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FROM THE GERMAN OF JOHANN DAVID SCHOEPF
TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY
ALFRED J. MORRISON
LIBRARY
NEW
NEW JERSEY, PENNSYLVANIA, MARYLAND, VIRGINIA
PHILADELPHIA
WILLIAM J. CAMPBELL 1911
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COPYRIGHT, 1911,
BY ALFRED J. MORRISON
BALTIMORE, MD., U. S. A.
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ADVERTISEMENT
Dr. Schoepf, at the time of his travels in America, was in his thirty-second year. He was born March 8, 1752, at Wunsiedel, (birth-place of Jean Paul), in the principality of Bayreuth, a town of the Fichtelberg and a region of mines and quarries. His father was a mer- chant well-to-do, who had him educated by tutors at home, sent him to the Gymnasium at Hof, and, in 1770, to the University of Erlangen. Schoepf's studies there were primarily in medicine, but he followed lectures in the natural sciences generally; Schreber and Esper were his masters in botany and mineralogy. In 1773 he was at Berlin for work in forestry. Before taking his degree at Erlangen, in 1776, he travelled, investi- gating the mine country of Saxony, was in Bohemia, studied at Prague and Vienna, traversed Carniola, Northern Italy, and Switzerland. It was already plain that he would not spend his life as an obscure prac- ticioner. During 1776, at Ansbach, he thought of going to India. The next year he was appointed chief surgeon to the Ansbach troops destined for America, and arrived at New York, June 4, 1777. After his return to Europe, in 1784, Dr. Schoepf was diligent in scientific research and held besides many positions of public trust, dying September 10, 1800, as President of the United Medical Colleges of Ansbach and Bayreuth.1
1 Hirsch, Biogr. Lexikon der hervorrag. Aerzte oiler Zeiten und Volker. Fr. Ratzel, in Allgem. Deutsche Biographie. Edw. Kremers, Introd., Materia Medica Americana, Lloyd
VI ADVERTISEMENT
As much as any other man at that time Dr. Schoepf seems to have made North America his study. The following are his most important contributions touch- ing this Continent: Ueber Klima, Witterung, Leben- sart und Krankheiten in Nordamerika ; 2 Von dem ge- genwartigen Zustand in Nordamerika aus dem Lande selbst, im Jahre 1783 ; 3 Vom amerikanischen Frosche ; * Der gemeine Hecht in Amerika, and Der nordameri- kanische Haase ; 5 Beschreibung einiger nordameri- kanischen Fische, vorziiglich aus den newyorkischen Gewassern ; 8 Materia Medica Americana, potissimum Regni Vegetabilis ; ' Beytrage zur mineralogischen Kenntniss des ostlichen Theils von Nord Amerika ; 8
Library Bulletin, Cincinnati, 1903. Rosengarten, The German Soldier in the Wars of the United States. Philadelphia, 1890. Pp. 91-98.
2 In Meusel's Hist. Literatur, 1781; appearing also, modified, as a prefix, Reise II. Translation of the original pamphlet by Dr. J. R. Chadwick, Boston, Houghton, 1875, Svo. pp. 31
3 In Schloezer's Staats-Anzeigen, VII, 1785. Four articles.
4 In Naturforscher, No. 18. 3 Ibid., No. 20 (1784).
6 In Schrift. der Berliner Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde, No. 3 (1788), p. 138 ff. — "The first special ichthy- ological paper ever written in America or concerning Ameri- can species." Goode, Beginnings of Natural History in America, Smithsonian Institution Report, 1897, II, 396 (Nat. Museum).
' Erlangen, 1787 ; Lloyd Library Reproduction Series, Cin- cinnati, 1903. The first treatise in that department, and the authority well into the nineteenth century.
8 Erlangen, 1787 — " Commonly regarded as the first work on American geology." Merrill, Contributions to the History of American Geology, Smithsonian Institution Report, 1904 (Nat. Museum), p. 208.
ADVERTISEMENT VII
Historia Testudinum,9 based in large measure on notes made in America or on correspondence with observers there. In addition, Schoepf had put together a manu- script descriptive of the birds of North America com- ing under his observation ; which material was lost at sea between Virginia and South Carolina or more likely disappeared through negligence. Regarding the trees of North America Dr. Schoepf remarks, ' : What I saw every day and in the greatest numbers was trees, but in my travels I could the more aptly suppress my observations, the work of my esteemed friend Head Forester Von Wangenheim,10 of Tilsit in Curland, hav- ing shortly before appeared, containing everything which it would be of use for the European reader to know." Taken together with his travels, this was a very considerable body of work entitling the author to a place in our intellectual history.11
On setting out from Europe, as appears from the Preface to the Beytr'dge, the young Schoepf had been counselled by Schreber to have an eye to the geological structure of the new world, Kalm having given an in- sufficient report in that item. The advice was followed to good purpose,12 but the observer was able to do more,
8 Erlangen, 1793-1801 — " One of the earliest monographs of the Testudinata." Goode, loc. cit. cf. Reisc, &c., I, 382-386; II, 440-444-
10G6ttingen, 1787.
11 Bibliography in Meusel, Lexikon der vom Jahre 1750 bis 1800 verstorbenen Teutschen Schriftsteller, XII (1812), 364. cf. Bock, Sammlung von Bildnissen gelehrter Manner. Niirn- berg, 1791-1798, XV (1795) — Portrait, bibliography, and auto- biographical material.
12 cf. George Huntington Williams, Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., V
, 591-593 — "An excellent but now almost forgotten
VIII ADVERTISEMENT
and fortunately had the opportunity : he returned with full memoranda which are of interest today. Schoepf could talk to a member of Congress about his crops or his mines and come away with a very good idea of the man himself and his relations to the commonwealth. His work seems modern because he had a sense of humor, had trained himself to think, and also because the country he observed is still new. We learn that ' conservation ' has for a long time been waiting for a chance.
Dr. Schoepf came with the other Allied Army. That was, in some respects, a different time. Authority was high, and patronage might show very excellent results. The work is inscribed to
Christian Friedrich Karl Alexander, Marggraf zu Brandenburg :
Durchlauchtigster Marggraf ! Gnadigster Fiirst und Herr!
The dictionary found most useful has been John Ebers's — " A new Hand-Dictionary of the English Language for Ger- mans and of the German Language for Englishmen. Elabo- rated by John Ebers, Professor at Halle." Halle, 1819 — Pref- aces dated 1800 and 1801. Dobson's Philadelphia edition of "The Encyclopaedia" (1798-), and the American edition of Rees (Philadelphia, 1810-) are recommended.
work [Beytrdge &c] on the geology and mineralogy of the United States, south of New York, published at a time when Werner and Hutton were just beginning to be heard in the scientific circles of Europe. Many of the conclusions set forth are in the main those now generally accepted, and bear witness to the acumen of their author."
Thomas H. Atherton, Wilkes-
Barre, Pennsylvania Baker & Taylor Company, New
York
C. H. Barr, Lancaster, Penn- sylvania
John Hampden Chamberlayne, Richmond, Virginia
E. I. Devitt, S. J., Washing- ton
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H. W. Fisher and Company, Philadelphia
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Hall N. Jackson, Cincinnati, Ohio, 4 copies
John W. Jordan, Philadelphia
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D. L. Passavant, Zelienople, Pennsylvania, 5 copies
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Samuel N. Rhoads, Phila- delphia, 10 copies
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preface
TTJTT was to be expected that the last war in America 11 would be the occasion of sundry descriptions of travels, so many and divers Europeans having been thus afforded opportunity to pass through and examine the most widely distant parts of that country. But so far this has not been the case. Only the follow- ing are known to me, as having appeared since that time :
New Travels through North America, in a Series of Letters, exhibiting the history of the victorious Campaign of the Allied Armies, under his Excellency General Washington and the Count de Rochambeau, in the year 1781 ; inter- spersed with political and philosophical Observations, upon the Genius, temper & customs of the Americans &c. Translated from the Original of the Abbe ROBIN, one of the Chaplains to the French Army in America. Printed by Robert Bell, 1783. — 8°. no pages.
Besides observations thrown in, touching the relig- ion, character, and manner of life of the inhabitants, contains chiefly the history of the march of the French army from Rhode Island to Yorktown in Virginia, and of the siege of that place ; the articles of capitulation ; accounts of the unfortunate expedition of General Burgoyne, 1777; and an Appendix, letters of General Washington and Lord Cornwallis.
2 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
A Tour in the United States of America &c. By J. F. D. Smyth, Esqu., London 1784. Vol. I. 400 pages. Vol. II. 455 pages, large 8.
The author had taken up residence in America, and both before the outbreaking of the war and during the war travelled through the southern and middle prov- inces, as well as the regions beyond the mountains ; his accounts and descriptions, so far as I could judge from a brief examination of the book, are good and just, but too much interwoven with the particulars of his own history, the persecutions and oppressions suf- fered by him as a Loyalist, with other events having reference to those times.
Voyages de M. le Marquis de Chastellux dans 1'Amerique Septentrionale, dans les annees 1780. 81. & 82. Paris 1786. T. I. 390 pages & T. II. 362 pages, large 8; with several maps and views.
Of this work I have seen only an abridgment, under the title : Voyage de Mr. le Chev. de Chastell. en Amerique, which has appeared without indication as to where printed, in 12 mo. 191 pages, with the date 1785. The above title of the larger work I take from the Getting. Anzcigen, art. 199, 1787, where several cir- cumstances are remarked that do not help support the credibility and exactness of observation of the Marquis. Not to repeat the criticisms given there of the mang- ling of German and English names, it is astonishing how he seems to have been altogether careless even with French names, calling the painter du Sumitiere, (of whom I have also made mention, p. 85), Cimetiere.
PREFACE 3
— Whether this was a blunder or was purposely done so as to bring out a bon mot, he rendered himself sus- pect, and one will easily form an opinion how far to trust such a man in his observations of natural history. Immediately after the war, and almost at the same time the united American states were visited by sundry learned and intelligent men who had come over from Europe with the express design of travelling through the country. Germans, Swedes, French, English, Dutch, and even an Italian conte, were present to muse upon the wonders of the new states, and they journeyed almost always with pen or black-lead in their hands. But now, after the passage of several years, none of them has been pleased to give to the public the results of his observations, if I except the brief reports of Pro- fessor Martyr, in the Physikal. Arbeiten der eintracht- igen Freunde in Wien (ist and 3rd year, and 2nd year, ist quarter). It may be that the others were deceived in their expectations, not finding memorable things in the hoped-for plenitude, and have done what I perhaps should have done, in this respect not less unfortunate than they, and more restricted in the items of time, cir- cumstances, conveniences and helps. But since it may be better to have a few contributions, rather than none, to a knowledge of the latest status of these parts, I ven- ture now, (only since I see that none of the travellers mentioned has cared to forestall me), to give the dry observations which offered themselves to me incident- ally during a journey through the United States under- taken with a different purpose in view. I willingly ad-
4 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
mit that these notes are neither so complete nor of such importance as I could wish, but it may easily be seen in them that the putting-together of a book of travels was not really my object. To be candid, the motive of my journey was curiosity not altogether blameworthy, it is to be hoped. From June 1777 to July 1783 I had lived in America without seeing more than the small Rhode-Island, York-Island, an inconsiderable part of Long-Island, and for a very brief space the narrow compass of the city of Philadelphia, so that strictly I could hardly boast of having set foot on the main-land. It would have been irksome to me, and likely to other travellers as well, to be obliged to return to the old world without taking with me, for my own satisfaction, a somewhat more enlarged visual acquaintance with the new. But at the same time, and especially, I wished to extend in the interior of the country the collecting of natural products I had begun on the coast but which, by reason of the war, was restricted, and embarrassed enough. However, I was considerably checked in my purposes, the time allowed me for the journey falling in the circumstances at a late season of the year, and other unavoidable casualties rendering my hopes idle in many respects, so that I was very much deceived in my great expectations of examining the most remark- able natural productions of the interior country. Here as elsewhere, both plants and animals are little ready to cast themselves in the way of a hurried traveller, when, where and how he desires, he not seeking them out and unwilling or unable to wait for them. I have
PREFACE 5
therefore designedly omitted to speak at length of matters in which I have been able to bring forward little or nothing that was new. What I saw daily and oftenest was — trees ; and what observations I made under that head I could the more aptly suppress in my travels, the recently issued work of my esteemed friend Head-Forester von Wangenheim of Tilsit in Curland containing everything on that subject which can be of use to the European reader.
Of certain other subjects which lay nearer the pur- pose of my journey, I have already given account, in the Verzeichnis der nordamerikanischen Heilmittel, (for which I had opportunity on this journey to as- semble much important information), and in the Bey- trage zur mineralogischen Kenntnis des ostlichen Theils von Nordamerika. As confirmation of the de- scription given in these contributions, of the American mountains lying to the south of the Hudson river, I have been pleased to find in the G fitting. Anzeigen (Art. 176, 1787) a notice of Mr. Belknap's description of the White Mountains in New Hampshire, (inserted in the 2nd volume of the Transact, of the Americ. Society at Philadelphia) ; this exactly fits with my own, and confirms my suppositions regarding the continued, regular, uniform course of the mountains through those regions not visited by me.
In the item of fishes, what I had leisure and oppor- tunity to observe in the North American waters, partly on this journey and partly before, will be given in a separate treatise, to appear in the Schrift. der Berliner Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde.
6 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
I should likewise be able to give numerous descriptions (exact as I could make them) of almost all the North American birds that came to my notice, were it not that I must deplore the loss of the manuscripts which, with certain other packages, I had left at Manchester in Virginia in the hands of an obliging fellow-country- man, Mr. Riibsaamen, to be despatched to Charleston — but nothing more thus far has been heard of them.
For the rest, these sheets will not please him who, in books of travel, has been used to expect astonishing adventures or wonderful phenomena — splendid palaces, beautiful gardens, great libraries, rich art-collections, collections of natural curiosities, antiquities &c., fab- ricks, and other public institutions worth the seeing, all of which help fill the note-books of travellers in older settled countries, — these as yet are not to be found in America, and one might perhaps, not to give the matter a bad turn, tell as much of what America is not as of what it is. But I have been content to put down, aside from the chief objects of my journey, what I saw and learned, and if it is no more, it is not my fault. I relate simple facts and give dry observations, without seek- ing to embellish them by the refinements of speculation or by edifying considerations. I shall therefore hardly be charged with having industriously described the Columbian States, (where I am persuaded also that many people live very happily) merely in their bright- est aspects; as a critic has guessed, not unreasonably, of the author of the famous Lettres d'nn Cultivateur Americain, noticing the latest Paris edition of that
PREFACE 7
book, which however contains much that is beautiful and true. If perhaps there may be asked of me more detailed and circumstantial information regarding moral, political, ceconomical, and mercantile conditions, I can offer apology for incompleteness in no other way but that these subjects were not precisely a part of my plan, and that the period of my travels — immediately after the war — when judgments and opinions were still uncertain, statistical accounts unreliable, and peace and order, especially, had not yet been firmly re-established, the time, I say, was not the most opportune for these things. Besides, there is no lack of writings giving trustworthy information in the items of the agriculture, trade, exports and imports of the former British col- onies— but the changes arisen in these matters during and since the war were as yet hardly to be determined with certainty. Just as during the period of my journey all manner of plans were making and institu- tions beginning, and everything was still in a ferment, so it will be easily understood if certain of my intelli- gence comes too late and appears superfluous because of newly hit-upon changes — what I have learned in this respect I have made note of, and the rest may serve to show how matters were at that time.
I hope I shall not bring upon myself by any of my remarks the reproach of having blamed without reason or maliciously, and where there may be the appearance of such a thing it should be known that every thing I say here I myself gave expression to in America, where freedom of thought, of speech, and of the pen are
8 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
privileges universally allowed ; moreover I am confi- dent that I have not said many things, have left the reader to form his own judgments, where citizens of the United States themselves would freely and without hesitation have given their opinions.
Regarding many things not touched upon by me, in- formation may be had from Professor Kalm's report of his travels, whose relations I have everywhere found to be true and exact, so far as I have examined the same territory. The travels of this learned and diligent ob- server (as much of them as have been published) hav- ing been from Philadelphia and New York towards the North, and mine being from thence towards the West and the South, the two may be placed together — in that respect only — giving as they do a continuous survey of the state of the eastern half of North America, with the exception of the New England and Nova Scotian provinces.
The reckoning in miles is the English throughout, just as all the other measures and weights given, as used in America, are the same as those customary in England, and in consequence need no further expla- nation.
The money-reckoning in the United States is vari- ous ; throughout, the pound is 20 shillings and the shill- ing 12 pence, but these by the different currency stand- ards are of different values, and the best comparison is to be had from the value of Spanish dollars or piastres and of English guineas.
PREFACE 9
The worth of . f .
Spanish dollar English guinea
In New Hampshire, Con-
necticut, Rhode Island,
and Virginia ......... 6 shillings I Pd. 8 sh.
New York and North
Carolina ............. 8 shillings I Pd. 17 sh.
New Jersey, Pensylvania,
Maryland, and Dela-
ware ................ 7 sh. 6 pence i Pd. 15 sh.
South Carolina ........ I Pd. 12 sh. 6 pence 7 Pd. 7 sh.
Georgia ................ 5 shillings I Pd. 3 sh.
But since the war, in the last two states, the basis has mostly been sterling, the dollar at 4 shillings 6 pence, and the guinea at 21 shillings.
Accordingly a pound current is in Virginia &c. = $l/4 Span, dollars ; in New York &c. — 2l/2 Span, dol- lars ; in Pensylvania &c. = 2% Span, dollars.
I should mention also that of the so-called carnivo- rous elephants, (p. 266 if. of my Travels), beautiful representations of which are given in Buffon's Epoques de la Nature, remains have been found outside America, in other parts of the old world. In Germany a molar tooth, kept in the cabinet at Erlangen, has been found very similar to that coming from the Ohio; and there lies before me a drawing of bones and teeth which were discovered in the year 1762 at Gruebberg between Un- tergrafensee and the Gruebmiihle, near Reichenberg in Bavaria, the figure showing molar teeth altogether like the American, with partly sharp, partly worn apo- physes.
And it is worthy of remark that the complaints made
10 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
by the country people of several regions (p. 213, 228), that new-made dams and mill-ponds are the cause of intermittent fevers, less frequent previously in those parts, have been confirmed by Dr. Rush in a treatise of his to be found in the 2nd volume of the American Philosophical Transactions (vid. Gott. Anzeigen, art. 176, 1787) who likewise believes the causes of the in- creasing bilious and intermittent fevers in Pensylvania to be the greater number of mill-ponds, the clearing- off of the forests which had been a protection against the exhalations from standing water, and the far more frequent rains of the past few years.
Bayreuth, nth January 1788.
3foitrneg Cftrougft
1783
CRANQUILLITY was now in some sort re-es- tablished in America. Ratification of the Peace had not yet come over from Europe, but under the guarantees of the provisional truce, there was al- ready a certain intercourse opened between New York and the United States. Business and curiosity tempted a number of travellers from the one side and from the other. For near seven years I had been confined to •the narrow compass of sundry British garrisons along the coast, unable until now to carry out my desire of seeing somewhat of the interior of the country. The German troops were embarking gradually for the re- turn voyage ; and having received permission, July 22 I took leave of my countrymen at New York, in order to visit the united American states, now beginning to be of consequence.
