estimated at about two hundred thousand, provinces that reach thus far, and their which might be distributed thus: Massa- whole population was confined to the strip chusetts, including Plymouth and Maine, of land interposed between those mountmay have had forty-four thousand; New-ains and the Atlantic Ocean. It is true, Hampshire and Rhode Island, including that immediately after the treaty of Paris, Providence, six thousand each; Connecti- in 1763, by which England acquired the cut, from seventeen to twenty thousand; Canadas and the Valley of the Mississippimaking up seventy-five thousand for all excepting Louisiana, which remained with New-England: New-York, not less than France, or, rather, was temporarily ceded twenty thousand; New-Jersey, ten thou-to Spain-a few adventurers began to pass sand; Pennsylvania and Delaware, twelve beyond the mountains, and this emigration thousand; Maryland, twenty-five thou- westward continued during the war of the sand; Virginia, fifty thousand; and the Revolution. But when peace came, in two Carolinas, which then included Geor- 1783, I much doubt if there were twengia, probably not fewer than eight thou- ty thousand Anglo-Americans in Westsand souls. ern Pennsylvania, Western Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. These were but the advanced posts of the immense host about to follow, and, for many years after the peace, the colonization of the interior was slower than might be supposed. The population of the thirteen provinces at the commencement of the Revolution is not positively known, but it certainly did not exceed three millions and a half, slaves included. No doubt the population of the seaboard increased with considerable rapidity, and Vermont was not long in being added to the original thirteen states, making fourteen in all upon the Atlantic slope. They amount now to fifteen, Maine, which was long a sort of province to Massachusetts, having become a separate state in 1820. After the establishment of Independence, danger from the Aborigines ceased to be apprehended throughout the whole country situated between the Alleghany Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. The remains of the numerous tribes, its former inhabitants, had, with some exceptions in New-England, New-York, and the Carolinas, retired to the West, and there they either existed apart, or had become merged in other and kindred tribes. After having confined their settlements for many years within a short distance, comparatively speaking, from the coast, the colonists began to penetrate the inland forests, and to settle at different points in the interior of the country, in proportion as they considered themselves strong enough to occupy them safely. Where hostility on the part of the Aborigines was dreaded, these settlers kept together as much as possible, and established themselves in villages. This was particularly the case in New-England, where, from the soil being less favourable to agriculture, colonization naturally assumed the compact form required for the pursuits of trade | and the useful arts, as well as for mutual assistance when exposed to attack. As the New-England colonists had all along devoted themselves much to the fisheries and other branches of commerce, their settlements were for a long time to be found chiefly on the coast, and at points affording convenient harbours. But it was much otherwise in the South. In Virginia, in particular, the colonists were induced to settle along the banks of rivers to very considerable distances, their main occupation being the planting of tobacco and trading to some extent with the Indians. In the Carolinas, again, most hands being employed in the manufacture of tar, turpentine, and rosin, or in the cultivation of rice, indigo, and, eventually, of cotton, the colonial settlements took a considerable range whenever there was peace with the Indians in their vicinity. Where there was little or no commerce, and agricultural pursuits of different kinds were the chief occupation of the people, there could be few towns of much importance; and so much does this hold at the present day, that there is not a city of twenty-five thousand inhabitants in all the five South-violence. ern Atlantic States, with the exception of Baltimore, in Maryland, and Charleston, in South Carolina. Even at the commencement of the war of the Revolution, in 1775, the colonies had scarcely penetrated to the Alleghany or Appalachian Mountains in any of the But it was far otherwise in the great region to the west of the Appalachian range. There, many of the Indian tribes occupied the country in all their pristine force, and were the more to be dreaded by settlers from the Eastern States, inasmuch as they were supposed to be greatly under the influence of the British government in Canada, and as unkindly feelings long subsisted between the Americans and their English neighbours, each charging the other, probably not without justice, with exciting the Indians, by means of their respective agents and hunters, to commit acts of Excepting in some parts of Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Tennessee, there was little security for American settlers in the West from 1783 until 1795. The first emigrants to Ohio suffered greatly from the