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NEW TRAVELS
IN THE
UNITED STATES
OF
AMERICA.
NEW TRAVELS
IN THE
UNITED STATES
OF
AMERICA.
PERFORMED IN 1788.
BY J
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.
A People without Morals may acquire Liberty, but without Morals they cannot preserve it.
Nemo illic vitia ridet, nec corrumpere, nec corrumpi feculum vocatur
DUBLIN:
PRINTED BY W. CORBET,
FOR P. BYRNE, A. GRUEBER, W. M'KENZlE, J. MOORE, W. JONES,
R. M'ALLISTER, AND J. RICE.
MDCCXCII.
LIBRARY
OCT 19 1899
NOV 8 1915
Letter
I. From M. Claviere to M. Warville, hinting a Plan of Observation on the political, civil and military Existence of the United States
II. Soil, Productions, Emigrations,
III. Plan of each Settlement to be formed in the United States
IV. Enquiries on the best Mode of emigrating
V. On the Purchase of Lands, and the American Funds
VI. Method of Observations to be pursued in these Travels
I. From M. Warville to M. Claviere, from Havre de Grace
II. Observations on Boston
III. Journey from Boston to New-York through Connecticut
IV. From Boston to New-York by Providence
V. On New-York
VI. Journey from New-York to Philadelphia
VII. Visit to Burlington, and to the House of M. Franklin
VIII. Visit to the Farm of a Quaker
IX. Visit from Warner Miflin
X. Funeral
X. Funeral of a Quaker. A Quaker Meeting
XI. The Bettering-House
XII. Hospital of Lunaticks
XIII. On Benjamin Franklin
XIV. Steam Boat. Reflexions on the Character of the Americans and the English
XV. The Agricultural Society. The Library
XVI. On the Market of Philadelphia
XVII. On the General Assembly of Pennsylvania and the Farm of Mr. L.
XVIII. Journey of M. Saugrain to the Ohio
XIX. The School for Blacks at Philadelphia
XX. The Endeavours ufed to abolish Slavery
XXI. The Laws made in the different States for the Abolition of Slavery
XXII. General State of the Blacks in the United States. Their Manners and Character, &c.
Addition to the preceding Letter, On the Labours of the different Societies in Favour of the Blacks
XXIII. On substituting the Sugar of Maple to the Sugar of Cane; and its Consequences on the Fate of the Blacks
XXIV. A Project for re-transporting the Blacks to Africa
XXV. Philadelphia, its Building, Police, Manners, &c.
XXVI. On the Progress of clearing and cultivating Land
XXVII. Climate of Philadelphia; its Diseases, &c.
XXVIII. The Diseases most common in the United States
XXIX. Longevity—Calculations on the Probabilities of Life in the United States—Their Population
XXX. Prisons in Philadelphia, and Prisons in general
XXXI. On the Quakers; their private Morals, their Manners, Customs, &c.
XXXII. On
XXXII. On the Reproaches cast upon the Quakers by different Writers
XXXIII. Religious Principles of the Quakers
XXXIV. Political Principles of the Quakers. Their Refufal to take Arms, pay Taxes, for War
XXXV. Journey to Mount Vernon
XXXVI. General Observations on Maryland and Virginia
XXXVII. The Tobacco, and Tobacco Notes of Virginia
XXXVIII. The Valley of Shenadore
XXXIX. Journey from Boston to Portsmouth 447
XL. The Debt of the United States
XLI. Importations into the United States
XLII. Exportations from the United States
XLIII. Their Trade to the East-Indies, and their Navigation in general
XLIV. The Western Territory, and the different Settlements in it.
N. B.
This Volume comprifes
M. de Warville's
two first Volumes. His third, on the Commerce of America, has been before published in English.
NO
traveller, I believe, of this age, has made a more ufeful present to Europe, than M. de Warville in the publication of the following Tour in the United States. The people of France will derive great advantages from it; as they have done from a variety of other labours of the same industrious and patriotic author. Their minds are now open to enquiry into the effects of moral and political systems, as their commerce and manufactures are to any improvements that their unembarrassed situation enables them to adopt.
b
Many people read a little in the preface, before they buy the book; and I shall probably be accused of being in the interest of the Bookseller, and of making an assertion merely to catch this fort of readers, when I say that the English have more need of information on the real character and condition of the United States of America, than any other people of Europe; and especially when I add, that this book is infinitely better calculated to convey that information, than any other, or than all others of the kind that have hitherto appeared.
I do not know how to convince an English reader of the first of these remarks; but the latter I am sure he will find true on perufing the work.
The fact is, we have always been surprizingly ignorant both of the Americans and of their country. Had we known either the one or the other while they were colonies, they would have been so at this day, and probably for many days longer; did we know them now, we should endeavour
to
Ministers, as wicked as they are, do more mischief through ignorance, than from any less pardonable cause. And what are the sources of information on this subject, that are generally drawn from in this kingdom? Those Americans, who best know their own country, do not write; they have always been occupied in more important affairs. A few light superficial travellers, some of whom never appear to have quitted Europe, who have not knowledge enough even to begin
b 2
These blunders assume different shapes, and come recommended to us under various authorities. You see them mustered and embodied in a gazetteer or a geographical grammar * Perhaps no work, that is not systematically false, contains more errors than the Geographical Grammar published under the name of William Guthrie; I speak only of that part which respects the United States. To those who with to be informed on this subject, I would recommend
such
Morse's American Geography, published in America, and now reprinted for Stockdale in London. It contains more information relative to that country, than all the books ever writen in Europe.
We have refused, ever since the war, to compliment them with an envoy; we have employed, to take care of our consular interests, and represent the epitomized majesty of the British nation, an American Royalist, who could be recommended to us only for his stupidity, and to them only for his suspected persidy to their cause.
The book that bears the name of Lord Sheffield on the American trade, has served as the touchstone, the slateman's confession of faith, relative to our political and commercial intercourse with that country. It is said to have been written by an American who had
M. de Warville has taught his countrymen to think very differently of that people. I believe every reader of these travels, who understands enough of America to enable him to judge, will agree with me in opinion, that his remarks are infinitely more judicious, more candid, and less erroneous than those of any other of the numerous observers that have visited that country. Most of them have been uniformly superficial, often scurrilous, blending unmerited censure with fulsome praise, and huddling together, to form the whole piece, a parcel of unfinished images, that give no more a picture of that people, than of the Arabs or the Chinese. Their only object, like that of a novel writer, is to make a book that will sell; and yet they preserve not even that consistency with themselves, which is indispensable in the wildest romance.
M. de
M. de Warville is a sober, uniform, indefatigable, and courageous defender of the rights of mankind; he has certainly done much in his own country in bringing forward the present Revolution. His great object in these travels, seems to have been, to observe the effects of habitual liberty on man in society; and his remarks appear to be those of a well-informed reasoner, and an unprejudiced inquirer.
London,
Feb. 1, 1792.
NEW
PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR.
THE
publication of Voyages and Travels will doubtless appear, at first view, an operation foreign to the present circumstances of France. I should even myself regret the time I have spent in reducing this Work to order, if I did not think that it might be useful and necessary in supporting our Revolution. The object of these Travels was not to study antiques, or to search for unknown plants, but to study men who had just acquired their liberty. A free people can no longer be strangers to the French.
We have now, likewise, acquired our liberty. It is no longer necessary to learn of the Americans the manner of acquiring it,
B
What is liberty? It is the most perfect state of society: it is the state in which man depends but upon the laws which he makes; in which, to make them good, he ought to perfect the powers of his mind; in which, to execute them well, he must employ all his reason; for coercive measures are disgraceful to freemen—they are almost useless in a free State; and when the magistrate calls them to his aid, liberty is on the decline, morals are nothing more than reason applied to all the actions of life; in their force consists the execution of the laws. Reason or morals are to the execution of the laws among a free people, what setters, scourges, and gibbets are among slaves. Destroy morals, or practical reason, and you must supply their place by setters
Without morals there can be no liberty. If you have not the former, you cannot love the latter, and you will soon take it away from others; for if you abandon yourself to luxury, to ostentation, to excessive gaming, to enormous expences, you necessarily open your heart to corruption; you make a traffic of your popularity, and of your talents; you fell the people to that despotism which is always endeavouring to replunge them into its chains.
Some men endeavour to distinguish public from private morals; it is a false and chimerical distinction, invented by vice, in order to disguise its danger. Doubtless a man may possess the private virtues without the public; he may be a good father, without being an ardent friend of liberty; but he that has not the private virtues, can never possess the public; in this respect they are inseparable; their basis is the same, it is
practical reason.
What! within the walls of your house, you trample
B 2
What confidence can be placed in those men who, regarding the revolution but as their road to fortune, assume the appearance of virtue but to deceive the people; who deceive the people but to pillage and enslave them; who, in their artful discourses, where eloquence is paid with gold, preach to others the sacrifice of private interest, while they themselves sacrifice all that is sacred to their own? men whose private conduct is the assassin of virtue, an opprobrium to liberty, and gives the lie to the doctrines which they preach:
Qui Curius Simulant, et baccanalia vivunt.
HAPPY
Happy the people who despise this hypocrisy, who have the courage to degrade, to chastise, to excommunicate these double men, possessing the tongue of Cato, and the soul of Tiberius. Happy the people who, well convinced that liberty is not supported by eloquence, but by the exercise of virtue, esteem not, but rather despise, the former, when it is separated from the latter. Such a people, by their severe opinions, compel men of talents to acquire morals; they exclude corruption from their body, and lay the foundation for liberty and long prosperity.
But if this people, improvident and irresolute, dazzled by the eloquence of an orator who flatters their passions, pardon his vices in favour of his talents; if they feel not an indignation at seeing an Alcibiades training a mantle of purple, lavishing his sumptuous repasts, lolling on the bosom of his mistress, or ravishing a wife from her tender husband; if the view of his enormous wealth, his exterior graces, the soft sound of his speech, and his traits of courage, could reconcile them to his crimes; if they could render him the homage which is due only to talents united with virtue; if they could lavish
uponto the great king, and to his satraps.
Is it an ideal picture which I here trace, or, is it not ours? I tremble at the resemblance! Great God! shall we have atchieved a revolution the most inconceivable, the most unexpected, but for the sake of drawing from nihility a few intriguing, low, ambitious men, to whom nothing is sacred, who have not even the mouth of gold to accompany their soul of clay? Infamous wretches! they endeavour to excuse their weakness, their venality, their eternal capitulations with despotism, by saying, These people are too much corrupted to be trusted with complete liberty. They themselves give them the example of corruption; they give them new shackles, as if shackles could enlighten and ameliorate men.
O Providence! to what destiny reservest thou the people of France? They are good,
but
I have scrutinized those men, by whom the people are so easily infatuated. How few patriots was I able to number among them! How few men, who sincerely love the people, who labour for their happiness and amelioration,
Would you prove to me your patriotism? Let me penetrate into the interior of your house. What! I see your antichamber full
ofincomptis capillis
: they address you with the appellation of
lordship
; they give you still those vain titles which liberty treads under foot, and you suffer it, and you call yourself a patriot!—I penetrate a little further: your cielings are gilded; magnificent vases adorn your chimney pieces; I walk upon the richest carpets; the most costly wines, the most exquisite dishes, cover your table; a crowd of servants surround it; you treat them with haughtiness:—No, you are not a patriot, the most consummate pride reigns in your heart, the pride of birth, of riches, and of talents, With this triple pride, a man never believes in the doctrine of equality: you belie your conscience, when you prostitute the word patriot.
But whence comes this display of wealth? you are not rich. Is it from the people? they are still poor. Who will prove to me that it is not the price of their blood? Who will assure me that there is not this moment existing, a secret contract between you and the court? Who will assure me that you have not said to the court, Trust to me the power which remains to you, and I will
bring
I do not know if so many pictures as every day strike our eyes, will convince us of the extreme difficulty of connecting public incorruptibility with corruption of morals; but I am convinced, that if we wish to preserve our constitution, it will be easy, it will be necessary, to demonstrate this maxim: “Without “private virtue, there can be no public “virtue, no public spirit, no liberty.”
But how can we create private virtue among a people who have just risen suddenly from the dregs of servitude, dregs which have been settling for twelve centuries on their heads?
Numerous means offer themselves to our hands; laws, instruction, good examples, education, encouragement to a rural life, parceling of real property among heirs, respect to the useful arts.
Is
Is it not evident, for instance, that private morals associate naturally with a rural life; that, of consequence, manners would much improve, by inducing men to return from the city to the country, and by discouraging them from migrating from the country to the city? The reason why the Americans possess such pure morals is, because nine-tenths of them live dispersed in the country. I do not say that we should make laws direct to force people to quit the town, or to fix their limits; all prohibition, all restraint is unjust, absurd, and ineffectual. Do you wish a person to do well? make it for his interest to do it. Would you re-people the country? make it his interest to keep his children at home. Wife laws and taxes well distributed will produce this effect. Laws which tend to an equal distribution of real property, to dissuse a certain degree of ease among the people, will contribute much to the resurrection of private and public morals; for misery can take no interest in the public good, and want is often the limit of virtue.
Would you extend public spirit through all France? Into all the departments, all the villages, favour the propagation of knowledge,
the
I will still propose another law, which would infallibly extend public spirit and good morals; it is the short duration of public functioners in their office, and the impossibility of re-electing them without an interval. By that the legislative body would send out every two years, into the provinces, three or four hundred patriots, who, during their abode at Paris, would have arisen to the horizon of the revolution, and obtained instruction, activity in business, and a public spirit. The commonwealth, better understood, would become thus successively the benefits of
all
; and it is thus that you would
repair
I cannot enlarge upon all the means; but it would be rendering a great service to the Revolution, to seek and point out those which may give us morals and public spirit.—
Yet I cannot leave this subject without indulging one reflection, which appears to me important; Liberty, either political or individual, cannot exist a long time without personal independence. There can be no independence without a property, a profession, a trade, or an honest industry, which may insure against want and dependence.
I assure you that the Americans are and will be for a long time free; it is because nine tenths of them live by agriculture; and when there shall be five hundred millions of men in America, all may be proprietors.
We are not in that happy situation in France: the productive lands in France amount to fifty millions of acres; this, equally divided, would be two acres to a person;
thesetrade
, the patriots still shiver; they begin to pay some respect to commerce; but though they pretend to cherish equality, they do not feel themselves frankly the equals of a mechanic. They have not yet abjured the prejudice which regards the tradesman, as below the banker or the merchant. This vulgar aristocracy will be the most difficult to destroy
—If
* It extends even to officers chosen by the people. With what disdain they regard an artisan from head to foot! With what severity many of our national guards treat those wretches who are arrested by them! With what insolence they execute their orders:—Observe the greater part of the Public officers; They are as haughty in the exercise of their
functions, functions, as they were grovelling in the Primary Assemblies. A true patriot is equal at all times; equally distant from baseness at election, and insolence in office.
I regret that the National Assembly has not yet given this salutary example; that they have not yet crowned the genius of agriculture, by calling to the president's chair the good cultivator, Gerard; that the merchants and other members of the Assembly, who exercise mechanic arts, have not enjoyed the same honour. Why this exclusion? It is very well to insert in the Declaration of Rights, that all men are equal; but we must practise this equality, engrave it in our hearts, consecrate it in all our actions, and it belongs to the National Assembly to give the great example. It would perhaps force the executive power to respect it likewise. Has he ever been known to descend into the class of professions, there to choose his ministers, his agents, from men of simplicity of manners, not rich, but well instructed, and no courtiers?
Our
Our democrats of the court praise indeed, with a borrowed enthusiasm, a Franklin or an Adams; they say, and even with a silly astonishment, that one was a printer, and the other a schoolmaster! But do they go to seek in the work-shops. the men of information? No.—But what signifies at present the conduct of an administration, whose detestable foundation renders them antipopular, and consequently perverse? they can never appear virtuous, but by hypocrisy. To endeavour to convert them, is a folly; to oppose to them independent adversaries, is wisdom: the secret of independence is in this maxim,
Have few wants, and a steady employment to satisfy them.
With these ideas man bends not his front before man. The artizan glories in his trade that supports him: he envies not places of honour; he knows he can attain them, if he deserves them: he idolizes no man; he respects himself too much to be an idolator: he esteems not men because they are in place, but because they deserve well from their country. The leaders of the revolution in Holland, in the sixteenth century, seated on the grass at a repast of herrings and onions, received, with a stern simplicity, the deputies
of
Quem neque pauperies, neque mors, neque vincula terrent.
When shall we have this elevated idea of ourselves? When will all the citizens look with disdain on those idols on whom they formerly prostituted their adoration? Indeed, when shall we experience a general diffusion of public spirit?
I have no uneasiness about the rising generation: the pure souls of our young men breathe nothing but liberty; the contagious breath of personal interest has not yet infected them. An education truly national, will create men surpassing the Greeks and Romans; but people advanced in life, accustomed to servitude, familiarized with the idolatry of the great—What will reclaim them? What will strip them of the old man? Instruction; and the best means of diffusing it, is to multiply popular clubs, where all those citizens so unjustly denominated passive, come to gain information on the principles of the Constitution, and on the political occurrences of every day. It is there that may be placed under
C
O Frenchmen! who wish for this valuable instruction, study the Americans of the present day. Open this book: you will here see to what degree of prosperity the blessings of freedom can elevate the industry of man; how they dignify his nature, and dispose him to universal fraternity: you will here learn by what means liberty is preserved; that the great secret of its duration is in good morals. It is a truth that the observation of the present state of America demonstrates at every step. Thus you will see, in these Travels, the prodigious effects of liberty on morals, on industry, and on the amelioration of men. You will see those stern presbyterians, who, on the first settlement of their country, infected with the gloomy superstitions of Europe, could erect gibbets for those who thought differently from themselves. You will see them admitting all sects to equal charity and brotherhood, rejecting those superstitions
C 2
The reverse is not self-consoling; if liberty is a sure guarantee of prosperity; if, in perfecting the talents of man, it gives him virtues, these virtues, in their turn, become the surest support of liberty. A people of universal good morals would have no need of government; the law would have no need of an executive power. This is the reason why liberty in America is safely carried to so high a degree that it borders on a state of nature, and why the government has so little force. This, by ignorant men, is called anarchy: enlightened men, who have examined the effects on the spot, discern in it the excellence of the government; because, notwithstanding its weakness, society is there in a flourishing state. The prosperity of a society is always in proportion to the extent of liberty; liberty is in the inverse proportion to the extent of the governing power: the latter cannot increase itself, but at the expence of the former.
Can
Can a people without government be happy? Yes; if you can suppose a whole people with good morals; and this is not a chimera. Will you see an example? observe the Quakers of America. Though numerous, though dispersed over the surface of Pennsylvania, they have passed more than a century, without municipal government, without police, without coercive measures, to administer to the State, or to govern the hospitals. And why? See the picture of their manners; you will there find the explanation of the phenomenon.
Coercive measures and liberty never go together: a free people hates the former; but if these measures are not employed, how will you execute the law? By the force of reason and good morals;—take away these, and you must borrow the arm of violence, or fall into anarchy. If, then, a people wishes to banish the dishonourable means of coercion, they must exercise their reason, which will shew them the necessity of a constant respect for the law.
The exercise of this faculty produces among the Americans, a great number of men designated by the name of
principled men.
This
appellation
Shew me a man of this kind, whose wants are circumscribed, who admits no luxury, who has no secret passion, no ambition, but that of serving his country—a man who, as Montaigne says,
aie des opinions supercelestes, sans avoir des mœurs souterreines;
—a man whom reflection guides in every thing; this is the man of the people.
In a word, my countrymen, would you be always free, always independent in your elections, and in your opinions? Would you confine the executive power within narrow limits, and diminish the number of your
laws?in pessima republica plurimæ leges.
Morals supply perfectly, the necessity of laws; laws supply but imperfectly, and in a miserable manner, the place of morals. Would you augment your population, that chief wealth of nations? Would you augment the ease of individuals, industry, agriculture, and every thing that contributes to general prosperity?—
have morals!
Such is the double effect of morals in the United States, whose form of government still frightens pusillanimous and superstitious men. The portraits offered to view, in these Travels, will justify that republicanism which knaves calumniate with design, which ignorant men do not understand, but which they will learn to know and respect. How can we better judge of a government than by its effects? Reasoning * If you would see excellent reasoning on this subject, read the work just published by the celebrated Paine, intitled,
greatest
Rights of Man; especially the miscellaneous chapter.
I thought it very useful and very necessary to prove these principles from great examples; and this is my reason for publishing these Travels. Examples are more powerful than precepts. Morality, put in action, carries something of the dramatic, and the French love the drama.
This, then, is my first object; it is national, it is universal: for, when it is demonstrated that liberty creates morals, and morals, in their turn, extend and maintain liberty, it is evident, that, to restrain the progress of liberty, is an execrable project; since it is to restrain the happiness, the prosperity, and the union of the human race.
A second object which guides me in this publication, is likewise national. I wished to describe to my countrymen a people with whom we ought, on every account, to connect ourselves in the most intimate manner. The moral relations which ought to connect the two nations, are unfolded in the two first
volumes;
There is still wanting, to complete this work, a fourth volume, which ought to treat of the political connections, and of the present federal government of the United States. I have the materials, but I have not the time to reduce them to order. The comparative view of their constitution with ours, requires a critical and profound examination. Experience has already determined the qualities of one; the other is still in its infancy. Perhaps, indeed, it requires a time of more calmness, less ignorance and prejudice in the public mind, to judge wisely of the American constitution. We must prepare the way for this maturity of judgment; and these Travels will accelerate it, in setting forth with truth the advantages of the only government which merits any confidence.
If I had consulted what is called the Love of Glory, and the Spirit of Ancient Literature, I could have spent several years in polishing this Work; but I believed, that though necessary
When a man would travel usefully, he should study, first,
men
; secondly,
books
; and thirdly,
places.
To study men he should see them of all classes, of all parties, of all ages, and in all situations.
I read in the Gazettes, that the ambassadors of Tippo Sultan were feasted by every
body;
People disguise every thing, to deceive men in place. A prince goes to an hospital; he tastes the soup and the meat. Does any one suppose that the superintendant was fool
enough
True observation is that of every day. A traveller, before setting out, ought to know from books and men the country he goes to visit.
He will have some
data
; he will confront what he sees, with what he has heard.
He ought to have a plan of observation; if he wishes that nothing should escape him, he should accustom himself to seize objects rapidly, and to write, every night, what he has seen in the day.
The choice of persons to consult, and to rely upon, is difficult.
The inhabitants of a country have generally a predilection in favour of it, and strangers have prejudices against it. In America I found this prejudice in almost every stranger. The American revolution confounds them. They cannot familiarize the idea of a
king-people
and an
elective chief
, who shakes hands with a labourer, who has
no
Being a friend of liberty, these calamities against the American government were revolting to me: I combated them with reasoning. My adversaries, who objected to me then their long abode there, and the shortness of mine, ought to be convinced by this time that the telescope of reason is rather better than the microscope of office. They have, in general, some abilities and some information; but they have generally been educated in the inferior places in the French administration, and they have well imbibed its prejudices. A republic is a monstrous thing in their sight; a minister is an idol that they adore; the people, in their view,
is
* Judge, by the following instance, with what insolence the agents of despotism treat the chiefs of respectable republics.—I heard M. de Moustier boasting, that he told the president of congress, at his own house, that he was but a
tavern keeper; and the Americans had the complaisance not to demand his recall! What horror must this man have for our revolution! He declared himself the enemy of it when he was in America, and expressed himself with violence against its leaders. These facts are public; I denounced them to M. Montmorin, who nevertheless, to recompense him for his anti-revolution manœuvres, has sent him ambassador to Berlin.
I met in our French travellers, the same prejudices as in the consuls. The greater part of Frenchmen who travel or emigrate, have little information, and are not prepared to the art of observation. Presumptuous to excess, and admirers of their own customs and manners, they ridicule those of other nations. Ridicule gives them a double pleasure; it feeds their own pride, and humbles others. At Philadelphia, for instance, the men are grave, the women serious, no sinical airs, no libertine wives, no coffee-houses,
no
He was greatly troubled that he could speak American with the same facility; he lost so much in not being able to show his wit.
If, then, a person of this cast attempts to describe the Americans, he shows his own character, but not theirs. A people grave, serious, and reflecting, cannot be judged of and appreciated, but by a person of a like character.
It is to be hoped that the revolution will change the character of the French. If they ameliorate their morals, and augment their information, they will go far; for it is the property of reason and enlightened liberty to perfect themselves without ceasing, to substitute truth to error, and principle to prejudice. They will then insensibly lay aside their political prejudices, which tarnish still
thethe less active and powerful the government, the more active, powerful, and happy is the society.
This is the phenomenon demonstrated in the present History of the United States.
These Travels give the proof of the second part of this political axiom; they prove the activity, the power, the happiness of the Americans; that they are destined to be the first people on earth, without being the terror of others.
To what great chain are attached these glorious destinies? To three principles: 1. All
power
D
* This last point merits some attention, in the present circumstances of France. The president of the United States is elected like all other presidents and governors of States. A man cannot conceive, in that country,
that wisdom and capacity are hereditary. The Americans, (who shake their heads at this European folly), from sixteen years experience, have found none of those troubles, at the time of electing a president, as were apprehended by ignorant people in Europe. The same tranquillity reigns in this election, as in that of the simple representatives. Men who cannot answer to arguments, raise phantoms, in order to have something to combat; they attend not to the effects of the progress of reason, and the
instinct of analogy which the people possess. The moment they are accustomed to the election of the representative body, all other elections are easy to them. It is the same reason among men instructed, and the same instinct of analogy among those not instructed, which inspires an eternal distrust of the executive power, in countries where the chiefs are hereditary, and not elective. The moment that we decreed the monarchy hereditary, we decreed an eternal distrust in the people, of the executive power. It would be, indeed, against nature that they should have confidence in individuals, who pretend to a supernatural superiority, and who really have one in fact, being independent of the people. There cannot exist an open confidence, but in governments where the executive power is elective, because the governing is dependent on the governed.
Now, as confidence is impossible under an hereditary monarchy, as it results necessarily from a government elective in all its members, we may explain—whence the eternal quarrels between the people and the government, in the first case
—whence—whence the frequent recurrence to force,—whence treasons and ministerial delinquencies go unpunished,—whence liberty is violated,—and whence nations, thus governed, enjoy but a fictitious and partial prosperity, often stained with blood; while, in the other case, where the people, by elections, hold in check the members of the government, there exists an unity of interests, which produces a prosperity, real, general, and pacific.
The president of the United States can make no treaty, send no ambassador, nominate to no place, without the advice of the senate. This senate is elective; the president is responsible; he may be accused, prosecuted, suspended, condemned; the public good suffers nothing from this responsibility; the places of president and ministers are not vacant on that account; but they are filled by men of acknowledged merit; for the people who elect, do not, like chance, take fools for governors; nor do they, like kings, make ministers of knaves and petty tyrants.
It will be easy for me one day to deduce from these three principles, all the happy effects which I have observed in America. At present I content myself with describing their effects, because I wish to leave to my Readers the pleasure of recurring to the causes, and then of descending from those causes, and making the application to France. I have not even told all the facts; I had so little time both to detail the facts, and draw the consequences. I am astonished to have been able to finish a work so voluminous, in the midst of so many various occupations which
continuallyalone
with compiling and publishing a daily paper, undertaken with the sole desire of establishing, in the public opinion, this powerful instrument of revolutions; a paper in which the defence of good principles, the watching over a thousand enemies, and repulsing perpetual attacks, occupy my attention without ceasing. Much of my time is likewise taken up by my political and civil functions; by many particular pamphlets; by the necessity of assisting at clubs, where truths are prepared for the public eye; by the duty which I have prescribed to myself, to defend the men of colour and the blacks.
I mention these facts to my Readers, to prove to them that I have still some right to their indulgence. I merit it, likewise, for the motive which directs me.
Confilium futuri ex prœterito venit:
Great prospects are opening before us. Let us hasten, then, to make known, that people whose happy experience ought to be our guide.
Paris,
April 21, 1791.
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PLAN OF OBSERVATIONS
On the Political, Civil, and Military State of the Free Americans; their Legislation, &c.
May 18, 1788.
THE
voyage that you are going to undertake, my dear friend, will doubtless form the most interesting period of your contemplative life. You are going to transport yourself into a part of the globe, where a person may, with the least obstruction, bring into view the most striking and interesting scenes that belong to humanity. It is with a little
D 3
In a few years, and without great dangers, you may contemplate the most varied scenes; you may pass in America, from a soil the best cultivated, and grown old with an active population, into the deserts, where the hand of man has modified nothing, where time, vegetation, and the dead mass of matter, seem to have furnished the expence of the theatre.
Between these extremes, you will find intermediate stages of improvement; and it is doubtless, in contemplating these, that reason and sensibility will find the happiest situation in life.
The present state of independent America, will, perhaps, give us a glance at the highest perfection of human life that we are permitted to hope for; but who, in judging of
it
When, therefore, you shall form your opinion on the spot, of those celebrated American constitutions, do not exaggerate too much either the vices of Europe, to which you compare them, or the virtues of America, which you bring into the contrast. Make it a principle to determine whether it may not be said,
in reality things are here as they are with us; the difference is so small, that it is not worth the change.
This is a proper method to guard against error. It is well, at the same time, to form a just idea of the difficulty of change; this should be always present to the mind. Voltaire says.
You
La patrie est aux liex òu l'ame est enchainée.
You wish to contemplate the effects of liberty on the progress of men, of society, and of government. May you, in this examination, never lose sight of impartiality and cool circumspection, that your friends not be exposed either to incredulity, or to deception.
I do not imagine that you can find in America, new motives to engage every reasonable European to the love of liberty. What they will most thank you for is, to describe to us what America in fact is, and what, in opinion, she may be, in a given time, making a reasonable allowance for those accidents which trouble the repose of life.
Men always dispute; they are every where formed of the same materials, and subject to the same passions: but the matters on which they dispute, are, given country, more or less fitted to disturb the general harmony and individual happiness. Thus a state of universal toleration renders harmless the diversity opinion in religious matters.
In proportion as political institutions submit the ruling power to well-defined forms, at the same time that they have the public
opinion
the
There is one advantage in America which Europe does offer; a man may settle himself in the desert, and be safe from political commotions. But is there no danger in this? Endeavour to explain to us the state of the savages on that great continent, the most certain account of their numbers, their manners the causes, more or less, inevitable, of wars with them. This part of your accounts will not be the least interesting. Forget not to give us, as far as you have opportunity, all that can be known relative to the ancient state of America.
Observe what are the remains of the military spirit among the Americans; what are their prejudices in this respect; are there men among them who with to see themselves at the head of armies? Do they enlist any soldiers? Can you perceive any germe, which, united to the spirit of idleness, would make the profession of a soldier preferable to that of a cultivator, or an artizan? for it is this wretched situation of things in other countries, which furnishes the means of great
armies.cincinnati
, a body truly distressing to the political philosopher.
Solomon says, there is nothing new under the sun. This may be true; but are we yet acquainted with ail political revolutions, in order to make the circle complete? History furnishes the picture of no revolution like that of the United States, nor any arrangements similar to theirs. Thus you may look into futurity, and see what perseverances or changes may contradict the philosophy of history.
You ought likewise, to foresee whether foreign wars are to be expected; whether the Europeans are right in saying, that the United States will one day wish to be conquerors. I do not believe it; I believe rather that their revolution will be contagious, especially if their federal system shall maintain union and peace in all parts of the confederation. This is the master point of the revolution; it ought to engage the whole force of your meditations.
Tell
Tell us, finally, if the rage of law-making has passed the seas with the colonists of the United States. You will doubtless find there, many minds struck with the disorders resulting from war and independence; others who preserve a lively image of the great liberty which each individual ought to enjoy; the first will be frightened at the least disturbance, wish to see a law or a statute applied to every trivial thing; the others think that laws can never be too few. What is the prevailing opinion there on this subject? When we consider what charms and what utility must be found in the private occupations of men in that country, we should think that the commonwealth would remain a long time without intermingling with them. But we are assured that lawyers abound there, and enjoy a danegrous influence; that the civil legislation is there, as in England, an abundant source of law-suits and of distress. Enlighten us on this subject. We have often observe, that civil legislation has corrupted the best political institutions; it is often a crime against society.
Internal police, every where in Europe, is founded on the opinion, that man is depraved,
turbulent
LETTER
May 20, 1788.
AFTER
having instructed us on all political subjects, and principally those on which depend internal and external peace, and the security of individuals, you will have to contemplate the soil of America as relative to human industry, which, in its turn, influences prodigiously the different modes of living.
It seems, in this respect, that all the great divisions of the earth should resemble each other. It is possible, however, that America offers, in the same space, more aliments to industry, more
data
, than can be found in Europe. Fix our ideas upon those invitations that nature has traced on the soil of America, in addressing herself to the human understanding. To particularize minutely what the maps only give us in gross, will be more worthy of your attention, than the details
We have undertaken to advise the Americans to be cultivators, and to leave to the Europeans those manufactures which agree not with a country life. You will be curious to discover their disposition in this respect. It ought to depend much on the facility of communication; and if, as it appears, independent America, in a little time, and with small expence, may be intersected by canals in all directions; if this advantage is so generally felt, that they will apply themselves to it at an early period, there is no doubt but in America human activity will be occupied principally in the production of subsistence, and of raw materials.
It is the opinion in Europe, that consumption causes production, and that the failure of consumption discourages labour; for this reason they require cities and manufactures. But there is, in all these opinions, a great confusion of ideas, which the spectacle, of nations, rising under the protection of liberty, will aid you in clearing up. You will see, perhaps, with evidence, that a man ceases to fear the superfluity of subsistences, when he
is
It is on the accounts that you will give us in this respect, that the opinions of your
friends
Thus, my friend, if you wish to instruct those who would fly from the tyranny of Europe, and who would find a situation of honest industry for their children, study the history of emigrants. Study the causes of the disasters of travellers; judge of their illusions; go to the places of debarkation, and learn the precautions necessary to be taken to render easy and agreeable their first arrival.
Begin with such as you know to be in easy circumstances, and descending, by degrees, to the honest individual, who, full of health and vigour, his coat on his back, and his staff in his hand, carries with him all he possesses; inform each one what he ought to expect, if, after conquering all his aversions, and taking all his precautions, he determines to quit Europe, to go to the land of liberty Finally,
E
Finally, my friend, in all that concerns private life, as in political relations, in the means of acquiring fortune; as in the honest ambition of serving the public, let your observations attest that you have neglected no means of comparing the enjoyments of Europe, with what may be expected among the free Americans.
LETTER
May 21, 1788.
WHEN
we contemplate the American Revolution, the circumstances which have opposed its perfection, the knowledge we are able to collect for the institution of republics on a more perfect plan, the lands destined by Congress for new States, and the multitude of happy circumstances which may facilitate their preparatives, and protect their infancy, we are hurried insensibly into projects chimerical at the first fight, which become attracting by reflection, and which we abandon, but with regret, on account of the difficulty of finding a sufficient number of persons for their execution.
