A VISIT
TO

THE UNITED STATES

W H I T E A N D BLACK

THE

OUTCOME OF A
THE UNITED

VISIT

TO

STATES

SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL, M.P.

NEW YORK
R. WORTHINGTON, 750
1879

BROADWAY

NEW YORK : PRINTED BY
TROW'S PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY
2 0 5 - 2 I 3 EAST I2TH STREET

PREFACE.
I HAVE long thought that a man has not seen the
world till, besides following the beaten tracks in the
countries of Europe and Western Asia, which have
all drawn from the same sources, he has seen and
realised both the great civilisation of the Old World
which exists in China, owing nothing to our sources,
and the new departure in Western civilisation which
has taken place in a New World, in America. While
I was in India I was able to make a short run round
to China. The circumstances of a hard-working life
have not permitted me to fulfil my desire to visit
America till I accomplished it this last autumn.
Besides the wish to see America as others have seen
it, I had also a special desire, for reasons which I
explain, to learn something of the present position
of 'the nigger question'—a subject on which verylittle has been written in this country, and in regard
to which I had failed to get much clear information
of a recent date. For that reason I gave special attention to some of the Southern States, viz., Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
During my tour I kept rough notes, but only as

vi

PREFACE.

an aide-memoire to myself, and not in a state intended
for publication. After my return I had occasion to
visit my constituents in the Kirkcaldy Burghs, and I
varied the monotony of our ordinary political subjects
by telling them something of what I had seen in
America. To go through, a group of Scotch burghs
one has to make a good many speeches; and so it
happened that on several occasions I went over ground
connected with or suggested by my American experiences. I also wrote an article on i Black and White
in the Southern States,' which the Editor of the
'Fortnightly Review' was kind enough to publish.
Several of my friends have been so good as to say
that they have been interested by it, and some of them
have added, ' I t is only a pity t h a t you did not carry
the subject a little farther.' Thus encouraged, I have
thought that some might be glad to see the evidence
on which my* conclusions were founded, as contained
in my notes. The fact is, too, that though we have
plenty of books about the Far West and life in the
Rocky Mountains, and so on, there seem to be very
few regarding the more accessible parts of the United
States. I certainly had greSt difficulty in finding
such books to guide me in my travels, and was
obliged to take my information in a great degree
from that of Mr. Anthony Trollope, written almost a
quarter of a century back. A Member of Parliament,
Mr. Hussey Vivian, who recently visited America,
and who is a very competent observer, has published
a book of a very interesting character; but it so
happens that his specialties are different from mine.

PKEFACE.

vii

H e tells much about mines and metals, and other
things, of which I have *no knowledge.
I t has occurred to me, then, that there might be
room for such a book as I now offer, containing much
of what I have picked up during my tour in the
United States. I fancy that my notes may perhaps
be useful, if only as a sort of guide and handbook to
others contemplating a similar tour; and that those
interested in the position of the coloured population,
and the political and industrial questions arising out
of it, may find a good deal which has not yet been
given to the public.
I t will be seen that I made a very rapid run
through the Northern and some of the Western States,
and saw something of the interior of Illinois and the
farmers of that country; and then, after visiting Pennsylvania, Baltimore, and Washington, made a more
careful study of the condition of things in the four
Southern States which I have already mentioned.
In addition to the Black question I have been
much interested in the cultivation and handling of
cotton, which I had also seen in India and E g y p t ;
and in the Southern ctftton mills, which now rival
the North in the production of the coarser goods; just
as the mills in our cotton-producing possessions rival
those of Lancashire. There seems to be no doubt that
both in America and Egypt the yield of cotton to the
acre is much larger than in India. The bale of which
I speak is about 450 lbs.
My tour was so far cut short that I was not able
to make a little stay in New York and Philadelphia

viii

PKEFACE.

in the winter season, as I had hoped; and I have not
had an opportunity of going into the social and political affairs of New England, which I should have
much liked. That and a great deal more remains for
another tour, if I should ever be able to accomplish it.
I have worked up and supplemented the general
views which I presented in the Kirkcaldy Burghs,
and submit the whole as ' A Bird's-eye View of the
United States. 7 Then I have been permitted to republish my article on i Black and White,' and have
prefaced it with some remarks on our own management of coloured races in our American and African
colonies. I have put into some shape those parts
of my Journal which I thought might bear publication. During the return voyage I had made notes of
the Constitutions of some of the States; and, as a
specimen of the most improved and modern State
Constitutions, I have appended the principal parts of
the Constitutions of some States, especially Illinois.
I left a blank side in my Journal, on which I have
sometimes subsequently noted up later experiences
and corrections, and I have thought it better to
amalgamate these with the rest, rather than to put
them separately as notes; but the effect is to create
some anachronisms, as it were; so I have not entered
the precise dates, but have followed generally the
order of time, place, and subjects. A t the same time
a journal must necessarily contain something of an
olla podrida of various and sometimes incongruous
subjects a good deal mixed together. If it be remarked that on some subjects several repetitions are

PREFACE*

ix

to be found, I reply that this is the evidence on which
my conclusions are founded, and that proof of this
kind necessarily depends on the cumulative testimony
of various witnesses.
Things march rapidly, and while I write the Black
question seems to have assumed a new phase, creating great interest in it, owing to the movement of
large numbers of that race from Mississippi and Louisiana, seeking to escape from tyranny and ill-usage,
and to find new homes in Kansas—a State where I
have mentioned that the negroes seem to be well
treated, and in the back parts of which a good many
of them are, I have heard, successfully established as
independent small farmers. There was an outbreak
of yellow fever, and I did not visit Mississippi and
Louisiana;/ but I have several times mentioned the
former State, as that in which the practice of ' bulldozing,' or bullying the negroes, has most prevailed.
There were also severe election contests in parts of
Louisiana, accompanied by much violence; and some
cases of very unjustifiable lynchings of Negroes were
reported during my visit. To these things, no doubt,
the movement is due. I have also mentioned the case
of a county in Georgia, in which the negroes, being
dissatisfied with their treatment, formed a league
among themselves to abandon that county and leave
their persecutors without labour. That, I take it, is
exactly what has been done on a larger scale in the
States of the Lower Mississippi. I t is a form of
strike as a counter-move against ill-treatment; and
under the circumstances the move may be a bold

X

PREFACE.

and effective measure. There is nothing so likely to
bring the landowners to a sense of what they owe
the negro population as to make them feel the want
of it. The only fear is, that these poor people are
rushing into an independence for which they have
not the means; but I gather from the latest accounts
that the movement is rather striking in its sudden
and concentrated form, than one which involves a
very great population. The numbers are said to
have been somewhat exaggerated. I think it will
probably be found that it is only the population of
particular counties or districts, where there has been
special ill-usage, who have emigrated in mass. If
the efforts now being made to obtain assistance for
them in the North should be successful, and they
should be enabled to locate themselves in a temperate
region in Southern Kansas, the effect may be beneficial on the whole. A t the same time I have expressed
a strong belief that, in the Southern States, whites
and blacks are interdependent—neither can do without the other. I think they themselves have found
this to be so; and generally speaking industrial questions are not the cause of serious dissension.
I t is the struggle for political power, and the
question whether the coloured people are to be allowed to vote freely, which has caused all the trouble.
The greater the trouble the more necessity for settling
the question whether real effect is to be given to the
15th Article of Amendment to the United States Constitution, providing that the right to vote shall not be
denied or abridged on. account or race or colour. I t

PKEFACE.

XI

is notorious that in the late elections the free exercise
of that vote has been abridged and destroyed by
violence and fraud in several Congressional districts.
These disputed elections must be decided by the
present Congress, P cannot but think that it would
be good policy on the part of Northern Democrats
honestly to give up the few seats which have been
won by the South by means which cannot possibly be
defended; and that it is nothing but the most evident
prudence on the part of Southern Democrats to accept
that solution and be content with the great majority
and complete control of their States, which they have
attained, without insisting on an absolutely solid
South, to which they have no just right, if election
be free.
. A solution of this kind would involve an even
balancing of parties, which would plainly point to
compromise; and if there is to be compromise surely
the. best plan would be to let the President of compromise, Mr. Hayes, sit quietly for another term. Mr.
Hayes pleases neither party, and it is the fashion 'to
run him down and call him weak. Yet he is the
only man who has shown some independent will to
act for the benefit of his country outside the trammels of party. I cannot but think that the Civil
Service and other reforms that he has attempted to
initiate are well worthy of a trial. No doubt if the
1
man on horseback' must come back—if the South
must be kept down by a firm hand, Grant is the man
to do it. Whatever his other qualities, he knows the
policy he is to carry out, and can be depended on to

xii

PKEFACE.

do it firmly without flinching. But if things are to
be settled by conciliation, and North and South are
to come together on friendly terms for a new departure, then I venture to think that Mr. Hayes is an
able and good man, whose personal character, manner,
and surroundings well fit him to carry out such a
policy. But to make such a policy possible it is absolutely necessary that the South should honestly
accept the 15th Amendment.
GEORGE CAMPBELL.
May 10,1879,

CONTENTS.
A BIRD'S-EYE

VJEW OF THE UNITED

STATES.
VA.GK

Inducements to Visit America .
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General Features of the Country
The Climate
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The Races Composing the Population .
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The Principal Products of the Soil .
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Characteristics of the American People
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Language .
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Hotels and Food .
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Railway Travelling
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Social Arrangements
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; Manners
The Cities
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The Country Districts
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The Free School System
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Commercial Morality .
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Protection and Reciprocity .
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The Drink Question
Religion
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The Political System
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Home Rule in the States
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The Position of Canada
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Taxation in the States .
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The Land System
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The Currency Question
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Opportunities for Emigration and Investment
Feeling towards England .
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...

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3
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109

XIV

CONTENTS.
THE MANAGEMENT

OF COLOURED

RACES.
PAGE

The System prevailing in our Colonies
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Treatment of Natives in Africa
*
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BLACK AND

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.111
120

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WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN

STATES

Objects of my Inquiry
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The Character and Capacity of the Negro
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The Negroes as a Labouring Population .
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The Political Situation in the South
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The Caste Question .
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SOME OF THE CONTENTS

OF MY

The Voyage and First Impressions .
New York
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The Elevated Railway
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The New York Country
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A Scamper North and W e s t
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Boston
The Massachusetts Country
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The Mohawk Valley
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Niagara
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Canada
: Chicago
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Chicago to St. Louis
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St. Louis
Kansas
The Blacks in the W e s t
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The Missouri and Mississippi .
The Interior of Illinois
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The Western Farmers
Indiana and Ohio
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Pennsylvania
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Pittsburgh .
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Interior of Pennsylvania

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JOURNAL.

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126
128
140
162
194

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203
204
.207
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212
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223
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236
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CONTENTS,

XV
PAGE

A Democratic Meeting
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Pennsylvanian Farming . •,. ,. , .
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Philadelphia
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A Republican Meeting .
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Pennsylvanian Industries .
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Philadelphian Society .
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The Courts and the Judges
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Some Pennsylvanian Ideas. .
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» 241
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242
, 243
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•
248
< 249
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250

Baltimore .
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The Blacks in Maryland, fife. .
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The Hopkins University .
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.253
The Baltimore People .
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256
A Democratic view of Politics .
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. 257
Washington
Conversation with the President
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Appearance of the City .
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Some Opinions on several Subjects .
Some of the Public Offices
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The Revenue System .
; ;; ...... .-..
The Weather Department
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General Sherman
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Law and Lawyers .
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Virginia
The Blacks at Hampton
Norfolk
Petersburg
Free Trade Views
Richmond
Education .
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The Tobacco Manufacture
A Visit to the Country
The Governor of Virginia
Virginian Views of Things

•

259
.260
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264
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271
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275

.-/ . 2 7 6
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•'...:.... .
. 287

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•

• 290

xvi

CONTENTS,

North Carolina
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Raleigh, Capital of the State
Gaelic-speaking Americans
The Cotton Culture .
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Condition of the Negroes
Political Parties .
Agricultural Geography .
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Education .
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The Farmers .
Some Carolinian Acquaintances ,
The Constitution and Legislation
Durhams and Tobacco Manufacture
A Southern Cotton Mill .
Salisbury and the People there .
South Carolina
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To Columbia, the Capital .
W a d e Hampton, the Governor
The Election
Education
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Position of the Negroes
The Tenure of Land
Charleston
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The Low-country Negroes
The Rice Country
The Sea Islands
Some Representative Men .
Visits to the Country
How the Election was W o n
The Exodus to Liberia .
South Carolina Legislation
A Visit to the Rice Districts
The* Phosphate W o r k s
The County of Beaufort .
The Effect of Black Rule .
An American ' R y o t w a r ' Settlement

CONTENTS.

Xvii
PAGE

Georgia
Augusta and the Cotton Mills
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Journey to Atlanta .
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A Southern View of Things
Atlanta, the Capital
The Georgian Legislature
Some Georgian Acquaintances
The Liquor Traffic
Views about the Nigger
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Some Statistics
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More Talk with Georgians
A Democratic Orator
The Election of Judges
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Manufactures and Trade
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The Georgian Farmers
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The Independents .
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To Calhoun—a Farm in the Country .
The W h i t e Farmers
Dalton—more W h i t e Farmers and Black
The Return Journey
A Cattle Country
Washington again
To New York
Railway Affairs
Some Views of North and South
A New York Market
New York Politics and Taxation
The Voyage Home

STATE

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346
347
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358
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364
367
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372
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377
378
379
380
380
.381
382
.383
385

CONSTITUTION'S.

The Constitution of Massachusetts
The Constitution of Virginia
The Constitution of Illinois

386
387
392

A BIRD'S-EYE YIEW OF THE- UNITED STATES
BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF

A SERIES OF ADDRESSES DELIVERED IN SCOTLAND IN
THE BEGINNING OF FEBRUARY 1879

A BIKD'S-EYE V I E W
OF

T H E U N I T E D STATES:
THE SUBSTANCE

OF A SERIES

OF

ADDRESSES.1

1 HAVE a strong belief that all of us ought to know
the Americans better than we do. They are really
and truly our kin. This is not a mere phrase. When
one goes among them one finds that they are very
little removed from us after all, and the community
of language makes intimacy very easy. An intimate acquaintance and friendship with them must be
most beneficial to both parties, in order to cultivate
the arts of peace and material progress, and to avert
the possibility of misunderstandings which have led,
and might even yet lead to war between two sister
countries, than which, in these modern days of
destruction, nothing can be more awful or more
terrible; but a risk to which we are always exposed
as long as misunderstandings are possible. It seems
to me very unfortunate that most of the popular
English writers who have described the Americans
have caricatured them: and that is so not only as
regards the writers of the past who have suffered

4

BIKD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

from American finance or otherwise, but even the
popular writer Anthony Trollope, who is still among
us, and who some years ago gave us a description of
the Americans in his very vivid and popular manner,
seems to me to have done them the greatest injustice.
H e seems to make the worst of everything; most of
their ways and institutions he condemns to, I think,
an unfair degree ; and you may imagine the spirit in
which he wrote, when I mention that writing in the
latter part of the great civil war he condemns, in
language the most scathing, all who would do anything so mad and foolish as to emancipate the slaves.
The only wonder to me is that after all that has
passed the feeling of the Americans towards us is so
good as it in fact is. They really have a very kindly
feeling on their p a r t ; and if there is misunderstanding
I thi&k it is more due to ignorance and prejudice on
the part of many people in England, though I hope
not in Kirkcaldy, which has so much and so beneficial business with America. I t is certainly the case
that the Americans who come to Europe do not feel
themselves at their ease in England, and consequently
it happens—a very lamentable fact, I think—that,
almost invariably, after spending a few days in the
country and seeing Windsor, Stratford-onAvon, and
Abbotsford, they go abroad to the Continent of
Europe and spend their time and money there. I
think this should be cured. W e should welcome
them more than we do ; and I would very much urge
on all of you who can make it out to go and see
for yourselves in America what kind of people they

GENERAL FEATURES OE THE COUNTRY.

5

are. You would very soon find that you are not
among foreigners there, but among a people with whom
you could very readily make yourselves at home.
The facilities for getting to America are now very
great, and the expense not large. The Atlantic no
doubt is not the calmest of seas, but stout-hearted
people don't mind that. The voyage is now reduced
to eight days, and the steamers are admirable and
very numerous. For those who are prepared to
travel in an independent way, without servants or
special luxuries, the cost of travelling in America is
not excessive, and the comforts are considerable.
Whatever may be said of the hotels in other respects, they are very convenient for the passing traveller, and the kindness of American friends to whom
one is introduced is unbounded.
For people who require private rooms and accommodation for servants, and who cannot rough it
so far as to get about by the aid of tramways and
public conveyances only, travelling in America is
much more difficult and expensive, since the American
establishments do not afford the same private accommodation as English hotels, or if they do, charge for
it excessively, and the hack carriages are enormously
dear. This must be borne in mind if ladies are of
the party.
GENERAL FEATURES

OF THE

COUNTRY.

I will try to give you some little account of the
country and the people; and first as regards the

6

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

objects immediately apparent to the eye—the common botany and zoology of the country, I was surprised to find not nearly so strange as I expected.
One has heard so much of the extremely new
character of the trees and animals of Australasia,
and other distant countries—of trees without leaves,
and animals that walk chiefly by the aid of their
tails—that I had expected in America also, so long
an undiscovered continent, to find numerous strange
appearances. It really is not so at all. The vegetation is curiously like our own. Firs and oaks, and
other trees, look very much like those in Europe,
and the animals too are not violently unlike. There
are partridges and birds like grouse, and American
rabbits not so unlike ours, and other creatures very
familiar to us. But there is this peculiarity, that,
although almost all plants and animals are like those
with us they are never identical. They are always
similar, but never the same species ; and perhaps it
is due to the peculiarities of climate that European
species seem never to have superseded those of
America. For instance, while the European rabbit
has overrun Australia and New Zealand, it is unknown in America, and the small American rabbit—
something between the rabbit and the hare in its
habits—still holds its place. I am told that in reality there is a greater difference between the natural
productions of the country east and west of the
Kocky Mountains than there is between Europe and
the Eastern States. I did not myself go so far as the
Rocky Mountains; but till we reach the western

GENERAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY.

7

part of the American continent, I may say of the
States in general, that they are not so mountainous
or so hilly as Great Britain. The most decided hills
that one sees are close to the eastern ports, but
beyond that there is scarcely anything that can be
called a mountain. W h a t is called a mountain in
American language is sometimes a very little hill
indeed. On the other hand, one is struck by the
immense quantity of wood all over the country, not
less in the Southern States than in the North. In
fact, the Southern States are especially woody, and
it is the quantity of wood that in all the old States
makes the extension of cultivation somewhat slow
and difficult. The prevailing tree in the south is a
pine, which very much resembles our Scotch fir; in
the north, hardwood trees are more prevalent. In
truth, not a tenth part of the older States is yet
really cleared and cultivated. There is yet everywhere room for immense development. The rainfall
is generally most beneficently arranged, and the general character of the land is one of much fertility.
In this respect, however, I do not think that it has
upon the whole, or taken on an average, an advantage over England and the lowlands of Scotland.
True, some western lands are of extraordinary
fertility, but there is a great deal that is only
moderately fertile, and that is the case in regard to
most of the Eastern States. "When we compare the
country on the whole with England, I think it may
be said that perhaps it is about on a par—the
average of the soilis as good, perhaps a little better.

8

BIBD'S-EYE VIEW OE THE UNITED STATES.

In some respects the climate is "brighter, but the
winters are certainly more severe, and the extremes
of climate lead to an enormous growth of weeds,
which makes agriculture in some respects more
difficult than with us. True, in the west there are
what are called prairie States, great parts of which
are free from natural wood; but it is an entire
delusion to suppose that magnificent prairies with
magnificent natural grass are easily available to the
settler. I travelled considerably west of the Missouri
in search of such a prairie, and never found one.
The ground is all taken up and enclosed, and the
natural prairie grass—never very good—fails as soon
as cattle are turned upon it in large numbers. Hence
in Illinois and such States the farmers are*obliged to
resort to artificial grass, just as we do in this part of
Scotland.
On the whole, then, taking the country mile for
mile and acre for acre, I can say that it is about
equal to but not superior to England ; but then there
is this vast difference, that it is not one England, but
forty Englands. Some people seem to have been
offended by Mr. Gladstone's recent article, when he
said that the United States, if they kept together,
must certainly surpass us. It seems to me that Mr.
Gladstone only spoke a truth which must be selfevident, without attributing to the American people
any great superiority over ourselves, at all events
over Scotchmen. "We are a people a little over
30*000,000, who have no means of extension in our
own country. We are, as it were, like a hive of bees

GENERAL FEATURES OF T H E COUNTRY.

9

which is constantly sending forth swarms to establish
other hives elsewhere, but does not itself admit of
extension; whereas the Americans are already upwards of 40,000,000, perhaps nearly 45,000,000 of
people who are continually extending themselves
every day; they have not one hive but forty hives,
and these only very partially occupied; and not only
do they send their swarms into their own hives, but
they are continually receiving new swarms from us and
from others. It follows, as a matter of course, that
under such circumstances the forty hives must surpass
the one hive in population and production, if only
they keep together. And we may be very comfortable at home without grudging them their extension.
In truth, what the Americans suffer from at
present is too much land. They would have better
settled what they have if they had less of it. A t one
time it was supposed that soon after passing the
Missouri they had reached the natural limit in that
direction, and that the country was then bounded by
a great rainless tract, marked in the map as the great
American desert; but it has been discovered that
this is quite a mistake, that the country called desert
is not desert at all, but very capable of excellent
cultivation, and especially good for raising wheat
and .cattle. The most rapidly developing States in
the west are those situated in that tract marked as
desert in the map. In fact, that is the great feature
of recent American extension, and from these there
comes a large portion of the wheat and the beef
which to-day renders your food so much cheaper

10

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

than it has been. "Wheat is a plant which thrives in
a dry climate, and great tracts in the far west are
now found to be suitable to it, while even where thfc
land is too dry or steep for wheat, good grazing is
still found on the slopes and in the valleys of the
Rocky Mountains.
TEE

CLIMATE.

The Americans are accustomed rather to boast of
their climate, and to compare the brightness of their
skies with our foggy atmosphere ; but on the other
hand there is no doubt of this, that they suffer from
extremes of heat and cold more than we do. The
heat in summer is excessive in New York. For a
few weeks in the height of summer I am told that
it is not an uncommon thing for the thermometer
to stand at 110°, and to be almost as high at night
as in the daytime. And then the cold in winter is
very severe, and though kept out of houses by stoves
—not the most wholesome things in the world—
much interferes with agricultural and other operations. I t is generally believed that the effect of this
climate has been to make the American race perhaps
keener and brighter, but not so healthy and rosy as
our people are. The difference in the women especially has long been noticed. Still I am bound to
say I saw a great many men in America who ]ooked
very robust and well, and might have passed for
Scotchmen; and that even some of the ladies are
now becoming pretty beefy, as it has been irreverently

THE CLIMATE.

11

expressed. I say this without detracting from the
reputation for a somewhat delicate-looking beauty
which is well deserved by so many of them. The
great advantage for practical purposes of the American
climate is the favourable distribution of the rainfall.
The rain seems never to fail, and it generally comes
just when it is most wanted. I believe it is almost
entirely due to the fortunate distribution of the
rainfall that the Southern States so completely beat
countries where labour is infinitely cheaper in the
production of cotton*. The valley of the Mississippi
has throughout a very full and good supply of rain
at the right season, and throughout the Union there
seems to be less trouble from bad weather at harvest
time than with us. Many crops, maize especially,
stand out for long till it is convenient to reap them.
In California I believe the wheat is left standing for
weeks without injury. I should tell you here that
in what I say of America, I usually do not refer to
the Californian countries beyond the mountains. I
did not go there; but I found that if I remarked
anything that was wanting in America they always
said, 'Ah, you would get that in California.' I have
no doubt from what I learned that California really
has a different climate—not so hot in summer, nor
so cold in winter, but more like that of Southern
Europe, as shown by its fruits and other productions.
I think one of the most extraordinary things I know,
as showing the difference between the energies of
different races, is that the Spaniards were actually
possessed of California for hundreds of years, and

12

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

never discovered that it was worth anything at all,
whereas the Americans no sooner got it than they
made it one of the finest countries in the world. A t
the same time I should say this by way of caution,
that under the old Spanish grants of land all California
has been monopolised, and it is not owned by settlers,
as the other parts of the States. The man who goes
there must expect to be a labourer rather than an
owner of land.
THE RACES COMPOSING THE

POPULATION.

And now I will tell you something about the
origin and breed, if I may use the expression, of the
people of America. The foundation of the people—
that upon which their language and manners are
based—is almost entirely English, derived in fact
from the southern counties of England, from which
the early settlers came. Indeed, I am inclined to
think that many of the peculiarities in language and
other respects, which we now call American, are really
old English, or rather old south of England peculiarities. W e Scotch have not put a special Scotch
impress on any part of the United States, as we have
in Ireland and other parts of the world. In Canada
only does one hear very largely the Scottish tongue
and find especially Scottish settlements. But although
none of the United States are specially Scotch there
is a very large and very valuable infusion of Scotch
blood throughout all of them. I found that an
immense number of the best and most prominent men

RACES COMPOSING THE POPULATION.

13

wherever I went claimed Scotch descent, or at least
a share of Scottish blood. Then there is another
allied breed which is very prominent in almost every
part of the United States—one of the finest races of
the world—of which we have reason to be proud and
may well think second only to ourselves. I mean
the Northern Irish, universally called in America
Scotch-Irish, expressing by that term people of
Scotch origin who had settled in Ireland. They have
emigrated to America in large numbers, and are
among the best farmers and the best men in every
way. There is, as you know/ a very large SouthernIrish element in the States, mostly comparatively
recent emigrants, of the Catholic religion. A very
great deal has been said against these Irish in the
States. I confess I had rather been led to believe
that they were a rowdy and not very prosperous set.
I have been agreeably surprised by what I learned
of them in America. I t is true they have not very
much risen to the higher places, in fact seem comparatively seldom to rise as compared with Scotch or
Scotch-Irish, except as politicians; but they are admirable labourers, and it is almost a proverb in the States
to say that a good workman does as much as an
Irishman. The railways and other great works of
the States are almost dependent upon Irish labour.
And in the cotton mills of the Northern States, which
now so severely rival Lancashire, I am told that the
Irish girls work better and are generally preferred to
Americans and Canadians who work with them in
the mills. Although the Irish have not shown that

14

BIED'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

aptitude as pioneers in the settlement of land which
we might have expected of men so accustomed to
small farms in Ireland, and do not successfully push
west as do Scotchmen or Germans, and although like
other Americans they may not always be very saving,
I understand that they are not altogether without
these good qualities, and that a very large portion of the
North-Eastern States, from which the pushing and adventurous Yankees have gone forth to occupy the West,
have been filled up as they leave by Irishmen taking
their places. I t would be a very curious thing if
Puritan New England became a Roman Catholic Irish
colony, while New England goes West to better itself.
Although the language and everything else in the
States is English, there is, as you are probably aware,
a very large proportion of European foreigners, who
have become naturalised and are becoming Anglicised
there. The old Dutch of New York are not very
numerous. But one is apt to be misled regarding
the Dutch, for it is the American habit to call all
Germans Dutch, probably the German word deutsch
having become naturalised. The Germans are a
numerous and most valuable element in the United
States. Perhaps, taking them all in all, they are as
good colonists as any of the races which come from
these islands. For if they are not so bright and so
pushing they are more hard-working, and saving, and
more economical; in fact, they are quite model
colonists. They settle down on the land and work
with a thriftiness and perseverance which no Scotchmen could beat—the women working as well as the

RACES COMPOSING THE POPULATION.

15

men; and whether in the east or in the west you
always find Germans among the best and most numerous of the small farmers. That is their special vocation. They are also very numerous among small
shopkeepers and traders. German Jews are now becoming very prominent in the States. Of late years
there has been a great emigration of people from
the Scandinavian countries: Swedes and Norwegians,
and people from Finland and some parts of Russia.
They confine themselves to the extreme Northern
States, pushing on to the far north-west; but they
are admirable settlers, and a great source of increase
and improvement to the States to which they go. In
several parts of the United States there is a considerable old French element which contributes in many
respects to the brightness of the population and to
certain branches of enterprise and industry.
The native Indians have never come to any good;
I am afraid they have never been very well managed
in the States, not so well as in Canada; at all events
they are gradually pushed off the soil; only a few
still remain as pensioners, and they cannot be accounted as a considerable element in the population.
On the other hand, the negro race, imported as slaves,
is now very numerous and very prominent, forming
about half the population of many of the Southern
States. W e have heard a great many prophecies of
the terrible things which would happen when these
poor helpless children were set free. Mr. Anthony
Trollope, whom I have mentioned, is one of the most
lugubrious of the prophets. They were to die out

16

BIED'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

or be sent back to Africa, or to be a perpetual incubus to the white people among whom they lived. I
have been agreeably surprised to find how all this
has been falsified. Far from dying out they are now
prospering and increasing. They produce that immense crop of cotton, larger far than any produced
in slave times, which supplies the mills of the whole
world. They are capital workers at railways and
other works in the southern climates not fitted for
white men. They do almost as much work as Irishmen. I was told that many of them are becoming
small independent farmers; and altogether instead
of being a burden they are becoming an important
class of American citizens. They are already zealous
Christians. They have adopted the ways and habits
of the white men. They have the rights of citizens,
and are rapidly being educated.
I have alluded to the New Englanders of the
North-Eastern States, and said that very many of
them have pushed further west. I t is in consequence
of this emigration that the great North-Western
States are very distinctly marked by a New England
or Yankee character. Undoubtedly the least fertile
portion of the United States is New England. The
only wonder is how the first settlers should ever
have settled there ; but having taken root there they
were rewarded for their industry by the acquisition
of the great countries to the north-west. The State
of New York is a great State; but its agricultural
citizens have abundant room within their own State;
and it is rather the City of New York than the State

EACES COMPOSING THE POPULATION.

17

|
that is so prominent in American politics and commerce. That city is, in fact, situated in a position
extraordinarily favourable to commerce, and has far
outdone all rivals. It has a magnificent harbour,
with a tide just enough to keep it clean and sweet,
and not so much as to render necessary dry docks
and other elaborate appliances which we require.
Ships of the largest burden lie alongside the shore
for miles, and have facilities such as are not found
in our harbours. Then in the latitude of New York
there is a natural cleft in the Alleghany Mountains—
the only cleft which exists from the Gulf of Mexico
to Northern Canada. Through that cleft there is a
splendid waterway, the Hudson River, and railways
have been carried alongside of it. Thus it is that
New York has a natural advantage which no other
port possesses. In the country districts of the New
York State, as in the city, there are still considerable
remains of the old Dutch element, but nearly Anglicised; the other settlers on the land of all classes,
both British and foreign, constitute a very large and
prosperous population of small farmers. Pennsylvania, again, is a very great State, originally founded
by English Quakers, but in which the German element is now very large. I t is, perhaps, the most
advanced State in the Union, in regard to its manufactures and the character of its agriculture. Pennsylvania, too, has very largely colonised the Western
States. Virginia is an old State, but not so prosperous. I am afraid most of the Englishmen who have
taken up land there have not made a particularly
2

18

BIKD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

good thing of it, except those in the hilly country to!
the west, where splendid cattle are produced. But
Virginia is, as it were, the mother of the Southern
States. From Virginia people have very largely
gone southwards to colonise the higher and cooler
parts of the Carolinas, Georgia, and the other
Southern States; so that in these States, while, as I
have said, about half the population are negroes, the
other half are very decent and respectable white
people, principally small farmers. There has not
been much white immigration there of late years, but
in the last century a good many Scotchmen went
there, especially Highlanders.
THE PM1JSTGIPAL PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL.

If you look at the map you will see the great
varieties of latitude and of physical configuration
which enable the United States to produce so many
things, and so largely to supply the world with food
and the materials for clothing. Roun$ the Southern
seaboard, from North Carolina to Texas, and up the
Mississippi to Arkansas and Missouri, we have a belt
of States producing by far the largest portion of the
cotton-supply of Europe. On the lowlands of the
Carolinas and Georgia rice of fine quality is grown;
and near the mouths of the Mississippi there are
great sugar plantations; but these latter articles only
thrive under protection, and are not exported. There
has lately been a good deal of talk and fuss about the
production of sugar from maize-stalks and sorghum,

THE PEIKCIPAL PK0DUCTS OE THE SOIL.

19

a Chinese millet. Many farmers cultivate patches
of the latter; but so far as I could learn, this sugar is
not likely to come to much—only a sort of molasses
for domestic use is ordinarily obtained.
The American tobacco is principally grown in the
Central States; still to a large extent in Virginia, but
even more in Kentucky and Tennessee, and farther
west, and now a good deal in Pennsylvania also.
There is some very fine grazing ground in the
Central States, Kentucky, Tennessee, and "West
Virginia. -The blue grass of Kentucky is famous;
though it is not blue at all, but green, and very like
our common natural grass. In the South an EastIndian grass, known as 'DhoopJ or Sun-grass, has
been introduced, and proves very productive as a
permanent grass. In most of the Northern States
timothy grass, rye grass, and clover are largely sown;
and in some parts further south lucerne is a productive crop.
Efforts are being made to reintroduce silk in the
South, but it has been tried before, and I doubt if it
will come to much. The tea-plant grows very well,
but it requires too much labour to be a practical
culture in the States. There is too much frost for
coffee. The Southerners are trying to grow Bengal
jute, but nothing has come of these experiments yet.
They used to cultivate indigo, but it has quite gone
out; Bengal has beaten them in that. And they have
not attempted to rival our Indian opium. Attempts
are made to produce wine, but I think it is only in
California that vineyards are very successful.

20

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OE THE UNITED STATES.

In the Northern States, little as one would
expect it, the most valuable product of all is hay,
chiefly grown from artificial grass. That shows
how much is done for the rearing of flocks,, Maize,
or Indian corn, is an immense production all over
the country. Of this also much is used to feed
animals. After that comes wheat, the production of
which has made wheat cheap in our markets, and the
cultivation of which is so much increasing that it
may be confidently predicted that, unless we have
any unhappy quarrel with the United States, which
God forbid, bread never can again be dear in this
country; for the means of communication are improving every day. The production of barley is not
large, but there is a great abundance of oats. Wheat
is produced both in the North-Western States, where
snow covers it in winter, and much further south,
where the winters are mild. In the intermediate
zone maize prevails.
I trust cheap meat is about to be secured to'us in
addition to cheap bread. Already bacon is produced
in America at an extraordinarily low rate, and the
people of a large number of the States are now devoting immense attention to the production of beef.
It is not only that great herds come from the western
grazing grounds of Colorado and Texas, but in the
settled agricultural countries people are more and
more giving themselves to cattle-breeding. They import very carefully the finest bulls, and are raising
the character of their cattle every day. Nothing
impressed me so much throughout my tour as the

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

21

great extent of country, North and South, East and
West, in which the farmers are going into cattlebreeding for our market with enthusiasm—one hears
the talk of beeves everywhere, and the cattle trade
is ready to assume enormous proportions. You are
aware, too, that extraordinary efforts are being made,
day by day, to find improved means of bringing the
American meat to your doors. An immense number
of fine steamers are fitting up for the trade in live
cattle, which is growing by leaps and bounds as
never trade grew before. I cannot but have some
sympathy with our farmers, who are, I am afraid,
having rather hard times; but still they have considerable advantages in many respects, and must
more and more devote themselves to supplying us
with milk and butter, to finishing off the education of
foreign cattle, to turning their farms into a sort of
market-gardens of high culture. And, without touching upon political subjects, I must venture to hope
that our Government will not be led into any restriction upon the importation of cattle, which would
have the effect of keeping very dear the butcher's-meat
consumed by the people of this country.
CHARACTERISTICS

OF THE AMERICAN

PEOPLE.

I now proceed to tell you something of the
characteristics of the American people—I mean the
real American, born and bred in the country, as
distinguished from the foreign element, of which
there is so much. In some things, no doubt, there

22

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

!
are peculiarities which make them unlike u s ; but
in very many other things they are like us. And it
seems to me that, after getting over the first surface
differences, the likenesses are much more numerous
and much more prominent than the unlikenesses.
W e have heard of their popular " Yankeeisms," which
are supposed to give us a fair specimen of the
American people; but what I found when I went
there was, that the peculiarities of language and otherwise which had been held out to us as " Yankeeisms "
really almost exhaust all that there is of American
peculiarity. These ' Yankeeisms' of our literature are
not specimens of what is behind, but are in themselves
nearly the whole of the features in which the people
differ from us. In their general style, in their manners, and in their language they are in a very marked
degree British, and not foreign.
In regard to language especially I was really
surprised to find how little difference there is, and
how much their idioms and everything else are
thoroughly English. I t is a curious thing, but it
seems to me that the only people who talk very
American indeed are the higher class of people, and
especially the ladies—the sort of fine ladies one sees
in foreign hotels on the Continent of Europe.
Perhaps the truth is that these people are the oldest
Americans, who have brought down mast completely
the provincial peculiarities which they carried with
them from certain parts of Old England or established
among themselves in the early days of American
settlement. It may well be that these have been

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AMERICAN" PEOPLE.

23

handed down among the richer classes, whereas
among the lower classes, intermixed so much as
they have been with new arrivals, the language has
assumed a sort of cosmopolitan English character.
I found that in many parts of the States the common
labouring man used language which I could not distinguish from that of a tolerably educated man of the
same class in these islands. I might have been in
doubt what county he came from, but if he did not
happen to use a few peculiar American phrases I
should not have known that he was not a Britisher.
It was not only that my ear became accustomed to
the American intonation, for I constantly found,
again, that when I met ladies of the more well-to-do
classes the ' Y a n k e e ' peculiarities came out as prominently as ever. Of the body of the people I think
it may be said that their language is English—a
little better than that used in any county of England.
The hotels are certainly a very peculiar American
institution. Mr. Anthony Trollope hits them off
very well. Although he does make the worst of
things, I am not prepared to say that there is not
much truth in his description of the hotels. I have
said that they are extremely convenient for the
passing traveller; but as residences in the way many
Americans use them I do not know that I should
care for them. I t struck me as curious, in regard
to hotels and some other things, that, inventive and
progressive as the Americans are, there is in these
things a sort of dead level of uniformity about them.

24

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

Wherever you go in all these vast States the hotels
are almost all on the same plan. So are the railway
carriages, and so are some other things. There does
not exist either the cosy, comfortable English hotel
or the foreign cafe. There is nothing in New York
or anywhere else, so far as I saw, like the Boulevards
in Continental cities. But there is everywhere the
universal American hotel, the lower hall of which is
a kind of place of assembly for all the world, or at all
events all the male world. That public life in the
hotel hall is what the American men seem to like
best. The reading-rooms and other public apartments
are not very comfortable; but the barber's shop
attached to every American hotel is luxurious. I do
agree with Mr. TroUope in denouncing as the most
horrible place in the world the ladies' room, which is
always the stifiest, barest, and most uncomfortably
gorgeous place that it is possible to conceive—not a
book or a newspaper or a domestic comfort of any
kind—a place into which a stranger can hardly dare
to enter, unless he be a man of iron nerves; and if he
does enter cannot make himself comfortable in any
sort of way. It seems very strange that, with the experience of Continental travelling which the Americans
have, after seeing the nice, comfortable drawing-rooms
in Swiss and other hotels, they won't condescend to
introduce something of the kind into their own.
Then in their mode of feeding the Americans are
sertainly peculiar, and their ways are quite different
from our ways. You never see such a' thing as an
English joint or an English dish put upon the table*

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AMERICAN P E O P L E .

25

Nor, on the other hand, have you wTell-cooked dishes
landed round in the French style. They have a
style of their own, which is, that your meal is served
in a large number of curious oval little dishes, which
are put before you all mixed up together, without the
smallest regard to time or tide, or hotness, or coldness,
or anything else; and especially you have to this
day what Mr. Trollope vividly describes, a waiter who
stands over you as a sort of taskmaster, and makes
you eat your meal, not at your convenience but at his.
I do think it is a very great pity that the founders
of the American Republic did not introduce a little
Scotch cookery among their early institutions. I am
very happy to say that more recent reforms have
introduced one excellent Scotch food which we are
too much inclined to discard ourselves. I mean oatmeal porridge. They generally give cream with it—
a very commendable arrangement. In truth, I could
have eaten oatmeal porridge in the States with great
satisfaction, if I had not felt insulted by the constant
practice there of calling it 'Irish oatmeal.'
The
Ameiicans themselves seem to have a partiality to
live upon oysters, which are there produced in enormous quantity, and I believe of excellent quality, for
I do not eat them myself. Their beef is generally
good, but not always .well cooked; the mutton not
good. They have a most delightful variety of
different kinds of bread, not only of wheat but of
maize, corn, buckwheat, and other things. They
drink a very great deal of tea and coffee, and a great
deal of excellent milk; but what is unpardonable,

26

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

considering the excellent dairy facilities which they
have, the butter is always salt and bad. When I
speak of tea or coffee, however, I should say that
coffee is the principal drink of the States, and is
generally very well made. Tea is comparatively quite
rare, and is almost always very badly made. I shall
notice separately in connection with the drink question the, to us, extraordinary absence of wine and
other liquors from their me§ls.
The railway carriages are another American institution which are quite different from ours. They are
very long and heavy conveyances, with entrances only
from the ends, and seats ranged along each side. There
seems to be no objection on principle to a variety of
classes. On all the chief railways of the Northern
States there are drawing-room cars, which practically
take the place of first-class carriages. But the ordinary American railway carriage, which is the only carriage without distinction of class on a large proportion
of railways, is such that it may be generally said that
all are second-class. In these travelling in America
is somewhat cheaper than travelling first-class in this
country; and so far as my experience goes there is
generally an entire absence of any rough and rowdy
element, such as some have supposed must result from
an amalgamation of classes. I am inclined to think
the people who most suffer from the American system
are those who travel third-class in this country. For
them there is no cheap third-class, and consequently
for them travelling is much dearer than in this
country. There seem to be no railway porters in

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

27

America. People manage themselves and take care
of themselves, and the railways run through the
middle of streets and towns without any fencing. I
asked, i Are people not constantly run- down and
killed ?' The answer I got was, 'They sometimes are;
but they learn to take care of themselves.'
For
travelling at night there are the Pullman cars, or
other cars in the style of the Pullman. But here, too5
it struck me, there was a too extreme uniformity
and great absence of variety. The cars are very
gorgeous and not very comfortable—sometimes very
crowded and much overheated. The great steamers
which run on protected waters and rivers are, I think,
the most comfortable institutions in the way of
travelling that exist in America or in any other
country.
If you want to have an idea of the general state of
society which exists in America I would put it to you
in this way—if in this country you were to kill off all
the country gentlemen, with all their wives and families, and make the farmers the owners of the land
which they till, you would have something which you
could hardly distinguish from America. American
towns are very much like English towns. The social
arrangements of Kirkcaldy are very like the social
arrangements of an American country town. But there
is this great difference, in the outward aspect, that in an
American town of this size you would have very large
and very broad streets, lined with trees; and very nice
villa-like houses, probably on the whole better than
our houses. In that respect the American town is a

28

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OP THE UNITED STATES.

better and a nicer place than our towns—in dry
weather, at any rate. But when it comes to rain, as
the streets are all unpaved, they are exceedingly
muddy. I have said that the country gentlemen element is altogether wanting; but the plutocrats, the
money people, are quite as strong in America as in this
country—perhaps stronger; that is socially, and in
everything not regulated by the first principles of the
American Constitution and system—these they cannot
get over. In all other matters the plutocrats, it seems
to me, rule the country even more than they do here.
The rich people rule the press, and the press rules
the country. I am afraid that is a good deal the case
in most par^g of the civilised world.
There is a popular idea that the Americans are so
civilised that they object to marriage, and that for increase of the population the Americans must depend,
not upon themselves, but upon the foreigners. 1 believe that this is quite a libel. The peculiar sects
of which we hear so much are but a drop among the
population. I myself saw none of them, but 1 did
see a great many people who did not belong to these
peculiar sects, and my decided impression is that the
Americans marry earlier and trust to their wits to
support a family more than we d o ; that they have
large and rapid families, just such as we h a v e ; and
there is not the least danger that the American
population will die out. In nothing, I think, does
Mr. Trollope so much libel the Americans as in the
most odious character which he attributes to the
average middle-class woman of America. H e seems

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AMERICAN P E O P L E .

29
i

to depict her as a kind of hideous Jezebel who invades tramway-cars and other public places, tarns
men out of their seats in the most audacious and
unfeeling manner, and asserts women's rights with
the most entire disregard to the rights of unhappy
males. Perhaps Mr. Trollope's denunciations have
had some effect in working a reform^ but all I can say
is that I saw nothing whatever of the kind. Where
a car is crowded men will generally give seats to
women, just as they do on the Metropolitan Railway
in London, but I never saw anything mora than this.
On the contrary, it seemed to me that the more
purely American of the American women—tho^e who
are not accustomed to spend money in an ostentatious
way in Europe, and to over-dress and over-peacock
there—are very nice people indeed. I t is the ' Daisy
Millers,' and the Daisy Millers' mammas, who to some
extent have given the American women a bad name.
See them at home, and they seem to me among the
nicest of their sex. The American girls are certainly
more independent than our girls are. They think
it a reproach if they cannot be trusted to go with a
young man either to a church or a theatre. I won't say
whether that is better or worse than our system;
but I do admire the independence of the American
girls in helping themselves by useful employments. In
this respect I hope many of our girls are following
their example. Ladies of a class who would not like
to go out as school teachers and telegraph clerks
among us do so quite freely in America. I think the
last school I was in before I came to Kirkcaldy was a

30

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

black school for little negro children in the Southern
States, taught by a young white Northern lad}^, whom
we should think almost superior to that sort of work.
I am sure our women have much to learn from the
American women in the matter of helping others and
helping themselves.
As to the men, I ]iked their style and manners.
Generally speaking, there was comparatively little of
the Yankee about them. I heard a story of my
friend Mr. Holmes, the Member for Paisley, who
made a tour in the United States, and when he got
to Chicago he was very anxious to see a typical
American, with his slouched hat, big boots, belt with
revolver stuck it, and so on. He could not find
one for a long time. At last he found a man who
exactly came up to his idea; and entering into conversation with him, he said, c Have you been long
here? 7 l Na,' was the answer, ' I'am jist a month
frae GlascaV Perhaps the men too have been somewhat affected by English criticism. A t all events,
it is now the case that in their conduct they are
exceedingly quiet and orderly, and only spit to a
moderate extent. In fact, as regards smoking and
everything of that kind, the American rules are much
more strict than ours. Mr. Trollope denounces the
lower class of American men as rude and barbarous
in the extreme. For my part, I can say I found
them quite the contrary. Whenever I had occasion
to talk to any of them I was generally impressed with
their civility, intelligence, and education. One thing
particularly struck me, and that was the quiet and

CBAEACTEKISTICS OF T H E A H E B I C A N P E O P L E .

31

orderly character of their political meetings, I may
almost say the dullness of them, for I think they
were somewhat too quiet. They never interrupt a
speaker, but always let him say out his say without
the smallest hindrance, however distasteful his ideas
may be to some of them. When I said that sometimes they are very orderly, to the point of dullness,
I might illustrate that by telling you of an American
politician whom I met. He had been up attending a
political meeting at a country town. I said, ' H o w
i
did yon get onV
Oh,' he replied, ' exceedingly
well; I gave thenxthree solid hours of it, and they
were as quiet as if they had been in church.' Upon
the whole, my impression of the Americans is this,1
that in point of energy and enterprise they are
rather above the average Britisher, but not above
the average Scotchman—about, I may say, equal to
an average Scotchman. They are certainly very
pushing and go-ahead people; but then if they make
a great deal of money they also spend it very quickly
•—there is no doubt that they are Inclined to be extravagant.
Everyone who goes to America is yerj much
struck by the respect for law which prevails there.
They are, in fact, an extremely law-abiding people;
and since their great war, having learned by experi $
ence how horrible war is, they have come through
great trials and difficulties with wonderful avoidance of irritation and injurious conflict. I know no
people in the world who accept defeat in so thoroughly good-humoured a way; and in this respect I

32

BIKD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

think that the tone and temper of the people of the
Southern States is very highly to be praised.
There is an idea prevalent in this country that
in regard to many questions of social science, the
management of prisons and such like matters, the
Americans have gone far ahead of ourselves. I did
not go very minutely into these matters, for I had
not time, but so far as I could learn I failed to find
that they are much ahead of us. I heard quite as
many complaints of prison management in America
as ever I did in this country, and I doubt very much
whether their sanitary and other improvements are
greatly superior to ours. I am inclined to believe
that Edinburgh and Glasgow have done quite as
much in the way of social science progress as any
'American town.
I was specially interested in the condition of the
Southern States, and I spent a good deal of my time
there. They have no doubt suffered from war in a
pecuniary way as well as by losing all the flower of
the population; but they have a good heart, and are
doing well. This subject, however, is a special one,
which I shall probably take occasion to explain in
another shape, for it is scarcely possible to do so now.
I do not know that there is anything very special
in the larger American cities, except the trees in the
streets which I have mentioned, and the strictly rectangular character in their arrangement which leads to
the numbering of the streets in the way you have often
heard. There is one institution in New York which
struck me as very successful, and that is the elevated

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AMERICAN P E O P L E .

33

railways just opened. Instead of destroying the
narrower streets, full of traffic, by laying tramways
in them, they leave the streets for the ordinary traffic,
and carry the railway on elevated girders above the
heads of the people and the carts. That seems to be
successfully done in New York, and I hope to see it
done in London also. The Elevated Railway is quite
a new institution in New York—only started in the
last few months; but throughout all the towns the
tramway-car is a most universal and successful institution. The whole population use the tram-cars; in
most places there are comparatively few private car*
riages, and cabs ,are always dear.
My complaint of the American cities is that they
are too big—that is to say, too many people come to
the towns who had much better go and work in the
.country. I was almost tempted to say that, among
the Americans, for every man who really works with
his hands there seems to be two who seek to live
by speculating upon him—especially by insuring his
life—that seems to be the great business now to
which retired generals, governors, and other great men
devote themselves. I t seemed to me that Washington is the pleasantest and best of American cities.
Mr. Trollope describes it in very horrible terms, but
it has certainly been very much improved since those
days, and appeared to me to be a charming place.
Boston, as you may have heard, is a delightfully
English-looking place. Chicago and those new cities seem to have been overdone and to be much too
lame.

34

BIKD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

I t is always very easy to see the cities of America;
everybody expects you to see the cities ; but it is much
more difficult to see the country. Railways there
are in abundance, and wherever there is a railway you
can go, but there is, an extreme want of good roads.
The Americans seem to have skipped over that stage
in human progress and to have gone direct from no
roads to railways. If you want to hire a trap to
drive ten miles into the country you will find it
scarcely possible to get such a thing. But the
Americans themselves have, for country use, most
admirable private vehicles—infinitely lighter than our
carriages, quite as lasting, and every way superior;
and I cannot imagine why we don't take a leaf out of
their book in this respect. Whenever you are with
friends they are always ready to drive you over the
country with their fast-trotting horses and light buggies—admirable both horses and buggies are. That
is the only way in which you can see America.
To
my view no man has seen America who merely goes
from town to town, and does not see the country in
the way I have described, for the real backbone of the
population of America consists of the small farmers
who cover the country. The American Government
have been exceedingly wise in the provisions which
they have made against land-jobbing. Land is not
appropriated in immense blocks by the early settlers,
as in most of our colonies. The amount which each
man is allowed to take up is restricted to that which
he can beneficially farm; and under the homestead
law every man who settles in the country is entitled

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AMERICAN P E O P L E .

85

to a farm of this kind. I believe it is upon this system that the true greatness of America is founded.
Much, too, is due to the system of free education
which has prevailed in the common schools of the
North for the last two or three generations. Not
only is this so in New England, but the New
Englanders, taking their ideas to the West, have
developed the system still more completely in the
"Western States. For instance, in Illinois it is required by law that there should be a school every
two miles at least. A certain proportion of the
land in every township is always set apart for the
maintenance of schools. The State maintains not
only primary schools but also high schools in number
sufficient to meet the demand for higher instruction;
and even, in some places, agricultural colleges and
such special institutions. The universities and colleges for general education of the highest class of
all are the only institutions not included in the
general system of free public instruction; but there
are many excellent universities, some of which have
large endowments, while some have received some
public aid under local arrangements. In addition to
endowments the cost of public education is met, first,
by a rate upon land, and, second, by a poll-tax upon
the people. By these means sufficient funds are
provided in the Northern States; but in the South
the funds are very deficient, though the system has
been more or less introduced there also. There are a
good many grumblers in America, as there are with us
—a good man}^ people who complain of the highness of

36

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

the rates, and who say that they should not be taxed
to teach a labourer's daughter to play upon the piano.'
Now, about the piano I won't say whether I agree
with them—perhaps I am rather heretical on musical
subjects; but I am impressed with the belief, not
only that w^e should make education as cheap and
free as possible to the poorer classes, but also that
the public may fairly do something for the middle
and higher education, both in view of the fact that
the middle classes pay largely to the education rates,
and that a ladder may be proyided by which the poor
may mount upwards. In America the children of
the well-to-do classes, merchants and professional men
and such like, habitually attend the public schools,
girls as well as boys; indeed, the higher schools are
much more used by girls than by boys, for the boys
go early into business, while the girls continue their
education. I did not find the character of the higher
education to be so much reformed as I should have
expected. There is still a good deal of Latin and
Greek t a u g h t ; and there is not so universal a system
of instruction in the useful sciences as I looked for ;
but much is done in special colleges, and improvements are being effected which, no doubt, will soon
become general.
Meantime I think it may be said that the Americans owe their great success in certain branches
of mechanical manufacture to their own ingenuity
and energy, rather than to any public system of
technical instruction. They certainly are marvellously clever as inventors. They have a patent

CHARACTEKISTICS OF T H E AMERICAN P E O P L E .

37

law, and consider it to be much better than ours.
They examine and test patents before they are passed,
and have a great patent show at Washington. I am
not qualified to tell you anything of their manufacturing processes, and indeed was not on this occasion long enough in the North-Eastern States and
cities to see much of these things; but they are readily
accessible to any of you who choose to go there. The
Americans certainly show immense energy in all
mercantile and manufacturing operations, and leave
no stone unturned to develop the resources of the
country.
I have often been asked, l How about American
rascality ? Are people there worse than our directors ?' I can only say that I think they are about
the same. The fact is that American law is entirely
founded on English law, and the safeguards against
new-fashioned rascality offered by a law designed
only to meet a rascality which is not new-fashioned
are about as great in America as in this country—as
great, I think, but not greater. There is a great deal
of mercantile rascality there as well as here; but I
have heard it said that some people are rather jealous
of the directors of the Glasgow Bank for having done
a ' bigger thing ' than they have done. As is the case
with us, a great many fraudulent people escape the
punishment which they merit; and there have been
some great scandals, not only in joint-stock affairs
but in municipal affairs. I think, however, that we
must not judge of the American people by what has
taken place in the New York Municipality; that is,

38

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

I believe, exceptional. Most of their towns are as
well managed as ours. My impression is that when
they do take fraudulent people in hand they are
more thorough in their proceedings than we some-:
times are, and that a more adequate punishment is
sometimes dealt out.
PROTECTION

AND

RECIPROCITY.

In these days of commercial distress and prophecies of down-going you wTill probably expect me to
say a word about free trade-and reciprocity and such
like matters; for whereas in this country we have been
for a good many,years the upholders of free trade, in
America I have been among a people who have become
the strenuous upholders of protectionist doctrines.
They protect everything and everybody, and if there
are any objectors they silence them by giving them
protection too; so that the protection of one thing
leads to a dozen others. I am no expert in commercial
matters, and cannot pretend to sit in judgment where
doctors disagree. I am, also, no rabid ' political economist,' if I may so express it. I do not treat the
dogmas of political economists as if they were emanations from on high; and I also am not one of those
people who think that when Englishmen differ from
the rest of the world Englishmen must necessarily
be in the right. I cannot say whether there are any
circumstances in which a certain amount of protection
really might be beneficial, in the sense in which a
glass cover is beneficial in certain stages of a growing

PROTECTION AND

RECIPROCITY.

89

plant; but of this I am sure, that if there are any such
uses of protection, very great abuses, much exceeding
the uses, speedily supervene. It is hard to persuade
people in America that they have not greatly benefited by protection. They point to the extension
and improvement of their manufactures. I never
admitted that that was due to protection; but that
there has been a vast improvement in America within
the last few years no man can doubt. On the other
hand, one sees at every turn great evils resulting from
the abuse of protection—one of the most prominent
I can mention being the American shipping trade,
which has been absolutely annihilated by protection.
Only yesterday I read an account of the carrying
trade in China, which, when I was round there a
few years ago, was very largely carried in American
ships; but now American shipping has almost disappeared from that trade, because the Americans
will neither allow the materials for shipbuilding to
be imported without an enormous duty being placed
upon them, nor will they allow an American citizen
to bring a ready-made ship from the Clyde.
Some of the protectionist duties are quite useless,
as they act in an almost prohibitory way on things
not produced in America. And some seem of a wantonly injurious character, as, for instance, a very high
duty on quinine, so much wanted as a remedy for
the prevalent i fever and chills' of America. I think
no one denies that the details of the tariff should be
reformed.
Then I have no doubt that the system of protection

40

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

followed in the United States does in many ways
enhance the cost of living, both directly, by enhancing
the price of commodities, and indirectly, by pandering
to that disposition to prefer high gains and lavish
expenditure to moderate gains and careful expenditure, which is the bane of the country. Our people
are open to the reproach, often levelled against them,
that if they make more they spend more and save
less than the people of some other countries; but in
this respect the Americans, or at any rate large
classes of Americans, much exceed them. The cry
there is always for great profits and high wages, but
economy of living is not studied. One notices in the
smallest things how much more the distributors are
allowed to appropriate than with us. You can't buy
a two-cent paper in the street for less than five cents;
and in a country where apples are so abundant that
you may almost pick them up for nothing they are
retailed in the towns dearer than in London.
Not only is the system of protection popularised
by its universality, but no doubt people get used to,
and do not fully realise, any indirect impost. The
excuse for the Indian salt duty of 2,000 per cent,
is that people get accustomed to it. So it is that
the Americans hardly realise the burdens which they
bear. They argue that theirs is not a narrow protection, since their country is so large and contains
so many States, with varying climates, peoples, and
industries, that there is within the limits of the Union
abundantly active competition, affording ample stimulus to progress. They rely on the recent enormous

PE0TECTI0N AND RECIPROCITY.

41

improvement of their manufactures as showing the
success of their system. When one comes to particulars, too, it is somewhat difficult to make out a
strong case against them. The daily wants of the
ordinary population are food, houses, clothing, and
such luxuries as tea and coffee, spirits and tobacco.
Now, food and the materials for houses are certainly
cheaper in America than with u s ; the taxes on
alcoholic drinks and tobacco are lighter than ours;
tea and coffee are free. Even as regards clothing I
was so constantly assured as to be almost persuaded
that their cotton goods—especially what are called
< domestics'—are as cheap as and better than ours ;
and though woollen goods are dearer, they say that the
lower class of woollens, made all over the States from
native wool, and a class of mixed goods, much used
by the Southern and Western populations, are not
materially dearer. I t is in the better description of
clothing used by the upper classes, the finer woollens
and silks, and all ladies' clothing, that there is an
enormous difference—the cost of these in America is
nearly double, and people who go to Europe almost
pay the expenses of the trip by saving in the stock
of personal clothes they bring from thence and get
through the Custom House free of duty. As regards
linens the Americans are behind, and I hope even
protection will not enable them to dispense with
Kirkcaldy goods. Iron and steel are a good deal
dearer than in England; but when we throw in the
cost of carriage, & c , the difference is not so great.
It seems to be conceded that the classes employed in

42

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OE THE UNITED STATES.

this branch of industry in the States have already suffered so much from bad times, and are so dangerous,
that it would not be possible to establish free trade
in the iron trade till times are more prosperous. The
Americans certainly possess magnificent coalfields and
immense deposits of iron, and they are advancing
greatly in the manufacture. I am afraid our iron-j
masters will never obtain that market again. The
anthracite coal, of which we have heard so much, isi
confined to certain very limited localities in one part'
of Pennsylvania; but throughout vast tracts in
Pennsylvania and other Eastern States, and again in
the Western States, the fields of soft coal are almost
unlimited.
There is no denying that in some departments,
the ingenuity of the Americans has enabled them to
rival us in foreign markets to some degree, notwithstanding the greater dearness of some of their materials.
I believe it is the fact that they have been exporting
railway engines, not only to Russia, but to our own
Australian colonies ; their agricultural implements are
now sent all over the world; and even their watches
are exported to the Continent of Europe—to countries
hitherto supplied by the Swiss. On the other hand,
our Sheffield goods, such as knives and scissors, cannot
be rivalled in America, and hold their own there in
spite of protection.
There is little hope that the Americans will soon
adopt free trade principles, unless, indeed, they continue their present rapid improvement in manufactures
so far as to become a large exporting people. Then

PROTECTION" AND

RECIPROCITY.

43

no doubt it will suit their book, and they will become
free traders. Their idea is to raise their enterprise
in the hothouse atmosphere of protection at home
until it gets so large and strong that they may knock
away the glass and let it spread over the outer world.
"Whether %they will accomplish that, time only will
show; but I am quite sure that the people of this
country should not give in to them. Though free
traders as such now hardly exist in America, there is
in some parts of the country a feeling that a tariff
more designed for revenue might be the means of
relieving the several States of the internal revenue
system of which they complain as being both expensive and harassing. I heard a Virginian complain
that the tobacco duty raised on the manufacture there
makes the internal taxation of the State heavier than
that of other and richer States; and the Southern
highlanders of the Alleghanies say that they would
get on very well if it were not for the l whisky blockade? which interferes with their honest industry in
that article. It is likely enough that the tariff may
be modified to get rid of some useless and injurious restrictions, and to increase the customs revenue to some
degree, but free trade there will not be for the present.
It
r There still remains the reciprocity question.
is said, and I myself have no doubt it is true, that if
all nations would accept free trade, and all barriers
were broken down, it would be best for all parties;
but then, some people add, since almost all other
nations do impose heavy protective duties, ' W o u l d
it not be well for us to impose moderate duties, such,

44

BIKD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

at all events, as to equal the taxes which are paid
by our own manufacturers, the workmen who live in
this country and produce their goods at home ?' Here
also I will not pretend to decide upon grounds of political economy; but I put this practical question to
you, ' if you admit that doctrine, what goods would
you tax on their import into this country ?' I don't
myself see what you could tax. W e export manufactures, and we import food and the raw materials for
manufacture; and because America taxes your manufactures would you tax the food of the people—the
wheat, the beef, and the bacon w^hich come from
America % I t is impossible; the people would not
submit to anything of the kind. Then, would you
tax the raw materials of your manufactures? You
know very well that that would be cutting your own
throat. And so I bring it to this, what would you tax ?
There might be a few luxuries which it might be right
enough to tax, but practically there is no great trade
which you could t a x ; and it is on that ground I say
that reciprocity is a mere theory, and not a practical
question. Then some people recommend restriction of
production as the remedy. That seems to me also to
be a most suicidal system. True, in times of prosperity and excessive trade it may be well to say to
capitalists, 'Take care; don't overdo it; don't try to
make more money than the trade will justify; don't
run up wages to a point at which they cannot be maintained.' But when you come to hard times and bad
trade it seems to me that capitalists will be ready
enough to contract; and as contraction of production

THE DRINK QUESTION.

45

means contraction of employment for the workpeople,
it is the worst possible thing for them. I have seen a
good deal of many countries, and I am quite convinced of this, that the only chance of our maintaining our supremacy is, that we should do that which
we have done in the past, namely, make our goods as
many, as cheap, and as durable as possible, and try
to undersell all foreign countries in what we may call
the neutral markets of the world; that is, the countries which do not manufacture for themselves. There
are still quite enough of them to maintain our trade,
and we may still live, if we can occupy them and beat
the protectionists. W e shall have to look sharp to do
even this. The Americans have not yet very seriously
rivalled us in foreign markets, but they have begun to
do it to a small extent; and we shall not keep them
out unless we can undersell them, and undersell them
without deteriorating the quality of British goods.
W e must produce good articles in enormous quantities, and cheaper than anyone else, if we are to remain ahead of the rest of the world.
THE DRWK

QUESTION.

Of all the questions affecting the low-Teuton countries I think none is really so important as the drink
question, and 1 paid a good deal of attention to it when
I was in America. I was not in Maine, and did not go
into the well-worn question of the Maine Liquor Law;
but I noticed the ordinary practice in the States through
which I travelled, and found it pretty uniform.

46

BIKD'S-EYE VIEW OE THE UNITED STATES.

The first thing that I noticed in travelling was
the remarkable feature in the American meals, that
people drink no alcoholic liquors at all; it seems to
be contrary to their habits, and I may almost say to
good morals and good manners, to do so—in public at
least. In a great American hotel, where you meet
hundreds of people, you will probably not see one
who takes anything stronger than tea and coffee with
his meals; or if you do he is a foreigner. They drink
a great deal of milk and such innocent things, but
neither beer, nor wine, nor spirits. Wine is very dear,
and that may be one reason why it is not seen.
I know it is said, ' Ah, that is all very well, but
the men go and drink afterwards at the bars/ Some
of them do so, but I am bound to say that I was
exceedingly surprised to find how little frequented
these bars are. If you want first-class American
drinks you must go to the cafes on the Boulevards of
Paris—for you won't get them in America. That is
my experience. In some parts of the country it is a
common form of civility to invite a friend or a
stranger to i take a drink' and to treat him at the
b a r ; and there are some men's evening parties at
which wine is introduced, but one does not see much
of this kind of thing.
Among the people at large the public and evident drinking is, I think, less than with us, and if a
good deal is consumed it is done in a more decent
kind of way. 1 have not been able to compare the
statistics exactly with respect to the amount of drink
consumed. A great deal of whisky, no doubt, is

THE D E I K K

QUESTION.

47

drunk; but the' revenue derived from alcoholic liquors is not so large as in this country, and it certainly is the case that one sees much less drunkenness. I am told that this is very much due to the
climate. People say that whereas in Scotland some
Scotchmen with strong constitutions drink a good
deal of whisky all their lives and die in their beds at
eighty—not many of them, I believe—a man cannot
possibly do that kind of thing in America. H e
would be killed in a very short time. Thus necessity begets a certain moderation. I am told that
there is nowhere in America the state of things said
to prevail in some English places, where a large
proportion of some classes are so drunk upon a Sunclay that they take Monday to recover, and don't return to work till Tuesday. However, I hope that is
an exaggeration. There is a Sunday-closing law
almost everywhere, wTith no exception for bond fide
travellers or anyone else. It is more or less strictly
observed by the natives, and certainly a stranger can
get nothing. - I was myself reformed in consequence
in a very fortunate manner. I used to think a little
whisky-and-water good to make me sleep; but not
being able to get it on Sundays, and finding that I
slept quite as well, I did without it on other days
too, to my great benefit.
I fear the drink question is not one which can be
very effectually dealt with by law in the present state
of feeling. We must always have greater relianceupon moral and social means. One result of what I
have seen and experienced in America is to make me

48

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OE THE UNITED STATES.

believe that it is much better to go in for total abstinence than temperance. It seems to me that drink is
like gambling, it is very easy to abstain altogether;
abstinence does no harm, and very soon one does
not feel the want of it. But if you drink in moderation it is like gambling in moderation—you are very
apt to go on. Some peoj)le are not much tempted to
excess, but some constitutions are tempted, and they
do go on to excess. The Americans have found out
this, and no doubt it is for this reason that it has
become so much the practice of the better classes
among them to abstain altogether. I must say,
then, that my advice to those in this country who
are sincerely anxious to cure their less restrained
fellow-countrymen of bad habits is, that they should
rather show an example of abstinence than simply
preach temperance to their neighbours and try to curtail the public-houses. People never do have very
much influence who do not practise what they preach.
My strong belief is that if the well-to-do classes, the
moral, religious, and evangelical classes, were to
banish wine from their tables and take to milk, they
might with much greater advantage and effect try
to put down the public-houses of the poorer classes.
Then, as regards legislation on the subject, a man
who becomes convinced of that which he had believed
before becomes very thoroughly convinced indeed,
and that is pretty much the case with me on this
drink question. I have been always inclined to suspect that the matter should be dealt with in a way
which has not many advocates in this country, and I

THE DRINK QUESTION.

49

have been agreeably surprised to find that in America
the practice is actually that to which my own opinion
inclined. I believe that it is a very great mistake
to deal with the matter simply by limiting the number of public-houses, because the result is to create
a monopoly and vested interest in those public-houses
which remain. I should say that in this matter
there has been a kind of alliance between those who
serve God and those who serve Mammon—between
the good people who wish to put down publichouses and the public-house keepers who do not wish
any more houses to compete with them. Thus the
worshippers of God and the worshippers of Mammon,
being united, have been so strong that they have
carried everything before them, and the result is that
a great monopoly interest has been created. Now, I
entirely admit that in rural places where there never
has been a public-house it is a very great evil that
one should be set up, and that there should be some
local power of veto on i t ; but, on the other hand, I
believe that if you have half a dozen public-houses
in a street, no reason exists why two or three more
should not be allowed, if, in the way of free trade, they>
are established. On the contrary, it is the existence
of a valuable monopoly on the part of the restricted
number of houses which makes practically impossible any public action whatever—whether the prohibition of sales, the Gothenburg system, or anything
else. I think the first step towards any great measure
of reform is to make the trade free, paradox as that
may seem ; for when you have abolished monopolies
4

50

BIKD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

and vested rights which have no right to be, you are
then free to act in the public interest. This is the
view taken by the Americans. The laws of different
States are different—I cannot answer for all—but I
inquired in several, and in none of them did I find
that there was that disgraceful and demoralising contest for licenses which takes place to such an excessive
degree in England, and to some degree in Scotland
too. In places where the sale is permitted at all
there is no privilege, all the citizens being treated
equally; the manufacture is taxed, the sale is taxed,
licenses to sell are very heavily taxed; but any man
of good character, who submits to the rules and keeps
the rules, gets the license under a regular system,
without making it a matter of canvassing, or argumentation by lawyers. On the other hand, in certain
localities the sale of spirituous liquors is prohibited,
not merely the retail in public-houses, but all sales
whatever ; and that seems to me a much more logical
process. I never could reconcile myself to closing
the poor man's club and leaving open the shops
where the better classes or any other class may supply themselves with liquor to consume at home; nor
could I see any reason for giving one grocer a license
and prohibiting another. If you prohibit at all, I
think you should prohibit all. The Americans have
not got Sir Wilfrid Lawson's Permissive Bill. I
could not ascertain very exactly the reason for the
course which they take, but in many different States
they follow the same course, which is this—that when
there is a very strong wish to prohibit the sale of

RELIGION.

51

liquors in any particular locality a bill for that purpose is brought in and passed by the local State
Legislature. I presume that, being so treated, the
question does not absolutely turn upon a mere local
majority, but if there are objectors they have an
opportunity of being heard, after which the Home
Rule Parliament of the particular State decides as
it thinks best; and it is undoubtedly the case that
in almost every State in which I inquired a number
of such bills are passed, and under them the sale of
liquors is prohibited in considerable localities. Sometimes, but not very often, the bill takes the shape of
giving an option to the particular locality to be determined by vote. My own opinion tends very much
to prohibition, though I feel that the world generally
is not ripe for it yet. I should, however, be very glad
to see an experiment made in particular localities
which are pretty well united in wishing for it. On
that ground I would gladly see some measure embodying the principle of vesting a power somewhere
to stop the sale of liquors in particular localities
when the general sense of the population* desires i t ;
although I do not know that I would let a mere majority impose such a measure on a large and reluctant
minority.
RELIGION,

I had expected to find America overrun by newfangled ideas in religion, but it did not appear to be
so. By far the larger portion of the people adhere

52

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

to the good old-fashioned Churches, or perhaps in
many cases I should say to an old-fashioned Congregational system, for there seems to be a great disposition
to Congregationalism in the United States. The Episcopalians are but a small minority. The most important sects are the Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists; but it seems to me that in America there is
much inclination among religious sects which do not
differ in essentials to come together on common ground.
The Young Men's Christian Associations—which are,
I believe, unsectarian—are widely spread in the country, and do excellent work. The number of Irish
who go to America is so great that, added to a number of Southern Germans, they make a considerable
Catholic population. But I do not think that that religion is suited to the genius of the people of America,
white or black. The Catholics do not make progress.
The blacks do not at all accept them. In their own
way these blacks are an exceedingly religious Christian people; but it strikes me as a sad thing that the
black and the white Churches are now entirely separated from one another. The blacks have now everywhere set up black preachers, who do not preach at all
badly. Their congregations sing exceedingly well,
and they are more in earnest than most white people.
Although, as I have said, one sees very little of
the very new-fangled religions, there are a good many
divisions and subdivisions of the old sects in different parts of the country. In the great hotels in the
cities of the interior one sees a board with a list of
the various Churches, and they are certainly pretty

KELIGIOE".

53

numerous. However, one recognises most of them,
The only prevalent sect (especially in the West)
which struck me as novel was one called simply
' Christians,' or sometimes ' Campbellites,' having been
founded by a Campbell. They claim to be unsectarian Christians. I thought I should like to belong
to that persuasion.
I was anxious to know how people get on in America without an Established Church—whether they
are the worse for that want. W e have all been a good
deal exercised on that subject. I have had much
difficulty in making up my mind on it. I have had
an old affection for the Scotch Establishment which I
cannot very easily surrender. I t is not that I have
had any high-flying ideas about the union of Church
and State and the advantage of clothing the Church
in purple and fine linen, and making her a ruler of
men; I believe that nothing could be more contrary
to the Spirit of Christianity, nothing worse for the
Church or worse for the State than t h a t ; and if 1 had
any doubt about that, what I have seen on the Continent of Europe has quite solved all those doubts.
But I have thought, and I think still, that if we were
all of one religion it might be much better to combine
to maintain a common minister paid by rates—and
teinds or tithes are nothing but an old form of rates
—just as we find it better to maintain a common
school by rates—rather than allow ministers to depend
upon the bounty of their congregations, and especially
of the richer among their congregations. W e in
Scotland seem to have satisfied ourselves that this is

54

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

the best and most economical system in regard to
schools.
Now, formerly, in America, the people took very
much the view which I have indicated—the original
New Englanders did establish their ministers in the
way which I have mentioned; they did not leave
their support to individual zeal, but, being generally
in each settlement of one persuasion, they rated themselves for the purpose; and in truth that was exactly
what was done by the early Reformers in Scotland.
That was a system which was very successful for a
very long period; and if circumstances had not
changed I think no one would have sought to change
it. But circumstances have changed—have changed
in America, and have changed in Scotland; and,
owing to the progress of modern thought and modern
freedom, it has come to pass that the people in New
England are not all of one sect of religion, and the
people of Scotland are not all of one sect. There is
a division among the people on religious subjects,
and that division is not unattended with considerable
jealousy and rivalry, and, I am afraid I must say,
sometimes some bad feeling. Now, in America, as
soon as it was found that people were no longer
unanimous, but that there was considerable division,
the course they took was to abolish all State aid to
all Churches, and to let every sect make their own
arrangements with regard to their religious establishments. I have watched this subject with very great
interest. In order to ascertain how this system
worked I made it my duty to see whether the in-

RELIGION.

55

terests of religion suffered, or whether any other
evils had attended the free system in America. I
was entirely satisfied that religion had in no degree
suffered; on the contrary, the people of America are
to the full as religious as any people in the world
—as religious as the people of Scotland, and that is
saying a great deal. Not only is this so in the old
settled States of New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, but I found—I confess somewhat to my surprise—that it is so also in the Western and Southern
States. W e have an idea that in the West people are
rather rotigh, and I had half-expected to find that
after a certain point they had left a good deal of their
religion behind them, but it really is not so. In St.
Louis and Kansas, in the West, and Carolina and
Georgia, in the South, they are very decorous and
religious people, with abundance of churches. The
only drawback is that, as with us, there are sometimes three or four different churches, when one
would suffice, if people would only all agree to go to
it; but as they don't agree I don't see that any great
harm comes from their having separate churches—•
though I am not without hope that, as liberal feelings
progress, they may agree, and unite on the original
simple principles of Christianity, getting rid of theological dogmas and difficulties.
Well, then, if religion does not suffer in America
for want of Establishments, I am quite sure that
peace and good-will greatly benefit. I was immensely
struck by the entire elimination of religion from politics in that country, and the absolute want of any

56

BIRD'S-EYE YIEW OE THE UNITED STATES.

inclination to hate one's neighbour on account of religion. Every man does as to him seems best, and
no other man hates him, worries him, or avoids his
society on that account. Politically and socially
America is not divided by religious cliques. Politics
have no streak of religion in them; a man lives as
he likes, without being troubled by his neighbour;
and dies as he likes, without his neighbour inquiring
to what persuasion he belonged, I confess, then, I
now feel that I should like to see religion separated
from politics. I should be glad to see that done in
this country, when it can be done without creating
an amount of disturbance and bad blood, which
would make the cure worse than the disease. But I
also feel this, that the existing Establishment in Scotland is the least offensive religious establishment in
the world, and is not an overwhelming evil. I can
perfectly well sleep in my bed with the knowledge
that the Church of Scotland still exists. I dare say
the day is not very far distant when the thing may
be done without the great change and great evils
which some people seem to apprehend. I met a dignitary of the English Church in Canada—a Church
which was disestablished by our countryman, Lord
Elgin—and, I said to him, ' How do you get on in
your disestablished character ?' 4 Well,' he said ; ' we
did not like it at all at first; we thought ourselves
very ill-used ; but now we have come to like it, and
are quite convinced that it is best. Formerly there
was great jealousy and dislike of us on account of our
position; now all that has passed away. Everyone

POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES.

57

is most friendly. W e were disestablished on liberal
terms; we have done the best we can for ourselves,
and we get on very well indeed.'
THE POLITICAL

SYSTEM

OF THE UNITED

STATES,

I cannot properly explain to you in a few words
the political system of the United States, nor can I
quite compare the Congress with our Parliament.
The functions of the two bodies are really quite different. As I have already said, the United States
are not one country, but forty countries, and the civil,
criminal, and domestic laws of all sorts do not appertain to the central authority, but to the separate
States, each having its own laws. Till one visits the
country perhaps one hardly realises how completely
this is the case. Neither in regard to marriage and
inheritance, or the punishment of crimes, or the management of railways, or anything else, is there any
general law whatever; the laws of each State are
made by the separate Legislature of that State. Consequently, the Congress of the United States, having
nothing to do with these things, is confined to the
few functions which the Constitution vests in it, and
which are, in fact, mainly financial; for it is necessary to raise a sufficient revenue to support the army
and navy, and diplomatic service, and to pay the interest of the debt. The necessity of raising a customs
revenue involves the question of the Tariff and the
whole question of free trade or protection, which thus
comes before Congress. The coinage and currency are

58

BIED'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

common to all the States, and are managed by Congress, which has also established common patent and
copyright laws. It has power to establish a general
bankruptcy law, and did pass a temporary law of the
kind after the war, but it has expired, and there is
none now. The Post-office is almost the only institution beyond these which is common to all the States.
I should mention, however, that, in connection with
foreign commerce and the customs revenue, the United
States undertake the charge of the principal harbours
and the great rivers, and the expenditure connected
with them—a circumstance which gives rise to a good
deal of rivalry of local interests, and to considerable
opportunities for exercising influence by means of the
public purse.
The revenue of the United States is mainly derived from three sources: the sea-customs and two
great internal taxes, that on spirituous liquors and
that on tobacco.
The laws of all the States, except the old French
colony of Louisiana, are based on the common law of
England, to which reference is constantly made, although a great and varying body of statute law has
been built up over it in the various States. Still
very much of the old English system remains, and
one is surprised to find old English institutions, which
have been swept away, modified, or threatened in
England, still surviving in most of the States. The
reason, is that some of the oldest of the English legal
institutions and maxims, such as the grand jury,
trial by jury in all cases indiscriminately (civil as

POLITICAL SYSTEM OF T H E UNITED STATES.

59

well as criminal), unanimity of the jury, the non-exexamination of the accused, and such like, have been
preserved in the American Constitutions, which are
considered to be much more sacred than ordinary
laws. The United States have a written Constitution, and each State has its Constitution. The State
Constitutions have been revised and changed pretty
often by special Conventions empowered to do so,
but that of the United States has been very little
changed—in fact, never revised, only added to at rare
intervals; and as all the subordinate Constitutions
must fit into that of the United States, a certain
amount of sameness and continuity of old maxims is
preserved. These Constitutions, too, make the situation different from ours; for the Constitutions are,
as it were, above the laws, and the judges, having the
power to interpret the Constitutions, may and often
do declare laws illegal; so that Congress and the State
Assemblies are not so omnipotent as our Parliament.
Although no State laws nor even those of Congress can violate the United States Constitution, each
State is recognised as a sovereign power, and does
not admit that any judicial tribunal can enforce judgments against it. For instance, by the United States
Constitution no law can be passed impairing the obligation of contracts, and any attempt to tamper by law
with State debts is at once set aside; but when, as is
now the case in some States, the people find themselves unable to pay, the Legislature simply fails to
make provision for payment; and there are no means
of enforcing claims.

