CHAPTER XXVII.

_Journey from Cincinnati to Detroit—Macadamized road—Lebanon—Passengers—Agricultural Notices—Pawpaws—Cider making—Hotels of the United States—Customs of the Country—Columbus—Details to Sandusky—Mr Hamilton on the Prospects of the Union—Sandusky—Cider making—Perrysburg—Mamee—Ohio—Michigan._

At two o’clock next morning, I was seated in a stage-coach, on my way to Canada, through the state of Ohio, and no less than two hours were spent in calling and waiting on different passengers, before getting out of Cincinnati. I was delighted to find Mr Gemble amongst the number who intended to have gone up the Ohio to Wheeling, by steam, but learning the water was too low to admit of vessels sailing with certainty, he was induced to proceed by land. When day dawned, we were passing through an undulating country, over an excellent macadamized road, newly formed by a company, in the most complete manner, to the distance of twelve miles. There was a toll-bar on the road, which is to be extended to Springfield, in the state of Ohio, and there communicate with what is called the National road. We passed through the village of Lebanon, the parent seat in this country of the religious sect of Shakers. The village is of considerable size, and the bar-room of the hotel was filled with a set of drunkards, which I had not seen any thing resembling since leaving Canada. Xenia, in Green County, is a neat place, and we reached Springfield after dusk.

Next morning we left Springfield at three o’clock with the same stage party that had come from Cincinnati the day before. When light appeared, the ground was thickly covered with hoar-frost, and ice was seen in several places. This was on the 12th October, in 40 degrees of latitude. Ten miles from Springfield the stage had to wait half an hour for a change of horses, the driver being in bed when we arrived. Here one of the passengers, a lady travelling with her husband, complained of being sick and cold. A cup of coffee was suggested to her. The hostess of the tavern, a very old woman, boiled water and prepared coffee with incredible despatch. I know not whether the beverage was good, but it was agreeable to see the old creature moving about like a girl in her teens, and manifesting anxiety to please her guests. The lady was from Baltimore, and had resided several months in the west, on account of her health. She had a most delicate appearance, a sylph-like form, regular features, and a lively manner. Notwithstanding the coldness of the weather, and her delicate state of health, she was dressed in silk stockings, and it was with reluctance she consented to draw a pair of worsted ones over her shoes, which her husband purchased for her. Like many of her countrywomen, she had feet and ankles of exquisite formation, and perhaps in the display of this gift of nature, she made a sacrifice of her health.

We reached Columbus in time for dinner, where I remained for the night, the stage proceeding on with the party for Wheeling. I found myself pleasantly situated with the passengers from Cincinnati, who conversed sensibly on a variety of subjects, and made themselves agreeable to each other. On leaving Columbus, each of them came up, and bade me farewell. In particular, I regretted parting with Mr Gemble, whose moral worth and unobstrusive manners pleased me the more I was in his company.

The country from Cincinnati to Springfield, Ohio, was chiefly a good clay of a yellow colour. The surface undulating, and in some places picturesque. The farm-houses were of large size, and generally brick. The soil was dry, and where seen, in making the road, six feet deep, of yellow coloured clay. There were no furrows in the fields, and wheat was above ground, and well sown. Herds of cattle and flocks of sheep were seen browsing on pastures as verdant as if in spring. Numbers of handsome hogs were fattening, in enclosures of worm fence, on Indian corn, without straw to lie on. Hogs are generally fatted in the open air in America, and whether kept in enclosures or small pens I never saw one of them have straw, and they make their beds in mud or sand. The waggons seen moving towards Cincinnati were in charge of men who rode on the shaft-horse, whether the vehicle was drawn by two or more horses. The country for twenty miles east of Springfield is level, rather wet, and not so fertile as that from Cincinnati. After passing this distance, there are many small prairies, most of which are wet and uncultivated. This tract is thinly settled, the soil, clay of a dark colour, and inferior to the yellow tinged clay. The bottoms of the Scioto are fine rich soil.

After dining at Columbus, I strolled into the woods north of the village in search of the pawpaw fruit, which I had heard much extolled by some of my fellow-travellers. This plant grows plentifully as underwood on most of the rich soils in this part of the country. I found the fruit growing on slender trees or shrubs fifteen or twenty feet high; it resembles, in size, shape, and colour, the jargonelle pear of Britain. I found them variable in quality, and the best might rank with a third-rate pear of Scotland. The forests were now clothed in the splendour of autumn, and the richness and variety of their tints was of the most pleasing description. The oak, maple, beech, and dogwood, seemed to vie in brilliancy, and I often observed many leaves on the same lateral branch, exhibiting every shade from vivid green to the darkest purple.

