domestic industry, is supported by about two-thirds of the American
people. Manufactures sprung up during the late war, and millions of
dollars have since been invested in them on the faith of the tariff.
After the conclusion of hostilities, the war duties were repealed
generally; but some of them were continued for the protection of
domestic industry. This was effected in 1816, and by the influence
of the southern votes; and, strange as it may appear, was especially
supported by the members of South Carolina; whilst the northern members
were not generally partial to the measure. The southern states at
that period, were averse to the expense of a naval establishment:
they disliked foreign commerce, because it tended to embroil the
country in disputes with the European powers, and they were therefore
friendly to a moderate tariff. In 1824, additional protection was
given to manufactures. It was opposed by New England and the south,
and supported by the middle and western states. In 1828, still further
protection was given, notwithstanding a violent opposition from the
southern states, who now felt the error they had been guilty of.
The tariff question, then, is simply this. The northern states are
manufacturers; the southern states are cotton growers. The southern
states have never objected to such duties on imported foreign
manufactures, as would be sufficient for the purposes of a revenue
equal to the government expenditure; but beyond what is necessary for
the attainment of that object, they are entirely averse to the tariff,
because Great Britain does not buy so much of their cotton as she would
if her manufactured goods were not excluded from the markets of the
United States, by means of the protecting duties. The inhabitants of
South Carolina are most violently opposed to the tariff. One-third of
them would, if they could, secede from the Union immediately.
In the year 1823, the crop of cotton amounted to 420,000 bales. In
the year 1831, the crop has been ascertained to be 1,070,000 bales,
of which, 165,000 are consumed in the home manufactories, and the
remainder is exported, chiefly to England.
Certainly, if ever there was a country upon earth where the principles
of free trade could be allowed an existence, that country is the states
of North America, so long as they remain united. When we contemplate
their unbounded resources, and their endless extent, we must admit that
they afford scope for a species of energy altogether without present
parallel in the old continent; and it is difficult to believe, that
free trade should not be a part of their system, not only because it
would correspond with the boasted freedom of their institutions, but
on account of the certainty of benefit they would ultimately derive
from it. But from the entirely different sources of wealth of the
northern and southern states, there emanates a disparity of interests,
which, with reference to the enormously increasing influence of the new
cotton states, are, it is plain, but partially developed at present.
The settlement of disputes arising from the differences of soil and
climate, in themselves uncontrollable by legislative interference,
must be a subject far more difficult to grapple with, than that which
merely relates to internal improvements, which may be assisted by an
alteration of the constitution. Many Americans will probably tell you
as they have told me, that the Union is becoming stronger and stronger;
they will assure you that there is a growing conviction, that the
complaints of the southern states are without foundation, that their
sufferings are chiefly imaginary, and that their citizens will,
sooner or later, come to the same opinion; that four-fifths of all
the articles that are taxed, either heavily or lightly, are consumed
in the northern, western, and the tariff states, while at the same
time a home market exists for from 150,000 to 200,000 bales of the
best cotton of the southern states, at the best prices: that the party
war which rages in newspapers throughout the Union, means nothing at
all; and that, to use the quotation so well applied by Mr. Adams in
his last 4th of July oration, delivered at Quincey, near Boston, “We
angry lovers mean not half we say.” It is probable that some part of
what is said by an American country newspaper on the subject of party,
may be nonsense; but one cannot help being a little less sceptical,
when higher authorities, and the proceedings of public meetings, are
consulted, which, if we are to judge by the excitement they occasion,
are not quite a farce, whatever county meetings may be in England.
