Chapter VI: Part II: (1820) of Faux's Memorable Days in America (5)

I said, "Mr. Law, would not a visit to England be agreeable? Would it not tend to lengthen your life?" "O, Sir, it would, but I could not now live in England; I must be active, and doing that which I deem for the good of mankind. My opinions would run counter to the powers which be." "But, Sir," rejoined I, "is it not our duty to be prudent and to seek the peace of the land we live in? Because in its peace we shall have peace."

"Certainly! such is the duty of every good man. {481} Why should he sacrifice himself and family? Mr. A----, your envoy here, seems suspicious of you on account of your acquaintance with Mr. ----. I am sorry Mr. ---- should have given such toasts at the dinner on the 4th of July, in favour of the radicals. What have the radicals to do with America? These toasts will be sent home by A----. Envoys have nothing to do but to watch the conduct of British subjects and give reports. I am sorry that Mr. ----, who is a good, kind-hearted, polite man, should thus expose himself, and you, and other friends, to suspicion and misrepresentation."

_19th._--I received the following letter from Mr. Law, addressed to me at Mr. ----'s.

_Washington, 18th July, 1820._

Dear Sir,

I enclose you a list of garden seeds; if you will make a statement
of the probable amount, I will pay now, or answer your draft after
the purchase. A pound or two of Swedish turnips and of Norfolk
turnips may be added. I shall be happy to pay every attention to
any of my countrymen coming here, and to give them any information
in my power. I regret that I formed your acquaintance so late. My
hay turns out better than I expected, and I hope to have four or
five acres of turnips, as I am sowing between my rows of corn. Any
farming information I shall be very thankful {482} for. I remain,
with wishes for a safe and speedy voyage,

Your most obedient servant,
T. LAW.

Pray write to me by what vessel you send the seeds.

The following letter from Edward Meacher, gardener to Mr. Law, is a specimen of the easy freedom and familiarity of Yankee labourers. It is addressed

To Thomas Law, Esq.

_July, 1820._

Sir,

Considering my ill behaviour towards you the other day, I consider
myself culpable; therefore to prevent such like trouble in future
to you, I shall declare upon oath against spirituous liquors, such
as brandy, rum, gin, and whiskey, _except three drams in the
course of each day_, as long as I live with you. Three drams a day
will not injure my health or temper. Upon these conditions I
expect not to displease you in future, which will be a cause, I
hope, for you to encourage me in your employment.

Sir,
From your faithful servant,
EDWARD MEACHER.

{483} _20th._--This day I bade farewell to Washington city and America, and to all the bright and vivid spirits I found in it.

_21st._--In company with Mr. E. Dumbleton, and my wicked, beautiful, silver grey squirrel, a native of Maryland, whose brushy tail is his nightcap, and who eats razors, buttons, bibles, &c., and is therefore sentenced to transportation for life, I embarked on board the good ship _Minerva_ of Boston, to Amsterdam bound, and from Alexandria sailed gently down the great river Potowmac.

After a passage of about 30 days, we arrived at the Isle of Wight. Here I had the honour to present my most gracious Sovereign with a precious relic--a cedar-cane cut from the grave of General Washington; together with six gallons of "elegant, mighty fine claret," purposely sent on a Yankee voyage of 10,000 miles, to ripen for the use of British royalty.