When a tract of land is offered for sale, and its limits ascertained, why cannot it be prepared, in all circumstances, for a republic, in the same manner as you prepare a house for your friends.
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Penn had already seen the necessity of regulating beforehand, the conduct of a colony on the soil which they were going to inhabit. We have at present many more advantages than he had, to ordain and execute the same thing with more success; and, instead of savages, who gave him trouble, we should at present be sustained and protected by the States, with which we should be connected.
I have no doubt, that having acquired the soil, we might establish a republic, better calculated for peace and happiness, than any now existing, or that ever did exist. Hitherto they have formed from chance and involuntary combinations; it has been necessary in them all, that national innovations should be reconciled with absurdities, knowledge with ignorance, good sense with prejudices. and wise institutions with barbarisms. Hence that chaos, that eternal source of distresses, disputes, and disorders.
If men of wisdom and information should organize the plan of a society before it existed, and extend their foresight to every circumstance of preparing proper institutions for the forming of the morals, public and private, and the encouragement of industry, ought
they
Profit, therefore of your travels in America, to inform yourself, if, among the lands to be fold by Congress, there exists not a situation of easy access, where the nature of the soil is favourable to industry, and its other circumstances inviting to the first settlers. It should be furnished with easy communications by land and water.
For this purpose, there should be a topographical map and description, sufficiently minute and extended, to enable us to trace upon it the smaller divisions. There ought to be found levels, relative to a certain point, in order to know beforehand the possibility of canals. All other objects of consequence ought to be noted at the same time: such as the nature of the soil in every part, the kinds of timber, the quarries of stone, &c. This will doubtless be an expensive operation; but any expences may be undertaken by great
E 2
It will be necessary to know, on what conditions the Congress would treat for the cession of such a tract, and whether they would agree to take the principal part of the payment, only as fast as the settlers should come to take possession of their lands.
It would be desirable that the territory chosen should be such that, at the place of the first settlement, it would be easy to establish conveniences for the reception of the settlers, to provide them such necessaries as will preserve them from those embarrassments and calamities which sometimes throw infant settlements into trouble, misery, and despair.
After having acquired an exact idea of what may be expected from the nature of the soil, and its connection with neighbouring places, we might then undertake the work of forming a political and civil legislation, suited to the new republic, and its local circumstances. Such should be the task to be accomplished before the people departed from hence; that every settler might know beforehand what laws he is to live under, so
that
The previous regulations ought to be carried so far, that every person should foresee where he was going, and what he was to do in order to fulfil his engagements; whether he was a purchaser of lands, or had inrolled himself as a labourer.
The lands should not be sold out to individuals by chance, and according to the caprice of each purchaser; but a plan should be pursued in the population, that the people might aid each other in their labours, and be a mutual solace and protection by their neighborhood.
The public expences, those of religion and education, should be furnished by the produce of a portion of land reserved in each district for that purpose. These lands could be the public domain; they ought to be put in cultivation the first. There ought perhaps to be a regulation for a regular supply of workmen on the public lands, roads, and other public works. By this we should always have employment for new comers, and might receive all men capable of labour, provided
These details will be sufficient to recall to your mind, our frequent conversations on a plan of this kind. If you can acquire from Congress the certainty of being able to realize it, so far as it depends on them, and we have only to find the company here to undertake it; I believe it may be easily done in Europe.
The company will have lands to sell; their price will augment in proportion as they come in vogue; the company will endeavor to render it an object of general attention, by the preparations made for the reception of the first settlers, in order to avoid the difficulties incident to the beginning of an establishment. I doubt not, therefore, that this project will offer a sufficient prospect of gain, to engage people to adventure in it many millions of livres.
The better to determine them to it, the interest should be divided into small shares, and proper measures taken to assure the holders of shares of an administration worthy of confidence, to prevent the abuses of trust,
and
A prospectus, sufficiently detailed, should inform the Public of the nature of the enterprise, the principal object of which should be to realize a republic, founded on the lessons of experience and good sense, on the principles of fraternity and equality, which ought to unite mankind.
The principal means of its execution will be, to have purchased the lands so as to be able to re-sell them at a price sufficiently low, to encourage their cultivation, and at the same time with sufficient profit to the company. For it is natural to observe, that the difference between the original value of lands in their wild state, and their value when an active settlement is begun upon them, will assure to the first purchasers a prodigious profit from their first advances.
This, however, supposes, as I have already mentioned, that, receiving a small proportion of the purchase-money when the purchase is made, the Congress will consent to receive the principal payments only in proportion as
the
Thus, the funds of the company should be composed, 1. of the first payments to be made to Congress; 2. the expences necessary in acquiring a topographical knowledge of the territory, and in making its divisions; 3. the funds necessary for public works, and the establishment for the reception of those who arrive, to ensure them against want and discouragement.
These three objects will doubtless require a considerable fund; but the rising value of the lands to be sold, and to be paid for only as fast as they are sold, will greatly indemnify the undertakers. These are the solid arguments to be offered to the lovers of gain. Many other considerations might be detailed in the prospectus, to determine philosophers and friends of humanity to become sharers.
This is enough, my friend, to recall to your mind more ideas than I can give you on the subject. Study it; and if at the first view it looks romantic, find the means of
saving
Age will prevent me from undertaking in this great work. It seems to me, that there is nothing like it in times past, that it would be greatly useful to the future, and would mark the American revolution with one of the happiest effects which it can produce. Is not this enough to animate the generous ambition of those who have youth, health, and courage, so as not to be frightened at difficulties, or disheartened by delays?
LETTER
May 21. 1788
THE
Utopia will be but a dream; and you will find, without doubt, the new American settlements invincibly destined to a scattering herd of people, who will form insensibly, by the addition of new families and individuals; without following any plan, without providing such laws as would be suitable to them, when their herds shall become sufficiently numerous to be represented as a republic in the federal union. It is thus that all political systems seem condemned to resemble what has already taken place in such and such a state, according as the multitude, or some bold leader, shall decide.
We must, then, abandon this project; and then, where will you place those friends whom we wish to establish in America. You will inform yourself, for them, of the progress of population and civilization in Kentucky, of which they tell so many wonders. But reflect on two things: first, That our settlement will be very uncertain, if we must go ourselves to
prepare
that
It is a pity that Pittsburgh is not more populous, or that Virginia is separated by deserts from the new states.
It is useless to enter into more particular details on this matter; you know us: I shall only recommend to you an attention to the climate. A fine sky, temperature of Paris, no musketoes, agreeable situation, and good soil, are things indispensable.
The numerous observations which you propose to collect for the instruction of the public, will inform us of many other things, which I should mention here, if they did not enter into your general plan. In observing customs and tastes, forget not the article of music, considered in its effects on the powers of the mind. The taste for music is general in Europe; we make of it one of the principal objects of education. Is it so in America?
Finally, As we are not needy adventurers, think what answers you must give, when our wives, our children, and even ourselves, shall
ask
LETTER
May 22. 1788.
AFTER
having given you my thoughts on general subjects, it is unnecessary to be more particular on those which promise a more certain and palpable advantage to your travels. I mean the purchase of lands or public funds, according as circumstances may invite.
Three classes of persons may with to purchase lands in the United States: those who mean to employ others to cultivate them, those who will cultivate for themselves, and those who wish to place their money in them, with the prospect that these lands will increase in value, in proportion to the population.
Let us leave the two first classes to make their own choice. Your general observations, to be published on your return, will instruct such as with to remove to America, how to go and choose for themselves.
The
The case of the simple speculators is different. Some wish to purchase, to sell again to a profit as soon as possible; others extend their views farther, and, calculating the vicissitudes of Europe, find it very prudent to place a dead fund in lands, which, by the effect of neighbouring population, will acquire a great value in the course of years.
Many heads of families, provident for their descendants, place dead funds in a bank, to accumulate, in favour of their children. A greater number would do the same thing, if there were a satisfactory solution of all questions in the Chapter of Accidents. Now, nothing appears to me better to answer this wise precaution, than to place such money on the cultivated soil of the United States.
The information that you will be able to give on this subject, will be very useful. There are lands which, from their position, must remain uncleared for a longer or shorter period; others rendered valuable by the neighbourhood of rivers and other important communications; others on account of their timber, &c. &c.
But, can lands be purchased with full surety?
F
The present is the epoch that will decide the Europeans, as to their confidence in the United States. I doubt not but the States in general will sanction the constitution; and from that time every eye ought to look upon America as being in the road of unfailing prosperity. Then, without doubt, many Europeans will think of purchasing lands there. I know of no period when the spirit of speculation has been so general as at present; no period which presents a revolution like that of independent America; and no foundation so solid as that which they are about to establish. Thus, past events prove nothing against what I presume of the dispositions of mens minds relative to this business.
I should not be astonished, then, if he who applies himself to the knowledge of lands in this point of view, and gives solutions to all questions of caution and diffidence, should engage the Europeans to very great purchases.
LETTER
* I thought proper to publish this method: it may be useful to other travellers. The method is mine; the observations are from M. Claviere.
May 1788.
MY
principal object is
to examine the effects of liberty on the character of man, of society, and of government.
This being the grand point of all my observations, in order to arrive at it, I must write every evening, in a journal, what has principally struck me in the day. As my observations will refer to five or six grand divisions, I shall make a tablet for each division. The following are the divisions:
Federal Government.
To collect all those points in which the ancient system resembles the new:—to obtain all that has been written on the subject; among other things, the Letters of
Publius:
—to remark the inconveniences of the old
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Observations of my Friend
Claviere.
A number of little states, whose extent is not so great as to render the operations of their individual government too complicated, may be united under one general government, charged with maintaining internal peace, and rendering their union respectable abroad. Such, without doubt, is the political association which is attended with the greatest advantages. You must then endeavour principally to find what we have a right to expect from the present federal form of the United States.
Government of each State.
To consider the composition of the legislative body, the senate, and executive power; elections; any abuses that may be in them. Compare the effects of each legislature, to judge which is the best.
Observations.
—What are we to expect from their dissimilarities? In what do they consist
principally
Legislation, Civil, Criminal; Police.
In examining these objects, facts only are to be attended to. Their comparison with those of other countries can be made afterwards.
State of the commerce between each State, and the Savages, the Canadians, Nova Scotia, the English Islands, France, Spain, Holland, Northern States of Europe, Mexico, China, India, Africa.
To remark the principal articles of exportation and importation; the number of vessels employed; the state of money used in commerce.
Observations.
—Forget not to fix well the
F 3
Is their money-system a simple one? Has it a standard constant and easy to conceive? Is it of a permanent nature; so that, in a course of time, one may always judge of the price of things, in bringing them to a term of comparison not liable to change? This can only be done by having one integral metal, to which others relate, either as merchandize, or as a bill of credit referring to money, with regard to which it expresses a right, but not an intrinsic value. A piece of coined copper, for instance, is a bill of credit, on the portion of that metal which is adopted as a standard of value: for coined copper has by no means the intrinsic value of that portion of money which it represents.
Banks.
Observations.
—Banks are an important article in the commonwealth; the proportion which they observe between the money they
contain
Federal Revenue of each State—Taxes which they impose—Manner of collecting them—Effect of these Taxes.
Observations.
—What is the prevailing system of taxation? Is land considered as the basis of taxes? In that case, is it known that it is dangerous to discourage the farmer? Why have they not reserved a domain to the States?
The Federal Debt of every State—Those of Individuals—Federal Expences of each State—Their Accountability.
Observations.
—The debt has been reduced; and they justify this reduction by the enormous
There are curious enquiries to be made on this subject. Why did they gain so much before they allowed a depreciation? Because they ran a risk of another kind; they doubted of the possibility of payment, because they were not sure of the suceess of the revolution. In this point of view, how do they justify the scale of depreciation, especially towards those who had no interest in the revolution?
Money was very scarce; this was a great cause of discredit. It must have been distressing to those who were reduced to the necessity of borrowing: hence great augmentations in the prices of articles. In some instances, was not the reduction unjust? This taken from first to last, must be a very curious history. It will, perhaps, teach us, that they have made a fraudulent bankruptcy. But, in this case, there is nothing to fear from this conclusion; besides, supposing extortion on the part of the creditors, it does not justify a
reduction
But if paper-money existed then, that of every state was not in discredit; and yet the depreciation has struck at all paper-money without exception.
It is said in the Encyclopedia, that the depreciation had not injured strangers. Is this a fact?
It is very important to obtain a just idea of the Public expences necessary to the Americans in future; and to penetrate, as much as possible, the public opinion on this subject. What do they think of loans? They are sometimes a benefit; but the wisest governments are the most careful to avoid this resource. When they once begin, they know not where they can stop.
Public loans are always so much taken from industry; and the theory of restoring to it what is thus taken, is always deceitful.
The
The Americans ought to hold them in aversion, from the evils which they now experience from them; at least, unless they owe their liberty to them.
State of the Country near the great Towns.—Interior Parts—Frontiers—Cultivation; its Expences and Produce; clearing new Lands, what encourages or hinders it—Money circulating in the Country—Country Manufactures.
Observations.
—It is said, that the lands are uncultivated near New-York; that this town is surrounded with forests, and that though fire-wood is cheap, they prefer coals, even at a high price.
It should seem, that commerce was in such a state at New-York, that agriculture is despised there, or that they purchase provisions at a lower price than they can raise them. If this be true, there are singularities to be explained, which we know nothing of in Europe.
Consider the state of commerce and of agriculture in America, under such a point of
view
You will find, perhaps, that the origin of new comers determines their vocation. The English arrive with their heads filled with commerce, because they have some property; the Scotch, Irish, Germans, and others, who arrive poor, turn to agriculture, and are, besides for the greater part, peasants. In clearing up these facts, you will tell us what a little property, the love of labour, united to simplicity of manners, and turned to agriculture, will produce.
What is the true reason of the low price of cultivated farms and houses? Doubtless there is a great excess of productions, compared with the consumptions; in that case, farming renders little profit.
They speak much of the advantages of rearing cattle. Nations have prejudices, tastes, whims, like individuals. What do they think of manufactures in the United States? What is the prevailing mode of agriculture in America? Do they speak of the great and the little culture?
Private
Private Morals in the Towns and in the Country.
Observations.
—Do you find manners truly American? or do not you rather, at every instant, find Europe at your heels? Speak to us of education public and private. Do they, as in Europe, sacrifice the time of the youth in useless and insignificant studies? Make acquaintance, as far as possible, with the ministers of religion. Is paternal authority more respected there, than in Europe? Does the mild education of Rousseau prevail among the free Americans?
Inequalities of Fortune.
Forget not, under this head, the subject of marriages, dowers, and testaments. Usages, in these respects, prevent or accelerate inequality.
LETTER
Havre de Grace, June 3, 1788.
I AM
at last, my friend, arrived near the ocean, and in fight of the ship that is to carry me from my country. I quit it without regret; since the ministerial despotism which overwhelms it, leaves nothing to expect for a long time, but frightful storms, slavery, or war. May the woes which threaten this fine country, spare what I leave in it, the most dear to my heart!
I shall not describe the cities and countries which I have passed on my way hither. My imagination was too full of the distressing spectacle I was leaving behind; my mind was thronged with too many cares and fears, to be able to make observations. Insensible to all the scenes which presented themselves to me, I was with difficulty drawn from this intellectual paralysis, at the view of some parts of Normandy, which brought England to my mind.
The
The fields of Normandy, especially the canton of Caux, display a great variety of culture. The houses of the peasants, better built, and better lighted than those of Picardy and Beauce, announce the ease which generally reigns in this province. The peasants are well clad. You know the odd head-dress of the women of Caux; the cap in the form of a pyramid, the hair turned back, constrained, plaistered with powder and grease, and the tinsel which always disfigures simple nature. But we excuse this little luxury, in considering that, if their husbands were as miserable as the peasants of other provinces, they would not have the means of paying the expence. The Norman peasants have that air of contentment and independence which is observable in those of the Austrian Flanders; that calm and open countenance, an infallible sign of the happy mediocrity, the moral goodness, and the dignity of man. If ever France shall be governed by a free constitution, no province is better situated, or enjoys more means to arrive at a high degree of prosperity.
Bolbec and Bottes, near Havre, contain some situations quite picturesque and delicious for the hermitage of a philosopher, or the
mansion
I fled from Rouen as from all great towns. Misery dwells there at the side of opulence. You there meet a numerous train of wretches covered with rags, with sallow complexions, and deformed bodies. Every thing announces that there are manufactories in that town; that is to say, a crowd of miserable beings who perish with hunger, to enable others to swim in opulence.
The merchants at Havre complain much of the treaty of commerce between France and England; they think it at least premature, considering our want of a constitution, and the superiority of the English industry. They complain likewise that the merchant was not consulted in forming it. I endeavored to console them by saying, that the consequences of this treaty, joined with other circumstances, would doubtless lead to a free constitution; which, by knocking off the shackles from the French industry and commerce, would enable us to repair our losses; and that some bankruptcies would be but a small price for liberty. With regard to the indifference of the ministry in consulting the
merchants,
Havre is, next to Nantz and Bordeaux, the most considerable place for the slave trade. Many rich houses in this city, owe their fortunes so this infamous traffic, which increases, instead of diminishing. There, is at present, a great demand for slaves in the colonies, occasioned by the augmentation of the demand for sugar, coffee, and cotton in Europe. It is true then that wealth increases? You may believe it, perhaps, if you look into England; but the interior parts of France give no such idea.
Our negro traders believe, that were it not for the considerable premiums given by the government, this trade could not subsist; because the English sell their slaves at a much lower price than the French. I have many of these details from an American Captain, who is well acquainted with the Indians, and with
Africa.
I spoke with some of these merchants of the societies formed in America, England, and France, for the abolition of this horrid commerce. They did not know of their existence, and they considered their efforts as the movements of a blind and dangerous enthusiasm. Filled with old prejudices, and not having read of any of the profound discussions which this philosophical and political insurrection has excited in England they ceased not to repeat to me, that the culture of sugar could not be carried on, but by the blacks, and by black slaves. The whites, they say, cannot undertake it, on account of the extreme heat; and no work can be drawn out of the blacks, but by the force of the whip.
To this objection, as to twenty others which I have heard a hundred times repeated, I opposed the victorious answers which you know * See Clarkson, Frossard, &c.
G
These French merchants have confirmed to me a fact, which the society in London has announced to us; it is, that the English carry on this trade under the name of French houses, and thus obtain the premiums which the French government gives to this commerce. These premiums amount to one half of the original price of the slaves.
I mentioned to them an establishment formed at Sierra Leona, to cultivate sugar by free hands, and extend their culture and civilization in Africa. They answered me, that this settlement would not long subsist; that the French and English merchants viewed it with an evil eye, and would employ force to destroy this rising colony
* This infernal project has succeeded, but the triumph will not be long; for two societies are formed in London, to colonize in Africa, and civilize the blacks. See, on this subject, an excellent pamphlet, entitled,
L'Admiral refute par lui meme.
These merchants appeared to me to have more prejudice than inhumanity; and that if they could be told of a new commerce more advantageous, it would not be difficult
to
I see in this port, one of those packets destined for the correspondence between France and the United States, and afterwards employed in the very useless and expensive royal correspondence with our Islands;—a system adopted only to favour, at the public expence, some of the creatures of the ministry. This ship, called
Marechal de Castries
, was built in America, and is an excellent sailer. This is the best answer to all the fables uttered at the office of Marine at Versailles, against the American timber, and the American construction.
Adieu, my friend! the wind is fair, and we are on the point of embarking. I am impatient; for every thing here afflicts me; even the accents of patriotism are alarming and suspicious. Such is the fatal influence of arbitrary governments: they sever all connections, they cramp confidence, induce suspicion. and, of consequence, force men of liberty and sensibility to sequester themselves, to be wretched, or to live in eternal fear. I
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LETTER
Boston, July 30, 1788.
WITH
what joy, my good friend, did I leap to this shore of liberty! I was weary of the sea; and the sight of trees, of towns, and even of men, gives a delicious refreshment to eyes fatigued with the desert of the ocean. I flew from despotism, and came at last to enjoy the spectacle of liberty, among a people, where nature, education, and habit had engraved the equality of rights, which every where else is treated as a chimera, with what pleasure did I contemplate this town, which first shook off the English yoke! which, for a long time, resisted all the seductions, all the menaces, all the horrors of a civil war! How I delighted to wander up and down that long street, whose simple houses of wood border the magnificent channel of Boston, and whose full stores offer me all the productions of the continent which I had quitted! How I enjoyed the activity of the merchants, the artizans, and the sailors! It was not the noisy vortex of Paris; it was not the unquiet, eager mien of
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The manners of the people are not exactly the same as described by M. de Crevecoeur. You no longer meet here that Presbyterian austerity, which interdicted all pleasures, even that of walking; which forbade travelling on Sunday, which persecuted men whose opinions were different from their own. The
Bostonians
The young women here, enjoy the liberty they do in England, that they did in Geneva when morals were there, and the republic existed; and they do not abuse it. Their frank and tender hearts have nothing to fear from the perfidy of men. Examples of this perfidy are rare; the vows of love are believed; and love always respects them, or shame follows the guilty.
The
The Bostonian mothers are reserved their; air is however frank, good, and communicative. Entirely devoted to their families, they are occupied in rendering their husbands happy, and in training their children to virtue.
The law denounces heavy penalties against adultery; such as the pillory, and imprisonment. This law has scarcely ever been called into execution. It is because families are happy; and they are pure, because they are happy.
Neatness without luxury, is a characteristic feature of this purity of manners; and this neatness is seen every where at Boston, in their dress, in their houses, and in their churches. Nothing is more charming than an inside view of the church on Sunday. The good cloth coat covers the man; callicoes and chintzes dress the women and children, without being spoiled by those gewgaws which whim and caprice have added to them among our women. Powder and pomatum never fully the heads of infants and children: I see them with pain, however, on the heads of men: they invoke the art of the hair dresser; for, unhappily, this art has already crossed the seas.
I shall
I shall never call to mind, without emotion, the pleasure I had one day in hearing the respectable Mr. Clarke, successor to the learned Doctor Chauncey, the friend of mankind. His church is in close union with that of Doctor Cooper, to whom every good Frenchman, and every friend of liberty, owes a tribute of gratitude, for the love he bore the French, and the zeal with which he defended and preached the American independence. I remarked in this auditory, the exterior of that ease and contentment of which I have spoken; that collected calmness, resulting from the habit of gravity, and the conscious presence of the almighty; that religious decency, which is equally distant from grovelling idolatry, and from the light and wanton airs of those Europeans who go to a church as to a theatre
Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsae.
But to crown my happiness, I saw none of those livid wretches, covered with rags, who in Europe, soliciting our compassion at the foot of the altar, seem to bear testimony against Providence, our humanity, and the order of society. The discourse, the prayer, the worship, every thing, bore the same simplicity.
The excellence of this morality characterizes almost all the sermons of all the sects through the Continent. The ministers rarely speak dogmas: universal tolerance, the child of American independence has banished the preaching of dogmas, which always leads to discussion and quarrels. All the sects admit nothing but morality, which is the same in all, and the only preaching proper for a great society of brothers.
This tolerance is unlimited at Boston; a town formerly witness of bloody persecutions, especially against the Quakers; where many of this sect paid, with their life, for their perseverance in their religious opinions. Just Heaven! how is it possible there can exist men believing sincerely in God, and yet barbarous enough to inflict death on a woman, the intrepid Dyer * Mae Warvilleto appears to have been misinformed with respect to the severity of the persecutions against the Quakers in Massachusetts; and particularly the circumstances relating to Mrs. Dyer. This woman, I believe, is the only person ever put to death in that colony for any thing connected with religious principles. The highest penalties inflicted by law against the Quakers, or any other sect, on account of its religion, was banishment. The Quakers then formed a settlement at Rhode Island; but several of them returned frequently to Massachusetts, with such a zeal for making proselytes, as to disturb the order of society. The disobedience of returning from banishment was then interdicted by the penalty of whipping; this not answering the purpose, the terrors of death were added. This unhappy woman, inspired, it seems, with the frenzy of martyrdom came to provoke the pains of this severe law. She raved in the streets against the magistrates and the church; went into religious assemblies, raised loud cries to drown the voice of the preachers, called them the worshippers of Baal; defied the judges, and said she would leave them no peace till they should incur the vengeance of Heaven, and the downfall of their own sect, by putting her to death! The causes on both parties, which led to this event, were doubtless culpab!e; but, to compare the demerit of each, would require a research equally difficult and useless at the present day. Persecution and contumacy are reciprocal causes and effects of the same evils in society; and perhaps there particular persecuted Quakers were as different in their character from the present respectable order of
The delirium about witchcraft in Massachusetts, is sometimes ignorantly confounded with the persecution of the Quakers.thee'd
thee'd
Friends in America, as the first Puritans of Boston were from its present inhabitants.
Translator
thee'd
and
thou'd
men, because she did not believe in the divine mission of priests, because she would follow the gospel literally? But let us draw the curtain over these scenes of horror; they will never again sully this new continent, destined by Heaven to be the asylum of liberty and humanity. Every one
at
The ministers of different sects live in such harmony, that they supply each other's places when any one is detained from his pulpit.
On seeing men think so differently on matters of religion, and yet possess such virtues, it may be concluded, that one may be very honest, and believe, or not believe, in transubstantiation, and the word. They have concluded that it is best to tolerate each other, and that this is the worship most agreeable to God.
Before this opinion was so general among them, they had established another: it was the necessity of reducing divine worship to the greatest simplicity, to disconuect it from all its superstitious ceremonies, which gave it the appearance, of idolatry; and particularly, not to give their priests enormous salaries,
The
* The truth of this remark struck me at Boston and elsewhere in the United States. Almost all the ministers are men of talents, or at least, men of learning. With these precarious salaries, the ministers of Boston not only live well, but they marry, and rear large families of children, This fact confirms the judicious remarks of M. Claviere on the advantages of the priests marrying, even when their salary is small. Their alliance would be sought after, by fathers who would wish to give their daughters husbands well instructed, and of good morals. The same thing will happen in France when the priests shall be allowed to marry. They ought not then to dread marriage, though their salaries should be small.
The Bostonians are become so philosophical on the subject of religion, that they have lately ordained a man who was refused by the bishop. The sect to which he belongs have installed him in their church, and given him the power to preach and to teach; and he preaches, and he teaches, and discovers good abilities; for the people really deceive themselves in their choice.—This economical institution, which has no example but in the primitive church, has been censured by those who believe still in the tradition of orders by the direct descendants of the Apostles. But the Bostonians are so near believing that every man may be his own preacher, that the apostolic doctrine has not found very warm advocates. They will soon be, in America, in the situation where M. d'Alembert has placed the ministers of Geneva.
Since the ancient puritan austerity has disappeared, you are no longer surprised to see a game of cards introduced among these good Presbyterians. When the mind is tranquil, in the enjoyment of competency and peace, it is natural to occupy it in this way, especially in a country where there is no theatre, where men make it not a business to pay court to the women, where they read few
books,
There are many clubs at Boston. M. Chastellux speaks of a particular club held once a week. I was at it several times, and was much pleased with their politeness to strangers, and the knowledge displayed in their conversation. There is no coffee-house at Boston, New-York, or Philadelphia. One house in each town, that they call by that name, serves as an exchange.
One of the principal pleasures of the inhabitants of these towns, consists in little parties for the country, among families and friends. The principal expence of the parties, especially after dinner, is tea. In this, as in their whole manner of living, the Americans in general resemble the English. Punch, warm and cold, before dinner; excellent beef, and Spanish and Bordeaux wines, cover their
tables,
After forcing the English to give up their domination, the Americans determined to rival them in every thing useful. This spirit of emulation shews itself every where: it has erected at Boston an extensive glass manufactory, belonging to M. Breek and others.
This spirit of emulation has opened to the Bostonians, to many channels of commerce, which lead them to all parts of the globe.
Nil mortalibus arduum eft;
Audax Japeri genus.
If these lines could ever apply to any people, it is to the free Americans. No danger, no distance, no obstacle impedes them. What
have
It is this spirit of emulation, which multiplies and brings to perfection so many manufactories of cordage in this town; which has erected filatures of hemp and flax, proper to occupy young people, without subjecting them to be crouded together in such numbers as to ruin their health and their morals; proper, likewise, to occupy that class of women, whom the long voyages of their seafaring husbands and other accidents reduce to inoccupation.
To this spirit of emulation are owing the manufactories of salt, nails. paper and paper-hangings, which are multiplied in this state. The rum distilleries are on the decline, since the suppression of the slave trade, in which this liquor was employed, and since the diminution of the use of strong spirits by the country people.
This is fortunate for the human race; and the American industry will soon repair the small loss it sustains from the decline of this fabrication of poisons.
H
Massachusetts wishes to rival, in manufactures, Connecticut and Pennsylvania; she has like the last, a society formed for the encouragement of manufactures and industry.
The greatest monuments of the industry of this state, are the three bridges of Charles, Malden and Essex.
Boston has the glory of having given the first college or university to the new world. It is placed on an extensive plain, four miles from Boston, at a place called Cambridge; the origin of this useful institution was in 1636. The imagination could not fix on a place that could better unite all the conditions essential to a fear of education; sufficiently near Boston, to enjoy all the advantages of a communication with Europe and the rest of the world; and sufficiently distant, not to expose the students to the contagion of licentious manners, common in commercial towns.
The air of Cambridge is pure, and the environs charming, offering a vast space for the exercise of the youth.
The buildings are large, numerous, and
well
The regulation of the course of studies here, is nearly the same as that at the university of Oxford. I think it impossible but that the last revolution must introduce a great reform. Free men ought to strip themselves of their prejudices, and to perceive, that, above all, it is necessary to be a man and a citizen; and that the study of the dead languages, of a fastidious philosophy and theology, ought to occupy few of the moments of a life, which might be usefully employed in studies more advantageous to the great family of the human race.
Such a change in the studies is more probable, as an academy is formed at Boston, composed of respectable men, who cultivate all the sciences; and who, disengaged from
H 2
Mr Bowdoin, president of this academy, is a man of universal talents. He unites with his profound erudition, the virtues of a magistrate, and the principles of a republican politician, His conduct has never disappointed the confidence of his fellow citizens; though his son-in-law, Mr. Temple, has incurred their universal detestation, for the versatility of his conduct during the war, and his open attachment to the British since the peace. To recompense him for this, the English have given him the consulate-general of America.
But, to return to the university of Cambridge—Superintended by the respectable president Willard. Among the associates in the direction of the studies, are distinguished, Dr. Wigglesworth and Dr. Dexter. The latter is professor of natural philosophy, chemistry and medicine; a man of extensive knowledge, and great modesty. He told me to my great satisfaction, that he gave lectures on the experiments of our school of chemistry. The excellent work of my respectable
master
In a free country, every thing ought to bear the stamp of patriotism. This patriotism so happily displayed in the foundation, endowment, and encouragement of this university, appears every year in a solemn feast celebrated at Cambridge in honour of the Sciences. This feast, which takes place once a year in all the colleges of America, is called the
commencement:
it resembles the exercises and distribution of prizes in our colleges. It is a day of joy for Boston; almost all its inhabitants assemble in Cambridge. The most distinguished of the students display their talents in presence of the public; and these exercises, which are generally on patriotic subjects, are terminated by a feast, where reign the freest gaiety, and the most cordial fraternity.
It is remarked, that, in countries chiefly devoted to commerce, the sciences are not carried to any high degree. This remark applies to Boston. The university certainly contains men of worth and learning but science is not diffused among the inhabitants of
H 3
Poets, for the same reason, must be more rare than other writers. They speak, however, of an original, but lazy poet, by the name of
Allen.
His verses are said to be full of warmth and force. They mention particularly, a manuscript poem of his, on the famous battle of Bunker-Hill; but he will not print it. He has for his reputation and his money the carelessness of
La Fontaine.
They publish a Magazine here, though the number of Gazettes is very considerable. The multiplicity of Gazettes proves the activity of commerce, and the taste for politics and
news
You may judge from these details, that the arts, except those that respect navigation, do not receive much encouragement here. The history of the Planetarium of Mr. Pope is a proof of it. Mr. Pope is a very ingenious artist, occupied in clock-making. The machine which he has constructed, to explain the movement of the heavenly bodies, would astonish you, especially when you consider that he has received no succour from Europe, and very little from books. He owes the whole to himself; he is, like the paintery Trumbull, the child of nature. Ten years of his life have been occupied in perfecting this Planetarium. He had opened a subscription to recompense his trouble, but the subscription was never full.
This discouraged artist told me one day, that he was going to Europe to fell this machine, and to construct others. This country, said he, is too poor to encourage the arts. These words,
this country is too poor
, struck me. I reflected, that if they were pronounced
Let us not blame the Bostonians; they think of the useful, before procuring to themselves the agreeable. They have no brilliant monuments; but they have neat and commodious churches, but they have good houses, but they have superb bridges, and excellent ships. Their streets are well illuminated at night; while many ancient cities of Europe,
containing
Besides the societies for the encouragement of agriculture and manufactures, they have another, known by the name of the Humane Society. Their object is to recover drowned persons. It is formed after the model of the one at London, as that is copied from the one at Paris. They follow the same methods as in Europe, and have rendered important succours.
The Medical Society is not less useful, than the one last mentioned. It holds a correspondence with all the country towns; to know the symptoms of local diseases, propose the proper remedies, and give instruction thereupon to their fellow-citizens.
Another establishment is the alms-house. It is destined to the poor, who, by age and infirmity, are unable to gain their living. It contains at present about 150 persons.
Another, called the work-house, or house of correction, is not so much peopled as you might imagine. In a rising country, in an
active
The state of exports and imports of this industrious people, to prove to you how many new branches of commerce they have opened since the peace, I refer to the general table of the commerce of the United States, which I propose to lay before you.
An employment which is, unhappily, one of the most lucrative in this state, is the profession of the Law, They preserve still the expensive forms of the English practice, which good sense, and the love of order, ought to teach them to suppress; they render advocates necessary; they have likewise borrowed from their fathers, the English, the habit of demanding exorbitant fees. But, notwithstanding the abuses of law proceedings, they complain very little of the Lawyers. Those with whom I have been acquainted, appear to enjoy a great reputation for integrity; such as Summer, Wendell, Lowell, Sullivan.
They
They did themselves honour in the affair of the Tender Act, by endeavouring to prevent it from being enacted, and afterwards to diminish as much as possible its unjust effects.
It is in part to their enlightened philanthropy, that is to be attributed the Law of the 26th of March, 1788, which condemns to heavy penalties, all persons who shall import or export slaves, or be concerned in this infamous traffic.
Finally, they have had a great part in the Revolution, by their writings, by their discourses, by taking the lead in the affairs of Congress, and in foreign negociations.
