New travels in the United States of America

Introduction to Present Edition

"New Travels in the Uuited States"' Ls without (louht one of the most reiuaikable human interest doeuments ilealing with tlie period of \vliic]i it treats, I'ver written. Unfortunately, the author did not live to realize the results for which he strove — the Idrth of a new France- He visited America to study the people and conditions of a new country which had so valiently gained her independence ; to report upon her social, political, and economic conditions; and he makes the declaration that "A people without morals may acquire liberty, but without morals, they cannot preserve it." He believed the United States possessed the morals to preserve liberty.

The author's rather long preface is a document worthy of careful reading', and while in republishing the work the preliminary letteis dealing with matteis before he starts his real travels in the United States, might have been omitted, this would have destroyed tlie effect of the com- I)lete woi'k.

One biogi-ajiher says, Jean Pierre Brissot, who assumed the name De W'arville, a celebrated Girondist, was born of hundile parents at Chartres in January, ITo-t. He received a good education, and entered the office of a lawyer at Paris. His first works, TJicorie cics Lois CriniineUes (1781) and BihliolJirqiic PhiJnf!opJii(/iic dn Tjef/islatenr (1782), were on the philosophy of law, and showed how thoroughly Brissot was ind)ued with the ethical precepts of Rousseau. He paid a visit to the United States, and returned just at the outbreak of the TJevolution. Into this great movement Brissot threw himself lieart and soul. He edited the Patriote Francais, and being a well informed, capable man, soon began to take a prominent part in affairs. In the national assembly lie leagued himself with the party, well-known in liistory as (he Girondists, but then frequently called the Brissotins. Of this party he was in many respects the ruling spirit. Vergniaud certainly was far superior to him in oratory, but Brissot was quick, eager, impetuous, and a man of wide knowledge. But he was at the same time timid and not qualified to struggle against the fierce energies roused by the events of the Kevolution. His party fell before the "Mountain"; .sentence or arrest was passed against the leading members of it on June 2, 1793.

Brissot, persuaded by his friends, attempted to escape in disguise, but was arrested at Moulins. His demeanor at the trial was quiet and dignified, and on October 31, 1793, he died bravely with his comrades.

(Jirondists (Fr. Girondins) was the name given during the French revolution to the moderate Kepublican party. When the Legislative Assembly met in October, 1791, the (lironde department chose for its representatives Vergniaud, Gaudet, Gen.sonne, Grangeueuve, and Duco.s, all of whom soon acciuired great influence by their rhetorical talents and political principles.

Tliey were joined by Brissot's party and the adherents of Koland as well as by several leaders of the Center, such as Coudorcet, Fauchet, Lasource, Isnard, and Henri La Riviere, and for some time had a parliamentary majority. From this nucleus grew the so-called Girondist party, which for a time exerted a powerful influence in the Revolution, but which came to an unfortunate end, nearly all the leaders being guillotined.

The advance of the Austrian and Prussian invaders threw the influence into the hands of the Jacobins, who alone possessed vigor enough to "save the Revolution."

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Tlie great enieute of the lOtli of August finally assmx'd their triumph, which vented itself in sueh iufauiies as the September massacres. Next followed the National Convention and the trial of the king. The Girondists tried to save the king's life by appealing to tlie sovereign people.

The fall of Koland and the ascending of Ilobi'spicrre followed. Dumouriez, to save his head, rode over into the Austrian camp, and the famous comndttee of public safety was created. Of its members not one was a Girondist. The last effort of the party was an ineffectual attempt to impeach Marat, who, however, on the 2nd of July overthrew the party, arresting as many as thirty-one deputies. The majority had already escaped to the provinces. In the depai'tments of Eure, Calvados, all through Britanny, and at Bordeaux and elsewhere in the soutInv(^st the people 'rose in their defense, but the movement was soon crushed by the irresistible energy of the Mountain, now triumphant in tlie convention.

M. Brissot de Warville, in 17S8, formed a society of "Friends of tlie Blacks," and to study the conditions of the negro in America was one of the objects of his visits to America.

