oppression. Violence is positively forbidden in the schools, in the prisons, on ship-board, in the army;-every where, in short, where authority is exercised, it must be exercised without appeal to the argument of a blow.

Not long since a master was dismissed from a public school, in a neighbouring state, for having struck a boy. The little fellow was transformed in a moment from a culprit to an accuser. "Do you dare to strike me? you are my teacher, but not my tyrant." The school-room made common cause in a moment: the fact was enquired into, and the master dismissed. No apology for the punishment was sought in the nature of the offence which might have provoked it. As my informer observed, it was thought, that the man who could not master his own passions was unfit to controul the passions of others; besides, that he had infringed the rules of the school, and forfeited the respect of his scholars." By this early exemption from arbitrary power, the boy acquires feelings and habits which abide with him through life.

In the education of women, New England seems hitherto to have been peculiarly liberal. The ladies of the eastern states are frequently possessed of the most solid acquirements, the modern, and even the dead languages, and a wide scope of reading; the consequence is, that their manners have the character of being more composed than those of my gay young friends in this quarter. I have already stated, in one of my earlier letters, that the public attention is now every where turned to the improvement of female education. In some states, colleges for girls are established under the eye of the legislature, in which are taught all important branches of knowledge.

I must remark, that in no particular is the liberal philosophy of the Americans more honourably evinced than in the place which is awarded to women. The prejudices still to be found in Europe, though now, indeed, somewhat antiquated, which would confine the female library to romances, poetry, and belles lettres, and female conversation to the last new publication, new bonnet, and pas seul, are entirely unknown here The women are assuming their place as thinking beings, not in despite of the men, but chiefly in consequence of their enlarged views and exertions as fathers and legislators.

RELIGION.

It is impossible to apply any general rule to so wide spread a community as this. Perhaps Selden's were the best: "Religion is like the fashion. One man wears his doublet slashed, another laced, another plain, but every man has a doublet. So every man has his religion. They differ about trimming." But we cannot subjoin another axiom of the same philosopher: "Every religion is a getting religion." It gets nothing; and so, whatever it be, it is sincere and harmless.

Some contend that liberality is only indifference; perhaps, as a general rule, it may be so. Persecution undoubtedly fans zeal, but such zeal as it is usually better to be without. I do not perceive any want of religion in America. There are sections of the country where some might think there is too much, at least that its temper is too stern and dogmatical. This has long been said of New England, and, undoubtedly, the Puritan ancestry of her citizens is still discernible, as well in the coldness of their manners, as in the rigidity of their creed. But it is wonderful how fast these distinctions are disappearing. An officer of the American navy, a native of New England, told me, that when a boy he had sooner dared to pick a neighbour's pocket on a Saturday, than to have smiled on a Sunday. "I have since travelled through all parts of the Union, and over a great part of the world, and have learned, consequently, that there are all ways of thinking; and I find now that my fellow-countrymen are learning the same."

You will conceive how great is the change wrought in the religious temper of the Eastern States, when I mention, that the Unitarian faith has been latterly introduced, and, in some parts, has made such rapid progress as promises, ere long, to supersede the doctrines of Calvin. There were, of course, some vehement pulpit fulminations in Massachussets when these mild teachers of morals and simple Christianity first made their appearance.

Philadelphia, and even New York, had their zealots as well as Boston. In the latter city they were few, but perhaps more noisy on that very account. It is some years since, a Čalvinistic preacher here exclaimed to the nonelect of his congregation," Ha! ha! you think to get through the gates of

heaven by laying hold of my coat; but I'll take care to hold up the skirts." American religion, of whatever sect, (and it includes all the sects under heaven,) is of a quiet and unassuming character; no way disputatious, even when more doctrinal than the majority may think wise. I do not include the strolling methodists and shaking quakers, and sects with unutterable names and deranged imaginations, who are found in some odd corners of this wide world, beating time to the hymns of Mother Ann, and working out the millennium by abstaining from marriage. The Shakers, as they are called, emigrated to America some forty years ago. Ann Lee, or Mother Ann, their spiritual leader, was a niece of the celebrated General Lee, who took so active a part in the war of the revolution. She became deranged, as it is said, from family misfortunes; fancied herself a second Virgin Mary, and found followers, as Joanna Southcote and Jemima Wilkinson did after her.

There is a curious spirit of opposition in the human mind. I see your papers full of anathemas against blasphemous pamphlets. We have no such things here; and why? Because every man is free to write them; and because every man enjoys his own opinion, without any arguing about the matter. Where religion never arms the hand of power, she is never obnoxious; where she is seated modestly at the domestic hearth, whispering peace and immortal hope to infancy and age, she is always respected, even by those who may not themselves feel the force of her arguments.

on,

CLIMATE IN NEW JERSEY.