The report of the committee read at the anti-tariff convention, which
took place at Philadelphia on the 5th of October, 1831, contains
amongst others, the following strongly worded passage, speaking of
“that feeling of resentment which is goaded into activity by a sense of
oppression, and embittered by the recollection, that it is the hand of
a brother that inflicts it,” it proceeds, “do you doubt its existence,
its nature, or degree; look to the character of this assembly, and the
circumstances under which it is convened: give your attention to the
history of the past, and be admonished by the novel and extraordinary
spectacle which is presented to your view—do not close your eyes
altogether to the fact, that this assembly is without parallel in the
annals of the government; that we are freemen, and the representatives
of freemen, who speak to you of our violated rights; that we have come
from different, and distant parts of the Union, to join in demanding
their restoration; that a consciousness of strength is the offspring of
united counsel; and that our purpose is not the less firm, because it
is announced to you peaceably, and in the spirit of conciliation.”
The reports of the different committees of investigation, appointed
by the opposition or tariff convention, which commenced its sittings
at New York on the 26th of October, had not appeared in print when I
quitted America.
Mr. Adams, a strong tariff man, and residing in the heart of the
tariff, states, in his last 4th of July oration, speaking of the
doctrine of “nullification,” which, he says, “contains within itself
an absurdity, importing a pretended right of one state in this Union,
by virtue of her sovereignty, to make that null and void which it
pre-supposes to be null and void before,” proceeds, by saying, “that
it is a principle under which the pillars of the Union are tottering
while he is speaking.” On the other side, Mr. Calhoun, at the head
of the anti-tariff party, and one of the cleverest men in America,
in his “sentiments upon the subject of state rights and the tariff,”
says, that “whatever diversity of opinion may exist in relation to the
principle, or the effect on the productive industry of the country
of the present, or any other tariff of protection, there are certain
political consequences flowing from the present which none can doubt,
and all must deplore. It would be in vain to attempt to conceal, that
it has divided the country into two great geographical divisions,
and arrayed them against each other, in opinion at least if not in
interest also, on some of the most vital of political subjects—on its
finance, its commerce, and its industry—subjects calculated above
all others, in time of peace, to produce excitement, and in relation
to which the tariff has placed the sections in question in deep and
dangerous conflict. If there be any point on which the (I was going to
say southern section, but to avoid, as far as possible, the painful
feelings such discussions are calculated to excite, I shall say) weaker
of the two sections is unanimous, it is that its prosperity depends in
a great measure on free trade, light taxes, economical and, as far as
possible, equal disbursements of the public revenue, and an unshackled
industry; leaving them to pursue whatever may appear most advantageous
to their interests. From the Potomac to the Mississippi there are few,
indeed, however divided on other points, who would not, if dependent on
their volition, and if they regarded the interest of their particular
section only, remove from commerce and interest every shackle, reduce
the revenue to the lowest point that the wants of the government fairly
required, and restrict the appropriations to the most moderate scale,
consistent with the peace, the security, and the engagements of the
public; and who do not believe that the opposite system is calculated
to throw on them an unequal burthen, to repress their prosperity, and
to encroach on their enjoyment. On all these deeply important measures
the opposite opinion prevails, if not with equal unanimity, with at
least a greatly preponderating majority in the other and stronger
section, so much so that no two distinct nations ever entertained
more opposite views of policy than these two sections do on all the
important points to which I have referred,” &c. &c. “The system,” he
adds in a note, “if continued, must end, not only in subjecting the
industry and property of the weaker section to the control of the
stronger, but in proscription and political disfranchisement. It must
finally control elections and appointments to offices, as well as acts
of legislation, to the great increase of the feelings of animosity, and
of the fatal tendency to a complete alienation between the sections.”
The remedy proposed by Mr. Calhoun appears exceedingly reasonable.
