_Myself._--"Oh, shocking! shocking!"
_The Lady._--"Oh! there is another asylum for the coloured children; they are not neglected."
_Myself._--"Ay, but why should they not be together?--why should there be such a distinction between the children of our common Father?"
_The Lady._ (in a tone of triumph).--"Why has G.o.d made such a distinction between them?"
_Myself._--"And why has he made such a distinction between me and Tom Thumb? Or (for I am not very tall) why has he made me a man of 5 feet 6 inches instead of 6 feet high? A man may as well be excluded from society on account of his stature as his colour."
At this moment my wife, seeing I was waxing warm, pulled me by the coat-tail, and I said no more. The lady, however, went on to say that she was opposed to slavery--was a colonizationist, and heartily wished all the coloured people were back again in their own country. "In their own country, indeed!" I was going to say,--"why, this is their country as much as it is yours;" but I remembered my wife"s admonition, and held my peace. These were the sentiments of a lady first and foremost in the charitable movements of the day, and regarded by those around her as a pattern of piety and benevolence. She was shocked at the notion of the poor coloured orphan mingling with fellow-orphans of a fairer hue.
In the evening we went to take tea at the house of an English Quaker.
About half-a-dozen friends had been invited to meet us. These were kindred spirits, anti-slavery out-and-out, and we spent the evening very pleasantly. One of the company, in speaking of the American prejudice against colour, mentioned a remarkable circ.u.mstance. Some time ago, at an hotel in one of the Eastern States, a highly respectable coloured gentleman, well known to the host and to his guests, was about to sit down at the dinner table. A military officer--a conceited puppy--asked the landlord if that "n.i.g.g.e.r" was going to sit down? The landlord replied in the affirmative. "Then,"
said the fop, "_I_ cannot sit down with a n.i.g.g.e.r." The rest of the company, understanding what was going forward, rose as one man from their seats, ordered another table to be spread, and presented a respectful invitation to the coloured gentleman to take a seat with them. The military dandy was left at the first table, "alone in his glory." When thus humbled, and when he also understood who the coloured man was, he went up to him to apologize in the best way he could, and to beg that the offence might be forgotten. The coloured gentleman"s reply was beautiful and touching,--"Favours I write on marble, insults on sand."
On the morning of the 5th of March, the sun shining pleasantly, we were tempted to cross over to Covington, on the Kentucky or slave side of the river. Ferry-steamers ran every five or ten minutes, and the fare was only 5 cents. At this place the Baptists have a large and important college. Why did they erect it on the slave rather than on the free side of the Ohio? This inst.i.tution I was anxious to see; but I found it too far off, and the roads too bad. Feeling weary and faint, we called at a house of refreshment, where we had a genuine specimen of American inquisitiveness.
In five minutes the daughter of the house had asked us where we came from--what sort of a place it was--how long we had been in the United States--how long it took us to come--how far we were going--how long we should stay--and if we did not like that part of America so well that we would come and settle in it altogether! and in five minutes more our answers to all these important questions had been duly reported to the rest of the family in an adjoining room. This inquisitiveness prevails more in the slave than in the free States, and originates, I believe, in the fidgetty anxiety they feel about their slaves. The stranger must be well catechised, lest he should prove to be an Abolitionist come to give the slaves a sly lesson in geography.
In the afternoon I went to see the school of the coloured children in Cincinnati. This was established about four years ago by a Mr. Gilmore, a white gentleman, who is also a minister of the Gospel. He is a man of some property, and all connected with this school has been done at his own risk and responsibility. On my venturing to inquire what sacrifice of property he had made in the undertaking, he seemed hurt at the question, and replied, "No sacrifice whatever, sir." "But what, may I ask, have these operations cost beyond what you have received in the way of school-fees?" I continued. "About 7,000 dollars," (1,500_l._) said he. Including two or three branches, there are about 300 coloured children thus educated. Mr. Gilmore was at first much opposed and ridiculed; but that state of feeling was beginning to wear away.
Several of the children were so fair that, accustomed as I am to shades of colour, I could not distinguish them from the Anglo-Saxon race; and yet Mr. Gilmore told me even they would not have been admitted to the other public schools! How discerning the Americans are! How proud of their skin-deep aristocracy! And the author of "Cincinnati in 1841," in speaking of those very schools from which these fair children were excluded, says, "These schools are founded not merely on the principle that all men are free and equal, but that all men"s children are so likewise; and that, as it is our duty to love our neighbour as ourselves, it is our duty to provide the same benefits and blessings to his children as to our own. These establishments result from the recognition of the fact also, that we have all a common interest--moral, political, and pecuniary--in the education of the whole community." Those gloriously exclusive schools I had no wish to visit. But I felt a peculiar pleasure in visiting this humbler yet well-conducted inst.i.tution, for the benefit of those who are despised and degraded on account of their colour. As I entered, a music-master was teaching them, with the aid of a piano, to sing some select pieces for an approaching examination, both the instrument and the master having been provided by the generous Gilmore. Even the music-master, notwithstanding his first-rate ability, suffers considerable loss of patronage on account of his services in this branded school. Among the pieces sung, and sung exceedingly well, was the following touching appeal, headed "The Fugitive Slave to the Christian"--Air, "Cracovienne."
