UNITED STATES OF AMEEICA,

VOL. III.

OLIVER & BO YD, EDINBURGH.

THE

UNITED STATES

OF

AMERICA;

THEIR HISTORY FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD

THEIR INDUSTRY, COMMERCE, BANKING TRANSACTIONS, AND

NATIONAL WORKS ; THEIR INSTITUTIONS AND CHARACTER,

POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND LITERARY ;

A SURVEY OF THE TERRITORY, AND REMARKS ON THE PROSPECTS
AND PLANS OF EMIGRANTS.

BY HUGH MURRAY, F.R.S.E.

M

WITH

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE NATURAL HISTORY,

BY JAMES NICOL.

PORTRAITS AND OTHER ENGRAVINGS BY JACKSON.

IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. III.

EDINBURGH :

OLIVER & BO YD, TWEEDDALE COURT;

AND SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., LONDON.

MDCCCXLIV.

Printed by Oliver & Hoyd,
Tweeddale Court, High Street, Edinburgh

CONTENTS OF YOL, III,

CHAPTER I.

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

Difficulty of the Subject— Effects of colonial Settlement-
Variations in different States— Virginia— The West— New
England— Religious Spirit— Philanthropy— Domestic good
Conduct — Industry — Political Violence — Timidity in ex
pressing Opinion — Eagerness after Wealth — Rash Specu
lations—Laxity of Principle — The Yankee Pedlar —
Pugnacious Disposition — National Vanity — Curiosity —
Good Temper — Strong Liquors — Temperance Societies —
Assumption of Equality— Attention to Ladies— Their Ap
pearance and Character — Entertainments — Minor Defects in
Manners and Accommodation — Inns — Dishes and Cookery
—Differences throughout the Union— The New Englanders
—Southern Planters— Emigrants to the North-west— The
South-west— Society of Washington — Probable Improve
ment, Page 9

CHAPTER II.

SLAVES AND SLAVERY.

State and Extent of Slavery in the United States— Treatment
of the Negroes — How supplied with Food — Enactments
against their Instruction — Means of Religious Knowledge —
Internal Trade— Breeding of Slaves— Sales by Auction-
Mode of Conveyance— Treatment in the New States— Clan
destine Importation— Situation of the Free Coloured Race-
Early Abolition Measures— Unsuccessful — Colonization So
ciety—Anti-Slavery Society— Their Measures— Proceedings
of the Anti- Abolitionists— Seconded by the Northern Mer
chants — By the Legislature — Present State of Parties —
Measures for Colonization— Their Tendency— Prospects of
the Cause, 52

CHAPTER III.

RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES.

Early Religious State— Effects of the Revolution— Adoption
of the Voluntary System — Respect for Religion — In New

M311875

6

CONTENTS.

England— In the South— Deficiency in the West— Sects-
Methodists — Baptists— Presbyterians — Congregationalists —
Episcopalians— Roman Catholics— Quakers— Unitarians, &c.
—Shakers— Rappites— Mormonites— Societies— Bible— Mis
sionary— Home— Sabbath School— Revivals and Camp-Meet
ings— General Result, Page 78'

CHAPTER IV.

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

Obstacles to Literature in America — Political Circumstances
—Want of Remuneration— State before the Revolution-
Decline— Gradual Revival and Progress— Branches— Ora
tory— Otis — Henry— Fisher Ames — Everett —Webster-
Clay— Poetry— General Taste for it— Mode of Production-
Bryant — Percival — Dana — Sprague — Halleck — Braiuard
— Pierpont— Willis— Wilcox— Longfellow— Neal — Doane
— Peabody— Prentice —Sands — Drake — Hillhouse — Lunt —
Clason— Whittier— Hoffman — Street — Gallagher — Pike—
Pinkney — Simms — Female Poets — Sigourney — Brooks —
Hall — Welby— Gould— Lucretia and Margaret Davidson
—Various Others— Romances and Novels— Brown— Cooper
— Sedgwick, &c. — Essay -writing— Irving — Channing — His
tory—Bancroft— Prescott — Historical Biography— Collec
tions of Documents— Travellers — Lewis — Clarke — School-
craft — Robinson — Stephens — Catlin, &c. — Statistics, 98

CHAPTER V.

GEOLOGY — BOTANY — ZOOLOGY.

SECTION i. GEOLOGY.— Natural Divisions— Alleghany Moun
tains — Lines of Elevation and Depression— Primary Rocks —
Gold — Transition Rocks — Cliff Limestone — Lead-mines —
Salt-springs— Rock-salt— Old Red Sandstone — Mountain
Limestone — Iron- mines — Coal Formation — Anthracite —
BituminousCoal — Richmond Coal-field— New Red Sandstone
— Ornithichnites — Oolite — Chalk Formation — Tertiary De
posits—Drift—Polished Rocks — Alluvium — Infusoria— Ex
tinct Mammalia — Review of Changes. SECTION n. BOTANY. —
BotanicalRegions — Natural Families — Ranunculacese — May
Apple — Papaveracese — Magnolias — Aniseed-tree — Umbel-
liferae— Ginseng — Vines — Pitcher-plants — Tree-primrose —
Witch Hazel — Dogwood— Cactaceae — Cruciferse — Violets —
Passion-flowers — Loblolly Bay — Maples — Buck's Eye —
Lime-trees — Euphorbiacere — Roses — Leguminous Plants —

CONTENTS. 7

Locust-tree — Sumach — Hornbeam — Beech — Chesnut — Oak
—Birch — Mulberry— Elm— Walnut— Hickory —Willow-
Plane-tree— Sweet Gum— Laurel — Andromeda — Azalea —
Holly— Composite — Golden Rod — Labiatse — Solanaceae —
Ash — Pines —Cabbage-tree — Liliacese — Grasses — Conclu
sion. SECTION in. ZOOLOGY.— Birds — Vulture — Bald Eagle —
Bird of Washington— Osprey— Buzzards— Hawks— Screech-
owl —Virginian Owl — Chuck-Will's-Widow — Whip-poor -
Will— Night Hawk— Chimney-swallow— Purple Martin —
Humming-bird — Nuthatch — Wrens — Thrushes — Mocking
bird— Fly-catcher — King Bird — Blue Jay— Crow — Raven —
Grakle — Oriole — Rice-birds — Indigo-bird — Nonpareil —
Carolina Parrot — Woodpecker — Cuckoo — Passenger Pigeon
—Turtle-dove— Turkey— Quail— Ruffed Grouse — Crane-
Heron — Ibis — Snipe — Woodcock — Rail — Canada Goose —
Widgeon— Wood-duck— Snake-bird— Gulls— Petrels — Dol-
chick. Reptiles — Tortoises — Cayman — Rattlesnakes —
Frogs — Salamander. Fishes — Perch — Weakfish — Drums —
Sheep's Head — Mackerel — Mullet — Carp — Pike — Flying-
fish — Salmon — Smelt — Herring — Sturgeon — Amblyop-
sis, Page 201

CHAPTER VI.

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

Plan of this Survey — General Divisions : — I . The New Eng
land States — Massachusetts — Connecticut — Rhode Island —
New Hampshire — Vermont — Maine — Boundaries — Extent —
Seacoast— Surface — Mountains — Rivers — Industry — Pro
ductions, &c.— Return of chief Articles of Produce by the
Census of 1840— Population of Cities and Towns in 1840—
Description of Boston, Lowell, Providence, and other Places.
II. Middle States — New York — Pennsylvania — New Jersey
—Boundaries— Extent, &c.— Returns by Census of 1840—
Description of New York, Philadelphia, &c. III. Virginia
— Maryland — Columbia— Delaware — Boundaries — Extent,
&c.— Returns by Census of 1840— Description of Washing
ton, Baltimore, Richmond, &c. IV. The Carolinas— Georgia
— Alabama— Florida— Boundaries— Extent, &c. — Returns by
Census of 1840— Description of Charleston, Savannah, Mo
bile, &c — North-western States— Ohio — Indiana — Illinois
— Michigan, &c. — Boundaries — Extent, &c. — Returns by
Census of 1840— Description of Cincinnati, Detroit, &c. —
South-western States — Kentucky — Tennessee — Mississippi
— Louisiana — Missouri — Arkansas, &c.— Boundaries — Ex-

CONTENTS.

tent, &c. — Returns by Census of 1840— Description of New
Orleans, Louisville, Lexington, St Louis, &c.,........Page 283

CHAPTER VII.

EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES.

General Remarks— Early Western Settlements— Boone— Hen
derson— Obstacles during the War — Acquisition of Ohio —
Early Sales of Land — New Plan in 1804 — Embarrassments
under it — Change in 1820 — Amount since sold — Purchases
on Speculation — Impositions practised— Squatters— Settle
ment on improved Farms — Comparison of different States —
Sales in each— Advantages of improved Districts— British
America and the States— Timbered Land and Prairie —
Modes of Conveyance Westward — By Waggon — By Canals
and Railways — Employment for Operatives — Wages in dif
ferent Trades, 330

CHAPTER VIII.

CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH.

Object proposed — State of America after the War — Transac
tions with the Barbary States— Election of Monroe — State
of Parties under him — Disputes with Spain — Cession of
Florida— Question of Slavery in Missouri — South American
Republics acknowledged— Tariff of 1824— Presidency of
Quincy Adams— Tariff of 1828— Presidency of Jackson
—His Policy — Veto on a National Bank — North- West
Indian War — Carolina resists the Tariff— Compromise —
Jackson re-elected — Measures against the Bank — Plan for
Removal of the Indians — Seminole War — Treaty with France
— Finances — State of Parties — Van Buren President — Great
Financial Embarrassment— Civil War in Canada— Disturb
ances on the Frontier— Boundary Dispute— Election of Har
rison—His Death— Tyler President— His Measures— Offends
the Whig Party— Arrest of Macleod— His Acquittal— Dis
turbances in Rhode Island — State of Parties— Repudiation
by the States— Finances— Oregon Question, 346

APPENDIX, 367

HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE
ACCOUNT

OF THE

UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER I.

Manners and Social Life in America.

Difficulty of the Subject— Effects of colonial Settlement-
Variations in different States— Virginia— The West— New
England — Religious Spirit — Philanthropy — Domestic good
Conduct — Industry — Political Violence — Timidity in ex
pressing Opinion — Eagerness after Wealth — Rash Specu
lations — Laxity of Principle — The Yankee Pedlar —
Pugnacious Disposition — National Vanity — Curiosity —
Good Temper — Strong Liquors — Temperance Societies —
Assumption of Equality — Attention to Ladies — Their Ap
pearance and Character — Entertainments — Minor Defects in
Manners and Accommodation — Inns — Dishes and Cookery
— Differences throughout the Union — The New Englanders
— Southern Planters— Emigrants to the North-west — The
South-west — Society of Washington — Probable Improve
ment.

THE treatment of this subject is perhaps the most deli
cate and difficult task which presents itself in the whole
circle of the present work. The very objects possess a
vagueness which renders them indistinctly perceptible
by a common observer, and are easily distorted by the
mists of prepossession and passion, through which,
in too many instances, they have been viewed. The

VOL. III. A.

10 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

Americans consider themselves as heavily aggrieved by
the representations generally circulated in Europe upon
the matters in question ; and though feverishly sensi
tive in this respect, their complaints are probably not
without some foundation. We apprehend, however,
that there is not much of actual misstatement on either
side, and that by making due allowance for the colour
ing of prejudice and political feeling, a somewhat near
approach may be made to the truth.

The colonists to North America were placed under
peculiar circumstances, necessarily creating a state of
society that materially differed from that of the mother-
country. The Greek colonies, which spread civilisa
tion so wide around the Mediterranean, had been com
posed of large bodies of the nation, led usually by
princes, and including some of the most distinguished
citizens. Hence they soon rose to greatness and refine
ment, and in many cases left the parent-state behind
them. The English settlers, on the contrary, were
composed mostly of the middle and labouring classes,
seeking to escape the pressure of poverty, or to attain
religious freedom ; and even those habits of elegance,
which a certain number carried with them, could be
with difficulty maintained. No easy or ready mode for
acquiring wealth was open to them. They had to begin
by subduing a vast wilderness, covered with dense
forests, and to maintain a severe struggle against wild
animals and wilder men. Amid these hard necessities,
obliged to live in a great measure apart, they had little
opportunity or means of displaying riches or accom
plishments. If the original settlers succeeded in pre
serving some portion of refinement, their posterity almost
inevitably sunk to the level of their position. Still the
labouring class, earning ample wages, and having often
landed property of their own, attained a degree of com
fort, independence, and even intelligence, superior to that
enjoyed at home by their countrymen of the same class.

A people, however, which has branched off from
another in an advanced state of society, is differently

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 1 1

situated from one originally rude. The latter has
maxims, institutions, and usages all tending to fix it
in its actual position ; while there is not likely to be
any foreign intercourse so intimate as to effect more
than a very gradual change. But the colonist is
connected, and holds regular communication with a
more improved society, on the model of which his
belief, his opinions, and external habits are formed.
He looks to this as the standard upon which, when
circumstances admit, he will seek to form himself.
These influences had, before the separation, produced a
very sensible effect. The merchants of Boston, and the
planters of Virginia, equalled probably in intelligence,
and even in elegance of manners, any British class out
of the immediate circle of the court and universities.
But when the revolution severed the connexion be
tween them and Britain, and led them to view her
with feelings of jealousy and hostility, this progress
was interrupted ; and the consequences appear to have
been unfavourable to their intellectual and social pro
gress. The men of the revolution were not succeeded
by others of equal ability ; even their own writers
have remarked a decline in the standard of manners.
The opulent classes, however, still look to Europe as
the source of elegance and refinement, but as it were
covertly, and not without exciting jealous feelings
among the republican party. They have also taken
a wider range than their predecessors, and some have
adopted France as the more refined model ; though the
imitation is not always successful, and is attended with
certain serious disadvantages.

Extensive variations are also observable within the
now wide circle of the Union. Virginia and the other
southern states were originally planted on a more aris
tocratic basis, and by the use of slaves their gentry
are enabled to hold extensive possessions, and to live
nearly in the style of European landed proprietors.
From this difference of position arise marked peculiari
ties, which we shall afterwards endeavour to delineate.

12 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

Since the beginning of the century, a new circle has
been formed in the western states, whose social position
is not only different, but in some respects contrasted
with that of the older settlements. They are, in fact,
colonies from them as they were from Britain, and
exhibit results extremely similar. The emigrants, be
longing in a still greater proportion to the labouring
class, were likely to form, as they have actually done,
a still ruder society. Intimately connected, however,
as they still are with the more improved districts, they
will doubtless make them their model in the career of
civilisation, and gradually adopt their spirit. This
process indeed is, to a great extent, observable in the
older settled states. M. Chevalier considers New Eng
land, from being so great a source of emigration, as
likely to absorb into herself all the new divisions of
the Union. He does not consider that, so far as they
extend south of the Ohio, they have been drawn from
Virginia and the neighbouring states ; and that, while
the cool and methodical Yankee spirit has been greatly
diluted by transportation, the bolder temper of the south
has been augmented ; so that the prevailing character
on the whole range from Kentucky to Alabama may
be represented as ultra Virginian.

The north-eastern states, however, comprising those
of New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, form
what is now generally considered the main body of Ame
rica. Their inhabitants, by extraordinary industry and
activity, and by freedom from the evils of slavery, have
gained a great ascendency over the rest. Almost all
commercial concerns are in their hands ; and upon
their model chiefly the western states, as they rise in
civilisation, will seek to form themselves. We shall,
therefore, in the delineation now to be attempted, keep
them mainly in view, seeking afterwards to trace those
differences which distinguish the others.*

* The authorities chiefly employed in this delineation are
Hamilton's Men and Manners in America, 2 vols ; Stuart's
Three Years in America, 2 vols ; Hall's (Basil) Travels,

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 13

In surveying the American character, we may with
pleasure recognise, at its very foundation, qualities truly
estimable. They are, especially within the boundaries
above stated, decidedly a religious people; this pro
fession seems to be made in a manner somewhat more
marked than among any European nation. They sup
port, without any aid from the state, an establishment
of teachers adequate to the wants of the population,
and attend regularly to devotional ordinances and minis
trations. Associations for the diffusion of religious
knowledge in foreign countries, and in the destitute
parts of their own, are supported with great attention
and liberal expenditure. This subject is more fully
developed in a chapter treating expressly of the reli
gious state of the Union.

A kindred virtue, borrowed also from Britain, to which
the Americans may advance a just claim, is that of
active philanthropy. In no country are more systematic
exertions made to relieve the evils under which hu
manity suffers. Extensive institutions are supported by
liberal donations of money, and by a large portion of that
time which is otherwise very fully employed. In com
municating relief, and at the same time guarding against
abuse, particular discretion and good sense are displayed.
Attention has been much directed to mitigating the
severity of criminal justice, and at the same time making
it contribute to the reformation of the offender.

We may add, that the purity of domestic life is better
preserved than even in Britain, which is here happily
superior to perhaps any of the other great countries of
Europe. The seduction either of married or unmarried
females very rarely occurs ; nor does the reproach rest
only, as elsewhere, upon one and often the injured sex.

3 vols ; Mrs Trollope's Domestic Manners of the Americans,

2 vols ; Buckingham's Travels, 3 vols ; Combe's Travels,

3 vols ; Grund's Americans, 2 vols ; Aristocracy in America,
2 vols ; Sedgwick's Home, &c. ; Mrs Clavers' New Home and
Forest Life ; Flint (Timothy) on the Western States ; Chan-
ning on the Labouring Classes, &e.

14 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

The seducer loses caste almost equally, and in a country
where public opinion greatly decides a man's fortune,
is severely visited by its consequences. Such a reproach
forms a bar to his advancement in all the paths of official
or professional life. Even in the great cities, though
the usual scenes of vice more or less occur, they are
covered at least by a veil of decorum.

It is impossible, moreover, to deny to the Americana
the full praise of

" Rough industry, activity untired,

With glowing life informed, and all awake."

The mother-country, indeed, had within the last cen
tury set an example which the world had hitherto seen
nothing to equal. This her offspring, however, has
fairly surpassed her, in the rapidity with which she has
subdued a vast wilderness, created new nations, and
opened intercourse between the most distant regions.
Here indeed, as in other pursuits of industry, the pro
motion of personal interest must be the prominent
motive. We are, however, convinced with Miss Mar-
tineau, that some higher impulses are combined ; the
improvement of the country, the formation of extensive
influence and connexions, the giving employment to
numerous individuals. Upon this subject, however, we
need not dwell, since its results have been so largely
exhibited in a former part of the work.

Having viewed the American character in so many
favourable lights, we are obliged to notice some others
of a rather opposite aspect, partly connected with their
good qualities, partly, it should seem, very inconsistent
with them. The free constitution of their government,
the share which even the humblest citizens enjoy in its
administration, are their greatest boast ; and they exult
particularly in the vast and indeed unexampled extent
of country over which it has been diffused without
leading to the anarchy usually predicted in such cases.
We have fully admitted, that with some few exceptions
this government really has performed its grand object of
securing person and property, and at the same time

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 15

leaving full scope for individual exertion and enterprise.
Nor are we inclined to doubt that, in a great ma
jority of instances, votes are given with a full honesty
of purpose. Yet it is certain, and is admitted by their
best writers, that the spirit and temper with which
political discussion is carried on has no tendency to re
fine or elevate the character. We cannot say that it
has much even in Europe ; but America is allowed to
carry to excess all the faults to which this pursuit is
liable ; — the furious vituperation and personal attacks
upon adversaries ; the gross deceptions circulated and
believed ; the servile devotion or blind enmity to a
political leader. The newspapers are in an extraordinary
degree stamped with these faults ; and as they write for
purposes of profit, must find them acceptable to their
readers ; indeed, none written in a higher tone are said
to succeed. It is, however, so inconsistent with the
reigning profession of piety, that many who peculiarly
devote themselves to religion withdraw altogether from
political concerns. Dr Channing argues that they are to
blame, and ought to take a proper share in these, carrying
and seeking to introduce into them a more suitable spirit
and temper. The two elements appear sometimes mixed,
but in a manner which we cannot but feel particularly
offensive. Mr Combe quotes the following passage :
" The locofocos are triumphant at every point, laughing
at every corner of their infernal mouths. The devil
knowing what they had been about, began to rejoice,
and let out one of the prettiest north-eastern rain-storms ;
but what cared the locofocos for getting wet. When
they get to their comfortable quarters in another region
hereafter, they will have time to dry, &c." (we decline
copying more).

There is a fault of another and seemingly very op
posite nature, which is strongly urged against the
people ; this is timidity in the expression of opinion.
De Tocqueville represents the minority as not only
yielding to the power of the majority, but shrinking
from the manifestation of any opposite feelings. Miss

] 6 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

Martineau describes the nation as enjoying less liberty of
speech and action than others whom they despise as in a
state of servitude. She laments in particular the mental
thraldom in which her own sex appeared to be held.
Mr Buckingham quotes a New York reviewer, denounc
ing public opinion as a greater tyrant in the States than
any where else, and the majority of the people as abject
slaves. Dr Dewey complains of a general moral cowar
dice and pusillanimity. " I think," says he, " I see some
thing of this in our very manners, — in the hesitation,
indirectness, the cautious and circuitous modes of speech,
the eye asking assent before the tongue can finish the
sentence. I think that in other countries you oftener
meet with men who stand manfully up, and deliver
their opinion without asking or caring what you or
others think about it." Many, he says, will see others
suffering reprobation for opinions which they themselves
hold, without having the courage or manliness to say :
" I think so too."

From these testimonies there seems no doubt that
the disposition complained of exists to a considerable
extent. It appears to arise from the extensive de
pendence upon public opinion, the numerous offices and
functions in townships, counties, state and general legis
latures, the election for all which rests with the people.
Yet we cannot help thinking that it has been greatly
exaggerated, and opposes no such bar as has been some
times represented to the progress and fluctuations of
public opinion. It has already been observed, in respect
to the general political movement of the country, that
the highest ascendency of the majority has never pre
vented its being opposed by a minority with even ex
cessive violence. The people are divided among a great
variety of religious sects, some very small, yet main
tained obstinately against general contempt or oppro
brium. It is only required that they shall include a
belief in Christianity ; but this allows a very wide
range. It is observed, indeed, that individuals protect
themselves by being aggregated to some respected and

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 17

established body ; yet there is no power keeping even
these in a permanent condition. We shall see that in
many of these sects extensive schisms have recently
arisen. The temperance and anti-slavery movements
are altogether new, and beginning on a small scale, have
spread widely in the face of the most determined hostility
and ridicule. These innovations have originated with
individuals, whose names even many of them bear.
They do not seem indeed to have rested content with
the colloquial or even written expression of their senti
ments, but to have studiously sought to diffuse them
by means of associations. The various modes of forming
these, comprised under the term agitation, seem to have
originated in America. This mode of extending opinions
is animated and agreeable, developing many social ties
and attachments ; yet it is apt to be carried on with
excessive and sectarian zeal, and with the same vehe
mence of action and language which distinguishes poli
tical conflict. The associate is not open to reasoning
like the individual thinker ; he has a rooted opinion, and
employs his powers of thought only in seeking arguments
and motives, which may be vehemently urged in its
support. Thus, however, full scope is found for change
and progress, and there is no risk of that mental stagna
tion which some represent as arising from the dread of
singularity, and the awe of public opinion. We suspect
even that there is a feverish craving for such movements.
The North American Review, in referring to one, de
scribes it as " the newest form of agitation/' seeming to
intimate that these arise in continued succession.

The next class of faults belongs to one of their merits,
only carried to excess, and in some cases perverted.
They do not, according to Mr Combe, know the art of
getting rich leisurely. A restlessness, a striving and
driving onward, mark all their movements. The whole
of society seems in a state of preternatural activity. Ac
cording to their advocate, Mr Grand, " business is their
pleasure, their soul, pursued not as means of securing
necessaries and comforts, but as the grand fountain of

18 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

human felicity. The merchant is engaged as it were in
a crusade after wealth. From the earliest hour in the
morning, he is a perpetual mobile ; in the house, on
change, wherever he goes, the hum and bustle of busi
ness attends him. He never thinks of retiring or seek
ing the enjoyment of leisure, and would despise any one
that should do so." The writer considers this incessant
occupation as preserving the purity of morals, leaving no
time nor thought for dissipation. Yet while welcom
ing this result, we could wish to see evil driven out by
good, rather than one evil by another. To compass
these aims, they study to move with an almost preter
natural activity, travelling only in the business style
among multitudes in the steam-ship or railway, and con
sidering even this as too tardy. Their meals are scarcely
eaten, but bolted down ; Miss Sedgwick observing with
censure, that it is generally considered unbusiness-like
to spend above ten minutes at dinner. Their motions
are precipitated with the effort not to lose a moment.
At church or other assembly, the instant that the
speaker's voice ceases, the whole congregation start and
rush out, as if vying with each other which should be
foremost, and without regard to the risk of mutual col
lision. Mr Bryant even assures us, that the fair leaders
of fashion at New York, in gaily promenading the Broad
way, exert the same preternatural swiftness : —

" Soft voices and light laughter wake the street,

Like notes of wood-birds, and where'er the eye

Threads the long way, plumes wave, and twinkling feet

Fall light, as hastes that crowd of beauty by ;

The ostrich hurrying o'er the desert space,

Scarce bore those tossing plumes with fleeter pace."

Another evil of this intense pursuit of wealth, is its
tendency to overshoot the mark, and instead of raising to
prosperity, to plunge into ruin. The mischiefs of extra
vagant speculation are sufficiently felt in this country ;
but in America still more extensively. Dr D wight
acknowledges that even the sober citizen of Boston is
too apt to rush into perilous and daring enterprises. The

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 19

youth, according to Mr Buckingham, instead of await
ing the slow results of industry, looks eagerly round for
some rapid road to wealth, some mode of dashing into a
fortune ; and if the faintest prospect of this appears,
nothing short of impossibility will deter him. The
people, M. Chevalier says, delight to feel themselves
moving on a vast sea of speculation, — now on the top of
the wave, — now sunk deep beneath. Speculation be
comes thus a species of gambling, rather shuffling pro
perty from hand to hand than producing it. We cannot
but think it a happier state to earn by steady industry a
moderate income, than to be thus grasping at immense
profits, amid perils of ruin. From this cause, too, bank
ruptcies are more frequent, and considered less discredit
able than in any other country ; in many cases they
occur repeatedly in the same individual. Mr Combe
quotes a statement, probably overrated, that in New
York only one in twelve became rich ; the other eleven
insolvent. Of course, the situation of the mercantile
world generally is thus rendered precarious ; and the
public suffers in the failure of reckless and extravagant
undertakings. We have had before occasion to observe,
that public improvements, even of the most laudable
nature, are undertaken on a scale beyond what present
circumstances can justify or remunerate.

There is a still deeper reproach, which those who
make extreme haste to be rich can with difficulty
escape. General charges against a people should
be advanced with great caution, and if in a sweep
ing form, are usually unjust. Yet there appears a
strong concurrence as to the existence of a somewhat
lower standard of mercantile integrity than in Europe,
or at least in Britain and Germany. Mr Hamilton
charges the Yankee not only with the entire prostration
of all his powers, bodily and mental, at the shrine of
Mammon, but with a promptitude, wherever he can, to
overreach and deceive. Success in these arts is said to
become a subject of boast ; and the man detected in
practising them is rather mortified by the exposure of his

20 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

want of skill, than humbled by conscious misconduct.
This writer asserts, that at a public table attended by
about a hundred persons who were perpetually shift
ing, he habitually heard applause bestowed on conduct
which in England would have involved a total loss of
character. Mrs Trollope characterizes them as sly, sel
fish, and grinding, and also complains that actions which
went at least to the extreme verge of morality were
mentioned without disapprobation, and even with ap
plause. Very decided advocates of America, as Mr
Stuart and Mr Grund, have avoided any mention of
this charge. Mr Shirreff, who notices it as prevalent,
merely replies tauntingly, that the danger of being
overreached would be equal in Canada ; but this is not
a denial with respect to the other party. Mr Bucking
ham seems to view the subject candidly, when he denies
the charge as general, even in regard to the great number
who become insolvent, yet admits that there are many
against whom the accusation would justly apply. Mr
Combe mentions a number whose lives were one con
tinued course of swindling and bankruptcy. This accords
with what has been stated to us by respectable Ameri
cans, who, while defending in general the honourable
character of their countrymen, owned that there were a
certain number who kept afloat in society after they had
lost every vestige of character. Mr Buckingham conceives,
on the whole, that pecuniary laxity is visited here with
greater lenity and indulgence than in England. He
quotes the statement of Dr Dcwey, an eminent clergy
man in New York, of certain frauds as entering into the
regular course of business ; as that of enclosing in the
heart of a bunch of quills a portion inferior to the rest.
Such practices, it appears, are even defended as matters
of course, and expected by the purchaser, — an inade
quate plea, usually advanced for any trick which be
comes general. We are not aware that any tradesman
of the slightest respectability in London, or even Paris,
would be guilty of them.

There is one character which seems given up on all

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 21

hands, — that of the Yankee pedlar. This race is repre
sented by Mr Hamilton as moving annually through
out the Union, with the express determination to lie,
cheat, cozen, and hi any way become possessed of the
property of others. The charge may be considered as
admitted by the nation, since Mr Hill, their favourite
comic performer, represents so humorously, and evi
dently from the life, the dexterous and enormous frauds
habitual to this personage. Their own poet, Halleck,
also describes them as, —

" Apostates who are meddling

With merchandise, pounds, shillings, pence, and peddling,
Or wandering through the southern countries teaching
The A B C from Webster's spelling-book ;
Gallant and godly, making love and preaching,
And gaining by what they call ' hook and crook,'
And what the moralists call overreaching,
A decent living. The Virginians look
Upon them with as favourable eyes,
As Gabriel did the devil in paradise."

The genus, which in Britain is now nearly extinct,
never bore there a very high reputation ; yet they did
not seemingly rank so very low. These form, however,
a distinct and quite inferior class to that of the great
merchants in the commercial cities. It is indeed ob
served, that while there is so much general respecta
bility among American citizens, the unprincipled pre
sent a more unblushing front than elsewhere. Expe
riencing less restraint from law, and almost none from
police, they take advantage of the general prevalence of
a daring and independent spirit. New York has been
described as the paradise of rogues, the general receptacle
for all those both of Europe and America ; where the
character is developed in all its might and malignity.
Those personages, displaying themselves prominently on
the surface, attract more notice than the quiet and
orderly class of citizens. It is indeed implied in the
statement, that Europe furnishes a considerable propor
tion ; and we really see numerous instances in which
those who have lost their place in society at home, seek

22 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

an asylum in this land of liberty. It may be farther
remarked, that this profligate population is mostly con
fined to the great maritime cities, and that the agri
cultural occupants, who form the great body of the
society, preserve in general a dignified and honourable
simplicity. We may perhaps assent to the panegyric
pronounced by Halleck, in contrast with his character
of the peddling order : —

" View them near

At home, where all their worth and pride are placed ;
And there their hospitable fires burn clear,
And there the lowliest farm-house hearth is graced
With manly hearts, in piety sincere,
Faithful in love, in honour stern and chaste ;
In friendship warm and true, in danger brave,
Beloved in life, and sainted in the grave."

It has been at the same time observed that, while
wealth is pursued thus devotedly, and by almost every
means good and bad, there is no disposition to a sordid
economy. The people indulge, as their circumstances ad
mit, in the conveniences and comforts of life, and practise,
as we have seen, a liberal generosity, especially towards
public objects. Many even squander their fortunes in
an extravagant and ostentatious manner ; and the habits
of life among the wealthy inhabitants are generally too
expensive. Mr Hamilton indeed represents an inor
dinate importance as attached to the possessors of wealth,
so that he was offered as a high honour to be introduced
to a gentleman who had made 100,000 dollars by tallow,
and told that one worth half a-million had desired to
meet with him. Indeed, this pride in the possession of
wealth is probably a motive for its ostentatious display.
Although they never cease to aim at its increase,
this is not sought by saving or hoarding, but by em
barking their funds in fresh enterprises, even at the
hazard of losing the fortune already obtained.

Another fault imputed to the Americans, and seem
ingly not without reason, is a pugnacious disposition — a
promptitude to engage in personal conflict. Even an
advocate allows that of all people they are the readiest

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 23

to take and resent an insult. Those violent forms of
it, as gouging or scooping out the eyes, biting off a
member, or otherwise maiming an antagonist, which of
old gave so barbarous an aspect to society, seem to be
extinct. Neither the actions themselves, nor indivi
duals suffering under their consequences, appear to have
come under the view of recent travellers. Through a
great part of the Union, however, the practice prevails of
wearing knives fitted to inflict deadly wounds, which are
occasionally drawn forth ; and fierce personal conflicts
have disgraced the halls of the state assemblies, and even
of congress. These individual outrages are now mostly
confined to the western and particularly the south
western territory. In the most improved eastern states,
however, the same spirit is still displayed in the exercise
of lynch-law, and violent mobs are raised even by the
more respectable classes. On politics and other contro
verted subjects, the war of words is waged with almost
matchless fury. Duelling, a practice considered as ap
propriate to the feudal system, and unknown in the
ancient republics, might have been expected to find
little favour. It prevails, however, to a greater extent
than in Britain, and has proved fatal to some of the
most distinguished citizens ; while it is carried on seem
ingly in a spirit more sanguinary, and without the same
anxiety on the part of the seconds to save the honour
of their principals without the sacrifice of life. Another
symptom of this disposition is the taste and passion for
war \vhich pervades the nation. The exploits which
distinguished the contest with Britain are celebrated
with the utmost enthusiasm ; and an inordinate vene
ration is attached to eminent military characters. It
was mainly upon this ground that Generals Jackson
and Harrison were raised to the presidency ; and General
Scott was proposed lately by a numerous body for the
next vacancy ; so that there seems a strong disposition
to confer this highest dignity on the most eminent of
their military men. During the late controversies witli
Britain, the disposition among a great body, and per-

24 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

haps a majority of the people, to push matters to ex
tremity, and even plunge their country into war, was
sufficiently manifested, and with difficulty checked by
the supreme government. These tendencies are the
more remarkable, as appearing particularly inconsistent
with feelings of republican jealousy, and also with the
general decided profession of religion.

Another reproach of a more venial nature is the ex
tremely high estimate formed of themselves as a people,
and the obtrusive manner in which it is often asserted.
This is indeed shared in a great measure by the mother-
country ; yet in passing the Atlantic, it has assumed
a different phase. The genuine Briton, while he
cherishes a profound conviction of the superiority of
his country and nation, holds in contempt any con
trary opinion entertained by others, and which, if re
ported to him, only confirms his persuasion of their
inferiority. But the American is by no means satisfied
with his own inward consciousness ; he feels an eager
and feverish anxiety that it should be shared by fo
reigners ; and if disappointed, as he has too often been,
gives way to vehement bursts of resentment. Cap
tain Hall complains that, being known to intend pub
lishing an account of America, he was assailed courte
ously, yet earnestly and with little delicacy, on the
subject. He was asked, " Don't you think this a won
derful country I Don't you allow us great credit for
what we are doing I Don't we resemble the old world
much more than you expected ! Had you any idea of
finding us so advanced ? Is not the great canal the
finest work in the world ? Don't you admit we are be
coming a great nation * What do you think of us on the
whole I " It must be owned that several writers of
eminence, from political feelings and habits of aristo
cratic refinement, have taken peculiar delight in pre
senting American peculiarities under a strong and ex
aggerated light. The people have really expressed
themselves satisfied with several who, as M. de Tocque-
ville, have by no means bestowed unqualified praise.

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 25

It must be owned, too, that between each other, and in
the intercourse of different classes, the language used is
often far from complimentary. It is chiefly when
placed in front of other nations, and particularly of their
maternal one, that they become intolerant of critical
remark. The American traveller in Europe, according
to Mr Hamilton, considers himself an impersonation of the
honour of the Union, and feels as if all the dignity of
his country were concentrated in himself. Yet it does
not appear as if he repelled foreign ideas, being accused
by his countrymen of returning too deeply impregnated
with them.

Another fault, also venial, yet not a little trouble
some and annoying, is prying curiosity into the con
cerns of strangers. This propensity is indeed very
generally observed among persons in remote and se
questered situations. To the inhabitants of a great city,
a man, considered in himself, is as it were nobody ;
attention being almost confined to some leading public
characters, or persons with whom they are connected by
business or friendship. But in a retired situation, the
arrival of a new-comer is an important event, which
breaks the monotony of life, and excites a strong interest
in every thing connected with him. The situation of
the majority of the Americans originally was, and to a
great extent still is, more recluse than that of any Eu
ropean people ; and the habit thus formed appears to
continue even.in situations where the advance of society
has diminished the cause, while the spirit of freedom
and equality removes any reserve in taking the most
straightforward mode of gratifying the inclination. It
might be supposed that in a country where every one
is so intensely busied in his own affairs, there would be
little leisure for searching so curiously into those of
others. It appears, however, that time is found for both
objects ; and Mr Hamilton satirically says, that every
moment which can be spared from the one is devoted
to the other. He describes it as impossible to baffle
an American, who will track you through every

VOL. III. B

26 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

evasion, detect all your doublings, or, if thrown out,
hark back so skilfully on scent, that you are at length
fairly hedged into a corner. Dr Franklin, to escape
this annoyance, was accustomed, when he went into a
country district, to have fastened to his breast a paper,
on which was written his name, occupation, residence,
and the business which brought him thither. Miss
Sedgwick mentions as a well-known story that of a
Dutchman who was here questioned to death. We in
cline, however, to think that, among the higher classes
who inhabit the cities, this peculiarity has in a great
measure disappeared. Among those whom we have met
in Europe, and who of course belonged to this class, it
was not displayed in any prominent or offensive degree.
It may seem not altogether to accord with some of the
above statements to describe the Americans as perhaps
the best-tempered people in the world. Yet Captain
Hall declares he never saw one of them out of temper.
Miss Martineau, confirming this observation, and con
trasting it with the waywardness often displayed by the
members of the Saxon race, considers it as a general
sunshine diffused over the land. Symptoms of heat and
irritation indeed occurred as elsewhere ; but they were
kept under such control as not to be offensive. She
inclines to impute it to that self-command which arises
in a republic, where there is a pressure on all sides of
the rights and claims of others, in a manner which can
not be disregarded. It is strikingly displayed in acci
dents and disappointments in travelling, or even more
serious occasions, which scarcely excite the irritation else
where so usual. This pacific disposition prevails particu
larly in families, where the cause above stated is not in
operation ; but Miss M. supposes it the result of the habit
otherwise formed. Of course it ceases when the person
comes to speak and act in public life, or when resent
ment of wrong impels him to seek some serious revenge.
Strangers complain of a coldness of manner both in
society and in the services rendered at shops and hotels,
yet own that in action the people are particularly

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 27

friendly and obliging. Even Mr Hamilton describes
the union of republican plainness with cordiality as very
pleasing.

There is another moral quality, in respect to which
America has presented varied and striking aspects.
Twenty years ago the use of ardent spirits prevailed
to a great excess, not indeed in a convivial manner,
nor leading to turbulent intoxication, but in a more
pernicious habit of frequent solitary indulgence. At
the bar of every tavern a supply was provided, to
which the guests from time to time resorted ; and a
practice prevailed of taking a dram at successive periods
of the day, beginning with the earliest. Although the
disturbances caused by intoxication were thus avoided,
yet the health was more seriously injured, and the
mind kept in a state of constant confusion and irrita
tion. The observation of these evils gave rise to that
great and remarkable movement, which consisted in
the formation of temperance societies ; the first of which
was established at Boston in 1813, under the title of the
" Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intem
perance." The professed object was merely to check the
" too free use" of ardent spirits ; and it made laudable
exertions for this object, but on a very limited scale, till
1826, when a national association was formed, entitled the
" American Temperance Society," having still its head
quarters at Boston. All the usual modes of influencing
the public mind were then most actively employed.
Lectures were delivered in the principal towns ; reports,
tracts, and newspapers were largely and gratuitously
distributed. A numerous body of physicians were in
duced to declare, that the use of ardent spirits by per
sons in health was in every case superfluous, and often the
cause of disease and death ; while resolutions condemn
ing it in a moral view were issued by various ecclesias
tical bodies. Captains of vessels were even prevailed upon
to sail without spirits on board, and their insurances were
in consequence somewhat lowered. Between 1831 and

28 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

1835, the number of societies rose from 3000 to 8000, the
members from 300,000 to 1,500,000. At the latter period,
it is stated that above 4000 distilleries had been stopped,
and 8000 traders ceased to sell ardent spirits ; 1200 ves
sels received none on board, and 12,000 drunkards had
been reformed. A most extensive reduction has taken
place in the quantity produced and imported. With
out entering into any disputed question respecting the
system, it seems impossible to deny, that this great
self-denying movement could only arise from the purest
motives, and is honourable to the national character.
The Massachusetts legislature attempted to follow it up
by an act that no innkeeper should sell less than fifteen
gallons to one individual, unless for medical purposes.
This attempt to pass the limits of legislation, and regu
late manners by law, was unsound in principle, and
particularly unsuited to a community where the feeling
is BO strong in favour of liberty. A violent ferment
arose in Boston ; the publicans refused to obey, and
were supported by the people ; the contest was waged
with the usual violence, and divided into cross sections
the two leading political parties. The democrats, how
ever, were most generally hostile to it, and being seconded
by public opinion, procured its abolition, and gained
additional strength to themselves.

The original system of the temperance advocates was
limited to the proscription of spirits, leaving untouched
the use of fermented liquors, which had not been the
subject of the same abuse. There soon, however, arose
a section which, under the well-known slang title of
tee-totallers, proscribed the latter also ; and amid their
first zeal, it is said the contents of some wine cellars were
emptied into the streets. This party, so far as we
understand, is now completely in the ascendant. The
Marlborough, stated as the second hotel in Boston, and
making up from one to two hundred beds, sells no
species of intoxicating liquid ; and the same is the case
with others in New England. A step still more in

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 29

advance has even been partially made. The Ameri
can Health Convention met at New York, and re
solved to recommend the entire disuse of animal food,
as also of tea, coffee, and every species of stimulating
dietetic. Reports were made of the great longevity
attained under this regimen, and particular hopes
held out to those who would limit their diet to gruel.
This doctrine, supported by Dr Graham, a man of some
talent, has gained a considerable number of converts.
Mr Sturge even celebrates the entertainment which he
received from one of them, though admitting, of course,
that it consisted exclusively of " the feast of reason.1'

This movement deserves particular notice, as being
the first great one which has been communicated from
the New to the Old World, Though originating wholly
in the former, it has, as our readers must well know,
been seconded with ardour by many respectable and
virtuous individuals in this country. There, indeed,
it does not seem to have made the same impression on
the habits of the people ; but in Ireland, seconded by a
peculiar religious impulse, it has exercised an influence
perhaps as deep as in America.

One of the circumstances which most disgusts travel
lers of rank in the United States is the complete
equality assumed by the lowest classes, and the studious
withholding of those forms and even terms of respect
to which they have been accustomed at home. This
system the Americans strenuously defend as forming
the very basis of their social system. It is remarked,
however, that the change consists not so much in the
abolition of aristocratic terms, as in their transference
from one class to another. They are studiously employed
in addressing the humblest order, while plebeian forms
are applied to those whose circumstances might have
seemed to command special respect. Mrs Trollope was
mortified to find that, while her servants and ordinary
workmen were saluted as ladies and gentlemen, she
herself was known only under the appellation of " the
old woman." The Duke of Saxe-Weimar having made

30 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

a journey by post, the driver came to him next day and
asked, — " Pray, are you the man that was driven here
yesterday?" "Yes." "Then, I am the gentleman
that drove you." The utmost reluctance is shown
to enter a menial situation ; and those who do so
consider themselves as conferring a favour. The term
servant has, by common consent, been expunged from
the American vocabulary, and its place supplied by
help, boss, and others implying kindness bestowed.
Mrs Trollope describes a young girl coming to her,
with a patronizing air, and saying, " I be come to help
you." Such employment is usually undertaken only
for a limited time, with the view of obtaining funds
for a particular object. Mrs T.'s help exclaimed
against the idea of a young lady engaging for so long a
period as a year. They are dissatisfied if not treated
on a footing of equality, and even, in some cases, if
they do not sit at the same table. Mrs T. complains
that this discontent and constant change is not only
harassing, but mars that agreeable harmony which reigns
at home in many domestic establishments. In the
eastern cities, indeed, the men-servants consist mostly
of free negroes and Irish emigrants.

Thus the principle of equality is strenuously asserted
by the great body of the American people ; and being
recognised by the persons whose interests might seem
most adverse to it, appears to pervade the whole of society.
Yet close observation soon shows, that aristocratic feel
ings are as powerful and deeply seated as in the most
exclusive circles of the Old World. Vain man will
always seek some distinction, by which he may be
raised above his fellows ; and while the present state of
society subsists, that derived from wealth, and what is
termed style of living, must always have a paramount
influence. De Tocqueville describes the great merchant,
while he accosts and shakes hands with the shoemaker
as an equal, surrounding himself at home with Sybaritic
pomp and luxury. We may add, that in the social and
visiting circle, he is guided by a more exclusive spirit

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 31

than is usual in Britain, where it is observed to be
much stronger than in Germany. The cause may be
easily traced, without having recourse to Mr Combe's sup
position of a peculiar form of the national crania. Where
the distinctions of rank are cheerfully acknowledged by
all classes, its possessor may mix familiarly with the
others, without danger of being confounded with them
and losing his own place. But where the exclusion is
formed only by a combination of one class to hold itself
separate, it must be maintained with uniform rigour, or
lost altogether. Thus are formed sets, which prevail
generally in the provincial and commercial towns in
Britain ; but in America their influence is much more
stringent. They are cemented, too, not by mere wealth,
but by certain distinctions, which appear to be still less
weighty. The wholesale dealer claims to belong to a
different order of beings from him who sells by retail.
Dr Dewey ridicules the pre-eminence claimed in conse
quence of selling a bale instead of a yard ; of the auc
tioneer above the grocer. To decline all intercourse
with this last class is described by Miss Martineau as a
primary object in the fashionable circle. The factory
girls regard themselves as elevated above all association
with female domestics. It appears even that there is
already a distinction between wealth long possessed and
that newly acquired. In all the great cities, particu
larly Philadelphia, there are old families, who possess
superior consideration, and into whose circle the par
venus are with difficulty admitted. We cannot fail to
observe, that these exclusions, though, from the free
nature of social intercourse, they may not afford any re
gular ground for complaint, must be more deeply gall
ing than those which are regularly sanctioned by national
institutions and usages.

The character and treatment of the female sex are
points on which the wellbeing of the social system must
vitally depend ; and in these respects America, with the
necessary allowances for human infirmity, may be con
sidered as happy. Republican states have been sup-

32 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

posed peculiarly to fail in this respect ; and the fault, in
fact, was strikingly observed in some of the most cele
brated of those in antiquity. European society, on
the contrary, has since the feudal ages been agreeably
distinguished by a gay and chivalric courtesy. In this
we might have apprehended that the Americans,
professing to be very decided republicans, would be
rather deficient. On the contrary, they behave with
a deference and attention to the fair sex which unfor
tunately have become somewhat obsolete even in polite
society among ourselves. Whenever ladies appear in
public, every thing gives way to their convenience ; in
steam-boats, coaches, and other public conveyances, the
best seats are yielded to them by gentlemen who are
perfect strangers, and who, though they may scramble
somewhat roughly among each other, never think of
taking their places till the females are accommodated.
Even among the labouring classes females are never
employed in out-door drudgery. In the hall of congress,
a gallery is reserved for them, that they may witness
the proceedings, a privilege denied to them in the British
House of Commons ; and Mrs Trollope remarks, that
there is no danger of their causing any distraction in
the minds of the senators. It appears, indeed, that the
pressure of public and private affairs leaves little leisure
for conversation, or for the interchange of small talk and
little attentions, which enliven mixed society in Europe.
The young American ladies are described as possessed
of uncommon personal beauty. Even Mrs Trollope,
who is by no means their panegyrist, considers it superior
to that of almost any other nation. Their forms are
peculiarly slender, elegant, and sylph-like ; yet without
that fulness, which, when combined with fine propor
tions, makes what we term a fine woman. Unfor
tunately, from the want of exercise in the open air, and
at the same time of precaution against the vicissitudes of
the weather, they suffer much ill health, which, with
early marriages, causes them sensibly to decay about the
age of thirty. The want of original fulness is then

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 33

particularly conspicuous, producing a meagre and scraggy
appearance. They receive more liberal instruction than
is usual with us, including languages, with natural and
moral philosophy, and thus very generally acquire more
information and taste for reading than the other sex.
Grave writers indeed allege, that their acquisitions and
studies are often frivolous, and that novels and books
merely amusing have too prominent a place. Dr D wight
alleges, that in many instances the young lady of Boston
may be described as only " a well-dressed bundle of ac
complishments." From circumstances which transpire
in Mrs Clavers' narrative, we are led to imagine that the
fashion of deporting themselves as heroines of romance,
which may be said to be obsolete in this country, is there
still somewhat prevalent ; as also a taste for fine names
drawn from this source, and from Roman history. Dress,
in the fashionable circles, is indulged in to an extent often
disproportioned to the means of the family. New York
has been described as containing more well-dressed
females than any other city of equal size ; though of
course there cannot be the same display of jewels as in
the circles of royalty and nobility. The young ladies
enjoy great liberty, and indeed, on coming of age, assume
the direction of all the social arrangements of the family.
Every thing connected with entertainments and visiting
belongs to their province, the mothers only attending to
give a sanction by their presence. A traveller expresses
his surprise on receiving a note of invitation to a party
from a young lady of seventeen. Yet this social freedom
is not alleged to be attended with any impropriety
either of manners or conduct. On the contrary, they
are accused of prudery carried sometimes to a ridiculous
extent, and even of repulsive coldness, particularly
on being thrown into public among strangers, when
they accept the attentions which are shown to them
without vouchsafing a word or even a gesture expres
sive of obligation. Those moving in the gay and
aristocratic circles are accused of favouring and being
easily induced to accept the alliance of foreigners, or in

34 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

the second place of their countrymen who have travelled
in Europe, and thus, in the opinion of many, lost part
of the genuine American character.

At an early period of life, however, the lady is usually
united in the matrimonial tie. This arrangement,
prompted by the facility of subsistence, is alleged to
take place often prematurely, before the parties are fully
qualified to fulfil the parental duties. From this time,
however, she renounces those gayeties which had been
thought not unsuitable to her single state ; and to dance
in public is, even in a youthful matron, considered no
longer becoming. Her conduct as a wife and a mother
is, generally speaking, exemplary. There is said to be
an unusual proportion of happy marriages ; and the
prevailing good temper displays itself in the domestic
circle, which appears thus the most advantageous
light under which an American can be viewed. His
home is described as in many cases resembling an earthly
paradise. The world without may be for him a scene
of turbulence, and even conflict ; but that within is all
harmony and peace. Instances of matrimonial infidelity
are extremely rare ; and if it be true that the few cases
which do occur are passed over more easily than in this
country, the inference is, that the prevailing good con
duct is founded on principle rather than fear. These
virtues are practised under the influence of a deep sense
of religion, which, as already observed, prevails gene
rally among the respectable class of society, but more
especially females. Even those men who themselves
feel little of this spirit, show their sense of its influence
on their domestic wellbeing, by encouraging it in their
wives. Under this sacred influence, much of their time
is spent in works of kindness, and in the management
of institutions for the improvement and relief of their
fellow-creatures. While the American ladies display so
many estimable qualities, as good wives, good mothers,
and good members of society, they may allow Mrs
Trollope to criticize their want of grace, animation,
and attractiveness ; of those qualities which embellish

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 35

the gay leisure of a European drawing-room. Even
this censure seems passed on a somewhat superficial
view. Individuals qualified to judge, have considered
their manners, if somewhat cold, so marked by good
sense, information, and genuine courtesy, as to be ex
tremely agreeable. Hence, accomplished Europeans
have chosen partners out of their number, without
having any cause for repentance.

We have already observed that meals and other
entertainments do not bear the same social character
as with us, the victuals being usually consumed with
extreme rapidity, after which the party instantly break
up. But among the genteeler classes in the large towns,
it is now customary to prepare elaborate and splendid
entertainments after the European model. The most
prevalent mode, however, appears to be that of evening
parties, after the manner of conversazioni, with only
slight refreshment, which meet frequently, and upon
general invitation. The hours are late, from ten to two or
three, yet, though too crowded, they are conducted with
great decorum ; cards are seldom introduced ; oaths are
never heard. Even there the merchant is said often to
display an anxious and care-worn countenance, and a
mind little at ease for cheerful conversation. Yet it is
generally agreed by travellers, that there is a circle com
posed of the best-informed among this class, combined
with professional and literary men, among whom subjects
are discussed with a manly frankness, intelligence,
and courtesy, which render the intercourse singularly
agreeable. Even Mrs Trollope bears this testimony
with warmth ; and Mr Buckingham declares that, after
experience of similar parties both in London and
Paris, he inclines to give the preference to those of New
York and Boston. The present writer, from his obser
vation of individuals of this class, whom he has met in
this country and on the Continent, does not hesitate to
concur. There was exhibited a love of conversing
on important subjects, with large and liberal views,
which gave to their conversation a superior stamp to

36 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

that prevalent among us, where even that of intelligent
men often takes a frivolous turn. A somewhat lengthy
and oratorical strain, almost as if they felt themselves
on the floor of congress, appeared the only blemish.

There are some minor defects in manners and deport
ment, which have been criticized perhaps with extreme
severity. In countries, where a court and body of nobi
lity reside, a large circle is formed, within which it be
comes a special study to perform their parts gracefully,
and without giving offence ; and a standard is thus esta
blished, which the other classes more or less strive to
imitate. But where all are busied in serious occupa
tions, and can spare only a few hours for social relaxa
tion, there cannot be the same attention bestowed upon
outward forms. A man will be disposed to adjust them
rather as may be commodious and gratifying to him
self, than likely to gain the favour of others. The
chewing or smoking of tobacco is almost universal, and
the consequent spitting indulged in with little regard to
the annoyance of the company. Among enumerated
offences are, wearing the hat on the most ceremonious
occasions; in public places turning the back to the
audience or company ; balancing the person on a chair,
with the legs thrown up ; lifting the food with the knife,
and thrusting it deep into the mouth. The Americans
have not borne these charges very patiently, nor even
pleaded guilty. Yet it is remarked, that considerable
anxiety is shown to remove the grounds of offence, and
that they are not slow to ridicule each other, in case
of any palpable failure. It is mentioned, that in the
theatre at New York, a gentleman in one of the boxes
having placed himself in a peculiarly uncouth attitude,
the audience saluted him with cries of " Trollope !
Trollope 1"

Foreigners complain also of rude provision for the con
veniences and comforts of life, and the neglect of little
niceties and delicacies, which are felt as necessary by
those accustomed to a more refined circle. These deficien
cies almost irresistibly arise from the train of colonial life.

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 37

The new settler has indeed the means of plenty before
him ; but to make them available, he must engage in
a rough struggle with nature, to which his time and
powers are scarcely adequate ; while help cannot be ob
tained without great difficulty and expense. He must
content himself, therefore, with hastily getting through
the most essential processes, omitting matters of orna
ment and indulgence. Becoming accustomed to live
without these, he ceases to feel them needful to his
comfort, and even when he reaches abundance or wealth,
cares not to take the additional trouble of procuring them.
In the maritime cities, indeed, which constantly com
municate with Europe, this obvious imperfection has
been greatly removed ; but in the interior, and still more
in the west, it is still noticed. As a specimen, Mr
Stuart mentions, that beyond Albany bells were not
used, while the place of egg-cups was inconveniently
supplied by glasses. Washington describes a ball at
Alexandria, where the tables were covered with pocket-
handkerchiefs instead of cloths ; but this, we presume,
would not now occur. The steam-vessels are fitted up
with studied splendour and every conveniency ; but in
the canal-boats the old system still flourishes. Mr Steven
son mentions, that the captain of one in which he sailed
assumed the entire command over the passengers, and did
not exercise it with much civility. The cabin was com
pletely filled with hammocks, arranged in three tiers, the
heaviest persons being made to occupy the lowest, with
the view of ballasting the vessel. At five in the morn
ing, they were all summoned to come on deck, till the
sleeping apparatus could be removed, and the apartment
prepared for breakfast ; and at nine in the evening, all
were again called up till the beds could be replaced,
which they were then obliged to occupy. One towel,
brush, and comb were hung at the cabin-door, for the
general use of the party ; and for their common ablu
tions, a gigantic tin vessel, filled with water, was fastened
to the stern. Mr Combe further relates, that the beds,
on being taken down, were piled together in a heap,

38 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

and when replaced, no attention was paid that each
should receive his own ; a good fortune for which, from
the great number, no one could reasonably hope. The
doors and windows of the apartment, forty-two feet
long, in which thirty-five men were sleeping, being kept
fast closed, the air became infected, and a painful sense
of suffocation ensued ; while on the couches being re
moved, horrid effluvia were exhaled. The ladies' cabin,
though only twelve feet, contained nineteen, and ten
children. These circumstances severely affected the
health of a number of the passengers, though they ap
peared insensible of the cause.

The inns and hotels, of course, occupy much of the
attention of foreigners ; and indeed the constant move
ment for political, commercial, and emigrant purposes,re-
quires them to be more numerous, and on a greater scale
than in any other country. Astor House, in New York,
makes up 500 beds. The imperfection of those in the
west will be presently noticed ; but in the old states
they are provided with every European accommoda
tion. Some of the arrangements are, however, peculiar.
Every meal is taken by the whole company in public,
at a common table ; and it is very difficult to pro
cure refreshments at any intermediate period. There
is no drinking after dinner, the company beginning
even to break up before the meal is concluded ; but
liquors can always be had at the bar, around which
a social circle is sometimes formed. Complaints are
made by some of want of civility in the attendants. It
is admitted, that there is an absence of that obsequious
courtesy which is shown in this country to persons of
high rank ; and that this, when claimed with airs of
superiority, will be very decidedly repelled. A stranger,
however, who conforms to the ideas of the country, and
deals with the servant as man with man, will be coldly,
perhaps, but satisfactorily attended to. The females
who, in every rank, are accustomed to particular re
spect, discharge the duties of waiting with especial cool
ness, and hesitate not to sit down in the apartment

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 39

when unemployed. The business of hotels is consider
ably extended by the custom of many individuals board
ing in them, which by single men is considered both
convenient and economical. It is not unfrequent even
with married people for some years, till their family
increases ; a practice very foreign to British ideas, and
of which many doubt the expediency. Mr Hamilton
complains of the intricacy of the passages in these great
hotels, rendering the discovery of a particular apartment
a matter of speculation, and requiring a search like that
of Parry for the north-west passage ; but we cannot
say, that in large English inns the internal arrange
ments in this respect are so superior as to afford much
room for triumph. It may be urged, perhaps, in excuse
for both, that such houses are usually formed by suc
cessive additions, which are not easily made to harmonize
with each other.

From this subject the transition is natural to the
food served up at public and private tables. This is
allowed to be abundant, and of good quality. Such is
particularly the case as to poultry and game, which are
indeed often combined, since the turkey, the duck, and
other domestic species are found here wild, and of ex
cellent flavour. English palates, however, are not per
fectly satisfied with the mode in which it is cooked and
served up. The sauces are said to be unskilfully con
cocted, too rich and greasy. Mrs Trollope remarks on
some singular combinations ; as eggs and oysters ; ham
with apple sauce ; steaks stewed with peaches ; yet it
might perhaps be difficult to decide on what principle
some of our own conjunctions take place. Pies, pud
dings, and sweetmeats are favourite dishes, and, with
meat, are presented at breakfast and in the evening,
as well as at dinner. The favourite wines are madeira
and claret, port being seldom used.

Some particulars specially relating to the labouring
class may conclude this notice. Their means of physical
wellbeing are, as already observed, decidedly superior
to those in Britain, or any country of Europe. A great

40 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

proportion possess property in land, while those who
work for wages obtain a much higher remuneration.
Yet Mrs Trollope maintains that their condition is not
really superior ; which she imputes to their expenditure
on victuals, including animal food three times a-day, to
the quantity of liquor consumed, and their more fre
quent intervals of ill health. Yet the larger amount of
income seems in itself an undoubted advantage, however
they may fail in turning it to the best account. Dr
Channing indeed also regrets this superfluity in diet,
as injurious to health, and diverting their money from
better purposes. The practice of boarding among the
single and newly married is still more general than
among the higher classes. Their residence, however, is
not in hotels, but in houses kept for the express pur
pose, where they are supplied with three meals a-day,
each including fish, meat, pastry, and fruit. Their
lodging space, however, is very confined, each sleeping
apartment containing almost always several beds, with
usually two persons in each. As it is not expected that
the boarder shall spend much time in the public room,
unless at meals, he has little means of employing
his leisure hours at home. This too naturally induces
the habit of attending places of public amusement or
drinking-houses ; in which last, the entertainment as
usual is not social, nor leading to turbulent intoxica
tion. When the visiter enters he finds a long bar with
a great variety of liquors, an<J a glass being handed to
him, he fills it out of the one which he prefers. An
ample supply of newspapers is prepared for his perusal ;
but games of different kinds are much played, and often
at high stakes. We may thus see, in regard to America,
the insufficiency of mere moderation, and the importance
of entirely discountenancing attendance at these haunts.
Yet a certain amount of time and money is be
stowed on intellectual improvement, which, though not
very large, exceeds considerably that contributed by
any similar population in the old world. Dress is
another article on which the workman spends more than

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

41

the same clas&else where. This taste may he considered so
far laudable, though often carried, it is said, to a foolish
excess. Hence, however, the people on the whole make
a remarkably respectable appearance, and no symptom of
absolute poverty is exhibited ; yet close observers assure
us, that the great cities present not a few examples of
extreme wretchedness, chiefly occasioned, however, by
intemperance or other misconduct.

We have had occasion to notice that a considerable
proportion of females are employed in the American
factories, generally the daughters of farmers or small
proprietors, seeking by two or three years' labour
to realize a littie property ; and we have mention
ed the favourable report made upon their conduct.
The factory girls at Waltham dress like ladies ; they
support a clergyman, and provide lectures for their
own instruction. For two dollars a-week they obtain
good board ; though the houses are crowded as usual,
and Miss Martineau deplores their lot in never being
able to enjoy one moment of solitude, — an evil, how
ever, which does not seem " to make the heart sore in
America."

On beginning to have a family a man always takes
up house ; though this is a privilege which does not
seem very highly prized. The mansions are large, and
the rents high and increasing : in New York, the
lowest wooden tenement costs £30 ; hence it is common
to take lodgings, or if a house be rented, to let it par
tially. The rearing of children is comparatively easy,
since by the age of ten they begin to earn their own
subsistence, and can be apprenticed to any trade without
a premium.

We have now taken a general survey of social life
throughout America ; but, as already observed, there
are different sections exhibiting remarkable varia
tions. These are mainly divisible into four ; the
Northern and the Southern Atlantic States ; then the
Western, or those newly formed, divided according to
the two others whence they respectively spring. The

VOL. III. C

42 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

above delineation has been given specially with a view
to the first or the Northern Atlantic section, as the
most flourishing, most influential, and which has in some
degree stamped its character on the Union. Its qualities
are concentrated in the New Englanders, called by the
other Americans Yankees — a name given somewhat in
derision, yet which they do not hesitate to appropriate
and glory in. The elements of knowledge are more gene
rally diffused among them than perhaps in any other
community, and their possession is regarded with peculiar
pride even by the rural population. They have always
manifested a deep sense of religious obligation, which,
though sometimes assuming too strictly sectarian forms,
prompts to extensive institutions and exertions for the
diffusion of knowledge and the relief of distress. The
mercantile character of the States was created and is
still powerfully supported by the New Englanders,
though New York, from favourable circumstances, has
gained some steps in advance ; and in maritime affairs
they continue unrivalled. With all these high merits,
complaints are made of their wanting that warmth,
openness, and flow of soul, which give a charm to social
life, thus rendering themselves rather the objects of esteem
than of love. They are represented as cool, reserved,
shrewd, calculating ; cautious, yet enterprising, full of
schemes of an original cast, which, though derided
elsewhere under the title of Yankee notions, possess a
useful and practical bearing. The most respectable
class in this or perhaps any part of the Union consists
of the small proprietors and farmers, who combine
a proud simplicity with considerable intelligence and
mental cultivation. The inhabitants of the cities
and towns include many highly accomplished indivi
duals ; yet the majority are strongly actuated by the
love of gain, and many, especially of the peddling order,
little scrupulous as to the means of its acquisition.
These being the parties through whom the country is
best known to Europe and to the other states, its repu
tation has thus been considerably damaged.

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 43

The planters of the south, Avhile they agree with
their northern countrymen in a general train of man
ners and ideas, present many points of character not
only different but strikingly contrasted. Instead of
small owners or farmers, they are usually proprietors
of a considerable extent of land tilled by their slaves.
They are consequently relieved from manual toil, and
exercise only a superintendence, often delegated to
overseers ; being thus nearly in the situation of the
English country gentlemen, whose character in many
respects they resemble. Chevalier considers them as
contrasting with the northerns like the old class of
Cavaliers with the Roundheads. Yet it is remarkable
that they placed themselves in the foremost front of
the contest for independence, and have always made
the highest profession of democracy. Primogeniture,
which had been fully established among the early set
tlers, was abolished soon after the revolution. The
tone of society, however, is still aristocratic ; and they
record with pride their descent from illustrious English
families who early migrated. They are quite gentlemen
of the old school ; their manners frank, open, and agree
able ; their hospitality most liberal. A perfect stranger,
of respectable appearance, receives a hearty welcome ;
hence inns are almost useless, and inferior to those
in the north. A number employ their leisure in study
ing and preparing themselves for public life. Combin
ing a knowledge of books and the world with habits of
reflection, they become fitted for the highest public situa
tions, and have contributed a majority of the orators and
statesmen who have held sway in the republic. Washing
ton, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, four of the five first pre
sidents, were Virginian. This class of men are now produced
in nearly equal proportion by Boston. Indeed, the Virgini
ans have experienced a prettysevere pressure from the re
duced prices of their produce, while its amount has very
little increased ; and these causes, joined to their confirmed
habits of liberal and even lavish expenditure, have led to a
very general embarrassment. Their situation with respect

44 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

to slavery has also proved distressing and disadvanta
geous ; but this subject will be fully treated in
another chapter. A considerable number have sought
relief by removal to the new states formed in the south
west.

Each of the sections now surveyed has its representa
tive in the new and rising states formed west of the
Alleghany. We shall first consider those descended
from the northern Atlantic region, and which include
all on that side of the Ohio. The peculiar social state
formed by colonization has already been noticed : this is
still perceptible in the Atlantic states ; and the western,
being colonies from them, present all its features upon
an enlarged scale. The migration, too, besides being
more numerous, is made in a looser manner, without
any aristocratic direction and control, such as influenced
the early settlers from England. It consists of a con
tinued stream of the labouring class, and those imme
diately above them, mixed with crowds of their brethren
from every clirne. There is, indeed, a sprinkling of a
higher order ; merchants who have failed in business ;
professional men unable to procure employment ; youths
who have married without the means of supporting
a family ; others seized with a passion for retirement.
These calculate that they will here be at least sure of
subsistence, and be removed from the view of those who
had known them when more prosperous. Their posi
tion, however, gives them no means of exercising an
influence over their neighbours ; and notwithstanding
strenuous efforts, in many instances, to hold themselves
aloof, they are soon obliged to merge in the general
mass. If they do not, the reproach of pride, " that
terrific bugbear of the woods," is speedily incurred, and
they seek in vain for that neighbourly aid which is
here indispensable. Even when performing services
for money, the people consider themselves as confer
ring an obligation, and sternly withhold them from
any by whom they consider themselves despised. " If,"
says Mrs Clavers, "I treat Mrs Timson. with neglect

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 45

to-day, can I with any face borrow her broom to
morrow ? And what \vould become of me if, in re
venge for my declining her invitation to tea this after
noon, she should decline coming to do my washing
on Monday 1" Even where there is some wealth, it
can with difficulty be used for purposes either of accom
modation or display. A stock of furniture is regarded
as superfluous, and it is very difficult to get workmen
who will steadily employ themselves in rearing a house
fitted to contain it.

From these causes the labouring emigrants give com
pletely the tone to the whole society ; and seeing them
selves thus without any superiors, and also in posses
sion of considerable property, assume an independent
character, and give way, without reserve, to their na
tural impulses. They thus acquire, according to Mr
Flint, rough, sturdy, and simple habits, deep stamina
of independent thought and feeling. Their manners,
as compared with those of the east, are distinguished by
earnestness and abruptness, and the total absence of
that cautious and timid reserve complained of in the
latter. They readily and frankly accost a stranger, and
easily form new acquaintances. They are even ambi
tious to enact the part of gentlemen, without exactly
knowing how ; and the deference to the female sex,
general in America, is carried to a chivalric and some
times ridiculous extreme. They have formed a species of
dialect of their own, with a pronunciation different from
and more rapid than that in the east, using comparisons
drawn from different views of things. The estimate of
their manners varies, of course, greatly with the tastes
and habits of different observers. Mrs Trollope re
presents it as a compound of every thing that is coarse
and revolting, and severe satirists have described the
western man as a compound of the horse and the alli
gator ; but this can have no application unless to the
rudest pioneers. Miss Martineau, on the contrary, wTho
sets especial value on the frank and fearless declaration
of sentiment, considers their society delightful when

46 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

compared with the timid caution of the New Englander.
The steamers on the Ohio and Mississippi may be con
sidered the centre of western society ; an excursion
along the river is the favourite recreation ; and there
are few who have not, once in their life, visited New
Orleans. The youth, transported from the depth of
the woods into this gay and crowded scene, feels him
self as in a new world ; but he often meets with dan
gerous associates.

We may thus, on the whole, remark, that this
new people agree with the original stock as to enter
prise, activity, and industry ; in some other respects
they present a contrast. They want the polish and
refinement, the regular habits, and even the fixed prin
ciple of the latter ; yet they have some attributes more
agreeable and engaging. They even regard the Yankees,
known to them, unfortunately, mostly by the peddling
generation, with a sentiment of mingled contempt and
hatred. Mr Hoffman mentions his party as being
saluted by the call : '< Are there any gentlemen among
the Yankees 5" and a friend of his had repeatedly, on
this ground, been refused a draught of water. In other
cases, the hospitality, so much wanted in these vast
solitudes,, is liberally exercised. Mrs Clavers never
knew an instance of its refusal, unless when claimed as
a right, on the ground of an intention to pay. The
duties of neighbourhood, which in crowded cities have
scarcely any existence, are here extensively practised.
The expectations founded upon them are indeed some
what inconvenient to the better provided residents.
This lady found that their horse, their kitchen uten
sils, and other moveables, when not in actual use, were
confidently asked by their neighbours, and returned
without thanks, or even strict attention to their being
exactly in the condition received. Mrs Trollope had a
servant who, when going to visit, asked the loan of her
own and the young Ladies' dresses ; and on being refused,
declared, " she never seed such gumpy folks." In re
turn, when emergencies occur, active services, which

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 47

money could not purchase, will be liberally contri
buted.

The accommodations of life must, of course, be here
very rude ; and we have explained the circumstances
which, in a new settlement, obstruct their supply, and
gradually extinguish the desire for them. Building
being difficult, many do not attain beyond a single apart
ment for cooking, sitting, and sleeping ; while the fur
niture is usually of the plainest materials, and very im
perfect construction. There are odd substitutions of
one thing for another, and articles applied to purposes
very different from those originally intended ; as a
hinge of leather, a latch of wood, a pane of oiled paper,
a coffee-mill composed of a thick cloth and a hammer.
The sins against Chesterfield are described as almost
perpetual. Mrs Clavers had a visiter who uniformly
dipped her spoon into the dish and cut off morsels from
the joint, carrying them direct to her mouth, and when
pressed to allow a slice to be cut for her, positively
refused to give so much trouble. From the constant
national movement, inns have been formed even in very-
sequestered lines ; but the traveller must not be fasti
dious as to the accommodation. If there be a separate
sleeping room, it is only an upper apartment, reach
ed by a ladder, where all the company of both sexes
must repose together, producing an atmosphere in which
it is not easy to respire. The ladies are accommodated
with the best bed, and a curtain or cloth to screen them
from view. Those of the other sex often sue in vain
for a separate couch, which is considered a ridiculous
delicacy. Mr Hoffman records his landlady's reason
ing : " A bed to themselves, the hogs ! they have
travelled together, and eat together, and yet they can't
sleep together."

On crossing to the south of the Ohio, an entirely new
scene opens. All the states thence to the Gulf of Mexico
have, during the last half-century, been derived from
the southern Atlantic region, chiefly Virginia. They
have retained its spirit, which they display in an ex-

48 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

aggerated degree, both as to good and evil, but espe
cially the latter. Having brought with them negro
slaves, by whom all the manual labour is performed,
they want the personal industry of their northern
neighbours, yet are not obliged to submit to the same
privations of comfort and accommodation. The Ken-
tuckians afford at once the most important and favourable
specimen of this class of Americans. Being no longer
situated on the border, their incessant and terrible war
fare with the Indians has happily ceased ; yet they
retain an extraordinary courage and dexterity in the
use of the rifle, which has gained for them a great
name in the military history of their country. Captain
Hall considers them the Irish of America, distinguished
by levity, buoyancy of spirit, jocular ferocity, ardour
both in attachment and hatred. According to Hoff
man, "there is an off-hand edness, if I may use the
term, a fearless ardour, a frankness and self-possession
about them, which engages your good will at once ;
while you are both interested and amused at the ex
aggerated tone of sentiment, half-romantic, half-vain
glorious, which their ideas and sentiments betray."
As an instance of their frank and social disposition, he
mentions that, while setting out on a journey, he heard
a voice calling from an enclosure : " Halloo, stranger ;
I reckon you and I are cutting out for the same
place ; so hold on a bit, and you shall have some com
pany." A pride in their beautiful territory seems very
strong, and was oddly expressed by a boatman on the
Ohio, saying, " No, stranger, there is no place on the
universal 'arth like old Kaintuck ; she whips all out
west in prettiness ; and you might bile down cration,
and not get such another state out of it." The hospi
tality even to perfect strangers is still more lavish than
in Virginia.

In proceeding southward to the states newly formed
on the lower Mississippi, this character appears under
excessive and somewhat painful forms. This region
may be considered the centre of turbulence, lynch-law,

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 49

duelling, and disregard of human life. The practice is
general of wearing on the person a dagger or large
knife, which in their personal quarrels is often used with
fatal effect. A member of the Assembly of Arkansas,
in the heat of debate, drew out one of these instruments,
and stabbed another to the heart, who instantly died.
It was with the utmost difficulty that the assembly
were induced to vote his expulsion, and he was ac
quitted by a jury. A case is mentioned of a passenger
in one of the steamers having murdered another, when
the captain merely put him on shore at the nearest
landing-place, and no further proceedings were held.
In this quarter are numerous depraved characters, who
associate together, and almost set law at defiance.
The most pernicious are the gamblers, who are con
stantly on board the steamers, where they introduce
much corruption and misery. It is true, strong mea
sures have been taken against them by those who wit
nessed or suffered by their misdeeds ; but these have
been stamped by the violent and irregular character
here too prevalent. Some years ago five of them were
seized and hanged at Vicksbury, without form of trial,
and without any animadversion on the perpetrators. A
village near the Mississippi, where a number had con
gregated, was attacked and destroyed by a body of
settlers, who were indeed brought to trial, but, we
imagine, suffered no serious punishment. There appear
even to be scattered through this quarter small towns
composed of outlawed and desperate characters, whom
the hand of justice can scarcely reach. There are no
doubt a number of respectable persons ; yet irreligion,
profanity, and profligacy of various kinds extensively
prevail.

One circumstance unfavourable to the social progress
of the Union is, that Washington, which, as the capital,
must possess great influence, does not form the best school
of manners. The families of the members sent to con
gress from the eastern cities, being at no great distance,
and enjoying at home all the refinements of life, do not

50 MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA.

in many instances change their residence. But the
planters from the great western wilderness bring their
wives and daughters with them to see the world. Hence
the entertainments are described as more ostentatious,
but with less of hospitality and elegance than in New
York ; the men comparatively rough and boisterous,
with awkward attempts at dandyism ; even the females
less graceful, their talk noisy and almost vociferous.
The behaviour at public places is less orderly ; at a
concert applause was expressed by beating with canes.
Various doubtful characters, speculators in public land
and funds, slave-merchants, gamblers, throng this great
political resort, and render it by no means a scene of
improvement for young legislators.

From the particulars now surveyed, a dread might
arise that, as the new states are extending and peopling
much more rapidly than the old, which, with the ex
ception of the great commercial cities, remain nearly
stationary, this barbarizing process may extend along
with them, and finally gain a decided ascendency. Yet
there are circumstances from which we may sanguinely
anticipate a happier result. These states, as they be
come larger and more populous, will increase also in
wealth ; opulent classes will arise, who will study the
refinements and improvements of social life. They
will find models in the eastern states, with which they
must always have a close connexion, and a visit to which
is likely to become the favourite recreation. The filling
up of the population will facilitate the reign of order and
justice ; religious ministrations will become more ample ;
a more sober and regular character will be formed. In
fact, by looking back to the historical part of this work,
successive operations of this salutary process may be
observed. We have seen, at the breaking out of the
great Indian war, the border of Connecticut occupied
by thoroughly fierce and lawless bands ; now there is
nowhere a population more peaceable or better con
ducted. Even half a century ago, the interior of New
England, and afterwards that of Pennsylvania, have been

MANNERS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN AMERICA. 51

seen to exhibit the most violent and insubordinate pro
ceedings ; now these also rank among the best-ordered
states. Cincinnati, the chief city of the west, so recently-
sprung up in the wilderness, has already a society little
inferior to that of an Atlantic city. Kentucky, thirty
years ago, was what Mississippi and Arkansas are now ; at
present it is little behind Virginia. Mrs Clavers writes
even from the woods of Michigan, that the visit of one
or two of her roughest neighbours to New York had
excited an emulation of its polish and refinement.

52 SLAVES AND SLAVERY,

CHAPTER II.

Slaves and Slavery.

State and Extent of Slavery in the United States— Treatment
of the Negroes — How supplied with Food — Enactments
against their Instruction — Means of Religious Knowledge —
Internal Trade— Breeding of Slaves — Sales by Auction —
Mode of Conveyance— Treatment in the New States— Clan
destine Importation— Situation of the Free Coloured Race —
Early Abolition Measures— Unsuccessful — Colonization So
ciety—Anti-Slavery Society— Their Measures— Proceedings
of the Anti- Abolitionists— Seconded by the Northern Mer
chants—By the Legislature— Present State of Parties —
Measures for Colonization — Their Tendency — Prospects of
the Cause.

THE subject of the present chapter is the darkest and
most painful which occurs in the contemplation of the
United States ; and it is one respecting which it is dif
ficult to avoid the gloomiest forebodings. The Ameri
cans, while they boast of free and equal rights surpassing
those of any other nation, hold two millions and a half
of human beings in a state of abject and degrading
bondage. In surveying this momentous topic, it will
be our endeavour to avoid those extremes of feeling
which it has excited, and calmly to estimate the nature
and extent of the evil, the means and the hopes of its
remedy.

It is a common and obvious reproach, that a people,
exulting beyond any other in the full possession of free
dom, should hold in slavery this large proportion of
their fellow-citizens. The anomaly becomes the more

SLAVES AND SLAVERY. 53

striking when it is considered that the party which
makes the highest profession of democratic principle, is
that which seeks most firmly to rivet the chain, and
most fiercely resists every proposal to hreak it. We
would, however, remark, that the cause of this incon
sistency is to be found rather in the general infirmity
of human nature, than in any thing peculiar to the Ame
rican nation. Athens, Sparta, Rome, in the utmost
height of their boasted liberty, held an equal or greater
number of their citizens in the most degrading bonds.
It has even been remarked, that the slaves in the Eng
lish and Dutch West Indies were more hardly treated
than those of the Spaniards and Portuguese, subjects of
absolute monarchies. We are far from wishing to with
hold from our country the glory of having, by energetic
and spontaneous efforts, banished first the slave-trade,
and then slavery itself, from her borders, and from the
whole range of her influence. Yet, lest she should be
exalted over much, we may just notice, that all the part
of the society which had, or supposed itself to have, an
interest in the prolongation of the system, opposed these
changes with determined obstinacy, which was only
overpowered by the overwhelming majority of those
who could indulge their philanthropy without seriously
compromising their outward wellbeing. The American
slave-holders unfortunately form so large and imposing
a mass, commanding the legislatures of half the states,
that there appears little prospect indeed of effecting
emancipation by any similar compulsory process.

The people of the present day can also urge that they
did not introduce the system, but found it established,
and that their possessions and means of subsistence are
entirely bound up with it. They can quote early acts
of the British legislature, by which it was encouraged,
and even pressed upon them. These facts must be
admitted ; yet there are particulars which render it
impossible fully to admit such a plea. Had we seen
them anxiously striving to lighten the load of bondage,
to improve the condition of the negroes, to raise their

54 SLAVES AND SLAVERY.

moral and intellectual nature, and prepare them for perhaps
one day becoming free, we might have been inclined to
sympathize with their situation. But when we find them
using every effort to bind closer the chain, prohibiting
them by law from receiving the least elementary instruc
tion, preventing even those who desire to emancipate
from fulfilling their humane purpose, we can no longer
view them as reluctantly connected with slavery. They
have hugged it to their bosom, and made it their own.

Slavery prevails only in the southern territories,
bounded generally by the Potomac and the Ohio. In
New England and the other north-eastern states, a con
siderable number were at one time in bondage. New
York, in 1790, had above 21,000. Before the end of
the century, however, a general abolition had taken
place, Pennsylvania having set the honourable ex
ample. As freedom was granted only to those born after
the date of the acts, the extinction was gradual, and
a handful in each state still remains. In Delaware
there is no prohibition ; but the number is small and
decreasing, having fallen since 1790 from 8887 to 2605.
Throughout the southern states, the labour of cultivation
is almost entirely performed by servile hands. The in
crease of this race has been very remarkable, fully equal
ling that of the free population in the same states, though
short of what obtains in those where slavery is unknown.
Since 1790, it has been as follows : —

1790, . . . 697,897
1800, . . . 893,041
1810, . . 1,191,364

1820, . . . 1,538,064
1830, . . 2,009,031
1840, . . . 2,487,113

The distribution among the several states at the latest
period was as follows : —

Maryland,
Virginia,
North Carolina, .
South Carolina, .
Georgia,
Alabama,
Mississippi,

89,493
448,987
245,817
327,038
280,944
253,532
195,211

Louisiana, .
Kentucky,
Tennessee, .
Arkansas,
Missouri, .
Florida, .
Columbia District,

168,452
182,258
183,059
19,935
58,240
25,717
4,694*

* American Almanac, 1842, p. 137.

