Chapter LXXIV: Appendix: Canals and Railroads (4)

The generations of men are so rapidly passing away, that a
few years will make this interesting place rich in mournful
and sacred associations. We noticed the monument of Hannah
Adams, the first tenant of the place, remarkable for
her fair and discriminating mind, and still more so for
her child-like singleness of heart. Spurzheim also is
there――honored for his enlarged and liberal feeling,
by those who had no confidence in his philosophical
speculations. We have already alluded to the cenotaph
elected to a young man of high promise, by which his friends
have commemorated his virtues and their own loss. But it
is not always those whose loss is most widely felt, whose
memory is most fondly remembered; many who go to the grave
almost unknown, will give sacredness to this place in the
feeling of those who loved them. The parent will regard
it with emotion, because there he saw his child laid upon
a colder pillow than a mother’s breast――or the youth, who
perished in the brightness of his rising, and left his
friends to mourn not only for all he was, but all they
hoped he would have been. The community will turn to it,
as the place where the generous and enlightened, the useful
and honored, rest from their labors; where those who have
passed through the various changes of public confidence,
carry their rivalship and ambition down to the dust. Each
inclosure will have its recollections gathered about it like
the summer leaves over the monument; the feelings of men
of various pursuits and characters will be drawn from all
directions toward this single point of melancholy attraction.
The memorial which one passes coldly by, will fix the
attention of another: the stone which is to one simply a
memorial of a stranger, will be gazed upon by another till
‘his heart is faint, and his eyes are dim.’

We cannot but hope that this example will be followed; the
community at large have yet to learn the right feeling of
respect for the dead. That respect is not shown only by
the care which guards the sepulchre from violation――nor by
setting up ghastly monuments, covered with tales of idle
vanity or unmeaning affection. Whoever goes into the burial
places of many of our villages, sees naked marbles, which
after a few years lean with age, and find no hand to restore
them. Nature, as if ashamed of man, seems endeavoring to
hide what he has done with her tall golden rod and towering
plants, which grow as luxuriantly as if they were fed from
the graves below;――and all is surrounded, not protected, by
a vile paling of unpainted wood, which defends it from no
animal but man. The true respect for the dead will be shown
by making their resting place such, that the stranger shall
not retreat from it in disgust and scorn, by employing the
decorations of nature, which are always at command. One
tenth part of the expense which is now lavished on the
absurd and ungraceful head-stones in almost every village
of New England, would make their burial grounds, places
which could be pointed out to the traveller without regret
and shame; and what is still better, would permit the
living to go and draw instruction from communion with the
dead.――_Boston Daily Advertiser._

63 – There are seventeen other towns, named Concord, in different
parts of the United States.

64 – Though New Orleans is rapidly increasing in size and
commercial importance, as the emporium of the rich valley
of the Mississippi must necessarily continue to do, yet
no improvement has taken place in the climate and in the
salubrity of the atmosphere, and even _acclimated_ whites
are afraid to remain when a greenish scum of vegetable
matter begins to appear on the shallow pools in August. It
is distressing to record the fact, that, on an average, six
hundred Irish perish yearly in and about New Orleans, who
come in search of employment, and high wages, (a dollar a
day), from New York and Charleston, to the ungenial clime
of Louisiana. They are commonly employed trenching in the
country, and digging the foundation of houses in towns,
inhale deadly vapors, and more deadly rum, have none to
advise or guide them, and perish miserably.

It may not be intrusive to state, in this place, the
precautions I took to guard against the formidable malady. I
slept in an upper story, performed my ablutions as regularly
as a Hindoo, ate animal food only once a day, and in small
quantities, (farinaceous substances form the natural food
of men,) drank no spirits, but two or three glasses of wine
per day, took three or four hours’ active exercise, kept
the mind employed, took once or twice a little precautionary
quinine, and avoided the night air, which crept insidiously
through the dull streets loaded with pestilential effluvia
from the slimy banks of the river, and from the creeks
of cypress swamps, the haunts of loathsome alligators and
snakes.

On the first of September, the thermometer at eight, P. M.
was about eighty-four degrees, without a breath of air, but
myriads of mammoth musquetoes.

New Orleans is called the ‘wet grave,’ because, in digging
‘the narrow house,’ water rises within eighteen inches of
the surface. Coffins are therefore sunk three or four feet,
by having holes bored in them, and two black men stand on
them till they fill with water, and reach the bottom of the
moist tomb. Some people are particular, and dislike this
immersion after death; and, therefore, those who can afford
it have a sort of brick oven built on the surface of the
ground, at one end of which the coffin is introduced, and
the door hermetically closed; but the heat of the southern
sun on this ‘whited sepulchre,’ must bake the body inside,
so that there is but a choice of disagreeables after all.
The plan on which penitentiaries are built, has suggested
to the Louisianians a new plan for interment: a broad brick
wall is built with rows of cells on each side, and in these
the dead are laid to wait for the awful blast of the angel
Gabriel, when the dead shall burst the cerements of the tomb,
and come forth to judgment.

Though it was the season of disease and death, yet the
gamblers still continued to reap their harvest in the city.
Night after night I was kept awake by the roulette table
in the neighboring house; and it is said that a revenue
of thirty-five thousand dollars a year is derived by the
city from licensed gambling houses, which sum supports an
hospital. Cock-fighting is a favorite amusement with both
whites and colored, and vice in every shape seems to hold
high carnival in this city of the great valley. However,
let no one judge of America from New Orleans, for it is
altogether _sui generis_; and, above all, let no future
traveller visit it in autumn, unless he wishes ‘to shake
off this mortal coil,’ and save the coroner some trouble.

