The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-16 00:00:00

TEE SUN, LONDON,

LITERATURE.

T,HE WESTERN WORLD. By Alex. Mackay.

3 Vols.

" It is now some time," says Mr. Mackay in his
introductory chapter, "since a work has appeared
professing to give to the English public a general
account of the social, political, and material condition
of the United States. At the same time, so rapid in
their development, and so great are the changes
which, in every national point of view, they are con-
stantly exhibiting, that the progress made by them
each year would almost furnish sufficient material
for a new work respecting them." To remedy this
defect, to give to the English public an accurate
glimpse of the Western World, is the object of these
volumes, and very admirably is that object accom-
plished. In order to render his work more attractive
to the general reader, Mr. Mackay has, to a certain
extent, arranged it in the form of a traveller's tour,
an arrangement which is advantageous in so far as it
rt-nders the style of narration more familiar ; but no
such precaution was required to increase the interest
of this work. Books of travel abound usque
ad museum, whereas the " Western World" belongs
to a higher class, and possesses a more important and
enduring interest than an ordinary book of travels.
The value of this work may be estimated by a brief
analysis of its contents. The author tells us it is not
the result of only a hasty visit to the world of which
it relates. He has resided for many years in America,
mixed with all society, and travelled through the
length and breadth of the Union.
" The young and strong Republic that has filled the
world with fame,
And with great praise and marvel of the Anglo-Saxon
name,"
has found a worthy historiographer in Mr. Mackay. He
has evidently pondered deeply upon the complexities
of its, in some respects, admirable Constitution. He
is very naturally impressed with a deep conviction
of the immense and, as yet, only partially developed
capabilities of the young Republic, and he confidently
anticipates for it a glorious futurity. In these senti-
ments the thoughtful reader of his pages will entirely
sympathise. Under the guidance of Mr. Mackay we
traverse the Atlantic, and proceed to make a personal
examination of the principal states and chief towns of
the Union. The second chapter finds us in the ca-
pital of New England. Here we take diner
at the United States Hotel, "an enormous
pile of red brick, having a large wing on one side
called Texas, and one in progress of completion on
the other, to be called Oregon." The streets of Bos-
ton are very narrow and crooked, which is to be ac-
counted for, " in the first place, because the founda-
tions were laid before the old irregular system of
building had been departed from, and in the next
place because the ground which the city
occupies is of rather limited dimensions.
It consists of an irregular peninsula with a very un-
even surface, the strip of ground called " the
neck," joining it to the main land." " What we want
in Boston," says a New Englander, whom our his-
torian encounters in his wanderings, "is territory to
build on. If we were as flush of it as they are in
Baltimore, we would soon make them sing small in
the city way, that's a fact." From Boston we pro-
ceed to New York, and after having sauntered down
the Broadway, and examined the various peculiarities
of the city, we pause to consider " the commerce and
commercial policy of the United States." " There
is no country," says Mr. Mackay, " which can boast
of advantages superior to those of the United States,
for the purposes either of foreign commerce or inter-
nal trade. :For the one, their geographical position is
eminently favourable; for the other, the variety of
their productions and their physical conformation
admirably adapt them. Situated almost midway
between its two extremes, they present a double front
to the Old World, from one of which they can hold
direct communication with Europe, and from the
other with Asia. The time, indeed, is not far distant
when Eastern Asia and Western Europe will find
themselves most accessible to each other through the
continent of America. As to their internal trade,
Nature herself had thrown every facility in its way.
With every variety of soil, climate, and production,
America possesses in its vast rivers, estuaries, and
lakes facile means of internal intercommunication.
Such energies as the American people possess, acting
on such resources, in the midst of such advantages,
could be productive of but one result. Happily, too,
they avoided a rock on which the barque of their pros-
perity, if not shattered, would have been greatly
strained. That was not the country for artificial
barriers, where nature had levelled all physical ob-
structions to trade." The great struggle between the
advocates and the opponents of "the American system"
is next detailed in a very interesting manner.
This struggle in many respects resembles
our recent battle between the Protectionists
and Free-Traders, but with this difference—" In
the New and Old World the battle has been between
the landlords and the cotton lords, but they have
changed colours in the fight. Here the struggle of
capital has been for freedom of trade ; there it has
been for protection : here, the landed interest has
contended for restriction ; there one section of it has
ever fought for relaxation; and now all sections com-
bined seem to struggle for the same end." This
difference of conduct on the part of the English and
American landlords and capitalists is easily accounted
for—their positions are exactly reversed in the
two countries. Here it is to the manifest
interest of the manufacturer to export his
goods, while in America it is the landlord
who is solicitous to export his corn ; monopoly seemed
favourable to the interests of the landowner in Eng-
land, and for the same reason to the interests of the
manufacturer in America. Hence there as here the
same patriotic cry was raised by the monopolists,
" Independence of foreigners." Let England grow
her own corn, let America manufacture her own
cotton, and each country will be independent of the
foreigner ! "A man might as reasonably strive to be
independent of his shoemaker," says the writer of the
" Western World," "as one nation endeavour to be
independent of another, when their wants and
aptitudes adapt them for mutual adrantage." The
chapter following conducts us to Philadelphia--
"Nowhere does Philadelphia present the same im-
petuous activity as New 'York. It has an orderly
and decorous look about it." We next pass on to the
diminutive state of Delawere, which, " comparatively
weak as it is, has contrived to secure, in one branch
of the Legislature at least, as good a footing and as
potent a voice as New York, which is twenty times
its size, with nearly thirty times its population. This
microscopic state, however, has managed to do that
which more puissant sovereignties have ever been
unequal to—it has kept clear of debt. Side by side
with Pennsylvania, it affords a notable instance of
prudence in juxtaposition with prodigality." Our next
journey takes us to Washington, where we pause awhile
to consider the constitution and form of government
of the United States in their various details. This
partion of the work is peculiarly interesting. A full
and particular account is given of the political aspect
of the United States, of the Federal Legislature, the
judiciary system, party, party-spirit, organization, and
tactics, &c., &c. The various peculiarities of Ameri-
can society are also described and contrasted with the
state of society in England. The religion, literature,
education, manufactures and future prospects of
America form the subjects of suceeeding chap-
ters. The difficulties of the slave question are also
fully detailed. Slavery (says Mr. Mackay) is one
of those domestic matters which come under
the particular jurisdiction of each individual
state, " Congress has no more authority over slavery
in South Carolina than it has to dig a canal or erect
a bridge in the state." Nevertheless, to our thinking,
notwithstanding Mr. Mackay's arguments, as long as
slavery exists in some portions of the Union, and is
connived at by the remainder, the whole Republic
must share in the disgrace. The " Western World"
would be incomplete without a chapter on California,
and consequently Mr. Mackay has not omitted one.
A map of California, and a map of the United States
are also contained in this work a work
which relates to most important subjects,
and which treats them in a most interesting
and attractive manner. " The proper study of man-
kind is man," and for the people of a free and en-
lightened nation like our own there can be few more
beneficial and attractive subjects of study than the
political and social position of a kindred nation, its
many respects strongly resembling themselves—their
Transatlantic brethren, the inhabitants of the Western
World. The following extracts will evidence the
diversified character of Mr. Mackay's work. Such
persons as have had the good fortune of accompanying
Mr.. Banvard will best understand and appreciate the
perils of the following
STEAM-BOAT RACE ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

