathers, and suspended about twenty feet high at the council-house, or near the centre of the camp. E 2

0072 52

“The ceremonial is then commenced, and the five, seven, or nine days of its continuance are marked by feasting and dancing, as well as by sacrifice and consultation. Two select bands, one of men and another of women, ornamented with trinkets and feathers, and each person furnished with an ear of corn in the right hand, dance in a circle around the council-fire which is kindled for the occasion, and regulate their steps by rude music. Hence they proceed to every wigwam in the camp; and, in like manner, dance in a circle around each fire.

“Afterward, on another day, several men clothe themselves in the skins of wild beasts, cover their faces with hideous masks, and their hands with the shell of the tortoise, and in this garb they go among the wigwams, making horrid noises, taking the fuel from the fire, and scattering the embers and ashes about the floor, for the purpose of driving away evil spirits. The persons performing these operations are supposed not only to drive off the evil spirit, but to concentrate within themselves all the sins of their tribe. These sins are afterward all transfused into one of their own number, who, by some magical dexterity or sleight-of-hand, works off from himself into the dogs the concentrated wickedness of the tribe!

“The scape-goat dogs are then placed on a pile of wood, to which fire is applied, while the surrounding crowd throw tobacco or other incense upon the flame, the scent of which is deemed to cooperate with the sacrifice of the animals in conciliating the favour of Nauwanew, or the Great Spirit. When the dogs are partly consumed, one is taken off, and put into a large kettle with vegetables of various kinds, and all around devour the contents of the ‘reeking caldron.’ After this, the Indians perform the dances of war and peace, and smoke the calumet: then, free from wickedness, they repair to their respective places of abode, prepared for the events of the new year.”

Whether this will remind the reader of the Jewish ceremony of placing all the sins of the people on the head of the scape-goat, and leading him away into the wilderness, as described in the Old Testament, (Leviticus, chap. xvi. 20 to 22.) I know not; but after the many striking resemblances shown in a previous 0073 53 chapter between the Indians and the early Jews, this impression struck me very forcibly. On the same spot, however, on which these pagan rites were performed in 1813—there are now not less than 28 Christian churches, and 20,000 Christian worshippers in 1838. Such is the contrast produced in the short space of 25 years!

It was in 1815 that the first Christian church was formed in Rochester; and its whole body consisted of 16 members, who had to be drawn together from places many miles apart, while there was no other Christian congregation for worship at that time within 400 square miles of this spot.

From this period, a gradual increase in the number of settlers took place at Rochester; and these being principally men from New England, brought with them not only the hardy enterprise and industrious habits for which they have always been famed, but, what was still more valuable, those principles of morality and religion which constitute the most striking features of the New England character. Under their auspices Rochester gradually rose from a hamlet to a village, and soon expanded from a village into a city. In 1818 its population was 331. In 1820 it was 1,500. In 1825 it reached to 4,274. In 1830, the State census gave 10,836. In 1835, it was nearly 15,000; and at present, in the middle of 1838, it numbers more than 20,000.

It was not until 1834 that Rochester became a chartered city; and its first mayor was Mr. Jonathan Child, a gentleman still residing here, and universally esteemed by his fellow-citizens. The following short extract from his inaugural address, is perhaps 0074 54 without a parallel as to the fact it records, of the first hewers of the forest sitting at the council-board of a city reared on the same spot.

“The rapid progress which our place has made, from a wilderness to an incorporated city,” said the mayor, “authorizes each of our citizens proudly to reflect upon the agency he has had in bringing about this great and interesting change. Rochester, we all know, has had little aid in its permanent improvement from foreign capital. It has been settled and built, for the most part, by mechanics and merchants, whose capital was economy, industry, and perseverance. It is their labour and skill which has converted a wilderness into a city; and to them surely this must be a day of pride and joy. They have founded and reared a city before they have passed the meridian of life. In other countries and times, the city of Rochester would have been the result of the labour and accumulation of successive generations; but the men who felled the forest that grew on the spot where we are assembled, are sitting at the council-board of our city. Well then may we indulge an honest pride as we look back upon our history; and let the review elevate our hopes and animate our exertions. Together we have struggled through the hardships of an infant settlement, and the embarrassments of straitened circumstances; and together let us rejoice and be happy in the glorious reward that has crowned our labours.”

In the following year, 1835, General Gould was chosen as the successor of Mr. Child; and at the close of his mayoralty, a statement was made, which reflects the highest honour on the character of the city and its inhabitants. After referring to the great improvement and general prosperity of Rochester, the mayor said:

“Our city has also been remarkably distinguished for peace and good order, and happily delivered from the fire that devours the property, and from the pestilence that destroys the lives, of our citizens. During the period of my office, nearly two years, I wish it to be remembered as a most extraordinary, and to me most gratifying fact, that, with a population averaging 16,000, I have never 0075 55 been called upon to interfere, nor has there ever been occasion to do so, for the suppression of riot, mob, tumult, or even an ordinary case of assault. This fact speaks a most gratifying eulogy for our civil and religious institutions, and for the intelligence and morality of the community in which we live.”

This fact is, perhaps, the most satisfactory answer that can be given to those who demand to know whether it is not the democracy of the American institutions which leads to all the mobs and riots that occur in the United States? On the contrary, it is chiefly in the aristocratic States of the South and West, where the white race hold the black in slavery, that mobs and riots most frequently occur. Even when they happen in the North and East, they are chiefly stimulated by the discussion of the great question of slavery or freedom, when those opposed to abolition, and not those in favour of it, take the lead in such riots, with a view to put down all freedom of discussion, and chain the tongues of the whites, as well as manacle the limbs of the blacks. It is therefore the aristocratic, and not the democratic party, that originate most of these outrages, as in the case of the abolition riots of New York and Boston, and the still more recent burning down of the Pennsylvania Hall at Philadelphia. Here, at Rochester, where no riot of this description has ever yet been known, the general equality of condition among the inhabitants, and the prevailing state of opinion, is as democratic as can well be imagined, and far more so than in either of the places named; yet this democracy leads to no disturbance of the public order, because no one class arrogates to itself the right to suppress by force the freest expression of 0076 56 opinion by any other class, the attempt to do which, in the other parts of the Union, is the cause of nearly all the riots, burnings, murders, and assassinations that occur: so that the perfect compatibility of good order and democratic principles, is here triumphantly established.

Other striking benefits, which are the result of the democratic principles and practices that prevail here, where all men have a voice in the management of public affairs, and where the will of the majority, legitimately expressed, forms the acts of legislation, and superintends the due execution of the law, deserve to be enumerated. Among them are these—First, the universal encouragement of education, there being, in addition to several excellent seminaries for the children of the more wealthy, no less than 2,554 children who regularly attend the Sunday-schools of the different congregations, superintended by 508 Sunday-school teachers. Secondly, the absence of all theatres, circuses, and similar places of dissipated entertainment, which have never yet, though often attempted, been able to take root here. And, thirdly, the great progress of the temperance reformation, some details of which deserve to be given, as interesting to the friends of humanity in general.

“The first public resolutions ever adopted on the principle of total abstinence were passed by the Ontario Presbytery in August, 1827—but not without opposition, or without some claiming the liberty to ‘treat their friends politely.’ In October of that year, 5,000 copies of Kittredge's First Temperance Address were printed at Canandaigua, about 1,000 copies of which were distributed in and around Rochester. This was followed by a reprint of two editions, of 10,000 copies each, in the spring of 1828 in Rochester, the expense of which was defrayed by a few individuals; and these were sent 0077 57 in every direction, by mail, to governors, legislators, magistrates, and public institutions, and to distinguished persons in all parts of the land. These efforts are supposed to have been among the very earliest and most powerful causes in waking up the attention of this nation to the horrid evils of intemperance.

“The first public temperance meeting in Rochester was held, and a society formed, on the 21st of July, 1828. From this time the cause rapidly progressed, till public sentiment became strongly turned against that practice which makes beasts of men, and taxes their fellow-citizens for their support—seeing that our prisons and poor-houses are chiefly tenanted through the agency of grog-shops.

“It might also be noticed as an incident worthy of record, that Dr. Joseph Penney, for eleven years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Rochester, when called by ill health and family affairs to Europe, was the first to proclaim the true temperance principle in Ireland; and through his instrumentality the first efforts of a public nature were then commenced in that kingdom.”

The inhabitants of Rochester, in consequence of the light thus obtained, are now almost unanimously of opinion that legislative measures should be taken, to restrain the traffic in ardent spirits; and petitions have been numerously signed, praying the legislature of the State of New York to follow the noble example set by the State legislatures of Tennessee and Massachusetts, to prohibit the sale of spirits in small quantities, and thus to put an end to grog-shops, and places for the retail of the destructive and demoralizing poison, entirely. May their benevolent efforts be crowned with success!

The plan of Rochester is not so regular as its recent origin, and admirable situation, would have led one to expect. It is seated along the banks of the Genessee river, which runs nearly from south to north in a slightly winding line through the town, 0078 58 being crossed by several bridges, and by a fine stone aqueduct on arches, conveying, above and across the river, the great trunk of the Erie Canal. The greatest length of the city from north to south is about three miles, and its greatest breadth from east to west about two miles. The streets are spacious in breadth, varying from 60 to 80 feet, well-paved in the centre, and at the sides; and several good public squares are enclosed. The hotels, stores, dwellings, offices, and other buildings, have a more solid and substantial air than in most of the new towns; being built of stone and brick more frequently than of wood. The churches are in general handsome structures, and the whole aspect of the place is that of one in which all that has been done is well done. It will thus form an excellent nucleus for the accumulation around it of the materials of a great future city.

0079 59

The staple business of Rochester is the corn and flour trade; all the surrounding country being productive of the best wheat grown in the United States; and the water-power furnished by the falls of the Genessee river, being capable of turning as many mills as can be erected on its banks. This water-power, at the city of Rochester alone, was estimated in 1825 to be about 20,000 cubic feet per minute, or equal to 2,000 steam-engines of 20 horse-power each, and of the annual value of ten millions of dollars. But when these calculations were made, the village of Rochester did not contain within its limits more than half the amount of water-fall which is now comprised within the more extended boundary of the city. Accordingly, on this account alone, the force and value of the water-power has been doubled. Add to this fact, that by a more skilful direction of this power, it is made in some of the higher falls to be used over and over again, to the extent, in some cases, of four times in one descent; and it may be fairly assumed, that the annual value of the water-power, capable of being brought into operation for the working of mills in the city of Rochester alone, is equal to a hundred millions of dollars; there being a series of descents, making in the whole 200 feet of fall within the city-limits, while beyond those limits, along the whole valley of the Genessee, it is incalculable.

“This name, as expressive as is the generality of Indian designations, is indicative of the characteristics of the country through which the river flows. The word Genessee signifies Pleasant Valley. Few rivers of equal extent have scenery more picturesque—there are none with banks more fertile. From its rise in Pennsylvania, 0080 60 till it mingles its waters with Lake Ontario near the city of Rochester, the shores of the Genessee present a succession of beauties, such as in other lands would attract crowds of admiring travellers. *

* Perhaps no more striking instance can be given of the beauty of Indian names, than that of a small bay on Lake Ontario, just at the mouth of the Genessee river, at the distance of a few miles only from Rochester. It is called Te-o-ron-to , which literally means, “The place where the waves breathe and expire,” as they are first born within a few feet of the beach, and then, after breathing in two or three curling elevations, they break upon the beach and die!

“The source is not less remarkable than the course of the Genessee. The table-land in which it originates is about 1700 feet above the Atlantic level, and furnishes, within a space of six miles sqaure, streams which flow towards the ocean in opposite directions—through the St. Lawrence, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico. The bold and romantic features of its shores are strikingly exemplified in a brief portion of its course through Alleghany county in the State of New York. Within a couple of miles the river is precipitated upward of three hundred feet. This great descent embraces three perpendicular pitches—the Falls of Nunda; presenting much of the sublime and beautiful—the ravine worn through the rock by the river, (leaving perpendicular banks of from two to four hundred feet high) being scarcely less wonderful than the cataracts of the stream.

“Descending from the high lands of Alleghany, and emerging from between rocky banks of great height, the Genessee courses through a region of opposite character—a region unsurpassed in fertility, and replete with charms rivalling those with which poetry has invested the flowery meadows of Old England. Rarely does the eye rest upon a lovelier scene than the valley of this stream presents from the villages of Genessee or Mount Morris, which are built on declivities on either side of the flats. Here are the beauties of nature most harmoniously blended with the elements of agricultural wealth. At this portion of the Valley of the Genessee the prospect is bounded by the swelling uplands on either side and the Alleghany hills in the southern distance. Had the Indians, who first gave this name to the valley, beheld the flocks and herds that 0081 61 now enliven its landscape, and the busy towns with spires overlooking it from the neighbouring hills, the boats transporting its super-abundant wealth down its winding stream, and the scenes of intellectual and moral felicity, to which it contributes in the homes of its present enlightened occupants—and had they been able to appreciate all this, they would have contrived the longest superlative which their language could furnish, to give it a name.”

The beautiful scenery of this valley and its Falls has tempted many artists to transmit to the canvas some of its more striking features. A son of the celebrated Benjamin West, named Raphael, came out from London to visit the land of his father, and though he did not remain long in the country, his London wife being home-sick, and longing for the dingy atmosphere of Newman Street, which she preferred to the splendid forests and bright skies of America—yet he carried home with him some beautiful views of the scenery of this valley. Mr. 0082 62 Catlin, too, a brother of the celebrated artist, who spent so many years among the Indians of the West, and who has formed so interesting a collection of their portraits, dresses, arms, &c. visited the Falls of the Genessee for the purpose of making drawings of it; but venturing into a precipitous and difficult part of the rocks, to get a more picturesque view, he was unfortunately drowned in the stream.

The Falls are, undoubtedly, very beautiful—both the middle and the lower. The first of these is nearly in the town, and the other about two miles to the north of it, while the upper Falls are about forty miles south of Rochester, but these we did not see. The height of the middle Falls is 96 feet perpendicular, and of the lower Falls 25 to the first leap, and 88 below it; the river being, at both, about a quarter of a mile across. It was from the first of these that the well-known Sam Patch made his fatal leap, and perished the victim of his own folly. It is remarkable, however, that a fall from this great height is not always fatal, as the following incident, cut out of a Rochester paper during our stay there, will testify:—

“ Sam Patch outdone. —On Tuesday last, about two miles below the steam-boat landing on the Genessee river, a horse, attached to a cart loaded with wood, was precipitated from the bank, cart and all, to the water's edge below, a distance of 75 feet, nearly perpendicular; when, after adjusting himself, he commenced browsing upon the shrubbery, without having received the least apparent injury.”

The great defect under which both these Falls labour at present is, the want of that fulness of 0083 63 volume which gives so much grandeur to Niagara. Here, at Rochester, the vast quantity of water drawn off in different directions, for the use of the various mills, has so diminished the depth of the stream, that it falls over the perpendicular precipice of rock like a thin gauze veil; and a contrary wind, if blowing strongly, is sufficient to force it inward against the rock, in a counter-curve to that of the bold projecting flow of Niagara's outward bend. To see these Falls under a full supply of water, would be second only to Niagara, I think, for grandeur and beauty; and that such occasions now and then happen, may be assumed, from the following statement as to the floods to which this river is occasionally subject:—

“The greatest flood ever known in the Genessee river occurred in the Fall of 1835. Nothing equal to it has happened within the knowledge of the earliest settlers in Rochester and its vicinity. Although it was unprecedented, it may find frequent parallels; for as the country becomes better cleared, the water (from the rain, or thawing snow,) will more suddenly find its way to the river than could be the case from wild land. The influence exercised on the character of many streams, by the improvement of the country, is a subject worthy of attention. The greatness of the flood of 1835 maybe inferred from the fact, that the quantity of water which then passed, was estimated at two millions one hundred and sixty-four thousand cubic feet per minute! Imagination may picture better than pen can describe, the foaming and roaring of such a mighty flood, rushing over rapids and falls, forming at Rochester a descent about 100 feet higher than the perpendicular pitch of Niagara.”

In addition to the extensive trade carried on in wheat and flour, there are many other branches of industry in a highly flourishing condition at Rochester. Among these, the carpet manufacture ranks high. Scotch weavers and dyers have been carefully 0084 64 sought out, and brought here to conduct this manufacture; and, already, carpets, quite equal in quality and pattern to those of Kidderminster, are made here, and supplied to the surrounding cities. Woollen manufactories produce good cloths, in general use here for clothing. Fire engines and rifles are made in great perfection. There are several tanneries, and morocco-leather-dressing establishments. Paper-making is carried on extensively. There is an excellent pianoforte manufactory; and the demand for this instrument may be judged of from the fact, that there was one in every parlour of the American hotel, at Buffalo, and some in the best bed-rooms, to the extent of from 20 to 30 instruments in one house; while there is scarcely a family in the towns of America where a piano is not to be seen among their furniture.

The manufacture of edge-tools is going on so rapidly, and attaining such excellence here, that they will soon need no supply from Birmingham or Sheffield. Iron furnaces, and other works of iron machinery, are nearly as well executed as in England. Cabinet-making, boat-building, and cooperage are all better done here than at home; and in the few arts in which they are still behind us, ten or twenty years will make them our equals, and even a still shorter time, unless the legislators of England repeal the corn-laws, by which, if not soon taken off, England will be left behind in the race of manufactures by Germany, Switzerland, and America—and what is then to be the fate of her national debt and unemployed population, it is fearful to anticipate!

Another branch of production and of industry will soon be introduced into this part of America, as it 0085 65 has been recently discovered, that the valley of the Genessee is particularly adapted to the growth of silk, and while the wild mulberry is found on the upper river and many of its branches, the various kinds of foreign mulberry trees, such as the Chinese, the Broussa, and the Italian, three of the most favourable for the silkworm, stand the comparatively mild climate of this valley without injury. Already active measures are in operation for the culture of silk in New Jersey, and the State of New York will soon follow it in this branch of production.

The soil of this valley, and of the surrounding country generally, is in the highest degree fertile. The base of it is calcareous, and in this the oak-trees take root; aluminous earth is found in portions, and there the elm, the beech, and the maple abound, and in other parts, where the soil is rich loam, siliceous, or sandy, the pine, the hemlock, and the birch prevail. Of the adaptation of those parts of the soil already cleared, to the growth of wheat, and of its consequent fertility and productiveness, the following facts are sufficient evidence:

“In 1835, Messrs. P. and G. Mills reaped from 27 acres on the Genessee Flats near Mount Morris, 1270 bushels of wheat, or 47 bushels to the acre. In 1834 the same gentlemen reaped from 80 acres, 3,200 bushels of wheat, being 40 bushels to the acre. The most beautiful field of corn we ever saw was in the summer of 1833, on the farm of W. C. Dwight, Esq., on the flats, a few miles above Genessee. There were 170 acres lying in one body, and from it he harvested 12,800 bushels of shelled corn. In 1834 the same gentleman had 20 acres of wheat, which averaged 48 bushels per acre, and two acres of the best of which produced 52 bushels per acre. The elevated country on the east and west of the river is scarcely inferior in the growth of wheat; the greatest amount VOL. III. F 0086 66 we believe on record as the well-authenticated product of a single acre, having been raised by Mr. Jirah Blackmore, of Wheatland, being 64 bushels per acre.”

I have already mentioned the number of Christian churches in Rochester as 28. They are thus occupied: of the Presbyterians there are 8; of the Episcopalians, 3; of Baptists, 2; of Methodists, 2; Orthodox Friends, 1; Hicksites, 1; Reformed Presbyterians, 1; Evangelical 1; Lutheran, 1; Roman Catholic, 2; Free-will Baptist, 1; Universalist 1; Free Bethel Church, 1; Free Congregational Church, 1; African Church, 2. In addition to these establishments for the promotion of religious worship, there are several kindred associations, of which the following deserve mention:

The Monroe County Bible Society, Sabbath School Union, Tract Society, Missionary Society, Home and Foreign Education Society, Charity Infant School, Female Charitable Society, Orphan Asylum, Mechanic's Literary Association, Apprentice's Library, Young Men's Literary Association, the Rochester Athenæum, Phi-Beta-Gamma Society for the promotion of oratory and debating, Academy of Sacred Music, Mechanic's Musical Association, Temperance Societies, and Anti-Slavery Society. There is also a society for effecting the abolition of imprisonment for debt, and another for securing a general law for banking in opposition to the special legislation, which gave monopolies to particular corporations. These two important objects have been recently accomplished by law, and mainly in consequence of the labours of the two societies named.

Considering, therefore, that, thirty years ago, the 0087 67 spot on which Rochester stood was a forest; and that it now numbers among its institutions so many for the promotion of religion, charity, education, oratory, music, benevolence, and equitable legislation, it may challenge comparison with any city in the world for moral excellence, mental improvement, and social order.

If English towns of the same amount of population are examined for comparison with the Rochester of America, the following may be named. In England, Carlisle, Ipswich, Chester, Wigan, Yarmouth, and Southampton;—in Scotland, Greenock and Perth;—and in Ireland, Londonderry, Drogheda and Clonmel, approach nearest in size to it. But in none of these will there be found more of commercial industry, more of general competency, nor so many institutions for the promotion of knowledge, morals, and religion; while in the sobriety of its population, and in the absence of theatres, taverns, and dram-shops, it far surpasses them all; and in twenty years hence, it bids fair to possess double its present wealth and population.

One of the most powerful agents in producing this prosperity in Rochester, next to the fertile lands by which it is surrounded, and the water-power which its river affords, has been the Erie Canal, which passing immediately through the town, and over the river, by a noble aqueduct, makes Rochester the great emporium of the inland trade between the Atlantic and the Lakes. It is distant only ten miles from Lake Ontario, into which its own river empties, and by which it commands an easy intercourse with both the Canadas; while its canal leads on to Lake F 2 0088 68 Erie, a distance of ninety-five miles, by which it connects itself with the navigation of all the Upper Lakes, and the vast extent of country to which these command access. Some notices, therefore, of the rise and progress of this great work, and of the difficulties which it had to overcome, will be appropriate here.

It is more than a century ago since the importance and facility of extending the water communications of this State were perceived and appreciated by the surveyor-general of the country, then a British colony. Dr. Colden, who held that office, in a Map published by him about a hundred years since, accompanying his History of the Five Indian Nations, then having their territory and hunting grounds within what now constitutes the State of New York, showed that the waters of the Hudson and the St. Lawrence very nearly approached each other, by Lake George and Lake Champlain. He showed also that from the Atlantic to Lake Erie, there was almost a continued chain of smaller lakes, such as the Oneida, Seneca, Cayuga, Otsego, Skaneateles, Canandaigua, Onandaga, Otisco, Oasko, Conesus, Hemlock, Honeoye, Chataque, Canaideraga, and the Canasoraga, which with the rivers Mohawk, Susquehanna, Genessee, and other smaller streams, intersected the surface of the country in every direction, while the absence of any lofty chain of hills throughout the whole of the tract, made the union of such streams and lakes by canal more easy than in less level regions.

In 1726, Governor Burnett erected a fort and trading-house where Oswego now stands, as a connecting link between the Hudson and Ontario: and 0089 69 in 1768, Governor Moore pressed on the attention of the Colonial legislature the importance of improving the communication between the Mohawk and Ontario by means of a canal, referring, as an example, to the great canal of Languedoc in France, which connected the Atlantic with the Mediterranean; but it was not until the revolution that the subject was fully understood, when Washington was himself the first to press it on public attention, as will be seen by the following statement of his accomplished biographer, Judge Marshall.

“To a person looking beyond the present moment, and taking the future into view, it is only necessary to glance over the map of the United States to be impressed with the incalculable importance of connecting the Western with the Eastern territory, by facilitating the means of intercourse between them. To this subject the attention of Gen. Washington had been in some measure directed in the early part of his life. While the American States were yet British Colonies, he had obtained the passage of a bill, empowering those individuals who would engage in the work, to open the Potomac so as to render it navigable from the tide to Wills's Creek. The James River had also been comprehended in his plan; and he had triumphed so far over the opposition produced by local interests and prejudices, that the business was in a train which promised success, when the revolutionary war diverted the attention of its patrons, and of all America, from internal improvements, to the great objects of liberty and independence. As that war approached its termination, subjects which for a time had yielded their pretensions to consideration, reclaimed that place to which their real magnitude entitled them; and the internal navigation again attracted the attention of the wise and thinking part of society.

“Accustomed to contemplate America as his country, and to consider with solicitude the interests of the whole, Washington now took a more enlarged view of the advantages to be derived from opening both the eastern and western waters; and for this, as well as for other purposes, after peace had been proclaimed, he traversed 0090 70 the western parts of New England and New York. ‘I have lately,’ said he, in a letter to the Marquis of Chastelleux, a foreigner who was in pursuit of literary as well as of military fame, ‘I have lately made a tour through the Lakes George and Champlain, as far as Crown Point; then returning to Schenectady, I proceeded up the Mohawk River to Fort Schuyler [or Stanwix], crossed over to Wood Creek, which empties into the Oneida Lake, and affords the water-communication with Ontario. I then traversed the country to the head of the eastern banks of the Susquehannah, and viewed the Lake Otsego and the portage between that lake and the Mohawk river at Canajoharie. Prompted by these actual observations, I could not help taking a more contemplative and extensive view of the vast inland navigation of these United States, and could not but be struck with the immense diffusion and importance of it, and with the goodness of that Providence who has dealt his favours with so profuse a hand. Would to God that we may have wisdom to improve them! I shall not rest contented until I have explored the Western country, and traversed those lines (or great part of them) which have given bounds to a new empire.’

“After returning from a journey westward as far as Pittsburgh, in the same year, Washington immediately appealed to the Virginians to embark in an enterprise for improving the water-courses, so as to connect the East and West as intimately as possible—a matter which he deemed not more important in a commercial view than in a political aspect, seeing that the Spaniards then swayed the regions beyond the Mississippi, and controlled the outlet of that river. The navigable waters west of the Ohio towards the great lakes were also to be traced to their sources, and those which empty into the lakes to be followed to their mouths. ‘Nature had made such an ample display of her bounties in those regions,’ he said, ‘that, the more the country was explored, the more it would rise in estimation.’

“The influence of Washington was strenuously exerted to arouse Maryland to co-operate with Virginia in improving the navigation of the Potomac. He predicted the exertions which would doubtless be made by New York and Pennsylvania for securing the monopoly of the Western trade, and the difficulty which would be found by Virginia in diverting it from the channel it had once taken. ‘I am not for discouraging the exertions of any State to draw the 0091 71 commerce of the western country to its seaports,’ said the illustrious patriot. ‘The more communications we open to it, the closer we bind THAT RISING WORLD (for indeed it may be so called) to our interests, and the greater strength shall we acquire by it. Those to whom nature affords the best communications will, if they are wise, enjoy the greatest share of the trade. All I would be understood to mean, therefore, is, that the gifts of Providence may not be neglected.’ After enforcing the political necessity for improving the intercourse between the west and east, so as to prevent the flow of trade from the western states to the mouth of the Mississippi, then held by the Spaniards, or through the St. Lawrence, controlled at its outlet by the British, he said, ‘If then the trade of that country should flow through the Mississippi or the St. Lawrence—if the inhabitants thereof should form commercial connexions, which we know lead to intercourses of other kinds, they would in a few years be as unconnected with us as are those of South America. It may be asked, How are we to prevent this? Happily for us, the way is plain. Our immediate interests, as well as remote political advantages, point to it; while a combination of circumstances render the present time more favourable than any other to accomplish it. Extend the inland navigation of the eastern waters—connect them as near as possible with those which run westward—open these to the Ohio—open also such as extend from the Ohio towards Lake Erie, and we shall not only draw the produce of the Western settlers, but the peltry and fur trade of the lakes also, to our ports—thus adding an immense increase to our exports, and binding those people to us by a chain which can never be broken.”

Just before the revolution in 1772, a Mr. Christopher Colles, a native of Ireland, had given public lectures in Philadelphia, on the subject of canal navigation, and the carrying water to higher or lower levels by means of locks; and about the same period he proposed supplying the City of New York with good water by means of an aqueduct, and connecting the Hudson and the Ontario by means of canals. But though he was a man of excellent character, a 0092 72 skilful mechanic, and a good mathematician, his plans, like those of Fulton for steam-navigation, were treated with ridicule and contempt, and he was called a “wild and visionary projector,” the usual epithet applied by the ignorant and vulgar of England and France at the present day to all whose genius or enterprise are merely in advance of the common standard of minds to which these objectors belong.

Colles persevered, however, in his endeavours to enlist the legislature in his views, and ultimately obtained their sanction to his plans; but he appears to have died, worn out probably by the vexatious opposition which he had so long encountered, before his views could be carried into execution. From this time onward, however, the subject grew in public estimation, and the minds of the most intelligent and influential men of the republic were occupied in advocating the improvement of internal communication, and devising means for effecting it; and among the various notices of their opinions and their labours, the following are worthy of record.

“Gouverneur Morris was among the earliest of those whose minds grasped, with zealous energy, the magnificent subject of internal improvements. The extraordinary adaptation of the country for canals between the Hudson and the western lakes, with the political and commercial advantages to be derived from extensive inland water-communication, were early and enthusiastically proclaimed by that gifted man. While on a tour to Niagara Falls in 1800, his language to a European correspondent indicated that he comprehended well the vast navigable capacities of the country, even though he had then no conception of a communication like the Erie Canal. ‘Hundreds of large ships will, in no distant period, bound on the billows of these inland seas,’ was the language of Mr. Morris to his 0093 73 correspondent. ‘Shall I lead your astonishment up to the verge of incredulity? I will. Know, then, that one tenth part of the expense borne by Britain in the last campaign, would enable ships to sail from London through the Hudson River into Lake Erie. As yet, we only crawl along the outer shell of our country. The interior excels the part we inhabit, in soil, in climate, in everything. The proudest empire of Europe is but a bauble compared to what America may be—must be.’”

The first intention appeared to have been, to go by Lake George and Lake Champlain into the St. Lawrence, or by Oswego into Lake Ontario, then to have a canal from Ontario round the Falls of Niagara, where the Welland Canal now is; but this idea was subsequently abandoned for the more advantageous line of a canal from Lake Erie to the Mohawk, from whence it was thought the river navigation could be continued to the Hudson. The length of this proposed canal was to be 200 miles, its breadth 100 feet, its depth 10 feet, and its estimated cost five millions of dollars, or about a million sterling. This was the plan of Mr. Hawley, of whom the following notice is given.