In the evening at five o'clock, with Mr. Hairs, an Englishman who accompanied me for a part of the journey, I went on board a Petty- Auger,* from and
* Petty-Augers are a sort of craft, used to any extent only in New York waters, where they were introduced by the Hol- landers. They are half-decked boats, of five to ten tons burthen, flat-bottomed, so as to be navigable in shallow water. Flat-built, they would in the open bay, with wind, waves, and currents, make too much leeway unless counter-equipped — on each side a large board, oval-shaped, which may be let down
12 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
for Elizabethtown in New Jersey. As we were on the point of pushing off, our Jersey skipper was threatened with the necessity of taking with him a lading of blows consigned by a man of the King's party who fancied the skipper had injured him in Elizabethtown. The skipper defended himself by keeping to his cabin, with his musket cocked. The matter was for the time ad- justed and we got loose, but not without fear, and the risk, at least of experiencing on the other shore some- thing of the law of reprisals. We were however hardly under sail before the skipper began to assure us of everything agreeable on the part of his countrymen, and in particular promised us great respect in our ca- pacity of British officers, which he no doubt took us to be. I mention this little circumstance because our friends in New York were uneasy for fear we should meet with a sorry reception among the still irritated American populace and on that account sought to dis- courage us from the journey. The sort of evil entreat- ment with which they alarmed us in New York was attributed in prospect solely to such Tories as had ven- tured again among their former countrymen and were by them recognized. Pride often overcomes a desire of vengeance ; at least that was my explanation of the skipper's over-busy courtesies, shown us after his own rude experience in a British garrison at the hands of British subjects.
or taken up at the side of the vessel. This board is let down against the wind (on the lee side) ; the so-called Lee-board, then, hangs in the water several feet below the bottom of the vessel, and the greater resistance so gained balances the effect of the side wind which would otherwise tend to bring the vessel too much out of its course.
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 13
It was one of the warmest days. Light breezes and calm lengthened our short way. As we moved slowly over the Hudson and through the bay towards Staten Island, there was opportunity to enjoy for the last time the splendid view which is offered at a certain point between the city and the islands. The Hudson opens for several miles in a direct north line ; its fine breadth, its high, precipitous banks adorned with bush and forest growth, and a number of vessels at the time busy gave to the stream a magnificent appearance which bore a softer coloring by reason of the now sinking sun.
Two little islands standing in the midst of the bay towards Jersey, however inconsiderable formerly, with- in a brief space have become trading places of import- ance. While traffic between the United States and New York was still not entirely free and unrestricted, the Americans grew accustomed to take from these islands what they hanker after yet and will always — English goods, which had been secretly expedited from the city.
One of these islands, from its excellent oyster bank, has gained the name of Oyster Island, formerly so rich in oysters that from it alone the city and all the country around could be supplied with this pleasant provender by which a great part of the poorer people lived. But for several years the most and the best oysters have been brought from the southern coast of Long Island, from Blue Point, where (as formerly around Oyster Island) the oyster is found in extensive beds, lying one above the other and many feet deep. Strong, curved, iron rakes are used to fetch up the fruit which never lies deep, preferring the shallower but somewhat rocky or stony spots. Oysters may be
14 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
had in more or less quantity everywhere around New York ; the reason is not known, but they are not every- where of an equal size or pleasantness of taste. The salt water product is always better than that which is deposited in the fresher water near streams. Often oysters climb so high on the beach, clinging to stones, roots of trees, &c. that at ebb-tide they are for many hours exposed quite to the air. The oyster of the rocky shores of the northern parts of America is universally larger and better than what is produced on the more sandy coasts south of New York. A method of fatten- ing oysters is resorted to here and there — they keep them in cellars and set them up in sand, frequently sprinkling with salt water. There was formerly a law prohibiting oyster-fishery during the months of May, June, July, and August, regarded as the spawning season, when the eggs appear, small, thin scales, de- posited on stones or on the shells of the older oysters. During the war this restriction was not observed. Quite apart from any regulation in the interest of the oyster banks, oysters during the hot season have a worse taste, are more slimy, and decay so rapidly that any taken then must be largely lost.
Oysters are eaten raw, broiled on coals, baked with fat and in other ways ; they are also dried, pickled, boiled in vinegar, and so preserved and transported. The American edible oyster is in form quite unlike the oval-shaped European, being oblong and almost tongue-shaped. In America one finds shells from eight to ten inches and more in length, and from three to four inches wide tapering somewhat towards the hinge, generally straight, but often a trifle curved; the ex- terior of the shell, which is of a layer formation, is
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 15
rougher than the European. It happens not seldom that one oyster makes several mouthfuls. At times incomplete pearls are found in the shells. In certain regions the shell now and then has a diseased appear- ance, whitish, half-transparent, and glassy, but such oysters are eaten in quantities and without injury. In- deed, people of a sickly, weak habit of body find that fresh oysters are good for them, and here as well as in Europe Tulpius's + oyster-cure is often prescribed. In York they burn for lime the shells of oysters, clams, and other muscles, because there is no limestone in that region. Lime prepared in this way makes an especially good white-wash, but for building it has not the best lasting qualities.
Oysters, Clams (Venus mercenaries L.), and Pissers (Myae species)* are the most usual shell-fish brought to market in this region. In the country the range of choice is wider, and a sort of cockle [Jakobsmuschel] is there eaten. Of the Buccina a rather large and a very small variety are relished by a few fastidious palates. Even the King-crab (monoculus Polyphemus L.)f is not despised by some of the inhabitants.
* Probably Mya arenaria L. — They live on the beach and are betrayed by a round opening in the sand. If slightly pressed they spurt with considerable energy a clear stream of water. Their flesh is coarse and tough, but makes a strong, nutritious broth.
f These, from their shape, are commonly called Horseshoe- crabs, and are found on this coast only in the summer months. Often left on the beach by the tide, they are sought after greedily by hogs, which thrive on them. As a matter of fact they belong among the larger insects. Some of them, includ- ing the tail, are three feet and more in length. They live several days out of the water.
16 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
Of the crayfish order, these waters furnish for the kitchen only the Lobster, (Cancer Gammarus L.), and a Crab. Before the war lobsters were numerous, but for some years have been seldom seen. The fisher- men's explanation was that the lobster + was disturbed by the many ships' anchors and frightened by the can- non fire. How much ground there was for this theory I will not attempt to say, but it is true that since the war lobsters have this year shown themselves for the first time in the Sound.*
We were compelled to spend a few hours of the night at Staten Island, in order to catch the flood tide, for light winds had brought us on so slowly that the ebb from Newark Bay was already against us. The tide coming in by Sandy Hook finds several channels of varying length and breadth in which to distribute itself; in consequence the rise and fall take place at different times in the East River, the Hudson, and Newark Bay, although each of these is filled and emptied through the same channel.
The distance between York Island and Staten Island is scarcely more than nine English miles. Staten Island and the west end of Long Island are separated by a channel only three miles wide at a point called the Narrows, which is the chief entrance for ships coming to York. The channel between the island and East Jersey is of varying width, but navigable only for smaller craft. Staten Island is sixteen miles long and
* Elsewhere they change their habitat with the season ; in Sweden they are found at midsummer (um Johannis) six fathom deep, in July at a depth of from eight to ten fathoms, and later in the autumn at a depth of fourteen or fifteen fathoms.
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 17
from eight to eleven miles wide ; the northern part is hilly and stony, the land becoming flat and sandy to- wards the south, similar in character to that portion of Long Island lying opposite. Staten Island forms a county of the province of New York, called Richmond, which is the name of the village in the midst of the island. Free entrance into the harbor of New York depends upon the possession of this island, since the harbor may be completely covered by works placed on the steep hills near the Narrows. Further than this, Staten Island is to be distinguished in nothing from the neighboring country. In the morning at two o'clock we arrived at Elizabethtown Point in Jersey, a prom- ontory where vessels coming from York tie up. The whole region is low, salt-marsh land exposed to the in- flow of sea water. In summer such districts grow somewhat more dry, and in addition the effect of broad, deep ditches is considerable. In the dry season these salt-marshes go by the name of salt-meadows, but produce only a short hay, coarse and stiff, for the most part rush, the usual meadow grasses not growing on such lands. Horses do not like this hay, and the milk of cows eating it rapidly sours. There is, how- ever, one variety of salt-meadow grass, to wit Juncus bulbosus L., known as Blackgrass and the best forage for cattle. This is seldom sown, although the use of it would make the handling of such tracts very profitable. Surrounded by millions of Musquetoes, (Culex pipiens L.), we were obliged to spend the time until daybreak on the deck of the little vessel. These marshy coasts are the favorite sojourning places of musquetoes, more than usually numerous this year as a result of moist and rainy weather, and grown to an unusual 2
18 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
size. Whoever has made the acquaintance of these small enemies of the nights' rest will know that the buzzing of a few of them is sufficient to banish sleep for hours. I had covered myself with a cloak and a thick sail, and the night being extremely warm I suf- fered as in a perfect sweat-bath, but the musquetoes found their way through. The complete stillness of the night gave them liberty to swarm about at will, for in windy weather they do not appear, and when high, cold winds set in from the northwest such regions as these are for a time swept of musquetoes, either be- numbed by the cold or carried out to sea.
After daybreak we were taken to the house of the man who owns the ferry, the only ferry thereabouts, a few hundred yards from the landing place but not be- yond the territory of the musquetoes. Before the door stood a great vat, in which a wet-wood fire was kindled ; the musquetoes were kept off by the smoke in which the people of the place were making themselves com- fortable. The owner of the ferry was a Doctor, no less, and admitted with the greatest candor that he had chosen such an infernal situation solely with the praise- worthy design of making, that is gaining, money.
At this place I made the acquaintance of an Ameri- can Captain. The day before, on his way to New York, he had been arrested at Staten Island by a young British officer, roughly handled and sent back because he had no pass to show from the Governor of New York. He was telling his story to the company in the smoke, which had by degrees become more numerous, and there was anger and vengeance in his words and gestures. I found myself in a similar position, the other way about; I was now in the jurisdiction of the
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 19
United States without permit from them. So I turned to this irritated American, and without circumlocution told him how I had come from the English army, like him had no pass from one side or the other, intended to travel through the country, hoped I should meet with no difficulties, and so forth. The answer which I was looking for followed. The Captain seized with pleas- ure the opportunity which I offered him to show him- self magnanimous. He volunteered to take me to his Excellency Mr. Livingstone, the Governor of New Jersey, and went with me to his country-seat in the neighborhood of Elizabethtown. However, we had not the pleasure of finding the Governor at home, which I the more regretted because my companion had taken trouble on the way to give me a high opinion of the man with the noble Roman nose (for that was the chief ground of his argument). Instead, I was taken before certain other officers and furnished with a letter of recommendation to a member of the Congress, near Princetown. Meanwhile, I regarded this unexpectedly polite behavior as a good omen, causing me to hope for pleasant treatment farther on, and in this I was not deceived.
Elizabethtown is a market town of middling size which to be sure has no particularly large trade, but on account of the passing between Philadelphia and York many strangers are to be seen in the place. Oppor- tunity was afforded us here of seeing a female opas- sum with four young, which had recently been caught in the neighborhood. It is remarkable that these ani- mals are found no farther north than this, and never on the east shore of the Hudson. Only in recent years have they been seen this side the Delaware in Jersey ;
20 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
they crossed that stream on the ice, it is probable, for they are said not to swim. In a similar manner these animals, intended originally for the warmer provinces only, might find their way still farther north, where it is true they would miss even more their favorite food, the fruit of the Persimon (Diospyros virginiana L.). It is commonly believed in America that the false bag of the female is a matrix as well, although there is ample proof to the contrary. It is the fact, however, that the young are produced very small and unformed, and sustain themselves in the bag through the nipples there found. It is claimed that the young of the opas- sum have been observed as small as a large bean.*
When the greatest heat of the day was over, we set out towards evening on the road to Brunswick. Five miles from Elizabethtown we came to Bridgetown, a neat little place on the Rariton river, where I visited the father of one of my American friends. He, as one of the King's party, had been obliged to leave his former residence in Jersey and come to Bridgetown because he expected and found more quiet in a place inhabited chiefly by Quakers, who seek to do good to every man or at the least make no use of opportunities to do evil. The Rariton at Bridgetown is still an inconsiderable stream, but large enough to float un- laden vessels, built in the neighborhood, of ten to thirty tons. The shipwrights do not restrict themselves to the banks of the stream but set up the framework be- fore their dwellings, perhaps a mile or two from the river, and bring the finished skeleton to the waterside
* This fact among others was stated to me by Mr. Forster, a skilful anatomist and surgeon in the English army.
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 21
on rollers, oxen hitched before, which animals are much used in this region for draught. We passed on through a very pleasant country of low hills, and already be- gan to encounter the red soil of Jersey, known gener- ally by that name in America. On the surface this ap- pears to be a weathered ferruginous clayey-slate * showing certain veins. Farm and manor-houses were numerous on the road, in appearance kept in good order, and bearing evidences of attention and industry, more so indeed than we had been accustomed to see about York and on Long Island. Mr. Morgan who formerly spent much time, more to the north, as a land surveyor assured us that he had often seen dogs after baiting hedgehogs stuck through, muzzle and ears, with the quills of those beasts, and that the hedgehog it is believed has the faculty of looseing its quills in emergencies, but that it is not true, as asserted, that the beast can shoot quills forth at distant objects. On account of their exceeding smoothness and the force drawing together the wounded parts both in men and animals, the hedgehog quills, it has been observed, find deep lodgment in the cellular tissue, and often must be taken out with the knife.
From Bridgetown to Brunswick it is 16 miles over a gentle succession of pleasant valleys and hills. Everywhere a rather vivid green adorns the soil, which in this region for the most part of the year presents a
* Vid. Kalm. Reise. Ft 2, p. 367 who calls this soil red lime- stone very much resembling that found in Sweden at Kinne- kulle and probably marmor stratarium of Linnaeus. But this Jersey soil does not effervesce under acids, and does not con- tain the petrificata copiosissima of Linnaeus' description; and besides the surface is not harder than the subsoil.
22 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
dark red appearance. But this is hardly a distinguish- ing mark of Jersey, for it is pretty generally observed, even in other countries, that grass on red soils has a particularly green color.
Brunswick. Here for the first time we underwent a general questioning — on the part of the landlord at the Queen. There are no people in the world of more curiosity than the inn-keepers throughout the greater part of America. It is told of Dr. Franklin (but it may have been anyone else) + how on a journey trom Boston to Philadelphia, he became so tired of the in- sidious tavern-catechism, that on arriving at an inn he had the whole family assembled and made it clear to them once for all what his name was, where he lived, what he did for a living, where he was going, and then asked that no further queries be put. At the inn in Brunswick nothing was to be had until it was known where we came from and whither we were bound ; I asked for a room and the woman of the house bade me in a most indifferent manner to be patient ; she was unwilling for us to escape too soon from the curiosity of her husband, who in the meantime was looking up slippers of every calibre, kept for the traveller's con- venience.
Brunswick is pleasantly and advantageously situ- ated. The Rariton even here reaches no great breadth, probably ten to fifteen feet ; but with the help of the tide, which ascends two miles above the town, tolerably large vessels come up, and in former years the place has exported directly to the West Indies flour, bread, Indian corn, timber, and the like. Brunswick therefore has great hopes of renewing its trade, since at one time the town carried on more business than Perth-Amboy,
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 23
which is really the port and capital of East Jersey, lying ten miles farther down at the mouth of the Rariton, a safe and commodious bay where notwithstanding few ships put in. Recently when a peace was looked for, a company of English merchants offered to employ a considerable capital, sufficient for the purpose, in re- establishing the trade of Amboy ; by reason of untimely animosities the project was abandoned, and Amboy * will have, as before, only an insignificant traffic with foreign ports. New York on the one side and Phila- delphia on the other long since drew to themselves the trade of Jersey, and without great exertions and the capital assistance of rich merchants, this established course of trade is not to be altered. The produce of Jersey is the same as that of both the adjoining prov- inces, and the Jerseymen find a better market and longer credit in those two cities than in their own. Thus, free to choose the best markets, it will not likely happen that the people will deny themselves. In Brunswick the royal barracks still stand, for which there are no soldiers, and an English church remains for which there is no congregation. The Quaker meet- ing-house and the market-house, as well as many other buildings, are in ruins. This section of Jersey, and especially Princeton, Woodbridge, Newark, Bergen, Elizabethtown, &c. suffered the most during the war, from the troops of both parties.
From Brunswick we proceeded down the Rariton through an incomparable landscape. A still stream,
* Latterly the State of Jersey has declared this a free port and flatters itself that in this way the trade of Amboy will be the more easily revived, since the neighboring states have placed heavy taxes on shipping.
24 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
fairly broad ; narrow reaches of green bottom-land bor- dered by gentle hills ; neat country-houses scattered here and there, the buildings forsaken and half-ruined ; and as background for the whole, a range of mountains. Colonel Steward's house, on a rising ground by the road, like so many others in America is thinly built of wood, but after a tasteful plan. The construction of a house, if the appearance is pleasing, need not worry the traveller, since it is the owner who must contrive how to offset the rude northwester streaming through, and making cold quarters for winter.
Two miles from Brunswick we again crossed the Rariton, over a wooden bridge, and after a few miles down that stream reached Boundbrook and Middle- brook. The whole region about Brunswick consists of a red earth, but towards the mountains the soil changes. At Boundbrook we visited Dr. Griffith, a practicing physician whose skill and upright character made him free of the general persecution which other royalists were exposed to.
Beyond Boundbrook appears the first of those chains of rather high mountains which in Jersey lie inwards from the sea. In the company of Dr. Griffith and a few other gentlemen we made an excursion towards the mountain country where formerly Captain Mosengail and Mr. Riibsaamen had establishments for smelting copper, the first in America. In this region the stone is a species of dense, grey, quarrystone, very similar to that used in New York for tombstones. The road to the old smelting-house is through a wide gap in the first chain of mountains, the range being made up of several chains one behind the other. Here, as farther on in the winding valley, I saw what I took to be sure
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 25
marks of powerful dislocations at one time sustained. Stones appeared as if pulled apart and again cemented together. In other places the declivities seemed as it were composed of plates lying one over the other but fast bound together.*
In this narrow valley we were unspeakably oppressed by the heat and the company insisted on returning, earlier than I should have liked. At the same time, in Dr. Griffith's house, the thermometer stood 94° Fahr. in the shade, and I am convinced that in the valley at midday and with no wind we suffered a temperature of at least 120°. We all groaned for refreshment, but there was nothing to be had except brook-water, and water alone did not suffice.
The first chain of mountains in this region is dis- tinguished from those lying behind it and running in
* Later, in Philadelphia, I came upon the Abbe Robin's New Travels in North America. The Abbe came through Jersey with the army of Count Rochambeau and cast a cursory glance, only in Jersey, at the mountains. ' I was at the trouble,' says he, 'to inspect the summits of the high moun- tains (not high) of Jersey, and I find that they consist chiefly of granite of several varieties, closely associated; aqua fortis causes no effervescence — Mica is also found in great quantity — If these mountains, which must be reckoned as primitive, owed their origin to a vitreous mass, several thousand years in that state, they would necessarily be homogeneous, but I do not remember having seen here a mixture of various sub- stances brought together in grains of regular figure and differ- ing color. However that may be, these mountains must cer- tainly have undergone a great revolution, for in many places they have been burst apart, and fragments of appreciable size are found at some distance from their first position.' The Abbe had doubtless read shortly before the Epochs of Buffon and attempted, but in vain, to discover traces of fire.
26 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
the same direction by the name First Mountain, ex- tending under this appellation from Newark, where the stone is of a sort like granite, as far as Pluckamin, about 28 English miles, a country richly supplied with copper. Van Horn's mine has more than once been profitably worked. The ore is red (Ziegelerz), flecked with grey, and often contains fibres of pure copper. Duely worked and refined this ore yields, it is claimed, from 60 to 65 Ib. the cwt. of the finest copper. The veins run up from the southeast, (i. e. from the coast inwards), to the mountains, and continue there rising and falling, wave-fashion — like most superficial veins ; but far on in the mountain the veins suddenly plunge and are lost in water, so that these mines cannot in the future be worked without low stopings. After getting through the grey rock, in which the ore lies, a red stone is encountered which extends to unexplorable depths.
