Part 3 (1/2)

_Sat.u.r.day_ morning.--Walked the Market-street, being the market-day. Was much gratified with the immense quant.i.ty of domestic articles of every description, particularly fruit: water-melons as big as 16 lbs. or 20 lbs. weight, and the finest of peaches selling at 1 s. per bushel. I then called upon all the commercial people I wished to see, and found they depended upon New York for supply. Found an old neighbour, Lewis Brown, from Rose Castle, c.u.mberland, who arrived here without a penny, and is now worth 150,000 dollars. Returned to Jones's Union Hotel to dinner. I may observe, it is the best-conducted house I ever saw, and the cleanest, situated in Chestnut-street, opposite the Arcade. After dinner, Matthew Williams drove me to the water-works, Fairmount, where there is a magnificent view of the town. Philadelphia is most bountifully provided with fresh water, which is showered and jerked about in all directions. The Water-works are no less ornamental than useful, being tastefully laid out as a public garden, and kept in the best order. The river is dammed and forced by its own powers into certain high tanks or reservoirs, whence the whole city, to the top stories, is supplied at 5 dollars a tap. It was a fine evening, and we took a long drive, always pa.s.sing everything on the wrong side. Very bad roads, and quite new scenery to me. Returned over a wooden bridge, covered, as they all are; and crossed the Schuylkill river, which runs parallel with the Delaware, distant about seven miles, and joins it there, which makes Philadelphia, like New York, almost an island.

_Sunday_ morning.--Heard a splendid sermon from Mr. Barnes, at his Presbyterian chapel, Was.h.i.+ngton-square; text 4th chap. of Philippians, and 8th verse: ”Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” We then walked to Christ Church burying-ground, and saw the grave of the immortal Franklin. George III. built Christ Church. After dinner took another drive to Girard College, a splendid unfinished marble structure: when completed will be the richest edifice of modern times. Girard was a banker, and died worth 10,700,000 dollars, two millions of which were left to educate and provide for orphans of all cla.s.ses. He was a poor French tobacconist, and rose through trading with the West Indies. We then drove to the Laurel Hill Cemetery, a beautifully situated place or plot of ground, by the Schuylkill river: there is the figure of Sir Walter Scott's Old Mortality cut out of solid stone. The cost for interment is 3s. 6d. per square foot. We then drove up the Wissiocou-road to German Town, where they beat us in making woollen drawers, stockings, &c., owing to our laws and the American high tariff.

Came home by the West, having now driven all round--East, North, and South. Had tea; and went to St. John's Episcopal Church, and heard a good sermon from the rector, the Rev. Mr. Newton; text, Hebrews i. 11: ”They shall perish, but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment.” It was most eloquent. With a population of 250,000, they have 250 churches of different sects, and nearly all talented men for preachers--indeed, Philadelphia has ever been known for its learning and benevolence since its rise. I forgot to say we crossed a _wire bridge_, the only one in the world that would bear 80 tons. Home, and to bed.

_Monday_ morning.--Took a regular turn through all the commercial houses again, and like their system better than New York. Lunched off peaches, and then drove off to the Mint--not worth seeing. Thence to the Eastern Penitentiary, where they have 360 prisoners. The solitary system is abominable. I could not walk a happy man beneath the open sky by day, or lay me down upon my bed at night, with the consciousness that one human creature, for any length of time, lay suffering this unknown punishment, and I the cause, or consenting to it in the least degree. The building is very large, and kept in perfect order: it cannot be praised too highly. We entered into a large chamber, from which seven long pa.s.sages radiate; on either side of which is a long row of low cell-doors, numbered. Standing at the central point, and looking down these dreary pa.s.sages, the dull repose and quiet that prevails is awful. I was much interested with one prisoner that had nearly completed his seven years, who stated that he had been guilty of stealing 100 dollars, and that, his conscience upbraiding him, he took them back previous to being found out: still he was sentenced. He had a loom, had extracted some colours from the yarn, and painted his room all over. But enough. I left it labouring under a feeling of melancholy, and visited the Blind Asylum, where we saw the system of reading by raised letters beautifully carried out. A little girl and boy, about nine, who had been there only one year, could read the Bible well: a young lady from Gloucester (England) could tell you the lat.i.tude and longitude of any place upon a raised map; and two others could sing and play well, thoroughly understanding music. They take thirty boys and thirty girls upon the charity, and educate them so that they can get a living in after-life; and others they take at 200 dollars a-year for any period. Strange to say, they sometimes get married. I bought some of their work, and printed some of the raised letters. Contributed to the charity, and left much pleased.

