LETTER I. From M, CLAVIERE to M. BRISSOT DE WARVILLE.
PLAN OF OBSERVATIONS On the Political, Civil, and Military State of the Free Americans; their Legislation, &c.

THE voyage you are going to undertake, my dear friend, will doubtless form the most interesting period of your contemplative life. You are going to transport yourself into a part of the globe, where a person may, without the least obstruction, bring into view the most striking and interesting scenes that belong to hu­manity. It is with a little courage, much patience, a continual diffidence of his own habits of mind and manners, a total oblivion of his most cherished opinions, and of himself, and with a determination to be cauti­ous and slow in judging, that he may conclude, what is the situation where man, the child of the earth, may assemble the greatest sum, and the longest duration of public and private happiness.

In a few years, and without great dangers, you may contemplate the most varied scenes; you may pass in [Page 28] America, from a soil the best cultivated, and grown old with an active population, into the deserts, where the hand of man has modified nothing, where time, vege­tation, and the dead mass of matter, seem to have fur­nished the expence of the theatre.

Between these extremes, you will find intermediate stages of improvement; and it is doubtless, in contem­plating these, that reason and sensibility will find the happiest situation in life.

The present state of independent America, will, perhaps, give us a glance at the highest perfection of human life that we are permitted to hope for; but who, in judging of it, can separate himself from his age, from his temperament, from his education, from the impressi [...]n of certain circumstances? Who can silence his imagination, and govern the sensations which excite it? I hope, my friend, that you may have this power; and you ought to neglect nothing to acquire it, if you wish to answer the end of your Travels. You wish to enlighten mankind, to smooth the way to their happiness; for this reason, you ought to be more on your guard than any one, not to deceive yourself by appearances.

When, therefore, you shall form your opinion on the spot, of those celebrated American constitutions, do not exaggerate too much either the vices of Europe, to which you compare them, or the virtues of America, which you bring into the contrast. Make it a principle object to determine, whether it may not be said, in reality things are here as they are with us; the difference is so small, that it is not worth the change. This is a proper method to guard against error. It is well, at the same time, to form a just idea of the difficulty of change; this should be always present to the mind. Voltaire says, ‘La patrie est aux lieux où l'ame est enchainée.’

You wish to contemplate the effects of liberty on the progress of men, of society, and of government. May you, in this examination, never lose sight of impartia­lity [Page 29] and cool circumspection, that your friends may not be exposed either to incredulity, or to deception.

I do not imagine that you can find in America, new motives to engage every reasonable European to the love of liberty. What they will most thank you for is, to describe to us what America in fact is, and what, in opinion, she may be, in a given time, making a rea­sonable allowance for those accidents which trouble the repose of life.

Men always dispute; they are every where formed of the same materials, and subject to the same passions: but the matters on which they dispute, are, in a given country, more or less fitted to disturb the general har­mony and individual happiness. Thus a state of uni­versal toleration renders harmless the dive [...]y of opinion in religious matters.

In proportion as political institutions submit the rul­ing power to well-defined forms, at the same time that they have the public opinion in their favour, political dissentions are less dangerous. This, my friend, is the point of view under which the political state of Ame­rica ought to be known to us. Let us know, above all, what we have to expect, for the present and future, from that variety which distinguishes so considerably some states from others, and whether some great inconveni­ence will not result from it; whether the federal tran­quillity will ever be shaken by it; whether this variety will corrupt the justice of some states towards others in their ordinary commerce, and in those cases where the confederation is the judge; whether some states will not give themselves commotions and agitations, for the sake of forming their governments, similar or dissimilar, to that of some others; whether state jealousies do not already exist, occasioned by these varieties. Such jea­lousies greatly injure the Swiss cantons; they have ruined Holland, and will prevent its restoration. If these jealousies are unknown to the Americans, and will never arise there, explain to us the phen [...]menon, why it exists, and why it will continue; for you know, that from what you may observe to us on this single [Page 30] point, your friends may be induced either to stay where they are, or to give the preference to one state in the union over another.

There is one advantage in America which Europe does not offer; a man may settle himself in the desert, and be safe from political commotions. But is there no danger in this? Endeavour to explain to us the state of the savages on that great continent, the most certain account of their numbers, their manners, the causes, more or less, inevitable, of were with them. This part of your accounts will not be the least interest­ing. Forget not to give us, as far as you have oppor­tunity, all that can be known relative to the ancient state of America.

Observe what are the remains of the military spirit among the Americans; what are their prejudices in this respect; are there men among them who wish to see themselves at the head of armies? Do they enlist any soldiers? Can you perceive any germe, which, united to the spirit of idleness, would make the profession of a soldier preferable to that of a cultivator, or an arti­zan? for it is this wretched situation of things in other countries, which furnishes the means of great armies. Inform us about those cincinnati, a body truly distres­sing to the political philosopher.

Solomon says, there is nothing new under the sun. This may be true; but are we yet acquainted with all political revolutions, in order to make the circle com­plete? History furnishes the picture of no revolution like that of the United States, nor any arrangements similar to theirs. Thus you may look into futurity, and see what perseverances or changes may contradict the philosophy of history.

You ought likewise, to foresee, whether foreign wars are to be expected; whether the Europeans are right in saying, that the United States will one day wish to be conquerors. I do not believe it; I believe rather that their revolution will be contagious, especially if their federal system shall maintain union and peace in all parts of the confederation. This is the master point [Page 31] of the revolution; it ought to engage the whole force of your meditations.

Tell us, finally, if the rage of law-making has passed the seas with the colonists of the United States. You will doubtless find there many minds struck with the disorders resulting from war and independence; others who preserve a lively image of the great liberty which each individual ought to enjoy: the first will be frighten­ed at the least disturbance, and wish to see a law [...] a statute applied to every trivial thing; the others think that laws can never be too few. What is the prevail­ing opinion there on this subject? When we consider what charms and what utility must be found in the private occupations of men in that country, we should think that the commonwealth would remain a long time without intermingling with them. But we are assured that lawyers abound there, and enjoy a dangerous in­fluence; that the civil legislation is there, as in Eng­land, an abundant source of law-suits and of distress. Enlighten us on this subject. We have often observed, that civil legislation has corrupted the best political in­stitutions; it is often a crime against society.

Internal police, every where in Europe, is founded on the opinion, that man is depraved, turbulent, and wicked; and the timidity that wealth inspires, disposes the rich to regard the poor as capable only of being re­strained by fetters. Is this European truth, a truth in America?

LETTER II. On the Soil, Productions, Cultivation, &c.

AFTER having instructed us on all political sub­jects, and principally those on which depend internal and external peace, and the security of individuals, you will have to contemplate the soil of America as re­lative [Page 32] to human industry, which, in its turn, influences prodigiously the different modes of living.

It seems, in this respect, that all the great divisions of the earth should resemble each other. It is possible, however, that America offers, in the same space, more aliments to industry, more data, than can be found in Europe. Fix our ideas upon those invitations that na­ture has traced on the soil of America, in addressing herself to the human understanding. To particularize minutely what the maps only give in gross will be more worthy of your attention, than the details which in­terest the painter, the poet, or the lover of an English garden.

We have undertaken to advise the Americans to be cultivators, and to leave to the Europeans those manu­factures which agree not with a country life. You will be curious to discover their disposition in this respect. It ought to depend much on the facility of communi­cation; and if, as it appears, independent America, in a little time, and with small expence, may be inter­sected by canals in all directions; if this advantage is so generally felt, that they will apply themselves to it at an early period, there is no doubt but in America hu­man activity will be occupied principally in the pro­duction of subsistence, and of raw materials.

It is the opinion in Europe, that consumption causes production, and that the failure of consumption discou­rages labour; for this reason they require cities and ma­nufactures. But there is, in all these opinions, a great confusion of ideas, which the spectacle of nations, ris­ing under the protection of liberty, will aid you in clearing up. You will see, perhaps, with evidence, that a man ceases to fear the superfluity of subsistences, when he is no longer under the necessity of exchang­ing them for money, to pay his taxes and his rents. Should this be his fear, and he has near him the means of a cheap transport, if he may himself load his boat and carry his provisions to market, and make his traffic without quitting his boat, man is too fond of activity to suffer superfluity to impede his industry. Thus, to [Page 33] engage him to open the bosom of the earth, there is no need that he should be assured before hand what he shall do with his grain. Expences are the impediments of industry; and you will see, without doubt, in America, a new order of things, where these expences are not embarrassing; the theory of consumption, and produc­tion, is doubtless very different from what is supposed in Europe. Endeavour, my friend, to call to mind, that in this we have need of more details, comparisons, calculations, facts, and proofs, than travellers generally being together; and that this part of political oecono­my is still entirely new, on account of the embarrass­ments, abstractions, difficulties, and disgusts, which at­tend them in Europe.

It is on the accounts that you will give us in this re­spect, that the opinions of your friends will be formed. So many misadventures and misinformations have hi­therto accompanied emigrants, though virtuous, and otherwise well-informed, that people are intimidated from the attempt, though ill-situated in Europe. You know what the Genevans have suffered, rather than to go to Ireland.

Thus, my friend, if you wish to instruct those who would fly from the tyranny of Europe, and who would find a situation of honest industry for their children, study the history of emigrants. Study the causes of the disasters of travellers; judge of their illusions; go to the places of debarkation, and learn the precautions neces­sary to be taken to render easy and agreeable their first arrival.

Begin with such as you know to be in easy circum­stances, and descending, by degrees, to the honest in­dividual, who, full of health and vigour, his coat on his back, and his staff in his hand, carries with him all he possesses; inform each one what he ought to expect, if, after conquering all his aversions, and taking all his precautions, he determines to quit Europe, to go to the land of liberty.

Finally, my friend, in all that concerns private life, as in political relations, in the means of acquiring for­tune; [Page 34] as in the honest ambition of serving the public, let your observations attest that you have neglected no means of comparing the enjoyments of Europe, with what may be expected among the free Americans.

LETTER III. Plan of a Colony to be established in America.

WHEN we contemplate the American Revolu­tion, the circumstances which have opposed its per­fection, the knowledge we are able to collect for the institution of republics on a more perfect plan, the lands destined by Congress for new States, and the multi­tude of happy circumstances which may facilitate their preparatives, and protect their infancy, we are hurried insensibly into projects chimerical at the first sight, which become attracting by reflection, and which we abandon, but with regret, on account of the difficulty of finding a sufficient number of persons for their exe­cution.

When a tract of land is offered for sale, and its limits ascertained, why cannot it be prepared, in all circum­stances, for a republic, in the same manner as you pre­pare a house for your friends?

Penn had already seen the necessity of regulating be­forehand, the conduct of a colony on the soil which they were going to inhabit. We have at present many more advantages than he had, to ordain and execute the same thing with more success; and, instead of sa­vages, who gave him trouble, we should at present be sustained and protected by the States, with which we should be connected.

I have no doubt, that having acquired the soil, we might establish a republic, better calculated for peace [Page 35] and happiness, than any now existing, or that ever did exist. Hitherto they have formed from chance and in­voluntary combinations; it has been necessary in them all, that national innovations should be reconciled with absurdit [...]es, knowledge with ignorance, good sense with prejudices, and wise institutions with barbarisms. Hence that chaos, that eternal source of distresses, dis­putes, and disorders.

If men of wisdom and information should organize the plan of a society before it existed, and extend their foresight to every circumstance of preparing proper in­stitutions for the forming of the morals, public and pri­vate, and the encouragament of industry, ought they to be condemned as having formed an Eutopia? I do not believe it; it is my opinion, even that the love of gain, the love of novelty, and the spirit of philosophy, would lend a hand to an enterprise, which, before the Ameri­can Revolution, might have been judged impracticable.

Profit, therefore, of your travels in America, to in­form yourself, if, among the lands to be sold by Con­gress, there exists not a situation of easy access, where the nature of the soil is favourable to industry, and its other circumstances inviting to the first settlers. It should be furnished with easy communications by land and water.

For this purpose, there should be a topographical map and description, sufficiently minute and extended, to enable us to trace upon it the smaller divisions. There ought to be found levels, relative to a certain point, in order to know beforehand the possibility of canals. All other objects of consequence ought to be noted at the same time, such as the nature of the soil in every part, the kinds of timber, the quarries of stone, &c. This will doubtless be an expensive operation; but any ex­pences may be undertaken by great associations, and here are motives sufficient to encourage and reward a very expensive one.

It will be necessary to know, on what conditions the Congress would treat for the cession of such a tract, and whether they would agree to take a principal part [Page 36] of the payment, only as fast as the settlers should come to take possession of their lands.

It would be desirable that the territory chosen should be such that, at the place of the first settlement, it would be easy to establish conveniences for the recep­tion of the settlers, to provide them such necessaries as will preserve them from those embarrassments and ca­lamities which sometimes throw infant settlements into trouble, misery, and despair.

After having acquired an exact idea of what may be expected from the nature of the soil, and its connection with neighbouring places, we might then undertake the work of forming a political and civil legislation, suited to the new republic, and its local circumstances. Such should be the task to be accomplished before the people departed from hence; that every settler might know be­fore hand what laws he is to live under, so that he will consent to them before hand by choice.

The previous regulations ought to be carried so far, that every person should foresee where he was going, and what he was to do in order to fulfil his engage­ments; whether he was a purchaser of lands, or had inrolled himself as a labourer.

The lands should not be sold out to individuals by chance, and according to the caprice of each purchaser; but a plan should be pursued in the population, that the people might aid each other in their labours, and be a mutual solace and protection by their neighbour­hood.

The public expences, those of religion and educa­tion, should be furnished by the produce of a portion of land reserved in each district for that purpose. These lands could be the public domain; they ought to be put in cultivation the first. There ought perhaps to be a regulation for a regular supply of workmen on the public lands, roads, and other public works. By this we should always have employment for new comers, and might receive all men capable of labour, provided their manners and character were such as to entitle them to be members of a new republic.

[Page 37]These details will be sufficient to recall to your mind, our frequent conversations on a plan of this kind. If you can acquire from Congress the certainty of being able to realize it, so far as it depends on them, and we have only to find the company here to undertake it; I believe it may be easily done in Europe.

The company will have lands to sell; their price will augment in proportion as they come in vogue; the com­pany will endeavour to render it an object of general at­tention, by the preparations made for the reception of the first settlers, in order to avoid the difficulties inci­dent to the beginning of an establishment. I doubt not, therefore, that this project will offer a sufficient prospect of gain, to engage people to adventure in it many millions of livres.

The better to determine them to it, the interest should be divided into small shares, and proper mea­sures taken to assure the holders of shares of an admi­nistration worthy of confidence, to prevent the abuses of trust, and watch over the execution of their resolves, both respecting their interest, and that of the settlers.

A prospectus, sufficiently detailed, should inform the public of the nature of the enterprise, the principal ob­ject of which should be to realize a republic, founded on the lessons of experience and good sense, on the prin­ciples of fraternity and equality, which ought to unite mankind.

The principal means of its execution will be, to have purchased the lands so as to be able to re-sell them at a price sufficiently low, to encourage their cultivation, and at the same time with sufficient profit to the com­pany. For it is natural to observe, that the difference between the original value of lands in their wild state, and their value when an active settlement is begun upon them, will assure to the first purchasers a prodigious profit from their first advances.

This, however, supposes, as I have already mention­ed, that, receiving a small proportion of the purchase-money when the purchase is made, the Congress will consent to receive the principal payments only in pro­portion [Page 38] as the lands may be re-sold to individuals; without this condition, the enterprise would require such great advances as to discourage the undertaking.

Thus, the funds of the company should be com­posed, 1. of the first payments to be made to Congress; 2. the expences necessary in acquiring a topographical knowledge of the territory, and in making its divisions; 3. the funds necessary for public works, and the esta­blishment for the reception of those who arrive, to en­sure them against want and discouragement.

These three objects will doubtless require a consider­able fund; but the rising value of the lands to be sold, and to be paid for only as fast as they are sold, will greatly indemnify the undertakers. These are the so­lid arguments to be offered to the lovers of gain. Ma­ny other considerations might be detailed in the pro­spectus, to determine philosophers and friends of hu­manity to become sharers.

This is enough, my friend, to recall to your mind more ideas than I can give you on the subject. Study it; and if at the first view it looks romantic, find the means of saving it from that objection; converse upon it with intelligent persons; find such as are sufficiently attached to great objects, to be willing to concur in them with zeal, when they are designed for the aid and consolation of humanity.

Age will prevent me from undertaking in this great work. It seems to me, that th [...]re is nothing like it in times past, that it would be greatly useful to the future, and would mark the American revolution with one of the happiest effects which it can produce. Is not this enough to animate the generous ambition of those who have youth, health, and courage, so as not to be frigh­tened at difficulties, or disheartened by delays?

LETTER IV.

THE Utopia will be but a dream; and you will find, without doubt, the new American settlements in­vincibly destined to a scattering herd of people, who will form insensibly, by the addition of new families and individuals; without following any plan, without providing such laws as would be suitable to them, when their herds shall become sufficiently numerous to be re­presented as a republic in the federal union. It is thus that all political systems seem condemned to resemble what has already taken place in such and such a state, according as the multitude, or some bold leader, shall decide.

We must, then, abandon this project; and then, where will you place those friends whom we wish to establish in America. You will inform yourself, for them, of the progress of population and civilization in Kentucky, of which they tell so many wonders. But reflect on two things: first, That our settlement will be very uncertain, if we must go ourselves to prepare it, build houses, &c. Some persons must, therefore, go before the others; and when shall they rejoin? How many accidents may intervene! When the emig [...]ant s [...]ciety shall be formed in Europe, the members ought all to go at once; but in that case they should make choice of a certain tract in the neighbourhood of a town, where the people could be lodged, till they could build their houses. This precaution seems to exclude Ken­tucky; for no good town is sufficiently near it. You will see, then, my friend, how it will be possible to re­concile every thing, and find a position where the pain and vexation will not surpass the satisfaction. Your task is not a trifling one in making this examination; for you must not forget, that, to satisfy the persons whom we wish not to leave behind, we must have a [Page 40] situation where we can unite the advantages of com­merce with those of agriculture; we must be near a navigable river, communicating with the sea; we must have a town, where we can find sailors, vessels, &c. In a word, those among us who shall have been accus­tomed to the affairs of commerce and of manufactures, must not be placed in a position which shall force them absolutely to renounce their habits, and expose them­selves to regrets; for you know that one is never weary in walking as long as a horse or carriage marches by his side, which he may use whenever he pleases.

It is a pity that Pittsburg is not more populous, or that Virginia is separated by deserts from the new states.

It is useless to enter into more particular details on this matter; you know us: I shall only recommend to you an attention to the climate. A fine sky, tempera­ture of Paris, no musketoes, agreeable situation, and good soil, are things indispensible.

The numerous observations which you propose to collect for the instruction of the public, will inform us of many other things, which I should mention here, if they did not enter into your general plan. In ob­serving customs and tastes, forget not the article of music, considered in its effects on the powers of the mind. The taste for music is general in Europe; we make of it one of the principal objects of education. Is it so in America?

Finally, As we are not needy adventurers, think what answers you must give, when our wives, our children, and even ourselves, shall ask you what is to [...]e done on our arrival in considerable numbers in any town in America; for, as we cannot send forward a messenger, we ought to provide for our debarkation in an unknown country.

LETTER V.

AFTER having given you my thoughts on general subjects, it is unnecessary to be more particular on those which promise a more certain and palpable advantage to your travels; I mean the purchase of lands or pub­lic funds, according as circumstances may invite.

Three classes of persons may wish to purchase lands in the United States; those who mean to employ others to cultivate them, those who will cultivate for them­selves, and those who wish to place their money in them, with the prospect that these lands will increase in value, in proportion to the population.

Let us leave the two first classes to make their own choice. Your general observations, to be published on your return, will instruct such as wish to remove to Ame­rica, how to go and choose for themselves.

The case of the simple speculators is different. Some wish to purchase, to sell again to a profit as soon as pos­sible; others extend their views farther, and, calcu­lating the vicissitudes of Europe, find it very prudent to place a dead fund in lands▪ which, by the effect of neighbouring population, will acquire a great value in the course of years.

Many heads of families, provident for their des [...]en­dants▪ place dead funds in a bank, to accumulate, in favour of their children. A greater number would do the same thing, if there were a satisfactory solution of all questions in the Chapter of Accidents. Now, nothing appears to me better to answer this wise precaution, th [...]n to place such money on the cultivated soil of the United States.

Th [...] information that you will be able to give on this subject, will be very useful. Th [...] are lands which, from their position, m [...]t remain uncleared for a longer [...]r shorter period; others remained valuable by the [Page 42] neighbourhood of rivers and other important communi­cations; others on account of their timber, &c. &c.

But, can lands be purchased with full surety? Are there any sure methods established, to recognise territo­rial property, that may rest for some time without vi­sible marks or bounds? Is there no risk of finding one's property in the possession of another, or of having pur­chased that of another?

The present is the epoch that will decide the Euro­peans, as to their confidence in the United States. I doubt not but the States in general will sanction the constitution; and from that time every eye ought to look upon America as being in [...] of unfailing prosperity. Then, without doubt, many Europeans will think of purchasing lands there. I know of no pe­riod when the spirit of speculation has been so general as at present; no period which presents a revolution like that of independent America; and no foundation so so­lid as that which they are about to establish▪ Thus, past events prove nothing against what I presume of the dispositions of men's minds relative to this business.

I should not be astonished, th [...]n, i [...] he who applies himself to the knowledge of lands in this point of view, and gives solutions to all questions of ca [...]on and diffi­dence, should engage the Europeans to very great pur­chases.

LETTER VI. Method of Observations for my Travels in America. ^*

MY principal object is to examine the effects of li­berty on the character of man, of society, and of govern­ment. This being the grand point of all my observa­tions, [Page 43] in order to arrive at it, I must write every even­ing, in a journal, what has principally struck me in the day. As my observations will refer to five or six grand divisions, I shall make a tablet for each division. The following are the divisions:

LETTER I. From M. DE WARVILLE.

I AM at last, my friend, arrived near the ocean, and in sight of the ship that is to carry me from my country. I quit it without regret; since the ministerial despotism which overwhelms it, leaves nothing to expect for a long time, but frightful storms, slavery, or war. May the woes which threaten this fine country, spare what I leave in it, the most dear to my heart!

I shall not describe the cities and countries which I have passed on my way hither. My imagination was too full of the distressing spectacle I was leaving behind; my mind was thronged with too many cares and fears, to be able to make observations. Insensible to all the scenes which presented themselves to me, I was with difficulty drawn from this intellectual paralysis, at the view of some parts of Normandy, which brought Eng­land to my mind.

The fields of Normandy, especially the can [...]on of Caux, display a great variety of culture. The houses of the peasants better built, and better lighted, than those of Picardy and Beauce, announce the ease which generally reigns in this province. The peasants are well clad. You know the odd head-dress of the women of Caux; the cap in the form of a pyramid, the hair turned back, constrained, plaistered with powder and grease, and the tinsel which always disfigures simple nature. But we excuse this little luxury, in considering that, if their husbands were as miserable as the peasants of other provinces, they would not have the means of paying the expence. The Norman peasants have that air of contentment and independence which is observable in those of the Austrian Flanders; that calm and open countenance, an infallible sign of the happy mediocri­ty, the [...], and the dignity of man. If [Page 49] ever France shall be governed by a free constitution, no province is better situated, or enjoys more means to arrive at a high degree of prosperity.

Bolbec and Bottes, near Havre, contain some situa­tions quite picturesque and delicious for the hermitage of a philosopher, or the mansion of a family who seek their happiness within themselves.

I fled from Rouen as from all great towns. Misery dwells there at the side of opulence. You there meet a numerous train of wretches covered with rags, with [...]allow complexions, and deformed bodies. Every thing announces that there are manufactories in that town; that is to say, a c [...]owd of miserable beings who perish with hunger, to enable others to swim in opulence.

The merchants at Havre complain much of the treaty of commerce between France and England; they think it at least premature, considering our want of a consti­tution, and the superiority of the English industry.— They complain likewise, that the merchant was not con­sulted in forming it. I endeavoured to console them by saying, that the consequences of this treaty, joined with other circumstances, would doubtless lead to a free constitution; which, by knocking off the shackle [...] from the French industry and commerce, would enable us to repair our losses; and that some bankruptcies would be but a small price for liberty. With regard to the indifference of the ministry in consulting the merchants, I convinced them, that it was as much the result of servile fear, and want of public spirit in the merchants, as of the principles of an unlimited mo­narchy. It admits to the administration none but short-sighted intriguers, and presumptuous knaves; and this kind of ministers love not consultations.

Havre is, next to Nantz and Bourdeaux, the most considerable place for the slave trade. Many rich houses in this city, owe their fortunes to this infamous traffic, which increases, instead of diminishing. There is, at present, a great demand for slaves in the colonies, oc­casioned by the augmentation of the demand for sugar, coffee, and cotton in Europe. Is it true then that wealth [Page 50] increases? You may believe it, perhaps, if you look into England; but the interior parts of France give no such idea.

Our negro traders believe, that were it not for the considerable premiums given by the government, this trade could not subsist; because the English sell their slaves at a much lower price than the French. I have many of these details from an American Captain, who is well acquainted with the Indies, and with Africa. He assures me, that the negroes are, in general, treated much better on board the French than the English ships. And perhaps, this is the reason why the French cannot support a concurrence with the English, who nourish them worse, and expend less.

I spoke with some of these merchants of the societies formed in America, England, and France, for the aboli­tion of this horrid commerce. They did not know of their existence, and they considered their efforts as the movements of a blind and dangerous enthusiasm. Filled with old prejudices, and not having read any of the pro­found discussions which this philosophical and political insurrection has excited in England, they ceased not to repeat to me, that the culture of sugar could not be carried on, but by the blacks, and by black slaves. The whites, they say, cannot undertake it, on account of the extreme heat; and no work can be drawn out of the blacks, but by the force of the whip.

To this objection, as to twenty others which I have heard a hundred times repeated, I opposed the victorious answers which you know; ^* but I converted nobody. Interest still speaks too high; and it is not enough in­structed.

These French merchants have confirmed to me a fact, which the society in London has announced to us; it is, that the English carry on this trade under the name of French houses, and thus obtain the premiums which the French government gives to this commerce. These premiums amount to one half of the original price of the slaves.

[Page 51]I mentioned to them an establishment for [...]ed at Sierra Leona, to cultivate sugar by free hands, and extend their culture and civilization in Africa. They answered me, that this settlement would not long subsist; that the French and English merchants viewed it with an evil eye, and would employ force to destroy their rising colony. ^*

These merchants appeared to me to have more pre­judice than inhumanity; and that if they could be told of a new commerce more advantages, it would not be difficult to induce them to abandon the sale of the wretched Africans. Write then, print, and be not weary in giving information.

I see in this port, one of those packets destined for the correspondence between France and the United States, and afterwards employed in the very useless and expensive royal correspondence with our islands;—a system adopted only to favour, at the public expence, some of the creatures of the ministry. This ship, called Marechal de Castries, was built in America, and is an excellent sailer. This is the best answer to all the fa­bles uttered at the office of Marine at Versailles, against the American timber, and the American construction.

Adieu, my friend! the wind is fair, and we are on the point of embarking. I am impatient, for every thing here afflicts me; even the accents of patriotism are alarming and suspicious. Such is the fatal influence of arbitrary governments: they sever all connections, they cramp confidence, induce suspicion, and, of con­sequence, force men of liberty and sensibility to se­quester themselves, to be wretched, o [...] to live in eter­nal fear. I paint to you, here, the martyrdom which I have endured for six months; I have not seen a new face, that has not given me suspicion. This situation [Page 52] is too violent for me—in a few hours my breast will be at ease, my soul will be quiet. What happiness I am going to enjoy in breathing a free air!

LETTER II.

WITH what joy, my good friend, did I leep to this shore of liberty! I was weary of the sea; and the sight of trees, of towns, and even of men, gives a de­licious refreshment to eyes fatigued with the desert of the ocean. I flew from despotism, and came at last to enjoy the spectacle of liberty, among a people, where nature, education, and habit had engraved the equality of rights, which every where else is treated as a chi­mera, with what pleasure did I contemplate this town, which first shook off the English yoke! which, for a long time, resisted all the seductions, all the menaces, all the horrors of a civil war! How I delighted to wander up and down that long street, whose simple houses of wood border the magnificent channel of Bos­ton, and whose full stores offer me all the productions of the continent which I had quitted! How I enjoy­ed the activity of the merchants, the artizans, and the sailors! It was not the noisy vortex of Paris; it was not the unquiet, eager mien of my countrymen; it was the simple, dignified air of men, who are consci­ous of liberty, and who see in all men their brothers and their equals. Every thing in this street bears the marks of a town still in its infancy, but which, even in its infancy, enjoys a great prosperity. I thought myself in that Salentum, of which the lively pencil of Fenelon has left us so charming an image. But the prosperity of this new Salentum was not the work of one man, of a king, or a minister; it is the fruit of li­berty, that mother of industry. Every thing is rapid, [Page 53] every thing great, every thing durable with her. A royal or ministerial prosperity, like a king or a minister, has only the duration of a moment. Boston is just ris­ing from the devastations of war, and its commerce is flourishing; its manufactures, productions, arts, and sciences, offer a number of curious and interesting ob­servations.

The manners of the people are not exectly the same as described by M. de Crevecoeur. You no longer meet here that Presbyterian austerity, which interdicted all pleasures, even that of walking; which forbade travel­ling on Sunday; which persecuted men whose opinions were different from their own. The Bostonians unite simplicity of morals with that French politeness and delicacy of manners which render virtue more amiable. They are hospitable to strangers, and obliging to friends; they are tender husbands, fond and almost idolatrous parents, and kind masters. Music, which their teachers formerly proscribed as a diabolic art, begins to make part of their education. In some houses you hear the forte-piano. This art, it is true, is still in its infancy; but the young novices who exercise it, are so gentle, so complaisant, and so modest, that the proud perfection of art gives no pleasure equal to what they afford. God grant that the Bostonian women may never, like those of France, acquire the malady of perfection in this art! It is never attained, but at the expence of the domestic virtues.

The young women here, enjoy the liberty they do in England, that they did in Geneva when morals were there, and the republic existed; and they do not abuse it. Their frank and tender hearts have nothing to fear from the perfidy of men. Examples of this perfidy are rare; the vows of love are believed; and love always respects them, or shame follows the guilty.

The Bostonian mothers are reserved; their air is however frank, good, and communicative. Entirely devoted to their families, they are occupied in render­ing their husbands happy, and training their children to virtue.

[Page 54]The law denounces heavy penalties against adultry; such as the pillory, and imprisonment. This law has scarcely ever been called into execution. It is because families are happy; and they are pure, because they are happy.

Neatness without luxury, is a characteristic feature of this purity of manners; and this neatness is seen every where at Boston, in their dress, in their houses, and in their churches. Nothing is more charming than an inside view of the church on Sunday. The good cloth coat covers the man; callicoes and chintzes dress the women and children, without being spoiled by those gewgaws which whim and caprice have added to them among our women. Powder and pomatum never sully the heads of infants and children: I see them with pain, however, on the heads of men: they invoke the art of the hair-dresser; for, unhappily, this art has already crossed the seas.

I shall never call to mind, without emotion, the plea­sure I had one day in hearing the respectable Mr. Clarke, successor to the learned Doctor Chauncey, the friend of mankind. His church is in close union with that of Doctor Cooper, to whom every good Frenchman, and every friend of liberty, owes a tribute of gratitude, for the love he bore the French, and the zeal with which he defended and preached the American independence. I remarked in this auditory, the exterior of that ease and contentment of which I have spoken; that collected calmness, resulting from the habit of gravity, and the conscious presence of the Almighty; that religious de­cency, which is equally distant from grovelling idolatry, and from the light and wanton airs of those Europeans who go to a church as to a theatre.

But, to crown my happiness, I saw none of those livid wretches, covered with rags, who, in Europe, soliciting our compassion at the foot of the altar, seem to bear testimony against Providence, our humanity, and the order of society. The discourse, the prayer, [Page 55] the worship, every thing bore the same simplicity. The sermon breathed the best morality, and it was heard with attention.

The excellence of this morality characterizes almost all the sermons of all the sects through the Continent. The ministers rarely speak dogmas: universal tolerance, the child of American independence, has banished the preaching of dogmas, which always leads to discussion and quarrels. All the sects admit nothing but morality, which is the same in all, and the only preaching proper for a great society of brothers.

This tolerance is unlimited at Boston; a town for­merly witness of bloody persecutions, especially against the Quakers; where many of this sect paid, with their life, for their perseverance in their religious opinions. Just Heaven! how is it possible there can exist men be­lieving sincerely in God, and yet barbarous enough to inflict death on a woman, the intrepid Dyer, ^* because [Page 56] she thee'd and thou'd men, because she did not believe in the divine mission of priests, because she would fol­low the gospel literally? But let us draw the curtain over these scenes of horror; they will never [...] sully this new continent, destined by Heaven to be th [...] [...]sylum of liberty and humanity. Every one at prese [...] wor­ships God in his own way at Boston. Anabaptists, Methodists, Quakers, and Catholics, profess openly their opinions: and all offices of government, places and emoluments, are equally open to all sects. Virtue and talents, and not religious opinions, are the tests of public confidence.

The ministers of different sects live in such harmony, that they supply each other's places when any one is detained from his pulpit.

On seeing men think so differently on matters of re­ligion, and yet possess such virtues, it may be concluded, that one may be very honest, and believe, or not believe, in transubstantiation, and the word. They have con­cluded that it is best to tolerate each other, and that this is the worship most agreeable to God.

Before this opinion was so general among them, they had established another: it was the necessity of reducing divine worship to the greatest simplicity, to disconnect it from all its superstitious ceremonies, which gave it the appearance of idolatry; and particularly, not to give their priests enormous salaries, to enable them to live in luxury and idleness; in a word, to restore the evangelical simplicity. They have succeeded. In the country, the church has a glebe; in town, the mini­sters live on collections made each Sunday in the church, and the rents of pews. It is an excellent practice to induce the ministers to be diligent in their studies, and faithful in their duty; for the preference is given to him [Page 57] whose discourses please the most, ^* and his salary is the most considerable: while, among us, the ignorant and the learned, the debauchee and the man of virtue, are always sure of their livings. It results, likewise, from this, that a mode of worship will not be imposed on those who do not believe in it. Is it not a tyranny to force men to pay for the support of a system which they abhor?

The Bostonians are become so philosophical on the subject of religion, that they have lately ordained a man who was refused by the bishop. The sect to which he belongs have installed him in their church, and given him the power to preach and to teach; and he preaches, and he teaches, and discovers good abilities; for the people rarely deceive themselves in their choice. This oeconomical institution, which has no example but in the primitive church, has been censured by those who believe still in the tradition of orders by the direct de­scendants of the Apostles. But the Bostonians are so near believing that every man may be his own preacher, that the apostolic doctrine has not found very warm ad­vocates. They will soon be, in America, in the situ­ation where M. d'Alembert has placed the ministers of Geneva.

Since the ancient puritan austerity has disappeared, you are no longer surprised to see a game of cards intro­duced among these good Presbyterians. When the mind is tranquil, in the enjoyment of competency and peace, it is natural to occupy it in this way, especially in a [Page 58] country where there is no theatre, where men make it not a business to pay court to the women, where they read few books, and cultivate still less the sciences. This taste for cards is certainly unhappy in a republican state. The habit of them contracts the mind, prevents the acquisition of useful knowledge, leads to idleness and dissipation, and gives birth to every malignant pas­sion. Happily it is not very considerable in Boston: you see here no fathers of families risking their whole fortunes in it.

There are many clubs at Boston. M. Chastellux speaks of a particular club held once a week. I was at it several times, and was much pleased with their politeness to strangers, and the knowledge displayed in their conversation. There is no coffee-house at Boston, New-York, or Philadelphia. One house in each town, that they call by that name, serves as an exchange.

One of the principal pleasures of the inhabitants of these towns, consists in little parties for the country, among families and friends. The principal expence of these parties, especially after dinner, is tea. In this, as in their whole manner of living, the Americans in ge­neral resemble the English. [...]unch, warm and cold, before dinner; excellent beef, and Spanish and Bor­deaux wines, cover their tables, always solidly and abundantly served. Spruce beer, excellent cyder, and Philadelphia porter, precede the wines. This porter is equal to the English: the manufacture of it saves a vast tribute formerly paid to the English industry. The same may soon be said with respect to cheese. I have often found American cheese equal to the best Cheshire of England, or the Rocfort of France. This may with truth be said of that made on a farm on Elizabeth Island, belonging to the respectable Governor Bowdoin.

After forcing the English to give up their domination, the Americans determined to rival them in every thing useful. This spirit of emulation shews itself every where: it has erected at Boston an extensive glass ma­nufactory, belonging to M. Breek and others.

[Page 59]This spirit of emulation has opened to the Bostonians so many channels of commerce, which lead them to all parts of the globe.

If these lines could ever apply to any people, it is to the free American [...]. No danger, no distance, no ob­stacle impedes them. What have they to fear? All mankind are their brethren: they wish peace with all.

It is this spirit of emu [...]ation, which multiplies and bring [...] to perfection so many manufactories of cordage in this town; which has erected filatures of hemp and flax, proper to occupy young people, without subject­ing them to be crowded together in such numbers as to ruin their health and their morals; proper, likewise, to occupy that class of women, whom the long voyages of their sea-faring husbands and other accidents reduce to inoccupation.

To this spirit of emulation are owing the manufac­tories of salt, nail [...], paper and paper-hangings, which are multiplied in this state. The rum distilleries are on the decline, since the suppression of the slave trade, in which this liquor was employed, and since the diminu­tion of the use of strong spirits by the country people.

This is fortunate for the human race; and the Ame­rican industry will soon repair the small loss it sustains from the decline of this fabrication of poisons.

Massachusetts wishes to rival, in manufactures, Con­necticut and Pennsylvania; she has like the last, a society formed for the encouragement of manufactures and in­dustry.

The greatest monuments of the industry of this state, are the three bridges of Charles, Malden and Essex.

Boston has the glory of having given the first college or university to the new world. It is placed on an ex­tensive plain, four miles from Boston, at a place called Cambridge; the origin of this useful institution was in 1636. The imagination could not fix on a place that could better unite all the conditions essential to a seat of [Page 60] education; sufficiently near to Boston, to enjoy all the advantages of a communication with Europe and the rest of the world; and sufficiently distant, not to ex­pose the students to the contagion of licentious manners, common in commercial towns.

The air of Cambridge is pure, and the environs charm­ing, offering a vast space for the exercise of the youth.

The buildings are large, numerous, and well distri­buted. But, as the number of the students augments every day, it will be necessary soon to augment the buildings. The library, and the cabinet of philosophy, do honour to the institution. The first contains 13,000 volumes. The heart of a Frenchman palpitates on finding the works of Racine, of Montesquieu, and the Encyclopaedia, where 150 years ago, arose the smoke of the savage calumet.

The regulation of the course of studies here, is near­ly the same as that at the university of Oxford. I think it impossible but that the last revolution must introduce a great reform. Free men ought to strip themselves of their prejudices, and to perceive, that, above all, it is necessary to be a man and a citizen; and that the study of the dead languages, of a fastidious philosophy and theology, ought to occupy few of the moments of a life which might be usefully employed in studies more advantageous to the great family of the human race.

Such a change in the studies is more probable, as an academy is formed at Boston, composed of respectable men, who cultivate all the sciences; and who, disen­gaged from religious prejudices, will doubtless very soon point out a course of education more short and more sure in forming good citizens and good philosophers.

Mr. Bowdoin, president of this academy, is a man of universal talents. He unites with his profound eru­dition, the virtues of a magistrate, and the principles of a republican politician. His conduct has never dis­appointed the confidence of his fellow citizens; though his son-in-law, Mr. Temple, has incurred their uni­versal detestation, for the versatility of his conduct dur­ing the war, and his open attachment to the British [Page 61] since the peace. To recompence him for this, the Eng­lish have given him the consulate-general of America.

But, to return to the university of Cambridge— Superintended by the respectable president Willard. Among the associates in the direction of the studies, are distinguished, Dr. Wigglesworth and Dr. Dexter. The latter is professor of natural philosophy, chemistry and medicine; a man of extensive knowledge, and great modesty. He told me, to my great satisfaction, that he gave lectures on the experiments of our school of chemistry. The excellent work of my respectable mas­ter, Dr. Fourcroy, was in his hands, which taught him the rapid strides that this science has lately made in Europe.

In a free country, every thing ought to bear the stamp of patriotism. This patriotism, so happily dis­played in the foundation, endowment, and encourage­ment of this university, appears every year in a solemn feast celebrated at Cambridge in honour of the Sciences▪ This feast, which takes place once a year in all the col­leges of America, is called the commencement: it re­sembles the exercises and distribution of prizes in our colleges. It is a day of joy for Boston; almost all its inhabitants assemble in Cambridge. The most distin­guished of the students display their talents in presence of the public; and these exercises, which are generally on patriotic subjects, are terminated by a feast, where reign the freest gaiety, and the most cordial fraternity.