In the year 1772 the smelter near this mine was be- gun, but on account of various difficulties, lack of a suitable stone for the smelting-furnace and the proper alloy, it was not until 1774 that work could be under- taken with a reasonable hope of success. The owners of the land and of the mine agreed to bear all expense until the business should be self-sustaining at a clear profit ; on the other hand, the condition was that the managers, Messrs. Mosengail and Riibsaamen, should take two thirds the income for their trouble in estab- lishing and keeping up the smelter. Later the owners ran short of money and credit, and the work was for some time interrupted, but by a new arrangement was again vigorously prosecuted. Then the need of skilled workmen was felt, the raw copper not being saleable in
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 27
America unless first prepared in sheets under the ham- mer for the use of the coppersmith. In former years it had been necessary for such establishments to send to England either the ore, (of no great value), or the unrefined copper. On this basis the dealer gained very much at the expense of the mine-owner. So rolling machines of a nice construction were brought from England, of a sort which could not be cast and fitted in America. Such an apparatus (two smooth iron rollers working horizontally) made it possible to get out the copper with more convenience and expedition than under the hammer. In a short time nearly four tons of sheet copper were got ready for market, as fine as any ever brought from Europe ; and by the use of the roller it was found possible to prepare 2.^/2 tons a week. The first specimens of this Jersey-made sheet- copper were brought to Philadelphia precisely, at the time when the Congress had passed the non-importa- tion act of 1775 ; and there was so much pleasure taken in this successful and really fine product of the country that without any hesitation a price was offered 6d. in the pound higher than for English sheets, quoted at 35. 8d. to 45. Pensylvan. Current. But the war coming on, the work once more came to a stand ; the workmen were scattered, and finally the establishment was burnt by American troops, merely to get nails from the ashes. The mine has since gone to ruin ; we made a search for ore in the rubbish, but could find only a few insig- nificant pieces.
On the same mountain, near Pluckamin, other mine- prospectors at one time sunk a shaft, and followed up a good vein of grey copper ore. But water swamped the work, which was given over because there was no inclination to install hydraulic machinery.
28 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
About 26 years ago another copper mine was opened near Brunswick, in a hill consisting of the red soil (red-shell) mentioned above, which from the color, it was believed, must certainly be copper-bearing. A vein located by the wand (ausgehender Gang) nearly four inches wide was a sufficient guaranty, but it was found that it fell away almost perpendicularly. Solid copper was taken out in quantity, lying in a brown mould containing copper as well. However, it was a low hill and the Rariton was too near; the shaft filled with water and could not be kept clear by a small hydraulic apparatus. The owners became discouraged and gave up the works, after taking out probably two tons, mostly solid copper, at an outlay of more than 12,000 Pd. Current.
From Boundbrook we came, by way of a beautiful plain, hard by the mountain where Washington's army camped in 1779; and further through an extremely well-cultivated region along the Millstone River which falls into the Rariton but, a narrow stream, is not navigable. These waters contain a multitude of fish, pike, gold-fish, and suckers.* Formerly shad also, in numberless schools, came high up this river ; but dams, of which many have been built in recent years, keep back the shad and contribute appreciably to the pro- visioning of the inhabitants along the banks. In the Rariton, however, a law compels millers to leave a 40- yd. passage way over dams during the running of the
* Suckers are found also in the Delaware ; I have seen none about York. They belong to the species carp. Forster + has given the first exact description of them, from a specimen caught in Hudson's bay, under the name cyprinus catostomus. See Beytrdge zur Lander und Volkerkunde, III, 270.
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 29
shad. These fish (Chi pea Alosa L.) are found in mill- ions every spring in all the rivers north from Chesa- peake Bay and the Delaware, ascending- high enough to be certain of depositing their eggs in fresh water. In the Hudson they follow the main channel and tribu- taries for a distance of 150 miles from the coast. They come, if the weather is mild, early in April ; cold weather often holds them back until later ; but by the end of April or the beginning of May, the mouths of all the rivers are generally full of them. At this season fishermen line the riverbanks, cast their seines with the flush tide, and at times catch during a running several hundred pounds' worth. The many thousands taken (in all the rivers, inlets, and creeks) amount to a very small part of the host, which apparently begins to be diminished only when, far inland, the danger from nets cannot so easily be escaped in the narrower and shal- lower streams. That they are all caught is not to be believed, although few are seen descending, and those thin and often dead. They are, at their first coming, pretty fat and fullbodied, and it is claimed that as they ascend the better they grow to the taste. They are sought after when the season is young, and the first to appear are costly morsels, but as they become more frequent are seen no longer at fastidious tables. They are also salted * and with careful handling resemble
* Salted shad are exported to the West Indies as rations for the negroes, but are not greatly in demand there on account of the careless preparation. Herring appear on the coast somewhat later than shad ; they are like the European herring but come neither in as great numbers as shad nor do they ascend the streams so far; they are caught and handled in the same manner as shad.
30 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
the herring' in taste ; and again, only superficially salted, they are split and air-dried or smoked and so served at respectable tea-tables.
Red soil and loam continued until we had passed the Millstone River, by a bridge not far from Black-horse, where the sandy loam began again such as is found about York. In the tavern at Black-horse we found quarters for the night, on a little slope near the river not far from a mill and several other houses as little worthy of remark. Our landlord was loquacious and extremely occupied, and in truth a man could be no otherwise who did as much. He told us, without any boasting, how many different occupations he united in his small person- ' I am a weaver, a shoemaker, farrier, wheelwright, farmer, gardener, and when it can't be helped, a soldier. I bake my bread, brew my beer, kill my pigs ; I grind my axe and knives ; I built those stalls and that shed there ; I am barber, leech, and doctor.' (Tria juncta in uno, as everywhere in Germany.) The man was everything, at no expense for license, and could do anything, as indeed the countryman in America generally can, himself supplying his own wants in great part or wholly. From this man's house we set out the following morning along the sandy banks of the Millstone River and came, by a stone bridge, to Rocky Hill which was not idly named. A few houses stand upon and around the hill. The landscape, after we got out of the red soil, was much less green and agreeable, the woods rougher and the bottom lands more broken, more like the soil of York and southern Long Island, thin and unfruitful, that is. But there met us everywhere a pleasant balsam odor, from the great profusion of pennyroyal (Cunila pnlegioides L.)
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 31
which grew in the dryest places along the road, and on these warm days, was the more perceptible.
It was surprising, just at midsummer, to find every- where in the woods leaves red or deadened, particularly on the oaks. To be sure, towards the first of the month (July) there had been a hoar-frost, seen on little standing ponds and moist spots, on the mountain near Middlebrook and elsewhere.* But this cold could not so easily kill oak leaves, certainly not particular oak leaves. Others, with as little probability gave thunderstorms and lightning as the reason ; but the best explanation was that the leaves had been killed by a sort of grasshopper which comes every seventeen years and just this year had been conducting operations.
Rocky Hill once had the hope of being one of the rich- est and most productive hills in America. Ignorant of its value a countryman found a fragment of grey copper- ore, of nearly 100 Ib. weight. This occurrence inspired several people, who had informed themselves of the worth of the copper discovered, to set about establish- ing works in the liveliest spirit of enterprise. The ground was leased, the mine to be opened was divided into eight shares, miners were brought from England, and everything necessary was undertaken with en- thusiasm. When the first shaft was sunk they came upon a rich stock-work of similar ore, but not quite so pure. By this time the shares were selling at 1500 Pd. Current. Through the manager's ignorance, or per- haps with a set purpose to damage the owners, the ore brought up was packed in barrels, and in less than four
* At the same time we had several very cold days in York, and one morning the thermometer sank to 42° Fahr.
32 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
months 1 100 barrels were filled with what was denomi- nated saleable ore. This was sent to England at a dead expense of at least 1000 Pd. Sterling. The ore was tested and appraised in London and the price fixed, considering its quality as crude ore, was not sufficient to pay the freight. The undertakers were alarmed at this unwelcome news and the works were given over at a great loss. Several of the workmen offered, at their own cost, to take out the ore still on the holdings and that in the shaft, (easily done) wash it, stamp it, and send it to England. The venture proved an ex- cellent one, but none the less this happier outcome aroused no further interest among the speculative, and the establishment was closed.
This is no doubt the most suitable place to insert the remaining mineralogical observations which I assem- bled in regard to Jersey and several other parts adja- cent. It was not my intention to give much time to the various mines and foundries of this province, richly supplied with them, and until now worked with especial industry. I had resolved to visit the more dis- tant mountain country of Pensylvania and Virginia, and since the summer was waning I could waste no time.
Almost every hill and mountain of New Jersey con- tains ore of some sort, at any rate ore has been found in greater quantity in this province, as a consequence of greater effort. A line drawn from about the mouth of the Rariton to the lower falls of the Delaware marks the south-eastern limit of the ore-bearing region, be- yond which no further traces of ore have been observed by me. Thence northwesterly a series of hills and mountains make up the rest of the province, which lies
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 33
east of the Hudson and west of the Delaware. This advantageous proximity to both rivers, with their trib- utaries, adds no little to the convenient working of the mines and transportation of the product.
One of the largest and most famous copper mines in all North America was until recently that of the Schuy- ler family, on Second River in Bergen county. The metal was found associated with a good deal of sul- phur and was therefore easily fusible. For forty years and more these works were carried on to great advan- tage, and from their productive yield a very numerous family became well established, highly regarded, and honored. The ore was of the grey variety, yielding with good management 70-80 lb., and in one of the best years as much as 90 lb. in the hundred weight. About twenty years ago a fire-engine * was installed to control the water. This had to be brought from England, and when set up in running order had cost 10,000 Pd. Cur- rent, but a few years later was itself destroyed by fire. A second engine met the same fate, the owners were somewhat thrown back by these misfortunes, and the mine, overrun with water, could no longer be worked. Mr. Hornblower, from county Cornwall in England, (who was the manager of the mine), after these two mishaps made a contract with the owners some twelve years ago by which he paid down so much of the clear income and received permission to knock out the hold- ings, which yielded him from 7 to 15 tons pure copper annually, sold in England at 70-80 Pd. sterling the ton. Proof of how carelessly the ore had been worked. The war put a stop even to these operations. When
* Pumps set in motion by the steam from boiling water. 8
.'.I TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
the mine was first given up to the water, the abandoned vein was six foot wide.
On the banks of the Delaware, about twenty miles up from Trenton, a copper-bearing slate stratum comes to the surface. The slate runs in beds of varying width and is flecked with grey copper ore. A friend, whom I must thank for these items, found that this ore merely at the surface contained 36 Ib. copper in the hundred- weight. By the accounts of people resident there, it appears that similar spots are found higher up the river.
The following list of several other noteworthy copper and iron mines was given me at New York in May
17831
" Suckasunny Mine ; Iron ; in a hill on the east side
' of Suckasunny Plains, in Morris county, 13 miles
" from Morristown. The veins, like all in that region,
' run almost northeast to southwest, and are from six
" to twelve foot wide. Many thousand tons of bar iron
" have been made from this ore at sundry works. The
' ore is especially valued because of its easy flux and
' rich content.
"Hibernia or Horsepond Mine; Iron; 12 miles " north of Morristown, in a high hill, a continuous " vein which has been opened from the bottom to the " top of the hill, and found to be from three to eleven " foot wide. Only 600 paces off is the furnace attached " to this mine, called Hibernia Furnace. The sow of " this ore is good ; the iron excellent ; easily workable ' in the furnace.
Ogden's Mine, 16 miles northeast of Morristown.
The vein is only from one to five foot wide. Bar iron
from this ore worked in the furnace is better than
tt tt
tt
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 35
u any other bar of the region. However, the mine does " not advance so rapidly as the two mentioned above.
" Yale's Mine, 3 miles northeast of the Suckasunny, " probably the continuation of that vein, 3-8 ft. wide. " The ore fluxes well and, like the Suckasunny, is " highly valued.
" Ogden's Newfoundland Mine, 25 miles north of " Morristown, 7-20 ft. wide, also produces good iron. " Pompton Bog, 20 miles northeast of Morristown " A bog-ore lying perhaps 12 inches deep and dug out " of the water. Under the ore there is a ferruginous " sand. The surface layer having been removed, in " about 20 years a new layer is formed, a precipitate " from the water quite as good if not better than the " first.
" James Young's copper mine, near Musknecuneck " in the county of Sussex.
" Deacon Ogden's copper mine, near to the head- " spring of the Wall-Kill, in the same county.
" Tennyke's copper mine, in the county of Somerset. " Ritschall's copper mine in the county of Somerset. " The two last are situated on the southeast side of " First Mountain, three miles beyond Boundbrook " and Quibbletown, on the same ridge (a little to the " north) as Pluckamin, Bluehill, and Van Horn's mine, " which all yield copper of about the same quality and " temper, lying very nearly at the same depth. Hence " it is conjectured, and not without reason, that this " whole ridge, 12 miles and more in length, is traversed " by one and the same vein of copper. The ore occurs for the most part in veins, generally superficial, in- termixed with loose strata of earth and stone and easily excavated. Notwithstanding, no vein has been
a
a
36 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
" discovered workable to advantage, with the price of " labor customary now in Jersey and the uncertain sale " of the ore in the English markets. Every copper vein " in New Jersey has the same surface direction — from " northeast to southwest ; and each plunges in very ' nearly the same manner, that is to say, making an ' obtuse angle towards the east. The veins grow broader at a depth, and the copper better. It is still unknown how far to the southeast the veins underlie the surface, for although several mines have been worked for 60 years, there is no instance of a vein having been exhausted. In the county of Morris alone there are a great num- ber of iron mines, high furnaces, bloomeries, and forges. Most of these were the property of a private English company which long ago had already spent a great sum on them. At such a distance, and under the super- vision of managers, these works as early as 1773 had consumed a capital of 120,000 Pd. sterling and never- theless did not pay interest. A certain Johann Jakob Faesch, + from Germany, wa^ formerly one of the managers of this company's works, but relinquished the business and set up his own furnace, equipped with a particularly advantageous mechanism.
The business of the mines and foundries, in New Jersey as well as throughout America, cannot be said to be on as firm a basis as in most parts of Europe, be- cause nobody is concerned about forest preservation, and without an uninterrupted supply of fuel and timber many works must go to ruin, as indeed has already been the case here and there. Not the least economy is observed with regard to forests. The owners of furnaces and foundries possess for the most part great
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 37
tracts of appurtenant woods, which are cut off, how- ever, without any system or order. The bulk of the inhabitants sell wood only in so far as to bring the land they own into cultivation, reserving a certain acre- age of forest necessary for domestic consumption. The Union, a high furnace in Jersey, exhausted a forest of nearly 20,000 acres in about twelve to fifteen years, and the works had to be abandoned for lack of wood. This cut-over land was to be sure divided into farms and sold, but was of trifling value merely because the wood was gone. If it does not fortunately happen that rich coal mines are discovered, enabling such works to be carried on, as in England, with coal, it will go ill with many of them later on. In and around this mountain country, the forest trees are generally lea'f-bearing, oak for the most part, and, what is to the purpose, this tree does not seem of a very rapid growth in America.
Because at the beginning in the nearer, and latterly in the farther regions of America, wood has been every- where in the way of the new planter, people have grown accustomed to regard forests anywhere as the most troublesome of growths ; for if crops were to be seeded it was a necessity to cut down the trees and grub the roots, — a great labor, and if the forests could only be blown away, then certainly few trees would be there to give more trouble. A young American going to Europe happened to land on the west coast of Ire- land, where in certain parts not a bush is to be seen for many miles. He exclaimed in astonishment, ' What a wonderful country ! What a lucky people, with no woods to plague them/ ' We are plagued,' they an- swered him, ' precisely because we have none, and we are planting as fast as we can.'
38 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
In America there is no sovereign right over forests and game, no forest service. Whoever holds new land, in whatever way, controls it as his exclusive possession, with everything on it, above it, and under it. It will not easily come about therefore that, as a strict statu- tory matter, farmers and landowners will be taught how to manage their forests so as to leave for their grandchildren a bit of wood over which to hang the tea-kettle. Experience and necessity must here take the place of magisterial provision. So far there is indeed no lack of wood, except in particular localities or for particular purposes. Only in towns is the price high, and for the reason that the charge for cutting and hauling is four or five times the value of the wood on the stump.
Since I am in the mining region, I shall ask permis- sion to bring together a few additional mineralogical items. On the Hudson, in many places, there are found surface indications of ore, about which in its weathered state nothing certain can be determined, for the heat test would not be trustworthy in the case of minerals decomposed by the action of sun, rain, and frost. At Haverstraw, province of New York, it is claimed that traces of tin have been discovered, near the former country-seat of Mr. Noyelle. Twenty odd miles from New York, at Phillips' Manor, silver was enthusias- tically worked at in the years 1772-73. Solid silver was found scattered in fluorspar. An amalgam-mill was set up, which got out a regulum of silver, some twelve ounces, worth to the operators 1500 Pd. York Current — and with that, digging and amalgamating came to an end. The Schuyler family, already men- tioned, long ago worked a silver mine in Jersey, and
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 39
very profitably. The discoverer is said to have been a negro. The mine lasted only a short time, and I have been able to get no further information regarding it. I have been told that dollars were struck from the metal, but I have seen no specimens of them. There have been traces of precious metals found still farther north. Forty and more years ago, near Boston, there was a silver mine, but worked with little profit, nobody understanding the business, it is supposed. Judging by several circumstances the ore was a silver-bearing lead ore. At Middletown in Connecticut lead ore was once mined, found associated with a yellow copper ore, and yielding three to four ounces of silver in the hundred- weight. Although this content was determined by a goldsmith in New York, who tested specimens, it ap- pears that the trick of separating the metal of the ore was not sufficiently familiar, and this work also came to a stand. At the beginning of the late war the Con- necticut Assembly took up this mine again, for the sake of the lead, but could neither manage the refining prop- erly nor make enough bullets to shoot every English- man, (a hankering after any little silver left was also in vain), and for a second time the business was abandoned.
From these few items it will be clear enough already that North America was by no means forgotten of nature in the matter of mineral wealth. Even now, when the shell of this new world has been explored in the most superficial way, in a few places only and there, for the most part, by chance, the most useful metals have been found in quantity, and there are at least traces of the precious metals. Several important reasons may be given why mining has not been gen- erally more successful.
40 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
In former times the English government sought to hinder as much as possible all digging after gold, silver, and other metals, so that the working hands of a country still young might not be withdrawn from agri- culture, the one true source of the peopling of a country, of its trade, and of its wealth. The export of unwrought as well as of wrought copper from England to America was always a considerable article of trade, and in discouraging American mines it was a subsidi- ary purpose of the government to bolster that trade. There were and still are few capitalists in the country rich enough to furnish on speculation great outlays of cash in the slow and sure establishment of works. This side the mountains, (beyond them conditions are still less known), sundry minerals have been found, par- ticularly silver and copper, but sporadic and so an al- lurement and at the same time a discouragement. — There was a lack of capable miners, for among the English such are found only in Wales and Cornwall. Vagrant Germans were employed, at times efficient and again only pretenders ; who, as the case was, failed for lack of support or aroused false hopes. Finally, the greatest difficulty lay in the scarcity of laborers, and the high wages in a country where the people, it must be said, are not the most industrious ; moderate outlay therefore seldom left the undertakers a profit. From these several reasons taken together, it has happened that no establishments, besides iron mines and fur- naces, have kept active. The more general use of that metal, and the greater ease in handling the raw material, made sales and profits surer, notwithstanding the fact that the English government admitted crude American iron duty-free, in exchange for which was taken wrought iron.