New Travels in the

Performed in 1788 By J. P. Brissot DeWarville

Translated from the French By an Englishman

A People without Morale may acquire Liberty, but without Morals they cannot preserve it.

Printed in 1792

PKEFACE UF THE TKANSLATOK.

Xo ti-avelk'i', I believe, of tliis aye, has made a more useful present to Europe tliau M. de ^Varville in the publication of the following tour in the United States. The l)eople of France will derive great advantages from it; as tliey iiave done from a variety of other labours of the same industrious and patriotic author. Their minds are now (rjten to en(iuiry into the effects of moral and political systems, as their couimerce and manufactures are to any improvements that their unembarrassed situation enables them to adopt.

Many people read a little in the preface before they 1)uy the book; and I shall probably be accused of being in the interest of the bookseller, and of making an assertion merely to catch this sort of readers when I say tliat the English have more need of information on the real character and condition of the United States of Auierica, than any other people of Europe; and especially when I add lliat this liook is infinitely better calculated to convey that infoi-mation than any other, or tlian all others of the kind that have hitherto appeared.

I do not know how to convince an English reader of the first of these remarks; but the latter I am sure he will find ti-ue on perusing the work.

The fact is, we have always been sur]u-isingly ignorant liolh of the Americans and of their country. Had we known either the one or the othei- while tliey were colonies, they would have been so at this day, and probably for many days longer; did we know them now, we should endeavor to draw that a(lvaiita_c;e fi-oiii them that tlic natural and advantitions ciiruinstanccs of the two countiics would indicate to reasonable men. There is no spot on tlie globe, out of England, so interesting for us to study under all its connections and i-elatious as the territory of the T^nited ytates. ( "ould we barter all the Canadas and Xova Scotias, with all tlieir modifications and subdivisions, for such an amicable intercoui'se as might have been established with that i)eople since the close of the wai", we should have every reason to rejoice in the change.

Ministers, as wicked as they are, do more mischief through ignorance, than from any less pardonable cause. And what are the sources of information on this subject, that are generally drawn from this kingdom? Those Americans, who best know their own country, do not write; they have always been occupied in more important affairs. A few light superficial travelers, some of whom never appear to have quitted Europe, who have not knowledge enough even to begin to enquire after knowledge; a few ministerial governors of royal provinces, whose business it always was to give false information ; such are the men whose errors have been nniforndy copied by succeeding writers, systematized by philosophers, and acted out by politicians.

These blunders assume different sha])es, and come recommended to us under various autliorities. You see them mustered and embodied in a gazetteer or a geograi»lii<'al grammar marching in the splendid retinue of all the sciences in the encyclopedia; you find them by regiments pressed into the service of De Paw, tortured into discipline and taught to moAe to the music of Eaynal, and then mounted among the heavy armed cavalry of Kobertson. Under such able commanders who could doubt of their doing execution? Indeed their operations Jinve been too fatal to 118. Our false ideas of tlie Aiiiericaus liavo clone us more injury, even since the war, than twenty Iiussian or vSpanish armaments. Rut the evil still continues; and every day lessens tlie opportunity of profitinii' from their ac(iuaintance.

We have refused, ever since tlie war, to compliment them with an envoy; we have employed, to take care of our consular interests, and represent the epitomized majesty of the Britisli nation, an American royalist, who could lie reccminiended to us only for his stupidity, and to them only for his suspected perfidy to their cause.

The book that bears the name of Lord Sheilield on tlie American trade, has served as the toiichstfine. tlie stateman's confession of faith, rcdative to our ])o]itica] and commercial intercourse with that country. Jt is said to have been written by an American Avho had left his country in disgrace, and therefore intended to Avrite against it. And tlie book really has this aiipearance; it has passed for a long time in England as a most patriotic and useful ]ierformance; it has taught us to despise the Americans in peace and commerce, as tlie work of other men of this caste had before told us to do in Avar and politics. The <le,talls in it, furnished by the clerks of the custom-house, are doubtless accurate, though of little consequence, but the reasoning is uniformly wrong, tlie predictions are all false, and the conclusions which he draws, and whicli, of course, were to serve as advice to the government, are calculated to flatter our vanity, to confirm us in our errors, and mislead us in our c(mduct. ITad the ablest sophist in Europe been employeil to write a book professedly against (Jreat Britain and in favor f)f America, lie could not have succeeded so well. It persuaded us to refuse any kind of commercial treaty with tliem. v.hich forced tliem to learn a lesson, of whicli thev might otherwise have been ignorant for half a ceutiu-y. That after beatiug our armies they could rival our mauufactories ; that they could do without us much better than we could without them.

M. de Wanille has taught his countrymen to think very differently of that people. I believe every reader of these travels, who understands enough of America to enable him to judge, will agree with me iu opiuion, that his remai'ks are infinitely more judicious, more candid, aud less erroueous tlian those of any other of the numerous observers that have visited that country. Jlost of them have been uniformly superficial, often scurrilous, blending uumeritetl censure with fulsome praise, and huddling together, to form the whole piece, a parcel of unfinished images, that give no more a picture of that people, than of the Arabs or the Chinese. Their only object, like that of a novel writer, is to make a book that will sell ; and yet they preserve not even that consistency with themselves, which is indispensable in the wildest romance.

M. de Warville is a sober, uniform, indefatigahle, an<l courageous defender of the rights of mankind ; he has certainly done much in his own country in bringing forward the present revolution. His gi-eat object in tliese travels seems to have been to observe the effects of habitual liberty on man in society; and his remarks appear to be those of a well-informed reasoner, and an unprejudiced inquirer. London, February 1, 1792.

PREFACE OF THE AllTHOK.

The publicatiou of Voyages aud Travels will (loiil)tless appear, at first view, an operation foreign to the present eiroumstances of France. I sliould even myself regret the time I have spent in reducing this work to order, if T did not think that it might be useful aud necessary in supporting our revolution. The object of these travels was not to study anticpies, or to search for uukut)wn plants, but to study men who had just acquired their liberty. A free people can no longer be strangers to the French.

We have now, likewise, acciuired our libeity. It is no longer necessary to learn of the Auiericaus the manner of acquiring it, but we must be taught by them tiie secret of preserving it. This secret consists in the morals of tlie people ; the Americans have it ; and I see with grief, not only that we do not yet possess it, but that we are not even thoroughly jjersuaded of its absolute necessity in the preservation of liberty. This is an important point; it involves the salvation of the revolution, and therefore merits a close examination.

What is liberty? It is the uiost perfect state of society ; it is the state in which man depends (but) upon the laws which he makes; in which, to make them gO(»d, he ought to perfect the powers of his mind; in which, to execute theui well, he must employ all his reason; for coercive measures are disgraceful to free men— they are almost useless in a free State; and when the magistrate calls them to his aid, liberty is on the decline, uiorals are nothing nntre than reason applied to all the actions of life; in their force consists

U NEW TRAVELvS IN THE

the execution of the laws. Reasou or morals are to the execution of the laws among a free people, what fetters, scourges, and gibbets are among slaves. Destroj' morals, or practical reasou, and you must supply their place by fetters and scourges, or else society will no longer be but a state of war, a scene of deplorable anarchy, to be terminated by its destruction.

Without morals there can be no liberty. If you have not the former, you cannot love tlie latter, and you will soon take it away from others; for if you abandon yourself to luxury, to ostentation, to excessive gaming, to enormous expenses, you necessarily open your heart to corruption; you make a traffic of your popularity, and of your talents; you sell the people to that despotism which is always endeavoring to replunge them into its chains.

Some men endeavor to distinguish public from private morals; it is a false and chimerical distinction, invented by vice, in order to disguise its danger. Doubtless a man may possess the private virtues without the public; he may be a good father, without being an ardent friend of liberty; but he that has not the private virtues, can never possess the public; in this I'espect they are inseparable; their basis is the same, it is practical reason. What ! within the walls of your house, you trample reasou under foot; and do you respect it alu-oad, in your intercourse with your fellow-citizens? He that respects not reason in the lonely presence of his household gods, can have no sincere attachment to it at all ; and his apparent veneration to the law is but the effect of fear, or the grimace of hypocrisy. Place liim out of danger from the public force, liis fears vanish, and his vice appeai-s. Besides, tlie hypocrisy of public virtue entrains another evil ; it spreads a dangerous snare to liberty over the abyss of despotism.

What confidence can be placed in those men who, regarding the revolution but as their road to fortune, assume the appearance of virtue but to deceive the people; who deceive tlie people but to pillage and enslave tlieni ; who, in their artful discourses, where ebxiuence is paid with gold, preach to others the sacrifice of private interest, while they themselves sacrifice all that is sacred to their own? men v^iiose private conduct is the assassin of virtue, an opprobrium to liberty, and gives the lie to the doctrines which they preach :

(^ui ("urius simulant, et baccanaiia vivu'.it. Happy the people who despise this liypocrisy, who have the courage to degrade, to chastise, to excommunicate these double men, possessing the tongue of Cato, and the soul of Tiberius. Happy the people who, well convinced that liberty is not supported by eloquence, but by the exercise of virtue, esteem not, but rather despise, the former, when it is separatetl from the latter. Such a people, by their severe opinions, compel men of talents to acquire morals; they exclude corruption from their body, and lay the foundation for liberty and long pi'osperity.

But if this people, improvident and irresolute, dazzled by the ebxiuence of an orator who flatters their passious, pardon his vices in favor of his talents; if they feel not an indignation at seeing an Alcibiades training a mantle of purple, lavishing his sumptuous repasts, lolling on the bosom of his mistress, or ravishing a wife from her tender husband; if the view of his enormous wealth, his exterior graces, the soft sound of his speech, and his traits of courage, could reconcile them to his crimes; if they could render him the homage which is due only to talents united with virtue; if they could lavish upon him praises, places, and honours; then it is that this people discover the full measure of their weakness, their irresolution, and their owu proper corruptiou; the}' become tlieir own executioners; and the time is not distant, when tiiey will be ready to be sold, hj their own Alcibiades, to the great king, and to his satraps.

It is an ideal picture wliicli 1 here trace, or, is it not ours? I tremble at the resemblance. Great God! shall we have achieved a revolution the most inconceivable, the most unexpected, but for the sake of drawing from nihility a few intriguing', low, ambitious men, to whom nothing is sacred, who have not even the mouth of gold to accompany tlieir soul of clay? Infamous wretches! they endeavor to excuse their weakness, their venality, their eternal capitulations witli despotism, l)y saying, these people are too much corrupted to be trusted with complete liberty. They themselves give them the example of corruption ; they give them new siiackles, as if shackles could enlighten and ameliorate men.

O Providence! to what destiny reservest thou the people of France? They are good, but they ai'e flexible; they are credulous, they are enthusiastic ; they are easily deceivetl. How often, in their infatuation, have they applauded secret traitors, wlio liave advised them to the most perfidious measures! Infatuation announces either a people whose aged weakness indicates approaching dissolution, or an infant people, or a mechanical people, a people not yet ripe for liberty ; for the man of liberty is by nature a man of reason ; he is rational in liis applauses, he is si)aring in his admiration, if, indeed, he ever indulges this passion; lie never profanes these effusions, by lavishing them on men who dishonor themselves. A people degraded to this degree, are ready to caress the gilded chains that may be offered them. Behold the people of England dragging in the dirt that parliament to whom they owed their lib-

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evty, aud crowning- with laurels the infamous head of 3Ionk, who sold them to a new tj'rant.

I have scrutinized those men, by whom the people are so easily infatuated. How few patriots was I able to number among- them ! How few men, who sincerely love the people, who labor for their happiness and amelioration, without regard to their personal interest! These true friends, these real brothers of the people, are not to be found in those infamous gambling- houses, where the representatives sport with the blood of their fellow citizens; they ai'e not found among those vile courtezans Avho, preserving- their disposition, have only changed their mask ; they are not found among- those patriots of a day, who, while they are preaching- the riglits of man, are gravely occupied with a gilded phaett)n, or an embroidered vest. The man of this frivolous taste has never descended into those profound meditations, which make of humanity, and the exercise of reason, a constant pleasure and a daily duty. The simplicity vt wants and of pleasures, may be taken as a sure sign of patriotism. He that has few wants, has never that of selling himself; while the citizen, who has the rage of ostentation, the fury of gambling, and of expensive frivolities, is always to be sold to the highest bidder; and every thing- around him betrays his corruption.

Would you prove to me your patriotism? Let me penetrate into the interior of your house. AVhat ! I see your antichamber full of insolent lackies, who regard me with disdain, because I am like Curius, incomptis capillis; they address you with the appellation of lordship; they give you still those vain titles wliich liberty treads under foot, and you suffer it, and yon call yourself a patriot ! — I penetrate a little further: your ceilings are gilded ; magnificent vases adorn your chimney pieces ; I walk upon the richest carpets; the most costly wines, the most exquisite dishes,

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cover your table ; a crowd of servants surround it ; you treat theiu with liaughtincss — No,, j'ou are not a patriot, the most consuuniiate pride reigns in your heart, the pride of birth, of riches, and of talents. With this triple pride, a man never believes in the doctrine of equality ; you belie your conscience, when you jirostitute the word patriot.

But whence comes this display of wealth? you are not rich. Is it from the people? they are still poor. Who will prove to me that it is not the price of their blood? Who will assure me that there is not this moment existing, a secret contract between you and the court? Who will assure me that you have not said to the court, Trust to me the power which remains to j'ou, and I will bring back the people to your feet; I will attach them to your car; I will enchain tlie tongues and pens of those independent men wlio brave you. A people may sometimes be subjugated without the aid of bastilles.

I do not know if so many pictures as every day strike our eyes, will convince ns of the extreme difficulty of connecting public incorruptibility with corruption of nuu-als; but I am convinced, that if we wish to preserve our constitution, it will be easy, it will be necessarj', to demonstrate this maxim : "Without private virtue, there can b." no public virtue, no public spirit, no liberty."

But how can we create private virtue among a people who have just risen suddenly from the dregs of servitude, dregs which have been settling for twelve centuries on their heads?

Numerous means offer themselves to our hands; laws, instruction, good examples, education, encouragement to a rural life, parceling of real property among heirs, respect to the useful arts.

Is it not evident, for instance, that private morals associate naturally with a rural life; that, of consequence,

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maimers would miicli iiupiove, b^' inducing men to roturu from the city to the country, and by discouraging them from migrating from the country to the city? Tlie reason why the Americans possess such pure morals is because nine-tenths of tliem live dispersed in the country. I do not say that we sliould make laws direct to force people to quit the town, or to fix their limits; all proiiibition, all restraint, is unjust, absurd, and ineffectual. Do you wisii a person to do well? make it fur his interest to do it. Would you re-people the country? make it his interest to keep his children at home. Wise laws and taxes well distributed will produce tliis effect. Laws which tend to an equal distribution of real property, to diffuse a certain degree of ease among the people, will contribute much to the resurrection of private and public morals; for misery can take no interest in tiie public good, and want is often the limit of virtue.

A\'ould you extend public spirit through all I'rance? Into all the departments, all the villages, favor the propagation of knowledge, the low price of books and of newspapers. How rapidly would the revolution consolidate, if the government had the wisdom to frank the jmblic papers from the expense of postage! It has often been repeated, that three or four millions of livres expended in this way, would prevent a great number of disorders which ignorance may countenance or commit; and the reparation of which costs many more millions. The communication of knowledge would accelerate a number of useful undertakings, which greatly ditt'use public prosperity.

I will still propose another law, which would infallibly extend public spirit and good morals ; it is the short duration of public fuuctioners in their oflice, and the impossibility of re-electing them without an interval. By that the legislative body would send out every two years, into the provinces, three or four himdrod patriots, who, during their abode at Paris, would have arisen to the horizon of the revolution, and obtained instruction, activity in business, and a public spirit. The commonwealth, better understood, would become thus successively the business of all ; and it is thus that you would repair the defect with which representative republics are reproached, that the commonwealth is the business of but few.

I cannot enlarge upon all the means; but it would be rendering a great service to the revolution, to seek and point out those which may give us morals and public spirit.

Yet I cannot leave this subject without indulging one reflection, which appears to me important; Liberty, either political or individual, cannot exist a long time without personal independence. There can be no independence without a property, a profession, a trade, or an honest industry, which may insure against want and dependence.

I assure you that the Americans are and will be for a long time free; it is because nine-tenths of them live by agriculture; and when there shall be five hundretl millions of men in America, all may be proprietors.

We are not in that happy situation in Prance; the productive lauds in France amount to fifty millions of acres ; this, equally divided, would be two acres to a person ; these two acres would not be sufficient for his subsistence; the nature of things calls a great number of the French to live in cities. Commerce, the mechanic arts, and divers kinds of industry procure there, subsistence to the inhabitants; for we must not count much at present on the produce of public offices. Salaries indemnify, but do not enrich ; neither do they insure against future want. A man who should speculate upon salaries for a living, M'ould only be the slave of the people, or of foreign powers; every man, therefore, who wishes sincerely to be free, ought to exercise some art or trade. At this word ti'ade, the patriots still sliiver; they begin to pay some respect to commerce; but though they pretend to cherish equality, they do not feel themselves frankly the e(iuals of a mechanic. They have not yet abjured the prejudice which regards the tradesman, as below the banker or the merchant. This vulgar aristocracy will be the most difficult to destroy.

It extends even to officers chosen by the people. With what disdain they regard an artisan from head to foot. With what severity many of our national guards treat those wretches who are arrested by them. "\^lth what insolence they execute their ordere : — Observe the greater j^art of the public officers. They are as haughty in the exercise of their functions as they were grovelling in the primaiy assemblies. A true patriot is equal at all times; equally distant from baseness at elections, and insolence in office.

If you wish to honor the mechanic arts, give instruction to those who exercise them ; choose among them the best instructed, and advance them in public employments; and disdain not to confer upon them distinguished places in the assemblies.

I regret that the national assembly has not yet given this salutary example; that they have not yet crowned the genius of agriculture, by calling to the president's cliair the good cultivator, Gerard ; that the mercliants and other members of the assembly, who exercise mechanic arts, have not enjoyed the same honor. Why this exclusion? It is very well to insert in the Declaration of Rights, that all men are equal ; but we must practise this equality, engrave it in our hearts, consecrate it in all our actions, and it belongs to the national assembly to give the gi'eat example. It would perhaps force the executive power to respect it likewise. Has he ever been known to descend into the class of professions, there to choose his ministers, his agents.

from men of simplicity of manners, not rich, but well instructed, and no courtezans?

Our democrats of the court pi-aise indeed -with a borroAved enthusiasm a Franklin or an Adams; they say, and even with a silly astonishment, that the one was a printer, and the other a schoolmaster! But, do they go to seek in the work-shops, the men of information? No. But what signifies at present the conduct of an administration, whose detestable foundation renders them antipopular, and consequently perverse? they can never appear virtuous, but by hypocrisy. To endeavor to convert them, is a folly; to oppose to them independent adversaries, is wisdom; the secret of independence is in this maxim, have few wants and a steady employment to satisfy them.

AVith these ideas man bend>s not his front before man. The artizan glories in his trade that supports him; he envies not places of honor; he knows he can attain them, if he deserves them; he idolizes no man; he respects himself too much to be an idolater; he esteems not men because they are in place, but because they deserve well from their country.