60

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OP THE UNITED STATES.

I think a great many people in this country have
the idea that the Americans have generally reduced
their law to regular codes, but this is quite a mistake.
Something has been done in that direction in New
York and, I rather think, something in Louisiana;
but, generally speaking, the laws are just as in England—common law plus the statutes. But there is a
very useful system of digesting the laws common in
America. Every few years the statute law is revised
and reprinted by some competent man, and after examination the volume is passed by the Legislature
and issued by authority. These very useful volumes
are called Revised Codes, but they are only collections
of unrepealed laws. There is the Revised Code of the
United States and the Revised Code of almost every
State. These volumes are certainly a great convenience—almost a necessity where people, having farextended dealings or the management of great enterprises, have to do with a number of States with different laws. I very muck wish our law could be put in
as popular a form. W e particularly want that in
Scotland, for the Scotch law seems to be a sealed book
to everyone but a lawyer.
Before going farther I will mention a few points,
common both to the general Government and to the
particular States, in which the American political
system differs from ours.
The Americans have no Ministries dependent on
Parliament, and going in and out as they possess or
lose the confidence of Parliament. Great executive
power is vested in the President of the United States

POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES.

61

and in the Governors of the particular States, wTho
are elected by the people (directly or indirectly), for
fixed terms of four or two years, and hold office for
their term, whether they agree with their Legislature
or whether they do not. The Ministers (if not similarly elected, as they are in most States) are the
nominees of the President or Governor, cannot sit
in the Legislature, and are altogether free from Parliamentary control. Thus the Executive is not the
creature of Parliament, but an altogether independent power. True, both powers are derived from the
same sources, but then it often happens that an
Executive elected at one date and in one way is
opposed to a legislative majority elected at another
date. There are always two Houses of the Legislature. As in the United States so in each State
there is a Senate as well as an Assembly. The latter in some degree corresponds to our House of Commons, but the Senate is very different from our
House of Lords. The State Senate is elected by the
people, the United States Senators by the Legislative body of each State; the members of the Senate
hold office for longer periods—for four or six years—
and besides an equal power in the Legislature have
a considerable control over the Executive in regard
to high appointments and some other matters. Thus
the position of a Senator is one of much power
and dignity, and is much sought after. I understand
that the place of a United States Senator elected for
six years (and eligible for re-election), with a considerable salary and a good deal of power and

62

BIRD'S-EYE Y I E W OF T H E UNITED STATES.

patronage*, is generally preferred to that of Governor
of a State.
Every State determines for itself the question of
the franchise and the qualification of electors. Universal suffrage is no part of the Constitution of the
United States, and in fact, till a comparatively recent
date, was by no means the general rule. It is only
provided that the members of the United States Congress shall be returned by the same constituency as
the most popular branch of the Legislature of the
State returning the members. In practice, however,
manhood suffrage has come to be the common
rule, the only exception which I noticed being in
Massachusetts, where there is still an educational
franchise. No man can vote unless he can read and
write, and when I was there the Irishmen were being
' coached up ' to enable them to vote for General
Butler.
Woman suffrage does not find much favor in
America ; there is nothing of the kind in any of the
old settled States, and, so far as I could gather, any
agitators for it were even less successful than with
us. In some of the far-Western Territories, however,
something of the kind has been tried, and I came
across an enthusiastic gentleman from the Territory
of Wyoming, up in the Rocky Mountains, where, it
seems, all political distinctions between the sexes have
been abolished, and women are eligible to all public
offices. He wanted to convert the other States to
that system, and told of a case in which a husband
and wife went to the poll against one another as rival

POLITICAL SYSTEM OF T H E UNITED STATES.

63

candidates without the slightest disturbance of their
domestic harmony and good feeling. I confess, however, that I was not convinced of the advantage of
the system, nor are the American people. They show
by their practice that women may have many privileges, and even usefully practise many professions,
without seeking political power, or at all events without obtaining it.
You have all heard of the caucus system which
prevails in America in regard to elections; that is,
before going to the poll each party decides within
itself who is to be its candidate. In fact, this system
seems to have become almost universal. Everywhere
there are what are called the 'primary' elections—
i. e.j the unofficial elections within the party, before
the real election—-and these primary elections are
often conducted with at least as much heat and
bitterness as the real election, sojnetimes much
more so. There are various modes of arranging the
caucus: sometimes the primary election is in the
* form of a ballot by the voters of the party to elect
the candidate direct, but generally they elect delegates, who meet in caucus and elect the candidates; and it is among these caucus delegates that
jobbery and trickery is said often to prevail, the more
as, these electrons being unknown to the law, abuses
cannot be controlled by the law and the Courts.
People are generally very much alive to the evils of
their own system, and I certainly heard in America
more abuse of the caucus system than praise of it.
I t was said that the- best man was often ousted in

64

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW

OF THE UNITED STATES.

the caucus by a system of jobbery and underhand
management, and that many independent men much
preferred an appeal to the constituencies direct. I
confess I was not able in my short visit to get to
the bottom of the subject or to make up my mind
about it.
A general election took place while I was in
America, and I noticed that in several States there
were a good many l Independent' candidates, who set
at defiance the caucuses and went in against their
nominees; and they not unfrequently won. This
was the more practicable, because at present parties
in America are in a very peculiar position. There
are, as with us, two parties who have long existed
under different names, and have for a good many
years been known as Republicans and Democrats.
But I failed to identify these two parties with our
Liberals and Conservatives. A t one time they were
a good deal ranged on the question of Centralisation
versus State-rights, the Republicans representing what
we might call the Imperialist party, and the Democrats the State-rights party; now that question has
been fought out and settled (as regards the claims
of the Southern States and the institution of slavery),
and it has nearly ceased to have practical importance. I t so happens that on the questions of the
present day—the Tariff, the Currency, and some
others—each of the regular parties is divided within
itself, and it seems inevitable that there must be a
new deal. I t will, I should say, be a very good
thing if it is so, for in some things the system of

POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES.

65

party government is carried much further than with
us, especially as regards appointments to offices which
we call permanent and treat as such. A custom has
sprung up in modern times of turning out all the
officials when there is a change in the Executive
Government, and putting in the men of the incoming
party. And to this has been added a horrible system of raising a regular tax by a tariff levied on
the salaries of all officials, towards defraying the
election expenses of the party; for I am sorry to say
that the practice of spending money on elections is
growing rapidly—following our evil example. The
subordinate office-holders under this system become
the principal election agents, and political struggles
become to a great degree a contest between rival
factions of placemen and would-be placemen to a
much greater degree than with us. The greatness of
this evil is felt and acknowledged. But there is an
extreme difficulty in getting rid of it when once introduced, because, one party having put in all their
own men, it would require superhuman virtue in the
other party to leave them permanently iii possession.
The thing can only be settled by a compromise, which
the present President is anxious to effect, and a new
deal of parties will be the best opportunity for it.
At present parties in Congress are so evenly balanced
that it is very difficult to put the placeman question
out of sight.
The same division of parties is carried into many of
the State elections, and into some of the municipal elections in the great cities. But I was happy to observe
5

66

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OE THE UNITED STATES.

that in other States the divisions are on other questions
and other lines than the mere struggle between Republicans and Democrats, and I hope that this is a
sign that a better state of things may be arrived at.
I specially remarked two things as giving to
American legislators a character different from our
members of Parliament.
First, they are all paid. This payment chiefly
affects the members of Congress. They receive a
handsome salary of 1,000Z. per annum each—members of the Senate and Assembly equally—for their
attendance during a portion of the year; so that
each Congressman is a regular salaried placeman.
The members of the State Legislatures, on the other
hand, only receive a moderate daily allowance for
their expenses during the time of their actual attendance, which in very many States is only once in two
years; and they can hardly make much by the transaction; so that they are not placemen in the same
sense, and not so much professional politicians.
Second, it is a very important practical feature in
the situation that in most cases American Legislatures
do not meet, like our Parliament, in a great social
and commercial capital, where the great and grand
and rich gather together for other purposes, and
where fashionable swells and millionaire plutocrats
are equally ready to add M.P. to their names, in one
phase of their lives, and to migrate, in another, to a
higher if not better place in the Upper House. As
you know, the United States Congress meets at
Washington, which is in no sense a commercial city,

POLITICAL SYSTEM OF T H E UNITED STATES.

67

and had no social attractions, but was founded as a
political centre only. Considerable amenities have
lately been created there, but it can never be a capital
in the sense of any great European capital, and people
go their neither for pleasure nor for private business,
but for political business only. So it is in most of
the States. The Legislatures meet in rural towns, in.
a central position, not in the commercial capitals—for
instance, the Legislature of New York at Albany,
that of Pennsylvania at Harrisburg, that of Illinois
at Springfield, and so on. Boston is the only great
city that came under my observation in which a
State Legislature meets. Richmond, in Virginia, has
now grown into a considerable town, but is scarcely
a great city ; and in most other States very secondary
places have been selected. Consequently a man who
goes to a United States Legislature, goes either for
love of country or for love of place and power, not
for social privileges; and when he does go he goes to
work, not to give to legislation the time he can spare
from other avocations.
It is this character and position of the members
that renders possible the, feature which most distinguishes the working of the American Legislatures
from our own, viz., that most of the work is done in
great committees, which practically amount to the
House sitting simultaneously in several separate
divisions at the same time. All the members having
come in as working men of business, and having
nothing else to do, are able to devote themselves
regularly and systematically to work of this kind in

68

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

a way that would not be possible to many of our
much-occupied or lightly-occupied members, who can
only give to legislation occasional parts of evenings,
or, if they do sit on special committees, attend or stay
away as they please.
The work which with us is done by the whole
House being in America threshed out and settled in
these committees, is in most cases accepted by the
House at large without much further discussion.
This is especially the case in the State Legislatures,
the majority of which meet, as I have said, only once
in two years, and the sitting of which is generally
limited by the Constitution to a moderate period—
sometimes as little as fifty'or sixty days, and generally
not more than three or four months. Yet it seemed
to me, looking over the volumes of the legislation of
each session in several different States, that they get
through quite as much legislation as our Parliament,
and my impression of the system is altogether favourable.
The word ' politician' is used in a bad sense in
America, as applied to people who make politics a
profession, and are skilled in the arts of ' wire-pulling'
and such practices. In this country you certainly do
not offend a man, or even a woman, if you say, i I
believe you are a great politician? ? But if you say
that in the States, the person you address fires up and
assures you he is nothing of the kind. I think this
use of the word is what has given rise to the idea, so
prevalent in this country, that none of the best men
in the States will have anything to do with politics,

POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES.

69

and leave'that to inferior persons; but it seemed to
me that the fact is not really so. I t may be true as
regards a good many plutocrats in New York and
elsewhere, who can make more money in the great
cities than by serving their country in out-of-the-way
places ; and in New York (only, I think, in that city)
there is springing up a class who live on realised
wealth, and whose young men affect the jeunesse
doree—drive four-in-hands, and so on. But it seemed
to me that the great majority of the best Americans,
while disclaiming the character of 4 politicians' in
the American sense, take quite as much interest in
politics as Englishmen do. Indeed, so far from the
mass of educated people abstaining from politics, it is
proverbial that there is an extraordinary craving for
office ; that is, principally local office. All offices are
elective, and elections are continually going on. The
salaries are not large, but it is generally said that as
soon as a boy ceases to play at marbles he begins to
aspire to office. No doubt, for reasons which I have
already given, a good many men such as would in
this country accept a seat in Parliament cannot or
will not go into Congress at Washington; but many
other good men of business, such as do not here get
into Parliament, there get into Congress or into the
State Legislatures. Lawyers are more numerous and
prominent in the American Legislatures than with us,
but the better class of American lawyers are generally
able and good men; and there being little of a concentrated bar or legal head-quarters at Washington,
the provincial lawyers are probably of a higher class

70

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

than are usually found in our provinces. I am inclined, then, to believe that there is a great amount of
ability in the United States legislative bodies; but
no doubt there is with this ability a great infusion of
the i politician ' element and character. Comparing
the personnel and working system of Congress with
our Parliament, I should judge in a general way (for
I had no opportunity of watching the actual working
of Congress) that there are advantages and disadvantages on either side. The American Congressmen are, probably, on the average, more able men.
Being paid men, bound to work, they do work harder,
and by their system of committees work more effectually ; but they are not more honest, and are, on the
contrary, more open to th.e imputation of jobbery
and wire-pulling. I think that the American mode
of electing the Executive authority and making it
independent of Congress is inferior to our Ministerial
system, and the political character of the appointments
to subordinate civil posts is an evil of a very grave
character. On the other hand, I am inclined to suppose that the great principles handed down by the
founders of the Republic, and embalmed in the Constitution, have really given a high tone, a continuity
of purpose, and a national dignity to the political
system, in whatsoever hands it may be. American
statesmen steer by permanent sailing directions, as
it were; and in this respect their work contrasts
favourably with our hand-to-mouth haphazard sort of
want of system. Their successful efforts to reduce
their public debt stand in favourable contrast to our

POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES.

Tt

puny reductions; and in regard to such questions as
the public land, local government, and others which
could be named, there has been for generations a continuity of policy which we may well envy. This it
is, I think, which preserves the character of American
society, and prevents the plutocrat of to-day from
becoming the aristocrat of to-morrow.
Apart from the general Government of the United
States, I had a special interest in, and paid particular
attention to, the State Governments and system of
local administration, constituting what I may call
Home Rule in America. I was the more anxious to
see the character of this Home Rule, because I am
entirely convinced that the work of the British Parliament is more and more overpassing the working
power of the machinery; that things are rapidly
coming to a serious block, if not a dead-lock, and
that something must be done. The number of subjects with which Parliament deals has immensely
increased, while the working power has not increased,
but has, on the contrary, considerably decreased, on
account of Irish questions and other causes. There
has long been most undeniable ground, of complaint
that our Scotch business is not done—or, so far as
done, is done in the small hours of the morning—in a
way that is scarcely fair. I wanted to know, then,
if such things are better done in America. "While
what I have said of the general administration of
the United States compared with ours goes to show
that after all there is but a balancing of pros and
co?iSj on the other hand, as regards this Home Rule

72

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

I am bound to say that the result of very careful
inquiry has been to convince me that the Americans
have a very great advantage over us. It seemed
to me that the State Legislatures are most useful
institutions and that, through them, a very large
amount of work is done, to the great benefit
and satisfaction of their citizens, very much which
with us is left undone altogether being there
got through without hitch or difficulty. The members of these local Legislatures appear to be very
respectable citizens. They are men sent up from
among the people of the States, acting before and
within the cognisance of their own fellow-countrymen. Their laws are not always and altogether
of the highest style of jurisprudence, but they
are practical and useful, and if anything does not
work well it is easily set right. They have an
especial advantage in dealing with those local and
minor matters which we class under the head of
private bill legislation, and which with us is done
in a very expensive and somewhat uncertain and
unsatisfactory way.
I had an opportunity of seeing and carefully
noting the proceedings of one of the State Legislatures—not one of the most important States in the
Union, but still a large State, and perhaps the best
of the Southern States—and I was much pleased by
what I saw. I have already mentioned several of the
peculiarities of the American Legislatures which are
common both to Congress and to the State Assemblies, and I understand that in its forms and proce-

POLITICAL SYSTEM OF T H E UNITED STATES.

73

dure the State Legislature which I saw very much resembled the Congress, and may be taken as a minor
edition of it. The origin of the procedure is evidently
English, but the practice has now much varied from
ours, not only in the system of committees which I
have mentioned, but also in the use of the previous
question, or cloture, and in other ways. They have
rules regarding the length of speeches and such matters which very much abbreviate the proceedings when
it is the general wish that a decision should be arrived
at. The members of the Legislature seemed to be very
sound, good, practical men, the senators being in every
way equal to the men who might fill such a situation
in most other countries wn.th which I am acquainted;
while the Assembly, containing, besides a good many
men of a high class, some rather rough farmers and
such practical men, was apparently very well qualified to deal with the work before it. All seemed to
go into their work with a will, and to get through it
in a rapid, practical manner. Their speeches were
short and to the point, and there was very little declaiming. As a stranger I was received with very
great courtesy, and was most obligingly put in the
way of seeing and understanding what was going on.
I shall always retain a very pleasant recollection of
that experience of an American Home Rule Legislature in actual operation and doing its ordinary daily
work.
You may well imagine what an American State
Legislature is like if you suppose that here in Scotland, instead of altogether uniting our Legislature

74

BIKD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

with that of England, we had only sent delegates to
London to deal with matters of Imperial concern,
and had retained a Scotch Parliament at Edinburgh,
to make all oar Scotch laws and control a Scotch administration. Scotland is just about the size and
population of a good American State, say Pennsylvania or Ohio. I think the Americans have very
well hit off about the right size for their States and
Home Eule Legislatures—they are so large as to be
free from the imputation of a petty parish-vestry
kind of character, and at the same time not so large
as to be unmanageable and incapable of dealing with
details and local matters.
I am inclined to suppose that, looking back into
history, it is really the case that all successful republican governments, as in Greece, Italy, Switzerland,
and the United States, have consisted of small states
joined together in union, and not of great centralised states. My own impression is that in England
and France we have attempted to centralise too
much; and on that account, if we were to begin
again, I should probably be much in favour of separate Legislatures for the different parts of the empire.
It would be much more difficult to institute anything
of the kind now. No doubt the country is hardly
prepared for it. The Irish do not seem at all agreed
what they want in this respect. I wonder they have
never proposed to take as their model one of the States
of the American Union; but if they did, and got
something of the kind, I am afraid that they would
fight among themselves. Ireland would have to be

POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES.

75

divided into at least two States. Instead of another
Heptarchy, we must probably be content with dividing Parliament into Grand Committees, or some such
scheme, when we get an Administration inclined to
deal radically with the matter, and not merely to
nibble at its fringes. If this were done, one grand
committee might take up Scotch business, another
North Irish, another South Irish, another Welsh, and
two or three more the several departments of English
and Imperial business.
All American States are divided into counties,
the counties being generally numerous and smaller
than ours—often as many as 100 counties in a State;
but there are no representative bodies in the counties;
they are only judicial and administrative divisions;
and the chief interest is the periodical elections of the
judges, magistrates, and county officers.
Then in New England and other Northern States
we have the well-known division of the whole country into townships, corresponding to French and German communes or Indian village communities; these
have been well described by De TocqueviUe. I t
must not be supposed, however, that this institution
is universal in America; it was wholly wanting in
the Southern States, where there was only a loose
sort of English parish system; and recent efforts of
Northerners in power in the South to introduce the
township system there have not been successful. In
the North the system is still in full vigour, and by all
accounts answers admirably, both for administrative
purposes and for the political education of the people.

76

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

The townships have certain officers with certain functions, but they do not delegate their powers to town
councils or any representative body. Every important matter is decided by the citizens at large in public meeting assembled, much as in ancient Greece.
Besides the popular and pleasant character of the
institution it supplies a system of rural administration on a small scale which is much wanted in this
country.
As respects the government of towns and great
cities things seemed to be in most cases about on a
par with this country. I have before alluded to the
great abuses in New York, a municipality of immense
size, and full of half-settled foreigners, and which is
not to be taken as a fair specimen of American management. On the whole people are probably more
enterprising and go-ahead in American towns, and
per contra of tener come to grief; but in other respects
I believe the administration is in most cases pretty
well conducted. Ambitious enterprises and improvements have in some cases led to very heavy local
taxation in the towns, from which you would do well
to take warning. It is dangerous to pile up too much
upon posterity in order to obtain present improvements : there are often two sides to these things, and
they must be well considered. The speculative character of men and things in America and the temptations
offered by successful ventures and sudden rises are
such that defalcations of town treasurers and suchlike misfortunes are certainly more common than they
are with us, I am glad to say; and these scandals

POSITION OF CANADA.

77

have tended to give us a bad idea of American honesty ; though, as I have already said, I do not think
that in the main there is much more rascality than in
other countries. Certainly the outward appearance
of the towns, especially the second-rate country towns,
gives one the idea of successful management.
THE POSITION

OF CANADA.

I only passed through a part of Canada, and had
no opportunity of studying Canadian institutions on
the spot; but I heard a good deal about Canada, not
only from Canadians whom I met, but also from
many people in the States, who seem much impressed
with the well-doing of Canada, and what is called the
loyalty to the English connection. In truth, I believe
that this connection really is extremely beneficial to
the Canadians. There has sprung up among them a
considerable feeling of, I will not call it jealousy and
antagonism, but at least of rivalry and emulation, towards the United States ; and. being a smaller people
in close contact throughout a very long and littleseparated border with a greater people, with whom
difficult questions not unfrequently arise (e.g., the
existing fishery question), they naturally set much
store on English alliance and support. Moreover,
their Government does seem to combine to a great degree the advantages of the American and the English
systems. The Dominion Union of Canadian States is
based on an effective Home Rule system very similar
to that of the United States ; but the Canadians have,

78

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

I think, an advantage in the adoption of our system
of ministerial responsibility as compared with the
American mode of appointing the executive authorities. That, however, has not saved them from some
financial scandals and abuses, and from a Protective
system much less excusable than that of the Americans, inasmuch as their own production is much
narrower and less varied, and by their protective
system they wound in the tenderest point the Power
to which they look for support. It is a decided advantage to the Canadians that, while absolutely and
entirely independent so far as their own Legislature and
Government is concerned, and owning no allegiance
whatever to the British Parliament, they are saved the
agitation and difficulties of the American elections for
President, by the appointment of a British GovernorGeneral, always a selected and impartial man, taking
no part in their politics, but a useful arbitrator and
mediator in case of difficulty. The Governor-General
is, in fact, a very cheap constitutional king, not subject
to the accidents of heredity, but always a picked man
—like a perpetual Leopold of Belgium, for instance.
Canada, not having participated in the American
war, is not subject to so heavy a taxation as that
which the war has brought on the United States; but
then the Americans have by that war settled their
political system, and find themselves on their own
continent a united people, without an equal or, in
point of population and power, a rival; whereas in
the presence of so much greater a Power the troubles
of the Canadians may have yet to come.

TAXATION IN THE STATES.

79

Altogether I am not at all surprised that the
Canadians are thoroughly loyal to the British connection—it suits them admirably. But it should be
understood that they only own loyalty and allegiance
to the British Crown, not by any means to the British
Parliament and the British people. W e need not
flatter ourselves that Canada any more belongs to us
than Hanover did when it was subject to the British
Crown. My only doubt is, whether the connection
is beneficial to us. I cannot quite see what we, the
people and taxpayers of Great Britain, get for the
political and military responsibilities which it imposes
on us. I observe that, in opening the Canadian
Parliament the other day, Lord Lome says, in his
official speech from the Throne: ' By the readjustment
of the tariff, with a view to increasing the revenue and
developing and encouraging the industries of Canada,
you will, I trust, be able to restore the equilibrium,
and aid in removing the commercial and financial
depression? That means that the British GovernorGeneral sent from this country, is compelled by his
position to recommend in so many words, protection
for protection's sake—a policy which, right or wrpng,
is utterly opposed to the universal and most strong
feeling of this country. I confess that I think that
it is somewhat humiliating to us to continue the connection on these terms.
TAXATION.

There is a good deal of disposition among us to
suppose that the Americans suffer from a very heavy

80

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OE THE UNITED STATES.

taxation. I hardly think this is so, except in particular
localities. Of course the burden left by the war was
enormous—that has disturbed everything, and made it
necessary for a people formerly about the most lightly
taxed in the world to submit to considerable taxation
—the more as that taxation has been imposed, not only
to pay the interest of the debt, but to pay off the
capital. But, after all, the general taxation levied by
the United States is not extremely onerous—not so
much so as that which we raise, and much less than
that raised in France and other countries. I have
already mentioned what it consists of—an excise more
moderate than our excise and tobacco duties, and a
customs revenue which is only very burdensome because it involves protection, and consequent enhancement of prices of a good many articles. The exemption
of tea and coffee from all. duty is a notable concession by
the Americans to t h e ' free-breakfast-table' view of life.
No doubt the United States' taxation excludes
provision for the local courts of justice and some
other things which are provided by the States 7
Governments; but the cost of those Governments
(other than that incurred for railways and canals)
is not large; on the contrary, they are very economically administered ; and the State tax is generally not
heavy, except in some of the Southern States. A good
many charges are thrown on the counties, as is the
case with us. But the county rates are also as a rule
not very heavy. Nor are those of rural townships
and villages or small towns excessive. I t is only, I
think, in some of the large cities, such as New York

TAXATION I N THE STATES.

81

and Chicago, that the rate is very heavy, amounting
sometimes to as much as 2J to 3 per cent, on capital
value, all charges—State, county, and city—included;
in fact, to six or eight shillings in the pound of the
rental—a rate wrhich naturally very much enhances
the cost of living and doing business in those cities.
On the other hand, we must remember that in some of
our towns all our rates added together come to a good
many shillings in the pound : and if to these be added
a large part of our Excise, stamp revenue, Imperial
income-tax and house-tax, and other items not paid
in America, it may be doubted whether, even in the
cities, an American contributes more, in proportion to
his means, to the public administration of one kind
and another than an Englishman does; while it may
be affirmed that out of those cities he contributes less.
But, in addition to the prominence given to the
taxation of some of the large cities of which foreigners
see most, what, I think, makes Americans cry out and
foreigners think them oppressed by taxation is, that
almost all taxation of all kinds below that of the
United States is in the form of a direct tax on property. Thus the Americans have less indirect taxation and as much, or perhaps more, direct taxation
on the whole than wTe have; and as direct taxation
is always more felt, their burdens are more evident
and conspicuous, and have been especially felt at a
time when property has been universally depreciated,
both by the after-effects of the war and by the commercial depression, while taxation has been increased
to meet debts and pay for great works undertaken in
6

82

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

prosperous times. In the Southern States particularly,
property has been very greatly depreciated, for the
slaves were in themselves an immensely valuable property, and the land, though as well cultivated as before, does not yet sell for high prices. There the
taxation is often much complained of, and State
debts are in a good many cases not met.
By the constitutions of almost all the States all
taxation must be imposed on all property equally,
and consequently the direct taxation, State, county,
and local, all takes the single form of a tax on
property, both real and personal. There is, as a rule,
no tax on incomes as distinguished from property;
the capital value of the property must be returned,
and then the taxes are a percentage on that. A war
income-tax was at one time imposed by the^TJnited
States, but that has been given up, and there is now
no such tax, except in some of the Southern States
which are in financial difficulties.
There is no doubt that all real property is effectively taxed, but the question is how far personal
property is fully reached. I gather that the assessment is carried out with very various degrees of
| thoroughness. I was not able to go into the matter exhaustively, but I understood that there is more
or less evasion. Considering the enormous realised
wealth of New York, the proportion of personal
property returned in that State seems surprisingly
small—much less than in either Massachusetts or
Ohio. But the morality of New York City is, no
doubt, below the average of America, and the administration there has been corrupt and lax.

TAXATION IN

THE STATES.

83

While we, I think, go to one extreme in taxing the
most precarious professional incomes at the same rate
as incomes derived from realised property, the Americans seem to go to the other extreme, in exempting
altogether incomes derived otherwise than from property. For instance lawyers and other professional
men are not taxed on their receipts.
Then there is, in most States, a poll-tax for education, to which I have before adverted; it ranges
from one to two dollars per head on ablebodied males,
but is strictly confined by the Constitution to special
purposes—generally altogether to education. A tax
generally the resort of tyrannical governments is thus
given a popular character. A burning question in
America is the imposition of a dog-tax. I t is alleged
that sheep and other animals suffer terribly from the
depredations of dogs; but the tax being obnoxious to
much popular objection, it is provided that where it
is imposed for preventive purposes it also is to go for
education.
I think there is nothing in the Constitution to
prevent the imposition of local taxes of an indirect
character for State purposes, except that nothing may
be done which involves anything of the character of a
transit duty or interferes with trade and commerce;
but generally speaking nothing of the kind is attempted. In some States—as, for instance, Virginia—
a State tax on the sale of intoxicating liquors has been
imposed in addition to the United States Excise tax.
But such revenues are, I think, quite exceptional.

84

BIKD'S-EYE V I E W OF THE UNITED STATES.

TEE LAND SYSTEM.

I omitted to mention one very important subject
which is reserved for the Central Government, viz.,
the disposal of the unoccupied lands. The original
States of the Union had and retained the disposal of
their own lands; and the great new State of Texas,
on coming into the Union, made a bargain that it
should retain a similar power; but with this exception all the vast lands west of the Alleghanies, and
out of which so many great new States and Territories
have been formed, were considered to belong to the
people of the United States as a whole, and are by
them offered, not only to their own citizens, but to
all foreigners who are willing to come and settle
among them. It is under the system adopted by the
central authority that wise rules have been passed
and precautions taken to which I have already alluded,
and under which land-jobbing and the monopoly of
great areas is prevented. Great populations of free
and independent small farmers owning their own
land have been thus attracted to the soil of America.
Only in exceptional cases and for special reasons is
any public land sold in an unrestricted manner. I t
is reserved for hondfide settlers. Every citizen and
every man willing to become a citizen of the United
States is, under the homestead law, entitled to a free
grant of 80 or 160 acres, according to the situation,
provided he settles upon it and fulfils conditions
ensuring that it is taken up for real cultivation, and
not for speculation and sale. Or, again, he may buy

T H E LAND SYSTEM.

85

a similar plot or a larger one up to 320 acres at five or
ten shillings per acre (according to situation), under
less restrictive conditions, but still subject to precautions against land-jobbing. Where peculiar circumstances exist—as, for instance, where large irrigation works are necessary to profitable cultivation—•
the land is sold in large blocks. And there has been
a good deal of outcry of late regarding what is supposed to be a departure from the principle of the
American land system in the grant of great quantities of land to railway companies. Though there
may have been a good deal of jobbing in particular
instances, I doubt whether the general complaint is
very well-founded. I have alluded to the want of
roads in America. In the deep black soil of the
Western Prairie States roads are not only absent but
most difficult and expensive to make. Railways are
the very life of the country. Vast new tracts have
been and are being opened up by railways which
otherwise could not have been approached, and valueless land is made valuable by railways, that close to
the line being, of course, infinitely more valuable than
that away from it. Hence, the value being created
by the railways, I think it was far from an unwise
system to pay for the construction of railways into
unoccupied countries, where no one would otherwise
make them, out of the value thus created. The system adopted was to grant to those who made the railways every alternate square mile block along the
line, the other alternate blocks being reserved for sale
at an enhanced rate/ or for homestead grants of smaller

86

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

area than elsewhere. Certainly the opening out of
the country has been thus secured, and I don't gather
that a very large amount of land-jobbing has resulted;
for, the custom of the country being favourable to real
settlement and small farms, the railways have generally laid out their lands with that object, and disposed of them to londjide farmers in lots of 40, 80,
160, or 320 acres. I saw a good deal of the country
thus occupied along the Illinois Central Railway, the
best known case in which the system of railway
grants was adopted, and certainly the result has there
been a very excellent settlement of such farmers on
farms suited to their means. I t is only in some of
the outlying tracts in the Far West that a few great
estates have been got together and that one hears of
farms on a magnificent scale; but I gather that they
are rather made to sell than anything else, and that
the magnificent descriptions of them which have been
circulated are of the nature of advertisements, with a
view to their disposal in moderate lots. In Texas
and some of the Far Western States land not suited
for agriculture is, I believe, held in large grazing
farms. In California the land was claimed in large
blocks under old Spanish titles, which the United
States Courts have declared to be valid, and by purchase of these titles large estates have been acquired,
so that the tenure of land and structure of society
is different there from other parts of the United
States.
The system of survey and registration of all the
lands settled under the system which I have described

THE LAND SYSTEM.

87

is admirable. The whole country is accurately surveyed and lotted off into square mile sections of 640
acres, with rectangular road-spaces dividing them.
These are again divided into quarter sections of 160
acres, and these again, as occasion requires, into 80
and 40 acre sections; so that every 40-acre plot can
be accurately stated and traced by the use of a very
few figures in the simplest possible manner.
After a few years' bond fide settlement and cultivation all land is freely transferable, so that there is not
the ]^ast practical difficulty in acquiring large farms,
or even large estates, if, for purposes of large and
high cultivation or systematic management, anyone
wishes to acquire such by fair purchase, and not by
mere land-jobbing and forestalling. In the older
States plenty of large tracts are, in fact, in the
market; so that it is not for want of opportunity if
the large culture system is not often followed.
The system of direct taxation which prevails in
the United States is, on the other hand, very effectual
to prevent large quantities of land being kept waste
for jobbing or speculative purposes, since all private
property of this kind is taxed, whether it is cultivated
or not.
Thus the land system of the United States is iu
great contrast to that of most of our colonies, where
not only are great quantities of land monopolised by
squatters and jobbers, but such tracts have been held
almost exempt from taxation. In Australia these
land questions seem to be very prominent; but meantime it appears that there the public land is being

88

BIKD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

very rapidly sold away and the proceeds sp»ent as
revenue.
In the United States not only is the public land
reserved and local jobbing and improvident sale prevented, but, although free self-governing institutions
within certain limits are given to the settlers in new
territory, they by no means at once obtain the complete self-government which our colonies now usually
have. As soon as there is a moderate population what
are called Territories are formed. But these Territories are under governors appointed by the President,
the laws passed by their Legislatures are subject to
the approval of Congress, and they are, as it were,
kept in leading-strings till they arrive at a tolerable
maturity, when they are converted into States, and
admitted into the Union as such.
Besides the public lands, the central Government
reserves the function of dealing with the Indians, the
old possessors or roamers over these lands; and considerable tracts (in one quarter what amounts to the
area of a State, comprising, it is said, as good land as
any in the Union) have been reserved for them.
I n Canada I believe that some of the tame Indians
have been turned into tolerable farmers, and the wild
ones keep up amicable relations with the Government.
Tame squaws knit stockings about the Niagara Falls.
In the States one sees very little of tame Indians.
A number of young Indians from the West are being
trained in a college in Virginia, who are to be sent
back to carry civilisation to their tribes; but meanwhile these Western tribes are extremely trouble-

THE CURKESTCY QUESTION.

89

some. Though unwilling to settle down to work, they
are far from deficient in energy, and show very
decided talent in the use of firearms; in fact, I believe they are the best marksmen in America. They
give an immense amount of very harassing occupation
to the United States troops. Many people in America say they have been very ill-used, and I believe
that is so—not by the Government, but by people
whom the Government cannot restrain ; and so they
are driven into rebellion. A t any rate, the moral is
to show how troublesome a few savages can be when
they learn the use of good firearms. The conditions
of the savage world are already very much changed
from what they were but a few years ago, and are
rapidly changing still more now that free trade introduces cheap firearms everywhere. W e must take
full account of this in dealing with barbarian populations.
THE CURRENCY

QUESTION

The Currency question is so burning and important in the United States, and of so much interest on
this side of the Atlantic, that I will attempt to explain briefly how it stands.
The dollar—on which the United States monetary
system is based—was originally a silver coin, the
currency having been founded on the Mexican silver
dollar. But almost ever since the Revolution the
American system seems to have been in strictness
bimetallic; that is, both silver and gold were coined
in any quantity for all persons who brought these

90

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OE THE UNITED STATES.

metals to the Mint, and both silver and gold coins
were equally a legal tender. The debtor had the option of paying either in silver or in gold; and, as is
necessarily the case under such a rule, he of course
always paid in the coin which happened to be cheapest at the time. The silver dollar of this coinage is
the c dollar of our daddies,' weighing 412^ grains troy,
of which one-tenth is alloy; and that is still the
American silver dollar. But I gathered that in times
before the war the Mexican dollar was more current
than any coin of the United States.
That, then, was the state of things up to 1862,
the debtor having the option of paying in silver or in
gold, and on that basis all contracts were made and
loans contracted. In 1862, in consequence of the
war, a very important change took place—the legal
coins remained the same as before in theory, but in
that and the following years very large quantities of
inconvertible paper notes were issued and made legal
tender equally with coin l in payment of ail debts,
public or private, except duties on imports and
interest on the public debt.' These were the famous
greenbacks. Legally debtors could then pay either
in silver, gold, or greenbacks; but, as greenbacks
were speedily depreciated, and became cheaper to the
debtor, all payments (save those excepted^) were
made in greenbacks. Practically coin was not seen
again in the United States till January 1 of the present year (1879), excepting only a small currency
reintroduced of late years for small payments only.
There was no term for payment of the greenbacks in

T H E CUEEENCY

QUESTION.

91

coin ; but the constitutional legality of the Greenback
Act having been disputed in the Courts, the Supreme
Court decided that it was legal only under the necessity of war, and it seemed to result that the notes
must be repaid as soon as the necessities caused by
the war permitted. To make this clear an Act of
March 1869 declares that ' the faith of the United
States is solemnly pledged to the payment in coin or
its equivalent of all the United States notes,' and ' to
make provision at the earliest practicable period for
the redemption of the notes in " coin."' No more
exact time was specified. Thus, then, the holders
were solemnly promised payment as soon as possible
in ' coin ; ' that is, either silver or gold.
Meantime the interest of the interest-bearing debt
had remained payable in coin of one or the other
description. But the gold discoveries had rendered
gold the cheaper metal, and the consequence was that
everything payable in coin was as a rule paid in gold.
This was the state of things when a new coinage
Act wais passed in 1873. Silver was not demonetised— the existing, dollars still remained a legal
tender; but the new Act (looking, no doubt, to the
I prevalent use of gold, so far as any coin was used)
dropped the silver dollar out of the new coinage, retaining only smaller silver pieces, the legal payment
of which was limited to a small amount. As, in
truth, for most of the ordinary business and transactions of life, no coin at all was then used in the United
States, little visible effect was produced by the new
Act. But as very few silver dollars were in existence,

92

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

and no new ones were to be coined, t i e effect certainly
was t i a t , in case of resumption of specie payments,:
gold, and not silver, must be t i e coin used. T i e Act
of 1873 seems to i a v e been put into t i e form in w i i c i
it was ultimately passed at t i e last moment, and,
under t i e circumstances of t i e time, was not of t i e
highest interest, nor did it create any excitement.
Two years later (in 1875) t i e Act for t i e resumption of specie payments was passed, providing t i a t
t i e United States notes siould be redeemed on January 1, 1879, in coin—notiing
was said of t i e description of coin.
But about this time a great change began to take
place in t i e relative value of gold and silver. Gold
relatively went up in value and silver went down, as
we all know. T i e n it was seen w i a t a disturbance of
existing arrangements would be caused by t i e Act of
1873. An agitation on the subject soon commenced,
and prolonged and excited discussions took place.
I t was not till February 1878 that the Act to restore
the old silver dollar to the coinage received t i e
President's assent. Even t i e n it was restored in
principle ratier t i a n in immediate practice. I t was
feared that if an unlimited coinage of silver dollars
were at once permitted the holders of silver would
establish monopoly prices and get all the profits, and
therefore it was determined to bring in the silver dollar gradually. The Treasury were to purciase not
less than 2,000,000 nor more than 4,000,000 dollars'
worth of silver monthly, and to coin it for circulation. The Act also provided that, while silver

T H E CURRENCY

QUESTION.

93

dollars should be a legal tender, an exception should
be made ' where o.therwise expressly stipulated in
the contract.'
A great outcry was made against this Act by the
moneyed interests in the Northern cities and in England, on the ground that it deprived them of the dear
gold coins which they expected to receive, and put them
off with cheap silver coins. I must say that for the
most part I cannot see that this reclamation was wellfounded. It seems to me that none of the holders or
creditors whose bonds date prior to the Act of 1873
can complain, for they certainly get exactly what they
bargained for—viz., coin, either gold or silver—and
this includes the whole of the public obligations of
the United States. The only people who might seem
to have a fair case are those who made contracts or
lent money between 1873 and February 1878; but
morally even they do not seem to have much case of
hardship—they dealt in or lent greenbacks, which in
1875 were at a discount of 12 to 15 per cent., but
which the act of that year prospectively restored to
coin value. In 1876 the value of the greenback was
rising very slowly, and throughout that and the following year while the Act for restoring the silver dollar
was under discussion, it was evident enough that it
would be restored, the particular form of the measure
only being doubtful; so that there was no surprise.
Moreover, there has for the present come to the
aid of the creditors the provision limiting the coinage
of silver. The President and his advisers are unfavourable to the silver coinage, and I believe they

94

BIKD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

have coined as little as the law allows them; consequently up to this time there is so little silver in circulation that it cannot take the place of gold. Resumption has been in practice effected in dear gold;
and the greenback of the past seventeen years has
now become worth its nominal value in gold.
Practically, then, the United States are at present
in the same position as the States of the Latin Union,
France and the rest; that is to say, although gold
and silver coins are both legal tender, the quantity
of silver coined is so restricted that gold is the real
measure of value, and silver coin, so far as it circulates (and we know that it circulates largely in
France), bears an artificial value far above its real
intrinsic value. But there is this important difference, that whereas the Latin Union fix a total limit
to their silver coinage, the United States have only
fixed the amount to be coined monthly. If the
present law stands, silver coin must go on accumulating, and in the end it must inevitably bring down
the value of the dollar of account, cheap silver dollars displacing dear gold dollars. Under the existing
law this is a mere question of time.
To realise the importance of this question we
must remember that it is not only a question of the
currency, or of the payment of the public debts and
obligations, but of all private debts and obligations.
Every man who borrowed a dollar in 1864 must now
pay back a dollar two an 1 a half times more valuable.
Every man who borrowed a dollar in 1868 (after the
war was well past and over) must pay back nearly one

THE CURRENCY

QUESTION".

95

and a half times; every man who borrowed in 1875 or
1876 must pay 10 to 15 per cent, more; every man
who borrowed in 1877 must pay 2 to 6 per cent. more.
No doubt this is a heavy tax on debtors, and a great
increase in the value the creditors can claim. There
are so many debtors in the States that it is no wonder
there is a strong feeling on the subject, the more so
as the debtors are the mass of rural proprietors and
others throughout the country, while the creditors are
the capitalists in the large towns and in England.
It is most unfortunate that the Act of 1873 was
ever passed. If it had not been for that there could
have been no ground of complaint, and the debtors
would have had the benefit of the cheap silver to which
the law under which they incurred the debts entitled
them. Then, again, if at the time of the passing of the
Resumption Act of 1875 provision had at the same
time been made for coining the silver dollar, no one
could have reasonably complained. The greenback
being then at about 15 per cent, -discount, it could be
no hardship to make it payable in silver coin, according to the original contract, for even that would have
enhanced its existing value. There would thus have
been a happy and easy transition from greenbacks to
silver worth a little, but not very much more, than the
greenbacks of 1875, without disturbance or difficulty.
As it is the creditors claim their pound of gold under
the Act of 1873, and denounce the Act of 1878,
which only returns to the state of things prior to
1873, as spoliation.
It was the real hardship to debtors of a return

96

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

to a gold standard, excluding the old silver option,
which produced the recent unreasonable and unsuccessful agitation for a return to greenbacks; but it
curiously shows how much the question is one between the farmers and people on one side, and the
capitalists on the other, that the strength of the agitation was not so much in the indebted and depressed
South as in the rich State of Massachusetts and the
steady agricultural State of Maine, both model New
England States.
The return to silver money would be the less a
hardship on creditors, as the authorised standard in
America puts gold to silver at about 16 to 1, instead
of 15J to 1, the European standard; consequently
the present cheapening of silver is a smaller departure
from the old standard by upwards of 3 per cent.
I may mention that one is apt to be puzzled by
the existence of another authorised dollar coined in
the U.S. mints, called the l trade dollar.' I t is larger
than the standard dollar, weighing 420 grains, and
is not a legal tender, being coined for use in China
and Japan, where it was supposed that a dollar of
that kind would be preferred. I believe it is not
very successful. The present state of things has
brought about this curious result, that the larger
trade dollar, not being a legal tender, is not worth a
dollar in America, while the smaller standard dollar,
enhanced in value by its scarcity, passes for the value
of a dollar in gold. That is quite an artificial state
of things, and can hardly last.

EMIGRATION AND INVESTMENT.

AMERICA

AS A FIELD FOB EMIGRATION' AND
MENT.

97

INVEST-

I t may be of interest to some of you that I should
tell you something of what I have gathered on the
subject of emigration to America. I should be sorry
to see you go, of course, but at the same time there is
this to be said in favour of America, that to any man
who goes there, and especially to a Scotchman or
an Irishman, that country is not in any degree a
foreign country. There are some peculiarities, but
they are all on the surface, and you would soon get
over them. I t is wonderful how soon one adapts
oneself to local customs and habits when the people
and language are really identical with those of out
own country. The manners of the Americans are
our manners, their ways are our ways, and their hearts
and sympathies are the hearts and sympathies to which
we are accustomed.
When we come to consider the question whether
it is a good thing to emigrate to America, I would
say, as a general rule, it is a country only for those
who are willing to work with their hands, and work
very hard indeed. It is not the place for a man who
looks to earn his bread by his brains only, and with a
moderate amount of work. No doubt if a man is extraordinarily clever he may get on in any part of the
world; and if such a one is well fitted to get on in
this country, he may not improbably also get on in
America, if he begins early. In America there is

98

B l W s - E Y E VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

much greater room for extension than here; but as a
rule the people who earn their bread by their brains,
instead of their hands, are not so well paid, and
therefore average people of that class I would recommend not to go to America. I have been surprised
at the low salaries paid there, and at the extent of the
head-work done at a low rate of remuneration, although no doubt some people make large fortunes. If
a man is not ready to work hard with his hands, if he
hopes to earn his bread by his education and by headwork, I think, on the whole, unless he is very smart
indeed, he had better stay at home or go to some of
our colonies, and not try to rival the Americans, where
the educated class are very keen and smart. After
all if a man has moderate ideas and does not look to
be a millionaire, some of the educated professions
seem to be not yet over-stocked in this country—for
instance, medical men are hardly procurable for Pier
Majesty's service—and there are many employments
of various kinds throughout Her Majesty's dominions.
To the man of the well-to-do classes with a few
thousand pounds I would say that the land and the
products would be somewhat strange to him, going
from this country, and therefore, unless he lays out
his money very judiciously, he might gain his experience by losing it, the result, in a good many cases,
of young men going out with money. If a man has
money he should take care to look about him before
he invests in America, There is a view taken by
some of my acquaintances that a fine young man,
who does not care for indoor work, might farm in

EMIGRATION AND INVESTMENT.

99

America, and might thus make sure of an independent position. Now, in this respect there is a great
deal of delusion. I do not think America is the place
for every man who wishes to be a gentleman-farmer;
the majority of that kind of whom I have heard have
been unsuccessful. Land is cheap, but it cannot be
used till houses have been built on it, fences erected,
and the land itself improved in a great many ways;
and there is this fact, that labour is so dear that large
farms, as a rule, do not pay. There are some large
cattle farms which have paid, but these are the exceptions, and have been of a speculative character.
The only farms which surely pay are small farms
worked by men who are willing to work with their
own hands, and really to work hard. To men of
that class I believe there is no country better than
America, in which they may acquire an independent
position, such as they would not have in this country,
at a small cost, and with a small capital. Comparing,
however, the condition of farmers in this country and
in America, I must give it as my opinion that the
average man who cultivates here 500 or 1,000 acres
had better stay at home, or go. somewhere else than to
America. No doubt there is much room for improved
farming in America; at least many very competent
Americans think so; and a very energetic man'who
takes a lead in that way may make it succeed; but
he will be a sort of pioneer—he will not find things
cut out to his hand. A man who takes to farming in
America will not have the same comforts and society
and civilised distractions that he has here. The dis-

100

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

tances are great, country neighbours few and rough,
and servants scarce and dear. I have heard of many
instances of ex-officers of the army and others who
have taken to farming in America who, and still more
whose wives, have had to go through hardships and
hard work which they little thought of in their own
country. On the other hand, some very pushing and
energetic men have no doubt been successful as cattlebreeders and, in some of the far-away States, as wheatfarmers on a large scale. In the wheat-growing tracts
of the Red River of the North (in the far NorthWest of the States) and in the valleys of California,
where great tracts of very rich and unincumbered
prairie land have bean obtained from railway companies, Spanish grantees, and otherwise, the system is
to lay in a great stock of machinery and keep a few
men to take care of i t ; then at sowing-time, and again
at harvest-time, to hire great gangs of casual labourers,
lumber-men out of work and others, to plough and
sow in spring, and reap in summer, in great fields miles
long. This is, however, a style of farming which is
quite exceptional, and will not, I think, last very long.
On the other hand, I would advise the small
farmer with a little means-—to whom I especially recommend America—not to be too much led away by
the prospect of getting a homestead grant for nothing
in the farther parts of the country. I doubt whether
such allotments can be taken up with advantage by
men new to the country and climate, such as our
countrymen of the class I describe. Successful settlements are, I believe, made by Scandinavians and

EMIGKATION AND INVESTMENT.

101

Germans, who are accustomed to a sort of communal
arrangements and to a very rough life ; but a man
who goes from this country, and who wishes to begin
at once as an independent farmer, would, I think, do
better to buy a ready-made farm. H e may probably
get a good one, with house and everything to his hand,
at from 21. to 51. per acre. The most common size is
40, 80, or 160 acres, and he may enlarge that afterwards, if he is prosperous. If he has sons he may
work a tolerable sized farm with his own family; if
not, he may hire one or two farm labourers, and that
class are readily enough procured, and do not receive
very monstrous wages.
Even the small farmer must not be too sanguine
of a very brilliant success. The fact is that agriculture is nowr so largely spread and production is so enormous that, happily for the dwellers in older lands,
food-stuffs are exceedingly cheap; and, unless a farmer has a special success in breeding or otherwise, he
must be content to make a living by the sweat of his
brow. But at any rate he will have a rough plenty—•
he need not want for a tolerable house and good food.
He may well be an independent and self-respecting
man. His children will be easily provided for, and he
may enlarge his holding gradually. To a man not
too ambitious and not in too great a hurry to be rich
I believe that the life of a respectable farmer, owning
his own land, in a country where he need call no man
his superior, is happy, useful, and creditable.
Now I come to the case of the labouring man
willing to work hard for a good living. Any man ac-

102

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

customed to farm labour, or willing and able to take
to that kind of work, can be sure of such a living in
America. I have said that in these times labourers
do not receive very extravagant wages, as at one time
they did; but still they can earn higher wages than
they do here, while food is cheaper, and a labouring
man has better food. I have no doubt that on the
whole such a man is immediately better oif than he
is at home; and if he is prudent and saving he has
certainly much better opportunities to rise. H e may
well hope to become an independent farmer after a
time—a position to which, I fear, fewer and fewer
farm-labourers rise in this country.
The labourer,
however, must, like the farmer, be prepared, if need
be, to go far afield, and must not grumble if he finds
himself obliged to rough it a good deal for a time.
He may have a good deal to learn, and experience
some change in climate and habits. H e must not expect to carry into remote parts all the ways to which
he may have been accustomed.
As regards the class of mechanics and others not
willing to work on the land—artisans, navvies, miners,
iron-workers, mill-workers, &Q.—they are generallybetter off in America than in this country; but, owing
to the depression of recent years, their position there
is not so assured as that of those who are willing
to labour on the land. During the bad times many
American works have been stopped, and many good
men, as well as a very great many indifferent and
bad men, have been thrown out of employment and
suffered much hardship. A good many of them have

EMIGRATION AND INVESTMENT.

103

given up their trades and taken to work on the land;
and business being now a little better, there is by no
means so conspicuous a want of employment as there
was. But still I could not advise people of the
classes to which I refer to go to America at present,
unless employment has been assured to them* I may
say, while I am on this subject, that the successful
artisan in America has, I think, much greater facilities for owning a nice home and garden of his own
than in this country.
There is one class of people who are in great demand in America, viz., domestic servants. I do not
mean male servants—I think domestic service is not
the work for men—we require all the thew and sinew
of the nation for other work. But there is no doubt
that America is a paradise for female servants. They
are treated there as helps rather than servants; and
though it is necessary for them to work hard, still
their employment is certain, and a really good servant
may almost make her own terms.
I have said that in recent years times have been
somewhat hard in America, but I think there is a
degree of exaggeration in that, because, though wages
have been reduced, yet, on the other hand, the absolute
necessaries of life are so much cheaper than they were
as almost to make up for the difference. The ordinary
labouring man, who in this country might earn 2s. 6d.
or 3s, a day, would in America earn a dollar; a mechanic who gets from 5s. to 6s. a day here would, if
he succeeded in getting employment, earn considerably more.

104

BIBD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

I am afraid, however, that much of the advantage
is lost owing to the extravagant habits of the Americans in regard to spending. The obligatory expenses,
or even those necessary to the ease and comfort of a
working man, are not so heavy as in this country;
but there is no doubt that all classes, high and low,
have been to some degree spoiled by former prosperous times, and that they have not learned saving as
they ought. Many think that recent hard times will
have a very good effect on the habits of the American
people, and in this I speak'of the richer and more
pretentious classes still more than of labouring men.
On the other hand, many of the Germans and some
other classes exhibit wonderful thrift, arid are a model
of careful and successful industry, by which they
improve their position much more than some who
may earn more and seem of a higher class.
It must be felt that the absence in America of
that wide social gulf between classes which so much
exists in England is a great advantage to a working
man who by skill and prudence rises to an independent position ; and the political system is certainly
one which makes him feel that he has a better and
more recognised place in the commonwealth. "We
cannot, too, shut our eyes to the fact that this is a
risen country, where there is not apparent room for
so much further rise as there is in America, with its
illimitable opportunities for expansion; and in this
respect the man who seeks to rise has probably more
to look to on the other side of the Atlantic.
At the same time I cannot too often impress on

EMIGRATION AND INVESTMENT.

105

you that, while America is the place for the man
with a strong arm and a strong will to work—for the
pushing and the energetic—rit is most decidedly no
place for the idle or the easy-going, or for men discontented with their lot, who think that a mere
change of country will better it. There are too
many of that sort in America already. This is the
class which has suffered most from the want of employment, and it is a class to which Americans are
not inclined to be very tender. Any man who is not
thoroughly self-reliant had better stay in the older
and perhaps more indulgent country.
There is this important consideration with respect
to emigration, that many a man who hardly thinks
that his own lot is improved by transplantation, and
who sets against the advantages much that comes
rather trying in the change, must feel that his children at least, growing up in America, will greatly
benefit by the step which he has taken. To begin
with, to the parents of large families the American
educational system is a very great advantage. In all
the best parts of America there is offered to all an
excellent education, absolutely free, given to all children without distinction; and the clever boy may not
only thus learn the ' three R's,' but may go to the
higher education, also given free, and qualify for
higher work and a higher place than his father ever
aimed at. If the son of a poor man is very ambitious
he has certainly a better chance of being President
of the United States than of being Prime Minister of
England. And without looking so high as that, I

106

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

think there can be no doubt that not only the son of
the energetic Scotchman and the prudent German, but
also the son of the poor Irishman, brought up as an
American citizen, has better prospects than in his
own country. I won't say that this country has culminated and begun to go down—we have not, I hope,
come to that—but there is no doubt that, with very
limited land and immense foreign competition in
manufactures, we can hardly hope to hold a place
relatively so far in advance of the world as we have
in the past generations. We shall, I hope, still progress in many ways, but it is almost in the nature of
things that America must progress faster.
I will sum up my views in regard to emigration
to America as follows—taking the case of the average man, not the exceptional man.
If I were a young man with a moderate patrimony
I would go and look about me in America, but would
not invest my fortune there rashly ; it would be
principally a question of temperament, and a choice
between the safety and ease which such a man may
have in his own country, or the adventure and the
chance of making his mark which he may have in
America.
If I wrere a well-educated farm labourer, with a
large family, I would certainly go. If I were an unincumbered young farm-labourer or a young maidservant without special ties in this country, I would
go. If I were a young mechanic or mill-worker I think
I should take the first favourable opportunity of going, and would take my chance for better or worse.

EMIGKATKXN" AND INVESTMENT.

107

A man of any other class I would not advise to
go, unless lie feels a very special vocation for the
adventure of American life.
Clerks, professional
men, shopkeepers, elderly mechanics and others of
the working classes without a special engagement in
America, may generally with greater advantage stay
at home.
All that I have hitherto said has principally had
reference to emigration, and to the investment o£
capital taken out by those who themselves emigrate;
but perhaps I may say one word regarding the investment of capital in America by people who do
not emigrate, though that is a very difficult subject,
and I should be sorry to give confident advice about
it. No doubt the 'demand for money is greater in
America than it is here, and the interest is higher;
but on equal security the difference is not now very
great. The United States Government can borrow
at 4 per cent, as easily as we can at 3J—the security
of that Government is, no doubt, as safe as any in
the world. The New York money market is now a
very large one, and investors there are g l a d ' t o get
moderate interest for safe investments. I think not
fully 5 per cent, is to be got on first-class railway
bonds and such-like securities, which give about 4
per cent, in this country. The difference between 4
and 4 | may about express the degree to which interest is higher in America. All the second mortgages, shares, <fcc, which bear higher interest, are
more or less risky.
I t is true one is told that
first-class mortgages on land are to be had at a

108

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

high rate of interest, but there is a good deal of difficulty about this—estates are not large, the titles are
not always unconditional—most States reserve rights
of wives, without whose consent the homestead cannot be alienated, and sometimes limited homesteads
cannot be alienated at all. There is great variety in
the laws of different States, and especially it should
be noticed that in some parts of the country there is
great uncertainty and liability to variation in the value
of property, and a mortgage on estates one day said
to be immensely valuable may more than exhaust
the whole value another day. Some fine estates are
made to sell, and I should be sorry to be the mortgagee of a house in Chicago for half the value which
it bore some years ago. I t comes, I think, to this,
that if a man with a good deal of money and a good
knowledge of business devotes himself to the subject,
he might invest his money well in this way in
America; or if you have a friend in America who is
both competent and honest, and on whom you can
thoroughly rely (but who in such matters "can rely
on anyone in these days ?), he may make a good investment for you ; but it is not to be done by the ordinary investor.
As regards most of the State and city debts, and
a variety of tempting investments of that kind, they
require a very thorough knowledge of American politics and finance, and I think that a man who has not
that knowledge had better not touch them.

FEELING TOWARDS ENGLAND.
FEELING

TO WARD8

109

ENGLAND.

Let me now say one word more before I have
done as regards the feeling in the United States towards England. Upon the whole I am quite sure
that the people there feel kindly towards us ; in fact,
ninety-nine out of the hundred do so, and perhaps
the hundredth has no really hostile feeling. But
there does still remain, among some of. the Americans,
a feeling that we did not behave well or kindly towards them during their great Civil War, and especially some of these men are persuaded that it is due
to our conduct that their mercantile marine has been
destroyed. 1 will not deny that our miscarriage ity
permitting privateers to avail themselves of our ports
and prey upon the commerce of the United States
had something to do, for the time, with the destruction of their mercantile marine; but we have paid
heavy ' smart money 'for t h a t ; and I believe that the
real cause of the continued decadence of the marine is,
not what was done by the c Alabama,' but the protective system, which makes it impossible for a citizen of
the United States to sail a ship abroad without paying for it a great deal more than a citizen of Great
Britain pays for his ship. However, I fear it is the
fact that in connection with this subject a sore feeling
does in some quarters exist. I am afraid that there
are some people in some of the States who, in case
this country were involved in war, would very readily
undertake the enterprise and. excitement of privateering against our marine* I do not believe that

110

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.

the central Government would willingly permit this;
but that Government is not strong enough to check
all its citizens. If we could not prevent the ' Alabama ?
from going out of Liverpool can we be sure that the
President of the United States could prevent ' Alabamas' from going out from any port on the many
thousand miles of seaboard of the United States ?
This actual fact is certain, that, in view of the probability or possibility of war with us, the. Emperor of
Russia has had several first-class cruisers built in
Philadelphia, though he must have paid much more
heavily for them than they would have cost in Europe;
and the other day these cruisers were brought out
and delivered over to the Russians with much parade.
Happily this was after the immediate danger of war
with Russia had passed. But that the vessels should
have been built by Americans for the purpose for
which they were intended seems to me to point to a
very great danger. If we once got into a war there
is no saying how far it might extend. If we ever go
to war with Russia that country would strain every
nerve, by means of such cruisers, to involve us with
the United States; and if once it comes to privateering from United States ports there is all too much fear
that sparks leading to a conflagration might be struck
at any moment. I sincerely hope, by a good understanding, so terrible a calamity may be rendered almost impossible; and the word I say in conclusion,
is, pray cultivate friendship, good-will, and amity
with the people of the United States; come to know
them well, and encourage them to know us well.

THE

MANAGEMENT

OF

COLOURED

RACES.

T H E paper on ' Black and White in the Southern
States,' which follows this, has appeared in the ' Fortnightly Review,' and is now republished, with the
kind permission of the Editor. 1 was, as I have there
stated, led to look particularly into the relations between the black and white races in the Southern
States, for the sake of the lessons that might be learned
as bearing on our management of British possessions
where white and black races are intermingled.
I do not here speak of our great dependency, India,
where our system has been to rule both races by a
Government avowedly absolute and despotic. In regard
to that system I am one of those to be judged rather
than to judge others ; but this at least I may claim, that
the Indian administration of the past cannot be accused of any habitual subordination of the rights and
interests of the coloured races to those of the whites.
Of our Colonies, beyond a few very casual visits,
I have no personal experience, but as a member of
Parliament, and also in connection with the coolie

112

T H E MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

emigration from India to the Colonies, my attention has
been during the past few years much directed to the
management of our colonial possessions in tropical
and semi-tropical regions. I cannot pretend to have
mastered the details of the various colonies—the
materials are not available. But the strong and
broad glimpses obtained from official reports and
Parliamentary papers and discussions have certainly
led me to an unfavourable opinion of their administration as regards the treatment of the coloured races.
In none of the Colonies does the Home Government exercise absolute and direct control, as in India;
in every case the colonists are admitted to some substantial share in the government, whether in the
shape of Constitutional Assemblies or of nominated
Councils. Except to a limited degree in a portion of
the Cape Colony proper (where, I believe, a very creditable and successful commencement has been made),
there is no attempt to admit the coloured races to any
share of political franchise—where there is any election of legislators or officials the election is in the
hands of the white colonists only. And in the colonies called Crown Colonies the administration is almost as much in the hands of a white oligarchy, for
the Councils are mainly composed of the leading
white colonists; and the Colonial system is such (in
this respect widely differing from that of India) that
a large proportion of the official members of Council
and other high officials are intimately connected by
blood, business, and interest with the dominant race
of settlers. Whenever the views or interests of that

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

113

race conflict with those of the labouring population
the safe-guarding of the latter rests principally with
the Governor sent out by the Colonial Office. Not
only, however, is he in many cases without sufficient
power, but also the atmosphere and surroundings in
which he lives are such, and the public opinion which
is heard of beyond the colony is so one-sided, that it
requires much more than common firmness to do justice in excited times. Some governors have nobly
done their d u t y ; some have more or less failed to do
so. I think one might point to cases in which the
latter have gone off in a blaze of popularity and
obtained pleasant promotion, while those who have
taken the part of subject races have fared very differently.
In the colonies where slavery once prevailed there
is a hankering after compulsion to labour, which has,
I think, given rise to injustice in many cases; and
even in colonies where there never was slavery, and
where one would Lave supposed oligarchical abuses
the least possible, recent official inquiries have disclosed an astounding partiality in financial matters.
Not only to this day have the revenues of Malta and
Ceylon been largely derived from taxes on the imported food of the people (while the rich by comparison escape) to a degree with which the worst days
of protection in England cannot compare, but it appears that in Ceylon the internal cultivation of
paddy or rice, the food of the poorest of the people,
is subjected to a special tax from which the valuable
products of the rich colonists are exempt.
8

114

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOUKED KACES.

In our Colonies the disposition to compel labour
has not affected the emancipated negroes nearly so
much as in those of some other European countries.
The negro has been to some extent under the protection of a powerful philanthropic party in this country ; and he himself, though good-natured and submissive up to a certain point, has shown that he- can
break out in an extremely dangerous way when
treated with injustice—we have had some experience
of that in Jamaica and elsewhere—and it is patent
that the last negro outbreak in the Danish island of
Santa Cruz was caused by extreme injustice in the
attempt to limit wages and prevent free movement of
the labourers. As a rule our colonists have probably
more frequently failed to manage and utilise the free
negro than greatly oppressed him. My own attention has been more directed to the condition of the
Indian labourers who have been substituted for the
negro labour which has failed. Several inquiries by
competent Royal Commissions in the past few years
show that they have been treated with great unfairness in some of our colonies.
In order to obtain the means of carrying on the
coolie emigration the Government has been induced to
sanction a system which would not be tolerated in the
case of white labourers. In consideration that the
expense is borne by the Colonies or the colonists, the
labourers are bound down to labour for a term of years.
They do not engage themselves to masters whom they
know, or to any individual, but are engaged to serve in
the colony, and on their arrival are assigned to a master.

THE MANAGEMENT OE COLOURED RACES.

115

They are afterwards subject to be re-assigned and transferred from, one master to another, and from one estate
to another, during the term of their indenture, without
their own consent or voice in the matter. In short,
call it as we may, and justify it as on the whole beneficial, if we can, there can be no doubt that it is a
temporary, modified, and supervised slavery, so long
as the obligation to labour lasts. The Indian Government have been careful to ascertain the voluntary
character of the emigration, the fairness of the contracts, and the adequacy of the provision for the
voyage; but so soon as the coolie leaves India he
passes out of their hands—the due execution of the
contracts and the treatment of the coolie henceforth
rest with the Colonial Administrations. I t is evidently
necessary that such a system, carried out in colonies
where the masters are the dominant race, should be
very jealously watched, and there can be no question
that the Colonial Office in England has always been
actuated by a desire to protect the coolies. But there
is great difference in the management of different
colonies, and while some are good, abuses have crept
into others. The Reports of /the Royal Commissions,
to which allusion has been made, show that in some
instances the contracts made in India have not been
fairly carried out, and that in several respects injustice has been done. Great efforts have been made
to remedy these evils, and I do not propose here
to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the
indenture system. W h a t I have always strongly
insisted on is, that at any rate after the indenture has

116

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RA.CES.

expired, the coolie is entitled to be treated as a free
man on a par with any other of Her Majesty's subjects ; and my great complaint has been that Colonial
authorities, under the guise of vagrancy laws and the
like, have curtailed that freedom and equality to the
extent of making the emancipated coolie's life unendurable till he consents to re-indenture. To the
disclosures contained in the Report of the Royal
Commission on the coolie system in the Mauritius
I chiefly refer, as showing both the injustice which
may be done under Colonial law and the insufficient
power of the English Colonial Office to control and
remedy the injustice. Mauritius is the colony in
which the system of coolie emigration is oldest and
best established. I t is no inaccessible place, but
thoroughly well known. I t is ranked in the official
Colonial Office list, as a Crown Colony of the first
class, ' in which the Crown has the entire control of
legislation.' Yet the Report shows that the Colonial
Legislature Raided by a Governor who took the side
of the whites, and withheld information from the
Home Government) was able in 1867 to pass the
most monstrous laws—not disguised as general laws,
but expressly directed only against the time-expired
Indian emigrants who refused to re-indenture for
long terms. These people were treated, not as free
men, but (as the Colonial Office authorities have described it) as if they were ticket-of-leave convicts of
bad character, adscribed to their localities, subjected
to the most harassing police supervision and tyranny,
heavily taxed for the benefit of Colonial officials, and

THE MANAGEMENT OE COLOURED EACES.

117

oppressed by Colonial magistrates. One would have
thought that, if this be really a Crown Colony, such
disclosures had only to be made by such an authority
as the Royal Commission to ensure an instant sweeping away of these injustices. I am sure no man ever
presided at the Colonial Office with a greater desire to
do justice than Lord Carnarvon; he immediately set
himself to do so, and he sent as Governor an old
Indian administrator of whose desire to protect all
classes there can be no question.
But in truth,
though Mauritius be a Crown Colony, as it is now
constituted the Colonists have a majority in the
Legislative Council, and Colonial views and ideas have
much weight in the departments of the Colonial Office.
Radical measures were not found easy ; it was deemed
necessary in some shape to obtain the consent of and
to a.ct through the Colonial Legislature. As a matter
of fact several years passed in correspondence about
draft bills ; up to the close of the last session of Parliament the reformed legislation had not been passed;
I have only now learned that at last, at the end of 1878,
the oppressive laws of 1867 have been repealed, and
a new law passed which is a very great improvement.
But even now the law does not treat the time-expired
coolie as altogether free from restraint—he must be
protected by a pass and by a photography which are
to be surrendered to his employer whenever he takes
service; and he is still subject to certain rules and
restrictions.
While I write a very bad case-of ill-treatment
of coolies has been disclosed by papers presented

118

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED EACES.

to Parliament regarding the "West India island of
Grenada. A new Administrator went to that island
in 1878, and a new Protector of Coolies had been
appointed on probation'in the early part of that year.
In August the latter not only reported very illegal
and cruel treatment of a recently arrived cargo of
coolies, but denounced the whole system prevailing
in the island, asserting that the persons in charge of
the estates neither took care of the coolies nor paid
them, nor provided for them when sick, and worked
them to such a pitch that few would survive. H e
added that of 2,000 coolies formerly imported very
few remained ; that ' the treatment they received was
iniquitous,' and that it was ' sad to think what has
become of the bulk of them.' The complaints of the
Protector in regard to the newly-arrived coolies were
fully confirmed. The Administrator took energetic
and praiseworthy measures to rescue the survivors,
but remarked that the Protector himself was not free
from blame for having allowed this state of things to
be possible, and complained of ' the spirit which seems
to actuate him as evinced by his report, his failure to
move about sufficiently, and his not going to live in
the district where most of the emigrants are.' H e
adds, however : ' Indeed, the person whose house I had
engaged refused to give possession on finding who it
was required for.' I should have thought the refusal
of the planters to let the Protector live among them
was rather a ground for vigorous measures to keep
them in order. But the Administrator was satisfied
that they had ' a n earnest disposition' to do what

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED EACES.

119

was required ; and, l as they are very anxious to have
an additional supply of immigrants, I see no reason
why they should not have as many as they are able
to pay for.'
It is stated that the Protector so recently appointed
had been laid up by an accident. The LieutenantGovernor of the Windward Islands, on the matter being
referred to him, thought the Protector c could not be
altogether exonerated from blame.' ' But,' he added,
4
he is in many respects a good officer. He speaks
Hindustanee, and is trusted and liked by the coolies.
His unpopularity among the planters is in itself evi?
dence that he discharged his duties conscientiously.'
However, it was eventually settled to get over the
difficulty by superseding the obnoxious Protector
who had spoken out too strongly. As he was only
' on probation ' he had no opportunity of defending
himself. No inquiry was made into his allegations
of past mismanagement; but a new ordinance is to be
considered by the local Legislature. The whole proceeding certainly does not inspire me with confidence.
I am one of those who believe that since we have,
on one hand, in India great agricultural populations,
docile, intelligent, and industrious, but constantly
pressing on the means of subsistence, and on the
other great possessions, which only require for their
development such a population fitted for hot climates,
it would be in every way beneficial from both points
of view to encourage emigration from India, provided
it be carried out on fair terms and the policy be
accepted not merely to use the coolies as a substitute

120

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED EACES.

for slave labour tinder planter-masters, but to facilitate their free colonisation and settlement on the
soil under a liberal system similar to that adopted in
the United States. Planters might then trust to a
good free population for voluntary hired labour. It is
impossible that the natives of India should distinguish
between the British Government which they know in
India, and the British Government of each colony;
and the better colonies suffer in credit and popularity
for the faults of the bad. I hold, then, strongly to the
view that we are not justified in encouraging and
facilitating this emigration, till we have much greater
security for the treatment of the emigrants and an
effective assurance that the personal freedom which
(as distinguished from political freedom) they enjoy
in India in an eminent degree shall not be abridged.
In some of our West Indian Colonies there have
very recently been important questions with respect
to the management of the negro labouring population,
but it is in the African Colonies that the questions
relating to the African, races are of the highest im*
portance. Recent events have attracted very great
attention to the subject, and have been the occasion
of a mass of official information published in Blufcbooks, in which I have been much interested. I put
aside' external political questions, and now look to
the matter only as regards, the treatment of the large
masses of indigenous blacks whom we either have
found in the territories which we have acquired or
have received under our protection and immediate or
mediate control; for it appears that disturbances and

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

121

tyrannies bej^ond our borders have led to migrations of
large numbers of natives and the settlement of many
of them in our territories, or in Boer territory which
we have since annexed. The great and long debated question in Africa seems to be, whether the
natives who occupy large tracts almost exclusively
are to be brought under civilised law or allowed to
retain their own laws, more or less administered by
their own chiefs. My own prepossessions have been
entirely in favour of allowing the indigenes to retain
their own laws, so far as they are not absolutely inconsistent with our system. That has been the practice in India, in almost all things in the earlier days
of our rule—and even when in later days we have come
to regulate many things by codes common to white
and black, we leave to every native class their own
laws regarding marriage and inheritance, religious
and social rites, and such-like matters. Since, however, I have looked into the matter carefully I have
seen reason to depart from this view as regards Africa,
and rather to incline to a system which may lead us
towards the state of things now found in America,
where the Africans have been converted in manners,
religion, language, and clothing, and assimilated to the
white man's standard. The accounts we have of the
African tribal administrations seem to be very unfavourable ; and though they are very often drawn
from a hostile point of view, I must say that, looking
to recent official summaries of native laws, as now
administered in our Colonies, I do not think that
they are such as it is. desirable to retain, I do not here

122

THE MANAGEMENT OE COLOUEED RACES.

enter on questions of marriage and the like ; but certainly as regards property the system seems to negative altogether individual ownership in a way which
must be fatal to settlement and progress. The head
of the kraal and of the house seems to have absolute
control over all the property of the community, and
that power descends undivided to a single heir, subject only to the customary liabilities in respect of the
maintenance of the members of the house. Individual
property is, it would seem, not recognised.
These
people are not the possessors of an old civilisation
and ancient laws, under which they have learned to
manage their own affairs; they are in no degree in
the position of Hindoo and Mahomedan races in India. They are mere barbarians, with some ill-defined
customs which we have reduced to law. Even their
tribes seem generally not to be well-established tribes
under chiefs who are looked up to as the hereditary
heads of clans and, who carry a traditionary influence
with them. African tribes seem to be mere casual
aggregations of people under the chief of the day.
W e are constantly told that a modern people have
been made up of ' broken tribes' and fragments of
all sorts. I should judge, then, that there is little of
native law or rule which we are much called on to respect wheft these people come under our jurisdiction.
On the other hand, if we would adopt the method
of taming and civijising these people, I think what I
have seen in America goas far to show how much
good may result.
The situation of the blacks in
Africa is, of course^ very different from that of their

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

123

congeners in America; but through all differences
I seem to recognise the same radical characteristics
in the men and the women too. There seems always
to be the capacity for making excellent labourers;
and the tribes whom we have most effectually converted to our ways, such as the Fingoes, appear to
exhibit very considerable capacities for improvement
and civilisation. Altogether I see much reason to
suppose that the African is quite at his best when
working with the example, guidance, and assistance
of white men and following their ways. Of course
one cannot have long experience of newly-acquired
territories without feeling that changes must not be
too violent and sudden, and that in many cases we
must receive people to a certain extent on their own
terms, and allow them to retain for a time many laws
and habits which we do not ourselves think the best.
But I incline, so far as I have seen, to believe that in
the case of these African populations our ultimate
aim should be, not to govern them under their own
laws and religions, as we do the Indian populations,
but to assimilate them as far as possible, and to
make them a gqod agricultural and labouring population. A t any rate, I hope that what I tell in the
following pages of Africans so treated in America
may furnish to the reader some material for forming
an opinion on this point.
I am greatly disposed to think that if, by a just
and equal rule, we humanise and improve these African natives, protecting them from class tyranny of
the white man on the one hand, and from their

124

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RAGES.

chiefs on the other, and teaching them to work as
free men with the white man, great things may be
achieved by these large populations in a vast country
of great capabilities. The proof that South Africa
has capacities is, that colonists can now afford to pay
wages which seem much to exceed those paid in
America. W e may well hope that if they obtain a
very large supply of the labour of humanised natives
great prosperity may ensue and industry may be immensely developed, without any of those compulsory
and unfair methods to which whites lording it over
coloured races have sometimes been tempted to resort.
I am sure no one can compare the present state of
these African populations under their own tribal
system with that of civilised Africans in America
without feeling that such a change would be immensely beneficial to the native races of South
Africa.
From a selfish point of view I think we might
especially look to such a consummation as beneficial
to this country, because we have a very large and
increasing class for whom it is becoming more and
more difficult to provide: I mean the educated classes,
somewhat above mere manual labour. I have said
that I do not think America the country for that
class—there I put it that the only farmer sure to
succeed is he who holds the plough himself. After
the early days of successful squatting have passed I
suspect that most of our temperate colonies approximate to a similar condition. It would be very desirable that there should be somewhere a field for the

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

125

more educated and enterprising class, who are more
fitted to direct and utilise labour than to do the mere
manual work. Such a field might, I fancy, be found
in South Africa, if we could humanise a great labouring population and establish a state of things such
that a young man of good education, good tact, and
real energy might successfully work a large farm or
other enterprise with the aid of native labour.
All this, however, is chiefly speculation. I only
throw out these hints as showing the sort of problems
I have had in my mind when I went to study ' the
nigger question' in America, with the result set out
in the following pages.*

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE

SOUTHERN

STATES.

a recent tour in the United States I was
particularly anxious to obtain information regarding
the relation of the black and white races, not only
because the subject is in itself of immense interest to
commerce and humanity, but because it is of special
interest to ourselves, called on to deal with masses of
the black race in South Africa, and the possessors of
many lands in which white and coloured races are
intermingled. In some of our colonies it has been
supposed that the free negro has shown a great
indisposition to labour. On the other hand, cotton,
the great staple of the Southern States, and formerly
almost entirely raised by slave labour, has been produced in larger quantity since emancipation than ever
it was before. How, I sought to know, has that been
managed, political disturbances and difficulties notwithstanding ?
As regards political questions, too, I am much
impressed with the belief that our management of
territories where white and black races are intermixed
has not always been successful. An oligarchical system of government generally prevails in our tropical
DURING

BLACK AND W H I T E I K T H E SOUTHERN STATES.

127

colonies, under which considerable injustice has, I
think, sometimes been done to the East Indian labourers imported to take the place of the emancipated negroes. Except in the Cape Colony proper
no political representation has been allowed to the
coloured races. I was, then, very anxious to see the
effect of the political emancipation of the negroes in
the Southern States of the Union.
In the course of my tour I have had opportunities
of conversing with many men of many classes (and
quite as much on one side of politics as the other),
who have had the greatest experience of the blacks
in various aspects—educational, industrial, political,
and other. I am indebted to them for information
given to me with a freedom, frankness, and liberality
for which I cannot be sufficiently grateful; to none
more so than to many Southern gentlemen who have
gone through all the bitternesses of a great war on
the losing side and the social revolution which followed—men whose good temper and fairness of statement, after all that has passed, commanded my admiration. I have visited not only the towns but the
rural districts of four of the principal States formerly slave-holding, viz., Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, and Georgia; and it so happened
that I was in South Carolina-( the neplus ultra of
Southernism) on the day of the late general election.
I have seen and conversed with the negroes in their
homes and in their fields, in factories, in churches,
and in political meetings, and I think I have also
been able to learn something of a very prominent

128

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

part of the population—-the negresses. I feel that a
single tour must still leave much to be learnt, but I
have honestly weighed and compared all the information I have obtained from different sources, and
submit the general result for what it may be worth.
If my conclusions do not in themselves carry much
weight, I hope that I may perhaps succeed in indicating some points worthy of inquiry and discussion.

THE CHARACTER

AND CAPACITY

OF THE

NEGRO.

The first and most difficult question is the capacity of the negro as compared with other races. In
one sense all men are born equal before God ; but no
one supposes that the capacities of all men are equal,
or that the capacities of all races are equal, any more
than the capacities of all breeds of cattle or dogs,
which we know differ widely. There is, therefore,
no prima facie improbability of a difference of capacity between the white Aryan and the negro race,
thougli I believe there is no ground for presuming
that white races must be better than black.
I t is unnecessary to try to distinguish between
differences due to unassisted nature and those clue to
domestication and education. No doubt the varieties
of wild animals found in different countries differ
considerably; but the differences clue to cultivation
seem to be still more prominent in the animals and
plants with which we are best acquainted. It is
enough to take the negro as he is, and his history and

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.

