Religion in America; or, An account of the origin, relation to the sate, and present condition of the evangelical churches in the United States. With notices of the unevangelical denominations

Front matter

tihxavy of t:he t:heolo3ical ^tminavy

PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY

Prof. V/.P. Armstronp:, D..D, BR 515 .B31 1856 Baird, Robert, 1798-1863 Religion in America

Preface

A FEW words respecting the circumstances which have led to the preparation and publication of this voliune, seem appropriate byway of Preface.

In the year 1835, at the instance of several distinguished Christian gentlemen of his native land, the author visited the Continent of Europe for the prosecution of certain religious and philanthropic objects ; and during the twenty years which have since elapsed he has resided much in Europe, and traveled in every country in it. In the course of these journeys the author's engagements introduced him to the acquaintance of a large number of influential persons, belonging to almost all professions and stations in society. Among them were many who rank high in their respective countries for enlightened piety, zeal, and usefulness. From such persons innumerable inquiries were addressed to him, sometimes by letter, but oftener in conversation, respecting his native country, and especially respecting its religious institutions. To meet the wishes of an illustrious individual* in France, whom God has called from the scene of her activity on earth to Himself, he wrote a small work on the Origin and Progress of Unitarianism in the United States.f

But that little work, while it so far satisfied curiosity on «ne subject, seemed but to augment it in regard to others ; so that, without neglecting what was, by others as well as himself, deemed a manifest duty, the author could not but accede to the earnest request of highly valued friends in Germany, Sweden, France, and Switzer-

* The late Duchess de Broglie.

f This work was published in Paris in ISST, under the title of "L^TJnion de TEglise avec I'Etat dans la Nouvelle Angleterre."

vi PREFACE.

land, in Tvriting a work as full as the subject might require, upon the Origin, History, Economy, Action, and Influence of Religion in the United States. This task he endeavored to accompUsh in the summer of 1842, while residing in the city of Geneva, in Switzerland. In the autumn of the year following, this work was published in Scotland, where it was introduced to the Christian public by the Ilev. Drs. Welsh, Cunningham, and Buchanan, in a recommendatory notice, which the reader wiU find appended to this Preface. In the course of two or three years the work was translated into French, German, Swedish, and Dutch, and obtained a wide circulation on the Continent, as Avell as in the British Isles.*

On his return to the United States in the autumn of 1 843, the author was induced to revise the work and bring out an American edition — a measure which he had not originally contemplated. In doing this, he at first thought of abridging it, inasmuch as it contained many things ^nth which, though they were indispensable in a work prepared to make known our reUgious economy to the people of Europe, and especially of the Continent, our countrymen might be supposed to be sufficiently acquainted. But he yielded to the judgment of valued friends, and among them the esteemed pubhshers, who preferred to see the work brought out in the form in which it was written, as more likely, on the whole, to be instructive and useful. Accordingly, it was published in the spring of 1844, and gained an extensive circulation at home as well as abroad.

At the suggestion of several friends, residing in difierent parts of the country, the author has been led to revise the work in the most careful manner, and bring it down, in all its details, to the present time, or rather to the year 1855. To do this has been no easy matter. Every st-^ntence has been read, and almost every figure has been changed. This has been rendered inevitable by the growth of our country, and the progress of all our religious bodies, and of our religious and benevolent societies. No one who has not looked into the subject attentively is likely to be aware of the immense changes that have taken place with us during the last twelve years — the

* The author would gratefully mention the fact, that James Douglass, Esq. (of Cavers), so well known for hia numerous and able writings, did much to promote the circulation of this work in France.

PREFACE. Vll

northern boundary of Oregon defined, and the North-eastern Question settled ; Texas, New Mexico, and California annexed ; Florida, Iowa, Wisconsin, Texas, and California received as States, enlarging the constellation of our Republic from twenty-six to thirty-one ; the Territories of Minnesota, Utah, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Kansas, and Nebraska fonned, and the " Indian Teri-itory" marked out ; the boundless gold mines of California possessed, and the rapid peopling of the shores of the Pacific ; the increase of our population by at least eight millions, including the influx of at least two millions of foreigners ; and the vast augmentation of the wealth of the nation, and the expansion of its commerce, until its tonnage now exceeds that of any other country in the world !

