ratified that instinct that it had become a “known fact.” An intelligent American, sitting at the feet of a quadruped Gamaliel, humbly learning from his instincts, should teach the bigots of every class and clime to let their prejudices hang more loosely upon them. But half an hour has passed, and Jehu is again on the box, the nags as fresh as daisies, and as full as a corncob. Half an hour more lands us at Niagara. Avoiding the hum of men, I took refuge for the night in a snug little cottage handy to the railway, and, having deposited my traps, started on a moonlight trip. I need scarce say whither.
Men of the highest and loftiest minds, men of the humblest and simplest minds, the poet and the philosopher, the shepherd and the Christian, have alike borne testimony to the fact, that the solitude of night tends to solemnize and elevate the thoughts. How greatly must this effect be increased when aided by the contemplation of so grand a work of nature as Niagara! In the broad blaze of a noonday sun, the power of such contemplation is weakened by the forced admixture of the earthly element, interspersed as the scene is with the habitations and works of man. But, in the hushed repose of night, man stands, as it were, more alone with his Maker. The mere admirer of the picturesque or the grand will find much to interest and charm him; but may there not arise in the Christian’s mind far deeper and higher thoughts to feed his contemplation? In the cataract’s mighty roar may he not hear a voice proclaiming the anger of an unreconciled God? May not the soft beams of the silvery moon above awaken thoughts of the mercies of a pardoning God? And as he views those beams, veiled, as it wore, in tears by the rising spray, may he not think of Him and his tears, through whom alone those mercies flow to man? May not yon mist rising heavenward recal his glorious hopes through an ascended Saviour; and as it falls again perpetually and imperceptibly, may it not typify the dew of the Holy Spirit–ever invisible, ever descending–the blessed fruit of that Holy Ascension? And if the mind be thus insensibly led into such a train of thought, may not the deep and rugged cliff, worn away by centuries unnumbered by man, shadow forth to him ideas of that past Eternity, compared to which they are but as a span; and may not the rolling stream, sweeping onward in rapid and unceasing flight into the abyss beneath his feet, fill his soul with the contemplation of Time’s flight, which, alike rapid and continuous, is ever bearing him nearer and nearer to the brink of that future Eternity in which all his highest and brightest hopes will be more than realized in the enjoyment of a happiness such as “eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive.” Say, then, reader, is not every element of thought which can arise between a Christian and his Creator symbolled forth here in equal beauty and grandeur? One, indeed, is wanting, which, alas! none of Nature’s works but man can supply–that sad element, which those who search their own hearts the deepest will feel the most.–I feel I have departed from the legitimate subject of travels; let the majesty of the scene plead my excuse.
Adieu, Niagara.
Early next morning I put myself into a railway car, and in due time reached Batavia. On my arrival, being rather hungry, I made a modest request for a little brandy and some biscuits; fancy my astonishment when the “help” said, “I guess we only give meals at the fixed hours.” As I disapproved very much of such an unreasonable and ridiculous refusal, I sought out the chief, and, preferring my modest request to him, was readily supplied with my simple luncheon. In the meantime a light fly had been prepared, and off I started for Geneseo. The road presented the usual features of rich cultivated land, a dash of wild forest, a bit of bog, and ruts like drains; and each hamlet or village exhibited a permanent or an ambulating daguerreotype shop. Four hours housed me with my kind and hospitable friends at Geneseo.
As the chances of travel had brought me to a small country village at the time of the annual celebration of the 4th of July, I was unable to witness the ceremony on the grand scale in which it is conducted in the large cities of the Union; and, as I think it is frequently accompanied with circumstances which are entitled to some consideration, I shall revert, in a subsequent chapter, to those points which appear to me calculated to act upon the national character. On the present occasion I was delighted to find that, although people all “liquored” freely, there was scarcely any drunkenness; at all events, they had their little bit of fun, such as we see at fairs at home. By way of enabling those who have a turn for the facetious to share in their jokes, I insert a couple of specimens:–
“ORDER OF THE DAY.
“The vast multitude will be assembled on the Public Square, in rear of the Candy Factory, under the direction of Marshal JOHN A. DITTO, where they will be formed in procession in the following order:
“1. Officers of the Day, in their stocking feet.
“2. Revolutionary Relics, under the direction of the venerable G.W.S. Mattocks.
“3. Soldiers of the last War, looking for Bounty Land Warrants.
“4. The Mayor and Common Council, drawn in a Willow Wagon, by the Force of Habit.
“5. Officers of the Hoodoos, drawn by 13 Shanghai Chickens, and driven by Joe Garlinghouse’s Shanghai Quail.
“6. The Bologna Guards, in new dress, counting their money.
“7. The Ancient Fire Company expecting their treasurer to chuck 42$ 50 under their windows.
“The procession will then march to the grove in rear of Smith Scovell’s barn, where the following exercises will take place:–
“1. The reading of the Declaration of Independence–by the Tinker, Dan.
“2. Oration–by Bill Garrison.
“3. Hymn–There was three Crows sit on a Tree–by the Hoodo Choir.
“4. Benediction–by Elder Bibbins.
“After which the multitude will repair to Charley Babcock’s old stand for Refreshments.
“_Bill of Fare.–_1. Mud Turtle Soup. 2. Boiled Eggs, hard. 3. Pea-nuts. 4. Boiled Eggs, soft. 5. More Pea-nuts.
“_Dessert._–Scotch Herring, dried. 2. Do. do., dead. 3. Do., done brown. 4. Sardines, by special request.
“_Wines and Liquors_.–Hugh Doty’s Rattle-Belly Pop. 2. Hide-and-go-Seek (a new brand).
“Precisely at 4 o’clock, P.M., the Double Oven Air Calorie Engine, attached to a splendidly decorated Wheel barrow, will make an excursion, on the
_Conhocton Valley Switch_,
to the old Hemp Factory and back. It is expected that the President and Directors will go over the Road, and they are to have the first chance, strictly under the direction of the ‘_Rolling Stock_.’
“Hail, ye freeborn Sons of Happy America. ‘Arouse, Git up, and Git!’ _Music_–Loud Fifing during the day.
“June, 1853.
“By Order of COMMITTEE.”
* * * * *
“CLEAR THE TRACK FOR THE LIGHTNING LINE OF MALE AND FEMALE STAGES!!!
“From Perry to Geneseo and back in a Flash.
“BAGGAGE, PERSONS, AND EYESIGHT AT RISK OF OWNERS, AND NO QUESTIONS ANSWERED.
“–Having bought out the valuable rights of young Master James Howard in this Line, the subscriber will streak it daily between Perry and Geneseo, for the conveyance of Uncle Sam’s Mails and Family; leaving Perry before the Crows wake up in the morning, and arriving at the first house on this side Geneseo about the same time; returning, leave Geneseo after the Crows have gone to roost, and reach Perry in time to join them. Passengers will please to keep their mouths shut for fear they should lose their teeth. No Smoking allowed for fear of fretting the Horses; no Talking lest it wake the Driver. Fare to suit passengers.
“The public’s very much obliged servant, &c. &c.”
A quiet and simple stage of rough wood was put up at one end of the village, close to the Court-house, from whence the Declaration of Independence was read, after which a flowery orator–summoned for the occasion, and who travels about to different villages in different years with his well-digested oration–addressed the multitude. Of course similes and figures of rhetoric were lugged in by the heels in every sentence, as is the all but universal practice on such occasions in every part of the world. The moral of his speech was in the main decidedly good, and he urged upon his audience strongly, “the undying advantages of cultivating pluck and education” in preference to “dollars and shrewdness.” All went off in a very orderly manner, and in the evening there were fireworks and a village ball. It was at once a wild and interesting sight during the fireworks; the mixture of men, women, and children, some walking, some carried, some riding, some driving; empty buggies, some with horses, some without, tied all round; stray dogs looking for masters as hopelessly as old maids seeking for their spectacles when raised above their eyes and forgotten. Fire companies parading ready for any emergency; the son of mine host tugging away at the rope of the engine in his red shirt, like a juvenile Atlas, as proud as Lucifer, as pleased as Punch. All busy, all excited, all happy; no glimpse of poverty to mar the scene; all come with one voice and one heart to celebrate the glorious anniversary of the birth of a nation, whose past gigantic strides, unparalleled though they be, are insufficient to enable any mind to realize what future is in store for her, if she only prove true to herself.
Leave-takings do not interest the public, so the reader will be satisfied to know that two days after found me in an open carriage on my way to Rochester. The road lay entirely through cultivated land, and had no peculiar features. The only thing I saw worth noticing, was two men in a light four-wheel one-horse shay, attached to which were at least a dozen others, some on two wheels, some on four. I of course thought they were some country productions going to a city manufacturer. What was my astonishment at finding upon inquiry, that it was merely an American phase of hawking. The driver told me that these people will go away from home for weeks together, trying to sell their novel ware at hamlet, village, farm-house, &c., and that some of the shrewdest of them, the genuine Sam Slick breed, manage to make a good thing of it.
The shades of evening closed in upon me as I alighted at a very comfortable hotel at Rochester. The amiable Morpheus soon claimed me as his own, nor was I well pleased when ruthlessly dragged from his soft embrace at 6-1/2 A.M. the following morning; but railways will not wait for Morpheus or any other deity of fancy or fiction; so, making the best use I could of a tub of water and a beefsteak, and calming my temper with a fragrant weed, I was soon ensconced in one of their cars, a passenger to New York.
On reaching Albany, we crossed the river and threw ourselves into the cars of the Hudson River Railway, which, running close to the margin nearly all the way, gives you an ever-varying view of the charming scenery of this magnificent stream. Yankee industry was most disagreeably prominent at several of the stations, in the shape of a bevy of unwashed urchins parading the cars with baskets of the eternal pea-nut and various varieties of lollipop, lemonade, &c., all crying out their wares, and finding as ready a sale for them as they would at any school in England. The baiting-place was not very tempting; we all huddled into one room, where everything was hurry and confusion: besides which, the appetite was not strengthened by the sight of hands–whose owners seemed to have “registered a vow in heaven,” to forego the use of soap–turning over the sandwiches, one after another, until they had made their selection. However, the majority approve of the system; and as no thought is given to the minority, “if you don’t like it, you may lump it.”
But the more permanent inconvenience of this railroad is one for which the majority cannot be held responsible, i.e., it runs three-fourths of the way over a bed of granite, and often between cuts in the solid granite rock, the noise therefore is perfectly stunning; and when to this you add the echoing nature of their long wooden cars, destitute of anything to check the vibrations of sound, except the human cargo and the cushions they sit upon, and when you add further the eternal slamming of the doors at each end by the superintending conductor and the inquisitive portion of the passengers, you may well conceive that this combination is enough to rouse the slumbers of the dead, and rack the brains of the living. At the same time, I must allow that this line runs the best pace and keeps the best time of any in the Union.
On reaching the outskirts of New York, I asked, “Is this the proper place for me to get out at?” And being answered in the affirmative, I alighted, and found myself in a broad open street. Scarce had I set my foot on the ground, when I saw the train going on again, and therefore asked for my luggage. After a few questions and answers, I ascertained it had gone on in the train about three miles further; and the only consolation I got, was being told, “I guess you’d best have gone on too.” However, all troubles must have an end; so getting into a hackney, I drove to my hospitable friend Phelps’ house, where, under the influence of glorious old Madeira–P. had just finished dinner–and most undeniable claret, the past was soon buried in the present; and by the time I had knocked the first ash off one of his best “_prensados_,” the stray luggage returned from the involuntary trip it had made on its own account. What a goodly cheery thing is hospitality, when it flows pure from a warm heart; nor does it lose aught in my estimation when viewed through the medium of a first-rate cellar and the social “Havana.”