The population of New Orleans was――
In 1802  10,000
“ 1810  17,242
“ 1820  27,176
“ 1831  50,000

This increase is quite astonishing, especially when we
consider that the population of the whole state of Louisiana
under the French, in 1763, was only eleven thousand. The
whites are said to be at present two hundred and twenty
thousand, and the slaves about one hundred and nineteen
thousand in the state.

In 1822, there were exported from the port of New Orleans,
one hundred and sixty-seven thousand seven hundred and
forty-two bales of cotton; and in this year, four hundred
and seventeen thousand four hundred and thirteen. In 1822,
twenty-six thousand two hundred and thirty-three hogsheads
of tobacco; and in this year, thirty-one thousand nine
hundred and thirty-three. Sugar and molasses, in 1829,
fifty-six thousand five hundred and sixty-six hogsheads,
and two thousand five hundred and eleven barrels of the
former, and twenty thousand nine hundred and forty hogsheads,
and eight thousand two hundred and forty-five barrels of
the latter. This season, fifty-two thousand one hundred and
forty-two hogsheads, and two thousand six hundred and fifty
barrels of sugar; and twenty-two thousand eight hundred
and seventy-two hogsheads, and fourteen thousand seven
hundred and ninety-four barrels of molasses. Commerce
will be facilitated by another canal from the city to lake
Pontchartrain, to be commenced next year; and I travelled
from the city to the lake, four miles on a rail-road, on
which there are now locomotive engines. The citizens seem
determined to avoid the one hundred and ten miles of river
navigation.

At New Orleans, in the gay season, they have very pleasant,
though expensive amusements, called ‘Bals de Bouquet,’ given
by the bachelors, but at the house of a lady. The _garcon_
who gives the dance, is distinguished by the title of king;
and his first care, when invested with the sovereignty, at
the beginning of the season, is to select among the ladies
of his acquaintance a queen to share his power, which he
delegates by crowning his fair partner with a wreath of
flowers. At her house, and in her name, is the ball then
given. After two or three quadrilles, the first queen rises
from her chair of state, and is conducted into the middle
of the room by the king, when gracefully raising a wreath
of flowers, which she bears in her hand, she places it on
the brow of a future king, (another bachelor of the party);
and he, after a low obeisance, having fixed upon his mate
in like manner, adorns her with the regalia of the bal
de bouquet. The new queen then accepts the proffered arm
of the king, the band plays a march, and followed by the
rest of the company, they polonoise round and round the
room. Dancing in its various branches succeeds; quadrilles,
Anglaises et Espagnoles are resumed with the greatest spirit,
and continued until after day breaks, when the first King
and queen cease to reign.

After an unusually hot and sultry day, the sun assuming at
the same time a greenish hue, and the streets in the evening,
as I walked home to my empty hotel, sending forth a most
disgusting effluvium; in the middle of the night I was awoke
by the noise of the doors and window’s violently agitated
by the wind; it increased to the hurricane roar, lulled, and
rose again, and blew with appalling force from the opposite
point of the compass, rain, at the same time, deluging the
city. Thus it continued all next day: the sea rushed into
lake Pontchartrain; behind the town it burst its banks, and
the city was under water, the levee only being dry. There
was no moving out of the house for many hours, and this led
me to believe that, one day this city, rapidly increasing
as it is in wealth and consequence, will be swept into the
gulf of Mexico, if the Mississippi happens to rise unusually
high at the annual inundation, and at the same time the
south-east wind raise the sea at its mouth and in the lakes.
More vessels were driven on shore in this hurricane; the
unburied dead were laid in their coffins in the grave-yard,
and floated about till the waters subsided to allow of their
being buried――the stench was horrible. Many houses were
unroofed, and almost all damaged in some way or other. Many
lives were lost; some boats and canoes upset in crossing the
river; and, as usual (whether it proceed from the alligators
or under current,) none who fall into the Mississippi at
New Orleans, are ever seen again; and, lastly, the huts of
several fishermen were swept off to sea, and the poor people
miserably perished.’――_Alexander’s Transatlantic Sketches._

65 – That the Americans, however, were not unmindful of the
respect paid to his remains by the British, appears from the
following part of the inscription upon the monument:

‘His bravery in action
Was only equalled by his modesty in triumph,
And his magnanimity to the vanquished.
In private life
He was a gentleman of the most generous and endearing
qualities;
And so acknowledged was his public worth,
That the whole nation mourned his loss,
And the enemy contended with his countrymen
Who most should honor his remains.’

There is a monument near it to the memory of General
Hamilton, who had served with distinction under Washington,
and ranked high as a statesman. He was killed in a duel by
Colonel Burr, the vice president of the United States.

The inscription is as follows:

To the memory of Alexander Hamilton
The corporation of Trinity church
Have erected this monument,
In testimony of their respect for
The patriot of incorruptible integrity,
The soldier of approved valor,
The statesman of consummate wisdom;
Whose talents and whose virtues
Will be admired by a grateful posterity
Long after this marble shall have mouldered into dust.
He died July 2d, 1804, aged forty-seven.
――_Subaltern’s Furlough._

66 – The new Mint appears to be a favorite place of resort for
the curious among our fellow citizens. Visitors pass in by
the Chesnut street front at all hours of the morning, and
are at once ushered into a beautiful and capacious building,
well adapted for the important purposes for which it was
erected. When we look round its ample dimensions, we wonder
how it was possible to accommodate so extensive a business
as was done in the miserably confined apartments of the old
coining house in Seventh street, and fail not, at the same
time, to admire the neat and simple beauty of the present
building. The first object which attracts attention on
entering, is a huge steam engine, at the opposite end of the
building, the noise of which, added to the incessant jarring
of the dies, gives token of the laborious purpose to which
it is applied. This engine, of thirty horse power, is the
most highly-finished specimen of the steam engine we have
ever witnessed. The shafts, upright and horizontal, are of
polished metal, and most of the cogwheels are of brass. The
huge fly-wheels run with the precision of a watch-wheel,
while the various and totally different purposes to which
its power is applied, strike the beholder with admiration
of the skill and ingenuity of the machinist. Rush and
Muhlenburg, of this city, constructed this engine; its cost
was about eight thousand dollars.

