Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Volume XII Part 8

"You will, (says the same eulogist,) no doubt, be astonished to understand, that the remains of this great and excellent man still repose in a humble sepulchre on the estate at which he resided, and from which, like Cincinnatus, he was several times called by his country. The Americans are certainly not ungrateful, but they seem to have an aversion to perpetuate a man's name by "monumental bra.s.s," or to express their grat.i.tude by splendid tombs, or ponderous and magnificent mausolea. Your long acquaintance with Westminster Abbey, where the high and the low, the great and the obscure, the good man and the villain, are alike honoured by their country or their friends, may, perhaps, draw from you a burst of indignation, at the imaginary apathy and indifference of this great republic, to the memory {476} and past services of its ill.u.s.trious dead, but I question whether it be not correct policy. To begin would be to have no end, and the erection of a monument to Washington might terminate, as in Russia, with a monument to a dog. Since the invention of writing, and the present extent of knowledge, the "storied urn and animated bust," have become almost useless. History will record with fidelity the ill.u.s.trious actions of him who has deserved well of his country, and his name will be as perpetual as if Pelion had been piled on Ossa, to preserve his memory.

It was doubtless owing to the want of this art, that the humble tumuli of the Celts, and the ma.s.sy pyramids of the Egyptians, were formed; they had no other mode of expressing their grat.i.tude, or of perpetuating the memory of their dead. After all, perhaps, the best monument is "to read their history in a nation's eyes.

"It is but justice, however, to state, that though the American government have refused to erect a monument to the memory of their ill.u.s.trious hero, his countrymen have not been quite so fastidious; and the citizens of Baltimore, with that enthusiasm and public spirit which have done them so much credit, are now engaged in building a monument that will, at once, evince their grat.i.tude, their patriotism, and their taste. It may be safely a.s.serted, that the Americans pay less attention to the depositories of their dead, than almost any other nation. {477} They seem to be no sooner laid in the earth, than they are forgotten; and the tear of sorrow, and the hand of affection, neither bedews nor decorates the sward, under which the friend, the parent, or the relative reposes. Among the ancients, you will recollect, this was a part of their religion, and we owe to the tenderness and affection of a Corinthian nurse for her deceased charge, the rich and splendid capital which beautifies the Corinthian shaft. It is in vain to look into the burial grounds of this country, for the pensive cypress, or the melancholy willow, the virgin weeping over the urn of her departed lover, or the mother hanging over the grave of her darling child. No flower blooms, bedewed with the tear of affection. All is waste and dreary, and dead as the sunken grave over which you pa.s.s; and a few stones, on which are engraved the name and age of the deceased, are all that remain to manifest the affection of the living, to those who have pa.s.sed away and are no more.

"Bushrod Washington, the present proprietor of Mount Vernon, is the nephew of the General. He seems to be about 60 years of age, is below the middle size, and apparently nervous and feeble; his complexion is pale and cadaverous, but his countenance has the lineaments of benevolence and good nature. He has long been one of the judges of the supreme court of the United States, and has, during that period, discovered no deficiency {478} in his acquaintance with the law. His decisions are, I believe, generally correct, though not very remarkable.

I know not whether he ever was distinguished for his eloquence at the bar; but little seems to be known of his powers as an advocate or a lawyer, and that little does not tend to place him much beyond the grade of mediocrity. Satisfied with the reputation which the fame of his uncle, the situation he holds, and the wealth he possesses, cast around him, he feels no motive to exertion, and no desire to render himself ill.u.s.trious by his own efforts. He appears to be one of those men to whom the pleasures of the domestic circle are more seducing than the fitful, though captivating splendour which surrounds the temples of the statesman or the warrior, and he prefers what the world would term the inglorious repose of domestic felicity, to the feverish agitation and sickly turmoil of public life.

"Mount Vernon has become, like Jerusalem and Mecca, the resort of travellers of all nations, who come within its vicinity. Veneration and respect for the memory of the great and ill.u.s.trious chief, whose body it contains, lead all who have heard his name, to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of patriotism and public worth, and to stroll over the ground which has been consecrated by the repose, and hallowed by the ashes, of heroism and virtue. A twig, a flower, or even a stone, becomes interesting, when taken from the spot {479} where Washington lived and died, and no man quits it without bearing with him some memento to exhibit to his family and friends."