I found so much to interest me in the productions of the forest and its feathered inhabitants, that my walk was insensibly prolonged, till at length the declining sun reminded me of the necessity of returning to Columbus. On emerging from the forest, I observed people engaged in making cider, and walked towards them to enquire my way, having lost the direction of the city, by wandering in the woods. The apples were collected into an immense heap, from which two men were engaged in carrying them to a mill, consisting of vertical cylinders, turned by the power of two oxen, which reduced the fruit to a pulp. A shovel was used in removing the pulp, which, by means of straw and wattles, was piled above a receptacle for the juice, and pressed by a powerful screw. The people engaged in cider-making, asked me to partake of the expressed juice, and to fill my pockets with the choicest fruit. I learned from them cider was very plentiful this season, and did not pay much more than the expense of making, being delivered at Columbus for 75 cents per barrel of 32 gallons. Some forest land, of medium quality, in the neighbourhood, had lately been sold by public sale at $2½ and $2¾ per acre. Wheat at the present time was worth 50 cents, and Indian corn 20 cents per bushel.

I found my distance from Columbus was five miles, and supper was over before I reached the National hotel. On stating to the bar-keeper I had been detained in the woods, he ordered me fresh tea; and although I mentioned to him it was not my practice to eat meat in the evening, a newly broiled fowl was placed before me, and a variety of preserves. Next morning, after the usual preparatory bell had tolled for breakfast, the landlord called me personally, stating, that as I was a stranger in the country, and might not be aware of its customs, the breakfast would be on the table in ten minutes. The waiters were all white people, smart in their calling, and attentive to guests.

I found the hotels gradually improve on leaving Springfield, Illinois, and many of those in the state of Ohio appeared to be every thing a reasonable person could wish, with the exception of the want of single-bedded rooms. Water was always placed for washing without being asked for, and a bell communicated with each room. The waiters and helps of the States are said to dislike being summoned by the sound of a bell, and many travellers have assigned this as a reason for the want of bells. But such a feeling in all probability never existed, as the guests of every hotel are first warned, and afterwards summoned to each meal, by sound of bell, and it is preposterous to say waiters are averse to the like call. Meals are served at fixed hours, when all the company sit down together. In good establishments, the principal joints at dinner are carved by the landlord and waiters, often at side tables, and the company seldom assist in the office. Abundance of iced water is on the table during summer, occasionally cider, and very rarely brandy. Wine may be had for payment. The company leave the banqueting room when the meal is over, and do not gain admittance until summoned. A number of smart attentive waiters skip about the room, and often anticipate your wants. They are generally addressed in a whisper, and in all the eastern states of the Union a loud tone is never heard at table. The conduct of some people in Britain, who command attention by oaths and noise, does not suit this region of America, where the mild and unassuming are never neglected. A friend of mine, on his first entrance to the public tables of New York, spoke to the waiters in the strains he had unfortunately accustomed himself to in Britain; they pretended not to hear him, and he found difficulty in getting his plate changed; while his companions, by adopting a different course, had the waiters pressing them to the principal dishes on the side-table, and paying the most assiduous attention. Civility is at all times duly appreciated by the establishment of hotels, and foreigners will find much annoyance in attempting to dispense with it. The morning and evening meals are served with the same regularity, and ample attendance, as the dinner, &c. A profusion of animal food is placed on the table, and the quantity increases in proportion to want of refinement in the people of the district. Boots and shoes are deposited at night in a fixed place, where they are found cleaned in the morning. Slippers, and bedroom lights, are obtained at the bar. As a general rule, wants are stated at the bar, and from this place orders are given to servants for supplying them. All the bells of the house communicate with the bar-room, and the bar-keeper sees that the call of a bell is attended to. Throughout the whole of my intercourse with hotels in the United States, I did not receive an uncivil answer, or experience neglect from any one connected with the establishment, and every request which I made was cheerfully complied with. The landlords are much less fawning in manner than those of Britain, but equally civil and anxious to oblige.