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 41
Princetown. From Rocky Hill, where I broke the thread of the narrative, the road lay for some distance over a sandy-loam, and through long reaches of woods. The red soil appeared again only in the neighborhood of Princetown, 8 miles this side. The whole way I missed the smilax, which about New York takes pos- session of all open land.* Princetown is a little country- town of only one considerable street in which few houses stand, but its elevated site makes the place especially agreeable, the view from it being splendid, out over the lower country as far as the Neversinks and other parts of the coast. There could, I thought, be no finer, airier, and pleasanter place for the seat of the Jersey Muses — for in 1746 under Governor Belcher, an academy was established in this province, and given the privilege of bestowing the same degrees as Oxford and Cam- bridge. The College, a not uncomely building, stands in the middle of the town, but is at this time in bad condition. The British troops, in the winter of 1776, used it for stalls and barracks, and left a Presbyterian church near by in a state equally as bad. At the pres- ent time only 50-60 young students are in residence, partly within, partly without the College ; and only humaniora and philosophy are taught. Among the professors is Dr. Witherspoon, a Scottish clergyman, widely known not only for his. learning but for the zeal
* About York several sorts of smilax grow with extraordi- nary vigor. These are so lasting and pliant, bear cutting so well, and grow together in such an impenetrable shrubbery that certainly nothing better could be found for live hedges around fields. They keep their leaves late into the fall, and would be an ornament as well. The only objection is they spread too fast.
42 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
with which he championed the cause of the Americans. Recently Princetown had the honor of being for a while the place of assembly of the American Congress- after a handful of indelicate soldiers, demanding such a trifle as back pay for five or six years, had frightened the Congress from Philadelphia.
The unbearable heat prevailing kept us from going forward except slowly, and was the reason why we spent several days in coming from New York to this place. Within a short space two men have died suddenly at Princetown, seeking refreshment in cool drinks when overheated. A diligence, known as the Flying Machine + makes daily trips between Philadel- phia and New York, covering the distance of 90 miles in one day even in the hottest weather, but at the ex- pense of the horses, only three times changed on the journey. Thus, the last trip two horses died in harness and four others were jaded. These flying machines are in reality only large wooden carts with tops, light to be sure but neither convenient nor of neat appearance. They carry from ten to twelve passengers with lug- gage, are drawn by four horses only, and go very fast. The charge for this journey is 5-6 Spanish dollars the passenger. Besides flying machines there are in the country other excursion-machines, neither coach nor cart, run for the behoof of visiting families ; these hold commonly six to eight persons and are probably much like the sort of vehicle which in old prints is repre- sented as conveying Dr. Luther to Worms. In the towns, however, there is no lack of fine carriages, phaetons, and chairs (a two-wheeled cart or chaise) ; throughout America almost every house is supplied with a chaise, in which the fanner takes his broken plow to the smith or his calves to market.
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 43
I had the pleasure of meeting two members of the Congress, agreeable and worthy men, and congratu- lated myself especially upon taking dinner in the com- pany of General Lincoln. I found in him a man of great intelligence and open-mindedness, although, since the surrender of Charleston, his military talents seem less brilliant to the more unreasonable among his countrymen. He possesses a considerable landed prop- erty in New England whither he returns to tranquillity and the brewing of excellent beer, now that he has resigned his place as War Secretary, which office he administered with approbation.*
Wheat in America suffers almost every year from the mildew. It is remarked that usually the disease attacks the wheat between the ist and the loth of July. On that ground General Lincoln proposed a method of prevention. Granted that at the season mentioned wheat is at a stage of growth the most favorable to the origin and spread of the mildew, it follows plausibly that the disease might be kept off if the wheat could be more quickly carried through that stage of its growth, (when it is nearly mature), or on the other hand if the period of maturity could be retarded. In the middle and southern colonies this method could be put into effect by procuring seed-wheat from the more northern provinces, where the characteristic of the seed is to make wheat of an earlier maturity, the several stages of growth being rapidly passed through ; and consequently, sown in a warmer climate there would be formed a stronger grain, to defy the mildew at a
* He has lately assumed command again — of the New Eng- land troops against the rebels of that country, and has made an end of the disorders.
44 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
time when the indigenous wheat begins to be most susceptible to the disease. Several experiments of this sort have already been attended with good success. With the maize-crop this method would not be of such advantage, for the reason that seed from the more northern regions developes more rapidly indeed, but produces smaller and lighter grain.
This summer the wheat harvest in Jersey turned out very moderately. There had been too little rain in the fall, and the winter was too mild and open. The farmer is well pleased, therefore, if his winter wheat, towards the end of December or in January, is covered with snow and thus protected against rain and frost, by which (when snow fails) the tender, exposed sprouts are killed or are pushed out of the freezing ground. Here as in the other middle provinces almost no spring wheat is sown, but that is not the case more to the south and more to the north, as for example in Caro- lina and in Massachusetts. Winter grain does not thrive in the southern provinces, because of the warmth of the autumn, the mildness of the winter, and the lack of snow, which very seldom falls ; the young sprouts therefore grow faster, and a frosty winter night often kills off entirely the soft, exposed seed. What with ex- treme cold and early winters, spring wheat also does better in the colder provinces.* It is the custom here to call a bushel of wheat 60 pd. English weight ; for each pound more or less, a penny, Pensylvan. Current, is added or subtracted in the price. The average price
* People here and there on Long Island have begun to sow spring wheat, since winter wheat has often failed on account of the uneven winter temperature.
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 45
is at present 5-6 shillings current, i. e., about three shil- lings sterling. About one bushel is seeded to the acre (43,600 English feet in the square), and people expect 10-12 for one on the poorer lands, 15-18 for one on better lands. In Jersey as in the other middle colonies wheat is a considerable article of trade.
In New England the common barberry is in evil repute. There is laid to its charge that its proximity is injurious to the growth of wheat and other field- crops. Whether it is a positive or a negative injury, that is, whether it works damage actively, corrupting the atmosphere, or merely exhausts the better juices of the soil, nobody has been able or willing to determine. However, a strict law has been passed against the poor barberry, making the inhabitants responsible, with no further judicial process, for the carrying out of the death sentence imposed upon both varieties of this shrub, (elsewhere harmless) whenever it makes its ap- pearance— if any man extends protection to the shrub his neighbor has the right to enter and destroy, and can bring action against the slothful or unbelieving condoner for damage and trouble incurred. But the New Englanders are known for other strange beliefs and practices as well, and it was among them that witch trials, at the beginning of the century, were so grimly prosecuted.
It is said that petroleum is found in or on the Mill- stone River, not far from Princetown. Petroleum occurs in many other parts of America, especially, I am told, in and about the Oneida Lakes.
By General Lincoln's account a piece of solid copper weighing 2078 pounds was found some years ago on the summit of a mountain near Middlebrook, in the
TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
sand under the roots of a tree. A copper mine near Brunswick yielded ore containing silver, but not enough to warrant the expense of separation. The same thing was told me by Mr. Peters, + (a member of the Con- gress) in regard to a lead mine in Pensylvania, a share in which he owns.
In the evening, not without regret, we took leave of these agreeable Congressmen, so as to reach Trenton that night, ten miles from Princeton. The road lay through a country at intervals well-cultivated. The wheat harvest was over almost everywhere. Maize we found nowhere in Jersey so advanced as that we had left on Long Island and about York. Is it perhaps true that the red soil of this region does not produce corn so well ? Six miles from Princeton we came to Maiden- head, a hamlet of five or six houses. There are in America a number of such places called towns, where one must look for the houses, either not built or scat- tered a good distance apart. That is to say, certain dis- tricts are set off as Townships, (market or town dis- tricts), the residents of which live apart on their farms, a particular spot being called the town, where the church and the tavern stand and the smiths have their shops — because in one or the other of these community buildings the neighbors are accustomed to meet. And when later professional men, shop-keepers, and other people who are not farmers come to settle, their dwell- ings group themselves about the church and the shops.
The thermometer at high-lying Princeton, in a large, airy room stood at 91° Fahr., and even late in the even- ing the weather was extraordinarily close. After sunset we arrived at Trenton, a name familiar enough from the history of the late war. This is a not inconsiderable
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 47
place, standing on uneven ground, through which flows a brook, crossed by a stone bridge. In view of the fact that the town is perhaps no more than fifty years old, Trenton contains very many buildings and among them several of good appearance. The landlord here permitted us to go to bed unquestioned being not yet done with several other guests arrived shortly before, and we not disposed to wait for him. The taverns on the way were in other respects very good, all of them clean, well-supplied, and well-served.
A mile from Trenton brought us to the banks of the Delaware, over which the passenger is set, very cheaply, in a flat, roomy ferry-boat. A large brick house and several other houses, all in ruins, stand here as a token of the war. A little above the ferry there appears a reef, standing diagonally across the stream ; at low water this is uncovered, and through the many breaks the stream hurries \vith a swifter current and a certain uproar. This is what is called the Lower Falls of Delaware, the limit of shipping inland. That is to say, little shalops and sail boats come up as high as this place, but nothing ascends beyond. In the spring and in the fall, when either rains or melting snows swell the stream, and these rocks with others in the channel are under water, there come down residents of the upper country in large, flat boats, from a dis- tance of 100-150 miles, bringing their wheat and other products to market. Throughout America these swell- ings of the rivers are called ' the freshes ' and are of great importance to the more distant inhabitants. The tide comes up to this fall some 200 miles from the sea, but brings no salt water with it.* Judging by the
* The tides bring salt water hardly half the distance from
48 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
high-water marks the stream must often rise many feet. The depth of the channel is very variable here. Some 12-15 miles above there is another fall, called the upper fall.
Just above the lower fall there is a little island on the Jersey side. Some one had formed the project of build- ing a dam there and running a deep ditch as far as the ferry, intending to erect a mill at that spot. The ditch is to be 12 ft. deep and 20 wide, and will require time and expense enough in the digging. At a depth of no more than two to three feet below the surface nothing but rock is found, for the most part a hard, blueish sort of stone,* (with fragments of incomplete granite), which also appears at the surface of the water along the banks, and seems to be the material of which the reef is composed. Above this stone, at the side of the ditch, were to be seen loose rounded stones of several sorts, the whole covered with the common sandy, reddish soil. On the Pensylvania side, at some distance, we were shown several houses belonging to a forge of Colonel Bird's.
It was not my purpose to spend time in Jersey, which (beyond its mines already described) has nothing especial to show as between the adjoining provinces, New York and Pensylvania. The products of the country, its climate &c. are the same. Among the natural curiosities the beautiful waterfall of the Peq- uanok, or Passaik, deserves mention. Over a wall of
the sea to Philadelphia. In the Delaware, on account of its length, there occur two flood-tides and two ebb-tides, at fixed times but varying for different places.
* Seems to be similar to trap ? — does not strike fire on steel — is not affected by acids — has a very fine grain.
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 49
rock 70 ft. high the stream falls straight away, 60 yards wide. The roughness and wildness of the spot should markedly heighten the loftiness of the scene, which I did not visit. New Jersey was earlier settled and culti- vated (by Swedes) than the neighboring provinces, and formerly was called New Sweden. At present the in- habitants consist of the descendants of the Swedish settlers, with Hollanders, Germans, and English — whether the number (including blacks) is actually 130,- ooo, as the Congress gave out before the war, might need further proof. Those parts of Jersey toward the sea are infertile, sandy, swampy flats, grown up in pines and red and white cedar. Along the coast itself are few settlements, and those for the most part inhabited by fishermen. Larger ships do not willingly approach this flat coast, which is cut by many inlets.
This province is divided into two parts, East and West New Jersey, the boundaries of which are still a matter of dispute. East Jersey is made up of the counties Monmouth, Middlesex, Sommerset, Essex, and Bergen — West Jersey of the counties Cape-May, Cumberland, Salem, Gloucester, Burlington, Hunter- don, Sussex, and Morris. Of the latter division, Burl- ington on the Delaware, 18 miles above Philadelphia, is regarded as the capital, a town known for its good tap-houses. Perth Amboy is the capital of the eastern division. Among the more considerable places may be reckoned Bordentown, Mount Holly, Freehold, Shrews- bury, Greenwich, and Salem. Salem and Greenwich, on the Delaware, formerly had a good trade.
The administration of this province is through a Gov- ernor, a Legislative Council, and a General Assembly. Each county sends a member to the Council, an estate 4
50 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
of 1000 Pd. and at least a year's residence in the prov- ince being required for eligibility. Each county sends three members to the General Assembly, and an eligible must have lived a year at least in the county, and be pos- sessed of realty to the value of 500 Pd. In order that a law shall be valid, both Assemblies must agree to its passage. Freeholders who have been a year resi- dent in their county, and possess real estates to the value of 50 Pd., are entitled to a vote in the election of members of both the Assemblies. The Assembly re- serves to itself the right of proposing and authorizing all taxes and imposts. In this matter the Council has no authority. The two Assemblies in common elect a Governor for the term of one year, who constitutes the chief executive power, presides over the Council, is Chancellor, and is also Commander-in-chief of the militia and other provincial forces.
The Governor and Council (of which 7 members are a Quorum) are the highest court of appeal in all mat- ters at law, and are empowered as well to pardon con- demned criminals, if the case warrants.
Judges * of the Supreme or General Court, which sits but twice a year at each capital, continue seven years in office. Judges of the Inferior Court of Com- mon Pleas for the several counties ; Justices of the Peace f ; Supreme Court, Inferior Court, and Quarter
* Judges — Among the most highly regarded of public offices. The judges are chosen from among the most experienced and most learned lawyers. By one or more of them the several courts are held ; they hear plaintiff and defendant, prove the grounds and evidence brought forward, give their opinion as matter of law, but leave to the Jury the final decision.
f Justices of the Peace — are charged with the keeping of
JOURNEY THROUGH JERSEY 51
Session Clerks ; the Attorney General ; and the Pro- vincial Secretary remain in office five years — the Pro- vincial Treasurer only one year. After these terms, however, if nothing is charged against them, these offi- cers may be again elected — the two Assemblies elect and the Governor confirms them. Courts of Common Pleas are held monthly in the Court House of each county, and have jurisdiction merely in criminal cases, personalia and realia, not of great importance. Quarter Sessions Courts are held in like manner in the county Court Houses, once each quarter, and their jurisdiction is wider. The General or Supreme Courts receive ap- peals from these lower courts and pass on them ; crimi- nal processes also are brought before the General Court, which may exercise original jurisdiction in all suits whatever involving amounts exceeding 25 Pd.
Those residents of each county, eligible as electors, choose among themselves yearly a Sheriff * and one or more Coroners f ; the same persons may be chosen three years in succession but not longer. After another space of three years, these persons may be again elected. The choice is announced to the Governor for con- firmation.
good order and peace in their district or county; commonly intelligent and upright men are chosen by the people to this office.
The titles and duties of all the officers enumerated are, with- out much difference, the same as in England and in the other North American states.
* His office is to execute the commands and judgments of the courts, and to see that the laws are obeyed.
t Whose office it is to make examination and determine the cause, in cases of accidental, sudden, or violent death.
52 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
Towns and villages elect yearly their Constables,* and also three or more honorable and intelligent free- holders before whom the residents bring their reason- able or imaginary troubles, in the matter of unfair taxa- tion, and must abide by the decision rendered without further appeal. All criminal offenders have, in regard to witnesses and counsellors, the same rights and privi- leges as their prosecutors. Every man has the liberty of serving God according to his own will and con- science. No man can be compelled to any sort of worship. No man can be forced to pay tithes, taxes, or other levies for the building or maintenance of any church or house of worship soever, or for the support of ministers, except as he himself is willing.
No religious sect is to be given preference over any other. No Protestant is to be denied any civil right or liberty on the ground of his religion, but all persons of whatever protestant sect, who peaceably conform to this mode of government, are eligible for election to any magisterial or other office. To obviate all suspicion of extraordinary influence or corruption on the part of the legislative assemblies, no Judge of the Superior or Inferior Courts, no Sheriff or other person holding lucrative office under the government, shall be admitted a member of the Assembly ; and if such person is elected his former post is to be regarded as vacant.
* Subordinate officers whose duty it is to see to the keeping of the peace in their districts, and to arrest and bring to jail all criminals, debtors &c.
After we had descended a little slope (on the Jersey side) to the river, we had to ascend another gentle rise beyond. The road then lay for four or five miles through continued woods, and here and there we came upon a wretched block-house. But the thoroughfare cut out of the forest is broad, and in dry weather, as now, very good. The country is level, but sandy and sterile. We had the Delaware to the left, a little way off, and through the forest openings fine perspectives were often presented. Two miles beyond the Delaware there was another small ferry to pass, over the Sham- any; the ferry-boat runs on pulleys working along a stout tackle made fast at either side of the stream. It was yet early in the morning when we reached
Bristol, a pretty little town on the banks of the Dela- ware, which although not to be likened to the Bristol of the old world, on account of its mineral waters is known in the new. Situated in a hollow, at the foot of a large, high-lying, natural embankment, is the spring, the waters of which are used as well for bathing as for drinking. The water contains iron, and is of no espe- cial strength. There is built over the spring a light structure of wood housing the saloon, or long-room, in the middle, a bath at one end and the pump-room at the other — that is, the water is brought up through pumps and dispensed to visitors in this room, and here the rules to be observed and the schedule of charges
54 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
are posted on boards. Professor Rush of Philadelphia has written a pamphlet on this water, giving the re- sults of his experiments ; he himself says that it is but very lightly charged with particles of iron, but, for the rest, is a very pure and pleasant water. He does not recommend it in special cases, but merely for its gen- eral curative properties — for this spring is not superior to many other iron springs in Pensylvania and indeed throughout America. At Gloucester, at Abington &c. in Pensylvania, there are iron springs ; the Abington spring is said to be especially strong, depositing much yellow ochre and therefore commonly called the Yellow Spring. The habitual drinking-water of Philadelphia contains much iron. The metal is so general over the whole surface of America, and particularly in the wilder parts, that it is impossible iron springs should be in- frequent. I have come upon them in Rhode Island, and on York and Long Islands. The especial excellence of such springs lies in the more or less purity and very agreeable taste of the water. Bristol must attribute the honor done it more to its fine and convenient situa- tion, only 20 miles from Philadelphia, than to any- thing else. At the usual seasons all manner of guests come hither seeking health and diversion, and more would come if the people of Bristol were willing to de- vote themselves to matters of entertainment and service. From Bristol to the Sign of General Washington, a lonely tavern, is 10 miles through a somewhat hilly country, for the most part sandy, here and there red- dish. The traveller comes by two walled bridges (a sort still rarely seen) to the village of Frankfort, a handsome little place five miles from Philadelphia ; from that point to the city the road is quite level, over a
PENSYLVANIA 55
light, sandy soil. The nearer one comes to the capital, the freeer of woods is the landsscape, and there are more people and more farms. Wheat and oats had been everywhere got in. Here also the corn was no- where so good or so advanced as about New York. The cattle which met us on the road were not of a sort particularly fine. Between Bristol and Frankfort, and elsewhere, churches stood by the road either quite iso- lated or placed in a shady grove. The construction of these was peculiar, invariably more height than length. The design may have been to build on at some time and bring the whole into proportion. The whole way from New York to Philadelphia not a foot-passenger met us. Few passengers met us at all, but in every case riding or driving. To go a-foot is an abomination to the American, no matter how poor or friendless ; and at times he hits upon a means — he steals a nag from the pasture or borrows one without asking.
