Chapter IX: Letter I

Voyage from Greenock to New York--Circumstances of Passengers--Arrival, &c.

_New York, July 10, 1818._

As I have already informed you, I sailed from Greenock on the 24th of May last, in the American ship Glenthorn, Stillman Master, bound for this place.

I observed that my fellow emigrants were much affected when about to take a final leave of their native land: some regretting the separation from their native soil, while others, mute and thoughtful, seemed to suffer under feelings of a more tender kind.

To some it may appear inconsistent in people to regret leaving their homes and their friends, while the emigration is voluntarily undertaken; but on this occasion, the paradox will be explained, when their circumstances and views are taken into consideration.

Of our party were three farmers, with their families, whose leases were expired; all of them having declined engaging for a new term of years, {2} under the apprehension of seeing their paternal stock, and the savings of many years’ industry, divided between the landholder and the collector of taxes. A native of Scotland, who had resided several years in America, returned with the intention of resuming business in the town where he was born, but the thick ranks of a necessitous and half employed population, had closed on the place he had left. There was a widow, with two children, on her way to put herself under the protection of a brother in America. With us also were several of the labouring class, whose utmost exertions could only procure the bare support of existence; and ploughmen, who prudently refrained from marrying with fourteen pounds a-year. In short, there was scarcely one of our number whose condition might not perhaps be bettered, or whose prospects could be rendered worse, by the change of country.

In a voyage from Europe to America, most passengers may expect to be sea-sick. Nearly all of them on board the Glenthorn, on this occasion, suffered more or less. For my own part, I never was entirely free from it for more than three-fourths of the passage. This disease is dispiriting while it continues, but as it is believed to produce no permanent injury, but, on the contrary, is thought conducive to future health, the attack is not at all dreaded. People unaccustomed to the seafaring life ought to carry with them those kinds of provisions to which they have been previously accustomed, as the stores of the ship soon become loathsome to the sick. Potatoes will be found acceptable, when the caprice of taste rejects almost every other food; and walking on deck is of service, as the air is better, and the pitching of the ship is considerably less felt, than below.

{3} It is very improper to go to sea in crowded vessels; as epidemic diseases are engendered, and the most dreadful mortality is the consequence. That law of Britain which allows only one passenger for every five tons of burden in American ships (including seamen) is a most beneficial regulation; and while, in American bottoms, the cabin passenger pays L.21, and the steerage passenger L.12, the expense cannot be complained of, while health and comfort are taken into consideration. It is much to be regretted that the government of England does not extend its humane restriction to its own Canadian settlers, and to emigrants who sail for the United States in British ships.

The 4th of July is celebrated by Americans as the anniversary of their independence, declared in 1776. The captain and seamen were disposed to be joyful in commemoration of this great event. The striped flag was displayed, guns and pistols were fired, accompanied with loud cheers. The passengers, no less enthusiastic, joined in the strongest expressions of their devotedness to the democratic form of government. They indulged in such sentiments as, a sincere wish that the United States may long continue exempt from that excessive corruption, as they thought, which has so long and so much degraded a large portion of the human race;--and their avowed satisfaction at the near prospect of becoming people of the Republic.

On the 8th we came in sight of Long Island, and the high lands of New Jersey; a welcome occurrence to people who had been so long at sea. In the afternoon a pilot came on board. He informed us that the city was in great bustle, as the inhabitants were assembled to deposit the bones of General Montgomery, who fell at Quebec, on the 31st of December, 1775.[1] The remains of the patriotic {4} leader were buried by the ministerialists without the fort, and were to-day interred by his grateful countrymen under the portico of St. Paul’s church, New York. We were sorry that it was not in our power to witness the solemnity.

In the evening we were off the point Sandyhook. The smell of the new hay on the adjacent fields regaled us very agreeably. All seemed elated with joy. A bagpipe and two violins played by turns, and our young people danced on deck till a late hour. During this season of mirth, we were entertained by a sight, perhaps unequalled in the phenomena of an European climate. Some dense black clouds which hung over Long Island, were frequently illuminated by flashes of lightning. It is in vain to attempt a description. About midnight we passed through the Narrows, and soon afterwards anchored on the quarantine ground, about seven miles from New York.