The hotels of America are such as might be expected from the state of the country. Servants being particularly expensive, and difficult to be had, is the cause for having fixed hours for meals, and one table for the company as well as for most orders passing through the bar-keeper. Were another system adopted, a greater number of servants would be necessary, and there would be more difficulty in obtaining them. The plain and meagre furnishing of the hotels may also be traced to expensiveness of servants, and so also may the number of people which frequent them. The furniture of the bedrooms, consisting of a bedstead, without posts or curtains, and counterpane of small size, washing-stand, and solitary chair, seemed to me admirably fitted for promoting a circulation of air, which was the greatest luxury during the season I was in the country, and I doubt much if bedroom furnishings will be more ample in summer, when the wealth of the population becomes greater than it now is.

The circulation of air, in connexion with shade from the sun-rays, will account for the use of the calash as a head-dress for females, so generally met with in the States of New England, and which I imagine to be the most agreeable summer wear that can be devised. On the same grounds may be justified the New England gigs with hoods, having an aperture behind; thus the customs of a country will generally be found to have originated from circumstances connected with it, and to be well suited to the inhabitants.

Columbus is the capital of the state of Ohio, and beautifully situated on the east bank of the river Scioto. The public buildings are extensive and good. The village having been founded in 1812, the buildings, which are chiefly of brick, are well arranged. The state prison is a new and substantial stone-building. The population is about 3000. A lateral branch of the Ohio and Erie canal communicates with Columbus.

Next morning, after breakfast, I left Columbus for Sandusky city, formerly called Portland, on Lake Erie, passing through Delaware, Marion, and Bucyrus. The first part of the road lay on the banks of the Whetstone, a small river with very little bottom land. The country was thinly settled; and the soil second rate. The night was passed in a very bad hotel at Marion, and by three o’clock in the morning I was again in the stage. When day dawned, the stage was passing through a country between oak-opening and prairie, seemingly wet and unsettled. A good deal of forest was also passed through, thinly peopled. I reached Sandusky a little after nightfall.

The stage was nearly empty all the way from Columbus to Sandusky. A young joiner travelled from Columbus to Marion. Two striplings rode a mile or two near the village of Caroline, who were rude swearing fellows, and smelling strongly of onions and whisky.

The hotel at Sandusky was small and crowded with passengers. I found myself ushered into a small bedroom, with two individuals, with a bed for each. One of the persons rose in the middle of the night, smoked tobacco, and made himself as disagreeable as possible. The other opened the window to admit air to purify the sty. This was the only unpleasant circumstance that occurred to me from sleeping in apartments with others, and sufficiently illustrates how disagreeable the practice may occasionally become.

Sandusky city is a small village on Lake Erie, containing perhaps five or six hundred souls, and has a considerable trade. There is plenty of stone in the immediate neighbourhood, and some of the buildings are of this material. I found the price of beef at Sandusky was from three to five cents per lb., and hind quarters of mutton four cents. Wheat was 75 cents per bushel.

It was my intention to have proceeded from Sandusky to Detroit by one of the steam-boats passing up Lake Erie, but tempestuous gales of wind a day or two before my arrival, having totally wrecked one vessel and disabled another, I was detained two days in suspense. I could not go far from the hotel during this period, lest a steamer should pass in the interval; and my time was in part occupied in reading Mr Hamilton’s beautifully written work of “Men and Manners in America.”

In the early part of my tour, I remarked that, without sound judgment to discriminate and appreciate information, the gleanings and impressions of a traveller will be as apt to mislead as instruct, and his lucubrations will often be found more illustrative of his own character than of the people and country he visits. When penning this sentence, I had not another individual in view than the one treated of, and it is, perhaps, fraught with more truth than may at first sight appear. The wielders of the pen and pencil seem to be fond of portraying their own likeness, and the narrative of most travellers will be found stamped with their character. Truth ought to be the first object with every writer of travels, and is perhaps, like beauty, “when unadorned, adorned the most,” and wherever it is lost sight of, the highest endowments may become prostituted in misleading others. It must, however, be admitted, that the best intentioned writer may become the dupe of appearances, resulting, perhaps, from his own feelings and prejudices. There are also some writers who aim at producing an effect on their readers unconnected with the subject treated of, and in such cases a traveller’s narrative frequently becomes absolute fiction. I shall not say in which class of travels “Men and Manners in America” may be ranked, or whether parts of the work appertain to different classes; but I do not hesitate in saying, that the author’s conclusions did not always appear to me to be just or consistent with sentiments expressed in other parts of the work. This seemed to be particularly the case in some speciously written paragraphs on the political prospects of the Union, which many of the people in Britain, who read the work, did not perhaps observe.