SLAVES AND SLAVERY. 55

The treatment of this unfortunate race has been a
subject much controverted ; and zealots in the cause of
humanity have indulged in exaggerated statements of
the cruelties to which they are subjected. We may
generally conclude, that it is on the whole tolerable ;
that the physical necessaries of life are sufficiently fur
nished ; that instances of gross cruelty are not very
numerous ; and that in many cases great kindness is
exercised. The very fact of their rapid multiplication,
while those employed in the West Indies never kept up
their numbers, clearly indicates a milder treatment.
This progress is not indeed so rapid as in the northern
free states ; but it exceeds perhaps any in the old world,
and is not, like the other, reinforced by emigration.
Dr Channing, even while advocating emancipation, bears
a pretty decided testimony to this point. He imputes
it, indeed, in a good measure, to the interest in preserving
a property, as well as to the influence of public opinion ;
but still the fact is admitted to exist. Mr Thornton,
doubtless a zealous supporter of the other side, says : —
" Public opinion denounces the man who treats his
slaves ill, as it would the lawless bad husband. Public
odium would mark him out. The neighbouring negroes
would put him in every corn-husking and picking-match
song. From personal observation, we believe there is
nothing that affords a planter so much pleasure as to
hear that the negroes of his farms give him abroad a
good name." Gayety and hilarity are said to prevail
among them ; but this was remarked in the West Indies,
and is common among a class whom entire dependence
upon others exempts from all thought and care. La
bouring often in large parties, they make the cradle or
the scythe move in accordance with mirthful songs, fre
quently composed at the moment. Mr Thornton has
given some specimens, certainly not displaying any bril
liant talent ; but they scruple not to indulge a satirical
vein against bad masters, or other persons whom they
dislike. They thus exercise a considerable influence
on public opinion, and odious characters have even, it

56 SLAVES AND SLAVERY.

is said, been " sung out of the country." The domestic
slaves are in many instances exceedingly well treated,
and even viewed as favourites, their wishes and even
whims attended to, and when sick, nursed with great
kindness.*

It must be observed, however, that this is the flatter
ing side of the picture, and there is another light under
which it may be viewed. Though food is allowed suf
ficient to preserve the frame in vigour, it is of a very
coarse and inferior description. It consists of Indian
com, millet, or other secondary grain, with probably a
salt herring. The climate does not require much cloth
ing, of which advantage seems to be taken to make the
allowance very scanty. Considering the ample wages
which labour brought regularly into the market com
mands in this country, this must be allowed to be grind
ing very close. Mr Stuart mentions a proprietor who
estimated the annual maintenance of a slave at 35 dol
lars, while a free labourer could earn a dollar a-day, or
nearly ten times the amount. The instances of extreme
cruelty may not be numerous ; yet it is on all hands
admitted that they occur, and that the slave has little
protection against any thing short of mutilation or mur
der. Mr Stuart describes the most savage flogging as
carried on in a great city, without check or interference.
It is true the proprietor has an interest not seriously
and permanently to injure his slave ; but violent tem
pers, when roused, will not always be thus restrained.
The very situation, as Dr Channing observes, tends to
generate laziness, thievishness, lying, and sulkiness, faults
peculiarly irritating to a master. Actual mutilation
subjects the master to a moderate fine, while if death
ensue, the punishment is capital as in the case of
a white man. The negro, however, has a very doubtful

* An Enquiry into the History of Slavery, &c., by the Rev.
C. Thornton, President of the Centenary College, Clinton, Mis
sissippi, 8vo, Washington, 1841, pp. 119, 1*20. Remarks on the
Slave Trade, by William E. Channing, D.D., p. 20-22. Mar-
tineau, vol. ii. pp. 152, 315-316.

SLAVES AND SLAVERY. 57

chance of obtaining the benefit of these enactments.
The judges are slave-proprietors, animated doubtless
with a fellow-feeling for the accused. The only wit
nesses admitted are free whites, though it rarely hap
pens that any such are present at the infliction, or
willing to come forward. The very terms of the law
indicate the most tender consideration for the master,
who is not to be held guilty if the slave was attempting
to escape, or was resisting his master, or even in case
of his dying under moderate correction. It is thus
scarcely possible that even the life of the negro can
derive real security from the nominal laws by which it
is protected.'"

His situation appears to still greater disadvantage
when considered in its moral and intellectual aspect.
In this respect, the conduct of the American slave
holders is unfavourably contrasted with that of any
similar class, ancient or modern ; and their enactments
under this head would disgrace the codes of the darkest
ages. In the depressed circumstances of the slave,
some provision might have been expected for communi
cating to him at least the first elements of knowledge ;
on the contrary, severe penalties are incurred by any
one who makes such an attempt. In the preamble
to a law of North Carolina, it is laid down, that
" teaching slaves to read and write tends to excite
dissatisfaction in their minds, and to produce insur
rection and rebellion." On this ground, the giving of
such instruction, if by a negro, is punished by thirty-
nine lashes ; if by a white, with a fine of 200 dollars.
The law of Georgia raises it to 500, with the addition
of imprisonment. An act of Virginia declares " every
meeting of slaves by day or night for instruction either
in reading or writing an unlawful assembly." These
two last ordinances were passed in 1829, a period of

• Slavery and the Internal Slave Trade in the United States,
&c., 8vo., London, 1841, pp. 91, &c., 176, &c. Stuart, vol. ii.
pp. 119, 137-142. Channing, p. 24.

VOL. III. D

58 SLAVES AND SLAVERY.

boasted intelligence. In Kentucky, no law to this
effect has been enacted, but the same motives are said
to induce a rigid enforcement of the practical principle.
Mr Thornton is silent upon this subject ; but, indignant
at the allegation of an attempt to reduce the negroes to
the state of the brute, he quotes instances of natural
talent displayed by them, and even of great acquisi
tions among those who have been emancipated ; but
these statements, however true, are manifestly irrele
vant.

In regard to religious knowledge, the negroes labour
under the manifest disadvantage, that they can acquire
none by reading, — the sacred scriptures are to them a
sealed book. The only instruction to which they are
allowed access is preaching, and even this is rigorously
watched and restricted. By the law of Georgia, any
justice of peace may at his discretion break up a
religious assembly of slaves, and inflict on each twenty-
five lashes ; while in Virginia and Carolina, morning
and evening meetings are subject to penalties. In
general great discouragement is thrown on their con
gregating in churches, and having teachers of their
own, though there is usually one in the large cities,
and a few in other places. Every church, indeed,
has a gallery or other quarter set apart for them,
where few if any masters prohibit their attendance,
and many encourage it. This place, however, is repre
sented as very inadequate to accommodate the black
population, yet in general thinly filled ; discourses ad
dressed to a well-informed audience being little calcu
lated to impress uncultivated minds. Sunday schools,
established in some places, have been stopped by the
jealousy of the planters. A certain number of well-
disposed masters and mistresses give instruction to
their domestic slaves, which is perhaps the best they
receive ; but this does not reach those employed in the
fields. The abolitionists do not deny that there are a
considerable number who are well instructed, and ap
pear to show in their minds the genuine power of

SLAVES AND SLAVERY. 59

religion ; but they assert that, as a body, the slaves
form a mass of heathenism in the heart of a Christian
country. The whole amount of church members is
estimated at about 200,000, and among the bulk of this
small number the attendance is said to be merely for
mal and nominal. Mr Thornton, on the other side,
asserts that the members may be reckoned at 500,000.
Neither party seems to have had any solid statistical
grounds for these estimates, which we may suppose to
have been greatly swayed by their own particular
views: the latter is probably much overstated. It
is fair to mention, however, and Dr Channing concurs
in the statement, that measures are in progress for ex
tending religious instruction ; nor are we prepared with
him to regard the condition of slavery as precluding all
hope of benefit from such provision.*

It is the opinion of the writer just mentioned that,
through the spirit of the age, and the reproaches of the
abolitionists, the treatment of the negroes has of late
been decidedly improved. This accords with informa
tion given to us by a respectable gentleman (not a
slave-owner) from South Carolina, who assured us,
that the planters anxiously watch each other, lest any
outrage should be committed, of which advantage
might be taken by their zealous adversaries. Yet
circumstances have arisen materially to darken the
lot of this unfortunate race. Their range had long
been confined to the territory on the Atlantic ; but
of late years a number of new states have sprung up
on the Gulf of Mexico and along the Mississippi,
containing vast tracts of unoccupied land, on which
various productions, and above all cotton, can be raised
with ample profit. For this purpose, labourers in great
numbers are demanded, who, from the climate, must be
negroes ; and of these a full supply is afforded by Vir
ginia and other eastern states, where the lands are all
occupied and in some degree exhausted. Thus arises

* Slavery, &c.,p. 195-203. Thornton,?. 101-110. Channing, p. 21.

60

SLAVES AND SLAVERY.

an active internal slave-trade, accompanied by a great
portion of the same crimes and sufferings which mark
the passage across the ocean.

The southern part of the Union has thus been divided
into slave-breeding and slave-importing states ; the for
mer being chiefly Virginia, Maryland, and to a less extent
North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee ; the latter,
Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas,
and Missouri. The Anti-Slavery Committee publish
estimates, in which the number transferred in 1836 is
stated to be 360,000 ; but even for that year of ex
travagant speculation this is evidently far beyond the
mark. The following may afford some sort of approxi
mation. In 1830, the whole number of slaves in the
six states last named was 539,984; in 1840, it had
increased to 976,314, giving an actual addition of
436,330. Even without any allowance for increase by
births, this will make the annual transportation 43,633 ;
and however remote this may be from the commit
tee's estimate, it appears founded on data that must
come near to the truth. Of these, two-thirds, it is
said, have been conveyed along with their masters, who
have removed from the old to these rising states ; and
the hardships endured by them would of course be less
severe. There will thus remain about 14,000 annually
sold for transportation by the slave-merchants ; an
amount fully sufficient to constitute a great extent of
traffic.

This arrangement, by which the high-minded planters
of Virginia are converted into slave-breeders and slave-
sellers, is certainly most degrading. It is even asserted,
but probably with exaggeration, that in the present
depressed value of their landed produce, this odious
pursuit forms the chief source of their emolument.
There is hence no doubt a motive to treat the female
slaves tolerably, and secure them against any physical
injury ; but fearful disorder must arise from the under
stood expectation that from the earliest adult age, they
ehall produce children, with little or no inquiry as to their

SLAVES AND SLAVERY. 61

legitimacy. Much indulgence is thus shown to illicit
connexion with the whites, including even members
of the master's family ; for such offspring, sharing the
lot of the mother, are by law declared servile. This
depravity is even represented by some to be almost
universal, so that the best blood of Virginia flows in
the veins of the slave. To this extent it is strenuously
denied by the opposite party, though admitted to take
place far too frequently. It hence follows, that a
man's children or grandchildren often rank among
his slaves, and in cases of emergency are sold to dis
tant bondage. The most afflicting circumstance in
this traffic is, that the members of families, husbands
and wives, parents and children, are torn asunder,
and transported into distant regions, where they pro
bably never see or hear of each other. A whole
family is considered a Ireavy concern ; the planter
wants only one or two suited to his particular purposes.
Even, therefore, where all have been sold together, he
selects only one or two, and soon finds a merchant
ready to relieve him of the others. The demand in
the west is for adult slaves, fit for hard work ; hence
as soon as a boy is grown to manhood, he is torn from
his mother, and sold off. Even in the case of a planter
removing his whole establishment, it not unfrequently
happens that matrimonial connexions exist between
his slaves and those of a neighbouring plantation,
and the husband is thus severed from his wife and
family. The most heart-rending scenes must ensue in
consequence of these separations. We cannot but
think, if the planters felt that anxiety which they
sometimes profess, to mitigate the evils of slavery,
they would have given some token of it by enactments
tending to prevent or limit these distressing occurrences.
Care however has been taken in no shape to reduce
the profits of the planter or the merchant.

In case of embarrassment, bankruptcy, or death, it
is often necessary to dispose of the slaves by auction ;
and the merchant, on reaching the southern markets,

62 SLAVES AND SLAVERY.

finds this often the most convenient mode of ob
taining their value. The unseemly scenes which
then ensue may be easily conceived. The victims are
exhibited to the assembled crowd like cattle, amid
brutal jests and indecent exposures ; while cracks of
the whip are applied to show their agility in leaping.
The following report of the address of a slave-auctioneer,
given by Consul Arfwedson, is evidently from the life.

" Let us proceed, gentlemen, — a woman for sale. An
excellent woman, — .not a fault ! and a little boy into
the bargain. How much for the mother and child ? 250
dollars ; very well, sir, — 250 to begin. Some one has
bid 250. Truly, gentlemen, they sell cattle for a larger
price ; 250 ; look at these eyes, examine these limbs —
shall I say 260 ? Thanks, gentlemen, some one has bid
260. It seems to me that I heard 275 ; go on, gentle
men, I have never sold such a bargain. How ! 280 for
the best cook, the best washer, and the best dressmaker
in Virginia I Must I sell her for the miserable price of
280 ! 300 ; two gentlemen have said 300. Very well,
gentlemen, I am happy to see you begin to warm a little ;
some one bid 310, going — 330—335—340, 340, going :
upon my honour, gentlemen, it is indeed a sacrifice to
lose so good a cook — a great bargain for 340 dollars.
Reflect upon it a little, and do not forget there is a little
boy into the bargain." Here, however, one of the
leading bidders observed : "As for the negro child, it is
good for nothing ; it is not worth a day's nourishment ;
and if I have the mother I will give away the child very
quick." The auction continued, and the final price was
360 dollars. Another sale is described, where a mother
saw successively seven of her children put up, sold off,
and carried away she knew not whither. The following
picture of such a scene is powerful, though perhaps some
what exaggerated : — " The coarse cry of the auctioneer,
the eager bidding of the emulous purchasers, the loud
shout of the rabble at the ribaldry with which the
crier intersperses his vociferations, the exulting laugh of
the successful bidder, the guillotine fall of the auction-

SLAVES AND SLAVERY. 63

hammer, the fiendish clutch of the new owners upon
their trembling prey, the groans, shrieks, tears, and last
embraces of the slaves, as they are torn violently apart
by their several purchasers, form a mixture of wicked
ness and wo to be found nowhere else on this side of
perdition."

There are two descriptions of persons by whom the
traffic is carried on. The one consists of petty agents,
who go through the state, and pick up slaves wherever
they can be found. These bear the lowest character,
and are held in general contempt. When they have
collected a certain number, they sometimes convey them
westward themselves, but more commonly dispose of
them to extensive dealers, who reside in the principal
cities. These are men of large fortunes, sometimes
public characters, and equally respected with other
merchants transacting business on the same scale. The
abolitionists taunt their countrymen on this distinction,
founded merely on the magnitude of the transaction ;
but the aphorism of Pope has always held too true :

" Let greatness own her, and she's mean no more."

Each of these has a large depot,resemblingaprison,gloomy
and secure, well provided with chains, handcuffs, and other
means of preventing escape. Washington, the great re
publican capital, is a principal slave depot, and orna
mented with several large structures of this description.
Even while the president and his officers were march
ing in procession to the hall of freedom, another pro
cession has been led in chains into distant bondage. It
is in fact asserted that, when those structures have been
overcrowded, the necessary accommodation has been
afforded in the national prisons.

When a sufficient number has been collected, arrange
ments are made for conveying them to the south and
west. There are three modes in which this is managed.
One is by sea in packets going to Charleston or New
Orleans ; but this is of course exposed to the danger of
the slaves rising and carrying the vessel to another port,

64 SLAVES AND SLAVERY.

as happened lately in the case of the Creole. On other
occasions, they are sent down the western rivers, often
in large floats, rudely constructed, making only one
voyage, and broken up on arrival. Several instances,
however, occurred of successful rebellion on board, and
steamers are now considered more eligible, no objection
being made in the most splendid of these vessels to slaves
composing part of the cargo. They are either chained
or obliged to remain in the humblest quarters of the
vessel, — perhaps associated with animals. The mode of
transport, however, involving the severest hardships, is
that by land on foot. Here the party, or cqffle, as it is
termed, marches in two files, united by one chain,
reaching between them through their whole length, and
connected by handcuffs with the slave on each side.
The band is thus so well secured, that two or three men,
well armed, will drive hundreds in safety. We are dis
inclined to believe that in this or any other conveyance
the slaves will be exposed to serious injury, since, im
mediately on their arrival, they must be exposed to sale,
and their price will materially depend on their good
condition. It is easy to conceive, however, that much
rough usage, suffering, and degradation are likely to be
their lot.*

It must, moreover, be observed that the improvement
in the general treatment is confined to the old and more
northerly states. Those newly formed in the west and
south are devoted to the culture of cotton and sugar,
which is carried on with eager avidity as a great mer
cantile speculation. These products require peculiarly
hard labour, especially during the period of picking the
one substance, and extracting the other. Through the
rest of the year, the toil is comparatively light ; but this
very circumstance produces a temptation to keep a
moderate stock, and strain their tasks to the very ut
most during the hard-working interval. Even the pro-

* Slavery, &c., pp. 13-18, 45-65. Arfwedson, United States.
&c., p. 325-328. American Almanac, 1842, p. 137.

SLAVES AND SLAVERY. 65

fessedly humane law of Louisiana, securing to the slave
two and a half hours in the twenty-four, proves the
extent to which this system is liahle to be carried. The
Anti-slavery Committee positively assert, that the ne
groes do not keep up their numbers, and that it is
systematically considered more profitable to import than
to breed ; but those zealous persons have, we imagine,
viewed partial cases as extending to the whole commu
nity. There does, however, seem ground to suspect,
that the same consideration is not shown to the female
sex, nor the same attention to the rearing of children as
elsewhere. Although there has been a great increase
in the number between 1830 and 1840, yet it is
not in the like proportion as between 1820 and 1830.
The latter is about three-tenths, the other little more
than two-tenths. When we consider that, in the old
states during this period, extraordinary encouragement
was given to the rearing of slaves, we are the more led
to suspect, that in the new ones the increase by births
was not large.

The importation of foreign negroes, though prohibited
by law, is still in some measure clandestinely practised.
It is well known, and is admitted by President Van
Buren in his last address, that the American flag covers
a great part of the trade still carried on from Africa ;
and multitudes are thus introduced into Cuba, whence
the opportunities of contraband transportation into the
southern states must be very great. The coast of Florida
and the mouth of the Mississippi are mentioned as the
places where the landings are chiefly effected ; and the
lowest estimates, probably nearest the truth, make the
annual number 13,000.*

There is yet another evil of no common magnitude
to which the negro race is subjected. A certain propor
tion of them, both in the southern and northern states,
have attained to the condition of freedom. These in

* Slavery, &c., p. 18, &c. ; 74, &c. Presidents' Messages, p. 701,

Ob SLAVES AND SLAVERY.

1842 amounted to 186,457 males and 199,778 females ;
in all, 386,235. By law they are admitted to all the
privileges of free citizens, but by public opinion and
usage are held in a state of degradation almost as severe
as that of the slave. No white man will hold any com
munication or speak with them on terms of equality ;
and they can find employment only as menial servants,
or in the most humble capacities. If they set up a trade,
no white man employs them ; if they open a shop, he
will not enter it ; if they commence a manufacture, he
will not work under them. Should they enter a bar
ber's shop, he drives them out with contumely, observ
ing that were he to serve them, all his white customers
would desert him. Even those who attain to wealth
are not at all advanced in respect to society. They
are not permitted to travel in the same public coach
with whites, and in a steamer are confined to the deck.
A mulatto, son to a Haytian general, having arrived at
New York, was refused admittance into any hotel, and
with great difficulty found lodging with a poor old
woman. On going to the theatre, his money was flung
in his face, and he was desired to seek a seat in the
upper gallery. The elective franchise is allowed only
in some states ; and even where nominally granted, can
seldom, it is said, be safely exercised. The benefits
of education are almost entirely withheld, they being
scarcely ever admitted to colleges or schools established
for the whites ; while they can scarcely form for
themselves respectable seminaries, or indeed any at all,
unless in the large cities. Even in the house of God
they are not admitted on that footing of equality, to
which all human beings are entitled. Where they can
not support a church for themselves, they must occupy
a humble and separate quarter, into which no other class
ever enters. After this they are reproached with being
generally ignorant, and a large proportion becoming ame
nable to public justice ; though it is obvious that their
oppressors have at least greatly contributed to produce
those evils which they now allege in justification of their

SLAVES AND SLAVERY. 67

treatment. Another defence is, that their Creator has
placed an antipathy between the two races, in yielding
to which they only follow the divine appointment.
The abolitionists, however, well observe : " In no coun
try in Europe is any man excluded from refined society,
or deprived of literary, religious, or political privileges
on account of the tincture of his skin. If this prejudice
is the fiat of the Almighty, most wonderful is it, that
of all the kindreds of the earth none have been found
submissive to the heavenly impulse, excepting the white
inhabitants of North America ; and of these it is no less
strange than true, that this divine principle of repulsion
is most energetic in such persons as in other respects
are the least observant of their Maker's will." It is an
extraordinary circumstance, that this contempt of the
negro is carried farthest among the free states of the
north, and is less conspicuous towards those in the south
who have obtained their liberty.*

The early leaders of the revolution by no means
showed favour or indulgence towards slavery ; they
viewed with grief and humiliation a system so incon
sistent with their boasted liberty, and their desire of
making their country a general asylum of the oppressed.
Societies were formed for its gradual abolition, of one of
which Dr Franklin, and of another Mr Jay were
presidents. Washington showed a particularly friendly
spirit towards the negroes, and at his death liberated
those on his own estate. The general spirit of the age
ran strongly in this direction. * The south, however, had
still a strong contrary interest ; and in the period suc
ceeding the peace, a kind of compromise system was
arranged. The northern states passed acts of gradual
abolition, giving freedom to all who should be born after
their date ; and congress ordained that no importation
should take place after 1808. It was hoped that the^
source of slavery being thus cut off, it would be gradu
ally dried up.

* Slavery, &c., p. 256, &c. Men and Manners, vol. i. p. 94-
99. Channing, p. 57-62.

68 SLAVES AND SLAVERY.

This expectation has not heen fulfilled. The rapid
multiplication of the slaves, the vast extent of new
territory over which they were spread, the important
cultures of which they became the instruments, created
great national and individual interests, closely involved
in the system. The feeling of its inconsistent and un
suitable character was blunted ; and instead of any plans
or preparations for emancipation, nothing was thought
of but to check any aspirings in the mind of the negro
towards that object. Lest he should be influenced by
the view of any of his own race enjoying freedom, the
strongest obstacles were opposed to manumission, even
when desired by the master. As already mentioned,
the slaves were prohibited from receiving any instruc
tion, which could enlarge their minds, and make their
humiliation felt. The Americans were annoyed by the
remarks of foreigners upon the subject ; but they turned
a deaf ear, and silently cherished the system. Suddenly,
however, within their own bosom, a cry arose, which
echoed throughout the Union, and shook it to its very-
foundation.

The first movement in favour of the negroes was
made by the Colonization Society, formed in 1817 un
der the auspices of some of the most leading men in
the republic. Its object was to convey free and eman
cipated negroes across the Atlantic, and settle them on
the coast of Africa. After its operation for a number
of years, and the transportation of some thousands to the
colony of Liberia, several of its members, particularly
Gerrit Smith, began to urge, that the society ought to
aim at nothing short of the general abolition of slavery.
A strong impression had in fact been made by the
British act for the gradual emancipation of all the
slaves in the West Indies. As the society showed no
disposition to concur in such an object, separate associa
tions were formed for that purpose. In 1833, an Ameri
can Anti-slavery Society was organized at Philadelphia ;
and its first anniversary was held at New York in May
1834. From that time began the most fervid and active

SLAVES AND SLAVERY. 69

employment of every instrument by which the cause
could be promoted. Newspapers and other periodical
works were established in this interest ; agents and
lecturers were sent to different quarters ; all facts
favourable to the object in view were collected and
published. It is alleged by their adversaries, that copies
of their numerous publications were sent to the negroes
with a view to excite insurrection ; though they them
selves declare, we imagine truly, that they were trans
mitted only to proprietors, clergy, and other influential
persons in the south. Certain it is, that the most inde
fatigable use was made of all these movements now
familiar to us under the name of agitation.*

It is painful to observe, in the case of men who have
embarked in so noble and even sacred a cause, and have
done and suffered so much for it, that there should
have been mixed with their efforts so great a portion of
human infirmity — of that blind fury of partisanship,
which forms the chief blot in American politics. " I am
peculiarly grieved," says Dr Channing, " by the appear
ances of passionate severity in their writings, speeches,
and movements. Such men ought to find in the gran
deur, purity, and benevolence of their end, irresistible
motives to self-control, to a spirit of equity and mildness,
to a calm, lofty trust in God. I grieve that in an age
when the power of gentleness and goodness is beginning
to be understood, they have sought strength in very
different weapons." We cannot but here concur witli
Mr Thornton, that " instead of persuasion and argument
founded upon reason and revelation, there is an entire
disregard of all those courtesies and all that civility and
kindness, which ought to characterize men seeking to
upturn an institution of hundreds of years' standing, and
one too, the upturning of which must be, without great
care, attended with so many frightful consequences."
The late communication from the Anti-slavery Com
mittee too fully exemplifies this charge, showing that

* Slavery, &c., p. 237, &c. Thornton, p. 236.

70 SLAVES AND SLAVERY.

Dr Channing's remark has had no influence upon them.
Thus we find them saying : " To call such a public
opinion (in favour of slavery) inhuman, savage, mur
derous, diabolical, would be to use tame words, if the
English vocabulary could supply others of more horrible
import." Treating of the subjection of the slaves to laws
which they cannot read, it is said, — " The memory of
Caligula will blacken with execration while time lasts,
because he hung up his laws so high that people could
not read them, and then punished them because they
did not keep them. Our slave-holders aspire to blacker
infamy. Caligula was content with hanging up his
laws where his subjects could see them : and if they
could not read them, they knew where they were, and
might get at them. Even Caligula, wretch as he was,
would have shuddered at cutting their legs off, to pre
vent their climbing to them ; or if they had got there,
of boring their eyes out, to prevent their reading them.
Our slave-holders do both." We observe with still
greater pain, that the deceptive character which pervades
the political partisanship of the country is not altogether
avoided. We do not assert or believe that there is
downright misstatement of facts ; but extravagant esti
mates are formed, and particular cases are represented
as common. Any one reading the answers to the 9th
and 22d questions, respecting the starvation, over
working, and ill treatment of the negroes, would neces
sarily infer that they could not keep up their numbers,
but must become extinct in one or two generations, and
expressions are even used, as if such were the case ; yet
the writers knew well, that they multiply with a
rapidity almost unexampled. The usual allowance of
grain is stated, we believe correctly, at a peck per week ;
and this is mentioned as if it were a complete starvation
amount, and will probably be so supposed by the unre
flecting reader ; though it may in fact be regarded as
very ample. A peck of wheat flour makes four quartern
loaves, being more than a half in the day ; and Indian
corn, though inferior, is, we believe, as nutritive. The

SLAVES AND SLAVERY. 71

aliment allowed, as already observed, is coarse ; but
that it should be insufficient for the support of life, and
even of the strength necessary for labour, is most im
probable. We do not wish to enter deeply into the
religious question. The spirit of Christianity is certainly
adverse to slavery, and has had a powerful influence in
its suppression. Yet that state certainly seems repeatedly
alluded to in Scripture, without any peremptory demand
of immediate emancipation. We cannot sympathize
with the opposite party in talking of " those good old
slave-holders, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ;" yet those
patriarchs, we imagine, did hold their retainers under a
mild servitude. On the whole, then, to call upon the
clergy of the south immediately to exclude from church
communion all owners of slaves, seems rash and pre
mature.*

This violence and in some degree misrepresentation
were unfortunately directed against a body possessed of
great power, without whose cordial concurrence the ob
ject could not be attained, and who were little likely to
endure patiently even much meeker rebukes. The re
action excited was indeed terrible. The abolitionists
were denounced as almost demons in human shape.
" An abolitionist," says Thornton, " is not only an
enthusiast and a fanatic, but he is also a disorganizer,
and virtually an opponent of all law sacred and human.
These disorganizes are pledged for upturning the insti
tutions of society, by their dogmas advanced and sup
ported at the hazard of the Christian system itself. — To
contradict Abraham, Jacob, Job, Moses and all the
prophets, is nothing. To deny New Testament principle
and example is nothing. — Is there any religion in per
verting the precepts of our holy Christianity to purposes
of defamation, slander, insubordination, insurrection,
rebellion, barbarity, slaughter, and ruin ? Who does
not see that if the established precepts and examples of

* Charming, p. 63. Thornton, p. 174. Slavery, &c., pp. 71,
188, 190.

72 SLAVES AND SLAVERY.

Christianity stand in the way of these fanatics, they
throw them aside ; if the laws of the land interfere with
their plans, they denounce them as impious ; and if the
constitution of the country, as it does, cut them off from
the right of interference in the internal concerns of the
country, they are ready to give it up, rather than let go
or give up their favourite dogmas !" If any abolitionist
should set foot upon the soil of the south, all law but
that of Lynch would for him be suspended ; instant
death would be his portion. From causes to be presently
explained, the anti-abolitionists had a strong party in the
north, who immediately began a career of violence
almost unexampled. During 1834 and 1835, the " mob-
demon" was let loose upon their opponents, and even
upon the free negroes. The party was particularly
powerful in New York, where, after the first anniversary
held in May 1834, the cry was raised to "crush the
treason in the egg." Another meeting being held two
months after, the mob assembled, dispersed them, and
for several days kept possession of the city, committing
various outrages. The houses of the leading abolitionists
were broken into, their furniture brought into the streets
and burned, and themselves compelled to flee the place.
The same scene was speedily repeated in all the cities,
and even smaller towns and villages. For many months,
scarcely a day elapsed without intelligence being received
of some new outbreak. The reign of order and govern
ment seemed entirely broken up. Indignation meetings
were held, denouncing the " incendiary abolitionists " —
thundering anathemas against the " fanatics and traitors."
The grossest outrage committed was against the " Hall
of Freedom " in Philadelphia, which had been erected
with a view to free discussion, especially on this subject.
While a numerous meeting was held, composed in a
great measure of females, a mob deliberately assembled,
broke in, obliged all present to flee, and reduced the
edifice to ashes.

The abolitionists stood firm and defied this powerful
persecution. The opposite party, finding their efforts

SLAVES AND SLAVERY. 73

abortive, and themselves covered with disgrace by pro
ceedings so unconstitutional, and contrary to all their
professions, gradually desisted. The society, aided per
haps by this reckless persecution, increased in numbers,
and probably continue still to advance. Yet it gradually
appeared, that their progress was opposed by barriers not
likely to be soon overcome. All the southern planters,
of course, directed their fiercest efforts against it ; they
were then the ruling party ; and they proclaimed that
if the north continued to press this object, they would
break up the Union. In the north, again, the commercial
aristocracy, which, as already observed, is there most
influential, had motives leading them to sympathize
with that agricultural body. They carried on all its
trade ; they were connected by social, and sometimes by
family ties ; cotton, tobacco, and other products of slave
labour were the main staples of their commerce ; they
held extensive property in the southern states, slaves
included. They were extremely sensitive as to the
preservation of the Union, and their aristocratic feelings
made them revolt from any sudden innovation, and
from the violent agitation by which it was sought to be
produced. They became thus anti-abolitionists almost
as decided as the slave-owners themselves. We have
already observed the great influence which they possess
over the press and the professional classes. The clergy
were called upon with particular earnestness to range
themselves on this side. This was not quite what might
have been expected from their order ; yet their depend
ence on these opulent classes was very entire ; and, with
a few exceptions, they yielded to the temptation. Nu
merous documents were issued by clerical bodies, justi
fying slavery, and condemning the abolition proceedings.
The Anti-slavery Committee even denounce " the Ame
rican churches the bulwarks of American slavery." The
supporters of the cause are thus nearly confined to the
rural population in the northern, chiefly the New
England states, and to a small number of clergy and
professional men in the cities. The female sex, with
VOL. in. E

74 SLAVES AND SLAVERY.

that generous humanity which characterizes them, have
taken a very active share ; yet perhaps have not always
aided in tempering the zeal of the party with discretion.

From these causes it resulted that both the leading
political parties opposed in a determined manner the
abolition movement. Its votaries were excluded from
every office of power or emolument ; and congress in
particular was decidedly against them. The right
of petition had been fully sanctioned by the consti
tution ; which Story considers as even superfluous,
since without it no freedom could be conceived to exist.
Yet it was denied to the abolitionists, and resolutions
were passed to receive none coming from that quarter.
We are sorry to add that they themselves are not at
all improving in discretion. Lest they should omit any
error by which a good cause could be injured, they
have mixed it up with others of a very equivocal and
certainly irrelevant character. Some seek the emanci
pation of the whole human race to the extent of their
being subject to no law or government whatever ; others
stand up for the complete equality of the sexes, and will
receive no coadjutors who do not admit this principle in
its fullest extent. In these circumstances all combined
action is for the present suspended, or at least greatly
impeded. It is very positively asserted that the cause
continues to make progress in the public mind, and to
gain converts ; but it must evidently assume a different
shape, and get into other hands, before it can have any
chance of success.

We must here do justice to another branch of the
society's exertions, — that by which they have sought to
elevate the free negroes. They have studiously supplied
them with schools and other means of instruction, have
sought to form habits of industry and provide suitable
employment for them, and have not even hesitated to
associate with them both in public and private as fellow-
creatures. This last particular has excited the most
violent clamour, and was even alleged as one ground for
the burning of the Pennsylvania hall. They assert, and

SLAVES AND SLAVERY. 75

seemingly with truth, that they have done a good deal
to improve this unfortunate race, and mitigate the pro
scription against them.

Something must here be said of the Colonization So
ciety, which, as already observed, transports free or
emancipated negroes to Africa, thus relieving the hard
ships endured by them in the States, and paving the
way for the civilisation of that continent. It originated
in good feelings and motives, and when there was no
thought of emancipation. So far as relates to Africa,
we believe that if cautiously conducted on a small scale
it may produce happy effects. We would anxiously
remind its supporters, however, that the usual result of
colonization has been injurious and even fatal to the na
tive race. When Mr Everett and President Tyler boast
of it as similar to the landing of the pilgrims in New
England, they forget that the issue of that event was
not to improve, but to exterminate or expel the whole
race of native Indians. Africa, comparatively, is much
more densely peopled ; an attempt therefore to find room
there for the whole slave or even free coloured popula
tion could not be made without bloody and disastrous
conflicts.

Our present object, however, is to consider the effects
produced by the society in America. There it is held
by the pro-slavery party as a complete provision for the
whole negro race both free and in bondage, and as dis
pensing with any other step for the mitigation or ulti
mate abolition of slavery. Under this view we cannot
hesitate to consider it a perfect delusion. De Tocqueville
has clearly proved that any number which could be
practicably transported would never even sensibly arrest
the rapid increase of the coloured race ; and we must
agree with Dr Channing, that an attempt might as well
be made to drain the Atlantic. But suppose it were per
fectly practicable, let us ask, are those vast and fruitful
regions to be reconverted into deserts ? Can any one
believe that the planters seriously intend to denude
themselves of a labouring population, and to undertake

76 SLAVES AND SLAVERY.

with their own hands the culture of sugar and cotton
under the burning suns of Louisiana and Alabama \ In
fact, though such language is sometimes held before
the public, between themselves a very different tone is
used. At the great meeting of the Virginian branch of
the society, Mr Wise, called up and applauded as an
oracle, declared his full understanding of the great
original principles of the design having been to secure
and fortify the institution of slavery itself; and one of the
resolutions unanimously passed considers " the principle
of African colonization as best responding to the demands
of southern patriotism and benevolence, and offering to
the temperate wisdom of all parties and every section a
common ground of resistance against the mischievous
and reckless enterprises of abolition." Whatever, then,
be the tendency of the institution, it is in no degree
either designed or calculated to mitigate or abolish in
ternal slavery.

From what has been said, the future prospects of the
abolition cause must appear involved in very considerable
obscurity. Generally speaking, it seems impossible that
the system of slavery, so contrary to the improved spirit
and feelings of the age, can have a very long duration.
Yet the mode or the period in which it shall be removed
can scarcely be even conjectured. Before that consum
mation can be hoped, the undertaking must be assumed
by leaders of a more practical and statesmanlike charac
ter. The abolitionists now testify against compensa
tion as a sin. Yet the present masters did not originate
slavery, but received it by inheritance ; all their material
interests are bound up with it ; and the change, under
the most favourable view, could not take place without
temporary loss and embarrassment on their part. We
cannot discover any sin in affording them, under such
circumstances, aid and relief ; and it would seem grace
ful had the north, while calling upon them so loudly to
encounter the evil, offered in some degree to share and
mitigate its pressure. Again, they denounce gradual
abolition as a sin. Yet abrupt and unprepared changes

SLAVES AND SLAVERY. 77

in the social system are often found to be pernicious
even to those on whose behalf they are made. The ex
ample of Britain appears in favour of the gradual system.
We should incline with Miss Martineau to recommend,
even after emancipation, some temporary restriction on
the power of holding land. The object would be to
check the tendency to fix on small spots, and draw from
them by imperfect culture a rude subsistence ; to shut
them in to the position and habits of hired labourers.
The tendency alluded to has, if we understand right,
been the main cause which has rendered the West Indian
emancipation, as respects the masters, not perfectly suc
cessful.

78 RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER III.

Religion in the United States.

Early Religious State— Effects of the Revolution— Adoption
of the Voluntary System— Respect for Religion— In New
England— In the South— Deficiency in the West— Sects-
Methodists— Baptists— Presbyterians — Congregationalists — •
Episcopalians— Roman Catholics— Quakers— Unitarians, &c.
— Shakers — Rappites — Mormonites— Societies— Bible — Mis
sionary— Home— Sabbath School— Revivals and Camp-Meet
ings — General Result.

RELIGION in the United States has presented itself
under peculiar and important aspects, which have ex
cited the greater interest from their bearing upon
questions by which men's minds in the old world have
been deeply agitated. It shall be our object rather to
exhibit the facts connected with and tending to illustrate
the subject, than to assume the advocacy of any par
ticular conclusion.

This principle was deeply concerned in the first foun
dation of the colonies. That of New England, the most
flourishing of them, was founded, as already shown, by
the Puritans escaping the persecution to which they
were exposed under the Stuarts. They came out pre
pared to assign to it a prominent place in their institu
tions ; erecting, indeed, rather a church than a state,
and excluding from every political privilege those who
M'ere not members of their congregations. They did

RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES. 79

not, however, unite into any uniform system of church
government ; nor, though the ministers were liberally
provided for, was any permanent fund appropriated to
their maintenance. The other colonies, excepting Vir
ginia, were chiefly recruited by dissenters from the
established church, of very various creeds. Williams,
Baltimore, and Penn, studiously invited settlers of
all sects without distinction ; they seem either to
have been adverse to an establishment, or unable to
propose it in favour of an obnoxious body. Efforts were
indeed employed to procure that distinction for the
Church of England ; but these, being in favour of a
minority, and made by arbitrary governors, were un
popular, and could be carried out only to a limited
extent. On the whole, though the voluntary principle
was not absolutely laid down, religious instruction had
little else to depend upon.

Even after the revolution, indeed, this system was
not at once decided on. A numerous body among the
federals were desirous of an establishment, probably on
some very liberal basis ; and Jefferson even boasts, that
had not he and his party come into power, this object
would have been accomplished. During their long
sway, every such idea was steadily discouraged : it has
since been renounced even by their opponents, and is
not now entertained in any quarter.

While, however, the American statesmen reject every
kind of ecclesiastical establishment, they profess to re
gard religion itself with peculiar reverence. They con
sider even, and we imagine not without reason, the
religious spirit which pervades a great portion of the
Union as a main basis of its well-regulated freedom.
The weakness of human law must be compensated by
the power of the divine. De Tocqueville even assures
us, that missionaries setting out for the western states,
stated it as one of their leading objects to cement
national union and liberty. A man who does not
belong to some one Christian communion, and pay a

80 RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES.

decent respect to its ordinances, loses much of his pros
pect of rising in public life.*

The influence of religion varies remarkably in different
quarters of the Union. It is most conspicuous in New
England, and generally in the eastern states north of
the Potomac, including now the most improved and
intelligent of the population. It is professed there in
a manner perhaps more zealous and decided than in
any country of Europe. De Tocqueville, coming in
deed from one where a very different spirit reigned,
was particularly struck with the religious aspect of
the nation. Ministers are maintained, at least in
all towns of any magnitude, in numbers adequate to
the population ; while the provision for their support is
usually sufficient, and in many cases liberal. It some
times amounts to nearly £1000, and seldom falls much
short of £100 a-year ; and they receive also many presents
and various marks of kindness from their congrega
tions. They are strictly debarred from political life,
being allowed neither to sit in the central nor state
legislatures, nor to hold any office under government ;
but this exclusion implies no want of respect, arising
solely from these employments being considered incom
patible with their sacred functions. Indeed, their con
sideration and influence in society is described as very
extensive, exceeding what their order enjoys in Eng
land ; it has even been represented as inordinate, and
compared to that exercised by priests in the old Roman
Catholic countries. Wealthy merchants, according to
Miss Martineau, are gratified by having a daughter
married to a clergyman. The ministers, on their side,
are laborious, active, and attentive to their congregations ;
their attainments are generally respectable, and in some
cases eminent, though the want of leisure must render
it difficult for them to engage very deeply in learned
researches. Their people attend diligently on their

* De Tocqueville, vol. ii. pp. 234, 235. Grand, vol. i. p. 281-297.

RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES. 81

ministrations and other spiritual ordinances, and sup
port on a great scale, and with much activity, bible,
missionary, and similar societies, together with philan
thropic institutions, to which they are mainly prompted
by Christian motives. The men, it must be owned,
have their attention much distracted by politics and
gain, which are both pursued with an excess of eager
ness not quite consistent in persons professing devotion
to higher objects. The ladies, however, with the full
sanction of their husbands, allot to these pursuits a very
material share of their time and attention. Further
details under these heads will be given in the course of
the chapter.*

The southern Atlantic states present a different as
pect. Virginia, the leading one, was founded under the
auspices of the high church party, who long maintained
the ascendency ; but, though strongly attached to epis
copacy, they were averse to that fervid zeal displayed
by the Puritans. The progress of the democratic prin
ciple broke down the first tendency, while it perhaps
strengthened the second. The Virginian statesmen
formed the centre of the opposition to a national estab
lishment, which was abolished in the state in 1799.
Although this form of worship still prevails, it is ad
ministered mostly by methodist preachers, who out
number the regular episcopal clergy. Generally speaking,
the tone in this part of the Union is that of respect for
religion, without any of the zealous profession conspi
cuous in the northern division. We have been informed
on good authority that its influence is extending.

The case is otherwise still with the great range of
the new states in the west. The vast extent, the thinly
scattered population, with the want of all national aid,
render it scarcely possible to maintain any regular
ministry. In the absence of this benefit, the desire for

* Buckingham, vol. i. p. 189-200. Martineau, vol. iii. p. 147-
275. Grund, vol. i. p. 351, &c.

82 RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES.

it quickly expires. Mr Flint, though disposed to view
favourably the western character, admits profanity to he
one of its revolting features. The language held on
board the steamers on the Mississippi is painful to sober
and pious ears, and with gambling and other vicious
practices, renders them often scenes of seduction to
travellers from the east. Mrs Trollope having reproved
a woman whom she saw working in her field on the
sabbath, was answered : " I ben't a Christian, ma'am ;
we have got no opportunity." A district, however, at
all populous, is seldom very long without some kind of
ministration. Missionaries provided by societies in the
eastern cities, with other voluntary teachers, form what
Mr Flint calls " a circulating phalanx," who are con
stantly moving from place to place. When one arrives
at a village, he usually finds a school or other large
apartment in which he can officiate. Placards being
affixed in conspicuous places, a considerable body usually
assembles, though Mrs Clavers laments that a larger
number set out to amuse themselves with the rod and
the gun. The schoolroom in her village, being by no
means air-tight, was warmed by a large fire in the
middle, on each side of which sat the hearers ; while
the children running about in the interval, attracted too
much of the parents' notice, and often by their cries
half drowned the voice of the speaker. She complains
of the preachers as in general well meaning and zealous
indeed, but most incompetent. Mr Flint admits, that
they are vehement and boisterous in an extreme degree,
yet considers such a style suited to the audience, and
even marked with a bold poetical eloquence, acquired
in solitary wandering through the vast western forests.
A collection is made at the close of the service ; for it is
said to be rooted in the minds of the people, that work
should be first done, and then paid for. They are said
to prefer this varied and desultory instruction to a fixed
pastor. They are not fastidious as to the creed or pro
fession ; but it is a point of etiquette, that when one has

RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES. 83

announced a sermon, another shall not preach at the
same time. It may be observed, meantime, that as the
western territory is filled with people, and large cities
arise, it becomes assimilated in this, as in other respects,
to the more improved state of things in the east. In
Cincinnati, by Mrs Trollope's account, the religious spirit
is as powerful, and carried, in her opinion, to a more
superstitious excess, than in the maritime cities.*

The mode of peopling America, with the absence of
any national preference, led naturally to a great variety
of sects. The clergy, too, were in many cases obliged
to make their own way, and form congregations for
themselves. Hence those which bore a missionary
and itinerant character, and addressed themselves most
strongly to popular feeling, have gained the chief ascend
ency. The Methodists, t who did not enter into any of
the main colonizing expeditions, now greatly outnum
bered any other sect. No regular society was formed
till 1776 ; it was nearly broken up during the war ;
but Dr Hinton, in 1784, went out to constitute a church.
According to the minute of the General Conference in
1834, their numbers amounted to 638,784, their travel
ling ministers to 2458 ; and this is independent of local
preachers, who are supposed to be even superior in
number, but of whom no regular account is kept.
They are pretty generally diffused, least however in
New England, but mostly over the southern and west
ern states. Their preachers are entirely under the
direction of the conferences, and seldom remain above
two years in one station. They are paid out of a general
fund formed by subscription or collection, the allowance
to each being 100 dollars (£22, 10s.) per annum, with
board and travelling expenses. If married, the same

* Flint (Timothy), Geography, &c. of Mississippi Valley,
p. 137-142. Trollope, vol. i. p. 154.

•f The enumeration here given of sects and institutions is
chiefly drawn from the American Almanac for 1836, page
138-171. See also Hinton, vol. i. p. 369, &c. Combe, vol. i. p.
309-312 ; vol. ii. pp. 163-172, 300-306 ; vol. iii. p. 440-447. Buck
ingham, vol. iii. p. 343-355. Martineau, vol. ii. p. 55-64.

84 RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES.

sum is allowed for the wife ; also from 16 to 24 dollars
for each child, according to its age. These sums, how
ever, form the maximum, which is seldom fully realized.
The church is divided into twenty-two conferences,
according to geographical limits ; and yearly meetings
are held of all the travelling preachers included within
each. Delegates, one for every fourteen members, form
a general conference, which assembles every four years,
to decide on questions common to the whole body ;
it is presided over by six bishops. In 1830, a sort
of schism took place, by the separation of a minority,
tinder the title of Methodist Protestants. They com
posed, in 1836, a general and 13 annual conferences,
and reckoned about 30,000 members. They seem to
approach nearer to the presbyterian model, the con
ferences containing a body of lay members equal to
the clerical, and no bishop appearing to preside.

The Baptists rank next, and nearly equal. They
are much more ancient, having formed part of the
original emigration ; and as they laboured for some
time under a particular odium at home, came over
in large bodies. They appear also by their activity to
have made numerous converts, and to be still extending
their numbers. The main body, who hold tenets de
cidedly Calvinistic, were reported in 1833 as containing
5888 churches, 3110 ministers, and 384,859 members.
The report of the Baptist Home Missionary Society for
1835 considers these statements too low, and founded
on defective returns. They lament the inadequate pro
portion of ministers to churches, which is little more
than a half; while of the number " it is well known
that many are imperfectly fitted for the work, others
but partially devoted to it, and not a few of the remainder
only ill sustained in it." Being employed mostly in
remote and outer districts, the funds for their support
are comparatively small ; and even in the old states,
the salaries are usually lower than those of other deno
minations.

Besides these Calvinistic Baptists who may be con-

RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES. 85

sidered the regular body, there are others ranked as
dissentient. The Free-will Baptists, who, from the
title, may be supposed to hold Arminian tenets, amounted
to 25,276, having 546 churches, and 342 ministers. The
Mennonites, a very early German sect, are estimated at
30,000 ; the Tunkers, of similar origin, at 3000. The
Seventh-day Baptists are estimated at 4258, the Six Prin
ciple at 2137 ; but we cannot pretend to say any thing
as to the tenets of these bodies. Another, under the
title of Christ-ians, began to separate in 1803, and in
1830 were reckoned to have 300 ministers, 1000 con
gregations, and 30,000 communicants. They admit no
rule of faith except the scriptures ; and their tenets are
said to be anti-trinitarian.

The Presbyterian church ranks next as to numbers,
and forms a highly respectable body. It does not, how
ever include the Puritan emigrants of New England,
who, though their views were closely accordant, formed
a different " platform" and never subjected themselves
to any regular form of church-government. There are
only two presbyteries in New England. The great
strength of the body lies in New York, New Jersey,
and Pennsylvania, where it was probably introduced by
Dutch and German settlers. These have doubtless been
recruited from Scotland and England, and have spread
by emigration into the western states. Even in the
south, their number is not inconsiderable. By a report
of the general assembly in 1834, they were stated at
247,964 communicants, with 2648 churches, 1914 mini
sters, and 236 licentiates. These were divided into
twenty- three synods, each comprehending from three to
eight presbyteries, and uniting in a general assembly,
which meets at Philadelphia on the third Thursday of
May. In 1837, a great schism took place, and the gene
ral assembly exscinded 509 ministers and 60,000 com
municants on a charge of heresy, which appears to have
consisted in inadequate views respecting the great Cal-
vinistic doctrines. These now constitute a separate sect.
The Congregational Union forms still the prevailing

86 RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES.

body in New England ; and, though without any esta
blishment, is supported on a respectable footing. The
number of churches in 1834 is reported at 1071, with
975 ministers ; being thus better supplied than any
of the bodies before mentioned. The communicants
amounted to 130,000. They are divided into associa
tions, each containing a number of churches seldom
exceeding twenty, with a general one for each state, but
without any united assembly of the whole. They have
been much weakened by the defection of a large body,
chiefly in Massachusetts, who have adopted Unitarian
principles. There are said to be considerable numbers
in other states, besides those of New England, of whom
no account has been collected.

The Episcopal church is formed after the model of
that of England, and during the colonial connexion, was
always favoured by the ruling party ; yet it never could
strike any deep root, unless in Virginia. In the northern
states, its adherents were not even regularly organized into
a church till after the war. In 1784, Samuel Leabury came
out, consecrated by the Bishop of Aberdeen, succeeded in
1787 by Mr Smith, who had received holy orders from
the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The people
have the choice of the clergy, and a voice even in the
appointment of the bishops. There are tolerably large
congregations in the chief towns, consisting mostly of
the higher classes ; and the clergy are liberally supported.
The number of churches is stated at 701, pretty gene
rally diffused through the eastern states ; but they have
scarcely at all obtained a footing beyond the Alleghany.
New England contains 150 ; the congregations, however,
are generally small, and two of them often served by
one individual. There are 23 dioceses, comprehending
the whole range of the Union, in many of which the
number of clergy is exceedingly limited.

Roman Catholics were chiefly concerned in the foun
dation of Maryland, where they are still very numerous.
This religion was also established in Florida and Loui
siana, originally Spanish colonies ; and to a certain ex-

RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES. 87

tent by the French in the north-western districts. Emi
grants of this class have also from time to time come
over, and of late particularly from Ireland. Its profes
sors are said to have exerted particular zeal in propa
gating their tenets, and with considerable success, espe
cially in the west, where the ground was in a great
measure unoccupied. Hence an alarm has spread among
zealous Protestants, who displayed it very irregularly,
by the demolition of a nunnery which had been erected
at Boston. This exercise of lynch-law was not duly
punished ; but the nuns are said to inhabit another
edifice, where they still teach and make proselytes. The
numbers of this persuasion can only be conjectured at
from 500,000 to 800,000, though by some they are esti
mated even higher.

The Friends or Quakers do not hold quite so con
spicuous a place as might have been expected, from
their having been the founders of one great state, and
the prominent movements made by them in others.
They appear to have no published official account, either
of their numbers or distribution. The general estimate
is 150,000 members, divided into 450 or 500 societies ;
but this we should think under the truth. Pennsyl
vania, of course, is their chief seat, yet even there they
are now considerably outnumbered by other sects. A re
markable schism has been made in the body by Elias
Hicks, who has adopted the Unitarian doctrine, which has
greatly spread, his followers being estimated at 56,000.

Lutherans came over in great numbers to the back
settlements of Philadelphia ; whence they have extended
into Ohio. In other quarters, they have found little
footing. They are said, in 1842, to have had 750
churches, but served only by 267 ministers. There are
nine synods, and a general one, which meets every
three years.

Although the orthodox Calvinistic doctrines generally
prevail throughout the United States, and are inculcated
with peculiar zeal, yet there has been lately formed a
considerable and influential party, attached to very

Otf RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES.

opposite tenets. About fifty years ago, Unitarianism
began to be professed at Boston, where it might least
have been expected. It rapidly spread, and was em
braced by a large proportion of the most leading men in
Massachusetts. The literary talents of several of its
professors, particularly of Dr Charming, threw a great
lustre round it ; and they obtained the command of
Harvard University, the most distinguished seminary in
the Union. The most opulent citizens are observed to
belong to this body, which Mr Buckingham remarks to
be usually joined by those who rise to wealth. Hence
he anticipates its extension ; yet admits, that it has con
tinued stationary, in a numerical view, for several years,
while the population, and consequently other sects, are
extending. The congregations in this state are estimated
at 130, served by 120 ministers. There are 13 in
Maine, and 17 in New Hampshire, but only one in Con
necticut. In other states, there is usually a church in
each large city, but no general diffusion among the
people. The whole number of congregations is supposed
to be about 200. We have already seen, however, that
small sections of other bodies have adopted the same
tenets, which their votaries even assert are held by 2000
societies.

The Universalists are a more numerous class, who
seem peculiar to America, and of whose tenets we can
form a very imperfect idea. The leading one appears
to be universal salvation, the seemingly dangerous ten
dency of which many of them seek to guard against by
supposing a long and severe purgatory. Mr Combe
considers them as a species of popular Unitarians. No
estimate has appeared of their numbers ; but they are
formed into 600 congregations, served only by 300
ministers, whence, in many churches, there is no regular
weekly service. They are generally diffused through
the eastern states, but are found in none of the
western, except Ohio. A general convention meets
annually at Oxford, Massachusetts.

There are, besides, a number of smaller bodies. The

RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES. GV

Reformed Dutch, established in New York, New Jersey,
and Pennsylvania, have 197 churches, 192 ministers,
under one general synod, and 22,515 communicants.
The German Reformed, in Pennsylvania and Ohio,
have 180 ministers, 600 congregations, and 30,000 com
municants. The Associate Presbyterians, mostly in the
middle and north-western states, have 169 congrega
tions, 70 ministers, 12,886 communicants. The Asso
ciate Reformed have three synods in the north, south,
and west ; the latter is stated to contain 214 congrega
tions, 116 ministers, and 12,000 communicants. The
extent of the others is not known. The Cumberland
Presbyterians form a branch, who broke off in 1810 on
account of the refusal by the synod of Kentucky to
license ministers without their having received a clas
sical education. This ruder class have spread through
the western states, so as to contain above 500 congrega
tions, 475 preachers, and at least 50,000 communicants.
The New Jerusalem Church, chiefly in the north-east
states and Ohio, is reported to have 27 societies and 58
teachers. The Moravians, or United Brethren, most
numerous in Pennsylvania, comprise, it is said, 33
ministers, 24 congregations, and 5,745 members. The
Jews are reckoned at 1 5,000.

Another very small sect, which, from its extreme
peculiarity, has drawn the attention of the world, is
that of the Shakers. Their principal religious observance
consists in dancing. After a sermon, which is said to
contain some good moral instruction, they apply them
selves to this exercise, the men being ranged on the one
side and the women on the other. The tunes are said
to be stirring and merry, such as are usually played at
farces and pantomimes ; their motions vehement, with
stamping and jerking, and sometimes resembling those
of the kangaroo. Another peculiarity is the strict ob
servance of celibacy, rendering the institution completely
monastic. They denounce the attachment between the
sexes as one from which the greatest evils of life have
arisen. They appear desirous to convert the whole

VOL. III. F

90 RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES.

world to their system, though they do not explain how,
in this event, the human race could he preserved from
extinction. The community of property is another
principle strictly enforced ; all the members labouring
for the public, and the produce being thrown into a
common stock, under the management of certain leaders.
Amid all this extravagance, their industry is conspic
uous, and their conduct is noted as singularly correct
and regular. Their grounds are kept under higher
cultivation than those of their neighbours, and every
article produced is of superior quality. A considerable
property is supposed to be usually accumulated by
each community. Ann Lee, about 1764, first broached
this system in Lancashire ; but finding England not a
congenial soil, she went over to America. Like her
successors, she is said to have combined a good deal of
worldly wisdom with the wildest fanaticism, and made
converts of many respectable farmers in New England.
This mania soon passed away ; but the body still keep
up their number by accessions from various quarters.
They adopt children, and are joined by widows and other
destitute persons, in the view of a comfortable subsist
ence. Their chief settlement is at Lebanon.

A smaller establishment, somewhat similar in cha
racter, has been formed by M. Rapp, a German, who,
with certainly an uncommon measure of abilities and
address, perverted them to the purpose of obtaining an
absolute dominion over the minds of a number of indi
viduals. He persuaded them that Heaven had invested
him with a prophetical and spiritual character, which
entitled him not only to be their instructor but the
director of all their actions. Without inculcating any
fantastic forms of worship, he agrees with the Shakers
in prohibiting marriage, and making his people labour
in common, all the proceeds being placed at his disposal.
He has thus accumulated large property ; but about
seventy members lately seceded, and raised an action for
their share, which he compounded by giving them £5000.
He carefully prevents all intercourse with strangers,

RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES. 91

and is even cautious in admitting new converts, lest
they should enlighten, or, in his view, corrupt the fixed
votaries. The number at present is about 500, settled
at Economy, on the Ohio, 18 miles below Pittsburg.
Rapp is very old, and at his death the body are ex
pected to break up.

Another religious abortion has recently started up in
the Mormonites, or Latter-day Saints, respecting whom
we are not prepared or disposed to say much. They
hold that the angel, in the Revelation, chapter xiv.,
destined to preach the gospel to all nations, appeared to
Joseph Smith arid several other persons, and communi
cated to them a large body of religious instruction.
The latter received also a book written on brass
plates, and containing a species of supplementary
gospel, which has been translated and published. This
circumstance appears to mark deliberate fraud. The
system of labouring in common is not adopted ; but
believers are earnestly invited to sell their property,
and deliver it into the hands of Smith for the common
benefit. In return, they are invested with lofty names,
— revelators, patriarchs, priests, seers, — while he him
self is head of the church and president of the high
priesthood. He has thus accumulated considerable
property, and founded a town in the Missouri state,
which the faithful were called upon to assist in building.
They became involved, however, in quarrels with the
inhabitants, and, after some sharp conflicts, were obliged
to quit this station, their chief seat being now at Nauvoo,
on the banks of the Mississippi. Their number is reck
oned, in the American Almanac, at 12,000. They have
sent over missionaries into this country, wrho are said to
have made some converts. We are obliged to state, that
these notices are from sources somewhat casual and
vague.

Mention has already been made of the great extent
and active promotion of societies for the diffusion of
religious knowledge. In this respect the United States
rank second only to Britain. The American Bible

92 RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES.

Society was instituted in 1816, and is conducted by a
board of thirty-six managers, all laymen, and belonging
to five or six religious denominations. As the object is
to publish the scriptures without note or comment,
there is a union of all Christian sects. The main seat
of operation is in New York, where they have an edifice
for the officers' residence, and for the work of printing
and binding. Here seventeen presses are moved by
steam, and above 1000 bibles can be printed in a day.
A subscriber of 30 dollars is a member, and one of 150
a director, both for life. There are about 1000 auxiliary
societies, each usually embracing a county, and con
nected with from ten to twenty smaller branches.
They receive copies at cost price, or even lower in
case of necessity. Those situated in wealthy dis
tricts make remittances to the parent society ; others
are obliged to solicit its bounty. For some years, it
lias been an anxious aim of the society that every child,
able to read, should be furnished with a copy of the
scriptures. They have also, by means of their surplus
funds, extended their operations to foreign countries,
and have granted large sums to aid in the printing
and circulation of the scriptures in various languages.
The income in the first year, ending May 181 7, exceeded
35,000 dollars, and gradually increased — in 1824 to
52,000, in 1828 to 65,000, and in 1831 even to 170,000.
This last amount, however, has not been supported ;
in 1834 it fell to 85,000, though it rose in 1836 to
above 100,000.

The pious zeal for communicating the blessings of
Christianity to pagan nations by missionary labours has
been fully shared by the United States. At Boston, in
1810, was instituted " The American Board of Commis
sioners for Foreign Missions," with which was incorpo
rated in 1826 a similar society which had been formed
at New York in 1817. This association is chiefly sup
ported by the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches,
whose sentiments mainly harmonize. The contribu
tions, which in the first year were only 1000 dollars,

RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES. 93

rapidly increased, and in 1817 had risen to 30,000 ; in
1822 to 59,000 ; in 1828 to 102,000 ; and in 1834 as
high as 152,000. The laudable object of this society is
to diffuse the Christian religion, and with it, as a subor
dinate object, all kinds of useful knowledge, and even
the mechanical arts. With this view, their preachers
are accompanied by teachers, physicians, mechanics,
agriculturists, &c. In 1836 they had 25 missions, in
cluding 75 stations, in which were engaged 102 preachers,
of whom 24 possessed medical knowledge. These, with
teachers, farmers, mechanics, and others, including 181
married and unmarried females, made up 311 persons
employed. Their schools amounted to 474, attended by
about 37,000 pupils ; and two seminaries had been
formed for educating native teachers and preachers,
which had attracted about 250 students. The New
Testament had been translated by them into the Mali-
ratta, the Armeno-Turkish, and the Hawaiian languages ;
portions of it into twenty others. They had 118 persons
employed among the Indian tribes, 65 in the Sandwich
Islands, 55 in India, among the Mahratta and Tamul
tribes, 7 in Siam, 3 in China, and 5 in the Indian archi
pelago ; 31 in Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, and Persia ;
10 in European Turkey, 14 in Africa. They publish a
monthly work entitled the Missionary Herald, of which
about 18,000 copies are circulated.

The Baptists have also a General Convention for the
purpose of Foreign Missions, including the Indian tribes.
It was formed at Philadelphia in May 1814, and meets
triennially at different cities throughout the Union.
The board of managers now hold their periodical assem
blies in Boston, where the American Baptist Magazine,
their official publication, is issued. The funds in
1835 amounted to 58,500 dollars. Among the Indians,
they maintain 31 missionaries, with 7 assistants ; in
Moulmein, Rangoon, and other parts of Burmah and
Siam, 31 missionaries and 23 assistants ; in Siberia, 5 ;
in Hayti, 1 ; in France and Germany, 4.

The friends of religion, in contemplating the subject

94 RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES.

of spiritual destitution, could not be long in perceiving
that it existed within the precincts of their own Union
to an extent nearly as great as among the most remote
and savage tribes. Under this impression, in 1826, a
Home Missionary Society was formed at New York, by
a convention of 130 clergymen and laymen, chiefly of
the Presbyterian and Congregational persuasions. Their
exertions have prospered ; and the receipts, which in the
first year were 18,130 dollars, had risen in 1835 to
88,863 (£19,934). They employed 719 missionaries in
1050 congregations or districts. The Baptists have also
a home society, with a revenue of 8839 dollars, and
employing 93 missionaries ; three of them in Canada.
The Methodist Episcopal Church has a society both for
home and foreign objects, but chiefly the former. Its
receipts in 1835 were 30,492 dollars ; it maintained 144
missionaries, and counted 16,430 members. The Pro
testant Episcopal Church has a similar institution, with
a revenue of about 26,000 dollars.

The system of Sabbath Schools originated in England
in 1782, at the suggestion of Robert Raikes of Gloucester.
In 1791, a society for this object was formed in Phila
delphia, and soon after in other cities ; and in 1824, a
union was formed at Philadelphia by the combination
of a number of local bodies. Their professed object was
to concentrate the national efforts for this object, to cir
culate moral and religious publications, and endeavour
to plant a sabbath school wherever there is a population.
Christians of all denominations united in this pious work ;
it was even arranged that the committee of eight should
comprise members from at least four different professions,
and that no book should be published to which any of
them objected. A somewhat singular regulation is, that
no clergyman shall be in the management, which must be
intrusted exclusively to laymen. The society do not
exercise any control over the schools, or the doctrines
taught ; they merely undertake to supply them with
cheap publications, and to aid their erection in destitute
situations. Their funds, in 1834, amounted to 136,855

RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES. 95

dollars (£30,780). They had connected with them
16,000 schools, 115,000 teachers, and 799,000 pupils.
There is also a Tract Society, instituted at Boston in
1814; but a more comprehensive one was formed at
New York in 1825, to which the other became in some
degree auxiliary. The receipts in 1835 were 92,307
dollars (about £20,800).

The people of the United States are accused of certain
displays of religious zeal, made too publicly, in indecor
ous and irregular modes. These are chiefly revivals and
camp-meetings. The revival appears to consist of great
united efforts to restore or kindle the religious spirit,
especially in places where it is supposed to be faint or
decayed. For this purpose a number of zealous minis
ters assemble in the place, and by a series of daily ser
mons, as well as other means and exertions, endeavour
to rouse the people to a deep sense of their spiritual in
terests. On these occasions, it is usual to enclose by
rails a part of the church, called " the anxious benches,"
at which are seated persons particularly under the in
fluence of this feeling. The majority appear to be
young ladies, who do not seem much encouraged in
scripture to come forward in so public a manner. As
the service proceeds, tears are shed, cries and even screams
are raised, and, as Mrs Trollope alleges, caresses are be
stowed. Mr Hinton, who undertakes on the whole
their apology, admits that in many cases they are en
thusiastic to a great degree ; yet he conceives that when
soberly conducted, as in very many instances they are,
they have a salutary influence in rousing a sense of reli
gion in neglected districts, or in others where, amid
routine observances, its warmth had decayed. He con
siders that in the New England states, the extravagances
observed in the ruder and more western territories are
scarcely perceptible.

The camp-meetings are chiefly held in the wide regions
of the west, where the regular means of instruction are
deficient ; and the concourse attracted towards them is
immense. As soon as one is announced, the roads for a

96 RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES.

hundred miles round, are seen thronged with persons on
foot and horseback, in gigs and wagons, hastening to the
spot. It is usually chosen in the centre of a deep, dark,
and lonely forest, never reached by the axe of the settler ;
and a large space being cleared, the trees which have
been cut down are arranged for seats. Preaching and
other religious exercises are carried on for several days
without interruption, and continued till past midnight.
It is allowed by all, that the lights, and the various sounds
of worship echoing through these immense forests, espe
cially at a distance, are strikingly impressive. In a
more important view, it is very generally alleged, that
these assemblages not only display wild excesses of fana
ticism, but give occasion to vicious and disorderly con
duct. It is not denied, that many, who are wholly un
concerned on religious subjects, flock thither as to a
scene of excitement and social enjoyment, and often
afford ground for such animadversions. The same re
mark was made on the old Scottish sacraments, accom
panied by preaching in the open air. Yet sober Ameri
can divines contend, that such characters would always
have found somewhere the means of gratification ; that
in the peculiar situation of this region, religious impres
sions are thus conveyed to many who would otherwise
have been entire strangers to them ; and that drunken
ness and other prevalent vices have thus been sensibly
diminished.*

From these details, the reader may have formed a
tolerable idea of the state of religion in America, both in
itself and as connected with the question of a national
establishment. It presents, as we have seen, two contrasted
aspects, — one in the densely peopled states on the coast,
particularly in the north, the other in the wide and thinly
inhabited territories of the west. In the former, the re
ligious principle seems to possess equal and even some
what greater power than generally in European countries.

* Trollope, vol. i. p. 239-241 ; vol. ii. p. 110-112. Flint,
Geography, &c., p. 144-146.

RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES. 97

The clergy possess extensive influence ; arid they are,
perhaps from their position, somewhat more uniformly
diligent and laborious. It might be apprehended that
in this state of dependence upon their congregations, they
might be tempted to relax the obligations of religion and
morality ; but there appears in general no room for the
charge, which indeed the respectable part of the society,
by whom the clergy are supported, would not approve or
desire. There may be a danger, however, in cases where
the general feelings or supposed interests of the public
take a direction with which the clergy can scarcely
sympathize, of their being brought under this influence,
of which the extensive support given by them to
slavery is perhaps an example. The various sentiments
entertained by the numerous sects will of course be dif
ferently estimated according as they approach to or re
cede from those of the reader. It seems admitted by
almost all, that certain fanatical excesses are carried
farther than in Britain ; while, on the other side, there
is a greater prevalence of those doctrines which the
great body of Christians repel as heterodox.

In the western territory, the aspect of affairs, as al
ready observed, is still more unfavourable. The want
of the means of instruction has led to an absence of the
desire for it, and to an unwillingness to make even such
contributions as could be afforded for its support. The
American writers of a serious disposition deeply deplore
the destitution thus occasioned ; yet so rooted is their
attachment to the voluntary principle, that they refuse
to recommend any aid from the public, and merely call
upon their countrymen in more improved states to sup
ply the deficiency. This has been done to a creditable
extent by the home missionary and other societies ; yet
all their exertions are allowed to be very inadequate.
Indeed, it seems rather too much to expect, that, besides
supporting a large establishment of their own, the east
ern states should also provide one for these distant and
extensive countries.

98 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

CHAPTER IV.

The Literature of America.

Obstacles to Literature in America— Political Circumstances
— Want of Remuneration — State before the Revolution —
Decline — Gradual Revival and Progress — Branches — Ora
tory — Otis — Henry — Fisher Ames — Everett — Webster —
Clay — Poetry — General Taste for it — Mode of Production-
Bryant— Percival— Dana— Sprague— Halleck— Brainard—
— Pierpont— Willis— Wilcox— Longfellow— Neal — Doane
— Peabody — Prentice— Sands — Drake — Hillhouse — Lunt —
Clason— Whittier— Hoffman — Street — Gallagher — Pike—
Pinkney — Simms — Female Poets — Sigourney — Brooks —
Hall— Welby— Gould— Lucretia and Margaret Davidson
— Various Others — Romances and Novels — Brown — Cooper
— Sedgwick, &c. — Essay-writing—Irving — Channiug— His
tory — Bancroft — Prescott — Historical Biography — Collec
tions of Documents — Travellers — Lewis — Clarke — School-
craft — Robinson — Stephens — Catlin, &c. — Statistics.

IT cannot be necessary to dwell on a topic so familiar
as that of the benefits which a nation derives from
science and literature. Without some tincture of the
knowledge and refinement they confer, the man can be
said to rise but little above the brute. Through their
influence society is polished and humanized, the grosser
vices are banished, morality assumes a higher tone, and
even religion itself is purified from error and supersti
tion. True it is, that with all these advantages, they
become liable to perversions, from which, through the
waywardness of man's will, all that is best and highest
in his nature cannot be exempted. But the proper
remedy is not to neglect or banish, but to purify and
give them a sound and genuine direction. Nations can

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 99

scarcely be considered as meriting the epithet of civilized,
until not only knowledge and a taste for reading are in
some degree diffused, but they have produced some
authors capable of taking a high place in the ranks of
those who have instructed and delighted mankind.

It had passed nearly into a maxim, that such charac
ters did not and never could exist in America ; that she
neither possessed a national literature, nor had the pros
pect of attaining one, at least under her present institu
tions. "What geniuses," says Fisher Ames, "have
arisen among us, like the sun and stars, to shed light
and glory on our hemisphere ? — This state of the case is
no sooner made, than all the firefly tribe of our authors
perceive their little lamps go out of themselves : ex
cepting the writers of two able works on our politics,
we have no authors." He then goes over the different
branches of literary exertion, endeavouring to prove
that his country contains neither materials nor im
pulses that can lead to their successful cultivation.*
De Tocqueville, thirty years later, adopts the same
view, holding it as established that America has neither
historian nor poet, and arguing from her political and
social circumstances the improbability that any great
genius should arise in either of these walks. We cannot,
however, help thinking, that this last eminent writer is
nearly twenty years behind the actual state of things,
and is reasoning upon one which no longer exists. We
will, on the contrary, endeavour to prove, that no
material obstacles exist to the formation of a national
literature in America, and that in fact she already holds
no contemptible position in this respect. This discus
sion will include a review of those circumstances which
tend either to favour or impede her progress.

One great barrier to her literary advancement is sup
posed to exist in the republican form of government,
whose restless and turbulent movements are judged in
compatible with the tranquil pursuits of the scholar. On

* Fisher Ames' Works, 8vo, p. 459-470.

100 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

tliis point, however, it seems only necessary to pronounce
the name of Athens ; and we concur almost without
qualification in the following eloquent remarks of Mr
Everett : — " Athens was essentially a free state — free to
licentiousness — free to madness. The rich were arbi
trarily pillaged to defray the expenses of the state ; the
great were hanished to appease the envy of their rivals ;
the wise sacrificed to the fury of the populace. It was
a state, in short, where liberty existed with most of the
imperfections which have led man to love and praise
despotism. Still, however, it was for this lawless, merci
less people, that the most chaste and accomplished
literature which the world has known was produced.
The philosophy of Plato was the attraction which drew
to a morning walk in the olive- gardens of the Academy
the young men of this factious city. Those tumultuous
assemblies of Athens — the very same which rose in their
wrath, and to a man, and clamoured for the blood of
Phocion — required to be addressed, not in the cheap
extemporaneous rant of modern demagogues, but in the
elaborate and thrice-repeated orations of Demosthenes."*
It must, indeed, be admitted, that this form of gov
ernment presents no inconsiderable obstacles to literary
pursuits. Public employments possess attractions tend
ing to draw towards them the most powerful talents.
To sway assembled multitudes, to guide the helm of
national affairs, are more animating and agreeable occu
pations than to compose or reflect in retirement ; and a
popular orator, even with moderate success, occupies a
more conspicuous place among his countrymen than the
most eminent votary of science. It must also be owned,
that in such governments literary patronage is sparingly
distributed. It need scarcely be remarked how little of
it has been bestowed on the men of genius who have
given lustre to Britain. Even in Athens the case was
the same, after the expulsion of the Pisistratidae ; nay,
the philosophers who formed her chief glory were objects

* Orations, p. 21.

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 101

of persecution to the reigning multitude. In this re
spect the American government has trodden in the foot
steps of its predecessors, congress having always shown
the most perfect coolness and indifference on the subject.
Washington strongly and repeatedly urged the founding
of a national university ; he even bequeathed a spot of
ground for the edifice, which however remains still un
occupied. His successors have from time to time solicited
attention to this object ; but their representations have
fallen dead upon the house, nor are we aware of its
having ever been felt necessary even to make a speech
against the measure. Still, the movement, the agitation,
the mighty interests contended for under such a govern
ment, elicit powers which remain dormant amid the
stagnation of an absolute dominion, and which the
patronage even of the greatest monarch is unable to
create. We quote from the same author, with a some
what qualified concurrence : — " No strongly marked or
high-toned literature, poetry, eloquence, or ethics, ever
appeared but in the pressure, the crowd of great interests,
great enterprises, perilous risks, and dazzling rewards.
Statesmen, and warriors, and poets, and orators, and
artists, start up under one and the same excitement."
In such a community, the desire of making a figure
before the public is strongly felt, while many able men
want the peculiar talents necessary for achieving politi
cal eminence, or will not perhaps submit to the humilia
tions to be encountered in the pursuit. At all times,
too, the division into factions shuts out from public
employments a large body of well-informed and talented
individuals, to whom the tranquil paths of literature
offer the means both of solace and exertion. For twelve
years prior to the election of Harrison, the excluded
party were allowed to be superior in intellect to their
opponents. There is usually in such societies a certain
respect commanded by strong and original exertions of
mind ; they attract followers and admirers, who, in the
absence of patronage, afford a sufficient impulse. In
this way, Britain has produced a succession of great

102 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

authors, who have risen and flourished amid national
neglect. The philosophers and other great men of
Athens were the objects of persecution ; yet they grew
up successively beneath the blows by which they were
struck. It is true that we often find the great men of
Greece in the courts of princes, receiving that patronage
which was elsewhere denied ; but it was almost always
in the free states that their talents had been awakened
and developed.

The Americans, however, it is maintained, are too
busy and bustling a nation for these tranquil pursuits ;
there is no class exempt from the necessity of labour, or
enjoying the leisure necessary for their cultivation.
We cannot, however, consider this a very serious obstacle.
It has been frequently observed, that whenever a very
strong inclination is excited for any pursuit, men will
be at no loss for time to gratify it. Modern Europe
has contained a most numerous class, exempted from,
toil by hereditary wealth, and enjoying an ample portion
of leisure ; yet how few of her great authors have been
drawn from their ranks, and not rather from those of
the middling, professional, and even lower orders. The
planters of the south, as already observed, possess very
considerable leisure, which they even devote to the
attainment of some intellectual acquisitions ; yet what
ever of literature exists in America has arisen, not with
them, but amid the tumultuary throng of the great
mercantile emporia of the north. The numerous colleges
in the States afford retreats where writers may enjoy
ample leisure ; yet we find the majority in preference
establishing their residence in the great cities.

Complaints are likewise made of the want of any
one centre of wealth and intelligence, which might
become the common resort of literary aspirants. Instead
of a great capital, like London or Paris, forming the
nursery of science, literature, and art, their culture is
in America divided between Boston, New York, and
Philadelphia ; hence a want of any powerful united
impulse. In Greece, however, in modern Italy, and

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 103

in Germany, a similar division took place, without op
posing any obstacle to the highest intellectual progress.
It was even manifestly promoted by the emulation
kindled between rival states ; while the author, neglected
or persecuted in one, found refuge in another. Mr Flint
insists, that the rivalry of the American cities produces
no good effects, but excites only mutual jealousy and
detraction. Yet we cannot easily believe that a prin
ciple elsewhere so beneficial, should in his country yield
only these malignant fruits, nor in fact have we seen
any striking exhibitions of this nature. We incline to
think, that greater disadvantage arises from the separa
tion between the social and political centres ; the former
existing in the three cities above named, the latter in
Washington, the exclusive seat of politics. This is pro
bably one cause of the total apathy which still prevails on
the subject in the central government, and the want of
any patronizing disposition ; and perhaps genius suffers
still more from the absence of the impulse derived from
great public movements and events. These, however,
are pretty generally felt throughout the Union ; and,
joined to the operations of the state governments, keep
up every where even an excess of political stir and
activity.

Transatlantic authors, however, complain with bitter
ness that, under present circumstances, they do not
obtain such remuneration for their works as will enable
them to subsist by the produce of their pens, and that
they cannot thus devote their lives to literature. Yet
long before there was such a thing as copyright,
authors arose at least as great as have appeared since ;
and it may be questioned if genius was ever elicited by
the mere motive of the money which its exertions would
produce. When, indeed, the literary character has been
formed, this motive may induce to more constant and
systematic exertions ; and compilations, elementary
works, and periodicals, may be thus drawn forth with
advantage. But works of invention, either philosophic
or imaginative, are very ill fitted to yield to their author
a regular income. His vein is probably limited and

104 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

soon worked out ; and he is then obliged to dig for baser
ore, which lowers his reputation, and loses him that
public support which is with difficulty preserved by
similar works, even of equal merit. Thus the brilliant
prospects, with which perhaps his career opened, sus
tain a gloomy reverse. Even in America, literary suc
cess, though not paid by the bookseller, usually intro
duces its possessor to some respectable situation. He
procures an office under government, or the appointment
to a professorship, or if a clergyman, is recommended
to the choice of a respectable congregation. The most
usual way, however, in which it is turned to account,
is by becoming editor or proprietor of a newspaper, or
other periodical, — a situation not very agreeable, but
which yields often liberal remuneration.

American authors, however, bitterly reproach their
countrymen with a rooted prejudice against their own
native literature. Even political zealots, who profess
to hate and despise England, will scarcely open a book
which does not come from that country. If they have
begun to estimate better a few of their own writers, it
is said to be only after hearing that they had been
admired on this side of the Atlantic. Now, it must be
observed, that the impression from which this tendency
arose was, for very many years, perfectly well founded ;
and we certainly think, that the Americans acted wisely
in reading good books, though from a foreign, and what
they might even esteem a hostile country, rather than
bad ones of native production. The habit once formed
might somewhat outlast the cause, and they might
require testimonies of undoubted authority to rouse them
to the merits of their first really able writers. The
charge is now, we think, without any serious founda
tion ; and eminent authors are made quite sufficiently
the subject of national boast. It was noticed in 1835, that
the reviews, particularly the North American, scarcely
ever noticed works written by their own countrymen ;*
but this is no longer the case ; they are included in quite

* Athenaeum, 3d January 1835.

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 105

a fair proportion, and have their full share of merit
assigned to them.

It is now time to attempt a survey of the actual
achievements of the nation in this great field of human
pursuit. The undertaking is by no means easy, since
they themselves have only recently begun to pay any
attention to their own literary history ; and the most
eminent authors being either alive or recently dead,
information respecting them can be but imperfectly col
lected. The present, therefore, being the first attempt
to take a general view of the subject, must claim much
indulgence, although some omissions or even errors
should be found in it.

The colonies, immediately previous to their separation
from Britain, stood in the situation of provinces to the
mother-country, with which they maintained a constant
and active intercourse ; and their progress in population
and refinement was such as enabled them to avail them
selves of the advantages thence derivable. A large
amount of talent was developed, and a certain propor
tion turned with energy to intellectual pursuits. Jona
than Edwards produced works which, by their acuteness
and closeness of reasoning, secured to him an eminent
rank among divines and metaphysicians. Franklin, by
his electrical discoveries, and the strong practical sense
of his essays, became equally distinguished in scientific
and literary circles. In a somewhat lower grade, Dr
Dwight had already risen into notice, and been recom
mended aspresident of Yale College. Benjamin Thompson,
afterwards so well known as Count Rumford, produced
his works and inventions indeed in Europe ; but his
talent had been formed and recognised before he left
America. Whatever of merit may be allowed to Joel
Barlow, his literary character had been nearly matured,
and indeed a sketch of his Columbiad drawn out, pre
vious to the contest. Jefferson and others of the re
volutionary leaders cultivated letters with ardour ; and
though Washington had no talent of this kind, he
appreciated it highly when displayed by others.

