Letter XXXIII Democracy
New York, October 22, 1835.
Our old European societies have a heavy burden to bear; it is that of the Past. Each age is the guarantee of the acts of those that have gone before it, and imposes a similar obligation on those which follow it. We are paying interest on our fathers’ errors; we pay it in the first place under the form of the public debt; we pay it also in the charges for the support of our fine army, for among the causes which oblige all Europe to keep the flower of its population under arms, we must reckon the animosities of our fathers. We pay it, and at a higher rate, in all those habits of distrust and suspicion, which have been bequeathed to us from times of anarchy and despotism. The accumulated weight of a long Past must, indeed, be an insupportable burden, since the Roman empire, first in Rome, and afterwards in Constantinople, whither it was removed to escape the load, crumbled and sunk beneath it. All nations, which have been the glory of the world, have been ground to a lifeless dust, like the ashes of the tombs, by the pressure of a Past, which hemmed them in on every side. Will the Europe of our age undergo the fate of its predecessors? There is reason to hope that it will be more fortunate; for, having their example before its eyes, it must be wiser than they, and it is at the same time more pliant in its temper, and more elastic in its forms.
One of my friends, some time ago visiting the great iron-works of Crawshay & Co., in Wales, was struck with the fact, that the numerous railroads connected with the works, were constructed on an old and very imperfect system. On inquiring the reason, and observing that the saving in traction, would pay the expense of a re-construction with the improved rail, “Nothing is more just,” he was told; “but we retain our old flat rails, and we shall do so for a long time, because it would take two or three years to make a change; and in the mean while, it being impossible to keep the wagons running on both rails at the same time, we should have to stop operations, and to leave fifty thousand workmen without work and without bread. The difficulty is merely in the transition, but at present it seems to be insurmountable.” So it is in regard to society. It is easy to see that one system has decided advantages over another, and that if society could be transported from one to the other by a blow of the wand, much would be gained; but between the two there is a great gulf. How can it be passed? How is it possible to assure vested right, to which nothing seems to be guarantied on the opposite side? How overcome the opposition of the privileged class, who resist the change? How check the impatience of the multitude, eager to enter into the enjoyment of the benefits which it expects to find on the other shore?
In regard to social reforms, the question is wonderfully simplified, by merely transplanting it, that is, by going into new countries to resolve it. The old country is then abandoned to old interests and old ideas, and the emigrant lands disengaged and unembarrassed, ready to undertake every thing, and disposed to try every thing. He has left behind him in the mother-country a thousand associations and relations, which surround existence, and give it, if you please, its ornaments and its charm, but which also tend to check its activity, and make society slow to answer the demands for reform. The first of all innovations is the change of soil, and this necessarily involves others. Vested rights do not emigrate; they are bound to the old soil; they know no other, and no other knows them. Privileges, which are respected because they are consecrated by time, do not venture upon a new soil, or if they hazard the trial, they cannot become acclimated there. A colony is like a besieged city; each one must serve with his person; each one passes only for what he is worth personally. In a society which has no Past, the Past counts for nothing.
It is to be remarked, therefore, that projects of social reform, conceived in the bosom of established societies, in which opportunity is afforded for the calm exercise of thought, have generally been obliged to be transported to other shores, and to take root in barbarous lands, in order to be carried into execution, and to be embodied under the form of a new society. Civilisation has advanced from the East toward the West, increasing in vigour at every remove, although the founders of new colonies have generally quitted a more civilised country for a barbarous one. Thus Italy and Greece, daughters of Asia and Egypt, have gone beyond their mothers; thus western Europe has eclipsed the glories of Greece and Rome. Soon after having given birth to the new nations, the old ones have perished violently, or have fallen into an obscurity worse than death, merely from a want of will or energy to apply the principles which gave vigour to their offspring,—principles of a new social order, founded on the wider extension of liberty and the greater diffusion of privileges,—to their own wants.
Providence had done much to prepare the European races, when transported across the ocean, for becoming the founders of great and powerful nations. The English-Americans, who were the last comers, and did not arrive until after the Spaniards had established their dominion over equinoctial and southern America, left the Old World only after it had been aroused and agitated by the intellectual revolution of which Luther was the Mirabeau, and of which in England, Henry VIII. was the Robespierre and the Napoleon. This great event had already sown those seeds in the human breast, which were to swell and expand through succeeding ages. England was already big with those habits of industry and order, which were destined to make her the first nation of the Old World in the sphere of industry and in political greatness. Her children, therefore, carried with them the germ of those principles and institutions, which were to secure to them the same supremacy in the New. They embarked, at least this was the case with those of New England, the pilgrims, the fathers of the Yankees, after having undergone the ordeal of fire and water, after having been seven times tried between the sledge and the anvil, between persecution and exile. They arrived wearied out with political quarrels, and bent on devoting their energies to pacific and useful purposes.
They seated themselves under a climate which differed little from that of their native skies. Thus they escaped the danger of becoming enervated by the influences of a warm and balmy atmosphere, like that in which the fiery spirits of the Castilian race were tamed; they landed on an almost uninhabited shore, and had only a few poor tribes of Red Skins for enemies and neighbours, whilst the Spaniards had to contend with the numerous armies of the brave Aztecs in Mexico, and their successors, the Creoles, have had to keep in check on the one side the Comanches and the Indios Bravos of the north, and on the other the Araucanians of the southern Cordilleras. If the English had encountered a numerous population like that which resisted Cortez, they would have had to conquer it, and doubtless they would have succeeded in so doing; but after the victory, they would have been obliged to keep it in subjection, and the yoke of the English race is harder than that of the Spaniards. Their social organisation would then have been founded on the servitude of the inferior castes, red and mixed; the new society would have been tainted with a deep-seated disease, which would have reduced it to a much lower state than European society, and have sunk it to the level of ancient communities, which were founded on personal slavery. It is not, indeed, completely free from this taint at present; since negroes have been brought into the country, and twelve States out of twentyfour are defiled with the pollution of slavery. The portion of the country which has been left for the pure white race, is, however, ample enough to receive a large community composed of the same materials with the European nations, and affording great facilities for combining them in a better order.
If they had found powerful enemies to combat, if war had been constantly hanging over their heads, they would have been obliged to submit themselves to a military aristocracy, spite of the instinct of self-government and independence which runs in British veins, and of which they had a double share. In that case, the Anglo-American society would have been only a copy, and an inferior copy of the English; as the Canadians, for example, were merely an imitation of the French, under the old order of things. The English colonists sometimes had to repel the attacks of the French, who had possession of the west and of the basin of the St Lawrence; but after the capture of Quebec, they found themselves completely delivered from the most momentous public charge, that of defending their territory and their independence. They were, therefore, able to dispense with a military establishment, to turn all their thoughts and energies to their domestic concerns, and to devote themselves exclusively to the work of colonisation. They ceased to stand in need of the English guardianship, and they freed themselves from it, that they might expand themselves and take their own course without let or hindrance. Finally, yielding to their natural impulse, they tried their great democratic experiment, which is already shedding such a brilliant light upon the prospect of improvement in the condition of the lower classes in all countries. From these circumstances and influences, has resulted a new political and physiological phenomenon, a hitherto unknown variety of the human race, inferior to the English and French types in many respects, particularly in taste and philosophy, but superiour to the rest of the human family by its extraordinary combination of sagacity, energy of will and hardy enterprise, by its admirable aptitude for business, by its untiring devotion to work, and above all by its recognition and protection of the rights of the labouring classes, hitherto treated as the offscourings of society.
It seems, then, that the Americans are called to continue the series of that succession of progressive movements which have characterised our civilisation ever since it quitted its cradle in the East. This people will become the founders of a new family, although perhaps the features which now predominate in it will hereafter cease to be the prominent traits; whilst the Spanish-Americans seem to be an impotent race, which will leave no posterity behind it, unless by means of one of those inundations which are called conquests, a current of richer blood from the North or the East, shall fill its exhausted veins.
An eminent philosopher, who is an honour to the French name,DY defines the progress of the human race in its slow and majestic pilgrimage round our globe, by the term initiation. Following out this thought, we may pronounce North America, at least the non-slave-holding States, to be already in advance of us; for, in many respects, what amongst us is accessible only to a small number of the elect, has become common property in the United States, and is familiar to the vulgar. The conquests of the human mind, to which the Reformation gave the signal and the impulse, and the great discoveries of science and art, which, in Europe are yet concealed from the general eye by the bandage of ignorance and the mists of theory, are, in America, exposed to the vulgar gaze and placed within the reach of all. There the multitude touches and handles them at will. Examine the population of our rural districts, sound the brains of our peasants, and you will find that the spring of all their actions is a confused medley of the Bible parables with the legends of a gross superstition. Try the same operation on an American farmer, and you will find that the great scriptural traditions are harmoniously combined, in his mind, with the principles of modern science as taught by Bacon and Descartes, with the doctrine of moral and religious independence proclaimed by Luther, and with the still more recent notions of political freedom. He is one of the initiated.
