The Southern States since the War. 1870-1. ... With map

Preface

. There is little to say "by way of preface to this book. To explain how it came to be written would lead only to personal details of no interest to the reader. Its defects cannot be extenuated' nor its merits enhanced by any statement in this form ; and a Preface might as well be wholly dispensed with but for a tribute of thanks which it is alike incumbent and pleasing to pay. To John Pender, of Manchester, who warmly encouraged my design from first to last, and gave me letters of introduction that proved most valuable — to Eobert Dalglish, M.P. for Glasgow, who readily obtained from the Poreign Office a letter commending Her Majesty's Consuls to render me such assistance as they coidd properly afford — and to all in the United States too numerous to name, from whom through these and other relationships much information was received — I owe the most cordial acknowledgments.

Nor can I omit to express my admiration of the general civdity of the American people, from whom, .during a sojourn of months among them with all the curiosity of an inquirer, not a word escaped in my hearing unwelcome to a stranger or a British subject to hear. I VI

PREFACE.

. This Inquiry has been accomplished without connection with any Association, mercantile or political. The Author alone is responsible for the manner in which it has been performed, and the conclusions to which it comes. Among the many writers who visit the United States with somewhat similar purposes of observation, one so seldom directs his steps to the South that I am fain to hope there may be found in this circumstance alone an ample warrant of publication. CONTENTS.

Chapter II

Mount Vernon.— Washington's life as a Planter.— The Woods of Virginia. — Aspect of the Country from Acquia Creek to Richmond. — Agricultural Divisions of Virginia— Their general Characteristics .... Page 7

Chapter III

City of Richmond — Some features of its Trade and Industry. — Tone of Politics. — The General Assembly. — Testimony borne of the Freedmen by Employers. — Rate of Wages.— Dearness of Articles of Consumption, and its Causes.— Population of the State and City. — Schools for the Negro Children Page 14

Chapter IV

The Land Question in Virginia. — Estates and Farms for Sale without Purchasers. — Effects of War and Revolution. — The Annual State Fair.— Abundant natural Fertilisers. — New Industries. — Regularity of the Markets for Tobacco and other Agricultural Produce. — Railways. — Desirableness of Virginia to Middle-class Settlers Page 21

Chapter V

The Pine Forests of North Carolina. — Extended Cultivation of Cotton. — Payment of Negroes by Shares in the Crop. — Small comparative Cost of Railways. — The Port of Wilmington. — Exports of North Carolina since the War. — Partial compensation of lower Prices by higher Exchange Value of the Dollar. — Wilmington, Charlotte, and Rutherford Railway. — Governor Holden versvs the White People. — Great increase of Negroes in Wilmington. — Rate of Wages Page 28

Chapter VI

City of Charleston— its Ruin in the War — Marks of gradual Restoration. — The Battery. — Great Fire of 1862. — Charleston account of the Losses of the Southern States.— Loud Complaints of Misgovernment and Financial Jobber}-. — Majority of Negroes in the Legislature. — Atmosphere of Political Suspicion. — Efforts of the Whites to regain a share of Representation.— The Reform Union Page CONTENTS.

Chapter VII

Exports of Cotton from Charleston before and since the War.— Opening made for New York Speculators.— Decrease of Banking Capital in South Carolina.— A Fortunate Development— The Phosphate Deposite.— Their Exteut and Characteristics— Manufacture into Manures. — Great activity of the New Trade.— Rice Cultivation likely to diminish— The Environs of Charleston -?»?« 44

Chapter VIII

The Negro's "best Friends."— Sinister complexion of Politics.— Kindly Social Influences at work.— State of Education. — System of Medical Relief in Charleston.— The Health Statistics.— Proportionate Mortality of Whites and Blacks.— Salubrity of the Climate. — Freedmen's Savings Banks Page 50