VOL. III. G

106 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

These incipient movements were broken up by the
tumult of the revolutionary conflict. During its con
tinuance, and for about thirty years after, the intellec
tual life of the Union remained in a suspended state.
The severance, perhaps premature, had thrown them
considerably back in the career of prosperity ; and what
was perhaps of more importance, it removed them from
English society, which was regarded with an eye of
hostile estrangement. The commercial cities, the chief
seats of civilisation, had been almost ruined, and worked
their way back only gradually to a prosperous condition.

About the beginning of the century, some faint signs
of revival began to be visible. A taste for reading,
especially poetry, sprung up among the body of the
people, and increased so rapidly, that it is described now
as more generally diffused than in any other nation.
It appeared then a flattering prospect to undertake the
supply of so extensive a demand. Brockden Brown
produced several romances full of those extravagant
incidents and violent passions which the German school
had rendered fashionable, and which were not unsuited
to the infant efforts of a somewhat rude people. He
undertook even two periodicals, the Monthly Magazine
and North American Review ; but they did not succeed.
A Mr Dennie, in 1801, commenced one called the Port
folio, which created a pretty strong sensation, but was
not long supported. Phineas Adams, in 1803, began
a Monthly Anthology, which was carried on till 1811 ;
but no great poet seems to have arisen under its auspices.
In 1807, the work called Salmagundi, undertaken at
New York by Washington Irving, in conjunction with
Paulding and Verplank, may be considered the com
mencement of American literature. It gained for its
author, in his own country, the reputation of a clever
man, but did not penetrate to Europe. From this time,
however, the literary spirit continued to increase in
activity. In May 1815, the North American Review
was commenced under the editorship of Mr Tudor ; in
1817 it passed to Mr Sparks, in 1819 to Mr E. T. Chan-

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 107

ning, and in the same year to Mr Everett. It met from
the first a favourable reception, and was soon recognised
in Europe as a respectable publication.* Irving, mean
time, had been rapidly enlarging his ideas and polishing
his style. In 1819, he visited England, and sent over
to his own country the first volume of " the Sketch
Book, by Geoffroy Crayon." At first published there,
it soon found its way back, and met with so flattering
a reception, as induced him to follow it up by another.
The British public became as it were electrified by seeing
an American author take his place in the first rank
among those of Europe.

About the same date Bryant and Percival published
poems, of which the former at least drew in England
the admiration of readers of taste, though they have
never perhaps become so popular as their merits deserved.
They were followed by a numerous school, embracing
various, but on the whole, as will appear, very consider
able degrees of excellence. Not long after Cooper, by
his novels, gained a European reputation of the first
class in this department. Others have followed him,
and displayed talents which rendered them popular at
home, though they have not made much impression
elsewhere. Ames had predicted, that an historian
would not find, in his own country, a sufficiently inte
resting subject, and would not be able to procure mate
rials for writing the annals of any other. Both these
obstacles, however, have been surmounted by Bancroft
and Prescott, whose works are admitted, on all hands,
to possess a high degree of excellence. Oratory, under
Webster and Everett, has assumed a finished and classic
character ; while Channing, as a moral writer and
essayist, has come into rivalry with the most eminent
of those upon this side of the Atlantic.

Having thus traced, in some kind of chronological
order, the intellectual progress of America, we will now
attempt to survey, in some detail, its different branches.

* North American Review, No. xli. p. 293-296.

108 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

It may be proper to begin with oratory, as that pecu
liarly adapted to, and which has risen to its highest
perfection under popular government, and of which
America has certainly produced some brilliant examples.
There is probably in that country more public speaking
than in all the rest of the world put together. The
continually recurring elections to the state and national
legislatures, and to the numerous offices at the disposal
of the people, are accompanied by addresses proposing
and recommending the candidate, thanking for the
appointment, — inaugural on entering, valedictory on
quitting. On commencing to erect an edifice, or to
take it down, on the death of any eminent character, on
the occurrence or commemoration of any public event,
an oration must never be wanting. The 4th of July,
being the anniversary of the Declaration of Independ
ence, is held as a national festival, when all the aspirants
to popular favour task their powers of speech to the
utmost. The applauses of an assembled multitude
afford perhaps the most flattering form in which in
tellectual success can be obtained; while an admired
speech is printed in the newspapers, read throughout
the Union, and perhaps embodied in collections as a
model for future orators.

From these causes the public speakers in the United
States are a most numerous race ; but as high mental
culture is not so generally diffused, the performances
cannot display a uniform excellence. A command of
language and facility of expression are indeed usually
obtained, but the more important article of ideas is apt
to be very deficient. A crude abundance of words is
described by a native author as the main disease of
American composition. The greater number move
mechanically round a beaten circle ; and the per
petually recurring addresses, particularly on the anni
versary of the 4th of July, can scarcely fail of falling
into utter commonplace. These effusions are accord
ingly said to be regularly stuffed with schoolboy allu
sions to the ancients, in which Greece and Rome, De-

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 109

mosthenes and Cicero, are absolutely " used up." Mr
Flint describes the ordinary result as "a curious mosaic,
in which brilliant and party-coloured fragments are
selected from the common school collections of reading
and speaking, vagrant fine sayings culled from cele
brated speeches, phrases consecrated by fashion, turgid
epithets, gaudy and excessively exaggerated representa
tions of the unparalleled glory, power, and progress
(particularly in intellect arid letters) of our country,
and fierce declamation about liberty, intended to be
sublime ; all this is worked into a mass, without fitness,
order, or taste. No modern country is allowed any
sort of equality in a general comparison. Especially is
every other nation represented to be merged in the most
humiliating slavery." In short, an alternation of fustian
and bombast is described as forming the general cha
racter of these orations.*

Still, whatever is practised very much in any society,
though it may in most instances be done ill, is likely in
some few to be executed in a superior manner. As the
nation advanced in taste and refinement, there could
not but arise a wish to do something to repair such
serious defects. We must, however, begin with the
orators who appeared before and during the revolution,
and who acquired a higher reputation than any that for
a long time succeeded. There prevailed then, as already
observed, a higher intellectual taste, and the critical
events of that era had a powerful influence in drawing
forth displays of eloquence, which, however, bore still
a somewhat rude and irregular character. Otis is always
mentioned by the Americans with particular enthusiasm.
His practice was prior to the revolution, when employed
as a lawyer to oppose, by every practicable means, the
commercial monopoly. His orations are described as
having produced most powerful effects, and having been
mainly instrumental in preparing the way for the great
change. " Otis," says Pitkin, " was a flame of fire."

* Flint in Athenseum, 29th August 1835.

110 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

We have been unable to procure any other remains
of this celebrated person than two pamphlets, the prin
cipal of which is entitled a " Vindication of the British
Colonies," written on occasion of the stamp-act. This
subject, we may imagine, would draw forth all his
powers ; nor can the style apparently differ from that
of his orations, which, even if extemporaneous, could
scarcely be more loose and colloquial. We are obliged
to say, that we can discover in this work little an
swering to so splendid a fame. Not only is there a
total absence of elegant and classic composition, but
even of thoughts expressed with very commanding
energy. The great power must have resided in the
manner; and there really is a rapid crowd of ideas,
which, when uttered with vehemence and fervour,
might produce a striking effect. As few of our readers
have probably seen any of his composition, we shall
select two or three specimens. He thus characterizes
the style of a pamphlet to which his own is an answer : —

" Inaccuracies in abundance, declamation and false
logic without end ; verse is retailed in the shape of
prose, solecisms are attempted to be passed off for good
grammar, and the most indelicate fustian for fine taste.
The whole performance is truly Filmerian. The pic
ture is very well charged with shade and thick dark
ness, intermixed with here and there a ray of light,
now and then a flash, and once in the while is heard a
little rumbling thunder from a few distant broken
clouds."

The other party had thrown out a proposition for a
distinct code of laws to be applied to the British colo
nies. To this he answers : —

" If I mistake not, there is in the air of this period
(passage) the quintessence of a mere martial legislator,
the insolence of a haughty and imperious minister, the
indolence and half-thought of a petit maitre, the flutter
of a coxcomb, the pedantry of a quack, and the nonsense
of a pettifogger. A strange gallimaufry this ; but I am
not answerable for it, or for any other of the exhibitions

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. Ill

of a monster-monger. We want no foreign codes or
canons here. The common law is our birthright."

The British writer having said, in reference to the
plan of members of parliament being sent from America,
that " the beauty and symmetry of that body would be
destroyed, and its purity denied by the unnatural mix
ture ;" he answers :

" Was ever insolence equal to this ? Are the inhabi
tants of British America all a parcel of transported
thieves, robbers, and rebels, or descended from such I
Are the colonists blasted lepers, whose company would
infect the whole House of Commons ! There are some
in the colonies who value themselves on their descent.
We have the names of Tudor and of Stuart, of Howard,
Seymour, and of Russell, who boast an unsullied de
scent from our ancient princes and nobles, or at least
claim the honour of being of the same blood. Can
none of these be returned as members without breeding
a plague in the house ? If this writer be a European,
his insults upon the British colonies are quite unpar
donable ; if he be a native, he is an ungrateful parricide.
Is he the venal hireling of a party I — his employers on
either side the Atlantic should discard him as a mere
Sir Martyn Marplot. Depend upon it, one such letter
as this, if known to breathe the sentiments of the great,
would tend more to disgust the colonies against the
conduct of their superiors than a hundred thousand
such pamphlets as the author scolds at."

The following is the most serious passage, and deserves
notice as appearing to show that he was wholly unpre
pared for that great change which he is supposed to have
been so instrumental in producing. In fact, though he
lived till 1778, we are not aware that he took any part
in the revolutionary struggle.

" God forbid these colonies should ever prove unduti-
ful to their mother-country. Whenever such a day
shall come, it will be the beginning of a terrible scene.
Were these colonies left to themselves to-morrow, Ame
rica would be a mere shambles of blood and confusion

112 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

before little petty states could be settled. How many-
millions must perish in building up great empires ! how
many more must be ruined by their fall ! Let any
man reflect on the revolutions of government, ancient
and modern, and he will think himself happy in being
born here in the infancy of these settlements, and from
his soul deprecate their once entertaining any sentiments
but those of loyalty, patience, meekness, and forbearance
under any hardships that in the course of time they may
be subjected to. These, as far as may be consistent with
the character of men and Christians, must be submitted
to."

Patrick Henry held nearly the same place and advo
cated the same cause in Virginia. Born of humble
parents, he obtained only the first elements of education,
and though he had gained considerable information by
desultory reading, did not in his conversation show any
striking intellectual qualities, but had quite a vulgar
and clownish appearance. Having failed in successive
trades, he and his family were reduced to great distress,
when he conceived the hope of earning a scanty subsist
ence by practising as a lawyer. After six weeks' study
he presented himself for examination, and was found
very deficient ; yet Randolph, on whom the task devolved,
saw such marks of natural energy and sagacity that he
allowed him to pass. He remained long without any
employment, till a plea arose between the clergy and
people about the payment of stipend. The cause of the
latter appearing desperate, and being much discounte
nanced by the leading gentry, their regular advocates
threw it up, and nothing seemed to remain but to pro
nounce sentence against them. As a forlorn hope, they
put forth Henry. The result is thus related by Mr
Wirt :—

" He rose very awkwardly, and faltered much in his
exordium. The people hung their heads at so unpro
mising a commencement. But these feelings were of
short duration, and soon gave way to others of a very
different character. For now were those wonderful

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 113

faculties which he possessed for the first time developed,
and now was for the first time witnessed that mysterious
and almost supernatural transformation of appearance
which the fire of his own eloquence never failed to work
in him. For, as his mind rolled along, and began to
glow from its own action, all the exuvice of the clown
seemed to shed themselves spontaneously. His attitude
by degrees became erect and lofty. The spirit of his
genius awakened all his features. His countenance
shone with a nobleness and grandeur which it had never
before exhibited. There was a lightning in his eyes
which seemed to rivet the spectator. His action became
graceful, bold, and commanding ; and in the tones of his
voice, but more especially in his emphasis, there was a
peculiar charm."

The cause was instantly decided in his favour, and he
was triumphantly carried home on the shoulders of the
people. From an obscure, ruined, and despised indivi
dual, he became the first man in Virginia, was long the
leading orator in its assembly, and held for many years
the office of governor.

His oratory, the effects of which are described as
almost magical, depended also in a vast degree upon
his delivery, of which Mr Wirt has given an eloquent
description. He had nothing, it appears, of that violence
in voice and action by which his compatriots often sought
to force admiration. It is said : " Every look, every
motion, every pause, every start, was completely filled
and dilated by the thought which he was uttering, and
seemed indeed to form a part of the thought itself." It
is elsewhere added : " The very form in which he would
address the chairman when he felt the inspiration of his
genius rising — ' Mr Chairman ' — fixed upon him at once
every eye in the assembly ; and then his own rapt coun
tenance ! those eyes which seemed to beam with light
from another world, and under whose fiery glance the
crest of his proudest adversary fell, his majestic attitudes,
and that bold, strong, and varied action, which spoke
forth with so much power the energies of his own great

114 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

spirit, rendered his person a spectacle sublime and aw
fully interesting."

Henry himself never wrote ; and the agitation excited
by his speeches is said to have rendered it almost impos
sible for any hearer to take down an accurate report.
Mr Wirt, however, has collected a few fragments, which,
though making no pretensions to the merit of regular
composition, appear very superior to those of Otis.
We see in them a grandeur and boldness of conception,
forcibly though sometimes perhaps rudely expressed.
They are such as make it easy to conceive how, with
the aid of impassioned tones and gestures, they might
produce the powerful impression described. The most
finished passage is that from the speech on the proposal
made after the war for allowing British refugees to re
turn. This was a measure so odious to republican zea
lots, that any one venturing to support it was considered
in imminent risk of being tarred and feathered. Henry
ranked among this class ; yet his mind, liberal and
enlarged, saw all the advantages of the measure. He
rose above popular prejudices, undertook its defence, and
succeeded in crushing the opposition to it. The fol
lowing is the principal part of his speech : —

" People, sir, form the strength and constitute the
wealth of a nation. I want to see our vast forests filled
up by some process more speedy than the ordinary course
of nature. I wish to see these states rapidly ascending
to that rank which their natural advantages authorize
them to hold among the nations of the earth. Cast
your eyes, sir, over this extensive country ; observe the
salubrity of your climate, the variety and fertility of
your soil, and see that soil intersected in every quarter
by bold navigable streams flowing to the east and to the
west, as if the finger of Heaven were marking out the
course of your settlements, inviting you to enterprise,
and pointing the way to wealth. Sir, you are destined
at some time or other to become a great agricultural and
commercial people ; the only question is, whether you
choose to reach this point by slow gradations, and at

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

some distant period, lingering on through a long and
sickly minority, subjected meanwhile to the machina
tions, insults, and oppressions of enemies foreign and
domestic, without sufficient strength to resist and chas
tise them, — or whether you choose rather to rush at
once, as it were, to the full enjoyment of those high
destinies, and be able to cope, single-handed, with the
proudest oppressor of the Old World. If you prefer the
latter course, as I trust you do, encourage emigration —
encourage the husbandmen, the mechanics, the mer
chants of the old world, to come and settle in this land
of promise ; make it the home of the skilful, the in
dustrious, the fortunate, and the happy, as well as the
asylum of the distressed ; fill up the measure of your
population as speedily as you can by the means which
Heaven hath placed in your power, — and I venture to
prophecy, there are those now living who will see this
favoured land among the most powerful on earth — able,
sir, to take care of herself, without resorting to that
policy which is always so dangerous, though sometimes
unavoidable, of calling in foreign aid. Yes, sir ; they
will see her great in arts and in arms, her golden har
vests waving over fields of immeasurable extent, her
commerce penetrating the most distant seas, and her
cannon silencing the vain boasts of those who now
proudly attempt to rule the waves. But, sir, you must
have men ; you cannot get along without them ; those
heavy forests of valuable timber under which your lands
are groaning must be cleared away ; those vast riches
which cover the face of your soil, as well as those which
lie hid in its bosom, are to be developed and gathered
only by the skill and enterprise of men. Your great
want, sir, is the want of men ; and these you must
have, and will have speedily, if you are wise. Do you
ask how you are to get them ! Open your doors, sir,
and they will come in ; the population of the old world
is full to overflowing ; that population is ground too by
the governments under which they live. Sir, they are
already standing on tiptoe upon their native shores, and

116 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

looking to your coasts with a wistful and longing eye.
They see here a land blessed with natural and political
advantages, which are not equalled by those of any other
country upon earth, — a land on which a gracious Provi
dence hath emptied the horn of abundance, — a land over
which peace hath now stretched her white wings, and
where content and plenty lie down at every door ! Sir,
they see something still more attractive than all this :
they see a land in which liberty hath taken up her
abode — that liberty which they had considered as a
fabled goddess, existing only in the fancies of poets ;
they see her here, a real divinity, her altars rising on
every hand throughout these happy states, her glories
chanted by three millions of tongues, and the whole
region smiling under her blessed influence. Sir, let but
this, our celestial goddess, Liberty, stretch forth her fair
hand towards the people of the old world — tell them to
come, and bid them welcome — and you will see them
pouring in from the north, from the south, from the
east, and from the west ; your wildernesses will be
cleared and settled, your deserts will smile, your ranks
will be filled, and you will soon be in a condition to
defy the powers of any adversary.

" But gentlemen object to any accession from Great
Britain, and particularly to the return of the British
refugees. Sir, I feel no objection to the return of those
deluded people. They have, to be sure, mistaken their
own interests most wofully, and most wofully have they
suffered the punishment due to their offences. But the
relations which we bear to them and to their native
country are now changed. Their king hath acknow
ledged our independence ; the quarrel is over ; peace
hath returned, and found us a free people. Let us have
the magnanimity, sir, to lay aside our antipathies and
prejudices, and consider the subject in a political light ;
— those are an enterprising monied people ; they will be
serviceable in taking off the surplus produce of our
lands, and supplying us with necessaries during the
infant state of our manufactures. Even if they be mi-

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 117

mical to us in point of feeling and principle, I see no
objection in a political view in making them tributary
to our advantage. And as I have no prejudice to pre
vent my making this use of them, so, sir, I have no fear
of any mischief they can do us. Afraid of them ! What,
sir !" said he, rising to one of his loftiest attitudes, and
assuming a look of the most indignant and sovereign
contempt, " shall we, who have laid the proud British
lion at our feet, now be afraid of his whelps ?" At this
last bold image, thus enforced, the whole assembly, it is
said, involuntarily started up.*

Fisher Ames may perhaps be classed as belonging to
the school of the revolution, though he did not appear
in public life till immediately after its close. His first
great exertions were employed in aiding the formation
of the central government, and overcoming the power •
ful opposition which it encountered. He ranged under
the banners of Hamilton, zealously supporting the
federal interest, and feeling in his last hours the most
gloomy presentiments from the continued advance of
democratic influence. He appears to have been the
first in America who aimed at the formation of a
finished and classical style, making it is said Cicero his
model, both as a speaker and politician. He succeeded,
and acquired in an eminent degree the power both of
convincing the reason and moving the passions ; though
perhaps there transpires in his style something too
studied and rhetorical. The effect, however, was power
fully aided by his appearance and manner, though in
a very different style from that of Henry. Mr Flint
celebrates " the sweet countenance, the lightning of eye,
the music of tone, the grace of gesture, the nobleness
of attitude, and beyond all, that indescribable some
thing of influence, which seems as an atmosphere of
magic power." His most celebrated speech was in
support of Mr Jay's English treaty, which, as our
readers may recollect, was with great difficulty carried

* Wirt's Memoirs of Patrick Henry, 8vo, p. 233.

118 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

through congress. The effect was such, that a member
rose and urged that the house should adjourn, and no
steps be taken until the impression made on their
feelings should have subsided. The following is its
most remarkable passage : —

"The refusal of the posts (inevitable if we reject
the treaty) is a measure too decisive in its nature to be
neutral in its consequences. From great causes we are
to look for great effects. A plain and obvious one will
be, the price of the western lands will fall ; settlers will
not choose to fix their habitations on a field of battle.
Those who talk so much of the interest of the United
States, should calculate how deeply it will be affected
by rejecting the treaty — how vast a tract of wild land
will almost cease to be property. This loss, let it be
observed, will fall upon a fund expressly devoted to
sink the national debt. What, then, are we called upon
to do \ However the form of the vote and the protes
tations of many may disguise the proceeding, our
resolution is in substance, and it deserves to bear the
title of a resolution, to prevent the sale of the western
lands, and the discharge of the public debt.

" Will the tendency to Indian hostilities be contested
by any one ? Experience gives the answer. The
frontiers were scourged with war, until the negotiation
with Britain was far advanced, and then the state of
hostility ceased. Perhaps the public agents of both
nations are innocent of fomenting the Indian war, and
perhaps they are not. We ought not, however, to
expect that neighbouring nations, highly irritated
against each other, will neglect the friendship of the
savages. The traders will gain an influence and will
abuse it ; and who is ignorant that their passions are
easily raised and hardly restrained from violence ?
Their situation will oblige them to choose between this
country and Great Britain, in case the treaty should be
rejected ; they will not be our friends, and at the same
time the friends of our enemies.

"If any, against all these proofs, should maintain

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 119

that the peace with the Indians will be stable without
the posts, to them I will urge another reply. From
arguments calculated to produce conviction, I will
appeal directly to the hearts of those who hear me,
and ask whether it is not already planted there ? I
resort especially to the convictions of the western
gentlemen, whether, supposing no posts and no treaty,
the settlers will remain in security ? Can they take it
upon them to say that an Indian peace, under these
circumstances, can remain firm \ No, sir, it will not be
peace, but a sword ; it will be no better than a lure to
draw victims within the reach of the tomahawk.

" On this theme my emotions are unutterable. If
I could find words for them, if my powers bore any
proportion to my zeal, I would swell my voice to such
a note of remonstrance, as would reach every log-house
beyond the mountains. I would say to the inhabitants,
wake from your false security : your cruel dangers,
your more cruel apprehensions, are soon to be renewed ;
the wounds, yet unhealed, are to be torn open again ;
in the daytime your path through the woods will be
ambushed, the darkness of midnight will glitter with
the blaze of your dwellings. You are a father, — the
blood of your sons shall fatten your corn-field ; you
are a mother, — the war-whoop shall wake the sleep of
the cradle.

" By rejecting the posts, we light the savage fires, we
bind the victims. This day we undertake to render
account to the widows and orphans whom our decision
will make, to the wretches that will be roasted at the
stake, to our country, and I do not deem it too serious to
say, to our conscience and to God. We are answerable ;
and if duty be any thing more than a word of impos
ture, if conscience be not a bugbear, we are preparing
to make ourselves as wretched as our country.

" There is no mistake in the case — there can be none ;
experience has already been the prophet of events, and
the cries of our future victims have already reached us.
The western inhabitants are not a silent and uncom-

120 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

plaining sacrifice. The voice of humanity issues from
the shade of the wilderness ; it exclaims, that while one
hand is held up to reject this treaty, the other grasps
a tomahawk. It summons our imagination to the
scenes that will open. It is no great effort of the ima
gination to conceive that events so near are already
begun. I can fancy that I listen to the yells of savage
vengeance and the shrieks of torture : already they seem
to sigh in the western wind ; already they mingle with
every echo from the mountains."*

American oratory, after a species of eclipse, broke
forth in a more improved and polished form under
Everett and Webster. This school differed in some
striking respects from those which preceded. They
had arisen under the order of things prior to and at
the very commencement of the revolution. The effects
of the democratic government afterwards formed had
been, as observed, to augment vastly the number of
speakers, but at the same time to sink them into a
somewhat inferior tone, and give to their effusions a
crude and commonplace character. To elevate it
from this depression, and place it somewhat on a level
with the splendid models of antiquity, has been the
successful aim of this school. It has been formed,
not in Virginia, the supposed nurse of statesmen and
orators, but under the opposite interest, at Boston, and
evidently under the influence of that ardent pursuit of
letters which had there taken root. A majority of
the early speakers had supported the most popular views ;
but those who now sprung up belonged to the aris
tocratic party after it had assumed the title of Whig.
It was addressed thus to a more select class of auditors,
and acquired a character which, as compared with the
other specimens, might be termed senatorial.

Edward Everett was originally destined for the
church, and acquired such reputation for pulpit elo
quence, that at eighteen he was elected pastor of one

' Works of Fisher Ames, p. 85-88.

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 121

of the largest congregations in Boston. His health
sinking under the charge, he came over and spent some
time in Europe, where he must have greatly enlarged
his information and ideas. On his return, he preferred
a situation in Harvard College ; and two or three years
after had his ambition attracted towards public life. He
was received with cordiality by the party to whom he was
attached, and for a series of years was returned along
with Mr Webster to the senate of the United States. He
did not, however, speak very frequently in that assembly,
though he was always listened to with peculiar attention.
His eloquence was chiefly displayed on what may be
termed ornamental occasions, — anniversaries, public
meetings of associations and other bodies, on all of
which American taste requires that an oration shall
be delivered. When the election of General Harrison
as president had established his party in power, he was
named ambassador to Britain, considered probably the
first diplomatic situation at the disposal of the govern
ment.

The style of Everett is formed in a good measure
on the same model as that of Fisher Ames ; but he has
succeeded in removing from it a considerable portion of
rudeness which still adhered to the latter. His speeches
are always fully polished, as if prepared for the press,
and may rank, we imagine, among the most finished
models of English composition. They are pervaded by
a rich and animated glow of feeling, without ever swell
ing into an impetuous torrent. His delivery corresponds
in being always marked by a perfect command over
himself, and by appropriate but not violent action. The
following statement of his impressions with regard to
England will afford a fair specimen, and can scarcely
fail to be interesting : —

" Who does not feel — what reflecting American does
not acknowledge — the incalculable advantages derived to
this land out of the deep foundations of civil, intellectual,
and moral truth from which we have drawn in England ?
What American does not feel proud that he is descended

VOL. III. H

122 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

from the countrymen of Bacon, of Newton, and of Locke ?
For myself, I can truly say, that after my native land,
I feel a tenderness and a reverence for that of my fathers.
The pride I take in my own country makes me respect
that from which we are sprung. In touching the soil
of England, I seem to return like a descendant to the
old family-seat — to come back to the abode of an aged
and venerable parent. I acknowledge this great con
sanguinity of nations. The sound of my native language
beyond the sea is a music to my ear, beyond the richest
strains of Tuscan softness or Castilian majesty. I am
not yet in a land of strangers, while surrounded by the
manners, the habits, the forms, in which I have been
brought up. I wander delighted through a thousand
scenes wrhich the historians, the poets, have made fami
liar to us — of which the names are interwoven with our
earliest associations. I tread with reverence the spots
where I can retrace the footsteps of our suffering fathers ;
the pleasant land of their birth has a claim on my heart.
It seems to me a classic, nay, a holy land, rich in the
memory of the great and good — the martyrs of liberty,
the exiled heralds of truth ; and richer as the parent of
this land of promise in the west.

" I am not — I need not say I am not — the panegyrist
of England. I am not dazzled by her riches, nor awed
by her power. The sceptre, the mitre, and the coronet
— stars, garters, and blue ribands — seem to me poor
things for great men to contend for. Nor is my admir
ation awakened by her armies mustered for the battles of
Europe ; her navies overshadowing the ocean ; nor her
empire grasping the farthest East. It is these, and the
price of guilt and blood by which they are maintained,
which are the cause why no friend of liberty can salute
her with undivided affections. But it is the refuge of
free principles, though often persecuted ; the school of
religious liberty, the more precious for the struggles to
which it has been called ; the tombs of those who have
reflected honour on all who speak the English tongue ;
it is the birthplace of our fathers, the home of the Pil-

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 123

grims ; — it is these which I love and venerate in England.
I should feel ashamed of an enthusiasm for Italy and
Greece, did I not also feel it for a land like this."*

The following, from the address to the Massachusetts
Agricultural Society, is on an humble but pleasing sub
ject, — the condition of that numerous class of American
citizens, who subsist by tilling the soil of which they
are the owners.

" The man who stands upon his own soil — who feels
that, by the laws of the land in which he lives, by the
law of civilized nations, he is the rightful and exclusive
owner of the land which he tills — is, by the constitution
of our nature, under a wholesome influence, not easily
imbibed from any other source. He feels, other things
being equal, more strongly than another, the character
of man, as the lord of the inanimate world. Perhaps
his farm has come down to him from his fathers. They
have gone to their last home ; but he can trace their
footsteps over the daily scene of his labours. The roof
which shelters him was reared by those to whom he owes
his being. Some interesting domestic tradition is con
nected with every enclosure. The favourite fruit-tree
was planted by his father's hand. He sported in his
boyhood by the side of the brook which still winds
through his meadow. Through that field lies the path
to the village- school of his earliest days. He still hears
from his window the voice of the sabbath-bell, which
called his fathers and his forefathers to the house of
God ; and near at hand is the spot where he laid his
parents down to rest, and where he trusts, when his
hour is come, he shall be dutifully laid by his children.
These are the feelings of the owner of the soil, — words
cannot paint them ; gold cannot buy them ; they flow
out of the deepest feelings of the heart, — they are the life-
spring of a fresh, healthy, generous, national character." t

* Everett's (Edward) Orations and Speeches. 8yo, Boston,
1836, p. 57.
f Ibid. p. 426.

124

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

Mr Webster, his coadjutor and friend, exhibits a dif
ferent character, both as a man and an orator. His
speaking has nothing of this refined and faultless polish ;
busy with his ideas, he seems never to bestow a thought
on the language in which they are clothed. He does not
therefore escape the prevailing faults of his country, —
rough expressions, repetitions, and verbal superfluities.
Yet he is certainly one of the most persuasive of orators,
and who most powerfully sweeps before him the mind
of the hearer. He does not generally make his appeal
to the passions, though he can do so with extraordinary
energy. He seizes with such an iron grasp the solid
realities of his subject, and thrusts them so forcibly
home, as to make them almost irresistible. In the
senate, he maintained none of that reserve which dis
tinguished his companion, but threw himself into the
front of all the most exciting and fiercely contested
questions. He exerted a powerful influence in the
overthrow of Van Buren's administration, and the at
least temporary triumph secured to the Whig party.
Being a man of business, fitted for action as well as
speaking, he was immediately appointed to the most
important office under the administration, and had
Harrison lived, would probably have been its almost
uncontrolled director. The following, of an abstract
and reflective character, may afford a specimen of his
loftiest tone : —

" It is a noble faculty of our nature which enables us
to connect our thoughts, our sympathies, and our happi
ness, with what is distant in place or time, and looking
before and after, to hold communion at once with our
ancestors and with posterity. Human and mortal al
though we are, we are nevertheless not mere insulated
beings, without relation to the past or the future.
Neither the point of time, nor the spot of earth, in
which we physically live, bounds our rational and in
tellectual enjoyments. We live in the past by a know
ledge of its history, and in the future by hope and
anticipation. By ascending to an association with our

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 125

ancestors ; by contemplating their example and study
ing their character ; by partaking their sentiments and
imbibing their spirit ; by accompanying them in their
toils, by sympathizing in their sufferings, and rejoicing
in their successes and their triumphs, we mingle our
own existence with theirs, and seem to belong to their
age. We become their cotemporaries, live the lives
which they lived, endure what they endured, and par
take in the rewards which they enjoyed. And, in like
manner, by running along the line of future time, by
contemplating the probable fortunes of those who are
coming after us, by attempting something which may
promote their happiness, and leave some not dishonour
able memorial of ourselves for their regard, when we
shall sleep with our fathers, we protract our own earthly
being, and seem to crowd whatever is future as well as
all that is past into the narrow compass of our earthly
existence. As it is not a vain and false, but an exalted
and religious imagination, which leads us to raise our
thoughts from the orb which, amid this universe of
worlds, the Creator has given us to inhabit, and to send
them, with something of the feeling which nature
prompts and teaches to be proper among children of
the same eternal Parent, to the contemplation of the
myriads of fellow-beings with which his goodness has
peopled the infinite of space ; so neither is it false or
vain to consider ourselves as connected with our whole
race through all time — allied to our ancestors, allied to
our posterity, closely compacted on all sides with others,
ourselves being but links in the great chain of being,
which begins with the origin of our race, runs onward
through its successive generations, binding together the
past, and the present, and the future, and terminating
at last, with the consummation of all things earthly,
at the throne of God."*

The following, on occasion of Jackson's veto upon the

* Webster's (Daniel) Speeches and Forensic Arguments.
2 vols 8vo, Boston, 1835.

J^O THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

renewal of the bank charter, may give a good idea of his
plain, practical, business style : —

'• Let us look at known facts. Thirty millions of the
capital of the bank are now out on loans and discounts
in the states on the Mississippi and its waters ; ten of
these millions in the discount of bills of exchange, for
eign and domestic, and twenty millions loaned on pro
missory-notes. Now, sir, how is it possible that this
vast amount can be collected in so short a period (four
years), without suffering, by any management what
ever I Where are the means to come for paying this
debt ? and in what medium is payment to be made !
If all this is to be done, with but slight pressure on the
community, what course of conduct is to accomplish it I
How is it to be done ? What other thirty millions are
to supply the place of these thirty millions now to be
called in ? What other circulation or medium of pay
ment is to be adopted, in the place of the bills of the
bank 2 The message, following a singular chain of argu
ment which had been used in this house, has a loud
lamentation upon the sufferings of the western states,
on account of their being obliged to pay even interest
on this debt. This payment of interest is itself repre
sented as exhausting their means, and narrowing their
prosperity. But if the interest cannot be paid without
pressure, can both principal and interest be paid in four
years without pressure I The truth is, the interest has
been paid, is paid, and may continue to be paid, without
any pressure at all ; because the money borrowed is pro
fitably employed by those who borrow it, and the rate
of interest which they pay is at least two per cent, lower
than the actual value of money in that part of the
country. But to pay the whole principal in less than
four years, losing at the same time the existing and
accustomed means and facilities of payment created by
the bank itself, and to do this without extreme embar
rassment, without absolute distress, is in my judgment
impossible. I hesitate not to say, that as this veto tra
vels to the west, it will depreciate the value of every

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 127

man's property, from the Atlantic states to the capital
of Missouri. The thing cannot be done without distress,
bankruptcy, and ruin to many. If the president had
seen any practical manner in which the change might
be effected without producing these consequences, he
would have rendered infinite service to the community
by pointing it out. But he has pointed out nothing ; he
has suggested nothing ; he contents himself with saying,
without giving any reason, that it' the pressure be heavy,
the fault will be the bank's. I hope this is not merely
an attempt to forestall opinion, arid to throw on the
bank the responsibility of those evils which threaten
the country, for the sake of removing it from himself.
The responsibility justly lies with him, and there it
ought to remain."*

Henry Clay may be considered as completing the
triumvirate of living orators. He belonged to a different
region, and is formed on somewhat ruder models. Born
in 1777, in Hanover county, Virginia, he applied him
self to the bar, and soon became the most distinguished
pleader in that state. Circumstances having led him into
Kentucky, he was warmly adopted by its people, whom
he has represented ever since 1803, either in the senate or
the lower house. He commenced his career as a demo
crat, giving a strong support to the measures of Jefferson
and Madison, especially those which issued in the war
with Britain. He was one of the commissioners em
ployed in negotiating the treaty of Ghent. Afterwards,
disgusted by the violence of Jackson, he took a leading
part in opposing his measures. He thus became allied
to the Whig party, who soon rallied round him as one
of their chief leaders, and were even ambitious of raising
him to the presidency. In speaking he has neither the
weight of Webster, nor the finished elegance of Everett ;
his style is easy, even to a degree loose and colloquial ;
but it rises occasionally to flashes of extraordinary bril
liancy. A favourable specimen may be given from his

* Webster's Speeches, &c., vol. ii.

128 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

speech on slavery, though his views on that subject have
undergone modification : —

" We are reproached with doing mischief by the agi
tation of this question. The society goes into no house
hold to disturb its domestic tranquillity ; it addresses
itself to no slaves to weaken their obligations of obe
dience. It seeks to affect no man's property. It neither
has the power nor the will to affect the property of any
one contrary to his consent. The execution of its scheme
would augment instead of diminishing the value of the
property left behind. The society, composed of free
men, concerns itself only with the free. Collateral con
sequences we are not responsible for. It is not this
society which has produced the great moral revolution
which the age exhibits. What would they, who thus
reproach us, have done \ If they would repress all
tendencies towards liberty and ultimate emancipation,
they must do more than put down the benevolent efforts
of this society. They must go back to the era of our
liberty and independence, and muzzle the cannon which
thunders its annual joyous return. They must revive
the slave-trade, with all its train of atrocities. They
must suppress the workings of British philanthropy,
seeking to meliorate the condition of the unfortunate
West Indian slaves. They must arrest the career of
South American deliverance from thraldom. They
must blow out the moral lights around us, and extin
guish that greatest torch of all which America presents
to a benighted world, pointing the way to their rights,
their liberties, and their happiness. And when tbey
have achieved all these purposes, their work will be yet
incomplete. They must penetrate the human soul, and
eradicate the light of reason and the love of liberty.
Then, and not till then, when universal darkness and
despair prevail, can you perpetuate slavery, and repress
all sympathies, and all humane and benevolent efforts
among freemen, in behalf of the unhappy portion of our
race doomed to bondage.

" Animated by the encouragement of the past, let us

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 129

proceed under the cheering prospects which lie before
us. Let us continue to appeal to the pious, the liberal,
and the wise. Let us bear in mind the condition of our
forefathers, when, collected on the beach of England,
they embarked, amidst the scoffings and the false pre
dictions of the assembled multitude, for this distant
land ; and here, in spite of all the perils of forest and
ocean which they encountered, successfully laid the
foundations of this glorious republic. Undismayed by
the prophecies of the presumptuous, let us supplicate
the aid of the American representatives of the people,
and redoubling our labours, and invoking the blessings
of an all- wise Providence, I boldly and confidently an
ticipate success."

We may add a passage expressive of the dangers to
liberty, should congress sanction an irregular step taken
by General Jackson : —

" I trust that I shall be indulged with some few re
flections, upon the danger of permitting the conduct on
which it has been my painful duty to animadvert, to
pass without a solemn expression of the disapprobation
of this house. Recall to your recollection, sir, the free
nations which have gone before us. Where are they
now ?

* Gone glimmering through the dream of things that were,
A schoolboy's tale, the wonder of an hour.'

And how have they lost their liberties ! If we could
transport ourselves back, sir, to the ages when Greece
and Rome flourished in their greatest prosperity, and,
mingling in the throng, should ask a Grecian if he did
not fear that some daring military chieftain, covered
with glory, some Philip or Alexander, would one day
overthrow the liberties of his country, — the confident
and indignant Grecian would exclaim, No ! no ! we
have nothing to fear from our heroes ; our liberties will
be eternal. If a Roman citizen had been asked, if he
did not fear that the conqueror of Gaul might establish
a throne upon the ruins of public liberty, he would have

130 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

instantly repelled the unjust insinuation. Yet Greece
has fallen ; Caesar has passed the Rubicon ; and the
patriotic arm even of Brutus could not preserve the
liberties of his devoted country.

"Sir, we are fighting a great moral battle for the
benefit, not only of our country, but of all mankind.
The eyes of the whole world are in fixed attention upon
us. One, and the largest portion of it, is gazing with
jealousy and with envy ; the other portion with hope,
with confidence, and with affection. Every where the
black cloud of legitimacy is suspended over the world,
save only one bright spot, which breaks out from the
political hemisphere of the west, to enlighten, and ani
mate, and gladden the human heart. Obscure that, by
the downfall of liberty here, and all mankind are en
shrouded in a pall of universal darkness. Beware, then,
sir, how you give a fatal sanction, in this infant period
of our republic, to military insubordination. Remem
ber, that Greece had her Alexander, Rome her Caesar,
England her Cromwell, France her Bonaparte, and, that
if we would escape the rock on which they split, we
must avoid their errors.

" I hope, sir, that gentlemen will deliberately survey
the awful isthmus on which we stand. They may bear
down all opposition. They may even vote the general
the public thanks. They may carry him triumphantly
through this house. But if they do, sir, in my humble
judgment, it will be a triumph of the principle of in
subordination — a triumph of the military over the civil
authority — a triumph over the powers of this house — a
triumph over the constitution of the land — and I pray,
sir, most devoutly, that it may not prove, in its ultimate
effects and consequences, a triumph over the liberties of
the people."

From this brief view of American oratory we shall
now pass to her poetical literature, a transition which
cannot be regarded as violent, though not perhaps that
which would be followed in an abstract system of rhe-

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 131

toric. Thislast claims, however, a particularly prominent
place, as having been the earliest form under which the
infant literature of the States was developed, as well as
that in which its creations have been most copious. This
result might little have been expected in a society whose
members were so intensely engrossed with rough occu
pations and material objects. Poetry, however, is the
theme which usually occupies a people in the first dawn
of its literature, and precedes those of a graver and more
thoughtful description. Its perusal, in fact, amid all
their more serious and turbulent pursuits, had become a
passion, and almost a mania, with the American people.
Mr Grund, while he agrees with Mr Flint in considering
them the most reading nation in the world, mentions this
as holding the foremost place in their studies.* In these
circumstances, the muse could scarcely fail of acquiring
votaries, who might hope for that dearest privilege of the
bard, " to fly through the mouths of men." The theatre
for their display is somewhat peculiar. The newspapers,
which with us rarely contain any Parnassian effusions,
and those mostly of the lowest class, are here the main
vehicle. They are expected to gratify the imaginative as
well as the political propensities of their readers ; a jour
nal can scarcely appear without at least one effusion, nor
is it unusual to include two, three, and even five or six.
Hence it cannot be difficult for those capable of pro
ducing pieces that possess merit or attraction, to find a
medium for publicity ; and a poet who has attained any
eminence, commonly finds it easy to obtain an engage
ment as editor or contributor to a popular journal.

From this source and mode of production, it naturally
follows, that the muse of the United States will be very
prolific ; and hence we might conjecture, even without
positive testimonies, which are not wanting, that many
of its efforts will be crude, bald, and commonplace.
That, however, as already observed, which is done by

* Grund, the Americans, vol. i. p. 187. Athenaeum (p. 9),
January 3, 1835.

132 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

many, and procures distinction, is likely by some to be
done well. The spirit of poetry, after having long flut
tered her wings with little effect, suddenly took a bold
flight. About 1820, there sprung forth at once several
gifted bards ; and they have had a constant succession
of followers, who, unpatronized, have courted the muse.
Indeed, we do not recollect any country which, within
the same short period, has produced so many who, with
out reaching the highest pinnacle of art, have risen de
cidedly above mediocrity. This large number, with a
general character which pervades the whole, seems
clearly to mark it as not a casual occurrence, but the re
sult of a great movement in the national mind.

It is very commonly said, that the poetry of a nation
will be stamped with the character and pursuits of her
people, and will serve as a mirror in which these may
be viewed. Hence the muse of America might be ex
pected to reflect that busy and bustling scene, which
every part of her vast territory exhibits. The observa
tion, however, has been made much too generally, and
is not in the present case at all fulfilled. She has on the
contrary aspired to a style elevated, refined, and marked
in many cases by peculiar softness and quietude. Her
votaries seem to have studiously created for themselves an
ideal world, as remote as possible from that turbulent real
one in which they were placed. It has been somewhat
similarly observed, that the softest of the pastoral lays of
Spain were composed as a recreation by the most fero
cious of the chiefs who led the bands of Charles and
Philip. When this school arose, the poems of Scott and
Byron were much the most popular in England, and
might have seemed more allied to the temper of the
western republicans. They did not, however, choose
such models, but so far as they were imitators, pre
ferred those less favoured bards, who have been vul
garly termed the Lake School, The imitation, however,
has been far from servile ; nor has it included those
peculiarities which have been particularly objected to by
the public. They delight in elements which have been

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 133

only of late introduced into poetry, and appear to give
it a grander character, — solemn, yet not gloomy musings
upon human fate and the great circle of human things.
Philosophic reasoning and didactic teaching are not per
haps legitimate subjects for the poet ; but the sentiments
and emotions which arise in the mind on contemplating
their results, must be considered an interesting accession
to his themes. The description of natural scenery, every
where a standard element, is here diversified by being
applied to an immense new region, only imperfectly
brought under the dominion of man. Ocean,rivers, plains,
forests, cataracts, are all on a scale singularly vast, inspir
ing grand emotions, although the absence is felt of those
rich and smiling aspects which adorn the rural scenery
of England. The western poets seem to go peculiarly
deep into nature ; they carry on with her an intimate
and even playful communion, which we have scarcely
noticed elsewhere, and which is sometimes extremely
pleasing. It is remarkable, that the passion of love,
which may be considered the main source of inspira
tion for the poetry of modern Europe, has only a
very limited place in that of America, where, as among
the Greeks, the ties of kindred and parentage appear to
excite the strongest emotions. An elevated and cheerful
piety mostly pervades these compositions, into which it
enters naturally, without that stiff and commonplace
character which has created a prejudice against religious
poetry. Generally, we may say, that these productions
embrace much that tends to refine and elevate human
nature, nothing that is calculated to debase and degrade
it ; and the taste for such poetry is really very creditable
to the American people.

From the above-described mode of producing these
effusions, it has followed that the greater part has con
sisted of short and occasional pieces. Those woven into
narrative, and reaching to any great length, are few,
and not usually the best. They generally advance in
too straight a course, and want the variety of shades,
and the delicate transitions, which are necessary to give

134 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

relief to such extended compositions. There docs, how
ever, seem to be arising a pretty strong ambition to sup
ply this deficiency, which may probably erelong pro
duce a successful effort. After all, the chief merit of
poetry must ever consist in sentiments and images, rather
than in narrative. Yet we must forewarn our readers,
that though the general tone be refined and polished,
the imperfections of an early school show themselves
from time to time in a hobbling verse, an expression in
troduced only to complete the measure, or one whose
rudeness breaks the harmony of the passage. These
blemishes, however, when combined with genuine
beauties, will not be severely visited by the candid
critic.

Before noticing the present and better race of poets,
we must throw back a glance on Joel Barlow, who first
aspired to wake the western muses from their deep
slumber. Born in 1755, at Reading in Connecticut, he
had nearly completed his education at the breaking out
of the war ; and being graduated in 1778, was employed
in the army as a chaplain. He endeavoured to animate
the troops by patriotic songs, and commenced the "Vision
of Columbus," which formed the germ of his future epic.
At the close of the war he endeavoured to earn a sub
sistence by the law and by his pen ; but in both modes
with little success. Having settled, however, in Paris,
he engaged in some commercial transactions, which
proved extremely successful, and enabled him to realize
a handsome fortune. He continued working up and im
proving his Vision, till it was matured into the Colum-
biad ; and being in 1808 splendidly printed in quarto, was
ushered into the world with great pomp. Some friendly
critics endeavoured to exalt it to a level with the Iliad
and Paradise Lost ; but in the eyes of the public it
quickly sunk. The verse is mechanical, the narrative
cold and uninteresting. There breaks forth, however,
occasionally a certain grandeur of thought and feeling,
particularly in taking a wide survey of the aspects of na
ture in the new world, the magnificence of which appears

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 135

to have deeply impressed liis mind. We quote the fol
lowing description of an ice-island : —

The loosened ice-isles o'er the main advance,
Toss on the surge, and through the concave dance ;
Whirled high, conjoined, in crystal mountains driven,
Alp over alp, they build a midway heaven.
Those million mirrors mock the solar ray,
And give condensed the tenfold glare of day :
As toward the south the mass enormous glides,
Aud brineless rivers furrow down its sides,
The thirsty sailor steals a glad supply,
And sultry trade-winds quaff the boreal sky.

We add the following : —

Now where the lakes, those midland oceans, lie

Columbus turns his heaven-illumined eye.

Ontario's banks, unable to retain

The five great Caspians from the distant main,

Burst with the ponderous mass, and forceful whirled

His Lawrence forth, to balance thus the world.

Above bold Erie's wave sublimely stood,

Looked o'er the cliff, and heaved his headlong flood,

Where dread Niagara bluffs high his brow,

And frowns defiance to the world below,

While clouds of mist expanding o'er him play,

That tinge their skirts in all the beams of day.

It has been conjectured, not improbably, that had he
devoted himself to prose composition, he might have
been more successful. He seems to have cherished a
certain grandeur of aims and conceptions, hoping to make
this the first of a series of efforts by which America
might give a new direction to poetry, painting, and the
other fine arts. They might, he hoped, be rendered the
means of implanting in the minds of men true and
useful ideas of glory, instead of the false and destructive
ones elsewhere prevalent. Neither himself nor his
country, however, were then equal to such a task. He
wrote also " The Hasty Pudding," a sort of rural effusion,
not altogether devoid of humour.

Philip Freneau, whom we have seen the secretary of
Jefferson, and the bitter opponent of Washington's go
vernment, was a voluminous poet, rising somewhat
above mediocrity. The same may be said of Dr Dwight,

136 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

who wrote some pieces to animate his countrymen
during the revolutionary war. The two following
stanzas are really good : —

Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise,

The queen of the world, and the child of the skies !

Thy genius commands thee ; with rapture behold,

While ages on ages thy splendours unfold.

Thy reign is the last and the noblest of time ;

Most fruitful thy soil, most inviting thy clime :

Let the crimes of the East ne'er encrimson thy name ;

Be freedom, and science, and virtue thy fame.

To conquest and slaughter let Europe aspire ;
Whelm nations in blood and wrap cities in fire ;
Thy heroes the rights of mankind shall defend,
And triumph pursue them, and glory attend.
A world is thy realm ; for a world be thy laws,
Enlarged as thine empire, and just as thy cause ;
On freedom's broad basis that empire shall rise,
Extend with the main, and dissolve with the skies.

In coming to modern poets, Bryant claims the first
attention, being in our apprehension decidedly superior,
and even raised to a considerable height above his
rivals. Indeed, there are very few to whom we can
regard him as second. He combines high original
beauties with very few faults ; and though the latter
merit can in no degree atone for the want of the former,
yet when the two are united, the absence of any thing
rugged or inharmonious greatly heightens the effect.
He was born in 1794, at Cummington in Massachusetts.
His £ither, a respectable physician, seeing early indi
cations of superior genius, studiously promoted his
instruction, and guided his taste. He describes his
deep early musings, and the devotion with which " he
worshipped the visions of verse and of fame ;" and, in
fact, the display of his talent was singularly precocious.
At the age of thirteen, he produced two political pieces,
which possessed vigour, and when published drew some
attention. At eighteen, Thanatopsis was written, and
displayed his powers fully developed ; but it was not
published till 1821, along with several other pieces.

THE LITERATURE OP AMERICA. 137

Like most young literary Americans, he applied first
to the bar, but had not found the employment, which
probably is rougher than in this country, congenial
to his temper, complaining of his lot in being obliged
to

drudge for the dregs of men,

And scrawl strange words with the barbarous pen.

In 1825, he quitted his practice at Boston, and removed
to New York, where he soon obtained an engagement
to edit the Evening Post, an established and influential
newspaper. He contributed also to some literary perio
dicals, in conjunction with his friends, Sands, Verplank,
and Leggett. These connexions were so prosperous,
that, in 1834, he was enabled to visit Europe, and spent
some time in Italy and Germany. Early in 1836,
however, he was recalled by the death of Leggett, who
had undertaken in his absence to conduct the journal.
During all this time he has been adding to his pieces
of occasional poetry, but without fulfilling the expecta
tion of his admirers that he would produce some work
of magnitude.

Bryant has several veins, of which the most striking
and original consists in high meditations on the universe
and on human destiny, which we have already mentioned
as characteristic of the American muse. This is the tenor
of Thanatopsis, by which his fame was first established,
and that of his country redeemed. It is not perhaps
the best of his productions ; but being so much noted,
an extract of its most striking passage may be agreeable
to those who have not met with it. After announcing
to every individual his mortal fate, he proceeds : —

Yet not to thine eternal resting-place
Shalt thou retire alone — nor couldst thou wish
Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down
With patriarchs of the infant world— Avith kings,
The powerful of the earth— the wise, the good,
Fair forms, and hoary seers, of ages past,
All in one mighty sepulchre.— The hills
Rock-ribb'd, and ancient as the sun, — the vales
Stretching in pensive quietness between ;
The venerable woods— rivers that move

VOL. III. . T

138 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

In majesty, and the complaining brooks

That make the meadows green ; and, pour'd round all,

Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste, —

Are but the solemn decorations all

Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun,

The planets, all the infinite host of heaven,

Are shining on the sad abodes of death,

Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread

The globe are but a handful to the tribes

That slumber in its bosom.

Still we prefer the lines "To the Past," which are
at once lofty, tender, and pleasing.

Thou unrelenting Past !
Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain,

And fetters, sure and fast,
Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign.

Far in thy realm withdrawn
Old empires sit in sullenness and gloom,

And glorious ages gone
Lie deep within the shadow of thy womb.

Childhood, with all its mirth,
Youth, Manhood, Age, that draws us to the ground,

And last, Man's Life on earth,
Glide to thy dim dominions, and are bound.

Thou hast my better years,
Thou hast my earlier friends — the good — the kind,

Yielded to thee with tears —
The venerable form — the exalted mind.

My spirit yearns to bring
The lost ones back — yearns with desire intense,

And struggles hard to wring
Thy bolts apart, and pluck thy captives thence.

In vain — thy gates deny
All passage, save to those who hence depart ;

Nor to the streaming eye
Thou givest them back — nor to the broken heart.

In thy abysses hide
Beauty and excellence unknown— to thee

Earth's wonder and her pride
Are gather'd, as the waters to the sea.

Labours of good to man,
Unpublish'd charity — unbroken faith —

Love, that 'midst grief began,
And grew with years, and falter'd not in death.

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 139

Full many a mighty name
Lurks in thy depths, unutter'd, unrevered ;

With thee are silent fame.
Forgotten arts, and wisdom disappear'd.

Thine for a space are they—
Yet shalt thou yield thy treasures up at last ;
Thy gates shall yet give way,
Pai

Thy bolts shall fall, inexorable Past !

All that of good and fair
Has gone into thy womb, from earliest time,

Shall then come forth, to wear
The glory and the beauty of its prime

' " The Forest Hymn," in the same strain, contains some

very fine thoughts. It closes thus : —

Oh, God ! when thou

Dost scare the world with tempests, set on fire
The heavens with falling thunderbolts, or fill,
With all the waters of the firmament,
The swift, dark whirlwind that uproots the woods
And drowns the villages ; when, at thy call,
Uprises the great deep and throws himself
Upon the continent, and overwhelms
Its cities— who forgets not, at the sight
Of these tremendous tokens of thy power,
His pride, and lays his strifes and tollies by ?
Oh, from these sterner aspects of thy face
Spare me and mine, nor let us need the wrath
Of the mad, unchain'd elements to teach
Who rules them. Be it ours to meditate
In these calm shades thy milder majesty,
And to the beautiful order of thy works
Learn to conform the order of our lives.

We shall add just a few lines from a recent poem,
probably seen by very few readers : —

0 thou great Movement of the universe,
Or Change, or Flight of Time— for ye are one !
That bearest, silently, this visible scene
Into night's shadow, and the streaming rays
Of starlight, whither art thou bearing me ?
I feel the mighty current sweep me on,
Yet know not whither. Man foretells afar
The courses of the stars ; the very hour
He knows when they shall darken or grow bright :
Yet doth the eclipse of sorrow and of death
Come unforewarned.

We turn now to his descriptive poems, which possess
also peculiar beauties, and paint the scenery of a region

140

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

very different from that with which we are familiar.
They may hence not come quite so home to our feel
ings ; yet as displaying the aspects of a new and mighty
world, replete with great and striking objects, they convey
information as well as pleasure. The " hurricane " is
a phenomenon which, on a great scale, few European
poets have witnessed ; the American has shown himself
quite equal to the description : —

Lord of the winds ! I feel thee nigh,
I know thy breath in the burning sky 1
And I wait, with a thrill in every vein,
For the coming of the Hurricane !

And lo ! on the wing of the heavy gales,
Through the boundless arch of heaven he sails ;
Silent, and slow, and terribly strong,
The mighty shadow is borne along,
Like the dark eternity to come ;
While the world below, dismay'd and dumb,
Through the calm of the thick hot atmosphere,
Looks up at its gloomy folds with fear.

They darken fast — and the golden blaze
Of the sun is quench'd in the lurid haze,
And he sends through the shade a funeral ray —
A glare that is neither night nor day,
A beam that touches, with hues of death,
The clouds above and the earth beneath.
To its covert glides the silent bird,
While the Hurricane's distant voice is heard,
Uplifted among the mountains round,
And the forests hear and answer the sound.

He is come ! he is come ! do ye not behold
His ample robes on the wind unroll'd ?
Giant of air ! we bid thee hail ! —
How his gray skirts toss in the whirling gale ;
How his huge and writhing arms are bent,
To clasp the zone of the firmament,
And fold, at length, in their dark embrace,
From mountain to mountain the visible space.
Darker — still darker ! the whirlwinds bear
The dust of the plains to the middle air :
And hark to the crashing, long and loud,
Of the chariot of God in the thunder-cloud.

In a completely opposite yet equally happy strain is
the poem on " Autumn." Our readers must know that
this season is universally noticed as being throughout
the west the most agreeable of all. Spring there is often
late, chill, and changeable ; but in the later period of

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 141

the year, there is usually a long train of mild and beau
tiful weather. The most varied tints then adorn those
almost boundless forests with which the country is
covered. It may be noticed also, that the south or
south-west wind corresponds to our zephyr, while the
direct west brings there cold and damp from a vast ex
tent of frozen land over which it has passed.
Ere, in the northern gale,

The summer tresses of the trees are gone,

The woods of autumn, all around our vale,
Have put their glory on.

The mountains that infold,

In their wide sweep, the colour'd landscape round,
Seem groups of giant kings, in purple and gold,

That guard the enchanted ground.

I roam the woods that crown
The upland, where the mingled splendours glow,
Where the gay company of trees look down

On the green fields below.

My steps are not alone

In these bright walks ; the sweet south-west, at play,
Flies, rustling, where the painted leaves are strown

Along the winding way.

And far in heaven, the while,
The sun, that sends that gale to wander here,
Pours out on the fair earth his quiet smile,—

The sweetest of the year.

Oh, Autumn ! why so soon
Depart the hues that make thy forests glad ;
Thy gentle wind and thy fair sunny noon,

And leave thee wild and sad ?

Ah ! 'twere a lot too bless'd
For ever in thy colour'd shades to stray ;
Amid the kisses of the soft south-west

To rove and dream for aye ;

And leave the vain low strife

That makes men mad — the tug for wealth and power,
The passions and the cares that wither life,

And waste its little hour.

Pleasing examples occur of that light and sportive in
tercourse with nature, already alluded to. Such is the
first stanza of the " Address to the Evening Wind :" —

Spirit that breathest through my lattice, thou
That cool'st the twilight of the sultry day,

142 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

Gratefully flows thy freshness round my brow ;

Thou hast been out upon the deep at play,
Riding all day the wild blue waves till now,

Roughening their crests, and scattering high their spray,
And swelling the white sail. I welcome thee

To the scorch'd land, thou wanderer of the sea !

Such, too, is the address " To a Cloud :"—

Beautiful cloud ! with folds so soft and fair,

Swimming in the pure quiet air !
Thy fleeces bathed in sunlight, while below

Thy shadow o'er the vale moves slow ;
Where, 'midst their labour, pause the reaper train

As cool it comes along the grain.
Beautiful cloud ! I would I were with thee

In thy calm way o'er land and sea :
To rest on thy unrolling skirts, and look

On earth as on an open book ;
On streams that tie her realms with silver bands,

And the long ways that seam her lands ;
And hear her humming cities, and the sound

Of the great ocean breaking round.
Ay — I would sail upon thy air-borne car

To blooming regions distant far.
To where the sun of Andalusia shines

On his own olive-groves and vines,
Or the soft lights of Italy's bright sky

In smiles upon her ruins lie.

The passion of love is rarely treated of ; a circumstance
not peculiar to Bryant as it has been represented, but
characteristic generally of American poetry. Yet he
has shown that he could treat the subject with all the
tenderness appropriate to it. He has done so in the
" Lament of the Indian Girl for the Death of her Lover :"
It was a weary, weary road

That led thee to the pleasant coast,
Where thou, in his serene abode,

Hast met thy father's ghost ;
Where everlasting autumn lies
On yellow woods and sunny skies.
'Twas I the broider'd mocsen made,

That shod thee for that distant land ;
'Twas I thy bow and arrows laid

Beside thy still cold hand ;
Thy bow in many a battle bent,
Thy arrows never vainly sent.

Thou'rt happy now, for thou hast pass'd
The long dar' '

lark journey of the grave,

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 143

And in the land of light, at last,

Hast join'd the good and brave ;
Amid the flush'd and balmy air,
The bravest and the loveliest there.

Yet, oft to thine own Indian maid,

Even there thy thoughts will earthward stray,—
To her who sits where thou wert laid,

And weeps the hours away,
Yet almost can her grief forget,
To think that thou dost love her yet.

And thou, by one of those still lakes

That in a shining cluster lie,
On which the south wind scarcely breaks

The image of the sky,
A bower for thee and me hast made
Beneath the many-colour'd shade.

And thou dost wait and watch to meet

My spirit sent to join the bless'd,
And, wondering what detains my feet

From the bright land of rest,
Dost seem, in every sound, to hear
The rustling of my footsteps near.

It has been already observed, that those morbid
elements in which the daily life of the American is
involved, do not enter largely into his poetical compo
sitions. Though politics be so engrossing in the former,
and patriotic feeling might even seem a poetical element,
it comes only occasionally into action. Bryant is a
zealous democrat, and edits a paper devoted to that in
terest ; yet he is particularly sparing upon the subject.
At the close of a long early poem called " The Ages," are
two stanzas which will probably remind the reader of a
certain noble poet in our own country : —

Here the free spirit of mankind, at length,
Throws its last fetters off ; and who shall place
A limit to the giant's unchain'd strength,
Or curb his swiftness in the forward race !
Far, like the comet's way through infinite space,
Stretches the long untravell'd path of light,
Into the depths of ages : we may trace,
Distant, the bright'ning glory of its flight,
Till the receding rays are lost to human sight.

Europe is given a prey to sterner fates,

And writhes in shackles ; strong the arms that chain

To earth her struggling multitude of states ;

144 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

She too is strong, and might not chafe in rain
Against them, but shake off the vampire train
That batten on her blood, and break their net.
Yes, she shall look on brighter days, and gain
The meed of worthier deeds ; the moment set
To rescue and raise up, draws near — but is not yet.

Wit and humour are rarely attempted by the Ameri
can muse, and then generally with slender success. We
might have said that a court and a circle of gay nobility
were requisite for this light species of composition, did
we not recollect the names of Shakspeare and Burns.
The American mind seems, however, to have a sort of
earnest and determined reality, ill suited to these play
ful effusions. Bryant has attempted repeatedly a
sort of light irony, which is well conceived, but some
what rudely developed. The following, from " Address
to a Musquito," may be given as an instance, with the
remark, that the insinuation against the fair leaders of
fashion in New York, of a taste for artificial adornment,
has been made from other quarters : —

At length thy pinions fiutter'd in Broadway ;

Ah, there were fairy steps, and white necks kiss'd
By wanton airs, and eyes whose killing ray

Shone through the snowy veils like stars through mist ;
And fresh as morn, on many a cheek and chin,
Bloom'd the bright blood through the transparent skin.

Oh, these were sights to touch an anchorite !

What ! do I hear thy slender voice complain ?
Thou wailest, when I talk of beauty's light,

As if it brought the memory of pain :
Thou art a wayward being — well — come near,
And pour thy tale of sorrow in my ear.
What say'st thou — slanderer ! — rouge makes thee sick ?

And China bloom at best is sorry food ;
And Rowland's kalydor, if laid on thick,

Poisons the thirsty wretch that bores for blood.
Go ! 'twas a just reward that met thy crime —
But shun the' sacrilege another time.

The same train is followed up perhaps more happily
in another poem, " Spring in Town."

Here are eyes that shame the violet,

Or the dark drop that on the pansy lies,
And foreheads, white, as when in clusters set,
The anemones by forest fountains rise ;

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 145

And the spring-beauty boasts no tenderer streak,
Than the soft red on many a youthful cheek.
And thick about those lovely temples lie

Locks that the lucky Vignardonne has curl'd,
Thrice happy man, whose trade it is to buy,

And bake, and braid those love-knots of the world ;
Who curls of every glossy colour keepest,
And sellest, it is said, the blackest cheapest.

Then, henceforth, let no maid nor matron grieve

To see her locks of an unlovely hue,
Frouzy or thin, for liberal art shall give

Such piles of curls as nature never knew.
Eve, with her veil of tresses, at the sight
Had blush'd, outdone, and own'd herself a fright.

James G. Percival may be ranked immediately under
Bryant, to whom indeed lie is preferred by some, but
we think with very little reason. He appears, however,
to be a man of more varied attainments, and in this
respect superior to almost any other of his countrymen.
He was born in 1795, at Berlin, Connecticut ; where
his father, an intelligent physician, carefully watched
over his mental culture. Having soon mastered all
that was to he learned at a village-school, he devoted
himself to private study, shunning the society of school
fellows, and spending his time in his apartment, or in
the depth of the woods. He thus acquired a vast store
of knowledge, yet contracted also a recluse and sensitive
disposition, which was unfavourable to his progress in
life. He is represented as most completely looking the
poet, with feeling, melancholy, and enthusiasm traced in
his features, a startled timidity in his air, and an eye
bright with mysterious fire. After completing his
studies at Yale College, he was appointed in 1824 pro
fessor of chemistry in the military academy at West
Point. From ill health, or, by some accounts, from an
incident which wounded his too sensitive pride, he threw
up the situation, and has since depended almost wholly
on the scanty remuneration obtained in his country for
literary employment. He translated Malte-Brun's geo
graphy, and laboured hard upon the great etymological
dictionary of Dr Webster. He resides at Newhaven,

146 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

and has recently been appointed to make the geological
survey of Connecticut.

Percival's good poems are bold, lofty, energetic, and full
of thought, but little polished, and presenting occasional
rudenesses and blemishes which Bryant has carefully
avoided. What is more, there is a want of imagery,
softness, and variety ; the language is too abstract and
speculative ; the merit being rather perhaps that of
oratory than of poetry. The picture of his youthful
emotions in the contemplation of nature, though we can
only extract a part, will be read, we think, with no
little interest : —

Well I remember, in my boyish days,
How deep the feeling, when my eye look'd forth
On nature, in her loveliness and storms ;
How my heart gladden'd, as the light of spring
Came from the sun, with zephyrs, and with showers,
Waking the earth to beauty, and the woods
To music, and the atmosphere to blow,
Sweetly and calmly, with its breath of balm.
Oh ! how I gazed upon the dazzling blue
Of summer's heaven of glory, and the waves,
That roll'd, in bending gold, o'er hill and plain ;
And on the tempest, when it issued forth,
In folds of blackness, from the northern sky,
And stood above the mountains, silent, dark,
Frowning, and terrible ; then sent abroad
The lightning, as its herald, and the peal,
That roll'd in deep, deep volleys, round the hills,
The warning of its coming, and the sound,
That usher'd in its elemental war.
And, Oh ! I stood, in breathless longing fix'd,
Trembling, and yet not fearful, as the clouds
Heaved their dark billows on the roaring winds,
That sent, from mountain top and bending wood,
A long hoarse murmur, like the rush of waves,
That burst, in foam and fury, on the shore.
Nor less the swelling of my heart, when high
Rose the blue arch of autumn, cloudless, pure
As nature, at her dawning, when she sprang
Fresh from the hand that wrought her ; where the eye
Caught not a speck upon the soft serene,
To stain its deep cerulean, but the cloud
That floated, like a lonely spirit, there,
White as the snow of Zemla, or the foam
That on the mid-sea tosses, cinctured round,
In easy undulations, with a belt

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 147

Woven of bright Apollo's golden hair.

Nor, when that arch, in winter's clearest night,

Mantled in ebon darkness, strew'd with stars

Its canopy, that seem'd to swell, and swell

The higher, as I gazed upon it, till,

Sphere after sphere evolving on the height

Of heaven, the everlasting throne shone through,

In glory's effulgence, and a wave,

Intensely bright, roll'd, like a fountain, forth

Beneath its sapphire pedestal, and stream'd

Down the long galaxy, a flood of snow,

Bathing the heavens in light, the spring that gush d

In overflowing richness from the breast

Of all-maternal nature. These I saw,

And felt to madness ; but my full heart gave

No utterance to the ineffable within.

The address " To the Eagle " is one of the most fin
ished and characteristic of his pieces : —
Bird of the broad and sweeping wing,

Thy home is high in heaven,
Where wide the storms their banners fling.

And the tempest clouds are driven.
Thy throne is on the mountain top ;

Thy fields, the boundless air ;
And hoary peaks, that proudly prop

The skies, thy dwellings are.
Thou sittest like a thing of light,

Amid the noontide blaze :
The midway sun is clear and bright ;

It cannot dim thy gaze.
Thy pinions, to the rushing blast,

O'er the bursting billow, spread,
Where the vessel plunges, hurry past,

Like an angel of the dead.
Thou art perch'd aloft on the beetling crag,

And the waves are white below,
And on, with a haste that cannot lag,

They rush in an endless flow.
Again thou hast plumed thy wing for flight

To lands beyond the sea,
And away like a spirit wreathed in light,

Thou hurriest, wild and free.

Lord of the boundless realm of air,

In thy imperial name,
The hearts of the bold and ardent dare

The dangerous path of fame.
Beneath the shade of thy golden wings,

The Roman legions bore,
From the river of Egypt's cloudy springs,

Their pride, to the polar shore.

148 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

He has celebrated on several occasions, and with con
siderable power, the praises of liberty. The poem
entitled " New England " may be given as a good ex
ample ; but we prefer quoting several stanzas from
that entitled "Liberty to Athens."

The flag of Freedom floats once more

Around the lofty Parthenon ;
It waves, as waved the palm of yore,

In days departed long and gone ;
As bright a glory, from the skies,

Pours down its light around those towers,
And once again the Greeks arise,

As in their country's noblest hours ;
Their swords are girt in Virtue's cause,

MINERVA'S sacred hill is free —
Oh ! may she keep her equal laws,

While man shall live, and time shall be.

The pride of all her shrines went down ;

The Goth, the Frank, the Turk, had reft
The laurel from her civic crown ;

Her helm by many a sword was cleft :
She lay among her ruins low —

Where grew the palm, the cypress rose,
And, crush'd and bruised by many a blow,

She cower'd beneath her savage foes ;
But now again she springs from earth,

Her loud, awakening trumpet speaks ;
She rises in a brighter birth,

And sounds redemption to the Greeks.

It is the classic jubilee —

Their servile years have roll'd away ;
The clouds that hover'd o'er them flee,

They hail the dawn of Freedom's day ;
From heaven the golden light descends,

The times of old are on the wing,
And Glory there her pinion bends,

And Beauty wakes a fairer spring ;
The hills of Greece, her rocks, her waves,

Are all in triumph's pomp array'd ;
A light that points their tyrants' graves,

Plays round each bold Athenian's blade.

Richard H. Dana was born in 1787, of a good family,
and son of an eminent lawyer, who became chief-justice
of Massachusetts. He himself was bred to the bar, but,
like others smitten by the muses, soon relinquished
that profession, and even a seat in the legislature, de-

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 149

voting himself entirely to literature. The American
critics very generally pronounce him the first of their
poets, and bitterly reproach the public with not having
appreciated his merits. We confess ourselves rather
inclined to take part with the latter, at least to the
extent of considering that, though an able and amiable
man, he must, as a poet, rank beneath the two already
noticed. His serious reflective pieces are the best, yet
they want the high imaginative character of those of
Bryant, and are rather very good prose turned into
verse. The following is generally quoted, and probably
with reason, as the most favourable specimen : —

O, listen, man !

A voice within us speaks the startling word,
" Man thou shalt never die !" Celestial voices
Hymn it around our souls ; according harps,
By angel fingers touch'd when the mild stars
Of morning sang together, sound forth still
The song of our great immortality !
Thick, clustering orbs, and this our fair domain,
The tall, dark mountains, and the deep-toned seas,
Join in this solemn, universal song.
— Oh, listen, ye, our spirits ! drink it in
From all the air ! 'Tis in the gentle moonlight ;
'Tis floating in day's setting glories ; night,
Wrapp'd in her sable robe, with silent step
Comes to our bed and breathes it in our ears ;
Night and the dawn, bright day and thoughtful eve,
All time, all bounds, the limitless expanse,
As one vast, mystic instrument, are touch'd
By an unseen, living Hand, and conscious chords
Quiver with joy in this great jubilee :
—The dying hear it ; and as sounds of earth
Grow dull and distant, wake their passing souls
To mingle in this heavenly harmony.

" The Buccaneers " is his longest poem, though even
his admirers do not regard it as his best. There are
doubtless a number of powerful passages, but the subject
is unpleasing, — the deep shades have too few lights to
relieve them. The most striking machinery is that of
a spectre-horse, which is represented as periodically
visiting the pirate, and wafting him over the sea, to
contemplate the scene of his crimes. The representation

150 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

of this man, oppressed at once by remorse and superna
tural terrors, is forcibly drawn : —

The morning air blows fresh on him :

The waves dance gladly in his sight ;
The sea-birds call, and wheel, and skim —

Oh, blessed morning light !
He doth not hear their joyous call ; he sees
No beauty in the wave ; nor feels the breeze.

For he's accursed from all that's good ;

He ne'er must know its healing power ;
The sinner on his sins must brood,

And wait, alone, his hour.
A stranger to earth's beauty— human love ;
There's nere no rest for him, no hope above !

The hot sun beats upon his head ;

He stands beneath its broad fierce blaze,
As stiff and cold as one that's dead :

A troubled dreamy maze
Of some unearthly horror, all he knows —
Of some wild horror past, and coming woes.

He walks within the day's full glare

A darken'd man. Where'er he comes,
All shun him. Children peep and stare ;

Then frighten'd seek their homes.
Through all the crowd a thrilling horror ran.
They point, and say, — " There goes the wicked man !"

He turns and curses in his wrath

Both man and child ; then hastes away
Shoreward, or takes some gloomy path ;

But there he cannot stay :
Terror and madness drive him back to men ;
His hate of man to solitude again.

Charles Sprague is certainly one of the most accom
plished American poets. Born at Boston in 1791, after
passing through a course of school education he entered
into mercantile life, and was soon appointed cashier to
the Globe Bank, one of the most extensive in Massa
chusetts. He has always retained and steadily dis
charged the duties of this responsible situation, while
his leisure hours have been employed in study, and in
courting the muses. This mode of life has led him to
make closer observations on human life than is usual
among bards, especially those of his country. The re-

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 151

suit has been displayed in a poem of some length, entitled
"Curiosity," in which he traces the influence of that prin
ciple among the different classes of society. We can only
instance what is douhtless a ruling character in that city,
the merchant whose whole mind is devoted to gain : —

Go, seek him out on yon dear Gotham's walk,
Where traffic's venturers meet to trade and talk :
Where Mammon's votaries bend, of each degree,
The hard-eyed lender, and the pale lendee ;
Where rogues, insolvent, strut in white-wash'd pride,
And shove the dupes, who trusted them, aside.
How through the buzzing crowd he threads his way,
To catch the flying rumours of the day, —
To learn of changing stocks, of bargains cross'd,
Of breaking merchants, and of cargoes lost ;
The thousand ills that traffic's walks invade,
And give the heart-ache to the sons of trade.
How cold he hearkens to some bankrupt's wo,
Nods his wise head, and cries, " I told you so :
The thriftless fellow lived beyond his means,
He must buy brants — I make my folks eat beans ;"
What cares he for the knave, the knave's sad wife,
The blighted prospects of an anxious life ?
The kindly throbs, that other men control,
Ne'er melt the iron of the miser's soul ;
Through life's dark road his sordid way he wends,
An incarnation of fat dividends ;
But, when to death he sinks, ungrieved, unsung,
Buoy'd by the blessing of no mortal tongue, —
No worth rewarded, and no want redress'd,
To scatter fragrance round his place of rest, —
What shall that hallow'd epitaph supply —
The universal wo when good men die ?
Cold Curiosity shall linger there,
To guess the wealth he leaves his tearless heir.

He is at the same time fully equal to a loftier strain,
and has succeeded in producing the ode in a more per
fect shape than any other of his countrymen. That to
Shakspeare is the most finished and generally admired :
the " Centennial Ode," in celebration of the settlement
of Boston, is more unequal ; but its three first stanzas
may be quoted as a very favourable specimen : —

Not to the pagan's mount I turn
For inspirations now ;

Olympus and its gods I spurn —
Pure One, be with me, Thou !

152 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

Thou, in whose awful name,

From suffering and from shame
Our fathers fled, and braved a pathless sea ;

Thou, in whose holy fear,

They fix'd an empire here,
And gave it to their children and to Thee.

And You ! ye bright-ascended Dead,

Who scorn'd the bigot's yoke,
Come, round this place your influence shed ;

Your spirits I invoke.

Come, as ye came of yore,

When on an unknown shore
Your daring hands the flag of faith unfurl'd,

To float sublime,

Through future time
The beacon-banner of another world.

Behold ! they come— those sainted forms,

Unshaken through the strife of storms ;

Heaven's winter cloud hangs coldly down,

And earth puts on its rudest frown ;

But colder, ruder was the hand

That drove them from their own fair land ;
Their own fair land — refinement's chosen seat,
Art's trophied dwelling, learning's green retreat ;
By valour guarded, and by victory crown'd,
For all, but gentle charity renown'd.

With streaming eye, yet steadfast heart,

Even from that land they dared to part,
And burst each tender tie ;

Haunts, where their sunny youth was pass'd,

Homes, where they fondly hoped at last
In peaceful age to die.

Friends, kindred, comfort, all they spurn'd ;
Their fathers' hallow'd graves ;

And to a world of darkness turn'd,
Beyond a world of waves.

Fitz-Greene Halleck is also a distinguished poet, and
a great favourite in the society of New York. Born in
1795, at Guildford in Connecticut, he removed to that
city at the age of eighteen. He then engaged in ex
tensive mercantile transactions, and became manager
of the affairs of Mr Astor, the celebrated capitalist.
Amid these busy occupations, he found means to cul
tivate the muses with zeal and success. He too,
more than the rest of his brethren, is a man of the

THE LITERATURE OP AMERICA. 153

world, and, almost alone among them, has attained a
reputation for humour ; and though he cannot in this
quality rank with the great masters of the .art in Europe,
yet he is by no means devoid of it. His longest poem
in this strain, entitled " Fanny," does not appear to have
reached this country ; but the reader may be pleased
with the following extract from " Alnwick Castle,"
written on a tour through the northern part of our
island : —

A In wick's but a market town,

And this, alas ! its market day,
And beasts and borderers throng the way ;
Oxen, and bleating lambs in lots,
Northumbrian boors, and plaided Scots ;

Men in the coal and cattle line,
From Teviot's bard and hero land,
From royal Berwick's beach of sand,
From Wooler, Morpeth, Hexham, and

Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
These are not the romantic times
So beautiful in Spenser's rhymes,
So dazzling to the dreaming boy :

The Highlander, the bitterest foe
To modern laws, has felt their blow,
Consented to be tax'd, and vote,
And put on pantaloons and coat,

And leave off cattle-stealing :
Lord Stafford mines for coal and salt,
The Duke of Norfolk deals in malt,

The Douglas in red herrings :
And noble name, and cultured land,
Palace, and park, and vassal band,
Are powerless to the notes of hand

Of Rothschild or the Barings.

His powers are at the same time fully equal to more
elevated flights, particularly those of a heroic and pa
triotic character. Even in the midst of the above
humorous effusion occur the following lines : —
The Moslem tramples on the Greek,
And on the Cross and altar-stone,
And Christendom looks tamely on,
And hears the Christian maiden shriek,

And sees the Christian father die :
And not a sabre blow is given
For Greece and fame, for faith and heaven,
By Europe's craven chivalry.

VOL. III. K

154 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

This theme has also inspired a poem on Marco Boz-
zaris, who fell in the Greek contest at Laspi, near the
site of Platsea. It concludes thus : —

Bozzaris ! with the storied brave

Greece nurtured in her glory's time,
Rest thee — there is no prouder grave,

Even in her own proud clime.
She wore no funeral weeds for thee,

Nor bade the dark hearse wave its plume,
Like torn branch from death's leafless tree,
In sorrow's pomp and pageantry,

The heartless luxury of the tomb :
But she remembers thee as one
Long loved, and for a season gone ;
For thee her poet's lyre is wreathed,
Her marble wrought, her music breathed ;
For thee she rings the birthday bells ;
Of thee her babes' first lisping tells :
For thine her evening prayer is said
At palace couch, and cottage bed ;
Her soldier, closing with the foe,
Gives for thy sake a deadlier blow ;
His plighted maiden, when she fears
For him, the joy of her young years,
Thinks of thy fate, and checks her tears :

And she, tne mother of thy boys,
Though in her eye and faded cheek •
Is read the grief she will not speak,

The memory of her buried joys,
And even she who gave thee birth,
Will, by their pilgrim-circled hearth,

Talk of thy doom without a sigh :
For thou art Freedom's now, and Fame's,
One of the few, the immortal names,

That were not born to die.

A favourite poet in America is J. G. C. Brainard,
born at New London in 1796, and son to one of the
justices of the Supreme Court of Connecticut. At
college he was distinguished rather for reflection and
social qualities than for hard study ; hut his amiable
and kindly temper gained the warm attachment of his
friends. He was admitted to the bar; but a timid
and sensitive disposition rendered him, like many
other kindred minds, ill fitted for its toils. He then
tried the ordinary resource of a journal (the Connecti
cut Mirror) ; yet here, too, his success was limited,

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 155

though he made it the vehicle of poetical effusions
which gained for him a considerable reputation. As he
was meditating a larger work of this class, symptoms of
consumption appeared, and, haffling all attempts to pro
cure relief by change of air, terminated his life in 1828,
at the age of thirty-two A large number of American
bards have been observed to fall victims to this insidious
malady ; and the same remark has been made as to those
of Britain, but not in so striking a degree. The climate
of the United States, still more chill and variable than
ours, must predispose to a disease which a sensitive
frame and studious habits tend to foster. The votary of
the muse has there probably a still harder struggle
against the realities of life, and is less likely to meet
with sympathizing associates.

Brainard is a pleasing rather than a powerful poet.
His best pieces are expressive of the affections, com
bined with a feeling for nature. Thus : —

The dead leaves strew the forest walk,

And wither'd are the pale wild flowers ;
The frost hangs blackening on the stalk,

The dew-drops fall in frozen showers.

Gone are the spring's green sprouting bowers,
Gone summer's rich and mantling vines,

And autumn, with her yellow hours,
On hill and plain no longer shines.

I learn'd a clear and wild-toned note,

That rose and swell'd from yonder tree —
A gay bird, with too sweet a throat,

There perch'd, and raised her song for me.

The winter comes, and where is she ?
Away — where summer wings will rove,

Where buds are fresh, and every tree
Is vocal with the notes of love.