It is remarked, that, in countries chiefly devoted to commerce, the sciences are not carried to any high de­gree. This remark applies to Boston. The university certainly contains men of worth and learning; but sci­ence is not diffused among the inhabitants the town. Commerce occupies all their ideas, turns all [...]heir heads, and absorbs all their speculations. Thus you find few estimable works; and few authors. The expence of the first volume of the Memoirs of the Academy of this town, is not yet covered; it is two years since it appeared. Some time since was published, the history of the late troubles in Massachusetts; it is very well [Page 62] written. The author has found much difficulty to in­demnify himself for the expence of printing it. Never has the whole of the precious history of New-Hamp­shire, by Belnap, appeared, for want of encouragement.

Poets, for the same reason, must be more rare than other writers. They speak, however, of an original, but lazy poet, by the name of Allen. His verses are said to be full of warmth and force. They mention particularly, a manuscript poem of his, on the famous battle of Bunker-Hill; but he will not print it. He has for his reputation and his money the carelessness of La Fontaine.

They publish a Magazine here, though the number of Gazettes is very considerable. The multiplicity of Gazettes proves the activity of commerce, and the taste for politics and news; the merits and multiplicity of Literary and Political Magazines, are signs of the cul­ture of the sciences.

You may judge from these details, that the arts, ex­cept those that respect navigation, do not receive much encouragement here. The history of the Planetarium of Mr. Pope is a proof of it. Mr. Pope is a very inge­nious artist, occupied in clock-making. The machine which he has constructed, to explain the movement of the heavenly bodies, would astonish you, especially when you consider that he has received no succour from Europe, and very little from books. He owes the whole to himself; he is, like the painter Trumbull, the child of nature. Ten years of his life have been occupied in perfecting this Planetarium. He had opened a sub­scription to recompence his trouble, but the subscription was ne [...]r full.

This discouraged artist told me one day, that he was going to Europe to sell his machine, and to construct others. This country, said he, is too poor to encourage the arts. These words, this country is too poor, struck me. I reflected, that if they were pronounced in Eu­rope, they might lead to wrong ideas of America; for the idea of poverty carries that of rags, of hunger; and no country is more distant from that sad condition. [Page 63] When [...]iches are centered in a few hands, these have a great superfluity; and this superfluity may be applied to their pleasures, and to favour the agreeable and frivo­lous arts. When riches are equally divided in society, there is very little superfluity, and consequently little means of encouraging the agreeable arts. But which of these two countries is the rich, and which is the poor? According to the European ideas, and in the sense of Mr. Pope, it is the first that is rich; but to the eye of reason, it is not; for the other is the happiest. Hence it results, that the ability of giving encourage­ment to the agreeable arts, is a symptom of national calamity.

Let us not blame the Bostonians; they think of the useful, before procuring to themselves the agreeable. They have no brilliant monuments; but they have neat and commodious churches, but they have good houses, but they have superb bridges, and excellent ships. Their streets are well illuminated at night; while many an­cient cities of Europe, containing proud monuments of art, have never yet thought of preventing the fatal effects of nocturnal darkness.

Besides the societies for the encouragement of agri­culture and manufactures, they have another, known by the name of the Humane Society. Their object is to recover drowned persons. It is formed after the mo­del of the one at London, as that is copied from the one at Paris. They follow the same methods as in Europe, and have rendered important succours.

The Medical Society is not less useful, than the one last mentioned. It holds a correspendence with all the country towns; to know the symptoms of local diseases, propose the proper remedies, and give instruction there­upon to their fellow-citizens.

Another establishment is the alms-house. It is des­tined to the poor, who, by age and infirmity, are un­able to gain their living. It contains at present about 150 persons.

Another, called the work-house, or house of correc­tion, is not so much peopled as you might imagine. In [Page 64] a rising country, in an active port, where provisions are cheap, good morals predominate, and the number of thieves and vagabonds is small. These are vermin at­tached to misery; and there is no misery here.

The state of exports and imports of this industrious people, to prove to you how many new branches of commerce they have opened since the peace, I refer to the general table of the commerce of the United States, which I propose to lay before you.

An employment which is, unhappily, one of the most lucrative in this state, is the profession of the Law. They preserve still the expensive forms of the English practice, which good sense, and the love of order, ought to teach them to suppress; they render a [...]vocates neces­sary; they have likewise borrowed from their fathers, the English, the habit of demanding exorbitant fees. But, notwithstanding the abuses of law proceedings, they complain very little of the Lawyers. Those with whom I have been acquainted, appear to enjoy a great reputation for integrity; such as Sumner, Wendell, Lowell, Sullivan.

They did themselves honour in the affair of the Tender Act, by endeavouring to prevent it from being enacted, and afterwards to diminish as much as possible its unjust effects.

It is in part to their enlightened philanthropy, that is to be attributed the Law of the 26th of March, 1788, which condemns to heavy penalties, all persons who shall import or export slaves, or be concerned in this infamous traffic.

Finally, they have had a great part in the Revolu­tion, by their writings, by their discourses, by taking the lead in the affairs of Congress, and in foreign ne­gociation.

To recall this memorable period, is to bring to mind one of the greatest ornaments of the American bar, the celebrated Adams; who, from the humble station of a school-master, has raised himself to the first dignities; whose name is as much respected in Europe, as in his own country, for the difficult embassies with which he [Page 65] has been charged. He has, finally, returned to his re­treat, in the midst of the applauses of his fellow-citizens, occupied in the cultivation of his farm, and forgetting what he was when he trampled on the pride of his king, who had put a price upon his head, and who was forced to receive him as the ambassador of a free country. Such were the generals and ambassadors of the best ages of Rome and Greece; such were Epaminondas, Cin­cinnatus, and Fabius.

It is not possible to see Mr. Adams, who knows so well the American [...]onstitutions, without speaking to him of that which appears to be taking place in France. I don't know whether he has an ill opinion of our cha­racter, of our constancy, or of our understanding; but he does not believe that we can establish a liberty, even equal to what the English enjoy; ^* he does not believe, even that we have the right, like the ancient States General, to require that no tax should be imposed with­out the consent of the people. I had no difficulty in combating him, even by authorities, independent of the social compact against which no time, no concessions can prescribe.

Mr. Adams is not the only man distinguished in this great revolution, who has retired to the obscure labours of a country life. General Heath is one of those wor­thy imitators of the Roman Cincinnatus; for he likes not the American Cincinnati: their eagle appears to him a gewgaw, proper only for children. On shewing me a letter from the immortal Washington, whom he loves as a father, and reveres as an angel—this letter, says he, is a jewel which, in my eyes, surpasses all the eagles and all the ribbons in the world. It was a letter in which that General had felicitated him for his good conduct on a certain occasion. With what j [...]y did this respect­able man shew me all parts of his farm! What happiness he enjoys on it! He is a true farmer. A glass of cy­der, which he presented to me with frankness and good humour painted on his countenance, appeared to me superior to the most exquisite wines. With this sim­plicity, [Page 66] men are worthy of liberty, and they are sure of enjoying it for a long time.

This simplicity characterises almost all the men of this state, who have acted distinguished parts in the re­volution: such, among others, as Samuel Adams, and Mr. Hancock the present governor. If ever a man was sincerely an idolater of republicanism, it is Samuel Adams, and never a man united more virtues to give respect to his opinions. He has the excess of republican virtues, untainted probity, simplicity, modesty, ^* and, above all, firmness: he will have no capitulation with abuses; he fears as much the despotism of virtue and talents, as the despotism of vice. Cherishing the greatest love and respect for Washington, he voted to take from him the command at the end of a certain term; he re­collected, that Caesar could not have succeeded in over­turning the republic, but by prolonging the command of the army. The event has proved that the applica­tion was false; but it was by a miracle, and the safety of a country should never be risked on the faith of a miracle.

Samuel Adams is the best supporter of the party of Governor Hancock. You know the great sacrifices which the latter made in the revolution, and the bold­ness with which he declared himself at the beginning of the insurrection. The same spirit of patriotism ani­mates him still. A great generosity, united to a vast ambition, forms his character: he has the virtues and the address of popularism; that is to say, that, without effort, he shews himself the equal, and friend of all. I supped at his house with a hatter, who appeared to be in great familiarity with him. Mr. Hancock is amiable and polite, when he wishes to be; but they say he does not always chuse it. He has a marvellous gout, which dispenses him from all attentions, and forbids the ac­cess [Page 67] to his house. Mr. Hancock has not the learning of his rival, Mr. Bowdoin; he seems even to disdain the sciences. The latter is more esteemed by enlight­ened men; the former more beloved by the people.— Among the partizans of the government, I distinguish­ed two brothers by the name of Jarvis; one is comp­troller-general of the state; the other, a physician, and member of the legislature. The first has as much calm­ness of examination and profundity of thought, as the latter has of rapidity in his penetration, agility in his ideas, and vivacity in his expression. They resemble each other in one point, that is, in simplicity—the first of republican virtues; a virtue born with the Ameri­cans, and only acquired with us. If I were to paint to you all the estimable characters which I found in this charming town, my portraits would never be finished. I found every where, that hospitality, that affability, that friendship for the French, which M. Chastellux has so much exalted. I found them especially with Messrs. Bre [...]k, Russel, Gore, Barrett, &c.

The parts adjacent to Boston are charming and well cultivated, adorned with elegant houses and agreeable situations. Among the surrounding eminences you distinguish Bunker-Hill. This name will recall to your mind the famous Warren, one of the first martyrs of American liberty. I owed an homage to his generous manes; and I was eager to pay it. You arrive at Bun­ker-Hill by the superb bridge at Charleston, of which I have spoken. This town was entirely burnt by the English, in their attack of Bunker-Hill. It is at pre­sent rebuilt with elegant houses of wood. You see here the store of Mr. Gorham, formerly president of Con­gress. This hill offers one of the most astonishing mo­numents of American valor; it is impossible to conceive how seven or eight hundred men, badly armed, and fa­tigued, having just constructed, in haste, a few miser­able intrenchments, and who knew nothing, or very little, of the use of arms, could resist, for so long a time, the attack of thousands of the English troop [...], fresh, well disciplined, succeeding each other in the [Page 68] attack. But such was the vigorous resistance of the Americans, that the English lost 1200 men, killed and wounded, before they became masters of the place. Observe that they had two frigates, which, crossing their fire on Charleston, prevented the arrival of succour to the Americans. Yet it is very probable that the Eng­lish would have been forced to retire, had not the Americans failed in ammunition.

While the friend of liberty is contemplating this scene, and dropping a tear to the memory of Warren, his emotions of enthusiasm are renewed on viewing the expressive picture of the death of that warrior, painted by Mr. Trumbull, whose talents may equal, one day, those of the most famous masters.

I must finish this long, and too long, letter. Many objects remain st [...]ll to entertain you with in this state; such as the constitution, debts, taxes; but I refer them to the general table which I shall make of them for the United States. The taxable heads of this state are up­wards of 100,000, acres of arable land 200,000, pas­turage 340,000, uncultivated 2,000,000, tons of ship­ping at Boston 60,000.

LETTER III. Journey from Boston to New-York, by land.

THE distance of these towns is about two hundred and fifty miles. Many persons have united in establish­ing a kind of diligence, or public stage, which passes regularly for the convenience of travellers. In the sum­mer season, the journey is performed in four days.

We set out from Boston at four o'clock in the morn­ing, and passed through the handsome town of Cam­bridge. The country appears well cultivated as far as [Page 69] Weston, where we breakfasted; thence we passed to Worcester to dinner, forty-eight miles from Boston.— This town is elegant, and well peopled: the printer, Isaiah Thomas, has rendered it famous through all the continent. He prints most of the works which appear, and it must be granted that his editions are correct. Thomas is the Didot of the United States. The ta­vern, where we had a good American dinner, ^* is a charming house of wood, well ornamented; it is kept by Mr. Pease, one of the proprietors of the Boston stage. He has much merit for his activity and indus­try; but it is to be hoped he will change the present plan, so far as it respects his horses: they are over-done with the length and difficulty of the courses, which ruin them in a short time, besides retarding very much the progress.

We slept the first night at Spenser, a new village in the midst of the woods. The house of the tavern was but half built; but the part that was finished, had an air of cleanliness which pleases, because it announces that degree of competence, those moral and delicate ha­bits, which are never seen in our villages. The cham­bers were neat, the beds good, the sheets clean, supper passable; cyder, tea, punch, and all for fourteen pence a-head. There were four of us. Now, compare, my friend, this order of things with what you have a thou­sand times seen in our French taverns—chambers dirty and hideous, beds infected with bugs, those insects which Sterne calls [...] rightful inhabitants of taverns, if indeed long possession gives a right; sheets ill washed, and exhaling a fetid odour; bad covering, wine adul­terated, and every thing at its weight in gold; greedy servants, who are complaisant only in proportion to yo [...]r equipage; grovelling towards a rich traveller, and insolent towards him whom they suspect of mediocrity. Such are the eternal torments of travellers in France: [Page 70] add to this, the fear of being robbed, the precautions necessary to be taken every night to prevent it; while, in the United States, you travel without fear, as without arms; ^* and you sleep quietly among the woods, in an open chamber of a house whose doors shut without locks. And now judge which country merits the name of civilized, and which bears the aspect of the greatest general happiness.

We left Sp [...]nser at four o'clock in the morning. New carriage, new proprietor. It was a carriage without springs, a kind of waggon. A Frenchman, who was with me, began, at the first jolt, to curse the carriage, the driver, and the country. Let us wait, sa [...]d I, a lit­tle, before we form a judgment: every custom has its cause; there is doubtless some reason why this kind of carriage is preferred to one hung with springs. In fact, by the time we had run thirty miles among the rocks, we were convinced that a carriage with springs would very soon have been overset and broke.

The traveller is well recompenced for the fatigue of thi [...] route, by the variety of romantic situations, by the beauty of the prospects which it offers at each step, by the perpetu [...]l contrast of savage nature and the eff [...]ts of art. Those vast ponds of water, which lose them­selves in the woods; those rivulets, that wash the mea­dow, newly snatched from uncultivated nature; those neat houses, scattered among the forests, and contain­ing swarms of children, joyous and healthy, and well clad; those fields, covered with trunks of trees, whose destruction is committed to the hand of time, and which are covered under the leaves of Indian corn; those oaks, which preserve still the image of their ancient vigour, but which, girdled at the bottom, raise no longer to heaven but dry and naked branches, which the first stroke of wind must bring to the earth:—all these ob­jects, [Page 71] so new to an European, arrest him, absorb him, and plunge him into an agreeable reverie. The depths of the forests, the prodigious size and height of the trees, call to his mind the time when the savages were the only inhabitants of this country. This ancient tree has be­held them; they filled these forests: they have now given place to another generation. The cultivator fears no more their vengeance; his musket, formerly his ne­cessary companion at the pl [...]ugh, now rests suspended in his house. Alone, with his wife and children, in the midst of the forests, he sleeps quietly, he labours in peace, and he is happy. Such were the ideas which occupied me the greater part of my journey: they sometimes gave place to others, arising from the view of the country houses, which are seen at small distances through all the forests of Massachusetts. Neatness em­bellishes them all. They have frequently but one story and a g [...]rret; their walls are papered: tea and coffee appear on their tables; their daughters, clothed in callicoes, display the [...]raits of civility, frankness, and decency; virtues which always follow contentment and ease. Almost all these houses are inhabited by men who are both cultivators and artizans; one is a tanner, another a shoemaker, another sells goods; but all are farmers. The country stores are well assorted: you find in the same shop, hats, nails, liquors. This order of things is necessary in a new settlement: it is to be hoped that it will continue; for this general retail occupies less hands, and detaches fewer from the great object of a­griculture. It is not supposed that one third of the land of Massachusetts is under cultivation: it is difficult to say when it will all be so, considering the invitations of the western country and the province of Maine. But the uncleared lands are all located, and the proprietor [...] have inclosed them with fences of different sorts. These several kinds of fences are composed of different mate­ [...]ials, which announce the different degrees of culture in the country. Some are composed of the light bran­ches of trees; others, of the trunks of trees laid one upon the other; a third sort is made of long pieces of [Page 72] wood, supporting each other by making angles at the end; a fourth kind is made of long pieces of hewn timber, supported at the ends by passing into holes made in an upright post; a fifth is like the garden fences in England: the last kind is made of stones thrown to­gether to the height of three feet. This last is most durable, and is common in Massachusetts. From Spenser to Brookfield is fifteen miles. The road is good as far as this last town. A town, you know, in the interior of America, designates an extent of eight or ten miles, where are scattered a hundred or two hundred houses. This division into towns, is necessary for assembling the inhabitants for elections and other purposes. Without this division, the inhabitants might go sometimes to one assembly, and sometimes to ano­ther, which would lead to confusion. Besides, it would render it impossible to know the population of any par­ticular canton: this serves for the basis of many regu­lations. No people carry their attention to this parti­cular so far as the Americans.

The situation of Brookfield is picturesque. While breakfast was preparing, I read the gazettes and jour­nals, which are distributed through all the country.— Our breakfast consisted of coffee, tea, boiled and roasted meat; the whole for ten-pence, New-England curren­cy, for each traveller. From this place to Wilbraham, the road is covered with rocks, and bordered with woods. At this place, a new proprietor, and a new carriage. A small light carriage, well suspended, and drawn by two horses, took place of our heavy waggon. We could not conceive how five of us could sit in this little parisian chariot, and demanded another. The conductor said he had no other: that there were so few travellers in this part of the road, that he could not afford to run with more than two ho [...]ses; that most of the travellers from New-York stopped in Connecticut, and most of those from Boston at Worcester. We were obliged to submit. We started like lightni [...]g; and ar­rived, in an hour and a quarter, at Springfield, ten miles. This road appeared really enchanting; I seem­ed [Page 73] the whole way to be travelling in one of the alley [...] of the Palais-Royal. This man was one of the most lively and industrious, at the same time the most pa­tient, I ever met with. In my two journies through this place, I have heard many travellers treat him with very harsh language: he either answers not at all, or answers by giving good reasons. The g [...]eater part of men of this profession, in this country, observe the same conduct in these cases; while the least of these inju­ries in Europe would have occasioned bloody quarrels. This fact proves to me, that, in a free country, reason extends her [...]mpire over all classes of m [...]n.

Springfield, where we dined, resembles an Europe­an town; that is, the houses are placed near together. On a hill that overlooks this town, is a magazine of ammunition and arms belonging to the state of Massa­chusetts. This is the magazine that the rebel Shays endeavoured to take, and was so happily defended by General Shepherd. We set out from Springfield, af­ter dinner, for Hartford. We passed in a ferry-boat, the river that washes the environs of Springfield,

I have passed twice through Hartford, and both time [...] in the night; so that I cannot give an exact description of it. It is a considerable rural town; the greater part of the inhabitants live by agriculture; so that ease and abundance universally reign in it. It is considered as one of the most agreeable in Connecticut, on account of its society. It is the residence of one of the most respectable men in the United States, Colonel Wads­worth. He enjoys a considerable fortune, which he owes e [...]tirely to his own labour and industry. Perfect­ly versed in agriculture and commerce; universally known for the s [...]rvice he rendered to the American and French armies during the war; generally esteemed and beloved for his great virtues; he crowns all his qualities by an amiable and singular modesty. His address is frank, his countenance open, and his discourse simple. Thus you cannot fail to love him as soon as you see him; especially as soon as you know him. I here de­scribe the impression he made on me.

[Page 74]M. de Chastellux, in making the [...]ulogium of this respectable American, has fallen into an error which I ought to rectify. He says, that he has made many voyages to the coast of Guinea. It is incredible that this writer should persist in printing this as a fact, after Colonel Wadsworth begged him to suppress it. ‘To advance, said he, that I have carried on the Gui­nea trade, is to give the idea that I have carried on the slave trade; whereas I always had the greatest abhorrence for this infamous traffic. I prayed M. de Chastellux, that in the edition he was about to pub­lish in France he would suppress this, as well as many other striking errors which appeared in the American edition of his work; and I cannot conceive why he has rectified nothing.’

The environs of Hartford display a charming culti­vated country; neat elegant houses, vast meadows co­vered with herds of cattle of an enormous size, which furnish the market of New-York, and even Philadel­phia. You there see sheep resembling ours; but not, like ours, watched by shepherds, and tormented by dogs; hogs of a prodigious size, surrounded with nu­merous families of pigs, wearing on the neck a trian­gular piece of wood, invented to hinder them from passing the barriers which enclose the cultivated fields; geese and turkeys in abundance, as well as potatoes and all other vegetables. Productions of every kind are ex­cellent and cheap: the fruits, however, do not partake of this excellent quality, because they are less attended to. Apples serve for making cyder; and great quanti­ties of them are likewise exported.

To describe the neighbourhood of Hartford, is to describe Connecticut; it is to describe the neighbour­hood of Middletown, of New-Haven, &c. Nature and art have here displayed all their treasures; it is really the Paradise of the United States. M. de Crevecoeur, who has been so much reproached with exaggeration, is even below the truth in his description of this part of the country. Read again his charming picture, and [Page 75] this reading will supply the place of what it would be useless here to repeat.

This state owes all its advantages to its situation. It is a fertile plain, inclosed between two mountains, which render difficult its communications by land with the other states. It is washed by the superb river Con­necticut, which falls into the sea, and furnishes a safe and easy navigation. Agriculture being the basis of the riches of this state, they are here more equally divided. There is here more equality, less misery, more simpli­city, more virtue, more of every thing which constitutes republicanism.

Connecticut appears like one continued town. On quitting Hartford you enter Wethersfield, a town not less elegant, very long, consisting of houses well built. They tell me it gave birth to the famous Silas Deane, one of the first promoters of the American revolution; from a schoolmaster in this town, elevated to the rank of an Envoy from Congress to Europe; he has since been accused of betraying this glorious cause. Is the accusation true or false? It is difficult to decide. But he has been for a long time miserable in London: and it is in favour of the goodness of heart of the Americans, to recount, that his best friends and benefactors are still among the an [...]ient American Whigs.

Wethersfield is remarkable for its vast fi [...]lds uniform­ly covered with onions; of which great quantities are exported to the West-Indies. It is likewise remarkable for its elegant meeting house or church. On Sunday, it is said to offer an enchanting spectacle, by the num­ber of young handsome persons who assemble there, and by the agreeable musi [...] with which they intermingle the divine service.

New-Haven yields not to Wethersfield for the beauty of the fair sex. At their balls during the winter, it is not rare to see an hundred charming girls, adorned with those brilliant complexions seldom met with in jour­neying to the South, and dressed in elegant simplicity. The beauty of complexion is as striking in Connecticut as its numerous population. You will not go into a [Page 76] tavern without meeting with neatness, decency, and dignity. The tables are served by a young girl, decent and pretty; by an amiable mother, who [...]e age has not effaced the agreeableness of her features; by men who have that air of dignity which the idea of equality in­spires; and who are not ignoble and b [...]s [...], like the greatest part of our tavern keepers. On the road you often meet those fair Connecticut girls, ei [...]her driving a carriage, or alone on horse-back, galloping boldly; with an elegant hat on the head, a white apron, and a callico gown; usages which prove at once the early cul­tivation of their reason, since they are trusted so young to themselves, the safety of the road, and the general innocence of manners. You will see them hazarding themselves alone, without protectors, in the public stage [...]—I am wrong to say hazarding; who can offend them? They are here under the protection of public moral [...], and of their own innocence: it is the conscious­ness of this innocence, which renders them so complai­sant, and so good; for a stranger takes them by the hand, and laughs with them, and they are not offended at it.

Other proofs of the prosperity of Connecticut, are the number of new house [...] every where to be seen, and the number of rural manufactories arising on every side, of which I shall speak hereafter. But even in this state there are many lands to sell. A principal cause of this is the taste for emigration to the western country.— The desire of finding better, embitters the enjoyments even of the inhabitants of Connecticut. Perhaps this taste arises from the hope of escaping taxes, which tho' small, and almost nothing in comparison with those of Europe, appear very heavy. In a country like the United States, every thing favours the forming of new settlements. The new comers are sure, every where of finding friends and brothers, who speak their own language, and admire their courage. Provisions are cheap the whole way; they have nothing to fear from the search of Custom-house clerks, on entering from one province to another, nor river tolls, nor imposts, nor [Page 77] vexations;—man is free as the air he breathes. The taste for emigration is every day augmenting, by the accounts in the public papers of the arrival of different families: Man is like sheep every where: he says, such an one has succeeded, why shall not I succeed? I am no­thing here, I shall be something on the Ohio; I work hard here, I shall not work so hard there.

Before arriving at Middletown, where we were to breakfast, we stopped on the hill which overlooks that town, and the immense valley on which it is built. It is one of the finest and richest prospects that I have seen in America. I could not satiate myself with the variety of the scenes which this landscape laid before me.

Middletown is built like Hartford; broad streets, trees on the sides, and handsome houses. We changed horses and carriages at Durham; and after admiring a number of picturesque situations on the road, we ar­rived at New-Haven, where we dined. The university here enjoys a great reputation through the continent; the port is much frequented; the society is said to be very agreeable. New-Haven has produced the cele­brated poet, Trumbull, ¹⁰ author of the immortal poem M ^c Fingal, which ri [...]al [...], if not surpasses, in keen plea­santry, the famous Hudibras. Colonel Humphreys, ¹¹ whose poem, much esteemed in America, is translated by M. de Chastel [...]ux, is likewise a native of this town. The university is presided by a respectable and learned man, Mr. Stiles. We were obliged to quit this charm­ing town, to arrive in the evening at Fairfield. We passed the inconvenient ferry at Stratford; afterwards, assailed by a violent storm, we were well enough de­fended from it by a double curtain of leather which covered the carriage. The driver, though pierced through with the rain, continued his route through the obscurity of a very dark night. Heaven preserved us from accident, at which I was much astonished. We passed the night at Fairfield, a town unhappily celebrat­ed in the last war. I [...] experienced all the rage of the [Page 78] English, who burnt it. You perceive still the vestiges of this infernal fury. Most of the houses are re-built; but those who have seen this town before the war, regret its ancient state, and the air of ease, and even opulence, that then distinguished it. They shewed me the house of the richest inhabitant, where all travellers of distinc­tion met an hospitable reception; and where was often fea [...]ted, the infamous Tryon, who commanded this ex­pedition of cannibals. Forgetting all sentiments of gratitude and humanity, he treated with the last extre­mity of rigour the mistress of this house, who had re­ceived him as a friend; and after having given her his word for the safety of her house, he ordered it to be set on fire. At Fairfield finished the agreeable part of our journey. From this town to Rye, thirty-three miles, we had to struggle against rocks and precipices. I knew not which to admire most in the driver, his intrepidity or dexterity. I cannot conceive how he avoided twenty times dashing the carriage in pieces, and how his horses could retain themselves in descending the stair-cases of rocks. One of these is called Horse-Neck, a chain of rocks so steep, that if a horse should slip, the carriage must be thrown into a valley two or three hundred feet.

From Horse-Neck we passed to New-Rochelle, a co­lony founded the last century by some French emigrants, which appears not to have prospered. Perhaps this ap­pearance results from the last war; for this place suffer­ed much from the neighbourhood of the English, whose head quarters were at New-York. This place, howe­ver, will always be celebrated for having given birth to one of the most distinguished men of the last revolu­tion— [...] republican remarkable for his firmness and his coolness—a writer eminent for his nervous style, and his close logic, Mr. Jay, at present minister of foreign af­fairs.

The following anecdote will give an idea of the firm­ness of this republican: at the time of laying the foun­dation of the peace in 1783, M. de Vergennes, actuat­ed by secret motives, wished to engage the ambassadors of Congress to confine their demands to the fisheries, [Page 79] and to renounce the western territory; that is, the vast and fertile country beyond the Alleganey mountains. The Minister required particularly, that the Indepen­dence of America should not be considered as the basis of the peace; but, simply, that it should be condition­al. To succeed in this pr [...]ject, it was necessary to gain over Jay and Adams. Mr. Jay declared to M. de Vergennes, that he would sooner lose his life than sign such a treaty; that the Americans fought for indepen­dence; that they would never lay down their arms, till it should be fully consecrated; that the Court of France had recognized it, and that there would be a contra­diction in her conduct, if she should deviate from that point. It was not difficult for Mr. Jay to bring Mr. Adams to this determination; and M. de Vergennes could never shake his firmness. ^*

Consider here the strange concurrence of events. The American, who forced the Court of France, and gave laws to the English minister, was the grand son of a French refugee of the last century, who fled to New-Rochelle. Thus the descendent of a man, whom Louis XIV. had persecuted with a foolish rage, imposed his decisions on the descendent of that sovereign, in his own palace, a hundred years after the banishment of the ancestor.

Mr. Jay was equally immoveable by all efforts of the English minister, whom M. de Vergennes had gained to his party. He proved to him, that it was the interest of the English themselves, that the Americans should be independent, and not in a situation which should render them dependent on their ally. He converted him to this sentiment; for his reasoning determined the court of St. James's. When Mr. [...] through England to return to America, Lord S [...]lburne desired to see him. Accused by the nation of having granted [Page 80] too much to the Americans, he desired to know, in case he had persisted not to accord to the Americans the western territory, if they would have continued the war? Mr. Jay answered, that he believed it, and that he should have advised it.

It is thirty-one miles from Rye to New-York. The road is good, even, and gravelly. We stopped at one of the best taverns I have seen in America. It is kept by Mrs. Haviland. We had an excellent dinner, and cheap. To other circumstances very agreeable, which gave us good cheer at this house, the air of the mistress was infinitely graceful and obliging; and she had a charming daughter, genteel and well educated, who played very well the forte-piano. Before arriving at New-York, we passed by those places which the Eng­lish had so well fortified while they were masters of them. You still see their different redoubts and forti­fications, which attest to the eye of the observer the folly of this fratricidious war.

LETTER IV. Journey from Boston to New-York, by Providence. ^*

ON the 12th of October, we set out from Boston at half past seven in the morning, and arrived by six in the evening at Providence. It is forty-nine miles; the road good, the soil stony, gravelly and sandy, and, as usual for such a soil, covered with pines. The country bordering the road, appears neither fertile, nor well peopled: you may here see houses in decay, and children covered with rags. They had, however, good health, and good complexions. The silence [Page 81] which reigns in the other American towns on Sunday, reigns at Providence even on Mondays. Every thing here announces the decline of business. Few vessels are to be seen in the port. They were building, however, two distilleries: as if the manufactories of this poison were not already sufficiently numerous in the United States. Whether it be from prejudice or reality, I seemed to perceive every where the silence of death, the effect of paper-money. I seemed to see, in every face, the air of a Jew; the result of a traffic founded on fraud and finesse. I seemed to see likewise, in every countenance, the effects of the contempt which the o­ther States bear to this, and the consciousness of meet­ing that contempt. The paper-money at this time was at a discount of ten for one.

I went from Providence to Newport in a packet-boat. This journey might be made by land; but I pr [...]f [...]rred the water. We arrived in seven hours and a half; and during two hours we had contrary wind.— This distance is thirty miles. We never lost sight of land; but it offers nothing picturesque or curious. A few houses, some trees, and a sandy soil, are all that appear to the eye.

The port of Newport is considered as one of the best in the United States. The bottom is good, the har­ [...]our capable of receiving the largest ships, and seems desti [...]ed by na [...]ure to be of great consequence. This place was one of the principal scenes [...] [...]he last war. The successive arrival of the American, English, and French armies, le [...]t here a considerable quantity of money. ^*

Since the peace, every thing is changed. ^† The reign of solitude is only interrupted by groups of idle men, standing with folded arms at the corners of streets; houses falling to ruin; miserable shops, which present nothing but a few coarse stuffs, or baskets of apples, [Page 82] and other articles of little value; grass growing in the public square, in front of the court of justice; rags stuffed in the windows, or hung upon hideous women and lean unquiet children.

Every thing announces misery, the triumph of ill faith, and the influence of a bad government. You will have a perfect idea of it, by calling to mind the impression once made [...]pon us on entering the city of Liege. Recollect the crowd of mendicants besieging us at every step, to implore charity; that irregular mass of Gothic houses falling to ruin, windows without glass, roo [...]s half uncovered; recall to your mind the figures of men scarcely bearing the print of humanity, children in tatters, and houses hung with rags; in short, represent to yourself the asylum of famine, the rascalsity and the impudence that general misery in­spires, and you will recollect Liege, and have an image of Newport.

These two places are nevertheless well situated for commerce, and surrounded by lands by no means un­fruitful; but at Liege, the productions of the country serve to fatten about fifty idle ecclesiastics, who, by the aid of ancient religious prejudices, riot in pleasure in the midst of thousands of unhappy wretches who are dying with hunger ^* At Newport, the people, de­ceived by two or three knaves, have brought on their own misery, and destroyed the blessings which nature had lavished upon them. They have themselves sanc­tified fraud; and this act has rendered them odious to their neighbours, driven commerce from their doors, and labour from their fields.

Read again, my friend, the charming description given of this town and this State by M. de Crevecoeur. It is not exaggerated. Every American whom I have questioned on this subject, has described to me its anci­ent splendor, and its natural advantages, whether for commerce, agriculture, or the enjoyments of life.

[Page 83]The State of Rhode-Island will never again see those happy days, till they take from circulation their paper-money, and reform their government. The magis­trates should be less dependent on the people than they are at present, and the members of the legislature should not be so often elected. It is inconceivable that so ma­ny honest people should groan under the present anar­chy; that so many Quakers, who compose the basis of the population of this State, should not combine toge­ther to introduce this reform ^*.—If this reform is not speedily executed, I doubt not but the State will be unpeopled. A great part of the emigration for this settlement at Muskingum, on the Ohio, is from this State. General Varnum is at their head. A number of families are preparing to join them. Nearly all the honest people of Newport would quit the place, if they could [...]ell their effects. I doubt not, likewise, but the example of Rhode-Island will be a proof, in the eyes of many people, that republican government is disas­trous. This would be a wrong conclusion—this ex­ample only proves, that there should not be a too fre­quent rotation in the legislative power, and that there ought to be a stability in the executive; that there is as much danger in placing the magistrates in a state of too great dependence on the people, as there is in making them too independent. It argues, in fact, against a pure democracy, but not against a representative demo­cracy; for a representation of six months, is but a go­vernment by the people themselves. Representation, in this case, is but a shadow, which passes too sudden­ly to be perceived, or to feel its own existence. Of consequence, this example proves nothing against the wise system of representation, more durable, more in­dependent, and which constitutes the true republican government, such as that of the other United States. But in the midst of these disorders, you hear nothing of rob­beries, [Page 84] of murders, or of mendicity; for the American poor does not degrade himself so far as to abjure all ideas of equity, and all shame. And this is a trait which still marks a difference between Newport and Liege; the Rhode-Islander does not beg, and he does not steal— the ancient American blood still runs in his veins.

I was detained at Newport by the south-west winds, till the 13th, when we set sail at midnight; the Cap­tain not wishing to sail sooner, for fear of touching be­fore day on Block-Island. The wind and tide carried us at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour; and we should have arrived at New-York the next evening, but we were detained at Hell-Gate, a kind of gulph, eight miles from New-York. This is a narrow passage, formed by the approach of Long-Island to York-Island, and rendered horrible by rocks, concealed at high-wa­ter. The whirlpool of this gulph is little perceived at low water; but it is not surprising that vessels which know it not, should be dashed in pieces. They speak of an English frigate lost there the last war. This Hell-Gate is an obstacle to the [...]avigation of this strait; but it is not rare in summer to run from Newport to New-York, two hundred miles, in twenty hours. As you approach this city, the coasts of these two islands pre­sent the most agreeable spectacle. They are adorned with elegant country houses. Long-Island is celebrat­ed for its high state of cultivation. The price of pas­sage and your table from Providence to New-York is six dollars.

I ought to say one word of the packet-boats of this part of America, and of the facilities which they offer. Though, in my opinion, it is more advantageous, and often less expensive, to go by land; yet I owe some praises to the cleanliness and good order observable in these boats. The one which I was in contained four­teen beds, ranged in two rows, one above the other; every one had its little window. The chamber was well aired; so that you do not breathe that nauseous air which infects the packets of the English channel. It was well varnished; and two close corners were made [Page 85] in the poop, which serve as private places. The pro­visions were good. There is not a little town on all this coast, but what has this kind of packets going to New-York; such as New-Haven, New-London, &c. They have all the same neatness, the same embellish­ment, the same convenience for travellers. You may be assured, that there is nothing like it on the old con­tinent.

LETTER V. On NEW-YORK.

I HAVE read again, my dear friend, the descrip­tion given by Mr. Crevecoeur of this part of the United States; and after having compared all the articles of it with what I have seen, I must declare, that all the traits of his picture are just.

Nothing is more magnificent than the situation of this town—between two majestic rivers, the North and the East. The former separates it from New-Jersey: it is so profound, that ships of the line anchor in it. I have at this moment under my eyes, a French ship of [...],200 tons, destined to the East-India trade, which has come into it to refit. Two inconveniencies are, how­ever, experienced in this river: the descent of ice in the winter, and the force of the north-west wind.— Ships mount this commodious river as far as Albany, [...] town situated an hundred and seventy miles from New-York.

Albany will yield very soon, in prosperity, to a town called Hudson, built on a spot, where, four year [...] ago, there was only a simple farm-house. At present, it contains an hundred good dwelling houses, a court-house, public fountains, &c. More than fifty ships [Page 86] are owned there, which export the American produc­tions to the islands and to Europe. Two whaleing ships are of the number. Their vessels do not winter idly, like those of Albany, in the port. They trade in the West-Indies during this season. Poughkeepsie, on the same river, has doubled its population and its com­merce since the war. The inattention of the people of Albany to foreign commerce, may be attributed to the fertility of their lands. Agriculture abounds there, and they like not to hazard themselves to the dangers of the sea, for a fortune which they can draw from the bounty of the soil which surrounds them. The ferti­lity of the uncultivated lands, and the advantages which they offer, attract settlers to this quarter. New settle­ments are forming here; but slowly, because other states furnish lands, if not as fertile, at least attended with more advantages for agriculture, as they are less ex­posed to the excessive rigours of so long a winter.

When this part of America shall be well peopled, the North River will offer one of the finest channels for the exportation of its productions. Navigable for more than two hundred miles from the ocean, it communi­cates with the river Mohawk, with the lakes Oneida, Ontario, Erie, and all that part of Canada. The falls which are found in this route, may be easily van­quished by canals, so easy to construct in a country a­bounding with men and money. This river commu­nicates with Canada, in another quarter, by the lakes George and Champlaine. It is this situation which will render New-York the channel of the fur-trade, at least during the existence of this kind of commerce, which supposes the existence of savages, and great quan­tities of uncultivated lands.

By the East-River, New-York communicates with Long-Island, and with all the Eastern States. Ships of the line anchor likewise in this river, and near the quay, where they are sheltered from the storms which sometimes ravage these coasts. This happy situation of New-York will explain to you the causes why the Eng­lish give it the preference over the other parts of Ame­rica. [Page 87] Being the great market for Connecticut and New-Jersey, it pours in upon those States the productions of the East-Indies, and of Europe. It is difficult to ob­tain an account of the exportations and importations of this State. Colonel Lamb, who is at the head of the Custom-house, invelopes all his operations in the most profound mystery; it is an effect of the Dutch spirit, which still governs this city. The Dutchman conceals his gains and his commerce; he lives but for himself. I have been able, however, to procure some details, which you will find in the general table, of the com­merce of the United States. The English have a great predilection for this city, and for its productions; thus its port is always covered with English ships. They prefer even its wheat; so that the American merchants bring wheat from Virginia, and sell it for that of New-York.

The presence of Congress, with the diplomatic body and the concourse of strangers, contributes much to ex­tend here the ravages of luxury. The inhab [...]tants are far fr [...] complaining at it; they prefer the splendour of wealth, and the show of enjoyment, to the simpli­city of manners, and the pure pleasures resulting from it. The usage of smoking has not disappeared in this town, with the other cust [...]ms of their fathers, the Dutch. They smoke cigars, which come from the Span [...]sh islands. They are leaves of tobacco, rolled in form of a tube, of six inches long, which are smoked without the aid of any instrument. This usage is re­volting to the French. It may appear disagreeable to the women, by destroying the purity of the breath. The philosopher condemns it, as it is a superfluous want.

It has, however, one advantage; it accustoms to me­ditation, and prevents loquacity. The smoker asks a question; the answer comes two minutes after, and it is well founded. The cigar renders to a man the ser­vice that the philosopher drew from the glass of water, which he drank when he was in anger.

The great commerce of this city, and the facility of living here, augments the population of the State with [Page 88] great rapidity. In 1773, they reckoned 148,124 whites; in 1786, the number was 219,996.