129

surroundings need only be briefly glanced at in so far
as they afford some key to his present position and
immediate prospects.
The negro race now in America is derived from
an admixture of people of various African tribes,
probably differing considerably among themselves,
but all, it may be assumed, in a more or less savage
and little civilised condition. They have all passed
two or three generations in slavery to white men,
during which period all traces of their various origin
have been lost, as well as their original languages and
habits. And now, though variety of breed, affecting
their capacity, may still to some degree be present,
if we could trace it, I believe that it is impossible to
do so, and that we must deal with them as a single,
English-speaking people. They are also now ail
Christians; and though some African traditions may
linger among them, they have for the most part
adopted the dress and manners of their white masters, and have been greatly civilised. In this latter
respect there is, however, a considerable distinction.
One portion of the negroes has lived in parts of the
country where the white population was n u m e r o u s equal to or more numerous than the blacks—and
thus, working among and in very intimate contact
with white people, has very thoroughly learned their
ways, habits, and ideas. But there is a broad belt
round the outer portion of the Southern States where
the climate is very injurious to the white man, and
almost impossible to the ordinary white labourer. In
this tract, containing much of the most productive
9

130

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

country, the whole labouring population was and is
negro, the few white men being, in slave times, only
the masters and drivers, and in no degree the comrades of the blacks. In these tracks we have a thick
population not so completely converted. Their language is still to some degree a sort of pigeon or negro
English, and they are still to some extent a peculiar
people—perhaps less good workers than those more
thoroughly educated by contact with whites, but probably as a rule more simple and docile. I t should
be noticed, however, that considerable migrations
have taken place in the troubles consequent on the
-war, and that there has been some intermixture of
the two classes.
A t the time of emancipation the negroes were
destitute of education to an excessive degree. Not
only were means of education wanting to them, but
after some local troubles which alarmed the masters
most of the Southern States passed laws making it
highly penal to educate a negro. These laws endured
to the last, and under them the generation upon whom
emancipation came grew up entirely without instruction. The only educated persons of the race were
the few free blacks who had obtained instruction in
the North, and a very few favourite domestic slaves,
whom their mistresses had to some degree educated,
the penal laws notwithstanding. Since emancipation
a good deal has been done to educate the negro.
Many schools in which a superior education is afforded have been maintained by benevolent Northerners, and the State Governments have set up, and

BLACK AND W H I T E I N T H E SOUTHERN STATES.

131

continue to maintain, several colleges in which the
more ambitious and aspiring young blacks are educated. For the education of the masses a public
school system has been started in all the States, of
which the blacks have a fair share. Owing, however, to financial difficulties these schools are extremely imperfect, being oj)en but a small portion of
each year—in some States as little as two months, and
in none, I believe, more than about four months on
an average. However, this is better than nothing.
The negroes show a laudable zeal for education, and
upon the whole I think that as much has been done
as could be expected under the circumstances.
During the last dozen years the negroes have had
a very large share of political education. Considering
the troubles and the ups and downs that they have
gone through, it is, I think, wonderful how beneficial
this education has been to them, and how much these
people, so lately in the most debased condition of
slavery, liave acquired independent ideas, and, far
from lapsing into anarchy, have become citizens with
ideas of law and property and order. The white serfs
of European countries took hundreds of years to rise
to the level which these negroes have attained in a
dozen. Such has been the thoroughness of the measures adopted in America.
Another education has, I think, greatly affected
the character and self-reliance of the negroes. I
mean what I may call their religious education.
Like most primitive races (the aborigines of India,
for instance) they are inclined to take Christianity in

132

THE MANAGEMENT 0 E COLOURED RACES.

a more literal sense than their more civilised fellowChristians, who have managed to explain most of it
away to their own satisfaction. And these negroes
are by temperament extremely religious people of an
emotional type. They like to go direct to God himself, and are quite unwilling to submit to priests
claiming to stand between them and God. Hence it
is that the Catholic hierarchy has had no success with
them, and probably never will have. Every man and
woman likes to be himself or herself an active member
of the Church. And though their preachers are in a
great degree their leaders, these preachers are chosen
by the people from the people, under a system for the
most part congregational, and are rather preachers
because they are leaders than leaders because they are
preachers. In this matter of religion the negroes
have utterly emancipated themselves from all white
guidance—they have their own churches and their
own preachers, all coloured men—and the share they
take in the self-government of their churches really
is a very important education. The preachers to our
eyes may seem peculiar. American orators somewhat
exaggerate and emphasize our style, and the black
preachers somewhat exaggerate the American style;
but on the whole I felt considerably edified by them.
They come to the point in a way that is refreshing
after some sermons that one has heard. I did not
witness any of the more active emotions in which I
understand congregations sometimes indulge; but
the practice of emitting in a hearty way a sort of
responses here and there during the sermon seemed

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHEEN STATES.

133

to me earnest and not unbecoming. I witnessed a
convention of Baptist ministers (the blacks generally
are Baptists or Methodists), in a rural church, and it
was a pleasant sight. The ministers by no means
had it all their own way. The whole country-side
seemed to have come in to assist, both men and
women—and they seemed to be making a time of it
—camped about for the day.
The prominent position taken by the negro women
is a feature in which they are distinguished from
some Oriental races. No doubt this has some advantages, but also I shall have to note some attendant disadvantages—social, industrial, and political. In
matters matrimonial the women axe somewhat too independent and light-hearted; and the men also being
on this subject given to a rather loose philosophy, the
marital tie is not so binding and indissoluble as it
might be. Those who take an unfavourable view of
the negro character are in the habit of speaking of
these traits of their character in severe language, and
dwelling much on their immorality and want of family
affection. I think, however, that it is scarcely fair to
judge them by too high a standard. The truth is
that the Aryan family has hardly yet established itself among the negroes, and it is not surprising that
this should be so. In Africa we know that nothing
of the kind exists; there, no doubt, the progenitors
of the American blacks lived under the loose polygamistic system still prevailing there. Under slavery
the family could not be introduced—it was impossible
that there could be much permanency of marital ar-

134

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

raDgements when the parties were constantly liable to
be, and very frequently were, sold away like cattle;
and the relation between parent and child was especially weakened, or rather not created. The parents
were not really responsible for the children; on the
contrary, the women were sent to work, and the children were carefully tended by persons appointed by
the masters for the purpose, like calves or lambs or
any other valuable stock. Parents had little affection
for children thus reared, and children owed no respect
and obedience to parents. The family as we know it
is, in fact, a novelty to the negro since emancipation,
and such institutions are not perfected in a day. Still
the evil is a very grave one, especially in regard to
the relations between parents and children. I have
heard many authentic stories of children who have
deserted or neglected their parents in a shocking
manner, and the more than American liberty of the
children threatens to render the next generation less
tractable and useful than their fathers bred in slavery.
W e can only hope that time and religious influences
will more completely establish the family system.
Though the exceptions are many, there seems already
to be much that is good and kind in the relations of
the blacks to one another. If in some respects, other
than marital, the women are rather troublesome, it
seems that in this as in other things they have rather
exaggerated American ways than set up ways of
their own. Seeing the liberty, equality, and privileges enjoyed by the free white women, the negro
women insist that their position among their own
race shall not be inferior.

BLACK: AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHEBN STATES.

135

One great difficulty in estimating the qualities of
the negro race, as tested by education, & c , is, that
since under the American system all who have any
share of black blood are classed with blacks, a large
proportion of those who have received the most education in former days, and who most frequently become
known as prominent coloured men, are mulattos of
mixed blood; so, in fact, are many of the students in
the higher schools. Whatever the qualities of those
whose blood is mixed in various degrees, they are evidently no safe index of the negro qualities and capacities, and it is necessary to be constantly on one's
guard on this point when one generalises from experience of individuals.
As respects the mulattos there is much disposition
to disparage them; but I am inclined to think that
this is in great part due to their peculiar position—
they are rejected from all the society of the whites,
and have not been accepted by the blacks as their
natural leaders. The. same tone of disparagement has
generally been adopted regarding the Eurasians, the
people of mixed blood in I n d i a ; yet I believe their
failure is more due to an unfortunate position than to
want of effective qualities. In early days Skinners
and Gardeners were men of great mark, and the Eurasian drummer-boys of the old sepoy regiments were
physically fine men and good athletes. I understand
that in the New Orleans country, under the French
practice (which has not our Anglo-Saxon antipathy to
intimacy with coloured races), many Creoles of mixed
blood attained a far higher position than in other
parts of the United States.

136

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOUKED KACES.

Reverting now to the capacities of the negro
proper as we find him in America under the circumstances which I have described, the general opinion of
those ensra^ed in the education of the race is, that
while the younger children are as quick and bright
as white children, they do on the average fall off in
some degree as they get older. Yet this opinion is not
given without some consideration and qualification;
the intellectual gulf between the two races does not
seem to be very wide and evident. I am told on all
hands that some pure negroes show an educational
capacity quite equal to that of good whites. Nothing
is more difficult than to estimate accurately qualities
of this kind, especially when, as in this case, the two
classes are not taught together, but separately; and
there has not yet been time to see much of the results
of educating the blacks on a large scale; but I think
that in general terms the direction in which all experience points is that which I have stated, viz., that
on the whole they are behind, but not very far behind.
When we look to practical success in life appearances seem at first sight less favourable to the blacks.
I constantly asked, ' Have any individuals among them
come to the front and achieved success in industrial
pursuits, in commerce, or in the professions ?' and I
could not learn that they have. * There were,' I said,
' before the war a number of free blacks, many of them
educated; have none of them distinguished themselves
in practical life ? And since emancipation the negroes
have for years had the upper hand in some of the
Southern States; have none of them come to the front

BLACK AND W H I T E I N T H E SOUTHERN STATES.

137

among their own race by the process of natural selection which has raised men to greatness in barbarous
and Oriental countries?' Well, -as I have already
mentioned, they have shown some capacity as preachers, and they seem to have some talent for oratory
(though I believe that Frederick Douglas and one or
two other well-known men are mulattos, not real
negroes). As politicians some of them have clone
fairly well, and are now good and popular representatives of their race; but 1 don't think any of them
have made a great mark. The politics of the Southern
States, while negro majorities prevailed, seem to have
been in reality entirely under the guidance of the
white l Carpet-baggers.'
For the rest I have not been able to hear of a successful negro merchant—the shopkeeping business
in the most negro districts is almost entirely in the
hands of whites. I have scarcely found a negro who
has risen in the mercantile world higher than an
apple-stall in a market. Certain professions they
almost monopolise throughout the Union—waiters
and barbers, and in some parts ship-caulkers; but I
found very few negro lawyers, and no doctors. All
over the world it is curious to notice how ready people
are to entrust the care of their souls to very unsafe
home-rulers, and how much less trustful they are of
their bodies.
When I have put these failures to the friends of
the negroes they reply that allowance must be made
for very great disadvantages—even in the North,
they say, the free negroes were subjected to a social

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THE MAJSTAGExMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

ostracism which made their success in commerce and
the professions almost impossible. And as regards
the South, .they say, ' Since emancipation how short a
time has elapsed !—people enslaved and denied education cannot rise in a day.' In all this' there is much
truth. Still I cannot help thinking that if the race
had been a very pushing and capable one, the men
educated in the North would ere this have made more
way in the South. ' Do you think,' I have said, l that
if they had been Chinamen they would not, in spite of
all these disadvantages, have found their way to the
front in some directions ?' I think it is admitted that
to some extent this is so. The negroes are certainly
not a race remarkable for energy and force under difficulties. The only question is whether they are very
deficient in these qualities. As respects mercantile
qualities, we may remember that there are many excellent races who show no aptitude that way and
permit alien races to usurp the mercantile functions.
In the Southern States the white Americans themselves are very much ousted from the business of
small storekeepers by the Germans, who are to the
manner born.
W h a t is more disappointing is the failure of the
negroes, so far, as superior artisans and in all that requires accuracy and care. As it is expressed, they are
not responsible—they cannot be depended on. In
slavery times some of them were pretty good artisans,
and many of them, in the South, are now fairly good
carpenters, bricklayers, and blacksmiths. But they
seem hardly to have progressed in this respect since

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES,

139

emancipation. A man who will do his carpentry so
far well enough will not fit the pieces accurately;
and in factories which employ black labour they do
not rise to the higher posts. In the North the trades
unions are so strong, and the jealousy of the negroes
on the part of foreigners, Irish and others, is so great,
that they would not have a fair chance; but in the
South they labour under no such disadvantage, and
employers rather prefer negro labour; yet in practice
they don't seem to be able to trust the blacks beyond
a certain point. In mechanical shops the blacks do
the manual labour, but are hardly trusted to work
engines. ' Perhaps a negro might learn to work the
engine,' an employer said to me, 'but I never could
be sure that he would not go to sleep on the top of
it.' In tobacco factories the labour is almost exclusively negro, and many of them are very well paid
for labour requiring considerable skill; but I noticed
that for certain work, the weighing and making up
the packages and such-like, white men were always
employed. I was in all these cases assured that no
black man could be trusted to be accurate. Yet
they make very fair cotton-farmers, and much of their
handiwork in various branches of industry is quite
good.
On the whole, I think it must be considered that
at present, whether from natural defects or from want
of cultivation, they are to a certain extent inferior to
white men in the qualities which lead to the higher
grades of employment.
On the other hand, they
have a very remarkable good nature and good temper,

140

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

much docility, and great phj^sical power and endurance—qualities that admirably fit them for labourers.
Considering from how low and oppressed a condition
they have been lately raised, and how infinitely
higher their position now is, it is hardly ground for
disappointment that they do not immediately rise in
large numbers to the higher grades of society. They
have now opportunities of education which will enable
them to rise, if they are fitted or when they are fitted
for it. For the present we may deal with them in
their existing position as the labouring population of
the Southern States.
THE NEGROES

AS A LABOURING

POPULATION

To understand the relations between the whites of
the South and the blacks, as labourers and farmers,
we must go back a little. In later slave times—in
the States, at least, to which my inquiries were chiefly
directed—the slaves were not worked out like, omnibus
horses; in fact, the capital sunk in slaves was so
heavy, and produce had become so cheap, that the
principal source of profit was what was called the
6
increase ' of the slaves—the breeding them for the
market or for new plantations opened in the more
Western States. As in breeding-farms for other
kinds of stock, the human stock was carefully, and,
on the whole, kindly treated; and although the selling off the young stock as it became fit for the market
was a barbarous process, still, the family relations
being so weak as I have described, those who re-

BLACK AND W H I T E I N THE SOUTHERN STATES.

141

mained did not feel it so much as we should ; and I
think it may be said that the relations between the
masters and the slaves were generally not unkindly.
One old gentleman in Carolina dwelt much on the
kindness and success with which he had treated his
slaves, adding as the proof and the moral that they
had doubled in twenty years.
Then it must be remembered that in all the older
States the whole of the land was private property—
there was no unowned land available to squatters—
and through all the political troubles the rights of
property have been maintained inviolate; neither by
mob violence nor by class laws have they been interfered with. In some limited portions of the Southern
States, occupied early in the war by United States
troops, a good deal of the property of absent secessionists was sold for non-payment of taxes in a way
which the Southerners call confiscation, but this was
clone by the authority of the United States Government. The Carpet-bagger and Negro State Governments and Legislatures never seriously infringed on
the rights of property.
After the war the Southerners accepted the situation as few but Americans can accept a defeat, and,
instead of throwing up their hands and crying to
heaven, sought to make the best of the lands that remained to them. I t seemed not impossible that, the
property in slaves being written off as lost, the land
might be as cheaply and effectively cultivated by
hired labour, if the negroes could be got to work; at
any rate it was a necessity to get it cultivated some-

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THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES*

how. The negroes, on the other hand, found that they
must work or starve ; and the feeling between them
and their former masters being, as I have said, not unfriendly, the matter was arranged in one way or another.
Under the old system there were no great estates
in the English sense—that is, very large properties,
let to tenants. The large plantations were what we
should call large farms, several hundred acres—up to,
say, a thousand or fifteen hundred—being cultivated
by the owner with slave labour. Some of the old
owners, and some Northerners and Englishmen who
purchased encumbered estates at a cheap rate, at first
tried to maintain this system with hired labour, but
the result has been to show that, as in almost all the
States of the Union, large farming does not pay as
well as small farming, and consequently the large
farms have for the most part been broken up or let
to small farmers.
There is a general concurrence of opinion, and not
of opinion only, but of the most practical experience,
that the blacks make admirable labourers when they
are under sufficient supervision. On public works, and
all undertakings carried on under professional superintendence, nothing can be better or more effective than
their labour. They are physically exceedingly fine
men; they stand any climate and any weather, and
are quite ready to do a good day's work for a moderate day's pay, provided it is fairly and regularly paid.
I heard of no case in which when such work has been
offered to them they have preferred to squat down in
idleness; that allegation against the negro character

BLACK AND W H I T E I N THE SOUTHERN STATES.

143

seems to me quite disproved by experience. The
worst said is that they cannot always be depended on,
and sometimes after labouring for a time will go off
for a time. There may be some cases in which, work
not being readily available, and little assistance or
guidance forthcoming, they have sunk into a somewhat degraded condition, but such cases are quite rare
and exceptional. I came across none, though I have
heard it asserted that there are such. On small farms,
where black men work in small numbers, in company
with and under the immediate control of their employers, they do exceedingly well; also when they
work on their own account they do very well. I t is
only where they are employed in large numbers, under
insufficient supervision, as on very large farms, that
they are apt to take it easy and idle away their time
as is the case with most such races.
Not only is the negro labour excellent, but also
there is among the Southern proprietors and leading
men accustomed to black labour, and not so used to
whites, a disposition greatly to rely on black labour
as a conservative element, securing them against the
dangers and difficulties which they see arising from
the combinations and violence of the white labourers
in some of the Northern States; and on this ground
the blacks are cherished and protected by democratic
statesmen, who now hold power in the South.
As in other parts of America, wages are not so
high as they were; but a common negro labourer in
rural districts can generally earn about fifty cents,
Bay two shillings, a day ; and that, with food so cheap

144

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

as it is, and in a country which requires little fuel
and no very expensive shelter, it is a very good wage.
Nothing so much brings home to me the poverty and
lowness of living of our Indian population as to hear
these wages talked of as low; being, as they are, six
or eight times the wages of a coolie in India, while
food is scarcely, if at all, clearer. In truth, the
negroes are very well off.
More important than the rate of wages is the
question whether the black labourers show any disposition to providence and saving. There is a good
deal of discrepancy in the evidence on this subject,
but on the whole I am afraid it must be said that the
balance of evidence is decidedly against them. I t
seems pretty clear that providence is as yet the exception, and that the rule is a light-hearted way of
spending their money as they get it. A very great
scandal and evil was the failure of the Freedman's
Bank, in which so many were induced to put their
savings in the days of high wages. I suspect that in
the case of the negro, as of other races, prudence will
not come but with the growth of desires and ambitions only to be satisfied by saving.
In some parts of the country there has been a
considerable lack of female labour. In slave days
women were probably worked too much; now they
sometimes work too little, because, in the parts where
they are much mixed with whites, the negro women,
seeing that the white women do not work in the
fields, and being, more than the men, inclined to
assert equality, refuse out-door work. I have no

BLACK AND W H I T E I1ST THE SOUTHERN STATES.

145

sympathy whatever with the sentimental feeling
which would stigmatise the field labour of honest
Scotch or German women as degrading;, and I do not
sympathise with negro ladies who make their husbands work while they enjoy the sweets of emancipation. But after all they are only following the most
usual American fashion in regard to out-door labour;
and both in the more negro parts of the country, at
all times, on their own farms at cotton-picking seasons,
and everywhere at in-door labour, the negro women
work well enough.
I inquired whether the black labourers have
shown any disposition to violent outbreaks such as
have occurred in several West India islands, but I
could only hear of one such case, when the hired
labourers in some of the rice-plantations of South
Carolina struck for wages, and used much violence
towards non-strikers, hunting them about with whips.
The whites attempting to apprehend the rioters were
mobbed, and the affair at one time looked very serious ; but, by the aid of influential black politicians,
the matter was accommodated, and the labourers have
since worked well and quietly. I am told that though
in their immediate demands the blacks were in the
wrong, they had much ground of complaint, owing
to the practice of some of the employers, who, not
being able to pay the wages earned and due, put the
labourers off with checks upon stores kept on the
truck principle. So here, also, there was some injustice at the bottom of the affair. But it shows that
when stirred up there is always this element of ex10

146

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

citability and potential violence in the negro character. Here, also, I understand, the women came to the
front. The men might have been managed, but the
women were terribly violent.
The great majority, I take it, of the negroes are
not employed at regular wages, but work more or
less as farmers of a sort. Not only are large farms
generally unsuccessful in America, but in the South
there is very great deficiency of capital to work such
farms; and so it has come about that most of the land
is cultivated on a sort of co-operative or Metayertenant system. Virginia still contains a large negro
population, and I saw one instance of a large estate
still successfully cultivated by hired black labour,
under a proprietor well known for his kind treatment
of the negroes ; but others doubt his profits, and say
that his success is due to large private means, and
that there are not many such instances. In fact,
Virginia, not being a cotton State, is somewhat unfortunately situated. The influx of cheap cereals
from the West makes their culture in the East unprofitable ; and in the culture of its old staple, tobacco, Virginia has been surpassed by some more Western
States. Except in the higher tracts in the west of
the State, w^here excellent pastures support very fine
cattle, I am afraid it is not very prosperous.
From North Carolina all the way round to Texas
there is a belt of States in which cotton is to an overwhelming degree the staple. That staple is certainly
now produced in greater quantity than ever it was,
and it cannot be said that this tract has in any degree

BLACK AND W H I T E I N T H E SOUTHEKN STATES.

147

receded or ceased to progress, even though the want
of money resulting from the war and its consequences
is still very greatly felt. The cotton I speak of is
the ordinary short cotton, which always has formed
the great bulk of the American crop. There is a narrow belt on the seacoast, which used to produce in
part the long, or Sea Island cotton, and in part rice,
where there has certainly been a great falling off;
but this is, I believe, chiefly due to other causes than
the emancipation of the slaves. The long-cotton plant
produces but a fraction of the quantity that the ordinary cotton yields, and requires a more expensive
and careful cultivation. I t never could be produced
at a profit except at a price several times greater than
that of ordinary cotton. Now that Egyptian cotton
to a great degree supplies the wants of manufacturers, no considerable quantity of Sea Island will fetch
this price in the market, and consequently its production has fallen off. So as regards the American rice,
which was once in great demand. I t is now so undersold by Indian rice that it is not exported, and
scarcely holds its own in America by the aid of a
heavy protective duty. I did not see the sugar-lands
of Louisiana. I understand that the sugar-culture a
good deal fell off, but has recovered itself, aided as
it is by a protective duty. I t is, however, at a great
disadvantage compared with the West India sugar,
the frosts often prematurely killing the American
annual, while the West Indians get two or three
crops from one planting. I doubt if sugar will ever
be a great American staple.

148

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

W e may take, then, the ordinary cotton as the
great subject of black labour in the South. For
some years the produce has begun to overtop the
'best years before the war, and the late cotton-picking season, which was going on when I visited the
Southern States, very far exceeded any previous crop,
the season having been altogether favourable and the
late autumn unusually favourable to cotton-picking.
There seemed to be no doubt that the crop would
considerably exceed five millions of bales; and if it
had not been for the extreme stagnation of the cotton
.manufacturing trade, and consequent lowness of prices,
the South would be in a fair way to recovery. Let
us see, then, how this great cotton crop is raised.
There has been an idea prevalent that much of it is
due to white labour, and there is some truth in this,
but only to a limited degree. I t has now been discovered that cotton (really a very hardy plant) will
grow very well on the high red soils not generally
supposed to be cotton-lands, and by the aid of stimulating fertilisers it is brought to maturity earlier than
formerly; consequently it has advanced some distance
north of its former limits and a considerable distance
up into the higher parts of the Southern States (along
the Alleghany range), where small white farmers
abound. There has also been a great increase in
Texas, where, I believe, most of the farmers are white,
but I did not see that country. In the Carolinas and
Georgia it is certainly the case that a good deal of
cotton is raised by small upland white farmers who
did not raise it before; in part by their own labour,

BLACK AND W H I T E I N T H E SOUTHERN STATES.

149

and in part by the aid of the black labourers whom
they employ. The portion, however, of the crop
which is raised exclusively by white labour is, I believe, very small; the whites generally prefer other
crops; cotton culture is especially suited' to the
blacks. There is rather a change from large farmers
to small, than from black to white labourers. Taking, then, the normal condition of the cotton districts
-—white ownership and black labour—the owners
still cultivate by hired labour moderate home-farms,
but the greater portion of their lands they let out to
blacks on a variety of terms. First there is a mere
co-operative arrangement under which the owner
supplies land, seed, mule, implements, and all, and
exercises a general supervision over the culture, giving the labourer a share of the crop rather than
taking a share from him. The labourer's share is,
moreover, subject to deduction for food supplied to
him during the cultivating season. Then we have
regular Metayer tenants, who themselves find the
mule and implements, the crop being divided with
the landlord; and again many tenants who pay a
fixed rent in cotton—so many bales—and a few (comparatively rare) who pay money rents. Sometimes
white men rent land and cultivate with negro labourers, but most frequently the owner deals direct
with the negro.
I have said that the cotton cultivation is suited to
the blacks; it is easily carried on upon a small scale
—as slaves they have learned to raise it. A single
mule and a light plough suffice for the operations of

150

THE MANAGEMENT OE COLOURED RACES.

a small farm. The cotton gives employment almost
all the year round, especially at the season unfavourable to white labour. After preparing the ground,
sowing and tending it, there is much and constant
hoeing and clearing to be done. Then at pickingtime the negro family turns out, and much work is
done without expense which would be very expensive
to do by hired labour. And after the cotton is
picked many hands, especially the women, find employment in the ginning mills. The ginning system
makes the division of shares much easier than it
otherwise would be. The hand-gins have completely
gone out. All the cotton must of necessity be
brought to the mills. After being ginned it is divided, and the account is struck.
The cotton is then produced, and things go on
much better than might have been expected under
the circumstances. Yet, after all, this is rather attained by make-shifts the result of necessity, than
based on a settled and satisfactory system. Although
after the war the proprietors and the ex-slaves came
to terms to carry on the cultivation, it must not be
supposed that the former slaves have generally remained with their old masters. In some cases no
doubt this is so, but it is the exception. Not only
have war and revolution caused considerable migrations, but there seems to have been a general feeling
that freedom was not practically realised till the
slaves had left their masters, if it were only for a
time. Both parties seem to have felt that it should
be so; and it often happened that while remaining on

BLACK AND W H I T E IN

T H E SOUTHERN STATES.

151

quite friendly terms with their old masters, and even
coming to them for advice and assistance, A's former
slaves would prefer to cultivate under B, and B's
slaves under A. Altogether, somewhat migratoryhabits were set up, which the existing system of
agriculture has not tended to diminish. Some men
whose means admit of a liberal system, by which
assistance is rendered to the cultivators, are well satisfied on the whole with the result of the present
method, but more generally it is found that there is a
want of fixity and stability about it. The cultivation is carried on in a somewhat imperfect and handto-mouth sort of way, and the negroes frequently
change about from one estate to another. Except
some short clearance leases, there is no system of
leases of cleared land; it is merely held from year to
year, and there is no system of compensation for improvements under which the tenant might improve
his house, his fences, and his land, and settle himself
down. On the contrary, it is a common complaint
that much land is allowed to run out into ravines, or
is otherwise neglected and exhausted, and then abandoned by the tenant.
No doubt the purely commercial system of landletting succeeds in Scotland and parts of England,
where we have capitalist landlords and large capitalist
farmers; but I am more and more convinced by all
I can see and learn in various countries that a smallfarm system, under which the landlord does not do all
the improvements, never works wrell without some
sort of fixity of tenure. In America there is no

152

T H E MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

system of tenant-right, but land is cheap, and throughout the United States (with perhaps an exception in
California, on which I need not here dwell) the
agricultural success of the country is due to small
farmers owning their own land. I have, then, sought
with very special interest to ascertain whether the
black small farmers of the Southern States have to
any considerable extent purchased their farms, or are
in the way of doing so.
I freely admit it may well be that if, in the first
instance, there had been confiscation of the lands of
the whites and every enfranchised black had been
given, what they are said to have expected, twentyfive acres and a mule, and left to make the most of it,
without white assistance or guidance, the result might
perhaps have been disastrous. The people might possibly have relapsed into semi-barbarism and squatted
down, content to raise a low subsistence from the
land. That might or might not have been so. But
there certainly is not the least fear that anything of
the kind could now result from the acquisition of
land by the negroes by any fair methods. They have
become accustomed to independent labour and to
raising valuable staples for the market. So far from
neglecting these latter in order to raise a low and lazy
diet, the common accusation against them now is that
they cultivate the staples, which bring money, too
much, to the exclusion of food-supply. I have heard
much said of the folly of negro farmers in buying
Western corn and bacon instead of raising these
things. This is partly the consequence of the system

BLACK AND W H I T E I N T H E SOUTHERN STATES.

153

of cotton-rents, which makes a large cotton cultivation
obligatory; but also, I dare say, these people know
by experience what pays them best. At any rate it
is clear that they are not now inclined to lapse into
a low style of living; their fault and difficulty is just
in the opposite direction.
Unfortunately they live
too freely and generously, and do not save money to
buy land, and make themselves independent, as they
might.
This is the general rule, I fear, but not the
universal practice. Throughout the Southern States
there are already a good many negroes (though very
few compared to the whole number) who cultivate
land of their own, and there are very many more
who own houses and small patches, especially in the
vicinity of towns, where they congregated too much
at first, and where for a time they obtained wages
which enabled them to set up house. I t is generally
said that most of the negroes who were superior
servants on the plantations, and above the ordinary
level in the days of slavery, have now acquired land.
Though the old proprietors sometimes cling to their
land when their means do not justify their holding it,
and in some places there is a feeling against letting
the land pass into the hands of blacks, there is so
much land for sale that those who save money need
have no difficulty in buying it.
The statistics which most of the States are now beginning to attempt are very imperfect and unreliable,
and it is difficult to ascertain how much agricultural
land is now owned by blacks who have acquired it

154

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

since emancipation, and to what extent they are now
acquiring land. Even when there are any sort of
figures they include all the property of coloured
people, and the totals are swelled by the property of
those free before the war; for instance, of the French
mulatto Creoles, who are, I believe, found to some
extent in Charleston and Savannah, as well as in
New Orleans, But from personal experience and
inquiries I ascertained that farms owned by emancipated blacks are certainly found here and there scattered about the country. The ice has been broken,
the example set.
>
Georgia, which was not long under a black Legislature, but wThich early adopted liberal principles of
white rule, has been held out, in a paragraph which
went the round of the papers, as in advance of other
States in respect of negro property; but on examining
the latest official papers I think they somewhat detract from the grounds of this reputation. Most of
the property attributed to coloured people consists of
household furniture, animals, agricultural tools, &o.
They have something more than 1J million dollars
worth of land out of about 86 millions worth in the
State. But some of the largest quantities are in
counties where there are fewest negroes, and can
hardly be ordinary small farms. I fear, too, from all
I can learn, that, in these days of cheap cotton, the
negro-owned lands are not now much increasing.
Georgia has done nothing special to facilitate the
acquisition of land by the negroes, and what I could
gather from personal inquiries rather led me to think

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.

155

that in this respect they were less forward there than
in the Carolinas,
I n South Carolina more has been clone for them,
and I think they have done more for themselves than
in most States. During ' carpet-bag' rule the State
Government established a commission to buy estates
as they came into the market and settle freedmen
upon them on fair terms of payment, on exactly the
plan recommended by the last Parliamentary committee on the Irish land; and the plan promised success if it had not been interrupted by accusations of
fraud and embezzlement against those charged with
the management, and the fall of the Carpet-bag Government. A more important and permanent experiment was made on the lands sold by the United
States Government for taxes, on the Coast of South
Carolina. These lands were not given to the negroes,
but were cut up into ten and twenty acre lots, and
offered to them for purchase on reasonable terms.
They were taken up by blacks, who by paying for
them showed both their ability to help themselves and
their appreciation of the opportunity offered to them.
I visited these tracts, and was very greatly interested
in the independent and self-supporting rural communities which I there found. They were under considerable disadvantages. To begin with, most of
them were those low-country negroes who have been
less than the others civilised by contact with the
white man. Then the lands on which they are settled
are those which have been more and more falling into
decadence owing to the decline in long cotton and

156

T H E MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES,

rice; so much so that the white proprietors of large
portions of such lands have suffered them to go out
of cultivation, or sold them for a song. No other
money-fetching staple has yet been found for these
lands, and they are not suitable for short cotton.
Hence the negroes have carried on the long-cotton
culture at a very great disadvantage. On the other
hand, they had this considerable advantage, that the
able-bodied men can do much to make the two ends
meet by occasional labour at the ports, and especially
on the great phosphate beds, which have become a
large source of industry and wealth to that part of the
country. The fact that the men readily avail themselves* of the opportunity of hard and remunerative
work and make most admirable labourers at it—as
good, I am told, as any in the world—is of itself a
practical answer to any suggestion that they are unwilling to work. I have heard it suggested that negroes are somewhat unreliable workmen for a continuance, and apt to throw up work and go off when
they have made a little money and want to attend a
religious camp-meeting or something of that kind;
but there is no question that for a certain time no
workman can be more steady and effective. A t seasons when no very hard field-work is necessary these
men leave the women and children to hoe and look
after the crops, while they earn wages by diving for
and cleaning the phosphates. I t has probably been
an advantage to them that their land has not been
such as to enable them to live without working hard,
men and women too.

BLACK AND W H I T E I N T H E SOUTHERN STATES.

157

They have had, too, the advantage of aid from
friendly Northern and other whites, who do for them
those things which they cannot do for themselves.
Some very excellent Northern dealers gin and buy
their cotton, and white storekeepers have introduced
among them a wholesome system of ready-money
payment.
They owe very much to the devoted
Northern and English ladies who have come anions;
them to educate their children. I t is somewhat
difficult to reconcile conflicting statements. While
many or most people attribute to the negro race some
very serious social and other faults, those who have
the best opportunity of knowing these land-owning
negroes represent them as possessed of every virtue;
not only those ordinarily conceded to the race, but
those usually denied—thrift, carefulness, and family
affection. They are said to save in order to buy
farms for their sons, and to be altogether a growing
and progressive community, unremunerative prices
notwithstanding. Perhaps some allowance must be
made for a kindly enthusiasm; but also I am convinced that these people, more happily and independently placed and educated to that craving for
land which of all things leads to thrift, really are
much superior to the average of the negro race. I
could myself see that their homes are better, and that
they have many horses and light carts and other evidences of comfort and well-doing.
I visited some of these people with a coloured
Congress-man to whom they much look, and was
struck by the eager interest with which they (espe-

158

THE MANAGEMENT 0E COLOURED EACES.

cially the women) questioned him about an attack on
the title to the lands, which has a good deal disturbed
them. I t has been attempted or threatened to question in the Courts the legality of the sales by United
States authority, under which the land came into the
hands of the blacks. No doubt it seemed at the time
that by these forced sales at a cheap rate the lands
were sadly sacrificed; and, the owners being in rebellious contumacy, the proceeds, such as they were,
came into the United States Treasury. But, in truth,
this particular class of land has fallen to so low a
value, that if the sale had taken place now, it would
perhaps have scarcely realised more than it did when
sold after the war. If the money in the Treasury
were restored to the old owners, justice tempered with
mercy would be done without disturbance.
Many proprietors in South Carolina and elsewhere,
far from thinking, as some of our colonists seem to
think, that the best way to make sure of hired labour
is to debar the labouring population from any independent place on the land, have followed a much
wiser course, and encourage by all means in their
power the settlement of the negroes on small holdings
owned by themselves. They have rightly deemed
that this is the best way to fix a permanent population from which they can draw labour when needed.
They have therefore laid out parts of their lands in
small lots, and offered facilities to negroes willing to
purchase. Once the blacks are settled down in this
'way, it is not difficult to maintain friendly relations
with them. They are still a good deal dependent on

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.

159

the proprietor of the estate for liberty to graze their
cattle in * the woods, and other little aids. They are
a good-natured, easily-managed race, and they are
always ready to accept a good spell of work, for a
time at least. Proprietors so situated get plenty of
labour when they want it on the lands they cultivate
themselves, and for any improvements and operations
that they may undertake.
On the whole I am very agreeably surprised to
find the position of the emancipated blacks so good,
and the industrial relations between them and the
whites so little strained and difficult. They are, as a
rule, good labourers and very tolerable cultivators.
A gentleman who has had much experience of them,
and who now labours among them in one of the most
negro parts of Virginia,, in describing their character
said that one might take about one-third of them to
be really good and progressive; another third to be
so far well-inclined and well-doing that, with good
management and judicious treatment, they may be
made good ; and the remaining third to be bad. But
I am inclined to think, from what I saw and learned
elsewhere, that this description is more correct of a
particular tract, in wThich many of the best and the
worst of the race congregated during the war, than of
the country generally; and that in reality both the
good, thrifty men who have shown a capacity for independence, and the bad, who prefer idleness and
thieving to work, are far less than this saying implies, the great majority being in the second category,
who so far do well that under favourable circumstances

1G0

T H E MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

they will settle down into an excellent peasantry. I t
seemed to me that the present situation gives very
good ground of hope, and I am sanguine of a favourable issue. The position of the cultivators is such
that they may well, with a little kindly aid, become
independent farmers; and any man inclined to work
honestly and well can earn sufficiently good wages.
All that is now wanted to make the negro a fixed
and conservative element in American society is to
give him encouragement to, and facilities for, making
himself, by his own exertions, a small landowner; to
do, in fact, for him what we have sought to do for the
Irish farmer. Land in America is so much cheaper
and more abundant, that it would be infinitely easier
to effect the same object there. I would by no means
seek to withdraw^ the whole population from hired
labour; on the contrary, the negro in many respects
is so much at his best in that function, that I should
look to a large class of labourers remaining; but I
am at the same time confident that it would be a
very great benefit and stability to the country if a
large number should acquire by thrift an independent
position as landowning American citizens.
Supposing things to settle down peaceably, as I
hope they may, I go so far as to say that, though
nothing is perfect in this world, the American blacks
are in a fair way of becoming a comfortable, well-to-do
population to a degree found in very few countries;
a condition which may compare very favourably not
only with the Indian ryot, the Russian serf, or the
Irish tenant-farmer, but also with the Dorsetshire

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.

161

labourer. I doubt whether, on the whole, a better
labouring population, more suited to the climate and
country in which they find themselves, is anywhere
to be found. The whites certainly cannot do without
them; already the great drawback to the Southern
States is the want of that great influx of foreign population which causes the North and West to progress
in a geometrical ratio. Evidently their true policy is
to make the most of the excellent population which
they have, and they quite see it. The blacks, again,
certainly cannot do without the whites; their own
race is not sufficiently advanced to fulfil the functions
now in the hands of the whites.
Newly-educated classes, among races hitherto kept
down, are apt to over-estimate their own acquirements
and powers; that is the tendency of the educated
Hindoos of Calcutta and Bombay, and the same tendency shows itself among the educated mulattos and
blacks in America. It is scarcely surprising that they
should chafe against the social ostracism of all who
have dark blood in their veins, and should long for
a Utopia in which educated coloured men own no
superior; but I think they are entirely wrong in
preaching as they now do to their countrymen the
advantages of emigration to Liberia—which, however,
they do not themselves practise. Probably there
could be no more notable example of the want of
practical ability in these men, than their management
of the last exodus front Charleston to Liberia. The
whole thing was a purely coloured movement, and
the management was in coloured hands. It seems to
11

162

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

have been terribly mismanaged; and the result was
that, after much loss and suffering on the voyage,
some of the best of the coloured people who had
accumulated money enough to set them up most
comfortably in farms of their own in America, were
drained of everything they possessed for the expenses
of the voyage, and landed in a country where they
could earn as labourers about half what they could
in their native America, the cost of living being also
infinitely dearer. My advise w^ould certainly be—to
the blacks in America, ' Stay at home, and make the
best of an excellent situation,'—to the whites, ' D o
all you can to keep these people, conciliate them,
and make the most of them.' I am confident that
this may and will be done, if only political difficulties and unsettlements do not mar the prospect, and
in this view I must now look at the political situation.

THE POLITICAL

SITUATION

IN THE SOUTH.

The population of the principal Southern States
may be roughly stated to be about half black and half
white; that is, putting aside Tennessee, Kentucky,
Missouri, and such intermediate States. Of the firstmentioned States the blacks are in a considerable
majority in South Carolina and one or two more; in
the others the whites are somewhat more numerous.
Before the war the blacks were almost all slaves. I
think the idea prevalent in Europe was that the

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.

1G3

Southern whites were composed of an aristocracy of
slave-owning gentlemen, refined and polished, with
their dependent slave-drivers, and a large number of
very inferior whites, known as ' mean whites,' ' white
trash,' and so on, who were rather. an encumbrance
than otherwise. I t seems to me that this view is not
justified. The population was very much divided
geographically; there was the great black belt on the
lower lands, where a few whites ruled over a large
slave population; and there was a broad upper belt
in the hilly country, where the great bulk of the
population was white, mostly small farmers owning
their land. No doubt education was much more
backward in the South than in the North, and the
people were probably less pushing; but I have been
very favourably impressed by these Southern whites,
many of whom are of Scotch-Irish (i. e., Northern
Presbyterian Irish) or Highland Scotch blood; they
seemed to be a handsome, steady, industrious people;
and if somewhat primitive in their ways, and humble
in the character of their houses and belongings, they
are curiously self-supporting and independent of the
outer world; they raise their own food, and to this
day their wives weave their clothes from their own
wool and cotton; and, if not rich, they have few
wants. There is, no doubt, in all these Southern
States a large intermediate zone in which white and
black are much intermixed; but even there they are
a good deal aggregated in patchwork fashion, the
general rule apparently being that the rich slaveowners have occupied the best lands, and the poorer

164

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

independent whites the poorer lands, especially much
of what are called ' pine barrens,' though they are
not so barren after all. A notable population in this
latter country is the settlement of Scotch Highlanders
wrho came over after ' the '45,' Flora Macdonald being
one of them. I am told that not only do they speak
Gaelic to this day, but the few black slaves they had
among them spoke Gaelic too. In truth, then, I
gather that the population of very inferior whites
without .property never was very large. There were
very many without slave property, but most had
more or less land. The chief justification for attributing lowness and meanness to the poorer whites
seems to be, that some of the inferior central tracts
are occupied by a set of people said to be descended
from the convicts sent out in former days, and to
this day very unthrifty. They are called Sandhillers
in South Carolina, and really do seem to be an inferior people.
The changes favouring small farmers have tended
to improve on the whole the condition of those
Southern whites who have any sort of property, the
losses of the war and the bad times notwithstanding;
but mere labourers, probably, feel the competition of
free black labour more than formerly. I saw at
places black and white labourers working together
at the same work, and on the same wages, in a way
which, to our Indian ideas of the dignity of the white
race, is somewhat distressing. But I did not detect
anything specially bad or degraded about these whites ;
and in the Southern cotton mills (very prosperous

BLACK ATSTD W H I T E I N THE SOUTHERN STATES.

1G5

and growing establishments), where the whites have
a monopoly of the employment, they are very good
workers, the women especially being, apparently, as
good as anywhere—the men not so good.
The real weakness of the Southern party during
the war was neither any want of gallantry on the
part of the slave-owning classes, nor any active disaffection on the part of the blacks, but the entire want
of sympathy for and zeal in the war on the part of
the majority of the white population owning no
slaves, who considered it a slave-owners' war for the
maintenance of slavery. I t is surprising to find how
many, even of the upper classes, say that they were
against secession and war, and only l went with their
S t a t e ' when war was inevitable; but having gone
into it, the whole of that class, and all connected
with them—professional men, doctors, lawyers, and
every one else—went into it with a will, and sustained losses such as, perhaps, no civilised people ever
bore before. So long as they were successful there
was little active opposition by the poorer whites; but
the conscription and other burdens to support a slaveowners' war became very severe, the whites not interested in that cause became recalcitrant, some went
into active opposition ; and at last it was more desertion and disunion than anything else that brought
about the final overthrow.
After the war the results of the victory were
summed up in the three famous amendments to the
Constitution known as the 13th, 14th, and 15th, comprising the abolition of slavery, equal privileges for

166

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

all citizens, and the ' right of all citizens to vote not
to be denied or abridged in any State on account of
race, colour, or previous condition of servitude.' The
great struggle was over this last, or 15th amendment,
and it was only forced on the Southern States by extreme compulsion. That is, in fact, still the bone of
contention. A t the first election under the new Constitution many of the whites were still under political
disabilities on account of rebellion, and in several
States the leaders of the lately rebellious whites deliberately counselled abstinence from political affairs
as a sort of protest. Consequently, in most places,
the black vote, under the guidance of the Northern
politicians known as Carpet-baggers, carried the day
entirely. The result was that a very large number
of ignorant negroes were sent to the State Legislatures ; and many of the Carpet-baggers being corrupt
adventurers, there was much corruption and scandal.
This has brought about a union among the Southern
whites, for those who were unwilling to fight for
slavery are by no means willing to be ruled by the
blacks, or even very freely to admit their equality;
and so it has happened that parties in the South are
ranged into black and white much more than ever
they were before.
In most States the white leaders soon came to
their senses, and perceived, what might have been
seen from the first, that a population which, had half
the numbers, and all the property, influence, and education, must prevail over the black half, possessed of
none of these advantages, and in many respects de-

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.

167

pendent on the propertied classes. They therefore
very early returned to the electoral charge, and by
no very unfair means regained possession of most of
the State Governments and the control of the State
Legislatures. Fortunately, taught by adversity, the
white leaders so restored to power took a reasonable
and moderate course, honestly accepting the situation
and the great constitutional amendments. In these
States it is a great gain that, in order to introduce
certain amendments of a moderate character, the
people, under white leadership, have recently passed
revised editions of their State constitutions (embodying the war amendments), which no one can gainsay as
not being real and voluntary; whereas the first constitutions imposed after the war were certainly the
work of very one-sided conventions, acting under the
protection of United States bayonets. Besides the
management of their own States, the white party
have been more and more gaining the great majority
of the Southern seats in the United States Congress,
and things have been more and more tending to that
democratic 'Solid S o u t h ' of which we have lately
heard so much. In some of the States this was inevitable, and I doubt if it can be said that in most
cases any very unfair means have been used to great
excess. When I left the States several of the recent
elections were still disputed; but I believe there is
no doubt that in Virginia and North Carolina two or
three Republican members have been returned for
the districts in which the black vote is in a very
overwhelming majority; and that is probably as

168

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOUKED KACES.

much as could be expected under the circumstances.
In Georgia no Republican Congressmen were elected ;
but several 'independent' Democrats have been returned under circumstances which tend much to
ensure fair dealing towards the blacks, inasmuch as,
the whites being divided, the black vote has been
important. The Independents justify their separation from the regulars of their party by denouncing
the evils and jobbery of the 'caucus' system; and
they go on to say that it was a sort of bargain with
the blacks that if they quietly yielded the reins of
power to the whites, they should be fairly treated,
and their right to vote should be honestly recognised ;
whereas if the whole thing is settled in white caucus,
from which the blacks are excluded, they are practically disfranchised.
As regards, then, what I may call the moderate
States, I see no ground for taking a gloomy view of
the situation. Perhaps, as a foreigner writing on the
other side of the Atlantic, I may be permitted to say
(what might, if I were nearer, seem presumptuous)
that the men who, in these States, as governors now
wield the large powers entrusted to the executive in
America, seemed to be very able, sound, moderate
men, from whose judgment and discretion I should
expect much benefit. My only doubt is as regardsone constitutional amendment wdiich most of these
States have adopted. I do not seriously quarrel wit!
that which, as with us, deprives of the franchise those
who have not paid their taxes. But it must be fairly
worked. There is generally a direct poll-tax, jus-

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.

169

tified by its application to popular education, of
which the masses are so much in need; and there is a
question of a tax on dogs, the slaves of the ex-slaves.
If any laxity is shown in the collection of taxes from
poor and ignorant people about election-time, or the
date of payment is put near election-day, very many
may be disfranchised, who must soon pay the money
nevertheless. The provision in the new Constitution
which I most fear is that which permanently disfranchises all who are convicted of crime, unless the
governor remits the sentence. In principle exception
can hardly be taken to this ; but I have some doubt
whether, in the matter of justice, the negroes are
quite secure of fair play; and it is somewhat dangerous if a nearly balanced constituency may be affected
by a rigorous administration of the criminal laws.
I t is certain that the prison populations are composed
of blacks in a proportion greater than the general
population to an overwhelming degree.
Whatever
the degree of their criminality, there is a disposition
to cure it by a strictness in penal management which
requires watching, seeing how much the administration of justice is now in the hands of the whites. The
magistrates and judges are either elected or nominated
by the white rulers. English law is the basis of most
American institutions, and the English law regulating
the selection of juries has always been very lax. I
found that in the Southern States there is little regard
to the principle of selecting de medietate linguce in
cases between black and white. Very few blacks are
admitted on juries; in Virgixiia, X believe, none at alL

170

T H E MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

Then, as regards punishment, flogging is very
freely used in Virginia; but further South the
system of eliain-gangs,—i.e.y extra-mural labour—is
universal. The convicts are not only employed on
public works, railways, and the like, but are very
usually let out to private speculators, and they are
made a source of profit instead of an expense. I t
comes simply to this, that the punishment for crime
is reduction to the old state of slavery in a form not
very wddely differing from the old form. I am told
that the people most often convicted and sent to the
chain-gang are the undisciplined young negroes who
have grown up since the days of slavery. I have even
heard it said by reliable men that they employ no
man so readily as one who has come out of the chaingang, because he has there learnt discipline.
In nothing have I encountered greater discrepancies of statement than in regard to the criminality
of negroes. Many people represent them as most
inveterate thieves, whom nothing but severity will
reform. Others say they have lived among them for
years and never had occasion to lock a door; and of
this last I have had personal experience. I tried very
hard to sift the truth, and I believe it to be this.
The negro is not much given to violent, and very
little to what I may call vicious, crime.
In this respect he really stands above most other races. But
he has brought from slavery times a sort of childish
want of respect for property in certain things. I t is
hardly deemed a theft, but merely a misconduct, when
a child is caught taking a spoonful of jam.
A slave

BLACK AND W H I T E I N T H E SOUTHERN STATES.

171

used, it is said, to reason thus : ' I am my master's, so
is^this chicken. If I catch and eat the chicken I take
nothing from my master.' These things depended
much on individual management. So it is now; in
well-managed establishments and on well-administered estates things go on smoothly enough, but in
many places there is a good deal of disposition to
petty picking and stealing, which needs to be checked
by moderate measures. I gather, however, that some
things thought very venial in slave times are now
severely dealt with. On the whole I am inclined to
think that there is some foundation for the assertion
sometimes put forward by friends of the blacks, that
a much harder justice is dealt to one class than
to another; that for all the outrages and murders
committed by the whites in the troubled years after
the war very little condign punishment has been executed, while justice and something more is done
on the blacks. One thing did astonish me during my
tour, and that is, to find how much * Judge Lynch'
survives, especially when the accused are blacks.
I
imagined he w^s a thing of the past, but I found that
several lynching cases of atrocity occurred before I had
been many weeks in the States ; that is, hanging by
popular movement without the intervention of judge
and jury. This is generally the case when there is
any alleged assault of any kind by a black on a white
woman.
The blacks are popularly said to be prone
to that kind of crime; with what justice I cannot
say. An experienced judge told me he had known
many accused and many hanged, but none convicted

172

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED EACES.

on trial. The mere suggestion that a black man
would like to do something of the kind if he could
seems enough to hang him.
Hitherto I have principally spoken of those States
which I have called ' moderate,' but there are two or
three others where moderate counsels have not prevailed, and where the difficulties are much greater.
Happily they are but a small minority. My personal inquiries were limited to South Carolina; but,
known as it is as the ' Petrel State] there is probably
no more typical instance of the difficulties of reconstruction. So I shall confine myself to stating the case
as I have gathered it in connection with that State.
Partly owing to the greater numerical preponderance of the blacks, and partly to the less disposition
of the wdiites to accept measures of moderation and
compromise, the black predominance in the Legislature and the Carpet-bag rule were carried further and
lasted much longer in South Carolina than in the
surrounding States.
The great majority of the
legislators were blacks; and though some of them
wTere fair representative men, with soipe education, no
doubt most of them were absurdly ignorant and out
of place, and there was some colour for the nickname
of ' the Monkey House,' which their enemies applied
to the Assembly.
They, however, indulged in no
violent class-legislation, but were very completely
guided by the white men who had obtained the
government—principally Northern Carpet-baggers.
Whatever violence and disturbance there was (and
there was a good deal), was not on the part of the

BLACK AND

WHITE IJST THE SOUTHERN

STA.TES.

173

black majority, but of the white minority, who, instead of trying constitutional methods to regain
power, preferred Ku Klux organisations and such
violent methods, committing many murders and
creating much terror. The strong arm of the United
States authority was, however, used to aid in putting
down the Ku Klux, and by the time the elections of
1876 approached the whites had begun to see that
with two-fifths of the population and all the property,
and much physical and moral force, it was easier to
•win elections than to continue the contest by unconstitutional means. Accordingly, in 1876 the whites
got the best of it in the elections for the State Legislature, though three black men were still sent to
Congress. As regards the very important question
of the election of State Governor, and the consequent
control of the Executive, the election was disputed
between Chamberlain, the former Carpet-bag Governor, and Wade Hampton, the very popular Democrat, who was put up on moderate and compromise
principles, and from whose moderation and conciliation much was expected. As we know in regard to
a more important election and subordinate issues
arising out of it, there is an extreme difficulty in
deciding disputes of this kind in the United States.
On this occasion no mode of settlement was arrived
at, and in the beginning of 1877 two rival governments were for months actually face to face, each
claiming to exercise the executive function. That the
question was not settled by an appeal to arms was
due partly to a certain forbearance, and partly to the

174

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED KACES.

presence of United States troops; but these latter
were powerless to settle the matter, and a good deal
of disturbance took place under their noses which
they could not put a stop to. I t was at this time
that President Hayes decided to withdraw the garrisons which had hitherto been posted in the Southern
States, and to give the moderate Southern politicians,
who had everywhere come to the front, a fair chance
of carrying out in good faith the constitutionalamendments, and bringing about a moral and political instead of a mere military restoration of the
Union. H e was probably well aware that the result
must be to restore the Southern Democrats to power,
and deliberately preferred to let South Carolina pass
under the government of the moderate "Wade Hampton, rather than abet a continuance of the struggle.
Certainly that was the immediate effect of the withdrawal of the troops. I believe the question never
was formally decided at all; but as soon as the
United States troops went, the Democrats being
evidently the strongest physically, the other party
collapsed, and "Wade Hampton quietly assumed the
government without further dispute.
I t is marvellous, under the circumstances, that
there has been so little of armed collision in the
Southern States; for, after all, the so-called United
States garrisons were mere detachments at a few
places, carrying with them the moral power of the
United States Government, but nothing more. Very
many of the blacks were armed and taught to fight
during the war. There has been no attempt at any

BLACK AND W H I T E IN

T H E SOUTHERN STATES.

175

general disarmament of the Southern States; on the
contrary, the Constitution insures to all citizens the
right to possess arms, and all are entitled to serve, if
they will, in the National Militia of each State. A t
one time arms were very freely distributed, and very
large numbers of the blacks belonged to the popular
military force which it sought to establish under the
name of i National G u a r d s ; ' but the regiments so
formed were very ragged and irregular indeed, and
on the ground (fairly enough established) of total
inefficiency their arms were taken from them, and
the State-armed Militia was confined to the companies
which came up to a moderate standard of efficiency—
a practice consonant enough with that of other States
of the Union. The negroes have a good deal of
military zeal, and in many of the larger towns they
have very creditable Volunteer Militia companies;
sometimes, I am told, a good deal better drilled and
more efficient than the white companies; but they
are required to provide their own uniforms and incur
expenses which the rural negroes cannot afford. And
so it happens that the black Militia are, on the whole,
small in number compared with the whites. Moreover, in some States—and South Carolina is one of
them—the whites have rifle clubs, outside and beyond the recognised and inspected Militia, which
constitute, in fact, a sort of armed political organisation. Between Militia and rifle clubs and volunteer
artillery they can always make a show of armed force,
and indulge in an amount of cannon-firing and so on
which is not encouraging to opponents of weak nerves.

176

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

For much that was done in troubled times, and
much that has been done since (to which I shall
come presently), the excuse is, that the Carpet-bag
rule was so utterly detestable, wicked, and impossible
that it was an absolute necessity to get rid of it by
fair means or foul. I have, then, sought to learn
what were the terrible things suffered under this rule.
There seems to be a general agreement that very great
abuses did exist under it,' and before I went South I
certainly expected to find that the Southern States
had been for a time a sort of Pandemonium in which
a white man could hardly live. Yet it certainly was
not so. I have said that the Republican State Governments made no attack on the rights of property,
and I have been able to discuss the whole labour
and land question without having occasion to allude
to political events as a very disturbing influence.
It is in truth marvellous how well the parties to
industrial questions were able to settle them while
there was so great political unsettlement. When I
went to South Carolina I thought that there at least
I must find great social disturbances; and in South
Carolina I went to the county of Beaufort, the
blackest part of the State in point of population, and
that in which black rule has been most complete and
has lasted longest. I t has the reputation of being a
sort of black paradise, w&^per contra^, rather expected
a sort of white hell. There I thought I should see a
rough Liberia, where the blacks ruled roughshod over
the whites. To my great surprise I found exactly
the contrary. A t no place that I have seen are the

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.

177

relations of the two races better and more peaceable.
It is true that many of the whites have suffered very
greatly from the war, and from the tax-sales by
United States authority to which I have before
alluded, and I am afraid that there are numerous
cases of poverty and sad reverse of fortune among
them; but that comes of the war which is past.
Those whose fortunes or professions have in any
degree survived have nothing serious to complain of.
The town of Beaufort is a favourite summer resort for
white families from the interior. All the best houses
are in the occupation of the whites—almost all the
trades, professions, and leading occupations. White
girls go about as freely and pleasantly as if no black
had ever been in power. Here the blacks still
control the elections and send their representatives
to the State Assembly; but though they elect to
the county and municipal offices they by no means
elect blacks only. Many whites hold office, and I
heard no complaint of colour difficulties in the local
administration. The country about is partly the
land on which black proprietor-farmers have been
settled, with white traders, teachers, <fcc., in the successful manner which I have already described;
partly similar lands of white proprietors who let them
out and manage amicably with a black tenantry;
partly rice plantations, which, on account of the
works of protection and irrigation required, are
worked in large farms by hired labour; partly the
land and water in which the phosphates before alluded to are found; partly forest and sandhills; but
12

178

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOUKED KACES.

whatever the tenures and* circumstances, I say emphatically that nowhere are the relations between
blacks and whites better, and nowhere does a traveller see fewer signs that political difficulties have been
fatal to settlement
' Well, then,' I have gone on to ask, c did the
black Legislatures make bad laws ?' My informants
could not say that they did. In truth, though many
of the Carpet-baggers were in some sense the scum of
the Northern armies, the leading spirits among them
seem to have been men of decided education and
ability, and the work done under their direction, and
a good deal adapted from Northern models, is not at
all below the average of American State legislation.
What, then, is the practical evil of which complaint
is made ? The answer is summed up in the one
word ' corruption.' I t is alleged that under Carpetbag rule the most monstrous and inconceivable
corruption was all but universal, and that not only
were the available public funds made away with, but
the States were burdened with terrible debts by those
who pretended to represent them, so as to have
brought them to the brink of insolvency. I believe
there can be no doubt at all that a great deal of
corruption did prevail—much more than the ordinary
measure of American corruption; it was inevitable
that it should be so under the circumstances, but to
what degree it was so, it is very difficult to tell.
The fact is there is no denying that corruption does
to some degree exist in American politics, and is not
confined to the South. If we are to believe the

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.

179

common language of Americans themselves, and
have regard to their opinions of the motives and
character of l politicians,' their every-day accusations,
and the staple of their caricatures and farces, this
corruption must be very widespread indeed. On the
other hand, I am inclined to suppose that such accusations are the ordinary form of throwing dirt at
any man who is in disgrace, and that while some are
true a good many are not well-founded. Of course I
am not qualified to speak with any confidence, but
the general impression I have brought away is, that,
as the leading men in America seem to be constantly
oscillating between high political office and the
management of railways, life insurance companies,
and other joint-stock undertakings, many of them
have carried into politics what I may call joint-stock
morals, and are no better and no worse than our own
directors. All the Carpet-bag Governors are, as a
matter of course, accused of the grossest personal
corruption; and as soon as they fall from power it is
almost a necessity that they should fly from criminal
prosecutions instituted in the local courts under
circumstances which give little security for a fair
trial. Several Democrats of high position in Georgia
have assured me they believe that the Northern
gentleman of good antecedents, who was Governor
there, was innocent of the things of which he was
accused; in fact, I believe he came back, stood his
trial, and was acquitted. In South Carolina I was
given the report of the Committee of Investigation
disclosing terrible things, and said to be most

180

T H E MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

impartial and conclusive. The general result was to
leave on one's mind the belief that undoubtedly a
very great deal of pilfering and corruption had gone
on, but the tone of the report was far too much that
of an indictment, rather than of a judgment, to
satisfy me that it could be safely accepted in block.
The Governor of Massachusetts has refused to render
up the ex-Governor, who asserts his innocence and
his readiness to stand his trial if a fair trial be
assured. As regards the State debts, I believe those
shown to be fraudulent and unjustifiable have been
repudiated long ago; and the Southern States having
also had the advantage of writing off all debts
incurred during the war, I understand that by far
the greater portion of their existing debts were
incurred before the war. The debts which Virginia
and North Carolina find it necessary to ' adjust'
were, I am told, very largely incurred for somewhat
reckless subventions to railways and other public
works. * But the railways at any rate exist, and are
the making of the country. In South Carolina the
whole debt is not large—only, I think, about one and
a half millions sterling, all told.
On the whole, then, I aim inclined to believe that
the period of Carpet-bag rule was rather a scandal
than a very permanent injury. The black men used
their victory with moderation, although the women
were sometimes dangerous, and there was more pilfering than plunder on a scale permanently to cripple
the State.
To return to the history o£ South Carolina. After

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.

181

the withdrawal of the United States troops the Carpetbaggers were entirely routed and put to flight, and
Wade Hampton assumed the undisputed government.
He has certainly had much success. His party claim
(I believe with justice) that he has clone much to restore the finances, promote education, and protect
blacks and whites in the exercise of peaceful callings.
As regards political matters, his policy amounts, I
think, to this ;—it is in effect said to the blacks : ' If
you will accept the present regime, follow us, and
vote Democratic; we will receive you, cherish you,
and give you a reasonable share of representation,
local office, &c. ; but there shall be nothing for those
who persist in voting Republican. 1 Some of them
accept these terms, but to vote Democratic is the one
thing which the great majority will not do. They
may be on excellent terms with white men with whom
they have relations, will follow them and be guided
by them in everything else, but they have sufficient
independence to hold out on that point of voting,
even when they have lost their- white leaders and are
quite left to themselves. They know that they owe
their freedom to the Republicans, and it is to them a
sort of religion to vote Republican. I think it was
in Georgia (where they have not held out so stoutly)
that, talking to a small black farmer, an ex-slave, as
to the situation, I asked him about the black vote.
' Well,' he said, c some wote straight, and some don't;
some is 'suaded and some is paid, but I wote according to my principles, and my principles is Republican.' In South Carolina that is the view of the

182

T H E MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

great body of the blacks, as the Democrats fully
admit. Stories are told of personal dependants of the
present Governor who owe everything to him. and
would do anything else in the world for him, but who
will yet openly vote against him. Such, then, was the
state of things when the elections of November 1878
came on.
I t seemed to be well known beforehand that the
Democrats were determined to win everything in the
South. I t was said to be a necessity finally to emancipate all the States from the scandal of black and
Carpet-bag rule, and so far one could not but sympathise with the feeling; but so much had been already
achieved, and there was not the least risk of a reaction. On the contrary, the power of the native whites
was thoroughly re-established. In South Carolina
Wade Hampton's re-election was not opposed, and
there was no question whatever that by moderate
means the Democrats could retain a very decided majority in the State Legislature. But they were not
content with this; they aimed at an absolute possession of everything, leaving no representation to their
opponents at all, and especially at a ' solid South,'
in the United States Congress. i They are determined
to win,' I was told. i They will get the votes by fair
means, if they can; and if not I am sorry to say they
will steal 'em.' And that is just what was done in
South Carolina.
To understand what took place we must look at
the election law prevailing in the United States. It
seems to me that if the law had been designed to fa-

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.

183

cilitate fraud, make detection difficult, and render the
settlement of disputed elections impossible, it could
not have been more skilfully devised. There is something to be said for open voting and something for a
well-managed ballot, but the pretended ballot of the
United States seems to combine all the evils of both
systems. I t may be just possible for an independent
man connected with no party, who manages the thing
skilfully, to conceal his vote; but if he consents to
make it known, there can be, and in practice there is,
no secrecy whatever. There are no official ballotpapers, numbered and checked, so as to be afterwards traced, as with us ; every man may deposit in
the box any ballot-paper he chooses, written or printed
in whatever form he chooses. In practice voters use
papers in a particular form supplied by their own
party, so that there can be no mistake which way
they vote. There being no means of identifying the
papers so cast, everything depends on the honesty
and fair dealing of those who have the official management of the polls. In all things the executive
Government has much greater power in America
than with us, and the party which has the executive
power has also the control of the ballot-boxes. They
appoint returning boards and election managers at
each polling-place, who, when party spirit runs high,
are in the interest of the dominant majority. This
was carried to an excess in South Carolina during
the recent elections. The United States officers
are entitled to take certain precautions to see that the
United States election law is fairly carried out, but

184

THE MANAGEMENT OE COLOURED KACES.

they could only be present at the principal places, and
sent very subordinate agents to the other pollingplaces, where they were hustled and treated with no
respect whatever. Under these conditions the elections were held in South Carolina.
There is a remarkable frankness and openness in
speaking of the way in which things were managed,
and I believe I violate no confidences, because there
was no whispering or confidence about it. There
was not a very great amount of violence or intimidation. Some Republican meetings were violently
interfered with before the election, and on the day
of the election there was at some places a certain
amount of galloping about, firing guns, and such-like
demonstration by men in red shirts ; but any intimidation used was rather moral than physical. In all
districts where the parties in any degree approach
equality perhaps there would be no very strong
grounds for disputing the victory of the Democrats.
It is in the lower districts, where the Republicans are
admittedly in an immense majority, that great Democratic majorities were obtained by the simple process of what is called i stuffing the ballot-boxes.'
For this purpose the Democrats used ballot-papers of
the thinnest possible tissue-paper, such that a number
of them can be packed inside of one larger paper and
shaken out as they are dropped into the box. These
papers were freely handed about; they were shown
to me, and I brought away specimens of them. I
never heard a suggestion that these extraordinary
little gossamer-web things were designed for any

BLACK AND W H I T E I K T H E SOUTHERN STATES.

185

other purpose than that of fraud. Of course the
result of such a system was that there were many
more ballot-papers in the box than voters. A t one
place in the Charleston district, where not above one
thousand persons voted, there were found, I believe,
three thousand five hundred papers in the box. In
such case the practice (whether justified by law or
not, I know not) is that the election managers blindfold a man, who draws out and destroys the number
of papers in excess of the voters. Of course he takes
care to draw out the thick papers of the opposite
party, and to leave in the thin papers of his own
p a r t y ; so when the process is completed the Democrats are found to be in a great majority, and the
return is so made by the returning board. There are
some other grounds of complaint. In some of the
black districts the number of polling-places has been
so reduced that it is impossible for all who wish to
poll to do so in the time allowed. A t one or two
places the ballot-boxes were stolen and carried off.
A t one place of which I have personal knowledge the
appointed election managers simply kept out of the
way, and had no poll at all. Hundreds of blacks
who came to vote were told they must go elsewhere,
when it was too late to do so. In short, I have no
hesitation in saying, as matter within my own knowledge, that, if these elections had taken place in
England, there were irregularities which must have
vitiated them before an election judge a hundred
times over.
The result of these elections was that, except in

186

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

the single county of Beaufort, not one Republican or
Independent was returned to the State Legislature;
nor, I believe, was a single office-bearer of those persuasions elected. The dominant party took everything, and the Republican members of Congress were
all ejected. South Carolina returns a solid Democratic representation to the next Congress.
I have throughout, on the spot, as I do now, expressed the opinion that there is no excuse whatever
for the lengths to which the triumph of the Democrats has been pushed. Granting that they were
fairly justified in vigorous measures to give them the
control of the Government and Legislature, and that
they were in a position thus to obtain a good working
majority, there could be no reason for unfairly depriving their opponents of a certain representation.
I t was bad policy, too, for the things that have been
done have roused the indignation of the North, and
it is believed that the somewhat unexpected Republican successes in the North were in great degree due
to the feeling excited by unfair attempts to make a
solid South. Perhaps, for the time, it may not be a
matter of the very first importance whether the
Democrats have only a good majority in the Southern
State Legislatures, or almost ,the whole representation ; but in the present state of parties in Congress
two or three seats, or say, including Louisiana and
Florida, half a dozen seats,'won by extreme and palpable irregularities and fraud, make a great difference ; and the question of these elections raises very
large and difficult issues. Not only are nearly-

BLACK AND WHITE IK THE SOUTHERN STATES.

187

balanced parties very much affected, but, in case of a
struggle over the next Presidential election, these
votes might just turn the scale; and the question
whether there is any remedy practically available to
redress wrongs which are, I may almost say, admitted,
puts in issue the wider question whether the 15th
Amendment of the United States Constitution, securing equal electoral rights to the blacks, is really
to be enforced, or whether it may be set aside in practice by the action of individual States. Is, in fact,
the settlement at the end of the war to be maintained
or surrendered ? The excuse made by the Southern
whites for their proceedings is, that throughout the
United States elections are not pure and free from
fraud; that there has been as much of it in New
York as in the South; that the laws admitting of
such things were made by their enemies to crush
them; that the Presidency was 'stolen' from them
by fraud; and that they are justified in reprisals. I
have no doubt that it is an absolute necessity that
the election laws should be improved. But besides
this there is need of a final laying of the issue
between North and South, depending on a due
execution of the war settlement. To see how this
stands we must glance at the relations between the
United States and the States of the Union as things
now exist.
When the United States Constitution was originally framed, after the Revolutionary W a ^ there was
much need of union and much necessity for taxation,
for which it provided the means. But as time passed

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T H E MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED KACES.

and the condition of the States rose with peace and
prosperity, the external customs revenue sufficed,
and more than sufficed, for all common purposes.
No internal revenue was raised for the general
government, and scarcely any interference of any
kind was exercised. We, who are accustomed to
speak of the United States as one country, hardly
realise how entirely as respects internal affairs the
Union was, and for most purposes still is, not one
country, but a league of many countries. The domestic administration is peculiar to each State, and
under no common control whatever. The United
States Courts of the original Constitution were few,
and confined in practice to larger matters. As I
heard a Democratic orator say (with truth, I believe),
4
You hardly knew that there was a United States
Government, except when you went to the Post-office
for your letters.'
• After the war the clauses providing for the abolition of slavery and the equality of race and class were
the only amendments which it .was necessary to introduce into the Constitution; but, nevertheless,
there was in addition a very great practical change
carried out under provisions of the old Constitution,
which had long been almost dormant. The great
debt rendered necessary a heavy taxation, and an
entirely new system of internal revenue was put in
force; whisky, tobacco, and some other things being
subjected to a heavy excise duty to the general
Government, which rendered necessary a strong
executive control by United States officers in every

BLACK AND W H I T E I N THE SOUTHERN STATES.

189

corner of the States. Both revenue questions and
many other questions raised by the events of the war
necessitated a great extension of the United States
Courts, and brought them, as it were, to every man's
door. These, and some other changes, were common
to all the States. In the South there was further required some measure of precaution to give effect to
the changes affecting the blacks. Besides the military occupation for a time, the central Legislature
was empowered to pass laws to give effect to the new
electoral equality, and to station officers to watch the
working of those laws. Under these laws the central
authority has in theory power to deal with the election abuses which I have mentioned; but in practice
it is not so easy. Like our Parliament, Congress can
deal with disputed elections to its own body; and
when the new Congress meets, some months hence,
some of these elections will no doubt be brought before i t ; but it will require a great exercise of virtue
on the part of Democratic members to do a justice
which will convert their narrow majority into a narrow minority. Meantime the President may prosecute in the United States Courts those who have
broken the election laws. But the first difficulty
is that, as such actions will be resisted by every
means, the conduct of the prosecutions will be very
expensive ; and they cannot be carried through without an appropriation for the purpose by a House in
which the Democrats have the majority. Then the
local people resist .in another w a y : as fast as prosecutions are instituted the United States subordinate

190

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

officers are arrested and dragged before the local State
magistrates on all sorts of charges; and the witnesses
for the prosecution are arrested for perjury and committed for trial before the local State Courts. The
President is much urged to vigorous and decisive action ; but his position is very difficult. Apparently
a Committee of Congress to inquire into electoral
abuses has been appointed, but the terms of reference
seem to be so wide that it may be difficult to bring
it to a practical issue.
There never can be peace, quiet, and safety in the
United States till a mode of settling disputed elections is arranged, and this question of the black vote
is definitely laid at rest. There is a curious cross of
opinion and interest on this latter question. Before
the war, the blacks having no votes, the electoral
representation of the South was diminished on that
ground. Since all have had votes the South has a
full representation according to population, and thus
sends many more members to Congress than ever it
did before; and so, an almost solid South having
been returned on the Democratic side, it curiously
happens that the very measure of enfranchising the
negroes, which was expected to have an opposite
effect, has now given the Southern Democrats greatly
increased power. Seeing this, and the difficulty of
dealing with the question, some of the Northerners
have inclined to settle the matter by disfranchising
the blacks and diminishing the representation in proportion ; but this the Southerners stoutly resist. They
say, ' You gave the blacks votes, and now they shall

BLACK AND W H I T E I N THE SOUTHERN STATES,

191

not be deprived of them.' In truth, disfranchisement
cannot now be the remedy. I venture to agree with
those thoughtful Northern statesmen who say that,
whatever temporary inconveniences may attend the
policy, deliberately adopted, it must be adhered t o ;
for, they say, under our political system the only
security that every class shall be fairly treated is,
that they should have votes. They instance the
case of the Chinese in California, who, in their view,
are unfairly treated because they have no votes. A
man, they say, who has a vote, even if he carries no
weight now, is sure to be courted by some party
sooner or later. The whites must have divisions
among themselves, and then they will be civil to the
blacks. I think the experience of our own Colonies
is entirely in favour of this view. Unrepresented
blacks, and other unrepresented classes, are always
liable to be treated unfairly under labour laws, vagrant laws, and revenue laws. I am told that in the
interval between the war and the adoption of the
black-vote clause of the Constitution some of the
Southern Legislatures showed a disposition to adopt
similar laws; and though they now are honestly free
from such ideas, such proposals would probably spring
up again if the blacks were not represented.
I t must be remembered that the Constitution of
the United States imposes no obligation whatever to
give universal suffrage to all blacks ; all that is required is that there shall be the same rule for black
and white. The Southern States are perfectly at
liberty to impose any general piT>perty qualification,

192

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

household qualification, or anything else they please
—they might very well impose an education qualification such as exists in Massachusetts to this day.
With this exception, in Massachusetts, however, universal manhood suffrage has, I think, become a sort
of custom of all the States, and perhaps they would
find it difficult to depart from it.
"What makes it more especially desirable that the
question of the black vote should be settled is, that
in reality there are no other great questions whatever
to divide North and South, or black and white. Such
is the conclusion to which I have come after very
careful inquiry.
Free trade is no longer a question between North
and South—in fact, if the truth must be told, it is
not now a question in the United States at all. The
system is to disarm opposition by protecting everything and everybody. The sugar and rice of the
South are protected to conciliate the South. Dwelling on the good management of Georgia, a man of
position said to me, 'Look at Georgia; instead of
talking nonsense about free trade they have gone in
manfully, established most successful cotton manufactures, and taken the benefit of protection.'
Well, then there is the more burning question,
lately the Greenback question—still the question of
debts on the former footing or enhanced debts, and of
cheap silver dollars against dear gold dollars. That
question may be very exciting indeed, but it is also
not one in which the dividing lines will lie between
North and South, or black and white. True, the

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.

193

Southerners owe a good deal of money and want
cheap money yery badly; but the strong movement
in that direction came, not from the South, but from
New England. So far from this being a question in
which the black vote is dangerous, the fact is that
the blacks have divided most impartially on the subject, and it has more than anything else given promise of a new political shuffling of the cards, after
which there will be no longer black and white sides,
but a wholesome intermixture.
I t is true that the old question of State rights
as against centralisation is now an active factor in
American politics; but, so far as I have been able to
learn, the present vitality of the question entirely
hinges on the disputed black vote. All else that has
resulted from the war the Southerners have honestly
and fully accepted. Most of the States have accepted
even the black vote and made the best of it.
There
is no rancour and no secessional spirit left.
The
temper of the South is for the most part admirable.
But two or three States still maintain the struggle
as regards the free exercise of the black vote. I t
is that and that only which raises the question of
"coercion, irritates the North, and leads to talk of the
return of the 'man on horseback.'
If that were
out of the way I can discern nothing in regard to
which the South has any greater interest in the
maintenance of State rights than the North and West,
All would, no doubt, be glad to be rid of Federal
taxation and the interference of Federal officers.
The North &nd W$st would enjoy cheap tobacco

194

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

just as much as the South. If it could be so arranged, all the States would be most glad to appropriate the drink revenue to their own purposes, and so
diminish the weight of direct taxation (for State and
local purposes) of which they complain. In no other
respect is there any question of infringing the State
rights of domestic legislation and management in the
South more than anywhere else. I t was slavery that
raised the question of State rights and brought on
the w a r ; it is this sequela of slavery t h a t keeps the
question alive.
THE CASTE

QUESTION.

There is one more view in which we must look at
the question of black and white : I mean the separation of the people of America into two castes, which
is becoming more pronounced than ever.
Since the
North has insisted that the blacks should be admitted
to political equality neither North nor South has
made any movement whatever towards admitting
them to social equality; in fact, the movement has
been rather the other way. A certain friendly familiarity and association was possible and common,
more especially in the South, when the parties met
on acknowledged terms of superiority and inferiority.
Now the whites assert their superiority by social
exclusion; and the blacks themselves, unwilling to
accept the old situation in social matters, have much
withdrawn themselves from associating with the
whites pn occasions which formerly brought the two

BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHEKN STATES.

195

races together. This is particularly noticeable in the
churches. I am told that in former days almost
every church had a recognised ' black q u a r t e r ; ' now
the black churches are almost entirely separate from
the white churches.
I t was not unnatural that this
should have happened at first, but one might have
hoped that prejudices would have been gradually got
over. After all it is only matter of habit and custom,
and that such a habit can be very completely overcome is shown by the case of the public conveyances,
especially the tramway-cars, so universal in America.
I believe it is not long since no black could venture
to intrude himself among whites. Now the habit has
been established, and the humblest black rides with
the proudest white on terms of perfect equality, and
without the smallest symptom of malice or dislike
on either side. I was, I confess, surprised to see how
completely this is the case; even an English Radical
is a little taken aback at first.
There is generally no bad feeling or incivility
attending the caste separation ; on the contrary, I saw
nothing but good feeling and good temper in the
daily relations between the classes; only, like separate
Hindoo castes, they do not intermarry, or worship
or eat together.
I fear there is not at present much
appearance of any abatement of this caste feeling; it
is maintained and perpetuated by the separation of
the children in the public schools.
I t has become
almost the universal rule of the United States that
none of the schools, high or low, are common to the
two races; the wThites have their schools, and the

196

THE MANAGEMENT OF COLOURED RACES.

blacks have their schools, but there is no intermixture.
The question was, I believe, much debated, and in
some States it was not settled without much difficulty ; but I understand that the general feeling of
the blacks themselves was in favour of separate
schools. They hardly felt that their children could
hold their own against the prejudices of the whites,
if they were obliged to go to the white schools, and
they preferred to have public schools established for
their special benefit. This is now the case wherever
the blacks are sufficiently numerous; and the separation is complete in the higher schools and colleges as
well as in the lower schools. The curious part of it
to the eye of a stranger is the effect on children really
white but tainted with some heredity of black blood.
One sees some extremely fair children—sometimes
fairer than the average of white children—among the
ebony, woolly-headed negroes. I t seems hard ; but
when one says that, one is told that they are entirely
accustomed to be so treated, and do not feel it. It is
hardly to be expected that children brought up in
ideas of caste will readily get rid of them when they
grow up. Just like Hindoos, they maintain the
separation in some things, but not in others. In
many places I saw white and black children running
freely about in one another's houses, and apparently
on very good terms; but still they know where to
draw the line. In India we have managed to bring
the different castes together in the same schools; but
it is not so in America.
W e must, then, accept the caste system as a fact.

BLACK AND WHITE IK THE SOUTHERN STATES.