The following lines are on occasion of the death of
Mr Woodward at Edinburgh, with whose memory he
joins that of two other friends recently lost : —

The sea has one, and Palestine has one,
And Scotland has the last. The snooded maid

Shall gaze in wonder on the stranger's stone,
And wipe the dust off with her tartan plaid —
And from the lonely tomb where thou art laid,

]56 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

Turn to some other monument — nor know

Whose grave she passes, or whose name she read :
Whose loved and honour'd relics lie below ;
Whose is immortal joy, and whose is mortal wo.

There is a world of bliss hereafter — else

Why are the bad above, the good beneath
The green grass of the grave ? The mower fells

Flowers and briers alike. But man shall breathe

(When he his desolating blade shall sheathe
And rest him from his work) in a pure sky,

Above the smoke of burning worlds ; — and Death
On scorched pinions with the dead shall lie,
When Time, with all his years and centuries, has pass'd by.

John Pierpont must also rank as a respectable poetic
name. He was born in 1785, and son to one of the
ministers of Newhaven, who, with his mother, studiously
inspired him with deep religious impressions. Like
most literary aspirants, however, he studied for the bar,
with which, like them too, he soon became disgusted.
He then applied to trade, but was unsuccessful. To
sooth his disappointment, he composed a poem, entitled
the " Airs of Palestine," which was published so early
as 1816, and met a favourable reception. Soon after
he turned his views to theology, and having distinguished
himself as a preacher, was in 1819 admitted pastor of a
respectable congregation in Boston. From that time his
attention was devoted to his sacred duties, and his poems
were only short and occasional, mostly on the foundation
and anniversaries of religious and philanthropic institu
tions, many of which he zealously promoted. He spent,
however, a year in Europe for the recovery of his health.
The "Airs of Palestine" are written in the heroic
couplet used by Pope, whose versification is copied
with wonderful felicity. A certain tameness pervades
the sentiments, which rise, however, higher on several
occasions, as in the following : —

A lonelier, lovelier path be mine ;

Greece and her charms I leave for Palestine.
There purer streams through happier valleys flow,
And sweeter flowers on holier mountains blow.
I love to breathe where Gilead sheds her balm ;
I love to walk on Jordan's banks of palm ;

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 157

I love to wet my foot in Hermon's dews ;

I love the promptings of Isaiah's muse ;

In Carmel's holy grots I'll court repose,

And deck my mossy couch with Sharon's deathless rose.

Here arching vines their leafy banner spread,
Shake their green shields, and purple odours shed,
At once repelling Syria's burning ray,
And breathing freshness on the sultry day.
Here the wild bee suspends her murmuring wing,
Pants on the rock, or sips the silver spring.

The occasional poems, written always with the best
intention, are more animated, and contain bold but in
our apprehension somewhat strained language and ima
gery. That on the " Death of Napoleon," though different
from the ordinary themes, is what we should consider
the best :—

His falchion flash'd along the Nile ;

His hosts he led through Alpine snows ;
O'er Moscow's towers, that shook the while,

His eagle flag unroll'd— and froze.

Here sleeps he now alone : not one
Of all the kings whose crowns he gave,

Nor sire, nor brother, wife, nor son,
Hath ever seen or sought his grave.

Here sleeps he now alone : the star

That led him on from crown to crown
Hath sunk ; the nations from afar

Gazed as it faded and went down.

He sleeps alone : the mountain cloud
That night hangs round him, and the breath

Of morning scatters, is the shroud
That wraps his mortal form in death.

N. P. Willis, born in 1807, at Portland in Maine,
early devoted himself to literary pursuits. Soon after
completing his studies he travelled through Europe,
and transmitted home his observations, which were
inserted in the New York Mirror, and afterwards re-
published in England under the title of "Pencillings
by the Way." They were admired for their lively and
picturesque narrative, though criticised for the freedom
of their personal animadversions. He is now married,
and lives retired in the western part of the state of

158 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

New York. He has a pleasing- familiar vein of poetry,
peculiarly adapted to domestic scenes and feelings,
and lias even attempted higher and more extended
themes, not without success ; though this we think is
his happiest sphere. We shall give "Thoughts while
making a Grave for a first Child, born dead."

Room, gentle flowers ! my child would pass to heaven !

Ye look'd not for her yet with your soft eyes,

Oh, watchful ushers at Death's narrow door !

But, lo ! while you delay to let her forth,

Angels, beyond, stay for her ! One long kiss

From lips all pale with agony, and tears,

Wrung after anguish had dried up with fire

The eyes that wept them, were the cup of life

Held as a welcome to her. Weep, O mother !

But not that from this cup of bitterness

A cherub of the sky has turn'd away.

One look upon her face ere she depart !
My daughter ! it is soon to let thee go !
My daughter ! with thy birth has gush'd a spring
I knew not of : filling my heart with tears,
And turning with strange tenderness to thee !
A love — Oh, GOD, it seems so — which must flow
Far as thou fleest, and 'twixt Heaven and me,
Henceforward, be a sweet and yearning chain,
Drawing me after thee ! And so farewell !
'Tis a harsh world in which affection knows
No place to treasure up its loved and lost
But the lone grave ! Thou, who so late wast sleeping
Warm in the close fold of a mother's heart,
Scarce from her breast a single pulse receiving,
But it was sent thee with some tender thought —
How can I leave thee here ! Alas, for man !
The herb in its humility may fall,
And waste into the bright and genial air,
While we, by hands that minister'd in life
Nothing but love to us, are thrust away.
The earth thrown in upon our just cold bosoms,
And the warm sunshine trodden out for ever.

Carlos Wilcox was the son of a farmer at Newport in
New Hampshire, and having met with an accident
which disabled him from following his father's employ
ment, became destined for a learned profession. He
passed creditably through his studies, both in literature
and theology, and then acquired eminence as a preacher.
Having been obliged, however, by ill health to suspend

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 159

his ministrations for two years, he employed that interval
in writing " The Age of Benevolence," " The Religion
of Taste," and other poems. He was then appointed
to a congregation at Hartford ; but through exertions
beyond his strength, his health soon gave way, and he
was obliged to resign. He recovered so far as to under
take the duties of another church ; but in half a year
sunk again, and died in 1827, aged thirty-three. His
style is agreeably familiar, somewhat resembling that
of Cowper, and is employed chiefly in portraying
natural scenery with great fidelity, yet rather by a
minute enumeration of objects than by clothing them
in bright and imaginative tints. The description of the
sudden bursting forth of spring, being a feature charac
teristic of the New World, and faithfully described, may
be read with interest : —

Clothed, in one short week,
Is naked Nature in her full attire.
On the first morn, light as an open plain
Is all the woodland, fill'd with sunbeams, pour'd
Through the bare tops, on yellow leaves below,
With strong reflection : on the last, 'tis dark
With full-grown foliage, shading all within.
In one short week the orchard buds and blooms ;
And now, when steep'd in dew or gentle showers,
It yields the purest sweetness to the breeze.

Each day are heard, and almost every hour,
New notes to swell the music of the groves.
And soon the latest of the feather'd train
At evening twilight come ; the lonely snipe,
O'er marshy fields, high in the dusky air,
Invisible, but with faint, tremulous tones,
Hovering or playing o'er the listener's head.

Now, animate throughout, from morn to eve
All harmony, activity, and joy,
Is lovely Nature, as in her bless'd prime.
The robin to the garden or green yard,
Close to the door, repairs to build again
Within her wonted tree ; and at her work
Seems doubly busy for her past delay.
Along the surface of the winding stream,
Pursuing every turn, gay swallows skim,
Or round the borders of the spacious lawn
Fly in repeated circles, rising o'er

160

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

Hillock and fence with motion serpentine,
Easy, and light. One snatches from the ground
A downy feather, and then upward springs,
Follow'd by others, but oft drops it soon,
In playful mood, or from too slight a hold,
When all at once dart at the falling prize.

With sonorous notes
Of every tone, mix'd in confusion sweet,
All chanted in the fulness of delight,
The forest rings : where, far around enclosed
With bushy sides, and cover'd high above
With foliage thick, supported by bare trunks,
Like pillars rising to support a roof.
It seems a temple vast, the space within
Rings loud and clear with thrilling melody.

Wilcox has written also what may be termed ethic
poetry, which is not so much admired ; yet the follow
ing stanza is surely good :• —

Rouse to some work of high and holy love,
And thou an angel's happiness shalt know, —
Shalt bless the earth while in the world above ;
The good begun by thee shall onward flow
In many a branching stream, and wider grow ;
The seed that, in these few and fleeting hours,
Thy hands unsparing and unwearied sow,
Shall deck thy grave with amaranthine flowers,
And yield thee fruits divine in heaven's immortal bowers.

H. W. Longfellow was born at Portland in Maine,
in 1807. In 1826, he came over to Europe, where he
spent several years, and became complete master of its
languages, particularly the northern. On returning, he
made translations from the Swedish, and wrote Hype
rion and other prose works, which are much esteemed.
After a second visit to Europe, he was appointed
in 1836 professor of the French and Spanish languages
in Harvard College, and has been almost the only poet
who adhered to that employment, which might seem
more desirable than the troublous one of political jour
nalism. We have already remarked, as a peculiar charm
of transatlantic poetry, its quiet, refined, and delicate
tone, wholly abstracted from the turbulence of busy
and above all of public life. In none is this character

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 161

more marked and pleasing than in the early poems of
Longfellow. We quote the following devout effusion : —

When first, in ancient time, from Jubal's tongue,

The tuneful anthem fill'd the morning air,

To sacred hymnings and Elysian song

His music- breathing shell the minstrel woke.

Devotion breathed aloud from every chord ;—

Men felt the heavenly influence ; and it stole

Like balm into their hearts, till all was peace ;

And even the air they breathed, — the light they saw, —

Became religion ; — for the ethereal spirit,

That to soft music wakes the chords of feeling,

And mellows every thing to beauty, moved

With cheering energy within their breasts,

And made all holy there — for all was love.

The morning stars, that sweetly sang together —

The moon, that hung at night in the mid-sky —

Day-spring — and eventide — and all the fair

And beautiful forms of nature, had a voice

Of eloquent worship. Ocean, with its tide,

Swelling and deep, where low the infant storm

Hung on his dun, dark cloud, and heavily beat

The pulses of the sea, sent forth a voice

Of awful adoration to the Spirit,

That, wrapp'd in darkness, moved upon its face.

And when the bow of evening arch'd the east,

Or, in the moonlight pale, the gentle wave

Kiss'd, with a sweet embrace, the sea-worn beach,

And the wild song of winds came o'er the waters,

The mingled melody of wind and wave

Touch'd like a heavenly anthem on the ear ;

For it arose a tuneful hymn of worship.

And have our hearts grown cold ? Are there on earth

No pure reflections caught from heavenly love ?

Have our mute lips no hymn — our souls no song \

Let him that in the summer-day of youth,

Keeps pure the holy fount of youthful feeling,

And him, that in the nightfall of his years,

Lies down in his last sleep, and shuts in peace

His weary eyes on life's short wayfaring,

Praise Him that rules the destiny of man.

This is a youthful effusion. Mr Longfellow has
since written others in a different style, which are not
without admirers, though we cannot think them equally
pleasing. He appears in several encouraging himself to
act with energy and fortitude, qualities of which per-

162 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

haps in life he had felt the want ; but in his poetry
they take away its peculiar attraction.

We have now gone over the roll of those whom the
Americans boast of as their standard poets, and who
really exhibit a high degree of excellence. On con
sidering that they have all come before the public in the
course of less than twenty years, we may estimate the
copious vein which has thus been opened. Yet there
remain still a long series whose verses deserve perusal,
and some of whom cannot, with any confidence, be placed
below those already named. It will be obvious, how
ever, that our limits must confine us to a very cursory
mention of such as, from merit or some particular cir
cumstance, appear to call for special notice. We do not
even profess to have weighed the former claim so nicely
as to render our arrangement exactly correspondent
with it.

It was not without hesitation that we could assign
any inferior place to Grenville Mellen. A native of
Maine, he practised for some time as a lawyer at Bos
ton ; but, according to the usual train, left that profes
sion and sought literary employment at New York.
He soon, however, added another to the examples of
premature fate among bards, dying in 1841 at the age of
forty-two. His works are somewhat unfinished ; but they
breathe a lofty and refined spirit, with a certain mysteri
ous and supernatural tone. The poem on "Mount
Washington," the highest in the United States, may
give a good idea of them : —

Mount of the clouds, on whose Olympian height
The tall rocks brighten in the ether air,
And spirits from the skies come down at night,
To chant immortal songs to Freedom there !
Thine is the rock of other regions, where
The world of life, which blooms so far below,
Sweeps a wide waste : no gladdening scenes appear,
Save where, with silvery flash, the waters flow
Beneath the far-off mountain, distant, calm, and slow.

Thine is the summit where the clouds repose,
Or, eddying wildly, round thy cliffs are borne ;
When Tempest mounts his rushing car, and throws

THE LITERATURE OP AMERICA. 163

His billowy mist ainid the thunder's home !
Far down the deep ravine the whirlwinds come,
And bow the forests as they sweep along ;
While, roaring deeply from their rocky womb,
The storms come forth, and, hurrying darkly on,
Amid the echoing peaks the revelry prolong !

And when the tumult of the air is fled,
And quench' d in silence all the tempest flame,
There come the dim forms of the mighty dead,
Around the steep which bears the hero's name :
The stars look down upon them ; and the same
Pale orb that glistens o'er his distant grave
Gleams on the summit that enshrines his fame,
And lights the cold tear of the glorious brave,

The richest, purest tear that memory ever gave !
Mount of the clouds ! when winter round thee throws
The hoary mantle of the dying year,
Sublime amid thy canopy of snows,
Thy towers in bright magnificence appear !
;Tis then we view thee with a chilling fear,
Till summer robes thee in her tints of blue ;
When, lo ! in soften'd grandeur, far, yet clear,
Thy battlements stand clothed in heaven's own hue,

To swell as Freedom's home on man's unbounded view !

John Neal is one of the most prolific of American
writers. Born at Portland, in Maine, he applied at first
to trade, but proving unsuccessful, devoted himself to
literary composition. Having come over to England,
he contributed to Blackwood and other magazines, and
wrote a novel called Brother Jonathan. Returning to
America, he continued producing, till, in 1835, he is said
to have written no less than fifty volumes. All of them
display genius, but without any order or taste ; form
ing a strange medley of the best and the worst, the
refined and the coarse, the pure and the doubtful in
morality. There are passages, both in his prose and
verse, which have seldom been surpassed ; yet the
American critics, who value themselves on the enforce
ment of rigid correctness, will not admit him on their
classic roll, or allow any hope of his reaching posterity.
Undoubtedly, however, an author who has displayed
decided beauties, is entitled to some indulgence for the
admixture of even grievous faults ; and though, prob
ably, much that Neal has written will be speedily for-

164 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

gotten, a selection may survive. Where, for instance,
can we find finer lines than in the following account of
the unexpected meeting of a soldier with his wife and
child ?—

A rude old door

Is open'd by the wind ; he sees the floor,
Strew'd with white sand, on which he used to trace
His boyhood's battles, and assign a place
To charging hosts, and give the Indian yell,
And shout to hear his hoary grandsire tell
How he had fought with savages, whose breath
He felt upon his cheek like mildew till his death.
Hark ! that sweet song, how full of tenderness !
Oh ! who would breathe in this voluptuous press
Of lulling thoughts ! so soothing, and so low,
Like singing fountains in their faintest flow :
It is as if some holy, lovely thing,
Within our very hearts were murmuring.
The soldier listens, and his arms are press'd
In thankfulness, and trembling on his breast ;
Now, on the very window where he stands,
Are seen a clambering infant's rosy hands ;
And now — ah, Heaven ! blessings on that smile T
Stay, soldier, stay ! Oh, linger yet a while !
An airy vision now appears, with eyes
As tender as the blue of weeping skies,
Yet sunny in their radiance, as that blue
When sunset glitters on its falling dew :
With form — all joy and dance — as bright and free
As youthful nymph of mountain liberty,
Or naked angels, dream'd by poesy ;
A blooming infant to her heart is press'd,
And, ah ! a mother's song is lulling it to rest.
A youthful mother ! God of heaven !
A thing beneath the skies so holy and so fair.

We have already noticed a certain quiet, refined,
somewhat mystic tone, as very generally characteristic
of American poetry. Some fine examples of this style,
with an original cast, have been produced by Dr Doane,
who, born in New Jersey, devoted himself to the epis
copal church, and was appointed in 1832 bishop of that
diocese. The following piece is exquisite in its way : —

THE CHERUB.

Beautiful thing, with thine eye of light,
And thy brow of cloudless beauty bright,

Gazing for aye on the sapphire throne,
Of Him who dwelleth in light alone — •

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 165

Art thou hasting now, on that golden wing,
With the burning seraph choir to sing,
Or stooping to earth, iii thy gentleness,
Our darkling path to cheer and bless ?

Beautiful thing ! thou art come in love,
With gentle gales from the world above,
Breathing of pureness, breathing of bliss,
Bearing our spirits away from this,
To the better thoughts, to the brighter skies,
Where heaven's eternal sunshine lies ;
Winning our hearts by a blessed guile,
With that infant look and angel smile.

Mr Peabody, also a clergyman, writes somewhat
similarly in very polished verse, but with a tendency to
tameness. The following, however, we think is fine : —

THE DISEMBODIED SPIRIT.

O sacred star of evening, tell

In what unseen, celestial sphere,
Those spirits of the perfect dwell,

Too pure to rest in sadness here.

Roam they the crystal fields of light,

O'er paths by holy angels trod,
Their robes with heavenly lustre bright,

Their home, the Paradise of God i

Soul of the just ! and canst thou soar

Amidst those radiant spheres sublime,
Where countless hosts of heaven adore,

Beyond the bounds of space or time ?

And canst thou join the sacred choir,
Through heaven's high dome the song to raise,

WThere seraphs strike the golden lyre
In ever-during notes of praise ?

Oh ! who would heed the chilling blast,

That blows o'er time's eventful sea,
If bid to hail, its perils past,

The bright wave of eternity !

And who the sorrows would not bear

Of such a transient world as this,
When hope displays, beyond its care,

So bright an entrance into bliss !

In treating of this refined school, we must call atten
tion to George D. Prentice, a native of Preston in Con
necticut, who, in 1823, graduated at Brown University
in Providence. After conducting for some years a

166 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

journal in Hartford, he removed to Louisville in Ken
tucky, and established one which is said to have been
very successful. In the expression of pure and delicate,
yet genuine feeling, we know few finer examples than
that now selected : —

LINES TO A LADY.

Lady, I love, at eventide,
When stars, as now, are on the wave,

To stray in loneliness, and muse
Upon the one dear form that gave

Its sunlight to my boyhood ; oft

That same sweet look sinks, still and soft,

Upon my spirit, and appears

As lovely as in bygone years.

Eve's low, faint wind is breathing now,
With deep and soul-like murmuring,
Through the dark pines ; and thy sweet words

Seem borne on its mysterious wing ;
And oft, 'mid musings sad and lone,
At night's deep noon, that thrilling tone
Swells in the wind, low, wild, and clear,
Like music in the dreaming ear.

WThen sleep's calm wing is on my brow,

And dreams of peace my spirit lull,
Before me, like a misty star,

That form floats dim and beautiful ;
And, when the gentle moonbeam smiles
On the blue streams and dark-green isles,
In every ray pour'd down the sky,
That same light form seems stealing by.

Our hopes are flown — yet parted hours

Still in the depths of memory lie,
Like night-gems in the silent blue

Of summer's deep and brilliant sky ;
And Love's bright flashes seem again
To fall upon the glowing chain
Of our existence. Can it be
That all is but a mockery ?

Lady, adieu ! to other climes

I go, from joy, and hope, and thee ;
A weed on Time's dark waters thrown,

A wreck on life's wild-heaving sea ;
I go ; but oh, the past, the past !
Its spell is o'er my being cast, —
And still, to Love's remomber'd eves,
With all but hope, my spirit cleaves.

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 167

Adieu ! adieu ! My farewell words

Are on my lyre, and their wild flow
Is faintly dying on the chords,

Broken and tuneless. Be it so !
Thy name — Oh, may it never swell
My strain again — yet long 'twill dwell
Shrined in my heart, unbreathed, unspoken —
A treasured word — a cherish'd token.

We must now advert to Robert C. Sands, who, besides
possessing respectable though not first-class talents, be
came the nucleus of early literary associations formed
at New York. He was born in that city in 1799,
distinguished himself in Columbia College, and then
entered upon the study of the law. He became ex
tremely intimate with Eastburn, a talented young
man, destined for the church ; and they engaged in a
joint poem, entitled Yamoyden, celebrating the story of
Philip, the great Indian sachem. On its completion,
Eastburn fell ill, and died on his way to a milder
climate ; and Sands had the sorrowful task of pub
lishing it alone. He did so in 1820, and from being
among the first poems of any merit that had appeared
in the country, as well as from the peculiar circum
stances, it excited a strong sensation. He now, how
ever, resolved to renounce poetry and apply to his
profession ; but, becoming disappointed and disgusted,
he turned his attention to periodical writing. Em
ployment in a commercial paper on liberal terms was
opportunely offered, and his active mind combined with
it some interesting literary schemes. At a time when
light annuals had become popular in Europe, he engaged,
with the aid of Verplank and Bryant, in the production
of one named the Talisman, which was continued for
several years with success. In 1832, he edited a volume,
entitled Tales of the Glauber Spa, in which he was as
sisted by Bryant, Paulding, Leggett, and Miss Sedgwick.
While busied in other schemes, he was suddenly struck
by a paralytic shock, and died in a few hours. — Yamoy
den is unequal, but possesses considerable poetical merit.
The most interesting extract will be from the poem

168 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

where Sands refers to the melancholy circumstances
under which it was produced, and commemorates his
early friendship : —

Go forth, sad fragments of a broken strain,
The last that either bard shall e'er essay !
The hand can ne'er attempt the chords again,
That first awoke them, in a happier day :
Where sweeps the ocean-breeze its desert way,
His requiem murmurs o'er the moaning wave ;
And he who feebly now prolongs the lay,
Shall ne'er the minstrel's hallow'd honours crave ;
His harp lies buried deep in that untimely grave !

Friend of my youth, with thee began the love
Of sacred song ; the wont, in golden dreams,

'Mid classic realms of splendours past to rove,

d by immortal stre
Where the blue wave, with sparkling bosom, gleams

O'er haunted steep, and by immortal streams

Round shores, the mind's eternal heritage,
For ever lit by memory's twilight beams ;
Where the proud dead, that live in storied page,
Beckon, with awful port, to glory's earlier age.

The Americans regard the " Culprit Fay " of J.
Rodman Drake with an admiration which we feel
ourselves unahle to share. It is a tale entirely of
fairy-land ; but though such machinery may he an
elegant appendage to human characters, it is too un
substantial to stand alone. To make it succeed requires
at all events a particularly light and playful vein ;
while the American muse, even when most refined, has
something serious and real, ill fitting it for such aerial
flights. His other poems rise little above mediocrity.
He was an amiable young man, and had formed a very
modest though perhaps just opinion of his own pro
ductions. He died at an early age.

We ought perhaps before this time to have intro
duced James A. Hillhouse, a native of Newhaven, and
graduate of Yale College. He applied to commerce
with diligence, and having acquired a handsome com
petence, retired into the country. He had accumulated
extensive knowledge, and composed several poems of
some magnitude. One of them, entitled the " Last

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 169

Judgment," written before he left the universit}^,
enjoys reputation in his own country ; but a subject
too daring perhaps even for Milton, could not be
successfully treated by a secondary and youthful pen.
There are a few fine passages, but on the whole it
appears a decided failure. His principal work is a
dramatic poem called " Hadad," which name is given
to a fallen spirit who appears in human shape, and
makes love to Tamar, the daughter of David. The
subject is strange, and seemingly not very felicitous ;
yet there is much of grand and lofty poetic expression.
We cannot, amid the crowd who press on our
notice, omit mentioning George Lunt, a native of
Newburyport, near Boston, and educated at Cambridge.
He embraced the profession of the law, and, almost
alone of his tuneful brethren, pursued it successfully,
being also named to represent his native place in the
state legislature. He may be particularly remarked
for a style strikingly contrasted with that prevailing
among his countrymen, and more accordant with what
might be expected in an American bard. It is bold,
stirring, energetic, with a propensity to themes of war
and conflict, yet still under the control of religious
principle.

THE LYRE jfND SWORD.

The freeman's glittering sword be blest,—

For ever blest the freeman's lyre, —
That rings upon the tyrant's crest ;

This stirs the heart like living fire.
Well can wield the shining brand,
Who battles for his native land ;

But when his fingers sweep the chords,
That summon heroes to the fray,

They gather at the feast of swords,
Like mountain-eagles to their prey !

And 'mid the vales and swelling hills,
That sweetly bloom in Freedom's land,

A living spirit breathes, and fills

The freeman's heart and nerves his hand ;

For the bright soil that gave him birth,

The home of all he loves on earth,—

VOL. III. L

170 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

For this, when Freedom's trumpet calls,

He waves on high his sword of fire ;
For this, amidst his country's halls,

For ever strikes the freeman's lyre !

We shall just mention Isaac Clason on account of
another contrast, happily rare, between him and his
poetic brethren. A native of New York, he contracted
dissolute habits, squandered a considerable fortune in
herited from his father, and after spending some time in
Paris and London, died miserably in the latter city.
Byron and Napoleon were his idols, and of all tasks in
the world, he chose that of writing two additional
cantos to Don Juan. He does not want vigour ; there
is even an absurd grandeur in the following panegyric
on Napoleon : —

Napoleon Bonaparte ! thy name shall live
Till time's last echo shall have ceased to sound ;

And if eternity's confines can give
To space reverberation, round and round

The spheres of heaven, the long, deep cry of u Vive
Napoleon !" in thunders shall rebound ;

The lightning's flash shall blaze thy name on high,

Monarch of earth, now meteor of the sky !

What though on St Helena's rocky shore

Thy head be pillow'd, and thy form entomb'd ;

Perhaps that son, the child thou didst adore,
Fired with a father's fame, may yet be doom'd

To crush the bigot Bourbon, and restore

Thy mouldering ashes ere they be consumed, —

Perhaps may run the course thyself didst run,

And light the world, as comets light the sun.

'Tis better thou art gone : 'twere sad to see,

Beneath an " imbecile's impotent reign,"
Thine own unvanquish'd legions doom'd to be

Cursed instruments of vengeance on poor Spain,
That land, so glorious once in chivalry,

Now sunk in slavery and shame again ;
To see the imperial guard, thy dauntless band,
Made tools for such a wretch as Ferdinand.

Farewell, Napoleon ! a long farewell,

A stranger's tongue, alas ! must hymn thy worth ;
No craven Gaul dares wake his harp to tell,

Or sound in song the spot that gave thee birth.

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

No more thy name, that, with its magic spell,

Aroused the slumbering nations of the earth,
Echoes around thy land ; 'tis past — at length
France sinks beneath the sway of Charles the Tenth.

John G. Whittier was son to a farmer in Haverhill,
Massachusetts, whose family had occupied the spot for
four or five generations. He received his education
almost entirely in the district schools, but soon displayed
literary talents, and spent his life partly in agriculture,
partly in contributing to periodical publications. He
edited a paper entitled the American Manufacturer, ad
vocating commercial restrictions, and thus obtained the
favour of a numerous class. He, however, strongly
supported the principles of liberty, and embraced with
ardour the views of the Anti-slavery Society, to which
he was appointed secretary, and devoted to this object
much of his time. The Indian nations have been the
chief theme of his effusions ; yet, while showing sym
pathy for their fate, he has drawn their portrait rather
in its stern reality than under any hues of romance.
His longest work, entitled " Mogg Megone," represents
them as excited by the French Jesuits to a furious war
against the Protestants of New England. His verses,
too, are distinguished from those of his countrymen
generally by action and tumult, and though he can
diversify them by softer strains, a certain rudeness al
ways adheres to them.

Charles Fenno Hoffman was born at New York in
1806. At school he met with an accident which ren
dered necessary the amputation of a leg ; but this mis
fortune seemed only to impel his active spirit to pursue
with greater ardour riding, hunting, and other active
exercises. He applied to the bar, but quitted it with
the usual disgust, and betook himself to literature. He
spent much time in the forest and in field-sports, and
made an excursion into the western territory, the result
of which he gave in a work, entitled " Winter in the Far
West." He wrote also " Wild Scenes in the Forest and
the Prairie," and a novel called Greyslaer, which became

1 72 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

popular, and the scene of which lay in the same region.
His style, too, varies from the usual repose and quietude,
and without sharing the impetuous vehemence of the
two last-named bards, is gay, lively, and stirring. The
poems on horder themes, though somewhat numerous,
want depth and feeling, and are redundant in words ;
but such as express movement, especially over his fa
vourite region of the west, have a gay animation, some
what resembling that of Scott, which is very agreeable.

THE HUNTER'S MATIN.
Up, comrades, up ! the morn's awake

Upon the mountain side,
The curlew's wing hath swept the lake,
And the deer has left the tangled brake,

To drink from the limpid tide.
Up, comrades, up ! the mead-lark's note
And the plover's cry o'er the prairie float ;
The squirrel, he springs from his covert now,
To prank it away on the chestnut bough,
Where the oriole's pendant nest, high up,

Is rock'd on the swaying trees,
While the humbird sips from the harebell's cup,

As it bends to the morning breeze.
Up, comrades, up ! our shallops grate

Upon the pebbly strand.
And our stalwart hounds impatient wait

To spring from the huntsman's hand.

THE WESTERN HUNTER TO HIS MISTRESS.

Wend, love, with me, to the deep woods, wend,

Where far in the forest the wild flowers keep,
WThere no watching eye shall over us bend,

Save the blossoms that into thy bower peep.
Thou shalt gather from buds of the oriole's hue,

Whose flaming wings round our pathway flit,
From the saffron orchis and lupin blue,

And those like the foam on my courser's bit.

One steed and one saddle us both shall bear,

One hand of each on the bridle meet ;
And beneath the wrist that entwines me there,

An answering pulse from my heart shall beat.
I will sing thee many a joyous lay,

As we chase the deer by the blue lake-side,
While the winds that over the prairie play

Shall fan the cheek of my woodland bride.

Our home shall be by the cool, bright streams,
Where the beaver chooses her safe retreat,

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 1 73

And our hearth shall smile like the sun's warm gleams
Through the branches around our lodge that meet.

Then wend with me, to the deep woods wend,
Where far in the forest the wild- flowers keep,

Where no watching eye shall over us bend,
Save the blossoms that into thy bower peep.

All the poets now enumerated have sprung up either
in New England, or in New York and its immediate
vicinity. Others have of late, however, begun to ap
pear in different parts of the Union, singly indeed or in
very small number, yet marking the tendency of the
poetical spirit to diffusion. Under this view they may
claim our notice, even though their merit may other
wise be secondary.

Alfred B. Street was born at Poughkeepsie in the
interior of New York, whence at the age of thirteen he
was removed to Sullivan county, farther westward, the
scenery of which is peculiarly wild and striking. In this
rude outer region his genius was unfolded, and his images
are completely stamped with its character. He settled
at Albany in 1839, but never seems to have come with
in the polished and artificial circle. Part of his poem
" The Settlers " strikingly paints backwood life : —

His echoing axe the settler swung

Amid the sea-like solitude,
And, rushing, thundering, down were flung

The Titans of the wood:
Loud shriek'd the eagle, as he dash'd
From out his mossy nest, which crash'd

With its supporting bough,
And the first sunlight, leaping, flash'd

On the wolfs haunt below.

Rude was the garb and strong the frame

Of him who plied his ceaseless toil ;
To form that garb the wild-wood game

Contributed their spoil ;
The soul that warm'd that frame disdain'd
The tinsel, gaud, and glare, that reign'd

Where men their crowds collect ;
The simple fur, untrimm'd, uustain'd,

This forest-tamer deck'd.

The paths which wound 'mid gorgeous trees,
The stream whose bright lips kiss'd their flowers,

174 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

Tho winds that swell 'd their harmonies

Through those sun-hiding bowers ;
The temple vast, the green arcade,
The nestling vale, the grassy glade,

Dark cave, and swampy lair, —
These scenes and sounds majestic, made

His world, his pleasures, there.

Proceeding still farther west, we find in Ohio one
respectable bard, having the somewhat inharmonious
name of William D. Gallagher. He resides at Cincin
nati, where he conducts a daily gazette, and has been
engaged in the publication of several literary miscella
nies. As might perhaps be expected, there is in his
verse a great deal of imperfection ; yet it displays a vivid
perception of what is mighty in the aspect and destinies
of this western world.

TO THE WEST.

Land of the West ! — green forest-land !

Clime of the fair, and the immense !
Favourite of Nature's liberal hand,

And child of her munificence !

Fill'd with a rapture warm, intense,
High on a cloud-girt hill I stand ;

And with clear vision gazing thence,
Thy glories round me far expand :

Rivers, whose likeness earth has not,
And lakes, that elsewhere seas would be, —

Whose shores the countless wild herds dot,
Fleet as the winds, and all as free ;

Mountains that pierce the bending sky,
And with the storm-cloud warfare wage :

Shooting their glittering peaks on high,
To mock the fierce red lightning's rage ;

Arcadian vales, with vine-hung bowers,
And grassy nooks, 'neath beechen shade,

Where dance the never-resting Hours,
To music of the bright cascade ;

Skies softly beautiful, and blue
As Italy's, with stars as bright ;

Flowers rich as morning's sunrise hue,
And gorgeous as the gemm'd midnight.

Land of the West ! green forest-land !

Thus hath Creation's bounteous hand

Upon thine ample bosom flung
Charms such as were her gift when the gray world

was young

Land of the West ! — thine early prime
Fades in the flight of hurrying Time ;

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 1 7^

Thy noble forests fall, as sweep
Europa's myriads o'er the deep ;
And thy broad plains, with welcome warm,
Receive the onward-pressing swarm :
On mountain-height, in lowly vale,

By quiet lake, or gliding river, —
Wherever sweeps the chainless gale,

Onward sweep they, and for ever.
Oh, may they come with hearts that ne'er
Can bend a tyrant's chain to wear ;
With souls that would indignant turn,
And proud oppression's minions spurn ;
With nerves of steel, and words of flame,
To strike and sear the wretch who'd bring our land to shame !

Albert Pike, though not born in the west, has identi
fied himself so completely with that region, that we shall
mention him here. He was the son of a hard-working
shoemaker in Boston, and devoting himself to literature,
earned an admission into Harvard College, but was
unable to defray the expense of residence. After sev
eral years spent in humble teaching, his adventurous
spirit impelled him westward. He passed through
Niagara, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, travelling much of
the way on foot till he reached St Louis, whence he set
out for Santa Fe' in Mexico. Whatever were his expecta
tions there, they were poorly fulfilled ; and having re
mained nearly a year, he joined a trapping party, with
whom he journeyed along the head waters of the Colorado
and Red rivers. After various shifts and immense hard
ships, he was reduced to extreme destitution, when the
editor of a paper at Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas,
invited him to become an assistant. On this outer limit
of civilisation his efforts were crowned with success.
In a few years he became proprietor of the journal, and
aiming still higher, applied to law, was admitted to
practice, and finally devoted himself entirely to that
profession. He wrote at Boston a series of addresses to
the Gods of Greece, which possess merit ; but his best
pieces we think are those indited during his wanderings
through the wilderness.

1 76 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

LINES WRITTEN ON THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

The deep transparent sky is full

Of many thousand glittering lights —
Unnumber'd stars that calmly rule

The dark dominions of the night.
The mild bright moon has upward risen,

Out of the gray and boundless plain,
And all around the white snows glisten,

Where frost, and ice, and silence reign, —
While ages roll away, and they unchanged remain.

These mountains, piercing the blue sky

With their eternal cones of ice ;
The torrents dashing from on high,

O'er rock, and crag, and precipice ;
Change not, but still remain as ever,

Unwasting, deathless, and sublime,
And will remain while lightnings quiver,

Or stars the hoary summits climb,
Or rolls the thunder-chariot of eternal Time.

It is not so with all — I change,

And waste as with a living death,
Like one that hath become a strange

Unwelcome guest, and lingereth
Among the memories of the past,

Where he is a forgotten name ;
For Time hath greater power to blast

The hopes, the feelings, and the fame,
To make the passions fierce, or their first strength to tame.

The muses have rarely strayed to the south of the
Potomac ; yet Baltimore, the flourishing commercial
capital of Maryland, has not been altogether unvisited.
Edward C. Pinkney, son to the eminent diplomatist of
that name, entered the naval service ; hut being disap
pointed in his hopes of promotion, he attempted the bar
with no better fortune. A prospect of success appeared
in conducting a political gazette, when his constitution
gave way, and he died in 1828. His verses have a
light and agreeable character, though they cannot rival
the power and force of the northern bards. The follow
ing were suggested by the marriage of an elegant
American female to an Indian chief : —

Why is that graceful female here
With yon red huuter of the doer ?

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 177

Of gentle mien and shape, she seems

For civil halls design'd,
Yet with the stately savage walks,

As she were of his kind.
Look on her leafy diadem,
Enrich'd with many a floral gem :
Those simple ornaments about

Her candid brow, disclose
The loitering spring's last violet,

And summer's earliest rose ;
But not a flower lies breathing there
Sweet as herself, or half so fair.
Exchanging lustre with the sun,

A part of day she strays —
A glancing, living, human smile

On Nature's face she plays.
Can none instruct me what are these
Companions of the lofty trees ?

She left her pallid countrymen,

An earthling most divine,
And sought in this sequester'd wood

A solitary shrine.

Behold them roaming hand in hand,
Like night and sleep, along the land.

The world, for all they know of it,
Is theirs : — for them the stars are lit ;
For them the earth beneath is green,

The heavens above are bright ;
For them the moon doth wax and wane,

And decorate the night ;
For them the branches of those trees
Wave music in the vernal breeze ;
For them, upon that dancing spray,

The free bird sits and sings,
And glitering insects flit about

Upon delighted wings ;
For them that brook, the brakes among,
Murmurs its small and drowsy song ;
For them the many-colour'd clouds

Their shapes diversify,
And change at once, like smiles and frowns,

The expression of the sky.
For them, and by them, all is gay,
And fresh and beautiful as they.

Charleston, the principal city of the remoter south,
can boast, so far as we know, only one poetical name.
William G. Simms, born there in 1807, began at ten
to write verses, and at fifteen to contribute to the

178 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

poetical department of gazettes. He then went through
the usual career of attempting the bar, and abandoning
it for a newspaper. Being unsuccessful, he repaired
to the north in the hope of earning a subsistence by
literary composition. Here he was more prosperous,
his contributions being received by respectable journals,
while his novels became very popular especially in the
southern states, whose scenery and history several of
them are designed to illustrate. He afterwards re
turned to Charleston. His poetry does not reach any
high elevation ; yet there is some force in the follow
ing picture of the gloomy scenery which pervades a wide
surface in this part of America : —

THE EDGE OP THE SWAMP.

'Tis a wild spot, and hath a gloomy look ;

The bird sings never merrily in the trees,

And the young leaves seem blighted. A rank growth

Spreads poispnously round, with power to taint

With blistering dews the thoughtless hand that dares

To penetrate the covert. Cypresses

Crowd on the dank, wet earth ; and, stretch'd at length,

The cayman — a fit dweller in such home —

Slumbers, half -buried in the sedgy grass.

Beside the green ooze where he shelters him,

A whooping crane erects his skeleton form,

And shrieks in flight.

Wild, ragged trees,

That look like felon spectres — fetid shrubs,
That taint the gloomy atmosphere — dusk shades,
That gather, half a cloud and half a fiend
In aspect, lurking on the swamp's wild edge,—
Gloom with their sternness and forbidding frowns
The general prospect.

The reader probably thinks by this time that a
sufficiently long roll has been laid before him ; yet
there still remains a portion of our task, which we feel
by no means inclined to overlook. The females of
America, as already observed, are admitted to a wider
range of study than elsewhere, and from possessing
greater leisure, often become more intelligent than
the other sex. Several therefore, notwithstanding their
retired habits and the early age at which they usually

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 179

enter the matrimonial state, have distinguished them
selves by an ardent and successful pursuit of letters.

Lydia Huntley, now Mrs Sigourney, is generally
regarded as the representative of the female poets of
America. Born in 1797, she began very early to
write, and even published a volume in 1815 ; since
which time she has successively produced a large
number of works. Appearing at a time when few
tolerable American verses existed, her poetry attracted
considerable attention ; and, though subsequently ex
celled by others, yet supporting herself always at a cer
tain height above mediocrity, and expressing just and
laudable sentiments, she has continued a favourite with
the American public. The same account may be given
of her prose works, written chiefly for the instruction
of her own sex. In 1840, she visited and made a tour
through Britain, and then wrote " Thoughts at the
Grave of Sir Walter Scott," some part of which may
gratify our readers, and afford a fair specimen of her
style : —

Rest with the noble dead

In Dryburgh's solemn pile,
Where sleep the peer and warrior bold,
And mitred abbots stern and old,

Along the statued aisle ;
Where, stain'd with dust of buried years,
The rude sarcophagus appears

In mould embedded deep ;
And Scotia's skies of sparkling blue
Stream with the oriel windows through

Where ivied masses creep ;
And touch'd with symmetry sublime,
The moss-clad towers that mock at time

Their mouldering legends keep.

It was a painful thing to see

Trim Abbotsford so gay,
The rose-trees climbing there so bold,
The ripening fruits in rind of gold,

And thou, their lord, away.

I saw the lamp, with oil unspent,
O'er which thy thoughtful brow was bent,
When erst, with magic skill,

180 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

Unearthly beings heard thy call,
And flitting spectres tliroug'd the hall,
Obedient to thy will.

Yon fair domain was all thine own,
From stately roof to threshold stone,

Yet didst thou lavish pay
The coin that caused life's wheels to stop ?
The heart's blood oozing drop by drop

Through the tired brain away ?

I said the lamp unspent was there,
The books arranged in order fair ;
But none of all thy kindred race
Found in those lordly halls a place :
Thine only son, in foreign lands,
Led boldly on his martial bands,
And stranger-lips, unmoved and cold,
The legends of thy mansion told ;
They lauded glittering brand and spear,
And costly gifts of prince and peer,
And broad claymore, with silver dight,
And hunting-horn of border knight —

What were such gauds to me I
More dear had been one single word
From those whose veins thy blood had stirr'd

To Scotia's accents free.

Yet one there was, in humble cell,

A poor retainer, lone and old,
Who of thy youth remember'd well,

And many a treasured story told ;
And pride, upon her wrinkled face,

Blent strangely with the trickling tear,
As memory, from its choicest place,
Brought forth, in deep recorded trace,

Thy boyhood's gamDols dear ;
Or pointed out, with wither'd hand,
Where erst thy garden-seat did stand,
When thou, return'd from travel vain,
Wrapp'd in thy plaid, and pale with pain,

Didst gaze with vacant eye,
For stern disease had drank the fount

Of mental vision dry.

Another lady, who has drawn considerable attention
even in England, is Maria Gowan, married at an early
age to Mr Brooks, a merchant of Boston, but who in
the literary world has been named Maria del Occidente.
Becoming a widow in 1821, she was obliged by circum-

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 181

stances to remove to Cuba, where she had obtained
some property. She composed a mystic poem of
considerable length, entitled " Zophiel," founded on a
legend in the apocryphal book of Tobit. It was pub
lished while she was the guest of Dr Southey, who
revised the proof-sheets, and has recorded his opinion
of her as " the most impassioned and most imaginative
of all poetesses." This judgment, notwithstanding the
high source from which it comes, may have been biassed
by friendship ; and the Quarterly Review, with some
reason, proposes to change the latter epithet to "fan
ciful." Zophiel, the fallen spirit, becomes enamoured
of Egla, the apocryphal Sara ; and resolving she shall
not fall to the lot of any human spouse, causes the
death of seven who were successively about to be
united to her. We have already expressed an opinion
as to poems of which the leading characters are un
earthly ; nor do we see here any ground to change it.
The narrative and descriptions do not possess the airy
character required by such a subject ; they are heavy,
and abound more in words than images. There are,
however, a few impassioned passages, in a style unusual
with American poets of either sex, which display con
siderable powers. Such is that narrating the fate of
Altheetor, the fifth lover : —

Touching his golden harp to prelude sweet,

Enter'd the youth, so pensive, pale, and fair ;
Advanced respectful to the virgin's feet,

And, lowly bending down, made tuneful parlance there.
Like perfume, soft his gentle accents rose,

And sweetly thrill'd the gilded roof along ;
His warm, devoted soul no terror knows,

And truth and love lend fervour to his song.
She hides her face upon her couch, that there

She may not see him die. No groan, — she springs
Frantic between a hope-beam and despair,

And twines her long hair round him as he sings.

Look, look on me, and spare my agony !
Spirit ! in mercy make not me the cause,
The hateful cause of this kind being's death !

182

THE- LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

In pity kill me first ! He lives — he draws —

Thou wilt not blast ?— he draws his harmless breath !"
Still lives ALTHEETOR ; still unguarded strays

One hand o'er his fallen lyre ; but all his soul
Is lost — given up. He fain would turn to gaze,

But cannot turn, so twined. Now all that stole
Through every vein, and thrill'd each separate nerve,

Himself could not have told, — all wound and clasp'd
In her white arms and hair. Ah ! can they serve

To save him ? " What a sea of sweets !" he gasp'd,
But 'twas delight : sound, fragrance, all were breathing.

Still swell'd the transport : " Let me look and thank :"
He sigh'd (celestial smiles his lip enwreathing) —

" I die — but ask no more," he said, and sank ;
Still by her arms supported — lower — lower

As by soft sleep oppress'd ; so calm, so fair,
He rested on the purple tap'stried floor ;

It seem'd an angel lay reposing there.

" He died of love ; or the o'erperfect joy

Of being pitied — pray'd for — press'd by thee.
Oh ! for the fate of that devoted boy

I'd sell my birthright to Eternity.
I'm not the cause of this thy last distress.

Nay ! look upon thy spirit ere he flies !
Look on me once, and learn to hate me less !

He said ; and tears fell fast from his immortal eyes."

This lady is said to have completed an epic poem on
the subject of Columbus; a theme so different, that
we cannot venture any prediction respecting it.

Our taste would lead us to prefer a more modern
poetess, Elizabeth Park of Boston, married in 1841 to
Mr Hall, a clergyman at Providence. She has written
a dramatic poem, the whole of which we have not seen,
and doubt if the plot be very perfect ; but some speci
mens of the dialogue appear lofty, solemn, and energetic
in no common degree. To make the following under
stood, it must be premised that Piso, a Roman chief,
and a fierce persecutor of the Christians, had loved in
youth a maiden of that faith, who however preferred
to him one united to her by the ties of religion ; an
event which embittered him still farther against its
professors. She died, but left a daughter Miriam who
strikingly resembled herself. This young girl comes
to Piso to plead for some of her kindred who are in

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 183

bonds for their religion, and is imagined by him to
be the spirit of her mother come to reproach him. He
says: —

Beautiful shadow ! in this hour of wrath,

What dost thou here ? In life thou wert too meek,

Too gentle for a lover stern as I.

And, since I saw thee last, my days have been

Deep steep'd in sin and blood ! What seekest thou ?

I have grown old in strife, and hast thou come,

With thy dark eyes and their soul-searching glance,

To look me into peace ? It cannot be.

Go back, fair spirit, to thine own dim realms !

He whose young love thou didst reject on earth,

May tremble at this visitation strange,

But never can know peace or virtue more !

Thou wert a Christian, and a Christian dog

Did win thy precious love. I have good cause

To hate and scorn the whole detested race ;

And till I meet that man, whom most of all

My soul abhors, will I go on and slay !

Fade, vanish, shadow bright ! In vain that look !

That sweet, sad look ! My lot is cast in blood !

Miriam. Oh, say not so !

Piso. The voice that won me first !
Oh, what a tide of recollections rush
Upon my drowning soul ! my own wild love —
Thy scorn— the long, long days of blood and guilt
That since have left their footprints on my fate !
The dark, dark nights of fever'd agony,
When, 'mid the strife and struggling of my dreams,
The gods sent thee at times to hover round,
Bringing the memory of those peaceful days
When I beheld thee first ! But never yet
Before my waking eyes hast thou appear'd
Distinct and visible as now ! Spirit !
What wouldst thou have ?

Miriam. Oh, man of guilt and wo !
Thine own dark phantasies are busy now,
Lending unearthly seeming to a thing
Of earth, as thou art !

Piso. How ! Art thou not she ?
I know that face ! I never yet beheld
One like to it among earth's loveliest.
Why dost thou wear that semblance, if thou art
A thing of mortal mould ? Oh, better meet
The wailing ghosts of those whose blood doth clog
My midnight dreams, than that half-pitying eye !

Miriam. I must be heard, for God hath sent me here.
Piso. Who— who hath sent thee here I

184 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

Miriam. The Christian's God—
The God thou kuowest not.

Piso. Thou art of earth !
I see the rose-tint on thy pallid cheek,
Which was not there at first ; it kindles fast !
Say on. Although I dare not meet that eye,
I hear thee.

We are disposed to rank next Amelia B. Welby,
daughter of a respectable mechanic at Baltimore, who
removed to Louisville on the Ohio, where she was
married. Her poems were written between the age of
sixteen and twenty, and inserted in the Louisville
Journal, edited by George D. Prentice ; so that this
somewhat rude western capital contains two of the
sweetest American poets. Her verses are animated by
a fine tone of fancy and feeling, mixed with some
thing natural and even girlish, which appears to us so
graceful, as to be rather heightened by imperfections
and colloquial terms : —

TO A SEA-SHELL.

Shell of the bright sea-waves !
What is it that we hear in thy sad moan ?
Is this unceasing music all thine own,

Lute of the ocean-caves ?

Or, does some spirit dwell
In the deep windings of thy chamber dim,
Breathing for ever, in its mournful hymn,

Of ocean's anthem swell ?

Wert thou a murmurer long
In crystal palaces beneath the seas,
Ere, on the bright air. thou hadst heard the breeze

Pour its full tide of song ?

Another thing with thee —
Are there not gorgeous cities in the deep,
Buried with flashing gems that darkly sleep,

Hid by the mighty sea ?

And say, 0 lone sea-shell,

Are there not costly things, and sweet perfumes,
Scatter'd in waste o'er that sea-gulf of tombs 1

Hush thy low moan, and tell.

But yet, and more than all —
Has not each foaming wave in fury toss'd
O'er earth's most beautiful, the brave, the lost,

Like a dark funeral pall I

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 185

TO THE MEMORY OF A FRIEND.

When shines the star, by thee loved best,

Upon these soft delicious eves,
Lighting the ringdove to her nest,

Where trembling stir the darkling leaves ;
When flings the wave its crest of foam

Above the shadowy -mantled seas ;
A softness o'er my heart doth come,

Linking thy memory with these :
For if, amid those orbs that roll,

Thou hast at times a thought of me,
For every one that stirs thy soul

A thousand stir my own of thee.

Even now thy dear remember'd eyes,

Fill'd up with floods of radiant light,
Seem bending from the twilight skies,

Outshining all the stars of night :
And thy young face, divinely fair,

Like a bright cloud, seems melting through,
While low, sweet whispers fill the air,

Making my own lips whisper too ;
For never does the soft south wind

Steal o'er the hush'd and lonely sea,
But it awakens in my mind

A thousand memories of thee.

Lost one ! companion of the blest,

Thou who in purer air dost dwell,
Ere froze the life-drops in thy breast,

Or fled thy soul its mystic cell,
We pass'd on earth such hours of bliss

As none but kindred hearts can know,
And, happy in a world like this,

But dream'd of that to which we go,
Till thou wert call'd in thy young years

To wander o'er that shoreless sea,
Where, like a mist, time disappears,

Melting into eternity.

Miss Hannah F. Gould, born in 1792, at Lancaster in
Vermont, removed in her youth to the vicinity of Bos
ton. She has written a number of pieces distinguished
by that refined and somewhat mystic tone in which
American poetry often delights. The following appears
an agreeable specimen of that playful communion with
the objects of nature which is almost peculiar to it : —

VOL. III. M

186 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

THE SNOW-FLAKE.

" Now, if I fall, will it be my lot

To be cast in some lone and lowly spot,

To melt, and to sink unseen, or forgot ?

And there will my course be ended ?"
'Twas this a feathery Snow-flake said,
As down through measureless space it stray'd,
Or as, half by dalliance, half-afraid,

It seem'd in mid-air suspended.

" Oh, no !" said the Earth, " thou shalt not lie
Neglected and lone on my lap to die,
Thou pure and delicate child of the sky !

For thou wilt be safe in my keeping.
But, then, I must give thee a lovelier form —
Thou wilt not be a part of the wintry storm,
But revive, when the sunbeams are yellow and warm,

And the flowers from my bosom are peeping !

" And then thou shalt have thy choice, to be
Restored in the lily that decks the lea,
In the jessamine-bloom, the anemone,

Or aught of thy spotless whiteness :—
To melt, and be cast in a glittering bead,
With the pearls that the night scatters over the mead,
In the cup where the bee and the fire-fly feed,

Regaining thy dazzling brightness.

" Or, wouldst thou return to a home in the skies,
To shine in the Iris I'll let thee arise,
And appear in the many and glorious dyes

A pencil of sunbeams is blending !
But true, fair thing, as my name is Earth,
I'll give thee a new and vernal birth,
When thou shalt recover thy primal worth,

And never regret descending !"

We must not conclude without mentioning- two other
maidens, whose early genius and fate have excited deep
sympathy both in Europe and America. Dr Davidson,
a respectable physician at Plattsburg in the state of
New York, had a daughter Lucretia, to whom his narrow
circumstances allowed him to give only the education
afforded by a public school on the Lancasterian system.
She soon showed an ardent thirst for knowledge, and
after being taught rudely to trace the letters, began
writing short pieces of poetry. They were carefully

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 187

concealed, and only discovered by the disappearance
of the paper employed. Different opinions then pre
vailed among her friends as to the propriety of culti
vating this intellectual taste. In compliance with
some, she for a time renounced it; but her health
then sunk ; she became pale and emaciated, and with
her mother's concurrence resumed her studies. Mean
time she was diligent in her domestic duties, and on
being presented by a gentleman with twenty dollars,
which she would have ardently desired to spend in
books, preferred to take them to her father, whom she
knew to be in difficulties. Another individual, possessed
of property, and admiring her genius, undertook to place
her in the distinguished seminary of Mrs Willard. She
there applied to study with an ardour too intense for a
constitution which had already shown symptoms of
decline. Her health became deeply affected ; and after
some time, and several changes of scene, she expired
within a month of the age of seventeen.

The precocity of her genius appears to us to have
been overrated. Her poem on " Washington," written
at twelve, though it first strongly drew her parents'
attention, contains little more than smooth versification ;
and even that on the birth of her sister, when she was
past fourteen, is rather commonplace. Yet not long
after she addressed some verses to her sister Mrs Town-
send, in which, amid great imperfections, an original
genius is fully developed.

When evening spreads her shades around,
And darkness fills the arch of heaven ;

When not a murmur, not a sound
To Fancy's sportive ear is given ;

When the broad orb of heaven is bright,

And looks around with golden eye ;
When Nature, soften'd by her light,

Seems calmly, solemnly to lie ;

Then, when our thoughts are raised above
This world, and all this world can give :

Oh, sister, sing the song I love,
And tears of gratitude receive.

188 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

The song which thrills my bosom's core,
And hovering, trembles, half-afraid ;

Oh, sister, sing the song once more
Which ne'er for mortal ear was made.

'Twere almost sacrilege to sing

Those notes amid the glare of day, —

Notes borne by angels' purest wing,
And wafted by their breath away.

When sleeping in my grass-grown bed,
Shouldst thou still linger here above,

Wilt thou not kneel beside my head,
And, sister, sing the song I love ?

The same observation may apply to the following : —

Thou brightly glittering star of even,

Thou gem upon the brow of heaven,

Oh ! were this fluttering spirit free,

How quick 'twould spread her wings to thee.

How calmly, brightly dost thou shine,
Like the pure lamp in virtue's shrine !
Sure the fair world which thou mayst boast
Was never ransom'd, never lost.

There beings pure as heaven's own air,
Their hopes, their joys together share ;
While hovering angels touch the string,
And seraphs spread the sheltering wing.

There cloudless days and brilliant nights,
Illumed by heaven's refulgent lights ;
There, seasons, years, unnoticed roll,
And unregarded by the soul.

Thou little sparkling star of even,
Thou gem upon an azure heaven,
How swiftly will I soar to thee,
When this imprisoned soul is free !

In her sixteenth year, she wrote three " prophecies,"
one of which, though somewhat wild, displays such
power that we cannot forbear quoting a portion :

Let me gaze a while on that marble brow,

On that full dark eye, on that cheek's warm glow ;

Let me gaze for a moment, that, ere I die,

I may read thee, maiden, a prophecy.

That brow may beam in glory a while ;

That cheek may bloom, and that lip may smile ;

That full dark eye may brightly beam

In life's gay morn, iu hope's young dream :

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 189

But clouds shall darken that brow of snow,

And sorrow blight thy bosom's glow.

I know by that spirit so haughty and high,

I know by that brightly flashing eye,

That, maiden, there's that within thy breast

Which hath mark-'d thee out for a soul unbless'd.

At Lucretia's death, her sister Margaret was just two
years and a half old. She soon displayed great quick
ness of parts, and hearing constantly from her parents
of her sister, and their regrets for her loss, conceived an
ardent ambition to supply her place — to become all she
had promised to be. Every facility was afforded, and
she made rapid progress in her studies ; but about seven
her health began to be affected. It was recruited by
visits to Saratoga, and to her sister Mrs Townsend in
Canada ; but relapses always occurred, and the disease
being aggravated by a series of family distresses, came
to a fatal termination, when she had lived only fifteen
years and eight months. Her early pieces appear supe
rior to those of her sister. The following at the age of
six, after viewing a thunder-storm, may be considered re
markable, as containingsome beauty, and not put together
mechanically, but evidently out of her own thoughts : —
The lightning plays along the sky,
The thunder rolls and bursts on high ;
Jehovah's voice amid the storm
I heard. Methinks I see his form,
As riding o'er the clouds of even,
He spreads his glory o'er the heaven,

The following, written at ten, after the family had
removed from a residence on the banks of Lake Cham-
plain, though it does not reach any high strain, exhibits
true poetic feeling joined to childlish simplicity in a
manner extremely pleasing : —

Thy verdant banks, thy lucid stream,
Lit by the sun's resplendent beam,
Reflect each bending tree so light,
Upon thy bounding bosom bright.
Could I but see thee once again,
My own, my beautiful Champlain !

The little isles that deck thy breast,
And calmly on thy bosom rest ;

190 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

How often, in my childish glee,

I've sported round them bright and free.

Could I but see thee once again,

My own, my beautiful Champlain !

How oft I've watched the freshening shower,
Bending the summer tree and flower,
And felt my little heart beat high,
As the bright rainbow graced the sky.
Could I but see thee once again,
My own, my beautiful Champlain !

And shall I never see thee more
My native lake, my much-loved shore ?
And must I bid a long adieu
My dear, my infant home, to you ?
Could I but see thee once again,
My own, my beautiful Champlain !

We have not, however, seen any pieces displaying great
powers till towards the close of her career. One of the
best is the " Address to the Spirit of Lucretia :" —

Oh, thou, so early lost, so long deplored !

Pure spirit of my sister, be thou near !
And while I touch this hallow'd harp of thine,

Bend from the skies, sweet sister, bend and hear !

For thee I pour this unaffected lay ;

To thee these simple numbers all belong :
For though thine earthly form has pass'd away,

Thy memory still inspires my childish song.

Take then this feeble tribute :— 'tis thine own—
Thy fingers sweep my trembling heart-strings o'er,

Arouse to harmony each buried tone,
And bid its waken'd music sleep no more !

Long has thy voice been silent, and thy lyre
Hung o'er thy grave, in death's unbroken rest ;

But when its last sweet tones were borne away,
One answering echo linger'd in my breast.

Oh ! thou pure spirit ! if thou hoverest near,
Accept these lines, unworthy though they be,

Faint echoes from thy fount of song divine,
By thee inspired, and dedicate to thee !

It may thus be remarked, that neither of the sisters
wrote any poetry of a high class till fifteen, an age not
preternaturally precocious. Margaret's pieces are very

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 191

beautiful and pleasing, yet they want a certain ethereal
tone which gives a charm to those of her sister. We
cannot but lament the premature extinction in both of
a genius which promised to be at once rich and delicate ;
nor can we concur in predictions made even by respect
able critics, that this genius was a mere vapour, which
would have disappeared on their reaching maturity.
There are many examples of great poets displaying
their powers very early, without any such result. A
reputation, founded on the exercise of memory or other
lower faculties, may not be supported at an age when
those of a higher order are demanded ; but we do not
recollect an instance in which minds that early showed
themselves " pregnant with celestial fire " have sunk
down into apathy and stupidity.

Our readers may now think that the evidences af
forded of the fertility of the American muse are amply
sufficient ; yet they must be told that a very consider
able number of writers have been passed over, who
rise decidedly above mediocrity. These less distin
guished votaries of the muse display of course many
diversities of style and genius, of which we could
gladly have afforded specimens ; but our limits will
not permit us to do more than give the following list of
their names : — Andrews Norton, born at Boston in
1786, for some time professor of sacred literature at
Harvard ; R. H. Wilde of Baltimore, a member of
congress, and distinguished in several branches of litera
ture ; the Rev. Henry Ware, professor in Harvard
college ; George Hill, born near Newhaven, attached to
the navy as professor of mathematics ; James G.
Brooks of New York ; Albert G. Greene of Providence ;
William Leggett, the journalist, coadjutor of Bryant,
who has paid an eloquent tribute to his character ;
Sumner L. Fan-field, author of the Destruction of
Pompeii and a number of other poems displaying
considerable power; Rufus Dawes of Boston, an ac
complished scholar ; the Rev. Walter Colton of Vermont,
who, as naval chaplain, visited most of the countries on

192 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

the Mediterranean ; J. 0. Rockwell, a literary man,
born at Lebanon in Connecticut, who died prematurely
at the age of twenty-four ; John H. Bryant, brother to
William, some portion of whose genius he shares ;
Oliver W. Holmes, son to the annalist ; Park Benjamin,
born in Demerara, editor of a popular literary gazette
at New York ; Willis G. Clark, a native of New York
state, editor of the Philadelphia Gazette till his death
in 1841 ; Isaac McLellan of Portland, Maine ; William
J. Pabodie of Providence ; William H. Burleigh of
Connecticut ; Louis Legrand Noble of New York.
There are also several bards of the other sex who
can only be similarly enumerated : — Mrs Seba Smith
of Portland ; Mrs Emma C. Embury of Brooklyn ;
Elizabeth E. Ellett, a lady learned in European litera
ture, from which she made some good translations ;
Lucy Hooper, who was born near Boston, and died at
the age of twenty-four.

In closing this portion of our subject, it may be
briefly remarked, as a further proof of the wide
spread poetical taste existing in America, that the
casual votaries of the muse are by no means incon
siderable either in numbers or ability. Mr Griswold,
in an appendix to his poetical specimens, has given
several single pieces, and sometimes two or three, from
about seventy writers of this description, some of which
might fairly be put in competition with the best pro
ductions of the regular bards. In many cases, the
author is a man engaged in public or other business,
who, from the impulse of feeling, contributes an oc
casional poem to a newspaper or some literary miscel
lany. We may mention, in particular, Q,uincy Adams,
ex-president ; Mr Everett, the orator and statesman ;
Mrs Elizabeth Townsend of Boston ; and Governor
Morris of New York. An occasional offering to the
muses by persons engaged in commerce or public life is
an occurrence certainly not peculiar to America, though
perhaps more frequent there than elsewhere ; but the
refined and elegant taste of a large number of her more

THE LITERATURE OP AMERICA. 193

active citizens, which such a circumstance manifests,
cannot but be regarded as an auspicious feature in the
moral aspect of the republic.

The romance and novel may be properly considered
here as a branch closely allied to poetry, and to which
the strong reading propensities of the American public
are very much directed. The refined and ideal charac
ter which distinguishes the national poetry, however,
could scarcely be expected to be realized in a depart
ment coming into such intimate contact with actual life.
Accordingly, it deals principally in broad homely real
ities, and reflects the bustling activity which pervades
the social system. At the same time, we are not aware
that any works of this class have been produced which
can be considered immoral.

William Brockden Brown, who first broke up the
soil of American literature, employed himself chiefly in
this species of composition. After applying first to the
law, he became disgusted with it, like so many others,
and, first among his countrymen, sought to earn a pre
carious livelihood by periodical works, for which the
taste was then only in its infancy, and by novel- writing.
In these his aim was to excite interest by the display of
the most violent and extreme passions and incidents : for
instance, the hero of one, under a hallucination of mind,
murders his wife and child. These are not legitimate
modes of interesting and gratifying the human mind ;
yet both the scenes and emotions are drawn with ex
traordinary power, and when there was a prevailing
taste for the daring machinery of the German school,
these productions drew considerable attention. We are
not aware that they have been received into the class of
standard works ; but they made a movement upon the
waters, which prepared the way for others of a more
regular description. Brown died in 1810, when no rival
had yet arisen.

He was succeeded, after a considerable interval, by
Cooper, who soon established a more solid reputation.

194 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

As he has been fully received among standard writers
of that class in England, where no adventitious circum
stance acted in his favour, it would be vain, as some
have done, to deny to him the possession of substantial
merit. His admirers have even placed him on a level
with Scott, but we imagine without any sufficient reason.
His defects are considerable. His wit, especially in the
mouth of his heroines, is seldom either happy or well
placed ; his dialogues are lengthy, and the efforts
to make them natural do not always succeed ; nor do
his characters usually excite much interest. Still he de
lineates with peculiar force of outline both these and the
aspect of nature, communicating to the whole a vivid
reality which has seldom been equalled ; and his works
possess a value in point of information, by bringing
before us states of society that are new and peculiar.
His pictures of sea-life are such as others have drawn,
and the technical language makes them not very gener
ally intelligible. But his representation of the vast
unsubdued regions of the west, and the wild and rude
beings by whom they are tenanted, is extremely curious.
Born in New Jersey, he was early removed by his
parents to a property which they possessed on the banks
of a beautiful lake in the western part of New York.
He there became familiar with forest life, and after
wards served for several years with reputation in the
navy, where he acquired materials for his marine nar
ratives. Having then married and retired to a cot
tage on Lake Otsego, he commenced the composition
of his works. The reputation which they acquired
in Europe induced him to spend some years on that
continent. Having resided for a considerable time in
Paris, he became the centre of a kind of political party,
and took an active interest in the relief of the Polish
refugees. His friends are strongly attached to him ;
but his demeanour in general society has been a subject
of criticism. In Europe he is censured as too sturdy
an assertor of republican manners, while his country-

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 195

men heave complained that his residence abroad has given
him an attachment to artificial and aristocratic life.

Miss Sedgwick stands eminent as a writer of the
same class, though in a quite different style. Born in
the heart of the agricultural district of New England,
she delineates and recommends those quiet, steady, re
gular habits, which distinguish that very respectable
population. These do not seem quite appropriate ele
ments of romance ; yet she has succeeded in giving to
them a deep interest, and where strong passion and
feeling were called forth by the subject, has shown no
want of power in expressing them. Several of her
works include a large portion of the ordinary materials
of novel-writing, in which she does not excel. The
incidents introduced with this view are strained and
improbable, and the attempts to describe fashionable
manners are not happily executed. Later works, in
which she has remained within her proper sphere, seem
justly considered the best. The most laudable inten
tions are obvious in all her compositions ; perhaps indeed
the design to instruct is rather too obvious ; and there
may be some prejudice in her strong hostility to the
foreign refinements introduced by the wealthy and aris
tocratic classes.

There are not a few other writers of this class, who
have even made their way into this country, but of
whose merits we cannot here enter into a critical esti
mate. Dr Bird, in his Adventures of Robin Day,
Calavar, Nick of the Woods, &c., has displayed a vein
of humour and pictures of common life, in a style some
what resembling that of Smollett. Mr Ware, in three
romances, has sought to exhibit the state of society in
Palmyra, Rome, and Jerusalem, under the Roman
empire. These works evince classic taste and fine
poetic feeling. Merits somewhat similar may be dis
covered in Mr Fay's Ida of Athens.

We shall now proceed to the class of moral and lite
rary essays, which, though less prolific than those now
surveyed, includes perhaps the writers of the highest

196 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

rank, and who have most decidedly contributed to that
measure of literary reputation which America enjoys.
At their head, and at that of the literature of his coun
try, stands decidedly the name of Washington Irving.
Born and educated at New York, he at first, like so many
others, aspired to the bar. He obtained one solitary brief ;
but, as the time for pleading approached, his delicate
and sensitive mind shrunk from this public appearance,
and he handed it over to a friend. He then attempted
trade, without finding a greater aptitude for this pursuit,
and finally devoted himself entirely to letters. By his
contributions to Salmagundi and other periodicals, he
acquired the reputation of a man of talent. About 1819,
he sailed for Europe, touching first at Sicily, whence
he proceeded to England. Soon after his arrival there,
he produced the first volume of the Sketch-book ; from
which it is evident that though his genius doubtless re
ceived an impulse from the number of new objects there
presented, it must have been mainly formed in his native
country. Since that time, his career has been in the
foremost ranks of English literature ; and his works are
so universally known, as to leave no occasion for speci
mens, or even for any elaborate character. He may
perhaps be considered the most finished and polished
writer of an age, in which, among ourselves, the taste
seems rather to be for rough energy and home-painting,
while his is formed on the classic models of the age of
Anne. The style, though it does not reach the loftiest
heights of oratory and poetry, displays a rich and warm
glow of feeling, and the reader is carried down a smooth
stream of beautiful sentiments and images.

Dr Channing, too, shall be considered under this class,
though both his theme and tone are of a more lofty and
serious cast. We are little acquainted with his theolo
gical works, and do not conceive that we could assent to
his views upon that subject ; but the manner in which he
brings out religion as a ruling principle, not only over
the actions, but the tastes, habits, and general pursuits of
life, is peculiarly happy, and such as might with advan-

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 197

tage be followed under any creed. His style is at once
powerfully energetic and highly polished. It has been
complained of as monotonous ; yet this seems rather to
arise from a uniformly sustained elevation of thought,
than from artificial and studied forms of expression, as
in Johnson and Gibbon ; and hence it has not the same
cloying effect. The North American Review boasts of
it as in this department superior to that of any other
living writer in the English language. We may, how
ever, oppose to it that of Chalmers, which, though not
so correct and classical, is superior certainly in rich
imagery and varied illustration. As in the case of Mr
Irving, his works are too well known to render any speci
men necessary.

History was a branch in which the United States to a
late period remained very deficient. Fisher Ames, indeed,
as above quoted, states reasons for thinking that it could
not, at least for many ages, obtain successful cultivators ;
but these obstacles have recently been overcome. Mr
Bancroft, having undertaken the history of the United
States, has applied himself with devoted zeal to this
great task, and shown that there existed ample though
somewhat scattered materials for an interesting narrative.
In the collection of these a laudable industry has been
employed ; his judgment, when not biassed by certain
influences to be presently noticed, is sound ; and the
philosophic surveys which he occasionally takes of por
tions of history are particularly excellent. That of the
English revolution, at the beginning of the second
volume, though we do not know exactly why it got
there, is one of the most masterly sketches of this kind
we ever perused, — we know nothing in Montesquieu
superior to it. Amid such great merits, there is only
one serious fault, which threatens a good deal to nullify
them. A sort of amiable enthusiasm from time to time
seizes him, and while it lasts, carries him considerably
above the regions of fact and reality. Then, even when
he has authentic documents before him, he prefers to draw
from a beau ideal in his own imagination. The chords

198 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

which, when touched, excite this state of feeling, are
pure democracy — religious freedom, to the extent of
separation between church and state — and the indepen
dence of America upon Great Britain. Whoever pro
fesses any of these objects is at once divested in his eyes
of every human imperfection, and becomes a being
nearly angelic. The characters of Williams and Bacon,
delineated almost entirely under these influences, are
little better than specimens of romance. Unfortunately,
as the work proceeds, this aerial tone rather gains ground ;
and \ve are led to fear, that in later periods, when the
principles above mentioned became the ruling impulses
to national action, his career will be in a great measure
among the clouds. We might otherwise have hoped that
his research would have thrown light upon a period
which, notwithstanding so much having been written
upon it, is yet somewhat imperfectly known.

Mr Prescott has presented the world with a history
of Ferdinand and Isabella, a subject indeed interesting
to America, yet placed in a remote region. The diffi
culties arising from that cause were greatly aggravated
by the circumstance that the author, during a great
part of the time in which his researches were carried
on, was completely blind, and obliged to have his
materials read to him by a person who did not under
stand the language. Under all these obstacles, he has
produced a work which has thrown important new
light on a great historical era. It may perhaps be
remarked of him still more decidedly than of Bancroft,
that the reflective part, the discussions, and general
views are the best ; while the narrative scarcely pos
sesses that degree of animation of which the subject
might have been susceptible.

Biography of public men expanded into somewhat of
the historical form, has been much cultivated in America,
and with success. The lives of Washington by Marshall
and Sparks form the most conspicuous examples.
Without aspiring to any great height either of style
or research, they are careful, faithful, and agreeable.

THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA. ] 99

The same remark may apply to a number of the narra
tives included in Mr Sparks' series of American biography.

M. de Tocqueville reproaches the Americans with a
total indifference to the preservation of those state-
papers and documents which form the materials of
history, stating that he had been allowed, in important
instances, to carry off the originals as things of no
value. We know not whether this censure from one
whom they respect has roused their attention to the
subject ; but certainly, within the last twelve years,
they have done much to redeem their reputation.
There has been published at Washington, under the
authority of congress, a collection in twenty-three folio
volumes, which have afforded valuable materials for the
present work. Mr Sparks has also produced, in twelve
volumes, a valuable work containing the diplomatic
correspondence carried on during the revolution. His
torical societies formed in Massachusetts and other states
have collected and published documents of great extent
and value.

The narration of voyages and travels, giving an ac
count of the present state of the world, and of the dis
covery of its unknown regions, has in modern times
acquired an importance almost rivalling that of history,
wrhile it is in some respects more attractive. In this
department the Americans have risen to considerable
eminence. Even congress has been induced to take
a certain concern in its promotion ; though the object
was principally to explore the almost unknown regions
claimed as part of its territory. Thus, however, the ex
peditions of Lewis and Clarke to the Pacific Ocean, of
Schoolcraft to the sources of the Mississippi, of Pike, Long,
and James to the territory along the Rocky Mountains,
have made important additions to our knowledge of the
continent and indeed of the world. The gentlemen
employed in these expeditions were apparently well
selected ; they performed their duty with energy, and
have given interesting narratives of their observations.
More recently other travellers, led by the desire of

200 THE LITERATURE OF AMERICA.

knowledge to visit foreign countries, have acquired just
claims to respect. Dr Robinson of New York is
generally allowed to have observed the Holy Land and
adjacent countries with greater accuracy, and thrown a
fuller light on the locality of the memorable events there
acted, than any of his numerous predecessors. On this
consideration the Geographical Society of London, in
1842, presented him with their medal. Mr Stephens,
by his observations on the oriental regions, and still
more by his researches in Central America, narrated in
an eloquent and pleasing style, has obtained a place
among the most esteemed and most popular of modern
travellers. Few more striking instances of courage and
perseverance are on record than those displayed by Mr
Catlin. Quitting the bosom of his family, he resided
during several years in the tents of Indian savages, in
spired with such hatred against his countrymen, that it
seemed almost certain death to fall into their power.
He has thus been enabled fully to paint and describe
that remarkable race, which he anticipates will erelong
disappear from the face of the earth. Under this head,
we cannot but mention the long and wide wanderings
performed by M. Audubon in collecting materials for
his grand work on American ornithology. Now, indeed,
that Britain has lost so many of her illustrious explorers,
the Americans perhaps, as to those still surviving, may
nearly rival her. There appears in what they under
take a determined and thorough-going spirit, which,
when fairly turned to the laudable objects treated in
this chapter, may be expected to lead to very valuable
results.

The kindred branches of geographical delineation
and statistics have also been pursued with industry
and success. The works of Darby, Pitkin, Flint, &c.,
are elaborate and valuable. Government even has not
been remiss in collecting such intelligence. The census
of 1840 embraces many valuable particulars altogether
omitted in that of Britain, which confines itself to a
simple enumeration of the people.

NATURAL HISTORY. 201

CHAPTER V.

Geology — Botany — Zoology.

SECTION i. GEOLOGY.— Natural Divisions— Alleghany Moun
tains — Lines of Elevation and Depression— Primary Rocks —
Gold— Transition Rocks— Cliff Limestone — Lead-mines—
Salt-springs— Rock-salt — Old Red Sandstone — Mountain
Limestone — Iron-mines — Coal Formation — Anthracite —
Bituminous Coal— Richmond Coal-field— New Red Sandstone
— Ornithichnites— Oolite— Chalk Formation — Tertiary De
posits—Drift—Polished Rocks— Alluvium — Infusoria— Ex
tinct Mammalia — Review of Changes. SECTION n. BOTANY. —
BotanicalRegions — Natural Families — Ranunculacese — May
Apple — Papaveracese — Magnolias — Aniseed-tree — Umbel-
liferse— Ginseng— Vines — Pitcher-plants — Tree-primrose —
Witch Hazel — Dogwood— Cactaceee — Cruciferso — Violets —
Passion-flowers — Loblolly Bay — Maples — Buck's Eye —
Lime-trees — Euphorbiacese — Roses — Leguminous Plants —
Locust-tree — Sumach— Hornbeam — Beech — Chesnut — Oak
— Birch — Mulberry — Elm — Walnut— Hickory — Willow —
Plane-tree — Sweet Gum — Laurel — Andromeda — Azalea —
Holly— Compositse — Golden Rod — Labiatse — Solanacese —
Ash — Pines —Cabbage-tree — Liliacese — Grasses — Conclu
sion. SECTION in. ZOOLOGY.— Birds — Vulture — Bald Eagle —
Bird of Washington— Osprey— Buzzards— Hawks — Screech-
owl —Virginian Owl — Chuck- WilPs-Widow — Whip-poor-
Will— Night Hawk— Chimney-swallow— Purple Martin —
Humming-bird— Nuthatch —Wrens — Thrushes — Mocking
bird— Fly-catcher — King Bird— Blue Jay— Crow — Raven —
Grakle — Oriole — Rice-birds — Indigo-bird — Nonpareil —
Carolina Parrot — Woodpecker — Cuckoo — Passenger Pigeon
—Turtle-dove— Turkey— Quail— Ruffed Grouse — Crane—
Heron — Ibis — Snipe — Woodcock — Rail — Canada Goose —
Widgeon— Wood-duck— Snake-bird— Gulls— Petrels — Dol-
chick. Reptiles — Tortoises — Cayman — Rattlesnakes —

VOL. Ill, N

202 NATURAL HISTORY.

Frogs— Salamander. Fishes— Perch— Weakfish— Drums-
Sheep's Head — Mackerel — Mullet — Carp — Pike — Flying-
fish— Salmon— Smelt— Herring— Sturgeon— Amblyopsis.

SECTION I. GEOLOGY.

THE central portion of the North American continent
included in the territory of the United States, is divided
into three great regions by mountain-chains. The first
of these is the Atlantic slope, including the eastern
declivity of the Alleghany Mountains, and the basins
drained by the rivers that flow from them to that ocean.
The second is the basin of the Mississippi, or more pro
perly of the Missouri, comprising the vast central valley
watered by these rivers and their innumerable tribu
taries. The third region, or the Pacific slope, is enclosed
between the shores of this ocean and the chain of the
Rocky Mountains, which divides it from the former.
Each of these divisions, surpassing most of the European
kingdoms in size, has its own peculiar features, and is
distinguished by soil, climate, and natural productions.
The western portion, including the Rocky Mountains,
with both their declivities, is little known, and our pre
sent notice is limited to the first district, and that eastern
part of the second which is already colonized.'*

The most important feature in this region is the
Alleghany Mountains, which, rising up on the southern

* A sketch of the various works on American geology, and
a list of the different surveys of the separate states (now amount
ing to about sixty in number, with teji or twelve thousand pages
of letterpress), will be found in Hitchcock's Elem. Geol. p.
299-304, and Address to Ass. of Am. Geol. p. 6-9. A still more
interesting account of its progress, by one of its earliest cul
tivators, Professor Silliman, is contained in his admirable ad
dress to the same association in 1842. In 1805, Dr Silliman
visited Edinburgh in pursuit of science, and it is pleasing to
observe his recognition of obligation to the distinguished geolo
gists who then adorned " that focus of talent and knowledge,"
— Professor Jameson and Dr John Murray, as followers of
Werner ; Sir James Hall, Professor Playfair, and Professor
T. Hope, in the school of Hutton. See his Journal, vol. xlv.
p. 21 7-250.

GEOLOGY. 203

shore of the St Lawrence, extend along the Atlantic
coast for nearly 1200 miles, retiring farther into the
interior as they proceed south. This range is broken
up by numerous valleys, those transverse to the ridge
forming the main courses of the rivers and the general
lines of communication from the coast to the interior, as
in the Erie and Chesapeake canals. The general direc
tion of these mountains is from north-east to south-west,
and the chain consists of several distinct ridges, separated
by longitudinal valleys. Of these parallel ranges of
mountains, those north of the Hudson have nearly a
north and south direction, somewhat transverse to the
general chain. Farther south, the partial lines of eleva
tion coincide with the general axis ; and American geo
logists distinguish four ranges in passing from the coast
to the interior. These are named the Eastern system,
the Blue Ridge, the Appalachian, and the Alleghany
systems, the culminating point being Black Mountain,
in North Carolina, 6476 feet high. In the south, the
chain bends round towards the Mississippi ; and the Pro
fessors Rogers distinguish nine groups, in five of which
the axes are straight, whilst in the four that alternate
with them they are curved. The full explanation of
this remarkable system is however still wanting.

To complete this view of the American mountains,
we may add, that on the opposite side of the Mississippi,
the Ozark and Masscrne Mountains unite with the
former chain to shut in the upper valley, whose waters,
gathered from a circuit of many thousand miles, here
combine on their way to the Mexican Gulf. The Ozark
group seems to form part of another anticlinal elevation
dividing the western basin of the Mississippi from that
of the Ohio, and in Canada pointed out by the water
shed between Lake Huron on the one hand, and Erie and
Ontario on the other. Between this range and the Al-
leghanies is perhaps the longest continued line of depres
sion on the earth, commencing in the Gulf of St Law
rence, passing up that river, through Lakes Ontario and
Erie, and thence down the valleys of the Ohio and Mis-

204 NATURAL HISTORY.

sissippi, to the Gulf of Mexico. These lines of elevation
and depression have had a powerful influence on the
physical structure of the country, and in future ages
are probably destined to exercise one equally conspicuous
on the distribution of the population, with its civil and
social relations.