Chapter IX

The Capital of South Carolina. — The State Fair a fcilure. — Usury. — Governor Scott on the Position of Affairs. — The Blue Ridge Railway project. — Mr. Treasurer Parker on Taxation and Negro Free Labour. — Political Opinions of the Farmers. — Arguments for and against Payment of Negro Farmlabourers by Wages or Share of the Crops. — Railway Freight. — Cottonbagging and the Price of Cotton Page 56

Chapter X

Entry into Georgia. — The Town of Augusta — its Buildings — its Cotton Market.— Revolution in Agriculture. — Importance of selected Cotton Seed.— Large amount of Cotton grown by Small Farmers. — Opinion on the Negroes. — Augusta Cotton Factory. — Education Act. — Observance of the Sabbath Page 62

Chapter XI

The Country from Augusta to Savannah. — Alleged Poorness of the Soil. — ■ Population of the State. — Competition betwixt the Cotton Lands of Georgia and the Mississippi ''Bottom." — Probable effects of Good Farming. — Want of Stock and Grass. — The Central Railroad Company . . Page 68

Chapter XII

The "Forest City." — Abundant demand for Labour.— Great increase of Cotton Exports.— Small proportion of Imports. — Disadvantages to Savannah of indirect Trade.— Rate of Wages. — Relative purchasing power of Money in England and the United States.— Conclusions of the British Consul.— State of Public Health.— Mortality of the Negroes- Banking in Savannah.— Sylvan features of the City .... Page 74

Chapter XIII

The Railway System of Georgia.— Convenience of the Cars.— The " Captains " or Conductors.— Safety of Single-rail Lines.— Greater fertility of the Soil in the Interior. — Want of facilities of Branch Traffic—Dilatory Cotton-picking.— General Characteristics of the various Divisions of Georgia page CONTENTS. IX

Chapter XIV

Central position of Macon. — Command of the Railway System. —Great development of Railway Enterprise.— Success of the Old Lines.— State Endorsement of Railway Bonds.-— The system of Railway Financing.— Does State Endorsement add to the Security of a First-Mortgage Bond ? —Macon Cotton Manufactures Page 86

Chapter XV

Extraordinary rise of Atlanta from the ashes of the War. — The H. I. Kimball House. — Interview with a " Drummer" of the latest Patents.— The "Asses' Bridge."— The Hotel System.— Population of Atlanta. — Removal of the State Capital.— Origin of the Kimball House Speculation.— New Executive Mansion.— An Education Meeting.— Costume. — Peaches. — The Granite Mountain. — Pound Cartersville. — Need of a Geological Survey of Northern Georgia Page 93

Chapter XVI

Progress of Chattanooga. — Ascent of Lookout Mountain. — Geographical and Geological Features. — Traces of the War. — The Roiling Mills. — Danks' Puddling Apparatus. — Cost of producing Coal and Iron Ore. — Visit to Mineral Properties. — Agricultural qualities of the Land. — Stream of Emigrants at Chattanooga. — Navigation of the Tennessee . . Page 103

Chapter XVII

The " Valley of the Tennessee " — its first Settlement by White Planters — its Physical Features. — Present Agricultural Condition. — Competition betwixt the Old and New Cotton Lands of " the West." — Marks of Desolation. — Want of Labour. — Movements of the Negroes. — Division of Estates. — Symptoms of Revival. — Progress of the Small Hill Farmers. Page 111

Chapter XVIII

Routine on a Cotton Plantation. — The Surroundings. — Planting and Marriage. — A Ride " round" 2,500 acres. — Disposal of the Soil. — Organization of Labour in the Cotton-fields. — Cotton-picking. — Ginning and Pressing. — Need of White Labour. — Live Stock on a Plantation. — The Hogs. — " Killing Day." — Pauperism and Free Labour.- — Shallow Ploughing. — The " Mussel Shoals " of the Tennessee Page^US