In New York there had been an opinion that the Americans, as a result of the war, were suffering for lack of clothes and other necessities ; on the contrary, we found on the road that everybody was well and neatly clad, and observed other signs of good living and plenty. On the 26th of July, in the evening, we arrived at the pleasant city of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia. Who in the fatherland has not heard of Philadelphia? And to whom should not this pre- eminent city of America be known ? It is not indeed a city such as it can and ought to be, but none the less it is a remarkable place in more respects than one. William Penn, sufficiently known in history, founded the city in 1682, and in the space of 100 years it has grown to a notable size. The houses today are 2400
56 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION
in number, for the most part of two storeys.* It is to be regretted that there is no thorough and impartial history of this city, and it is especially deplorable that no such history is to be had for this province, of which the rise and wonderfully rapid growth would form so valuable a contribution to the history of mankind. The historical fragments which exist are but the prejudiced accounts of political quarrels, neither instructive nor interesting. The stedfast spirit of enterprise of the honored founder, his amiable and philanthropic plan, his unwearied efforts and conscientious fairness in the acquisition of land from the aborigines, the wise, toler- ant laws of the colony, the rapid increase of the popu- lation and of its trade, the advance of the arts and sciences, the gradual betterment of taste and morals, the harmony among so many religious sects, and in- deed the rise of new sects — all this would supply fruit- ful and rich material for a history of wide acceptance. There is no lack of men in Philadelphia who would be entirely capable of this work, but these few are at this time overwhelmed with other business. From predilec- tion for his religious principles, and deluded by his own goodness of heart, the first design of the founder seems to have been to establish a colony free of earthly authorities, free of soldiers, of priests, of individual property, and also, it is said, free from doctors of medicine. — Quite after the manner of the Golden Age, all this, and as Voltaire + remarks, not to be found any- where in the world outside of Pensylvania. Penn, as it seems, felt and sought to avoid all the hardship which inequality among men entails, those conditions de-
* In a recent news item the number is given as 4600.
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scribed by Rousseau, in so masterful a fashion, only long after. But experience soon taught that universal love may be easily imagined and preached, but, in a growing colony, may not so easily be practiced. How- ever, the world had to be told in this way to what lengths brotherly love may go — of which all hearts are not equally capable, and over which self-love still holds dominion. Certainly, laws would be necessary in a society of saints, and perhaps would be nowhere more needed than where people so easily become habituated to think excentrically — The history of England at that time, and the individual history of the immortal Penn, must be read in Smollet, Raynal, and others, since so many circumstances were united to give the founder's plans and achievements the directions which they took. Philadelphia lies under Latitude 39° 57' and Longi- tude west 75° 20', and so, nearly at the middle of the United States — the city, if not greatly beyond others in America in wealth and number of houses, far surpasses them all in learning, in the arts, and public spirit. The plain on which Philadelphia stands is elevated ground between the magnificent Delaware and the romantic Schuylkill. Granite is the underlying rock, which shows itself particularly along the banks of the Schuyl- kill. The distance apart of the rivers, in the neighbor- hood of the city, is not quite two miles ; three miles below, they unite, and the tongue of land so formed, called the Neck, is for the most part lower and swampier than the site of the city. The plan of Philadelphia is fine and regular, but not wholly faultless. The larger and smaller cities of America have this advantage, that they have not grown from villages by chance but were planned from the beginning and have been enlarged by
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a plan. By the original chart Philadelphia is fixed within a rectangle from the bank of the Delaware to the Schuylkill and a little beyond. But at the present time not a third of the plan is filled in, and one must not be led into the error of thinking it complete, as represented in certain maps both of Philadelphia and of Pensylvania. For nothwithstanding the swift push- ing-back of the city, centuries yet must go by before the ground plan is built up. The streets cross at right angles. Those along the Delaware run nearly North and South and are parallel, as are those running East and West, or from the Delaware to the Schuylkill. Along the Delaware the line of houses, including the suburbs, extends for some two miles, and the breadth of the city, including the suburbs, is not quite a mile going from the river. Water-street, next to the Dela- ware, is narrow and considerably lower than the rest of the city. In this street are warehouses chiefly. Commodious wharves, for ships of as much as 500 tons, are built in behind the houses, and here a few feet of land, often made land, yield rich returns to the owners. The remaining streets parallel with Water-street and the river, are called in their order First or Front-street, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh ; so many at present — the three last are still short. The cross streets running from east to west are the most elevated, and in their order from north to south are : Vine, Race, Arch, Market, Chesnut, Wallnut, Spruce, Union From these a number of alleys traverse the chief quarters. Market-street is the best street and the only one 100 ft. in breadth ; all the rest are only 50 ft. wide. Were all the streets as wide again the town would be by so much the finer and more convenient. It is easily
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seen that Quakers drew the plan, and dealt frugally with the space. Market-street is disfigured and the city is deprived of the view, otherwise splendid, towards the river and the Jersey side, by reason of the market- stalls, two long, open buildings set in the middle of the street and extending from First to Third-street.* It is droll how the upper part of these buildings makes so extraordinary a distinction between East and West, rear and front. That is to say. the upper part of the Market-house is the Court-House, and built at either end are balconies, of which that at one end is the place where newly elected Governors are introduced to the people, and at the other end are the pillories for rogues. It is a pity that when the town was laid off, there was such a total neglect to provide open squares, which lend an especial beauty to great towns, and grassed after the manner of the English, or set with shrubbery, are very pleasing to the eye. In Philadelphia there is nothing but streets all alike, the houses of brick, of the same height mostly, and built by a plan that seldom varies ; some few are adorned outwardly by a particular pattern or are better furnished than the general within. Throughout the city the streets are well paved and well kept, highest down the middle, but next the houses there runs a footway sufficiently broad, and laid with flat stones ; this side-way is often narrowed by the ' stoops ' built up before the houses, or by the down- sloping cellar and kitchen doors. There being a super- fluity of space, it would have been easy, at the founda- tion of this new city, to avoid the inconveniences of old ones. At night the city is lit by lanterns placed on
*And lately still farther.
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posts diagonally alternate at the side of the footway, but the lanterns are sparingly distributed and have no reflectors. The streets are kept clean and in good order by the householders themselves. Water and filth from the streets are carried off through conduits to the river. Appointed night-watchmen call out the hours and the state of the weather. Behind each house is a little court or garden, where usually are the necessaries, and so this often evil-smelling convenience of our European houses is missed here, but space and better arrange- ment are gained. The kitchen, stable, &c. are all placed in buildings at the side or behind, kitchens often under- ground. Vaults I do not remember seeing in any house. The attempt is made to avoid everything detri- mental to the -convenience or cleanliness of dwelling- houses. In the matter of interior decorations the Eng- lish style is imitated here as throughout America. The furniture, tables, bureaux, bedsteads &c. are commonly of mahogany, at least in the best houses. Carpets, Scottish and Turkish, are much used, and indeed are necessities where the houses are so lightly built ; stairs and rooms are laid with them. The houses are seldom without paper tapestries, the vestibule especially being so treated. The taste generally is for living in a cleanly and orderly manner, without the continual scrubbing of the Hollanders or the frippery and gilt of the French. The rooms are in general built with open fire-places but the German inhabitants, partly from preference and old custom, partly from economy, have introduced iron or tin-plate draught-stoves which are used more and more by English families (as a result of the increasing dear- ness of wood) both in living-rooms and in work-rooms. Here especially there are seen Franklins (named in
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honor of the inventor), a sort of iron affair, half stove, half fire-place. This is a longish, rectangular apparatus made of cast-iron plates and stands off from the wall, the front being open, in every respect a detached, movable fire-place.* + The comfortable sight of the open fire is thus enjoyed, and the good ventilation is healthful ; moreover, the iron plates warm a room at less expense of fuel than is possible with the wall fire- place, from which most of the heat is lost.
In so warm a climate the inconveniences arising from the narrowness of the streets were felt at this time and must be whenever the weather is hot. During three days, June 23, 24, 25, Fahrenheit's thermometer stood constantly at 93-95 degrees. The city is so far inland that no wind from the sea brings coolness ; round about is a dry, sandy soil ; and in addition narrow streets, houses and footways of brick strongly reflecting the sun's rays — everything makes for a high degree of dead heat in the city. During these three days, not less than 30 sudden deaths were announced in the Philadelphia newspapers, martyrs to the heat by the coroners' returns, and also, very probably, victims of an indiscreet imbibition of cold drinks. But as every- where else, not until after the event, were the people warned by public proclamation to keep clear of cold drinks.
The number of the inhabitants was placed at 20,000 as early as 1766, before the war at 30,000, and at pres- ent (counting strangers) is fixed at 30-40,000 — with what certainty I am not prepared to say. On account
* Description and drawing of which, to be found in Dr. Franklin's Collected Works; there is a German translation.
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of the many distinct religious sects, no exact register is so far kept of births and deaths, which if attempted might not be reliable. A strict enumeration of the in- habitants is difficult in America, (and merely political calculations are untrustworthy,) where people are con- tinually moving about, leaving a place or coming in.
I remember once reading in some book of travels that Philadelphia was a city of Quakers and beautiful gardens. Brief enough, and for the time probably true. Quakers from the beginning have been the most numer- ous, the most respectable, and the richest among the inhabitants ; in the government of the state they have had an important, perhaps the weightiest, influence ; and their manners, through imitation, have become general among the people. Quakers purchased and peopled the country ; they made with the aborigines peaceable treaties, as Voltaire observes, the only treaties between Indians and Christians, unsworn-to and not broken. The greatest part of the useful institutions and foundations owe their origin to this sect. By it chiefly was the police organized and maintained. This temperate and originally virtue-seeking brotherhood takes no part in impetuous and time-consuming pleas- ures which worldliness and idleness bring other, baptized Christians into. Their religion, giving them a coat with no buttons or creases, denies them play and the dance. Thus they gain much time for pondering use- ful regulations which do honor to their society and are advantageous to the community. For the same reason, where circumstances are equally favorable, Quakers are invariably better-off than their neighbors, because they bring order into their domestic affairs, undertake nothing without the most careful forethought, and
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prosecute everything with constant zeal. In Philadel- phia the large Hospital and the Workhouse are stand- ing examples of their benevolent views. Also, the field of the sciences has them to thank ; the American Phil- osophical Society was founded by them, and their sect furnishes to it many worthy members. For gradually the Quakers are giving over their former depreciation of the sciences, since they find that increased intelli- gence does not injure the well-being of a community, and that everything is not to be expected from im- mediate revelation. In their outward conduct, and in their relations with their fellow-citizens of other beliefs, they are beginning to recede from the strict attitude of an earlier time. No longer does the hat sit quite so square, and many young Quakers venture to half-tilt the round hat, gently, so that the brims are brought into a position, doubtful as yet, half perpendicular and half horizontal. But the ' Thou ' and ' Thee,' which in our title-seeking Germany was the chief hindrance in the spread of Quakerism, they still find it well to retain.
It is against the principles of the Quakers to take part in any feud whatsoever, because as Christians they consider it their duty to love their enemies. Hence, neither in former wars nor in this last war would they let themselves be placed in ranks and companies with murderous weapons in their hands, although the Jews themselves have not in America declined such service. In former times it was the easier to abjure all partici- pation in war, since the Proprietors, the Governors, all the more important citizens and officers of state were of that sect. Besides, it happened that the unbaptized blood-shy Friends stayed quietly at their plantations or their towns in lower Pensylvania while in the farther
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regions the poorer, baptized Christians were being murdered and scalped by the Indians or the French. To be sure they did not cease to deprecate these grew- some contrivances of jealous and land-hungry mon- archs ; but they excused themselves on the ground that the Brotherhood never waged war, and would the rather suffer everything at the hands of an enemy insa- tiable. How long a state could exist, composed entirely of Quakers and therefore inimical to war, may be easily imagined. Adjoining states must be Quakers as well or the supposed state less rich than Quakers commonly are. The leaders of the now free American states very clearly perceived that by the virtues of Quakerism no victories could be won : so, during the war the Brother- hood was left in undisturbed inactivity, but was doubly taxed. But the Quakers resisted payment of these taxes because they regarded them as mediate contribu- tions in the effecting of bloody designs — for which they professed an absolute hatred, but the results of which were entirely to their liking. In the circumstances, a part of the property of those refusing to pay was seized, and sold below value in the name of the state. Event- ually, most of them became amenable, if only to pre- serve the appearance of the peace-loving and non-pay- ing Quaker, and when the tax-gatherer came, (in America the farmer does not seek him out), they fell into a custom of laying a piece of gold on the table, which could be taken for tax — the part of conscience or duty, perhaps also the part of wisdom. Those Quakers within the compass of the royal English army conducted themselves in like manner during the war. They never gave a horse, or a wagon, or a servant, or anything which might be demanded of them for the
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maintenance of the troops, but they looked on uncon- cerned if without further question such things were taken as needed.
During the late war, however, certain of the Quak- ers permitted themselves to be led astray by the spirit of schism and took an active part in the war ; but these, with their friends and adherents, were excluded from the meetings of the genuine, orthodox Quakers. Upon that, they built themselves a meeting-house of their own, in Arch-street, between Fourth and Fifth-street, where they will, like the others, quietly await the mov- ing of the same spirit. Their number is not large and they are distinguished by the name of Fighting Quak- ers. It might perhaps have been possible, by compli- ance on either side, to avoid a separation ; but since this is never the case in matters of opinion and faith, and since the break has gone so far as the erection of a new meeting-house, there will be no re-union, if only because the building would then have been raised to no purpose : and so Philadelphia gains a new rubric in the list of its sects. A certain Matlock + is one of the most conspicuous of these fighting Quakers, or quak- ing fighters, and made no scruple of accepting a colonelcy in the American army. Hr had always been an enterprising genius, and as a consequence had debts. When he was just made Colonel, and with his sword at his side, was walking the streets, an acquaintance met him — ' Friend, what doest thee with that thing at thy side?' 'Protecting Liberty and Property,' (two words very current in England and America), an- swered the Colonel. ' Eh,' said his friend, ' as for prop- erty I never knew thee had any, and liberty, that thee hast by the indulgence of the brethren.' 5
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After the separation took place, the old and the new- school Quakers sent formal notice to every of the other religious sects, who were pleased at the schism because hitherto the Quakers had reproached them with the twists and quarrels prevailing among them.
Many of the younger Quakers, who have travelled in Europe, begin to find pleasure in the joys of the world, and bringing back to Pensylvania a freer way of thought, more pliant manners, and a modish dress, the example is effective. The Quaker coat is hung on a nail for a while, but with advancing age is at times hunted out again ; with it there return other Quaker ideas, and the old-time customs, imposing little re- straint, are willingly followed — they serve as welcome excuse to a frugal man.
When one of the Brotherhood by his behavior loses the confidence of the society or deserves punishment of them, he is not perhaps excommunicated, but ' they disavow him' ; he is not recognized further as a member of the Society. — The Society of Quakers does not now increase, as formerly, through numerous proselytes. They are now circumstantial and critical before ad- mitting new members, who besides offer themselves less frequently than at one time ; and since by marriage, travel, and in other ways members here and there are lost or resign, the number rather diminishes than in- creases, and it is likely that with the course of time and the changes resultant in manners and beliefs, the whole sect will become if not extinct at least decayed : the case, it is said, in England where there is a marked falling-off among them in comparison with former times.
Pensylvania, and in consequence Philadelphia, as-
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sures freedom to all religious sects; men of all faiths and many of none, dwell together in harmony and peace. Tolerance, the advantages of which are only now beginning to be felt in several of the kingdoms of Europe, has been for a hundred years the foundation- stone of this flourishing state. Whoever acknowledges a God can be a citizen and has part in all the privileges of citizenship. Whoever is a member of any of the Christian congregations is eligible to petty office, and can be elected also to the Assembly, to the governor- ship, or to the Congress. Inspiration is left out of the account, except among the Quakers who look for everything from that source, and without it a man may be a good citizen and senator of Pensylvania. By such laws as these the Jews enjoy every right of citi- zenry and, provided they own property enough, vote for members of the Assembly. This everywhere op- pressed and burdened nation can here and throughout America follow any civil business, and is restricted in hardly any way. The spirit of tolerance has gone so far that different religious sects have assisted one an- other in the building of houses of worship. At the present time there are in Philadelphia more than thirty such buildings, which if not all equally of a size and comeliness are in every case of a simple and neat con- struction ; costly and artistic decoration is not to be found in them. Of these churches and meeting-houses, the Quakers own five, including their new meeting- house— there are three churches, using the English liturgy and ceremonies, which formerly were under the care of the English bishops — there are two Scotch Presbyterian churches — two German Lutheran, of which the one in Fourth-street is large and handsome
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— one German Reformed church — two Roman Catho- lic chapels, the one directed by a former Jesuit from Ireland and the other by a German priest, the two par- ishes numbering probably more than 1000 souls — there is a Swedish church at Wikakoa near the city — there is a synagogue — and there are other meeting-houses belonging to the Anabaptists, Methodists, Moravian Brethren, &c.
In the German Lutheran congregation there are bap- tized yearly some 400 children, and perhaps half as many burials are made. This difference is due to the fact that people living at a distance from Philadelphia bring in their children to be baptized, on occasions of market or other business ; but with the dead the case is that they are buried quietly in the country, behind the houses they have lived in — for many landowners in America have a family burying-ground in their gardens. The priesthood gains nothing by the dead, unless their services are desired at burials. You may (if the father in the case consents) be born for nothing, and you may die gratis — as you like ; only while you live must taxes be paid.
Among the churches, Christ Church in Second-street has the best appearance and the finest steeple. The east side is well-embellished, the building, however, stands too near the street. Christ Church has a beauti- ful chime of bells, which makes a complete octave and is heard especially on evenings before the weekly mar- kets and at times of other glad public events. The bells are so played that the eight single notes of the octave are several times struck, descending, rapidly one after the other, — and then the accord follows in tercet and quint, ascending; and so repeated. On certain solemn
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days, there is repetition to the thirteenth time, that sacred number. At Philadelphia there is always some- thing to be chimed, so that it seems almost as if it was an Imperial or Popish city. The German Reformed church, at the corner of Third- and Arch-street, has also a fine steeple.
Among the other public buildings must be mentioned especially the State House, a large but not a splendid structure of two storeys. The fagade is of tiled brick, with no particular decoration, but in comparison regu- lar and handsome. In this case also the providing of a large square in front has been neglected, and this would have lent distinction. The lower storey con- tains two large halls, one of which the Congress for- merly made use of. Here they assembled for the first time on the 2nd of Sept. 1774, and here they announced the Act of Independence, 4th July 1776. Three limes the Congress fled from this place — first, to Baltimore, in the autumn of 1776, when the English army stood on the banks of the Delaware in Jersey ; then, in the summer of 1777, to Yorktown in Pensylvania, when General Howe landed in Maryland ; and recently, be- fore their own troops, to Princetown in New Jersey, June 1783.
The other hall, on the ground floor, is for the use of the Supreme Court of Judicature. Above, there are two halls, for the General Assembly and for the Gov- ernor and Council. Two wing-buildings are joined by archways to the main building. A pretty large collec- tion of books which belongs to a Library Company was formerly installed in one of these wings but several years ago was removed to a special building in Carpen- ter-street, and at present the War Office occupies this
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wing. The left wing is used as the office of the Comp- troller General.
The new Jail is a large, but quite a plain building, where the British prisoners of war found no great cause to praise American philanthropy and magnanimity. This building cost about 30,000 Pd. Pensyl. The old jail stands, unattractive in design, in Market-street, which is thus disfigured ; it is proposed to tear it down,* since at all events there is sufficient room in the new jail for the good and free citizens of the state.
At a little distance from the city stands the Pensyl- vania Hospital, for the indigent sick and insane. This is not yet complete, only one wing being built at the present time. The whole will be extensive and accord- ing to a fine plan. Meanwhile the space to be covered is surrounded by a wall. There are only two sick rooms, one for women above, and one for men below. These rooms are high, airy, and long, and will be kept, like the whole establishment, in a very cleanly state. Half underground are the closed cells for mad- men. There is a small medical library in the Overseer's room. The Hospital has its own apothecary's shop ; a young student attends to it, for which he receives board and other perquisites. In an upper, corner room, there is a splendid collection of anatomical en- gravings and paintings, for the most part obstetrical, the gift of the famous Dr. Fothergill + of London, who was a Quaker and greatly interested in this establish- ment undertaken by his fellow-believers. In addition, there are three excellent metal-moulded designs, to be used in obstetrical demonstrations also.