From the hot rooms in which the bullion is converted into
ingots, we entered the rooms where the ingots are passed
through a succession of steel rollers, until they assume
the flatness and thinness of a common iron hoop. Thence
we ascended into a room where these thin bars are passed
through a steel guage, to give them a uniform thickness,
equal to that of the half-dollar. A punch, worked by the
same engine, cuts out the silver of a proper size; the
scraps of silver are melted over again into ingots. From
this room the prepared bits are taken down into the die
room, where they are passed on their edges, through a machine
which gives them the impression they bear upon the edge.
They are thence handed over to the coiners, by whom they are
placed in a tube, in a pile a foot high, whence they drop
one at a time, on a slide which conveys them directly to
the dies. Here they receive the proper impression on each
side, from dies forced together by means of an iron bar
ten or twelve feet long, worked horizontally by three men.
The instant the coin receives its proper impression, it
is forced off the die into a box ready to receive it, and
gives place to another, which immediately occupies the same
position, and undergoes the same operation.

After having gone through the whole establishment, the
impression left upon the mind is that of astonishment
and wonder, that an end of such immense importance as the
supply of coin for a whole nation, can be attained by means,
apparently, so simple, and of such ready comprehension.
The spectator, going through alone, needs no one to explain
this or that operation. Every thing explains itself on the
instant; for every thing is free from mystery or concealment,
while the excellent condition of the establishment, and the
extreme politeness to strangers, manifested by every person
about it materially enhances the pleasure of a visit to the
Mint of the United States.――_Philadelphia paper._

67 – We reached Rochester under the influence of a burning sun.
The hotel was excellent, and the luxury of cold baths, and
the civility of the landlord, induced me to delay progress
to the following day. In the cool of the evening, I strolled
out to see the falls of the Gennessee. The height of the
uppermost is considerable, being about ninety feet, and the
water rushes over it gracefully enough; but the vicinity
of sundry saw and corn mills has destroyed the romantic
interest which invested it in the days when ‘the cataract
blew his trumpet from the steep,’ amid the stillness of the
surrounding forest.

The old proverb _de gustibus_, &c. receives illustration in
every country. An eccentric man, called Sam Patch, having an
aversion to honest industry, made it his profession to jump
over all the water-falls in the country. Niagara was too
much for him, but he sprang from a lofty rock, some distance
below the Horse-shoe fall, with impunity. His last jump
was at the fall I have just described, of the Gennessee, in
the autumn of 1829. From a scaffold, elevated twenty-five
feet above the table rock, making a descent altogether of a
hundred and twenty-five feet, he fearlessly plunged into the
boiling caldron beneath. From the moment of his immersion,
he was seen no more. His body was not discovered for many
months, and was at length found at the mouth of the river,
six miles below.

Rochester is a place worth seeing. Thirty years ago there
was not a house in the neighborhood, and now there is a
town, containing twenty thousand good Americans and true,
with churches, banks, theatres, and all other oppidan
appurtenances to match. Such growth is more like forcing in
a hot-bed, than the natural progress of human vegetation.
For a great deal of its prosperity, Rochester is indebted
to the Erie canal, which brought its advantageous proximity
to lake Ontario into full play. The canal runs through the
centre of the town, and crosses the Gennessee by an aqueduct,
which, according to the Northern Tourist, ‘cost rising
of eighty thousand dollars,’ whatever sum that may amount
to. There are several streets in Rochester which might be
backed at reasonable odds against any in Hull or Newcastle,
to say nothing of Cork, Falmouth, or Berwick-upon-Tweed.
The appearance of the shops indicates the prevalence of
respectable opulence. Those of the jewellers display a stock
of Paris trinkets and silver snuff-boxes. There are silks
and Leghorn bonnets for the seduction of the ladies, and
the windows of the tailors are adorned by colored prints of
gentlemen in tight-fitting swallow-tails, with the epigraph,
‘New York fashions for May.’――_Men and Manners in America._

68 – A recent traveller, who entertains no great partiality for
the institutions of our country, but whose volume is well
written, and entertaining, makes the following observations
on the society of our metropolis:

Washington is, undoubtedly, the gayest place in the union;
and must, I should imagine, be the very paradise of hackney
coachmen. If these gentlemen do not get rich, it must be
owing to some culpable extravagance, for their vehicles are
in continual demand from the hour of dinner till five in
the morning, and long distances and heavy charges are all in
their favor. Washington, too, is the only place in the union
where people consider it necessary to be agreeable; where
pleasing, as in the old world, becomes a sort of business,
and the enjoyments of social intercourse enter into the
habitual calculations of every one.

The reason of this is obvious enough. The duties of
legislation bring together a large body of gentlemen from
all quarters of the union, whose time in the morning is
generally passed in the capitol; but who, without the
_delassements_ of dinner parties and balls, would find their
evening hours a burden somewhat difficult to dispose of.
Idle men are always pleasant; they feel the necessity of
being so, and make it their occupation, when they have no
other. Your lawyer, or your merchant, on the other hand,
is so engrossed by weightier matters, that he has no time
to cultivate the graces of life, or those thousand arts
of courtesy which contribute so materially to enhance the
enjoyments of society. The experience of the world is in
favor of the assertion, that it is impossible to excel both
in pleasure and business. A man of talent may select the
sphere of his ambition, the bar, the pulpit, the exchange,
the senate, or the drawing-room; but to attempt the honors
of a double triumph is, in general, to secure but duplicity
of failure.