Amongst us the powerful instruments and machinery of science and art, the steam-engine, the balloon, the voltaic pile, the lightning-rod, inspire the multitude with a religious dread. In France, out of a hundred peasants in the recesses of our provinces, you will not find one, who, after having witnessed their effects, would dare to lay his hand upon them; they would fear to be struck dead, like the sacrilegious wretch who touched the ark of the Lord. But to the American, on the contrary, these are all familiar objects; he knows them all by name, at least, and he feels that they are his. To the French peasant they are mysterious and terrible beings, like his fetish to the negro, his manitou to the Indian; but to the cultivator of the western wilds, they are, what they are to a member of the Institute, tools, instruments of labour or science; again, therefore he is one of the initiated.
There is no profanum vulgus in the United States, at least amongst the whites; and this is true not only in regard to steam-engines and electrical phenomena, but the American multitude is also much more completely initiated than the European mass, in all that concerns the domestic relations and the household. The marriage tie is held more sacred amongst the lowest classes of American society, than among the Middle Class of Europe. Although the marriage ceremony has fewer forms than amongst us, and the connexion is more easily dissolved,DZ cases of adultery are extremely rare. The unfaithful wife would be a lost woman; the man, who should seduce a woman, or should be known to have an illicit connexion, would be excommunicated by the popular clamour. In the United States, even the man of the labouring class is more completely initiated in the obligations of the stronger sex toward the weaker, than most of the men of the Middle Class in France. Not only does the American mechanic and farmer spare his wife, as much as possible, all the hard work and employments unsuitable to the sex, but he exhibits towards her and every other woman, a degree of attention and respect, which is unknown to many persons amongst us, who pride themselves on their education and refinement. In public places and in the public conveyances, in the United States, no man, whatever may be his talents and his services, is treated with any particular attention; no precedence or privilege is allowed him; for all men are equal. But a woman, whatever may be the condition and fortune of her husband, is sure of commanding universal respect and attention.EA
In political affairs, the American multitude has reached a much higher degree of initiation than the European mass, for it does not need to be governed; every man here has in himself the principle of self-government in a much higher degree, and is more fit to take a part in public affairs. It is also more fully initiated in another order of things, which are closely connected with politics and morals, that is, in all that relates to labour. The American mechanic is a better workman,EB he loves his work more, than the European. He is initiated not merely in the hardships, but also in the rewards, of industry; he dresses like a member of Congress; his wife and daughters are dressed like the wife and daughters of a rich New York merchant, and like them, follow the Paris fashions. His house is warm, neat, and comfortable; his table is almost as plentifully provided as that of the wealthiest of his fellow citizens. In this country, the articles of the first necessity for the whites, embrace several objects, which, amongst us, are articles of luxury, not merely among the lower, but among some of the middle classes.
The American multitude is more deeply initiated in what belongs to the dignity of man, or, at least, to their own dignity, than the corresponding classes in Europe. The American operative is full of self-respect, and he shows it not only by an extreme sensibility, by pretensions which to the European bourgeoisie would appear extraordinary,EC and by his reluctance to make use of the term master, for which he substitutes that of employer, but also by good faith and scrupulous exactness in his engagements; he is above those vices of slavery, such as theft and lying, which are so prevalent amongst hirelings with us, particularly amongst those of the towns and their manufactories.ED The French operative is more respectful and submissive in his manners, but hard-pressed by poverty, and surrounded by temptations, he rarely neglects a chance of cheating his bourgeois, when he can do it with impunity. The operative of Lyons practises the piquage d’onces; those of Rheims secrete the gold lace.EE There are, doubtless, frauds committed in America; more than one smart fellow has his conscience oppressed with numerous peccadilloes. How many strolling Yankee pedlers have sold charcoal for indigo, and soapstone for soap to the rural housewives! But in the United States these petty frauds are rare exceptions. The character of the American workman is in a high degree honourable, and excites the envy of the European when he compares the prospect here presented to him with the aspect of things in his own country.EF
What has been said above applies still more strongly to the farmer; not being obliged, like the operative, daily to contest the rate of his wages with an employer, surrounded by his equals, and a stranger to the seductions of the city, the American farmer possesses the good qualities of the operative at least in an equal degree, and has his faults in a much less degree. He is less unjust and less jealous towards the richer or more cultivated classes.
If then we examine the condition of the American multitude, we find it, taken as a whole, to be much superiour to that of the mass in Europe. It is true that it appears to be almost completely destitute of certain faculties, which are possessed by the European populace. There are, for instance, at times, a hundredfold more gleams of taste and poetical genius in the brain of the most beggarly lazzarone of Naples, than in that of the republican mechanic or farmer of the New World. The houseless young vagabonds of Paris have transient flashes of chivalric feeling and greatness of soul, which the American operative never equals. This is because the national character of the Italians is impregnated with a love of art, and that generous sentiments are one of the distinguished traits of the French character, and the very lowest classes of each nation have some portion of the national spirit. But it does not belong to the multitude to be poets and artists, in Italy, or models of chivalry, in France. Their perfection, above all and in every country, consists in knowing and fulfilling their duties to God, to their country, to their families, to themselves, in assiduous and honest industry, in being good citizens, good husbands, and good fathers, in providing for the welfare and guarding the virtue of those dependent upon them. In order to make a fair comparison between the multitude in Europe and the multitude in America, we should consider them in reference to these qualities; for these belong to all varieties of the human race and all forms of civilization, and upon their development and stability in the greatest number, depends the strength of empires. To render the parallel between the two hemispheres perfect, it would be necessary to set against the mechanic and the farmer in the United States, the members of a corresponding class among a people of Teutonic origin, language, and religion, that is, the English operative and farmer. European civilisation, setting aside the Sclavonians, who have recently appeared with brilliant success upon the stage, divides itself into two branches, that of the North, and that of the South, one Teutonic, the other Latin, distinguished by different qualities and tendencies. American society, being a scion of one of these branches, can be more readily compared with it, than with any of the offsets of the other. It is easy, therefore, to determine the superiority of the American mechanic and farmer to those of England, but it is difficult to decide how much inferior or superiour any class of American society is to the corresponding Spanish, Italian, or French class; it is only necessary, however, to open one’s eyes to be convinced, that the multitude among these three people are far from having reached, in the direction in which nature points their career, the same degree of progress that the Americans have done in theirs.
The American democracy certainly has its faults, and I do not think that I can be accused of having extenuated them. I have not concealed its rude demands upon the higher classes, nor its haughty airs of superiority to other nations. I will even admit, that, in many respects, it is rather as a class, and in the lump that it recommends itself to favour; for the individuals that compose it, are destitute of those hearty and affectionate qualities, by which our French peasantry would be distinguished, if it were once delivered from the wretchedness which now brutifies it; but it is in the mass and as a whole, that I now judge the American multitude.
The American democracy is imperious and overbearing towards foreign people; but is not a keen sensibility, a good quality rather than a defect in a young nation as in a young man, provided that it is backed by an energetic devotion to a great work? Pride is ridiculous in an enervated and inert people, but in an enterprising, active, vigourous nation, it is consciousness of power, and confidence in its high destiny. The foreign policy of the American democracy is profoundly egoistic, for national ambition is the characteristic of a growing nation. Cosmopolitanism is generally a symptom of decline, as religious tolerance is a sign that faith is on the decay. The pretensions of the United States are unbounded: they aspire to the sovereignty over South America; they covet one by one the provinces of Mexico; but in spite of the rules of morality, it is might which makes right in the relations between people and people. If the United States should wrest the Mexican provinces from the Spanish race, partly by craft and partly by force, they would be responsible to God and to man for the consequences of the robbery; but they would not be alone guilty. If the country which they had seized, flourished in their hands, posterity would pardon the act; but, on the other hand, it would condemn the Mexicans, if, with such neighbours at their doors, they should continue as at present, to stagnate in stupid security and in a miserable lethargy, and the powers of Europe, if they neglected to warn them and to rouse them from their torpor.
The Romans were intolerably arrogant towards other people; they spoke to the all-powerful sovereigns of the monarchical East, and to the heirs of Alexander the Great, that brutal and imperious language, which General Jackson has flung into the face of a monarchy of fourteen centuries. They treated all who stood in the way of the gratification of their insatiable thirst for conquest, as slaves who had revolted against the divine will. That Punic faith, with the charge of which they branded the memory of their rivals, was often the only faith which they practised. Posterity, however, has proclaimed them the greatest people of history, because they were successful; that is, because they formed a durable empire out of conquered nations by the wisdom of their laws. The Anglo-Americans have much resemblance to the Romans whether for good or for evil. I do not say that they are destined to become the masters of the world; I merely mean to affirm that by the side of faults which shock and offend foreign nations, they have great powers and precious qualities which should rather attract our attention. It is by these that posterity will judge them; by these they have become formidable to other people. Let us aim to get the vantage-ground of them, not by denouncing their defects to the world, but by endeavouring to make ourselves masters of their good qualities and their valuable faculties, and by cultivating and developing our own. These are the surest means of maintaining our rank in the world in spite of them and in spite of all.