The same causes have determined the geographical
distribution of the mineral masses and the grand geolo
gical features of the country. The power which elevated
the Alleghany range has also raised the whole central
basin, with the recent formations it contains, so that the
older and metamorphic strata appear only in the moun
tains, and on their slope towards the sea. There is thus
a band of primary rocks, which, commencing in Maine
and the New England States, where it covers almost the
whole country, extends south to the Hudson. Beyond
this, with a short interruption, it forms another band,
eighty to a hundred miles wide, as far south as the
Alabama river, where it is lost below the alluvium of
the Mississippi. West of this river, the Rocky Moun
tains consist of similar primary formations, broken
through by volcanic eruptions, which, though unknown
in the east, are here said to cover a vast extent of ter
ritory. It would appear that primary rocks also connect
this range with those in the upper part of New York ;
almost enclosing on three sides the central basin, in
which is contained an immense deposit of secondary
and more recent strata, which are also found in con
siderable abundance along the Atlantic coast.

The general structure of the country is thus very
simple ; and we shall now notice the principal forma
tions, beginning with the lowest or primary. As already
mentioned, this covers, with few exceptions, all the
northern states. In New Jersey, it is interrupted by a
band of red sandstone, running south to Virginia and
North Carolina ; but the primary rocks appear again at
Trenton, and thence form the whole of the eastern
system of mountains. Their limit, on the east, is marked
by a series of falls or rapids in the rivers, which are

GEOLOGY. 205

precipitated over the ledge formed by their outcrop.
As the tide cannot ascend higher, many of the large
cities are situated near this boundary. The falls mark
ing it are seen near Trenton on the Delaware, Phila
delphia on the Schuylkill, near Baltimore, at George
town on the Potomac, Richmond on James River,
Munford Falls on the Roanoke, east of Raleigh, near
Camden on the Pedee River, near Milledgeville on
the Oconee, whence the boundary curves round to the
Mississippi, near Natchez. In the latter part of their
course they contract rapidly in breadth, especially in
Georgia, where they leave the Atlantic basin.

This formation consists of igneous and metamorphic
rocks, similar to those in our own country. Of the
former, granite — sometimes porphyritic or graphic, at
others sienitic — is the most common, though seldom
forming large masses. It has sometimes an irregular,
crystalline structure, dividing into large rhomboidal
fragments. In South Carolina and Georgia, the whole
rock, to a depth of thirty or forty feet, is often decom
posed into separate crystals of quartz, felspar, and mica,
almost without cohesion. In New England, a sienitic
variety, in which the mica is replaced by hornblende,
is largely used for architectural purposes. This forms
a transition from the true granite to the porphyries and
greenstones connected with it, which are also very
abundant, the igneous rocks in Massachusetts covering
nearly a fourth of the surface. Of these, there seems
to have been very many eruptions, Professor Hitchcock
finding no less than eleven systems of veins in one
place near Salem. Serpentine, usually classed as ig
neous, is, according to this observer, often stratified and
associated with talcose slate. It is very abundant, and
furnishes, in several places, a beautiful ornamental stone,
named verd-antique marble. More certainly stratified
is gneiss, in many varieties and great extent, forming
perhaps near half the formation. Along with it mica-
slate is very common, less so hornblende-slate, clay-

206 NATURAL HISTORY.

slate, and talc or chlorite slate, the last rare in the gneiss.
Primary or granular limestone is also abundant.

In Essex county, west of Lake Champlain, Professor ,
Emmons describes a large formation of a granitic rock,
composed of blue or green Labrador felspar and hypers-
thene, which takes a beautiful polish, and, like the
whole primary formation, contains numerous beds and
veins of iron-ore. The granite in this and St Lawrence
county, he also states to contain genuine injected veins
of limestone ; and hence, witli some European geologists,
he proposes to class this rock among the unstratified or
igneous.* The whole north-western border of the pri
mary rocks, from Alabama to Canada, presents a con
tinuous belt of this rock, in general more or less mag-
nesian. As this mineral prevails, the marks of strati
fication become more indistinct, till they almost dis
appear in the pure dolomite, which is most abundant
near faults, igneous rocks, and the oldest gneiss. These
facts show that the limestones are merely metamorphic
deposits, altered by heat and sublimation from below,
and not, as Rozet and Emmons suppose, original plutonic
formations. The carbon found in the mica and talc
slates, near the limestone, is also a result of this high
temperature, perhaps produced by the decomposition of
the carbonic acid of the calcareous rock.

Throughout the whole range of the mountains, from
Tennessee to New England, these rocks seem to have
been, elevated, folded together, and in some degree in
verted. The general dip of the strata is at a high angle
to the east, yet the most recent beds are found on the
west, apparently covered by the older members of the
series. Professor Hitchcock and others suppose that
the strata, whilst yet flexible, have been compressed by
powerful forces at the extremities, and consequently
folded together, but other explanations have been given.
Be the cause what it may, it has occasioned considerable

* New York Reports for 1837-1838, p. 196.

GEOLOGY. 207

difficulty in tracing the relations of this and the next
formation.*

The principal deposit of gold in the United States
occurs in these primary rocks, between the river Rappa-
hannock, in Virginia, and the Coosa, in Alabama ; but it
has also been found as far north as Somerset in Ver
mont, and south to the Gulf of Mexico. Its original
locality is in veins of porous quartz traversing the talc-
slate, and more rarely the gneiss and mica-slate, but
most is procured from the stream mines in the debris of
these rocks. The gravel is washed by negroes, who
each collect, in general, from one to five dwts. a-day,
though in some instances even 120 dwts. have been pro
cured. From 1823 to 1836, the gold sent from this
district to the mint of the United States amounted to
4,377,500 dollars, and the actual produce was estimated
at twice this amount. Remains of arrow-heads and
other instruments are found buried in these deposits.t

Above this is an immense continuous formation,
corresponding to the transition and older secondary
rocks of England. These form all the ranges of the
Alleghanies, except the eastern primary system, and all
the interior of the country, covering, in the United
States and British America, an area 2000 miles long by
1200 wide, or two and a half million square miles. The
amount of strata is no less enormous, those below the
coal having been estimated as five and a half miles thick ;
and in Pennsylvania Professor Rogers makes them, in
cluding this, two miles more, or 40,000 feet in all. It is
thus difficult to give a general view of this immense
deposit, especially as much confusion, both in the nomen
clature and arrangement, prevails among the American
writers. The old classification of Professor EatonJ is
now seldom used, and more recent geologists are en-

* Hitchcock's Geology (2d Edition, New York, 1841),
pp. 36, 37.

f Trans, of Penns. Geol. Soc., vol. i. p. 147.

J This may be found in Silliman's Journal, vol. xiv. ; or
somewhat modified, ib., vol. xxxvi.

208 NATURAL HISTORY.

deavouring to establish a parallel with the English for
mations described by Mr Murchison. Mr Conrad affirms
that this classification applies, in a more clear and satis
factory manner, to the rocks of America than to those
of Europe, since the series is certainly more complete,
and the organic remains more abundant in species. He
also affirms, that " the inhabitants of the seas (in which
these rocks were deposited) have been destroyed, and
new creatures succeeded at five different epochs, and
one of these groups is no more to be compared with an
other than is the oolite with the green sand formation." *
The lowest beds of this formation are a series of
graywacke, clay-slate, and limestone rocks, which Mr
Conrad names the Silurian System, and classes in four
divisions : — 1. Hudson's slates ; 2. Calciferous and Pots
dam sandstones ; 3. Mohawk limestone ; 4. Sparry lime
stone. These are spread over the greater portion of
New York, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee,
terminating in the hilly region of Northern Alabama,
where some of the New York deposits have been recog
nised. Mr Lyell, however, considers the Mohawk lime
stone and the associated rocks, seen on the shore of Lake
Ontario, as older than the lower silurian beds in Eng
land. The next beds are the Ontario and Protean
groups of Hall, the former consisting of red marls and
sandstone, the latter of dark shale with graptolites, and
limestone full of the Pentamerus oblonyus and P. Icevis.
These groups, according to Conrad, represent the Caradoc
sandstones of Murchison ; but Lyell regards them as
equivalent to the lower silurian rocks of that author.

* Silliman's Jour., vol. xxxv. p. 246. New York Reports
for 1839, p. 200. In vol. xxxviii. will be found his arrange
ment of the formations, twenty-four in number, below the coal,
with the corresponding English rocks. The fossil species
common to the Silurian rocks of Wales and the United States
are, in the Caradoc sandstone, six shells and two trilobites ;
in the Weulock shale, four shells and one trilobite ; in the
Wenlock limestone, eight corals, nine shells, and two trilobites ;.
and in the Ludlow rocks, four shells ; or, in all, eight corals,
twenty-three shells, and five trilobites, that is, thirty-six fossil
species.

GEOLOGY. 209

Iii the north-east of New York and Canada, they dip at
a low angle to the south, and near the Mohawk river
and Erie are lost under the newer formations, but again
appear at Columbus and Cincinnati, in Ohio, where the
rock named the blue limestone, at least a thousand feet
thick, forms the base of this and the neighbouring state
of Indiana, and terminate on the south, in Tennessee.
In Saratoga county, one of the limestone beds produces
a fine-grained, durable marble, and marks, " like those
produced in soft mud by drops of rain," have been ob
served on one of the strata, at Glen's Falls on the Hud
son.* On the Mississippi, above Dubuque, the lower
limestones of this group are said again to appear, and
thin beds of limestone and shale, corresponding to the
upper part in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois.

Above this is the Wenlock shale of Conrad, the most
important member of which is the Lockport limestone,
composing, with the inferior Rochester shales, the
Niagara group of Hall. In the east of New York this
system is thin, but increases much, especially the lime
stone, towards the west, and at the falls is at least 200
feet thick. Its fossils are partly identical with those of
England, partly peculiar to America. Near Niagara the
limestone is regularly stratified, and of a blueish or
brownish-gray colour, fine granular texture, and vitre
ous or resinous lustre. It contains bitumen, and also
in cavities an hydrous gypsum and fluor spar. The
gypsum forms flattened masses mostly five or ten tons
in weight, but varying from a few pounds to even fifty
tons. In Western Ohio this, " the cliff limestone," forms
the most important rock, and attains a great thickness
at Louisville in Kentucky and Madison in Indiana. It
increases still more in Northern Illinois, and in Wiscon
sin and Iowa, having a thickness of several hundred feet
(550 according to Professor Owen) on the Mississippi.
It is here nearly horizontal, with a slight dip to the
south, and is very deeply cut by ravines. The princi-

• Mather, New York Reports, p. 97.

210

NATURAL HISTORY.

pal lead-mines of the western territory are in this forma
tion, the mining district extending 87 miles from east
to west, and 54 from north to south, the annual produce
being about thirty million pounds of lead. Even in
New York, sulphurets of lead and zinc, in veins or de
tached masses, occur in this rock, but in this western
region are very common, the veins being often twelve
inches thick. Copper ore is also met with, but in far
less amount.*

The Wenlock limestones of Conrad correspond with
the " Onondaga salt group " and the " Helderberg lime
stones of Hall." The former of these differ essentially
from any of the British Silurian deposits, more resembling
the new red sandstone of that country. It consists of
red and green marls, with beds of gypsum, covered by a
limestone stratum, and attains its greatest thickness of
800 to 1000 feet in the central parts of New York,
thinning rapidly out on the east. It retains its full
dimensions as far west as the Niagara river, but disap
pears almost entirely on the Ohio near Louisville. All
the important brine-springs of the United States are in
this formation ; but rock-salt has only been found in one
place in the south-west of Virginia, about 18 miles from
Abingdon. The rocks here are sandstone and marly
clay, but at 60 feet deep a bed of gypsum, 160 feet thick,
was struck, and below it one of salt, 60 to 70 feet thick.
The springs contain from 10 to 20 per cent, of salt, the
strength of the brine increasing with the depth of the bor
ing, which is necessary in all places. Some of them are
1000 feet deep, and on the Muskingum some are 300 feet
below the level of the ocean. In 1840, the springs
in New York produced 2,867,884 bushels of salt, and
those in Virginia, 1,745,618 bushels ; the whole amount
manufactured in the States being 6,179,174 bushels. t

* Silliman's Jour., vol. xliii. pp. 35-72, 147-149.

t Hitchcock's Elem. Geol., p. 190. Hildreth in Silliman's
Jour., vol. xxix. p. 1-154. For comparison with the above, it may
be mentioned that the Cheshire springs in England contain 25
per cent, of salt ; sea-water about 4 per cent. In Southern

GEOLOGY. 211

The Helderberg limestone has its greatest thickness
(ahout 500 feet) in the mountains of that name, in Al
bany county, and Schoharie ; but before reaching Niagara
river becomes very thin, and in Western Kentucky and
Indiana can scarcely be distinguished from the Niagara
limestone with which it is in contact.

The Ludlow rocks of Murchison are represented by a
great group of fossiliferous shales and sandstones, well
seen near the Cayuga and Seneca lakes. In New York,
it is upwards of 1000 feet thick, and contains a greater
number of individual fossils than nearly all the other
groups ; but westward, at Louisville in Kentucky and
in Indiana, is represented by about 100 feet of black
shale, nearly or quite destitute of fossils.

Above this is the representative of the Devonian or
Old Red Sandstone formation of Europe. In New York,
the lower part of this is named the Chemung group, and
has been recognised by Mr Lyell as bearing a most
striking lithological similarity to the lower part of this
formation in Forfarshire and other parts of Scotland,
both in the thinly laminated gray sandstones and asso
ciated green shales. This group here is 1000 to 1500 feet
thick, but thins out west, being little more than 100 at
the Cuyahoga Falls in Ohio. With the Portage and
Gardeau rocks it forms the whole shore of Lake Erie,
from Dunkirk to Cleveland in Ohio ; the lower portions
in this state being mostly shale, the middle sandstone,
and the upper flagstones and shale. It contains very
few fossils, but is marked with " casts of mud furrows,"
which in New York distinguish the Gardeau rocks.
Farther west, in Indiana, these groups are about 300
feet thick, the higher portions being sandstone, with
cuneiform masses of limestone, composed of crinoidal
fragments and broken shells, and sometimes oolitic. A

Russia, the Elton Lake has from 25| to 29 per cent, of salt ; but
less than a half of this generally common salt (chloride of so
dium). Other lakes near it contain from 19 to 24 per cent, of
this mineral, with only 2 per cent, of other salts.— See Rose,
Reise iiach dem Ural, vol. ii. pp. 264, 269.

212 NATURAL HISTORY.

red sandstone at Blossburg in Pennsylvania contains
scales, which Mr Conrad refers to the Holoptychus nobi-
lissimus, and has on this account been identified with
the upper Devonian rocks of Britain. It thins out,
however, near the Genessee river in New York, so that
in the west of this state and in Ohio the coal formation
rests directly on the former or Chemung group. In In
diana, Illinois, and Kentucky, a limestone rock inter
venes, some of whose fossils (Products) have been iden
tified with those of the carboniferous or mountain lime
stone of Britain, the most characteristic being, however,
various species of Pentremites. The lower part of this
rock is compact, very fine grained, and in part fit even
for lithographic purposes ; the upper is coarser, contain
ing chert or hornstone, and on the top oolitic. The
mining district of Missouri, lying south of the river,
seems to be situated in this limestone, which is here
broken through by granite. Copper and lead ores are
abundant in the stratified rock, and specular iron ore in a
porphyry connected with the igneous formations. Pilot
Knob, five hundred feet high, and Iron Mountain, con
sist almost entirely of this ore, yielding seventy per cent,
of metal. This rock seems to differ altogether both in
character and position from any of the New York lime
stones, but is of great extent in the west, from Pennsyl
vania at least to Fort Leaven worth on the Missouri, and
north to St Anthony's Falls on the Mississippi.""

* Hall, New York Reports, and Notes on the Geology of the
Western States, Sill. Jour., vol. xlii. p. 51 ; Ib., vol. xlv. p. 55-
72. Proc. of Amer. Geol. Assoc. for 1843 ; Ib., vol. xlv. pp.
157, 340. In the last-mentioned limestone rock, on a slab ex
posed in the river-bed at St Louis, are figures of two human
feet, which have been described by Schoolcraft and Mantell
(who calls the rock sandstone) as actual marks, impressed when
the rock was still soft. Dr Owen, in whose possession they
now are, sees in them " no incredible display of anatomical
knowledge or artistic skill ; nothing more than we may fairly
attribute to the observant and ingenious Indian," and considers
them artificial. The acute remark of Leonhard, that the im
pressions are isolated, and the footsteps of the walking man not
to be followed farther, leave no doubt that this is the correct

GEOLOGY. 213

The next great series of rocks is the Coal Formation.
One great basin of these deposits is found in Pennsylvania
and Ohio, the fundamental rock being a coarse gray or
drab sandstone and conglomerate. In Ohio, the fine
sandstone is estimated at 25 to 350 feet thick, the con
glomerate at 100 to 600, and the superior coal formation
at 2000 feet. This basin covers about 24,000 square
miles, and is bounded near the centre of Ohio by a line
running north-east and south-west. Beyond this an
ticlinal axis the formation re-appears, occupying the
south-west of Indiana, a large portion of Illinois, even
extending in a narrow belt across the Mississippi, and
south of the Ohio, stretching through Kentucky into
Tennessee, — this immense basin equalling in area almost
the entire island of Great Britain. In Missouri another
unconnected coal deposit exists. The same conglomerate
rock, preserving its essential character and fossils, still
forms the base of the formation, which probably was at
one time continuous over all these states. As coal is
found even on the eastern declivity of the Rocky
Mountains, it is no improbable supposition that one
vast formation once reached from them to the Alle-
ghanies, of which the basins mentioned are the remnants.
The coal found in this formation is of two kinds, the
bituminous, and the anasphaltic coal or anthracite. In
Europe the latter is more commonly associated with
transition rocks, and this was formerly supposed to be
the case also with that of the new world. But it is now
considered identical in age with the coal of the Ohio
basin and the similar deposits of Britain. This is proved
by itsfibrous structure in some parts, marking its vegetable
origin, and by the beds of fire-clay, containing the Stig-
maria ficoides and other coal-plants, on which the an
thracite rests. Its peculiar character is undoubtedly

view. Schpolcraft, Sill. Jour., vol. v. Mantell, Wonders of
Geol., vol. i. p. 65. Owen in Sill. Jour., vol. xliii. p. 14-32 and
plate. Hitchcock, Elem. Geol., p. 153. Leoiihard, Populaere
Geologic.

214 NATURAL HISTORY.

owing to the proximity of the igneous formations of the
east, the coal always becoming more bituminous as its
distance from these increases.* This variety is chiefly
found in Pennsylvania, between the Susquehanna and
Delaware, forming three fields, two of them about sixty
miles long by five broad, and the other somewhat smaller.
The beds generally vary from three to twenty-eight feet
in thickness, but one extending throughout the whole
region is from twenty-two to fifty feet thick, and in one
place sixty-five seams have been counted. At Black-
spring gap the aggregate amount of the coal is not less
than ninety feet. Argillaceous carbonate of iron in beds
or masses also occurs ; and the whole region is rising
into much importance for its coal and mines, as the fol
lowing statement shows. From 1820 to 1824, anthra
cite was only dug in one place, and the produce rose
from 365 to 9541 tons. The next year new mines were
opened, and in 1829 the produce was 111,403 tons ; in
1835, 557,508 tons ; in 1840, 863,489 tons. Its use is
also no longer confined to the manufacture of iron or
other purposes where a strong heat is required, but from
the absence of smoke and dust it is often preferred, for
warming rooms, to the bituminous coal.t

Bituminous coal prevails in the extensive basins on
the opposite side of the Alleghanies. In Ohio, the strata
are nearly horizontal, or form long sloping ridges, and
have been pierced to a depth of 1000 feet without
meeting the inferior beds. Gray, ash-coloured, and
brown sandstone, of quartz and mica, in a basis of clay
or lime, is the most abundant rock, and often at its out
crop forms mural precipices 100 feet high. Near the
eastern mountains, \vhere the coal is also less bitumin
ous, it becomes red in some cases. The beds seldom
exceed six feet in thickness, though a few are eight to

* Silliman's Jour., vol. xl. p. 370— Analyses of Coal.

^ Taylor in Sill. Jour., vol. xli. p. 80. Trans, of Pennsylvania
Geol. Soc., vol. i. p. 193. Rogers, Report on Pennsyl. for 1838,
p. 84. Logan, Proceedings of London Geol. Society, March

GEOLOGY. 215

ten, and one on the Monongahela eleven feet thick, the
quality improving with the dimensions. Only three
or four workable seams are yet known, hut probably
others exist. Along with this mineral, slate clay, shale,
limestone, and marl abound. The structure and com
position of the more western basins, so far as they are
known, are nearly similar, and all of them have a strong
resemblance to the same formation in Britain. Even
the fossil remains, at least the genera, are common in
both regions, those of America being Lepidodendra, two
feet in diameter, Calamites of great size, Sigillaria with
numerous perfectly preserved bristling spines, and many
ferns. In the upper part of the Illinois coal-field in.
Indiana, several stumps of fossil palms standing erect,
and with the roots attached, have very recently been
discovered, and appear to have been quietly submerged
in the place where they grew."*

Near Richmond in Virginia a curious coal-field occurs,
resting immediately on granite. It is about fifty miles
long by twelve broad, and consists of shales, grits formed
from the primary rocks, and two or three beds of coal
from eleven to forty feet thick, the aggregate in some
pits being fifty-two feet. The coal sometimes rests
directly on the granite, or with only a few inches of
shale interposed, and fills the inequalities of this igneous
rock. It is highly bituminous, though of inferior
quality below, where it contains sulphur and much in
flammable gas. Taylor described it as a transition forma
tion ; but Professor W. B. Rogers refers it nearly to " the
bottom of the oolite formation of Europe, as its fossils of
the genera Equisetum, Taeniopteris, and Cycadites or
Pterophyllum, either agree specifically or correspond
nearly with those of the oolite coal of Brora and the
equivalent beds at Whitby."t

* Hildreth on the Ohio Coal-field. Sill. Jour., vol. xxix.

S. 1-154. Mather, Reports on Ohio for 1837 and 1838. Sill,
our., vol. xl. p. 126 ; vol. xlv. p. 336.

t Taylor, Trans, of Pennsyl. Geol. Soc., vol. i. p. 275-297.
Rogers, Ass. of Am. Geol. for 1842. Sill. Jour., vol. xliii. p. 175.
Ib., p. 1-14.

216 NATURAL HISTORY.

Perhaps a somewhat older period should be ascribed
to them, as in the superior beds Mr Redfield has found
a fish of the genus Catopterus, three other species of
which occur in the red sandstone farther north. Ac
cording to Professor Hitchcock, this formation fills ex
tensive troughs in the primary rocks, and consists of red
or gray sandstones, slates, and shales, associated with
beds of limestone and calcareous breccia. It occurs in
Maine and the valley of the Connecticut, and a wide
belt runs from New Jersey south-west through Pennsyl
vania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. Through
out this whole extent from Nova Scotia to Virginia, it
is associated with ores of copper, bituminous shale, and
protruding masses of greenstone, and the rocks, with a
few local exceptions, have a general north- west dip. In
the northern part of this formation, the Messrs Redfield
have found five species of fossil fish, of the genus Palceo-
jiiscus Agass.y and three of the Catopterus Red., to which
three new species have recently been added. Hence,
and from its lithological characters, it has been considered
as the equivalent of the new red sandstone of Europe.
Professor Rogers also identifies some of this series in
Virginia with the keuper of Europe. In the same rock
in Massachusetts and Connecticut, fossil footmarks, sup
posed to be those of birds, and hence named Ornithich-
nites, were observed by Dr Deane in 1834. Some of
these are small, the foot being only half an inch long,
and the step three or four inches ; others have a foot
fifteen to seventeen inches long, with a step of four to
six feet. These marks are very distinct, in some cases
showing the lobate form of the joints of the toes, and in
one case even " the pitted, ridged, and furrowed skin of
the botiom of the foot." Professor Hitchcock has de
scribed twenty-seven varieties of these impressions, seven
teen of which he has no doubt were, as he originally
stated, formed by the feet of birds walking on the soft
mud of the yet unconsolidatcd rock ; the remainder he
thinks may have been formed by saurian animals. The
largest bird is conjectured to have stood from twelve to

GEOLOGY. 217

sixteen feet high, thus surpassing even the dinornis of
New Zealand, whose height is now reduced to ten feet.
Along with the foot-marks, impressions of rain-drops also
occur. Professor Hitchcock's view of these fossils is now
almost universally received, notwithstanding the unwill
ingness, on theoretic grounds, of some geologists to admit
the existence of such highly organized animals at so
early a period.*

The full development of the older fossiliferous rocks,
and their parallelism to those, of Europe, is here inter
rupted. As mentioned, some strata connected with the
last group have been described as more recent, and Mr
Conrad announces the discovery of " well-characterized
and undoubted oolite in the state of Ohio, where it
contains two European species of Trigonia, both of which
are restricted to this system."t This, however, does
not fill the immense gap down to the cretaceous system,
the next well known extensive deposit. In the United
States, true chalk is wanting, and the formation more
resembles the green sand of Europe. The generic re
semblance of the fossils is, however, so strong, that no
doubt is entertained of the identity of this with the
cretaceous formation, though, of about 200 species from
the Atlantic states, only one, the Belcmnites mucronatus,
found in New«Jersey and Alabama, seems common to
Europe. Other identical or closely resembling species
have, however, been mentioned ; and it is said that
among the fishes are several species of sharks, some of
which are found in the English chalk. Besides these,
remains of tortoises and saurian reptiles, as the plesio-
saurus, ichthyosaurus, mososaurus, and batrachiosaurus,
also occur. This formation has been found near New

* Hitchcock, Sill. Jour., vol. xxix. p. 307. Report on Geol.
Mass., vol. ii. p. 464, -&c. Elem. Geology, p. 151-156. Also,
Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise, vol. ii. p. 39. Sill. Jour., vol.
xli. pp. 24, 165, and vol. xlv., containing letters of Drs Deane,
Mantell, and Owen, p. 177-188. Mr Lyell, ib., p. 394 ; .also
p. 314.

+ New York Report for 1841, p. 44.

VOL. III. 0

218 NATURAL HISTORY.

York, and occupies a wide zone, from New Jersey south
west to Alabama, with much of Mississippi, Louisiana,
Tennessee, and Arkansas. Mr Lyell has shown that
the beds* classed as an upper division of this formation,
and supposed to form a passage from the secondary to
the tertiary systems, truly belong to the latter. This
is the case with the Wilmington limestone and con
glomerate, and also with the white limestone of the
Santee river in South Carolina, which, though resem
bling the chalk rocks of New Jersey, contains only
tertiary fossils.*

This formation, also without chalk or flint, has lately
been described by Mr Nicollet as covering a vast tract
of country in the west, he having traced it from the
mouth of the Sioux river, where it rests immediately
on the carboniferous limestone, for four hundred miles
west. The rocks are in ascending order, argillaceous
limestone, calcareous marl, ferruginous clay containing
selenite, and plastic clay with many fossils. In the last,
iron pyrites and lignite are abundant, which sometimes
take fire, and produce much dense smoke, whence has
originated the opinion that true volcanoes exist in that
region. In about twenty fossils from this district, four
agree with those of the east (Ammonites placenta, A.
Conradi, Baculites ovata, Belemnites mucronatus), the
last also found in the chalks of Europe. Others are
remains of fishes, saurians, and a species of turtle.^

Tertiary formations occupy much extent in the United
States. They first appear in the island of Martha's
Vineyard, on the coast of Massachusetts. They are
again found in New Jersey, whence they extend south,
covering most of the low country south-east of the
boundary line of the primary formation formerly traced
as far south as Louisiana. They are thus of very great
extent, and present considerable diversity of mineral

*• Proceedings of Geol. Soc. for May 1842. Sill. Jour., vol.
xli. p. 182. Hitchcock, Elem. Geol., pp. GO, 331.
t Ass. of Am. Geol. for 1843. Sill. Jour., vol. xlv. p. 153-156.

GEOLOGY. 219

character. Beds of limestone, conglomerate, slaty clays,
red loam, siliceous burr-stone or mill-stone, and white
or red sand, are very common, the materials in many
places being plainly derived from the decomposition of
the neighbouring primary rocks. The fossils seem very
numerous, and have enabled Mr Lyell to class many of
the local formations, in conformity with the division he
has proposed for the similar rocks in the Old World.
Thus, from the Miocene series, two hundred and thirty-
eight shells, of which thirty-eight are recent, are known
to Mr Conrad. Details regarding this formation are too
local to be generally interesting, even would our limits
admit of them. We shall only mention the beds of
fossil infusoria, from twelve to thirty feet thick, and
extending over large areas, found by Professor W. B.
Rogers in the tertiary deposits of Virginia, where, he
says, they often separate the Eocene from the Miocene
beds, but also occur included among the latter.*

The superficial deposits of America have recently
attracted much attention in connexion with glacier and
aqueous action. Professor Hitchcock gives the follow
ing account of the lithological characters and superposi
tion of the drift or diluvium : — " The principal mass
consists of coarse sand, pebbles, and boulders, often
several feet in diameter, usually mixed together con
fusedly, but sometimes exhibiting, at least for small
distances, more or less of a stratified arrangement. This
mass of detritus, not unfrequently one hundred feet
thick, occupies the lowest position ; that is, rests im
mediately on the smoothed and striated rocks in place.
Sometimes there is mixed with it fine sand or mud ;
and occasionally a limited mass of clay, appearing as if
out of its original position. Above this deposit, in most
of the larger valleys, as those of the Hudson, Connec
ticut, and Penobscot, and in many of the smaller ones,

« Lyell, Proceedings of Geol. Soc., May 1842, Feb. 1843, &c.
Rogers' Report on Virginia for 1840, p. 28. Sill. Jour., yol.
xliii. p. 329 ; yol. xlv. p. 313.

220 NATURAL HISTORY.

we find horizontal layers of fine blue clay, rarely as
much as one hundred feet thick. Above the clay, and
of less thickness, we have a bed of sand, becoming
coarser towards the top, and exhibiting sometimes at
its surface marks of a stronger movement in the waters
by which it was deposited, than could have taken place
while the clay was in a course of formation. Scattered
over the whole surface, but confined chiefly to the
region abounding in gravel, we find insulated blocks,
sometimes rounded and sometimes angular." * We may
add, that, as in Europe, the direction of this drift has
been in general from the north or north-west to the
south and south-east, even where the mountain ridges
are placed transverse to this. In the west of New
York, its progress has been west of south ; and in
other parts of that state it also seems to have varied
somewhat from its normal course. The boulders are
generally traced to rocks in the north, and the drift
seems universal over the whole country. Vast numbers
of fragments of primary rocks are strewed over the
valley of the Missouri, and are found at Natchez on the
Mississippi. Mounds of detritus, described as moraines,
are also very common, and the smoothed, striated, and
furrowed surfaces of rocks, now so generally ascribed to
glacier action, occur in every quarter of the country.
In New Hampshire, they have been seen on Mount
Monadnock 3250 feet, and on Mount Katahdin 4000
feet high. The cause of these phenomena, whether
glaciers, diluvial floods, or oceanic currents, is still too
much matter of hypothesis and controversy to be noticed
here.t

Still more recent or alluvial formations are found on
most of the river banks and near their mouths. That at
the mouth of the Mississippi is the most extensive, and
is rapidly increasing from the sediment brought down

• Hitchcock's Address to Ass. of Am. Geol. 1841, p. 1.0.

t Hitchcock, Address, &c., p. 19-23- Elem.Geol., p. 193-220.
Also the State Reports, and many notices in the recent volumes
of Silliman's Journal.

GEOLOGY. 221

by that immense river, having advanced several leagues
even since New Orleans was built. To this class also
belong the beds, many feet thick, of infusoria found be
low peat in swamps in New York, Massachusetts, and
other parts of the country. In these the species are
nearly the same, and all of them now living, the most
being referable to the brackish fresh-water forms of the
seacoast, although some of them are now found at a great
distance from it. Ehrenberg mentions one hundred and
forty- three species from North and South America as
common to Europe, and seventy-one, or a third, as pe
culiar to the western continent.* In this, or the drift,
are also found many remains of animals of more gigantic
bulk, and a higher class of beings. These are extinct
mammalia of the following species, Elephas primogenius,
Mastodon maximus, Megatherium, Megalonyx, Cervus
Americanus or Fossil Elk, and the Walrus. A celebrated
locality for these is the Big Bone Lick in Kentucky, in
diluvium, from which Mr Cooper estimates that bones be
longing to one hundred skeletons of the mastodon, twenty
of the elephant, one of the megalonyx, three of the ox,
and two of the elk, have already been carried away. The
animals are supposed to have been attracted thither
by the salt-springs existing even at that early period,
when many of the weaker individuals, crushed down,
among the immense herds, found a grave in this spot.
Descriptions of these animals may be seen in Dr Buck-
land's and other treatises on geology. In some parts of
the country, as for example near the Falls of Niagara,
bones of the mastodon have been found associated with
shells of existing species, showing that, geologically, the
date of their extinction is very recent, though probably
anterior to the introduction of man into the western,
continent. The report of one found in Missouri, with
fragments of its skin and sinews, which is supposed to
have been killed and burnt by the Indians, would require

" Silliman's Jour., vol. xliii. pp. 394, 328 ; vol. xxxix. p. 193,

222 NATURAL HISTORY.

confirmation.* No bone caverns similar to those of
Europe have yet been observed in the States, the remains
being all of recent species.

In concluding this sketch of American geology, it may
not be improper to review the series of changes to which
it bears witness. The first great mass of strata extends
unbroken from the earliest transition down to the close
of the coal formation. The primary rocks are probably
mere metamorphic portions of this with the granite and
similar igneous formations produced during the convul
sions which raised the whole above the ocean. The
comparatively very partial deposit of red sandstone seems
to have been the last and final member of this series,
formed in the deep valleys along the Atlantic coast
when the rest of the continent was already above the
waters. A long interval leaving no trace of geological
change or disturbing agency followed. The cretaceous
epoch again saw the land below the ocean, and beds of
chalk were deposited both on the east and west, though
the chain of the Alleghanies was probably still above the
ocean. In the tertiary period the same regions continued
submerged, especially those on the Atlantic coast, though
the total diversity of fossils would seem to show that
this formation was also separated from the former by a
longer or shorter interval. During the drift the whole
country, except perhaps a few of the very highest moun
tains, appear to have been again subjected to aqueous
action, much of this singular deposit being probably
formed whilst the continent was rising to its present
elevation. At this time, also, much denudation of the
inferior strata along the anticlinal axes seems to have
taken place, a fact of the highest importance in all theo
ries regarding the formation of the drift. In each of
these revolutions the movements have been on a great
scale, and hence has resulted a most surprising simplicity
and immensity in the formations that cover this conti-

* Sill. Jour., vol. xxxvi. p. 198.

BOTANY. 223

nent. The vast richness of its mineral resources is also
an important element to the statesman or philanthropist
in calculating the future destiny of the country. " The
best architectural materials, granites, traps, porphyries,
sienites, serpentines, soapstones, limestones, primary
slates and slaty rocks of every geological age, sandstones,
and conglomerates abound. The most useful minerals
are found also in large quantities ; ores of iron, copper,
and lead, gold and silver, the latter especially as it exists
in argentiferous galenas. Above all, coal-fields of un
equalled magnitude, thickness, extent, and richness, with
clays, marls, and sands, and soils of every variety, fur
nish to our population all the means of national wealth
and individual prosperity.*4*

SECTION II. BOTANY.

THE vast territory of the United States forms parts of
several distinct botanical regions, characterized by pecu
liar plants adapted to the nature of their soil and climate.
Two of these are generally recognised, — a northern, ex
tending south to lat. 36° ; and a southern, from this
to lat. 30°. In the former, species of the two genera
Aster and Solidago greatly abound, and the Coniferae
and Amentaceae prevail more than in the corresponding
regions of the Old World ; whilst the Crueiferae, the
Cichoracese, and Cynaraceae, are less numerous. In the
second, the splendid Magnolias, and similar trees and
plants, with Palms, Cycadaceae, and Cactacese, show an
approach to a tropical vegetation. Besides the Umbelli-
ferae, Cruciferae and Cichoraceae of the former region,
the Labiatae, Cariophylleae, and Geraniaceae, are also
rare ; whilst trees with large shining leaves and showy
flowers abound. In the former, pines, larches and firs,
oaks, beeches and chesnuts, poplars, plane-trees, elms
and ashes, formed the forests ; and the same plants were
cultivated as in Europe. In the south, maize begins to

* Silliman's Address to Ass. of Am. Geol. iu Journal, vol.
xliii. p. 240.

224 NATURAL HISTORY.

be the more common grain ; tobacco and cotton plantations
abound ; and the woods are full of magnolias, tulip-trees,
camelias, laurels, passion-flowers, hollies, and palms. This,
however, has reference more especially to the Atlantic
coast, as both the climate and vegetation of the Pacific
regions differ very much. Even the immense basin of the
Mississippi has its peculiar features ; and the emigrant,
as he journeys to the far west, finds himself in a milder
climate, under the shadow of more noble and luxuriant
trees, and surrounded by other and brighter flowers.
Many of the species characterizing these various regions
will be found in the following review of the principal
families of plants in the United States.*

We shall begin our survey of the vegetation of the
United States with the Ranunculacese, of which North
America contains about a seventh of the whole order.
They are mostly herbaceous plants, some of them very
showy, and possessing more or less acrid properties. The
only species with woody stems are some of the Clematis
or Virgin's Bower, found among bushes or hedges, gene
rally with white, in others (C. crispa and cylindrical
with large purple or (C. viorna) blue flowers. Ane
mones, among others, the A. nemorosa of the English
botany, and the A. uniflora, the most beautiful and de
licate species of this fine genus, are common mostly in
moist or swampy places in the central states. The He-
patica, triloba, possessing astringent properties, adorns

* The principal authorities for the Botany of the United
States are — the Flora Americana of the Elder Michaux, who
spent many years in collecting materials ; the Arbres Fores-
tiers of his son ; the Flora Boreali-Americana of Pureh ; the
Flora of North America,containing all the known Indigenous and
Naturalized Plants growing North of Mexico,by Drs Torrey and
Gray, now in course of publication ; and the works of Bartram,
Barton, and others, with various incidental notices in books of
travels. The Flora of British America, by Sir William Hooker,
is also very useful. In the following sketch we have followed
the natural arrangement of Lindley, the nomenclature of the
plants being mostly that of Pursh. Had the valuable work of
Torrey and Gray been completed, we should have preferred
following it.

BOTANY. 225

with its blue or purple flowers the sides of the fertile or
rocky hills from Carolina northwards. A characteristic
plant of the northern region is the Hydrastis Canadensis,
with pale rose-coloured flowers, red berries, and yellow
roots, of a strong narcotic smell and bitter taste, furnish
ing a fine dye, and also used as a tonic. It grows prin
cipally on a fertile soil in the shady woods or among
rocks, especially in the Alleghany Mountains. The
Ranunculus here, as in Europe, is a large genus ; and
many British species, as R. Flammula, auricomus, repcns,
acris, &c., display their yellow flowers in the pastures
and meadows of the New World, along with the Caltha
or Marsh Marygold. In the cedar swamps and moun
tain bogs of Virginia and the northern states, grows the
Goptis trifolia or Gold Thread, a small delicate plant
with white flowers, whose root — a pure and powerful
bitter — is a popular medicine, and also used by the na
tives to dye yellow. In the southern states and valley
of the Missouri are found three or four species of Delphi
nium or Larkspur, with blue flowers, and in the Atlan
tic states also the Aconitum or Monk's Hood. The
Actea Americana (A. rubra and alba, Bigel.), growing
in the deep mould collecting among rocks in the shady
woods, is accounted a valuable medicine by the natives,
who name it the Red or White Cohosh, from the colour
of the berries which succeed its white flowers. The Xan-
thorhiza apiifolia, a low shrub, with compound leaves
and panicles of dark purple flowers, contains an intensely
bitter gum and resin ; and both the wood and bark are
used as tonics.

Allied to the last order, and forming a transition to
the next, from which they are distinguished by their
watery juices, are the Podophylleae or May-apple tribe.
Besides the P. peltatum, whose green fruit, about the
size of a plum, is eaten, whilst the root is one of the
safest cathartics known, the Jeffersonia dipliylla, with
similar properties, found principally on the limestone
hills of Virginia and Tennessee, constitute this truly
American order.

226 NATURAL HISTORY.

Though the Papaveraceae are principally European
plants, yet several have found their way into North
America. Only one of the genus which has given its
name to the order is indigenous to that continent, but
farther north than the region we are now considering.
The Bloodwort (Sanguinaria Canadensis\ so named fro in
its crimson juice, is a characteristic plant of the northern
division. Each stalk terminates in a single white flower ;
and the root, according to Barton, is in large doses emetic
and cathartic, and in smaller stimulant and expectorant.
The Argemone Mexicana grows as far north as Florida ;
and in Georgia there is a very beautiful variety, with
white flowers. The seeds, said to be narcotic, especially
when smoked with tobacco, are sometimes used as a
substitute for ipecacuanha, and the Mexicans polish
furniture with an oil expressed from them. The Fu-
marieae or fumitory tribe, allied to this, present few in
teresting plants. The most remarkable are the Diclytra,
handsome herbaceous plants, with two curious spurs or
prolongations of the corolla, which have given occasion to
the inhabitants to name one (Z). Cucullaria] Yellow-
breeches. The Corydalis, pretty little plants, with lively
red or yellow flowers, are often cultivated in this country
as ornaments to rock-work. The Fumaria officinalis,
regarded as a mere weed, has probably been introduced
from Europe.

In the tribe of Water-lilies (NymplKcacecK) few in
teresting plants occur in North America. The Nuphar
lutea of the English botany is found expanding its yel
low flowers in the lakes of the Alleghany Mountains.
The Hydropeltidese, another order of water-plants, are
peculiar to America, the most interesting being the
H. purpurea, so named from the purple colour of the
flowers and whole plant, which is covered with a viscid
gelatinous matter. The Nelumbiaceae, also natives of
the stagnant or slow-running waters of the northern
hemisphere, are chiefly remarkable for the beauty of
their flowers. The Cyamus flavicomus of Pursh, with
large yellow flowers resembling a double tulip, and

BOTANY. 227

round leaves, covers the lakes and ponds of Carolina and
Virginia. It is also found near Philadelphia, where it
is thought to have been introduced by the Indians, who
are very fond of its seeds, which are agreeable to the
taste, though less celebrated than those of the holy
Cyamus or Egyptian bean of Pythagoras. Its tubers,
used for food by the Osage and other western Indians,
are, when boiled, as farinaceous and agreeable as the
potato.

The Magnoliaceae are peculiarly a North American
order, characterizing the south of the United States,
where they abound in the swamps, woods, and on the
sides of the hills. The general character of the order is
to have a bitter tonic taste and large fragrant flowers,
which produce a decided action on the nerves. The most
stately is the Large Magnolia or Big Laurel ( M. grandi-
fora), which usually attains a height of sixty to seventy
feet, though some are ninety feet high, and from two
to three feet in diameter. No tree east of the Mississippi
at all approaches this in majestic aspect, superb foliage,
and magnificent flowers. Its thick, leathery, persistant
leaves, six or eight inches long, are green and brilliant
in the centre of the forests, but where exposed to the
sun on their margins, acquire a rusty hue. Its sweet-
smelling white flowers, seven to eight inches broad, sur
pass those of almost any other tree in size and number,
three to four hundred being often found on one. The
fruit is a kind of cone, from which the seeds, when ripe,
hang by slender threads. The wood is very white, and
of a soft texture. This tree grows in the forests of
South Carolina and Georgia, west to the Mississippi,
over a district of seven hundred to eight hundred square
leagues. A more hardy tree is the Magnolia glauca,
which grows wild on Cape Ann in Massachusetts, and
flourishes in most exposures in that state, though only
as a shrub with deciduous leaves. Its proper abode
is the marshes on the shores of Carolina and Georgia,
where it is a tall tree with evergreen leaves and upright
branches. Its common height is twenty to thirty feet,

228 NATURAL HISTORY.

reaching to forty in favourable situations, and its solitary
flowers are only two or three inches broad. According
to Barton, they are so stimulating as to produce pa
roxysms of fever, and even of inflammatory gout,
whilst the bark of the root is an important tonic. This
tree has many popular names, as the small magnolia,
swamp sassafras, sweet bay, white bay, swamp laurel,
and beaver wood. The Cucumber-tree (M. aouminata)
equals the big laurel in size, and grows in the high
country south of the Hudson, at a distance from the
sea. The wood is fine-grained, of a yellowish-brown
colour, and takes a beautiful polish, but is not durable.
In Virginia, its cones, which when green resemble young
cucumbers, yield a spirituous tincture, employed for
rheumatic affections, or, infused in grain brandy, a whole
some bitter, thought a specific against autumnal fevers.
The Umbrella-tree (M. tripetala), is named from its
large leaves, often about twenty inches long and eight
broad, which, growing at the end of the branches, spread
out like a parasol. Its white flowers, seven inches broad,
and very fragrant, are said to produce headach and nau
sea. The M. macrophylla or Michaux' Magnolia, about
thirty-five feet high, grows in the dense wroods of Ten
nessee, and has leaves about three feet long and ten inches
broad, with white flowers above nine inches broad, thus
surpassing all the others. The last of this order we shall
notice is the Liriodendron tulipifera, the White or Red
Poplar of Michaux, but better known as the Whitewood
or Tulip-tree. It grows wild as far north as the Con
necticut, and even in Canada ; and is naturalized in
Massachusetts. In the Atlantic states it attains a height
of eighty to a hundred feet, and two or three feet in
diameter; but in the woods of Kentucky it is fre
quently fourteen to sixteen feet in circumference, and
the elder Michaux measured one near Louisville twenty-
two feet six inches round, at five feet from the ground,
and which he estimated at a hundred to a hundred and
forty feet high. It is one of the most highly ornamen
tal and useful trees in America, with bright cheerful

BOTANY. 229

foliage, and red or yellow flowers mixed with green.
Its bark is considered an excellent tonic, even equal, it
is said, to the Peruvian, and the wood, of a yellow or
citron colour, is close-grained, hard, and much esteemed.*

The Illicium or Aniseed-tree, is by Lindley sepa
rated from the Magnolias, on account of its aromatic
properties and dotted leaves, which, however, seem
not peculiar to it. There are two species in North
America, the 7. floridanum, found on the Mississippi,
with large dark purple flowers, and leaves having a very
aromatic scent when bruised ; and the /. parviflorum,
with yellow flowers, which Barton makes the same with
the I. anisatum, whose seeds are the star-anise of the
shops, and the flavouring substance of the anisette de
Bordeaux.

The Ananacese are also aromatic stimulant plants, but
belonging mostly to tropical countries, few are found
in the region we have now to notice. Pursh has de
scribed them under the genus Porcelia. The P. trildba,
or Papaw-tree, grows principally on the overflowed
banks of rivers in the southern states. It is a small
tree, with dark brown flowers and a large yellow insipid
fruit, said to contain a very active acid principle. The
P. parmflora has small dark purple flowers, those of the
P. grandiflora are large and white. The Schisandra
coccinea, a handsome climbing plant of Georgia, with
scarlet flowers, is related to this order, but wants the
aromatic and bitter properties.

The Umbelliferse, though principally inhabitants of
the northern parts of the earth, are yet few in North
America. The genera are frequently common to it and
Europe, but the species seem for the most part peculiar.
Some exceptions to this, however, occur, as the very
poisonous Cicuta virosa and maculata, the Fool's Parsley
(JEthusa Cynapium), and the Loveage (Ligusticum
Scoticum), with the parsnip and carrot, which, though
frequently found wild, are thought to be of European

* Michaux, Arbres Forestiers, tome iii. p. 71-103.

230 NATURAL HISTORY.

origin. Few of the American species have any interest
ing properties, the leaves being mostly poisonous, like
those of Europe, and the seeds innocent, and sometimes
warm and aromatic. The Eryngium aquaticum is used
by the natives as a medicine ; the genus Sium is cele
brated for the dangerous qualities of its herbage, espe
cially for cattle, and is carefully destroyed by the far
mers ; the root of the Chcerophyllum Claytoni or Osmo-
rhiza, has an agreeable scent and sweet taste.

Related to these are the Araliacea?, of which the
Panax quinquefolium or Ginseng, closely resembling that
of Nepaul, was formerly exported from America in con
siderable quantities on account of its invigorating and
stimulant properties, but is now little esteemed by
European physicians. The Aralia nudicaulis is used as
a substitute for sarsaparilla, and sold under that name
in the shops. The A. racemosa or Spikenard is also
esteemed as a medicine ; and the berries of A. spinosa,
the Angelica-tree found in Illinois and the fertile woods
of Lower Virginia, when infused in wine or spirits, are
thought a specific for relieving rheumatic pains ; and
the bark of the root is a popular remedy for the bite of
the rattlesnake. The common ivy belongs to this order,
but is not a native of North America.

The Grossulacese, of which our currants and goose
berries are good examples, are very common on the
mountains and in the woods of North America. Their
fruit much resembles that of the species now named ; but
in the wild varieties is often either insipid or extremely
acid. Most of the species found in the east of the United
States extend north into Canada, and are described in a
former volume of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library.* The
Ribes triflorum, with small pale red berries, grows on the
Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the
R. gracile of Pursh on the rocks and mountain-pastures
from New York to Carolina. Its berries are purple or blue,
about the size of black currants, and of a delicious taste.

• British America, vol. iii. p. 309.

BOTANY. 231

The Berberry tribe are neither numerous nor inter
esting in North America, where, however, two or three
species of Berberis occur, with pleasant acid berries. The
vines are also of little importance, none approaching in
quality to the European species. The berries of the
Summer grape ( Vitis aatwoKt), of a dark blue colour, are
said by Pursh to be very agreeable to eat, and frequently
converted into a good home-made wine. Those of the
V. rotundifolia are large, dark blue, and agreeable to the
taste, being commonly named the Bull or Bullet-grape.

An account of the singular structure of the Sarra-
ceniae or Pitcher-plants, has been given in a former
volume of this work,""" to which we would now refer.
Of the six species, five are confined to the swamps and
marshes in the southern states, east of the Alleghanies,
and only one extends north to Newfoundland. The
largest, with leaves often two feet long, is the Sarracenia
flava, growing from Virginia to Florida. Distinguished
from this by its spotted leaves, is the S. variolaris, found
in Carolina and the south. The S. psittacina, with short
leaves beautifully marked with white spots, and purple
flowers on long stalks, is also a native of the swamps of
Georgia and Florida. The Dionea muscipula or Venus'
Fly-trap, an analogous species, no less remarkable for
its curious properties, is found in the bogs of North
Carolina.

The Onagraceae are numerous in North America,
though not confined to that quarter of the globe. The
Oenothera, or Tree- primrose, is a large genus, principally
with yellow flowers, which Pursh says in the 0. biennis
shine with a phosphorescent light in dark nights. This
plant has been cultivated for its eatable roots, and is now
naturalized in Europe. The flowers of 0. speciosa are
large, and have an agreeable smell ; whilst the O.fruti-
cosa is commonly known under the name of sundrops.
The 0. macrocarpa, found on dry hills in Missouri, sur
passes all others in the size and beauty of its flowers.

* British America, vol. iii.

232 NATURAL HISTORY.

The calyx, spotted with purple, is covered with a fine
white silky down, and the corolla of a bright yellow,
with orange veins, is sometimes six inches in diameter,
with a tube seven inches long. The ClarTda and the
Gaura, with beautiful purple or rose-coloured flowers,
also belong to this order, together with Epilobium,
containing many British species. The Jussifea, with
yellow flowers, frequents the swamps of the southern
and western states, where many species of Ludwigia also
grow. In subordinate orders, we find the Circcea or En
chanter's Nightshade ; and, growing in stagnant waters,
the Myriophyllum, Proserpinaca, and Hippuris vulgaris,
or Horsetail of the English botany.

The genus Rhe.ria, belonging to the order Melasto-
mese, contains several very beautiful American plants,
mostly natives of bogs or wet woods in the warmer states.
The Philadelpus, the Mock-orange or Syringa, in an
order named from this genus, are elegant shrubs, cul
tivated for their flowers. Allied to it is the Decumaria,
climbing plants, one of them the D. sarmentosa, grow
ing in the cedar swamps of Virginia and Carolina, espe
cially in that named the Dismal Swamp, where it ascends
to the top of the tallest trees.

The Witch-hazel (Hamamelis virgimca\ found in all
the Atlantic states, is a singular shrub. It is from ten
to twelve feet high, and usually begins to show its yel
low flowers in October, and continues blossoming till
February, when it ripens its fruit, thus reversing the
order of other plants. Related to it are the Dogwood
tribe, the most important of which is the Cornus Florida,
a beautiful small tree, usually about twenty feet high,
and four inches in diameter, but often ten or fifteen feet
more in height. The bunches of small greenish-yellow
flowers are surrounded by a large white involucre, tinged
with red, which renders this tree when in blossom one
of the finest, ornaments of the forests. Its wood, hard,
compact, fine-grained, and of a chocolate colour, is much
valued. Its bark is bitter and a good tonic, being used
in intermittent fevers. The young branches, stripped

BOTANY. 233

of their bark, are rubbed against the teeth to whiten
them ; and Barton states that the Indians extract a red
dye from the bark of the roots. The other species are
smaller than this ; and the bark of the C. sericea has
similar tonic properties.

The Loranthaceae are parasitic plants taking root in
others, at whose expense they live. The Mistletoe ( Vis-
cum favescens), rooting especially on oaks, is the only
representative, in the country east of the Rocky Moun
tains, of this order, which belongs especially to tropical
regions.

The Cactacese or Indian Figs are exclusively an Ame
rican family, though now transplanted to most parts of
the world. They are, however, chiefly tropical plants,
only a few finding their way into the United States.
Of these the Opuntia or Prickly Pear is the most com
mon, growing on the east of the Mississippi, as far north
as New Jersey in lat. 41°, but on the Missouri, and along
the Rocky Mountains to lat. 45 °or 46°. It has large yellow
flowers, and red berries which are eatable. Other genera
and species occur west on the Missouri, but, owing to the
difficulty of preserving specimens, not well characterized.

The Cruciferffi seem relatively less numerous in Ame
rica than in Europe, though the distinction is not so strong
ly marked as at one time supposed. This is a very impor
tant natural order of plants, embracing many of the most
useful vegetables cultivated by man. Arabis is one of
the largest genera, but presents no important species,
though the leaves of the A. rhomboidea, which grows
near rivulets, form a substitute for cresses. The Carda-
mine, or Ladies' Smock, is also a large genus of interest
ing rock and mountain plants ; but the flowers of the
most common species in the United States are small
and white. Den tana, closely related to this, has larger
and more showy flowers, those of the D. ladniata being
purple, and of the D. diphylla pale red, tinged with
yellow. The roots of the latter possess the acrid vola
tile principle so common in this order, and the plant is,

VOL. III. P

234

NATURAL HISTORY.

on this account, named Pepper- root by the natives, who
use it instead of mustard. Draba is more common north
of the region we are now considering, only eight out of
thirty-two species in the North American flora occur
ring in the United States. The Thlapsi arvense and
Bursa pastoris, or Shepherd's-purse of our fields, are
also found ; and the latter is one of the most common
weeds in cultivated ground, hut probably not indigenous.
The Sea-kale (Cakile maritima), with its purple flowers,
abounds on the shores of the Atlantic as far south as
Georgia, and also on the shores of the Great Lakes.
From Virginia north to New England the Water- cress
{Nasturtium ojficinale) grows abundantly, but is less
truly American than some others of the genus. Our
common species of Cabbage and Turnip (Brassica) are
cultivated, and sometimes found growing wild, but are
probably not indigenous.

Nearly related to this order is the genus Cleome,
many of which also possess acrid stimulating properties.
The root of C. dodecandra is used as a vermifuge, and
the leaves produce inflammation of the skin. The
flowers of this species are purple ; those of the C. penta-
phylla are of a pale red and curious structure.

The Violets, those well known and favourite plants,
are pretty numerous in America, and some of the species
are very beautiful. Among them is our wrell known
heartease (D. tricolor), flourishing on the dry rocky
hills from New York south to Georgia, and as far west
as Missouri and Arkansas. The V. pedata has large
blue flowers, sometimes adorned with purple ; the V. sa-
gittata has also blue flowers, but with a white spot be
low and purple veins ; and those of the V. papilionacea
are blue, streaked and bearded with yellow down. The
V. clandestine, is so named from hiding its flowers —
small and of a chocolate brown colour — under the rotten
wood or leaves amongst which it grows. According to
Pursh, it is found in the shady beech woods on the high
mountains of Pennsylvania, and is named Heal-all by

BOTANY. 235

the inhabitants, who use it in curing all kinds of wounds
and sores. Torrey and Gray think it, however, only a
late flowering variety of the V. blanda, whose flowers
are white with purple veins.

The Drosera, — delicate herbaceous plants, with acid
and slightly acrid properties, — are found in moist places
in most of the states. The most elegant is the D. fili-
formis, with long threadlike leaves, and large purple
flowers, discovered by Pursh in the swamps of the pine
barrens of New Jersey. A few species of the beautiful
passion-flowers, the pride of the southern regions of
America, have found their way into the States. The
most remarkable is the Passiflora incarnata, with beau
tiful blue and variegated flowers, which flourishes on
the banks of the rivers in Virginia and Carolina.

The Hypericacese are pretty numerous in North
America, and most of the species are peculiar to that
country. The flowers are generally yellow ; and the
juice, of the same colour, possesses cathartic and febri
fugal properties. Hypericum amcenum is an elegant
plant, above two feet high, with large bright gold
flowers. The H. prolificum is the most hardy and
common of the cultivated species. H. perforatum, or
St. John's Wort, is one of the most troublesome weeds,
though Pursh thinks it has been introduced from
Europe. The Ascyrum and Elodea are also American
genera, but with no remarkable species.

One of the most ornamental North American trees is
the Gordonia Lasianthus, which grows luxuriantly in
the swamps which traverse the pine barrens of Florida
and Louisiana, where it often covers fifty to a hundred
acres. It is the loblolly bay of the natives, and is
valued only for the splendour of its large white flowers,
and the beauty of its evergreen foliage, as the wood is
soft, light, and not fit even for burning. It attains a
height of sixty to eighty feet, with stems eighteen inches
in diameter, and continues in flower for two or three
months. The G. pubescens, or Franklinia, is a smaller
but still elegant tree, with numerous large flowers, also

236 NATURAL HISTORY.

white and sweet-smelling.* The Stewartia virginica
is a very ornamental shrub, from six to twelve feet
high, with white flowers, frequenting the swamps of
Virginia and Carolina. 8. pentagyna, from the moun
tains of Carolina and Georgia, is likewise a beautiful
shrub, with larger cream-coloured flowers.

The Aceraceae, or Maples, confer their chief splendour
on the American forests in the fall of the year. They
bear the cold well, and, mixed with the beech, succeed
the forests of pines, larches, and firs in the north, to be
followed, in their turn, in the south by the oaks and
chesnuts, their headquarters being about lat. 43° to 46°.
Seven of the North American species are ranked by
Michaux as forest-trees, the finest being the Acer dasy-
carpum, or white maple, the soft maple of the Atlantic
states. The finest are found on the Ohio and the clear
gravelly streams that flow into it, where the splendour
of its foliage — brilliant green above and silvery white
below — as it is alternately reflected on the waters, strikes
all travellers with admiration. The wood is fine
grained, soft, and light, but is little esteemed, and the
sap does not abound in sugar. The red flowering or
swamp maple (A. rubrum\ which prefers marshy situa
tions, is often confounded with the former, but the
wood is of a better quality, and in old trees, where the
fibres are twisted, furnishes the curled maple. Its blos
soms are the earliest ensigns of spring, often covering
the whole tree with their deep red clusters before a single
leaf has appeared. These are followed by the fruit of
the same tint and equal beauty ; whilst in the autumn
the leaves assume the same brilliant scarlet hue, and
appear like flames kindling along the borders of the
forests. The noblest of the genus, however, is the sugar
maple, A.saccharinum, which attains a height of seventy
to eighty feet, and grows principally in the northern
states, — some of the largest being found on Goat Island,
at the Falls of Niagara, — but also covers some million

* Michaux, Arbres Forestiers, tome iii. p. 131-136.

BOTANY. 237

acres in Genessee, and the higher parts of Pennsylvania
and even of Georgia. The wood is rose-coloured, of a
fine grain, furnishing curled and bird's-eye-maple, and
forms good firewood. Michaux states that four-fifths
of the American potash are prepared from the ashes of
this tree. It also is most productive of sugar, each
tree yielding about four pounds annually on an ave
rage, but one, it is said, even thirty-three Ibs. The
black maple (A. nigrum} closely resembles this, and is
probably a mere variety, the darker hue of its foliage
being the chief distinction ; the others are smaller and
uninteresting trees. The ash-leaved maple or box-elder,
now forming a peculiar genus (Negundo\ is rarely
found east of the Alleghanies, attaining its full height
of fifty feet only in the forests of Tennessee and Georgia.*

The Horse Chesnut, or Buck's Eye of America, con
tains some fine trees, of which we may mention the
JEsculus flava, with yellow flowers, found sometimes
eighty feet high in the mountains of Virginia and the
woods of Kentucky, but dwindling in the southern
states to a shrub of only four or six feet in height. The
Ohio Buck's Eye (A. Ohioensis\ growing especially on
the river from which it is named, and not found in the
Atlantic states, is only remarkable for its pretty groups
of white flowers, the wood being soft and worthless.

Many species of Polygala, or Milk- wort, occur in the
United States. The P. Senega, found in the Alleghany
Mountains, and in the dry woods of most of the northern
states, is the celebrated Seneca Snake-root, employed as
a cure for the bite of the rattlesnake, but now sup
planted by more efficacious remedies. The root, accord
ing to Barton, is used with much success in croup, and
possesses stimulant, emetic, and numerous other pro
perties. It also contains a peculiar vegetable principle
named Senegin.

* Michaux, Arbres Forestiers, tome ii. p. 203-251. For the
process followed in preparing sugar, see British America
(Edinburgh Cabinet Library), vol. iji. p. 313-315 j and Michaux,
tome ii. p. 226, &c.

238 NATURAL HISTORY.

A considerable number of Malvaceae are found in the
temperate parts of North America, where they form
about a 125th of the whole phaenogamous vegetation.
The numerous genus Hibiscus contains many showy
plants. The unripe pods of the Okro or Gombo (H.
esculentus) are very mucilaginous, and are a favourite
ingredient in soups, or are pickled like capers. The
Cristaria coccinea is a curious plant, covered with dense
close hair, found on the dry prairies of the Missouri.
The genus Tilia, or Lime-trees, which belongs to an
other but allied order, also contains several beautiful
ornamental and useful trees, with large broad leaves.
The T. Americana grows from Canada to Virginia, and
on the mountains, even to Georgia, attaining a height
of sixty to seventy feet, with a stem three or four feet
in diameter.

There are several species of Rhamnus or Buckthorn
found in the United States, especially the warmer parts,
the berries of which have usually medicinal properties,
though those of the R. alnifolius are esteemed as food by
the Indians. The genus Ceanothus, or Red-root, is pe
culiar to North America. The C. Americanus is also
known as the New Jersey tea, having been used during
the revolutionary war for that purpose. The Zizyphus
volubilis is a very common climbing plant in the Dismal
Swamp in Virginia, where it is named Supple Jack.

Of the large and important family of the Euphorbiaceae,
nearly a half belong to equinoctial America, but only
about fifty are found in the north of that continent.
They generally abound in an acrid milky secretion, and
many of them are of great importance in medicine.
Several species of croton, but with no useful properties,
occur in the south. The root of the Euphorbia Ipe
cacuanha, a small plant found in the pine barrens of
New Jersey and Carolina, is said by Barton to be equal
or superior to the true ipecacuanha, and is unpleasant
neither in taste nor smell. It descends very deep, Pursh
having traced it frequently six feet down, with no ap
pearance of coming to an end. The Jatropa stimulosa,

BOTANY. 239

a very prickly plant, is a common weed in Carolina,
where it is very injurious to the feet of the negroes, who
name it Tread-softly. It has a tuberous root, which is
eatable, and resembles that of the /. manihot, from which
the cassava and tapioca are prepared. The Ricinus or
Castor-oil Nut, is common in the old plantations of Vir
ginia and Carolina, but is thought to have been intro
duced by the negroes.

Although the Silenaceae and Alsinacese are calculated
to compose one 72d part of the flowering plants of North
America, yet few of them are deserving of notice. The
Dianthus armeria, or common pink, is allowed not to be
indigenous, but another species grows in South Carolina.
The Silene inflata is also common ; and the root of the
S. virginica, a beautiful plant with dark crimson flowers,
growing in Illinois and the west of Virginia, has been
employed as an anthelmintic. Stellarta, Arenaria, Ce-
rastium, with several others of the most common British
genera, and even species, are found in the United States,
where iheAgrostemma Githago, or common cockle, though
not indigenous, is a weed no less noxious to the husband
man than in its native regions.

Several species of Geranium occur in America, among
others the G. robertianum, agreeing in every character
with that of Europe. The G. maculatum, with large
purple flowers, has a powerful astringent principle,
whence it is named Alum- root, and valued as a medicine.
Of the allied genus Impatiens two species occur, one of
which, the I. pallida, was long regarded as identical with
the Nolitangere, but is considered as a distinct species by
Hooker. The Oxalis acetosella or Wood-sorrel, with some
other species, is also common in the American woods.

The Rosaceae, or Rose tribe, are too well known plants
to need any long description. The Rosa Icevigata, in the
woods of Georgia, is an evergreen species, which climbs
to a great height. The B. pendulina, or rose without
thorns, is a common species in the gardens. The Rubus
Idceus, or common raspberry, is found in many varieties,
but probably not natives, though the R. strigosus or red

240 NATURAL HISTORY.

raspberry resembles it very much. Many other species
with agreeable fruit occur,* and the root of R. villosus
is a popular astringent medicine. The common straw
berry (Fruyaria vesca), certainly native, is frequently
found wild in New England, and also on the north-west
coast. Several species of this and of other European
genera occur in the States, which we cannot stop to
notice. The Purshia tridentata, named after the author
of the American flora, is a singular plant, and almost
the only shrub found in the barren sandy prairies be
tween the Missouri and Colombia.

In the sub-order of the Pomaceae are many species of
the hawthorn (Cratcegus). The common apple also
abounds in the woods, but is not a native. The Sweet-
scented Crab-tree (Pyrus coronaria) is valued as an
ornamental tree, and especially for the beauty of its
sweet-scented flowers, whilst its fruit forms an excellent
preserve. The May-bush (Amelanchier Botryapium) is
a small tree with very agreeable black berries. Of the
Amygdaleae, the sloe (Prunus spinosa) is frequently
found in the Pennsylvaniaii hedge-rows, but has been
introduced from Europe. Under this genus Pursh
describes many species of the cherry (Cerasus\ some of
which have eatable fruit, though inferior to that of our
gardens.t

The Leguminous plants are very numerous in the
United States, where 183 species are known, or one
species fewer than in northern Europe. Of these, six
teen belong to Decandolle's division of Rectembriae, not
one of which is found in that part of Europe.^ Our
limits will only permit us to notice a few of the more
interesting of these plants. The Psoralea esculenta, or
Bread-root of the western Indians, was brought by Lewis

* Historical and Descriptive Account of British America,
vol. iii. pp. 315, 316, (Edinburgh Cabinet Library).

t Compare British America, vol. iii. pp. 316, 317.

% Lindley's Nat. System, p. 151. But iu Torrey and Gray's
Flora about 440 species are enumerated.

BOTANY.

241

from the banks of the Missouri. Its roots form the
principal winter food of the natives in that region, being
carefully dried, and preserved in their huts. They
are stringy, dry, and tough, and contain but little
farinaceous matter ; yet Lewis states that they are a
wholesome and agreeable food. When fresh gathered,
they are merely roasted in the ashes, but, when dried,
are bruised between two stones, mixed with water, and
baked in cakes over the coals. The Trifolium repens, or
white clover, seems, on the other hand, a companion of
civilized men, making its appearance in the most remote
parts of the country, wherever lands are cleared of tim
ber ; often, according to Pursh, springing forward sixty
or a hundred miles from the places where it was for
merly found to new plantations. The common Red
Clover (T. pratense) seems too widely diffused from Ca
nada to Florida, and Oregon, to have been introduced as
Pursh and others suspect. The Indigo plant (Indigofera
Caroliniand) is found from Carolina to Florida ; and a
considerable amount of an inferior kind of this dye is
prepared from the Podalyria tinctoria, which, with the
Amorpha fruticosa, a tall shrub with long close spikes
of fine blue flowers, is generally named wild indigo.
The Gtfycyrhiza lepidota, found on the banks of the Mis
souri, on Hudson's Bay, and the shores of the Pacific,
is one of the most widely distributed American plants ;
and Hooker could find no distinguishing character what
ever between it and the G.fcetida of Desfontaines, found
in Northern Africa. Apios frutescens is a fine ornamen
tal plant, with purplish blue flowers ; whilst the roots
of A. tuberosa are eatable, and sometimes grow to an
enormously large size.

The Locust-tree or False Acacia (Robinia pseudacacia)
is one of the most useful and ornamental trees in Ame
rica, growing rapidly, and affording a cheerful shade be
neath its velvet-green foliage. Its wood is of a light
yellow colour, hard, compact, and almost incorruptible,
and hence well fitted for gates and fences. In New
England, however, the tree has been nearly eradicated

242 NATURAL HISTORY.

by the larva of a moth, which pierces the trunk in every
direction, leaving it ragged and decaying. Only a few
plantations have escaped ; and no remedy being known,
it is feared these will also soon be destroyed. This tree
prefers light barren soils, and, thriving luxuriantly on
sand, soon covers it with its leaves, which are very fer
tilizing. It grows to twenty or seventy, and in some
cases to even ninety feet in height. The Glutinous Locust,
with pale red flowers, is a highly ornamental tree, some
times blossoming twice in a season. The Sweet Locust
(R. hispida) is an ornamental shrub, with large rose-
coloured but inodorous flowers and beautiful foliage.

The plants now mentioned belong to those in this
large tribe, possessing papilionaceous flowers ; the other
divisions are less numerous. The genus Cassia, to
which the senna of the shops belongs, is the largest ;
and one of the species ($. Marilandica} forms a useful
substitute for this drug. The Shrankia uncinata, or
Sensitive Briar, has globular spikes of red flowers, a
prickly stem, and sensitive leaves. Three species of
Acacia are enumerated as natives of the south ; one (^4.
lutea) with sensitive leaves. The Cercis Canadensis, or
Judas-tree, with crimson flowers, and the Gymnocladus
Canadensis, the Kentucky Coffee-tree, the Chicot of the
Canadians, a large tree fifty to sixty feet high, with
white flowers, are the last we shall mention.

Chrysobalanus oblongifolius, found in the warm pine
barrens of Georgia and Florida, forms a kind of subter
raneous tree. The stem and principal branches run
under ground, only the side branches rising like separate
shrubs afoot or two above it. The Calycanthus floridus,
with lurid purple flowers, much esteemed for their fra
grance, is named the Carolina Allspice or Sweet-scented
Shrub.

The Saxifragaceae, in general elegant herbaceous
mountain-plants, with few remarkable properties, are
pretty numerous in the United States. Hydrangea,
however, contains several handsome ornamental shrubs,
with white or rose-coloured flowers, found chiefly in the

BOTANY. 243

southern states. The Saxifrages are very numerous in
North America, but mostly in higher latitudes than the
region we are now considering. The Golden Saxifrage
(Chrysoplenium Americanum, Hooker) also occurs, with
several species of Mitella and Tiarella ; their favourite
localities being, however, farther north. Heuchera
Americana is said by Barton to be a powerful astringent,
and named Alum-root. In this order Lindley includes
the somewhat anomalous genus Parnassia, of which the
well known elegant P. palustris, and several other spe
cies, are found in North America. Of the Crassulaceae
the best-known are several species of Sedum, growing, as
in Britain, on the arid rocks.

The Sumach (Rhus) represents the Anacardiaceae hi
the United States, possessing the milky acrid juice by
which this tribe is distinguished. The Poison-oak or
vine (/?. Toxicodendron}, common in several varieties
from Georgia northwards, is extremely poisonous, though
surpassed in virulence by the R. pumila, found in Upper
Carolina. It is not above a foot high, and has pinnate
leaves woolly below. Pursh mentions that a person,
merely by gathering its seed, got poisoned all over his
body, and was lamed for a considerable time. The bark
of R. glabra, with greenish red or scarlet flowers, is con
sidered a febrifuge, and is also used as a mordant in dy
ing red colours.

The Corylacese, or Nut tribe, embrace some of the
most distinguished ornaments both of the European and
American forests — as the oak, the beech, the chesnut,
and the hazel. The species of these are numerous, but
we can only mention a few of the more important. The
Hornbeam (Carpinus Americana) resembles the European
species, both in appearance and quality of the wood. Its
usual height is fifteen feet, but sometimes reaches to
twice this. The Ostrya virginica is a rather taller tree,
with fine-grained wood, so compact and heavy as to be
named Iron- wood or Lever- wood, from the use generally
made of it.* The American Hazel-nut (Corylus Ameri-

* Michaux, Arbres Forestiers, tome iii. p. 53-60.

244 NATURAL HISTORY.

cana) is only a shrub from four to eight feet high, and a
smaller species is found in the mountains. The Beech,
in two species, forms a lofty and majestic tree. The
White Beech (Fagus sylvatica] is most common in the
middle and western states, and on the Ohio attains an
elevation of 80 or 100 feet, the trunk being eight to
eleven in circumference. The Red Beech (F.ferruginea)
is more common in the rich level lands of the north, and
more resembles the English species. It equals the for
mer in diameter, but, sending out branches sooner, not
in height. The wood in both resembles that of the Eu
ropean tree, that of the red variety being closer grained
and stronger than the white, but neither is much valued.*
The Chesnut (Gastanea vesca) is a stately and noble
tree, particularly when its blossoms " burst from their
forest-bowers." It grows from New England to Caro
lina, failing in the regions both north and south, from
the defect or excess of heat. It grows to fifteen feet
or upwards in circuit ; and the wood, strong, elastic, and
durable, is in much esteem. The nuts are said to be de
licious, and sweeter than those of Europe. C. pumila
is a smaller species, growing in barren sandy districts.
Pursh says that the fruit, named Chinquapin, is sweet
and agreeable to eat ; but Michaux seems to prefer the
former.^

In North America, as in Europe, the Oaks rank as the
noblest trees of the forest. In the former country, from
lat. 20° to 48°, forty-four species have been described,
of which Michaux notices twenty-six as found in the
United States, the number of species in the Old Conti
nent being thirty. None of those in the New World
are however equal to the English oak, which has been
introduced, and thrives well, and is thought more orna
mental. The one that most resembles it is the White
Oak (Quercus alba\ which grows to a height of about
eighty feet, and seven or eight in diameter ; but at Lake

* Michaux, Arbres Forestiers, tome ii. p. 170.
f Ibid., p. 156-168.

BOTANY. 245

Winnipeg its northern limit, does not rise above ten to
twenty. The wood is reddish, but less heavy and com
pact than the European, and not valued for ship-build
ing. The best for this purpose is the Live Oak (Q. virens\
less generally diffused than the former, being only found
near the sea, from Virginia to Florida and the Mississippi.
It is from forty to fifty feet high ; but the wood of a
yellow colour, very hard, compact, and durable, is well
adapted for ship-building, and renders it one of the most
valuable American trees. The Upland White or Iron
Oak (Q. obtusiloba} is also esteemed for this purpose.
The Spanish Oak (Q. falcata\ eighty feet high by four
in diameter, is one of the largest trees, but the wood is
not much esteemed. The Black Oak or Quercitron (Q.
tinctoria^) is valued both for its wood and bark, the latter
surpassing all the others in tanning properties. The Q.
heterophylla, is remarkable for only one tree of the spe
cies being known, growing in a field near Philadelphia.
It was about thirty feet high when seen by Michaux,
who considered it a real species about to die out ; but
Pursh thinks it a mere hybrid variety. The Willow
Oak (Q. phellos} is remarkable for its leaves resembling
those of the tree whence it is named. The Q. pumila is,
according to Michaux, the smallest of the genus, being
only about twenty inches high, and two lines in diame
ter. It grows in the south on the coasts of Carolina,
Georgia, and Florida.*

The Betulacese, comprising the beeches and alders, are
very common, especially in the north of the States and
Canada. The most important is the Betula lenta, the
Mountain Mahogany, Black Cherry, or Sweet Birch, of
different parts of the country. It is abundant through
out the Alleghany Mountains and north in Canada, and
the wood is much esteemed. The B. excelsa, or Yellow
Birch, grows to seventy feet or more in height, and the

* The other species will be found in Pursh, and in Michaux,
Arbres Forest., tome ii. p. 1-128. The elder Michaux has a
particular treatise on this tree.

246 NATURAL HISTORY.

B. nigra, or Red Birch, equals it in elevation, and is much
valued for its wood.* The Alders are less important, the
largest, according to Pursh, being the Alnus glutinosa of
the English botany ; but Hooker thinks it is rather the
A. viridis, also a European species.

Our common nettles, Urtica urens and dioica, with
six or seven other species, are found in North America,
and also the Boehmeria and Parietaria. The com
mon lint (Cannabis sativa) is frequently found in the
fields ; but Pursh considers it as introduced from Europe.
The Hop (Humulus lupulus) is common in deep shady
valleys in the mountains, and on the banks of rivers in
the low ground, and is thought truly indigenous. In
the middle states the Red Mulberry (Morns rubra), a
fine tree, with useful and durable wood, is found.
Closely related to these are the Ulmacese, or Elm tribe,
of which the White Elm (£/". Americana} is one of the
most majestic and graceful trees of the United States.
It flourishes in all the damp alluvial lands from Carolina
to New England, having a height of 80 to 100 feet, and
four or five in diameter. It grows rapidly ; but the wood
is inferior to that of Europe, and not valued for mecha
nical or domestic purposes. The Red or Slippery Elm
(U.fulva) prefers a dry and mountainous situation, and
is also a fine tree, with brighter and less gloomy foliage
than the European species, which is now introduced into
America. The Planera aquatica, growing near rivers in
Carolina, much resembles the elm in its foliage. The
Nettle-tree (Celtis ocddentalis\ often growing in dry
rocky places where no other tree can live, attains a
height of sixty to seventy feet. The Hackberry ((7.
crassifolia), in the woods of Virginia, Kentucky, and
Tennessee, is still taller, being frequently eighty feet
high, and only eighteen or twenty inches in diameter. 1*

The genus Myrica comprises several shrubs with aro
matic properties. M. gale has, like the others, an agree-

* Michaux, Arbres Forest., tome ii. p. 129-155.
f Ibid., tome iii. pp. 222, 269.

BOTANY. 247

able smell, and its young buds are used by the Indians
to dye their porcupine quills. M. cerifera lias a power
fully astringent root, and the berries of it and some other
species produce in much abundance a white vegetable
wax, from which candles are manufactured. The Comp-
tonia asplenifolia, or Sweet-fern Bash, has a strong resi
nous smell when rubbed, and on account of its tonic
astringent properties is much valued as a domestic medi
cine in cases of diarrhoea.

The Juglandacese are principally a North American
tribe, ten species being found there ; whilst none are in
digenous to Europe, the common walnut having been,
imported from Persia or the Levant. The finest is the
Black Walnut (Juglans nigra\ seventy feet high, and
four or more in diameter. The wood, of a dark brown
colour, with a fine close grain, takes a good polish, and
is very durable. The nuts are also eaten. The Butter-nut
or White Walnut (/. cinerea or catharticci) is a fine tree,
though rather smaller than the former. The branches
spread out widely, and then, resting on the ground, afford
a spacious shade. The bark is cathartic ; and the fruit,
fat and oily, soon becomes rancid, but is eaten either
fresh or pickled. The Hickories (Carya^ Nutt.) are
valuable for their fruit, but more especially for their
timber. This is very heavy, strong, and extremely
tenacious and elastic ; but is open in the grain, very
liable to be attacked by worms, and soon rots when
exposed to changes of heat or moisture. It is conse
quently not much used for domestic purposes, but is
valuable where strength and elasticity are needed. It
is considered the best firewood in the States, giving out
much heat, and forming a compact and durable coal.
The finest species is the /. squamosa or alba, the Shell or
Shag-bark Hickory, which rises to eighty or ninety feet
in height, with a diameter of two feet, the trunk being
straight and very regular. The /. amara and olivafor-
mis are also fine trees, though smaller, only rising to
sixty or eighty feet.*

* Michaux, Arbres Forest., tome i. p. 151-222.

248 NATURAL HISTORY.

Many species of the Willow (Salix) occur in North
America, especially in the colder parts of the country.
Pursh enumerates thirty-seven species, and Hooker, in
the Flora Boreali- Americana, forty-one. Their general
character does not differ from those in Britain, and many
oven of the species are the same. Michaux thinks them
inferior to those of Europe both in size and quality of
timber, and little value is put upon them in America.
The Poplars are also numerous, Pursh mentioning nine
species which occur in more southern latitudes. The
finest seems the Tacamachac or Balsam Poplar (Populus
balsamifera}, principally found in the British dominions.
On the north-west coast it attains a very large size, sixty
to a hundred and forty feet high, and nine to twenty
feet in diameter ; but Hooker thinks that it is probably
a distinct species. P. angulata, the Mississippi Cotton-
tree, is also a large tree eighty feet high, being equalled,
however, by the P. Icevigata, in Virginia, and near the
great lakes.*

The Plane-tree, Sycamore, or Button-wood (Platanus
occidentalis), is probably the largest tree in the Ameri
can forests. Even in the Atlantic states it grows rapidly
to a great size, but its true home seems to be on the
Ohio and large rivers of the west, where its foliage is
more brilliant and its vegetation more vigorous than
elsewhere. It there often rises sixty or seventy feet
before putting out a branch. The elder Michaux mea
sured one growing on an island in the Ohio, which at
five feet from the ground was forty feet four inches in
circumference, and had nearly the same dimensions
when measured by Washington twenty years before.
The younger Michaux saw another forty-seven feet in
circumference, and branching at twenty feet from the
ground. He also mentions, that on the Wabash, in
Illinois, a canoe sixty-five feet long, and carrying nine
thousand pounds weight, was formed out of a single

Michaux, tome iii. pp. 328, 290-309.

BOTANY.