On the morning of the 9th of July, the inspecting surgeon visited us, and allowed the anchor to be weighed. In this situation we had a full view of the shores of Staten and Long Islands. The wooden houses are neat, and the orchards and natural woods have a thriving appearance. It would seem that the people here have a partiality to the Lombardy poplar, which grows to a great height, shooting up its branches nearly perpendicularly; assuming something of the appearance of a spire. The straight rows of these trees, so common here, have an insipid regularity and sameness, more like a file of armed soldiery than an ornamental grove.

Some of the frame houses are painted red, those of the finer sort, white; ornamental railings are also painted white. To an European eye, these colours appear too glaring. The lands seen from the bay are sandy and poor.

{5} The first glimpse of the city of New York is by no means a distinct one. The buildings are much obscured by the forest of masts in front of them; and as the site of the town rises but gently inland, the houses in front conceal, in a great measure, those in the rear, so that the shipping and the numerous spires are the objects most distinctly seen.

Before entering the port we were twice boarded by agents from the Newspaper offices. They inquired for British newspapers, and generally for the news of Europe; they noted down the names of several of our passengers, which they intended to publish in the papers of the afternoon. There are no less than seven newspapers printed in New York daily; the competition of these Journalists is keen, and their industry seems to be great.

We have experienced much good treatment from Captain Stillman. Every passenger is so sensible of this, that a committee of their number was requested to make public testimony of their esteem for him.

We landed yesterday about noon, all in good health and spirits. During the voyage, passengers have experienced no kind of sickness, except that peculiarly incident to the sea.

This letter cannot come immediately into the hands of all my friends; most of them, I hope, will hear that I am arrived in this place in good health. Should you adopt any way of making this and any subsequent communications generally known to them, it will be very gratifying to me, and, besides, will relieve me of the labour of writing many letters; a labour, dictated by the strongest ties of gratitude and affection, but one which it is doubtful if I can accomplish to the satisfaction of my own mind.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] General Richard Montgomery (1737-1775) was a native of Ireland, and served with Wolfe at Quebec in 1759. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War he was appointed commander of the American forces in the Northern Department, being killed in his heroic assault on Quebec, December 31, 1775. Through the courtesy of the British general his body was buried with the honors of war within the unconquered walls of Quebec. Forty-three years later the remains were disinterred, in compliance with a special act of the New York legislature, brought to New York City and deposited with great solemnity beneath a monument in front of St. Paul’s church (July 8, 1818). A full account of the ceremony is contained in the New York _Daily Advertiser_ of that date.--ED.

{6} LETTER II

Observations on New York--Removal to Long Island--Miscellaneous Remarks--Return to New York--Farther Observations on the City.

_New York, August 4, 1818._

On entering New York, I was struck with its appearance. Streets lined with lofty trees, most of them the Lombardy poplar, which affords a very agreeable shade in hot weather; indeed, they are so numerous, that the new comer, when he looks before him, is apt to suppose himself in the midst of a wood. The streets, with a few exceptions, are too narrow, and are deficient in sewers. Many parts of the town prevent me from thinking that it deserves the character of extreme cleanliness bestowed upon it. The greater part of the houses are of brick, neatly built; but, to eyes accustomed to towns of hewn stone, New York has, on the whole, what (for want of a more descriptive word) may be called a gingerbread appearance.

The markets here are amply supplied with fine vegetables, and an immense variety of excellent fish, a great proportion of which are sold alive. Beef and pork are good, but the mutton and veal that I have seen are of inferior quality. Marketing is carried on more after the manner in some English country towns. No servants, but masters, attend and carry home the provisions.

Beggars do not abound here as in some countries of Europe. I am told that every man who is {7} able to work can earn a dollar per day, and that his board costs two or three dollars per week; thus it is in his power to banish every appearance of poverty, and to save some money, provided he is disposed to economy. Mechanics have good encouragement. Joiners one and three-quarters, and masons two dollars a-day. They usually pay three dollars, or upwards, a-week for their board.