Few readers can form an idea of the modifications which it has been necessary to make in the statistics of this book. What progress have our churches and reUgious societies made within the brief period of twelve years ! This progress has been fully equal to that of the Material Interests of the country in the same time. For this we can not be too grateful. It has been an eventful period. The war with Mexico, 1846-48, and the almost overwhelmmg immigration of people from the Old World, were weU calculated to try the strength of our political institutions and of our religious economy. But the crisis, so far as these questions are concerned, is over. It was well met by the development of such influences as the occasion demanded.

It will be found that within the last twelve years— 1844-55, inclusive— the number of churches, ministers, and commimicants in every branch of the great evangelical body of Chi'istians among us has increased, and in all, except a very few of the smallest, that increase has been great. The same is true of our religious societies ; the amount of their receipts, and of the number of their missionaries and other laborers at home and abroad, have been greatly augmented. To God be the praise.

The reader will fijid that while a large amount of new matter has been introduced, and the statistics brought down to a date as recent as possible, the form of the work remains unchanged. It still has the aspect of a work written for those who know but little about our religious economy and its workuigs. This, perhaps, will be foimd no

Vm PREFACE.

disadvantage in the case of those who desire to know well the religious state and prospects of our country — a subject about which, it is apprehended, many of our OAvn people are not as weU informed as they ought to be.

While the form of the work remains as it was, the author trusts that the reader will find the spirit to be the same. He has endeavored to treat the subject to which it relates at once with fidelity and with heartfelt charity. The obligations of Truth and Duty required at his hands, however, that every denomination that professes to be a religious one should be spoken of as it is. He could not place the Non-Evangelical bodies in the same category with the Evangelical Churches, that is, the Churches which hold the great doctrines of the Reformation. He has honestly endeavored to set forth the principles, practice, and statistics of all.

The author has made what he deems to be, on the whole, a just classification of the various branches of the evangelical body of Churches. He is well aware that there are portions of some of these bodies — as he has indicated in the proper places — about which there has been no little solicitude ; but even among these, whose error has chiefly arisen from attaching an imdue importance to some rite, or to some mode of worship, or some form of church government, he is happy to believe there is a gradual return to sound views and a safer action ; while all would answer the inquiries after salvation in the ipsissima verba of the Saviour and His Apostles. As to the results of our religious economy, and the working of the " Voluntary Principle" among us, as set forth in the Conclusion of the work, the author has not a doubt that they are correct — substantially so at all events — and certainly they are such as both to astonish and delight every friend of evangelical religion in all lands.

The reader will perceive that the work is divided into Eight Books, to which is added a Summary or Conclusion.

The First Book is devoted to preliminary remarks intended to throw light on various points, so that readers the least conversant with American history and society may, without difficulty, imder- Btand what follows. Some of these preliminary remarks may be thought at first not very pertinent to the subject in hand, but

PREFACE. IX

reasons will probably be found for changing this opinion before the reader comes to the end of the volume.

The Second Book treats of the early colonization of the country now forming the United States ; the reUgious character of the first European colonists — their ecclesiastical institutions — and the state of the Churches when the Revolution took place by which the colonies became independent of the mother country.

The Third Book treats of the changes involved in and consequent upon that event — the influence of those changes — the character of the civil governments of the States — and the relations subsisting between those Governments and the Churches.

The Fourth Book exhibits the operations of the Voluntary System in the United States, and the extent of its influence.

The Fifth Book treats of the discif)line of the Churches — the character of American preaching — and the subject of revivals.

The Sixth Book is occupied with brief notices of the evangeUcal denominations in the United States — their ecclesiastical polity and discipline — the doctrines peculiar to each — their history and prospects.

The Seventh Book treats in like manner of the non-evangelical sects.

The Eighth Book shows what the Churches are doing in the way of sending the Gospel to other lands.

The author renews the expression of his thanks to the many friends who aided hun in many ways, in the original preparation of this work. Without naming them all, he may without impropriety express his obligations to the Rev. Drs. De Witt, Hodge, Goodrich, Bacon, Durbin, Anderson, Emerson, Schmucker, Berg, and to the |j Rev. Messrs. Tracy and Allen.

For the important chapter on Revivals, the reader as well as the author is indebted to the Rev. Dr. Goodrich, who has long been a distinguished professor in Yale College, than whom no man probably is more capable of treating the subject in a judicious and philosophical manner.