66

This is a climate of extremes; you are here always in heat or frost. The former you know I never object to, and as I equally dislike the latter, I should perhaps be an unfair reporter of both. The summer is glorious; the resplendent sun shining on, shining " for days and weeks successively; an air so pure, so light, and to me so genial, that I wake as it were to a new existence. I have seen those around me, however, often drooping beneath fervors which have given me life. By the month of August, the pale cheeks and slow movements of the American women, and even occasionally of the men, seem to demand the invigorating breezes of the Siberian winter to brace the nerves and quicken the current of the blood. The severe cold which succeeds to this extreme of heat, appears

to have this effect, and seldom to produce, excepting upon such as may be affected with constitutional weakness of the lungs, any effect that is not decidedly beneficial. Most people will pronounce the autumn to be the pride of the American year. It is indeed fraught with beauty to all the senses; the brilliant hues then assumed by nature, from the dwarf sumac with his berries and leaves of vivid crimson, up to the towering trees of the forest, twisting their branches in extreme and whimsical contrasts of gold, red, green orange, russet, through all their varieties of shade; the orchards, too, then laden with treasures, and the fields heavy with the ripened maize; the skies bright with all the summer's splendour, yet tempered with refreshing breezes ; the sun sinking to rest in crimsons, whose depth and warmth of hue the painter would not dare to imitate.

The winter;-those whom it likes, may like it. The season has its beauty and its pleasures. Sparkling skies shining down upon sparkling snows, over which the light sleighs, peopled with the young and the gay, bound along to the chime of bells which the horses seem to bear well pleased. In country and city, this is the time of amusement; the young people will run twenty miles, through the biting air, to the house of a friend; where all in a moment is set astir; carpets up, music playing, and youths and maidens, laughing and mingling in the mazy dance, the happiest creatures beneath the moon. Is it the bright climate, or the liberty that reigns every where; or is it the absence of poverty, and the equal absence of extreme wealth; or is it all these things together that make this people so cheerful and gay-hearted?

The spring:-there is properly no spring; there is a short struggle between winter and summer; who sometimes fight for the mastery with a good deal of obstinacy. We have lately seen a fierce combat between these two great sovereigns of the year. In the latter days of March, summer suddenly alighted on the snows in the full flush of July heat; every window and door were flung open to welcome the stranger, and the trees were just bursting into leaf, when angry winter returned to the field, and poured down one of the most singular showers of sleet I ever witnessed. The water, freezing as it fell, cased every branch and twig in crystal of an inch thick, so trans

parent

parent that each bud appeared distinctly through it; in some places, large trees gave way beneath the unusual burden, their heads absolutely touching the ground, until their trunks snapped in twain. Fortunately, there was no wind, or the devastation would have been dreadful; it has been cruel enough as it is, boughs and branches every where strewing the ground, and stems shattered as if by lightning.

The observations that I can make upon the climate apply of course but to a small portion of this vast world, which comprises all the climates of the earth; with the exception perhaps of one-the gloomy. The Atlantic border of New England is indeed liable, in the spring months, to fogs blown from off the Newfoundland bank; but these temporary visitors do not despoil the atmosphere of the general character of brilliancy which, summer and winter, it may be said more or less to possess from Maine to Missouri. The vividness of the light, which is at first painful to English, and even European eyes of whatever country, I could imagine had wrought an effect on the national physiognomy. The Americans in general are remarkable for even brows, much projected over the eyes, which, small and piercing, usually glance from beneath them with singular intelligence and quickness of observation. The climate of this continent, except where influenced by local causes, seems to be peculiarly healthy, and highly favourable to the growth of the human figure; other circumstances doubtless assist its effect; a population free from poverty, and in consequence comparatively of vice, might perhaps attain to nature's full standard in an atmosphere less pure. The diseases of the country appear to be few and violent; fevers, and other inflammatory disorders, common during the first autumnal months; the temperate habits of the people, however, preserve them in a great measure from these attacks, or moderate their violence. I imagine there are more instances of extraordinary longevity in these states than you could find in any part of Europe.

The Western States seem destined to be the paradise of America. The beauty of their climate is probably unrivalled, unless it be by that of some of the elevated plains of the southern continent. The influence of the mild breezes from the Mexican gulf, which blow with the steadiness of a trade wind up the great

valley of the Mississippi, is felt even to the southern shore of Lake Erie; and affects the climate of some of the northwestern counties of New York.

