appearance of the judges who preside in them, and at their manners on
the bench; but this smile must be suppressed when it is recollected,
that there is no country, perhaps, in the world, where justice is more
impartially administered, or more easily obtained by those who have been
injured. The judges in the country parts of Pennsylvania are no more
than plain farmers, who from their infancy have been accustomed to
little else than following the plough. The laws expressly declare that
there must be, at least, three judges resident in every county; now as
the salary allowed is but a mere trifle, no lawyer would accept of the
office, which of course must be filled from amongst the inhabitants[18],
who are all in a happy state of mediocrity, and on a perfect equality
with each other. The district judge, however, who presides in the
district or circuit, has a larger salary, and is a man of a different
cast. The district or circuit consists of at least three, but not more
than six counties. The county judges, which I have mentioned, are
“judges of the court of common pleas, and by virtue of their offices
also justices of oyer and terminer, and general gaol delivery, for the
trial of capital and other offenders therein.” Any two judges compose
the court of quarter sessions. Under certain regulations, established by
law, the accused party has the power of removing the proceedings into
the supreme court, which has jurisdiction over every part of the state.
This short account of the courts relates only to Pennsylvania: every
state in the union has a separate code of laws for itself, and a
distinct judicature.
Footnote 18:
This is also the case in Philadelphia, where we find practising
physicians and surgeons sitting on the bench as judges in a court of
justice.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+LETTER + X.
_Of the Country near York.—Of the Soil of the Country on each Side of
the Blue Mountains.—Frederic-town.—Change in the Inhabitants and in
the Country as you proceed towards the Sea.—Numbers of Slaves.—Tobacco
chiefly cultivated.—Inquisitiveness of the People at the
Taverns.—Observations thereon.—Description of the Great Falls of the
Patowmac River.—George Town.—Of the Country between that Place and
Hoe’s Ferry.—Poisonous Vines.—Port Tobacco.—Wretched Appearance of the
Country bordering upon the Ferry.—Slaves neglected.—Passage_ _of the
Patowmac very dangerous.—Fresh Water Oysters.—Landed on a deserted
Part of the Virginian Shore.—Great Hospitality of the Virginians._
Stratford, March.
IN the neighbourhood of York and Lancaster, the soil consists of a rich,
brown, loamy earth; and if you proceed in a south westerly course,
parallel to the Blue Mountains, you meet with the same kind of soil as
far as Frederic in Maryland. Here it changes gradually to a deep reddish
colour, and continues much the same along the eastern side of the
mountains, all the way down to North Carolina. On crossing over the
mountains, however, directly from Frederic, the same fertile brown soil,
which is common in the neighbourhood of York and Lancaster, is again met
with, and it is found throughout the Shenandoah Valley, and as far down
as the Carolinas, on the west side of the mountains.
[Sidenote: FACE OF THE COUNTRY.]
Between York and Frederic in Maryland there are two or three small
towns; viz. Hanover, Petersburgh, and Woodsburg, but there is nothing
worthy of mention in any of them. Frederic contains about seven hundred
houses and five churches, two of which are for German Lutherans, one for
Presbyterians, one for Calvinists, and one for Baptists. It is a
flourishing town, and carries on a brisk inland trade. The arsenal of
the state of Maryland is placed here, the situation being secure and
central.
From Frederic I proceeded in a southerly course through Montgomery
county in Maryland. In this direction the soil changes to a yellowish
sort of clay mixed with gravel, and continues much the same until you
come to the federal city, beyond which, as I have before mentioned, it
becomes more and more sandy as you approach the sea coast. The change in
the face of the country after leaving Frederic is gradual, but at the
end of a day’s journey a striking difference is perceptible. Instead of
well cultivated fields, green with wheat, such as are met with along
that rich track which runs contiguous to the mountains, large pieces of
land, which have been worn out with the culture of tobacco, are here
seen lying waste, with scarcely an herb to cover them. Instead of the
furrows of the plough, the marks of the hoe appear on the ground; the
fields are overspread with little hillocks for the reception of tobacco
plants, and the eye is assailed in every direction with the unpleasant
sight of gangs of male and female slaves toiling under the harsh
commands of the overseer. The difference in the manners of the
inhabitants is also great. Instead of being amongst the phlegmatic
Germans, a traveller finds himself again in the midst of an inquisitive
and prying set of Americans, to gratify whose curiosity it is always
necessary to devote a certain portion of time after alighting at a
tavern.
[Sidenote: FALLS OF THE PATOWMAC.]