Chapter XIX

The Town that Jones built. — Riot in a Liquor Saloon. — What the Planters complain of. — Pay and Privileges of the Negroes. — The Plantation Bell. — The doctrine of Equality run to Seed. — Planting discussions in Jonesboro'. — Bad Whisky and other commodities. — Need of Tariff Reform. Page 126

Chapter XX

Town of Florence.— Traits of the War.— New Bridge over the Tennessee.— The Cotton Factory. — Abundance of Water-power. — Tariff Duties on Machinery. — Possibility of manufacturing Yarn in the South for Export. CONTENTS. X —Cypress Creek.— Natural Beauties and Characteristics of its Ravines — The Dripping Springs.— The Plantations.— Opening for Dairies.— Severe spell of Frost P(Ve 134

Chapter XXI

Corinth in Mississippi.— The Soil and Surroundings.— A Cotton Manufacturing Scheme.— The Country southward on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad—The "Prairie Land."— Okolona.— A large Plantation on the " Prairie." — Preference of the Negroes for their old Masters. — The Share and Wages Systems.— The late Robert Gordon Page 142

Chapter XXII

Stoppage on the Railway.—" Doctoring " the Engine.— A Word of Advice to Railway Companies.— The Town of Meridian.— Supposed Traces of Coal. The "Ku-Klux-Klan"— its Rise, Progress, and Decline. — Difficulty of finding Teachers of Negro Schools Page 149

Chapter XXIII

From Meridian to Eutaw. — Mr. Stanton's failure to pay the Interest due on the A. and C. Bonds.— The Alabama " Prairie " Land. — Bridge over the Tombigbee. — Tuscaloosa. — Decline of Learning in the University. — River System of Alabama. — The Warrior and Cahawba Coal and Iron Fields.— The Chinese on the Railway Works Page 157

Chapter XXIV

The Vicksburg and Montgomery Railway. — Demopolis.— Despair of the Planters for Labour. — Negro Women. — Selma — its Cotton Mart. — Reform of the Municipality. — Claims of the Town to be a Railway Centre. — Free School System in Alabama.-- The Negroes and the School or Poll Tax. — Distribution of the School Money. — National Banking. — Patent " Cotton Transplanter " Page 165

Chapter XXV

Progress of Trade and Population in Montgomery. — Opening of the Mineral Districts by Railways. — Existing Ironworks. — Coal and Iron Seams in the Cahawba Basin. — The Red Mountain — its Deposits of Hæmatite. — Proximity of the Warrior and Cahawba Coal-fields. — Recent Survey of Mr. Tait, F.G.S. — Analyses of Alabama Coal and Iron Ores. — Agricultural Qualities of the Mineral Region. — Probable Geological History. — Relative Price of Montevallo Coal and Pennsylvania Hay Page 172

Chapter XXVI

Night Journey to Mobile. - The Timber Region. — Tensaw R iver. — Emigrants. — Obstacles to Shipping in the Bay. — Extension of Railway Connections. — Exports of Cotton and Lumber. — Increase of the Trade in Coffee. — Want of Capital. — Banks. — Paper Manufacture. — Cotton Oil Mills — Lesson to Planters. — The late Elections. — Health and Amusements . . Page CONTENTS. XI

Chapter XXVII

The New Road from Mobile to New Orleans. — Singular character of the Country; — The "Iron Horse" crossing Bays, Lakes, and Lagoons.— The "Rigolets." — First Impressions of New Orleans. — Goods on the Levee. — The Custom House.— The Streets and Avenues. — The Shell Road. — Weather in January. — Vegetation. — Sunday in a City of "All Nations." Page 188

Chapter XXVIII

Population of New Orleans. — Natural Resources. — Revival of Business since the War. — Cotton. — Sugar. — Tobacco. — Rice and Grain. — Financial Disability. — Disproportion of Imports to Exports. — Great Decline of Imports of Coffee and Internal Trade Page 196