197

I won't here discuss the advantages or disadvantages
of its complete abolition, to the extent of permitting
what is called miscegenation. I t has, I believe, been
suggested that forty millions of somewhat nervous
and over-energetic American whites, in danger of
wearing out their physique, as the sharp sword wears
out the scabbard, might be improved by the small
amalgam of four millions of easy-tempered, lighthearted blacks in the formation of a people of the
future, fitted permanently to thrive on the soil and in
the climate of America; but the most pronounced
philo-negro in the Northern States would recoil from
such an idea ; so we need not mention it. Christianity
may effect much to bring the races together, but not
quite that for the present. As it is, intermarriage
is now positively prohibited by law in most of the
States—an extraordinary state of things among a
people putting the equality of man at the head of all
their Constitutions ! Another suggestion much more
frequently, and, indeed, quite persistently made by
very many people is, that, the races remaining separate, it is not the whites but the blacks who will
die out. ' They cannot take care of themselves,' it
is said; ' they can neither take care of their children,
nor manage themselves in sickness, nor bring themselves to sanitary laws and habits, now that the benevolent eye of the slave-owner is withdrawn. I t
is a mere matter of t i m e ; they must die out in the
end.' I t is really quite surprising how seriously this
is said, when it is so directly contrary to fact. No
doubt in the terrible disturbance and unsettlement

198

THE MANAGEMENT OE COLOUKED EACES.

due to the war there was much negro suffering and
a good deal of negro mortality in many places; and
even yet the increase of the coloured population is
probably not so rapid as it was in the days of skilful
and careful slave-breeding, or as it will be when the
negro family system is better established and the
negro population is more settled and independent.
But all statistical figures available show that whenever a new census has been taken it is found that the
negroes are not diminishing, but increasing more or
less fast. I t is patent to the eye that they are not a
people who have the least intention of dying o u t ; on
the contrary, there seems every prospect that as they
settle down they will multiply with great rapidity,
and will supply the population still so much wanting properly to occupy the Southern States. They
are an inevitable fact, and it is incumbent on every
well-wisher of America to make the best of them,
instead of supposing that heaven will remove the
difficulty.
To me, accustomed to see great communities in
India, where varieties of caste do not interfere with
union in a common social system—where, on the contrary, caste but represents a variety of occupations
and functions in that system—the existence of two
castes in America does not seem to present any
insuperable obstacle to well-being. In an Indian
village there may be, and generally is, a caste of proprietors, a caste of herdsmen, a caste of labourers, a
caste of money-lenders and shopkeepers, a caste of
blacksmiths, and a caste of carpenters, who all live

BLACK AND W H I T E I N T H E SOUTHERN STATES.

199

very well together, and support one another by each
contributing their functions to the village existence.
It is hard, then, if in the United States two castes
cannot co-exist, supposing that means of amalgamating them are not found.
No doubt it does
seem cruel that no black or mulatto of the highest
merit can overstep the line which condemns him to a
society socially inferior. But very much is open to
such a m a n ; there is a great black population among
whom he may fulfil great functions. Till the blacks
of the South are able to find among their own race
professional men, merchants, traders, and other occupants of the higher places now almost entirely
monopolised by the whites, it cannot be said that a
coloured man fitted to rise has no field in which he
may do so.
My own view, then, is extremely sanguine. I
cannot see why the black difficulty in America
should not be settled, and well settled, and why this
great people should not retain among them a settled,
industrious, and progressive coloured population,
fitted to fill the portions of the country not adapted
for the white race, and there to contribute to the
wealth, the greatness, and the resources of the common country.

SOME OF THE CONTENTS OF
M T JOURNAL.

SOME OF THE CONTENTS OF
MY JOURNAL.
THE ATLANTIC

AND NEW

YORK

I LEFT England in the beginning of September. From my
own experience, and what I have learned, I think it is better
not to go much earlier than this. Many people make the
mistake of going too early, and find it exceedingly hot in
America in the months of July and August, or sometimes
even in the beginning of September. I had it quite cool
from the time of my arrival, and altogether found the autumn
season a delightful time.
I started from London very early in the morning, to
arrange about my passage and get the steamer at Liverpool,
but found on arrival that I need not have been in quite such
a hurry. The steamers are timed to leave Liverpool in the
afternoon, but they always take their final departure with the
mails from Queenstown, in the Cove of Cork, the following
afternoon. They have to wait at Queenstown for the mails,
and are therefore in no hurry. A man who wishes to save
time, instead of starting in the morning may take the mail
train to Dublin in the evening, and go on with the mails to
Cork and Queenstown, and so make sure of catching the
steamer there; but it is rather hard travelling. I took my
passage by the steamer Germanic, one of the finest of the
White Star line. This line is certainly the most modern,
and the quickest. The passage-money is not excessive, and
there is a great saving in taking a return ticket; this costs
thirty guineas, which includes your board and lodging for
eighteen or twenty days—so it is not so very expensive

204

MY JOURNAL.

travelling after all. I was very civilly treated. Passengers
go on board by a tug steamer, and find the large steamer
lying but in the Liverpool river. We got to Queenstown
the next day, and started again with the mails at 4 P.M.
The length of the voyage from Queenstown to Sandy Hook,
the entrance to New York, is 2,800 nautical miles, and with
good weather the White Star steamers do the distance in
eight days; but we must expect to meet some share of bad
weather in the Atlantic pretty often. That was my experience. For three days we had a heavy sea, which much retarded the vessel. Then it calmed down, and finally we
had two or three fine days, during which the vessel made
from 360 to 380 miles per diem; that is, from 15 to 16 miles
per hour on an average. She did that easily, without apparent effort, and in some voyages she has not unfrequently
done 400 miles in a day. I had never been in so fast a
steamer before, and was surprised to find the ease with
which these vessels go that pace. I thought the Germanic
a very fine vessel, and the arrangements regarding meals
and attendance were excellent. The food was quite good.
Things were mostly arranged upon the American plan.
Passenger accommodation is principally in the middle and
forward part of the ship; there is a good smoking-room,
and a ladies' cabin, but no general drawing-room or writing-room. The ship was quite full. Almost all the passengers wrere Americans or else people going on business to
America. I was fortunate enough to make acquaintance
with some very agreeable people, several of whom I afterwards met in the States. After a voyage of eight days and
some hours from Queenstown we reached the Bar at the
mouth of the river at Sandy Hook, and found we had to wait
several hours to get over it—there is not enough water at all
times of the tide. Then after we wrere over we were again
stopped at the Quarantine Station. They seem to be particular about sanitary inspection in America. Thence to New
York is a very short distance. We arrived there, and went
straight alongside the wharf, being a little more than 8J days
from Queenstown and 9-J- from Liverpool. It was a fine day,
and the sight approaching New York very pretty. There is
comparatively little tide on the American coast, the ordinary
rise being only five or six feet—just enough to keep the harbour sweet and clean, and not so much as to give all the

NEW

YOKK.

205

trouble that our tides give us. There is deep water all alongside New York, and ships lie close in, without the necessity
for wet docks or other expensive arrangements. We landed
without delay, and found the Custom House not by any
means troublesome, everything being done in a quiet and
orderly way. There wTas nothing to be seen in the way of
cabs except great two-horse hackney coaches, exceedingly expensive ; but the hotel omnibus presently turned up, and we
were beset by ' expresses'—that means in America light carts
for forwarding luggage. After a little delay I reached the
Windsor Hotel, where I stayed while in New York. It is a
very good hotel—perhaps the best specimen of an hotel conducted on the American principle; that is, of charging so
much per diem for board and lodging. For a residence for a
little time in New York I should certainly recommend the
Windsor; but for a passing traveller it is a little far off, in
the fashionable quarter, the New York Belgravia; and the
well-known Fifth Avenue Hotel might be more central and
convenient. The charge at the Windsor is $4 (say 16s.) per
diem; and, considering the. character of the food and the
accommodation, I thought the charge quite moderate. Some
of the hotels at New York and Boston charge a little more
and others less; the hotels in the interior of the country
generally $2£ or $3. About $ 3 | to $4 a day may be taken
as the average cost of board and lodging at first-class hotels.
You may have a room with a bath-room attached, but that is
always charged a dollar a day extra. With this exception,
there are very few extras, especially if you fall into the custom of the country and do not drink wine; if you do you will
have to pay high for it. If a man is content to find his way
about by the aid of tramways and other native methods, he
may live very well at a pound a day, all expenses included.
Then say ten shillings a day for travelling—that would make
about thirty shillings a day for obligatory expenses. Of
course he may spend money beyond this, but really there is
not so much temptation to do so as in Europe. I should say
that for 1501. a man may make an extremely good three
months' tour to America. Besides the hotels on the American plan which I have mentioned, there are a few in the large
cities which are conducted on the European principle—charging for what you have; and I believe that if people do not
want to be overfed, and manage economically, they may live

206

MY JOURNAL.

in such hotels almost as cheaply as in those conducted on the
American plan ; but they will have more trouble; and if they
want private rooms and such special accommodation, they
have to pay very heavily indeed at such hotels as the Brunswick and Brevoort, at New York. At the Windsor the waiters
are white men, which is contrary to the usual practice, most
hotels having black waiters. I found the food really very
good indeed—a great deal better than that which I afterwards
obtained at most American hotels. My only complaint was
that feeding was rather overdone: you were expected to eat
too much; and the waiters did not seem to have any mercy
on you if you did not comply.
Most of the beds in America have mosquito-curtains, and
I was terrified by the fear of encountering those old Indian
enemies. Plappily at the season when I was in America I did
not suffer much; but at some seasons, I believe, the mosquitos
are very bad there.
On the afternoon of my arrival I ' did' the Central Park
of New York—an immense place, ever so many miles long,
and very well kept; called ' Central' because it is a long way
off. Parks are very much the fashion in America; now
almost every great town has a fine park. A long stream of
carriages of all kinds was going towards the park, but they
tailed off and became rare in the further parts. I noticed
even on Sunday a large number of vehicles going out there ;
but I am told that these are chiefly filled by the foreign population of New York, which is very large. I should say that the
park is a kind of cross between Regent's Park and the Bois
de Boulogne. In the evening everything seemed very dull.
There are no books in the hotels; the streets are but indifferently lighted, and nothing seemed to be going on. There was
none of the liveliness of a great European city in the evening.
The following day I looked about the town, and delivered
some letters of introduction, being very kindly received by
some very agreeable people. That evening I dined with a
very pleasant and hospitable old banker, who struck me as
wonderfully English in his manners and conversation as well
as in his table and arrangements. I was much surprised to
find that he had never been in Europe—which is a rare thing
-—but he had been very much in contact with Englishmen.
The appearance of the city of New York did not strike
me as being very different from European cities. There are

NEW

YORK.

207

some fine buildings, but I should not say that the place impresses one very much. Upon the whole it is less un-Englishlooking than I expected.
The principal points in New York ways which struck me
were the following:—The way of serving the dishes, the
cookery, the food, and the arrangements altogether at the
hotels. The rectangular streets, which one soon learns to find
a great convenience, the number of the street giving you at
once the clue to its whereabouts. Then the vehicles used,
which are different from ours. The ladies' carriages are not
very different; they are not particularly smart nor well set up
—the fine ladies are generally content with coachmen, without
footmen. But the light traps and everything that goes under
the name of 'buggy' in America are very smart and fast
vehicles indeed, with a great many fast-trotting horses. I
was taken by surprise to find that the spider-like vehicles
which we rather suppose to be an American eccentricity are
in every-day use, not only in the towns but still more in the
country and over the unmade country roads. They are made
of hickory-wood, are wonderfully light, and seem to be exceedingly strong, judging by the work which they endure.
They last quite as well as our heavy vehicles, and I cannot
imagine why we do not follow the example in getting suchlike traps.
The tramways puzzle one rather at first; they seem slow,
and difficult to understand; but before one has been very
long in America one becomes quite accustomed to them, and
uses them continually. My only wonder is that such a highpressure people as the Americans can stand such a slow mode
of conveyance, for they are very slow. Really people in
America do not give you the idea of being in a hurry.
One of the newest things to me was the Elevated Eailway
which has recently been started in New York. It seemed a
most admirable arrangement. New York is a very long city—
eight or ten miles long—avenues running the whole length of
it. The plan is to establish, on two or three of these avenues,
selected for the purpose, these elevated railways, which run
upon iron girders above the heads of the people and the
ordinary traffic, and are an enormous convenience to those
who have to go the long distances that New York people go
between their homes and their places of business. The
astonishing thing is, how they could have got on to the year

208

MY JOURNAL.

1878 without having anything of the kind. They must have
spent a large portion of their lives travelling five or six
miles backwards and forwards in the trams. The Elevated
Railway is, I think, infinitely cheaper and easier, and it
is certainly very much lighter and more airy than our
underground railways ; and the facilities for travelling are
quite as great, the only difference being that passengers go
upstairs to the railway where we go down. There is no difficulty in carrying the lines along the long straight avenues;
but when you get into the older parts of New York (which
are built more like European towns, and where the avenues
are not continuous) there is much more difficulty. I was
astounded to see how the difficulty of going round corners is
overcome. The makers of the Elevated Railway have not
gone to the expense of taking up large blocks of houses to
make the way for their line; they go sharp round rightangled corners, taking up, perhaps, only part of one house at
the corner, and going round that in a way marvellous to
behold; but they do it without accident. The great outcry
against the Elevated Railways was the damage to the amenity
of the houses in the streets through which they pass. The
Americans do things in a more energetic manner than we
do ; and having got the sanction of the JSTew York Legislature
for the railway, they made it first and thought about compensation for the owners of property afterwards. ]STo doubt
it is not a pleasant thing some day to find that a railway is
running before your drawing-room windows, but it will probably be found in the end that the character of the houses on
the line is changed, not their value; they will become places
of business rather than residences; but for business purposes
the railway may add to their value. So perhaps the Americans are wiser than if they had given enormous compensation
first, according to our plan. When I arrived the only experience of the elevated railways having been in summer, when
they were not so much needed, the cry of the aggrieved
householders seemed to be more heard than the praises of the
passengers by the line; but when I came back, in winter, the
immense advantage and convenience to the general public
of the railway had been so much appreciated that praise
altogether predominated over complaints. I am very much
impressed with the belief that elevated railways of this kind
in Oxford Street and Piccadilly and such-like thoroughfares

THE ]STEW YORK COUNTRY.

209

would admirably supplement the accommodation afforded by
the metropolitan lines, which cannot be multiplied.
When I had spent a day or two in New York I accepted
the kind invitation of Mr. Oto visit his place on the
Hudson River, near West Point, but on the opposite side.
I had a most agreeable visit, and was charmed with the
country I saw. I had expected to find the city of New York
a fine place, but had hardly looked for the charming country
which I found in the neighbourhood. We went up by railway,
and immediately on getting clear of the city came upon a very
pretty, undulating, and green country, abounding in summer
residences. I understand, however, that this is an unusually
green season, and that in most years the grass is a good deal
burnt up for a few weeks in summer. However, grass is very
much the characteristic of the country near New York. It is
mostly a dairy country—not flat, but abounding in pretty hills
and undulations. In the country within easy reach of New
York the wealthy citizens have beautiful places—not exactly
of the nature of country seats in our style, but rather like
large cottages, with abundance of pretty grounds about them.
Mr. O
's place is really a beautiful one, as are some other
places in the neighbourhood. I never saw anywhere a prettier
country or nicer houses. In the afternoon Mr. O
took
me over to the West Point Military Academy—very pleasantly
situated. It seems that the cadets go through a very long
and very scientific course of education for the American army,
and are turned out accomplished officers to a far greater degree than can be the case under our military arrangements,
where a boy is hardly a year at Sandhurst. The next day Mr.
O
took me a drive through a pretty country, very undulating, and even hilly. I enjoyed it very much indeed, as I
did my visit in every way. In the morning I returned to
New York by the steamer on the Hudson River. The river
is very pretty indeed, and is much more in the style of a
Scotch loch than a river. I again occupied myself for a day
or two doing the sights of New York, and among them one
of the magnificent steamers, which runs to Providence. It
is impossible to imagine anything more luxurious than the
American steamers made for inland waters. They are enormous buildings, with cabins tier upon tier; and things are
generally so arranged that you go on board, have supper, go
14

210

MY JOURNAL.

to bed as comfortably as if you were in your own house, and
arrive at your destination in the morning.
I was invited to pay another visit, in the country near
]\Tew York, to Mr. I I
, a distinguished member of the
American Legislature, who lives there with his charming
family, and has something much more like a great English
estate than you often find in America. It is an old property,
on which many free blacks have been settled for generations.
Mr. II
took me about the place, and I had my first sight
of the labouring population of America at home, both white
and coloured. The latter were, however, of more or less
mixed blood, and several of them have Indian blood, being a
cross between negroes and Indians. All seemed fairly wellto-do, the coloured people, perhaps, of a somewhat ]ower
class than the whites, but not very much so; and they seem
to live quite sociably together, the white and black children
running into one another's houses; only they do not intermarry. This is, however, a very exceptional estate.
We
drove a considerable distance into the country, and saw some
of the farms and farmers. There is little but dairy farming
in this part of the country. Mr. I i
and others have also
some good trotting stock, and part of the New York country
produces this stock, I understand, largely. The farmers whom
we saw universally owned their own farms, although a good
many have mortgages upon them. The farms seemed to
average about one hundred acres, mostly pasture, with some
wroodland attached to each. There is a great deal of wood all
about this part of the country. The farmers seem a very
good," plain, hard-working style of men. One farm was a
good deal larger than the average, and the people seemed
superior, the daughter of the house quite ladylike. The farmers principally live by selling butter, and also some pigs and
apples. Apples are excessively abundant in all this country,
but I did not gather that much cider is made. They raise
corn enough for their own consumption, but not for sale. I
was struck by the quiet, respectable, handsome look of some
tradesmen assisting a farmer to repair his house. They looked
quite like the best artisans in England; there was nothing
American about them.

A SCAMPER THROUGH THE NORTH AND WEST.

211

A SCAMPER THROUGH THE NORTH AND WEST.

I now returned to New York, in order to start for Boston
by the New York Central Railway. I travelled in a Wagner
drawing-room car. . On each of the main lines a contractor,
generally either Pullman or Wagner, supplies drawing-room
and sleeping-cars. There is not much difference between the
contractors' cars ; there seemed rather a want of variety. The
railway seemed to be well managed, and the country, as we
went out of New York, much like what I had seen before in
the other direction. We ran along the shore across the
estuaries and harbours, and then passed through Providence
and other New England places, where there seemed to be
much population and traffic, and all the signs of a manufacturing district. It was dark before I got to Boston, where
I went to the Brunswick Hotel, which I found comfortable,
but very expensive—a good deal more so than the New York
hotels.
Next morning I did part of Boston. It seemed a fine,
substantial town, with good stone buildings and churches.
After breakfast I took a steamer to Nahant, a small wateringplace, frequented by the Boston people, where I made the
acquaintance of a delightful family, from among whom a
distinguished member of the late Liberal Administration was
almost in the act of taking to himself a wife, who will be a
great acquisition to our country. I was pleased with this
little American watering-place and the style of life there.
The cottages seemed to be real cottages, with verandahs and
creeping flowers and all sorts of pretty things. I was the
more glad to see this, as I had not time to go to Newport, the
fashionable seaside watering-place of the New York and New
England people. I am told that it is really a beautiful place,
and that many of the rich Americans have very fine houses
of their own there. In short, I gathered that the place must
be much superior to any of our watering-places—putting
aside Brighton, which is a great town, and not a wateringplace, and as ugly as Newport is said to be pretty. Americans seem to go to the seaside a good deal more than we do;
it is almost a necessity to them in the hot summer months,
when the sea-breezes seem wonderfully to temper the heat.
In point of society Newport seems to stand far above any

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other place ; but I gather that there is a great want of occupation for men. The season only lasts through the summer.
The famous Saratoga is an inland place, and has, I under?
stand, become far less select than Newport. In the latter
part of the season, however, Saratoga has become a great
resort for ' politicians? and their families. All sorts of conventions are held there ; and it might be a very likely place
at that time for visitors who want to learn something of
American politics and institutions from very able men—and
many of the American ' politicians' are very able men. At
Boston I was kindly and hospitably admitted to the Somerset
Club, a very comfortable institution. Clubs have become
very much an American institution ; I found them at all the
considerable towns that I visited, and the members are always
most kind in admitting strangers. Thus admitted one has
both many social advantages and the run of English books
and magazines; sometimes even English newspapers, and
that is a great treat, for throughout the United States there
is nothing so difficult as to get an English newspaper of any
sort or kind. I sometimes suffered for weeks together from a
sort of ' news-famine ;' that is, as regards everything excepting the sensational paragraphs telegraphed to the American
papers.
Boston and Boston Common and all about them have
been so often described that I need not dwell upon the place.
I shall only say that I found the character which it has for
English-like people and English-like hospitality and kindness
fully maintained. I went out by tram to Cambridge, to see
the Harvard College there. The students have rooms in
college, but are not compelled to dine there, and their discipline altogether does not seem to be very strict. Boston
Free Library is a wonderful institution—by far the largest in
the world, I believe—and said to be very successful. All over
ISrew England the free library is a great institution; but I
found that in Pennsylvania and other parts of the country
they do not seem to see the advantage in the same light. I
am told that almost all the mills and manufacturing establishments in ISTew England are joint-stock concerns. They
are said to be successfully managed, and to be afflicted by few
frauds. They continue to divide about 5 per cent, even in
bad times. They say that the best and most thrifty working
people are Irish and Erench Canadians. Americans are

T H E MOHAWK

VALLEY.

213

neither so strong nor so industrious ; they want to live by the
head, and not by the hand. I think, however, that this
chiefly applies to the non-agricultural Americans.
The
American farmer is a very good, hard-working man.
There are a large number of distinguished literary men
resident in and about Boston and Cambridge. The wealth of
the Boston people is also large. So, combining brains and
money as it does, no wonder it is a pleasant place. The
climate, however, is, I believe, very cold in winter. I was
only able to glance at the place, and must hope to return to it
another time.
These Eastern cities have a great advantage in using only
anthracite coal, which burns without blacks ; and so, from a
combination of climate and coal, they are very clean and
bright.
I left Boston for the West by the early express train
through Massachusetts. The country seemed hilly, and not
very fertile, but pretty and pleasant-looking, with many
villages and factories. Connecticut, I am told, is a good
agricultural country; Maine is also a good farming State.
At present all is excitement in Maine, on account of the
majority given to the Greenbackers. General Butler, the
great Greenback hero, is stumping Massachusetts, and alarming all the solid, old-fashioned people. I saw him on the
stump—a wild-looking man. As we got on Massachusetts
becomes quite highland and picturesque. The high]and
country seems to be of much the same character all the wray
from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico; the only difference is
that in the Southern States there is a large belt of flat,
swampy country between the hilly country and the sea;
whereas in New England the hills come down almost to the
sea. As we pass through Massachusetts and get into the
New York State, approaching Albany, the country becomes
more flat and agricultural. Beyond Albany are the ' Sandy
Plains'—poor and sandy, but well settled. Hereabouts was
the old Dutch settlement. Further on, the sandy plains
change suddenly for a fertile and green country, near Schenectady ; and from here up the Valley of the Mohawk is the
finest country in the New York State, and the seat of the
great cheese manufacture. The cheese is all made on the
factory system, the factories generally being on a very large
scale. The milk is raised by the farmers around, who bring

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MY JOURNAL.

it to the factories, where it is made into cheese. I stopped
at Schenectady—a very nice country town—with the appearance of which I was much pleased. It is an American habit
to line the streets of country towns with fine trees. They
are very shady and pleasant; and there seemed to be a great
abundance of fine healthy young people, especially girls,
about. This first specimen of an American country town
very favourably impressed me. There is here one of the
many excellent colleges which abound in America. I was
very pleasantly entertained by Dr. P
and his wife, very
pleasant and intellectual people. We drove a long way
through the country. It seemed a good, quiet, agricultural
district. The most prominent crop at this moment is what
is called ' broom-corn,' out of which brooms are made ; a very
large quantity of it is raised in America. I cannot conceive
how the world can consume so many brooms. The Mohawk
and its Valley are really beautiful. In the evening I met a
fine old lady, the widow of a great Abolitionist, and heard
many stories of the ' Underground Railway,' and the ways
by which the Northern people enabled many slaves to escape
into Canada. I also met one of the largest farmers about.
He has nearly 300 acres, and seemed a very intelligent man.
I was soon quite at home with him. He might have been a
good Scotch farmer. He said almost all the farmers own
their own land. There is a very strong opposition to any
renting system under a landlord. A good many large properties came down from former times under Dutch and
English grants ; but the proprietors found it difficult to hold
them as rented estates; in fact, he said, in the case of one
proprietor in that part of the country who tried to do so, and
to maintain and enhance his rents, a good deal of burning
took place. He says, however, that occasional short leases
are not objected to. He raises and fattens much stock, and
that seems to be a very growing industry. He himself goes
in for pedigree stock, to sell. The average farms hereabouts
are from 100 to 150 acres. Some of the Mohawk Yalley
land is extremely valuable. He talks of values about equal
to moderate English prices for land. There is an unusually
fine apple crop this year, and apples are selling almost absurdly cheap.
I have had a good deal of talk about religious sects in
America. All seem agreed that Americans of different per-

CANADA.

215

suasions do not hate one another on account of religion.
My informants much doubted black students being equal to
white ones as they grow up. There are none at the College
here, but there are at several Northern colleges.
From Schenectady I took the night-train for Niagara, via
Buffalo. I met a man who had been visiting one of the
famous Agapemones which is upon this line. He said that
they affect to raise human stock on scientific breeding principles ; but the wThole thing he thought very disgusting. In
the morning we found ourselves in the country near Rochester.
It seemed flat and more agricultural than pastoral. From
thence there seemed to be a considerable ascent, and then
very flat again towards Buffalo. Passing Buffalo we ran
down Niagara River to the Falls. There seemed to be very
many orchards in this part of the country, principally apples
and peaches. I stayed, at the Falls, at the International Hotel,
upon the American side. The Clifton Hotel, on the Canada
side, has by far the best view ; but then Goat Island and the
best points for seeing the Falls from near can only be approached from the American side, and it is a long way from
the Clifton ; so I think it is best to stop on the American side
and go over to see the view from the other side. I crossed
by the ferry under the Falls. It is quite easy, and there is
no danger or difficulty; but I was advised not to give in to
the people who bother one to go down behind the Falls. I
am told by many that the only result is to encounter a great
deal of wet spray and a great deal of mud, and that there is
nothing to repay one for it all. All the rest I did in quite
the correct wray ; but the Falls have been so often described
that I jieed not go over it all. They certainly are a very
fine and unique thing. It would not do to travel in the
country without seeing them. One day is amply sufficient,
if the sightseer is active. From the other side I went a
little way into Canada. It seemed a pleasant country. The
population near the border is a good deal mixed; but I am
told that more Americans come to the Canadian than
Canadians go to the other side. The taxation is now much
lighter in Canada. I returned by the fine Suspension Bridge
—saw a good many Indian women, who sat and knitted, and
apparently are part of the show, but they did not beg. They
look more fair and squat and Mongolian-like than I had
expected. The village of Niagara is full of shops for the sale

216

MY JOURNAL.

of Indian goods. I do not know why it is so much an Indian
centre.
I took another look at the Falls in the morning—they
well bear looking at twice certainly. I noticed that the hotel
bill was very moderate. To be sure it is rather late in
the season; but perhaps the neighborhood of Canada brings
down prices. Certainly the hack carriages on the Canadian
side are very moderate compared with American charges.
From Niagara I went to Chicago, through Canada, by the
Great "Western Railway, crossing the river by the Suspension
Bridge. The country beyond the river was much like what
I had already seen. We passed the Welland Canal; that is,
the Canadian canal, by. which ships are taken round the
Niagara Falls. It is now being re-excavated to the size and
depth sufficient to carry seagoing ships; so that vessels may
sail direct from the head of Lake Superior to ports in Europe
with cargoes of grain and timber, or rather will soon be able
to do so. If the navigation were open all the year round
this route would have an immense advantage, but unfortunately it is closed by ice a great part of the year. I stopped
a little time at Hamilton, in Canada. It seemed a decentlooking, newly-settled town, with many factories for agricultural implements. It is at the head of Lake Ontai'io, but
I did not see much shipping. I wrent to a fair and agricultural show which was then taking place, and thought it really
a very fine show indeed. It was full of Scotch people, or at
any rate people talking very . decided Scotch; indeed, there
was so much of the Scotch intonation that if I had shut my
eyes I might have supposed myself in Scotland. I am told
that there are many Irish too hereabouts, and in one part
of this country there are also Dutch. When I entered
Canada I noticed that a superior class of coloured people
came into the train. There seemed to be several parties of
them, and among them several smart black ladies—very
smart indeed. I do not know whether it was an accident
seeing these people just as I entered Canada, or whether
there are many well-to-do descendants of old refugees. In
all the crowd at the fair there were scarcely any coloured
people. I only saw two. All the rest looked very British.
I was much interested in the agricultural show. There were
plenty of good cattle, and horses, and pigs, but no sheep.
But going away in the train I saw a good many sheep. Be-

CANADA.

217

sides the ordinary food-grains there were some very fine mangolds, and a very magnificent show of apples, some pears, and
very fine grapes; but I am told that most of the grapes are
grown under glass. There was a great variety of agricultural
machinery. A man was exhibiting and much praising what
he called sugarcane grown in the neighbourhood. I looked
at it, and found it was only sorghum, and that what was
called sugar was nothing but a kind of molasses. In the bazaar there were many things of United States manufacture—
watches from Illinois, enamelled ironmongery from St. Louis,
silver from Connecticut; but furniture wTas mostly Canadian,
as als6 were a good many woollen goods, which did not seem
to me very first-rate. A little further on I stopped a little
while at London. Here again another fair and show was
going on, and again I found many Scotch-speaking people.
I am sorry to say that one or two with whom I specially
fraternised turned out to be tipsy. However, that little weakness excepted, they seemed a good sort of Scotch people. I
do not know whether it is because I am remarkably sober
myself, but I seem to have a special attraction for Scotchmen
who have had a drop too much—when I go abroad.
There was an hotel-car attached to the train on the Great
"Western line, and in it I had far the best travelling meal I
have yet had—everything warm and nice, and the prices
moderate. These hotel-cars are an immense convenience. It
is a great blessing, and greatly improves the digestion, to
be able to take your meal at your leisure, without the con-i
tinual fear of being left behind. Unfortunately, however,
the hotel-cars are comparatively rare, and are only found on
a few lines. On this line they go as far, I think, as Omaha,
but they do not now run (as they once did) to San Francisco.
For the rest of the journey passengers are obliged to get
their meals at the stations, which must be a very great drawback to that long journey. I know nothing so trying in the
American arrangements as the stopping and the starting of
the trains. There are no porters to shout and no slamming
of doors, because there are no doors to slam, and most frequently no warning is given whatever. The train slides away
quite silently, and until I gained experience I was once or
twice almost left^ behind whilst standing on the platform,
Because I thought that the train going off in that style must
be only shunting. However, you are always at liberty to run

218

•MY JOURNAL.

after the train and catch it, and get up as best you can. That
is what a large proportion of the passengers do.
The country about London is very pretty and good; to
my idea as pleasant and home-looking an agricultural country as I have seen in America. It is undulating, and seemed
to have much good grass, grazed over by fine stock, whereas
in much of the New York country I gathered that the grass
was much oftener cut as hay than grazed. In this Canada
country there is much fine wood and many- stumps in the
fields, giving it a very newly-cleared appearance. Nevertheless I cannot help thinking that it showed more signs of
good Scotch farming than anything I had. seen in the States.
In the night-train to Chicago there were a large number of
sleeping-cars, and very many families and children returning
from their summer outings. Sleeping-cars crowded in this
fashion are not the coolest and pleasantest places in the
wrorld; and what surprises one is, that whereas in America
there is almost always separate accommodation for ladies,
every hotel having a separate ladies' entrance, and even every
post-office a special window for ladies, in the sleeping-cars
there is no division at all—all sexes and ages are accommodated promiscuously. I do not recommend night-travelling
when there is a special run upon the cars. "With all this
sleeping accommodation and hotel-car and other luxuries, I
was surprised to find there was no smoking accommodation
whatever, except a very filthy car filled with emigrants. There
is much less provision for smokers in America than with us.
On this line there is practically a third class, under the name
of ' emigrant carriages.' During the night we crossed the St.
Lawrence (or whatever the river is here called) on a steamer
without being at all disturbed. The train is taken on board
and everything managed in the quickest and easiest manner.
They certainly do manage these things capitally in America.
Their ferry-boats are much superior to anything to be seen in
Europe. In the morning we found ourselves in the Michigan
country, near the lake, It seemed there somewhat poor and
jungly, and on the borders of the lake there were great sandhills. As we got on the country became somewhat better,
but still a dead flat, with a great deal of marsh, and many of
the houses built on piles. The lake was quite smooth : there
were no waves beyond ripples. We duly arrived at Chicago.
The railway station was. burnt down in the great fire, and

CHICAGO.

219

has not been rebuilt. The town, though still showing a good
many blanks, has been rebuilt in a wonderful way, and is
undoubtedly a very fine one, but rather dirty and smoky—
not clean, like the Eastern cities, wThere they burn anthracite
coal. The whole country about is a dead level. The town
is laid out on, I think, rather too great a scale; the distances
are very great. Outside each quarter is a great park. I
wrent to the Grand Pacific Hotel—not the largest, but it seems
very good and well situated, and I was comfortable there.
I made the acquaintance of Mr. A
, the President of the
Illinois Central Railway,' who gave me much assistance; and
I found one or two friends whom I had before met on my
travels, and who were very kind to me. I spent the day in
thoroughly doing the town. I went to one of the great pigkilling establishments. It certainly was a wonderful sight.
They kill and dispose of 8,000 pigs per diem. It takes
three or four days to convert the pigs into bacon, but they
are really made into sausages in the course of an hour. The
bacon is put into railway cars in layers, without any further
packing, and so sent to the Eastern States. I drove round
the parks, which are not quite complete, and may be called
the parks of the future; but they are very well and handsomely laid out. There is a pleasant villa suburb called
Hyde Park. Most of the Western cities have a ' Hyde Park.'
Here also there was an exhibition going on, which I went
to see. American-made goods seemed to preponderate, the
agricultural machinery, as usual, very prominent. I went to
see one of the great elevators by which grain is raised by
machinery, stored, and shipped. It must be understood that
the elevator in America is not a mere machine for transferring
the grain from one conveyance to another, but is, in fact, a
great warehouse, where grain is stored sometimes for months,
especially on the great lakes, where, owing to the suspension
of traffic in the winter, it must often be kept for a considerable period in store. The system seems to be one under
which a man does hot necessarily receive back his own grain,
but only a like quantity of grain of the same grade* I was
not quite able to understand the nature of the interference
exercised, but I found that at Chicago, and I believe at most
American commercial centres, the produce brought to market
is examined by official inspectors, who class the grain, and
apparently nothing is allowed to be sold without being officially classed.

220

MY JOUKNAL.

I met at Chicago and had much talk with Judge F
,
of Tennessee, a gentleman who has liad great experience in
the Southern States; and also another gentleman, a Chicago
lawyer, connected with the railway, a very clear-headed man.
He told me that in all the States except Louisiana the law is
based upon the English law. The Illinois Legislature meets
biennially. The State Constitutions are generally revised by
a Convention—say about once in every twenty years on the
average, but there is no fixed time. Each State has its own
civil and criminal law, and the State Judges dispose of all
cases except offences against the United States revenue laws,
which are tried by the United States Judges. After the war
there was a general bankruptcy law throughout the whole of
the United States, but it has now expired, and has not been
renewed. There is a local insolvency law in some States, but
not in all. In all States there seems to be a regular system of
public prosecution—a prosecuting attorney is always to be
found, corresponding to our Scotch Procurator Fiscals.
Judge F
being a Southerner, takes a somewhat
Southern view of things. He thinks the blacks will last for a
time, but they cannot take care of themselves, and will die
out in the end. Whether by nature or want of education,
they seem to have a lower order of intelligence, and do not
do well work requiring a fine hand, care, or thought; he
believes they do not succeed in factories. They have a few
farms of their own, but very few. He admits, however, that
they are the most good-natured of mankind, and do very
well under white superintendence. Most of the cotton is
raised by negroes under a system of cultivation upon shares—
that is, the crops are divided between the proprietor and the
negro who does the work, the negroes being well looked after.
The larger estates in the South are now broken up into
smaller farms, and more carefully worked than they used
to be.
I went to see a great dry goods store. Dry goods are
cloths and textile fabrics of all sorts, and, I believe, a good
many other things besides; but I cannot exactly define the
term. At all events dry goods are not groceries nor ironmongery. In this Great Central Chicago Store they say that
half or perhaps more of the goods are of American make.
Of the remainder, perhaps, one-third are English, and the
rest French and German, or from other foreign countries.

CHICAGO TO ST. LOUIS.

221

Cotton goods they declare to be as cheap as in Manchester;
and they have many varieties to suit American taste, but
woollens are excessively dear. Woollen clothes cost fully
double what they do in England; ladies' silks are also very
dear. Woollen goods are now manufactured in almost every
State in America. The Americans evidently are pushing
hard to come up to us in that trade.
From Chicago I took the night train through Illinois to
St. Louis. This time we had the Pullman cars, which seemed
cleaner and better than the Wagner's, in which I had before
travelled. In the morning the train was detained for a time
at Decatur. I had time to take a walk and look about the
place on a charming morning, and I was much pleased with
this Illinois country place. It seemed to be a kind of cross
between town and country—large streets, laid out at right
angles, and lined wTith trees in the usual pleasant manner;
nice houses scattered about, with plenty of room. Although
there is little natural wood in Illinois the trees when planted
grow luxuriantly. The soil seemed a rich black soil; there
is nothing like hills, but decided undulations. I now quite
understand the rolling land we hear so much of. There was
beautiful grass and clover in many of the fields, and plenty
of stock of all kinds. Many apple-orchards were planted, but
they do not seem to thrive here as they do in the country
further north. The wind, I believe, is too much for them.
There was good coffee and refreshment at the station. There
seems to be generally some sort of hotel at these country
stations. At last we started, and had daylight for the run
onwards to St. Louis. I was much interested and pleased
with the country. Much of it is rolling, and more or less
raised. There were occasionally what looked like small hillocks, but nothing amounting to hills. The country through
which I travelled all consisted of what once was prairie, but
is now cultivated and enclosed. There are only a few belts
of natural wood in broken ground near streams and ravines,
especially as we approached the Mississippi. All the land
seemed well cultivated. The great crop is Indian corn. It
is now standing on the ground ripe. In some of the barer
parts the crops seemed of poor growth and the weeds very
strong ; but other parts were much better cultivated, and the
crops there seemed strong and good. We passed a good many
wheat-fields, the autumn wlieat already up, and the fields

222

MY JOURNAL.

clean and well cultivated. I saw no root-crops ; and throughout most of the country at this season there is little appearance of plentiful grass—the fields seemed pretty bare—but a
great deal of hay was stacked. We passed many villages and
small towns. The people at some of these places seemed
primitive enough. After running through a considerable belt
of wood we came to the Mississippi, with the city of St.
Louis on the opposite side, and crossed by the great bridge, a
very fine structure.
I went to the Lindell Hotel, a fine and large one. My
first day at St. Louis was a Sunday, and I noticed there that,
although the people seemed very religious and church-going,
they were somewhat Continental in their views of Sunday.
Here and at other places I saw the eternal American game of
base-ball being played on Sunday. There was a boat-race;
and the Exhibition grounds (here, as everywhere, an agricultural exhibition was going on) were very full of people, the
Sunday notwithstanding. All over America shops are closed
on Sunday, as with us ; but they seem to have no shutters to
the windows, so that they have not the same closed appearance. I stayed at St. Louis long enough to have a good look
about the town. There seemed to be many fine buildings, but
I should say it is hardly so pretentious as Chicago. However,
it is almost as large, with very long streets running out into
the country, and a large park.
I noticed in the St. Louis papers that in this State of Missouri parties are so divided that the negro vote seems to be of
consequence. The question of mixed or separate schools
seems to be an important one here, and the advocates of
mixed schools hope to secure the votes of the blacks. I went
down to have a good look at the Mississippi, that great river
of America, and I was certainly disappointed. After having
seen other great rivers I was not particularly struck with this
one. It may be - larger than the others, but the size is not
palpable; the breadth is not excessive, and there is no appearance of a very strong current. According to the register it
is now seven feet above low-water level, which, I suppose, is
rather low. The Mississippi and Missouri join a few miles
above this. The water looks muddy. It is a curious thing
that there seem to be no good fish in the Mississippi. There
are no river-fish in the hotel bills; those that they have come
over from the great lakes or from the sea. I asked about it,

KANSAS.

223

and they said only a few inferior fish, called cat-fish, are
caught in the Mississippi.
There are many steamers here, but none equal to the
great inland steamers at New York. I took two trips of
some miles each into the suburbs. On one route there was a
park and a great many good villas, and on the other there
were endless streets of poor men's houses. They seemed good
of their kind. The country rises in a rolling way ; but there
are no hills or signs of the mountains yet. 1 noticed that the
driver of the tram in which I travelled was a Frenchman,
and the conductor an Irishman. I am told that there are a
good many French here, but there seem to be more German
signboards, notices, &c. I saw very little peculiarly American about the dress and appearance of tfie people, and did not
even notice very much in their voices. In crowded tram-cars
scarcely anyone said anything to anybody, and there was
no roughness. Wideawakes are certainly more common than
in England; chimney-pot hats are comparatively rare. In
the Exhibition I saw some very fine fat cattle. In the hotel
there was a board with the various churches grouped under
denominations. Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist, and Presb}^terian are the most numerous. Besides Presbyterian there
are also a few ' United Presbyterian' churches. One of the
largest denominations struck me, being called simply ' Christians.' On inquiry I was told that this is a large persuasion
throughout a great part of the States. Thej^ are called
' Christians' or ' Campbellites,' being founded by a certain
Bishop Campbell; they are said to have branched off from
the Baptists.
After doing St. Louis I started for Kansas. The first
part of the country is much like that on the other side of the
river, but becomes more rolling as we go on. On all the
lands formerly prairie a good deal of tree-planting has been
done, and trees are now nowhere rare; but they are not
yet available for timber. The timber is chiefly imported
from the lakes into Illinois and the neighbouring country.
Hedges are becoming very common as fences. Getting on
towards Kansas the country rolls more and more, and a good
deal of stone begins to crop up. I was surprised to see the
extent of cultivation. There is still nothing that can be
called a real open prairie, though there are some grazing
tracts. The grass is now not very green; but here also im-

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MY J O U R N A L .

mense quantities of hay are stored. Some hemp is grown,
and also tobacco ; and bees are kept to a considerable extent.
We passed a large bee-farm; and in a very inchoate skeleton
village I noticed a beehive shop. In parts natural wood becomes pretty common, principally oak, especially near the
Missouri River. To see the open prairie you must go far
back from the railways. I am told that far away out in the
south-west of Kansas State, upon the Arkansas River, is a
very fine country of big-rolling prairie, with splendid soil,
w^here a great wheat cultivation has been developed during the
last six or eight years. Sometimes they suffer from drought,
but usually there is rain enough for wheat. From all I can
gather I understand that the rise to the foot of the Rocky
Mountains is quite gradual, and that even when you come
to the mountains the ascent on this side is comparatively
gradual. Between this and the mountains is what is called
the Great American Desert; but it now turns out that the
desert is a myth—that there is no desert at all. Travelling
along here I did not see very many cattle, but at all the
stations there were pens and inclines for shipping cattle. I
noticed a good many horses and many very fine mules; oxen
do not seem to be used for draught in this part of the country.
The cattle-drivers and- farm-hands ride with wooden stirrups.
You may see a man on horseback fetching in a cow. I stayed
at Kansas City, which, by the way, is not in Kansas State at
all, but in Missouri, on the borders of Kansas. There were
many vehicles of all sorts, well horsed. Everyone seems to
keep a horse; yet the price of a hack carriage is two dollars
the first hour, and one dollar for every subsequent hour. The
proprietors say they are obliged to take out licenses, wThich
causes conveyances to be dear. I noticed here an ordinance
against touting and soliciting custom, making it a misdemeanour. Apparently this is a municipal ordinance published
by the Mayor and signed by the town clerk. The innkeepers'
notice regarding liabilities for losses is a Missouri State Law
(Revised Statutes of Missouri, chapter 79). Kansas City is on
the Missouri River. I was very much disappointed with that
river; it does not look very large. It is like an Indian river,
with sandbanks in i t ; but I understand it does not rise so
much. There are no steamers and apparently no navigation
here, except a few mud-barges and small boats for local use.
In fact, the river is not much used in this part of its course,

KANSAS.

225

but it is more used higher up, and it is navigable throughout
more or less. Occasional steamers pass up, and can go up a
very long way—it is scarcely known how far. The Government send steamers up by the river route for supplying their
far-away outposts in the far North-West, where there are no
other means of communication. Kansas City is mostly on
high ground. It seems a thriving place, nothing very remarkable about it, and is quite modern in its ways. I should not
have known' I was so far West. My hotel was the St. James's,
on high ground, comfortable and moderate. I found that
no paper is published on Monday mornings and I asked,
'Why, are people too good to print upon Sunday?' The
answer I got was, ' No, but they drink upon Sunday.' However, I did not see much of that, and rather think that my
informant was unduly severe on his countrymen.
In the afternoon I visited the stock-yards, and then went
on the Kansas side of the small river which here divides the
two States. There were many cattle in the yards, and most
of them seemed to be very well-bred animals—not very fat,
bat tolerably so.' I understand that they will go to the
American butchers at once. The greater number come from
Texas, many also from Colorado. The cattle raised in Colorado are said to be the best-bred. Much good short-horn
blood has, I believe, been introduced of late years. The
cattle come here by rail. There is no grazing-ground along
which they could be driven for two or three hundred miles
from this. They are driven from Texas up to the railway,
and then trucked. These railways have certainly led to the
cultivation and civilisation of the country in a marvellous
degree. Where a few years ago all was uncultivated and barbarous now things are almost as civilised as in an English
town, to say the least. The bad spirits who hover on the
borders of civilisation have gone farther West. To see the
real West one must go much farther than Kansas City; but
as my inquiries lie chiefly in another direction I have not gone
farther.
In Kansas City, and still more in the suburbs of Kansas
proper, the negroes are much more numerous than I have yet
seen. On the Kansas side they form quite a large proportion
of the population. They are certainly subject to no indignity
or ill-usage. They ride quite freely in the trams and railways
alongside of the whites, as I myself experienced, and there

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seems to be no prejudice whatever against personal contact
with them. I did not hear them at all abused or slanged.
Coming along in the tram-car a cart was found standing on
the line, and detained us some time. When the owner at last
appeared he was a black man. A white waggoner in London
would certainly have been most unmercifully slanged by a
'bus-driver, and would have deserved i t ; but our driver said
nothing that I could hear. He may have moved his lips or
said something low, but it was the negro I heard defiantly
call out, ' What do you say ?' Altogether, for such a place as
this, there is surprisingly little shouting or slanging. So
many crossings on a level would lead to endless bad language
in London; but people in America seem much more on their
good behaviour. The blacks are civil and attentive as waiters
in the hotels and? railway cars, but sometimes ill-mannered.
The black porter in the Pullman car on my journey here
slept on the passengers' seats, with his boots on the cushions,
in a way that not every passenger, and certainly not a wrhite
guard, would venture on; and he washed his own dirty hands
in the passengers' washhand-basin before my face, before
doing something wanted. The white railway conductors are
generally civil and well-behaved, though they do not expect
tips, as these ill-mannered blacks do. I am bound, however,
to say that my subsequent experience did not confirm this
view of the bad manners of the blacks.
Here the negroes seem to have quite taken to work at
trades; I saw them doing building work, both alone and
assisting white men, and also painting and other tradesman's
work. On the Kansas side I found a negro blacksmith, with
an establishment of his own; he was an old man, and very
'negro,' and I could only extract a little from him. He
grumbled just like a white man—he made a living; did pretty
well:-'But things are dear.' 'Well, they are cheaper than
they were.' ' But then you are expected to work cheaper.'
He came from Tennessee, after emancipation; had not been
back there, *and did not want to go. Most of the schools here
are separate, and not mixed. ' Perhaps that suits best. Some
black boys go, and some don't.' A black boy of about ten
was standing by. That boy did not go. Could not say why.
His father is a member of the School Board; and though he
has several children, never sent one to school. I also saw
black women keeping apple-stalls, and engaged in other such

KANSAS.

227

occupations. In these States, which I may call intermediate
between black and white countries, the blacks evidently have
no difficulty. I am told that they work tolerably well, but, as
it was put to me, they are not very ' forehanded.' They are
content if they have enough for the time. However, my informant said there were a good many blacks in the furtlier
part of the Kansas State, who are doing pretty well, especially
some who have small farms of their own.
The suburban cottages seemed to me very nice indeed,
with trees and orchards, and shrubs and gardens; but, as it
generally happens in the interior parts of America, they have
not gardens such as our gardens, only fruit-trees, cabbages,
Indian corn, pumpkins, &c, but very few flowers. Things are
not quite so smart in Kansas as in the larger cities, but quite
good and comfortable, and in the same style. There is a
singular uniformity about everything in America, both in the
food and style of the dishes and everything else". There are
always very many dishes on the bill of fare; but in all places,
and every day, they seem to be very much the same. One
gets sick of looking at the list. The Americans seem to eat
their meat underdone to a degree which somewhat astonished
one. I was always rather fond of underdone meat, but I dare
not ask for it underdone, or ' rare,' as they call it here, when
the question is put as it usually is, for it is far beyond
me. American ladies will eat, in the sweetest manner, meat
which I could not touch. Prices here in the West are more
moderate than in the Eastern cities. Board and lodging is
only two or two and a half dollars a day, and a single meal
about fifty cents. They seem very fond of English names;
here, too, there is a 'Plyde Park.' At the hotel here the
mutton is called ' Southdown,' and the cheese i English dairy
cheese.'
Next morning I started, on my return to Illinois, by another line, the Hannibal and St. Joe. This is one of the many
competing lines which run east and west in this part of the
world. It is surprising how many of them there are, and how
difficult it is to choose between their relative merits. I think
I have said that there are no books in the American hotels,
but there is a great provision of railway advertisements, each
railway not only advertising its merits, but enforcing them by
a map, on which, by taking some slight liberties with geography, the particular line is shown broad, straight, tempting in

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every way, while all the other lines are depicted as mean, circuitous, and inconvenient. In default of any other literature
one is driven to devote one's evenings to the study of these railway lines. We crossed the Missouri Biver and ran through
the interior of North Missouri. The river still looks not very
large nor interesting. There are many bridges on both the
Missouri and the Mississippi above St. Louis, though none below on the united streams. On crossing the Missouri we ran
through some fine timber and some good green pasture,
abounding in cattle; then through a good deal of broken
ground and some swampy tracts; then a long tract of highish
prairie country, very flat, with little roll, mostly cultivated ;
but there were some large natural pastures, generally enclosed.
Near the Mississippi we dropped down into a heavily-wooded
country, and through that to the river. I thought it beautiful.
It is very broad and large, with wooded islands. To the eye
it seemed to me larger than the Missouri. There were a good
many steamers about, and I understand there is very much
more navigation than on the Missouri. The river is navigable
up to St. Paul's. We crossed it on a good light iron bridge to
Quincy, in Illinois, which seemed a good and settled town.
The Illinois country near it is quite a garden. I noticed besides the ordinary crops a few vineyards, a good deal of tobacco, and many good grass-fields. As we went on the country
seemed very much the same as the part of Illinois I had seen
before. We crossed the Illinois, a considerable river. Springfield, the political capital of the State, seemed a sort of exaggerated village, with rural-looking streets and houses. The
roads are a great difficulty in these parts. There is no
metal to be got, and the black soil, like the Indian, soil of the
game kind, is very good for mud-roads in dry weather, but
wholly impracticable in wet weather. This accounts for the
immense number of railways in this State. As long as we
were in Missouri we saw a good many blacks. At one place
the black passengers dined at a separate table; but in Illinois,
in a country settled by whites, the blacks are rarely found
—only, iff fact, as hotel servants and suchlike. I understand,
however, that in the southern part of Illinois blacks are numerous. At Cairo they load the vessels and do such work. I
had occasion to ask at the hotel who cleaned the boots, that I
might tip him. ' There is the gentleman,' said the landlord,
pointing to a black, and apparently quite in earnest. It

INTERIOR OF ILLINOIS.

229

seemed to me that the rule of service is black mep and white
women. At the stations at meals as we came along to-day we
were generally waited upon by nice quiet-looking white girls.
I did not see black women much employed except as nurses;
and I am told that they make good cooks.
Coming along the Illinois country from Quincy to Champagne I was struck by the large number of passengers. There
were many junctions, and people crowded out and in. It
must be remembered, however, that there are generally only
two trains in the twenty-four hours. At Champagne, a small
country town, there was a very decent hotel, rery clean, and
charges moderate. I stayed there for the night.
In the morning I found that Mr. O
, President of the
Illinois Central Railway, had come down in his car with Mr.
A
, the British Yice-Consul, and they kindly invited me
to take up my quarters with them. We went to see the Illinois Industrial University located here. It seems a very
flourishing institution, devoted to agriculture and other useful
arts. The President showed us over, and I was called upon
to make a little speech. . Most of the students are young men;
but there are also a good many young women. They have a
model farm, garden, and stock-farm attached. The professor
of agriculture gave me much information. There is a fine
museum, with botanical schools and everything complete.
Talking of agriculture, I am told that here, as elsewhere,
it pays better to cultivate a small farm, carefully worked and
looked after, than a large one. Only stock-farms pay on a
large scale. In California land has got into the hands of great
holders, who cultivate by hired labour. There are few small
proprietors, and probably to that is due the rowdyism which
seems to some extent to prevail in California.
All over this part of the country there is a disposition to
pay much attention to live stock. Farmers pride themselves
on their grass-fields, and believe that their grass is as good as
ours. They raise stock here for the cattle-market; but in the
North of Illinois there are many dairy farms and cheese
factories. Besides hay a good deal of corn is given to the cattle. We visited a small American farmer, and found his
name to be Campbell. I noticed that he and his family pronounced it in the orthodox way, sounding the B, whereas all
the higher classes of Americans, even in New York, invariably
pronounce the name in the old lowland Scotch fashion as

230
'CammeL'
song—-

MY JOURNAL.

They appeal to the poetical authority of the
'The Campbells (Cammels) are coming.'

This is one of those cases in which the language and pronunciation of the working classes in America are more modern
than that of the higher classes. My namesake had a good
new barn, but a very poor house. They say that all thrifty
farmers build an improved barn first, and an improved house
afterwards. He had two pairs of horses, one hired servant,
and a number of children. Of course he worked, and worked
hard, himself.
We slept in the railway carriage, and went on during the
night to Kanakee, an Illinois country town, originally a French
settlement. There seem to be now many considerable towns
on this line of railway. From Kanakee we went along a new
branch line now being made into a district not hitherto served
by railway; and, driving some miles beyond the point now
reached by the rail, I had the advantage of seeing a good
deal of the thoroughly rural class of Western farmers. The
branch line, is being made very cheap—it is only to cost
1,200Z. a mile. The farmers are very keen to get i t ; they
have generally given the land required free, and many of them
have promised voluntary contributions towards the undertaking, for which they, have given notes of hand. When the
time comes for payment they are said to be rather difficult to*
settle with; they want to stipulate for very cheap rates and
other advantages. The land about here is mostly rather flat;
a great deal of it, and indeed a great deal of Illinois land'
altogether, stands in need of drainage. In many places tile^
drains are being put in. Altogether this country seems to
have rather too much than too little rain. There is sufficient
slope for drainage when it is attended to. A great deal of
the land hereabouts was originally given to the, Illinois Central Railway, and by them sold to farmers. Most farms seem
to be small—a good many of them only 40 acres, very many
80 acres, some 160 acres. Those of 320 acres are comparatively few. The buildings seem generally .to be rather poor—
as if not very much had been done to them since they were
built by the first settlers ; but a good many trees have been
planted, good hedges and fences set up, and draining and
other improvements' are going on. The farms where the

INTERIOR OF ILLINOIS.

231

railway had been long running generally had improved barns.
I gather that the farmers have a hard-working time of i t ;
and unless a man has very special advantages he scarcely
makes money very rapidly. During the Civil War prices
were very high, and much money was made; but now prices
are far too low to bring much profit. The maize crop fetches
but a very low price, and the farmers have not any very paying crops, unless they can make fat cattle pay ; but cattle are
also at present very cheap in America. To improve very
much it would require higher farming, which involves a good
supply of labour ; but the continual opening up of new countries in the West takes people off so fast as greatly to interfere
with the States already settled. The life of the farmers must
be rather solitary and rough. I visited a German farmer who
has been a good many years settled in America, but he had
lived so much alone that he still speaks English very imperfectly, while his wife and mother do not speak it at all. I
found a good many farms occupied by*different members of a
Scotch family of the name of Bute. They claimed descent
from ' Lord B u t e ; ' but that is a bad shot, as Lord Bute's name
is not Bute. Most of the English-speaking farmers seem to
be of American birth—generally men who had come from
older States and taken up land in Illinois. One was an Englishman, originally a mechanic; he had come from Lancashire
as a young man, had worked at his trade in the States, then
tried farming in several places ; eventually settled in Illinois;
was lucky in making money during the wrar and in the possession of several strong sons—that is the best wealth in
America—daughters don't pay-—this man has now 320 acres
here, besides a farm in Indiana, which he has rented ' on
shares ;' that is, to a man who pays him a share of the crop.
l i e seems still a rough sort of man. I did not see much
(here, at any rate) of the smart farmers' wives such as Mr.
Dale lately described, but there are a few large farmers better
off than others. They say that the Irish do not do well here ;
those who have farms generally rent, and, as it was put to me,
' they rent them too cheap to work them well.' There does
not seem to be the same objection here to renting farms as
there is in ~Kew York. A good many are rented, but only
for short terms and upon shares—generally paying one-third
of- the produce to the owner. There are no long leases.
The share system is said to answer, well enough. Such rent-

232

MY JOURNAL.

ings, however, are only what I may call casual; there is no
such thing as an estate bought for the purpose of leasing out
in farms. Many of the owners are in debt, and pay about
8 per cent. There is very good provision for educating the
children; the law requires that there should be a school
every two miles. The schools are generally taught either
by women or by young men just out of college and commencing their career. Many young women ' teach school' before they get married, and many distinguished men have commenced life by teaching schools. Some say that the drawback
to education is apparent in the too great number of young men
who seek to live by their head rather than by their hands.
The land here is all marked off into townships of six
miles square, and into mile, half-mile, and quarter-mile
squares, with unmetalled rectangular roads dividing the
squares, and generally hedges. The houses are of wood.
The farmers have not much machinery. Indian corn is not
reaped by machine, and the farmers can generally hire a
machine to thrash out the grain wThen they require it. A
very common institution on the farms here is the small
American windmill; it is used for pumping water, bruising
corn, and for other purposes. Water is always to be had
from wells within easy distance of the surface. This not
being a fruit country, large fruit trains come up from Southern Illinois in the season, and apples come from the North.
Prairie -chickens are very common hereabouts; they by no
means affect remote prairies ; on the contrary, they seem a
domestic sort of creatures, frequenting the neighbourhood of
roads, farms, &c. The small American rabbit is also common ; the large Jack rabbit, or 'hare, is found only in the
"West. There is a great abundance of wild ducks almost
everywhere in America. A small forty-acre farmer had a
little sugar-mill, such as the ryots have in some parts of
India, and his neighbours brought their sorghum to be crushed
into molasses. Most of the farmers grow oats for their own
use, but I did not see anything of peas and beans; that is,
our peas. There are American peas and beans too, but they
are of a different kind. In Canada I noticed that the best
bacon was described as pea-fed. Barley does not seem to be
a common crop in any of the States which I have visited, but
there is plenty of rye and buckwheat. Illinois is par excellence the ' corn State;' that is, Indian corn, which is always

INTERIOR OF ILLINOIS.

233

meant when corn is spoken of in America. They have wonderfully improved varieties of this corn here. It shows what
can he done by selection and cultivation. The flat or rolling
black soil prevails throughout all the central parts, and indeed
over most of the State: but at either end is a country of a
different character. In the south there is much rocky and
uneven ground, some of it poor; but much wheat is grown in
the south. In the north also there is an undulating country,
with lead mines and other minerals. There also is Elgin
(they pronounce it 'Eljin'), where the Illinois watches are
made. For fat cattle the Durham short-horn breed is preferred. For milch cows here and all over America they are
very fond of small Jerseys, and affect that breed much more
than is usually the case in this country.
All the land which is private property is taxed according
to its value, whether it is cultivated or not; that is, for State,
county, and local purposes. The county supports some county
officers, roads, bridges, and the poor. I have been surprised
to find that there is some sort of poor law in almost every
State in America. The fact is, the law being English law,
the English poor law has been imported, and is only more or
less modified. The townships support schools and local roads.
There are no commons properly so called; in remote parts
there may be open-public land not yet appropriated, but it is
not the practice to reserve any common pasture land in the
settled townships. The townships here are merely local organisations for financial and administrative purposes; they
have no basis of common property, like the European and
Asiatic townships or communes. The counties of some of
these States are very numerous—as many as a hundred or
more in a State. They are very little more than areas for
taxation, and seem to have no county representation or county
meetings. The townships elect trustees, who correspond to
the ' select m e n ' of the Eastern States, and also town constables and some other officers. There is no county police;
only in large towns is there any regular police force. When
occasion requires the Sheriff acts with a ' posse.' Any considerable place is formally incorporated as a city, whilst
smaller places are incorporated as villages. The people are
very fond of meetings of the citizens; that is, generally the
citizens of the townships. Oratory is taught at the Industrial College. They have also there a mock place of business,

234

MY JOUKNAL.

where the boys and girls do merchants' work with tokens of
small value, and so learn to make and lose money. On looking into the laws of this State I find that it is optional with
each county to organise into townships for administrative
purposes. They generally do; as soon as the country is
settled the township system comes into play. In order to
avoid confusion incorporated towns, as distinguished from the
district called a township, are now called either cities or
villages. Any populous place of 1,000 inhabitants or upwards
may become a city; any place of 300 inhabitants or upwards
a village.
To go back to the farmers: they seem to me a quiet and
simple but shrewd sort of men, very like what small Scotch
farmers might be. They generally take in a local weekly
paper and an agricultural paper. Going into the houses,
some of them struck me as really very poor and crowded;
some had no separate living room, but these are the early
houses first built in a newly-settled country, and they will improve, if the people are tolerably prosperous.
In these Western States I notice a good many French
names of places, marking a time when, both in India and in
America, the French almost outrivalled us. Ohio, too, which
not so long back was a remote and unsettled territory, was the
scene of French settlement and French military operations a
long time ago ; and the present Pittsburgh, the great iron centre
in West Pennsylvania, was the Fort du Quesne of the French.
After this visit to the interior of Illinois I returned to
Chicago, and there again made a short halt, and saw some
more of the sights of that famous place.
I am more and more struck by the absence of the habit
of drinking wine amongst the Americans. At the hotels
here one sees no such thing, nor do they even have on the
table at meals the lager-bier which is common in the country.
The bars too seem little frequented, and to have little variety
of drinks. At some of the railway stations in Illinois nothing
was to be got to drink; the sale was not prohibited, but
' Murphy had been round.' There is, in fact, a strong movement against drink, which has hitherto been much taken by
the lower classes in the shape of nips at odd times. Apparently this abstinence movement has had much success. I
gathered that most of the intemperance was among what I
may call the loafing population.

I N D I A N A AND OHIO.

235

Among the uniformities of American ways I notice a
uniform inferiority and saltness of butter. Americans do
not seem to know bread-and-butter in our sense, and that
probably affects their character. They are, I must say, very
barbarous in their fashion of eating. They seem to order all
their little dishes at once, and keep digging first into one
dish and then into another—mixing fish and beefsteaks, and
swallowing every concoction of vegetables together at the
end.
From Chicago I went, by the Chicago, Fort "Wayne, and
Pittsburgh Railway, to Pittsburgh, crossing on the road a
portion of Indiana and the northern half of Ohio. The
railroad seemed a capital one, in excellent order, and very
smooth. After passing the flats at the bottom of Lake
Michigan we came to an undulating country, with a good
deal of wood and abundant pasture. We passed a considerable town called Valparaiso, the seat apparently of a
thriving woollen manufactory. Soon after the ground again
became very flat—too flat for drainage—and so continued for
a very long way ; in fact, as far as a place called Crestline. The
ground was very much wooded, and only partially cleared,
with a good many swamps, but no prairie-ground, except
some large, open, swampy plains. The country here evidently
suffers from too much moisture and want of drainage. I saw
large stacks of draining-tiles at the stations. Still there was
a good deal of cultivation, mixed with forest. Some of the
country seemed to resemble part of what I had seen in
Canada. There were some nice-enough looking places, and
better gardens and orchards than in Illinois. The Indian
corn an Illinois man thought not very good. There was a
good deal of wheat; cattle pretty plentiful, sheep few. On
some of the clearings I saw many log-huts, such as I had not
yet seen in real life; but some of the towns are improving.
They get a great deal of timber, and do a great deal of woodwork. Evidently in all this part of America there is very
great room for much further improvement. The country
drains so far as it drains at all, into Lake Erie, but there is a
curious absence of running water. Crestline, where I stopped
for the night, is about the highest part of the country, and
immediately after passing it the drainage goes to the Ohio.
I found a comfortable little hotel at Crestline. I took a walk
about the town. It seemed a nice, clean country place, with

236

MY JOUKNAL.

good shops, neat villa-residences, and a quiet, decent-looking
people.
In the morning I started again. Almost immediately
after leaving Crestline the ground began to undulate, and
eventually became quite hilly, with a good many streams,
running more or less, but for the most part somewhat
sluggish. This is the character of the country till we get
towards Pittsburgh. There is always a great abundance of
natural wood, principally hard wood, ash and suchlike, but
comparatively few pines. A very large proportion of the
fields had still stumps in them, even those in the middle of
considerable towns. As we got on, however, the homesteads
improved and became better-looking than most of those
that I had seen in Illinois. Much of the route, with fine
woods scattered about, is extremely park-like, and the autumn
foliage is very pretty; indeed, altogether it seemed as smiling
a country as one could wish to see; that is, for a country
only partially cleared and cultivated. I began to realise the
beauty of the American autumn foliage of which one has heard
so much. The leaves certainly turn to very bright and showy
colours, such as one never sees in Europe. I saw some very
good specimens of this kind of thing; but in this particular
respect I am told that I am not fortunate in the season, as
there has not been the sudden change to frost which causes the
most brilliant hues.
PENNSTL

VANIA.

In the latter part of this journey we entered the State of
Pennsylvania. As we came along towns and villages became
more and more populous; in fact, the last hundred miles or
so into Pittsburgh was full of manufacturing places forming
what might be called an American Sheffield country joined to
an American Birmingham at Pittsburgh. The country here
becomes very hilly. We came into the valley of the Beaver
River, then into that of the Ohio, then a little way up the
Alleghany river, crossing which we came into Pittsburgh.
In the train I met a talkative old Pennsylvania gentleman, very like an Englishman in voice and manner—I think
Pennsylvanians are often so. He had just come back from
Iowa, which he thinks a good country; but he saw there a
good many emigrants moving further West, with their

PITTSBURGH.

237

waggons, families, and household goods. He considers Pennsylvanian farming first-rate; but good land there is very dear
—a man cannot make much by it. The best of the Pennsylvanian country, is in the eastern valleys. The western
valleys are narrow and precipitous. The Pennsylvanian
people grow wheat and keep a good many cows, but he seems
to say that they do not go in very much for dairy-farming.
The most paying crop of late has been tobacco: they have
discovered that they can grow it. A very large proportion
of the well-to-do farmers in this part of the country are
Germans, called ' Dutch' by the Americans. There are also
many Scotch-Irish; but the regular Irish are. not so good.
The Germans still speak very much among themselves a local
German, different from the school German. They all understand German. Most of them are Protestants. Here also
the farmers generally own their own land; but some rent, and
in that case they prefer the share system. It answers very
well with an honest man, but you are apt to be cheated. He
has had experience of this system on a farm of his own, which,
has been long rented. The tenant gives him half of the corn
and hay. He knows a farmer who gives two-thirds; but then
the proprietor supplies the seed and the working stock. In
this part of the country they have no trouble or ill-feeling
about religious questions, though Catholic priests want to
proselytise children when they can. I also talked to a German. He came out at the age of eighteen, and is substantially
an American. He served in the Federal army during the war,
and saved $500, also made a little money in other ways, and
now bitterly regrets that he did not put his savings into the
land. If he had he would have been safe and well off now.
As it is he seems to have lost his money. He has a good
enough place as traveller for a machinist, with $3 a day and
expenses; but, as he says, there is no knowing how long that
will last, whereas land lasts for ever. He says the Germans
work well, and have the great advantage that the women
work as well as the men, while American women will not
work. In the West, however, the women are comparatively
few, and they have enough other work to do. German emigration has been much checked recently, but many Swedes
and Norwegians come, and some people who are called Russians. I fancy these are Mnemonites.
Pittsburgh is a very smoky-looking place; but it is sur-

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rounded by pretty hills, on some of which are vineyards, and
altogether the scene looks a good deal like a European Continental town, the smoke apart. My guide-book directed me to
the Union Depot Hotel, but I found it had been burnt down
in last year's riots, and I went to the Seventh Avenue Hotel.
The next day was Sunday, and it struck me that Pittsburgh
was a singularly dull and uninteresting place on that day;
nothing seemed to be going on. The people seem respectable
enough; but very many men of various sorts were hanging
about the streets in a moody kind of way. I can easily imagine it to be the sort of place for an outbreak like that which
occurred last year. However, at present the place is as full of
women and children as other places, and one sees wonderfully
few signs of last year's destruction. The more I walk about
the place the more smoky and grimy and dull-looking it seems
to be. I observe many negroes about, many of the women in
smart Sunday dresses. The relations between them and the
whites appear quite good.
The next day a gentleman connected with the Pennsylvania Central Pailway was kind enough to drive me about the
town and show me some of the sights. I now learned that
there was a special reason for the extreme dullness and want of
motion yesterday. It seems that a great Sunday-closing movement has just broken out, an old Act of 1794 having been put
in force against the publicans, or saloon-keepers, as they are
called in America; and they in turn have put in force the law
against everyone else. Almost all the street-cars were stopped
and every sort of traffic. The saloon-keepers have established
a ' Detective Association' to deal with Sunday-breakers, and
are now the great promoters of the closing movement, which
is the great question of the day. There used to be very many
saloons and much drinking in Pittsburgh; but ' Murphy' has
been very active lately, and is said to have had a great effect.
He is here now. I am afraid it seems inconsistent with what
I have said in detraction of the Pittsburgh people, but I am
told that this is a very Presbyterian and Scotch-Irish place.
Before the war many negroes took refuge here, but it is said
there are hardly so many of them now as there were then.
This is a great railway centre. A very inconvenient peculiarity of American freedom is the great variety of railway
gauges, which gives much trouble in regard to the through
lines; but they have got over this difficulty by a system of

INTERIOR OF PENNSYLVANIA.

289

hoisting the carriages off one set of wheels and putting them
on another. This is Yery rapidly done ; and in this way, notwithstanding change of gauge, carriages are run through for
long distances. There is a very large traffic between this
place and Lake Erie. Ironstone is brought in large quantities
from the Lake regions. We visited one of the largest ironworks. Mr. J
- , the head partner, kindly showed us over.
He seemed a very business-like and English-looking sort of
man, though he had never been in England. From 2,500 to
3,000 men, of all nationalities, are employed in the works.
Mr. J
says the Germans are the only men who are saving;
all the rest scatter. He thinks the riots last year were very
much due to mismanagement, and that it was a mistake to
bring in the military. 'These people think that they can
reason.' • The negroes do not become skilled workmen—they
only work as labourers. Workmen's wages are very much
higher here than in England—more so in some kinds of labour
than in others. Ordinary labourers do not get so much more,
but puddling costs almost three times as much; that, however, is partly due to combinations. East of the Alleghanies
the rates are not so high. "Upon the whole the wages he pays
to skilled workmen are, he says, nearly twice as high as those
in England. Capital is much dearer in America. He himself long paid 10 per cent, upon very large sums; now money
is cheaper. In Pennsylvania the best iron-veins are thin, and
a good deal worked out. Most of the good ore comes from
Michigan—from the country upon Lake Superior. The advantage of Pittsburgh is the very cheap coal. They have their
own mines almost immediately adjoining the works. Coal
costs only about a dollar a ton. They do an immense amount
of rolling bars, and also manufacture nails upon an enormous
scale. They have some new and complicated machines that
only Americans can work. On the whole he believes that
American workmen do more than English workmen. He was
very much impressed by Mr. Lothian Bell, who had paid him
a visit.
From Pittsburgh I took the train to Philadelphia. We
very soon got into pretty suburbs, clear of the smoke, and
passed through a smiling, undulating country, without any
steep inclines, wood and cultivation alternating. Further on,
as we got into the Alleghany hills, we passed through some
deep wooded gorges and up some steep inclines; but we still

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MY JOURNAL.

came upon towns and villages and cultivation, and saw several
branch railways and some great iron works. Even after the
last of the steep ascents we never lost the cultivated and inhabited country. There was nothing that could be called
mountains. At the highest point, at Cresson Springs, the
ground is nearly flat. There is here a pretty park, and the
place is a sort of sanatorium in the hot weather. It is not
very cool, but people say that at night they can always sleep
under a blanket.
The steep part of the road was going down on the other
side. There are eleven miles of a very steep incline—very
wooded and very picturesque gorges, abounding in pines and
cypresses—but there is nothing nearly so steep as on the
Indian Ghauts. At the foot of the incline at Altoona there are
great railway works; and an hour further we came to Huntingdon, a nice rural town, where I stayed for the night. I
found that the bell was going for a Democratic political meeting, and I went there. The proceedings were opened by a
brass band. It seems that a musical performance of that kind
is an important part of American political demonstrations.
The people were very quiet and orderly. I heard them saying, ' T h e Democrats are going to have a good meeting.'
There was not so much appearance of party feeling as there
generally is with us. The people seemed very much like those
of one of our country towns. I noticed one or two negro boys
in the meeting. They seemed quite at home, and no one
objected to their presence. The meeting was kept waiting a
considerable time, and seemed wonderfully patient. At last
the Honourable — Stinger, the member for the district, entered, and was moderately cheered. A respectable elderly
gentleman was called to the chair, and there was then a very
formal nomination of vice-presidents and secretaries,- but I
could not make out that these functionaries had anything to
do. The president made a nice little speech. Then the Honourable — Stinger came forward and made the speech of the
evening. I thought it really very good and effective—wellreasoned, clear, and even independent, it seemed to me. ^ I
think he was a lawyer by profession. His great contention
Avas that in the days of Democratic rule the country was prosperous, and they governed themselves in a contented way.
4
You hardly knew,' he said, ' that there was a United States
Government, except when you went to the post-office for

A DEMOCRATIC

MEETING.

241

jour letters. Under the Republican Government there is
want, tramps, execution for taxes, and other evils;' and he
accused the Republicans of extravagance, jobbing, scheming
for office, and support of rings and monopolies. As to the
Southern difficulty, he said,' the Constitutional question and the
rights of the negroes are settled—no one would go back upon
that; but, thank God, the Carpet-baggers have been expelled
from the South; disturbance and murder are stopped—the
rule is given to those who care for the rights of both races.'
Military rule in the South had been stopped by Congress refusing appropriations for the army until the troops were withdrawn. As regards the money question he was very vehement,
and denounced both the Greenbackers and the Silver-men. Pie
wanted to give the working man a real and not a sham dollar.
Afterwards, however, he somewhat inconsistently said that he
would postpone return to specie payments till times were better. He had no objection to the silver dollar, if enough silver
were put into it to make it worth a dollar. There was no talk
of the question of protection—that goes of itself, I suppose.
He then went into State Government affairs, but I did not discover that there were any burning questions except personal
ones, and upon these he was very bitter. He accused old
Simon Cameron of personal rule .and all sorts of jobbing to
put his son, Don Cameron, and others of his party, into office,
with the view to raise money for election expenses. Another
man followed, whom I did not think much of—he was more of
a ranter. On the whole I should say the speakers were more
demonstrative than with us, and the people less so. There
was no opposition, and no ' heckling,' nor any vote at the end
—merely moderate applause—and then everyone went away.
The next morning I looked about the place. People were
talking- very quietly. ' I know nothing of politics,' I heard
some say. None seemed strong ^or bitter upon the subject.
I met a stout American of these parts—a rough sort of man;
but he owns much land in various parts of Minnesota, and he
wants to sell. Apparently land speculation has been somewhat overdone. The Pennsylvania Central Canal runs alongside the railway here. I saw no signs of traffic upon it, but I
am told that it carries a good deal of coal. There are some
negroes about the town, but apparently none in the country.
I saw no such thing as a negro labourer on the farms. A very
important people here are the ' Dunkards,' $ German religious.

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MY JOURNAL.

sect. They are about the best and most prosperous farmers
in this country, owning almost the whole of one rich valley.
They are building a line High School here, which they are to
dedicate to the public. It will be taken over as a common
school. There is a great deal of difference of opinion about
the school system. One man denied that there are free
schools, but I found that he meant that they have to pay taxes
for them ; and he put it that if a man owns a farm he may
have to pay $20, when a man of equal means, but who only
rents a house, pays only one or two dollars. In this town
there are as many as eight churches. The principal one is a
Presbyterian church, the minister of which has $1,700 (say
350Z.) and a house. Next comes the Methodist church, the
minister of which receives $1,200, The Episcopalians are
few, and unable to support a parson. In villages, I am told,
you will probably find only two churches, one Presbyterian
and the other Methodist.
I took a long walk out into the country, and saw a good
many farms. The land is not very good about here. There
is much woodland not reclaimed, but it is being taken up bit
by bit. Notwithstanding much emigration from this country
to the West they do not seem to suffer from want of population. Most of the farmers hire labour more or less, and
plenty of farm-servants are to be got. Pennsylvania seems
to be a great country for raising humans. The principal crops
are Indian corn, wheat, and a good many potatoes. In all the
gardens there are vines, but they do not always bear. All the
country hereabouts is at this moment suffering very much from
drought. I found that some farms belong to men in the
town, who work them with hired labour. Some small patches
are held by men who do other work as well. I talked to such
a man who had eighteen acres of his own. The hired servants seem decent sort of people. On the whole I should not
say that the people here are of a higher class than the average
of our rural populations. Many of the children have bare
feet, but that is probably due to the climate. The ordinary
cottages seem very good.
Going on by railway to Philadelphia we passed through a
long narrow valley, without much population, and then came
to Iiarrisburgh, the political capital of the State, and a great
railway centre. The Susquehanna is a very broad, shallow
river. From Iiarrisburgh we passed through Lancaster

PHILADELPHIA.

243

County. There the cultivation is very good indeed ; the fields
well enclosed and carefully worked. I still notice the absence
of root-crops. I find that this county has the reputation of
being very highly cultivated; in fact, Lancaster and Cumberland Counties of Pennsylvania are said to be the best cultivated in America. The land looked very much like good
Scotch or English land without green crops. The farms are
small or of moderate size, the great majority owned by the
farmers. Renting, they say, seldom answers.
It was dark when we reached Philadelphia, and there
were no cabs at the station, but admirably arranged tramwaycars, by which I reached my hotel without difficulty, the luggage being, as is always the case in America, brought separately by a man, who gives you a ticket for it. I put up at the
Continental Hotel—very central, but expensive.
In the morning I looked about Philadelphia. Like all
other American cities it is very rectangular, but some of the
streets are more European-looking and better filled than any I
had yet seen in America. Chestnut and Walnut and such-like
streets run between the Delaware and the Schuylkill rivers, and
at right angles to them run the numbered streets. The Delaware is not here a very large river; there is a tide, but the
water is fresh, it being a long wTay from the sea. There is
said to be not less water in the river than over the ISTew York
Bar ; but the disadvantage is that the shallow places are more
numerous, and it takes longer to pass all of them. Evidently
the port is at some disadvantage in this respect. Some of the
larger steamers do not care to come up. In regard to the
grain trade Philadelphia is much pressed by Baltimore; there
is great rivalry between the two places. I went to see Independence House and several other sights. Mr. B—-—, a
countryman of mine, to whom I had an introduction, was
good enough to drive me about in the afternoon. -He took me
through the famous Fairmont Park. A very fine large park
it is. The site of the Centennial Exhibition was in this park,
and certainly a very commanding and good site. Beyond the
park both sides of a pretty stream have been taken up for a
continuation of the drive, making it altogether eleven miles
in length. The country here is not hilly, but undulating and
pretty.
I made the acquaintance of Mr. P
, a most pleasant
old gentleman, and an excellent specimen of the best class of

244

MY JOURNAL.