And I may here observe--Jones's, the Union Hotel, is very first-rate. He is from Warwicks.h.i.+re: all black servants, with a first-rate system. Got a good dinner; and then saw the process of hatching chickens by steam. I regretted I saw this, as I think I shall never like eggs again. We ought to have visited the City Almshouse, Navy Yard, Marine Hospital, Widows'

Asylum, and many more places, but had not time. We then visited the Pennsylvania Hospital, established by William Penn. His statue is erected in the front, where he is represented as treating with the Indians, after his mission from Charles II. After seeing the patients, which are taken free to the number of 200, (others are paid for by different inst.i.tutions,) we saw the splendid painting by West, ”Christ healing the Sick.” We then visited the Musical Fund Hall, and heard the far-famed Ethiopian serenaders, Messrs. German, Hanwood, Harrington, Warren, and Pelham, upon the accordion, banjo, congo-tambo, and bone-castanets, in all of which they stand unrivalled in the world. They were representing n.i.g.g.e.rs' lives, with songs, &c. Home and to bed, tired out.

_Tuesday._--Started for Baltimore at eight, per rail: crowded as usual.

Horses drag you out of the different towns: thence steam. The first station was Chester: thence across the Schuylkill and Potomac to Wilmington; and crossed the Delaware and Susquehanna into Maryland--the first _slave_ state I had been in. A shudder involuntarily came over me.

Having worked up my imagination, I fancied every black I saw was a slave. We crossed Havre de Gras, and two or three other beautiful lakes, with bridges of wood over, to save us some miles round, exclusively for the rail, and arrived at Baltimore Exchange Hotel to dinner. Afterwards strolled about the town; and pa.s.sed the house of Jerome Bonaparte, who lives in the park quite retired. All the houses here appear as if built within the last few years: the bricks are quite red, and apparently new.

The women, as in Philadelphia, are very handsome, except their bosoms, which are quite flat. I climbed to the top of Was.h.i.+ngton's Monument. It is 180 feet high. The enclosure is flagged with white marble. It was erected by the slave state of Maryland. The inscriptions are: ”Born 22nd Feb., 1732. Died 14th Dec., 1799, aged 67. Commander-in-chief of the American army 15th June, 1775. Commission resigned at Annapolis 23rd Dec., 1783. Victorious at Trenton 25th Dec., 1776; and conquered Lord Cornwallis at York Town Oct., 1781. President of the United States 4th March, 1789. Retired to Mount Vernon 4th March, 1797, and died as above.” It cost half a million dollars. Home and to-bed, tired as usual.--Population, 125,000.

_Wednesday_ morning, the 18th Sept.--Satisfied myself about business, which appears to be in a thriving state. I then visited the Catholic Cathedral, which cost 300,000 dollars; St. Paul's Church; and several other public buildings; the City Fountain, which supplies the town plentifully with spring water; the Battle Monument, erected to the memory of those who fell in the defence of Baltimore in 1814--James Madison president at the time. Gen. Jackson conquered Sir Henry Pakenham at New Orleans in the same year. Jackson was president in 1832, and re-elected. This battle took place in the 39th year of Independence.

General Ross was killed in 1816, at North Point battle, after bombarding Fort M'Henry. The army in the United States is only 6000, commanded by Major-Gen. Scott. The President is the nominal Commander-in-chief. We visited the Race-course, and saw a couple of bad races: it is a burlesque after England. After dinner we proceeded per rail to Was.h.i.+ngton City, through Delaware, another slave state; but am happy to say both this and Maryland are wearing out--that is, they will soon be free. The market-price in these two states is, for men, from 5 to 10 dollars; and women about half the price. The contrast is great between the States and England in regard to windows. Here they cram as many windows into a house as it will hold, as there is no duty or tax upon anything but business or real property--very wise and just tax. Retired, at Brown's Hotel, Was.h.i.+ngton, at ten, used up, as usual, with the heat.

THE CAPITOL.