At the same time that the American democracy conducts itself more and more haughtily abroad, it is jealous of all who fall under the suspicion of seeking to encroach upon its sovereignty at home. In this, it only imitates the most boasted of aristocracies. The system which it has pursued towards the higher classes, is dictated by the instinct of self-preservation, just as that of the European aristocracy and Middle Class toward the classes respectively below them, has been instinctive with them. The democracy is determined to lose none of its conquests, which have been gained, not by plundering its neighbours, not by pillaging provinces, not by robbing travellers, but by the sweat of its brow, by its own resolute industry. Who, then, amongst us will cast the first stone at it? I can readily conceive, that, at first sight, we of the Middle Class in Europe, should be offended by its pretensions, and that we should feel our sympathy excited by the spectacle of our American fellows conquered and bound. But let us, nevertheless, confess, that this democracy has managed the affairs of the New World in such a manner as to justify the supremacy it has won, and to excuse its jealousy towards every thing that might have a tendency to spoil it of its conquest. This is the first time since the origin of society, that the people have fairly enjoyed the fruits of their labours, and have shown themselves worthy of the prerogatives of manhood. Glorious result! Even though it has been obtained by the temporary humiliation of the classes with which our education and habits lead us to sympathise, it is the duty of every good man to rejoice at it, and to thank God for it!
Wo to tyranny by whomsoever exercised! Far be it from me to apologise for the brutal and savage, and sometimes bloody excesses, which have lately been so often repeated in most of the large towns in the United States! Should they be continued, the American democracy will be degraded and will lose forever the high position it now occupies. But criminal as these acts are, it would be unjust to impute them to the American people, and to condemn to ignominy the whole body of these incomparable labourers. Popular excesses in all countries are the work of an imperceptible minority, which the existing system in the United States is sufficient to restrain. That system needs, then, some amendment, which shall suit it to preserve the good qualities of the nation in their purity, and which, indeed, seems already on the point of being introduced, for theories of absolute liberty are evidently losing favour in the United States.
It would be a mistake to infer from what has been said, that the American civilisation is superiour to our own. The multitude in the United States is superiour to the multitude in Europe; but the higher classes in the New World are inferior to those of the Old, although the merits of the latter are rather virtual than real, and belong rather to the past or the future than to the present; for the higher classes in Europe, both aristocracy and bourgeoisie, turn their good qualities to little account, whether on behalf of themselves or the people. The higher classes in the United States, with some exceptions and taken as a whole, have the air and attitude of the vanquished; they bear the mark of defeat on their front. As they have been always and in almost all circumstances much mingled with the crowd, both parties have naturally borrowed many habits and feelings from each other. This exchange has been advantageous to the multitude; but less so the higher classes. The golden buckler of the Trojan has been exchanged for the leather shield of the gallant Diomed. Each of the two is, therefore, superiour in one of the two great elements of society, and inferior in the other. This is the system of compensation.
If, then, from the superiority of the labouring classes in the United States, it were necessary to draw a conclusion as to the relative rank of European and American civilisation in the future, the following would be the only necessary inference: in order that American society should have the advantage of ours, it would be requisite that it should comprise a class, which, intrinsically and in its exterior, should be as much elevated above the people, properly so called, as our higher classes are above the great mass of our population; or, in other words, it depends upon ourselves to give to our social order the advantage over that of the United States, by raising our lower class both of the towns and the country from the ignorance and brutal degradation in which they are plunged, and developing their powers and qualities in conformity with our national disposition and the character of the race to which we belong.
Footnotes:
DY M. Ballanche.
DZ As in some of the States there is no law of divorce, the legislatures grant it in virtue of their legislative omnipotence. Out of less than 150 acts passed by the New Jersey legislature in 1836, thirteen were acts authorising divorces.
EA In the mail-coaches, the best seats are always yielded to women, without regard to the order in which the names are booked. The husband also does the marketing and often brings home the provisions himself. Nothing is more common than to see men carrying home a goose or a turkey by the legs, or a basket of fruit. I have before observed that the conjugal and social submission of the woman is more complete in the United States than in France. In France, a woman engages in business, and with the consent of her husband is acknowledged as a responsible agent; but there is nothing of this sort in England and the United States. Our children in Canada have even gone beyond us in this respect, and have admitted females to the electoral franchise.
EB The English workman is very skilful. Although in certain branches we excel the English, it appears to me incontestable, that at present the English workman is the first in Europe. In some respects, he is also superiour to the American; he will, for example, finish a particular piece of work in a better style, but when out of his special sphere, and separated from the tools of the English workshops, which are of a superiour kind, he will be at loss. The American workman has a more general aptitude; his sphere is larger, and he can extend it indefinitely at will. He accomplishes at least, as much as the English workman, and when he devotes himself for a long time to the same task, which is not usual with him, he does it better.
EC Thus a shoemaker or tailor will not go to a customer’s house to take a measure, but requires all, women and men, to come in person to his shop.
ED In the relations between the master and the operative, the most deplorable usages prevail in our large manufacturing towns. Many of the masters are reduced to practise the most disgraceful artifices on their workmen, in order to sustain themselves against the violence of competition; thus, in some workshops and factories, the hands of the clock are put forward in the morning and backward in the evening. The operatives commit reprisals in every possible manner.
EE The piquage d’onces, or secretion of silk by the workmen, is one of the cankers of Lyons. The value of the silk thus stolen is estimated at nearly one million of dollars a year; the thefts committed in the Rheims factories are stated to exceed 600,000 dollars. The operatives exchange the gold-lace at the dram-shops for about one fourth of its actual value.
EF The domestics in the United States are almost everywhere much inferior to the operatives, personal service being here looked upon as degrading. In many of the States the domestics will not bear to be called servants, and take that of help; this is the case in New England. The domestic is there a hired agent whose task is light, and who in many houses takes his meals with the family. On these conditions, native servants may be had in New England who are attentive and intelligent; they stand upon their rights, and expect to be treated with respect by their employers, but they perform their duties with an honourable fidelity. In most of the non-slave-holding States, the servants are chiefly free blacks, who are generally lazy and depraved, or newly arrived emigrants from Ireland, who are ignorant and without skill, prone to be most provokingly familiar, and in the intoxication of their new condition, so different from the squalid misery they have left behind them, more disposed to take airs upon themselves, than the natives of the country.
Notes
Note 1 — Page 26
Use of Iron.
One must go to England to appreciate the value of iron, the scarcity of wood having obliged the English to apply it to a great number of purposes to which no one on the continent would dream of its being applicable. At every step and under all forms, you meet with cast-iron, bar-iron, sheet-iron, and steel; machines, piles, columns of all dimensions from two inches to four feet in diameter, water-pipes and gas-pipes, posts, grates, bridges, roofs, floors, whole quays and roads, of iron. But for it, those light and airy structures, so slender in appearance, yet supporting such enormous weights, the huge six story warehouses of St Catharine’s docks for instance, would be heavy and gloomy dungeons. The gas which comes from a distance of seven or eight miles, is made and brought in by the aid of iron. Those bridges, springing as it were across the water, those graceful and elegant footways across the canals, as well as the fluted columns of Regent’s Street, are of iron, cast or wrought. The quantity of pig-iron annually produced in Great Britain and Ireland, is about 800,000 tons; in France it amounted in 1834 to 269,000 tons, beside 177,000 tons of bar iron. The ordinary price of both kinds with us is about double the price in England.
Until the present day, stone has been almost the only material employed in durable works of architecture; but stone having much less cohesive force than iron, is only suited to the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman styles of architecture. The light and airy architecture of the Middle Ages, requires a material possessing great strength in a small compass, such as the metals; and some attempts have already been made in France and Germany to apply cast-iron to the construction of Gothic structures. Stone has already done all that it is capable of doing, and we can have nothing new in architecture, except by means of new materials. In my opinion, iron is to be the instrument of this regeneration of the architectural art. The price of pig-iron is now so low, that the cost of a building of this material, would not exceed that of one constructed of hewn stone.
Note 2 — Page 26
Quantity of Coal mined in France, England, and Belgium.
Mr McCulloch, in his Dictionary of Commerce estimates the quantity of coal annually mined in England to amount to 16,000,000 tons.EG The extensive inquiries of M. Le Play, who has carefully examined all the English coal-fields, have led him to estimate it much higher; it does not, probably, fall short of 30,000,000 tons, of which 5,000,000 are consumed in the iron manufacture. Mr McCulloch estimates the amount of capital employed in the coal-trade at 10,000,000 pounds, and the number of persons engaged in it at from 160,000 to 180,000. Other estimates carry this last number to 206,000, of whom 121,000 work in the mines.