HORSES.

I observed in the carts and waggons standing in and around the market-place of Philadelphia, the same well-fed, well rubbed,healthy-looking horses, that have so often attracted my attention throughout this country. Truly, I do not remember to have seen a starved horse since I landed. The animals seem to share the influence of wholesome laws with their masters; their influence reaching them through that which they exert more immediately upon the character, as well as the circumstances, of the proud lords of the creation. I say character as well as circumstances; for though, when a man feeds his horse well, it may only argue, that he has wherewithal to procure provender; when he uses him gently, and guides him with the voice instead of the whip, it shews that he has good sense or humanity; good sense, if he consider his own ease, and humanity, if he consider that of the animal. It is a pretty thing to see a horse broke in this country; it is done entirely by gentleness. A skilful rider, after much previous coaxing and leading, mounts the wild creature without whip or spur, and soothes him with the hand and the voice, or allows him to spend himself in the race, and brings him at last to obey the check of the rein, or the note of the voice, with the readiness of the steed of a Bedouin. The lesson, thus learned, is never forgotten; a word or a whistle sets the horse to his full speed, whether in the carriage, the dearborn, or the stage. In travelling, I remember but once to have seen a driver who ever did more than crack his whip in the air. This exception, too, was a European.

GERMAN REDEMPTIONers.

The ships chiefly employed in this trade are Dutch, but the depressed state of commerce has thrown into it vessels of all nations, British, American and others, from the ports of the Baltic. It was, of course, found somewhat difficult to bring foreign ships under the jurisdiction of the state laws. The first regulations were, in some cases, so shamefully evaded, that the national governinent took the subject under consideration, and passed a law which extended to every port in the Union, and has been found thoroughly effec

tive; at present, therefore, the trade is placed under the jurisdiction of the American Congress, while the Pennsylvania legislature appoint officers to see that the contracts between the emigrants and the ship captains are faithfully fulfilled. A ship, of whatever nation, arriving in port peopled beyond a rate prescribed by law, is forfeited to the national government. The captain of every ship is bound to support his emigrants, or redemptioners, as they are styled, for one month after the date of their arrival in port; after which, he may add the charge of their support, as determined by law, to the debt of their passage. This debt, which is contracted in Holland, is paid according to the means of the emigrant. If he has money to defray his passage, and that of his family, he devotes it to this purpose; but this is rarely the case; sometimes he pays half or a third part of the debt, and becomes bound to the captain for a term of service equivalent to the remainder, who is empowered to sell this indentureship to a resident citizen in Pennsylvania; more frequently he discharges the whole of the debt by the surrender of his liberty. Upon his arrival here, however, the laws effectually screen him from the results which might accrue from his own ignorance or rashness; he, or rather the captain for him, cannot, under any circumstances, indent his person for a term longer than four years, nor can he be taken without his consent beyond the limits of the state of Pennsylvania. An officer is appointed and salaried by the Pennsylvania government, who inspects the redemptioners on their arrival, and witnesses and reports the agreement made between the captain and those who purchase their service. The purchasers must take the whole family, man, wife, and children, unless the redemptioners themselves shall agree to the contrary; the masters being also bound by the law to provide the children with schooling and clothing. There are some minor regulations with which I am not accurately acquainted. This service, you will perceive, is liable to be not a little expensive to the employers. It is attended, however, with fewer risks than might be expected; the Swiss and German peasants being, for the most part, simple, honest and industrious, and excellent servants in the farm and the dairy. This mode of indenture is so serviceable to these

emigrants, that those who may have been able to defray their passage in money, usually bind themselves to some American family for couple of years, where they may be initiated in the language and habits of their new country. I have met with instances of this kind in Pennsylvania, and even in New York and Jersey, into which states the emigrants had consented to pass. After the expiration of the term, the redemptioners are often retained by their masters upon wages; when, if they are frugal and ambitious, they may, in the course of time, lay up sufficient to purchase a few acres, and enter on their own farm.

It certainly cannot be expected that the American nation will submit to have their country turned into a lazarhouse for the suffering poor of Europe, who, with poverty, but too often bring its accompaniments, indolence and vice. Those states, probably, act wisely, who, by such regulations as I have mentioned as adopted by New York, shut the door against them. That state, by the bye, receives, as it is, more than she finds agreeable, by the way of Canada; and her community are put to no small inconvenience and expense for their provision.

BALTIMORE.