_Thursday._--Rose early, much refreshed--as I forgot to mention that, although our beds at Baltimore were entirely covered with net, I was afraid I should have been eaten alive with mosquitoes. Was.h.i.+ngton is called a capital, having a portion taken from Virginia and Maryland for the senators' use. It is a long straggling town, with very wide streets; called by some the city of magnificent distances, but, more properly speaking, it might be called the city of magnificent intentions. It is located in the district of Colombia--a territory of ten miles square, formed into a separate and detached jurisdiction by the const.i.tution of the United States. The city was laid out by General Was.h.i.+ngton, and Congress took up its abode there in 1800. The Capitol is situated in an area of twenty-two and a half acres; is a splendid building, on an eminence close to the Potomac river. The Hall of Representatives is in the second story of the south wing, and is of the form of the ancient Grecian theatre. There are twenty-four columns of variegated native marble from the banks of the Potomac. There is a splendid portrait of Lafayette, and another of Was.h.i.+ngton, by Vanderlyn. Their present speaker is Mr. White--elected the same as ours. The rotunda is very imposing. In its centre stands the great statue, by Greenough, of Was.h.i.+ngton; and around the walls are the various pictures ordered by Congress--”The Declaration of Independence,” ”The Surrender at Saratoga,” ”The Surrender and Capitulation at York Town,” and ”Was.h.i.+ngton resigning his Sword at Annapolis,” all by Trumbull. I was much struck with Chapman's great picture of ”The Baptism of the Indian Princess Pocahontas, before her Marriage with Rolph, the Englishman.”

The Vice-President of the United States presides in the Senate-house: his salary is only 5000 dollars, and the President's 25,000 dollars. In the library are portraits of Tyler, Adams, Jefferson, Was.h.i.+ngton, Madison, Munro, and Peyton; also Randolph, the first president in 1774 and 1775, and Hanc.o.c.k, the second. Congress meets on the 1st December, and sits till June. Representatives are paid two dollars a-day. The rotunda has been the inaugural scene of General Jackson, Van Buren, and General Harrison. It was here Lawrence, the maniac, attempted the life of General Jackson. The statuary in the rotunda is, ”William Penn's Treaty with the Indians:” he is in the act of delivering the treaty to a couple of chiefs. There is ”The Indian Princess Pocahontas rescuing Capt. Smith from the Indians.” There is ”Boone's Combat with the Indians;” and over the eastern door is represented ”The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth.” They were persecuted in England, and fled to New England, amongst wild savages, enemies to civilization and Christianity. The Puritans landed at Plymouth (Ma.s.sachusetts), and commenced the first English settlement. The Capitol cost 3,000,000 dollars. There are fifty-two senators, and twenty-two representatives.

The President's house is in the western part of the city; and stands on a plot of twenty acres, forty-four feet above the Potomac. It is 170 feet front, and eighty-six deep; built of freestone, with Ionic pilasters. It was shown to us by one Martin Renehan, an Irishman; and as the President was absent, we visited all the rooms, which were meanly furnished--indeed, carpets and chair-bottoms worn out; a common pine dining-table, which the Prince de Joinville, Lord Ashburton, Lord Morpeth, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Pakenham, our present minister, with others, to the number of forty-four (they never have more), dined off. My house is much better furnished; and the President only keeps eighteen servants, including master of the household, &c. The private drawing-room is the best, but that is bad. We saw the bed General Harrison died in. We visited the Treasury department: this is a n.o.ble structure, 457 feet in length, and after the architecture of the temple of Minerva, at Athens. There are 250 rooms. It is adjoining the department of state. The Post-office is of the Corinthian style, marble front. The plan is a parallelogram, 204 feet in extent, and sixty-five wide. The Patent-office is 280 feet in length, and seventy in depth, where patents are taken out at the cost of 30 dollars. We saw one that astonished us not a little--a machine for making railways, called a Pile-driver, which makes a railway over a lake, swamp, or forest, and finishes it straight away. It is in operation in the southern states, and found to answer, at one-tenth the cost in England. It is so incredible, I will not describe it. There is another, called the Excavator, that bores through hills, &c. and quickens the work fiftyfold to manual labour. Both these are worked by steam, and the most incredible inventions I ever saw. Otis is the inventor of the latter.

There is also a screw-patent in operation in Rhode Island. In the s.p.a.cious room above are preserved Was.h.i.+ngton's equipments in war-time.

They are uncostly, plain, and humble, showing the unostentatious mind of the great man. Here are all the presents from different courts: members of the United States Government are not allowed to keep them. There is a costly diamond snuffbox from the Emperor of Russia; and a large bottle of pure attar of roses, three times the price of gold. There are portraits of Gortez, conqueror of Mexico in 1521; of Columbus, the discoverer of America; of Cuvier, the French naturalist; and one I was much struck with, by Spagnoletti, of Job and his three friends (see Job xiv.): also one of Wat Tyler!

