The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-10 00:00:00

THE EARL of CARLISLE at LEEDS.
(From the Chronicle.)
LEEDS, FRIDAY.—The second lecture announced for
delivery by the Earl of Carlisle was delivered in the
Music-hall to-night. As the subject of the lecture was
to embrace his Lordship's recollections of his travels
through the United States and Canada in 1841-2, the
interest excited among the townspeople was more intense,
and the demand for tickets more numerous and more
pressing than even on the former evening. And, though
the restrictions remained as before, yet the Music-hall
was perceptibly fuller tonight. The orchestra, even
where the more distinguished guests were accommodated,
was much and inconveniently crowded, while to those
who were standing in the body of the hall, the pressure
and discomfort must have been very :great. do abut
would have imagined, howeveie that any inconvenience
was felt by them, as they listened with the most
fixed attention, moved only by frequent bursts of up-
'lease through the two-anti-a-half hours that this lec-
ture lasted, as well as during the remaining halt' hour
that was taken up in passing a vote of thauks to his
Lordship. Notwithstanding this, the defect ot the town
in not having a hall fit to accommodate such en audience
as was brought together has been the subject of gene-
ral conversation. It seems probable that Leeds will not
much longer be behind Birmingham and Manchester in
having a hall where the great body of the citizens can
assemble.
The company to-night was nearly the same as last
night. There were—the Mayor ; Mr. Beckett, M.P.;
the Dean of Ripon; Mr. William Beckett Denison; Al-
dermen Sidney and Hunter, of London; Mr. Bowes,
President of the Yorkshire Union of Mechanics' Insti-
tutes; Mr. Wilson, the Chairman of the Leeds Institu-
tion; and several ladies. His Lordship, on entering the
room, was received with general applause, and imme-
diately commenced the lecture.
It may be known to some of those whom I have the
pleasure to see around me, that when circumstances to
which I need not further allude, occasioned a breach,
temporary, indeed, and soon repaired, in my connexion
with the West Riding of Yorkshire—when, as the phrase
was, some of your neighbours, and probably of your-
selves, had given me leave to go upon my travels, I
thought I could make no better use of this involuntary
leisure than by acquiring some personal knowledge of
the United States of America. I accordingly embarked,
in the autumn of the year 1841, and spent about one
whole year in North America, having within that period
passed nearly over the length and breudth of the Re-
public, trod at least the soil of twenty-two out of the
twenty-six States of which the Union was then com-
posed, and paid short visits to the Queen's dominions in
Canada, and to the Island of Cuba. I determined to
keep a journal during my travels, and only at the
end of them to decide what should become of it
when it was completed. I fund it was written
in too hurried and desultory a manner, and was too
much confined to my own daily proceedings, to make
it of interest to the public at large ; still more
strongly I felt that, after having been received with
uniform civility and attention, nay, I may say, with
real warmth and openness of heart, I should not wish,
even where I had nothing but what was most favourable
to communicate, immediately to exhibit myself as an in-
quisitive observer of the interior life to which I had
been admitted; and this very feeling would probably
have disqualified me for the office of an impartial critic.
Now. however, that above eight years have elapsed since
my return, in turning over the pages then written, it has
seemed to me allowable to endeavour, for a purpose like
the present, to convey a few of the leading impressions
which I derived from the surface of nature and society as
they exhibited themselves in the new world. It must
follow necessarily, from such limits as could bo allowed
to me on an occasion of this kind, that any account
which I can put together from materials so vast and so
crowded, must be the merest superficial skimming of the
subject that can be conceived; all I can answer for is
that it shall be faithful to the feelings excited at the
moment, and perfectly honest as far as it goes. I
must premise one point with reference to what I have
just now glanced at—the use of individual names. I
came in contact with several of the public men—the his-
terical men they will be—of the American Republic. I
shall think myself at liberty occasionally to depart in their
instance from the rule of strict abstinence which I have
otherwise prescrib, d to my self, and to treat them as
-pacific property, so loog as I say nothing to their dis-
advantage. It was on the 21st ot October, upon a bright
crisp morning, that the Columbia, steam-packet, upon
which I was a passenger, turned the lighthouse outside
he harbour of Boston. The whole effect of the scene
was cheerful and pleasing; the bay is studded with
small islands bare of trees, but generally crowned with
some sparkling white building—frequently some public
wablishment. [Lord Carlisle here described his ar-
rival at Boston, and his first impressions of that city.]
these are a 'me of my external recollections of Boston;
but there are souse fonder still, of the most refined anti
animated social intercourse—of hospitalities which it
seemed impossible to exhaust—of friendships which
trust can never be effaced. Boston appears to me, eer-
minty on the whole, the American town in which an
Englishman of cultivated and literary tastes or philaa
hrupie pursuits, would feel himself most at home.