Americans of the older generation; also his son, a prosperous
lawyer, who has been much in Scotland. They took me to
see Mr. G. W. C
, a very successful man, and a great institution in Philadelphia, where he has one of the most successful papers in America. I found him most pleasant, and
ready to assist me. The present American Minister in London
is a Philadelphia man, and is evidently very much respected
and looked up to here. The Philadelphia people seem very
sociable, and very intimate with one another, and altogether
very agreeable and kind to strangers.
In the evening I went to a political meeting of the opposite persuasion from that at which I had assisted at Huntingdon. The Governor of this State presided, a quiet, inaudible
sort of man. Then came the Governor that is to be, who was
rather dry and financial; and after him another orator, who
gave the Republican view of matters very well. As with the
other side, party questions seemed to be very much personal
ones. He pitched into the Democrats for having caused the
war, which was the root of all the evils of which they had
lately complained. i$ow they wTere recovering, and the great
tiling was to let well alone. If you could only let Congress
sleep for ten years all would be right. It would be a scandal
and a shame if, after all the sufferings of the country, the
defeated Democrats were to come in again. That would mean
the victory of the South, compensation for Southern losses,
and so on. On the currency question the Republicans were as
strong for hard money as the other side had been. The good
dollar is the poor man's dollar. The working man is a creditor for the value of his labour, and wants to be paid in good
money; the bondholders are the widows and the orphans who
have invested their little all • in United States Bonds; and
German and Dutch people, who trusted the United States
wrhile the English fitted up corsairs to destroy our trade.
(Great applause.) The Democrats were coquetting with the
Greenbackers. That would never do. Protection might be
good or bad for other people, but it was certainly good for
Pennsylvania. He accused the Democrats of being in favour
of a tariff for revenue, and said that would be ruin to them.
This meeting, like the other, was quite quiet and orderly.
There seemed to be less of row and less enthusiasm than in
one of our political meetings.
The city seems a good and flourishing one. It excels very

PHILADELPHIA.

245

much in a great abundance of workmen's houses. They are
generally held by the workmen themselves on a sort of quitrent—what we should call ' feus' in Scotland.
The next day Mr. B
took me to see several of the
sights of Philadelphia. One very new institution here is the
Safety House; that is, fire-proof houses, with fire-proof receptacles, in which valuables are locked away. Anyone who
wishes thus to secure his valuables, papers, &c, takes a little
compartment, in which he puts them. I think the Philadelphia people were rather disappointed at my saying that it
seemed a Yerj good idea indeed, but that it had been very
long anticipated in one country—viz., China—where almost
every village possesses a safety house somewhat on this principle. Europeans generally call them ' pawn-shops,' but they
are really brick, robber-proof, and to some extent fire-proof
buildings, where the Chinese deposit their valuables, which is
the more necessary, as in that country very few houses are
proof against fire and against thieves. As a means, however,
of providing for the safety of valuables, securities, and other
papers the improved Pennsylvania safety houses are very useful indeed.
I interviewed two or three of the leading railway chiefs
here. Colonel S
, the President of the great Pennsylvania
system of railways, seems a shrewd elderly man. I had a
good deal of talk with him. He admits that the great difficulty in regard to very successful railways in America is, that
they are so liable to the competition of opposition lines, that
they cannot expect to pay very enormous dividends; but, on
the other hand, he says they are not afraid of most of these
oppositions. These lines cost, according to him, very much
more than they were estimated for. They do not pay now,
and very likely never will. Others say, however, that the
more recent lines are made cheaper than the old ones. I also
talked to Mr. G
, the very sanguine President of the
Philadelphia and Heading Bailway. All admit him to be a
clever man; but his railway is in a bad way nevertheless, and
he did not seem to find many to share his sanguine, estimates.
He does not admit that the Pennsylvania iron is worked out
or inferior, as I had been told, though he does admit that the
iron ore from Lake Superior is better for some purposes.
"With regard to the relative merits of American and English
iron, he admits that the English deposits in the Cleveland

246

MY JOUEl^AL.

country are the greatest in the world; but then he says that
English iron is full of phosphorus, and won't make into steel.
It cannot be so used unless some new chemical means are
found for purging it of phosphorus. The American ore is free
from phosphorus. Thus they have the advantage in making
steel, which will tell the more if, in addition to steel rails, it
becomes the fashion to build steel ships, as is now expected.
As it is he says the English now make steel cheaper than the
Americans, but that is only because the quantity required is
comparatively small. If the consumption of steel in the world
very largely increases, the English have not the ore to meet
the demand. This is a great place for the manufacture of
locomotives and all sorts of railway machinery. There seems
to be no doubt that the Americans export locomotives to
foreign countries, which must be due to skill in the manufacture, not to the material, which is dearer than with us. Mr.
G
is very hot on a plan for inducing the ocean steamers
to use the anthracite coal which his railway supplies. He says
that if the furnaces were fitted for it there would be no difficulty, and they would then find it an immense advantage, the
coal being very superior and so much cleaner. The difficulty,
it seems, is to get anthracite coal to use on these steamers on
the return voyage from England; but he has specimens to
show that there is a very good anthracite coal in "Wales which
they might get. It seems that the principal consumption of
this anthracite is now in New York, Philadelphia, and some
of the other Eastern cities. There are immense deposits of it,
but the area is very limited. It occupies an exceedingly small
space on the coal-map of the United States.
I have got the statistical atlas of the United States, giving
an immense amount of information. The Americans go in
very largely for statistics. At the same time I have not been
able to make out how they obtain accurate figures. They have
no system of compulsory agricultural returns any more than we
have. So far as I can understand their agricultural statistics
are not founded on reports from farmers, but merely on the
estimates of qualified observers in connection with the Statistical Department in the various parts of the country. Then as
to the geological and coal maps. There are no general surveys
of the United States; that is not considered to be a function
of the general Government, but of each State; consequently
the older and more settled States are not surveyed according

PHILADELPHIA.

247

to any uniform system. The best surveys are those of the
' Territories,' in which the land belonging to the United States
has been surveyed as United States property. From what I
could gather I should say that there are some inaccuracies in
the statistical maps. For instance, I could not make out that
the Illinois coal-fields are really so enormous as they are there
depicted—certainly coal is not so cheap in Illinois as it is in
Pennsylvania.
I understand that here joint-stock companies are not so
common as in New England, and the reason which has been
given to me is, that in Pennsylvania corporate bodies are taxed
on all their property, while private persons are taxed on real
property only, contrary to the practice of most American
States which by their Constitution are bound to levy all taxes
upon every sort of property, real and personal equally.
In the afternoon I went with Mr. P
to his house,
which is within a few miles of Philadelphia, in a pretty, undulating country—something like our Richmond, without the
water. The Philadelphia people do not seem to have considerable country places, like the New Yorkers; only villas and
moderate grounds. Mr. P
's house and family I found
extremely pleasant and agreeable. As servants they have only
quiet-looking maids, no men; all seems very nice and simple.
The boys, according to the American fashion, live at home and
go to school. I met a Mr. M
, with whom I had some
talk about agriculture. He quite agrees with what I have before heard, that it does not pay to let land. He says that in
the German counties the women will work in the fields—they
like it, and will not be prevented from doing so; but no other
women do this kind of work. Parts of New England, he
says, are now much deserted and almost returning to jungle;
the people have gone West to better land; and the poor New
England land, which sufficed for the Pilgrim Fathers, does not
pay now. Even in Connecticut, where the land is better, he
says its value is much depreciated. He compares the Yankees
(meaning New Englanders) to Jews, who will not work with
their hands, but expect to grow rich by their heads.
It seems that Mr. McCulloch (late Financial Secretary) has
been holding forth on the deficiencies of American agriculture,
comparing it to that of the Old "World as very inferior, and
saying that agriculture is the only industry to which science
has not been properly applied in the United States.

248

MY JOUKNAL.

Some of the people here speak with great contempt of
the ' shoddy' fine ladies of the oil regions and the Western
States, but they admit that the St. Louis women are nice—
there is a dash of French blood there. The Philadelphia people are different in style and ways both from Yankees and
New Yorkers. They think the latter loud and purse-proud.
Cincinnati, one of the pleasantest cities in the Union, is, I am
told, very German. The Germans there go in very much for
the pleasures of life according to their ideas, musical and other.
' What is money without pleasure and comfort ?' says the
German. There is now a good deal of society in Washington,
I am told, but it is somewhat formal, the foreign Ministers introducing formalities; and there are many questions of precedence and suchlike.
People here say that the New England servants are quite
different from theirs. There is more equality in New England ; there they have helps rather than servants. Many
students, male and even female, go out to make a little money
by service* in the hotels during the summer, which accounts
for the stories told of the waiter interposing to solve scientific
or social questions discussed at the table. In the West there
is much more difficulty about servants, and the ladies there
are said to get prematurely old on this account. In the
South people have had great reverses of fortune, and aristocrats were obliged to serve as waiters, while blacks sat in
the Legislature and their wives rode in carriages. I gather,
however, that this only happened for a time in one or two
States.
Mr. M
dwelt very much upon the risk of fever in the
Southern States, and warned me very emphatically against it.
My subsequent experience, however, did not confirm this. I
did not make out that there was much risk of fever in most
places in the South ; that is, where ' Yellow J a c k ' has not
made his appearance, as is unfortunately so much the case
this year in the States of the Lower Mississippi. In all the
lower parts of the Southern States there are tracts which are
exceedingly feverish in summer; but few white people live
there at that season ; and now that the cool weather has come
in they are quite healthy.
Next day, on returning to Philadelphia, I went with Mr.
P
-•• to see the Courts. They retain the old English forms
to a surprising degree ; even old Norman terms which we have

PHILADELPHIA.

249

dropped. They have still ' Courts of Oyer and Terminer,'
and shout out the old Norman ' Oh, yes! oh, yes !' Grand
juries and all the machinery of English justice are fully maintained, but the Judges wear no robes. Unanimity of the jury
is still insisted on. I was surprised to see the number of
Courts at work. The United States Courts, besides dealing
with breaches of the United States laws, decide cases between
citizens of different States. The defendant is sued where he
is found, and in that case the law of the forum—that is, of
the State where he is—prevails. The United States Courts
draw their juries from the locality, but from a larger area than
an ordinary jury area. The Supreme Court of the State is
only an appellate court; it has no original jurisdiction. In
Pennsylvania there is a Court of Common Pleas for each
county; and I think I have said that American Counties are
very numerous. Then in each township there are justices of
the peace for the summary trial of civil and criminal cases.
These justices do not always receive salaries, but ^are always
entitled to fees. In this County of Philadelphia "the Court
of Common Pleas consists of a Chief Justice and eight
Judges; and in rural counties there are at least three Judges
of the Common Pleas. There are at least a hundred such
Judges in the State. I understand, however, that sometimes
laymen are elected to sit as Judges in these courts. In Pennsylvania the pay of the Judges ranges from 6001. to 1,500?.
per annum. These Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas
hold their office for ten years, but they are often re-elected.
I was surprised to find the number of jury courts which were
sitting—about eight were going on all at once in the same set
of buildings. In criminal cases not of the very worst class
the prisoner may be called as a witness on his own side, but is
hot otherwise liable to examination. A man who has pleaded
guilty can be called. They have, two degrees of murder, for
the first of which only the punishment is death. The sentence may be commuted by the Governor, who ordinarily acts
on the advice of a ' Board of Pardons/ composed of the chief
officials. The rules of extradition between different States do
not seem to be very well defined. The Governor surrenders
a criminal on the application of another Governor, but he
must have prima facie proof of guilt, and may refuse, on the
ground that the prisoner will not be fairly tried by jury,
or that the demand is made for political objects. Just

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MY JOURNAL.

now there has been a polemical correspondence between
the Governors of Massachusetts and South Carolina on
the subject of the surrender of an ex-Governor charged
with embezzlement and other offences in his political capacity.
I went to see the proprietary Library here, which seems a
large and successful institution. I understand that they have
no free libraries in this State, and do not approve of them.
I also hear a good deal of expression of opinion that there
has been too much education. There seems somewhat a
tendency to decry the Common School system. I am, in fact,
surprised to find how much of that sort of feeling there seems
to be here; but I believe the Common School system was
not indigenous in Pennsylvania. New England was its native
land.
On the last day'of my stay here I met Mr. M
, who is
a great enthusiast for the coloured races, and who has written
for me a number of letters of introduction to peoj)le and institutions in the South. Like many of the friends of the
coloured people in these days, he has taken up the cause of
the Red Indian, whom he and many others declare to be exceedingly ill-used in the Territories where they still remain.
He thinks, on the whole, the negro is more improvable than
the Red Indian, because he is not too proud, and is willing
and anxious to learn ; while the red man is very proud, and
won't learn if he can help it. Also he says that the red men
insist upon the tribal tenure of land, and will not have individual property. A very important fact is, that white men
go amongst the red tribes, marry red women, and are adopted
into the tribes, and in this way the race is being crossed and
may be absorbed; whereas the whites will not intermarry
with the negroes nor even with the mulattos. He, or someone else whom I met, laments this; for the curious reason that
in slave days these mulattos were bred from the highest and
best blood of the whites, whereas some of the white people
come from very low blood indeed.
I had a talk with old Mr. P
about politics. He says
he used to vote Democrat; but now, though he is not much
of a politician, he votes Republican, for he thinks that on the
whole it is the least dishonest side, and perhaps it is better to
keep in the people who are in, and whose maws have been a
good deal satisfied, rather than bring in a new set of cormo-

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251

rants. He says the original difference between the two parties
was the question of central power against State power, and
some very distinguished men were in this sense great Democrats; but now, he says, the Southern question must be
settled, and he prefers that the Republicans should settle it.
There are a great many manufacturing establishments at
Philadelphia, and a great variety of manufactures; but I
had not time to do much in this way. I was obliged to
confine myself more especially to the things belonging to my
own trade, and to keep the rest till I returned from the South.
There are some very sociable clubs of literary and intellectual people here, who meet periodically at one another's houses, and I am promised the pleasure of assisting
at some of these gatherings, if I return later in the season.
Fashionable New York was quite out of town when I was
there, and Philadelphia still is so for the most part. The
winter is the time to see something of the society of American cities.
BALTIMORE.

In the afternoon I started for Baltimore. We passed
through a pleasant country, with many houses on the banks
of the river. It was dark before we reached Baltimore.
The general aspect of the place seemed to be, that in the
lower parts land and water were very much intermixed. At
Baltimore I stopped at the Mount Yernon Hotel. It is kept
on the European and not on the American plan, and seemed
nice, but on experience I wras a good deal disappointed with
it. They say that this European fashion does not suit people
here, and that the hotel, which was once good, is not now well
maintained.
Comparing the harbour here with that of Philadelphia and
other places, I am told that the United States Government
undertake the charge of rivers, harbours, and works of internal
navigation. They have made some bad essays in that line in
Pennsylvania, and the system altogether leads to a good deal
of jobbing. I am inclined to prefer our own system, under
which each town and municipality undertakes its own improvements.
I have been reading an account of the insolvency laws of
the different States, now that the general bankruptcy law of

252

MY J0UE1STAL.

the United States has expired. In most States a debtor cannot be released without the consent of all his creditors ; but,
on the other hand, he has very great protection in the exemption from execution of his homestead and the tools of his trade.
In almost every State a man's homestead—that is, land of a
moderate value and acreage—is exempted from execution.
Late this evening Mr. K
, a distinguished member of
the Society of Friends here, was kind enough to come over
and take me with him to his house, where I met some pleasant
people. Mr. K
is a well-known philanthropist and friend
of the negro. Talking of the blacks with the people I met,
they seemed to take a hopeful view of the condition of the
negro, and are not severe upon President Hayes' conciliatory
administration. They recalled the time, less than twenty years
ago, when slaves were openly marched down to be sold in the
South; when it was highly penal to teach slaves to read and
write; when a very excellent freedman was imprisoned for
ten years for possessing a copy of ' Uncle Tom's Cabin.' Now
the blacks are secure in their freedom; they have votes; and
one party or another will sooner or later want their votes.
Much, too, is done for their education: here the blacks are
kept to separate schools, but these schools are good. The religious position of the blacks is also very good; they are excellent Christians. They have taken to work well. Here in
Baltimore they have some branches of industry very much to
themselves, notably caulking ships and brick-making. They
have, I am told, a ship-caulking company composed entirely of
coloured men, and managed by coloured men. I was sorry that
in my stay here I did not manage to see something of this
company, for this is the only case of which I have heard where
black men have successfully managed anything of the kind.
They do not own much land, I am told, but they work well on
the land in the country about here, as well as in domestic service. They form about a fourth of the population here. I had
a curious account of their Freemason and other societies.
Freemason lodges are believed to have existed among them
even in the days of slavery, unknown to their masters. The
system is said to have been brought from the British colonies;
and the Freemasonry among them was, I am told, made very
evident during the wTar.
Next morning I breakfasted with Mr. G
, President of
the Hopkins University, a man full of information, and to

BALTIMORE.

253

whom I owe much kindness and assistance during my stay in
Baltimore. This Hopkins University is a great recent endowment, and conducted on the most modern principles. They
have got over several Englishmen as teachers, including the
distinguished mathematician Professor S
. 1 made the
acquaintance of Judge A
, one of the United States
Judges, who has been much employed in the Southern States;
and also of Mr. R
, formerly a distinguished Confederate
officer, and now manager of a steamboat and railway company,
from both of whom I had much assistance. Again I am told
that the negroes are in a very good position in this State, and
also in Virginia and North Carolina. The best security that
they have is when there are two parties among the whites,
each of whom wants the black vote. In North Carolina and
Tennessee a great part of the country was Republican, and
during the civil war went into rebellion against the Confederate Government. The poor whites owning no slaves never
cared for the war. But now things are much more divided
by black and white lines. The white man must now assert
himself in some way as better than a black. If he does, not
need the black vote he can only do so by beating the black,
and in some States he does that.. My subsequent experience,
however, leads me to think that this was rather a poetical
exaggeration.
From this point Southwards—in the lower country, at any
rate, and in days before the war—the system of small independent farms was very much superseded by the plantation system. Virginia wTas a country of plantations; that is to say,
of estates cultivated by slaves. In some parts of the country, where the crops are not valuable, some of these plantations are now a good deal deserted. In some of these places
the negroes can live somewhat lazily on fish and crabs, but in
most parts they now work well for their living. They can
be had as labourers on the railways for fifty cents a day, and
are very docile and good workmen. In South Carolina there
has been more of« extreme reverses and more bitter feeling
between classes than in any of the States I have mentioned,
and the difficulties there are greater. Georgia has been from
the first moderately managed, and is now in a good condition.
There have not been many complaints regarding Alabama.
Louisiana is said not to have treated the negroes harshly
before the war. Mississippi seems to • have been and to be

254

MY JOURNAL.

the worst State. It is very difficult to ascertain what is now
the state of things in some of the Southern States, because no
Republican newspapers whatever are published there. No one
dares publish such a paper, and if he dared he would find no
one to read it, for want of education. In many of the counties of South Carolina almost the whole population is black.
There is still not very much education in the South. A good
deal has been done by Freedmen's Schools established by the
Northerners, and there is everywhere a State system of education more or less, but it is generally very imperfect. However, the blacks are very anxious to learn—more so than the
lower whites. The Greenback question, I am told, promises to
be of great advantage to the South, because it is one in regard to
which there is much competition for the black vote, and this
brings about a wholesome state of things. In most parts of
the South the negroes have no difficulty in getting land, if
they can pay for it; but in some places there is a difficulty,
because the whites will not sell, thinking the possession of
land a sort of patent of nobility, to which blacks should not be
admitted; and everywhere there is the difficulty that the
negroes do not very much save money to buy it. Many rent
land on shares, but they seldom own it. After the war their
idea was, that every man was to have from Government
twenty-five acres and a mule, but they have not yet got that.
In Maryland a good many of the blacks do save, and they
now have considerable sums in the savings bank.
I asked Judge A
how juries are selected. He says
that by the Constitution every man is eligible to serve on a
jury, but every man is not drawn in regular roster. In fact,
fit and proper persons are selected by the proper officer, to be
put on the panel from which the juries are drawn; and in
some of the Southern States the blacks are almost excluded
from the juries. In Philadelphia I noticed that on most of
the juries there was one coloured man. It looked as if it
was so arranged. I asked about the criminality of the blacks.
Judge A
says they sometimes steal a great deal in a small
way, but they very seldom commit violent crimes. "With regard to the accusations of rape, which have caused some very
violent lynching lately, he says that in his experience he has
known many such accusations, and many people lynched for
alleged crimes of the kind, but very few regularly put upon
their trial. He himself only remembers to have tried three

BALTIMORE.

255

such cases: in two the accused were certainly innocent, the
third was a crazy sort of man. In South Carolina they have
many prisoners, but fully nine-tenths of them are negroes,
and the State authorities are making a great road with convict
labour. It is even the practice to let out the convicts to private persons. As regards prison management there seems just
as much complaint in the United States as with us. In Philadelphia it certainly was so. They have county prisons, under
county management, and State penitentiaries, under State
management. Mr. G
took me to see the Hopkins University. At present they have not spent their money in building, but occupy a large house in the town. They teach every
branch of knowledge, including ' Sanskrit and philology,'
' Romance of languages,'' classical languages,' ' biology, chemistry,' &c. The endowment amounts to about a million sterling, left, I believe, by an Englishman long resident in the
States. I met here a Mr. A
, a young man who is devoting himself to the history of land tenure in the United States,
especially in New England. It seems that the United States
Government never claimed the land east of the Alleghanies.
There it all belonged to chartered proprietors in the South
and to townships in the North. Of the chartered estates
many were forfeited for taking the English side in the Revolution. Connecticut was, as it were, settled by squatters, wTho
formed independent townships, as little separate republics, and
the State was formed by the union of these townships. The
other Newr England States were principally settled by associations, who divided out the land and gave charters to townships.
Now in all these States almost all the land, whether reclaimed
or not, is private property; only some special tracts belong to
the individual States, none to the United States. Some of
the deeds constituting New England townships reserve certain lands for common use, but these have for the most part
since been divided up. There are still, however, some places
where there is a right of common pasture after the crops are
off the ground, but as a rule there are no commons. In New
England the counties were certainly a subsequent institution,
formed by aggregation of townships. The county is now an
important area for financial and judicial purposes, though not
for purposes of popular government. It seems more like an
English union than a county.
I have been very kindly made free of two excellent clubs

256

MY JOUKJS"AL.

here, the Athenaeum and the Maryland, in both of which
there is very pleasant society and many material comforts.
The Washington Monument is the centre of fashionable Baltimore. The women and girls in the street seem to me smart
and well-dressed, without being too flashy. The country about
is very well wooded ; the town is on moderately rising ground
—not on an amphitheatre of hills, such as I had been led to
expect from the guide-book. The Sunday-closing movement,
by enforcing old laws, is going on here also. I was told a story
about the famous preacher Mr. Beecher. He was travelling
in a car upon a Sunday, and said to the driver, ' Would it not
be better for all parties if you gave up this Sunday traffic ?'
' Well,' the man said, ' there is nothing I should like better, but
we cannot give it up so long as that d
theatre there lasts,'
pointing over his shoulder to Mr. Beecher's church. I went
to see an Englishman resident in Baltimore. He thinks the
Hopkins University most excellent and progressive. He says
that in America there is now a strong tendency to Germanise
education, and young men go to Germany very much. President G
complains that the English Universities have not
encouraged Americans. He dwells upon the religious tests
and other difficulties, and says that is why young men have
taken to the Continent of Europe rather than to England.
My English friend says that the expenses in America are
really not so much as in London, if you go the right way
about it. The people are not literary in their habits, but still
English books are very much read and appreciated. He
says that, though people in America try very hard to make
money, upon the whole the possession of money is thought less
of than with u s ; a rich man is less looked up to, because
wealth is less stable and certain than with us. Reverses are
more frequent, and Americans who have been rich more easily
return to humble positions. Many of the people whom one
meets in good American society occupy positions much humbler than would be thought compatible with association with
well-to-do people in England. Americans do not think it
necessary to make provision for their children; they consider
that children may well provide for themselves, as their fathers
did before them. With all their chances of wealth they are
generally very ready to accept extremely moderate salaries,
provided they are permanent—that seems clear.
The weather is now most charming. It has been so, in-

BALTIMORE.

257

deed, throughout my tour so far. This place is very bright,
with nice residential quarters. A peculiarity of Baltimore,
however, is that there is no system of underground drainage ;
all the liquid runs in dirty streams through the streets in open
gutters, while the solid sewage is carried away in carts. The
system is not very agreeable to the senses, but I am not sure
that it is not much more wholesome than our underground
system.
I passed a Sunday here. This is a great church-going
place. Very many nicely-dressed people about the streets. I
notice very many well-got-up negroes and well-dressed negresses. I still cannot make out who all these well-dressed
blacks are. They are not clerks or shopkeepers. I understand
that there are very few negro clerks or dealers. They are not
generally superior mechanics. All I can learn is that they
have certain special occupations, and that a great many of them
are waiters, keepers of eating-houses, and so on.
I had a visit from two gentlemen of the Democratic persuasion, Senator W
and Mr. M
, a man who has served
in important positions abroad. Their opinion is, that the military occupation of the South enabled the Carpet-baggers to
play dreadful tricks before high heaven—to falsify the elections, and so return the candidates of the minority. Now
things are, they say, on a fair and safe footing; the negroes
are free and prosperous, and rights are secured to all—all that
is necessary is to leave the Southern States alone. They say
that after the war the blacks were helpless ; their old masters
did everything for them, and enabled them to cultivate the
land upon the system of shares. The owners did so at a loss,
but they were forced into it by circumstances, and before very
long with much difficulty they succeeded in raising 3,000,000
bales of cotton, an amount which has since been very largely
increased. The negroes felt that they could not live without
this assistance. A friendly feeling sprang up again—in fact,
it never was lost. During the first two years after the war the
system was settling down very satisfactorily, and all would
have gone well but for the new Constitution forced upon the
South by the victors, and worked by the Carpet-baggers supported by the military. Now these abuses have been terminated, things are improving, and the negroes are becoming
tolerably prosperous and well-off. They are not kept bound
to their masters by debt; in fact, they get very little credit.

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MY JOURNAL.

Generally the plant of the farms, the animals, the seed, and
everything else, is supplied by the master. I am told that in
Virginia and Maryland the estates are not very large ; they are
not what we should call great estates, but really large farms of
from 600 to 1,500 arable acres. The great Valley of Virginia
and some of the Western Virginian country is fine land.
The militia system of the United States is founded on the
old English militia. There are some black companies, but not
very many. In Maryland and all the States of the South
townships scarcely exist at all. The organisation is by counties.
I took a wralk with Mr. G
to the high land overlooking
the harbour. The harbour here is in the channel of a small
river. The Chesapeake is a short distance below. It is only
a moderately good harbour, but then there are great facilities
for getting to sea; there is not the long and difficult river
which lies between Philadelphia and the sea.
Talking of the public colleges I asked if blacks wTere admitted. 1 was told that the question solves itself, for if blacks
were admitted the whites would not come, and therefore it is
that separate colleges have been provided for the blacks. I
have not found anyone who at all takes in the idea of the races
drawing nearer by intermarriage. All seem to regard the
blacks as a servile and inferior race. Mr. M
, whom I mentioned above, asserted that the lawTs of Massachusetts and Connecticut still make mixed marriages illegal; and others whom
I have asked have not been able to deny the statement; but I
have not verified it yet. Mr. G
lived three years in San
Francisco. He says that the climate there is very superior to
this. It is not nearly so hot in summer ; there is a delicious
breeze^ and the thermometer seldom rises above 80°, wThile in
wintei snow is very rare. There is a good deal of rain in
winter, but the Californian climate is very dry in summer. The
great "Wheat Valley lies between the coast range of hills and
the great interior range. The fruit country is upon the slopes
of the higher range. Inland the summer is very hot—almost
as much so as in the Eastern cities. California, in fact, is an
immense country. It is almost as long as the tract from Maine
to Georgia on the eastern side. There are a good many rowdy
people in California, but society there is not nearly so bad as
it is sometimes represented. In San Francisco there is pleasant society, and a great many people who go to church and are
quite civilised Christians.

WASHINGTON.

259

The last evening I spent at Baltimore I found a very lively
and agreeable party at Mr. R
's house ; the people rather
American in their style, but very pleasant for all that.
I have picked up here a good many ideas and opinions as
regards the Southern States. It remains to be seen how far I
shall verify them when I get there.
WASHINGTON.

Next morning I started for Washington—a little more
than an hour's run from Baltimore. I hope to come back to
Washington at the time that Congress meets ; meantime I
have only gone there for two or three days on my way South.
At the Baltimore station (or depot, as the Americans always
call it) I found that the President and Mrs. Hayes were passengers by the same train. I was fortunate enough to be
introduced to them, and travelled with them to Washington,
thus having the opportunity of a good deal of talk with the
President. He travelled without any show, like any other
passenger, but an ordinary passenger-carriage was reserved for
him and his party, and a little attention was paid to them by
the railway officials. There was no crowd and no demonstration.
Whatever may be said of the President's political character, I
think that all who come in contact with him are agreed that
he is what we should recognise in England as a gentleman,
and that his wife is very much a lady. Socially they are certainly exceedingly well fitted to fill the position in which they
are placed. I have heard the President spoken of as politically weak, but I am inclined to think that this opinion comes
more from the members of his own party, who disapprove his
measures of compromise, than from anyone else. It is not for
me to express an opinion on this subject, and I should not like
to retail all he said; but this I will say, that I have not met
in America a man more pleasant to talk to.
The Baltimore papers contained accounts of his Southern
policy, said to have been obtained from him in interviews, and
1 ventured to ask whether these accounts are authentic. He
said that for the most part the statements to which I alluded
were true enough in one way, but that the accounts of alleged
interviews were not true. The newspaper people interview
those who have come out from the President, pick up something, put into his mouth what they think he may probably

260

MY JOURNAL.

have said, and so make up their stories. l i e was reported to
have said that until quite recently there had been, under the
present regime, very little violence and outrage in the South;
and I could not help calling his attention to some very serious
outrages which had been reported within the last week or two.
l i e says that my experience in that respect has been exceptionally unfortunate: this is election-time, and the most is
made of what occurs.
The President takes a very favourable view of the position
and prospects of the negro. He thinks the present race of
negroes are not equal to white men; but then, according to
his views, the qualities of mankind are very much a matter of
climate. Whether white or black, he thinks men are inferior
in hot climates. The American blacks have not yet had time
to develop the higher human qualities nor to acquire much
land, but he hopes they will. As showing how improvable
they are, he tells a story of a number of blacks who, in the
last century, followed the soldiers of the Revolutionary War,
when the latter got grants in Ohio, which-is the President's
own State. Eventually Ohio was declared to be free territory,
and these negroes settled down as free men—they and their
descendants have become farmers, and good ones—they are at
this day liked and respected by their neighbours, and are in
every way good and prosperous citizens. He hopes that the
Southern blacks will do likewise in the course of two or three
generations. As regards the misconduct and outrages sometimes attributed to blacks, he says that their character cannot
be so bad as some would now paint it; and as proof of that he
points to the fact that during the war the Southern whites left
their families and their property, and everything that was dear
to them, in charge of and at the mercy of the blacks. Yet
these blacks never rose against their masters' families, and, as
a rule, never did any harm whatever, in spite of all the opportunities thsy had during a protracted war. I have since
heard this statement repeated in the Southern States—sometimes, no doubt, with a view to showing how good the masters
had been. But at any rate there seems to be no doubt of the
fact that the blacks, generally speaking, never did rise for
plunder and outrage till they were raised by the actual presence of the Northern armies. This reminds me of what 1 was
told by Mr. M
at Baltimore, when I appealed to his experience to explain why the negroes of the United States had

THE PEESIBENT.

261

settled down so easily to labour, while we had so much trouble
in Jamaica and elsewhere. He said that the United States
negroes are long domesticated, tamed,, civilised, trained to
.regular work, and no longer savages from Africa. Some of
the West Indian negroes are much more savage and uncivilised
and, he believes, more difficult to manage. At some work at
the Isthmus of Panama, where different classes of blacks were
working together, the Jamaica blacks were notoriously troublesome. Also he says that the situation is vastly different in a
country where, after all, the blacks are in the minority. There
they learn to behave well; but their conduct may be very different when they are in the great majority, with comparatively
few white men. It will be remembered that Mr. M
is a
Southerner; and my subsequent experience of parts of the
South where the negro population is very greatly in the
majority hardly bore out this view.
A gentleman who travelled wTith us remarked that there is
a curious clashing between the. United States laws and the
laws of the particular States, especially in South Carolina,
where there has been a riotous interference with the United
States laws. United States officers have arrested the ringleaders, upon which the local authorities have arrested the
Republican leaders, on accusation of offences against the laws
of the State. There is, he says, a good deal of friction, not
only on account of the difficulty of executing the electoral laws
in the South, but also on account of the internal revenue laws;
and the difficulty is increased for this reason, that, owing to
protection and bad trade, the customs revenue has been very
much reduced, and the United States Treasury is more and
more driven to depend upon the internal revenues.
Judge A
gives almost as bad an account of the Carpetbaggers as the democrats clo. After the war, he says, all the
Union soldiers who had property, or homes, or sweethearts
went home; the bad ones, who had none of these ties, remained and undertook the government of the country. It
really was necessary to take the Southern States out of such
hands.
I asked the President as to the extent to which the white
people of the Northern States had suffered during the late bad
times from want of wrork, remarking that I had not seen so
many signs of distress as I had expected. He said that things
are better now that people thrown out of work have been

262

MY JOURNAL.

absorbed, partly by going to agriculture, and partly because
there really has been a turn for the better in business; but
during the worst times there was a great deal of distress even
among some of the better class of mechanics, who actually
could not get employment. I gather, however, from many
quarters that most of the people who were very conspicuous
for want of employment, and who appeared about the country
as tramps of a very troublesome and dangerous character,
were not so much honest workmen as a sort of people who,
during the times of war and high prices, were able to get
employment of a light and easy character. In these days people can only live by really hard work, and that is just what
the tramp class wholly object to ; consequently very many of
them have been thrown upon the country.
I had a good deal of talk with the President on the Silver
question. He says that the American production is now
greater than ever, not only on account of the discovery of new
lodes, but because people have learnt to extract the ore so
much better than they did. It is found that immense quantities of inferior ore which had been heaped up as refuse can
now be worked so as to extract silver at a profit. Labour is also
very much cheaper than it was ; and the New South-Pacific
railway lines, going right into the heart of the metalliferous
regions, will probably open up a good deal of new production.
Altogether he thinks this year's production will be larger than
it ever has been, and that the production will continue to be
large. Mr. Hayes favours the plan of putting more silver
into the dollar—this is the way to give honest money, without
sacrificing their production of silver. Much gold is also produced in America, yet it is a fact that at this moment gold is
coming from Europe.
I asked the President whether he shared Mr. McCulloeh's
views as to the want of good farming in America. He said
there was, no doubt, something in them, but at the same time
he added (and I think very truly) that it may, under certain
circumstances, be better and more profitable to half-farm two
hundred acres than to farm very well thirty acres. All depends upon the abundance or otherwise of land and the circumstances of the case. As it is, he says, in parts of Pennsylvania the farmers manure quite plentifully, and their agriculture is as good as could be desired. He says that they have
very fine breeds of cattle in Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio,

wAsirraGTOisr.

263

and that beef promises to be a very important product and
export. He mentioned a curious, and to me unexpected fact,
that the most valuable produce of the United States is hay.
After hay comes Indian corn, then cotton, then wheat and
tobacco. As regards the complaints I had heard respecting
education rates and the system of free education, he says I
must necessarily come across grumblers. The well-to-do
people, who can educate their children privately, do not like
the heavy taxes they have to pay for education; but the poor
people, would tell a different tale.
We spoke of the yellow fever now raging in the South,
and of wdiich such terrible accounts are in all the papers. I
remarked that, though the mortality was very sad, still, used
as X had been to reckon great calamities by millions, the total
loss by yellow fever in the United States—now stated at about
10,000—did not seem so great in so large a population. He
admitted this to be true; but then, he says, the yellow fever
is principally a disease of towns, and it has struck with tremendous severity some particular places, such as Memphis and
a few other places which he named. There has not been a
greart mortality in the country districts.
I remarked to Mr. Hayes that I had noticed the quietness
of American meetings, the absence of interruptions, and .the
contrast in that respect to a good many meetings which I had
lately seen in England. Neither the President nor Mrs.
Hayes have ever been in Europe; but Mr. Hayes had been in
Canada, and he said that there he had remarked that the style
of political meetings resembled what I told him of our English meetings. The Canadians seem to have copied us in that
respect. l i e noticed that in Canada a great deal of noise and
interruption took place, and that some of the speakers were
unable to get a hearing.
The country between Baltimore and Washington seemed
poor and uninteresting; in fact, they say it is one of the
poorest parts of the United States. The entrance to Washington is through a poor part of the town. The Capitol is
very conspicuous; from a distance it looks like St. Peter's at
Pome. When we get well into the town it improves very
much indeed; very fine, wide avenues have been laid out,
radiating from central points; and there are some fine streets.
The place was laid out by Washington himself in his capacity
of engineer and surveyor. It seems that he had great ideas

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of the future, and a sort of mania for broad streets and magnificent designs. The accounts I heard of him remind me of
our engineer-soldier, Lord Napier of Magdala. Washington
meant the principal part of the city to be on the side where it
is not now, but land speculators took up the land and ran up
the prices so high that people built on what he meant to be
the back part of the town ; that is now the City of Washington, with the Capitol, as it were, looking away from it. Some
modern Americans grumble about the width of the Washington streets, and say that the vastness of the place dwarfs the
buildings. I must say that I think Washington was quite
right. In this climate, where trees grow easily, broad avenues
are very effective and pleasing; and although the City of
Washington wTas for upwards of half a century a complete
failure, and until a few years ago was not at all successful, it
has made immense strides of late years, and now, to my taste,
is by far the best city in America. It is not only well laid
out, handsome, and clean, but it has that which is altogether
wanting in all other places in America that I have seen, viz.,
good pavement. All the principal avenues and streets are
laid down with excellent asphalte pavement; so that instead
of being the worst it is the best-paved town in the world that
I know ; that is, so far as the principal streets go. There are
a number of very fine public buildings, many of them of
superb granite and marble.
I went to the Kiggs House Hotel, one of the principal.
It s©ems good, and is very central.
Judge A
kindly.took me to see some of the official
people. One of the first whose acquaintance* I made was
General E
, the Commissioner of Education, a gentleman
to whose kind assistance I owed very much in my subsequent
tour. Before we got to talk of education we had some conversation with a black preacher from the South, who came in
on business. Like the few educated blacks I have met so far,
lie takes the line of saying that the negroes have scarcely had
fair play. He says there is a combination not to let them buy
land, also to keep wages unduly low. According to him,
under the system of cultivation on shares it most frequently happens that after a season or two the cultivators quarrel with the
proprietors, and go off somewhere else ; they are very migratory.
This man, though he calls himself a preacher, is really a bookcanvasser, and I doubt his being a very good authority.

WASHHSTGTOJST.

265

Coming to the question of education, I was given to understand that a good enough education law exists in every State,
or almost in every State, but it is not properly carried out.
The excuse is that ' the Radicals have spent all the money,'
and there is none now available. The fact of the absence of
money is in many instances but too true. Texas seems to
have some peculiar views in regard to education. Wherever
there is a large black population it seems to be preferred by
both parties that both schools and churches should be separate,
and not mixed; only the street and railway cars and political
meetings are common to both races. At first a good many
Northern men were opposed to emancipation, because they
thought that the emancipated blacks would overrun the
North. As a matter of fact it has turned out just the contrary, many of the Northern blacks having now gone South:
they prefer the climate.
General E
's opinion about the intellectual capacity of
the negroes is, that they are bright as children; but when
you get to the higher education they want the ratiocinative
and mathematical faculty, and are not the equals of white
men intellectually. They would thus seem to be the opposite
to the Hindoos, who have a great turn for metaphysics and
everything ratiocinative. Judge A
, however, does not
agree with this view. He says that when he was a boy he
had a black class-fellow who was the best mathematician in
the class. The comparison, however, becomes very difficult,
since very many coloured boys are really mulattos.
I am told that in the United States army there are still
a considerable number of regular black troops—about two
thousand of them.
I talked with Judge A
about protection. He is very
strong against the present system, and says that it leads to
interminable abuse. He tells a story of some interest which
went in for protection of copper, and by pressing in the
Legislature got the protection which they wanted; but no
sooner was that given than a host of other cognate interests
started up, so that in the end this one protection led to new
protection in no less than seventeen different cases. The falling off of the customs revenue is caused not only by the dull
trade, but also by protecting to so great an extent as to kill
much of the trade. It is the fashion in America to protect
even raw materials, such as the wool which is absolutely

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necessary for the American woollen manufacture, and which
the country does not produce in sufficient quantity, and the,
iron which is so necessary for cheap ships. One protection
leads to another, and so everyone is protected. People in
America have hitherto gone in for dearness—high wages and
dear living—not for cheapness; and that is why newsboys and
other distributors charge exorbitant prices. Evidently the
Americans need some relaxation of their system, both for the
sake of revenue and for the moral effect upon the country of
a little free trade.
Next day I went to see the Capitol. It is a very fine building,
but the decorations are in somewhat old-fashioned style; the
columns are very florid, and some of the quasi-classical paintings inside might, I venture to think, with advantage be put
into the fire. I also went through the markets, and saw some
other sights.
Our Minister at Washington very kindly gave me some introductions. I called on Mr. Evarts, the Secretary of State-—
a spare, Yankee-looking man, apparently very shrewd and
wide-awake. He has been in England and seen the world and
a good many of the men of the Old World. * I gather from his
talk that the Americans would not be sorry to have Canada if
it came into their arms. Afterwards I met the AttorneyGeneral, who is, in fact, the Minister of Justice—a very pleasant-looking man and dignified lawyer, whose style and appearance would pass exceedingly well in the higher places of Westminster Hall. He was good enough to take me a drive in
the afternoon. He tells me that American lawyers are almost
all local. There is no considerable Bar at Washington; and
when important cases come up to the United States Supreme
Court from a distance, the lawyers generally come up with
them. He admits that the execution of the United States
Revenue laws causes considerable friction; but I afterwards
found that the Revenue officers will hardly admit this, and
point to the cheapness and ease with which their revenue is
collected. I have been much inquiring for some compendious
comparative account of the Constitutions and laws of the different States, but I find that nothing of the kind exists. The
lawyers seem to be a superior class of men, but very few of
them know anything of the laws of any State except their own.
There is very little regular codification properly so called, only
the Revised Codes, or rather compilations, which are published

WASHINGTON.

267

from time to time in most States. There does not seem to be
very much publishing enterprise. I found nothing corresponding to our shilling almanacs—' Whittaker' and the rest—
with the mass of information which they contain. Last year
one almanac, called ' Spofford's American Almanac,' was published at a much higher price, and certainly contains a good
deal of information arranged in a somewhat haphazard way.
If the publication were continued it might be worked into the
semblance of an English almanac, but it seems doubtful
whether it is to be repeated.
In the course of our drive this afternoon we went through
a very beautiful park attached to the Military Hospital. In
this park the President has a good cottage ; it is his only official country residence. It seems that every United States
soldier who has«served for twenty years has the right to live
in the Hospital here, on payment of a very small sum.
The following day also I spent in Washington. General
E
introduced me to the Secretary of the Interior, Mr.
Schurz. H e is a German, and very German-looking, but has
taken a very strong and high position in the States. The
Minister of the Interior has under him the public lands and
the Indians, as well as education, agriculture, and other departments. Of the Indians Mr. Schurz has no very great opinion.
He thinks they are very impracticable, and looks to their
eventual disappearance or absorption. In many places tame
Indians are settled quietly enough, but they do not improve
much. The wild Indians have not a fair chance, for white
people will invade their lands, and often treat them very unfairly. These are the Border white adventurers known as
' Squall Whites.' I have heard of many cases in which the
Indians have been the aggressed upon.
I also made the acquaintance 01 General W
, the Commissioner of Public Lands, and got papers from him showing
the American system. A man who takes up a homestead or
purchases at the low upset price must swear that he takes it
for himself, and not to sell; but no doubt thesestatements are
sometimes false. In some of the further tracts large quantities of land may be taken u p ; and in the country marked
' desert' a good deal has been done by large grantees, who have
constructed works of irrigation. Members of Congress sometimes manage to get Bills passed to sell certain tracts without
reserve. In Oregon and some of the pastoral States, land not

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MY JOURNAL.

purchased is let out in large tracts on temporary leases. I am
told that the fashion in those countries is to buy or take up as
homesteads comparatively small tracts which contain the
springs, without which the country cannot be settled, and then
the holder feels pretty secure that no one will buy the waterless land which he holds at a cheap rate for grazing his flocks.
I believe that a good many Englishmen have in this way settled
in Oregon and taken to sheep-farming in the Australian style.
I observe that in all the public offices here, almost without
exception, everyone has some military rank; not only the
heads of departments, but the very clerks are generals, colonels, and majors; some are doctors. I fancy this is not only
because, owing to the civil war, everyone had military rank,
but also because in many cases office has been given as a reward for military service.
I visited the Patent Office, a very magnificent building;
but it has suffered from fire, to which everything seems subject in this country. The Americans are very proud of their
patent system, which they think more effective than ours.
The collection seems to be beautifully kept. I also visited the
Smithsonian Institute, founded by an Englishman—a beautiful
place, in beautiful grounds. I observe that in this country
public institutions are generally very well kept. The natural
history and other collections seemed to me to be an agreeable
contrast to some of the rickety and moth-eaten animals of the
British Museum. Also, whereas many of our libraries are
very full of trash, obtained under the system which gives certain libraries a right to all books, the American libraries are
made up exclusively of carefully selected books, and are generally very good indeed.
I visited the office of the Geological Survey, which is not
only an office for surveys, but has a department for ethnological
and other specimens; in fact, there is a great collection of the
curiosities of the United States, including very many archaeological remains. There are some very fine specimens of Indian
pottery, and models of Indian houses and villages. The collection is in capital order. It is well worth another visit. I
met Dr. F.
, President of the Medical and Sanitary Society, and a great man upon anthropological subjects. He believes the negroes to be an inferior race. As regards the mulattos, though they are often fine and handsome, he believes
them to be a sterile race, and not likely to last.

THE R E V E N U E

SYSTEM.

269

I went to the Treasury, and was introduced to Secretary
Sherman. H e was very civil and kind, and I had some talk
with him ; after which he handed me over to Mr. R
, head
of the Internal Revenue Department, who told me a great
deal about Revenue affairs.
Mr. Sherman avows that he is not in favour of a silver
coinage. He keeps the coinage pretty nearly down to the
minimum of two million dollars per month which the law
requires. They can use, he says, fifty millions as small coin ;
and when they go beyond that they must either limit the issue
or put more silver into the dollar, he thinks.
The Revenue officers seem confident in their internal revenue system. No doubt there is some friction and a good deal
of smuggling; but after all the revenue is collected at a cost
of 3J per cent.—less, they say, than it costs to collect the same
revenue in England. Tobacco is more frequently smuggled
than spirits; but it costs smugglers more when they are detected. The duty on tobacco has been raised to 24 cents (say
Is.) per pound. That does not. seem heavy from our point of
view, yet there is a good deal of agitation to reduce it. Leaftobacco is not taxed unless it is sold; every man is free to
consume his own production. In Ohio boys often grow a
patch for profit, and no doubt sell, it to their neighbours. The
German Government have had a commission of inquiry here,
but they are rather disappointed. They think the American
system will hardly do for them, as they want to tax the leaf.
They do not think they will get a sufficient revenue if they
only tax the manufactured tobacco. If we are ever driven to
fresh taxation of the people in India these inquiries of the
German commission would be very useful to us, for our situation there is very much the same. The difficulty of taxing
tobacco in India is that it is so very commonly grown, and is
scarcely manufactured beyond drying and pressing the leaf.
In the United States spirits are taxed 90 cents; that is,
a little more than 3s. 6d. per gallon, as against 10s. in this
country. Beer is charged one dollar per barrel of 32 gallons;
native wine is not taxed at all, except some small tax on
licenses for sale. There are taxes upon matches, patent
medicines, and' a few other articles; but these yield only a
very moderate income. In fact, the internal revenue is almost
entirely derived from spirits and tobacco. It has gone on
increasing till this last year, when there has been a consider-

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MY JOURNAL.

able decline, which is attributed to bad times. The Revenue
officers do not greatly attribute loss of spirit revenue to
' Murphy,' but they say that the people drink less than they
formerly did, and if they drank as formerly the revenue would
now be doubled or quadrupled. Temperance has checked
it. Mr. Sherman thinks that from a financial point of view
tea and coffee might be taxed; but there is a strong public
feeling in favour of a free breakfast-table ; so they cannot demand this; but they tax sugar, and that protects the native
sugar-growers.
Of the public officers some are rather poorly paid; but the
army is, I believe, paid higher than ours, and officers have
the advantage that the admirable education, of which I saw
something at West Point, is given to them by the State gratis.
Some, however, think that that education is too severe and
monastic—it runs too much in one groove.
This evening, returning from the unfinished "Washington
Monument, I saw by far the most magnificent sunset that I
have ever seen in my life anywhere, or ever expect to see.
There was a lurid light in the clouds which I can only call
tremendous, and the reflection on the windows of the city
and the Capitol on the other side made me believe that they
were on fire. I am sure the painter who painted such a scene
would be set down as a madman.
Next day I called upon Dr. B
, the Surgeon-General.
Yellow fever is, of course, the great subject of inquiry and
discussion at present, but nothing certain is arrived at regarding its origin and propagation. I have noticed that there are
places where strict quarantine has been established, on account
of the present prevalence of the disease; but I gather that the
quarantine rules are very local and unsettled. I am told that
in the hotter Southern States, owing to the climate, the cattle
suffer a good deal from diseases, Texan fever and the like,
quite different from our Northern cattle diseases, and to
which cattle in the North are not liable. These diseases
affect certain breeds of cattle differently from others. In the
South the short-horns are much affected, while the Jerseys
are comparatively little touched ; and the Indian Brahminee
breed, of which there are a good many in the South, are quite
free from these diseases. Some of the States have established
quarantine rules for Texan cattle.
I called on General Meyer, chief signal officer, a very

THE WEATHER DEPARTMENT.

271

important functionary among the new centralising institutions
of the American Government. The office is, strictly speaking, a military one, and the General has a corps of highlytrained men stationed all over the country, through "whom
he is enabled to establish a very trustworthy Intelligence
Department; but in reality the Signal Office is the great
Meteorological and "Weather Prediction Department—the
greatest of the kind in the world, I imagine. In this office
the infant science of meteorology is being worked out. The
most important result is that prediction of storms which we
have begun to appreciate. America seems to have a specialty
for sending us storms, and the warnings we receive, nominally from the New York Herald and other papers, really
come from the Signal Office at Washington. The officers of
the department say that their predictions prove right in 80 per
cent, of the whole, and that the balance is negative; that is
to say, they never fail to announce a. storm or give warning
of a storm which is not developed somewhere ; but, to be on
the safe side, they sometimes warn places of storms which
happen to miss the particular place. However, there has just
been here a very great and rapid storm, which came down the
coast from the South, and which I have not had occasion to
mention, because it passed over Washington in the night.
It does appear that the warnings which were given of this
storm were rather too late; and notwithstanding what we owe
to the department in England, and the civility with which I
was treated, I could not help delicately hinting at the saying,
' Physician, heal thyself.' It seems that most of the storms
are born about the commencement of the Gulf Stream, off
the coast of Florida ; and sometimes it may happen that, like
a shell which explodes almost at the mouth of the gun, these
storms may burst in upon the States before much warning
can be given, as was, in fact, the case in this instance. The
department here claims to be establishing certain laws as to
the rotatory character and direction of storms. They have a
wonderful set of self-registering instruments, and produce
daily charts of the weather all over the country, besides periodically making up weather charts of the whole Northern
hemisphere from observations taken at the same time, and
transmitted by telegraph.
In the late storm the fall of rain here in a very short
time exceeded three inches. The rainfall for the year is

272

MY JOIHOTAL.

heavier than ours; but though well distributed it seems to fall
in heavier plumps than with us, so that there are not nearly so
many hours of rain. During the late storm some of the crank
American steamers were wrecked in the rivers and estuaries;
in fact, large numbers of craft were wrecked in the river
below this. The officers here know all about our meteorological observations in India; and, in fact, I find that in all the
departmental offices they have a very thorough knowledge of
what we have been doing in India, and know well our officers
and their publications. At Baltimore Mr. G
, to my surprise, turned up in his college library a collection of languages
which I made in Bengal.
I called upon General Sherman to-day, but missed him.
I had, however, a talk with two of his staff—very pleasant
gentlemen of the military persuasion. They have just been
with the General on a tour over the far-away South-Western
Territories, in which they were accompanied by a gallant
member of our House of Commons and his bride, who must
have done an amount and severity of travelling astonishing for
a lady. They described .New Mexico and Arizona as wretched Territories—Arizona, perhaps, a little the better of the
two. The only inhabitants of New Mexico besides wild Indians are the miserable descendants of the old Spanish colonists who were found there—and very miserable they seemed
to be. No Americans go there; and some of - the English
who have bought Spanish grants and tried to establish sheepfarms do not seem to have been very successful. In the
far-away Western Territories the Indians cause an immense
deal of trouble to the United States army, with the result, in
fact, that that small army is really the most hard-worked in
the world.
Mexico itself, these officers say, is a good country, but the
people are hopeless. Most of them are priestridden, and
those who have 'jumped off ' the priests are brigands. They
contrast Mexico with Canada, which they highly appreciate,
giving a very favourable account of it, dwelling upon its
loyalty to the British connection. They hear very good accounts of Manitoba. It has a splendid soil; but there is no
wood there, and the winter is too cold for cattle. They think
that during the civil war, when it was expected that the
States would go to pieces, the English were ready to ' gobble
u p ' their Northern Territories; and the French Emperor

LAW AND LAWYERS.

273

undertook his Mexican enterprise simply that he might be
ready to take possession of the Southern States. When the
war was over, and they were ready for him with their hardened troops, he had not a chance, and they ignominiously
expelled him without fighting. They do not seem to have
any sympathy with the Afghans, and have no objection to our
beating them.' Camels, they say, have been tried in the dry
parts of America, but have been quite a failure. There is
always rain and mud at some season of the year, and the climate disagrees with camels.
Later I met General Sherman himself, who was very kind
and civil, and gave me some introductions to his officers in
the parts of the country to which I am going. He does not
affect the style militaire, but is more of a good, shrewd Yankee, like his brother, the Secretary of the Treasury. He
says they have had enough of war. The only war he would
like to undertake would be. one against the Mexicans, to make
them take back New Mexico and Arizona. He talked of the
Chinese, in whom he seems to take great interest. He has a
very high opinion of the Chinese Minister who has come to
the* States. .
I called on the Attorney-General. In his office—and, in
fact, in most of the public offices of the United States Government—there are some female clerks. They are described as
being daughters of deceased members of Congress, or persons
having similar claims upon the country, and are said to work
very well. There are also some coloured clerks. The business
connected with what is called the Court of Claims (that is,
claims against the United States) seemed to be an important
department in the Attorney-General's office. There is no
Legislative Office for the drafting of bills—no Sir Henry
Thring. There is a Pardon Office, where all questions of pardon are considered. The Attorney-General says that the legislation of some of the States is rough enough, but most of the
older Legislatures are well provided with good lawyers, and
new States very much copy the legislation of old ones—choosing what they like best.
I noticed a great mass of law-books,
bound in the regular English law-calf, in the orthodox style.
I visited the Supreme Court, sitting in the Capitol. All
the Judges seemed to sit together, forming a very large Bench.
Most of them are old men, and all elderly. They sit in a very
large fine room, with a very small audience. A Californian
18

274

MY JOURNAL.

case was going on—a question of title under a Spanish grant.
A young lawyer, in a white tie, but no wig or gown, was
arguing the case. He seemed to be a local Californian who
had come up about it. In the evening, dining at the British
Minister's house, I was fortunate enough to meet several of
the most distinguished public men. They all seemed to be
very strong in favour of honest money. I talked to the Chief
Justice about the usury laws which still prevail in America.
He seemed to say that though they do still exist they have
little practical effect; they are seldom pleaded in bar of action. If usurious interest is once paid it cannot be recovered;
and outside the law there is a kind of merchants' union to
enforce contracts. Even in New York there are still usury
laws, limiting interest to 7 per cent.; but the merchants
manage to defeat it. The situation of the great city of New
York is somewhat peculiar, for the rural population of the
State a good deal exceeds the town population, and is decidedly rural and primitive; so that in regard to usury laws,
restriction on the sale of spirits, and some other matters
the country farmers control all the wealth and power of
New York City. It is they who maintain the usury laws.
The spirit-licensing laws are now the subject of much contention in New York.
The following day was my last in "Washington, and after
again looking in at some of the offices I left it in the afternoon. There is a very important Agricultural Office, where
they collect all sorts of agricultural specimens and acclimatise
and distribute new plants; but the head of the department
was absent, and I have postponed going particularly over it
till my return.
Upon the whole my impression of Washington is that, in
spite of the large amount of home rule which prevails in the
United States, the central departments of the Government
are upon a much more complete footing, with larger and more
various establishments, than anything of the kind that we
have. All these centralised departments are the creation of
the last few years.
There seems to be very great freedom for the expression of political opinion, in spite of the victory of the North
in the war. Looking over the books at a bookseller's shop, I
came upon a popular school history of America in the form
of a catechism, which gave the Southern view of matters in

VIRGINIA.

275

an extreme, I may say a violent, form. According to this
children's catechism, at the end of the war General Sherman
agreed to receive back the Southern States into the Union
unconditionally; but this pledge on the faith on which the
Confederate army surrendered was basely repudiated and
broken. Soon after, the assassination of Mr. Lincoln excited
the passions of the Northerners, and by perfidious violence
the 14th and 15th Amendments of the Constitution were put
in. It certainly seems very liberal to allow Southern children
to be taught these things.
VIRGINIA.
Virginia is close to Washington, on the other side of $ie
Potomac (pronounce it Potoomac, or you will be exceedingly
laughed at); but I had arranged first to visit the lower portion of Yirginia; so I w^ent back to Baltimore, and there
took the steamer of what is called the Bay Line. In the
steamer I was treated with great civility, at the instance of
Mr. E
. I passed the night in going .down the Bay in as
great comfort as if I had been in a luxurious house. The
estuary of the Chesapeake is here called the ' Bay.9 These
American steamers are certainly delightful in quiet waters;
but the consort of this one was dreadfully mauled in the late
storm, and very nearly went to the bottom. They are built
too high for bad weather.
In the morning I landed at Old Point, or Fort Munro,
near the country town of Hampton, in Yirginia. There is a
large hotel, used by sea-bathers in the summer. I had an introduction to General ~W
, the commander of the fort,
where there is a large artillery school. General M
, of
General Sherman's Staff, most kindly took charge of me
during my visit to this neighbourhood.
I notice that I am now quite in the land of blacks, especially here, where they collected in numbers during the war.
In this district they are quite in a majority. They do all the
work about the wharves, and most other work. I principally
came here to see the 'Hampton Agricultural Institute' for
blacks. I went over it under the guidance of General Armstrong, who has charge of it, and has made it what it is. It is
not quite an Agricultural Institute, for it is more used to

276

MY J O UENAL.

turn out schoolmasters than anything else. The justification
for teaching them agriculture is that, as the schools are commonly open part of the year only, there is every opportunity
for the practice of improved agriculture during the remainder
of the year. Several trades are also taught. I believe this is
the only place in the Southern States where black printers
are educated. The Institution is primarily supported by
funds subscribed in the North, but it is now largely aided by
the State of Virginia. It is not a free school, not being
looked upon as charitable. The students are expected to pay
moderate fees, and by their work to earn something towards their own living. Besides the negro students there
are a good many Indians, sent by the United States Government. They are Indians from the Western tribes; and it is
intended that, after being civilised and educated, they are to
go back, and to improve their countrymen. I was much interested in these Indians. They are not red, but rather yellow, and not at all unlike some of the Indo-Chinese tribes to
the east of Bengal.
I had a good deal of talk with General Armstrong about
the negroes and about Southern politics. He is the son of a
missionary who spent many years in the Sandwich Islands,
but was a distinguished Federal soldier in the war. He thinks
that the blacks are certainly inferior to the whites in intellect, but they are improvable. The Indians are decidedly
stronger in intellect, but much more difficult to manage. The
negroes have a passion for land; it is their great wish to
acquire it; but they are wanting in saving qualities, prudence and perseverance, to enable them to do so. Those,
however, who were the best hands in slave-times are now
acquiring land—not very much, but they are getting on. If
they are able to buy land they can get it. In some parts of
the country there is a social prejudice against selling to them;
that is, in localities where white people prevail, they do not
always like to have negroes coming among them; but at
other places, where the population is principally negro, the
whites are very ready to sell and go elsewhere. He thinks
about one-third of the negroes are decidedly good; one-third
may be made good by good management; and one-third are
bad. Like most of the people I have spoken to, he has not
much opinion of the mulattos. The race is not sterile,.but it
deteriorates. In most parts of the South the negroes rent land

VIRGINIA.

277

on shares; but the master not only finds stock, but makes
advances for food and other requirements, and at the end of
the year the negroes have very little to get. They are very
Willing for education; the great difficulty is about teachers,
and that want this and other institutions are supplying. Most
of the Southern States, now that the negroes must have votes,
are really adopting the policy of educating and civilising
them. Virginia has honestly carried out the education policy
so far as her funds admit. Altogether, Republican that he
is, he gives a favourable view of the situation. Maryland,
Virginia, and North Carolina are decidedly doing well; and
in South Carolina, though some Democrats opposed Hampton,
the present Governor, he is doing good. The worst ' bulldozing' has been in Mississippi. In Virginia and other wellmanaged States, he says, people are quite willing to give the
blacks a minority representation in the State Legislatures, and
do so. This district is represented by a black. In short, he
fully endorses the policy of the present President, which most
Republicans do not. The negroes, he says, in most States,
really are allowed to vote, and do; but whites will not submit
to be ruled over by blacks, and where that is feared they
audaciously false-count. They are afraid to excite the feelings of the North by open violence.
"With the view of giving a fair trial to the negroes a good
deal of land here has been sold in small patches, which they
have bought; and a good many private proprietors, following
this example, have done likewise, so that there is quite a large
black proprietary, owning their own patches of land and their
own cottages. The patches, however, are very small, but are
said to be large enough to grow vegetables; and there is so
much fishing and easy living here, that the negroes are not
obliged to work very hard. An immense quantity of vegetables is raised in this part of Virginia, to supply the winter and spring markets of the great towns of the North.
The winter climate here is very mild; they say that cattle
can almost always go out all the year. In the fields about I
saw turnips and Scotch kail; and I find that root-crops are
a good deal more grown in the South than in the North.
The turnips, however, are rather poor. Green sorghum is
largely used as fodder for cattle, as well as the leaves of the
maize.
I visited the Soldiers' Home here, which seemed to me a

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folly—a place where disabled volunteer soldiers are kept in
absolute idleness, with nothing whatever to do. I saw an old
soldier who had fought against us in the war of 1812, and by
his side an Englishman who, in much later days, had fought
for the United States. I notice that in all United States books
and histories, and, I may say, memories, the war of 1812 occupies a prominent place, while we have managed to forget it.
I looked in at the Circuit County Court, which was then
sitting. The trial is by jury. The Court seemed a decent
one, and the lawyers energetic. During the recess for dinner,
parties, Judge, lawyers, and all, seemed freely to mix and talk.
The Judge was a regular old Virginian, ruined by emancipation. He says, ' God made niggers different from white men,
and nobody can make them the same.'
I hear much of the Ereedman's Savings Bank, which
failed with a loss of $4,000,000, which has never been replaced ;- and the loss causes much distrust among negroes inclined to save.
General M
took me back to Old Point in an outrigger
boat—a kind of civilised adaptation of the outriggers one
sees at Ceylon. I think they might with great advantage
be generally adopted, . They sail wonderfully, and cannot be
upset.
I crossed in the ferry-boat to Norfolk—a pretty sail. At
Norfolk I went to the Atlantic Hotel. In the evening I had
a good deal of talk with the people I met in the smokingroom. They declare that this is the best harbour on all the
Atlantic coast, and a good many other people think so too.
It is thoroughly sheltered, close to the sea, with no bar, and
direct railway communication with the Mississippi; so that
much cotton is shipped here, not only from the Atlantic
States but from Memphis and the Mississippi country. The
cotton is carried from Memphis for two dollars a bale, while
it costs one dollar to New Orleans by steamer, is more roughly
handled there, and costs more for the transport from New
Orleans to England. Here, too, I noticed that the cottonbales were very roughly handled; and it is the same at Alexandria, Bombay, and all cotton marts. It seem strange that
so valuable a commodity should be so much torn and scattered about. It seems that the people who take samples must
cut the bales and dig into them. There is dreadful wailing
over the price of cotton : it is now nine cents a pound, or less.

VIRGINIA,

279

Wheat is also very low; sugar is better than it was, but a
Frenchman from the South seems despondent about it. Last
year the early frosts made great havoc in the sugar-cane ; this
year's crop remains to be seen, but prices are not very remunerative. They have lately commenced shipping from here
very fine Virginian and Kentucky cattle for the English market. A man who sent a cargo is said to have netted 51. a head
upon them; many more are to be sent. I saw two or three
fine English cotton steamers, and pens for the accommodation
of cattle were being put up on the decks. There is, however,
a good deal of risk, especially in thus sending the cattle upon
deck. The insurance for cattle is about 6 per cent. The retail price of beef here is about 6d. per pound.
In the morning I took a walk about the town. I observe
that here, as elsewhere, the suburban streets are pretty and
well-kept. Fig-trees grow well. There is an astonishing trade
in oysters here. Oyster-packing is one of the great industries,
and all the roads are metalled with oyster-shells. The most
successful farmers are the oyster-farmers.
In the list of churches I see here that the Episcopal
churches stand first, then the Methodists; there is only one
Catholic church. I am told that though small in numbers
the Episcopal Church in many respects takes a good position
in the United States. They are said to have done more for
the Indians than any other Church, and Episcopalian chaplains seem more prominent than any other in the army. But
Americans are very liberal on this subject. In the army the
Government appoints chaplains—ministers of every sect are
eligible—the best man is selected, without reference to the
particular faith he professes; and, strange to say, there seem
to be no quarrels or jealousy upon the subject. I could only
hear of one Catholic who had been appointed to the army; but,
among Protestant sects^ a regiment or garrison has sometimes
a chaplain of one persuasion, and sometimes of another. At
Hampton Institute the services seem to be taken turn and turn
about. I suspect that a great deal of approximation of sects
is going on in the States.
The army, I believe, is very well supplied with good medical men; but I am told that throughout the Union medical
degrees are very easily got, and that there is a great want of
security in regard to medical qualifications.
It is generally said by those whom I meet that in most

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parts of Virginia English settlers have not been very successful. They have sometimes bought inferior land—they are
not very good at managing black labour, and do not understand tobacco farming and curing. The truth seems to be
that the land of Virginia was a good deal worked out; much
of it is rather poor, and much of it had been improvidently
farmed in slave times. The proprietors were heavily in debt,
and would have ' burst up,' war or no war. Now things are
on the whole rather better; fertilisers (that is, chemical manures) are much used. Many of the poorer whites have got
land, and so have a few of the blacks. Still most people in
these parts are.not particularly hard workers, and they are
only moderately prosperous. The import of food-stuffs from
the West has very much diminished the profits of farming
here, and land is worth less than it was before the war. The
only prosperous country is the fine pasture land in the wrest of
the State, where cattle are largely bred. Much tobacco now
comes from other States, but the tobacco manufacture in Virginia is still very large.
From Norfolk I took rail for Petersburg, through a very
poor country. We passed through the ' Dismal Swamp,' a
capital specimen of the belt of swampy country which surrounds the Southern States, consisting of large tracts of
swamp, mixed with poor land covered with pines and scruboaks. There was occasional cultivation, but most of it seemed
poor, and the houses were chiefly inhabited by blacke. A
good deal of Indian corn is grown, and I saw many stacks of
Virginia peas—a great cultivation in these parts. In the
train I met a very pleasant man, Mr. Y
, formerly a Confederate officer, now carrying on an insurance agency, in
wilich he has for his partner Mr. J
, a Scotchman, of a
family whom I know. I met Mr. J
at Petersburg, and
he was kind enough to show me about the place. He has
tried several parts of the world—went at one time to South
America, then came to Virginia and got a large farm. It
answered tolerably well; but he found the life dreadfully solitary, and now has gone into business in the town. He still,
however, retains his estate, a considerable portion of which
he cultivates on his own account. He keeps two or three
Scotchmen " as permanent servants, and they get gangs of
negroes to work by the day when they are wanted. The
negroes like working in that occasional kind of way. Part of

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281

his land he lets out in small farms to negroes on easy terms as
regards rent, but he makes it a condition that he is to get
labour from them when he wants it. They generally owe the
rent, and let him take it out in labour. He, however, does
not think it a paying thing to buy land for the purpose of
renting it out. Petersburg is a pretty town, and the country
about is famous as the scene of great operations during the
civil war. There are immense cemeteries in the neighbourhood, full of soldiers of both sides. There is a famous place
—a sort of hole or small crater—where a large number of
black Federal soldiers were surrounded and, I am afraid I
must almost say, massacred. Petersburg now seems to be
thriving. There is only one old ruin, and that is the English
church of the early days of the colony. It is said to have
been built of bricks brought from England, and the walls still
stand. There are large tobacco manufactories here, and some
cotton-mills. I am told that the blacks work well for a time,
but are apt to leave capriciously—in that respect they cannot
be relied on. It is also more popular to employ whites who
are in wrant of work. I notice that generally most of the
United States employes are blacks, while the State and municipal employes are mostly whites. For instance, the people
w4io sweep the streets of Petersburg are all whites. They
seem to get very low wages. Political contests apart, I gather
that there is little bad feeling between the white and black
castes; they seem quite civil to one another. The different occupations are a good deal divided between the two.
Most of the agricultural labour is done by blacks; so that
things seem to be somewhat the converse of that which I
found in States further North, where the blacks are found in
towns, and not in the country. I am told that the Virginian
gentlemen of former days sometimes struggle on with their
properties and make the best they can of them; sometimes
go to other States, where many of them have prospered in
various enterprises; and sometimes take to hotel-keeping and
suchlike occupations in their own country. The hotel at
Petersburg is kept by a General and ex-planter, who stands
behind the bar, and seems to be a very pleasant, elderly landlord. They say the relations between blacks and whites are
better in Virginia than in some other States, because in slave
times the blacks were better treated, this being a breeding
State. The people who raised negroes were kind to and care-

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MY JOUKNAL.

ful of them ; and the only unpleasant part of the relation was
the selling off wThen the stock became fit for the market;
However, this was done through slave-dealers, whose avocation was held to be degrading, and with whom the gentlemen
who sold the slaves would not hold social intercourse.
Mr. Y
does not confirm the statement that a certain
number of seats in the State Assemblies are allowed to the
blacks by wTay of conciliation and minority representation.
He says that whatever seats they have they only get by hard
voting, and he admits that.when the Democrats are hard put
to it they sometimes manipulate a good deal in the counting
of votes. The negroes are in a very decided majority in the
Petersburg Congressional District; and, besides returning
some members to the State Assembly, they have hitherto succeeded in returning a Republican member to Congress, a Norwegian, who seems generally admitted to be a very able man,
and who has much influence with the negroes. The blacks
have great faith in General Grant, as the man who gave them
their freedom, and they go to the poll as his supporters.
There are several companies of black militia volunteers in
this State, with their own black officers; there is one such
company at Petersburg, said to be much better drilled than
the white companies.
Travelling to Richmond I met an old gentleman, a Democrat, coming back from canvassing, and had a good deal of
talk with him. He was very hot on politics, and denounces
the Norwegian as ' white without, but very black within.' He
was full of currency questions, and a hot free-trader of a kind.
His argument seems to be that if the tariff was more adjusted
for revenue, then, with the aid of the larger customs revenue
so obtained, they might get rid of the internal revenue, which
he describes as most oppressive and expensive. He says that
the present tariff kills trade; that for every dollar paid to the
State as customs duty on woollen goods the people pay $600
to their own manufacturers ; and for every dollar paid as duty
upon cotton they pay $2,000—all this for the benefit of two
or three Northern States, especially Pennsylvania : and even
there, he says, the manufacturers are but a small minority
now, and nearly played out. He dwells upon the much larger
number of the agricultural population, and says they should
be favoured, and not the manufacturers. He talks good English, and would pass as a very good committee-man with us.

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283

I understand that Virginia is in difficulties about the State
debt, and there are various plans for adjusting it by cutting it
down. Some say that the people of the State could pay if
they liked; but the farmers do not like heavy taxation, especially in the present depreciated condition of their properties. In rural parts of the country the State and local taxes
come to about 1^ per cent, on the capital value, and then
there is a poll-tax of $li and some other taxes. On each
glass of whisky being sold a bell is struck, marking a register, and a tax is paid to the State, besides that to the United
States. Some recent amendments have been made in the
Constitution, introducing provisions designed to hit the blacks.
These provisions disfranchise all who have not paid up the
poll-tax, and collectors are said to be sometimes very lax till
the election is over; moreover, they disfranchise for life every
man convicted of larceny or other such offence, unless he is
pardoned by the Governor. The blacks are tried for these
offences by local justices of the peace, who are generally white
Democrats. I think this rule is dangerous. Flogging is very
freely used in Virginia as a punishment for larceny, the system being different from that of the States further South,
where they prefer to imprison criminals and to hire them out
at a profit.
At Richmond I went to see the Exchange Hotel, which
seemed very good.
Next day I went to see Dr. D——, State Superintendent
of Education. I had a good deal of talk with him, and went
with him to see some schools, both black and white. Virginia
is divided into ninety-nine counties. After the war an attempt was made to introduce townships, according to Northern ideas; but that has been given up, and now counties are
divided into magisterial districts, which have not the same
organisation as townships. The great difficulty in regard to
education is caused by the embarrassed financial position of
the State. Unfortunately, the Treasury is so low that it is
very difficult to get from it the educational funds deposited
there; and then by law taxes are payable in debt coupons,
and they get more of these coupons than cash. In this State
one-fifth of the State assessment is set apart for education, as
well as a poll-tax of a dollar a head, which it is optional with
counties to increase to $1^. Elections are very frequent here.
In Virginia the different elections do not take place at the

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same time. One year there is an election for Congress, and
another year for the State Legislature ; while the elections
for county and local officers take place at a different period of
the year.
Some think that farmers now almost overdo expenditure
upon fertilisers. These chemical fertilisers are sometimes
rather dangerous, and perhaps good farmyard manure is the
best after all. A curious feature of the law is that, in Virginia
and some other States, the manure-merchant has a privilege or
hypothec over the crops.
Dr. R—— thinks the negroes are generally inferior in intellect to the whites, and not capable of sustained or skilful
work; but still they are very good within certain limits—they
are very well-disposed, and much can be made of them.
Of public free schools there are three classes—Primary,
Grammar, and Higher—but these seem to run very much into
one another when they are in the same building, as was the
case at Richmond. Almost all the masters seem to be mistresses. They follow the old Scotch system of schooling in
the winter and farming in the summer. By the law of this
State schools must be open not less than five months, but in
Richmond they keep them open for nine. There is no compulsory law, but children come freely to the schools. . The
children of the upper classes are very well represented in all
the schools, but there are also large private schools in Richmond. I saw one very large one. The private schools are
principally of the lower grades, where the scholars of the
public schools are of a very mixed class; in the higher schools
there are not so many of the poor, and the upper classes go
more freely. Boys and girls are always taught together in the
same class, but they do not sit together, and they are kept
quite separate in playtime. The girls in the higher schools
seem of a superior class, and there the girls very considerably
preponderate over the boys. Many of the boys of that age go
into offices. As a rule in the higher schools the pupils take
one foreign language—the girls generally French, the boys
Latin or German. I did not learn that much science wras
taught. In the black schools I noticed some very fair mulattos—one girl in particular, who would have been very fair for
a European, was placed among the blacks, many of whom are
very black and hideous. I hardly knew before what an ugly
race some of the blacks are.

VIEGINIA.

285

I went to see a great tobacco factory. It is entirely confined to the manufacture of chewing-tobacco. By far the
greatest part of the labour is done by blacks. Tobacco seems
to be specially their vocation. Most of the foremen are whites,
and some of the work is done by white and black men mixed.
I did not see any mixture of white and black women; that
does not seem to be allowed. Cigars, it seems, are not made
by blacks; it is one of the skilled things they do not do. The
black labourers in the factory get about a dollar a day for
moderately skilled work, and sometimes more; they do not
work very regularly—they average about four days a week.
All seem to agree that negroes are fond of amusement; they
like to make the most of life. They go on excursions, fishing
expeditions, and so on, and thus vary their hard work. In the
tobacco factory the women were set to sing for my benefit, and
they certainly do that very well. The tobacco-leaves are dried
and packed in hogsheads by the farmers, and in that shape
they come to the manufactories. The value very much depends on the way in which the drying process is done by the
farmers.
I was invited to go out into the country with General
"W
, and went with him to his place, about twenty miles
distant. There was much tree-jungle on the way, and it did
not seem to be a very fertile country. The houses were of
wood, and did not look very good. He is a great farmer, and
has some 1,600 acres under cultivation, but his is a very exceptional case. He is a somewhat rare instance of a Virginian
proprietor successfully accepting the change of circumstances,
and he has done so in a very good spirit. I rather gather,
however, that his farming does not pay particularly wTell.
General W
employs entirely negro labour, with white
foremen, one of whom I saw on horseback watching the
ploughs. The fact seems to be that people accustomed to
black labour do not get on very well with whites, and vice
versa; and so it is that where they were accustomed to slave
labour they now employ blacks, and do not think of introducing whites. The Southern railways and other great works
have been almost entirely constructed by black labour. General W
is very fond of his black people; most of them
were born and bred on the property. He had many more before the war—perhaps 400—worth, he says, about $150,000,
and now there are in all about 150. Eighteen are perma-

286

MY JOURNAL.

nently employed upon this block of 1,000 acres. Then there
are the women and children, and some men who have a little
land, and work occasionally for him. He seems to say that
hereabouts the' difficulty rather is for all to get work than for
employers to get labour enough. He is clear that, so far as
income is concerned, if he had got the value of his slaves by
way of compensation he would be better off than under the
slave system. The only drawback is that formerly you had
the comfort of servants whom you could bring up to your ways
and be sure of keeping, but now they do as they like. Others,
however, say that, in this view, account is not taken of the increase of the negroes, which was the great source of profit in
former days, and much recouped the owner for the capital
sunk in slave property.
General "W
's land seemed to be fine and easily workable, but it needs manure. The principal staples are Indian
corn, wheat, and artificial grass. I gather that much of the
best land in river-bottoms and such situations is still held by
the old proprietors and farmed by negro labour; but these
farms are generally not very profitable, and throughout the
State there is much pecuniary difficulty. In the cattle-grazing
tracts there are some really large estates. I heard of one very
large indeed. I asked what the proprietor made of his land.
The answer was, ' He lets out parts of it, and turns cattle on
the rest.' In the Southern States mules are almost always
used for ploughing; in some parts of the country oxen are a
good deal used for draught. On all sides I hear that General
"W
is a very excellent specimen of the fine old Virginian
proprietor ; but then he is a man of means, and can do what
most others cannot. He is a most polished and courteous
gentleman. His place, however, shows no signs of ever having been, a fine place in our sense. It is more like a comfortable planter's or gentleman-farmer's house, and there is no
affectation of grandeur. The family seem very English in their
ideas and sympathies. General W
stands up for the
character and capacity of the negroes, but he admits that they
are not up to managing delicate machines. He says they are
very trustworthy, and his doors never were locked during the
war; but they sometimes lay their hands on petty articles of
food and such things. Although General W—— was a Confederate general he seems to be in truth now nearly a Kepublican. His family appear scarcely to share his very hopeful

VIBGIMA.