Chapter XXIX

Grievances. — Review of the Tariff — its baneful Effects en the Producing Classes. — Deficiency of Mercantile and Banking Capital. — The " National Banks." — Severity of Taxation. — Importance of a Revision of the Fiscal System of the United States Page 204

Chapter XXX

Trip in the Bradish Johnson down River. — The Sugar Plantations. — River Traffic. — Passengers. — The Scenery Page 214

Chapter XXXI

Woodlands, Point Celeste, and Magnolia Plantations. — The Sugar-Mills. — Sugar-refining Apparatus. — Culture of the Sugar-Canes. — Fowler's Steam Ploughs. — Thomson's Road and Field Steamer. — Large Fixed Capital of Sugar Estates in Louisiana. — Chinese Labour Page 220

Chapter XXXII

Matters of general interest in New Orleans. — The " Negro Legislature." — The Negroes and the Poll or School Tax. — More about Sugar-growing and Sugar-making. — Cost of Louisianian Sugar-making Machinery. — Comparison with Prices of Glasgow Machinery for Sugar Plantations. — The " Sugar Concretor." — Probable Causes of backward state of Sugar Culture in Louisiana ■ . . . Page 226

Chapter XXXIII

Mineral Traces in Louisiana. —Discovery of Rock Salt. — Rich Deposit of Crystalline Sulphur.— Ramie.— Ladies' Costume in New Orleans.— Tea. — Health Statistics of New Orleans. — Carrolton.— Stroll on the Bank of the Mississippi.— Fine Art " Remains."— Floral Development in February. Page 233

Chapter XXXIV

Incidents at Summit.— Want of Towns in the Interior of Mississippi— Mr. Solomon's Accourt of his Commercial Relations with the Planters and Negroes.— The Law of Lien.— Usury— The Free trade Question.— Some Characteristics of the Dram and Drug Shops Page CONTENTS. XII

Chapter XXXV

The Capital of Mississippi. — Interview with Governor Alcorn. — Average Product of Cotton per Acre in the " Mississippi Bottom." — Vital and Economic Statistics. — Comparison of White and Negro Births and Marriages. — Value of Farms in 1860 and 1870. — Proposed Payment of the Old State Debt Page 247

Chapter XXXVI

The "Mississippi Bottom." — Plantation at Austin. — Obstacles to Cultivation Page 255

Chapter XXXVII

Progress of Memphis. — Receipts of Cotton. — Buying on Spinners' Orders. — Through Bills of Lading. — Import of Foreign Goods at Memphis. — Politics and Railways of Arkansas. — Extensive River Communications. — Definition of the " Cotton Belt.'' — Banking and Insurance Capital. — Jefferson Davis. — The Southern Presbyterians and the Free Church of Scotland. Page 258

Chapter Xxxviii

West and Middle Tennessee. — Backwardness of Rural Labour. — Proportion of Corn and Cotton Crops.— Spring like " Glorious Summer."— Necessity of an approved Rotation of Crops in the Cotton States. — Similarity of Cotton and Turnip Husbandry. — City of Nashville. — Disorder of the State Finances. — Farming in Tennessee.— Fallacy in the question of Free v. Slave Labour. — Conclusions as to the Prospects of Cotton Culture. Page 266

Chapter XXXIX

Concluding Remarks Page 275 i Index Page THE SOUTHERN STATES SINCE THE WAR. CHAPTEE I. Introduction : General Subjects of Inquiry. [Washington — October 23.] I purpose, in a not too hurried tour of the Southern States, to give some account of their condition under the new social and political system introduced by the civil war. I shall endeavour to collect such notes of the progress of their cotton plantations, of the state of their labouring population and of their industrial enterprises, as may help the reader to a safe opinion of their means and prospects of development. It will no doubt also fall to me to give such information of their natural resources, railways, and other public works, as may Lend to show to what extent they are fitted to become a profitable field of enlarged immigration, settlement, and foreign trade.