Many of the necessaries of life are here purchased at high prices. Woollen cloths and most articles of wearing apparel imported, pay duties, varying, in different cases, from 25 to 33 per cent. In transacting with the merchant and the tailor, farther American enhancements may be calculated upon. Washing and dressing of shirts, neckcloths, &c. costs a dollar and a half per dozen. Every thing that an American does, must be liberally paid for. This tends to render living dear, even where provisions are cheap.

Some imported articles, as silks, wines, foreign spirituous liquors, teas, sugar, and coffee, are much cheaper than in Britain. The difference of custom-house duties is the cause of this.

The condition of animals bespeak the great plenty of food that falls to their share. The horses employed in removing goods to and from the wharfs, and in stage coaches, are fat, and in high spirits. They are not so rough-legged, so broad, or so strong-limbed, as the draught horses of Britain; but they are better adapted for speed. Hogs, running in the streets, are numerous, but they are not starvelings. I have seen several of them that would yield upwards of 300 lbs. of pork without special feeding. Speaking of hogs, I would mention by the way, that they are allowed to run at large for the purpose of cleaning the streets. An economical way of procuring scavengers, {8} but one that leads to a commutation of nuisance rather than a final removal of it.

_July 12._ Last night the heat was excessive, and not accompanied with a breath of wind. It was in vain that I thrust my head out at an open window to be cooled. The effluvia arising from the streets is, in a great measure, occasioned by a high temperature. I imagine that a copious evolution of phosphorized hydrogen gas goes on in such weather. I could not sleep till three or four o’clock. This morning I heard that some people who had suffered from the heat and stillness of the air, had stretched themselves on carpets, or sat by open room doors, or in passages. Nights so very oppressive are said to occur rarely. In high and inland parts of the country they do not occur at all.

This is not the most proper season of the year for Europeans arriving here. Yesterday and to-day the heat has been excessive, the thermometer in the shade stood at 97¹⁄₂°. In such a degree of heat it is imprudent to take much exercise. The temperature of the human body being lower than that of the air, the former is deprived of the cooling process usually produced by evaporation. Should the heat of the blood be increased in such a case, fever commences. We had an example of this, in a young man, one of the emigrants on board the Glenthorn, who exerted himself too much in getting baggage ashore. He was this day removed to Brooklyn, a high-lying village on Long Island, about a mile from New York. Transitions from heat to cold are, perhaps, still more dangerous; of late, eleven persons have died in the city by drinking cold water. Several of them were strangers newly landed. Water should not be drunk immediately from the {9} well, but should be allowed previously to stand for a few minutes in the air. It should be taken in small mouthfuls, and these heated in the mouth for two or three seconds before swallowing. Precautions of this kind ought to be strictly attended to, while heated by exercise or the sun’s rays. Spirits are often mixed with water, to prevent the injurious effects of the latter. This corrective, however much extolled, ought to be taken in very small quantities. Here, as in Britain, there are many who resort to spirituous liquors as the sovereign medicine, both in hot and in cold weather.

Strangers lodge in boarding houses, and are charged from three dollars to twenty a-week. I have got lodgings in a good one, where I find interesting company. Previous to our meals a servant rings a small hand-bell, summoning every lodger to the public room, where we all eat together. A polite, well-dressed, hostess presides.

Servants are not here so attentive to their duty as elsewhere; many of them are free blacks, slow in their motions, and often treating the most reasonable commands with neglect. _Master_ is not a word in the vocabulary of hired people. _Bos_, a Dutch one of similar import, is substituted.[2] The former is used by Negroes, and is by free people considered as synonymous with slave-keeper.

This afternoon much thunder was heard. After twilight the lightning flashed incessantly, so that the illumination was almost permanent. Thunder storms in America are more frequent, more severe, and often accompanied with greater rains than in Europe. A respectable gentleman of Delaware county, in this State, told me, that during a thunder storm there, he laid his watch on the table, and found that an hour and forty-eight minutes elapsed {10} without one cessation of sound. He thinks it probable that the peal lasted about two hours, as a few minutes must have passed before the idea of noting the time suggested itself.