" At this moment an ejaculation of Mind your fires
there!' proceeded from the captain, who had approached,
and was now standing on the promenade deck between
the funnels, and looking anxiously forward at some ob-
ject in advance of us. On turning to ascertain what it
was, I perceived a steamer which had left Memphis on
its way up to Louisville about ten minutes before we did.
She was going at half speed when I first observed her,
but immediately put all steam on. I at once divined
what was to take place. The firemen seemed instinc-
tively to understand it, as they immediately redoubled
their efforts to cram the furnaces with fuel. By the time
we were abreast of the Lafayette,' for that was our
rival's name, she had regained her full headway, and the
race commenced with as fair a start as could well be ob-
tained. Notwithstanding the known dangers of such
rivalry, the passengers on both boats crowded eagerly to
the quarter-deck to witness the progress of the race,
each group cheering as its ovre boat seemed to be lead-
ing the other by ever so little. By this time the negroes
became almost frantic in their efforts to generate the
steam; so much so that at one time I thought that from
throwing wood into the furnaces, they would have taken
to throwing in one another. But a short time before
upwards of two hundred human beings had been hur-
ried into eternity by the explosion of a boiler; but the
fearful incident seemed for the moment to be forgotten,
or its warnings to be disregarded, in the eagerness with
which passengers and crew pressed forward to witness
the race. I must confess that I yielded to the infection,