In Washington, all are idle enough to be as agreeable as
they can. The business of congress is no great burden on the
shoulders of any of its members; and a trip to Washington is
generally regarded as a sort of annual _lark_, which enables
a man to pass the winter months more pleasantly than in
the country. A considerable number of the members bring
their families, with a view of obtaining introduction to
better society than they can hope to meet elsewhere; but
the majority leave such incumbrances at home; some, it may
be presumed, from taste, and others from economy.

There are few families that make Washington their permanent
residence, and the city, therefore, has rather the aspect
of a watering place, than the metropolis of a great nation.
The members of congress generally live together in small
boarding-houses, which, from all I saw of them, are shabby
and uncomfortable. Gentlemen with families take lodgings, or
occupy apartments in a hotel; and it is really marvellous,
at the Washington parties, to see how many people are
contrived to be stowed away in a drawing-room, somewhat
smaller than an ordinary-sized pigeon-house. On such
occasions, one does not suffer so much from heat as from
suffocation; for not only does the whole atmosphere become
tainted in quality, but there seems an absolute deficiency
in quantity for the pulmonary demands of the company.

69 – Encyclopedia Americana.

70 – Mr. Stuart, during his residence in the United States,
appears to have made particular inquiries in respect to its
agriculture and horticulture. The following paragraph, in
which a comparison is drawn between the productions of our
gardens and those of Great Britain, is interesting:――

The farms in the neighborhood of New-York are all cultivated;
but having been long accustomed to the plough, and the
soil very different from that of Illinois, the application
of manure is indispensably necessary. The contiguity to
New-York insures tolerable prices for green crops, and a
great part of the land is devoted to them. Even the Lima bean
is cultivated in the field. The varieties of the bean in an
American garden last during great part of the summer; but
the heat of the sun is too great for green peas after the
first or second crop. Neither do artichokes thrive well, nor
cauliflowers, nor broccoli; but the tomato is excellent and
abundant, and pumpkins and vegetable marrow are plentiful.
Asparagus, too, is often cultivated on the field in Long
Island, and is nowhere of better quality. It is sometimes
sold in the New York market at two pence sterling per
hundred. Upon the whole, I think the vegetables for the
table in Great Britain are fully equal in variety and
quality to those in the United States; but they are much
higher in price. A great distinction is to be drawn between
the two countries respecting the article _fruit_. The
Americans have peaches, melons, apples, strawberries, and
cherries, all of excellent quality, and in such abundance,
that there is not a single individual in the whole country,
even the very shoe-black, whose funds do not enable him
to have as much of these fruits as he likes at the proper
season. There are also abundance of walnuts, and of
various sorts of nuts for every body. In many places,
but not universally, there are plums, pears, and grapes.
The plums, so far as have seen them, are not equal to
the English,――the pears, especially the sickle pear of
Pennsylvania, excellent,――the grapes quite inferior to those
in the open air in France, or in the south of England; but
the great difference between the countries exists in the
abundance of the first-mentioned fruits for the whole mass
of the people. Peaches are raised on standard trees only,
and, though universally good, are not superior in flavor to
those raised on garden walls, or in hot-houses in England.
They are reckoned better at Philadelphia than anywhere else.
Melons are considered best-flavored in Virginia and the
Carolinas; but they are so plentiful in New York, that there
is hardly a laborer who does not partake of a watermelon
every day during the hot season. Apples are as good in
the neighborhood of New York as anywhere. Apricots, and
nectarines, and figs, are hardly ever seen. It is therefore
clear, that a man of wealth may obtain greater variety of
fine fruit in England than in the United States, the melon
and apple alone being inferior to the melons and apples in
America; but all in this country have plenty of excellent
fruit.

71 – For this chapter we have been altogether indebted to the
excellent Address before the American Institute of New
York, by the Honorable Edward Everett. For a variety of
interesting statistical matter on Manufactures, see the
tables at the end of the volume.

72 – For further information and details in respect to the
commerce of the United States, see the tabular views and
summaries at the end of the volume.

73 – On the thirtieth of December, 1826, it had swelled to one
million, five hundred and thirty-four thousand.

74 – The following extract from the Lowell Journal possesses
sufficient interest to entitle it to preservation.

‘The excavation which is now about being made in a hill in
this town for the bed of the contemplated rail-way, may be
considered, next to the various manufacturing establishments,
the most wonderful “lion” of the place. This hill is near
the _terminus_ of the rail-way, in the neighborhood of the
brewery, but not in a populous part of the town. It consists
of a _ledge_ of rock, which is about three hundred yards
in length, and the average depth of the excavation is about
forty feet. It is thirty feet wide at the bottom, and sixty
at the top, and the masses of stone which have already been
riven from the ledge by blasting, seem to be immense.

‘A contract was originally made with a person to effect
a sufficient passage through this hill, for the sum of
seventy-two thousand dollars. He commenced the undertaking,
employed sixty workmen for about four months, _and failed_.
Another person then undertook to finish the work for the
same amount; but after a few months, he also abandoned
the undertaking. Those individuals are said to have both
been acquainted with the nature of the business which they
undertook, but they were deceived by the quality of the
rock, which consists principally of gneiss and mica, through
which, although much lighter and softer than limestone or
granite, it was found much more difficult and expensive to
effect a passage, than if it was composed of those more solid
materials. The _drilling_ may not be so difficult; but the
rocks, lying in numerous horizontal strata, almost defy the
power of gunpowder, and heavy blasts, which would shiver
an immense mass of granite, are frequently found here to
produce but little effect. In addition to this, the ledge
is found to be full of springs of water, which sometimes
render it necessary for the workmen to expend much time,
and exercise no inconsiderable ingenuity, in counteracting
its effects. There are also found in the lower part of the
ledge, huge masses of quartz, and a species of rock composed
almost entirely of hornblende, which is, of course, almost
impenetrable to the drill.