A traveller on arriving in America may possibly imagine, that it is the
desire of obtaining useful information which leads the people, wherever
he stops, to accost him; and that the particular enquiries respecting
the object of his pursuits, the place of his abode, and that of his
destination, &c. are made to prepare the way for questions of a more
general nature, and for conversation that may be attended with some
amusement to him; he therefore readily answers them, hoping in return to
gain information about the country through which he passes; but when it
is found that these questions are asked merely through an idle and
impertinent curiosity, and that by far the greater part of the people
who ask them are ignorant, boorish fellows; when it is found that those
who can keep up some little conversation immediately begin to talk upon
politics, and to abuse every country excepting their own; when, lastly,
it is found that the people scarcely ever give satisfactory answers at
first to the enquiries which are made by a stranger respecting their
country, but always hesitate, as if suspicious that he was asking these
questions to procure some local information, in order to enable him to
overreach them in a bargain, or to make some speculation in land to
their injury; the traveller then loses all patience at this disagreeable
and prying disposition, and feels disposed to turn from them with
disgust; still, however, if he wishes to go through the country
peaceably, and without quarrelling at every place where he stops, it is
absolutely necessary to answer some few of their questions.
Having followed the high way as far as Montgomery court-house, which is
about thirty miles from Frederic, I turned off along a bye road running
through the woods, in order to see the great falls of Patowmac River.
The view of them from the Maryland shore is very pleasing, but not so
much so as that from the opposite side. Having reached the river
therefore close to the falls, I rode along through the woods, with which
its banks are covered, for some distance higher up, to a place where
there was a ferry, and where I crossed into Virginia. From the place
where I landed to the Falls, which is a distance of about three miles,
there is a wild romantic path running along the margin of the river, and
winding at the same time round the base of a high hill covered with
lofty trees and rocks. Near to the shore, almost the whole way, there
are clusters of small islands covered with trees, which suddenly
opposing the rapid course of the stream, form very dangerous eddies, in
which boats are frequently lost when navigated by men who are not active
and careful. On the shore prodigious heaps of white sand are washed up
by the waves, and in many places the path is rendered almost impassable
by piles of large trees, which have been brought down from the upper
country by floods, and drifted together.
[Sidenote: PORT TOBACCO.]
The river, at the ferry which I mentioned, is about one mile and a
quarter wide, and it continues much the same breadth as far as the
falls, where it is considerably contracted and confined in its channel
by immense rocks on either side. There also its course is very suddenly
altered, so much so indeed, that below the falls for a short distance it
runs in an opposite direction from what it did above, but soon after it
resumes its former course. The water does not descend perpendicularly,
excepting in one part close to the Virginian shore, where the height is
about thirty feet, but comes rushing down with tremendous impetuosity
over a ledge of rocks in several different falls. The best view of the
cataract is from the top of a pile of rocks about sixty feet above the
level of the water, and which, owing to the bend in the river, is
situated nearly opposite to the falls. The river comes from the right,
then gradually turning, precipitates itself down the falls, and winds
along at the foot of the rocks on which you stand with, great velocity.
The rocks are of a slate colour, and lie in strata; the surface of them
in many places is glossy and sparkling.
From hence I followed the course of the river downwards as far as George
Town, where I again crossed it; and after passing through the federal
city, proceeded along the Maryland shore of the river to Piscatoway, and
afterwards to Port Tobacco, two small towns situated on creeks of their
own name, which run into the Patowmac. In the neighbourhood of
Piscatoway there are several very fine views of the Virginian shore;
Mount Vernon in particular appears to great advantage.
I observed here great numbers of the poisonous vines which grow about
the large trees, and are extremely like the common grape vines. If
handled in the morning, when the branches are moist with the dew, they
infallibly raise blisters on the hands, which it is sometimes difficult
to get rid of.
Port Tobacco contains about eighty houses, most of which are of wood,
and very poor. There is a large English episcopalian church on the
border of the town, built of stone, which formerly was an ornament to
the place, but it is now entirely out of repair; the windows are all
broken, and the road is carried through the church-yard over the graves,
the paling that surrounded it having been torn down. Near the town is
Mount Misery, towards the top of which is a medicinal spring, remarkable
in summer for the coldness of the water.
[Sidenote: HOE’S FERRY.]
From Port Tobacco to Hoe’s Ferry, on the Patowmac River, the country is
flat and sandy, and wears a most dreary aspect. Nothing is to be seen
here for miles together but extensive plains, that have been worn out by
the culture of tobacco, overgrown with yellow sedge,[19] and
interspersed with groves of pine and cedar trees, the dark green colour
of which forms a curious contrast with the yellow of the sedge. In the
midst of these plains are the remains of several good houses, which shew
that the country was once very different to what it is now. These were
the houses, most probably, of people who originally settled in Maryland
with Lord Baltimore, to go to decay, as the land around them is worn
out, and the people find it more to their interest to remove to another
part of the country, and clear a piece of rich land, than to attempt to
reclaim these exhausted plains. In consequence of this, the country in
many of the lower parts of Maryland appears as if it had been deserted
by one half of its inhabitants, but which have now been suffered
Footnote 19:
This sedge, as it is called, is a sort of coarse grass, so hard that
cattle will not eat it, which springs up spontaneously, in this part
of the country, on the ground that has been left waste; it commonly
grows about two feet high; towards winter it turns yellow, and remains
standing until the ensuing summer, when a new growth displaces that of
the former year. At its first springing up it is of a bright green
colour.