“In that city (New York) a separation is rapidly taking place between the different orders of society. The operative classes have already formed themselves into a society, under the name of ‘_The Workies_,’ in direct opposition to those who, more favoured by nature or fortune, enjoy the luxuries of life without the necessity of manual labour. These people make no secret of their demands, which, to do them justice, are few and emphatic. They are published in the newspapers, and may be read on half the walls of New York. Their first postulate is ‘EQUAL AND UNIVERSAL EDUCATION.’ It is false, they say, to maintain that there is at present no privileged order, no practical aristocracy, in a country where distinctions of education are permitted. That portion of the population whom the necessity of manual labour cuts off from the opportunity of enlarged acquirement, is in fact excluded from all the valuable offices of state. As matters are now ordered in the United States, these are distributed exclusively among one small class of the community, while those who constitute the real strength of the country, have barely a voice in the distribution of those loaves and fishes, which they are not permitted to enjoy. There does exist, then, they argue, an aristocracy of the most odious kind,—an aristocracy of knowledge, education, and refinement, which is inconsistent with the true democratic principle of absolute equality. They pledge themselves, therefore, to exert every effort, mental and physical, for the abolition of this flagrant injustice. They proclaim it to the world as a nuisance which must be abated, before the freedom of an American be something more than a mere empty boast. They solemnly declare that they will not rest satisfied, till every citizen in the United States shall receive the same degree of education, and start fair in the competition for the honours and the offices of the state. As it is of course impossible—and these men know it to be so—to educate the labouring classes to the standard of the richer, it is their professed object to reduce the latter to the same mental condition with the former; to prohibit all supererogatory knowledge; to have a maximum of acquirement, beyond which it shall be punishable to go.

“But those who limit their views to the mental degradation of their country, are in fact the MODERATES of the party. There are others who still go farther, and boldly advocate the introduction of an AGRARIAN LAW, and a periodical division of property. These unquestionably constitute the _extreme gauche_ of the Worky Parliament, but still they only follow out the principles of their violent neighbours, and eloquently dilate on the justice and propriety of every individual being equally supplied with food and clothing; on the monstrous iniquity of one man riding in his carriage, while another walks on foot, and, after his drive, discussing a bottle of Champagne, while many of his neighbours are shamefully compelled to be content with the pure element. Only equalize property, they say, and neither would drink Champagne or water, but both would have brandy, a consummation worthy of centuries of struggle to attain.

“All this is nonsense, undoubtedly, nor do I say that this party, though strong in New York, is yet so numerous or so widely diffused as to create immediate alarm. In the elections, however, for the civic offices of the city, their influence is strongly felt; and there can be no doubt, that as population becomes more dense, and the supply of labour shall equal, or exceed the demand for it, the strength of this party must be enormously augmented. Their ranks will always be recruited by the needy, the idle, and the profligate; and, like a rolling snow-ball, it will gather strength and volume as it proceeds, until at length it comes thundering with the force and desolation of an avalanche.

“This event may be distant, but it is not the less certain on that account. It is nothing to say, that the immense extent of fertile territory yet to be occupied by an unborn population, will delay the day of ruin. It will delay, but it cannot prevent it. The traveller, at the source of the Mississippi, in the very heart of the American continent, may predict with perfect certainty, that, however protracted the wanderings of the rivulet at his feet, it must reach the ocean at last. In proportion as the nearer lands are occupied, it is very evident that the region to which emigration will be directed must of necessity be more distant. The pressure of population, therefore, will augment in the Atlantic States, and the motives to removal become gradually weaker. Indeed, at the present rate of extension, the circle of occupied territory must, before many generations, be so enormously enlarged, that emigration will be confined wholly to the Western States. Then, and not till then, will come the trial of the American constitution; and until that trial has been past, it is mere nonsense to appeal to its stability.