To recall this memorable period, is to bring to mind one of the greatest ornaments of the American bar, the celebrated Adams; who, from the humble station of a school-master, has raised himself to the first dignities; whose name is as much respected in Europe, as in his own country, for the difficult embassies with which he has been charged. He has, finally, returned to his retreat, in the midst of the applauses of his fellow-citizens, occupied in the cultivation of his farm, and forgetting what he was when he trampled on
the
It is not possible to see Mr. Adams, who knows so well the American constitutions, without speaking to him of that which appears to be taking place in France. I don't know whether he has an ill opinion of our character, of our constancy, or of our understanding; but he does not believe that we can establish a liberty, even equal to what the English enjoy
* The event has proved how much he was deceived.
Mr. Adams is not the only man distinguished in this great revolution, who has retired to the obscure labours of a country
life.Cincinnati:
their eagle appears to him a gewgaw, proper only for children. On shewing me a letter from the immortal Washington, whom he loves as a father, and reveres as an angel—this letter, says he, is a jewel which, in my eyes, surpasses all the eagles and all the ribbons in the world. It was a letter in which that General had felicitated him for his good conduct on a certain occasion. With what joy did this respectable man shew me all parts of his farm! What happiness he enjoys on it! He is a true farmer. A glass of cyder, which he presented to me with frankness and good humour painted on his countenance, appeared to me superior to the most exquisite wines. With this simplicity, men are worthy of liberty, and they are sure of enjoying it for a long time.
This simplicity characterises almost all the men of this state, who have acted distinguished parts in the revolution: such, among others, as Samuel Adams, and Mr. Hancock the present governor. If ever a man was sincerely an idolater of republicanism, it is Samuel Adams, and never a man united more
virtues
* When I compare our legislators, with their airs of importance, always fearing they shall not make noise enough, that they shall not be sufficiently praised; when I compare them to these modern republicans, I fear for the success of the revolution. The vain man can never be far from slavery.
Samuel Adams is the best supporter of the party of Governor Hancock. You know the great sacrifices which the latter made in the revolution, and the boldness with which he declared himself at the beginning of the insurrection. The same spirit of patriotism animates him still. A great generosity, united
to
every
The parts adjacent to Boston, are charming and well cultivated, adorned with elegant houses and agreeable situations. Among the surrounding eminences you distinguish Bunker-hill. This name will recall to your mind the famous Warren; one of the first martyrs of American liberty. I owed an homage to his generous manes; and I was eager to pay it. You arrive at Bunker-hill by the superb bridge at Charleston, of which I have spoken. This town was entirely burnt by the English, in their attack of Bunker-hill. It is at present rebuilt with elegant houses of wood. You see here the store of Mr. Gorham, formerly president of Congress. This hill offers one of the most astonishing monuments of American valor; it is impossible to conceive how seven or eight hundred men, badly a armed, and fatigued, having just constructed, in haste, a few miserable intrenchments, and who knew nothing, or very little, of the use of arms, could resist, for so long a time, the attack of thousands of the English troops, fresh, well disciplined, succeeding each other in the attack.
While the friend of liberty is contemplating this scene, and dropping a tear to the memory of Warren, his emotions of enthusiasm are renewed on viewing the expressive picture of the death of that warrior, painted by Mr. Trumbull, whose talents may equal, one day, those of the most famous masters.
I must finish this long, and too long, letter. Many objects remain still to entertain you with in this state, such as the constitution, debts, taxes; but I refer them to the general table which I shall make of them for the United States. The taxable heads of this state are upwards of 100,000, acres of arable land 200,000, pasturage 340,000, uncultivated 2,000,000, tons of shipping at Boston 60,000.
I
9th. Aug. 1788.
THE
distance of these towns is about two hundred and fifty miles. Many persons have united in establishing a kind of diligence, or public stage, which passes regularly for the convenience of travellers. In the summer season, the journey is performed in four days.
We set out from Boston at four o'clock in the morning, and passed through the handsome town of Cambridge. The country appears well cultivated as far as Weston, where we breakfasted; thence we passed to Worcester to dinner, forty-eight miles from Boston. This town is elegant, and well peopled: the printer, Isaiah Thomas, has rendered it famous through all the continent. He prints most of the works which appear; and it must be granted that his editions are correct.
ThomasDidot
of the United States. The tavern, where we had a good American dinner
* If I sometimes cite dinners and suppers, it is not in memory of eating and drinking, but it is to show the manner of living of the country, and likewise to speak of the prices of provisions, so much exaggerated by Chastellux.
We slept the first night at Spenser, a new village in the midst of the woods. The house of the tavern was but half built; but the part that was finished, had an air of cleanliness which pleases, because it announces that degree of competence, those moral and delicate habits, which are never seen in our villages. The chambers were neat, the beds good, the sheets clean, supper passable; cyder, tea, punch, and all for fourteen pence a-head. There were four of us. Now, compare, my friend, this order of things with what you have a
12
* I travelled with a Frenchman, who, thinking he had much to fear in a savage country, had furnished himself with pistols. The good American smiled at his precautions, and advised him to put his pistols in his trunk: he had wit enough to believe him.
We left Spenser at four o'clock in the morning. New carriage, new proprietor. It
was
The traveller is well recompensed for the fatigue of this route, by the variety of romantic situations, by the beauty of the prospects which it offers at each step, by the perpetual contrast of savage nature and the efforts of art. Those vast ponds of water, which lose themselves in the woods; those rivulets, that wash the meadow, newly snatched from uncultivated nature; those neat houses, scattered among the forests, and containing swarms of children, joyous and healthy, and well clad; those fields, covered with trunks of trees, whose destruction is committed to the hand of time, and which are covered under the leaves of Indian corn; those oaks,
I 3
a fifth
The situation of Brookfield is picturesque. While breakfast was preparing, I read the gazettes and journals, which are distributed through all the country. Our breakfast consisted of coffee, tea, boiled and roasted meat; the whole for ten-pence, New England currency, for each traveller. From this place to Wilbraham the road is covered with rocks, and bordered with woods. At this place,
a new
Springfield,
Springfield, where we dined, resembles an European town; that is, the houses are placed near together. On a hill that overlooks this town, is a magazine of ammunition and arms belonging to the state of Massachusetts. This is the magazine that the rebel Shays endeavoured to take, and was so happily defended by General Shepard. We set out from Springfield, after dinner, for Hartford. We passed in a ferry-boat, the river that washes the environs of Springfield.
I have passed twice through Hartford, and both times in the night; so that I cannot give an exact description of it. It is a considerable rural town; the greater part of the inhabitants live by agriculture; so that ease and abundance universally reign in it. It is considered as one of the most agreeable in Connecticut, on account of its society. It is the residence of one of the most respectable men in the United States, Colonel Wadsworth. He enjoys a considerable fortune, which he owes entirely to his own labour and industry. Perfectly versed in agriculture and commerce; universally known for the service he rendered to the American and French armies during the war; generally esteemed and beloved for his, great virtues; he
crowns
M. de Chastellux, in making the eulogium of this respectable American, has fallen into an error which I ought to rectify. He says, that he has made many voyages to the coast of Guinea. It is incredible that this writer should persist in printing this as a fact, after Colonel Wadsworth begged him to suppress it. “To advance,” said he, “that I have “carried on the Guinea trade, is to give the “idea that I have carried on the slave trade: “whereas I always had the greatest abhorrence “for this infamous traffic. I prayed “M. de Chastellux, that in the edition he “was about to publish in France he would “suppress this, as well as many other striking “errors which appeared in the American “edition of his work; and I cannot conceive “why he has rectified nothing.”
The environs of Hartford display a charming cultivated country; neat elegant houses,
vast
To describe the neighbourhood of Hartford, is to describe Connecticut; it is to describe the neighbourhood of Middleton, of Newhaven, &c. Nature and Art have here displayed all their treasures; it is really the Paradise of the United States. M. de Crevecœmur, who has been so much reproached with exaggeration, is even below the truth in his description of this part of the country. Read again his charming picture, and this reading
will
This state owes all its advantages to its situation. It is a fertile plain, inclosed between two mountains, which render difficult its communications by land with the other states. It is washed by the superb river Connecticut, which falls into the sea, and furnitures a safe and easy navigation. Agriculture being the basis of the riches of this state, they are here more equally divided. There is here more equality, less misery, more simplicity more virtue, more of every thing which constitutes republicanism.
Connecticut appears like one continued town. On quitting Hartford you enter Wethersfield, a town not less elegant, very long, consisting of houses well built. They tell me it gave birth to the famous Silas Deane, one of the first promoters of the American revolution; from a schoolmaster in this town, elevated to the rank of an Envoy from Congress to Europe: he has since been accused of betraying this glorious cause. Is the accusation true, or false? It is difficult to decide. But he has been for a long time miserable in London: and it is in favour of the goodness of heart of
the
Wethersfield is remarkable for its vast fields uniformly covered with onions; of which great quantities are exported to the West-Indies. It is likewise remarkable for its elegant meeting-house, or church. On Sunday it is said to offer an enchanting spectacle, by the number of young handsome persons who assemble there, and by the agreeable music with which they intermingle the divine service.
Newhaven yields not to Wethersfield for the beauty of the fair sex. At their balls during the winter, it is not rare to see an hundred charming girls, adorned with those brilliant complexions seldom met with in journeying to the South, and dressed in elegant simplicity. The beauty of complexion is as striking in Connecticut, as its numerous population. You will not go into a tavern without meeting with neatness, decency, and dignity. The tables are served by a young girl, decent and pretty: by an amiable mother, whose age has not effaced the agreeableness of her features; by men who have that air of dignityhazarding;
who can offend them? They are here under the protection of public morals, and of their own innocence: it is the consciousness of this innocence, which renders them so complaisant, and so good; for a stranger takes them by the hand, and laughs with them, and they are not offended at it.
Other proofs of the prosperity of Connecticut, are the number of new houses everywhere to be seen, and the number of rural manufactories arising on every side, of which I shall speak hereafter. But even in this state there are many lands to fell. A principal cause of this is the taste for emigration to the
westernSuch an one has succeeded, why shall not I succeed? I am nothing here, I shall be something on the Ohio; I work hard here, I shall not work so hard there.
Before arriving at Middleton, where we were to breakfast, we stopped on the hill which overlooks that town and the immense valley on which it is built. It is one of the
finest
Middleton is built like Hartford: broad streets, trees on the sides, and handsome houses. We changed horses and carriages at Durham; and after admiring a number of picturesque situations on the road, we arrived at Newhaven, where we dined. The university here enjoys a great reputation through the continent; the port is much frequented; the society is said to be very agreeable. New-haven has produced the celebrated poet, Trumbull * M. de Warville is here misinformed. Mr. Trumbull is a native of Waterbury, and Mr. Humphreys of Derby.
K
most
From Horseneck we passed to New Rochelle, a colony founded the last century by some French emigrants, which appears not to have prospered. Perhaps this appearance results from the last war; for this place suffered much from the neighbourhood of the English, whose head-quarters were at New-York. This place, however, will always be celebrated for having given birth to one of the most distinguished men of the last revolution—a republican remarkable for his firmness and his coolness, a writer eminent for his nervous style, and his close logic, Mr. Jay, at present minister of foreign affairs.
The following anecdote will give an idea of the firmness of this republican: at the time of laying the foundation of the peace in 1783, M. de Vergennes, actuated by secret-motives,
K2
motives
* The talents of Mr. Jay shone with distinguished lustre in the convention of the state of New-York for examining the new federal constitution. Mr. Clinton the Governor, at the head of the Antifederialists, had at first a great majority; but he could not resist the logic of Mr. Jay, and the eloquence of Mr. Hamilton.
Consider here the strange concurrence of
events.
Mr. Jay, was equally immoveable by all efforts of the English minister, whom M. de Vergennes had gained to his party. He proved to him, that it was the interest of the English themselves, that the Americans should be independent and not in a situation which should render them dependent on their ally. He converted him to this sentiment; for his reasoning determined the court of St. James's. When Mr. Jay passed through England to return to America, Lord Shelbourne desired to see him. Accused by the nation of having granted too much to the Americans, he desired to know, in case he had persisted not to accord to the Americans the western territory, if they would have continued the war? Mr. Jay answered, that
K 3
It is thirty-one miles from Rye to New-York. The road is good, even, and gravelly. We stopped at one of the best taverns I have seen in America. It is kept by Mrs. Haviland. We had an excellent dinner, and cheap. To other circumstances very agreeable, which gave us good cheer at this house, the air of the mistress was infinitely graceful and obliging; and she had a charming daughter, genteel and well educated, who played very well the forte-piano. Before arriving at new York, we passed by those places which the English had so well fortified while they were masters of them. You still see their different redoubts and fortifications, which attest to the eye of the observer the folly of this fratricidious war.
LETTER
* Though this journey was made after the date of several of the succeeding letters, it was thought best to insert it here, as an appendage to the other journey by land.
ON
the 12th of October, we set out from Boston at half past seven in the morning, and arrived by six in the evening at Providence. It is forty-nine miles; the road good, the soil stony, gravelly and sandy, and, as usual for such a soil, covered with pines. The country bordering the road, appears neither fertile, nor well peopled: you may here see houses in decay, and children covered with rags. They had, however, good health, and good complexions. The silence which reigns in the other American towns on Sunday, reigns at Providence even on Mondays Every thing here announces the decline of business. Few vessels are to be seen in the port. They were building, however, two distilleries; as if the manufactories of this
poison
I went from Providence to Newport in a packet-boat. This journey might be made by land; but I preferred the water. We arrived in seven hours and a half; and during two hours we had contrary wind. This distance is thirty miles. We never lost sight of land; but it offers nothing picturesque or curious. A few houses, some trees, and a sandy soil, are all that appear to the eye.
The port of Newport is considered as one of the best in the United States. The bottom is good, the harbour capable of receiving the largest ships, and seems destined by nature to be of great consequence. This place was
one
* The English destroyed all the fine trees of ornament and fruit: they took a pleasure in devastation.
Since the peace, every thing is changed
† This town owed a part of its prosperity to the slave trade which is at present suppressed.
Every thing announces misery, the triumph of ill faith, and the influence of a bad government. You will have a perfect idea of it, by calling to mind the impression once made upon us on entering the city of Liege. Recollect the crowd of mendicants besieging us at every step, to implore charity; that irregular mass of Gothic houses falling to ruin,
windows
These two places are nevertheless well situated for commerce, and surrounded by lands by no means unfruitful; but at Liege, the productions of the country serve to fatten about fifty idle ecclesiastics, who, by the aid of ancient religious prejudices, riot in pleasure in the midst of thousands of unhappy wretches who are dying with hunger
Read
* When I wrote these lines, I was far from foreseeing the revolutions of Liege. Liberty displays her banners there. God grant that she may triumph and archieve her work!
Read again, my friend, the charming description given of this town and this State, by M. de Crevecœur. It is not exaggerated. Every American whom I have questioned on this subject, has described to me its ancient splendor, and its natural advantages, whether for commerce, agriculture, or the enjoyments of life.
The State of Rhode-Island will never again see those happy days, till they take from circulation their paper-money, and reform their government. The magistrates should be less dependent on the people than they are at present, and the members of the legislature should not be so often elected. It is inconceivable that so many honest people should groan under the present anarchy; that so many Quakers, who compose the basis of the population of this State, should not combine together to introduce this reform * The author is happy to find, that before the publication of this letter, this State has acceded to the new federal government. This fact proves, that good principles will predominate at last, and particular abuses will disappear.
part
pure democracy
, but not against a
representative democracy
; for a representation of six months, is but a government by the people themselves. Representation, in this case, is but a shadow, which passes too suddenly to be perceived, or to feel its own existence. Of consequence, this example proves nothing against the wise system of representation, more durable, more independent, and which constitutes the true republican government, such as that of the
other
I was detained at Newport by the fourth-west winds, till the 13th, when we set sail at midnight; the Captain not wishing to sail sooner, for fear of touching before day on Block Island. The wind and tide carried us at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour; and we should have arrived at New-York the next evening, but we were detained at Hell-Gate, a kind of gulph, eight miles from New-York. This is a narrow passage, formed by the approach of Long-Island to York-Island, and rendered horrible by rocks, concealed at high water. The whirlpool of this gulph is little perceived at low water; but it is not surprising that vessels which know it not, should be dashed in pieces. They speak of an English frigate lost there the last war.
This
I ought to say one word of the packet-boats of this part of America, and of the facilities which they offer. Though, in my opinion, it is more advantageous, and often less expensive, to go by land; yet I owe some praises to the cleanliness and good order observable in these boats. The one which I was in contained fourteen beds, ranged in two rows, one above the other; every one had its little window. The chamber was well aired; so that you do not breathe that nauseous air which infects the packets of the English channel. It was well varnished; and two close corners were made in the poop, which serve as private places. The provisions were good. There is not a little town on all this coast,
but
LETTER
August, 1788.
I HAVE
read again, my dear friend, the description given by Mr. Crevecœur, of this part of the United States; and after having compared all the articles of it with what I have seen, I must declare, that all the traits of his picture are just.
Nothing is more magnificent than the situation of this town—between two majestic rivers, the north and the east. The former separates it from New Jersey: it is so profound, that ships of the line anchor in it. I have at this moment under my eyes, a French ship of 1200 tons, destined to the East-India trade, which has come into it to refit. Two inconveniences are, however, experienced in this river; the descent of ice in the winter, and the force of the north-west wind. Ships mount this commodious river as far as Albany, a town situated an hundred and seventy miles from New-York.
Albany
Albany will yield very soon, in prosperity, to a town called Hudson, built on a spot, where, four years ago, there was only a simple farm-house. At present, it contains an hundred good dwelling houses, a court-house, public fountains, &c. More than fifty ships are owned there, which export the American productions to the Islands and to Europe. Two whaleing ships are of the number. Their vessels do not winter idly, like those of Albany, in the port. They trade in the West Indies during this season. Poughkeepsie, on the same river, has doubled its population and its commerce since the war. The inattention of the people of Albany to foreign commerce, may be attributed to the fertility of their lands. Agriculture abounds there, and they like not to hazard themselves to the dangers of the sea, for a fortune which they can draw from the bounty of the foil which surrounds them. The fertility of the uncultivated lands, and the advantages which they offer, attract settlers to this quarter. New settlements are forming here; but slowly, because other states furnish lands, if not as fertile, at least attended with more advantages for agriculture, as they are less exposed to the excessive rigours of so long a winter.
L
When this part of America shall be well peopled, the north river will offer one of the finest channels for the exportation of its productions. Navigable for more than two hundred miles from the ocean, it communicates with the river Mohawk, with the lakes Oneida, Ontario, Erie, and all that part of Canada. The falls which are found in this route, may be easily vanquished by canals, so easy to construct in a country abounding with men and money. This river communicates with Canada in another quarter, by the lakes George and Champlaine. It is this situation which will render New-York the channel of the furtrade, at least during the existence of this kind of commerce, which supposes the existence of ravages, and great quantities of uncultivated lands. By the East River, New-York communicates with Long-Island, and with all the Eastern States. Ships of the line anchor likewise in this river, and near the quay, where they are sheltered from the storms which sometimes ravage there coasts. This happy situation of New-York will explain to you the causes why the English give it the preference over the other parts of America. Being the great market for Connecticut and New-Jersey, it
pours
The presence of Congress with the diplomatic body and the concourse of strangers, contributes much to extend here the ravages of luxury. The inhabitants are far from complaining at it; they prefer the splendour of wealth, and the show of enjoyment, to the simplicity of manners, and the pure pleasures resulting from it. The usage of smoking has not disappeared in this town, with
L 2
It has, however, one advantage; it accustoms to meditation, and prevents loquacity. The smoker asks a question; the answer; comes two minutes after, and it is well founded. The cigar renders to a man the service that the philosopher drew from the glass of water, which he drank when he was in anger.
The great commerce of this city, and the facility of living here, augments the population of the State with great rapidity. In 1773, they reckoned 148,124 whites; in 1786, the number was 219,996.
If there is a town on the American continent where the English luxury displays its follies, it is New-York. You will find here
the
Luxury forms already, in this town, a class of men very dangerous in society—I mean bachelors. The expence of women causes matrimony to be dreaded by men.
Tea forms, as in England, the basis of the principal parties of pleasure. Fruits, though more attended to in this State, are far from possessing the beauty and goodness of those of Europe. I have seen trees, in September, loaded at once with apples and with flowers.
M. de Crevecoeur is right in his description of the abundance and good quality of provisions at New-York, in vegetables, flesh, and especially in fish. It is difficult to unite so many advantages in one place. Provisions are dearer at New-York, than in any other of the northern or middle States. Many thing, especially those of luxury, are dearer here than in France. A hair-dresser asks twenty
L 3
Strangers, who, having lived a long time in America, tax the Americans with cheating, have declared to me, that this accusation must be confined to the towns, and that in the country you will find them honest. The French are the most forward in making there complaints; and they believe that the Americans are more trickish with them than with the English. If this were a fact, I should not be astonished at it. The French, whom I have seen, are eternally crying up the services which their nation has rendered to the Americans, and opposing their manners and customs, decrying their government, exalting the favours rendered by the French government towards the Americans, and diminishing those of Congress to the French.
One of the greatest errors of travellers is to calculate prices of provisions in a country, by the prices in taverns and boarding-houses. It is a false basis; we should take, for the town, the price at the market, and this is about half the price that one pays at the tavern. This basis would be still false, if it were applied to the country. There are many articles
These prices were about double in New-York during the war, to what they are now. Boarding and lodging by the week, is from four to six dollars. The fees of lawyers are out of all proportion; they are, as in England, excessive. Physicians have not the same advantage in this respect as lawyers: the good health generally enjoyed here, renders them little necessary; yet they are sufficiently numerous.
I converted with some of them, and asked what were the diseases most common? They told me, bilious fevers; and that the greatest part of diseases among them, were occasioned by excessive cold, and the want of care; but there are few diseases here, added they. The air is pure; the inhabitants are tolerably temperate;
Let those men who doubt the prodigious effects that liberty produces on man, and on his industry, transport themselves to America. What miracles will they here behold! Whilst every-where in Europe the villages and towns are falling to ruin, rather than augmenting, new edifices are here arising on all sides. New-York was in great part consumed by fire in the time of the war. The vestiges of this terrible conflagration disappear; the activity which reigns every where, announces a rising posterity; they enlarge in every quarter, and extend their streets. Elegant buildings, in the English style, take place of those sharproofed sloping houses of the Dutch. You find some still standing in the Dutch Style; they afford some pleasure to the European observer; they trace to him the origin of this colony, and the manners of those who inhabit it, whilst they call to his mind the ancient Belgic State.
I walk out by the side of the North River;
what
At the same time they are erecting a building for Congress. They are likewise repairing the hospital; this building is in a bad condition; not a sick person could be lodged in it at the end of the war; it was a building almost abandoned: they have restored the administration of it to the Quakers, from whom it had been taken away during the war; they have ordered it to be repaired, and the reparations are executing with the greatest vigour. This building is vast; it is of brick, and perfectly well-situated on the bank of the North River. It enjoys every advantage: air the most falulbrious, that may be renewed at
pleasure;
It is likewise to the Quakers, to these men so much calumniated, of whom I shall speak more fully hereafter, that is owing the order observable in the work-house, of which they have the superintendence.
It is to their zeal that is to be attributed the formation of the society for the abolition of slavery. As I shall consecrate to this important article a particular chapter, I shall not speak of it here.
A society of a more pompous title, but whose services are less real, has been lately formed. Its object is the general promotion of science and useful knowledge. They assemble rarely, and they do nothing. They have, however, eight hundred pounds in the bank, which remain idle. Their president is Governor Clinton; and he is any other thing rather than a man of learning.
This society will have little success here—the Dutch are no lovers of letters.
But
But though men of learning do not abound in this city, the presence of Congress atracts from time to time, at least from all parts of America, the most celebrated men. I have seen particularly, Messrs. Jay, Maddison, Hamilton, King, and Thornton. I have already spoke to you of the first.
The name of Maddison, celebrated in America, is well known in Europe, by the merited eulogium made of him by his countryman and friend, Mr. Jefferson.
Though still young, he has rendered the greatest services to Virginia, to the American confederation, and to liberty and humanity in general. He contributed much, with Mr. White, in reforming the civil and criminal codes of his country. He distinguished himself particularly, in the conventions for the acceptation of a new federal system. Virginia balanced a long time in adhering to it. Mr. Maddison determined to it the members of the convention, by his eloquence and his logic. This republican appears to be but about thirty-three years of age. He had, when I saw him, an air of fatigue; perhaps it was the effect of the immense labours to which he has devoted himself for some time
past.
During the dinner, to which he invited me, they spoke of the refusal of North Carolina to accede to the new constitution. The majority against it was one hundred. Mr. Maddison believed that this refusal would have no weight on the minds of the Americans, and that it would not impede the operations of Congress. I told him, that though this refusal might be regarded as a trifle in America, it would have great weight in Europe; that they would never enquire there into the motives which dictated it, nor consider the small consequence of this State in the confederation; that it would be regarded as a germe of division, calculated to retard the operations of Congress; and that certainly this idea would prevent the resurrection of the American credit.
Mr. Maddison attributed this refusal to the attachment of a great part of the inhabitants of that State to their paper-money, and their tender-act. He was much inclined to believe, that this disposition would not remain a long time.
Mr.
Mr. Hamilton is the worthy fellow-labourer of Mr. Maddison: his figure announces a man of thirty-eight or forty years; he is not tall; his countenance is decided; his air is open and martial: he was aid-de-camp to General Washington, who had great confidence in him; and he well merited it. Since the peace, he has taken the profession of the law, and devoted himself principally to public affairs. He has distinguished himself in Congress, by his eloquence, and the solidity of his reasoning. Among the works which have come from his pen, the most distinguished are, a number of letters inserted in the Federalist, of which I shall have occasion to speak hereafter; and the letters of Phocion, in favour of the royalists. Mr. Hamilton had fought them with success during the war. At the establishment of peace, he was of opinion, that it was not best to drive them to despair by a rigorous persecution. And he had the happiness to gain over to these mild sentiments, those of his compatriots, whose resentment had been justly excited against these people, for the woes they had brought on their country.
This young orator triumphed again in the convention of the State of New-York, where
the
He has married the daughter of General Schuyler, a charming woman, who joins to the graces all the candour and simplicity of an American wife. At dinner, at his house, I found General Miflin, who distinguished himself for his activity in the last war. To the vivacity of a Frenchman, he appears to unite every obliging characteristic.
Mr. King, whom I saw at this dinner, passes for the most eloquent man of the United States. What struck me most in him, was his modesty. He appears ignorant of his own worth. Mr. Hamilton has the determined
At this dinner, as at most others which I made in America, they drank the health of M. de la Fayette. The Americans consider him as one of the heroes of their liberty. He merits their love and esteem; they have not a better friend in France. His generosity to them has been manifested on all public occasions, and still more in private circumstances, where benefits remain unknown. It is not, perhaps, to the honor of France, or the Frenchmen who have been in America, to recount the fact, That he is the one who has succoured the unhappy sufferers in the fire at Boston
* He gave £300 sterling.
Doctor Thornton, intimately connected with the Americans whom I have mentioned, runs a different career, that of humanity. Though, by his appearance, he does not belong to the society of friends, he has their principles, and practices their morals regard to the blacks. He told me the efforts which he has made for the execution of a vast project conceived by him for their
benefit.
I cannot finish this letter without speaking of another American, whose talents in finance are well known here; it is Colonel Duer, secretary to the board of treasury. It is difficult to unite to a great facility in calculation, more extensive views and a quicker penetration
I should still be wanting in gratitude, should I neglect to mention the politeness and attention shewed me by the President of Congress, Mr. Griffin. He is a Virginian, of very good abilities, of an agreeable figure, affable and polite. I saw at his house, at dinner, seven or eight women, all dressed in great hats, plumes, &c. It was with pain that I remarked much of pretention in some of these women; one acted the giddy, vivacious; another, the woman of sentiment. This last had many pruderies and grimaces. Two among them had their bosoms very naked. I was scandalized at this indecency among republicans.
A president of Congress is far from being surrounded with the splendor of European monarchs; and so much the better. He is not durable in his station; and so much the better. He never forgets that he is a simple citizen, and will soon return to the station of
M
I remarked, that his table was freed from many usages observed elsewhere;—no fatiguing presentations, no toasts, so despairing in a numerous society. Little wine was drank after the women had retired. These traits will give you an idea of the temperance, of this country; temperance, the leading virtue of republicans.
I ought to add one word on the finances of this State. The facility of raising an import on foreign commerce, puts them in a situation to pay, with punctuality, the expences of the Government, the interest of their State debt, and their part of the civil list of Congress, Their revenues are said to amount to £.80,000, money of New York, The expences of the city and county of New York amounted, in 1787, to one-eighth of this sum, that, is, to £.10,110. I will add here a state of these expenses
Salaries
Elections
Carried over
Brought over —
Pumps and wells
Roads and streets
Poor houses
Bridewell, or house of correction
Lamps
Night watch
Prisoners
Repairs of public building
Quays
City of New-York
County of New York130 9 —
£. 10,110 1 10
The bank of New-York enjoys a good reputation; it is well administered. Its cashier is Mr. William Seton, to whom Mr. de Crevoecur has addressed his letters; and what will give you a good idea of his integrity, is, that he was chosen to this important place notwithstanding his known attachment to the English cause. This bank receives and pays, without reward, for merchants and others, who choose to open an accompt with it.
M 2
I WENT
from New-York the 25th of August, at six o'clock in the morning; and had the north river to pass before arriving to the stage. We passed the ferry in an open boat, and landed at Paulus Hook: they reckon two miles for this ferry, for which we pay sixpence, money of New-York.
The carriage is a kind of open waggon, hung with double curtains of leather and woolen, which you raise or let fall at pleasure: it is not well suspended. But the road was so fine, being sand and gravel, that we felt no inconvenience from that circumstance. The horses are good, and go with rapidity. These carriages have four benches, and may contain twelve persons. The light baggage is put under the benches, and the trunks fixed on behind. A traveller who does not choose to take the stage, has a one-horse carriage by himself.
Let
Let the Frenchmen who have travelled in these carriages, compare them to those used in France; to those heavy diligences, where eight or ten persons are stuffed in together; to those cabriolets in the environs of Paris, where two persons are closely confined, and deprived of air, by a dirty driver, who torments his miserable jades: and those carriages have to run over the finest roads, and yet make but one league an hour. If the Americans had such roads, with what rapidity would they travel? Since, notwithstanding the inconvenience of the roads, they now run ninety-six miles in a day. Thus, with only a century and a half of existence, and opposed by a thousand obstacles, they are already superior to people who have been undisturbed in their progress for fifteen centuries.
You find in these stages, men of all professions. They succeed each other with rapidity. One who goes but twenty miles, yields his place to one who goes farther. The mother and daughter mount the stage to go ten miles to dine; another stage brings them them back. At every instant, then, you are making new acquaintances. The frequency
M 3run post;
this style serves to humiliate those who are condemned to a sad mediocrity. From this inequality, result envy, the taste for luxury, ostentation, an avidity for gain, the habit of mean and guilty measures to acquire wealth. It is then fortunate for America, that the nature of things prevents this distinction in the mode of travelling.
The artizan, or the labourer, who finds himself in one of these stages with a man in place, composes himself, is silent; or if he endeavours to rise to the level of others by taking part in the conversation, he at least
gains
The son of Governor Livingston was in the stage with me; I should not have found him out, so civil and easy was his air, had not the tavern-keepers from time to time addressed him with respectful familiarity. I am told that the governor himself often uses those stages. You may have an idea of this respectable man, who is at once a writer, a governor, and a plowman, on learning that he takes a pride in calling himself a new Jersey farmer.
The American stages, then, are the true political carriages. I know that the
petits maitres
of France would prefer a gay well-suspended chariot; but these carriages roll in countries of Bastilles, in countries afflicted with great inequality, and consequently with great misery.
The road from New-York to Newark is in part over a marsh: I found it really astonishing; it recalls to mind the indefatigable industry of the ancient Dutch settlers, mentioned by Mr. de Crevecoeur. Built wholly
of
But though much of these marshes are drained, there remains a large extent of them covered with stagnant waters, which infect the air, and give birth to those musquitoes with which you are cruelly tormented, and to an epidemical fever which makes great ravages in summer; a fever known likewise in Virginia and in the Southern States, in parts adjacent to the sea. I am assured that the upper parts of New-Jersey are exempt from this fever, and from musquitoes; but this State is ravaged by a political scourge, more terrible than either; it is paper money. This paper is still, in New-Jersey, what the people call a legal tender; that is, you are obliged to receive it at its nominal value, as a legal payment.
I saw, in this journey, may inconveniences resulting from this fictitious money. It gives birth to an infamous kind of traffic, that of buying and selling it, by deceiving the ignorant; a commerce which discourages industry,legal tender?
A strong interest opposes it, replied he, of stock jobbers and speculators, They wish to prolong this miserable game, in which they are sure to be the winners, though the ruin of their country should be the consequence. We expect relief only from the new constitution, which takes away from the States the power of making paper-money. All honest people wish the extinction of it, when silver and gold would re-appear; and our national industry would soon repair the ravages of the war.
From Newark we went to dine at New-Brunswick, and to sleep at Trenton. The road is bad between the two last places, especially after a rain; it is a road difficult to be kept in repair. We passed by Prince-Town; this part of New Jersey is very well cultivated. Mr. de Crevecoeur has not exaggerated
We passed the ferry from Trenton at seven in the morning. The Delaware, which separates Pennsylvania from New-Jersey, is a superb river, navigable for the largest ships. Its navigation is intercepted by the ice during two months in the year. Vessels are not attacked here by these worms, which are so destructive to them in rivers farther south.
The prospect from the middle of the river is charming: on the right, you see mills and manufactories; on the left, two charming little towns, which overlook the water. The borders of this river are still in their wild state. In the forests which cover them, are some enormous trees. There are likewise some houses; but they are not equal, in point of simple elegance, to those of Massachusetts.
We
We breakfasted at Bristol, a town opposite to Burlington. It was here that the famous Penn first planted his tabernacles. But it was represented to him, that the river here did not furnish anchoring ground to good and so safe as the place already inhabited by the Swedes, where Philadelphia has since been built. He resolved, then, to purchase this place of them, give them other lands in exchange, and to leave Bristol.
Passing the river Shammony, on a new bridge, and then the village of Frankford, we arrived at Philadelphia, by a fine road bordered with the best cultivated fields, and elegant houses, which announce the neighbourhood of a great town.
LETTER
Aug. 27, 1788.
I HAD
passed but few hours at Philadelphia, when a particular business called me to Burlington, on the borders of the Delaware. It is an elegant little town, more ancient than Philadelphia. Many of the inhabitants are Friends, or Quakers: This was formerly their place of general rendezvous.
From thence I went to the country-house of Mr. Temple Franklin. He is the grandson of the celebrated Franklin; and as well known in France for his amiable qualities, as for his general information. His house is five miles from Burlington, on a sandy soil, covered with a forest of pines. His house is simple, his garden is well kept, he has a good library, and his situation seems destined for the retreat of a philosopher.