287

view of the situation. Mrs. W—— is well known to have
been the kindest of mistresses. She admits the horrors of
slavery, but now thinks things are even worse, and that the
blacks will presently be starved. Miss W
thinks Washington made a great mistake in separating from England.
Very many Virginians seem still to affect English sympathies.
General W
says that before the war farming was a profession as good as law or medicine. I gather that the proprietor-farmers ranked with professional men, not above them.
The next day we came back to Richmond. I had some most
agreeable talk with the ladies of the party, and shall always
have a very pleasant remembrance of this visit. They say
that young ladies here are much more independent than the
New York young ladies now are, the latter having begun to
affect the European fashion.
I called on Major P
, an ex-Confederate officer, and
now a lawyer. He was very civil, and gave me much assistance. He took me to call on the Governor of the State,
Colonel Holliday, a bright and highly educated man, who is, I
believe, a very successful Governor. He lost an arm in the
war on the Confederate side. Like most people here, Jie defends the institution of slavery, though he cannot defend the
slave-trade between the breeding States and the consuming
States. Accepting slavery as past and gone, he is all for retaining and making the most of the negroes, on whom he
relies as the conservative element in the country, as contrasted
with the communistic and troublesome among the white workmen. He says the blacks are so far quite free from tradesunionism and Communism, and they are very useful and good
labourers. They are, however, neither mentally equal to the
whites, nor will they do so much hard work in a sustained
way—not so much as the Irishmen; they will take holidays
and amuse themselves occasionally. The mulattos he thinks
are superior to the ordinary negroes; they are free from the
odour which is a great drawback to the negroes in domestic
service.
Colonel Holliday explained that much of the State debt had
been incurred for internal improvements, which do not pay—
railways, canals, and the like. The making of such works by
the State tends to excessive ' log-rolling' in the State Legislature, and that is the origin of the clause recently inserted in
the Constitution of this and other States which prohibits the

288

MY JOURNAL.

making of any internal improvements by the State. In Virginia they had no land to give to the railways, and they gave
large money grants by way of subsidy. He did not seem
much inclined to free trade, but rather hoped that Virginia
might increase her manufactures. He thinks the state of the
labour market is pretty satisfactory here—people can get work,
and employers can get labour. All they want is to be let
alone. He is very friendly to England, but dwells much on
the ' Cassandra' warnings of which we have lately heard, and
especially on the great danger to England of engaging in any
European war. In that case, he says, our commerce would be
swept from the ocean, as was that of the United States, and we
shall find the disadvantage of living in an island.
I went to see Messrs. B
, bankers and merchants.
They tell me a curious fact: that before the war of a total of
Virginian exports of some $34,000,000 close on half—viz., between sixteen and seventeen millions—was the value of slaves
exported. In some parts of the South slaves were a good deal
worked out, but generally the demand for slaves in the South
was caused by increase of cultivation. Sugar has now declined, but cotton has extended, and will extend. The present
price of nine cents is not so very bad after all; it is quite up
to the average of the prices before the war. In those days it
has been known as low as four or five cents. They do not
think money is being lost in the cultivation of cotton, though
it is not very profitable. A good deal of money is advanced
to planters by people called facfbors, who seem to fulfil the
functions of the Indian Mahajan. Even if cotton be not lucrative the people in the Southern States must grow it; they
have no alternative. They have no other great staple there.
There has been considerable increase in the cultivation of cotton by small white farmers in the hilly districts, and a very
great increase in Texas, a State which seems to be going ahead
very fast.
I went to see some of the great flour-mills here. Most of
the labour is black, but the really skilled work must be done
by whites. I saw a good deal of work in which black and
white men are employed indiscriminately, and are paid the
same. There are said to be no signs of jealousy between the
two races. The James River is very rocky and rapid in iti,
course up to this point. Above Richmond it has been canalised, and it is here applied to provide the great water-power

VIRGINIA.

289

by which the mills are worked. On the opposite side is a
place called Manchester, where there are several cotton-mills.
The river is very red and muddy; this is no doubt due to the
red soil which they have about here. This red soil extends a
long way through the Southern States.
Here too there was a great agricultural fair going on. I
went out to see it, but was somewhat disappointed. The
grounds seemed too large for the show. There were two most
enormous cattle, but the others did not strike me very much.
The most frequent animals were small Jersey cows, pretty
little beasts. Trotting horses were conspicuous. There seemed
no great show of fruits and vegetables. I may remark, now
that I have seen a good many of these showrs, that as an agricultural show that which I saw at Hamilton, in Canada, was
the best of them all. I suspect that Virginia is not at all up
to the Northern States in agricultural enterprise. Coming
back from the fair I watched the ploughing going on in some
large fields. The soil seemed light. It was being largely
limed, and green crops were being ploughed in. This is very
much the practice in these parts. I waited for two ploughs to
come round, to see who the labourers were, and found that one
was held by a black man, and one by a white man.
Returning to the town, I went to inquire about books giving information about the State laws, and got an authoritative
compilation, the ' Revised Code of Virginia,' in one thick volume, circulated by authority of the Legislature. In the evening Colonel
, son of the distinguished hydrographer, was
good enough to call upon me and introduce me to the Westmoreland Club, an excellent institution. Afterwards I went
to the theatre. The principal object of the play seemed to be
to satirise an American member of Congress, a 'lady who
had been abroad,' and an English tourist. They were very
severe on the Congress-man, and attributed to him all sorts of
corruption, which caused great laughter and applause. A
' civil rights man' was introduced. It seems that a civil rights
man is one who is in favour of complete equality of blacks and
whites. He tells that in New York he patronises a ' civil
rights' barber's shop, where they shave both blacks and
whites, an idea which seemed to amuse the audience. The
English tourist was a stupid and uninteresting person. The
'lady who had been abroad' was a caricature of the people
we see in Continental Hotels, and she was held up to much ridi-

290

MY JOURNAL.

cule. She was also the vehicle for exhibiting genuine Worth's
dresses, which the Virginian ladies seem to think a very interesting sight.
Next morning I breakfasted with Governor Holliday, and
met a party at his house. He has an official residence; and I
noticed that convicts in chains were cleaning up the grounds
in a way that very much reminded me of the practice in India
in former days. The chain-gang is a recognised institution,
and you may see them working in the streets any day. The
people whom I met this morning say that General "W
and
his farm are far too favourable a specimen, and that most of
the people in Virginia are not at all well off. Even in the
best parts of the State much good land is for sale for less than
the buildings alone originally cost. They think, however, that
their geographical situation in the centre of the Union ought
to enable them to retrieve their position, and they would do so
if they were not ruined by the excessive cheapness of produce
imported from the "West. They all defend the institution of
slavery without reserve, and declare that it often happened
that the masters had to work very hard indeed, while the black
labourers had a life the happiest* easiest, and most free from
care that it is possible to imagine. There is now an income-tax
in Virginia on all incomes, not derived from property, exceeding six hundred dollars per annum, the first six hundred dollars being in all cases exempt. All property is liable to the
property-tax, and this income-tax is merely to catch people
wrho do not pay property-tax, and who in most of the States
are exempt from direct taxation. Some people of the town
say that personal property is very fully taxed ; indeed, even
more so than the land, the land being now valued at a very
low rate. It seems that there is a good deal of evasion of the
income-tax. The assessors are elected, and dare not assess
rigorously. I talked to a member of the Virginian Legislature, which contains a good many men of some substance. He
has both won and lost his seat on the question of the dog-tax,
which is said to be necessary for the protection of the stockbreeders, but is very unpopular. It is imposed in some counties, and not in others. Many people seem to hope that local
and side questions of this kind will take people off from party
divisions and black and white factions. I observe that there
are two or three independent candidates for Congress in this
State. I am told stories of negroes who say they will vote

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291

for a man because he is a 'gentleman.' I learn one thing
which shocks me—that blacks are here systematically excluded
from the juries. This seems to be avowed, the excuse being,
'They have got votes, and we cannot give them everything.'
In the United States Courts blacks are put on the juries, but
not in the Virginian Courts. They say that there are many
free traders here, but free trade is not an active question at
present. The Southern.States are much more occupied with
reconstruction questions. They managed to carry the last
changes of the Virginian Constitution, which gave the whites
some advantages, under cover of disputes with the Federal
Government on greater questions.
I visited the Richmond Institute, a philanthropic establishment for the education of black teachers and preachers.
It seemed to be doing very well. Mr. G
, the principal,
has a high opinion of the negroes, but he admits that they
are not mathematical. He is a Northerner sent by Northern
people to carry on this work. He admits that the men of
Richmond behave veiy well to him, but says that the ladies
are much more bigoted.
I visited Mr. V
's establishment for extracting the
juice of meat in a pure form, without heating or cooking. I
believe that this essence has an extraordinary virtue for
invalids.
I lunched with Mr. B
, and met a large party there.
They were generally pleasant people. The Virginian ladies
are very agreeable, but they denounce in very strong language
General Grant and the Abolitionists and all their works. Mr.
B
is President of the National Bank here. He complains
that the banks are over-taxed. They could lend money at 5
or 6 per cent., if they were not taxed, better than they now
can at 10 per cent. These National Banks are a great question in the United States. At present a large party denounce
them, saying that they have far too favourable terms. They
are allowed to issue bank-notes on deposit of United States
securities; so that their solvency, so far as regards these notes,
is always secured.
After dining with Major P
I went with him to a
great gathering and banquet of the ' Confederate Soldiers of
Northern Virginia,' where we heard a great oration, giving
a military history of a part of the war from the Confederate
point of view.

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MY JOURNAL.

This day concludes my stay in Virginia, and ends a pleasant visit to Richmond. It strikes me that now I have got
into a negro country the servants are more numerous than
in the North. Their style and manners are something like
those of native servants in India. I believe in former days
the Southerners were more English in their habits than some
of the Northerners. Ladies used to ride on horseback ; now
they cannot afford many horses, and private property prevailed here so early that there are not the open sectional
roads that I saw in Illinois. Ladies who attempt to ride or
drive complain of the endless number of gates and want of
open country.
NORTH

CAROLINA.

From Richmond I travelled to Raleigh, the political
capital of North Carolina. It is about 8£ hours' rim by
rail. The country is more or less undulating. A great
deal of it seemed rather poor, with a great deal of wood—
rincipally pine, and some indifferent oaks and other trees,
am told that the original pine of the Southern country is
a very good wood ; but when these trees have been once cut
the second growth, which comes up spontaneously, is generally a tree of an inferior species. Most of the soil seemed to
be reddish and rather light, but a good deal of it is cultivated ; and as we got South cotton became common. The
cotton crop is now ripe upon the ground, and picking is
going on. My general impression of the cotton I saw
was that it gives one the idea of a great extent of cultivation, rather than of very high cultivation. I am told
that the cotton-plant grows very well in this reddish,
lightish soil; in fact, it prefers a light soil, if it have
only a little manure. This country is rather far North
for its cultivation. The largest amount of cotton is by no
means produced from the largest plants. Some very small,
short plants are very heavy with cotton. There is a great
variety in the yield; some fields seeming very heavy, others
very poor.
I noticed many very miserable huts scattered about in
an isolated way among the fields and the woods. They seem
to be mostly of one pattern, and were inhabited both by

f

NORTH CAROLINA.

293

white people and by blacks. I remarked to my fellowpassengers on the wretchedness of these houses, and they admitted that the cottages are certainly very poor; but they say
in the South people are less in need of good houses, as the
climate is more favourable. I understand that these isolated
houses have been built since the war. Before the war the
people—at any rate, the blacks—used to live together in plantation settlements. Since the war both whites and blacks
have got land who had it not before. The two first acquaintances I made both came into these Southern parts with the
Federal army, and stayed at the end of the war. One of
them is an Englishman ; they both seem to be on good terms
writh the people with whom they are engaged in cotton-buying
and such business.
In the cotton-fields I several times noticed white people
at work, but the majority of the cotton cultivators seemed to
be black. White and black children seemed friendly enough
together, but intermarriage is prohibited. It seems, however, that there has been a good deal of intermixture of
races, and many of the coloured people are not pure blacks.
I have heard it said with much truth, that since it is so
there is much ground for legalising intermarriage. The
cotton is all ginned by machinery, and what is called halfpressed. All over the country there are ginning mills and
pressing machines, where the cotton is made up and sent to
the great ports, where it is re-pressed for export. Much of
the cotton seed is used for manure; in fact, the seed makes
the best manure for this crop. I am told the settlers who
have come to North Carolina of late years have, in most
instances, not succeeded very well; they were very often
cheated by land companies, and did not understand the business ; but there are some Northern farmers who have done
very well.
There was a second class on the train chiefly occupied by
negroes, but not exclusively so. I noticed an advertisement
of a travelling agent, who wants ' 150 farmers to go to Texas,5
and offers to engage them 'either on wages or on shares.'
Both my travelling acquaintances, though in some sense carpet-baggers themselves, speak strongly of the evils of the
carpet-bag government of the Southern States.
Raleigh seems to be a pretty country place, with plenty
of flowers and good vegetation. I went to the Yarborough

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MY JOURNAL.

House Hotel, which I found comfortable. Reading the local
papers in the evening, I saw that most of the seats in Congress for this State are contested. I did not see evidence of
any great bitterness. In the papers I noticed an account of
a local county meeting for Wayne County—not a popular
meeting, but only of the County Commissioners, who are-five
in number. The subjects seemed very like those dealt with
by our Local Boards. I remarked the following:—The poorhouse and paupers ; the county gaol; roads and bridges, and
apportionment of labour—in these States the inhabitants are
bound to work on the roads on the system which used to be
called '. Statute labour' in Scotland—; spirit licenses; valuation of property; registration of voters; arrangement of school
districts; appointment of a local constable on a casual vacancy.
It is mentioned that there are nine paupers in the poor-house
—four white and five coloured—and then there is a notice of
small allowances granted to out-paupers.
Later in the evening-1 went to a Democratic meeting,
but it was very cold, and the meeting was thinly attended.
The people were very silent and undemonstrative while the
orator exposed financial questions. He went in for an extended currency, without precisely saying that he meant
greenbacks. He was against protection. He said that the
property of Massachusetts is ten times greater than that of
North Carolina, but the United States' taxation is not in the
same proportion. ' Money,' he said, ' was unjustly appreciated, and everything else depreciated.'
Next day I called on the Governor of the State, Mr.Yance,
who received me very civilly, and with him I found an old
Mr. C
, of Scotch descent, and formerly a rich proprietor,
who had at least a thousand slaves, but who now talks as if
he was terribly reduced. He said that what has protected
people in this State is the homestead law. I afterwards,
however, heard that he is understood to be quite rich, and
that he does not like the homestead law, because it protects
debtors too much. That homestead law is certainly very
much in force here; and Mr. C
described it as saving to
a man just as much land as his neighbours choose to lay out
for him under the valuation clauses, so that, he says, creditors
have suffered more than debtors. I also made the acquaintance of Mr. D
, one of the principal residents, also of his
son, and some other gentlemen. Messrs. D
claim to hold

NORTH CAROLINA.

295

their land under a royal grant, and are Episcopalians, but I
understand that there are comparatively few Episcopalians in
North Carolina, which was not so aristocratic in its origin as
Virginia on the one side, and South Carolina on the other.
Different parts of the State are still held by the descendants
of the original settlers ; very few foreigners ha-ve come in of
late years. The part near the sea was principally occupied by
Englishmen, with blacks under them. Then a great part of
the low-lying country inland towards the borders of South
Carolina is occupied by a large Scotch-Highland settlement,
who, I am told, still speak Gaelic. They are a hard-working
population, who never had many slaves, but worked themselves, getting out timber and growing corn and cotton. Materially speaking, they have not prospered exceedingly; but
they have educated themselves, and do well on the whole.
They are said to have come after the rebellion of '45, and
among them Flora Macdonald. They are Presbyterians. In
another part of the State*there is a strong colony of ScotchIrish. Further West there are many Germans, and much of
the mountainous country in the extreme West is occupied by
Moravians and other such settlers, who used to live a very
rough and isolated life. These people it was who, aided by
a great many deserters and others, rebelled against the Confederate Government during the war, as did many of the
people in Andrew Johnson's country in East Tennessee. In
those days they used to be called ' Bush Whackers.' They
were influenced partly by the old Whig spirit, partly by a
dislike of the war, and partly by a dislike of the .compulsory
service which it was sought to impose upon them. The black
population is most numerous in the low-lying lands in the
eastern part of the State. In the rest, whites are more numerous.
Before the war the most valuable property consisted of
slaves. The direct profit from their work did not suffice to
pay the interest on the capital sunk upon them, and the real
profit was in the increase of the slaves and selling them
away. Old Mr. C
says, with evident pride in his good
management, that by feeding his slaves well and marrying
them judiciously, he used to double their number in twenty
years. After the war the people had neither money nor
stock, and were very badly off indeed. Some of the low
lands, protected by dykes which needed care and labour,

296

MY JOURNAL.

have now been flooded and disused, and in that part of the
country the negroes live by fishing, etc., and only grow a
very moderate amount of cotton and corn. It has been
found, however, of late years that the higher red land, which
was not before supposed to be good for cotton, does grow
it exceedingly well, and very much land has been brought
under cotton which was not so cultivated before, partly by
breaking up new land and partly by substituting cotton for
corn, grass, and pigs. Bacon is now brought from the West
very cheap. This change has especially taken place in the
district about Raleigh, in which very little cotton was grown
before, whereas Raleigh is now a very large cotton mart.
I am told that few large farmers succeed, though some do
more or less, chiefly those wrho have a knack of managing
the negroes. Generally speaking, the most successful are
the smaller farmers, who work themselves with their families.
At first these people were obliged to get advances from
factors and commission agents. 'Now they are getting more
independent, and would do very well if they could only get
a tolerable price for their cotton. Cotton is in these parts
the only crop that brings monej^ except tobacco, which is
cultivated to a considerable extent in one part of this State.
A good deal of the land has changed hands since the war, and
every man who has prudence can get land. Still although
some small people, both white and black, get land of their
own, much more is rented on various terms. Many proprietors cultivate some land themselves, and rent out the rest.
Some proprietors (old Mr. C
, for instance) rent out the
land in large blocks to white farmers, who pay them one-third
of the corn and one-fourth of the cotton, and these white
farmers again (who seem to be a sort of middle men) make
arrangements with the blacks; perhaps they find the mules,
etc., and get two-thirds of the crop. Many blacks again take
farms direct from the proprietors; and these, Mr. C
says,
are the best farmers. Very often rent is paid in the shape of
a fixed quantity of cotton; there is very seldom a money rent.
I have seen a good many cotton-fields near the town, and
talked over the system of cultivation. One mule is sufficient,
the plough being a light one. The crop requires much ploughing, and hoeing and labour, but little machinery. The seed
is drilled in, then ploughed between the drills, and the plants
are thinned out by hoeing like our turnips; in fact, the culti-

NORTH CAROLINA.

297

vation a good deal reminded me of turnip cultivation. Manure
seems to be very generally used. A bale 1 an acre is a very
good crop, but half or three-quarters of a bale is more common. In the lower land further east they get more cotton
to the acre, but it is inferior in quality to the upland cotton,
and the farmers on the lowlands do not seem to be so independent. It is most frequently necessary for the proprietor
to supply everything, and that system generally breaks down
in the end. Here a small farmer can cultivate about twentyfive acres of cotton if he has a family to help him. By far
the greater portion of the land round Baleigh seems to be
under cotton ; one sees large stretches of it. Besides the few
blacks who possess farms of their own, very many own houses
and small patches of land not large enough to make them
independent farmers, and these men work as hired labourers
besides cultivating their patches. I hear no complaint that
the blacks about here are idle. There is no decrease in their
numbers, but owing to their careless habits they are not now
increasing so fast as they used to, nor so fast as the whites.
The disadvantage in regard to labour in these parts is that the
female labour, which was largely available in slave times, is
now lost, as the black women will not work; they like to
copy the whites in this respect, and the preachers have taken
the side of the women. They cook and wash and do household work, but, excepting the cotton-picking at the picking
season, will seldom do field work. Those of the lower class'
of whites who have no energy to rise above the position of
hired labourers are no better off than the blacks, and are not
paid higher, but by far the greater part of the hired labour
is black. In the town, labourers get nearly a dollar a day; in
the country they are hired at eight or ten dollars a month
with a house and rations, or fifty cents a day without rations.
I hear complaints that many of the white people go "West
instead of improving the lands at home; many of the Highlanders have gone west. Here also I am told that the only
complaint against the negroes is that, though generally willing
to work, they are too much inclined to take holidays and
amuse themselves. That is said to be an objection to employing them in mills and places where regular labour is required.
They are apt to go to church meetings or to market the pro1

About 450 lbs.

298

MY J O U E N A L .

duce of their little patches. They drink more than is good
for them, but I do not gather that they are very drunken.
Good land can be bought in these parts at from five to
twelve dollars an acre, but there is much poor land to be had
for one or two dollars. In the hilly part of this State there
is no limestone, and they say that lime is necessary to make
bone and produce a good race of men or animals. At any
rate, they do not fatten cattle very much, but they raise store
cattle in the hilly parts and send them to Virginia. Indian
corn grows well. I am told that it is not considered to be
suited to a tropical climate. Even in the most southerly States
of the Union it is not so good as in the central States. The
rainfall here seems to be very good; it averages upwards of
forty inches per annum, and is pretty regular. Perhaps threefourths of the State is still covered with wood, and most of
this might be cultivated if it were cleared, and manure were
more or less used. A good deal of wheat is grown, but not
much barley or oats.
Governor Vance, though now a Democrat, comes from the
Western hill country, and both he and Mr. C
and others
whom I met seemed to be very well inclined towards the negroes, saying that they often make the best farmers, and generally the best labourers. The Governor says, that on the
whole the black representatives sent to the Legislature are
fairly selected; illiterate they are, but some of them are quite
well-disposed and sensible. He instances as one of the best a
black carpenter who sits in the Legislature, and when not so
engaged works well at his trade. Most of the skilled trades
are in the hands of the whites, but there are black carpenters,
blacksmiths, and bricklayers, and the whites have not attempted
to put them down. In the last State Assembly there were fourteen blacks, and there are still eight of them in the State Legislature. None of the State judges are black, but some of the
county officers are. There is a black prosecuting attorney at
Raleigh, but he is not very good. In this State blacks are
allowed to sit on juries, and do to some extent, but not very
many of them. There is still a very strong social prejudice
against people with any tinge of colour, especially among
ladies, who would not for their lives sit in the same room with
a coloured man. I am told that the last Governor was obliged
to give up his receptions because of the difficulty about the
black members of the Legislature, for if they came no whites

NORTH CAROLINA.

299

would come. The whites have agreed to accept the blacks for
business purposes, but not for social purposes. This State was
originally entirely against secession and war. It was formerly
a very "Whig State, and although afterwards the Democrats
prevailed, when the quarrel between the North and South
came North Carolina voted entirely against secession, till
Lincoln's military measures for the coercion of the South excited the opposition of the more moderate Southerners; then
North Carolina took the Confederate side, and supplied a very
large number of soldiers to the Confederate army. After the
war there was a good deal of bitterness—carpet-bag rule lasted
for some time, and there were Klu-klux organizations against
i t ; but now things have quieted down.
In the present election there are still some ' radical' candidates, and some independent ones; the result of the election
remains to be seen. In this State, also, the blacks have two
or three militia companies, but they are deterred from forming more by the expense. In the present Congress there is
only one Republican from the State, a white man. He was
formerly Governor of the State, and was well liked, but I
understand that he is not to be re-elected. The blacks have
put up candidates of their own, and are likely to elect a black
man if they do not lose the seat by division among themselves,
for two blacks are opposing one another; one of them said to
have been originally a West Indian. In the mountain regions
the white people seem now to be generally Democrats. General Vance, the Governor's brother, is not opposed there.
As in Virginia, there has been a recent revision of the
Constitution, modifying that imposed on the State after the
war—much more so apparently than in Virginia. The State
judges are still elected by the people, but the justices of the
peace are nominated by a committee of the Assembly, and
these justices elect the county commissioners, so that there is
really no popular local self-government except in towns. However, it is said that things are fairly managed, and that by way
of compromise the committee of the Assembly appoint some
of both parties. Under this arrangement some blacks are appointed to office. The blacks are said not to have ' the same
cohesion for purposes of public plunder as the whites.'
Up to 1830 the parties in the United States were Iiamiltonian and Jeffersonian, otherwise, Federal and Republican.
Then they changed their names to those, of Whig and Demo-

800

MY JOURNAL.

crat. But at the time of the war the Whigs gave up, and the
present Republicans took their place, so that, in fact, the title
of Republican has changed sides; the Jeffersonian Republic
cans of former days now being represented by the Democrats,
while the successors of the Hamiltonian federals are called
Republicans.
In North Carolina there was a property qualification for
the franchise up to 1850, and before 1855 any free blacks
possessed of property were admitted to the franchise. After
those dates blacks were excluded, and all whites were admitted. The system of taxation here seems very much like that
in Virginia. Besides the property tax there is an income
tax, from which the necessary expense of living, not to exceed $1,000 in any case, is exempted. . There- is a considerable State debt, but no attempt is made to pay interest upon
it at present. The roads are very bad; apparently there are
no metalled roads in all the State, only the common* earth
roads made by the labour of the people themselves, and very
indifferently made.
The town of Raleigh is, as usual, very scattered, with
broad streets quite unpaved, and a good deal of ornamental
ground about the houses. The population of the place is about
12,000. The Capitol is a fine building, in a commanding
situation. I noticed a very large lunatic asylum, and there
seemed to be a good many other institutions. There are
many whiskey shops, and a good' many churches. The cotton
market is very busy; the general market seems well supplied.
The most common fish in these parts are what are called seatrout ; but I do not think that they are our sea-trout, and
they do not seem very good. I am told that in the streams
in the hill-country there is very abundant trout-fishing.
In the evening I went out to take tea with old Mr. D
who has a very pretty place, with a very nice house, beautiful
grounds, and a most pleasant family. All the arrangements
seemed simple and unpretending, but very nice and comfortable. I had some more talk with the Messrs. D
. They
say local bodies do not borrow very much, because no one
will trust them in these days. A railway is now being made
by the State through the mountain country, principally by
convict labour. I saw in the papers that a man has been
sentenced to death for burglary, and, on enquiry, I find that
burglary is a capital offence in this State, though the capital

NOETH

CAROLINA.

301

sentence may not be very often carried into effect in such a
case. On the other hand, corporal punishment is not used
for minor offences, as it is in Virginia. It seems to be more
profitable to imprison offenders and work them.
The next day I visited the State Agricultural and Geological Museum, established in pursuance of a law which seems
now to be the fashion in most of the States. The Agricultural Commissioner seems to be an active man; he has a very
good agricultural collection, and appears to be doing his best
to improve the staples of the country. He has also some very
useful maps. This State runs a great length from east to
west, and he divides it into three belts. First, the swampy
country to the east, which is rich, but very much of it is
under water or under jungle ; when reclaimed it is very good
for rice and corn and such staples, but, owing to the disrepair of the dykes already mentioned, much of it is in a bad
way. Then, in the centre of the State, is a country of sandy
and red soil, much of it covered with pine trees, but also
very much of it under cotton. This is, in fact, the cotton
belt. Then there is the high country in the west of the State,
with a granite soil and an oak vegetation. There they grow
tobacco and wheat, and raise cotton. They have also a good
many minerals, and hope to have a good many more if the
country is opened out. In the far western corner of this
State is the highest mountain in all the Eastern States,
nearly 7,000 feet high, I think. The hill-country is said
to be very charming. In the Agricultural Collections in
these States I noticed, what I also noticed in the Paris Exhibition, the absence of any collection of Indian products.
I think our Indian Agricultural Department should supply
these. I notice here specimens of the Indian Jawaree, the
Nile Dhoura, and well known in Southern Europe under I
forget what name. It is one of the most widely cultivated
food-grains in the world, but the cultivation does not seem to
have taken root in the States. The specimens here are called
' Pampas-corn.' Sweet potatoes are a very great product in
the Southern States ; they grow to an enormous size, more
like mangolds. There are some good specimens of beet and
mangolds, but I understand that they are not much grown.
The turnips are very poor. Red clover, I understand, grows
well. For fertilizers, besides using the cotton seed, they have
any quantity of good marl and phosphates from the Charleston beds.

302

MY JOURNAL.

I visited Mr. S
, the State Superintendent of Education ; he does not give a very good account of his department.
Education in former days was at a very low ebb, and it does
not seem to have been very much raised. The Constitution
requires that the schools should be kept open for at least four
months in the year, but, owing to want of funds and other
causes, it appears from the last returns that the average time
during which each school was actually open was not more
than eight weeks. But there is some private schooling, and,
perhaps, half of the grown white people can read and write.
Yery many of them, however, are quite ignorant, some even
who hold good farms. The blacks were, at first, very zealous
about education, but seem to be discouraged, and not to be so
zealous now. The Education Department has the greater part
of the State poll-tax, a share of the general property tax, and
the swampy lands which still belong to the State. There
seems to have been some difficulty as to the arrangements for
spending the money, for the last report complains that there
was a balance unspent in several of the counties. Besides the
State schools the blacks have the benefit of a good many
freedmen's schools, still maintained by subscriptions from the
North. The public money for schools is equally distributed
between the white and black schools, per capita. The blacks
have about half as many schools as the whites. About half
of the whole number of children are upon the school rolls,
but the average attendance is only about one-fourth. In this
State the majority of the teachers are males. The Southern whites do not like to teach black children, and it is
necessary either to get Northerners or to employ coloured
teachers.
Mr. D
kindly arranged for me a little trip into the
country to see the farmers. The land generally seemed to be
the light red soil which I before mentioned, undulating and
with much wood about. Cotton is by far the principal cultivation. I thought it certainly not so highly-cultivated a crop
as the cotton I had seen in Egypt, and the land here is infinitely less valuable than land in Egypt; but in many fields
there are this year very good crops, from three-quarters to
one bale per acre. I was interested in a nice little farm of a
black man, who produces in a good season almost twenty
bales of cotton. He was a frank and communicative person ;
he is totally illiterate, but seems to understand his business as

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303

a farmer. He pays 3^ bales of cotton as rent, but does not
know how many acres he has. His cotton crops seemed good,
though much of the land has been sown with cotton seven
years in succession. He also grows some corn and some hay
for his mule ; has no cows, but some pigs. The owner only
found materials for a very poor house, and he put it up. He
holds from year to year without a lease, and says that as the
owner will not improve his house and fences he thinks of trying to get land of his own. Much of the land now under
crop he has himself cleared from wrood, and his rent has been
increased in consequence. Evidently much of the land in
these parts has recently been reclaimed from forest. This man
has one son working with him, who gets a share of the proceeds. His wife and daughters assist more or less at harvest
times. He has only one mule. He has several other sons,
for one of whom he has bought four acres of land on which
the son has established a blacksmith's shop. Another son
works as a farm-labourer at fifty cents a-day, and two others
rent farms in another part of the country. A little further
on we went over the farm of a white man. This is also
rented. The house and farm buildings seemed quite good.
The farmer was a decent man, but a brother who works wTith
him looks dissipated and inferior. H e has a wife and family.
The children go to school. He has a good deal of wood on
his land, and sells wood in the town. The family do not
seem very communicative. I have generally noticed that the
wives of American small farmers are not very free-spoken,
and keep in the background more than such women would in
this country. Besides this brother, the farmer has two hired
servants, one black and the other white; they are paid the
same, and he says that the black is the best. He too pays a
rent in cotton—a fixed quantity. Further on we came upon
a farm of about forty acres, owned by a black. He had a
good house, but the land seemed rather slovenly, not so well
cultivated as the rented farm. We then visited the farm of
a considerable proprietor, who has also a business in the town.
He cultivates himself between 200 and 300 acres, of which he
has 115 acres under cotton. His old father looks after the
farm here. He follows a system of rotation of crops more or
less, but not very strictly. He sometimes grows cotton two
or three years in succession without any change. He has a
ginning mill; a white man has charge of that. The rest of

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MY JOURNAL.

his labourers are black. He keeps a good number of Alderney cows, and raises them for sale. His land is all* well
fenced.
We met many men with carts bringing in produce, some
white and some black; they seemed very much on an equality.
On the roads of the town I saw white and black men working
together. I noticed that the favourite amusement with the
negro boys seems to be to drill as mock soldiers, with sticks
and flags and wooden muskets.
I visited Mr. T
, head of the Shaw Institute, a college
maintained by Northern subscription to educate black teachers.
The buildings are good, and it seems a successful institution.
Mr. T
says his pupils turn out well. He is a Bostonian,
served in the war, and is now rather bitter in his political talk.
He takes a gloomy view of the prospects of the blacks, and is
much in favour of their going to Liberia. He says there is no
justice in the courts either for Northern men or for blacks,
especially since the local self-government of places populated
by blacks has been put an end to under the revised Constitution. He also says that the blacks are much cheated in regard
to contracts and wages due ta them. In these Southern States
it is considered to be enough for a debtor to say that he has
no money. I fear there is much truth in the complaint about
the frequent non-payment of wages. Mr. T-=
says he is
quite isolated; he has no sympathy from the people here.
He has a bad opinion of the present State Government, but
a worse opinion of the carpet-bag and negro politicians. He
says the negro members of the present Assembly are rascals,
as are also their candidates for Congress. He would rather
vote for a Democrat than for any of them. He has some
building work going on; the master-mason is a black, and two
white men are among the workmen; but this is an exceptional
case, and could not ordinarily occur. He thinks the blacks are
rather slow in intellect and deficient in enterprise, but they are
otherwise good. Many .of them are very religious, but many
others have very little idea of the Christian religion.
Every American State has a Secretary of State under the
Government. I made the acquaintance of the Secretary of
State here. He is by birth a Mississippian, and was editor of
a Democratic paper at 'Wilmington, the port of North Carolina. Journalists are not confined to their own vocation so
much as with us ; they often rise to high political offices.

NORTH CAROLINA.

305

I also made the acquaintance of a gentleman of fine presence
and highly civilised manners, who seemed to be a survivor of
the higher class of proprietors. He seems to have preserved
his fine estates in South Carolina in spite of the troubles, and
he maintains a great stud of horses and other attributes of
grandeur. He offered to drive me over to South Carolina in
his four-in-hand drag, and to show me the humours of a
Carolinian election. I thought I had at last found an opportunity of seeing one of the Southern aristocratic establishments, and accordingly accepted his invitation with joy; but
at the time when the final arrangements were to be made, he
did not appear; and, on enquiry, I found that people talked
irreverently of him as ' Spanish B
,' and hinted that he
had a good many chateaux in Spain. Next morning, he still
did not turn up, so I thought it prudent not to wait, and
followed out my own plans. This was the only ' sell' of the
kind I had during my tour.
I have been looking at the revised Constitution of this
State, and at the laws passed in the last biennial session of
the Legislature—that of 1876-77; also those of one previous
session—1868-69. By this constitution jury trial may be
waived in civil cases, and petty misdemeanours may be tried
without jury, provided in such case there is the right of
appeal. Judges and judges' clerks are elected for eight and
four years respectively. No decree can be executed against
the State. The revenue is to be raised by a tax on all
property, an income-tax, licence taxes, and a poll-tax on all
males between the ages of 21 and 50, not exceeding in
amount the property-tax on $300, and also not exceeding
two dollars per poll for the State and county together. Threefourths of the poll-tax is to go to education, and one-fourth
to the support of the poor. Towns are allowed to impose
special taxes for schools, both on property and on polls. No
more money may be borrowed by the State unless a special
tax is at the same time raised and pledged to pay off the loan.
Local bodies may borrow only after a plebiscite. The education of blacks and whites. is to be separate. The Assembly
may pass a compulsory education law, but has not done so
yet. The Assembly is to arm and keep up the militia.
Black companies are to be kept separate from white ones.
Property of debtors is to be exempt from execution for debt
to the extent of $500, in the case of personal property,
20

306

MY JOURNAL.

and homesteads to the value of $1,000. E"o deed for the
sale of a homestead is valid without the consent of the wife.
The session of the Legislature is limited to sixty days. Notwithstanding the shortness of the session, the mass of legislation got through is marvellous. Perhaps in the two sessions
I have examined it may be larger than usual because a
Revised Constitution had been passed shortly before each of
these sessions ; but at any rate the Statute Book shows great
activity and frequent dealing, in accordance with popular
wants, with questions we should hardly touch by legislation.
In the session of 1876-77, two hundred and ninety-three public
Acts were passed, besides one hundred and fourteen private
Acts. In the session of 1868-69 two hundred and eighty-three
public Acts were passed, and of these latter very many were
large and important Acts. Among the Acts of 1876-77 I
notice the following:—An Act to give effect to the new
system of county and local government by nomination
through a committee of the Assembly, as previously noticed;
several Acts regulating judicial functions, jurisdiction, and
machinery; consolidated revenue and school Acts; a valuation Act; an election Act; an Act establishing hypothec in
favour of landlords; a strict Sunday-closing Act, without any
bond fide traveller or other such exemptions, except for
medical prescriptions (but I am told that the Act is a good
deal evaded); several Acts to prohibit altogether the sale of
liquor in certain localities, as, for instance, within two miles
of certain churches and institutions, or other similar areas;
and one Act to enable the people of a particular locality to
decide by vote whether liquor shall be sold or not; an Act to
regulate the employment of prisoners and the letting them
out for hire; several Acts to enable particular counties to
levy special taxes; many Acts incorporating towns or
amending and regulating the constitution of towns; many
Acts to settle local boundaries, local drainage questions, and
the like; several Acts to relieve the people of particular
localities of any hindrance to grazing on unenclosed lands, restraining excessive weighing charges, and the like ; a good
many Acts to relieve public officers, corporations, or individuals from pecuniary or other liabilities; (most frequently
these are to give indemnity to sheriffs, for proceedings not
directly legal); several Acts to incorporate railway companies ; principally to make small branch railways—some of

NORTH

CAROLINA.

307

them narrow-gauge lines—and to enable counties and corporations to subscribe to such railways. There is a curious
game law to prohibit the exportation of partridges or quails,
dead or alive, from counties near railways, on the ground
that they are useful for the destruction of insects. There is
Very much game in this part of the country; large bags of
partridges are got. Some of the lands are ' posted,' that is
preserved ; others are practically free to sportsmen. There is
another Act, supplementary to a former one, for the protection of deer in certain localities.
I have talked about this legislation with a lawyer who
seems to be of the Conservative persuasion. He says that
there is a great deal too much legislation—that localities and
individuals get too much done in this way, and that there is
too much meddling. Acts of this kind are settled out of the
Legislature by bargaining and give and take, and the more
general Acts are settled by party caucus before being brought
into the Legislature. After they are brought in all Bills are
referred to committees, and after being dealt with by them
are generally carried in the Assembly without much debate.
The cloture, or as they call it, ' the previous question,' is
much used. The limitation of the session to sixty days is a
recent change—it used to be longer. The legislation is, he
says, very loose. The Revised Code was very loosely passed,
and both that and many of the subsequent Acts give much
trouble to the lawyers. He seems rather a pessimist upon
the subject. I have not been able quite to understand the
difference between the public and private Acts, except that
the latter are of a minor character, e.g., to incorporate small
towns and villages and Masonic Lodges and other institutions.
One is to establish a ' Camping Ground' as a corporation ;
apparently these camping grounds are kept for religious
meetings. A good many of these Acts are about toll and
ferry dues.
I spent the Sunday here. In the morning I went to a
black church, but was not very fortunate, as there had been
some division among the congregation, and the place was
thinly attended. In the evening I found a better congregation at another church. The preacher was very loud, emphatic, and earnest, but there was not very much cohesion in
what he said; the singing was good. I went out with Mr.
B
to see a large vineyard that he has started. He makes

308

MY JOURNAL.

very fair wine, but only the native American vines succeed—
the French vines have quite failed—blight greatly affects
them and other fruit trees. This does not seem to be much
of a fruit country. Talking about cotton, I am told that it is
a very hardy plant, and does not suffer from occasional
droughts. They say that not only has the cultivation of
cotton in these parts increased in area, but that it is also
much better cultivated than it was before the war. They
now get* here crops which before the war were only got in the
Mississippi Valley. In the case of rented farms it is a matter
of bargain who is to supply the manure. There are no leases
and no tenant-rights—but unfortunately the manures of
commerce do not last much more than one year. Mr. B
says the black people are very good and moderate in their
way of living. They do not eat too much meat—more affect
a vegetable diet, and are healthy in consequence ; but they
are very careless in cases of sickness, and wanting in kindness
to one another when they are ill. In the Municipality of
Kaleigh there are eleven whites and six blacks. The black
councillors do very well, says Mr. B
. He himself is in
the Council, and having had occasion to differ from some of
his colleagues had the support of the blacks.
I am surprised to see how little excitement there is in
regard to the contested election which is to take place the
day after to-morrow. There are no placards, and few signs
of a struggle going on.
jSText day I started for Salisbury, a place in this State
considerably to the west. The country is still undulating,
with a mixture of wood and cultivation. ¥ e came to the district where tobacco is largely grown, and stopped some time at
Durhams, the centre of the tobacco manufacture. I had an
opportunity of going over one of the factories—in fact, one of
the largest manufactories of smoking tobacco in the United
States. They also manufacture what is called snuff, but it is
not really taken as snuff; it is chewed. They tell me that a
fine quality of this snuff is very much used by American
ladies, who put it in their mouths on the pretext of its being
good for the teeth, but they really chew it, and so consume
large quantities. I never could get anyone to admit this
practice, but so said the manufacturers. Here also almost
all the work is done by blacks, but certain departments—
namely, the weighing and finishing off the packages—are ex-

NORTH CAROLINA.

309

elusively in the hands of white men. Employers never can
trust the blacks with anything which requires careful attention and accuracy.
Travelling along I noticed both black and white men in
the fields and cottages, but apparently the blacks are in the
majority. They seemed to be the main labouring population.
The country seems very raviney, and if the land is not cared
for it is apt to run out into ravines, as frequently happens
in the hands of careless tenants. I gather that it frequently
happens that when land has been over-cropped it is abandoned to wood for a time—in all this country wherever it is
let alone wood springs up.
I stopped at the Haw River to see the cotton mills there.
They carry out the whole process of manufacture, from cleaning the cotton as it comes loose from the fields to the manufacture of the cloth and the dyeing of it, in the same not
very large establishment. The mills are worked by water
power, as is always the case in this part of the country. All
the Atlantic States have the advantage of an unlimited water
power, the country sloping from the Alleghanies to the sea
with many running streams, and being in this respect a great
contrast to most of the country west of the Alleghanies. In
the mills all the labour is white—there are no blacks employed ; they are said not to be sufficiently careful. At any
rate it is not the habit to employ them. Colonel H
, the
manager of the mill which I visited, first said that the labour
wras excellent, but coming to details he found a good many
faults with his people, and said that he had just turned off
several families for irregular attendance by way of example.
I was surprised to hear that the working hours are twelve
hours a day. That system is fully enforced. The people
work from seven in the morning to half-past seven in the
evening, with only half-an-hour for dinner. This really
seems too much, and I gather that"it is very doubtful whether
more is done in twelve hours than by those who work only
ten hours. This Southern master seemed to me to be more
severe with his work people than an English master could be.
Perhaps he is too much of a military man. The women earn
about fifty cents a day, the men from seventy-five cents to a
dollar. The Southern mills seem to have taken, in relation
to those of the North, much the same position which the
Indian mills do to those of Lancashire. They manufacture

310

MY JOURNAL.

only the coarser qualities of goods, leaving the finer qualities
to the Northern mills. They claim that they have a better
climate in the South, with less extremes of heat and cold,
fewer short days, and less need of fuel and lights ; and they
have great advantage, they say, not only in the saving in the
carriage of cotton, but also in that they are saved the serious
expense of packing it. Their labour, too, is cheaper than
that in the North.
Here I went out to see the farm of Mr. B
, a New Jersey
man, who has lately established a farm of six hundred acres,
principally with the object of breeding horses. The road, as
usual, I find detestable, but Mr. B
says the New Jersey
roads are good—they have a good gravel soil there. Pasture
and cattle-breeding have been somewhat neglected in these
Southern States, and he hopes to show them the way to improve. He has a very high opinion of the black people—
likes them as labourers, and thinks they only need to be
treated fairly and civilly to get good work out of them; in
fact, they work as well as white men, and better: and the
only complaints against them come from those who do not
treat them fairly nor pay them regularly. He, too, says
that there is great irregularity in the payment of wages.
His only doubt is about the rising generation. He thinks
the old ex-slaves wTho were accustomed to work do very well,
but the children are not sufficiently under the control of their
parents, and are growing up with an indisposition to work.
He is strong on the excellence of the climate here about 800
feet above the sea. It is never so hot in summer, he says, as
in the Northern Atlantic States. The thermometer does not
usually rise above 80 degrees, and the winters are mild and
good. There seems to be no doubt that there is a great change
in the winter climate as one passes South through Yirginia
into the Oarolinas and Georgia.
I had met in the train an old Scotchman, Mr. M
, who
has been upwards of forty years settled in this State. He is
a builder by trade, and has done much work of that kind, but
has now acquired land and settled down. He took me to dine
with a friend, Mr. H
, who keeps a store at Haw River,
and who is married to a New England wife. This lady gave
us a very nicely-cooked meal, very neatly served. Throughout
the States it does seem that the New England people are in
many respects superior. Mr. M
very kindly insisted on

NORTII

CAROLINA.

311

taking me to his house at Salisbury, where I was most comfortably accommodated. In the morning we walked about the
5
town, which seemed a nice rural place. Mr. M
s wife is
also a New Englander, but they are all now thoroughly Southern in feeling, both as to the war and as to the question of
slavery. According to Mr. M
the Northerners were the
first slave-holders, and when they found that slaves were not
a profitable property in the North they sold them South, and
went in for abolition. In the war the North Carolinian people
did not go heartily with the South till their feelings got
embittered by the great destruction of property and other illusages to which they were subjected by the Northern armies.
A sister of his own was burnt out by the Federal soldiers and
died from exposure. He and his son-in-law, who is also a contractor for public works, told me a good deal about the blacks,
whom they have much employed. They decidedly like them
as labourers. In the North the white men get higher wages
and do more work. There they will not allow the competition of the negro ; especially the foreigners—Irishmen being
most prominent—will not; but the Southern climate is too
hot for the Irish—they do not care to come South ; while the
Southern whites not being anxious to work as hired labourers,
do not object to the negroes performing that function. Thus
the blacks are not bull-dosed on labour questions, and altogether get on very well. Wages in the South are certainly a
good deal lower than in the North, and the negroes can live
on much cheaper and poorer food than the Northern whites.
Most of the Southern whites have land more or less, and many
of them employ, or hope to employ, negroes. They are always
glad to hire them when they can afford to do so. The better
and more moderate of the Southern whites certainly wish to
conciliate and utilise the negroes.
Mr. M
, wdiile speaking so well of the negroes in other
respects, dwelt very much on that which I had before heard,
their want of family affection and kindness to one another in
sickness. He tells the story of a son whom he nursed through
small-pox, and who was then set to nurse his own father who
had taken the disease, but deserted the father and left him to
die. There seems to be a general concurrence of assertion, that
in slave times it was necessary for the white masters and mistresses to see that the black children were looked after and that
the sick were nursed. Now these things are much neglected.

312

MY JOUKNAL.

Mr. M
lias a good deal of land. Part of it is farmed
"by one of his sons, who is also a medical man. Part is let to
a black man on shares, and part to a white man. The great
difficulty, he says, is the tendency to let down the land. We
visited a suburb almost entirely inhabited by blacks. Most of
these people own their own house and patches of land—some
one, some two, some three, some six acres, and they seem to
get on very well. Many of them appeared to be of mixed
blood. One man was quite fair with blonde hair, but quite
woolly. Several among them are blacksmiths ; they affect
that trade a good deal.
Having occasion to send a telegram here, I noticed the excessive charge—one dollar for eight words to New York. I
have since found that this is so in all out-of-the-way places.
The telegraphs in the United States are entirely in the hands
of monopolist private companies, and they charge just in proportion to the absence of competition. There is no fixed rule
with reference to distance, or anything else.
This is the day of the general election. I went to see the voting. There is a contest between two white candidates, but one
of them is an Independent and seems to be supported by the
blacks. There is little sign of excitement. The ballot-box is
kept at an open window, and the proceedings are conducted
in a loose sort of way. Half a dozen people, officials and
others, are in the room behind the box. There is no pretence
of secrecy in regard to the ballot papers. Papers with the
names of the candidates are lying about. Each voter takes
one and gives it to be put into the box. I understand they
generally pride themselves on voting openly. The blacks
seem to be voting freely; there is no sign of intimidation.
After breakfast I started for South Carolina.
SOUTH

CAROLINA.

I entered the ' Petrel' State of South Carolina on the
day of the election, and the first station in that State that we
came to was full of people dressed in the famous red shirt,
which we also saw continually at all the stations as we came
along. In this part of the State there does not seem to be a
very serious contest; it is only in the lower regions, where
the black population is very numerous, that there is any

SOUTH CAROLINA.

313

doubt about the result of the elections. The constitution of
South Carolina is still that which was imposed upon it after
the war. It has not been revised, and is still of the popular
character dictated by Northern ideas. All the county and
local officers are elected ; there is no such system of nomination as prevails in North Carolina. Here the elections for
Congress, for the State Assembly, and for the local offices, all
take place together,—are all entered in one 'ticket.' Mr.
"Wade Hampton, the present Governor, is a moderate Democrat, and his re-election is not opposed on this occasion.
Where there is a serious contest it is in regard to the members of Congress and State Assembly, and the local officers.
Red shirts now seem to be only a party badge. I saw no
appearance of actual ' bull-dosing,' but there were many
signs of election-day—many people about, a good deal of
talking and shouting and galloping about on horseback, and
some few symptoms of whisky. There were a good many
negroes about, and they did not * look terrorised. There is no
need to terrorise them just here, as they have no chance—the
whites having it all their own way. A few blacks go with the
Democrats, and I saw one or two of them wearing the red shirt.
On my arrival in Columbia, the capital of the State, in the
evening, things seemed pretty quiet: the election had passed
without any serious trouble.
The country between Salisbury and Columbia is still
much like what I had before seen, but it became almost
hilly. The tobacco country was left behind a long way back.
All this through which I pass to-day is principally cotton
country. Much of the cotton plant is very short and small,
but apparently very productive ; many fields are at this time
very heavy with cotton. It is quite a profitable cultivation
when an average of half a bale an acre is obtained. If some
fields yield a good deal more, there is also a good deal of
poor cultivation which does not yield more than a quarter of
a bale, or even less than that. Cotton requires much weeding, and if that is neglected the result is bad. On all hands
I am told that the cotton cultivation has greatly extended
in the upper country. It now grows right up to the ' Blue
Mountains,' as they are called. Some is cultivated by whites,
but more on land owned by whites, with the aid of black
labour.
I. met in the train a Canadian barrister taking his family

314

MY J O U R N A L .

to Aikin in Georgia. Some places in Georgia, and -Still more
in Florida, are great health resorts for northern people. In
the winter the climate there is said to be very good. This
gentleman gives a very favourable account of the state of
things in Canada. According to him they have a selection
of the best of English and American institutions. They
have free elections, and a fair representation of all classes,
but the judges and most of the higher public officers are
nominated by the Dominion Government. Now-a-days, he
says, almost no one in Canada is favourable to annexation to
the States. The Church of England was disestablished in
1848. The clergy got life-rents of their incomes, and were
allowed to commute. The Church in Canada is now exceedingly well off. The proximity of the great lakes, which never
freeze, makes the climate of Upper Canada milder than that
of other northern regions, but rather damp. He is altogether
against the idea of a Customs Union with the United States.
l i e says the manufacturing interest in Canada is not very
strong, but the people of the States are determined to ruin it
by underselling them, and that cannot be allowed.
After one has heard so much about the deplorable state of
things in South Carolina, I am struck wTith the good and prosperous appearance of the country towns along the road. Several new railways are in process of construction—one that I saw
was narrow gauge—in fact, in America narrow gauge railways
seem to be a good deal in favour for short branches and broken
ground. In spite of all their misfortunes and of the constant
complaints of want of money, people seem to be recuperating
themselves wonderfully.
At Columbia I went to the Wheeler House Hotel, the principal in the place, a respectable hotel, but not quite up to the
mark of those I had hitherto seen. I am relieved to find that
mosquitoes have not yet made their appearance.
Next morning I found an account of the elections in the
papers. As there are no Republican papers here, one cannot
hear that side. The local papers assert that this has been the
quietest election ever known. There has been no violence,
only some attempts at fraud on the part of the blacks, which
have been promptly and properly repressed. I observe, however, that it is admitted that at several places the United
States supervisor, who is entitled to be present at each polling
place, has protested against the rejection of black votes. At

SOUTH CAROLINA.

315*

one place near this some young men are said to have done good
service by putting a stop to the frauds of the blacks. It is
suggested that some black employes who voted wrong must be
dismissed. It seems to be assumed that all the elections in
this State have certainly gone in favour of the Democrats.
That was indeed a foregone conclusion.
After breakfast I went to the Capitol—there is always a
Capitol in each State—and paid my respects to Governor
Wade Hampton, to whom I had an introduction. He is generally reputed to be a very superior man, and evidently has
great influence. Originally a Carolina man, he had also large
property in Mississippi, like a good many others of the rich
people in this part of the country; but he was quite ruined
by the war. Cotton, being the great resource of the Southern
States, was captured or burnt by the Federal Armies, and he
lost 5,000 bales. He now lives, I understand, in a cottage in
a humble way. All his conversation gave one the idea of a
very moderate man. His private secretary and nephew, Mr.
M
, however (a gentleman who kindly gave me much information), is a pessimist. He will have it that both in South
Carolina and in the Mississippi Valley cultivation has on the
whole decreased. The coast lands of this State, and the sugar
lands of Louisiana have, he says, gone to rack and ruin, and he
tells of the enormous depreciation of property in New Orleans
and on the banks of the Mississippi. He admits, however, the
extension of the cotton cultivation in the higher parts of the
' State, but says that there is a great deal too much of it, and it
does not pay. Mr. Wade Hampton talks very strongly of the
misconduct and fraud of the carpet-bag Government which
was displaced last year. At one time, he srrs, 98 out of 124
members of the Assembly were blacks, and there was unlimited fraud and stealing. He gave me the report of the committee appointed to investigate these frauds. The debt of the
State, he says, is not so very large—about seven million dollars;
he would rather pay than repudiate. Meantime, while the
matter is under the consideration of the Legislature, the money
for the interest is lodged in the Treasury. Although the
county officers are elected, it seems that the justices of the
peace are nominated by the Governor, and are now mostly
Democrats, but some of the other side are nominated also.
Some blacks are put upon juries, but not many. < We give
them more than they gave us,' says Mr. M
.

316

MY JOURNAL.

The Governor speaks of the black population in terms similar to what I had heard before. He says the better class of
whites certainly want to conserve the negro ; the lower whites
are less favourable, and will not admit them to social equality ;
but the bitterness is only political and not carried into labour
questions.
I had a good deal of talk with several gentlemen in the
office, or who happened to be about the Capitol. They all
admit that the ballot at elections is an utter farce, and that
there is no* pretence at secrecy. A common dodge is to print
tickets in imitation of those of the enemy, and to foist them
upon illiterate voters of the other side. More frequently the
ballot is ' stuffed' by putting in several thin tickets wrapt together. The rule is that if more vote tickets are found in the
box than the number of voters the excess number is drawn out
by a man blindfolded for the purpose. He can very well distinguish the tickets of his own party; they are generally on a
different kind of paper. They gave me one of the Democratic
tickets used in the present election for this county of Richland.
It is a piece of the thinnest tissue paper, about a couple of
inches long by an inch broad, upon which are printed the
names of the whole of the candidates for the various offices
and seats in the Legislature. This ticket comprises the vote
for the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State,
State Superintendent of Education, Comptroller-General, Adjutant and Inspector-General, State Treasurer, Attorney-General, member of Congress for the third district, one State Senator, five representatives of the county in the State Assembly.
Local School Commissioner, and three county Commissioners,
They say there never was an election without fraud, and some,
no doubt, there was on this occasion. A young man, evidently
one of those referred to in the newspaper paragraph which I
have mentioned, says he went to a polling place about six
miles distant. The negroes were very disappointed in the belief that they were losing the election, and there was much
fear of their becoming violent and smashing the ballot-boxes.
Fifteen or twenty young whites banded together for the protection of the boxes, lighted a fire and sang songs. Presently
the negroes, finding they could do nothing, came round and
joined in the songs, and so all went well. They speak very
bitterly of the independent candidates. They say more stress
is laid on the election for Congress than on those for the State

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317

Assembly, because the next Presidential election may depend
a good deal upon the majority in Congress. The negroes are
amenable to the whites in all things except elections. In election matters they have taken an independent line, and insist
upon voting Republican. The preachers influence them very
much, and also the negro women, who are very strong Republicans. These women used to believe that if a Democrat governor were elected they would not be allowed to wear veils,
and that is a privilege of freedom which they prize greatly.
My informants account, however, for their victory in the elections by saying that they managed to influence many of the
blacks. They agreed among themselves that each man should
bring at least one negro to the poll and as many more as possible. They suggest that many negroes, though ostensibly
voting Republican in order to deceive their wives and preachers, really voted Democratic, their own inclination being that
way. They say the red shirt was merely a political emblem
got up in mockery of some phrase about ' bloody shirts' used
by an Indiana senator. It never meant anything more serious.
The Ku-klux was at one time bad, but not so very bad; they
sometimes tarred and feathered, but seldom murdered. In
short, South Carolina is altogether not so black as it has been
painted, according to their account.
After the labours of the election campaign the Governor is
going out hunting for two or three days, and I have not had
the opportunity of seeing very much of him, but he has been
very friendly, and has given me introductions to the county of
Beaufort, where the negroes are thickest, and where he advises
me to go if I want to see a negro county. What they call
hunting in America is not hunting in our sense, but shooting;
either ordinary shooting, or drives for big game. This hunting expedition turned out very disastrous for poor Governor
Hampton. Riding to a place where he expected the deer to
pass, he was thrown in the forest, and his leg smashed in a
frightful manner. He. was entirely alone, and remained on
the ground for hours before he was discovered, though he
managed too keep firing his gun to attract attention. He was
long in a very precarious state. I much hope that he has
quite recovered.
Walking out in the neighbourhood of the town, I got into
conversation with a coloured man, apparently connected with
the city waterworks, and I talked to him about the election.

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JOURNAL.

He says the Democrats were to win in this district: that was
known, but it was done by the fraudulent stuffing of the ballotboxes. The Republicans really have a majority of 2,500, and
the coloured people have voted steadily on the Republican
side, but they are cheated because they have not the control of
the ballot-boxes. He too explained the mode of stuffing the
boxes and the other dodges as I had heard them before. ' He
says that while the Republicans were in power they allowed a
fair representation of the other side, but now that the Democrats have got into power they control all the returning officers,
and take everything, leaving nothing for the other side. He
seemed a very sensible, intelligent man, and his story appears
at least as good as that told on the other side.
This place suffered terribly when it was taken by Sherman's army, and it is a hotly-disputed question whether the
firing and destruction were dcme by Sherman's troops or by
the Confederates themselves to prevent the cotton, &c, falling
into Sherman's hands. My black friend attributes the injury
to Columbia to the Confederates, but does not put it in an unreasonably wicked light. The town seems now to have very
much recovered from the destruction. It has been much
rebuilt, and looks very well. Many of the best houses were
built by the carpet-bag officials. The Capitol seems a fine
building; all the public offices are in it, as is usually the case.
There are wide grassy streets lined with good trees, many of
them magnolias and other southern plants. The houses have
pretty grounds about them, and I notice some particularly
thriving deodars. The situation of the town is pretty, upon a
considerable river. The country about is very well wooded, and
the woods are now beautifully coloured, the autumnal tints being at their best. I notice several varieties of fir trees. Cows
graze freely about on the grassy avenues. There are several
iron works here, where they make small engines and do other
such work. It is remarkable how the iron trade seems to be
developing throughout the States. I understand that in all
these works except one, they employ exclusively white labour.
There are no mills on the fine river here, but there is a small
canal which it is proposed to enlarge as a State work in the
hope of establishing mills. Apparently, there is not in this
State the prohibition against undertaking public works which
has recently been put into the Constitution of a good many
States.

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I looked into the Penitentiary: the system seems rather
loose, and intramural labour does not pay. There were from
ten to twelve black men to one white-, but they all work
together.
Lotteries are prohibited in most of the States, including
this; but I saw that the Louisiana State Lottery, drawn
monthly, is everywhere largely advertised.
Mr. T
, Superintendent of Education, kindly took me
out for a drive. The place seems altogether very nice, and
the climate very good. The carpet-baggers have now almost
entirely disappeared, and the best of the houses are for sale
cheap. A good many have been bought by Northern people,
who come to reside here for the sake of the climate.
Mr. T
gives a tolerable account of the education in
this State, but besides the difficulty of obtaining efficient
superintendence and efficient schoolmasters, there is a very
great difficulty about money. Tiie schoolmasters are paid by
certificates of indebtedness, and thus are heavily in arrears.
While Southerners can hardly be got to teach blacks, good
Northerners will not come on these terms, especially as they
are only employed for a few months in the year. Such as
they are, the schools are open for three, four, or five months.
A very sad thing here is the beautiful university buildings
and college-close, like one of the best of English colleges, but
now quite given up. It seems that before the war this University was exceedingly good and had a high reputation, but
the funds were lost or stolen, and of late years it has been a
question with the Legislature whether to provide for the payment of debts, or to spend money on education. The former
policy prevailed, and education has been neglected. There is
still kept up the beautiful college library, and the fine old
ex-president of the college gets a small living as librarian. He
says that the difficulty about setting up the college again arises
from this—that the people of the different churches have set
up sectarian colleges of their own, and are against this general
college.
For want of funds the Agricultural and Survey Departments, for which the Constitution provides, have not yet
been started in this State. Mr. T
says that the school
poll-tax is not half collected, and the property tax is very
irregularly collected—and what is paid is generally paid in
debt-certificates or notes of a bankrupt State Bank. By this

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constitution non-payment of taxes does not deprive of the
right of voting. The negroes are zealous to learn and are
getting on a good deal, but, like others he says they are decidedly inferior to white men beyond a certain point. The
carpet-baggers at first tried mixed schools, but even they did
not continue that long; it was found necessary to separate
them. Some of the mulattos and free blacks were better off
before the war than they are now. They suffered in their
property like everyone else during the war. The enfranchised
slaves do not care for them, and none of them now are leading men. One great difficulty about schools is that the local
school managers are continually changed at every election—
even without change of party, people often change their local
officers.
I visited Dr. C -, the Northern President of the Benedict Institute for blacks. He seems a very fair and moderate
man. Talking of the elections, he says that the blacks saw
that the tide was going against them—they had no leaders
and no organisation, and had no funds for election purposes—
it is characteristic of them under such circumstances to show
no energy. They have caved in and allowed themselves to
be beaten by fair means or foul.
He, too, thinks that the intellect of the blacks is inferior
to that of whites, but among the blacks there are some who
are very superior, and the mulattos are better than the ordinary blacks. He understands that in slave times the slaveholders used to distinguish between different races of blacks,
some being intellectually as well as physically superior to
others; but they are now so mixed up that the races can
hardly be distinguished. I walked out with him, and saw a
large negro location. In most cases houses and small patches
of land were owned by the people themselves, and they
seemed tolerably well-to-do. Dr. C
, however, says that
they do not save much; they are certainly wanting in thrift
and prudence, spend money as they get it, and live from hand
to mouth. We came upon a row of very nice regular houses,
and on inquiry I found that after emancipation these houses
were given to the negroes by their late master. This master
was a General P
, whose acquaintance I afterwards made.
He is about the most charming old gentleman I have yet seen
in America—English of the best kind in speech and manner.
He has been intimate with many of our most distinguished

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321

men. H § claims that, if they had been left alone emancipation would have been brought about in a beneficial way in
course of time. As it is, there have been frightful upheavals
and great injustice in achieving that object; but he now
hopes for the best. The negroes hereabouts have, he says,
sometimes difficulty in finding work. They cannot get on
without the white man's guidance—with that they do very
well.
I had also an opportunity of conversing with a coloured
preacher, a clever and influential man. l i e seems, however,
very extreme in his views. He says that during the election
there was gross intimidation, and much unfair influence, but
in spite of it all the blacks voted Republican as solid as ever.
Nevertheless, the boxes were stuffed and the majority stolen.
The election commissioners are all on one side, and so are
the newspapers, and they openly published violent threats.
The negroes will never get justice; there is nothing for them
but to go to Liberia. There is an extreme party here opposed
to Mr. Wade Hampton, of which General Geary is the leader.
He openly says that the blacks were made by God to till the
soil, and may do that, but they cannot be allowed to vote and
hold land, else they would be masters, and the whites slaves.
Wages are, he says, low here. In some country parts labourers do not get more than six dollars a month, besides rations,
and that is not paid. He does not think much of Wade
Hampton. He is only a politician, and is moderate for the
sake of place. He does not deny that, politics apart, white
and black people get on together well enough; but the latter
will never have their proper share of power. He says juries
are not fairly constituted—nine-tenths of them are always
whites. Even under the Carpet-baggers all the Judges were
white. Throughout the United States all elections and all
administrations are corrupt, and not likely to be better—all is
bad.
I have been inquiring about the tenure of land. Here, as
elsewhere, large farms seldom succeed. Most of the whites
have land, more or less. Some are good, but others are a poor
lot, uneducated and unthrifty, especially a class, of whom there
are many in the district near this, called ' Sand-hillers.' They
are said to be the descendants of assigned convicts of former
days. They have poor farms and poor soil; what little work
they do they do themselves; they have no servants. They

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bring wood into the town for sale. I saw a good many of
them, and certainly they are a poor-looking set. About forty
per cent, of the white voters here cannot write their names.
The blacks have as. yet got comparatively little land of their
own, and chiefly cultivate as tenants on various terms, generally on the share system; but, as I have elsewhere noticed,
they have very frequently houses and small patches. There
is now great abundance of land for sale in this State; but
wages are very low, and, under the Carpet-bag Government,
taxation was very high, so that there was not much chance
of saving, and few have money to buy land. The black
preacher says a good many blacks have bought land and paid
for it, but have been cheated out of it, the titles proving to
be bad.
I have been talking about the churches, asking whether
the black and white churches go together under the same
system of Church government. It seems that most of the
churches here are Baptist, and chiefly on the congregational
system. The Methodists have a Church system, but they are
divided into North and South, and black and white Churches.
There is no general organisation common to both. The
Presbyterian black Churches, however, send delegates to the
General Presbyterian Assembly.
There seems now no doubt that the Democrats have carried all the elections throughout this State. There has been
no sort of compromise; they have taken everything—Congress, State, Assembly, and all the county offices, excepting
only in Beaufort County. Those districts where the blacks
are ten to one have now returned Democrats.
I gather that the United States election supervisors were
a poor lot—often coloured m e n ; and they were frequently
hustled and insulted. One of them was arrested on some
frivolous pretext. According to one Northerner nothing but
United States troops at every polling-place will prevent a
strong and embittered minority from triumphing over a weak
majority. In this part of the country the Republican or
Radical party is dead for the present. The victory of the
whites is now so complete that there is certainly peace such as
there was not before.
I travelled from Columbia to Charleston through the
night in a very comfortable sleeping-car belonging to the
local railway. In the glimpses of the night I could only see

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that we passed through a great deal of pine-forest. At daylight I found that there were many tall pines near the route ;
but approaching Charleston the country became more open,
with fine soil and good cultivation. Strawberries, cabbages,
sweet potatoes, and common potatoes seemed to be largely
grown. The potatoes are not yet killed by frost. I went to
the Charleston Hotel, which was comfortable. After breakfast I walked about the town. The site is flat, and the country not striking, but the vegetation is extremely fine—very
much of a semi-tropical character. There are many orangetrees in full bearing and other fruit-trees and shrubs. Many
of the houses are extremely good, and very prettily arranged,
with gardens about them. The climate here is said to be
very good; the hot weather is tempered by the trade-winds
and sea-breezes. In summer the thermometer rises to about
90°, and there is little hard frost in the winter. The magnolias and evergreen oaks are fine trees, and very abundant.
I called on Colonel T
, a gentleman engaged in the
cotton business, who gave me much assistance. He introduced
me to the Carolina Club, and to several gentlemen there, with
whom I had a great deal of talk. They say they had hoped
the negroes would have turned out good small cultivators and
paid rent, and that they, as owners, would have had an easy
time; but the negro fails in that respect; he is improvident
and careless, lets down the land, and spoils it. But Mr. S
,
a gentleman who manages a large rice estate, and lives there,
happened to come in. He gives quite a different account; he
says that the higher part of the estate is let out to negroes
who really cultivate exceedingly well, and raise cotton much
better than he could have expected. He charges $30 to
each family, and they cultivate as much cotton and corn as
they can, he undertaking to take out half the rent in labour,
and in practice generally taking out the whole in this shape
by employing them at fifty cents a day on the rice-lands,
and setting off the wages against the rent. When I put to
the other gentlemen the contradiction which this account
seemed to imply to their views, they said that these were
especially good negroes; that they came from the upper
country, where they had been mixed with whites and accustomed to labour. It seems that during the war there were
large migrations. Many from this part of the country went
up with the Northern armies, and many up-country negroes

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came down writh them. One gentleman said he had heard of
a large number of negroes from an estate in this neighbourhood who settled up-country, and, he is told, now all own
land. It seems generally agreed that the negroes are very
good labourers, and do well when they have white men to
look over them and set them an example. The native whites
manage them better and get more work out of them than
any IS ortherners or foreigners. When, however, the negroes
get together in masses and out of the control and direction
of white men they are apt to go back. These gentlemen
instanced a case of some blacks on estates within their own
knowledge, who were good mechanics before the war, but now
are worth very little. There are few blacks among the higher
mechanics, but some of them earn very high wages here as
stevedores for lading ships. In the cold weather a good
many white people have come up to work here, but they do
not seem to have been very successful. Some Irish come,
but I do not gather that they are here now.. Irish women,
however, much improved and civilised, one finds everywhere.
The housemaid at the hotel here is an Irishwoman, and seems
very decent and good. She came originally from Dublin,
married an American, who was killed in the war, on the Confederate side, as was also her brother, and now she has settled
down into service.
The people I have met to-day are much interested in rice,
which is cultivated in this part of the country. It had gone
out very much. Since the war some estates have been quite
abandoned. For instance, I hear of one estate which was
worth 500,000 dollars before the war, and for which after the
war 275,000 dollars was offered and refused; it has since
wholly broken down and fallen out of cultivation, and was
bought the other day for 6,000 dollars by some gentlemen
who are trying to resuscitate it. On the other hand, a good
many estates, the owners of which were able to hold on and
keep up the cultivation, are now doing pretty well. The
truth, however, seems to be that rice is only grown in the
United States by the aid of an exorbitant protective duty,
and it is used in America only—none is exported. The
Indian rice beats it. in foreign markets. People here say
they are no longer for free trade ; there is nothing like protection. The jute-bagging used for rice and cotton is highly
protected. Here they have only one jute-mill, lately erected,

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325

but they hope to have more. They are trying experiments
to grow jute, and jute-seed for the purpose has lately been
distributed.
The Sea Islands, on which the long cotton grows, or used
to grow, lie along the shore in this neighbourhood and southwards to Savannah. They are not islands out in the ocean,
but flat tracts along the shore, more or less separated from
the mainland by narrow channels. Thq soil is very good,
but the only culture to which it has been hitherto very specially devoted was the long-staple cotton, the cultivation of
which has now greatly declined. These cotton lands form
the outermost belt next the sea; behind them are the rice
lands, which usually lie along the rivers and fresh-wrater
estuaries. Behind the rice lands and the pine-belt come the
upland cotton lands. All the cotton grown in this part of
the world, except the Sea Island, is classed as upland. New
Orleans cotton is classed separately, and seems to be a better
and stronger staple. There is still more cotton shipped from
New Orleans than from Charleston or any other port. The
long cotton, or Sea Island, is a different variety of the plant
from the common cotton. It requires more careful cultivation, and produces very much less cotton—generally only a
third or a fourth of the quantity that is got from a good field
of short cotton. It still fetches a very much higher price
than the short cotton, but not so high in proportion as it
did before, and in consequence comparatively little of it is
raised.
In the evening I went a little way out into the country.
There seems to be an immense cultivation of strawberries
here for the Northern markets. One sees great fields of
strawberries. There is a good drive, metalled with oystershells and lined with fine magnolias, called Magnolia Avenue.
The beauty and fashion of Charleston were out for the evening, principally driving fast-trotting horses. I am told that
there were and still are some French mulattos in Charleston in a much higher position than the ordinary coloured
people—like those in a considerable position in New Orleans
—but they form an exclusive class by themselves, and are
not so well off as they were before the war, in which they lost
heavily. Altogether the ' genteel' coloured people keep very
much to themselves.
Next morning I called on Mr. A
, a gentleman who

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was most kind in assisting me. He is interested in the
Phosphate Beds, and he showed be a large collection of fine
fossils found there, in excellent preservation. I also called on
the City Superintendent of Schools, who is at the same time
the Episcopalian clergyman. He lived in a poor house, and
did not seem a prosperous parson. He is a Carolina man, and
does not think much, of the blacks; but the city schools are, he
says, good. I saw many nice-looking girls and young women
going to school, with their books. The Charleston people
generally impress me favourably. The place is not what it
has been, but on the whole it is wonderfully well maintained,
and the citizens make the best of the situation.
To-day I made the acquaintance of Mr. W
, a lawyer,
who has just been elected to the State Legislature, and is a
very pleasant and well-informed man; and also of one or two
other gentlemen. Talking over South Carolina affairs, I
gather that the principal people of this State were not so far
gone in difficulties before the war as those in Virginia. Many
of them had great plantations in Mississippi, to which they
transferred large bodies of their surplus slaves; and at one
time they made a great deal of money, in consequence of
which they took to expensive living, keeping racehorses and
other fine things. "When cotton fell in price their profits
diminished, but they looked for future improvement, and did
not mind some debt. After that came the war and great
destruction of property, especially of cotton, the stores of
which were captured or plundered, while the whole of the
slave property was lost by emancipation. Land became a
drug in the market, and they had no means of meeting their
debts; and so it was that many of them have now become
very poor. There seems to be no doubt that many ladies who
were once well-to-do now fill almost menial offices or take in
sewing; and the estates and places which were finely kept
have now deteriorated, especially those in the low country,
where, since long cotton has gone down in the world, they
have not succeeded in finding other suitable staples. The
Charleston people say that if only this low country could be
restored Charleston must still flourish. The negro labour is
very good, and there is great abundance of it; but the negroes
like regular pay, and do not care to be kept in arrears or paid
by cheques, as is too often the case. A cheque is an order on
the employer's store. If the negro is in debt it is set off; if

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327

not, he is kept waiting for his money, or is obliged to take
goods on the truck system.
I went to see Mr. D
, a pure negro and notable character. He has been in England and in Africa, and has seen
the world. He is now a justice of the peace here—Trial Justice, they call it. He was appointed by Wade Hampton. He
seems a very characteristic, pleasant, amusing sort of person,
and talks well. He was educated in the North. He is in
favour of Wade Hampton, who, he says, appoints black men
when they really are educated and fit. I hear he quite holds
his own as a justice.
I also made the acquaintance of It
, a model Democratic negro and friend of the white man. His story seemed
to me a little too much as if it had been rehearsed. He tells
very fluently how he was. a slave, and how he was educated by
his mistress; and how after emancipation his master and
mistress, being reduced to poverty, he supported them both,
and eventually buried them both—he lays great stress upon
the burying. He stuck to the whites in bad times amid the
persecution of his own race, and now is a prosperous liverystable keeper, and a friend of the party in power, while his
own race have also become friendly to him.
Mr. W
invited me to go over with him to his house,
on the other side of the river, in what is called Christ-Church
parish, where I should see blacks in great abundance; and we
started together. A parish is a mere popular term for a tract
of coimtry; it is not now a real division, civil or ecclesiastical.
Since I have come into the land of blacks I notice signs of
the abundance of labour. Instead of having to carry one's
own bag and take care of one's self, as one has in the North,
one is constantly beset by blacks who want to carry one's
things and do all sorts of services for one. Crossing over, I
talked with a large fruit and vegetable farmer, who raises for
the Northern markets. He employs nothing but black
labour, and finds it very good indeed ; but, again, he has
something to say against the blacks, alleging that they are
loose and immoral in their ways, and dishonest in small things.
Women work as well as men. In this Christ-Church parish
the negroes are almost fifty to one. The whole of this part
of the country outside of the town is almost entirely a negro
country. This is part of the county which Mr. W
is to
represent. He seems to be on extremely friendly terms with

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MY JOURNAL.

the people, but frankly admits that he cannot get them to
vote for him. In the evening we went out and saw the negro
population making their purchases in the village. The people
do not seem to be of a high type—rather inferior, I thought,
to those I had seen up-country, but very good-natured and
cheerful. They seem to have got very much into the ways of
white people, and do their shopping much as white people do
in other parts of the world. The only difference seems to be
that they are black, and perhaps a little dirtier than the average of civilised mankind. The storekeepers are Germans—
they seem almost to monopolise that sort of business; the
negroes scarcely ever rise to keep stores. Mr. W
talks and
shakes hands with the blacks, and they reciprocate and laugh
immoderately when he tells them that he has beaten them this
election, and means to do so again. Certainly there does
not seem to be any of the bitterness which one might have
expected, after all one has heard of South Carolina, especially
considering the way in which this election has been carried.
Next day I went with Mr. W a long expedition into
the country, which is of the Sea Island character. Much of
the land is what is called ' old field;' that is, land which was
once cultivated, but is nowT overgrown with wrood. I am told
that after the war many Northerners came up,.expecting to
make large fortunes by buying good land cheap m this part
of the country, and they began by attempting high farming,
with high-class stock and so on; but they almost all failed
and went back. The live-oaks and magnolias are really very
handsome trees, large, round, and spreading. There is still a
good deal of cotton cultivation—almost all long cotton ; short
cotton does not answer here. It seems that short cotton
tends to grow long here, while long cotton grows short upcountry. The negroes cultivate it tolerably well. We saw
one considerable planter's farm superintended, as bailiff, by
an Englishman from Birmingham. Like most improving
farmers in these days, he is trying to introduce better breeds
of cattle. We came across a good many small negro farmers.
They generally rent land, paying as much as four dollars an
acre for it, but this is on account of the vicinity of Charleston. Further away in the country they can get it for two
dollars an acre. It is said that the rent is very troublesome
to collect, and that this same land is sold at eight to ten
dollars an acre. We heard the usual tenant's complaints:

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329

that though the rent is so high the proprietors do not keep
up the house and fences, &c, as they ought. Many of the
blacks, however, have their own houses and little patches of
land, renting as much more as is necessary to make up a
decent farm; and most of them go out as labourers besides,
more or less. 1 understand that in most parts of the low
country the proprietors are willing and anxious to sell plots
of land to the negroes, because that fixes them to the soil
and secures a supply of labour when it is needed. I feel
sure that this is the right policy. Here the negroes are
generally well off, when they can get employment and are
really paid. The difficulty seems, rather, to be to get employment, than for employers to get hands; but I am told
that any man who works well and steadily, and is honest, is
sure of employment. There is much complaint about their
stealing chickens and such things; otherwise they seem to be
a good sort of people. I am again struck by the easy, laughing familiarity between Mr. "W
and the blacks, and the
free chaff which passes about the election. One disagreeable
result, however, of the less independent character of the
negroes in these parts, and of the electioneering which has
been going on, is, that very many of them seem ready to
beg for assistance in one shape or another. On the other
hand, they are always ready to give any little assistance and
to do odd jobs whenever they are asked to do so, and are
perfectly content when a little tobacco is given them in
return. They certainly seem a remarkably easily-managed,
good-natured set of people. The next day was Sunday; we
went out to visit a rural chapel in the woods, and found the
congregation in full and tremendous chorus of psalmody;
one could hear them half a mile off. The whole thing was
very pleasant, I thought. Afterwards we returned to Charleston, and I went to a black church in the city—rather a
fine one. The preacher was as black as night—a typical
negro—and perhaps a little ridiculous in his manners; but I
though? him a stirring and effective preacher. Every now
and then during the sermon some of the congregation grunted
out devout ejaculations in token of assent or by way of emphasising the preacher's good points. I was greatly disappointed, however, to find that instead of the fine, bold singing
which I had heard in the country, there was a choir and a
poor, thin imitation of civilised singing.

330

MY JOURNAL.

The following day I went to see Dr. B
, the United
States postmaster, a coloured man, and said to be the best
specimen of his class in this part of the country; in fact,
according to my informants, the only man appointed by
the Republicans who is not hopelessly corrupt. H e seemed
a dapper, pleasant, well-educated man, and reminded me of
some of the more educated East Indians in Calcutta. He is
quite a Northerner. He admits that the blacks have not come
much to the front in any way, and that in commerce they do
not keep stores or attain any considerable position, but he
explains it all by saying that the social prejudice against
coloured people is so great that they have not a chance. Like
many of his class, he favours the idea of Liberia, and the
great Black Republic that is to be there.
I paid a visit to my namesake Mr. C
, the independent Democrat, who stood for State Senator for this district,
but was defeated. He is a lawyer, and all agree that he is a
very superior man. I found him very moderate, and not at
all inclined to be vituperative, although the election was bitterly contested. He says that he represented the principle of
Conciliation against those who would not yield anything.
The election was won by simple cheating; that is, by stuffing the ballot-boxes. At one polling-place not more than a
thousand voted, but there were three thousand five hundred
papers in the box. There was not much intimidation, but
only cheating.
Afterwards I went over to James Island, to see a good
long-cotton plantation, still maintained on the high farming
system by Mr. I I
. The cotton-field seemed really very
fine ; they are highly manured, and give a large yield to the
acre. The cost of raising it in this expensive way is, however,
so great that it seems doubtful whether it pays very well.
Like all who have to do with them, he speaks very well of the
blacks as labourers. He is trying experiments in raising jute,
but does not seem to know how to grow it. At present he
has it only in single rows, from which he hopes to get seed;
but it is doubtful whether that will ripen sufficiently. I spent
the evening at Colonel T
' s ; a very nice house and pleasant
party. I had a good deal of talk with several people, among
them Capt. D
, an Englishman, who came out as a young
man, fought in the war on the Confederate side, and is now
editor of the principal newspaper here. They say that in this

SOUTH CAROLINA.