Time progresses–small hours approach–the front door shuts behind some of the guests–six-foot-two of animal life may be seen going up-stairs with a bed-candle; the latter is soon out, and your humble servant is snug in the former.–Reader, good-night!
CHAPTER XXII.
_Education, Civil and Military_.
Having said so much of education in other cities, I will only observe, that in regard to common schools, New York is on a par with most of her rivals in this noble strife for superiority; but I must ask those who are interested in the subject to give me their attention while I enter into a few details connected with their admirable Free Academy. The object of this institution is to combine–under one system and under one roof–high school, academy, polytechnic, and college, and to furnish as good an education as can be obtained by passing through each of those places of instruction separately. All this free of cost!
A sum of 10,000l. was authorized for the building, and 4000l. annually for its support. The course of instruction is divided into thirteen departments, with a professor at the head of each, aided by tutors where necessary; the whole under a principal, with a salary of 500l. a year, who is at the same time professor of moral, intellectual, and political philosophy. The salaries of the other professors average 300l. a year, those of the tutors 100l. The course of study embraces all that is taught at the four different places of education before-named. The student is allowed to make his selection between the classical languages and the modern–French, Spanish, and German. The whole course occupies five years. The requisites for admission are, that the applicant be thirteen years old, living in the city of New York, and have attended the common schools for eighteen months; besides which he is required to pass a moderate examination. The number of students at present is about 350, but they will doubtless increase. If to the annual expenses of the institution be added the interest at six per cent, on the outlay, the instruction given will be found to cost the inconceivably small sum of 13l. 5s. per scholar, including books, stationery, and etceteras.
Mr. S.B. Ruggles was kind enough to introduce me to Mr. Horace Webster, by whom I was shown over the whole establishment. The cleanliness and good ventilation certainly exceeded that of any other similar establishment which I had visited in the United States. There is a very good library containing 3000 volumes, besides 8000 which are used as text-books, or books of reference. Many publishers supplied the requisite books at reduced prices, which, as long as they retain the ignominious position of the literary pirates of the world, I suppose they can afford to do without inconvenience. There is also a fine studio, full of casts from the best models, and copies of the Elgin marbles presented by Mr. Leap. Instruments of the best quality abound for the explanation of all the sciences taught.
In one of the rooms which I entered there was an examination going on. The subject was astronomy, and it was the first class. I was particularly struck with the very clear manner in which the lad under examination replied to the questions put to him, and I began to suspect it was merely something he had learnt by rote; but the professor dodged him about in such a heartless manner with his “whys” and his “wherefores,” his “how do you knows” and “how do you proves,” that I quite trembled for the victim. Vain fears on my part; nothing could put him out; he seemed as much at home as the professor, and answered all the questions propounded to him in language as clear and simple as that which the great Faraday employs to instruct his eager listeners at the Royal Institution. Not once could the professor make him trip during the long half-hour of his searching examination. Having remarked that the appearance of the student was rather that of a labouring than of a wealthy stock, I asked the principal who he was. “That, sir,” replied Mr. Webster, “is one of our best students, and he is the son of a poor journeyman blacksmith.”
New York may point with just pride to her Free Academy, and say, “In our city the struggling efforts of genius are never cramped by the chill blast of poverty, for within those walls the avenues to the highest branches of literature and science are opened without charge to the humblest and most destitute of our citizens.” I spent several hours in this most admirable and interesting institution, so ably presided over by Mr. Horace Webster, through whose kindness I was provided with the full details of all its workings. It would seem that the best class of schools for young ladies are not very numerous, for the papers announced the other day that Mrs. Okill had realized 250,000 dollars by her establishment, which could hardly have been the case in the face of good opposition.
A few days afterwards Mr. Ruggles offered to accompany me in a visit I wished to make to the National Military College of West Point. I gladly accepted his proffered kindness, and in due time we were rattling away over the granite-bottomed railroad, along the banks of the Hudson. Close to the station we found a small ferry-boat, ready to take us across to the southern bank. On landing at West Point, “my pipe was immediately put out” by a summary order from a sentry on the wharf. Dropping a tear of sorrow through a parting whiff, and hurling the precious stump into the still waters of the little bay, I followed my cicerone up the hill, and soon found myself in the presence of one of the professors, through whose assistance we were enabled thoroughly to lionize every department. As many of my military friends who have visited West Point have spoken to me in terms of the highest admiration of the institution, I propose entering more into detail than I otherwise might have thought requisite; and I trust that, as military education is engaging a great deal of public interest, the following observations may be found worthy of attention.
The candidates for admission are nominated by the members of Congress, one for each congressional district, in addition to which the President of the United States has the nomination of forty from the Republic at large.[AV] The requisites for admission are–the passing a very easy examination, being a bachelor between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, and having no physical defect. The pay of each cadet is about five pounds a month, of which his board takes two pounds, and 8s. 6d. is laid aside monthly, whereby to form a fund to assist him in the expenses of equipment upon leaving. The balance provides for his dress and other expenses, and a treasurer is appointed to superintend and keep the accounts. The routine of duty prescribed is the following:–Rise at 5 A.M. in summer, and 5-1/2 in winter; double up bed and mattress, &c., and study till 7; then fall in and go to breakfast; at 7-1/2, guard-mounting–twenty-four cadets are on guard every day; at 8, study; at 1 o’clock, break up, fall in, and go to dinner, which they rise from at the word of command, and are then free till 2. From 2 P.M. to 4, study; at 4, drill for one hour and a half, after which they are free till sunset; at sunset, parade in front of the barracks, and delinquents’ names called over; then follows supper, after which the cadets are free till 8, at which time there is a call to quarters, and every cadet is required to retire to his own room and study till 9-1/2, when the tattoo is beat; at 10, there is a roll of the drum, at sound whereof every light must be out and every student in bed.
The cadets are organized into a battalion of four companies; the officers and non-commissioned officers are all appointed by the superintendent, from a list submitted to him by the commandant of cadets, the selection being made from those most advanced in their studies and most exemplary in their conduct; they perform in every particular the same duties as those of the officers and privates of a regiment; they have divisions and sub-divisions, with superintendent cadets attached to each, regular orderlies who sweep and clean out the room, furniture, &c.: guards are regularly mounted, an officer of the day duly appointed, and all the duties of a regular barrack punctually performed, even to the sentinels being supplied with ball-cartridge at night. Their uniform is of grey cloth, and their hair is kept a close crop; neither whiskers nor moustache are tolerated, and liquor and tobacco are strictly prohibited. The punishments consist of privation of recreation, extra duty, reprimand, arrest or confinement to room or tent, confinement to light or dark prison, dismission with privilege of resigning, and public dismission; the former of these are at the will of the superintendent–confinement to prison and dismission are by sentence of a court-martial.
The course of studies pursued are classed under twelve heads:–1. Infantry tactics and military police; 2. Mathematics; 3. French; 4. Drawing; 5. Chemistry, mineralogy, and geology; 6. Natural and experimental philosophy; 7. Artillery tactics, science of gunnery, and the duties of the military laboratory; 8. Cavalry tactics; 9. The use of the sword; 10. Practical military engineering; 11. Grammar, geography, ethics, &c.; 12. Military and civil engineering, and the science of war.
In the preceding pages we have seen that ten hours are daily devoted to study, besides an hour and a half to drill; and thus, while the brain is severely taxed, but little leisure is left to get into those minor scrapes so prevalent at most public schools.
There is a most minute system of merit and demerit established; everything good and everything bad has a specific value in numbers and decimals, which is accurately recorded against the owners thereof in the reports made for each year. The cadet appears to be expected to improve in conduct as well as knowledge; for, according to the rules, after his first year is completed, the number expressing his absolute demerit is increased by one-sixth during the second year, by one-third during the third year, and by one-half during the fourth year. Thus, suppose a certain number of faults to be represented by the sum of 36, if faults which those figures represent are committed during the second year of the cadet’s course, one-sixth would be added, and his name appear on the demerit list with 42 against it; if in the third year, one-third would be added to the 36, and 48 would be placed against his name; and if during the fourth year, one-half would be added, and 54 would appear against it. It will thus be seen that, supposing offences of equal value to be committed by the cadet in his first year and by another in his fourth year, the figures of demerit against the latter would be one-half more than those placed against the name of the cadet in his first year. A demerit conduct roll is made out each year, and a copy sent to the War Department.
There is also a general merit roll of proficiency and good conduct sent to the same department, an abstract whereof, with demerit added, is sent to the parents or guardians in a printed book containing the names of all the cadets, by which they can at once see the relative position of their son or ward. The following tables will explain the system adopted for ascertaining the merit, demerit, and qualifications of the students:–
DEMERIT.
_Degree of Criminality of Offences, arranged in Classes_.
1. Mutinous conduct 10 2. Disobedience of orders of military superior 8 3. Visiting in study hours 5 4. Absence from drill 4
5. Idleness in academy 3 6. Inattention under arms 2 7. Late at roll call 1
_Form of Conduct Roll made up for the yearly examination_.
The column marked “Class” indicates number of years student has been in the academy.
Name. Class. Demerit.
H.L. 1 5
C.P. 3 10
W.K.M. 2 192
_A particular case to exemplify the manner of obtaining the numbers in the column of demerit_:–
Cadet W.K.M. was charged with 48 delinquencies, to wit: of the second class of offences, 2, which being multiplied by 8, the number expressing the degree of criminality of an offence of that class, is 16 Of the 3rd class 3 multiplied by 5 15 4th ” 13 ” 4 52
5th ” 10 ” 3 30
6th ” 11 ” 2 22
7th ” 9 ” 1 9
—-
144
The Cadet being a member of the
2nd class, add 1/3 48
—-
Total demerit 192
The following list of Cadets is attached to the Army Register in conformity with a regulation for the Government of the United States Military Academy, requiring the names of the most distinguished Cadets, not exceeding five in each class, to be reported for this purpose at each annual examination:–
_Reported at the Examination in June_, 18–.
No. Names. Appointed Science and Art in which each Cadet from particularly excels.
1 First Class. Mass. Civil and Military Engineering, Ethics, G.L.A. Mineralogy and Geology, Infantry Tactics, Artillery, Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Chemistry, Drawing, Mathematics, French and English Studies.
2 J.St.C.M. Pa. Civil and Military Engineering, Ethics, Mineralogy and Geology, Infantry Tactics, Artillery, Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Chemistry, Drawing, Mathematics, and French.