249

trunk. The wood is of a dark red colour and fine close
grain, but is apt to twist or cast.*

The Sweet-gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) also grows
to an immense size in the southern states ; Michaux
mentioning one in Georgia live feet in diameter. Its
foliage assumes a fine dark red tint in autumn, and is one
of the greatest ornaments of the forests. The wood is
very hard, of a reddish colour, close texture, and, taking
a good polish, is much valued for furniture. When the
bark and outer wood are broken, a fine fragrant resin
flows from the wound, but in small amount, a large tree
only yielding half an ounce in five days.t

A considerable number of species and varieties of
Laurel occur, principally in the southern states. One
of the largest and most important for its medicinal pro
perties is the L. Sassafras, with yellow flowers and blue
berries. From Virginia northwards it is a mere strag
gling shrub, but in the southern regions forms trees two
feet in diameter. The Spice-wood (L. Benzoin}, accord
ing to Barton, has a stimulant, tonic, highly aromatic
bark, used in intermittent fevers, and the fruit also
produces a stimulant oil. The Red Bay (L. Carolincnsis}
grows to a small tree whose wood is considered valuable.

Aristolocliia serpentaria is the famous Virginian Snake-
root according to Pursh, who conceives that its proper
ties as a specific for the bite of serpents is well founded.
Its root has an aromatic smell like that of valerian, and
a warm bitterish taste ; and Barton praises its power of
arresting the worst kinds of typhus fever. The Wild
Ginger (Asarum Canadense) has a highly aromatic root
with similar medicinal properties.

The Phytolacca decandra, or Poke-weed, now natural
ized in the south of Europe, is celebrated for its medi
cinal effects, some considering it as more valuable than
guaiacum. Its root and a spirit distilled from the ber
ries are emetic. The leaves also are very acrid ; but the
young sprouts lose this quality by boiling, and in spring

* Michaux, tome iii. p. 184. -f Ibid., p. 194.

VOL. III. Q

250 NATURAL HISTORY.

furnish a fine vegetable for the table resembling aspar
agus.

The Polygonacese, found over the whole world, have
many representatives in America. Rumex, the dock,
and Polygonum, both with many British species, also
BrUnnickia, Calligonum, and Eriogonum, the latter a
curious plant covered with a woolly coat, are the more
common genera ; but none of the species peculiar to the
New World possess any remarkable properties.

Although our common heaths (Erica and Calluna)
are not found in North America, yet related genera are
not uncommon. Many kinds of Andromeda occur, as
A. rigida, sometimes forming a small tree twenty feet
high ; A. acuminata, in the sandy swamps of Georgia,
with numerous white flowers, and a hollow stem used
as a stalk for their pipes by the natives ; and A . arborea,
a beautiful tree of the Alleghany Mountains, named the
Sorrel -tree from the pleasant acid taste of its leaves.
Menziesia and Arbutus are also common, the berries of
the latter being eatable, and the Indians smoking the
leaves of A. Uva ursi, to which they ascribe much medi
cinal virtue. The berries of Gualteria procumbens and
Shallon are also used as food, and the dried leaves of the
former as tea, and an infusion of the berries in brandy
as bitters. Rhododendron is well known for the beauty
of its flowers, of a white rose or purple colour ; the R.
maximum, often t\venty feet high and its stem eighteen
inches in diameter, is the largest and finest species.
Azalea calendulacca Pursh considers as without excep
tion the handsomest shrub in North America ; its flowers
being a beautiful flame colour, bright yellow or deep
yellow mixed with scarlet. A. arborescens is from ten
to twenty feet high, and, with its elegant foliage and
numerous large rose-coloured flowers, forms a highly
ornamental shrub. The genus Kalmia likewise con
tains some fine evergreen shrubs. Species of Vaccinium
are very numerous, many with eatable fruit, but most
of them well known, and rather characteristic of more
northern latitudes than of the regions we are considering.

BOTANY. 25 1

The Persimon, the size of a plum, golden yellow, and
agreeable when fully ripe, is the fruit of the Diospyros
Virginiana, a middle-sized tree with pale yellow flowers.
The Sweet-leaf, Hopea tinctorea, is a small tree found in
the woods of Virginia, whose leaves dye a very fire
yellow. Halesia tctraptera, in Carolina, is named the
Snow-drop or Silver-bell tree, from the disposition of
its white flowers. Styrax, in Virginia and Carolina, con
tains some fine ornamental shrubs with white flowers.
Ilex opaca, or Holly, forms a beautiful evergreen tree,
eighty feet high and four in diameter, growing in all
the states north of Carolina. The other species are
merely shrubs ; the black drink used by the Indians,
both as a medicine and in their councils, being made from
the leaves of /. vomitoria. The bark and crimson ber
ries of Prinos verticillatus are celebrated for astringent
tonic properties.

Among the Honeysuckle tribe (Caprifoliacece} we
find several species of the genera Xylosteum and Capri-
folium, only remarkable for their pretty flowers. The
Linnea borealis is also a native of the western hemi
sphere. The Elder (Sarnbucus), and several species, of
Viburnum with eatable fruit, are likewise common
shrubs.

According to the calculations of Humboldt, one-sixth
of all the flowering plants of North America are con
tained in the large and difficult order of the Compositse.
Our limits will only permit us to notice a few of the
more important species. The Elecampane (Inula Hele-
nium\ now common in the northern states, is supposed
to have been brought from Europe, but several other
species are indigenous. Eupatorium is a very extensive
genus, and E. perfoliatum, a very bitter plant with dia
phoretic qualities, has been used for ages by the natives
and colonists in intermitting fevers. Pursh states
that he had personal experience of its benefits during
his residence on Lake Ontario, when the influenza and
lake-fever were raging among the inhabitants. It is
named Thorough-wort or Bone-set, and used either as a

252 NATURAL HISTORY.

decoction, or he thinks more effectually as an infusion
in gin or rum. The Wormwood (Artemisia] in many
species is common, and Tansy, probably introduced
from Europe. Erigeron is also a large genus, E. Phila-
ddphicum and heterophyllum being commonly sold as
diuretics under the name of Scabious. The roots of
several species of Liatris have a similar property, and
L. scariosa and squarrosa, known in Virginia, Carolina,
and Kentucky as the Rattlesnake's Master, is a remedy
for the bite of this reptile, the bruised bulbs being
applied to the wound, and a decoction of it in milk taken
inwardly. The Prenanthis serpentaria, or Lion's foot
of Virginia, is equally efficacious, as the following case
seen by Pursh shows. " A man living in the Cove
Mountains, near the Sweet Springs, was bit in the foot
by a mocassin snake, a species considered the most
dangerous. An inflammation and swelling of his whole
leg took place immediately ; but by taking the milky
juice of this plant boiled in milk inwardly, and apply
ing to the wound the steeped leaves, which were very
frequently changed, he was cured in a few days."*

Many species of Senecio, the Ragwort, so troublesome
as a weed, are also found ; one of them ($. vulgaris) said to
be introduced from Europe, and another ($. hieracifolius\
named Fire- weed, from the remarkable property it has
of springing up in the most distant western countries
when the land is cleared of timber, especially where the
brushwood is burnt on the ground, though not a plant
of it occurs for a great distance round. The Solidago, or
Golden-rod, of which Pursh enumerates fifty-one species,
is characteristic of North America. One of the best-
known is the Solidago odora, found principally in dry
sunny situations in the Alleghany Mountains, the
expanded flowers of which, carefully dried, form an
agreeable substitute for tea, and according to Pursh are
exported to China, where they fetch a high price. Aster

* Pursh, Flora Amer., vol. ii. p. 499, where a figure of this
plant is given.

BOTANY. 253

is also a characteristic genus, and still more numerous,
no less than seventy-eight species being enumerated in
the flora of this botanist.

The Labiatae constitute one-fortieth of the flora of
North America, agreeing in qualities with those of
Europe, the genera, as Ajuga, Teucrium, Mentha, Lam-
ium, Galeopsis, Stachys, Prunella, Thymus, and several
others, and even many of the species, being the same.
We shall not therefore stop to notice such well-known
plants. The allied family of the Verbenacese are rarer
here as in other northern regions, though Pursh enu
merates ten species of the genera whence it is named.
The beautiful Bignonia radicans, with large scarlet
flowers, which climbs the highest trees and rocks, is
the most remarkable of that order. The Scrophula-
riacese, containing about one thirty-sixth of North
American flowering plants, many of them of well
known British genera, as Pedicularis, Antirrhinum,
Bartsia, Euphrasia, Rhinanthus, and others, present
nothing particularly worthy of notice.

The order Solanaceae, so remarkable for the apparently
contradictory properties of the plants included under it,
seems especially worthy of attention in an account of
American botany. The potato and tobacco are both
natives of that continent, and most of the latter con
sumed in Europe is still produced there. Both of them,
however, probably originated in parts of it different
from that we are describing, and their history is too
well known to require repetition. Many other species
of Solanum occur, principally in the southern states,
along with several of Physalis. The Henbane (Hyoscya-
mus niger) and Datura Stramonium, so well known for
their narcotic properties, are also common species.

Among the Oleacese we find the Oka Americana, or
Devil's Wood, a small tree with white flowers and round
purple berries which are eatable. Privet (Ligustrum
vulgare] is also common as far south as Virginia. The
most important of this order is, however, the Ash, of
which eight species are found in America. The White

254 NATURAL HISTORY.

Ash (JFnueinut acuminatd), most common nortli of the
Hudson, is a beautiful tree often eighty feet high and
three in diameter. The heart-wood is red and very
strong and elastic. West of the Alleghanies, where the
winters are mild and soil fertile, the Blue Ash (F.
quadrangulatd] supplies its place. It is a smaller tree,
of sixty to seventy feet in height and eighteen inches
in diameter. The Black Ash (F. sambucifolia) grows
to about the same height in moist soils ; but the wood,
though more tough and elastic than that of the White
Ash, is less durable, and chiefly employed in the manu
facture of potash, for which it is well adapted.*

The Pines (Conifer te) are a very important family,
and some remarkable trees of this order occur in
America. These, however, have been already noticed in
the Cabinet Library,f and we shall pass on to some
other genera. The American Arbor Vitse (Thuya oc-
cidentaHs} is common in the mountains as far south as
Carolina, on rare occasions growing to fifty feet in
height and eight or nine in circumference. The wood
is reddish, fine-grained and light, long resisting the
influence of moisture, enclosures formed of it lasting
forty or fifty years. The T. gigantea of the Pacific
coast is a distinct species, from sixty to one hundred and
seventy feet high and twenty to forty in circumference.
The common Juniper is found in America, and some
other species which Hooker would refer to the Juniperus
Sabina of Europe. The Red Cedar (/. Virginiana) is
one of these varieties, sometimes forming trees forty to
fifty feet high, at others a low creeping shrub. The
timber is strong and durable, but as the tree branches
very soon, seldom of a large size. The Yew (Taxus
Canadensis of Pursh) seems also to be regarded by Hooker
merely as a variety of the T. baccata.*

The Palms are natives especially of the warmer regions

* Michaux, Arbres Forest., tome iii. p. 104-125.

+ British America, vol. iii. p. 324-329.

+ Michaux, Arbres Forest., tome iii. pp. 29, 42.

BOTANY. 255

of the earth, and only one, the Chamccrops palmetta, or
Cabbage-tree, is found within our limits growing as far
north as Cape Hatteras in lat. 34°. Its trunk, straight
and equal, is forty to fifty feet high, and crowned by a
tuft of shining green palmated leaves from one to five feet
in diameter. The wood is in great request for subma
rine structures, riot being liable to be attacked by worms,
but is now scarce. The trees grow slowly, and may
have been destroyed for the terminal bud of unexpanded
leaves, which is eaten with vinegar, oil, and salt, and
resembles an artichoke in taste. But, as Michaux well
remarks, to cut down a plant that has taken eighty or
a hundred years to grow, for three or four ounces of a
substance moderately agreeable and little nourishing, is
only pardonable in deserts, and resembles the conduct
of the first colonists in Kentucky and Tennessee, who
would kill a bison weighing twelve or fifteen cwt. for
its tongue.* The Zamia integrifolia, found in Florida,
strongly resembles the palms, but is referred by Lindley
to another order.

The Liliaceae are pretty numerous in North America,
but more remarkable for the beauty of their flowers than
any other properties. Many belong to well known
genera, Allium, Narthecium, Ornithogallum, Lilivm, and
Asparagus. The Lilium superbum, with stems seven feet
high, and thirty to fifty flowers gracefully disposed in
the form of a chandelier, is common in moist copses
north of Virginia. Uvularia also presents some very
beautiful flowers, though perhaps those of the Yucca
are the finest of the order.

The Gramineae are in many respects one of the most
important families of plants. The greater number of
the American species belong to well-known genera, but
our limits will not permit us to enter into details. The
kinds cultivated are the same with those of Europe, only
wheat and rye grow more sparingly, maize more abun
dantly, and rice forms the predominating species in the

* Michaux, Arbres Forest., tome ii. p. 188.

256

NATURAL HISTORY.

southern provinces. These differences seem, however,
to depend more on the manners and peculiar habits of
the people than on physical causes, and we shall not
consider them further here.

In concluding this view of American phenogamous
botany, we would call attention to the remarkable simi
larity which it presents to that of Europe, and even of
Britain. The more important genera have representa
tives in both lands, even the species are frequently the
same, and the new genera seldom compose a large por
tion of the vegetation. The botanist of Europe finds
many links uniting the two floras, and the colonist has
no difficulty in recognising in the oaks, the ashes, the
elms, and pine-trees of his new home, the representatives
of those he has left behind. But it iS the forests of
America that most strikingly exhibit the luxuriance and
profusion of its vegetation, and fill the mind of the ob
server with emotions of surprise. It is not merely the
interminable succession of the noblest trees shooting up
in unexampled magnificence from the virgin soil— the
gorgeous splendour of their autumn foliage, dyed with
unnumbered various tints, or those fairy blossoms whose
variegated hues mingle with the bright green of summer,
that alone demand our wonder. The variety of trees
which compose these forests is still more remarkable.
Michaux calculates that in the United States one hun
dred and thirty-seven kinds of trees exceed thirty feet
in height, of which ninety-five are used in the arts,
whereas in France not more than thirty-seven attain an
equal elevation, of which eighteen form the forests, and
seven only are employed in civil or marine constructions.
Many of these may be destroyed by the progress of cul
tivation, but their place will be supplied by more useful
species, indigenous or introduced from other lands.

SECTION III. ZOOLOGY.

THE animals inhabiting the northern parts of America
and Europe more closely resemble each other than is the

ZOOLOGY. 257

case with those found in the southern portions of the
Old and New Worlds. In the arctic regions, many
species even of the larger mammalia seem identical, and
though this seldomer occurs in the temperate regions
we are now describing, still the genera continue the
same, and several species have a strong resemblance.
The greatest difference prevails among the land mamma
lia, which have fewer means of passing from one region
of the earth to another. This is very evident from the
account given of this department of American zoology in
a former volume of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, to
which we would refer the reader.* To the feathered
races, with more powerful means of transport, rivers, arms
of the sea, and even the broad Atlantic itself, offer fewer
obstacles in their migratory journeys, and consequently
more of the species are indigenous to both hemispheres.
Even where they are specifically distinct, many of them
have so much similarity as to have been confounded,
not in popular language alone, but even in scientific
works, down to a recent period. The tendency at pre
sent is rather towards a too great multiplication of genera
and species on insufficient characters, and without due
regard to the changes produced by climate and other
local influences. In the following notices we adopt the
distinctions of species and the arrangement of Prince
Lucien Bonaparte in his " Geographical and Compara
tive List of the Birds of Europe and North America."

The first family of the birds of prey with which he
begins his list is the Vulturidae, or Vultures, the most
filthy and disgusting of the feathered tribes, and well
named the scavengers of nature, from their services in
removing those putrid animal substances which would
otherwise corrupt the atmosphere. So great is their
utility in this respect, that notwithstanding their loath
some habits, it has secured them not merely toleration,
but even a legal protection in some American cities.
The first species is the Cathartes Iota, the Black Vulture

* British America, vol. iii. p. 221.

258 NATURAL HISTORY.

or Carrion Crow of the southern states. Here they oc
cur in great numbers in summer, sunning themselves
on the house-tops, and in cold weather cowering round
the warm chimneys, seldom moving unless pressed by
hunger, when they saunter familiarly about the streets.
The black vulture is about two feet long, and its wings
from four to five in extent. The head and neck, as
usual without feathers, are covered with a black wrinkled
skin beset with short hairs of the same colour. The
plumage is dull black dashed with yellow ochre on the
throat, and some of the wing- feathers are whitish on the
inside, and dark cream-colour on the edges. They build
their nests on trees in the low swamps, to which they re
tire at night with a heavy laborious flight. They do not
consort with the Turkey Vulture (Cathartesaura), which,
though most abundant in the south, is yet more gene
rally diffused throughout the States. This bird has
been already described, and the remaining American
species belong more properly to other parts of that con
tinent.

The Falcons are a far nobler race of birds, distin
guished by their strong and graceful frames, their more
active and bolder habits, and by feeding almost exclu
sively on newly killed animals. The most remarkable
is the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrys(etus\ found both in
Europe and America. The Halietos leucocephalus, or
Bald Eagle, so named from the white feathers on its
head, demands a longer notice as the adopted emblem
of the States. It is only found occasionally in Europe,
differing from the H. albicilla or Sea Eagle of that
region. Both feed principally on fish, which the Ameri
can species plunders from the osprey, or seizes in shallow
water where it does not require to dive ; sometimes,
however, attacking land animals and birds. Its length
is about three feet, and the extended wings seven ; whilst
its glossy plumage is of a deep chocolate colour with
white on the head, neck, and tail. It is found through
out the whole continent, but principally near the sea
and along the shores of the great lakes and rivers, the

ZOOLOGY. 259

Falls of Niagara being a favourite station. The bald
eagle is fierce and daring, but, to use the words of
Franklin, " He is a bird of bad moral character ; he
does not get his living honestly ; you may have seen
him perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish
himself, he watches the labours of the fishing hawk ;
and when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish,
and is bearing it to his nest for the support of his mate
and young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes
it from him. With all this injustice, he is never in
good case, but, like those among men who live by
sharping and robbing, he is generally poor and often very
lousy. . Besides he is a rank coward ; the little king
bird, not bigger than a sparrow, attacks him boldly and
drives him out of the district." No wonder that the
Americans are not proud of the chosen emblem and
representative of their country.

A larger and, in the opinion of its discoverer Mr Au-
dubon, far nobler bird, is the Halietos Washingtonii, or
Bird of Washington. It measures upwards of three and
a half feet in length, and ten feet from tip to tip of the
wings. The general tint of its plumage is a dark brown
with a coppery gloss above, passing below into a light
brownish yellow. Audubon first saw this bird on the
Upper Mississippi, and afterwards on the Green River,
a tributary of the Ohio in Kentucky. He subsequently
shot one, and had other opportunities of observing them.
They are however rare, and their habits consequently
little known. They seem to build their nests in rocks,
and to catch fish, on which they principally feed, by
diving, differing in both these respects from the bald
eagle.*

The Pandion Carolinensis, the Fish-hawk or Osprey,
has already been noticed as suffering from the depreda
tions of the bald eagle, which it nearly equals in size,
its wings measuring five feet in extent. It much re
sembles its congener of Europe, but is considered a dis-

* Audubon, plate xi. p. 58.

NATURAL HISTORY.

tinct species, and is the most common and widely
diffused of the American falcons, frequenting not only
the seacoast, but all the large rivers that penetrate the
interior. The plumage on the upper part of the body
is deep brown marked with bars of a lighter or darker
hue, whilst the head and body beneath are nearly pure
white. Though powerful birds, the ospreys are said to
be of a mild and social disposition, living at peace among
themselves, and molesting none of the other feathered
tribes. They feed almost exclusively on fish, which they
catch by diving sometimes pretty deep ; and Audubon
states that they can carry off a fish of five pounds weight.
Their flight is graceful and majestic, circling upwards
to an immense height, or plunging headlong with great
rapidity when about to seize their prey. This bird is
migratory, arriving in the southern states in February,
and in the northern in March.

Of the Buzzards, that known as the Red-tailed Hawk
(Buteo borealis} is one of the most common, especially in
the southern states. It is a large bird, nearly two feet
long by four in stretch of wing, and its plumage has the
brown hue so general in the tribe. It seems to prey
principally on hares, moles, mice, larks, and other birds
which frequent the ground, and not even to despise
frogs and lizards. In seeking these, it may be seen
hovering over the fields and plantations, usually perch
ing on a tree before seizing on its victims. The Falco
anatum, resembling the peregrine falcon of Europe, is a
very powerful bird, and flies with great velocity. It is
the terror of the water-fowl, which it strikes down when
on the wing, securing them when they reach the ground.
It is said seldom if ever to strike them where they
would fall into the water, unless when it is frozen,
knowing well the difficulty of there securing its prey.
It breeds on the tall trees of the impenetrable cedar
swamps, where its wild screams, mingled with the hoarse
tones of the heron and the hooting of the great horned
owl, echo through the dreary solitudes.

Several Hawks (Astures), distinguished like those of

ZOOLOGY. 261

Europe for cunning and agility, and surpassing in auda
cious courage the other birds of this family, as much as
they fall short of them in size, are found in America.
We cannot, however, notice them particularly, and pass
on to the Owls, of which there are thirteen, five of them
also inhabiting Europe. The Scops Asio, Mottled or
Screech-owl, is a native chiefly of the middle and nor
thern districts. Its plumage is soft and downy, pale
broAvn above and light gray below. It frequents farm
houses, and, sitting on the roof or fences, will continue
for hours uttering its tremulous mournful ditty, as if in a
state of intense suffering. Like most of the genus, it
feeds on mice, moles, rats, and small birds, which it
seeks in the twilight, spending the day in some hole or
thick evergreen-tree. The Bubo Virginlanus is one of
the largest and most rapacious of the tribe, preying espe
cially on domestic poultry and the larger gallinaceous
birds. It is found throughout the whole of North Ame
rica, but its favourite haunt is the dark solitudes of the
deep swamps, where "he sends forth such sounds as
seem scarcely to belong to this world, startling the soli
tary pilgrim as he slumbers by his forest fire. One of
his nocturnal solos very strikingly resembles the half-
suppressed screams of a person suffocating or throttled,
and cannot fail of being exceedingly entertaining to a
lonely benighted traveller in the midst of an Indian
wilderness."55" Another very common species is the
Barred Owl (Ulula nebulosa\ which during the day
screams like a hawk, but at night, when it used often to
visit Mr Audubon's solitary encampments in the woods,
utters a strange ludicrous sound, which he compares to
affected bursts of laughter.t

The Goatsuckers, of which three species are found in
the southern parts of North America, form the first
family of the next order, or Passeres. Their plumage,
of various shades of brown, white, or russet, is often

* Wilson's American Ornithology, vol. ii. pp. 260, 261.
f Auduboii's Ornith. Biog., vol. i. p. 242.

262 NATURAL HISTORY.

more delicately marked and pleasing than that of gau
dier tribes. The first of them is the Antrostomus
CarolinensiSy or Chuck- Will's- Widow, as it is named
from its singular call, which may be heard in the still
evenings for nearly a mile. It is only found in the
southern states and Lower Mississippi, retiring in winter
to Mexico. Their flight is low and noiseless, skimming
along the surface of the fields and cotton plantations,
pursuing the beetles and other nocturnal insects in the
air, and occasionally alighting to pick them up on the
ground. When their eggs are disturbed, they imme
diately remove them to some other place, carrying them
in their large mouths. This bird is nocturnal in all its
habits, and is seldom seen through the day, like the whip-
poor-will, with which it is often confounded. This, the
Antrostomus vociferus, is the most celebrated species,
and found in nearly every part of the States, though
most common in the more mountainous and barren dis
tricts of the south. Its notes are unmusical, and their
shrill rapid repetition is far from agreeable ; but early
associations make them sound to an American like the
voice of an old friend, though the ignorant and super
stitious consider them as foreboding evil. Through the
day they retire to the most dark and solitary parts of
the woods, and only issue forth at night to seek the
moths and other insects on which they prey. The Night
Hawk (Chordeifas Virginianus\ though forming a distinct
genus, so much resembles this that their identity has
often been maintained. Besides other differences, they
may be distinguished by the bill of the whip-poor-will
being twice as long as in this species, and its tail round
instead of forked, as in the night-hawk. Eight species
of Swallows frequent the United States during summer,
of which, notwithstanding their migratory character,
only one, the Sand Martin (Chelidon riparia\ is also
found in Europe. Cha>tura pelasgia, the Chimney Swal
low, is so named from building in the inhabited parts of
the country only in chimneys, for which they have
forsaken the hollow trees they formerly frequented.

ZOOLOGY. 263

Their nests consist of very small twigs, fastened together
by a kind of glue, which is secreted from two glands in
the back part of the head, and mixes with the saliva.
The whole nest, attached by one edge to the wall, and
destitute of lining, is thickly smeared with this sub
stance, which becomes very hard. When they arrive
in the spring, they usually take up their night-quarters
in some hollow tree, which they may be seen entering
at night and leaving in the morning in thousands, thus
giving rise to the opinion that they spend the winter
there in a state of torpidity. The Purple Martin (Progne
purpurea) is a general favourite in the States, boxes
being often set up in which they may build their nests ;
and even the Indians and Negroes fix gourds or cala
bashes to a long cane or pole, with the same hospitable
purpose. This is a courageous bird, and a determined
enemy to all beasts of prey, to hawks, and even to the
bald eagle himself, their powerful flight enabling them
to annoy him with impunity. The Hirundo rufa, or
Barn Swallow, differs only in some minute particulars
from our common chimney swallow.

Of the Humming-birds, the smallest and most beauti
ful of the feathered tribes, rivalling the gaudiest insects
in their tiny forms and the metallic brilliancy of their
plumage, four species are found in America. The most
common of these, the TrocMlus colubns, in the summer
months extends north, even into the fur countries. The
other species seem more rare, and are only found in the
southern states.

The Black-capped Nuthatch (Sitta Carolinensis) is
the most widely dispersed species of this genus, and is
frequently seen in the woods, running in a spiral direc
tion round the trunks of the trees, and detaching large
pieces of the scaly bark in search ctf the insects it con
ceals. They, however, also live on nuts, which, as their
name implies, they break by repeated hatchings or ham
merings with their bills, and are even reported to store
them up for the winter. The Sitta Canadensis, a smaller
migratory species, is common north of Maryland. In

264 NATURAL HISTORY.

Virginia and the southern states, we find the S. pusilla,
or Brown-headed Nuthatch, a restless active bird, in
constant motion over the stem and branches of the pine-
trees, whose seeds it eats, though its usual food is the
insects that lodge in the bark. The Mniotilta varia, or
Black-and-white Creeper, is another bird of similar
habits, migrating from one district to another by short
flights from tree to tree. The Thryathorus Ludovicianus
and the allied species much resemble our European
wrens, frequenting the borders of forests and piles of
old timber. " It has all the restless, jerking manners
of the wrens, skipping about with great nimbleness,
hopping into caves, and disappearing into holes and
crevices, like a rat, for several minutes, and then re
appearing in another quarter."* The T. Bewicki closely
resembles this in shape, colour, and movements, but is
less active and lively. The House Wren (Troglodytes
JEdon) is a still more familiar bird in the middle states,
to which, according to Audubon, it is nearly confined.
They build their nests with much confidence in the
vicinity of man, in the eaves of houses, or in small boxes
fixed for their use on the top of a pole in the gardens.
Wilson mentions a still more curious place of abode.
" In the month of June, a mower hung up his coat
under a shed, near a barn ; two or three days elapsed
before he had occasion to put it on again ; thrusting his
arm up the sleeve, he found it completely filled with
some rubbish, as he expressed it, and, on extracting the
whole mass, found it to be the nest of a wren completely
finished, and lined with a large quantity of feathers.
In his retreat he was followed by the little forlorn pro
prietors, who scolded him with great vehemence for
ruining the whole economy of their household affairs."t
The notes of this bird are loud, sprightly, and pleasing ;
and its manners bold. It has an extreme antipathy to

» Wilson's Amer. Ornith., vol. i. p. 211. Audubon's Ornitli.
Biog., vol. i. p. 399.

f Wilson's Amer. Ornith., vol. i. p. 132.

ZOOLOGY. 265

cats, and is also at constant warfare with the titmice,
swallows, and blue-birds.

Of the Thrushes, one of the most common is the
Turdns migratorius, or Robin of the States.* The Wood-
thrush (Turdus mustelinus} is also widely diffused
through that continent, where it seems to hold the same
place in the affections of the people as the common
thrush or nightingale of Europe. Audubon names it his
greatest favourite of the feathered tribes of our woods,
and says that " its song, although composed but of few
notes, is powerful, distinct, clear, and mellow. I do not
know to what instrumental sounds I can compare these
notes, for I really know none so melodious and harmo-
nical." f It is a retired solitary bird, frequenting low,
thick-shaded hollows, through which a small brook
meanders, overhung with alder bushes, mantled with
wild vines.

None of the songsters of the American forests can,
however, vie with the Mocking-bird (Mimus polyglottus)
in beauty or variety of notes ; and even the nightingale
of the Eastern Continent must yield, it is said, to this
rival of the West. " The mellowness of the song," says
an enthusiastic admirer, " the varied modulations and
gradations, the extent of its compass, and great brilliancy
of execution, are unrivalled. There is probably no bird
in the world that possesses all the musical qualifications
of this king of song. To compare the essays of the
nightingale to the finished talent of the mocking-bird is,
in my opinion, quite absurd." £ Its own notes are bold,
full, and greatly varied, but its power of imitation is
perhaps still more singular, and, in the opinion of many,
injures its song. When domesticated, " he whistles for
the dog — Caesar starts up, wags his tail, and runs to
meet his master. He squeaks out like a hurt chicken, —
and the hen hurries about with hanging wings and
bristled feathers, clucking to protect its injured brood.

* See Northern Coasts of America, pp. 74, 75.

t Ornitli. Biog., vol. i. p. 373. J Ib.,vol.i. pp. 109, 113.

VOL. III. II

265 NATURAL HISTORY.

The barking of the dog, the mewing of the cat, the
creaking of a passing wheelbarrow, follow with great
truth and rapidity. He repeats the tune taught him
by his master fully and faithfully. He runs over the
quiverings of the canary, and the clear whistlings of the
Virginia nightingale." Less melodious are the Brown-
thrush (M. rufus), the most numerous species in the
States, and the Cat-bird (M. felivox\ only met with in
the south.

In the family of Muscicapidae, one of the best-known
is the Pewit Flycatcher (Tyranula fusca\ so named
from its oft repeated call and habit of feeding on insects.
It builds its nest in rocks, caves, or the eaves of houses,
and is a migratory species. Its notes are simple, but
lively and pleasing, especially as the harbingers of spring,
its arrival in many parts of the country serving as a
sort of almanac. The T. virens closely resembles this,
but arrives later, and frequents the thick woods, where
it loves to sit on the high dead branches, chanting its
feeble plaintive strain, and occasionally darting after in
sects, returning by a short circular sweep to its former
position. The King-bird (Tyrannus intrepidus) is well
known for the instinctive boldness with which it de
fends its young, hesitating not to attack the eagle him
self when approaching too near its nest.* The T. cri-
nitns is also a very common species, more tyrannical
and quarrelsome than even the king-bird itself, though
seldom attacking the larger birds of prey. " They have
also frequent encounters among themselves, when they
show an unrelenting fierceness almost amounting to
barbarity. The plucking a conquered rival is sometimes
witnessed."t

Among the Corvidae, one of the most common is the
Blue Jay (Cyanacoraoe cristatus\ the beau, as he has
been called, among American birds, and, at the same
time, the greatest thief and marauder. It attacks the

* See Northern Coasts of America, p. 364.
f Audubon, Oruith. Biog., vol. ii. p. 178.

ZOOLOGY. 267

corn-cribs of the farmers, and robs every nest it can
find, sucking the eggs or devouring the young. Au-
dubon relates that he " has seen one go its rounds, from
one nest to another, every day, and suck the new-laid
eggs of the different birds in the neighbourhood with
as much regularity and composure as a physician would
call on his patients." "x~ The plumage of this bird is
very gaudy, being principally of a beautiful bright
purplish blue. Its voice, however, does not correspond,
being generally a mere squall or scream. They are,
however, good imitators, naturally mimicking the calls
of other birds, and easily taught, in captivity, to pro
nounce several words.

The Corvus Americanus is now thought to be a diffe
rent species from the carrion crow (C. corone} of Europe.
It feeds not only on caterpillars, grubs, and worms,
but also on seeds and grains of maize, of which it pulls
up the young shoots, compelling the farmer to replant
his fields sometimes two or three times. It is a con
stant attendant on agriculture, and rare in the unculti
vated parts of the country. Though extremely shy and
cunning, all its ingenuity cannot preserve it from man,
its most inveterate enemy, 40,000 having been shot in
a single season in one state, Avhere a premium was
offered for their heads. It is seldom found in those
places where the raven (C. catototl) abounds. This also
is a distinct species from the Corvus corax of Europe,
with which it has been confounded. It is found in most
parts of America, but builds its nest only in inaccessible
rocks. It is omnivorous, feeding on small animals and
carrion of every kind, and also on nuts, berries, and
fruit.

The Purple Grakle (Quiscalus versicolor) is a well
known migratory bird in the northern states, living on
worms and grubs in the spring, and in the harvest plun
dering the fields of Indian corn. Its plumage is almost
black ; but in particular lights a rich glossy steel-blue,

* Ornith. Biog., vol. ii. p. 14.

268 NATURAL HISTORY.

dark violet, silky green, or reflects a strong coppery
gloss. Their flesh is dry and ill-flavoured, but the eggs
very delicate. The Baltimore Oriole (Icterus Baltimore)
is another well known bird of passage, often named the
fire-bird, from the appearance of its bright orange tints
when seen among the green leaves. Their pensile nests
are very curiously constructed. Strong strings of hemp
or flax are fastened round two forked twigs, and inter
woven with the same material mixed with tow into a
coarse cloth, not unlike a hat in its raw state. This
forms a kind of pouch, six or seven inches deep, which
is lined with soft substances, finished with a layer of
horse-hair, and shaded from the sun and rain by a canopy
of leaves. Skeins of silk or thread and pieces of string
are often appropriated by the baltimore for its nest.
The Rice or Reed bird (Dolychonix oryzivorus} is, accord
ing to Wilson, entitled to notice for three good qualities
rarely found in the same individual — his plumage is
beautiful, his song highly musical, and his flesh excel
lent. This bird migrates, flying in spring from Mexico
eastward, mostly at night, but returning in autumn by
day. They commit great havock on the rice-plantations,
and are said, though on no good grounds, to have only
begun to migrate since this plant was cultivated. In the
spring, the male birds are black, mixed with yellow and
white ; but in the month of June their plumage becomes
brownish yellow, streaked witli black, which is the con
stant garb of the females. Their song is a medley of
short variable notes, succeeding each other rapidly ; the
effect, when many are singing together, and as if in con
cert, being, however, good, and extremely pleasant.

In the Fringillidae are numerous small birds, some of
which, as the Struthus hyemalis, the Linota borealis, and
linaria, are common to both continents. The Indigo-
bird (Spiza cyanea) is so named from the colour of his
plumage, which in certain lights is of a rich sky-blue,
and in others of a vivid verdigris-green. It frequents
gardens and road-sides, and sings with much vivacity
even under the meridian sun. The Painted Bunting (S.

ZOOLOGY. 269

ciris} is in more general request as a domesticated bird,
especially among the French inhabitants of New Orleans,
who name it Le Pape, whilst the Americans call it the
Nonpareil. The head and upper part of the neck are of a
rich purplish blue passing into vermilion below ; its
back is a glossy yellow stained with green or red, and
the wings of a dusky red with green or purple. They
are very frequent in the southern states, especially
Louisiana, in summer building their nests in the orange-
trees. They are taken in great numbers in traps, being
decoyed by a stuffed bird, and sold in New Orleans for
sixpence each, though in London three guineas are some
times asked. Their great recommendation is the beauty
of their plumage, their song resembling that of the in
digo-bird, but shorter and less powerful.

Among the Scansorial tribe the family of the Parrots
(Psittacida) is chiefly confined to tropical regions, none
being found in Europe, and only one, the Carolina parrot
(Conurus Carolinensis}, in North America. East of the
Alleghanies, it is rarely seen north of Maryland, though
some are said to have been found beyond Albany, in
New York ; but, in the milder valley of the Mississippi,
they frequent the banks of the Ohio, the Illinois, and
tributary streams, even to the shores of Lake Michigan
in north lat. 42°. Their plumage is very beautiful and
glossy, its general colour being a bright yellowish silky
green, mixed with orange, red, pure yellow, blueish
green, and deep dusky purple. They are very sociable,
flying in flocks and roosting together in the hollow
trunks or branches of the large sycamores. In these
they also deposit their eggs without any nest, and, in the
opinion of Mr Audubon, many of the females together.
They are easily kept in confinement, and less disposed to
scream and chatter perpetually than many of the other
species.

North America contains sixteen species of Wood
peckers, all different from the nine found in Europe.
One of the best-known is the Red-headed Woodpecker

2/0 NATURAL HISTORY.

(Melanerpes erythrocephalus], notorious for its predatory
habits in the orchards and corn-fields, and characterized
by its tricoloured plumage of red, white, and black,
glossed with steel-blue. It shows much discrimination
in selecting the best and ripest fruit, and attacks the
Indian corn with great eagerness when in its rich succu
lent milky state. Their great numbers render their de
predations more felt, a hundred having been shot from
a single cherry-tree in one day. Insects are, however,
their common food, and the benefit they thus effect pro
bably more than compensates for the evil they other
wise produce. In the summer they may be frequently
seen flitting from tree to tree, rattling on the dead
branches in search of food, or uttering their shrill lively
cry. They build their nests in hollow trees, but these
are often robbed by the black snake, which glides up the
trunk. Another very beautiful species is the Gold-
winged Woodpecker (Colaptes auratus\ named from the
bright golden yellow of the expanded wings. This also
plunders the corn-fields, and on this account, as well as
for the market, is frequently destroyed. They live well
in confinement, according to Mr Audubon, never suffer
ing their naturally lively spirit to droop ; and by way
of amusement will continue to destroy as much furniture
in a day as can well be mended by a different kind of
workman in a week.

The best-known of the American Cuckoos is the Yel
low-billed (Eryihrophrys Americanus\ named the cow-
bird in many parts of the country, in imitation of its
uncouth guttural note. Unlike its namesake in Europe,
this bird builds its own nest, hatches its own eggs, and
rears its own young. The nest is flat, and constructed,
with little art, of twigs arid small sticks, intermixed
with green weeds and blossoms of the common maple.
They are fond of sucking the eggs of other birds in their
owners' absence, and also, like others of the genus, feed
on fruits and insects. To these the Black-billed Cuckoo
(E. erythrophthalmus\ which much resembles the for-

ZOOLOGY. 271

mer in appearance, adds molluscous animals, insects, and
frogs. A rarer species is the E. seniculus, or Mangrove
Cuckoo, found in Florida by Mr Audubon.

The Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratoria) is the
most remarkable of the American Columbidse. The
flocks of these birds mentioned by Wilson and Audubon
almost exceed belief. The former calculated one as a
mile in breadth and 240 miles long, consisting of
2,230,272,000 pigeons, consuming 17,424,000 bushels
of mast daily ; and the latter another as one mile
broad and 180 long, containing 1,115,136,000 pigeons,
consuming 8,712,000 bushels of mast daily. Their
nightly rendezvous in the woods is not less extraordi
nary, Audubon having rode for upwards of forty miles
through one whose average breadth was three miles.
They generally extend a long way in a straight line,
with an average breadth of several miles, and have a
very surprising appearance. " The ground is covered
to the depth of several inches with their dung ; all the
tender grass and underwood destroyed ; the surface
strewed with large limbs of trees, broken down by the
weight of the birds clustering one above another ; and
the trees themselves, for thousands of acres, killed as
completely as if girdled with an axe." In the breeding
places, sometimes a hundred nests are found in one
tree, and the natives collect for great distances round
to kill the birds, which they preserve by salting. The
pigeons live principally on the mast of the beech-trees,
to procure which they must fly immense distances.
They travel, however, with great velocity, according
to Audubon's calculation about a mile in a minute,
pigeons having been killed near New York with rice
in their crops collected in the fields of Georgia and
Carolina,* The Turtle Dove (Ectopistes Carolinensis}
resembles its European namesake, and is also common
in the woods throughout the whole states in summer,

* Wilson's Am. Orn., vol. ii." p. 194r208. Audubon, Ornith.
Biog., vol. i. p. 319-326.

272 NATURAL HISTORY.

but retires from the north in winter. The Zenaida
Dove (Zenaida amabilis\ and some other species found
principally in Florida and the south, are much rarer.

The Wild Turkey (Mekagris Gallopavo) is the sole
representative of the family of the Phasianidse in the
northern parts of the New World. It seems formerly
to have extended from Canada to the Isthmus of
Panama, but is now retiring to the more uncultivated
parts of the country, from the aggressions of man.
Any description of so well known a bird is unnecessary.
In the wild state they roost in trees, but seldom fly
unless when compelled. They migrate from one part
of the country to another where food is more abundant,
and should a river interrupt their progress, will often
remain a day or more on the bank as if for the purpose
of consultation, the males gabbling obstreperously,
before they undertake the hazardous voyage. They
generally commence their flight from some high emin
ence, all in a body, on a given signal, and the stronger
cross a river a mile wide without difficulty. The
wild turkeys surpass the tame both in size and beauty
of plumage. The male is four feet long and five in
extent of wing, weighing from fifteen to twenty pounds
in general, though many are thirty and a few even forty
pounds weight. The hens are smaller, being about
three feet long, and nine pounds in weight. This bird
is one of the gifts of the New to the Old World, having
been sent from Mexico to Spain early in the sixteenth
century, and from thence in 1524 to England, where
they soon became very common. The English name
has originated in a mistake as to their native country.

The Quail or Partridge (Ortyx Virginianus} is a well
known bird throughout the States, where it supplies the
place of those known by the same name in Europe.
They differ from these in the habit of roosting on trees at
night or even in the day, when they walk with ease on
the branches. Though sometimes they take refuge in
the woods, they are more usually found in the open
fields, where great numbers are shot or caught in traps

ZOOLOGY. 2/3

and nets. The Ruffed Grouse (Bonasia umbellus), also
named the partridge in the eastern states, and the phea
sant in the south, is most common in the cold, moun
tainous, woody parts of the country, where they are
found oftener singly or in pairs than in coveys. They
are shot or caught in traps for their flesh, which, how
ever, is less esteemed than that of the Pinnated Grouse
(Tetrao Oupido), chiefly met with in the barrens, where
the ground is dry and the trees low.

The Wooping Crane (Grus Americana} is the tallest
and most stately of the feathered tribes in the United
States, measuring nearly five feet in height when stand
ing erect. They frequent extensive salt-marshes, deso
late swamps, and open morasses near the sea, and in
their migrations to or from their breeding-places in the
north, fly at an immense height, describing large circles
in the air, and uttering loud, distinct, oft repeated cries,
heard long after the birds have disappeared in the air.
The Great Heron (Ardea Herodias) frequents the
Atlantic coast from New York to Florida, feeding on fish,
for which he watches with the most unwearied patience.
They breed in the tallest trees of the cedar swamps,
and ten or fifteen nests are usually placed together.
The American heron much resembles that of Europe
in form and plumage, but is a larger bird, being about
a third longer, and weighing seven pounds, whereas the
latter is rarely more than four. It is also eaten, the
young being excellent, and even the old, when in good
condition, much esteemed for the table.

The beautiful Scarlet Ibis (Ibis r libra) is sometimes
found on the shores of the southern states, feeding on
the small fry and molluscous animals that abound there.
Its whole plumage, with some slight exceptions, isof arich
glowing scarlet colour. In the same places the White
Ibis (7. alba), differing in little except colour, also occurs.
The family of the Scolopidae is less abundant in
North America than in Europe, and nearly half the
species are found in the latter. The others also have
such resemblance as to have been frequently confounded.

274 NATURAL HISTORY.

The Snipe (Gallinago Wilsoni) very much resembles
that of Europe both in appearance and habits, differing
principally in its smaller size and the number of
feathers in the tail. Another bird of this family, also
well known to the sportsman, is the Woodcock (Rus-
ticola minor). It differs in colour from that of Europe,
is very considerably smaller, and whereas the latter
winters in Britain, migrating north in the spring, the
former is only a summer inhabitant of the United
States. The Rail (Ortygometra Carolina), in an allied
family, also furnishes much amusement to sportsmen
for a few weeks. It is aquatic in its habits, hiding
among the long reeds and grassy marshes near the
rivers. They are shot in these places in great numbers
at high water, an expert marksman often killing ten or
twelve dozen in a tide. In Virginia they are caught in
dark nights by sailing through the reeds in a boat with
a strong light, which dazzling the birds, they suffer
themselves to be knocked on the head, so that twenty
to eighty dozen have been killed by three negroes in
the short space of three hours.*

The Duck family (Anatidce) are most numerous in
the regions north of those we are now describing, though
many extend throughout the whole continent, and
twenty of the thirty-seven American species are also
met with in Europe. The Canada Goose (Anser Cana-
densis) is common in all parts of the United States,
retiring north in summer to breed. They are now
generally domesticated, both in their native country and
in Europe. The American Widgeon (Mareca Ameri
cana) is common on the whole coast in winter, but fly
north in spring. The Summer or Wood Duck {Aix
sponsa) is distinguished for the rich and varied colours
of its plumage, and for its habit of building and perching
upon trees. It is oftener found by the solitary retired
rivers of the interior than on the seacoast. The plum
age is very glossy, and generally of rich green, blue, or

* Wilson's Amer. Ornith., vol. ii. p. 239.

ZOOLOGY.

275

violet tints, mixed with other colours. It has a pendent
crest of feathers, of a rich glossy bronze green ending in
violet. The Canvass-back Duck (Anytha valisneria) is
less celebrated for its plumage, mostly white, than for
" the rich juicy tenderness of its flesh, and its delicacy of
flavour," which render it a universal favourite among
the epicures of the New World. They migrate from
the north in October, and frequent those parts of the
coast where a particular plant, on whose root they feed,
grows. They are extremely shy, and many stratagems
are employed in order to come within shot of them.

Among the Pelicanidae, of which America contains
eleven species, only one, the Phalacrocorax carbo, or Cor
morant, is common to it and Europe. The Sula Bassana,
or Solan Goose of Europe, was formerly thought to be
also a native of both continents, but those of America
($. Americana and fusca} are now considered distinct.
A curious bird belonging to this family is the Snake-bird
or Darter (Plotus anhinga), a native of the southern
states. They are named from the bent snake-like form
of their neck, which, with the head, is usually the only
part of the bird seen above the water, in which they
swim and dive with great facility. They are also fond
of sitting on the stump of a tree or branch projecting
over the water, basking in the sun, but dive on the
slightest alarm.

Twenty-seven species of Laridae are found in North
America, and thirty-three in Europe, of which eighteen
are common to both continents. The others seem more
abundant in the north of the continent than on the
shores of the United States. The Xema Bonapartii is
most frequent in the north, though not unknown in the
district we are now describing. More generally diffused
is the Xema atricilla,which also occurs accidentally in Eu
rope. The Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) is likewise
very common in both continents. Audubon found them
breeding in the pine-trees on some islands near the Bay
of Fundy, the incessant persecution of men having com
pelled them to give up their usual custom of building

276 NATURAL HISTORY.

on the ground ; and the same desire of security had led
others to transfer their nests to inaccessible rocks and
cliffs. The Jagers (Lestris Buffoni and parasitica) are
often found in winter on the shores of the United States,
the former even as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, but
their true abode seems to be in more northern regions.
Like others of the genus, their habits are predatory,
harassing the gulls, and robbing them of the fish they
have caught.

Several species of Puffins and Petrels (Procettarida),
mostly common to both continents, are found especially
in the northern regions of America. The Stormy Pe
trels, or Mother Carey's Chickens (Thalassidroma Pela-
gica\ and other related species, rather belong to the
great ocean than to the regions on its shores, which they
only approach to rear their young. Their dark mournful
plumage and frequent appearance in the storm, have
associated them with many superstitions of the sailors,
though the shelter afforded by the wake of the vessel, and
the food found there, seem to be the chief reasons of their
attachment. Of the Grebes, the only one peculiar to Ame
rica is the Pied-billed Dobchick (Sylbeocyclus Carolin-
ensis\ which is found in every part of the States, and both
in the fresh and salt water. They dive readily, and re
main long below, so that they are only secured with
difficulty. The most common Awks and Guillemots
are also found in Europe ; the more interesting have
been noticed in a former volume of the Library, and the
regions described with which they are more intimately
connected.*

The southern parts of the United States, combining a
temperature sufficiently elevated with a great extent of
marshy ground, is a favourable abode for reptiles. The
species are consequently numerous, but only a few pos
sess characters generally interesting. In Carolina is
found the Gopher Tortoise (Testudo Polyphemus, Bart.),
of a pale brown colour. The Terrapins (Emys) are

* Northern Coasts of America, p. 382.

ZOOLOGY. 277

more common, upwards of a dozen species occurring in
North America. One of the best-known is the Painted
Tortoise (E. picta) about six inches long, and of a
brownish colour, with broad bands of yellow along the
edges of the plates. It frequents deep clear streams, in
warm weather basking in the sun, but can only live a
few days on the dry land. It is considered excellent
eating. The Alligator Tortoise of Carolina (E. serpen-
tina) is also valued as food, but is much rarer. It lives
in similar places, grows to a length of four feet, has a
long retractile neck, and its tail also long, armed above
with a denticulated crest which has given rise to its
common name. The Sea Tortoises or Turtles (Chelonia)
are most common in the tropical climates, but are also
found on the warmer parts of the coasts of the United
States. The most important is the Green Turtle (T.
Mydas\ so well known as an article of luxury. Though
generally inhabiting the water, they seek the dry sandy
shores in April in order to deposit their eggs, sometimes
to the number of one hundred in a single night. These
are buried in the sand and hatched by the heat of the
sun, but being in great request as food, are much sought
after. The flesh of the Imbricated Turtle (T. imbricata)
is not eaten, but it furnishes the tortoise-shell so much
valued in the arts. From eight to fifteen or twenty
pounds weight are procured from each animal. The
Loggerhead Turtle (T. carretta) is the largest of the
genus, but is of little value except for the oil it yields.
It sometimes weighs 1600 Ibs., and is seldom found
farther north than Florida.

The Pike-muzzled Cayman (Crocodilus Lucius) is a
native of the southern states as far as north lat. 32^°,
and ascends the Mississippi to the mouth of the Red
River. It lives in marshy places concealed among the
woods, and preys on such animals as it can seize and
master, destroying not only sheep and pigs, but even
oxen. They grow to fourteen or sixteen feet in length,
and their skin is so thick and hard as to resist even a
musket-ball. In the cold weather they hide in the mud

278 NATURAL HISTORY.

and become torpid. The female deposits numerous eggs,
which are used as food in Florida and other parts of
America.

Many species of Serpents are found in the United
States, the most celebrated for their poison being the
Rattlesnakes (Crotalus). They are named from the
bells or rattles attached to their tails, sometimes to the
number of thirty, but generally only from five to
thirteen. These consist of scaly cornets or substances
loosely articulated into each other, and produce when
moved a noise resembling that made by rumpled parch
ment, which can be heard thirty or forty feet distant.
They have a very fetid odour, which warns most ani
mals to avoid approaching them. When the first colo
nists settled in Georgia, some of these reptiles seven to
ten feet long and eight inches in diameter were common ;
but now they rarely attain six feet in length, and are
nearly extirpated in the most thickly peopled parts of
the country. Their bite soon proves fatal even to the
largest animals, and to man himself unless a remedy is
immediately applied. Even when this is successful, the
bad effects of the wound are said to be felt for life. The
only animal secured against them appears to be the hog,
which feeds upon them. They, however, move slowly,
and do not bite unless provoked or to secure their food,
which consists principally of birds, squirrels, hares, and
other small animals. The largest species is the Crotalus
durissus, or Striped Rattlesnake, but the Miliary (C.
miliarus\ though much smaller, is considered more dan
gerous.

Several Batrachian reptiles also occur in North Ame
rica ; among others, the Rana pipiens, or Bull- frog of the
Virginians. It is one of the largest species of the genus,
being six to eight inches long, or with its extended limbs
eighteen inches. It makes a loud noise in the summer
evenings, which Catesby compares to the bellowing of a
bull. This animal is very voracious, swallowing young
ducks and goslings whole. The R, gruniens, which
makes a noise like the grunting of a pig, is as large as

ZOOLOGY. 279

the former, and in the Antilles is domesticated for the
table. Other species are mentioned ; and also the Hyla
or Tree-frogs (H. lateralis), which conceal themselves
among the leaves of trees, and feed on insects. Toads are
likewise very common, and Salamanders are more nume
rous than in Europe. One of the hest-known is the Hell
bender ($. giganteci), or Gigantic Salamander, found in
the large rivers and lakes of the interior, and measuring
fifteen or eighteen inches long.

In a country abounding so much in rivers, lakes, and
seacoast,the Fish may well be supposed numerous. Many
species have accordingly been enumerated, but the
manners and habits of the natives of the waters being
almost unknown, they present few points of interest,
unless to the scientific student, and we shall not there
fore enter into long details concerning them. The Perca
flavescens is the common perch of the North American,
rivers ; and on the coast there occurs a fine large species
of Basse (Labrax). The Pike-perch (Lucio-perca) are
likewise found, the common Green Pickering of Canada
belonging to this genus (L. Canadensls). The Black-
perch (Centropristis nigricans} is a large fish of a black
ish-brown colour, and the Pond-perch (Pomotis vulgaris,
Cuv.), with other related species, are found in the fresh
waters. Some species of Sphyraina, large fish with an
elongated body resembling pike, but now united with
the perches, are known in America, and one (Spli. bar
racuda} is nearly as much dreaded as the shark. The
Weak-fish (Otolithus regalis, Cuv.) is one of the most
abundant in the markets of New York. It weighs some
times six pounds or more, and is caught by the line,
but only in salt water. Its English name is given from
the ease with which it can be pulled out of the water,
or as some say, from its enfeebling effect when used
habitually as food. The fishermen attribute to it certain
dull sounds heard under the water at the time when it
is most abundant. The power of producing a similar
hollow noise has given the name of drums to the Pogo-
nias, shoals of which frequent the shallow bays on the

280 NATURAL HISTORY.

south coast of Long Island, in the summer, and the
shores of Carolina and Florida in still greater abundance,
through the whole year.

The Bodianus triourus, or Triple-tailed Black-perch
of Mitchell, is so named from the dorsal and anal fins
being so prolonged as with the true tail to make the
body appear divided into three lobes. It is about the
size of the common perch, though some weigh four or
five pounds. -It is thought good eating, but is rarely
brought to New York. A species more esteemed
in that city is the Sheep's-head (Sargus ovis\ which,
when boiled, the natives think cannot be surpassed by
any fish in flavour, with the exception of the trout and
salmon. It forms an important object of fishery on the
coasts of this state, which it approaches during the sum
mer and autumn. They swim in troops, and are taken
in nets, sometimes many hundreds at a time. They
are then packed in ice and sent to the market of New
York, or in cold seasons even to Philadelphia. The
middle-sized sell for one to one and a half dollars, but
the larger ones bring four to seven pounds sterling. The
Scomber great, a species of mackerel which externally
very much resembles that of Europe, sometimes appears
in immense numbers on the coasts of the United States,
where some other species are also known, several of
which are now classed in distinct genera, as Nomeus and
Caranx. The Temnodon saltator, a fine silvery fish, seems
very widely dispersed in the ocean, Cuvier having re
ceived it with scarcely any variation from the United
States, Alexandria, the Cape, and New Holland. The
Mugil albula, under which it would appear several dis
tinct species are included, is very abundant on the coasts,
especially of North Carolina. Its flesh is esteemed
equally good with that of the common mullet.

The soft- finned fishes (Malacopteryyii) are also numer
ous in the New World, where we find either our com
mon species, or others related, which supply their place.
The Carp family are more abundant in the Old than the
New World, where the place of the true carps (Cyprini)

ZOOLOGY. 281

seems to be supplied by the genus Catastomus, with
thick, fleshy-fringed lips, of which Lesueurhas described
seventeen species, all living in the fresh waters. Ptecilia,
with some allied genera, are small, viviparous, fresh
water fishes, with fleshy lips and broad oval bodies, re
sembling the loaches of our rivers in many particulars.
The Common Pike (Esox lucius) is said, perhaps on
insufficient authority, to be a native of North America,
where two other species occur, one of which has its sides
marked by a net-work of brownish lines (E. reticularis).
On the coast of New England, a species of the Gar-fish
(Belone truncata] is also known. The Exoceti, or Flying-
fish, accompany the tropical currents far down the coast
of North America, and Colonel Hamilton Smith saw one
caught not far from the island of Sable, near Halifax,
the ship having passed two icebergs on the same day.
Many species of Salmon and Trout, some of them pecu
liar, are found in the fresh waters of America, though
the headquarters of this family seem to be in the
Old World. The Smelt (Osmerus^ is common to both
hemispheres, together with the genera Thymallus arid
Coregonus. The Herring (Clupea elongata\ with some
allied species, and others resembling the Shad (Alosa),
are found on the American coasts and in the Ohio, five
or six species classed by Rafinesque in the genera Pomo-
lobus, Dorosoma, and Notemigonus. In this river and
Lake Erie are found two species of Hyodon (H. clodalis
and tergisus\ which are popularly known under the
name of herring. Their colour, scales, large eyes, and
compressed form of body, give them a strong general
resemblance to these, but their mouths fully armed
with teeth, their general habits, and food, principally
live insects, unite them to the salmon family. Another
inhabitant of the fresh waters is the Lepisosteus, whose
cylindrical body is entirely covered with diamond-shaped
scales as hard as stone. Both jaws are bristled over
with numerous rasp-like teeth, with a row of long pointed
ones along the edges. These fish grow to a large size,
and are thought good eating.

VOL. III. S

NATURAL HISTORY.

Several species of Sturgeon (Accipenser\ peculiar to
North America, are found near the mouths of the large
rivers, seldom venturing far from the shore. According
to Pennant, they were so numerous in some rivers of
Virginia, that 600 have been taken in two days, merely
by putting a pole with a strong hook at the end of it
into the water, and drawing it up when it touched a
fish. The flesh of all the species is said to be delicious.
Related to these is a curious fish, the Polyodon reticulatus,
found in the Mississippi, distinguished by the extreme
prolongation of the snout, which forms nearly half the
whole body.

In some of the caves in New York state a fish, named
Amblyopsis spelceus by Dr Dekay, has been found, and
specimens closely resembling it have been procured from
the caverns so frequent in Kentucky. Like the Proteus
of Illyria, these fish are blind, and appear even to want
eyes altogether, these organs being of no use in the dark
recesses they inhabit. Their place in the system seems
not well determined, but they are arranged by the ob
server mentioned above among the Siluridse."*

* A full account of the insects peculiar to North America
will be found in British America, vol. iii. p. 267-303. (Edin
burgh Cabinet Library).

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 283

CHAPTER VI.

Topographical Survey.

Plan of this Survey— General Divisions :— I. The New Eng
land States— Massachusetts — Connecticut— Rhode Island —
New Hampshire — Vermont— Maine— Boundaries — Extent —
Seacoast— Surface — Mountains — Rivers — Industry— Pro
ductions, &c. — Return of chief Articles of Produce by the
Census of 1 840— Population of Cities and Towns in 1840—
Description of Boston, Lowell, Providence, and other Places.
II. Middle States— New York— Pennsylvania— New Jersey
— Boundaries — Extent, &c. — Returns by Census of 1840 —
Description of New York, Philadelphia, &c. III. Virginia
— Maryland— Columbia— Delaware— Boundaries— Extent,
&c.— Returns by Census of 1840— Description of Washing
ton, Baltimore, Richmond, &c. IV. The Carolinas— Georgia
— Alabama— Florida— Boundaries— Extent, &c. — Returns by
Census of 1840— Description of Charleston, Savannah, Mo
bile, &c. — North-western States — Ohio — Indiana — Illinois
— Michigan, &c. — Boundaries — Extent, &c. — Returns by
Census of 1840— Description of Cincinnati, Detroit, &c. —
South-western States — Kentucky — Tennessee — Mississippi
— Louisiana— Missouri — Arkansas, &c.— Boundaries— Ex
tent, &c.— Returns by Census of 1840— Description of New
Orleans, Louisville, Lexington, St Louis, &c.

ALL our preceding views of the United States have
applied generally to the whole territory ; but the reader
must also desire to know something of its particular
states and districts. A minute detail would he incon
sistent with our limits, and likely to interest few persons
in this country ; but a survey, embracing the leading
and most interesting features, may be comprehended
within a moderate compass.

284 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

In the introductory chapter three leading divisions
have heen distinguished ; — that from the ocean to the
Alleghany, thence to the Mississippi, and then the ex
tensive plains westward of that river. Without at
tempting a separate delineation of each state, it may he
convenient to form subdivisions of those which resemble
each other in their physical and social character. Those
in the Atlantic region may be considered as four : —
1. The New England States; 2. The Middle, being
New York, Pennsylvania, &c. ; 3. Virginia, Maryland,
&c. ; 4. The Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama.

The first, or New England division, is still, in many
respects, the most remarkable and characteristic. It
forms the north-easterly part of the United States terri
tory, projecting in that direction beyond the general line
of coast. The boundary on the south and east is the
Atlantic, broken into various deep bays and sounds.
On the north are the British territories of Canada and
New Brunswick, according to a line now fixed, and
composed, to a great extent, of the river St John. On the
west, it is separated from New York by the long expanse
of Lake Champlain, and then by a limit parallel to the
Hudson, but at a small distance east of that river. The
states composing this division, beginning at the southern
coast, are Connecticut, east of which is the small one of
Rhode Island. On the north is the important and
central one of Massachusetts, whence extend northerly
and parallel to each other New Hampshire and Ver
mont, the first mostly, the latter wholly, inland. From
them the extensive territory of Maine stretches almost
due east, with a long extent of broken coast. The fol
lowing exhibits a view of the extent and population of
each of these states, and of the whole :*

* This and similar tabular statements, afterwards given, are
drawn mostly from the last edition (in 1838) of Bradford's
Atlas, and from Bishop Davenport's Geographical Dictionary
(New York, 1842). The Gazetteer of the United States by
Darby and Dwight (New York, 1842) has also been consulted.
Aid has likewise been derived from Mr Bradford's edition of
my Encyclopedia of Geography (Philadelphia, 1837).

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

285

Length.
Mile .

Breadth.
Miles.

Square
Miles.

Population
in 1840.

Massachusetts
Connecticut
New Hampshire
Vermont

130
90
If 10
157

60
70
90
90

7,250
4,764
9,491
10,212

737,699
301,015
284,574
291,948

Maine
Rhode Island

225
40

195
29

32,628
1,350

501,796
108,830

802

534

65,695

2,225,862

The coast of this region is of remarkable extent,
deeply indented, and containing a number of excellent
harbours. South it commences with the spacious sound,
named from Long Island, lying between it and the con
tinent. Westerly, adjacent to New York, it is some
what narrow and tortuous, but gradually spreads into a
spacious and noble expanse, from eight to twenty miles
wide, and with depth sufficient for the largest ships of
war. The northern shore is beautifully variegated by
sloping hills, bold promontories, and commodious havens.
It receives the large river Connecticut, with the smaller
ones of Thames and Houssatonick. Newhaven, New
London, and other considerable ports, are situated on
its shores. A little east of New London, the island and
its sound terminate, and the coast of Rhode Island faces
the ocean. On its eastern border, however, the bay of
Narraganset reaches about thirty miles inland, sur
rounded by shores so strikingly varied and picturesque,
that Mr Darby conceives they may bear a comparison
with the bay of Naples or the channel of Constanti
nople. It does not receive any considerable rivers ;
but derives hence the advantage of its harbours not
being liable to be filled up with alluvial deposit. That
of Newport, well protected also from the sea, and ad
mitting the largest vessels, forms one of the finest in the
world ; but before reaching Providence, at the head of
the bay, the channel ceases to be navigable for any but
light vessels. Then follows Buzzard's Bay, between a
long peninsula stretching towards Cape Cod and the
large islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. It

286 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

receives no river of any importance, but has various in
dentations, on one of which is the important haven of
New Bedford.

The direction of the coast now changes remarkably. The
long peninsula above named, after running about thirty-
five miles east, suddenly turns northward, and proceeding
for thirty miles with diminished breadth, terminates in
Cape Cod, one of the most conspicuous points on the Ame
rican continent. The opposite coast, as well as that of
the peninsula, follows thenceforth for about 150 miles the
direction of north, instead of the prior one of east. The
two combine in forming the close bay of Cape Cod,
noted as containing Plymouth, the earliest settlement
of the pilgrims. It, however, with the whole expanse
as far as Cape Ann, is generally termed Massachusetts
Bay, containing the excellent harbours of Boston and
Salem, the chief seats of New England commerce. This
coast has the disadvantage of receiving no rivers from a
source more than twelve miles inland, arid the land rises
so rapidly that tide- water does not ascend above five or
six miles. Its ports labour thus under much disadvan
tage for intercourse with the interior, which, however,
by canals and railways, is in a great measure remedied.
Beyond Cape Ann is a considerable bay, which receives
the Merrimac, the second river of New England, having
at its mouth Newburyport. The coast holds then
nearly a straight course northward, with only a slight
bend at the entrance of the Piscataqua, which forms the
harbour of Portsmouth, esteemed the very finest on the
whole Atlantic coast. That of Maine then commences,
completely indented by successive bays penetrating far
inland. First occurs that of Casco, a noble sheet of
water, about twenty miles across, and land-locked by a
chain of islands. Portland, at its south-west extremity,
forms a valuable haven, yet not receiving any large
stream ; while the land rises so rapidly as to prevent
the tide from ascending above a few miles. The coast
now turns decidedly east, slightly declining northward,
and forms a complete labyrinth of bays, sounds, pro-

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 287

montories, and islands of every size and shape, which
render it one of the most intricate on earth. Only the
extraordinary force of the tides could render these chan
nels in winter at all navigahle. The first opening is the
Kennebec, not equal in magnitude to Casco, but im
portant as receiving the river of its own name, which
rises deep in the interior, and after being swelled by
various tributaries, of which the Androscoggin is almost
equal to itself, and forming many lakes, enters after a
course of about 200 miles. The tide rising about forty,
affords a tolerable navigation to Augusta, the capital of
the state. Then follows the Penobscot, an expanse larger
and still more varied, receiving also a stream of some
what longer course, bearing its own name. The tides
render it navigable sixty miles up to the great commer
cial port of Bangor. A range of ninety miles then follows,
having many commodious ports, surrounded by pictur
esque scenery, but no great navigable channel com
municating with the interior. The chief are French
man's Bay, enclosed by a large island named Mount
Desert ; and Englishman's Bay. The remotest, on the
borders of Nova Scotia, is that of Machias, into which
enter two rivers of that name, east and west, that are of
some little consequence.

The surface of this region is one of the most striking
and variegated in the world. Its mountain-ranges rise
to nearly an alpine height, and their branches spread
in almost every direction. They connect with and form
a continuous line with the great Alleghany chain ; yet
doubts have been raised, whether the two are really
to be considered identical. They are composed almost
entirely of granite and other primitive rocks, while
the Alleghany contains scarcely any but secondary for
mations. They give thus a bolder and more rugged
aspect to the country, which nowhere expands into
those wide fertile plains that enrich a great extent of
the southern states. The chief group is that of the
White Mountains, in the interior of New Hampshire,
so named from being ten months in the year covered

288 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

with snow. Its conspicuous peaks have been con
secrated by the Americans to the memory of the
chief leaders of the revolution and most popular pre
sidents. Hence the loftiest is named Washington,
estimated once at 7300 feet, but according to Bradford
only 6428. The sides to a great height are covered
with a dense forest of varied trees. These gradually
cease, except some evergreens, while beds and ledges
of granite, gneiss, and sienite, become conspicuous.
At the elevation of 4000 feet, even the first be
come low and stunted, yet their branches spreading
horizontally form an impenetrable thicket. This Lilli
putian forest reaches even to 5000 feet ; but the
summit is quite bare and rocky. The prospect is vast
and wild in the extreme. Mountains rise behind
mountains on every side, and their crowded peaks
resemble the broken waves of a tempestuous ocean.
This scenery, being considered the grandest within the
circuit of the States, attracts numerous visiters, for
whose accommodation an inn has been erected at a
considerable height up the acclivity. Mount Adams
is estimated at 5900 feet, Jefferson at 5860, while others,
scarcely inferior, receive the names of Franklin, Madison,
and Monroe. The other great ridge is called the Green
Mountains, from their general verdant aspect, whence
indeed the French gave to the territory the name of
Vermont. They traverse its centre from north to south,
declining on each side into elevated and well watered
valleys. The chief peaks are Mansfield, 4279 feet ;
Camel's rump, 4188 ; Killing-ton, 3675. This range is
continued into Massachusetts under the name of Hoosac,
but the highest point there is Wachuset, 2990 feet :
the state contains also the insulated summits of Saddle
Mountain, 3600 feet, and Taconic, 3150. A spur from
the Green Mountain even enters Connecticut, which
however consists mostly of gentle hills interspersed with
smiling valleys, and presenting a varied and beautiful,
but rarely sublime aspect. The surface of Rhode
Island, is nearly similar, diversified with rocky shores.

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 289

Maine consists mostly of rugged heights, separated by
valleys, but attaining no great elevation unless on the
north-western border, where a ridge connected with the
White Mountains contains Katahdin, 5355 feet high.
Mars Hill, a leading point in the disputed territory, but
now ceded to America, has only 1520 feet.

The rivers of New England, holding a confined
course through close mountain-valleys, do not reach
any first-rate magnitude. The chief is the Connecticut,
which traverses all the finest part of the country.
Rising on the border of Canada, it holds a long course
southwards, dividing the states of New Hampshire and
Vermont, and receiving all the waters from the White
Mountains on one side and the Green Ridge on the
other. These, however, are mere mountain- torrents.
The course is then across Massachusetts, amid high but
fine pastoral valleys, passing finally through Connecticut,
mostly bordered by alluvial plains and fertile meadows.
It enters the sea at New Haven after flowing about 450
miles, during which its basin has included a singular
variety of aspects as well as climates and productions.
The Merrimac, springing in New Hampshire, and fed
from the eastern slope of the White Mountains, follows
a line of above 140 miles, the lower part of which
has rich alluvial borders. In Maine, the Kennebec,
and Penobscot, from sources in the vicinity of those of
the Chaudiere and the St John, flow each about 200
miles, and have vast quantities of timber floated down
their streams.

A striking peculiarity observed in the American
continent is the total absence of lakes, from the Gulf
of Mexico to lat. 43° N., and, north of that line, their
immense profusion and almost matchless extent. New
England, south of the Merrimac, belongs to the first
of these divisions ; but beyond that river lakes are
very numerous, though not to be compared with the
inland seas of British America. They abound in New
Hampshire, and compose, it is believed, one-sixth of the
surface of Maine. The principal one in the former,

290 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

known by the lengthy Indian name of Winnipiseogee,
is twenty-three miles in length, and from one to ten
wide, surrounded by the most picturesque scenery. This
is usually visited by travellers on the way to Mount
Washington, and for their accommodation a steamer is
employed. The largest in Maine are Moosehead, near the
source of the Kennebec, fifty miles long, and Chesuncook
near that of the Penobscot, twenty-five miles ; the former
also navigated by steamers.

New England, at its first discovery, was one dense
and continuous forest, above which only the naked
peaks of the highest mountains appeared conspicuous. A
large proportion has now been cleared, and agriculture
is practised more diligently than in any other quarter of
the Union. There is even some application of science,
elsewhere almost unknown. Still the soil, being elevated
and rugged, though well watered, is best adapted for
pasturage, and for the grains of secondary quality.
The states most productive in these respects are Massa
chusetts, Connecticut, and the southern part of New
Hampshire ; and Vermont for cattle and sheep. The
timber trade, once extensive, has been diminished by
the progress of cultivation, except in Maine. The
mines of iron are considerable, mostly in Massachusetts.
Manufactures are more flourishing than any where
else in America ; being chiefly cotton, woollen, leather
made into boots and shoes, straw bonnets and hats,
and paper. These are worked by large establishments
in Massachusetts, and by numerous small ones in Con
necticut. New England, principally from Massachusetts
and Maine, carries on almost all the fisheries of the
Union, whether on the coasts, on the Newfoundland
bank, or those distant seas in which the whale is
captured. Ship-building also is peculiarly active, chiefly
in the same two states, especially Maine. The following
are the returns under the more important heads accord
ing to the census of 1840.

Agriculture,, $c. — Horses and mules, 269,660 ; neat
cattle, 1,545,183 ; sheep, 3,830,207 ; hogs, 748,608 ;

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 291

poultry, value 778,329 dollars ; wheat, 2,013,420 bush
els ; barley, 797,400 ; oats, 7,449,266 ; rye, 1,985,041 ;
buckwheat, 778,084; Indian corn, 6,924,109; wool,
8,332,909 Ibs. ; hops, 587,983 ; potatoes, 35,120,500
bushels ; hay, 3,083,743 tons ; dairy produce, value
9,117,154 dollars ; timber, 6,125,980 dollars ; iron,
cast, 34,138 tons ; bar, 10,407.

Manufactures. — Cotton, value 31,611,880 dollars ;
woollens, 12,869,396 ; leather, 14,871,332 ; hats, caps,
and straw bonnets, 3,153,102 ; hardware, 3,341,273.

Fisheries, Commerce, S$c. — Dried fish, 702,546 quin
tals, pickled, 187,046 barrels ; spermaceti oil, 4,302,491
gallons ; other oil, 6,031,673 ; whalebone, &c., value
648,420 dollars; ships, 3,814,396 dollars; commerce,
foreign houses, 383 ; commission houses, 213 ; supposed
capital, 19,467,787 dollars ; retail houses, 9627 ; capital,
31,742,874 dollars.

The following are the principal towns in each state,
with their population in 1840 : —

Massachusetts.— Boston, 93,383 ; Lowell, 20,796 ; Sa
lem, 15,082 ; New Bedford, 12,087 ; Springfield, 10,985 ;
Nantucket, 9012 ; Newburyport, 7161 ; Cambridge,
8409; Taunton, 7645; Worcester, 7497; Plymouth,
5281.

Connecticut.— New Haven, 14,390 ; Hartford, 12,793 ;
Norwich, 7239 ; Middleton, 7210 ; New London, 5528.

New Hampshire. — Concord, 4897 ; Portsmouth, 7887 ;
Dover, 6458 ; Exeter, 2925.

Vermont. — Montpelier, 3725 ; Burlington, 4271 ;
Middlebury, 3162 ; Bennington, 3429 ; Woodstock,
3315.

Maine.— Portland, 15,218 ; Bangor, 8627 ; Augusta,
5314; Bath, 6141 ; Belfast, 4186.

Mode Island.— Providence, 23,171 ; Newport, 8333 ;
Warwick, 6726.

Boston, as our readers must have observed, was the
city most distinguished in the early history of America.
It was that also first raised by commerce to wealth and

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

prosperity ; and these have continued rapidly to increase,
the population between 1800 and 1840 having grown
from twenty-five to ninety-three thousand. Though
surpassed by the still more extraordinary advance of
New York, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, it is still
considered the most finished and handsome city in the
Union. Mr Hamilton observes it to have less of the
rawness and incongruities which disfigure the more
overgrown capitals. The city is built on a peninsula
connected with the continent by a narrow isthmus called
Boston Neck, and at other points by seven bridges. The
harbour, enclosed by projecting promontories, is capable
of containing 500 vessels of the largest size. It is at
once protected and adorned by forty islands, several of
which are covered with verdure. The wharfs are nu
merous and spacious, one containing a range of stores.
The public buildings, mostly of the fine granite found
in the territory, are considered superior to those of any
other American city. The state-house, indeed, though the
most conspicuous, is only of brick ; but it is handsome, in
a lofty and commanding situation, with a most extensive
prospect. In a niche on the lower floor is Chantrey's
statue of Washington, which cost 16,000 dollars. The
market-house, about 500 feet long, and built of granite,
is boasted of as the handsomest similar building in the
world. The upper story contains a spacious hall occupied
by the New England Society for the encouragement of do
mestic manufactures. The Exchange is a superb structure
seven stories high, and containing 202 apartments. Trinity
Church is a spacious Gothic edifice, constructed at an ex
pense of 160,000 dollars. The city contains many other
handsome churches. The Tremont Hotel, the most ele
gant and commodious in the States, is of gray sienite, with
a Doric portico, costing 100,000 dollars. Faneuil Hall,
the County Court-house, and the Alms-house, are also
ornamented buildings. The Athenaeum consists of two
buildings, one containing a library of 25,000 volumes,
another apartments for public lectures and other scien-

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 293

tific purposes. The streets were formerly narrow and
crooked, and the houses as elsewhere mostly wooden ;
but of late they have been rendered more wide and
commodious, while brick and stone have become the
prevailing materials. Mr Dickens expresses decided
admiration of it as a beautiful city. The charitable in
stitutions are extensive, including four hospitals for boys
and three for girls, with numerous free schools, among
which there is one for negroes. Boston has considerable
manufactures, the value of which is estimated at about
11,000,000 dollars. Her capitalists have also large sums
invested in those of Lowell, Waltham, and other towns.
Her commerce, though now inferior to that of New
York, is still very great, the imports being reckoned at
about fourteen, and the exports at ten millions of dollars.
A peculiarly literary and intellectual spirit prevails.
The periodicals amount to about sixty, of which the
North American Review takes the lead ; thirty-one are
newspapers.

On the continent, opposite to Boston, is Charleston,
forming in fact a large suburb, containing the state-
prison on the plan of solitary confinement, and also the
navy- yard within an area of sixty acres. In another
direction from the capital is Cambridge, comprising two
large villages, and Harvard University, the best-endowed
and most distinguished institution of that kind in the
States. It has five halls, a library of 40,000 volumes,
and good collections in science and natural history. In
its vicinity is Auburn Cemetery, whose area of 100 acres
is laid out in the style of the Pere la Chaise at Paris.
Lowell is now the second town in Massachusetts, and
has been esteemed, though on a small scale, the Man
chester of America. Its manufactures are chiefly of
cotton, carried on by several large companies. The
operatives are mostly females, 5000 being employed, with
only 1520 males. Salem, a very early settlement, has
had its progress impeded by the want of deep water in
the harbour ; but its merchants display much enterprise
in foreign commerce, and have lately embarked in the

294 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

whale-fishery. Its chief seats, however, are New Bed
ford and Nantucket, the former in Buzzard's Bay, hand
somely built and agreeably situated on an eminence,
with a safe and capacious harbour ; the latter on a sandy
island, south of Cape Cod peninsula. Plymouth is
revered as the earliest settlement of the pilgrims, to
whose memory a hall has been erected ; but the bay
has not sufficient depth of water. Newburyport, at the
mouth of the Merrimac, loses much of this advantage
from a bar at its entrance. Worcester, Springfield, Nor
thampton, and generally the towns and large villages in
the interior of Massachusetts, are beautifully situated,
and well laid out, with broad streets bordered with trees,
houses mostly of wood, but adorned with pillars, ve
randas, and green doors, and the site surrounded with
ornamented villas.

The towns in the smaller New England states bear
generally a uniform aspect ; open and agreeable, the
houses chiefly wooden, but with state and court-houses,
churches, prisons, and other public edifices, of an archi
tecture more or less elegant. Providence, in Rhode
Island, seated on a hill which overlooks the beautiful
bay of Narraganset, ranks next to Boston, both in popu
lation and commerce. New Haven, in Connecticut, be
sides a flourishing trade, is distinguished by Yale College,
next in eminence to Harvard, having produced Dwight,
Silliman, and other eminent characters. Portsmouth in
New Hampshire, Portland and Bangor in Maine, are
considerable ports, flourishing by commerce ; Montpelier
and Burlington, in Vermont, are small country towns on
very picturesque sites.

The Middle States form a head under which we may
comprehend the larger ones of New York and Pennsyl
vania, with the smaller one of New Jersey. They
were founded later than those of New England, and
were long left considerably behind in enterprise and
rapidity of progress. Recently, however, they have be
stirred themselves in an extraordinary manner, having
the advantage of a milder climate, and a greater extent

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

295

of fertile land. They have been enabled, by vast interior
works and communications, to open up their spacious
back settlements, and also to become the channel for the
great and augmenting produce of the west. New York
in particular has thus risen to such importance as to
acquire a preponderant influence in the Union, and be
called often "the empire- state." The following may
be given as the statistical outline of this part of the
Union : —

Length.
Miles.

Breadth.

Miles.

Square
Miles.

Population
in 1840.

New York.

316

304

46,000

2,428,921

Pennsylvania

307

160

47 000

1 724 033

New Jersey

160

110

8,320

373,306

783

574

101,320

4,526,260

The coast of this territory is not extensive, as the
spacious bays of Chesapeake and Delaware, though re
ceiving several of its greatest rivers, have, through the
peculiar direction of their course, been attached to a more
southern division. The oceanic line, belonging almost
entirely to New Jersey, presents by no means that bold
and broken aspect so remarkable in New England ; still
it has considerable openings, forming valuable havens.
The territory of Long Island, at its western extremity,
encloses the spacious and admirable port of New York,
the only point, though one of immense value, at which
that great state touches the ocean.

The surface is bold and variegated, though not in the
same degree as in New England. Mountains, considered
as belonging to the great Appalachian or Alleghany
range, cross its centre, and in their passage make a general
change in the direction of the chain from west- south
west to almost due south. The most remarkable branch
is that named the Catskill, partly bordering the Hudson,
above which its cliffs ascend in forms strikingly pictur
esque. Round Top, its highest point, rises to 3800 feet.
The most admired spot, however, and the resort of nu-

296 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

merous visiters, is that called the Pine Orchard, on which,
at 2274 feet above the river, has been erected a splendid
hotel, called the Catskill Mountain House. The road
is steep and circuitous, amid dense forests, in which the
traveller is almost enveloped, till at an abrupt angle of
the road, he suddenly descries this singular mansion,
perched on a table-rock like an eagle among the clouds.
The view commands a circuit of seventy miles, along
the highlands of Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connec
ticut. The Kauterskill Falls, 180 feet high, and a ma
jestic rocky amphitheatre, also adorn this vicinity. In
the northern part of the state, beyond the Mohawk, is
another mountain-mass, the Mohegan, proved by recent
surveys to be still more elevated. Mr Bradford estimates
Marcy at 5300 feet, White-face at 4850. The ridge
passing through Pennsylvania is that which bore origi-
ginally the name of Alleghany, now transferred tc the
whole. It is inferior, yet in forming the portage rail
road, no point was found lower than 2500 feet over
which it could be carried.

