A Ramble of Six Thousand Miles through the United States of America

by S. A. Ferrall

The principal institutions are, the Franklin library, which contains upwards of 20,000 volumes. Strangers are admitted gratis, and are permitted to peruse any of the books. The Americans should adopt this practice in all their national exhibitions, and rather copy the liberality of the French than the sordid churlishness of the English, who compel foreigners to pay even for seeing the property of the nation. The other institutions are, the University of Pennsylvania, a College, Medical Theatre, College of Physicians, Philosophical Hall, Agricultural and Linnean Societies, Academy of Fine Arts, and the Cincinnati Society, which originated in an attempt to establish a sort of aristocracy. The members were at its formation the surviving officers of the revolution; they wear an eagle, suspended by a ribbon, which, at their death, they have appointed to be taken by their eldest sons. There are besides, the Academies of the Philadelphian Friends, and the German Lutherans; Sunday and Lancasterian schools; and, of course, divers Bible and Tract Societies, which are patronized by all the antiquated dames in the city, and superintended by the Methodist and Presbyterian parsons. The Methodist parsons of this country have the character of being men of gallantry; and indeed, from the many instances I have heard of their propensity in this way, from young Americans, I should be a very sceptic to doubt the fact.

There are also St. George's, St. Patrick's, St. David's, and St. Andrew's Societies for the relief and colonization of British emigrants; a French and a German Emigrant Society, and several hospitals. There are two theatres and an amphitheatre. Peal's Museum contains a large collection, which is scientifically arranged; among other fossils is the perfect skeleton of a mammoth, found in a bed of marle in the state of New York. The length of this animal, from the bend of the tusks to the rump, was about twenty-seven feet, and the height and bulk proportionate.

The navy-yard contains large quantities of timber, spars, and rigging, prepared for immediate use, as also warlike stores of every description. There is here, a ship of 140 guns, of large calibre, and a frigate. Both are housed completely, and in a condition to be launched in a few months, if necessary. They are constructed of the very best materials, and in the most durable and solid manner. There are now being constructed, seriatim, twenty-five ships of the line—one for every state in the Union. The government occasionally sells the smaller vessels of war to merchants, in order to increase the shipping, and to secure that those armed vessels which are afloat, may be in the finest possible condition. A corvette, completely equipped, was lately sold to his majesty the autocrat of the Russias; but was dismasted in a day or two after her departure from Charleston. She was taken in tow by the vessel of a New York merchant, and carried into the port of that city. The merchant refused any compensation from the Russian minister, although his vessel was, when she fell in with the wreck, proceeding to the Austral regions, and her putting about was greatly disadvantageous. The minister returned thanks publicly, on the part of his master, and expressed his majesty's sense of the invariable consideration and friendship with which his majesty's subjects are treated by the citizens of America. There appears to be a universal wish among the Americans to cultivate an alliance, offensive and defensive, with his majesty of Russia. The cry is, "all the Russians want is a fleet, and we'll lend them that." In fact, a deadly animosity pervades America towards Great Britain; and although it is not publicly confessed, for the Americans are too able politicians to do that, yet it is no less certain, that "Delenda est Carthago," is their motto. Let England look to it. Her power is great; but, if the fleets of America, France, and Russia, were to combine, and land on the shores of England hordes of Russians, and battalions of disciplined Frenchmen—if this were to be done, with the Irish people, instead of allies as they should be, her deadly enemies, her power is annihilated at a blow! For let it be remembered, that there is no rallying principle in the temperament of the mass of the English people; and that formerly one single victory,—the victory of Hastings, completely subjugated them. Hume, who was decidedly an impartial historian, is compelled to say of that conquest, "It would be difficult to find in all history a revolution more destructive, or attended with a more complete subjection of the ancient inhabitants. Contumely seems even to have been wantonly added to oppression; and the natives were universally reduced to such a state of meanness and poverty, that the English name became a term of reproach; and several generations elapsed before one family of Saxon pedigree was raised to any considerable honours, or could so much as obtain the rank of baron of the realm."—Yet the English people owe much to the ancestors of the aristocracy, who introduced among them the arts and refinements of civilization, and by their wisdom and disciplined valour have raised the country to that pitch of greatness, so justly termed "the envy of surrounding nations." I do not contend, that because a nation may have acquired the name of great, that therefore the people are more happy; but am rather inclined to think the contrary, for conquests are generally made and wealth is accumulated for the benefit of the few, and at the expense of the many.

A law has been lately passed by the legislature of Pennsylvania, taxing wholesale and retail dealers in merchandize, excepting those importers of foreign goods who vend the articles in the form in which they are imported. This act classes the citizens according to their annual amount of sales, and taxes them in the same proportion. Those who effect sales to the amount of fifty thousand dollars, constitute the first class; of forty thousand dollars, the second class; of thirty thousand dollars, the third class; of twenty thousand dollars, the fourth class; of fifteen thousand dollars, the fifth class; of ten thousand dollars, the sixth class; of five thousand dollars, the seventh class; and all persons effecting sales not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars, constitute the eighth class. The first class shall pay for license, annually, fifty dollars; the second class, forty dollars; the third class, thirty dollars; the fourth class, twenty-five dollars; the fifth class, twenty dollars; the sixth class, fifteen dollars; the seventh class, twelve dollars and fifty cents, and the eighth class ten dollars.

Direct taxation has been found in all cases to be obnoxious, and this particular mode, I apprehend, is calculated to produce very pernicious effects. The laws of a republic should all tend to establish and support, as far as is practicable, the principle of equality, and any act that has a contrary tendency must be injurious to the community. Now this act draws a direct line of demarcation between citizens, in proportion to the extent of their dealings; and as in this country a man's importance is entirely estimated by his supposed wealth, the citizens of Pennsylvania can henceforth only claim a share of respectability, proportionate to the class to which they belong. The west country ladies have shewn a great aptitude for forming "circles of society," and the promulgation of this law affords them a most powerful aid in establishing a store-keeping aristocracy.

The large cities in America are by no means so lightly taxed as might be supposed from the cheapness of the government; the public works, public buildings, and police establishments, requiring adequate funds for their maintenance and support; however, the inhabitants have the consolation of knowing that this must gradually decrease, and that their money is laid out for their own advantage, and not for the purpose of pensioning off the mistresses and physicians of viceroys, as in Ireland.[^[23]] Another thing is to be observed, that in addition to the national debt, each state has a private debt, which in many cases is tolerably large. These debts have been created by expenditures on roads, canals, and public buildings. The mode of taxation latterly adopted by the legislature is not popular, and many of the public prints have remonstrated against the system. "The Philadelphia Gazette," of the 24th Sept. 1830, makes the following remarks—"The subject of unequal and oppressive taxation deserves more attention than it has hitherto received from our citizens. The misery of England is occasioned less by the amount of revenue that is raised there, than by the manner in which it is raised. In Pennsylvania we are going on rapidly, making our state a second England in regard of debt and taxation. Our public debt is already 13,000,000 dollars; and before our canals and rail-roads shall be completed, it will probably amount to 18 or 20 millions. The law imposing taxes of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 dollars on retailers, is not the only just subject of complaint. The collateral inheritance tax is equally unjust. The tavern-keepers are besides to be taxed from 20 to 50 dollars each. Nor does the matter end here. At the next session of the legislature, it will, in all probability, be found necessary to lay on additional taxes: and when the principle of unjust taxation is once admitted in legislation, it is difficult to say how far it will be carried."

Whilst staying at Philadelphia an account of the French revolution arrived, and the merchants, there and at New York, were in high spirits, thinking that war was inevitable. A war in Europe is always hailed with delight in America, as it opens a field for commercial enterprise, and gives employment to the shipping, of which at present they are much in need.

During the long and ruinous war in Europe, the mercantile and shipping interests of the United States advanced with an unexampled degree of rapidity. The Americans were then the carriers of nearly all Europe, and scarcely any merchandize entered the ports of the belligerent powers, but in American bottoms. This unnatural state of prosperity could not last: peace was established, and from that era the decline of commerce in the United States may be dated. The merchants seem not to have calculated on this event's so soon taking place, or to have overrated the increase of prosperity and population in their own country, as up to that period, and for some years afterwards, there does appear to have been no relaxation of ship-building, and little diminution of mercantile speculations. At present the ship-owners are realizing little beyond the expenses of their vessels, and in many cases the bottoms are actually in debt. The frequent failures in the Atlantic cities, of late, are mainly to be attributed to unsuccessful ship speculations; and I am myself aware of more than one instance, where the freight was so extremely low, as to do little more than cover the expenditure of the voyage. On my return to Europe, while staying at Marseilles, twelve American vessels arrived in that port within the space of two months; and before my departure, nine of these returned to the United States with ballast (stones), and I believe only two with full cargos.