If there is a town on the American continent where the English luxury displays its f [...]llies, it is New York. You will find here the English fashions. In the dress of the women, you will see the most brilliant silks, gauzes, hats, and borrowed hair. Equipages are rare; but they are elegant. The men have more simplicity in their dress; they disdain gewgaws, but they take their revenge in the luxury of the table.

Luxury forms already, in this town, a class of men very dangerous in society—I mean bachelors. The expence of women causes matrimony to be dreaded by men.

Tea forms, as in England, the basis of the princi­pal parties of pleasure. Fruits, though more attended to in this S [...]ate, are far from possessing the beauty and goodness of those of Europe. I have seen trees, in September, loaded at once with apples and with flow­ers.

M. de Crevecoeur is right in his description of the abundance and good quality of provisions at New-York, in vegetables, flesh, and especially in fish. It is difficult to unite so many advantages in one place. Provisions are dearer at New-York than in any other of the nor­thern or middle States. Many things, especially those of luxury, are dearer here than in France. A hair­dresser asks twenty shillings per month; washing costs four shillings for a dozen pieces.

Strangers who, h [...]ing lived a long time in America, tax the Americans with cheating, have declared to me, that this accusation must be confined to the towns, and that in the country you will find them honest. The French are the most forward in making these com­plaints; and they believe that the Americans are more trickish with them than with the English. If this were a fact, I should not be astonished at it. The French, whom I have seen, are eternally crying up the services which their nation has rendered to the Americans, and opposing their manners and customs, decrying their go­vernment, [Page 89] exalting the favours rendered by the French government towards the Americans, and diminishing those of Congress to the French.

One of the greatest errors of travellers is to calculate prices of provisions in a country, by the prices in ta­verns and boarding-houses. It is a false basis; we should take, for the town, the price at the market, and this is about half the price that one pays at the tavern. This basis would be still false, if it were applied to the country. There are many articles which are abun­dant in the country, and are scarcely worth the trou­ble of collecting and bringing to market. These reflec­tions appear to me necessary to put one on his guard a­gainst believing too readily in the prices estimated by hasty travellers. Other circumstances likewise influ­ence the price; such, for example, as war, which Mr. Chastellux takes no notice of in his exaggerated account of American prices.

These prices were about double in New-York during the war, to what they are now. Boarding and lodging by the week, is from four to six dollars. The fees of lawyers are out of all proportion; they are, as in Eng­land, excessive. Physicians have not the same advan­tage in this respect as lawyers: the good health generally enjoyed here, renders them little necessary; yet they are sufficiently numerous.

I conversed with some of them, and asked what were the diseases most common. [...]hey told me bilious fe­vers; and that the greatest part of diseases among them were occasioned by ex [...]essive cold, and the want of care; but there are few diseases here, added they. The air is pure; the inhabitants are tolerably temperate; the people in good circumstances, are not sufficiently rich to give themselves up to those debaucheries which kill so many in Europe; and there are no poor, provisions being so cheap.

Let those men who doubt the prodigious effects that liberty produces on man, and on his industry, transport themselves to America. What miracles will they here behold! Whilst every where in Europe the villages and [Page 90] towns are falling to ruin, rather than augmenting, new edifices are here arising on all sides. New-York was in great part consumed by fire in the time of the war. The vestiges of this terrible conflagration disappear; the activity which reigns every where, announces a rising posterity; they enlarge in every quarter, and ex­tend their streets. Elegant buildings, in the English style, take place of those sharp-roofed sloping houses of the Dutch. You find some still standing in the Dutch style; they afford some pleasure to the European ob­server; they trace to him the origin of this colony, and the manners of th [...]se who inhabit it, whilst they call to his mind the ancient Belgic State.

I walk out by the side of the North River; what a rapid change in the space of six weeks! The river is forced back 200 feet, and, by a simple mechanis [...], they have constructed a kind of encasement, composed of large tru [...]ks of trees crossing each other at convenient distances, and fastened together by strong beams.— They conduct this floating dyke to the place where it is to be fixed, and where there is often forty feet of water. Arrived at its destination, it is sunk with an enormous weight of stones. On all sides, houses are rising, and streets extending; I see nothing but busy workmen building and repairing.

At the same time they are erecting a building for Congress. They are likewise repairing the hospital; this building is in a bad condition; not a sick person could be lodged in it at the end of the war; it was a building almost abandoned; they have restored the ad­ministration of it to the Quakers, from whom it had been taken away during the war; they have ordered it to be repaired, and the reparations are executing with the greatest vigour. This building is vast; it is of brick, and perfectly well situated on the bank of the North River. It enjoys every advantage; air the most salu­briou [...], that may be renewed at pleasure; water in abun­dance; pleasant and extensive walks for the sick; mag­nificent and agreeable prospects; out of the town, and yet sufficiently near it.

[Page 91]It is likewise to the Quakers, to these men so much calumniated, of whom I shall speak more fully hereafter, that is owing the order observable in the work-house, of which they have the superintendance.

It is to their zeal that is to be attributed the formation of the society for the abolition of slavery. As I shall consecrate to this important article a particular chapter, I shall not speak of it here.

A society of a more pompous title, but whose services are less real, has been lately formed. Its object is the general promotion of science and useful knowledge. They assemble rarely, and they do nothing. They have, however, eight hundred pounds in the bank, which remain idle. Their president is Governor Clin­ton; and he is any other thing rather than a man of learning.

This society will have little success here—the Dutch are no lovers of letters.

But though men of learning do not abound in this city, the presence of Congress attracts▪ from time to time, at least from all parts of America, the most cele­brated men. I have seen particularly, Messrs. Jay, Maddison, Hamilton, King, and Thornton. I have already spoke to you of the first.

The name of Maddison, celebrated in America, is well known in Europe, by the merited eulogium made of him by his countryman and friend, Mr. Jefferson.

Though still young, he has rendered the greatest ser­vices to Virginia, to the American confederation, and to liberty and humanity in general. He contributed much, with Mr. White, in reforming the civil and criminal codes of his country. He distinguished him­self particularly, in the conventions for the acceptation of a new federal system. Virginia balanced a long time in adhering to it. Mr. Maddison determined to it the members of the convention, by his eloquence and his logic. This republican appears to be but about thirty-three years of age. He had, when I saw him, an air of fatigue; perhaps it was the effect of the immense la­bours to which he has devoted himself for some time [Page 92] past. His look announces a censo [...]; his conversation discovers the man of learning; and his reserve was that of a man conscious of his talents and of his duties.

During the dinner to which he invited me, they spoke of the refusal of North Carolina to accede to the new constitution. The majority against it was one hundred. Mr. Maddison believed that this refusal would have no weight on the minds of the Americans, and that it would not impede the operations of Con­gress. I told him, that though this refusal might be regarded a [...] a trifle in America, it would have great weight in Europe; that they would never inquire there into the motives which dictated it, nor consider the small consequence of this State in the confederation; that it would be regarded as a germe of division, calcu­lated to retard the operations of Congress; and that certainly this idea would prevent the resurrection of the American credit.

Mr. Maddison attributed this refusal to the attach­ment of a great pa [...]t of the inhabitants of that State to their paper money and their tender act. He was much inclined to believe, that this disp [...]sition would not re­main a long time.

Mr. Hamilton is the worthy fellow-labourer of Mr. Maddison: his figure announces a man of thirty-eight or forty years; he is not tall; his countenance is de­cided; his air is open and [...] ▪ he was aid-de­camp to General Washing [...] who had great confidence in him; and he well [...]. Since the peace, he has taken the profession of the law, and devoted him­self principally to public affairs. He ha [...] distinguished himself in Congress, by his [...] and the solidity of his reasoning. Among the [...] which have come from his pen, the most distinguished are [...] number of letter [...] inserted in the [...], of which [...] shall have occasion to speak hereafter; and the letters of [...]hocio [...], in favour of the royalists. Mr Hamilton had sought them with success during the war. At the establish­ment of peace, he was of opinion, that [...] was not best to drive them to despair by a rigorous persecution. And [Page 93] he had the happiness to gain over to these mild senti­ments, those of his compatriots, whose resentment had been justly excited against these people, for the woes they had brought on their country.

This young orator triumphed again in the convention of the State of New-York, where the antifederal party was numerous. When the convention was formed at Poughkeepsie, three quarters of the members were op­posed to the new system. Mr. Hamilton, joining his efforts to those of the celebrated Jay, succeeding i [...] continuing the most obstinate, that the refusal of New-York would entrain the greatest misfortunes to that S [...]ate, and to the Confederation. The const [...]tution was adopted; the feast which followed the ratification in New-York, was magnificent; the ship Federalist, which was drawn in procession, was named Hamilton, in honour of this eloquent speaker.

He has married the daughter of General Schuyler, a charming woman, who joins to the graces all the can­dour and simplicity of an American wife. At dinner, at his house, I found General M [...]fflin, who distinguished himself for his activity in the last war. To the [...]iva­ci [...]y of a Frenchman, he appears to unite every oblig­ing characteristic.

Mr. King, whom I saw at this dinner, passes for the most eloquent man of the United States. What struck me m [...]st in him, was his modesty. He appears igno­rant of his own worth. Mr. Hamilton has the deter­mined air of a republican; Mr. Maddison, the medita­tive air of a profound politician.

At this dinner, as at most others which I made in America, they drank the health of M. de la Fayette.— The Americans consider him as one of the heroes of their liberty. He merits their love and esteem; they have not a better friend in France. His generosity to them has been manifested on all public occasions, and still more in private circumstances, where benefits re­main unknown. It is not, perhaps, to the honour of France, or the Frenchmen who have been in America, to recount the fact, That he is the only one who has [Page 94] succoured the unhappy sufferers in the fire at Boston, ^* and the only one whose doors are open to the Ameri­cans.

Doctor Thornton, intimately connected with the Americans whom I have mentioned, runs a different career, that of humanity. Though, by his appearance, he does not belong to the society of friends, he has their principles, and practises their morals with regard to the blacks. He told me the efforts which he has made for the execution of a vast project conceived by him for their benefit. Persuaded that there never can exist a sincere union between the whites and the blacks, even on admitting the latter to the rights of freemen, he pro­poses to send them back, and establish them in Africa. This plan is frightful at the first aspect; but on exami­nation, it appears to be necessary and advantageous. I shall not enter upon it here, but reserve it for my letter on the state of the blacks in this country.—Mr. Thorn­ton, who appears, by his vivacity and his agreeable manners, to belong to the French nation, was born at Antigua: his mother has a plantation there. It is there that, instead of harde [...]ing his heart to the fate of the negroes, as most of the planters do, he has acquired that humanity, that compassion for them, with which he is so much tormented. He told me, he should have set his slaves at liberty, if it had been in his power; but not being able to do this, he treats them like men.

I cannot finish this letter without speaking of another American, whose talents in finance are well known here; it is Colonel Duer, secretary to the board of trea­sury. It is difficult to unite to a great facility in cal­culation, more extensive views and a quicker penetrati [...]n into the most complicated projects. To these qualities he joins goodness of heart; and it is to his obliging cha­racter, and his zeal, that I owe much valuable informa­tion on the finances of this country, which I shall com­municate hereafter.

I should still be wanting in gratitude, should I neg­lect to mention the politeness and attention shewed me [Page 95] by the President of Congress, Mr. Griffin. He is a Virginian, of very good abilities, of an agreeable figure, affable and polite. I saw at his house, at dinner, se­ven or eight women, all dressed in green hats, plumes, &c. It was with pain that I remarked much of preten­sion in some of these women; one acted the giddy, vi­vacious; another, the woman of sentiment. This last had many pruderies and grimaces. Two among them had their bosoms very naked. I was scandalized at this inde [...]ency among republicans.

A President of Congress is far from being surrounded with the splendor of European monarchs; and so much the better. He is not durable in his station; and so much the better. He never forgets that he is a simple citizen, and will soon return to the station of one. He does not give pompous dinners; and so much the bet­ter. He has fewer parasites, and less means of cor­ruption.

I remarked that his table was freed from many usa­ges observed elsewhere;—no fatiguing presentations, no toasts, so despairing in a numerous society. Little wine was drank after the women had retired. These traits will give you an idea of the temperance of this country; temperance, the leading virtue of republicans.

I ought to add one word on the finances of this State. The facility of raising an impost on foreign commerce, puts them in a situation to pay, with punctuality, the expences of the government, the interest of their State debt, and their part of the civil list of Congress. Their revenues are said to amount to 80,000l. money of New-York. The expences of the city and county of New-York amounted, in 1787, to one-eighth of this sum, that is, to 10,110l. I will add here a state of these ex­penecs.

The bank of New-York enjoys a good reputation; it is well administered. Its cashier is Mr. William Se­ton, to whom Mr. de Crevecoeur has addressed his let­ters; and what will give you a good idea of his integ­rity, is, that he was chosen to this important place, notwithstanding his known attachment to the English cause. This bank receives and pays, without reward, for merchants and others, who choose to open an ac­compt with it.

LETTER VI. Journey from New-York to Philadelphia.

I WENT from New-York the 25th of August, at six o'clock in the morning, and had the North River to pass before arriving to the stage. We passed the fe [...]y in an open boat, and landed at Paulus Hook: they reckon two miles for this ferry, for which we pay sixpence, money of New-York.

The carriage is a kind of open waggon, hung with double curtains of leather and woollen, which you raise or let fall at pleasure: it is not well suspended. But [Page 97] the road was so fine, being sand and gravel, that we felt no inconvenience from that circumstance. The horses are good, and go with rapidity. These carriages have four benches, and may contain twelve persons. The light baggage is put under the benches, and the trunks fixed on behind. A traveller who does not choose to take the stage, has a one horse carriage by himself.

Let the Frenchmen who have travelled in these car­riages, compare them to those used in France; to those heavy diligences, where eight or ten persons are stuffed in together; to those cabriolets in the environs of Paris, where two persons are closely confined, and deprived of air, by a dirty driver, who torments his miserable jades; and those carriages have to run over the finest roads, and yet make but one league an hour. If the Americans had such roads, with what rapidity would they travel? sin [...]e, notwithstanding the inconvenience of the roads, they n [...]w run ninety-six miles in a day. Thus, with only a century and a half of existence, and opposed by a thousand obstacles, they are already supe­rior to people who have been undisturbed in their pro­gress for fifteen centuries.

You find in these stages, men of all professions.— They succeed each other with rapidity. One who goes but twenty miles, yields his place to one who goes farther. The mother and daughter mount the stage to go ten miles to dine; another stage brings them back. At every instant, then, you are making new acquaintances. The frequency of these carriages, the facility of finding places in them, and the low and fixed price, invite the Americans to travel. These carriages have another advantage, they keep up the idea of equa­lity. The member of Congress is placed by the side of the shoemaker who elected him: they fraternize toge­ther, and converse with familiarity. You see no person here taking upon himself those important airs, which you too often meet with in France. In that country, a man of condition would blush to travel in a diligence: it is an ignoble carriage; one knows not with whom he may find himself. Besides, it is in style to run post; [Page 98] this style serves to humiliate those who are condemned to a sad mediocrity. From this inequality, result envy, the taste for luxury, ostentation, an avidity for gain, the habit of mean and guilty measures to acquire wealth. It is then fortunate for America, that the nature of things prevents this distinction in the mode of travelling.

The artizan, or the labourer, who finds himself in one of these stages with a man in place, composes him­self, is silent; or if he endeavours to rise to the level of others by taking part in the conversation, he at least gains instruction. The man in place has less haughti­ness, and is facilitated in gaining a knowledge of the people.

The son of Governor Livingston was in the stage with me; I should not have found him out, so civil and easy was his air, had not the tavern-keepers from time to time addressed him with respectful familiarity. I am told that the Governor himself often uses those sta­ges. You may have an idea of this respectable man, who is at once a writer, a governor, and a plowman, on learning that he takes a pride in calling himself a New-Jersey farmer.

The American stages, then, are the true political carriages. I know that the petits maitres of France would prefe [...] gay well suspended chariot; but [...]hese carriages roll in countries of Bastilles, in countries af­flicted with great inequality, and consequently with great misery.

The road from New-York to Newark is in part over a marsh: I found it real [...]y astonishing; it recalls to mind the indefatigable industry of the ancient Dutch settlers, mentioned by Mr. C [...]evecoeur. Built wholly of wood, with much labour and perseverance in the midst of water, on a soil that trembles under your feet, it proves to what point may be carried the patience of man, who is determined to conquer nature

But though much of these marshes are drained, there remains a large ext [...]t of them covered with stagnant waters, which infect the air, and give birth to those musquitoes with which you are cruelly tormented, and [Page 99] to an epidemical fever which makes great ravages in summer; a fever known likewise in Virginia and in the Southern States, in parts adjacent to the sea. I am assured that the upper parts of New-Jersey are exempt from this fever, and from musquitoes; but this State is ravaged by a political scourge, more terrible than either; it is paper-money. This paper is still, in New-Jersey, what the people call a legal tender; that is, you are obliged to receive it at its nominal value, as a legal payment.

I saw in this journey, many inconveniencies result­ing from this fictitious money. It gives birth to an in­famous kind of traffic, that of buying and selling it, by deceiving the ignorant; a commerce which discourages industry, corrupts the morals, and is a great detriment to the public. This kind of stock-jobber is the enemy to his fellow citizens. He makes a science of deceiving; and this science is extremely contagious. It introduces a general distrust. A person can neither sell his land, nor borrow money upon it; for sellers and lenders may be paid in [...] medium which may still depreciate▪ they know not to what degree it may depreciate. A friend dares not trust his friend. Instances of perfidy of this kind have been known, that are horrible. Pa­triotism is consequently at an end, cultivation languishes, and commerce declines. How is it p [...]ssible, said I to Mr. Livingston, that a country, so rich, can have re­course to paper-money? New-Jersey furnishes pro­ductions in abundance to New-York and Philadelphia. She draws money, then, constantly from those places; she is their creditor. And shall a creditor make use of a resource which can be proper only for a miserable debtor? How is it that the members of your legisla­ture have not made the [...]e reflections? The reason of it is very simple, replied he. At the close of the ruin­ous war that we have experienced, the greater part of our citizens were burdened with debts. They saw in this paper-money, the means of extricating themselves; and they had influence enough with their representatives to force them to create it. But the evil falls at length [Page 100] on the authors of it, said I▪ they must be paid them­selve [...], as we [...] as pay others, in this same paper; and why do they not see that it dishonours their country, that it ruins all kinds of honest industry, and corrupts the morals of people? Why do they not repeal this legal tender? A strong interest opposes it, replied he, of stock jobbers and speculators. They wish to prolong this miserable game, in which they are sure to be the winners, though the ruin of their country should be the consequence. We expect relief only from the new constitution▪ which takes away from the States the power of making paper-money. All honest people wish the [...]tinction of it, when silver and gold would re-appear and our national industry would soon repair the ravage [...] of the war.

From Newark we went to dine at New-Brunswick, and to sleep at Trenton. The road is bad between the two last places, especially after a rain; it is a road dif­ficult to be kept in repair. We passed by Prince­ton; this part of New-Jersey is very well cultivated. Mr. de Cr [...]vecoeur has not exaggerated in his descrip­tion of it. All the towns are well built, whether in wood, stone, or brick. These places are too well known in the military annals of this country, to require that I should speak of them. The taverns are much dearer on this road, than in Massachusetts and Connecticut: I paid at Trenton for a dinner, three shillings and six-pence, money of Pennsylvania.

We passed the ferry from Trenton at seven in the morning. The Delaware, which separates Pennsyl­vania fr [...]m New-Jersey, is a superb river, navigable for the largest ships. Its navigation is intercepted by the ice during two months in the year. Vessels are not attacked here by these worms, which are so de­structive to them in rivers farther south.

The prospect from the middle of the river is charm­ing: on the right, you see mills and manufactories; on the left, two charming little towns, which overlook the water. The borders of this river are still in their wild state. In the forests which cover them, are some [Page 101] enormous trees. There are likewise s [...]me houses; but they are not equal, in point of simple elegance, to those of Massachusetts.

We breakfasted at Bristol, a town opposite to Bur­lington. It was here that the famous Penn first planted his tabernacles. But it was represented to him, that the river here did not furnish anchoring ground so good and so safe as the place already inhabited by the Swedes, where Philad [...]lphia has since been built. He resolved, then, to purchase this place of them, give them other lands in exchange, and to leave Bristol.

Passing the river [...]hammony, on a new bridge, and then the village of Frankford, we arrived at Philadel­phia, by a fine road bordered with the best cultivated fields, and elegant houses, which announce the neigh­bourhood of a great town.

LETTER VII. Journey to Burlington.

I HAD passed but few hours at Philadelphia▪ when a particular business called me to Burlington, on the borders of the Delaware. It is an elegant little town more ancient than Philadelphia. Many of the inhabitants are Friends or Quakers: This was former­ly their place of general rendezvous.

From thence I went to the country-house of Mr. Temple Franklin. He is the grand-son of the celebrat­ed Franklin; and as well known in France for his amiable qualities, as for his general information. His house is five miles from Burlington, on a sandy soil, covered with a forest of pines His house is simple, his garden is well kept, he has a good library, and his si­tuation seems destined for the retreat of a philosopher.

[Page 102]I dined here with five or six Frenchmen, who be­g [...] their conversation with invectives against America and the Americans, against their want of laws, their paper-money, and their ill-faith. I defended the A­mericans, or rather I desired to be instructed by facts; for I was determined no more to believe in the opinions of individuals.

You wish for facts, said one of them, who had exist­ed in this country for three years: I will give you some. I say that the country is a miserable one. In New-Jersey, where we now are, there is no money, there is nothing but paper. The money is locked up, said Mr. Franklin. Would you have a man be fool enough to exchange it for depreciated rags? Wait till the law shall take the paper from circulation.—But you cannot borrow money on the best security. I believe it, said Mr. Franklin; the lender fears to be paid in paper.— These facts prove not the scarcity of money, but the prudence of those who hold it, and the influence that debtors have in the legislature.

They passed to another point. Your laws are arbi­trary, and often unjust: for instance, there is a law lay­ing a tax of a dollar on the second dog; and this tax augments in proportion to the number that a man keeps. Thus a labourer has need of dogs; but he is deprived of their succour. He has no need of them, said Mr. Franklin; he keeps them but for his pleasure; and if any thing ought to be taxed, it is pleasure. The dogs are injurious to the sheep; instead of defending them, they often kill them. I was one of the first to solicit this law, because we are infested with dogs from this quarter. To get rid of them, we have put a tax on them, and it has produced salutary effects. The money arising from this tax, is destined to indemnify those whose sheep are destroyed by th [...]se animals.

My Frenchman returned to the charge:—But your taxes are extremely heavy. You shall judge of that, says Mr. Franklin; I have an estate here of five or six hundred acres: my taxes last year amounted to eight pounds, in paper money; this reduced to hard money, is six pounds.

[Page 103]Nothing can be more conclusive than those replies. I am sure, however, that this Frenchman has forgot them all; and that he will go and declare in France, that the taxes in New-Jersey are distressingly heavy, and that the imposition on dogs is abominable.

Burlington is separated from Bristol only by the river. Here is some commerce, and some men of considerable capital. The children here have that air of health and decency, which characterises the sect of the Quakers.

LETTER VIII.

ON returning from Burlington, I went with Mr. Shoemaker to the house of his father-in-law, Mr. Richardson, a farmer, who lives near Middleton, twen­ty-two miles from Philadelphia.

Mr. Shoemaker is thirty years of age; he was not educated in the sect of Friends: he declared to me that, in his youth▪ he was far from their principles; that he had lived in pleasure; that growing weary of them, he reflected on his conduct, and resolved to change it; that he studied the principles of the Quakers, and soon became a member of their society; notwithstanding the railleries of his friends. He had married the daughter of this Quaker, to whose house we were going. I wish­ed to see a true American farmer.

I was really charmed with the order and neatness of this house, and of its inhabitants. They have three sons and seven daughters. One of the latter only is married; three others are marriageble. They are beau­tiful, easy in their manners, and decent in their deport­ment. Their dress is simple; they wear fine cotton on Sunday, and that which is not so fine on other days. These daughters aid their mother in the management of the family. The mother has much activity; she held [Page 104] in her arms a little grand daughter, which was caressed by all the children. It is truly a patriarchal family. The father is occupied constantly in the fields. We conversed much on the Society of Friends, the Society in France for the abolition of slavery, the growing of wheat, &c.

No, never was I so much edified as in this house; it is the asylum of union, friendship, and hospitality. The beds were neat, the linen white, the covering ele­gant▪ the cabinets, desks, chairs, and tables, were of black walnut, well polished, and shining. The garden furnished vegetables of all kinds, and fruits. There were ten horses in the stable; the Indian corn of the last year, still on the cob, lay in large quantities in a cabin, of which the narrow planks, placed at small distances from each other, leave openings for the circu­lation of the air.

The barn was full of wheat, oats, &c. their cows furnish delicious milk for the family, of which they make excellent cheeses; their sheep give them the wool of which the cloth is made, which covers the father and the children. This cloth is spun in the house, wove and fulled in the neighbourhood. All the linen is made in the house.

Mr. Shoemaker shewed me the place where this wor­thy cultivator was going to build a house for his eldest son. You see, said he to me, the wealth of this good farmer. His father was a poor Scotchman; he came to America, and applied himself to agriculture, and by his industry and economy amassed a large fortune. This son of his is likewise rich; he sells his grain to a miller in the neighbourhood; his vegetables, butter and cheese, are sent once a week to town.

I went to see this miller. I recollected what Mr. de Crevecoeur had said in praise of the American mills.— This one merited it for its neatness, and for the intelli­gence with which the different operations were distri­buted. There were three sets of stones destined to the making of flour of different degrees of fineness. They employ only the stones of France for the first quality of [Page 105] flour. They are exported from Bourdeaux and Ro [...]en. In these mills they have multiplied the machinery, to spare hand-labour in all the operations; such as, hoist­ing the wheat, cleansing it, raising the flour to the place where it is to be spread, collecting it again into the chamber, where it is to be put in barrels.

These barrels are marked at the mill with the name of the miller; and this mark indicates the quality of the flour. That which is de [...]ned for exportation, is again inspected at the port; and, if not merchantable, it is condemned.

The millers here are flour-merchants; mills are a kind of property which ensures a constant income.

LETTER IX. Visit from the good Warner Mifflin.

I WAS sick, and Warner Mifflin came to see me. You know Warner Mifflin; you have read the eulogium made of him by M. de Crevecoeur. It is he that first freed all his slaves; it is he who, without a passport, traversed the British army, and spoke to General Howe with so much firmness and dignity; it is he who, fear­ing not the effects of the general hatred against the Quakers, went, at the risk o [...] being treated as a spy, to present himself to General Washington, to justify to him the conduct of the Quakers; it is he, that in the midst of the furies of war, equally a friend to the French, the English, and the Americans, carried gene­rous succours to those among them who were suffering. Well, this angel of peace came to see me. I am War­ner Mifflin, says he; I have read the book wherein thou defendest the cause of the Friends, wherein thou preachest the principles of universal benevolence; I [Page 106] knew that thou wast here, and I have come to see thee; besides, I love thy nation. I was, I confess, much prejudiced against the French; I even hated them, hav­ing been, in this respect, educated in the English prin­ciples. But when I came to see them, a secret voice said to me, that I ought to drive from my heart that prejudice; that I ought to know them, and love them. I have then sought for them. I have known them; and it is with pleasure I have found them possess a spirit of mildness and general benevolence, which I had ne­ver found among the English.

I cannot report to you all the conversation of this worthy Quaker; it made a deep impression on my heart. What humanity! and what charity! It seems, that to love mankind, and to search to do them good, constitutes his only pleasure, his only existence; his constant occupation is to find the means of making all men but one family; and he does not despair of it. He spoke to me of the society of Quakers at Nismes, and of some friends in America and England, who have been to visit them. He regarded them as instruments design­ed to propagate the principles of the society through the world. I mentioned to him some obstacles; such as the corruption of our morals, and the power of the clergy. Oh! my friend, said he, is not the arm of the Almighty stronger than the arm of man? What were we when the society took its birth in England? What was America thirteen years ago, when Benezet raised his voice against the slavery of the blacks? Let us always endeavour to do good; fear no obstacles, and the good will be done.

All this was said without the least ostentation. He said what he felt, what he had thought a thousand times; he spoke from the heart, and not from the head. He realized what he had told me of that secret voice, that internal spirit, of which the Quakers speak so much; he was animated by it. Ah! who can see, who can hear a man, so much exalted above human nature, without reflecting on himself, without endea­vouring to imitate him, without blushing at his own [Page 107] weakness! What are the finest writings in comparis [...]n with a life so pure, a conduct so constantly devoted to the good of humanity? H [...]w small I appeared in con­templating him! And shall we calumniate a sect to which a man so venerable belongs? Shall we paint it as the centre of hypochrisy and deceit? We must then suppose that Mifflin counterfeits humanity; that he is in concert with hypocrites, or that he is blind to their true character. To counterfeit humanity, to consent to sacrifice one's interests, to be scoffed and ridiculed, to imp [...]rt his goods to the poor, to affranchise his ne­groes, and all this by hypocrisy, would be a very bad sp [...]culation; hypocrisy makes better calculations. But, if you suppose this man to be true and honest as to himself, can you imagine him to be in concert with knaves? This would be an absurd contradiction. Finally, on hearing this man, full of good sense, and endowed with a solid judgment, reasoning with so much force, can you believe that he has been, for all his life, the dupe of a band of sharpers, when he is at the same time in all their most secret counsels, and one of their chiefs? Yes▪ my friend, I repeat it, the at­tachment of an angel like Warner Mifflin to the sect of Quakers, is the fairest apology for that society.

He took me one day to see his intended wife, Miss Ameland, whom he was to marry in a few days. She is a worthy companion of this reputable Quaker.— What mildness! what modesty! and, at the same time, what entertainment in her conversation! Miss Ameland once loved the world. She made verses and music, and was fond of dancing. Though young still, she has re­nounced all these amusements, to embrace the life of an anchorite. In the midst of the world, she has per­sisted in her design, notwithstanding the pleasantries of her acquaintance.

LETTER X. The Funeral of a Quaker—A Quaker Meeting.

I WAS present at the funeral of Thomas Holwell, one of the elders of the society of Friends. James Pemberton conducted me to it. I found a number of friends assembled about the house of the deceased, and waiting in silence for the body to appear. It appear­ed, and was in a coffin of black walnut, without any covering or ornament, borne by four Friends; some women followed, who, I was told, were the nearest relatives, and grand-children of the deceased. ^* All his friends followed in silence, two by two. I was of the number. There were no places designated; young and old mingled together; but all bore the same air of gravity and attention. The burying ground is in the town; but it is not surrounded with houses. I saw near some of the graves, some pieces of black stones, on which the names only of the dead were engraved. The great­est part of the Quakers dislike even this; they say, that a man ought to live in the memory of his friends, not by vain inscriptions, but by good actions. The grave was six or seven feet deep; they placed the body by the side of it. On the opposite side were seated, on wooden chairs, the four women, who appeared to be the most affected. The people gathered round, and remain­ed for five minutes in profound meditation. All their countenances marked a gravity suitable to the occasion, but nothing of grief. This interval being elapsed, they let down the body, and covered it with earth; when a man advanced near the grave, planted his cane in the ground, fixed his hat upon it, and began a discourse re­lative to this sad ceremony. He trembled in all his body, and his eyes were staring and wild. His dis­course [Page 109] turned upon the tribulations of this life, the ne­cessity of recurring to God, &c. When he had finish­ed, a woman threw herself on her knees, made a very short prayer, the men took off their hats, and all re­tired.

I was at first surprised, I confess at this trembling of the preacher. We are so accustomed, by our Eu­ropean philosophy, to consider those appearances as the effect of hypocrisy, and to annex to them the idea of ridicule, that it was difficult to prevent myself from be­ing seized with a like impression; but I recollected that something similar had happened to me a hundred times; when I had been warmed with a subject, and drawn into an interesting discussion, I have been transported out of myself to such a degree, that I could neither see nor hear, but experienced a considerable trembling. Hence I concluded, that it might be natural, especially to a man continually occupied in meditation on the Almighty, on death, and a future state. I went from thence with these Friends to their meeting. The most profound silence reigned for near an hour; when one of their ministers, or elders, who sat on the front bench, rose, pronounced four words—then was silent for a minute, then spoke four words more; and his whole discourse was pronounced in this manner. This me­thod is generally followed by their preachers; for, ano­ther who spoke after him, observed the same intervals.

Whether I judged from habit or reason, I know not; but this manner of speaking appeared to me not calculat­ed to produce a great effect: for the sense of the phrase is perpetually interrupted; and the hearer is obliged to guess at the meaning, or be in suspence; either of which is fatiguing. But before forming a decisive opi­nion, we ought to inquire into the reasons which have led the Quakers to adopt this method. Certainly the manner of the ancient orators and modern preachars, is better imagined for producing the great effect of elo­quence. They speak by turns, to the imagination, to the passions, and to the reason; they please in order to move; they please in order to convince; and it is by [Page 110] pleasure that they draw you after them. This is the eloquence necessary for men enervated and enfeebled, who wish to spare themselves the trouble of thinking. The Quakers are of a different character; they early habituate themselves to meditation; they are men of much reflection, and of few words. They have no need, then, of preachers with sounding phrases and long sermons. They disdain elegance as an useless a­musement; and long sermons appear disproportioned to the force of the human mind, and improper for the divine service. The mind should not be loaded with too many truths at once, if you wish they should make a lasting impression. The object of preaching being to convert, it ought rather to lead to reflection, [...]han to dazzle and amuse.

I observed, in the countenances of all this congre­gation, an air of gravity mixed with sadness. Perhaps I am prejudiced; but I should like better, while people are adoring their God, to see them have an air which would dispose persons to love each other, and to be fond of the worship. Such an air would be attracting to young people, whom too much severity disgusts. Besides, why should a person with a good conscience, pray to God with a sad countenance?

The prayer which terminated this meeting was fer­vent; it was pronounced by a minister, who fell on his knees. The men took off their hats; and each re­tired, after having shaken hands with his neighbour.

What a difference between the simplicity of this, and the pomp of the Catholic worship! Reformation, in all stages, has diminished the formalities: You will find this regular diminution in descending from the Catholic to the Lutheran, from the Lutheran to the Presbyterian, and from thence to Quakers and Metho­dists. It is thus that human reason progresses towards perfection.

In considering the simplicity of the Quakers' worship, and the air of sadness that in the eyes of strangers ap­pears to accompany it, an air which one would think disgusting to young people even of their own sect, I [Page 111] have been surprised that the Society should maintain a concurrence with more brilliant sects, and even encrease by making proselytes from them. This effect is princi­pally to be attributed to the singular image of domestic happiness, which the Quakers enjoy. Renouncing all external pleasures, music, theatres, and shows, they are devoted to their duties as citizens, to their families, and to their business; thus they are beloved by their wives, cherished by their children, and esteemed by their neighbours. Such is the spectacle which has often drawn to this society, men who have ridiculed it in their youth.

The history of the Quakers will prove the falsity of a principle often advanced in politics. It is this; that, to maintain order in society, it is necessary to have a mode of worship striking to the senses; and that the more show and pomp are introduced into it, the better. This is what has given birth to, and still justifies, our full chants, our spiritual concerts, our processions, our ornaments, &c. Two or three hundred thousand Qua­kers have none of these mummeries, and yet they ob­serve good order.

This fact has led me to another conclusion, the soli­dity of which has been hitherto disputed. It is, [...] possibility of a nation of Deists. ^* A nation of Deists maintaining good government, would be a miracle in political religion. And why should it not exist, when knowledge shall be more universally extended, when it shall penetrate all ranks of society? What difference would there be between a society of Deists, and one of Quakers, assembling to hear a discourse on the immor­tality of the soul, and to pray God in simple language!

LETTER XI. Visit to a Bettering-House, or House of Correction. ^*

THIS hospital is situated in the open country, in one of those parts of the original plan of Philadelphia not yet covered with houses. It is already divided into regular streets: and God grant that these projected streets may never be any thing more than imaginary▪ If they should one day be adorned with houses, it would be a misfortune to the hospitals, to Pennsylvania, and to all America.

This hospital is constructed of bricks, and composed of two large buildings; one for men, and the other for women. There is a separation in the court, which i [...] common to them. This institu [...] [...]as several objects; they receive into it the poor, the [...] orphans, women in travail, and persons attacked with venereal diseases.— They likewise confine here, vagabonds, disorderly per­sons, and girls of scandalous lives.

There exists then, you will say, even in Philadel­phia, that disgusting commerce of diseases, rather than of pleasures, which, for so long a time has empoison­ed our continent. Yes, my friend, two or three of the most considerable maritime towns of the new continent are afflicted by this leprosy. It was almost unknown before the revolution; but the abode of foreign armies has naturalized it, and it is one of those scourges for which the free Americans are indebted to us. But this traffic is not carried on so scandalously as at Paris or London. It is restrained, it is held in contempt, and almost imperceptible. I ought to say, to the honour of the Americans, that it is nourished only by emi­grants and European travellers; for the sanctity of mar­riage is still universally respected in America. Young [Page 113] people marrying early, and without obstacles, are not tempted to go and dishonour, and empoison themselves in places of prostitution.

But, to finish my account of this hospital, there are particular halls appropriated to each class of poor, and to each species of sickness; and each [...]all has its super­intendant. This institution was rich, and well admi­nistered before the war. The greater part of the ad­ministrators were Quakers. The war and paper-money introduced a different order of things. The legislature resolved not to admit to its administration, any person [...] but such as had taken the oath of fidelity to the State. The Quakers were by this excluded, and the manage­ment of it fell into hands not so pure. The spirit of depredation was manifest in it, and paper money was still more injurious. Creditors of the hospital were paid, or rather ruined by this operation. About a year ago, on the report of the inspectors of the hospitals, the legislature, considering the abuses practised in that ad­ministration, confided that of the bettering-house again to the Quakers. Without any resentment of the affronts they had received during the war, and only anxious to do good and perform their duty, the Friends accepted the administration, and exercise it, as before, with zeal and fidelity This change has produced the effect which was expected. Order is visibly re-established; many administrators are appointed, one of whom, by turns, is to visit the hospital every day: six physicians are at­tached to it, who perform the service gratis.

I have seen the hospitals of France, both at Paris, and in the provinces. I know none of them, but the one at Besançon, that can be compared to this at Phila­delphia. Every sick, and every poor person, has his bed well furnished, but without curtains, as it should be. Every room is lighted by windows placed opposite, which introduce plenty of light, that great consolation to a man confined, of which tyrants for this reason are cruelly sparing. These windows admit a free circula­tion of air: most of them open over the fields; and as they are not very high, and are without grates, it would [Page 114] be very easy for the prisoners to make their escape; but the idea never enters their heads. This fact proves that the prisoners are happy, and, consequently, that the administration is good.

The kitchens are well kept, and do not exhale that fetid odour which you perceive from the best kitchens in France. The eating-rooms, which are on the ground floor, are equally clean, and well aired: neatness and good air reign in every part. A large garden at the end of the court, furnishes vegetables for the kitchen. I was surprised to find there, a great number of foreign shrubs and plants. The garden is well cultivated. In the yard they rear a great number of hogs; for, in America, the hog, as well as the ox, does the honours of the table through the whole year.

I could scarcely describe to you the different sensa­tions which, by turns, rejoiced and afflicted my heart, in going through their different apartments. An hos­pital, how well soever administered, is always a pain­ful spectacle to me. It appears to me so consoling for a sick man to be at his own home, attended by his wife and children, and visited by his neighbours, that I re­gard hospitals as vast sepulcres, where are brought to­gether a crowd of individuals, strangers to each other, and separated from all they hold dear. And what is man in this situation?—A leaf detached from the tree, and driven down by the torrent—a skeleton no longer of any consistence, and bordering on dissolution [...]

But this idea soon gives place to another. Since so­cieties are condemned to be infested with great cities, since misery and vice are the necessary offspring of these cities, a house like this becomes the asylum of benefi­cence; for, without the aid of such institutions, what would become of the greater part of those wretches who here find a refuge? so many women, blind, deaf, ren­dered disgusting by their numerous infirmities. They must very soon perish, abandoned by all the world, to whom they are strangers. No door but that of their common mother earth would receive these hideous figures, were it not for this provision made by their common friend, Society.

[Page 115]I saw in this hospital, all that misery and disease can assemble. I saw women suffer [...]g on the bed of pain; others, whose meagre visages, roughened with pimples, attest the effect of fatal incontinence; others, who wait­ed with groans the moment when Heaven would deliver them from a burden which dishonours them; others, holding in their arms the fruit, not of a legal marriage, but of love betrayed. Poor innocents! born under the star of wretchedness! Why should men be born, pre­destinated to misfortunes? But, bless God, at least, that you are in a country where bastardy is no obstacle to respectability and the rights of citizenship. I saw with pleasure, these unhappy mothers caressing their in­fants, and nursing them with tenderness. There were few children in the hall of the little orphans; these were in good health, and appeared gay and happy. Mr. Shoemaker, who conducted me thither, and another of the directors, distributed some cakes among them, which they had brought in their pockets. Thus the director [...] think of their charge even at a distance, and occupy themselves with their happiness. Good God! there is, then, a country where the soul of the governor of an hospital is not a soul of brass!