“Nor is this period of trial apparently very distant. At the present ratio of increase, the population of the United States doubles itself in about twenty-four years; so that in half a century it will amount to about fifty millions, of which ten millions will be slaves, or, at all events, a degraded caste, cut off from all the rights and privileges of citizenship. Before this period, it is very certain that the pressure of the population, on the means of subsistence, especially in the Atlantic States, will be very great. The price of labour will have fallen, while that of the necessaries of life must be prodigiously increased. The poorer and more suffering class will want the means of emigrating to a distant region of unoccupied territory. Poverty and misery will be abroad; the great majority of the people will be without property of any kind, except the thewes and sinews with which God has endowed them; they will choose legislators under the immediate pressure of privation; and if in such circumstances, any man can anticipate security of property, his conclusion must be founded, I suspect, rather on the wishes of a sanguine temperament, than on any rational calculation of probabilities.

“It is the present policy of the government to encourage and stimulate the premature growth of a manufacturing population. In this it will not be successful, but no man can contemplate the vast internal resources of the United States,—the varied productions of their soil—the unparalleled extent of river communication—the inexhaustible stores of coal and iron spread even on the surface—and doubt that the Americans are destined to become a great manufacturing nation. Whenever increase of population shall have reduced the price of labour to a par with that of other countries, these advantages will come into full play; the United States will then meet England on fair terms in every market of the world, and, in many branches of industry at least, will attain an unquestioned superiority. Huge manufacturing cities will spring up in various quarters of the Union, the population will congregate in masses, and all the vices incident to such a condition of society will attain speedy maturity. Millions of men will depend for subsistence on the demand for a particular manufacture, and yet this demand will of necessity be liable to perpetual fluctuation. When the pendulum vibrates in one direction, there will be an influx of wealth and prosperity; when it vibrates in the other, misery, discontent, and turbulence will spread through the land. A change of fashion, a war, the glut of a foreign market, a thousand unforeseen and inevitable accidents are liable to produce this, and deprive multitudes of bread, who but a month before were enjoying all the comforts of life. Let it be remembered, that in the suffering class will be practicably deposited the whole political power of the state; that there can be no military force to maintain civil order and protect property; and to what quarter, I should be glad to know, is the rich to look for security, either of person or fortune?

“There will be no occasion, however, for convulsion or violence. The _Worky_ convention will only have to choose representatives of their own principles, in order to accomplish a general system of spoliation, in the most legal and constitutional manner. It is not even necessary that a majority of the Federal legislature should concur in this. It is competent to the government of each state to dispose of the property within their own limits as they think proper, and whenever a _numerical_ majority of the people shall be in favour of an Agrarian law, there exists no counteracting influence to prevent, or even retard its adoption.

“I have had the advantage of conversing with many of the most eminent Americans of the Union, on the future prospects of their country, and I certainly remember none who did not admit that a period of trial, such as I have ventured to describe, is, according to all human calculation, inevitable. Many of them reckoned much on education as a means of safety, and, unquestionably, in a country where the mere power of breathing carries with it the right of suffrage, the diffusion of sound knowledge is always essential to the public security. It unfortunately happens, however, that in proportion as poverty increases, not only the means but the desire of instruction are necessarily diminished. The man whose whole energies are required for the supply of his bodily wants, has neither time nor inclination to concern himself about his mental deficiencies, and the result of human experience does not warrant us in reckoning on the restraint of individual cupidity, where no obstacle exists to its gratification, by any deliberate calculation of its consequences on society. There can be no doubt, that if men could be made wise enough to act on an enlarged and enlightened view of their own interest, government might be dispensed with altogether; but what statesman would legislate on the probability of such a condition of society, or rely on it as a means of future safety?

“The general answer, however, is, that the state of things I have ventured to describe, is very distant. ‘It is enough,’ they say, ‘for each generation to look to itself, and we leave it to our descendants some centuries hence to take care of their interests as we do ours. We enjoy all manner of freedom and security under our present constitution, and really feel very little concern about the evils which may afflict our posterity.’ I cannot help believing, however, that the period of trial is somewhat less distant than such reasoners comfort themselves by imagining; but if the question be conceded that democracy necessarily leads to anarchy and spoliation, it does not seem that the mere length of road travelled over is a point of much importance. This, of course, would vary according to the peculiar circumstances of every country in which the experiment might be tried. In England, the journey would be performed with railway velocity. In the United States, with the advantages they possess, it may continue a generation or two longer, but the termination is the same. The doubt regards time, not destination.

