Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Volume XII Part 5

_He (Guy) told me that he had not received 50 cents per day for his labours!_ You are welcome to any use of this letter.

Buildings seem to rise very fast, notwithstanding the badness of the times, as they are termed.

Please to favour me with a letter as soon as convenient. I am in daily expectation of the nuts, &c. The ground has been ploughed some weeks for their reception. I am in good health, but my mother, my wife, my brother, his wife, and oldest child are all very sick.

Please accept my best wishes for your welfare. The club also wish to be remembered to you.

Your Old Friend.

To Mr. Faux.

{427} _Brooklyn, Long Island_, _June 29th, 1820._

My Dear Friend,

I received yours, with its inclosures, in due time, and it would be a difficult thing for me to describe the pleasure I feel at seeing such a proof of your continued friendship. There is, indeed, a something in a real upright and downright honest John Bull, that cannot be found in the sly, say-nothing, smiling, deep speculating, money-hunting Jonathans of this all-men-are-born-equally-free-and-independent, negro-driving, cow-skin republic.

It is surely wrong to be content with nothing, because not blessed with all. We see bad effects, we hate them, and we grumble, but ten to one it is because we are unacquainted with the cause from whence they spring; but there is one self-evident, h.e.l.l-born cause of endless ills in this land, which, for want of a better name, we will call avarice. From Maine to Georgia, on all occasions, the general question is, How much shall I get by it? What will it fetch me? Pray what benefit will that be to me? &c. &c. From this, man-stealing, mail robberies, piracy, murders, thefts, swindling, forgeries, lying, cheating, slavery, whips, gags, chains, and all the black catalogue of monstrous ills proceed. Indeed, that angel who is described by Milton as being more fond of admiring Heaven's golden pavement, than any thing glorious aloft, is the ruling G.o.d of this nation; and in imitation {428} of him, they are for ever chasing dollars, walking half bent under the accursed dominion of selfish views. But death, the mighty hunter, will catch them all, and then, in company with their G.o.d Belial, they will enjoy the name, t.i.tle, and privilege of _fools_. There is a national church liturgy in England, and if ever there should be one adopted here, the following I think ought to form a part of it.

Money, money, is all our cry, Money, the total sum!

Give us money or else we die; O let thy money come!

But I am rambling from the Capitol. Your son has drawn it very well, but I wish he had drawn it on a larger scale, that the order of columns and windows might have been more distinct. However, it is the wrong side of the building; it is the east front and north end that I must paint, looking down towards George-town, and the place I sketched the view from was just above your house; therefore I must paint the east front and north end. This, like a fool, I forgot to inform you of; but if both fronts are to be alike, then what you have sent will do; if not, then I will thank both you and him to send me another drawing, at least so far as the centre of the east front differs from that of the west.

Since I wrote the above, Mr. King, the painter, has been in this place, and informs us that both {429} fronts of the capitol will be the same; therefore, if that be so, what you have sent will answer; and when I come to your place in the fall, I will reward your son for his drawing, or if he choose to make a charge, I will send the money by the post, whatever it may be.

Give my dutiful respects to Dr. Thornton, and tell him that I wish he could see the picture of Washington city when it is finished--I think it will be a grand sight. I am now painting a large view of Chichester, in England, for Governor Clinton; in which his likeness, with those of Judge Miller and Doctor Mitchel, are to be painted on the fore-ground. I wish the doctor could see this paradise scenery also. You talk of coming to York; I wonder if ever I shall have the pleasure of seeing you here. In your last, you ask if I have any communications to send. Perhaps I may have some to send concerning myself, for be a.s.sured that if we do not now condescend to go out of our old beaten track, we must fall through thick and thin. When that should be, it would be no sin to do one of the worst things in the world, that is, turn one's own trumpeter.

G.o.d prosper you in all your good ways, keep you from all bad ones, and may you live contented, and die happy!

FRANCIS GUY.

Thus you see I have written a letter, and on one {430} account or another delayed sending it until there is need to write another, to make an apology for the neglect. Indeed, my good wife has been very unwell, and my concern for her made me forget every thing else.

This I know you will say is a good and weighty excuse.

