known languages of the world. The Latin is nearly as good; and the
English is probably not inferior to any of the others. But all
languages, _abstractedly considered_, are poor:—poor as to the precision
of thought, the expression of sentiment, and the harmony of diction.
The usual manner of acquiring a knowledge of foreign languages, is both
unnatural and tedious. Foreign languages should be acquired precisely as
we learn our native tongue. In becoming acquainted with our own
language, we acquire a knowledge of language in the abstract; and this
knowledge applies to all foreign languages. There must, for example, be
in every language a name attached to a thing, and also a mode of
conveying an idea of the qualities of that thing. The particular meaning
of a word, the manner of its pronunciation, the combinations of the
several necessary parts of speech, and other peculiarities of language,
depend upon compact;—upon the common consent of each distinct people.
Hence the great diversity of languages.
{256} To become what is generally understood by the phrase a linguist,
it is necessary to possess only a common understanding, accompanied by a
good memory and by application; but to become a real philological
scholar requires genius.
I now return to the vessel, and find her in the latitude of Cape Fear.
Here we experienced a very heavy squall, took in several of our sails,
lowered our main peak, and scud. The scene was highly interesting. At
this time a little black schooner from Bassatere hurried by us, like the
messenger of death, and our captain hailed her, through night. The sea
laboured in wrath, and the moon, partially covered by a cloud, looked at
the storm askance.
The next day the weather was calm, and for several succeeding evenings
delightful. During these, there were many vessels in sight, and we spoke
the brig Commerce.
From Cape Hatteras to the latitude of 40, we experienced very favourable
winds; and during most of the time progressed at the rate of ten knots
per hour. I now considered my course nearly finished; and it was natural
for me to reflect upon the voyage of _human life_. The ocean is, in many
respects, a true emblem of man’s probationary state.—Its rolling waves
resemble successive generations; its storms and calms remind him of
human vicissitudes; the rocks of its coasts speak of the stability of
virtue; and its havens direct the thoughts to the security and peace of
a better world.
After a passage of thirty days, I arrived at Boston, immediately
proceeded to New-Hampshire, and there found my friends in the enjoyment
of that protection, which results from the wisdom of our laws, when
aided by the approbation of a virtuous community.
THE END
-----
Footnote 1:
These biographical details are from Bell, _Bench and Bar of
New-Hampshire_ (Boston, 1894), p. 343.
Footnote 2:
This description of the natives is given as they were found in 1805.
How far they have since become conformed to civilized life, the author
is unable to say.—BUTTRICK.
Footnote 3:
For a description of Albany written a few years later, see Evans’s
_Tour, post_.
Buttrick followed the Genesee Road, the well-established route to Lake
Erie. In 1794 the legislature had appropriated money for the
construction of a road six rods wide from old Fort Schuyler (Utica) to
the Genesee River at Canawagus (Avon, twenty-seven miles south of Lake
Ontario), passing the outlets of Cayuga, Seneca, and Canandaigua
lakes. Being but little better than an Indian path in 1797, lotteries
were authorized for its improvement. In 1799 a stage began to run over
the road, and the following year it was made into a turnpike. A
highway was opened the same year from the Genesee River to Buffalo,
thus completing the connection between Albany and Lake Erie.—ED.
Footnote 4:
Old Fort Schuyler was erected upon the present site of Utica during
the French and Indian War (1758), for the defense of the frontier, but
was not maintained after the Treaty of Paris. The village was first
settled in 1787–88, its importance dating from the construction of the
Genesee or State Road. It obtained a city charter in 1832.
The site of Canandaigua, at the foot of Canandaigua Lake, was selected
by Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham for the principal town of their
purchase; they and a company of associates having bought from
Massachusetts (1788) her pre-emption rights to land in
New-York—namely, to all territory west of a line drawn through Seneca
Lake. The village was surveyed and opened for settlement in 1789, and
the following year contained eighteen families and a hundred other
persons.
Bloomfield, the location of an old Seneca village, is nine miles
north-west of Canandaigua, and was surveyed and settled at the same
time, chiefly by emigrants from Sheffield, Mass.—ED.
