filled with the penitent, or with others wishing to become so, and a
vast congregation arranged themselves on their seats in the rear. A
most pathetic prayer was poured forth, and a profound silence reigned
over all the camp, except the fenced inclosure, from whence a low
hollow murmuring sound issued. Now and then, _Amen_ was articulated in
a pitiful and indistinct tone of voice. You have seen a menagerie of
wild animals on a journey, and have perhaps heard the king of beasts,
and other powerful quadrupeds, excited to grumbling by the jolting
of the waggon. Probably you will call this a rude simile; but it is
the most accurate that I can think of. Sermon commenced. The preacher
announced his determination of discontinuing his labours in this part
of the world, and leaving his dear brethren for ever. He addressed
the old men present, telling them that they and he must soon be
removed from this mortal state of existence, and that the melancholy
reflection arose in his mind,--“_What will become of the church when
we are dead and gone?_”--A loud response of groaning and howling was
sounded by the aged in the inclosure, and throughout the congregation.
He next noticed that he saw a multitude of young men before him, and,
addressing himself to them, said, “I trust in _God_, that many of you
will be _now_ converted, and will become the _preachers_ and the pious
Christians of after days.”--The clamour now thickened, for young and
old shouted together. Turning his eyes toward the female side of the
fence, he continued, “And you, my {234} dear sisters.”--What he had
farther to say to the future “nursing mothers of the church,” could
not be heard, for the burst of acclamation, on their part, completely
prevented his voice from being heard, on which account he withdrew; and
a tune was struck up and sung with grand enthusiasm. The worship now
proceeded with a new energy; the prompter in the pulpit had succeeded
in giving it an impulse, and the music was sufficient to preserve
emotion. The inclosure was so much crowded that its inmates had not the
liberty of lateral motion, but were literally hobbling _en masse_. My
attention was particularly directed to a girl of about twelve years of
age, who while standing could not be seen over her taller neighbours;
but at every leap she was conspicuous above them. The velocity of every
plunge made her long loose hair flirt up as if a handkerchief were held
by one of its corners and twitched violently. Another female, who had
arrived at womanhood, was so much overcome that she was held up to the
breeze by two persons who went to her relief. I never before saw such
exhaustion. The vertebral column was completely pliant, her body, her
neck, and her extended arms, bent in every direction successively.
It would be impossible to describe the diversity of cases; they
were not now confined within the fence, but were numerous among the
people without. Only a small proportion of them could fall within the
observation of any one bystander. The scene was to me equally novel and
curious.
About dusk I retired several hundred yards into the woods to enjoy
the distant effect of the meeting. Female voices were mournfully
predominant, and my imagination figured to me a multitude of mothers,
widows, and sisters, giving the {235} first vent to their grief, in
bewailing the loss of a male population, by war, shipwreck, or some
other great catastrophe.
It had been thought proper to place sentinels without the camp. Females
were not allowed to pass out into the woods after dark. Spirituous
liquors were not permitted to be sold in the neighbourhood.
Large fires of timber were kindled, which cast a new lustre on every
object. The white tents gleamed in the glare. Over them the dusky woods
formed a most romantic gloom, only the tall trunks of the front rank
were distinctly visible, and these seemed so many members of a lofty
colonnade. The illuminated camp lay on a declivity, and exposed a scene
that suggested to my mind the moonlight gambols of beings known to
us only through the fictions of credulous ages. The greatest turmoil
prevailed within the fence, where the inmates were leaping and hobbling
together with upward looks and extended arms. Around this busy mass,
the crowd formed a thicker ring than the famous Macedonian phalanx; and
among them, a mixture of the exercised were interspersed. Most faces
were turned inward to gaze on the grand exhibition, the rear ranks on
tip-toe, to see over those in front of them, and not a few mounted
on the log-seats, to have a more commanding view of the show. People
were constantly passing out and into the ring in brisk motion, so that
the white drapery of females, and the darker apparel of the men were
alternately vanishing and reappearing in the most elegant confusion.
The sublimity of the music served to give an enchanting effect to the
whole. My mind involuntarily reverted to the leading feature of the
tale of Alloway Kirk: {236}
“Warlocks and witches in a dance;
Where Tam o’Shanter
----Stood like ane bewitch’d,
And thought his very een enrich’d.”
Late in the evening a man detached himself from the crowd, walking
rapidly backward and forward, and crying aloud. His vociferations were
of this kind: “I have been a great sinner, and was on the way to be
damned; but am converted now, thank God--glory, glory!” He turned round
on his heel occasionally, giving a loud whoop. A gentleman with whom I
am well acquainted, told me that he had a conversation with a female
who had just recovered from the debility of the day. She could give no
other account of her sensations than that she felt so good, that she
could press her very enemy to her bosom.