331

lower country they have always been for conciliation, and have
supported Wade Hampton in that policy against Geary and
the violent white party who are in the upper country. They
point to the. unopposed acceptance of Wade Hampton in the
present election as a proof of his success.
As a general result of all that I have been able to learn
about the elections in this part of the country, I may say that
there does not seem to be the least doubt that they were won
by the most wholesale cheating. That is avowed in the most
open way. Most people seem to praise the negroes, and to be
on very good terms with them; but they all admit that, while
the blacks will do almost anything else for them, when it
comes to voting they cannot be influenced, and insist on voting with their party. At one place that I visited, where a considerable number of Republican votes were recorded, an old
Democratic gentleman jocularly remarked that this had been
the only honest poll in the w^hole district. They say the Republicans made the election law to suit their own purpose of
cheating, and had arranged the electoral districts so as to
swamp the whites with black votes. Now they are hoist with
their own petard, and serve them right. The blacks seem to
have accepted their defeat as a foregone conclusion, and therefore it is that they are quite good-natured over it. Perhaps,
too, they really have to some degree accepted Wade Hampton
and his policy, and are not so anxious to fight as they otherwise might be. Both parties seem to assume as a matter of
course that whichever controls the machinery of the elections
will win the elections. I am told that Wade Hampton generally appointed two Democrats and one Radical as election
commissioners ; that the radical was always corrupt and could
be bought, and that therefore the Democrats always had it
their own way. The Democrats of Charleston have done
something to conciliate those blacks who accept the Democratic ticket. In this district seventeen members are sent up
to the State Assembly, and of these three are Democratic
blacks. The county officers are whites, but there are some
blacks in the Charleston municipality. For the State Assembly
the Republicans adopted a fusion ticket, including the five
best of the Democrats.
Hitherto three Congressional districts in the black part of
South Carolina have been represented by black men, and I am
told that they were all very fair specimens. The representa-

832

MY JOUENAL.

tive of the Charleston district was a well-educated negro, from
the North. The Georgetown district was represented by an
extremely polished black gentleman, who was formerly a very
popular barber in Charleston, and is not at all a bad sort of person. The Beaufort district has long been represented by General S
, who, while a slave, was employed as a pilot, and
in the war distinguished himself by carrying off a Confederate
vessel and delivering her to the Federals. He has now great
influence among his own race, and is not unpopular among
white people. He behaved well towards his former master's
family and assisted them. In spite, however, of this favourable account, there is a general accusation that under the
Carpet-bag Government all were corrupt, both black and
white. Honesty was a thing unknown.
I observe that in a great number of the elections for county
and local offices in these Southern States the opportunity is
taken to provide for the veterans of the Confederate army who
are not eligible for pensions. I saw several notices of elections
of one-legged and one-armed ex-soldiers to county offices.
These offices are profitable—if not paid by salaries they have
considerable fees.
Looking over the accounts of the elections in other States,
of which the papers are full, I observe that Governor Nicholls,
of Louisiana, is said to be conciliatory and to have followed
the same policy as "Wade Hampton; but .there the negroes
fought more successfully than here; and in some cases the
Democrats carried the seats in Congress only by adopting a
fusion ticket and giving the blacks a good many county offices.
There seems to be more ' bulldozing' in Mississippi than anywhere else. That is called 'the Mississippi plan.' South
Carolina seems to be the only State which carried everything
solidly Democratic. In all the others there has been more or
less success of Republican or independent candidates.
I have heard a good deal here about the late exodus to
Liberia, which was such a wretched failure. The upper class
of blacks do not go themselves, but preach to their countrymen
the advantage of going. There seems no doubt that the unhappy people who went found themselves much worse off than
if they had stayed at home. There seems to be a much more
promising field for emigration from Mississippi and the States
in that part or the country to the back parts of Kansas and
the Territories where land is to be got free. The negroes

SOUTH CAROLINA.

333

seem to have been less domiciled in Mississippi than they were
here, and since emancipation they have been more migratory.
They are now entitled to homesteads on the same terms as
white men; and if they can manage the means of cultivating
virgin lands in the Far West they will do very well.
I have been looking over some of the legislation of South
Carolina. It does not seem very different from that which I
have noticed in other States. There is, as usual, a good deal
of legislation on small subjects, such as an Act to legitimise a
child, and another to make an adopted child an heir. There
is a regular poor law, providing for a poor-house and outdoor
relief. Nothing is said of able-bodied paupers. The relief
seems to be confined to really necessitous cases. The road law
gives the option of contributing either labour or money for
the making of roads. There is a provision for inspecting and
classifying flour and some other things, the same as I noticed
at Chicago, and a limit to the rates for grinding flour. There
is a 7 per cent, usury law; but I understand that in practice it
is almost entirely evaded. Few people can get money here at
7 per cent., the credit is so bad. There is a law of limited
partnership for sleeping partners, but companies seem to be
only incorporated by special Acts, of which there are many.
There is not now in South Carolina any law prohibiting the
intermarriage of white and black people.
I have had a very pleasant visit to Charleston, and have
received much kindness here. Mr. A
, whom I have
already mentioned, and who has throughout given me much
assistance, has kindly arranged for me a visit to the country.
I am to go to a son-in-law of his, who has an estate in the rice
country.
Travelling in this part of the country is sometimes very
difficult, if one has to stop at places on the way, for there are
seldom more than two trains, sometimes only one, in the
course of the twenty-four hours, and they seem generally to
manage to arrive and depart in the very middle of the night.
However, by getting up very early I made a start from
Charleston. The country through which we ran seemed
mostly forest, with occasional cultivation. At Greenpond I
was met by Mr. W
, who drove me through the forest to
his rice plantation, some miles off. After breakfast we had a
long and pleasant ride over his land. He has a very large extent of fine rice-fields. His farm is nearly a thousand acres,

334

MY JOUKKAL.

and he has several neighbours who have also large plantations;
so altogether there is in this part of the country a rice district
of which the cultivation is well maintained. Mr. "W
has a
very elaborate system of tidal canals for the irrigation of the
rice. The salt water is banked out, and the fresh water is
regulated by sluices, the land being irrigated when the tides
rise to the necessary level. The rice seems large and fine, and
the yield is said to be large—sometimes as much as eighty
bushels of unhusked rice to the acre; but the expense of the
irrigation and other arrangements is considerable. Still they
would do well if it were not for the competition of Indian rice
which has been invading the American market. The planters
keep the rice-lands in their own hands, and, beyond a little
fodder for their mules, &c, grow little else. The higher
grounds they give over to the negroes, who cultivate corn and
vegetables for themselves, and a little cotton. In lieu of rent
for the land they give two days' labour in the week, and generally work two days more, at fifty cents a day. In most cases
they are put upon task-work. In this part of the country the
women seem to work as freely as the men, both in the fields
and in the thrashing-mills. The negroes keep a large number
of cattle and pigs ; but Mr. W
says that is a serious difficulty, as the animals increase too much, and the proprietor is
expected to find grazing for them. The fence law is a great
subject of dispute in this part of the country. The question
is, whether the owner of the land is bound to fence cattle out,
or the owner of the cattle to keep them in. Each county decides for itself, but it seems to be a burning question. Mr.
Wspeaks extremely well of his negroes, and they appear
to be on very good terms with him. They have quite a respectful maimer, and in this out-of-the-way place the little negro girls curtsey like English Sunday-school children. There
has only been one strike in this neighbourhood, but that was a
bad one. The negroes struck for more pay for harvest-work,
and very violently drove away others who wished to work.
Mr. W
was away, and his manager could get no assistance
from the Radical Government; so he was obliged to yield for
that time, but he has since come back to the old rates, and all
has gone smoothly ; there has been no more trouble. During
the war the people of this part of the country suffered very
much from the destruction of property by raiding parties from
the Federal fleet; and after the war, when the Federal people

SOUTH CAKOLINA.

335

established the Radical rule, their feelings were apt to be hurt
by their being arrested by black soldiers, and so on. However,
they do not seem to have suffered very severely ; and now, if
money were only more plentiful, and there was a better demand for their produce, they would do very well.
Talking of these arrests, I may mention that arrest means
very little in the United States. Under their old-fashioned
English laws every process, criminal or civil, is commenced
by arrest, followed by bail. De Tocqueville instances this as
showing how an English law favourable to the rich, who can
give bail, has prevailed even under Democratic institutions.
Mr. W
has laid out a good deal of land in lots, which he
offers to the negroes for sale. Some of them have bought, but
most have not the means. Pie, like others, speaks of their immorality and want of fidelity to their spouses. They are religious in their way, but have their own peculiar ideas of religion,
and do not appreciate some of our theology.
In this lower country, so much peopled by blacks, who can
stand the climate, the whites are generally obliged to go away
from the plantations, in the hot weather to healthier places.
In slave days the white overseers were a bad set, and little educated. They had no accounts, there being no money to pay,
and they were mere slave-drivers. Now Mr. W
has two
or three educated young men under him, and they take it turn
and turn about to stay during the unhealthy season. He has
also some property up-country, and he says that the blacks
there are more intelligent, speak better English, and often
make good farmers. On the other hand, the low country
people are more simple and more easily managed; and it is a
great advantage that the women work here.
There is plenty of game about here. Mr. W—— gave me
venison of his own shooting. These Southerners habitually
eat sweet potatoes, and hominy made of Indian corn. One
sees very little of potatoes proper, called'' Irish potatoes.'
I enjoyed this visit very much ; and the impression left
upon my mind is, that the relations between a planter and the
negroes upon his property may well be pleasant and satisfactory. A little more money and profit only is needed to make
things go along very satisfactorily.
The following day Mr. W
drove me to Kusaw, en
route for Beaufort. All this is quite a negro country. There
never were many whites; and after leaving the rice planta-

330

MY JOUBNAL.

tions we find that most of the planters have disappeared since
the war and the decadence of long cotton. "We saw nothing
but scattered negro huts. The negroes seem now never to
live in villages ; they have left the old slave lines and set up
isolated houses on their farms. At the meeting of cross-roads
you may find small stores, generally kept by Germans.
At Kusaw we went over the Phosphate Company's works.
They seem to be very active and energetic. The material
(composed of animal fossils) is dredged or dived for in the
river, and is then cleaned and crushed and prepared for export. All the labour is black. I talked to Mr. C
, the son
of the former proprietor of all the land about here, and now a
manager of the Phosphate Company. He speaks very highly
indeed of the free negro labour, and I myself saw the regroes
working as well as any men in the world can work. Evidently these people are not wanting in physical capacity, and
make excellent hired labourers. Mr. C
says he has tried
Irishmen, but he found them no better workmen than negroes,
and very troublesome, so he got rid of them. The blacks,
however, only do the manual labor; they are not what is
called ' responsible,' and not to be trusted with machines or
anything of that kind. There are, however, some good black
carpenters and blacksmiths. Most of these black labourers
have land of their own over on the Islands. After doing their
ploughing and sowing they leave the women and children to
hoe and weed and come over here. They get a dollar a day,
and some of the better men a dollar and a quarter, but they
seldom save. After they have made a little money they like
to go and spend it. They drink, but not to such a degree as
to interfere with their work. They go home and get drunk
on Saturday night, go to church on Sunday, and generally are
back at their work on Monday. He has had only one small
strike. The men stayed away on the Saturday, but came
back on the Monday. He carried. on his work all through
the Padical rule, but has had"no trouble on account of political difficulties. He could always get on with the black labourers. All that the negroes require is to get their wages
regularly paid in cash. On the day of the election they would
not stay at work: They all went off to vote at Greenpond,
which was the regular polling-place ; but when they got
there, fifteen miles off, they were told that there would be
no poll.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

337

I was kindly sent on to Beaufort in the Phosphate Company's little steamer, which took me through the river-channels. The appearance of this flat country, in which land and
water are a good deal intermixed, reminded me very much of
the lower parts of Bengal—the tall pine-trees take the place
of the Bengal palms, looking in the distance not unlike them.
The Sea Islands are situated very like the ' Soonderbun'
tracts. Two large islands lie between Kusaw and Beaufort,
and we threaded through the channels separating them. Before the war these islands were filled with large plantations of
Sea Island cotton; and here, too, after the war, Northerners
came and spent much money, but were disappointed ; so the
land is now entirely given up to the negroes.
The steamer landed me at Beaufort. It is a remarkably
nice-looking place, with good hotels and many comforts. I
went to the Sea Island Hotel, and was comfortable there.
The town seems very pleasant and cheerful, with no signs
whatever of the tyranny of black rule. It is one of the
oldest settlements in America. When it was the centre of a
slave population it was used as a summer residence by the
neighbouring planters, who had nice houses here. These
planters are described as having been very good gentlemanfarmers ; they were well educated, and wrere especially fond
of good libraries. In the early part of the war Beaufort was
occupied by Federal troops, and many negroes congregated
under their protection. Several of the black regiments which
were raised by the Federals were stationed here. Being so
occupied, the place escaped destruction and plunder, and
that is why it is so well preserved. It now seems pretty prosperous, with good stores, cotton-ginning mills, phosphate
dealers, and so on; but the old race of planters is gone or
dispersed. Many of the houses are occupied by their widows
and daughters, in a sadly impoverished condition. A good
deal of long cotton comes in, grown in a small way by
negroes, but nothing like what there was before. The great
majority of the population of the town, and almost all the
population of the surrounding countiy, are black ; so that the
Democrats have found it impossible to wrest this one county
from the Radicals, who still elect the county officers and send
members to the State Assembly; but the Democrats have
succeeded in conquering the Congressional district.
The
houses are surrounded by orange trees and pleasant vegeta22

338

MY JOURNAL.

tion, but they are not so well painted and neat as they used
to be. Many of them were sold for arrears of taxes; and a
good many of the smaller ones are occupied by blacks, who
have thus much better quarters than they usually have.
Some land in the neighbourhood is still owned by whites,
but most of it by blacks, who purchased it after the tax sales.
Everything seems in order; there is no squatting without
title, but some of the titles are incomplete, the instalments
of purchase-money not having been made good. The blacks
cannot have a better chance than they have here, and I am
very anxious to know how they are getting on.
A very fair and moderate medical man, Dr. S——, has
kindly taken me a drive about the place and told me much.
He was in the Confederate army, lost everything in the war,
and with difficulty borrowed money to buy back, at a cheap
price, his own house, which had been sold u p ; but he recovered his profession, and now he speaks very kindly of the
blacks, and gives a very favourable account of the state of
things on the whole. The people who survived the war seem
to have got on well enough. There has been no serious
trouble or disturbance except at election times; and the
worst outrage of which I heard was that an impudent black
woman made a lady take the wall in passing. Dr. S——
drove me out among the negro farms in the neighbourhood
of the town. They are generally ten and twenty acre lots; but
the soil here is very sandy and light, and scarcely bears any
other crops than cotton and sweet potatoes. It needs manure,
of which it does not get much. Some of the patches seemed
tolerably well farmed, but most indifferently; and, as most
of the people near the town depend much upon the work they
get as hired labourers, these were hardly a fair specimen.
A little further off, where the soil is better, and the negroes
must depend more upon agriculture, I am told that they do
better. We talked to some of the small black farmers, and
a good deal to a well-spoken black woman, the wife of
one of the best of them. She keeps poultry, and makes
a profit by that. They have no children of their own, but
keep three, whom they have apparently adopted. On the
other hand, Dr. S
says he believes that the blacks now
have fewer children than the whites, and often do not want
to have children. They think it a useless trouble. A day or
two ago a black woman said as much to me, adding,' I know

SOUTH

CAROLINA.

339

when. I grow old they won't take care of me.' Dr. S
says, as others say, that their connubial morality is very loose
indeed. In other respects he speaks well of them. Times
are bad for all, and they can just get along; they have no
money to spare to increase and improve their farms. No doubt
most of them are improvident. They drink a good deal, but
not enough to incapacitate them for work or to create any
serious scandal.
I asked how the people of Beaufort were situated as regards the black domination in the Government during Carpetbag r d e ; but they do not seem to have'suffered much from
that. The judges have generally been white, and some of
them decent men. Some white men were allowed to be on the
juries, and of the county officers and justices of the peace
some were black and some white. The Mayor of the town, or
' Intendant,' as he is called, is a white man, and so are some
of the Aldermen, but the majority of the latter are black.
There are no black militia here ; the blacks have not got up a
company, but there is a white company. In truth the whites
never have been much oppressed, except that they felt that
they were living under a corrupt Government—the taxes were
heavy and the State debt increased. The blacks now feel that
"Wade Hampton has relieved them of much taxation; only
more money is wanted to improve the situation. I asked if,
with the advantages they have had in this part of the country,
many of the blacks have raised themselves in the wwld. He
says there is a kind of black aristocracy here; but whe'n I
inquire who they are it seems to consist chiefly of officials and
two or three coloured lawyers in criminal practice. ISTo black
men have become merchants, or considerable storekeepers.
There is only one very small store in the town kept by a
black, and even the small stores in the country are kept by
German Jews and suchlike people. Before the war the blacks
had one or two decent tailor's shops in a small way, and there
are still such shops; also a small harness-maker; and there
are some good carpenters and other tradesmen, some of whom
will undertake small contracts. The blacks own most of the
hack carriages. All their preachers are black, but no medical
men. One Northern coloured man came and tried to practise
as a doctor, but he was very extortionate, and distrusted by
his own race, and he went away.
In the evening, talking to some of the people in the hotel

340

MY JOURNAL.

about my future plans, I found that they thought Florida was
the place for a tourist to go to. .That is a great resort for people in search of a good climate in the winter. Jacksonville
and other places on the St. John's River are described as very
charming, with a beautiful climate and a great cultivation of
oranges. The scenery is said to be quite tropical. I have
come to America for things more utilitarian than tropical
scenery, and my plans will not admit of my going to Florida,
even though I hear that in some parts of the State there are
some very good black settlements upon the land.
Next day I went again about the town of Beaufort. I
made the acquaintance of a Mr. B
, a coloured lawyer,
who came up here from New York. He seems a very amusing person, and hr-3 the English nomenclature very ready.
He says there are here about six white and six coloured
lawyers, the latter principally confined to criminal practice. He
complains of the quality of the justice administered. Things
have been in one extreme or the other. At one time most of
the jurors were blacks, now there are hardly blacks enough
upon the juries. He showed me round the town, and pointed
out all the good and large houses belonging to whites, the
small and inferior ones to blacks. After all, he says, ' intellect
will tell.' I visited the coloured school, which seemed to be
doing pretty well. The master of one class claims vto be a
reduced planter who was rich in his time. However, most of
the whites in these parts seem to have been rich planters and
still* to be generals. They say that in old times the imported
slaves generally claimed to have been kings in Africa. In the
school besides the planter there was a very nice young New
England lady and two female coloured teachers, all doing their
best; but the school has only just reopened after a vacation of
some seven months. The New England mistress says that
black children do well, but they are not so regular in attendance as Northern children.
I called on Colonel E
, a lawyer, and one of the principal residents, to whom the Governor had given me an introduction. He says the blacks in this neighbourhood are doing
pretty well, but they sell their cotton improvidently below its
value and buy grist when they might raise and grind it themselves. The best specimen, however, of successful black settlement is, he says, in St. Helen's Island, on the other side of
the river, where they have their own lots, and have had a

SOUTH CAROLINA.

341

good deal of education given them by the ^Northerners, as well
as some good example. There, he thinks, they are improving, getting tidier houses, and altogether rising in the world.
He admits that the black members of Congress from this State
are pretty decent men, but says those now elected by this
county for the State Assembly are very bad. He admits that
the blacks have generally conducted themselves very wrell
under the circumstances of recent years; and now that the
whites have got the control of the Legislature he seems pretty
well satisfied. He spoke of the riot on the rice plantations to
which I have before alluded, and says that it certainly was a
serious riot, but was to a great degree attributable to unfair
dealings with the labourers, and paying them by cheque instead of cash. They are now behaving extremely well. He
takes, altogether, a favourable view of the situation. He is
said to represent Mr. Wade Hampton's views and policy.
Others, however, express doubt whether there is much real
and sincere disposition to conciliate in the Governor's party.
I also made the acquaintance of General S
, the negro
Congressman for this district, who has just been ousted in the
recent election, or rather will be ousted in consequence, for
the American arrangement in this respect is very peculiar.
In the session following the elections the old members will
still sit till March; and unless there is an extraordinary session the new members will not take their seats till a year
hence. General S—— is the hero who carried off the gunboat Planter from the Confederates. He is a robust, burly,
dark man, now in the prime of life, and very popular with
the blacks. After the war he became a General of the Na*
tional Guards, a Congressman, and a considerable person. He
attributes the loss of the present election entirely to fraud and
intimidation. He denies that any considerable number of
blacks went over to the enemy. In these lower districts there
was not much actual violence at the time of the poll, but there
had been intimidation and serious obstruction to his canvass
and his meetings before the election. The Republicans, he says,
have an enormous majority in this and the adjoining districts,
if they only got fair play. Now, the Democrats have elected
the bitterest of their party; there has rarely been any compromise. They are sending two or three black Democrats to
the State Legislature from the Charleston district; but that is
quite an exception. As to the remedy for the frauds which

342

MY JOURNAL.

have deprived him of his seat he says he might lodge a petition in Congress; but, if he does, he must bear all the expense
of the petition and the witnesses to support his case, and then
he would not have a chance as long as the Democrats have the
majority in Congress. He does not seem to be supported by
any party organisation in or out of the State. He takes a
favourable view of the condition of the coloured people, and
is against Liberia. Though they have been so unfairly treated
in the elections, they are the best-natured people in the world,
and bear no malice. He complains very much of the want of
justice. There were eight hundred political murders committed by the Ku-klux and other Democratic organisations,
but not a single white has been hanged nor a single one sent
to the Penitentiary by the States Courts—only a few imprisoned by the United States Courts. He attributes the difficulty to the rule requiring unanimity of the jury, which still
prevails. The whites, he says, have sworn to their clubs
never to convict. As long as there is one of them on the
jury they never will. The United States Chief Justice tried
one case which was as clear as daylight, and he expressed
himself as dreadfully disgusted that the jury would not convict. General S
admits that there was very much abuse
during the eight years of Uadical rule in this State. They
were led astray by bad men. He declares, however, that the
black members now sent to the State Assembly from this
county are good men; two of them are well educated, and
the third, though illiterate, is a good Christian farmer. I
like what I have seen of General S
.
» Next day I spent in an expedition to Ladies' and St.
Helen's Sea Islands, to see the negroes settled there as farmers, and was very much pleased with what I saw. I went with
General S
, the Congressman, who kindly chaperoned
me, and put me in the* way of seeing the people. These
islands are so far islands that they are surrounded by waterchannels. They have good soil and plenty of fresh water.
Most of the land was sold for taxes and bought by the blacks,
and a good deal of what remained as private property of the
white planters is being gradually disposed of to these same
blacks, as the owners here are very happy to sell it to them
—so that now they own the greater part of the islands, and
rent what remains, with little exception. They have thus no
planter rivals. The whites now on these islands are ISTorthern

SOUTH CAROLINA.

313

people, who fulfil functions which the blacks cannot yet undertake. Some white merchants grow and buy their cotton,
and others keep the stores necessary to supply their necessities. The better class of schools are maintained by Northern
and English ladies. General *S
seems to be on very
popular and pleasant terms with the people. They all salute
him heartily, and ask him all kinds of questions, and he has
always something to say to them. On one of the islands this
was a kind of fete day—the Baptist Preacher's Convention
was being held, and the people attended in large numbers,
the women especially, in their best clothes. The whole scene
was very pleasing and cheerful. In the Convention everything
was entirely managed by the black people themselves, as much
as if no whites existed on this continent. The preachers observed much parliamentary form, but the Court was apparently an open one—the black ladies sat round and assisted.
These country people seem to have many carts and nice
ponies. Their houses are tolerable, and altogether they
seem to be comfortable. The farms seem fairly cultivated,
especially the cotton crop. The houses have all been built
since the war, and some of them show signs of decided
improvement.
I visited Miss T——, the head of the Northern schools
which I have mentioned. She is a lady of independent property, who has devoted herself to this work. I had a good
deal of talk with her. She gives a very favourable account
of the negroes, and says they are generally out of debt. The
system of advances which at one time prevailed has now
ceased, and all their transactions are for cash. They even
pay in advance for any land that they rent. She lets out
some land herself, and finds that they pay punctually in this
way. Many of them to her knowledge are saving money
and buying farms-for their sons. They are especially anxious
to set up their sons in this way. She and others with whom I
have talked in these islands decidedly differ from the accounts
I had heard elsewhere, and say that the blacks as a class are
kind to one another and generally ready to assist relations
and friends in distress; but it is admitted that they are still
very loose in their connubial relations, that being a relic of
slave times, when marriage was not regarded. Miss T
•
says that the blacks are temperate. Their children rather look
down upon those among them who have any white blood, and

3U

MY JOURNAL.

point at them as ' Secesh;' that is, secession people. The
people sell their cotton, and eat sweet potatoes, corn, and
bacon, importing some of these things. I had a good deal
of conversation with Mr. N , the principal cotton merchant in the Islands, and with one or two storekeepers. Their
accounts very much tally with that which I have already
stated. Merchants and ginners look a good deal after the
quality of the seed, and distribute it among the small farmers,
in order that the plant may not deteriorate. The cotton culture gives the people employment for most of the year, and
after the crop is gathered the women have much employment
in the ginning factories. The long cotton requires much
more handling than does the short. The people are very
regular and good as regards their dealings at the stores.
[Besides the superior education given by the Northern ladies,
State schools are kept up, but for want of funds are not very
efficient, and sometimes are scarcely open more than two
months in the year; but the people do a good deal for themselves in this way, and are getting on very well.
I was amused to see the way in which the women fell upon
General S
on the question of the title to their lands, in
which a flaw had been alleged, which has much alarmed them.
They demanded assurances that they should not be turned
out. As to politics the blacks seem very ignorant, but very
hearty upon the Republican side. People here deny that
there is much drinking among them ; in fact, until recently
there was no whisky-shop at all upon the Islands. The black
preachers seem to be a sort of Christian Brahmins among
them, but still they are very democratic in their arrangements. The people like to have a large voice in all their
religious affairs. These preachers, as I saw them gathered
together to-day, are rather a funny-looking set, with their
black faces and white ties', but they seem hearty and pleasant.
They have often other trades besides preaching. General
S
pointed out one of them who is a first-rate wheelwright.
Altogether I have much enjoyed seeing this example of a
negro ' Ryotwar' community, who, having had a fair chance,
are really doing very well. Originally these people were
among the lowest, most ignorant, and most enslaved class of
negroes; and they have gone through political convulsions
and excitements which might well have unsettled any people;
yet they are now quite settled down.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

345

I still like General S
on further acquaintance. He
is not very highly educated or brilliant, but is a thoroughly
representative man among these people, and seems to have
their unlimited confidence. He complains that the present
Government has taken away the arms from the National
Guards, of which there were two regiments in these Islands.
They were disbanded, and only the volunteer militia companies remain. Of these only in Charleston is there a black
company. Colonel E——, however, does not admit this
statement. He says the National Guards were fairly treated,
and every chance was given to them to become efficient.
They were only disbanded because they were hopelessly inefficient.
The Government gives arms to the volunteer
companies, but they must pass muster as efficient and properly clothed. General S
, on the other hand, says that
the white volunteer rifle companies are really political clubs,
and that they are constantly brought together by their own
wall for political purposes. In one place where he had a
political meeting he and his friends were fired at; and this
statement seems to be confirmed by a white man of the
other party whom we met at the hotel on our return. He
talked with much gusto of the way in which the buckshot had
crashed through a heap of apples upon that occasion. The
blacks have also their clubs, but they are not of a military or
political character: they are more of the nature of friendly
societies for the support of the sick, and burial clubs. They
all attach great importance to burial. These clubs are very
much under the management of the preachers. General
S
showed me one reverend gentleman wTho, he said, during the election canvass was hauled up with a rope about his
neck, and barely escaped with his life. ,
I paid several visits before leaving the place. Mr. G
-,
a Northern man, who deals in land, says that the negroes are
certainly buying land; he has had many transactions with
them himself. Dr. S
and Colonel E
excuse the
present extreme to which the Democratic party have carried
their triumph in the elections by showing how willing they
were to compromise; but, they say, the Radicals would not
compromise.
There are decided mosquitoes in these parts; not very
serious at this season, but so much so as to make mosquitocurtains necessary. After a successful visit to Beaufort I

346

MY JOURNAL.

started in the evening for Georgia, and, after passing through
some lagoons and heavy wood, travelled far inland through
the night, leaving the coast districts behind me.
GEOBG1A.
At daylight in the morning we were passing through a
flattish country, with much cotton cultivation, and soon afterwards we reached Augusta, in Georgia. Augusta is handsomely laid out, with broad boulevards and houses surrounded
by beautiful shrubs and trees. It must be charming in line
weather; but to-day, for the first time during my tour, it is
raining heavily, and I had an opportunity of appreciating
the mud of an unpaved American town. I am told, too, that
before the rain the place was very dusty. This is a great
cotton mart—the centre of a large cotton-growing country.
The only complaint is, that the farmers grow cotton too exclusively, and do not rotate enough, or grow food enough for
themselves, but have to buy largely from the West. Augusta
is on the River Savannah, which gives an immense waterpower, the fall being rapid, the stream strong, and the supply
constant and unfailing. Advantage has been taken of this to
establish great cotton-mills, which are doing a large and prosperous business. The stock of the mills is at a premium. At
a very large mill which I visited they make only coarse unbleached goods, using only very low numbers of yarn; but at
another mill close by they make finer goods, the yarns used
being, I was told, about No. 22. It is said that, while in other
parts of the States millowners are losing, these Southern mills
make large profits. • Three-fourths of the goods go to New
York, as the commercial emporium. The labour employed is
entirely white, and is upon what they call the ' family system,'
which is much the same as the English system, as opposed to
the New England practice, where the mill-girls live in great
barracks. Here they have workmen's houses near the mills,
much like what one sees in England. The manager says that
the people work quite as well as Northern mill-workers of
whom he has had experience. There are good schools in the
town, and most of the people are now fairly educated; but
there is no compulsory school law, direct or indirect, and no
restriction as regards the work of children. The women earn

GEORGIA.

347

from $3 to $5 a week, fifty cents a day being the wages for
common hands. They are very regular and well-behaved.
Some men work well too, but they are not so good as the
women. They work eleven hours a day. By the way, I may
mention that I have met some people who speak rather in a
depreciatory way of the morals of the charming young ladies
who do the mill-work in New England factories; but I have
not visited these latter, and cannot say whether this is a libel.
No blacks are employed in the mills here. The manager says
they are not ' responsible.' Pie has not tried them—perhaps
they might do well enough under superintendence. Before
the war there were, I understand, several small mills successfully worked by slaves. It would not be possible to work
black and white women together. The white women would
not submit to it; they are far more intolerant than the men.
I made the acquaintance of a, gentleman in the ironmongery trade, Mr. D
, who gave me much assistance.
l i e says he has a good many English goods. No one can
rival the English in cutlery and some other things, but the
larger machinery is made best in America. I was also introduced to Mr. N
, a Charleston man, settled here as a
cotton-buyer. l i e seems to think that the negroes have hardly
so good a chance in Georgia as in South Carolina. They are
the majority of the population about here, and most of the
cotton is raised by their labour—principally on shares and
cotton-rents—but it is not a very satisfactory system. The
farming is poorly done, and the negroes are apt to change
about a good deal. There are a good many Irish in these
parts, especially in the upper parts of the country; but they
are mostly rather a low type—people who come up from the
North in search of work. They are employed on the streets
and ditches of the town, and to a considerable extent on the
railways; but the white men do not work better than the
blacks, and get just the same pay. This is confirmed by gentlemen who have charge of railways and have had experience of
both classes of workmen. The climate of Augusta is hot in
summer, but mild in winter. Mr. N
took me for a drive
to Somerville, an elevated spot, with very pretty houses, and
wdiere the climate is very good. Aikin, which I have already
mentioned, is a similar place, not very far distant. We- saw
some cotton grown by white planters near the town, and had
some talk with them. The fields we saw were very produc-

348

MY JOUENAt.

tive: the yield would be about a bale an acre. They say the
cotton sometimes suffers from drought; but they have this
advantage in this climate, that if the first bloom is lost they
get a large second bloom later in the season, and that is the
case this year. The most productive cotton-lands are in Central and South-west Georgia—principally the flatter lands,
where the rivers run out from the higher country. They say,
however, that the farther north and the higher up cotton can
be made to grow, with the aid of stimulant manures, the better
its quality is. Most of the whites in this State own land.
The poorer whites are generally either in the upper country
or in the poorer parts of the low country.
People here will not admit what I had been told elsewhere, that, compared to other Southern- States, Georgia is
prosperous. Things, they say, are in a bad way, and property
has much depreciated. They admit, however, that things are
better than they were; but there is still great complaint of
want of money, in consequence of which the rate of interest
is excessive. They say that responsible men with much
property have had to give 2 per cent, per month for loans,
and have still to pay 8 or 10 per cent, per annum.
From Augusta I travelled to Atlanta, the present political
capital of Georgia. The first part of the line went for a long
way through a little cultivated country, abounding in pines
and scrub-oaks, the cultivation being only occasional and
rather poor. This somewhat surprised me after what I had
heard of the quantity of cotton grown in this country, but it
illustrates what I had before been several times told, viz.,
that the railways very generally run along the ridges, and
that thus in travelling by railway one sees the least favourable specimens of country. Thirty or forty miles out of
Augusta, however, cotton became very abundant, growing on
undulating ground. All the way on to Atlanta the country
was a good deal undulated and varied, with a good deal of
wood. This seems the general character of the greater part
of these Southern States; and after all but a fraction of the
whole country is cultivated. As we got on we came to a district considerably elevated, about Barnet and Crawfordsville,
and I noticed that in this fine healthy-looking country there
was a considerable white population. A large proportion of
the cottages we passed here seemed to be inhabited by whites.
These cottages generally are very miserable-looking dwell-

GEORGIA.

349

ings, according to our ideas, but they seemed to be full of
healthy children. There are a good many blacks also. I understand that in the country we have been passing through
the population is about equally divided between blacks and
whites. To the south of this line are the great cotton-producing districts, where the black population prevails; but to
the north, again, where the country rises considerably, there
is a portion of Georgia which is quite a white man's country,
and now contains a large white population. There are, I
understand, nourishing places there, such as Athens and
Gainsville; and quite recently that country has been immensely opened out by a new line of railway running from
Salisbury, in North Carolina, to Atlanta, through the higher
tracts. That country seems to have been exceedingly isolated
before it was penetrated by railways. They say that the
tobacco produced there after being packed in hogsheads was
literally rolled down to Augusta and other civilised places,
not so very long ago. I noticed many cattle as we passed
along, but they did not seem to be in very good condition. I
am told that they are rather a poor breed, and do not give
much milk; and I can testify that they eat tough; but great
efforts are now being made to improve them.
I made the acquaintance in the train of Mr. Stephens, a
Senator of this State, going up to the Legislature, which is
now in session, and had a good deal of talk with him. He
is a nephew of the well-known Alexander Stephens, the VicePresident and brains of the Confederacy, who is himself a
Georgian, from this part of the country. His accounts of the
country and people tally pretty well with what I have before
heard. He repeats and emphasises the complaint about
scarcity of money. The State, he says, is very far from prosperous, and in consequence the fields, very many of which
are a good deal exhausted from long cotton cultivation, are
not sufficiently manured nor cultivated so well as they should
be. He says that comparatively few blacks own land; they
do not save money to buy it. On the contrary, they are
generally obliged to get advances to carry them through the
season in the cultivation of their small farms. By law the
proprietor has a lien on the crops for his rent and advances ;
and when the accounts are settled at the end of the season
the black farmers are often behind and have nothing to get;
and then next year they either go on in the same way or

350

MY JOURNAL.

go off somewhere else. I have since, however, met men who
declare that they have kept their old slaves on their land,
except, perhaps, that just at first most of them may have
gone off for a year or two to prove their independence,
and then returned and settled down. The common rent is
two bales of cotton—that is, about 900 lbs. for as much
land as a mule can work. The whites in this part of the
country generally have land of their own, and work fairly
well. Near Mr. Stephens' there is an old settlement of
Catholic Irish, who are now good farmers. The cattle do not
suffer from want of grass; there is plenty of it; and Mr.
Stephens does not doubt that the breed will be improved. He
explained to me about the grass which is prevalent here
what interested me much, namely, that it is really the East
Indian grass known in that country as ' Dhoop grass ;' that is,
sun-grass. I had already noticed in the Southern States that
the grass reminded me very much of what I had seen in
India, and it seems there is no doubt that it is an importation.
It was introduced from India into the Bermudas, and from
Bermuda into the States, whence it is called Bermuda grass.
It is considered to be first-rate fodder, and is only too
plentiful; that is to say, it is not easily kept out of the cultivated fields. It does not injure wheat, as it is kept down
by the cold until the wheat is u p ; but the cotton being sown
later, it is very troublesome to that crop, and necessitates
much weeding. At first, when it spread over the country,
as it did very rapidly, it created quite a panic, and much
depreciated the value of the cotton-lands, but now people
have discovered that it is so good a grass that they are glad to
have it.
I asked Mr. Stephens about Georgian politics. He says
that after the war for a time they were allowed to manage
their own affairs; then the Constitution of 1868 was forced
upon them by the Federal Government, and for a short period
the Eepublicans were in power in the State, but apparently by
no means an irreconcilable Republican party. The Grovernor
of those days was a Northern man, who had been settled in
Georgia before the war, was ' a good rebel' during the war,
and generally liked. In 1870 the Democrats again got the
majority, and kept it—so much so that they have now almost
everything throughout the State. There are now only two
blacks and five or six Eepublicans in the Legislature, but

C*EOKGIA.

351

there are many Independent Democrats. He talks as if the
blacks are not politically irreconcilable, as in South Carolina,
but amenable to influence and money; they can be managed
well enough, if only a little money is available. The Independents have not established a separate policy; they have only
stood in opposition to the Caucus system of the party. He
showed me a speech of Dr. F
, one of the Independents
just elected to Congress, setting forth the principles upon
which he stood as being distinctly Democratic. Dr. F
,
however, seems to be decidedly ' greenbacky.' He is very
strong in favour of silver, but he is also for a ' sufficient, but
not excessive paper issue,' so as to bring up values and save
debtors. I suspect the Independents in these parts are certainly
in the main Greenbackers. Apparently they have generally
got the Republican vote. One Independent is, however, described as a ' Bourbon Democrat.' Bourbons are the highhanded party, who would like to act as the Bourbons did.
Mr. Alexander Stephens- still lives, in poor health, as has
always been the case,* but his intellect is as bright as ever, and
he is a member of Congress for the district of Georgia in which
he resides. He is, in fact, practically an Independent, though
he accepted the Caucus nomination. He is now entirely for a
moderate and conciliatory policy. He is also very strong for
silver, and would have both an- unlimited coinage of that metal
and the issue of silver certificates.
I am told by some people that a strong repudiation feeling
is growing up both in the South and in some parts of the
North. By the Constitution of the United States, States cannot repudiate their debts, but they can refuse to make any
appropriation to pay the interest.
Georgia has just had a new Constitution, with a good
many changes, and the present Assembly has recently met for
the first time under this new Constitution. Mr. Stephens
says, however, that the changes are not of an important political character. I aked him about the homestead law protecting the debtor, and he gave me an account which interested
me much. Under the old law of this State the homestead up
to fifty acres of land, with the necessary implements and provisions, were absolutely protected from execution for debt, and
the right could not be waived; so that no mortgage or anything else took away this privilege. Under the Constitution
of 1868 the homestead privilege was extended to the value of

352

MY JOURNAL.

$2,000 realty or $1,000 personalty. It was hoped in this way
to save the indebted Georgians from their creditors, but the
Supreme Court of the United States declared that this provision was contrary to the United States Constitution so far as
it purported to have retroactive effect; and so the Georgians,
finding that it had no effect to save them from past debts, and
took away their credit for the future, have reduced the amount
under the recent changes. The right can now be waived, and
so small proprietors are enabled to mortgage their property
and raise money upon it.
Atlanta is in an elevated region, about 1,100 ft. above the
sea. It is now a great railway centre and a prosperous place;
but, as I am to remain here some days, I am disappointed to
find that it is not at all a pretty or nice town ; very inferior
in amenities to all the other Southern towns I have seen. It
is, in fact, a new brick-built town, with no trees in the streets,
but abundant mud, for there is now a good deal of rain. As
in all American towns, there are some nice enough villa
suburbs, but there is no river or open ground near. The
principal hotel, the Kimball, is crammed full, and I had difficulty in getting in. It is a fine large establishment, with a
great hall in the centre, which is immensely crowded. I have
here realised for the first time what American spitting is. It
really requires some nerve to walk across the hall. This is
about the busiest season of the year for the cotton traffic and
mercantile business generally, besides that the Legislature is
in session. I understand that the climate of this elevated
region is very good. At present, on account of clouds and
rain, it is rather warm and muggy for the season of the year.
The next day I went to the Houses of Legislature in the
Capitol, and was very civilly treated. I was voted the floor of
both Houses. Access to the floor seems to be pretty free to a
good many people, to say nothing of the ample galleries,
where there were on this occasion but few spectators. I spent
most of my time to-day in the Senate, which is comparatively
a small body ; but I looked into the Assembly also. The debates seemed to be of an ordinary, commonplace character.
In the early part of the session a good deal of the business is
formal, very many of the bills being brought in, read a first
and second time, without much debate, and referred to committees. Evidently all the forms of these American Legislatures were originally derived from our Parliament. They

GEORGIA.

853

have, however, much need of brevity, for in this State the
Legislature sits biennially, and is limited to a session of forty
days unless it is continued by a two-thirds vote. They consequently from time to time limit the speakers by a vote of the
House; generally the limit is ten minutes in the Assembly and
half an hour in the Senate; but often by a simple vote it is
reduced to five minutes or extended. Then they have and frequently use' the previous question,' or cloture. They certainly
get through a great deal of business—far more, I am told, than
does Congress. It seems to be tolerably well done, though
sometimes rather hastily. About half the Senate and onethird of the Assembly or House are lawyers, and very many
of them are ambitious of drawing bills, so there is no difficulty
on that score. At present there are no regular parties, the
Democrats having it all their own way. Evidently, however,
the Independents are very largely represented; in the late
elections they have got nearly half of the seats in Congress
for Georgia. They are not united in any pronounced policy
as regards the blacks, but lay themselves out for black votes,
and there is thus a division with regard to the blacks which
has a wholesome effect. I liked the style of the men I saw.
Many of the Senate appeared to be superior men, and the
representatives in the Assembly seem to be a decent-looking
set—only an exceptional man here and there had his legs on
the table. I am told that nearly every man in the Senate is
a speaker. The Americans certainly go in for oratory more
than we do. Their style is peculiar. They have a way of
emphasising the last word of every sentence and the last
sentence of every subject. However, on every-day subjects
the speakers I heard bringing on motions or discussing them
seemed to be reasonably brief and not excessively loud. The
halls are large, and the acoustics not very good; so that,
besides not being' accustomed to our quiet English ways, it
would be difficult for a man to make himself heard, amid the
buzz of a good many people moving about the floor, without
speaking pretty loud. Conspicuous among those moving about
were the candidates for the Judgeships of the Superior Courts,
who are to be elected in a day or two, and who were going
from member to member soliciting votes.. 'Lobbying' is
strictly forbidden by a special article of the Constitution, but
that provision is certainly not observed, unless, indeed, it be
considered that canvassing toithin the House is not 'lobby23

354

MY JOURNAL.

ing.' It is the habit of American Legislatures to have a
roll-call upon many occasions. Members are not allowed to
absent themselves so easily as with us. To-day there was a
roll-call at the commencement of business in the Senate, but
it was dispensed with in the Assembly by a motion. Prayers
were said by a chaplain, who happened to be an Episcopalian,
but the duty .is taken, turn and turn about, by the ministers
of various denominations. The pay of the legislators is not
high, and has lately been reduced. It is only a daily allowance while the session lasts, and hardly covers expenses; so
there is no temptation to do much legislation on that ground.
Afterwards I was introduced to Mr. Colquitt, the present
Governor. He puts it that everything in Georgia is done by
the representatives of the people, not by the people themselves. That, I take it, is the great difference between the
Southern system and that of the North, where the popular
township is the basis and original unit of the political system. The Governor and others whom I met, and who have
had experience of Congress as well as of local Legislatures,
say that the latter work better and give more satisfaction
than does Congress; but a Senator who heard this view interposed with the caution, ' You must look inside, here and elsewhere, in regard to legislation: there is too much of " Tickle
me, and I'll tickle you."' It seems that at this moment there
is a secret committee sitting on some large disbursements
in regard to which imputations have been made against the
Governor.
At the hotel I met a planter of extreme Democratic
views, strongly opposed to Independents and all other defectors from the party. He thinks niggers are only made to
be slaves. . They work well when compelled, but will do
nothing without compulsion. He has himself a farm of
500 acres, and no man has worked harder than he has; but
he cannot make a living—with the price of cotton so much
down and wages not down the cultivation is a dead loss,
and he is disgusted with the world. Between us, however,
we made out the moral to be that a farm so large ajS his does
not pay, especially when the owner does not like niggers.
He is now dividing it up. Part he has given to his sons, and
part he is selling. He admits that men with small farms,
who work themselves and can look well after two or three
nigger servants, may live.

GEORGIA.

355

In the evening I walked out into the country and saw
some of the country people. I interviewed a small black
farmer who has a farm of twelve acres, in the midst of the
woods. He was a slave. After emancipation the owners of
this land, who were relations of his former mistress, allowed
him to squat and clear this patch, on the understanding that
he was to pay rent when he could. Presently the land was
sold, and the new owner makes him pay four dollars an acre
—a heavy rent; but he does not seem to complain, as the land
is near the town. He has eight acres in cotton, and expected
to have got three or four bales or more; but there has been
much drought this year, and he has little more than two
bales. One bale I saw screwed up and ready for market, but
he is keeping it back for a better price. He gets along
pretty well; but many others are worse off, wages being
low and employment precarious. He explains, however, that
what he calls low wages is fifty cents a day, or sometimes
sixty or seventy cents, when work can be got. He is a
strong Republican in his politics, but says that many of his
fellow-blacks are won over to the other side. Altogether,
though quite uneducated, he seemed to be a good and intelligent specimen.
Next day I made the acquaintance of Mr. O
, the
Superintendent of State Schools, a thorough old Southerner,
who literally ' never set foot on free soil ? till his own State
was made free; and to this day he has never been in the
Northern States. He is now, however, very zealous in favour
of progress and education. I went to hear a lecture given
by him in the evening. He says he began by being strongly
against education, but now finds it is the only way of dealing
with the people under present circumstances, and he only
wants money to carry it out. The State has behaved very
handsomely in maintaining a black college, where 200 young
negroes receive what he thinks only rather too high an education. The educated blacks look to be politicians, preachers,
and teachers. The effect is not unlike the higher education
in India, the only difference being that there the educated
natives look to being lawyers, while here they look to be
politicians. Mr. O—— maintains that, imperfect as they
are, the ordinary country schools are doing much good—
three months' schooling, is better than nothing: the seed is
being sown. In most of the large towns and one or two

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counties, they have a superior system, and keep the schools
open much longer. A man in Mr. O
's position is not at
all situated like one of our inspectors of schools. He is a political office-holder as much as one of our Ministers, and his
lecture was, in fact, a political speech of a departmental character. He appealed especially for funds for his department.
He and others want to introduce a special drink-tax, such as
that called in Virginia the ' Moffat tax,' which, he says,
wTould yield a large sum; and he is also very strong for a dogtax, to go in aid of education. For an out-and-out Southern
man he seems extremely reasonable. He says, with hosts of
other Southerners, he considers the war is ended, and they
do not want to renew it, but want to make the best of the
existing situation.
Another day I spent principally in the House of Representatives. The galleries were very well filled, many ladies
being there, and on one side many blacks. The interest is
principally on account of the election of the United States
Senator, which is to take place this day, although there is no
opposition. The proceedings were of an ordinary kind, but
a fair debate of some length arose, in which the speaking
was brief and to the point. The House was quite patient,
but at last the ' previous question' was moved and the proceedings brought to a close. The members seemed generally
very quiet; there was little 'Hear, hearing;' and when at
last a hit was made it was recognised by stamping and applause such as we have at public meetings. The members
generally were respectable-looking and well-dressed; only a
few were in rural-farmer sort of clothes. I noticed nothing
very American except a good deal of spitting. In debate
there was a little less strictness than in our own Houses of
Parliament—more interruption and questions put by one
speaker to another—but still parliamentary form was sufficiently maintained to remove the proceedings from any imputation of a parish-vestry character. The business seemed
to be well got through in a simple and dignified way. When
the time came for the election of the Senator the two Houses
came together in joint session. There was then a roll-call, and
each member rose in his place and gave his vote. There is
no ballot in this election.
I was introduced to an ex-member of Congress, Mr. P
.
He comes from the extreme north-east of this State—the

GEORGIA.

357

hilly country, where the gold-mines are worked. It seems
that all the north of Georgia was acquired from the Indians
when they were moved beyond the Mississippi in the present
century. Their lands were purchased by the State of Georgia
and divided up in forty-acre lots; and thus it is that small
white farmers owning their own lands are very numerous in
that part of the country. Now there are no lands belonging
to the State except irreclaimable swamps. Some of the mines
are now to a considerable extent worked by convict labour.
It seems that a very large number of blacks are sent to prison,
and that they are generally hired out. In slave times little
was thought of petty pickings—such as taking a turnip from a
field—but now such things are very severely punished. I
asked Mr. P
about the jury system. He admits that few
blacks are put upon juries, except in the United States Courts,
but he declares that the blacks prefer white jurors and generally challenge those of their own race, because the latter are
bloodily inclined, and are always for hanging culprits. They
do not like poor whites, and prefer those who have owned
slaves—the latter generally have a sympathy for the blacks.
Mr. P
says that the forms and style of the Legislature
here very much resemble Congress, and the rules are much
the same. In the session of 1868-9 there were two sides,
much as there are in Congress. The whites at first expelled
the blacks from the Legislature, alleging that they were not
eligible to sit there; but the blacks were restored by the authority of Congress. In spite, however, of some struggles at
this period, this State did not suffer much from Republican
rule. The men in power were capable men, and the best men
of the State lent a hand. Some people seem to think that the
Constitution of 1868 was better than the new one which has
just been inaugurated. There being no townships in this
State, the counties are divided into militia and education districts. The militia districts are an old institution, and they
are used as a convenient arrangement for other purposes also.
As in other States, many special local bills are passed by the
State Legislature, such as bills to authorise a particular county
to raise a special education tax, or to deal with the 'fence
question;' to stop the sale of liquor in particular places, or
to give the inhabitants the option of doing so. I have been
inquiring regarding the liquor laws prevailing here ; they are
somewhat complicated, but I make them out to be as follows:—

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First, the United States levy and excise duty on all spirits,
and also a quarterly duty for licenses to sell; but for retail
sale a man must also get a license from the State of Georgia.
These licenses are given by the Probate Judge or Judge-Ordinary, who as a rule gives them to every person of good character and who can give sufficient security for his conduct.
For this local license another license fee is levied, which goes
to the funds of the county. The Legislature may, and often
does, grant to corporate towns authority to levy these license
fees on their own account, and they generally charge much
higher rates in the town than in the country. For instance, the
local license tax for liquor-shops in this part of the country is
$25 in rural places, but $300 in Atlanta. In places where the
sale of liquor is prohibited by law every kind of sale is prohibited. There is no exception in favour of wine merchants or
grocers; but private persons are not prevented from importing
their own liquors from distilleries in other parts of the country.
I visited Colonel P
, a gentleman to whom I had an introduction, and who is a very old institution here. His family
had much property in Pennsylvania, but he came up here
a long time ago, and acquired land which had been bought
from the Indians; he was, in fact, one of the first settlers
in Atlanta. He says that large tracts of land situate in
central Pennsylvania, by which his family expected to make
their fortunes, were eventually sold for a dollar an acre,
the people having gone West,' not caring to cultivate the
poorer lands in that part of the country. During the war
Colonel P—— did a large business in blockade-running, for
which he had facilities in being President of one or two
Southern railways, and he seems to have made much money
in that way. Besides much property and a large model farm
in this State he has a ' ranch ' in New Mexico, looked after by
one of his sons. Altogether he seems to have been a great
speculator and enterpriser. He is evidently now a thorough
Southerner in feeling. He thinks the negro first-rate to
4
shovel dirt,' a function for which he was made, but no good
for much else. He must be ' kept in his place,' as it is the
fashion to say in Georgia. In accordance with the common
opinion here, he says that the cultivation of cotton has been
overdone, and the soil exhausted by overcropping. Many
people are now emigrating to Texas; and, besides the white
people who go there, a good many unattached blacks have

GEORGIA.

359

been carried off to the South-Western States by people who
have embarked in enterprises in that direction. He, like
others, says that the attempt to carry on large farms in this
part of the country has not been successful. They are now
being divided up, but the division is arrived at more by the
partition of estates among the members of families than by
selling to negroes. This is a healthy country, and the population increases. The Southern gentlemen now work much
better than they did. According to some, however, the whites
work only because they must; and the negroes work too,
although they had rather not. Colonel P
says the negroes are not fitted to hold farms. The renting system leads
to deterioration of the land. A negro lets it run out, and
only cultivates the best part. People are going back from
this renting system, and prefer moderate-sized farms of their
own, upon which they can employ two or more negroes and
look after them well. He talks with horror of the immorality
of the negroes, and is altogether pessimist upon this subject.
He and others are strong on the badness of the free and independent young negroes who have grown up since the war.
The old ones have some virtues ; but you cannot strike them
now, and similarly they cannot and do not strike and discipline their children, who are growing up unbroken and uncontrolled. It does seem as if there was some ground for
apprehension on this score.
Colonel P
took me to see some great iron-works. All
seemed to be agreed that for manual labour, in this climate at
any rate, the blacks are better than the whites, and in the
works here the ordinary labour is exclusively done by black
men. They would not have white men if they could get
them. If the negro is kept in his place and is made to work
he does very well, but he is not fit to rise higher ; he has no
' judgment,' and does not make a skilled mechanic. The
Georgian who is head Qf the office at these works takes entirely the same view as Colonel P
, or goes even farther.
According to him the negro is unthrifty to the last degree,
drinks and dances, is dishonest and immoral. He says he
knows South Carolina, and is sure that the negroes who have
farms on the Islands there cultivate them miserably. They
have only some garden-patches; few of them go to the phosphate works regularly. They labour only for a few days at a
time when they are driven to it by the necessity to get a lit-

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tie money. That is the other side of the shield. On the
other hand, an Ohio man, who superintends the iron manufacture, tells quite a different story. He says that there are
instances here of negroes developing much mechanical skill
and conducting themselves very well. He has one who is a
very superior mechanic, but he is kept working under an inferior white. He doubts if the negroes will be allowed to
rise. There are no regular trades unions against them, but
there is a general view that the negro must be kept in his
place. No doubt most of them are somewhat wanting in
judgment. According to the Georgian the negroes cannot
see straight. As carpenters they always wrill fit their work
crooked. The Ohio man, however, says that a good many
are not only quite good workmen, but also thrifty and disposed to save, and have by saving come to own their own
houses and a. little land; but he says that they are frequently
ousted on questions of title. There are many pettifogging
lawyers about always ready to get up a case, civil or criminal,
against a negro. The blacks are sent to the chain-gang very
readily; when men are wanted for the chain-gang they are
always got. He concurs, however, to some extent with wliat
I had been told about the indiscipline of the younger negroes.
He has some who have been to prison, and the chain-gang
discipline certainly improves them. He prefers to take a
young man who has served for a time in the chain-gang.
In the evening at the hotel I had some talk with Georgians of the upper class, with the general result that their
opinions are unfavourable to the negroes, who are, they say, of
an extremely migratory disposition. They wander about too
much. If a man is discharged he does not care ; he steals till
he gets another job. A farmer sitting by, however, interposed
to say that in the last three or four years they have much
improved. He says he has a good deal given up the cultivation of cotton, going in for other things, and finds that with
a moderate number of negro hands he can do very well.
People here do not seem to have adopted the South Carolina
plan of fixing the negroes by selling them small patches of
land. Judge C — , a sensible man who has a considerable
estate, seems from what he says to get on pretty well with the
negroes upon it. He likes the share plan, provided that he
keeps the management and direction entirely in his own hands,
and pays the cultivators their share of the crops, instead of

GEORGIA.

361

their paying him. Some of them do very well. They have
a house and small enclosure of land for vegetables and provisions for themselves, and then, with a mule supplied by him,
a man will cultivate perhaps forty acres, half in corn and
half in cotton. He gives them half of the corn and one-third
of the cotton for themselves, or the value of it.
I have been looking over some of the statistics of Georgia
and South Carolina with reference to the coloured population,
but I fancy they are not very reliable, and they are not made
out on a uniform plan, so as fully to admit of comparison. In
South Carolina they have had a census of their own subsequent to the United States census, and claim a population
exceeding that arrived at by the United States in 1870 by
some two hundred thousand. According to their census there
are in South Carolina, in round numbers, 350,000 whites and
575,000 blacks. In Georgia there has been no recent census.
The United States census of 1870 gives 639,000 whites and
545,000 blacks. People here say that after emancipation
there was a very great mortality among the blacks, especially
among the women and children, yet this statement is hardly
reconcilable with the census returns. The Georgia census of
1860 gave 465,000 blacks, which number was increased to
545,000 in 1870. The increase now must be more rapid,
there being no special mortality, except, perhaps, to some
degree, from want of sufficient care of infants. The number
of tax-polls according to the last return is—whites, 126,085 ;
blacks, 83,900 ; but I understand that the full number of taxpolls has not yet been got at. The numbers have been increasing a great deal. The blacks pay taxes upon 501,000
acres out of upwards of thirty-seven millions of acres, but
that includes all land, cultivated and waste. Of a total of
'6,804,437 acres of 'improved land' the returns give 176,915
acres as cultivated by blacks as proprietors.
Reading the local papers next morning I observe that
they do not report the debates of the Legislature; they only
give the proceedings, with the briefest notice of each speech.
To-day I again visited the office of the ComptrollerGeneral and that of the Superintendent of the Geological and
Agricultural Departments. The Comptroller-General is the
head of the Department of Revenue. There is no incometax in Georgia, only the usual property-tax, also the poll-tax
for education, and a special tax on lawyers, doctors, dentists.

362

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and billiard-keepers, in the nature of a license fee. The
counties collect a pedlers' tax, which seems to be principally
in the interest of the storekeepers. In towns there are
special taxes under the Acts of Incorporation. In Atlanta
they tax storekeepers on the amount of sales. The question
of the drink-tax, on the Virginian model, and of the dog-tax,
is now being raised in the Legislature.
At the Agricultural Department the general lie of the
country was explained to me. A great deal of Georgia is
elevated, and from the higher lands the country slopes downwards. The old-established towns are generally situated
where the rivers run out into the low country at the head of
the navigation, where are also the principal ^cotton-lands.
Lower still come the pine-barrens and swamps, and then the
Sea Islands. The broad pine-belt extends not only through
the States which I have visited, but round through Alabama
and Mississippi and well into Texas. The Superintendent
states, what I had been before told, that in the lower country
all the best lands had come into the possession of the rich
slave-owners, while the poorer whites are principally found on
the inferior lands ; that is, the pine-barrens, which, he says,
are not really bad land. There, is a sandy surface something
like that in Prussia, but clay underlies the surface, and that
holds fertilisers well. Georgia was certainly much more
democratic in its origin than Yirginia or South Carolina.
When a great part of the State, especially all the upper part,
was acquired by successive purchases from the Indians, the
land of Georgia belonging to the State itself not to the United
States, each new acquisition was marked out in parcels and
apportioned by lot to the people of the State. Many of these
lots were not occupied, and were purchased for a song by the
richer people. To this day, in fact, many of the lots have not
been occupied, and the purchasers do not know where they are.
These are what are called ' wild lands;' and there is a ' Wild
Land' Office, the business of which is to find out these uncultivated lands and to tax them—for hitherto they have not
been properly taxed. Before the war there was in this State
an extreme jealousy of interlopers. So far from encouraging
new immigrants, the Georgians wished to keep them out and
to keep all the lands for themselves. All this is now changed
-—they are delighted to sell their lands when they can find
purchasers, and new-comers are exceedingly welcome.

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363

We are now having rain, which, I am told, is not unusual
in November, and is generally followed by a week of clear
frost. That is the hog-killing season. From the middle of
December to the middle of February there is generally quite
a rainy season—only a little snow coming at the last. In
spring they generally have good showers, and in the early
summer tliere are frequent thunder-showers. There is generally heavy rain in August and a dry autumn.
The present Legislature is much bent on economy. They
not only want to reduce the number of Circuit Judges—a
question wThich I heard debated—but also do not like the cost
of the Agricultural and Geological Departments. The farmers
especially object to the Agricultural Department as useless.
I had again a good deal of talk with several men. They
all stoutly maintain that Georgia deserves credit as having set
an example to other States in the treatment of the negro.
After the war, instead of refusing to take any part in affairs,
as the white leaders of some States did, they accepted the
situation, sent their best men to the Convention that was then
held, and managed to get things arranged, so that they did
not fare very badly. After one legislative term, in which
parties were pretty equally balanced, they got the complete
control. Since then their policy has been justice to and improvement of the negro. One statement took me quite by
surprise, and I have not been able to verify it. They assert
that at this moment there are more drilled negro militia than
there are of whites. They say that from the first they thought
they could manage the blacks best by drilling, disciplining, and
trusting them; that the militia is far better than the secret
clubs, and that they know well they can take the arms from
the blacks when they wish to do so.
I notice that there is in the papers to-day the report of an
official committee upon the militia. They want to have it
regularly organized, with pecuniary assistance from the State,
a Georgian flag, and several other ambitious things. That
looks as if those who framed the report wished to go very far
in the way of State independence. I have been looking over
the report of the Adjutant-General of South Carolina regarding the withdrawal of arms from the Black National Guards.
He says that arms were issued indiscriminately to the people,
and it was necessary to take them away from those who were
not qualified to use them. He also complains that under an

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MY JOURNAL.

Act of 1874 companies called Rifle Clubs have been organised,
which are not part of the military establishment of the State,
and which interfere with the due organisation of the National
Guards. He suggests confining the National Guards to the
great cities, as is, he says, the case in other States.
The gentlemen to whom I have been talking dwell much
on what they have done for the education of the blacks.
When pressed as to what else they have done for them they
rather deal in generalities, talking of their good and conciliatory treatment. They say the blacks are now quite content and willingly go with the whites. They would be all
right but for the interference of carpet-baggers, and, above
all, of the ' New England school inarms? These they declare
to be the pest of the world, putting false ideas of equality into
the heads of the blacks, especially the black women, whom all
agree in describing as the most troublesome of the race.
Some time ago, they say, a black woman would only accept
the place of cook in the character of a lady-help. Now that
they have got rid of the Northerners, a black woman will conduct vherself as an ordinary cook. They admit that they have
done nothing special to settle the negroes on land, as has been
done in South Carolina. They had not thought of the advantage of fixing them down; but they declare that they are
quite ready to sell land to them if they will only be thrifty
and save money for the purpose, as some in fact do. But
they say that the blacks like society, their wives like dress and
dances and shows, and being free to do as they liked they
sought to obtain these advantages of freedom in the towns.
Now many have gone back to the country. They have as
much land as could be expected in so short a time. I could
not, however, obtain any explanation of the fact shown by the
statistics, that there has been scarcely any increase in the
negro ownership of land in the last two or three years. It
must be a long time, they say, before the negroes generally
hold land. Gradually they may acquire it, but for the present
most of them must be tenants or labourers. I have not been
able to carry the question further than that. I had been told
that in one county there was a Granger's League—a combination not to sell land to negroes—and that the negroes thereupon check-mated the land-owners by themselves making a
league to leave that county. My friends deny any knowledge
of the Granger's League, but they admit to have heard of the

GEORGIA.

365

black league in Houston County. They admit that very many
whites have disgraced themselves by failing to pay wages
earned by the black labourers. That has been a general complaint everywhere, but things, they say, are in that respect
not so bad in Georgia as in several other States. They tell
stories of the childish character of the negro—but he works
well. There is no better worker when he is at it, only he is
always liable to the temptation to sit up at night to dance and
frolic. He is given to spout ridiculously in church, and to
steal and lie, and he is very bad in love matters. He is very
stupid in his crime, and is always found out, and so it is that
he always gets into the penitentiary when the police would
never detect a white man.
I confess I am more and more suspicious about the
criminal justice of these southern states. In Georgia there is
no regular penitentiary at all, but an organised system of letting out the prisoners for profit. Some people here have got
up a company for the purpose of hiring convicts. They pay
$25,000 a year besides all expenses of food and keep, so that
the money is clear profit to the state. The lessees work the
prisoners both on estates and in mines, and apparently maintain severe discipline in their own way, and make a good
tiling of it. Colonel P
, who is not very mealy-mouthed,
admits that he left the concern because he could not stand the
inhumanity of it. Another partner in the concern talked with
great glee of the money he had made out of the convicts.
This does seem simply a return to another form of slavery.
Here, too, I am told that there is a greater separation of
the white and black castes than there was before the war.
Now there is complete separation in churches and schools.
It was a black member who moved and carried in the legislature that the two classes of schools should be for ever separate. The separation is the doing of the blacks. They do
not like association on terms of inferiority.
A man to whom I talked to-day says that cotton can only
be profitably cultivated by blacks. It is their habit and education to cultivate cotton and it gives them constant employment all the }^ear round in a way which the white men do not
like. The southern white man feels the necessity of labour
now and does labour, but he is better at raising corn and such
things than cotton.
I had a good deal of talk with Governor Browne, a very

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MY JOURNAL.

shrewd and remarkable man. He is a self-made man, but
was Governor of Georgia for eight years down to the close of
the war. He seems to have been engaged in blockade-running, and to have made a good deal of money in that way;
and since the war, like all the great men in this country, he
is president of railways and mining companies. He is evidently very much respected and still quite sustains his reputation of being a very long-headed man. He has been a
great deal over the States, has had properties and speculations in many other states besides his own. I talked to him
about the condition of some of the Southern States which I
have not visited. He says that Alabama soon got the government into its own hands, though not quite so soon as
Georgia, and is now pretty quiet and peaceful, though suffering from the low price of cotton; for that is a very great
cotton state. Both Mississippi and Louisiana have had
troubles like those of South Carolina. The feeling between
blacks and whites seems to be worse in Mississippi than in
any other state. In Mississippi the best cotton grows on the
ridge of highish land near the river; behind that there are
impracticable swamps, and back beyond that again comes
higher land on which cotton is raised throughout the whole
length of the state. In Louisiana sugar is doing better than
it was, but owing to the liability to frost it is cultivated at a
great disadvantage as compared to Cuba. The great trouble
of the Southern States is the debt, most of which was contracted to promote railways. Governor Browne says that the
coloured French Creoles of Louisiana, or at any rate the
higher class among them, took part with the whites, and
having lost their property are now generally Democratic.
He does not know that any prominent men among them
have attempted to become the political leaders of the blacks.
They still prefer the white man, and in the JSTew Orleans
country the latter to some extent recognise them and admit
them to their society to some degree.
In the evening I took tea with Colonel P—— and his
family. Though he is, I believe, a rich man, he lives in a
very simple style, as does everyone here. All the governors
of these states seem to be really poor men who now live in
cottages, but they are also men of some family and consideration in their states. Colonel P
is full of stories of the
way in which money was made in the war by blockade-run-

GEORGIA.

367

ning and suchlike business, especially by those who had command of the railways. The sharpest people among the Southerners seem to have gone in for blockade-running, which they
found much more profitable than fighting. As to the war,
Colonel P—— says that at first the Southerners put a splendid
set of men into the field—they had long been preparing for
it—but almost all those were killed or disabled, and then,
what with inferior men and pressed men, their armies were
not at all what they had been. As the war went on, the
Southern armies became much worse while the Northern
armies became much better. As long as they had only to
fight in front, they did very well, but their position was much
altered when the Federals got possession of the line of the
Mississippi. Then came Sherman's march and much destruction of cotton, which the Federals made contraband and
seized, while the Confederates burnt it to prevent it from falling into the hands of the other party. There was thus much
suffering in the Southern States and a great want of many
luxuries, such as coffee and sugar. Under these circumstances
half of Lee's men deserted and came to look after their families, and so at last the South turned out to be an empty shell.
Colonel P
says that in these parts no one drinks tea
—coffee is universally drunk, generally with sugar and without milk.
In the evening I went to hear General Cordon, the newlyelected senator, who gave an address. He was very eloquent
and successful, but I thought too much in the stjde of an
energetic preacher. I understand now where the negro
preachers get their style. General Gordon's discourse was
principally a very strong attack upon the Independents.
He seemed to advocate extreme views—' a solid South,' and so
on. They had got State after State, and now South Carolina
too, and they would not go back. Shame to those who broke
their own ranks. After the meeting I fraternised with
several legislators at the Kimball, and had two or three invitations to ' take a drink.' All were very civil and cordial and
inclined to talk of England as their model. That seems
quite the fashion here. I met a man who is canvassing for a
judgeship, and who has, he said, been up till one or two in the
morning for several nights in succession at that work.
The next day I went to the election of judges by the
combined Houses in joint session. It is done in the same way

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MY JOUENAL.

as the election of senator and is a dignified enough kind of
proceeding, each member rising as his name is called and
giving his vote. The salary of a judge is $2,500 (say 500Z.) a
year, and there is tremendous canvassing for the place. They
say this canvassing is absolutely necessary ; the greatest lawyer
in the United States would not be elected if he did not work
hard for it. So much is this so, under the present system,
that many people say that they prefer the former plan when
the Governor nominated with the consent of the Legislature,
or even when the judges were elected by the people who are
too numerous to be canvassed. There were very hot contests
for the judgeships and inferior offices, but when the election
was over I heard everyone say that the man he worked for
had been elected.
I visited the editor of the small weekly Independent paper
published here, or as some call it the republican paper. He
did not speak at all bitterly. When Governor Bullock was
elected as a republican there was a good deal of ' bull-dozing?
on the part of the Democrats, but now things have settled
down. The principal fault of Governor Bullock was that he
was elected by the black vote. The general opinion seems to
be that there was no truth in the charges on account of which
he was driven away. There is still a little bull-dozing and a
good deal of influence bribery and whisky used to back the
regular Democratic candidates. The blacks are always ready
to vote for any man who goes against the regular Democratic
ticket. This gentleman, however, joins in the general statement that Georgia treats the blacks fairly well. If willing to
vote Democratic they will be well enough treated. He says it
is true that the blacks have been armed and encouraged to
take their part as militiamen. Fair justice is given to them
in the courts; there is a disposition to treat them as not very
responsible children. In the last sessions one white man was
convicted of murder when two blacks were acquitted. The
blacks are treated more fairly in the settlement of their accounts at the end of the year in Georgia than in other states.
In lower Georgia there is still some unfairness, and in some
other states the blacks are certainly very unfairly treated in
this matter. They are so improvident that they must get advances to support them during the cultivating season, and both
storekeepers and landowners ' stick it on' to them terribly
when the account is made out at the end of the season.

GEOKGIA.

369

I had a call from Mr. "W——, a Scotch-Irishman settled
here. He was bred a cotton-spinner, and emigrated when
cotton-spinning came to an end in Ireland. He had mills here
before the war, since which time he has acquired large landed
property. Before the war he employed in his mills negroes
and negresses along with some free whites. That was not an
uncommon practice, and they did very well; but since emancipation the blacks have not been employed in the mills. He
also took me to see a friend, another Scotch-Irishman, who
came out wTith nothing, and now has a large dry-goods store,
and seems a prosperous man. Atlanta is a new place, and
there are a great many self-made men in it. This gentleman,
though not very long out, fought on the Confederate side in
the war. He showed me his goods;.most of them are of
American make, but many of them English. The mills in
these parts, he says, make capital woollen goods for common
use. Georgian wool is used, but it is not well cleaned, and
the finer woollen goods come from England. They make a
capital kind of mixed goods which are very largely used, and
are quite cheap. JSTo doubt the best woollen clothes are excessively dear in this country, but he declares the Americans
will beat us in cottons. The 'domestics' made in the ]^orth
are far better than the same class of goods from England.
He says that the enormous progress of American manufactures in the last ten years is patent and astonishing. The
Americans are extremely ready to invent or imitate, and he
thinks English manufactures are doomed to decline. Southern
wrhite labour is as cheap and good as any labour of the kind
in the world. The white mill-workers are a good class of
people, and very often own their own houses, or if not the
mill-owners take much care in providing houses and comforts
for them.
Mr. W
does not farm himself but manages his land
entirely by letting it out. H e has both black and white
tenants. One black man, a respectable Methodist elder, runs
ten ploughs; yet he is not very provident. He is always
liable for a heavy account for advances during the year, and
does not seem to save. Some blacks, however, are provident;
they generally pay their rent quite well, there is no serious
difficulty about that. The ginning mills are all rented out
as well as the land. In this way he gets fair interest for his
money with some trouble. In some respects he might prefer

370

MY JOURNAL.

the blacks to white tenants, but they are very migratory.
That is the universal complaint. They do not like to stay
long anywhere. However, Mr. W
does not find that
they let the land down badly. They are bound to repair the
fences, &c, and they do it. He finds, however, that he has
too much land, and he thinks of selling. He has another
large estate in the Sea Island country, which he took for a
bad debt, but now he gets nothing from it. Some negroes
squat on it, and cultivate patches, and fish. He might get
some rent from them, but it would not be enough to repay
the trouble and cbst of collection. I think Georgian landowners might well try to locate these blacks as has been done
in the Beaufort country. Mr. "W
, however, hopes to
make his low country estate into a cattle farm.
To-day I noticed a very large number of small farmers
bringing cotton to market in their waggons. Most of them
were whites, driving themselves, and evidently quite labouring men. They had one or two blacks with them, but not
very many. There were also a few black farmers. The
blacks whom I questioned were mostly tenants upon the share
system.* They appeared to me rather a low class, and their
answers to my questions quite tallied with the accounts I had
had of their migratory habits. They generally had not remained very long in one place. The white farmers seemed
f;ood-looking men, but poorly clad. They looked like poor
rish farmers. They came in covered waggons, in which they
live and sleep, and some of them had their wives and children
with them in the waggons. I am told a good many people
from these parts have gone to Texas, both white and black;
some of them have come back again.
I receive a good many visits from people who have seen
my name in the newspapers. Altogether there is a general
disposition to treat me civilly and to lionise me in a small
way here. As they say, an English traveller and M.P. is rare
up here.
This evening I had a talk with a nice gentleman-like
elderly man, member for Athens and a strong Independent.
He gave me the views of that party in opposition to those of
General Gordon. He explains the evils of the caucus system.
Generally everything is settled by half-a-dozen jobbers, and
without any reference to the electors at large. If need be he
says let us have a primary election, but there are many objec-

GEORGIA.

371

tions to it. It has no law or check of any kind, and should
only be resorted to to decide between Democrats when a
Radical stands, and the seat is in danger. That not being
the case in Georgia the caucus system is totally uncalled for,
and is a mere abuse to give power to jobbers. Therefore it
is that there has been a successful uprising of the people
against it. Moreover, the system, he says, is a gross breach
of faith with the black voters, who are excluded from the
caucus. He says the Independents get a fair proportion of
the black votes, but not by any means all, as the other party
pay largely for votes and otherwise coerce and influence the
voters. He dwells on the. heaviness of taxation in consequence of the debts of the State and the need of economy;
but when I asked him for particulars regarding the heaviness
of taxation he seemed to refer rather to municipal than to
general taxation. It is very much what I have heard in other
quarters. Here the State tax is 40 cents in the 100 dols. of
capital value besides 10 cents to form a sinking fund to get
rid of the debt. The county taxation is not heavy, but there
is heavy taxation in the towns, often amounting to $2*50 per
cent, on capital value. I cannot quite make out how the
value of personal property is got at—in Ehat respect the tax
is certainly much evaded. As is the case with us, rich men
often live in fine villa houses outside the towns, and so escape
the town taxation. Under the present constitution new laws
and appropriations, and elections by the Legislature require an
absolute majority of the whole House to be present and vote
for the measure.
They say that the position of United States Senator
is generally preferred to that of Governor of a State.
General Gordon gives a reception this evening in the form
of a great wine party to the members of the Legislature.
I am told that in Washington and Philadelphia and some
other great cities it is common enough to have men's
receptions of this kind, from which ladies are excluded.
They have fine suppers and wines, and everything that is
brilliant.
The next day I started by rail for Calhoun, about eighty
miles north of Atlanta. I am suprised by the goodness of
the country, and the large extent of cultivation. I am told
that cultivation extends a long way on either side of the line,
especially along the course of the rivers. There is also much

372

MY JOURNAL.

forest, as is the case in all this country. There is very little
rise after leaving Atlanta, the highest point is not more than
1,200 feet above the sea. This railway line is very largely
advertised as the 'Great Kenesaw Route,' which takes its
name from the Kenesaw Mountain; and on the pictorial
advertisements the Kenesaw Mountain is very magnificent
indeed; but when I came to see the reality it turned out to
be a very moderate hill—perhaps 500 feet above the surrounding country. We crossed several livers, which now run towards Mobile and the Gulf of Mexico. As we got on, the
level of the country became lower, and several of these rivers
are navigable, especially for a considerable distance upwards.
It is also hoped to make them navigable downwards, so that
we are in a much less sloping country than that which drains
towards the Atlantic, and there is complaint of want of
water-power for saw-mills and other machinery. The cultivation is various; there is a good deal of cotton, but also a
good deal of corn and wheat. They say anything will grow
here, but no one thing grows so well as it does somewhere
?
else. I went to pay a visit at a farm of Colonel P
s,
near Calhoun, now occupied by his son, Mr. P . P
; and I
was very hospitably entertained by young Mr. P
and his.
wife, a pleasant young lady from Philadelphia. Mr. P
•
himself was at school in England, and they both seem very
nice and refined people. As usual, they live in a very simple
way, and have not many servants. American ladies, who live
in the country, manage to do a great deal themselves without
detracting from their dress and demeanour. There is a stock
farm here, of which old Colonel P
is very proud. There
was a Jersey bull, said to be splendid, some rather thin Jersey
cows, a good many Merino sheep, and a large flock of Angora
goats. They grow tolerable turnips, and Mr. P
has a
successful field of lucerne. There is a great deal of game
about here. I saw many of the small American partridges,
sometimes called quails. They sit capitally to dogs, rise
in regular coveys like partridges, but fly more like quails.
There are also some rabbits about, which looked not unlike
English rabbits, running with cocked tails, showing the
white. There are many wild turkeys in this country; they
are, however, very.shy birds, keep in the woods, and are seldom
seen. Tame turkeys are very abundant in these Southern
States, and poultry in general is abundant and good. Much

GEORGIA.