‘The Locks and Canal company have now undertaken to complete
this work, at the expense of the Rail-road company. About
seventy men are constantly employed, and the work advances
as rapidly as the attending circumstances will allow. Seven
hundred kegs of powder have been used in blasting, since the
latter part of April, when the work was recommenced.’

75 – In addition to the above, the following Rail-road companies
were incorporated at the session of the New York legislature
in 1832.

Name. Capital.
Lake Champlain and Ogdensburgh $3,000,000
Watertown and Rome 1,000,000
Utica and Susquehanna, (from Utica
to the New York and Erie rail-road) 1,000,000
Black river, (from the Erie canal, at
Rome or Herkimer, to the
St. Lawrence) 900,000
Ithaca and Geneva 800,000
Buffalo and Erie 650,000
Dutchess, (from Poughkeepsie to
Connecticut line) 600,000
Tonawanda, (from Rochester to Attica) 500,000
Hudson and Berkshire, (from Hudson to
Massachusetts line) 350,000
Schoharie and Otsego, (from the
Catskill and Canajoharie rail-road
to the Susquehanna river) 300,000
Dansville and Rochester 300,000
Aurora and Buffalo 300,000
Rensselaer and Saratoga 300,000
Brooklyn and Jamaica 300,000
Fish-house and Amsterdam 250,000
Warren county, (from Glen’s Falls to
Caldwell) 250,000
Saratoga and Fort Edward 200,000
Otsego, (from Cooperstown to
Collierville) 200,000
Albion and Tonawanda 200,000
Auburn and Erie canal 150,000
Mayville and Portland 150,000
Elvira and Williamsport 75,000

76 – The following account of a visit to the Point of Rocks,
along the track of the rail-road from Baltimore to that
place, a distance of seventy-three miles, is interesting,
and may be not improperly introduced in this connection. It
is taken from the Baltimore American of June, 1832.

‘In the middle of the merry month of May, the governor of
Maryland, president of the Baltimore and Ohio rail-road
company, several of the directors and other gentlemen,
visited the Point of Rocks in one of the rail-road cars.
The road is so well known from Baltimore to Ellicott’s mill
that it requires no description, further than that point
has become a very desirable retreat, both on account of the
wild magnificence of the surrounding scenery and the elegant
accommodations of the hotel. From thence to the Monocacy, it
leads along the margin of the Patapsco river and Bush creek,
through a woody region rarely intersected by some cultivated
spots, and improvements indicating much comfort. The viaduct
across the Monocacy is a light, airy and tasteful structure,
reflecting great credit on the architect, and of sufficient
solidity to insure its safety and duration. From that point
is a view of the bridge below, the mountains six miles
distant, and a short distance up and down the river. Here
the branch road leading to Frederick leaves the continuous
line which proceeds through a finely cultivated champaign
country for eleven miles to the Potomac. I formed one of
the party, and as every spot at the Point and the opposite
shore was familiar to me, I enjoyed a satisfaction, mingled
with some pleasing, melancholy recollections of former days,
which was not felt by others, although I believe that every
one was highly gratified with the trip, which took up about
twelve hours, allowing time to breakfast at the Mills, dine
at Frederick, and an hour to examine the long-contested
Point, which rises in almost a perpendicular line from the
river, to the height of three or four hundred feet, on the
top of which is an Indian barrow where lay mouldering the
bones of some mighty Tecumsehs or valiant Little Turtles,
commingled with the arrows which probably have often been
dyed in the blood of many a noble tawny Hector or implacable
Achilles. Here the soaring eagle and boding raven have
immemorably pitched their eyries in social proximity, and
looked down upon the humble fish hawk perched upon a jutting
rock, or hovering with equal poise over his finny prey,
and from which there is a view of Harper’s Ferry, the Blue
ridge and Washington’s beloved river, studded with isles,
for several miles. The stillness of the scene is often broken
by the refreshing murmurs of Hook’s falls. Instead of the
low cabin under the pendant rock where I have often felt
the genial warmth of a blazing fire while waiting for the
ferry boat, there is now rising, as if by magic, the town
of Port Johnson. Already there are several houses, shops and
warehouses finished and occupied, and a large tavern nearly
completed on the rail-road, which will enable visiters to
spend time enough to enjoy all the beauties of the prospect
and a cheerful repast.