These rugged heights are singularly contrasted by a
deep valley, or rather chasm, extending from New York
along the Hudson and Lake Champlain to the St Law
rence, believed by Darby to be nowhere more than 141
feet above the level of the Atlantic. He considers
this the most remarkable mountain- valley in the world,
with the exception of the great Scottish glen crossed
by the Caledonian Canal. The navigator on the above
lake, while he sees mountain-peaks rise on each side
round him, can scarcely believe that his own level does
not exceed eighty feet. This opening, however, has
been of singular advantage to the commerce of Ame
rica, and especially of New York, being vastly aided by
the great transverse valley, reaching from Albany to
Lake Erie. It has not only afforded a channel for the
Great Canal, but contains wide tracts of alluvial soil,
fitted for the richest productions.

The rivers of this division are great and important,
forming a main source of its prosperity. It is remarked

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 297

that they do not descend from the brow of the moun
tains facing- the Atlantic, but rise on the other side, and
penetrate through their rude rocky barriers to the plain.
This structure has partially favoured the efforts made
to form navigable channels across the Alleghany. The
Hudson, the most important of all the Atlantic streams,
rises among the Mohegan Mountains, west of Lake
Champlain. Thirty-five miles below, it receives the
Mohawk, which, from the vicinity of Lake Ontario,
has watered a great part of the western valley. The
tide reaches to the point of junction ; and a navigable
channel, the most important in the United States, extends
down to New York. This, as already observed, is con
tinually traversed by magnificent steamers, and being
connected by the Great Canal with Lake Erie, brings
down almost all the produce of the west. Its banks are
adorned with very bold and varied scenery, consisting,
immediately above New York, of enormous walls of
primitive rock 1200 or 1500 feet high. Farther up, the
banks, without being mountainous, become bold, rocky,
and often precipitous ; farm-houses and villages seem to
hang upon the cliffs, or to rise by stages from the water's
edge. The shores of the Mohawk slope gently up
wards, presenting an aspect soft and pleasing rather
than grand. The Susquehanna, the greatest river of
Pennsylvania, is formed by the union of two branches,
the East and West. The first, rising in New York,
on the northern spine of the Catskill, not far from the
Mohawk, flows in a winding course, swelled by the
Tioga, and near Sunbury receives the western branch
from beyond the Alleghany. A little above Harrisburg
it is increased by the waters of the Juniata from the
south-west, considered often as a third branch. Near
Havre de Grace, a little beyond the limits of the state,
it expands into the great estuary of the Chesapeake, on
which Baltimore in Maryland carries on most of the
trade both of the bay and river. The Delaware is
of inferior magnitude, yet perhaps of equal value.
Its fountains are not distant from those of the eastern

VOL. III. T

298 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

Susquehanna, and after widely diverging, it finally ap
proaches very near, but instead of uniting, spreads into
another large bay bearing its own name. This too
is beyond the limits of Pennsylvania, yet the commerce
is carried on entirely by Philadelphia, situated on the
river at the head of its navigable waters. The Passaic
and Raritan are small but useful streams that water
New Jersey.

The lake region commences in the back settlements
of New York. On its eastern border extend Lakes
George and Champlain, the former of which, so cele
brated for its picturesque beauties, has been already
described. The latter is in this respect inferior ; yet its
scenery too is bold and striking, and stretching north for
140 miles, almost to the St Lawrence, it materially pro
motes communication with Canada. Farther west, those
of Cayuga and Seneca, fifty-five and thirty-five miles
long, have been made greatly to facilitate inland naviga
tion. This state borders also on Lakes Ontario and Erie.

The region now described is one of the most produc
tive in the whole range of the States. The surface is
indeed various, and a large proportion very rugged ; but
the great plain from the Hudson to Lake Erie, as also
the lower borders of the Susquehanna and Delaware,
with most part of New Jersey, contain rich flats and
bottoms, which yield in perfection the best grains and
fruits of the temperate climates. There are copious and
largely worked mines of coal, iron, and salt. Manufac
tures are considerable and increasing, but still much
behind those of New England. The inferiority in re
spect to fishery is even more decided, though that of
the whale is pursued to a certain extent from New York.
Commerce,however,both foreign and domestic, flourishes
to a greater degree than in any other quarter of the Union.
The former, from Philadelphia, and still more New York,
embraces the most distant regions of the globe ; the
latter, through the stupendous system of canals and
railways already described, renders it the chief medium
of communication between the eastern and western

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 299

territory. The following are the returns made under
the census of 1840, of the produce of the principal
articles : —

Agriculture, &;c. — Horses and mules, 910,174 ; neat
cattle, 3,304,111 ; sheep, 7,105,982 ; hogs, 3,065,472 ;
poultry, value, 2,176,167 dollars; wheat, 26,273,698
bushels ; barley, 2,742,462 ; oats, 44,401,190 ; rye,
11,259,016 ; buckwheat, 5,257,744 ; Indian corn,
29,574,283 ; wool, 13,291,066 Ibs. ; hops, 501,262 ;
potatoes, 41,731,346 bushels ; hay, 4,773,551 tons ;
sugar, 12,313,920 Ibs. ; dairy, value, 15,011,345 dollars;
lumber,5,313,113; iron, cast, 138,597 tons; bar, 148,1 08;
coal, anthracite, 859,686 ; bituminous, 11,620,654 bush
els ; salt, 3,617,862.

Manufactures.— Woollen, value, 6,297,108 dollars ;
cotton, 10,739,348 ; hats, caps, &c., 4,916,010 ; leather,
11,298,463 ; soap, 17,520,753 Ibs. ; candles, 6,719,172 ;
spirits, 18,548,025 gallons; beer, 19,031,471; glass,
value, 2,088,471 dollars ; hardware, 2,437,531 ; ma
chinery, 5,648,719.

Fisheries, Commerce, $c. — Spermaceti, 412,251 gal
lons ; other oil, 1,349,541 gallons ; whalebone, &c.,
value, 433,905 dollars ; houses engaged in foreign com
merce, 665 ; commission-houses, 1230 ; estimate of ca
pital invested, 53,344,812 dollars ; retail houses, 20,245 ;
capital, 82,090,812 dollars.

The following are the principal towns in each state,
with their population in 1840 : —

New York.— New York, 312,710 ; Brooklyn, 36,233 ;
Albany, 33,721 ; Rochester, 20,191 ; Troy, 19,334 ;
Buffalo, 18,213 ; Utica, 12,782 ; Salina, 11,013.

Pennsylvania. — Philadelphia, 228,691 ; Pittsburg,
21,115 ; Allegheny, 10,089 ; Lancaster, 8417 ; Reading,
8410 ; Harrisburg, 5980.

New Jersey. — Newark, 17,290 ; New Brunswick,
8693 ; Patterson, 7596 ; Trenton, 4035.

New York is the undoubted capital of the United
States, the greatest and most flourishing city in the
new continent, and, next to London, the chief com-

300 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

mercial emporium in the world. It is built on Man
hattan Island, about twelve miles long and one and a
half broad, dividing the Hudson into two channels, one
of which, on the west side, retains the name, the
other is called the East River. The former is the
main seat of the interior traffic by the river and canal,
the latter of the coasting trade, while the spacious bay
facing the southern extremity, nine miles long by four
broad, accommodates the shipping employed in foreign
intercourse, and is crowded with the flags of every
nation. The most conspicuous feature in the city is
the Broadway, commencing at the southern end, carried
in a straight line for between two and three miles, and
intended finally to reach the whole length of the island.
It is eighty feet wide, partly adorned with trees, contain
ing numerous splendid shops, and perpetually traversed
by crowds of the busy and the gay. The park is a
square of several acres, open to the public, and bordered
by several fine buildings. Washington and Hudson
squares are also spacious, and others have been projected.
The northern or upper quarter, containing the mansions
of the opulent, includes some handsome streets ; but the
lower part, adjacent to the harbour, is in many places
narrow, crowded, and built of timber. Hence it was
long infested by the yellow fever, and often the scene
of destructive fires, by which the city has been re
peatedly desolated. It has, however, been of late very
much improved and opened up. At the southern point
is a space termed the Battery, open to the public, and
commanding a magnificent view over the bay and the
adjacent shores of Long Island and New Jersey. There
are also two large public gardens ; but, upon the whole,
open spaces for healthful recreation are somewhat
deficient. The place is neither so well lighted nor
cleaned as is usual in English towns. A scanty supply
of water once aggravated these evils, but has been com
pletely remedied by one of the noblest aqueducts ever
constructed. It is led from Croton River, twenty-one
miles, through a stone channel, to Murray's Hill, three

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 301

miles north of the city, and seven feet higher than its
loftiest houses, to which it is distributed by pipes. The
minimum daily quantity is expected to be 30,000,000
gallons, the ordinary one 50,000,000. The finest edifice
is the City-hall, in the park, with a front of white
marble, 216 feet long, the interior adorned with portraits
and busts of presidents and other eminent Americans.
It cost 500,000 dollars. There is a spacious edifice for
objects of literature, philosophy, and the fine arts, but
only of brick. The Exchange^ in Wall Street, burnt
down by the great fire in 1835, has been rebuilt of
white marble. The Customhouse, 177 feet long, is
formed on the model of the Parthenon. There are
about 150 churches, of which four are conspicuous ;
Trinity and St Paul's in Broadway, having spires, the
one 198, the other 234 feet high ; St John's in Hudson
Street, reared at an expense of 200,000 dollars, and St
Patrick's Romish Cathedral, the largest of all.' There
are eight spacious buildings for public schools. The
Park and Bowery Theatres are large, though not very
fully attended. Three hotels, the Astor, City, and
Holt's, are among the largest establishments of the kind
in the world, and handsomely built. There are two
academical institutions, Columbia College, founded in
1754, and the University of New York, raised by sub
scription in 1831. The edifices built for both, especially
the latter, are very handsome. The students attending in
1842 were respectively 120 and 135, numbers seemingly
small compared with the greatness of the place. The
commerce, with the wharfage and other accommodations,
has been treated under that general head. The progress
of the city, even according to the general career of
things in the New World, has been almost magical.
The population in 1696 was 4302 ; in 1786 still only
23,614 ; in 1840 it had risen to 312,000. Brooklyn, on
the opposite coast of Long Island, originally consisting
of the country villas of the merchants, has grown into
a city, with regular streets and handsome edifices.
The United States navy-yard and naval hospital have

302 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

been established there. The two places are connected
by steam-ferries, where coaches are received on board,
and conveyed across without the passengers requiring
to alight.

Albany, at the head of the tide- waters of the Hudson,
was considerable even while the country was subject to
Holland ; and it has still much the aspect of a Dutch
town, clean, neat, and substantial. It has attained,
however, additional importance since the formation of
the Great Canal from the river to Lake Erie. All the
goods thus conveyed must be landed and reimbarked at
this city, which becomes hence a great scene of inland
commerce. Rising in an amphitheatre from the river
and canal, it presents a very handsome appearance. Troy,
seven miles higher, at the head of the sloop navigation,
has acquired consideration from manufactures and
establishments for education. Along the canal line,
cities have sprung up almost instantaneously, where just
before had been a complete wilderness. Buffalo pos
sesses vast importance from its site at the junction of
the canal with the lake. Rochester and Utica, situated
in the richest part of the tract through which the
former is carried, are extensive marts of agricultural
produce. These cities, so hastily reared, contain handsome
houses, and public edifices vying with those in the great
capitals ; yet the vicinity is rude, and stumps of trees
disfigure the streets and squares.

Philadelphia, the chief town of Pennsylvania, and in
magnitude the second city of the States, is situated on
the peninsula formed by the junction of the Delaware
and Schuylkill, the latter accessible to large merchant
vessels, the former to those of almost any dimension.
This is a more modern city than those hitherto de
scribed, being founded as we have seen in 1G83 by
William Penn, not in an irregular and fortuitous
manner, but upon a preconceived and regular plan,
the streets being straight, of equal breadth, crossing at
right angles, and opening into spacious squares. The
houses are similarly well built and commodious. Yet

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 303

though the faults incident to most cities are thus avoided,
complaints are made that the general effect is mono
tonous. Mr Dickens declares it distractingly regular,
and would have given the world to see a winding and
tortuous avenue. The suburbs in fact deviate into
partial irregularities. The finest building is that
formerly occupied by the United States Bank, con
sidered the purest specimen of Greek architecture in
the Union. It is of white marble, as are also the Bank
of Pennsylvania and Girard's. The Mint of the United
States, in the Ionic style, and the Exchange, in the
Corinthian, are also conspicuous edifices. There are
eighty-five churches, of which one Presbyterian, two
Episcopal, and one Roman Catholic, are large and hand
some. The works for drawing a supply of water from the
Schuylkill, constructed at an expense of nearly 1,500,000
dollars, were considered unmatched on that side of the
Atlantic, till the formation of the Croton Aqueduct at
New York. Various manufactures are carried on, some
expensively, particularly paper and printing. In intellec
tual pursuits, this city rivals Boston and New York, the
branches chiefly cultivated being abstract science and
natural history. The public library is composed of several
collections, comprising in all 50,000 volumes, with a
museum containing some remarkable remains of extinct
animals. The Medical School is reckoned the first in
the Union, being attended by about 500 students.
Benevolent institutions, liberally supported in all the
American cities, exist here on a particularly large
scale. The Hospital and Penitentiary deserve special
mention. The Prison is remarkable for the attempt to
effect the reform of criminals by labour and solitary
confinement ; though this last arrangement appears to
have been carried somewhat too far. The commerce of
the city has been already noticed under that general
head.

Harrisburg, the seat of state-government, Lancaster,
and Reading, are well-built country towns, agreeably
situated in the most fertile tracts on the Delaware and

304 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

Susquehanna. They are much surpassed, however, by
Pittsburg, which has been termed the Birmingham of
America. It is situated on the opposite side of the
mountains, at the junction of the two branches form
ing the Ohio, being thus placed at the head of all the
western waters. Its chief manufactures are iron, cut
lery, machinery, with some woollens, cottons, and
paper. A large proportion of the vessels which navi
gate the Ohio and Mississippi are here constructed. The
abundance and close vicinity of coal, as already described,
have greatly contributed to its progress, though giving to
the mansions a dark and gloomy appearance. The
suburb of Alleghany, on the opposite side of the river
of that name, incorporated only in 1828, has rapidly
grown into a large town.

The towns of New Jersey, notwithstanding their
maritime situation, have not risen to greatness by foreign
trade. They are noted, however, for manufactures,
the rivers affording an ample supply of water-power.
Trenton, the state -capital, is comparatively small ;
but Newark is one of the most industrious towns in
America, carrying on a great variety of fabrics. It is
well built, with broad streets and large open spaces.
Patterson, near the picturesque falls of the Passaic,
derives from that stream a copious supply of water-
power, and has cotton and other manufactures on a
large scale.

The territory of the Union south of Pennsylvania and
east of the Alleghany is generally known under the
appellation of the southern states. It is characterized
by a wider extent of level surface, flat and uniform
shore*, the productions of a warmer climate, and the
general employment of slave-labour. To make a more
precise survey, we may form it into two divisions, to
be viewed as the middle and the extreme southern.
The former is composed of the large states of Virginia
and Maryland, the small one of Delaware, and the terri
tory of Columbia. It was the portion earliest colonized,
and from its fruitfulness and central situation, has acted a

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

305

conspicuous part in the history of the Union. Notwith
standing, indeed, superior natural advantages, it is now
left behind in industry, wealth, and importance, by the
northern states. Still it occupies a position of great and
commanding influence. The following may be given as
its statistical outline : —

Virginia
Maryland
Delaware
Columbia Territory

Length.
Miles.

Breadth.

Miles.

Square i Population
Miles. in 1840.

370

180
87
10

290
110
36
10

70,000

13,960
2,120
100

1,231,797
469,232
78,085
43,712

647

446

556,180

1,830,826

The coast here presents very remarkable features.
It is broken by two deep and noble bays, stretching far
into the interior, not in a direct line, but from north
to south, nearly parallel to the ocean, from which and
from each other they are separated by a long peninsula.
The Chesapeake, the most interior and greatest, is
reckoned by Darby to have a length of 180 miles,
an average width of 20, and a superficies of 3600
square miles. Its outline presents neither the bold and
broken character of the northern range, nor the mono
tonous aspect of the more southern, being much varied
by bays and the estuaries of great rivers, yet not
elevated or rugged. Delaware Bay, to the east, is
smaller and more uniform, chiefly important from its
connexion with Philadelphia. These two grand inlets
approach so close at their head, that a ship-canal of ten
miles has been sufficient to connect them, and confer
thus important benefits on navigation. This is confined
to the two bays ; for the exterior ocean-coast, from Cape
Charles to Cape Henlopen, consists of long sandy islands,
with shallow sounds, not one of which can serve for
a harbour.

The mountains of this tract form a continuation of
the Alleghany, which, entering from Pennsylvania, runs

308 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

nearly south, with some declination westward ; while
the direction of the coast leaves a wide and fertile plain
intervening. Several successive ridges with interposed
valleys are observed ; the principal being called Blue,
Kittatinny, and Alleghany Proper. They were supposed
till of late much inferior to those in the north, and not to
rise higher than 2000 feet. This statement may even be
found in the first chapter of this work, which was printed
before recent surveys, carried into the interior, had
traced peaks much more elevated. That of Otter, in the
Blue range, is stated at 4260 feet ; White Top, among
the Iron Mountains, a branch of the Kittatinny, at
6000 ; Powell's, in the most westerly ridge, at 4500.
Virginia, like New York and Pennsylvania, has a ter
ritory west of these mountains, reaching even to the
Ohio.

The rivers of this quarter possess also a great import
ance. The Susquehanna and Delaware, indeed, which
descend from the north into the two great bays, have
appeared to belong to a different region. Others of
equal magnitude, however, flow eastward from the
Alleghany to the Chesapeake. After crossing an ele
vated plain that borders the mountains, they encounter
a primitive ledge, down which they are precipitated with
great violence, and navigation is interrupted, though
after a long previous range. The Potomac is the most
northerly, and may in a general sense be called a
boundary stream, rolling for a certain space almost along
the Pennsylvanian frontier. It rises on the western side
of the Alleghany, having sources not remote from those
of the Ohio and Susquehanna, then penetrates through
deep mountain-valleys, till it arrives on the plains of
Virginia. In forcing its way through the opposing
barriers, it exhibits scenes of peculiar grandeur. At
Harper's Ferry, the main stream, and its northern tribu
tary the Shenandoah, rush from opposite sides with the
violence of torrents, and encounter with a shock, by
which a mountain has been rent asunder, and converted
into a range of frightful precipices. Farther down oc-

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 307

cur the great falls, where the whole river rushes over a
perpendicular ledge of seventy-six feet, and a succession
of foaming rapids continues for fifteen miles. At Alex
andria, the port of Washington, it is navigable for vessels
of any burden, either for war or commerce. This is
the most interior point in the States to which the re
mark can apply, being about two hundred miles from
the mouth of the Chesapeake. The James, its great
southern rival, rises amid the interior heights of the
chain, and after winding through its deep valleys, pur
sues a long course S. E. by E. through the heart of
Virginia, passing Richmond the capital, and communi
cating with Petersburg by its tributary the Appomat-
tox. Mr Darby estimates 320 miles of good naviga
tion, till it falls into the Chesapeake near the ocean,
where it may be recollected was erected Jamestown,
the first English settlement in America, now entirely
deserted. The two minor yet still considerable chan
nels of York and Rappahannock intervene between
the greater ones now mentioned. The Patuxent in
Maryland is respectable ; and the Patapsco, though flow
ing only thirty miles, expands into a bay on which
Baltimore is situated, and capable of receiving vessels of
600 tons.

The industry of these states is almost purely agricul
tural, consisting mainly in the production of very fine
wheat and tobacco, which last was originally, and still is,
in a great degree peculiar to them. Baltimore is somewhat
allied to the north, by considerable manufactures and some
fishery ; but this exception does not break the general
remark. The mountains contain inexhaustible stores of
coal, iron, and salt, and have a share also of the great
gold formation ; treasures which are beginning to be
turned to account. The following is the amount of the
different branches according to the census of 1840 : —

Agriculture, §c. — Horses and mules, 435,224 ; neat
cattle, 1,307,019 ; sheep, 1,591,647 ; hogs, 2,487,999 ;
poultry, value 1,023,820 dollars; wheat, 13,782,811
bushels ; oats, 17,928,429 ; rye, 2,245,003 ; Indian corn,

208 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

44,949,521 ; wool, 3,091,686 Ibs. ; potatoes, 4,193,840
bushels ; hay, 495,210 tons ; tobacco, 100,218,940 Ibs. ;
cotton, 3,500,490 ; sugar, 1,578,099 ; lumber, value
770,631 dollars ; iron, cast, 27,703 tons ; bar, 14,235 ;
coal, bituminous, 10,844,345 bushels ; salt, 1,747,978 ;
gold, value 51,758 dollars.

Manufactures. — Woollen, value 488,392 dollars ;
leather, 'l, 253,359 dollars ; soap, 4,988,433 Ibs. ; candles,
1,543,955 Ibs.

Fisheries, Commerce. — Pickled fish, 153,907 barrels;
houses in foreign trade, 108 ; commission houses, 185 ;
capital supposed to be invested, 9,023,500 dollars ; re
tail houses, 5,910 ; capital, 29,600,223 dollars.

Cities and towns, with their population in 1840 : —
Columbia. — Washington, 23,364 ; Alexandria, 8459 ;
Georgetown, 7312.

Virginia.— Richmond, 20,153 ; Petersburg, 11,136 ;
Norfolk, 10,920 ; Wheeling, 7885.

Maryland. — Baltimore, 102,313 ; Hagerstown, 7197 ;
Annapolis (seat of government), 2792.

Delaware. — Wilmington, 8367 ; Dover (seat of govern
ment), 3790.

Washington, as the official capital and seat of govern
ment for the whole Union, must claim our first attention.
It is a modern city, founded in 1791, upon a regular
plan formed by the great man whose name it bears. It
extends about four and a half miles along the Potomac,
on the Maryland side, with a breadth of two and a-half.
The design was similarly uniform with that of Philadel
phia, without being quite so monotonous. Ten streets,
each 120 to 160 feet broad, were marked out under the
name of avenues, — five diverging from the Capitol or
house of congress, and five from the residence of the
president. They received their names from the different
states, while the principal one, called the Pennsylvania,
about a mile in length, connected the two great edifices.
These were to be crossed by smaller streets, with large
open spaces at the intersection. This plan contem
plated a great city, which in fact Washington was

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 309

expected to become. The sagacity of its illustrious
founder, however, was here deceived. In a country
where there is no landed aristocracy, such a capital
can only be reared by commerce, which can never here
be extensive. The Potomac, though up to this point
broad and spacious, rolls above through a mountain-
region, where it is very imperfectly navigable, and can
never become the channel for any copious produce.
That of the Susquehanna and of the Chesapeake shores
must always pass through Baltimore. This is not per
haps a circumstance to be regretted. The proceedings
of congress are likely to be more deliberate and states
man-like, when removed from the bustle and excitement
of a great city. Of this the States are seemingly con
vinced, having fixed their official capitals mostly in
secondary, and sometimes in very small towns. In con
sequence, however, of the place being laid out on so ex
tensive a plan, the inhabitants have located themselves
in different quarters, according to taste or accident. Thus
the harmony of the original design is completely con
cealed, and nothing appears but scattered clusters of
houses placed at inconvenient distances. The Capitol,
as might be expected, is the finest building in the United
States, erected at a cost of upwards of half a million
sterling. Its length is 350 feet, depth of wings 121,
height to the top of the balustrade 70, of the centre
dome 120. The representatives' hall and senate chamber
are each of a semicircular form, the one 95 and the
other 74 feet long. The former is particularly splendid,
supported by pillars of variegated marble from the banks
of the Potomac. There is a square in front of 22^-
acres, neatly laid out in walks, bordered with shrubs
and flowers. The president's house, distant a mile and
a half, is a handsome edifice of the Ionic order, com
manding a fine prospect. There are also large braidings
for official purposes, and an extensive Catholic seminary.
Georgetown, separated from Washington only by a
creek, and forming really a suburb, contains many good
houses and elegant country seats, agreeably situated.

310 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

Alexandria, on the Potomac, six miles below, forms the
port, capable of receiving the largest vessels ; but, from
the circumstances mentioned as checking commercial
progress, has scarcely made any advance since 1820.

Baltimore is much the largest city in this division, yield
ing only throughout the Union to New York and Phila
delphia. Its progress has been singularly rapid, having,
in 1790, 13,503 inhabitants, in 1840, *102,313. This
rise has been produced by the activity of its merchants
attracting to it all the commerce of the Chesapeake and
tributary rivers. They have even made vigorous efforts
to push a canal and railway communication across
the mountains to the Ohio ; but through the errors
already pointed out, have fallen much short of that ob
ject ; and as the state has adopted the reigning policy
of paying neither principal nor interest on its loans,
no farther advances of that kind can be expected.
The place is well built, with many handsome houses ;
the Exchange is a vast edifice, 366 feet in length, and
four stories high. The finest erection, however, boasted
as superior to any similar one in the Union, is the Monu
ment to Washington, 163 feet high, with a statue on the
summit. The Battle Monument, celebrating the repulse
of the British in 1814, is also of marble, 35 feet in height.
The Roman Catholic cathedral is considered by many
the finest religious edifice in the Union. The citizens
of Baltimore of both sexes are noted as handsome and
also hospitable ; even English travellers and severe
critics on manners consider theirs as polished and agree
able. They are by no means without literary taste,
though not in this respect making pretensions to rival
the northern capitals. Annapolis, though the seat of
government, in a pleasant and healthy situation, is small
and not increasing.

Virginia, being entirely agricultural, cannot contain
any city of the first magnitude, which, in America, can
be raised up only by manufactures and extensive com
merce. Richmond, however, in a beautiful and healthful
situation at the head of the tide-waters of James River,

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

311

affords a, channel for conveying the produce of a very
rich district. It derives also importance from being
the seat of government for this great state. Its Capitol,
a fine edifice on the model of the Maison-carree at
Nismes, contains a statue of Washington by Houdon,
and ranks second among such structures to that at Wash
ington. Petersburg, on the Appomattox, which here
admits vessels of 100 tons, is also the market of a fertile
territory, with some manufactures. Norfolk, at the
mouth of the James, enjoys a considerable trade. Fred-
ericksburg, on a smaller scale, carries on that of the
Rappahannock. Wheeling, on the opposite side of the
mountains, and at the head of the Ohio navigation, may
be considered a sort of Virginian Pittsburg. It enjoys
the same abundance of coal, and carries on similar
manufactures.

Delaware, a narrow strip of territory, which circum
stances raised to a state, contains Wilmington, a port
very agreeably situated, having in its vicinity large flour-
mills, and a number of manufacturing establishments,
well supplied with water-power. Its schools enjoy a
great reputation. Dover, the state capital, is a neat
town, but of little importance.

The next division, which has been termed that of the
extreme south, presents a character very distinct from
any of those now described. It is bounded on the north
by Virginia ; on the east by the Atlantic ; south by the
Gulf of Mexico ; and west by the states of Tennessee,
Mississippi, and Louisiana. It consists of Carolina,
North and South, Georgia, Alabama, and the territory
of Florida. The following may be stated as their statis
tical outline : —

Length.
Miles.

Breadth.
Miles.

Square
Miles.

Population
in 1840.

Carolina, North ........
. South
Georgia.

450
275
300

180
200
250

50,000
33,000
62,000

753,419
594,398
691,392

Alabama .

280

160

46000

590,756

Florida

600

150

55,000

54,477

1905

940

246,000

2,684,442

312 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

The seacoast of this region embraces a very extensive
circuit, but generally flat, level, shallow, and the navi
gation in many places dangerous and difficult. Ala
bama has a length of only sixty miles, but with the ad
vantage of Mobile Bay, reaching thirty miles inland,
with an entrance fifteen feet deep ; yet vessels draw
ing more than eight or nine cannot ascend to the port.
Florida, a long peninsula dividing the gulf from the
ocean, possesses a very great range of coast, but most
unfavourable to navigation. Sunken shoals, dangerous
reefs, baffling currents, and intricate channels, every
where associate with it the idea of peril and wreck. On
entering Georgia the Atlantic coast takes a direction
almost due north-east, which it follows along the whole
of this region, except a small part adjoining Virginia,
where it turns north with even a slight divergence
westward. This line is very flat, yet broken into con
siderable bays and sounds, which from their trifling
depth of water, or the rivers falling into them being
obstructed by bars, are of little use in navigation. At
Cape Lookout, off the coast of South Carolina, begins a
continuous range of long, narrow, sandy islands, which
with the continent enclose still larger sounds ; those of
Albemarle and Pamlico penetrating deep inland.

The Alleghany ridge continues here to extend from
north to south, with a declination westward, leaving
between it and the ocean a continually increasing plain.
It terminates however before reaching the Gulf of
Mexico, thus rendering Alabama a level surface, to
which it forms a background. Its general elevation
does not exceed 2000 feet ; yet here, too, recent surveys
have discovered peaks rising to a much greater height,
and rivalling those of New England. The Roan is
stated at 6038 feet, Black Mountain at 6476, both in
North Carolina. The declivities of these ranges are
in many places finely varied and fertile, enjoying a
temperate and delightful climate. Beneath are tracts
covered with forests, but in other respects so unpro
ductive as in many places to be termed pine barrens.
Below is a wide plain bordering the ocean, flat and

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 313

s/mdy, interspersed with extensive swamps. The "Dismal
Swamp" covers 150,000 acres in North Carolina, and
there are reckoned to be in that state 2,500,000 of the
same dreary surface. A similar character marks the rest
of the maritime region, though intermixed with some
rich bottom lands. Florida, while its interior con
tains some pine-covered hills, presents on the coast and
in its southern quarter "labyrinths of swamps, hum
mocks, ponds, and jungles, — a chaotic medley of land
and water." Some of these swampy spots are called
sinks, the depth being almost unfathomable, and rivers
frequently rising out of them.

The rivers of this region are pretty numerous, and
have a long course, almost parallel to each other, from
the mountains to the ocean and gulf. They pour
even into these receptacles large bodies of water ; yet,
like most of those flowing through sandy plains, are
not navigable for vessels of any considerable burden.
The depth is variable, in many places extremely small,
and the entrances into the sea obstructed by formidable
bars. In North Carolina, the Roanoke, from beyond
the Blue Ridge, forms nearly the boundary with Virginia,
and falls into Albemarle Sound. Cape Fear River, also
of long course, opens into the sea at Wilmington. In
South Carolina, the Pedee and Santee are both very
considerable, yet liable to the usual obstructions ; whence
the smaller streams Ashley and Cooper are of more
importance, forming the fine harbour of Charleston.
The Savannah in Georgia has a peculiarly direct course
from the Alleghany to the haven .of its own name,
which, notwithstanding a bar of seventeen feet, can be
entered by large vessels, while those of smaller size
ascend to Augusta. The Alatamaha and Ogcechee are
both large, but from the usual causes of little value in
navigation. In Alabama, the river of that name, the
Tombigbee, Coosa, and other tributaries, unite to form
the Mobile, and this system is navigable to a considerable
height for small vessels and steamers.

VOL. III. U

314 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

The productive industry of these states is almost
entirely agricultural, but of a quite different description
from that of the more northern. The staples are rice,
and now in a much greater degree cotton. The very
defects in the soil favour the production of these articles.
A surface moist and easily inundated is necessary for
the first, while a light and sandy texture is hest adapted
for the other, now become the main basis of American
commerce. The long sandy insular range already
mentioned produces that species, of unrivalled fineness,
called Sea Island cotton. Even the pine region sup
plies the States generally with pitch and tar for ship
building. There are iron mines, as yet little explored
or worked ; but the gold formation, which extends along
the whole mountain-border, is of considerable value.
The manufactures are very few ; the commerce consists
almost entirely in the export of these agricultural pro
ductions, and is chiefly managed by New England
merchants.

The following are the returns by the census of 1840
of the leading articles : —

Agriculture, §c. — Horses and mules, 609,259 ; neat
cattle, 2T,860,492 ; sheep, 1,208,808 ; hogs, 5,502,556 ;
poultry, value, 1,856,113 dollars ; wheat, 5,559,503
bushels ; oats, 7,710,361 ; Indian corn, 81,367,668 ;
rice, 76,426,420 Ibs. ; cotton, 406,278,216 ; dairy pro
duce, value, 2,145,625 dollars ; gold, 476,147 ; lumber,
1,347,854 ; tar, pitch, £c., 594,536 barrels.

Manufactures. — Cotton, value, 1,119,789 dollars ;
soap, 3,193,591 Ibs.

Commerce. — Foreign houses, 123 ; on commission,
291 ; supposed capital invested, 9,259,862 dollars ; retail
houses, 5175 ; capital, 25,976,674 dollars.

The following are the cities and towns of this region,
with their population in 1840 : —

North Carolina. — Wilmington, 4744; Raleigh (seat
of government), 2244.

South Carolina. — Charleston, 29,261 ; Columbia (seat
of government), 4340.

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 315

Georgia. — Savannah, 11,214 ; Augusta, 6403 ; Macon,
3927 ; Milledgcville (seat of government), about 2000.

Alabama. — Mobile, about 10,000 ; Tuscaloosa (seat of
government), about 2000.

Charleston may be considered the metropolis, and is in
deed the only place deserving the name of a city in all
this region. It is described as the handsomest, and
what may be termed the most stylish in the Union.
A number of the great planters spend here some months
of the year, while the interior is sickly and country
operations are suspended. Some of the houses have
cost £10,000, and are considered by Mr Stuart as de
serving the name of palaces. The squares are adorned
with beautiful trees, especially that called the Pride of
India ; while the houses have in front open piazzas, and
are surrounded with parterres containing the multiflora
rose and other fragrant flowering shrubs. The ground
was originally low and marshy, causing severe visitations
of the yellow fever ; but it is now well drained, and much
more healthy. The commerce is considerable, consisting
in the export of the agricultural produce of all the ad
jacent territory. Yet it is remarkable that, alone of all
the American cities, it has declined in population during
the last ten years— from 30,289 to 29,261. The American
writers make no attempt to account for a fact so unique.
The decline in the value of the planters' estates may have
made them less able to spend here their time and money.

The towns of North Carolina scarcely deserve mention.
Wilmington, the chief seat of trade, does not contain
5000 inhabitants ; while Raleigh, the state capital,
though in a pleasant and airy spot of the interior, is still
smaller. More importance attaches to Savannah, the
chief town of Georgia, at the mouth of the river of its
own name. It extends two miles, adorned with double
rows of the Pride of India, most of the houses standing
detached and surrounded by gardens. Augusta, at the
head of the river navigation, receives and transmits by
railways a great quantity of cotton from the west. It
is also built in an open style, with little regularity, but

31 6 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

contains a number of handsome houses. Mill edge ville,
the state capital, is a small place, agreeably situated
about eighty-seven miles to the south-west. Mobile in
Alabama, though ancient, was little more than a
military post till the rapid advance of the state through
the culture of cotton, which is now brought thither in
vast quantities down the river. It stands high, and the
surrounding marshes having been drained, has become
tolerably healthy. Tuscaloosa, the state capital, is, as
in other cases, only a large village, agreeably situated
in the interior.

We must now pass the mountains, and survey a
country entirely new, superior in extent and fertility to
all that has been hitherto described. The western terri
tory, settled only within the last half century, begins
to rival the eastern in population and importance, and
is making much more rapid progress. Extending pa
rallel to the other, from the Lakes to the Mexican Gulf,
it includes the same variety of soil and climate, and
might similarly admit of a triple arrangement ; but, not
to render the delineation too complicated, we shall view
it under two divisions,' — the northern, in a temperate
climate, and cultivated by freemen ; and the southern,
partly or wholly tropical in its temperature and produc
tions, and where all the labour is performed by slaves.
The former, in a general view, is bounded on the east
by the Alleghany, though several of the Atlantic states
make encroachments beyond that barrier ; on the north,
irregularly by the mighty lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan,
and Superior ; on the south, by the course of the Ohio ;
on the west, by the Mississippi ; but the newly formed
territory of Iowa extends beyond that river, without
any well denned boundary. In the rapidity of its growth,
this region is perfectly unparalleled. In 1790, it was
estimated to contain 3000 white inhabitants ; in 1840,
they had risen to almost 3,000,000. The three states of
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, stretch in a direct line west
of each other. North of the two first lies Michigan, con
sisting partly of a peninsula formed by lakes Huron and

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 317

Michigan, partly of another between the latter and Lake
Superior. The new territory of Wisconsin fills the in
terval between that state and the Mississippi ; while
Iowa, stretching beyond that river, claims to reach the
Missouri ; but only a small part of this space is yet oc
cupied. The following may be given as the present
statistical outline of this region ; but the dimensions of
the two territories, though equalling or surpassing all
the rest, cannot yet be estimated with any precision.

Length.
Miles.

Breadth.

Miles.

Square

Miles.

Population
in 1840.

Ohio

210

200

45,000

1,519,467

Indiana.. .

275

140

36,500

685,866

350

200

54 000

476 183

Michigan.

250

140

34,900

212,276

Wisconsin

30,945

Iowa

43,111

2,967,848

This division forms one of the most extensive level
tracts in the world. There is no height aspiring to the
character of a mountain, except in the portion between
Lakes Michigan and Superior, little traversed at present
except by the hunter. The surface is generally not a
dead level, but slightly undulating ; a great part, includ
ing nearly all Ohio, being a table-land in some places
1000 feet high, but declining to the westward. The
soil is in general densely timbered ; yet a large propor
tion, including two-thirds of Illinois, bears that peculiar
aspect called by the French prairie, covered with a
strong coarse grass, reaching above the human height.
The Indians usually set fire to it in winter, and in the
following spring it becomes covered with a profusion of
the most beautiful and delicate flowers, and also the resort
of large birds and wild animals. These grounds usually
rise gently from the streams, whose borders, named
bottoms, are covered with lofty forests and thick under
wood. They have a luxuriant soil, but are in many
places marshy and unhealthy.

318 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

This region is destitute of any seacoast, being dis
tant from the nearest above 200 miles. In return,
nature has bestowed a range of magnificent rivers,
without which her otherwise lavish gifts would have
been almost in vain. The grand trunk of the Mississippi
rolls along the whole western border, fitted to convey
produce of every description down to New Orleans. Into
this central receptacle falls the noble stream of the Ohio,
after traversing the whole region from east to west. It
is formed at Pittsburg by the union of the Alleghany
and Monongahela, after each has flowed about 300 miles,
mostly navigable for boats. A course of 950 miles then
follows till its junction with the Mississippi. The channel
is navigable throughout one-half the year for large, and
the other for small steam-vessels. An interruption by
rapids formerly occurred above Louisville, but is now
obviated by a canal. Its appearance is very beautiful ;
the waters clear, bordered by variegated hills, and diver
sified by about a hundred islands. The Kenawha comes
to it across the Alleghany from Virginia. Thenceforth
it receives a succession of fine rivers, both from the south
and the north ; but the latter only belong to our present
subject. The chief, in proceeding westward, are the
Muskingum, navigable for boats 1 00 miles ; the Scioto,
130 miles ; the Miami, which, though very rapid, may
be ascended for 70. The Wabash, a noble stream, crosses
Indiana, then separates it from Illinois, and falls in after
a course of 600 miles, of which 400 are navigable. In
an opposite direction, the Sandusky and the Maumee
enter Lake Erie, much aiding the cross navigation from
the Ohio. The river of Illinois has a gentle course
of 400 miles into the Mississippi. The same description
applies to the Wisconsin, flowing 350 miles through the
territory, unbroken by falls ; and though of rapid course,
tolerably navigable. The same great receptacle draws
from the west the Iowa, after a course of similar length,
somewhat obstructed, yet navigable by steamers during
part of the year for 100 miles.

The produce of this country is almost entirely agricul-

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 3 1 9

tural, consisting of the best grains and other articles
proper to the temperate climates, with large stocks of
domestic animals, particularly hogs. Tobacco has even
been introduced, but to no great extent, in Ohio and
Indiana. Cultivation is not indeed carried on with
costly implements, much science or skill, but rather
in that rude hasty style which characterizes new settle
ments. The circumstance deserving admiration is the en
ergy with which this lately unbroken wilderness has been
tamed, its wastes reclaimed, and a certain rough aspect
of culture and civilisation spread over the whole. In the
wooded lands, generally considered the best, the process
of cutting down the trees before any crop can be raised,
is very laborious. Much of the prairie soil, however,
is excellent, and requires only to be broken up by a very
strong plough, drawn by several yoke of oxen. Bitu
minous coal and iron abound on the upper Ohio, while
the opposite banks of the Mississippi, in Illinois and
Iowa, afford inexhaustible stores of lead. There are
some few manufactures, chiefly the usual and bulky
ones of leather, soap, candles, and spirits. We cannot,
with the Americans, class under this head flour and
sawn timber. Commerce, however, finds ample scope
in sending the surplus inland produce either down the
Mississippi, or by the Erie Canal to New York. In the
former case, it is transported in peculiar vehicles, and
with dangers as great as are incurred in navigating the
most stormy ocean.

Lakes form in this region a conspicuous feature, though
the principal merely range along its border, and have the
greater part of their shores in British America. Michigan,
however, lies entirely within the States territory. Con
nected at its northern extremity with Lake Huron, it
stretches southward about 360 miles, with a breadth of
from 80 to 100. Its shores are remarkably uniform, with
the exception of Green Bay in the north-west, which re
ceives Fox River, connected by a short portage with the
Wisconsin. Along with Huron, this lake converts the
principal part of the state bearing its name into a peniii-

320

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

sula. The chief importance attaches to the southern
shore of Lake Erie, as the channel by which the whole
region is connected with the Great Canal and New
York. Hence the main object of its canals and railways
has been to combine this expanse with the Ohio and
Mississippi.

The following are the returns of the leading articles
of produce, according to the census of 1840 : —

Agriculture, $c. — Horses and mules, 917,471 ; neat
cattle, 2,717,636 ; sheep, 3,218,489 ; hogs, 5,670,780 ;
poultry, value 1,333,417 dollars; wheat, 26,480,346
bushels; oats, 28,099,746 ; rye, 1,072,016 ; Indian corn,
88,520,881 ; wool, 5,756,432 Ibs. ; potatoes, 12,119,211
bushels ; hay, 1,544,694 tons ; tobacco, 8,336,700 Ibs. ;
sugar, 11,997,516 ; dairy produce, value 3,379,651 dol
lars; iron, cast, 36,808 tons; bar, 7486; lead, 24,384,350
Ibs. ; coal, 4,189,636 bushels ; lumber, value 1,632,122
dollars ; skins and furs, 510,1 15.

Manufactures, $c. — Woollens, value 764,698 dollars ;
cottons, 274,778 ; machinery, 1,084,975 ; hardware, &c.,
438,563 ; leather, 3,172,229 ; soap, 5,410,426 Ibs. ;
candles, 2,740,412 ; spirits, 10,018,630 gallons ; beer,
2,024,172.

Commerce. — Foreign houses, 67 ; commission houses,
365 ; estimated capital, 7,802,200 dollars ; retail houses,
8701 ; capital, 35,179,125 dollars ; ships built, 686,937
dollars.

Cities and towns of this region, with their population
in 1840 :—

Ohio. — Cincinnati, 46,338 ; Cleveland, 6071 ; Dayton,
6067 ; Columbus (state capital), 6048.

Indiana. — New Albany, 4226 ; Madison, 3798 ; In
dianapolis (state capital), 2692.

Illinois. — Chicago, 4470 ; Springfield (state capital),
2579 ; Alton, 2340 ; Galena, 1843.

Michigan.— ^ Detroit (state capital), 9102 ; Ypsilante,
2419 ; Pontiac, 1904.

Wisconsin— rMilwaukie, 1712 ; Madison (state capi
tal), very small.

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

321

Iowa. — Iowa (state capital) ; Dubuque, both very
small.

Cincinnati, the undoubted metropolis of this region,
has by its rapid progress excited astonishment even in
America. In 1780, the site was an unbroken forest ;
but a few years after, with a view to the Indian war, a
post called Fort Washington was erected upon it. In
1789, Major Doughty settled there with 140 people,
naming it Losantiville. Even in 1800, the population
was only 500 ; in 1810, it was 2540 ; since which time
it has increased with accelerated rapidity, till it now
exceeds 46,000. The streets are on a regular plan,
at right angles to each other, with open spaces 396 feet
long terminating each, and a large square in the centre.
Many of the houses are well built, though only of brick,
but painted in different colours ; and of late an orna
mented stucco has begun to be employed. The city
is divided into an upper and lower part, the latter,
when the river rises very high, being exposed to in
undation. No proper arrangement is yet made to
clear away the masses of rubbish accumulated in the
wide open spaces, which give to the city a rough and
unfinished appearance. There are twenty-four churches,
of which the Second Presbyterian is described as very
elegant. The employment consists chiefly in conveying
the grain and provisions raised in the territory to and
down the Mississippi. The curing of pork is a most
extensive trade. There are considerable manufactures
of bulky articles, particularly iron, wood, and steam
machinery. About 150 large steamers have here been
built.

There are some other pretty large towns in Ohio.
Columbus, which has existed only since 1812, stands
almost in the centre of the state, on a very agreeable site
near the Scioto. The state-house and the penitentiary
recently erected, are handsome. Cleveland, at the
junction of the Ohio Canal with Lake Erie, has, through
this happy situation, risen rapidly from a small naval

322 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

station to a flourishing port. Dayton, connected with
Cincinnati by the Ohio Canal, is also very prosperous.

Indiana is still almost entirely a rural territory. New
Albany derives some trade from its position on the Ohio ;
but it cannot rival Louisville on the Kentucky side, only
four miles distant. Indianapolis, the state capital, on
the White River, is as yet only a large village ; but from
the fertile country round, is expected to flourish.

The towns of Illinois deserve notice rather from the
great anticipations of their future progress, than from
any actually made. Chicago, on Lake Michigan, is the
channel by wrhich its produce is conveyed to the great
canal. Springfield has an agreeable and central situation
in a fine country. Alton, near the junction of the Mis
sissippi and Missouri, is expected to become the seat of
a great trade, as is also Cairo at the mouth of the Ohio,
though only in its infancy. Galena is the capital of the
lead district.

Michigan has Detroit, on the channel so named, con
necting Lakes Huron and Erie. The French founded it
in 1670 ; but it continued small, having in 1830 little
more than 2000 inhabitants. When, however, the
tide of emigration set into the state, Detroit, as a great
rendezvous and the seat of the land sales, became the
second place in all this region. Flourishing villages are
now springing up in the interior. Mackinac, at the
junction of Lakes Huron and Michigan, has only about
100 houses, but is the centre of the American Fur
Company's operations.

Wisconsin and Iowa contain as yet only large villages.
Dubuque, in the latter, thrives by its vicinity to the lead-
mines.

The last division of the United States extends from
that now described southward to the Gulf of Mexico.
The Southern Atlantic states, separated generally by
the barrier of the Alleghany, form its eastern boundary ;
while the western is a line drawn nearly through 95°
W. long., beyond which is the territory now occupied

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

323

by the Indian emigrant tribes. The climate and pro
ductions of this wide tract pass insensibly from those of
the south of Europe to others completely tropical. The
bold rough enterprising spirit of the west is here de
veloped in its fullest extent ; but all the manual labour
is performed by slaves. The following may be given as
its statistical outline.

Length.
Miles.

Breadth.

Miles.

Square
Miles.

Population
in 1840.

300

140

40,500

779,828

Tennessee

400

110

45,000

829,210

Missouri

270

220

66,000

383,702

Arkansas

250

240

54,000

97,574

Mississippi

280

160

46,500

375,651

Louisiana

250

200

48,500

352,411

1750

1070

300,500

2,818,376

This region composes, on the whole, one of the most
level surfaces on the face of the earth. On the east, in
deed, it is bordered by the Alleghany range ; but all the
higher peaks are claimed by Virginia and North Carolina,
and only some lower spurs and branches stretch into
Kentucky and Tennessee. The principal is the range
called the Cumberland Mountains. On the opposite side,
indeed, of the Mississippi, the Ozark ridge, commencing
at the junction of that river with the Missouri, extends
across Arkansas into Texas. It is of moderate elevation,
not being supposed to contain a summit exceeding 2000
feet. The Mississippi, Missouri, and most of their tribu
taries, are bordered by long ranges of those peculiar
round heights called bluffs, rising almost perpendicularly
to 50 or 100 feet, and bearing much the appearance of
natural fortifications. A number have been believed
really such, especially as they have evidently been so
occupied, and contain numerous bones, as well as arms
and other implements of the ancient inhabitants. It
has been, however, supposed, that the people, finding
these mounds erected by nature, made use of them for
purposes of defence and inhabitation. All the territory

324 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

on the inferior course of the Mississippi is extremely
low, much of it marshy or liable to inundation. The
river, however, in one place, even where above the level
of the adjacent country, has formed a singular barrier
against itself, called the levee, thrown up by its own
alluvium, and protecting the territory beyond from being
overflowed. The limestone formation of Kentucky is
singularly perforated by subterranean rivers and caverns
of extraordinary depth. The mammoth cave has been
somewhat variously estimated as to dimensions ; but the
visiter is undoubtedly led through several miles of
winding passages and spacious apartments, lined with
various incrustations.

The rivers of this region form one of its most remark
able and important features. The great trunk of the
Mississippi, and partly that of the Missouri, rolling from
north to south through its centre, afford all the advan
tages of an inland sea, by which steamers of large dimen
sions can ascend to the interior. They receive on each
side important tributaries. The principal from the east,
however, fall into the Ohio at various distances above
its junction with the main stream. These flow from the
Alleghany, particularly that branch called the Cumber
land Mountains. The Kentucky and Licking are not
remarkable for length of course or navigation, but for
the singular beauty and fertility of the territory which
they water. The Cumberland has a much longer course
of 600 miles, whereof 200, up to Nashville, are navigable
for steamers. The Tennessee flows mostly through the
state of that name, for 1200 miles, above 300 navigable.
The waters which from this side fall into the Mississippi
itself are much inferior. The Yazoo and the Black rivers
have only courses of about 200 miles, with 50 navigable.
Those from the west are much larger, and indeed
surpassed by few on the globe ; but their streams, leading
mostly over sandy and desert tracts, are encumbered by
many obstructions, and not navigable for large vessels.
The Platte, after flowing at least 1100 miles from the
Rocky Mountains, enters the Missouri at the N.W.

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 325

point of the state so named. It even pours in during
the wet season a vast body of water ; yet for most of
the year is fordable through its whole length, while the
channel is so wide, shallow, and impeded by sand-banks
and islands, as scarcely to afford a passage even for boats.
The Kansas has a shorter line of about 600 miles,
somewhat more navigable. The Arkansas is the largest
of these rivers, its course from the loftiest snow-covered
ridges of the Rocky Mountains exceeding 2000 miles ;
but it is liable to the usual obstructions, and can
with difficulty be ascended by small steamers to Fort
Gibson, on the frontier of the state. The Red River
rises in the prolongation of the same range through New
Mexico, near Santa Fe, and, after flowing above 1 1 00 miles,
enters the Mississippi, about 400 above New Orleans.
Nearly 200 miles up, and soon after entering Louisiana, it
spreads into a multitude of small branches, which being
blocked up with trees brought down by the current,
form a compact encumbered mass called the Raft,
through which a skilful pilot may guide a keel-boat,
but which bars all regular navigation.

Near the mouth of the Mississippi are some expanses
which bear the name of lakes, Pontchartrain, Borgne,
&c., but they are only flat shallow bays, connected with
the sea by narrow entrances.

The industry of this region is agricultural, consisting
in the tillage of the soil by the hands of slaves. It is
not so uniformly fertile as the one last described, in
cluding sandy and marshy tracts of great extent. Yet
there is also a large proportion of fertile land, peculiarly
adapted to productions for which there exists the most
extensive demand. Kentucky and Tennessee yield in
perfection wheat and other valuable grains, and their
cattle, especially horses, are considered of the best breeds
in the Union. They add tobacco on a scale nearly
rivalling Virginia and Maryland. In proceeding south
ward, cotton becomes the prevailing crop, covering al
most the whole country, and becoming the chief staple
of southern trade. Lastly, in approaching the Gulf of

326 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

Mexico, sugar is largely produced. Iron is copiously
found in Kentucky and Tennessee, and the mineral
wealth of Missouri is considered almost inexhaustible ;
but only the lead-mines have been as yet rendered much
available.

Manufactures can scarcely be said to exist ; yet the
most common are found on a small scale in Kentucky
and Tennessee. Commerce, carried on down the Mis
sissippi and by New Orleans, consists entirely in the
export of cotton, tobacco, and some other produce, bring
ing in return manufactures and imported luxuries. The
foreign part is chiefly carried on by the merchants and
shipping of New England and New York.

The following are the returns, under the principal
heads, in the census of 1 840 : —

Agriculture, S$c. — Horses and mules, 1,193,881 ; neat
cattle, 3,237,055 ; sheep, 2,366,441 ; hogs, 8,225,788 ;
poultry, value, 2,176,564 dollars ; wheat, 10,712,794
bushels ; oats, 17,392,129 ; Indian corn, 126,126,613 ;
wool, 3,698,866 Ibs. ; potatoes, 6,501,272 bushels ; to
bacco, 92,406,988 Ibs. ; cotton, 380,499,442 ; sugar,
121,860,100 ; lumber, value, 853,807 dollars ; skins and
furs, 435,191 ; lead, 5,295,455 Ibs. ; iron, cast, 46,914
tons ; bar, 14,794.

Manufactures, $c. — Cotton, value, 675,743 dollars ;
hats, caps, &c., 429,002 ; leather, 1,634,108 ; soap,
5,671,774 Ibs. ; candles, 4,461,595 ; spirits, 3,696,239
gallons.

Commerce, §c. — Foreign houses, 62 ; commission-
houses, 599 ; capital supposed to be invested, 20,397,200
dollars ; retail houses, 7307 ; capital, 45,812,091 dollars.

The following are the principal cities and towns, with
their population by the census of 1840 : —

Louisiana. — New Orleans (capital), 102,193.

Mississippi.— Natchez, 4800 ; Vicksburg, 3104.

Tennessee.— Nashville, 6929 ; Memphis, 2000.

Kentucky. — Louisville, 21,210 ; Lexington, 6997 ;
Frankfort (state capital), 1917.

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 327

Missouri. — St Louis, 15,000; Jefferson (state capital),
very small.

Arkansas. — Little Rock (state capital) ; Arkansas,
mere villages.

New Orleans, 105 miles above the mouth of the
Mississippi, is the only great city in this region, and one
of the chief emporia of commerce in America. Under
this head its transactions and position have been already
described. Founded in 1717, under the regency of the
Duke of Orleans, and named from him, it was in 1762
ceded to Spain, from which power we have seen it ex
torted by Napoleon and sold to the States. Prior to
that time, it remained a very small place, containing
in 1800 only between 5000 and 6000 inhabitants. Since,
however, it became the emporium of the new states
formed in the west, its progress has been such as to
appear astonishing even in America ; its population in
1840 having exceeded 102,000. A great proportion,
however, is of a floating description, composed of mer
chants from New York and other northern cities, who
hope to raise a fortune by commercial transactions,
and then return home. Hence the style of its old
possessors still prevails, and a traveller is struck with
the narrow streets, the high houses ornamented with
tasteful cornices and iron balconies, with many other
circumstances peculiar to towns in France and Spain,
pointing out the past history of this city, fated to
change its masters so often. Many houses are fancifully
ornamented with coloured stucco. The city forms a
crescent of about three miles around a great bend of the
river, and stretches about half a mile inland. The
ground being not only quite flat, but even beneath the
level of the water when in flood, is only protected from
inundation by a levee or embankment, sometimes broken
through, but easily repaired. More than half the
population, including all the labouring class, are black
or coloured, the latter usually named quadroons. The
most respectable and opulent inhabitants, being only
temporary residents, have not bestowed much pains in

328 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

ornamenting or improving the city, which contains no
very remarkable edifice. The churches are fewer in
number, and the Sabbath less reverently observed, than
usual in America ; though benevolent institutions are
said to be well supported. Many of the inhabitants are
respectable ; yet a large proportion consists of gamblers,
adventurers, swindlers, and other disreputable characters.
The low site, surrounded with marshes, makes it at some
seasons very unhealthy ; but improvements are forming
in this respect.

Mississippi contains Natchez, the celebrated seat of
the temple and chief of the sun, and where the natives
had reached a higher civilisation than was general in
North America. Standing partly on a bluff, it is tolerably
salubrious, and has a nourishing commerce, being reached
even by vessels from the sea. Vicksburg, sixty miles
higher up, carries on a great river-trade.

Tennessee is almost entirely rural ; yet Nashville, its
capital, is a handsome and agreeable country town, with
an esteemed university. Memphis, from its site on the
Mississippi, has some trade, and is the projected termina
tion of the great railway lines from Carolina and Georgia.

Kentucky, too, is mostly rural ; yet Louisville, on the
Ohio, above the great falls, has attained a share of the
same commerce which made Cincinnati so prosperous.
It has derived great additional advantage from the Port
land Canal, by which these obstructions are avoided.
There is one fine street of a mile long. The edifice
reared for a free public school is as handsome in its struc
ture as laudable in its object. Lexington, the chief
interior city, is delightfully situated in a fine country.
Its university holds the first place among western col
legiate institutions, especially the medical school ; the
libraries contain 15,000 volumes. The society is con
sidered the most polished and agreeable of any in the
western cities. Yet, according to prevailing usage, the
seat of government has been transferred to a large village
named Frankfort, on the Kentucky, where there is a
handsome marble state-house.

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 329

Missouri, though, recently settled, contains already
St Louis, an old French station, now raised to import
ance by its situation on the Mississippi, at the highest
point to which steamers of the first magnitude can ascend.
It is also the station whence the fur- traders set out for the
westward. The place is agreeably situated on a hill
rising from" the river. The Roman Catholic cathedral is
particularly handsome, with a fine set of bells ; and
there is a large university under the management of
the Jesuits.- — Arkansas contains as yet nothing beyond
villages.

VOL. III.

330 EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER VII.

Emigration to the United States.

General Remarks— Early Western Settlements — Boone— Hen
derson — Obstacles during the War — Acquisition of Ohio —
Early Sales of Land — New Plan in 1804 — Embarrassments
under it — Change in 1820 — Amount since sold — Purchases
on Speculation — Impositions practised— Squatters— Settle
ment on improved Farms— Comparison of different States —
Sales in each — Advantages of improved Districts— British
America and the States— Timbered Land and Prairie —
Modes of Conveyance Westward — By Waggon — By Canals
and Railways — Employment for Operatives — Wages in dif
ferent Trades.

Uis7DER no aspect does the Western World appear
more interesting to the nations of Europe than in that
of Emigration. Their dense population, and the long-
fixed tenure of property, has produced a numerous
class who are exposed to a certain degree of destitu
tion. None but the decidedly opulent can hope to
enjoy any landed possession ; even the earning of a
scanty subsistence by the sweat of the brow is some
what precarious ; and in the case of those temporary
stagnations to which the different branches of industry
are so liable, the distress becomes very severe. In
America, on the contrary, large tracts of the finest
land can be obtained in full property for a very small
price, sometimes even gratuitously ; while the remu
neration of manual labour is much more liberal. Those
therefore who can make the sacrifices, and overcome
the difficulties incident to so great a change, will, by
a removal thither, improve their own condition, and
at the same time mitigate the pressure produced by
competition on the market for labour at home.

EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES. 331

There are two fields in the west open to emigrants
from Europe, particularly from this country. These
are British America and the United States. In another
work belonging to the present series,* the former sub-
ject has been treated carefully and in considerable detail.
An attempt is there made to estimate the compar
ative prospects of the emigrant to each region ; but
there is still room to consider the latter subject in
a complete and connected view. The reader who
wishes more ample details may find them in the work
to which we have just referred.

It is only since 1769 that settlements began to be
formed in that region west of the Alleghany, to which
emigration now is almost exclusively directed. With
the exception of a few posts held by the French, and
some parties of their coureurs de bois or hunters, who
traversed the territory in search of furs, it was one wild
waste of forest and prairie, occupied only by some scat
tered clusters of Indian wigwams. In that year the
ground was broken by Daniel Boone, a choice spirit,
•who, cultivating a farm on the Yadkin in North Ca
rolina, felt himself impelled to a more adventurous
life. He and five companions set out, and passing
over very rugged tracts, crossed the mountain-steeps,
and on the 7th June reached the banks of the Red
River of Kentucky. Mounting a height, they saw
stretching before them that wide and beautiful forest-
plain, traversed by vast droves of buffaloes. The woods
exhibited a beautiful variety of foliage, intermingled
with fruit-trees in blossom or bearing, and with elegant
flowering shrubs. The adventurous band were here
completely at home, the gun supplying at once ex
quisite sport and a luxurious banquet. The Indians,
however, ill brooked this first inroad into their hitherto
undisturbed domain, and seemed to have a presentiment
that it would prove fatal to their name and nation.

~* Historical and Descriptive Account of British America
(Edinburgh Cabinet Library).

332 EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES.

They formed an ambush, into which Boone fell, and
had the prospect of becoming a victim to their wonted
cruelties. He contrived, however, to escape, was joined
by his brother, and continued to rove delighted through
this enchanted region. He determined even to make it
his permanent abode, and in September 1773, broke up
from the Yadkin with his own and five other families,
who were joined by forty others. Notwithstanding
some loss from an attack by the Indians, they accom
plished their settlement.

These proceedings attracted the notice of General
Dunmore, governor of Virginia, who appointed a com
mission to survey the country, engaging Boone to
accompany them. This examination was executed in
the course of sixty-two days, and extending over a
circuit of 800 miles, conveyed a tolerably complete
idea of this fine territory. The revolutionary contest,
however, quickly ensuing, drew the attention both of the
British and native governments to more urgent objects ;
and private enterprise again took the lead. Nathaniel
Henderson, who was born of humble parents, and had not
received even the elements of education, supplied the
deficiency by his own industry, and having applied to the
bar, rose to eminence and became a judge. He threw up,
however, these advantages to embark in a bolder and
more adventurous career. He loaded ten waggons with
coarse woollens, spirits, and toys, the articles best suited
for Indian traffic. These he conveyed across the Alle-
ghany, and met with Boone, who readily agreed to second
his views. In March 1775, a general meeting of the
Cherokees was obtained at Wataga ; and for the above
valuable considerations they made over to him a terri
tory of 100 square miles on the Kentucky and Ohio,
equal for beauty and fertility to any in the world. Then,
by liberal grants of land, he invited emigrants from
all countries, composed for them a code of laws, and
conducted himself rather as a sovereign than a planter.
Such proceedings were deemed scarcely consistent with
the duties of a subject ; and the transaction, though

EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES. 333

held good in respect to the Indians, was disallowed as
regarded his tenure ; but in compensation for his exer
tions, he received a grant of 200,000 acres. .

During the continuance of the revolutionary war,
the settlement went on slowly, in the face of a most
formidable opposition from the Indian nations, who
were seconded by the British power. Even the passage
of the Alleghany was formidable, when there existed
no road practicable for a waggon of any description.
The emigrants were obliged to travel on foot or on horse
back, and wait on the other side till a caravan could
assemble sufficient to defend itself from attack. On the
termination of the contest, however, the great tide be
gan, which has ever since continued to flow across the
Alleghany, producing a growth of states the most rapid
ever known in any community. Before 1790, all Ken
tucky had been occupied, and the Indian nations driven
north of the Ohio. They, however, easily crossed the
river, and made cruel and desolating inroads, which
were as fiercely retaliated, rendering it difficult to say
which party were the aggressors. The United States
government, after fruitless attempts to negotiate a peace,
were involved in that long and severe contest, the events
of which have been related (vol. ii. p. 137, &c.). After
some serious reverses, the victory of Wayne led to the
treaty of Greenville, which included an extensive ces
sion of land on very moderate terms. Since that time
successive conquests and purchases have placed the
government in possession of immense tracts, exceeding
in extent, and likely soon to exceed also in population,
the original domain of the Union. There remained a
difficulty connected with the powers of the general
government. The whole of this new territory had been
considered as belonging to the eastern states, each claim
ing the part which extended from its western frontier
to the Mississippi. It appeared desirable, however, that
the whole should be placed under one management, and
made independent of the old divisions. The states were
therefore induced to cede their respective shares to the

334 EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES.

central administration, on which then devolved the task
of disposing of this immense mass of landed property, and
of establishing new governments in the west.

It was some time before any fixed or eligible plan
was matured for so great an operation. The first con
templated appears to have been the sale of large lots
to wealthy individuals or companies ; a course very
little suited to the circumstances of the country or the
public advantage. In 1787, the Ohio Company, formed
at New York, purchased from congress a million and a
half of acres ; while in 1789, a Mr Symmes contracted
for a million between the Great and Little Miami.
These transactions proved very unsatisfactory ; the
company's dealings, especially with European pur
chasers, were scandalously fraudulent ; while Symmes
was able only partially to fulfil his engagement. Yet
the first act of the legislature was to prohibit the sale,
unless in very special cases, of any portion containing
less than 4000 acres. In 1790, Mr Hamilton made a
report, proposing to grant spots of 100 acres to actual
settlers, for ready money, at thirty cents per acre.
Other locations might be of 500 acres each ; but the land
generally was to be laid out in sections of ten miles
square, and no credit to be given for any less extent.
This system gave little satisfaction, and few sales were
effected. In 1799, General Harrison started the idea of
selling in sections and half- sections of 640 and 320 acres.
In the course of the next two or three years, earnest
petitions were presented for this and other modifications
of the system. On 10th May 1804, an act was passed,
placing the arrangement nearly on the footing upon
which it has since continued. All lands were subjected
to a survey based upon true meridians drawn through
each state, which by parallel lines at right angles was por
tioned out into districts of six square miles, and sections
of one mile, or 640 acres. This last was subdivided into
quarters of 160 acres, and these again into smaller divisions
of eighty and forty. One section in each district was
reserved for schools ; and at the formation of each new

EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES. 335

state or territory, one township, or 23,040 acres, was
appropriated to the support of seminaries of learning of
a high class. The lands were to be offered for public
sale at a minimum price of two dollars per acre, one-
fourth to be paid down, the rest by three annual instal
ments ; eight per cent being deducted for immediate
payment. Under this law, the settlement of the western
country went on with rapidity, and by September 1812,
there had been sold 4,280,685 acres, for which had
been received 6,572,226 dollars. The expenses of
survey had been 402,668 dollars ; sale and collection,
247,737 ; boards and officers, 209,933 ; various, 84,985 ;
in all, 945,323 dollars. The levying of the instal
ments, however, as they became due, was found to be
a task more and more difficult. The periods allowed
were in fact too short to enable the purchaser to clear
the ground, support himself, and realize the sum of
money out of his produce. When it became necessary
to grant indulgence to one, it could not easily be refused
to others. As grain and cattle became more abundant,
their money-price fell, and the expense of conveyance
over rough mountain-roads, without any of the facilities
recently created, absorbed the greater part of their
value. There was abundance of produce ; but it could
not be converted into money, the attempt to raise
which by means of local banks, themselves unsound,
aggravated the evil, adding bank debts to land debts.
The result was, that by the year 1819, the greater part
of the western lands was in a state of forfeiture for
non-payment of arrears. To have ejected a whole
nation, however, was scarcely possible, and must at
all events have been attended with a fearful extent of
calamity. Government had no option but to agree to
a compromise. The credit was lengthened to a number
of the holders, while others were allowed to resign a
portion of their lands in satisfaction of the debt. Thus
it is supposed that in the course of eight years, the
greater part of the sums due were in one way or other
recovered.

336 EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES.

The conclusion, however, drawn from this course of
transactions was, that the sale of land at all on credit by
government was altogether inexpedient. The price was
therefore reduced to a dollar and a quarter, but the
whole was required to be paid up before possession
was given. Under this system, an immense and, till
lately, always increasing quantity has been sold. From
the earliest period down to the 30th September 1838,
it amounted to 77,134,821 acres, for which had been
paid 108,875,163 dollars (above £23,000,000 sterling).
In 1836 alone the sales rose to 20,074,870 acres, price
25,167,833 dollars (about £5,500,000). This was
doubtless a year of excessive speculation, and they
have never nearly reached the same amount. It was
for

Acres. Dollars.

1837 5,601,103 7,007,523

1838 3,414,907 4,305,564

1839 4,976,382 6,464,556

1840 2,236,889 2,789,637

1841 1,164,796 1,463,364

2 of 1842 859,031 1,079,366

It does not however follow, from reasons to be pre
sently stated, that this great decrease of sale was
attended with a corresponding diminution of emigration
and settlement.

The system of purchase on a large scale had at first
been very unsuccessful. The arrangements of 1804
and 1820 were made on the supposition of each emi
grant going to the land-office, purchasing the quantity
wanted, and settling upon it ; and this accordingly con
tinued for many years to be the regular course. But
when money had accumulated, and a peculiar spirit of
mercantile enterprise been kindled, a tempting range was
here opened to them. The capitalist purchases a large
block, which he breaks down into lots suited to intending
settlers. He forms roads or other communications, by
which they maybe in some shape connected with a market.
He selects the most convenient and agreeable site for a
village, lays out the ground, removes obstructions, erects

EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES. 337

a mill, a store, and an inn. By these accommodations,
the emigrant is placed in a situation so much more eligible
that he can well afford to make a very considerable
advance on the original price. Thus the arrangement,
if carried out regularly and honestly, affords a valuable
benefit to the one party, and a legitimate source of profit
to the other. Unfortunately, amid the wild spirit of
speculation which lately seized the Union, and the laxity
of principle that too often accompanied it, both these
being carried to excess in the west, the transaction
assumed a very sinister character. The grossest decep
tions were practised on the inexperienced emigrants
from the eastward, who at the principal town of the
district found speculators exhibiting in the most flat
tering light spots to be disposed of. A cluster of
huts is represented as a city with spacious streets and
squares and every accommodation of civilized life.
According to Mrs Clavers, " when lots were to be sold,
the whole fair dream was splendidly emblazoned on a
sheet of super-royal size ; things which only floated before
the mind's eye of the most sanguine, were portrayed with
bewitching minuteness for the delectation of the ordi
nary observer. Majestic steamers plied their paddles to
and fro upon the river; ladies crowding their decks,
and streamers floating on the wind. Sloops dotted the
harbours, while noble ships were seen in the offing.
Mills, factories, and lighthouses, — canals, railroads, and
bridges, all took their appropriate positions. Then came
the advertisements, choicely worded and carefully
vague, never setting forth any thing which might not
come true at some time or other ; yet leaving the buyer
without excuse if he chose to be taken in. — The auc
tioneer, on such occasions, must be a man of genius, of
ready invention, of fluent speech ; one who had seen
something of the world, and above all one who must be
so thoroughly acquainted with the property, that he
could vouch on his own personal respectability for the
truth of every statement. He must be able to exhibit
certificates from — no matter whom — Tom-a-Nokes per-

338 EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES.

haps — but ' residing on the spot,' and he must find
men of straw to lead the first bids. And when all this
had been attended to, it must have required some nerve
to carry the matter through ; to stand by, while the
poor artisan, the journeyman mechanic, the stranger
who had brought his little all to buy government land
to bring up his young family upon, staked their poor
means on strips of land which were at that moment a
foot under water." From such statements, it sufficiently
appears how necessary it is for the emigrant to be most
strictly on his guard, and never expend his funds upon
any property which he has not personally and carefully
inspected.

From this mode of settlement, we may perceive why
the great reduction on the government sales since 1836
might take place, without emigration having actually
diminished. In that extravagant year, when " every one
was buying land, and nobody cultivating it," a quantity
was accumulated in the hands of speculators, which
successive years were required to clear off. Another
course, too, always practised, has come into increasing
favour. He who, with his single arm and axe, dares to
encounter the unbroken forest, does not usually trouble
the land-office with any inquiry, but hies on to locate
himself on some spot in the depth of the woods. A law
was passed prohibiting this species of occupation, but it
has never been enforced, and the state now rather favours
it as a pioneer to one more regular. Repudiating, there
fore, the long-established name of squatters, they claim
to be classed as settlers ; and it is viewed as odious in
any one to purchase the lands of which they are thus
in possession. They are expected, however, on the ap
proach of settlement, either to buy the land with the
fruits of this furtive culture, for which they are allowed
a right of pre-emption, or else to retire, after having
sold their improvements and their imperfect claim to a
new comer.

There is a class of settlers who, on different grounds,
decline any connexion with the land-office. Possessing

EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES. 339

a certain amount of property, they wish to establish
themselves at once in some degree of comfort, and not
to encounter all' the gloom and privations of forest life.
On reaching one of the earliest settled new states, Ohio
for instance, they find farms, the owner of which,
having held them for a number of years, has cleared
and cultivated thirty or forty acres, erecting a tolerable
mansion and offices. He is now willing to sell his pre
sent property at from five to ten dollars an acre, and
remove to some region farther west, where the proceeds
will purchase a much larger quantity of land, on which
his intrepid toil may in time bestow equal value. This
is particularly convenient for those who have families
newly grown up, and can thus at once provide them
with farms as large as that of their father. Meantime, the
wealthier emigrant must carefully survey the offered
purchase, to ascertain its value, and particularly that
the land be not in an exhausted state, to which, from
the neglect of manure, it is too often reduced.

Under this view, we may discover a gradation of
settlements, from the most improved districts to those
wild outer tracts, called in Canada the bush. The
former are adapted to those who own more or less of
capita], the other to such as, with scanty funds, feel
gifted with hardihood and the spirit of adventure.
Under the first view, Ohio, and next to it Indiana, are
the most favourable ; Michigan and Illinois may be
considered as bush territories ; Iowa and Wisconsin
as extra bush. The following statement of lands sold
annually in each, beginning with 1836, will show the
estimate made by those on the spot, who were likely
to be best informed, though, no doubt, considerable
variations are visible. The transactions in the southern
slave-states are also shown, though it is not presumed
that any British settler will there make his selection :

340

EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES.

1836.

1837.

1838.

1839.

1840.

1841.

fof

1842.

States, &c.

Acres.

Acres.

Acres.

Acres.

Acres.

Acres

Acres.

Ohio

1,282,992

470,421

243,096

242,445

33,059

43,614

23,160

Indiana...

3,245,344

1,249,818

602,425

618,748

118,869

93,883

41,027

Illinois. ..

3,199,709

1,012,849

778,560

1,132,876

389,275

335.5")3

386,415

Michigan..

4,189.823

773,522

97,534

134,984

26,106

18,168

16,971

Wisconsin

646,134

178,783

87,256

650,723

127,798

101,731

88,929

Iowa

274,605

298,152

567,882

73,673

37,275

Missouri . .

1,655,688

663,988

510,423

1,038,066

572,498

269,472

109,058

Alabama..

1,901,409

381,774

159,969

121.936

56,785

50,705

73,924

Mississippi

2,023,710

256,354

271,075

17.787

19,175

21,636

27,150

Louisiana.

879,450

230,953

164,178

509,307

189,229

95,112

33,482

Arkansas .

963,535

281,915

156,972

154,859

110,610

54,861

18,455

Florida . . .

87,072

100,726

68,814

56,500

25,603

6,389

3,187

20,074,872

5,601,103

3,414,907

4,976,383

2,236,889

1,164,797

859,031

The advantages of a settlement in improved districts
are not confined to the mere facilities of the first estab
lishment. There is a comparative nearness to markets,
and consequently higher prices obtained for produce of
every description. Assistance is somewhat less difficult
to procure, and cultivation can thus be managed on a
greater scale ; while the bush settler has scarcely any
thing to depend upon but his personal exertions. Again,
all the luxuries of life, and the finer manufactures,
having a surer vent, and not being burdened with so
long a conveyance, can be had of more choice quality
and at lower rates. While the bush, therefore, is best
adapted to the labouring emigrant, who seeks only an
abundance of the necessaries of life ; for the wealthier
class, the other situation is not only more agreeable,
but more economical and profitable.

These remarks may afford the means of comparison
between British America, particularly Upper Canada,
and the Western United States. The latter, with the ex
ception, in some degree, of Ohio, lie much deeper in the
interior, and thus more completely in the bush. Their
produce hence brings a lower price, that of grain in
Illinois being, according to Mr Shirreff, only about half
what it is worth in Canada. Manufactured goods are
loaded, not only with a longer carriage, but with a
heavy tariff on imported articles, which include all the

EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES. 341

finer fabrics. In Canada, too, emigrants from Britain meet
their countrymen, and perhaps personal connexions ;
probably they find a tone of society more congenial to
their taste. The case may be different with those whose
political sentiments are decidedly republican.

Another choice to be made by the emigrant is be
tween timbered land and prairie. The former has com
monly the deepest and richest soil, while the latter wears
a somewhat arid aspect ; yet, when broken up, it is
usually found abundantly fertile. It has then the ad
vantage that, while the cutting down of the forest is a
most laborious task, and, when performed by hired
labour, costs three or four pounds an acre, the prairie
soil requires only to be broken up by a very strong
plough with a broad share, drawn by six oxen, which,
according to Mr Shirreff, costs only two dollars an acre.
The deficiency, however, of timber for fences and build
ings is much felt, rendering the interior of the great
prairies scarcely fit for settlement. This description of
land is found chiefly, and to a great extent, in Illinois ;
while Michigan, though not destitute of it, is distin
guished by a dense growth of timber. It will be seen
by the above table, that the taste of emigrants has been
directed almost equally, yet with some fluctuations, to
these two quarters. Of the territories recently formed,
Wisconsin resembles Michigan, while Iowa has a share of
those immense prairies that extend west of the Mississippi.

Besides the choice of site, however, the emigrant has
also to consider the mode of conveying himself thither
in the cheapest and most commodious manner. Having
probably no superabundance of ready money, and being
likely to meet many claims upon it, while the returns
will be slow, there is an obvious prudence in using the
most economical conveyance consistent with health and
any degree of comfort. He is advised to take with him
light and valuable articles, which are found in the west
with difficulty and at high prices. Large and heavy
pieces of furniture are easily procured there, while their
conveyance would be costly. The emigrants from the

342 EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES.

old states, chiefly younger sons of farmers, have been
accustomed to construct a large waggon of light mate
rials, sufficient to contain all they wish to transport,
which they drive themselves, and thus incur no expense
but for food and shelter on the road. M. Roux de
Rochelle has drawn, seemingly from personal observa
tion, a lively picture of this progress. — (See vignette
title-page.)

" Figure a young cultivator recently married to a
maiden of his choice. Both depart for the countries of
the west after having received the paternal benediction.
A vast car bears all the treasures which are to aid in
their establishment ; the axe and the saw, implements
for domestic use and for cultivating the soil. Grain is
provided for the first sowing, and for subsistence till
harvest. Cages full of domestic fowls crown this con
fused equipage ; and the young wife, moving on her
throne as the queen of the future colony, sings the
pleasures of her childhood, her conjugal attachment, or
her hopes of the future. Her husband, with the mus
ket on his shoulder, guides the march of the triumphal
car, which drags, attached to its train like so many
slaves, the ram, the bull, the courser, young and power
ful animals. Others walk at large ; but the dog, who
has them under his charge, like a faithful servant, urges
their steps, keeps them together, and seconds by his
vigilance the cares and toils of his master." Mr Birk-
beck, more than twenty years ago, saw the roads so
crowded with such parties, that old America seemed to
him to be breaking up, and moving to the westward.

The young farmer who, with his own hands, and
from materials on his father's ground, can construct
such a waggon, still finds this the most economical plan,
and fears not to encounter its hardships. For all others,
and especially Europeans, the great system of canals and
railroads affords means of transport more comfortable
and perhaps more economical. The main line is from
New York by the Hudson and Great Canal. From that
city to Albany, 150 miles, passengers are conveyed in the

EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES. 343

short period of ten hours, and at a varying hut always
moderate rate, sometimes not exceeding a dollar. Those
of an humble class may with their baggage be conveyed
still cheaper by the tow-boats. Albany can now be
reached also by railway from Boston, a still quicker mode,
but of course somewhat dearer. From Albany to Buffalo
on Lake Erie there is an almost continuous railway,
which affords the speediest and most agreeable course ;
but a less costly one may be obtained by the Great Canal.
There are here two descriptions of vessels, one called
packet-boats, which make the voyage in between three
and four days, charging three and a half cents per mile,
or ten dollars in all, including board. The other, called
the line-boats, spend seven days on the passage, charging
two cents per mile, or one without provisions. These
can be had very cheap, as the passengers may land at
various points, and find little stores where they are sold.
To those going the whole way, and still more with fami
lies, an abatement is usually made.

From Buffalo steamers convey the emigrant to vari
ous points on Lakes Erie, Huron, or Michigan, according
to the state whither he is going. The leading stations
are Cleveland, for Ohio, 195 miles ; Sandusky, for In
diana, 260 ; Detroit, for Michigan, 330 ; Green Bay,
for Wisconsin, 750; Chicago, for Illinois, 900. The
fare to Detroit is eight dollars, and four on deck ; for
the other quarters nearly in similar proportion to the
distance, except to the more remote points, where it is
somewhat higher from there being less trade and com
petition. Abatement will also be made for a family,
and a large quantity of baggage allowed. From Cleve
land, the Ohio Canal affords conveyance to every part
of the state, and all places on the river. The fares are
nearly the same as on the Erie, though they are more
variable, and care is required in making a bargain.

There is another line from Philadelphia to Pittsburg,
394 miles, by the canal and railroad route already
described. The expense by stage is fifteen dollars, the
charge on ICO Ibs. of baggage only one dollar. It is not

344 EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES.

yet, however, much frequented by foreigners. Some
advise the emigrant to sail for New Orleans, whence he
may easily be transported to any point on the Missis
sippi or its tributaries. This route is circuitous, but
requires only one change of conveyance at the port
above named, where it can be cheaply and expeditiously
made. The fares vary much, and the bad practice pre
vails of fixing them by special agreement. Mr Thomson
states, that in the winter of 1841-2, the rate between New
Orleans and Pittsburg, 1977 miles, wasonlyfrom fifteen to
twenty-five dollars, and he travelled between the former
place and Cincinnati on deck for four dollars without
provisions, which were purchased for one dollar and a
half. The deck is protected from the weather, but has
no other convenience.

Labourers and mechanics also in every part of the
States obtain employment at a rate of wages consider
ably higher than at home. They encounter, however,
difficulties and drawbacks. A peculiar mode of work
ing prevails, to which they must learn to conform. Con
stant activity and energy are required, and a great deal
of work must be put through their hands, though the
execution need not be very delicate. In consequence of
the high wages, the modes both of living and dressing
are expensive. The extreme cheapness of spirits affords
a temptation to excessive indulgence, which the masters
do not excuse, as their own workmen, though addicted
to their too frequent use, seldom carry it to intoxication.
A late emigrant of this class gives the following state
ment of the tradesmen in demand, and the wages to
each ; the latter we suspect too high. At the end of
1836, a rise was given after an obstinate strike, but
rather perhaps through the speculative excitement then
reigning, and probably not supported during the severe
depression which followed.

Bricklayers, much employment from the general
substitution of this material for wood, 6s. 3d. a-day.

Masons, stone-cutters, carpenters, good, nearly same
wages.

EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES. 345

Painters, much, both inside and outside of houses and
ships, 7s. 3d.

Cabinet-makers, much, but low wages, about 5s. 4d.

