American Scenes, and Christian Slavery - Ebenezer Davies
At 8 o'clock in the morning of the 8th of March I left Lane Seminary,
with a heavy heart at the thought that in all probability I should
never see it again. There was a sharp frost. Dr. Stowe accompanied me
to the omnibus. "All right!"--"_Pax vobiscum!_"--the vehicle moved on,
and directly the Doctor was at a distance of a hundred yards waving a
farewell. It was the last look.
At 11 A.M. myself, wife, baggage,--all were setting off from the "Queen
City" for Pittsburgh, a distance of 496 miles, in the Clipper No. 2, a
fine boat, and in good hands.
LETTER XXII.
Cincinnati--Its History and Progress--Its Trade and Commerce--Its
Periodical Press--Its Church Accommodation--Its Future Prospects
--Steaming up the Ohio--Contrast between Freedom and Slavery--An
Indian Mound--Splendid Scenery--Coal Hills.
Before proceeding with our trip to Pittsburg, I will bring together all
the material points of information I have gathered relative to
Cincinnati.
1. _Its History and Progress_.--The first year of the present century
found here but 750 inhabitants. In 1810 there were 2,540; in 1820,
9,602; in 1830, 24,381; in 1840, 46,382. At present the population is
estimated at 80,000. The coloured population forms one twenty-fifth, or
4 per cent., of the whole. The native Europeans form one-fifth of the
white population.
2. _Its Trade and Commerce_.--The principal trade is in pork. Hence
the nickname of _Porkapolis_. The yearly value of pork packed and
exported is about five millions of dollars, or one million of guineas!
As a proof of the amazing activity which characterizes all the details
of cutting, curing, packing, &c., I have been credibly informed that
two men, in one of the pork-houses, cut up in less than thirteen hours
850 hogs, averaging 300 lbs. each,--two others placing them on the
block for the purpose. All these hogs were weighed singly on scales in
the course of eleven hours. Another hand trimmed the hams, 1,700
pieces, in "Cincinnati style," as fast as they were separated from the
carcases. The hogs were thus cut up and disposed of at the rate of more
than one per minute! And this, I was told, was not much beyond the
ordinary day's work at the pork-houses.
Steam-boat building is another important branch of trade in this place.
DOLLARS.
In 1840 there were built here 33 boats of 15,341 tons,
costing 592,600
1844 " " 37 " 7,838 " 542,500
1845 " " 27 " 6,609 " 506,500
3. _Its Periodical Press_.--There are sixteen daily papers! Of these,
thirteen issue also a weekly number. Besides these, there are seventeen
weekly papers unconnected with daily issues. But Cincinnati is liberal
in her patronage of eastern publications. During the year 1845 one
house, that of Robinson and Jones, the principal periodical depot in
the city, and through which the great body of the people are supplied
with this sort of literature, sold of
Magazines and Periodicals 29,822 numbers.
Newspapers 25,390[1] "
Serial Publications 30,826 "
Works of Fiction 48,961 " !
[Footnote 1: Besides an immense quantity sent direct per mail!]
It is estimated that the people of the United States, at the present
time, support 1,200 newspapers. There being no stamp-duty, no duty on
paper, and none on advertisements, the yearly cost of a daily paper,
such as the _New York Tribune_ for instance, is only 5 dollars, or one
guinea. The price of a single copy of such papers is only 2 cents, or
one penny; and many papers are only one cent, or a half-penny per copy.
4. _Its Church Accommodation_.--By the close of the year 1845 the
voluntary principle, without any governmental or municipal aid
whatever, had provided the following places of worship:--
Presbyterian 12 New Jerusalem 1
Methodist Episcopal 12 Universalist 1
Roman Catholic 7 Second Advent 1
Baptist 5 Mormons 1
Lutheran 5 Friends 1
Protestant Episcopal 4 Congregational 1
"Christian Disciples" 4 Restorationists 1
Methodist Protestants 3 United Brethren 1
Jewish 2 "Christians" 1
Welsh 2
German Reformed 2 Total 67
This number of places of worship, at an average of 600 persons to each,
would afford accommodation for nearly two-thirds of what the entire
population was at that time; and surely two-thirds of any community is
quite as large a proportion as can, under the most favourable
circumstances, be expected to attend places of worship at any given
time. Behold, then, the strength and efficiency of the voluntary
principle! This young city, with all its wants, is far better furnished
with places of worship than the generality of commercial and
manufacturing towns in England.
Dr. Reed visited Cincinnati in 1834. He gives the population at that
time at 30,000, and the places of worship as follows. I insert them
that you may see at a glance what the voluntary principle did in the
eleven years that followed.