F. G.

_June 10th._--News of firing the City of New Orleans, in order to effect a rescue of the pirates, reached this city this day. We hear, also, of the Choctaw Indians fighting, 150 opposed to 150, to avenge the death of an old woman, killed for a witch. They fought until both sides, with the exception of ten or twelve, were all killed.[151]

A man was taken and nearly killed, last week, disguised as the devil, in the act of extorting 150 dollars from a farmer. He was dressed, and spit fire and brimstone, like a proper devil. He is now in prison. A Yankee traveller, lodging for the night, struck this felonious devil to the ground with a club, at the second visit to receive dollars, instead of paper, as at first offered by the farmer for the ransom of his body and soul.

_12th._--I met again Mr. Perry from Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He states that the land and farms there are the best in America; the average of wheat being about eighteen bushels an acre. The best land is to be bought occasionally at fifty dollars an acre, with improvements which have cost all the money; so that the land is given. {431} Here, he says, an English farmer may, as a farmer, find much animal comfort, but no good society; the ma.s.s of the farmers and people being vile, dishonest, and without any good principles whatever. All try to rob and wrong you, and each other, and will do it if you a.s.sociate, or deal in any way with them; and they will do it without any shame, being shameless. An honest man, though rich, must be soon ruined, if he puts confidence in them.

"All are tarred with the same brush." The farmers all work. One, worth ten or twelve thousand dollars, brought in to Mr. Perry a waggon load of hay, which he warranted was a ton, though it was only sixteen cwt. Out of a farm of good land, consisting of 500 acres, a farmer does not find above 300 dollars a-year for the purchase of such necessaries as the family need from the store. No money is, therefore, to be made by farming, and the poor live in want all winter, at which time their labour is to be had for victuals only, and now for 25 cents a-day. From sober calculation, he finds that four per cent. is the most that can be obtained from capital employed in agriculture, though six per cent, is the legal interest. He would, a thousand times, rather give five or six guineas an acre rent, for land at Feversham in Kent, than have it here rent-free; for, after paying this heavy rent and taxes and labour, he should have a good living profit in England, where the climate is good, but here, one year {432} wears you out more that seven in England.

Gra.s.shoppers too, here, are a plague, destroying every thing, in the pestilential months of August and September. There is no money; all is done by barter.

He would recommend me and others to stick by England while we can live in it, for he is sure, that if people in England would attend to their duties, and condescend to the meannesses and drudgeries every where practised here, they must live, and live better at home than ever they can here. And besides, though things are bad, there is a hope of better times. Here, there is no hope; things will be worse; for, with such an unprincipled, vile race of people, how is it possible that liberty and happiness can be secure? They know nothing of the nature of liberty, nor want to know. Law, justice, equity, liberty, are things unknown amongst them. In England, there is a good sound core, and seed that must always vegetate; here, all is rottenness. Mr. Perry believes, that grazing cattle in Pennsylvania, would pay much better than cultivating.

_18th._--I re-visited Dr. Dawes's farm, which being in a state of complete exhaustion, is unable to produce again even the seed of any thing sown; the rye not affording what is commonly scattered for gleaners in England, while the peas, tares, and lentils rise not a foot high. This land can only be restored to fruitfulness by rest, clover, plaster, {433} and manure, and plenty of cattle and sheep to depasture and manure it.

_19th._--This being a beautiful morning, the Doctor ordered out his curricle, and we drove to the seat and plantation of the Right Honourable T. Law, accompanied by Mr. Joel Simpson. I having been introduced to Mr. Law, was appointed spokesman, and stood rapping at the hall of entrance ten minutes before I was heard. At last came a naked, dirty-legged, bare-footed little girl, to say that Mr. Law was not at home, nor likely to be before night. Soon after, came her father, the overseer, who "regretted that Mr. Law was absent at an agricultural dinner, as he was happy to see all callers." He, at my request, shewed us the garden, the farm, and the stock. The farm, about 250 acres, is beautifully situated on high hills, two miles from the Potowmac, but so stony and unfruitful, that its cultivation is a serious expense, rather than a benefit, it being unable to maintain itself. The garden and orchard, a few acres, seem equally poor; small quant.i.ties of its produce are, however, sent from it occasionally to market. At the bottom of it is a spa, or mineral spring, in which the proprietor bathes. The horses are all poor and fleshless, but the cattle and cows, about twelve in number, fat. A cow and a bull of the Yorkshire breed, from England, dislike (says the man) this climate. {434} The cow gives but little milk, and pines for the sweet, green pastures of her dear native land.