‘The distance from Baltimore is seventy miles, and may
be travelled going and returning in less than twenty-four
hours. But if the eye is delighted, and the senses gratified
with the objects on the Maryland side, they will be doubly
increased by passing to the other shore, where a tavern
and ferry house are erecting directly opposite the point
where the boats land. Immediately in the rear of the ferry
house, is a tunnel cut out of the solid rock three hundred
yards, at the base of the mountain; half a mile farther the
most extensive beds of excellent iron ore and a favorable
appearance of bituminous coal. The tunnel was made to let
the waters of Catoctin creek into a run which supplied
a furnace, saw and extensive merchant mills, destroyed
some years ago by fire. If the view charms from the Indian
barrows, it almost enraptures from the Virginia promontory,
which rises several hundred feet above it, looking down, as
it were, upon the little hillock of its Maryland neighbor.
The summit is gained by a circuitous road from the river,
about a mile in length, where immediately bursts upon the
eye the most beautiful and extensive prospect in the country.
On the one side you behold Harper’s Ferry gap, at twelve
miles distance, the whole valley of the Blue ridge as far
as vision can extend, on either side of the river the rich
settlements of the Maryland tract, the Friends, German
and Tunkerville districts, and the Blue ridge mountains.
The whole of these tracts are in the highest state of
cultivation, and from the height you occupy, appear like
large and beauteous gardens, irrigated with perennial
streams and adorned with tasty summer houses. On the other
side are seen the rich Loudon lands, the town of Leesburg,
the lofty Sugar-Loaf Peak in Maryland, and the verdant
fields of Carrollton manor, and from one point, the Potomac
for miles up and down, with its numerous islands, gentle
falls and smooth bosom. On both sides of the river at the
point will arrive in boats and wagons, hundreds of thousands
of barrels of flour, large quantities of lumber, iron, coal
and other productions for transportation on the rail-road.
A new energy will be imparted to the enterprising and
industrious population of both states by the choice of
markets at the district and Baltimore, and the facilities
of transportation. If, as Mr. Jefferson says, the view at
Harper’s Ferry is worth a voyage across the Atlantic, surely
that from the Virginia summit is worth a ride from Baltimore,
Philadelphia, New York, or even the cradle city of
independence.’

77 – An intelligent friend, who has just visited the Petersburg
and Roanoke rail-road, writes us as follows:――

‘The locomotive engines travel at the rate of twenty
miles the hour, with ease, and with a train of from ten
to twenty cars, all loaded――some with passengers, and
others with produce of every description. The whole line
of the Petersburg road presents a scene of cheerfulness
and industry, not to be seen on any other road in Virginia.
Plantations that have been abandoned are now re-settling;
houses repairing, and fences, of the best kind, erecting.
In the bodies of wood through which the road passes, workmen
are employed, some getting staves, some sawing, and others
clearing, and, in fact, on the whole line, there is a spirit
and animation that is delightful to behold.’――_Fredericksburg
Arena._

78 – Aggregate length of the canals, including
eight miles of navigable feeders 492 miles

Aggregate cost $10,946,443.68
Aggregate tolls in 1830 1,056,799.67
Aggregate tolls in 1831 1,222,801.90

The canal tolls received in the month of July, 1833,
amounted to the sum of one hundred and forty-seven thousand,
eight hundred and ninety-nine dollars; exceeding, by
forty-two thousand, two hundred and eighty-two dollars, and
two cents, the sum collected in the corresponding month the
preceding year. The following is a comparison of the tolls
for July on all the canals of the state, for 1832 and 1833,
to wit:

Increase
Canal 1833 1832 since 1832
Erie $125,488.04 $91,747.57 $33,740.47
Champlain 17,293.94 11,112.23 6,181.71
Cayuga and
Seneca 2,084.63 1,890.03 194.60
Oswego 3,032.72 1,867.48 2,165.24
――――――――――― ――――――――――― ――――――――――
$147,899.33 $106,617.31 $42,282.02

The receipts for tolls to the close of July, are greater by
_one hundred thousand, five hundred and twenty-two dollars,
and ninety-eight cents_, than they were for the same period
last year. Some estimate of the great increase of business
upon the canals may be formed from the fact, that the
diminution in the rates of toll, operating upon the articles
which were transported upon the canals in 1832, would
probably diminish the aggregate amount of tolls one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars for the whole season. At the
diminished rates of toll, such has been the increase of
articles transported, that in three months and eight days,
the aggregate amount exceeds that of the corresponding
months of 1832, by the sum of more than _one hundred
thousand dollars_.

79 – The following canals are projected or in progress, the first
two by the state, the remainder by private corporations.

_Chenango_ canal, to extend from the Erie canal, in Oneida
county, to Binghampton, in Broome county, on Susquehannah
river. Length, ninety-two and three-fourths miles.

Elevation from the Erie canal to the
summit level 706 feet
Descent from thence to the Susquehannah
river 303 feet
Total lockage 1,009 feet
Estimated cost $944,775.36

_Black River_ canal, to extend from Rome to the High falls
on the Black river, thirty-six miles, with a navigable
feeder of nine miles at Boonville, and the improvement
of forty miles’ river navigation from the High falls to
Carthage.

Length of canal and river navigation 76 miles
Rise and fall from Rome to the Black river 1,078 feet
Estimated cost $602,544

_Chittenango_ canal. Company incorporated in 1818. Length
one and a half mile. Extends from Chittenango mill to the
Erie canal, with four locks.

_Sodus_ canal. Company incorporated in 1829. Capital, two
hundred thousand dollars. Canal to extend from Seneca river
to Great Sodus bay, on lake Ontario.

The following canal companies have been incorporated, which
have not yet commenced operations. Harlem river, Owasco
and Erie, Auburn and Owasco, New York and Sharon, Niagara,
Jefferson county, Oswego, Greenville, Black river, and Long
Island.

80 – This clause is annulled. See amendments, Art. 12.

81 – Pitkin’s Civil History.

82 – Pitkin’s Civil History.

83 – Mansfield’s Political Grammar.

84 – This article has been furnished by the intelligent writer to
whom we have been indebted for a portion of the chapter on
the Indians.

85 – The learned writer is at fault here. We have seen similar
beads dug from another mound. They were made of some shell,
which is a more durable material than the human bone. In
point of finish, and the labor and ingenuity required to
make them, they were much inferior to the wampum beads which
the Indians were wont to make of marine shells.