_July 13._ This evening, after dark, I was surprised to see a large object standing in the centre of one of the principal streets; on approaching it, I discovered that it was a frame-house, with a wheel affixed to each corner. Its length was about twenty-two feet, breadth about sixteen feet, and two stories high. I am just told that much larger buildings than this are often dragged off by horses, with their roofs, floors, plaster, doors, and windows, entire; furniture sometimes included. This sort of removal happens at the expiry of leases of small lots, where the occupier is not bound to leave the buildings.

_July 16._ For two days past, the skin of my face has been spotted, accompanied with blotches, and with partial swelling. This is called the prickly heat, from the pungent feeling that attends it. A medical gentleman has told me, that this has been occasioned by a sudden cooling, which has put a stop to perspiration. He congratulated me on having escaped a fever, prescribed a hot bath, and subsequent sea-bathing. I am about to set out for Long Island, in obedience to the latter part of the Doctor’s prescription.

_Afternoon._ Arrived at New Utrecht, a village near the south-western extremity of Long Island.[3] On leaving New York, I crossed the ferry to Brooklyn, by a steam-boat of singular construction: this vessel is composed of two hulls, at a little distance from, and parallel to, one another; they are connected by a deck common to both. The water-wheel, turned by a steam-engine, is placed between {11} the keels of the boats. There is a rudder at each end, so that she can cross and re-cross, without putting about.

A stage coach runs from Brooklyn to New Utrecht. The distance is nine miles; and the fare for one person, half a dollar. This coach, like the other public ones of the country, has no glass windows in the front or the sides of it, these parts are furnished with curtains, which are let down in bad weather. The coach is long, containing four seats that run across; and travellers sit with their faces forward, as in the pews of a church.

I have agreed to stop a few days at New Utrecht. My host is an intelligent man, obliging, but not fawning; he and his wife take the principal drudgery of the house upon themselves, as the slaves are extremely slow in the execution of their work. Sometimes the landlord presides at the head of the table, and at other times he acts as servant. At dinner we were joined by the coach-driver who brought us from Brooklyn; he is very unlike the drivers of some other coaches, is well dressed, active, and attentive to his business, by no means obsequious, answers every question with propriety, and without embarrassment. He does not depend on the gratuities of travellers for his wages. That system, which so universally prevails in Britain, is unknown here.

At the inn there were three boarders, all Scotsmen. One of them, a young gentleman from Edinburgh, who was confined to bed by a broken thigh bone, occasioned by a horse running away with a gig, from which he fell while attempting to disengage himself; he was occasionally attended by a young lady, whose visits were frequent, although she lived at the distance of ten miles. The people of the neighbourhood were also very attentive to this {12} person, often calling for him; and several of the young men sat with him all night by rotation. It was pleasing to see so creditable a display of the benevolent affections.

The good people here are the descendants of the original Dutch settlers. They are placed in comfortable circumstances, their style of living somewhat resembling that of farmers in the more fertile and improved parts of Scotland. If the situations of farmers in the two countries were compared, it would appear that the advantage of the Long Islanders consists in a climate highly conducive to vegetation, their freedom from rent, being owners of the soil, and the total absence of any heavy taxes; and that their comparative disadvantage is, the want of such active domestic and agricultural servants as the farmer of the other country employs.

Mr. Cobbett[4] is now farming about nine miles from this place. His people (it is said) could not bear the opprobrious name _servant_, and, with the exception of one person, left him.[5]

The fishermen here drag ashore many fishes in their seines. Without other evidence than the vast quantities of smaller ones left on the shore, the abundant supply of the New York market might be inferred. I bathe twice a-day, on the spot where General Howe first effected the landing of his army.[6] A farmer very obligingly gives me the key of his fishing house on the beach, that I may dress and undress in it. The farmers here catch great quantities of fish, with which they manure their land.

There are still a considerable number of slaves in Long Island; they are treated with a degree of {13} humanity that slaves in some other parts of the world never experience; they are well fed, and the whip is very seldom resorted to. Notwithstanding their comparative advantages, they detest the unnatural yoke, and frequently run off. It often happens that the master neither pursues nor inquires after the fugitive. What becomes of the self-emancipated is not here well understood. I have heard that many of them get to Boston, or some other of the northern ports, from whence they are carried to the Southern States, sold, and placed under a harsher treatment.

