Part 1
Early Western Travels
1748-1846
A Series of Annotated Reprints of some of the best and rarest contemporary volumes of travel, descriptive of the Aborigines and Social and Economic Conditions in the Middle and Far West, during the Period of Early American Settlement
Edited with Notes, Introductions, Index, etc., by
Reuben Gold Thwaites, LL.D.
Editor of “The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents,” “Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition,” “Hennepin’s New Discovery,” etc.
Volume IX
Flint’s Letters from America, 1818-1820
[Illustration]
Cleveland, Ohio
The Arthur H. Clark Company
1904
COPYRIGHT 1904, BY THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The Lakeside Press R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY CHICAGO
CONTENTS OF VOLUME IX
PREFACE. _The Editor_ 9
LETTERS FROM AMERICA, containing Observations on the Climate and Agriculture of the Western States, the Manners of the People, the Prospects of Emigrants, &c., &c. _James Flint_
Dedication 19 Author’s Table of Contents 21 Text 25
ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME IX
Facsimile of original title-page 17
Wooden fence (text cut) 40
Horse rake (text cut) 41
Buck saw (text cut) 61
Cradle scythe (text cut) 125
Island in the Ohio (text cut) 159
Typical township map (text cut) 177
Typical subdivision of a township (text cut) 178
PREFACE TO VOLUME IX
Had all the travellers from Great Britain who visited America during the early decades of the nineteenth century been of so discriminating a temperament as the Scotchman whose work we republish as volume ix of our series, Americans might have lacked that sensitiveness that arose from unjust and flippant portrayal and criticism of American manners.
James Flint was of a good family, had been carefully educated, and possessed a sound and just judgment, with capacity for philosophic insight. Coming to the United States to observe conditions, he depicts them with candor and good will. While confessing favorable preconceptions, due to a personal liking for democratic institutions, our author does not omit the shadows in his pictures; but he presents them with such dispassionate fairness that the sting of criticism is removed.
Flint was particularly interested in the Middle West. Therefore, after a brief sojourn in New York and Philadelphia, where he commented judiciously on all that made for the higher life of these two young cities, he followed the great Western thoroughfare which crossed Pennsylvania to Pittsburg, then the gateway of trans-Allegheny America. Here he purchased a skiff and floated down the Ohio, occasionally landing to make visits and observations; from Portsmouth he proceeded on a circuit through Ohio and Kentucky, settling at length at the falls of Ohio, in the Indiana town of Jeffersonville.
A resident at this place for several months, his investigation of Western conditions assumed a new phase. No longer the passing traveller, noting the novelties and peculiarities of the people, Flint began a systematic observation of American institutions in general, and particularly the political, social, and economic life of the Middle West. In his succinct but comprehensive study of the national constitution and local state governments, he anticipates De Tocqueville and Bryce. His comments upon the judicial system show an appreciation of the stern necessities of primitive justice, coupled with the law-abiding spirit characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race. His notes upon the power of public opinion as a restraining force in political life, and upon the universal veneration for the constitution, show that he discovered the fundamental principles underlying American political life. His comprehension of the historical development of the West is remarkable for keen insight and prophetic vision. He realized what the acquisition of Louisiana had meant in dispelling the dangers of a Western secession from the republic; and showed that the true interests of the West allied her with Eastern markets.
Looming large on the horizon, Flint discerned the second factor which was to rend American life. The discussion of the Missouri Compromise had scarce begun, but already he saw that the nation could not always exist half-slave and half-free. He saw also that the long border line forming a kind of moral boundary, was the crucial difficulty, and that the acute stage in the controversy would be reached over the question of fugitive slaves. To the present generation these seem self-evident truths; but few Americans and fewer foreigners had the keenness to perceive this before 1820. Flint, however, unlike many Englishmen of his day, was no radical condemner of slavery; he appreciated its patriarchal features and its real benefits for the negroes. He also saw that the masters suffered more deterioration by the system than the slaves; that the responsibility for the system rested not upon present, but historic conditions; and that wholesale denunciation was not only unjust, but useless.