In France 2,500,000 tons of coal were raised in 1834, and about 18,000 persons were employed in the mines. France also imports coal from Belgium and England. Next to England, Belgium furnishes the largest quantity of coal; the three great coal-fields of Mons, Charleroi, and Liege with some smaller basins, yielding about 3,200,000 tons annually.
Note 3 — Page 33
Value of Exports of Domestic Produce and Manufactures from England, France, and United States, from 1820 to 1835.
| Years. | France. | England. | United States. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1820 | francs. | 543,100,000 | fr. | 910,600,000 | fr. | 275,400,000 |
| 1821 | 450,700,000 | 917,500,000 | 232,700,000 | |||
| 1822 | 427,600,000 | 925,000,000 | 265,800,000 | |||
| 1823 | 427,100,000 | 890,000,000 | 251,300,000 | |||
| 1824 | 505,800,000 | 960,000,000 | 269,900,000 | |||
| 1825 | 543,800,000 | 972,500,000 | 356,800,000 | |||
| 1826 | 461,000,000 | 787,500,000 | 282,700,000 | |||
| 1827 | 506,800,000 | 930,000,000 | 314,000,000 | |||
| 1828 | 511,200,000 | 920,000,000 | 270,000,000 | |||
| 1829 | 504,200,000 | 895,000,000 | 296,800,000 | |||
| 1830 | 452,900,000 | 955,000,000 | 316,900,000 | |||
| 1831 | 455,500,000 | 930,000,000 | 326,600,000 | |||
| 1832 | 507,400,000 | 921,000,000 | 336,500,000 | |||
| 1833 | 559,400,000 | 992,500,000 | 374,700,000 | |||
| 1834 | 509,300,000 | 1,041,000,000 | 432,100,000 | |||
| 1835 | 577,400,000 | 1,184,200,000 | 539,700,000 | |||
England exports hardly any but manufactured articles. The United States export chiefly raw produce. Raw Cotton forms half of the value of their exports, as manufactured cotton forms about half of those of Great Britain. Agriculture furnishes three fourths or four fifths of the exports of domestic articles from the United States, and manufactures, only one tenth. Above two thirds of the exports of France are manufactures, and nearly one third, agricultural produce.
Note 4 — Page 36
Shipping.
Statement of the tonnage belonging to the principal ports of France, England and the United States in 1835.
| Ports. | Tonnage. |
|---|---|
| London | 566,152 |
| New York | 376,697 |
| Boston | 226,041 |
| Newcastle | 208,100 |
| Liverpool | 207,833 |
| Sunderland | 132,070 |
| Philadelphia | 86,445 |
| New Orleans | 79,467 |
| New Bedford | 76,533 |
| Whitehaven | 65,878 |
| Hull | 63,524 |
| Bordeaux | 69,690 |
| Marseilles | 68,314 |
| Havre | 68,070 |
| Portland (U. S.) | 57,666 |
| Baltimore | 54,416 |
| Nantes | 51,528 |
| Bristol | 42,913 |
To render the comparison exact, it would be necessary to deduct one fourth from the French tonnage, in order to allow for the different modes of measurement. The French method is mathematically more correct, but it lays our vessels under the disadvantage of being obliged to pay heavier tonnage dues; but a law of 1836 has authorised the government to make a change in this respect.
Out of 1,824,000 tons of shipping entered and cleared at the French ports in 1835, only 31 per cent. was French shipping; out of 5,025,000 tons entered and cleared at the British ports, 75 per cent. was of English vessels. In the United States, from 1817 to 1830, foreign shipping formed less than 15 per cent. of the vessels in the foreign trade; in 1831, it was 26 per cent., and in 1832, 30 per cent., leaving 70 per cent. for the American shipping.
French navigation is in a deplorable state of feebleness, and the evil increases daily. In 1832, the total amount of French shipping was 670,000 tons, of British 2,225,000, of American 1,440,000. In France and England the amount varies little from year to year, but in the United States it increases rapidly, and in 1837 it was 1,896,685.
Note 5 — Page 38 — Omitted
Note 6 — Page 38
All the banks in the United States, like the Bank of France in Paris, are at once banks of discount and loan, and banks of deposit and circulation. Almost the whole currency of this country consists of paper-money, the metals being chiefly in the the vaults of the banks, which cannot dispense with them, because their bills are payable on demand in gold and silver.
The old Bank of the United States, founded in 1791, had a capital of ten million dollars, the Federal government holding one fifth of the stock. The present Bank was incorporated in 1816, with the right of establishing any number of branches. The Bank of England also has branches in Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Gloucester, Bristol, Hull, Newcastle, Norwich, Swansea, and Exeter. The Bank of France has but two branches, one at St. Etienne and the other at Rheims, both established since 1836.
The capital of the Bank of the United States is 35,000,000, in 350,000 shares of 100 dollars each. That of the Bank of England is 11,000,000 pounds, divided into shares of one hundred pounds; and that of the Bank of France is 90,000,000 francs, in shares of 1000 francs, of which 22,100 are held by the Bank itself. The United States’ Bank stock was at a premium of 25 to 30 per cent. before General Jackson began his war upon it, that of the Bank of France is at an advance of 129 percent., and that of the Bank of England at 116 per cent. advance.
The operations of the Bank of the United States consist in discounting commercial paper with two names, in making advances upon public stock and other securities, and in trading in the precious metals. The Bank of France discounts commercial paper with three names, or with two names and a deposit of Bank stock as collateral security. It is at present authorised to advance four-fifths on public stock on the sole guarantee of the depositor. It also makes advances on deposits of bullion and foreign coins, charging a commission of one eighth for forty-five days, or one per cent. a year. The commercial attributes of the Bank of England are still more limited than those of the Bank of France. It makes no advances on public securities, except while the transfer books are closed, which occurs for a certain period in London.
The Bank of the United States discounts at the rate of six per cent.; the Bank of France at four per cent.; and the Bank of England at different rates, but rarely at less than four per cent., which is high in London. In 1836, the rate was advanced to four and a half and five per cent. The Bank of the United States effects foreign and domestic exchanges; the Bank of England only domestic exchange, which it does without charge for those who have an account open with it; and the Bank of France operates neither.
The circulation of the Bank of the United States has varied within late years from ten to twenty millions; in October 1835, it was twentyfive millions, consisting chiefly of five and ten dollar notes. Of late years the circulation of the Bank of England has amounted to about 100 million dollars. Since 1830, the Bank of France has usually had a circulation of forty millions, so that the two last institutions play a more important part as banks of circulation, than the first. In the United States, the five or six hundred local banks, whose aggregate circulation is five or six times greater than that of the United States’ Bank, perform this service. This coëxistence of more than five hundred distinct currencies is the great defect in the financial system of this country. The joint-stock banks, which have been of late much multiplied in England, tend to introduce the same confusion into that country.
The Bank of the United States has generally in its vaults about ten millions in specie, but during the struggle with General Jackson, it had, at times, a sum equal to its bills in circulation, or from sixteen to eighteen millions. The Bank of England endeavours to keep on hand from forty to fifty millions, but it sometime sinks as low as thirty. The Bank of France always has at least twenty and sometimes more than forty millions; in 1832, it had fifty-three millions, or more than its whole paper circulation.
The Bank of the United States does not discount notes of above four months’ date, although this restriction is voluntary; the great mass of its discounts is on paper of two months date. The Banks of France and England cannot discount bills of more than 90 days date.
The bills of the United States Bank circulate throughout the Union; the revenue officers are obliged to receive them on the same footing as specie. The Bank, in return, is obliged to redeem them in specie on demand, under penalty of paying interest on the sum demanded at the rate of 12 per cent. per annum, and of forfeiting its charter. It is not, however, bound to redeem the bills of the branches, except at their respective counters, although it does so in fact. The bills of the Bank of England are a legal tender in England, and with the exception of those of the branches, are redeemable in gold and silver only in London. The bills of the Bank of France are current only in Paris, and are not there a legal tender.
The Bank of the United States and the Bank of France only issue bills payable to bearer; the Bank of England has a certain amount of Bank post-bills, or bills payable to order at seven days sight, being equivalent to about one tenth or one twelfth of its whole circulation.
The Bank of the United States receives deposits, on which it pays no interest. The Scotch banks pay interest on deposits at the rate of 2 to 2½ per cent. The Banks of England and France do not pay interest on deposits, but the latter gets bills on Paris cashed for its depositors without charge.
The number of accounts current opened by the Bank of the United States is indefinite; in that country and Scotland almost all persons have an account with the banks, and are thus freed from the necessity of keeping any considerable sums on hand. They hardly keep enough in the house to defray the expenses of the household for a few days, and payments are made by checks on a bank. The banks are, therefore, the cashiers of the whole community. This concentration of the whole disposable fund of the country in the banks, gives them the means of extending their operations greatly, and renders the capital, which would otherwise be scattered about and lie idle, active and productive.
