Mr. Owen's of Lanark, formerly Rapp's Settlement.--Remarks on
it.--Keel-boat Scenes.--Cave in Rock.--Cumberland and Tennessee
Rivers.--Fort Massai.
About a hundred and fifty houses, built on the Swabian plan, with the
exception of Mr. Rapp's[B] former residence--a handsome brick
house--presented themselves to our view. We were introduced to one of
the managers, a Mr. Shnee, formerly a Lutheran minister, who entered
very soon into particulars respecting Mr. Owen's ulterior views, in
rather a pompous manner. This settlement, which is about thirty miles
above the mouth of the big Wabash, in Indiana, was first established by
Rapp, in the year 1817, and was now (in the year 1823), purchased by Mr.
Owen, of Lanark, for the sum of 150,000 dollars. The society is to be
established on a plan rather different from the one he has pursued in
Scotland, and on a larger scale. Mr. Owen has, it is said, the pecuniary
means as well as the ability to effect something of importance. A plan
was shown and sold to us, according to which a new building of colossal
dimensions is projected; and if Mr. Owen's means should not fall short
of his good will, this edifice would certainly exhibit the most
magnificent piece of architecture in the Union, the capitol at
Washington excepted. This palace, when finished, is to receive his
community. According to his views, as laid down in his publications, in
the lectures held by him at Washington and at New York, and as stated in
the verbal communications of the persons who represent him, he is about
to form a society, unshackled by all those fetters which religion,
education, prejudices, and manners have imposed upon the human species;
and his followers will exhibit to the world the novel and interesting
example of a community, which, laying aside every form of worship and
all religious belief in a supreme being, shall be capable of enjoying
the highest social happiness by no other means than the impulse of
innate egotism. It has been the object of Mr. Owen's study to improve
this egotism in the most rational manner, and to bring it to the highest
degree of perfection; and in this sense he has published the
Constitution, which is to be adopted by the community. It is
distributed, if I recollect rightly, into three subdivisions, with
seventy or more articles.--Mechanics of every description--people who
have learned any useful art,--are admitted into this community. Those
who pay 500 dollars, are free from any obligation to work. The time of
the members is divided between working, reading, and dancing. A ball is
given every day, and is regularly attended by the community. Divine
service, or worship of any kind, is entirely excluded; in lieu of it,
moreover, a ball is given on Sunday. The children are summoned to school
by beat of drum. A newspaper is published, chiefly treating of their own
affairs, and of the entertainments and the social regulations of the
community, amounting to about 500 members, of both sexes, composed
almost exclusively of adventurers of every nation, who expect joyful
days. The settlement has not improved since the purchase, and there
appeared to exist the greatest disorder and uncleanliness. This
community has since been dissolved as was to have been expected. The
Scotchman seems to have a very high notion of the power of egotism. He
is certainly not wrong in this point; but if he intends to give still
greater strength to a spirit which already works with too much effect in
the Union, it may be feared that he will soon snap the cords of society
asunder. According to his notions, and those of his people, all the
legislators of ancient and modern times, religious as well as political,
were either fools or impostors, who went in quest of prosperity on a
mistaken principle, which he is now about to correct. Scotchmen, it is
known, are sometimes liable to adopt strange notions, in which they
always deem themselves infallible. I am acquainted with an honorable
president of the quarter-sessions, who, as a true Swedenborghian, is
fully convinced that he will preside again as judge in the other world,
and that the German farmers will be there the same fools they are here,
whom he may continue to cheat out of their property. Great Britain has
no cause to envy the United States this acquisition. We stayed at this
place about two hours, crossed the Wabash, and took the road to
Shawneetown, through part of Mr. Birkbeck's settlement. The country is
highly cultivated, and the difference between the steady Englishman of
the Illinois side, and the rabble of Owen's settlement, is clearly seen
in the style and character of the improvements carried on.
[B] Eighteen miles from Pittsburgh on the road to Beaver, the new and
third settlement of the Swabian separatists, called Economy, was
established two years ago by Rapp, a man celebrated in the Union for his
rustic sagacity. This man affords an instance of what persevering
industry, united with sound sense, may effect.--When he arrived with his
400 followers from Germany, twenty years ago, their capital amounted
to 35,000 dollars; and so poor were they at first, that their leader
could not find credit for a barrel of salt. They are now worth at
least a million of dollars. Their new settlement promises to thrive,
and to become superior to those which they sold in Buttler County,
Pennsylvania, and in Indiana on the Wabash. Nothing can exceed the
authority exercised by this man over his flock. He unites both the
spiritual and temporal power in his own person. He has with him a kind
of Vice-Dictator in the person of his adopted son, (who is married to
his daughter), and a council of twelve elders, who manage the domestic
affairs of the community, now amounting to 1000 souls. When he was yet
residing in Old Harmony, twenty-eight miles north of Pittsburgh, the
bridge constructed over a creek which passes by the village, wanted
repair. It was winter time; the ice seemed thick enough to allow of
walking across. The creek, however, was deep, and 100 feet wide: Master
Rapp, notwithstanding, ventured upon it, intending to come up to the
pier. He was scarcely in the middle of the river, when the ice gave way.