86 – As our limits allow nothing but a brief notice of the
different denominations of Christians in this country, we
refer those of our readers who wish for fuller information
on this subject to “THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE;”
a beautiful royal octavo volume of 1250 pages, with maps
and engravings; which ought to have a place in every family
library. It is strictly impartial, the account of each
denomination being written by some leading man _belonging
to it_. It is designed for a complete book of _reference_
on _all_ religious subjects.

87 – There are several small sects denominated _Baptists_, but
differing from the main body which is known under that
designation. Among them are _Seventh Day Baptists_, or
_Sabbatarians_, observing the seventh day of the week as
the Sabbath; _Open Communion Baptists_, only differing from
the main body in uniting with Pedobaptists at the sacrament
of the Lord’s supper; _Free-Will Baptists_; _Tunkers_
or _Dunkers_, who believe in universal salvation, and
are a very singular sect; _Mennonites_, &c. &c. See the
_Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge_ above referred to.

88 – On the demoralizing effects of infidelity, and to show what
would be the result of throwing off the salutary restraints
of religion in this country, we quote a few paragraphs from
‘Dick on the Improvement of Society,’ a cheap and valuable
work, worthy of universal perusal. Without revealed religion
‘the present world would be considered as the only scene
of action and enjoyment; the hope of immortality, which
supports and gladdens the pious mind, would be exterminated,
and every thing beyond the shadow of death involved in gloom
and uncertainty. The only true principles of moral action,
which revealed religion inculcates, being overlooked or
discarded, every one would consider himself as at liberty to
act according as his humor and passions might dictate; and
in such a case, a scene of selfishness, rapacity, and horror
would quickly ensue, which would sap the foundations of
social order, and banish happiness from the abodes of men.

‘That these are not imaginary forebodings might be
illustrated from the scenes which were lately exhibited in
a neighboring nation. The first revolution in France, in
1789 was a revolution not merely in politics and government,
but in religion, in manners, in moral principle, and in the
common feelings of human nature. Revelation was not only
impugned, but entirely set aside; the Deity was banished
from the universe, and an imaginary phantom, under the name
of the Goddess of Reason, substituted in his place. Every
thing was reduced to a system of pure materialism; the
celestial spark of intelligence within us was assimilated
to a piece of rude matter, and the fair prospects of
immortality which Christianity presents transformed into the
gloom of an eternal night. Every previous standard of morals
was discarded; every one was left to act as selfishness,
avarice, and revenge might dictate; religion of every
description fled from the torch of the prevailing philosophy;
while “justice and morality” were proclaimed as “the order
of the day,” every moral principle and every humane feeling
was trampled under foot. It is stated on good authority,
that a little before the revolution, a numerous assembly
of French _literati_, being asked, in turn, at one of their
meetings, by the president, “whether there was any such
thing as moral obligation,” answered, in every instance,
that _there was not_. Soon after that revolution, the great
body of French infidels, who then ruled the nation, not only
denied all the obligations which bind us to truth, justice,
and kindness, but pitied and despised, as a contemptible
wretch, the man who believed in their existence. Atheism
was _publicly_ preached, and its monstrous doctrines
disseminated among the mass of the people, an occurrence
altogether novel in the history of man. A professor was even
named by Chaumette, to instruct the children of the state
in the mysteries of atheism. De la Metherie, the author
of a philosophical journal, when discussing the doctrine
of crystallization, made the wild and hideous assertion,
“that the highest and most perfect form of crystallization
_is that which is vulgarly called God_.” In the national
convention, Gobet, archbishop of Paris, the rector Vangirard,
and several other priests, abjured the Christian religion;
and for this abjuration _they received applauses and the
fraternal kiss_. A priest from Melun stated, that there
is no true religion but that of nature, and that all the
mummery with which they had hitherto been amused is only old
wives’ fables; _and he was heard with loud applause_. The
convention decreed, that “all the churches and temples of
religious worship known to be in Paris should be instantly
shut up, and that every person requiring the opening of a
church or temple should be put under arrest, as a suspected
person, and an enemy to the state.” The carved work of all
religious belief and moral practice was boldly cut down by
Carnot, Robespierre, and their atheistical associates, and
the following inscription was ordered to be displayed in
all the public burying-grounds――“_Death is only an eternal
sleep_;” so that the dying need no longer be afraid to step
out of existence. Nature was investigated by these pretended
philosophers only with a view to darken the mind, to prevent
mankind from considering any thing as real but what the hand
could grasp or the corporeal eye perceive, and to subvert
the established order of society.

‘The consequence of the operation of such principles were
such as might have been expected. They are written in
characters of blood, and in crimes almost unparalleled in
the history of nations. A scene of inhumanity, cruelty,
cold-blooded malignity, daring impiety, and insatiable
rapacity was presented to the world, which excited in the
mind of every virtuous spectator amazement and horror.
Savage atrocities were perpetrated which would have been
shocking in the most barbarous and unenlightened age;
and, perhaps, at no era has there been more wretchedness
occasioned by licentious principles and moral degeneracy.
The ties of friendship were cut asunder, the claims of
consanguinity disregarded, and a cold-blooded selfishness
pervaded the great mass of society. “The kingdom appeared to
be changed into one great prison, the inhabitants converted
into felons, and the common doom of man commuted for the
violence of the sword, and the bayonet, and the stroke of
the guillotine.” Such was the rapidity with which the work
of destruction was carried on, that within the short space
of ten years, not less than three millions of human beings
(one-half more than the whole population of Scotland) are
supposed to have perished in that country alone, chiefly
through the influence of immoral principles, and the
seductions of a false philosophy. The following is a brief
sketch of some of the scenes to which we allude, drawn
by one who was an eye-witness of the whole, and an actor
in several parts of that horrid drama. “There were,” says
the writer, “multiplied cases of suicide; prisons crowded
with innocent persons; permanent guillotines; perjuries of
all classes; parental authority set at naught; debauchery
encouraged by an allowance to those called unmarried mothers;
nearly six thousand divorces in the city of Paris within
a little more than two years; in a word, whatever is most
obscene in vice and most dreadful in ferocity.”