In three years the national debt of the United States will be paid
off, and the government will find itself in possession of a surplus
revenue of 10,000,000 or 12,000,000 of dollars, chiefly arising from
the tariff duties. The applications from the different states for
its appropriation under the internal improvement system will be
innumerable, and it will be impossible to grant them without adding a
stimulus to old causes of jealousy, and giving birth to new ones. To
adopt the system of dividing the money between the different states
is admitted, on all hands, to be unconstitutional, not only because
no such power is given by the articles of the constitution, but
because the exercise of it would tend to render the individual states
too dependent on the favour of the general government. Mr. Calhoun
recommends, that the money should be left in the pockets of the people,
and affirms that there is but one “effectual cure—an honest reduction
of the duties to a fair system of revenue, adapted to the just and
constitutional wants of the government, and that nothing short of this
will restore the country to peace, harmony, and mutual affection.”
The example of good citizenship displayed by Massachusetts during
the existence of the embargo in 1807, is now referred to as worthy
of imitation by the southern states; a total stagnation of the trade
of that state was the consequence of the Berlin decree, and the
retaliatory orders in council of the British government; and in the
opinion that the embargo was unconstitutional, the question was tried
before the supreme court of the United States, who decided in favour
of the authority of the general government. Massachusetts behaved
with the best grace imaginable, conscious that there was no medium
between submission and separation,—no alternative but acquiescence or
disunion. Her behaviour might be imitated, but under very different
circumstances. In the case of Massachusetts, the cause of the evil was
understood: it was external: it could be removed; or rather would some
day cease as a matter of course; but with South Carolina, the disease
is internal, existing in the time of peace, increasing, and most
likely, beyond the reach of any but a temporary remedy.
The first intimation I had of the existence of the tariff was likely to
have been a disagreeable one. When I landed at New York, I had with me
an excellent double-barreled fowling-piece; and I was told that I must
either pay thirty per cent. on its full value, or I could deposit it in
safe-keeping at the custom-house till my return; and in the mean time I
could purchase an American gun cheap; I was indebted to the liberality
of the gentleman presiding at the head of the custom-house, who, upon
hearing from a friend that I had not brought it to sell, but merely for
my pleasure, politely and immediately gave me an order for it.
The climate of Washington has undergone a considerable alteration
within the memory of those who have known it for the last forty
years. Its healthiness has by no means increased as the forest has
disappeared; on the contrary, the reverse effect has rather been
produced. The real nature of a climate cannot be known till it has been
rendered fit for the habitation of man; and no land can be said to be
in that condition, till it has been partially cleared and cultivated.
The process in some places renders the climate warmer, and in others
it has the effect of producing more cold; so that it does not always
follow that clearing is productive of beneficial results. Since the
forests of the Pyrenees have been gradually cut down and destroyed, the
south of France is not nearly so desirable a residence for invalids as
it was formerly. In Germany, a good effect has been produced; but not
so at Washington. The summer is still excessively hot, (the thermometer
ranging above ninety in the shade), and the winter very cold:
originally these two seasons almost divided the year between them; but
now, the weather exhibits far more of the variableness of the climate
of England. The vicissitudes of temperature are often painful, and
frequently and rapidly produced by the most violent and piercing gusts
of wind from the north-west. The cold of winter, although still very
severe, has been much mitigated of late years. In 1780, the bay of the
Chesapeake was solid ice from its head to the mouth of the Potomac; and
in some places, at Annapolis for instance, from five to seven inches
thick. In 1772, the snow in the district of Washington was nearly three
feet deep, and in some places it drifted to the depth of ten or twelve.
The length and severity of the winters have much abated; but still
the climate, as I was informed by a gentleman perfectly acquainted
with the subject, has not become more healthy. In the year 1829, the
average number of deaths for the last ten years, has been one in every
fifty-three. The greatest mortality prevails in the month of August,
and the cases are chiefly those of fever. It is owing to the malignity
and greater variety of diseases, accidents, and privations, to which
the poorer inhabitants of the more thickly peopled cities are liable,
that the annual mortality at New York is calculated as one to fifty;
and at Baltimore as one to forty-nine. In Charleston, South Carolina,
it is as one to forty: the situation being more southerly, it is not so
healthy as that of Washington.