A number of his followers being assembled on the shores, were eager to
assist him.--"Do you think," hallooed Rapp, "that the Lord will withdraw
his hands from his elect, and that I need your help?" The poor fellows
immediately dropped the boards, but at the same time Master Rapp sunk
deeper into the creek. The danger at last conquered his shame and his
confidence in supernatural aid, and he called lustily for assistance.
Notwithstanding the cries of the American by-standers, "You d--d fools,
let the tyrant go down, you will have his money, you will be free," they
immediately threw boards on the ice, went up to him, and took him out of
the water, amidst shouts of laughter from the unbelieving Americans. On
the following Sunday he preached them a sermon, purporting that the Lord
had visited their sins upon him, and that their disobedience to his
commands was the cause of his sinking. The poor dupes literally believed
all this, promised obedience, and both parties were satisfied. Several
of his followers left him, being shocked at his law of celibacy, but
such was his ascendancy over the female part of the community, that
they chose rather to leave their husbands than their father Rapp, as
they call him. Last year, however (1826), he abolished this kind of
celibacy, hitherto so strictly observed, and on the 4th of July,
eighteen couples were permitted to marry. This settlement is one of the
finest villages in the west of Pennsylvania. A manufactory of steam
engines, extensive parks of deer, two elks, and a magnificent palace
for himself, splendidly furnished, show that he knows how to avail
himself of his increasing wealth. The inhabitants of Pittsburgh make
frequent excursions to this settlement, and though his manners savour
of the Swabian peasant, yet his wealth and his hospitality have
considerably diminished the contempt in which he was formerly held by
the Anglo-Americans. We arrived at Shawneetown, where our boat was
waiting for us, having travelled since seven o'clock in the morning a
distance of forty miles. We found our boat's company in the utmost
confusion. Our ladies had hitherto given a regular tea party at nine
o'clock, out of their own stock of provisions. With the exception of
guns, powder, shot, some hundred cigars, a few bottles of wine, the
gentlemen were furnished with nothing. They went therefore to
Shawneetown, a village twelve miles below the mouth of the Wabash, with
sixty houses, and 300 inhabitants, of a very indifferent character,
mostly labourers at the salt works of the Saline river. The party
however were not so fortunate as to procure anything except a dried
haunch of venison. On their return, the invalid doctor missed the
negro girl he had brought to wait upon him, intending to sell her
along with a male slave. She was gone. A search was commenced,
but the honest inhabitants declared, with many G--d d--ns, that
they did not know anything about her. The company discovered what
was wanting, and persuaded the physician to offer a reward for her
recovery. In less than half an hour, one of the worthy inhabitants came
up with the run-away girl, leading her by a rope. He had shortly before
assured some of the inquirers, under the pledge of a round oath, of his
utter ignorance of the matter, whilst at the same time the slave was
concealed in his kitchen. The second physician from Tennessee had the
benevolent precaution of suggesting to the patient to keep himself cool.
But every advice was thrown away. The Kentuckian could not resist
striking the girl. With the utmost pain he raised himself up in his bed,
to give her blows, which did himself infinitely more harm. When called
upon to pay the reward of twenty dollars, his wrath rose to the highest
pitch, and if he had had strength we should have witnessed a strange
scene. He paid, however, and contented himself with binding her arms,
and fastening her to the door-post, from which she was released by the
following accident, which took place about eight o'clock, just as we
returned from our excursion. One of the planters, a Kentuckian by birth,
made a regular excursion, twice a day, to fetch milk and eggs for the
company. The captain refused to dispatch the skiff for him, but the rest
of the company sent it without asking the captain's leave. Some hours
after the Kentuckian's return he heard of the captain's refusal, and
immediately accused him of negligence, &c. The captain gave him the lie,
and hardly was the word spoken, when the Kentuckian rushed upon the
young man with a dirk in his hand. He was, however, prevented, when
turning round, he ran to the other side to fetch an axe, declaring at
the same time, with a G----d d----n, he would knock down any body who
dared to oppose him. I stood with Mr. B. at the door. A quarrel ensued,
and he was going to force it open, when several gentlemen came to our
assistance. During this riot the stove became heated to such a degree,
as unobserved by any one, to set fire to the wood beneath it, so that
the birth of our patient was in flames in a moment. Quarrelling, and
murderous thoughts gave way to the danger of being roasted alive. All
hands, even the Kentuckian, were assiduous in their endeavours to
extinguish the fire; but this could not be so easily accomplished, the
boat being extremely crowded. At last we succeeded; the poor doctor had
almost been forgotten, and was very near being burnt alive, had it not
been for his second servant, who immediately laid hold of a bucket full
of water, and poured it over his master. The behaviour of this invalid
was strange beyond description, and shewed a degree of passion, at once
ludicrous and pitiable. "For heaven's sake," exclaimed he, "I am
roasting! no, I am drowning! the wretch has poured a whole bucket of
water over me. Come hither, rascal!" The servant was obliged to
approach, and tender his face to receive a box on the ear, certainly the
most harmless he ever got; the master at the same time reproaching him
with his villainy, and lamenting the consequences which this bath would
bring upon him, such as rheumatism, fever, &c. We stood astonished and
confounded at this man, the living image of a burnt-out volcano. "But
for heaven's sake," said Mr. B., "Doctor, you would have been roasted
alive but for your slave, and you have been the only cause of the fire,
by the unsupportable heat you kept up in the stove; you must not do that
again." "He is my slave," was the answer, "and should have stayed with
me, instead of listening to your ungentlemanly disputes; then the fire
would not have broken out." We assented to this, and peace was fully
restored.