It is a prevailing idea on both sides of the Atlantic that the Southern States are likely to make vast progress in the next ten or twenty years, and it must be matter of common interest to see, by a near though brief view, how far this idea is supported by their actual circumstances. The production of cotton is the chief material interest in the Southern States. It is the supply of cotton wool they have yielded, and may be made to yield, which gives them so powerful a hold on the attention of the manufacturing interests of the world. But while I shall make close observation of the state and prospects of cotton culture in the. South, I must guard this inquiry against all supposed intention of trying to affect the current price of cotton, or of making guesses at the crop of the coming year or the next.

Such questions are discussed in a thousand quarters, and from every possible point of view, with a keenness and intelligence that no single individual could hope to rival. My inquiry will be one of a more general, though at the same time, perhaps, of a somewhat deeper and more per manent character. The desirable end is that the Southern fc [CH. I.

Introduction

. States, in due course, should produce two, five, or tenfold the quantity of cotton they have yielded any year since the war. It is probable that only through a reduction of price can any such expansion take place. A few cents per lb. may decide whether the looms of Lancashire are to be half idle, to work full time, or to be increased in power and number with a rapidity that would speedily overtake the largest crops which America and other cotton regions of the world might produce. But whatever the possible demand for cotton-cloth may be were it only cheap enough, and whatever the manufacturing resources of Great Britain, it is clear that the growers of cotton will not pro duce increased crops save on terms which, in the whole circum stances of their agriculture, will yield them a satisfactory profit, and that the two interests thus involved can only move forward in harmony and in step with each other.

The question of a larger supply and lower price of cotton resolves itself practically into a question of greater skill of culture, greater efficiency and economy of labour, better handling in all respects of the whole agricultural resources of farms and plantations, whereby the necessary profit may accrue from the larger quantity of cotton produced at the same cost. This is a problem which has been solved satisfactorily in nearly every department of industry. It is a problem which the Southern planters have to solve, not only in competition with one another, but in competition with other cotton-growing countries which now occupy a much higher position in cotton supply than before the American civil war, and which, though not so capable in some respects as the Southern States, have peculiar advantages of their own — such as cheap labour and notions of profit quite un-American — that have kept them steaddy for years, and may keep them permanently, as effective competitors in this branch of production.

It may be well, while on this point, to give the relative proportions of cotton supply in Great Britain during the three years following the close of the American War : — COTTON IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM IN BALES.1 1S66. 1867. 1868. American 1,162,740 1,225,690 1,262,060 Brazil 407,650 437,210 636,807 Egypt 167,450 181,170 188,689 Turkey, &c 32,770 16,990 12,758 West India, &c 111,830 129,020 100,651 Surat 1,206,660 1,095,440 1,038,925 Madras 294,370 163,400 243,949 Bengal 346,730 249,910 169,198 China and Japan 18,840 1,940 3,749,040 3,500,770 3,660,127 Exports from U.S. to all countries 1,548,000 1,553,000 1,656,000 1 John Pender and Co.'s " Statistics of Trade." CH. I.] GENERAL SUBJECTS OF INQUIRY. 3 So that the total exports of cotton to all countries from the United States have for these years been less than half the cotton of all countries imported into the United Kingdom; whde of the British imports of cotton the United States have contributed less than India alone, after making allowance for their somewhat heavier bales.

It is important to note in connection with these facts that Great Britain retains for her own factories but a moiety of the cotton she imports from her possessions in India: while she now re-exports a smaller proportion of her shipments from the United States than in former times. Thus, of the total Indian exports in 1868 the Continent took 720,000 bales, or 4673 per cent., and Great Britain retained 821,000 bales, or 5327 per cent. In the same year Great Britain exported only 197,000 bales of American cotton. Whether the cotton of India be worked up in France and Germany and other Continental countries, or in Great Britain, it enters equally into competition with the cotton of the Southern States. But the fact that Great Britain parts so largely with the cotton of India in favour of American proves • the identity of interest which subsists betwixt her manufacturers and the growers of the United States.