“At present the United States are perhaps more safe from revolutionary contention than any country in the world. But this safety consists in one circumstance alone. _The great majority of the people are possessed of property_; have what is called a stake in the hedge; and are, therefore, by interest, opposed to all measures that may tend to its insecurity. It is for such a condition of society that the present constitution was framed; and could this great bulwark of prudent government be rendered as permanent as it is effective, there could be no assignable limit to the prosperity of a people so favoured. But truth is undeniable, that as population increases, another state of things must necessarily arise, and one, unfortunately, never dreamt of in the philosophy of American legislators. The majority of the people will then consist of men without property of any kind, subject to the immediate pressure of want, and then will be decided the great struggle between property and numbers; on the one side hunger, rapacity, and physical power; reason, justice, and helplessness on the other. The weapons of this fearful contest are already forged; the hands will soon be born that are to wield them. At all events, let no man appeal to the stability of the American government as being established by experience, till this trial has been overpast. Forty years are no time to test the permanence, or, if I may so speak, the vitality of a constitution, the immediate advantages of which are strongly felt, and the evils latent and comparatively remote.”

On re-perusing the quoted paragraphs, the love of champagne and brandy was conspicuous in the second one, and the whole of them seemed like a maudlin dream, in which truth and probability were altogether wanting, told in strains admirably fitted to delight the ear and obscure the understanding of the reader. To me, who had made an extensive tour in the territory of the United States, and from all I had seen personally, and learned from the best sources of information, concluded that nine-tenths of the surface are still unemployed in the production of human sustenance, the idea of an agrarian law was ludicrous in the extreme. Whether there is such a society as “_The Workies_,” and my after enquiries while at New York rendered the point doubtful, did not seem to affect the matter, as the only legitimate inference that could reasonably be deduced from the sentiments which Mr Hamilton has imputed to its members, is, that America does not exempt humanity from aberrations of mind. This seems to be admitted in the third paragraph, where it is stated, “all this is undoubtedly nonsense,” yet the dream which is confessedly founded on man’s infirmity, has been received by a portion of the British public as infallible wisdom. The quotations being founded on “nonsense,” do not admit of criticism. An ordinary mind, however, cannot fail of observing that in almost every paragraph, the author raises up and demolishes a fantasy, and turns from one position to another, like fevered excitement tossing on an uneasy couch.

The following quotations from “Men and Manners in America” are of a different tenor from the preceding ones. “It is the fashion to call the United States the land of liberty and equality. If the equality be understood simply as implying that there exists no privileged order in America, the assertion, though not strictly true,[2] may pass. In any wider acceptation, it is mere nonsense. There is quite as much practical equality in Liverpool as New York. The magnates of the Exchange do not stand less proudly in the latter city than in the former; nor are their wives and daughters less forward in supporting their pretensions. In such matters legislative enactments can do nothing. Man’s vanity, and the desire of distinction, inherent in his nature, cannot be repressed. If obstructed in one outlet, it will only gush forth with greater vehemence at another. The most contemptible of mankind has some talent of mind or body—some attraction—virtue—accomplishment—dexterity—or gift of fortune—in short, something real or imaginary, on which he arrogates superiority to those around him. The rich man looks down upon the poor, the learned on the ignorant, the orator on him unblessed with the gift of tongues, and he that is a true-born gentleman, and stands upon the honour of his birth, despises the _roturier_ whose talents have raised him to an estimation in society, perhaps superior to his own.

Footnote 2:

“Not strictly true, because in many of the states the right of suffrage is made dependent on a certain qualification in property. In Virginia, in particular, this qualification is very high.”

“Thus it is with the men, and with the fairer sex assuredly it is not different. No woman, conscious of attraction, was ever a republican in her heart. Beauty is essentially despotic—it uniformly asserts its power, and never yet consented to a surrender of privilege. I have certainly heard it maintained in the United States, that all men are equal, but never did I hear that assertion from the lips of a lady. On the contrary, the latter is always conscious of the full extent of her claims of preference to admiration, and is never satisfied till she feels them to be acknowledged. And what zephyr is too light to fill the gossamer sails of woman’s vanity! The form of a feature, the whiteness of a hand, the shade of a ringlet, a cap, a feather, a trinket, a smile, a motion—all, or any of them, or distinctions yet finer and more shadowy, if such there be—are enough, here as elsewhere, to constitute the sign and shibboleth of her fantastic supremacy. It is in vain, therefore, to talk of female republicans; there exists, and can exist, no such being on either side of the Atlantic, for human nature is the same on both.