The residence here was rendered peculiarly agreeable
to me by a friendship with one of its inhabitants, which
I had previously made in England; he hardly yet
Comes within my rule of exception, but I do not
give up the notion of his becoming one of the historical
men of his country. However, it is quite open
for me to mention some of those with whom,
mainly through his introduction, I here became ac-
quainted. There was one Mr. Justice Storey, whose
reputation and authority as a commentator and ex-
pounder of law stands high wherever law is linown or
honoured, and who was, what at least is more generally
attractive, one of the most generous and single-hearted
of men. He was an enthusiastic admirer of his country,
especially of its lawyers; how be would kindle up and
flow on if he touched upon Lord Hardwick or Lord
Mansfield—" Sir," as an American always begins, " on
the prairies of Illinois this day Lord Mansfield admi-
nisters the law of commerce." He had also a very ex-
alted opinion of the judgments of Lord Stowell, which
his own studies and practice have led him thoroughly
to appreciate; and I may permit myself to say that he
had formed a high estimate of the judicial powers of
Lord Cottenham. I must admit one thing—when he
was in the room few others could get in a word; but it
was impossible to resent this, for he talked evidently
not to bear down others, but because be could not help
it. There was Dr. Charming. I could not hear him
preach, as his physical powers were nearly exhausted;
but on one or two occasions I was admitted to his
house. You found a fragile frame, and a dry manner,
but you soon felt that you were in a presence
in which nothing that was impure, base, or selfish
could breath at ease. These, alas! have since
my visit been taken away. In the more
immediate department of letters there are happily seve-
ral who yet remain—Mr. Bancroft, the able and accom-
plished historian of his own country—Mr. Tricknor,
who has displayed the resources of a well-stored and
accomplished mind in his recent work on the literature
of Spain—Mr. Longfellow, with whose feeling and
graceful poetry many must be acquainted--Mr. Emer-
son, who has been heard and admired in this country—
and I crown my list with Mr. Prescott, the historian of
Ferdinand and Isabella, of Mexico and of Peru, with
respect to whom, during the visit he paid to England
during the past summer, I had the-satisfaction of wit-
nessing how all that was most eminent in this country
confirmed the high estimate I had myself formed of his
head, and the higher one of his heart. The public in-
stitutions of Boston are admirably conducted. The
public, or common schools there, as I believe in New
England generally, are supported by a general rate, to
which all contribute and all may profit by. I am not
naturally now disposed to discuss the question how far
this system would bear being transplanted and engrafted
on our polity, but it would be uncaudid if I did not state
that the universality of the instruction, and the excellence
1 of what fell under my own observation, presented to my
mind some mortifying points of contrast with what we
have hitherto effected at home. Before I leave Boston,
let me add one observation on a lighter topic. I lodged
at the Tremont Hotel, which was admirably conducted,
like very many of those imposing establishments in the
chief cities of the Union. Here I learnt that one is apt
to receive false impressions, at first. I was struck with
the clean, orderly, agile dtppearence. of. the 'waiters.
f• The Americans beat us ihollow in waiters,' was my 1
--itinOrlthought- On inquiring. I found that of the twenty-''
,fistomiters in the house,.four weret.ringlish And twenty-
erielrishe ,Tcould not help wishing that a large number.