Presbyterian 6 Campbellite Baptists 1
Methodist 4 Jews 1
Baptist 2 --
Episcopalian 2 Total in 1834 21
German Lutheran 2 Do. in 1845 67
Unitarian 1 --
Roman Catholic 1 Increase 46
Swedes 1
5. _Its Future Prospects_.--The author of "Cincinnati in 1841" says, "I
venture the prediction that within 100 years from this time Cincinnati
will be the greatest city in America, and by the year of our Lord 2,000
the greatest city in the world." Our cousin here uses the superlative
degree when the comparative would be more appropriate. Deduct 80 or 90
per cent, from this calculation, and you still leave before this city a
bright prospect of future greatness.
We must, however, bid adieu to this "Queen of the West," and pursue our
course against the Ohio's current towards Pittsburg. We steam along
between freedom and slavery. The contrast is striking. On this subject
the remarks of the keen and philosophic M. de Tocqueville are so
accurate, and so much to the point, that I cannot do better than
transcribe and endorse them.
"A century had scarcely elapsed since the foundation of the colonies,
when the attention of the planters was struck by the extraordinary fact
that the provinces which were comparatively destitute of slaves
increased in population, in wealth, and in prosperity, more rapidly
than those which contained the greatest number of negroes. In the
former, however, the inhabitants were obliged to cultivate the soil
themselves, or by hired labourers; in the latter, they were furnished
with hands for which they paid no wages: yet, although labour and
expense were on the one side, and ease with economy on the other, the
former were in possession of the most advantageous system. * * * The
more progress was made, the more was it shown that slavery, which is so
cruel to the slave, is prejudicial to the master.
"But this truth was most satisfactorily demonstrated when civilization
reached the banks of the Ohio. The stream which the Indians had
distinguished by the name of Ohio, or Beautiful River, waters one of
the most magnificent valleys which have ever been made the abode of
man. Undulating lands extend upon both shores of the Ohio, whose soil
affords inexhaustible treasures to the labourer. On either bank the air
is wholesome and the climate mild; and each of those banks forms the
extreme frontier of a vast State: that which follows the numerous
windings of the Ohio on the left is Kentucky [in ascending the river it
was on our _right_]; that on the right [our left] bearing the name of
the river. These two States differ only in one respect,--Kentucky has
admitted slavery, but the State of Ohio has not. * * *
"Upon the left bank of the stream the population is rare; from time to
time one descries a troop of slaves loitering in the half-desert
fields; the primeval forest recurs at every turn; society seems to be
asleep, man to be idle, and nature alone offers a scene of activity and
life.
"From the right bank, on the contrary, a confused hum is heard, which
proclaims the presence of industry; the fields are covered with
abundant harvests; the elegance of the dwellings announces the taste
and activity of the labourer; and man appears to be in the enjoyment of
that wealth and contentment which are the reward of labour."
The Kentucky and the Ohio States are nearly equal as to their area in
square miles. Kentucky was founded in 1775, and Ohio in 1788. In 1840
the population of Kentucky was 779,828, while that of Ohio was
1,519,467--nearly double that of the former. By this time it is far
more than double.
"Upon the left bank of the Ohio," continues De Tocqueville, "labour is
confounded with the idea of slavery; upon the right bank it is
identified with that of prosperity and improvement: on the one side it
is degraded, on the other it is honoured. On the former territory no
white labourers can be found, for they would be afraid of assimilating
themselves to the negroes; on the latter no one is idle, for the white
population extends its activity and its intelligence to every kind of
improvement. Thus the men whose task it is to cultivate the rich soil
of Kentucky are ignorant and lukewarm; while those who are active and
enlightened either do nothing or pass over into the State of Ohio,
where they may work without dishonour."
March the 9th was a dull day; but the scenery was of surpassing beauty.
At night a terrible storm of thunder and lightning, accompanied with
rain, compelled us to "lie to." A charming morning succeeded. During
the forenoon, we passed a small town on the Virginia side called
Elizabeth Town. An Indian mound was pointed out to me, which in size
and shape resembled "Tomen y Bala" in North Wales. These artificial
mounds are very numerous in the valleys of the Ohio and the
Mississippi. The ancient relics they are sometimes found to contain
afford abundant proofs that these fertile regions were once peopled by
a race of men in a far higher state of civilization than the Indians
when first discovered by the white man. The innocent and imaginative
speculations of a Christian minister in the State of Ohio on these
ancient remains laid the foundation of the curious book of "Mormon."