“It appears as if the Author of Nature, in forming Lake Erie, with its large head of water, into a reservoir, and the limestone ridge into an inclined plane,’ said Mr. Hawley, ‘had in prospect a large canal to connect the Atlantic and continental seas, to be completed at some period by the ingenuity and industry of man.’ With reference to the recommendations of President Jefferson (in a message in 1807) concerning roads and canals, Mr. Hawley continued—‘Next to the utility of a National Institute is the improvement of the navigation of our fresh waters, and connecting the waters of Lake Erie and those of the Mohawk and Hudson by means of a canal. As this project is probably not more than twelve months old in human conception, none but imperfect data can be furnished at present. The navigation of the four largest 0094 74 lakes in the world, with all their tributary streams, and the products of all the surrounding country, would pass through this canal; and even the fifth (Ontario) would become its tributary—and in twenty, years the principal and interest of the expenditure would be redeemed.’ Then, glancing at the inevitable results of such a system successfully prosecuted, Mr. H. remarked that ‘The City of New York would be left without a competitor in trade, except by that of New Orleans; and within a century its island would be covered with buildings—Albany would be necessitated to cut down her hills and fill her valleys, to give spread to her population—the harbour of Buffalo would exchange her forest for a thicket of marine spars—and Utica, if made the point of junction [of the proposed canal and the Mohawk River], would become a distinguished inland town.’ Rochester was not then in existence.”

Ultimately the canal was completed from Albany to Buffalo, a distance of 363 miles, of much greater length than originally contemplated, but of less dimensions in breadth and depth, being 40 feet instead of 100, and 4 feet instead of 10; but that the first intended size was the best, is proved by the fact that it is now found necessary to increase the breadth of the canal to 70 feet and its depth to 7, to give the necessary accommodation to the constantly increasing traffic of which it is the channel.

When the canal was completed, its opening was marked by a public celebration of great magnificence, of which a very interesting account was published in a quarto volume, embellished with many engravings, at the expense of the corporation of New York, in which city I read it soon after my landing. The scene that occurred at Rochester on the boats passing through there, is so characteristic of the fondness of the Americans for dramatic effect and display on such public occasions as these, that it is worth transcribing. 0095 75 It is from the pen of Colonel Stone, who was charged by the corporation with the duty of drawing up the narrative of the celebration, which is given as follows.

“At Rochester, a rich and beautiful town, which, disdaining, as it were, the intermediate grade of a village, has sprung from a hamlet to the full-grown size, wealth, and importance of a city, the interesting period was celebrated in a manner equally creditable to the country and the occasion. There was considerable rain at Rochester on the day of the celebration; yet such was the enthusiasm of the people, that at two o'clock eight handsome uniform companies were in arms, and an immense concourse of people had assembled. The companies were formed in line upon the canal, and on the approach of the procession of boats from the West commenced firing a feu de joie, which was continued until they arrived at the Aqueduct, where the boat called the ‘Young Lion of the West,’ was stationed to ‘protect the entrance.’ The Pioneer boat was hailed from the Young Lion, and the following dialogue ensued:

“Question. Who comes here?

“Answer. Your brothers from the West, on the waters of the great Lakes.

“Q. By what means have they been diverted so far from their natural course?

“A. By the channel of the Grand Erie Canal.

“Q. By whose authority, and by whom was a work of such magnitude accomplished?

“A. By the authority and by the enterprise of the patriotic people of the State of New York.

“Here the ‘Young Lion’ gave way, and ‘the Brethren from the West’ were permitted to enter Childs' Basin at the end of the aqueduct. The Rochester and Canandaigua committees of congratulation then took their places under an arch surmounted by an eagle, and the ‘Seneca Chief,’ having the committees on board, being moored, General Vincent Matthews and the Hon. John C. Spencer, ascended the deck, and offered to the governor the congratulations of the citizens of their respective villages; to which an animated and cordial reply was given. The gentlemen from the West then disembarked, 0096 76 and a procession was formed, which proceeded to the Presbyterian church, where an appropriate prayer was made by the Rev. Mr. Penney, and an address pronounced by Timothy Childs, Esq. The address of Mr. Childs was an able and eloquent performance, clothed with ‘words that breathe and thoughts that burn.’ It was listened to with almost breathless silence, and greeted at its close with three rounds of animated applause. The celebration was concluded with a grand ball, and a general illumination; and nothing occurred to mar the pleasure of the day.”

After all, however, the love of dramatic effect and display is not peculiar to the Americans; for in the public fêtes given in Paris, in the lord-mayor's processions and dinners in London, in the Masonic ceremonies of laying the foundation of new bridges, and opening railways and other public works in England, just as much of pomp and parade are to be seen; to say nothing of the pageantry of a coronation, which some even of our most intelligent peers are beginning to perceive, is better adapted to a feudal age, than that in which we live.

In the present instance, at least, there is enough of substantial good, to counterbalance all the shadowy parade of the celebration, as by the opening of this canal, a line of direct navigation has been completed for upwards of 2,600 miles, of which the following are the stages:—

Miles.

New York to Albany by the Hudson river 150

Albany to Buffalo by the Erie canal 363

Buffalo to Cleveland by Lake Erie 200

Cleveland to Portsmouth by canal 309

Portsmouth to Cincinnati by the Ohio river 113

Cincinnati to New Orleans by the Mississippi 1500

2635

0097 77

and when to these constantly frequented routes, are added the new channels to more distant towns upon the upper lakes, to Mackinaw, and along the higher Mississippi to St. Anthony's Falls, as well as on the Missouri, the Arkansas, the Tennessee, and even the Sabine river, which last has lately been navigated by steam up to the very heart of Texas, it may be confidently asserted that not less than 10,000 miles of navigable length has been opened and made accessible from the Atlantic, by means of the Erie Canal, the opening of which therefore deserved a public celebration, as forming an epoch in the history of the commerce and prosperity of the country

0098
CHAP. IV.

Geological peculiarities of Rochester—Ridge-road, formerly the margin of Lake Ontario—Boulders of primitive rock—Successive order of strata and fossil remains—Singular cavity of pebbles in bituminous shale—Polished rocks of the Falls—Parallel case at the Cataracts of the Nile—Climate of the western portion of this state—Brightness of American skies—Splendour of autumnal sun-sets—Causes assigned for this, the mirrors of the lakes—Public baths—Mineral springs — Public walks — Cemetery—Hackney-coaches — Mails — Increase of post-office revenue—Negro population—Military parades of militia troops—Comparison with the army of England—Canada thistle and locustborer — Fettigonia Septendicem — Newspapers — Agricultural Journal.

The geological peculiarities in the neighbourhood of Rochester will gratify all those who have any knowledge of, or taste for, that deeply interesting study. Among the principal of these may be named an elevation called the Ridge-road, formed of sand and shingle, thrown up from a lake or sea, resembling exactly the formation of a sea- beach; and being believed to be the ancient margin of the Lake Ontario, though now 160 feet above the level of that lake, and distant inland, from its southern edge, several miles. It has been observed, too, that from this Ridge-road, southward, towards Rochester, and all the way to the middle falls of the Genessee, immense masses of fossil shells, and marks of the attrition of 0099 79 water, are found at the same level as the road itself, proving the deposit and action of this element in ages gone by. On the subject of boulders, or large masses of primitive rock, found remote from their original position, as in the Alps and Jura mountains, the following statement is made:—

“Boulders of the primitive rocks lie scattered over this State and far to the west. No layers of rocks like them are found for a great distance. The supposition of their formation in the places where they lie cannot find any support. They must have been transported from distant regions. Their rounded and worn form shows the attrition of the tumbling waters and rolling sands. How could they have been removed? Though the difficulties of the subject may not be all removed, and the action of a cause operating with more power than we are familiar with may be judged necessary, yet the following considerations may lessen these difficulties in some degree. Currents of water act with great power. The flood of a river has moved along large rocks of some tons weight many rods in a day. Deeper currents would have a greater effect. Ice occasionally transports masses of stone down the streams. Again, the specific gravity of these rocks is little more than twice that of water. Nearly half the weight of rocks would be supported by the upward pressure of fresh water, and more still by that of salt water—giving great advantage to the action of powerful currents. Here is a mighty power, adequate to the production at least of great effects. The power of water and ice, operating on a great scale, would seem to be amply sufficient for the transference of these boulders. A large boulder of granite has been mentioned. Some as large, and one a little larger, are in the east part of Ogden, seven miles west of Rochester. Near the same place is a large boulder of saccharine limestone, the only considerable mass of this rock which has occurred to me. More than one hundred feet up the pinnacle, a little south-east of Rochester, lies a boulder of graywacke of great size, ten and a half feet long, ten feet wide, and three to four feet deep.” *

* Reilly's Western New York.

0100 80

The classification of rocks and strata, beginning from the level of Lake Ontario, and passing upward through the valley of the Genessee river, is arranged in the following order:—

1. Red sandstone, which extends below the water to an unknown depth, and above the water, about 120 feet. Fucoides and other vegetable remains are found in this sandstone in great abundance, from twelve to twenty-five feet below the upper surface.

2. Mountain limestone, often semi-crystalline, and affording beautiful marble. It contains abundance of encrinites, madrepores, productus, and trilobites.

3. Argillaceous slate, twenty-three feet thick, of a greenish hue; it lies below a stratum of iron ore, and near this are the impressions of shells seen in the stone. Above the iron ore is another layer of the same kind of slate, but of a lighter green; and at a height of thirty-one feet above the ore, are seen two layers of fossil shells, each three or four inches thick, composed almost wholly of small pearls and beautiful terrebratulites.

4. Argillaceous iron ore, about a foot in thickness. This layer is so extensive, that it comes to the surface a few miles west of Utica, 150 miles east of this spot, where it is smelted, and yields about 33 per cent. of iron. Fossil shells, encrinites, and pentacrinites, abound also in this deposite.

5. Ferriferous sand-rock, rising about ten feet above the iron ore; this is a composition of limestone and fine grains of quartz, making it a flinty rather than a sandy limestone, and forming a close-grained and hard stone for building. In some layers of this stone, chalcedony and cornelian have been found 0101 81 in masses; and pyritous copper, carbonate of copper, and native copper, have been found in the rock, by blasting it.

6. Calciferous slate, or second graywacke. This layer abounds with shells, especially pentamerus; and in a blue slaty limestone, just above this, the stratum of which is forty feet thick, are found trilobites, as the asaphus caudatus, with and without tails, like the figures of this species described in Buckland's Geology. Nearer up towards the Falls, bituminous shale presents itself, in a layer of fifty feet thick, with masses of gypsum, subcrystalline, as at the Falls of Niagara, the level of both being nearly the same — that of Niagara being 266 feet, and this of the Genessee being 232 feet above Lake Ontario.

In July of the last year, 1837, while the workmen were splitting this rock for the purposes of building, a large cavity was found, nearly filled with pebbles, to the quantity of about six quarts, formed of quartz, hornblende, limestone, sandstone, graywacke, and mica slate, with fragments of recent shells. The cavity was entirely covered by the solid rock, so that the pebbles, which, like the cavity itself, bore all the marks of attrition by water, were here collected together before the limestone rock that closed them in was deposited by the water upon them. The pebbles vary in size from an eighth of an inch to two inches in length, and are all smoothly rounded by the long action of water.

Another geological curiosity is found in what are called the polished rocks, the flat surfaces of which give evidence of the action of water, and in some VOL. III. G 0102 82 instances of the friction of other substances over them. The following description of these, from the pen of Professor Davey, will be read with interest:

“The surface of the rocks of Rochester is in many places polished, as if they had been worn and rubbed down by the friction of sand and stones borne over them. The surface of the geodiferous rock, through which the Erie Canal was cut about a quarter of a mile east of the Genessee, was found polished—thence north it has been found polished in several places to a point twenty rods below the Middle Falls. On the west side of the river, near the Bethel Church, the Erie Canal is on polished rock. At the depôt of the Tonawanda (or Rochester and Batavia) railroad, and at three miles west of the city, the railroad was cut through polished stone for eighty to one hundred rods. The same has been found in several intervening places. At the Rapids a large surface polished has been laid bare this year (1837) in excavating the Genessee Valley Canal. In some places the polish has only begun—the hollows are passed over: in most it is very perfect. Lines or furrows are marked on the polished surface from north-east to south-west, as if great stones had been moved on it. On the east side of the river at Rochester, these lines are more nearly east and west. The polish has so manifestly been carried from one elevation to another, or over the hollows, that it removes all doubt of the artificial nature of the work. When it was done, and how it could have been done, are interesting inquiries. That the present earth and soil upon it was removed to its present position, and deposited on the polished surface, is certain. To make an adequate impression of the fineness of the polish on this limestone, it is only necessary to remark, that it is fine and glossy like the artificial polish of marble. Professor Hall, one of the State geologists, found the polished limestone at the west in Ogden and on Niagara river.”

In examining these polished rocks, of which we saw a great number, both at the Falls, and above and below them, I was reminded of the extraordinary degree of polish given to the surface of the granite rocks at the Cataracts of the Nile, and undoubtedly 0103 83 by the same cause, the action of the water, of which the following description is given in my unpublished MS. journal, kept on the Nile, in December, 1814.

“In some of the hollows, worn by the annual friction of whirlpool, when the Nile is at its height, a bed of soil has been deposited, from which has sprung up young trees, plants, and bushes, the isolated verdure of which derives a higher charm from the surrounding contrast, and make them seem like little Edens, encompassed by a wilderness. The very rocks themselves, too, exhibit all the varieties of form and colour possible to be conceived, while their adamantine surfaces, unshattered by the stream, have a smoothness of polish which art could never give to them; and by the infinite variety of their positions, they reflect back the rays of an unclouded sun from every point, like a thousand mirrors. If one of these stones only had been met with in any other situation, it would be difficult to persuade oneself that they were not covered with some transparent varnish.”

This resemblance between the polished rocks of the Cataracts of the Nile, and the Falls of the Genessee, is very striking, though the smoothness and brilliance of the former is much greater than that of the latter.

We were accompanied in our excursion along the banks of the river, and to the Falls, by Mr. O'Reilly, whose practical acquaintance with all the localities made him a most valuable guide, and whose conversation was a running commentary on his excellent book, to both of which we were largely indebted for the information they conveyed, as well as for the mineralogical and fossil specimens we were enabled to collect. G 2

0104 84

The climate of this portion of the State of New York is remarkable for being more temperate than the eastern portion bordering on the sea. There are, no doubt, everywhere throughout the continent of America, very hot summers, and extremely cold winters; but the degree of intensity in both is less here, than elsewhere in the same parallel of latitude. President Dwight, of New England, who had bestowed much attention on this subject, entertained an opinion that in this country, and he thought in most others, there was a circuit of seasons, which came in periods of ten or fifteen years: that is, there were ten or fifteen warm summers, and then the same number of cool ones, and ten or fifteen severe winters, and then the same number of mild ones; and the son of the President, whom I had seen at New York, told me that his own experience confirmed the accuracy of his father's supposition. President Dwight considers the cause of the peculiar mildness of temperature, by which the western part of New York is characterized, to be the vicinity of the great Lakes, and on this subject he thus expresses himself.

“It has been extensively agreed by modern philosophers, that the two great causes of a mild temperature are nearness to the shore, and proximity to the level of the ocean. Those countries which border on the ocean are, almost without an exception, warmer than central countries in the same latitude; and those which are little raised above its surface are regularly warmer than such as have a considerable elevation. Mr. Volney, however, with that promptness of decision for which he has long been remarkable, found, as he believed, satisfactory evidence that this opinion is groundless in the climate of the regions bordering on the Lakes Erie and Ontario. This climate he asserts to be milder than that 0105 85 of the shore in the same latitude, where it is scarcely raised above the ocean. Yet the tract which enjoys this mild temperature is elevated, and distant from the sea. The premises here assumed are undoubtedly true, but the consequence does not follow. The lakes have the same influence here which the ocean has elsewhere. The elevation above them is so small, and the distance from them so short, that the full influence of both advantages is completely felt. Among the proofs that this is a true explanation of the subject, it is only necessary to observe that the south-eastern parts of the county of Genessee, the counties of Steuben, Tioga, Delaware, and Greene, are sensibly colder than those immediately south of Lake Ontario. It ought perhaps to be observed here, that countries on the eastern side of a continent are regularly colder in winter and hotter in summer than those on the western. The reason is obvious. In the temperate zones, at least in the northern, the prevailing winds are from the west. Eastern shores, therefore, have their winds chiefly from the land, and western shores enjoy the softer breezes of the ocean. As the winters are mild in the part under consideration, so are the summers. It is not often the fact that people here are willing to sleep without a blanket.”

Our own experience, and the opinions of all whom we consulted here, on this subject, corroborated the accuracy of this view; for both at Buffalo, and at Rochester, the heat of the month of August was 5 or 6 degrees less by the thermometer, than at New York and Albany at the same period of time; while the freshness of the air from the lakes Erie and Ontario, made the difference in the feeling of heat at least 10 degrees less: that is, with the thermometer at 80, in either of these places, persons would feel no more inconvenience from heat than they would at Philadelphia with the thermometer at 70°, and in each of the towns of Buffalo and Rochester, throughout the month of August, we slept under a blanket, and found it comfortable; while in all the sea-board 0106 86 cities, and from New York to Saratoga, during the whole of June and July, we found a single sheet as much as we could bear, with all the windows open, and here, a sheet, blanket, and counterpane, were not found too much. A very characteristic extract of a letter is preserved, from Governeur Morris, to a friend of his in England, who had often urged him to come over and reside in some part of Britain, which the former had always resisted; but at length finding it necessary to support his refusal by adequate reasons, he says to his friend:—

“Compare the uninterrupted warmth and splendour of America, from the first of May to the last of September, and her autumn, truly celestial, with your shivering June, July, and August; sometimes warm, but often wet; your uncertain September, your gloomy October, and detestable November. Compare these things, and then say how a man who prizes the charms of nature can think of making the exchange. If you were to pass one autumn with us, you would not give it for the best six months to be found in any other country, unless, indeed, you should get tired of fine weather.”

It is undoubtedly true that the climate of America, as far as we have yet experienced it, and we have now passed very nearly through an entire year, is much more pleasurable to the sight and feelings than the climate of England. Whether it be as favourable to health and longevity, may be doubted; although there are other circumstances, and particularly that of the diet and mode of life among Americans, which may sufficiently account for their inferior health, without regarding the agency of the climate as in any degree contributing towards it. But the brightness of the American winters, with a brilliant and glowing sun beaming from a cloudless sky, while the surface of the earth is covered with snow, and 0107 87 the gay and lively equipage of sleighs, with the warm buffalo skin and furs of the closely wrapped party, and the jingling bells of the delighted horses, glide along the streets and roads, makes the season far more cheerful than a winter ever is in England.

The spring is shorter, for summer seems to burst at once upon the eye: and when it comes, the full and gorgeous foliage of the woods, and the exuberant luxuriance of the fields, gives an idea of abundance and fertility which is delightful. The autumn, however, is the most delightful season; and the very finest days of an English September or October are inferior, in the richness and glow of their mellow atmosphere, to the weather of these two months in America; while the sunsets of the autumn here, surpass those even of Italy and Greece. On this subject, the following beautiful and accurate description of Mr. Gaylord, a resident of Otisco, in Onondaga county, in this State, is worth transcribing.

“Foreign tourists speak with rapture of the beautiful dyes imprinted by autumn on the foliage of our American forests: our leaves do not fade and fall, all of the same decaying russet hue, but the rich golden yellow of the linden, the bright red of the soft maple, the deep crimson of the sugar maple, the pale yellow of the elm, the brown of the beech, and the dark green of the towering evergreens, are all blended into one splendid picture of a thousand light shades and shadows. To the observer, our autumnal woodlands are gigantic parterres, the flowers and colours arranged in the happiest manner for softened beauty and delightful effect. And when these myriads of tinted leaves have fallen to the earth; when the squirrel barks from the leafless branches, or rustles among them for the ripened but still clinging brown nuts, the rural wanderer is tempted to throw himself on the beds of leaves accumulated by the wind, and, while he looks through the smoke-tinted atmosphere, half imagines that he is gazing on an ocean of flowers.

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“But the claims of our American autumn upon our admiration are very far from depending entirely on the rainbow-coloured foliage of our woodlands, unrivalled in beauty though they certainly are; to these must be added the splendours of an autumn sunset, the richness of which, as we are assured, has no parallel in the much-lauded sunsets of the rose-coloured Italian skies. In no part of the United States is this rich garniture of the heavens displayed in so striking a manner as in the valley of the great lakes, and the country immediately east or south-east of them, and this for reasons which will shortly be assigned. The most beautiful of these celestial phenomena begin to appear about the first of September, sometimes rather earlier, and, with some exceptions, last through the months of September and October, unless interrupted by the atmospheric changes consequent on our equinoctial storms, and gradually fade away in November with the Indian summer and the southern declination of the sun. Not every cloudless sunset during this time, even in the most favoured sections, is graced with these splendours; there seems to be a very peculiar state of the atmosphere necessary to exhibit these beautiful reflections, which, however often witnessed, must excite the admiration of all who view them, and are prepared to appreciate their surprising richness.

“On the most favoured evenings, the sky will be without a cloud; the temperature of the air pleasant; not a breeze to ruffle a feather; and a dim transparent haze, tinged of a slight carmine by the sun's light, diffused through the whole atmosphere. At such a time, for some minutes both before and after the sun goes below the horizon, the rich hues of gold, and crimson, and scarlet, that seem to float upward from the horizon to the zenith, are beyond the power of language to describe. As the sun continues to sink, the streams of brilliance gradually blend and deepen in one mass of golden light, and the splendid reflections remain long after the light of an ordinary sunset would have disappeared. We have said that not every cloudless sunset exhibits this peculiar brilliance: when the air is very clear, the sun goes down in a yellow light, it is true, but it is comparatively pale and limited; and when, as is sometimes the case in our Indian summers, the atmosphere is filled with the smoky vapour arising from a thousand burning prairies in the Far West, he sinks like an immense red ball without a single 0109 89 splendid emanating ray. It is our opinion that the peculiar state of the atmosphere necessary to produce these gorgeous sunsets in perfection, is in some way depending on electrical causes; since it very commonly happens, that after the brilliant reflections of the setting sun have disappeared, the auroral lights make their appearance in the north; and usually, the more vivid the reflection, the more beautiful and distinct the aurora. This fact, the numerous and splendid northern lights of last September succeeding to sunsets of unrivalled beauty, must have rendered apparent to every observer of these atmospheric changes. Connected, however, with this state of the atmosphere, and co-operating with it, is another cause we think not less peculiar and efficient, and which we do not remember ever to have seen noticed in this connexion, and that is, the influence of the great lakes acting as reflecting surfaces.

“Every one is acquainted with the fact, that when rays of light impinge or fall on a reflecting surface, as a common mirror, they slide off, so to speak, in a corresponding angle of elevation or depression, whichever it may be. The great American lakes may, in this respect, be considered as vast mirrors, spread horizontally upon the earth, and reflecting the rays of the sun that fall upon them, according to the optical laws that govern this phenomenon. The higher the sun is above the horizon, the less distance the reflected rays would have to pass through the atmosphere, and, of course, the less would be the effect produced by them; while at and near the time of setting, the rays striking horizontally on the water, the direction of the reflected rays must of course be so also, and therefore pass over or through the greatest possible amount of atmosphere previous to their final dispersion. It follows, that objects on the earth's surface, if near the reflecting body, require but little elevation to impress their irregularities on the reflecting light; and hence any considerable eminences on the eastern shores of the great lakes would produce the effect of lessening or totally intercepting these rays at the moment the sun was in a position nearly or quite horizontal. The reflecting power of a surface of earth, though far from inconsiderable, is much less than that of water, and may, in part, account not only for the breaks in the line of radiance which exist in the west, but for the fact that the autumnal sunsets of the south 0110 90 are inferior in brilliance to those of the north. The atmosphere of the north is open to the influence of reflected light from the lakes, and we are convinced that most of the resplendent richness of our autumnal sunsets may be traced to this source. The successive flashes of golden and scarlet light, that seem to rise, and blend, and deepen in the west as the sun approaches the horizon and sinks below it, can in no other way be so satisfactorily accounted, for as by the supposition that each lake, one after the other, lends its reflected light to the visible portion of the atmosphere, and thus, as one fades, another flings its mass of radiance across the heavens, and, acting on a medium prepared for its reception, prolongs the splendid phenomena.”

I can bear my testimony to the fidelity of this description, and may add, that though the autumnal sunsets of America are everywhere beautiful, I had never yet seen any to compare with those which we had witnessed in Buffalo and Rochester, in the vicinity of the lakes. Neither in the East-Indian or Mediterranean seas, neither in the Arabian or the Persian gulf, where the sunsets are often glowing and beautiful, do I ever remember to have seen such exquisitely golden skies, or such beautifully pencilled rays, streaming from the sun, after it had sunk beneath the horizon, in alternate radii of pink and palest blue, as here; and I should think a month passed in this western region abundantly repaid, by the enjoyment of the autumnal sunsets alone.

Among the useful public accommodations which we observed in Rochester, were public baths, both of mineral springs and pure water, which it is agreeable to see multiplying in the cities of the United States, as conducive to health, cleanliness, and pleasurable recreation. A large piece of ground, immediately 0111 91 overlooking the principal Falls of the Genessee, and called the Falls Promenade, is about to be laid out as a public walk and garden, and will be a fine ornament to the town. A large piece of ground, on the east of the river, and south of the city, seated on a pleasing eminence, has also been recently devoted to the purpose of a public cemetery, to supersede all the smaller ones; and the intention is to plant it with ornamental shrubs, and lay it out in walks, so as to make it as agreeable as Laurel Hill at Philadelphia, or Mount Auburn at Boston. The public convenience of hackney coaches exists at Rochester, though there are none at Buffalo; and so rapidly are communications increasing from this place to the surrounding cities, that though in 1812, when the first mail was established, it only left the post-office twice in the week, there are now no less than ten different mails despatched in various directions every day; and the post-office receipts, which for the first quarter was only 3 dollars 42 cents, are now 4,000 dollars for the same period of time.

Among the minor peculiarities of Rochester, we remarked that there were fewer people of colour seen in the streets than in any town we had visited. At Buffalo there are very few negroes or mulattoes; but the great numbers of dark-complexioned Indians of the Seneca tribe, constantly seen in the streets, supply the place of the Africans, in giving a mixed appearance to the population. But in Rochester we did not see a single Indian, and certainly not half a dozen Africans, during all our stay there; and the Eagle was the first hotel at which we had ever stopped since our landing in America, in which there 0112 92 were no coloured servants, male or female. There are thought to be some 300 persons of colour in the whole town, but in a population of 20,000 persons, these become so scattered, as hardly to be perceptible in the crowd.

During our stay at Buffalo and at Rochester, it was the period of the year in which the State law requires the calling out and exercise of the militia; so that there were every day parades, marches, and evolutions of that body. To an English eye, accustomed to the perfect discipline of the regular troops of the line, whose daily exercise gives to all their movements such admirable precision, these reviews of the American militia furnished a very inferior military spectacle, and would, most probably, have been viewed with contempt by some of our martinets at home.

But their imperfections at drill were all counter-balanced in my mind by the consideration, that in this country, where every county and town furnishes its quota to the national militia, there is no large standing army, used for the purpose of overawing the people, and maintained by the labours of those they are called on to guard. In the day of need, however, these voluntarily organized troops have generally done their duty in the face of more veteran soldiers, and have been found able to repel invaders from their shores. But even in point of discipline and appearance, inferior as undoubtedly they are to the royal troops, which are occasionally reviewed at Hyde Park or Wimbledon, they were quite equal, if not superior, to the numerous volunteer regiments of England, which were embodied throughout the 0113 93 kingdom at the period of Buonaparte's threatened invasion of Britain; and in any encounter with the enemy, I have no doubt they would have done their duty equally well, as animal courage is as much an American as it is a British quality. In this they are as nearly equal as children of the same fathers might be expected to be.

Among the destroying causes which are already in operation at Rochester, and throughout the western part of the State of New York, are two that deserve mention. One is the Canada thistle, which passed over from Canada to the United States about twenty years ago, and is now gradually extending itself southward with the regularity of an appointed march. Its seeds are blown from the plants to the soil around and in advance of them, and they now spread over all the northern part of the State, producing greater injury to the soil and cultivation than any cause that has been remembered for some time; and the farmers allege that all their efforts to root them up and prevent their spread, have hitherto proved ineffectual.

The other agent of destruction is an insect, called here, the borer, a small worm, of which a large colony first made themselves known in the eastern part of this State about ten years ago, by boring holes into the bark and through the wood of the locust tree, leaving on the outside small heaps of the dust, to which they reduce the bark and wood by their perforations. Their progress westward has been so gradual and steady that there has been no one year in which they have not gone farther west than in the preceding. They attacked the locust trees only; but these they so effectually destroyed, that it is believed by many here, that in fifty years hence there will not be a 0114 94 single locust-tree left. So gradual are the depredations of these creatures, that the trees in the east part of Rochester were attacked two years before those in the west; and in every instance where streets running north and south are lined with locust-trees, those on the east side of the street have been first perforated, before the slightest injury was visible in those on the west.

Among the novelties of animated nature which we saw here, were too remarkable zoophytes, one of which was like a leaf rolled up and filled with fluid, all the anatomy of the leaf being beautifully developed, and the creature thus formed appearing to be a worm of about two inches in length and one inch in circumference, with nothing but the outer coating, formed apparently of a vegetable leaf, and an inner mass of moving and animated matter, but without organs of respiration or sight; and, indeed, without even a visible aperture at either extremity. It had a power of slow locomotion, but seemed more nearly allied to the vegetable kingdom in appearance, though evidently belonging to the animal kingdom by its functions. The other was a large insect, which was composed of a long body, and six long legs, each about two inches long, and not thicker than a stalk of ordinary grass. Being all of a bright green, it looked like the stems of some plant or leaf; but on examining it, a perfect and uniform disposition of the parts could be seen; and it had powers of locomotion which it used, though there was no appearance of intestinal organization, or of respiratory or visual organs, as far as we could discover. They were both as new to persons here as to myself, and were the only ones seen.