If cotton is to be the chief staple of the South, and if by its extended production she is not only to restore her prosperity but to develop her vast resources to an extent hitherto unknown, it is only through the instrumentality of the cotton manufactures of England and Scotland that the process can be carried out. The cotton trade of the United Kingdom leans to American cotton. It is the United Kingdom which has its hand on the fabrics, the markets, and all the mechanical, artistic, and commercial resources by which the produce of the Southern plantations can find a profitable outlet. The British merchants and manufacturers say they can take an indefinitely increasing quantity of American cotton, but it must be produced at softening rather than hardening prices, since every substantial advance in value at once checks in all the markets of the world the profitable consumption of cotton goods.

If the South cannot meet these conditions, the progress of British manufacturing industry will be so far retarded. If the British manufacturers cannot extend their operations at the price necessary to produce the raw material, the progress of the South, so far as it depends on the growth of cotton, wdl be retarded also. Such is the equal disability which the question of cotton supply imposes on both sides, and there does not appear to be the slightest room for any misunderstanding. There are questions at issue in the Southern States worthy of investigation, which, however closely bound up in the com- B [ch. I. 4

INTRODUCTION.

. mercial problem, have also a moral significance of the highest human interest. The emancipation of four millions of negro slaves is in itself a revolution of which the world has seldom seen the like, either in magnitude, in suddenness and com pleteness, in the desolation of war amidst which it was accomplished, or in the influence of its ulterior results on the future, of mankind. In contemplating such an event one is raised above commercial interests to the borders of the divine and the religious in human destiny. To observe the effect of such a total change of personal standing and social rela tions on the character, the industry, the sense of responsibility, and general habits of the negroes — how well or ill they adapt themselves to their new conditions of life, and whether they are likely, as free people, to rise in dignity and prosperity, or to stumble downward into deeper physical and social degradation. — must be acknowledged to be matter of more than merely com mercial interest.

Yet, in such a line of inquiry there is obviously the key to the immediate future industrial condition of the Southern States. In its economic bearings, it is the question of the relative value and efficiency of slave and free labour in the South, with negroes as the labourers, so often contested in theory, but now put to the test of practical experiment. The five years that have elapsed since the war cannot be expected to have solved this question, worth so many years of valiant trial and endeavour. But it may be* discovered wThether, so far, there be signs of that success of free negro labour so much to be desired, or of that failure so often feared. Nor can it be much less interesting to see how the white population of the South, more especially the owners of slave property, are bearing themselves under the new system.

They were doubly crushed— crushed by a war in which they engaged with reckless bravery, and crushed under the fall of a system of servile labour with which their wealth and fortune, the cultivation and existence of their estates, were so closely intertwined that to destroy it seemed to be utter ruin. The mettle of the Southern people is thus put to a severe triaL If the well-doing and well-being of the emancipated negroes would be gratifying to every benevolent feeling of the human heart, a course of fresh energy and enterprise on the part of the white population of the South would be honourable to the courage and resource of the superior race. Are they throwing off all lethargy and despondency, and exerting themselves with hearty resolve and enlightened effort to budd up the prosperity of the country on a new and more stable basis ?

What improvements have been made in the system of cultivation, and in the means of economising labour aud fertilising the sod, to compen sate the lost profits of slavery? And to what extent does Federal legislation aid and encourage, or hinder and discourage, CH. I.] GENERAL SUBJECTS OF INQUIRY. 5 the freed labourers and the owners and occupiers of land in the South to accomplish the great work which they are called upon to do ? If taxation be necessarily heavy, is it levied with equity and justice ? Does the tariff give fair play to the agricultural industry of the South and West, or, in being made more consistent with the just interests of these great sections of the Union, may it become more consistent with the interests of the whole American people ? 1 am, indicating the questions which must occupy any investigation of the condition of the Southern States, and do not know that I have nearly exhausted them.