The dividends of the Bank of the United States have been regularly at the rate of seven per cent.; those of the Bank of France vary from eight to ten on the original capital; those of the Bank of England are at present eight per cent. on the nominal capital, which is the original capital successively modified by acts of parliament. Independently of the ordinary dividends, which were originally seven per cent., afterwards rose to ten, and are now eight, the Bank of England has made several extraordinary dividends, and it increased the nominal capital on which the dividends are paid, twentyfive per cent. in 1816. Mr McCulloch makes the total sum of the extraordinary dividends and of the reserved profits carried to the extension of the capital, from 1799 to 1832, eighty-two millions, which with the reimbursements required by the new charter, amounts to one hundred and five millions. The Bank of France has divided beyond its ordinary dividends, the sum of four and a half millions.
The Bank of the United States, previous to 1834, was charged with the keeping of the public moneys, which were remitted to it by the collectors and receivers and of which it was the legal depository, with the transfer of funds for the service of the Treasury, and with the payments on the public debt and of pensions. It is forbidden to lend more than 500,000 dollars to the Federal government, and more than 50,000 to any State. In this respect it differs from the Banks of France and England, which make, and especially once made, enormous advances to the state. This is the principal object of the Bank of England, the whole capital of which is lent to the government at the rate of three per cent. Besides this the Bank of England receives the Exchequer Bills, and the Bank of France the Treasury Certificates (bons du Tresor), which bear a low rate of interest. These banks have made inconceivable loans to the state in time of war; in 1814, the advances of the Bank of England amounted to 165 millions, inclusive of the public deposits, which sometimes amounted to 60 millions. The Bank of France, however, has at present little connexion with the government, and has, therefore, greatly extended its commercial operations. In 1836, it had on hand notes to the value of 27 million dollars, without reckoning four millions advanced on deposits of public funds; from 1830 to 1835 the amount had not exceeded seventeen millions.
The local or State banks in the United States are organized on principles analogous to those of the National Bank. They are incorporated companies, receiving their corporate privileges from the States, and, therefore, confined to the limits of the State. Sometimes their bills are not current out of the town or county in which they are situated. They are institutions of credit and circulation almost exclusively for the use of merchants. Not having the resource of exchanges, and rarely having any deposits, they aim to enlarge their profits, by extending their circulation through excessive discounts and loans, which often floods the country with an excess of paper money. Their capitals seldom exceed one million dollars, and are often much less; but several have lately been established in the South with capitals of from three to ten millions.
In England the private bankers have the right of emitting bills payable to bearer, except, if there are less than six partners in the house, within the distance of sixty miles of London; in point of fact there are none issued within that space. The bills issued by private bankers amount to about 8,500,000 pounds. In Paris, the Bank of France has the exclusive privilege of issuing bills payable to bearer.
The joint stock banks in England are not chartered companies, nor are they under any control. All the partners are personally responsible. These country banks are very numerous, and they offer, perhaps, less security than the American State banks. In all times of crisis, in 1792-93, 1814-15-16, 1825-26, many of them have become bankrupts or suspended payment; in 1816, 240 were obliged to take one of these alternatives. In 1809 their issues amounted to 24 million pounds; in 1821-23, they had fallen eight millions, and in 1825, had again risen to fourteen millions. Since the suppression of notes of less than five pounds, they have been much reduced. At present (1836), these institutions are becoming multiplied to such a degree as to inspire serious alarm in prudent men.
Note 7 — Page 49
Failures in the United States.
It would be excessively unjust to the Americans not to acknowledge that they are improving daily in respect to failures. In a new country it is natural that a failure should be little thought of, because every thing is necessarily an experiment, and all speculation is a game of hazard. The public is very indulgent on this point, because it considers a failure what it really is, nineteen times out of twenty, a misfortune and not a fraud. The bankrupt is looked upon as a wounded soldier, who is to be treated with sympathy, and not with contempt. Congress has the power of passing a bankrupt law, but it has not yet exercised this power, and the different States have made temporary provisions for the case, which treat the insolvent debtor with great indulgence, discharging him from any further obligation towards his creditors on his giving up all his property for their benefit. It is felt that too much severity in regard to failures would have the tendency to check the spirit of enterprise, which is the life of the country. None of those rigourous provisions which disgrace French legislation and endanger the interests of creditors, exist here; and if the lenity of the laws is sometimes abused, the inconvenience is much less than that caused by the harshness of ours.
In the large maritime towns, however, it is felt, that if bankruptcy is not a disgrace, it is at least a private and public calamity, which is to be averted by every exertion. The history of the great fire in New York in 1835 affords ample proof of this. The amount of the loss exceeded fifteen millions, and the insurance companies found themselves unable to meet their engagements. On the receipt of the news in Europe, there was not a merchant who did not tremble for his American debts; for in Europe, in general, and in France, in particular, such an event would have deprived the sufferers of all credit, of all means of repairing their losses. In France the singular custom prevails of offering you credit, if you do not need it; but if you stand in want of it, you will get none. In the United States, on the contrary, immediately after this disaster, the President of the United States Bank hastens to place two millions at the disposal of the New York merchants, and the banks in general give out that they shall discount the paper of the sufferers in preference.
Although the sphere of the public authorities in the United States is very narrow, the corporation of New York and the State government, rivalled each other in offers of assistance; the former offered an advance of six millions, not to individuals, as was done in France in 1830, but to the insurance companies, whose ruin would have led to a general bankruptcy; it thus strengthened the hands of commerce, by relieving its citadel. Even Congress, which is not allowed to take a step out of its little district, and is scarcely permitted to notice what is going on beyond the Capitol, was moved, and extended the term of payment of custom dues. The result of this admirable co-operation of individuals, companies, and public authorities was to prevent any considerable failures.
The Americans have a courage in presence of commercial disasters, like that of the soldier on the field of battle. In a critical juncture, they face bankruptcy, as old grenadiers march upon a battery under a fire of grape-shot. If it is true that commerce is to supplant war in the future, it must be confessed that the Americans are more advanced on the march than we are; for they have applied all their energies and qualities to commerce, whilst we still devote ours to war. They have discovered a new sort of courage which produces and enriches; we shine only by that courage which perishes or destroys.
The merit of this new spirit does not belong exclusively to the Americans; they had the germ in their blood, and have received the gift from the mother country. At the period of the late calamity, the English were no more subject to a panic terrour than their New York descendants.—It is within my knowledge, that American merchants established in Paris and having houses in the United States, having applied to London bankers for a continuation of credit, were immediately assured, that not only the former amount of credit should be continued, but that they should be allowed an unlimited credit in order to enable them to repair their losses. Some French bankers, on the contrary, similarly situated, hastened to cut off the credit they had previously given.
In a country organized for commerce, and having the proper institutions of credit, the money and merchandise of the merchant, are not his only capital; the most valuable part of his capital consists of his experience, his correspondents and connexions, the weight of his name. This constitutes a moral capital, which conflagrations cannot destroy, nor accidents of any kind injure. In New York, by the aid of this moral capital, on which a high value is set in commercial countries, a merchant who has not property to the amount of more than 50,000 dollars, operates as if he had five or six times as much. In Paris, the same man, with the same fortune, would operate with only about twice as much. Thus the wealth of the United States increases in a much faster ratio than in France.
Note 8 — Page 54
The American newspapers are very numerous, but in consequence of their great number their circulation is comparatively small. There are few daily papers, whose circulation exceeds 2,000, and not one, which exceeds 4,000; that of most of the newspapers is not more than 400 or 500. The American newspapers have little resemblance to the French and English. They are chiefly mere advertising sheets; they do not direct public opinion, they follow it. This local character does not allow of their having much influence out of their particular district. In New York, only the city newspapers are read; in New Orleans, those of New Orleans are the only ones generally seen; whilst in France those of Paris, and in England those of London are read every where. The Globe and the National Intelligencer of Washington are, however, pretty generally circulated. Newspapers in the United States are not powers, they are mere instruments of publicity within the reach of all. They are consulted for the news, not for opinions. The profession of a writer does not stand so high in England as in France, and is less honourable in the United States, than in England. With the exception of a very few newspapers, at the head of which are the New York American edited by Charles King, and the Philadelphia National Gazette, edited by Robert Walsh, the American press occupies a low rank in the social scale.
Notwithstanding their large size, the American newspapers are low-priced; the cause is plain enough; the profits are derived chiefly from advertisements, and the expenses of editing are inconsiderable, as there is generally but one editor. There is no stamp duty; but the postage on them is higher than in France.EH The circulation of some of the French newspapers exceeds 10,000; and some cheap publications have lately had a circulation of 90,000 or 100,000.