{484} CONCLUSION

Having reached home, partially recovered what seemed irrecoverably gone, my long lost health, and told my story, there seems little or nothing to add, except a few retrospective observations, summarily bearing on the preceding descriptions, opinions, and decisions, which throughout are frankly and fearlessly rendered, chiefly aiming to enlighten the ignorant, and to abash the wicked. "But," says the reader, "to emigrate or not to emigrate? That is the question!" It is easier to propound than to answer this inquiry. To seek a refuge from danger, and to fly from the coming storm, is on the one hand in accordance with one of the first laws of nature; and on the other hand, it may be said, that to abandon our hearths, homes, and altars, because our country mourns and is in trouble, is cowardly. That numbers have gone, are now going, and will continue to go, is certain; for when there is a surplus population, and the hive swarms, what shall set bounds to the free-born? To those, then, who are inevitably destined to roam, friendless, homeless, really lone strangers in a strange land, and to see their old, much-loved homes, and the tombs of their fathers no more, I would say: Study the preceding well-meant pages. I know your wants and feelings. Study, then, I {485} would say, by every attainable qualification, principle, and sentiment, to fortify your minds, and make yourselves all which you ought to be. Plague not yourselves nor the land of your adoption, by importing and giving perpetuity to homebred prejudices. A nest you will find; but every where, like that of the nightingale, a thorn within it. Learn, therefore, yourselves to forget, and as far as in you lies, teach your posterity also to forget, and to remember only what they ought to remember. A British origin will be ever honourable in their heraldry. This is well worth remembrance, and may they never stain, never dishonour it; but into whatsoever lands they wander, may they seek the good and peace of that land, for in its good and peace they shall have peace themselves!

To those whose disgusts and moral and physical disabilities point them homewards, as prodigals to the house of their fathers, the broad Atlantic, in the words of the Hon. J. Q. Adams, offers a highway for their return; having undergone a process by which they shall, perhaps, learn the vast sum and value of English homes and comforts.

The old family quarrel has evidently made the natives of both countries somewhat incommiscible; else how is it that the French, Dutch, Germans, Irish, and strangers of any other land, are more acceptable to America than the children of the common parent, Great Britain. For to the latter the most distinguished Americans have heretofore {486} proudly traced their pedigree, unless some rank and cancerous blemish was in the root and core of it. Hence all grades blush not to own and call her mother, though she is denounced by many, and it must be owned with some justice, as an unnatural parent. But those events have long since become matter of historical record, and it is not good policy to visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, from generation to generation. Let both countries wisely learn to think correctly of their several governments, and kindly of each other. Peace and goodwill, in all their fruitful ramifications, will ever bring more silver dollars to the one, and more golden guineas to the other, than fire-ships, torpedos, battles, blazing cities, and heroes covered with glory!

"Well! I guess, after all," exclaimed a Yankee friend, "it is a good land with small faults; necessary evils; seeming evils; good in disguise." "Yes, it is a good land," rejoined another, in love with it at first sight, "mine eyes have seen it for myself, and not another. I am fascinated with it. My return from it would be impossible, but for the adamantine chain which binds me to my country. My heart tempts me, but my duty forbids me to break it." Hasty conclusions like hasty matches, are rarely happy, and so it was with our enthusiast; for in less than two years of patient trial and perpetual travel, he very gladly returned to his native country, joyfully repeating,

{487} ----"Whoe'er thou art,
Cling to thy home. If there the meanest shed
Yield thee a hearth and shelter for thy head,
And some poor plot with vegetables stor'd,
Be all that heav'n allots thee for thy board,
Unsavoury bread, and herbs that scatter'd grow
Wild on the river bank, or mountain brow,
Yet ev'n this cheerless mansion shall provide
More heart's repose than all the world beside."

Finally; were, however, America, of which I now perhaps take my leave for ever, every thing that the purest patriotism could make it, yet the climate is an evil, a perpetual evil, a mighty drawback, an almost insurmountable obstacle to the health, wealth, and well-being of all, except the native red and black man, the genuine aboriginal, and the unstained African, for whom alone this land of promise, this vast section of the earth, this new and better world, seems by nature to have been intended. Otherwise, it is argued, would noisome pestilence annually desolate its cities and districts, and every where unsparingly and prematurely people the grave? In spite, however, of climes, tropical or changeful, torrid or frigid, and of constitutional predisposition to sickness, health, physical and moral, is much more at the command of mankind than she is generally supposed to be. Temperance, abstinence, and exertion, approximating to labour, in free air, are the essential handmaids to health, and enable a man to laugh at doctors, and to withstand the effects of climate. Hence, then, {488} in whatsoever climes, stations, or circumstances, my reader may be found, let him learn to think health worth a sacrifice. To persons, whose fortune it may be to encounter the risks of this dangerous and debilitating climate, I would especially say: Let ablutions and affusions of pure, cold spring water, become habitual with you, and as a beverage, let water be substituted for wine, whiskey, and alcohol in all its forms. Let milk supply the place of tea, coffee, and other stimulants; and let tobacco, snuff, and all the family of narcotics, be abandoned. Surely health is ever, what a late venerable friend of his species was often wont to call her, _the Sugar of Life_. He who thinks and acts otherwise rarely finds health, and never deserves her.