Smiths, good, about 8s. ; tinplate, 6s. 3d.

Shoemakers, tailors, and hatters, large and good, about
6s. 3d.

Curriers and leather-dressers, much in request, but at
low wages, about 5s.

Saddlers, trunk and coach makers, turners, carvers,
gilders, good.

Shipwrights, 8s. ; wheelwrights, 7s. 4d. ; machinists,
9s.

Superintending engineers, not much esteemed.

A more recent emigrant states the employment in
cotton and woollen manufactures as good at 4s. 2d., and
perhaps this is as high as can now be reasonably ex
pected, unless in the most skilled trades. Surer em
ploy and higher wages may be had in the southern
cities; but hard labour there is trying to the health,
unless in an excursion during the winter months. In
the west, wages are good and living cheap ; but the
occupation is not so steady. Canals and railways, which
some years ago afforded extensive employment, mostly
to Irish emigrants, are nearly quite suspended. Almost
the only field for this class of labourers is now in British
America.

VOL. III.

346 CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH.

CHAPTER VIII.

Concluding Historical Sketch.

Object proposed — State of America after the War — Transac
tions with the Barbary States— Election of Monroe— State
of Parties under him — Disputes with Spain — Cession of
Florida— Question of Slavery in Missouri — South American
Republics acknowledged— Tariff of 1824— Presidency of
Quincy Adams— Tariff of 1828— Presidency of Jackson
—His Policy — Veto on a National Bank — North-West
Indian War — Carolina resists the Tariff— Compromise —
Jackson re-elected — Measures against the Bank — Plan for
Removal of the Indians — Seminole War — Treaty with Franco
— Finances — State of Parties — Van Buren President — Great
Financial Embarrassment— Civil War in Canada— Disturb
ances on the Frontier — Boundary Dispute— Election of Har
rison — His Death— Tyler President— His Measures — Offends
the Whig Party— Arrest of Macleod— His Acquittal— Dis
turbances in Rhode Island — State of Parties — Repudiation
by the States — Finances — Oregon Question.

IN a former part of the work, the history of the United
States has been brought down to the close of the last
war with Britain in 1814. The subsequent events have
been less prominent, and their narration is subject to
all the disadvantages of cotemporary history. It cannot
rest either upon official documents or authentic me
moirs, but is necessarily drawn from ephemeral sources,
tinctured with party spirit and the passions of the mo
ment. Yet a connected outline of prominent and ascer
tained facts may gratify the reader, who recollects them
perhaps only as they occurred, in a detached shape, losing
sight of their succession and mutual bearing.

The Americans, as above shown, had terminated the

CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH. 347

war, resigning all their objects in undertaking it, yet
preserving their territory and resources undiminished.
They had, however, contracted a debt of 81 millions
of dollars, in addition to a previous one of 39 millions,
making in all 120 (nearly £30,000,000 sterling). This
was independent of some farther claims which it would
be necessary to liquidate. A reduction of the large
war establishment was deemed indispensable, yet with
out bringing it so extremely low as formerly under
Jefferson ; the fortifications commenced along the At
lantic coast were to be completed ; and measures taken
to maintain and even strengthen the navy. The
miserable state of the currency showed the necessity of
a new national bank, which was accordingly chartered
on the footing formerly mentioned.

The states of Barbary, especially Algiers, taking ad
vantage of the British war, had recommenced their
piracies, and advanced anew demands of tribute. The
American government now determined to chastise this
conduct, and sent two successive squadrons, under
Decatur and Bainbridge. The former arrived first,
scoured the Mediterranean, and captured two Alge-
rine ships of war ; then presenting himself before
the city, he intimidated the Dey into a treaty, ma
king satisfaction for former outrages, and withdrawing
all future claim for tribute. A visit to Tunis and
Tripoli produced results equally satisfactory. Bain-
bridge then arrived, and as the superior officer, took the
command ; but all had been already done. He merely
appeared again before the cities, and finding every thing
in a satisfactory state, withdrew. Yet the Dey next
year assumed a hostile attitude, alleging an infraction
of the treaty, and resuming the demand of tribute. On
a determined answer being returned, he withdrew
these pretensions.

Mr Madison's second term of office having expired in
March 1817, he followed the example of Washington and
Jefferson, and declined standing a third time. His party
brought forward Monroe, long an eminent diplomatist,

348 CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH.

and who had acted under him as secretary. The federals
put forward Mr Rufus King of New York ; but he had
the votes only of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Dela
ware, all the other states being unanimous for his op
ponent, who was thus elected by 183 to 34 ; Mr Tomp-
kins of New York being made vice-president. Monroe,
as we have seen, had commenced his career as a fiery
republican, even of the French school ; but age and ex
perience had cooled his ardour. He made it even a
study to abate that violence of political zeal which had
agitated the nation, and succeeded so remarkably, that
his administration displayed an internal tranquillity and
harmony, of which there has been no example either
before or since. His party indeed, from causes already
noticed, had adopted protection to manufactures, and a
national bank, the two favourite objects of the commer
cial interest, who having obtained these, willingly ac
quiesced in the name of democrat, renouncing even that
of federal, which had ceased to have any hold of the
popular feeling.

The attention of the cabinet was now anxiously di
rected towards obtaining possession of Florida. That
province was so enclosed within the States' territories,
and so necessary for completing their outline, that its
possession by Spain was an uneasy and inconvenient
circumstance. This power, being extremely weak,
and involved in a fruitless contest with her own South
American colonies, could oppose no serious resistance.
Yet it was desirable to obtain a decent pretext, which
circumstances in some degree afforded. Some adven
turers from the revolted colonies, and pretending the
authority of their chiefs, took possession of Amelia Island,
on the Floridan coast ; while another band seized Gal-
veston, in Texas. From these points they were alleged
to carry on privateering operations, and otherwise to
annoy American citizens. It being discovered that neither
had connexion with any government, expeditions were
sent which rooted up their settlements ; yet this was
complained of by Spain as an encroachment. Again, on

CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH. 349

the frontier of Florida, outrages were committed by
bodies of Indians, alleged to be fomented by the Spanish
authorities. General Jackson being appointed to the
command, with his accustomed rough decision entered
the country and took possession of St Marks and Pen-
sacola. Having captured two Englishmen, Arbuthnot
and Ambrister, he brought them to trial before a court-
martial for exciting the Indians to insurrection, when
they were condemned and executed. He was arraigned
in congress for these extraordinary stretches of power,
and a committee reported on them with great severity ;
yet he was acquitted in the house, being supported by
government, who, however, sent orders to restore the
captured places. It assumed these movements, however, as
grounds for eagerly pressing the desired cession. Com
plaints were raised of illegal captures made more than
twenty years ago, to the amount of several millions of
dollars. This claim would be waved, and a cession made of
that upon the territory of Texas, provided Florida were
given up. The former indeed was esteemed by Spain
as part of Mexico, and could in no shape be made avail
able by her. Yet, on the 23d February 1819, Don
Onis, the Spanish minister, was prevailed upon to sign
a treaty on the above conditions. Ferdinand, however,
refused to ratify it, and sent a new ambassador to com
plain of hostile proceedings by American citizens. That
cabinet strongly remonstrated against this measure, and
even threatened to take possession of the territory by
main force. Thus, in October 1820, a ratification was
at length extorted, and in the following year possession
was given of the country.

In 1821, on the admission of Missouri into the Union,
the enemies of slavery made a noble effort to prohibit
its existence in that new state. This measure had passed
the representatives, but was most vehemently opposed
by the southern deputies, who even threatened, if it
were carried, to break up the Union. They at length
succeeded, granting only, by way of compromise, that
slavery was not to extend north of 36° 30' N. latitude.

350 CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH.

This, however, was the commencement of a great
struggle, which has since been carried on without in
termission.

In 1822, the government determined to acknowledge
the new republics formed in South America. They
were observed to be now in complete possession of actual
independence, Spain not having for three years sent a
single corps against them. Ministers were therefore
appointed to Mexico, Buenos Ayres, Colombia, and
Chili. Measures, too, were at this time taken to sup
press a system of piracy which had risen to a great
height in the West Indies, especially on the coast of
Cuba.

Another question, which has deeply agitated the
Union, rose at this time into prominent view. The
democratic party, from causes already explained, had
renounced their original principle of free trade, and be
come attached to that of forcing native manufactures by
high duties on those imported. They had thus become
allied to the powerful and rising body of northern
merchants and manufacturers. The agricultural states,
however, to whose interest this system was every way
adverse, made a strong opposition, and it was not till
1824 that this was overcome, and a heavy tariff estab
lished.

In 1825, Mr Monroe's second term of office expired,
and he followed his predecessors' example of not standing
for a third. A keen and close contest followed, not
however founded upon political, but upon state and
sectional partialities. Andrew Jackson of Tennessee
had 99 votes, John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts 84,
W. H. Crawford of Georgia 41, Henry Clay of Ken
tucky 37. The constitution had however regulated,
that whenever no single candidate had a majority of the
entire number, the election should devolve on the repre
sentatives. Their choice fell upon Adams, whose accession
did not make any present change in the system of govern
ment, since he had acted as secretary of state under the
late president, and professed to follow in his steps. Yet

CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH, 351

during his rule, the preceding harmony was entirely
broken up, and the foundation laid for contests as
terrible as had ever shaken the Union. Representing
the most commercial of the states, he became the im
personation of the mercantile and monied interest, which
had risen to unprecedented importance. His entire
support was given to their favourite objects — the im
position of heavy duties on foreign manufactures, the
support of the national bank and the banking system in
general, and the executing or aiding of public works and
improvements out of the funds of the central govern
ment. For this last purpose large appropriations were
made, and extensive surveys undertaken. But the most
momentous act under this administration was the tariff
of 1828, by which the duties on imported manufactures
were rendered almost prohibitory. The great agricul
tural interest, always averse to this system, had hitherto,
from feelings of national pride, been induced to acquiesce.
Its influence, however, both in raising the price of
articles of consumption, and reducing the rentfor produce,
became now most severe. This body, too, looked with
disgust on the immense wealth acquired and profusely
displayed in the mercantile cities, contrasted with the
humble mediocrity earned by rural industry. They
were thus organized into a regular opposition, at the
head of which Jackson placed himself, with all the
weight derived from his energetic character and military
reputation. The contest was severe ; but his victory
proved complete, 178 votes being obtained against 83
for Adams.

Jackson immediately applied himself to carry out his
views with an impetuosity and determination character
istic of himself, but to which the American people had
not been accustomed. Following an example, w^hich
Jefferson only had set in a small degree, he removed all
the officials who had shown any attachment to the late
government, substituting his own creatures. On the
presentation of a bill for subscribing out of the general
funds to a new road over the Alleghany, he applied to

352 CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH.

it his veto, intimating a resolution to treat similarly
every proposal for defraying local improvements out of
the public revenue. As the charter of the bank was
soon to expire, he expressed a disposition not to renew
it, without a great retrenchment of its privileges. The
tariff, too, should he thought be modified, though on
this point he was by no means so forward in seconding
the views of his party.

The first collision arose on the subject of the bank,
whose charter was to expire in 1836. This body, com
prising some individuals of great wealth, and being as it
were the centre of the mercantile and monied interest,
was an object of peculiar odium to the high democratic
party. Yet the former influence, joined to the ex
perience of the benefits of the institution, procured con
siderable majorities in both houses for a bill renewing
its charter, under some slight modifications, for fifteen
years. On being presented to Jackson, however, it was
met by a decided veto, the institution being represented
as at once unnecessary and dangerous, as a contrivance
of the wealthier classes to increase their opulence, to
render the rich richer, and the potent more powerful, at
the expense of the humbler classes of society. As the
majority in neither house amounted to two-thirds, this
veto decided the fate of the bill and of the bank.

Meantime the states were involved on the north
western frontier in a somewhat formidable Indian war.
The course of events had pushed settlements into this
quarter, where the natives had remained hitherto nearly
undisturbed ; and the lead -mines of Galena had drawn
thither a considerable population, not of the most select
description. In these circumstances, the ordinary causes
of collision could not be avoided. The natives, com
plaining of being wronged, began their usual fierce re
taliation ; and after detached outrages on both sides, a
general Indian confederacy was formed, under the chief
Black Hawk and his brother named the Prophet. A
desolating war was suddenly commenced along a line of
three hundred miles of frontier. Many settlers were

CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH. 353

either killed or carried into captivity, among which last
were the Misses Hall, two young ladies of remark
able beauty. They were treated with courtesy and
respect, though a chief eagerly claimed one as his prize,
and used the most earnest solicitations to induce her to
become his bride ; yet she was allowed to depart, leaving
with him only a lock of her hair. Meantime a strong-
force of regular troops and of the militia of Illinois as
sembled under Generals Scott and Atkinson. On their
approach the Indians did not attempt a regular contest,
but retreated over a broken tract towards the Missouri.
' They were pursued and completely dispersed, being
severely harassed by the Sioux and Winnebagoes, who
had formerly favoured their cause. Black Hawk, the
Prophet, and other chiefs were taken and paraded through
the principal cities of the Union. The treaty of peace
included a large cession of territory, which became the
basis of the two new territories of Wisconsin and Iowa,
now rapidly filling with people.

In the same year, 1832, a contest almost as violent
arose within the Union itself. The agricultural, and
especially the southern interests, had supported Jack
son on the understanding of a material reduction in the
exorbitant tariff, which raised the prices of all manufac
tured articles, and lowered the value of the produce of
the soil. An extraordinary depression had in fact taken
place on the price of cotton, — the staple of so many
states. The president, however, had not displayed much
ardour in regard to this object, or a disposition to carry
it out to any great extent. In the session of 1832, a
bill was passed, somewhat modifying the rates, but not
to a degree at all satisfactory. The southern people
then became desperate. Those of South Carolina con
tended, that congress had no power to impose taxes for
any purposes but those of revenue ; that each state had
a right to judge whether that body exceeded its powers,
and in that case to disobey it. They therefore declared
the tariff null and void, making it unlawful for any of
the constituted authorities to enforce it, and disallowing

354 CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH.

all appeal to the supreme court. Any act which might
be passed by congress to coerce them into obedience
would be considered as absolving them from the obliga
tion to maintain the Union, and they would proceed to
organize a separate government. These views were
supported by their legislature ; and Mr Calhoun of this
state resigned his office of vice-president, when he was
nominated to the senate, in order to support the cause.
Jackson, however, in a proclamation, and afterwards in a
message to the house, denounced them as wholly uncon
stitutional, and subversive of all the advantages which
the states derived from their union. The laws of the
United States must be executed ; he had no discretion
ary power on the subject. His declarations being strongly
seconded by Webster and other leading orators of the
commercial party, received the warm concurrence of
congress. The Carolinians, on the other hand, took
measures for calling out the militia, fortifying the ports,
and otherwise preparing to repel force by force. A col
lision seemed inevitable, and could not have failed to be
very serious, as Virginia and other neighbouring states,
without sharing in the movement, were known to view it
with favour, and could not be expected to aid cordially in
its suppression. A stormy session was spent without the
passing of any measure promising to extricate the nation
from this dilemma, when Mr Clay brought forward a
proposition, that the rates should undergo an annual re
duction, till they were brought down to 20 per cent.,
which was to be fixed as the permanent amount. This
motion being assented to by Mr Calhoun, was carried
through congress. Peace was thus restored to the Union ;
yet zealous politicians on each side complained of its
having been obtained by a mere practical compromise,
without any settlement of the constitutional principle.

In 1833, Jackson's first term of office having expired,
Mr Clay of Kentucky, who had gained niuch reputation by
the adjustment of the Carolina question, was opposed to
him by the bank and commercial party. The former was
re-elected, however, by an overwhelming majority, 219 to

CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH. 355

49 ; while Van Buren, a statesman devoted to his views,
was, by numbers nearly equal, appointed vice-president.
He was thus encouraged to persevere in the warfare
against the bank, his resentment being farther excited
by the hostile part which he alleged them — not perhaps
without some reason — to have taken against his elec
tion. His next step was to withdraw the deposits of
public money placed in their hands, and from which
much of their importance as well as emolument had been
derived. He had formerly invited congress to consider
whether these sums could be safely lodged with them ;
but that body made the unwelcome report, that they
were thus perfectly secure. He then took the opportunity
of an interval when the legislature was not sitting, and
ordered the secretary to the treasury to withdraw them.
That officer, who was alone privileged by the constitu
tion to take this step, considered it unjustifiable, and
refused to comply. He was dismissed, and a new
one appointed, who obeyed the order. At the next
meeting of dongress, the senate, who still adhered to the
opposite interest, after warm debates, passed a resolution,
that the president, in these proceedings, had " assumed
upon himself authority and power not conferred by the
constitution and laws, but in derogation of both.'* Jack
son replied by a long and indignant protest, strenuously
defending his own conduct, and insisting that they had
no right to advance such charges against him in any
other shape but that of impeachment. He afterwards
announced, that the government money had been placed
in the state banks, where it was found perfectly safe ;
and that every purpose was answered which had formerly
been served by its deposit in the national institution.

The government was soon after involved in serious
transactions with the Indian nations. The remains of
their tribes, by successive wars, purchases, and treaties,
had become scattered throughout the territory in detached
sections, completely surrounded and enclosed by their
conquerors. In such a situation, frequent collision was
almost unavoidable. The Indians murmured, that the

356 CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH.

remnant of their territory was eagerly coveted and
grasped at by every possible means ; that they were
exposed to constant outrages, without hope of redress ;
to which might be added, that they often sought it
themselves not in the mildest manner. The state gov
ernments complained, that to have independent states of
so turbulent a character enclosed within their domain,
was incompatible with any regular system of adminis
tration. In these circumstances a plan was devised,
which was first developed by Monroe in his message of
the 7th December 1824. Beyond the most western
frontier of the states, there lay a great extent of terri
tory, which, though rude, contained as much productive
land as would be sufficient for the support of all these
tribes. It was proposed to present such motives as might
induce them to quit all the domains now held by them
within the Union, and emigrate thither. They were to
be paid the full price of the former, to be freely trans
ported and established in their new possessions, and re
ceive their subsistence for one year. This plan appeared
to us at first view both cruel and unwise ; and we know
that Mr Catlin and others deeply interested in the people
are of the same opinion. On full consideration, how
ever, we incline to consider it the best alternative, under
the circumstances, left to the general government. They,
as must have fully appeared in the course of this work,
cannot control their borderers, or even their border-
states ; and it is impossible to prevent collisions, the issue
of which must always be disastrous to the Indian race.
Some such plan, therefore, was perhaps the only one by
which they could be protected, or even their existence
preserved.

It continued to be prosecuted under the administra
tion of Adams, yet without, for some time, making much
progress. To quit their native seats, the home of their
fathers, the tombs of their ancestors, appeared to the
Indians an evil not to be compensated by any external
advantages, in a distant and unknown region. Jackson,
however, applied himself to the object with characteristic

CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH. 357

energy and determination. "Without employing abso
lute compulsion, he intimated that they could only re
main on condition of ceasing to be independent, and
becoming subject to the laws of the state within which
they were located. This alternative, as wras expected,
appeared to them so terrible, that a reluctant consent
to removal began to be extorted. In December 1830,
the president could announce a treaty to that effect with
the Choctaws and Chickasaws. Fruitless negotiations
were carried on with the Cherokees ; but, in 1833,
agreements were made with the Creeks in Alabama,
and the Seminoles in Florida, who, in their difficult
country, had been reinforced by fugitives from various
states. Concerning the transactions with this last
people, no regular or authenticated narrative has yet
been published ; and \ve must depend chiefly on an
article in the North American Review, not perhaps
quite friendly to the president. They stipulated, it
appears, for a deputation to proceed and to examine the
territory assigned, understanding that the final decision
was to depend upon its report. Government, on the
contrary, conceived the engagement to be absolute, and
in April 1834 obtained a vote of congress for its execu
tion. The deputation, it is said, on their return, re
ported favourably of the territory, but objected to the
vicinity in which they would be placed to some hostile
tribes. The year 1835 having nearly elapsed without
any movement, Jackson pressed with extreme urgency
their immediate departure. The resolution was then
taken of resisting to the last extremity. Oceola, the
chief, proclaimed it treason for any Indian to leave the
country. A general attack was commenced on the
American frontier posts, which, being very unprepared,
suffered severely. On the 28th December 1835, a de
tachment of 102 men was cut off, three only escaping ;
and the bodies of the slain were found fifty-three days
after lying unburied on the field of battle. On the
31st, a body of between -200 and 300 was defeated, with
the loss of sixty-three killed and wounded. The war

358 CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH.

spread among the adjacent tribe of the Creeks, and be
came one of the longest and most obstinate ever waged be
tween the two races. When the main force of the States
was brought up, the insurgents were unable to face it in
the open field ; but to root them out of the swamps,
morasses, and dense entangled forests of this most difficult
country, proved a task truly arduous. What rendered
the American force both inefficient and expensive was its
being mostly composed of militia, called out only for a
certain time, a great part of which was occupied in the
inarch and return. The total expenditure of the war
is reckoned at 20,000,000 dollars (above £4,000,000
sterling). At length, in 1839, General Macomb con
cluded a treaty, by which they were not obliged to
emigrate, but allowed to occupy unmolested a certain
range of territory. Thence, however, they made for
midable incursions, and it was not till August 1842
that government could announce the final termination
of this contest. The Creeks had already been subdued,
and about 1840 the object had been nearly completed
of transporting the whole of the Indian race to the ter
ritory assigned to them along the western frontier.

Negotiations had been long carried on with France on
account of the seizures made under the decrees of Napo
leon. These had even been acknowledged to the extent
of twenty-five millions of francs (above £1,000,000),
but the government had been exceedingly slow in making
the payment. In 1836, however, the energy of Jack
son, accompanied even by a threat of war, extorted its
liquidation.

The finances at this period reached a point of pros
perity not attained in any other civilized country. The
whole of the national debt had been paid off, and a con
siderable surplus was found in the treasury. As it was
not considered advisable either to reduce the duties on
imports, or the price of public land, it was resolved to dis
tribute this sum among the states, to be employed for
purposes of internal improvement. This prosperity en
couraged the president to continue his warfare against

CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH. 359

banks, and even to form the design of banishing paper
currency, and substituting one entirely of gold. As a
preliminary, orders were issued to refuse payment in any
other shape for the land sales. This occasioned a drain of
specie, which, combined doubtless with other causes,
hurried on that violent crisis when all the banks stopt
at once, and the whole nation, from the height of pros
perity, was plunged into the deepest distress.

This result was favourable to the party hostile to
Jackson, and which had assumed a new and popular
character. His temper and conduct were despotic, and
by his vetoes he had dictated a series of leading legis
lative measures, in opposition to the decision of congress.
They proclaimed liberty to be in danger, and, under
the title of Whigs, came forward as its guardians. The
people could not but recognise some truth in these
charges, and the stagnation of trade affected even the
lowest ranks. Mr Clay, and other former partisans of
democracy, joined this standard, which gained continu
ally new adherents.

In the beginning of 1837, the second term of
Jackson's rule having expired, he followed the usual
course, and declined standing a third time. Van Buren,
vice-president, attached to the same principles, was put
forward by the party, who had still power sufficient to
secure his election, though only by a majority of 43 —
167 to 124. The latter number, from want of concert,
was distributed among four candidates, of whom General
Harrison had 73.

Mr Van Buren, with less energy, had a more moderate
and prudent temper than his predecessor ; but he in
herited all the evils of the system, which, at his acces
sion, had just reached their utmost height. The finances,
from a state of such high prosperity, had sunk into
extreme embarrassment. Jackson had boasted of the
fidelity with which the state-banks kept the deposits of
public money ; but now, when called upon for repay
ment, they "found it inconvenient to comply ;" in short,
they had embarked the money in speculation, and lost

360 CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH.

it. The customs had diminished with the decline of
trade, and heavy extra expenses had been incurred by
the Indian war and removal. The president was obliged,
in his inaugural address, to announce that a loan of six
or rather ten millions of dollars would be necessary to
meet the expenses of the year. Notwithstanding the
lamentable failure of the state-banks, he still repelled
the idea of a national institution, but substituted a
branch of the treasury to be employed in keeping the
public money, — a measure considered as unduly in
creasing the influence of the executive, and at the same
time by no means very secure.

In the end of 1837, the American cabinet was placed
in a delicate situation by the posture of affairs in
Canada. A long dispute between the legislature and
the British government issued at length in open re
bellion, which broke out at once both in the lower and
upper province. A large body of American citizens on
the frontier caught the infection, and, under the title of
sympathizers, eagerly desired to make common cause
with the insurgents. The president, seconded in con
gress by men of the most opposite parties, determined
to enforce the strictest neutrality. He issued two suc
cessive orders, prohibiting all interference, and warning
the people of the penalties they would incur by vio
lating the law. As the border militia could not be
trusted, a large body was ordered from the more peace
able districts of the interior, and placed under the com
mand of General Scott.

The rising in both provinces was very quickly sup
pressed ; but Mackenzie, the leader in Upper Canada,
found at Buffalo a welcome reception. Some of the prin
cipal citizens, including even military officers, determined,
in defiance of their government, to support the cause.
A band of refugees and sympathizers took possession
of Navy Island, in the centre of the Niagara channel,
which they fortified so strongly, that Sir Allan M'Nab,
with the loyalist force, was unable to dislodge them.
He employed, however, Captain Drew to seize and de-

CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH, 361

stroy the Caroline, a vessel employed in conveying to
them provisions and stores. This attack, made while
the vessel was moored near the American shore, was not
only loudly exclaimed against by the sympathizers, but
complained of by the government as an invasion of the
territory. General Scott having arrived and cut off
from the island all supplies, while the British force was
constantly augmenting, the invaders were obliged to
evacuate the station. They continued, however, to
make inroads at different points, both of Lower and
Upper Canada, though without any success. These
proceedings, being steadily discountenanced by the
American cabinet, and arising evidently only out
of the lawless character of the border population, did
not cause any interruption in the good understanding
between the two countries.*

From another quarter some threat of collision arose.
Owing to the vague terms of the treaty of 1783, there
remained in dispute a large extent of country, between
Maine on one side, and the British provinces of New
Brunswick and Canada on the other. It formed at that
time a mere tract of wild forest, scarcely trodden by a
European ; but as settlement and culture advanced, the
fine timber with which it was clothed became an im
portant object to both parties, especially the Americans.
In 1829, an agreement was made to refer the question
to the award of the King of Holland. He rendered it
in 1831, declaring the impossibility of regulating any
boundary according to the doubtful tenor 'of the treaty,
but recommending one extending along the St Croix,
the St John, and thence to the head of the Connecticut.
All parties were disposed to acquiesce in this decision,
except the senate, who rejected it as not made according
to the terms of the treaty, but proposing a new and
arbitrary line. Thus the question continued undecided,
while it was assuming every day greater importance.
Trespassers from each side entered the territory to cut

* These events are more fully narrated in British America
(Edinburgh Cabinet Library), vol. i. p. 224-242.

VOL. III. Z

362

CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH.

timber, and expeditions were sent to drive them off,
which virtually took possession of the ground. One
from New Brunswick made prisoner Mr Macintyre,
land-agent for Maine, and conveyed him to Fredericton.
An armed body of 200 from that state then entered, and
carried off Mr Maclauchlan, the British warder. Border
collision seemed inevitable, when an agreement was made
between Mr Fox the British ambassador, and Mr Forsyth
the American secretary of state, that the government of
Maine should voluntarily withdraw its military force,
and any future arrangements against trespassers be made
by the two powers jointly. A convention to that effect
was signed by the respective governors on the 23d and
25th March 1839.

Meantime the Whig party gained continually new
strength, as the embarrassments imputed to the over
throw of the bank, and the attempts to introduce
an exclusively gold currency, were more sensibly felt.
All their efforts were concentrated as the period ap
proached for the election of a new president. In order
to prevent that division, which before had at least weak
ened the display of their strength, a national Whig
convention was assembled at Harrisburg in Pennsyl
vania, to agree on some one candidate. Those proposed
were General Harrison, Mr Clay, and General Scott.
After five successive ballots, the former was fixed upon,
while Mr Tyler, a Virginian, with a supposed leaning
to the democratic side, was unanimously named for
vice-president. Conventions, with assemblies and pro
cessions on a great scale, were held at Boston, Baltimore,
Wheeling, and other places, to support this canvass.

These efforts were crowned with complete success.
The election of Harrison was carried by a majority of
234 to 60 ; that of Tyler by a similar one. The for
mer was inaugurated on the 4th of March 1841, and
presently formed a ministry composed of leading mem
bers of the party who had raised him to power. Mr
Webster was named secretary for foreign affairs, and
was expected to have the chief influence in the admin-

CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH. 363

istration ; while Mr Everett was sent ambassador to
England. The Whigs, who could also command decided
though not large majorities in both houses, seemed to
be entering on a long and secure tenure of power.
These prospects were blasted by a very unexpected and
melancholy event. The president, who had reached
his sixty-ninth year, proved unequal to the fatigues of
his arduous functions, and died on the 4th of April, just a
month after commencing their exercise. The constitu
tion then conferred the office upon Mr Tyler, vice-
president, who, by an arrangement which appears
singular, yet is prevalent in America, was attached in a
great degree to the opposite or democratic principles.

The new president, however, professed veneration for
his predecessor, with an intention to tread in his footsteps,
and to employ the same ministers. The party there
fore lost no time in bringing forward their favourite
measure of a new national bank, the absence of which
they considered one main cause of the recent distresses.
Accordingly a bill for one on a plan nearly similar to
the former, to be entitled a " fiscal bank," was passed
by both houses. On being presented, however, to the
president, he applied to it a decided veto, yet intimating
a disposition to sanction an institution of which the
nature and objects should be more limited. In the
hope of meeting his views, the houses prepared another
for \vhat was to be termed a " fiscal corporation ;"
but, on the 9th September, it also was negatived.
Nothing could then exceed the indignation and dis
gust of the Whig party, who saw their immense
efforts made with such seeming success entirely frus
trated. All the members of the cabinet resigned,
with the exception of Mr Webster, who was supposed
to remain with a view to conduct the now pending
negotiation with Britain.

A singular circumstance had occurred to increase
its difficulties. Mr Macleod, on his way from Canada
to New York, was arrested on the charge of having
been concerned in the seizure of the Caroline, and

364 CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH.

the death of an American who fell in the conflict.
The authorities, who were little disposed to engage in
such a transaction, admitted him to bail ; but the mob
at Lockport furiously rose, compelled the securities to
withdraw their bond, and retained him in prison. The
general government claimed his release, as being indicted
for a political offence, for which the British ambassador
undertook to answer ; but the supreme court of New
York decided, that the two nations not having been at
war, the present must be considered a common charge
of murder, to be tried by the criminal court of the state.
Thus affairs continued in an agitated and irritating posi
tion till the 12th October, when a jury acquitted him as
not having been concerned in the outrage.

In August 1841, a new ministry was formed in
Britain, at the head of which was Sir Robert Peel.
One of the first objects to which they turned their at
tention was the adjustment of the American boundary
dispute. With this view a special mission was sent,
composed of Lord Ashburton, head of the commercial
house of Baring, one of the most distinguished in the
country. His lordship arrived in 1842, and an active
correspondence was immediately opened between him
and Mr Webster. Though encumbered with some dif
ficulties, it was conducted on both sides with an earnest
desire for a pacific termination. Accordingly, in August
1842, a treaty was concluded, in wrhich this long-pend
ing question was at length adjusted. The line was
drawn nearly according to the award of the King of
Holland, to which Britain, though not quite satisfied,
had formerly given her consent, while America had
rejected it ; so that the concession was mainly on her
part. The senate, after a debate of four days, ratified
it by a majority of thirty-nine to nine.

In the course of 1842, considerable agitation was ex
cited by an attempt made in Rhode Island to change the
state-constitution, and establish it on a more democratic
basis. Such an alteration was in fact considered legitimate
if introduced by a convention called by the legislature

CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH. 365

according to certain forms. The popular leaders and
their adherents, however, assembled, and, alleging that
they formed a majority, organized a new system on the
basis of universal suffrage, appointing their chief,
Mr Dorr, the new governor. They had even sym
pathizers in New York and Boston ; but the president
pronounced decidedly against so irregular a movement,
intimating even his determination, if necessary, to em
ploy force in its suppression. The state-government
mustered an armed body, by which it was speedily put
down, — Dorr and his adherents having either fled or dis
persed. Soon after, they assembled anew, 700 strong,
and took post on a hill, which they fortified with five
pieces of cannon. The militia of the state being then
called out, to the number of 3000, again attacked and
dispersed them, with scarcely any bloodshed.

In the general government, during the two last years,
a confused agitation of parties has prevailed, without any
striking collision. Mr Webster has resigned, and the
Whig party have become entirely alienated from the
present administration, while the democratic faction by
no means give it their full confidence. The result of
the new election, which conies on in spring 1845, is
thus very uncertain.

About half the states continue either to repudiate
their debts, or at least to pay neither principal nor in
terest. It is fair to state, that their conduct meets with
decided reprobation among the respectable part of their
own citizens, as well as among suffering parties in this
country. The last North American Review has an ex
cellent article, expressing hope that the suspension is
merely temporary, but, if otherwise, denouncing it as a
complete forfeiture of the national character. It an
nounces that their proud system of freedom will thus be
dishonoured, and their boasted aim to make it the admira
tion and model of other and future nations will be com
pletely frustrated. In fact, the consequence has already
been a severe aggravation of the embarrassments of the
general government, whose most advantageous proposals

366 CONCLUDING HISTORICAL SKETCH.

for a loan in Europe have been peremptorily rejected.
It has thus been able to carry on its current expenses
only by loans at home on onerous terms, or by the issue
of treasury notes. Of the latter, there were outstand
ing in 1843, 10,093,000 dollars. By strict economy the
current expenses were reduced from 26,360,000 dollars
in 1842 to 23,078,000 in 1843.

The territory beyond the Rocky Mountains, to which
the Americans have given the name of Oregon, has be
come a source of controversy with Britain. In 1818,
when the subject was merely speculative, a temporary
convention was formed, that, without prejudicing the
claim of either party, the region should be left free to
the vessels and subjects of both. In 1827, this agree
ment was prolonged for an indefinite period, leaving it,
however, open for either party to press its claim, upon
giving twelve months' notice. The activity and good
management of the Hudson's Bay Company have nearly
monopolized the fur trade, and driven the Americans
out of the region. This exclusion is viewed with jeal
ousy ; while adventurous squatters are aspiring to form
settlements in some of the fine valleys that lie between
the mountains and the ocean. Hence, some of the tur
bulent members of congress do not hesitate to call upon
the government to annul the convention, and prosecute
the claim even at the hazard of war ; but it is not pro
bable that any measure so rash will be adopted, especi
ally under so severe a pressure of financial difficulty.

APPENDIX.

ABSTRACT OF THE RETURNS OF THE EXTENT AND VALUE

OF THE DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY

MADE UNDER THE CENSUS OF 1840.

Vorks.

Quantities.

Value.

tmployed.

Capital Invested.

286 903 tons

Doll.,..

bar

197 233

} •'

30,497

Lead

31 239 453 Ibs.

1,017

1,346,756

Gold

529 605

1,046

234,325

Other metals

3/0,614

728

238,980

Coal, anthracite....
.. bituminous
Salt

863,409 tons
27,603,191 bush.
6 179 174

3,043
3,768
2 365

4,355,602
1,868,862
6,998,045

iranite, marble, &c.
lorses and mules . .
Veat cattle
Sheep..

••

4,335,66'9 numb.
14,971, -K86 ..
19 311 3/4

3,695,884

7,859

2,540,159

Hogs ...

26 301 293

^oultry
Wheat

84,823,272 bush.

9,344,410

Barley

* "

4,161,504 ..

Oats
Rye

123,0/1,341 ..
18,645,567 . .

••

::::

Buckwheat
ndian corn
Wool

..

7,291,743 ..
377,531,875 ..
35 802 114 Ibs.

....

1,238,502 ..

Wax
sotatoes
Hay.

••

628,303 . .
108,298,060 bush.
10 248 109 tons

••

.

::::

lemp and flax
Tobacco

95,252 . .
219,163,319 Ibs.

lice

80,841,422 ..

Cotton

Silk cocoons..

••

790,4/9,275 . .
61 552

••

Sugar

155,110 809 ..

Wood

5,088 891 cords

Dairy

33,787,008

Orchard

7,256,904

>Vine

124,734 galls.

Home-made goods. .
jarden produce
Nurseries. . .s
Commerce, foreign.
. . on commission.
.. retail
Lumberyards
[nternal transport.
Fish,smoked&dried
.. pickled
Oil, spermaceti . . .
.. other

1 408
2 881
57565
1 793

} ::::

773',947 quint
472,359barrels
4,764, 708 galls.
7,536,778 ..

29,023,380
2,601,196
593,534

12 943,507

8J553

35,963

22,402

36,584

2,945,774
119,295,367

250,301,799
9,848. 31 1/
11,526,950

16,429,620

Tar, pitch, &c —
Ashes, potand pear
Skins and Furs . . .
Ginseng, &c,

619,106barrels
15,935 tons

l,065,86fl

£26,581

>22,042
|3

368

APPENDIX.

Machinery

Works

Quantities.

Value.

Persons
employed.

Capital Invested.

Numbe

274 numb
88 073 . .

15 745 Ibs.

49,820,497 Ibs.
17,904.507 . .
2,936,951 . .
41, 402,027 galls.
23,207,730 . .
8,977,348 Ibs.

Dollar!.

10,980,581
6,451 ,90;

4,734,96(
9,779,445
2,442,95(
9,736,94.
20,696,99<
46,350,45,
119,814
6,545,50C
5,819,56f
8,704,345
1,476,505
33,134,403

} ••

4,151,899
600,827
2,890,29;
1,104,825
3,250,70(
l,223,86o
6,153,092

4,078,306
923,924
0,897,887

6,545,246

7,016,094
7,555,405

1,917,401
4,785,353

13,001

r 5,492

1,744
) 1,556
H 6,677
) 3,734
> 22,807
> 21,342
i 72,11

76
15,90
8,38

|26,018
5,641

12,223

496

} 1,848

3,236
1,612

} 1,355

4,726
11,523

4.464
908
21,994

V60,788

18J003
85,501

Dollar..

- 20,620,869

15,765,124
51,102,359
274,374
4,368,991
3,437,191
4,485,300

15,650,929
12,881,262

2,757,273

9,147,368
875,875

4,507,675

2,084,100
551,431

1,769,571
4,745,239

5,873,815

2,465,577
734,370
5,551,632

65,858,470

6,989,971

25,019,726

267.726.579

Hardware, &c

Small arms

Various ditto

Granite, &c. .

Bricks and lime

Wool..

4,005

1,240

Cotton

Silk

Mixed fabrics. . .

Tobacco
lats and caps
straw-bonnets
fanned leather
Other ditto

8',229
17,136

Soap

Candles, tallow . . .
.. Wax, &c......

Distilleries.

10',306
406
137

'iis

659
43

'426
1,552

447

Breweries. .

Gunpowder. . .

Drugs, paints, dyes
&c

'urpentine^varnisl
Glass

'etined sugar
Confectionery, &c..

Printing.

Binding..

ewspapers, &c
/ordage
Musical instruments
Carriages, &c. ...

1,631
388

7,404,502 barrels

Mills, flour

4,364
23, W]
31,050
843

. grist.

. . saw..

.. oil

Ships

Furniture

Houses, brick &stone
. . wooden
All other manufact.
Total manufactures

8,429
15,684

INDEX.

A.

ADAMS, John, president, vol. ii. p.

159.
Adams, John Quincy, president, iii.

350, 351.
Agriculture, ii. 274-284. Method

pursued, 275, 276. Grains, 276,

278. Tobacco, 278, 279. Cotton,

279, 280. Sugar, &c., 281. Live
stock, 282. Timber, 283.

Alabama, topography of, iii. 311-316.

Albany, description of, iii. 302.

Alleghany Mountains, i. 20-22 ; iii.
202, 203.

Alvaro Nunez, takes part in expe
dition to Florida under Narvaez,
i. 36. His journey thence over
land to Mexico, 43-45.

Amadis and Barlow, exploratory
expedition sent to Virginia by
Raleigh under these officers, i.
81, 82.

Ames, Fisher, notice of his oratory,
iii. 117-120.

Anabaptists, their appearance in
New England, i. 221.

Andre, Major, his melancholy fate,
ii. 93-95.

Andros, Sir Edward, governor of
Virginia, i. 141.

Antinomians, rise of in Massachu
setts, i. 202-216.

Anti-slavery society, its measures,
iii. 68-71. Opposition encountered,
71-75.

Area, &c. of the United States, i.
18-29.

Aristocracy, its character and in
fluence, ii. 244-249.

Army, ii. 271, 272.

Arnold, General, his adventures, ii.
90-92. Treacherous desertion, 93,
94.

Augusta, its foundation, i. 313.

Augustine, St, founded by Pedro
Msnendez, i. 73. Abortive sieges
by the English colonists, 305,
314.

Ayllon, Lucas Vasquez de, visits
South Carolina, i. 34.

B.

Bacon, Nathaniel, raises a rebellion
in Virginia, i. 135-137.

Baltimore, George first Lord, ob
tains a grant of Maryland from
Charles!., i. 145.

Baltimore, Cecil Lord, colonization
of Maryland by, i. 146-148. Cha
racter of his government, 149-161.
Loses his authority during the
Long Parliament, 162-1/0. Re
instated at the Restoration, 172.
Revolution transfers it to the
crown, 175.

Baltimore, Charles Lord, Maryland
patent restored to him by George
I., i. 175.

Baltimore (city), trade of, ii. 379.
Description of, iii. 310.

Bancroft, Mr, notice of his writings,
iii. 197, 198.

Bank, National, its establishment,
ii. 133. Successive modifications,
338-341. Overturned by Jackson,
342 ; iii. 352, 355.

Banking operations, ii. 335-349. Vi
cissitudes in America, 337-348.
Regulations, 348, 349.

Baptists, account of, iii. 84. Kin
dred sects, 85.

Barbary States, American transac
tions with, iii. 347.

Barlow, Joel, notice of his poetry,
iii. 134, 135.

Belcher, governor of Massachusetts,
i. 253, 254.

Bellamont, Lord, governor of Mas
sachusetts, i. 252. Of New York,
292.

Berkeley, Sir William, governor of
Virginia, i. 125, 133-138.

Biography, writers of, iii. 198, 199.

Birds, iii. 257-276.

Blackwell, governor of Pennsylvania,
i. 271.

Bladensburg, battle of, ii. 200, 201.

Boston, its foundation, i. 195. Tu
mults caused there by the Stamp-
Act, &c., 242, 243, 348-350. Port
closed, 356-359. Evacuated by the

370

INDEX.

British, 395. Trade of, ii. 377,
378. Description of, iii. 291,293.

Botany, iii. 223-256.

Boundaries of the United States,
i. 18.

Braddock, General, his expedition,
i. 324. Defeat, 325, 326.

Brainard, J. G. C., notice of his
poetry, iii. 154-156.

Brandy wine, battle of, ii. 31, 32.

Britain, origin and events of the
second war with, ii. 174-211. Re
strictions on neutrals and right of
search, 175, 1/6. Attack on the
Chesapeake, 177, 178. Negotia
tions, 176-179. Berlin decrees and
orders in council, 179, 180. Em
bargo law, 180. Madison presi
dent, ib. Various negotiations,
181-184. President determines on
war, 184, 185. Losses in Canada,
187. Success at sea, 188, 189. Va
rious operations in Canada, 191-
194. British fleet in the Chesa
peake, 195, 196. War with the
Creek Indians, 196-198. General
peace in Europe, 198. Landing
of General Ross, 199. Battle of
Bladensburg, 200, 201. Capture
of Washington, 201. Attempt on
Baltimore, 202, 203. Further
operations in Canada, 204, 205.
British expedition against New
Orleans, 205-208. Embarrass
ments of the American govern
ment, 209. Treaty of Ghent, 209-
211.

Brooklyn, battle of, ii. 17, 18. De
scription of the town, iii. 301, 302.

Brooks, Mrs, notice of her poetry,
iii. 180-182.

Brown, William Brockden, notice
of his writings, iii. 197, 198.

Brownists, account of this sect, i.
183. Emigration of to New Eng
land, 185. Settlement at New
Plymouth, 187-

Bryant, notice of his poetry, iii.
136-145.

Bunker's Hill, battle of, i. 380, 381.

Burgoyne, his expedition from Ca
nada, ii. 35-40. Surrender to Ge
neral Gates, 41.

Burke, Mr, his speeches in favour
of the colonists, i. 358, 361. His
plan of conciliation, 387-

Burnet, governor of Massachusetts,
i. 253. Of New York, 293, 294.

C.

Cabot, John, discovery of North
America by, i. 29.

Cabot, Sebastian, his voyage along
the coast, i. 29. Explores Hud
son's Bay, 30. Character of this
discoverer, ib.

Cambridge, description of, iii. 293.

Camden, battle of, ii. 82.

Canada, cession of to Britain, i. 330.
American expeditions against, 390,
391 ; ii. 187, 191-194, 204, 205.
Civil war in, iii. 360, 361.

Canals, ii. 313-326. Great Erie Ca
nal, 314-317. Others in New York,
317, 318. In Ohio and Indiana,
318-320. Pennsylvania, 320, 321.
Maryland, 321-324. New Jersey,
&c., 324, 325. Virginia, &c., 325,
326. New England, 326.

Cancello, a Dominican missionary,
attempts by him to convert the
Floridans, i. 65. Is put to death
by them, ib.

Carolinas, the, colonization of,i. 298-
310. Early settlements, 298. Li
beral grant by Charles II., 299.
Constitution framed by Shaftes-
bury and Locke, 300. Progress of
the settlements, 302, 303. Con
stitution annulled, 304. Spanish
invasion repulsed, 305. Indian
war, 305-307. Colony reverts to
the crown, 309. Separation of the
northern and southern portions,
ib. Topography, iii. 311-316.

Catlin, Mr, notice of his travels, iii.
200.

Catskill Mountains, iii. 295, 296.

Chalons, Captain, his voyage to New
England, i. 177.

Channing, Dr, notice of his writings,
iii. 196, 197.

Charleston (Carolina), its founda
tion, i. 303. Siege of, ii. 67, 68.
Trade, 379. Description of, iii. 315.

Charleston (Massachusetts), descrip
tion of, iii. 293.

Chatham, Lord, his speech against
taxing the colonists, i. 345. Op
position to Lord North's measures,
361, 369. Opposes the severance
of the colonies, ii. 43, 44.

Chrlst-ians, the, account of, iii. 85.

Cincinnati, description of, iii. 321.

Clarke , governor of New York, i. 294 .

Clason, Isaac, notice of his poetry,
iii. 170, 171.

Clay, Henry, notice of his oratory,
iii. 127-130.

Cleyborne, Captain, his settlementon
Kent Island, i. 150. Contests with
Lord Baltimore, 151, 152. Excites
an insurrection in Maryland, 157.
Named a commissioner to the co
lonies, 162.

Climate of the United States, i. 17.

INDEX.

371

Clinton, governor of New York, i.
294.

Clinton, General, conducts an ex
pedition against Charleston, i. 396.
Its repulse, 397. Attempts to aid
Burgoyne, ii. 40. Succeeds Howe,
51.— See History.

Coligni, Admiral, colonial enter
prises of, i. 7(1-73.

Colonies, British, not originally con
nected, i. 316. Contests with the
French, 317-330. Proposals for a
general union ineffectual, 322, 323.
View of their progress in popula
tion and wealth, 330-333. Dis
turbances caused by the Stamp-
Act, &c., 342-347. Commence
ment of the revolutionary war,
374. Declaration of Independence,
398-400.— See History.

Colonization Society, iii. 68. Its
objects, 75, 76.

Columbia district, topography of,
iii. 304-311.

Commerce, domestic, ii. 299-349.
Its great extent, 301), 301. Steam-
navigation, 302-313. Canals, 313-
326. Railways, 326-335. Bank
ing, 335-349.

Commerce, foreign, ii. 350-380. Im
mense agricultural exports, 350-
356. Timber, fish, manufactures,
&C., 356-359. Imports, 359, 360.
Trade with Britain, 360. France,
361. Other European countries,
361, 362. West Indies and South
America, 362-366. East Indies
and China, 366, 367. Shipping,
&c., 368-376. Seaports, 376-380.

Conant, Roger, settlement formed
at Cape Ann by, i. 192.

Congregationalists, account of, iii.
85, 86.

Congress, the first, meeting of, i.
341, 342.

Congress, general, meeting of, i. 367.
Resolutions adopted, 367, 368.
War resolved on, 376-378. De
clares the colonies independent,
398-400. Opens negotiations with
France , ii. 44. Alliance with that
power, 48. With Spain, 60.— See
History.

Congress, legislative, constitution
and functions of, ii. 223-227.

Connecticut, settlement of, i. 255-257.
Topography, iii. 284-294.

Constitution, political, view of, ii.
212-273. Functions of central go
vernment, 214-223. Of the states,
ib. Legislature, 223-227. Exe
cutive, 227-233. Judiciary, 233-
235. Actual working of the con
stitution, 235-258. State govern

ments, 258-260. Township and
county jurisdictions, 26U-262. Po
lice, 262-264. Finances, &c., 264-
271. Army and navy, 271-273.

Cooper, Mr, notice of his writings,
iii. 193-195.

Cornbury, Lord, governor of New
York, i. 292, 293.

Cornwallis, Lord. — See History.

Cosby, Colonel, governor of New
York, i. 294.

Cowpens, battle of, ii. 76.

Crantteld, Edward, governor of New
Hampshire, i. 262.

Cromwell, Oliver, ignorance of co
lonial affairs displayed by this
ruler, i. 164-171.

Culpepper, Lord, governor of Vir
ginia, i. 139, 140.

D.

Dana, Richard H., notice of his
poetry, iii. 148-150.

Davidson, Lucretia and Margaret,
notice of their poetry, iii. 186-191.

Declaration of Independence, i. 398-
400.

Delaware, Lord, governor of Vir
ginia, i. 106, 109.

Delaware river, iii. 297, 298.

Delaware state, topography of, iii.
304-311.

Democracy, its character and in
fluence, ii. 336-341.

Detroit, description of, iii. 322.

Doane, Dr, notice of his poetry, iii.
164, 165.

Drake, J. Rodman, notice of his
poetry, iii. 168.

Dudley, governor of Massachusetts,
i. 252.

Dutch, settlements formed by them
in New York, i. 282, 283.

Dwight, Dr, notice of his poetry,
iii. 135, 136.

E.

Effingham, Lord, governor of Vir
ginia, i. 140, 141.

Eliot, Mr, the Indian apostle, i.
245-247.

Elizabeth, maritime enterprise under
that princess, i. 79, 80.

Emigration to the United States, iii.
330-345. Early western settle
ments — Boone, 331. Henderson,
332. Acquisition of Ohio, 333.
Sales of land, 334-336. Imposi
tions practised, 337, 338. Settle
ment on improved farms, — com-

372

INDEX.

parison of different states, 338-340.
British America and the States,

340. Timbered land and prairie,

341. Modes of conveyance west
ward, 341-344. Employment for
operatives, 344, 345.

Episcopalians, account of, Hi. 86.

Erie Canal, account of, ii. 314-317.

Essayists, iii. 195-197.

Eutaw, battle of, ii. 85.

Everett, Edward, notice of his ora
tory, iii. J20-123.

Executive government, character of,
ii. 227-233. Its political influence.
241-244.

F.

Fayette, Marquis de la, embraces
the cause of the Americans, ii. 89.
— See History.

Fendal, Josiah, governor of Mary
land, i. 171-174.

Finances, &c., ii. 264-271.

Fishery, ii. 296-298. Cod, 296, 297.
Mackerel, &c., 297- Whale, 298.

Fishes, iii. 279-282.

Fletcher, Colonel, governor of New

York, i. 291, 292.

' Florida, discovery of by Ponce de
Leon, i. 33. Narvaez attempts its
conquest, 36. Sufferings and disas
trous fate of his expedition, 37-45.
Similar attempt by Soto, 48-63.
Its unsuccessful result, 65. Settle
ment formed by the French Hugue
nots under Laudonniere, 71. Cruel
massacre- of the settlers by the
Spaniards, 75. Dreadful retalia
tion by De Ciourgues, 77- Topo
graphy of this region, iii. 311-316.
Cession of by Spain, 348, 349.

Forests, i. 25.

Francis I. sends out an expedition to
North America under Verazzano,
i. 66.

Franklin, Benjamin, proposes a
scheme for uniting the colonies, i.
322, 323. Mission to London,
340, 353, 354. Draws up a plan
of conciliation, 372. Appointed
commissioner from congress to
France, ii. 47.

French, their expeditions to North
America, i. 66-78. Francis I., 66.
Expedition under Verazzano, 66-
68. His fate, 69. Admiral Coligni,
70. He sends out Ribault, ib.
Colonists return, 71- Settlement
formed by Laudonniere, 71-73.
Massacre of the settlers by the
Spaniards, 73-76. Retaliation by
De Gourgues, 76-78.

French, their claims on the western
territory, i. 319. Contests with the
British colonies, 317-330. Assist
ance granted to the Americans,
ii. 45. Treaty of alliance with
them, 48. — See History.

Fulton, Robert, his efforts to pro
mote steam navigation, ii. 303-307-

Fur trade, ii. 284.

G.

Gage, General, governor of Massa
chusetts, i. 362-365, 373-375, 380,
393.— See History.

Gallagher, William D., notice of
his poetry, iii. 174, 175.

Gates, General, his operations
against Burgoyne, ii. 38-40. Cap
tures the British force, 41. — See
History.

Genet, French ambassador, his
violent proceedings, ii. 149-153.

Geology, iii. 201-223.

George, Lake, i. 22.

Georgia, settlement of, i. 310-315.
Exertions of General Oglethorpe,
311, 312. Wesley and Whitetield,
313. Spanisli war, 314. Becomes
a royal colony, 315. Topography,
iii. 311-316.

Gomez, Stephen, discovers New
York and part of New England, i.
35.

Gorges, Sir Ferdinand, settlements
in New Hampshire and Maine
formed by, i. 260.

Gorton, religious disturbances raised
by him in New England, i. 218-
220.

Gosnold, Bartholomew, his voyago
along the coast of New England, i.
88, 89.

Gould, Hannah F., notice of her
poetry, iii. 185, 186.

Gourgues, Dominique de, revenges
the massacre of his countrymen by
the Spaniards, i. 76-78.

Greene, General. — See History.

Grenville, Sir Richard, conducts
Raleigh's second expedition to
Virginia, i. 82.

Grenville, George, his plan of taxing
America, i. 388, 389. His defence
of the measure, 344.

Guildford, battle of, ii. 79, 80.

H.

Hall, Mrs, notice of her poetry, iii.
182-184.

Halleck, Fitz-Greene, notice of his
poetry, iii. 152-154.

Hamilton, Colonel, appointed secre
tary of the treasury under Wash-

INDEX. 373

ington, ii. 128. His financial plans,
130-133. His death, 171 .

Harrison, General, president, iii.
362, 363.

Harvey, John, governor of Virginia,
i. 125.

Henry, Patrick, his speech in the
Virginian assembly against the
Stamp-Act, i. 341. Account of
his oratory, iii. 112-117.

Hillhouse, James A., notice of his
poetry, iii. 168, 169.

Historians, iii. 197, 198.

History — from the commencement
of the Revolution to the Declara
tion of Independence, i. 334-400.
Authorities consulted, 334-336.
Secret discontents, 337. Plan of
taxing America, — Stamp- Act, 339-
341. First Congress, 341, 342.
Tumults in the colonies, 342-344.
Marquis of Rockingham minister,
344. Concessions, 345. Tran
quillity restored, 346. Charles
Townshend, 347. New taxes im
posed, ib. Fresh troubles, 347-
350. Non-importation agreement,
350. Lord North minister, 351.
Repeal of taxes, 352. Movements
in America, 353-355. Duty on
Tea, 355. Violent proceedings at
Boston, 356, 357- Indignation of
ministers, 357. Port closed, 357-
359. Alteration of the charters,
&c., 359-361. Opposition by Burke,
Chatham, and others, 361, 302.
Extreme discontent in the colonies,
362-367. Meeting of general con
gress 367- Its proceedings, 367,
368. Debates in Parliament, 368-
370. Coercive measures, 370, 371.
Arming in Massachusetts, 373.
Battle of Lexington, 374, 375.
Warlike operations, 3/5, 376.
Addresses by Congress, 3/7.
Washington commander-in-chief,
378. Battle of Bunker's Hill, 380,
381. Hostile movements in Vir
ginia and the other colonies, 381-

383. State of Washington's army,

384. Proceedings in Parliament,
385-388. Treaties with German
princes, 389. American expedition
into Canada, 390, 391. Difficulties
of Washington, 391-393. Gage
succeeded by Howe, 393. Boston
evacuated, 395. Washington
marches to New York, 396. Ex
pedition against Charleston, 396-
398. Declaration of Independence,
398-400.

History — to thealliance with France,
ii. 9-48. General causes of the
rupture,— state of parties, 9-14.

Washington's preparations, 14-16.
Landing of Howe, 16. Battle of
Brooklyn, 17, 18. British enter
New York, 19. Retreat of the
Americans, 22. Howe occupies
New Jersey, 22-24. Advantages
gained by Washington, 24, 25.
Charges against the British army
unfounded, 26-29. Plans of new-
campaign, 29, 30. Movements of
Howe, 30. His landing in the
Chesapeake, 31. Battle of Brandy-
wine, 31, 32. British in Phila
delphia, 32. Battle of German-
town, 33. Washington at Valley-
forge, 34. Views and prospects of
the British commander, 34, 35.
Expedition of Hurgoyne, 35. First
success, 36. Difficulties, 37. Battle
of Bennington, &c., 38. Clinton's
expedition from New York, 40.
Burgoyne's surrender, 40, 41.
Effects of the intelligence in Eng
land, 41-43. Speech of Lord
Chatham, 43, 44. Negotiations of
America with France, 44. Aid
received from her, 45. Treaty of
alliance, 47, 48.

History — to the peace in 1783, ii. 49-
113. War between Britain and
France, 49, 50. Distresses of
Washington, 50, 51. British com
missioners to treat for peace, 51.
Their reception, 52, 53. Evacua
tion of Philadelphia, 53. Repulse
of the Americans, 54. French
naval operations, 54, 55. Ad
vantages gained by the British, 55.
Indian war in the west, 56. Plans
of campaign, 57. Distress of the
Americans, 58-60. Spain joins
their cause, 60. Naval and mili
tary operations, 61-64. Defeat of
Lincoln-, 65. Siege of Savannah
raised, 66, 67. Siege of Charles
ton — surrender, 67, 68. British,
overrun South Carolina, 69. De
feat of Gates and death of Fergu
son, 70-74. Cornwallis retreats,
74. Greene succeeds Gates, 75.
Battle of Cowpens, 76. Retreat
of the Americans, 77, 78. They
return, 78. Battle of Guildford,
79, 80. Cornwallis retires to
Wilmington, 80. Greene invades
South Carolina, 81. Cornwallis
marches into Virginia, ib. Battle
of Camden, 82. Successes of the
American parties, 83. Repulsed
at Ninety-six, 84. Rawdon falls
back, ib. Battle of Eutaw, 85.
Causes of British failure, 86, 87.
Operations near New York, 87-89.
Expedition sent from France, 89,

374

INDEX.

90. Adventures of Arnold, 90-92.
Treacherous desertion, 93, 94.
Death of Andr6, 94, 95. Financial
difficulties of congress, 95, 96.
Junction of French and American
armies, 97. Successes of Corn-
wallis in Virginia, 97, 98. Wash
ington marches thither, 1 00. Naval
operations in the Chesapeake, ib.
Plans of Clinton and Cornwallis,
101, 102. The latter besieged in
York, 102, 103. Surrenders, 104.
Clinton's attempts to relieve him,
104, 105. War with Holland, &c.,
106. Change of the British min
istry, 108. Ambassadors meet at
Paris, 108-111. Discussions, 111.
Treaty with America, 112. With
France and Spain, 113.

History — the new Constitution and
proceedings under it, ii. 114-173.
Exhaustion of the government,
114, 115. Troubles in the army,
115-117. Its dissolution, 117. Dis
turbances throughout the Union,
118, 119. Meeting of deputies at
Annapolis, 120. General meeting
at Philadelphia, ib. Plan and
deliberations on a newconstitution,
121,122. Finally sanctioned, 123.
Washington president, 123-127.
The cabinet, 128, 129. Financial
plans, 130-133. Washington re-
elected, 134. Disputes and war
with the Indians, 135-142. Dis
turbances in Pennsylvania, 142-
144. Negotiations with England,
144-146. With Spain, 146-148.
Revolution in France, 148. Pro
ceedings of Genet, her ambassador,
149-153. Treaty with Britain,
154, 155. Close of Washington's
presidency, 158. Adams succeeds,
159. Mission to France of Monroe,
ib. Of Pinkney, 160. Hostile
preparations, 161-163. Accom
modation, 164. Jefferson presi
dent, 166. Purchase of Louisiana,
167-169. Expedition to Tripoli,
169-171. Daring enterprise of
Burr, 171-173.— See Britain.

History — Concluding sketch, iii. 346-
366. State after the war, 347.
Transactions with the Barbary
States, ib. Monroe president, 348.
Cession of Florida by Spain, 348,
349. Question of slavery in Mis
souri, 349. South American re
publics acknowledged, 350. Tariff
of 1824, ib. Adams president, ib.
Tariff of 1828, 351. Jackson
president , ib. Veto on the national
bank, 352. North-west Indian
war, 352, 353. Carolina resists

the tariff, 353, 354. Measures
against the bank, 355. Removal
of the Indians— Seminole war,
355-358. Van Buren president,
359. Great financial embarrass
ments, 359, 360. Civil war in
Canada — disturbances on the fron
tier, 360, 361. Boundary question,
361-364. Harrison president, 362.
Tyler, 363. Disturbances in
Rhode Island, 364, 365. Repudia
tion, 365. Oregon question, 366.

Hoffman, Charles Fenno, notice of
his poetry, iii. 171-173.

Howe, General, receives the com
mand of the British forces in
America, i. 393.— See History.
Resigns the command, ii. 51.

Hudson River, i. 23. Discovered by
the navigator of that name, 281.
Description of, iii. 297-

Hudson, Henry, account of his
voyages, i. 279-281.

Hunter, Sir Robert, governor of
New York, i. 293.

Hutchinson, Mrs, her religious views,
i. 210. Banishment from Massa
chusetts, and death, 216.

I.

Illinois, topography of, iii. 316-322.

Indiana, topography of, iii. 316-322.

Indians, their contests with the early
Spanish adventurers in Florida,
i. 36-65. First intercourse with
the English in Virginia, 81-88.
Adventures of Captain Smith, 93-
105. Princess Pocahontas, 110-112.
Dreadful massacre of the settlers,
119-121. War with the Maryland
colonists, 147, 148. Contests with
the New Engenders, 239-244. Ef
forts for their conversion — Eliot,
244-247- Penn's treaty with them,
268. War with the Dutch settlers
in New York, 284. With the
English in Carolina, 305-307.
Treaties with General Oglethorpe
in Georgia, 312. Their employ
ment by the British — murder of
Miss Macrea, ii. 37. Contests
with the United States, 56, 135-
142 ; iii. 352, 353. Their removal
beyond the western frontier— Se
minole war, 355-358.

Iowa, topography of, iii. 316-322.

Irving, Washington, notice of hia
writings, iii. 196.

J.

Jackson, General, his defence of
New Orleans, ii. 205-208. His
presidency, iii. 351-359.

INDEX.

375

James River, iii. 307-

Jamestown, its foundation, i. 94.

Jefferson, Mr, appointed foreign
secretary under Washington, ii.
129. Elected president, 166. Re-
elected, 171. Retires, 180.

Johnson, William, his campaign
against the French, i. 326, 327-

Judiciary, its character and func
tions, ii. 233-235.

Kentucky,topographyof,iii.322-329.
Kieft, Dutch governor of New Ne
therlands, i. 284.

Lane, Ralph, first governor of Vir
ginia, i. 82.

Laudonniere, Rene, founds a French
settlement in Florida, i. 71- Mas
sacre of the settlers by the Spa
niards, 75.

Leisler, Jacob, governor of New
York, i. 290. His trial and exe
cution, 291.

Leon, Juan Ponce de, his early ad
ventures, i. 32. Discovers Florida,
33. Unsuccessful attempt to plant
a colony, ib.

Lexington, battle of, i. 374, 375.
Description of the town, iii. 328.

Literature, iii. 98-200. Obstacles to
its progress, 99-105. State before
the Revolution, 105. Decline, 106.
Gradual revival and progress, 106,
107. Orators, 108-130. Poets,
130-193. Romance and novel-
writers, 193-195. Essayists, 195-
197. Historians, 197, 198. Bio
graphers, 198, 199. Travellers,
199, 200. Statistics, 200.

Locke, constitution for Carolina
formed by, i. 300.

Longfellow, H. W., notice of his
poetry, iii. 160-162.

Louisiana, purchase of, ii. 167-169.
Topography of, iii. 322-329.

Louisville, description of, iii. 328.

Lovelace, Lord, governor of New
York, i. 293.

Lowell, description of, iii. 293.

Lunt, George, notice of his poetry,
iii. 169, 170.

Lutherans, account of, iii. 87.

M.
Madison, Mr, president, ii. 180, 191.

Maine, settlement of, i. 191 , 260-262.

Topography, iii. 284-294.
Manners and social life, iii. 9-51.
Effects of colonial settlement, 10,
11. Religion, philanthropy, &c.,
13, 14. National failings, 14-26.
Good temper, 26. Strong liquors-
temperance societies, 27-29. Equa
lity, 29-31. Ladies, 31-35. Enter
tainments, accommodations, &c.,
35-39. Labouring class, 39-41.
Differences throughout the Union,
41. NewEnglanders,42. Southern
planters, 43. Emigrants to the
west, 44-49. Society of Washing
ton, 49, 50.

Manufactures, ii. 291-296. Efforts
to promote them, 292. Obstacles,
.293. Female operatives, 294.
Successful branches, 294, 295.

Maryland, colonization of, i. 144-175.
Patent by Charles I. to Lord
Baltimore, 145. Roman Catholic
colony founded, 148. Indian war,
ib. Internal administration, 149-
157- Popular insurrection, 157.
Assembly divided into two houses,
158. Influx of Protestants from
Virginia, 159. Parliamentary com
mission sent out, 162. Govern
ment changed, 163, 164. Arbi
trary proceedings of the Protes
tants, 166. Civil war, 168-170.
Lord Baltimore's government re
stored, 172. Revolution transfers
it to the crown, 175. Again con
ferred on the family by George I. ,
ib. Topography of the state, iii.
304-311.

Mason, John, settlements in New
Hampshire and Maine formed bv,
i. 260.

Massachusetts, its colonization by
the Puritans, i. 185-195. Consti
tution and laws framed by them,
198-201. Religious dissensions,
202-216, 218-228. Effects of the
Restoration, 228-234. Constitu
tion subverted, 235. Changes at
the English Revolution, 238. In
dian wars, 239-243. Delusion re
specting witchcraft, 247-252. Suc
cessive governors, 252-255. Takes
the lead in the Revolution, 373-
376. Topography, iii. 284-294.

Mellen, Grenville, notice of his
poetry, iii. 162, 163.

Menendez, Pedro, employed by
Philip II. to extirpate the'Hugue-
not settlement in Florida, i. 73.
Founds St Augustine, ib. Dread
ful massacre perpetrated by him,
75. Retaliated by DeGourgues, 77.

Methodists, account of, iii. 83, 84.

INDEX.

Michigan, topography of, iii. 316-322.
Mines, ii. 284-291. Gold, 285, 286.

Iron, 286, 287. Load, &c., 287,

288. Coal, 288, 290. Salt, &c.,

290, 291.
Mississippi river, i. 24, 26, 62 ; iii.

324, 325.
Mississippi state, topography of, iii.

322-329.

Missouri river, i. 26 ; iii. 324, 325.
Jlissouri state, topography of, iii.

322-329. Question of slavery in ,349.
Monroe, Mr, president, iii. 348-350.
Montcalm, his successes against the

British, i. 327, 328.
Mormonites, account of, iii. 91.

N.

Narvaez, Pamphilo de, obtains com
mand of an expedition to Florida,
i. 35. Takes possession of the
country, 36. Contests with the
natives, 37, 38. Disastrous issue
of the expedition, 39-46.

Natchez, description of, iii. 328.

Natural History, iii. 201-282. Ge
ology, 201-223. Botany, 223-256.
Zoology, 256-282.

Navy, ii. 273.

Neal, John, notice of his writings,
iii. 163, 164.

New England, settlement of, i. 176-
262. Company formed for its co
lonization, 91, 176. Various ex
peditions sent out, 177-180. Ar
rival of the Brownists, 185-190.
Other settlers, 191. Immigrations
of the Puritans, 193-196. Con
federation of the colonies, 216.
Wars with the Indians, 239-244.
Efforts for their conversion, 244-
247- Topography of this region,
iii. 284-294.

New Hampshire, settlement of, i.
191, 260-262. Topography, iii.
284-294.

New Jersey, settlement of, i. 294-297.
Territory granted to Lords Ber
keley and Carteret, 295. Consti
tution of the colony, ib. Sold to
the Quakers, 296, 297. Becomes
a royal colony, 297- Topography,
iii. 2^4-304.

New Orleans, unsuccessful attack on
by the British, ii. 205-208. Trade
of, 379, 380. Description of, iii.
327.

New York, settlement of this state,
i. 279-294. Discovery by Hudson,
280, 281. Settlements by the
Dutch, 282, 283. By the Swedes,
283-285. Indian war, 284. Pro

sperity of the colony, 285. Cap
tured by the English, 287. lie-
conquered, but again ceded, 288.
Government under the Duke of
York (James II.), 288, 289. Ef
fects of the English revolution,
290. Successive governors, 291-
294. Topography, iii. 294-304.

New York city, first called New
Amsterdam, foundation of, i. 283.
Trade of, ii. 376, 377. Description
of, iii. 299-301.

Newport, Captain, receives the na
val command of Virginia Com
pany's first expedition, i. 93. His
subsequent career, 96-104.

Nichols, Sir Robert, capture of New
Amsterdam by, i. 287.

Nicholson, Colonel, governor of Vir
ginia, i. 142.

North, Lord, his character, i. 351.
Attempts to conciliate the colo
nists, 352. Imposes a duty on tea,
355. Adopts coercive measures,
369-371, 388, 389. Conciliatory
proposals, ii. 42, 43. — See History.
His resignation, 108.

Novel and romance writers, iii.
193-195.

O.

Oglethorpe, General, settlement of

Georgia by, i. 311,312.
Ohio River, i. 24 ; iii. 318.
Ohio state, topography of, iii. 316-

322. Acquisition of, 333.
Operatives, employment and wages

of, iii. 344, 345.
Orators, iii. 108-130.
Oregon territory, question regarding

the, iii. 366.
Osborne, Sir Danvers, governor of

New York, i. 294.
Otis,noticeof his oratory.iii. 109-112.
Ozark Mountains, description of,

iii. 203.

P.

Peabody, Mr. notice of his poetry,
iii. 165.

Penn, William, his character, i. 263-
265. Procures a charter for Penn
sylvania from Charles II., 266. Ef
forts for its colonization, 267-277-
His death, 277.

Pennsylvania, settlement of, i. 263-
278. Liberal constitution framed
by Penn, 266, 267- Large immigra
tion of Quakers, 267- Treaty with
the Indians, 268. Boundary dis
putes with Lord Baltimore, 269,

INDEX.

377

271. Internal dissensions, 271-273.
Consequences of the English Re
volution, 273, 274. Quakers lose
their influence in the colony, 278.
Topography, iii. 294-304.
Penobscot, Bay of, visited by Wey-

mouth, i. 90.
Percival, James G., notice of his

poetry, iii. 145-148.
Philadelphia, its foundation, i. 269.
Trade of, ii. 378. Description of,
iii. 302, 303.
Pierpont, John, notice of his poetry,

iii. 156, 157.

Pike, Albert, notice of his poetry,
iii. 165-167.

Pinkney, Edward C., notice of his
poetry, iii. 176, 177-

Piracy, its prevalence on the Ame
rican coast at the beginning of the
eighteenth century, i. 308, 309.

Pitt, Mr.— See Chatham, Lord.

Pittsburg, description of, iii. 304.

Plymouth Company, its formation,
i. 91, 92. Colonial expeditions to
New England, 176-179. Obtain a
new patent, 180. Subsequent
transactions, 190, 191.

Plymouth, New, its foundation, i. 1 87.

Pocahontas, an Indian princess, her
humane conduct, i. 99, 100. Mar
ries Mr Rolfe, and visits England,
111. Her death, 112.

Poets, iii. 130-193.

Police, ii. 262-264.

Popham, Captain, his voyage to
New England, i. 177, 178.

Port Royal, settlement attempted
here by the French, i. 70.

Potomac River, iii. 306, 307.

Pownall, governor of Massachusetts,
i. 254.

Prentice, George D., notice of his
poetry, iii. 165-167-

Presbyterians, account of, iii. 85.

Prescot, Mr, notice of his writings, !
iii. 198.

President, his functions, &c., ii. |
227-233. His political influence,
241-244.

Pring, Martin, account of his voy
age, i. 90.

Puritans, their rise in England, i. 182.
Persecutions, 191, 192. A large
number emigrate to New England,
193-196. Their character, 198.

Gradual improvement in their
character, 263. Settlement in
Pennsylvania, 268-278. Present
state of the body, iii. 87-
Quebec, capture of by Wolfe, i. 329.

R.

Railways, ii. 326-335. In New Eng-

Q.

Quakers, their appearance in New
England, i. 222. Their extrava
gances, 224, 225. Severe pro
ceedings against them, 226-228.

VOL. III.

land, 328, 329. New York, 329,
330. Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
and Maryland, 331,332. Virginia,
Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama,
332-334. Western states, 334, 335.

Raleigh, Sir Walter, undertakes to
found a colony in North America,
i. 80. First expedition under
Amadis and Barlow, 81. Second
expedition under Sir Richard
Grenville, 82. First settlement in
Virginia, ib. Its failure, 85. New
settlement under White, ib. Its
fate, 88.

Rappites, account of, iii. 90, 91.

Rawdon, Lord. — See History.

Religion, iii. 78-97. Its influence in
the settlement of the colonies, 78,

79. Voluntary system, 79. Re
spect for religion in New England,

80, 81. In the south, 81. De
ficiency in the west, 81-83. Statis
tics of the different sects, 83-91.
Bible and missionary societies,
&c., 91-95. Revivals and camp-
meetings, 95, 96. General result,
96, 97.

Representatives, house of, its consti
tution, ii. 224, 225.

Reptiles, iii. 276-279.

Revolution , history of. — See History.

Rhode Island, settlement of, i. 209,
257-260. General religious tolera
tion adopted, 258. Topography,
iii. 284-294. Recent disturbances
in, 364, 365.

Ribault, John, expedition sent put
under him by Admiral Coligni, i.
70. Founds a settlement at Port
Royal, ib. Its failure, 71- Super
sedes Laudonniere in command of
settlement in Florida, 73. Settlers
massacred by the Spaniards, 75.

Rice, introduction of into Carolina,
i. 309.

Richmond, description of, iii. 310,

311.

\ Rivers of the United States, i. 22-29.
Robinson, Dr, notice of his travels,

iii. 200.
Rockingham, Marquis of, his ad

ministration, i. 334.
Roman Catholics, account of, iii.

86, 87.

2A

378

INDEX.

Romance and novel writers, iii. 193-
195.

Salem, its foundation, i. 194. De

scription of, iii. 293.
Sands, Robert C., notice of his

poetry, iii. 167, 168.
Savannah, siege of, ii. 66, 67. De
scription of, iii. 315.
Seaports, ii. 376-380.
Sedgwick, Miss, notice of her writings

iii. 195.

Serninole war, the, iii. 355-358.
Senate, its constitution, ii. 223-227.
Shaftesbury, Earl of, constitution

for Carolina formed by, i. 3dO.
Shakers, account of, iii. 89, 90.
Shirley, governor of Massachusetts,

i. 254.

Shute, Colonel, governor of Massa
chusetts, i. 253.
Sigourney, Mrs, notice of her poetry,

iii. 179, 180.
Simms, William G , notice of his

poetry, iii. 177, ]/«•
Slavery, iii. 52-77- Its condition
and extent, 52-54. Treatment of
the negroes, 55-59. Inter) al slave-
trade, 59-63. Modes of conveyance,
63, 64. Treatment in the new
states, 64, 65. Situation of free
people of colour, 65-67- Early
abolition measures, 67, 68. Anti-
slavery society, its efforts, 68-71.
Opposition, 71-75. Prospects of
the cause, 76, 77.
Sloughter, Colonel, governor of New

York, i. 291.

Smith, Captain John, settles in Vir
ginia, i. 93. Obtains the manage
ment of the colony, 97- Is captured
by the Indians, 98. His preserva
tion, 99. Explores the Chesapeake,
101, 102. Returns to England, 107.
His character, ib. Efforts to colo
nize New England, 160-170.
Sothel, Seth, governor of Carolina,

i. 301-303.

Soto, Fernando de, appointed ade-
lantndo of Florida, i. 47. Attempts
its conquest, 48. Travels into the
interior of the continent, and con
tests with the natives, 48-59.
Marches westward, and crosses the
Mississippi, 61, 62. Returns, 63.
His death, ib. Fate of the ex
pedition, 65.

Spaniards, theirexpeditions to North
America, i. 31-65. Discovery of
Florida by Ponce tie Leon, 33.
Other expeditions, 33-35. Nar-
vaez attempts its conquest 35.

Contests with the natives, 36-40.
His fate, 40. Adventures of
Alvaro, and journey overland
to Mexico, 40-46. Expedition
under Soto, 46-48. Various con
flicts, 48-55. Enters Georgia, 55.
Reaches the gold country of Caro
lina, 56. Returns to the coast,
58. Battle of Mauvila, 59, 60.
Travels westward and crosses the
Mississippi, 61-63. Return and
death , 63. Issue of the expedition ,
64, 65. Cancello, 65.

Spaniards, invasion of Carolina
by the, 303. Of Georgia, 314.
Alliance with the Americans and
rupture with Britain, ii. 60.— See
History.

Sprague, Charles, notice of his
poetry, iii. 150-152.

St Louis, description of, iii. 329.

Stamp-Act, the, i. 339-341. Re
pealed, 345.

Statistics, works'on, iii. 200.

Steam-navigation, ii. 3(12-313. Its
rise— Fitch, Stevens, Fulton, 302-

304. Extension over the west,.

305, 306. Present extent, 308.
Accidents, &c., 3(19-313.

Stephens, Mr, notice of his travels,
iii. 200.

Stone, Captain, governor of Mary
land, i. 160-170.

Street, Alfred B., notice of his
poetry, iii. 173, 174.

Stuyvesant, Dutch governor of
New Netherlands, i. 284-287-

Susquehanna river, iii. 297-

Swedes, settlements formed by them
in New York, i. 283-285.

T.

"arleton, Colonel, exploits of, ii.
72-76.— See History.

Temperance societies, account of,
iii. 27-29.

Tennessee, topography of, iii. 322-329.

Tobacco, first cultivated in Virginia.
114.

Tomochichi, chief of the Creek
ulians, i. 312. Visits Britain, ib.

Topographical survey, iii. 283-329.
New England states, 284-2.94.
New York, Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, 294-304. Virginia, Mary
land, Columbia, Delaware, 304-
311. Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
Florida, 311-316. Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan, &c., 316-322.
Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi,
Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas,
322-329.

INDEX.

379

Townshencl, Charles, his plan of

taxing America, i. 347.
Travellers, iii. 199, 200.
Tripoli, Americanexpeditionagainst,

ii. 169-171.
Tyler, Mr, president, iii. 363-366.

TT.

Unitarians, account of, iii. 87, 88.
Universalists, account of, iii. 88.

Van Buren, Mr, president, iii. 359'
362.

Vane, Henry, governor of Massa
chusetts, i. 211.

Verazzano, Giovanni, conducts a
French expedition to North Ame
rica, i. 66. Sails along the coast,
66-68. Returns to France, 68.
His mysterious fate, 69.

Vermont, topography of, iii. 284-294.

Virginia, colonization of, i. 79-143.
Expeditions sent out by Raleigh,
80-88. First permanent settlement
at Jamestown, 94. Its early diffi
culties and progress, 95-1 12. Cul
ture of tob.icco introduced, 114.
Representative constitution fram
ed, 117. Colony largely reinforced,
119. Dreadful massacre by the
Indians, 120. State and progress
of the colony, 127-130. Govern
ment under the Long Parliament,
130-13-i. After the restoration,
134. Bacon's rebellion, 135-138.
Various governors, 139-143. Topo
graphy, iii. 304-311.

Virginia Company, its formation, i.
91, 92. Founds a settlement at
Jamestown, 94. Obtains a new
charter, and sends out re^rce-
ments, 106-119. Charter forfeited,
123.

Washington, George, commands an
expedition to the French posts in
the west, i. 320. His first cam
paign, 321, 32-2. Acts as aide-de
camp to Bracldock, 324-326. Ap
pointed commander of the conti
nental forces, 3/8.— See History.

Resigns his commission, ii. 118.

Is elected first president of the

republic, 123-127- Re-elected, 134.

His retirement, 158. His death,

164, 165.
Washington (city), capture of by

the British, ii. 201. Society of,

iii. 49, 50. Description of, iii.

308, 309.
Washington, Mount, description of,

iii. 288.
Webster, Mr, notice of his oratory,

iii. 124-127-
Welby, Amelia B., notice of her

poetry, iii. 184, 185.
Wesley, John and Charles, accept

livings in Georgia, i. 313. Leave

the colony, ib.
Weymouth, George, account of his

voyage, i. 90, 91.
Wheeling, description of, iii. 311.
White, John, appointed governor of

Virginia by Raleigh, i. 85. His

culpable conduct, 88.
Whitetield, his visit to Georgia, i.

313.
Whittier, John G., notice of his

poetry, iii. 171.
Wilcox, Charles, notice of his poetry,

iii. 158-160.
Williams, Roger, his religious views.

i. 205-208. Founds the colony of

Rhode Island, 209, 217, 257-260.
Willis, N. P., notice of his poetry,

iii. 157, 158.
Wilmington (Delaware), description

of, iii. 311.

Winthrop, Mr, governor of Massa
chusetts, i. 212-217.
Wisconsin, topography of, iii. 316-

322.
Witchcraft, delusions respecting, in

Massachusetts, i. 247-252.

Y.

York, Duke of, territory granted to
him by Charles II., i. 287- Ob
tains possession of and gives name
to New York, 288.

Z,

Zoology, iii. 256-282. Birds, 257-276.
Reptiles, 2/6-279. Fishes, 279-
282.

THE END.

Printed by Oliver and Boyd,
Tweeddale Court, High Street, Edinburgh.

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