Blacks are here mingled with the whites, and lodged in the same apartments. This, to me, was an edify­ing sight; it seemed a balm to my soul. I saw a ne­gro woman spinning with activity by the side of her bed. Her eyes seemed to expect from the director, a word of consolation—She obtained it; and it seemed to be heaven to her to hear him. I should have been more happy, had it been for me to have spoken thi [...] word: I should have added many more. Unhappy negroes! how much reparation do we owe them for the evils we have occasioned them—the evils we still occa­sion them! and they love us!

The happiness of this negress was not equal to that which I saw sparkle on the visage of a young blind girl, who seemed to leap for joy at the sound of the director's voice. He asked after her health: she answered him with transport. She was taking her tea by the side of [Page 116] her little table—Her tea!—My friend, you are asto­nished at this luxury in an hospital—It is because there is humanity in its administration, and the wretches are not crowded in here in heaps to be stifled. They give tea to those whose conduct is satisfactory: and those who by their work are able to make some savings, enjoy the fruits of their industry. I remarked in this hospital, the women were much more numerous than the men; and among the latter, I saw none of those hideous figures so common in the hospitals of Paris—figures on which you trace the marks of crimes, misery, and indolence. They have a decent appearance: many of them asked the director for their enlargement, which they obtained.

But what resources have they, on leaving this house? They have their hands, answered the director, and they may find useful occupations. But the women, re­plied I, what can they do? Their condition is not so fortunate, said he. In a town where so many men are occupied in foreign commerce, the number of unhappy and disorderly females will be augmented. To pre­vent this inconvenience, it has been lately proposed to form a new establishment, which shall give to girls of this description a useful occupation, where the produce of the industry of each person shall be preserved and given to her on leaving the house; or, if she should choose to remain, she shall always enjoy the fruit of her own labour.

This project will, without doubt, be executed; for the Quakers are ingenious and persevering, when they have in view the succour of the unhappy. My friend, the author of this project is my conductor. I see him beloved and respected, constantly occupied in useful things; and he is but thirty years of age! and is it astonishing that I praise a sect which produces such pro­digies?

On our return from the hospital, we drank a bottle of cider. Compare this frugal repast to the sumptuous feasts given by the superintendants of the poor of Lon­don—by those humane inspectors who assemble to con­sult on making repairs to the amount of six saillings, and [Page 117] order a dinner for six guineas. You never find among the Quakers, these robberies upon indigence, these in­famous treasons against beneficence. Bless them, then, ye rich and poor: ye rich, because their fidelity and prudence economise your money; ye poor, because their humanity watches over you without ceasing.

The expences of this hospital amount to about five pence a day, money of Pennsylvania, for each pensioner. You know that the best administered hospital in Paris, amounts to about fourteen pence like money a day; and, what a difference in the treatment!

LETTER XII. HOSPITAL for LUNATICS.

THIS is the hospital so justly celebrated by M. de Crevecoeur, and which the humane Mr. Mazzei regard [...] only as a curiosity scarcely worth seeing.

The building is fine, elegant, and well kept. I was charmed with the cleanliness in the halls of the sick, as well as in the particular chambers. I observed the bust of Franklin in the library, and was told that this honour was rendered him as one of the principal founders of this institution. The library is not numerous, but it is well chosen. The hall on the first floor, is appro­priated to sick men: there were six in it. About the same number of sick women were in a like hall on the second floor. These persons appeared by no means miserable; they seemed to be at home. I went below, to see the lunatics; they were about fifteen, male and female. Each one has his cell, with a bed, a table, and a convenient window with grates. Stoves are fixed in the walls, to warm the cell in winter.

There were no mad persons among them. Most of the patients are the victims of religious melancholy, or [Page 118] of disappointed love. These unhappy persons are treat­ed with the greatest tenderness; they are allowed to walk in the court; are constantly visited by two phy­sicians. Dr. Rush has invented a kind of swing chair for their exercise.

What a difference between this treatment and the a­trocious regulations to which we condemn such wretches in France! where they are rigorously confined, and their disorders scarcely ever fail to increase upon them. The Turks, on the contrary, manifest a singular respect to persons insane: they are eager to administer food to them, to load them with caresses. Fools in that coun­try are never known to be injurious; whereas, with u [...], they are dangerous, because they are unhappy.

The view of these persons affected me more than that of the sick. The last of human miseries, in my opini­on, is confinement; and I cannot conceive how a sick person can be cured in prison, for confinement itself is a continual malady. The exercise of walking abroad, the view of the field, the murmur of the rivulets, and the singing of birds, with the aid of vegetable diet, appear to me the best means of curing insanity. It is true, that this method requires too many attendants; and the impossibility of following it, for the hospital of Philadelphia, makes it necessary to recur to locks and bars. But why do they place these cells beneath the ground-floor, exposed to the unwholesome humidity of the earth? The enlightened and humane Dr. Rush told me, that he had endeavoured for a long time, in vain, to introduce a change in this particular; and that this hospital was founded at a time when little attention was thought necessary for the accommodation of fools. I observed, that none of these fools were naked, or inde­cent; a thing very common with us. These people preserve, even in their folly, their primitive characte­ristic of decency.

I could not leave this place without being tormented with one bitter reflection.—A man of the most bril­liant genius may here finish his days. If Swift had not been rich, he had dragged out his las [...] moments in such [Page 119] an hospital. O ye who watch over them, be gentle in your administration!—perhaps a benefactor of the hu­man race has fallen under your care.

LETTER XIII. On BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

THANKS to God he still exists!—This great man, for so many years the preceptor of the Americans, who so gloriously contributed to their independence, death had threatened his days; but our fears are dissi­pated, and his health is restored. I have just been to see him, and enjoy his conversation, in the midst of his books, which he still calls his best friends. The pains of his cruel infirmity change not the serenity of his countenance, nor the calmness of his conversation. If these appeared so agreeable to our Frenchmen, who en­joyed his friendship in Paris, how would they seem to them here, where no diplomatic functions impose upon him that mask of reserve which was sometimes so chil­ling to his guests. Franklin, surrounded by his fami­ly, appears to be one of those patriarchs whom he has so well described, and whose language he has copied with such simple elegance. He seems one of those an­cient philosophers, who at times descended from the sphere of his elevated genius, to instruct weak mortals, by accommodating himself to their feebleness I have found in America, a great number o [...] enlightened po­liticians and virtuous men; but I find none who appear to possess, in so high a degree as Franklin, the charac­teristics of a real philosopher. You know him, my friend. A love for the human race in habitual exer­cise, an indefatigable zeal to serve them, extensive in­formation, simplicity of manners, and purity of morals; all these furnish not marks of distinction sufficiently [Page 120] observable between him and other patriot politicians, unless we add another characteristic; it is, that Frank­lin, in the midst of the vast scene in which he acted so distinguished a part, had his eyes fixed, without ceasing, on a more extensive theatre—on heaven and a future life; the only point of view which can sustain, disin­terest, and aggrandise man upon earth, and make him a true philosopher. All his life has been but a conti­nued study and practice of philosophy.

I wish to give you a sketch of it from some traits which I have been able to collect, as his history has been much disfigured. This sketch may serve to rec­tify some of those false anecdotes which circulate in Europe.

Franklin was born at Boston, in 1706, the fifteenth child of a man who was a dyer and a soap-boiler. He wished to bring up this son to his own trade; but the lad took an invincible dislike to it, preferring even the life of a sailor. The father disliking this choice, placed him apprentice with an elder son, who was a Printer and published a newspaper.

Three traits of character, displayed at that early pe­riod, might have given an idea of the extraordinary ge­nius which he was afterwards to discover.

The puritanic austerity which at that time predomi­nated in Massachusetts, impressed the mind of young Benjamin in a manner more oblique than it had done that of his father. The old man was in the practice of making long prayers and benedictions before all his meals. One day, at the beginning of winter, when he was salting his meat, and laying in his provisions for the season, "Father," says the boy, "it would be a great saving of time, if you would say grace over all these barrels of meat at once, and let that suffice for the winter."

Soon after he went to live with his brother, he began to address pieces to him for his paper, in a disguised hand-writing. These essays were universally admired: his brother became jealous of him, and endeavoured by severe treatment, to cramp his genius. This obliged [Page 121] him soon to quit his service, and go to seek his fortune at New-York.

Benjamin had read a treatise of Dr. Tryon on the Pythagorean regimen; and, fully convinced by it [...] reasoning, he abstained from the use of meat for a long time; and became irreconcilable to it, until a cod-fish, which he caught in the open sea, and found its stomach full of little fish, overturned his whole sys­tem. He concluded, that since the fishes eat each other, men might very well feed upon other animals. This Pythagorean diet was economical to the Printer's boy; it saved him some money to lay out for books; and reading was the first and constant passion of his life.

Having left his father's house without recommenda­tion, and almost without money, depending only upo [...] himself, but always confident in his own judgment, and rejoicing in his independence, he became the sport [...] accidents, which served rather to prove him, than to discourage him. Wandering in the streets of Philadel­phia, with only five shillings in his pocket, not known to a person in the town, eating a crust of bread, and quenching his thirst in the waters of the Delaware; who could have discerned in this wretched labourer, one of the future legislators of America, one of the fa­thers of modern philosophy, and an ambassador covered with glory in the most wealthy, the most powerful, and the most enlightened country in the world? Who could have believed that France, that Europe would one day erect statues to that man who had not where to lay his head?

This circumstance reminds me of a similar one of Rousseau:— Having for his whole fortune six liards, harrassed with fatigue, and tormented with hunger, he h [...]sitated whether he should sacrifice this little piece to his repose, or to his stomach. He decided the conflict by purchasing a piece of bread, and resigning himself to sleep in the open air. In this abandonment of na­ture and men, he still enjoyed the one, and despised the other. The Lyonnese, who disdained Rousseau [Page 122] because he was ill dressed, has died unknown; while altars are now erected to the man ill dressed. These examples ought to console men of genius, whom for­tune may reduce to the necessity of struggling against want. Adversity but forms them, and perseverance will bring its reward.

Arriving at Philadelphia did not finish the misfor­tunes of Benjamin Franklin. He was there deceived and disappointed by Governor Keith, who, by fine pro­mises for his future establishment, which he never re­alized, induced him to embark for London, where he arrived without money and without recommendations. Happily he knew how to procure subsistence. His ta­lent for the press, in which no person excelled him, soon gave him occupation. His frugality, the regula­ [...]ity of his conduct, and the good sense of his conversa­tion, procured him the esteem of his comrades: his re­putation in this respect, existed for fifty years after­wards in the printing-offices in London.

An employment promised him by a Mr. Derham, recalled him to his country in 1726, when fortune put him to another proof. His protector died; and Franklin was obliged, for subsistence, to have recourse again to the press. He found the means soon afterwards to establish a printing-press himself, and to publish a ga­zette. At this period began his good success, which never afterwards abandoned him. He married a Miss Read, to whom he was attached by a long friendship, and who merited all his esteem. She partook of his enlarged and beneficent ideas, and was the model of a virtuous wife and a good neighbour.

Having arrived at this degree of independence, Franklin had leisure to pursue his speculations for the good of the public. His gazette furnished him with the regular and constant means of instructing his fellow citizens. He made this gazette the principal object of his attention; so that it acquired a vast reputation, was read through the whole country, and may be considered as having contributed much to perpetuate in Pennsylva­nia, those excellent morals which still distinguish that State.

[Page 123]I possess one of these gazettes, composed by him, and printed at his press. It is a precious relique, a monu­ment which I wish to preserve with reverence, to teach men to blush at the prejudice which makes them despise the useful and important profession of the editor of daily papers. Men of this profession, among a free people, are their first preceptors, and best friends; and when they unite talents with patriotism and philosophy, when they serve as the canal for communicating truths, for dissipating prejudices, and removing those hatreds which prevent the human race from uniting together in one great family, these men are the curates, the mission­aries, the angels deputed from heaven for the happiness of men.

Let it not be said, in ridicule of this profession, that an ill use is sometimes made of it, for the defence of vice, of despotism, of errors. Shall we proscribe elo­quence and the use of speech, because wicked men pos­sess them?

But a work which contributed still more to diffuse in America the practice of frugality, economy and good morals, was Poor Richard's Almanack. You are ac­quainted with it; it had a great reputation in France, but still more in America. Franklin continued it for twenty-five years, and sold annually more than ten thousand copies. In this work, the most weighty truths are delivered in the simplest language, and suited to the comprehension of all the world.

In 1736, Franklin began his public career. He was appointed Secretary of the General Assembly of Penn­sylvania, and continued in that employment for many years.

In 1737, the English government confided to him the administration of the general post-office in America. He made it at once lucrative to the revenue, and useful to the inhabitants. It served him particularly, to ex­tend every where his useful gazettes.

Since that epoch, not a year has passed without his proposing, and carrying into execution, some project useful to the colonies.

[Page 124]To him are owing the companies of assurance against fire; companies so necessary in countries where houses are built with wood, and where fires completely ruin individuals; while, on the contrary, they are disastrous in a country where fires are not frequent, and not dan­gerous.

To him i [...] owing the establishment of the Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, its library, its university, its hospitals, &c.

Franklin, persuaded that information could not be extended but by first collecting it, and by assembling men who are likely to possess it, was always extremely ardent to encourage literary and political clubs. In one of these clubs, which he founded, the following ques­tions were put to the candidate:—

"Do you love all men, of whatever religion they may be? Do you believe that we ought to persecute or decry a man for mere speculative opinions, or for his mode of worship? Do you love truth for its o [...]n sake? and will you employ all your efforts to discover it, and make it known to others?"

Observe, again, the spirit of this club in the questions put to the members at their meetings.—"Know you any citizen who has lately been remarkable for his industry? Know you in what the Society can be useful to its bre­thren, and to all the human race? Is there any stranger arrived in town? In what can the Society be useful to him? Is there any young person beginning business, who wants encouragement? Have you observed any defects in the new acts of the legislature, which can be remedied? How can the Society be useful to you?"

The attention which he paid to these institutions of literature and humanity, did not divert him from his public functions, nor from his experiments in natural philosophy.

His labours on these subjects are well known; I shall therefore not speak of them, but confine myself to the fact which has been little remarked: it is, that Franklin always directed his labours to that kind of public utility which, without procuring any great [Page 125] eclat to its author, produces great advantage to the ci­tizens at large. It is to this popular taste, which cha­racterised him, that we owe the invention of his elec­trical conductors, his economical stoves, his disserta­tions, truly philosophical, on the means of preventing chimnies from smoking, on the advantages of copper roofs to houses, the establishment of so many paper-mills in Pennsylvania, ^* &c.

The circumstances of his political career are likewise known to you; I therefore pass them over in silence.— But I ought not to omit to mention his conduct during the war of 1755. At that period he enjoyed a great reputation in the English colonies. In 1754, he was appointed one of the members of the famous Congress which was held at Albany; the object of which was to take the necessary measures to prevent the invasion of the French. He presented to that Congress an excellent plan of union and defence, which was adopted by that body; but it was rejected in London by the depart­ment for the colonies, under the pretext that it was too democratical. It is probable that, had this plan been pursued, the colonies would not have been ravaged by the dreadful war which followed. During this war, Franklin performed many important functions. At one time he was sent to cover the frontiers, to raise troops, build forts, &c. You then see him contesting with the Governor, to force him to give his consent to a bill taxing the family of Penn, who were proprietors of one-third of the lands of Pennsylvania, and refused to pay taxes. He then was sent deputy to London, where he was successful in supporting the cause of the colony in the Privy Council against that powerful fa­mily.

The superior skill and management which he disco­vered in these negociations, were the forerunners of the [Page 126] more important success which attended him during the war of independence, when he was sent ambassador to France.

On his final return to his country, he obtained all the honours which his important services merited. His great age, and his infirmities, have compelled him at last to renounce his public career, which he has run with so much glory. He lives retired, with his family, in a house which he has built on the spot where he first landed, sixty years before, and where he found himself wandering without a home, and without acquaintance. In this house he has established a printing-press and a type-foundery. From a printer he had become ambas­sador; from this he has now returned to his beloved press, and is forming to this precious art his grandson, Mr. Bache. He has placed him at the head of an en­terprise which will be infinitely useful; it is a complete edition of all the classic authors, that is, of all those moral writers whose works ought to be the manual for men who wish to gain instruction, and make themselves happy in doing good to others.

It is in the midst of these holy occupations, that this great man waits for death with tranquility. You will judge of his philosophy on this point, which is the touchstone of philosophy, by the following letter, writ­ten thirty years ago on the death of his brother John Franklin, addressed to Mrs. Hubbard, his daughter-in-law.

LETTER XIV. Steam boat—Reflections on the Character of the Ameri­cans, and the English.

I BREAKFASTED with Samuel Ameland, one of the richest and most beneficent of the Society of Friends. He is a pupil of Anthony Benezet; he speaks of him with enthusiasm, and treads in his steps. He takes an active part in every useful institution, and rejoices in the occasion of doing good; he loves the French nation, and speaks their language. He treats me with the greatest friendship▪ offers me his house, his horses, and his carriage. On leaving him, I went to see an experi­ment, near the Delaware, on a boat, the object of which is to ascend rivers against the current. The in­ventor was Mr. Fitch, who had found a company to support the expence. One of the most zealous associ­ates is Mr. Thornton, of whom I have spoken. This invention was disputed between Mr. Fitch and M. Rumsey of Virginia. ^* However it be, the machine which I saw, appears well executed, and well adapted to the design. The steam-engine gives motion to three large oars of considerable force, which were to give six­ty strokes per minute.

[Page 131]I doubt not but, physically speaking, this machine may produce part of the effects which are expected from it: but I doubt its utility in commerce; for, notwith­standing the assurances of the undertakers, it must re­quire many men to manage it, and much expence in repairing the damages occasioned by the violence and multiplicity of the friction. Yet I will allow, that if the movements can be simplified, and the expence lessened, the invention may be useful in a country where labour is dear, and where the borders of rivers are not acces­sible, like those in France, by horses to draw the boats. This idea was consoling to Dr. Thornton, whom I saw assailed by railleries on account of the steam-boat. These railleries appear to me very ill placed. The obstacles to be conquered by genius are every where so considerable, the encouragement so feeble, and the necessity of sup­plying the want of hand-labour in America so evident, that I cannot, without indignation, see the Americans discouraging, by their sarcasms, the generous efforts of one of their fellow citizens.

When will men be reasonable enough to encourage each other by their mutual aid, and increase the general stock of public good, by mutual mildness and benevo­lence? It is for republics to set the example: you see more of it in America than elsewhere; it is visibly tak­ing root, and extending itself there. You do not find among the Americans, that concealed pride which ac­quits a benefit, and dispenses with gratitude; that selfish rudeness which makes of the English a nation by them­selves, and enemies to all others. You will, however, find sometimes vestiges of their indifference from other people, and their contempt for strangers who travel among them. For example, a stranger in a society of Americans, if he has the misfortune not to speak their language, is sometimes left alone; no person takes notice of him. This is a breach of humanity, and a neglect of their own interest; of humanity, because consolation is due to a man distant from his friends, and his ordinary means of amusement; of their own interest, because [Page 132] strangers, disgusted with this treatment, hasten to quit the country, and to prejudice others against it.

I say, that this inattention to strangers is above all remarkable in the English. I do not think that I am deceived; I have lived long among them, and am ge­nerally accused of too much partiality for them. This same fault is observable in the English islands. I have remarked it in many of them; and I fear that the vi­ces in general of the inhabitants of the islands will cor­rupt the Americans, who appear to be remarkably fond of extending their connections with them. I heard one of them put the following question to several Ame­ricans, at a review of the volunteers of Philadelphia: ‘Can you tell me whether these brave officers are bar­bers or coblers?’ This vulgar pleasantry discovers the man of prejudice, the insolent and base European, the valet of a despot. Such railleries tend to destroy that idea of equality which is the basis of republics.

But why do not men of sense, who are witnesses of these follies, refute them with vigour? Why that cow­ardly suppleness which is decorated with the name of politeness? I [...] it not evident that it hardens the corrupt­ed man, and suffers to grow up in feeble minds, pre­judices which one vigorous attack would destroy?

LETTER XV. The Society of Agriculture—The Library.

I WAS present at a meeting of the Agricultural So­ciety. It is not of long standing, but it is numerous, and possesses a considerable fund. If such a society ought to receive encouragement in any country, it is in this. Agriculture is the first pillar of this State; and though you find many good farmers here, yet the great mass of [Page 133] them want information; and this information can only be procured by the union of men well versed in theory and practice.

The subject of this meeting was an important one. The papillon, or worm, called, The Hessian Fly, had, for several years, ravaged the wheat in many parts of the United States. The King of England, fearing that this insect might pass into his island, had just prohibited the importation of the American wheat. The Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, in order to coun­teract the effects of this prohibition, by gaining infor­mation on the subject, applied to the Society of Agri­culture; they desired to know if this insect attacked the grain, and whether it was possible to prevent its rava­ges.

Many farmers present at this meeting, from their own experience, and that of their neighbours and cor­respondents, declared, that the insect deposited its eggs, not in the ear, but in the stalk; so that they were well convinced, that, on threshing the wheat, there could be nothing to fear that the eggs would mix with the grain; and consequently they could not be communi­cated with the grain.

Mr. Powell, and Mr. Griffiths, president and secre­tary of this society, do equal honour to it; the one by the neatness of his composition, and the elegance of his style; the other by his indefatigable zeal.

Among the useful institutions which do honour to Philadelphia, you distinguish the public library; the origin of which is owing to the celebrated Franklin.— It is supported by subscription. The price of entrance into this society is ten pounds. Any person has the privilege of borrowing books. Half of the library is generally in the hands of readers; and I observed with pleasure, that the books were much worn by use.

At the side of this library is a cabinet of natural his­tory. I observed nothing curious in it, but an enor­mous thigh-bone, and some teeth as enormous, found near the Ohio, in a mass of prodigious bones, which [Page 134] nature seems to have thrown together in those ages, whose events are covered from the eye of history by an impenetrable veil.

LETTER XVI. On the Market of Philadelphia.

IF there exists, says Franklin, an Atheist in the uni­verse, he would be converted on seeing Philadelphia— on contemplating a town where every thing is so well arranged. If an idle man should come into existence here, on having constantly before his eyes the three amiable sisters, Wealth, Science, and Virtue, the chil­dren of Industry and Temperance, he would soon find himself in love with them, and endeavour to obtain them from their parents.

Such are the ideas offered to the mind on a market-day at Philadelphia. It is, without contradiction, one of the finest in the universe. Variety and abundance in the articles, order in the distribution, good faith and tranquility in the trader, are all here united. One of the essential beauties of a market, is cleanliness in the provisions, and in those who sell them. Cleanliness is conspicuous here in every thing; even meat, whose aspect is more or less disgusting in other markets, here strikes your eyes agreeably. The spectator is not tor­mented with the sight of little streams of blood, which infect the air, and foul the streets. The women who bring the produce of the country, are dressed with de­cency; their vegetables and fruits are neatly arranged in handsome, well-made baskets. Every thing is as­sembled here, the produce of the country, and the works of industry; flesh, fish, fruits, garden-seeds, pottery, iron-ware, shoes, trays, buckets extremely well [Page 135] made, &c. The stranger is never wearied in contem­plating this multitude of men and women moving and crossing in every direction, without tumult or injury. You would say, that it was a market of brothers, that it was a rendezvous of philosophers, of the pup [...]ls of the silent Pythagoras; for silence reigns without inter­ruption: you hear none of those piercing cries, so com­mon elsewhere; each one sells, bargains, and buys in silence. The carts and horses which have brought in the supplies, are peaceably arranged in the next street, in the order in which they arrive; when disengaged, they move off in silence: no quarrels among the car­men and the porters. You see none of our fools and ma­caronies galloping with loose reins in the streets. These are the astonishing effects of habit; a habit inspired by the Quakers, who planted morals in this country; a habit of doing every thing with tranquility and with reason; a habit of injuring no person, and of having no need of the interposition of magistrates.

To maintain order in such a market in France, would require four Judges and a dozen soldiers. Here, the law has no need of muskets; education and morals have done every thing. Two clerks of▪ the police walk in the market. If they suspect a pound of butter of being light, they weigh it: if light, it is seized for the use of the hospital.

You see, here, the fathers of families go to market. It was formerly so in France: their wives suc [...]eeded to them; thinking themselves dishonoured by the task; they have resigned it to the servants. Neither econo­my nor morals have gained any thing by this change.

The price of bread is from one-penny to two-pence the pound, beef and mutton, from two-pence to four-pence; veal, from one-penny to two-pence; hay, from twenty to thirty shillings the ton; butter, from four-pence to six pence the pound; wood, from seven-pence to eight-pence the cord. Vegetables are in abundance, and cheap. Wines of Europe, particularly those of France, are cheaper here than any where else. I have drank the wine of Provence, said to be made by M. [Page 136] Bergasse, at nine-pence the bottle; but the taverns are extremely dear. Articles of luxury are expensive: a hair-dresser costs you eight-pence a day, or twelve shil­lings the month. I hired a one horse [...]ha [...]se three days; it cost me three louis d' [...]s.

LETTER XVII. General Assembly of Pennsylvania—A Farm owned by a Frenchman.

I HAD made an acquaintance at New-York with General Mi [...]lin, who was then Speaker of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania. I met him again at Philadelphia. His character was well drawn by M. de Chastellux. He is an amiable, obliging man▪ full of activity, and very popular. He fills his place with dignity and firmness; an enemy to artifice and disguise; he is frank, brave, disinterested, and warmly attached to democratic principles. He is no longer a Quaker; having taken arms, he was forced to quit the Society; but he still professes a great esteem for that sect, to which his wife has always remained faithful. The General had the complaisance to conduct me one day to the General Assembly. I saw nothing remark­able in it: the building is far from that magnificence attributed to it by the Abbe Raynal: it is certainly a fine building, when compared with the other edifices of Philadelphia; but it cannot be put in competition with those public buildings which we call fine in Eu­rope.

There were about fifty members present, seated on chairs inclosed by a balustrade. Behind the balustrade, is the gallery for spectators. A Petit Maitre, who should fall suddenly from Paris into this Assembly, [Page 137] would undoubtedly find it ridiculous. He would scoff at the simplicity of their cloth coats, and, in some cases, at the negligence of their toilettes; but every man who thinks will desire that this simplicity may for ever re­main, and become universal. They pointed out to me, under one of these plain coats, a farmer by the name of Findley, whose eloquence displays the greatest talents.

The estate of General Mifflin, where we went to dine, is five miles from town, by the falls of the Schuyl­kill. These falls are formed by a considerable bed of rocks: they are not perceivable when the water of the river is high. The General's house enjoys a most ro­mantic prospect. This route presents the vestiges of many houses burnt by the English, who had likewise destroyed all the trees, and left the country naked.

I saw at General Mifflin's an old Quaker, who shook me by the hand with the more pleasure, as he said he found in my air a resemblance of Anthony Be­nezet. Other Quakers told me the same thing. There is no great vanity in citing this fact, when I recollect what M. de Chastellux says of his figure; but he had eyes of goodness and humanity.

Springmill, where I went to sleep, is a hamlet, eight miles up the Schuylkill. The best house in it is occupi­ed by M. L. a Frenchman. It enjoys the most sublime prospect that you can imagine. It is situated on a hill. On the south-east, the Schuylkill flows at its feet, through a magnificent channel between two mountains covered with wood. On the banks you perceive some scattering houses and cultivated fields.

The soil is here composed of a great quantity of tale, granit, and a yellow gravel; some places a very black earth. In the neighbourhood are quarries of marble of a middling fineness, of which many chimney-pieces are made.

I shall give you some details respecting this French­man's farm; they will shew you the manner of living among cultivators here, and they may be useful to any of our friends who may wish to establish themselves in [Page 138] this country. Observations on the manner of extend­ing ease and happiness among men, are, in the eyes of the philosopher, as valuable as those which teach the art of assassinating them. The house of Mr. L. is very well built in stone, two stories high, with five or six fine chambers in each story. From the two gardens, formed like an amphitheatre, you enjoy that fine pros­pect above mentioned. These gardens are well culti­vated, and contain a great quantity of bee-hives.

A highway separates the house from the farm. He keeps about twenty horned cattle, and ten or twelve horses. The situation of things on this farm, proves how little is to be feared from theft and robbery in this country; every thing is left open, or inclosed without locks. His farm consists of two hundred and fifty acres; of which the greater part is in wood; the rest is in wheat, Indian corn, buck-wheat, and meadow. He shewed me about an acre of meadow, from which he has already taken this year eight tons of hay: he calculates, that, including the third cutting, this acre will produce him this year ten pounds. His other mea­dows are less manured, and less productive.

M. L. recounted to me some of his past misfortunes— I knew them before—He was the victim of the perfidy of an intendant of Guadaloupe, who, to suppress the proofs of his own accomplicity in a clandestine com­merce, tried to destroy him by imprisonment, by as­sassination, and by poison. Escaped from these perse­cutions, Mr. L. enjoys safety at Springmill! but he does not enjoy happiness. He is alone; and what is a farmer without his wife and family?

He pays from five to six pounds taxes for all his pro­perty, consisting of an hundred and twenty acres of wood-land, eighty acres of arable, twenty-five acres of meadow, three acres of garden, a great house, several small houses for his servants, his barns, and his cattle. By this fact, you may judge of the exaggerations of the detractors of the United States on the subject of taxes. Compare this with what would be paid in France for a like property. Mr. L. has attempted to cultivate the [Page 139] vine: he has planted a vineyard near his house on the south-east exposure, and it succeeds very well.

It is a remark to be made at every step in America, that vegetation is rapid and strong. The peach-tree, for example, grows fast, and produces fruit in great quantities. Within one month after you have cut your wheat, you would not know your field; it is covered with grass, very high, and very thick.

It will be a long time, however, before the vine can be cultivated to profit in America: first, because labour is dear, and the vine requires vast labour: ^* secondly, because the wines of Europe will be for a long time cheap in America. Mr. L. furnished me with a proof of this. He gave me some very good Rousillon, which cost him by the single bottle, only eight-pence; and I know that this same wine, at first hand, cost five-pence or six-pence.

We ought to regard the birds as a great discourage­ment to the culture of the vine in America. You of­ten see immense clouds of black-birds, which, settling on a vineyard, would destroy it in an instant.

I have already mentioned, that the pastures and fields in America are inclosed with barriers of wood, or fences. These, when made of rails supported by posts, as above described, are expensive, especially in the neighbourhood of great towns, where wood is dear.— Mr. L. thinks it best to replace them by ditches six feet deep, of which he throws the earth upon his meadows, and borders the sides with hedges; and thus renders the passage impracticable to the cattle. This is an agricul­tural operation, which cannot be too much recommend­ed to the Americans.

The country here is full of springs; we saw some very fine ones. Mr. L. told us of one which carries a [Page 140] mill night and day, and serves to water his meadows when occasion requires.

I asked him where he purchased his meat? He says, when a farmer kills beef, mutton, or veal, he adver­tises his neighbours, who take what they choose, and he salts the remainder. As he is here without his fa­mily, he has no spinning at his house; makes no cheese, keeps no poultry. These parts of rural economy, which are exercised by women, are lost to him; and it is a considerable loss. He sows no oats, but feeds his horses with Indian corn and buck-wheat, ground. I saw his vast corn-fields covered with pumpkins, which are pro­fitable for cattle. He has a joiner's shop, and a turn­ing-lathe. He makes great quantities of lime on his farm, which sells very well at Philadelphia. He has obtained leave from the State to erect a ferry on the Schuy [...]kill, which he says will produce him a profit of [...] pounds a-year. He is about to build a saw-mill.

The lands newly cleared produce much more than [...] of France. He had bad wheat this year, thoug [...] [...] had promised well: having grown to a pro­digious height, the grain was shrivelled and meagre. He says, the mildew has diminished his crop by more than three hundred bushels. The cause of the mildew is supposed to be this:—That when the season advances, it is sometimes attended by fogs, and very heavy dews: the sun bursting through the fog, evaporates the drop [...] on the stalk; and the sudden change from cold and wet to warm and dry, enfeebles and withers the plant. The mildew is an evil very general in Pennsylvania.

Mr. L. told me, that there was no other remedy but to sow early, that the plant may be more vigorous at the season of the mildew.

This farm had cost him two thousand pounds; and he assured me that allowing nothing for some losses oc­casioned by his ignorance of the country, and of the language on his first arrival, and for the improvements he had made, his land produces m [...]re than the interest of his money. He told me, that the house alone had cost more than he paid for the whole; and this is very [Page 141] probable. Persons in general who desire to make good bargains, ought to purchase lands already built upon; for, though the buildings have cost much, they are counted for little in the sale.

Though distant from society, and struggling against many disadvantages, he assured me that he was happy; and that he should not fail to be completely so, were he surrounded by his family, which he had left in France.

He is attentive to the subject of meteorology; it is he that furnishes the meteorological tables published every month in the Columbian Magazine: they are cer­tained the most exact that have appeared on this conti­nent. He thinks there is no great difference between the climate here and that of Paris: that here, the cold weather is more dry; that the snow and ice remain but a short time; that there never passes a week without some fair days; that there falls more rain here than in France, but that it rarely rains two days successively; that the heat is sometimes more intense, that it provokes more to sweat and to heaviness; finally, that the varia­tions are here more frequent and more rapid.

The following is the result of the observations of this French gentleman for four years:—The greatest cold in this part of Pennsylvania, is commonly from ten to twelve degrees below the freezing point of Reamur's thermometer: the greatest heats are from twenty-six to twenty-eight degrees above: the mean term of his ob­servations for four years, or the temperature, is nine degrees and six tenths; the mean height of the barome­ter is twenty-nine inches ten lines and one tenth, English measure▪ the prevailing wind is north-north-west. In the year there are fifteen days of thunder, seventy-six days of rain▪ twelve days of snow, five days of tempest with rain; t [...]ese eighty-one days of rain, with those of snow, give thirty- [...] inches of water, French [...]ea­sure. The sky is never obscured three days together. The country is very healthy, and extremely vegetative. Wheat harvest is from [...]he 8th to the 12th of July. No predominant sickness has been remarked during [...] four years.

LETTER XVIII. Journey of two Frenchmen to the Ohio.

I HAVE had the good fortune to meet here a French­man, who is travelling in this country, not in pursuit of wealth, but to gain information. It is Mr. Sau­grain, from Paris: he is an ardent naturalist: some cir­cumstances first attached him to the service of the King of Spain, who sent him to Spanish America to mak [...] discoveries in miner [...]ls and natural history. After the death of his protector, Don Galves, he returned to France. In 1787, he formed the project, with Mr. Piguet, who had some knowledge in botany, to [...] Kentuckey and the Ohio.

They arrived at Philadelphia, and passed immediat [...]ly to Pittsburg. There the winter overtook them, and the Ohio froze over, which rarely happens. They lodged themselves a few miles from Pittsburg, in an open house, where they suffered much from the cold. The thermometer descended to 32 degrees, while at Phila­delphia it was only at [...]6. During their [...]tay here, they made many experiments. Mr. Saugrain weighed se­veral kinds of wood in an hydrostatic balance which he carried with him. He discovered, likewise, which species would yield the greatest quantity, and the best quality of pot-ash. Many experiments convinced him, that the stalks of Indian corn yie [...]d a greater quantity than wood, in proportion to the quantity of matter.— He examined the different mines of the country. He found some of iron, of lead, of copper, and of silver. He was told of a rich iron mine belonging to Mr. Mur­ray; but he was not suffered to see it.

On the opening of the spring they descended the Ohio, having been joined by another Frenchman, Mr. Rague, and a Virginian. They landed at Muskin [...]m, [Page 143] where they saw General Harmer, and some people who were beginning a settlement there.

At some distance below this place they fell in with a party of savages. M. Piguet was killed, and M. Saugrain wounded and taken prisoner; he fortunately made his escape, rejoined the Virginian, and found the means of returning to Pittsburg, having lost his mo­ney and all his effects. He then returned to Philadel­phi [...], where I have met him, on his way to Europe.

He has communicated to me many observations on the western country. This immense valley, washed by the Ohio, appears to him the most fertile that he has ever seen. The strength and rapidity of vegetation in that country are incredible, the size of the trees enor­mous, and their variety infinite. The inhabitants are obliged to exhaust the first fatness of the land in hemp and tobacco, in order to prepare it for the production of wheat. The crops of Indian corn are prodigious; the cattle acquire an extraordinary size, and keep fat [...] whole year in the open fields.

The facility of producing grain, rearing cattle, mak­ing whiskey, beer, and cider, with a thousand other [...]dv [...]ntages, attract to this country great numbers of [...]migrants from other parts of America. A man in that country scarcely works two hours in a day, for the sup­port of himself and family; he passes most of his time in idleness, hunting, or drinking. The wom [...]n spin, and make clothes for their husbands and families. Mr. Saugrain saw very good woollens and linens made there. They h [...]ve very little money; every thing is done by barter.

The active genius of the Americans is always push­ing them forward. Mr. Saugrain has no doubt but sooner or later the Spaniards will be forced to quit the Mississippi, and that the Americans will pass it, and establish themselves is Louisiana, which he has seen, and considers as one of the finest countries in the universe.

Mr. Saugrain came from Pittsburg to Philadelphia, in seven days, on horse-back. He could have come in a chaise; but it would have taken him a longer time. [Page 144] It is a post road, with good taverns established the whole way. ^*

LETTER XIX. On the School for the Blacks at Philadelphia, and the principal American Authors who have written in their favour.

THERE exists, then, a country where the Negroes are allowed to have souls, and to be endowed with un­derstanding capable of being formed to virtue and use­ful knowledge; where they are not regarded as beasts of burden, in order that we may have the privilege of treating them as such. There exists a country, where the blacks, by their virtues and their industry, belye the cal [...]mnies which their tyrants elsewhere lavish against them; where no difference is perceived between the memory of a black head, whose hair is craped by na­ture, and that of a white one craped by art. I have had a proof of this to-day. I have seen, heard, and examined these black children. They read well, re­peat from memory, and calculate with rapidity. I have seen a picture painted by a young Negro, who never had a master: it was surprisingly well done.

I saw in this school, a mulatto, one eighth negro; it i [...] impossible to distinguish him from a white boy.— His eyes discovered an extraordinary vivacity; and this is a general characteristic of people of that origin.

The black girls, besides reading, writing, and the prin­ciples of religion▪ are taught spinning, needle work, &c. and their mistresses assure me, that they discover much [Page 145] ingenuity. They have the appearance of decency, attention, and submission. It is a nursery of good ser­vants and virtuous house-keepers. How criminal are the planters of the islands, who form but to debauch­ery and ignominy, creatures so capable of being fashion­ed to virtue!

It is to Benezet that humanity owes this useful esta­blishment—to that BENEZET whom Chastellux has not blushed to ridicule, for the sake of gaining the infamous applauses of the parasites of despotism.

The life of this extraordinary man merits to be known to such men as dare to think, who esteem more the be­nefactors of their fellow creatures, than their oppressors, so basely idolized during their life.

Anthony Benezet was born at St. Quintin, in Pic­ [...]rdy, in 1712. Fanaticism, under the protection of a bigot king, directed by an infamous confessor, and an infamous woman, spread at that time its ravages in France. The parents of Benezet were warm Calvinists; they fled to England, and he embraced the doctrines of the Quakers. He went to America in 1731, and esta­blished himself at Philadelphia in commerce, the busi­ness to which he had been educated. But the rigidity of his principles and his taste not agreeing with the spirit of commerce, he quitted that business in 1736, and accepted a place in the academy of that society. From that time all his moment▪ were consecrated to public instruction, the relief of the poor, and the de­fence of the unhappy Negroes. Benezet possessed a unive [...]sal philanthropy, which was not common at that time; he regarded, as his brothers, all men, of all countries, and of all colours; he composed many works, in which he collected all the authorities from Scripture, and from other writings, to discourage and condemn the slave trade and slavery. His works had much in­fluence in determining the Quakers to emancipate their slaves.

It was not enough to set at liberty the unhappy blacks; it was necessary to instruct them—to find them school-masters. And where should he find men willing to [Page 146] devote themselves to a task which prejudice had render­ed painful and disgusting? No obstacle could arrest the zeal of Benezet; he set the first example himself; he consecrated his little fortune to the foundation of this school; his brethren lent some assistance; and by the help of the donations of the society of London, the school for blacks at Philadelphia, enjoys a revenue of 200l. sterling.