FOOTNOTES:

[104] Richard Daniel came to Princeton in 1816. He was a circuit judge for one year (1819-20), and subsequently represented Gibson County in the legislature.--ED.

[105] Petersburg is fifteen miles south of Washington. Several families had settled in the neighborhood by 1817. Pike County being organized in that year, it was chosen as the county seat, and a town surveyed and platted. It was incorporated in 1855.--ED.

[106] For the "mud holes" and Judge Chambers, see Hulme's _Journal_, volume x of our series, notes 28, 29. For Corydon, see Flint's _Letters_, in our volume ix, note 136.--ED.

[107] The Silver Hills extend north from New Albany through Floyd and Clark counties, the two most prominent peaks being the "Haystack Knobs," at Bennettsville; the principal ridge is from four hundred to five hundred feet above the valley.--ED.

[108] Uniontown is now Waverly, the name having been changed when the Ohio-Scioto Canal was constructed through the village (1830), and it acquired the dignity of a post-town. It is about twenty miles from Chillicothe.--ED.

[109] Bainbridge, located near the falls of Paint Creek, eighteen miles south-west of Chillicothe, was platted by Nathaniel Massie in 1805. It contained three families the first year, and for two years thereafter received no additions; but at the time of Faux's visit contained about twenty-five dwelling-houses.--ED.

[110] For the early history of New Lancaster, see Cuming's _Tour_, volume iv of our series, note 145.--ED.

[111] A brief account of the Erie Canal may be found in Buttrick's _Voyages_, volume viii of our series, note 37.--ED.

[112] For the early history of Somerset, see Flint's _Letters_, volume ix of our series, note 35.--ED.

[113] Major Zachariah Sprigg was an inn-keeper at Wheeling as early as May 21, 1781; in 1783 he was major of militia for Ohio County. Consult Draper MSS. in Wisconsin Historical Library, 2 SS 8 and 5 NN 16.--ED.

[114] For the more important places along this route, see Flint's _Letters_, in our volume ix, pp. 64-79.--ED.

[115] John Randolph, of Roanoke (1773-1833), was elected to Congress in 1800, serving until his opposition to the War of 1812-15 cost him his seat. He returned in 1815, and from that time assumed a strong states-rights attitude. Famed as an orator, he gained a special reputation as a master of sarcasm and bitter invective. See _ante_ (volume xi), note 34.

George Watterston (1783-1854), was appointed first librarian of Congress by President Madison (March, 1815). He was a well-known writer on Washington life and scenes.--ED.

[116] Observations sur le Gouvernement et les Lois des U. S. p. 20.--FAUX.

_Comment by Ed._ Gabriel Mably (1709-1785) was educated at a Jesuit college in Lyons, and lived the life of a scholar, publishing numerous works on history and law. The above book embodied his views on the United States Constitution, and was written at the request of Congress (1784).

[117] Henry Clay was appointed by President Madison one of the commissioners to negotiate peace with Great Britain. He firmly opposed granting the right of navigating the Mississippi River. After five months of negotiation, the Treaty of Ghent was signed, December 24, 1814.--ED.

[118] The House of Representatives, like the House of Commons, is sometimes very disorderly. Heat and cold have the same effect upon the feelings of the members; for both make them quit their seats, and the authority of the speaker often fails to bring them back. It is in vain to call to order; cold has benumbed their fingers, or heat has dissolved their solids, and they can neither think nor act.--FAUX.