Footnote 5:
Batavia bore the same relation to the Holland Purchase that
Canandaigua bore to that of Phelps and Gorham. These proprietors
extinguished the Indian title to their land only as far,
approximately, as the Genesee River. Being unable to pay for the
remainder, they returned it to Massachusetts (March, 1791), which, two
days later, resold it to Robert Morris. He, in turn, sold to a company
of associates in Amsterdam (1793), and the tract became known as the
Holland Purchase. The Holland Company marked off a village and opened
a land office (October, 1800) at Batavia, in an unsettled wilderness
fifty miles west of Canandaigua. Two years later they surveyed and
placed upon the market a second village, called by them New Amsterdam,
and located at the mouth of Buffalo Creek. This stream being well
known on the frontier, the name was transferred to the settlement, and
“New Amsterdam” never came into general use. Buffalo received a
charter in 1813. See Turner, _History of the Holland Purchase_
(Buffalo, 1850).—ED.
Footnote 6:
Old Fort Erie, at the head of Niagara River, on its western bank, was
built by the English in 1764. The location proving unsatisfactory, a
new fort farther back from the river was begun in 1805, and completed
at the outbreak of the War of 1812–15. This was captured by the
Americans, July 3, 1814. Although successfully resisting the siege of
the British during August following, the fort was blown up in
September and the troops retired to Buffalo. It was never rebuilt.—ED.
Footnote 7:
General Isaac Brock, born in Guernsey in 1760, entered the English
army, and after serving in Jamaica and Barbados, came to Canada in
1802. He was placed in command at Fort Niagara, and in 1811 was
appointed lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada. Immediately upon the
outbreak of the War of 1812–15, he ordered an attack upon Mackinac,
and marched with the main body of his troops to Detroit, receiving
Hull’s surrender in August, 1812. Brock planned a most efficient
defense of Upper Canada, but was killed in the American attack on
Queenstown (October, 1812). Perhaps no English officer has been more
beloved by the people of Upper Canada; several towns have been named
in his honor, and a monument was erected to him on Queenstown
Heights.—ED.
Footnote 8:
When the English withdrew from Fort Niagara, in accordance with the
provisions of Jay’s Treaty, they constructed this fort directly across
the river. It was captured by the Americans (May 27, 1813), but
abandoned at the end of the year. After the War of 1812–15 it was
dismantled and allowed to fall into decay.—ED.
Footnote 9:
For the early history of Fort Niagara, see Long’s _Voyages_, volume ii
of our series, note 19.—ED.
Footnote 10:
The Black Rock ferry across the Niagara River was in existence as
early as 1796, and was much used for transporting merchandise,
especially salt. It owed its name to the low black rock about a
hundred feet broad, from which teams entered the ferry. Passing into
the control of the state in 1802, the ferry continued to run until
1824, when the harbor was destroyed and the black rock blown up in the
construction of the Erie Canal. The village of Black Rock was laid out
in 1804, but grew very slowly, and in 1853 was incorporated in the
city of Buffalo.—ED.
Footnote 11:
For notes on the places mentioned in this paragraph, see A. Michaux’s
_Travels_, volume iii of our series: Pittsburg, note 11; Wheeling,
note 15; Marietta, note 16; Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series:
Cincinnati, note 166; Croghan’s _Journals_, volume i of our series:
Louisville, note 106; F. A. Michaux’s _Travels_, volume iii of our
series: Frankfort, note 39.—ED.
Footnote 12:
This village was probably on the Allegheny reservation—one of the ten
reservations retained by the Seneca Indians when the Holland Company
in 1797 extinguished their title. It lay along the Allegheny River,
extending from the Pennsylvania line north-eastward about twenty-five
miles.—ED.
Footnote 13:
The Great Western Turnpike was the second road leading into western
New-York. Unlike the Genesee Road, it was built by private companies
and in several sections. The First Great Western Turnpike was built
from Albany to Cherry Valley in 1802. At the time of Buttrick’s voyage
it had been extended by the fourth Great Western Turnpike Company as
far as Homer, a hundred and fifty miles from Albany. It was later
continued past the head of Cayuga and Seneca lakes, and under the Lake
Erie and Oil Spring Turnpike Company was completed to Lake Erie,
terminating just north of the Pennsylvania boundary line.—ED.
Footnote 14:
A small settlement was begun at Olean Point in 1804. For some time its
projectors expected it to become an important place on the route of
Western immigration; on one occasion two thousand people are said to
have collected there, while waiting for navigation to open. But with
the construction of the Erie Canal, the Allegheny route to the West
was abandoned and Olean lay dormant, until the development of the oil
interests in south-western New-York gave it new life.—ED.
Footnote 15:
The hard times following the War of 1812–15 caused a great increase in
immigration from New-England, especially Maine. The “Ohio fever”
became a well-known expression for this desire to move West, and in
the years 1815–16 it deprived Maine of fifteen thousand of her
inhabitants. See Chamberlain, _Maine: Her Place in History_ (Augusta,
1877).—ED.