_”General Merit Roll,” sent also to the War Office._
Names A B C
Mathematics 300.0 295.3 276.7 French 98.7 97.5 69.1
English Studies 100.0 89.5 98.9 Philosophy 300.0 295.6 278.2
Chemistry 150.0 147.5 145.1 Drawing 91.3 100.0 94.2
Engineering 300.0 285.3 290.2 Ethics 200.0 193.4 186.9
Mineralogy &
Geology 100.0 96.7 98.2
Infantry Tactics 150.0 147.5 137.8 Artillery 158.0 145.1 147.5
Conduct 297.3 293.8 294.5
General Merit 2237.3 2187.2 2117.3
_”Official Register of the Cadets” at West Point, printed yearly._
Order of general merit 1 2 3 Names T.L.C. N.C.A. G.H.M. State At large Tenn. Pa. Date of Admission July 1, 1848 do. do. Age at date of admission
Years / Months 17 / 1 18 / 7 16 / 8 Order of merit in their
respective Studies
Engineering 1 2 3 Ethics 3 4 2
Mineral. & Geol. 1 2 4 Infantry Tactics 1 2 5 Artillery 2 1 3
Demerit of the Year 39 18 73
A board with the marks of demerit is always publicly hung up, so that each cadet may know the exact length of his tether, for if the numbers amount to 200 he is dismissed. I have dwelt very lengthily upon the system adopted of recording and publishing the merit and demerit of the students, because I was informed of the admirable effect produced by it. As far as I can judge, it certainly appears not only an admirable means of enabling the War-office to estimate character, but the great publicity given to it must act as a powerful stimulus to exertion and good conduct.
A portion of the cadets are instructed every day in fencing and riding. When well advanced in the latter, they are taught spearing rings or stuffed heads at the gallop, and the same with the sword. The riding-school is perfectly abominable, being dark, full of pillars, and most completely out of harmony with all the rest of the establishment, which is excellent in every detail. On Sundays all the cadets attend church, unless excused on conscientious motives, and with the approval of their parents. The minister is selected by the President, and may be of any denomination. I was told that an Episcopalian had been most frequently chosen. The present minister is, I believe, a Presbyterian. During the months of July and August the cadets all turn out of their barracks, pitch their tents, and live regular camp life–only going to the barracks to eat their meals. During the time they are tented, the education is exclusively military practice; the same hours are kept as in the barracks; the tents are boarded, and two cadets sleep in each. They are all pitched with scrupulous accuracy, and they are obliged to keep their camp as clean as a new pin–performing among themselves every duty of a complete regiment–cleaning their own shoes, fetching their own water, &c. They were all in tents at the time of my visit, and I fear not particularly comfortable, for there had been two days and nights’ hard rain, and the wet mattresses were courting the warm rays of the afternoon sun. Whatever jobbery is attempted in the selection of candidates for admission to the Academy, is soon corrected by the Academy itself; for, though the entrance examination is simple to a degree, the subsequent examinations are very severe, and those who cannot come up to the mark get notice to quit; and the unerring tell-tale column of demerit soon obliges the turbulent to “clear out.”
The result of this system is, that when I saw them under arms, their soldierlike appearance struck me very much; and the effect produced upon them by discipline was very marked. You might almost guess the time they had been there by their gentlemanly bearing, a quality which they do not readily lose; for the officers of the American army who have been educated at West Point, enjoy a universal reputation for intelligence and gentlemanly bearing wherever they are to be met with.
The discipline here is no fiction; they do not play at soldiers; they all work their way up from the ranks, performing every duty of each rank, and the most rigid obedience is exacted. In the calculations for demerit, while idleness in the Academy obtains a mark of three, disobedience to a superior officer is marked eight. There is no bullying thought of here; the captain of his company would as soon think of bullying the cadet private as a captain of a regiment of the line would of bullying any private under his command. An officer who had been for many years connected with West Point, told me that among all the duels which unfortunately are so prevalent in the United States, he had never either known or heard of one between any two gentlemen who had received their education at this Academy–tricks, of course, are sometimes played, but nothing oppressive is ever thought of.
I did hear a story of a cadet, who, by way of a joke, came and tried to take away the musket of a wiry young Kentuckian, who was planted sentry for the first time; but he found a military ardour he had little anticipated; for the novice sentry gave him a crack on the side of the head that turned him round, and before he could recover himself, he felt a couple of inches of cold steel running into the bank situated at the juncture of the hips and the back-bone; and thus not only did he suffer total defeat and an ignominious wound, but he earned a large figure on the demerit roll. From the way the story was told to me, I imagine it is a solitary instance of such an outrage being attempted; for one of the first things they seek to inculcate is a military spirit, and the young Kentuckian at all events proved that he had caught the spirit; nor can it be denied that the method he took to impress it upon his assailant, as a fundamental principle of action, was equally sharp and striking.
Happening to be on the ground at the hour of dinner, I saw them all marched off to their great dining-ball, where the table was well supplied with meat, vegetables, and pudding; it was all substantial and good, but the _tout-ensemble_ was decidedly very rough. If the intention is to complete the soldier life by making them live like well-fed privates of the line, the object is attained; but I should be disposed to think, they might dispense with a good deal of the roughness of the style with great advantage; though doubtless, where the general arrangements are so good, they have their own reasons for keeping it as it is. I paid a visit in the course of the afternoon to the fencing-room; but being the hour of recreation, I found about thirty lusty cadets, votaries to Terpsichore, all waltzing and polking merrily to a fiddle, ably wielded by their instructor: as their capabilities were various, the confusion was great, and the master bewildered; but they all seemed heartily enjoying themselves.
The professors and military instructors, &c., have each a small comfortable house with garden attached, and in the immediate vicinity of the Academy. There is a comfortable hotel, which in the summer months is constantly filled with the friends and relatives of the cadets; and occasionally they get permission to give a little _soiree dansante_ in the fencing-room. The hotel is prohibited from selling any spirituous liquors, wines, &c.
The Government property at West Point consists of about three thousand acres: the Academy, professors’ houses, hotel, &c., are built upon a large plateau, commanding a magnificent view of the Hudson both ways. The day I was there, the scene was quite lovely; the noble stream was as smooth as a mirror; a fleet of rakish schooners lay helpless, their snow-white sails hanging listlessly in the calm; and, as the clear waters reflected everything with unerring truthfulness, another fleet appeared beneath, lying keel to keel with those that floated on the surface. With such beautiful scenery, and so far removed from the bustle and strife of cities, I cannot conceive any situation better adapted for health and study, pleasure and exercise.
The great day of the year is that of the annual review of the cadets by a board of gentlemen belonging to the different States of the Union, and appointed by the Secretary of War; it takes place early in June, I believe, and consequently before the cadets take the tented field. The examination goes on in the library hall, which is a very fine room, and hung with portraits of some of their leading men; the library is a very fair one, and the cadets have always easy access to it, to assist them in their studies. I could have spent many more hours here with much pleasure, but the setting sun warned us no time was to be lost if we wished to save the train; so, bidding adieu, to the friends who had so kindly afforded me every assistance in accomplishing the object of my visit, I returned to the great Babylon, after one of the most interesting and gratifying days I had spent in America.[AW]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote AV: By the published class-list the numbers at present are 224.]
[Footnote AW: An account of a visit to this Academy, from the pen of Sir J. Alexander, is published in Golburn’s _United Service Magazine,_ September, 1854.]
CHAPTER XXIII.
_Watery Highways and Metallic Intercourse._
There is perhaps scarcely any feature in which the United States differ more from the nations of the Old World, than in the unlimited extent of their navigable waters, the value of which has been incalculably increased by the introduction of steam. By massing these waters together, we shall be the better able to appreciate their importance; but in endeavouring to do this, I can only offer an approximation as to the size of the lakes, from the want of any official information, in the absence of which I am forced to take my data from authorities that sometimes differ widely. I trust the following statement will be found sufficiently accurate to convey a tolerably correct idea.
The seaboard on each ocean may be estimated at 1500 miles; the Mississippi and its tributaries, at 17,000 miles; Lake Ontario, at 190 miles by 50; Lake Erie, at 260 miles by 60; Lake Huron, at 200 miles by 70; the Georgian Bay, at 160 miles, one half whereof is about 50 broad; Lake Michigan, at 350 miles by 60; and Lake Superior, at 400 miles by 160, containing 32,000 square miles, and almost capable of floating England, if its soil were as buoyant as its credit. All the lakes combined contain about 100,000 square miles. The rate at which the tonnage upon them is increasing, appears quite fabulous. In 1840 it amounted to 75,000 tons, from which it had risen in 1850 to 216,000 tons. Besides the foregoing, there are the eastern rivers, and the deep bays on the ocean board. Leaving, however, these latter out of the question, let us endeavour to realize in one sum the extent of soil benefited by this bountiful provision of Providence; to do which it is necessary to calculate both sides of the rivers and the shores of the lakes, which, of course, must be of greater extent than double the length of the lakes: nevertheless, if we estimate them at only double, we shall find that there are 40,120 miles washed by their navigable waters; and by the constitution of the Union these waters are declared to be “common property, for ever free, without any tax, duty, or impost whatever.”
The Americans are not free from the infirmities of human nature; and having got a “good thing” among them, in process of time it became a bone of contention, which it still remains: the Whigs contending that the navigable waters having been declared by the constitution “for ever free,” are national waters, and as such, entitled to have all necessary improvements made at the expense of the Union; their opponents asserting, that rivers and harbours are not national, but local, and that their improvements should be exclusively committed to the respective States. This latter opinion sounds strange indeed, when it is remembered that the Mississippi and its tributaries bathe the shores of some thirteen States, carrying on their bosoms produce annually valued at 55,000,000l. sterling, of which 500,000l. is utterly destroyed from the want of any sufficient steps to remove the dangers of navigation.[AX]
Mr. Ruggles has always been a bold and able advocate of the Whig doctrine of nationality; and, in a lecture delivered by him upon the subject, he states that during the recent struggle to pass the River and Harbour Bill through the Senate, Mr. Douglas, a popular democrat from Illinois, offered as a substitute an amendment giving the consent of Congress “to the levy of local tonnage dues, not only by each of the separate States, but even by the authorities of any city or town.” One can hardly conceive any man of the most ordinary intellect deliberately proposing to inflict upon his country the curse of an unlimited legion of custom-houses, arresting commerce in every bend of the river and in every bay of the sea; yet such was the case, though happily the proposition was not carried. How inferior does the narrow mind which made the above proposition in 1848 appear, when placed beside the prescient mind which in 1787 proposed and carried, “That navigable waters should be for ever free from any tax or impost whatever!”
One of the most extraordinary instances of routine folly which I ever read or heard of, and which, among so practical and unroutiney a people as the Americans, appears all but incredible, is the following:–Congress having resisted the Harbour Improvement Bill, but acknowledged its duties as to certain lights and beacons, “Ordered, that a beacon should be placed on a rock in the harbour of New Haven. The engineer reported, that the cost of removing the rock would be less than the cost of erecting the beacon; but the President was firm–a great party doctrine was involved, and the rock remains to uphold the beacon–a naked pole, with an empty barrel at its head–a suitable type of the whole class of constitutional obstructions.”[AY]
The State of New York may fairly claim the credit of having executed one of the most–if not the most–valuable public works in the Union–the Erie Canal. At the time of its first proposal, it received the most stubborn opposition, especially from that portion of the democratic party known by the appellation of “Barn-burners,” whose creed is thus described in a pamphlet before me:–“All accumulations of wealth or power, whether in associations, corporate bodies, public works, or in the state itself, are anti-democratic and dangerous…. The construction of public works tends to engender a race of demagogues, who are sure to lead the people into debt and difficulty,” &c. The origin of their name I have not ascertained.