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Among the curiosities of animated nature, however, the most remarkable thing that I remember, connected with the natural history of America, is the account given by Mr. Latrobe of the insect of the Cicada tribe, called the Tettigonia septendicem , from the fact of its appearing in Pennsylvania and Maryland every seventeenth year, and being wholly unknown in the country except at that period. It was first observed appear in May 1749; seventeen years afterwards it reappeared in May 1766; again in May 1783; again in May 1800; again in May 1817; and lastly in May 1834. It lives but a few days, but during that short period its numbers are so great as to cover all the trees, and fill the air with a low distinct hum, which is compared to “the simmering of an enormous cauldron.” A remarkable part of their history is, that “during the whole period of their existence, the closest attention does not detect their eating anything, and, with the exception of the slight injury received by the trees consequent on the females laying their eggs upon the twigs and leaves, they are perfectly innoxious.”

This laying of their eggs begins to take place within a few days after their first appearance; and when that is done, the object of their existence seems to be terminated; the male and female both become weak, lose their power of utterance, become blind, fall to the ground by myriads, and in ten or fifteen days they all perish. The eggs soon after produce grubs; these find their way down to the mould, and there, perforating a path to the depths of the earth, they entirely disappear for a period of seventeen years. In digging wells and 0116 96 foundations many of them have been found ten or twelve feet under the ground; but when the month of May, in the seventeenth year after their last appearance, returns, though in the interval streets should have been laid out, houses built, and pavements laid upon the soil which covers them, up they come, as if by one common impulse, at their appointed time, “piercing their way through the matted sod, through the hard-trampled clay of the pathways, through the gravel between the joints of the stones and pavements, and into the very cellars of the houses, like their predecessors—to be a marvel in the land, to sing their blithe song of love and enjoyment under the bright sun, and amidst the verdant landscape; like them, to fulfil the brief duties of their species, and close their mysterious existence by death.”

Perhaps the most interesting and valuable collection of facts connected with the natural history, botany, mineralogy, and geology of the State of New York, is to be found in the weekly periodical published here, under the title of “The Genesee Farmer,” which may be called the Agricultural Journal of Northern America, and is one of the best arranged and best conducted publications of the kind that I have ever seen. This is in addition to the two daily newspapers, the Rochester Democrat, which is the Whig organ, and the Daily Advertiser, which is the Democratic organ, each having its weekly and semi-weekly abridgment for country circulation, and each being conducted with all the characteristic features of blind partisanship—seeing every thing good in the measures of one set of men, and 0117 97 everything bad in the measures of another set; and not allowing the existence of any error on their own side, nor any truth on that of their opponents.

The “Genesee Farmer,” however, avoiding all politics, and confining itself to agriculture and the varied branches of knowledge which can illustrate or advance the improvement of the natural productions of the earth, is a work which will be read a century hence with as much interest as now, and would be as acceptable to the student of nature at Paris or London, as in Washington or New York. This excellent publication, with the legislative report on the geology of the State, recently issued, and the sketches of Rochester by Mr. O'Reilly, leave nothing to be desired on the peculiar branches of information on which they treat, and are alike honourable to the parties by whom they were written and compiled, as useful to the community, and creditable to the intelligence and well-directed inquiries of the State.

VOL. III. H

0118
CHAP. V.

Journey from Rochester to Canandaigua—History of the first settling of this tract—Eloquent speech of an Indian chief—Division of the land into townships—Munificent grant for the support of education—Canandaigua academy—Ontario female seminary —Military lands awarded to soldiers of the revolution—Classical names within this tract—Singular names of Indian chiefs—Northern and southern tribes—Reserved lands and annuities—Remains of ancient Indian forts — Narrative of the “White Woman,” wife of an Indian chief—Diseases among the aborigines—Conduct of the whites to Indians—Climate of Canandaigua — Water-spout on the lake — Democratic convention — Newspapers—Stage-coaches—English and East Indian acquaintances—Sensitiveness of Americans—House and grounds of Mr. Greig — Tablet to Patrick Colquhoun—Removing houses on rollers—Transfer of the court-house—Removal of a Methodist church and steeple.

On the morning of Wednesday, the 5th of September, we left Rochester for Canandaigua, by an extra-coach, and passing over the same road as we had traversed in coming from thence, we performed the journey in about five hours, the distance being twenty-nine miles. The heat was scorching, and the dust excessive, although only a week before there had been torrents of rain, and, on the preceding Monday night, a frost so sharp as to blight and destroy the young corn and buckwheat of the neighbourhood,—so great are the changes even in this the mildest and most equable region of the State.

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We remained three days at Canandaigua; some of the principal inhabitants of which, hearing that I was going through their town on my way from Niagara to Utica, having urged me to remain there this period, if I could spare no more, to deliver three of my lectures on the countries of the East; and this brought me into the agreeable acquaintance of most of the leading individuals of the place. Through their courtesy and attention, we had an opportunity of visiting the remains of the ancient Indian forts, which still exist here, within a mile of the town, as well as the borders of the lake, and several points of extensive and beautiful landscape views. We visited also the academy for the education of young gentlemen, and the seminary for the education of young ladies; and enjoyed ourselves, during our short stay, amidst the cordial and pressing hospitalities of the resident families, whose chief regret appeared to be, that we could not remain longer among them.

The Indian name, Canandaigua, signifies, in the language of the Senecas, by whom it was bestowed, “the chosen place;” and the first settlers have very wisely retained it, instead of giving it a new appellation, for none more appropriate than the one it bears could possibly be adopted. Nothing can be more beautiful than its situation; and the view of the town, the lake, the forests, and the surrounding country, from every elevated point of view in the vicinity, is really exquisite; so that Canandaigua well deserves the reputation it enjoys of being one of the most beautiful villages in the United States, and, I think I might safely add, in the world.

In our former visit to this place, on our way from H 2 0120 100 Saratoga to Niagara, a general description of the town was given, as well as a history of the first purchase of its territory from the Seneca Indians, by Phelps and Gorham, from Massachusetts. This subject deserves, however, some further elucidation, as a very interesting portion of the history of this territory; the following facts respecting it are taken from the statement furnished to the legislature of the State by the “Holland Company,” who are now the largest proprietors in this region.

It was in 1786 that a treaty was made, by which it was acknowledged, that though the sovereignty and jurisdiction over all the territory from the Hudson river to the western extremity of Lake Ontario, belonged to the State of New York, yet that the pre-emptive right of purchasing the soil from the Indians, as matter of private property, belonged to the State of Massachusetts.

In the year 1787, this State therefore sold to two individuals, Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, the whole tract over which their pre-emptive right extended, which included six millions of acres, for one million of dollars, to be paid in three instalments. The pre-emptive right being thus secured, the two purchasers began to make their requisite preparations for exploring and taking possession of their extensive purchase, which had yet to obtain the consent of the Indians residing on the tract itself. Both the exploration, the survey, and the negotiation were attended with difficulties which give a romantic interest to the narrative, as it is thus recorded in the annals of the day.

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“In the summer of 1788, Oliver Phelps left Granville, Massachusetts, with men and means adequate to the arduous enterprise. It may seem strange to many of the million who are now revelling in the comforts and prosperity which the last half century has diffused through all Western New-York, that the course of Phelps and his associates should have been then considered so hazardous, that the whole neighbourhood assembled to bid them adieu—a final adieu! as many thought; for it seemed a desperate chance that any of that intrepid band should ever return from their enterprise through a region to which the Indian title had not been extinguished, and which was hardly yet tranquillized from the shocking, atrocities that marked the savage warfare in our revolutionary strife. But the enterprise was in truth of a character which measurably justified such fears in his neighbours, as the reflecting reader may imagine, and as the history of the times will show.

“The wilderness was successfully penetrated as far as Canandaigua, about 130 miles west of the German Flats in Herkimer county, the then sparsely-settled frontier of civilization. In connexion with the Rev. Samuel Kirkland, the well-known missionary among the Six Nations, and a commissioner in behalf of the State of Massachusetts, Mr. Phelps succeeded speedily in collecting the chiefs and warriors of those tribes, whose warlike spirit still rankled with the chastisement inflicted a few years previously by the avenging arms of Sullivan. A conference was held with the Red Men on a beautiful acclivity overlooking Canandaigua Lake—where the romantic scenery, combined with the interesting subject of deliberation, and the warmth with which that subject was discussed by such chiefs as Red Jacket and Farmer's Brother, rendered the whole scene one of thrilling interest.

“The great object of this remarkable council was happily accomplished. The Indian title to more than two millions of acres was extinguished, though not without opposition from Red Jacket, which threatened defeat to the hopes, if not destruction to the lives, of Phelps and his associates. The critical scene may be appropriately delineated here, in the language of one conversant with the subject, as quoted from an article printed some years ago in the New York American.

“Two days had passed away in negotiation with the Indians for 0122 102 a cession of their lands. The contract was supposed to be nearly completed, when Red Jacket arose. With the grace and dignity of a Roman senator, he drew his blanket around him, and with a piercing eye surveyed the multitude. All was hushed. Nothing interposed to break the silence, save the rustling of the tree-tops under whose shade they were gathered. After a long and solemn, but not unmeaning pause, he commenced his speech in a low voice and sententious style. Rising gradually with his subject, he depicted the primitive simplicity and happiness of his nation, and the wrongs they had sustained from the usurpations of the white man, with such a bold but faithful pencil, that the Indian auditors were soon roused to vengeance or melted into tears.

“The effect was inexpressible. But, ere the emotions of admiration and sympathy had subsided, the white men became alarmed. They were in the heart of an Indian country, surrounded by more than ten times their number, who were inflamed by the remembrance of their injuries, and excited to indignation by the eloquence of a favourite chief. Appalled and terrified, the white men cast a cheerless gaze upon the hordes around them. A nod from the chiefs might be the onset of destruction. At that portentous moment, Farmer's Brother interposed. He replied not to his brother chief; but, with a sagacity truly aboriginal, he caused a cessation of the council, introduced good cheer, commended the eloquence of Red Jacket, and, before the meeting had reassembled, with the aid of other prudent chiefs, he had moderated the fury of his nation to a more salutary review of the question before them.

“The re-assemblage of the council in cooler blood was followed by the satisfactory arrangement of the treaty. The inveterate antipathy of Red Jacket to the white man—a feeling which characterized his whole life, albeit he faithfully observed treaties when once formed, however much he opposed their formation—was fortunately neutralized on this occasion by Farmer's Brother, the grand sachem, to whose integrity and wisdom, as well as to the same qualities somewhat differently displayed in Red Jacket, strong testimony is borne by those most conversant with the transactions of the Six Nations.

“After the treaty, Mr. Phelps surveyed the land into tracts, denominated ranges , running north and south, and subdivided the 0123 103 ranges into tracts of six miles square, denominated townships, and designated each by numbers.

“In 1789, Oliver Phelps opened a land-office in Canandaigua— this was the first land-office in America for the sale of her forestlands to settlers; and the system which he adopted for the survey of his lands by townships and ranges , became a model for the manner of surveying all the new lands in the United States; and the method of making his retail sales to settlers by articles has also been adopted by all the other land-offices of individual proprietorships that have followed after him.

“The article was a device, of American origin, unknown in the English system of conveyancing; granting the possession, but not the fee of the land; facilitating the frequent changes among new settlers, enabling them to sell out their improvements, and transfer their possession by assignment, and securing the reversion of the possession to the proprietor where they abandoned the premises. His land-sales were allodial; and the other land-offices following his example, have rendered the Genessee farmers all fee-simple landholders, which has increased the value of the soil and the enterprise of the people.

“Oliver Phelps may be considered the Cecrops of the Genessee country. Its inhabitants owe a mausoleum to his memory, in gratitude for his having pioneered for them the wilderness of this Canaan of the West.”

The grandchildren of Mr. Phelps, as well as of Mr. Gorham, are still settled here, and are possessed of handsome landed estates in the town and neighbourhood. We had the pleasure of making their acquaintance, and felt from that circumstance an additional interest in all the details of the early history of the place. The portraits of both these founders are preserved in the Court-house, where they are suspended on each side of the portrait of Judge Howell, which occupies the centre; and their names are in universal veneration and respect.

One of many acts that will endear their names to 0124 104 posterity, is that of their having made the munificent grant of 6,000 acres of land, for the purpose of building and endowing a public institution for the education of youth. It is from this grant that the “Academy of Canandaigua” has arisen to its present condition and importance. This building stands in an enclosed space of ground near the main street, and at the entrance of the town from Rochester. It is a substantial brick building, with a frontage of about 150 feet, and three stories in elevation. It contains three large school-rooms, two recitation rooms, and forty-two rooms for students, besides a suite-of private apartments for the principal and his family. There are six professors, in addition to the principal, employed in the tuition of the pupils, three of whom have obtained the degree of A.M. and one Of A.B.

The pupils range from seven years to twenty-one in age, none being admitted before they can read well, so as to enable them to enter at once on their course of English studies. The other departments embrace, geography, history, arithmetic, mathematics, chemistry, mineralogy, moral and intellectual philosophy, and the constitution and laws of the United States. A special department is devoted to the principles of teaching; this Academy having been appointed by the State to be one of the Normal Schools for furnishing teachers to the common schools of the country. The whole cost to a pupil, including board and education in all the departments taught, does not exceed 130 dollars, or 30 l. sterling per annum; while to those who live with their parents and have daily tuition only, the cost does not exceed 20 dollars, 0125 105 or 5 l. a year. The number of pupils at present is about 150, and everything about the establishment, which I was permitted to inspect with the greatest freedom, appeared to be in the most perfect order.

There is also in Canandaigua, an excellent institution for education, called “The Ontario Female Seminary.” This establishment was commenced by private means, without the aid of any grant such as that made for the male academy; but it receives, every year, a certain sum from the State, the amount of which depends on the number of its pupils studying the higher branches of knowledge, such as mathematics, the classics, and mental philosophy, and on the number of the establishments of education in the State possessing similar claims. The building is handsome, spacious, pleasantly situated, and combines all the advantages of a public institution and a private residence. The management is ably sustained by the two principals, who are highly esteemed for their competency and amiable characters, and they are assisted by nine teachers, in the several departments over which they respectively preside; the whole being under the superintendence of a body of nine trustees.

The course of study pursued at this Seminary resembles that of the female academy at Albany, and embraces all the branches of learning usually taught at our best public schools. The present number of the pupils is 180; and it speaks highly for the reputation of the establishment, that these are from all parts of the United States, from Maine and New Hampshire, to Ohio and Michigan; and from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, to Upper Canada; 0126 106 though, of course, the great majority are from the State of New York.

While looking over the names of the pupils,—which being printed in the catalogue and prospectus that is presented to visitors and inspectors, is, to a certain extent, public property, and may, therefore, without a breach of confidence, be commented on,—I could not fail to be struck with the number of what are usually called “fine names” borne by the young ladies, and chiefly by those from the State of New York: as if the taste that suggested the Greek and Roman names for the towns, had infected parents with the desire to give equally fine names to their children. The following are examples taken exactly as they occur in the list—Cornelia, Magdalena, Gloriana, Adelaide, Ascenath, Lavinia, Delia, Amanda, Miranda, Juliette, Lucinda, Lucretia, Elvira, Lydia, Evelina, Adeline, Isabella, Isaphene, Pauline, Adelia, Algeline, Emeline, Georgiana, Augusta, Philena, Levantia, Almira, and Pamelia. Notwithstanding these fine names, however, which were not of their own choice, of course, and for the taste of which, whether good or bad, they are not responsible, there appeared, from their examinations and conversation, to be a fund of great good sense and propriety among them, with a thorough conception of the true end of education, considerable proficiency in the several branches of study to which they had devoted themselves, and great modesty and decorum of behaviour.

I could not learn that physical education, in the stated daily practice of bodily exercises of any particular kind, was at all more attended to here than in 0127 107 the female academy of Albany; and yet the young ladies, on the whole, looked stronger and healthier, which may chiefly be attributed perhaps to the superiority of the air of the country to that of the town. Attached to the Seminary is a small but well-selected library, a museum, in which mineralogical specimens, well classified and arranged, are beginning to accumulate; and lectures on scientific subjects, by competent professors, are occasionally given, with experiments, for which they have a complete apparatus. The highest cost of the tuition in every branch is 143 dollars, or about 28 l. per annum; and for board in the most comfortable style, 117 dollars, or about 23 l. per annum—making together 51 l. sterling per year.

To the eastward of Canandaigua and Seneca Lake are portions of land, which, belonging to the State of New York, were set aside, by act of Congress, to be appropriated as bounty-lands to the surviving soldiers of the revolutionary war, and hence it is called the Military Tract. This embraced 28 townships, each township containing 100 lots of 600 acres each, exclusive of reservations—the whole area of land being equal to 1,680,000 acres. It includes several of the beautiful lakes of the State, especially, the Seneca, Otisco, Owasco, Skaneatales, Onandaga, and Cayuga, as well as streams of great value, and mineral productions, including salt, gypsum, lime, marl, and iron-ore. The act of Congress, passed in 1776, awarded a certain bounty of the public lands to all the officers and soldiers of the revolutionary army; but the State of New York, wishing to make separate provision for such of her own citizens as served in 0128 108 this war, passed an act in 1783, awarding a five-fold proportion to that granted by the general government of the United States, which was apportioned as follows:

Acres.

Privates and non-commissioned officers 600

An Ensign 900

Lieutenant 1200

Captain 1800

Major 2400

Lieutenant-colonel 2700

Colonel 3000

Brigadier-general 5100

Major-general 6600

If the parties to whom these lands had been assigned, had gone to settle on them, or procured competent and trustworthy persons to clear and cultivate them at once, they would have furnished a handsome competency to the privates, and a large fortune to the superior officers. But with the characteristic imprudence of soldiers, most of the privates sold their portions to speculators for insignificant sums. Their patents, as soon as made out, were sold for eight dollars! and even so late as 1792, they were to be bought for thirty dollars! In 1800 they were not to be had for less than from three to five dollars per acre, before they were cleared; and now that most of them have been cleared and cultivated, the current price is from 20 to 30 dollars per acre.

It was in this military tract, that the practice was first introduced of giving classical names to the townships into which it was divided; and in explanation of the great extent to which this was carried, I was told, that the surveyor-general of that day, to whom the laying out and naming of the towns 0129 109 in the military tract was entrusted, happened to be a pedant whom nothing would satisfy that was not either Greek or Roman. When the names of their ancient cities were exhausted, he took those of ancient generals and warriors; the names of the two spots at which his court was alternately held, being Scipio and Manlius; and Brutus and Cassius, Homer, Virgil, and Ovid, were added to the catalogue. This folly is perceived by nearly all persons now, and regretted by very many, and perhaps no measure would be more popular than one for the revision of the nomenclature of the towns and counties. It has already been proposed, indeed, to restore the Indian names in many instances; and among others to call the State of New York, “Ontario,” and the city of New York, “Manhattan;” which would be a great improvement. As a contrast to this, it may be said, that while the Indian names of places are in general highly characteristic, and beautifully expressive, those of persons , though sometimes dignified and appropriate, are often the very reverse; and a striking example of this may be given in a selection of the names of those who were parties to the treaty between the United States and the Six Nations, signed at Canandaigua, including the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onandagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and Tuscororas, of which the following are a few:

Dogs-round-the-Fire

The Blast

Swimming Fish

Dancing Feather

Falling Mountain

Broken Tomahawk

Snake

Bandy Legs

Big Tree

Thrown-in-the-Water

Corn Planter

Big Cross

0130 110

Long Tree

Loaded Man

The Wasp

Wood-Bug

Big-bale-of-a-Kettle

Cotmeil-Keeper

Handsome Lake

Fish Carrier

Little Billy

Two-Skies-of-a-length

Farmer's Brother

New Arrow

Half-Town

Broken Twig

Full Moon

Twenty Canoes

Tearing Asunder

Big Sky

Little Beard

Stinking Fish

Green Grasshopper

Woods-on-Fire

Heap of Dogs

Red Jacket.

It may give the reader some idea of the extent of the area still belonging to the remnants of the Six Nations now lingering in the State of New York, whom the general government are about removing to the lands beyond the Mississippi, in the Far West, to place before him an official statement of the actual amount of reservation lands allotted by treaty to each tribe, as well as of the annuities in money still paid to them by the State, both taken from the public records.

Everything connected with this race becomes more and more interesting from the general impression of their nearly approaching extinction, when there will be no longer any living memorials, in the transmission of traditionary history from one generation to another, as all will be swept away. The northern tribes have remained the longest, because they have always been the most powerful; and it has been justly observed by Dr. Mitchell, that the parallel between the Indians of America and of Asia affords this important conclusion, that on both continents the hordes dwelling in higher latitudes have overpowered the more civilized 0131 111 though feebler inhabitants of the countries situate towards the equator. As the Tartars have overrun China, so the Aztees have subdued Mexico; As the Huns and Alains desolated Italy, so the Chippewas destroyed the populous settlements on both banks of the Ohio. The surviving race in these terrible conflicts between the different nations of the ancient residents of North America is evidently that of Tartars, from the similarity of features, languages, and customs.

The following are the official statements of the reserved lands and annuities still appropriated to the Indians of the Six Nations at the present time.

RESERVATION OF LANDS TO INDIANS.

Places. Acres. Indians. Buffalo 83,557 636 Tonawanta 46,209 365 Cattaraugus 26,880 389 Alleghany River 30,469 597 Genessee River 31,648 456 Oil-Spring 640 000 Tuscorora 1,920 314 Oneida 20,000 1031 Onondaga 7,000 300 Stockbridge 13,000 438 St. Regis 10,000 400 Total, 271,323 4976
ANNUITIES PAYABLE TO INDIANS.

Dollars.

Oneida Nation 5169 28

Christian party of same 1443 28

Pagan party 332 48

Onondagas 2430 00

Cayugas 2300 00

Senecas 500 00

Posterity of Fish-carrier 50 00

St. Regis Indians 2398 33

Brothertown Indians 2142 79

Stockbridge Indians 371 00

Total 17,137 16

In the course of our excursions round Canandaigua, we went to visit the remains of two very ancient Indian forts, which are still to be traced here, the one to the east and the other to the west of the town, 0132 112 about a mile distant in each direction. We were accompanied in this excursion by the venerable Judge Attwater, one of the earliest settlers here, who had resided in Canandaigua nearly half a century, and remembered it a perfect forest where the principal houses now stand. The western fort, when he first saw it, had a parapet or breastwork of four feet high, all round, though evidently much diminished from its original height, by time and decay. At present, all that was to be seen was the outline of the mounds, with faint traces of the ditch surrounding it; but the whole surface was covered with an orchard of rich fruit-trees, and the ground between these was at that moment under the plough, so that in a very few years every vestige of this fort will be gone.

The fort on the east of the town has not such distinct elevations, but it has a more perfect ditch; and this is entirely covered with trees of the secondary growth, forming a deep and solemn shade that harmonizes well with the solitude and abandonment of the place. The view from hence is extensive and beautiful, and with a judicious selection of the larger trees to be left standing, it would make a beautiful spot for a dwelling, to which purpose it will, no doubt, ere long be devoted. Each of these forts contained about thirty acres in area, and from both had been taken many interesting relics of Indian warfare, in tomahawks and other weapons, as well as articles of dress, especially the more ornamental and least perishable parts, with pipes variously devised, and adorned with silver and other inlayings of metal-work.

The Senecas, by whom these forts were last occupied—though many suppose them not to have been 0133 113 built by them, but by a people anterior to their day, and more civilized—were among the most warlike of all the Six Nations, and often made excursions to the country of the south, for purposes of conquest or victory. In the narrative of Mary Jameson, the “White woman,” when speaking of her last husband, Hioakatoo, a Seneca chief, who died in 1811 on the banks of the Genessee river, aged 103 years, she says—

“In the year 1731, he was appointed a runner, to assist in collecting an army to go against the Cotawpas (or Catawbas), the Cherokees, and other southern Indians. A large army was collected, and after a long and fatiguing march, they met their enemies in what was then called ‘the low, dark, and bloody lands,’ near the mouth of the Red River, in what is now called the State of Kentucky. The Cotawpas and their associates had by some means been apprized of their approach, and lay in ambush to take them at once, when they should come within their reach, and destroy their whole army. The northern Indians, with their usual sagacity, discovered the situation of their enemies, rushed upon the ambuscade, and massacred 1,200 on the spot. The battle continued for two days and two nights, with the utmost severity, in which the northern Indians were victorious, and so far succeeded in destroying the Cotawpas, that they at that time ceased to be a nation. The victors, however, suffered an immense loss in killed, but gained the hunting ground, which was their grand object, though the Cherokees would not give it up in a treaty, nor consent to make peace. Bows and arrows were at that time in general use, though a few guns were also employed.”

The time has now arrived when the Cherokees, are in the act of leaving these hunting grounds, which they would not cede, to go beyond the Mississippi: General Scott, and a force of the United States army, being at this moment employed in their removal; and the Senecas themselves, as we have already seen, VOL. III. I 0134 114 are also on the point of being transferred from their ancient homes, to new territories west of the “Father of Waters;” so that both the victors and the vanquished are now in a progressive course of extinction. The destructive wars, which formed the chief occupation of their ancestors, are sufficient to account for the great diminution of their numbers in the years that preceded the American revolution; the excessive use of intoxicating spirits has operated with still more destroying force since that period; and of late years, disease, in every form and shape, has added to the number of those who perish. In a letter recently published by Mr. Catlin, the celebrated Indian traveller, are the following painful details on this subject.

“Only one year and a half ago, I was at Prairie du Chien, on the Upper Mississippi, where I beheld the frightful effects of the smallpox among the Winnebagoes, and Sioux. Every other man among them was destroyed by it; and Owa-be-shau, the greatest man of the Sioux, with half of his band, died under the corners of fences, in little groups, to which kindred ties held them in ghastly death, with their bodies swollen and covered with pustules, their eyes blinded, and hideously howling their death-song in utter despair; affectionately clinging to each other's necks with one hand, and grasping bottles of whisky in the other.”

Among many other statements, which from time to time appear in the American newspapers, corroborative of this spread of disease among the Indian tribes, the following is taken from a very recent journal on the subject.

“Pestilence in America. —A mortal plague, said to be the same as the ‘Black Death,’ which raged so fatally in England and in Europe some five or six centuries ago, has broken out in the western and south-western borders of the United States. As yet it has 0135 115 been exclusively confined to the Indians. It attacks the head and loins suddenly, and with dreadful pain; and in about two hours the victim is a corpse. The body then swells enormously, and turns instantly black. Some idea may be formed of the fearful progress and havoc of death on the prairies, from the fact, that within a few weeks more than 33,000 savages died. Of a lodge of 1,600 Mandans (a noble tribe) only 35 remained alive. 10,600 Assineboins have died; and deserted wigwams, newly-made mounds, or putrifying corpses, attended only by the croaking raven and the screaming eagle, mark the mournful desolation of the Indian forests and prairies. The Crows and Black-feet, so eloquently described in Irving's ‘Astoria,’ and ‘Rocky Mountains,’ have suffered dreadfully; and more than one of the smaller tribes have been summoned, man, woman, and papoose, to the tribunal of Manitoulin, the Great Spirit, not one remaining to tell that they were once a nation of warriors! The disease is supposed to have originated from smallpox amongst the traders, and from them to have been communicated to the Indians, where it soon appeared in the aggravated form of ‘The Black Death.’”

It is painful to witness these effects of the contact of the White race with the Indians, and impossible not to yield assent to the sentiments expressed in the following passage from Mr. Latrobe.

“What has been the influence of the contact and intercourse of the European with the Indian, we all know. Where he found them poor, he left them poorer; where one scene of violence and vengeance had been seen, there many have since been acted; where he found one evil passion, he planted many; where one fell disease had thinned their ranks, he brought those of his blood and land to reap a more abundant harvest. His very gifts were poison: selfish and inconsiderate in his kindness, he was very bitter in his revenge and anger: he excited the passion of the savage for his own purposes, and when it raged against him, he commenced the work of extermination.

“No one who reads the history of these countries, since their first settlement, can draw any other conclusion, than that the white man secretly, with his grasping hand, selfish policy, and want of 0136 116 faith, has been, in almost every case, directly or indirectly, the cause of the horrors which he afterwards rose to retaliate. That the wrath of the Indian, when excited, was terrible, his anger cruel, and his blows indiscriminate, falling almost always on the comparatively innocent; and that defence, and perhaps retaliation, then became necessary to save the country from the repetition of those fearful scenes of murder and torture, which make the early history of the settlements a marvel and a romance, is also to be allowed: but the settlement of the whites in America, is, with but few exceptions, a foul blot upon Christendom.”

The climate of Canandaigua is much praised for being healthier and milder than in most other parts of the State of New York. At the period of our visit it was extremely hot: the thermometer ranging at about 85° in the month of September; but though the sun was so scorching, that all classes of people, even the men in the ordinary ranks of life, sheltered themselves from its power by the use of an umbrella, the fresh air from the lake made the atmosphere agreeable in the shade. The town is also considered unusually healthy: and certainly the appearance of the inhabitants bore out that supposition: which corroborates the opinion formed by President Dwight and Dr. Ludlow, on the medical topography of Western New York, conveyed by them in the following extract:

“From the pulmonary consumption, so frequent elsewhere, they (the inhabitants of this town) are in a great measure exempted. Dr. W., of Canandaigua, a physician in extensive practice, informed me that, during the ten years of his residence there, only three persons within his knowledge had died of the consumption in that township and its neighbourhood. He also observed that most of the diseases found on the sea-coast were unknown there, and that he believed the fever and ague to be not improbably the cause of this exemption. As I passed through Sheffield, in Massachusetts, I was informed, in a manner which could not be rationally questioned, 0137 117 that the consumption is also very rare in that town. Should there be no error in this account, it will deserve inquiry whether the infrequency of this disease in the Southern states is not owing more to the fever and ague than to the warmth of the climate; or perhaps, in better words, whether the tendencies to disease in the human frame do not, in particular tracts, flow in this single channel? Should the result of this inquiry be an affirmative answer, Canandaigua may hereafter become a more convenient retreat for persons subject to pulmonic affections than the Southern states.”