At half past two A.M. I got into a tent, stretched myself on the
ground, and was soon lulled asleep by the music. About five I was
awakened by the unceasing melody. At seven, preaching was resumed;
and a lawyer residing in the neighbourhood gave a sermon of a legal
character.
At nine the meeting adjourned to breakfast. A multitude of small fires
being previously struck up, an extensive cooking process commenced,
and the smell of bacon tainted the air. I took this opportunity of
reconnoitring the evacuated field. The little inclosure, so often
mentioned, is by the religious called _Altar_, and some scoffers are
wicked enough to call it _Pen_, from its similarity to the structures
in which hogs are confined. Its area was covered over with straw, in
some parts more wetted than the litter of a stable. If it could be
ascertained that all this moisture was from the tears of the penitent,
the fact would be a surprising one. Waving all inquiry into this
phenomenon, {237} however, the incident now recorded may be held
forth as a very suitable counterpart to a wonderful story recorded
by the Methodistic oracle Lorenzo Dow, of a heavy shower drenching a
neighbourhood, while a small speck including a camp meeting was passed
over and left entirely dry. In Lorenzo’s case, the rain fell all round
the camp, but in that noticed by me, the moisture was in the very
centre.
You can form no adequate idea of a camp meeting from any description
which can be given of it. Any one who would have a complete view of
enthusiasm can only obtain it by visiting such a meeting and seeing it
himself. I should be sorry to abuse the Methodist sect by the illiberal
application of such terms as fanaticism, superstition, or illusion.
I have known many of them who are valuable members of society, and
several who have rendered important services to their country, but have
not seen any one prostrated, or even visibly affected, at the camp
meeting or elsewhere, whom I knew to be men of strong minds or of much
intelligence. Females seem to be more susceptible of the impressions
than men are. A quality perhaps that is to be imputed to the greater
sensibility of their feelings.
* * * * *
The awakenings in Kentucky that were some years ago hailed by the
religious magazines of your country as the workings of the _Divine
Spirit_, {238} must have been those that occurred at camp meetings of
Methodists. These assemblages are now said to be on the decline in
Kentucky; and when meetings were held on a grand scale there, many
disorders were committed by immoral persons, tending to the great
scandal of religion, and occasioning the precautionary measures already
noticed in this detail.
FOOTNOTES:
[128] Madison, Jefferson County, was to Indiana what Maysville was to
Kentucky and Shawneetown to Illinois, an important _entrepôt_ and place
of debarkation for pioneers moving to the interior. The early railways
built to Madison and Maysville, emphasize this.--ED.
[129] Flint’s generalization regarding the Southern states is too
sweeping. Virginia and Kentucky were the only commonwealths in which
the people voted _viva-voce_. North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee,
Alabama, and Louisiana, authorized the written ballot in their
constitutions, and in South Carolina it was established by statute.
The use of the ballot was a custom of long standing in New England,
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, dating from the middle of the seventeenth
century. In New York it was introduced as an experiment in 1778, and
permanently adopted ten years later. Virginia changed to the written
ballot for all popular elections, in her constitution of 1864, and
Kentucky in hers of 1891; so that at present it is universal in the
United States.--ED.
LETTER XX
Circumstances that retard Manufacturing Industry, and Causes of its
prosperity
_Jeffersonville, (Indiana,) Aug. 15, 1820._
In my letter of the 26th of June last, I mentioned that mechanics
were leaving the towns of the western country, becoming cultivators
in the back woods. In many cases, their former habits are such as are
not well calculated to reconcile them with their new situations. It
appears evident that such people, placed in the forests, cannot for
some time raise a quantity of produce sufficient to procure in exchange
such foreign luxuries as they formerly consumed, and such articles
of imported dress as they have been accustomed to wear. The former
may be easily dispensed with, but for the latter a substitute must
be provided. Family manufacture is the obvious resource; but it must
proceed slowly in cases where the females are not acquainted with this
branch of industry, and {239} in the uncleared woods, which are not
suitable pastures for sheep. It is to be regretted that manufacturing
establishments are not erected, as these would not only furnish
employment more congenial to the habits of artizans, and preserve
to them their wonted accommodations, but would be of vast national
importance under the present circumstances of America.
I trust that a brief exposition of a few of the principal causes which
retard manufacturing industry, and of the means of promoting it, in
this country, will not be unacceptable to you; especially as the policy
of America, on that subject, affects at once the interests of both
countries.
The primary obstacle that has hitherto prevented Americans from
fabricating their own necessaries, from the products of their own
country, is universally acknowledged to be an extensive intercourse
with Great Britain, in exporting produce, and importing manufactured
goods in return;--a correspondence that subjects American artisans to a
competition with a country in which wages are low, labour subdivided,
and in which the most stupendous mechanical apparatus is employed.