Another party, possessing the equally euphonical name of “Old Hunkers,” are thus described:–“Standing midway between this wing of the Democracy and the Whig party, is that portion who have taken upon themselves the comfortable title of ‘Old Hunkers.’ The etymological origin of this epithet is already lost in obscurity. They embrace a considerable portion of our citizens who are engaged in banking and other active business, but at the same time decided lovers of political place and power. At heart they believe in progress, and are in favour of a liberal prosecution of works of improvement, but most generally disguise it, in order to win the Barn-burners’ votes. They are by no means deficient in intelligence or private worth, but are deeply skilled in political tactics; and their creed, if it is rightly understood, is that public works ought to be ‘judiciously’ prosecuted, provided they themselves can fill all the offices of profit or honour connected with their administration.”[AZ]
Such is the description given of these two parties by the pen of a political opponent, who found in them the greatest obstacles to the enlargement of the canal.
The name of De Witt Clinton will ever be associated with this great and useful work, by which the whole commerce of the ocean lakes is poured into the Hudson, and thence to the Atlantic. After eight years’ hard struggle, and the insane but undivided opposition of the city of New York, the law for the construction of the canal was passed in the year 1817. One opponent to the undertaking, when the difficulty of supplying water was started as an objection, assisted his friend by the observation, “Give yourself no trouble–the tears of our constituents will fill it.” Many others opposed the act on the ground that, by bringing the produce of the States on the lake shores so easily to New York, the property of the State would be depreciated; which appears to me, in other words, to be–they opposed it on the ground of its utility. Others again grounded their objections on the doubt that the revenue raised by the tolls would be sufficient to justify the expense. Fortunately, however, the act was carried; and in seven years, the canal, though not quite completed, was receiving tolls to the amount of upwards of 50,000l. In 1836 the canal debt was paid, and produce valued at 13,000,000l.–of which 10,000,000l. belonged to the State of New York–was carried through it; the tolls had risen to 320,000l. per annum, and 80,000l. of that sum was voted to be appropriated to the general purposes of the State, the total cost having been under one and a half million sterling.
One might imagine that such triumphant success would have made the State ready to vote any reasonable sum of money to enlarge it if required; but the old opponents took the field in force when the proposition was made. Even after a certain sum had been granted, and a contract entered into, they rescinded the grant and paid a forfeit to the contractor of 15,000l. It was in vain that the injury to commerce, resulting from the small dimensions of the canal,[BA] was represented to them; it was in vain that statistics were laid before them, showing that the 7,000,000 miles traversed by the 4500 canal-boats might, if the proposed enlargement took place, reduce the distance traversed to two millions of miles, and the boats employed to 1500; Barn-burners triumphed, and it was decided that the enlargements should only be made out of the surplus proceeds of the tolls and freight; by which arrangement this vast commercial advantage will be delayed for many years, unless the fruits of the canal increase more rapidly than even their present wonderful strides can lead one to anticipate, although amounting at this present day to upwards of 1,000,000l. yearly.[BB] Such is a short epitome of a canal through which, when the Sault St. Marie Channel between Lakes Superior and Huron is completed, an unbroken watery highway will bear the rich produce of the West from beyond the 90 deg. meridian of longitude to the Atlantic Ocean.[BC]
Although the Erie is perhaps the canal which bears the most valuable freight, it is by no means the greatest undertaking of the kind in the Union. The Chesapeake and Ohio canal, uniting Washington and Pittsburg, has nearly 400 locks, and is tunnelled four miles through the Alleghanies; and the Pennsylvania canal, as we have already seen in a former chapter, runs to the foot of the same ridge, and being unable to tunnel, uses boats in compartments, and drags them by stationary engines across the mountains. Nothing daunts American energy. If the people are once set upon having a canal, go ahead it must; “can’t” is an unknown expression.[BD]
However important the works we have been considering may be to the United States, there can be no doubt that railways are infinitely more so; I therefore trust the following remarks upon them may have some interest.
By the statement of the last Census, it appears that there are no less than 13,266 miles of railroad in operation, and 12,681 in progress, giving a total of nearly 26,000 miles; the cost of those which are completed amounts to a little less than 75,000,000l., and the estimate for those in progress is a little above 44,000,000l. We thus see that the United States will possess 26,000 miles of railroad, at the cost of about 120,000,000l. In England we have 8068 miles of railway, and the cost of these amounts to 273,860,000l., or at the rate of 34,020l. per mile. This extraordinary difference between the results produced and the expenses incurred requires some little explanation. By the Census report, I learn that the average expense of the railways varies in different parts of the Union; those in the northern, or New England States, costing 9250l. per mile; those in the middle States, 8000l.; and those in the southern and western States, 4000l. per mile. The railway from Charleston to Augusta, on the Savannah River, only cost 1350l. per mile. From the above we see clearly that the expenses of their railways are materially affected by density of population and the consequent value of land, by the comparative absence of forest to supply material, and by the value of labour. If these three causes produce such material differences in a country comparatively unoccupied like the United States, it is but natural to expect that they should be felt with infinitely more force in England. Moreover, as it has been well observed by Captain D. Galton, R.E.,[BE] “railways originated in England, and therefore the experience which is always required to perfect a new system has been chiefly acquired in this country, and has increased the cost of our own railways for the benefit of our neighbours.”–Some conception may be formed of the irregular nature of the expense on the lines in England from the statement subjoined, also taken from the same paper, viz.:–
Name of Railway. Land and Total Cost Compensation. Works. Rails. per Mile. L L L L
London }
and } 113,500 98,000 1,000 253,000[BF] Blackwall }
Leicester }
and } 1,000 5,700 700 8,700[BF] Swannington }
From the table on the opposite page, it will be seen that the cost of construction and engineering expenses amounted to 35,526,535l. out of 45,051,217l. Taking the railways quoted as representing a fair average of the whole, we ascertain that more than one-fourth of the expense of our railways is incurred for extras comparatively unknown in the United States. At a general meeting of the London and North Western, in 1854, Mr. Glyn mentioned as a fact, that a chairman of a certain line, in giving evidence, had stated that a competition for the privilege of making 28 miles of railway had cost 250,000l. Such an item of expenditure can hardly enter into the cost of a railway in a country as thinly populated as the Republic. There are also two other important facts which are apt to be overlooked: first, that a great portion of the railways in the United States are single lines; and secondly, that the labour performed is of a far less solid and enduring character. A most competent civil engineer told me that the slovenly and insecure nature of many of the railway works in the United States was perfectly inconceivable, and most unquestionably would not stand the inspection required in England. A friend of mine has travelled upon a railway in America, between Washington and Virginia, of which a great portion was composed of merely a wooden rail with a bar of iron screwed on to the surface.[BG] The carriages are also far less expensive and comfortable; a carriage in the United States, which carries fifty people, weighs twelve tons, and costs 450l.; in England it may be fairly asserted, that for every fifty people in a mixed train there is a carriage weight of eighteen tons, at a cost of 1500l.
The following Table, extracted from a Return moved for by Lord Brougham, may help to give a better general idea of the reason why our Railroads have been so costly:–
Name of London & Great Midland, South Eastern Total Railway. North Western, and 12 and 6 Western, and 3 branches branches and 12 branches
branches
Length/Miles 433 215-3/4 449-1/4 198-1/2 1296-1/2
Cost of Con-
struction. L 13,302,313 6,961,011 9,064,089 5,375,366 34,702,779
Conveyance
and Law
Charges. L 143,479 105,269 119,344 138,034 506,128
Cost of
Land. L 3,153,226 1,132,964 1,764,582 1,458,627 7,509,399
Parliamentary
Expenses. L 555,698 245,139 287,853 420,467 1,509,157
Engineering
and Sur-
veying. L 289,698 201,909 216,110 116,039 823,756
Total
Cost. L 17,444,414 8,646,292 11,451,978 7,508,533 45,051,217
When all the foregoing facts are taken into consideration, it must appear clear to the reader, that until the efficiency of the work done, the actual number of miles of rail laid down, and the comfort enjoyed are ascertained, any comparison of the relative expenses of the respective railways must be alike useless and erroneous; at the same time, it can scarcely be denied that it is impossible to give the Republic too much credit for the energy, engineering skill, and economy with which they have railway-netted the whole continent. Much remains for them to do in the way of organizing the corps of officials, and in the erection of proper stations, sufficient at all events, to protect travellers from the weather, for which too common neglect the abundance of wood and their admirable machinery leave them without excuse; not that we are without sin ourselves in this last particular. The uncovered station at Warrington is a disgrace to the wealthy London and North Western Company, and the inconveniences for changing trains at Gretna junction is even more disreputable; but these form the rare exceptions, and as a general rule, there cannot be the slightest comparison between the admirably arranged corps of railway servants in England, and the same class of men in the States; nor between the excellent stations in this country, and the wretched counterpart thereof in the Republic. Increased intercourse with Europe will, it is to be hoped, gradually modify these defects; but as long as they continue the absurd system of running only one class of carriage, the incongruous hustling together of humanities must totally prevent the travelling in America being as comfortable as that in the Old World.
Let us now turn from that which carries our bodies at the rate of forty miles an hour, to that last giant stride of science by which our words are carried quick as thought itself–the Telegraph. The Americans soon discovered that this invention was calculated to be peculiarly useful to them, owing to their enormous extent of territory; and having come to this conclusion, their energy soon stretched the electric messenger throughout the length and breadth of the land, and by the last Census the telegraphic lines extend 16,735 miles, and the length of wires employed amounts to 23,281. _The Seventh Census_ gives the expense of construction as 30l. per mile.[BH] The systems in use are Morse’s, House’s, and Bain’s; the two former of American invention, the latter imported from this country. Of these three the system most generally employed is Morse’s, the others being only worked upon about 2000 miles each. It would be out of place to enter into any scientific explanation of their different methods in these pages; suffice it to say, that all three record their messages on ribands of paper; Morse employing a kind of short-hand symbol which indents the paper; Bain, a set of symbols which by chemical agency discolour the paper instead of indenting it; and House printing Roman letters in full by the discolouring process. Those who wish for details and explanations, will find them in the works of Dr. Lardner and others on the Telegraph.
The following anecdote will give some idea of the rapidity with which they work. A house in New York expected a synopsis of commercial news by the steamer from Liverpool. A swift boat was sent down to wait for the steamer at the quarantine ground. Immediately the steamer arrived, the synopsis was thrown into the boat, and away she went as fast as oars and sails could carry her to New York. The news was immediately telegraphed to New Orleans and its receipt acknowledged back in three hours and five minutes, and before the steamer that brought it was lashed alongside her wharf. The distance to New Orleans by telegraph is about 2000 miles. The most extensive purchases are frequently made at a thousand miles distance by the medium of the telegraph. Some brokers in Wall-street average from six to ten messages per day throughout the year. I remember hearing of a young officer, at Niagara Falls, who, finding himself low in the purse, telegraphed to New York for credit, and before he had finished his breakfast the money was brought to him. Cypher is very generally used for two reasons; first, to obtain the secrecy which is frequently essential to commercial affairs; and secondly, that by well-organized cypher a few words are sufficient to convey a long sentence.