I dined here with five or six Frenchmen, who began their conversation with invectives
against
You wish for facts, said one of them, who had existed in this country for three years: I will give you some.—I say that the country is a miserable one, In New-Jersey, where we now are, there is no money, there is nothing but paper. The money is locked up said Mr. Franklin. Would you have a man be fool enough to exchange it for depreciated rags? Wait till the law shall take the paper from circulation.—But you cannot borrow money on the best security. I believe it, said Mr. Franklin; the lender fears to be paid in paper.—These facts prove not the scarcity of money, but the prudence of those who hold it, and the influence that debtors have in the legislature.
They passed to another point. Your laws are arbitrary, and often unjust: for instance, there is a law laying a tax of a dollar on the second dog; and this tax augments in proportion to the number that a man keeps.
Thus
My Frenchmen returned to the charge:— But your taxes are extremely heavy. You shall judge of that, says Mr. Franklin; I have an estate here of five or six hundred acres: my taxes last year amounted to eight pounds, in paper money; this reduced to hard money, is six pounds.
Nothing can be more conclusive than those replies. I am sure, however, that this Frenchman has forgot them all; and that he will go and declare in France, that the taxes in New-Jersey are distressingly heavy, and that the imposition on dogs is abominable.
Burlington
Burlington is separated from Bristol only by the river. Here is some commerce, and some men of considerable capital. The children here have that air of health and decency, which characterises the sect of the Quakers.
LETTER
August, 28, 1788.
ON
returning from Burlington, I went with Mr. Shoemaker to the house of his father-in law, Mr. Richardson, a farmer, who lives near Middleton, twenty-two miles from Philadelphia.
Mr. Shoemaker is thirty years of age; he was not educated in the sect of Friends: he declared to me that, in his youth, he was far from their principles; that he had lived in pleasure; that growing weary of them, he reflected on his conduct, and resolved to change it; that he studied the principles of the Quakers, and soon became a member of their society, notwithstanding the railleries of his friends. He had married the daughter of this Quaker, to whose house we were going. I wished to see a true American farmer.
I was really charmed with the order and neatness of this house, and of its inhabitants. They have three sons and seven daughters.
N
No, never was I so much edified as in this house; it is the asylum of union, friendship, and hospitality. The beds were neat, the linen white, the covering elegant; the cabinets, desks, chairs, and tables, were of black walnut, well polished, and shining. The garden furnished vegetables of all kinds, and fruits. There were ten horses in the stable; the Indian corn of the last year, still on the cob, lay in large quantities in a cabin, of which the narrow planks, placed at small distances from each other, leave openings for the circulation of the air.
The
The barn was full of wheat oats, &c.; their cows furnish delicious milk for the family, of which they make excellent cheeses; their sheep give them the wool of which the cloth is made, which covers the father and the children. This cloth is spun in the house, wove and fulled in the neighbourhood. All the linen is made in the house.
Mr. Shoemaker shewed me the place where this worthy cultivator was going to build a house for his eldest son. You see, said he to me, the wealth of this good farmer. His father was a poor Scotchman; he came to America, and applied himself to agriculture, and by his industry and economy amassed a large fortune. This son of his is likewise rich: he fells his grain to a miller in the neighbourhood; his vegetables, butter, and cheese, are sent once a week to town.
I went to see this miller. I recollected what Mr. de Crevecœur had said in praise of the American mills. This one merited it for its neatness, and for the intelligence with which the different operations were distributed. There were three sets of stones destined to the making of flour of different degrees of fineness. They employ only the
N 2
These barrels are marked at the mill with the name of the miller; and this mark indicates the quality of the flour. That which is designed for exportation, is again inspected at the port; and, if not merchantable, it is condemned.
The millers here are flour-merchants; mills are a kind of property which ensures a constant income.
LETTER
Aug. 30, 1788.
I WAS
sick, and Warner Miflin came to see me. You know Warner Miflin; you have read the eulogium made of him by M. de Crevecœur. It is he that first freed all his slaves; it is he who, without passport, traversed the British army, and spoke to General Howe with so much firmness and dignity; it is he who, fearing not the effects of the general hatred against the Quakers, went, at the risk of being treated as a spy; to present himself to General Washington, to justify to him the conduct of the Quakers; it is he, that in the midst of the furies of war, equally a friend to the French, the English, and the Americans, carried generous succours to those among them who were suffering. Well, this angel of peace came to see me. I am Warner Miflin, says he; I have read the book wherein thou defendest the cause of the Friends, wherein thou
N 3
I cannot report to you all the conversation of this worthy Quaker; it made a deep impression on my heart. What humanity! and what charity! It seems, that to love mankind, and to search to do them good, constitutes his only pleasure, his only existence; his constant occupation is to find the means of making all men but one family; and he does not despair of it. He spoke to me of the Society of Quakers at Nisines, and of some friends in America and England, who have been to visit them. He regarded them as instruments designed to propagate
the
All this was said without the least ostentation. He said what he felt, what he had thought a thousand times; he spoke from the heart, and not from the head. He realized what he had told me of that secret voice, that internal spirit, of which the Quakers speak so much; he was animated by it. Ah! who can see, who can hear a man, so much exalted above human nature, without reflecting on himself, without endeavouring to imitate him, without blushing at his own weakness? What are the finest writings, in comparison with a life so pure, a conduct so constantly devoted to the good of humanity? How small I appeared in contemplating him! And shall we calumniate a sect to which a man so venerable belongs? Shall we paint it
as
He took me one day to see his intended wife, Miss Ameland, whom he was to marry in a few days. She is a worthy companion of this reputable quaker. What mildness! what modesty! and, at the same time, what
entertainment
LETTER
* None of them were dress in black. The Quakers regard this testimony of grief as childish.I WAS
present at the funeral of Thomas Holwell, one of the elders of the Society of Friends. James Pemberton conducted me to it. I found a number of friends assembled about the house of the deceased, and waiting in silence for the body to appear. It appeared, and was in a coffin of black walnut, without any covering or ornament, borne by four Friends; some women followed, who, I was told, were the nearest relatives, and grand-children of the deceased
were
I was at first surprised, I confess, at this trembling of the preacher. We are so accustomed, by our European philosophy, to consider
those
Whether I judged from habit or reason, I know not; but this manner of speaking appeared to me not calculated to produce a great effect: for the sense of the phrase is perpetutually;
to
I observed, in the countenances of all this congregation, an air of gravity mixed with sadness. Perhaps I am prejudiced; but I should like better, while people are adoring their God, to see them have an air which would dispose persons to love each other, and to be fond of the worship. Such an air would be attracting to young people, whom too much severity disgusts. Besides, why should a person with a good conscience, pray to God with a sad countenance?
The prayer which terminated this meeting was servent; it was pronounced by a minister, who fell on his knees. The men took off their hats; and each retired, after having shaken hands with this neighbour.
What a difference between the simplicity of this, and the pomp of the catholic worship! Reformation, in all stages, has diminished the formalities: You will find this regular diminution in descending from the Catholic to the Lutheran, from the Lutheran to the Presbyterian, and from thence to Quakers and Methodists.
In considering the simplicity of the Quaker's worship, and the air of sadness that in the eyes of strangers appears to accompany it, an air which one would think disgusting to young people even of their own sect, I have been surprised that the Society should maintain a concurrence with more brilliant sects, and even increase by making proselytes from them. This effect is principally to be attributed to the singular image of domestic happiness which the Quakers enjoy. Renouncing all external pleasures, music, theatres, and shows, they are devoted to their duties as citizens, to their families, and to their business; thus they are beloved by their wives, cherished by their children, and esteemed by their neighbours. Such is the spectacle which has often drawn to this Society, men who have ridiculed it in their youth.
The history of the Quakers will prove the falsity of a principle often advanced in politics. It is this: that, to maintain order in society, it is necessary to have a mode of worship striking to the senses; and that the more show and pomp are introduced into it, the
betterchants
, our
spiritual concerts
, our
processions
, our
ornaments
, &c. Two or three hundred thousand Quakers have none of these mummeries, and yet they observe good order.
This fact has led me to another conclusion, the solidity of which has been hitherto disputed. It is, the possibility of a
nation of Deists
LETTER
* Neither the English nor Americans attach the same idea to this word that a Frenchman does. They consider a Deist as a kind of Materialist.—I understand by a Deist, a man that believes in God, and the immortality of the soul.
* This house is properly named; because, contrary to the ordinary effect of hospitals, it renders the prisoners better.
THIS
hospital is situated in the open country, in one of those parts of the original plan of Philadelphia not yet covered with houses. It is already divided into regular streets; and, God grant that these projected streets may never be any thing more than imaginary! If they should one day be adorned with houses, it would be a misfortune to the hospitals, to Pennsylvania, and to all America.
This hospital is constructed of bricks, and bricks, and composed of two large buildings; one for men, and the other for women. There is a separation in the court, which is common to them. This institution has several objects;
O
There exists then, you will say, even in Philadelphia, that disgusting commerce of diseases, rather than of pleasures, which for so long a time has empoisoned our continent. Yes, my friend, two or three of the most considerable maritime towns of the new continent are afflicted by this leprosy. It was almost unknown before the revolution; but the abode of foreign armies has naturalized it, and it is one of those scourges for which the free Americans are indebted to us. But this traffic is not carried on so scandalously as at Paris or London. It is restrained, it is held in contempt, and almost imperceptible. I ought to say, to the honour of the Americans, that it is nourished only by emigrants and European travellers; for the sanctity of marriage is still universally respected in America. Young people marrying early, and without obstacles, are not tempted to go and dishonour, and empoison themselves in places of prostitution.
But,
But to finish my account of this hospital, there are particular halls appropriated to each class of poor, and to each species of sickness; and each hall has its superintendant. This institution was rich, and well administered before the war. The greater part of the administrators were Quakers. The war and paper-money introduced a different order of things. The legislature revolved not to admit to its administration, any persons but such as had taken the oath of fidelity to the State. The Quakers were by this excluded, and the management of it fell into hands not so pure. The spirit of depredation was manifest in it, and paper-money was still more injurious. Creditors of the hospital were paid, or rather ruined by this operation. About a year ago, on the report of the inspectors of the hospitals, the legislature, considering the abuses practiced in that administration, confided that of the bettering-house again to the Quakers. Without any resentment of the affronts they had received during the war, and only anxious to do good and perform their duty, the Friends accepted the administration, and exercise it, as before, with zeal and fidelity. This change has produced the effect which was expected. Order is visibly re-established; many administrators are appointed, one of
O 2gratis.
I have been the hospitals of France, both at Paris, and in the provinces. I know none of them, but the one at Besancon, that can be compared to this at Philadelphia. Every sick, and every poor person, has his bed well furnished, but without curtains, as it should be. Every room is lighted by windows placed opposite, which introduce plenty of light, that great consolation to a man confined, of which tyrants for this reason are cruelly sparing. These windows admit a free circulation of air: most of them open over the fields; and as they are not very high, and are without grates, it would be very easy for the prisoners to make their escape; but the idea never enters their heads. This fact proves that the prisoners are happy, and, consequently, that the administration is good.
The kitchens are well kept, and do not exhale that fetid odour which you perceive from the best kitchens in France. The eating-rooms, which are on the ground floor, are equally clean, and well aired: neatness and good air reign in every part. A large
garden
I could scarcely describe to you the different sensations which, by turns, rejoiced and afflicted my heart, in going through their different apartments. An hospital, how well forever administered, is always a painful spectacle to me. It appears to me so consoling for a sick man to be at his own home, attended by his wife and children, and visited by his neighbours, that I regard hospitals as vast sepulcres, where are brought together a crowd of individuals, strangers to each other, and separated from all they hold dear. And what is man in this situation?—a leaf detached from the tree, and driven down by the torrent—a skeleton no longer of any consistence, and bordering on dissolution.
But this idea soon gives place to another. Since societies are condemned to be infested with great cities, since misery and vice
O 3
I saw in this hospital, all that misery and disease can assemble. I saw women suffering on the bed of pain; others, whole meagre visages, roughened with pimples, attest the effect of fatal incontinence; others, who waited with groans the moment when Heaven would deliver them from a burden which dishonours them; others, holding in their arms the fruit, not of a legal marriage, but of love betrayed. Poor innocents! born under the star of wretchedness! Why should men be born, predestinated to misfortunes? But, bless God, at least, that you are in a country where bastardy is no obstacle to respectability and the rights of citizenship. I saw with pleasure,
sure
Blacks are here mingled with the whites, and lodged in the same apartments. This, to me, was an edifying fight; it seemed a balm to my soul. I saw a negro woman spinning with activity by the side of her bed. Her eyes seemed to expect from the director, a word of consolation—She obtained it; and it seemed to be heaven to her to hear him. I should have been more happy, had it been for me to have spoken this word: I should have added many more. Unhappy negroes! how much reparation do we owe them for the evils we have occasioned them—the evils we still occasion them! and they love us!
The
The happiness of this negress was not equal to that which I saw sparkle on the visage of a young blind girl, who seemed to leap for joy at the found of the director's voice. He asked after her health: The answered him with transport. She was taking her tea by the fide of her little table—Her tea!—My friend, you are astonished at this luxury in an hospital—It is because there is humanity in its administration, and the wretches are not crowded in here in heaps to be stifled. They give tea to those whose conduct is satisfactory: and those who by their work are able to make some savings, enjoy the fruits of their industry. I remarked in this hospital, the women were much more numerous than the men; and among the latter, I saw none of those hideous figures so common in the hospitals of Paris—figures on which you trace the marks of crimes, misery, and indolence. They have a decent appearance: many of them asked the director for their enlargement, which they obtained.
But what resources have they, on leaving this house? They have their hands, answered the director, and they may find useful occupations. But the women, replied I, what can they do? Their condition is not so fortunate,
said
This project will, without doubt, be executed; for the Quakers are ingenious and persevering, when they have in view the succour of the unhappy. My friend, the author of this project is my conductor. I see him beloved and respected, constantly occupied in useful things; and he is but thirty years of age! and is it astonishing that I praise a sect which produces such prodigies?
On our return from the hospital, we drank a bottle of cider. Compare this frugal repast to the sumptuous feasts given by the superintendants of the poor of London—by those humane inspectors who assemble to consult on making repairs to the amount of six shillings,
and
The expences of this hospital amount to about five-pence a-day, money of Pennsylvania, for each pensioner. You know that the best administered hospital in Paris, amounts to about fourteen pence like money a-day; and, what a difference in the treatment!
LETTER
THIS
is the hospital so justly celebrated by M. de Crevecoeur, and which the humane Mr. Mazzei regards only as a curiosity scarcely worth seeing.
The building is fine, elegant, and well kept. I was charmed with the cleanliness in the halls of the sick, as well as in the particular chambers. I observed the bust of Franklin in the library, and was told that this honour was rendered him as one of the principal founders of this institution. The library is not numerous; but it is well chosen. The hall on the first floor, is appropriated to sick men: there were fix in it. About the fame number of sick women were in a like hall on the second floor. These persons appeared by no means miserable; they seemed to be at home. I went below, to see the lunatics; they were about fifteen, male and female.
Each
There were no mad persons among them. Most of the patients are the victims of religious melancholy, or of disappointed love. These unhappy persons are treated with the greatest tenderness; they are allowed to walk in the court; are constantly visited by two physicians. Dr. Rush has invented a kind of swing chair for their exercise.
What a difference between this treatment and the atrocious regulations to which we condemn such wretches in France! where they are rigorously confined, and their disorder scarcely ever fail to increase upon them. The Turks, on the contrary, manifest a singular reflect to persons insane: they are eager I to administer food to them, to load them with caresses. Fools in that country are never known to be injurious; whereas, with us, they are dangerous, because they are unhappy.
The view of these persons affected me more than that of the sick. The last of
human
I could not leave this place without being tormented with one bitter reflection.—A man
of
LETTER
THANKS
to God he still exists!—This great man, for so many years the preceptor of the Americans, who so gloriously contributed to their independence, death had threatened his days; but our fears are dissipated, and his health is restored. I have just been to see him, and enjoy his conversation, in the midst of his books, which he still calls his best friends. The pains of his cruel infirmity change not the serenity of his countenance, nor the calmness of his conversation. If these appeared so agreeable to our Frenchmen, who enjoyed his friendship in Paris, how would they seem to them here, where no diplomatic functions impose upon him that mask of reserve which was sometimes so chilling to his guests. Franklin, surrounded by his family, appears to be one of those patriarchs whom he has so well described, and whose language he has copied with such simple elegance. He seems one of those ancient philosophers, who at times descended from the sphere of his elevated
I wish to give you a sketch of it from some traits which I have been able to collect, as his history has been much disfigured. This sketch may serve to rectify some of
those
Franklin was born at Boston, in 1706, the fifteenth child of a man who was a dyer and a soap-boiler. He wished to bring up this son to his own trade; but the lad took an invincible dislike to it, preferring even the life of a sailor. The father disliking this choice, placed him apprentice with an elder son, who was a printer and published a newspaper.
Three traits of character, displayed at that early period, might have given an idea of the extraordinary genius which he was afterwards to discover.
The puritanic austerity which at that time predominated in Massachusetts, impressed the mind of young Benjamin in a manner more oblique than it had done that of his father. The old man was in the practise of making long prayers and benedictions before all his meals. One day, at the beginning of winter, when he was salting his meat, and laying in his provisions for the season, “Father,” says the boy, “it would be a great saving of time, if you would say grace over all these
P
Soon after he went to live with his brother, he began to address pieces to him for his paper, in a disguised hand-writing. These essays were universally admired: his brother became jealous of him, and endeavoured, by severe treatment, to cramp his genius. This obliged him soon to quit his service, and go to seek his fortune at New-York.
Benjamin had read a treatise of Dr. Tryon on the Pythagorean regimen; and, fully convinced by its reasoning, he abstained from the use of meat for a long time; and became irreconcilable to it, until a cod-fish, which he caught in the open sea, and found its stomach full of little fish, overturned his whole system. He concluded, that since the fishes eat each other, men might very well feed upon other animals. This Pythagorean diet was economical to the printer's boy: it saved him some money to lay out for books; and reading was the first and constant passion of his life.
Having left his father's house without recommendation, and almost without money, depending only upon himself, but always
confident
This circumstance reminds me of a similar one of Rousseau:—Having for his whole fortune six liards; harrassed with fatigue, and tormented with hunger; he hesitated whether he should sacrifice this little piece to his repose, or to his stomach. He decided the conflict by purchasing a piece of bread, and resigning himself to sleep in the open air. In this abandonment of nature and men, he still enjoyed the one, and despised the other. The
P 2
Arriving at Philadelphia did not finish the misfortunes of Benjamin Franklin. He was there deceived and disappointed by governor Keith, who, by fine promises for his future establishment, which he never realized, induced him to embark for London, where he arrived without money and without recommendations. Happily he knew how to procure subsistence. His talent for the press, in which no person excelled him, soon gave him occupation. His frugality, the regularity of his conduct, and the good sense of his conversation, procured him the esteem of his comrades: his reputation in this respect, existed for fifty years afterwards in the printing-offices in London.
An employment promised him by a Mr. Derham, recalled him to his country in 1726, when fortune put him to another proof.
His
Having arrived at this degree of independence, Franklin had leisure to pursue his speculations for the good of the public. His gazette furnished him with the regular and constant means of instructing his fellow-citizens. He made this gazette the principal object of his attention; so that it acquired a vast reputation, was read through the whole country, and may be considered as having contributed much to perpetuate in Pennsylvania those excellent morals which still distinguish that State.
I possess one of these gazettes, composed by him, and printed at his press. It is a precious relique, a monument which I wish
to
Let it not be said, in ridicule of this profession, that an ill use is sometimes made of it, for the defence of vice, of despotism, of errors. Shall we prescribe eloquence and the use of speech, because wicked men possess them?
But a work which contributed still more to diffuse in America the practise of frugality, economy, and good morals, was
Poor Richard's Almanack.
You are acquainted with it; it had a great reputation in France, but still more in America. Franklin continued it for twenty-five years, and fold annually
In 1736, Franklin began his public career. He was appointed Secretary of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, and continued in that employment for many years.
In 1737, the English government confided to him the administration of the general post-office in America. He made it at once lucrative to the revenue, and useful to the inhabitants. It served him particularly, to extend every where his useful gazettes.
Since that epoch, not a year has passed without his proposing, and carrying into execution, some project useful to the colonies.
To him are owing the companies of assurance against fire; companies so necessary in countries where houses are built with wood, and where fires completely ruin individuals; while, on the contrary, they are disastrous in a country where fires are not frequent, and not dangerous.
To
To him is owing, the establishment of the Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, its library, its university, its hospitals, &c.
Franklin, persuaded that information could not be extended but by first collecting it, and by assembling men who are likely to possess it, was always extremely ardent to encourage literary and political clubs. In one of these clubs, which he founded, the following questions were put to the candidate:—
“Do you love all men, of whatever religion they may be? Do you believe that we ought to persecute or decry a man for mere speculative opinions, or for his mode of worship? Do you love truth for its own sake? and will you employ all your efforts to discover it, and make it known to others?”
Observe, again, the spirit of this club in the questions put to the members at their meetings.—“Know you any citizen who has lately been remarkable for his industry? Know you in what the Society can be useful to its brethren, and to all the human race? Is there any stranger arrived in town? In what can the Society be useful to him? Is there any young person beginning business,
who
The attention which he paid to these institutions of literature and humanity, did not divert him from his public functions, nor from his experiments in natural philosophy.
His labours on these subjects are well known; I shall therefore not speak of them, but confine myself to the fact which has been little remarked: it is, that Franklin always directed his labours to that kind of public utility which, without procuring any great eclat to its author, produces great advantage to the citizens at large. It is to this popular taste, which characterised him, that we owe the invention of his electrical conductors, his economical stoves, his dissertations, truly philosophical, on the means of preventing chimneys from smoking, on the advantages of copper roofs to houses, the establishment of so many paper-mills in Pennsylvania
The
* Dr. Franklin told me that he had established about eighteen paper-mills. His grandson, Mr. T. Franklin will doubtless
publish publish a collection of his useful letters on the salutary or pernicious effects of different processes in the arts. These letters are scattered in the American gazettes. The collection of them would be curious.
The circumstances of his political career are likewise known to you; I therefore pass them over in silence. But I ought not to omit to mention his conduct during the war of 1755. At that period he enjoyed a great reputation in the English colonies. In 1754 he was appointed one of the members of the famous Congress, which was held at Albany; the object of which was to take the necessary measures to prevent the invasion of the French. He presented to that Congress an excellent
plan of union and defence
, which was adopted by that body; but it was rejected in London by the department for the colonies, under the pretext that it was too democratical. It is probable that, had this plan been pursued, the colonies would not have been ravaged by the dreadful war which followed. During this war, Franklin performed many important functions. At one time he was sent to cover the frontiers, to raise troops, build forts, &c. You then see him contesting with the governor, to force him to give his consent to a bill taxing the family of Penn, who were proprietors of
The superior skill and management which he discovered in these negociations, were the forerunners of the more important success which attended him during the war of independence, when he was sent ambassador to France.
On his final return to his country, he obtained all the honours which his important services merited. His great age, and his infirmities, have compelled him at last to renounce his public career, which he has run with so much glory. He lives retired, with his family, in a house which he has built on the spot where he first landed, sixty years before, and where he found himself wandering without a home, and without acquaintance. In this house he has established a printing-press and a type-foundery. From a printer he had become ambassador; from this he has now returned to his beloved press, and is forming to this precious art his grandson, Mr. Bache. He has placed
him
It is in the midst of these holy occupations, that this great man waits for death with tranquility. You will judge of his philosophy on this point, which is the touchstone of philosophy by the following letter, written thirty years ago on the death of his brother John Franklin, addressed to Mrs. Hubbard, his daughter-in-law.
“My dear child,
“I AM grieved with you; we have lost “a friend, who, to us, was very dear, “and very precious. But it is the will “of God and of nature, that these mortal “bodies should be laid aside, when the soul “is ready to enter into real life; for this “life is but an embryo state, a preparation “for life. A man is not completely born, “until he his dead. Shall we complain, then, “that a new-born has taken his place among “the immortals? We are spirits. It is a
“proof
Appendix to the preceding chapter, written in December 1790.
FRANKLIN has enjoyed, this year, the blessing of death, for which he waited so long a time. I will here repeat the reflections which I printed in my Gazette of the 13th of June last, on this event, and on the decree
“Gentlemen,
“Franklin is dead—he has returned to “the bosom of God—the genius who has “liberated America, and shed over Europe “the torrents of his light!
“The sage of two worlds—the man for “whom the history of sciences and the “history of empires contend, should doubtless “hold an elevated rank in the human race.
“Too long have political cabinets been “accustomed to notify the death of those “who are great only in their funeral pomp; “too long has the etiquette of courts “proclaimed hypocritical mourning. Nations “ought to mourn only for their benefactors; “the representatives of nations ought to “recommend to their homage, none but the “heroes of humanity.
“The Congress has ordained a mourning “of two months for the death of Franklin;
“and
“Would it not be worthy of you, “gentlemen, to join them in this truly religious “act, to participate in this homage rendered “in the face of the universe to the rights of “men, to the philosopher, who has “contributed the most to extend their empire over “the face of the earth?
“Antiquity would have raised altars to that “powerful genius, who, for the benefit of “men, embracing heaven and earth, could “have curbed the thunders of the one, and “the tyrants of the other. Europe, “enlightened and free, owes at least a testimony of “gratitude to the greatest man that ever “adorned philosophy and liberty!
“I propose that it be decreed, that the “National “Assembly go into mourning three “days for Benjamin Franklin.”
The Assembly received with acclamation, and decreed with unanimity, the proposal of M. Mirabeau.
The
The honour thus done to the memory of Franklin, will reflect glory on the National Assembly. It will give an idea of the immense difference between this legislature and other political bodies; for, how many prejudices must have been vanquished, before France could bring her homage to the tomb of a man, who, from the station of a journeyman printer, had raised himself to the rank of legislator, and contributed to place his country on a footing among the great powers of the earth.
This sublime decree was pronounced, not only without hesitation, but with that enthusiasm which is inspired by the name of a great man, by the regret of having lost him, by the duty of doing honour to his ashes, and by the hope, that rendering this honour may give rise to like virtues and like talents in others. And, oh! may this Assembly, penetrated with the greatness of the homage which she has rendered to genius, to virtue, to the pure love of liberty and humanity; may she never tarnish this homage, by yielding to the solicitations of men who may wish to obtain the same honours for the manes of ambitious individuals, who, mistaking art for
genius,
This hope should doubtless inspire the man of genius, the man of worth; but ye who sincerely indulge the wish to place yourself by the side of Franklin, examine his life, and have the courage to imitate him. Franklin had genius: but he had virtues; he was good, simple, and modest; he had not that proud asperity in dispute, which repulses with disdain the ideas of others; he listened—he had the art of listening—he answered to the ideas of others, and not to his own.
I have seen him attending patiently to young people who, full of frivolity and pride, were eager to make a parade before him, of some superficial knowledge of their own. He knew how to estimate them; but he would not humiliate them, even by a parade of goodness. Placing himself at once on a level with them, he would answer without having the air of instructing them. He knew that instruction in its pompous apparel,
Q
LETTER
Sept. 1, 1783
I BREAKFASTED
with Samuel Ameland, one of the richest and most beneficent of the Society of Friends. He is a pupil of Anthony Benezet; he speaks of him with enthusiasm, and treads in his steps. He takes an active part in every useful institution, and rejoices in the occasion of doing good; he loves the French nation, and speaks their language. He treats me with the greatest friendship; offers me his house, his horses, and his carriage. On leaving him, I went to see an experiment, near the Delaware, on a boat, the object of which is to ascend rivers against the current. The inventor was Mr. Fitch, who had found a company to support the expence. One of the most zealous associates is Mr. Thornton, of whom I have spoken. This invention was disputed between
Q 2
* Since writing this letter, I have seen Mr. Rumsey in England. He is a man of great ingenuity; and, by the explanation which he has given me, it appears that his discovery, though founded on a similar principle with that of Mr. Fitch, is very different from it, and far more simple in its execution. M. Rumsey proposed then (Feb. 1789) to build a vessel which should go to America by the help only of the steam-engine, and without fails. It was to make the passage in fifteen days. I perceive with pain that he has not yet executed his project; which, when executed, will introduce into commerce as great a change as the discovery of the cape of Good Hope AUTHOR.
The translator is informed, that M. Rumsey is pursuing his operations with greater vigour, and more extensive expectations, than ever.
I doubt not but, physically speaking, this machine may produce part of the effects which are expected from it: but I doubt its utility in commerce; for, notwithstanding the assurances of the undertakers, it must require many men to manage it, and much expence in repairing the damages occasioned by the violence and multiplicity of the friction.steam-boat.
These railleries appear to me very ill placed. The obstacles to be conquered by genius are every where so considerable, the encouragement so feeble, and the necessity of supplying the want of hand-labour in America so evident, that I cannot, without indignation, see the Americans discouraging, by their sarcasins, the generous efforts of one of their fellow-citizens.
When will men be reasonable enough to encourage each other by their mutual aid, and increase the general stock of public good, by mutual mildness and benevolence? It is for republics to set the example: you see more of it in America than elsewhere; it is visibly taking root, and extending itself there. You do not find among the Americans, that concealed pride which acquits a benefit, and dispenses with gratitude; that selfish rudeness which makes of the English
Q 3
I say that this inattention to strangers is above all remarkable in the English. I do not think that I am deceived; I have lived long among them, and am generally accused of too much partiality for them. This same fault is observable in the English islands. I have remarked it in many of them; and I fear that the vices in general of the inhabitants of the islands will corrupt the Americans, who appear to be remarkably fond of extending their connections with them. I heard one of them put the following question
to
But why do not men of sense, who are witnesses of these follies, refute them with vigour? Why that cowardly suppleness which is decorated with the name of politeness? Is it not evident that it hardens the corrupted man, and suffers to grow up in the feeble minds, prejudices which one vigorous attack would destroy?
LETTER
Sept. 2, 1788.
I WAS
present at a meeting of the Agricultural Society. It is not of long standing, but it is numerous, and possesses a considerable fund. If such a society ought to receive encouragement in any country, it is in this. Agriculture is the first pillar of this State; and though you find many good farmers here, yet the great mass of them want information; and this information can only be procured by the union of men well versed in theory and practice.
The subject of this meeting was an important one. The papillon, or worm, called
The Heffian Fly
, had, for several years, ravaged the wheat in many parts of the United States. The King of England, fearing that this infect might pass into his island, had just prohibited the importation of the American wheat. The Supreme Executive Council
cil
Many farmers present at this meeting, from their own experience, and that of their neighbours and correspondents, declared, that the insect deposited its eggs, not in the ear, but in the stalk; so that they were well convinced, that, on threshing the wheat, there could be nothing to fear that the eggs would mix with the grain; and consequently they could not be communicated with the grain.
Mr. Polwell and Mr. Griffiths, president and secretary of this society, do equal honour to it; the one by the neatness of his composition, and the elegance of his style; the other by his indefatigable zeal.
Among the useful institutions which do honour to Philadelphia, you distinguish the public library; the origin of which is owing to the celebrated Franklin. It is supported by subscription. The price of entrance into this society is ten pounds. Any person has
the
At the side of this library is a cabinet of natural history. I observed nothing curious in it, but an enormous thigh-bone, and some teeth as enormous, found near the Ohio, in a mass of prodigious bones, which nature seems to have thrown together in those ages whose events are covered from the eye of history by an impenetrable veil.
LETTER
Sept. 3, 1788.
IF
there exists, says Franklin, an Atheist in the universe, he would be converted on seeing Philadelphia—on contemplating a town where every thing is so well arranged. If an idle man should come into existence here, on having constantly before his eyes the three amiable sisters, Wealth, Science, and Virtue, the children of Industry and Temperance, he would soon find himself in love with them, and endeavour to obtain them from their parents.
Such are the ideas offered to the mind on a market-day at Philadelphia. It is, without contradiction, one of the finest in the universe. Variety and abundance in the articles, order in the distribution, good faith and tranquillity in the trader, are all here united. One of the essential beauties of a market, is
no
To maintain order in such a market in France, would require four Judges and a dozen soldlers. Here, the law has no need of muskets; education and morals have done every thing. Two clerks of the police walk in the market. If they suspect a pound of butter of being light, they weigh it: if light, it is seized for the use of the hospital.
You see, here, the fathers of families go to market. It was formerly so in France: their wives succeeded to them; thinking themselves dishonoured by the task, they have resigned it to the servants. Neither oeconomy nor morals have gained any thing by this change.
The
The price of bread is from one penny to two pence the pound, beef and mutton from two pence to fourpence, veal from one penny to twopence; hay from twenty to thirty shillings the ton; butter from fourpence to sixpence the pound; wood from seven pence to eightpence the cord. Vegetables are in abundance, and cheap. Wines of Europe, particularly those of France, are cheaper here than any where else. I have drank the wine of Provence, said to be made by M. Bergaffe, at ninepence the bottte; but the taverns are extremely dear. Articles of luxury are expensive: a hair-dreffer costs you eightpence a-day, or twelve shillings the month. I hired a one-horse chaise three days; it cost me three louis d'ors.
I HAD
made an acquaintance at New-York with General Miflin, who was then Speaker of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania. I met him again at Philadelphia. His character was well drwan by M. de Chaftellux. He is an amiable, obliging man; full of activity, and very popular. He fills his place with dignity and firmness; an enemy to artifice and disguise; he is frank, brave, disinterested, and warmly attached to democratic principles. He is no longer a Quaker: having taken arms, he was forced to quit the Society; but he still prosesses a great esteem for that sect, to which his wife has always remained faithful. The General had the complaisance to conduct me one day to the General Assembly. I saw nothing remarkable in it: the building is far from that magnificence attributed to it by the Abbe Raynal: it is certainly
tainly
There were about fifty members present, seated on chairs inclosed by a balustrade. Behind the balustrade, is the gallery for spectators. A
Petit Maitre
, who should fall suddenly from Paria into this Assembly, would undoubtedly find it ridiculous. He would scoff at the simplicity of their cloth coats, and, in some cafes, at the negligence of their toilettes; but every man who thinks will desire that this simplicity may for ever remain, and become universal. They pointed out to me, under one of there plain coats, a farmer by the name of Findley, whose eloquence displays the greatest talents.
The estate of General Miflin, where we went to dine, is five miles from town, by the falls of the Skuylkill. These falls are formed by a considerable bed of rocks: they are not perceivable when the water of the river is high. The General's house enjoys a most romantic prospect. This route presents the vestiges of many houses burnt by the English,
who
I saw at General Miflin's, an old Quaker, who shook me by my hand with the more pleasure, as he said he found in my air a resemblance of Anthony Benezet. Other Quakers told met he same thing. There is no great vanity in citing this fact, when I recolect what M. de Chaftellux says of his figure; but he had eyes of goodness and humanity.
Springmill, where I went to sleep, is a hamlet eight miles up the Skuylkill. The best house in it is occupied Mr. L. a Frenchman. It enjoys the most sublime prospect that you can imagine. It is situated on a hill. One the south-east, the Skuylkill flows at its feet through a magnificent channel between two mountains covered with wood. On the banks you perceive some scattering houses and cultivated fields.