* This has since happened, and the space has been filled with other, newbuilt houses.
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This Hospital formerly had a fund of 10,000 Pd. Pensyl. Current, for maintenance. But the war, and especially the paper-money, entailed a considerable loss, so that at the present time the established number of sick cannot be cared for. Six Philadelphia physicians take upon themselves the care of the hospital, without charge, two every four months ; but by the arrangement during two months, one of the two is to give his par- ticular oversight, and the other may at his pleasure, but both of them must be present at the reception and discharge of a patient. A little old man from the Neckar country paid down a moderate sum 23 years ago and bought a berth for life in the hospital. He is now in his Q8th year, having eaten out his franchise three times over, and will live to be a hundred. I never saw such dazzling, pure white hair as this ancient's, — beard, eyebrows, the minute growth on the cheeks ; which, with his costume of nothing but white, gave him a very strange appearance.
Not far from the hospital is another public building which in its plan and noble purpose does honor like- wise to so young a state. This is the Bettering or Working House, called also the House of Employ- ment— not intended for malefactors but for the old, the poor, and the maimed, where those still capable of work could ply their several trades, and be useful to them- selves and the community as spinners, weavers, knitters &c., earning in this way a part of their keep. And everything before the war was in the best of order, a number of looms being kept constantly employed in the house. Afterwards it was turned into a lazaretto by the American troops who, more than the English, were superstitious about desecrating churches by using
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them for the sick. At the time I saw the house several rooms were fitted as a hospital for women lying-in &c. This building also is not complete, standing as two separate wings, with adjuncts, between which the corps de logis is to be raised.
The two buildings last mentioned stand a little way from the city on the so-called ' Commons,' a region in- cluded by the plan in the proposed limits of the city. Formerly this Common was the property of the Penn family which leased the ground, little by little, neces- sary for the building of these houses ; and so, as late as the year 1778 the tract was a desolate pasture grown up in bush. But since the independent state has taken over the proprietary rights, these Commons have been divided into lots and sold, the necessary streets having been indicated. The lots are for the most part en- closed and for the time, are cultivated in vegetables and grain ; here and there preparations are going forward for raising houses on these lots, so soon, apparently, as a peace shall be declared. Formerly as many as 200- 300 houses have been built in a year : house-building is carried on rapidly and lightly, so that now and then there may be seen two-storeyed houses conveniently en promenade on rollers, brought from one end of the city to the other, according as it seems best to the owners to live in this quarter or that.
North of the city, in a part corresponding to Third- street, stand the barracks * built by the English gov-
* No American city has walls and ramparts ; before the war Philadelphia was not in any way fortified. Nor do there exist the drawbridges and gates shown in Plates 6 and 12 of the All gem. hist. Taschenbuch for 1784.
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*
ernment for the troops stationed here at one time. The building is in a miserable condition, because the American troops which occupied them, (the rule held throughout), were not the most orderly lodgers.
Promotion and furtherance of the sciences have long since been a care with the state of Pensylvania. In the year 1754 a College was founded for the instruction of the young. The building stands at the corner of Fourth and Arch-street, and intended for a different purpose, is not of the distinguished, handsome appear- ance of the College at New York. Particular attention was given to the English language. A special teacher imparted to the young the principles of their mother- tongue, and disciplined them in correct reading and pronunciation, not a superfluous exercise among youths sent from such different provinces of the British Em- pire. At the same time capable men gave instruction in the Latin and Greek languages, Geography, Mathe- matics, Logick, Rhetorick, History, Natural and Moral Philosophy. Later a school of Medicine was added. At the yearly public Commencements certain ceremonies are observed. The Rector or Provost be- gins these with several collects from the English lit- urgy, and there follow sundry public exercises, partly short speeches, partly disputations, in English or in Latin. The Latin, here as with Englishmen every- where, is so mangled, the vowels and consonants pro- nounced according to their own usage, that it is not to be understood by unanglicized ears. By an Act of the Assembly, confirmed by the Congress, this College was raised to a University in the year 1780. The Uni- versity consists of two departments, the Academy or lower preparatory schools for younger students, and
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the University proper, where the higher sciences, Phi- losophy, the Mathematics, and Medicine are taught. There are as yet no Professors of Law and Theology, and the appointment of such will not easily be brought about. Since no one religion is to be counted prevalent here, none may be preferred through the choice of a Professor. If a young man intends studying theology, and has got a knowledge of the preparatory sciences he can do nothing but travel to Europe, or betake him- self to a minister of his religion and learn the neces- sary through private instruction ; and it is so likewise with students of the law. Among the trustees of this University, besides other learned men, there have been chosen ecclesiastics of these several religions, — Eng- lish, Presbyterian, Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed, since the young from all parts are received as students here, where nothing is taught respecting God and the saints. Meanwhile, the University makes Doctors of Theology, by diploma — Dr. Kunze, Professor of the Oriental and German languages, was the first so created, and very recently. At the same time General Washington received the degree of a Doctor of the Law, which he had so stoutly fought for.
The pay of the Professors of Philosophy, Languages &c. is 300 Pd. Pensyl. Current. They call it, however, a miserable pay and justifiably, because it is in arrears.
I made the acquaintance of Dr. Ewen, a meritorious and learned man, who is the Professor of Natural and Moral Philosophy. Mr. Davison is the Professor of History, and his brother a Tutor in the Latin Language. Dr. Smith, an erudite clergyman, who performed valu- able service in the organization and endowment of the college, was in some way wronged, and is now at the
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new-established Washington College in the State of Delaware. He is a skilled natural philosopher, and gave lectures with much approbation on the experi- mental physics at the time when the English army was at Philadelphia.
The science of Medicine has the most Professors. These are at present Drs. Bond, Shippen, Kuhn, Mor- gan, and Rush. None of them has a fixed salary, but they earn considerable sums, according to the number of those attending their lectures. They do not lecture during the summer, but, hitherto, only in the five winter months, three or four times weekly. They have de- termined for the future to restrict their lectures to a term of three months, but to hold hours daily, and for the reason that there are many practicioners coming in from the county to hear lectures who cannot remain long from home, and besides many young students dread the expense of residence. Ordinarily they read their lectures, and in the English language, in which also examinations and disputations pro gradu are held. For here it is regarded as superfluous to twaddle bad Latin from a desk for an hour (or to listen), and to muddle many hours with a language in which, later, there is no occasion to palaver. Besides, most of the books appearing in England on medical subjects are written in English and it is these that are used in America almost exclusively. At the creating of a Doc- tor, in whatever faculty, all the Professors are present and sign the patent. Candidates for the degree of Doc- tor in Medicine, it is said, are exactly and strictly ex- amined, and several have already been refused ; but, with the degree, the practicioner has no advantage, in honor or remuneration, over other practicioners and
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bunglers, except as he himself chooses to make much of his diploma.*
In America every man who drives the curing trade is known without distinction as Doctor, as elsewhere every person who makes verses is a poet — so there are both black doctors and brown, and quacks in abun- dance.f
Since this University lies nearer the West Indies than any of the European universities, it is hoped that young students from thence will now resort to Phila- delphia rather than take the longer way to England. But this will probably not come about at once. In the University building there is a collection of books neither large nor complete, containing however several
* " In a quarrel of the Connecticut Doctors with the hud- dlers and quacks of the colony, it was the purpose of the Doctors to allow no ungraduated person, unless first exam- ined by them, to visit the sick or to prescribe medicines. The Assembly of the province declared against the Doctors, call- ing their Association a monopoly which was enriching the learned. To the reply of the Doctors the Assembly, of 1766, returned no answer but the following: 'Medicine can effect nothing without the blessing of God. The quacks do not pre- scribe unless a minister has first prayed for a blessing, whereas the Doctors ascribe all the good to the medicine and none to the blessing prayed for.' Every person, as before, had the liberty of healing disease." Vid., Beytr'dg. zur Lander und Volkerkunde (Neuest Zustand von Connecticut), II, 197.
f According to late advices, the physicians of Philadelphia have come together in a society (after the manner of the London and Edinburg Colleges of Physicians), the chief object of which will be to contribute to the diffusion of medi- cal knowledge through the publishing of their observations and discussions. The same has happened in New York, and perhaps the good example will be followed by the physicians of the other states.
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fine works and mathematical and physical instruments. The most conspicuous work of art here is the Planet- system or Orrery * of the famous Mr. Rittenhouse, a detailed description of which is to be found in the Transactions of the Philosophical Society. I had not the pleasure of seeing the whole of this Orrery ; only that part was there showing the course of the moon. Mr. Rittenhouse had taken apart the remainder and transferred it to his house, in order to make certain improvements.
Public Schools and Academies are established also in several of the other provinces : at Cambridge near Boston, at New Haven in Connecticut, at New York, at Williamsburg in Virginia, and in Delaware a new college called Washington College ; however Philadel- phia can boast of an advance still more considerable in the prosecution and diffusion of the useful and benefi- cent sciences. That is to say, there is established here a Philosophical Society which owes its origin to the industrious and fruitful genius of Dr. Franklin, known for science and statecraft equally.
More than twenty years ago Dr. Franklin with cer- tain of his learned friends founded a society of like character. But a number of members getting in who were pretty ignorant but proud enough to desire a place among the philosophers, the society fell into a decline. So in the year 1769 a new plan was formed, and without recourse to all the members enrolled at that time. Those excluded, out of revenge began to
* Lord Orrery was the patron of a certain Rowley who pre- pared the first apparatus of this sort in England; hence the name given all similar apparatuses.
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recruit for themselves at the same time and elected members indiscriminately, so as by a majority (among which it was hoped a few good names might have been fished in) to get the start of the new society. After some time it was found that in behoof of the sciences it would be better to form a union, and so it happened ; but the spirit of party once aroused was not to be checked immediately — by a majority of votes useless members again got in, and several of the older mem- bers felt injured and resigned. Notwithstanding these unavoidable circumstances the progress of the worthy undertaking was happily not stopped. In the year 1771 appeared the first volume * of the Transactions of the American Society, in quarto, containing several pieces on the subject of natural history. Of many other papers ready for the press, nothing has so far appeared, the war having prevented ; but the Congress, still inter arma and of an undetermined sovereignty, did not neglect to cast a glance at these musas silentes, and by a solemn act was pleased to give the society confirma- tion and new life.f
The President is Dr. Benjamin Franklin, but the
* The second volume of the Transactions of this Society appeared in 1786.
t Extract from a communication from Philadelphia, 1787 — " Another society has recently been established here, which concerns itself with political enquiries. Its objects will be the elucidation of the science of government and the furtherance of human happiness. This society is regulated on the norm of the European philosophical societies ; its papers and con- tributions will be published annually so as to preserve many valuable works which otherwise would be lost in the public prints. The honorable Dr. Franklin is President of this society."
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Vice-President is Dr. Bond, a meritorious Hippocratic, in his 7Oth year of great cheerfulness and activity of mind, who has for many years practiced his art at Philadelphia with much success. I had several times the pleasure of enjoying his society. He was at one time the appointed Health-Physician at Philadelphia. The duty of this officer was to inspect all ships bringing in servants and adventurers from Europe. For the greed of skippers often tempted them to stopple too many passengers together, thus giving cause for dan- gerous maladies whereby very many of these poor people were done for without ever seeing the land for which, in the hope of better fortune, they had given up home. Dr. Bond assured me that on several occasions ships had come to port with so much malignant tinder stowed in that no one could have stayed on board 24 hours without falling a sacrifice. But by precautionary measures the spread of such poisons was prevented. No person was allowed on land until he had first been cleansed and all his old clothes thrown away ; and then those landing were sent to an isolated spot on shore for a short quarantaine. Contagious diseases are ex- tremely rare in America, almost entirely unknown in- deed, not reckoning the small-pox and what follows the gallantries of armies and fleets. In the country the people live scattered, among shade trees ; in the towns there is no crowding, almost every family living in its own house, and everything very clean. However, Dr. Bond once observed a contagious fever in Philadelphia, which had its origin in a space between Water-street and the Market where some dead sturgeons and other filth had been left neglected by the inefficient police of that time. This fever, although extremely contagious,
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was neither vehement in its attacks nor dangerous, and spread no farther than the square in which it began, but within that space nobody easily escaped who was exposed as much as six hours.
In the year 1761 Dr. Bond observed a sort of in- fluenza which followed a regular course almost throughout America — a fever with an itching of the skin, accompanied by a cough and an acrid running at the nose and eyes. It showed itself first in some of the West India islands, then in the Bermudas ; in the spring it appeared at Halifax, and thence came down to Bos- ton, and so to the south, through Rhode Island, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore &c, visiting all the larger towns along the coast without being affected by any dissimilarities of wind or weather, appearing to stop in North Carolina not before July of the same year. It was remarked that at the same time horses were attacked by a similar fever, with running at the nose and eyes, but with happier results, since the smiths made cures more quickly and surely than the physicians were able to do. The cure for the horses was, they were tied and burning sulphur held before the nose for 15 minutes, by which treatment they all got completely rid of the disease.
Among many other observations of this worthy man the following account of an extraordinary worm is the most astonishing. A horrible monster some 20 inches long and on an average as thick as a man's wrist worked for 18 months no small mischief in a woman's body, ate its way through to the liver where it con- trived a measurable cavity, continued through the duc- tus hepaticus and the choledochus, taking leave shortly after by the fundament — whereupon the woman died
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suddenly. Dr. Bond has described the entire worm and its history for the London medical commentaries.
Dr. Benjamin Rush is the Professor of Chymistry, and is a very favorite practicioner — a man whose agree- able manners, oratorical fluency, and flowery style abun- dantly recommend him to his fellow-countrymen. He is the author of several opuscula of a medical nature, but also appears frequently as a political writer. Sev- eral sheets of his on the newest methods of inoculating for the small-pox and of treating that disease have appeared recently in a German translation. During the war he was for a time Physician-in-Chief of the American army and frequently had occasion to observe the fatal course of the lockjaw + in cases of insignifi- cant wounds, although opium was administered heav- ily. This led him to the opinion that the cause might be found in an extreme weakness of the body. There- fore his treatment was to administer Peruvian bark and wine, at the same time making incisions in the wound and applying a blister of Spanish fly. Results were incomparably better. He intends himself to publish, with other material, his observations and conclusions in this matter, unless publication of them is managed earlier in some other way. The idea is confirmed by the comparisons made between the wounded of the two armies, British and French, after the siege of York in Virginia. Most of the wounded in the French army, but especially those of West India regiments, were at- tacked with the lockjaw and died, although their in- juries may have been slight, whereas in the British hospitals a fatal outcome was seldom remarked. It is a known fact that soldiers from the West Indies always show a weak state of health, and the remainder of the 6
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French troops, (having made in the height of summer a long and tedious march from New England to Virginia), must have been in a weakened condition. Lockjaw was not frequently the case at Philadelphia, and was as seldom seen at New York, among the British troops.
Some time ago an Irish woman made several fortu- nate cures of blood-spitting, by the use of common kitchen-salt. She recommended for patients suffering with this malady a teaspoonful of salt every morning, to be gradually increased to a tablespoonful several times a day. In the more positive cases of blood-spit- ting, several doses must be given, often repeated until the symptoms cease, which will unfailingly happen in a short time, it is claimed. Dr. Rush about thirty years ago learned of this treatment, and has made use of it since in more than thirty cases, and invariably with good results. The cure is effectual also in bleedings at the nose and in floodings, but is excellent for blood- spitting. Only in two cases was there no good effect, to wit, with a man who was an old and incorrigible drinker, and with another who from distrust of so simple a means, would not take the salt in sufficient quantity. Something similar has been long known respecting saltpetre and sal-ammoniac, but these being not so generally at hand, the practice with kitchen salt deserved mention.
The French physicians and surgeons, here as well as in the West Indies, were very much disinclined to give bark in cases of intermittent fever. The Americans were always sooner done with their patients, whereas the French showed a preference rather for enfeebling theirs to the skeleton point; finally indeed brought
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them round, but very slowly and at the risk of frequent relapses and stoppages of the bowels, sequelae of long- standing fevers very much more certain to occur if bark is not given in time. Dr. Rush learned of a quack doctor the use of blistering plaisters for obstinate cold fevers, or agues, and his experience convinced him of the value of the treatment. The blisters are applied to both wrists and seldom fail of effect. (Several bands about the hand have long been used by our German country-people.) Dr. Rush in this way cured a Vir- ginia doctor of a tertian which he had been dragging about for three months, and he in turn used the treat- ment again in Virginia with good results.
Dr. Morgan is Professor of the Practice of Medi- cine, a man no less agreeable than well-informed. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society at London and of several other learned societies, and has travelled in France and Italy. Chiefly through his efforts the medi- cal school at Philadelphia was established. At the be- ginning of the war he was Inspector General of the American hospitals, but as a consequence of intrigues resigned this place ; however, not before bringing upon himself rude treatment on the part of the Congress. He was one of the first men who at that time ventured to expose the assumed infallibility of the Congress, his action springing from the stedfastness of his character and the consciousness of his own rectitude. At his house I saw a collection of great bones brought from the Ohio, which Mr. Peale was just then painting, natural size, for Counsellor Michaelis.
Dr. Kuhn, of German origin, is the Professor of Botany + and Materia Medica. He is a disciple of the lamented Linnaeus, who named an order of plants in
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his honor, the Kuhnia, — which Dr. Kuhn himself has not seen, although it exists in Pensylvania. The pro- fessorship of Botany is an empty title, since through- out the summer there is neither lecturing nor botaniz- ing. That the Congress can be obstinate in small matters also, Mr. Kuhn has reason to know. During the war he was for a time absent from America, and coming from St. Thomas in the West Indies, a neutral island, landed at New York from an English ship. The Congress, to whom this scarcely seemed the most direct way, would not permit him to come to Phila- delphia, and he was obliged to sail back to the West Indies, and make the return voyage in an American ship.
Dr. Chovet, a learned old man of much reading, and in his 7Qth year full of life and enthusiasm, although not a Professor has at times lectured on Anatomy, his favorite study. He is particularly known for his beau- tiful wax-work collection, + largely his own fabrication and designed to illustrate the parts of the human body. He has, in addition, a considerable number of fine anatomical preparations and a notable and rare collec- tion of books.
I should tax the patience of my readers by an enu- meration of all the Aesculapians and learned men of Philadelphia. Those mentioned are the most conspic- uous of the number there, where the labors of the physician are as richly rewarded as at any place. The yearly in-take of the most of these men is reckoned at several thousand pounds Pensyl. Current. But their greatest profit arises from the private dispensation of remedies ; * to which end each physician of large prac-
* There are, besides, several apothecarys and dealers in
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tice has a select stock of drugs and keeps a few young men at hand to prepare prescriptions and assist in visit- ing patients. By private reading or academical in- struction, these young men contrive to increase their knowledge and so fit themselves for practice on their own account.
I must mention here two worthy men of whom Phila- delphia boasts.
The name of Mr. Rittenhouse is known throughout America, as it deserves to be. He is perhaps 50 years of age, of modest and agreeable manners, open and engaging. His parents or grandparents came from Germany to Pensylvania ; he himself was apprenticed as a watch-maker, but without the least assistance he has made himself a complete astronomer, by his own brains and industry. In the Orrery already mentioned as at the College in Philadelphia he has given a gen- erally admired proof of his mechanical talents. An- other work of this sort prepared by him is at Princeton. He has sketched a new plan for a third, a much im- proved and simpler apparatus, but he himself does not know whether he can ever bring it to completion. They have made him a Collector of the Revenue and so have quite snatched him from the paths of science.