He consecrated his fortune and his talents to their instruction; and in 1784, death removed him from this holy occupation, to receive his reward. The tears of the blacks, which watered his tomb, the sighs of his fraternity, and of every friend of humanity, which at­tended his departing spirit, must be a prize more con­soling than the laurels of a conqueror.

Benezet carried always in his pocket, a copy of his works on the Slavery of the Blacks, which he gave and recommended to every one he met, who had not seen them. It is a method generally followed by the Society of Friends. They extend the works of utility; and it is the true way of gaining proselytes.

This philanthropic Quaker was preceded in the same career, by many others, whom I ought to mention. The celebrated George Fox, founder of this sect, went from England to Barbadoes in the year 1671, not to preach against slavery, but to instruct the blacks in the knowledge of God, and to engage masters to treat them with mildness.

The minds of men were not yet ripe for this re­form; neither were they when William Burling, of Long-Island, in 1718, published a treatise against sla­very. He was a respectable Quaker: he preached, but in vain; the hour was not yet come▪

Ought not this circumstance to encourage the friends of the blacks in France? Sixty years of combat were necessary to conquer the prejudice of avarice in Ame­rica. One year is scarcely passed since the foundation of the society at Paris; and some apostates already ap­pear, because success has not crowned their first endea­vours.

[Page 147]Burling was followed by Judge Sewal, a Presbyterian of Massachusetts. He presented to the General Assem­bly a treatise, entitled, Joseph sold by his brethren. He discovers the purest principles, and completely overturns the hackneyed arguments of the traders, respecting the pretended wars of the African princes.

It is often said against the writings of the friends of the blacks, that they have not been witnesses of the sufferings which they describe. This reproach can­not be made against Benjamin Lay, an Englishman, who, brought up in the African trade, afterwards a planter at Barbadoes, abandoned his plantation, on account of the horror inspired by the frightful ter­rors of slavery endured by the Negroes. He retired to Philadelphia, became a Quaker, and ceased not the remainder of his life, to preach and write for the abo­lition of slavery. His principal treatise on this subject appeared in 1737. He was thought to have too much zeal, and to have exaggerated his descriptions. But these defects were expiated by a life without a stain, by an in­defatigable zeal for humanity, and by profound medi­tations. Lay was simple in his dress, and animated in his speech; he was all on fire when he spoke on slave­ry. He died in 1760, in the 80th year of his age.

One of the men most distinguished in this career of humanity, was a Quaker named John Woolman. He was born in 1720. Early formed to meditation, he was judged by the Friends worthy of being a minister at the age of twenty-two. He travelled much to ex­tend the doctrines of the sect; but was always on foot, and without money or provisions, because he would imitate the apostles, and be in a situation to be more useful to the poor people and to the blacks. He ab­horred slavery so much, that he would not taste any food that was produced by the labour of slaves. The last discourse that he pronounced was on this sub­ject. In 1772, he undertook a voyage to England, to concert measures with the Friends there, on the same subject; where he died with the small-pox. He left several useful works, one of which has been through [Page 148] many editions, entitled, Considerations on the Slavery of the Blacks.

I thought it my duty, my friend, to give you some acc [...]unt of these holy personages, before describing to you the situation of the blacks in this immense country.

LETTER XX. The means used to abolish the Slave Trade, and Slavery in the United States.

WOOLMAN and Benezet had in vain employed all their efforts to effect the abolition of this traffic un­der the English government. The mistaken interest of the mother country caused all the petitions to be reject­ed in the year 1772; yet the minds of men were pre­pared in some of the colonies; and scarcely was inde­pendence declared, when a general cry arose against this commerce. It appeared absurd for men defending their own liberty, to deny liberty to others. A pam­phlet was printed, in which the principles on which slavery is founded, were held up in contrast with those which laid the foundation of the new constitution.

This palpable method of stating the subject, was at­tended with a happy success; and the Congress, in 1774, declared the slavery of the blacks to be incom­patible with the basis of republican government. Dif­ferent legislatures hastened to consecrate this principle of Congress.

Three distinct epochs mark the conduct of the Ame­ricans in this business—the prohibition of the importa­tion of slaves—their manumission—and the provision made for their instruction. All the different States are not equally advanced in these three objects.

In the Northern and Middle States, they have pro­scribed for ever the importation of slaves; in others, [Page 149] this prohibition is limited to a certain time. In South-Carolina, where it was limited to three years, it has lately been extended to three years more. Georgia is the only State that continues to receive transported slaves. Yet, when General Oglethorpe laid the foun­dation of this colony, he ordained that neither rum nor slaves should ever be imported into it. This law, in both its articles, was very soon violated.

We must acknowledge, however, that the Americans, more than any other people, are convinced, that all men are born free and equal: we must acknowledge, that they direct themselves generally by this principle of equality; that the Quakers, who have begun, who have propagated, and who still propagate this revolu­tion of sentiment, have been guided by a principle of religion, and that they have sacrificed to it their per­sonal interest.

Unhappily their opinion on this subject has not yet become universal; interest still combats it with some success in the Southern States. A numerous party still argue the impossibility of cultivating their soil without the hands of slaves, and the impossibility of augmenting their number without recruiting them in Africa. It is to the influence of this party, in the late general con­vention, that is to be attributed the only article which tarnishes that glorious monument of human reason, the new federal system of the United States. It was this party that proposed to bind the hands of the new Con­gress, and to put it out of their power for twenty years to prohibit the importation of slaves. It was said to this august assembly, Sign this article, or we will withdraw from the union. To avoid the evils, which, without me­liorating the fate of the blacks, would attend a political schism, the convention was forced to wander from the grand principle of universal liberty, and the preceding declaration of Congress. They thought it their duty to imitate Solon, to make, not the best law possible, but the best that circumstances would bear.

But, though this article has surprised the friends of liberty in Europe, where the secret causes of it were [Page 150] not known; though it has grieved the society in Eng­land, who are ready to accuse the new legislators of a cowardly defection from their own principles; yet we may regard the general and irrevocable proscription of the slave trade in the United States, as very near at hand. This conclusion results from the nature of things, and even from the article itself of the new constitution now cited. Indeed, nine States have already done it; the blacks, which there abound, are considered as free. There are then nine asylums for those to escape to from Georgia, not to speak of the neighbourhood of the Flo­rid [...]s, where the slaves from Georgia take refuge, in hopes to find better treatment from the Spaniards; and not to speak of those vast forests and inaccessible moun­tains which make part of the Southern States, and where the persecuted Negro may easily find a retreat from sla­very. The communications with the back country are so easy, that it is impossible to stop the fugitives; and the expence of reclaiming is disproportioned to their value. And though the free States do not in appear­ance oppose those reclamations, yet the people there hold slavery in such horror, that the master who runs after his human property, meets little respect, and finds little assistance. Thus the possibility of flight creates a new discouragement to the importation, as it must lessen the value of the slave, induce to a milder treatment and finally tend, with the concurrence of other circumstan­ces, to convince the Georgian planter, that it is more simple, more reasonable, and less expensive, to cultivate by the hands of freemen. We are right then in saying, that the nature of things in America is against the im­portation of slaves.

Besides, the Congress will be authorised in twenty years to pronounce definitely on this article. By that time, the sentiments of humanity, and the calculations of reason, will prevail; they will no longer be forced to sacrifice equity to convenience, or have any thing to fear from opposition or schism.

LETTER XXI. Laws of the different States for the Manumission of Slaves.

SLAVERY, my friend, has never polluted every part of the United States. There was never any law in New-Hampshire or Massachusetts, which authorised it. When, therefore, those States proscribed it, they only declared the law as it existed before. There was very little of it in Connecticut; the puritanic austerity which predominated in that colony, could scarcely re­concile itself with slavery. Agriculture was better per­formed there by the hands of freemen; and every thing concurred to engage the people to give liberty to the slaves;—so that almost every one has freed them; and the children of such as are not yet free, are to have their liberty at twenty-five years of age.

The case of the blacks in New-York is nearly the same; yet the slaves there are more numerous.

It is because the basis of the population there is Dutch; that is to say, people less disposed than any other to part with their property. But liberty is as­sured there to all the children of the slaves, at a certain age.

The State of Rhode-Island formerly made a great business of the slave trade. It is now totally and for ever prohibited.

In New-Jersey, the bulk of the population is Dutch. You find there, traces of that same Dutch spirit which I have described. Yet the western parts of the State are disposed to free their Negroes; but the eastern part are opposed to it.

It is probable that their obstinacy will be overcome; at least, it is the opinion of the respectable Mr. Living­ston, celebrated for the part he has acted in the late re­volution: he has declared this opinion in a letter written to the Society at Philadelphia. He has himself freed [Page 152] all his slaves, which are very numerous. He is one of the most ardent apostles of humanity; and, knowing the character of his countrymen, he reasons, temporis [...]s with their interest, and doubts not of being able to van­quish their prejudices. The Quakers have been more fortunate in Pennsylvania. In the year 1758, they voted, in their general meeting, to excommunicate every member of the Society who should persist in keeping slaves. In 1780, at their request, seconded by a great number of persons from other sects, the General As­sembly abolished slavery for ever, forced the owners of slaves to cause them to be enregistered, declared their children free at the age of twenty-eight years, placed them, while under that age, on a footing of hired ser­vants, assured to them the benefit of trial by jury, &c. But this act did not provide against all the abuses that avarice could afterwards invent. It was illuded in many points. A foreign commerce of slaves was carried on by speculators; and some barbarous masters sold their blacks, to be carried into foreign countries; others sent the Negro children into neighbouring States, that they might there be sold, and deprived of the benefit of the law of Pennsylvania, when they should come of age; others sent their black pregnant women into another State, that the offspring might be slaves; and others stole free Negroes, and carried them to the islands for sale. The Society, shocked at these abuses, applied again to the Assembly, who passed a new act in March last, effectually to prevent them. It ordained, that no black could be sent into a neighbouring State without his consent; confiscated all vessels and cargoes employed in the slave trade; condemned to the public works the stealers of Negroes, &c.

Doubtless we cannot bestow too much praise on the indefatigable zeal of the Society in Pennsylvania, which solicited these laws, nor on the spirit of equity and hu­manity displayed by the legislature in passing them; but some regret must mingle itself with our applause. Why did not this respectable body go farther? Why did it not extend at least the hopes of freedom to [Page 153] those who were slaves at the time of the passing the first act? They are a property, it is said; and all pro­perty is sacred. But what is a property founded on robbery and plunder? What is a property which vio­lates laws human and divine? But let this property merit some regard. Why not limit it to a certain num­ber of years, in order to give at least the cheap conso­lation of hope? Why not grant to the slave, the right of purchasing his freedom? What! the child of the Negro slave shall one day enjoy his liberty; and the unhappy father, though ready to leap with joy on beholding the fortune of his son, must roll back his eyes with aggravated anguish on his own irrevocable bondage! The son has never felt, like him, the tor­ture of being torn from his country, from his family, from all that is dear to man; the son has not experi­enced that severity of treatment so common in this country before this revolution of sentiment; yet the son is favoured, and the father consigned to despair. But this injustice cannot long sully the law of a country where reason and humanity prevail. We may hope that a capitulation will be made with avarice; by which these slaves shall be drawn from its hands.

Again—Why, in the act of March, 1780, is it de­clared that a slave cannot be a witness against a free­man? You either suppose him less true than the free­man, or you suppose him differently organised. The last supposition is absurd; the other, if true, is against yourselves; for, why are they less conscientious, more corrupted, and more wicked?—It is because they are slaves. The crime falls on the head of the master; and the slave is thus degraded and punished for the vice of the master.

Finally, why do you ordain that the master shall be reimbursed from the public treasury, the price of the slave who may suffer death for crimes? If, as is easy to prove, the crimes of slaves are almost universally the fruit of their slavery, and are in proportion to the seve­rity of their treatment, is it not absurd to recompence the master for his tyranny? When we recollect that [Page 154] these masters have hitherto been accustomed to consider their slaves as a species of cattle, and that the laws make the master responsible for the damages done by his cattle, does it not appear contradictory to reverse the law relative to these black cattle, when they do a mischief, for which society thinks it necessary to extirpate them? In this case, the real author of the crime, instead of paying damages, receives a reward.

No, my friend, we will not doubt but these stains will soon disappear from the code of Pennsylvania. Reason is too predominant to suffer them long to con­tinue.

The little State of Delaware has followed the exam­ple of Pennsylvania. It is mostly peopled by Quakers; instances of giving freedom are therefore numerous. In this State, famous for the wisdom of its laws, for its good faith and federal patriotism, resides that angel of peace, Warner M [...]fflin. Like Benezet, he occupies his time in extending the opinions of his Society relative to the freedom of the blacks, and the care of providing for their existence and their instruction. It is in part to his zeal that is owing the formation of a Society in that State, after the model of the one at Philadelphia, for the abolition of slavery.

With the State of Delaware finishes the system of protection to the blacks. Yet there are some Negroes freed in Maryland, because there are some Quakers there; and you perceive it very readily, on comparing the fields of tobacco or of Indian corn belonging to these people, with those of others; you see how much superior the hand of a freeman is to that of a slave, in the operations of industry.

When you run over Maryland and Virginia, you conceive yourself in a different world; and you are convinced of it, when you converse with the inhabi­tants. They speak not here of projects for freeing the Negroes; they praise not the societies of London and America; they read not the works of Clarkson—No, the indolent masters behold with uneasiness, the efforts that are making to render freedom universal. The Vir­ginians [Page 155] are persuaded of the impossibility of cultivating tobacco without slavery; they fear, that if the blacks become free, they will cause trouble; on rendering them free, they know not what rank to assign them in society; whether they shall establish them in a se­parate district, or send them out of the country. These are the objections which you will hear repeated every where against the idea of freeing them.

The strongest objection lies in the character, the man­ners and habits of the Virginians. They seem to enjoy the sweat of slaves. They are fond of hunting; they love the display of luxury, and disdain the idea of la­bour. This order of things will change when slavery shall be no more. It is not, that the work of a slave is more profitable than that of a freeman; but it is in multiplying the slaves, condemning them to a miserable nourishment, in depriving them of clothes, and in run­ning over a large quantity of land with a negligent cul­ture, that they supply the necessity of honest industry.

LETTER XXII. On the general State, Manners and Character of the Blacks in the United States.

THE free blacks in the Eastern States, are either hired servants, or they keep little shops, or they culti­vate the land. You will see some of them on board of coasting vessels. They dare not venture themselves on long voyages, for fear of being transported and sold in the islands. As to their physical character, the blacks are vigorous, of a strong constitution, ^* capable of the [Page 156] most painful labour, and generally active. As servants, they are sober and faithful. Those who keep shops, live moderately, and never augment their affairs beyond a certain point.

The reason is obvious; the whites, though they treat them with humanity, like not to give them credit to enable them to undertake any extensive commerce, nor even to give them the means of a common educa­tion, by receiving them into their counting-houses.— If, then, the blacks are confined to the retails of trade, let us not accuse their capacity, but the preju­dices of the whites, which lay obstacles in their way.

The same causes hinder the blacks who live in the country, from having large plantations. Their little fields are generally well cultivated; their log-houses full of children decently clad, attract the eye of the philosopher, who rejoices to see, that, in these habita­tions, no tears attest the rod of tyranny.

In this situation the blacks are indeed happy; but let us have the courage to avow, that neither this happiness, nor their talents, have yet attained their perfection.— There exists still too great an interval between them and the whites, especially in the public opinion. This humiliating difference prevents those efforts which they might make to raise themselves. Black children are admitted to the public schools; but you never see them within the walls of a college. Though free, they are always accustomed to consider themselves as beneath the whites.

We may conclude from this, that it is unfair to measure the extent of their capacity by the examples already given by the free blacks of the North.

But when we compare them to the slaves of the South, what a difference we find!—In the South, the blacks are in a state of abjection difficult to describe; many of them are naked, ill fed, lodged in miserable huts, on straw.—They receive no education, no in­struction in any kind of religion; they are not married but coupled. Thus are they brutalized, lazy, with­out ideas, and without energy. They give themselves [Page 157] no trouble to procure clothes, or to have better food; they pass their Sunday, which is their day of rest, in total inaction. Inaction is their supreme happiness; they therefore perform little labour, and that in a care­less manner.

We must do justice to the truth. The Americans of the Southern States treat their slaves with mildness; it is one of the effects of the general extension of the ideas of liberty. The slave labours less; but this is all the alteration made in his circumstances, and he is not the better for it, either in his nourishment, his clothing, his morals, or his ideas: so that the master loses; but the slave does not gain. If they would follow the ex­ample of the Northern States, both whites and blacks would be gainers by the change.

When we describe the slaves of the South, we ought to distinguish those that are employed as house-servants from those that work and live in the field. The picture that I have given belongs to the latter; the former are better clad, more active, and less ignorant.

It has been generally thought, and even written by some authors of note, that the blacks are inferior to the whites in mental capacity. This opinion begins to disappear; the Northern States furnish examples to the contrary. I shall cite two, which are striking ones: the first proves, that, by instruction, a black may be rendered capable of any of the professions: the second, that the head of a Negro may be organised for the most astonishing calculations, and consequently for all the sciences.

I saw at Philadelphia a black physician, named James Derham. The following history of him was attested to me by many physicians:—

He was brought up a slave in a family of Philadel­phia, where he learned to read and write, and was in­structed in the principles of religion. When young he was sold to Doctor John Kearsley, junior, who em­ployed him in compounding medicines, and in admi­nistering them in s [...]me cases to the sick. At the death of Doctor Kearsley he passed through different hands, [Page 158] and came to be the property of George West, surgeon of the British army, under whom, during the war in America, he performed the lower functions in physic.

At the close of the war he was purchased by Doctor Robert Dove, of New-Orleans, who employed him as his assistant. He gained the Doctor's good opinion and friendship to such a degree, that he soon gave him his freedom on moderate conditions. Derham was, by this time, so well instructed, that he immediately began to practice, with success, at New-Orleans: he is about twenty-six years of age, married, but has no children. His practice brings him three thousand livres a-year. Doctor Wistar told me, that he conversed with him particularly on the acute diseases of the country where he lives, and found him well versed in the sim­ple methods now in practice of treating those diseases. I thought, said the Doctor, to have indicated to him some new remedies; but he indicated new ones to me.

He is modest, and has engaging manners: he speaks French with facility, and has some knowledge of Spanish.

The other instance has been cited by Doctor Rush, a celebrated physician and writer of Philadelphia. It is Thomas Fuller, born in Africa, a slave, near seventy years of age, near Alexandria. He can neither read nor write, and has had no instruction of any kind; but he calculates with surprising facility, and will answer any question in arithmetic, with a promptitude that has no example.

These instances prove, without doubt, that the ca­pacity of the Negroes may be extended to any thing; that they have only need of instruction and liberty. The difference between those who are free and instruct­ed, and those who are not, is still more visible in their industry. The lands inhabited by the whites and free blacks, are better cultivated, produce more abundant­ly, and offer every where the image of ease and hap­piness. Such, for example, is the aspect of Connecti­cut, and of Pennsylvania.

[Page 159]Pass into Maryland and Virginia, and, as I said be­fore, you are in another world; you find not there those cultivated plains, those neat country-houses, barns well distributed, and numerous herds of cattle, fat and vi­gorous. No: every thing in Maryland and Virginia wears the print of slavery: a starved soil, bad cultiva­tion, houses falling to ruin, cattle small and few, and black walking skeletons; in a word, you see real mise­ry, and apparent luxury, insulting each other.

They begin to perceive, even in the Southern States, that, to nourish a slave ill, is a mistaken economy; and that money employed in their purchase, does not render its interest. It is perhaps more owing to this consideration than to humanity, that you see free la­bour introduced in a part of Virginia, in that part bor­dered by the beautiful river Shenadore. In travelling here you will think yourself in Pennsylvania.

Such will be the face of all Virginia, when slavery shall be at an end. They think slaves necessary only for the cultivation of tobacco: this culture declines, and must decline in Virginia. The tobacco of the Ohio and the Mississippi is more abundant, of a better quali­ty, and requires less labour. When this tobacco shall open its way to Europe, the Virginians will be obliged to cease from this culture, and ask of the earth, wheat, corn, and potatoes; they will make meadows, and rear cattle. The wise Virginians anticipate this revolution, and begin the culture of wheat. At their head may be reckoned that astonishing man, who, though an adored General, had the courage to be a sincere republican; who alone seems ignorant of his own glory; whose sin­gular destiny it will be to have twice saved his country, to have opened to her the road to prosperity, after hav­ing conducted her to liberty. At present, wholly occu­pied in ameliorating his lands, in varying their produce, in opening roads and canals, he gives his countrymen an useful example, which doubtless will be followed.

He has nevertheless (must I say it?) a numerous crowd of slaves; but they are treated with the greatest humanity: well sed, well clothed, and kept to mode­rate [Page 160] labour; they bless God without ceasing, for having given them so good a master. It is a task worthy of a soul so elevated, so pure, and so disinterested, to begin the revolution in Virginia, to prepare the way for the emancipation of the Negroes. This great man declared to me, that he rejoiced at what was doing in other States on this subject: that he sincerely desired the extension of it in his own country: but he did not dissemble, that there were still many obstacles to be overcome; that it was dangerous to strike too vigorously at a prejudice which had begun to diminish; that time, patience, and information, would not fail to vanquish it. Almost all the Virginians, added he, believe that the liberty of the blacks cannot soon become general. This is the reason why they wish not to form a society, which may give dangerous ideas to their slaves. There is another ob­stacle—the great plantations of which the State is com­posed, render it necessary for men to live so dispersed, that frequent meetings of a society would be diffi [...]ult.

I replied, that the Virginians were in an error, that evidently sooner or later the Negroes would obtain their liberty every where. It is then for the interest of your countrymen to prepare the way to such a revolution, by endeavouring to reconcile the restitution of the rights of the blacks with the interest of the whites. The means necessary to be taken to this effect, can only be the work of a society; and it is worthy the saviour of America, to put himself at their head, and to open the door of liberty to three hundred thousand unhappy be­ings of his own State. He told me, that he desired the formation of a society, and that he would second it; but that he did not think the moment favourable.— Doubtless more elevated views absorbed his attention, and filled his soul. The destiny of America was just ready to be placed a second time in his hands.

It is certainly a misfortune that such a society does not exist in Virginia and Maryland; for it is to the per­severing zeal of those of Philadelphia and New-York, that we owe the progress of this revolution in America, and the formation of the society in London.

[Page 161]Why am I unable to paint to you the impressions I received in attending the meetings of these different societies? What serenity in the countenances of the members! What simplicity in their discourses, candour in their discussions, beneficence and energy in their de­cisions! Each seemed eager to speak, not to shew his brilliance, but to be useful.

With what joy they learned that a like society was formed at Paris, in that capital so renowned for its opu­lence and luxury, for its influence over a vast kingdom, and through most of the states of Europe! They has­tened to publish it in all the gazettes, as likewise the translation of the first discourse pronounced in that so­ciety. They saw with joy, in the list of the members, the name of La Fayette, and that of other persons known for their energy and patriotism.

They did not doubt, if this society should brave the first obstacles that attend it, and should unite itself with that of London, but that the information which they might give on the slave trade, and its unprofitable in­famy, would enlighten the governments of Europe, and determine them to suppress it.

It is doubtless to this effusion of joy, and to the flat­tering recommendations which I carried from Europe, rather than to my feeble efforts, that I owe the honour of being received a member of these societies. They did not confine themselves to this; they appointed com­mittees to assist me in my labours, and their archives were opened to me.

These beneficent societies are at present contemplating new projects for the completion of their work of justice and humanity. They are endeavouring to form similar institutions in other States, and they have succeeded in the State of Delaware. The business of these societies is not only to extend light and information to legisla­tures, and to the people at large, ^* on the objects they [Page 162] have in view, and to form the blacks by early instruc­tion in the duties of citizens; but they extend gratui­tous protection to them in all cases of individual oppres­sion, and make it their duty to watch over the execution of the laws which have been obtained in their favour. Mr. Myers Fisher, one of the first lawyers of Philadel­phia, is always ready to lend them his assistance, which he generally does with success, and always without re­ward. These societies have committees in different parts of the country, to take notice of any infractions of these laws of liberty, and to propose to the legislature, such amendments as experience may require.

LETTER XXIII. On replacing the Sugar of the Cane by the Sugar of Maple.

ON this continent, my friend, so polluted and tor­mented with slavery, Providence has placed two pow­erful and infallible means of destroying this evil. The [Page 166] means are, the societies of which we have been speak [...]ing, and the sugar-maple.

Of all vegetables containing sugar, this maple, after the sugar cane, contains the greatest quantity. It grows naturally in the United States, and may be propagated with great facility. All America seems covered with it, from Canada to Virginia; it becomes more rare at the southward, on the east of the mountains; but it is found in abundance in the back country.

Such is the beneficent tree which has, for a long time, recompenced the happy colonists, whose position de­prived them of the delicate sugar of our islands.

They have till lately contented themselves with be­stowing very little labour on the manufacture, only bringing it to a state of common coarse sugar; but since the Quakers have discerned in this production, the means of destroying slavery, they have felt the necessity of carrying it to perfection; and success has crowned their endeavours.

You know, my friend, all the difficulties attending the cultivation of the cane. It is a tender plant; it has many enemies, and requires constant care and la­bour to defend it from numerous accidents: add to these, the painful efforts that the preparation and ma­nufacture costs to the wretched Africans; and, on com­paring these to the advantages of the maple, you will be convinced, by a new argument, that much pains are often taken to commit unprofitable crimes. The maple is produced by nature; the sap to be extracted, requires no preparatory labour; in runs in February and March, a season unsuitable for other rural operations. Each tree, without injury to itself, gives twelve or fifteen gallons, which will produce at least five pounds of su­gar. A man, aided by four children, may easily, dur­ing four weeks running of the sap, make fifteen hundred pounds of sugar. ^*

[Page 167]Advantages like these, have not failed to excite the attention of the friends of humanity; so that, besides the societies formed for the abolition of slavery, another is formed, whose express object is to perfect this valu­able production.

Mr. Drinker, ^* of Philadelphia, made last year sixty barrels of maple sugar on his estate on the Delaware; and he has published a pamphlet on the best method of proceeding in this manufacture.

Edward Pennington, of Philadelphia, formerly a re­finer in the West-Indies, has declared this sugar equal to that of the islands, in grain, colour, and taste.

The cultivators in the State of New-York perceive, in an equal degree, the advantages of this production; they have made, this year, a great quantity of sugar, and brought it to great perfection.

Whenever there shall form from North to South a firm coalition, an ardent emulation to multiply the pro­duce of this divine tree, and especially when it shall be deemed an impiety to destroy it, ^† not only America may supply herself, but she may fill the markets of Europe with a sugar, the low price of which will ruin the sale of that of the islands—a produce washed with the tears and the blood of slaves.

What an aston [...]shing effect it would produce, to na­turalize this tree through all Europe! In France, we [Page 168] might plant them at twenty feet distance, in a kind of orchard, which would at the same time produce pasture, fruits, and other vegetables. In this manner an ac [...]e would contain 140 trees, which, even when young, would produce three pounds of sugar a year. This would give 420 pounds the acre, which, at three-pence sterling the pound, and deducting one half for the la­bour, would yield annually 5.2l. 6s. sterling, clear pro­fit; besides other productions, which these trees would not impede. This calculation might be reasonably carried much higher; but I chose to keep it as low as possible. ^*

Thus we should obtain a profitable production in Europe, and diminish so many strokes of the whip, which our luxury draws upon the blacks. Why is it, that, in our capital, where the delicacy of sentiment is sometimes equal to that of sensation, no societies are formed, whose object should be to sweeten their coffee with a sugar not embittered by the idea of the excessive tears, cruelties, and crimes, without which these pro­ductions have not been hitherto procured?—an idea which cannot fail to present itself to the imagination of every humane and enlightened man. Our devotees, our ignorant and inhuman priests, who never fail to be great lovers of coffee and sugar, would, by these means, be saved from the horrible part which they take in the most enormous crime on which the sun ever shone. In consuming these articles, do they not encourage those [Page 169] whose guilt is more direct in the operation of producing them? And yet, with what coldness, with what cul­pable indifference, do these pious men look upon our Society of the Friends of the Blacks!

LETTER XXIV. On a Plan for the Re-emigration of the Blacks of the United States to Africa.

I HAVE already, my friend, given you a sketch of the ideas of Dr. Thornton on this subject. This ar­dent friend of the blacks is persuaded, that we cannot hope to see a sincere union between them and the whites, as long as they differ so much in colour, and in their rights as citizens. He attributes to no other cause, the apathy perceivable in many blacks, even in Massa­chusetts, where they are free. Deprived of the hope of electing or being elected representatives, or of rising to any places of honour and trust, the Negroes seem condemned to drag out their days in a state of servility, or to languish in shops of retail. The whites reproach them with a want of cleanliness, indolence, and inat­tention. But how can they be industrious and active, while an insurmountable barrier separates them from other citizens?

Even on admitting them to all the rights of citizens, I know not if it would be possible to effect a lasting and sincere union; we are so strongly inclined to love our likeness, that there would be unceasing suspicions, jea­lousies, and partialities, between the whites and blacks. We must then recur to the project of Mr. Thornton— a project first imagined by that great apostle of philan­thropy, Doctor Fothergill!—a project executed by the Society at London, or rather by the beneficent Gren­ville Sharp!—a project for restoring the Negroes to [Page 170] their country, to establish them there, and encourage them in the cultivation of coffee, sugar, cotton, &c. to carry on manufacture, and to open a commerce with Europe. Mr. Thornton has occupied himself with this consoling idea. He proposed himself to be the conductor of the American Negroes who should repair to Africa. He proposed to unite them to the new colony at Sierra Leona. He had sent, at his own expence, into Africa, a well-instructed man, who had spent several years in observing the productions of the country, the manufactures most suitable to it, the place most conve­nient, and the measures necessary to be taken to secure the colony from insults, and every thing was prepared. He had communicated his plan to some Members of the Legislature of Massachusetts, who did not at first relish it. They liked better to give lands to their Negroes, and encourage them in the cultivation. But, says the Doctor, what can they do with their land, unaccustomed to war, and surrounded by savages? Supposing them to succeed, will you admit their representatives to sit in your Assemblies, to preside over you?—No. Restore them then to their native country.

The Doctor was persuaded, that when his design should be known, thousands of the Negroes would fol­low him. He had remarked, as well as I, the injustice of reproaching them with the spirit of idleness. If they are lazy, says he, why so much expence to go and steal them from their country for the sake of their labour?

His reasoning begins to convince men of reflection, and his plan gives a solution to the problem of Mr. Jefferson.— See Notes on Virginia.

The State of Massachusetts has since received a re­quest from the Negroes, for the execution of the pro­ject. They have promised to give aid to it, as soon as they shall be assured of a situation in Africa proper for a good establishment: they have even promised to fur­nish vessels, instruments, provisions, &c.

What advantage would result to Africa, to Europe, and even to America, from the execution of this plan! For the blacks of Africa would gradually civilize by the [Page 171] assistance of those from America; and the whites, whom they ought to execrate, would never mingle with them. By this civilization, Europe would open a vast market to her manufactures, and obtain, at a cheap rate, and without the effusion of blood, those productions which cost her at the islands so much money and so many crimes. God grant that this idea may soon be realized. ^*

A Society is formed in England, whose object is to follow the establishment of Sierra Leona, and open a trade there for the productions of the country. This settlement is on land belonging to the English, and de­pendent on the English Government.

Another Society is formed, whose object is partly the same, but who wish to render this establishment inde­pendent of every European Government. They have lately published their plan, under the following title: Plan of a free Community on the Coast of Africa, formed under the protection of Great-Britain, but entirely inde­pendent of all European Government and Laws; with an invitation, under certain conditions, to those who may desire to partake of the advantages of this undertaking.

In this plan, of which every friend to humanity must wish success, it is declared, that the Society is founded on the principle of universal philanthropy, and not simply for the necessities of commerce:—advantages too much prized; as if the happiness of all the human race consisted in the acquisition of wealth.

LETTER XXV. On Philadelphia, its buildings, police, &c.

IN considering the vices which tarnish Old Europe, and the mild fraternity that unites the Quakers, Vol­taire sometimes flew off in imagination beyond the seas, and longed to go and finish his days in the City of Bro­thers. What would he have said, had he been able to have realized his dream, and to have been a witness of the peace which reigns in this town? I am wrong: Vol­taire would have hastened to return to Europe: he burned with the love of glory; he lived upon incense, and he would have received but little here. The gravity of the Quakers would have appeared to him a gloomy pedantry: he would have yawned in their assemblies, and been mortified to see his epigrams pass without applause; he would have sighed for the sparkling wit of his amiable so [...]s of Paris.

Philadelphia may be considered as the metropolis of the United States. It is certainly the finest town, and the best built; it is the most wealthy, though not the most luxurious. You find here more men of informa­tion, more political and literary knowledge, and more learned societies. Many towns in America are more ancient; but Philadelphia has surpassed her elders.

The Swedes were first established on the spot where this town has been since built. The Swedish church on the banks of the Delaware is more than one hundred years old. It is the oldest church in the town, at pre­sent under the care of Dr. Collins, a Swedish minister of great learning and merit. He writes very well in English, and has composed many works in that language; among which is the Foreign Spectator, in which he un­folds the soundest principles of republican policy. He is a fervent apostle of liberty.

[Page 173]Penn brought into his new colony, a government truly fraternal. Brothers who live together have no need of soldiers, nor forts, nor police, nor that formid­able apparatus which makes of European towns garri­sons of war.

At ten o'clock in the evening all is tranquil in the streets; the profound silence which reigns there, is only interrupted by the voice of the watchmen, who are in small numbers, and who form the only patrole. The streets are lighted by lamps, placed like those of Lon­ [...]on.

On the side of the streets are foot ways of brick, and gutters constructed of brick or wood. Strong posts are placed to prevent carriages from passing on the foot­ways. All the streets are furnished with public pumps, in great numbers. At the door of each house are placed two benches, where the family sit at evening to take the fresh air, and amuse themselves in looking at the passengers. It is certainly a bad custom, as the even­ing air is unhealthful, and the exercise is not sufficient to correct this evil, for they never walk here: they supply the want of walking, by riding out into the country. They have few coaches at Philadelphia.— You see many handsome waggons, which are used to carry the family into the country; they are a kind of long carriage, light and open, and may contain twelve persons. They have many chairs and sulkeys, open on all sides; the former may carry two persons, the latter only one.

The horses used in these carriages are neither hand­some nor strong; but they travel very well. I have not yet met with those fine horses of which M. de Cre­vecoeur speaks, and which I thought were equal to the enormous breed of Flanders. I suspect the Americans of not taking sufficient care of their horses, and of nou­rishing them ill; they give them no straw in the stable: on returning from long and fatiguing courses, they are sent to pasture.

Philadelphia is built on a regular plain; long and large streets cross each other at right angles: this regu­larity, [Page 174] which is a real ornament, is at first embarrassing to a stranger; he has much difficulty in finding him­self, especially as the streets are not inscribed, and the doors not numbered. It is strange that the Quakers, who are so fond of order, have not adopted these two conveniencies; that they have not borrowed them from the English, of whom they have borrowed so many things. This double defect is a torment to strangers. The shops, which adorn the principal streets, are re­markable for their neatness.

The State-house, where the Legislature assembles, is a handsome building: by its side they are building a magnificent house of justice.

Mr. Raynal has exagerated every thing; the build­ings, the library, the streets: he speaks of streets 100 feet wide; there is none of this width, except Market-street; they are generally from 50 to 60 feet wide. He speaks of wharfs of 200 feet: there is none such here; the wharfs in general are small and niggardly. He says they have every where followed the plan laid down by Mr. Penn in building their houses. They have violat­ed it in building Water-street, where he had projected elegant wharfs. Raynal speaks likewise of houses co­vered with slate, and of marble monuments in the churches, and in the halls of the State-house. I have seen nothing of all this.

Behind the State-house is a public garden; it is the only one that exists in Philadelphia. It is not large; but it is agreeable, and one may breathe in it. It is composed of a number of verdant squares, intersected by alleys.

All the space from Front-street on the Delaware, to Front-street on the Schuylkill, is already distributed into squares for streets and houses; they build here, but not so briskly as at New-York. The inhabitants wish for the aggr [...]ndizement of their city: they are wrong; Philadelphia is already too considerable. When towns acquire this degree of population, you must have hos­pitals, prisons, soldiers, police, spies, and all the sweeping train of luxury; that luxury which Penn [Page 175] wished to avoid. It already appears: they have car­pets, elegant carpets; it is a favourable taste with the Americans; they receive it from the interested avarice of their old masters, the English.

A carpet in summer is an absurdity; yet they spread them in this season, and from vanity: this vanity ex­cuses itself by saying that the carpet is an ornament; that is to say, they sacrifice reason and utility to show.

The Quakers have likewise carpets; but the rigorous ones blame this practice. They mentioned to me an instance of a Quaker from Carolina, who, going to dine with one of the most opulent at Philadelphia, was offended at finding the passage from the door to the staircase covered with a carpet, and would not enter the house; he said that he never dined in a house where there was luxury; and that it was better to clothe the poor, than to clothe the earth.

If this man justly censured the prodigality of carpets, how much more severely ought he to censure the wo­men of Philadelphia? I speak not here of the Quaker women; I refer my observations on them to the chap­ter which I reserve for that society. But the women of the other sects wear hats and caps almost as varied as those of Paris. They bestow immense expences on their toilet and head-dress, and display pretensions too affected to be pleasing.

It is a great misfortune that, in republics, women should sacrifice so much time to trifles; and that men should likewise hold this taste in some estimation.

A very ingenious woman in this town is reproached with having contributed more than all others to intro­duce this taste for luxury. I really regret to see her husband, who appears to be well informed, and of an amiable character, affect, in his buildings and furni­ture, a pomp which ought for ever to have been a stranger to Philadelphia; and why? to draw around him the gaudy prigs and parasites of Europe. And what does he gain by it? jealousy; the reproach of his fellow citizens, and the ridicule of strangers. When a man enjoys pecuniary advantages, and at the same [Page 176] time possesses genius, knowledge, reflection, and the love of doing good; how easy it is to make himself beloved and esteemed, by employing his fortune, and perhaps increasing it, in enterprises useful to the public!

Notwithstanding the fatal effects that might be ex­pected here from luxury, we may say with truth, that there is no town where morals are more respected.— Adultery is not known here; there is no instance of a wife of any sect, who has failed in her duty.

This, I am told, is owing to what may be called the civil state of women. They marry without dower; they bring to their husbands only the furniture of their houses; and they wait the death of their parents, be­fore they come to the possession of their property.

I have been informed, however, of a Mrs. Living­ston, daughter of Doctor Shippen, who lives separated from her husband. This separation was made by mu­tual agreement. This young woman married Mr. Liv­ingston only in obedience to her father; obedience of this kind is very rare in this country. The father pro­mised to take her again if she should not be pleased with her husband: she was not pleased with him; the father received her, and she lives at present virtuous and respected.

You would not have so good an idea of the morals of this country, if you were to read a satire lately published, entitled, The Times. The author is Mr. Markoe. He discovers a remarkable talent for poetry; a talent similar to that of our satyrist Gu [...]bert, who lately died in an hospital; but, like him, he paints with too high colours; and, like all poets, he often substi­tutes fable for truth. Mr. Markoe inspires the less con­fidence, as he dishonours his writings by an intemperate life. A satyrist, to be believed, and to be useful, ought to exhibit the most unexceptionable morals.

The celebrated Paine, author of Comm [...]n Sense, so much venerated by the French, is most cruelly treated in this satire. This is not the first that has been pub­lished against him; I have seen another, very severe, by an inhabitant of North-Carolina.

[Page 177]Mr. Paine has enjoyed great success here; it is not therefore surprising, that satires should be written a­gainst him. Whatever may be the cause of it, it can­not be denied, that his writings had a great effect on the American revolution; and this circumstance ought to place him in the rank of the benefactors of America.

I have seen another author at Philadelphia, who has imagination and wit; it is Mr. Crawford. He has published several poems; as likewise Observations on the Slavery of the Negroes, full of good sense and hu­manity. He has published an address of the famous George Fox to the Jews. Mr. Crawford has a turn for mystical ideas; this, aided by great application to study, and an inflammable imagination, has led him to turns of insanity. He was formerly a deist, and has been converted by the celebrated Doctor Jebb.

There is no town on the continent where there is so much printing done as at Philadelphia. Gazettes and book-stores are numerous in the town, and paper-mills in the State.

Among the printers and booksellers of this town, I remarked Mr. Carey, an Irish printer, who, for having published, in his journal of The Volunteers of Ireland, an article which wounded some people in place, parti­cularly Mr. Foster, was persecuted, and obliged to fly to America. Being destitute of money, M. de la Fayette ga [...]e him assistance, and enabled him to establish a press, on condition that this act of generosity should remain a secret. Mr. Carey kept his word; but, having a pub­lic quarrel two years afterwards with another printer, Mr. Oswald, who quarrels with all the world, and who called in question the origin of Mr. Carey's fortune, he was obliged to reveal the secret.