To the late Hon. Henry Wheaton, who so long and so ably represented the United States at the courts of Denmark and Prussia, and to Robert Walsh, Esq., who has, for twenty years and more, so

X PKEFACE.

well made known in Europe the institutions of our country and vindicated its honor, the author is under obligations for many valuable suggestions, and much important information.

Deeply sensible that the work is far from perfect, he commends it to the keeping of Him without whose blessing nothing that is good can be accomplished.

New York, Mav, 1856.

RECOMMENDATORY NOTICE

KEY. DES. DAVID WELSH, WILLIAM CUNNINGHA3.I, AND ROBEET BUCHANAN.

Hayixg had an oijportunity of perusing a considerable portion of the following work while it was passing through the press, w^e have no hesitation in complying with a request made to us by the publishers, to recommend it to the attention of the British public. The author is an esteemed minister of the American Presbyterian Church, and has had full access to the best and most authentic sources of information on the various subjects which he discusses, while his personal acquaintance with the state of religion and the condition of the Churches, both in Britain and on the Continent, has afforded him peculiar advantages in selecting the materials with regard to the state of religion, and the efforts made for its promotion in America, which it might be most interesting and useful for the British churches to possess and to examine. The work contains a very large amount of interesting and valuable information with regard to the origin and the history of the different religious bodies in the United States, and their doctrines, constitution, organization, and agency, their relations with each other, and the character and results of the efforts they are making to promote religion in their own country and in other lands. It supplies a larger amount of information upon all these important topics than any work with which we are acquainted ; and there can be no reasonable doubt that the information it contains is well fitted to encourage the efforts of all

XU RECOMMENDATORY NOTICE.

Churches which are similarly situated to those in America, and to afford some important practical lessons in the prosecution of those great objects which all Christian Churches, in every variety of external circumstances, are bound to aim at. We do not agree in all the opinions which the esteemed author has expressed, but we admire the judicious, benevolent, candid, and catholic spirit by which the work is pervaded. We regard the publication of this work in our own country as a boon conferred upon the British Churches, not merely because it gives a fiiller view than could anywhere else be obtained of " ReUgion in America," but also because it is well fitted to promote a spii-it of love and kindness among the Churches of Christ, and to diffuse more widely the benefits which may be derived from a judicious use of the experience of the American Churches, in the peculiar circumstances in which, in Providence, they have been placed, and in connection with the peculiar way in which the Head of the Church has been pleased to make them instrumental in accomplishing His gracious purposes. Whatever diversities of opinion may prevail in this country on some important points connected with the condition and prospects of religion in America, no candid man wiU deny that religion has there been placed in circiunstances, and has appeared in aspects, which are well worthy of serious consideration, from a judicious investigation of which, important practical lessons are to be learned. And on this ground we hail with much satisfaction the publication of a work which contains a very largo amount of information upon this interesting and important subject, and cordially recommend it to the perusal of British Christians.

David Welsh, William Cunningham, Robert Buchanan.

Edinburg, September, 1843.

Chap. XIII. — A brief Geographical Notice of the United States 74

Chap. XIV. — Obstacles which the Voluntary System in supporting Religion has had to encounter in America: 1. From the erroneous Opinions on the Subject

of Religious Economy which the Colonists brought with them 77

Chap. XV. — Obstacles which the Voluntary System has had to encounter in America : 2. From the Newness of the Country, the Thinness of the Population, and the unsettled state of Society 80

Chap. XVI. — Obstacles which the Voluntary System has had to encounter in

America : 3. From Slavery 83

Chap. XVII. — Obstacles which the Voluntary System has had to encounter in America : 4. From the vast Emigration from Foreign Countries 86

Book II. The Colonial Era

Chap. I. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Founders of New England 90 Chap. II.— Religious Character of the Founders of New England. — Plymouth Colony 96

XIV CONTENTS.

Faob

Chap. III. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Founders of New England.— Colony of Massachusetts Bay 105

Chap. IV. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Founders of New England.— Colonics of Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine. — General Remarks 113

Chap. V. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Founders of the Southem States 122

Chap. VI. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Colonists of New York 129

Chap. VII. — ReUgious Character of the early Colonists. — Founders of New Jersey 135

Chap. VIII. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Founders of Delaware, at first called New Sweden 137

Chap. IX. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Founders of Pennsylvania 141

Chap. X. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Emigrants from "Wales. . 144

Chap. XI. — Religious Character of the early Colonists of America. — Emigrants from Scotland and Ireland 145

Chap. XII. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Huguenots from France 152

Chap. XIII — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Emigrants from Germany 162

Chap. XIV. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Emigrants from Poland 166

Chap. XV. — Religious Character of the early Colonists. — Emigrants from the Valleys of Piedmont 167

Chap. XVI. — Summary 168

Chap. XVII. — Relations between the Church and the Civil Power in the Colonies of America. — 1. In New England 171

Chap. XVIII. — Relations between the Church and the Civil Power in the Colonies.— 2. In the Southern and Middle Provinces 179

Chap. XIX. — The Influences of the Union of Church and State, as it formerly existed in America. — 1. In New England 185

Chap. XX.— The Influences of the Union of Church and State. — 2. In the Southern and Middle States 195

Chap. XXL— State of Religion during the Colonial Era -. 211

Book III. The National Era

Chap. I. — Effects of the Revolution upon Religion. — Changes to which it necessarily gave rise 207

, Chap. II.— The Dissolution of the Union of Church and State not effected by

the General Government, nor did it take place immediately 211

Chap. III. — Dissolution of the Union of Church and State in America, when and

^ how effected 213

^Chap. IV. — Effects of the Dissolution of the Union of Church and State in the

^ several States in which it once subsisted 228

Chap, V. — Whether the General Government of the United States has the Power to promote Religion 235

CONTENTS. XV

Paos

Chap. YI.-— Whether the Government of the United States may justly be called Infidel or Atheistical 240

Chap. VIL — The Government of the United States shown to be Christian by its Acts 243

Chap. VIIJ. — The Governments of the Individual States organized on the basis of Christianity 247

Chap. IX — The Legislation of the States shown to be in favor of Christianity . . 252

Chap. X. — The Legislation of the States often bears favorably, though incidentally, on the cause of Rehgion 255

Chap. XI. — In what cases the action of the Civil Authority may be directed in reference to Religion 258

Chap. X-II. — Review of the ground which we have gone over 261

Book IV. Thf Voluntary Principle In America ; Its Action And Influence

ivr. 1. —The Voluntary Principle the great Alternative. — ^The Nature and

Yaatness of its Mission 262

Chap. II. — Foundation of the Voluntary Principle to be sought for in the Charter and Habits of the People of the United States 265

Chap. III. — How Church Edifices are built in Cities and large Towns 268

Chap. IV. — ^How Church Edifices are built in New Settlements 271

Chap. V. — ^The Voluntary Principle developed. — How the Salaries of the Pastors are raised 275

Chap. VI. — How Ministers of the Gospel are brought forward, and how they

become settled Pastors 279

Chap. VII. — The Voluntary Principle developed in Home Missions. — American

Home Missionary Society 282

Chap. VIII. — Presbyterian Board of Domestic Missions, under the Direction of

the General Assembly 287

Chap. IX. — ^Home Mi^ons of the Episcopal, Baptist, and Reformed Dutch

Churches 291

Chap. X. — ^Home Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church 293

Chap. XI. — ^The Voluntary Principle developed. — Influence of the Voluntary

Prmciplo on Education. — Of Primary Schools 296

Chap. XII. — ^Grammar-schools and Academies 300

Chap. XIIL— Colleges and Universities .303

Chap. XIV.— Sunday-schools — American Sunday-school Union, and other Sun-

day-scl.ool Societies 308

Chap. XV — Bible-classes 315

Chap. XV L — Maternal Societies 316

Chap. XVIL— Education Societies 318

Chap. XVIIL— Theological Seminaries 322

Chap. XIX. — Efibrts to diffuse the Sacred Scriptures 334

Chap. XX. — Associations for the Circulation and Publication of Religious Tracts

and Books 336

Chap. XXI.-^The ReUgious Literature of the United States 341

XVI CONTENTS.

Paob

Chap. XXII. — Efibrts to promote the Religious and Temporal Interests of Seamen 346

Chap. XXIII. — Of the Influences of the Voluntary Principle in reforming existing Evils. — Temperance Societies 348

Chap. XXIV. — The American Prison Discipline Society 351

Chap. XXV. — Sundry other Associations 354

Chap. XXVI. — Influence of the Voluntary Principle on the Beneficent Institutions of the Country- 356

Chap. XXVII. — Influence of the V^oluntary Principle on the Beneficent Institutions of the Country. — Asylum for the Insane 359

Chap. XXVIII. — Influence of the Voluntary Principle on the Beneficent Institutions of the Country. — Asylums for the Deaf and Dumb 361

Chap. XXIX. — Influence of the Voluntary Principle on the Beneficent Institutions of the Country. — Asylum for the Blind 363

Chap. XXX. — Concluding Remarks on the Development of the Voluntary Principle 365

B 0 0 K V.

THE CHURCH AND THE PULPIT IN AMERICA.

Chapter I. General Notice Of North America

The configuration of the Continent of North America, at first view, presents several remarkable features. Spreading out like a partially opened fan, with its apex toward the south, its coasts, in advancing northward, recede from each other with considerable regularity of proportion and correspondence, imtil, from being separated by only sixty miles at the Isthmus of Darien, they diverge to the extent of four thousand five hundred miles ; the eastern coast pursuing a north-easterly, and the western a north-westerly direction.

Parallel to these coasts, and at almost equal distances from them, there are two ranges of mountains. The eastern range, called the Allegheny, or Appalachian, runs from south-west to north-east, at an average distance of one hundred and fiifty miles from the Atlantic. Its length is usually estimated at nine hundred miles.* Its greatest width, which is in Virginia and Pennsylvania, is about one hundred and twenty nules. Rather a system than a range of mountains, it is composed of parallel ridges, generally maintaining a north-east and south-west direction. But as it advances toward its northern extremity, and passes through the New England States, it loses much of its continuity, and gradually runs off into a chain of nearly isolated mountains. The southern extremity by degees sinks down

* This 13 the length of the chain considered as a continuous range, from the northern parts of Georgia and Alabama to the State of New York. Taken in the extensive sense in which it is spoken of in the text, the entire range exceeds 1500 English miles.

20 PKELIMINAEY REMAEKS, [bOOK I.

into the hills of Georgia, unless, indeed, we may consider it as disappearing in the low, central line of the peninsula of Florida. The north-eastern end terminates in the ridges of Nova Scotia. The whole of this range is within the limits of the United States, excepting that part of it which stretches into the Biitish Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. We may remark, in passing, that although apparently this mountain range separates the waters which flow into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the Mississippi and the St. LaAvrence, such is not really the case. The mountains simply stand, as it were, on the plateau or elevated plain on which those waters have their origin. Rising in the immediate vicinity of each other, and often interlocking, these streams are not in the least affected in their course by the mountains, the gaps and valleys of which seem to have been made to accommodate them, instead of their accommodating themselves to the shape and position of the mountains. In a part of its north-eastern extension, this range of mountains seems to detach itself entirely from the plain where those streams have their source, and lies quite south of it, so that the streams that fall into the Atlantic, in making their Avay to the south, as it were, cut through the mountain range, in its entire width.

When first discovered by Europeans, and for a century and more afterward, the long and comparatively narrow strip of country between the Allegheny range and the Atlantic Ocean was coA''ered with an unbroken forest. The mountains, likewise, up to their very summits, and the valleys that lay between them, were clad with woods. Nothing deserving the name of a field, or a prairie, was anywhere to be seen.

On the western side of the continent, as has been stated, another range of mountains runs parallel to the coast of the Pacific Ocean. This range is a part of the immense system of mountains rimning from Cape Horn throughout the entire length of the continent, and seems as if intended, like the backbone in large animals, to give it unity and strength. It is by far the longest in the world ;* and bearing difierent names in difterent parts of its extent, it is the Andes in South America, the Cordilleras in Guatimala and Mexico, and the Rocky Mountaiiisf in the north.

The long, and, in many parts, wide strip of land between the Oregon Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, is claimed, on the north, by

* The entire length of this range is estimated to bo 9000 English miles.

f The proper name of this portion of the rang© is Oregon, a word of Indian origin, and which, whatever may bo its original signification, is a much better name than that which this range has so long borne, and which has nothing distinctive about it — ^for all mountains are rocky.

Chap. I,] General Notice Of North America, 21

Russia ; on the south, by Mexico ; and in the middle, by England and the United States.

Between these two ranges of mountains — the Allegheny on the east and the Oregon on the west — lies the immense central valley of North America, wider in the north than toward the south, and reaching from the Northern Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. It is the most extensive valley in the world, and is composed of two vast sections, separated by a zigzag line of table-land. This ridge, which is of no great elevation, and which commences near the forty-second degree of north latitude on one side, while it terminates near the forty-ninth degree on the other, stretches across from the Allegheny system to the Oregon, and thus separates the waters that flow southward into the Gulf of Mexico, from those flowing in the opposite direction into the northern seas. Tlius the one section of this great valley inclines to the south, the other gently, nay, almost imperceptibly, descends toward the north. The former is drained mainly by one great river and its numerous branches, called, in the pompous language of the aborigines of the country, the Mississippi, or Father of Waters. The latter is drained by the St. Lawi-ence, falling into the Northern Atlantic ; by the Albany, and other streams, falling into Hudson's Bay ; and by M'Kenzie's River, and others, which fall into the Arctic Ocean.

These great sections of this immense valley differ much in character. The northern possesses a considerable extent of comparatively elevated and very fertile land in its southern part : while toward the far north it subsides to a low, monotonous, swampy plain, little elevated above the level of the ocean ; and, by reason of its marshes, bogs, and inhospitable cUmate, is almost as iminhabitable as it is incapable of cultivation. The southern section — more commonly called the Valley of the Mississippi — terminates on the low, marshy coast of the Gulf of Mexico ; but, with the exception of the part of it which Ues on the upper streams of the Red River and La Platte, it everywhere abounds in fertile land, covered, for the most part, even yet, with noble forests, or adorned with beautiful prairies. The St. Lawrence is the great river of the northern section or basin, though not without a rival in the M'Kenzie's River ; while its southern rival, the Mississippi, flows almost alone m its vast domain. There are, however, the Alabama, and a few small rivers, on its left, and the Sabine, the Brazos, the Rio Grande, and some others of lesser note, on its right. The St. Lawrence boasts a length of more than two thousand miles. That of the Mississippi exceeds two thousand five hundred ; and if the Missouri be considered the main upper branch, as it ought to be, then it may fairly claim the honor of " drag-

22 PKELIMIKART REMARKS. [bOOK I.

ging its vast length, with many a fold," through more than four thousand miles. But, though exceeded by the Mississippi in length, the St. Lawrence clearly has the advantage in depth and noble expansion toward its mouth, being na\'igable for the largest ships of war as high as Quebec, three hundred and forty miles ; and for large merchant vessels to Montreal, one hundred and eighty miles further ; whereas the Mississippi does not reach the medium width of a mile, nor a depth in the shallow places of the central channel, when the stream runs low, of more than fifteen feet ; so that, excepting when in flood, it is not navigable by ships of five hundred tons for more than three hundred miles. The St. Lawrence, and all the other considerable rivers of the northern basin, pass through a succession of lakes, some of vast extent, by which the floods caused by melting snows and heavy rains — which otherwise, by rushing down in the spring, and accumulating vast masses of ice in the yet unopened channel of its lower and northern course, would spread devastation and ruin over the banks — are collected in huge reservoirs, and permitted to flow ofi" gradually during the summer months. Wonderful display of wisdom and beneficence in the arrangements of Div-ine creation and providence ! But the Mississippi, as it flows into the warmer regions of the south, needs no such pro\asion ; and hence, with the exception of a few small lakes connected with the head streams of the Upper Mississippi in the west, and one or two connected with the Allegheny, a branch of the Ohio, in the east, no lake occurs in the whole of the southern basin. Owing to this difference in these rivers, a sudden rise of three feet in the waters of the St. Lawrence would be more surprising than a rise of thirty feet in the Mississippi. But in order that the country which borders upon the latter may not be too much exposed to great and destructive inundation, the Creator has, in his wisdom, given to it a pecuUar configuration. The inclined plane which slopes down from the Oregon Mountains toward the east, is much wider than that sloping from the mountains on the opposite side. Hence the rivers from the western side of the valley have a much greater distance to traverse than those that drain the eastern slope, and the floods which they roll doAvn in the spring are, of course, proportionally later in reaching the Lower Mississippi. In fact, just as the floods of the Tennessee, the Cumberland, and the Ohio, have subsided, those of the Arkansas, the Missouri, and Upper Mississippi begin to appear. If these all came down at once, the Lower Mississippi, as the common outlet, by swelling to such an extent as to overflow its banks, would spread destruction far and wide over the whole Delta. Such a calamity, or, rather, something approaching to it, does occasionally occur ;