In addition to his comments on this great social question, Flint throws much light on general conditions in the young West. He studies the spectacular drama of the camp-meeting revival not only from the point of picturesqueness, but of educational and religious development. He realizes the need of the people for education, but appreciates the provisions made therefor in public lands. Throughout the West he finds the saving remnant--people of culture and refinement, who welcome strangers with hospitality, and are laboring to erect a worthy civilization in this newest community. The social equality everywhere evident among whites pleases him, and he remarks not unkindly upon the general dislike for personal service that characterizes the ambitious West. His satire on the excess of the honorary titles of “major,” “colonel,” and “judge,” as well as upon the readiness with which the “land of liberty” is vociferously proclaimed, is gentle and kindly.
But all these features of Flint’s work are secondary to his economic study. Not only did he prove himself a wise and trained observer, but he was a scientific economist, and had come to the United States for research material. At each stage of his travels he sets forth the ratio between prices and wages, explains the industrial aspects, and the prospects for emigrants. Already, he tells us, nearly all the best land of Kentucky and Ohio is taken up. Settlement is flooding Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, where cheap lands are yet available. He shows the sanitary disadvantages of this newer, more reeking soil, as against the possibilities it offers to the emigrant to secure the profits of his own industry. With keen indignation he condemns the unsound banking system of the West, deprecates the booming of town sites, and the “log-rolling” in state legislatures. But in the face of criticism, and as though eager to forestall unfavorable judgments, he contrasts American conditions with those of Great Britain, with no undue favor for the latter, reminding his English readers that here are no boroughs to monopolize business interests, no clergymen to control education, no nobility to exact special privileges. “I have never heard of any parson who acts as Justice of the Peace, or who intermixes his addresses to _the Great Object of Religious Worship_, with the eulogy of the Holy Alliance.... The farming interest has no monopoly against manufacturing: nor has the manufacturing any positive prohibition against the farmer.” Free industry is the dominating factor of American life, the keystone of its prosperity.
In short, we have in Flint’s _Letters_ a remarkable study of American life in the beginning of its new era, at the close of the second war with England. Charitable, comprehending, thoughtful, he does not slur over national faults nor unduly praise local virtues. Dangers, both financial and political, are pointed out; but the basic principles of American society are distinctly and clearly laid bare, and the progress and possibilities of the New West revealed.
In the present reprint, the original edition, published in Edinburgh in 1822, has been followed; save that the Addenda given in the latter (pp. 303-330), have been omitted, as being composed of material of small present importance:
1. Two letters from a Jeffersonville (Indiana) lawyer dated Dec. 20, 1820, and Aug. 1, 1821, commenting satirically upon the wildcat currency of that day.
2. Three other letters, by various persons, giving an account of material progress in Indiana.
3. “The American Tariff, with alterations and additions.”
In the preparation of this volume for the press, the Editor has had the assistance of Louise Phelps Kellogg, Ph.D., Edith Kathryn Lyle, Ph.D., and Mr. Archer Butler Hulbert.
R. G. T.
MADISON, WIS., October, 1904.
FLINT’S LETTERS FROM AMERICA--1818-1820
Reprint of the original edition: Edinburgh, 1822
[Illustration:
LETTERS
FROM
AMERICA,
CONTAINING
OBSERVATIONS ON THE CLIMATE AND AGRICULTURE OF THE WESTERN STATES, THE MANNERS OF THE PEOPLE, THE PROSPECTS OF EMIGRANTS, &c. &c.
BY JAMES FLINT.
“From the disorders that disfigure the annals of the Republics of Greece and Italy, the advocates of despotism have drawn arguments, not only against the forms of republican government, but against the very principles of civil liberty. They have decried all free governments as inconsistent with the order of society, and have indulged themselves in malicious exultation over its friends and partizans. Happily for mankind, stupendous fabrics reared on the basis of liberty, which have flourished for ages, have, in a few glorious instances, refuted their gloomy sophisms. And, I trust, America will be the broad and solid foundation of other edifices not less magnificent, which will be equally permanent monuments of their error.”--_General Alexander Hamilton._
EDINBURGH:
PRINTED FOR W. & C. TAIT, PRINCE’S STREET;
AND LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN,
LONDON.
1822.