The indecision which has heretofore characterized the conduct of the
United States, with regard to manufactures, seems to have originated in
the diversity of interests represented in the government. The people
of the southern States are, for several reasons, averse to making
concessions for procuring home-made goods. They are comparatively
little devoted to mechanical pursuits, and still less acquainted with
the diversified operations of workshops. Their negroes are seldom
trained to any thing but agricultural and menial services, and the
{240} condition of these labourers is otherwise unfavourable to the
acquisition of skill in new employments. This part of the country,
besides, exports large quantities of cotton, tobacco, and rice,
articles that do not excite the jealousy of the landed interest in
Britain; but, on the contrary, almost enjoy a monopoly of the British
market. It is plain that the people who possess advantages of this
kind, have it more in their power to continue traffic with England than
their northern neighbours, whose produce is excluded by the corn laws
of that country, which have been wisely enacted.
Traders who have capital vested in ships, and in the importation of
manufactured goods, form a class that is more interested in opposing an
independent system than any other. Though their influence in Congress
appears to be declining, some time must elapse before their funds can
be directed to other pursuits.
The import duties on foreign manufactures, high as in most cases they
appear to be, have not the effect of protecting American artizans
from competition with those of other countries, who work cheaper.
This disadvantage has been produced by the profuse issues of a paper
currency. Money of this sort not taking the market abroad, it remains
in the country, where it operates against industry, by augmenting
the nominal price of labour. Hence people are complaining of want of
employment, while they depend on the labour of foreigners for almost
every artificial modification of the materials raised on their own
soil, or that lie unheeded under their feet. Import duties are not to
be considered merely as enactments for promoting American manufactures,
for they constitute the principal source of national revenue. It might
be difficult to form a conception of a revenue {241} that could be
collected at less expense, or of taxation raised in a more voluntary
manner on the part of the people. But as moderating these duties must
unquestionably, on every occasion, be injurious to home industry, and
as augmenting them to the extent of the total prohibition of foreign
goods would introduce smuggling, the two objects of the system are in
some degree incompatible in the present state of money affairs.
The capital vested in uncultivated lands, is a mere dormant stock
which cannot be applied to such active employments as the erection of
workshops, machinery, and other outlays necessary for the establishment
of manufactories, unless it is replaced by other funds. Neither is it
so easy to procure money as formerly by mortgaging cultivated lands,
now when the prices of produce are so low.
The expedients resorted to, in keeping base money in circulation, are,
with respect to manufacturing interests, as impolitic as they are, in
fact, unjust. Bankers, who are virtually insolvent, are to be ranked
amongst the opposers of manufacturers, as it must be impossible for
such men to contemplate the reduction of the quantity of money so
essential to industry, without dreading the retribution that awaits
them.
The present condition of the United States is well suited to convince
the people of the expediency of making exertions for supplying their
own wants. Europe is no longer to be relied on as a market for their
produce, and Great Britain in particular has in effect excluded the
grain and the timber of the United States from her markets, and
prohibits Americans from trading with her West India colonies. Since
these restrictions have taken place, great quantities of British
manufactures have been imported into America, and the course {242} of
exchange has shown, that a large money balance has arisen in favour of
Britain. Some persons interested in the traffic, infer the prosperity
of the United States from their being able to pay a balance of trade.
Though general doctrines of this kind are sanctioned by several great
economists, on the broad principle that an exportation of money
indicates a corresponding importation of property, or in other words,
an accumulation of wealth; before adopting an assumption of this kind
in any particular case, it may be safe to inquire whether the import
consist of articles, which are permanently beneficial, or of luxuries
either of the more perishable kinds, or of those more conducive to
ornament than utility. With regard to the late imports of the United
States, it is thought sufficient to notice that they have not furnished
the ability to continue them in their usual amount.
Farther, nothing can be more plain than the necessity of abridging
the quantity of paper money in circulation; and when this is done to
a sufficient extent, foreigners will find it impossible to procure
dollars here on terms so easy as formerly. Were money rendered so
scarce, that it would command three or four times the quantity of the
necessaries of life that it does now, foreign labour would be excluded,
and the American labourer, with a third or a fourth part of his present
nominal wages, would find the only changes in his condition to be
a greater demand for his work, and an immediate enlargement of his
resources. The farmer would eventually find the means of increasing
his produce, and the advantage of a home market; and capitalists now
engaged in foreign commerce, would find employment for their funds in
manufactures. Fortunately the impolitic course latterly {243} pursued
is leading to its own correction. Specie is seldom to be seen in the
ordinary transactions of business, except in small worn pieces of
inferior denominations, and cut money, from which a portion of the
metal has been fraudulently abstracted. The deficiency in weight
prevents this part of the currency from being exported in direct
payments, and nothing but the recent depreciation of paper seems to
prevent these remnants of silver from being disposed of as bullion.