Nature being now arrayed in her winter dress, we could form but a faint
conception of her summer loveliness when clothed in her gayest green.
Hills were seen rising up, sometimes almost perpendicularly from the
stream, and sometimes skirted with fertile fields extending to the
river's edge. Here a house on the brow of a hill, and there another at
its base. Here the humble log hut, and there the elegant mansion, and
sometimes both in unequal juxtaposition. The hills are in parts
scolloped in continuous succession, presenting a beautiful display of
unity and diversity combined; but often they appear in isolated and
distinct grandeur, like a row of semi-globes; while, in other
instances, they rise one above another like apples in a fruit-vase.
Sometimes the rivulets are seen like silver cords falling
perpendicularly into the river; at other times, you discern them only
by their musical murmurs as they roll on through deep ravines formed by
their own action. These hills, for more than 100 miles before you come
to Pittsburg, are literally heaps of coal. In height they vary from 100
to 500 feet, and nothing more is required than to clear off the soil,
and then dig away the treasure.
What struck me most was the immense number of children everywhere
gazing upon us from the river's banks. At settlements of not more than
half-a-dozen houses, I counted a groupe of more than twenty children.
LETTER XXIII.
Arrival at Pittsburg--Its Trade and Prospects--Temperance--Newspapers
--Trip up the Monongahela to Brownsville--Staging by Night across the
Alleghany Mountains--Arrival at Cumberland--The Railway Carriages of
America.
Arriving at Pittsburg in the middle of the night of the 10th of March,
we remained on board till morning. As we had been accustomed on this
"Clipper No. 2" to breakfast at half-past 7, I thought they surely
would not send us empty away. But no! we had to turn out at that early
hour of a morning piercingly cold, and get a breakfast where we could,
or remain without. This was "clipping" us rather too closely, after we
had paid seven dollars each for our passage and provisions.
Pittsburg is in the State of Pennsylvania. Its progress has been rapid,
and its prospects are bright. Seventy years ago the ground on which it
stands was a wilderness, the abode of wild beasts and the hunting
ground of Indians. Its manufactures are chiefly those of glass, iron,
and cotton. It is the Birmingham of America. Indeed one part of it,
across the river, is called "Birmingham," and bids fair to rival its
old namesake. Its advantages and resources are unparalleled. It
occupies in reference to the United States, north and south, east and
west, a perfectly central position. It is surrounded with, solid
mountains of coal, which--dug out, as I have intimated, with the
greatest ease--is conveyed with equal ease down inclined planes to the
very furnace mouths of the foundries and factories! This great workshop
communicates directly, by means of the Ohio, the Mississippi, Red
River, &c., with immense countries, extending to Texas, to Mexico, and
to the Gulph. Its population, already 70,000, is (I believe)
incomparably more intelligent, more temperate, more religious, and more
steady than that of any manufacturing town in England. In fact, England
has not much chance of competing successfully with America, unless her
artizans copy more extensively the example of the American people in
the entire abandonment of intoxicating liquors. In travelling leisurely
from New Orleans to Boston (the whole length of the United States), and
sitting down at all sorts of tables, on land and on water, private and
public, I have never once seen even wine brought to the table. Nothing
but water was universally used!
At Pittsburg I bought three good-sized newspapers for 5 cents, or
twopence-halfpenny. One of them, _The Daily Morning Post_, was a large
sheet, measuring 3 feet by 2, and well filled on both sides with close
letter-press, for 2 cents, or one penny. The absence of duty on paper
and of newspaper stamps is no doubt one great cause of the advanced
intelligence of the mass of the American people. What an absurd policy
is that of the British Government, first to impose taxes upon
_knowledge_, and then to use the money in promoting _education_!
At Pittsburg the Ohio ends, or rather begins, by the confluence of the
Alleghany and the Monongahela rivers. We ascended the latter to
Brownsville, about 56 miles. Having booked ourselves at an office, we
had to get into a smaller steamer on the other side of the bridge which
spans the river. The entire charge to Philadelphia was 12 dollars each.
We went by the "Consul," at half-past 8 A.M. of the 11th of March. The
water was very high, as had been the case in the Ohio all the way from
Cincinnati. We had not proceeded far when I found the passengers
a-stir, as if they had got to their journey's end. What was the matter?
Why, we had come to falls, which it was very doubtful whether the
steamer could get over. The passengers were soon landed, and the
steamer, with the crew, left to attempt the ascent. There were locks at
hand by which, under ordinary circumstances, boats evaded the
difficulty; but the flood was now so great that they could not be used.