_17th._--I was revisited yesterday and to-day by Mr. Law, who, in speaking of my new acquaintance Mr. Fairfax, says, "he is an amiable, good, and learned man, but like Charles II. 'he never said a foolish thing, nor ever did a wise one.' He is ever unprepared to protect himself from cheats. This gentleman is the great great grandson of the famous Sir Thomas Fairfax, Cromwell's favourite general; he was once the richest man in America, but exchanged 100,000 acres of Virginia land for the same quant.i.ty in the west country, which he was told abounded in iron, silver, and other mines; he thus parted with a substance for a shadow."[157] "He still," says Mr. Elliott, "possesses 100,000 acres, and one of the warmest and truest hearts in the world. He was brought up at Mount Vernon, a favourite of General Washington's, who predicted great things of him." But, says Mr. Law, he has long been living in prison bounds. His lady lamented to us on Sunday her want of a carriage, and the hot walks she had to make to town. This gentleman's brother, Thomas Fairfax, Esq., commonly known as Lord Fairfax, who, in his own right is a British peer, possesses large unproductive estates, and lives frequently in disgrace, but both, though lords in England, would feel themselves {480} highly insulted were they so to be addressed here.

Both are staunch republicans.

I yesterday added to my acquaintance a lord-chancellor, a lord, and two princes of the Ossage nation of Indians, who with two other chiefs, last week, went in state (naked) to the Secretary of war, and stamped, and said, in great anger, they came not here to be cheated out of their lands. They are fine dignified fellows, speaking only their own wild language.

Mr. Law, during conversation this day, observed that if this government would, and he believed they would, adopt his financial system, the people here would soon flourish again, and every wild spot become a garden. "Mr. Crawford, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, although he has recommended a contrary measure, is exactly of my opinion. We are both as much alike on this subject as pea to pea."

I said, "Mr. Law, would not a visit to England be agreeable? Would it not tend to lengthen your life?" "O, Sir, it would, but I could not now live in England; I must be active, and doing that which I deem for the good of mankind. My opinions would run counter to the powers which be."

"But, Sir," rejoined I, "is it not our duty to be prudent and to seek the peace of the land we live in? Because in its peace we shall have peace."

"Certainly! such is the duty of every good man. {481} Why should he sacrifice himself and family? Mr. A----, your envoy here, seems suspicious of you on account of your acquaintance with Mr. ----. I am sorry Mr. ---- should have given such toasts at the dinner on the 4th of July, in favour of the radicals. What have the radicals to do with America? These toasts will be sent home by A----. Envoys have nothing to do but to watch the conduct of British subjects and give reports. I am sorry that Mr. ----, who is a good, kind-hearted, polite man, should thus expose himself, and you, and other friends, to suspicion and misrepresentation."

_19th._--I received the following letter from Mr. Law, addressed to me at Mr. ----'s.

_Washington, 18th July, 1820._

Dear Sir,

I enclose you a list of garden seeds; if you will make a statement of the probable amount, I will pay now, or answer your draft after the purchase. A pound or two of Swedish turnips and of Norfolk turnips may be added. I shall be happy to pay every attention to any of my countrymen coming here, and to give them any information in my power. I regret that I formed your acquaintance so late. My hay turns out better than I expected, and I hope to have four or five acres of turnips, as I am sowing between my rows of corn. Any farming information I shall be very thankful {482} for. I remain, with wishes for a safe and speedy voyage,

Your most obedient servant, T. LAW.

Pray write to me by what vessel you send the seeds.

The following letter from Edward Meacher, gardener to Mr. Law, is a specimen of the easy freedom and familiarity of Yankee labourers. It is addressed

To Thomas Law, Esq.

_July, 1820._

Sir,

Considering my ill behaviour towards you the other day, I consider myself culpable; therefore to prevent such like trouble in future to you, I shall declare upon oath against spirituous liquors, such as brandy, rum, gin, and whiskey, _except three drams in the course of each day_, as long as I live with you. Three drams a day will not injure my health or temper. Upon these conditions I expect not to displease you in future, which will be a cause, I hope, for you to encourage me in your employment.

Sir, From your faithful servant, EDWARD MEACHER.

{483} _20th._--This day I bade farewell to Washington city and America, and to all the bright and vivid spirits I found in it.

_21st._--In company with Mr. E. Dumbleton, and my wicked, beautiful, silver grey squirrel, a native of Maryland, whose brushy tail is his nightcap, and who eats razors, b.u.t.tons, bibles, &c., and is therefore sentenced to transportation for life, I embarked on board the good ship _Minerva_ of Boston, to Amsterdam bound, and from Alexandria sailed gently down the great river Potowmac.

After a pa.s.sage of about 30 days, we arrived at the Isle of Wight. Here I had the honour to present my most gracious Sovereign with a precious relic--a cedar-cane cut from the grave of General Washington; together with six gallons of "elegant, mighty fine claret," purposely sent on a Yankee voyage of 10,000 miles, to ripen for the use of British royalty.

{484} CONCLUSION

Having reached home, partially recovered what seemed irrecoverably gone, my long lost health, and told my story, there seems little or nothing to add, except a few retrospective observations, summarily bearing on the preceding descriptions, opinions, and decisions, which throughout are frankly and fearlessly rendered, chiefly aiming to enlighten the ignorant, and to abash the wicked. "But," says the reader, "to emigrate or not to emigrate? That is the question!" It is easier to propound than to answer this inquiry. To seek a refuge from danger, and to fly from the coming storm, is on the one hand in accordance with one of the first laws of nature; and on the other hand, it may be said, that to abandon our hearths, homes, and altars, because our country mourns and is in trouble, is cowardly. That numbers have gone, are now going, and will continue to go, is certain; for when there is a surplus population, and the hive swarms, what shall set bounds to the free-born? To those, then, who are inevitably destined to roam, friendless, homeless, really lone strangers in a strange land, and to see their old, much-loved homes, and the tombs of their fathers no more, I would say: Study the preceding well-meant pages. I know your wants and feelings. Study, then, I {485} would say, by every attainable qualification, principle, and sentiment, to fortify your minds, and make yourselves all which you ought to be.

Plague not yourselves nor the land of your adoption, by importing and giving perpetuity to homebred prejudices. A nest you will find; but every where, like that of the nightingale, a thorn within it. Learn, therefore, yourselves to forget, and as far as in you lies, teach your posterity also to forget, and to remember only what they ought to remember. A British origin will be ever honourable in their heraldry.

This is well worth remembrance, and may they never stain, never dishonour it; but into whatsoever lands they wander, may they seek the good and peace of that land, for in its good and peace they shall have peace themselves!

To those whose disgusts and moral and physical disabilities point them homewards, as prodigals to the house of their fathers, the broad Atlantic, in the words of the Hon. J. Q. Adams, offers a highway for their return; having undergone a process by which they shall, perhaps, learn the vast sum and value of English homes and comforts.

The old family quarrel has evidently made the natives of both countries somewhat incommiscible; else how is it that the French, Dutch, Germans, Irish, and strangers of any other land, are more acceptable to America than the children of the common parent, Great Britain. For to the latter the most distinguished Americans have heretofore {486} proudly traced their pedigree, unless some rank and cancerous blemish was in the root and core of it. Hence all grades blush not to own and call her mother, though she is denounced by many, and it must be owned with some justice, as an unnatural parent. But those events have long since become matter of historical record, and it is not good policy to visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, from generation to generation. Let both countries wisely learn to think correctly of their several governments, and kindly of each other. Peace and goodwill, in all their fruitful ramifications, will ever bring more silver dollars to the one, and more golden guineas to the other, than fire-ships, torpedos, battles, blazing cities, and heroes covered with glory!

"Well! I guess, after all," exclaimed a Yankee friend, "it is a good land with small faults; necessary evils; seeming evils; good in disguise." "Yes, it is a good land," rejoined another, in love with it at first sight, "mine eyes have seen it for myself, and not another. I am fascinated with it. My return from it would be impossible, but for the adamantine chain which binds me to my country. My heart tempts me, but my duty forbids me to break it." Hasty conclusions like hasty matches, are rarely happy, and so it was with our enthusiast; for in less than two years of patient trial and perpetual travel, he very gladly returned to his native country, joyfully repeating,

{487} ----"Whoe'er thou art, Cling to thy home. If there the meanest shed Yield thee a hearth and shelter for thy head, And some poor plot with vegetables stor'd, Be all that heav'n allots thee for thy board, Unsavoury bread, and herbs that scatter'd grow Wild on the river bank, or mountain brow, Yet ev'n this cheerless mansion shall provide More heart's repose than all the world beside."

Finally; were, however, America, of which I now perhaps take my leave for ever, every thing that the purest patriotism could make it, yet the climate is an evil, a perpetual evil, a mighty drawback, an almost insurmountable obstacle to the health, wealth, and well-being of all, except the native red and black man, the genuine aboriginal, and the unstained African, for whom alone this land of promise, this vast section of the earth, this new and better world, seems by nature to have been intended. Otherwise, it is argued, would noisome pestilence annually desolate its cities and districts, and every where unsparingly and prematurely people the grave? In spite, however, of climes, tropical or changeful, torrid or frigid, and of const.i.tutional predisposition to sickness, health, physical and moral, is much more at the command of mankind than she is generally supposed to be. Temperance, abstinence, and exertion, approximating to labour, in free air, are the essential handmaids to health, and enable a man to laugh at doctors, and to withstand the effects of climate. Hence, then, {488} in whatsoever climes, stations, or circ.u.mstances, my reader may be found, let him learn to think health worth a sacrifice. To persons, whose fortune it may be to encounter the risks of this dangerous and debilitating climate, I would especially say: Let ablutions and affusions of pure, cold spring water, become habitual with you, and as a beverage, let water be subst.i.tuted for wine, whiskey, and alcohol in all its forms.

Let milk supply the place of tea, coffee, and other stimulants; and let tobacco, snuff, and all the family of narcotics, be abandoned. Surely health is ever, what a late venerable friend of his species was often wont to call her, _the Sugar of Life_. He who thinks and acts otherwise rarely finds health, and never deserves her.

FOOTNOTES:

[104] Richard Daniel came to Princeton in 1816. He was a circuit judge for one year (1819-20), and subsequently represented Gibson County in the legislature.--ED.

[105] Petersburg is fifteen miles south of Washington. Several families had settled in the neighborhood by 1817. Pike County being organized in that year, it was chosen as the county seat, and a town surveyed and platted. It was incorporated in 1855.--ED.

[106] For the "mud holes" and Judge Chambers, see Hulme's _Journal_, volume x of our series, notes 28, 29. For Corydon, see Flint's _Letters_, in our volume ix, note 136.--ED.

[107] The Silver Hills extend north from New Albany through Floyd and Clark counties, the two most prominent peaks being the "Haystack k.n.o.bs,"

at Bennettsville; the princ.i.p.al ridge is from four hundred to five hundred feet above the valley.--ED.

[108] Uniontown is now Waverly, the name having been changed when the Ohio-Scioto Ca.n.a.l was constructed through the village (1830), and it acquired the dignity of a post-town. It is about twenty miles from Chillicothe.--ED.

[109] Bainbridge, located near the falls of Paint Creek, eighteen miles south-west of Chillicothe, was platted by Nathaniel Ma.s.sie in 1805. It contained three families the first year, and for two years thereafter received no additions; but at the time of Faux's visit contained about twenty-five dwelling-houses.--ED.

[110] For the early history of New Lancaster, see c.u.ming's _Tour_, volume iv of our series, note 145.--ED.

[111] A brief account of the Erie Ca.n.a.l may be found in b.u.t.trick's _Voyages_, volume viii of our series, note 37.--ED.

[112] For the early history of Somerset, see Flint's _Letters_, volume ix of our series, note 35.--ED.

[113] Major Zachariah Sprigg was an inn-keeper at Wheeling as early as May 21, 1781; in 1783 he was major of militia for Ohio County. Consult Draper MSS. in Wisconsin Historical Library, 2 SS 8 and 5 NN 16.--ED.

[114] For the more important places along this route, see Flint's _Letters_, in our volume ix, pp. 64-79.--ED.

[115] John Randolph, of Roanoke (1773-1833), was elected to Congress in 1800, serving until his opposition to the War of 1812-15 cost him his seat. He returned in 1815, and from that time a.s.sumed a strong states-rights att.i.tude. Famed as an orator, he gained a special reputation as a master of sarcasm and bitter invective. See _ante_ (volume xi), note 34.