American Scenes, and Christian Slavery Part 11

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 a.s.similating 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 pa.s.s over into the State of Ohio, where they may work without dishonour."

March the 9th was a dull day; but the scenery was of surpa.s.sing 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 pa.s.sed 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.

LETTER XXIII.

Arrival at Pittsburg--Its Trade and Prospects--Temperance--Newspapers --Trip up the Monongahela to Brownsville--Staging by Night across the Alleghany Mountains--Arrival at c.u.mberland--The Railway Carriages of America.

Arriving at Pittsburg in the middle of the night of the 10th of March, we remained on board till morning. As we had been accustomed on this "Clipper No. 2" to breakfast at half-past 7, I thought they surely would not send us empty away. But no! we had to turn out at that early hour of a morning piercingly cold, and get a breakfast where we could, or remain without. This was "clipping" us rather too closely, after we had paid seven dollars each for our pa.s.sage and provisions.

Pittsburg is in the State of Pennsylvania. Its progress has been rapid, and its prospects are bright. Seventy years ago the ground on which it stands was a wilderness, the abode of wild beasts and the hunting ground of Indians. Its manufactures are chiefly those of gla.s.s, iron, and cotton. It is the Birmingham of America. Indeed one part of it, across the river, is called "Birmingham," and bids fair to rival its old namesake. Its advantages and resources are unparalleled. It occupies in reference to the United States, north and south, east and west, a perfectly central position. It is surrounded with, solid mountains of coal, which--dug out, as I have intimated, with the greatest ease--is conveyed with equal ease down inclined planes to the very furnace mouths of the foundries and factories! This great workshop communicates directly, by means of the Ohio, the Mississippi, Red River, &c., with immense countries, extending to Texas, to Mexico, and to the Gulph. Its population, already 70,000, is (I believe) incomparably more intelligent, more temperate, more religious, and more steady than that of any manufacturing town in England. In fact, England has not much chance of competing successfully with America, unless her artizans copy more extensively the example of the American people in the entire abandonment of intoxicating liquors. In travelling leisurely from New Orleans to Boston (the whole length of the United States), and sitting down at all sorts of tables, on land and on water, private and public, I have never once seen even wine brought to the table. Nothing but water was universally used!

At Pittsburg I bought three good-sized newspapers for 5 cents, or twopence-halfpenny. One of them, _The Daily Morning Post_, was a large sheet, measuring 3 feet by 2, and well filled on both sides with close letter-press, for 2 cents, or one penny. The absence of duty on paper and of newspaper stamps is no doubt one great cause of the advanced intelligence of the ma.s.s of the American people. What an absurd policy is that of the British Government, first to impose taxes upon _knowledge_, and then to use the money in promoting _education_!

At Pittsburg the Ohio ends, or rather begins, by the confluence of the Alleghany and the Monongahela rivers. We ascended the latter to Brownsville, about 56 miles. Having booked ourselves at an office, we had to get into a smaller steamer on the other side of the bridge which spans the river. The entire charge to Philadelphia was 12 dollars each.

We went by the "Consul," at half-past 8 A.M. of the 11th of March. The water was very high, as had been the case in the Ohio all the way from Cincinnati. We had not proceeded far when I found the pa.s.sengers a-stir, as if they had got to their journey's end. What was the matter?

Why, we had come to falls, which it was very doubtful whether the steamer could get over. The pa.s.sengers were soon landed, and the steamer, with the crew, left to attempt the ascent. There were locks at hand by which, under ordinary circ.u.mstances, boats evaded the difficulty; but the flood was now so great that they could not be used.

Our steamer, therefore, stirred up her fires, raised her steam, brought all her powers to bear, faced the difficulty, dashed into it, cut along, and set at defiance the fury of the flood. "There she goes!"--"No!"--"Yes!"--"No!"--"She's at a stand,"--the next moment she was gliding back with the torrent: she had failed! But _nil desperandum_. "Try--try--try again!" An immense volume of smoke issued from her chimney, and soon she seemed again to be fully inflated with her vapoury aliment. I expected every moment an explosion, and, while rejoicing in our own safety on _terra firma_, felt tremblingly anxious for the lives of those on board. Having had sufficient time to "recover strength," she made for the foaming surge once more. "There she goes!"--"No!"--"Yes!"--she paused--but it was only for the twinkling of an eye,--the next moment she was over, and the bank's of the Monongahela resounded with the joyful shouts of the gazing pa.s.sengers.