Our steamer, therefore, stirred up her fires, raised her steam, brought
all her powers to bear, faced the difficulty, dashed into it, cut
along, and set at defiance the fury of the flood. "There she
goes!"--"No!"--"Yes!"--"No!"--"She's at a stand,"--the next moment she
was gliding back with the torrent: she had failed! But _nil
desperandum_. "Try--try--try again!" An immense volume of smoke issued
from her chimney, and soon she seemed again to be fully inflated with
her vapoury aliment. I expected every moment an explosion, and, while
rejoicing in our own safety on _terra firma_, felt tremblingly anxious
for the lives of those on board. Having had sufficient time to "recover
strength," she made for the foaming surge once more. "There she
goes!"--"No!"--"Yes!"--she paused--but it was only for the twinkling of
an eye,--the next moment she was over, and the bank's of the
Monongahela resounded with the joyful shouts of the gazing passengers.
We now breathed more freely, and were soon on board again; but we had
not advanced very far before we had to get out once more, in
consequence of other falls, which were stemmed with the same
inconvenience, the same anxiety, and the same success as in the
preceding instance.
But ere long an obstacle more formidable than the falls presented
itself--a bridge across the river. This bridge the boats were
accustomed to pass under, but the water was now so high that it could
not be done; and we had to wait till another boat belonging to the same
company, above the bridge, came down from Brownsville, and enabled us
to effect an exchange of passengers; for neither of the boats could get
under the bridge. The down boat soon made its appearance; and a scene
of confusion ensued which I know not how to describe. Imagine two sets
of passengers, about 150 persons in each set, exchanging boats! Three
hundred travellers jostling against each other, with "plunder"
amounting to some thousands of packages, to be removed a distance of
300 or 400 yards, at the risk and responsibility of the owners, without
any care or concern on the part of the officers of the boats! Trunks
seemed to run on wheels, carpet-bags to have wings, and portmanteaus to
jump about like grasshoppers. If you had put down one article while
looking for the rest, in an instant it would be gone. In this amusing
scuffle were involved several members of Congress, returning in the
"down" boat from their legislative duties. The celebrated Judge M'Lean
was among them. But the safety of some box or parcel was just then--to
most of us--of more importance than all the great men in the world. The
baggage storm being over, and the great division and trans-shipment
effected, we moved forward in peace. By-and-by, however, each one was
called upon to show his baggage, that it might be set apart for the
particular coach to which it would have to be consigned. This was a
most troublesome affair. At half-past 6 in the evening we arrived at
Brownsville, having been ten hours in getting over the 56 miles from
Pittsburg.
And now for the stage-coaches; for, _nolens volens_, "a-head" we must
go that very night. About seven or eight coaches were filled by those
of our fellow-passengers who, like ourselves, were going to cross the
mountains. Some of the vehicles set off immediately; but three waited
to let their passengers get tea or supper, meals which in America are
identical. About 8 P.M. we started on our cold and dreary journey of 73
miles across the Alleghany Mountains. A stage-coach in America is a
very different thing from the beautiful machine that used to pass by
that name in England.
It has no outside accommodation, except for one person on the box along
with the driver. The inside, in addition to the fore seat and the hind
seat, has also a middle seat across the vehicle. Each of these three
seats holds three persons, making nine in all. In our stage we had ten
persons; but the ten, in a pecuniary point of view, were only eight and
a half. The night was fearfully dark, and the roads were altogether
unworthy of the name. Yet there is an immense traffic on this route,
which is the highway from East to West. The Americans, with all their
"smartness," have not the knack of making either good roads or good
streets. About 11 P.M. we arrived at Uniontown, 12 miles from
Brownsville. There the horses were to be changed, an operation which
took about an hour to accomplish. Three coaches were there together.