Indians; two armies sent against them, in the western part of that state, under Generals Harmer and St. Clair, was laborious and tedious beyond conception. were defeated and shockingly cut to pieces; and not until they had received a dreadful defeat from General Wayne, on Far different are the circumstances of the River Miami-of-the-lake,* was there those colonists now! The mountains, at anything like permanent peace established. various points, are traversed by substanBut, as a prelude to the war between the tial highways; and, still farther to augUnited States and Great Britain, which ment the facilities for intercourse with the commenced in 1812 and ended in 1815, the vast Western Valley, canals and railroads Indian tribes again became troublesome, are in progress. It is accessible, also, from particularly in Indiana and in the southeast- the south, by vessels from the Gulf of ern part of the Valley of the Mississippi, Mexico, as well as from the north by the forming now the State of Alabama. The lakes, on whose waters from fifty to a hunCreeks, a powerful tribe of the Muskho-dred steamboats now pursue their foaming gee race, then occupied that country, and way." As for the navigable streams of the it was not until defeated in many battles Valley itself, besides boats of all kinds of and skirmishes that they were reduced ordinary construction, nearly, if not quite, to peace. In point of fact, perfect secu- four hundred steamboats ply upon their rity from Indian hostilities has prevailed waters. And now, instead of being a throughout the West only since 1815; boundless forest uninhabited by civilized since that there have been the insignifi- men, as it was sixty years ago, the West cant war with Black Hawk, a Sioux chief, contains no fewer than eleven regularwhich took place a few years ago, and the ly-constituted states, and two territories still more recent war with the Seminoles which will soon be admitted as states into in Florida exceptions not worth special the Union, the population having, meannotice, as they in nowise affected the coun- while, advanced from ten or twenty thoutry at large. sand Anglo-American inhabitants to above six millions.† It is now (1844) about sixty years since the tide of emigration from the Atlantic Generally speaking, the various sections States set fairly into the Valley of the of the Valley of the Mississippi may be said Mississippi, and though no great influx to have been colonized from the parts of took place in any one year during the first the Atlantic coast which correspond with thirty-five of that period, it has wonder-them as nearly as possible in point of latifully increased during the last twenty-five. tude. This is easily accounted for: emiWhen this emigration westward first com- grants from the East to the West naturally menced, all the necessaries that the emi- wish to keep as much as they can within grants required to take with them from the the climate which birth and early life have East had to be carried on horseback, no roads for wheeled carriages having been the Mississippi, Ohio, or any other river in that reopened through the mountains. On arri-gion, when the water is very high. It is this: inving at the last ridge overlooking the boat is made to go along close to one of the banks, stead of keeping in the middle of the stream, the plains to the west, a boundless forest lay and the men who guide it, by catching hold of the stretched out before those pioneers of civ- boughs of the trees which overhang the water, are ilization, like an ocean of living green. enabled to drag the boat along. It is an expedient Into the depths of that forest they had to resorted to more by way of change than anything else. Sometimes it is possible, at certain stages of plunge. Often long years of toil and suf- the rivers, to go along for miles in this way. fering rolled away before they could es-to this day the greater portion of the banks of the tablish themselves in comfortable abodes. rivers of the West are covered with almost uninterThe climate and the diseases peculiar to rupted forests. the different localities were unknown. * There are more than sixty on Lake Erie alone. It may be worth while to give the names of Hence, fevers of a stubborn type cut many these states and territories, their extent in English of them off. They were but partially ac-square miles, and their population according to the quainted with the mighty rivers of that census of 1840. They are as follows: vast region, beyond knowing that their common outlet was in the possession of foreigners, who imposed vexatious regulations upon their infant trade. The navigation of those rivers could be carried on only in flat-bottomed boats, keels, and barges. To descend them was not unattended with danger, but to ascend by means of sweeps and oars, by poling, warping, bush-whacking, and so forth, * Or the River Miami which flows into Lake Erie, and so called to distinguish it from the Miami that falls into the Ohio. The word bush-whacking is of Western origin, and signifies a peculiar mode of propelling a boat up Ohio STATES. Even Sq. miles. Pop. in 1840. 