of the Irish might come and be waiters fora
Within three or four days of my landing I grew impa-
I tient to see the Falls of Niagara without lots of time; if

any sudden event should have summoned me home, I
felt how much I should have grudged crossing the At-
lantic without having been at Niagara, and also wished
to look upon the autumn tints of the American Forest
before the leaves, already beginning to fall, bad entirely
disappeared. [The speaker here recounted his travels
by railway to Albany, adding a brief notice of that town,
and quoted the following paseage from his diary, con-
taining his first impression of the forest towns:—]
n The moment is not come for me yet, if it ever
should come, to make me feel myself warranted in form-
ing speculations upon far results, upon guarantees for
future endurance and stability ; all that I can now do is
to look and to marvel at what is before my eyes. Ido
not think I am deficient in relish for antiquity and as-
sociation ; I know that I am English, not in a pig-
headed adesion to everything there, but in heart to its
last throb. Yet I cannot be unmoved or callous to the
soaring of young America, in such legitimate and lau-
dable directions too ; and I feel that it is already not
the least bright, and may be the most enduring title of
my country to the homage of mankind, that she has pro-
duced such a people. May God employ them both for
his own high glory,"
I am bound here in candour to state that I think what
I first saw in America was, with little exception, the
best of its kind ; such was the society of
Boston—such was the energy of progress in the
western portion of the State of New York. [-Lord
Carlisle here alluded to some other places through which
he passed prior to his arrival at Niagara.] When I
arrived at the hotel, the Cataract House, I would not
anticipate by any moonlight glimpses the full disclo-
sures of the coming day, but reserve my first visit for
the clear light and freshened feelings of the morning. I
staid five days at Niagara on that occasion; I visited it
again twice, having travelled several thousands of miles
in each interval. I have thus looked upon it in the late
autumn, in the early spring, slid in The' fall—summer.
Mrs. Butler, in her charming work on America, when
she comes to Niagara, says only, " Who can describe
that sight?" and, with these words, finishes her book.
There is not merely the difficulty of finding adequate
words, but there is a simplicity and absence, as I should
say, of incidents in the scenery, or at least so entire a
subordination of them to the main great vpectacle, that
attempts at description would seem inapplicable as well
as impotent. I have undertaken, however, the endea-
vour, though so inadequately, to place before you the
impressions which I actually derived from the most
prominent objects that I saw in America. How, then,
can I wholly omit. Niagara? The first view neither in
the least disappointed or surprised, but it wholly satis-
fied me. I felt it to be complete, and that nothing could
go beyond it; volume, majesty, might, are the first idea
which it conveys: on nearer and more familiar inspec-
tion, I appreciated other attributes and beauties—the
emerald crest—the seas of spray—the rainbow wreaths.
Pictures and panoramas had given me a correct appre-
hension of the form and outline; but they fail, for the
same reason as language would, to impart an idea of the
whole effect, which is not picturesque, though it is sub-
lime. There is also the technical drawback in painting,
of the continuous mass of white, and the line of the
summit of the Fall is as smooth and even as a common
mill-dam. Do not imagine, however, that the effect
could be improved by being more picturesque; just as
there are several trivial and unsightly buildings ou the
banks, but Niagara can be no more spoiled than it
can be improved. You would, when on the spot, no more
think of complaining that Niagara was not pic-
turesque, than you would remark in the shock
and clang of battle that a trumpet sounded out of
tune. Living at Niagara was not like ordinary life; its
not over loud, but constant solemn roar, has in itself a
mysterious sound; is not the highest Voice to which the
universe can ever listen, compared by inspiration to the
sound of many waters? The whole of exigence there
has a dreamy but not a frivolous impulse; you feel that
you are not in the common world, but in its sublimest
temple. I naturally left such a place and such a life
with keen regret, but I was already the last visitor of
the year, and the hotels were about to close. On my
going back, I paid two visits at country houses, one to
an old gentleman, Mr. Wadsworth, most distinguished
in appearance, manner, and understanding, who had set-
tled where I ound him fifty years before, when he had
not a white neighbour within thirty miles, or a flour mill
within fifty ; he lived entirely surrounded by Indians,
who have now disappeared. On some occasion there
had been a review of a corps of militia. A neigh-
bouring Indian Chief had been present, and was ob-
served to be very dejected. Mr. Wadsworth went up
to him, offered refreshment, which was usually very ac-
ceptable, but he declined it. Upon being pressed to
say what was the matter, he answered with a deep
sigh, pointing to the east, " You are the rising sun;"
then to the west, "Wo are the setting." The face
of the country is now indeed changed; a small flourish-
ing town, the capital of the country, stretches from the
gate; and the house overlooks ono of the widest and
best cultivated tracts in America, the valley of the Gen-
nessee. My other visit was to Mr. Van Buren, who had
been the last President of the United States, and who,
I suspect, shrewdly reckoned on being the next. It
seemed, indeed, at that time, to be the general expecta•
Lion among his own, the Democratic, or, as they were
then commonly called, the Loco-foco party. He was at
that time living on his farm of Kinderback; the house
was modest and extremely well ordered, and nothing
could exceed the courtesy or fulness of his conversation.