and was as anxious a spectat,.; of the contest as any on
board. There were a few timid elderly gentlemen and
ladies who kept aloof; but with this exception, thj
captain of each boat had the moral strength of
his cargo with him. For many minutes the two
vessels kept neck and neck, and so close to each
other, that an explosion on board either would have ca-
lamitously affected the other. At length, and when
there still appeared to be no probability of a speedy de-
cision, I perceived a reaction commencing among those
around me, and on the name of the Helen M•Gregor
and the Moselle,' two ill-fated boats, being whispered
amongst them, many retired to the stern, as tar from the
boilers as they could, whilst others began to remonstrate,
and even to menace.

" How can I give in ?' asked the captain, in a tone
of vexation,
" ' Run him on that 'ere snag, and be d—d to him,'
suggested the mate, who was standing by.
" The snag was about two hundred yards ahead, just
showing his black crest above the water. It was the
trunk of a hug« tree, the roots of which had sunk and
taken hold of the soil at the bottom ; about eight inches
of the trunk, which lay in a direction slanting with the
current. projecting above the surface. From the posi-
tion which they thus assume snags are more dangerous
to steamers ascending than to those descending the cur-
rent. In the latter case, they may press them under and
glide safely over them ; but in the former, the chances
are, if they strike, that they will be perforated by them,
and sunk. They are the chief sources of danger in na-
vigating the Mississippi. The captain immediately took
the hint, and so shaped his course as to oblige the rival
boat to sheer off a little to the right. This brought her
in a direct line with the snag, to avoid which she had to
make a sharp, though a short detour. It sufficed, how-
ever, to decide the race, the Niobe' immediately gaining
on the Lafayette' by more than a length. The latter,
thus fairly jockeyed out of her object, gave up the con-
test and dropped astern. There are certainly laws
against this species of racing ; but the Mississippi runs
through so many jurisdictions that it is not easy to put
them in force. Besides, it was evident to me, from what
I then saw, that, in most cases, passengers and crew are
equally participis criminis."

•
BLACK AND 'WHITE.
" It was between Philadelphia and Baltimore that I
first witnessed for myself the extent to which the Anglo-
Americans carry their antipathy to the coloured race.
At one end of the car in which I was seated sat a young
man, very respectably dressed, but who bore in his
countenance those traces, almost indelible, which, long
after every symptom of the colour has vanished, bespeak
the presence of African blood in the veins. The quan-
tity which he possessed, could not have been more than
12} per cent. of his whole blood, tinging. his skin with a
shade, just visible, and no more. If his face was not
as white, it was, at all events, cleaner than those of
many around him. I observed that he became very
uneasy every time the conductor came into the car, eye-
ing him with timid glances, as if in fear of him. Divin-
ing the cause of this conduct, I determined to watch the
issue, which was not long delayed. t3y-and-by, the con-
ductor entered the car again, and, as if he had come for
the purpose, walked straight up to the poor wretch in
question, and, without deigning to speak to him, ordered
him out with a wave of his finger. The blood in a mo-
ment mounted to his temples, and suffused his whole face;
but resistance was vain; and with a hanging head, and
broken-hearted look, he left the carriage. He was not
a slave; but not a soul remonstrated, not a whisper was
heard in his behalf. The silence of all indicated their
approval of this petty manifestation of the tyranny of
blood. These bold defenders of life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness,' the chivalrous assertors of the
Declaration of Independence, looked with utter in-
difference on this practical violation of the 'rights of
man.'