It would be vain to think that a definite and conclusive reply could be given to so many queries ; but as they have all been more or less keenly canvassed by an extremely intelligent and energetic popidation, and are amenable to facts, it may be possible to throw some light on a subject so deeply interesting. It is mani fest that great caution will have to be observed against too hasty conclusions. I shad have, in the first instance, to describe simply, and to collect facts and corroborations, and allow evidence to accumulate, before attempting to arrive at results. It must be said that, so far as the production of cotton goes, the South is giving proof of gradual recovery from the exhaus tion and disorganization of the war. It may be wrong to rest on cotton as the sole test of Southern prosperity.

Yet, as cotton is the chief product of the South, it is a good index, and it may be wed, as evidence of the progress made under free labour and of what had been done under the slave system, to put on record here the crops in the fodowing years : — UNDER SLAVE LABOUR.! Bales. 1858-9 4,019,000 1859-60 4,861,000 1860-1 3,850,000 UNDER FREE LABOUR.2 1866 1,900,000 1867 2,340,000 1868 2,380,000 The crop of 1869 shows a further increase, and has been stated unofficially to have been fully 3,000,000 bales ; whde the crop of this season promises a much, larger annual increase than any year since the war. On the other hand, there are some unfavour able symptoms in the Southern States. There is not only much political agitation, which may be sound and unavoidable enough, but there are signs of disaffection to Federal rule, and occasional outbreaks of violence, engendered apparently by fierce party i Report of B. F. Nourse, United States Commissioner to Paris Exposi tion of 1867. 3 Department of Agriculture, Report, 1868. [CH. I. 6

INTRODUCTION.

. hatred, that may be of smaU moment in presence of returning prosperity, but, if spreading or long-continued, cannot fad to react unfavourably on the material interests of the country, and require to be taken into account. It may be added in these introductory remarks that I did not leave home without recommendations and facilities of access to the best information in the principal Southern States ; and that I have also cordiady to acknowledge the courtesy of the heads of various departments of the Administration at Washington. With respect to the census returns, I must own a certain degree of disappointment. A census of the whole United States is taken, by Act of Congress, at the close of every decennial period. Many of the States also take a decennial census within their respective bounds, and so order it in point of time as to make it fall in the middle term of the decennial period of the Union census.

Had this outline been filled up, there would have been a return of the population of the United States in 1860, when the war was just beginning ; again in 1865, when the war had just closed ; and now in 1870, when five years of peace have followed five years of sanguinary intestine strife. But a census is not taken, probably cannot be taken, in the United States, even in time of peace, with the swiftness and accuracy of the smaller though more densely peopled areas of European countries. There are consequently both blanks and delays in the census returns of the United States, and I may not derive so much advantage from this source as I anticipated. Still, incidental advantages and disadvantages apart, the period at least is not illchosen for the purpose I have set be fore me ; and, considering the magnitude of the subject and its numerous ramifications, the utmost any writer can well hope or promise to do, is, while keeping a steady eye on the more im portant practical questions at issue, to convey such knowledge of the country and such means of judgment as may be gathered only by personal travel and observation.

CHAPTER II.

Mount Vernon. — Washington's life as a Planter.— The Woods of Virginia. — Aspect of the Country from Acquia Creek to Richmond. — Agricultural Divisions of Virginia. — Their general Characteristics. [Richmond, Va. — Oct. 26 to Nov. 3.] Before proceeding from the American capital southward into Virginia, I could not deny myself the pleasure of a visit to the ancient homestead of Washington, whose historic figure and noble character are ever present to the mind at the quiet city in which the Piepublic has not unwisely established its seat of government. The pdgrimage to Mount Vernon is easily accomplished. A sail down the Potomac is almost as delightful as a sad on one of the Highland lochs of the Clyde. The scenery, indeed, is neither bold nor picturesque, but is well de fined, and in many of its features beautiful.