We now breathed more freely, and were soon on board again; but we had not advanced very far before we had to get out once more, in consequence of other falls, which were stemmed with the same inconvenience, the same anxiety, and the same success as in the preceding instance.

But ere long an obstacle more formidable than the falls presented itself--a bridge across the river. This bridge the boats were accustomed to pa.s.s under, but the water was now so high that it could not be done; and we had to wait till another boat belonging to the same company, above the bridge, came down from Brownsville, and enabled us to effect an exchange of pa.s.sengers; for neither of the boats could get under the bridge. The down boat soon made its appearance; and a scene of confusion ensued which I know not how to describe. Imagine two sets of pa.s.sengers, about 150 persons in each set, exchanging boats! Three hundred travellers jostling against each other, with "plunder"

amounting to some thousands of packages, to be removed a distance of 300 or 400 yards, at the risk and responsibility of the owners, without any care or concern on the part of the officers of the boats! Trunks seemed to run on wheels, carpet-bags to have wings, and portmanteaus to jump about like gra.s.shoppers. If you had put down one article while looking for the rest, in an instant it would be gone. In this amusing scuffle were involved several members of Congress, returning in the "down" boat from their legislative duties. The celebrated Judge M'Lean was among them. But the safety of some box or parcel was just then--to most of us--of more importance than all the great men in the world. The baggage storm being over, and the great division and trans-shipment effected, we moved forward in peace. By-and-by, however, each one was called upon to show his baggage, that it might be set apart for the particular coach to which it would have to be consigned. This was a most troublesome affair. At half-past 6 in the evening we arrived at Brownsville, having been ten hours in getting over the 56 miles from Pittsburg.

And now for the stage-coaches; for, _nolens volens_, "a-head" we must go that very night. About seven or eight coaches were filled by those of our fellow-pa.s.sengers who, like ourselves, were going to cross the mountains. Some of the vehicles set off immediately; but three waited to let their pa.s.sengers get tea or supper, meals which in America are identical. About 8 P.M. we started on our cold and dreary journey of 73 miles across the Alleghany Mountains. A stage-coach in America is a very different thing from the beautiful machine that used to pa.s.s by that name in England.

It has no outside accommodation, except for one person on the box along with the driver. The inside, in addition to the fore seat and the hind seat, has also a middle seat across the vehicle. Each of these three seats holds three persons, making nine in all. In our stage we had ten persons; but the ten, in a pecuniary point of view, were only eight and a half. The night was fearfully dark, and the roads were altogether unworthy of the name. Yet there is an immense traffic on this route, which is the highway from East to West. The Americans, with all their "smartness," have not the knack of making either good roads or good streets. About 11 P.M. we arrived at Uniontown, 12 miles from Brownsville. There the horses were to be changed, an operation which took about an hour to accomplish. Three coaches were there together.

The pa.s.sengers rushed out of the inn, where we had been warming ourselves, and jumped into the coaches. Crack went the whips, off went the horses, and round went the wheels. But, alas! while we could hear the rattling of the other coaches, our own moved not at all! "Driver, why don't you be off?" No answer. "Driver, push on." No reply. "Go a-head, driver,--don't keep us here all night." No notice taken. We began to thump and stamp. No response. At last I put my head out through the window. There _was_ no driver; and, worse still, there were no horses! How was this? There was no "team," we were told, for our coach! I jumped out, and began to make diligent inquiry: one told me one thing, and another another. At length I learned that there was a "team" in the stable, but there was no driver disposed to go. The one who should have taken us was cursing and swearing in bed, and would not get up. This was provoking enough. "Where is the agent of the stage-coach company?"--"He lives about 47 miles off." "Where is the landlord of this house?"--"He is in bed." There we were helpless and deserted on the highroad, between 12 and 1 o'clock, in an extremely cold night, without any redress or any opportunity of appeal! It was n.o.body's business to care for us. I groped my way, however, to some outbuilding, where about half-a-dozen drivers were snoring in their beds, and, with the promise of making it "worth his while," succeeded in inducing one of them to get up and take us to the next place for changing horses. But before we could get off it was 2 o'clock in the morning. We reached the next station, a distance of 10 miles, at 5 P.M., and paid our driver two dollars. In America drivers are not accustomed to receive gratuities from pa.s.sengers, but ours was a peculiar case. After a most wearisome day of travel, being tossed about in the coach like b.a.l.l.s, expecting every moment to be upset, and feeling bruised all over, we reached c.u.mberland at 9 P.M., having been 25 hours in getting over 73 miles, at the amazing rate of 3 miles an hour! In c.u.mberland we had to stay all night.