Among the meteorological phenomena occasionally seen here, was one that occurred on the Canandaigua lake, only a few days before our arrival; and which may be best described in the language of one of the many persons who saw it, and who describes it in the following communication. He says:

“On Saturday the 25th of August, 1838, at 4 o'clock P. M. a sudden squall from the north-west swept across the surface of the lake, which, till then, had been calm and unruffled. While watching the altered appearance of the lake, one portion of its surface was tossed by the action of the wind into a white spray, which kept moving along in a south-east direction. As it approached the eastern shore, a thin white column of vapour rose in the air, waving to and fro like a huge serpent in a perpendicular position. Directly above this column, though apparently unconnected with it, was a much larger column of spray, performing rapid evolutions in the air, increasing in dimensions as it rose into the clouds, to the height of between 200 and 300 feet, and thus presenting very much the appearance of the volume of smoke, which issues from the funnel of a steam-vessel in motion. This appearance was maintained, without much change, for the space of between ten and twelve minutes, during which the white spray on the surface of the lake (forming the base from which the column of vapour arose,) gradually contracted in circumference, and at last disappeared altogether. A few seconds after this, the two columns gradually disappeared, merging themselves into the heavy clouds which obscured the sky.”

0138 118

During our stay at Canandaigua there was a Democratic convention of the young men of the State, who met here on the 6th of September, to organize measures, and pass resolutions, in favour of the present administration, and to support by all the means within their power, the election of Democratic candidates for the State legislature, as well as the Democratic governor, and members to the general Congress at the ensuing elections. The meeting was largely attended; as delegates, chosen by the several towns in the county of Ontario, of which this is the county-town, came in from their respective residences, each bringing a large number of his fellow-townsmen with him as companions. They began to arrive as early as ten o'clock, in gigs, phaetons, cars, carts, and waggons; all those in the uncovered carriages spreading their umbrellas, as the heat was intense, but none walking that we could discover. They all dined at the hotel at one o'clock; and at two they repaired to the court-house for business.

I was invited to attend their proceedings, and take a seat among the leaders, but I preferred going as an ordinary spectator; and remained, therefore, in the rear, with the body of the meeting. Every thing was done with the greatest order and propriety; but, to an English taste, there was a coldness, formality, and want of life and enthusiasm about it, which made it very tame. This arose chiefly, no doubt, from the meeting being composed wholly of men of the same party, so that no opposition was either feared or expected, and every body knew, beforehand, how the matter would end; but it was partly from the habitual manner of the people of the 0139 119 country to transact all their public business in this cold, and, to us it would seem, lifeless manner.

Though it had been previously arranged who should be the chairman of the convention, the form was gone through of proposing, seconding, and voting the individual into the chair. A secretary was then nominated, by whom the names of the delegates sent by the different towns were read over; and these answering to their names, rose and went within the bar, the meeting being held in the court-house, or, as we should say, the town-hall. The chairman then opened the business of the meeting by a short speech, but there was no cheering when he rose, no clapping of hands to welcome his appointment, no sign whatever, in short, of approbation or the reverse.

He proceeded to assert that the Federal party, or Whigs, having been elated with their recent successes in the elections, and leaving no stone unturned to accomplish their object, were now resolved to make a last desperate struggle to wrest the power from the hands of the present administration, and seize the reins of government; but when he saw the extent of the present meeting, and knew the high and firm resolves by which they had pledged themselves to support the only true liberty known in the world, the republicanism or democracy of the United States, he felt assured that, come what would, the county of Ontario would do its duty. Neither here, however, nor at the close of his speech, nor indeed at any period of the proceedings, was there the slightest manifestation of sympathy, by any expression whatever; while in England, at such a meeting, and on such an occasion, even if it had been composed, like 0140 120 this, of the people of one party only, there would have been clapping of hands, loud cries of “hear, hear,” or cheering and expressions of approbation at the sentiments, the speaker, or the cause.

The next step was to move that a committee be appointed to consist of one delegate from each town, to retire and prepare resolutions; this was seconded, and put to the vote by the chairman, those who approved of the resolution being requested to say “Ay,” and the contrary “No,” as in the English House of Commons, but not by holding up their hands, as in English public meetings. The retirement of the committee to prepare the resolutions was, however, a mere formality, as the resolutions had been already prepared and agreed to by a previous meeting of the delegates, and therefore in a very few minutes the committee re-appeared from their retirement, with their resolutions all “ready cut and dried,” as the phrase is, and without the alteration of a single word.

At this period of the proceedings, learning from one of the friends of the meeting that it was not likely there would be any speeches of interest or importance, and that the resolutions would most probably be put all together, and passed as one, without opposition or remark, I withdrew, having been present for nearly two hours, without any thing of interest to reward the stay.

There are two weekly newspapers in Canandaigua, one maintaining the principles of the Whigs, and one of the Democrats; but they have no very marked or distinguishing features to require observation. The question of the election of the new governor of the 0141 121 State excited more than usual interest here, because the person likely to be put in nomination as the Whig candidate, Mr. Grainger, resides in Canandaigua, and is very popular with his party; but for the same reason, the Democrats will do all in their power to prevent his return.

As we had apartments in the principal hotel of Canandaigua, at which all the stage-coaches, going on this road, stop on their way to and fro between Albany and Buffalo, our attention was particularly drawn to the great number of carriages passing and repassing at all hours of the day and night. The public stages were the most numerous, and amounted at least to twenty, coming and going, in the twenty-four hours, each drawn by four horses, and each carrying nine passengers; the rest were what are called “Extras,” that is, stage-coaches of exactly the same size and description as the others, and drawn also by four horses, but taken by a party, as a post-chaise would be in England, and at the entire command of the occupiers, as to time of setting out, rate of travelling, and so on. No persons, as far as we had observed, or could hear of, ever travelled in their own carriages with post-horses, nor would it be prudent that they should do so, unless they had stage-coaches made for their own purpose; because, from the roughness of the best roads, a chariot, or barouche, such as is used by families in the towns, would be shaken to pieces in a single journey.

The horses seemed to me more uniformly good than in England, though there are none so fine and beautiful as the noble carriage-horses of the rich in London; but they are certainly above the average of 0142 122 those used in the public conveyances of England, being less worked, and better fed, though they do not appear to so much advantage, from the inferior condition of their harness. The tails of the horses are never cut; and, remembering the beauty of the horses of Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, they looked, to my eye, more graceful and natural with this fine appendage of beauty, than when cropped, as at home.

Even in this comparatively remote and retired spot, I met with some old acquaintances; among others, Mr. Weddell, of Hull, formerly an owner of steam-vessels there, but recently settled on a farm of his own, within six miles of the village, and prospering as an agriculturist. He had heard my lectures in Hull, some seven or eight years ago, and now came in with all his family and dependents to hear them in Canandaigua. Another, and more intimate acquaintance, was Captain Monteith, of the 17th Lancers, who had served under Col. Lincoln Stanhope, and with Col. Perronett Thompson, the member for Hull, in Guzerat; and whom I had known as an ardent reformer—as far as it was safe for a military man to be so—in Calcutta, during the period when the persecutions against the freedom of the press ran highest. Our meeting was very agreeable to us both, as it enabled us to enjoy our Indian reminiscenses with mutual satisfaction. He was now settled on a fine estate, with his family, on the borders of the lake, at a distance of eight miles from Canandaigua, and expressed himself delighted with the country, its institutions, climate, and society.

In talking with native Americans on the subject of their own country, their dwellings, farms, gardens, 0143 123 &c. every foreigner must observe their peculiar sensitiveness to any remark, which, however well meant, should have the effect of satisfying them that you saw any imperfections in either. In such cases, it is almost invariably their practice to say, “Ah, but you do not make sufficient allowances for the newness of the country; consider that we were but yesterday, as it were, in a wilderness, and that the very forest-trees have their roots still in the middle of our streets. Under these circumstances,” they will add, “you must allow that it is very well for a young country.” At Canandaigua, however, I had an opportunity of seeing what could be done, even in a wilderness of yesterday, by persons having the requisite liberality to expend their means in improvements, and the requisite taste to direct their labours.

Mr. Greig, a Scotch gentleman by birth, came here about forty years ago, as the land-agent of Mr. Patrick Colquhoun, the celebrated author of the work on the Police of the Metropolis, and of Governor Hornby, of England, both of whom were owners of lands which they had purchased in this region. During the period of his residence here, Mr. Greig acquired a very handsome property by his own industry and talents; and marrying the granddaughter of the celebrated Oliver Phelps, the first purchaser and settler of the country, he improved his fortune by this alliance. Mr. Greig, however, having a liberality somewhat above that which thinks no money well laid out unless it is to bring immediate interest and profit in return, has devoted a large portion of his wealth to improvement; and having also good taste in architecture, agriculture, and gardening, he 0144 124 has built a princely mansion, furnished it in the best possible style, and adorned it with works of art in painting and statuary; laid out a beautiful garden, both useful and ornamental; and, in short, surrounded himself with more of abundance, fertility, beauty, and refinement, combined, than it had yet been our lot to see in any part of the United States, not excepting even the finest houses in the largest cities of the Union.

His table and the whole domestic management of his household, is superior to anything of the kind we had ever seen in America; and it was difficult to persuade ourselves that we were not in the paternal mansion of some old English gentleman of opulence and taste, near the metropolis; as every luxury and every convenience were united, with the greatest order and quiet among the servants, and the greatest elegance in all that surrounded us. The view from 0145 125 the cupola of his roof is as full of exquisite beauty in the extent and loveliness of the landscape, as is all the rest; and I could not help saying to Mr. Greig, that it would advance the domestic arts and social refinement a century at least, in America, if he were to invite an annual convention of delegates from all parts of the Union, to pass a week at his residence, to take plans, drawings, and models of all they saw; to make notes in detail of all the processes of domestic management in use; and then to dismiss them all to their several homes, with an injunction to communicate what they saw to others, and, as far as possible, carry it out into practice.

The truth is, (and this is a proof of it,) that whatever money and taste can accomplish in England, money and taste can accomplish here; but so long as the mass of those who have money, continue to think that it can never be well laid out unless it is to bring more money or profit in its train, and so long as the taste to perceive what is really good in food, furniture, and domestic management, does not exist, the improvement will be slow; but that slowness is not attributable to the fact of America being a young country, so much as to the unwillingness to lay out money except to produce gain.

A tablet has been affixed to the portico of the Presbyterian church here, by Mr. Greig, to the memory of his former friend and patron, the late Patrick Colquhoun, which is alike honourable to both; and as it is agreeable to place on record the instances in which distinguished merit obtains a wide-spread recognition, as in the present instance, 0146 126 I obtained a copy of the inscription, which will be found among the papers in the Appendix. *

* See Appendix, No. II.

Mr. Greig mentioned to us a curious fact respecting the easy removal of houses in this country, of which, indeed, Canandaigua had furnished several examples, he being the first to commence it. He said that the first house he occupied stood just in front of his present mansion; and when this was completed—which I was surprised to learn was accomplished in two seasons, and every portion of the work, beautiful as it is, executed by mechanics of the village—his family moved from the old house into the new one, which was just in its rear. Instead, however, of pulling down the old house, and removing the materials, which would have been the process observed in England, the whole house was lifted up from its foundations, and rollers being placed under the whole, it was removed to a considerable distance, and appropriated as a parsonage-house to a new clergyman that had just arrived in the village, for whom a dwelling was wanted, and in whose occupancy it now remains.

Another instance was the removal of a large court-house, one of the largest and best of the public buildings in the place. The original position which it occupied was not deemed favourable, and it was accordingly lifted up, placed on rollers, and removed from one part of the town to another, and ultimately set down side by side with the post-office and town-house, to form one side of a public square, just opposite the principal hotel, where it still remains. 0147 127 Still another instance was added, in the removal of the Methodist church, with its lofty spire, one of the largest places of worship in Canandaigua. This was brought from its original position into the middle of the principal street, and then gradually drawn by a long train of horses and oxen, up the hill, and along the street, until it arrived opposite its newly chosen locality, where it was more advantageously placed, and as firmly fixed as ever, and where it still remains.

0148
CHAP. VI.

Journey from Canandaigua to Auburn—First sight of an American country funeral—Visit to the State prison—Condition of the establishment—Act of the legislature restricting prison labour— Statistics of crime, education, and intemperance—Moral and religious reform—Description of the edifice and its cells—Discipline and treatment of the convicts—Visit to the chapel during divine service—Defects of the Auburn system of prison discipline—Opinions of Dr. Lieber of South Carolina—Objections to the Pennsylvania system answered—Opinions of British inspectors on the Auburn system—Superiority of the Philadelphia system—Description of the town of Auburn.

We left Canandaigua on the morning of Saturday the 8th of September, for Auburn, and, following the usual stage-route by which we had before travelled on our way hither, we passed through the same places: namely, Geneva, Waterloo, Seneca Falls, and Cayuga; all of which appeared to us as beautiful as when we first saw them, and lost nothing by a second inspection. The landscape scenery, indeed, was beginning to assume a new aspect, from the first appearance of the autumnal tints of decay on the woods around, and, few as they yet were, their brightness in the yellows and scarlets threw a great charm over the forest masses.

The only incident that occurred on the way, was the meeting a country funeral, which was conducted 0149 129 much after the manner of a funeral in the west of England forty years ago. A plain hearse, with black velvet covering, contained the corpse, and took the lead in the procession; and following after this, were not less than fifty carriages, cars, and gigs, all filled with respectably-dressed farmers and their families, mostly in black, attending their departed friend to his last home. There was an absence of ostentation and parade, and a simplicity, decorum, and earnestness of sorrow instead, which made it at once natural and impressive; and as such, greatly more venerable than the cold and formal pomp of funerals with hired mourners, and the entire absence of the family, as sometimes seen in London.

We reached Auburn about five o'clock, having left Canandaigua at half-past nine; and were thus seven hours and half in going 39-miles, though we made no stoppages to take refreshment on the road, and had a large extra stage, capable of holding nine persons, occupied by four only, with four good horses all the way—the roads, even at their very best, are so rough, and unfavourable to speed, compared with those of England. The town of Auburn looked more beautiful than when we saw it before, and struck us as even handsomer than Canandaigua, as we entered it; and we found agreeable apartments and excellent accommodation at one of the best houses in the route, the American Hotel.

On the following day I had an opportunity of examining the State prison at Auburn, having been provided with a letter of introduction to the superintendent, who afforded me every facility, and furnished all the information I desired. This prison, which VOL. III. K 0150 130 is on the north-west extremity of the town, was built in 1816. It is a hollow square, enclosed by a strong stone wall, of 2,000 feet in extent, or 500 feet on each side. The edifice within this wall has a front of 300 feet, facing nearly to the east, in the centre of which is the keeper's residence; and two wings, of 240 feet each, extend behind this dwelling to the westward. It is in these two wings that the cells for the prisoners are contained; and between them is a grass-plat, with gravel walks. Beyond or behind these, to the westward, is an open space, called the yard, surrounded with the workshops, in which the men are employed, and having, in the centre, reservoirs of water. The shops, which are built against the surrounding wall, extend to nearly 1000 feet in length; they are built of brick, and are fire-proof, and they are all well lighted from their sky-lights and the court-yard. The walls within which these shops are enclosed, are thirty-five feet high and four feet thick; and the other walls of the prison are about twenty feet high and three feet thick. The whole was erected by the labour of convict prisoners, under the superintendence of the architect; and, in addition to the cost of their maintenance while labouring, the money actually expended, in materials and superintendence, exceeded 300,000 dollars.

The distinguishing feature of this State prison, in its object is, that the convicts shall be made, by labour, to defray all the expenses of the establishment, and, if possible, yield a profit to the State, making the reformation of the criminal the subordinate consideration. It is this, more than any other feature, which distinguishes it from the Penitentiary 0151 131 of Philadelphia, where the reformation of the criminal is the first object pursued, and the produce of the prisoner's labour is the subordinate end. They differ also materially in their discipline; the prisoners at Auburn being separated only at night, and brought together to work and take their meals in company, but not permitted to speak to each other on any account whatever; and hence this system is called “The Silent System;” while at Philadelphia each prisoner is confined in a separate cell, from the time of his entry to that of his discharge, and never sees, or is ever seen by, any of his fellow-prisoners during all that period; and hence this is called “The Solitary System.”

As profit to the State is the main object of the Auburn establishment, great pains are taken, by the classification of the prisoners who are acquainted with trades, and the teaching of those who are not, to make the workshops produce as much as possible; and for this purpose, the convicts are made to labour about thirteen hours per day. The whole number of convicts in the prison is about 900, and their total earnings were 59,747 dollars from labour performed, and articles manufactured and sold, during the last year. The ordinary expenses are usually such as to leave a surplus profit of from 2,000 dollars to 4,000 dollars per annum to the State; but in the past year, owing to various improvements made in the prison itself, the expenditure has exceeded the receipts, and accordingly a grant of 25,000 dollars became necessary, to meet the deficiency. The following statement of expenditure and receipt for the last year, 1837, will show the details of each:— K2 0152 132

EXPENDITURE

dls. cents.

Prison 238 89

Officers and keepers 13,849 32

Guard 6,990 00

Matron 240 00

Chaplain 499 92

Hospital 1,079 33

Repairs and Improvements 3,531 65

Provisions 21,684 06

Clothing 3,992 81

Fire-wood 2,693 52

Oil and candles 993 75

Charcoal 413 53

Brooms 22 08

Horse, &c. 196 68

Stationery 121 74

Postage 54 65

Sheriffs 7,398 46

Inspectors 288 00

Discharged convicts 391 00

West yard 5,397 73

70,077 12

RECEIPTS.

dls. cents.

State of New York 25,000 00

Cooper shop 3,950 75

Tool shop 1,312 45

Cotton workshop 3,172 20

Tailor's shop 2,980 44

Clock shop 2,190 32

Machine shop 4,769 06

Comb shop 3,676 81

Frame shop 3,775 42

Cabinet shop 4,946 40

Carpet shop 3,583 72

Shoe shop 4,426 70

Stone shop 4,526 35

Smith's shop 479 25

Prison 998 53

Visiters 1,676 25

71,469 65

Add balance 30th Sept. 1836. 2,833 21

74,302 86

Deduct expenditures 70,077 12

Balance 30th Sept. 1837 4,225 74

In consequence of the variety, excellence, and cheapness of the articles made by the convicts, the prison wares were in general preferred to those made by mechanics out of doors; and this class felt themselves aggrieved therefore by the interference of the prison labour with their usual profits. Accordingly petitions and representations were sent to the Legislature of the State, which induced it to pass an act in May, 1835, providing that “no mechanical trade shall hereafter be taught to convicts in the State Prisons of New York, except the making of those 0153 133 articles, of which the chief supply for the consumption of the country is imported from foreign countries;” and also enacting that “in all those branches of business, of which the consumption of the country is chiefly supplied without foreign importation, the number of convicts to be employed, or let, shall be limited by the number of convicts who had learnt a trade before coming to the prison.” The object of this law was to protect the labour of the honest mechanic outside the prison, against the competition of the cheaper labour of the criminal within its walls. But the effect has been to throw a great number of the convicts out of employment altogether; and thus to produce the double evil of lessening the ability of the directors to maintain the establishment by the profit of convict labour, and compelling them to apply for grants from the State, and also to relax the discipline and make the government of the prison more difficult, by turning occupied criminals into idle ones.

This feature of the Auburn System, that it should be self-supporting, or even yield a surplus profit to the State, may for the present, therefore, be considered to have ceased: and its future claims to imitation or adoption in other countries will depend on the other feature, that of its combining labour in company with solitary confinement at night, and perfect silence during both these periods. Before entering on this subject, however, it maybe well to present some further statistical details.

Among 3,000 convictions, extending over 20 years, from 1817 to 1836, selected for analysis, the following numbers appear to be the principal classes of crimes:—larceny, 1,568; forgery, 303; burglary, 0154 134 264; making or passing counterfeit money, 253; perjury, 95; attempt to kill, 86; attempt at rape, 67; manslaughter, 54; arson, 42; rape, 41; swindling, 87; bigamy, 34; robbery, 29; receiving stolen goods, 16; murder, 11; felony, 8; incest, 7; sodomy, 8; poisoning, 3. The rest were misdemeanours and attempts to escape. Of the whole number of 3,000, the females were only 101; the Negroes 270, and Indians 26. Of second convictions there were 142; of third convictions 14; and of fourth convictions 1. Those born in the State of New York amounted to 1,403; those from other parts of the United States were 1,022; and those from other countries were 575.

Of the causes that led to the commission of the various crimes for which the prisoners were condemned, ignorance and intemperance were, as usual, the most productive; and this will be seen by the following returns from the chaplain's report for 1838.

“1,232 convicts sentenced to this prison may be classed, with reference to their education, former habits, &c., as follows:—

Of collegiate education 3

Of academical ditto 13

Could read, write & cipher 351

Could read & write only 311

Could read only 272

Could not read the Bible 282

1,232

Excessively intemperate 457

Moderately ditto 477

934

Intemperate 934

Temperate drinkers 276

Total abstinents 22

1,232

Under the influence of liquor at the time of committing crimes 736

Had intemperate parents or guardians 458

Others not so influenced 38

1,232

0155 135

Many of these, however, desperate as their cases were, have been reclaimed by the influence of education and religious instruction, and there is every reason to believe that they have gone out into the world reformed, fully prepared to lead a sober and honest life.

It appears, too, by a table framed from the records of the prison, and embodied in the chaplain's report, that out of 1735 convicts discharged since the year 1824, there have been only 103 re-convictions; a small fraction more than 1 out of 17: whereas, in some of the older prisons, they have been as frequent as 1 to 4, 1 to 3, and even 1 to 2; and this, perhaps, is the best proof that can be offered of the reformation effected by the discipline pursued.

The health of the prisoners is carefully attended to, and the statements on this subject must be as acceptable to the philanthropist as those already given; considering how much the punishment of imprisonment is aggravated by disease, and how severely the mental pains of solitude must be augmented by the sufferings of the body.

The discipline of the prison may be thus described. At night every convict is confined in a separate cell, the cells being arranged in galleries or stories, one over the other, of which there are five in the two principal wings, with a balcony or platform running along in front of each, and a communication from one balcony to another by open stairs. The cells, of which I was permitted to make the freest inspection, were much smaller than those in the prisons of Philadelphia, being not more than 7 feet by 5, and in this was contained the hammock of the prisoner, 0156 136 and such few clothes as he possessed, (the prison dress being a striped cotton or woollen uniform,) and a convenience for his necessary wants. The door was low, narrow, and formed of crossed iron bars, with sufficient opening for light and air, but still gloomy within. From these cells they are all summoned by signal at an early hour in the morning, and marched in single rows or files under their appointed leaders to their workshops, where they labour till breakfast, but are not permitted to speak to each other, or even communicate by signs, for the prevention of which, a keeper is placed with each gang; and any infringement of this regulation is punished by the infliction of the whip.

It was formerly the custom for them to take their meals in a large hall, together, all standing, and with the same rigorous observance of silence; but the resources of the prison falling short, and additional economy having to be studied in all things, they have abolished this plan of their eating together, because it required the presence of about twenty female attendants to serve them, and their wages were an item worth saving. They are now therefore marched from the workshop to their cells, where each prisoner has his rations served to him with less of labour and expense; and the female attendants are discharged. This change has been very recent, as I was shown the hall and tables still standing, though now no longer used. An hour is allowed for breakfast, and an hour for dinner; but with these exceptions, their labour is continued throughout the day for 13 hours, and a most vigilant guard is kept over them during all the time, so as to prevent their speaking, and, if possible 0157 137 to prevent their communicating with each other by any other means: but all the vigilance that can be used is inadequate to accomplish this.

There are no longer any females in the Auburn prison. There were recently about 30 only, and the number rarely exceeded 50, even when the men were above 900. But it having been determined to build a separate department for females, attached to th State prison Sing-Sing, which is under the same system of management as this, they were removed, about a week ago, under the chief superintendent, to that spot.

On the Sabbath, divine service is performed in the chapel, when all who are able are made to attend. I was permitted to be present at their worship, when 630 were in attendance. It was held at nine in the morning, in order that the officers and the keepers, when the convicts had closed their service, and were locked up, might attend their own churches in the town. The chaplain, who led the devotions, was a young man, and, apparently, much in earnest; his prayers were rather for them than with them; and no hymns were sung, as it might be well supposed that few could, without hypocrisy, express the sentiments which these compositions usually contain. The sermon was a written one, and was accordingly read to the prisoners. It was, however, simple and appropriate, dwelling on the necessity of repentance, and the danger, the folly, and the wickedness of delay. I paid the utmost attention to the countenances of the convicts, for which I was favourably situated, being on the elevated platform with the officers, right in front of, and opposite to, them. I could not 0158 138 trace, however, the least sign of emotion in any. Indifference was the most prevalent condition, as I thought, though there was the strictest silence, and the utmost exterior decorum.

There were about fifty negroes among the convicts, and these were seated promiscuously among the whites, no distinction of colour being observed; the forms of the heads and expressions of the countenances were very bad, and such as one would dislike, even if seen in an assembly of unconvicted persons; but those of the whites were decidedly worse than those of the negroes; that is, more indicative of vicious propensities and evil passions. One man was pointed out to me, as imprisoned a second time, though a man of some property; and the last conviction was for the murder of his own child, whom he had deliberately whipped to death in cold blood, the flogging being continued for an hour and half, and the poor little victim expiring under the lash! and yet he seemed to be the most demurely attentive of all the number, during the whole of the religious service.

After the closing prayer and benediction, during which the prisoners stood up, they all resumed their seats, until, a signal being given by the knocking of a large key against the back of the last row of benches, about 50 rose up, formed into a single file or line, and, folding their arms across their breasts, and pressing quite close to each other, they were marched with military step by their keeper, to their respective cells, and there locked up for the day, having taken in the morning two rations, one for their breakfast, and one for dinner, each to be eaten in the cell; as no one was permitted to 0159 139 come out after the shutting up at the close of service; and this, of course, released all the keepers and attendants for their enjoyment of the Sabbath with their friends.

As soon as one gang or company of about fifty was thus disposed of and secured, a second gang was marched out in the same manner, and then others in succession, till the whole chapel was cleared, which occupied about twenty minutes: the object of this appeared to be to avoid any risk of the whole number being on their legs and in motion at the same time, by which the keepers might be overpowered, and the prisoners make their escape.

From all that I saw, from all that I could learn in conversation with the officers of the prison, and from all that I had read on the subject, I was more and more satisfied that there is nothing in which America excels all the nations of the world more than in her system of prison discipline. This pursued at Auburn, as it secures the effectual punishment of the criminal, and yet preserves his health, improves his habits, corrects his morals, and sends him back to society a reformed character, is as superior to the general state of our prisons, conducted on the old plan in England, as twilight is to utter darkness; but notwithstanding this admission, and it is most sincerely and cordially made, I am also thoroughly convinced, that the Silent System pursued in the prison of Auburn is as inferior to the Solitary System observed in the Penitentiary of Philadelphia, as the twilight is to the full meridian blaze of the perfect day. I am unwilling, however, that this judgment should rest on my own opinion alone; and, therefore, 0160 140 I gladly avail myself of some passages from an admirable letter, dated so recently as Jan. 1838, and written by Dr. Lieber, professor of history in the college of South Carolina, which reviews the comparative merits of the two systems in a masterly style, and arrives at the same conclusion.

Dr. Lieber says—

“1. The Auburn system acknowledges insulation as the fundamental principle of all sound prison discipline, which is not sufficient, indeed, to constitute it, but without which none is possible; but it does not carry through this vital principle; it stops short of its true effect. The convict in an Auburn penitentiary is kept at night in a solitary cell, which, however, does not make it physically impossible to commune with his neighbours; the prisoner, therefore, must be strictly watched.

“All wardens and chaplains of Auburn penitentiaries, whom I have asked, have not hesitated one moment to admit, that their prisoners do commune, but, add they, of course to a very limited extent, which cannot be dangerous. But I do believe that it is injurious to the prisoner, though it may not be dangerous to the prison authorities. Whenever I have spoken on this subject with convicts, they have admitted the fact, with a promptness, as if the contrary were out of question. The same convict told me, likewise, that the prisoners are very greedy to obtain newspapers, old or new, entire or torn; that they often obtain them in boxes which the hatters send back, through the cooks, barbers, or in any other way, and that in spite of all the severe punishment pending over them. they do contrive to hide, read, and pass them along.

“2. We object to the Auburn system on the ground of the violence which it absolutely requires. Either you make people who are congregated keep silence, or you do not. If not, you abandon the principle of insulation; if you do, you must use as violent means as it would require to keep the hungry from seizing upon victuals before them. Nature cannot be counteracted by mild means. The desire, the urgent want of communion, without reference to the subject of communion, is an inmost and original longing, a vital instinct of our organization. Without it mankind would not be mankind. 0161 141 I found once a prisoner in the Philadelphia penitentiary, who told me that it was music to his ears to hear the shuttle of his neighbour, and that without knowing who he was, he used to vie with him in the swiftness of using it. I heard once, in visiting a cell, an indistinct knock against the wall, which came from the next cell. I asked what it was—who was the neighbour? The prisoner answered that he did not know, as was the fact, but that once and a while his neighbour knocked and he answered. And for what purpose, I inquired—is it a sign? No, sir, he replied; of what should we give signs? It is only that he says, here am I—and I answer, I am here. The prisoner would have expressed his idea more distinctly had he said, ‘My neighbour says, here is a man; and I answer, a man is here.’ He owned he had been told not to do it, and it was always at the risk of the keeper's hearing it; still they did it now and then. So urgent is the abstract desire of communion, so irksome it is ‘to be alone;’ and yet we are expected to believe that men seeing each other, working close to each other, marching in actual contact with each other, the mouth of one close to the ear of the other, do not talk!

“3. The inmate of an Auburn penitentiary becomes known by sight to a vast community of criminals, who, by their very life of crime, disperse in all directions. Whoever has been an inmate of an Auburn prison must fear at every step to meet with an acquaintance, to be exposed, to see his possible endeavours to live honestly frustrated, except he have a degree of moral fortitude which we cannot expect: his offence is the very evidence of this want.

“4. It is absolutely necessary that the community should have confidence in a prison. This can only be maintained by free access to it, either of every one who chooses to go, or of persons in whom the public repose confidence—properly elected inspectors. Yet every visiter gazing at the prisoner, when in common with others, is a new thrust at him, which removes him farther from society. Visits ought to be allowed but to very few indeed, and then made to the single prisoner, which cannot be the case in Auburn prisons. Still more objectionable is the permission given to females to visit the prison, as is the case, for instance, in Charlestown. It ought never to be done.

0162 142

“5. Finally, it is impossible, if the principle of cheapness shall be preserved, to give to the cells on the Auburn plan those dimensions and that character which are requisite, not to effect a feeling of comfort, but of calmness, without which, the prisoner must grow worse and worse. Penned up in a very narrow cell, gloomy and every way striking the mind of the prisoner with the horrid reality that he is debased; that the man in him is not appealed to, he cannot be expected to soften in thought and feeling.

“We think, then, that the Auburn system does not effect what it strives to effect; does not afford an accommodable punishment; does not sufficiently prevent the growing worse of the convict; does not obtain the highest effect with the smallest means; requires physical violence to be maintained, and, therefore, irritates anew; is not well calculated for that religious or intellectual instruction which the criminal requires; does not prevent entirely contamination, and does not calm the prisoner; while it offers no other advantage than that of saving money in the first outlay, which, we think, is vastly overbalanced by the steady, sure, mild, yet effective mode of the Pennsylvania system, and we therefore believe the latter to be greatly preferable.

“When I came to this country many years ago, I knew nothing of the merits of either system. My attention was first drawn to the Auburn penitentiaries. I was struck with their great superiority over other prisons; when I became acquainted, however, with the Pennsylvania system, it appeared to me superior, and every year's observation of both systems, as well as my reading on the subject, have confirmed my opinion more and more.”

There are still many, however, who cling to the Auburn System, some because, having once advocated it, they are unwilling to change: and others because it is troublesome to examine evidence, and easier to abide by opinions once entertained. It is important therefore, that the objections to it, and its contrast with the superior results of the Solitary System of Pennsylvania, should be made extensively known. 0163 143 There is, perhaps, no one subject that can engross public attention, on which it is more important to arrive at correct conclusions, than that of the connexion between crime and punishment; and the best mode of uniting with the latter effective processes for reforming and restoring the criminal to mankind. Though Beccaria was neglected, Howard laughed at, and Romilly and Bentham treated with contempt, for their noble efforts to enlighten the world on the subject of criminal jurisprudence; and though a similar fate, though with less virulence of persecution and scorn, has awaited many worthy efforts of humbler men to enlist mankind in improving and restoring criminals rather than destroying them, still the period is fast approaching when such efforts will be treated with the respect they deserve. It is, for this reason, important to diffuse as widely as possible, correct opinions on this subject.

Dr. Lieber, whose opinions are of the highest value, because of the favourable opportunities he has had of forming them—and because they are in opposition to his first impressions, which with all men are so difficult to be abandoned for more just ones—is powerfully supported by other authorities, to the full as important and unobjectionable; namely, William Crawford, Esq., and Whitworth Russell, Esq. Inspectors of Prisons for the Home District in England, both of whom had been sent to America for the express purpose of inspecting the prisons of this country, and had given them all the most thorough examination. Their second report, addressed to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, is specially 0164 144 intended to lay before the British government their opinions of the “Silent System,” as far as they had witnessed its operation in such few of the prisons of England as had yet adopted it. They admit its decided superiority to the old system of criminal association, which had hitherto been universally followed in the prisons of Great Britain: but they still contend that it is greatly inferior to the “Separate System” of Philadelphia; and in the developement of their opinions, and the statement of the facts and reasons on which these are founded, they specially advert to the discipline of the prison at Auburn, which they had carefully examined; and express their convictions in the following terms:

“We will next consider the evil of recognition, with reference to its effects upon a prisoner who may be led or inclined to repent of his guilt, and to resolve upon an honest course of life. Whether the man really repents, or feels an inclination to return to honest courses, or to listen with serious attention to the admonitions which he may have received, this evil will operate upon him with a disastrous influence. In the former case, by steady perseverance in the path of industry and honesty, he may succeed in gaining the character of a useful member of society; but he will live in constant apprehension of having his good name suddenly and irremediably forfeited by the recognition of an abandoned fellow-prisoner, who may be tempted to expose the past delinquencies of the penitent, of whom, but for the previous acquaintance in prison, he might never have had the slightest knowledge. The separated, isolated villain is comparatively innoxious; it is combination—concentration of force, talent, and artifice—that renders wickedness formidable to society; and this combination is effected, consolidated, and organized, within the walls, or at the very gate, of the prison, more than anywhere else.”

There remains, after this, but one other branch of 0165 145 this subject, to make the review of it complete; and that is, to contrast with these proved disadvantages of the Auburn system the great superiority and complete efficiency of the Philadelphia system; and this can be in no way so effectually done as by laying before the reader the brief yet comprehensive summary of Dr. Lieber, as contained in his letter already referred to. In enumerating the benefits of the union of uninterrupted solitude with labour, which is the characteristic of this system, he says—

“1. It prevents, effectually, contamination, and it alone can effectually prevent it. It allows the offender, at any rate, not to grow worse.

“2. It is essentially both a stern and a humane punishment; stern, because solitude is stern in its character, and especially so to men, who nearly, without exception, have spent their lives in boisterous intercourse with fellow-criminals; and humane, because it is a privation rather than an infliction. It is mild, and acknowledged as such by the offenders themselves, after the first irksomeness of solitude has passed, especially if they have passed previously through several other prisons or penitentiaries.

“3. It is emphatically graduable and accommodable as no other species of punishment. The offender, undisturbed by others, or by new inflictions of punishment, receives from solitude just that impression which his peculiar case or disposition calls for or is capable of.

“4. Advice and exhortation can be adapted to each single case in no other punishment, so precisely and justly like moral medicine, as in solitary confinement. The religious adviser, assistant, and comforter, can enter the solitary cell at any time, and, as all religious conversations with a convict must have much of the character of a confession, the undisturbed cell, overheard by no one, is the very place for this converse. In no other penitentiaries can this religious instruction he given so effectually

“5. Solitude is the weightiest moral agent to make the thoughtless thoughtful—to reflect, and the only one sufficiently powerful 0166 146 for the criminally thoughtless. Solitude has been sought by the wisest and best of mankind, to prepare themselves for great moral tasks; it is the only means to bring the offender to a more rational course. Labour united with solitude, gives steadiness to the thought, and makes it possible to support solitude with ease for those who have not been accustomed to abstract reflection before.

“6. It is the only punishment known, which does not irritate anew, does not challenge opposition in mind or body; for it is the only punishment which can dispense with the whip or other means of coercing to obedience, because it takes away the opportunity of offending anew, with the exception of such offences as destroying instruments or materials, for which again the more negative disciplinary means of withholding labour or diminishing rations are sufficient.

“7. It makes the lonely prisoner love labour as faithfully as the dearest companion—a companion who will be with him for life.

“8. It does not deaden shame by exposure; on the contrary, it shames many into repentance by its absence of all harshness, as I frequently have found. It does not inflict on those who have a strong sense of shame, the additional punishment of exposure.

“9. It does not expose the convict to acquaintance, even by night, with other criminals, who out of the prison form a very compact fraternity; to escape from the clutches of which, forms the most difficult obstacle in the way of resuming an honest life. The history of innumerable convicts proves this.

“10. It contradicts, for the first time, by irresistible fact, the convicts in their belief that society is at war with them, in which they please themselves so much, that frequently they argue as if they were the hunted, the pursued, the injured.

“11. The punishment has, therefore, what I have called an elevating character. It touches the man in the convict, not the brute. The convict sees himself treated as one on whom far different things than stripes can have an effect.

“12. It is, perhaps, the only punishment which allows us to select men for superintendents of prisons, in whom sternness does not overbalance kindness.

“13. It trains the convict in cleanliness, and paying attention to the neatness of his dwelling; it imparts an attention to the 0167 147 room, which becomes the incipient stage of love of home, with those who have lived in slouchy disregard of it. It is an old English saying, full of meaning, ‘cleanliness is next to godliness.’ A strictly cleanly man of the labouring classes will never be so much exposed to offend against the laws, as a disorderly, dirty person. Cleanliness, a highly important ingredient of national civilization, is equally such in political reform.

“14. All the reasons given in favour of the Pennsylvania plan assume still higher importance with the youthful or first offenders, because their minds are yet more ready to receive good impressions, and they have not yet formed that close association with criminals of older standing.

“15. It appears to me a great advantage of the Pennsylvania system that the prisoner is not prevented, by false shame, from lending his ear to better counsel, and gradually changing for the better.

“16. The convict thinks in kindness of his keepers, and the memory of the penitentiary is not a galling sore, when he has left it, and chooses to live by his labour.

“17. This system depends less upon the skill of the officers, or a long apprenticeship, than the Auburn system, in order to make it answer at all. The Pennsylvania system, therefore, is easier to be introduced.

“18. It is sufficient with our race, and at the stage of civilization we are now in, and no more, which is what a punishment ought to be. This point, which by experience alone, i.e. by close and circumspect observation of reality, not by hasty numbers and rash conclusions, can be decided, appears so to us; and none of us have seen reason as yet to change his opinion.

“19. Finally, it offers the greatest security, being, in this, superior to all other species of imprisonment.”

It is impossible to add to this, without weakening its force, except to say that the most careful examination and most mature deliberation make me concur in all the writer's sentiments on this subject; and if any apology should be deemed neeessary for citing them at such length, it is to be found in the conviction 0168 148 that there is no one subject more important to the interests of humanity, than the right treatment of criminals, and to no country is this of greater importance than to England.

The town or village of Auburn, in which this State-prison is seated, contains about 900 houses and 6,000 inhabitants. It has seven churches, which are highly ornamental to the town; a beautiful court-house, with an Ionic portico and circular colonnade, supporting a dome, and crowned by a lantern, all in the best architectural taste; an academy, and a museum. The villas on either side of the town are among the prettiest we had seen; and the houses of the interior are substantial and spacious. The American Hotel is an excellent establishment; the streets are well-proportioned; the river Owasco runs through a part of the town, passing by the State-prison, and furnishes water-power for mills and manufactures: and, taken altogether, we thought it, from our first and second impressions, to be one of the prettiest towns on the western route.

0169
CHAP. VII.

Journey to Syracuse—Male academy and Female seminary—Salt springs at Salina—Water-lime—Rail-road—Locks—Canal— Tunnel under the canal—Depth of vegetable mould—Spontaneous vegetation—Muster of the militia—Unpopularity of this body—Museum of Syracuse—Scriptural group of Saul, Samuel, and the Witch of Endor—Onondaga Indians.

We left Auburn on the morning of Monday the 10th of September, at seven o'clock, and travelled by the rail-cars on a wooden rail-road, drawn by two horses, to Syracuse, the distance being twenty-five miles, and the time occupied about three hours. We found comfortable accommodations at the Syracuse House Hotel, and remained there for two days.

The town of Syracuse is one of the most recently settled of all the larger places along this route, it being not more than twelve years since the first house in it was built; yet it already possesses about 800 dwellings, many large warehouses and stores, an excellent hotel, with many smaller but still comfortable public inns, a bank, a court-house, seven churches, including Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Universalist, and Unitarian, and a population of nearly 7,000 persons. It is pleasantly situated, having the Onondaga lake, about a mile 0170 150 from its north-western edge, and fine undulating hills, with the elevated village of Onandaga, formerly the county-town, on its southern border; while gentler elevations, east and west, connect it with the level land that extends along the line of the great Erie canal, in these directions. Syracuse, indeed, like many other places along this tract, owes its first existence and its present prosperity to this canal, which has caused many villages and towns to spring up and flourish along its whole extent, that, without its agency, would not, for many years at least, have been erected.

At this moment Syracuse enjoys the benefit of lying both in the stage route, and in the line of canal conveyance from the Hudson to lake Erie; so that more than 1000 persons, by all the different conveyances, pass through it, on an average, in each day. A rail-road is in progress from hence to Utica, which cannot fail to increase this number greatly; and the elements of prosperity in and around the town itself are so abundant, as to make it certain that in a very few years its size and population will be doubled.

The streets are regular, and of great breadth, from 80 to 100 feet; the houses and stores are, many of them, of stone and brick; and few, except the original buildings, continue to be of wood. The court-house is a large and substantial edifice, though it lies beyond the verge of the town on the north, instead of being, as is usual in similar cases, in the centre. The cause of this inappropriate situation is said to have been a contest between the neighbouring villages of Salina and Syracuse, as to which should have the 0171 151 court-house, and thus bring to it the transaction of the county business; when the relative strength of the rival parties was found to be so nearly balanced that a compromise was recommended, which was agreed upon, and, like most compromises, satisfied neither party; for the Court-house now stands nearly midway between the two villages, and in a position equally inconvenient to both.

A fine academy for the education of male youths stands on the eastern verge of the town. It is a substantial brick structure, and cost 20,000 dollars in the erection. It has at present 60 pupils, and is increasing in reputation. It was founded at first by individual subscription in shares; but now receives, like other public institutions of this nature, an annual grant in aid from the legislature of the State, in proportion to the number of pupils engaged in studying the higher branches of education. A female seminary has also been just established at Syracuse, in which a classical and mathematical, as well as an ornamental education, will be given to young ladies on nearly the same plan, and at the same expense, as at the Ontario Female Seminary at Canandaigua; so rapidly are the means of education multiplying all around, to keep pace with the increasing population.

In the immediate vicinity of Syracuse are some remarkable Salt Springs, which are producing great gain to their proprietors, affording extensive occupation to labourers, yielding a considerable revenue to the State, and attracting population every day to this quarter. There are four special localities in which these springs are at present worked; and around 0172 152 each, a village of some size has gathered. There is one at Salina, one at Liverpool, and one at Geddes, three villages surrounding the borders of the Onondaga Lake, (which is 6 miles long and 2 miles broad) distant from each other only two or three miles, and one at Syracuse, an equal distance from them all.

We visited Salina, the oldest and largest of these Springs, in company with the superintendent, Mr. Wright, to whom we had been introduced by Mr. Marsh of the Syracuse bank, who accompanied us also in our excursion, and from both of whom we received every information and attention we could desire. It appears that the Salt Spring here was well known to the Onondaga Indians inhabiting the borders of this Lake, long before any white settlers had come among them; and they had discovered it in the usual way of tracking the wild deer to it, when they came at certain seasons, to lick the salt from off the surface of the earth; the spot being hence called, in the language of the country, “a deer-lick.” Since the settlement of the whites, however, the value of this spring has became well known, and accordingly extensive works for the manufacture of salt have gradually sprung up all around; so that what the grain and flour trade is doing for Rochester, the salt-trade appears to be accomplishing for Syracuse.

The four Salt Springs, already named, are found at the depths of from 50 to 100 feet beneath the surface. From thence the water is pumped up by a waterpower taken from the surplus or waste waters of the Oswego canal. It comes out of the earth in the purest and most transparent state of clearness, at the rate of about 300 gallons per minute; and here, at 0173 153 Salina, it is forced up to a height of nearly 200 feet above the level of the soil, to admit of its being supplied, from a general reservoir, to the salt-works of Salina and Syracuse, the latter a distance of a mile and half; as the Syracuse spring is not sufficiently abundant as to supply the works of the town, and the villages of Geddes and Liverpool use their own springs for their manufacture.

The mode of producing the salt is partly by solar evaporation of the water from shallow vats, partly by boiling the water in large cauldrons or kettles, imbedded over an extensive furnace, and partly by passing hot air in metallic tubes through the water in vats, instead of exposing it to solar or furnace heat. The saltness of the water furnished by these springs may be judged of by the fact, that 40 gallons of it will produce a bushel of salt, by either of the processes named, whereas it takes 360 gallons of the sea-water of the ocean to produce the same result: the amount of actual salt in the spring water is just 60 per cent; the taste being that of pure salt, without any foreign admixture.

At Salina, the quantity of salt made, varies from 12,000 to 16,000 bushels per day; but from all the four springs, at least 25,000 bushels per day are produced. The quantity of wood consumed as fuel in the furnaces—though the greater portion of the salt is made by solar evaporation—is at least 600 cords per day, or not less, at the least, than 200,000 cords per annum, each cord weighing on the average about two tons. Already, indeed, the apprehension begins to be entertained that wood-fuel will be scarce, though the forests have been but a few years under the 0174 154 axe; and measures are even now in contemplation for bringing up supplies of coals, by the Ohio and Lake Erie, from the western parts of Pennsylvania. As the springs have never yet failed, or even sensibly diminished, and have never been known to freeze, the manufacture goes on throughout the entire year, where the furnace and the heated tubes are used; and those works depending on solar evaporation are only interrupted during the short period of extreme severity in the winter.

In all the treaties for the purchase of lands from the Indians, and the sale of estates to private individuals, the State government reserves to itself the right to all minerals and mineral springs that exist at the time, or may be subsequently discovered; and accordingly the right to work such mines or springs is leased out by the State government to chartered companies, or private individuals, on easy terms. The revenue arising from this goes to the general fund of the State, and saves taxation in any other shape. This particular impost of 6 cents or three-pence English per bushel, paid as a salt-tax by the consumer, is by law appropriated to the liquidation of the debt contracted in making the Erie canal, so that when this debt is extinguished, the tax, small as it is, will cease. At the recommendation of the State geologists, who have been recently employed in making an accurate geological survey of the State of New York, and whose last report presented to the legislature is full of interest, the director of the works at Salina is causing the earth to be bored to a depth of 600 feet, in order to ascertain whether any bed of mineral salt may be found in the strata; it 0175 155 being at present wholly unknown from whence these springs derive their strong saline qualities, and whether they are impregnated from beds near or remote.

The Seneca river runs along at the north-western end of the Onondaga lake, and opens for it a communication with the Oswego river, which again communicates with Lake Ontario; so that while by means of the Erie canal Syracuse can send her supplies of salt to the Hudson river and New York on the Atlantic, and by Buffalo to Detroit and Chicago on the upper lakes of Michigan and Huron, she can also supply, by the Oswego communication, the whole of Upper and Lower Canada across the Lake Ontario. Already there is an export of more than 2,000 barrels per day, each barrel containing three bushels; and the cooperages here, though making this number of barrels, are beginning to devise means of increasing their supplies, by the introduction of an ingenious machine, which makes the staves, planes them, sets them up, and hoops and heads the barrel in an incredibly short space of time, so that they will soon be able to meet any demand made upon them.

Near the salt springs, a peculiar kind of lime is found in great quantities, which is called “waterlime;” it has the peculiar property of forming a cement which hardens under water, and it is, therefore, much better adapted to submarine masonry, such as bridges, locks, sides of canals, and works of this description, than any other cement yet known. Large quantities of this are used along the line of the Erie canal, and a still greater proportion is continually exported to different parts of the Union.

0176 156

After inspecting the salt works, we went to see the labours now carrying forward, connected with the enlargement of the Erie canal, and with the making of the new rail-road from Syracuse to Utica, which both lie at a small village called Lodd, about a mile to the eastward of the town. In this excursion we were accompanied by Mr. Wilkinson, the engineer of the rail-road, whose ready communication of all the information we wished was as agreeable as it was advantageous.

The extent of this rail-road will be 52 miles; and the estimated cost of the whole line, for every mile of which the contracts are in actual operation, will be 800,000 dollars. It was begun in the autumn of last year, and will be completed in the autumn of the next; so that the whole will have been executed in two years. There are at present upwards of 5,000 labourers employed in different parts of it; and it is expected that in the next spring and summer 10,000 at least will be required. Those now employed are nearly all English and Irish, with a very few Germans. The English are generally employed in excavating the line of road by contract, and are paid eight cents, or fourpence English, per cubic yard, at which rate they make easily 1 dollar 25 cents, or five shillings sterling per day.

The Irish are employed as labourers at day-work, and are paid a dollar per day. In all the contracts made with the men, it is expressly stipulated that no spirits shall be drunk by any of them; and the penalty of disobedience is immediate discharge. They are thus uniformly sober, and those disgraceful riots which so often take place among the labourers 0177 157 employed on the canals and rail-roads in England, are here unknown. The appearance, order, and good condition of the workmen is as striking as their sobriety; and, large as are the numbers working together, the mere absence of intoxicating drink is such as to make them indisposed to any violence, either of conduct or language. The instances of men's leaving are very few indeed; and none substitute any other beverage except tea, coffee, milk, or water, upon which, the engineer assured us, they performed their work better, and with less fatigue, than he had ever known men do it, who drank either spirits, cider, or beer. This rail-road is undertaken by a company of shareholders, who have a charter from the State government for fifty years; but during all this period, their maximum rate of charge for passengers is fixed at four cents each, or twopence English, per mile.

The part of the works which attracted our greatest admiration was a double set of locks making for the enlarged canal; and an arched tunnel of stone for the rail-road to pass under the canal. They were each as fine specimens of masonry as could be seen in any country, whether for the material, the size of the blocks, or the excellence of the workmanship. The stone is a hard and compact limestone, little inferior to granite, of which there are immense quarries in the Onondaga hills, to the south of the town, extending over a range of six miles in length, and producing masses of any size, without veins, shales, or fissures. The stone, indeed, is so much valued for massive works, that the Rochester aqueduct across the Genessee river, by means of a bridge, is 0178 158 now constructing of it; and thousands of tons are exported along the Erie canal every year, this and the water-lime being in equal repute and demand.

In consequence of the softness of the soil in some parts over which the rail-road is to run, it was deemed necessary to drive down large piles perpendicularly, and, making their upper ends level, to place the rails along upon these. It was found, however, that the soil of loose earth, or pure vegetable mould, was so deep as to descend in some places 60 feet, before the piles obtained a firm footing; and the average depth of this mould was from 30 to 40 feet throughout. This discovery has already raised the value of the land all along this part of the tract, which is moreover close to the town of Syracuse, at Lodi. In this spot, therefore, may be seen, from the same point of view, newly-cleared patches of forest land, with all the stumps of the trees yet remaining in the soil; and within a few yards of this, grand works of masonry going on, in double locks for the enlarged canal, and a subaqueous tunnel for the rail-road, on a scale of magnitude, and in a style of workmanship, which would have done honour to the old Sicilian Syracuse herself; so that, if the tyrant Dionysius could rise from his grave, and be transported here, he would not be ashamed of the young efforts of the infant Syracuse of the West.

This rich earthy mould, when taken up from the greatest depth, and spread out on the surface, vegetates spontaneously, producing a variety of the ordinary shrubs and grasses, from seeds previously imbedded at these great depths in the earth, and 0179 159 germinating only when brought to the surface. When a manure of gypsum is laid over it, the production is invariably a fine crop of white clover; but when no particular preparation of it is made, the produce is of various kinds, but mostly similar to the surrounding productions of the country. On this subject, the following observations of Mr. Latrobe are worth quoting, as they corroborate the view here taken, though applied to other localities. He says,

“No sooner does the axe of the woodman, or the accidental burning of the forests, destroy one class of trees and brushwood, a class that may have apparently covered the soil for centuries, than another race, perfectly distinct, rises, as though by magic, from the disturbed and discoloured soil, and covers it with beauty. The proofs of the almost universal principle of spontaneous vegetation throughout both the forest and prairie lands of the New Continent, are so well known and acknowledged, as to need no additional confirmation at the present day. We have met with continual evidences of its truth in the east and the west.

“It would seem that the seeds of one class of plants and forest trees must be deposited, by some catastrophe, beyond the action of light, heat, and atmospheric air—where they lie, supplanted by another growth, and are forgotten; preserving, however, the vital principle for centuries, in a dormant or torpid state, till accident or tillage brings them to a position favourable to their reproduction to light and life. Thus it is that marl dug from pits thirty feet deep in some parts of the Union, on being spread over the soil, becomes instantly covered with white clover: and in New Jersey this is the case with mud taken up from the bottom of the Delaware, and used for purposes of manure.”

During our stay at Syracuse, the militia of the State was mustered, and reviewed; and we had a repetition of many of the scenes we had previously witnessed at Rochester, though they were here presented in a broader and more ludicrous light. To 0180 160 supply the place of a standing army, each State has a militia of its own; and to this body legally belongs every male person in the State, between the ages of 18 and 45, who are not exempted by law on account of public service rendered in some other shape. They furnish their own dresses, arms, and accoutrements, and are called out for muster four times in the year. The penalty of non-attendance is five dollars for each private, and for the officers larger sums in proportion: but a great number prefer paying the fine to giving their personal attendance; and the amount of the fines is appropriated to the fund of the State for military purposes.

Those to whom the payment of the fine is inconvenient, and who therefore attend in person, have laboured for some time past to bring the whole muster and exercise into ridicule, and they certainly succeeded at Syracuse at least. For many years, according to the testimony of most persons, the military spirit has been upon the decline in the United States; war is looked upon as irreligious and unprofitable, and for both these reasons it is unpopular; and, as a consequence of this, less veneration is felt and less honour shown towards the members of the military profession than formerly. It is found that internal peace is best preserved by the reciprocal action of mutual interests between man and man; and certainly, except in the slave states, and when anti-abolition riots are got up in the free ones, the condition of the whole population is so sober and orderly, that no force, civil or military, is ever necessary to be called in, to maintain the public peace.

0181 161

Being thus secure from internal disorder, the people think they have nothing to fear from external aggression; and if they had, these four days' muster and exercise in the year would not prepare men for better resisting it, while the personal service and exhibition is an inconvenient tax upon the time and labour of the middle classes of the community. They are therefore anxious to get rid of this useless service altogether; and for this purpose they do all they can to make it ridiculous, obeying the law while it is law, but operating as much as they can on public opinion to get it repealed.

The muster began in the following manner. A drummer and fifer paraded through the public streets, beating a quick march; these were first joined by one recruit or militia-man, in his ordinary working-dress, but with a leathern belt, musket, and fixed bayonet. He was soon joined by another, in a frock, with a musket, and, in lieu of a bayonet, a tall white feather stuck in the barrel. Next to him followed a party of young men, dressed grotesquely on purpose, each with wooden poles of different heights, thickness, and colours; then a man in uniform, well equipped; after him a dozen others all differently dressed, and so they accumulated their numbers as they marched along, all following in single file from street to street in succession. A second band, composed of two long drums, two fifes, and a bugle, beat up for a second party, which they picked up one by one in the same manner. After this a third band, and then a fourth and fifth, till about noon there were perhaps a dozen different bands, all very feeble, followed each by from VOL. III M 0182 162 50 to 100 militia-men, in every conceivable variety of dress and accoutrements, and all in studied irregularity and disorder.

They then met all together in the open square near the centre of the town, and were there joined by the staff, on horseback; when the bands all united in one, the long drums being the most numerous of the instruments. Forming in double file, they were next marched away to the parade-ground in the field, about a mile off, and there exercised in the manual exercise, which was perhaps the most ridiculous of ail, as every one studied to do the thing he was not commanded to do, and to leave undone the thing that he was commanded to do. The officers being just as averse to this drilling as the men, took no pains to correct these defects, so that no one could be improved by such a muster as this.

After parade they were marched back into the town again, both horse and foot being by this time literally covered with dust; and after a few evolutions displayed in the square, they were dismissed, and broke up in “most admired disorder.”

I inquired of those most competent to form an opinion on the subject, how it was that a law, so generally obnoxious as this, should so long remain upon the statute-book, and thus outlive its estimation in public opinion. The uniform answer I received to my inquiries was this—that a number of legal young men get appointed to county and municipal offices, in which they have to exercise a jurisdiction over the militia; that the profits arising from this were sufficient to induce them to act in concert, to preserve their privileges; and that their co-operative 0183 163 influence over the members of the State Legislature is sufficient to prevail upon them not to alter this law.

One great branch of expense, on which most of the fines for non-attendance are absorbed, is the holding of courts-martial over officers and men, for various alleged breaches of discipline. These courts are organized with all due formality, presided over by a judge advocate, and attended by witnesses, &c.; and the proceedings in them are carried on to a most vexatious length and inconvenient frequency, for the profit which they afford to the office-holders. This occasions great annoyance to the persons summoned, tried, and convicted, as well as even to those who may be acquitted, as to each and all of them the loss of time and expense is considerable. It is agreed on all hands, however, that this cannot last much longer.

One very pleasing feature of the scene was this: that though upwards of a thousand men had been all day in motion in the heat and dust, and must have been both thirsty and fatigued, we did not see a single instance of any one being intoxicated, or the least affected by liquor; nor were there, as there would have been at any English assemblage of this description, any booths or places for the sale of drink, strewing every man's path with temptation. The same general prevalence of temperance we observed all along our route; for neither at the public tables at which we dined, sometimes in company with 100 persons, nor even when the Canandaigua convention had drawn so many in from all parts of the country, did we see more, perhaps, than one solitary bottle of M 2 0184 164 wine on the table, almost everybody drinking water, and not seeming to desire any other substitute; indeed, we never once saw spirits, cider, or beer on any table, in all our extensive journey.

In the afternoon of our last day at Syracuse, we went to see the Museum, at which two fine large serpents, of the Anaconda tribe, were to be seen, just fresh from South America, imported in a ship to New York. This, like most of the museums we had yet seen in the country towns, was very poor in objects of natural history, or even in curiosities of any interest. They are not, as in England, attached to some literary institution, with a scientific man as a director, but they are the property of very unlearned persons, who use them as a sort of provincial theatre, for which they are in many instances a substitute. In the day-time a flag is hoisted on the building, or sometimes hung out of the window. A small band of three or four instruments is then employed to play at a balcony or other place in front; the band here consisted of a wretched violin, a hurdy-gurdy, and a long drum; but this seemed to attract passengers, who entered from the street, paid their shilling admission, gazed around their half hour, looked at the serpents, the stuffed beasts, and the wax-work figures, which attracted the largest share of attention, and then departed.

These wax-work figures, I observed, formed a prominent part of every provincial museum that I had yet seen. They represented, generally, prominent characters of the American revolution, and sometimes popular officers of the United States navy and army; but the resemblances were so imperfect, and the dress and 0185 165 accompaniments so awkward and ill-fitted, that the most intimate acquaintances would have found it difficult to recognize their friends, but for the inscription of their names over the figures themselves. There was one group here, however, which was even more attractive to the visitors than the figures of Washington, Franklin, and General Jackson; this was the Scriptural personages of King Saul, the Ghost of the prophet Samuel, and the Witch of Endor. The former was arrayed in all his royal robes, with his diadem on his head, though the Scriptural account of the interview represents Saul as disguising himself, by putting on other garments: the ghost of Samuel was dressed in a white calico sheet, thrown around his head and body, leaving only the face and beard visible: and the Witch of Endor was dressed in an old-fashioned English gown of black bombazeen, with a long waist and stays, her head covered with a pointed hat like the witches in Macbeth, and over her shoulders was a printed cotton handkerchief of Glasgow or Manchester manufacture! Yet this was thought an admirable group, and was evidently the most attractive of all the objects contained in the Museum. At night, a cheap theatre for farces, songs, dances, and similar entertainments, is opened; and this being frequented by labourers and children, forms the chief source of their revenue.