Note 9 — Page 53
In 1832, the transfer of funds between different points of the Union, or between the Union and foreign countries, effected by the Bank of the United States, amounted to 255 millions, of which 241,718,710 was for domestic, and 13,456,737 for foreign transactions. The Bank received only 217,249 dollars for commissions on this vast sum.
Note 10 — Page 64
Specie and Paper Money.
The quantity of gold and silver coined in France with the new die, amounted, up to 1836, to about 750 million dollars, of which three fourths were in silver. It is not probable that more than one fourth of that sum has been melted and exported; there would then remain about 550 millions. A part of this immense sum is out of circulation, and is buried in the coffers of individuals or in the pockets of the poor, who do not dare trust their savings to any person or institution.
In the United States, in 1834, the 405 local banks from which official or semi-official statements had been received, had 65 million dollars paper in circulation, and 14,250,000 dollars in specie in their vaults. There were beside, 101 banks, estimated to have in circulation 12,650,000 dollars of paper, and 2,825,000 dollars in specie on hand. The Bank of the United States had at that time a circulation of 10,300,000 dollars, and specie to the amount of 13,865,000 dollars. The whole currency of the United States, exclusive of the small amount of specie in the hands of individuals, amounted, therefore, to 88 millions in paper and specie. At this time, the banks had withdrawn a large amount of their bills from circulation, their issues before the war on the Bank having exceeded 100 millions. Since 1834, the amount of specie in the United States has been considerably increased, several of the States having prohibited the emission of bills of less than five dollars, a measure, which would tend to promote the use of the metals.
The following statement, showing the quantity of paper money in circulation in the United Kingdom at the end of 1833, is chiefly from McCulloch’s Dictionary of Commerce.
| Of Bank of England | £19,500,000 |
| Of Branches of do. | 3,300,000 |
| Of Private Bankers | 8,500,000 |
| Of English Country Banks | 1,500,000EI |
| Of Scotch Banks | 2,000,000 |
| Of Irish Banks | 7,500,000 |
| Total | 42,300,000 |
At the same time the amount of the precious metals in circulation and in the banks, was estimated at 45,800,000 pounds, of which seven millions were in silver.
Note 11 — Page 96. Cherokees and Other Indians. OmittedEj
Note 12 — Page 98. Public Lands. OmittedEj
Note 13 — Page 119. Temperance Societies. OmittedEj
Note 14 — Page 132
Cotton Manufacture.
At the end of 1836, the Lowell cotton factories comprised
129,828 spindles and 4,197 looms, and employed 6,793 operatives of whom 5,416 were women. The quantity of cloth made was 849,300 yards a week, or at the rate of 44 million yards a year; raw cotton consumed 38,000 bales, or 15 million pounds yearly.
In 1831, the American manufacture employed 62,157 operatives, of whom 38,927 were women and 4,691 children. There were beside 4,760 hand-weavers, 40,709 persons employed in accessory labours, making the whole number of persons engaged directly and indirectly 117,626. The factories contained 1,246,503 spindles, and 33,506 looms, and produced 230,461,990 yards of stuffs, besides 1,200,000 pounds of yarn, which were woven in families during the winter. The consumption of raw cotton was 77 million pounds. The value of the products was 26 million dollars, eleven millions of which were paid in wages. (Pitkin’s Statistics, 526.)
There were in England, in 1834, according to Baines, (History of Cotton Manufacture,) 100,000 power-looms, and 250,000 hand-looms. The difference between the number of the hand-looms in England and the United States deserves to be noticed. The hand-weavers in Great Britain form one of the most wretched classes of the population. The English factories employed 729,000 persons, or with the dyers, bleachers, measurers, folders, packers, &c., and all hands employed in building and repairing the mills, 1,500,000, In 1833 the English factories consumed 332 million pounds of cotton. The value of their annual products is estimated at from 30 to 34 million pounds sterling; the wages of the 724,000 operatives amount to 13 millions.
In 1834, the French manufacture employed 600,000 persons, and the annual value of its products was about 110 million dollars; quantity of cotton consumed 100 million pounds. If these statements are correct, it follows, that our operatives produce less than the English or Americans.
Note 15 — Page 186
Production and Consumption of Cotton.
In 1834, one of our most able manufacturers, M. Kœkhlin, made the following estimate of the production and consumption of cotton throughout the world.
Production.
| In the United States | 437,500,000 | lbs. |
| In India | 75,000,000 | |
| In Brasil | 30,000,000 | |
| In Bourbon, Cayenne, &c. | 7,500,000 | |
| In Egypt and the Levant | 25,000,000 | |
| Total, | 575,000,000 |
Consumption.
| In England | 375,000,000 | lbs. |
| In France | 100,000,000 | |
| In the United States | 45,000,000 | |
| In China | 37,500,000 | |
| In Switzerland, Belgium, &c. | 42,500,000 | |
| Total, | 600,000,000 |
Several other countries not enumerated above yield cotton. China produces some which she consumes, or exports under the form of nankeens; Mexico produces nearly enough for her own consumption; Mr Kœkhlin has meant to speak only of what belongs to the general commerce. He has somewhat overstated the consumption of England, and underrates that of the United States.
Note 16 — Page 154 — Omitted
Note 17 — Page 161
Trial of the Incendiaries for burning the Ursuline Convent.
The intolerant spirit of a part of the Protestant population was offended by the sight of the Ursuline Convent on Mount St. Bendict, within the limits of Charlestown, a town adjoining Boston. The sisters devoted themselves to the instruction of young girls, and many Protestant families had confided daughters to their care. Every thing proves that they were by no means devoured by a spirit of proselytism. In the beginning of August, 1835, a report got about in Charlestown, that one of the sisters, a young woman, was detained in the convent by force. The Selectmen of the town had a meeting, five of them went to the convent, which they examined from cellar to garret, had an interview with the sister who was represented as a victim of the Catholic discipline, and became satisfied that she was there of her own free will. This conviction was made known to the public. But on the night of August 12th, the convent was surrounded and attacked by a handful of ruffians, at the head of whom was one John Buzzell, a brickmaker, noted for his brutal character. The sisters were driven from the convent with violence; every thing was plundered; the tombs of the dead were forced open. The building was then fired; it was burnt in sight of the Selectmen; the Boston firemen hastened to the spot, but were repulsed by the populace by main force.
Several men, taken in the act, were arrested, and among others Buzzell; they were tried in Boston in 1835.EK The witnesses were afraid to bear testimony, a mysterious influence had changed their language; the public prosecutor, who had previously demanded in vain a postponement of the trial, until the causes which instigated the violence had been traced, pleaded the cause of order with a generous indignation. All the prisoners were acquitted, except one poor youth of the name of Marcy who was sentenced to fifteen or twenty years imprisonment; but public opinion soon after obliged the Executive to grant him a pardon. Buzzell and Kelly, one of his accomplices, became heroes; they were carried about in triumph, and a subscription was made for their benefit. The sisters petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for indemnity; the most intelligent citizens of Boston interested themselves in their favour, but the House of Representatives rejected the petition by a large majority. On the anniversary of the outrage, the populace of Charlestown celebrated it as a day of rejoicing, and got up a shooting match, the target being a representation of the lady superior of the convent. The Selectmen succeeded in suppressing the figure, but not the procession. Finally, to crown these deeds of impudence and savage violence, two of the incendiaries, in 1836, presented a petition to the legislature to be indemnified for the damages they had suffered by the trial. The committee to whom the petition was referred, reported a grant of 500 dollars to each of these wretches; but to the honor of Massachusetts, their report was rejected on the second reading.
Note 18 — Page 172. Omitted
Note 19 — Page 180. Omitted
Note 20 — Page 193
Taxation.
It has repeatedly been made a question of late, whether the United States were more or less heavily taxed than France. The subject may be considered under several points of view. The systems of Taxation in the two countries are very different. The taxes in the United States are less numerous than they are in France, and are differently distributed. The country population, that is the great majority, pay much less in the United States than in France; but in the large towns the inhabitants pay nearly as much as with us, except in Paris. The disproportion between the two countries becomes much greater, if instead of estimating the amount in money, we give it in day’s labour, which is the most rational manner. The day-wages of a labourer being about threefold as much in the United States as they are with us, and other things being in the same proportion, it follows, that, in the former, a tax of three dollars to three dollars and a half, which is about the general average, is not more burdensome to the mass of the people, than a tax of one third that sum would be in France. The average tax in France, or six dollars a head, is equivalent to twentysix days’ work in our country; while the average in the United States is only equivalent to four days’ work in that country.
It is true, that, amongst us, all the public expenditures are comprised in the budget; all our taxes amount to 190 million dollars. But in the United States, there are various expenses supported by individuals and companies, which do not appear in the sum of the public taxes. Toll is paid on a very large number of roads: public worship is maintained at the expense of the worshippers; hence heavy charges on the rich.