40,260 1,519,467 36,500 685,868 59,700 212,267 57,900 476,183 40,500 779,828 Tennessee 40,200 829,210 'CHAP. VI.] ANGLO-SAXON QUALIFICATIONS FOR COLONIZATION. rendered familiar and agreeable, though a guished that race, admirably fit a man for regard to their health may compel some of the labour and isolation necessarily to be them to seek a change by passing to the endured before he can be a successful south or north of their original latitude. colonist. Now, New-England, together The New-England tide of emigration, in its with the States of New-York, New-Jersey, westward course, penetrated and settled Delaware, and Pennsylvania, with the exthe northern and western parts of the State ception of Dutch and Swedish elements, of New-York, and advancing still farther in which were too inconsiderable to affect the the direction of the setting sun, entered the general result, were all colonized by peonorthern parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illi-ple of Anglo-Saxon origin. And assuredly nois, extended over the whole of Michigan, they have displayed qualities fitting them and is now stretching into the Territory for their task such as the world has never of Wisconsin. That from the southern witnessed before. No sooner have the counties of New-York, from New-Jersey, and Eastern Pennsylvania, first occupied Western Pennsylvania, and then extended into the central districts of Ohio and Indiana. The Maryland and Virginia column colonized Western Virginia and Kentucky, and then dispersed itself over the southern parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois; while that from North Carolina, after having colonized Tennessee, is reaching into Missouri and Iowa. The South Carolina column, mingling with that of Georgia, after having covered Alabama and a great part of the State of Mississippi, is now extending itself into Arkansas. relations between the colonies and the Aborigines permitted it to be done with safety (and sometimes even before), than we find individuals and families ready to penetrate the wilderness, there to choose, each for himself or themselves, some fertile spot for a permanent settlement. If friends could be found to accompany him and settle near him, so much the better; but if not, the bold emigrant would venture alone far into the trackless forest, and surmount every obstacle single-handed, like a fisherman committing himself to the deep and passing the livelong day at a distance from the shore. Such was the experience of many of the first colonists of New-England; such that of the earliest settlers in New-York, New-Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania; such in our own day has been the case with many of the living occupants of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa; and thus is colonization advancing in all those states and territories at the present moment. This account of the progress of colonization westward, as a general statement, is remarkably correct, and it furnishes a better key to the political, moral, and religious character of the West, than any other that could be given. The West, in fact, may be regarded as the counterpart of the East, after allowing for the exaggeration, if I may so speak, which a life in the wilderness tends to communicate for a time to man- Living on the lands which they cultivate, ners and character, and even to religion, the agricultural inhabitants of the Newbut which disappears as the population England and Middle States are very much increases, and the country acquires the dispersed; the country, far and wide, is stamp of an older civilization. Strag-dotted over with the dwellings of the landglers may, indeed, be found in all parts holders and those who assist them in the of the West, from almost all parts of the cultivation of the soil. For almost every East; and many emigrants from Europe, landowner tills his property himself, astoo, Germans especially, enter by New-sisted by his sons, by young men hired for Orleans, and from that city find their way that purpose, or by tenants who rent from by steamboats into Indiana, Illinois, Mis-him a cottage and a few acres. souri, Wisconsin, and Iowa. But all these form exceptions that hardly invalidate the general statement. CHAPTER VI. Field work in all those states is performed by men alone; a woman is never seen handling the plough, the hoe, the axe, the sickle, or the scythe, unless in the case of foreign emigrants who have not yet adopted American usages in this respect. Now it is in this isolated and independent mode of life that our men best fitted to PECULIAR QUALIFICATIONS OF THE ANGLO- penetrate and settle in the wilderness are SAXON RACE FOR THE WORK OF COLONIZA-trained; and from this what may be emphatically called our frontier race has APART altogether from considerations of sprung, and is recruited from time to time. a moral and religious character, and the in- Take the following case as an illustrafluence of external circumstances, we may tion of the process that is continually going remark, that the Anglo-Saxon race possess-on in the frontier settlements. A man rees qualities peculiarly adapted for successful colonization. The characteristic perseverance, the spirit of personal freedom and independence, that have ever distin TION. moves to the West, he purchases a piece of ground, builds a house, and devotes himself to the clearing and tillage of his forest acres. Ere long he has rescued a