We visited the old departments of Government, State, War, and General Government. The rooms of the various secretaries are furnished plainly.

We were disappointed at the Navy Yard--no appearance like England. The first object introduced was a piece of cannon taken from the English fleet when Sir George c.o.c.kburn came up the Potomac. The sight of this gave me a chill, as it was the first time I had ever seen England's arms in other powers' possession. The name of Sir George c.o.c.kburn is hated, as he would have destroyed recklessly, had not Ross, a Fifes.h.i.+re man, restrained him. Ross's memory is as much loved as the other's is hated.

This was in 1814. On the left is the house of the commandant of the yard--a captain in the navy. They make anchors, blocks, and tackle of all sorts for s.h.i.+ps' use. There are several hundred men usually employed at the yard. Several first-rate vessels have been built here. They told us that they sunk several of their vessels here when they heard of their defeat at Bladensburg; but I guess it was the English that sunk them.

There are many more sights, but our time would not allow us to tarry.

I had much wished to have gone down to Charlestown, and then into the far West; but the contemplation of slavery, the pain of living in the constant intercourse with slave servants, and the awfully hot weather, which might have caused me to take the fever--added to all, my great anxiety to receive letters from England--particularly from my wife, from whom I had now been absent five weeks without hearing--the pleasures of memory having almost kindled into the charming reminiscences of my first love--decided me to take my course North again; and I must acknowledge I left Was.h.i.+ngton with regret, and the contemplation that, ere many years roll over, it will be a magnificent city. I may here remark there is a telegraph, or galvanic power, fixed between the Capitol and Baltimore, that takes the news forty miles in a second. This is a good line of single rails, which they all are. At Baltimore we took steam up the Pennsylvanian states to Frenchtown--about sixty miles; and thence rail twenty miles to Newcastle; thence steam up the Delaware to Philadelphia; thence rail to Amboy, through Burlington, Bordingtown, and Hidestown. Amboy is only five miles from the Atlantic, where we came in from England. We came up Staten Island Sound, with New Jersey on the left, and pa.s.sed Elizabeth Port and Payrosville, and saw Newark and the Pacific river about eight miles in the distance: then pa.s.sed the Narrows, Governor's Island, Ellis and Gibbet Islands, and arrived at the Battery at seven, after travelling 400 miles in twenty-seven hours. Received my letters at the Astor, and was pleased with their news: retired to rest very tired, after my companion had read two chapters in the Bible to me, which has been our custom since we came together.

I have now seen enough of the independent states of America to convince me that Henry Clay is the proper man for President. The whole tenor of his life has been for his country's good. He feels the moral degradation the states of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, and Mississippi have brought upon his country by repudiation; and he would, if returned, advocate appropriating the waste lands to paying their debts. He would also _veto_ annexing Texas and the Oregon territory, and by such means keep the southern and northern states from collision. My humble opinion is, if the southern states get hold of Texas, as their interests are diametrically opposed to the interests of the North, all they require is a little more strength to set about a separation.

_Sat.u.r.day_ morning.--Rose dissatisfied with the Astor, they having placed us four stories high to sleep. Called upon several friends in the course of the day. Nothing particular in view. In the evening visited the Chatham Theatre, a regular Yankee place, to see the original Mr.

Rice perform a burlesque _Oth.e.l.lo_!! and the farce _Here's a Go_! He acted to admiration, and sang lots of n.i.g.g.e.r songs, amongst which his masterpiece, ”Jump Jim Crow,” was encored three times. He placed us in a private box, and we spent half an hour with him. A more gentlemanly man I never met. He is retiring upon a fortune made of 10,000. Home and to bed at eleven.

_Sunday_ morning.--Mr. Pearce called for me to go and spend the day at Staten Island, at the Pavilion, where, he was stopping. We took a long drive past the Quarantine, where the doctor boarded the _Western_. Saw the Hospitals, Fort George, the Telegraph, and the very handsome buildings of Mr. Goodue and Mr. Brown, and a magnificent marble building called ”The Sailor's Snug Home:” an Englishman left the money to build it. And I was then introduced to the Flandens, Mr. Pearce's family, and Mr. De la Forest, the French consul, a relative. Dined, and returned to the Astor. Paid my bill, and ready to start up the North River for Albany in the morning.

VISIT TO THE CANADAS; NIAGARA; RETURN TO NEW YORK & BOSTON; AND VOYAGE HOME.

_Monday, September 24, 1843._--We proceeded on board the _Empire_, Capt.