"The fetters galled my weary soul,-- A soul that seemed but thrown away: I spurned the tyrant"s base control, Resolved at last the man to play: The hounds are haying on my track; O Christian! will you send me back?
"I felt the stripes,--the lash I saw, Red dripping with a father"s gore; And, worst of all their lawless law, The insults that my mother bore!
The hounds are baying on my track; O Christian! will you send me back?
"Where human law o"errules Divine, Beneath the sheriff"s hammer fell My wife and babes,--I call them mine,-- And where they suffer who can tell?
The hounds are baying on my track; O Christian! will you send me back?
"I seek a home where man is man, If such there be upon this earth,-- To draw my kindred, if I can, Around its free though humble hearth.
The hounds are baying on my track; O Christian! will you send me back?"
March 7.--This being the Sabbath, we went in the morning to worship at Mr. Boynton"s church. The day was very wet, and the congregation small.
His text was, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be d.a.m.ned." The sermon, though read, and composed too much in the essay style, indicated considerable powers of mind and fidelity of ministerial character. Although from incessant rain the day was very dark, the Venetian blinds were down over all the windows! The Americans, I have since observed, are particularly fond of the "dim religious light." Among the announcements from the pulpit were several funerals, which it is there customary thus to advertise.
In the afternoon I heard Dr. Beecher. Here, again, I found the blinds down. The Doctor"s text was, "Let me first go and bury my father," &c.
Without at all noticing the context,--an omission which I regretted,--he proceeded at once to state the doctrine of the text to be, that nothing can excuse the putting off of religion--that it is every man"s duty to follow Christ immediately. This subject, notwithstanding the heaviness of the day, the infirmities of more than threescore years and ten (74), and the frequent necessity of adjusting his spectacles to consult his notes, he handled with much vigour and zeal. Some of his p.r.o.nunciations were rather antiquated; but they were the elegant New England p.r.o.nunciations of his youthful days. The sermon was marked by that close and faithful dealing with the conscience in which so many American ministers excel.
Professor Allen called to take me up to Lane Seminary, where I was to address the students in the evening. The service was public, and held in the chapel of the inst.i.tution; but the evening being wet, the congregation was small. I had, however, before me the future pastors of about fifty churches, and two of the professors. I was domiciled at Mr.
Allen"s. Both he and his intelligent wife are sound on the subject of slavery. They are also quite above the contemptible prejudice against colour. But I was sorry to hear Mrs. Allen say, that, in her domestic arrangements, she had often had a great deal of trouble with her _European_ servants, who would refuse to take their meals with black ones, though the latter were in every respect superior to the former! I have heard similar remarks in other parts of America. Mr. Allen"s system of domestic training appeared excellent. His children, of whom he has as many as the patriarch Jacob, were among the loveliest I had ever seen.
At 8 o"clock in the morning of the 8th of March I left Lane Seminary, with a heavy heart at the thought that in all probability I should never see it again. There was a sharp frost. Dr. Stowe accompanied me to the omnibus. "All right!"--"_Pax vobisc.u.m!_"--the vehicle moved on, and directly the Doctor was at a distance of a hundred yards waving a farewell. It was the last look.
At 11 A.M. myself, wife, baggage,--all were setting off from the "Queen City" for Pittsburgh, a distance of 496 miles, in the Clipper No. 2, a fine boat, and in good hands.
LETTER XXII.
Cincinnati--Its History and Progress--Its Trade and Commerce--Its Periodical Press--Its Church Accommodation--Its Future Prospects --Steaming up the Ohio--Contrast between Freedom and Slavery--An Indian Mound--Splendid Scenery--Coal Hills.
Before proceeding with our trip to Pittsburg, I will bring together all the material points of information I have gathered relative to Cincinnati.
1. _Its History and Progress_.--The first year of the present century found here but 750 inhabitants. In 1810 there were 2,540; in 1820, 9,602; in 1830, 24,381; in 1840, 46,382. At present the population is estimated at 80,000. The coloured population forms one twenty-fifth, or 4 per cent., of the whole. The native Europeans form one-fifth of the white population.
2. _Its Trade and Commerce_.--The princ.i.p.al trade is in pork. Hence the nickname of _Porkapolis_. The yearly value of pork packed and exported is about five millions of dollars, or one million of guineas!
As a proof of the amazing activity which characterizes all the details of cutting, curing, packing, &c., I have been credibly informed that two men, in one of the pork-houses, cut up in less than thirteen hours 850 hogs, averaging 300 lbs. each,--two others placing them on the block for the purpose. All these hogs were weighed singly on scales in the course of eleven hours. Another hand trimmed the hams, 1,700 pieces, in "Cincinnati style," as fast as they were separated from the carcases. The hogs were thus cut up and disposed of at the rate of more than one per minute! And this, I was told, was not much beyond the ordinary day"s work at the pork-houses.
Steam-boat building is another important branch of trade in this place.
DOLLARS.
In 1840 there were built here 33 boats of 15,341 tons, costing 592,600 1844 " " 37 " 7,838 " 542,500 1845 " " 27 " 6,609 " 506,500
3. _Its Periodical Press_.--There are sixteen daily papers! Of these, thirteen issue also a weekly number. Besides these, there are seventeen weekly papers unconnected with daily issues. But Cincinnati is liberal in her patronage of eastern publications. During the year 1845 one house, that of Robinson and Jones, the princ.i.p.al periodical depot in the city, and through which the great body of the people are supplied with this sort of literature, sold of
Magazines and Periodicals 29,822 numbers.
Newspapers 25,390[1] "
Serial Publications 30,826 "
Works of Fiction 48,961 " !
[Footnote 1: Besides an immense quant.i.ty sent direct per mail!]
It is estimated that the people of the United States, at the present time, support 1,200 newspapers. There being no stamp-duty, no duty on paper, and none on advertis.e.m.e.nts, the yearly cost of a daily paper, such as the _New York Tribune_ for instance, is only 5 dollars, or one guinea. The price of a single copy of such papers is only 2 cents, or one penny; and many papers are only one cent, or a half-penny per copy.
4. _Its Church Accommodation_.--By the close of the year 1845 the voluntary principle, without any governmental or munic.i.p.al aid whatever, had provided the following places of worship:--
Presbyterian 12 New Jerusalem 1 Methodist Episcopal 12 Universalist 1 Roman Catholic 7 Second Advent 1 Baptist 5 Mormons 1 Lutheran 5 Friends 1 Protestant Episcopal 4 Congregational 1 "Christian Disciples" 4 Restorationists 1 Methodist Protestants 3 United Brethren 1 Jewish 2 "Christians" 1 Welsh 2 German Reformed 2 Total 67
This number of places of worship, at an average of 600 persons to each, would afford accommodation for nearly two-thirds of what the entire population was at that time; and surely two-thirds of any community is quite as large a proportion as can, under the most favourable circ.u.mstances, be expected to attend places of worship at any given time. Behold, then, the strength and efficiency of the voluntary principle! This young city, with all its wants, is far better furnished with places of worship than the generality of commercial and manufacturing towns in England.
Dr. Reed visited Cincinnati in 1834. He gives the population at that time at 30,000, and the places of worship as follows. I insert them that you may see at a glance what the voluntary principle did in the eleven years that followed.
Presbyterian 6 Campbellite Baptists 1 Methodist 4 Jews 1 Baptist 2 -- Episcopalian 2 Total in 1834 21 German Lutheran 2 Do. in 1845 67 Unitarian 1 -- Roman Catholic 1 Increase 46 Swedes 1
5. _Its Future Prospects_.--The author of "Cincinnati in 1841" says, "I venture the prediction that within 100 years from this time Cincinnati will be the greatest city in America, and by the year of our Lord 2,000 the greatest city in the world." Our cousin here uses the superlative degree when the comparative would be more appropriate. Deduct 80 or 90 per cent, from this calculation, and you still leave before this city a bright prospect of future greatness.
We must, however, bid adieu to this "Queen of the West," and pursue our course against the Ohio"s current towards Pittsburg. We steam along between freedom and slavery. The contrast is striking. On this subject the remarks of the keen and philosophic M. de Tocqueville are so accurate, and so much to the point, that I cannot do better than transcribe and endorse them.
"A century had scarcely elapsed since the foundation of the colonies, when the attention of the planters was struck by the extraordinary fact that the provinces which were comparatively dest.i.tute of slaves increased in population, in wealth, and in prosperity, more rapidly than those which contained the greatest number of negroes. In the former, however, the inhabitants were obliged to cultivate the soil themselves, or by hired labourers; in the latter, they were furnished with hands for which they paid no wages: yet, although labour and expense were on the one side, and ease with economy on the other, the former were in possession of the most advantageous system. * * * The more progress was made, the more was it shown that slavery, which is so cruel to the slave, is prejudicial to the master.
"But this truth was most satisfactorily demonstrated when civilization reached the banks of the Ohio. The stream which the Indians had distinguished by the name of Ohio, or Beautiful River, waters one of the most magnificent valleys which have ever been made the abode of man. Undulating lands extend upon both sh.o.r.es of the Ohio, whose soil affords inexhaustible treasures to the labourer. On either bank the air is wholesome and the climate mild; and each of those banks forms the extreme frontier of a vast State: that which follows the numerous windings of the Ohio on the left is Kentucky [in ascending the river it was on our _right_]; that on the right [our left] bearing the name of the river. These two States differ only in one respect,--Kentucky has admitted slavery, but the State of Ohio has not. * * *
"Upon the left bank of the stream the population is rare; from time to time one descries a troop of slaves loitering in the half-desert fields; the primeval forest recurs at every turn; society seems to be asleep, man to be idle, and nature alone offers a scene of activity and life.
"From the right bank, on the contrary, a confused hum is heard, which proclaims the presence of industry; the fields are covered with abundant harvests; the elegance of the dwellings announces the taste and activity of the labourer; and man appears to be in the enjoyment of that wealth and contentment which are the reward of labour."