The English labourers, sent over to this farm, are all gone, being drunken and worthless, and withal, so uncivil and conceited, that Mr.

Law, who likes men to talk freely with him, could scarcely get a civil answer from any of them. We were at last conducted into the house, and introduced to a pint of whiskey. We saw no house-servants, but heard one, a female slave recently bought, the only slave Mr. Law owns. He lives in great simplicity. The house is better than the best American farm-houses; still, it is not a mansion, but rather something between both. In the centre and front, is a large oblong room, the largest in the house, and resembling a hall of entrance, at each end of which is a smaller room for the winter, and on the other side, being a double house, are three small summer rooms, and chambers over the whole. The road through the farm up to the house is serpentine, and planted with dying shrubs. It is rough, stony, and difficult of ascent, and the entrance-gate (where might stand a porter's lodge) is meaner than a hog-pen-gate. In this retreat dined the President and 200 gentlemen last week. The society admitted here is select, and the princ.i.p.al attraction to it is Mr. Law, who is kind, agreeable, and benevolent to all. In his personal appearance, he is small, lean, {435} withered, and rustic. His nose, however, is n.o.ble, like Lord Ellenborough's, but his mind is perhaps n.o.bler than that of any of the family, although he lives in greater simplicity than a country squire of England.

_21st._--An old Scotsman, a perfect stranger, this morning conscientiously brought back cloth to Mr. ----'s store, to be re-measured, the same containing, he found, several yards more than he had paid for, or expected to find. A mistake had occurred in measuring.

An American lady of respectability, also of this city, was standing by, and, in the greatest astonishment, exclaimed: "What! bring it back because there is too much measure? Well, who ever heard the like? I would not have done so, I'll warrant ye." "O, my dear madam," said he, "I could not, would not, have it without paying for it; it is not mine."

The proprietor of the store observed, very significantly, looking her ladyship in the face, "Madam, I know of only one rule, and that is, to do unto others as you would that they should do unto you." She blushed, and said no more. This shameless, unprincipled, selfishness is very universal. It is customary, with this people, never to point out defects in goods, or errors in accounts, when such defects and errors exist in their favour. The qualities, honesty and dishonesty, as exemplified in these two characters, seemed as if they were natural.

{436} _23rd._--The mayor of this city, Samuel N. Smallwood, Esq. now mayor for the second time, came here, twenty years ago, a pennyless mechanic, but being industrious, grew with the growth, and strengthened with the strength, of this infant metropolis. His mother was a yellow woman, and his origin is still distinguishable in his curled hair, which he keeps close shorn. This, further south, would have been a sin never to be forgiven. He is a man of talent, and lives much respected.

This day I pa.s.sed a pleasant farm on the eastern branch of the Potowmac, half of it bottom land, and running a mile and a half along the sh.o.r.e, with a good house and offices, orchards, and large gardens. The hills are poor, and covered with woods, amongst which cattle and pigs graze, and breed, and fatten. It contains 667 acres, to be bought at sixty dollars an acre, works twenty, and might work thirty negroes, worth 9,000 dollars. It requires an additional capital of 6,000 or 7,000 dollars, for cultivating. Although much of this pleasant plantation is in wood, yet it is said to produce annually,

Dollars {437} Of Tobacco, 3,000 Corn and grain, 3,000 Garden-stuff, 3,000 Cattle and pigs, bred and fed, 2,000 Rent of fishery, 500 b.u.t.ter, 1,000 ------ 12,500 ------ If the fishery were fished by the owner, it would make additional 1,000 ------ 13,500 ------

Thus is a capital of 55,000 dollars employed, netting twelve per cent., but the authority relied upon, in thus stating the case, is not the best.

The Patriot pilot-boat, last war, sailed from New York to Charleston city, for the Governor of South Carolina's Lady, Mrs. Allstone, Mr.