During our stay at the Museum, there were many Indians present, especially women and children, many of them very gaily dressed, with scarlet blankets, feathers, beads, and trinkets, and all appearing to enjoy the music very much, as well as to be greatly amused with the effect of a very poor electrical machine 0186 166 on those who held its chain. I ascertained, on inquiry, that these Indians belonged to the tribe of the Onondagas, who have a small settlement near Syracuse, and that free admission is given to them whenever they come to town; as the sight of them in the windows and about the buildings, draws strangers to enter, for the sake of seeing them more at leisure than they could do in passing the streets. The females were more than usually gay and attractive in their apparel, and appeared, from their smiling countenances and flaunting manner, to have learnt the art of coquetry from the whites, in which their visit to the Museum for the purpose of attracting others, gave them abundant opportunities of practice, without much improvement to their morals.

0187
CHAP. VIII.

Journey from Syracuse to Utica — Beauty of the country — Commencement of the autumnal tints — Fruitfulness of American orchards—Fruit given to feed cattle, instead of making cider— Lectures at Utica — Description of the city — History and progressive increase—Convention of the Whigs—Excursion to Trenton Falls — Stratification of the rocky bed — Fossil remains — Favosite—Description of the Falls—Fatal accidents—Beauty of the scenery—Variety of views—Comparison with Niagara— Journey from Utica to Schenectady—Beauty of the Mohawk valley—Journey from Schenectady to Saratoga.

Having examined everything of interest in and around Syracuse, we left that town for Utica on Wednesday, the 12th of September, taking, as was our usual practice where rail-roads did not exist, an extra-coach for our party, and thus travelling at our ease and pleasure. We left Syracuse at half-past eight, and reached Utica about five, being thus more than eight hours in performing a distance of fifty miles, though we had a lightly-laden coach, and four good horses all the way; but the roads are really so bad, even in what the people of the country think the best parts of them, that the travelling is both slow and fatiguing in a very high degree. I think 200 miles might be performed in England with much less muscular motion, and with far less sense of fatigue, than 50 miles on the stage-roads of America.

As our route was the same as that by which we had before travelled when going westward, we 0188 168 observed nothing new, beyond those changes which the more advanced state of the season had produced. The beautiful and extensive landscape views were as striking as ever, and impressed us at every step with the boundless fertility of the country, and the certainty of its future greatness, when an increased population shall have filled up all the present unoccupied tracts of forest and uncleared land, of which there are still millions of acres untouched by the axe of the woodman. The harvest of grain had all been gathered in, and was unusually abundant. The autumnal tints had begun to appear upon the trees, and gave additional richness to the foliage; and the orchards, of which we saw hundreds in the course of our journey, many adjoining the road-side, others attached to isolated dwellings, and others intermingled with the woods and fields, were literally bending beneath the weight of their fruit.

Abundant, however, as is the supply, from the orchards of this part of the country, scarcely any of their produce is now devoted to the making of cider. The temperance societies have proved, to the entire satisfaction of the farmer, that it is more economical and more profitable to him to feed his cattle on the fruit than to convert it into a beverage which does not benefit, any more than simple water would do, those who use it ever so moderately, and which greatly injures those who take it to excess. This new appropriation of the fruits of the orchard to food, instead of drink, being found by experience to be the most profitable to the grower, is likely to remain permanent, and cider has accordingly disappeared as a general beverage of the peasantry.

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We remained in Utica three days, on the evenings of which I delivered three lectures descriptive of the monuments of Egypt, to a smaller audience than any I had yet found, in either of the towns of the State, the number scarcely exceeding 100, though the population is above 12,000. This was the more remarkable, as the lectures were announced under the auspices of a committee, at the head of which was the Mayor of the city, the President of the Young Men's Association, and about a dozen of the most influential and important men of the place. I learnt from these, however, that Utica was undoubtedly far behind many towns of much less population, in literary taste; and that consequently the number who took any interest in promoting the diffusion of literary information, was comparatively few indeed; while the great majority of the community were so immersed in business, that they could not, or would not, afford the time to turn aside from their ordinary occupations for any thing but food and rest, and even to these they devoted much less time than the demands of nature for both require. This is, indeed, characteristic of the business-men of the country generally, who are so entirely absorbed in their various pursuits, that any and everything which does not strictly advance these, is thought to be unworthy of their attention; a fault, which time alone is likely to correct.

Utica is very pleasantly situated, and is a remarkably fine town. It stands on the southern bank of the Mohawk river, just before its entrance into the valley of that name, and the great Erie Canal (now in progress of enlargement here) passes right through 0190 170 its centre. It is a much older place than Buffalo or Rochester, though not so large or so populous as either. A fort existed here, called Fort Schuyler, long before the war of the revolution, some remains of which are still visible; and in its immediate neighbourhood a party of German settlers, who had fixed their abode here, were routed by the Indians, some being captured and made prisoners, and others, flying for safety, took shelter in some of the settlements farther east.

In 1784 the permanent settlement of this spot commenced by a single family, who took up their position about four miles west of Fort Schuyler: and in 1789 several other families were tempted to pitch their dwellings on the spot where Utica now stands. This nucleus once formed, soon drew others around it, and in 1798 it was advanced to a sufficient size to obtain a charter, as an incorporated village; so rapid was its increase after this, that in 1832 it rose to the dignity of a city, and was incorporated as such. The progressive increase of its population has been steady from the commencement, and is now going on with an accumulated force, as will be seen by the following return:

In 1813 it was 1700

1816 2828

1820 2972

1823 4017

In 1826 it was 6040

1828 7460

1830 8323

1835 9500

And in the present year, 1838, the population exceeds 12,000; the advantages of its position as a depôt of supplies for all the surrounding country, 0191 171 attracting merchants and traders every year to settle here.

The city, like all the other towns of this State, is well laid out; the streets regular, of ample breadth, 100 feet on the average, well furnished with flag-pavements for foot-passengers, and better paved in the centre than most places in this country. The wooden houses of the original settlers are almost wholly supplanted by large brick dwellings, and store-edifices of brick or stone. The stores are numerous and well furnished, and the whole place wears an air of great commercial activity, and prosperity.

Of public buildings there are an abundance proportioned to the population of the city, including a 0192 172 court-house, for the transaction of the county business, and no less than 18 churches, of which the Presbyterians have the greatest number; the others include Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, Universalists, and Unitarians. There axe, besides these, several institutions connected with education, and the diffusion of useful information; including a high-school, an academy, a female institute or seminary, a lyceum, a gymnasium, a museum, and a mechanics' hall, where the members of the Young Men's Association chiefly meet, and where a reading and newsroom is open to them, to which all strangers in the town have free admission. The materials for the cultivation of future literary taste are therefore provided and set in motion, though the effects hitherto produced by them all are only just beginning to be perceptible; but time, which is requisite for the accomplishment of all improvements, will bring the fuller development of this taste in its train. Business is the chief object and pursuit of all classes; and for the accommodation of persons thus engaged, nothing is wanting. There are five hotels, three banks, several insurance companies, three daily newspapers, several weekly ones, and a religious journal called “The Baptist Register,” as well as a magazine, published here.

During our stay at Utica, a whig convention was held, to determine on the whig candidates for the offices of governor and lieutenant-governor of the State, the election for which takes place in November next. The town was, therefore, very full; and the hotels so crowded that it was difficult to procure accommodation. To such conventions it is usual for 0193 173 each congressional district in the State to send as many delegates as they are entitled to send representatives to the legislature of the State. To this number, New York city, from its great population, contributes 11, while no other district sends more than 4. The State is divided into 33 congressional districts, by which votes are given for members of the Lower House, or House of Assembly, of which there are 128, and into 8 Senatorial districts, by which the votes are given for the members of the Upper House, or Senators, of which there are 32, each dictrict sending 4 members. The members of the Lower House are all elected annually, and those of the Upper House for four years, one member for each district going out each year, and the vacancy being filled up by an annual election. The suffrage for both houses includes every male citizen above 21 years of age, and the mode of voting is in both cases by ballot.

The convention, thus consisting of 128 members, corresponding with the number of the representatives in the House of Assembly, was quite full; but in addition to those who came officially, a great many of the citizens and voters were drawn in from the surrounding country as visitors and spectators. The meetings were all on one side, as usual in this country, and all the preliminary ones were secret. The public meeting at which the nomination took place was held in the court-house; and it having been ascertained by the preliminary meetings (this being indeed their object) which of the several persons named as candidates was likely to command the greatest number of votes, these were selected, and 0194 174 put in nomination, the majority yielding up their particular views or preferences in favour of the persons chosen by the majority; thus evincing that sort of unanimity which is shown by an English jury when the minority gives way to the majority, and present their verdict as unanimous; or by the cabinet ministers of England, when they make any public act what is called a “cabinet measure,” and come down to Parliament declaring themselves to be of one mind, and not only voting, but sometimes speaking in favour of a measure in the House, which they had just before opposed in the Council-chamber; the unanimity in each case being only obtained by a sacrifice of truth and principle.

From Utica we made an excursion to Trenton Falls, this being the nearest convenient point on the western route from which they can be visited. They are distant from Utica only 14 miles, in a northerly direction; but the roads are so much worse than the stage-roads in general, that it takes three hours, with the best horses, to accomplish the journey. We accordingly left Utica at eight o'clock, and reached the Hotel of the Falls at eleven, having stopped twice to water the horses by the way. The drive is beautiful, from the extensive and delightful views with which it abounds. From the ridge of the elevated land, that lies about midway between Utica and the Falls, the view is really superb: embracing distant mountains, successive ridges of forests, swelling uplands, and cultivated plains, containing every element that can contribute to the sustenance and enjoyment of their occupiers. The hotel is commodious and well furnished, and there are two or three 0195 175 villages with good inns on the road; so that every requisite accommodation can be procured.

The stream, on which the Trenton Falls occur, is called the West Canada Creek, though it is a river of some length, rising in the north of the State of New York, and joining its waters with the stream of the Mohawk, at a distance of 22 miles from the Falls. At this spot, the bed of the river is upwards of 100 feet below the upper edge of the banks, so that the stream itself is not visible until you are upon its very edge; but a dark and deep hollow between the eastern and western hills that overhang it on either side, indicates the course of the valley through which it runs.

The hotel is not more than 100 yards from the western bank; and this short way is through a thick mass of trees which ascend from the river close to the edge of the lawn. At the end of the walk, you arrive at the place of descent, where five broad ladders, or series of steps, with hand-rails, make the passage perfectly safe and easy to the bed of the stream. At the time of our visit the water was low, no rain having fallen for many weeks, so that we saw more of the rocky bed, and of the different strata composing it, than is visible when the water is high; though at the seasons when this is the case, in the months of April and November, the increased body of the flood gives greater force and grandeur to the Cataracts; but then, on the other hand, the difficulty and danger of visiting every part of them is much greater.

The depth of the rocky bed, over which the river runs, and on the sides of which we were now enabled 0196 176 to walk—is upwards of 100 feet from the top of the overhanging banks, and the breadth across the ravine at the top is about 200 feet. The stream, when at the fullest, is about 150 feet in breadth: but at the present time it did not exceed 50: and in some of the narrowest parts was less than 20. The sides of the lofty banks presented nearly perpendicular cliffs, exhibiting a vast number of thin strata or laminæ of transition-rock, of which the patient perseverance of Mr. Sherman, (grandson of Robert Sherman, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence,) has counted 400 separate layers, varying from one to eighteen inches thick. The lower strata are of what is called compact fœtid carbonate of lime, and these abound most with organic or fossil remains; each layer, however, having fossils peculiar to itself. Some of the middle strata, about 0197 177 50 feet below the upper surface, contained shells like those in the bed of the Genessee river at Rochester; others, the 400th stratum particularly, contained trilobites, of which, it is said, no perfect specimens have been obtained entire, except at this spot, either in Europe or America; and even here it is very difficult to get them without their being more or less mutilated.

Its generic name, first given by Dr. Dekay, of New York, is the Isotelas Gigas. Its ordinary size is from one to two inches long, from half an inch to an inch broad, and from a quarter of an inch to half an inch thick: its head is unusually large for the size of its body, occupying one-fourth its whole length, and its body is divided longitudinally into three lobes, (from whence its name,) with transverse stripes, like rings, or ridges, or scales, overlapping each other. They occur abundantly at Dudley in Warwickshire, being found in the limestone there, and were at first called “Dudley fossils.” They are now known, however, to be abundant in other parts of England, always in limestone, and some have also been found in Germany and Sweden, but the most perfect specimens are said to be here: one recently obtained by the keeper of the hotel, and which we saw, was the largest ever found, being 8 inches in length by 4 in breadth, beautifully marked, and perfect in all its parts: he asked 300 dollars, or £60 sterling, for it, and believed he should get 500 dollars for it, if he kept it a few years!

The animal, now extinct, having a sort of slip at the termination of the side-lobes, like an Indian paddle, it is inferred that it could readily swim, and 0198 178 these slips being not only movable, but crustaceous, it is also conjectured that it could as readily crawl at the bottom of the sea, to which it once belonged. Another fossil is found here, called the Favosite, on which Mr. Sherman has the following curious observations:—

“I have hazarded, to several, the novel conjecture, that the Favosite—found here in the greatest abundance, from one-eighth of an inch to six inches in diameter at the base, and from two to nine superstructures, some containing 6 or 800,000 columns—is a miniature exemplification of columnar basaltes at the Giants' Causeway and other places; which, if my conjecture is correct, must have been the production of a gigantic order of marine antediluvian (not to say antimundane) polypi. Whether the substance which composes these columnar forms is lime, silex, basalt, or other substance, so exactly do they correspond to each other in their prominent but very singular peculiarities, that I am unable to doubt it. There is one single point only, in which I have not had opportunity to make a comparison, viz., as to the circular perforations in the parities of the cell, by which the mass becomes one connected system. I am not advised whether any such thing has been observed in columnar basaltes, i. e. in the prism, or space of column, between the articulations. The hollow specimens, or the weather-worn summits, are those alone where we are authorised to expect this demonstration, and where, in view of the entire correspondence in every particular, I have no doubt it can and will be found. It would be a miracle in nature, that there should be a perfect correspondence in twenty particulars, and yet a failure in the last. The basaltic columns must, of course, be mammoth favosites.”

From the depth of the ravine, the singular appearance of the countless lines of horizontal strata in the perpendicular cliffs, the rich clothing of foliage which crown these summits, and often lines their sides, the solitude of the spot, and the turbulent rushing and roaring of the waters, as well as the beauty 0199 179 and variety of the views either up or down the stream, the prospect was full of beauty, uniting the wildness and softness of nature in an unusual degree. We walked up from hence along the rocky platform of the western bank, which at the present time was perfectly easy, though, when the river is full, it is necessary to hold on by chains fastened to the cliff, to avoid the danger of falling into the stream—a fate that has befallen two young ladies, one, Miss Suydam, of New York, in 1827; and another, Miss Thorne, of the same city, a few years later.

This brought us to the first Falls, which are called Sherman's Falls, and are about thirty-five feet high. The appearance was picturesque rather than grand, and pleasing rather than sublime; the impression, even of the picturesque and pleasing, was derived more from the surrounding scenery, than from the Fall itself. A little below this, a safe and well-secured wooden bridge is thrown across the stream, by which a passage is effected to the eastern bank; and ascending thence to a height called the Pinnacle, a fine view is commanded of the upper and lower Falls, and the deep gorge of the ravine.

Descending again to the bed of the river, and recrossing the bridge, a series of ladders and paths lead higher up the western bank, along which you walk till you arrive at what are called the High Falls, of which there are three separate cascades, the upper one having a descent of forty-eight feet, the second eleven, and the third or last thirty-seven; the whole, including the perpendicular and sloping descents, making one hundred and nine feet. This is, on the whole, the finest point of the Falls, the scenery and the cataracts 0200 180 together forming a sublime and beautiful picture; and in the season of the floods, it must possess terror as well as beauty.

From hence we again ascended over the broken ledges of the rocks, the several strata of the limestone shaling off from each other, in thicknesses of from four to eight inches, making a series of natural steps, by each ledge projecting out below and in advance of the one above it; so that if persons possess confidence, nothing can be safer than the foot-hold obtained.

Above these high Falls, is a house of refreshment, where we were all glad to halt, and though the provender was very limited in variety—biscuits, cheese, and sweet cakes, being the only food to be obtained— neither bread nor butter being in the catalogue; yet our climbing exercise had given us appetites, for which anything wholesome had a rich zest; and here we halted, to repose and recruit. The view from hence is also exquisitely beautiful, and may be gazed upon for hours without tiring. There are three other Falls even above this, called “The Mill Dam,” “The Cascades,” and “The Upper Falls;” and each has beauties of its own that are quite worth the fatigue of the walk to examine and enjoy, though these cascades are not more than fourteen, eighteen, and twenty feet in perpendicular fall.

The winding path which leads from the last point of inspection, back to the hotel, is through a dense primeval forest, the shade of which was most grateful during the heat of the day, for our excursion occupied about three hours, from eleven to two. Besides the pleasure it afforded us from its shade, 0201 181 the path brought us every now and then to the immediate brink of the precipice overhanging the deep valley on its western edge, and gave us frequent opportunities of looking down into the magnificent ravine below. The whole difference of elevation between the point where the first rapid commences, just above the Upper Fall, to the place where the last rapid terminates, beyond the lowest, or Conrad's Fall, is 387 feet, in a distance of 5 miles; but in the walk along the edge of the western cliff from the High Falls to Sherman's Fall, and a little below it, the views are indescribably beautiful.

The scene wants the might and majesty of Niagara, with which, indeed, it ought never to be compared, because they are entirely dissimilar; but what it wants in size and grandeur, is made up fully in picturesque beauty, and in exquisite variety of view, changing at every point, and forcing the most indifferent to express their admiration. Altogether we were delighted with our excursion; and after dining at the hotel at two, we returned home by the same route, enjoyed a lovely sunset view of Utica glittering in the centre of the great plain on which it stands, and reached the city about six o'clock.

On the following morning, Sept. 16, we left Utica by the rail-road cars for Schenectady, starting at nine o'clock, and arriving at one, being thus four hours in performing a distance of 81 miles. Our route was through the beautiful valley of the Mohawk, which lost none of its charms on a second inspection, but presented a continued series of lovely landscapes, thickly-wooded hills, rich grazing plains, abundant cattle, the constantly-enlarging and ever-winding river, and flourishing 0202 182 villages all along the line. At Schenectady we were joined by a British officer, who had come out by the last London packet from England to New York, and was on his way to Montreal and Quebec, this being found a nearer route than the passage to Halifax or Canada direct. We took, at this place, the rail-road cars for Saratoga Springs, and reached there about half-past five o'clock; we found comfortable quarters at our former abode, the Union Hall Hotel, with very few visiters, and here we remained, therefore, for the night.

On the next morning, as the weather was delicious, we took a walk around the village; but nothing could be more striking than the solitude and silence in which it was now enwrapped, compared with the throng and bustle in which we left it six weeks ago. Then, it was estimated that there were more than 3,000 visitors from all parts of the Union, and every house, public and private, was full to overflowing. Now, there were not more than 70 strangers in the place, all of whom were stopping at Union Hall, as all the other large hotels had been closed during the preceding week. The spacious porticos and verandas of the Congress Hall and United States Hotel, that a few weeks ago were filled with the choicest specimens of the beauty and fashion of the United States, were now as solitary as the ruins of Babylon or Palmyra; and as a large number of the shop-keepers, as well as those forming the establishments of the hotels, are temporary residents for the season, these, too, had taken their flight; so that in a walk of two or three hours, through and around the village, we did not see half a dozen individuals.

0203 183

The few persons remaining at the hotel were real invalids, who came here, bona fide , for their health, some to take the waters, but others for the pure air and undisturbed tranquillity of the spot, and both of these could certainly be enjoyed in the highest degree of perfection at this moment. In the open air, the sun still continued to be warm; but at the same time there was a freshness in the air which made exercise as delightful as it was healthy. Within doors, however, a fire was agreeable; and the majority of the company seemed to prefer forming a circle round a blazing hearth, on which large logs of wood were continually supplied, to going out. and newspapers; books, and conversation beguiled their time.

In directing my inquiries as to our route from hence to Boston, I found that the one which would afford us the best opportunity to see the greatest extent and variety of country in our way, would be to go from hence to the commencement of Lake George, sail up that beautiful sheet of water to the ruined fort of Ticonderoga; there join the steam-boat from Whitehall on the following day, and go up Lake Champlain to Burlington; from thence cross over the hills of Vermont, by Montpelier, to the White Mountains in New Hampshire; and thence across the country to Portland in Maine, from which steam-boats go daily to Boston; for this route we accordingly prepared, sending a servant with our heavy baggage round from New York into Boston by sea.

0204
CHAP. IX.

Visit to Glen's Falls—Caldwell—Voyage up Lake George—Romantic scenery—Beautiful islands—Ruins of Fort Ticonderoga— Passage across Lake Champlain — Shoreham — Burlington steamer—Beautiful model and high order of this vessel—Scenery of Lake Champlain—Solar eclipse—Arrival at Burlington description of the town—Journey to Montpellier—Romantic scenery of the Green Mountains—Exquisite beauty of the autumnal tints—Montpellier, the capital of Vermont—State-house—History and description of Vermont—Resources and productions—Manufactures and commerce of the state—Increase of the population—Religious institutions—Journey from Montpellier to Danville—Extensive view—Elevation of the mountains—Thick forest—Gorgeousness of the trees—Danville—Village gossips—Inquisitiveness of the New England character—First bed with curtains, slept in, since leaving England.

On Monday the 17th of September, we left Saratoga Springs for Lake George, in the regular stage-coach that runs between these places. The distance was only 27 miles, but, though we left at one o'clock, we did not reach the end of our journey till nine: having been eight hours on the road, and with four horses, twice changed on the way, accomplishing only about three miles and half in the hour. The road, it must be admitted, was both hilly and sandy; but it was altogether the slowest rate of travelling we had yet experienced in the country. The only place of interest that we passed in the route, was the spot 0205 185 where we crossed the Hudson, at Glen's Falls. After Niagara and the Trenton Falls, the cataract here would be regarded as insignificant, though it is not without its share of interest. The actual perpendicular fall is 63 feet, though there is a steep angular descent of 500 feet at least: but at this season of the year the waters were low, and consequently the full effect of the cataract could not be seen. The bed of the river exhibits precisely the same appearances as those already described at Trenton Falls, where successive layers of limestone rock, formed by successive deposits and subsequent pressure, make up an immense bed of strata; and these are in many places so worn by the action of water, and broken off sharply by other causes, as to present regular series of steps.

There are two great cavernous avenues under one of these beds of rock, through which persons can easily pass, and on the walls of which are the names and initials of many former visitors; a custom far more extensively prevalent among the Americans than even among the English, who surpass all the nations of Europe in the indulgence of this propensity. I scarcely remember visiting any place at all remarkable in this country, without finding every accessible space of wall or surface covered with names, initials, and dates of visitors, and this extends even to the walls and windows of hotels and inns on the road: as if the parties thought it a wonderful achievement to have journeyed so far from home!

We found at Caldwell, the pretty village on the banks of Lake George, an extensive and commodious hotel, and there being but few visitors 0206 186 at this late period of the summer, we had our choice of apartments.

On the following morning we had to breakfast at 6, and embark in the steam-boat immediately after, for our voyage up Lake George. The morning was beautiful; and the dense white masses of cloud that hung upon the sides of the hills, and in some places were spread out upon the surface of the lake itself, contrasted strikingly and pleasingly with the green-topped hills, clothed with verdure to their very summits, which rose on every side above them. We proceeded up the lake, with few passengers besides ourselves, at a rate of about seven or eight miles an hour, and were delighted with every part of our way.

The lake is 36 miles in length, from north to south; but is generally very narrow, varying from one to four miles only in breadth. Its three principal features of beauty are, the lofty and wooded hills which enclose it on both sides, varying from 500 to 1500 feet in elevation: its numerous islands, said to exceed 300, of every variety of size, and full of the picturesque in form and feature; and the remarkable transparency of its waters, which admits a distinct view of the sandy and gravelly bottom, at a depth of 5 or 6 fathoms, and exhibits the movements of the fish with which these waters abound. The cause of this clearness of the water is no doubt the absence of any rivers or streams running into the lake; for these, by the soil they carry down in their course, always render the waters of lakes and seas more or less turbid; and to supply the annual waste by solar evaporation, there are many springs at the bottom, whose bubbling effervescence can be sometimes distinctly seen.

0207 187

The wooded hills near the southern extremity of the lake are mostly untenanted; but as you advance higher up towards the north, some of the lands near the borders of the water appear to be cleared, and farm houses and cattle indicate the presence of agricultural settlements. On several of the islands also are dwellings and farms, though by far the greatest number are uninhabited, and are as romantically wild and beautiful as the most ardent lover of the picturesque could desire.

About mid-way, in our passage up the lake, we passed through a strait, called the Narrows, which is little more than half a mile across in some parts, and varies from this to a mile, for a distance of a couple of leagues; the water is said to be so deep here, that no bottom has been found with a line of 500 feet in length. From hence, too, the mountains become loftier, and one eminence called the Black Mountain, rises to an elevation of 2,200 feet, while many others 0208 188 approach it nearly in altitude, and by their undulated forms and fine intervening valleys and ravines, add greatly to the richness of the scenery.

From the point of departure at Caldwell, near which are Sandy Hill, Bloody Pond, Fort George, and Fort William Henry, all the way up to the point of landing at Ticonderoga, there is a continued succession of military relics, in ruined forts, and well-known battle-grounds, which deeply interest the American traveller, because they tell of the triumphs of his fathers over their enemies, and proclaim the victories of his immediate ancestors. But they cannot and do not so deeply interest the English traveller, though some of them force themselves on his attention. One of these is a place called Sabbath-day Point, where, on a projection of land on the western shore jutting out into the lake, a body of English troops landed on a Sunday, during the French war, and where, in a sanguinary battle fought between them and the Indians, the English were all killed, no way of retreat being left open for them, and no quarter shown. Another spot, a few miles beyond this, is called Lord Howe's Point, it being the place where Lord Howe landed just previous to the battle of Ticonderoga, in which he received his death-wound.

Between these two military spots is a remarkable hill, on the steep side of which, fronting the lake, is a smooth declivity of rock, called Roger's Slide, from this traditional story. It is said, that a Colonel Rogers of the British army, was here pursued by the Indians during the French war; and being driven to the very edge of the descending slide, with no possibility of escape, he boldly dashed on to the Slide, 0209 189 and, having snow shoes on at the time, from the great abundance of snow everywhere on the hills, he slid from the top to the bottom, and landed in perfect safety at the mountain's foot. The Indians regarding this as a feat which no ordinary mortal could perform, concluded that the colonel was gifted with some charmed or supernatural spirit, which protected his life, and rendered him invulnerable; and therefore they thought it might bring upon them the wrath of the Great Spirit to pursue him further.

It was about eleven o'clock when we reached the landing at the upper end of the lake, where we found carriages in waiting to carry us across the narrow neck of land, of three miles in extent, which separates Lake George, or Lake Horicon, which is its Indian name, from the larger sheet of Lake Champlain. The waters of Lake George communicate with those of Lake Champlain by a narrow strait, in exactly the same manner as the waters of Lake Erie flow into those of Lake Ontario. There is said to be a fall of 500 feet from Lake George to Lake Champlain; but instead of the waters being precipitated over one lofty precipice, as in the strait of Niagara, they are here broken into several small falls, at intervals, along the narrow channel of three miles in length, where mills are established for sawing timber, of which we saw vast quantities in the course of our short ride.

We turned off from the ordinary road, between the lakes, to visit the ruins of Fort Ticonderoga, which form a prominent object in the picture from all points of view, and wear an imposing aspect in their solitude. The promontory chosen for the erection of 0210 190 this fort, which was originally built by the French in 1756, resembles that called West Point in the Hudson river, projecting as it does into the waters of Lake Champlain, and completely commanding the passage from this into Lake George, as well as all the range of the former, up and down its waters. The elevation of the fort above the lake is about 200 feet; but it was commanded by two loftier hills, one called Mount Independence on the south-east, beyond the lake, and the other called Mount Defiance on the west, on the other side of the strait. This latter is 720 feet in height, and when the Americans occupied Fort Ticonderoga, in the revolutionary war, General Burgoyne stationed his artillery on this elevation, and compelled the Americans to evacuate the fort; though he was himself soon after obliged to surrender with all his army, to the American forces at Saratoga. The fort was subsequently dismantled, and is now in 0211 191 complete ruins, the ditches, parapets, and outworks are all visible; and the walls of the magazine are still standing. There are several subterraneous vaults and passages, also quite perfect; and it was through one of these that the American Colonel Ethan approached the fort, when he entered, and took possession of it “in the name of the great Jehovah, and the Continental Congress.”

From Fort Ticonderoga we resumed our journey, and descended to the ferry across Lake Champlain, where we passed over in one of the rudest boats I had ever seen; it was little more than an oblong trough or tray, the head and stern shelving upward from the water, and the bottom perfectly flat; it had a mast in the centre, with a swinging gaff and boom for a mainsail that traversed right round the mast, so that the head of the boat could be made the stern, and the stern the head, alternately; and with this single sail and a deep lee-board, the helmsman steering with a long oar, we soon crossed the lake, and landed at the station of Shoreham. There we had to wait the arrival of the steam-boat from Whitehall to Burlington, and we employed the interval in taking dinner, which was provided for us in the most uninviting form, and from which we made an unsatisfactory meal. During our stay, we found some petrifactions on the beach, chiefly of marine shells, imbedded in limestone, as well as some enchrinites, conus, and a fruit or nut, resembling the hickory nut of the present day. We learnt from the innkeeper at Shoreham, that there are neither springs nor rivulets of fresh water within several miles, and that all attempts to sink wells by boring for springs had been hitherto unsuccessful; in consequence of which their only 0212 192 supply of water for all domestic purposes is from the lake; and as this is frozen over, so as to be passed by heavy waggons during three or four months of the year, the mode of laying in their supplies is, to take in a large quantity of the ice during winter, which is kept in a closed reservoir; and this ice, melted down, is the only water they use.

About three o'clock, the steam-boat, Burlington, stopped at the landing-place, and in her we embarked for Burlington, higher up Lake Champlain, where we proposed to land. This was one of the most elegant vessels I had yet seen in America; and of steam-vessels, the most complete in all her fittings and equipments that I had ever seen in any part of the world, not excepting the Great Western, which I visited and examined at New York.

The Burlington being built for lake navigation, and not having to encounter the heavy gales of the Atlantic, did not, of course, require the strength and solidity of the Great Western; and this enabled her constructors to give her a finer mould, and to produce elegance of form and rapidity of motion in a higher degree. Her hull is a complete model of grace and beauty; all her equipments are of the first order; and her interior accommodation, for comfort and splendour combined, surpass those of any ship or vessel I have ever seen. Her engines are of 250-horse power, and she cost about 100,000 dollars, or 20,000 l. sterling. The captain was worthy of his ship, taking the highest degree of pride in her; and every part of her was as sweet, pure, and clean, as a royal yacht.

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The scenery of Lake Champlain improved as we advanced; in the part where we embarked, the lake was little more than two miles across, and the land not elevated; farther up to the northward, the waters expanded to a greater breadth, the hills became more lofty, and the promontories projected boldly out on either side; the wood and verdure were also abundant, and the whole, though less romantically beautiful than that of Lake George, was, nevertheless, always pleasing, and often picturesque.

During our passage up the lake, we witnessed, between four and five o'clock, an annular eclipse of the sun. The sky was often overcast with clouds, but at intervals the disk of the sun was sufficiently cleared from all obstructions, to enable us to perceive the eclipse in great perfection. The darkness at half-past four was as great as at sun-set on ordinary days; and the whole aspect of nature was of the most solemn and impressive kind; the restoration of the entire light of the sun took place before his setting, and the transition from darkness to light was striking and remarkable.

At eight o'clock we reached Burlington, where we landed, and reposed for the night, the steam-boat pursuing her way to the head of Lake Champlain at St. John's, where the greater number of her passengers would disembark for Montreal; this route from New York to Canada being now the most expeditious, most economical, and most agreeable, and being more and more frequented every year.

On the following morning, Tuesday, Sept. 19, we took an early view of the town of Burlington, the VOL. III. O 0214 194 first place we had visited in New England, which comprehend the six States east of the river Hudson, namely, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; to the inhabitants of which States only, the term “Yankee” is applied in America, though in England the term is erroneously used to designate Americans in general. It may be added, that this term is not deemed reproachful here; persons often boast of their being Yankees, as implying a more thorough English descent, with a less admixture of foreign blood; and I remember, in Rochester, seeing a sign over a shop where all kinds of goods were sold, designating it as “The Yankee Pedlars' Store;” the enterprising and industrious New Englanders often travelling, with a pack on their backs, from the eastern through the western States, as pedlars, and thus laying the foundation of a competency which they subsequently improve into opulence.

Burlington is an extremely pretty town; or, as it is technically called “incorporated village,” having an incorporation of municipal authorities for all purposes of municipal government, but not yet possessing the dignity of a chartered city. It is seated on the eastern side of Lake Champlain, on a rising ground that slopes upward with a gentle ascent from the margin of the water, and thus displays all its buildings to the greatest advantage. At present there are about 500 houses of every description, with five churches, and a population of about 5,000 persons. It has a court-house and jail for county purposes; and a fine university, which stands on the most elevated part of the town, about 350 feet above the level of the 0215 195 lake. This university was incorporated in 1791, under the patronage of the State of Vermont, from the funds of which it was largely assisted. Its library contains at present about 2,000 volumes, with an excellent apparatus for scientific experiments. About 40,000 acres of land belong to this university; the income derived from this source is at present nearly 2,000 dollars, and it is increasing every year with the increased value of land. The view from the higher part of the town across the lake, and to the elevated mountains opposite, reminded me forcibly of the view across the Straits of Scio, in the Greek Archipelago, looking far above the town of Scio across the Strait towards the shore of Asia Minor; the resemblance being very striking.

Having secured an extra coach with four beautiful horses and a smart driver, we left Burlington after breakfast, about nine o'clock, for Montpellier, the capital of the State of Vermont. Our way was through the most beautiful scenery, amid the green hills which induced the original French settlers of this territory to call it the land of the Green Mountains, a name it well deserves. The continued succession of these beautiful hills, with the intervening valleys and plains by which they were divided from each other, made every mile of our ride delightful. The most romantic parts of Derbyshire, and the richest parts of Devonshire, are not so lovely as the hills and valleys of this part of Vermont, in which there is every element of landscape beauty, and every combination of the picturesque.

The river Winowsky, called by the unattractive name of the Onion, which empties itself into Lake O 2 0216 196 Champlain, a little to the north of Burlington, winds its wandering way along the foot of these hills, while its dark clear waters, running in a broken current over a rocky and pebbly bed, add greatly to the beauty of the scene. The hills vary from 1,000 to 1,500 feet in elevation generally, though some few eminences exceed 2,000 feet. These are clothed with wood to the very summits, a great portion of which are evergreens. The plains are covered with the richest carpets of meadow-grass; and cattle of the finest description were grazing in luxuriant abundance. Sometimes a new feature of beauty would burst forth in a frowning perpendicular cliff, or a projecting mass of naked rock, peering out from amidst the thick foliage by which it was surrounded, and then the perpetually winding river, appearing and disappearing at every turn, would vary the scene.

The gorgeous colouring of an American autumn added a still greater charm to this enchanting picture; and we sometimes found it difficult to persuade ourselves that the deep rich browns, bright yellows, and deep blood-crimsons and scarlets of the trees we saw before us, mingled with the richest greens of every tint and hue, could be really natural or without the aid of art, it looked so like the artificial dying or colouring of some great manufactory; except that the colours were more varied, more brilliant, and more vivid than any that art can produce. Altogether it was one of the most beautiful tracts of country through which we had yet passed, and alone quite worth a voyage across the Atlantic, to see and enjoy.

After passing through the villages of Richmond and Waterbury on our way, at each of which we 0217 197 changed horses, we reached Montpellier at half-past one, having performed the distance of 40 miles, in less than five hours, being the most expeditious rate at which we had yet travelled for any distance by land. Montpellier is the legislative capital of the State of Vermont, and is one of the prettiest towns of its size that can be imagined. Its situation is peculiarly beautiful, overhung on two of its sides by lofty and verdant hills, and open on the other two to a rich valley or plain, along which the river Winowsky winds its serpentine course. The town consists chiefly of a fine broad avenue, like that of Canandaigua, and, like it, lined on each side with fine rows of trees, and neat, pretty, and villa-like residences.

But the most elegant building in the town is the State-House, in which the legislature of Vermont hold their sittings. This is constructed in the best taste as a work of architecture, and its classic portico and graceful dome are in the best proportions; the 0218 198 material is a fine grey granite, of even texture and uniform colour, and the workmanship of the most perfect kind.

The number of inhabitants does not exceed 3,000: yet there are four places of worship, all well built, commodious, and well attended. There is also a court-house, a prison, several excellent stores, for supplying the numerous farmers and graziers of the surrounding country, to the extent of 50,000 dollars annually. The hotel at which we stopped to dine was equal to any, and superior to most, of those we had seen in the State of New York: and altogether we thought Montpellier one of the most delightful of all the many agreeable towns we had seen in the United States.

The State of Vermont, of which this is the capital, is of more recent settlement than either of the New England States. When the British first made the conquest of Canada in 1760, and obtained its cession from the French in 1763, the tract of country now called Vermont, from its beautiful green mountains, was first opened to emigration. Previous to that period, its distance from the Atlantic on the one hand, and from the river St. Lawrence on the other, prevented its being much visited, either by the English from Massachusetts on the south, or the French from Canada on the north. But after that period the settlement rapidly increased: the extreme beauty of the country, and fertility of the soil, both attracting persons of different tastes and pursuits. During the revolutionary war, the inhabitants of Vermont acted with great spirit and vigour against the English; and their name of the “Green Mountain 0219 199 Boys,” by which they were then known, is still cherished by them as a title of honour.

Vermont was originally claimed by Massachusetts as a part of her territory, and subsequently by New Hampshire, and by New York, as it borders on each of these three States; but in 1777, the year after the Declaration of Independence, the people of Vermont declared themselves an independent State, and formed a government for themselves. It was not, however, until 1790 that the controversy with New York was terminated; in 1791, Vermont was admitted into the Union, and on the 4th of July 1793, its inhabitants adopted the constitution by which the State is at present governed.

The territory of Vermont is 157 miles in length from north to south; and its breadth from east to west varies from 90 miles on its northern frontier, where it adjoins Lower Canada, to 40 miles on its southern frontier, where it adjoins Massachusetts; its boundary on the west being the Lake Champlain and the State of New York, and on the east the State of New Hampshire. Within these boundaries the area of the State is 10,212 square miles, or 6,535,680 acres.

The ranges of hills extend generally from north to south, in two inclined planes; the rivers on the western side, which include the Winowsky, La Moile, the Otter, and the Missinqua, emptying their waters into Lake Champlain; and the rivers on the eastern side, including the White river, the West river, and the Pasumpsic, discharging their waters into the Connecticut river, by which they are carried to the sea. Lake Champlain is said to be 90 feet above 0220 200 the level of the Atlantic; but many of the cultivated parts of Vermont are 1,000 feet above the level of Lake Champlain; and some of the Green Mountains 2,000 feet at least. The soil is remarkably fertile, and grain and cattle everywhere abundant; the pasturage is deemed the finest in any part of America; and the beef, mutton, butter, cheese, and milk of Vermont, are all in high estimation; wool is also becoming an article of importance, to supply the woollen manufactures of the neighbouring State of Massachusetts.

The climate of Vermont is considered subject to the extremes of heat and cold; but the weather is thought to be more steady than on the sea-coast, and the land, being a rich dark loam, receives the drainings of the hills, and rarely suffers from want of moisture. Besides grain and cattle, which may be considered the staple productions of Vermont, flax is grown in considerable quantities, and maple sugar is made largely for home consumption and for exportation; that which we saw and tasted appeared to me quite as good as the sugar of the East Indies. Iron-ore, lead, and copperas are also products of Vermont; and no less than 800 tons of the latter article were made in 1826. More than 100 manufacturing companies existed in 1825; but the amount of capital applied to manufactures since that period having more than doubled, the produce is proportionally augmented. The trade is chiefly with Boston, Montreal, and New York; and the facility recently afforded by rail-roads, canals, and steam-boats, for intercourse with these places, have brought them all within easy reach for traffic.

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The population of Vermont was in 1790 only 85,539; in 1800, it was 154,465; and in 1830, it was 280,657. It has 15 banks, the aggregate capital of which exceeds 1,000,000 dollars; and 100,000 dollars is raised annually for the support of common schools, in addition to 25,000 dollars annually from a literary fund, to assist other schools, independently of the support of the College of Middleburg and the University at Burlington, both liberally assisted by the State. The religious establishments are also amply supported. The Congregationalists, or, as we more frequently call them, the Independents, have 232 churches, and above 20,000 communicants; the Baptists, 119 churches, and above 10,000 communicants; the Methodists nearly an equal number; and besides these, there are a few Episcopalians, Unitarians, and Universalists.

After dining agreeably at an excellent hotel, we took a fresh extra-coach for Danville, distant 30 miles, where we intended to sleep. The road was still interesting, though not so richly and romantically beautiful as in the former part of the day. We had the same variety of hill and valley, but the woods were not so luxuriant, nor the meadows so verdant. The field-fence of Vermont consists of the great roots and lower part of the trunks of trees, extracted from the ground after felling, and then raised upon their sides, and placed along in a continuous row. It seemed to us more picturesque than the Virginia fence, which is a zig-zag of horizontal stakes; or than another sort sometimes in use here, like the chevaux-de-frize of military lines. Geese were abundant, grazing on the meadows, or on the grass-plots on 0222 202 each side of the road; and turkeys were fully as numerous: whole fields of pumpkins were seen well stocked, and elder-berries were also abundant; though Vermont is not a good fruit-country, nor does it produce so much grain as New Hampshire, cattle being its principal wealth.

We noticed here that the signs of the inns on the road were hung on hinges so as to swing, after the English fashion; while in the State of New York they were fixed, as on a target. In both, however, it is the custom to have ample verandas or piazzas running round the house; and the lower space in front is generally crowded with persons seated on chairs, and smoking cigars, which gives an air of dissipation to the scene. We observed, also, that to many of the isolated dwelling-houses in the country, there were private burial-grounds attached, in which one or two members of the family had been interred; and the place of their repose was marked by a neat monument within an enclosure, just as if it had been included within consecrated ground. Everywhere, however, cleanliness and neatness prevailed, and gave us a highly favourable impression of the New England character for order and propriety.

In the course of our first stage from Montpellier, we came to one of the many wooden bridges with which the country abounds, now in the act of being repaired, and apparently impassable, as the flooring or platform of the bridge, consisting of loose planks, had all been removed. But the driver, with great good humour and alacrity, set to work himself, to place the planks across again in their proper places; and in the course of half an hour the bridge was sufficiently 0223 203 restored for us to pass in safety. This driver, like all we had yet seen in America, was remarkably kind to his horses; and though he drove faster and steadier than any who had yet driven us, he never used his whip to touch the horses, but merely smacked it in the air, and talked to the animals as though he believed they understood every word he said. I may add, that while the American drivers appear to be uniformly kind to their cattle, the horses themselves are more docile and tractable than with us; and up to the present time, at least, we have met with no one instance of a vicious or refractory horse in any of the teams with which we have travelled.

Though the road was less beautiful than in the morning, it still continued to be interesting, and even picturesque. Immense boulders of granite were strewed on the sides of some of the hills; the trees became more and more vividly coloured by every tint of crimson, scarlet, brown, and bright yellow, mingled with the deep evergreens by which they were surrounded; and when we attained the summit of an ascending slope, up which the road winds for three miles, we enjoyed a most extensive and magnificent view of the country to the west of us, in the direction from whence we had come; all the Green Mountains being visible from this point, the highest eminence among them, called “The Camel's Hump,” rising to an elevation of 2,000 feet.

The latter part of our journey was through a thick wood, in which the splendid varieties of colours in the foliage were such as really to seem extravagant and unnatural. Of this I am certain, that before 0224 204 having seen these woods, had any landscape or picture purporting to be a faithful representation of an American autumn, been so gorgeously coloured as these woods really were, I should have thought it an exaggeration; but the scene before us was so brilliantly beautiful, that no painter could exaggerate it, in brightness and variety of colouring at least.

We reached Danville at seven o'clock, just as the shades of night were closing in, and were glad to find comfortable quarters there. The inn at which we stopped, though the best in the place, was a very humble one compared with those at which we had recently halted; but it was clean in every part, while some of the larger ones are deficient in this requisite. The quidnuncs of the village soon surrounded the door, and a hundred questions were asked, both of us and the driver, as to our route, destination, &c. It was, indeed, the most truly village-scene we had for a long time witnessed, and reminded us of Franklin's account of the extreme inquisitiveness of the New Englanders, in his day; a characteristic which remains in full force at Danville, however much it may have abated in larger places.

We retired early to rest; and here, in this obscure quarter, slept in the first curtained bed in which we had ever reposed since our leaving England a year ago. We had seen four-post beds with curtains, in private houses; but in no hotel or boarding-house in any of the greatest cities, had we ever met with a bed, not even in the depth of winter, hung with curtains as in England, till this at Danville.

0225
CHAP. X.

Description of the White Mountains—Names and elevations of the principal peaks—Journey from the Mountain Pass to Conway—Stage-drivers and passengers from Conway to Centre Harbour—Winnipiseogee, or the beautiful Lake Meredith—River Merrimack—Shaker village—Concord, the capital of New Hampshire—Excessive use of tobacco—Danville to Littleton—Road through the forest—Autumnal foliage—White Mountain House—Entry into the “Notch” or pass through the mountains—Romantic wildness of the scenery—Accumulation of granite rocks—Lightning and storms—Descent of slides or avalanches from the mountains—Tragical instance—Fate of the Willey family—Concord and its public buildings—Suitors attending the court—Prolixity of legal proceedings—State of New Hampshire—History of the early settlement—Statistics of its population, manufactures, and trade—Institutions for education —Colleges of Dartmouth and Exeter—Religious establishments and sects in New Hampshire—Journey from Concord to Lowell and Boston.

On the morning of September 20th we took an extra-coach for Littleton, a distance of 25 miles. We left Danville at 8 o'clock, at which hour the surface of all the valleys was covered with a dense white fog, giving them the appearance of small lakes, but this gradually disappeared as the sun advanced towards the meridian. The road was much more hilly than any previous part of our way; and, though the driver did his best, we did not reach our destination till one o'clock, making our speed about five miles an hour with four horses.

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After various attempts on the part of the innkeeper at Littleton to detain us to dinner, and delaying the supply of fresh horses for that purpose, we pushed forward, so as to get through the White Mountains before night; and having a more level road, we made better progress. After a ride of about ten miles, we entered a dense forest, which continued to border the road for nearly all the remainder of the way, and seemed perfectly impervious on either side. Here and there a few patches had been cleared, the stumps of the felled trees still remaining in the ground, and in some instances the fires still remaining by which the trunks had been consumed; red squirrels were seen in abundance playing their gambols from tree to tree; and the varied tints of the foliage, brighter and more beautiful than ever, seemed to look more glowing amid the deep shadows of the forest than they had done in the midday sun.

There were parts of this drive that were really enchanting; and it was rather like passing through the well-planted and carefully adorned avenue of approach to some splendid château, where flowers of every hue were mingled with the trees enclosing it, than a drive through a dense natural forest, with no other variations of form and colour than those produced by the wild growth of the native woods, and the various states of vegetable decay, which produced the glowing and brilliant colours all around us. The effect of all this beauty was greatly heightened by the occasional glimpses which we were enabled to catch of the lofty summits of the White Mountains, peering above the trees, and advancing 0227 207 or receding from us, as our course wound through the forest in the bends and turns of the road.

It was about 4 o'clock when we reached the White Mountain House, a distance of 15 miles in 2 hours, and finding here a delightful hotel, clean, spacious, and well provided, we halted to dine, and were never more pleased with everything around us than here. The house is often full of visitors, in the high summer season; but at present there were few or none, the season for visiting the White Mountains being near its close. We were furnished, however, with all we could desire, served in the best possible manner, and at a very moderate expense. This was the first instance in which we had yet seen a servant take a seat in the room while waiting; but it being a young girl of 15 or 16, and every part of her demeanour being modest and respectful, it did not strike us with so much “horror” as it seems to have done some English travellers; for all that we required of her was promptly and cheerfully performed, and the intervals in which her services were not wanted, were those alone in which she sat.

We heard here that on the preceding day, a party had attempted the ascent of Mount Washington, but the lateness of the season obliged them to give it up. Long before they reached the summit, they encountered ice three inches thick, and many were so benumbed as to be unable to proceed further. A young black bear had been caught on the mountain, and was now at the White Mountain House, chained. It was a fine animal, and appeared to bear its confinement with great impatience, and to try every method 0228 208 within its power to regain its liberty, by gnawing at its chain, and trying every turn in hope of escape.

As we had to reach Conway this evening to enable us to be in Boston on Saturday, it was necessary to make a new contract for an extra-coach; and the parties here furnishing these conveyances, seeing our need, took advantage of it accordingly, and demanded 25 dollars for a journey of 30 miles—a dearer rate than we had ever before paid, but certainly not more than under similar circumstances would have been demanded in England.

We left the White Mountain House at five, and proceeding by a good road, with four fine horses and an excellent driver, we reached the entrance to what is called the Notch of the White Mountains, a distance of four miles and a half, in little more than half an hour. There is an inn here also, called the Notch House, but very inferior, in all its external appearances, to the one below. In our way, we saw some fine pheasants, and a great number of wood-pigeons, both of brilliant and beautiful plumage; but the general scarcity of birds, and the entire absence of singing-birds especially, had been remarked by us, not only in this recent journey through Vermont and New Hampshire, but in every part of America that we had yet visited, whether in the State of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, or Virginia, in which we were during the months of February, March, April, and May; or along the banks of the Hudson, across the State of New York, to the Lakes and Niagara, or up Lake George and Lake Champlain, and through the Green Mountains of Vermont, 0229 209 amidst which we had passed the months of June, July, August, and September. In this respect, the country appeared to us less animated and less cheerful than “merry England,” where the linnet and the lark, the thrush and the nightingale, make the woods ring with their delicious melody.

It was about six o'clock when we entered the narrow gorge or pass of the White Mountains, and about seven when we made our exit into the open country on the other side, the whole distance through the pass being about seven miles. The scenery of this ravine is undoubtedly grand, and in some places approaching the awful and sublime. The effect was greatly heightened at this hour of the day, when the broad shadows of the mountains gave a gloom to the depths below; and the forest portions through which we passed—for thick woods exist in the very heart of the ravine—were buried in absolute darkness; while the perpendicular cliffs, steep slides, and towering summits of the White Mountains above, were still bathed in all the fulness of daylight, the loftiest peaks of the eastern hills being just tinged with the horizontal beams of the setting sun.

What added greatly to the grandeur of the scenery was the desolation and wreck of nature that seemed to reign all around. Along the bottom of the ravine ran the river Saco, winding its course as the projecting and receding points of the foot of the hills directed; and its bed was so thronged with large masses of fallen rock, that its current was interrupted at every step, so that the whole of its waters were in a constant state of roughness and agitation, amounting sometimes to a boiling foam. The slopes of the VOL. III. P 0230 210 mountains on either side are also covered with huge masses of rock, and smaller fragments surrounding them, which, from time to time, find their way to the valley below, and choke up the ravine, so that the whole scene is one of Nature in process of disintegration or decay.

As the mountains are of primitive granite, with all the usual solidity of this material in the mass, it has seemed difficult to account for this immense quantity of debris , or broken rock and rubbish, with which the greater part of the surface of the whole is covered: more especially as not only the sides but the tops of the mountains are coated with these innumerable fragments of broken stone. The most probable solution I had heard of this, was that which supposed the hard and compact surface of the primitive mountains to be severed by the operation of lightning, which is very frequent in the summer; and then the snows reposing on these cracked and shivered masses during all the winter, would, of course, insinuate moisture into the very depths of the chasms. The melting of the snows in the spring and summer would greatly assist the progress of decomposition and disintegration in these broken masses; and every loud clap of thunder, by its vibration through the hills, and every storm of wind, would assist to put these disjointed fragments in motion, till step by step they would be perpetually driven lower and lower down the mountain-side, covering those already below them, and making way for other fragments above to roll down in time, and cover them also.

By such an annual process as this, repeated through a long series of centuries—and this process 0231 211 must have been going on ever since the period when these mountains were first upheaved above the general surface of the surrounding valleys and plains— one can well understand how what was originally a primitive mountain of solid granite rock, should seem at present, both on its summits and down its sides, rather a collection of larger and smaller fragments, heaped up on each other to their present height, making, as it were, a huge mountain of loose stones.

It sometimes happens, that besides the rolling down of single masses or blocks, bringing a large quantity of smaller fragments in their train,—which takes place at all seasons and at all hours throughout the year,—there are periods at longer intervals, when immense accumulations of these masses descend in what is sometimes called a slide, and sometimes an avalanche, to the valley below, carrying devastation and dismay in their path. A comparatively recent instance of this has left so deep an impression on all the surrounding country, that you cannot speak to any one, of the White Mountains, whether on the spot or in the neighbourhood, without hearing the details of this instance repeated.

The history of it Was briefly this. A humble family, named Willey, had taken up their abode on the slope of the western hills, near the ravine, and in so steep and so scantily wooded a part of it, that the very choice of such a spot indicates either great poverty and incapacity to procure a better, or great want of judgment in the selection. Their dwelling was very humble, and their possessions confined to a few sheep and horses, and the produce of a neighbouring patch of ground. In the month of June 1826, a 0232 212 large avalanche descended near their house, though without injuring them; but, instead of removing from their dwelling altogether at that time, which would have been the most prudent course had they possessed the means, they erected a temporary shed and dwelling not far from their own, as a place of shelter in case of any similar occurrence, wholly overlooking the fact, that the new temporary dwelling was just as likely to be overwhelmed as the older and more permanent one, and that these avalanches descend with so much rapidity, that there is no time between the first hearing of their movement and their actual descent, to escape far from their direction.

About two months after this, in August 1826, during a most tempestuous night, and when the family were all in bed, a vast avalanche, extending, it is said, over a breadth of two miles, descended from the brow of the mountain towards the ravine below, carrying everything before it; but when it arrived within a few feet of their house, it divided into two portions, and encompassed the house at a distance of six feet on each side, without touching it. After carrying away the stable and horses, and sweeping off the temporary shed erected near for shelter also, it reunited again a little beyond the house, leaving the dwelling in an insulated spot, as if preserved by some sacred hand, or for some sacred purpose, untouched and unharmed. But the torrent of wind and rain bore along with it, down the steep sides of the mountain, trees, rock, earth, and everything it met with in its way, completely overflowing every part of the surrounding surface, and choking up for a while even the passage of the river below.

0233 213

Had the family remained in their own humble dwelling, they would have been perfectly safe, as the sheep, grazing on a small plot of grass in front of the house, were preserved alive and unhurt; but in the paroxysm of their fear, they had sought refuge by flight, and were overwhelmed with the torrent and destroyed. When the house was examined on the cessation of the storm, the beds were found in disorder, as if quitted by persons in great alarm; and by a subsequent search in the ravine, the bodies of the victims, nine in number, were found mangled and overwhelmed with the driftwood and rubbish brought down by the stream.

This tragedy of real life is likely to be remembered as long as the hill on which it happened shall endure; but here upon the spot, where one meets individuals who personally knew the sufferers, and who were engaged in the search after their bodies, the impression is almost as strong as if the event had happened 0234 214 only yesterday, instead of ten years ago. The deep and extensive interest felt in the fate of this unfortunate family, compared with the indifference manifested by the same parties, to the death of much greater numbers and in more cruel and painful methods, if they occur at a distance—is a striking proof of the narrow range or limited circle of human sympathy. For instance, in Hindoostan, the self-immolation of widows burning on the funeral piles of their husbands; the devotion of children as human sacrifices, and their destruction by infanticide, in various shapes; the systematic murder of the Thugs on the continent of India, and the bloody assassinations of the Malays among the islands of the indian seas; the immense destruction of human life by wars, whether at Trafalgar and Waterloo, among the so-called heroes of Europe, or in the swamps of Louisiana and Florida, and on the plains of Texas, between the savage and civilized inhabitants of America;—all these, as well as the as the miseries inflicted on men by ignorance, intemperance, and slavery, seem as nothing—in the degree of interest they excite, or the degree of sympathy they enlist—to the fate of a single family, when it happens in any unusual manner, and becomes a part and parcel of the history of some romantic locality.

Thus it is, no doubt, that individual pictures of suffering affect more deeply than the miseries of masses; though true wisdom should surely teach us, that our sympathies and our efforts would be more wisely, because more usefully, directed, in sorrowing for, and endeavouring to save the many, rather than mourning over the sufferings of the few.

0235 215

The White Mountains consist of several separate elevations, of which the principal have received the names of presidents of the United States. Mount Washington, for instance, is the name given to the loftiest of these eminences; and its height above the level of the sea, is thought to exceed 6,000 feet, its elevation above the river Connecticut being 5,350 feet. The peaks of Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Monroe, and Quincy, vary from 4,500 to 5,500 feet in height above the sea. There are others at greater and lesser distances belonging to this chain, such as the Lafayette, the Moose-hillock, and the Grand Minadnoc; the two former each about 20 miles distant in a north-east and south-west direction, and the latter 120 miles off, to the south-west also. These are all in view from the summit of Mount Washington, as well as the sea, near Portland in Maine, at a distance of 65 miles south-east; the Kahtadin Mountains near the sources of the Penobscot river, in the north-east; and the Green Mountains of Vermont, near to Lake Champlain on the west; with the various lakes, rivers, and valleys spread around in profusion towards every point of the compass.

The White Mountains are so called, no doubt, from the generally white and bare summits of the principal elevations, being composed of grey granite, and perfectly denuded of vegetation. Near their bases they are well clothed with forest-trees; higher up, the wood becomes stunted and dwarfish, for want of heat and moisture; and, above all, the white or grey summits rise in beds of naked and broken stone, the vegetation ceasing at the elevation of about 4,000 feet. The views are wild and savage, rather than 0236 216 romantic or beautiful; and the pictures they present are such as Salvator Rosa, rather than Claude Lorrain, would delight to paint.

After emerging from the deep forest and the dark ravine, through which we had come, in traversing this mountain-pass—most inappropriately, as it seems to me, called “The Notch,” as conveying the idea of something cut or indented by art, whereas here, the grandeur of nature alone is seen—we came into a rocky tract, over which, however, the road was better than we had expected; and being now completely enveloped in darkness, we trusted to the strength of our horses, and skill of our driver, for the rest of the way, and proceeding steadily, we arrived safe at Conway at about eleven at night. The inn appeared to be the worst we had yet met with; but there was no proceeding farther without help; and as the inmates and servants had all retired to bed, we had to rouse them up, which we found to be an affair of no small difficulty, occupying fully half an hour of time. When roused, however, we appeared to have gained but little, for the inside of the inn was worse than its exterior; and though there was no incivility, but rather an evident disposition on the part of the attendants to do their best, yet that best was so very bad, that we deeply regretted we could not pass the night in our carriage, by proceeding on our way, but as fresh horses could not be had, this was impossible. We made the best of our disagreeable position, by lighting a fire in the general sitting-room, where Mrs. Buckingham sat up in an easy chair, while myself and my son threw ourselves on the only bed we could procure.

0237 217

We slept but little, though fatigued, and were all glad when the day broke. The remainder of our way was to be performed by the regular stage-coach, in two days' journey, one from hence to Concord, and one from Concord to Boston; the former seventy-two miles, and the latter seventy-three miles. The coach was to leave at half-past six, so we had to take our breakfast at six o'clock. The morning was cold and foggy; the house was filled with tobacco-smoke, as every body besides ourselves and a few females, in the house, had cigars in their mouths— the landlord, waiter, ostler, groom, driver, porter, and stable-boy; in short, the fog within doors was as dense as that without, and far more disagreeable. The breakfast was of the most uninviting description hashed meats and hot boiled potatoes were set on, with coffee and thin slices of new hot bread. The driver of the stage was one of the breakfast party, and appeared to be the principal personage at the table; it being the custom, we were told, throughout New England, for the drivers to take their meals with the passengers. I see no rational objection to this, if they are clean and well-behaved; and as far as we had observed of the drivers on this road, they were often superior in appearance and manners to many of their passengers; and were frequently the proprietors of the coaches they drove.

A great part of our way, after leaving Conway, was stony, flat, and uninteresting, though near Conway itself are several pretty views; we saw, however, few scenes or objects to interest us much, till we arrived at a place called Centre Harbour, which we reached about noon, and where we halted to dine. 0238 218 This town, which is very small, is seated on the edge or border of the Lake Winnipiseogee, or the “Beautiful Lake,” which this name implies in the Indian language, and well indeed does it deserve the epithet. It is 23 miles in length, from 6 to 14 in breadth, extremely irregular in its shape, and filled with a number of exquisitely beautiful islands. Its shores are less elevated than those of Lake George, and therefore they do not possess the boldness which characterizes the borders of that fine piece of water; but on the other hand, these surrounding lands are more fertile, exhibit a greater variety of foliage; and the shores and islands are far more varied, so that there is more of richness and softness about the “Beautiful Lake,” than there is about Lake George, We saw some rude log-huts here, which indicated the presence of new settlers in the valleys.

At one o'clock we left Centre Harbour in the stage-coach, and pursuing our way over a stony and 0239 219 uninteresting road, with few villages, or people, to be seen. Some orchards now apppeared in different directions, and they were the more remarkable as we had seen none in Vermont or New Hampshire, near the line of our road. We reached Meredith at half past two; this is a large and apparently flourishing town, with a number of water-mills for sawing timber into planks, standing on the banks of the river Merrimack.

From hence onward, the country began to wear a more fertile and more populous aspect, and at five o'clock we passed through a settlement of the Shakers, bearing no other name than that of “The Shaker village.” It appeared to us to be larger than the settlement at Niskyuna, which we had visited near Albany; like it, this was a perfect model of neatness, order, and propriety; and every external symptom indicated a very high degree of prosperity.

The fields belonging to the settlement were all enclosed with well-built stone-walls or hedges: the grounds were entirely free of weeds and stones, and the grass was of the richest verdure. The cattle out at pasture were large, and in excellent condition. Their houses were neat, uniform, and cleaner than any dwellings with which they could be compared or contrasted; and their windows were so clear, that they must have been regularly cleaned every morning. Everything by which a judgment could be formed, showed, as clearly as such things can do, that as far as accumulation and improvement of property is concerned, nothing can be more favourable to this than the principle of co-operation, as opposed to individual efforts in competition. Indeed if it were not 0240 220 for the religious peculiarities that have been so often mixed up with experiments in forming co-operative societies—some having too much of religious observances, and some not having enough—I cannot but believe that the simple principle of co-operation would have made greater progress among mankind; and that when divested of this hinderance, it will, some day or other, make a great change in the social arrangements of mankind.

The approach to Concord is very pretty. It was nearly seven o'clock when we reached it; and then, owing to the fulness of the town, from the court being in session, and from many strangers having been attracted to the place to see the ascent of a balloon, we found it very difficult to get quarters at the principal inn. On alighting at the door, all the portico and veranda was full; the barroom, the stage-coach office, and every other place equally so: and as every body seemed to have a cigar in his mouth, the clouds of smoke were intolerable. I thought I had seen more tobacco-smokers in the inns of Conway and Concord than in any ten of the hotels of New York; indeed, the remotest parts of the house were fumigated with it, so that the very bed-clothes were saturated with smoke.

This inordinate use of tobacco, in chewing and smoking, is one of the greatest nuisances that one meets with in travelling through America; and it is really surprising, in a country where the outward respect shown to women is so remarkable, and where all ladies express their dislike of both these practices among the men, that they should never theless continue. Yet so it is; and every day in the 0241 221 year, ladies, who are particular about the cleanliness of their houses, are annoyed by seeing their carpets and mats defiled by the chewer of tobacco; while others who are made sick with the smell, are annoyed by the suffocating fumes of the smokers. The selfishness which both these practices engender, makes those who indulge them wholly indifferent to any one's pleasures but their own; and notwithstanding the repeated printed prohibitions hung up over ladies' cabins in steam-boats, ladies' drawing-rooms in hotels, and in rail-road cars and other places, the practice is still continued, if not in the immediate locality, at least so near it as to be equally offensive.

We passed a disagreeable night at Concord, from the crowded state of the hotel, and the fumes of the tobacco, which filled every part of the house, so that we were up very early. This afforded us an opportunity to make an excursion through the town, which, being the capital of New Hampshire, was thought worthy of some examination. The town is advantageously and agreeably situated on the western bank of the Merrimack river, which is here of a good size, and which proceeds from hence down to the sea at Newbury-port, where it is navigable for ships of considerable burden. The town has about 500 dwellings, and nearly 5,000 inhabitants. The two principal streets are of ample breadth, 120 feet at least; and many of the dwellings have pretty little garden-plots before their doors, while trees are numerous, giving a fine rural aspect to the whole.

Among the public buildings, the State-house, which fronts the principal street, is the most conspicuous. It is built of granite, with a frontage of 100 0242 222 feet, and is three stories in elevation. It contains large hall on the first floor, and the chambers of the senators and representatives on the second. The State prison is also a substantial edifice, and there are the full proportion of churches in the town. The court-house was thronged with clients, and their professional advisers, as the court was now in session; for here, as in England, the disposition of men to go to law with each other, even at the risk of spending five times the original sum in dispute, is very strong, a disposition which the legal profession do not take much pains to discourage, as this would be laying the axe to the root of their own gains, a degree of virtue which individuals may sometimes exercise, but which is rarely practised by large bodies of men.

There is the same tendency in both countries, too, to lengthen out, rather than to abridge, the duration of a cause, because every step brings fees in its train; but as the judges are more indulgent here than in England towards “lengthy” speakers, the court is sometimes occupied for an entire day by some one counsel, and that too on a very trivial subject, without his being checked. The consequence is, that business accumulates, and arrears remain at the end of every session, to be put off till the next; and then again, for some new reason, still further protracted or deferred; so that the time consumed in conducting a suit to an issue, the quantity of documents written, and the mass of verbiage wasted, on points which any half-dozen men of ordinary capacity and disinterested judgment would settle in a few hours, is a sad tax on the patience, industry, time, 0243 223 and money of the unhappy litigants. In this manner many thousands of persons in England and America acquire fortunes by settling the disputes of others, without contributing in the slightest degree to increase the general wealth of the country.

The speeches of counsel, however, are much longer in America than in England, and the gentlemen of the bar only follow the example of the members of Congress in this respect. The national propensity to prolixity might, no doubt, be greatly checked, if not entirely cured, by the judicious exercise of restraining authority on the part of the bench; but as such authority is never exercised, the lawyers of America literally riot in words; and when a case is opened or a speech begun, no one ever pretends to say when it is likely to be finished. Mr. John Quincy Adams, in the last Congress, occupied the morning hour allotted every day to petitions, by a speech on the affairs of Texas, for several weeks in succession; talking on, every day, during that hour, to the end of the session; so that no one could answer him till the following session, before which, a new Congress would be elected—and many of the lawyers in the courts seem to be imbued with the same passion for loquacity. The most intelligent of the Americans are fully sensible of this defect; and in the beautiful address of Mr. Nicholas Biddle, to the Alumni of Princeton college in New Jersey, it is thus adverted to, and thus pointedly reproved.

“Our institutions require and create a multitude of public speakers and writers—but, without culture, their very numbers impede their excellence, as the wild richness of the soil throws out an unweeded and rank luxuriance. Accordingly, in all that we say 0244 224 or write about public affairs, a crude abundance is the disease of our American style. On the commonest topic of business, a speech swells into a declamation—an official statement grows to a dissertation. A discourse about anything must contain everything. We will take nothing for granted. We must commence at the very commencement. An ejectment for ten acres, reproduces the whole discovery of America—a discussion about a tariff or a turnpike, summons from their remotest caves the adverse blasts of windy rhetoric—and on those great Sorbonian bogs, known in political geography as constitutional questions, our ambitious fluency often begins with the general deluge, and ends with its own. It is thus that even the good sense and reason of some become wearisome, while the undisciplined fancy of others wanders into all the extravagances and the gaudy phraseology which distinguish our western Orientalism. The result is, that our public affairs are in danger of becoming wholly unintelligible—concealed rather than explained, as they often are, in long harangues which few who can escape will hear, and in massive documents which all who see will shun. For this idle waste of words—at once a political evil and a social wrong—the only remedy is study. The last degree of refinement is simplicity; the highest eloquence is the plainest; the most effective style is the pure, severe, and vigorous manner, of which the great masters are the best teachers.”

New Hampshire, of which Concord is the legislative capital, though Portsmouth is a much larger and more populous town, is about the same size in area as Vermont, being 160 miles in length from north to south, 70 miles in mean breadth from east to west, and containing 8,500 square miles, or 5,440,000 acres. The greater portion of this area is in the interior, as the sea-coast measures only 18 miles in length. It is bounded on the north by Lower Canada, which it touches on the disputed boundary-line between the British and the United States' possessions; on the south by Massachusetts, on the west by Vermont, on the east by Maine, and on the 0245 225 south-east by the Atlantic. The country near the sea-coast is generally level; but in the interior the surface is greatly diversified with hills and mountains, and it is said, that from this circumstance the vicissitudes and extremes of temperature are greater in New Hampshire than in any other of the States of the Union. The soil is as varied as the temperature, being rich and fertile near the banks of the rivers, but less productive remote from them; pasture absorbs a larger portion than tillage; and grain of various kinds is produced in the State; yet cattle are more abundant, and the orchards are also highly productive, though few other kinds of fruits are grown here, except apples.

Settlers from England visited New Hampshire as early as 1622, under a grant from the Plymouth Company, and their first positions were taken up at the Piscataqua river, and at Cocheco, which is now Dover. In 1631, Portsmouth, the chief sea-port of New Hampshire, was settled; and in 1638 the town of Exeter was founded. From 1641 to 1679, New Hampshire existed in coalition with Massachusetts, as a colony of Great Britain; but after that, it separated itself, and so continued till the American revolution, when, in 1776, New Hampshire was the first to form a constitution of its own; and since then it has existed as an independent State. As most of the States of the Union have some distinctive appellation, as “the Empire State,” for New York; “the Key-stone State,” for Pennsylvania; and “the Old Dominion,” for Virginia; so New Hampshire is called “the Granite State,” from the large quantities of granite produced by its quarries, and sent to all VOL. III Q 0246 226 parts of the country for building. It is called also the Switzerland of America, from its beautifully picturesque scenery, in its mountains, rivers, cataracts, and lakes.

The population of New Hampshire was estimated in 1701 at 10,000, and even in 1730, it was but 12,000, having increased only 2,000 during 29 years; nor did it reach higher than 80,000 in 1775; the last year of its being a colony of the British. From the date of its independence, 1776, it went on, like all the other free States, to increase rapidly in population, and the decennial enumerations after this period, give the following numbers:—

In 1790 141,885

1800 183,858

1810 214,460

In 1820 244,161

1830 269,328

1838 300,000

During the last few years, the attention of the people has been fixed on manufactures, and there already exists upwards of 50 cotton and woollen manufactories, many of them on a large scale; there are also many paper-mills, glass-houses, and establishments for iron works, particularly in Franconia, near the White Mountains. The shipping of the State is estimated at about 20,000 tons. There are many canals existing, and others in process of excavation, as well as rail-roads, and all the elements of trade and commerce abound.

The institutions for education include an excellent college at Hanover, called “Dartmouth College,” from the Earl of Dartmouth, who was one of its earliest patrons, the college being founded in 1769. It has 250 students, a library of 7,000 volumes, an anatomical museum, and an annual income of 0247 227 about 4,000 dollars. An institution exists at Exeter also, called “Phillips's Exeter Academy,” which was founded by the Hon. John Phillips, LL.D. in 1781. It has a fund of 81,000 dollars, and this is partly appropriated to the support of indigent students, who have the disposition and capacity for study, without possessing the means.

The religious establishments of New Hampshire are ample, when compared with its population. The Congregationalists, or Independents, are the most numerous; these having 180 churches, and 164 ministers, with about 15,000 communicants. The Baptists have 80 churches; the Methodists, Episcopal and others, 42; Presbyterians 15; Universalists 12; Quakers 12; Unitarians 10; Episcopalians 8, and Catholics 2. There are also two societies of Shakers, and one of Sandemanians. Such is the vigour of the voluntary system, that the ministers of all these sects—excepting only the Quakers and Shakers, who both repudiate the principle of paying “hirelings,” as they call them, for preaching the Gospel—are liberally sustained by their respective congregations. Their churches are well-built, without assistance from the State, and kept in excellent repair, without forcible levies of tithes or church-rates; and the peace and harmony between them all is rarely or ever disturbed. As far therefore as outward indications can be taken as a safe guide, there seems every reason to believe that religion is very generally respected, and its influence felt as extensively in this State as in any others that we had yet travelled through.

On Saturday, the 22d of September, we left Concord Q 2 0248 228 for Boston, coming through Amoskeag, Merrimack, and Nashwa, all respectable and thriving little towns, to Lowell, which we reached about two o'clock; and finding there a train of cars just ready to start for Boston, a distance of 25 miles, we took our seats, and proceeded on, leaving Lowell for a future visit, as it is deemed the Manchester of America, from its extensive manufactories, and is worthy of a careful examination.

The cars, which were both handsome and commodious, were well filled, the train carrying probably 200 passengers at once; and we performed the distance smoothly and pleasantly in about an hour and a half. The first sight of Boston was very picturesque and promising, with its finely-elevated State House crowning the general eminence, and surrounded by the dwellings of the city; its long bridges, and numerous vessels of all classes and sizes either moored at its wharfs or plying on its waters. Arriving at the depôt, we found an omnibus ready to convey us to the Hotel, and everything connected with the transfer of the baggage being conducted with regularity and speed, we were soon on our way to the Tremont House, where we found excellent quarters prepared for our occupation.

0249
CHAP. XI.

Stay at Boston—Delivery of lectures there—Resolutions presented at their close—Mr. George Combe's lectures on Phrenology—Mr. Cushing's lecture on the influence of women—Governor Everett's lecture on the voyages of the Northmen—Afternoon lectures, and Madame Caradori's concerts—Public meetings in behalf of the “Sailor's Home”—Institutions visited in Boston—Public characters—Environs—Salem and Marblehead—Military levee.

We remained in Boston for a period of nine weeks, during the most agreeable time of the year, after the summer heats had subsided, and before the extreme cold of the winter had set in, from the 22nd of September to the 26th of November. We saw the city and its environs, therefore, in the most favourable season of autumn, while the foliage was yet on the trees, and richly and beautifully coloured, and while the warm sun and bright skies of this delightful period gave us all the glow of summer, and the bracing freshness of winter combined. It was the season too at which most of the opulent families who pass their summers at their country residences or in travelling, return to town for their winter abode, and when the city is consequently the most crowded.

During our protracted stay in Boston, I was engaged in the delivery of my lectures on Egypt and 0250 230 Palestine, before the members of the Mercantile Library Association, at whose invitation I had come on to Boston for this purpose. The place chosen for their delivery was the Odeon, formerly a theatre for dramatic performances, then converted into a concert-room, and now used for music, and for public lectures. It still retains its usual subdivisions into boxes, pit, and gallery, but is so divested of all theatrical ornaments, and so chastely and tastefully fitted up, as to combine elegance and comfort in a very high degree, and is capable of seating 1,200 auditors comfortably. The lectures were delivered twice in the week, at half-past seven in the evening; and were very fully attended by audiences that were said to contain the most distinguished families of Boston, nearly all the clergy, and literary and scientific men, and the most critical and accomplished among the ladies. They appeared to give more than usual satisfaction to those who attended; and the following resolutions, which were passed at their close, affords sufficient evidence of their having been appreciated by those at whose express invitation they were given:

“At a meeting of the Mercantile Library Association, held on Monday evening, November 19, 1838, the following resolutions were adopted:—

“Resolved—That the course of lectures on Egypt and Palestine, delivered by J. S. Buckingham, Esq. before this association, merits our highest approbation, both for the valuable historical information imparted, and the interesting and eloquent manner in which they were delivered.

Resolved—That, in parting with one, with whom so many happy, and, we trust, useful hours have been passed, we cannot refrain 0251 231 from offering him our ardent wishes for his future prosperity and success, wherever his propensity to travel may lead him.

Isaiah M. Atkins, Jr. President.

W. L. Weston, Secretary.

At such intervals of leisure as I could command, I attended the lectures delivered by others in Boston, and received much gratification from them all. Among others was a course on Phrenology, delivered by Mr. George Combe, of Edinburgh, in the Temple, to an audience of from 250 to 300, which drew together the disciples made by Dr. Spurzheim at his visit a few years since, and gathered others around this nucleus. Mr. Combe was well received, his labours highly appreciated, and publicly commended; and such portions of the course as I had the good fortune to be able to hear, were full of interest and instruction. I heard also a very eloquent lecture by the Hon. Caleb Cushing, of Newbury-port, one of the representatives of Massachusetts in Congress, delivered before the Lyceum, at the Odeon, on the influence of Christianity in the elevation of women, and the benefits which this had produced in the world. I had the pleasure also to hear a very learned and interesting lecture, by His Excellency the Governor of the State, delivered at the Warrenstreet Chapel, on the Voyages of the Northmen to the continent of America, nearly 500 years before the time of Columbus. This historical fact was established beyond all doubt, from the evidence adduced by him on this subject; though the obscurity into which so interesting a visit to, and occupation of, the territory about Rhode Island and Massachusetts, had subsequently fallen—as it appears to have been 0252 232 wholly forgotten in the time of Columbus—is among the features of the case the most difficult to explain.

Besides the regular evening course of lectures delivered by me to the Mercantile Library Association, an afternoon course on the same subject was given to the public generally, in the Marlborough Chapel, in Washington Street, which was also well attended, but less by men of business than by ladies and pupils. The president and some of the professors of the Cambridge University, with many of the clergy, and most of the Sunday-school teachers—who are not, as in England, composed of persons from the middle ranks of life only, but include the younger branches of the most opulent families in the State—were among this audience. We attended Madame Caradori Allen's concerts also with as much gratification as ever; and having had the pleasure of knowing her and her excellent husband in England, we were glad at the opportunity of meeting in the same house, and enjoyed much of their amiable and agreeable society.

Among the gratuitous labours in which I had the privilege of being engaged, was the delivery of a lecture to the members of the Franklin Institute at the Temple; and the advocacy of the claims of Seamen, in two separate public meetings, held, one at the Marlborough Chapel, and the other at the Odeon, at an interval of some weeks apart. The former was on behalf of “The Sailor's Home,” an establishment supported by the Trinitarian section of Christians, under the presidency of Mr. Pliny Cutler, and the Chaplaincy of the Rev. Mr. Lord; and so 0253 233 well conducted as to be productive of the greatest good in rescuing the seamen, who can be prevailed upon to take up their quarters there, from the horrors of drunkenness and misery which await them in all the ordinary establishments. At this meeting, which was held on a Sunday evening, there were believed to be 2,500 persons present, and upwards of 1,000 are said to have been obliged to go away for want of room. The addresses of the evening produced a strong and favourable impression, and several hundred dollars were collected from the audience, for the funds of the institution.

The second occasion was for the benefit of the “Mariner's Home,” a similar establishment, of a larger size, and situated in a different locality. This is chiefly supported by the Unitarian portion of the community; though Father Taylor, who presides over the establishment, and is at once its commander, chaplain, and purser, is not a Unitarian in his doctrine. He was originally a Wesleyan Methodist, and continues to be so still, but upon rather a more open and enlarged foundation than any of the mere sects of Christians. To use his own quaint sea-language, in which he so cordially addresses his flock of seamen, he says, “We know nothing here of Unitarians, Trinitarians, or any other-arians into which mankind are divided. We don't allow such smallcraft as these to cruise in our deep waters. We all sail here under the broad pennant of pure Christianity.” And if ever man's heart and mind was truly catholic, such is undoubtedly Father Taylor's. The meeting on behalf of this institution was also very fully attended; the 0254 234 addresses convincing and impressive, and 500 dollars were raised by a collection from the audience for the funds of the institution.

These occupations brought me in communication with the most influential and benevolent of the inhabitants of Boston; and gave me an opportunity of seeing persons of all ranks and classes, from the highest to the lowest. I attended also about twenty of the churches, heard the most distinguished of the clergy, saw the most crowded congregations, and by these opportunities, added to occasional visits and daily intercourse with the inhabitants, enjoyed abundant opportunities for forming correct opinions as to their general character.

Of the Institutions within the city, I inspected personally the greatest number; and visited almost all the public buildings, including the State House, Faneuil Hall, the Court House, the City Hall, the Custom House, the Post Office, the Navy Yard, its dock, ropewalk, and building sheds, the State-Prison, the Hospitals and Asylums, the Public Schools, and indeed almost every Institution of public interest. These were the means I enjoyed for judging of the things I shall venture to describe.

In the environs of Boston, we visited Dorchester, Roxbury, and Milton Hill. We were present at one of the public examinations of Harvard College at the University of Cambridge; and spent delightful day at the beautiful cemetery of Mount Auburn. Each of these excursions afforded us considerable pleasure, though none were so full of interest as the last.

Among the remarkable public men, with whom I 0255 235 had the pleasure to become acquainted in Boston, were—the ex-president, John Quincy Adams, and the senator Daniel Webster, both of whom I had before met at Washington, but here they were at home; President Quincy of the University of Cambridge, Governor Everett, of the State of Massachusetts, the Rev. Dr. Channing, Mr. Pierpont, an accomplished poet, Dr. Harris, the venerable author of one of the most learned and elaborate works I had ever met with on the Natural History of the Bible; and Father Taylor, “the seaman's friend,” one of the most genuine sons of Neptune, with all a sailor's virtues, unspotted by the failings so common to the race. In addition to these, we had the pleasure to enjoy the acquaintance, and I believe the friendship, of several private families, whom I do not name, but of whose kindness we shall long retain the recollection.

During our stay at Boston, I was invited to deliver my course of Lectures at Salem, where I went by the rail-road, a distance of 13 miles, on two days in each week; and though the course was but slightly attended, the audience seldom exceeding 200 persons, I had the pleasure to form some very agreeable acquaintances, and to partake of the cordial hospitality of an English family residing there from Essex in England, persons with whom I had had no acquaintance whatever at home, but who, the moment I arrived in the country, sent me a pressing invitation to visit them at Salem, and desired me, whenever I came there, to make their house my home.

While at Salem I visited several times the interesting Museum formed in that town by the contribution 0256 236 of the many sea-captains who sail from that port to various parts of India, China, and the islands of the Pacific; and made also a pleasant excursion to the neighbouring sea-port and fishing town of Marblehead; in a ship belonging to which port, called the Rising States, Captain Atkin Adams, I had visited the United States 30 years ago, in a voyage from London to Norfolk in Virginia.

As I purpose repeating my visit to Salem in the summer, I shall defer all description of that city and its environs till then; but I may mention, that during one of my visits here I was much gratified at the opportunity of seeing “all Salem,” as the phrase is, at a military levee which was peculiar to the time. It appears that of late years the military mania, which is so fast dying away in the West, has been revived in the East; and Salem having partaken of it in a large degree, has now several companies of volunteers, who are exceedingly fond of parade days and public displays. A gentleman of fortune, Captain Sutton, who partakes of this taste himself, encourages it in others, by giving, on the occasion of public reviews, and at his own cost, a public levee, at which the volunteers, privates as well as officers, and all their families, are invited to partake in the pleasures of the dance, the promenade, and the refreshments of the evening. I was present at one of these, and found it a miniature edition of the President's levee at Washington. “Everybody in Salem was there,” was the common mode of describing it; and there was certainly a great variety in the complexion of the company. But while there was something that might have been spared by good taste, in 0257 237 the richness and gaudiness of the attire, there was as much of female beauty as I ever saw among the same number of persons, and some of the younger faces were exquisitely lovely. The behaviour of all was respectful, orderly, and becoming; and though there was no want of joy and hilarity, yet it never manifested itself boisterously. I do not think that any country except America could furnish, out of such varied elements, embracing all classes of society, two such agreeable and well conducted parties as these public levees at Washington and Salem.

Such is a brief notice of the chief incidents of our stay at Boston and in its neighbourhood; and it was during this period, and surrounded by these opportunities and sources of information, that I threw into form the scattered facts which I was thus enabled to bring together, and appended to them the opinions and impressions which the subjects themselves occasioned, as they are arranged in the following chapters.

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CHAP. XII.

Influence of institutions on character—Early history of Massachusetts—First charter to the Plymouth company—Origin of the name “New England”—Arrival of the Puritans—Charter of Charles the First—Solemn league and covenant of the settlers—Foundation of Plymouth and Salem—Boston, Charlestown, Dorchester, and Roxbury—First act of religious intolerance—First representative assembly—War with the Indians—Influence of the clergy—Female assemblies—Hazelrigge, Pym, Hampden, and Oliver Cromwell, emigrants—Rigour of the Puritan laws—First federal union of provinces—Foundation of Providence and Rhode Island—Conduct of the Quakers—Death inflicted on Quakers for entering the colony—Firmness of that body triumphing over their persecutors—Restoration of Charles the Second—Increased emigration—Statistics of New England at this early period—Laws for restraining indulgence in dress and amusements—Remarkable men—Sir William Phipps—Cotton Mather—Benjamin Franklin.

As there is no portion of the United States in which the character of the inhabitants has been more extensively influenced, if not almost wholly formed, by the institutions and conduct of their ancestors, than in New England—it is almost indispensable to a right understanding and due appreciation of that character, to examine these institutions, and the conduct of those who framed them, for which purpose, a brief sketch of the early settlement of these territories will, perhaps, be acceptable.

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It was in the year 1606, that James the First of England sanctioned the planting of colonies in this part of America, then called Northern Virginia; and two separate companies, one stationed at London, and the other at Plymouth, in England, had granted to them the privilege of forming such colonies in these parts. The leading person in the Plymouth company was Sir John Popham, then Chief Justice of England, who, a few years before, presided at the trial of Sir Walter Raleigh, and condemned that distinguished individual, to whom both America and England owed so much, to the death of a traitor. The first expedition, led by two brothers of the judge, sailed from Plymouth in 1607, with about 100 emigrants, in two vessels; and landing near the river Sagahadoc, they found themselves in the first period of their stay here so destitute of means, that all but forty-five of their number were sent back to England; while these suffered so severely from the winter, that they lost a great, portion of their number by disease, including their president, Henry Popham, before the spring. A vessel then arrived with fresh supplies; but this ship brought intelligence of the death of the Chief Justice Popham and Sir Henry Gilbert, their two most powerful patrons; and this induced them to return to England, where they spread the most discouraging accounts of the region in which so many calamities had befallen them.

Six years after this, in 1614, the celebrated Captain Smith, so renowned for his adventures with Pocahontas, in Virginia, was engaged by the Plymouth company to make a voyage of trade and survey to the abandoned coast; and after exploring with 0260 240 great care both the coast and the interior, from Cape Cod to Penobscot, he returned to England; and laying his map and the narrative of his travels before Prince Charles, this generous patron of the gallant captain was so much pleased with the region described, that he bestowed on it the name of “New England,” which has always been continued, and which now embraces the six States eastward of the Hudson river: namely, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. So many obstacles, however, intervened between this period and 1619, that the Plymouth company, in this year, laid aside all attempts to colonize the quarter in which their first settlement was made.

In 1620 the Puritans, who had fled from England because of the religious persecutions to which they were subject, and had remained ten years in exile at Leyden, resolved to leave Europe altogether, and settle in America; and having procured from the Plymouth company the grant of a tract of land within their territories, they purchased two vessels, in order to convey 120 of their number to the shores of the New World. The spot on which they had intended to form their settlement, was on the banks of the Hudson river; but the Dutch, then in possession of a part of that territory, wishing to exclude these new settlers from their neighbourhood, are said to have bribed the captain of the vessel, who sailed with these emigrants from Leyden, to take them to some spot farther north upon the coast. He accordingly took them as far north as far as Cape Cod, where the advanced period of the year, and the sufferings and sickness 0261 241 of a long voyage, compelled them to disembark. They bestowed upon the place of their first settlement the name of New Plymouth, from the English city of that name at which they last touched, when, driven back by storms after their departure from Leyden, they had taken shelter in the harbour of Plymouth, within the British Channel.

This first year was one of great privation, suffering, and difficulty; but these being at length overcome, they began to frame those institutions, which had so powerful an influence on the character of their descendants. Their ecclesiastical constitution was the same as that under which they had lived in their exile at Leyden, and both this and their civil government were founded on the republican principle of the equal rights of man. All freemen who were members of their church, were members also of the legislative body, and this continued until 1639, when for the first time a house of representatives was formed; and these chose annually a governor and council for their executive body. The jurisprudence of England was in most cases their model; but the penalties of the Mosaic code were often intermingled with their laws; and their deep abhorrence of offences against morality, contrasted with their light estimate of pecuniary crimes, is strikingly shown in the fact, that while they punished fornication with flogging, and adultery with death, the offence of forgery was only visited with a trifling fine in money. Considering themselves as members of one family, they adopted a community of property, and this continued for three years: when the influx of strangers rendered a return to individual possession, as they thought, necessary. VOL. III R

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In 1626, the reign of Charles the First set in motion new causes to augment the number of those who sought refuge from religious intolerance in America, and a non-conformist minister at Dorchester, in England, named White, drew the attention of those who like himself sought relief from persecution, to the importance of leaving their homes for a new country. For this purpose, a publication, entitled “General Considerations for the Plantation of New England,” was extensively circulated; and the effect it produced, may be judged of from some of the passages it contained. “England,” it was asserted, “grew weary of her inhabitants, insomuch that man, the most precious of all creatures, was there recorded more vile and base than the earth he trod on.” “English seminaries,” it was added, “abounded with so many spectacles and temptations of dissolute irregularity, that vice was there more effectually communicated by example, than knowledge and virtue by p