At 8 A.M. the next day we set off by railway, or (as the Americans would say) "by the cars," to Baltimore. In committing my trunk to the luggage-van, I was struck with the simplicity and suitableness of the check system there adopted. A piece of tin, with a certain number upon it, was fastened by a strap to each article of baggage, and a duplicate piece given to the pa.s.senger. I also remarked the size, shape, and fittings-up of the cars. They are from 30 to 50 feet long, having an aisle right through the middle from end to end, and on each side of that aisle rows of seats, each of sufficient length to accommodate two persons. The arrangement reminded me of a little country meeting-house, the congregation amounting to from 50 to 100 persons. Each carriage contained a stove,--at that season a most important article of furniture. The seats, which were very nicely cushioned, had their hacks so arranged as that the pa.s.sengers could easily turn them as they pleased, and sit with either their faces or their backs "towards the horses" as they might feel disposed. This part of the arrangement is indispensable, as these long carriages can never be turned. The hind part in coming is the fore part in going, and _vice versa_. The distinctions of first, second, and third cla.s.s carriages are unknown.

That would be too aristocratic. But the "n.i.g.g.e.rs" must go into the luggage-van. These republican carriages are very neatly fitted up, being mostly of mahogany with crimson velvet linings; but you often feel annoyed that such dirty people should get in.

LETTER XXIV.

Journey by Railroad from c.u.mberland to Baltimore--A Tedious Stoppage --A Sabbath in Baltimore--Fruitless Inquiry--A Presbyterian Church and Dr. Plummer--Richmond and its Resolutions--Dr Plummer's Pro slavery Manifesto--The Methodist Episcopal Church.

The railway from c.u.mberland to Baltimore is 178 miles long, and (like most lines in the States) is single. This fact is important, for our cousins, in boasting of the hundreds or thousands of miles of railway they have constructed, forget to tell us that they are nearly all single. Here and there they have a double set of rails, like our sidings, to enable trains to pa.s.s each other.

The ground was covered with snow, otherwise the scenery would have been magnificent. For a long time the Potomac was our companion. More than once we had to cross the stream on wooden bridges; so that we had it sometimes on our right and sometimes on our left, ourselves being alternately in Virginia and in Maryland. When within 14 miles of Baltimore, and already benighted, we were told we could not proceed, on account of some accident to a luggage-tram that was coming up. The engine, or (as the Americans invariably say) the "locomotive," had got off the rail, and torn up the ground in a frightful manner; but no one was hurt. We were detained for 7 hours; and instead of getting into Baltimore at 8 P.M., making an average of about 15 miles an hour, which was the utmost we had been led to expect, we did not get there till 3 A.M., bringing our average rate per hour down to about 9-1/2 miles. The tediousness of the delay was considerably relieved by a man sitting beside me avowing himself a thorough Abolitionist, and a hearty friend of the coloured race. He spoke out his sentiments openly and fearlessly, and was quite a match for any one that dared to a.s.sail him.

His name was Daniel Carmichael, of Brooklyn. He is a great railway and ca.n.a.l contractor, and has generally in his employ from 500 to 800 people. He is also a very zealous "teetotaler." We had also a _Mrs.

Malaprop_, from Baltimore, with us, who told us, among other marvellous things, that in that city they took the _senses_ (census) of the people every month. She was very anxious to let all around her know that her husband was a medical man: she therefore wondered what "the Doctor" was then doing, what "the Doctor" thought of the non-arrival of the train, whether "the Doctor" would be waiting for her at the station, and whether "the Doctor" would bring his own carriage, or hire one, to meet her, &c.