“In truth, the spirit of aristocracy displays itself in this commercial community in every variety of form. One encounters it at every turn.”

It must be evident to every person who has visited the United States, that wealth has already obtained a prominent place in many parts of the country. That there are distinctions and classes in society, will not admit of doubt; and from the constitution of human nature, it cannot be otherwise in a civilized and numerous population. The wealthy, the wise, the proud, the profligate, the virtuous, and the vicious, will associate with people of the same character, in despite of every means that could be devised for their separation; and it is perhaps well for society that such is the case. The vain and frivolous are harmless creatures. The proud man may puff himself into bigness, like the frog in the fable imitating the ox, and assume the emblems of luxury and pomp with impunity. The form of aristocracy meets the eye in all the social relations of life. There is no such thing as equality in the abstract sense of the term, with the political privileges of the inhabitants, the right of franchise varying in different States, and a qualification being requisite in all of them.

_Liberty and equality_, as understood in Britain, is not to be found amongst the inhabitants of the United States. The people must obey the laws, which impartially affect the whole population, except in the case of suffrage; a privileged class by inheritance, creation, wealth, or purchase, being unknown. The laws are founded on the principles of freedom, and the mass of the population may be said to be politically equal. Here liberty and equality of the United States is applicable only to the political condition of the inhabitants, and in this relation must be taken in a restricted sense.

Aristocracy seems inseparable from civilized society, and an individual, by attending to the communings of his own heart, will perhaps be convinced that its spirit pervades the life veins of humanity. In almost every quarter of the globe, it has at some period attained strength, and from the earliest ages, the earth has been watered with the blood of the best and bravest of mankind, in attempts to check the workings of its spirit. The form of aristocracy is already raised in the United States, and many of the citizens, when conversing with me on the institutions and inhabitants of their country, strongly displayed a feeling of aristocracy. If there is latent danger to the constitution of the Union, in the present state of things, it is from the seeds of aristocracy.

Human nature is said to be the same on both sides of the Atlantic, and the population of the United States and Britain having sprung from a common source, and inheriting the same natural dispositions, the growth of aristocracy in the former might be inferred from the experience of the latter, provided all the circumstances affecting the inhabitants were similar. But history does not furnish a parallel to the United States, and the experience of past ages, and analogies of other countries, are inapplicable to them.

The United States were first settled by people seeking relief from religious persecution, who, in the neighbourhood of Boston, worshipped the Author of the Universe according to their conscience, which liberty had been denied them in England. It may, perhaps, not be going too far to suppose the finger of Providence pointed the way to the pilgrims, since which, many of the persecuted of the human race have found a sanctuary in the same territory. When the conduct of the mother-country goaded the colonies to rebellion, they shook off her yoke at an enlightened period of the world, with the history of past ages before their eyes, and almost without an obstacle to adopt the advantages, and shun the evils recorded. The career of the States is evidence of the judicious proceedings of the inhabitants, and the many privileges which they enjoy can only be lost by their own corrupt and sinful venality.

The United States having risen and struggled into existence in opposition to despotic power, a dislike of tyranny, and love of liberty, pervades the inhabitants, and the institutions of the country are calculated to nurture and retain such feelings. The unexampled and growing prosperity of the country—the recent progression in the governments of almost all European states, and more particularly in Britain—the mother-country—will, doubtless, tend to strengthen the principles on which the Union has been formed. But human nature often departs from principle, and there cannot be a doubt that aristocracy, which is already deep-rooted and flourishing amongst the people, will, when aided by wealth and luxury, and their inseparable evils, destroy the Union. The whole history of mankind warrants such a conclusion. The event is certain, but many circumstances lead me to suppose it is yet distant, such as the want of entail laws, the extensive franchise, and the probability of institutions altering with the progress of the people. In the meantime, they have a constitution, “the immediate advantages of which are strongly felt, and the evils latent, and comparatively remote.”[3]

Footnote 3:

Men and Manners in America.

Seeing no prospect of a steam-boat calling at Sandusky, I hired a horse in the afternoon of the second day, and rode to the village of Lime, where I obtained a seat in the mail-stage for Detroit.

Arriving at Lime some time before the stage, I walked a short distance to some people engaged in making cider. The fruit was not crushed, as in other instances seen in the country, but grated by a revolving cylinder, which seemed to be an improved mode of extracting the juice. The grating apparatus had been manufactured at Rochester, the other parts of the machine were erected on the day of my visit by a person in the village; and it is scarcely possible to conceive any thing more rudely and ill-constructed than they were. On admiring the beauty of the fruit, which was brought forward in waggon loads, Mr Russel, the owner of the orchard from which they came, offered me grafts of any kinds I chose to fix on. When he learned I was a foreigner on a tour through the country, he asked me to look at the orchard, and conducted me to it. He raised the trees from seed, and had planted 450 fourteen years ago, twenty-four feet asunder, and the branches now interlope. Many of the kinds bore delicious fruit, which was generally small in size, from the numbers on the tree, and many branches were broken with the weight of fruit. There seemed a demand for Mr Russel’s cider, which he sold at $1 per barrel, of thirty-two gallons, when newly expressed, and he was unable to satisfy some applications which were made in my presence. The orchards are numerous in all parts of America, and most of the trees having been raised from seed, it is probable many excellent varieties may be met with deserving of propagation.

From the village of Lime, which is situated on a ridge, by which name it is sometimes known, a beautiful prairie is seen, and which I believe is entirely settled. The soil appeared somewhat wet, which ditching would easily remedy, but this practice seemed altogether disregarded.

Soon after leaving Lime, light disappeared, and I was allowed to remain three or four hours in a most uncomfortable hotel at Lower Sandusky, situated on a river of the same name. When morning dawned, I was travelling through a thickly-wooded country, and over a road, on the surface of which lime rock was protruding in the manner of honey-comb. The coach in which I rode being of a particular construction, the roughness of the road rendered the journey disagreeable. My progress was like a funeral procession, thirty-one miles occupying twelve hours. The jolting of American stages, and more especially when passing over one or two logs lying across the road, is truly annoying, and sometimes dangerous, from contusions which maybe received, but I had never experienced any thing like the motion on the present occasion. For the first time since reaching the American shore, I was slightly afflicted with headach, and felt the sensation of fatigue.

I breakfasted at a log-house on the banks of the river Portage, where I was struck with the florid complexion and robust figure of a young man employed in cutting pork into small pieces at the door, and which a girl, apparently his sister, was salting and packing into a vessel. On approaching him, I discovered he did not understand the English language, but one of the inmates of the house acting as interpreter, he told me he was from Hanover, and on his way to settle in Michigan.

I passed through the village of Perrysburg, situated on the south bank of the river Mamee, which flows into the south-west point of Lake Erie, and is navigable to the village. It is a thriving place, and when the canal, now forming, which is to connect the waters of the Wabash and Mamee is completed, it will soon become a place of importance.

On the opposite side of the river, and a little higher up than Perrysburg, is the village of Mamee, consisting of fifteen or twenty houses, where I dined, and arrived at Munroe in the evening. Next day I reached Detroit, and travelled part of the way with an overgrown man, who wore a blue cotton frock-coat above his clothes, and a pair of double-barrelled guns over his shoulders. He spoke the English language imperfectly, and stated he was from Saxony, and had just settled in Michigan. His family was at Detroit, and he expected ten thousand of his countrymen to join him next season.

The soil from Lower Sandusky, on the road by Perrysburg to Michigan boundary, is not of first-rate quality, though good. The surface is level, and thinly settled. Throughout the whole of my travels in the state of Ohio, the country was chiefly forest, and seemingly not more than one-sixth of the surface cleared of wood. Perhaps the other lines of road were still more thinly settled. The state contains above one million of souls.

The part of Michigan seen in passing from Mamee to Detroit is thickly wooded, wet, and very thinly settled. There is no part of the United States which disappointed me so much as Michigan. Having passed through its whole breadth from Detroit to Niles, and along the shores of Lake Erie, and the banks of the river Detroit, I met with more indifferent soil in these routes, than in all the other Western States put together. There may be much good soil in Michigan, which did not come under my notice, but I am quite satisfied its eligibility for settlers has been greatly overrated. An inhabitant of New England, who may have resided all his life on poor soil, thickly covered with forest, can hardly fail of being pleased with seeing the timbered land and oak-openings of Michigan, while the small and beautiful prairies will impart ecstasy, and it is, perhaps, to the accounts of such people that the territory is indebted for its celebrity. Michigan, compared with the New England States, is rich, and a desirable place of settlement, but in all respects inferior to districts laying to the south and west.