373

of it is kept by small farmers, and is a great assistance to
them.
I drove out a good way into the country, over varied sort
of ground—some fertile bottoms, and a good deal of higher
land. The lower and richer land is principally given to
cereals. It does not do well for cotton. The cotton-plant
grows large and strong, but is not productive there; whereas
in the higher red lands the plant is small, but is often covered
with cotton from top to bottom. The lower lands generally
belong to the large proprietors. Wherever there are large
proprietors there were slaves, and there are now black labourers. Most of the work in the upper country is done by the
whites themselves. I saw some good specimens of people of
this class. Most of them own their own land, but some rent,
and some go as labourers, getting $8 or $10 a month and rations. I liked the look of these people. They are decidedly
fair with no tinge of swarthiness. Many of them have Scotch
names—Campbell, Mclntyre, Macinroy, and so on ; but they
did not know their origin. They came up from the Carolinas
and Virginia, and did not emigrate direct to this part of the
country. Most of them live in miserable houses, but some of
the houses are quite good. Even some considerable proprietors live in poor log-houses. It is said that some of these people hold on to too much land when they had better sell; and
if a purchaser comes they ask too much. Some of the smaller
tenants live in places unlit for an Irishman, with no windows,
and showing much daylight between the logs. I never saw
such poor places, except Irish turf huts. I asked one man
about it. 'Yes,' he said, laughing; 'you cannot call it a
house, but as we have so much air inside we do not catch cold
when we go out.' This man was a poor labourer, and he had
half-a-dozen nice-looking ^children in his wretched one-roomed
hut. The children, however, looked very well. These people
seemed altogether a fair-spoken and quite laborious population.
From the higher parts of the ground that I visited, I saw
a high range of hills standing out very distinct to the northeast. It seems as if the main Alleghanies come to a sudden
end near this. We met many farmers with bullock-waggons
coming down from the upper country. They do not grow cotton there, and scarcely ever had any negroes. They grow better corn and wheat than in the lower land, and much better

374

MY

JOURNAL.

apples; and would get on well enough if it were not for the
United States whisky-blockade, of which they much complain,
as interfering with their industry in that article. In the
lower grounds I came upon a few negro farmers, but they were
only renters; none of them owned land. One man had got
some uncleared woodland on a three years' lease, the arrangement being that he should pay nothing for that time, but
after that should pay a rent. There is much good timber in
all this country. It is a limestone country about here, but the
hills above are sandstone. Mr. P
thinks that the small
farmers make a living without working so hard for it as the
English labourer. Even during the civil war, though cut off
from all external commerce, they got on pretty well, raising
their own necessaries, and being independent of all outside.
They themselves admit that the smaller farmers still get on
well enough, so far as living is concerned. They raise enough
for themselves, and their women weave their clothes; they
have few wants beyond these. '
People here complain that the pretended free-schools are a
farce. They are very poor schools, and not enough of them.
In any case, the parents are obliged to pay at least half of the
cost. I asked if the preachers came expensive, and was told
that some take a salary, some do not. One Baptist minister
runs a fine farm and preaches for nothing.
After completing a very pleasant visit to Mr. P
's
farm, I started in the morning to go on to Dal ton, in the northwest part of Georgia, towards Tennessee, where the watershed changes towards the Mississippi. I saw much timbertrade going on upon the rivers and the railways. There were
some very fine walnut logs, much white oak, and also pine and
other wood. It is feared that the good timber near the railway will soon be exhausted, but there is plenty of it a little
farther off. There are no signs of anything like a mountain
pass; the road runs through an easy country. There is, in
fact, a great gap between the hills.
At Dalton I had a beautiful day, and utilised it by
taking a long walk into the country, where I saw much of
the southern white people, visiting a good many of their
farms : I also came across some blacks. The whites seemed
to be" a pleasant-looking people, though they had still the
appearance of being poor. Most of them own land, but some
rent, and some go out as labourers. A few of them hire one

GEORGIA.

375

or two blacks as labourers. They say the blacks are not so
good workers as the whites, and they will only take them at
cheaper rates. These blacks w^ork very well when they are
sharply looked after, but they will waste time whenever they
get the chance. I looked over the log-cabin of a small white
farmer, and it was about the lowest thing of the kind I have
seen. On account of the want of water-power and the
scarcity of saw-mills, most of the cabins here are built of
very rough logs, and very imperfectly boarded within. This
one had no window, but very many casual openings in the
wall, and even in the roof. It consisted of one room, with
a light shed attached to it behind, which was used for cooking, etc. The farmer was away, but I found his wife, a very
nice-locking young woman, with a baby and a boy of twelve,
an orphan wThom they seem to have adopted. He could read
print, he said, but not write. The woman did not seem to
realise that the house was particularly bad. Her husband is
only a renter, but he built this hut himself two years ago.
She had a loom, and was weaving. She says she makes her
husband's and her own every-day clothes, but they have to
buy Sunday clothes and some other things. There was also
a spinning-wheel, as is generally the case here. She says
she spins some thread when it is wanted, but they buy most
of the thread. I was inclined to pity her primitive innocence and ignorance, and tried to draw her out by asking
her questions on subjects in respect to which I was not very
much at home. At last she burst out with a smile, ' Whoy,
it seems that you do'ant know nothink.' I felt that she had
the best of it on her own subjects.
Within reach of the railway there are a good many
blacks, but I understand that the few there were in the
higher parts of the country have left it. I talked to an old
black man who occupied one of a cluster of very poor huts.
He said that his former mistress had given some of her exslaves five acres each of woodland, to clear and hold rent-free
for life. It certainly seems that, in these older States at any
rate, the relations between the former masters and the blacks
are often not unkindly, and the masters sometimes do things
of this kind. My old friend says he got on well enough
when he could work, but now he is past work, and seems
rather doubtful of the advantages of freedom. However, he
and the others seem to form a sort of little community in

376

MY JOURNAL.

the woods. The able-bodied men cultivate, the women raise
chickens and take in washing; and one way and another
they manage to get along. On the road I met a very intelligent and plucky-looking black bringing in his produce to
market in his waggon—principally peas. His family were
with him. He has two mules, and seems well-to-do. He
rents land on a four years' clearing lease, and when that is up
he hopes to buy land for himself. ' Don't you think that is
best ?' he says. These blacks seem to talk and put questions
in a more simple way than the whites. This man says he
found the main fences, but himself put up his house and the
cross fences. He will get no compensation for his improvements when he goes; he must leave all those behind. This
is, perhaps, the reason why the huts are so bad. His sons
are growing up and marrying, and have farms of their own.
He himself has re-married with a widow with four children.
As he pleasantly remarks, his sons are going off into the
world, and he must have some one to work for.
In the afternoon I went up a hill to see the country.
There is evidently a complete break in the hills here. A
flat tract stretches over into the valley of the Tennessee
River. The Alleghanies proper terminate to the east, but a
fresh set of hills, not so high, commence again on the west,
and one of them is 'look-out mountain' over Chattanooga,
where the famous battle was fought. The hilly ridge, I understand, runs westward, through Northern Alabama.
At Dalton I saw a party of very tidy, well-set-up-looking
blacks playing base-ball, in a very vigorous way, with one or
two whites mixed with them. The bowler, at any rate, was,
to all appearance, a white man, as were several of those
sitting and looking on. Altogether at this place I thought
I saw more of fraternisation between blacks and whites than
in 'most places.
Chattanooga is not far off in Tennessee. I got a Chattanooga paper, and have been reading it with reference to Tennessee politics. It seems that in Chattanooga the Republicans
have a majority, but the town politics appear more to depend
upon local and personal questions. At Memphis it seems that
an Independent was elected district attorney. He has appointed a coloured man as his deputy. This has created a
great sensation, and the orthodox Democrats point to it as
showing that the Independents are nothing but traitors in dis-

THE RETURN JOURNEY,

377

guise. Altogether I gathered that Tennessee is a country in
which there is a considerable mixture of parties. It is by no
means wholly Democratic and anti-black. East Tennessee, in
fact, is a white man's country.
Dalton is quite a country place, but there are nevertheless
one or two very, tolerable hotels, at one of which I was very
well treated, and had good food. The ' vin du pays' of this
country seems to be buttermilk; everyone drinks it at meals.
THE RETURN

JOURNEY.

I had hoped, if possible, to get as far as New Orleans, and
thence back by the valley of the Mississippi, but the outburst of
yellow fever this year has been imprecedently severe, and on
account of the lateness of the frosts it continued far beyond
expectation. The country is scarcely yet free from it, and the
places which have suffered from it are quite disorganised.
Even Chattanooga, near this, has suffered very greatly, and
things have not yet returned to their usual condition. I had
therefore given up the idea of making that tour, and resolved
to use the rest of my time to dip into Tennessee and West
Virginia, and spend a few days in Washington, Philadelphia,
and New York. Here, however, I saw in the papers that
Parliament was summoned for the discussion of subjects interesting to me, and finding that the train in which I had
taken my passage to Knoxville, in Upper Tennessee, was going
on to Washington, I took a sleeping-berth, and continued my
journey. This line runs on the western slope of the Alleghanies.
From the glimpses I got in the night I saw no signs of a
mountainous region. At dawn we had entered Virginia, but
we were in a projecting angle of the State west of the watershed, and geographically a part of the Kentucky country which
it adjoins. Here I at once saw we were in a great grazing
country. The land was undulating and to some degree hilly,
fenced off into large grass parks. The grass at this season is
short, but seems close natural grass. Some of the higher
parts looked like good sheep walks, and there were a good
many sheep, but many more cattle, which at this time of the
year were principally in the lower pastures ; I saw many herds
of large line well-bred looking cattle, shorthorns and the like;
also many good horses. There was a good deal of wood in

378

MY J O U E N A L .

parts, but most of the grass land was clean and free from
stumps or weeds. There was a hard frost this morning, and
a little snow on the higher parts of the road, but the weather
was bright and clear and became warmer in the middle of the
day. Some corn is grown in this country, but it is mostly
in grass. The same style of country continued as we ran on,
passing over several ridges and crossing several streams, but
we came to nothing very precipitous or difficult all the way to
the highest point crossing the Alleghanies. We then passed
through a valley skirted by high hills down to the "Virginia
' Piedmont' country, as it is called, on the eastern slope of the
range. There seemed to be a decided change as soon as we
crossed the watershed—redder soil, much more cultivation of
wheat and corn, less pasture—and what there is seems to be
more made up of artificial grass. We kept on through the
Piedmont country pretty near the hills, and much accented,
and so continued till dark. In the evening the country seemed
to be getting flatter. The hills are a good deal cleared in
parts, but there is still a great deal of wood upon them. There
wrere some good grazing grounds, and a good many cattle and
horses on this eastern slope, but it is not so much a grazing
country as that to the wTest. This country looks at the worst
now, the grass being brown, the trees without leaves, and the
fields ploughed up, but I dare say in the spring it merits the
encomiums which the Virginians are in the habit of bestowing
upon it. Throughout the route to-day the houses of the white
inhabitants sermed better than those I had previously seen.
They gave one the idea of pretty well-to-do farmers, and
there were a good many houses which seemed quite up to the
pretensions of small squireens, or gentleman-farmers. All
along the route I noticed more blacks than I had expected to
see in this higher country. Probably the vicinity of the railway accounts for that; but even away from the railway stations there seemed to be a good many black families, living in
huts as miserable as those I had seen farther South. Probably the blacks are mere labourers and dependents.
The eating at the stations where we stopped for meals
seemed always very tolerable, and I noticed that in this country there is good fresh butter. I cannot understand why they
cannot have it in the civilised North. Even at Washington
in the best hotels and everywhere else they have nasty salt
butter; and at New York one or two people seem only re-

T H E RETURN

JOURNEY.

379

cently to have made quite a discovery by making good fresh
butter, which they can sell at a dollar a pound, for it is a rarity.
I slept at Washington, and spent most of the next day
there. The weather was lovely, and the place bright and
lively-looking. People are evidently beginning to assemble
for the ensuing meeting of Congress, and one sees many smart,
well-dressed women in the streets. The trees, however, have
lost their leaves, which takes off from the beauty which I
noticed in the place a few weeks ago.
I went to the Treasury, where they kindly gave me the
official papers on the silver question. It seems clear that up
to 1873 silver was a complete legal tender, and that anyone
might bring silver to be coined and get silver certificates at
once. I went again to see my friend General E
, of the
Educational Department, and met at his office a New Hampshire member of Congress, who seemed shocked at the idea
that I was going to take my Southern experiences as a specimen of the United States. He insists that the Northern
States are very different. There, he says, the towTnship system is in full force—that is, in New England—the people at
large frequently meet together in Township Assembly to vote
for school and other arrangements, and to control the expenditure. Certainly I feel I have still to do New England, if I
live and have another opportunity of visiting the States.
I visited the Agricultural Department, and saw General
D
, the head of it, who is very enthusiastic over his work,
though somehow there seem to be a good many scoffers about
the Department. They have a capital collection of all sorts
of produce, and are now making great efforts to introduce
useful plants and new products. General D
hopes to
acclimatise the bamboo. He is trying the Japanese variety,
which stands frost. There seems no doubt that the tea-plant
thrives in the Southern States; but people have not really
learnt how to manufacture tea. The Liberian coffee is a variety of the coffee-plant, which, it seems, unlike the Arabian
plant, will stand an ordinary tropical climate, and bears well,
even down to the level of the sea, within the tropics. It struck
me that in India we ought to take advantage of the experience
of the United States—for instance, to obtain improved varieties
of Indian corn and other plants.
There was again a very good sunset to-day. Washington
seems to have a specialty for sunsets.

380

MY JOURNAL.

In the evening I took passage in the sleeping-cars for
New York. The Pullman was a good deal crowded, and
a crowded Pullman is decidedly not comfortable. I met a
great traveller who had spent twenty-eight nights in the cars
during the last six weeks, and he confirms what I had suspected, that under such circumstances as we had this night it
is a mistake to secure a lower berth. The upper berths, for
those who can climb up, are much more airy and comfortable.
This gentleman is a resident of the city of Mexico, which, he
says, is a place of 250,000 inhabitants, and quite civilised.
We reached New York in the morning. I again went to
the Windsor. There are now a great many winter residents
there, but the place is quite quiet. The weather in New
York is not yet good winter weather. They have had it unusually warm for the season, and it is now raw and rainy.
I called on Mr. P
, a gentleman to whom I owe much
kindness, and went with him to the business part of the
city—c down town,' as they call it. Here I had some talk
with several good financial authorities on American railways.
Their tone about them is generally unfavourable—the moral
of the very safe men is that no shares are safe. They say
that the capital value of the lines is generally in the books at
a much higher figure than that at which they could now be
made, and that the only safe things are the first bonds of the
very best lines. These lines, they say, are at least worth the
amount of the first bonds. According to them if the shares
of a railway are above par then you may with tolerable prudence buy the first bonds, and that is all. The bonds are
liable to be paid off after a certain time, but some of them
run for as long as thirty years, and, as they say, that is much
farther than anyone looks forward in this country.
In the evening I dined with Mr. O
, and met General B
a name well known in the war. He is a New
Englander, from Ehode Island. He says that though, no
doubt, as I had before been told, land in New England had
fallen much in value, and some of it had gone out of cultivation, there has been quite recently considerable signs of
improvement in New England farming prospects, and a rise
again in the value of the land, in consequence of many people
who have been driven from commerce in the bad times having
come back to the land. He, too, says that many Irish have
bought land in New England, and they do not do badly. He

THE R E T U R N

JOURNEY.

381

gives the same account as I had heard before of the good
working of the New England township system. He says
there are not usually any commons, only village greens; but
he knows some instances of considerable common pastures
which were originally reserved. One or two still remain;
others have been divided up or sold by a vote of the township. It seems clear that in America commons are quite
exceptional, and not the habit of the country.
The, people whom I meet here dwell much on the effect
of the Southern election practices, and the attempt to make a
solid South, in producing a solid North on the other side of
the question.
Mr. O
, who has had much experience of the States
on the Mississippi, gives an account of them which tallies
pretty wTell with what I had already learned. He says the
relations between the whites and blacks are ordinarily good
enough, and they would get on sufficiently wTell together if it
were not for political difficulties, which in Mississippi and
Louisiana are considerable. The blacks make capital labourers. His experience is that on Southern railways he
gets more work done for sixty cents than for a dollar in the
North. He has had much railway experience in several
States in which he has had occasion to get Bills passed and
various measures sanctioned. I asked him about the honesty
of the local Legislatures. He says some new States have
been rather bad, but that for some years in the States through
which his lines passed they have not been approached for
money. The effect of the provision in the Illinois Constitution against special legislation in favour of corporations
has really been considerable. The law is carried out in practice. People who want privileges can only get them under
the general laws applicable to all. I have not yet looked up
the particulars as to the way in which these things are
managed in Illinois and other States ; but in Georgia, where
they have a provision of the same kind, I understand that the
general laws for the granting of charters and the like having
been passed, people who want them apply to the Courts which
adjudicate the question. Mr. O
says there is still more
planting on a large scale in Mississippi and the adjoining
countries than in the Atlantic States, and he instances people
who, he says, are there doing wTell, cultivating on a large scale
with hired negro labour. The lands near the river in Missis-

382

MY JOURNAL.

sippi are very fertile and good, and there is a large population; but in the central part of the State, where the
railways run, the land is inferior, and the population scattered. In Louisiana the good sugar-cane lands are in the
extreme south, and outside of the swamp and forest b e l t apparently in a tract corresponding in situation to the Sea
Islands of the Atlantic coast. Mr. O
is very enthusiastic, and determined to make the railway connecting North
and South, in the Yalley of the Mississippi pay. He has
great faith in the necessity of a North and South traffic.
Food-stuffs must necessarily come from North to South, and
sugar, fruit, and other things, from South to North. Below
Cairo the traffic is principally by river, but then it is an
enormous traffic; they would be content if they got onetenth of it on the railway.
The next day I visited some of the sights of New York
with Mr. O
. We went to the ' Fulton' market, one of
the principal markets in New York, where the supply of
game, poultry, & c , for ' Thanksgiving Day,' which is to
come off to-morrow, is enormous, and the variety exceedingly
great. The ' Thanksgiving D a y ' was a New England institution, to commemorate the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers.
It gradually extended to the neighbouring States, and to
those of the North-West; and after the war President Lincoln made it a national holiday, though I daresay the Southerners heartily wish that the Pilgrim Fathers had gone to
the bottom of the sea before they ever landed at all. However, now ' Thanksgiving D a y ' seems to be the great family
feast of the year. Iii the market there was a very great
quantity of American game. Wild turkeys are quite common, and immense, large, fine birds they are. The quail
(whether they are quail or partridge) are in immense profusion. I also found in this market English pheasants, grouse,
and hares, imported from Europe. They also import here
the common white European grapes which we see on our
fruit-stalls. We lunched at a famous restaurant in the market. Ladies frequently go there alone. That is not contrary
to custom here. A dish of rabbit was specially recommended,
and I tried the American rabbit. There is generally a prejudice against eating it. Most people of the higher class will
not eat rabbit, though they eat squirrels. Pabbits, however,
are for sale everywhere. I did not think my rabbit particu-

T H E RETUKN JOUKSTEY.

383

larly good. It is not very like one of our own. The flesh
seemed to be darker and softer.
In the evening I dined with Mr. P
, and met some
pleasant people. We had a good deal of talk about New
York politics. Mr. Cooper, a man of the highest position
and character, whose acquaintance I had the pleasure of
making, is Mayor-elect of New York. It is a very great step
in advance to have a man of his character in the place. He
is a bright and clever man, of large independent means, and
above all suspicion of jobbery and corruption. The taxation
of New York is certainly heavy. At present the tax for city
and county purposes is two dollars and seventy cents upon
capital value. The port charges are also heavy. Heavy
taxation and charges do a great deal to drive trade to other
ports. Real property is said to be fully assessed; in fact,
they say that since the shrinkage of values it is more than
fully assessed. The heavy taxation is the cause of the high
rents. Rents are higher here than in London, but then the
owner pays the taxes, not the occupier. Personal property is
taxed; nominally at any rate; but I have not yet been able
to get anything reliable regarding the assessment of personal
property ; how it is really made and how far it is evaded. I
understand a man is not required to make a return of his
personal property unless he chooses. He is assessed at the
amount at which he is estimated by the assessor, and if he
objects he has to prove that the assessment is wrong. I
gather that in truth a comparatively small amount of personal
property is assessed in New York. I understand that practically a man with more houses or offices than one may elect
where he will be taxed upon property which is not local. For
instance, a man with a large property in foreign Funds might
keep his securities in a place where taxation is light, and be
taxed upon them there, supposing that in reality he is taxed
upon them at all. It might, in fact, be economical to keep a
country house for the deposit of his securities. Perhaps,
however, there is not much personal property of this kind.
United States bonds are exempt from taxation, and railways
are taxed before the dividends are paid.
In New York politics it is the Catholic element which
causes most of the difficulties—that is felt more in New York
City than anywhere else. The bad pavement of the streets and
many other evils are attributed to the excessive corruption

384

MY JOURNAL.

which has distinguished the Administration of the city. Here
also there seem to be quite as many complaints against the
prisons as with us. They say that many rogues spend most
of their lives in prison. The New York papers seem to be
now very generally writing against the liquor laws of 1857,
which were, in fact, imposed upon the city by the three million country people of the State, and are much more restrictive than the city people like. There is a Sunday-closing law,
and an attempt to confine the sale of liquor to bonajide hotels
with a certain number of beds, and so on. But in this respect
the law is quite evaded—two or three beds are set up in public-houses as a mere make-believe.
I have not had time to see anything of New York winter
society or of the fashionable people. I do not see so many
signs of wealth as I had expected to see in this famous city,
nor do I observe so many smart and elegantly dressed ladies
in the streets as I had rather expected to find, after all one
has heard of the dressy elegance of the American ladies. But
then the weather is unfavourable, and perhaps American
ladies are not so much given to walking as ours are. However, as New England remains to be seen another day, so also
I hope to see something more of New York and Philadelphia,
and the country parts of these States, if I return to America.
Meantime, before I turned back I had completed the object
for which I was so anxious—to see something of the relations
between whites and blacks in the Southern States; and having done that and completed a visit which I have much enjoyed, I am now content to conclude it, and to trust to the
chance of seeing more another day.
In the morning I embarked early in the Republic, a
steamer of the White Star line, not so large as the Germanic,
but still a fine vessel. While the steamer was hauling out for
the start I was interviewed by a reporter of the ' New York
Herald' regarding Afghanistan. We soon got off and were
fairly on the homeward voyage. There are few passengers at
this season of the year, and scarcely one of these American.
This is not the season when Americans visit Europe.
I have been talking with some gentlemen on board about
the beef trade. It seems that, dead or living, it costs about
a penny a pound to send beef to England. The live cattle
are as yet almost all brought over on deck. They are nailed
up in tight narrow pens, in which they stand and cannot lie

THE RETURN JOURNEY.

385

down They are said to gain flesh on board if the weather is
good, but in bad weather they are sometimes almost all lost.
They are knocked about, and it becomes necessary to throw
them over. Vessels are now being constructed to carry cattle
under cover. As regards dead meat they can carry about
sixty tons of meat in a 300-ton chamber, specially fitted for
the purpose. They bring over whole sides, hung up in the
chamber—not the choice pieces only. They seal up this
chamber and refrigerate it. On the return voyage the chamber is opened and the space used for any other cargo.
On the voyage home the vessels go south of the Newfoundland Banks, running due east for the first thousand
miles, after which they turn north-east. The first four days
we had good weather, and we should have had it all the way
at this season. It is commonly said that at this season of the
year the voyage home is < down h i l l ; ' but as ill luck would
have it we had to encounter a strong easterly gale, which
much retarded us, and caused the loss of a whole day. The
voyage to Queenstown occupied ^upwards of nine days.
25

386

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

STATE

CONSTITUTIONS.

I HAVE been looking over some of the past and present
Constitutions of some of the States, as set forth in the
< Charters and Constitutions of the United States,' by Poor,
in two large volumes.
MASS A CHUSETTS.

Under the original Massachusetts Constitution of 1780
there was to be complete ^religious toleration; but all
townships were bound to keep up Protestant ministers of
religion. There was equality among Protestant sects; for
though every man was bound to pay a church-tax, he might
pay to the minister of his own sect, if there were any in the
township; if not, then to the common minister. People
were bound to attend church, and in some of the New
England States church membership was necessary to the
exercise of the franchise. The original franchise-law in
Massachusetts required a property qualification of SI. per
annum. The 6 select men' of towns and all representatives
and officials were bound to make oath of belief in the Christian religion.
By an amendment passed in 1822 the suffrage was given
to all adult males who have resided and paid taxes, and the
oath of office was altered so as to exclude the declaration of
religious belief.
In 1833 the obligation to support Protestant ministers was
abolished, and henceforth every Christian sect was at liberty
to elect their own ministers, and to do as they like.
By an amendment passed in 1857 the franchise is restricted
to those who can read in the English language and write their
names, and that is the still existing rule.
The Constitution of Massachusetts has not been materially

VIRGINIA.

387

changed since the war. All hereditary privileges are forbidden. Liberty of the press, the free right of all citizens to
the possession of arms, and the free right of assembly are
guaranteed. The Legislature consists of a Senate of 40, and
a House of Representatives of 240 members, both elected by
the people. The Governor has a veto, unless overruled by
a two-thirds vote in each House. Office-holders are not
allowed to sit in the Legislature. The Executive power is
vested in an elected Governor and an Executive Council of
eight persons whose advice is necessary for the doing of
certain things. Judges and other judicial officers are appointed
by the Governor and Council. The Judges are to hold during
good behaviour, unless it is otherwise prescribed by law. The
Justices of the Peace are appointed for seven years, and are
eligible for reappointment. The University of Harvard is
established and endowed by the Constitution, and there is a
general provision enjoining the encouragement of education.
No moneys raised for education are to be given to any particular religious sect.

VIRGINIA.

Every edition of the Constitution of Virginia, including the
last now in force, commences with the old recital of grievances
on account of ' the detestable and insupportable tyranny' of
George III., who had sought to destroy the liberties of the
people in many ways, and among others ' by prompting our
negroes to rise in arms among us—those very negroes whom
by an inhuman use of his negative he had refused us permission to exclude by law; by endeavouring to bring on the
inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages,5 and
soon.
Then comes the Bill of Eights, consisting of seventeen
articles adopted in 1776 and five more added since the civil
war. Most of the State Constitutions seem to retain the
Bill of Bights, in a more or less modernised form, as a sort of
inner kernel of the Constitution. Here is the present Virginian Bill of Eights, which retains the old articles and
language. The modern portions are printed in italics :—

388

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

BILL OF RIGHTS.

A Declaration of Rights, made by the Representatives
of the
good people of Virginia, assembled in full and free Convention, which rights do pertain to them and their posterity, as
the basis and foundation
of government.
1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent,
and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into
a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest
their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with
the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing
and obtaining happiness and safety.
2. That this State shall ever remain a member of the United
States of America, and that the people thereof are part of the
American nation, and that all attempts, from whatever source
or upon whatever pretext, to dissolve said Union or to sever said
nation, are unauthorised, and ought to be resisted with the whole
power of the State.
3. That the Constitution of the United States, and laws of
Congress passed in pursuance thereof constitute the supreme law
of the land, to which iiaramount
allegiance and obedience are
due from every citizen, anything in the Constitution,
ordinances,
or laws of any State to the contrary
notwithstanding.
4. That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from,
the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and
at all times amenable to them.
5. That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the
common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation,
or community; of all the various modes and forms of government, that is best which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most effectually secured
against the danger of maladministration; and that when any
government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such
a manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.
6. That no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive or
separate emoluments or privileges from the community but in
consideration of public services; which, not being descendible,
neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislator, or judge to be
hereditary.
7. That the legislative, executive, and judicial powers should
be separate and distinct; and that the members thereof may be

VIRGINIA.

389

restrained from oppression, by feeling and participating the burthens of the people, they should, at fixed periods, be reduced to
a private station, return into that body from which they were
originally taken, and the vacancies be supplied by frequent,
certain, and regular elections, in which all or any part of the
former members to be again eligible or ineligible, as the laws
shall direct.
8. That all elections ought to be free, and that all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and
attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage, and
cannot be taxed or deprived of their property for public uses,
without their own consent, or that of their representatives so
elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not in like
manner assented for the public good.
9. That all power of suspending laws, or the execution of
laws, by any authority, without consent of the representatives
of the people, is injurious to their rights and not to be exercised.
10. That, in all capital or criminal prosecutions, a man hath
a right to demand the cause and nature of his accusation, to be
confronted with the accusers and witnesses, to call for evidence
in his favour, and to a speedy trial by an impartial jury of his
vicinage, without whose unanimous consent he cannot be found
guilty; nor can he be compelled to give evidence against himself;
that no man be deprived of his liberty, except by the law of the
land or the judgment of his peers.
11. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted.
12. That general warrants, whereby an officer or messenger
may be commanded to search suspected places without evidence
of a fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named,
or whose offence is not particularly described and supported by
evidence, are grievous and oppressive, and ought not to be
granted.
13. That in controversies respecting property, and in suits
between man and man, the trial by jury is preferable to any
other, and ought to be held sacred.
14. That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic
governments, and any citizen may speak, write, and publish his
sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that
liberty.
15. That a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of
the people trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defence of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace,
should be avoided as dangerous to liberty, and that in all cases

390

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed
by, the civil power.
16. That the people have a right to uniform government; and,
therefore, that no government separate from, or independent of,
the Government of Virginia ought to be erected or established
within the limits thereof.
17. That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can
be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice,
moderation, temperance, and virtue, and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.
18. That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator,
and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and, therefore, all
men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty
of all to practise Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards.
each other.
19. That neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as
lawful imprisonment may constitute such, shall exist within this
State.
20. That all citizens of the State are hereby declared to possess
equal civil and political rights and public privileges.
21. The rights enumerated in this Bill of Rights shall not be
construed to limit other rights of the people not therein expressed.
The declaration of the political rights and privileges of the
inhabitants of this State is hereby declared to be a part of the
Constitution of this Commonwealth, and shall not be violated
on any pretence whatever.
U p to 1850 t h e franchise was confined to whites, with a
property qualification. I n 1850 t h e property qualification was
given up, and all adult white males obtained t h e franchise.
B y provisions added in the same year no emancipated negroes
were permitted to remain in the S t a t e ; or, if they did, they
were liable to be again reduced to slavery. T h e Legislature
was for ever forbidden to emancipate any slave, or t h e descendant of any slave; and it was empowered to restrict by law t h e
power of individuals to emancipate slaves.
B y t h e post-War Constitution, p u t in force in 1870, all
disqualifications of negroes are swept away—the franchise is
given to all classes, without any property or other qualification. B u t there is in this and other Southern States a provision disqualifying all persons convicted of fighting a duel
from voting or holding office ; besides the disqualification to

VIRGINIA.

391

vote of all persons convicted of felony or petit larceny. The
Governor and Lieutenant-Governor are elected by the people
for four years; but the Secretary of the Commonwealth,
Treasurer, and Auditor are elected by joint vote of the two
Houses. The Senators and Delegates (members of the Lower
House) are elected for four and two years respectively. The
Legislature meets once in two years, and remains in session
not more than ninety days, unless it is extended, by a threefifths vote, for not more than thirty days longer. That is the
utmost limit.
The Judges are elected by joint vote of the Houses of the
Legislature for twelve, eight, and six years, according to the
class of Judge. The county and city officers, i. e. Sheriff,
Mayor, Attorney for the Commonwealth, County Clerk, County
Treasurer, and so many County Commissioners of Revenue as
may be provided by law, are elected by the people for four or
six years ; and all city, town, and village officers not specially
provided for are to be similarly elected. Counties are divided
into magisterial districts, each of which is to have three justices of the peace, a constable, and an overseer of the poor,
elected for two years. There is now a regular provision for
education. Each magisterial district is divided into school
districts. The Legislature is required to provide a uniform
system of free public schools, to be complete by the year 1876,
and' is authorised to make such laws as shall not permit parents
and guardians to allow their children to grow up in ignorance
and vagrancy. There is to be a literary fund, made up of the
proceeds of all forfeited or wTaste lands, a capitation tax, and an
annual tax on all property, of not less than one, or more than
five, mills, in the dollar (that is, on the capital value).
The militia consists of all able-bodied men; but only
volunteer corps are classed as 4 active militia,5 the rest as
' reserved militia.'
Taxation is to be equally imposed on all property, and a
tax may be imposed on incomes in excess of $600, and on
licenses for the sale of ardent spirits, theatrical and circus
companies, menageries and other shows, itinerant pedlers,
commission merchants, brokers, and on all other business
which cannot be reached by the ad valorem system. All
public* charitable, religious, and educational property may be
exempted from the property-tax.
A curious instance of the way in which minor matters

392

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

are sometimes mixed up with greater ones in these Constitutions is a provision that no tax shall be imposed on any
citizen for the privilege of taking oysters, but the sale of
oysters may be taxed.
No debt shall be incurred by the State except to meet
casual deficits, to redeem previous liabilities, to repress insurrection, or to defend the State in time of war (rather
wide and elastic provisions); and every debt incurred must be
accompanied by provision for a sinking fund.
Payments of debts incurred by the usurping authorities
during the war is strictly forbidden. The credit of the State
is not to be granted to any person or corporation. The
State is not to subscribe to any company, nor to be a party to
any work of internal improvement, nor to engage in carrying
on any such work.
The homestead privilege extends to the value of $2,000
of real or personal property, but this shall not interfere with
sale of the property in virtue of a mortgage. The Legislature is to pass laws regarding the setting apart and holding
homesteads in future.
ILLINOIS.

The Constitution of Illinois is supposed to be a model of
modern wisdom. Some distinguished Englishmen have, I
believe, taken part in moulding it to its present shape, and
much philosophy and learning have been bestowed on it.
Under the original Constitution of 1818 every adult white
male had the suffrage, but blacks were excluded both from the
suffrage and from the militia.
Under the amended Constitution of 1848 the Legislature
was authorised to make laws to prohibit persons of colour
from immigrating into the State.
It was not till 1870 that all colour distinctions were
abolished.
By the original Constitution, sect. 16 of every township
(that is, one mile square) was set apart for education, and
a whole township was granted for the support of a seminary
of higher learning. The United States also agreed -to set
apart for education 5 per cent, of the price of all public lands
sold within the limits of the State.

ILLINOIS.

393

T h e present Constitution is t h a t of 1870. I t is rather
long, b u t I append all the essential parts of it, omitting
only those which are not of general interest and importance.
I t may, I think, be of interest to m y readers to see t h e most
improved form of an American State Constitution. I t commences with a Bill of Eights, laying down general principles
in a modernised f o r m ; but as in their general effect these
are not radically different from the Virginian Bill of Eights,
which I have already given, I omit this part of the Illinois
Constitution. F o r the rest I leave it to speak for itself:—

C O N S T I T U T I O N O F 1870.
Adopted

in Convention May 13, 1870; ratified by the people
July 2,1870; in force August 8, 1870.

PREAMBLE.—We, the people of the State of Illinois—grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political, and religious liberty
which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to
Him for a blessing upon our endeavours to secure and transmit
the same unimpaired to succeeding generations—in order to form
a more perfect government, establish justice, insure domestic
tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our
posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the State
of Illinois.
A R T I C L E III.
DISTRIBUTION OF P O W E R S .

The powers of the government of this state are divided into
three distinct departments—the legislative, executive, and judicial; and no person, or collection of persons, being one of these
departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging to
either of the others, except as hereinafter expressly directed or
permitted.
A R T I C L E IV.
LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

§ 1. The legislative power shall be vested in a general assembly, which shall consist of a senate and house of representatives,
both to be elected by the people.

391

STATE

CONSTITUTIONS.
ELECTION.

§ 2. An election for members of the general assembly shall
be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November,
in the year of our Lord 1870, and every two years thereafter, in
each county, at such places therein as may be provided by law.
W h e n vacancies occur in either house, the governor, or person
exercising the powers of governor, shall issue writs of election to
fill such vacancies.
ELIGIBILITY.

§ 3. No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five years, or a representative who shall
not have attained the age of twenty-one years. No person shall be
a senator or representative who shall not be a citizen of the United
States, and who shall not have been for five years a resident of
this state, and for two years next preceding his election a resident within the territory forming the district from which he is
elected. No judge or clerk of any court, secretary of state, attorney-general, state's attorney, recorder, sheriff, or collector of
public revenue, member of either house of congress, or person
holding any lucrative office under the United States or this state,
or any foreign government, shall have a seat in the general assembly : JProvided, that appointments in the militia, and the
offices of notary public and justice of the peace, shall not be considered lucrative. No.r shall any person, holding any office of
honour or profit under any foreign government, or under the
government of the United States (except postmasters whose annual compensation does not exceed the sum of $300), hold any
office of honour or profit under the authority of this State.
§ 4. No person who has been, or hereafter shall be, convicted
of bribery, perjury, or other infamous crime, nor any person who
has been or may be a collector or holder of public moneys, who
shall not have accounted for and paid over, according to law, all
such moneys due from him, shall be eligible to the general assembly, or to any office of profit or trust in this state.
APPORTIONMENT—SENATORIAL.

§ 6. The general assembly shall apportion the state every ten
years, beginning with the year 1871, by dividing the population
of the state, as ascertained by the federal census, by the number
51, and the quotient shall be the ratio of representation in the

ILLINOIS.

395

senate. The state shall be divided into 51 senatorial districts,
each of which shall elect one senator, whose term of office shall
be four years. The senators elected in the year of our Lord
1872, in districts bearing odd numbers, shall vacate their offices
at the end of two years, and those elected in districts bearing
even numbers, at the end of four years; and vacancies occurring
by the expiration of term, shall be filled by the election of senators for the full term. Senatorial districts shall be formed of
contiguous and compact territory, bounded by county lines, and
contain, as nearly as practicable, an equal number of inhabitants;
but no district shall contain less than four-fifths of the senatorial
ratio. Counties containing not less than the ratio and threefourths, may be divided into separate districts, and shall be entitled to two senators, and to one additional senator for each
number of inhabitants equal to the ratio contained by such counties in excess of twice the number of said ratio.
MINORITY REPRESENTATION.

§§ 7 and 8. The house of representatives shall consist of
three times the number of the members of the senate, and the'term
of office shall be two years. Three representatives shall be elected
in each senatorial district at the general election in the year of
our Lord 1872, and every two years thereafter. In all elections
of representatives aforesaid, each qualified voter may cast as
many votes for one candidate as there are representatives to be
elected, or may distribute the same, or equM parts thereof, among
the candidates, as he shall see fit; and the candidates highest in
votes shall be declared elected.
TIME OF MEETING AND GENERAL RULES.

§ 9. The sessions of the general assembly shall commence at
twelve o'clock noon, on the Wednesday next after the first Monday in January, in the year next ensuing the election of members thereof, and at no other time, unless as provided by this
constitution. A majority of the members elected to each house
shall constitute a quorum. Each house shall determine the rules
of its proceedings, and be the judge of the election returns and
qualifications of its members; shall choose its own officers; and
the senate shall choose a temporary president to preside when
the lieutenant-governor shall not attend as president or shall act
as governor. The secretary of state shall call the house of representatives to order at the opening of each new assembly, and

396

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

preside over it until a temporary presiding officer thereof shall
have been chosen and shall have taken his seat. No member
shall be expelled by either house except by a vote of two-thirds
of all the members elected to that house, and no member shall
be twice expelled for the same offence. Each house may punish,
by imprisonment, any person not a member, who shall be guilty
of disrespect to the house by disorderly or contemptuous behaviour in its presence. But no such imprisonment shall extend beyond twenty-four hours at one time, unless the person t
shall persist in such disorderly or contemptuous behaviour.
§ 10. The doors of each house, and of committees of the
whole, shall be kept open, except in such cases as, in the opinion
of the house, require secrecy. Neither house shall, without the
consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days, or to any
other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting.
Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, which shall be
published. In the senate at the request of two members, and in
the house at the request of five members, the yeas and nays shall
be taken on any question, and entered upon the journal. Any
two members of either house shall have liberty to dissent from
and protest, in respectful language, against any act or resolution
which they think injurious to the public or to any individual,
and have the reasons of their dissent entered upon the journals.
STYLE OF LAWS AND PASSAGE OF BILLS.

§ 11. The style oi the laws of this state shall be: "Be it
enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the
General
Assembly"
§ 12. Bills may originate in either house, but may be altered,
amended or rejected by the other; and on the final passage of
all bills, the vote shall be by yeas and nays, upon each bill
separately, and shall be entered upon the journal; and no bill
shall become a law without the concurrence of a majority of the
members elected to each house.
§ 13. Every bill shall be read at large on three different days,
in each house; and the bill and all amendments thereto shall be
printed before the vote is taken on its final passage; and every
bill, having passed both houses, shall be signed by the speakers
thereof. No act hereafter passed shall embrace more than one
subject, and that shall be expressed in the title. But if any
subject shall be embraced in an act which shall not be expressed
in the title, such act shall be void only as to so much thereof as
shall not be so expressed; and no law shall be revived or amended

ILLINOIS.

397

by reference to its title only, but the law revived, or the section
amended, shall be inserted at length in the newr act. And no
act of the general assembly shall take effect until the first day
of July next after its passage, unless, in case of emergency
(which emergency shall be expressed in the preamble or body of
the act), the general assembly shall, by a vote of two-thirds of
all the members elected to each house, otherwise direct.

DISABILITIES.

§ 15. No person elected to the general assembly shall receive
any civil appointment within this state from the governor, the
governor and senate, or from the general assembly, during the
term for which he shall have been elected; and all such appointments, and all votes given for any such members for any such
office or appointment, shall be void; nor shall any member of
the general assembly be interested, either directly or indirectly,
in any contract with the state, or any county thereof, authorised
by any law passed during the term for which he shall have been
elected, or within one year after the expiration thereof.

PUBLIC MONEYS AND APPROPRIATIONS.

§ 16. The general assembly shall make no appropriation of
money out of the treasury in any private law. Bills making appropriations for the pay of members and officers of the general
assembly, and for the salaries of the officers of the government,
shall contain no provision on any other subject.
§ 17. No money shall be drawn from the treasury except in
pursuance of an appropriation made by law, and on the presentation of a warrant issued by the auditor thereon; and no money
shall be diverted from any appropriation made for any purpose,
or taken from any fund whatever, either by joint or separate
resolution. The auditor shall, within sixty days after the adjournment of each session of the general assembly, prepare and
publish a full statement of all money expended at such session,
specifying the amount of each item, and to whom and for what
paid.
§ 18. Each general assembly shall provide for all the appropriations necessary for the ordinary and contingent expenses of
the government until the expiration of the first fiscal quarter after
the adjournment of the next regular session, the aggregate
amount of which shall not be increased without a vote of two-

398

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

thirds of the members elected to each house, nor exceed the
amount of revenue authorised by law to be raised in such time;
and all appropriations, general or special, requiring money to be
paid out of the state treasury, from funds belonging to the
state, shall end with such fiscal quarter: Provided, the state
may, to meet casual deficits or failures in revenues, contract
debts, ne.ver to exceed in the aggregate $250,000; and moneys
thus borrowed shall be applied to the purpose for which they
were obtained, or to pay the debt thus created, and to no other
purpose; and no other debt, except for the purpose of repelling
invasion, suppressing insurrection, or defending the state in war
(for payment of which the faith of the state shall be pledged),
shall be contracted, unless the law authorising the same shall, at
a general election, have been submitted to the people, and have
received a majority of the votes cast for members of the general
assembly at such election. The general assembly shall provide
for the publication of said law for three months at least before
the vote of the people shall be taken upon the same; and provision shall be made, at the time, for the payment of the interest
annually, as it shall accrue, by a tax levied for the purpose or
from other sources of revenue; which law, providing for the payment of such interest, by such tax, shall be irrepealable until
such debt be paid: And, provided, further, that the law levying
the tax shall be submitted to the people with the law authorising
the debt to be contracted.
§ 19. The general assembly shall never grant or authorise
extra compensation, fee or allowance to any public officer, agent,
servant or contractor, after service has been rendered or a contract made, nor authorise the payment of any claim, or part
thereof, hereafter created against the state under any agreement
or contract made without express authority of law; and all such
unauthorised agreements or contracts shall be null and void:
Provided, the general assembly may make appropriations for
expenditures incurred in suppressing insurrection or repelling
invasion.
§ 20. The state shall never pay, assume or become responsible
for the debts or liabilities of, or in any manner give, loan, or extend its credit to or in aid of any public or other corporation,
association, or individual.
PAY OF MEMBERS.

§ 21. The members of the general assembly shall receive for
their services the sum of $5 per day, during the first session
held under this constitution, and 10 cents for each mile neces-

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399

sarily travelled in going to and returning from the seat of government, to be computed by the auditor of public accounts; and
thereafter such compensation as shall be prescribed by law, and no
other allowance or emolument, directly or indirectly, for any purpose whatever, except the sum of $50 per session to each member, which shall be in full for postage, stationery, newspapers
and all other incidental expenses and perquisites; but no change
shall be made in the compensation of members of the general
assembly during the term for which they may have been elected.
The pay and mileage allowed to each member of the general assembly shall be certified by the speaker of their respective houses,
and entered on the journals and published at the close of each
session.
SPECIAL LEGISLATION PROHIBITED.

§ 22. The general assembly shall not pass local or special laws
in any of the following enumerated cases, that is to say: for—
Granting divorces;
Changing the names of persons or places;
Laying out, opening, altering and working roads or highways;
Vacating roads, town plats, streets, alleys and public grounds;
Locating or changing county seats;
Regulating county and township affairs;
Regulating the practice in courts of justice;
Regulating the jurisdiction and duties of justices of the
peace, police magistrates and constables;
Providing for changes of venue in civil and criminal cases;
Incorporating cities, towns or villages, or changing or amending the charter of any town, city or village;
Providing for the election of members of the board of supervisors in townships, incorporated towns or cities;
Summoning and impanelling grand or petit juries;
Providing for the management of common schools;
Regulating the rate of interest on money;
The opening and conducting of any election, or designating
the place of voting;
The sale or mortgage of real estate belonging to minors or
others under disability;
The protection of game or fish;
Chartering or licensing ferries or toll bridges;
Remitting fines, penalties or forfeitures;
Creating, increasing or decreasing fees, percentage or allowances of public officers, during the term for which said officers
are elected or appointed;

400

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

Changing the law of descent;
Granting to any corporation, association or individual the
right to lay down railroad tracks, or amending existing charters
for such purpose;
Granting to any corporation, association or individual any
special or exclusive privilege, immunity or franchise whatever.
In all other cases where a general law can be made applicable, no special law shall be enacted.
§ 23. The general assembly shall have no power to release or
extinguish, in whole or in part, the indebtedness, liability or
obligation of any corporation or individual to this state or to
any municipal corporation therein.

IMPEACHMENT.

§ 24. The house of representatives shall have the sole power
of impeachment; but a majority of all the members elected
must concur therein. All impeachments shall be tried by the
senate; and when sitting for that purpose, the senators shall be
upon oath, or affirmation, to do justice according to law and
evidence. W h e n the governor of the state is tried, the chief
justice shall preside. No person shall be convicted without the
concurrence of two-thirds of the senators elected. B u t judgment, in such cases, shall not extend further than removal from
office, and disqualification to hold any office of honour, profit or
trust under the government of this state. The party, whether
convicted or acquitted, shall, nevertheless, be liable to prosecution, trial, judgment and punishment according to law.

MISCELLANEOUS.

§ 26. The state of Illinois shall never be made defendant in
any court of law or equity.
§ 27. The general assembly shall have no power to authorise
lotteries or gift enterprises for any purpose, and shall pass laws
to prohibit the sale of lottery or gift enterprise tickets in this
state.
§ 28. No law shall be passed which shall operate to extend
the term of any public officer after his election or appointment.
§ 29. I t shall be the duty of the general assembly to pass
such laws as may be necessary for the protection of operative
miners, by providing for ventilation, when the same may be required, and the construction of escapement-shafts, or such other

ILLINOIS.

401

appliances as may secure safety in all coal mines, and to provide
for the enforcement of said laws by such penalties and punishments as may be deemed proper.
§ 30. The general assembly may provide for establishing and
opening roads and cartways, connected with a public road, for
private and public use.
§ 31. The general assembly may pass laws permitting the
owners or occupants of lands to construct drains and ditches,
for agricultural and sanitary purposes, across the lands of others.
§ 32. The general assembly shall pass liberal homestead and
exemption laws.
A R T I C L E V.
EXECUTIVE

DEPARTMENT.

§ 1. The executive department shall consist of a governor,
lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, auditor of public accounts, treasurer, superintendent of public instruction, and
attorney-general, who shall, each, with the exception of the
treasurer, hold his office for the term of four years from the
second Monday of January next after his election, and until his
successor is elected and qualified. They shall, except the lieutenant-governor, reside at the seat of government during their
term of office, and keep the public records, books and papers
there, and shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by
law.
§ 2. The treasurer shall hold his office for the term of two
years, and until his successor is elected and qualified, and shall
be ineligible to said office for two years next after the end of
the term for which he was elected. H e may be required by the
governor to give reasonable additional security, and in default
of so doing his office shall be deemed vacant.
ELECTION.

§ 3. An election for governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary
of state, auditor of public accounts, and attorney-general, shall
be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday of November,
in the year of our Lord 1872, and every four years thereafter;
for superintendent of public instruction, on the Tuesday next
after the first Monday of November, in the year 1870, and every
four years thereafter; and for treasurer on the day last above
mentioned, and every two years thereafter, at such places and
in such manner as may be prescribed by law.
26

402

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.
ELIGIBILITY.

§ 5. No person shall be eligible to the office of governor, or
lieutenant-governor, who shall not have attained the age of
thirty years, and been, for five years next preceding his election,
a citizen of the United States and of this state. Neither the
governor, lieutenant-governor, auditor of public accounts, secretary of state, superintendent of public instruction nor attorneygeneral shall be eligible to any other office during the period for
which he shall have been elected.

GOVERNOR.

§ 6. The supreme executive power shall be vested in the
governor, who shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
§ 7. The. governor, shall, at the commencement of each session, and at the close of his term of office, give to the general
assembly information, by message, of the condition of the state,
and shall recommend such measures as he shall deem expedient.
He shall account to the general assembly, and accompany his
message with a statement of all moneys received and paid out
by him from any funds subject to his order, witn vouchers, and,
at the commencement of each regular session, present estimates
of the amount of money required to be raised by taxation for all
purposes.
§ 8. The governor may, on extraordinary occasions, convene
the general assembly, by proclamation, stating therein the purpose for which they are convened; and the general assembly
shall enter upon no business except that for which they were
called together.
§ 9. In case of a disagreement between the two houses, with
respect to the time of adjournment, the governor may, on the
same being certified to him, by the house first moving the adjournment, adjourn the general assembly to such time as he
thinks proper, not beyond the first day of the next regular session.
§ 10. The governor shall nominate, and by and with the
advice and consent of the senate (a majority of all the senators
selected concurring, by yeas and nays), appoint all officers whose
offices are established by this constitution, or which may be
created by law, and whose appointment or election is not otherwise provided for; and no such officer shall be appointed or
elected by the general assembly.
§ 11. In case of a vacancy, during the recess of the senate,

ILLINOIS.

403

in any office which is not elective, the governor shall make a
temporary appointment until the next meeting of the senate,
when he shall nominate some person to fill such office; and any
person so nominated, who is confirmed by the senate (a majority
of all the senators elected concurring by yeas and nays), shall
hold his office during the remainder of the term, and until his
successor shall be appointed and qualified. No person, after
being rejected by the senate, shall be again nominated for the
same office at the same session, unless at the request of the
senate, or be appointed to the same office during the recess of
the general assembly.
§ 12. The governor shall have power to remove any officer
whom he may appoint, in case of incompetency, neglect of duty,
or malfeasance in office; and he may declare his office vacant,
and fill the same as is herein provided in other cases of vacancy.
§ 13. The governor shall have power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons, after conviction, for all oifences, subject
to such regulations as may be provided by law relative to the
manner of applying therefor.
§ 14. The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces of the state (except when they shall be
called into the service of the United States), and may call out
the same to execute the laws, suppress insurrection, and repel
invasion.
§ 15. The governor, and all civil officers of this state, shall
be liable to impeachment for any misdemeanor in office.

VETO.

§ 16. Every bill passed by the general assembly shall, before
it becomes a law, be presented to the governor. If he approve,
he shall sign it, and thereupon it shall become a law; but if he
do not approve, he shall return it, with his objections, to the
house in which it shall have originated, which house shall enter
the objections at large upon its journal, and proceed to reconsider
the bill. If, then, two-thirds of the members elected agree to
pass the same, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to
the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and
if approved by two-thirds of the members elected to that house,
it shall become a law, notwithstanding the objections of the
governor. But in all such cases the vote of each house shall be
determined by yeas and nays, to be entered on the journal. Any
bill which shall not be returned by the governor within ten days
(Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him,

404

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

shall become a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless
the general assembly shall, by their adjournment, prevent its
return, in which case it shall be filed, with his objections, in the
office of the secretary of state, within ten days after such adjournment, or become a law.

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR.

§ 18. The lieutenant-governor shall be president of the senate, and shall vote only when the senate is equally divided. The
senate shall choose a president, pro tempore^ to preside in case
of the absence or impeachment of the lieutenant-governor, or
when he shall hold the office of governor.
OTHER STATE OFFICERS.

§ 20. An account shall be kept by the officers of the executive department, and of all the public institutions of the state,
of all moneys received or disbursed by them, severally, from all
sources, and for every service performed, and a semi-annual report thereof be made to the governor, under oath; and any officer
who makes a false report shall be guilty of perjury, and punished accordingly.
§ 21. The officers of the executive department, and of all the
public institutions of the state, shall, at least ten days preceding
each regular session of the general assembly, severally report to
the governor, who shall transmit such reports to the general assembly, together with the reports of the judges of the supreme
court of the defects in the constitution and laws; and the governor may at any time require information in writing, under
oath, from the officers of the executive department, and all officers
and managers of state institutions, upon any subject relating to
the condition, management and expenses of their respective
offices.
F E E S AND SALARIES.

§ 23. The officers named in this article shall receive for their
services a salary to be established by law, which shall not be increased or diminished during their official terms, and they shall
not, after the expiration of the terms of those in office at the
adoption of this constitution, receive to their own use any fees,
costs, perquisites of office, or other compensation.
And all fees

ILLINOIS.

405

that may hereafter Be payable by law for any service performed
by any officer provided for in this article of the constitution,
shall be paid in advance into the state treasury.

ARTICLE VI.
JUDICIAL

DEPARTMENT.

§ 1. The judicial powers, except as in this article is otherwise
provided, shall be vested in one supreme court* circuit courts,
county courts, justices of the peace, police magistrates, and in
such courts as may be created by law in and for cities and incorporated towns.
SUPREME COURT.

§ 2. The supreme court shall consist of seven judges and
shall have original jurisdiction in cases relating to the revenue,
in mandamus and habeas corpus, and appellate jurisdiction in
all other cases. One of said judges shall be chief justice; four
shall constitute a quorum, and the concurrence of four shall be
necessary to every decision.
§ 3. No person shall be eligible to the office of judge of the
supreme court unless he shall be at least thirty years of age, and
a citizen of the United States, nor unless he shall have resided
in this state five years next preceding his election and be a resident of the district in which he shall be elected.
§ 6. A t the time of voting on the adoption of this constitution, one judge of the supreme court shall be elected by the
electors thereof, in each of said districts numbered two, three,
six and seven, who shall hold his office for the term of nine years,
from the first Monday in June, in the year of our Lord 1870.
The term of office of judges of the supreme court, elected after
the adoption of this constitution, shall be nine years; and on the
first Monday of June of the year in which the term of any of the
judges in office at the adoption of this constitution, or of the
judges then elected, shall expire, and every nine years thereafter,
there shall be an election for the successor or successors of such
judges, in the respective districts wherein the term of such judges
shall expire. The chief justice shall continue to act as such until
the expiration of the term for which he was elected, after which
the judges shall choose one of their number chief justice.
§ 7* From and after the adoption of this constitution, the

406

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

judges of the supreme court shall each receive a salary of $4,000
per annum, payable quarterly, until otherwise provided by law.
And after said salaries shall be fixed by law, the salaries of the
judges in office shall not be increased or diminished during the
terms for which said judges shall have been elected.
CIRCUIT COURTS.

§ 12. The circuit courts shall have original jurisdiction of all
causes in law and equity, and such appellate jurisdiction as is or
may be provided by law, and shall hold two or more terms each
year in every county. The terms of office of judges of circuit
courts shall be six years.
§ 14. The general assembly shall provide for the times of
holding court in each county, which shall not be changed, except
by the general assembly next preceding the general election for
judges of said courts; but additional terms may be provided for in
any county. The election for judges of the circuit courts shall
be held on the first Monday in June, in the year of our Lord
1873, and every six years thereafter.
§ 16. From and after the adoption of this constitution, judges
of the circuit courts shall receive a salary of $3,000 per annum,
payable quarterly, until otherwise provided by law. And after
their salaries shall be fixed by law, they shall not be increased or
diminished duriiag the terms for which said judges shall be, respectively, elected; and from and after the adoption of this constitution, no judge of the supreme or circuit court shall receive any
other compensation, perquisite or benefit, in any form whatsoever,
nor perform any other than judicial duties to which may belong
any emoluments.
§ 17. No person shall be eligible to the office of judge of the
circuit or any inferior court, or to membership in the ( board of
county commissioners,' unless he shall be at least twenty-five years
of age, and a citizen of the United States, nor unless he shall have
resided in this state five years next preceding his election, and be
a resident of the circuit, county, city, cities or incorporated town
in which he shall be elected.

COUNTY COURTS.

§ 18. There shall be elected in and for each county, one county
judge and one clerk of the county court, whose terms of office shall
be four years. But the general assembly may create districts of

ILLINOIS.

407

two or more contiguous counties, in each of which shall be elected
one judge, who shall take the place of, and exercise the powers
and jurisdiction of county judges in such districts. County courts
shall be courts of record, and shall have original jurisdiction in
all matters of probate, settlement of estates of deceased persons,
appointment of guardians and conservators, and settlements of
their accounts, in all matters relating to apprentices, and in proceedings for the collection of taxes and assessments, and such
other jurisdiction as may be provided for by general law.
§ 19. Appeals and writs of error shall be allowed from final
determinations of county courts, as may be provided by law.
PROBATE COURTS.

§ 20. The general assembly may provide for the establishment
of a probate court in each county having a population of over
50,000, and for the election of a judge thereof, whose term of
office shall be the same as that of the county judge,.and who shall
be elected at the same time and in the same manner. Said courts,
when established, shall have original jurisdiction of all probate
matters, the settlement of estates of deceased persons, the appointment of guardians and conservators, and settlement of their
accounts; in all matters relating to apprentices, and in cases of
the sales of real estate of deceased persons for the payment of
debts.
*
»
JUSTICES OP T H E P E A C E AND CONSTABLES.

§ 21. Justices of the peace, police magistrates, and constables
shall be elected in and for such districts as are, or may be, provided by lawr, and the jurisdiction of such justices of the peace
and police magistrates shall be uniform.
STATE'S

ATTORNEYS.

§ 22. A t the election for members of the general assembly in
the year of our Lord 1872, and every four years thereafter, there
shall be elected a state's attorney in and for each county, in lieu
of the state's attorneys now provided by law, whose term of office
shall be four years.
GENERAL PROVISIONS.

§ 29. All judicial officers shall be commissioned by the governor. All laws relating to courts shall be general, and of uni-

408

STATE CONSTITUTIONS,

form operation; and the organisation, jurisdiction, powers, proceedings and practice of all courts, of the same class or grade, so
far as regulated by law, and the force and effect of the process,
judgments and decrees of such courts, severally, shall be uniform.
§ 30. The general assembly may, for cause entered on the
journals, upon due notice and opportunity of defence, remove
from office any judge, upon concurrence of three-fourths of all
the members elected, of each house. All other officers in this
article mentioned shall be removed from office on prosecution and
final conviction for misdemeanour in office.

ARTICLE VII.
SUFFRAGE.

§ 1. Every person having resided in this state one year, in
the county ninety days, and in the election district thirty days
next preceding any election therein, who was an elector in this
state on the first day of April, in the year of our Lord 1848, or
obtained a certificate of naturalisation before any court of record
in this state prior to the first day of January, in the year of our
Lord 1870, or who shall be a male citizen of the United States,
above the age of twenty-one years, shall be entitle^ to vote at
such election.
§ 2. All votes shall be by ballot.
§ 3. Electors shall, in all cases except treason, felony, "or
breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at elections, and in going to and returning from the
same. And no elector shall be obliged to do military duty on
the days of election, except in time of war or public danger.
§ 4. No elector shall be deemed to have lost his residence in
this state by reason of his absence on business of the United
States, or of this state, or in the military or naval service of the
United States.
§ 5. No soldier, seaman or marine in the army or navy of the
United States shall be deemed a resident of this state in consequence of being stationed therein.
§ 6. No person shall be elected or appointed to any office in
this state, civil or military, who is not a citizen of the United
States, and who shall not have resided in this state one year
next preceding the election or appointment.
§ 7. The general assembly shall pass laws excluding from the
right of suffrage persons convicted of infamous crimes.

ILLINOIS.

409

ARTICLE V i n .
EDUCATION.

§ 1. The general assembly shall provide a thorough and efficient system of free schools, whereby all children of this state
may receive a good common school education.
§ 2. All lands, moneys, or other property, donated, granted
or received for school, college, seminary or university purposes,
and the proceeds thereof, shall be faithfully applied to the objects for which such gifts or grants were made.
§ 3. Neither the general assembly nor any county, city, town,
township, school district, or other public corporation, shall ever
make any appropriation or pay from any public fund whatever,
anything in aid of any church or sectarian purpose, or to help
support or sustain any school, academy, seminary, college, university, or other literary or scientific institution, controlled by
any church or sectarian denomination whatever; nor shall any
grant *or donation of land, money, or other personal property
ever be made by the state or any such public corporation, to any
church, or for any sectarian purpose.
§ 4. No teacher, state, county, township or district school
officer shall be interested in the sale, proceeds or profits of any
book, apparatus or furniture used or to be used in any school in
this state, with which such officer or teacher may be connected,
under such penalties as may be provided by the general assembl
J§ 5. There may be a county superintendent of schools in
each county, whose qualifications,* powers, duties, compensation,
and time and manner of election, and term of office, shall be prescribed by law.
ARTICLE IX.
'•

KEVENUE.

f

§ 1. The general assembly shall provide such revenue as may
be needful by levying a tax, by valuation, so that every person
and corporation shall pay a tax in proportion to the value of his,
her or its property—such value to be ascertained by some person
or persons, to be elected or appointed in such manner as the
general assembly shall direct, and not otherwise; but the general
assembly shall have power to tax pedlers, auctioneers, brokers,
hawkers, merchants, commission merchants, showmen, jugglers,

410

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

innkeepers, grocery keepers, liquor dealers, toll bridges, ferries,
insurance, telegraph and express interests or business, venders
of patents, and persons or corporations owning or using franchises and privileges, in such manner as it shall from time to
time direct by general law, uniform as to the class upon which it
operates.
§ 2. The specification of the objects and subjects of taxation
shall not deprive the general assembly of the power to require
other subjects or objects to be taxed in such manner as may be
consistent with the principles of taxation fixed in this constitution.
§ 3. The property of the state, counties, and other municipal
corporations, both real and personal, and such other property as
may be used exclusively for agricultural and horticultural societies,
for school, religious, cemetery and charitable purposes, may be
exempted from taxation; but such exemption shall be only by
general law. In the assessment of real estate incumbered by
public easement, any depreciation occasioned by such easement
may be deducted in the valuation of such property.
§ 6. The general assembly shall have no power to release or
discharge any county, city, township, town or district whatever,
or the inhabitants thereof, or the property therein, from their or
its proportionate share of taxes to be levied for state purposes,
nor shall commutation for such taxes be authorised in any form
whatsoever.
§ 7. All taxes levied for state purposes shall be paid into the
state treasury.
§ 8. County authorities shall never assess taxes, the aggregate of which shall exceed 75 cents per $100 valuation, except
for the payment of indebtedness existing at the adoption of this
constitution, unless authorised by a vote of the people of the
county.
§ 9. The general assembly may vest the corporate authorities
of cities, towns and villages, with power to make local improvements by special assessment, or by special taxation of contiguous
property, or otherwise. For all other corporate purposes, all
municipal corporations may be vested with authority to assess
and collect taxes; but such taxes shall be uniform in respect to
persons and property, within t'he jurisdiction of the body imposing the same.
§ 10. The general assembly shall not impose taxes upon
municipal corporations, or the inhabitants or property thereof, for
corporate purposes, but shall require that all the taxable property
within the limits of municipal corporations shall be taxed for the
payment of debts contracted under authority of law, such taxes

ILLINOIS.

411

to be uniform in respect to persons and property, within the
jurisdiction of the body imposing the same. Private property
shall not be liable to be taken or sold for the payment of the
corporate debts of a municipal corporation.
§ 12. No county, city, township, school district, or other
municipal corporation, shall be allowed to become indebted in any
manner, or for any purpose, to^an amount, including existing indebtedness, in the aggregate exceeding five per centum on the
value of the taxable property therein, to be ascertained by the last
assessment for state and county taxes, previous to the incurring
of such indebtedness. Any county, city, school district, or other
municipal corporation, incurring any indebtedness as aforesaid,
shall before, or at the time of doing so, provide for tlofe collection
of a direct annual tax sufficient to pay the interest on such debt
as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal thereof
within twenty years from the time of contracting the same. This
section shall not be construed to prevent any county, city, township, school district, or other municipal corporation, from issuing
their bonds in compliance with any vote of the people which may
have been had prior to the adoption of this constitution in pursuance of any law providing therefor.
A R T I C L E X.
COUNTIES.

§ 1. No new county shall be formed or established by the
general assembly, which will reduce the county or. counties, or
either of them, from which it shall be taken, to less contents than
400 square miles; nor shall any county be formed of less contents:
nor shall any line thereof pass within less than ten miles of any
county seat of the county or counties proposed to be divided.
§ 2. No county shall be divided, or have any part stricken
therefrom, without submitting the question to a vote of the people
of the county, nor unless a majority of all the legal voters of the
county, voting on the question, shall vote for the same.
§ 3. -There shall be no territory stricken from any county,
unless a majority of the voters living in such territory shall petition for such division; and no territory shall be added to any
county without the consent of the majority of the voters of the
county to which it is proposed to be added. But the portion so
stricken off and added to another county, or formed in whole or
in part into a new county, shall be holden for, and obliged to
pay its proportion of the indebtedness of the county from which
it has been taken.

412

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT.

§ 5. The general assembly shall provide, by general law, for
township organisation, under which any county may organise
whenever a majority of the legal voters of such county, voting
at any general election, shall so determine; and whenever any
county shall adopt township organisation, so much of this constitution as provides for the management of the fiscal concerns
of the said county by the board of county commissioners, may
be dispensed with, and the affairs of said county may be transacted in such manner as the general assembly may provide.
And in any county that shall have adopted a township organisation, the question of continuing the same may be submitted to
a vote of the electors of said county, at a general election, in the
manner that now is or may be provided by law; and if a majority
of all the votes cast upon that question shall be against township organisation, then such organisation shall cease in said
county; and all laws in force in relation to counties not having
township organisation, shall immediately take effect and be in
force in such county. No two townships shall have the same
name, and the day of holding the annual township meeting
shall be uniform throughout the state.
§ 6. A t the first election of county judges under this constitution, there shall be elected in each of the counties in this state,
not under township organisation, three officers, who shall be styled
" The board of county commissioners," who shall hold sessions
for the transaction of county business as shall be provided by
law. One of said commissioners shall hold his office for one year,
one for two years, and one for three years, to be determined by
lot; and every year thereafter one such officer shall be elected
in each of the said counties for the term of three years.

COUNTY OFFICERS AND T H E I R

COMPENSATION.

§ 8. In each county there shall be elected the following
county officers: County judge, sheriff, county clerk, clerk of the
circuit court, (who may be ex-officio recorder of deeds, except in
counties having 60,000 and more inhabitants, in which counties
a recorder of deeds shall be elected at the general election in the
year of our Lord 1872,) treasurer, surveyor and coroner, each
of whom shall enter upon the duties of his office, respectively,
on the first $tonday of December after their election; and they
shall hold their respective offices for the term of four years, except the treasurer, sheriff and coroner, who shall hold their

ILLINOIS.

413

offices for two years, and until their successors shall be elected
and qualified.
§ 9. The clerks of all the courts of record, the treasurer,
sheriff, coroner and recorder of deeds of Cook county, shall receive as their only compensation for their services, salaries to be
fixed by law, which shall in no case be as much as the lawful compensation of a judge of the circuit court of said county, and shall
be paid, respectively, only out of the fees of the office actually
collected. All fees, perquisites and emoluments (above the
amount of said salaries) shall be paid into the county treasury.
The number of the deputies and assistants of such officers shall
be determined by rule of the circuit court, to be entered of
record, and their compensation shall be determined by the county
board.
§ 10. The county board, except as provided in section 9 of
this article, shall fix the compensation of all county officers, with
the amount of their necessary clerk hire, stationery, fuel and
other expenses, and in all cases where fees are provided for, said
compensation shall be paid only out of, and shall in no instance
exceed, the fees annually collected; they shall not allow either
of them more per annum than $1,500, in counties not exceeding
20,000 inhabitants; $2,000 in counties containing 20,000 and not
exceeding 30,000 inhabitants; $2,500 in counties containing
30,000 and not exceeding 50,000 inhabitants; $3,000 in counties
containing 50,000 and not exceeding 70,000 inhabitants; $3,500
in counties containing 70,000 and not exceeding 100,000 inhabitants; and $4,000 in counties containing over 100,000 and not
exceeding 250,000 inhabitants; and not more than $1,000 additional compensation for each additional 100,000 inhabitants:
Provided, that the compensation of no officer shall be increased
or diminished during his term of office. All fees or allowances
by them received, in excess of their said compensation, shall be
paid into the county treasury.
§ 11. The fees of township officers, and of each class of
county officers, shall be uniform in the class of counties to which
they respectively belong. The compensation herein provided
for shall apply only to .officers hereafter elected, but all fees
established by special laws shall cease at the adoption of this
constitution, and such officers shall receive only such fees as are
provided by general law.
§ 12. All laws fixing the fees of state, county and township
officers, shall terminate with the terms, respectively, of those
who may be in office at the meeting of the first general assembly
after the adoption of this constitution; and the general assembly
shall, by general law, uniform in its operation, provide for and

414

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

regulate the fees of said officers and their successors, so as to
reduce the same to a reasonable compensation for services
actually rendered. But the general assembly may, by general
law, classify the counties by population into not more than
three classes, and regulate the fees according to class. This
article shall not be construed as depriving the general assembly
of the power to reduce the fees of existing officers.
\ § 13. Every person who is elected or appointed to any office
in this state, who shall be paid in whole or in part by fees, shall
' be required by law to make a semi-annual report, under oath, to
some officer, to be designated by law, of all his fees and emoluments.

ARTICLE XL
COKPOBATIONS.

§ 1. No corporation shall be created by special laws, or its
charter extended, changed or amended, except those for charitable, educational, penal or reformatory purposes, which are to
be and remain under the patronage and control of the state, but
the general assembly shall provide, by general laws, for the
organisation of all corporations hereafter to be created.
§ 2. All existing charters or grants of special or exclusive
privileges, under which organisation shall not have taken place,
or which shall not have been in operation within ten days from
the time this constitution takes effect, shall thereafter have no
validity or effect whatever.
§ 3. The general assembly shall provide, by law, that in all
elections for directors or managers of incorporated companies,
every stockholder shall have the right to vote, in person or by
proxy, for the number of shares of stock owned by him, for as
many persons as there are directors or managers to be elected,
or to cumulate said shares, and give one candidate as many
votes as the number of directors multiplied by the number of
his shares of stock shall equal, or to distribute them on the same
principle among as many candidates as he shall think fit; and
such directors or managers shall not be elected in any other
manner.
§ 4. No law shall be passed by the general assembly granting
the right to construct and operate a street railroad within any
city, town or incorporated village, without requiring the consent
of the local authorities having the control of the street or high*
way proposed to be occupied by such street railroad.

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415

BANKS.

§ 5. No state bank shall hereafter be created, nor shall the
state own or be liable for any stock in any corporation or joint
stock company or association for banking purposes, now created,
or to be hereafter created. No act of the general assembly
authorising or creating corporations or associations with banking powers, whether of issue, deposit or discount, nor amendments thereto, shall go into effect or in any manner be in force
unless the same shall be submitted to a vote of the people at
the general election next succeeding the passage of the same,
and be approved by a majority of all the votes cast at such
election for or against such law.
§ 6. Every stockholder in a banking corporation or institution shall be individually responsible and liable to its creditors,
over and above the amount of stock by him or her held, to an
amount equal to his or her respective shares so held, for all its
liabilities accruing while he or she remains such stockholder.
§ 7. The suspension of specie payments by banking institutions, on their circulation, created by the laws of this state,
shall never be permitted or sanctioned. Every banking association now, or which may hereafter be organised under the laws
of this state, shall make and publish a full and accurate quarterly statement of its affairs, (which shall be certified to, under
oath, by one or more of its officers,) as may be provided by law.
§ 8. If a general banking law shall be enacted, it shall provide for the registry and countersigning, by an officer of state,
of all bills or paper credit, designed to circulate as money, and
require security, to the full amount thereof, to be deposited
with the state treasurer, in United States or Illinois State stocks,
to be rated at 10 per cent, below their par value; and in case of
a depreciation of said stocks to the amount of 10 per cent,
below par, the bank or banks owning said stocks shall be required
to make up said deficiency by depositing additional stocks* And
said law shall also provide for the recording of the names of all
stockholders in such corporations, the amount of stock held by
each, the time of any transfer thereof, and to whom such transfer is made.
KAILROADS.

§ 9. Every railroad corporation organised or doing business
in this state, under the laws or authority thereof, shall have and
maintain a public office or place in this state for the transaction
of its business, where transfers of stock shall be made, and in

416

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

which shall be kept, for public inspection, books, in which shall
be recorded the amount of capital stock subscribed, and by whom;
the names of the owners of its stock, and the amounts owned by
them respectively; the amount of stock paid in, and by whom;
the transfer of said stock'; the amount of its assets and liabilities,
and the names and place of residence of its officers. The directors of every railroad corporation shall, annually, make a report,
under oath, to the auditor of public accounts, or some officer to
be designated by law, of all their acts and doings, which report
shall include such matters relating to railroads as may be prescribed by law. And the general assembly shall pass laws enforcing by suitable penalties the provisions of this section.
§ 10. The rolling stock, and all other movable property belonging to any railroad company or corporation in this state,
shall be considered personal property, and shall be liable to execution and sale in the same manner as the personal property of
individuals, and the general assembly shall pass no law exempting any such property from execution and sale.
§ 11. No railroad corporation shall consolidate its stock, property or franchises with any other railroad corporation owning a
parallel or competing line; and in no case shall any consolidation
take place, except upon public notice given, of at least sixty
days, to all stockholders, in such manner as may be provided by
law. A majority of the directors of any railroad corporation,
now incorporated or hereafter to be incorporated by the laws of
this state, shall be citizens and residents of this state.
§ 12. Railways heretofore constructed, or that may hereafter
be constructed in this state, are hereby declared public highways,
and shall be free to all persons for the transportation of their
persons and property thereon, under such regulations as may be
prescribed by law. And the general assembly shall, from time
to time, pass laws establishing reasonable maximum rates of
charges for the transportation of passengers and freight on the
different railroads in this state.
§ 13. No railroad corporation shall issue any stock or bonds,
except for money, labour or property actually received, and applied to the purposes for which such corporation was created;
and all stock dividends, and other fictitious increase of the capital stock or indebtedness of any such corporation, shall be void.
The capital stock of no railroad corporation shall, be increased for
any purpose, except upon giving sixty days' public notice, in
such manner as may be provided by law.
§ 14. The exercise of the power, and the right of eminent
domain, shall never be so construed or abridged as to prevent the
taking, by the general assembly, of the property and franchises

ILLINOIS.

417

of incorporated companies already organised, and subjecting them
t o the public necessity the same as of individuals. The right of
trial by jury shall be held inviolate in all trials of claims for compensation, when, in the exercise of the said right of eminent domain, any incorporated company shall be interested either for or
against the exercise of said right.
§ 15. The general assembly shall pass laws to correct abuses
and prevent unjust discrimination and extortion in the rates of
freight and passenger tariffs on the different railroads in this
state, and enforce such laws by adequate penalties, to the extent,
if necessary for that purpose, of forfeiture of their property and
franchises.
ARTICLE XII.
MILITIA.

§ 1. The militia of the state of Illinois shall consist of all ablebodied male persons, resident in the state, between the ages of
eighteen and forty-five, except such persons as now are, or hereafter may be, exempted by the laws of the United States, or of
this state.
§ 2. The general assembly, in providing for the organisation,
equipment and discipline of the militia, shall conform as nearly
as practicable to the regulations for the government of the armies of the United States.
§ 3. All militia officers shall be commissioned by the governor,
and may hold their commissions for such time as the general assembly may provide.
§ 4. The militia shall in all cases, except treason, felony, or
breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at musters and elections, and in going to and returning
from the same.
§ 5. The military records, banners and relics of the state,
shall be preserved as an enduring memorial of the patriotism and
valour of Illinois, and it shall be the duty of the general assembly to provide, by law, for the safe keeping of the same.
§ 6. N o person having conscientious scruples against bearing
arms shall be compelled to do militia duty in time of peace: Provided, such person shall pay an equivalent for such exemption.

27

418

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

ARTICLE XIII.
WAREHOUSES.

§ 1. All elevators or storehouses where grain or other property is stored for a compensation, whether the property stored
be kept separate or not, are declared to be public warehouses.
§ 2. The owner, lessee or manager of each and every public
warehouse situated in any town or city of not less than 100,000
inhabitants, shall make weekly statements under oath, before some
officer to be designated by law, and keep the same posted in some
conspicuous place in the office of such warehouse, and shall also
file a copy for public examination in such place as shall be designated by law, which statement shall correctly set forth the
amount and grade of each and every kind of grain in such warehouse, together with such other property as may be stored
therein, and what warehouse receipts have* been issued, and are,
at the time of making such statement, outstanding therefor; and
shall, on the copy posted in the warehouse, note daily such
changes as may be made in the quantity and grade of grain in
such warehouse; and the different grades of grain shipped in
separate lots shall not be mixed with inferior or superior, grades
without the consent of the owner or consignee thereof.
§ 3. The owners of property stored in any warehouse, or
holder of a receipt for the same, shall always be at liberty to examine such property stored, and all the books and records of the
warehouse in regard to such property.
§ 4. All railroad companies and other common carriers on
railroads shall weigh or measure grain at points where it is
shipped, and receipt for the full amount, and shall be responsible
for the delivery of such amount to the owner or consignee thereof
at the place of destination.
§ 5. All railroad companies receiving and transporting grain
in bulk or otherwise, shall deliver the same to any consignee
thereof, or any elevator or public warehouse to which it may be
consigned, provided such consignee or the elevator or public
warehouse can be reached by any track owned, leased or used,
or which can be used, by such railroad companies; and all railroad companies shall permit connections to be made with their
track, so that any such consignee, and any public warehouse,
coal bank or coal yard, may be reached by the cars on said railroad.
§ 6. I t shall be the duty of the general assembly to pass all
necessary laws to prevent the issue of false and fraudulent ware-

ILLINOIS.

419

house receipts, and to give full effect to this article of the constitution, which shall be liberally construed so as to protect producers and shippers. And the enumeration of the remedies
herein named shall not be construed to deny to the general assembly the power to prescribe by law such other and further
remedies as may be found expedient, or to deprive any person of
existing common law remedies.
§ 7. Th$ general assembly shall pass laws for the inspection
of grain, for the protection of producers, shippers and receivers
of grain and produce.
ARTICLE XIV.
AMENDMENTS TO T H E CONSTITUTION".

§ 1. Whenever two-thirds of the members of each house of
the general assembly shall, by a vote entered upon the journals
thereof, concur that a convention is necessary to revise, alter or
amend the constitution, the question shall be submitted to the
electors at the next general election. If a majority voting at the
election vote for a convention, the general assembly shall, at the
next session, provide for a convention, to consist of double the
number of members of the senate, to be elected in the same
manner, at the same places, and in the same districts. The general assembly shall, in the act calling the convention, designate
the day, hour and place of its meeting, fix the pay of its members and officers, and provide for the payment of the same, together with expenses necessarily incurred by the convention in
the performance of its duties. Before proceeding, the members
shall take an oath to support the constitution of the United
States, and of the state of Illinois, and to faithfully discharge
their duties as members of the convention. The qualification of
members shall be the same as that of members of the senate, and
vacancies occurring shall be filled in the manner provided for filling vacancies in the general assembly. Said convention shall
meet within three months after such election, and prepare such
revision, alteration or amendments of the constitution as shall be
deemed necessary, which shall be submitted to the electors for
their ratification or rejection, at an election appointed by the
convention for that purpose, not less than two nor more than six
months after the adjournment thereof; and unless so submitted
and approved by a majority of the electors voting at the election,
no such revision, alterations and amendments shall take effect.
§ 2. Amendments to this constitution may be proposed in

420

STATE CONSTITUTIONS.

either house of the general assembly, and if the same shall be
voted for by two-thirds of all the members elected to each of the
two houses, such proposed amendments, together with the yeas
and nays of each house thereon, shall be entered in full on their
respective journals; and said amendments shall be submitted to
the electors of this state for adoption or rejection, at the next
election of members of the general assembly, in such manner as
may be prescribed by law. The proposed amendments shall be
published in full at least three months preceding the election,
and if a majority of the electors voting at said election shall vote
for the proposed amendments, they shall become a part of this
constitution. But the general assembly shall have no power to
propose amendments to more than one article of this constitution at the same session, nor to the same article oftener than
once in four years.
SEPARATE SECTIONS.
MUNICIPAL SUBSCRIPTIONS TO RAILROADS OR P R I V A T E
CORPORATIONS.

No county, city, town, township or other municipality, shall
ever become subscriber to the capital stock of any railroad or
private corporation, or make donation to or loan its credit in aid
of such corporation: Provided, however, that the adoption of
this article shall not be construed as affecting the right of any
such municipality to make such subscriptions where the same
have been authorized, under existing laws, by a vote of the people of such municipalities prior to such adoption.

CTHE END.