Mr. du Sumitiere* of Geneva, a painter, is almost
drugs at Philadelphia — among others a German shop where the ' Pensylvania-Dutch ' farmer, to his great comfort, is sup- plied all the silly doses he has been accustomed to in the fatherland.
* He has since died, and his collections are broken up. The Assembly of Pensylvania threw out the bill for purchasing them for the University, although the sum necessary would have been very moderate.
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the only man at Philadelphia who manifests a taste for natural history. Also he possesses the only collection, a small one, of natural curiosities — and a not incon- siderable number of well-executed drawings of Ameri- can birds, plants, and insects. It is to be regretted that his activities, and his enthusiasm for collecting, should be embarrassed by domestic circumstances, and that he should fail of positive encouragement from the Ameri- can publick. In his collection of curiosities, which is adorned with many specimens of North American fauna and a few Otaheitian, the Americans take most pleasure in a pair of French courier-boots and a Hes- sian fuseleer's cap.
There had been begun in the so-called Fish House, beyond the Schuylkill, a very respectable collection of the natural products of America, but this was quite destroyed in the year 1777 by the British army, at that time passing.
Libraries also Philadelphia possesses, those institu- tions contributory to the general enlightenment. A taste for reading is pretty wide-spread. People of all classes use the library in Carpenter-street, of which I have already made mention. Dr. Franklin, supported par- ticularly by Quakers, began this library as early as 1732 by the foundation of a Reading-society. The rooms are open to the public twice a week in the after- noon, but the members of the society have access every day. Books may be borrowed on the deposit of a read- ing-fee. The number of books is not very great, but there are in the collection many fine English works and also some Latin and French books. Two librarians are installed who, however, could not always find books named in the catalogue. It was not the misfortune of
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this collection to be plundered and scattered by soldiers, the case with the library at New York and with that in Rhode Island. In an adjoining room several mathe- matical and physical instruments are kept, as also a collection of American minerals, but with no indica- tion of name or place of discovery.
Another fine collection, especially rich in medical books and in the Greek and Latin authors was given to the public, in 1752, by Mr. Logan, a Quaker, who had been at great pains and expense in the gathering of it. At this time, I know not why, this library is kept under lock and key, and is used by no one.
Notwithstanding, of writers of books, as well as of other manufacturers, there are still few in America, but there is no lack of printers at Philadelphia who are at the same time book-dealers. I learned of the following : Messrs. Aitkin, Bradford, + Hall & Seller, Dunlap, Cruikshank, Baylie, Towne, Bell (who is besides an antiquary and frequently holds auctions) — Mr. Cist and Mr. Melchior Steiner + print in German. The chief business of these is the printing of newspapers, announcements, political brochures, and Acts of Assem- bly. There appear 8-10 newspapers, weekly sheets in large folio ; of them all the Independent Chronicle is the favorite on account of its freedom in regard to pub- lic affairs. Liberty of the press was one of the funda- mental laws which the states included, expressly and emphatically, in the programmes of their new govern- ments. It arouses the sympathies to see how often the Congress is mishandled in these sheets. The financier, Bob Morris, recently found himself slandered by an article in the Independent Chronicle and vigorously be- gan process at law, but the public at large supported
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the printer and as free citizens asserted their right to communicate to one another in this way their opinions and judgments regarding the conduct of public serv- ants. Since not all transactions (even of private citizens) come under amenability to the law, zealous patriots can use the press as a terrible scourge, for giving timely warnings, for bringing officials to their duty, for criticising abuses and shortcomings, instruct- ing their fellow-citizens in all manner of things — when elsewhere they would be free scarcely to whisper the burden. But it must be said that through the misuse of so special a privilege great harm may arise. How many upright and innocent characters are roughly and prejudicially treated under this shield of the freedom of the press.
English books are reprinted here, but are very little cheaper than the originals, and besides are often very badly executed.* Reprinting therefore is restricted to new books the authors of which enjoy a great hon- orarium, that is to say, dear books. Books of edifica- tion, school-books, bibles &c can always be had cheaper from Europe, since paper and wages stand at a high price in America, and the Americans have a fancy for well and finely printed books, such as the English com- monly are. Books brought in from England are all bound (they may not be otherwise exported) and form a very considerable article of trade. German religious books come especially from Frankfort on Main. Since the peace, Dutch and German ships have brought in a great quantity of all manner of publications.
From what has been set down here it will be readily
* Types, ink, paper &c are had from Europe.
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seen that the sciences are known and valued in America, and that efforts are making to further them, although no one anxiously studies as a means of liveli- hood. The fine arts, on the contrary, have not yet made a significant progress. Amateurs and connaisseurs hitherto have had adequate opportunity to supply them- selves with works of art, paintings and copper-prints, from Europe. The genius of America, however, is beginning to show itself in these matters. Philadelphia possesses in Mr. Peale an artist, native-born, who may be placed alongside of many in the old world. In an open saloon at his house, lovers and students of art may examine at any time a considerable number of his works. This collection consists for the most part of paintings of famous persons : Washington life-size, with the British standards at his feet — Franklin, Paine, Morris — most of the Major Generals of the American army — all the Presidents of the Congress ; and others distinguished in the new states are to be found here. Several painters and artists of mark born in America have settled elsewhere. Mr. West, and Mr. Du- chesne + were particularly mentioned to me, and a young man of promise, Mr. Copley. America as well as the old world has its geniuses, but these hitherto (conditions having been such as to assure easier and richer returns in trade and agriculture) have remained unknown and undeveloped.
America has produced as yet no sculptors or en- gravers. But stone-cutters find a pretty good market. Mr. Bauer and Mr. Hafelein, at Philadelphia, make a business of preparing tomb-stones, chimney-pieces, and other heavy decorative work, using the common marble of those parts. A foot of worked marble costs
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8-12 shillings Pensyl. Current. Mr. Bauer also makes mill-stones, which are split in Salisbury Township, Bucks county, of a rather rough grain, extremely hard. A stone 10 in. in diameter and 14 in. thick costs 20 Pd. Pensyl. Current. He showed me a beautiful brown- ish-yellow marble, diversly flecked, which came from the region about Easton on the Delaware.
Music was before this last war still quite in its in- fancy. Besides the organists in the towns and the schoolmasters in the country there were no professional musicians. A darky with a broken and squeezy fiddle made the finest dance-music for the most numerous assembly. Piano-fortes and such instruments were in the houses of the rich only so much fashionable furni- ture. But during the war and after it straggling mu- sicians from the various armies spread abroad a taste for music, and now in the largest towns concerts are given, and conventional balls. In the item of dancing- masters France has supplied the necessary.
During the first days of my stay at Philadelphia, I visited among others Mr. Bartram, the son of the worthy and meritorious botanist (so often mentioned by Kalm) who died six years ago at a great age. Bar- tram the elder was merely a gardener, but by his own talents and industry, almost without instruction became the first botanist in America, honored with their corre- spondence by Linnaeus, Collinson, and other savans. He was to be sure more collector than student, but by his enthusiasm and love for plants many new ones were discovered. He made many long journeys on foot through the mountain country, through several of the provinces, and (with Kalm and Conrad Weisser*)
* A German universally known and loved among the Indians,
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into the interior of Canada. After the peace of 1762, when both the Floridas were apportioned to Great Britain, Bartram received a commission from the King to visit those two provinces. Contrary to his own pur- pose his journal was published, but Bartram should not be judged by that dry record. Whoever wishes more information regarding him may find it in Hector St. John's Sketches of American Manners. The Bar- tram garden is situated on an extremely pleasant slope across the Schuylkill and not far from its junction with the Delaware. An old but neat house of stone, on the river side supported rather than adorned by several granite pillars, was the residence of this honored and contented old man. The son, the present owner of the garden, follows the employments of his father, and maintains a very respectable collection of sundry North American plants, particularly trees and shrubs, the seeds and shoots of which he sends to England and France at a good profit. He is not so well known to the botanical world as was his father, but is equally deserving of recognition. When young he spent sev- eral years among the Florida Indians, and made a col- lection of plants in that region ; his unprinted manu- script on the nations and products of that country should be instructive and interesting. In the small space of his garden there are to be found assembled really a great variety of American plants, among others, most of their vines and conifers, species of which very little is generally known. The Sarracenia and several other marsh growths do very well here in dry beds —
and therefore at one time indispensable on all important occa- sions as interpreter and coadjutor.
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confirmation of what I have often observed with as- tonishment, namely, that American plants grow any- where with little or no reference to the place of their origin.*
Bartram senior in his travels had collected as well all manner of rocks and minerals which are now kept in a box without any system intermixed with European specimens, especially Swedish, sent over by Linnaeus Archiater. The son showed them me when I was a second time at Philadelphia and able from my own knowledge to distinguish what was American ; but Mr. Bartram was not to be persuaded to sell me these at any price, cherishing- in them the memory of his father's industry.
Nearer to Philadelphia, but also on the farther bank of the Schuylkill, there lives a botanist who is the equal of Bartram neither in knowledge nor spirit, although he makes more a-do — Mr. Young, by birth a Hessian, who in a strange way has gotten to himself the title of Botanist to the Queen. His father lived at this same place, by what he could make on his bit of land ; the son was frequently in Bartram's garden, and found amusement in the variegated blossoms. One day, (so I was told at Philadelphia) , he sent to London a paquet of plants which he had collected in the garden, with a letter addressed To the Queen. He had placed the paquet unobserved in the bag which is usually kept open at the Coffee-house by ships shortly to clear. Arrived at London the skipper was in a quandary
* Since my return I have seen American trees and shrubs more than once, in England and Germany, thriving on dry soils, whereas in America it had been my observation that these varieties were to be found only in swampy places.
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«
whether to deliver the paquet, of which he knew noth- ing, what it contained or who had sent it ; but after consultation with his friends despatched it as directed. The Queen, supposing this to be an extraordinary hope- ful lad, had the youthful Young brought to London and placed under the care of the well-known Dr. Hill. 300 Pd. Sterl. was appropriated annually for his use, and after a time Young came back to America, with the title, with a large peruque and a small stipend, and fulfilled none of the hopes he had aroused. Some years ago, indeed, he had printed at Paris an exhaustive catalogue of plants presumably in his garden ; but I found that his garden is very extensive — if this or that plant of the catalogue is not to be found in his garden he answers with his customary bombast that all America, field and forest, is his garden.*
The taste for gardening is, at Philadelphia as well as throughout America, still in its infancy. There are not yet to be found many orderly and interesting gardens. Mr. Hamilton's near the city is the only one deserving special mention. Such neglect is all the more astonish- ing, because so many people of means spend the most part of their time in the country. Gardens as at present managed are purely utilitarian — pleasure-gardens have not yet come in, and if perspectives are wanted one must be content with those offered by the landscape, not very various, what with the still immense forests.
* Recently Mr. Humphrey Marshall has made himself known by his American Grove, + or Alphabetical list of all North American trees and shrubs, published at Philadelphia in 8vo. 1785. He lives in Pensylvania, in Chester county, and offers to furnish at a moderate price collections of seeds or of living plants noticed in his catalogue.
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The fruitful warmth of the climate obviates indeed very many difficulties which we have to contend with in securing garden-growths — and makes careless gar- deners. So long as people are content merely with the customary products of northern Europe, these may be had at small pains ; but with this management the ad- vantages are lost which would be afforded by a better, that is to say, many of the products natural to a warmer climate might be had with a little care. Most of the vegetables and flowers of northern Europe -have been introduced. Many of these do well and have even been improved, but others grow worse under careless man- agement. American gardening has nothing of the characteristic to show, beyond several varieties and dubieties of pumpkins, squashes, and gourds, the cul- tivation of which was usual among the Indians. Sev- eral of our vegetables were first introduced by the Ger- man troops, e. g. kohlrabi, broccoli, and the black raddish. But certain of our good fruits are lacking, (or at least are very seldom seen and then not the best sorts), such as, plums, apricots, walnuts, good pears, the domestic chestnut, gooseberries, and others, and for no other reason but neglect to make the proper efforts, with patience and attention — for the American cares little for what does not grow of itself, and is satisfied with the great yields of his cherry, apple, and peach trees, without giving a thought to possible and often necessary betterments. They know little or noth- ing of grafting and inoculations, or use such practices very seldom. Much, without sufficient ground, is charged to the disadvantages of the climate, and people have let themselves be too easily frightened away from gardening, when the trouble was that nothing of the
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first quality has been produced, because of thin soil, bad seed, and unskilful cultivation.
The taste for garden-flowers is likewise very re- stricted ; however, a few florists are to be found. Dr. Glentworth, + formerly a surgeon in the army, has a numerous collection of beautiful bulbs and other flowers which he maintains by yearly importations from Holland. But as a rule one finds in the gardens nothing but wild jasmine, flower-gentles, globe- ama- ranths, hibiscus syriacus, and other common things. The beautiful gilliflower, the ranunculus, auricula &c., of these they are little aware. At Dr. Glentworth's I saw another strange phenomenon, which I mention here in passing, i. e. a cross between a cock and a duck. The beast was a perfect hen in the forepart, but in the rear constructed like a duck ; its feet were half-webbed and set far back, so that its walk was a waddle, penguin- fashion, almost upright. A person present told me he had seen two similar bastards in the West Indies. They are, however, rare, notwithstanding many cocks seem to show a preference for ducks.
Deformities and misgrowths, especially of the hu- man species, are rarer in America (where everything is truer to nature) than elsewhere. An American dwarf exhibited himself recently at Philadelphia ; I had already seen him at York. He was born in Jersey, was 23 years old, and his height 3 ft. 4 in., London measure, with the exception of the head pretty well formed to scale. It is worth the trouble to be a dwarf in America : he showed himself for not less than a half- dollar Spanish for grown people, and the half of that for children. — Another rare phenomenon is an adult with an immoderately large head, so heavy that he
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can never raise it ; he lives in Jersey near to the Passaik Falls and has lain 27 years, his age, in the cradle.*
The present Governor of Pensylvania, Mr. Dickin- son, is known as a man of keen intellect, although his enemies of which he has many, (governors of a repub- lic may have them without much trouble), prefer to paint him in dark colors. He showed his spirit and capacity, politically, by a collection of Letters under the fanciful name of An American Farmer but these are not to be confused with another collection, of a similar title, Letters of an American Cultivator. + I desired to make him my duty, and in order to be re- ceived by him I had recourse to a physician of my ac- quaintance, who excused himself on the ground that he had been against the Governor at the last election. I then went to an American Major with the same re- quest, and he likewise excused himself because at the last rising of the troops he had had some difficulty with the Governor over their pay. I betook myself therefore to a Quaker confidently believing I had come to the right man since Dickinson himself is of the Society of Friends ; but my Quaker assured me he had nothing to do with the Governor, and that my intended courtesy was superfluous. Finally I sought out another doctor who also thought my proposed visit unnecessary and told me the Governor was ill. So I let the matter stop
* " His name is Peter van Winkle, born 1754, from the feet to the chin he measures 4 ft. 5 in., from the chin to the poll a foot precisely, from the chin to the root of the nose 7 in., thence over the head to the neck 25 in., round the temples 32 in." Further information has been published by Counsellor
Michaelis in Med. Beytrdg. Michaelis, Med. prakt.
Bibl. I, 91.
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with that, but regretted I could not meet one whose vainglory, not satisfied with the government of so con- siderable a province as Pensylvania was at the same time putting in for another, that of the state of Dela- ware. But this may have been from lofty patriotism. The inhabitants of Philadelphia seemed to me to have retained something of that suspicious reserve which policy compelled them to adopt at the beginning of the war, and while it lasted, in their dealings with strangers — behavior due in the first instance partly to fear, partly to aversion for political dissentients. It has been said for a long time of Philadelphia that one might not gain a footing in houses there so easily as in the neighboring York, the explanation of which was chiefly that the Quakers excluded all but their own particular friends, and this behavior, imitated among the bulk of the inhabitants, has in some sort remained a characteristick. The war, however, which must be thanked in America for so many things, and the num- ber of Europeans present in the country (especially the French) have worked already a positive revolution in America. Burnaby remarked with regret that people were not very courteous and hospitable to strangers ; he would have less cause to say as much now. But I must acknowledge that those among the Philadelphians who have visited foreign countries are incomparably more engaging and polite than others who hold court- esy to be reserve; those who have travelled have learned by experience how obliging even the smallest attention is to a stranger, and they practice what else- where has pleased them. Not so, those entirely home- bred. Two of my friends, Englishmen, came from York to see Philadelphia and found rooms in a house 7
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where strangers were customably taken in. It so hap- pened that an American traveller, by the exchange of a room, made place for the two Englishmen. The lady of the house promised that the matter would be so arranged, but at the same time unreservedly remarked, ' you know/ (as if a thing of common knowledge in Philadelphia) , ' you know that people do not like to inconvenience themselves to oblige a stranger.'
The behavior of the Philadelphians is for the rest only one among the consequences of the spirit of free- dom, a British inheritance strengthened by removal to American soil and still more by the successful outcome of the war. From of old these were strong and active republicans. Freedom has been, since many years, the genius and the vow of Pensylvania and of all the North American states. Many and various as have been the reasons assigned for the outbreak of the war and the separation of the colonies from the mother- country, it has seemed to me that the true and only reason has been overlooked. There was a set purpose in America to make the land free and any pretext would serve. England might have removed one burden after another, might have given encouragement after en- couragement, but fresh excuses would have been con- stantly sought and found so as to bring about a final breach. It is a matter of wonder to me, in this con- nection, that nobody mentions the prediction spoken of by Kalm * + who heard it as early as 1748 during his stay in America and gives it as a thing well-known. " I have often, he remarks, heard it said openly by Eng- lishmen, and not only by those born in America but
* Reisen. Deutsche Ausg. II, 401.
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also by those recently come from Europe, that the English plantations in northern America would in 30- 50 years form a separate kingdom, quite independent of England."
People think, act, and speak here precisely as it prompts them ; the poorest day-laborer on the bank of the Delaware holds it his right to advance his opinion, in religious as well as political matters, with as much freedom as the gentleman or the scholar. And as yet there is to be found as little distinction of rank among the inhabitants of Philadelphia as in any city in the world. No one admits that the Governor has any par- ticular superiority over the private citizen except in so far as he is the right hand of the law, and to the law, as occasion demands is respect paid, through the Governor ; for the law equally regards and deals with all citizens. Riches make no positive material difference, because in this regard every man expects at one time or another to be on a footing with his rich neighbor, and in this expectation shows him no knavish reverence, but treats him with an open, but seemly, familiarity. Posts of honor confer upon the holder merely a conditional superiority, necessary in the eyes of every discreet man as a support of order and gov- ernment. All rank and precedence is for the rest the acquirement of personal worth. Rank of birth is not recognized, is resisted with a total force.
Luxury, which is unavoidable in enlightened free nations, prevails here also, without, however, any dis- possession of industry and thrift, being largely re- stricted to the luxury of the body ; virtuosity, sensibility and other manifestations of soul-luxury are not yet be- come conspicuous here.
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The taste in dress is chiefly English, extremely simple, neat, and elegant. The finest cloth and the finest linen are the greatest adornment. Only a few young gentlemen, especially those of the army, approxi- mate to the French cut, but they by no means give them- selves over to the ostentatious frippery by which, here also, certain Frenchmen are distinguished. The women, as everywhere, seeking to please allow them- selves more variety of ornament. Every year dressed dolls are brought them from Europe, which, silent, give the law of the mode. However, distinction of rank among the feminine half, is not striking as a result of any distinct costume ; in the item of dress each selects according to her taste, means, and circumstances.