to the merchant, who has opened his store at some village among the trees, perhaps some miles off, and there laying out the little money they may have left. With economy and health, they gradually become prosperous. The primitive log-house gives place to a far better mansion, constructed of hewn logs, or of boards, or of brick or stone. Extensive and well-fenced fields spread around, ample barns stored with grain, stalls filled with horses and cattle, flocks of sheep, and herds of hogs, all Their children grow up, perhaps to pursue the same course, or, as their inclinations may lead, to choose some other occupation, or to enter one of the learned professions. America. Less Anglo-Saxon in their origin, and having institutions and customs modified by slavery, the Southern States exhibit colonization advancing in a very different style. When an emigrant from those states removes to the "Far West," he takes with him his wagons, his cattle, his little ones, and a troop of slaves, so as farm from the wilderness, and has reared a family upon it. He then divides his land among his sons, if there be enough for a farm to each of them; if not, each receives money enough to buy one as he comes of age. Some may settle on lands bestowed on them by their father; others, preferring a change, may dispose of their portion and proceed, most commonly unmarried, to "the new country," as it is called, that is, to those parts of the West where the public lands are not yet sold. There he chooses out as much as he can convenient-attest the increasing wealth of the owners. ly pay for, receiving a title to it from the District Land Office, and proceeds to make for himself a home. This is likely to be in the spring. Having selected a spot for his dwelling, generally near some fountain, or where water may be had by digging a This sketch will give the reader somewell, he goes round and makes the acquaint-idea of the mode in which colonization ance of his neighbours, residing within advances among the Anglo-Saxon race of the distance, it may be, of several miles. the Middle and New-England States of A time is fixed for building him a house, upon which those neighbours come and render him such efficient help, that in a single day he will find a log-house constructed, and perhaps covered with clapboards, and having apertures cut out for the doors, windows, and chimney. He makes his floor at once of rough boards riven from the abundant timber of the sur-to resemble Abraham when he moved from rounding forest, constructs his doors, and erects a chimney. Occupying himself, while interrupted in out-door work by rainy weather, in completing his house, he finds it in a few weeks tolerably comfortable, and during fair weather he clears the underwood from some ten or fifteen acres, kills the large trees by notching them round so as to arrest the rise of the sap, and plants the ground with Indian corn, or maize, as it is called in Europe. He can easily make, buy, or hire a plough, a harrow, and a hoe or two. If he finds time, he surrounds his field with a fence. At length, after prolonging his stay until his crop is beyond the risk of serious injury from squirrels and birds, or from the growth of weeds, he shuts up his house, commits it to the care of some neighbour, living perhaps one or two miles distant, and returns to his paternal home, which may be from one to three hundred miles distant from his new settlement. There he stays until the month of September, then marries, and with his young wife, a wagon and pair of horses to carry their effects, a few cattle or sheep, or none, according to circumstances, sets out to settle for life in the wilderness. On arriving at his farm, he sows wheat or rye among his standing Indian corn, then gathers in this last, and prepares for the winter. His wife shares all the cares incident to this humble beginning. Accustomed to every kind of household work, she strives by the diligence of her fingers to avoid the necessity of going place to place in Canaan. When he settles in the forest he clears and cultivates the ground with the labour of his slaves. Everything goes on heavily. Slaves are too stupid and improvident to make good colonists. The country, under these disadvantages, never assumes the garden-like appearance that it already wears in the New-England and Middle States, and which is to be seen in the northern parts of the great Central Valley. Slavery, in fact, seems to blight whatever it touches. Next to the Anglo-Saxon race from the British shores, the Scotch make the best settlers in the great American forests. The Irish are not so good; they know not how to use the plough, or how to manage the horse and the ox, having had but little experience of either in their native land. None can handle the spade better, nor are they wanting in industry. But when they first arrive they are irresolute, dread the forest, and hang too much about the large towns, looking around for such work as their previous mode of life has not disqualified them for. Such of them as have been bred to mechanical trades might find sufficient employment if they would let ardent spirits alone, but good colonists for the forests they will never be. Their children may do better in that career. The few Welsh to be found in America are much