March 14.--The day on which we arrived at Baltimore was the Sabbath. In a public room in the National Hotel, at which we were stopping, was hung up a nicely-framed announcement of the order of services in one of the Presbyterian Churches. We wished, however, to find a Congregational place of worship, and set off with that view. It was a beautiful day, and Baltimore seemed to send forth its inhabitants by streets-full to the various churches. In the _Old_ World I never saw anything like it, nor elsewhere in the _New_, except perhaps at Boston. All secular engagements seemed to be entirely suspended, and the whole city seemed to enjoy a Sabbath! As we walked along, I asked a young man if he could direct me to a Congregational church. He stared at me for a moment, and then said, "Do you mean a church with pews in it?" I asked another, "Can you tell me where I shall find a Congregational church in this city?"--"What congregation do you mean, sir?" was the reply. They evidently knew nothing at all about Congregationalism. The fact was, as I afterwards understood, we had not yet come into its lat.i.tude; for in America Presbyterianism and Congregationalism have hitherto been matters of lat.i.tude and longitude rather than of earnest conviction and firm adherence. We now inquired for a _Presbyterian_ church, and were told that there was one not far from where we then stood, in which Mr.

Plummer--a very popular minister just come into the city--preached.

Following the directions given, we came to a certain church, in front of which two or three grave men stood talking to each other. In answer to the question, "What church is this?" one of these grave men said, with a good broad Scotch accent, "It's a Presbyterian church." The accent gave a double confirmation to the answer. "Is it Mr. Plummer's church?" I continued. With the same accent, and in a tone of gentle rebuke, I was told, "Yes, it is _Doctor_ Plummer's." We entered. The congregation were a.s.sembling. We were left either to stand in the aisle or to take a seat as we pleased. We preferred the latter. The building was new, but built in the old Gothic style. The pews, the pulpit, the front of the gallery, the organ, and the framework of the roof, which was all exposed, were of oak, which had been made to resemble in colour wood that has stood the test of 400 or 500 years. The windows also were darkened. The whole affair was tremendously heavy, enough to mesmerize any one. The congregation was large, respectable, and decorous. After a few glances around, to see if there was a negro pew anywhere, I observed several coloured faces peeping from a recess in the gallery, on the left side of the organ,--there was the "Negro Pew," In due time _Doctor_ Plummer ascended the pulpit. He was a fine tall man, grey-haired, well dressed, with commanding aspect and a powerful voice.

I ceased to wonder at the emphasis with which the Scotchman called him _Doctor_ Plummer. He was quite the _ideal_ of a _Doctor_. His text was John iii. 18: "He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of G.o.d." His subject was, that "man is justly accountable to G.o.d for his belief." This truth he handled in a masterly manner, tossing about as with a giant's arm Lord Brougham and the Universalists. Notwithstanding my want of rest on the previous night, the absurd heaviness of the building, and the fact that the sermon--which occupied a full hour--was all read, I listened with almost breathless attention, and was sorry when he had done.

And who was this Dr. Plummer? It was Dr. Plummer late of Richmond, in Virginia. "Richmond," says Dr. Reed, "is still the great mart of slavery; and the interests of morality and religion suffer from this cause. Several persons of the greatest wealth, and therefore of the greatest consideration in the town, are known slave-dealers; and their influence, in addition to the actual traffic, is of course unfavourable. The sale of slaves is as common, and produces as little sensation, as that of cattle. It occurs in the main street, and before the door of the party who is commissioned to make the sale." And what was the conduct of this Doctor of Divinity in reference to this state of things? He sanctioned it! He pleaded for it! He lived upon it! He was once actually supported, either wholly or in part, by slave labour!

The church of which he was the pastor was endowed with a number of slaves. These slaves were hired out, and the proceeds were given in the way of stipend to the _Doctor_! Nor is this all. A few years ago the slave-holders of the South were greatly alarmed by the vigorous efforts of the Abolitionists of the North. It was about the time that the Charleston Post-office was plundered by a mob of several thousand people, and all the anti-slavery publications there found were made a bonfire of in the street; and where "the clergy of all denominations attended in a body, lending their sanction to the proceedings, and adding by their presence to the impressive character of the scene." On that occasion the clergy of the city of Richmond were not less prompt than their brethren of Charleston in responding to the "public sentiment."' They resolved _unanimously_,--

"That we earnestly deprecate the unwarrantable and highly improper interference of the people of any other State with the domestic relations of master and slave.

"That the example of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles, in not interfering with the question of slavery, but uniformly recognising the relations of master and servant, and giving full and affectionate instruction to both, is worthy the imitation of all ministers of the Gospel.