Every part of the United States is said to be more or less unhealthy
during the summer months; but the inhabitants of the northern and
middle states, and of the high lands and ridges, excepting in the
vicinity of water, enjoy a much purer air than that breathed by the
inhabitants of the southern states, and the lower districts of the
country. An American writer remarks, that “The intermitting fever
which is confined to particular spots, seems to originate from the
exhalations of marshes, and borders of stagnant waters, though it is
a curious fact and worthy the attention of physicians, that families
who live in the neighbourhood of these places enjoy good health, while
others who inhabit the summit of the adjacent hill, are victims to
this annually returning malady. When marshy places become dry, fish,
insects, and decaying vegetable substances exposed to the action of a
burning sun, generate those gaseous miasms which, absorbed by the body,
produce weakness, sickness, and death. Ascending by their lightness
they are probably carried by the winds to a neighbouring eminence,
where settling, they form a sickly and noxious atmosphere.” I have more
than once heard it remarked, that the Americans of the present day are
not such men as their fathers, the soldiers of the war of Independence.
They can take as true an aim with a rifle, but cannot undergo the same
fatigue, and are not so long lived, generally. The inhabitants of the
more northern states of New England, are perhaps, exceptions; but in
any given number of the inhabitants of Georgia, and the Carolinas for
instance, there are not so many persons to be found of ninety years
old and upwards, as among the same number of persons living in the
country in England. I heard this from a gentleman on whose information
I believed that I could rely: yet it is singular, that according to
the census of 1830, the number of persons of a hundred years old and
upwards, should be larger in the southern than in the northern states.
The middle states could boast of a larger number of whites of a hundred
years old and upwards, than any other. New York in a population of
1,913,508 containing fifty-three, and Pennsylvania fifty-seven in a
population of 1,347,672: the total number in the United States was
2654. The largest number in any one state was in Virginia, 479, but by
far the greatest proportion of these are blacks. Mungo Park affirms
that the negroes in Africa are not a long-lived race. Speaking of the
Mandingoes, the general name for the inhabitants of the country watered
by the Gambia, he says, “They seldom attain extreme old age. At forty,
many of them become grey haired, and covered with wrinkles, but few of
them survive the age of fifty-five or fifty.” It is singular that they
should attain a greater age in the United States. By the table which
shows the number of persons of one hundred years old and upwards, it
will be seen that the proportion of blacks of that age greatly exceeds
that of the whites; but it may be remarked, that the ages of the
blacks are not so well known as those of the whites; and the accuracy
therefore of the census, as it respects the ages of this class, is less
to be relied on. It may be remarked, that Dr. Ramsay, the historian of
South Carolina, asserts, that those individuals who have been born and
brought up in the northern states, and who have afterwards migrated to
the south, are usually more robust, more capable of withstanding the
climate, and are longer lived than the natives of the south. Certain
it is, that the Americans in general have not the healthy look of
the Englishman. The men are often tall, very powerful, particularly
in Kentucky, and well proportioned; but their complexions are not
unfrequently sallow, and climate-worn, with a countenance resembling
that of a person just recovered from an illness. This is partly the
consequence of the climate, partly of their mode of living and their
love of ardent spirits, still fatally prevalent. I am speaking of
traveller’s fare when I say, that the tavern tables are always well
and plentifully supplied; but no viands are thought so palatable as
those that are swimming in melted butter. A beef steak that would be
excellent if cooked _au naturel_, is almost invariably placed at the
head of the table, and in this manner almost invariably spoiled. At
breakfast the bread and cakes cannot be too new, or too hot; and fresh
supplies arrive during the meal, which is usually despatched with the
most extraordinary rapidity. At New York I once had the tablecloth
whisked from under my plate by the impatient servants. The natural
consequence is, an extreme prevalence of dyspepsia in all parts of the
United States, which is not lessened by the incredible quantity of
soda water, sweetened with different syrups, which is consumed by the
Americans during the hot weather. At Baltimore I have drank, I think,
the finest soda water I ever tasted.