The next day we proceeded on our journey, having the state of Illinois
on our right, and Kentucky on our left. Thirteen miles below Saline
river we visited the cave of Rock Island. The limestone wall, 120 feet
high, runs for about half a mile along the right bank of the Ohio;
nearly at its end is the entrance to the cave. A few steps bring you at
once into the grotto, which is about sixty-five feet wide at the base,
narrowing as you ascend, and forming an arch, the span of which is from
twenty-five to thirty feet, extending to a length of 120 feet. Marine
shells, feathers, and bones of bears, turkies, and wild geese, afford
ample testimony that this place has not been visited by the curious
alone, but has been the resort of numerous families, which had taken
temporary refuge here.
Our sporting excursions had generally pigeons, turkies, or opossums, for
their object; below the cave, in the rocks, wild geese and ducks become
very plentiful. Flocks of from forty to one hundred were flying over our
heads in every direction, and augmenting in numbers as we approached the
Mississippi. We shot this day seven geese and ducks, and passed the
small villages of Cumberland, at the mouth of the river of that name,
and Smithland, three miles below. Both villages are now springing up.
The Cumberland is 720 feet wide at its mouth. The river Tennessee,
thirteen miles below, is 700 feet. Eleven miles lower down, on the
Illinois side, is fort Spassai, erected on a high bank and in a
commanding position, which overlooks the Ohio, here a mile wide. The
prospect for a distance of forty miles, is charming. The extraordinary
beauty of the river, which the French very properly called _la belle
rivière_, on both sides the majestic native forests, clad in their
autumnal foliage, here and there an island in the midst of the stream,
with its luxuriant growth of trees, not unlike enchanted gardens. The
charm which is diffused over the whole scene can scarcely be described.
The fort is garrisoned by a captain, with a company of regulars, who,
however, suffer much from swamps in the rear of the fort.
On the two following days we passed the county towns of Golconda, the
seat of justice for Pope county; Vienna, for Johnson; and America, for
Alexander county; villages which have nothing in common with the cities
of which they remind you but the name. They are inhabited by some
Kentuckians and loiterers, who spend part of their time in bringing down
the Mississippi the produce of the country, for the transport of which
they demand double wages, and are thus enabled to spend the rest of
their time sitting cross-legged over their whiskey. The ninth day,
about noon, we arrived at Trinity. I was heartily tired of this manner
of travelling, and resolved to wait here with Mr. B., and Mrs. Th----
and family, for a steam-boat from St. Louis. The rest of the company
went on in the boat, after an hour's stopping. Trinity, or as it was
formerly called, Cairo, is situated four and a half miles above the
junction of the Ohio and Mississippi, consisting only of a tavern and a
store, kept by a Mr. Bershoud. The inundations occurring regularly every
year, have hitherto prevented the formation of settlements at this
place. Though these inundations rise every year from four to ten feet
above the banks, as may be seen from the weeds remaining in clusters on
the trees, the inhabitants of these two houses have, if we except the
trouble of transporting their effects and goods to the upper story, but
little to apprehend, the rise of the river being gradually slow, and its
power being lessened by its circuitous course, and by the trees on its
bank.
From Trinity down to Baton Rouge, a distance of 900 miles, the houses
are constructed in such a manner as to be secured against accidents; the
foundations are stumps of trees, or low brick pillars, four feet high.
The houses are so built, or rather laid upon these pillars, as to allow
the water to pass beneath. Notwithstanding this precaution, the flood
generally reaches to the lower apartments, and passengers coming from
Trinity to New Orleans last February, had to get into the skiff sent for
them, through the window of the second story.
From Trinity to the mouth of the Ohio, are reckoned four and a half
miles. We visited on the following morning, this remarkable spot, where
two of the most important rivers unite.