Part 14

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FOOTNOTES:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LETTER XIV

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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