We have been as far south as Richmond in Virginia (where they grow and
manufacture tobacco, and where the labour is all performed by slaves),
but the season in those latitudes is so intensely and prematurely hot,
that it was considered a matter of doubtful expediency to go on to
Charleston. For this unexpected reason, and because the country between
Richmond and Charleston is but a desolate swamp the whole way, and
because slavery is anything but a cheerful thing to live amidst, I have
altered my route by the advice of Mr. Clay (the great political leader
in this country), and have returned here previous to diving into the far
West. We start for that part of the country--which includes mountain
travelling, and lake travelling, and prairie travelling--the day after
to-morrow, at eight o'clock in the morning; and shall be in the West,
and from there going northward again, until the 30th of April or 1st of
May, when we shall halt for a week at Niagara, before going further into
Canada. We have taken our passage home (God bless the word) in the
_George Washington_ packet-ship from New York. She sails on the 7th of
June.
I have departed from my resolution not to accept any more public
entertainments; they have been proposed in every town I have visited--in
favour of the people of St. Louis, my utmost western point. That town is
on the borders of the Indian territory, a trifling distance from this
place--only two thousand miles! At my second halting-place I shall be
able to write to fix the day; I suppose it will be somewhere about the
12th of April. Think of my going so far towards the setting sun to
dinner!
In every town where we stay, though it be only for a day, we hold a
regular levee or drawing-room, where I shake hands on an average with
five or six hundred people, who pass on from me to Kate, and are shaken
again by her. Maclise's picture of our darlings stands upon a table or
sideboard the while; and my travelling secretary, assisted very often by
a committee belonging to the place, presents the people in due form.
Think of two hours of this every day, and the people coming in by
hundreds, all fresh, and piping hot, and full of questions, when we are
literally exhausted and can hardly stand. I really do believe that if I
had not a lady with me, I should have been obliged to leave the country
and go back to England. But for her they never would leave me alone by
day or night, and as it is, a slave comes to me now and then in the
middle of the night with a letter, and waits at the bedroom door for an
answer.
It was so hot at Richmond that we could scarcely breathe, and the peach
and other fruit trees were in full blossom; it was so cold at Washington
next day that we were shivering; but even in the same town you might
often wear nothing but a shirt and trousers in the morning, and two
greatcoats at night, the thermometer very frequently taking a little
trip of thirty degrees between sunrise and sunset.
They do lay it on at the hotels in such style! They charge by the day,
so that whether one dines out or dines at home makes no manner of
difference. T'other day I wrote to order our rooms at Philadelphia to be
ready on a certain day, and was detained a week longer than I expected
in New York. The Philadelphia landlord not only charged me half rent
for the rooms during the whole of that time, but board for myself and
Kate and Anne during the whole time too, though we were actually
boarding at the same expense during the same time in New York! What do
you say to that? If I remonstrated, the whole virtue of the newspapers
would be aroused directly.
We were at the President's drawing-room while we were in Washington. I
had a private audience besides, and was asked to dinner, but couldn't
stay.
Parties--parties--parties--of course, every day and night. But it's not
all parties. I go into the prisons, the police-offices, the
watch-houses, the hospitals, the workhouses. I was out half the night in
New York with two of their most famous constables; started at midnight,
and went into every brothel, thieves' house, murdering hovel, sailors'
dancing-place, and abode of villany, both black and white, in the town.
I went _incog._ behind the scenes to the little theatre where Mitchell
is making a fortune. He has been rearing a little dog for me, and has
called him "Boz."[1] I am going to bring him home. In a word I go
everywhere, and a hard life it is. But I am careful to drink hardly
anything, and not to smoke at all. I have recourse to my medicine-chest
whenever I feel at all bilious, and am, thank God, thoroughly well.
When I next write to you, I shall have begun, I hope, to turn my face
homeward. I have a great store of oddity and whimsicality, and am going
now into the oddest and most characteristic part of this most queer
country.
Always direct to the care of David Colden, Esq., 28, Laight Street,
Hudson Square, New York. I received your Caledonia letter with the
greatest joy.
Kate sends her best remembrances.
And I am always.
P.S.--Richmond was my extreme southern point, and I turn from the South
altogether the day after to-morrow. Will you let the Britannia[2] know
of this change--if needful?
[Sidenote: Dr. F. H. Deane.]