This printer, who unites great industry with great information, publishes a monthly collection, called The American Museum, which is equal to the best periodical publication in Europe. It contains every thing the most important that America produces in the arts, in the sciences, and in politics. The part that concerns agriculture, is attended to with great care.

[Page 178]There are at present very few French merchants at Philadelphia. The failure of those who first came, dis­couraged others, and has put the Americans on their guard. I have endeavoured to discover the cause of these failures; and have found that the greater part of these French merchants had either begun with little property, or had made imprudent purchases, or given themselves up to extravagant expences. Most of them were ignorant of the language, customs, and laws of the country; most of them were seduced by the high price which they received for their goods, in paper money: imagining that this paper would soon rise to par, they amassed as much as possible of it, calculating on enor­mous profits; and thus fed the hopes of their corres­pondents in Europe. These hopes were disappointed. Some knowledge of business, of men, of politics, of revolutions, and of the country, would have taught them, that many years must elapse before the public debt could be paid. It became necessary to break the illusion, to sell this paper at a loss, in order to meet their engagements. But they had set up their equipa­ges; they were in the habit of great expences, which they thought it necessary to continue for fear of losing their credit, for they measured Philadelphia on the scale of Paris. They foolishly imagined, that reason­able and enlightened men would suffer themselves, like slaves, to be duped by the glitter of parade; their pro­fits ceased, their expences multiplied, and the moment of bankruptcy arrived: they must justify themselves in the eyes of their correspondents, and of France; they ac­cused the Americans of dishonesty, of perfidy, and of ras­cality. These calumniators ought to have accused their own ignorance, their folly, and their extravagant luxury.

Some Frenchmen paraded themselves here publicly with their mistresses, who displayed those light and wanton airs which they had practised at Paris. ^* You [Page 179] may judge of the offence which this indecent spectacle would give in a country where women are so reserved, and where the manners are so p [...]e. Contempt was the consequence; want of credit followed the contempt; and what is a merchant without credit?

Since the peace, the Quakers have returned to their commerce with great activity. The capitals which dif­fidence had for a long time locked up in their coffers, are now drawn out to give a spring to industry, and encourage commercial speculations. The Delaware sees floating the flags of all nations; and enterprises are there formed for all parts of the world. Manufactories are rising in the town and in the country; and industry and emulation increase with great rapidity. Notwith­standing the astonishing growth of Baltimore, which has drawn part of the commerce from Philadelphia, yet the energy of the ancient capitals of this town, the universal estimation in which the Quaker merchants are held, and the augmentation of agriculture and popula­tion, supply this deficiency.

You will now be able to judge of the causes of the prosperity of this town. Its situation on a river navi­gable for the greatest ships, renders it one of the prin­cipal places of foreign commerce, and at the same time the great magazine of all the productions of the fertile lands of Pennsylvania, and of those of some of the neighbouring States. The vast rivers, which by their numerous branches communicate to all parts of the State, give a value to the lands, and attract inhabi­tants. The climate, less cold than that of the North­ern States, and less warm than that of the South, forms another very considerable attraction.

But I firmly believe that it is not simply to those phy­sical advantages that Pennsylvania owes her prosperity. It is to the manners of the inhabitants; it is to the uni­versal tolerance which reigned there from the beginning; it is the simplicity, economy, industry, and perseve­rance of the Quakers, which, centering in two points, agriculture and commerce, have carried them to a greater perfection than they have attained among other sects. [Page 180] The cabin of a simple cultivator gives birth to more chil­dren than a guilded palace; and less of them perish in infancy.

And since the table of population of a country ap­pears to you always the most exact measure of its pros­perity, compare, at four different epochs, the number of inhabitants paying capitation in Pennsylvania.

You see that population has more than doubled in twenty-five years, notwithstanding the horrible depo­pulation of a war of eight years. Observe in this stat­ing, that the blacks are not included, which form about one-fifth of the population of the State. Observe, that by the calculation of the general convention in 1787, the number of whites in this State was carried to 360,000; which supposes, very nearly, a wife and four children for every taxable head.

The public spirit which the Quakers manifest in every thing, has given rise to several useful institutions in Philadelphia, which I have not yet mentioned. One of them is the Dispensary, which distributes me­dicines gratis to the sick who are not in a situation to purchase them.

See how easy and cheap it is to do good. Let those men blush, then, who dissipate their fortunes in luxury and in idleness! One thousand six hundred and forty-seven persons were treated by this establishment during the year 1787. By calculation this treatment cost to the establishment five shillings and nine-pence for each patient. Thus, for two hundred pounds sterling, six­teen hundred and forty-seven persons are rendered happy.

To this public spirit, so ingenious in varying its be­nefits, is owing the Benevolent Institution, whose ob­ject it is to succour, in their own houses, poor women in childbed.

Another society has for its object to alleviate the situ­ation of prisoners.

[Page 181]The Philadelphians confine not their attention to their brethren; they extend it to strangers; they have formed a society for the assistance of emigrants who ar­rive from Garmany. A similar one is formed at New-York, called the Hibernian Society, for the succour of emigrants from Ireland. These societies inform them­selves, on the arrival of a ship, of the situation of the emigrants, and procure them immediate employ.

Here is a company for insurance against fire. The houses are constructed of wood and brick, and conse­quently exposed to the ravages of fire. The insurers are the insured, a method which prevents the abuses to which your company at Paris is exposed.

In the midst of all these things which excite my ad­miration and my tender regard, one trait of injustice gives me much pain, because it seems to tarnish the glory of Pennsylvania. Penn left to his family an im­mense property here. In the last war his descendants took part with the English government, and retired to England. The legislature of Pennsylvania passed a law, taking from them all their lands and their rents, and voted to give them for the whole, one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. This sum was to have been paid in paper-money, which suffered then a considerable de­preciation. The first term only has been paid.

It cannot be denied, that there was a great injustice in the estimation, in the mode of payment, and in the delay. The State of Pennsylvania has too much re­spect for property, and too much attachment to justice, not to repair its wrongs one day to the family of Penn, which subsists at present only at the expence of the English nation.

LETTER XXVI. Progress of Cultivation in Pennsylvania.

HITHERTO, my friend, we have spoken only of far [...] already in good culture, and in the neigh­bour [...] [...]. We must now penetrate farther, de­sce [...] [...] midst of the wilderness, and observe the man, detached from society, with his axe in his hand, felling the venerable oak, that had been respected by the savage, and supplying its place with the humble spire of corn. We must follow this man in his pro­gress, observe the changes that his cabin undergoes, when it becomes the center of twenty other cabins which rise successively round it. An American farmer has com­municated to me the principal traits of the rural picture which I am going to lay before you. The first plan­ter, ^* or he who begins a settlement in the woods, is generally a man who has lost his fortune and his credit in the cultivated part of the state. He emigrates in the month of April. His first work is to build a little ca­bin for himself and family: the roof is of rough hewn wood, the flour of earth. It is lighted by the door, or sometimes by a little window with oiled paper. A more wretched building adjoining it, gives shelter to a cow and two miserable horses. This done, he attacks the trees that surround his cabin. To extirpate them by the root, would require too much labour. He con­tents himself by cutting them at two or three feet [Page 183] from the ground. The space thus cleared is then plow­ed, and planted with Indian corn. The soil, being new, requires little culture; in the month of October, it yields a harvest of forty or fifty bushels the acre.— Even from the month of September, this corn furnishes a plentiful and agreeable nourishment to his family.— Hunting and fishing, with a little grain, suffice, during the winter, for the subsistence of his family; while the cow and horses of our planter feed on the poor wild grass, or the buds of trees. During the first year, he suffers much from cold and hunger; but he endures it without repining. Being near the savages, he adopts their manners; his fatigue is violent, but it is suspended by long intervals of repose: his pleasures consist in fish­ing and hunting; he loves spirituous liquors; he eats, drinks, and sleeps in the filth of his little cabin.

Thus roll away the first three years of our planter in laziness, independence, the variation of pleasure, and of labour. But population augments in his neighbour­hood, and then his troubles begin. His cattle could before run at large; but now his neighbours force him to retain them within his little farm. Formerly the wild beasts gave subsistence to his family; they now fly a country which begins to be peopled by men, and consequently by enemies. An increasing society brings regulations, taxes, and the parade of laws; and nothing is so terrible to our independent planter as all these shackles. He will not consent to sacrifice a single natural right for all the benefits of government; he abandons then his little establishment, and goes to seek a second retreat in the wilderness, where he can recommence his labours, and prepare a farm for cultiva­tion. Such are the charms of independence, that many men have begun the clearing of farms four times in different parts of this State.

It has been remarked, that the preaching of the Gos­pel always drives off men of this class. And it is not surprising if we consider how much its precepts are op­posed to the licentiousness of their manner of life. But the labour bestowed by the first planter gives some value [Page 184] to the farm, which now comes to be occupied by a m [...]n of the second class of planters. He begins by adding to his cabin a house. A saw [...]mill in the neighbouring settlement, furnishes him with boards. His house is covered with shingles▪ and is two stories high. He makes a little meadow, plants [...]n orchard of [...] o [...] three hundred apple trees. His stable is enl [...]rged; he builds a spacious barn of wood, and covers it with [...] straw. Instead of planting only Indian corn, he cul­tivates wheat and [...]ye; the last is destined to make whisky. But this planter manages ill; his fields are badly plowed, never manured, and give but small crops▪ His cattle break through his fences, destroy his crops, and often cut off the hopes of the year. His horses are ill fed, and feeble; his cattle often die with hunger in the spring; his house and his farm give equal [...] of the want of industry; the glass of his windows has given place to old hats and rags. This man is fond of company▪ he drinks to excess; passes much of his time in disputing about politics. Thus he contracts debts, and is forced, after some years, to sell his plan­tation to a planter of the third and l [...]st class.

This is ordinarily a man of property, and of a cul­tivated mind. His first object is to convert into mea­dow all his land, on which he can conduct water. He then builds a barn of stone, sometimes a hundred feet in length, and forty in breadth. This defends his cattle from cold, and they eat less when kept warm, than when exposed to the frost. To spare the consumption of fuel, he makes use of economical stoves, and by this he saves immense labour in cutting and carting wood. He multiplies the objects of culture; besides corn, wheat, and rye, he cultivates oats and buck-wheat. Near his house he forms a garden of one or two acres, which gives him quantities of cabbage, potatoes, and turnips. Near the spring which furnishes him with water, he builds a dairy-house. He augments the number, and improves the quality of his fruit-trees. His sons are always at work by his side; his wife and daughter quit their wheels for the labour of the harvest. [Page 185] The last object of industry is to build a house for his own use. This building is generally of stone; it is vast, well distributed, and well furnished. His horses and cattle, by their good appearance, their strength, and fecundity, prove that they are well [...]ed, and well at­tended. His table abounds with delicate and various dishes. His kitchen flows with milk and honey. The ordinary drink of his family is beer, cider, and wine; his wife and daughters manufacture their clothing. In proportion as he grows rich, he perceives the value of the protection of the laws; he pays his taxes with punctuality; he contributes to the support of churches and schools, as the only means of insuring order and tranquility.

Two-thirds of the farmers of Pennsylvania belong to this third class. It is to them that the State owes its ancient reputation and importance. If they have less of cunning than their neighbours of the South, who cultivate their lands by slaves, they have more of the republican virtues. It was from their farms that the American and French armies were principally supplied during the last war; it was from their produce that came those millions of dollars brought from the Havanna af­ter the year 1780—millions of which laid the founda­tion of the bank of North-America, and supported the American army till the peace.

This is a feeble sketch of the happiness of a Pennsyl­vania farmer; a happiness to which this State calls men of all countries and of all religions. It offers not the pleasures of the Ar [...]adia of the poets, or those of the great towns of Europe; but it promises you indepen­dence, plenty, and happiness—in return for patience, industry and labour. The moderate price of lands, the credit that may be obtained, and the perfect security that the courts of justice give to every species of pro­perty, place these advantages within the reach of every condition of men.

I do not pretend here to give the history of all the settlements of Pennsylvania. It often happens, that the same man, or the same [...]amily, holds the place of the [Page 186] first and second, and sometimes of the third class of planters above described. In the counties near Phila­delphia, you see vast houses of brick, and farms well cultivated, in the possession of the descendants, in the second or third degree, of the companions of William Penn.

The passion for emigration, of which I have spoken, will appear to you unaccountable: that a man should voluntarily abandon the country that gave him birth, the church where he was consecrated to God, the tomb [...] of his ancestors, the companions and friends of his youth, and all the pleasures of polished society—to ex­pose himself to the dangers and difficulties of conquer­ing savage nature, is, in the eyes of a European philo­sopher, a phenomenon which contradicts the ordinary progress and principles of the actions of men. But such is the fact; and this passion contributes to increase the population of America, not only in the new settlements, but in the old states; for, when the number of farmers is augmented in any canton beyond the number of con­venient farms, the population languishes, the price of lands rises to such a degree as to diminish the profits of agriculture, encourage idleness, or turn the attention to less honourable pursuits. The best preventative of these evils is the emigration of part of the inhabitants. This part generally consists of the most idle and dissi­pated, who necessarily become industrious in their new settlement; while the departure augments the means of subsistence and population to those left behind; as prun­ing increases the size of the tree, and the quantity of its fruit.

The third class of cultivators which I have described, is chiefly composed of Germans. They make a great part of the population of Pennsylvania. It is more than a century since the first Germans were established here. They are regarded as the most honest, the most indus­trious and economical of the farmers. They never contract debts; they are, of all the Americans, the least attached to the use of rum and other ardent spirits. Thus their families are the most numerous. It is very [Page 187] common to see them have twelve or fourteen children. ^* It is said, they have not so much information as the other Americans; and information is the soul of a Re­publican Government: but yet you find many men respectable for their knowledge and understanding amongst them, such as Rittenhouse, Kuhn, Mulhen­berg, &c.

A principal cause of emigration in the back parts of Pennsylvania, is the hope of escaping taxes; yet the land-tax is very light, as it does not exceed a penny in the pound of the estimation; and the estimation is much under the value of the lands.

There is much irregularity in the land-tax, as like­wise in the capitation or poll-tax; but I see with plea­sure, that bachelors pay more than married men.

LETTER XXVII. Climate and Diseases of Pennsylvania.

I HAVE already spoken to you, my friend, of the [...]limate of this happy town. The respectable Doctor Rush has just communicated to me some new and cu­rious details, which I will communicate.

This enlightened observer, in one energetic phrase, has pictured to me the variations incident to Philadel­phia. We have, said he, the humidity of Great-Bri­tain in the spring, the heat of Africa in summer, the temperance of Italy in June, the sky of Egypt in au­tumn, the snows of Norway and the ice of Holland during the winter; the tempests, to a certain degree, of the West-Indies in each season, and the variable winds of Great-Britain in every month of the year.

[Page 188]Notwithstanding all these changes, the Doctor thinks, that the climate of Philadelphia is one of the most healthful in the world.

In dry weather, the air has a peculiar elasticity, which renders heat or cold less insupportable than they are in places more humid. The air never becomes hea­vy and fatiguing, but when the rains are not followed by the beneficent North-west. During the three weeks that I have passed here (in August and Septem­ber) I have felt nothing of the langour of body, and depression of spirits, which I expected: though the heat has been very great, I found it supportable; nearly like that of Paris, but it caused a greater perspiration.

Doctor Rush has observed, as have many physicians of Europe, that the state of mind influences much on the health. He cited to me two striking examples of it. The English seamen wounded in the famous na­val battle of the 12th of April, 1782, were cured with the greatest facility. The joy of victory gave to their bodies the force of health. He had made the same ob­servations on the American soldiers wounded at the battle of Trenton.

Variability is the characteristic of the climate of Pennsylvania. It has changed by the clearing of lands and the diminution of waters, which formerly abounded in this part of America. Many creeks, and even rivers, have disappeared by degrees; and this is to be expected in a country where forests give place to cultivated fields.

These changes have produced happy effects on the health of the people. An old man of this country has observed to me, that the health of the Pennsylvanian [...] augments in proportion to the cultivation of the coun­try; that their visages are less pale than they were thirty or forty years past; that for some time the number of centenaries has increased, and that the septuagenaries are very numerous.

In 1782, there was such an extraordinary drought, that the Indian corn did not come to perfection, the meadows failed, and the soil became so inflammable, that in some places it caught fire, and the surface was [Page 189] burnt.—This year it has been excessively rainy. On the 18 [...]h and 19th of August, there fell at Philadelphia seven inches of water. Wheat has suffered much this year from the rains.

Happily all parts of the country are not subject to the same variations of the atmosphere; so that a gene­ral scarcity is never known. It the harvest fails here, at fifty miles distance it abounds. You see that the heat here is about the same as at Paris, and that it is never so great as at Rome, since at the latter place the thermometer of Reaumur rises to thirty degrees. You see, that the winter here is not much colder than at Pa­ris, as it rarely descends more than to twelve degrees below the freezing point. There falls much more rain here than at Paris. The common quantity there is twenty inches in the year, and it has not been known but once in sixty years to rise to twenty-five, while the common quantity at Philadelphia is thirty-five inches. By comparing the climate of Philadelphia with that of Pekin, nea [...]ly in the same latitude, you will find, from the tables of Kirwan, that the winters are much colder, and the summers much warmer, in that part of China, than at Philadelphia. Doctor Rush attributes the dif­ference to this circumstance, that Pennsylvania is bor­dered with a vast extent of forest, and that the country about Pekin is generally highly cultivated.

My friend, Myers Fisher, who endeavours to explain the characters of men from the physical circumstances that surround them, has communicated to me an obser­vation which he has made in that respect; it is, that the activity of the inhabitants of a country may be measured by the rapidity of its rivers, and the variations in its atmosphere.

He could see the dullness and indecision of the Vir­ginians in the slow movement of the Potomac; while the rapid current of the rivers of the North painted to him the activity of the people of New-England.

He told me, likewise, that the health of the people might very well consist with the variations of the air, provided that wise precautions were taken. This, as he [Page 190] assured me, was a part of the discipline of the Quakers. Thus, according to him, you may measure the longevity of the people of Pennsylvania by the sect to which they belong. That of the Quakers ought to be placed at the head of this table of longevity; that of the Mora­vians next; the Presbyterians next, &c.

Doctor Rush, whose observations in this respect are numerous, has told me, that sudden variations caused more diseases and deaths than either heat or cold con­stantly excessive. He instanced the rigorous winter of 1780, the burning summer of 1782, and the rainy summer of 1788. There were then few or no diseases, and those that happened were occasioned by imprudence, such as cold water drank in heat, or spirituous liquors in cold. Plurisies and inflammatory disorders are much diminished within fifty years. The months of May and June are considered as the most salubrious, and the valetudinarians are observed to be better in summer and in winter.

LETTER XXVIII. Diseases the most common in the United States.—Longevity.

AMONG the diseases of the United States, the consumption doubtless makes the greatest ravages. It was unknown to the original inhabitants of the coun­try; it is then the result of European habits of life transported to this new Continent. It is more common in the tow [...] [...]an in the country; it destroys more wo­men than men; it is a languid disorder, which drags, by slow steps, its victim to the tomb; each day plunges the dagger deeper in his breast, and renders more visible the incurable wound. Death, without ceasing, stares him in the face, and throws a funeral shrowd over the remainder of his days. The world and its pleasures [Page 191] disappear; the ties of friendship are the only ones that are strengthened and endeared, and which double the bitterness of his approaching dissolution. The con­sumption, in a word, is a long continued agony, a slow tormenting death.

The physicians of this country attribute it to different causes; to the excessive use of hot drinks, such as tea and coffee; to the habit of remaining too long in bed, and the use of feather-beds, for they know not the use of matrasses; to the custom of eating too much meat, and of drinking too much spirituous liquors. Women are more subject to it than men; because independently of the above causes, they take but little exercise, which is the only powerful remedy against the stagnation of humours, the great principle of the marasma: they taste but little the pleasures of walking; a movement which, varying the spectacle of nature, gives a refresh­ment to the senses, a new spring to the blood, and a new vigour to the soul.

A particular cause of consumptions amongst the Quaker women is doubtless the habit of gravity and immobility which they contract in early life, and which they preserve for hours together in their silent meetings. The women of the other sects are equally attacked by consumptions, but it is attributed to different causes: they are fond of excessive dancing; heated with this, they drink cold water, eat cold unripe fruits, drink boiling tea, go thinly clad in winter, and give no at­tention to the sudden changes of weather. The Quakers are more reasonable in these respects; but they balance these advantages by a fatal neglect of exercise. To preserve good health, a female should have the gaiety of a woman of fashion, with the prudence and precaution of a Quaker.

A moral or political cause may likewise aid us in ex­plaining why women are more subject to consumptions than men. It is the wart of a will, or a civil existence. The submission to which women are h [...]b [...]tuated, has the effect of chains, which compress the limbs, cause ob­structions, deaden the vital principle, and impede the [Page 192] circulation. The depression of the mind has a tendency to enfeeble the body. This submission to fathers and husbands is more remarkable among the Quakers, than among the other sects. The time will doubtless come, when we shall be convinced that physical health, as well as political happiness, may be greatly promoted by equality and independence of opinions among all the members of society.

Consumptions, however, are not so numerous in Ame­rica as is generally imagined. This name is ignorantly given to many other disorders, which reduce the body to the same meagre state which follows a decay of the lungs. This appearance deceives, and may easily de­ceive the attendants of the sick, who give information to those who keep the bills of mortality.

Another disease very common here, is the sore-throat; when putrid, it is mortal. It generally proceeds from excessive heats, cold drinks, and carelessness in cloath­ing.

When we reflect that Europe was formerly subject to these epidemical diseases, and that they have disap­peared in proportion to the progress of cultivation, we are tempted to believe that they belong to new coun­tries in the infancy of cultivation.

The disease known in Europe by the name of influ­enza, is likewise common in America; it made great ravages in 1789. It began in Canada, passed through New-York, and very soon infected Pennsylvania and the Southern States. Its symptoms are lassitude, feeble­ness, chil [...]s, hea [...]s, and the head-ach. It respects no age or sex, and especially precipitate [...] to the tomb those who are attached by the consumption.

The fever and ag [...]e may be ranked in the class of these cruel epidemics; but it is more terrible, as its re­turns are annual. It not only visits the marshy coun­tries and the sea coast, [...]ut it is seen even in the healthy region of Albany. It is combated by the Peruvian ba [...]k, but the most successful remedy, is a journey among the mountains, or into the Northern [...]tates. This fever, more humane than men, subjects not [...]o it [...] [Page 193] empire the black slaves. This exemption is attributed to a custom they preserve with obstinacy, of keeping fires always in their cabins, even in the hottest season. The Negroes are accustomed to consider excessive heat as a guarantee of health; and you will see a Negress, while she labours in the field, in the ardour of a burn­ing sun, expose her infant to its fires, rather than lay it under the refreshing shade of a tree. This Negress has not heard of the curious experiments of Dr. Inginhouse on the fatal effects of shades and the night air, but you see that she knows their effects.

Among the maladies common in the United States, must be reckoned the pleurisy and the peripneumony, though they are less frequent than formerly. The small-pox, which formerly made such havock in the United States, is less formidable since the general prac­tice of inoculation.

There are many physicians at Philadelphia, and you will perhaps assign this as the cause of so many diseases. You will be wrong. They are said to be skilful; they are generally strangers to quackery. I know some of them who are highly respectable, as well for their vir­tues, as for their knowledge; such as Rush, Griffiths, Wis [...]er: the two last are Quakers.

The greatest part of these physicians are, at the same time, apothecaries. They continue to unite these two sciences, out of respect to the people, who wish that the m [...] who orders the medicine should likewise prepare it. There are however, other apothecaries, of whom the physicians purchase their drugs.

The practice of this country is the English practice; that is, they are much in the use of violent remedies. Laxatives are little in use. Almost all the physicians of this country are formed at the school of Edinburgh, and this is the cause of their predilection for the English practice.

I know a Dr. Bailey, of this country, a man of good abilities, but perhaps too inflammable and too caustic, who, much irritated at the preference given by his countrymen [...]o the English practice, was resolved to [Page 194] open a communication between this country and the schools of France. This resolution did him the more honour, as he was known in politics for an Anglican, and a decided royalist.

LETTER XXIX. Longevity and Calculations on the Probabilities of Life in the United States.

YOU may think, perhaps, after the account that I have given you of the maladies which afflict America, that human life is shorter here than in Europe. It is a prejudice; and as it has been accredited by many wri­ters, and by some even who have travelled in America, it becomes a duty to destroy it.

The Abbe Robin, one of these travellers, has de­clared, that after the age of twenty-five, the American women appear old; that children die here in greater proportion than in Europe; that there are very few old people, &c. &c. M. Paw, I believe, had uttered these fables before him. Nothing is more false. I have observed with c [...]re the women between thirty and fifty years of age▪ they have generally a good appear­ance▪ good health, and are even agreeable. I have seen them of fifty, with such an air of freshness, that they would not have been taken by an European for more than forty. I have seen women of sixty and seventy, sparkling with health. I speak here especially of the women of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts and Con­necticut.

In Pennsylvania you do not see the same tints adorn­ing the interesting visages of the daughters and wives of the Quakers; they are generally pale.

I have paid attention to their teeth. I have seen of them that are [...]; and where they are otherwise, it is, [Page 195] as in England, more owing to hot drinks than to the climate.

Not only the number of aged persons are more consi­derable here than in Europe, as I am going to prove to you, but they preserve generally their faculties, intel­lectual and physical.

I was told of a minister at Ipswich, in Massachusetts, who preached very well at ninety years of age; another, of the same age, walked on foot to church on Sunday twenty miles. A Mr. Temple died at the age of an hundred in 1765, and left four daughters and four sons of the following ages; 86—85—83—81—79—77—75—73.

But I will not confine myself to such light observa­tions. I will give you some tables of mortality and of the probabilities of life in this country. This is the only method of conveying to you certain information.

Tables of longevity may be every where considered as the touchstone of governments; the scale on which may be measured their excellencies and their defects, the per­fection or degradation of the human species.

The general causes of longevity are,

• 1. The salubrity of the atmosphere, and of the coun­try.
• 2. The abundance and goodness of the aliments.
• 3. A life regular, active, and happy.

We must, then, consider the exterior circumstances as relative to the occupations of men, to their morals, to their religion, and their government.

Wherever property is centered in a few hands, where employment is precarious and dependent, life is not so long; it is cut off by grief and care, which abridge more the principle of life than even want itself. Where­ever the government is arbitrary, and tyranny descends in divisions from rank to rank, and falls heavy on the lower classes, life must be short among the people, be­cause they are slaves; and a miserable slave, trampled on at every moment, can enjoy neither that ease, nor that regularity, nor that interior satisfaction, which sustains the principles of life. The excesses and mor­tifications [Page 196] attending on ambition, abridge, in an equal degree, the life of the class which tyrannizes.

On applying the [...]e moral and political considerations to the United States, you may conclude that there can be no country where the life of man is of longer dura­tion; for, to all the advantages of nature, they unite that of a liberty, which has no equal on the Old Con­tinent; and this liberty, let us not cease to repeat it, is the principle of health.

If any Government should wish to revive the specu­lation of life annuities on selected heads, I should ad­vise to select them in the North of the United States.

It is difficult here to obtain regular tables of births and deaths. There are some sects who do not baptise their children, and whose registers are not carefully kept; others who baptise only their adults. Some of the sick have no physicians or surgeons, and their at­tendants who give the information are not exact. The constant fluctuations occasioned by emigrations and im­migrations, still increase the difficulty. Yet we may approach near the truth, by taking for examples such sea-ports as are more occupied in the coasting trade than in long voyages; it is for this reason that I have chosen the towns of Salem and Ipswich in Massachusetts. I take these tables from the Memoirs of the Academy of Boston—Memoirs little know in France.

Doctor Halley, for the standard of his tables of mor­tality, chose Breslaw in Germany, on account of its interior situation and the regular employment of its in­habitants. By the calculations of these political arith­meticians, five persons in twelve die at Breslaw before the age of five years.

At Ipswich, a village at the northward of Boston, six only in thirty-three die within that age. At Breslaw, one in thirty attains the age of eighty years; at Ipswich, one in eight. This disproportion is enormous; and this longevity in found in many other parts of Massa­chusetts and New-Hampshire.

At Woodstock, in Connecticut, one hundred and thirteen persons have died in eleven years; of these [Page]

[Page 197] twenty-one were seventy years old and upwards, and thirteen were eighty and upwards. This gives some­thing more than the proportion of an octogenary in nine. These facts are taken from authentic registers.

The minister of Andover in New-Hampshire, a res­pectable and well informed man, has assured me, that more than one in eight males and females in his neigh­bourhood, pass the age of seventy years; and that this observation is the result of long experience in that and the neighbouring parishes.

Compare these facts to those stated by M. Moheau. ^* He says, that in the Island of Oleron, of 14,000 in­habitants, there are but five or six octogenaries, and but one for forty-two in the list of deaths in the isle of Rhe, which is reckoned remarkably healthful.

The minister of Andover made to me another obser­vation, which tends to confirm a system advanced by an author whose name I forget—It is, that men of letters enjoy the greatest longevity. He told me, that the oldest men were generally found among the Ministers. This fact will explain some of the causes of longevity; such as regularity of morals, information, independence of spirit, and easy circumstances.

But you will be better able to judge of the longevity in the United States, by the table of the probabilities of life given to me by the respectable Doctor Wiglesworth of the University of Cambridge. It contains a compa­rison of these probabilities in New-England, in Eng­land, in Sweden, in Germany, in Holland, and in France.

The first column gives the ages; the following one gives, by years, and decimal parts of a year, the pro­babilities of life among the inhabitants of the different places mentioned. You will see in this table, that the probabilities of life in this part of the United States, surpass those of England and Sweden, even those of the annuitants whose lives served for the basis to the tables of Kersboom; and that they almost equal those [Page 198] of the annuitants which served as the basis to the cal­culations of M. de Parcieux, for the establishment of life annuities. ^*

The second column is appropriated to the graduates of the University of Cambridge, the nursery of minis­ters and statesmen for that part of the country. The probabilities in this column are calculated on the whole list of graduates, received since the year 1711.

Hingham, which forms the third column, is at the South-east of Boston. The occupations and manners of life in this place, are much the same as in the rest of Massachusetts. The probabilities in this column are taken from the list of deaths, made with great care for fifty years, by Doctor Gay.

The column for Dover, situated on the river Pisca­tuay, twelve miles from the sea, in New-Hampshire, is formed from the list of deaths kept for ten years, by Doctor Belknap, minister of that place.

The other columns, which regard the countries in Europe, are taken from the work of Doctor Price.

This comparative table will fix your ideas on the subject of longevity in the United States. And it is to be hoped, that from the care of Doctor Wiglesworth, of the academy of Boston, and that of the members of the other academies in the several States, we may soon have regular and complete tables for the thirteen States.

To satisfy your curiosity more completely, I will now give you a list of births, marriages, and deaths in a particular town; that you may see the proportion be­tween the births and deaths, and the ages of the de­ceased. I will take Salem, which is considered as a very unhealthful town. It is a sea-port, in the forty-second degree of latitude, five leagues North-east of Boston, situated between two rivers, on a flat piece of land, elevated but twenty feet above the level of the sea at high water; two little hills in the neighbourhood; soil light, dry, and sandy, without marshes; the inha­bitants [Page 199] not subject to epidemical diseases. They com­plain at present of some nervous and hysterical disor­ders, which were formerly unknown to them.

Mr. Holyoke sent to the Academy of Boston the two following tables for this town of Salem.

Deaths,

175

Births,

317

Baptisms,

152

Marriages,

70

Taxable polls; that is, males above the age of sixteen, and residing in the town,

897

Transient persons,

200

In being born,

6

Within the first month,

6

Between one month and one year,

30

— one and two years,

20

— two and five,

2

— five and ten,

7

— ten and fifteen,

3

— fifteen and twenty,

6

— twenty and twenty-five,

5

— twenty-five and thirty,

7

— thirty and forty,

24

— forty and fifty,

10

— fifty and sixty,

7

— sixty and seventy,

2

— seventy and eighty,

7

— eighty and ninety,

6

Ages unknown,

27

Deaths,

189

Births, about

385

Baptisms,

158

Marriages, about

84

Taxable polls,

1000

Number of inhabitants, about

9000

In being born,

14

In the fi [...]st month,

11

Between one month and one year,

27

Between one and two years,

29

— two and five,

28

— five and ten,

12

— ten and fifteen,

5

— fifteen and twenty,

2

— twenty and twenty-five,

8

— twenty-five and thirty,

8

— thirty and forty,

9

— forty and fifty,

8

— fifty and sixty,

7

— sixty and seventy,

6

— seventy and eighty,

6

— eighty and ninety,

2

Ages unknown,

9 ^*

You will recollect that Salem is one of the most un­healthful towns in America. You do not find in the above two lists the proportion of great ages that I have mentioned in other places.

The year 1781, gives 175 deaths. If you look for the population of Salem by the general rule of thirty living for one dead, the number of inhabitants would appear to be 5250—whereas it was 9000. You must then count for Salem fifty living for one deceased. In London there dies one for twenty-three; and in the country in England, one in forty; in Paris, one in thirty; in the country, one in twenty-four.

In 1781, at Salem, the births are as one to twenty-seven of the inhabitants. In common years in France it i [...] as one to twenty-six.

[Page 201]As to marriages, M. Moheau reckons for the country in France one for 121, and for Paris one for 160. In Salem, you must count for 1781, only one for 128. But this is f [...]r from being the proportion for the country in America. We have no exact table for this purpose. We must wait.

I cannot terminate this long article on longevity with­out giving you the table of births and deaths in the Lu­theran congregation at Philadelphia for fourteen years, from 1774, to 1788. The proportion is curious.

You will observe, that in years of the war the births were less numerous. This is a natural reflection, which ought always to be made by any one who makes calcu­lations on the population of America.

Finally, my friend, to give you a further idea of the rapidity of population in America, take the tables▪ of Rhode-Island and New-Jersey, and compare them with the one I gave you on Pennsylvania.

You observe by these tables, that the population of Rhode-Island, which had almost doubled in twelve years, from thirty to forty-two, has diminished during the war. But with what pleasure do you see the po­pulation in New-Jersey more than tripled in forty years, notwithstanding the obstructions occasioned by the same bloody war! And with what pleasure do you, who are the defender of the blacks, observe their number has more than doubled in the same space of time in New-Jersey: though the importation of them was pro­hibited in 1775, though the war cost the life of a great number of Negroes, and though many of them were stolen by the English and sold in their islands!

From all the facts and all the tables which I have given you, it must be concluded that the life of man is much longer in the United States of America, than in the most salubrious countries of Europe.

LETTER XXX. The Prison of Philadelphia, and Prisons in general.

AND Philadelphia likewise has its prison▪ I love to believe, that for the first thirty or forty years, when the Quakers were the magistrates, or rather, when there was no need of magistrates, I love to indulge the belief that there was no prison. But since the English, to de­liver themselves from the banditti that infested their [Page 203] island, have pr [...]ctised letting them lose upon the colo­nies—since great numbers of foreign adventurers have overspread the country, especially since the last war, which has augmented their number, reduced many to misery, and habituated others to crimes—it has been necessary to restrain them by prisons. One fact does honour to this State; which is, that among the prisoners of Philadelphia, not one in ten is a native of the coun­try. During my stay in this town, one robbery only has been committed; and this was by a French sailor.

Almost all the other prisoners are either Irishmen or Frenchmen.

This prison is a kind of house of correction. The prisoners are obliged to work; and each enjoys the profit of his own labour. This is the best method of ameliorating men; and it is a method used by the Qua­kers.

Those who govern the house of correction in New-York, on consenting to take charge of criminals con­demned by the law, have obtained leave to substitute to whips and mutilation their humane method of cor­rection; and they daily succeed in leading back to in­dustry and reason these deluded men.

One of these Quakers was asked, by what means it was possible to correct men who dishonour human na­ture, and who will not work? ‘We have two power­ful instruments, replied the Quaker, hunger and hope.’

By the small number of Pennsylvanians contained in the prison of Philadelphia, we may conclude, that, were it not for the strangers, the government of this town, like that of Nantucket, might have a prison with open doors, of which honour and repentance are the only keepers.

But, after all, what is the use of prisons? Why those tombs for living men? The Indians have them not; and they are not the worse for it. If there exists a country where it is p [...]ssible, and where it is a duty to change this syst [...]m, it is America; it is therefore to the Americans that I address the following reflections:

[Page 204]Prisons are fatal to the health, liberty, and morals of men. To preserve health, a man has need of a pure air, frequent exercise, and wholesome food. In a pri­son, the air is infected, there is no space for exercise, and the food is often detestable.

A man is not in health, but when he is with beings who love him, and by whom he is beloved. In prison, he is with strangers and with criminals. There can exist no society between them; or, if there does, he must either be obliged to struggle without ceasing against the horrid principles of these wicked men, which is a tor­ment to him; or he adopts their principles and becomes like them.—A man by living constantly with fools, be­comes a fool himself; every thing in life is contagion and correspondence.

By imprisonment, you snatch a man from his wife, his children, his friends; you deprive him of their succour and consolation; you plunge him into grief and mor­tification; you cut him off from all those connections which render his existence of any importance. He is like a plant torn up by the roots and severed from its nourishing soil; and how will you expect it to exist?

The man who has for a long time vegetated in a prison, who has experienced frequent convulsions of rage and despair, is no longer the same being, on quit­ting this abode, that he was when he entered it. He returns to his family, from whom he has been long se­questered; he no more meets from them, or experiences in himself, the same attachment and the same tenderness.

In putting a man in prison, you subject him to the power of the gaoler, of the turnkey, and of the com­missary of the prison. Before these men he is obliged to abase himself, to disguise his sensations, to constrain his passions, in order that his misery may not be in­creased. The state of humiliation and constraint is horrible to him; and besides, it renders his masters im­perious, unjust, vexatious, and wicked.

To oblige a freeman to use supplication to obtain justice, is to do him a lasting injury. The tree that is once bent from its natural form never acquires it again.

[Page 205]The laws which ordain the habeas corpus are wise and natural. But they do not ordain it in all cases. A prisoner for debt, who cannot obtain surety, must remain a prisoner. A man accused of a capital offence, who will be probably acquitted on trial, cannot enjoy the benefit of this law. These are abuses.

Is it not much more simple to imitate the Indians, to grant every man the privilege of his own house for a prison, though you are obliged to put a sentinel at his door? and for those that have no house of their own, establish a public house, where they can pursue their occupations.

If such regulations are necessary for any society, it is surely for the one which has good morals, and wishes to preserve them: if they are any where practicable, it is among a people where great crimes are rare. Re­collect, my friend, that but within a few years before the last war, no capital punishment had ever been in­flicted in Connecticut.

I am surprised then that the penalty of death is not totally abolished in this country. Manners here are so pure, the means of living so abundant, and misery so rare, that there can be no need of such horrid pains to prevent the commission of crimes.

Doctor Rush has just given force to all these argu­ments in favour of the abolition of the punishment of death. He has not yet succeeded: but it is to be hop­ed that the State of Pennsylvania, and even all the States▪ disengaging themselves from their ancient su­perstition for the English laws, will soon dare to give to Europe a great example of justice, humanity and policy. Any objections that may be made against this reform in Europe will not apply in this country.

LETTER XXXI. The Quakers. Their private Morals, their Manners, &c.

I HAVE promised you, my friend, a particular ar­ticle on this respectable society. I this day perform my promise.

You remember with what insulting levity M. de Chastellux has treated them in the very superficial journal which he has published. You recollect the energetic censure ^* which I passed on his errors, his falsehoods, and his calumnies. You have not forgot the stupid persecution that this censure brought on me, and the manoeuvres employed to stifle my work by that same witty Marquis, and by other academicians, who wished to tyrannize public opinion, and monopolize reputation.

And now, my friend, I have been able to compare the portrait which I had made of them with the ori­ginal; and I am convinced that it is very nearly just. At least the portrait does not flatter them. I endea­voured to guard my self from the prejudices which their flattering reception of me might have occasioned. The way was prepared for this reception by the apology which I had published in their favour; it was translat­ed into English even here, by some respectable members of the society, and distributed every where with pro­fusion; and I find to my satisfaction, that it has contri­buted to dissipate the unhappy prejudices which the in­discretions, boasts and sarcasms of our frivolous acade­mician had excited against the French nation.