In former times, when Europe furnished a market for almost every
kind of produce, the strongest inducements to agricultural industry
prevailed. The fertility and the vast extent of the United States
enabled cultivators to increase in numbers, in a manner that would have
produced a disagreeable competition, in a more thickly peopled country;
but the recent state of commercial affairs shows that America is not
wide enough to prevent the inconveniences of competition in a narrow
market. The necessity of a new distribution of pursuits becomes every
day more apparent, as without it the people cannot enjoy the articles
of comfort and luxury hitherto imported. Some of the most popular
newspapers now advocate the cause of manufactures, and several public
societies take a deep interest in promoting the internal prosperity
of the country. The society at Philadelphia for promoting American
manufactures,[130] have in some of their papers reasoned in such a
manner as to prove that they possess a comprehensive knowledge of the
subject, both of its effects on national wealth, and of manufacturing
business. The resolutions of the society lately instituted at
Cincinnati for the promotion of agriculture, manufactures, and domestic
economy, are subjoined, {244} as a mark of the patriotic spirit that
now prevails.[131] The committee of this society consists of people of
the greatest wealth and influence in the city and neighbourhood.
Of the essays in favour of manufactures which have been published, it
may be observed generally, that they recommend the adoption of higher
import duties. That these have not been resorted to, need excite no
surprise, as the secretary of the treasury has shown that an increase
of duties must be followed by a decrease of national revenue, {245}
and as the ultimate substitute, internal taxation, would probably be
unpopular, although imposed with the most sparing hand. The spontaneous
decrease in the amount of money capital now going on, does not seem to
be duly appreciated;--an occurrence that is evidently well calculated
to give an impulse to American industry.
When the United States shall abandon the spurious money now in
circulation, and proceed on a smaller but more substantial capital, a
new era of national prosperity will commence. The government will be
freed from the danger, or rather the certainty, of losing the revenue
by a smuggled trade, and will feel less necessity for resorting to
restrictive regulations. A less sum of money will be sufficient to
defray the public expenses. The consequent cheapness of labour will
give the agriculturist new advantages in foreign markets, and develop
in a new degree the natural resources of the country. The home market,
occasioned by a manufacturing population, will be secure, as being
beyond the reach of foreign governments, whose caprice is hostile to
the security of American trade. Whenever the country shall be able to
manufacture the whole, or the greater part of its necessaries, the
exports of produce must be attended with an importation of specie. The
ingress of foreign capitalists may also be calculated on as one of the
effects to be produced by the change of system.
The introduction of manufactures must promote internal improvements,
as the making of roads and the construction of works, for facilitating
inland navigation. The country will be rendered capable of supporting
a greater population than it can under the present system, thereby
removing much of the inconvenience that attends their present
settlements; {246} better opportunities for mental improvement, and
the means of more prompt national defence, will be acquired; foreign
commerce and foreign relations will be abridged, so that the hazard
of hostilities with other countries may be greatly lessened. A small
shipping trade evidently requires less naval protection than an
extensive foreign commerce, and the retrenchment may perhaps admit
of some relaxation in the present construction of ships of war. The
reverses so frequently injurious to the manufacturers of Britain are
less to be dreaded in the United States. While their manufactures do
not exceed their own wants, it will always be practicable to prevent
the home market from being overstocked, and while the vacant back woods
are held in reserve, a manufacturing population need not be reduced to
pauperism by the want of a foreign market for their fabrics.
The erection of manufacturing establishments was recommended some time
ago by intelligent citizens, who foresaw that the money capital of the
country could not long supply the great efflux of specie. Now, a change
of policy becomes a matter of necessity. It is chiefly to be regretted
several State legislatures are too active in forcing the circulation
of degraded money;--a procedure which, in the meantime, retards the
natural subsidence of the convulsion, and keeps property out of the
hands of its real owners. However far they may succeed in procuring
indemnity for past peculations, their efforts must be impotent in
opposition to the future interests of mankind. The paper currency that
they strive to support falls in spite of their utmost exertions. I
now find that my expense of living or of travelling is nominally the
same that it was in the autumn of 1818. At that time I paid in specie,
or in money, which {247} was considered as nearly equivalent to it,
but of late I have on various occasions found that paper is accepted
which is 50 per cent. worse than silver. A person who collected a
salary to the amount of about eight hundred dollars, told me that he
had received only five dollars of that sum in specie. You can easily
perceive that, under this state of things, very few will give specie to
the tavern-keeper, grocer, or others, while he can previously procure
for it one and a half times, or twice its nominal amount, in what
is called current paper. Most of the small towns have a person who
follows the business of money changing; and merchants and other persons
transact in that way, so that specie is almost entirely withdrawn
from retail business, and applied to the purchase of public lands, or
other objects, for which depreciated paper would not be accepted of
in payment. Under this condition, an unsettled or precarious sort of
internal trade is carried on, but it is impossible to import foreign
goods as formerly.