A great part of the slaves of the State of New York are to be emancipated in the year 1827.[7] It is difficult to predict the consequences of this liberation. It is to be feared that people who have been compelled to work, will, of their own choice, become banditti, rather than adopt industrious habits. Arrangements must necessarily be made before the arrival of this revolution; but many satisfy themselves by saying, that the legislature will devise some plan that will enable them to get over the difficulty. Some suggest that the Negroes shall be returned to Africa. On this measure, the African Association, so much talked of in America, proceeds.[8] The expense of transporting, settling, supporting, and governing a new colony, must be immense. The design is as benevolent as the difficulties to be encountered are great. The support it meets with in slave-keeping states, looks like a pledge of sincerity, and an omen that forebodes success to the undertaking.

{14} The project of removing blacks to the back-woods of America seems to be altogether objectionable. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to prevent their return from exile; their previous habits and disposition render them ill-calculated to the work of subduing the forests. Besides, they would commit depredations on the neighboring settlers, and on the Indian people.

Long Island being composed of alluvial soil, surrounded by a high beach, its surface is necessarily what is called a table land: for the most part the surface is somewhat flat, the soil is dry, and at this season, without streams of water. Near the surface I have observed a substratum that is intermixed with clay. If a part of this was raised above the ground, it would be made to approach to a loam, more productive, and less liable to be injured by drought, than the present sandy coating that covers the surface. A trenching, performed by the spade or by the plough, would no doubt produce the good effect.

A labourer in Long Island receives half a dollar a-day, with his board, and a dollar in harvest.

The weather, which is said to be hotter at present than it has been for several years, begins to scorch the surface of the ground. The stubble from which the hay has recently been removed, retains the appearance of a newly mown field; pasture grass is withering. In some fields a rank crop of weeds continues green; amongst these the cattle are straying nearly two feet deep, but are in reality almost starving; water is drawn from deep wells, and served out to them in rather too small quantities. The cows are small, as may be expected. Good crops of wheat, rye, and Indian corn, are raised. These require manure. Indian corn is considered a good crop, when at the rate {15} of 40 bushels per acre. Oats do not ripen well from the excessive heat, and are used only for the feed of horses. Potatoes are small; their tops grow high and slender, as when shaded by trees in your country; their leaves are small and shrivelled. The greatest luxuriance to be met with in Long Island is in the orchards, the branches of apple and pear trees are bent down, and not unfrequently broken by the weight of the fruit. Peach trees were lately productive, but are now falling into decay. I have met with no one able to assign the cause. The woods are thriving, but few of the trees are large; they are evidently a new growth, and not contemporary with the thick trunks that opposed the first settlers. The owners frequently spare their own timber, and purchase from other parts of the State, or from New Jersey. In consequence of paying for timber and carriage, building in Long Island is rendered more expensive than in more late settlements.

It is not easy to state the price of land in Long Island, as much of it has descended from father to son, from the first settlement; and sales have been rare. A farm within ten miles of New York would perhaps sell at 140 or 150 dollars (from L.31, 10s. to L.33, 15s.) per acre. The practice of renting land is by shares, the occupier paying to the proprietor one half of the actual price of the produce, the former bearing the risk and trouble of collecting the money.

The fences are of wood. The figure is a representation of the railing commonly adopted here.

{16} A fence of this sort, costs about a dollar for every ten yards in length. Where the posts are of cedar, and the rails of chesnut, the erection, it is said, may stand about fifty years. I examined one reported to be thirty years old, and found it to be so strong, that it may be expected still to last for years to come. There are neither hedges nor stone fences to be seen in this neighbourhood.

The crops, as in most parts of America, are cut down by what is called the Cradle-scythe. I went into a field where a Negro was reaping wheat with this sort of implement, and observed that about an English acre was cut down. On making inquiry, it appeared that he had been engaged about six hours in the work. The following dialogue ensued:

“You work very hard?”

“No Sir, I can do much more in the time, _but that of no use_.”

“You are not free then?”

“No Sir, I a slave, I longs to Jacob Van ----, there,” (pointing to the farm house.)

“But you black people are very well treated here?”

“Oh yes, Sir, master very good to me, give me every thing to eat he eat self, but no Sunday clothes.”

“You may live happier than some poor free people?”

“That may be true, Sir, but put bird in cage, give him plenty to eat, still he fly away.”

I delay giving a description of the cradle-scythe, as I doubt if the one that I have just seen is of the best construction.

After the crop is cut, the swath is collected by the hand, and tied into sheaves; a small quantity of stalks still remain scattered over the surface, {17} these are commonly collected by the hand-rake. To facilitate the latter part of the process, a horse rake has been recently invented; of which the following figure is a representation.

AB is a beam about six inches square, and about twelve feet long. CD is an upright rail that prevents the stalks accumulated by the machine from falling over the beam AB, and so left behind. EF, _ef_, are two supports to the rail, which also serve as handles for steering, and occasionally upsetting the machine. ABHG is a tire of wooden teeth, one and a half inches diameter, and about six inches distant from one another. These teeth are sharpened at their extremities, and skim along the ground with their points forward; raising up and collecting the stalks. IK are trees to which the horses are yoked. The trees are attached to the beam AB, by the rope BLA.

{18} The field in which I saw the horse rake used is flat and not ridged; consequently the straight beam operated very well. To adapt a beam to ridges, it would only be necessary to construct it with two joints or hinges; one at each side of the handles, and to connect the central part of the beam by a rope with the point of attachment L. Otherwise, the implement may be moved across the ridges.

Four wheeled waggons are the vehicles used in carrying home the crops, carrying manure into the fields, and produce to market. They are drawn by two horses, which trot, whether loaded or not. Small one-horse waggons are also used, they are neat, and are furnished with a seat for conveying families to church, and elsewhere. Many of the farmers who own but small properties, keep one horse gigs. Ladies drive dexterously.

The practice of housing the crops, and the ancient one of treading them out by the feet of horses, shew that the Long Islanders have yet something to learn in the way of dispatching their agricultural business.

The high price of land prevents emigrants from settling here. The near neighbourhood of a market, and the salubrity derived from dry land, together with sea breezes, might, notwithstanding, form sufficient inducements to many, who would pursue their immediate advantage; but those who look forward to the future prospects of a family, commonly prefer some part of the back country.

_July 24._ Saw the works in progress at Fort Diamond.[9] This is a large battery raised on a shoal in the narrows, about 200 yards off the western point of Long Island; _most of the workmen are British_.

{19} Crossed the Narrows to Staten Island. The fortifications are extensive and commanding. The garrison consists of _one man_!

_25._ Left New Utrecht, where a residence of nine days has completely cured my blotched face. The climate is delightful, and I have entertained a very favourable opinion of the people.

The emigrant who was removed sick to Brooklyn, is dead; thus by far the finest young man of our party, has fallen the first victim to the climate: twenty-two years of age, of a mild and cheerful disposition, and of a manly figure, and who had gained our universal esteem. Of a family consisting of six persons, he was the only one who was able to endure the fatigues of clearing away the forests. The feelings of the survivors are deeply wounded, and the tender attachment that pledged his early return to Scotland is blasted.

I returned to New York, and shall make some more remarks on the city. The population, at the census of 1816, was 100,619, of which 6985 were aliens, 9774 free people of colour, and 617 slaves. It is expected that the enumeration of 1820 will disclose a vast increase.

Literature does not stand on such a broad basis here as in Europe. Printing, particularly of newspapers, is carried on to a considerable extent: but the style of many communications and advertisements which appear in them, shews that the _public_ are not far advanced in taste. Particular pieces are elegant. Many English publications are reprinted, frequently with the addition of some introduction, notes, or an appendix. For the additional matter a patent is procured, which I suppose has generally the practical effect of securing an exclusive privilege for the whole work. Some of Lord Byron’s latest productions, the Memoirs of {20} the Fudge Family,[10] and the Brownie of Bodsbeck,[11] are exhibited in the windows of the principal booksellers. When I left Edinburgh the last mentioned book was not published.

The Kaleidoscope of Dr. Brewster is here fabricated in a rude style, and in quantities so great, that it is given as a plaything to children.[12] An artist informed me that a journeyman of his proposes to take a patent for an improvement he had made on it.