Simplicity, candour, and good faith, characterize the actions as well as the discourses of the Quakers. They are not affected, but they are sincere; they are not polished, but they are humane; they have not that [Page 207] wit, that sparkling wit,—without which a man is no­thing in France, and with which he is every thing; but they have good sense, a sound judgment, an upright heart, and an obliging temper of mind. If I wished to live in society, it would be with the Quakers: If I wished to amuse my self, it would be with my country­men. And their women—you ask, what are they? They are what they should be, faithful to their hus­bands, tender to their children, vigilant and economical in their household, and simple in their ornaments. Their principal characteristic is, that they are not eager to please all the world: neglectful of the exterior, they reserve all their accomplishments for the mind. Let us say it, let us not cease to repeat it, it is among manners like these that we are to look for good households, happy families, and public virtues. But we, miserable wretches! gangrened with our own civil [...]zation and politeness, we have abjured these manners. And who among us is happy? unless you can find a man who has the courage to content himself with a life of nature, and to live like people of former ages. If you conform to nature, says Seneca, you will never be poor▪ if to opinion, you will never be rich.

I will not recall to your mind all that M. Creve­coeur has said of the Quakers; I only wish to say to you what he has not said.

Simplicity is a favourite virtue with the Quakers; and the men still so low, with some exactness, the coun­sel of Penn: "Let thy garments be plain and simple; attend to convenience and decency, but not to vanity. If thou art clean and warm, thy end is accomplished; to do more, is to rob the poor." ^*

I have seen James Pemberton, one of the most wealthy Quakers, and one whose virtues have placed [Page 208] him among the most respectable of their chiefs; I have seen him wear a thread-bare coat, but it was neat. He likes better to clothe the poor, and to expend money in the cause of the blacks, than to change often his coats.

You know the dress of the Quakers—a round hat, generally white; cloth coat; cotton or woollen stock­ings; no powder on their hair, which is cut short and hangs round. They commonly carry in their pocket, a little comb in a case; and on entering a house, if the hair is disordered, they come it without ceremony be­fore the fi [...]st mirr [...]r that they meet.

The white hat which they prefer, has become more common here, since Frankl [...]n has proved the advantages which it possesses, and the inconveniencies of the black.

The Quakers in the country generally wear cloth made in their own houses. And at their general meet­ing here, in September this year, which consisted of more than fifteen hundred, nine-tenths of the number were clothed in American cloth. This is an example to the other sects.

There are some Quakers who dress more like other sects; who wear powder, silver buckles, and ruffles.— They are called wet Quakers. The others regard them as a kind of schismaticks, or feeble men. They are admitted, indeed, into their churches on Sunday, but never to their monthly or quarterly meetings.

It is not more than fifteen years since it was a kind of crime in all sects in America to wear powder. In general, manners have changed since the war, by the intercourse of European armies. But to the honour of the Quakers, theirs have not changed. This is to be attributed to the rigour of their discipline, and to their discarding those who violate it.

They put on woollen stockings the 15th of Septem­ber; it is an article of their discipline, which extends to their clothing; and to this is to be attributed their remarkable longevity. Among the few companions of William Penn in 1693, six are now alive—Edward Drinker, born in 1680, has been dead but two years. It is from the intimate conviction of the advantages of [Page 209] their maxims, that they persevere in them with singular constancy. Their singularities are the effect of reason and long experience.

The Quaker women dress more comfortably than those of the other sects; and this renders them less sub­ject to sickness. Age and fortune, however, cause much greater distinctions in their dress than in that of the men. The matrons wear the gravest colours, little black bonnets, and the hair simply turned back. The young women curl their hair with great care and anxiety; which costs them as much time as the most exquisite toilette. They wear little hats covered with silk or sattin. These observations gave me pain. These young Qua­keresses, whom nature has so well endowed, whose charms have so little need of the borrowed hand of art, are remarkable for their choice of the finest linens, mus­lins, and silks. Elegant fans play between their fingers. Oriental luxury itself would not disdain the linen they wear. Is this agreeable to the doctrine of Penn?— "Modesty and mildness," says he, "are the richest and finest ornaments of the soul. The more simple the dress, the more will beauty and these qualities appear."

I say it with freedom, and I ought to say it to my friends the Quakers, (for I am sure they will read me; and I would not flatter my friends; a hint of good ad­vice is always well received by them) that if any thing can discredit their principles abroad, it is the relaxation insensibly introduced into their manners and customs. Their taste in linens and silks is regarded by others as a hypocritical luxury, ill-disguised; which is absurd, at least among men so apparently devoted to simplicity and austerity.

Luxury begins where utility ends. Now, where is the utility to the body in the use of the finest of linen? And how usefully might the money be employed, which is now applied to this luxury! There are so many good actions to be done! so many persons in want!

Luxury displayed in simple things announces more vanity than when displayed in an ordinary manner; for it seems to be considered as the measure of wealth, [Page 210] of which they affect to despise the ostentation. Indeed it announces a mind not truly penetrated with the great principles of morality—a mind that places its happiness, not in virtue, but in appearance.

And what an ill example is thus given to the other Americans by the Quakers, who have been to them the models of simplicity? Their country does not, and will not for a long time, manufacture these fine linens, these delicate muslins, of which the texture is scarcely perceptible. They must be purchased in foreign coun­tries, to which they have recourse for so many articles of necessity. Thus, this luxury drains from their coun­try the money so much wanted for the extension of agriculture and other useful enterprises. Let the Qua­kers who read this article, meditate upon it; let them reflect, that the use of [...]um, against which they raise their voice with great energy and justice, cannot make more ravages in America than the introduction of luxury in their society. I made the same remark on the household furniture of those who are rich among them. It has the appearance of simplicity; but in many instances it is certainly expensive.

Happily, this luxury has not yet found its way to the tables of the Quakers. Their dinners are solid, simple, and elegant, enlivened by serene and sensible conversation, and endeared by hospitality. They drink beer, Philadelphia porter, cider, and finish with a glass of wine. None of [...]hose fatiguing toasts, which are ra­ther provocatives to intoxication than acc [...]nts of patri­otism.

Those who reproach the Quakers with sadness and moroseness, are una [...]quainted with their true character, and have never lived with them. I, who have been received by them as a child, and domesticated as a friend, judge them very differently. I have found a­mong them moments of gaiety, of effusions of the hear [...], of sprightly and agreeable conversation. They are not buffoons, but they are serene; they are happy, and, if gaiety consists in the expressi [...]n of heart-felt happiness, they are gay.

[Page 211]We Frenchmen have the reputation of being gay, of laughing at every thing, of balancing a misfortune by a pun. This is a folly. To laugh is the sign of gaiety, and gaiety is the sign of agreeable sensations. To be gay, therefore, in the depth of misery, is a falsehood or a folly; to be serene and unmoved, is wisdom. We ought not to be depressed by misfortunes; neither ought we to laugh at them: the one is a weakness of mind, the other is a madness or stupidity.

The calmness which characterises the Quakers in their joy, accompanies them likewise in their grief, in their discussions, and in all their affairs. They owe it to their education; they are early taught to curb their pas­sions, especially that of anger; to render themselves, as they call it, immoveable; that is, inaccessible to sudden emotions: it results from this, that on all occasions they preserve an empire over themselves; and this gives them a great advantage in discussion over those who do not preserve the same temper. "The greatest service," says Penn, "that thou canst render to reason, is to clothe her in calmness; and he that defends truth with too much heat, does her more injury than her adversaries them­selves." I saw an example of the effects of this coolness in debate, in my friend Myers Fisher, who is a learned and virtuous practitioner of the law. I heard him be­fore the legislature defend the cause of the Pilots, against a bill, the object of which was to reduce their pay. Clearness, close reasoning, and deep eruditio [...], distin­guished his discourse, which was followed by success. He p [...]s [...]rved constantly his calmness of temper, amidst the frequent attacks and sudden interruptions on the part of the members of the Assembly.

The Quakers carry to the borders of the tomb this same tranquillity of mind; and it even forsakes not the women at this distressing moment. This is the fruit of their rel [...]gious principles, and of a regular virtuous life. They consider Heaven as their country; and they can­not conceive why death which conducts to it, should be a misfortune.

[Page 212]This habitual serenity does not diminish their sensi­bility. The respectable Pemberton recounted to me the death of a beloved daughter, which happened the day before. I could see the tear steal down his cheek, which a moment's reflection caused to disappear. He loved to speak to me of her virtues and her resignation during her long agony. "She was an angel," (says he) "and she is now in her place."

This good father did not exaggerate. You will find in this Society, many of these celestial images, clothed in serenity, the symbol of internal peace and conscious virtue.

I cannot explain to you the fact; but it is true, that I feel an expansion of soul in their society. I meet a man of a pure mind—I am at once at my ease—we are like intimate and old acquaintance—we understand each other without speaking. A corrupted man, a sharper, a man of the world, produces on me a contrary impres­sion. My soul contracts and recoils upon itself, like the sensitive plant.

The portrait which I have given you of the Quakers, is not only the result of my own observations, but what has been told me by enlightened men of the other sects.

I asked one day, in company, the following question: "Is there a greater purity of morals, more simplicity, more integrity, more honesty among the Quakers, than any other sects?" A man distinguished for his informa­tion and his attachment to the new constitution, answer­ed me: "I am a Presbyterian; but I must declare, that the Quakers excel all sects in the qualities you men­tion." It is not that they are all pure and irreproach­able; it is not, that there are not some sharpers among them. The reputation of the sect, and the advantage that may be made of it, have naturally brought into it some hypocritical proselytes and rascals. A man would counterfeit a guinea rather than a halfpenny; but the Quakers are very strict in expelling from their society those who are found guilty, I do not say of crimes, but of those breaches of delicacy and probity, which the laws do not punish. The public is often ignorant of [Page 213] this excommunication; because the excommunicated member continues to go to their public meetings on Sunday. He cannot be hindered from this; but he is never admitted to their monthly or quarterly meetings.

LETTER XXXII. On the Reproaches made against the Quakers by different Writers.

THE spectacle of virtue gives pain to the wicked; and they avenge themselves by decrying it. You must not then be surprised that writers have endeavoured to injure this sanctified body. One of those who attempted it with the most bitterness, is the author of Recherches sur les Etats Unis, published in the beginning of this year. He has dilated, in a long chapter, all the calum­nies which he had before uttered in a letter under the name of one of his countrymen, printed in the Paris Journal of the sixteenth of November, 1786.

This author is Mr. Mazzei, an Italian, who resided some years in Virginia, and has since settled in France. He might naturally, among the planters in Virginia, contract prejudices against the Quakers: friends of dis­sipation, of luxury, of slavery, of pleasure, and of osten­tation, regard with an evil eye, a society who preach and practice economy and simplicity. Mr. Mazzei is, besides, unacquainted with the Quakers, having never lived in their intimacy: his testimony then ought to have little weight. He cites as his authority, the Vir­ginians and the French military officers.

The French, and especially the French officers, can­not in general be good judges in this matter; some of them sacrifice too much to the rage of ridicule; others have principles too different from the Quakers; and al­most all of them are superficial observers.

[Page 214]Yet I must say, in praise of the French army, that they always respected the Quakers. The commander in chief had made of their meeting house at Newport, a magazine of arms. He gave it up to them on their re­quest. An English general would have conducted very differently.

In another instance, a French officer had quartered some soldiers at the house of a Quaker; out of respect to their principles, he did not suffer them to deposit their arms in the house.

M. de Chastellux was far from these principles. The cause of his prejudice was, that at the time when he travelled in America, the Quakers were not treated with respect, because they refused to take part in the war. He caught the general contagion of dislike without ever hearing or seeing any of them: and it was to please the pretty graceful women of Paris, that he ridiculed the interior grace of the Quakers.

Among the writers in their favour, are Voltaire, Ray­nal, M ^c Auley, Crevecoeur. What names on this subject can be placed in opposition to them?

In abusing the Quakers, he is obliged to confess that their singular ideas have raised them in certain points much above other men.

He pretends, likewise, that they have defects; and where have I denied it? Ubi homines, ibi erunt vitia, says Tacitus. And the Quakers are men. But I say that their principles guard them more from vice than those of other men.

Mr. Mazzei confesses, that for economy and applica­tion to business, their conduct is truly exemplary and worthy of praise. It is from these two sources that flow all the private and civil virtues; for a man, who by principle is economical and attentive to his business, has nothing to fear from a numerous family. If he has many children, he loves them; for he sees the means of providing for them with ease. Such a man is neither a gambler nor a debauchee. Such a man is a good husband; for, placing all his happiness in domestic life, he is forced to be good, in order to be beloved; [Page 215] and he cannot be happy, but by rendering those happy who are round him. Why did not this critic see the consequences that must follow from the truth which he admits? Why did he not see that it effaced all the ill that he says afterwards of the Quakers? Why did he not see that it raised them above every other sect? For, with others, example, habit, or other variable circum­stances, may render men economical and vigilant in business; while every Quaker is so, from a principle in his religion; a principle from which he cannot deviate, without ceasing to be a Quaker. Economy and industry are with them an essential part of their religion: how much stronger is such a motive than all those which produce these in other men!

Mr. Mazzei acknowledges, that in hospitality and beneficence they are not inferior to other men. He ought to have said they were superior; for charity and hospitality flow from economy and easy circumstances. The man that has more means, less real wants, and no fantastical ones, and who really loves his fellow creatures, is necessarily beneficent and hospitable; and such is the situation and such the character of the Quakers.

But the great reproach that Mr. Mazzei brings upon them is, that they are superior in hypocrisy. To judge of this accusation, let us see in what hypocrisy consists.

For a man to pretend to sentiments which he does not possess, to virtues which he does not practice—or, in a word, to appear what he is not, is what is meant by hypocrisy.

Now, are not the Quakers what they appear to be? This is the point to be proved. To convict them of religious hypocrisy, you must prove that they do not be­lieve in the Holy Spirit, and in the Gospel; you must prove them to be Infidels or Atheists under the mask of Christianity.

If moral hypocrisy is intended, you must prove that they conceal libertinism, dissipation, and cruelty to their families, under the veil of austeri [...]y, economy, and ap­parent tenderness. Is it political hypocrisy? you must then prove that they wish secretly for places and dig­nities, [Page 216] which they have renounced; that they long to massacre their fellow creatures, while they profess a horror for the effusion of human blood; that they are really selfish, under the mask of friends and benefactors to the human race; that they are proud and haughty, under the appearance of simplicity.

In a word, hypocrisy is a vague term; and as long as it is not applied to facts, it signifies nothing. It does not suffice for its justification, to say, that the Quakers are Protestant Jesuits.

This is but a new calumny, as vague as the other. I ask for facts. If the Quakers resemble the Jesuits in mildness, indulgence, tolerance, and the art of persuasion, it is to resemble them on the virtuous side. M. Mazzei says, they do not resemble them in every thing, and he thus effaces what M. de Chastellux had wantonly ad­vanced on this charge.

I am not astonished that the Quakers have the art of persuasion. They have possessed it for an hundred and fifty years; which is a proof, that they merit the public confidence; they must have lost it had they been char­la [...]ans or hypocrites.

The cry of hypocrisy is generally set up against the most grave and religious sects, and by those men who are seeking to justify their own corruption. It seems, that having renounced all virtues, they like not to take the trouble to feign them; or perhaps to get rid of the weight of esteem which is due to virtue, they calculate, that it is easier to deny its existence.

M. Mazzei accuses the Quakers of want of punctuality and equity in their commerce; he adds, that it is their national character. Observe, my friend, that neither Mazzei nor Chastellux adduce a single fact, nor a single authority for this assertion. It must then be a pure ca­lumny. If this was the character of the Quakers, would facts be wanting to prove it?

I have too often heard repeated this accusation of kna­very against them; I have, with the greatest care, con­sul [...]ed English and Americans of all sects, and French merchants who have dealings with them; and I have [Page 217] not been able to hear of a single fact as an instance of dishonesty. The worst that has been told me, is, that they are cunning, strict, and inflexible; that they have no respect for persons or sects. I was told too, as M. Mazzei has printed, that they understand very well how to sell, that they sell dear. I have showed in my an­swer to Chastellux, the absurdity of any reproach like this. To understand the art of selling, does not sup­pose a want of probity; it is the spirit of commerce; I will say more; it is the general character of the Ame­ricans; they are artful: I will explain the cause of it hereafter.

Mr. Bingham, one of the most opulent citizens of Philadelphia, and one who, from his ostentation and luxury, cannot be very favourable to the Quakers, spoke of them to me in the highest praise. He said, that they were extremely punctual in fulfilling their engagements, and that they never live beyond their income.

And this will explain the common saying that you so often hear repeated at Philadelphia, that the Quakers are so cunning that the Jews themselves cannot live among them. Usurious Jews can never live among economical men, who have no need of borrowing mo­ney at enormous interest; for a similar reason, a seller of pork cannot live among Jews.

M. Mazzei accuses the Quakers of a desire of gain; though he is not so formal in this accusation as M. de Chastellux. I will take this opportunity to make a re­mark on this common reproach, with which it is so fa­shionable to revile, not only the Quakers, but commercial people in general.

The author of Philosophical Travels in England says, "We are luckily exempted in France from that spirit of avarice, that desire of gain; and we ow [...] this exemption to the pride of a numerous body of nobles." —More luckily, however, we are at present exempted from this very useful body. But I would ask this noble traveller, with what spirit these honourable nobles beg and fawn for lucrative places and pensions? With what spirit do they engage, under borrowed names, in all specula­tions [Page 218] and stock-jobbing? With what spirit do they re­quire large gratifications for their patronage, secret bribes from the Farmers-general, and a covered interest in every enterprise that is carried on in the kingdom? Is this the same spirit; or is it better or worse than the desire of gain which appears to them so vile in a mer­chant? In two respects these men are infinitely below the merchant; in the hypocrisy of pretending to des­pise a metal which they b [...]rn to possess, and in the use which they make of it. Money gained in commerce, is generally employed in extending commerce and use­ful speculations; money gained by a noble, is spent in luxury, vanity, debauchery, and creating new poi­sons in society.

The desire of gain in a merchant, consists in amassing wealth, in preserving it, and in watching over his affairs with a constant attention. Such then is the crime of the Quakers. But in reproaching them with it, we ought to consider attentively the circumstances of that society: their religious principles exclude them from all ambitious views, from all places and employments; they must then attend wholly to their industry, to the support and establishment of their children. They have, therefore, more need of amassing property than other citizens, who may find the means of placing their chil­dren in public offices, in the army, the navy, or the church.

Finally, the Quakers, having renounced the occupa­tions of intrigue, of amusements, and even of literature and the sciences, must be occupied wholly in business; and consequently appear more vigilant, that is, in the language of lazy nobility, more avaricious.

M. Mazzei agrees, that the Quakers are virtuous; but does not allow them to rank in this respect above other sects. He believes, that other sects have pro­duced men as perfect as this. I believe it as well as he: the image of Fenelon gives me as agreeable an im­pression as that of Fothergill or B [...]nezet. But I main­tain,—1st, that the sect of the Quakers, in proportion to their number, has produced more of these prodigie [...],— [Page 219] [...]d, that no sect presents to us a totality so perfect and harmonious, and an assemblage of men so pure and vir­tuous, or so constant a series of great and good actions, I will only call to your mind the emancipation of slaves, executed by them with unanimity, with the same spi­rit, and followed by numerous efforts to abolish slavery, and to meliorate and educate the blacks. Let any one cite to me in all other sects a similar instance of disin­terestedness and humanity. Let a sect be mentioned, which, like this, has made it a law never to take any part either in privateering, ^* or in contraband trade, even in a foreign country; for they will not tempt a foreigner to violate the laws of his own country.

D [...]ring the last war, the Quakers passed a resolution, that whoever of their society should pay a debt in paper-money (then depreciated) should be excommunicated; while, at that time, it was a crime to doubt of the goodness of this paper; and the Quakers, like all other citizens, were obliged to receive it from their debtors at the nominal value.

LETTER XXXIII. The Extent of the Society of Quakers, their religious Principles, &c.

A Society, simple in its manners, economical, and devoted principally to agriculture and commerce, must necessarily increase with great rapidity. Pennsylvania may be considered as the mother country of the Quakers, who form a majority of its population. They are nu­merous in the States of New-York, New-Jersey, Ma­ryland, [Page 220] and Rhode-Island; some in New-Hampshire and Massachusetts. Many of the Quakers have planted their tabernacles in that delightful valley which is washed by the Shenadore, beyond the first chain of mountains. They have no slaves; they employ negroes as hired servants, and have renounced the culture of tobacco: and this valley is observed as the best cultivated part of Virginia.

They have pushed their settlements likewise into the two Carolinas and Georgia. They are beginning esta­blishments near the Ohio, and have a considerable one already at Redstone, on the Monongahela.

It is to be wished, for the happiness of the Indians, and the peace of America, that all the planters of the frontiers possessed the pacific principles of the Quakers: a lasting union would soon be formed between them; and blood would no longer stain the furrows which American industry traces in the forests.

The religion of the Quakers is the simplest imagin­able. It consists in the voice of conscience, the inter­nal sentiment, the divine instinct, which, in their opi­nion, God has imparted to every one. This instinct, this light, this grace, which every person brings into the world with him, appears to them the only guide ne­cessary for the conduct of life. But to understand the guide, it is necessary to know it; to be known, it should often be interrogated. Hence the necessity of fre­quent meditations; hence the nullity of all formal wor­ship, and the ministration of priests; for they consider forms as so many obstacles, which turn the attention from the voice within; and priests possessing no more of the Divine Spirit than other men, cannot supply the want of meditation.

I have shown in my Critique on the Travels of Chastellux, how much this meditative worship of the Deity is superior to the mechanical worship of other sects. I have proved that the man who adores his Creator by meditating on his own duties, will necessarily become goo [...], tolerant, just, and beneficent. You have here the key both of the moral character of the Quakers, [Page 221] and of its extraordinary duration. Their virtue is an habit, a second nature.

The Quakers have been much ridiculed for their belief in this interior principle. For their calumniators, some of whom have called themselves philosophers, are ignorant that this belief is not peculiar to the Quakers. We find it in a great number of sages, who have merited the homage of mankind. With Pythagoras it was the eternal Word, the Great Light,—with Anaxagoras, the Divine Soul,—with Socrates, the Good Spirit, or Demon, —with Timeus, the Uncreated Principle,—with Hieron, the Author of Delight, the God within the Man,—with Plato, the eternal, ineffable and perfect Principle of Truth,—with Zeno, the Creator and Father of all,— and with Plotinus, the Root of the Soul. When these philosophers endeavoured to characterise the influence of this principle within us, they used correspondent expressions. Hieron called it a domestic God, an eternal God,—Socrates and Timeus, the Genius, or Angel,— Plotinus, the Divine Principle in Man,—and Plato, the Rule of the Soul, the Internal Guide, the Foundation of Virtue.

I do not pretend to explain to you all the religious principles of the Quakers; this would lead me too far; not that their dogmas are very numerous, for their doc­trine is more simple and more concise than their mo­rals. But this article, as well as their history, ought to be treated at large. I can assure you, that all the French authors who have written on them, without excepting Voltaire, have been ignorant of the true sources of in­formation. They have co [...]tented themselves with seizing the objects to which they could give a cast of ridicule, and have thrown aside every thing that could render that society respectable.

One inviolable practice of theirs, for instance, is, never to dispute about dogmas. They have cut off a [...] endless chain of disputations, by not admitting the au­thority either of the Old or New Testament to be su­perior to that of the internal principle, and by not [...] a class of men for the sole purpose of disputing and [Page 222] tyranizing, under the pretext of instructing. What torrents of blood would have been spared, if the Ca­tholics and Protestants had adopted a rule of conduct so wise; if instead of quarrelling about unintelligible words, about writings that may be changed, about the authority of the Church and the Pope, they had be­lieved in the internal spirit, which, for each individual, may be the secret guide! This guide has little concern with dogmas, and much with morals.

Among the political-principles of the Quakers, the most remarkable are, never to take an oath, and never to take arms. I shall speak of the latter in an article by itself; as to their refusing to take an oath, it may be said, that an oath adds no weight to the declaration of an honest man; and perjury has no terrors for a knave.

Their discipline is as simple as their doctrine. In their marriages, their births, and interments, they use only the forms necessary to verify the existence of the fact.

A Quaker cannot marry a person of another sect; I asked the reason of this; as it appeared to me a sign of intolerance. "The preservation of our Society," (re­plied a Quaker,) "depends on the preservation of the customs which distinguish us from other men. This singularity forces us to be more honest; and if we should unite our families with strangers, who are not of our Society, individuals would swerve from our usa­ges, and confound them with others. A Quaker wo­man who should marry a Presbyterian, submits herself to the authority of a man over whom we have no in­fluence; and the Society subsists only by this domestic, voluntary, and reciprocal influence."

This influence is directed by their different assem­blies. The monthly assemblies are in general compos­ed of several neighbouring congregations. Their func­tions are to provide for the subsistence of the poor, and the education of their children; to examine the new converts, and prove their morals; to sustain the zeal and the religion of others; to hear and judge their [Page 223] faults by means of superintendants appointed for this purpose; to decide and settle any dispute that may arise either between Quakers, or between a Quaker and a stranger, provided the latter will submit [...]o their arbi­trament. This last object is one of the most important; it prevents that cruel scourge so ravaging in other coun­tries, the scourge of lawyers, the source of so much corruption, and the cause of such scandalous divisions. This custom must be of great advantage to strangers who live in the neighbourhood of Quakers. The So­ciety excommunicates a member who will not submit to the arbitration.

Appeals are sometimes carried from the monthly to the quarterly assemblies; the principal business of the latter is to superintend the operations of the former.

But the superintendance of the whole society belongs to the annual assemblies. These receive reports from the inferior bodies respecting the state of all parts of the society, give their advice, make regulations, judge de­finitively on the appeals from the lower assemblies, and write letters to each other, in order to maintain a frater­nal correspondence.

There are seven annual assemblies. One at London, to which the Quakers in Ireland send deputies; one in New-England, one at New-York, one for Pennsylva­nia and New-Jersey, one in Maryland, one in Virgi­nia, one for the two Carolinas and Georgia.

As the Quakers believe that women may be called to the ministry as well as men, and as there are certain articles of discipline which only concern the women, and the observance of which can be superintended only by them, they have likewise their monthly, quarterly, and annual meetings. But they have not the right to make regulations. This method is much more proper to maintain morals among women, than that of our Catholic Confessors; which subjects the feeble sex to the artifice, the fancies, and the empire of particular men; which opens the door to the most scandalous scenes, and often carries inquisition and dissention into the bosom of families.

[Page 224]The Quakers have no salaried priests; their ministers are such men as are the most remarkable for their zeal; they speak the most frequently in their meetings; but all persons, male and female, have an equal right to speak whenever they feel an inclination.

These ministers, with some approved elders, hold monthly meetings, by themselves, for their own in­struction. In these meetings they revise, and order to be printed, such works as they choose to have distri­buted; and they never fail to take such measures, as that useful works should be sold at a low price.

In all these assemblies, some of which are very nu­merous, they have no president, and no person who has the least authority. Yet the greatest order and har­mony are always observed. You never hear two per­sons speak at once in any of their most interesting deli­berations.

But what will surprise you more is, that in their nu­merou [...] assemblies, nothing is decided but by unanimi­ty. Each member has a kind of suspensive negative. He has only to say, I have not clearness; the question is then adjourned, and not decided till every member is agreed.

This usage appears to me highly honourable to the society; it proves a wonderful union among this band of brothers; it proves that the same spirit animates them, the spirit of reason, of truth, and of the public good. Deliberative assemblies in general, would not be sub­ject to such long and violent discussions, if, like the Quakers, they were disengaged from all personal am­bition, and if, to resolve doubts, the members addressed themselves only to the consciences of men.

You will, perhaps, conclude from this, that this so­ciety can do but little business. This will be a mis­take; no society does more for the public good. It is owing to them, that Philadelphia has hitherto been pre­served from the danger of theatres. Their petition this year, to prevent permission being obtained to erect one, has been successful.

[Page 225]A thorough knowledge of the Quakers, my friend, is not to be obtained by going, like Chastellux, for an hour into one of their churches. Enter into their houses; you will find them the abodes of peace, harmony, gen­tleness, and frugality; tenderness to children, huma­nity to servants. Go into their hospitals; you will there see the more touching effects of charity, in their unexampled cleanliness, in their aliments, in their beds, and in their scrupulous attentions. Visit the asylums of old age and decrepitude; you will find the cloth and linen of the poor, as decent as that of their benefactors. Each one has his chamber, and enjoys not only the ne­cessaries, but many of the agreeables of life.

If you would quit the town, and run over the farms of the Quakers, you will discover a greater degree of neatness, order, and care, among these cultivators, than among any other. If you examine the interior organ­ization of the society, you will find, in every church, a treasury for charity, containing more or less money, according to the wealth of the congregation. This is employed in assisting young tradesmen, in succouring those who have failed in business through misfortune, those who have suffered by fire and other accidents. You will find many rich persons among them, who make it a constant rule to give to this treasury one-tenth of their revenue.

I am persuaded, my friend, that, after having well examined this society under all these details, you would cry out, If to-morrow I were reduced to poverty, and to be destitute of the succour of my friends, GOD grant that I might finish my days in a Quaker hospital: if to-morrow I were to become a farmer, let me have members of this society for my neighbours; they would instruct me by their example and advice, and they would never vex me with law-suits.

LETTER XXXIV. The Refusal of Quakers to take any part in War.

THESE wise men have seen that the gre [...] basis of universal happiness must be universal peace; and that to open the way to that peace, we must pronounce an anathema against the art of war. Sacred writings have taught us to believe, that the time will come when na­tion shall no more lift the sword against nation; and to lead to the accomplishment of so consoling a prophesy, this people believe that example is more powerful th [...]n words; that kings will always find the secret of perpe­tuating wars, as long as they can hire men to murder [...]ch other; and that it is their duty as a society, to re­solve never to take arms, or contribute to the expences of any war. They have been tormented, r [...]bbed, im­prisoned, and martyred; they have suffered every thing; till tyranny itself, wearied with their perseverance, has exempted them from military service, and has been dri­ven to indirect measures to force contributions from their hands.

What then would become of our heroes and our con­querors, our Fredericks and our Potemkins, if all reli­gious sects had adopted the same pacific spirit, and no man could be found, who would consent to be trained like an a [...]tomaton to the infernal art of killing his fel­low creatures?

If we wish for the happiness of mankind, let us pray, that this society may cover the whole globe; or let us endeavour, at least, that their humane principles be adopted by all men. Then would be realised that uni­versal peace, which the Quakers have already realised in countries where they have borne the sway.

In Pennsylvania, they found the secret of defending themselves from the scourge of military slaughter, till the war of 1755, between France and England. Tho' [Page 227] mingled with the Indians, never any quarrels rose among them, which led to the spilling of blood.

The government of England, with all its manoeuvres, could never engage the Quakers to give any assistance in this war. They not only refused this, but they resign­ed all the places which they had held in the govern­ment of the colony; for it was before almost entirely in their hands; and such was their economy, that the produce of the custom-house, and a small excise, were always sufficient to defray the public expences; so that no other tax was known in the colony.

The war of 1755 changed this order of things, and occasioned heavy expences, which the colonies were obliged to pay. The Quakers were subjected to them, as well as others; but they not only refused, as a so­ciety, to pay taxes, of which war was the object, but they excommunicated those who paid them. They persevered in this practice in the last war.

At this time an animosity was kindled against them, which is not yet extinguished. Faithful to their prin­ciples, they declared, that they would take no part in this war, and they excommunicated all such as joined either the American or the British army.

I am well convinced of the sacred and divine prin­ciple which authorises resistance to oppression; a [...]d I am well convinced, that oppression was here manifest; I must therefore blame the neutrality of the Quakers on this occasion, when their brethren were fighting for independence. But I believe, likewise, that it was wrong to persecute them so violently for their pacific neutrality.

If this instance of refusal had been the fi [...]st of the kind, or if it had been dictated by a secret attachment to the British cause, certainly they would have been guilty, and this persecution would perhaps have been legitimate. But this neutrality was commanded by their religious opinions, constantly professed and prac­tised by the society from its origin.

No person has spoken to me with more impartiality respecting the Quakers than General Washington, that [Page 228] celebrated man, whose spirit of justice is remarkable in every thing. He declared to me, that, in the course of the war, he had entertained an ill opinion of this so­ciety; he knew but little of them; as at that time there were but few of that sect in Virginia; and he had at­tributed to their political sentiments, the effect of their religious principles. He told me, that having since known them better, he acquired an esteem for them; and that considering the simplicity of their manners, the purity of their morals, their examplary economy, and their attachment to the constitution, he considered this society as one of the best supports of the new go­vernment, which requires a great moderation, and a total banishment of luxury.

It was not under this point of view that they were regarded by the Congress, which laid the foundation of American Independence. This Congress joined their persecutors, and banished some of their most noted leaders to Staunton, in Virginia, two [...]undred miles from their families. My friend Myers Fisher, was of the number. M. Mazzei quotes the violent Address published by Paine against them, but takes care not to quote the answer made to it by Fisher. But such is the logic of this calu [...]niator of the Quakers. Since the peace, they have been subjected to another kind of vex­ation. Each citizen, from sixteen to fifty-five years of age, is obliged by law to serve in the militia, or to pay a fine. The Quakers will not serve nor pay the fine. The Collector, whose duty it is to levy it, enters their houses, takes their furniture, and sells it; and the Quakers peaceably submit.

This [...]ethod gives great encouragement to knavery. Collectors have been known to take goods to the amount of six times the fine, to sell for a shilling what was worth a pound, never to return the surplus, nor even to pay the state, but afterwards become bankrupts. Their successors would [...]hen co [...]e and demand the fine already paid; but the Quakers have complained of these abuses to the [...] and an act is passed, suspend­ing these collections till September, 1789.

[Page 229]It would be very easy to reconcile the wants of the state, and the duty of the citizen, with the religious principles of the Quakers. You might subject them only to pacific taxes, and require them to pay a larger proportion of them. This is already done in Virginia, in abolishing, with respect to them, the militia service.

With this view of their character, you will agree with me, my friend, that our government ought to hasten to naturalize this purity in France. Their example might serve to regenerate our manners; without which we cannot certainly preserve our liberty for a long time, though we should be able to acquire it. The Catholic religion, which predominates in France, can be no ob­jection to it; for the Quakers hate no sect, but are friendly to all. They have ever lived in particular harmony with the Catholics of Pennsylvania and Ma­ryland. James Pemberton told me, that in the war of 1 [...]40, he knew a mob of fanatical Presbyterians, with axes in their hands, going to destroy a Catholic chapel. Ten or twelve Quakers stopped them, exhorted them, and they dispersed without effecting their design.

Living in harmony with all other sects, they preserve no resentment against the apostates from their own, not­withstanding the troubles which they experienced from them. Reason is the only weapon which they use.

LETTER XXXV. Journey to Mount Vernon, in Virginia.

ON the 15th of November, 1788, I set out from Philadelphia for Wilmington, distance twenty-eight miles, and road tolerably good. The town of Chester, fifteen miles from Philadelphia, is a place where stran­gers like to rest. It stands on a creek, which falls into the Delaware. It enjoys some commerce, and the taverns here are good.

Wilmington is much more considerable; it stands likewise on a creek on the Delaware; the basis of its commerce is the exportation of flour. One mile above Wilmington, you pass the town of Brandywine; the name of which will call to your mind a famous battle [Page 231] gained by the English over the Americans, eight miles from this town, on a river of the same name. This town is famous for its fine mills; the most considerable of which is a paper-mill belonging to Mr. Gilpin and Myers Fisher, that worthy orator and man of science, whom I have often mentioned. Their process in mak­ing paper, especially in grinding the rags, is much more simple than ours. I have seen specimens of their paper, both for writing and printing, equal to the finest made in France.

Wilmington is a handsome town, well built, and principally inhabited by Quakers. I have seen many respectable pers [...]ns among them, particularly Doctor Way. The celebrated Mr. Dickinson, who resides here, was, unfortunately for me, out of town.

I passed two evenings in company with Miss Vining, that amiable woman whom the licentious pen of Chas­tellux has calumniated, as having too much taste for gallantry. If we believe the testimony of all her ac­quaintance, this trait which he has given her is an in­excusable libel. The Quakers themselves, to whom her gaiety cannot be pleasing, declare that her conduct has been uniformly irreproachable. But I believe, that this malicious and cowardly shaft, hurled in security from the other side of the Atlantic, has essentially injured her.

At nine miles from Wilmington, I passed Christine-Bridge, a place of some commerce. From thence to the head of Elk, you see but few plantations, you run through eight miles of woods, only meeting with a few log-houses; when you arrive at Henderson's tavern, a very good inn, alone in the midst of vast forests. It is twenty-two miles from thence to the ferry of the Sus­quehannah. The town here is called Ha [...]re de Grace, a name given it by a Frenchman who laid the founda­tion of the town. It is at present an irregular mass of about 150 houses; but there is no doubt, when the en­trance of the river shall be rendered navigable, but this will be an interesting situation, and a populous town. Here is a charming garden belonging to the proprietor [Page 232] of the ferry, from which I had a delicious prospect of that magnificent river; which in this place is more than a mile and a half wide, interspersed with islands. From thence to Baltimore are reckoned sixty miles. The road in general is [...]ightful, it is over a clay soil, full of deep ruts, always in the midst of forests; frequently obstructed by trees overset by the wind, which obliged us to seek a new passage among the woods. I cannot conceive why the stage does not often overset. Both the drivers and their horses discover great skill and dex­terity, bei [...] [...]customed to these roads.

But [...] they not repaired? Overseers of the roads are indeed appointed, and fines are sometimes pro­nounced on delinquencies of this kind; but they are ill collected. Every thing is here degraded; it is one of the effects of slavery. The slave works as little as possible; and the master, eager of vile enjoyments, finds other occupations than sending his Negroes to repair the roads.

Some vast fields of Indian corn, but bad cultivation, pale faces worn by the fever and ague, naked Negroes, and miserable huts, are the most striking images offered to the eye of the traveller in Maryland.

We arrived at Baltimore in the night; but I viewed this town on my return. It contains near two thousand houses, and fourteen thousand inhabitants. It is irre­gularly built, and on land but little elevated above the surface of Patapsco Bay, on the North of which it forms a crescent. The bay is not sufficiently deep to receive the largest ships; they anchor near Fell's Point, two miles from the centre of the town. There are still stagnant waters in the town; few of the streets are paved; and the great quantities of mud after rain an­nounce that the air must be unhealthful; but ask the inhabitants, and they will tell you, no. You may say here, like the Swiss in the heat of a battle, "If you believe these people, nobody can die here!"

Baltimore was but a village before the war; but dur­ing that period, a considerable portion of the commerce of Philadelphia was removed to this place. The greatest [Page 233] ships come as far as here, and can go no farther; vast quantities of provisions descend the Susquehannah, and when that river shall be navigable, Baltimore must be a very considerable port.

The quarrel about federalism divided the town at the time I was in it; and the two parties almost came to blows on the election of their representatives.

We left Baltimore for Alexandria at four in the morn­ing; distant about sixty miles, bad roads, a rude wag­gon, excellent horses, skillful conductors, poor culti­vation, miserable huts, and miserable Negroes.

They showed me a plantation belonging to a Qua­ker; there were no slaves upon it. I saw Brushtown, a new village that the state of Maryland has pointed out for the seat of a college. This edifice is nearly com­pleted; it is on an eminence, and enjoys a good air. We breakfasted in this village, and dined at Bladensbu­ry, sixteen miles from Alexandria. It is situated on a little river, which discharges into the Potomack, and which admits bateaus of twenty or thirty tons. We could find nothing to drink, but brandy or rum mixed with water. In countries cultivated by slaves, there is no industry and no domestic economy. The people know not the advantage of making beer or cider on their farms.

George-town terminates the State of Maryland: it overlooks the Potomack, has an agreeable situation, and a considerable commerce. Regulations and imposts, inconsiderately laid on commerce by the State of Vir­ginia, have banished to George-town a considerable part of the commerce of Alexandria.

This place is eight miles below George-town, on the opposite side of the Potomack. Alexandria h [...]s grown from nothing to its present size within these forty years. It is not so considerable as Baltimore, which it ought to surpass. It is almost as irregular and as destitute of pavements. You see here a greater parade of luxury: but it is a miserable luxury; servants with silk stockings in boots,—women elegantly dressed, and their heads adorned with feathers.

[Page 234]The inhabitants, at the close of the war, imagined that every natural circumstance conspired to render it a great commercial town,—the salubrity of the air, the profundity of the river admitting the largest ships to an­chor near the quay, an immense extent of back country, fertile and abounding in provisions. They have there­fore built on every side, commodious store-houses and elegant wharfs; but commerce still languishes on ac­count of the restraints above mentioned.