Among other proposed improvements is one to transmit the signature of individuals, maps and plans, and even the outlines of the human face, so as to aid in the apprehension of rogues, &c. By a table of precedence, Government messages, and messages for the furtherance of justice and detection of criminals, are first attended to; then follow notices of death, or calls to a dying bed; after which, is the Press, if the news be important; if not, it takes its turn with the general, commercial, and other news. The wires in America scorn the railway apron-strings in which they are led about in this country. They thread their independent course through forests, along highways and byways, through streets, over roofs of houses,–everybody welcomes them,–appearance bows down at the shrine of utility, and in the smallest villages these winged messengers are seen dropping their communicative wires into the post-office, or into some grocer’s shop where a ‘cute lad picks up all the passing information–which is not in cypher–and probably retails it with an amount of compound interest commensurate with the trouble he has taken to obtain it. There is no doubt that many of these village stations are not sure means of communication, partly perhaps from carelessness, and partly from the trunk arteries having more important matter to transmit, and elbowing their weaker neighbours out of the field. Their gradual increase is, however, a sufficient proof that the population find them useful, despite the disadvantages they labour under. In some instances, they have shown a zeal without discretion, for a friend of mine, lately arrived from the Far West, informs me, that in many places the wires may be seen broken, and the poles tumbling down for miles and miles together, the use of the telegraph not being sufficient even to pay for the keeping up. This fact should be borne in mind when we give them the full benefit of the 16,735 miles according to their own statement in _The Seventh Census_.
The very low tariff of charge renders the use of the telegraph universal throughout the Union. In Messrs. Whitworth’s and Wallis’s report, they mention an instance of a manufacturer in New York, who had his office in one part of the town and his works in an opposite direction, and who, to keep up a direct communication between the two, erected a telegraph at his own expense, obtaining leave to carry it along over the tops of the intervening houses without any difficulty. The tariff alluded to above will of course vary according to the extent of the useful pressure of competition. I subjoin two of their charges as an example. From Washington to Baltimore is forty miles, and the charge is 10d. for ten words. From New York to New Orleans is two thousand miles, and the charge for ten words is ten shillings. It must be remembered that these ten words are exclusive of the names and addresses of the parties sending and receiving the message.
The extent to which the telegraph is used in the United States, induced those interested in the matter in England to send over for the most competent and practical person that could be obtained, with the view of ascertaining how far any portion of the system employed by them might be beneficially introduced into our country. The American system is that of the complete circuit, and therefore requiring only one wire; and the patent of Bain was the one experimented with, as requiring the slightest intensity of current. After considerable expense incurred in trials, the American system was found decidedly inferior to our own, solely owing to the humidity of our climate, which, after repeated trials, has been found to require a far more perfect insulation than is necessary either in the United States or on the Continent, and therefore requiring a greater outlay of capital in bringing the telegraphic wire into a practical working state; 260 miles is the greatest length that a battery is equal to working in this country in the worst weather.
Bain’s system was formerly not sufficiently perfected to work satisfactorily in our climate; recent improvements are removing those objections, and the employment of it is now rapidly increasing. The advantages that Bain’s possesses over Morse’s are twofold: first, the intensity of current required to work it is lighter; and secondly, the discoloration it produces is far more easily read than the indentations of Morse’s. The advantage Morse’s possesses over Bain’s is, that the latter requires damp paper to be always ready for working, which the former does not. The advantage Cook and Wheatstone’s[BI] possesses over both the former is, that it does not demand the same skilled hands to wind and adjust the machine and prepare the paper; it is always ready at hand, and only needs attention at long intervals, for which reasons it is more generally employed at all minor and intermediate stations; its disadvantages are, that it does not trace the message, and consequently leaves no telegraphic record for reference, and it requires two wires, while Bain’s or Morse’s employs but one; the intensity of the current required to work it is the same as Bain’s, and rather less than Morse’s. All three admit of messages going the whole length of the line being read at all intermediate stations. The proportion of work capable of being done by Bain’s, as compared with Cook and Wheatstone’s, is: Bain’s and one wire = 3; Cook and Wheatstone’s and two wires = 5. But if Bain’s had a second wire, a second set of clerks would be requisite to attend to it. The errors from the tracing telegraph are less than those from the magnetic needle; but the difference is very trifling. No extra clerk is wanted by Cook and Wheatstone’s, as all messages are written out by a manifold writer. Every message sent by telegraph in England has a duplicate copy sent by rail to the “Clearing Office,” at Lothbury, to be compared with the original; thanks to which precaution, clerks keep their eyes open, and the public are efficiently protected from errors.
How strange it is, that with the manifest utility of the telegraph in case of fire, and the ease with which it could be adapted to that purpose–as it has now been for some years in Boston–the authorities take no steps to obtain its invaluable services. The alarm of fire can be transmitted to every district of London at the small cost of 350l. a-year. The most competent parties are ready to undertake the contract; but it is too large a sum for a poor little village, with only 2,500,000 of inhabitants, and not losing more than 500,000l. annually by fires, to expend. The sums spent at St. Stephen’s in giving old gentlemen colds, and in making those of all ages sneeze from underfoot snuff–in other words, the attempt at ventilation, which is totally useless–has cost the country more than would be necessary to supply this vast metropolis with telegraphic wire communication for a century.
In conclusion, I must state that in this country several establishments and individuals have their own private telegraphs, in a similar manner to that referred to at New York, and many more would do the same, did not vested interests interfere.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote AX: _Vide_ observations on this subject in Chapter X.]
[Footnote AY: Extract from lecture delivered by S.B. Ruggles, at New York, October, 1852.]
[Footnote AZ: This extract is from a lecture by S.B. Ruggles to the citizens of Rochester, October, 1849.]
[Footnote BA: The neighbouring colony “whips” the Republic in canals. Vessels from 350 to 400 tons can pass the St. Lawrence and Welland Canals. Nothing above 75 tons can use the Erie Canal.]
[Footnote BB: The governor of the State, in his annual message, 1854, calls attention to the fact, that the toll on the canals is rapidly decreasing, and will be seriously imperilled if steps are not taken to enlarge it.]
[Footnote BC: By the Illinois and Michigan Canal the ocean lakes communicate with the Mississippi; and when the channel is made by Lake Nipissing, there will be an unbroken watercourse between New Orleans, New York, Bytown, and Quebec.]
[Footnote BD: There are upwards of 5000 miles of canal in America.]
[Footnote BE: _Vide_ an able paper on railways, written by that officer and published in that valuable work, _Aide Memoire to the Military Sciences_; or for fuller particulars the reader is referred to Report on the Railways of the United States, by Capt. Douglas Galton, R.N., recently issued.]
[Footnote BF: This is without the expenses arising from law and parliamentary proceedings.]
[Footnote BG: I believe the railway from Charleston to Savannah was entirely laid down on this plan.]
[Footnote BH: Mr. Jones, in his _Historical Sketch of the Electric Telegraph_, makes the calculation 40l. a mile, and estimates that, to erect them durably, would cost 100l. a mile.]
[Footnote BI: Having alluded in the text to the systems of Morse, Bain, and House, I must apologize for omitting to add, that the system of Cook and Wheatstone consists simply of a deflecting needle–or needles–which being acted upon by the currents, are, according to the manipulations of the operator, made to indicate the required letters by a certain number of ticks to the right or left.]
CHAPTER XXIV.
_America’s Press and England’s Censor._
In treating of a free country, the Press must ever be considered as occupying too important an influence to be passed over in silence. I therefore propose dedicating a few pages to the subject. The following Table, arranged from information given in the Census Report of 1850, is the latest account within my reach:–
_Newspapers Published._
Daily Tri-Weekly Semi-Weekly Weekly 254 115 31 1902
Printed Printed Printed Printed Annually Annually Annually Annually 235,119,966 11,811,140 5,565,176 153,120,708
Semi-Monthly Monthly Quarterly 95 100 19
Printed Printed Printed
Annually Annually Annually 11,703,480 8,887,803 103,500
_General Classification._
Literary and Neutral and Political Religious Scientific Miscellaneous Independent
568 88 1630 191 53
Printed Printed Printed Printed Printed Annually Annually Annually Annually Annually 77,877,276 88,023,953 221,844,133 33,645,484 4,893,932
Total number of newspapers and periodicals, 2526; and copies printed annually, 426,409,978.
The minute accuracy of the number of copies issued annually is a piece of startling information: the Republic is most famous for statistics, but how, without any stamp to test the accuracy of the issues, they have ascertained the units while dealing with hundreds of millions is a statistical prodigy that throws the calculating genius of a Babbage and the miraculous powers of Herr Doebler and Anderson into the shade. I can therefore no more pretend to explain the method they employ for statistics, than I can the system adopted by Herr Doebler to mend plates by firing pistols at them. The exact quantity of reliance that can be placed upon them, I must leave to my reader’s judgment.
As a general rule, it may be said that the literary, religious, and scientific portions of the Press are printed on good paper, and provided with useful matter, reflecting credit on the projectors and contributors. I wish I could say the same of the political Press; but truth compels me to give a far different account of their publications: they certainly partake more of the “cheap and nasty” style. The paper is generally abominable, the type is so small as to be painful to the eyes, and would almost lead one to suppose it had been adopted at the suggestion of a conclave of ‘cute oculists: the style of language in attacking adversaries is very low: the terms employed are painfully coarse, and there is a total absence of dignity; besides which they are profuse caterers to the vanity of the nation. I do not say there are no exceptions; I merely speak generally, and as they came under my own eye, while travelling through the whole length of the States. At the same time, in justice, it must be stated, that they contain a great deal of commercial information for the very small price they cost, some of them being as low as one halfpenny in price.
I do not endorse the following extract, nor do I give it as the opinion which editors entertain generally of each other, but rather to show the language in which adverse opinions are expressed. It is taken from the columns of the _The Liberator_:–“We have been in the editorial harness for more than a quarter of a century, and, during that period, have had every facility to ascertain the character of the American Press, in regard to every form that has struggled for the ascendency during that period; and we soberly aver, as our conviction, that a majority of the proprietors and editors of public journals more justly deserve a place in the penitentiaries of the land than the inmates of those places generally. No felons are more lost to shame, no liars are so unscrupulous, no calumniators are so malignant and satanic.”–The language of the foregoing is doubtless unmistakeably clear, but I think the style can hardly be thought defensible. On general topics of interest, if nothing occurs to stir the writer’s bile, or if the theme be not calculated to excite the vanity of their countrymen, the language usually employed is perhaps a little metaphorical, but is at the same time grammatical and sufficiently clear; and, I believe, that as a general principle they expend liberally for information, and consequently the whole Republic may be said to be kept well informed on all passing events of interest.
If we turn for a moment from considering the American Press, to take a slight glimpse at our own, how startling does the difference appear! Great Britain, Ireland, and the Channel Islands, with a population exceeding that of the United States, and with wealth immeasurably greater, produce 624 papers, and of these comparatively few are daily; only 180 issue above 100,000 copies annually, only 32 circulate above 500,000, and only 12 above 1,000,000. It has further been stated, that there are 75 towns returning 115 members, and representing 1,500,000 of the population, without any local paper at all.
The information respecting the Press in England is derived from _The Sixth Annual Report of the Association for promoting the Repeal of the Taxes on Knowledge_, and _The Newspaper Press Directory_. The issues subjoined are taken from the Return ordered by the House of Commons, of newspaper stamps, which is “_A Return of the Number of Newspaper Stamps at one penny, issued to Newspapers in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, for the year_ 1854.”
_In England._
The Times 15,975,739
The News of the World 5,673,525 Illustrated London News 5,627,866
Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper 5,572,897 Weekly Times 3,902,169
Reynold’s Weekly 2,496,256
Morning Advertiser 2,392,780
Weekly Dispatch 1,982,933
Daily News 1,485,099
Bell’s Life in London 1,161,000 Morning Herald 1,159,000
Manchester Guardian 1,066,575
Liverpool Mercury 912,000
Morning Chronicle 873,500
The Globe 850,000
The Express 841,342
Morning Post 832,500
The Sun 825,000
Evening Mail 800,000
Leeds Mercury 735,500
Stamford Mercury 689,000
Birmingham Journal 650,750
Shipping Gazette 628,000
Weekly Messenger 625,500
_In Scotland._
North British Advertiser 802,000
Glasgow Saturday Post 727,000
North British Mail 565,000
Glasgow Herald 541,000
_In Ireland._
The Telegraph 959,000
Saunders’s News Letter 756,000
Daily Express 748,000
General Advertiser 598,000
Various reasons may be given for this great difference between the Press of the two countries. Many are disposed to attribute it, very naturally, to the Government stamp, and the securities which are required; some, to the machinery of Government of this country being necessarily so complicated by ancient rights and privileges, and the difficulties of raising a revenue, whereof the item of interest on the national debt alone amounts to nearly 30,000,000l.; while others, again planting one foot of the Press compass in London, show that a half circle with a radius of five hundred miles brings nearly the whole community within twenty-four hours’ post of the metropolis, in which the best information and the most able writers are to be found, thereby rendering it questionable if local papers, in any numbers, would obtain sufficient circulation to enable the editors to retain the services of men of talent, or to procure valuable general information, without wholesale plagiarism from their giant metropolitan rivals. Besides, it must he remembered that in America, each State, being independent, requires a separate press of its own, while the union of all the States renders it necessary that the proceedings in each of the others should be known, in order that the constitutional limits within which they are permitted to exercise their independence, may be constantly and jealously watched; from which cause it will be seen that there is a very simple reason for the Republic requiring comparatively far more papers than this country, though by no means accounting for the very great disproportion existing.
While, however, I readily admit that the newspapers of Great Britain are greatly inferior in numbers, I am bound in justice to add, that they are decidedly superior in tone and character. I am not defending the wholesale manner in which, when it suits their purpose, they drag an unfortunate individual before the public, and crucify him on the anonymous editorial WE, which is at one and the same time their deadliest weapon and their surest shield. Such acts all honest men must alike deplore and condemn; but it must be admitted that the language they employ is more in accordance with the courtesies of civilized life, than that used by the Press of the Republic under similar circumstances; and if, in a time of excitement and hope, they do sometimes cater for the vanity of John Bull, they more generally employ their powers to “take him down a peg;” and every newspaper which has sought for popularity in the muddy waters of scurrility, has–to use an Oriental proverb–“eaten its own dirt, and died a putrid death.”
Let me now turn from the Press to the literature of the United States. Of the higher order of publications, it is needless to say anything in these pages. Irving, Prescott, Ticknor, Stephens, Longfellow, Hawthorne, and writers of that stamp, are an honour to any country, and are as well known in England as they are in America, consequently any encomium from my pen is as unnecessary as it would be presumptuous.
The literature on which I propose to comment, is that which I may reasonably presume to be the popular literature of the masses, because it is the staple commodity for sale on all railways and steamboats. I need not refer again to the most objectionable works, inasmuch as the very fact of their being sold by stealth proves that, however numerous their purchasers, they are at all events an outrage on public opinion. I made a point of always purchasing whatever books appeared to me to be selling most freely among my fellow-travellers, and I am sorry to say that the mass of trash I thus became possessed of was perfectly inconceivable, and the most vulgar abuse of this country was decidedly at a premium. But their language was of itself so penny-a-liny, that they might have lain for weeks on the book-shelf at an ordinary railway-station in England–price, _gratis_–and nobody but a trunkmaker or a grocer would have been at the trouble of removing them.
Not content, however, with writing trash, they do not scruple to deceive the public in the most barefaced way by deliberate falsehood. I have in my possession two of these specimens of honesty, purchased solely from seeing my brother’s name as the author, which of course I knew perfectly well to be false, and which they doubtless put there because the American public had received favourably the volumes he really had written. Of the contents of these works attributed to him I will only say, the rubbish was worthy of the robber. I would not convey the idea that all the books offered for sale are of this calibre; there are also magazines and other works, some of which are both interesting and well-written. If I found no quick sale going on, I generally selected some work treating of either England or the English, so as to ascertain the popular shape in which my countrymen were represented.
One work which I got hold of, called _Northwood_, amused me much: I there found the Englishman living under a belief that the Americans were little better than savages and Pagans, and quite overcome at the extraordinary scene of a household meeting together for domestic worship, which of course was never heard of in England. This little scene affords a charming opportunity for “buttering up” New England piety at the cheap expense of a libel upon the old country. He then is taken to hear a sermon, where for his special benefit, I suppose, the preacher expatiates on the glorious field of Bunker’s Hill, foretells England’s decline, and generously promises our countrymen a home in America when they are quite “used up.” The Englishman is quite overcome with the eloquence and sympathy of the Church militant preacher, whose discourse being composed by the authoress, I may fairly conclude is given as a model of New England oratory in her estimation. Justice requires I should add, that the sermons I heard during my stay in those States were on religious topics, and not on revolutionary war.
Perhaps it may be said that _Northwood_ was written some years ago, I will therefore pass from it to what at the present day appears to be considered a _chef d’oeuvre_ among the popular style of works of which I have been speaking. I ground my opinion of the high estimation in which it is held from the flattering encomiums passed upon it by the Press throughout the whole Republic from Boston to New Orleans. Boston styles it a “_vigorous volume;”_ Philadelphia, a “_delightful treat;”_ New York, “_interesting and instructive;”_ Albany admires the Author’s “_keen discriminating powers;”_ Detroit, “a _lively and racy style;” The Christian Advocate_ styles it “_a skinning operation”_ and then adds, it is a “_retort courteous”_ to Uncle Tommyism; Rochester honours the author with the appellation of “_the most chivalrous American that ever crossed the Atlantic.”_ New Orleans winds up a long paragraph with the following magnificent burst of editorial eloquence:–“_The work is essentially American. It is the type, the representative,_ THE AGGREGATE OUTBURST OF THE GREAT AMERICAN HEART, _so well expressed, so admirably revealing the sentiment of our whole people_–_with the exception of some puling lovers he speaks of-_–_that it will find sympathy in the mind of every true son of the soil.”_ The work thus heralded over the Republic with such perfect _e pluribus unum_ concord is entitled _English Items;_ and the embodiment of the “_aggregate outburst of the great American heart”_ is a Mr. Matthew F. Ward, whose work is sent forth to the public from one of the most respectable publishers in New York–D. Appleton and Co., Broadway.
Before I present the reader specimens of ore from this valuable mine I must make a few observations. The author is the son of one of the wealthiest families in Kentucky, a man of education and travel, and has appeared before the public in a work entitled _The Three Continents:_ I have given extracts from the opinions of the Press at greater length than I otherwise should have done, because I think after the reader has followed me through a short review of _English Items,_ he will see what strong internal testimony they bear to the truth of my previous observations. I would also remark that I am not at all thin-skinned as to travellers giving vent to their true feelings with regard to my own country. All countries have their weaknesses, their follies, and their wickednesses. Public opinion in England, taken as a whole, is decidedly good, and therefore the more the wrong is laid bare the more hope for its correction; but, while admitting this right in its fullest extent, it is under two conditions: one that the author speak the truth, the other that his language be not an outrage on decency or good manners. Now then, come forth, _thou aggregate outburst of the great American heart_![BJ] Speak for thyself–let the public be thy judge.
The following extracts are from the chapter on “Our Individual Relations with England,” the chaste style whereof must gratify the reader:–“I am sorry to observe that it is becoming more and more the fashion, especially among travelled Americans, to pet the British beast; … instead of treating him like other refractory brutes, they pusillanimously strive to soothe him by a forbearance he cannot appreciate; … beasts are ruled through fear, not kindness: they submissively lick the hand that wields the lash.” Then follow instructions for his treatment, so terrible as to make future tourists to America tremble:–“Seize him fearlessly by the throat, and once strangle him into involuntary silence, and the British lion will hereafter be as fawning as he has been hitherto spiteful.” He then informs his countrymen that the English “cannot appreciate the retiring nature of true gentility … nor can they realize how a nation can fail to be blustering except from cowardice.” Towards the conclusion of the chapter he explains that “hard blows are the only logic the English understand;” and then, lest the important fact should be forgotten, he clothes the sentiment in the following burst of genuine _American_ eloquence:–“To affect their understandings, we must punch their heads.” So much for the chapter on “Our Individual Relations with England,” which promise to be of so friendly a nature that future travellers had better take with them a supply of bandages, lint, and diachylon plaster, so as to be ready for the new _genuine American_ process of intellectual expansion.
Another chapter is dedicated to “Sixpenny Miracles in England,” which is chiefly composed of _rechauffees_ from our own press, and with which the reader is probably familiar; but there are some passages sufficiently amusing for quotation:–“English officials are invariably impertinent, from the policeman at the corner to the minister in Downing-street … a stranger might suppose them paid to insult, rather than to oblige … from the clerk at the railway depot to the secretary of the office where a man is compelled to go about passports, the same laconic rudeness is observable.” How the _American mind_ must have been galled, when a cabinet minister said, “not at home” to a free and enlightened citizen, who, on a levee day at the White House, can follow his own hackney-coachman into the august presence of the President elect. Conceive him strolling up Charing Cross, then suddenly stopping in the middle of the pavement, wrapt in thought as to whether he should cowhide the insulting minister, or give him a chance at twenty yards with a revolving carbine. Ere the knotty point is settled in his mind, a voice from beneath a hat with an oilskin top sounds in his ear, “Move on, sir, don’t stop the pathway!” Imagine the sensations of a sovereign citizen of a sovereign state, being subject to such indignities from stipendiary ministers and paid police. Who can wonder that he conceives it the duty of government so to regulate public offices, &c., “as to protect not only its own subjects, but strangers, from the insults of these impertinent hirelings.” The bile of the author rises with his subject, and a few pages further on he throws it off in the following beautiful sentence:–“Better would it be for the honour of the English nation if they had been born in the degradation, as they are endued with the propensities, of the modern Egyptians.”
At last, among other “sixpenny miracles,” he arrives at the Zoological Gardens,–the beauty of arrangement, the grandness of the scale, &c., strike him forcibly; but his keen inquiring mind, and his accurately recording pen, have enabled him to afford his countrymen information which most of my co-members in the said Society were previously unconscious of. He tells them, “It is under control of the English Government, and subject to the same degradation as Westminster, St. Paul’s, &c.”–Starting from this basis, which only wants truth to make it solid, he complains of “the meanness of reducing the nation to the condition of a common showman;” the trifling mistake of confounding public and private property moves his democratic _chivalry_, and he takes up the cudgels for the masses. I almost fear to give the sentence publicity, lest it should shake the Ministry, and be a rallying-point for Filibustero Chartists. My anticipation of but a moderate circulation for this work must plead my excuse for not withholding it. “The Government basely use, without permission, the authority of the people’s name, to make them sharers in a disgrace for which they alone are responsible. A stranger, in paying his shilling for admission into an exhibition, which has been dubbed nation (by whom?) in contradistinction from another in the Surrey Gardens, very naturally suspects that the people are partners in this contemptible transaction…. The English people are compelled to pay for the ignominy with which their despotic rulers have loaded them.” Having got his foot into this mare’s nest, he finds an egg a little further on, which he thus hatches for the American public: “Englishmen not only regard eating as the most inestimable blessing of life, when they enjoy it themselves, but they are always intensely delighted to see it going on. The Government charge an extra shilling at the Zoological Gardens on the days that the animals are fed in public; but, as much as an Englishman dislikes spending money, the extraordinary attraction never fails to draw,” &c.