The foil is here composed of a great quantity of talc, granit, and a yellow gravel; some places a very black earth. In the neighbourhood are quarries of marble of a middling
R
I shall give you some details respecting this Frenchman's farm; they will shew you the manner of living among cultivators here, and they may be useful to any of our friends who may with to establish themselves in this country. Observations on the manner of extending ease and happiness among men, are, in the eyes of the philosopher, as valuable as those which the art of assassinating them. The house of Mr. L. is very well built in stone, two stories high, with five or six fine chambers in each story. From the two gardens, formed like an amphitheatre, you enjoy that fine prospect above mentioned. These gardens are well cultivated, and contain a great quantity of
bee-hives.
A highway separates the house from the farm. He keeps about twenty horned cattle, and ten or twelve horses. The situation of things on this farm, proves how little is to be feared from theft and robbery in this country; every thing is left open, or inclosed without locks. His farm consists of two hundred and fifty acres; of which the greater
part
Mr. L. recounted to me some of his past misfortunes—I knew them before—He was the victim of the persidy of an intendant of Guadaloupe, who, to suppress the proofs of his own accomplicity in a elandestine commerce, tried to destroy him by imprisonment, by assassination, and by poison. Escaped from these persecutions, Mr. L enjoys safety at Springmill! but he does not enjoy happiness. He is alone; and what is a farmer without his wife and family?
He pays from five to six pounds taxes for all his property, consisting of an hundred and twenty acres of wood land, eighty acres of arable, twenty-five acres of meadow, three acres of garden, a great house, several small houses for his servants, his barns, and his cattle. By this fact, you may judge of the exaggerations of the detractors of the
R 2
It is a remark to be made at every step in America, that vegetation is rapid and strong. The peach-tree, for example, grows fast, and produces fruit in great quantities. Within one month after you have cut your wheat, you would not know your field; it is covered with grass, very high, and very thick.
It will be a long time, however before, the vine can be cultivated: to profit in America:
* In Orleannois, the whole operation of cultivating the vine, and making the vintage, costs to the proprietor thirty livres, twenty-five shillings sterling, an acre. A man cannot perform the labour of more than five acres a-year; so that he gets fix pounds five shillings a-year, and supports himself. Compare this with the price of labour in America, and that with the price of French wines.first
, because labour is dear, and the; vine requires vast labour secondly
, because the wines of Europe will be for a long time cheap in America. Mr. L. furnished me with the proof of this. He gave me some very good Roufillon, which coat him by the
single
We ought to regard the birds as a great discouragement to the culture of the vine in America. You often see immense clouds of black-birds, which, settling on a vineyard, would destroy it in a instant.
I have already mentioned, that the pastures and fields in America are inclosed with barriers of woods, or fences. These, when made of rails supported by posts, as above described, are expensive, especially in the neighbourhood of great towns, where wood is dear. Mr. L. thinks it best to replace them by ditches six feet deep, of which he throws the earth upon his meadows, and borders the sides with hedges; and thus renders the passage impracticable to the cattle. This is an agricultural operation, which cannot be too much recommended to the Americans.
The country here is full of springs; we saw some very fine ones. Mr. L. told us of one which carries a mill night and day, and serves to water his meadows when occasion requires.
R 3
I asked him where he purchased his meat? He says, when a farmer kills beef, mutton, or veal, he advertises his neighbours, who take what they choose, and he salts the remainder. As he is here without his family, he has no spinning at his house; makes no cheese, keeps no poultry. These parts of rural economy, which are exercised by women, are lost to him; and it is a considerable loss. He sows no oats, but feeds his horses with Indian corn and buck-wheat, ground. I saw his vast corn-fields covered with pumpkins, which are profitable for cattle. He has a joiner's shop, and a turning-lathe. He makes great quantities of lime on his farm, which sells very well at Philadelphia. He has obtained leave from the State to erect a ferry on the Skuylkill, which he says will produce him a profit of forty pounds a-year. He is about to build a sawmill.
The lands newly cleared, produce much more than the lands of France. He had bad wheat this year, though it had promised well: having grown to a prodigious height, the grain was shrivelled and meagre. He says, the
mildew
has diminished his crop by more than three hundred bushels. The
cause
Mr. L. told me, that there was no other remedy but to sow early, that the plant may be more vigorous at the season of the mildew.
This farm had cost him two thousand pounds; and he assured me that allowing nothing for some losses occasioned by his ignorance of the country, and of the language on the first arrival, and for the improvements he had made, his land produces more than the interest of his money. He told me, that the house alone had cost more than he paid for the whole: and this is very probable. Persons in general who desire to make good bargains, ought to purchase lands already built upon; for, though the buildings have cost much, they are counted for little in the sale.
Though distant from society, and struggling against many disadvantages, he assured me that
he
He is attentive to the subject of meteorology; it is he that furnishes the meteorologic tables published every month in the Columbian Magazine: they are certainly the most exact that have appeared on this continent. He thinks there is no great difference between the climate here and that of Paris: that here, the cold weather is more dry; that the snow and ice remain but a short time; that there never passes a week without some fair days; that there falls more rain here than in France, but that it rarely rains two days successively; that the heat is sometimes more intense, that it provokes more a sweat and to heaviness; finally, that the variations are here more frequent and more rapid.
The following is the result of the observations of the Frenchman for four years:—The greatest cold in this part of Pennsylvania, is commonly form ten to twelve degrees below the freezing point of Reaumur's thermometer: the greatest heats are from twenty-six to twenty-eight degrees above: the
mean
LETTER
Sept. 10, 1788.
I HAVE
had the good fortune to meet here a Frenchman, who is travelling in this country, not in pursuit of wealth, but to gain information. It is Mr. Saugrain, from Paris: he is an ardent naturalist: some circumstances first attached him to the service of the King of Spain, who sent him to Spanish America to make discoveries in minerals and natural history. After the death of his protector, Don Galves, he returned to France. In 1787, he formed the project with Mr. Piguet, who had some knowledge in botany, to visit Kentucket and the Ohio.
They arrived at Philadelphia, and passed immediately to Pittsburg. There the winter overtook them, and the Ohio froze over, which rarely happens. They lodged themselves a few miles from Pittsburg, in an open house, where the suffered much from the
cold.
On the opening of the Spring, they descended the Ohio, having been joined by another Frenchman, Mr. Rague, and a Virginian. They landed at Muskinquam, where they saw General Harmer, and some people who were beginning a settlement there.
At some distance below this place, they fell in with a party of savages. M. Piguet was killed, and M. Saugrain wounded and taken prisoner; he fortunately made his escape, rerejoined
He has communicated to me many observations on the western country. The immense valley washed by the Ohio, appears to him the most fertile that he has ever seen. The strength and incredible, the size of the trees enormous, and their variety infinite. The inhabitants are obliged to exhaust the first fatness of the land in hemp and tobacco, in order to prepare it for the production of wheat. The crops of Indian corn are prodigious; the cattle acquire an extraordinary size, and keep sat the whole year in the open fields.
The facility of producing grain, rearing cattle, making whiskey, beer, and cyder, with a thousand other advantages, attract to this country great numbers of emigrants from other part of America. A man in that country, scarcely works two hours in a day, for the support of himself and family; he passes most of his time in idleness, hunting,
or
The active genius of the Americans is always pushing them forward. Mr. Saugrain has no doubt but sooner or later the Spaniards will be forced to quit the Mississippi, and that the Americans will pass it, and establish themselves in Louisiana, which he has seen, and considers as one of the finest countries in the universe.
Mr. Saugrain came from Pittsburg to Philadelphia in seven days, on horseback. He could have come in a chaise; but it would have taken him a longer time. It is a post road, with good taverns established the whole way
LETTER
* Mr. Saugrain is so enchanted with the independent life of the inhabitants of the western country, that he returned again in the year 1790, to settle at Scioto.
THERE
exist, then, a country where the Negroes are allowed to have souls, and to be endowed with understanding capable of being formed to virtue and useful knowledge; where they are not regarded as beasts of burden, in order that we may have the privilege of treating them as such. There exists a country, where the Blacks, by their virtues and their industry, belye the calumnies which their tyrants elsewhere lavish against them; where no difference is perceived between the memory of a black head whole hair is craped by nature, and that of a white one craped by art. I have has a proof of this to-day. I have seen, heard, and examined these black children. They read well, repeat from memory, and calculate with rapidity. I have seen a picture painted by a young negro, who never had a master: it was surprisingly well done.
I saw
I saw in this school, a mulatto, one-eighth negro; it is impossible to distinguish him from a white boy. His eyes discovered an extraordinary vivacity; and this is a general characteristic of people of that origin.
The black girls, besides reading, writing, and the principles of religion, are taught spinning, needle-work, &c.; and their mistresses assure me, that they discover much ingenuity. They have the appearance of decency, attention, and submission. It is a nursery of good servants and virtuous house-keepers. How criminal are the planters of the islands, who form but to debauchery and ignominy, creatures so capable of being fashioned to virtue!
It is to Benezet that humanity owes this useful establishment—to that
Benezet
whom Chastellux has not blushed to ridicule, for the sake of gaining the infamous applauses of the parasites of despotism.
The life of this extraordinary man merits to be known to such men as dare to think, who esteem more the benefactors of their fellow-creatures, than their oppressors, so basely idolized during their life.
Anthony
Anthony Benezet was born at St. Quintin, in Picardy, in 1712. Fanaticism, under the protection of a bigot king, directed by an infamous confessor, and an infamous woman, spread at that time its ravages in France. The parents of Benezet were warm Calvinists; they fled to England, and he embraced the doctrines of the Quakers. He went to America in 1731, and established himself at Philadelphia in commerce, the business to which he had been educated. But the rigidity of his principles and his taste not agreeing with the spirit of commerce, he quitted that business in 1736, and accepted a place in the academy of that society. From that time all his moments were consecrated to public instruction, the relief of the poor, and the defence of the unhappy negroes. Benezet possessed a universal philanthropy, which was not common at that time; he regarded, as his brothers, all men, of all countries, and of all colours; he composed many works, in which he collected all the authorities from Scripture, and from other writings, to discourage and condemn the slave trade and slavery. His works had much influence in determining the Quakers to emancipate their slaves.
It was not enough to set at liberty the unhappy Blacks; it was necessary to instruct
them—
He consecrated his fortune and his talents to their instruction; and in 1784, death removed him from this holy occupation, to receive his reward. The tears of the Blacks, which watered his tomb, the sighs of his fraternity, and of every friend of humanity which attended his departing spirit, must be a prize more consoling than the laurels of a conqueror.
Benezet carried always in his pocket a copy of his works on the Slavery of the Blacks, which he gave and recommended to every one he met, who had not seen them. It is a method generally followed by the Society of Friends. They extend the works of utility;
S
This philanthropic quaker was preceded in the same career, by many others, whom I ought to mention. The celebrated George Fox, founder of this sect, went from England to Barbadoes in the year 1671, not to preach against slavery, but to instruct the blacks in the knowledge of God, and to engage masters to treat them with mildness.
The minds of men were not yet ripe for this reform; neither were they when William Burling, of Long-Island, in 1718, published a treatise against slavery. He was a respectable quaker: he preached, but in vain; the hour was not yet come.
Ought not this circumstance to encourage the friends of the blacks in France? Sixty years of combat were necessary to conquer the prejudice of avarice in America. One year is scarcely passed since the foundation of the society at Paris; and some apostates already appear, because success has not crowned their first endeavours.
Burling was followed by Judge Sewal, a presbyterian of Massachusetts. He presented
toJoseph sold by this brethren.
He discovers the purest principles, and completely overturns the hackneyed arguments of the traders, respecting the pretended wars of the African princes.
It is often said against the writings of the friends of the blacks, that they have not been witnesses of the sufferings which they describe. This reproach cannot be made against Benjamin Lay, an Englishman, who, brought up in the African trade, afterwards a planter at Barbadoes, abandoned his plantation, on account of the horror inspired by the frightful terrors of slavery endured by the negroes. He retired to Philadelphia, became a quaker, and ceased not the remainder of his life to preach and write for the abolition of slavery. His principal treatise on this subject appeared in 1737. He was thought to have too much zeal, and to have exaggerated his descriptions. But these defects were expiated by a life without a stain, by an indefatigable zeal for humanity, and by profound meditations. Lay was simple in his dress, and animated in his speech; he was all on fire when he spoke on slavery. He died in 1760, in the 80th year of his age.
S2
One of the men most distinguished in this career of humanity, was a quaker named John Woolman. He was born in 1720. Early formed to meditation, he was judged by the Friends worthy of being a minister at the age of twenty-two. He travelled much to extend the doctrines of the sect; but was always on foot, and without money or provisions, because he would imitate the apostles, and be in a situation to be more useful to the poor people and to the blacks. abhorred slavery so much, that he would not taste any food that was produced by the labour of slaves. The last discourse that he pronounced was on this subject. In 1772, he undertook a voyage to England, to concert measures with the Friends there, on the same subject; where he died with the smallpox. He left several useful works, one of which has been through many editions, entitled
Considerations on the Slavery of the Blacks.
I thought it my duty, my friend, to give you some account of these holy personages, before describing to you the situation of the blacks in this immense country.
LETTER
WOOLMAN
and Benezet had in vain employed all their efforts to effect the abolition of this traffic under the English government. The mistaken interest of the mother country caused all the petitions to be rejected in the year 1772; yet the minds of men were prepared in some of the colonies; and scarcely was independence declared, when a general cry arose against this commerce. It appeared absurd for men defending their own liberty, to deny liberty to others. A pamphlet was printed, in which the principles on which slavery is founded, were held up in contrast with those which laid the foundation of the new constitution.
This palpable method of stating the subject, was attended with a happy success; and the Congress, in 1774, declared the slavery of the Blacks to be incompatible with the basis of
republican
Three district epochs mark the conduct of the Americans in this business—the prohibition of the importation of slaves—their manu-mission—and the provision made for their instruction. All the different States are not equally advanced in these three objects.
In the Northern and Middle States, they have proscribed for ever the importation of slaves; in others, this prohibition is limited to a certain time. In South Carolina, where it was limited to three years, it has lately been extended to three years more. Georgia is the only State that continues to receive transported slaves. Yet, when General Oglethorpe laid the foundation of this colony, he ordained that neither rum nor slaves should ever be imported into it. This law, in both its articles, was very soon violated.
We must acknowledge, however, that the Americans, more than any other people, are convinced that all men are born free and equal: we must acknowledge, that they direct themselves generally by this principle of equality;
Unhappily their opinion on this subject has not yet become universal; interest still combats it with some success in the Southern States. A numerous party still argue the impossibility of cultivating their soil without the hands of slaves, and the impossibility of augmenting their number without recruiting them in Africa. It is to the influence of this party, in the late general convention, that is to be attributed the only article which tarnishes that glorious monument of human reason, the new federal system of the United States. It was this party that proposed to bind the hands of the new Congress, and to put it out of their power for twenty years to prohibit the importation of slaves. It was said to this august assembly,
Sign this article, or we will withdraw from the union.
To avoid the evils, which, without meliorating the fate of the Blacks, would attend a political schism, the convention was forced to wander from the grand principle of universal liberty, and the preceding declaration of Congress.
They
But, though this article has surprised the friends of liberty in Europe, where the secret causes of it were not known; though it has grieved the society in England, who are ready to accuse the new legislators of a cowardly defection from their own principles; yet we may regard the general and irrevocable proscription of the slave trade in the United States, as very near at hand. This conclusion results from the nature of things, and even from the article itself of the new constitution now cited. Indeed, nine States have already done it; the Blacks, which there abound, are considered as free. There are then nine asylums for those to escape to from Georgia, not to speak of the neighbourhood of the Floridas, where the slaves from Georgia take refuge, in hopes to find better treatment from the Spaniards; and not to speak of those vast forets and inaccessible mountains which make part of the Southern States, and where the persecuted Negro may easily find a retreat from slavery. The communications with the back country are so easy, that it is
impossible
Besides, the Congress will be authorised in twenty years to pronounce definitely on this article. By that time, the sentiments of humanity, and the calculations of reason, will prevail; they will no longer be forced to sacrifice equity to convenience, or have any thing to fear from opposition or schism.
LETTER
SLAVERY,
my friend, has never polluted every part of the United States. There was never any law in New Hampshire, or Massachusetts, which authorised it. When, therefore, those States proscribed it, they only declared the law as it existed before. There was very little of it in Connecticut; the puritanic austerity which predominated in that colony, could scarcely reconcile itself with slavery. Agriculture was better performed there by the hands of freemen; and every thing concurred to engage the people to give liberty to the slaves:—so that almost every one has freed them; and the children, of such as are not yet free, are to have their liberty at twenty-five years of age.
The cafe of the Blacks: in New-York is nearly the same; yet the slaves there are more numerous.
It is because the basis of the population there is Dutch; that is to say, people less disposed
The State of Rhode-Island formerly made a great business of the slave trade. It is now totally and for ever prohibited.
In New-Jersey the bulk of the population is Dutch. You find there, traces of that same Dutch spirit which I have described. Yet the Western parts of the State are disposed to free their Negroes; but the Eastern part are opposed to it.
It is probable that their obstinacy will be overcome; at least it is the opinion of the respectable Mr. Livingston, celebrated for the part he has acted in the late revolution: he has declared this opinion in a letter written to the Society at Philadelphia. He has himself freed all his slaves, which are very numerous. He is one of the most ardent apostles of humanity; and, knowing the character of his countrymen, he reasons, temporises with their interest and doubts not of being able to vanquish their prejudices. The Quakers have been more fortunate in Pennsylvania.
black
Doubtless we cannot bestow too much praise on the indefatigable zeal of the Society in Pennsylvania, which solicited these laws, nor on the spirit of equity and humanity displayed by the legislature in passing them; but some regret must mingle itself with our applause. Why did not this respectable body go farther? Why did it not extend at least the hopes of freedom to those who were slaves at the time of the passing the first act? They are property, it is said; and all property is sacred. But what is a property founded on robbery and plunder? What is a property which violates laws human and divine? But let this property merit some regard. Why not limit it to a certain number of years, in order to give at least the chief consolation of hope? Why not grant to the slave, the right of purchasing his freedom? What! the child of the negro slave shall one day enjoy his liberty; and the unhappy father, though ready to leap with joy on the beholding the fortune of his son, must roll back his eyes aggravated
Again—Why, in the act of March 1780, is it declared that slave cannot be a witness against a freeman? You either suppose him less true than the freeman, or you suppose him differently organized. The last supposition is absurd; the other, if true, is against yourselves; for, why are they less conscientious, more corrupted, and more wicked?—it is because they are slaves. The crime falls on the head of the master; and the slave is thus degraded and punished for the vice of the master.
Finally, why do you ordain that the master shall be reimbursed from the public treasury,
No, my friend, we will not doubt but these stains will soon disappear from the code of Pennsylvania. Reason is too predominant to suffer them long to continue.
The little State of Delaware has followed the example of Pennsylvania. It is mostly peopled by Quakers—instances of giving freedom are therefore numerous. In this slate, famous for the wisdom of its laws, for its good faith and fœderal patriotism, resides
that
With the State of Delaware finishes the system of protection to the blacks. Yet there are some negroes freed in Maryland, because there are some Quakers there; and you perceive it very readily, on comparing the fields of tobacco or of Indian corn belonging to there people, with those of others; you see how much superior the hand of a freeman is to that of a slave, in the operations of industry.
When you run over Maryland and Virginia, you conceive yourself in a different world; and you are convinced of it, when you converse with the inhabitants. They speak not here of projects for freeing the negroes; they praise not the societies of London and America; they read not the works of Clarkson—No, the indolent masters behold
with
The strongest objection lies in the character, the manners and habits of the Virginians. They seem to enjoy the sweat of slaves. They are fond of hunting; they love the display of luxury, and disdain the idea of labour. This order of things will change when slavery shall be no more. It is not, that the work of a slave is more profitable than that of a freeman; but it is in multiplying the slaves, condemning them to a miserable nourishment, in depriving them of cloaths, and in running over a large quantity of land with a negligent culture, that they supply the necessity of honest industry.
T
THE
free Blacks in the Eastern States, are either hired servants, or they keep little shops, or they cultivate the land. You will see some of them on board of coasting vessels. They dare not venture themselves on long voyages, for fear of being transported and fold in the islands. As to their physical character the Blacks are vigorous, of a strong constitution
* The married Blacks have at least as many children as the Whites; but it is observed, that more of them die. This is owing less to Nature, than to the want of fortune, and of the care of physicians and surgeons.
The reason is obvious; the Whites, though they treat them with humanity, like not to
give
The same causes hinders the Blacks who live in the country, from having large plantations. Their little fields are generally well cultivated; their log-houses, full of children decently clad, attract the eye of the philosopher, who rejoices to fee, that, in these habitations, no tears attest the rod of tyranny.
In this situation the Blacks are indeed happy; but let us have the courage to avow, that neither this happiness, nor their talents, have yet attained their perfection. There exists still too great an interval between them and the Whites, especially in the public opinion. This humiliating difference prevents those efforts which they might make to raise themselves. Black childen are admitted to the public schools; but you never see them within the walls of a college. Though free,
T 2
We may conclude from this, that it is unfair to measure the extent of their capacity by the examples already given by the free Blacks of the North.
But when we compare them to the slaves of the South, what a difference we find!—In the South, the Blacks are in a state of abjection difficult to describe; many of them are naked, ill fed, lodged in miserable huts, on straw. They receive no education, no instruction in any kind of religion; they are not married, but coupled. Thus are they brutalized, lazy, without ideas, and without energy. They give themselves no trouble to procure cloaths, or to have better food; they pass their Sunday, which is their day of rest, in total inaction. Inaction is their supreme happiness; they therefore perform little labour, and that in a careless manner.
We must do justice to the truth. The Americans of the Southern States treat their slaves with mildness; it is one of the effects of the general extension of the ideas of liberty.
When we describe the slaves of the South, we ought to distinguish those that are employed as house-servants, from those that work and live in the field. The picture that I have given, belongs to the latter; the former are better clad, more active, and less ignorant.
It has been generally thought, and even written by some authors of note, that the Blacks are inferior to the Whites in mental capacity. This opinion begins to disappear; the Northern States furnish examples to the contrary. I shall cite two, which are striking ones: the first proves, that, by instruction, a Black may be rendered capable of any of the professions: the second, that the head of a Negro may be organized for the most astonishing calculations, and consequently for all the sciences.
T 3
I saw at Philadelphia a black physician, named James Derham. The following history of him was attested to me by many physicians:
He was brought up a slave in a family of Philadelphia, where he learned to read and write, and was instructed in the principles of religion. When young, he was sold to Doctor John Kearsley junior, who employed him in compounding medicines, and in administering them in some cases to the sick. At the death of Doctor Kearsley he passed through different hands, and came to be the property of George West, surgeon of the British army, under whom, during the war in America, he performed the lower functions in physic.
At the close of the war, he was purchased by Doctor Robert Dove of New Orleans, who employed him as his assistant. He gained the Doctor's good opinion and friendship to such a degree that he soon gave him his freedom on moderate conditions. Derham was, by this time, so well instructed, that he immediately began to practice, with success, at New Orleans: he is about twenty-six years of age, married, but has no children. His practice brings him three thousand livres a-year. Doctor Wistar told me, that he conversed with him
particularly
He is modest, and has engaging manners; he speaks French with facility, and has some knowledge of Spanish.
The other instance has been cited by Doctor Rush, a celebrated physician and writer of Philadelphia. It is Thomas Fuller, born in Africa, a slave, near seventy years of age, near Alexandria. He can neither read nor write, and has had no instructed of any kind; but he calculates with surprising facility, and will answer any question in arithmetic, with a promptitude that has no example.
These instances prove, without doubt, that the capacity of the negroes may be extended to any thing; that they have only need of instruction and liberty. The difference between those who are free and instructed, and those who are not, is still more visible in their industry. The lands inhabited by the
Whites
Pass into Maryland and Virginia, and, as I said before, you are in another world;—you find not there those cultivated plains, those neat country-houses, barns well distributed, and numerous herds of cattle, fat and vigorous. No: every thing in Maryland and Virginia wears the print of slavery: a starved foil, bad cultivation, houses falling to ruin, cattle small and few, and black walking skeletons; in a word, you see real misery, and apparent luxury, insulting each other.
They begin to perceive, even in the Southern States, that, to nourish a slave ill, is a mistaken economy; and that money employed in their purchase, does not render its interest. It is perhaps more owing to this confideration than to humanity, that you see free labour introduced in a part of Virginia, in that part bordered by the beautiful river Shenadore. In travelling here, you will think yourself in Pennsylvania.
Such
Such will be the face of all Virginia, when slavery shall be at an end. They think slaves necessary only for the cultivation of tobacco: this culture declines, and must decline in Virginia. The tobacco of the Ohio and the Mississipi is more abundant, of a better quality, and requires less labour. When this tobacco shall open its way to Europe, the Virginians will be obliged to cease from this culture, and ask of the earth, wheat, corn, and potatoes; they will make meadows, and rear cattle. The wife Virginians anticipate this revolution, and begin the culture of wheat. At their head may be reckoned that astonishing man, who though an adored General, had the courage to be a sincere republican; who alone seems ignorant of his own glory; whose singular destiny it will be to have twice saved his country, to have opened to her the road to prosperity, after having conducted her to liberty. At present, wholly occupied in ameliorating his lands, in varying their produce, in opening roads and canals, he gives his country-men an useful example, which doubtless will be followed.
He has nevertheless (must I say it?) a numerous crowd of slaves; but they are treated
with
I replied, that the Virginians were in an errors, that evidently sooner or later the negroes
It is certainly a misfortune that such a society does not exist in Virginia and Maryland; for it is to the persevering zeal of those of Philadelphia and New-York, that we owe the progress of this revolution in America, and the formation of the society in London.
Why am I unable to paint to you the impressions I received in attending the meetings
of
With what joy they learned that a like society was formed at Paris, in that capital so renowned for its opulence and luxury, for its influence over a vast kingdom, and through most of the states of Europe! They hastened to publish it in all the gazettes, as likewise the translation of the first discourse pronounced in that society. They saw with joy, in the lift of the members, the name of La Fayette, and that of other persons known for their energy and patriotism.
They did not doubt, if this society should brave the first obstacles that attend it, and should unite itself with that of London, but that the information which they might give on the slave trade, and its unprofitable infamy, would enlighten the governments of Euaope, and determine them to suppress it.
It is doubtless to this essusion of joy, and to the flattering recommendations which I carried from Europe, rather than to my feeble efforts, that I owe the honor of being received a member of these societies. They did not confine themselves to his; the appointed committees to assist me in my labour, and their archives were opened to me.
These beneficent societies are at present contemplating new projects for the completion of their work of justice and humanity. They are endeavouring to form similar institutions in other States of Delaware. The business of these societies is not only to extend light and information to legislatures, and to the people at large * In 1787, the Society of New-York offered a gold medal for the best discourse, at the public commencement at the college, on the injustice and cruelty of the slave trade, and the fatal effects of slavery.
Mr.
Appendix to the preceding Letter, written in
1971.
MY
wishes have not been disappointed. The progress of these societies is rapid in the United states: there is one already formed even in VirginiaGod has created men of all nations, of all languages, of all colours, equally free: Slavery, in all its forms, in all its degrees, is a violations of the Divine laws, and a degradation of human nature.
Believe
* A Similar society is lately formed in the state of Connecticut, probably not known to M. de Warville
Translator.
Believe it, my dear friend, these truths, conveyed in all the public papers, will complete the extirpation of that odious slavery, which the nature of things in that country is destroying with great rapidity. For you may well imaging, that, in the rage of emigration to the western territory
* In all the constitutions of the New State forming in the western territory, it is declared, that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude.
The folemn examples given by great men, will contribute much to this revolution of principle. What proprietor of human being does not blush for himself, on seeing the celebrated General Gates assemble his numerous slaves, and, in the midst of their caresses and tears of gratitude, restore them all to liberty; and in such a manner as to prevent any fatal consequences that might result to them from the sudden enjoyment of so great a benefit.
The society of Philadelphia, which may be regarded as the father of these holy institutions, has lately taken more effectual measures, both to instruct the blacks, and to form them
to
To instruct and counsel those who are free, and render them capable of enjoying civil liberty; to excite them to industry; to furnish them with occupations suitable to their age, sex, talents, and other circumstances; and to procure to their children an education suitable to their station, are the principal objects of this society.
For this end they have appointed four committees: first, a committee of inspection, to watch over the morals and general conduct of the free blacks; second, a committee of guardians, whose business it is to place the children with honest tradesmen and others, to acquire trades; third, a committee of educations, to oversee the schools; fourth, a committee of employ, who find employment for those who are in situation to work. What
friend
The perseverance with which these societies have extended their principles in their writings, brought forward, last year, a debate in Congress, on the subject of procuring a revocation of that article in the constitution, which suspends the power of Congress for twenty years on the subject of the slave trade.
I ought to have mentioned to you, in my letter, an eloquent address to the general convention of 1787, from the society of Pennsylvania. I will cite to you the close of it:
U
“We conjure you,” say they. “by the attributes of the Divinity, insulted by this inhuman traffic; by the union of all the human race in our common father, and by all the obligations resulting from this union; by the fear of the just vengeance of God in national judgment; by the certainty of the great and terrible day of the distribution of rewards and punishments; by the efficacy of the prayers of good men, who would insult the majesty of Heaven, if they were to offer them un favour of our country, as long as the iniquity we now practice continues its ravages among us; by the sacred name of Christians; by the pleasures of domestic of connections, and the anguish of their dissolution; by the suffering of our American brethren, groaning in captivity at Algiers, which Providence seems to have ordained to awaken us to a sentiment of the injustice and cruelty of which we are guilty towards the wretched Africans; by the respect due to consistency in the principles and conduct of true republicans; by our great and intense desire of extending happiness to the million of intelligent beings who are doubtless one day to people this immense continent; finally, by all other considerations, which religion, reasons, policy, and humanity can suggest; we conjure the Convention of
the
Addresses from all parts of the United States, signed by the most respectable men, have been subject more warmly debated; and, what never happened before in America, it gave occasion to the most atrocious invectives from the adversaries of humanity. You will not doubt that these adversaries were the deputies from the South. I except, however, the virtuous Madison, and especially Mr. Vining, brother of that respectable woman so unjustly outraged by Mr. Chastellux. He defended, with real eloquence, the cause of the blacks.
I must not forget to name among the advocates of humanity, Mess, Scott, Gerry, and Boudinot. You will be astonished to find among their adversaries the first denunciator of the Cincinnati, Mr. Burke; he who unfolded, with so much energy, the fatal consequences of the inequality which this order would introduce among the citizens; and the same man could support the much more horrible inequality established between the whites and blacks.
U2
You will be still more astonished to learn, that he uniformly employed the language of invective. This is the weapon that the partizans of slavery always use in America, in england, and in France.
One of the most ardent petitioners to Congress in this cause, was the respectable Warner Mislin. His zeal was rewarded with atrocious calumnies, which he always answered with mildness, forgiveness, and argument.
LETTER
ON
this continent, my friend so polluted and tormented with slavery, Providence has places two powerful and infallible means of destroying this evil. The means are, the societies of which we have been speaking, and sugar-maple.
Of all vegetables containing sugar, this maple, after the sugar-cane, contains the greatest quantity.It grows naturally in the United States, and may be propagated with great facility. All America seems covered with it, from Canada to Virginia; it becomes more rare at the fouthward, on the east of the mountains; but ut is found in abundance in the back country.
Such is the beneficent tree which has, for a long time, recompensed the happy colonists, whose position deprived them of the delicate sugar of our islands.
U 3
They have till lately contented themselves with bestowing very little labour on the manufacture, only bringing it to a slate of common coarse sugar; but since the Quakers have discerned in this production, the means of destroying slavery, they have felt the necessity of carrying it to perfection; and success has crowned their endeavours.
You, know, my friend, all the difficulties attending the cultivation of the cane. It is a tender plant; it has many enemies, and requires constant care and labour to depend it from numerous accidents: add to these, the painful efforts that the preparation and manufacture costs to the wretched Africans; and, on comparing these to the advantages of the maple, you will be convinced, by a new argument, that much pains are often taken to commit unprofitable crimes. The maple is produces by nature; the sap to be extracted, requires no preparatory labour; it runs in February and March, a season unsuitable for other rural operations. Each tree, without injury to itself, give twelve or fifteen gallons, which will produce at least five pounds of sugar. A man aided by four children, may easily, during four weeks
running
* M. Lanthenas, one of the most enlightened defenders of the Blacks in France, has made some calculations on this subject, which cannot be too often repeated. Supposing, says he, that a family will produce in a season 1500lb. of sugar, 80,000 families will produce, and that with very little trouble, a quantity equal to what is exported from St. Domingo in the most plentiful year, which is reckoned at one hundred and twenty millions. This supposes twenty millions of trees, rendering five pounds each, estimating the acre of the United States at 38,476 square feet of France; and supposing the trees planted at seven feet distance, about 30,000 acres appropriated to this use, would suffice for the above quantity of sugar.
Advantages, like these, have not failed to excite the attention of the friends of humanity; so that, besides the societies formed for the abolition of slavery, another is formed, whose express object is to perfect this valuable production.
Mr. Drinker
Edward
† Some of the following facts took place in 1789 and 1790, as my friends have written me from Philadelphia. I thought proper to insert them in this letter, to which they belong.
Edward Pennington, of Philadelphia, formerly a refiner in the West Indies, has declared this sugar equal to that of the islands, in grain, colour, and taste.
The cultivators in the State of New-York perceive, in an equal degree, the advantages of this production; they have made, this year, a great quantity of sugar, and brought it to great perfection.
Whenever there shall form from North to South a firm coalition, an ardent emulation to multiply the produce of this divine tree, and especially when it shall be deemed an empathy to destroy it
* A farmer has published, that no less than three millions of the maple trees are destroyed annually in clearing the lands in the single State of New-York. It is certainly worthy the care of every Legislature in the Union, to prevent the destruction of forceful a tree, which seems to have been planted by the hand of Heaven for the consolation of man.
What an astonishing effect it would produce, to naturalize this tree through all Europe! In France, we might plant them at twenty
feet
* The author ought to have carried the idea further. The sugar maple for fuel is equal to the best oak; for cabinet work, and many similar uses, it is superior to most of the species of wood used in Europe; as a tree of ornament and pleasure, it is at least equal to the elm or poplar. How many millions of young trees, for the above uses, are planted every year in all parts of Europe, to renew and perpetuate the forests, the public walks, the public and private gardens and parks, to border the great roads, &c.! for all these purposes the sugar maple might be planted, and the juice to be drawn from it might be reckoned a clear profit to the world. The experiment of M. Noailles, in his garden at St. Germains, proves that this American tree would succeed well in Europe.—
Translator.
Thus we should obtain a profitable production in Europe, and diminish for many strokes of the whip, which our luxury draws upon the blacks. Why is it, that, in our capital, where the delicacy of sentiment is sometimes
LETTER
I HAVE
already, my friend, given you a sketch of the ideas of Dr. Thronton on this subject. This ardent friend of the Blacks is persuaded, that we cannot hope to see a sincere union between them and the Whites, as long as they differ so much in colour, and in their rights as citizens. He attributes to no other cause, the apathy perceivable in many Blacks, even in Massachusetts, where they are free. Deprived of the hope of electing or being elected representatives, or of rising to any places of honour and trust, the Negroes seem condemned to drag out their days in a state of fertility, or to languish in shops of retail. The Whites reproach them with a want of cleanliness, indolence, and inattention. But how can they be industrious and active, while an insurmountable barrier separates them from other citizens?
Even
Even on admitting them to all the rights of citizens, I know not if it would be possible to effect a lasting and sincere union; we are so strongly inclined to love our likeness, that there would be unceasing suspicions, jealousies, and partialities, between the Whites and Blacks. We must then recur to the project of Mr. Thornton—a project first imagined by that great apostle of philanthropy, Doctor Fothergill!—a project executed by the Society at London, or rather by the Society at London, or rather by the beneficent Grenville Sharp!—a project for restoring the Negroes to their country, to establish them there, and encourage them in the cultivation of coffee, sugar, cotton, &c. to carry on manufacture, and to open a commerce with Europe, Mr. Thornton has occupied himself with this consoling idea. He proposed himself to be the conductor of the American Negroes Who should repair to Africa. He proposed to unite them to the new colony at Sierra-Leona. He had sent, at his own expense, into Africa, a well-instructed man, who had spent several years in observing the productions of the country, the manufactures most suitable to it, the place most convenient, and the measures necessary to be taken to secure the colony from insults, and every thing was prepared. He had communicated
his
The Doctor was persuaded, that when his design should be known, thousands of the Negroes would follow him. He had remarked, as well as I, the injustice of reproaching them with the spirit of idleness. If they are lazy, says he, why of much expence to go and steal-them from their country for the sake of their labour?
His reasoning begins to convince men of reflexion, and his plan gives a solution to the problem of Mr. Jefferson.—
See Notes on Virginia.
The State of Massachusetts has since received a request from the Negroes, for the execution of the project. They have promised
What advantage would result to Africa, to Europe, and even to America, from the execution of this plan! For the Blacks of Africa would gradually civilize by the assistance of those from America; and the Whites, whom they ought to execrate, would never mingle with them. By this civilization, Europe would open a vast market to her manufactures, and obtain, at a cheap rate, and without the effusion of blood, those productions which cost her at the islands of much money and of many crimes. God grant that this idea may soon be realized
* To perceive the advantages, read the work intitled
L' Amiral refuté par lui-meme; and see the efforts made in England, to establish colonies in Africa, and to civilize the Blacks.
A Society is formed in England, whose object is to follow the establishment of Sierra Leona, and open a trade there for the productions of the country. This settlement is on land belonging to the English, and dependant on the English Government.
Another
Another society is formed, whose object is partly the same, but who with to render this establishment independent of every European Government. They have lately published their plan, under the following title:
Plan of a free Community on the Coast of Africa, formed under the protection of Great Britain, but entirely independent of all European Government and Laws; with an invitation, under certain conditions, to those who may desire to partake of the advantages of this undertaking.
In this plan, of which every friend to humanity must with the success, it is declared, that the Society is founded on the principle of the universal philanthropy, and not simply for the necessities of commerce:—advantages too much prized; as if the happiness of all the human race consisted in the acquisition of wealth.
LETTER
IN
considering the vices which tarnish Old Europe, and the mild fraternity that unites the Quakers, Voltaire sometimes flew off in imagination beyond the seas, and longed to go and finish his days in the City of Brothers. What would he have said, had he been able to have realized his dream, and to have been a witness of the peace with reigns in this town? I am wrong: Voltaire would have hastened to return to Europe: he burned with the love of glory; he lived upon incense, and he would have received but little here. The gravity of the Quakers would have appeared to him a gloomy pedantry: he would have yawned in their assemblies, and been mortified to see his epigrams pass without applause; he would have sighed for the sparkling wit of his amiable sops of Paris.
Philadelphia may be considered as the metropolis of the United States. It is certainly
the
The Swedes were first established on the spot where this town has been since built. The Swedish church on the banks of the Delaware is more than one hundred years old. It is the oldest church in the town, at present under the care of Dr. Collins, a Swedish minister of great learning and merit. He writes very well in English, and has composed many works in that language; among which is the
Foreign Spectator
, in which he unfolds the foundest principles of republican policy. He is a fervent apostle of liberty.
Penn brought into his new colony a government truly fraternal. Brothers who live together have no need of soldiers, nor forts, nor police, nor that formidable apparatus which makes of European towns garrisons of war.
X
At ten o'clock in the evening all is tranquil in the streets; the profound silence which reigns there, is only interrupted by the voice of the watchmen, who are in small numbers, and who form the only patrole. The streets are lighted by lamps, placed like those of London.
On the side of the streets are footways of brick, and gutters constructed of brick or wood. Strong posts are placed to prevent carriages from passing on the footways. All the streets are furnished with public pumps, in great numbers. At the door of each house are placed two benches, where the family fit at evening to take the fresh air, and amuse themselves in looking at the passengers. It is certainly a bad custom, as the evening air is unhealthful, and the exercise is not sufficient to correct this evil; for they never walk here: they supply the want of walking, by riding out into the country. They have few coaches at Philadelphia. You see many handsome waggons, which are used to carry the family into the country; they are a kind of long carriage, light and open, and may contain twelve persons. They have many chairs and sulkeys, open on all sides; the former may carry two persons, the latter only one.
The
The horses used in these carriages, are neither handsome nor strong; but they travel very well. I have not yet met with those fine horses of which M. de Crevecoeur speaks, and which I thought were equal to the enormous breed of Flanders. I suspect the Americans of not taking sufficient care of their horses, and of nourishing them ill; they give them no straw in the stable: on returning from long and fatiguing courses, they are sent to pasture.
Philadelphia is built on a regular plan; long and large streets cross each other at right angles: this regularity, which is a real ornament, is at first embarrassing to a stranger; he has much difficulty in finding himself, especially as the streets are not inscribed, and the doors not numbered. It is strange that the Quakers, who are so fond of order, have not adopted these two conveniencies; that they have not borrowed them from the English, of whom they have borrowed so many things. This double defect is a torment to strangers. The shops, which adorn the principal streets, are remarkable for their neatness.
The State-house, where the Legislature assembles, is a handsome building: by its side
X 2
Mr. Raynal has exaggerated every thing; the buildings, the library, the streets: he speaks of streets 100 feet wide; there is none of this width, except Market-street; they are generally from 50 to 60 feet wide. He speaks of wharfs of 200 feet: there is none such here; the wharfs in general are small and niggardly. He says they have every where followed the plan laid down by Mr. Penn in building their houses. They have violated it in building Water-street, where he had projected elegant wharfs. Raynal speaks likewise of houses covered with slate, and of marble monuments in the churches, and in the halls of the State-house. I have seen nothing of all this.
Behind the State-house is a public garden; it is the only one that exists in Philadelphia. It is not large; but it is agreeable, and one may breathe in it. It is composed of a number of verdant squares, intersected by alleys.
All the space from Front-street on the Delaware to Front-street on the Skuylkill, is
already
A carpet in summer is an absurdity; yet they spread them in this season, and from vanity: this vanity excuses itself by saying that the carpet is an ornament; that is to say, they sacrifice reason and utility to show.
The Quakers have likewise carpets; but the rigorous ones blame this practice. They mentioned to me an instance of a Quaker from Carolina, who, going to dine with one of the most opulent at Philadelphia, was offended at finding the passage from the door to the staircase covered with a carpet, and would not enter the house; he said that he never
X 3
If this man justly censured the prodigality of carpets, how much more severely ought he to censure the women of Philadelphia? I speak not here of the Quaker women; I refer my observations on them to the chapter which I reserve for that society. But the women of the other sects wear hats and caps almost as varied as those of Paris. They bestow immense expences on their toilet and head-dress, and display pretensions too affected to be pleasing.
It is a great misfortune that, in republics, women should sacrifice so much time to trifles; and that men should likewise hold this taste in some estimation.
A very ingenious woman in this town is reproached with having contributed more than all others to introduce this taste for luxury. I really regret to see her husband, who appears to be well informed, and of an amiable character, affect, in his buildings and furniture, a pomp which ought for ever to have been a stranger to Philadelphia; and
why?
Notwithstanding the fatal effects that might be expected here from luxury, we may say with truth, that there is no town where morals are more respected. Adultery is not known here: there is no instance of a wife of any sect, who has failed in her duty.
This, I am told, is owing to what may be called the civil state. They marry without dower; they bring to their husbands only the furniture of their houses; and they wait the death of their parents, before they come to the possession of their property.
I have been informed, however, of a Mrs. Livingston, daughter of Doctor Shippen, who lives separated from her husband. This separation.
You would not have so good an idea of the morals of this country, if you were to read a satire lately published, intitled
The Times.
The author is Mr. Markoe. He discover a remarkable talent for poetry; a talent similar to that of our satyrist Guibert, who lately died in an hospital; but, like him, he paints with too high colours; and, like all poets, he often substitutes fable for truth. Mr. Markoe inspires the less confidence, as he dishonours his writings by an intemperate life. A satyrist, to be believed, and to be useful, ought to exhibit the most unexceptionable morals.
The celebrated Paine, author of Common Sense, so much venerated by the French, is most cruelly treated in this satire. This is not the first that has been published against
him;
Mr. Paine has enjoyed great success here; it is not therefore surprising, that satires should be written against him. Whatever may be the cause of it, it cannot be denied, that his writings had a great effect on the American revolution; and this circumstance ought to place him in the rank of the benefactors of America.
I have seen another author at Philadelphia, who has imagination and wit; it is Mr. Crawford. He has published several poems; as likewise Observations on the slavery of the Negroes, full of good sense and humanity. He has published an address of the famous George Fox to the Jews. Mr. Crawford has a turn for mystical ideas; this, aided by great application to study, and an inflammable imagination, has led him to turns of insanity. He was formerly a deist, and has been converted by the celebrated Doctor Jebb.
There is no town on the continent where there is so much printing done as at Philadelphia. Gazettes and book-stores are numerous
Among the printers and booksellers of this town, I remarked Mr. Carey, an Irish printer, who, for having published, in his journal of
The Volunteers of Ireland
, an article which wounded some people in place, particularly Mr. Foster, was persecuted, and obliged to fly to America. Being destitute of money, M. de la Fayette gave him assistance, and enabled him to establish a press, on condition that this act of generosity should remain a secret. Mr. Carey kept his word; but, having a public quarrel two years afterwards with another printer, Mr. Oswald, who quarrels with all the world, and who called in question the origin of Mr. Carey's fortune, he was obliged to reveal the secret.
This printer, who unites great industry with great information, publishes a monthly collection, called
The American Museum
, which is equal to the best periodical publication in Europe. It contains every thing the most important that America produces in the arts, in the sciences, and in politics. The part that concerns agriculture, is attended to with great care.
There
There are at present very few French merchants at Philadelphia. The failure of those who first came, discouraged others, and has put the Americans on their guard. I have endeavoured to discover the cause of these failures; and have found that the greater part of these French merchants had either begun with little property, or had made imprudent purchases, or given themselves up to extravagant expences. Most of them were ignorant of the language, customs, and laws of the country; Most of them were seduced by the high price which they received for their goods, in paper money: imagining that this paper would soon rise to par, they amassed as much as possible of it, calculating on enormous profits; and thus fed the hopes of their correspondents in Europe. These hopes were disappointed. Some knowledge of business, of men, of politics, of revolutions, and of the country, would have taught them, that many years must elapse before the public debt could be paid. It became necessary to break the illusion, to fell this paper at a loss, in order to meet their engagements. But they had set up their equipages; they were in the habit of great expences, which they thought it necessary to continue for fear of losing their credit, for they measured
Philadelphia
Some Frenchmen paraded themselves here publicly with their mistresses, who displayed those light and wanton airs which they had practiced at Paris
Since
* One of these gentlemen had the impudence to present in some of the best families his mistress, not as his wife, but as his partner in trade. This woman was afterwards publicly kept by the ambassador. He had not respect enough for the morals of the country, to induce him to conceal his turpitude.
Since the peace, the Quakers have returned to their commerce with great activity. The capitals which diffidence had for a long time locked up in their coffers, are now drawn out to give a spring to industry, and encourage commercial speculations. The Delaware sees floating the flags of all nations; and enterprises are there formed for all parts of the world. Manufactories are rising in the town and in the country; and industry and emulation increase with great rapidity. Notwithstanding the astonishing growth of Baltimore, which has drawn part of the commerce from Philadelphia, yet the energy of the ancient capitals of this town, the universal estimation in which the Quaker merchants are held, and the augmentation of agriculture and population, supply this deficiency.
You will now be able to judge of the causes of the prosperity of this town. Its situation on a river navigable for the greatest ships, renders it one of the principal places of foreign commerce, and at the same time the great magazine of all the productions of the fertile lands of Pennsylvania, and of those of some of the neighbouring States. The vast rivers, which by their numerous branches
communicate
But I firmly believe that it is not simply to those physical advantages that Pennsylvania owes her prosperity. It is to the manners of the inhabitants; it is to the universal tolerance which reigned there from the beginning; it is to the simplicity, œconomy, industry, and perseverance of the Quakers, which, centering in two points, agriculture and commerce, have carried them to a greater perfection than they have attained among other sects. The cabin of a simple cultivator gives birth to more children than a gilded palace; and less of them perish in infancy.
And since the table of population of a country appears to you always the most exact measure of its prosperity, compare, at four different epochs, the number of inhabitants paying capitation in Pennsylvania.
You
You see that population has more than doubled in twenty-five years, notwithstanding the horrible depopulation of a war of eight years. Observe in this stating, that the blacks are not included, which form about one-fifth of the population of the State. Observe, that by the calculation of the general convention in 1787, the number of whites in this State was carried to 360,000; which supposes, very nearly, a wife and four children for every taxable head.
The public spirit which the Quakers manifest in every thing, has given rise to several useful institutions in Philadelphia, which I have not yet mentioned. One of them is the
Dispensary
, which distributes medicines
gratis
to the sick who are not in a situation to purchase them.
See how easy and cheap it is to do good. Let those men blush, then, who dissipate their fortunes in luxury and in idleness! One thousand six hundred and forty-seven persons were treated by this establishment during the year 1787. By calculation this treatment cost to the establishment five shillings and nine pence for each patient. Thus, for two hundred
pounds
To this public spirit, so ingenious in varying its benefits, is owing the
Benevolent Institution
, whose object it is to succour, in their own houses, poor women in childbed.
Another society has for its object to alleviate the situation of prisoners.
The Philadelphians confine not their attention to their brethren; they extend it to strangers; they have formed a society for the assistance of emigrants who arrive from Germany. A similar one is formed at New-York, called take Hibernian Society, for the succour of emigrants from Ireland. These societies inform themselves, on the arrival of a ship, of the situation of the emigrants, and procure them immediate employ.
Here is a company for insurance against fire. The houses are constructed of wood and brick, and consequently exposed to the ravages of fire. The insurers are the insured, a method which prevents the abuses to which your company at Paris is exposed.
In
In the midst of all these things which excite my admiration and my tender regard, one trait of injustice gives me much pain, because it seems to tarnish the glory of Pennsylvania. Penn left to his family an immense property here. In the last war his descendants took part with the English government, and retired to England. The legislature of Pennsylvania passed a law, taking from them all their lands and their rents, and voted to give them for the whole, one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. This sum was to have been paid in paper-money, which suffered then a considerable depreciation. The first term only has been paid.
It cannot be denied, that there was a great injustice in the estimation, in the mode of payment, and in the delay. The State of Pennsylvania has too much respect for property, and too much attachment to justice, not to repair its wrongs one day to the family of Penn, which subsists at present only at the expence of the English nation.
Y LETTER.
* As the translator recollects to have seen this fanciful description many times published in America, he was less anxious in re-translating it, to flatter the original author, by restraining all his ideas, than he was to save the credit of M. de Warville, by abridging the piece. Credulity is indeed a less fault in a traveller than prejudice, but it ought, however, toHITHERTO,
my friend, we have spoken only of farms already in good culture, and in the neighbourhood of towns. We must now penetrate farther, descend into the midst of the wilderness, and observe the man, detached from society, with his axe in his hand, selling the venerable oak, that had been respected by the savage, and supplying its place with the humble spire of corn. We must follow this man in his progress, observe the changes that his cabin undergoes, when it becomes the center of twenty other cabins which rise successively round it. An American farmer has communicated to me the principal traits of the rural picture which I am going to lay before you. The first planter
or
be be corrected. Accounts like this put one in mind of Dr. Franklin's romance of
Mary baker, so religiously believed and copied by the Abbé Raynal, in his History of the Two ladies.
Y 2 on
Thus roll away the first three years of our planter in laziness, independence, the variation of pleasure, and of labour. But population augments in his neighbourhood, and then his troubles begin. His cattle could before run at large; but now his neighbours force him to retain them within his little farm. Formerly the wild beasts gave subsistence to his family; they now fly a country which begins to be peopled by men, and consequently by enemies. An increasing society brings regulations, taxes, and the parade of laws; and nothing is so terrible to our independent planter as all these shackles. He will not consent to sacrifice a single natural right for all the benefits of government; he abandons then his little establishment, and goes to seek a second retreat in the wilderness, where he can recommence his labours,
and
It has been remarked, that the preaching of the Gospel always drives off men of this class. And it is not surprising if we consider how much its precepts are opposed to the licentiousness of their manner of life. But the labour bestowed by the first planter gives some value to the farm, which now comes to be occupied by a man of the second class of planters. He begins by adding to his cabin a house. A faw-mill in the neighbouring settlement, furnishes him with boards. His house is covered with shingles, and is two stories high. He makes a little meadow, plants an orchard of two or three hundred apple-trees. His stable is enlarged; he builds a spacious bare of wood, and covers it with rye-straw. Instead of planting only Indian corn, he cultivates wheat and rye; the last is destined to make whisky. But this planter manages ill; his fields are badly plowed, never manured, and give but small crops. His cattle break through his fences, destroy his crops, and often cut off the hopes of the year. His horses are ill fed, and feeble;
Y3
This is ordinarily a man of property, and of a cultivated mind. His, first object is to convert into meadow all his land, on which he can conduct water. He then builds a barn of stone, sometimes a hundred feet in length, and forty in breadth. This defends his cattle from cold, and they eat less when kept warm, than when exposed to the frost. To spare the consumption of fuel, he makes use of economical stoves, and by this be saves immense labour in cutting and carting wood. He multiplies the objects of culture; besides corn, wheat, and rye, he cultivates oats and buck-wheat. Near his house he forms a garden of one or two acres, which gives him quantities of cabbage, potatoes, and turnips. Near the spring which furnishes him with water, he builds a dairy-house. He augments
Two-thirds of the farmers of Pennsylvania belong to this third class. It is to them that the State owes its ancient reputation and importance. If they have less of cunning than their neighbours of the South, who cultivate their lands by slaves, they have more of the republican virtues. It was from their farms
that
This is a feeble sketch of the happiness of a Pennsylvania farmer; a happiness to which this State calls men of all countries and of all religions. It offers not the pleasures of the Arcadia of the poets, or those of the great towns of Europe; but it promises you independence, plenty, and happiness—in return for patience, industry, and labour. The moderate price of lands, the credit that may be obtained, and the perfect security that the courts of justice give to every species of property, place these advantages within the reach of every condition of men.
I do not pretend here to give the history of all the settlements of Pennsylvania. It often happens, that the same man, or the same family, holds the place of the first and second, and sometimes of the third class of planters above described. In the counties near Philadelphia,
This passion for emigration, of which I have spoken, will appear to you unaccountable:—that a man should voluntarily abandon the country that gave him birth, the church where he was consecrated to God, the tombs of his ancestors, the companions and friends of his youth, and all the pleasures of polished society—to expose himself to the dangers and difficulties of conquering savage nature, is in the eyes of a European philosopher, a phenomenon which contradicts the ordinary progress and principles of the actions of men. But such is the fact; and this passion contributes to increase the population of America, not only in the new settlements, but in the old states; for, when the number of farmers is augmented in any canton beyond the number of convenient farms, the population languishes, the price of lands rise to such a degree as to diminish the profits of agriculture, encourage idleness, or turn the attention to less honourable pursuits. The best preventative of these evils is of the emigration of part of the inhabitants. This part generally consists
The third class of cultivators which I have described, is chiefly composed of Germans. They make a great part of the population of Pennsylvania. It is more than a century since the first Germans were established here. They are regarded as the most honest, the most industrious and œconomical of the farmers. They never contract debts; they are, of all the Americans, the least attached to the use of rum and other ardent spirits. Thus their families are the most numerous. It is very common to see them have twelve or fourteen children.
A principal
* According to M. Moheau, one family of 25,000 in France has thirteen children; two have twelve.
A principal cause of emigration in the back parts of Pennsylvania, is the hope of escaping taxes; yet the land-tax is very light, as it does not exceed a penny in the pound of the estimation; and the estimation is much under the value of the lands.
There is much irregularity in the land-tax, as likewise in the capitation or poll-tax; but I see with pleasure, that bachelors pay more than married men.
LETTER
I HAVE
already spoken to you, my friend, of the climate of this happy town. The respectable Doctor Rush has just communicated to me some new and curious details, which I will communicate.
This enlightened observer, in one energetic phrase, has pictured to me the variations incident to Philadelphia. We have, said he, the humidity of Great Britain in the Spring, the heat of Africa in Summer, the temperance of Italy in June, the sky of Egypt in Autumn, the snows of Norway and the ice of Holland during the Winter; the tempests, to a certain degree, of the West Indies in each season, and the variable winds of Great Britain in every month of the year.
Notwithstanding all these changes, the Doctor thinks, that the climate of Philadelphia is one of the most healthful in the world.
In
In dry weather, the air has a peculiar elasticity, which renders heat or cold less insupportable than they are in places more humid. The air never becomes heavy and fatiguing, but when the rains are not followed by the beneficent North-west. During the three weeks that I have passed here (in August and September) I have felt nothing of the languor of body, and depression of spirits, which I expected: though the heat has been very great, I found it supportable; nearly like that of Paris, but it caused a greater perspiration.
Doctor Rush has observed, as have many physicians of Europe, that the state of mind influences much on the health. He cited to me two striking examples of it. The English seamen wounded in the famous naval battle of the 12th of April 1782, were cured with the greatest facility. The joy of victory gave to their bodies the force of health. He had made the same observations on the American soldiers wounded at the battle of Trenton.
Variability is the characteristic of the climate of Pennsylvania. It has changed by the clearing of lands, and the diminution of waters, which formerly abounded in this part of America. Many creeks, and every rivers,
have
These changes have produced happy effects on the health of the people. An old man of this country has observed to me, that the health of the Pennsylvanians augments in proportion to the cultivation of the country; that their visages are less pale than they were thirty or forty years past; that for some time the number of centenaries has increased, and that the septuagenaries are very numerous.
In 1782, there was such an extraordinary drought, that the Indian corn did not come to perfection, the meadows failed and the soil become so inflammable, that in some places it caught fire, and the surface was burnt.—This year it has been excessively rainy. On the 18th and 19th of August, there fell at Philadelphia seven inches of water. Wheat has suffered much this year from the rains.
Happily all parts of the country are not subject to the same variations of the atmosphere; so that a general scarcity is never known. If the harvest fails here, at fifty
miles
My Friend Myers Fisher, who endevours to explain he characters of men from the physical circumstances that surround them, has communicated to me an observation which he has made in that respect; it is, that
the
He could see the dullness and indecision of the Virginians in the slow movement of the Potomac; while the rapid current of the river of the North painted to him the activity of the people of New-England.
He told me, likewise, that the health of the people might very well conflict with the variations of the air, provided that wise precautions were taken. This, as he assured me, was a part of the discipline of the Quakers. Thus, according to him, you may measure the longevity of the People of Pennsylvania by the sect to which they belong. That of the Quakers ought to be placed at the head of this table of longevity; that of the Moravians next; the Presbyterians next, &c.
Doctor Rush, whose observations in this respect are numerous, has told me, that sudden variations caused more diseases and deaths than either heat of cold constantly excessive. He instanced the rigorous winter of 1780, the burning summer of 1782, and the rainy summer of 1788. There were then few or
no
Z
AMONG
the diseases of the United States the consumption doubtless makes the greatest ravages. It was unknown to the original inhabitants of the country; it is then the result of European habits of life transported to this new Continent. It is more common in the towns than in the country; it destroys more women than men; it is a languid disorder, which drags, by slow steps, its victim to the tomb; each day plunges the dagger deeper in his breast, and renders more visible the incurable wound. Death, without ceasing, stares him in the face, and throws a funeral shrowd over the remainder of his days. The world and its pleasures disappear; the ties of friendship are the only ones that are strengthened and endeared, and which double the bitterness of his approaching dissolution. The consumption, in a word, is a long continued agony, a flow tormenting death.
The
The physicians of this country attribute it to different causes; to the excessive use of hot drinks, such as tea and coffee; to the habit of remaining too long in bed, and the use of feather-beds, for they know not the use of matrasses; to the custom of eating too much meat, and of drinking too much spirituous liquors. Women are more subject to it than men; because, independently of the above causes, they take but little exercise, which is the only powerful remedy against the stagnation of humours, the great principle of the marasma: they taste but little the pleasures of walking; a movement which, varying the spectacle of nature, gives a refreshment to the senses, a new spring to the blood, and a new vigour to the foul.
A particular cause of consumptions amongst the Quaker women is doubtless the habit of gravity and immobility which they contract in early life, and which they preserve for hours together in their silent meetings. The women of the other sect are equally attacked by consumptions, but it is attributed to different causes: they are fond of excessive dancing; heated with this, they drink cold water, eat cold unripe fruits, drink boiling tea, go thinly
Z2
A moral or political cause may likewise aid us in explaining why women are more subject to consumptions than men. It is the want of a will, or a civil existence. The submission to which women are habituated, has the effect of chains, which compress the limbs, cause obstructions, deaden the vital principle, and impede the circulation. The depression of the mind has a tendency to enfeeble the body. This submission to fathers and husbands is more remarkable among the Quakers, than among the other sects. The time will doubtless come, when we shall be convinced that physical health, as well as political happiness, may be greatly promoted by equality and independence of opinions among all the members of society.
Consumptions,
Consumptions, however, are not so numerous in America as is generally imagined. This name is ignorantly given to many other disorders, which reduce the body to the same meagre state which follows a decay of the lungs. This appearance deceives, and may easily deceive the attendants of the sick, who give information to those who keep the bills of mortality.
Another disease very common here, is the sore-throat; when putrid, it is mortal. It generally proceeds from excessive heats, cold drinks, and carelessness in cloathing.
When we reflect that Europe was formerly subject to these epidemical diseases, and that they have disappeared in proportion to the progress of cultivation, we are tempted to believe that they belong to new countries in the infancy of cultivation.
The disease known in Europe by the name of influenza, is likewise common in America: it made great ravages in 1789. It began in Canada, passed through New-York, and very soon infected Pennsylvania
Z 3
The fever and ague may be ranked in the class of these cruel epidemic; but it is more terrible, as its returns are annual. It not only visits the marshy countries and the sea-coast, but it is seen even in the healthy region of Albany. It is combated by the Peruvian bark; but the most successful remedy, is a journey among the mountains, or into the Northern States. This fever, more humane than men, subjects not to its empire the black slaves. This exemption is attributed to a custom they preserve with obstinacy, of keeping fires always in their cabins, even in the hottest season. The negroes are accustomed to consider excessive heat as a guarantee of health; and you will see a negress, while the labours in the field, in the ardour of a burning sun, expose her infant to its fires, rather than lay, it under the refreshing shade of a tree. This negress has not heard of the curious experiments of
Dr.
Among the maladies common in the United States, must be reckoned the pleurisy and the peripneumony, though they are less frequent than formerly. The small-pox, which formerly made such havock in the United States, is less formidable since the general practice if inoculation.
There are many physicians at Philadelphia, and you will perhaps assign this as the cause of so many diseases. You will be wrong. They are said to be skilful; they are generally strangers to quakery. I know some of them who are respectable, as well for their virtues, as for their knowledge; such as Rush, Griffiths, Wisneer; the two last are Quakers.
The greatest part of these physicians are, at the same time, apothecaries. They continue to unite these two sciences, out of respect to the people, who wish that the man who orders the medicine should likewise prepare it. There are, however, other apothecaries,
The practice of this country is the English practice; that is, they are much in the use of violent remedies. Laxatives are little in use. Almost all the physicians of this country are formed at the school of Edinburgh, and this is the cause of their predilection for the English practice.
I know a Dr. Baily of this country, a man of good abilities, but perhaps too inflammable and too caustic, who, much irritated at the preference given by his countrymen to the English practice, was resolved to open a communication between this country and the schools of France. This resolution did him the more honour, as he was known in politics for an Anglican, and a decided royalist.
LETTER
YOU
may think, perhaps after the account that I have given you of the maladies which afflict America, that human life is shorter here than in Europe. It is a prejudice; and as it has been accredited by many writers, and by some even who have travelled in America, it becomes a duty to destroy it.
The Abbe Robin, one of these travellers, has declared, that after the age of twenty-five, the American women appear old; that children die here in greater proportion than in Europe; that there are very few old people, &c. &c. M. Paw, I believe, had uttered these fables before him. Nothing is more false. I have observed with care the women between thirty and fifty years of age: they have generally a good appearance, good
health,
In Pennsylvania you do not see the same tints adorning the interesting visages of the daughters and wives of the Quakers; they are generally pale.
I have paid attention to their teeth. I have seen of them that are fine; and where they are otherwise, it is, as in England, more owing to hot drinks than to the climate.
Not only the number of aged persons are more considerable here than in Europe, as I am going to prove to you, but they preserve generally their faculties, intellectual and physical.
I was told of a minister at Ipswich in Massachusetts, who preached very well at ninety years, of age; another, of the same age, walked on foot to church on Sunday
twenty
But I will not confine myself to such light observations. I will give you some tables of mortality, and of the probabilities of life, in this country. This is the only method of conveying to you certain information.
Tables of longevity may be every where considered as the touchstone of Governments; the scale on which may be measured their excellencies and their defects, the perfection or degradation of the human species.
The general causes of longevity are,
1. The salubrity of the atmosphere and of the country.
2. The abundance and goodness of the aliments.
3. A life regular, active, and happy.
We must, then, consider the exterior circumstances as relative to the occupations of
men,
Wherever property is centered in a few hands, where employment is precarious and dependent, life is not so long; it is cut off by grief and care, which abridge more the principle of life than even want itself. Wherever the Government is arbitrary, and tyranny descends in divisions from rank to rank, and falls heavy on the lower classes, life must be short among the people, because they are slaves; and a miserable slave, trampled on at every moment, can enjoy neither that ease, nor that regularity, nor that interior satisfaction, which sustains the principles of life. The excesses and mortifications attending on ambition, abridge, in an equal degree, the life of the class which tyrannizes.
On applying these moral and political considerations to the United States, you may conclude, that there can be no country where the life of man is of longer duration; for, to all the advantages of nature, they unite that of a liberty, which has no equal on the Old Continent; and this liberty, let us not cease to repeat it, is the principle of health.
If
If any Government should wish to revive the speculation of life annuities on selected heads, I should advise to select them in the North of the United States.
It is difficult here to obtain regular tables of births and deaths. There are some sects who do not baptise their children, and whose registers are not carefully kept; others who baptise only their adults. Some of the sick have no physicians or surgeons, and their attendants who give the information are not exact. The constant fluctuations occasioned by emigrations and immigrations, still increase the difficulty. Yet we may approach near the truth, by taking for examples such seaports as are more occupied in the coasting trade than in long voyages; it is for this reason that I have chosen the towns of Salem and Ipswich in Massachusetts. I take these tables from the Memoirs of the Academy of Boston—Memoirs little known in France.
Doctor Halley, for the standard of his tables of mortality, chose Breslaw in Germany, on account of its interior situation and the regular employment of its inhabitants. By the calculations of these political arithmeticians,
five
At Ipswich, a village at the Northward of Boston, six only in thirty-three die within that age. At Breslaw, one in thirty attains the age of eighty years; at Ipswich, one in eight. This disproportion is enormous; and this longevity is found in many other parts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
At Woodstock, in Connecticut, one hundred and thirteen persons have died in eleven years; of these twenty-one were seventy years old and upwards, and thirteen were eighty and upwards. This gives something more than the proportion of an octogenary in nine. These facts are taken from authentic registers.
The minister of Andover in New Hampshire, a respectable and well informed man, has assured me, that more than one in eight males and females in his neighbourhood, pass the age of seventy years; and that this observation is the result of long experience in that and the neighbouring parishes.
Compare
EXPLANATION.
The first column gives the ages; the following ones give, by years and decimal parts of a year, the probabilities of life among the inhabitants of the different places mentioned. The second column regards the Graduates of Harvard College, at Cambridge, nears Boston: Hingham, which forms the third, is in Massachusetts; and Dover, which forms the fourth, is in New Hampshire. The other columns are taken from the work of Dr. Price.
Compare these facts to those stated by M. Moheau
* See
Recherches et Considerations fur la Population de la France, page 192.
The minister of Andover made to me another observation, which tends to confirm a system advanced by an author whose name I forget—It is, that men of letters enjoy the greatest longevity. He told me, that the oldest men were generally found among the Ministers. This fact will explain some of the causes of longevity; such as regularity of morals, information, independence of spirit, And easy circumstances.
But you will be better able to judge of the longevity in the United States, by the table of the probabilities of life given to me by the respectable Doctor Wiglesworth, of the University of Cambridge. It contains a comparison of these probabilities in New England, in England, in Sweden, in Germany, in Holland, and in France.
The
The first column gives the ages; the following one gives, by years, and decimal parts of a year, the probabilities of life among the inhabitants of the different places mentioned. You will see in this table, that the probabilities of life in this part of the United States, surpass those of England and Sweden, even those of the annuitants whose lives served for the basis to the tables of Kersboom; and that they almost equal those of the annuitants which served as the basis to the calculations of M. de Parcieux, for the establishment of life annuities
* We readily conceive that the probabilities of common life in France and Holland, are much inferior to these tables of annuitants.
The second column is appropriated to the graduates of the University of Cambridge, the nursery of ministers and statesmen for that part of the country. The probabilities in this column are calculated on the whole list of graduates, received since the year 1711.
Hingham, which forms the third columns, is at the South-east of Boston. The occupations and manners of life in this place, are much the same as in the rest of Massachusetts. The probabilities in this column are taken from the list of deaths, made with great care for fifty years, by Doctor Gay.
The
The column for Dover, situated on the river Piscutuay, twelve miles from the sea, in New Hampshire, is formed from the list of deaths kept for ten years, by Doctor Belknap, minister of that place.
The other columns, which regard the countries in Europe, are taken from the work of Doctor Price.
This comparative table will fix your ideas on the subject of longevity in the United States. And it is to be hoped that from the care of Doctor Wiglesworth of the academy of Boston, and that of the members of the other academies in the several States, we may soon have regular and complete tables for the thirteen States.
To satisfy your curiosity more completely, I will now give you a list of births, marriages, and deaths in a particular town; that you may see the proportion between the births and deaths, and the ages of the deceased. I will take Salem, which is considered as a very unhealthful town. It is a sea-port, in the forty-second degree of latitude, five leagues North-east of Boston, situated between two rivers, on a flat piece
of
A a
Mr. Holyoke sent to the Academy of Boston the two following tables for this town of Salem.
Deaths,
Births,
Baptisms,
Marriages,
Taxable polls; that is, males above the age of sixteen, and residing in the town,
Transient persons,
In being born,
Within the first month,
Between one month and one year,
AGES
Between one and two years,
—two and five,
—five and ten,
—ten and fifteen,
—fifteen and twenty
—twenty and twenty-five,
—twenty-five and thirty,
—thirty and forty,
—forty and fifty,
—fifty and sixty,
—sixty and seventy
—seventy and eighty,
—eighty and ninety
Ages unknown,
Deaths,
Births, about
Baptisms,
Marriages, about
Taxable polls,
Number of inhabitants, about
A a 2
In being born,
In the first month,
Between one month and one year,
Between one and two years,
—two and five,
—five and ten,
—ten and fifteen
—fifteen and twenty,
—twenty and twenty-five,
—twenty-five and thirty,
—thirty and forty,
—forty and fifty,
—fifty and sixty,
—sixty and seventy,
—seventy and eighty
—eighty and ninety,
Ages unknown * In the American journals they give the lifts of deaths. The following is one that I took at hazard in the American Museum for May, 1790:—Deaths, N. Hampshire, one at 70 years. Massachusetts, many at 71—one at 106—one at 92—one at 87. Connecticut, one at 98—one at 91. New-York, one at 104. New-Jersey, one at 80. Pennsylvania, one at 84—several at 76.
You will recollect that Salem is one of the most unhealthful towns in America. You do not find in the above two lists the proportion
The year 1781 gives 175 deaths. If you look for the population of Salem by the general rule of thirty living for one dead, the number of inhabitants would appear to be 5250—whereas it was 9000. You must then count for Salem fifty living for one deceased In London there dies one for twenty-three; and in the country in England, one in forty; in Paris, one in thirty; in the country, one in twenty-four.
In 1781, at Salem, the births are as one to twenty-seven of the inhabitants. In common years in France it is as one to twenty-fix.
As to marriages, M. Moheau reckons for the country in France one for 121, and for Paris one for 160. In Salem, you must count for 1781, only one for 128. But this is far from being the proportion for the country in America. We have no exact table for this purpose, We must wait.
I cannot terminate this long article on longevity without giving you the table of births
A a 3
You will observe, that in years of the war the births were less numerous. This is a natural reflexion, which ought always to be made by any one who makes calculations on the population of America.
Finally, my friend, to give you a further idea of the rapidity of population in America,
take
You observe by these tables, that the population of Rhode-Island, which had almost doubled in twelve years, from thirty to forty-two, has diminished during the war. But with what pleasure do you see the population in New Jersey more than tripled in forty years, notwithstanding the obstructions occasioned by the same bloody war! And with what pleasure do you, who are the defender of the blacks, observe that their number has more
than
From all the facts and all the tables which I have given you, it must be concluded that the life of man is much longer in the United States of America, than in the most salubrious countries of Europe.
LETTER
AND
Philadelphia likewise has its prison! I love to believe, that for the first thirty or forty years, when the Quakers were magistrates, or rather, when there was no need of magistrates, I love to indulge the belief that there was no prison. But since the English, to deliver themselves from the banditti that infested their island, have practised letting them loose upon the colonies,—since great numbers of foreign adventurers have overspread the country, especially since the last war, which has augmented their number, reduced many to misery, and habituated others to crimes—it has been necessary to restrain them by prisons. One fact does honour to this State; which is, that among the prisoners of Philadelphia, not one in ten is a native of the country. During my stay in this town, one robbery only has been committed; and this was by a French sailor.
Almost
Almost all the other prisoners are either Irishmen or Frenchmen.
This prison is a kind of house of correction. The prisoners are obliged to work; and each enjoys the profit of his own labour. This is the best method of ameliorating men; and it is a method used by the Quakers.
Those who govern the house of correction in New York, on consenting to take charge of criminals condemned by the law, have obtained leave to substitute to whips and mutilation their humane method of correction; and they daily succeed in leading back to industry and reason these deluded men.
One of these Quakers was asked, by what means it was possible to correct men who dishonour human nature, and who will not work? “We have two powerful instruments,” (replied the Quaker,) “hunger “and hope.”
By the small number of Pennsylvanians contained in the prison of Philadelphia, we may conclude, that, were it not for the strangers, the government of this town, like
that
But, after all, what is the use of prisons? Why those tombs for living men? the Indians have them not; and they are not the worse for it. If there exists a country where it is possible, and where it is a duty to change this system, it is America; it is therefore to the Americans that I address the following reflexions:
Prisons are fatal to the health, liberty, and morals of men. To preserve health, a man has need of a pure air, frequent exercise, and wholesome food. In a prison, the air is infected, there is no space for exercise, and the food is often detestable.
A man is not in health, but when he is with beings who love him, and by whom he is beloved. In prison, he is with strangers and with criminals. There can exist no society between them; or, if there does, he must either be obliged to struggle without ceasing against the horrid principles of these wicked men, which is a torment to him; or he adopts their principles and becomes like
them.—
By imprisonment, you snatch a man from his wife, his children, his friends; you deprive him of their succour and consolation; you plunge him into grief and mortification; you cut him off from all those connections which render his existence of any importance. He is like a plant torn up by the roots and severed from its nourishing soil; and how will you expect it to exist?
The man who has for a long time vegetated in a prison, who has experienced frequent convulsions of rage and despair, is no longer the same being, on quitting this abode, that he was when he entered it. He returns to his family, from whom he has been long sequestered; he no more meets from them, or experiences in himself, the same attachment and the same tenderness.
In putting a man in prison, you subject him to the power of the gaoler, of the turnkey, and of the commissary of the prison. Before these men he is obliged to abase himself, to disguise his sensations, to constrain
his
To oblige a freeman to use supplication to obtain justice, is to do him a lasting injury. The tree that is once bent from its natural form never acquires it again.
The laws which ordain the
habeas corpus
are wife and natural. But they do not ordain it in all cases. A prisoner for debt, who cannot obtain surety, must remain a prisoner. A man accused of a capital offence, who will be probably acquitted on trial, cannot enjoy the benefit of this law. These are abuses.
Is it not much more simple to imitate the Indians, to grant every man the privilege of his own house for a prison, though you are obliged to put a sentinel at his door? and for those that have no house of their own, establish a public house, where they can pursue their occupations.
If such regulations are necessary for any society, it is surely for the one which has
good
I am surprised then that the penalty of death is not totally abolished in this country, Manners here are so pure, the means of living so abundant, and misery so rare, that there can be no need of such horrid pains to prevent the commission of crimes.
Doctor Rush has just given force to all these arguments in favour of the abolition of the punishment of death. He has not yet succeeded; but it is to be hoped that the State of Pennsylvania, and even all the States, disengaging themselves from their ancient superstition for the English laws, will soon dare to give to Europe a great example of justice, humanity and policy. Any objections that may be made against this reform in Europe will not apply in this country.
LETTER
I HAVE
promised you, my friend, a particular article on this respectable society. I this day perform my promise.
You remember with what insulting levity M. de Chaftellux has treated them in the very superficial journal which he has published. You recollect the energetic censure
* See
Examen critique des Voyages dans l' Amérique Septentrionale de M. le Marquis des Chaftellux.
And now, my friend, I have been able to compare the portrait which I had made of them with the original; and I am convinced
that
Simplicity, candour, and good faith, characterize the actions as well as the discourses of the Quakers. They are not affected, but they are sincere; they are not polished, but they are humane; they have not that wit, that sparkling wit,—without which a man is nothing in France, and with which he is every thing; but they have good sense, a found judgment, an upright heart, and an obliging temper of mind. If I wished to live in society, it would be with Quakers: if I wished to amuse myself, it would be with my countrymen. And their women—you ask, what are they? Thy are what they
shouldIf you conform to nature
says Seneca,
you will never be poor; if to opinion, you will never be rich.
I will not recall to your mind all that M. Crevecœur has said of the Quakers: I only wish to say to you what he has not said.
Simplicity is a favourite virtue with the Quakers; and the men still follow, with some exactness, the counsel of Penn: “Let thy garments be plain and simple; attend to convenience and decency, but not to vanity. If
B b
* See
Fruits of Solitude, &c. by William Penn. In these instances of re-translation, it is scarcely possible to preserve exactly the expressions of the original author. Any deviations of this sort are therefore to be imputed not to a desire of changing his phraseology, but to the misfortune of not having at hand the original work.
I have seen James Pemberton, one of the most wealthy Quakers, and one whose virtues have placed him among the most respectable of their chiefs; I have seen him wear a thread-bare coat, but it was neat. He likes better to clothe the poor, and to expend money in the cause of the blacks, than to change often his coats.
You know the dress of the Quakers—a round hat, generally white; cloth coat; cotton or woollen stockings; no powder on their hair, which is cut short and hangs round. They commonly carry in their pocket a little comb in a cafe; and on entering a house, if the hair is disordered, they comb it without ceremony before the first mirror that they meet.
The white hat which they prefer, has become more common here, since Franklin has
proved
The Quakers in the country generally wear cloth made in their own houses. And at their general meeting here, in September this year, which consisted of more than fifteen hundred, nine-tenths of the number were clothed in American cloth. This is an example to the other sects.
There are some Quakers who dress more like other sects; who wear powder, silver buckles, and ruffles. They are called
wet quakers.
The others regard them as a kind of schismaticks, or feeble men. They are admitted, indeed, into their churches on Sunday, but never to their monthly or quarterly meetings.
It is not more than fifteen years since it was a kind of crime in all sects in America to wear powder. In general, manners have changed since the war, by the intercourse of European armies. But to the honour of the Quakers, theirs have not changed. This is to be attributed to the rigor of their discipline, and to their discarding those who violate it.
B b 2
They put on woollen stockings the 15th of September; it is an article of their discipline, which extends to their clothing; and to this is to be attributed their remarkable longevity. Among the few companions of William Penn in 1693, fix are now alive—Edward Drinker, born in 1680, has been dead but two years. It is from the intimate conviction of the advantages of their maxims, that they persevere in them with singular constancy. Their singularities are the effect of reason and long experience.
The Quaker women dress more comfortably than those of the other sects; and this renders them less subject to sickness. Age and fortune, however, cause much greater distinctions in their dress than in that of the men. The matrons wear the gravest colours, little black bonnets, and the hair simply turned back. The young women curl their hair with great care and anxiety; which costs them as much time as the most exquisite toilette. They wear little hats covered with silk or sattin. These observations gave me pain. These young Quakeresses, whom nature has so well endowed, whose charms have so little need of the borrowed hand of art, are remarkable for their choice of the finest
linens
I say it with freedom, and I ought to say it to my friends the Quakers, (for I am sure they will read me; and I would not flatter my friends; a hint of good advice is always well received by them) that if any thing can discredit their principles abroad, it is the relaxation insensibly introduced into their manners and customs. Their taste in linens and silks is regarded by others as a hypocritical luxury, ill-disguised; which is absurd, at least among men so apparently devoted to simplicity and austerity.
Luxury begins where utility ends. Now, where is the utility to the body in the use of the finest of linen? And how usefully might the money be employed, which is now applied to this luxury! There are so many good actions to be done! so many persons in want!
B b 3
Luxury displaced in simple things announces more vanity than when displayed in an ordinary manner; for it seems to be considered as the measure of wealth, of which they affect to despite the ostentation. Indeed it announces a mind not truly penetrated with the great principles of morality—a mind that places it happiness, not in virtue, but in appearance.
And what an ill example is thus given to the other Americans by the Quakers, who have been to them the models of simplicity? Their country does not, and will not for a long time, manufacture there fine linens, these delicate muslins, of which the texture is scarcely perceptible. They must be purchased in foreign countries, to which they have recourse for so many articles of necessity. Thus, this luxury drains from their country the money so much wanted for the extension of agriculture and other useful enterprises. Let the Quakers who read this article, meditate upon it; let them reflect, that the use of rum, against which they raise their voice with great energy and justice, cannot make more ravages in America than the introduction of luxury in their society. I made the same remark on the household
furniture
Happily, this luxury has not yet found its way to the tables of the Quakers. Their dinners, are solid, simple, and elegant, enlivened by serene and sensible conversation, and endeared by hospitality. They drink beer, Philadelphia porter, cider, and finish with a glass of wine. None of those fatiguing toasts, which are rather provocatives to intoxication than accents of patriotism.
Those who reproach the Quakers with sadness and moroseness, are unacquinted with their true character, and have never lived with them. I, who have been received by them as a child, and domesticated as a friend, judge them very differently. I have found among them moments of gaiety, of effusions of the heart, of sprightly and agreeable conversation. They are not buffoons, but they are serene; they are happy, and, if gaiety consists in the expression of heart-felt happiness, they are gay.
We Frenchmen have the reputation of being gay, of laughing at every thing, of balancing
The calmness which characterizes the Quakers in their joy, accompanies them likewise in their grief, in their discussions, and in all their affairs. They owe it to their education; they are early taught to curb their passions, especially that of anger; to render themselves, as they call it,
immoveable;
that is, inaccessible to sudden emotions: they preserve an empire over themselves; and this gives them a great advantage in discussion over those who do not preserve the same temper. “The greatest service,” says Penn, “that thou canst render to reason, is to clothe her in calmness; and he that defends truth with too much heat, does her more injury than her adversaries themselves.” I saw an example of the effects
of
The Quakers carry to the borders of the tomb this same tranquillity of mind; and it even forsakes not the women at this distressing moment. This is the fruit of their religious principles, and of a regular virtuous life. They confider Heaven as their country; and they cannot conceive why death which conducts to it, should be a misfortune.
This habitual serenity does not diminish their sensibility. The respectable Pemberton recounted to me the death of a beloved daughter, which happened the day before. I could see the tear steal down his cheek, which a moment's reflexion caused to disappear. he loved to speak to me of her virtues
This good father did not exaggerate. You will find in this Society, many of there cœlestial images, clothed in serenity, the symbol of internal peace and conscious virtue.
I cannot explain to you the fact; but it is true, that I feel an expansion of soul in their society. I meet a man of a pure mind,—I am at once at my ease,—we are like intimate and old acquaintance,—we understand each other without speaking. A corrupted man, a sharper, a man of the world, produces on me a contrary impression. My foul contrast and recoils upon itself, like the sensitive plant.
The portrait which I have given you of the Quakers, is not only the result of my own observations, but what has been told me by enlightened men of the other sects.
I asked one day, in company, the following question: “Is there a greater purity of morals, more simplicity, more integrity, more honesty among the Quakers, than any
other
LETTER
THE
spectacle of virtue gives pain to the wicked; and they avenge themselves by decrying it. You must not then he surprized that writers have endeavoured to injure this sanctified body. One of those who attempted, it with the most bitterness, is the author of
Recherches fur les Etats Unis
, published the beginning of this year. He has dilated, in a long chapter, all the calumnies which he had before uttered in a letter under the name of one of his countrymen, printed in the Paris Journal of the sixteenth of November, 1786.
This author is Mr. Mazzei, an Italian, who resided some years in Virginia, and has since settled in France. He might naturally, among the planters in Virginia contract prejudices against the Quakers; friends of dissipation, of luxury, of slavery, of pleasure, and of ostentation, regard with an evil eye, a society
The French, and especially the French officers, cannot in general be good judges in this matter; some of them sacrifice too much to the rage of ridicule; others have principles too different from the Quakers; and almost all of them are superficial observers.
Yet I must say, in praise of the French army, that they always respected the Quakers. The commander in chief had made of their meeting-house at Newport, a magazine of arms. He gave it up to them on their request. An English general would have conducted very differently.
In another instance, a French officer had quartered some soldiers at the house of a Quaker; out of respect to their principles, he did not suffer them to deposite their arms in the house.
M. de
M. de Chastellux was far from these principles. The cause of his prejudice was, that at the time when he travelled in America, the Quakers were not treated with respect, because they refused to take part in the war. He caught the general contagion of dislike, without ever hearing or seeing any of them: And it was to please the pretty graceful women of Paris, that he ridiculed the interior grace of the Quakers.
Among the writers in their favour, are Voltaire, Raynal, M'Auley, Crevecœur. What names on this subject can be placed in opposition to them?
In abusing the Quakers, he is obliged to confess that their singular ideas have raised them in certain points much above other men.
He pretends, likewise, that they have defect; and where have I denied it?
Ubi homines, ibi erunt vitia
, says Tacitus. And the Quakers are men. But I say that their principles guard them more from vice than those of other men.
Mr. Mazzei confesses, that for œconomy and application to business, their conduct is
trulyexemplary and worthy of praise.
It is from these two sources that flow all the private and civil virtues; for a man, who by principle is œconomical and attentive to his business, has nothing to fear from a numerous family. If he has many children, he loves them; for he sees the means of providing for them with ease. Such a man is neither a gambler nor a debauchee. Such a man is a good husband; for, placing all his happiness in domestic life, he is forced to be good, in order to be beloved; and he cannot be happy, but by rendering those happy who are round him. Why did not this critic see the consequences that must follow from the truth which he admits? Why did he not see that it effaced all the ill that he says afterwards of the Quakers? Why did he not see that it raised them above every other sect? For, with others, example, habit, or other variable circumstances, may render men œconomical and vigilant in business; while every Quaker is so, from a principle in his religion; a principle from which he cannot deviate, without ceasing to be a Quaker. Œconomy and industry are with them an essential part of their religion; how much stronger is such
a motive
Mr. Mazzei acknowledges, that in hospitality and beneficence they are not inferior to other men. He ought to have said they were superior; for charity and hospitality flow from œconomy and easy circumstances. The man that has more means, less real wants, and no fantastical ones, and who really loves his fellow creatures, is necessarily beneficent and hospitable; and such is the situation and such the character of the Quakers.
But the great reproach that Mr. Mazzei brings upon them is, that they are superior in
hypocrisy.
To judge of this accusation, let us see in what hypocrisy consists.
For a man to pretend to sentiments which he does not possess, to virtues which he does not practice—or, in a word, to appear what he is not, is what is meant by hypocricy.
Now are not the Quakers what they appear to be? This is the point to be proved. To convict them of
religious hypocrisy
, you must prove that they do not believe in the Holy Spirit, and in the Gospel; you must prove
them
If
moral
hypocrisy in intended, you must prove that they conceal libertinism, dissipation, and cruelty to their families, under the veil of austerity, œconomy, and apparent tenderness. Is it
political
hypocrisy? you must them prove that they wish secretly for places and dignities, which they have renounced; that they long to massacre their fellow-creatures, while they profess a horror for the effusion of human blood; that they are really selfish, under the mask of friends and benefactors to the human race; that they are proud and haughty, under the appearance of simplicity.
In a word, hypocrisy is a vague term; and as long as it is not applied to facts, it signifies, nothing. It does not suffice for its justification, to say, that Quakers are
Protestant Jesuits.
This is but a new calumny, as vague as the other. I ask for facts. If the Quakers resemble the Jesuits in mildness, indulgence, tolerance, and the art of persuasion, it is to resemble them on the virtuous side. M. Mazie
C c
I am not astonished that the Quakers have the art of persuasion. They have possessed it for a hundred and fifty years; which is a proof, that they merit the public confidence; they must have lost it had they been charletans or hypocrites.
The cry of hypocrisy is generally set up against the most grave and religious sects, and by those men who are seeking to justify their own corruption. It seems, that having renounced all virtues, they like not to take the trouble to feign them; or perhaps to get rid of the weight of esteem which is due to virtue, they calculate, that it is easier to deny its existence.
M. Mazzei accuses the Quakers of want of
punctuality
and
equity
in their commerce; he adds, that it is their
national character.
Observe, my friend, that neither Mazzei nor Chastellu0x adduce a single fact, nor a single authority for this assertion. It must then be a pure calumny. If this was the character of
the
I have too often heard repeated this accusation of knavery against them; I have, with the greatest care, consulted English and Americans of all sects, and French merchants who have dealings with them; and I have not been able to hear of a single fact as an instance of dishonesty. The worst that has been told me, is, that they are cunning, strict, and inflexible; that they have no respect for persons or sects. I was told too, as M. Mazzei has printed, that they understand very well how to sell, that they sell dear. I have showed in my answer to Chastellux, the absurdity of any reproach like this. To understand the art of selling, does not suppose a want of probity; it is the spirit of commerce; I will say more, it is the general character of the Americans; they are artful: I will explain the cause of it hereafter.
Mr. Bingham, one of the most opulent citizens of Philadelphia, and one who, from his oftentation and luxury, cannot be very favourable to the Quakers, spoke of them to me in the highest praise. He said, that to me they were extremely punctual in fulfilling
C c 2
And this will explain the common saying that you so often hear repeated at Philadelphia, that the Quakers are so cunning that the Jews themselves cannot live among them. Usurious Jews can never live among œconomical men, who have no need of borrowing money at enormous interest; for a similar reason, a seller of pork cannot live among Jews.
M. Mazzei accuses the Quakers of a
desire of gain;
though he is not so formal in this accusation as M. de Chastellux. I will take this opportunity to make a remark on this common approach, with which it is so fashionable to revile, not only the Quakers but commercial people in general.
The author of
Philosophical Travels in England
says, “We are luckily exempted in France from that spirit of avarice, that desire of gain; and we owe this exemption to the pride of a numerous body of nobles.”—More luckily, however, we are at present exempted from this very useful body. But I would ask this noble traveller, with what
spirit
The desire of gain in a merchant, consists in amassing wealth, in preserving it, and in watching over his affairs with a constant attention. Such then is the crime of the Quakers. But in reproaching them with it, we ought to consider attentively the circumstances of that society: their religious principle exclude them from all ambitious views, from all
places
Finally, the Quakers, having renounced the occupations of intrigue, of amusements, and even of literature and the sciences, must be occupied wholly in business; and consequently appear more vigilant, that is, in the language of lazy nobility,
more avaricious.
M. Mazzei agrees, that the Quakers are virtuous; but does not allow them to rank in this respect above other sects. He believes, that other sects have produced men as perfect as this. I believe it as well as he: the image of Fenelon gives me as agreeable an impression as that of Fothergill or Benezet. But I maintain,—1st, that the sect of the Quakers, in proportion to their number, has produced more of these prodigies. 2d, That no sect presents to us a totality so perfect and harmonious, and an assemblage of men so pure and virtuous, or so constant a series of great and good actions. To prove this last assertion, I
will
* I ought to mention the conduct of a Quaker, who in the last war restored to the original owner, his part of a prize accidentally taken by a merchant's ship, in which he was interested.
During the last war, the Quakers passed a resolution, that whoever of their society should pay a debt in paper money (then depreciated) should be excommunicated; while, at that time, it was a crime to doubt of the goodness of this paper; and the Quakers, like all other citizens, were obliged to receive it from their debtors at the nominal value.
LETTER
A SOCIETY,
simple in its manners, œconomical, and devoted principally to agriculture and commerce, must necessarily increase with great rapidity. Penssylvania may be considered as the mother country of the Quakers, who form a majority of its population. They are numerous in the States of Newn York, New-Jersey, Maryland, and Rhode-Island; some in New-Hampshire and Massachusetts. Many of the Quakers have planted their tabernacles in that delightful valley which is washed by the Shenadore, beyond the first chain of mountains. They have no slaves; they employ negroes as hired servants, and have renounced the culture of tobacco: and this valley is observed as the best cultivated part of Virginia.
They have pushed their settlements likewise into the two Carolinas and Georgia.
They
It is to be wished, for the happiness of the Indians, and the peace of America, that all the planters of the frontiers possessed the pacific principles of the Quakers: a lasting union would soon be formed between them; and blood would no longer stain the furrows which American industry traces in the forests.
The religion of the Quakers is the simplest imaginable. It consists in the voice of conscience, the internal sentiment, the divine instinct, which, in their opinion, God has imparted to every one. This instinct, this light, this grace, which every person brings into the world with him, appears to them the only guide necessary for the conduct of life. But to understand the guide, it is necessary to know it; to be known, it should often be interrogated, Hence the necessity of frequent meditations; hence the nullity of all formal worship, and the ministration of priests: for they confider forms as so many obstacles, which turn the attention from the voice within; and priests possessing no more
of
I have shown in my Critique on the Travels of Chastellux, how much this meditative worship of the Deity is superior to the mechanical worship of other sects. I have proved that the man who adores his Creator by meditating on his own duties, will necessarily become good, tolerant, just, and beneficent. You have here the key both of the moral character of the Quakers, and of its extraordinary duration. Their virtue is an habit, a second nature.
The Quakers have been much ridiculed for their belief in this interior principle. For their calumniators, some of whom have called themselves philosophers, are ignorant that this belief is not peculiar to the Quakers. We find it in a great number of sages, who have merited the homage of mankind: With Pythagoras, it was the
Eternal Word, the Great Light
,—with Anaxagoras,
the Divine Soul
,—with Socrates,
the Good Spirit, or Demon
,—with Timeus,
the Uncreated Principle
,—with Hieron,
the author of Delight, the God within the Man
,—with Plato,
the eternal, ineffable and perfect Principle of
Truth,—Truth
,—with
I do not pretend to explain to you all the religious principles of the Quakers; this would lead me too far; not that their dogmas are very numerous, for their doctrine is more simple and more concise than their morals. But this article, as well their history, ought to be treated at large. I can assure you, that all the French authors who have written on them, without excepting Voltaire, have been ignorant of the true fources of information. They have contented themselves with seizing the objects to which they could give a cast of ridicule, and have thrown aside every thing that could render that society respectable.
One inviolable practice of theirs, for instance, is, never to dispute about dogmas.
They
Among the political principles of the Quakers, the most remarkable are, never to take an oath, and never to take arms. I shall speak of the latter in an article by itself; as to their refusing to take an oath, it may be said, that an oath adds no weight to the declaration of an honest man; and perjury has no terrors for a knave.
Their discipline is as simple as their doctrine. In their marriages, their birtles, and
interments,
A Quaker cannot marry a person of another sect; I asked the reason of this; as it appeared to me a sign of intolerance. “The preservation of our society,” (replied a Quaker,) “depends on the preservation of the customs which distinguish us from other men. This singularity forces us to be more honest; and if we should unite our families with strangers, who are not of our society, individuals would swerve from our usages, and confound them with others. A Quaker woman who should marry a Presbyterian, submits herself to the authority of a man over whom we have no influence; and the society subsists only by this domesire, voluntary, and reciprocal influence.”
This influence is directed by their different assemblies. The monthly assemblies are in general composed of several neighbouring congregations. Their functions are to provide for the subsistence of the poor, and the education of their children; to examine the new converts, and prove their morals; to sustain the zeal and the religion of others; to hear and judge their saults by means of superintendents
Appeals are sometimes carried from the monthly the quarterly assemblies; the principal business of the latter, is to superintend the operations of the former.
But the superintendance of the whole society belongs to the annual assemblies, These receive reports from the inferior bodies respecting the state of all parts of the society, give their advice, make regulations,judge definitively on the appeals from the lower assemblies, and write letters to each other, in
order
There are seven annual assemblies. One at London, to which the Quakers in Ireland send deputies; one in New-England, one at New-York, one for Pennsylvania and New-Jersey, one in Maryland, one in Virginia, one for the two Carolinas and Georgia.
As the Quakers believe that women may be called to the ministry as well as men, and as there are certain articles of discipline which only concern the women, and the observance of which can be superintended only by them, they have likewise their monthly, quarterly, and annual meetings. But they have not the right to make regulations. This method is much more proper to maintain morals among women, than that of our Catholic Confessors: which subjects the feeble sex to the artisice, the fancies, and the empire of particular men; which opens the door to the most scandalous scenes, and often carries inquisition and dissension into the bosom of families.
The Quakers have no salaried priests; their ministers are such men as are the most
remarkable
These ministers, with some approved elders, hold monthly meetings, by themselves, for their own instruction. In these meetings they revise, and order to be printed, such works as they choose to have distibuted; and they never fail to take such measures, as that Useful works should fold at a low price.
In all these assemblies, some of which are very numerous, they have no president, and no person who has the least authority. Yet the greatest order and harmony are always at once in any of their most interesting deliberations.
But what will surprised you more is, that in their numerous assemblies, nothing is decided but by unanimity. Each member has a kind of suspensive negative. He has only to say,
I have not clearness;
the question
This usage appears to me highly honorable to the society; it proves a wonderful union among this band of brothers; it proves that the same spirit animates them, the spirit of reason, of truth, and of the public good. Deliberative assemblies in general, would not be subject to such long and violent discussions, if, like the Quakers, they were disengaged from all personal ambition, and if, to resolve doubts, the members addressed themselves only to the consciences of men.
You will, perhaps, conclude from this, that this society can do but little business. This will be a mistake; no society does more for the public good. It is owing to them, that Philadelphia has hitherto been preserved from the danger of theatres. Their petition this year, to prevent permission being obtained to erect one, has been successful.
A thorough knowledge of the Quakers, my friend, is not to be obtained by going, like Chastellux, for an hour into one of their churches. Enter into their houses; you will find them the abodes of peace, harmony, gentleness,
D d
If you would quit the town, and run over the farms of the Quakers, you will discover a greater degree of neatness, order, and care, among these cultivators, than among any other. If you examine the interior organization of the society, you will find, in every church, a treasury for charity, containing more or tess money, according to the wealth of the congregation. This is employed in assisting young tradesmen, in succouring those who have failed in business through misfortune, those who have suffered by fire and other accidents. You will find many rich persons among them, who make it a constant rule to give to this treasury one-tenth of their revenue.
I am
I am persuaded, my friend, that, after having well examined this society under all these details, you would cry out, If tomorrow I were reduced to poverty, and to be destitute of the succour of my friends, GOD grant that I might finish my days in a Quaker hospital: if tomorrow I were to become a farmer, let me have members of this society for my neighbours; they would instruct me by their example and advice, and they would never vex me with law-suits.
D d 2
THESE
wife men have seen that the great basis of universal happiness must be universal peace; and that to open the way to that peace, we must pronounce an anathema against the art of war. Sacred writings have taught us to believe, that the time will come when nation shall no more lift the sword against nation; and to lead to the accomplishment of so consoling a prophecy, this people believe that example is more powerful than words; that kings will always find the secret of perpetuating wars, as long as they can hire men to murder each other; and that it is their duty as a society, to resolve never to take arms, or contribute to the expences of any war. They have been tormented, robbed, imprisoned, and martyred; they have suffered every thing; till tyranny itself, wearied with their perseverance, has exempted them from military service, and has been driven to indirect
What then would become of our heroes and our conquerors, our Fredericks and our Potemkins, if all religious sects had adopted the same pacific spirit, and no man could be found, who would consent to be trained like an automaton to the infernal art of killing his fellow creatures.
If we wish for the happiness of mankind, let us pray, that this society may cover the whole globe; or let us endeavour, at least, that their humane principles be adopted by all men. Then would be realised that universal peace, which the Quakers have already realised in countries where they have borne the sway.
In Pennsylvania, they found the secret of defending themselves from the scourge of military slaughter, till the war of 1755, between France and England. Though mingled with the Indians, never any quarrels rose among them, which led to the spilling of blood.
The government of England, with all its manœuvres, could never engage the Quakers
D d 3
The war of 1755 changed this order of things, and occasioned heavy expences, which the colonies were obliged to pay. The Quakers were subjected to them, as well as others; but they not only refused, as a society, to pay taxes, of which war was the object, but they excommunicated those who paid them. They persevered in this practice in the last war.
At this time an animosity was kindled against them, which is not yet extinguished. Faithful to their principles, they declared, that they would take no part in this war, and they excommunicated all such as joined either the American or the British army.
I am well convinced of the sacred and divine principle which authorises resistance to
oppression;
If this instance of refusal had been the first of the kind, or if it had been dictated by a secret attachment to the British cause, certainly they would have been guilty, and this persecution would perhaps have been legitimate. But this neutrality was commanded by their religious opinions, constantly prosessed and practised by the society from its origin.
No person has spoken to me with more impartiality respecting the Quakers than General Washington, that celebrated man, whose spirit of justice is remarkable in every thing. He declared to me, that, in the course of the war, he had entertained an ill opinion of this society; he knew but little of them; as at that time there were but few of that sect in Virginia; and he had attributed to their political sentiments, the effect of their
religious
It was not under this point of view that they were regarded by the Congress, which laid the foundation of American Independence. This Congress joined their persecutors, and banished some of their most noted leaders to Staunton, in Virginia, two hundred miles from their families. My friend, Myers Fisher, was of the number. M. Mazzei quotes the violent Address published by Paine against them, but takes care not to quote the answer made to it by Fisher. But such is the logic of this calumniator of the Quakers. Since the peace, they have been subjected to another kind of vexation. Each citizen, from sixteen to fifty-five years of age, is obliged by law to serve in the militia, or to pay a fine. The Quakers will not serve nor pay the fine. The collector, whose
duty
This method gives great encouragement to knavery. Collectors have been known to take goods to the amount of six times the fine, to sell for a shilling what was worth a pound, never to return the surplus, nor even to pay the state, but afterwards become bankrupts. Their successors would then come and demand the fine already paid; but the Quakers have complained of these abuses to the legislature, and an act is passed suspending these collections till September 1789.
It would be very easy to reconcile the wants of the state, and the duty of the citizen, with the religious principles of the Quakers. You might subject them only to pacific taxes, and require them to pay a larger proportion of them. This is already done in Virginia, in abolishing, with respect to them, the militia service.
With this view of their character, you will agree with me, my friend, that our government ought to hasten to naturalize this purity in France. Their example might
serve
Living in harmony with all other sects, they preserve no resentment against the apostates from their own, notwithstanding the troubles which they experienced from them. Reason is the only weapon which they use.
Postscript written in
1790.
IF the old government had an interest in inviting Quakers to France, this interest is doubled since the Revolution. The spirit of
that
That Society has made great establishments without effusion of blood; the National Assembly has renounced the idea of conquest, which is almost universally the cause of war. That Society practices universal tolerance; the Assembly ordains it. The Society observes simplicity of worship; the Assembly leads to it. The Society practices good morals, which are the strongest supports of a free government; the political regeneration of France, which the Assembly is about to consummate, conducts necessarily to a regeneration of morals.
If the French are armed from North to South, it is for liberty, it is for the terror of despotism, it is to obey the commands of God; for God has willed that man should be free, since he has endowed him with reason; he has willed that he should use all efforts to defend himself from that tyranny which defaces the only image of the Deity in man, his virtues and his talents.
But notwithstanding this ardor in the French to arm themselves in so holy a cause;
they
LETTER
ON
the 15th of November, 1788, I set out from Philadelphia for Wilmington, distance twenty-eight miles, and road tolerably good. The town of Chester, fifteen miles from Philadelphia, is a place where strangers like to rest. It stands on a creek, which falls into the Delaware. It enjoys some commerce, and the taverns here are good.
Wilmington is much more considerable; it stands likewise on a creek near the Delaware the basis of its commerce is the exportation of flour. One mile above Wilmington, you pass the town of Brandywine; the name of which will call to your mind a famous battle gained by the English over the Americans, eight miles from this town, on a river of the same name. This town is famous for its fine mills; the most considerable of which is a paper-mill belonging to Mr. Gilpin and Myers Fisher, that worthy
orator
Wilmington is a handsome town, well-built, and principally inhabited by Quakers. I have seen many respectable persons among them, particularly Doctor Way. The celebrated Mr. Dickinson, who resides here, was, unfortunately for me, out of town.
I passed two evenings in company with Miss Vining, that amiable woman, whom the licentious pen of Chastellux has calumniated, as having to much taste for gallantry. If we believe the testimony of all her acquaintance, this trait which he has given her is an inexcusable libel. The Quakers themselves, to whom her gaiety cannot be pleasing, declare that her conduct has been uniformly irreproachable. But I believe, that this malicious and cowardly shaft, hurled in security from the other side of the Atlantic, has essentially injured her.
At
At nine miles from Wilmington, I past Christine-Bridge, a place of some commerce. From thence to the head of Elk, you see but few plantations, you run through eight miles of woods, only meeting with a few log-houses. When you arrive at Henderson's tavern, a very good inn, alone in the midst of vast forests. It is twenty-two miles from thence to the ferry of the Susquehannah. The town here is called Havre de Grace, a name given it by a Frenchman who laid the foundation of the town. It is at present an irregular mass of about 150 houses; but there is no doubt, when the entrance of the river shall be rendered navigable, but this will be an interesting situation, and a populous town. Here is a charming garden belonging to the proprietor of the ferry, from which I had a delicious prospect of that magnificent river; which in this place is more than a mile and a half wide, interspersed with islands. From thence to Baltimore are reckoned sixty miles. The road in general is frightful, it is over a clay foil, full of deep ruts, always in the midst of forests; frequently obstructed by trees overset by the wind, which obliged us to seek a new passage among the woods. I cannot conceive why the stage does not often overset. Both the
drivers
But why are they not repaired? Overseers of the roads are indeed appointed, and fines are sometimes pronounced on delinquencies of this kind; but they are ill collected. Every thing is here degraded; it is one of the effects of slavery. The slave works as little as possible; and the master, eager of vile enjoyments, finds other occupations than sending his negroes to repair the roads.
Some vast fields of Indian corn, but bad cultivation, pale faces worn by the fever and ague, naked negroes, and miserable huts, are the most striking images offered to the eye of the traveller in Maryland.
We arrived at Baltimore in the night; but I viewed this town on my return. It contains near two thousand houses; and fourteen thousand inhabitants. It is irregularly built, and on land but little elevated above the surface of Patapsco Bay, on the North of which it forms a crescent. The bay is not sufficiently deep to receive the largest
ships;
Baltimore was but a village before the war; but during that period, a considerable portion of the commerce of Philadelphia was removed to this place. The greatest ships come as far as here, and can go no farther; vast quantities of provisions descend the Susquehannah, and when that river shall be navigable, Baltimore must be a very considerable port.
The quarrel about federalism divided the town at the time I was in it; and the two parties almost came to blows on the election of their representatives.
We left Baltimore for Alexandria at four in the morning; distant about sixty miles, bad roads, a rude waggon, excellent horses,
E e
They showed me a plantation belonging to a Quaker; there were no slaves upon it. I saw Brushtown, a new village that the State of Maryland has pointed out for the seat of a college. This edifice is nearly completed; it is on an eminence, and enjoys a good air. We breakfasted in this village, and dined at Bladensbury, sixteen miles from Alexandria. It is situated on a little river, which discharges into the Potowmack, and which admits Bateaus of twenty or thirty tons. We could find nothing to drink, but brandy or rum mixed with water. In countries cultivated by slaves, there is no industry and no domestic œconomy. The people know not the advantage of making beer or cider on their farms.
George-town terminates the State of Maryland: it overlooks the Potowmack, has an agreeable situation, and a considerable commerce. Regulations and imposts, inconsiderately laid on commerce by the State of Virginia, have banished to George-town a considerable part of the commerce of Alexandria.
This
This place is eight miles below Georgetown, on the opposite side of the Potowmack. Alexandria has grown from nothing to its present size within these forty years. It is not so considerable as Baltimore, which it ought to surpass. It is almost as irregular and as destitute of pavements. You see here a greater parade of luxury; but it is a miserable luxury; servants with silk stockings in boots, women elegantly dressed, and their heads adorned with feathers.
The inhabitants, at the close of the war, imagined that every natural circumstance conspired to render it a great commercial town,—the salubrity of the air, the profundity of the river admitting the largest ships to anchor near the quay, an immense extent of back country, fertile and abounding in provisions. They have therefore built on every side, commodious store-houses, and elegant wharfs; but commerce still languishes on account of the restraints above-mentioned.
I hastened to arrive at Mount Vernon, the feat of General Washington, ten miles below Alexandria on the same river. On this rout
E e 2
building
Every thing has an air of simplicity in his house; his table is good, but not ostentatious; and no deviation is seen from regularity and domestic œconomy. Mrs. Washington superintends the whole, and joins to the qualities of an excellent house-wife, the simple dignity which ought to characterize a woman, whose husband has acted the greatest part on the theatre of human affairs; while she possesses that amenity, and manifests that attention to strangers, which render hospitality so charming. The same
E e 3
M. de Chastellux has mingled too much of the brilliant in his portrait of General Washington. His eye bespeaks great goodness of heart, manly sense marks all his answers, and he sometimes animates in conversation, but he has no characteristic features; which renders it difficult to seize him. He announces a profound discretion, and a great diffirence in himself; but at the same time, an unshaken firmness of character, when once he has made his decision. His modesty is astonishing to a Frenchman; he speaks of the American war, and of his victories, as of things in which he had no direction.
He spoke to me of M. de la Fayette with the greatest tenderness. He regarded him as his child; and foresaw, with a joy mixed with inquietude, the part that this pupil was going to act in the approaching revolution of France. He could not predict, with clearness, the event of this revolution. If, on the one side, he acknowledges the ardor
and
After passing three days in the house of this celebrated man, who loaded me with kindness, and gave me much information relative to the late war, and the present situation of the United States, I returned to Alexandria.
LETTER
THE
Bay of Chesapeak divides Maryland into two parts, nearly equal. The western division is the most peopled. Numerous bays and navigable rivers render this state singularly commodious for commerce. It would soon become extremely flourishing if slavery were banished from it, if a more advantageous culture were substituted to that of tobacco, and if the spirit of the Catholic religion had not adulterated the taste for order, regularity, and severity of manners, which characterize the other sects, and which have so great an influence in civil and political economy. The people of this sect were well attached to the late Revolution.
Cotton is cultivated in Maryland, as in Virginia; but little care is taken to perfect either its culture or its manufacture. You see excellent lands in these two states; but
they
They have much perfected in this country the English method of inoculation for the small-pox. In the manner practiced here, it is very little dangerous. General Washington assured me, that he makes it a practice to have all his negroes inoculated, and that he never lost one in the operation. Whoever inoculates in Virginia, is obliged, by law, to give information to his neighbours within the space of two miles.
The population augments every where in these States, notwithstanding the great emigration to the Ohio. The horses of Virginia are, without contradiction, the finest in the
country;
The General informed me, that he could perceive a great reformation in his countrymen in this respect; that they are less given to intoxication, that it is no longer fashionable for a man to force his guests to drink, and to make it an honor to send them home drunk; that, hear no longer the taverns resounding with those noisy parties formerly so frequent; that the sessions of the courts of justice were no longer the theatres of gambling, inebriation, and blood; and that the distinction of classes begins to disappear.
The towns in Virginia are but small; this may be said even of Richmond with its capitol. This
capitol
turns the heads of the Virginians; they imagine, that from this, like the old Romans, they shall one day give law to the whole north.
There
There is a glass manufactory forty miles from Alexandria, which exported last year to the amount of ten thousand pounds in glass: and notwithstanding the general character of indolence in this State, the famous canal of the Potowmack advances with rapidity. Crimes are more frequent in Virginia than in the northern States. This results from the unequal division of property, and from slavery.
Wherever you find luxury, and especially a miserable luxury, there provisions, even of the first necessity, will be dear. I experienced this in Virginia. At a tavern there I paid a dollar for a supper, which in Pennsylvania would have cost me two shillings, in Connecticut one. Porter, wine, and every article, bear an excessive price here. Yet this dearness is owing in part to other causes hereafter to be explained.
LETTER
I HAVE
found, with pleasure that your excellent article on the tobacco, inserted in our work
de la France et des Etats Unis
, is nearly exact in all its details. It is true that tobacco requires a strong fertile soil, and an uninterrupted care in the transplanting, weeding, defending from insects, cutting, curing, rolling, and packing.
Nothing but a great crop, and the total abnegation of every comfort, to which the negroes are condemned, can compensate the expences attending this production before it arrives at the market. Thus in proportion as the good lands are exhausted, and by the propagating of the principles of humanity, less hard labour is required of the slaves, this culture must decline. And thus you see already in Virginia fields enclosed, and meadows succeed to tobacco. Such is the system of the
proprietors
If the Virginians knew our wants, and what articles would be most profitable to them, they would pay great attention to the culture of cotton; the consumption of which augments so prodigiously in Europe. I will not enlarge here on the subject of tobacco, which many authors have explained; but I will give you some ideas on that kind of paper-currency called tobacco-money; the use of which proves, that nations need not give themselves so much inquietude as they usually do on the absence of specie. In a free and fertile country, the constant produce of the land may give a fixed value to any kind of representative of property.
This State has public magazines, where the tobacco is deposited. Inspectors are appointed to take charge of these magazines, and inspect the quality of the tobacco; which, if merchantable is received, and the proprietor is furnished with a note for the quantity by him deposited. This note circulates freely in the
State,
As Virginia produces about eight thousand hogsheads, there circulates in the State about eight hundred thousand pounds in these notes; this is the reason why the Virginians have not need of a great quantity of circulating specie, nor of copper coin. The rapid circulation of this tobacco-money supplies their place.
This scarcity, however, of small money subjects the people to great inconveniences,
and
But notwithstanding this pitiful resource of cutting the silver, society suffers a real injury for want of a plentiful copper coin; it is calculated, that in the towns the small expences of a family are doubled, on account of the impossibility of finding small change. It shews a striking want of order in the government, and increases the misery of the poor. Though tobacco exhausts the land to a prodigious degree, the proprietors take no pains to restore its vigour; they take what the soil will give, and abandon it when it gives no longer. They like better to clear new lands, than to regenerate the old. Yet these abandoned lands would still be fertile, if they were properly manured and cultivated. The Virginians take no tobacco in substance,
either
The Americans wish for the free commerce of tobacco with France; and they complain much of the monopoly of the farmers-general. If this monopoly were removed, and the tobacco subjected only to a small duty on importation into France, there is no doubt but that the Americans would make our country the store-house of those immense quantities with which they inundate Europe. You know that they are now carried chiefly to England; where about the tenth part is consumed, and the rest is exported. England pays the whole in her own merchandize. Judge then of the profit she must draw from this exchange; then add the commission, the money expended in England by a great number of Americans whom this commerce leads thither, and the profits of other branches of business that are the consequence of this.
Such are the advantages which it is in the power of France to acquire over England; but we must abolish the farms, and content ourselves with a small duty on the importation
tion
The great consumption of tobacco in all countries, and the prohibitive regulations of almost all governments, may engage the Americans to continue this culture; for as they can furnish it at a low price, as they navigate at small expense, as no people equals them in enterprize and industry, they may undertake to furnish the whole earth.
Spain, for instance, will doubtless become a market for them. The author of the
Nouveau Voyage en Espagne
makes the revenue which the king draws from this article, amount to twenty millions of livres (£833,333 6/8; sterling.) The greater part of this tobacco is brought from Brasil by the Portuguese, sold to the king at five pence sterling the pound,
F f
This high price encourages a considerable contraband in Spain, though interdicted by the paints of death. The law is too rigid to be executed.
The tobacco of the Mississippi and the Ohio will, doubtless, one day furnish the greater part of the consumption of Spain as well as of France; which, if the system of liberty should be adopted, will become immense. For it is proved, by those who know the secrets of the farm, that the consumption of the latter amounts to more than thirty millions of pounds annually, instead of fifteen, as we have been commanded to believe.
LETTER
I PROPOSED,
my friend, on quitting Alexandria, to visit that charming valley, washed by the Shenadore, of which Jefferson and Crevecœur have given us so seducing a description. From thence I intended to return by the vale of Lancaster, and pay my respects, to the virtuous Moravians. But the approaching Revolution in France hastening my return, I am obliged to content myself with giving you some idea of that country where we have been invited to fix our tabernacles; and to borrow the observations of different travellers, who have this year observed, with great attention, the lands situated between the different chains of mountains, which separate Virginia from the western territory.
The Valley of Shenadore, which lies between the south mountain and the north, or endless mountain, is from thirty to forty
F f 2
The price of lands here, as elsewhere, varies according to their quality; you may purchase at any price, from one to five guineas the acre, land of the same quality as in Pennsylvania from four to twenty guineas.
The average distance of these lands from commercial towns is as follows: fifty miles from George-town, about fifty miles from Alexandria, eighty or an hundred from Richmond and from Baltimore. But this part of the country is still more inviting for its future prospects. Of all the rivers that discharge into the Atlantic, the Potowmack
offers
But to realize the advantages which the situation of this country seems to promise, requires a reformation of manners, and the banishment of luxury, which is more considerable here than in Pennsylvania. You must banish idleness and the love of the chace, which are deeply rooted in the soul of the Virginians; and, above all things, you must banish slavery; which infallibly produces those great scourges of society, laziness and vice, in one class of men, unindustrious labour and degrading misery in another. The view of this deforming wound of humanity, will discourage foreigners of sensibility from coming to this state; while they have not to dread this disgusting spectacle in Pennsylvania.
But it is in a country life in America, that true happiness is to be found by him who is wise enough to make it consist in
tranquillity
LETTER
October, 1788.
I
Left Boston the 2d of October, after dinner, with my worthy friend Mr. Barret
Salem,
* He is of a respectable family in Boston. He is lately named Consul to the United States in France.
Salem, like all other towns in America, has a printing press and a gazette. I read in this gazette the discourse pronounced by M. D'Epreminil, when he was arrested in full parliament in Paris. What an admirable invention is the press! it brings all nations acquainted with each other, and electrizes all men by the recital of good actions, which thus become common to all. This discourse transported the daughters of my hostess: D'Epreminil appeared to them a Brutus
* Heu! quantum ætatus ab illa!
It was cold, and we had a fire in a Franklin stove. These are common here, and those chimneys that have them not, are built as described by M. de Crevecœur: they rarely smoke. The mistress of the tavern, (Robinson,) was taking tea with her daughters; they invited us to partake of it with them.—I repeat it, we have nothing like this in France. It is a general remark through all the United States: a tavern-keeper must be a respectable man, his daughters are well dress, and have an air of decency and civility. We had good provisions, good beds, attentive servants; neither the servants nor the coachmen ask any money. It is an excellent practise; for
this
In passing to Beverly, we crossed another excellent wooden bridge. It is over a creek near a mile wide. The construction of this bridge, and the celerity with which it was built, gives a lively idea of the activity and industry of the inhabitants of Massachusetts. It cost but three thousand pounds; the toll for a horse and carriage is eight-pence; the opening in the middle for the passage of vessels, is of a simpler mechanism than that of Charlestown. On the road to Beverly, I saw a flourishing manufacture of cotton.
At Londonderry, a town chiefly inhabited by Irish, is a considerable manufacture of linen. We dined at Newberry with Mr. Tracy, who formerly enjoyed a great fortune, and has since been reduced by the failure of different enterprizes, particularly by a contract to furnish masts for the marine of France. The miscarriage of this undertaking,
was
Newberry would be one of the best ports in the United States, were it not for a dangerous bar at the entrance. The business of ship-building has much declined here. In the year 1772 ninety vessels were built here, in 1788 only three. This town stands at the mouth of the fine river Marrimak, abounding in fish of different kinds.
Twenty-four miles of fine road brings you from Newberry to Portsmouth, the capital of New-Hampshire. There is little appearance of activity in this town. A thin population, many houses in ruins, women and
children
President Langdon himself is a merchant; he is extremely well informed in every thing that concerns his country. You may recollect, that at the time of the invasion of Burgoyne, he was the first to mount his horse and lead off his fellow-citizens to fight him. He appears well persuaded, as well as Colonel Wentworth, that the surest road to the prosperity of their country, is the adoption of the new federal government.
We left Portsmouth on Sunday, and came to dine at Mr. Dalton's, five miles from Newberry, on the Marrimak: this is one of the
finest
Mr. Dalton received me with that frankness which bespeaks a man of worth and of talents; with that hospitality which is more general in Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, than in the other States.
The Americans are not accustomed to what we call grand feasts; they treat strangers as they treat themselves every day, and they live well. They say they are not anxious to starve themselves the week, in order to gormandise on Sunday. This trait will paint to you a people at their ease, who with not to torment themselves for show.
Mr
From Mr. Dalton's we came to Andover, where my companion presented me to the respectable pastor of the parish, Doctor Symmes, in whom I saw a true model of a minister of religion, purity of morals, simplicity in his manner of life, and gentleness of character. He chears his solitude with a respectable wife, by whom he has had many children. And the cultivation of his farm occupies those moments which are not necessarily devoted to study, and to the care of the souls committed to his charge.
LETTER
YOU
have seen, my friend, in the Encyclopedia, a state of the American debt brought down to the year 1784. This article, which I believe was furnished to the compilers by the learned Mr. Jefferson, contains some few errors. You may, however, draw from it some just ideas relative to the origin of the continental debt. There is no work which treats of the changes made in it since 1784, which is the principal object of my present letter
* Since writing this sketch, I have incorporated into it the operations of the new Congress on Mr. Hamilton's report of September 1789.
You who are so versed in finance, will doubtless be struck with the errors committed by the Congress in laying the foundation of this debt, and with the sterility of their plans to remedy the want of money. But your surprise will vanish, when you examine the critical circumstances of that body of men to whom America owes her independence.
They
They must be supposed ignorant of the principles of finance; a science which their former situation has happily rendered unnecessary. They were pressed by the imperious necessity of a formidable invasion, to submission, or to combat; and they must pay those who should fight their battles.
The idea of paper money was the first, and perhaps the only one that could strike them. Its object was so sublime, and patriotism so servent, that every thing was to be expected from it. The Congress believed in it; and in multiplying this paper, even in the midst of a rapid depreciation, they are not to be accused of ill faith; for they expected to redeem the whole.
The people manifested the same confidence. But the unexpected accumulation of the quantity, the consequent depreciation, and the gradual disappearance of danger, were the natural and united causes of a revolution of sentiment. To believe that this paper would not be redeemed at its nominal value, was in 1777 a crime. To say that it ought to be so redeemed, was in 1784 another crime.
Since
Since the establishment of the new federal system, the opinion, with respect to the debt, has undergone a third revolution. Among a free people, it is impossible but truth and honor should sooner or later predominate. Almost all the Americans are at present convinced, that to arrive at the high degree of prosperity, to which the nature of things invites them, and to acquire the credit necessary for this purpose, the must fulfill, with the most scrupulous punctuality, all their engagements. And this conviction has determined the new Congress to make the finance the first great object of their attention.
The debt of the United States is divided into two classes,
* If the secret history of this debt contracted in France were published, it would discover the origin of many fortunes which have astonished us. It is certain, for instance, that M. de Vergennes disposed of these loans at pleasure, caused military stores and merchandises to be furnished by persons attached to him, suffered not their accounts to be disputed. It is a fact, that in his accounts with Congress, there was one million of livres that he never accounted for, after all the demands that were made to him. It is likewise a facts, that our of the forty-seven millions pretended to be furnished in the above M. Beaumarchais, in a memoir published two years ago, pretends to be the creditor of Congress for millions. I have, in my hands, a report made to Congress by two respectable members, in which they prove, that he now owes Congress 742,413 livres, and a million more, if the wandering million above mentioned, has fallen into his hands. These reporters make a striking picture of the manœuvres practiced to deceive the Americans. Will not the National Assembly cause some Account to be rendered of the sums squandered in our part of the American war? or rather sums which, instead of going to succour Mr. Morris and Dr. Franklin have been censured in the American papers on account of there robberies. I am far from joining in the accusations against the latter; but I could wish he had given positive answer to the writer under the signature of
foreign
and
domestic.
The foreign debt is composed, in capital, of a loan made in France of 24,000,000
5
per
articles articles by France to Congress, the employment of twenty-one millions is without vouchers. Many fortunes may be made from twenty-one millions.
those those brave strugglers for liberty, went to adorn the bed-chambers of an actress? Adeline did more mischief to the Americans, than a regiment of Hessians. Where are the accounts of her favourite Veymerange? Why has not M. Neckar drawn the impenetrable veil which screens them from the public? And he himself, has he nothing to answer for the choice he made of corrupted, weak, and wicked agents, and the facility with which he ratified their accounts?Centine!
per cent.
another made in Holland, under the guarantee of France, of 10,000,000 at
4 per cent.
both amounting in dollars to 6,296,296; another in Spain, at
5 percent.
174,011 dollars.
In Holland, in four different loans3,600,000
Total capital
Interest to
Dec. 31, 1789,1,651,257
Total, capital and interest,
Domestic debt liquidated, capital and interest to the 31st
Dec. 1790,
Not liquidated, estimated at2,000,000
Total, foreign and domestic,
In
G g
In the prosecution of the war, each individual State had occasion to contract a debt of its own, which, for a variety of reasons, it was thought best that the Congress should assume and add to the general mass of the debt of the United States.
The sums thus assumed, which are supposed to absorb nearly the whole of all the State debts, amount in the whole to25,000,000 doll.
So that the total amount of the present debt of the United States is79,124,464 doll.
Annual interest of this sum, as stipulated
To complete the list of what is annually to Civil list Department of war Military pensions
96,979
507,408
You see, my friend, from these details, that the expenses of government among a free people, are far from that extravagance and pomp which are pretended to be necessary in other governments to delude the people, and which tend but to render them vicious and miserable.
You see, that with one hundred and ten thousand sterling, a government is well administered for four millions of people, inhabiting an extent of country greater than Germany, Flanders, Holland, and Switzerland united * I speak only of the settled parts of the United States.
G g 2
By the measures taken by the new government, the Americans are in a fair way not only to pay their interest, but sink the principal of their debt; and that without direct taxation.
LETTER
IF
you doubt, my friend, of abilities of the United States to pay their debt, and the expenses of their government, your doubts will be dissipated on casting your eye over the tables of their annual exportations.
Many publications give, as an incontestible maxim, “
A nation must import as little as possible, and export as much as possible.
” If they mean by this that she ought to produce as much as possible at home, it is true; but if they understand that a nation is necessarily poor when she imports much, it is false. For if she imports, she either consumes, and of consequence has wherewith to pay, or she re-export, and consequently makes a profit. This maxim, like most of the dogmas of commerce, so confidently preached by the ignorant, is either trivial or false. The importations into the United States have much increased since the peace, as you will
see
The following is the statement of the principal articles:
Rum, brandy, and other spirits Wine Hyson tea Sugar Coffee, cocoa, and chocolate Molasses Salt
Besides the above articles, the importations of dry goods amount to more than twenty millions of dollars annually.
This general estimate is calculated from the custom-house books at New-York for three years. Taking for basis that New-York makes one-fifth of the general importations of the United States, it is believed that most of these articles are estimated much too low; and this idea is supported by the amount of duties collected since the new federal system has begun its operations.
A great proportion of these articles, you
willGrave, Pontac, St. Brise:
and then to the
Sauterne, Pregnac, Barsae:
among the red wines, he prefers the
Chateau Margou
, the
Segur
, the
Haunt Heiss
, the
La Fite
, &c. I drank excellent Champagne at Boston and New-York; and Burgundy at Philadelphia; which is a proof that these wines will bear the sea. The quantity of twenty millions of imported sugar, is thought to be five millions below the reality: we may add to this, five millions of maple sugar made in the United States. What a difference between this consumption and ours! According to a
calculation
LETTER
IF
any thing can give an idea of the high degree of prosperity, to which these confederated republics are making rapid strides, it is the contemplation of these two subjects. It is impossible to enumerate all the articles to which they have turned their attention; almost one-half of which were unknown before the war. Among the principal ones are ship-building, flour, rice, tobacco, manufacturers in woollen, linen, hemp, and cotton; the fisheries, oil, forges, and the different articles in iron and steel; instruments of agriculture, nails, leather, and the numerous objects in which they are employed; paper, paste-board, parchment, printing, pot-ash, pearl-ash, hats of all qualities, ship-timber, and the other wood of construction; cabinet work, cordage, cables, carriages; works in brass, copper and lead; glass of different kinds; gunpowder, cheese, butter, callicoes, printed linen, indigo, furrs, &c.
ShipMassachusetts
, of eight hundred tons, belonging to Mr. Shaw, had its fails and cordage wholly from the manufacture gives already two thousand yards of fail-cloth a week.
Breweries augment every where, and take place of the fatal distilleries. There are not less than fourteen good breweries in Philadelphia. The infant woollen manufactory at Hartford, from September 1788 to September 1789, gave about five thousand yards of cloth, some of which sells at five dollars a yard; promises equal success, and engages the farmers to multiply their sheep.
Cotton succeeds equally well. The spinning machines of Arkwright are well known here and are made in the country.
We have justly remarked in our work on the United States, that nature invites the
Americans
The prodigious consumption of all kinds of glass, multiplies the establishment of glass works. The one on the Potowmack of glass works. The one on the Potowmack employs five hundred persons. They have begun with success, at Philadelphia, the printing of callicoes, cotton, and linen. Sugar refiners are increasing every where. In Pennsylvania are twenty-one powder-mills, which are supposed to produce annually 625 of gun-powder.
Among the principal articles of exportation are wheat and flour. To form an idea of the
augmentation
1787–202,000
1788–202,000 1788–220,000
1789–360,000
Many well-informed men in America, have written different pamphlets in the augmentation of the commerce and manufactures in the United States, which deserve attention; such as, “
Enquiries into the Principles of a commercial System. By Tench Coxe.” “Letter on the Work of Lord Sheffield. By Mr. Bingham.” “National Arithmetic. By Mr. Swan
,” author of the work cited in my last letter.
LETTER
IN
this commerce, my friend, you may see displayed the enterprizing spirit of the Americans; the first motive to it, was the hope of œconomizinmg in the price of East-India goods, which they formerly imported from England, and this economy must be immense, if we judge of it by the great consumption of tea in America, and the high price it bears in England. In the year 1761, the english American colonies sent to England 85,000l. sterling in spanish dollars for this single article, and since that time the consumption of it has at least tripled.
Another motive which encouraged them to push this commerce, was the hope of being able to supply South-America, the Spanish and other islands, and even the markets of Europe, with the goods of the East; and to obtain every where the preference, by the low price at which they might be afforded. And this project is not without foundation. The
nature
The productions of their country are more favourable to this commerce than those of Europe. They carry ginseng to China; planks, ship-timber, flour, and salted provisions to the Cape of Good Hope, and to the isles of France and Bourbon. They are not, therefore, obliged to export to great a proportion of species as the europeans, who have establishments in the East. They are not obliged like them, to maintain, at an enormous expense, troops, sorts, ships of wars, governors, intendants, secretaries, clerks, and all the tools of despotism, as useless as they are expensive; of which the price must be added to that of the articles of this commerce.
No
No sea is impenetrable to the navigating genius of the Americans. You see their flag every where displayed; you see them exploring all islands, studying their wants, and returning to supply them.
Our languishing colony of Cayenne, would have perished ten times with famine, if it depended on the regular promised supplies of the mother country! But it is provisioned by the Americans; who remedy thus the murderous calculations of European Masters.
A sloop from Albany, of sixty tons and eleven men, had the courage to go to China. The Chinese, on seeing her arrive, took her for the cutter of some large vessel, and asked where was the great ship? We are the great ship; answered they to the Chinese, stupisied at their hardiness.
Our public papers vaunt the magnificence of the European nations, who make discoveries and voyages round the world: the Americans do the same thing; but they boast not of their exploits with so much emphasis. In September, 1790, the ship
Columbia
, Captain Gray, sailed to discover the north-west of this continent; this is his
second
This will be a fortunate epoch to the human race, when there shall be a third great change in the routes of maritime commerce. The Cape of Good Hope will then lose its reputation, and its afflux of commerce, as the Mediterranean had lost it before. The passage which the free Americans are called upon to open, which is still unknown, which
howeverNicaragua
H h
* This project exists; its length prevents my giving it here. The Americans expect one day to open this passage.
I HAVE
not the time, my friend, to describe to you the new country of the West; which, though at present unknown to the Europeans, must from the nature of things, very soon merit the attention of every commercial and manufacturing nation. I shall lay before you at present only a general view of these astonishing settlements, and refer to another time the details which a speculative philosopher may be able to draw from them. At the foot of the Alleganies, whose summits, however, do not threaten the heavens, like those of the Andes and the Alps, begins an immense plain, intersected with hills of a gentle ascent, and watered every where with streams of all sizes; the soil is from three to seven feet deep, and of an astonishing fertility: it is proper for every kind of culture, and it multiplies cattle almost without the care of man.
It is there that those establishments are formed, whose prosperity attracts so many
emigrants;
The oldest and most flourishing of these is Kentucky, which began in 1775, had eight thousand inhabitants in 1782, fifty thousand in 1787, and seventy thousand in 1790
* By a letter from Colonel Fowler, a representative in the legislature of Virginia from Kentucky, of the 16th of December, 1790, which the translator has seen, it appears, that the inhabitants of Kentucky at that time amounted to one hundred and seventy-three thousand.
Cumberland, situated in the neighbourhood Kentucky, contains 8000 inhabitants, Holston 5000, and Frankland 25,000.
On beholding the multiplication and happiness of the human species in these rapid and prosperous settlements, and comparing them with the languor and debility of colonies formed by despots, how august and venerable does the aspect of liberty appear! Her power is equal to her will: she commands, and forests are overturned, mountains sink to cultivated plains, and nature prepares an asylum for numerous generations; while the
H h 2
From these proprietors is formed another association, whose name is more known in France; it is that of the
* This company has been much calumniated. It has been accused of selling lands which it does not possess, of giving exaggerated accounts of its fertility, of deceiving the emigrants, of robbing France of her inhabitants, and of sending them to be butchered by the savages. But the title of this association is incontestible; the proprietors are reputable men; the description which they have given of the lands is taken from the public and authentic reports of Mr. Hutchins, Geographer Certainly the aristocrats of France, who may emigrate thither under the foolish idea of forming a monarchy, would be fatally deceived in their expectations. They would fly from the French government, because it establishes the equality of rights, and they would fall into a society where this equality is consecrated even by the nature of things; where every man is solicited to independence by every circumstance that surrounds him, and especially by the facility of supplying his wants; they would fly to preserve their titles, their honors, their privileges; and they would fall into a new society, where the titles of pride and chance are despised, and even unknown. This enterprize is suitable to the poor of Europe, who have neither property nor employment, and who have strength to labour. They would find at Scioto the means of supplying their wants; the soil would give them its treasures, at the expence of a flight cultivation; the beasts of the forests would cover But, say the opposers, the poor may find these advantages in France. We have great quantities of uncultivated land: yes; but will the proprietors sell it for almost nothing? will it produce equally with that of Scioto? are provisions as cheap here as there? No; why then declaim so much against an emigration, useful at the same time to France, to the individuals, and to the United States? The man who without much expence, and in a manner that should make it voluntary, could find the means of transporting to the forests of America the thirty thousands mendicants, whom fear, as well as humanity obliges us to support in idleness in the neighbourhood of Paris, that man would merit a statue. For he would at once cure the capital of a leprosy, and render thirty thousand people to happiness and good morals.Scioto Company
a name
grapher of Congress. No person can dispute their prodigious fertility.
their their tables, until they could rear cattle on their farms. It would be then rendering a service to the unfortunate people, who are deprived of the means of subsistence by the Revolution, to open to them this asylum, where they could obtain a property.
This settlement would soon rise to a high degree of prosperity, if the proper cautions were taken in the embarkation and the necessary means employed to solace them, and to prepare them for a kind of life so different from that to which they are accustomed.
The revolution in the American government, will, doubtless, be beneficial to the savages;
There is nothing to fear, that the danger from the savages will ever arrest the ardour of the Americans for extending their settlements. They all expect that the navigation of the Missisippi becoming free, will soon open to them the markets of the islands, and the Spanish colonies, for the productions
with
A degree of diffidence, which the inhabitants of the West have shewn relative to the secret designs of Congress, has induced many people to believe, that the union would not exist a long time between the old and new States; and this probability of a rupture they say, is strengthened by some endeavours of the English in Canada to attach
But a number of reasons determine me to believe, that the present union will for ever subsist. A great part of the property of the Western land belongs to people of the East; the unceasing emigrations serve perpetually to strengthen their connexions; and as it is for the interest both of the East and West, to open an extensive commerce with South-America, and to overleap the Missisippi; they must, and will, remain united for the accomplishment of this object.
The Western inhabitants are convinced that this navigation cannot remain a long time closed. They are determined to open it by good will or by force; and it would not be in the power of Congress to moderate their ardour. Men who have shook off the yoke of Great-Britain, and who are masters of the Ohio and the Missisippi, cannot conceive that the insolence of a handful of Spaniards can think of shutting rivers and seas against a hundred thousand free Americans. The slightest quarrel will be sufficient to throw them into a flame; and if ever the Americans shall march towards New Orleans, it
will
In order to avert the effects of this enterprizing character of the free Americans, the Spanish government has adopted the pitiful project of attracting them to a settlement on the west of the Missisippi
* Colonel Morgan is at the head of this settlement.
How desirable it is for the happiness of the human race, that this communication should extend! for cultivation and population here, will augment the prosperity of the manufacturing
I transport myself sometimes in imagination to the succeeding century. I see this whole extent of continent, from Canada to Quito, covered with cultivated fields, little villages, and country houses * America will never have enormous cities like London and Paris; which would absorb the means of industry and vitiate morals. Hence it will result, that property will be more equally divided, population greater, manners less corrupted, and industry and happiness more universal.
and
Our speculators in Europe are far from imagining that two revolutions are preparing on this continent, which will totally overturn the ideas and the commerce of the old: the opening a canal of communication between the two oceans, and abandoning the mines of Peru. Let the imagination of the philosopher contemplate the consequences. They cannot but be happy for the human race.
FINIS.