Footnote 16:
For the early history of Shippingsport, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv
of our series, note 171.—ED.
Footnote 17:
A brief account of New Madrid may be found in Cuming’s _Tour_, vol. iv
of our series, note 185.
For a description of an earthquake on the Mississippi River, see
Bradbury’s _Travels_, vol. v of our series, pp. 204–210.—ED.
Footnote 18:
For the early history of Natchez, consult F. A. Michaux’s _Travels_,
vol. iii of our series, note 53.—ED.
Footnote 19:
Lake Pontchartrain was discovered by Iberville on his exploring
expedition in 1699, and named in honor of Count Pontchartrain,
chancellor of France under Louis XIV.—ED.
Footnote 20:
For the Choctaw Indians, see Cuming’s _Tour_, volume iv of our series,
note 187.—ED.
Footnote 21:
This road extended from Columbia, Tennessee, forty-five miles
south-west of Nashville to Madisonville, Louisiana, two miles north of
Lake Pontchartrain. It was begun under the direction of the war
department (March, 1816), and was one of three roads constructed about
that time by United States troops.—ED.
Footnote 22:
Beginning with the Mississippi River at 34° 30′, this boundary was an
artificial line drawn south-east to Noosacheahn Creek, thence
following that creek to the Tombigbee River.—ED.
Footnote 23:
For further information on the customs of the Chickasaw and Choctaw
Indians, consult Adair, American Indians (London, 1775); Pickett,
_History of Alabama_ (Charleston, 1851).—ED.
Footnote 24:
A brief account of Nashville and Lexington may be found in A.
Michaux’s _Travels_, vol. iii of our series, notes 28, 103.—ED.
Footnote 25:
Madison, on the Ohio River fifty miles above Louisville and the
county-seat of Jefferson County, Indiana, was settled in 1808. A
description of its appearance in 1816 states that it contained three
or four brick houses, twenty frame houses, and about a hundred
cabins.—ED.
Footnote 26:
Lower Sandusky, at the head of navigation of the Sandusky River, was
until Wayne’s victory at Fallen Timbers, an important Wyandot village.
A fort was built there during the War of 1812–15, for the history of
which see Evans’s _Tour, post_, note 52. From the close of the war the
growth of settlement was continuous. About 1850 the name of the town
was changed to Fremont, in honor of the Rocky Mountain explorer.—ED.
Footnote 27:
This village was laid out in 1816 at the mouth of Cold Creek, three
miles west of Sandusky City. It developed but slowly, owing to the
unhealthfulness of the climate; see Flint’s _Letters_, vol. ix of our
series. Flour mills were constructed in 1833, and it became a centre
for the industry in Ohio.—ED.
Footnote 28:
President Monroe made two tours. On the first, lasting from May to the
middle of September, 1817, he visited the New-England States,
journeyed thence through New-York to Niagara, west to Detroit, and
returned to Washington via Zanesville and Pittsburg. On the second,
undertaken in 1819, he went as far south as Augusta, Georgia, passed
through the Cherokee region to Nashville, and thence to Louisville and
Lexington.—ED.
Footnote 29:
Fort Malden, or Amherstburg, on the Canadian shore sixteen miles south
of Detroit, was established by the British in 1798, soon after they
had evacuated Detroit in accordance with the terms of Jay’s Treaty.
During the War of 1812–15, it was occupied by General Proctor until
Perry’s naval victory (September, 1813) compelled him to retreat.
Before leaving, he set fire to the fort and it was not rebuilt until
1839.—ED.
Footnote 30:
For the early history of Detroit, see Croghan’s _Journals_, vol. i of
our series, note 18.—ED.
Footnote 31:
An account of these battles is given in Evans’s _Tour, post_, note
63.—ED.
Footnote 32:
Buttrick was now in the Black Swamp; for a description of which, see
Evans’s _Tour, post_.—ED.
Footnote 33:
General Wayne built a fort at Greenville, seventy miles north of
Cincinnati, in December, 1793, and marched thence against the Indians.
He made it his headquarters after the victory at Fallen Timbers, and
there (August, 1795), the treaty of peace was signed. The village was
laid out in 1808.—ED.
Footnote 34:
Portland, falling within the Connecticut “firelands,” was laid out by
Zalmon Wildman of Danbury, Connecticut, in 1816, in the centre of his
tract. A few years later the plat was enlarged and the name changed to
Sandusky City.—ED.