The public museum in this city is a recent collection. An Indian mummy from the great saltpetre cave in Kentucky, a bear from Warwick mountains, about sixty miles north of this place, which weighed 700 pounds, and an immensely large turtle, are as yet the most interesting objects.

The town hall is a splendid building. Lightness, and an apparent want of solidity in its parts, deprive it in some measure of the august effect essential to sublime grandeur. The front and columns are made of white marble of a foliated texture. The interior staircase is both large and magnificent. It is circular, and furnished with two elegant flights of steps that wind in contrary directions, so that the one crosses the other alternately. Upon the whole, it displays that elegance which becomes an edifice devoted to the administration of justice.

When I visited the Court of Sessions, the judge on the bench appeared a plain active-looking gentleman, not distinguished by any robes of office. The business on hand was the taking of evidence in the case of a man who had left a vault open during the night. A person passing in the street happened to fall into the chasm, and raised an action of damages, on the ground that he had received bodily hurt. The questions put were numerous {21} and minute, the witnesses, notwithstanding, went on in giving lengthened details, embracing particulars not asked, and foreign to the subject. They seemed in no respect embarrassed by the dignity of the court. The whole of the witnesses were present, and each heard the examinations which preceded his own.

The Washington, a new ship of war, mounting 96 guns, is much visited at present.[13] The seamen are a party of stout healthy looking men, dressed in striped cottons, very suitable to the present hot weather, and cleanly in the extreme. The decoration, cleanliness of the ship, and the order that prevailed aboard, can scarcely be surpassed. Diffident, however, as I am in forming an opinion on any naval affair, I cannot avoid the impression that a vessel of such strength, and with such a crew of freemen, must be an overmatch for any other vessel constructed and manned as European ships of war were wont to be.

The steam-frigate is a novelty in naval architecture. The vessel is bomb-proof, impelled by a powerful steam-engine; is said to be furnished with apparatus for heating ball, for throwing hot water, for moving a sort of arms to prevent boarding, and to carry submarine guns of one hundred pounds shot.[14]

The steam-boat, Chancellor Livingstone, is the largest and finest vessel of the kind perhaps ever built; she is 526 tons burden, length 165 feet, and breadth 50 feet. The power of the engine is estimated as being equal to that of eighty horses. The boiler is of copper, and weighs twenty tons. The cabin unites something like the horizontal dimensions of a church, and a degree of elegance not exceeded by any floating apartment. The Chancellor sails between New York and Albany.[15]

{22} _August 3._ The theatre has some degree of resemblance in its plan to that at Edinburgh, and is attended by a genteelly-dressed audience. To-night the celebrated Mr. Incledon completed his engagement.[16] He was highly applauded. The song, “Scots wha hae wi’ Wallace bled,” was alike cheered by Scots and Americans.

During this season of the year, most people wear light cotton clothes; the jacket is in many cases striped, and the pantaloons of Indian nankin. A broad-brimmed straw-hat is commonly used, to prevent the face from being scorched by the rays of the sun. Draymen, and other labouring people, wear a sort of frock or hunting shirt of tow-cloth, that hangs down to the knees. A tall, thin, swarthy-countenanced man, with a frock, surmounted by a broad straw hat, is a figure somewhat new to the Briton.

One of the greatest inconsistencies among a people professing liberty and equality, is the degradation imposed on people of colour. In the church of the most popular preacher of New York, I looked in vain for a black face. There is a congregation of blacks in town, who have a preacher of the same colour, where (it is said) a white man would be equally singular. Blacks are not admitted into the public baths; and, at some places of amusement the hand-bills have a note of this kind, N.B. “A place is provided for people of colour.” I do not recollect of having seen or heard of a black person who is in any degree eminent in society, or who has acquired reputation in any mechanical or mercantile business. This depression appears to be produced partly by the aversion with which the white face looks on the black one, and partly by bad education and habits. Something more than mere emancipation is required, a moral change, {23} affecting both the black and the white, must take place, before the condition of the negro can be completely ameliorated.

The churches of New York are fifty-three in number, and are occupied by seventeen religious sectaries. None of these are peculiarly privileged by law, and none denied the common protection of citizens.