This city is singularly neat and pretty; I will even say beautiful. It is possible that in the first gaze I threw upon it, it owed something to the hour, the season, and the just fallen shower of sweet spring rain; but what is there in life that owes not to time and circumstance the essence of its evil or its good? We looked forth from our cabin in the still grey dawn, and paced awhile up and down the spacious deck of the lordly steam-boat, to enjoy the scene, and the hour, to which the scene owed much. All was yet silent in the city-silent as the unpierced forests of the west; not a foot trod the quays, or was heard upon the pavement of the streets that branched from them; not a figure was seen on the decks, or in the shrouds of the vessels that lay around us; the very air was sleeping, and the shipping reposed on the waters of the little bay (formed here by an inlet of the Potapsco,) which lay motionless as the thin wreaths of vapour which hung above them. There is something strangely impressive in such a death of sound and motion in the very heart and centre of the haunts of men. A condensed population of thousands thus

hushed

hushed to repose, all their hopes, and fears, and sorrows, and ambitions, steeped in forgetfulness, unconscious and unapprehensive of the checks and the crosses, and the pains and the weariness, which the big eventful day is to bring forth.

The projecting point, whose curve forms one side of the little harbour in which we were moored, lined with wharfs and quays, was the seat of the pestilence of which such fearful and exaggerated accounts were spread last autumn; but the evil here, if less than report made it, was sufficiently alarming. The malignant nature of the disease, the silent enlargement of the seat of its contagion, the suddenness of its seizure, the rapidity of its progress, and the loathsomeness of its last stage, which renders the wretched object sinking beneath its virulence, a sight of disgust even to the eye of affection, and the uncertainty which has hitherto existed regarding the cause of its appearance, and the manner in which its progress might be arrested, all this well explains the terror which its very name excites in those cities, which have only been subjected to the visitation at long intervals, and where tradition hands down the tale of its former ravages, and the horrors with which they were fraught.

In this city, though the seat of contagion was of much greater extent than in that of New York, yet its limits were equally defined. A line might have been drawn across the streets, on the verge of which you might stand with impunity, and beyond which it was death to pass. Had this line been drawn, and drawn too at the first appearance of the disease, before time had been afforded it for the enlargement of its precincts, (for the infected atmosphere slowly eating its way onwards, where it may be safe for you to breathe to-day, you may inhale poison to-morrow,) and had the inhabitants, both the sick and the well, been removed from the seat of contagion, as was done in New York, the fever would have died in the birth, instead of rankling and spreading as it did, until it was killed by the winter's frost.

The nest of the fever here, as in New York, lay in the stagnant waters of the wharfs; into which the neighbour ing inhabitants are in the habit of throwing vegetables and other refuse. The intense and unusually prolonged heats of the summer could not fail to

render them so many reservoirs of puttrefaction. These wharfs too, and many of the houses adjoining, have been raised upon forced ground, into which the water oozing, prepares against the hot months a rank bed, fatally propitious to the nurture of disease, if not sufficient for its conception. While the infected air was gradually spreading along Fells Point, and the low streets in its immediate vicinity, the higher parts of the town were perfectly healthy; and though the sick were removed into it, no infection was there received; nor, after the first wild alarm had subsided, was it so much as apprehended.

Baltimore is not the least wonderful evidence of the amazing and almost inconceivable growth of this country. At the time of the revolution, but fortyfive years since, this city, which now contains a population of sixty-five thousand, and has all the appearance of an opulent and beautiful metropolis, comprised some thirty houses of painted or unpainted frame, with perhaps as many of logs scattered in their vicinity.

Baltimore, is spread over three gentle hills; the streets, without sharing the fatiguing regularity and unvarying similarity of those of Philadelphia, are equally clean, cheerful, and pleasingly ornamented with trees; the poplar, which in the country is offensive, not merely to the eye, but to the understanding, being there destitute alike of beauty and utility, has a singularly pleasing effect in a city where its architectural form is in unison with the regularity and neatness which should every where prevail.

You see here, as in Philadelphia, the same neat houses of well-made and well-painted brick; the same delicately white doors, with their shining knockers and handles, and their steps of clean white marble, and windows with their green Venetian shutters. Considerable attention and expence have also been bestowed upon the public edifices, which, however, are chiefly remarkable for neatness and convenience, seldom making pretentions to architectural beauty.

I regret that we have not more time to bestow on this city, which is interesting not only from the amazing rapidity of its growth, its neatness and beauty, but from the character of its citizens peculiarly marked for courtesy, as well as for high spirit and daring enterprise. To these last qualities, indeed, must be attributed all the wonderful creations

of