Burr's daughter,[152] then at Charleston, who, with Mr. Green, her brother-in-law, and servant, plate and specie, sailed from Charleston.

They were heard of no more, until last month, when one of the pirates, under sentence of death at New Orleans, confessed that he and others, of the crew of the Patriot, rose upon the captain and the pa.s.sengers, confined them below, scuttled the vessel, and abandoned her, taking to the boat, in which, with all the money and plate they could find, they {438} landed on the coast of North Carolina, while the vessel, and all it contained, sunk to rise no more.

_30th._--I re-visited the seat of Mr. Law, in company with Mr. Elliott, and the Rev. J. Wright. Mr. Law was dining out, three miles from home. I saw him not, but kept possession of the house three hours.

Mr. Law told a friend of mine that he brought 100,000 guineas in gold, but could not now raise, by any means, at a short notice, 1,000_l._ City lots and land allured him almost to ruin. Land seems a substance, but is yet only a shadow in many neighbourhoods.

_A common hot day at Washington._--The wind southerly, like the breath of an oven; the thermometer vacillating between 90 and 100; the sky blue and cloudless; the sun shedding a blazing light; the face of the land, and every thing upon it, save trees, withered, dusty, baked, and continually heated, insomuch that water would almost hiss on it; the atmosphere swarming with noxious insects, flies, bugs, mosquitoes, and gra.s.shoppers, and withal so drying, that all animal and vegetable life is exposed to a continual process of exhaustion. The breezes, if any, are perfumed by nuisances of all sorts, emptied into the streets, rotting carcases, and the exhalations of dismal swamps, made vocal and alive with toads, lizards, and bellowing bull-frogs. Few people are stirring, except negroes; all faces, save those {439} of blacks, pale, languid, and lengthened with la.s.situde, expressive of any thing but ease and happiness. Now and then an emigrant or two fall dead at the cold spring, or fountain; others are lying on the floor, flat on their backs; all, whether idle or employed, are comfortless, being in an everlasting steam-bath, and feeling offensive to themselves and others. At table, pleased with nothing, because both vegetable and animal food is generally withered, toughened, and tainted; the beverage, tea or coffee, contains dead flies; the beds and bed-rooms, at night, present a smothering unaltering warmth, the walls being thoroughly heated, and being withinside like the outside of an oven in continual use. Hard is the lot of him who bears the heat and burthen of this day, and pitiable the fate of the poor emigrant sighing in vain for comforts, cool breezes, wholesome diet, and the old friends of his native land. At midnight, the lightning-bugs and bull-frogs become luminous and melodious. The flies seem an Egyptian plague, and get mortised into the oily b.u.t.ter, which holds them like birdlime.

Having requested some communication on the subject of farming, and other matters, in Pennsylvania, from a friend, possessing great experience, I was favoured with the following heads, which contain much information in a condensed form.

{440} _1st. Pennsylvania._--The land is of the first quality, and the best farming in the United States is found here. The climate is of a medium temperature, but the extremes meet as in the other states.

_2nd. Crops._--The average produce is sixteen bushels, per acre, of wheat; other grain in proportion; but the crops are very subject to the Hessian fly and mildew.

_3rd. Fruit._--As in the other states, it is inferior to that of Europe, and no dependence is to be placed on crops.

_4th. Garden._--One acre of land in England, produces more vegetables than five acres in the United States, taking the year throughout. N.B.

This matter has been most grossly misrepresented.

_5th. Grazing Land._--During five months in the year, there is no pasture for cattle.

_6th. Price of Land._--Varies from 50 to 100 dollars with improvements, that is, with a good house and barn.

_7th. Timber._--Sufficient exists at present; but should the population increase rapidly, it will become a scarce article.

_8th. Game._--Scarce; which is generally the case through the States. No country in the world is worse supplied with game, and in a few years the game will be entirely annihilated, owing to the extreme inclemency of the winters, and there being no cover for them in the woods.

{441} _9th. Fish._--Taking the States through, the supply of this article is trifling.

_10th. Farmers._--The generality of this cla.s.s are Germans of the lowest grade; industrious, but nothing further, and forming no society for an English yeoman. The rest of the population is composed of descendants of the old settlers and of low people of Irish origin.