_August 4._ Now when about to leave New York, I feel a pleasure in stating my conviction of the civilization and moral honesty of the people. In the former respect, they may exult in any comparison with the mass of many European cities. And in regard to the latter, I have heard of no recent instance of housebreaking or riot. In hot weather, people leave their windows open during the night, and street doors are seldom closed during the whole of the evening; the inhabitants not thinking their hats and umbrellas in much danger. Such traits are perfectly unequivocal.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] From the Dutch _Baas_, meaning master.--ED.

[3] New Utrecht was in Kings County, New York, seven miles from New York City.--ED.

[4] William Cobbett, a publicist known both in America and England, was born on a farm in Surrey, March, 1762. After serving for several years in the English army, he resigned and (1792) came to Philadelphia. Here, under the name of “Peter Porcupine,” he advocated the cause of the Federalists. Returning to London in 1800, he founded the _Weekly Political Register_. His influence with the workingmen was so great that the English government became alarmed, and he found it prudent to spend two more years in America (1817-19). He published his experiences as a Long Island farmer (1818), under the title _A Year’s Residence in the United States of America_. Vigorously opposing the plans of Morris Birkbeck and others to bring over colonies of British emigrants to the United States, his attacks and the replies that followed brought on a journalistic controversy which lasted until about 1825. (See volumes x, xi, and xii of our series.) Upon his return to England, he was elected to parliament as a Liberal in 1832, and served until his death (1835).--ED.

[5] This person was English.--FLINT.

[6] Admiral Lord Richard Howe, British general in the Revolutionary War, left Halifax with his fleet June 11, 1776, to effect a union with General Clinton at New York. He arrived at Sandy Hook June 29, and July 2 took possession of Staten Island.--ED.

[7] By act of legislation, 31st March, 1817, “Every Negro, Mulatto, or Mustee, within this State, born before the 4th day of July, 1799, shall, from and after the 4th day of July, 1827, be free.”--FLINT.

[8] The American Society for the Colonization of the Free People of Color of the United States, was organized at Washington, December, 1816. It rapidly gained favor, both North and South, and by February, 1820, sufficient money had been subscribed to send the first colony to Liberia. But the free negroes disliked it; the colonists suffered great hardships in Liberia; and the abolitionists soon opposed the project. William Lloyd Garrison began to denounce the Society in 1829, and thereafter it declined steadily in importance.--ED.

[9] Fort Diamond, later renamed Fort Lafayette, was the largest of the forts planned in 1812 for the defense of New York harbor. It became famous as a political state prison during the War of Secession, and was then protected by seventy-five heavy mounted guns.--ED.

[10] A series of metrical epistles purporting to be written in Paris by Thomas Moore.--ED.

[11] “The Brownie of Blednoch,” a folk-lore ballad, is the best known of William Nicholson’s poems. He was a Galloway peddler (1782-1849), who composed verses as he travelled from town to town.--ED.

[12] Sir David Brewster (1781-1868), experimental philosopher and editor of the _Edinburgh Encyclopedia_, invented the kaleidoscope about 1816. Throughout these letters, Flint portrays large acquaintance with the writings of the more noted of his fellow-countrymen.--ED.

[13] The “Washington” was built at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1814, being the second ship of seventy-four guns (not ninety-six, as Flint states) launched for the United States navy. She was the flagship of Commodore Chauncey in the Mediterranean, from 1816 to 1818. In 1843 she was broken up in New York harbor.--ED.

[14] This was the “Fulton,” the first steamship in the American navy. Robert Fulton directed her construction, and she made her trial trip June 1, 1815, a few months after his death. Her naval service was unimportant. While employed as a receiving-ship at the Brooklyn docks she blew up, June, 1829.--ED.

[15] The “Chancellor Livingstone,” built under Fulton’s direction, and named in honor of his friend and patron, was completed in 1816. She was one hundred and twenty-five tons larger than any boat then on the Hudson. Her average speed was eight and a half miles an hour. In 1832 she was put on the route between Boston and Portland, being broken up at Portland two years later.--ED.

[16] Benjamin Charles Incledon (1764-1826), a famous English vocalist.--ED.