I hastened to arrive at Mount Vernon, the seat of General Washington, ten miles below Alexandria, on the same river. On this route you traverse a consider­able wood, and after having passed over two hills, you discover a country house of an elegant and majestic sim­plicity. It is preceded by grass-plats; on one side of the avenue are the stables, on the other a green-house, and houses for a number of Negro mechanics. In a spacious back yard are turkies, geese, and other poul­try. This house overlooks the Potomack, enjoys an extensive prospect, has a vast and elevated portico on the front next the river, and a convenient distribution of the apartments within. The General came home in the evening, fatigued with having been to lay out a new road in some part of his plantations. You have often heard him compared to Cincinnatus: the comparison is doubtless just. This celebrated General is nothing more at present than a good farmer, constantly occupied in the care of his farm and the improvement of cultivation. He has lately built a barn, one hundred feet in length, and considerably more in breadth, destined to receive the productions of his farm, and to shelter his cattle, horses, asses, and mules. It is built on a plan sent him by that famous English farmer▪ Arthur Young. But the General has much improved the plan. This build­ing is in brick, it cost but three hundred pounds; I am sure in France it would have cost three thousand. He planted this year eleven hundred bushels of potatoes. All this is new in Virginia, where they know not the use of barns, and where they lay up no provisions for their cattle. His three hundred Negroes are distribut­ed [Page 235] in different log-houses, in different parts of his plan­tation, which in this neighbourhood consists of ten thousand acres. Colonel Humphreys, that poet of whom I have spoken, assured me that the General pos­sesses, in different parts of the country, more than two hundred thousand acres.

Every thing has an air of simplicity in his house; his table is good, but not ostentatious; and no deviation is seen from regularity and domestic economy. Mrs. Washington superintends the whole, and joins to the qualities of an excellent house-wife, the simple dignity which ought to characterise a woman, whose husband has acted the greatest part on the theatre of human af­fairs; while she possesses that amenity, and manifests that attention to strangers, which render hospitality so charming. The same virtues are conspicuous in her interesting niece; but unhappily she appears not to enjoy good health.

M. de Chastellux has mingled too much of the bril­liant in his portrait of General Washington. His eye bespeaks great goodness of heart, manly sense marks all his answers, and he sometimes animates in conversation, but he has no characteristic features, which renders it difficult to seize him. He announces a profound dis­cretion, and a great diffidence in himself; but at the same time, an unshaken firmness of character, when once he has made his decision. His modesty is astonishing to a Frenchman; he speaks of the American war, and of his victories, as of things in which he had no di­rection.

He spoke to me of M. de la Fayette with the greatest tenderness. He regarded him as his child; and fore­saw, with a joy mixed with inquietude, the part that this pupil was going to act in the approaching revolution of France. He could not predict, with clearness, the event of this revolution. If, on the one side, he ac­knowledges the ardor and enthusiasm of the French character, on the other, he saw an astonishing venera­tion for their ancient government, and for those mo­narchs whose inviolability appeared to him a strange idea.

[Page 236]After passing three days in the house of this celebrated man, who loaded me with kindness, and gave me much information relative to the late war, and the present situation of the United States, I returned to Alexan­dria.

LETTER XXXVI. General Observations on Maryland and Virginia.

THE Bay of Chesapeak [...] Maryland into two parts, nearly equal. The western division is the most peopled. Numerous bays and navigable rivers render this state singularly commodious for commerce. It would soon become extremely flourishing if slavery were banished from it, if a more advantageous culture were substituted to that of tobacco, and if the spirit of the Catholic religion had not adulterated the taste for order, regularity, and severity of manners, which cha­racterize the other sects, and which have so great an in­fluence in civil and political economy. The people of this sect were well attached to the late Revolution.

Cotton is cultivated in Maryland, as in Virginia; but little care is taken to perfect either its culture or its manufacture. You see excellent lands in these two States: but they have very few good meadows, though these might be made in abundance. For want of at­tention and labour, the inhabitants make but little hay; and what they have is not good. They likewise neg­lect the cultivation of potatoes, carrots and turnips for their cattle, of which their neighbours of the north make great use. Their cattle are left without shelter in winter, and nourished with the tops of Indian corn. Of consequence, many of them die with cold and hun­ger; and those that survive the winter, are miserably meagre.

[Page 237]They have much perfected in this country the Eng­lish method of inoculation for the small-pox. In the manner practised here, it is very little dangerous. Ge­neral Washington assured me, that he makes it a prac­tice to have all his Negroes inoculated, and that he never lost one in the operation. Whoever inoculates in Virginia, is obliged, by law, to give information to his neighbours within the space of two miles.

The population augments every where in these States, notwithstanding the great emigration to the Ohio. The horses of Virginia are, without contradiction, the finest in the country; but they bear double the price of those in the northern States. The practice of races, borrowed from the English by the Virginians, is falling into dif­use. The places renowned for this business are all abandoned; and it is not a misfortune; they are places of gambling, drunkenness, and quarrels.

The General informed me, that he could perceive a great reformation in his countrymen in this respect; that they are less given to intoxication; that it is no longer fashionable for a man to force his guests to drink, and to make it an honour to send them home drunk; that you hear no longer the taverns resounding with those noisy parties formerly so frequent; that the sessions of the courts of justice were no longer the theatres of gamb­ling, inebriation, and blood; and that the distinction of classes begins to disappear.

The towns in Virginia are but small; this may be said even of Richmond with its capitol. This capitol turns the heads of the Virginians; they imagine, that from this, like the old Romans, they shall one day give law to the whole north.

There is a glass manufactory forty miles from Alex­andria, which exported last [...]ear to the amount of ten thousand pounds in glass▪ and notwithstanding the ge­neral character of indolence in this State, the famous canal of the Potomack advances with rapidity. Crimes are more frequent in Virginia than in the northern States. This results from the unequal division of pro­perty, and from slavery.

[Page 238]Wherever you find luxury, and especially a miser­able luxury, there provisions, even of the first necessity, will be dear. I experienced this in Virginia. At a tavern there I paid a dollar for a supper, which in Pennsylvania would have cost me two shillings, in Con­necticut one. Porter, wine, and every article, bear an excessive price here. Yet this dearness is owing in part to other causes hereafter to be explained.

LETTER XXXVII. The Tobacco of Virginia, and the Tobacco Notes.

I HAVE found, with pleasure, that your excellent article on the tobacco, inserted in our work de la Fr [...]nc [...] et dei Etats Unis, is nearly exact in all its details. It is true that tobacco requires a strong fertile soil, and an uninterrupted care in the transplanting, weeding, de­fending from insects, cutting, curing, rol [...]ing, and packing.

Nothing but a great crop, and the total abnegation of every comfort, to which the Negroes are condemned, can compensate the expences attending this production before it arrives at the market. Thus in proportion as the good lands are exhausted, and by the propogating of the principles of humanity, less hard labour is re­quired of the slaves, this culture must decline. And thus you see already in Virginia fields enclosed, and meadows succeed to tobacco. Such is the system of the proprietors who best understand their interest; among whom I place General Washington, who has lately renounced the culture of this plant.

If the Virginians knew our wants, and what articles would be most profitable to them, they would pay great attention to the culture of cotton; the consump­tion of whi [...]h augments so prodigiously in Europe. I [Page 239] will not enlarge here on the subject of tobacco, which many authors have explained; but I will give you some ideas on that kind of paper-currency called tobacco-money; the use of which proves, that nations need not give themselves so much inquietu [...]e as they usually do on the absence of specie. In a free and fertile country, the constant produce of the land may give a fixed value to any kind of representative of property.

This State has [...] magazines, where the tobacco is deposited. [...] are appointed to take charge of these magazine [...], and inspect the quality of the tobacco; which, if m [...]hantable, is received, and the proprietor is furnished with a note [...]or the quantity by him depo­sited. [...] note circulates freely in the State, accord­ing to the known value of the tobacco. The price is different, according to the place where it is inspected. The following places are ranked according to the rigi­dity of the inspection: Hanover-Court, Pittsburg, Richmond, Cabin-Point. When the tobacco is worth sixteen shillings at Richmond, it is worth twenty-one at Hanover-Court. The tobacco travels to one place or the other, according to the quality; and if it is re­fused at all places, it is exported by contraband to the islands, or consumed in the country▪ There are two cuttings in a year of this crop▪ the first only is pre­sented for inspection, the second is consumed in the country or smuggled to the islands.

As Virginia produces about eight thousand hogsheads, there circulates in the State about eight hundred thou­sand pounds in these notes; this is the reason why the Virginians have not need of a great quantity of circu­lating specie, nor of copper coin. The rapid circula­tion of this tobacco-money supplies their place.

This scarcity, however, of small money, subjects the people to great inconveniencies, and has given rise to a pernicious practice of cutting pieces of silver coin into halves and quarters, a source of many little knaveries. A person cuts a dollar into three pieces, keeps the mid­dle piece, and passes the other two for half dollars. The person who receives these without weighing, los [...]s the [Page 240] difference; and the one who takes them by weight, makes a fraudulent profit by giving them again at their pretended value; and so the cheat goes round.

But notwithstanding this pitiful resource of cutting the silver, society suffers a real injury for want of a plentiful copper coin; it is calculated, that in the towns the small expences of a family are doubled, on account of the impossibility of finding small change. It shews a striking want of order in the government, and increases the misery of the poor. Though tobacco exhausts the land to a prodigious degree, the proprietors ta [...]e no pains to restore its vigou [...]; they take what the soil will give, and abandon it when it gives no longer. They like better to clear new lands, than to regenerate the old. Yet these abandoned lands would still be fertile, if they were properly m [...]nured and cultivated. The Virgi­nians take no tobacco in substance, either in th [...] nose or mouth; some of them smoke, but this practice is [...]ot so general among them as in the Carolinas.

The Americans wish for the free commerce of to­bacco with France; and they complain much of the monopoly of the farmers-general. If this monopoly were removed, and the tobacco subjected only to a small duty on importation into France, there is no doubt but that the Americans would make our country the store-house of those immense quantities with which they in­undate Europe. You know that they are [...]ow carried chiefly to England; where about the tenth part is con­sumed, and the rest is exported. England pays the whole in her own merchandize. Judge the [...] of the profit she must draw from this exchange; then add the commission, the money expended in England by a great number of Americans whom this commerce leads thi­ [...]her, and the profits of other branches of business that are the consequence of this.

Such are the advantages which it is in the power of France to acquire over England; but we must abolish the farms, and content ourselves with a small duty on the importation. The high duty paid in England on tobacco, will prevent the Americans from giving the [Page 241] preference to that country. It amounts to fifteen pence sterling on the pound. Though England consumes little tobacco, she draws from it a revenue of 600,000 pounds sterling. The state of the finances of that island will not admit of her diminishing this duty in order to rival France. Continue then, my friend, to preach your doctrine.

The great consumption of tobacco in all countries, and the prohibitive regulations of almost all govern­ments, may engage the Americans to continue this culture; for as they can furnish it at a low price, as they navigate at small expence, as no people equals them in enterprize and industry, they may undertake to furnish the whole earth.

Spain, for instance, will doubtless become a market for them. The author of the Nouveau Voyage en Es­pag [...]e makes the revenue which the king draws from this article, amount to twenty millions of livres. (£. 833,333 6/8 sterling.) The greater part of this tobacco is brought from Brasil by the Portuguese, sold to the king at five-pence sterling the pound, and then sold by him at eight shillings and four-pence. At the expiration of the pre­sent contract, says the same author, the Americans will offer a more advantageous one, and it is said they will have the preference.

This high price encourages a considerable contraband in Spain, though interdicted by the pains of death. The law is too rigid to be executed.

The tobacco of the Mississippi and the Ohio will, doubtless, one day furnish the greater part of the con­sumption of Spain as well as of France; which, if the system of liberty should be adopted, will become im­mense. For it is proved, by those who know the secrets of the farm, that the consumption of the latter amounts to more than thirty millions of pounds annually, instead of fifteen, as we have been commanded to believe.

LETTER XXXVIII. The Valley of Shenadore in Virginia.

I PROPOSED, my friend, on quitting Alexandri [...], to visit that charming valley, washed by the Shenadore, of which Jefferson and Crevecouer have given us so se­ducing a description. From thence I intended to re­turn by the vale of Lancaster, and pay my respects to the virtuous Moravians. But the approaching Revolu­tion in France hastening my return, I am obliged to content myself with giving you some idea of that coun­try where we have been invited to fix our tabernacles; and to borrow the observations of different travellers, who have this year observed, with great attention, the lands situated between the different chains of mountains which separate Virginia from the western territory.

The Valley of Shenadore, which lies between the south mountain and the north, or endless mountain, is from thirty to forty miles wide, chalky bottom, a fer­tile soil, and a good air. This situation offers almost all the advantages of the western country, without its inconveniencies. It is almost in the centre of the Unit­ed States, and has nothing to fear from foreign enemies. It lies between two considerable rivers, which fall into the Chesapeak; and though the navigation of these rivers is interrupted for the present, yet there is no doubt, from the progress of the works on the Poto­mack, that this inconvenience will soon be removed.

The price of lands here, as elsewhere, varies accord­ing to their quality; you may purchase at any price, from one to five guineas the acre, land of the same qua­lity as in Pennsylvania from four to twenty guineas.

The average distance of these lands from commercial towns is as follows:—fifty miles from George-town, about fifty miles from Alexandria, eighty or an hundred from Richmond and from Baltimore. But this part of [Page 243] the country is still more inviting for its future prospects. Of all the rivers that discharge into the Atlantic, the Potomack offers the most direct communication with the rivers of the west. This circumstance will make it one day the great channel of intercourse for almost all the United States; and its situation renders it secure against being interrupted by war.

But to realize the advantages which the situation of this country seems to promise, requires a reformation of manners, and the banishment of luxury, which is more considerable here than in Pennsylvania. You must banish idleness and the love of the chace, which are deeply rooted in the soul of the Virginians; and, above all things, you must banish slavery; which in­fallibly produces those great scourges of society, lazi­ness and vice, in one class of men, unindustrious la­bour and degrading misery in another. The view of this deforming wound of humanity, will discourage foreigners of sensibility from coming to this state; while they have not to dread this disgusting spectacle in Pennsylvania.

But it is in a country life in America that true hap­piness is to be found by him who is wise enough to make it consist in tranquility of soul, in the enjoyment of himself, and of nature. What is the fatiguing agi­tation of our great cities, compared to this delicious calmness? The trees, my friend, do not calumniate; they revile not their benefactors; men of the greatest merit cannot always say this of their fellow creatures.

LETTER XXXIX. Journey from Boston to Portsmouth.

I LEFT Boston the 2d of October, after dinner, with my worthy friend Mr. Barre [...]; ^* to whom I cannot pay too sincere a tribute of praise for his amiable qualities, or of gratitude for the readiness he has manifested on all occasions in procuring me information on the object [...] of my research. We slept at Salem, fifteen miles from Boston; an excellent gravelled road, bordered with woods and meadows. This road passes the fine bridge of Malden, which I mentioned before, and the town of Linn, remarkable for the manufacture of women's shoes. It is calculated that more than an hundred thou­sand pairs are annually exported from this town. At Reading, not far from Linn, is a similar manufacture of men's shoes.

Salem, like all other towns in America, has a print­ing press and a gazette. I read in this gazette the dis­course pronounced by M. D'Epreminil, when he was arrested in full parliament in Paris. What an admira­ble invention is the press! it brings all nations acquaint­ed with each other, and electerizes all men by the reci­tal of good actions, which thus become common to all. This discourse transported the daughters of my hostess: D'Epreminil appeared to them a Brutus. ^†

It was cold, and we had a fire in a Franklin stove. These are common here, and those chimneys that have them not, are built as described by M. Crevecoeur: they rarely smoke. The mistress of the tavern, (Ro­binson,) was taking tea with her daughters; they invit­ed us to partake of it with them. I repeat it, we have [Page 245] nothing like this in France. It is a general remark through all the United States: a tavern-keeper must be a respectable man, his daughters are well drest, and have an air of decency and civility. We had good pro­visions, good beds, attentive servants; neither the ser­vants nor the coachmen ask any money. It is an ex­cellent practice; for this tax with us not only becomes insupportable on account of the persecutions which it occasions, but it gives men an air of baseness, and ac­customs to the servility of avarice. Salem has a consi­derable commerce to the islands, and a great activity of business by the cod fishery.

In passing to Beverly, we crossed another excellent wooden bridge. It is over a creek near a mile wide. The construction of this bridge, and the celerity with which it was built, gives a lively idea of the activity and industry of the inhabitants of Massachusetts. It cost but three thousand pounds; the toll for a horse and carriage is eight-pence; the opening in the middle for the passage of vessels, is of a simpler mechanism than that of Charlestown. On the road to Beverly, I saw a flourishing manufacture of cotton.

At Londonderry, a town chiefly inhabited by Irish, is a considerable manufacture of linen. We dined at Newbury with Mr. Tracy, who formerly enjoyed a great fortune, and has since been reduced by the failure of different enterprizes, particularly by a contract to furnish masts for the marine of France. The miscar­riage of this undertaking was owing to his having em­ployed agents in procuring the first cargo who deceived him, and sent a parcel of refuse masts that were fit only for fire-wood. Though the manner in which Mr. Tracy had been deceived was sufficiently proved; yet, for the clerks of the marine at Versailles, whose interest it was to decry the American timber, this fact was suf­ficient to enable them to cause it ever after to be rejected. And Mr. Tracy's first cargo was condemned and sold at Havre for 250l. He lives retired▪ and with the conso­lation of his respectable wife, supports his misfortunes with dignity and firmness.

[Page 246]Newbury would be one of the best ports in the United States, were it not for a dangerous bar at the entrance. The business of ship-building has much declined here. In the year 1772, ninety vessels were built here, in 1788 only three. This town stands at the mouth of the fine river Me [...]rimak, abounding in fish of different kinds.

Twenty-four miles of fine road brings you from Newbury to Portsmouth, the capital of New-Hamp­shire. There is little appearance of activity in this town. A thin population, many houses in ruins, wo­men and children in rags; every thing announces de­cline; yet there are elegant houses and some commerce. Portsmouth is on the Piscatuay, a rapid and deep river which never freezes till four miles above the town. This was formerly one of the greatest markets for ship-timber. Colonel Wentworth, one of the most intel­ligent and esteemed citizens, was the agent of the Eng­lish government and of the East-India Company for that article. This company is now renewing its demands for this timber. Every thing in this town is commerce and ship-building.

President Langdon himself is a merchant; he is ex­tremely well informed in every thing that concerns his country. You may recollect, that at the time of the invasion of Burgoyne, he was the first to mount his horse and lead off his fellow citizens to fight him. He appears well persuaded, as well as Colonel Wentworth, that the surest road to the prosperity of their country, is the adoption of the new federal government.

We left Portsmouth on Sunday, and came to dine at Mr. Dalton's, five miles from Newbury, on the Merrimak: this is one of the finest situations that can be imagined. It presents an agreeable prospect of seven leagues. This farm is extremely well arranged; I saw on it thirty cows, numbers of sheep, &c. and a well furnished garden. Mr. Dalton occupies himself much in gardening, a thing generally neglected in America. He has fine grapes, apples, and pears; but he complains that children steal them; an offence readily pardoned [Page 247] in a free country. A proprietor here, who, to prevent these little thefts, should make use of those infernal man-traps, invented by the English, would justly be execrated by his fellow creatures.

Mr. Dalton received me with that frankness which bespeaks a man of worth and of talents; with that hos­pitality which is more general in Massachusetts, and New-Hampshire, than in the other States.

The Americans are not accustomed to what we call grand feasts; they treat strangers as they treat themselves every day, and they live well. They say they are not anxious to starve themselves the week, in order to gor­mandize on Sunday. This trait will paint to you a people at their ease, who wish not to torment themselves for show.

Mr. Dalton's house presented me with the image of a true patriarchial family, and of great domestic felicity; it is composed of four or five handsome young women, drest with decent simplicity, his amiable wife, and his venerable father of eighty years. This respectable old man preserves a good memory, a good appetite, and takes habitual exercise. He has no wrinkles in his face, which seems to be a characteristic of American old age; at least I have often observed it.

From Mr. Dalton's we came to Andover, where my companion presented me to the respectable pastor of the parish, Doctor Symmes, in whom I saw a true model of a minister of religion, purity of morals, simplicity in his manner of life, and gentleness of character. He cheers his [...]litude with a respectable wife, by whom he has had many children. And the cultivation of his farm occupies those moments which are not necessarily devoted to study, and to the care of the souls committed to his charge.

LETTER XL. Debt of the United States.

YOU have seen, my friend, in the Encyclopaedia, a state of the American debt brought down to the year 1784. This article, which I believe was furnished to the compilers by the learned Mr. Jefferson, contains some few errors. You may, however, draw from it some just ideas relative to the origin of the continental debt. There is no work which treats of the changes made in it since 1784, which is the principal object of my present letter. ^*

You who are so versed in finance, will doubtless be struck with the errors committed by the Congress in lay­ing the foundation of this debt, and with the sterility of their plans to remedy the want of money. But your surprize will vanish when you examine the critical circumstances of that body of men to whom America owes her independence.

They must be supposed ignorant of the principles of finance; a science which their former situation had hap­pily rendered unnecessary. They were pressed by the imperious necessity of a formidable invasion, to sub­mission, or to combat; and they must pay those who should fight their battles.

The idea of paper-money was the first, and perhaps the only one that could strike them. Its object was so sublime, and patriotism so fervent, that every thing was to be expected from it. The Congress believed in it; and in multiplying this paper, even in the midst of a rapid depreciation, they are not to be accused of ill faith; for they expected to redeem the whole.

The people manifested the same confidence. But the unexpected accumulation of the quantity, the con­sequent [Page 249] depreciation, and the gradual disappearance of danger, were the natural and united causes of a revolu­tion of sentiment. To believe that this paper would not be redeemed at its nominal value, was in 1777 a crime. To say that it ought to be so redeemed, was in 1784 another crime.

Since the establishment of the new federal system, the opinion, with respect to the debt, has undergone a third revolution. Among a free people, it is impossible but truth and honour should sooner or later predomi­nate. Almost all the Americans are at present convinced that to arrive at the high degree of prosperity, to which the nature of things invites them, and to acquire the cre­dit necessary for this purpose, they must fulfil, with the most scrupulous punctuality, all their engagements. And this conviction has determined the new Congress to make the finance the first great object of their atten­tion.

The debt of the United States is divided into two classes, foreign and domestic. The foreign debt is composed, in capital, of a loan made in France of 24,000,000 ^* of [Page 250] livres, at 5 per cent. another made in Holland, under the guarantee of France, of 10,000,000, at 4 per cent. both amounting in dollars to 6,296,296; another in Spain, at 5 per cent. 174,011 dollars.

In Holland, in four different loans

3,600,000

Total capital,

10,070,307 doll.

Interest to Dec. 31, 1789,

1,651,257

Total, capital and interest,

11,721,564

Domestic debt liquidated, capi­tal and interest to the 31st Dec. 1790,

40,414,085

Not liquidated, estimated at

2,000,000

Total, foreign and domestic,

54,135,649 doll.

In the prosecution of the war, each individual state had occasion to contract a debt of its own, which, for a variety of reasons, it was thought best that the Con­gress should assume and add to the general mass of the debt of the United States.

The sums thus assumed, which are supposed to ab­sorb nearly the whole of all the State debts, amount in the whole to

 

25,000,000 doll.

So that the total amount of the pre­sent debt of the United States is

79,124,464 doll.

Annual interest of this sum as stipu­lated

4,587,444

[Page 251]To complete the list of what is annually to be paid, we must add the annual expences of the federal govern­ment. The following is the amount of the year 1790.

Civil list

254,892

Department of war

155,537

Military pensions

96,979

 

507,408

You see, my friend, from these details, that the ex­pences of government among a free people, are far from that extravagance and pomp which are pretended to be necessary in other governments to delude the people, and which tend but to render them vicious and miser­able.

You see, that with one hundred and ten thousand sterling, a government is well administered for four millions of people, inhabiting an extent of country greater than Germany, Flanders, Holland, and Swit­zerland united. ^* And finally, you see that the Ameri­cans pay less than a million sterling a year for having maintained their liberty; while the English pay more than four millions sterling additional annual expence, for having attempted to rob them of it.

By the measures taken by the new government, the Americans are in a fair way not only to pay their in­terest, but to sink the principal of their debt; and that without direct taxation.

LETTER XLI. Importations into the United States.

IF you doubt, my friend, of the abilities of the Unit­ed States to pay their debt, and the expences of their government, your doubts will be dissipated on casting your eye over the tables of their annual exportations.

Many publications give as an incontestible maxiam, "A nation must import as little as possible, and export as much as possible." If they mean by this that she ought to produce as much as possible at home, it is true; but if they understand that a nation is necessarily poor when she imports much, it is false. For if she imports, she either consumes, and of consequence has wherewith to pay, or she re-exports, and consequently makes a profit. This maxim, like most of the dogmas of commerce, so confidently preached by the ignorant, is either trivial or false. The importations into the United States have much increased since the peace, as you will see by the following account of them, compared with the tables of Lord Sheffield, which represent periods antecedent to the war.

The following is the statement of the principal arti­cles:

Rum, brandy, and other spirits,

4,000,000 gall.

Wine,

1,000,000

Hyson Tea,

125,000 lb.

Sugar,

20,000,000

Coffee, cocoa, and chocolate,

1,500,000

Molasse [...],

3,000,000

Salt,

1,000,000 barrl.

Besides the above articles, the importations of dry goods amount to more than twenty millions of dollars annually.

This general estimate is calculated from the custom-house books at New-York for three years. Taking for basis that New York makes one-fifth of the general im­portations of the United States, it is believed that most [Page 253] of these articles are estimated much too low; and this idea is supported by the amount of duties collected since the new federal system has begun its operations.

A great proportion of these articles, you will be con­vinced, might be better imported from France than from any other country; and they will be, whenever we shall understand our interest. Mr. Swan says, that a million and a half of gallons of brandy might be brought annually from France; that it is cheaper than the rum of Jamaica, and altogether preferred by the Americans to the rum of our islands. He is likewise of opinion, that French wines might be introduced in abundance; but he recommends to our merchants, to observe good faith in this particular, as they have inun­dated the United States with bad Bourdeaux wine, which has reflected general discredit on all the wines of France. He gives the preference to the white wines of Grave, Pontac, St. Brise: and then to the Sauterne, Pregnac, Barsac: among the red wines, he prefers the Chateau M [...]gou, the Segur, the Haut Heiss, the La Fite, &c. I drank excellent Champagne at Boston and New-York, and Burgundy at Philadelphia; which is a proof that these wines will bear the sea. The quan­tity of twenty millions of imported sugar, is thought to be five millions below the reality: we may add to this, five millions of maple sugar made in the United States. What a difference between this consumption and ours! According to a calculation on the compara­tive number of inhabitants, France ought to consume two hundred millions; whereas our consumption is but eighty millions. By this fact you may judge of the difference between the inhabitants of the two continents. In America, even servants use sugar in abundance. In France, the artisans and peasants cannot enjoy this ne­cessary article; which is consequently regarded as a superfluity. This circumstance will lead you to another observation, very important: this twenty millions of sugar is brought from our islands; from whence the exportation is rigidly prohibited. For what purpose [Page 254] then these prohibitions for two neighbouring people, who have reciprocal wants? Is not this an invitation to governments to remove barriers which are so easily broken over?

LETTER XLII. Exportations and Manufactures.

IF any thing can give an idea of the high degree of prosperity, to which these confederated republics are making rapid strides, it is the contemplation of these two subjects. It is impossible to enumerate all the ar­ticles to which they have turned their attention; almost one-half of which were unknown before the war. Among the principal ones are ship-building, flour, rice, tobacco, manufactures in woollen, linen, [...]emp, and cotton; the fisheries, oils, forges, and the different arti­cles in iron and steel; instruments of agriculture, nails, leather, and the numerous objects in which they are employed; paper, paste-board, parchment, printing, pot-ash, pearl-ash, hats of all qualities, ship-timber, and the other wood of construction; cabinet-work, cordage, cables, carriages; works in brass, copper and lead, glass of different kinds; gun-powder, cheese, but­ter, callicoes, printed linen, indigo, furs, &c. Ship-building is one of the most profitable branches of busi­ness in America. They built ships here before the war; but they were not permitted to manufacture the articles necessary to equip them; every article is now made in the country. A fine ship, called the Massa­chusetts, of eight hundred tons, belonging to Mr. Shaw, had its sails and cordage wholly from the manufacture of Boston; this single establishment gives already two thousand yards of sail-cloth a week.

Breweries augment every where, and take place of the fatal distilleries. There are no less than fourteen [Page 255] good breweries in Philadelphia. The infant woollen manufactory at Hartford, from September, 1788, to September, 1789, gave about five thousand yards of cloth, some of which sells at five dollars a yard; another at Watertown, in Massachusetts, promises equal success, and engages the farmers to multiply their sheep.

Cotton succeeds equally well. The spinning ma­chines of Arkwright are well known here, and are made in the country.

We have justly remarked in our work on the United States, that nature invites the Americans to the labour of the forge, by the profuse manner in which she has covered their soil with wood, and interspersed it with metal and coals. Pennsylvania, New-Jersey, and De­laware, make annually three hundred and fifty tons of steel, and six hundred tons of nails and nail rods. These articles are already exported from America; as are machines for carding wool and cotton, particularly common cards, which are cheaper than the English, and of a superior quality. In these three States are six­ty-three paper-mills, which manufacture annually to the amount of 250,000 dollars. The State of Con­necticut last year made five thousand reams, which might be worth nine thousand dollars.

The prodigious consumption of all kinds of glass multiplies the establishment of glass works. The one on the Potomack employs five hundred persons. They have begun with success, at Philadelphia, the printing of callicoes, cotton, and linen. Sugar refiners are in­creasing every where. In Pennsylvania are twenty-one powder-mills, which are supposed to produce annually 625 tons of gun-powder.

Among the principal articles of exportation are wheat and flour. To form an idea of the augmentation of exports in the article of flour, take the following facts [...] Philadelphia exported—

In the year 1786

150,000 barrels.

1 [...]87

202,000

1788

220,000

1789

360,000

[Page 256]Many well informed men in America have written different pamphlets on the augmentation of the com­merce and manufactures in the United States, which deserve attention; such as, "Enquiries into the Princi­ples of a Commercial System. By [...]ench Coxe." "Letter on the Work of Lord Sheffield. By Mr. Bingham." "Na­tional Arithmetic. By Mr. Swan," author of the work cited in my last letter.

LETTER XLIII. American Trade to the East-Indies.

IN this commerce, my friend, you may see displayed the enterprising spirit of the Americans; the first mo­tive to it, was the hope of economizing in the price of East-India goods, which they formerly imported from England, and this economy must be immense, if we judge of it by the great consumption of tea in America, and the high price it bears in England. In the year 1761, the English American colonies sent to England, 85,000l. sterling in Spanish dollars for this single arti­cle, and since that time the consumption of it has at least tripled.

Another motive which encouraged them to push this commerce, was the hope of being able to supply South-America, the Spanish and other islands, and even the markets of Europe, with the goods of the East; and to obtain every where the preference, by the low price at which they might be afforded. And this project is not without foundation. The nature of things invites the Americans to become the first carriers in the world. They build ships at two-thirds of the expence that they are built at in Europe: they navigate with less seamen, and at less expence, although they nourish their seamen better: they navigate with more safety, with more [Page 257] cleanliness, and with more intelligence, because the spirit of equality, which reigns at home, attends them likewise at sea. Nothing stimulates men to be good sailors like the hope of becoming captains.

The productions of their country are more favourable to this commerce than those of Europe. They carry ginseng to China; plank, ship timber, flour, and salted provisions, to the Cape of Good Hope, and to the Isles of France and Bourbon. They are not, therefore, obliged to export so great a proportion of specie as the Europeans, who have establishments in the East. They are not obliged, like them, to maintain, at an enormous expence, troops, forts, ships of war, governors, inten­dants, secretaries, clerks, and all the tools of despotism, as useless as they are expensive; of which the price must be added to that of the articles of this commerce.

No sea is impenetrable to the navigating genius of the Americans. You see their flag every where dis­played; you see them exploring all islands, studying their wants, and returning to supply them.

Our languishing colony of Cayenne, would have pe­rished ten times with famine, if it depended on the re­gular promised supplies of the mother country. But it is provisioned by the Americans; who remedy thus the murderous calculations of European masters.

A sloop from Albany, of sixty tons and eleven men, had the courage to go to China. The Chinese, on see­ing her arrive, took her for the cutter of some large vessel, and asked where was the great ship? We are the great ship, answered they to the Chinese, stupified at their hardiness.

Our public papers vaunt the magnif [...]cence of the Eu­ropean nations, who make discoveries and voyages round the world; the Americans do the same thing; but they boast not of their exploits with so much em­phasis. In September, 1790, the ship Columbia, Cap­tain Gray, sailed to discover the north-west of this con­tinent▪ this is his second voyage round the world: the brig Hope has sailed for the same object. Our papers have resounded with the quarrels of the English and [Page 258] Spaniards for the commerce of Nootka Sound. The Americans make no quarrels; but they have already made a considerable commerce on the same coast in furrs and peltry. They were there trading in the year 1789, in good intelligence with both parties. In the same year, no less than forty-four vessels were sent from the single town of Boston to the north-west of America, to India, and to China. They bound not their hopes here: they expect, one day, to open a communication more direct to Nootka Sound. It is probable that this place is not far from the head waters of the Mississippi, which the Americans will soon navigate to its source, when they shall begin to people Louisiana and the inte­rior of New-Mexico.

This will be a fortunate epoch to the human race, when there shall be a third great change in the routes of maritime commerce. The Cape of Good Hope will then lose its reputation, and its afflux of commerce, as the Mediterranean had lost it before. The passage which the free Americans are called upon to open, which is still unknown, which however, is easy to establish, and which will place the two oceans, the Atlantic and Pa­cific, in communication, is by the passage by the lake of Nicaragua. ^* Nature so much favours t [...]is commu­nication, which is destined to shorten the route to the East Indies, that the obstinacy of the nation which now possesses the country, cannot long withstand its being opened. The Spaniards wish to monopolize every thing. The free Americans, on the contrary, seek the advantages of the great family of the human race.

LETTER XLIV. The Western Territory.

I HAVE not the time, my friend, to describe to you the new country of the West, which, though at present unknown to the Europeans, must, from the nature of things, very soon merit the attention of every commer­cial and manufacturing nation. I shall lay before you at present only a general view of these astonishing set­tlements, and refer to another time the details which a speculative philosopher may be able to draw from them. At the foot of the Alleganies, whose summits, however, do not threaten the heavens, like those of the Andes and the Alos, begins an immense plain, intersected with hills of a gentle ascent, and watered every where with streams of all sizes; the soil is from three to seven feet deep, and of an astonishing fertility: it is proper for every kind of culture, and it multiplies cattle almost without the care of man.

It is there that those establishments are formed, whose prosperity attracts so many emigrants; such as Kentucky, Frankland, Cumberland, Holston, Muskin­gum, and Scioto.

The oldest and most flourishing of these is Kentucky, which began in 1775, had eight thousand inhabitants in 1782, fifty thousand in 1787, and seventy thousand in 1790. ^* It will soon be a State.

Cumberland, situated in the neighbourhood of Ken­tucky, contains 8000 inhabitants, Holston 5000, and Frankland 25,000

On beholding the multiplication and happiness of [Page 260] the human species in these rapid and prosperous settle­ments, and comparing them with the languor and de­bility of colonies formed by despots, how august and venerable does the aspect of liberty appear! Her power is equal to her will: she commands, and forests are over­turned, mountains sink to cultivated plains, and nature prepares an asylum for numerous generations; while the proud city of Palmyra perishes with its haughty founder, and its ruins attest to the world that nothing is durable, but what is founded and fostered by freedom.

It appears that Kentucky will preserve its advantage over the other settlements on the South; its territory is more extensive, its soil more fertile, and its inhabitants more numerous: it is situated on the Ohio, navigable at almost all seasons: this last advantage is equally en­joyed by the two settlements of which I am going to speak. The establishment at the Muskingum was form­ed in 1788. by a number of emigrants from New-England, belonging to the Ohio company. The Mus­kingum is a river which falls into the Ohio from the West. These people have an excellent soil, and every prospect of success.

From these proprietors is formed another association, whose name is more known in France; it is that of the Scioto Company, ^* a name taken from a river, which af­ter [Page 261] having traversed the two millions of acres which they possess, falls into the Ohio.

This settlement would soon rise to a high degree of prosperity, if the proper cautions were taken in the em­barkation and the necessary means employed to solace them, and to prepare them for a kind of life so different from that to which they are accustomed.

The revolution in the American government, will, doubtless, be beneficial to the savages; for the govern­ment tends essentially to peace. But as a rapid increase of population must necessarily be the consequence of its operations, the savages must either blend with the Ame­ricans, or a thousand causes will speedily annihilate that race of men.

There is nothing to fear, that the danger from the savages will ever arrest the ardour of the Americans for extending their settlements. They all expect that the [Page 262] navigation of the Mississippi becoming free, will soon open to them the markets of the islands, and the Spanish colonies, for the productions with which their country overflows. But the question to be solved is, whether the Spaniards will open this navigation willingly, or whether the Americans will force it. A kind of nego­ciation has been carried on, without effect, for four years; and it is supposed, that certain States, fearing to lose their inhabitants by emigration to the West, have, in concert with the Spanish minister, opposed it; and that this concert gave rise to a proposition, that Spain should shut up the navigation for twenty-five years, on condition that the Americans should have a free commerce with Spain. Virginia and Maryland, though they had more to fear from this emigration than the other States, were opposed to this proposition, as derogatory to the honour of the United States; and a majority of Congress adopted the sentiment.

A degree of diffidence, which the inhabitants of the West have shewn relative to the secret designs of Con­gress, has induced many people to believe, that the union would not exist a long time between the old and new States; and this probability of a rupture, they say, is strengthened by some endeavours of the English in Canada to attach the Western settlers to the English go­vernment.

But a number of reasons determine me to believe, that the present union will for ever subsist. A great part of the property of the Western land belongs to peo­ple of the East; the unceasing emigrations serve perpe­tually to strengthen their connections; and as it is for the interest both of the East and West, to open an ex­tensive commerce with South-America, and to over­leap the Mississippi, they must, and will, remain united for the accomplishment of this object.

The western inhabitants are convinced that this na­vigation cannot remain a long time closed. They are determined to open it by good will or by force; and it would not be in the power of Congress to moderate their ardour. Men who have shook off the yoke of [Page 263] Great-Britain, and who are masters of the Ohio and the Mississippi, cannot conceive that the insolence of a handful of Spaniards can think of shutting rivers and seas against a hundred thousand free Americans. The slightest quarrel will be sufficient to throw them into a flame; and if ever the Americans shall march towards New-Orleans, it will infallibly fall into their hands. The Spaniards fear this moment; and it cannot be far off. If they had the policy to open the Mississippi, the port of New-Orleans would become the centre of a lu­crative commerce. But her narrow and superstitiou [...] policy will oppose it; for she fears, above all things, the communication of those principles of independence, which the Americans preach wherever they go, and to which their own success gives an additional weight.

In order to avert the effects of this enterprizing cha­racter of the free Americans, the Spanish government has adopted the pitiful project of attracting them to a settlement on the west of the Mississippi; ^* by granting to those who shall establish themselves there, the exclu­sive right of trading to New-Orleans. This colony is the first foundation of the conquest of Louisiana, and of the civilzation of Mexico and Peru.

How desirable is it for the happiness of the human race, that this communication should extend! for cul­tivation and population here, will augment the prospe­rity of the manufacturing nations of Europe. The French and Spaniards settled at the Natches, on the most fer­tile soil, have not, for a century, cultivated a single acre; while the Americans, who have lately made a settlement there, have at present three thousand farms, of four hundred acres each; which furnish the greater part of the provisions for New-Orleans. O Liberty! how great is thy empire; thou createst industry, which vivifies the dead.

I transport myself sometimes in imagination to the succeeding century. I see this whole extent of conti­nent, from Canada to Quito, covered with cultivated [Page 264] fields, little villages, and country houses. ^* I see Hap­piness and Industry smiling side by side, Beauty adorn­ing the daughter of Nature, Liberty and Morals ren­dering almost useless the coercion of Government and Laws, and gentle Tolerance taking place of the fero­cious Inquisition. I see Mexicans, Peruvians, men of the United States, Frenchmen, and Canadians, em­bracing each other, cursing tyrants, and blessing the reign of Liberty, which leads to universal harmony.— But the mines, the slaves, what is to become of them? The mines will be closed, and the slaves will become the brothers of their masters. As to gold, it is degrad­ing to a free country to dig for it, unless it can be done without slaves: and a free people cannot want for signs to serve as a medium in exchanging their commodities. Gold has always served more the cause of despotism, than that of liberty; and liberty will always find less dangerous agents to serve in its place.

Our speculators in Europe are far from imagining that two revolutions are preparing on this continent, which will totally overturn the ideas and the commerce of the old: the opening a canal of communication be­tween the two oceans, and abandoning the mines of Peru. Let the imagination of the philosopher contem­plate the consequences. They cannot but be happy for the human race.