‘Notwithstanding the incessant shouts of “Liberty and
equality,” and the boasted illuminations of philosophy, the
most barbarous persecutions were carried on against those
whose religious opinions differed from the system adopted
by the state. While infidelity was enthroned in power, it
wielded the sword of power with infernal ferocity against
the priests of the Romish church, who were butchered
wherever found, hunted as wild beasts, frequently roasted
alive, or drowned in hundreds together, without either
accusation or trial. At Nantes, no less than three hundred
and sixty priests were shot, and four hundred and sixty
drowned. In one night, fifty-eight were shut up in a barge,
and drowned in the Loire. Two hundred and ninety-two priests
were massacred during the bloody scenes of the 10th of
August and 2d September, 1792; and eleven hundred and
thirty-five were guillotined under the government of the
national convention, from the month of September, 1792,
till the end of 1795, besides vast numbers, hunted by the
infidel republicans, like owls and partridges, who perished
in different ways, throughout the provinces of France.

‘Such were some of the dismal effects which flowed from the
attempt to banish religion from science, from government,
and from the intercourses and employments of society. Were
such principles universally to prevail, the world would
soon become one vast theatre of mischief and of misery――an
immense den of thieves and robbers,――a sink of moral
pollution――a scene of impiety, injustice, rapine, and
devastation; a Golgotha, strewed with carcasses and
“dead men’s bones.” All confidence and friendship between
intelligent beings would be destroyed; the dearest and
most venerable relations would be violated by incestuous
pollutions; appetite would change every man into a swine,
and passion into a tiger; jealousy, distrust, revenge,
murder, war, and rapine would overspread the earth, and a
picture of hell would be presented wherever the eye roamed
over the haunts of men.’

89 – That there is reason for alarm is evident to all who have
paid particular attention to the subject. It has lately been
proved, that there exists in _Austria_ an organized society
sustained by all the wealth and influence of that popish
empire, and seconded by the whole popish influence of Europe,
whose object is the conversion of this nation to popery, and
the consequent overthrow of our free institutions. We quote
the following from the _New York Observer_, of Jan. 1835. It
contains a statement of facts which exhibit with clearness
the nature of popery, its tendency to subvert our political
institutions, and _to transfer the power delegated to
magistrates for the preservation of order in the community
to Romish priests_, WHO OWE ALLEGIANCE TO A FOREIGN PRINCE.
Facts,――things already done and threatened――proclaim
the existence of a power in this country hostile to its
liberties and the dearest rights of the people.

POPISH POWER AND THREATS.――Last summer, our readers will
recollect, there were dreadful riots and murders among
the Irish laborers on a rail-road in Maryland. The _civil_
authority endeavored to put a stop to them, but in vain.
A considerable military force was then sent from Baltimore,
and succeeded, while they were actually present, in
restoring peace and order; but the moment their backs
were turned, the rioters renewed their outrages, and
the military companies were compelled to return, and
that repeatedly, until, at length, wearied with the
harassing duty, a _popish priest_ was called upon to
visit the contending parties, and through his influence
a reconciliation was effected and peace restored. The
editors of some of our daily papers were full of thanks
and expressions of obligation to this priest; but we
confess that we had no heart for any thing but mourning
for the humiliation of our country. We ask ourselves, Is
it indeed so? Has it come to this? Is the _government_ of
this country already surrendered into the hands of popish
priests? Are the civil and military authorities under our
free institutions incapable of preserving public order,
and must we beg the interference of _ecclesiastics_,
and especially of ecclesiastics under the control of a
_foreign_ head, and that head the mere tool of the Holy
Alliance!

This case might have passed without remark, if it had been
a solitary one: but, soon after, at the burning of the
convent in Charlestown, the Boston editors, without one
sigh for the virtual extinction of _popular_ government,
announced, in terms of unmingled commendation, that bishop
Fenwick and a popish priest in Charlestown had promised
to use their influence to restrain the Irish, and that,
_therefore_, no retaliation need be apprehended! It was
stated, too, in one of our daily papers, some time since,
that it was seriously contemplated, during the election
riots in this city, to call in the aid of the _Catholic
priests_ to restore order.

Here are three distinct cases, all occurring within a
few months, in three different sections of our country,
in which our editors admit that there is a class of
our population which cannot be governed by the laws and
institutions under which the rest of our people have lived
so happily for more than two centuries. It is admitted
that this population can be governed only as the Europeans
govern it, by calling in the aid of a standing army,
or by going on, as we have begun, taking off our hats
to popish priests, and saying to these minions of his
holiness, ‘Please, gentlemen, do not let your people cut
our throats.’ We confess that our American blood boils at
the thought of such humiliation.

And who are these miserable creatures, that set our laws
at defiance, and how came they here? They are the most
ignorant and turbulent people of Europe, whom we have
imported to dig our canals and make our rail-roads, to hew
our wood and to draw our water. They have nearly all come
over within the last twenty years. In 1775 there were but
five Catholic families in Boston. In New York, within the
memory of men now living, all the male heads of Catholic
families were collected at one time in one small parlor;
and in Philadelphia, at no remote period, their number,
we presume, was equally small. They began to come over in
large numbers in 1817, and since that time the torrent has
been continually swelling, until now it is pouring in upon
us at the rate of from seventy to one hundred thousand
annually. Already they constitute nearly one-fourth part
of the population of our five largest cities, and they
are scattering themselves in immense numbers over all our
interior.