"That we will not patronise nor receive any pamphlet or newspaper of the Anti-slavery Societies, and that we will discountenance the circulation of all such papers in the community.

"That the suspicions which have prevailed to a considerable extent against ministers of the Gospel and professors of religion in the State of Virginia, as identified with Abolitionists, are _wholly unmerited_; believing as we do, from extensive acquaintance with our churches and brethren, that they are unanimous in opposing the pernicious schemes of Abolitionists."

After this, are men to be branded as "infidels," because they say the American churches are the "bulwarks of slavery?"

But what has all this to do with our fine-looking and dignified "_Doctor_?" I will tell you. When these resolutions were pa.s.sed, he was from home; but on his return, he lost no time in communicating to the "Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence" his entire concurrence with what had been done,--and here are extracts from his letter:--

"I have carefully watched this matter from its earliest existence; and everything I have seen or heard of its character, both from its patrons and its enemies, has confirmed me beyond repentance in the belief, that, let the character of the Abolitionists be what it may in the sight of the Judge of all the earth, this is the most meddlesome, impudent, reckless, fierce, and wicked excitement I ever saw.

"If Abolitionists will set the country in a blaze, it is but right that they should receive the _first warming at the fire_.

"Let it be proclaimed throughout the nation, that every movement made by the fanatics (so far as it has any effect in the South) does but rivet every fetter of the bondman, and diminish the probability of anything being successfully undertaken for making him either fit for freedom or likely to obtain it. We have the authority of Montesquieu, Burke, and Coleridge, three eminent masters of the science of human nature, that, of all men, slave-holders are the most jealous of their liberties. One of Pennsylvania's most gifted sons has lately p.r.o.nounced the South the _cradle of liberty_.

"Lastly. Abolitionists are like infidels, wholly unaddicted to martyrdom for opinion's sake. Let them understand that _they will be caught_ [lynched] if they come among us, and they will take good heed to keep out of our way. There is not one man among them who has any more idea of shedding his blood in the cause, than he has of making war on the Grand Turk."

So much for my splendid D.D., on whose lips I hung with such intense interest. I did not know all this at the time, or I should have felt very differently. As he had but recently left Richmond when I saw him, it is not at all unlikely that those fine clothes he had on were the fruit of the slave's unrequited toil. He has always, I believe, stood high among his brethren, and one or two excellent tracts of his are published by the American Tract Society.

All denominations are here alike guilty in reference to their coloured brethren. In this very city the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church for 1840 pa.s.sed the following resolution:--

"That it is inexpedient and unjustifiable for any preacher to permit coloured persons to give testimony against white persons in any State where they are denied that privilege by law."

Against this iniquitous resolution the official members of two of the coloured Methodist Episcopal Churches in Baltimore immediately remonstrated and pet.i.tioned. The following powerful and pathetic pa.s.sages are from their address:--

"The adoption of such a resolution by our highest ecclesiastical judicatory,--a judicatory composed of the most experienced and the wisest brethren in the Church, the choice selection of twenty-eight Annual Conferences,--has inflicted, we fear, an irreparable injury upon eighty thousand souls for whom Christ died,--souls who, by this act of your body, have been stripped of the dignity of Christians, degraded in the scale of humanity, and treated as criminals, for no other reason than the colour of their skin! Your resolution has, in our humble opinion, _virtually_ declared that a mere physical peculiarity, the handiwork of our all-wise and benevolent Creator, is _prima facie_ evidence of incompetency to tell the truth, or is an unerring indication of unworthiness to bear testimony against a fellow-being whose skin is denominated white. * * *

"Brethren, out of the abundance of the heart we have spoken. _Our grievance is before you_! If you have any regard for the salvation of the eighty thousand immortal souls committed to your care,--if you would not _thrust_ beyond the pale of the Church _twenty-five thousand souls in this city_, who have felt determined never to leave the Church that has nourished and brought them up,--if you regard us as children of one Common Father, and can upon reflection sympathize with us as members of the body of Christ,--if you would not incur the fearful, the tremendous responsibility of offending not only one, but many thousands of his 'little ones,'--we conjure you to wipe from your journal the odious resolution which is ruining our people."

This address was presented to one of the Secretaries, a delegate of the Baltimore Conference, and subsequently given by him to the Bishops. How many of the members of Conference saw it, is unknown. One thing is certain, _it was never read to the Conference_.