The women of North America have long since been the subject of particular praise, + regarding their vir- tue and good conduct, rendered them by both travellers and the homekeeping. It is not easy to find a woman, remarks one of their panegyrists, who makes a parade of unbelief, although they are not always members of any particular sect. Gallant adventures are little known and still less practiced in this last refuge of virtue pursued. Conjugal disloyalties, on either side, are punished by ineffaceable infamy, and the culprit, however protected by wealth, position, or other advan- tage, soon finds himself without honor, distrusted. This is no extravagant praise, and the Abbe Robin himself admits that his countrymen did not in America meet with their habitual good fortune in affairs of gallantry. The feminine part of America is none the less made for pleasure and partakes, and Rochefou- cault would have likely assigned another reason for their virtue. Thus, a traditional practice of bundling,
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the vogue in certain parts of America,* especially New England, + might well give our European fair another idea of western restraint. That is to say, it is a custom there for young men to pay visits to their mistresses ; and the young woman's good name is no ways im- paired, so that the visit takes place by stealth, or after they are actually betrothed ; on the contrary, the par- ents are advised, and these meetings happen when the pair is enamored and merely wish to know each other better. The swain and the maiden spend the evening and the night undisturbed by the hearth, or it may be go to bed together without scruple ; in the latter case, with the condition that they do not take off their clothes ; and if the anxious mother has any doubt of the strict virtue of her daughter, it is said she takes the precau- tion of placing both the daughter's feet in one large stocking, and in the morning looks to see if this guardian is still properly fixed, but the inquiry is com- monly superfluous, the circumstance having rarely any other consequence than in regular betrothal, which is the object had in view in allowing the meeting. When it is said in praise of America that there are seldom other consequences due to the intimate association of the sexes, it must be remarked that people there gen- erally marry with less forethought and earlier, and that in almost every house there are negresses, slaves, who count it an honor to bring a mulatto into the world.
Philadelphia boasted once of its especially good police, and knew nothing of tumultuary and mutinous gather-
* Burnaby noticed it in Virginia. Vid. Travels through the Middle Colonies of North America, p. 170. [Burnaby's note is in regard to a different custom, cf. reprint, 3d ed., New York 1904, p. 142]
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ings of the people which were not seldom the case with their more northern neighbors. This advantageous character (due, like everything else good, to the peace- ful principles of the Quakers), was lost during the war, when mobs often took possession of the city and par- ticularly mishandled the Quakers in their quiet houses.
To be industrious and frugal, at least more so than the inhabitants of the provinces to the South, is the recognized and unmistakeable character of the Phila- delphians and in great part of all those inhabiting Pensylvania. Without boasting, I daresay it is the fact that, in conjunction with the Quakers, the German- Pensylvania nation has had the largest share in the forming of this praiseworthy folk-character.
The German nation forms a considerable part, prob- ably more than a third, of the state of Pensylvania. The Quakers, who at first gave the tone in political affairs, strove for that reason to win to their side the Germans, who were scattered about the country and commended themselves by their retired, industrious, and frugal manner of life. The Quakers have never gone very far from Philadelphia, individual members of the sect not liking to settle far from the rest, but preferring to draw together in little colonies. It was therefore a policy with them to be on good terms with the outlying inhabitants and they found it the easier to come by their ends through a good understanding with the Germans, since these together outnumbered any one of the other nationalities among the colonists, English, Scottish, Irish, and Swedish. The ancestors of these Germans came to America all in similar cir- cumstances, as indeed many have come during and since the war. That is to say, they left the fatherland
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out of poverty or in the hope at least of finding better fortune, able to grow rich with less trouble. Many of them, indeed very many of them, have seen their de- sires fulfilled, although at first they were obliged to bind themselves out for a term of years so as to pay the cost of the voyage, if, as it often happened, they did not bring with them property in that amount. From very insignificant beginnings the most of them have come to good circumstances, and many have grown rich. For here the poor man who is industrious finds opportunities enough for gain, and there is no excuse for the slothful. Where a German settles, there com- monly are seen industry and economy, more than with others, all things equal — his house is better-built and warmer, his land is better fenced, he has a better gar- den, and his stabling is especially superior; everything about his farm shows order and good management in all that concerns the care of the land. The Germans are known throughout America as an industrious people, but particularly those of them that come over from Europe, and in all the provinces it is desired that their numbers increase, they being everywhere valued as good citizens, and I daresay that Pensyl- vania is envied for the greater number of them settled there, since it is universally allowed that without them Pensylvania would not be what it is. The greater part of the German emigrants were originally of humble origin and meagre education, nor have they or their descendants greatly changed in their principles of ac- tion. On the whole they show little or no zeal to bring themselves up in any way except by small trade or handicrafts or farming. To use their gains for allow- able pleasures, augmenting the agreeableness of life,
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this very few of them have learned to do, and others with a bad grace. The lucre is stuck away in old stockings or puncheon chests until opportunity offers to buy more land which is the chief object of their de- sires. In their houses, in the country especially, they live thriftily, often badly. There is wanting among them the simple unaffected neatness of the English settlers, who make it a point, as far as they are able, to live seemly, in a well-furnished house, in every way as comports with the gentleman. The economy of the German farmer in Pensylvania is precisely the same as that customary in Germany — even when his next neigh- bor every day sets him a better example. A great four-cornered stove, a table in the corner with benches fastened to the wall, everything daubed with red, and above, a shelf with the universal German farmer's library : the Almanack, and Song-book, a small ' Garden of Paradise/ Habermann, + and the Bible. It is in vain to look for other books, whereas in the cabins of the English there are not seldom seen, at the least, frag- ments of the Spectator, journals, magazines, or dic- tionaries. The highest delight of the German country- man in Pensylvania is — drink. He drives many miles to Philadelphia to market, sleeping in his wagon, living on the bread and cheese he takes along, but having made a good sale, he is certain to turn in at some grog- shop on his way home — drinks in good spirits a glass of wine, drinks perhaps a second, and a third, recks no more and often leaves his entire wallet at the bung. They give their children little education and have no fancy for seeing their sons parading in the pulpit or the Court-house. Not until this last war, (when several regiments were raised among the Pensylvania
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Germans), have any of them been seized with a passion to appear in a better light, by going about after posts of honor. Their conversation is neither interesting nor pleasing, and if so, it is because they have had a better bringing-up in Germany or, native-born, have become English quite, and thus they are no longer Germans and withdrawn by their own wish from in- tercourse with their people. In the towns there pre- vails an altogether different tone among the German families. They feel that no distinction of rank imposes any restraint on them, and behave as if farmers turned lords. I met at Philadelphia only one or two agree- able and intelligent women of German origin, but they spoke German very little and did not owe their breeding to their own people.
There is a striking contrast between the untaught class : German and English. In the same circumstances and with the same faculties the Englishman invariably shows more information ; the German has the advan- tage in superstitions and prejudices and is less intelli- gent in political matters. However, the German country-people are extremely jealous of their liberties, and of their rights in the matter of sending members to the Assembly, although they find it difficult at times to get capable men. For it often happens that members chosen from among the German farmers and sent to the Assembly are not sufficiently equipped with the English language, and so make but dumb chair-fillers and never dare to give their opinions openly — and, when ques- tions are to be decided, discreetly range themselves with the majority, sitting quietly by until they see which side has the numbers. Really they often know nothing of what the question is before the Assembly,
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because of the very slight tincture they have of the language. The story is that once an honorable Ger- man member heard that the business was whether to Move the House,* which he literally took to mean whether the house should be removed. He said noth- ing, but went out to the door and entirely around the large Assembly-house, then came back shaking his head and gave it as his opinion that it would be no easy matter. Just this year an old German country- man, no doubt an oracle among his tap-house friends, was elected to the Assembly from his district and sent to Philadelphia, where he was welcomed and congratu- lated. ' Ey,' said he, ' I wish they had let me alone — what do I understand of all that chitter — I wish I was at home looking after my things.' I have since seen members of that cut, in blue stockings and yellow- leather breeches, sleeping off boredom in the Assembly. The lack as yet of numerous good schools and of capable teachers for the people; the further lack of educated and disinterested Germans who might by their example inspire imitation ; the prevalent policy under the former regime of bestowing conspicuous office mainly on the English, European or American ; and the extremely trifling advantages accruing to the merely educated German — such are the chief reasons, possibly, why the German nation in America has hitherto shown so little zeal in the item of self-ad- vancement, preferring the gains from moderate labor
* ' Move the house ' signifies to lay before the Assembly a question for decision by a majority of votes; the vote is taken either by a raising of the hands for ' Aye,' or by those in the affirmative going to one side and those in the negative to the other, where they are counted by the Speaker.
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and trade (certain and uncomplicated) to any difficult pestering with books.
The language which our German people make use of is a miserable, broken, fustian salmagundy of English and German, with respect both to the words and their syntaxis. Grown people come over from Germany forget their mother-tongue in part, while seeking in vain to learn the new speech, and those born in the country hardly ever learn their own language in an orderly way. The children of Germans, particularly in the towns, grow accustomed to English in the streets ; their parents speak to them in one language and they answer in the other. The near kinship of the English and the German helps to make the confusion worse. If the necessary German word does not occur to the memory, the next best English one is at once substi- tuted, and many English words are so currently used as to be taken for good German. In all legal and public business English is used solely. Thus English becomes indispensable to the Germans, and by contact and imitation grows so habitual that even among them- selves they speak at times bad German, at times a worse English, for they have the advantage of people of other nationalities, in being masters of no one language. The only opportunity the Germans have of hearing a set discourse in their own language, (reading being out of the question) is at church. But even there, the minister preaching in German they talk among them- selves their bastard jargon. There are a few isolated spots, for example in the mountains, where the people having less intercourse with the English understand nothing but German, but speak none the better. The purest German is heard in the Moravian colonies. — As
a
ft
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proof I will give literally what a German farmer said to me, a German, in German : +
' Ich hab' wollen, said he, mit meinem Nachbar ' tscheinen (join) und ein Stuck geklaret (cleared) 'Land purtchasen (purchase). Wir hatten, no doubt, ein guten Barghen (bargain) gemacht, und hatten konnen gut darauf ausmachen. Ich war aber net capable so'ne Summe Geld aufzumachen. und konnt ' nicht langer expekten. Das that mein Nachbar net ' gleichen, und fieng an mich iibel zu yuhsen (use one 'ill), so dacht ich, 's ist besser du thust mit aus (to
" do without) . Or thus : Mein Stallion ist uber
' die Fehns getcheupt, und hat dem Nachbar sein : Whiet abscheulich gedamatscht." That is, Mein Hengst ist uber den Zaun gesprungen, und hat des Nachbars Weizen ziemlich beschadiget — But it is not enough, that English words are used as German — e. g. schmart (smart, active, clever) — serben, geserbt haben (serve, &c) ; they go farther and translate lit- erally, as absezen, instead of abreisen, sick auf den Weg machen, from the English ' set off ' ; einen auf den Weg sezen, einen auf den rechten Weg bringen, from the English ' put one in the road ' ; abdrehen, sich vom Weg abwenden, from the English ' turn off ' ; aufkommen mit einem, jemanden auf den Weg ein- hohlen, from the English ' come up with one.' — Often they make a German word of an English one, merely by the sound, when the sense of the two is quite different, as das belangt zu mir, das gehort mir, from the Eng- lish ' this belongs to me,' although ' belangen ' and ' belong ' have entirely different meanings ; or ich thue das nicht gleichen, from the English ' I do not like that,' instead of das gefallt mir nicht. It is not worth
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the trouble to put down more of this sort of non-sense which many of my countrymen still tickle the ears with. And besides speaking scurvily, there is as bad writing and printing. Melchior Steiner's German estab- lishment (formerly Christoph Sauer's) prints a weekly German newspaper which contains numerous sorrowful examples of the miserably deformed speech of our American fellow-countrymen. This newspaper is chiefly made up of translations from English sheets, but so stiffly done and so anglic as to be mawkish. The two German ministers and Mr. Steiner himself over- see the sheet. If I mistake not, Mr. Kunze alone re- ceives 100 Pd. Pens. Current for his work. ' If we wrote in German/ say the compilers in excuse, ' our American farmers would neither understand it nor read it/
It was hardly to be expected that the German lan- guage, even as worst degenerated, could ever have gone to ruin and oblivion with quite such rapidity — public worship, the Bible, and the estimable almanack * might, so it seems, transmit a language for many generations, even if fresh emigrants did not from time to time add new strength. But probably the free and immediate intercourse now begun between the mother-country and America will involve a betterment of the language. Since America, in the item of German literature, is 30- 40 years behind, it might possibly be a shrewd specula-
* Several Deutsche Amerikanisch Stadt-und Land-Calender appear annually, published by Mr. Steiner and Mr. Carl Cist. Plan and arrangement the same as with our praiseworthy Almanack in quarto — articles on bleeding and lancing, how to judge the blood, how to fell trees, edifying stories, home-spun verse — nothing omitted.
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tion to let loose from their book-stall prisons all our unread and forgotten poets and prosaists and transport them to America after the manner of the English (at one time) and their jail-birds.
There has existed for some years a Privileged Ger- man Society at Philadelphia Plan and Status of which an Address before the Society by Joh. Christ. Kunze, Professor of the Oriental and German Lan- guages at the University of Philadelphia, and Mem- ber of the said Society. Philadelphia. Printed by M. Steiner. 1782. 8vo. pp. 62, sets forth. +
Mr. Kunze, who plainly sees the lack of good Ger- man schools (and the consequent decline of the lan- guage), and feels as a patriot the necessity for better instruction generally, proposed to establish such schools * with a view mainly to the education of young people of the three religions. His enthusiasm greatly meriting approbation has thus far received little practi- cal support. Meetings of this society are regularly held; its objects are not merely scientific, but include assistance to be rendered in-coming Germans who finding no one to take them in and meeting with no friends are often the victims of greed or other wicked- ness— the attention of the society is directed to every- thing which may redound to the honor, good treatment, and encouragement of the German nation. Since this is a matter which cannot well be of indifference to many of my readers, I can do no better than devote a few pages of the Appendix to the statements of the founder himself. f
* With regard to his plans for a Latin school among the Germans of Philadelphia, Vid. Schlozer's Brief weeks el. I, 4, 206.
t A German Society at New York, + on the plan of the Pen-
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The clergy of the German nation, it was to be ex- pected, would scatter not only the seeds of the gospel but those of scientific enlightenment as well. However, among the few ministers in all America a few only can give their mind to these things and fewer yet will. With the exception of several worthy men, chiefly in the larger towns, the services of the clergy are very ambiguous. Their position is not an agreeable one. They depend absolutely on the caprice of their congre- gations who (to use their own expression) hire a pas- tor from year to year at 20-30 or more pounds. — And so the ministers are often obliged to take charge of several congregations if they are to earn a passable support. Many of them, after the manner of the Apostles, have to carry on another occupation for a living. Mr. Kunze recently paid a visit to a worthy colleague beyond the Schuylkill. When he came into the house the pastor's wife asked him, ' Do you wish to see the pastor or the cobbler ? ' — the pastoral office not bringing in enough to support the little family, the son added to the income by shoemaking, in which his father lent a hand. Congregations may dismiss their minis- ters so soon as they have the misfortune to displease. But before that pass, much must happen ; the pastor preaching no strict morality, out of recompense and Christian love little faults on his part are overlooked.
To be sure, all the clergy in America (outside the English establishment) were without support from the civil authorities, which not inducting them left them to their congregations entirely. Each sect was per-
sylvania Society, held its first meeting Sept. 15, 1784, — the President is Colonel Lutterlobe.
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mitted to dance as it would and manage the whistling as it could — for if the state interfered in church affairs in America there would be no end, and only evil could come of it. The Presbyterians indeed are not exposed to the blind choice or dismission of a freakish congre- gation, their discipline depending on an assembly of all the ministers. Only the ministers of the English es- tablishment (because consecrated by some one of the English bishops and paid by the King) had under the old regime a closer connection with the state. The German Lutheran ministers, however, meet together at times in Synods to discuss general questions ; at such meetings the office of President passes from one to another, since they are all equally independent.
The Philadelphia market deserves a visit from every foreigner. Astonishment is excited not only by the ex- traordinary store of provisions but also by the cleanli- ness and good order in which the stock is exposed for sale. The Market-house proper consists of two open halls which extend from First to Third-street, and ad- ditional space, on both sides of Market-street and along adjoining streets, swarms with buyers and sellers. On the evenings before the chief market days (these are Wednesdays and Saturdays) all the bells in the city are rung. People from a distance, especially the Germans, come into Philadelphia in great covered wagons, loaded with all manner of provender, bringing with them rations for themselves and feed for their horses — for they sleep in their wagons. Besides, numerous carts and horses bring in from all directions the rich sur- plus of the country ; everything is full of life and action. Meats are supplied not only by the city butchers, but by the country people as well — for America is not yet
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cursed with exclusive guild-rights and the police is not bribed. The Americans on the whole, like the English, consume more meat than vegetables and the market furnishes them the choicest store, cut very neatly. Be- sides the customary sorts of meat, Europeans find in season several dishes new to them, such as raccoons, opossums, fish-otters, bear-bacon, and bear's foot &c, as well as many indigenous birds and fishes. In products of the garden the market although plentiful is not of great variety, for divers of our better European cab- bages and other vegetables are lacking ; on the other hand all sorts of melons and many kinds of pumpions are seen in great quantity, and fruits also. I have by me no prices-current of the Philadelphia market, but I remember that at the time the best butchers' meat cost only four pence, in the same market where we had paid 15 times as much in the year 1778, 3 shillings 9 pence Pensylv. Current , that is, to 4 shillings ; and not- withstanding that prices of provisions have in general not fallen to the low level customary before the war, for not more than a guinea a week a room could be had in several of the public houses, with breakfast, plentiful dinner, and supper, and in private boarding-houses for less or more as one preferred.
The war has left no sign of want here ; now, as be- fore, the same exuberant plenty prevails. The in- habitants are not only well clothed but well fed, and, comparatively, better than their betters in Europe. Few families can be found who do not enjoy daily their fine wheat-bread, good meats and fowls, cyder, beer, and rum. Want oppresses but few. Work is rewarded and there is no need of catch-pole beadles.
While the war still lasted several institutions were 8
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established at Philadelphia which are not commonly thought of during a war, and if so, only because a fortunate outcome is anticipated with certainty. In this category is a public Bank *, an establishment as useful to trade in general as to the individual merchant, furthering his convenience and security. This bank is adequately secured by the subscriptions of a great num- ber of moneyed persons, under mortgage of their real property. It is at the same time a bank of exchange and of loans. As a sure guaranty of hard money de- posited, there are issued bank-notes (the smallest amount 10 Spanish dollars) which are unhesitatingly •received, both in the city and in the country, at their specie valuation. These bills are signed by the Presi- dent, Director, and Company of the Bank of North America, but there is no right to the title except in so far as this was the first bank established in North America ; for certain other cities, Boston and Charles- ton, are about to open banks, seeing the great advan- tages of such institutions in the furtherance of an ex- tensive trade. The founding of the bank was made the easier by the great quantity of Spanish dollars brought into the country during the last years of the war for American flour sold at the Havannah, and by the num- ber of British guineas put in circulation by the army, both prisoners and effectives. The guineas have all been carefully clipped, partly to make them more uni- form with the other currency, partly to prevent their desertion to the fatherland. Against security given,
* " The bank established at Philadelphia for the facilitating of commerce and the circulation of money has had no stability and is entirely given over " Hamb. Polit. Jour., Octob. 1786.
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merchants may borrow cash from the bank. Interest accruing in this way and other perquisites bring in a considerable amount. The first plan of this bank, if I am not mistaken, was sketched by the celebrated finan- cier Bob Morris.
Instead of a Bourse they use the Coffee-house, where most people engaged in business affairs meet together at midday to get news of entering or clearing vessels, and to inform themselves of the market.
Trade was still at this time in a very uncertain and disordered state, and it was difficult to foresee what turn it would take. On the one hand the hatred of England, as yet pretty general and pretty warm, seemed to be favorable to the French and other nations competing for the American trade, and all