" Served the d—d nizger right,' said a youngster
scarcely twenty, at the other end of the car, and those
immediately around him laughed at the remark.
" He'll know his place better the next time, the
mongrel said another; and the laugh was re-
peated.
" Curious to know what bad been done with him, I
sought the conductor, whom I found returning from the
front part of the train.
" Blow me,' said he, if you can't reglate a thousand
of your out•and-out onpretendin' niggers much more
easier than one of these composition gentry : they
think because they have got a little whitewash on
their ugly mugs, that they're the real china, and no
mistake.'

" But where have you put him?' I asked; he surely
can't ride on the engine?'
" Put him?—in the nigger crib, to be sure, where he
should be,' said he.
" Can I see it?' I inquired.
" You can, if you have a taste that way,' he replied;
keep on ahead, straight through the baggage van, and
you'll see them all alive.'
" I did as directed, until at length I passed through
the van in which the luggage was stowed, and between
which and the tender was a cold, camfortless-looking
box, with a few hard, uncovered seats, which were oc-
cupied by about a dozen negroes. There they were by
themselves, of both sexes, and of almost all ages, some
of them silent and sullen, others jabbering like so many
monkeys, and laughing immoderately—but all looking
equally stolid when their features were at rest. One of
them, a woman, bad a child in her arms, which she
pressed close to her breast to keep it warm; for though
the day was bitter cold, there was no stove in the com-
fortless crib.' Here I found the poor outcast who had
so excited my sympathies; he was seated by himself in
a corner, with a gloomy and vengeful expression, and
regarded me with a scowl, as if I had been a willing
party to his humiliation. His entrance had afforded
considerable merriment to the negroes, who rather re-
joiced, than otherwise, at the treatment he had received.
Nothing can be more deplorable than the position, or
rather the un-position, of the mixed race in America.
Between the negro and the white man there is an im •
passable gulf, each having his determinate place; but
the mulatto, or rather the mixed race beyond the mu-
latto in the quantity of white blood, are buffeted be-
tween the two; for whilst they are not good enough
company for the white man, they elicit no sympathy
from the black, who charges them with affecting to be
too good company for him. It is but justice, however,
here to say, that I afterwards traversed the whole State
of New York in a railway carriage, in which were
seated a respectable negro and his wife, neither of whom
was molested, although the carriage was crowded, dur-
ing the journey.
" This feeling the Americans, and more particularly
the southerners, carry with them on their travels. It
is but a short time ago since the captain of a British
steamboat, plying on Lake Ontario, unwarrantably lent
himself to this prejudice in favour of a party of Vir-
ginians, who had taken passage with him from Toronto
to Kingston. There was a young coloured man on
board, highly educated, and well known to the white as
to the negro population of the province, who had taken
a cabin berth, paid his fare, and received a receipt for
the money. At dinner, he appeared near the foot of the
table, the party in question being seated at the top.
Seeing him, they rose and were about to leave the cabin,
when the captain stopped them. They informed him
that they could not sit at table with a black man; to
which the captain most improperly replied, that they
need not leave, as he would order him away. But he
was not to be ordered away—maintaining his right to sit
there with the best of them—whereupon the captain took
hold of him by the collar, and threatened force. Against
this conduct the rest of the passengers loudly remon-
strated; but the young man, finding himself actually as-
saulted, rose, and left the table. The Virginians, there-
upon, dined in peace. But, on arriving at Kingston, the
captain was apprehended on a warrant for the assault,
and had to pay a heavy fine for his officiousness,—the
press of the province being unanimous in its condemna-
tion of his conduct, and his command being only con
tinued to him on condition of his not offending in a
similar manner in future."