The inns, or taverns, as they are called, which I met with were
generally good, particularly in the towns; those in the country,
however, were sometimes exceedingly dirty and disagreeable. I have
almost always found the greatest disposition on the part of the
landlord to render them as comfortable as possible, and have very
seldom failed in my application for a room with a single bed, some
of them containing as many as four or five. The Americans think
nothing of this. Upon one occasion, in Kentucky, where I had secured a
single-bedded room, the landlord who appeared to have been surprised,
and thought I must be ill, came up to me shortly afterwards, and most
good-naturedly told me, that my room was ready: “As you’re unwell, sir,
I guessed you’d like to retire directly.” The expense of living at the
best inns in the United States varies from two to three dollars a day.
For this sum a person is provided with a bed, and four meals at stated
hours. A coffee-room in the hotel for eating and drinking at one’s own
time, is a luxury the Americans have not yet attained to; at least I
do not remember to have seen one anywhere. I did not find the regular
hours so troublesome as I expected, as the great heat rendered it
impossible for weeks together to take any thing like severe exercise,
excepting at a very early hour of the morning, or after six o’clock
in the evening. I would instance Mr. Head’s table at Philadelphia, as
the best in the United States. There was a quiet gentlemanlike style
about it, that I never saw surpassed, or hardly equalled, by a table
d’hôte in any country. I wish I could speak as well of the bed-rooms in
that respect; I much prefer those at Mr. Barnum’s at Baltimore, and Mr.
Gadsby’s at Washington. Take it altogether, the Tremont at Boston, is
by far the best hotel in the States. Ice is to be had in the greatest
plenty in all parts of the United States; I have even found it as a
luxury at my toilette. On the subject of eating ices, I found that
nobody would touch a water ice, and that in general cream ices only
were to be met with, even at the best shops.
The most fearful enemy of health is ardent spirits, which, by those
who drink them at all, are taken at all hours, from four in the
morning till twelve at night, and swallowed under the various and
subdued appellations of bitters, egg-nogg, mint-julep, and many others;
all sounding watery enough to have captivated Sangrado himself. The
Temperance Societies are an honour to the country. There are about
1000 of them in the United States, composed of 1,200,000 members, and
affecting about 2,000,000 of individuals directly or indirectly. They
have caused the suppression of 1000 distilleries, and 3000 retail
stores. The members solemnly promise that they will not touch a drop of
any kind of spirits: of course, the rules of the society are sometimes
broken, particularly as they allow wine and brandy when ordered by
the doctor. I have heard it observed by those who are unfriendly to
these associations, that an individual who cannot abstain from spirits
without belonging to a temperance society, will not refrain when he
becomes a member; but there is a vast difference between the strength
of a resolution made to oneself, and known only to oneself, and a
promise solemnly and publicly given, where fulfilment is demanded
by honour, the fear of shame, and the duty of example. It is always
observed, that when a member of the society has once relapsed into his
old habits, his course is one of recklessness and desperation. That
the societies have done good is undeniable, by their influence on the
wholesale trade in spirits at New York.
END OF VOL. I.
Manning and Smithson, Printers, London-house Yard, St. Paul’s.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Inconsistent hyphenations have been left as is.
Page 50. “fifty cents. per annum” replaced by “fifty cents per annum”.
Page 58. “fashionble” replaced by “fashionable”.
Page 85. “cerous virginianus” replaced by “cervus virginianus”.
Page 113. “enojoyment” replaced by “enojoyment”.
Page 201. “represensatives” replaced by “representatives”.
Page 205. “choise” replaced by “choice”.
Page 208. ‘“the Cherokee case;’ replaced by ‘“the Cherokee case;”’.
Page 240. “40,000l,” replaced by “40,000l.”.
Page 252. Removed duplicated the across page boundary.
Page 274. “neighbonrhood” replaced by “neighbourhood”.