The passengers rushed out of the inn, where we had been warming
ourselves, and jumped into the coaches. Crack went the whips, off went
the horses, and round went the wheels. But, alas! while we could hear
the rattling of the other coaches, our own moved not at all! "Driver,
why don't you be off?" No answer. "Driver, push on." No reply. "Go
a-head, driver,--don't keep us here all night." No notice taken. We
began to thump and stamp. No response. At last I put my head out
through the window. There _was_ no driver; and, worse still, there were
no horses! How was this? There was no "team," we were told, for our
coach! I jumped out, and began to make diligent inquiry: one told me
one thing, and another another. At length I learned that there was a
"team" in the stable, but there was no driver disposed to go. The one
who should have taken us was cursing and swearing in bed, and would not
get up. This was provoking enough. "Where is the agent of the
stage-coach company?"--"He lives about 47 miles off." "Where is the
landlord of this house?"--"He is in bed." There we were helpless and
deserted on the highroad, between 12 and 1 o'clock, in an extremely
cold night, without any redress or any opportunity of appeal! It was
nobody's business to care for us. I groped my way, however, to some
outbuilding, where about half-a-dozen drivers were snoring in their
beds, and, with the promise of making it "worth his while," succeeded
in inducing one of them to get up and take us to the next place for
changing horses. But before we could get off it was 2 o'clock in the
morning. We reached the next station, a distance of 10 miles, at 5
P.M., and paid our driver two dollars. In America drivers are not
accustomed to receive gratuities from passengers, but ours was a
peculiar case. After a most wearisome day of travel, being tossed about
in the coach like balls, expecting every moment to be upset, and
feeling bruised all over, we reached Cumberland at 9 P.M., having been
25 hours in getting over 73 miles, at the amazing rate of 3 miles an
hour! In Cumberland we had to stay all night.
At 8 A.M. the next day we set off by railway, or (as the Americans
would say) "by the cars," to Baltimore. In committing my trunk to the
luggage-van, I was struck with the simplicity and suitableness of the
check system there adopted. A piece of tin, with a certain number upon
it, was fastened by a strap to each article of baggage, and a duplicate
piece given to the passenger. I also remarked the size, shape, and
fittings-up of the cars. They are from 30 to 50 feet long, having an
aisle right through the middle from end to end, and on each side of
that aisle rows of seats, each of sufficient length to accommodate two
persons. The arrangement reminded me of a little country meeting-house,
the congregation amounting to from 50 to 100 persons. Each carriage
contained a stove,--at that season a most important article of
furniture. The seats, which were very nicely cushioned, had their hacks
so arranged as that the passengers could easily turn them as they
pleased, and sit with either their faces or their backs "towards the
horses" as they might feel disposed. This part of the arrangement is
indispensable, as these long carriages can never be turned. The hind
part in coming is the fore part in going, and _vice versa_. The
distinctions of first, second, and third class carriages are unknown.
That would be too aristocratic. But the "niggers" must go into the
luggage-van. These republican carriages are very neatly fitted up,
being mostly of mahogany with crimson velvet linings; but you often
feel annoyed that such dirty people should get in.
LETTER XXIV.
Journey by Railroad from Cumberland to Baltimore--A Tedious Stoppage
--A Sabbath in Baltimore--Fruitless Inquiry--A Presbyterian Church and
Dr. Plummer--Richmond and its Resolutions--Dr Plummer's Pro slavery
Manifesto--The Methodist Episcopal Church.
The railway from Cumberland to Baltimore is 178 miles long, and (like
most lines in the States) is single. This fact is important, for our
cousins, in boasting of the hundreds or thousands of miles of railway
they have constructed, forget to tell us that they are nearly all
single. Here and there they have a double set of rails, like our
sidings, to enable trains to pass each other.
The ground was covered with snow, otherwise the scenery would have been
magnificent. For a long time the Potomac was our companion. More than
once we had to cross the stream on wooden bridges; so that we had it
sometimes on our right and sometimes on our left, ourselves being
alternately in Virginia and in Maryland. When within 14 miles of
Baltimore, and already benighted, we were told we could not proceed, on
account of some accident to a luggage-tram that was coming up. The
engine, or (as the Americans invariably say) the "locomotive," had got
off the rail, and torn up the ground in a frightful manner; but no one
was hurt. We were detained for 7 hours; and instead of getting into
Baltimore at 8 P.M., making an average of about 15 miles an hour, which
was the utmost we had been led to expect, we did not get there till 3
A.M., bringing our average rate per hour down to about 9-1/2 miles. The
tediousness of the delay was considerably relieved by a man sitting
beside me avowing himself a thorough Abolitionist, and a hearty friend
of the coloured race. He spoke out his sentiments openly and
fearlessly, and was quite a match for any one that dared to assail him.
His name was Daniel Carmichael, of Brooklyn. He is a great railway and
canal contractor, and has generally in his employ from 500 to 800
people. He is also a very zealous "teetotaler." We had also a _Mrs.
Malaprop_, from Baltimore, with us, who told us, among other marvellous
things, that in that city they took the _senses_ (census) of the people
every month. She was very anxious to let all around her know that her
husband was a medical man: she therefore wondered what "the Doctor" was
then doing, what "the Doctor" thought of the non-arrival of the train,
whether "the Doctor" would be waiting for her at the station, and
whether "the Doctor" would bring his own carriage, or hire one, to meet
her, &c.