Such a number of roads in different directions cross over these flats,
upon none of which there is any thing like a direction post, and the
face of a human being is so rarely met with, that it is scarcely
possible for a traveller to find out the direct way at once. Instead of
twelve miles, the distance by the straight road from Port Tobacco to the
ferry, my horse had certainly travelled twice the number before we got
there. The ferry-house was one of those old dilapidated mansions that
formerly was the residence perhaps of some wealthy planter, and at the
time when the fields yielded their rich crops of tobacco would have
afforded some refreshment to the weary traveller; but in the state I
found it, it was the picture of wretchedness and poverty. After having
waited for two hours and a half for my breakfast, the most I could
procure was two eggs, a pint of milk, and a bit of cake bread, scarcely
as big as my hand, and but little better than dough. This I had also to
divide with my servant, who came to inform me, that there was absolutely
nothing to eat in the house but what had been brought to me. I could not
but mention this circumstance to several persons when I got into
Virginia, and many of them informed me, that they had experienced the
same treatment themselves at this house; yet this house had the name of
a tavern. What the white people who inhabited it lived upon I could not
discover, but it was evident that they took care of themselves. As for
the poor slaves, however, of which there were many in the huts adjoining
the tavern, they had a most wretched appearance, and seemed to be half
starved. The men and women were covered with rags, and the children were
running about stark naked.
[Sidenote: EXCELLENT FISH.]
After having got into the ferry boat, the man of the house, as if
conscious that he had given me very bad fare, told me that there was a
bank of oysters in the river, close to which it was necessary to pass,
and that if I chose to stop the men would procure abundance of them for
me. The curiosity of getting oysters in fresh water tempted me to stop,
and the men got near a bushel of them in a very few minutes. These
oysters are extremely good when cooked, but very disagreeable eaten raw;
indeed all the oysters found in America, not excepting what are taken at
New York, so close to the ocean, are, in the opinion of most Europeans,
very indifferent and tasteless when raw. The Americans, on their part,
find still greater fault with our oysters, which they say are not fit to
be eat in any shape, because they taste of copper. The Patowmac, as well
as the rest of the rivers in Virginia, abounds with excellent fish of
many different kinds, as sturgeon, shad, roach, herrings, &c. which form
a very principal part of the food of the people living in the
neighbourhood of them.
The river at the ferry is about three miles wide, and with particular
winds the waves rise very high; in these cases they always tie the
horses, for fear of accidents, before they set out; indeed, with the
small open boats which they make use of, it is what ought always to be
done, for in this country gusts of wind rise suddenly, and frequently
when they are not at all expected: having omitted to take this
precaution, the boat was on the point of being overset two or three
different times as I crossed over.
On the Virginian shore, opposite to the ferry-house from whence I
sailed, there are several large creeks, which fall into the Patowmac,
and it is impossible to cross these on horseback, without riding thirty
or forty miles up a sandy uninteresting part of the country to the fords
or bridges. As I wished to go beyond these creeks, I therefore hired the
boatmen to carry me ten miles down the Patowmac River in the ferry boat,
past the mouths of them all; this they accordingly did, and in the
afternoon I landed on the beach, not a little pleased at finding that I
had reached the shore without having been under the necessity of
swimming any part of the way, for during the last hour the horses had
not remained quiet for two minutes together, and on one or two
occasions, having got both to the same side of the boat, the trim of it
was very nearly destroyed, and it was with the utmost difficulty that we
prevented it from being overset.
[Sidenote: VIRGINIANS.]
The part of the country where I landed appeared to be a perfect
wilderness; no traces of a road or pathway were visible on the loose
white sand, and the cedar and pine trees grew so closely together on all
sides, that it was scarcely possible to see farther forward in any
direction than one hundred yards. Taking a course, however, as nearly as
I could guess, in a direct line from the river up the country, at the
end of an hour I came upon a narrow road, which led to a large old brick
house, somewhat similar to those I had met with on the Maryland shore.
On enquiring here, from two blacks, for a tavern, I was told there was
no such thing in this part of the country; that in the house before me
no part of the family was at home; but that if I rode on a little
farther, I should come to some other gentlemen’s houses, where I could
readily get accommodation. In the course of five or six miles I saw
several more of the same sort of old brick houses, and the evening now
drawing towards a close, I began to feel the necessity of going to some
one of them. I had seen no person for several miles to tell me who any
of the owners were, and I was considering within myself which house I
should visit, when a lively old negro, mounted on a little horse, came
galloping after me. On applying to him for information on the subject,
he took great pains to assure me, that I should be well received at any
one of the houses I might stop at; he said there were no taverns in this
part of the country, and strongly recommended me to proceed under his
guidance to his master’s house, which was but a mile farther on; “Masser
will be so glad to see to you,” added he, “nothing can be like.” Having
been apprized beforehand, that it was customary in Virginia for a
traveller to go without ceremony to a gentleman’s house, when there was
no tavern at hand, I accordingly took the Negro’s advice, and rode to
the dwelling of his master, made him acquainted with my situation, and
begged I might be allowed to put my horses in his stable for the night.
The reception, however, which this gentleman gave me, differed so
materially from what I had been led to expect, that I was happy at
hearing from him, that there was a _good_ tavern at the distance cf two
miles. I apologised for the liberty I had taken, and made the best of my
way to it. Instead of two miles, however, this tavern proved to be about
three times as far off, and when I came to it, I found it to be a most
wretched hovel; but any place was preferable to the house of a man so
thoroughly devoid of hospitality.
[Sidenote: VIRGINIA.]
The next day I arrived at this place, the residence of a gentleman, who,
when at Philadelphia, had invited me to pass some time with him whenever
I visited Virginia. Some of the neighbouring gentlemen yesterday dined
here together, and having related to them my adventures on arriving in
Virginia, the whole company expressed the greatest astonishment, and
assured me that it was never known before, in that part of Virginia,
that a stranger had been suffered to go away from a gentleman’s house,
where he stopped, to a tavern, although it was close by. Every one
seemed eager to know the name of the person who had given me such a
reception, and begged me to tell it. I did so, and the Virginians were
satisfied, for the person was a—Scotchman, and had, it seems, removed
from some town or other to the plantation on which I found him but a
short time before. The Virginians in the lower parts of the state are
celebrated for their politeness and hospitality towards strangers;
beyond the mountains there is a great difference in the manners of the
inhabitants.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+LETTER + XI.
_Of the Northern Neck of Virginia.—First settled by the English.—Houses
built by them remaining.—Disparity of Condition amongst the
Inhabitants.—Estates worked by Negroes.—Condition of the Slaves.—Worse
in the Carolinas.—Lands worn out by Cultivation of Tobacco.—Mode of
cultivating and curing Tobacco.—Houses in Virginia.—Those of Wood
preferred.—Lower Classes of People in Virginia.—Their unhealthy
Appearance._
Stratford, April.
THIS part of Virginia, situated between the Patowmac and Rappahannock
rivers, is called the Northern Neck, and is remarkable for having been
the birth place of many of the principal characters, which distinguished
themselves in America, during the war, by their great talents, General
Washington at their head. It was here that numbers of English gentlemen,
who migrated when Virginia was a young colony, fixed their residence;
and several of the houses which they built, exactly similar to the old
manor houses in England, are still remaining, particularly in the
counties of Richmond and Westmoreland. Some of these, like the houses in
Maryland, are quite in ruins; others are kept in good repair by the
present occupiers, who live in a style which approaches nearer to that
of English country gentlemen than what is to be met with any where else
on the continent, some other parts of Virginia alone excepted.
[Sidenote: MANUFACTURES.]
Amongst the inhabitants here and in the lower parts of Virginia there is
a disparity unknown elsewhere in America, excepting in the large towns.
Instead of the lands being equally divided, immense estates are held by
a few individuals, who derive large incomes from them, whilst the
generality of the people are but in a state of mediocrity. Most of the
men also, who possess these large estates, having received liberal
educations, which the others have not, the distinction between them is
still more observable. I met with several in this neighbourhood, who had
been brought up at the public schools and universities in England,
where, until the unfortunate war which separated the colonies from her,
the young men were very generally educated; and even still a few are
sent there, as the veneration for that country from whence their
ancestors came, and with which they were themselves for a long time
afterwards connected, is by no means yet extinguished.
There is by no means so great a disparity now, however, amongst the
inhabitants of the Northern Neck, as was formerly, and it is becoming
less and less perceptible every year, many of the large estates having
been divided in consequence of the removal of the proprietors to other
parts of the country that were more healthy, and many more on account of
the present laws of Virginia, which do not permit any one son to inherit
the landed estates of the father to the exclusion of his brothers.
The principal planters in Virginia have nearly every thing they can want
on their own estates. Amongst their slaves are found taylors,
shoemakers, carpenters, smiths, turners, wheelwrights, weavers, tanners,
&c. I have seen patterns of excellent coarse woollen cloth made in the
country by slaves, and a variety of cotton manufactures, amongst the
rest good nankeen. Cotton grows here extremely well; the plants are
often killed by frost in winter, but they always produce abundantly the
first year in which they are sown. The cotton from which nankeen is made
is of a particular kind, naturally of a yellowish colour.
[Sidenote: SLAVES.]