Footnote 35:
This island, twelve miles north-west of Sandusky City, owed its first
name to a French Indian trader called Cunningham, who lived there from
1808 to 1812. It contained few inhabitants—only six acres having been
cleared—when in 1833 the greater part of it was purchased by Datus and
Irad Kelley. In 1840 the name was by legislative enactment changed to
Kelley’s Island.—ED.
Footnote 36:
It is an inflammation of the conjunctiva, with a purulent
discharge.—ED.
Footnote 37:
Geneva was originally the site of a populous Seneca village. Lying
within the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, it was surveyed by them in
1789; settlement began immediately, the village containing fifteen
houses in 1791. In 1797 a newspaper, _Ontario Gazette and Genesee
Advertiser_, was established. Geneva was incorporated, June, 1812.—ED.
Footnote 38:
The Erie Canal was constructed in three sections; the middle section,
extending from Seneca River to Utica, being completed by 1820. The
history of the construction of this canal is most interesting. As
early as 1808 the legislature ordered a survey of a feasible route.
Two years later a board of canal commissioners was established.
Unsuccessful in appealing to the national government for aid, DeWitt
Clinton presented an elaborate memorial to the legislature (1816),
signed also by the other commissioners. The bill authorizing its
construction was passed in April, 1817, and work was begun at Rome on
July 4 following. It was completed in 1825 and opened with much
ceremony.—ED.
Footnote 39:
Here was at one time an important Mohawk village, the capital of the
Five Nations. In 1662 Van Curler and certain other Dutchmen in Albany
and Renselaerswyck bought the land from the Mohawk and founded the
present city of Schenectady. Being a frontier town, it suffered
severely in the early Indian wars, and in February, 1690, a general
massacre of the inhabitants occurred.—ED.
Footnote 40:
Amherst, on the Souhegan River, twenty-eight miles south of Concord,
is situated on the tract of land granted by the general court of
Massachusetts (1733), to the families of soldiers who had served in
King Philip’s War (1674–76). It was incorporated in 1760, and named in
honor of Lord Jeffrey Amherst, at that time commander general in
America.—ED.
Footnote 41:
Milford is on the Souhegan, five miles south-west of Amherst. It is
located partly on the Amherst Grant, partly on the Duxbury School Farm
(land granted to Duxbury by the general court of Massachusetts to aid
in establishing schools). Settlement was begun about 1750, and the
town was incorporated in January, 1794.—ED.
Footnote 42:
Milton is a misprint for Wilton, a town on the Souhegan, nine miles
west of Amherst.
Temple is three miles west of Wilton.—ED.
Footnote 43:
Keene, fifty-five miles south-west of Concord, has become one of the
most important manufacturing cities in New-Hampshire. It was first
settled in 1734; but Indian attacks becoming frequent, was abandoned
from 1747 to 1753.
Marlborough, five miles south-east of Keene, is part of a grant made
by Massachusetts (1751), to Timothy Dwight and sixty-one
associates.—ED.
Footnote 44:
Fort Dummer was erected on the present site of Brattleborough as early
as 1724. The land in that region was granted by George II (1753) to
certain men of Massachusetts, among them William Brattle, after whom
the town was named.—ED.
Footnote 45:
From Brattleborough to Albany, Evans followed a much travelled route.
As early as 1774, a road had been made from Albany to Bennington,
thence directly east for forty miles to Brattleborough. A line of
stages was established in 1814, which made the trip between the two
places in one day. It was considered the easiest and safest route to
Boston.—ED.
Footnote 46:
A play written by Henry Brooke (1706–83), containing reflections on
the Prime Minister (Robert Walpole). It was not allowed to be put on
the stage in 1739, but later was printed by the author, the Prince of
Wales subscribing for four hundred copies. Dr. Johnson vindicated it
and scored the government for attempting its suppression.—ED.
Footnote 47:
Bennington was the first township granted within the present state of
Vermont, being chartered by Benning Wentworth, governor of
New-Hampshire, in 1749. Settlement was not begun, however, until the
fall of 1761.—ED.
Footnote 48:
The Great Western Turnpike did not pass through Schenectady, but was
the one that led to Cherry Valley, while the Schenectady road
connected with the state road, which extended to Buffalo. Strictly
speaking, the two roads did not meet but ran nearly parallel to Lake
Erie; however, a turnpike leading from Cherry Valley to Saline
(Syracuse), intersected the state road at about the distance stated.
Evans took this path. For the Great Western and State roads, see
Buttrick’s _Voyages_, _ante_, notes 2 and 12.—ED.