It is important to remark, that the public revenue in the United States is almost wholly employed in a productive manner, in useful undertakings, in public works, schools, and various kinds of improvements. There is no Federal debt, that of most of the States and towns is inconsiderable, there are no retiring pensions, and the army is small; whilst more than half of our budget, or 118 million dollars, is devoted to the charges on the public debt, pensions, and the sea and land forces, we cannot expect to restore the balance in our favour, because we cannot dismiss our soldiers, nor declare a national bankruptcy; but we might diminish our present inferiority (paradoxical as it may seem), by adding some millions to our budget for useful and productive works.
The military service itself is a public burden and a very heavy one; but it is difficult to rate the amount of this in money. In France it takes one man out of eighty inhabitants from labour, but in the United States only one out of 2,300. This tax might be lightened, by employing the army in public works.
We may also notice the two following differences, which appear to me essential ones, between American and French taxes:—
1. The American taxes, whether it be from the mode of their assessment, or from the difference of conditions of the two countries, never press heavily upon the taxables nor give them any uneasiness; they never embarrass transactions nor interrupt business. On the contrary, amongst us the tax is often an oppressive burden; our registry dues, and excise on property changing hands, often occasion serious embarrassments and even insurmountable obstacles in the way of enterprise.
2. In the United States the treasury fears to incur the public odium; amongst us the most respectable citizens are subjected to the most vexatious treatment; our officers of the customs have adopted practices unworthy of a civilised people; our wives and daughters must submit to be searched in the most shameless manner by vile hags, and these brutal proceedings have not the poor excuse of being useful to the customs. Their avowed object is to prevent the smuggling of articles, with which, in spite of three lines of custom-house officers, the country is inundated, and which it is well known are brought in by dogsEL on a large scale, and not in the pockets of private persons. The branches of industry, which they are designed to protect, are altogether of secondary importance, and cannot be weighed in the balance against public decency.
Note 21 — Page 11
Construction and Cost of Steamboats in the West.
The western steamboats are on the high pressure principle, with a force of six or eight atmospheres. The boilers are on deck, in the bow of the boat; the cylinder is horizontal; there are two wheels, one on each side. Formerly, a single stern wheel was generally used. Only one engine is used to a boat. The pistons are not of metal, an arrangement which necessarily involves a great loss of power, but which renders repairs more easy, an important consideration with inexperienced engineers. The engines are of very simple construction and cost little; those for the largest boats cost from 10,000 to 14,000 dollars; the engines of the French government packets in the Mediterranean cost nearly 60,000 dollars. The cylinders of the most powerful engines in the western boats are of 30 inches diameter, and seven feet stroke. These boats consume enormous quantities of wood; the larger ones burning from one and a half to one and three quarters cords an hour; the rate of speed rarely exceeds ten miles an hour even down stream.
In the east a good steamer from 175 to 200 feet in length with copper boilers, which are necessary to resist the action of salt water, costs from 70,000 to 80,000 dollars, including the furniture. The carpenter’s work of the hull costs about thirty dollars a ton, exclusive of the iron. The engine, when there is but one, costs from 12,000 to 15,000 dollars, exclusive of the boilers. The North America cost 100,000 dollars; a good boat, well taken care of, lasts about twelve or fifteen years in the east. The eastern boats are very fast and safe, and of late years, great improvements have been made in their construction, principally by Mr Stevens of New York. They move at the rate of fifteen miles an hour in still water, and generally carry nothing but passengers. Their usual length is from 180 to 200 feet, with a breadth of twentyfour or twentysix, without including the paddle-boxes; their usual draught of water about four or five feet in the rivers, and from six and a half to nine feet in the bays and seas. Their engines are on the low or mean pressure principle; the cylinder is vertical, and they often have two engines; the stroke of the piston has been carried to ten or eleven feet; the diameter of the cylinders, in some of the boats, is five feet four inches. They consume from twentyfive to thirty cords of wood an hour.
The number of steamboats in the United States, at the end of 1834, was 386 of an aggregate of 95,648 tons, of which 237, with a tonnage of 64,347 tons, were on the western waters. [In 1839 the number of boats was about 800, with an aggregate tonnage of 157,473 tons; of these about 300 were on the western rivers and 70 on the lakes.—Transl.] There were in France, in 1834, 82 steamboats, with a total tonnage of not more than 15,000 tons, beside 37 belonging to the government. The whole number of steamers in England is about 480.
Note 22 — Page 268
Summary Statements of the Public Works in the United States.
The six tables which follow present a recapitulation of the statements given in Letter XXI., with the cost per league in francs. [Many of the statements in the Letter are slightly varied from the original, in conformity with official reports, and the cost and distances have there been reduced to English measures and Federal money. In these tables the author’s statements are given without change because sufficient materials for a total recasting of them are not accessible to the translator. In reducing federal money to francs, M. Chevalier assumes the dollar to be equal to 5.33 francs; the league is of 4,000 metres, and consequently equivalent to two and a half English statute miles.—Transl.]
I. Lines Between the East and West
| Length. Leagues. | Total Cost. Francs. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Names. | Canals. | Railroads. | Canals. | Railroads. | Cost per League. | |
| 1st Line, Erie Canal, | 146½ | 65,000,000 | 262,600 | |||
| Branches, | 101 | |||||
| Lateral Railroads, | ||||||
| Albany and Schenectady, | 6½ | 4,000,000 | 615,400 | |||
| Schenectady and Utica, | 31½ | 8,000,000 | 254,000 | |||
| Rochester and Buffalo, | 29 | 3,000,000 | 103,000 | |||
| 2d Line, Pennsylvania Canal, | 111 | 95,000,000 | 392,300 | |||
| Branches, | 131¼ | |||||
| Columbia Railroad, | 33 | 19,200,000 | 581,800 | |||
| Portage ″ | 14¼ | 8,550,000 | 600,000 | |||
| Bald Eagle Canal, | 10 | 1,000,000 | 100,000 | |||
| Union " | 33 | 13,870,000 | 420,300 | |||
| 3d Line Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, | 34 | 16,000,000 | 470,600 | |||
| 4th Line, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, | 74¾ | 33,000,000 | 442,800 | |||
| Georgetown and Alexandria Canal, | 3 | 2,600,000 | 866,700 | |||
| 5th Line, Virginia Canal, | 100 | 25,000,000 | 250,000 | |||
| Railroad section, | 60 | 15,000,000 | 250,000 | |||
| Old James River Canal, | 12 | 5,300,000 | 441,600 | |||
| 6th Line, Richelieu Canal, | 4¾ | 1,870,000 | 393,700 | |||
| Laprairie Railroad. | 6½ | 800,000 | 123,100 | |||
| Totals | 727¼ | 214¾ | 242,640,000 | 74,550,000 | ||
II. Lines Connecting the Valleys of the Mississippi and St. Lawrence
| Length. Leagues. | Total Cost. Francs. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Names. | Canals. | Railroads. | Canals. | Railroads. | Cost per League. | |
| Ohio Canal, | 122 | 22,720,000 | 186,200 | |||
| Miami (1st section,) | 26½ | 5,227,000 | 197,200 | |||
| (2d section,) | 50¼ | 11,000,000 | 219,000 | |||
| Wabash and Erie Canal, | 84 | 16,800,000 | 200,000 | |||
| Michigan ″ | 37½ | 37,500,000 | 1,000,000 | |||
| Pittsburg and Erie ″ | 41½ | 5,000,000 | 120,500 | |||
| Beaver and Sandy ″ | 36¼ | 7,250,000 | 200,000 | |||
| Mahoning ″ | 36 | 7,200,000 | 200,000 | |||
| Mad River Railroad, | 61½ | 10,500,000 | 170,700 | |||
| Welland Canal. | 11¼ | 11,040,000 | 982,300 | |||
| Canals on the St. Lawrence, | 13 | 20,000,000 | 1,538,000 | |||
| Louisville and Portland Canal, | ¾ | 4,053,000 | 5,400,000 | |||
| Totals | 459 | 61½ | 147,790,000 | 10,500,000 | ||
III. Lines Along the Atlantic
| Length. Leagues. | Total Cost. Francs. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Names. | Canals. | Railroads. | Canals. | Railroads. | Cost per League. | |
| Raritan and Delaware Canal, | 17 | 12,000,000 | 705,900 | |||
| Delaware and Chesapeake Canal, | 5½ | 14,000,000 | 2,545,500 | |||
| Dismal Swamp Canal, | 9 | 3,733,000 | 324,600 | |||
| Branch, | 2½ | |||||
| 2d Line, By the Cities. | ||||||
| Boston and Providence Railroad, | 17 | 8,000,000 | 470,600 | |||
| Providence and Stonington Railroad, | 21 | 8,000,000 | 381,000 | |||
| Amboy and Camden Railroad, | 24¼ | 12,250,000 | 505,200 | |||
| Newcastle and Frenchtown Railroad, | 6½ | 2,130,000 | 327,700 | |||
| Baltimore and Washington Railroad, | 12 | 8,000,000 | 750,000 | |||
| Winchester Railroad, | 13 | 2,600,000 | 200,000 | |||
| Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad, | 23¾ | 3,900,000 | 164,200 | |||
| Petersburg and Roanoke Railroad, | 24 | 3,470,000 | 144,600 | |||
| Belfield Branch Railroad, | 6 | 840,000 | 140,000 | |||
| Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad, | 31 | 4,000,000 | 129,000 | |||
| Charleston and Hamburg Railroad, | 54¾ | 6,400,000 | 116,900 | |||
| Georgia Railroad, | 46 | 8,250,000 | 179,300 | |||
| Totals | 34 | 279¼ | 29,733,000 | 67,840,000 | ||
IV. Lines Radiating From the Large Towns
| Length. Leagues. | Total Cost. Francs. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Names. | Canals. | Railroads. | Canals. | Railroads. | Cost per League. | |
| Boston and Lowell Railroad, | 10¼ | 8,000,000 | 780,000 | |||
| Boston and Worcester Railroad, | 17¾ | 6,670,000 | 375,800 | |||
| Middlesex Canal | 12 | 2,800,000 | 233,000 | |||
| New York and Paterson Railroad, | 6¼ | 1,100,000 | 176,000 | |||
| Harlæm Railroad, | 2 | 2,000,000 | 1,000,000 | |||
| Jersey City and New Brunswick Railroad, | 11¼ | 1,800,000 | 160,000 | |||
| Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad, | 5 | 1,600,000 | 320,000 | |||
| Philadelphia and Norristown Railroad, | 6¼ | 2,500,000 | 400,000 | |||
| Westchester Railroad, | 3½ | 540,000 | 154,300 | |||
| Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad, | 10½ | 2,133,000 | 203,100 | |||
| Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad, | 24 | 7,100,000 | 295,800 | |||
| Santee Canal, | 9 | 3,470,000 | 385,600 | |||
| New Orleans Canals, | 4 | 12,000,000 | 3,000,000 | |||
| New Orleans and Carrolton Railroad, | 3½ | 2,000,000 | 571,400 | |||
| New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain Railroad, | 2 | 2,300,000 | 1,150,000 | |||
| Schenectady and Saratoga Railroad, | 8½ | 1,600,000 | 188,200 | |||
| Troy and Saratoga Railroad, | 9¾ | 1,800,000 | 184,600 | |||
| Totals | 25 | 120½ | 18,270,000 | 41,143,000 | ||
V. Lines Connected With the Coal Mines
| Length. Leagues. | Total Cost. Francs. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Names. | Canals. | Railroads. | Canals. | Railroads. | Cost per League. | |
| Chesterfield Railroad, | 5¼ | 1,050,000 | 200,000 | |||
| Schuylkill Canal, | 43 | 16,000,000 | 372,100 | |||
| Lehigh ″ | 17½ | 8,300,000 | 474,300 | |||
| Delaware ″ (see Letters) | ||||||
| Morris ″ | 48½ | 11,000,000 | 226,800 | |||
| Carbondale and Honesdale Railroad, | 6½ | 1,600,000 | 246,200 | |||
| Hudson and Delaware Canal, | 43 | 12,600,000 | 293,300 | |||
| Pottsville and Sunbury Railroad, | 17¾ | 6,000,000 | 338,000 | |||
| Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, | 22¾ | 8,000,000 | 351,600 | |||
| Various works, | 66 | 6,000,000 | 90,900 | |||
| Totals | 152 | 118¼ | 47,900,000 | 22,650,000 | ||
VI. Different Lines
| Length. Leagues. | Total Cost. Francs. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Names. | Canals. | Railroads. | Canals. | Railroads. | Cost per League. | |
| Cumberland Canal (Me.) | ||||||
| Farmington and Blackstone Canals, Mass. &c. | 67 | 10,400,000 | 155,000 | |||
| Conestoga Navigation, | 7¼ | 1,000,000 | 95,700 | |||
| Codorus | 4¼ | |||||
| Muscle-Shoals Canal, | 14 | 7,000,000 | 500,000 | |||
| Savannah and Ogeechee Canal, | 6½ | 850,000 | 130,800 | |||
| Improvement of the Hudson, | 11¾ | 5,000,000 | 425,500 | |||
| Quincy Railroad, | 1¼ | 180,000 | 144,000 | |||
| Ithaca and Owego Railroad, | 11¾ | 2,700,000 | 230,800 | |||
| Lexington and Louisville Railroad, | 36 | 6,000,000 | 166,700 | |||
| Tuscumbia and Decatur Railroad, | 18 | 3,000,000 | 200,000 | |||
| Rochester Canal, | 1¼ | 160,000 | 128,000 | |||
| Buffalo and Blackrock Canal, | 1¼ | 50,000 | 40,000 | |||
| Totals | 110¾ | 69½ | 24,250,000 | 12,690,000 | ||
VII. Summary of the Above Tables
| Length. Leagues. | Total Cost. Francs. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Names. | Canals. | Railroads. | Canals. | Railroads. |
| I. | 727¼ | 214¾ | 242,640,000 | 74,550,000 |
| II. | 459 | 61½ | 147,790,000 | 10,500,000 |
| III. | 34 | 279¼ | 29,733,000 | 67,840,000 |
| IV. | 25 | 120½ | 18,270,000 | 41,143,000 |
| V. | 152 | 118¼ | 47,900,000 | 22,650,000 |
| Total | 1,397¼ | 794¼ | 486,333,000 | 216,683,000 |
| Deduct | 144 | 105 | 72,500,000 | 21,750,000 |
| 1,253¼ | 689¼ | 413,833,000 | 194,933,000 | |
| VI. | 110¾ | 69½ | 24,250,000 | 12,690,000 |
| Totals | 1364 | 758¾ | 438,083,000 | 207,623,000 |
| 2,122¾ | 645,706,000. | |||
If to these are added some unimportant works, about which I have not been able to obtain exact statements, the total length of the railroads and canals may be estimated at about 2,150 leagues, and the cost at 660 million francs. If we take into account a number of important works, which have been undertaken in the last part of 1835 and the beginning of 1836, it will be necessary to add 900 leagues and 300 million francs to the above totals, making an aggregate of 3,050 leagues (7,625 miles) and 960 million francs (180 million dollars). I do not include the Nashville and New Orleans and the Charleston and Cincinnati railroads, which, however, will probably be executed before long, and with their branches will make an addition of more than 500 leagues. The Americans have already surpassed in the extent of their works, and the rapidity of execution, the most active and wealthy European nations. Almost all the works above enumerated have been executed in fifteen years.
The following table gives a summary view of similar works in Europe:
| Countries. | Canals. | Railroads. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1,100 | leagues. | 313 | leagues. | |
| France | 998 | 50 | |||
| Belgium | 115 | 74 | |||
| Other States | 400 | 50 | |||
| Totals | 2,613 | 487 | |||
| General Total of | Europe | 3,100 | |||
| ″ | United States | 3,050 | |||
Note 23 — Page 281
Geological Surveys.
The legislatures of several States have lately shown a laudable zeal for geological examinations of the soil. Maryland has a State geologist (Mr Duchatel) who is engaged in preparing a geological map of the State, particularly with reference to economical purposes. Dr Duchatel has already made some important discoveries in agricultural geology, especially in respect to the use of marl. Tennessee has also its geologist, Dr Troost. Massachusetts has a geological map prepared by Professor Hitchcock. Congress has caused some examinations to be made on the upper Mississippi. Dr Jackson has been several years employed in making geological surveys in Maine, and is at present occupied in Rhode Island; he has also been appointed by New Hampshire to explore the geology of her mountains and valleys. New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan and Georgia, have also engaged in the same enterprise, and partial examinations have been made in North Carolina. New York has in addition to a corps of four geologists, Messrs Vanuxem, Mather, Emmons and Conrad, a chemist (Dr Beck,) a botanist (Mr Torrey,) and a zoologist, (Dr DeKay.) It is principally to the efforts of the late Secretary of the State, General Dix, that New York is indebted for this great undertaking. Massachusetts has also organised a board of naturalists, to report upon the different branches of botany and zoology. In many of the States, a topographical survey more or less minute, has been connected with the geological explorations. Massachusetts has been trigonometrically surveyed.
Footnotes
EG In a later work (Statistics of the British Empire, 1839), Mr McCulloch estimates it at 26,188,000 tons.—Transl.
EH The postage of newspapers in France is two fifths of a cent within the department where it is published, and four fifths on any distance beyond it.
EI In August 1836, this had been increased to 3,600,000 pounds.
EJ These notes, with several others, have been omitted, as they contain merely statements familiar to most readers in this country.
EK The author is mistaken; they were tried in the county in which the offence was committed. Boston is in a different county.—Transl.
EL On the northern frontier there are from 500,000 to 600,000 dogs which enter annually; not more than 6,000 or 7,000 are seized.
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