From the Gardens he visits Chelsea Hospital, where his _keen discriminating powers_ having been sharpened by the demand for a shilling–the chief object of which demand is to protect the pensioners from perpetual intrusion–he bursts forth in a sublime magnifico Kentuckyo flight of eloquence: “Sordid barbarians might degrade the wonderful monuments of their more civilized ancestors by charging visitors to see them; but to drag from their lowly retreat these maimed and shattered victims of national ambition, to be stared at, and wondered at, like caged beasts, is an outrage against humanity that even savages would shrink from.” And then, a little further on, he makes the following profound reflection, which no doubt appears to the _American mind_ peculiarly appropriate to Chelsea Hospital: “Cringing to the great, obsequious to the high, the dwarfed souls of Englishmen have no wide extending sympathy for the humble, no soothing pity for the lowly,” &c. It would probably astonish some of the readers who have been gulled by his book, could they but know that the sum paid by Great Britain for the support and pension of her veterans by sea and land costs annually nearly enough to buy, equip, and pay the whole army and navy of the United States.[BK]
The next “sixpenny miracle” he visits is Chatsworth, which calls forth the following _vigorous_ attack on sundry gentlemen, clothed in the author’s peculiarly _lively and racy_ language: “The showy magnificence of Chatsworth, Blenheim, and the gloomy grandeur of Warwick and Alnwick Castles, serve to remind us, like the glittering shell of the tortoise, what worthless and insignificant animals often inhabit the most splendid mansions.” He follows up this general castigation of the owners of the above properties with the infliction of a special cowhiding upon the Duke of Devonshire, who, he says, “would, no doubt, be very reluctant frankly to confess to the world, that although he had the vanity to affect liberality, he was too penurious to bear the expense of it. Like the ostrich, he sticks his head in the sand, and imagines himself in the profoundest concealment.” He then begs the reader to understand, that he does not mean to intimate “that any portion of the large amounts collected at the doors of Chatsworth actually goes into the pocket of His Grace, but they are, nevertheless, remarkably convenient in defraying the expense of a large household of servants…. The idea of a private gentleman of wealth and rank deriving a profit from the exhibition of his grounds must be equally revolting to all classes.” These truthful observations are followed by a description of the gardens; and the whole is wound up in the following _chivalrous and genuine American_ reflection: “Does it not appear extraordinary that a man dwelling in a spot of such fairy loveliness should retain and indulge the most grovelling instincts of human nature’s lowest grade?” What a _delightful treat_ these passages must be to the rowdy Americans, and how the Duke must writhe under–what _The Christian Advocate_ lauds as–the _skinning operation _of the renowned American champion![BL]
The Press-bespattered author then proceeds to make some observations on various subjects, in a similar vein of chaste language, lighting at last upon the system of the sale of army commissions. His vigour is so great upon this point, that had he only been in the House of Commons when the subject was under consideration, his eloquence must have hurled the “hireling ministers” headlong from the government. I can fancy them sitting pale and trembling as the giant orator thus addressed the House: “She speculates in glory as a petty hucksterer does in rancid cheese; but the many who hate, and the few who despise England, cannot exult over her baseness in selling commissions in her own army. There is a degree of degradation which changes scorn into pity, and makes us sincerely sympathize with those whom we most heartily despise.” The annexed extract from his observations on English writers on America is an equally elegant specimen of _genuine American feeling:_–“When the ability to calumniate is the only power which has survived the gradual encroachment of bowels upon intellect in Great Britain, it would be a pity to rob the English even of this miserable evidence of mind … she gloats over us with that sort of appetizing tenderness which might be supposed to have animated a sow that had eaten her nine farrow.” The subjoined sentiment, if it rested with the author to verify, would doubtless be true; and I suppose it is the paragraph which earned for his work the laudations of _The Christian Advocate:_–“Mutual enmity is the only feeling which can ever exist between the two nations…. She gave us no assistance in our rise…. She must expect none from us in her decline.” How frightful is the contemplation of this omnipotent and _Christian_ threat! It is worthy of the consideration of my countrymen whether they had not better try and bribe the great Matt. Ward to use his influence in obtaining them recognition as American territory. The honour of being admitted as a sovereign state is too great to be hoped for. He has already discovered signs of our decay, and therefore informs the reader that “the weaker rival ever nurses the bitterest hate.” This information is followed by extracts from various English writers commenting upon America, at one of whom he gets so indignant, that he suggests as an appropriate _American_ translation of the F.R.S. which is added to the author’s name, “First Royal Scavenger.”
He then gets into a fever about the remarks made by travellers upon what they conceive to be the filthy practice of indiscriminate spitting. He becomes quite furious because he has never found any work in which “an upstart inlander has ever preached a crusade against the Turks because they did not introduce knives and forks at their tables,” &c. Even Scripture–and this, be it remembered, by the sanction of _The Christian Advocate_–is blasphemously quoted to extenuate the American practice of expectoration. “What, after all, is there so unbearably revolting about spitting? Our Saviour, in one of his early miracles, ‘spat upon the ground and made clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And he said unto him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam. He went his way therefore and washed, and came seeing.’ I have with a crowd of pilgrims gone down to drink from this very pool, for the water had borrowed new virtue from the miracle.” He then states his strong inclination to learn to chew tobacco in order to show his contempt for the opinions of travellers. What a beautiful picture to contemplate–a popular author with a quid of Virginia before him; Nausea drawing it back with one hand, and Vengeance bringing it forward with the other! Suddenly a bright idea strikes him: others may do what he dare not; so he makes the following stirring appeal to his countrymen: “Let us spit out courageously before the whole world … let us spit fearlessly and profusely. Spitting on ordinary occasions may be regarded by a portion of my countrymen as a luxury: it becomes a duty in the presence of an Englishman. Let us spit around him–above him–beneath him–everywhere but on him, that he may become perfectly familiar with the habit in all its phases. I would make it the first law of hospitality to an Englishman, that every tobacco-twist should be called into requisition, and every spittoon be flooded, in order thoroughly to initiate him into the mysteries of chewing. Leave no room for imagination to work. Only spit him once into a state of friendly familiarity with the barbarous custom,” &c. What a splendid conception!–the population of a whole continent organized under the expectorating banner of the illustrious Matt. Ward: field-days twice a week; ammunition supplied _gratis;_ liberal prizes to the best marksmen. The imagination is perfectly bewildered in the contemplation of so majestic an _aggregate outburst of the great American_ mouth. I would only suggest that they should gather round the margin of Lake Superior, lest in their hospitable entertainment of the “upstart islanders” they destroyed the vegetation of the whole continent.
In another chapter he informs his countrymen that the four hundred and thirty nobles in England speak and act for the nation; his knowledge of history, or his love of truth, ignoring that little community called the House of Commons. Bankers and wealthy men come under the ban of his condemnation, as having no time for “enlightened amusements;” he then, with that truthfulness which makes him so safe a guide to his readers, adds that “they were never known to manifest a friendship, except for the warehouse cat; they have no time to talk, and never write except on business; all hours are office-hours to them, except those they devote to dinner and sleep; they know nothing, they love nothing, and hope for nothing beyond the four walls of their counting-room; nobody knows them, nobody loves them; they are too mean to make friends, and too silent to make acquaintances,” &c. What very interesting information this must be for Messrs. Baring and their co-fraternity!
In another part of this volume, the author becomes suddenly impressed with deep reverence for the holy localities of the East, and he falls foul of Dr. Clarke for his scepticism on these points, winding up his remarks in the following beautiful Kentucky vein:–“A monster so atrocious could only have been a Goth or an Englishman.” How fortunate for his countryman, Dr. Robinson, that he had never heard of his three learned tomes on the same subject! though, perhaps, scepticism in an American, in his discriminating mind, would have been deep erudition correcting the upstart islanders. The great interest which he evinces for holy localities–accompanied as it is by an expression of horror at some English traveller, who, he asserts, thought that David picked up his pebbles in a brook between Jordan and the Dead Sea, whereas he knew it was in an opposite direction–doubtless earned for him the patronage of _The Christian Advocate_; and the pious indignation he expresses at an Englishman telling him he would get a good dinner at Mount Carmel, is a beautiful illustration of his religious feelings.
The curious part of this portion of Mr. Ward’s book is, that having previously informed his countrymen, in every variety of American phraseology, that the English are composed of every abominable compound which can exist in human nature, he selects them as his companions, and courts their friendship to enjoy the pleasure of betraying it. Of course, if one is to judge by former statements made in the volume, which are so palpably and ridiculously false, one may reasonably conclude that truth is equally disregarded here; but it looks to me rather as if my countrymen had discovered his cloven hoof, as well as his overweening vanity and pretensions, and, when he got pompously classical, in his trip through Greece, they amused themselves at his expense by suggesting that the Acropolis “was a capital place for lunch;” Parnassus, “a regular sell;” Thermopylae, “great for water-cresses.” Passing on from his companions–one of whom was a fellow of Oxford, and the other a captain in Her Majesty’s service–he becomes grandly Byronic, and consequently quite frantic at the idea of Mr. A. Tennyson supplanting him! “Byron and Tennyson!–what an unholy alliance of names!–what sinful juxtaposition! He who could seriously compare the insipid effusions of Mr. Tennyson with the mighty genius of Byron, might commit the sacrilege of likening the tricks of Professor Anderson to the miracles of Our Saviour.”
Having delivered himself of this pious burst, he proceeds to a castigation of the English for their observations on the nasal twang of his countrymen, and also for their criticism upon the sense in which sundry adjectives are used; and, to show the superior purity of the American language, he informs the reader that in England “the most elegant and refined talk constantly of “fried ‘am” … they seem very reluctant to _h_acknowledge this peculiarly _h_exceptionable ‘abit, and _h_insist that _h_it _h_is confined to the low and _h_ignorant of the country.” He then gets indignant that we call “stone” “stun,” and measure the gravity of flesh and blood thereby. “To unsophisticated ears, 21 stone 6 pounds sounds infinitely less than three hundred pounds, which weight is a fair average of the avoirdupois density of the Sir Tunbelly Clumsies of the middle and upper classes.”
From this elegant sentence he passes on to the evils of idleness, in treating of which he supplies _The Christian Advocate_ with the true cause of original sin. “Does any one imagine that the forbidden fruit would ever have been tasted if Adam had been daily occupied in tilling the earth, and Eve, like a good housewife, in darning fig-leaf aprons for herself and her husband? Never!” The observation would lead one to imagine that the Bible was a scarce article in Kentucky. He passes on from Adam to the banker and merchant of the present day, and informs the reader that they command a high respect in society, but it would be deemed a shocking misapplication of terms to speak of any of them as gentlemen. After which truthful statement, he enters into a long definition of a gentleman, as though he thought his countrymen totally ignorant on that point: he gets quite _chivalrous_ in his description: “He ought to touch his hat to his opponent with whom he was about to engage in mortal combat.”[BM] After which remark he communicates two pieces of information–the one as true as the other is modest: “Politeness is deemed lessening to the position of a gentleman in England; in America it is thought his proudest boast.” Of course he only alludes to manner; his writings prove at every page that _genuine American feeling_ dispenses with it in language. His politeness, I suppose, may be described in the words Junius applied to friendship:–“The insidious smile upon the cheek should warn you of the canker in the heart.” By way of encouraging civility, he informs the reader that an Englishman “never appears so disgusting as when he attempts to be especially kind; …in affecting to oblige, he becomes insulting.” He confesses, however, “I have known others in America whom you would never suspect of being Englishmen–they were such good fellows; but they had been early transplanted from England. If the sound oranges be removed from a barrel in which decay has commenced, they may be saved; but if suffered to remain, they are all soon reduced to the same disgusting state.”
His discriminating powers next penetrate some of the deep mysteries of animal nature: he discovers that the peculiarities of the bullock and the sheep have been gradually absorbed into the national character, as far as conversation is concerned. “They have not become woolly, nor do they wear horns, but the nobility are eternally bellowing forth the astounding deeds of their ancestors, whilst the muttonish middle classes bleat a timorous approval…. Such subjects constitute their fund of amusing small talk,” &c. From the foregoing elegant description of conversation, he passes onwards to the subject of gentility, and describes a young honourable, on board a steamer, who refused to shut a window when asked by a sick and suffering lady, telling the husband, “he could not consent to be suffocated though his wife was sick.” And having cooked up the story, he gives the following charming reason for his conduct: “He dreaded the possibility of compromising his own position and that of his noble family at home by obliging an ordinary person.” He afterwards touches upon English visitors to America, who, he says, “generally come among us in the undisguised nakedness of their vulgarity. Wholly freed from the restraints imposed upon them at home by the different grades in society, they indolently luxuriate in the inherent brutality of their nature. They constantly violate not only all rules of decorum, but the laws of decency itself…. They abuse our hospitality, insult our peculiar institutions, set at defiance all the refinements of life, and return home, lamenting the social anarchy of America, and retailing their own indecent conduct as the ordinary customs of the country…. The pranks which, in a backwoods American, would be stigmatized as shocking obscenity, become, when perpetrated by a rich Englishman, charming evidence of sportive humour,” &c.
A considerable portion of the volume is dedicated to Church matters; for which subject the meek and lowly style which characterizes his writing pre-eminently qualifies him, and to which, doubtless, he is indebted for the patronage of _The Christian Advocate_. I shall only indulge the reader with the following beautiful description of the Established Church:–“It is a bloated, unsightly mass of formalities, hypocrisy, bigotry, and selfishness, without a single charitable impulse or pious aspiration.” After this touching display of _genuine American feeling_, he draws the picture of a clergyman in language so opposite, that one is reminded of a certain mysterious personage, usually represented with cloven feet, and who is said to be very apt at quoting Scripture.
Heraldry and ancestry succeed the Church in gaining a notice from his pen; and his researches have gone so deep, that one is led to imagine–despite his declarations of contempt–that he looks forward to becoming some day The Most Noble the Duke of Arkansas and Mississippi, with a second title of Viscount de’ Tucky and Ohio;[BN] the “de” suggestive of his descent from _The Three Continents_. One of the most remarkable discoveries he has made, is, that “the soap-makers and the brewers are the compounders of the great staple commodities of consumption in Great Britain, and therefore surpass even Charles himself in the number of their additions to the Peerage.” This valuable hint should not be lost upon those employed in these useful occupations, as hope is calculated to stimulate zeal and ambition.
The last quotations I propose making from this _vigorous volume_ are taken from the seventh chapter, headed, “English Devotion to Dinner.” On this subject the author seems to have had his _keen discriminating powers_ peculiarly sharpened; and the observations made are in most _lively and racy style_, and–according to the Press–perfectly _courteous_. The Englishman “is never free till armed with a knife and fork; indeed, he is never completely himself without them[BO] … which may he as properly considered integral portions of an Englishman, as claws are of a cat; … they are not original even in their gluttony; … they owe to a foreign nation the mean privilege of bestial indulgence; … they make a run into Scotland for the sake of oatmeal cakes, and sojourn amongst the wild beauties of Switzerland in order to be convenient to goat’s milk…. Like other carnivorous animals, an Englishman is always surly over his meals. Morose at all times, he becomes unbearably so at that interesting period of the day, when his soul appears to cower among plates and dishes; … though he gorges his food with the silent deliberation of the anaconda, yet, in descanting upon the delicacies of the last capital dinner, he makes an approach to animation altogether unusual to him; … when, upon such auspicious occasions, he does go off into something like gaiety, there is such fearful quivering of vast jelly mounds of flesh, something so supernaturally tremendous in his efforts, that, like the recoil of an overloaded musket, he never fails to astound those who happen to be near him.” But his _keen observation_ has discovered a practice before dinner, which, being introduced into the centre of various censures, may also be fairly supposed to be considered by him and his friends of the Press as most objectionable, and as forming one of the aggregate _Items_ which constitute the English beast. “For dinner, he bathes, rubs, and dresses.” How filthy! Yet be not too hard upon him, reader, for this observation; I have travelled in his neighbourhood, on the Mississippi steamers, and I can, therefore, well understand how the novelty of the operation must have struck him with astonishment, and how repugnant the practice must have been to his habits.
Among other important facts connected with this great question, his _discriminating_ mind has ascertained that an Englishman “makes it a rule to enjoy a dinner at his own expense as little as possible.” Armed with this important discovery, he lets drive the following American shell, thus shivering to atoms the whole framework of our society. The nation may tremble as it reads these withering words of Kentucky eloquence:–“When it is remembered that of all the vices, avarice is most apt to corrupt the heart, and gluttony has the greatest tendency to brutalize the mind, it no longer continues surprising that an Englishman has become a proverb of meanness from Paris to Jerusalem. The hatred and contempt of all classes of society as necessarily attend him in his wanderings as his own shadow…. Equally repulsive to every grade of society, he stands isolated and alone, a solitary monument of the degradation of which human nature is capable.”
Feeling that ordinary language is insufficient to convey his _courteous_ and _chivalrous_ sentiments, he ransacks natural history in search of a sublime metaphor: his triumphant success he records in this beautifully expressed sentence–“The dilating power of the anaconda and the gizzard of the cassowary are the highest objects of his ambition.” But neither ordinary language nor metaphor can satisfy his lofty aspirations: it requires something higher, it requires an embodiment of _genuine American feeling, vigorous yet courteous_; his giant intellect rises equal to the task. He warns my countrymen “to use expletives oven with the danger of being diffuse, rather than be so blunt and so vulgar;” and then–by way, I suppose, of showing them how to be sarcastic without being either blunt or vulgar–he delivers himself of the following magnificent bursts:–“If guts could perform the function of brains, Greece’s seven wise men would cease to be proverbial, for England would present to the world twenty-seven millions of sages…. To eat, to drink, to look greasy, and to grow fat, appear to constitute, in their opinion, the career of a worthy British subject…. The lover never asks his fair one if she admires Donizetti’s compositions, but tenderly inquires if she loves beef-steak pies. This sordid vice of greediness is rapidly brutalizing natures not originally spiritual; every other passion is sinking, oppressed by flabby folds of fat, into helplessness. All the mental energies are crushed beneath the oily mass. Sensibility is smothered in, the feculent steams of roast beef, and delicacy stained by the waste drippings of porter. The brain is slowly softening into blubber, and the liver is gradually encroaching upon the heart. All the nobler impulses of man are yielding to those animal propensities which must soon render Englishmen beasts in all save form alone.”
I have now finished my _Elegant Extracts_ from the work of Mr. Ward. The reader can judge for himself of Boston’s “_vigorous volume_,” of Philadelphia’s “_delightful treat_,” of Rochester’s “_chivalrous and genuine Amercan feeling_,” of The Christian Advocate’s “_retort courteous_,” and of New Orleans’ “_aggregate outburst of the great American heart_,” &c. These compliments from the Press derive additional value from the following passage in the work they eulogize. Pages 96, 97, Mr. Ward writes: “It is the labour of every author so to adapt his style and sentiments to the tastes of his readers, as most probably to secure their approbation…. The consciousness that his success is so wholly dependent on their approval, will make him, without his being aware of it, adapt his ideas to theirs.” And the New Orleans Press endorses all the author’s sentiments, and insults American gentlemen and American intelligence, by asserting that it “_admirably reveals the sentiments of the whole people, and will find sympathy in the mind of every true son of the soil_.”
Before taking a final leave of _English Items_, I owe some apology to the reader for the length at which I have quoted from it. My only excuse is, that I desired to show the grounds upon which I spoke disparagingly of a portion of the Press, and of the low popular literature of the country. I might have quoted from various works instead of one; but if I had done so, it might fairly have been said that I selected an isolated passage for a particular purpose; or else, had I quoted largely, I might have been justly charged with being tedious. Besides which, to corroborate my assertions regarding the Press, I should have been bound to give their opinion also upon each book from which I quoted; and, beyond all these reasons, I felt that the generality of the works of low literature which I came across were from the pen of people with far less education than the author I selected, who, as I have before remarked, belongs to one of the wealthiest families in Kentucky, and for whom, consequently, neither the want of education nor the want of opportunities of mixing in respectable society–had he wished to do so–can be offered as the slightest extenuation.[BP]
I feel also that I owe some apology to my American friends for dragging such a work before the public; but I trust they will find sufficient excuse for my doing so, in the explanation thus afforded, of the way the mind of Young America gets poisoned, and which will also partly account for the abuse of this country that is continually appearing in their Press. I feel sure there is hardly a gentleman in America, whose acquaintance I had the pleasure of making, who would read even the first twenty pages of the book; and I am in justice hound to say, that among all the works of a similar class which I saw, _English Items_ enjoys unapproachable pre-eminence in misrepresentation and vulgarity, besides being peculiarly contemptible, from the false being mixed up with many true statements of various evils and iniquities still existing in England, and which, being quoted from our own Press, are calculated to give the currency of truth to the whole work, among that mass of his countrymen who, with all their intelligence, are utterly ignorant of England, either socially or politically.
The subsequent career of this censor of English manners and morals is too remarkable to be passed over in silence. I therefore now proceed to give you a short epitome of it, as a specimen of morals and manners in Kentucky, as exhibited by him, and his trial. My information is taken from the details of the trial published at full length, a copy of which I obtained in consequence of the extraordinary accounts of the transaction which I read in the papers. Professor Butler had formerly been tutor in the family of the Wards, and was equally esteemed by them and the public of Louisville generally. At the time of the following occurrence the Professor was Principal of the High School in that city.
One of the boys at the school was William–brother of Mr. Matt. F. Ward: it appears that in the opinion of the Professor the boy had been guilty of eating nuts in the school and denying it, for which offence he was called out and whipped, as the master told him, for telling a lie. Whether the charge or the punishment was just is not a point of any moment, though I must say the testimony goes far to justify both. William goes home, complains to his brother Matt. F., not so much of the severity of the punishment, as of being called a liar. The elder brother