better fitted than the Irish for the life and pursuits of a farmer. The perseverance and frugality of the German, joined to other good qualities which he has in common with the AngloSaxon race, enable him to succeed tolerably well even in the forest, but he finds it more to his advantage to settle on a farm bought at second-hand and partially cultivated. The Swiss are much the same with the Germans. The French and Italians, on the other hand, are totally unfit for planting colonies in the woods. Nothing could possibly be more alien to the usual habits of a Frenchman. The population of France is almost universally collected in cities, towns, villages, and hamlets, and thus, from early habit as well as constitutional disposition, Frenchmen love society, and cannot endure the loneliness and isolation of the settlements we have described. When they attempt to form colonies, it is by grouping together in villages, as may be seen along the banks of the St. Lawrence and of the Lower Mississippi. Hence their settlements are seldom either extensive or vigorous. They find themselves happier in the cities and large towns. If resolved to establish themselves in the country, they should go to comparatively well-settled neighbourhoods, not to the forests of the Far West. upon the existence of but one language, can the citizens of the United States make any claim to it; for the colonists from whom they are descended brought with them the languages of the different countries from which they came, and these are retained in some instances to the present day. At least eleven of the different languages of Europe have been spoken by settlers in the United States. But let us examine these two points somewhat more minutely, and we cannot fail to be struck with the facts which will be presented to our view, And in the first, never has there been witnessed so rapid a blending of people from different countries, and speaking different languages, as may be seen in the United States. Within the last two hundred years, people have been arriving from some eleven or twelve different countries, and distinguished by as many different tongues, yet so singular a fusion has taken place, that in many localities, where population is at all compact, it would puzzle a stranger to determine the national origin of the people from any peculiarity of physiognomy or dialect, far less of language. Who can distinguish in New-York the mass of persons of Dutch descent from those of Anglo-Saxon origin, unless, perhaps, by their retaining Dutch family names? Where discover, by the indices of language, features, or manners, the descendants of the Swedes, the Welsh, with FOREIGNERS Who have written about the a few exceptions the Poles, the NorweUnited States have often asserted that it|gians, the Danes, or the great body of is a country without a national character. Were this the mere statement of an opinion, it might be suffered to pass unnoticed, like many other things emanating from authors who undertake to speak about countries which they have had only very partial, and hence very imperfect, opportunities of knowing. But as the allegation has been made with an air of considerable pretension, it becomes necessary that we should submit it to the test of truth. CHAPTER VII. ON THE ALLEGED WANT OF NATIONAL CHAR- French Huguenots? Almost the only exceptions to this universal amalgamation and loss of original languages are to be found in the Germans and French; and even in regard to these, had it not been for comparatively recent arrivals of emigrants caused by the French Revolution, the St. Domingo massacres, and various events in Germany, both the French and German languages would have been extinct ere now in the United States. The former is spoIf oneness of origin be essential to the ken only by a few thousands in the large formation of national character, it is clear cities, and some tens of thousands in Louithat the people of the United States can siana. In the cities, English as well as make no pretensions to it. No civilized French is spoken by most of the French; nation was ever composed of inhabitants and in Louisiana, the only portion of the derived from such a variety of sources; Union which the French language has ever for in the United States we find the de- ventured to claim for itself, it is fast giving scendants of English, Welsh, Scotch, place to English. German, also, spoken Irish, Dutch, Germans, Norwegians, Danes, although it be by many thousands of emiSwedes, Poles, French, Italians, and Span- grants arriving yearly from Europe, is fast iards; and there is even a numerous and disappearing from the older settlements. distinguished family in which it is admitted, The children of these Germans almost uniwith pride, that the blood of an Indian prin-versally acquire the English tongue in their cess mingles with that of the haughty Norman or Norman-Saxon. Many other nations are of mixed descent, but where shall we find one derived from so many distinct races? Neither, if national character depends infancy, and where located, as generally happens, in the neighbourhood of settlers who speak English as their mother tongue, learn to speak it well. Indeed, over nearly the whole vast extent of the United States, English is spoken among the well-educa |