Footnote 49:
For a brief account of the Erie Canal, see Buttrick’s _Voyages_,
_ante_, note 37.—ED.
Footnote 50:
Wayne’s campaign, 1793–94, terminated in victory at the decisive
battle of Fallen Timbers (August 20, 1794), where the confederated
Indians under Little Turtle were completely routed.—ED.
Footnote 51:
Evans was now passing through the settlements of the Schoharie and
upper Susquehanna valleys. They had constituted the western frontier
of New-York in the period of the Revolutionary War, and in consequence
had borne the brunt of the Iroquois and Loyalist attacks under the
leadership of Joseph Brant. The Susquehanna Valley was virtually
reconverted into a wilderness, the most important single attack being
the Cherry Valley massacre, November 11, 1778. The first settlers had
been chiefly Palatine Germans and Scotch-Irish; those that repeopled
the country after the war were almost entirely from New-England. See
Halsey, _Old New-York Frontier_ (New-York, 1901).—ED.
Footnote 52:
A fortified town on the Dniester in Bessarabia, Russia, where Charles
XII took refuge after the battle of Poltowa.—ED.
Footnote 53:
At Onondaga village was formerly located the council house of the Six
Nations. In the treaty of Fort Stanwix (1788) this village was
retained as a reservation; but ten years later a large part of it was
sold to the state, and the town of Onondaga was incorporated
thereon.—ED.
Footnote 54:
Evans was now in the military district. The legislature (1789) had set
aside 1,680,000 acres as bounty land for the soldiers of the
Revolutionary War. The tract extended from the eastern border of
Onondaga County to Seneca Lake, and was surveyed into twenty-eight
townships, upon which the governor bestowed classical names.—ED.
Footnote 55:
The Housatonic Indians who had formed a mission settlement at
Stockbridge, Massachusetts, were granted a township by the Oneida—the
present New Stockbridge, Madison County. Thither, immediately after
the Revolutionary War, they removed to the number of about four
hundred. The Brothertown Indians had preceded them. In 1774 the Oneida
had given to the remnant of Narragansetts, Pequots, and other tribes
living for the most part at Montville and Farmington, Connecticut, a
piece of land fourteen miles south of the present Utica. They
emigrated with their pastor and organized a new tribe, the Brothertown
Indians. Both tribes later removed to Wisconsin, the Stockbridge
Indians settling at South Kaukauna on Fox River (1822–29), and the
Brothertown Indians on the east side of Lake Winnebago a few years
later. See Davidson, _In Unnamed Wisconsin_ (Milwaukee, 1895).—ED.
Footnote 56:
At Geneva, Evans left the military district and entered the Phelps and
Gorham Purchase. For a brief account of this tract and the towns
located upon it, see Buttrick’s _Voyages_, _ante_, notes 3 and 36.—ED.
Footnote 57:
For the Holland Purchase, see Buttrick’s _Voyages_, _ante_, note
4.—ED.
Footnote 58:
The tyrant.—EVANS.
Footnote 59:
The modern name is Tonawanda Creek. It rises near the northern
boundary of Wyoming County, New-York, and enters Niagara River ten
miles north of Buffalo. The Indian village was part of a reservation
containing seventy square miles retained by the Seneca, when in 1797
they sold their lands to the Holland Company.—ED.
Footnote 60:
A brief account of the Tuscarora migration may be found in Long’s
_Voyages_, vol. ii of our series, note 12.—ED.
Footnote 61:
The first building on the site of Lewiston was constructed by La
Salle’s party in December, 1678. In spite of the protests of Governor
Burnet of New-York, Joncaire established (1720) a small French trading
post at this point, “a kind of cabin of bark, where they displayed the
king’s colors.” It was soon replaced by a blockhouse inclosed by
palisades; but after Fort Niagara was rebuilt (1726), this post was
allowed to fall into decay. Lewiston was surveyed (1798) for a village
site by the Holland Company, and in 1800 contained about ten families.
It was a port of entry from 1811 to 1863.—ED.
Footnote 62:
For the early history of Fort Niagara, see Long’s _Voyages_, vol. ii
of our series, note 19.—ED.
Footnote 63:
Ninian Pinckney, brother of the statesman William Pinckney, was born
at Baltimore (1776), and entered the United States army in 1799.
Serving as aide to General Wilkinson in 1813, he was promoted the
following year to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He also gained some
fame as a writer, by publishing (1809) _Travels in the South of
France_, which “set all the idle world to going to France to live on
the charming banks of the Loire.” He died at Baltimore in 1825.—ED.
Footnote 64: