Cincinnati--Its History and Progress--Its Trade and Commerce--Its
Periodical Press--Its Church Accommodation--Its Future Prospects
--Steaming up the Ohio--Contrast between Freedom and Slavery--An
Indian Mound--Splendid Scenery--Coal Hills.
Before proceeding with our trip to Pittsburg, I will bring together all
the material points of information I have gathered relative to
Cincinnati.
1. _Its History and Progress_.--The first year of the present century
found here but 750 inhabitants. In 1810 there were 2,540; in 1820,
9,602; in 1830, 24,381; in 1840, 46,382. At present the population is
estimated at 80,000. The coloured population forms one twenty-fifth, or
4 per cent., of the whole. The native Europeans form one-fifth of the
white population.
2. _Its Trade and Commerce_.--The principal trade is in pork. Hence
the nickname of _Porkapolis_. The yearly value of pork packed and
exported is about five millions of dollars, or one million of guineas!
As a proof of the amazing activity which characterizes all the details
of cutting, curing, packing, &c., I have been credibly informed that
two men, in one of the pork-houses, cut up in less than thirteen hours
850 hogs, averaging 300 lbs. each,--two others placing them on the
block for the purpose. All these hogs were weighed singly on scales in
the course of eleven hours. Another hand trimmed the hams, 1,700
pieces, in "Cincinnati style," as fast as they were separated from the
carcases. The hogs were thus cut up and disposed of at the rate of more
than one per minute! And this, I was told, was not much beyond the
ordinary day's work at the pork-houses.
Steam-boat building is another important branch of trade in this place.
DOLLARS.
In 1840 there were built here 33 boats of 15,341 tons,
costing 592,600
1844 " " 37 " 7,838 " 542,500
1845 " " 27 " 6,609 " 506,500
3. _Its Periodical Press_.--There are sixteen daily papers! Of these,
thirteen issue also a weekly number. Besides these, there are seventeen
weekly papers unconnected with daily issues. But Cincinnati is liberal
in her patronage of eastern publications. During the year 1845 one
house, that of Robinson and Jones, the principal periodical depot in
the city, and through which the great body of the people are supplied
with this sort of literature, sold of
Magazines and Periodicals 29,822 numbers.
Newspapers 25,390[1] "
Serial Publications 30,826 "
Works of Fiction 48,961 " !
[Footnote 1: Besides an immense quantity sent direct per mail!]
It is estimated that the people of the United States, at the present
time, support 1,200 newspapers. There being no stamp-duty, no duty on
paper, and none on advertisements, the yearly cost of a daily paper,
such as the _New York Tribune_ for instance, is only 5 dollars, or one
guinea. The price of a single copy of such papers is only 2 cents, or
one penny; and many papers are only one cent, or a half-penny per copy.
4. _Its Church Accommodation_.--By the close of the year 1845 the
voluntary principle, without any governmental or municipal aid
whatever, had provided the following places of worship:--
Presbyterian 12 New Jerusalem 1
Methodist Episcopal 12 Universalist 1
Roman Catholic 7 Second Advent 1
Baptist 5 Mormons 1
Lutheran 5 Friends 1
Protestant Episcopal 4 Congregational 1
"Christian Disciples" 4 Restorationists 1
Methodist Protestants 3 United Brethren 1
Jewish 2 "Christians" 1
Welsh 2
German Reformed 2 Total 67
This number of places of worship, at an average of 600 persons to each,
would afford accommodation for nearly two-thirds of what the entire
population was at that time; and surely two-thirds of any community is
quite as large a proportion as can, under the most favourable
circumstances, be expected to attend places of worship at any given
time. Behold, then, the strength and efficiency of the voluntary
principle! This young city, with all its wants, is far better furnished
with places of worship than the generality of commercial and
manufacturing towns in England.
Dr. Reed visited Cincinnati in 1834. He gives the population at that
time at 30,000, and the places of worship as follows. I insert them
that you may see at a glance what the voluntary principle did in the
eleven years that followed.
Presbyterian 6 Campbellite Baptists 1
Methodist 4 Jews 1
Baptist 2 --
Episcopalian 2 Total in 1834 21
German Lutheran 2 Do. in 1845 67
Unitarian 1 --
Roman Catholic 1 Increase 46
Swedes 1
5. _Its Future Prospects_.--The author of "Cincinnati in 1841" says, "I
venture the prediction that within 100 years from this time Cincinnati
will be the greatest city in America, and by the year of our Lord 2,000
the greatest city in the world." Our cousin here uses the superlative
degree when the comparative would be more appropriate. Deduct 80 or 90
per cent, from this calculation, and you still leave before this city a
bright prospect of future greatness.
We must, however, bid adieu to this "Queen of the West," and pursue our
course against the Ohio's current towards Pittsburg. We steam along
between freedom and slavery. The contrast is striking. On this subject
the remarks of the keen and philosophic M. de Tocqueville are so
accurate, and so much to the point, that I cannot do better than
transcribe and endorse them.
"A century had scarcely elapsed since the foundation of the colonies,
when the attention of the planters was struck by the extraordinary fact
that the provinces which were comparatively destitute of slaves
increased in population, in wealth, and in prosperity, more rapidly
than those which contained the greatest number of negroes. In the
former, however, the inhabitants were obliged to cultivate the soil
themselves, or by hired labourers; in the latter, they were furnished
with hands for which they paid no wages: yet, although labour and
expense were on the one side, and ease with economy on the other, the
former were in possession of the most advantageous system. * * * The
more progress was made, the more was it shown that slavery, which is so
cruel to the slave, is prejudicial to the master.
"But this truth was most satisfactorily demonstrated when civilization
reached the banks of the Ohio. The stream which the Indians had
distinguished by the name of Ohio, or Beautiful River, waters one of
the most magnificent valleys which have ever been made the abode of
man. Undulating lands extend upon both shores of the Ohio, whose soil
affords inexhaustible treasures to the labourer. On either bank the air
is wholesome and the climate mild; and each of those banks forms the
extreme frontier of a vast State: that which follows the numerous
windings of the Ohio on the left is Kentucky [in ascending the river it
was on our _right_]; that on the right [our left] bearing the name of
the river. These two States differ only in one respect,--Kentucky has
admitted slavery, but the State of Ohio has not. * * *
"Upon the left bank of the stream the population is rare; from time to
time one descries a troop of slaves loitering in the half-desert
fields; the primeval forest recurs at every turn; society seems to be
asleep, man to be idle, and nature alone offers a scene of activity and
life.
"From the right bank, on the contrary, a confused hum is heard, which
proclaims the presence of industry; the fields are covered with
abundant harvests; the elegance of the dwellings announces the taste
and activity of the labourer; and man appears to be in the enjoyment of
that wealth and contentment which are the reward of labour."
The Kentucky and the Ohio States are nearly equal as to their area in
square miles. Kentucky was founded in 1775, and Ohio in 1788. In 1840
the population of Kentucky was 779,828, while that of Ohio was
1,519,467--nearly double that of the former. By this time it is far
more than double.
"Upon the left bank of the Ohio," continues De Tocqueville, "labour is
confounded with the idea of slavery; upon the right bank it is
identified with that of prosperity and improvement: on the one side it
is degraded, on the other it is honoured. On the former territory no
white labourers can be found, for they would be afraid of assimilating
themselves to the negroes; on the latter no one is idle, for the white
population extends its activity and its intelligence to every kind of
improvement. Thus the men whose task it is to cultivate the rich soil
of Kentucky are ignorant and lukewarm; while those who are active and
enlightened either do nothing or pass over into the State of Ohio,
where they may work without dishonour."
March the 9th was a dull day; but the scenery was of surpassing beauty.
At night a terrible storm of thunder and lightning, accompanied with
rain, compelled us to "lie to." A charming morning succeeded. During
the forenoon, we passed a small town on the Virginia side called
Elizabeth Town. An Indian mound was pointed out to me, which in size
and shape resembled "Tomen y Bala" in North Wales. These artificial
mounds are very numerous in the valleys of the Ohio and the
Mississippi. The ancient relics they are sometimes found to contain
afford abundant proofs that these fertile regions were once peopled by
a race of men in a far higher state of civilization than the Indians
when first discovered by the white man. The innocent and imaginative
speculations of a Christian minister in the State of Ohio on these
ancient remains laid the foundation of the curious book of "Mormon."
Nature being now arrayed in her winter dress, we could form but a faint
conception of her summer loveliness when clothed in her gayest green.
Hills were seen rising up, sometimes almost perpendicularly from the
stream, and sometimes skirted with fertile fields extending to the
river's edge. Here a house on the brow of a hill, and there another at
its base. Here the humble log hut, and there the elegant mansion, and
sometimes both in unequal juxtaposition. The hills are in parts
scolloped in continuous succession, presenting a beautiful display of
unity and diversity combined; but often they appear in isolated and
distinct grandeur, like a row of semi-globes; while, in other
instances, they rise one above another like apples in a fruit-vase.
Sometimes the rivulets are seen like silver cords falling
perpendicularly into the river; at other times, you discern them only
by their musical murmurs as they roll on through deep ravines formed by
their own action. These hills, for more than 100 miles before you come
to Pittsburg, are literally heaps of coal. In height they vary from 100
to 500 feet, and nothing more is required than to clear off the soil,
and then dig away the treasure.
What struck me most was the immense number of children everywhere
gazing upon us from the river's banks. At settlements of not more than
half-a-dozen houses, I counted a groupe of more than twenty children.