]
TO
JAMES STUART, ESQUIRE
YOUNGER OF DUNEARN
THE
FOLLOWING SHEETS
ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED
BY
THE AUTHOR
CONTENTS
LETTER I
Voyage from Greenock to New York--Circumstances of Passengers--Arrival, &c. 25
LETTER II
Observations on New York--Removal to Long Island--Miscellaneous Remarks--Return to New York--Farther Observations on the City 30
LETTER III
Journey from New York to Philadelphia--Observations on Philadelphia--Institutions--Manufactures--People 48
LETTER IV
Journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburg--Remarks on the Country--Notices of Emigrants, and occurrences by the way 64
LETTER V
Pittsburg--Situation--Manufactures--Occurrences--People 82
LETTER VI
Descend the Ohio from Pittsburg to Beaver--Occurrences and Remarks there 89
{vi} LETTER VII
Descend the Ohio from Beaver to Portsmouth--Occurrences and Remarks Interspersed 100
LETTER VIII
Leave Portsmouth--Digression on Economical Travelling--Chillicothe--Progress of a Scotch Family--Game--Trees and Shrubs--Rolled Pieces of Primitive Rocks--Implements--Antiquities--Organic Remains--Missouri and Illinois--Paper Currency 114
LETTER IX
Lexington--Paper Currency--Bankers--Menials--Habits--Prices of Live Stock--Provisions, &c.--Slavery, and its Effects--Recrimination against Illiberal Reflections--Descend the Ohio to Cincinnati--Occurrences and Reflections 132
LETTER X
Cincinnati--Weather--Descend the Ohio to the Falls of the Ohio--Taverns and Accommodation 149
LETTER XI
Morals and Manners--Education--Generosity--The President of the United States 165
LETTER XII
On Emigration--The Prospects of Emigrants--Inconveniences--The Method of Laying out and Disposing of Public Lands 173
LETTER XIII
Comparative Advantages of Different Parts of the United States--Temperature at Philadelphia and Cincinnati--Reflections on Slave-Keeping 181
LETTER XIV
Lawyers--Doctors--Clergy--Mechanics--Justices of the Peace--Anecdotes--Punishments--Reflections 194
{vii} LETTER XV
Outline of the American Constitution--From the Frequency of Revolutions in Europe, the Instability of the American Republic is not to be inferred 205
LETTER XVI
State Legislatures--Predilection for Dividing Counties, Laying out New Towns and Roads--The Influence of Slavery on the Habits of the People--Banking 215
LETTER XVII
Depreciated Paper Money--Want of Employment--State Expenses--The Progress of New Settlements 224
LETTER XVIII
Passage to Cincinnati--Trade--Manufactures--Institutions-- Banks--Climate--Notice of three Indian Chiefs--Remarks on the Indian People 237
LETTER XIX
Descend the Ohio from Cincinnati to Madison--Notices of a Scotch Settlement--Excess of Male Population--Roads-- Harvest--Crops--Orchards--Timber--Elections--Methodist Camp Meeting 250
LETTER XX
Circumstances that Retard Manufacturing Industry, and Causes of its Prosperity 264
LETTER XXI
Circuit Court of Indiana--Lands--Crops--Salt springs--Corydon--Barrens--Caves--Tornado--Alluvial Lands--Large Trees--Wild Vines--Steam boats--the Falls of the Ohio--Bilious and Intermittent Fevers--Taciturnity--Americanisms 276
LETTER XXII
Miscellaneous Remarks on the Manners and Habits of the People 290
{viii} LETTER XXIII
Passage from the Falls of the Ohio to Cincinnati--Journey to Lake Erie--the Great Sciota--Pickaway Plains Prairies--Sickly State of the Country--Indians--People 296
LETTER XXIV
Passage on Lake Erie--The Falls of Niagara--Passage on Lake Ontario--Descend the River St. Lawrence--Falls--Montreal-- Quebec--Indians--Remarks on the People--Timber Trade--Government--Climate 313
LETTERS FROM AMERICA
LETTER I
Voyage from Greenock to New York--Circumstances of Passengers--Arrival, &c.
_New York, July 10, 1818._
As I have already informed you, I sailed from Greenock on the 24th of May last, in the American ship Glenthorn, Stillman Master, bound for this place.
I observed that my fellow emigrants were much affected when about to take a final leave of their native land: some regretting the separation from their native soil, while others, mute and thoughtful, seemed to suffer under feelings of a more tender kind.
To some it may appear inconsistent in people to regret leaving their homes and their friends, while the emigration is voluntarily undertaken; but on this occasion, the paradox will be explained, when their circumstances and views are taken into consideration.
Of our party were three farmers, with their families, whose leases were expired; all of them having declined engaging for a new term of years, {2} under the apprehension of seeing their paternal stock, and the savings of many years’ industry, divided between the landholder and the collector of taxes. A native of Scotland, who had resided several years in America, returned with the intention of resuming business in the town where he was born, but the thick ranks of a necessitous and half employed population, had closed on the place he had left. There was a widow, with two children, on her way to put herself under the protection of a brother in America. With us also were several of the labouring class, whose utmost exertions could only procure the bare support of existence; and ploughmen, who prudently refrained from marrying with fourteen pounds a-year. In short, there was scarcely one of our number whose condition might not perhaps be bettered, or whose prospects could be rendered worse, by the change of country.
In a voyage from Europe to America, most passengers may expect to be sea-sick. Nearly all of them on board the Glenthorn, on this occasion, suffered more or less. For my own part, I never was entirely free from it for more than three-fourths of the passage. This disease is dispiriting while it continues, but as it is believed to produce no permanent injury, but, on the contrary, is thought conducive to future health, the attack is not at all dreaded. People unaccustomed to the seafaring life ought to carry with them those kinds of provisions to which they have been previously accustomed, as the stores of the ship soon become loathsome to the sick. Potatoes will be found acceptable, when the caprice of taste rejects almost every other food; and walking on deck is of service, as the air is better, and the pitching of the ship is considerably less felt, than below.
{3} It is very improper to go to sea in crowded vessels; as epidemic diseases are engendered, and the most dreadful mortality is the consequence. That law of Britain which allows only one passenger for every five tons of burden in American ships (including seamen) is a most beneficial regulation; and while, in American bottoms, the cabin passenger pays L.21, and the steerage passenger L.12, the expense cannot be complained of, while health and comfort are taken into consideration. It is much to be regretted that the government of England does not extend its humane restriction to its own Canadian settlers, and to emigrants who sail for the United States in British ships.
The 4th of July is celebrated by Americans as the anniversary of their independence, declared in 1776. The captain and seamen were disposed to be joyful in commemoration of this great event. The striped flag was displayed, guns and pistols were fired, accompanied with loud cheers. The passengers, no less enthusiastic, joined in the strongest expressions of their devotedness to the democratic form of government. They indulged in such sentiments as, a sincere wish that the United States may long continue exempt from that excessive corruption, as they thought, which has so long and so much degraded a large portion of the human race;--and their avowed satisfaction at the near prospect of becoming people of the Republic.
On the 8th we came in sight of Long Island, and the high lands of New Jersey; a welcome occurrence to people who had been so long at sea. In the afternoon a pilot came on board. He informed us that the city was in great bustle, as the inhabitants were assembled to deposit the bones of General Montgomery, who fell at Quebec, on the 31st of December, 1775.[1] The remains of the patriotic {4} leader were buried by the ministerialists without the fort, and were to-day interred by his grateful countrymen under the portico of St. Paul’s church, New York. We were sorry that it was not in our power to witness the solemnity.
In the evening we were off the point Sandyhook. The smell of the new hay on the adjacent fields regaled us very agreeably. All seemed elated with joy. A bagpipe and two violins played by turns, and our young people danced on deck till a late hour. During this season of mirth, we were entertained by a sight, perhaps unequalled in the phenomena of an European climate. Some dense black clouds which hung over Long Island, were frequently illuminated by flashes of lightning. It is in vain to attempt a description. About midnight we passed through the Narrows, and soon afterwards anchored on the quarantine ground, about seven miles from New York.
On the morning of the 9th of July, the inspecting surgeon visited us, and allowed the anchor to be weighed. In this situation we had a full view of the shores of Staten and Long Islands. The wooden houses are neat, and the orchards and natural woods have a thriving appearance. It would seem that the people here have a partiality to the Lombardy poplar, which grows to a great height, shooting up its branches nearly perpendicularly; assuming something of the appearance of a spire. The straight rows of these trees, so common here, have an insipid regularity and sameness, more like a file of armed soldiery than an ornamental grove.
Some of the frame houses are painted red, those of the finer sort, white; ornamental railings are also painted white. To an European eye, these colours appear too glaring. The lands seen from the bay are sandy and poor.
{5} The first glimpse of the city of New York is by no means a distinct one. The buildings are much obscured by the forest of masts in front of them; and as the site of the town rises but gently inland, the houses in front conceal, in a great measure, those in the rear, so that the shipping and the numerous spires are the objects most distinctly seen.
Before entering the port we were twice boarded by agents from the Newspaper offices. They inquired for British newspapers, and generally for the news of Europe; they noted down the names of several of our passengers, which they intended to publish in the papers of the afternoon. There are no less than seven newspapers printed in New York daily; the competition of these Journalists is keen, and their industry seems to be great.
We have experienced much good treatment from Captain Stillman. Every passenger is so sensible of this, that a committee of their number was requested to make public testimony of their esteem for him.
We landed yesterday about noon, all in good health and spirits. During the voyage, passengers have experienced no kind of sickness, except that peculiarly incident to the sea.
This letter cannot come immediately into the hands of all my friends; most of them, I hope, will hear that I am arrived in this place in good health. Should you adopt any way of making this and any subsequent communications generally known to them, it will be very gratifying to me, and, besides, will relieve me of the labour of writing many letters; a labour, dictated by the strongest ties of gratitude and affection, but one which it is doubtful if I can accomplish to the satisfaction of my own mind.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] General Richard Montgomery (1737-1775) was a native of Ireland, and served with Wolfe at Quebec in 1759. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War he was appointed commander of the American forces in the Northern Department, being killed in his heroic assault on Quebec, December 31, 1775. Through the courtesy of the British general his body was buried with the honors of war within the unconquered walls of Quebec. Forty-three years later the remains were disinterred, in compliance with a special act of the New York legislature, brought to New York City and deposited with great solemnity beneath a monument in front of St. Paul’s church (July 8, 1818). A full account of the ceremony is contained in the New York _Daily Advertiser_ of that date.--ED.
{6} LETTER II
Observations on New York--Removal to Long Island--Miscellaneous Remarks--Return to New York--Farther Observations on the City.
_New York, August 4, 1818._
On entering New York, I was struck with its appearance. Streets lined with lofty trees, most of them the Lombardy poplar, which affords a very agreeable shade in hot weather; indeed, they are so numerous, that the new comer, when he looks before him, is apt to suppose himself in the midst of a wood. The streets, with a few exceptions, are too narrow, and are deficient in sewers. Many parts of the town prevent me from thinking that it deserves the character of extreme cleanliness bestowed upon it. The greater part of the houses are of brick, neatly built; but, to eyes accustomed to towns of hewn stone, New York has, on the whole, what (for want of a more descriptive word) may be called a gingerbread appearance.
The markets here are amply supplied with fine vegetables, and an immense variety of excellent fish, a great proportion of which are sold alive. Beef and pork are good, but the mutton and veal that I have seen are of inferior quality. Marketing is carried on more after the manner in some English country towns. No servants, but masters, attend and carry home the provisions.
Beggars do not abound here as in some countries of Europe. I am told that every man who is {7} able to work can earn a dollar per day, and that his board costs two or three dollars per week; thus it is in his power to banish every appearance of poverty, and to save some money, provided he is disposed to economy. Mechanics have good encouragement. Joiners one and three-quarters, and masons two dollars a-day. They usually pay three dollars, or upwards, a-week for their board.
Many of the necessaries of life are here purchased at high prices. Woollen cloths and most articles of wearing apparel imported, pay duties, varying, in different cases, from 25 to 33 per cent. In transacting with the merchant and the tailor, farther American enhancements may be calculated upon. Washing and dressing of shirts, neckcloths, &c. costs a dollar and a half per dozen. Every thing that an American does, must be liberally paid for. This tends to render living dear, even where provisions are cheap.
Some imported articles, as silks, wines, foreign spirituous liquors, teas, sugar, and coffee, are much cheaper than in Britain. The difference of custom-house duties is the cause of this.