[119] William Pinkney had a long diplomatic career. Born in Annapolis, Maryland (1764), his father was a loyalist, but he joined the patriotic side in the Revolutionary War. He studied law with Judge Chase, and was admitted to the bar. In 1796 Washington appointed him commissioner of claims against Great Britain arising under Jay's Treaty of 1794, and on this business he remained in England until 1804. Two years later he was again a commissioner to England to treat regarding aggressions upon American commerce. In 1816 he was appointed minister to Russia. Returning to the United States, he was elected to the senate (1818), but died (1822), before the expiration of his term.--ED.

[120] William Wirt (1772-1834), one of the ablest lawyers of his time, was appointed attorney-general in 1817, and served until Jackson's accession to the presidency.--ED.

[121] Rufus King was born in Maine in 1755. Graduating from Harvard, he studied law, and in 1784 was elected to Congress. As a delegate to the Federal constitutional convention, he took a prominent part in framing that instrument. Removing to New York City in 1788, he was, the following year, elected to the United States senate, and for seven years was minister to England (1796-1803).--ED.

[122] James Barbour (1755-1842) sat in the Virginia house of delegates from 1796 to 1812, when he became governor of Virginia. Elected to the United States senate, he was repeatedly chairman of the committee on foreign relations. President Adams appointed him secretary of war (1825), and three years later minister to England; but, being opposed to the Jackson party, he was immediately recalled upon Jackson's accession.--ED.

[123] Philip Pendleton Barbour (1783-1841), was elected to Congress in 1814, becoming speaker of the House in 1821. President Jackson appointed him a circuit court judge, and in 1836 he was elevated to the supreme bench.--ED.

[124] Jonathan Roberts (1771-1854) first represented his district in Pennsylvania in the Twelfth Congress. He was elected to the senate in 1814, serving until 1821.--ED.

[125] Now Sir Charles Bagot.--FAUX.

_Comment by Ed._ Sir Charles Bagot (1781-1843), a well-known British diplomat and ambassador to France, Russia, and Holland, and finally governor-general of Canada.

[126] Hyde de Neuville (1776-1857), a royalist during the republic and the empire, was minister of France to the United States (1816-21).--ED.

[127] This was Benjamin O'Fallon, whose mother was a sister of George Rogers Clark, his father being Dr. James O'Fallon, a Revolutionary officer and prominent among Kentucky pioneers.--ED.

[128] For the early history of Council Bluffs, see Brackenridge's _Journal_, volume vi of our series, note 28.--ED.

[129] Red Jacket, or Sagoyewatha (1751-1830), was a Seneca chief, and after the death of Brant the most prominent Indian among the Six Nations. He fought on the American side in the War of 1812-15, and refused to be drawn into Tecumseh's conspiracy. He is best known for his eloquent speech against ratifying the treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784), which ceded western New York to the whites. In later life he was a helpless drunkard.--ED.

[130] Jedidiah Morse was born in Woodstock, Connecticut (1761). Being graduated from Yale College he studied for the ministry, and in 1785 was licensed to preach. Four years later he became pastor of a Congregational church in Charleston, remaining there until 1820, when he removed to New Haven, and there preached until his death in 1826. He was interested in civilizing and christianizing the Indians. In 1820 the secretary of war deputed him to visit the western tribes and suggest measures for their improvement. The results of his investigation were published in his _Report to the Secretary of War on Indian Affairs_ (New Haven, 1822). He also published some text-books on geography, which were used extensively, and gained for him the title of "Father of American geography."--ED.

[131] These portraits of the Pawnee chiefs were hung in the Indian gallery in the department of war, being later destroyed by fire. Three of them are reproduced in color in McKenney's _History of the Indian Tribes of North America_ (Philadelphia, 1855), i, pp. iii, 33, 37, 143. The artist, Charles B. King (1786-1862), was a native of Rhode Island. For forty years his studio in Washington was frequented by the prominent men of the day.--ED.

[132] For the Oto Indians, see Bradbury's _Travels_, volume V of our series, note 42.--ED.

[133] I made them understand the man was hung for murder, which seemed to please them.--FAUX.

[134] Concerning the calumet of peace, consult Long's _Voyages_, in our volume ii, note 43.--ED.

[135] This was probably Luther Rice, a Baptist preacher of much power. Born in Massachusetts (1783), he was ordained as a Congregational minister, and sailed as a missionary to India (1812). There he united with the Baptists, and returning to America, travelled through the eastern states to interest that denomination in foreign missions. Mainly through his efforts, Columbian University was established at Washington, and he was for several years its agent and treasurer.--ED.

[136] Edward Everett, now in his twenty-eighth year, was professor of Greek at Harvard (1819-24).--ED.

[137] Burgess Allison (1753-1827) studied theology at Brown University, and was pastor of a church at Bordentown, New Jersey, his birthplace. In 1816 he was elected chaplain of the house of representatives, and later became chaplain at the navy yard, remaining there until his death.--ED.

[138] Thomas Law, sixth son of the Right Reverend Edmund Law, D.D., lord bishop of Carlisle, was born at Cambridge, England, October 23, 1756. In 1794, after acquiring some wealth in India, he came to America. Within a year he met Elizabeth Parke Custis, granddaughter of Martha Washington, whom he married (March 21, 1796). In 1802 Law went abroad, and returned in April, 1804. In the following August a legal separation was secured. Law denied Faux's hint of impropriety of conduct on the part of his wife in a signed article, "A Reply to Certain Insinuations," published in the _Quarterly Review_, No. 58. He attributed the unfortunate occurrence to "a disagreement in disposition." For outline of Law's life, and of his unhappy marriage, see Allen Cullings Clark, _Greenleaf and Law in the Federal City_ (Washington, 1901), pp. 236-244; 285-290.--ED.

[139] Francis Scott Key (1779-1843), author of our national hymn, was for many years attorney of the District of Columbia.--ED.

[140] Commodore Decatur was killed in a duel with Commodore James Barron, March 23, 1820, near Bladensburg, Maryland.--ED.

[141] James Kirke Paulding, born in Dutchess County, New York, drifted to New York City at the age of nineteen (1798), and became acquainted with Washington Irving, publishing with him, during the year of 1807, the satirical periodical _Salmagundi_. A few years later he published _The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan_. In 1814 he entered the lists for the defense of America in the "War of the Reviewers," by writing a pamphlet, _The United States and England_, in reply to a review in the _Quarterly Review_ of Charles Ingersoll's _Inchiquin's Letters_. The sinecure referred to by Faux was secretary of the board of navy commissioners, Madison having appointed him to that position in 1816. He continued his literary work throughout life, also his interest in naval affairs, entering Van Buren's cabinet as secretary of the navy.--ED.

[142] For a brief account of Peale's museum, see Flint's _Letters_, volume ix of our series, note 21.--ED.

[143] The Otaheiteans are Hawaiians.--ED.

[144] Probably _The Cow Chase_ (London, 1781), a satirical poem in three cantos, on an unfortunate sally made by Brigadier-general Anthony Wayne on Bergen Neck, on North River, July 20, 1780. It was written before André's apprehension, the last canto being published (at New York) on the very day of the author's capture. See "Introduction" to _The Cow Chase_ (Albany edition, 1866), p. 11--ED.

[145] Eleuthère Irénée Du Pont (born in Paris, 1771), was early interested in scientific subjects. At the instance of Lavoisier, superintendent of the government powder mills, he studied at the royal mills at Essonne in order to prepare himself for that position. But the French Revolution interfered with his plans. After being thrice imprisoned, his father came with the family to America (1799). Eleuthère turned his training to account by establishing (1802) a powder factory on the Brandywine, near Wilmington, which, at the time of his death (1834), was the largest in the country.--ED.

[146] Captain Joseph Huddy, of the New Jersey line, had been captured by the British, falsely accused of being concerned in the death of Philip White, a desperate Tory, and hanged. In retaliation Washington was authorized by Congress to select by lot from his prisoners an officer of equal rank, to be executed. The lot fell to Sir Charles, but his execution was delayed, and Congress ultimately directed him to be freed.--ED.

[147] See _ante_, note 131.--ED.

[148] Theodore Dwight (1765-1846), who in 1817 founded the New York _Daily Advertiser_, was a brother of Timothy Dwight, the famous educator.--ED.

[149] John Broadhead Romeyn (1777-1825), graduated from Columbia College, and after preaching in Troy and elsewhere in eastern New York, became pastor of Cedar Street Presbyterian Church, New York City (1807). He was one of the founders of Princeton Theological Seminary, and at the age of thirty-three was moderator of the general assembly of the Presbyterian church. He was offered the presidency both of Dickinson College and Transylvania University, but declined to leave his New York pastorate.--ED.

[150] For Judge Emmett, see _ante_ (volume xi), note 37.

William Sampson was born in Londonderry, Ireland, 1764. He became a barrister, and acted as counsel for members of the Society of United Irishmen, thereby incurring the suspicion of the English government. After the rebellion of 1798, he was imprisoned, and upon gaining his freedom came to the United States, establishing himself as a lawyer in New York, where he was influential in amending and codifying the state laws.--ED.

[151] Outbreaks of this character were so frequent in the years immediately following the War of 1812-15, that they found a place in the governor's annual messages. See Fortier, _History of Louisiana_ (New York, 1904), iii, p. 188.--ED.

[152] In 1801 Theodosia Burr was married to Joseph Alston, governor of South Carolina (1812-14). The "Patriot" was supposedly lost off Cape Hatteras in 1812. See Merwin, _Aaron Burr_ (Boston, 1899), p. 140.--ED.

[153] Isaac Roberdeau (1763-1829), came of a Huguenot family. His father settled in Philadelphia, and was a general in the Revolutionary army. Isaac became an engineer, and assisted in laying out the city of Washington (1791). In 1813 he was appointed a major and topographical engineer in the regular army, and superintended the survey of the boundary between the United States and Canada, in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Ghent. In 1818 he organized and was made chief of the bureau of topographical engineers in the War Department.--ED.

[154] For a short sketch of Volney, see Flint's _Letters_, volume ix of our series, note 121.--ED.

[155] From the seed of the best species of Maryland tobacco received from this gentleman, my neighbour, Major Smith, of Somersham, in England, has, unaided by art, planted and manufactured tobacco, of a superior fragrance and flavour, and which he introduces to his friends on special occasions, when it is used as prime Canaster from Havannah.--FAUX.

[156] William Thornton was educated as a physician, and lived for many years in Philadelphia, where he was a member of the American Philosophical Society. He removed to Washington when the seat of government was transferred thither, and in 1802 was appointed head of the patent office, a place which he held through the remainder of his life. He was also an architect of ability, and designed the Philadelphia library building (1789).--ED.

[157] See _ante_ (volume xi), note 25.--ED.

FINIS

* * * * *

WELBY'S VISIT TO NORTH AMERICA, MAY 5, 1819--MAY 10, 1820

Reprint of the original edition: London, 1821

A VISIT TO NORTH AMERICA

AND

THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS IN ILLINOIS,

WITH A

Winter Residence at Philadelphia;

SOLELY TO ASCERTAIN THE ACTUAL PROSPECTS OF THE EMIGRATING
AGRICULTURIST, MECHANIC, AND COMMERCIAL SPECULATOR.

BY ADLARD WELBY, ESQ

_South Rauceby, Lincolnshire._

"Nothing extenuate--nor aught set down in malice."

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. DRURY, 36, LOMBARD STREET;
BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY; AND G. AND W. B. WHITAKER;
DRURY, STAMFORD, AND DRURY AND SON, LINCOLN.
1821.

TO THE RESPECTABLE PART OF HIS COUNTRYMEN
RESIDING IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AS BEING THE BEST JUDGES OF THEIR TRUTH
THE FOLLOWING OBSERVATIONS ARE DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHOR