Three years in North America.

Preface

If the following pages have any merit, it consists merely in their conveying, in plain language, a faithful and candid representation of the facts which the Author observed and noted in the places where they presented themselves. He has not been accustomed to write for the press, and makes no pretensions to literary attainments. The observations which he made in America are now given to the public, solely from a conviction that they furnish a greater variety of minute details regarding the every-day habits, and the social condition of the people, in those parts of the United States which he visited, than can be found in any similar publication

a 3 vi

PREFACE.

of recent date. The statements and documents with which the reader is here presented will also tend, it is to be hoped, to expose the mistakes of some late writers, who seem to have visited these States under the influence of strong prejudices and preconceived opinions. Though the Author travelled wholly free, as he thinks, from any such biases, and with an earnest desire to inform himself aright as to the matters to which he directed his attention, he cannot but be sensible that a stranger must occasionally fall into errors, when writing of a country of such vast extent, where the customs of the people, and many of the institutions, not only differ essentially from those with which he has previously been acquainted, but are in fact very different in the United States themselves.

The Author farther hopes that his Notes will be found to contain such information, geographical and historical, as travellers generally wish to possess respecting a country

PREFACE.

vii which they may have occasion to visit, as well as hints, which may be of some value to emigrants from Europe to the United States, — especially to the State of Illinois, and the other parts of the great valley of the Mississippi. Perhaps, too, these pages may not be without use in directing future travellers from Europe as to the route they should follow, in order to see the objects of greatest interest in the United States, or in enabling them to make those inquiries to which their peculiar pursuits have reference.

The form of a Journal, preserving dates, and occasionally referring to individuals, where that could be done without any breach of delicacy or propriety, is adhered to, as affording the best evidence of accuracy and authenticity, as well as possessing other advantages. Several of the most popular American writers on Great Britain have followed this course. It affords in many cases data, from which the public may form an opinion of the probable viii

PREFACE.

correctness of the statements laid before them, and the weight to be attached to them.

The Author has made great use of Mr. Darby's View of the United States, and of Mr. Timothy Flint's Geography and History of the Western States ; both of them valuable works, and very necessary companions for travellers in the countries described. He has also availed himself freely of the information contained in such other works as he could confide in ; particularly Count Marbois' very instructive History of Louisiana.

Owing to his distance from the press, and other circumstances, he fears that some blemishes of style may have been left uncorrected ; but if he shall be thought to have succeeded in his main objects, he will not feel much disturbed by criticisms bearing only upon such defects.

London, December, 1832.

Contents

OF

VOL. I.

CHAPTER I. Fro7n IGth July to 23d August, 1828

PAGE

Voyage from Liverpool to New York, and arrival at New York 1 CHAPTER II.

From 23d to 28th August.

Bay, Harbour, and City of New York — Buildings — Customs — Manners 14

CHAPTER III. August, 1828

Voyage in Steam-boat North America to Albany — River Hudson — Steam Navigation 34

CHAPTER IV. 29tk August

Albany — Erie Canal 50

Chapter V

Fj'om 30th August to '[st September. Journey from Albany to Auburn — Canal-boat — Stage 64

CONTEXTS.

CHAPTER YI.

2d September, 1828.

PAGE

State-Prison at Auburn — Details — Want of such a Prison in Britain 86

CHAPTER YII.

Fro7n 2d September to 9th September, Journey from Auburn by Cayuga and Seneca Lakes, Geneva, and Canandaigua, to Bufialo on Lake Erie 114

CHAPTER VIII.

Froj)i 9th to 17th September,

Journey from Bufialo to Falls of Niagara — Actions during the last War between the British and Americans near Niagara Falls — Canada — Lake Ontario 13G

CHAPTER IX.

From ITfh to 20th September.

Journey from Canada to Glen's Falls, near Saratoga Springs, in the State of New York — Lake Champlain — Lake George — High Sheriff* of the County of Warren 164

CHAPTER X.

From 27th September to ^\st October. Saratoga Springs — General Burgoyne's Campaign — Ballston Spa 189

CHAPTER XL

bih November, 1828.

General Election for the State of New York — Details of general Government, and of Elections 231

CONTENTS.

xi

CHAPTER XII.

November, 1829.

PAGE

State of Agriculture in New York State — Mr. Stimson's Farm 254

CHAPTER XIII.

From 2]st November, 1828, to March, 1829.

Journey from Ballston Spa to Albany, to the Village of the Shakers, to Northampton, and to Boston — Boston — Details — Scene of the Commencement of the American Revolution 282

CHAPTER XIV.

fVinter, 1829.

Schools — Free Schools — System of Education in Connecticut and New England — Number of Persons educated contrasted with number in Britain and Ireland — Judicial Proceedings at Boston—Trials for Libel 321

CHAPTER XV

From 20th April to 2d May, 1829.

Journey from Boston to New York by Providence, Hartford, and Newhaven, and Long Island Sound 357

CHAPTER XVI.

J ourney to Philadelphia — Miss Wright's Lectures — Naval Yard — Baltimore — Washington and Annapolis — Mount Vernon — Return to Vicinity of New York 370

Xll

CONTENTS.

^ CHAPTER XVII.

May, JuneyJuhj, August, and September, 1829.

PAGE

Excursions to Neighbourhood of New York — Staten Island — Camp-Meeting in Long Island — Pine Orchard- House — West Point Academy and Fort Putnam, &c. — Further Details of New York — New Rot hell e 400

CHAPTER XVIII.

September and October, 1829.

Excursion by Land along the East Side of the Hudson River from New York to Troy 455

CHAPTER XIX.

October, 1829.

Return by Land by the west side of the Hudson to New York, and New Rochelle * • • • 491

CHAPTER XX.

December and January, 1830.

Residence at Hoboken near New York — Details of New York and Vicinity .... e 513

THREE YEARS

IN

NORTH AMERICA.

Chapter I

Voyage from Liverpool to New York — Days of sailing of Packets — Passage Money — Passengers — Crew — Details — Gulf-stream — Arrival at New York — Pilot- Boat.

From I6ih July to 23c? August 1828.

I SHOULD pass over the five weeks' voyage from Liverpool to New York with very little notice, if I knew to what publication to direct those, who may be desirous, before undertaking the same voyage, to obtain the requisite information, respecting the sort of ship in which they must spend some time, the accommodation, the style of living, and similar details. I had looked in vain for explanations of this nature into some of the recent publications of travellers in America, but I was not even able to learn from them the days on which the regular packet ships from Liverpool to New York sail. I found, on reaching Liverpool, on 15th July, 1828, that, wind and weather serving, they depart

VOL. I. B

LIVERPOOL.

regularly from Liverpool and from New York on the 1st, 8th, 16th, and 24tli days of every month. The passage money from Liverpool to New York is thirty-five guineas, paid on agreeing for the passage, and includes every charge for provisions, wine, spirits, and liquor of all kinds. From New York to Liverpool the passage money is only thirty guineas ; the voyage to Europe, owing to the greater prevalence of westerly winds, and the favourable influence of the stream from the Gulf of Mexico, being made in the packet ships, on an average of voyages, in twenty-five, while the voyage to the westward generally occupies forty days.

We secured our passage, soon after our arrival at Liverpool, in the packet William Thomson, Captain George Maxwell, — a w^ell know^n ship, — Mathews, the comedian, having crossed the Atlantic in her, and celebrated her, and her captain and owners, on his stage. The packet ships are of the burden of from 400 to 500 tons, generally about 500 tons. I was surprised to be told at Liverpool, that the packet ships are all American built, and that British ships are generally a fourth more time at sea, in making this voyage, than Americans. The latter are sharper in the bows, and not so stout, and of course sail quicker than the former ; but the former, be it observed, will stand a harder knock, in case of collision, or of getting ashore. The British attend more to the capacity of the vessel to carry a large cargo, and to her stability, than to the rate at which she is to sail. At least so I was told at Liverpool, and had the information confirmed on the passage.

PASSENGERS.

We sailed in the forenoon of 16th July, towed out of the Mersey by a steam-boat, under the charge of a pilot, as far as the floating light at the mouth of the river. We were speedily summoned to luncheon, at which all the passengers appeared. There were fourteen of us, viz. in the ladies' cabin, a British officer on his way to Canada, his lady, and their female servant ; an unmarried English lady, on her way to visit a brother settled in the interior of the United States ; my wife, and myself ; and in the large cabin, six gentlemen resident in the United States, two of them natives of England, one South American, and one Scotch gentleman, who accompanied us. There were only two steerage passengers.

The cr^w, exclusive of the captain, consisted of two mates, the first mate, from the island of Nantucket, off the coast of New England, — a hardy and excellent seaman, and a good specimen of Yankee independence,— sixteen men and a boy, of various nations, English, Irish, American, Norwegian, Prussian, and French. The three stewards and two cooks were men of colour. Our total number was thus thirty-one.

There are sleeping places for thirty passengers in the cabins of the William Thomson, the length of the two cabins, which are thirty-one feet broad, being about sixty feet ; but the state rooms, as the sleeping closets are called, are too narrow, which is generally the case in packet and merchant ships. I should have given the same character to the beds, if I had not been told on board of our packet, that they are purposely B 2

REGULAR PACKETS.

contracted, to prevent accidents happening, by the inmates falling out of bed in a rolling sea. It is no less singular, than true, that, notwithstanding the obvious convenience of having regular packets across the Atlantic, no such establishment was set about for above 150 years after the di/scovery of America. The first packets sailed between Corunnaand the Havannah in 1764, and as soon as the American revolution was accomplished, monthly packets were established between New York and Havre de Grace. Now there are regular packets between various ports in the United States, and Liverpool, London, Hull, Belfast, Havre, &c.

No Custom-house examination of baggage or effects took place on our leaving Liverpool.

The wind blew from the south when we got out of the Mersey. Captain Maxwell, therefore, at once decided on proceeding by the north of Ireland. The northern channel is in some places narrow. The first mate had never passed through it ; and I found that the captain hardly quitted the deck, even during the night, till we were clear of it. Off Belfast, w^e hailed the ship Fabius, going into that port, after a voyage of only eighteen days from New York.

It was very fortunate that Captain Maxwell adopted the northern course, as we eventually had a far shorter passage than the ships w^hich left Liverpool with us, and for some days previously, that went by the South of Ireland. The wind for the first part of the voyage was favourable, and a fine breeze, so that we sailed at the rate of from seven to nearly nine knots an

DETAILS OF VOYAGE.

hour for the first two or three days. The first quarter of the passage, the whole distance being computed at about 3400 miles, was passed in six, and the second in nine days. Calms and contrary winds, fogs, and changes of weather, which prevail in crossing the Newfoundland bank and Gulf-stream, detained us at sea for twenty-three days longer. We were caught in two or three squalls, none of them very severe, lost a royal top-gallant-m^st when it was blowing fresh, and we were • carrying perhaps too much canvas; had our breakfast equipage tossed about one morning by a sea breaking into the cabin; and were for four or five days annoyed by the rolling of the vessel, occasioned by a contrary wind, which laid her so much on one side as to give some alarm to the ladies ; but I have witnessed far more unpleasant weather on a voyage between London and Leith, and been exposed to a more disagreeable swell during north-easterly gales, in the old fashioned Kingliorn ferry-boats of the Frith of Forth, than on this voyage across the great Atlantic. Many of the passengers had made the voyage again and again ; some of them in the same ship ; and they seemed all to agree in opinion, that, from April to October inclusive, it rarely happens that the weather is such as to cause much uneasiness to passengers in the packet ships, who are at all reasonable people, and not disposed to be frightened at their own shadows.

Captain Maxwell was most assiduous in his attentions to all, and made us feel quite at home from the first day of the voyage, treating us exactly as his B 3

LIBRARY.

guests, whom he wished to call for, and enjoy every good thing he had provided for us. He left it to the passengers to arrange the hours of meals; and they decided, that we should have breakfast at half-past eight, luncheon at twelve, diimer at four, and tea at seven. The table was excellent, — quite as good, in all respects, as at well-managed hotels in London or Edinburgh. Liquors of all kinds, port, sherry, Madeira, and claret, with champagne three or four times a week, and porter, cider, soda water, brandy, whisky, &c. without any other charge than the passage money. There was a cow on board, which supplied us with many luxuries ; and we had plenty of live stock to the very end of the voyage.

Captain Maxwell had provided a small library in the large cabin Jfor the use of the passengers. Reading and w^alking on deck occupied our forenoons. We generally spent about two hours at dinner. And in the evening, after a walk on deck, there was a rubber at whist for those who liked it. Some amusement was afforded by our daily stock exchange meetings for buying and selling tickets in a lottery, the prize in whicli was destined to the holder of the ticket, marked with the day of the month, on which we should receive the pilot, who was to conduct us through the channel to New York. We had each of us early in the voyage subscribed a small sum, and drawn two of thirty-two tickets, marked with one of sixteen days and nights, on which our arrival on the American coast was considered to be possible. The tickets were continually varying

MOTHER Carey's chickens.

in value, as the weather led us to expect a longer or shorter passage. Towards the end of the voyage, a calm, or contrary wind, occasioned a depression in value of one ticket, and the corresponding elevation of another to as great an extent as in other times, and in other funds, — Lord Rodney's victory, or the battle of Waterloo.

No occurrence of extraordinary interest befel us during the voyage ; but there were many new sights for those who had been little at sea previously.

We were, as I understand is usual, very generally followed for the sake of the garbage thrown from the ship, by many small birds, called, why I know not. Mother Carey's chickens. They are never observed to approach the shore, exchanging a homeward bound for an outward bound ship, on drawing near the land. It has never, I believe, been ascertained where they breed.

The Argonauta, or Nautilus, called by the sailors the Portuguese Man-of-war, was often seen by iis in fine weather. It is a sea snail, which possesses the faculty of swimming or diving. Its appearance, in sunshine, being of a light violet colour, is very beautiful. As soon as a storm commences, it draws into its shell, taking in as much water as will carry it to the bottom ; and on the approach of fine weather, reascends to the surface, putting up a small sail, and guiding its movements by its tail as a rudder.

We had very calm weather for a day or two, when passing the Newfoundland banks, and amused ourselves B 4

GULF-STREAM.

in fisliing. Some excellent cod were caught, and a greater supply obtained in exchange for salted pork, and other articles, from a Nova Scotia fishing smack, whose crew, with unshaven beards, were most barbarous-looking persons, ignorant of their longitude and latitude, and even of the day of the month and week.

Whales, porpoises, and sharks, were frequently in sight, and bore us company for a considerable way. The first mate, with great dexterity, harpooned one of the porpoises. The sharks were sometimes prevailed on to follow us by throwing a piece of meat occasionally overboard to them.

The winds were light and variable, and the weather sometimes foggy, at the period of our crossing the Gulf-stream, so that good opportunities occurred for observing its remarkable phenomena. Our approach to it was, as usual, foretold by weeds floating about the ship ; and soon afterwards the current of this great oceanic river, as Darby very properly styles it, and the change of temperature of the water of the ocean, from cold to heat, became sufficiently apparent to all. The current issuing from the southern part of the coast of Florida runs at the rate of about five miles an hour, decreasing in velocity in its progress to the north as it extends in breadth, and proceeding at a distance of from twenty to thirty leagues from the American shore, till it meets the Arctic currents from Davis's Straits, when its course is diverted to the east and south-east. Its breadth, of forty or fifty miles on the North American

AURORA BOREALIS.

coast, increases to about 160 leagues at the Azores, from which it runs by the Straits of Gibraltar, Madeira, and the coast of Africa, to about the latitude of Cape Verd, at which, mixing with the tropical current, it is carried to the west, and impelled by the trade wind, which always blows from east within the tropics, into the Gulf of Mexico, through the Caribbean Sea, and thence between Cuba and Yucatan. It then rushes into the Atlantic by the channel of Florida, and the Bahama islands, and thus completes its course. This prodigious w^hirlpool has a circumference of about 15,000 miles. It was unknow^n to Columbus, and for about a century after the discovery of America, when it w^as first of all observed by Sir Francis Drake. But, which is singular, the warmth of its temperature, and its effect on the climate of the adjoining country, remained unnoticed, until about half a century ago. The excess of heat in the stream over the contiguous w^ater, varies from about eight to twenty degrees, diminishing, of course, as the stream recedes from the gulf. We found the difference from eight to ten degrees on our voyage. The water becomes colder, as its depth lessens on the banks adjoining, so that the thermometer is in fact almost as necessary an instrument as the compass for the mariner, in crossing the stream and the banks. The stream itself is unfathomable ; but the banks formed by the deposit alongside of it, require the navigator's constant care.

The light of the aurora borealis exhibited very curious and striking effects on the evening of the B 5

SEA-SICKNESS.

14tli of August. Land, water, islands, in all variety of form, became, as we thought, so distinctly visible, that we could hardly convince ourselves that our senses were imposed on, and that we were still in the midst of the ocean. The phosphorescence of the sea, when greatly agitated, was greater on the voyage than I had before observed it. It is hardly visible when the water is at rest. The singular appearance of ships in the air, when the weather is hazy, so that the horizon is not clearly distinguishable, often occurred. We had frequent opportunities of satisfying ourselves of the spherical shape of the earth, by noticing how invariably we lost sight of the hulls of the ships before their sails and top-masts disappeared, and got the first sight of the masts and sails of ships about to meet us. But not one of the sights that were new to us delighted us so much as the brilliancy of the sunsets and moonshine on the ocean at this fine season of the year. None of us, who have any relish for the beauties of nature, can ever forget them.

There was less sea-sickness among the passengers than I had expected. Four of them, one of whom had never been at sea before, were entirely free of it. One of the ladies, who was well informed, and agreeable, was unfortunately the only severe suflFerer. We had calm weather, however, near the conclusion of the passage, when she regained her health and spirits, and became a great addition to our society. Most of us found our taste, both as to what we ate and drank, more capricious than usual ; but a good appetite, espe-^

AMERICAN SEAMEN.

daily at dinner, was pretty universal; and, unless for cathartics, very generally useful at sea, recourse was not had to the apothecary's shop during the voyage, except for one of the seamen, who had an aguish attack near the end of it.

The duty of the seamen was performed with as much alertness and quietness, as was possible, had we been on board of a man-of-war. There was not a high word, nor the slightest appearance of ill-humour in any quarter, nor did we ever hear an oath during the voyage. Many a chat we had relative to the prospects of the United States, and the situation of Great Britain and of Europe politically; but our discussions were never pursued too far, although we had enough of combustible matter of all sorts on board, republicans as well as zealous whigs, radicals, and even ultra tories, and one American young gentleman, hardly in his teens, who had every particular of the New Orleans battle, and of the American naval engagements, by heart. Yet, I believe, we all separated, pleased with each other, and in the hope that it might be our lot to meet again.

The morning of the 23d of August w^as rather unfavourable for our course : but a breeze from the eastward having sprung up in the forenoon. Captain Maxwell announced to us about eleven o'clock, that he expected that we should very soon see land. About half an hour afterwards, the hills of Neversink, on the Jersey coast, which rise 300 or 400 feet above the sea, the nearest high grounds to the fortified cape, called B 6

NEW YORK.

Sandyliook, the point of entry to New York bay on the south, were descried. Nowhere is the triumph of science more remarkable than on such an occasion as this, when, after a voyage of 3000 or 4000 miles, out of sight of land for about a month, we regain the first glimpse of it at the very spot the nearest to our destined port.

Sir Humplirey Davy justly remarks, that the results of intellectual labour, or of scientific genius, are permanent, and incapable of being lost. Monarchs change their plans, governments their objects, a fleet or an army effect their purpose, and then pass away ; but a piece of steel touched by the magnet preserves its character for ever, and secures to man the dominion of the trackless ocean. The dominion of the Britons in Asia may share the fate of that of Tamerlane; but the steam-boat which ascends the Delaware, the Mississippi, and the St. Lawrence, will continue to be used, and will carry the civilization of an improved people into the deserts of North America, and into the wilds of Canada.

The breeze increased, and all was bustle, the passengers busying themselves in selecting such parts of their baggage as they required to take ashore with them: for the next day, the 24th5 being Sunday, clearances for landing their effects could not be got at the Custom-hoase till ^Monday.

Before we passed the floating buoy without Sandyhook, a pilot boat came alongside, and the pilot ascended the ship's side. He immediately issued his orders

PILOT-BOAT.

as commander of the ship. From him \ve learned that the Manchester packet ship, which left Liverpool on 1st July, had not yet reached New York. The William Byrne packet ship, which left Liverpool on 8th July, eight days before us, had been in our sight for two or three days, and was now a few leagues astern of us.

The pilot-boat was schooner-rigged, decked, and neatly painted. Some of us could not help contrasting her appearance and that of the pilot, with those we had been accustomed to see in the Frith of Forth ; — the contrast, we are obliged to admit, is not a little in favour of the western side of the Atlantic. The pilot is an intelligent well-dressed person : in short, a gentleman in appearance and manners, as we should say.

There could not be a more charming afternoon, nor a more cloudless sky, than when we passed Sandyhook, and got the first peep of the delightful scene within it.

NEW YORK.

Chapter II

The Bay, Harbour, and City of New York — City Hotel— Climate — Facilities of intercourse with the interior — River Hudson — Erie Canal — Long Island Sound, &c. — Population and Trade of New York — Steam Navigation — Situation of New York on Manhattan Island — Broadway — City Hall — Frequent fires — The Battery — Merchants' Exchange — Post Office — Churches — Theatres — Hackney Coaches — Manners — Dress — Custom-House — Accommodation at Hotel — Provisions — Breakfast — Supply of Water — Language — Newspapers— Advertising — Lotteries — Republican Customs.

From 23d August to 28th August.

Sandyhook is about eighteen miles from New York. We had hardly got wuthin it, when a lightlooking small boat, belonging to some of the newspaper offices, came along side, and exchanged some New York papers, just published, for the latest English papers in our possession.

I had heard much of the beauty of the approach to New York from the sea ; but the reality altogether exceeded my expectation. It is undoubtedly one of the most magnificent scenes in the world. I know of no more happy disposition of land and water, nor such variety of marked and pleasing features anywhere on the shores or rivers of the British islands. Neither the Bay of

BAY.

Dublin, nor the Isle of Wight, nor the Frith of Forth, or Clyde, present the works of Nature on a grander scale, or in more varied and interesting aspects. That boldness of character which lofty hills and mountains produce is alone wanting. The hills which bound the prospect in three or four directions are nowhere above four or five hundred feet in height.

Within Sandyhook, the channel passes through the outer harbour of New York, called Rariton Bay, from one of the great rivers, which discharges itself into it. The bay is skirted by Long Island, and by the shores of New Jersey and Staten Island. About five miles from New York, Long Island and Staten Island approach each other within less than a mile, forming a strait called the Narrows, from the northern part of which the sea \'iew is splendid. — commanding the harbour, or inner bay of New York, above twenty miles in circumference, with its islands and indented shores: and above all, in the centre of the bay, the Island of Manhattan, on the nearest, or southern, part of which is placed the city of New York, surrounded by its shipping. Half a dozen rivers, which in other countries we should call arms of the sea, viz. the Hudson, na^n gable for above 180 miles, the Rariton, Long Island Sound, the Passaic, the Hackensack, pour their waters into those bays, the shores of which, and of the islands, are covered with ornamented villas and orchards. The sun was setting as we darted through the inner bay, decorated with the lightest and most graceful description of sailing boats we had ever seen ; it had just

NEW YORK.

set when our voyage was completed. The feelings of all the passengers, even of those to whom it was not new, v/ere highly excited by such an exhibition of the beauties of nature, in such an evening, and at the most favourable moment for enjoying it. Words cannot express the delight with which a picture like this is seen by those who understand it. " Who can paint like Nature?"