He was full of anecdotes of all the public men of his
country. In bis dining-room were pictures of Jefferson
and General Jackson, the great objects of his political
devotion. [His Lordship then traced his route down the
Hudson to New York, where he took up his winter
quarters.] I thought this, the commercial and fashion..
able, though not the political capital of the Union, a
very brilliant city. To give the best idea of it, I should
describe it as something of a fusion between Liverpool and
Paris—crowded quay; long perspectives of vessels and
masts, bustling streets, gay shops, tall white houses, and
a clear brilliant sky overhead. There is an absence of
solidity in the general appearance, but in some of the
new buildings they were successfully availing them-
selves of their ample resources in white marble and
granite. At the point of the battery where tha long
thoroughfare of Broadway, extending some miles,
Pushes its green fringe into the wide harbour of New
York, with its glancing seat :rs and graceful shipping,
and the limber, long raking masts, which look so dif-
ferent from our own, and the soft swelling outline of
ill() receding shore:, it has a special character and beauty
of its own. I spent about a month here very pleasantly,
the society appeared to me on the whole to have a less
solid and really refined character than that of Boston,
but there is more of animation, gaiety, and sparkle in
the daily life. In point of hospitality, neither could
,iutde the other. Keeping to my rule of only men-
tioning names which already belong to fame, I may
thus distieguish the late Chancellor Kent, whose com-
meetaries are well known to professional readers. He
had been obliged, by what I think the very unwise
law of the state of New York, to retire from his high
legal office at the premature age of sixty, and there
I found him, at seventy-eight, full of anima-
non and racy vigour, which, combined with great sim-
plicity, made his conversation most agreeable: Wash-
ington Irving, a well-known name both to American
and English ears, whose nature appears as gentle and
genial as his works—l cannot well give higher praise:
Mr. Bryant, in high repute as a poet, and others. In no
part of the world have I ever seen places of refreshment
so attractive—every one seems to eat oysters all day
long. What signifies more, the public institutions and
schools are there also extremely well conducted. The
churches of the different denominations aro very nume-
rous and well filled. It is my wish to touch very
lightly upon any point which among us, among even
some of us now here, may be matter of controversy; I,
however, honestly think that the experience of the United
States does not as yet enable them to decide on either
side the argument between the Established and volun-
tary systems in religion; take the towns by themselves,
and I think the voluntary principle appears fully ade-
quate to satisfy all religious exigencies; then it must be '
remembered that the class which makes the main diffi-
culty elsewhere, scarcely, if at all, exists in America; it is
the blessed privilege of the United States, and it is one
which goes very far to counterbalance any drawbacks at
which I may have to hint, that they really have not, as a
class, any poor among them. A real beggar is what you
never see. On the other hand, over their immense tracts
of territory, the voluntary system has not sufficed to pro-
duce sufficient religious accommodation; it may, how-
ever, be truly questioned whether any establishment
would be equal to that function. This is, however, one
among the many questions which the republican experi-
ence of America bas not yet solved. As matters stand
at present, indifference to religion cannot be fairly laid
to her charge; probably religious extremes are pushed
farther than elsewhere; there certainly is a breadth
and universality of religious liberty which I do not
regard without some degree of envy.—(Applause.)
Upon my progress southward, I made a comparatively
short halt at Philadelphia. This fair city has not the
animation of New York, but it is eminently well-built,
neat and clean beyond parallel. The streets are all at
right-angles with each other, and bear the names of
the different trees of the country; the houses are of red
brick, and mostly have white marble steps and silver
knockers, all looking bright and shining under the effect
of copious and perpetual washing. It still looks like
a town constructed by Quakers, who were its original
founders; but by Quakers who have become rather dan-
dified. [Lord Carlisle then briefly alluded to sometther
objects in Philadelphia which attracted his notice;
amongst others the waterworks, the model prison, and
the costly poorhouse.) My next brief pause was tat
Baltimore. At a halt on the road on the way thither,
I heard a conductor or guard say to a negro, " I cannot
let you go, for you are a slave.' This was my first in-
timation that I had crossed the border which divides

freedom; from slavery. I quote from the entry which I
made upon noting these words that evening. " Decla-
ration of Independence which I read yesterday—
pillar of Washington which I have looked on to-day—
what are ye?"—(Great applause.) I must now give
niyielf keine little vent. 'lv was A subject. which I
r felt during Iny whole .sojourn: Jin iAmrTio, tisj feel :
it still, to bo_paramount in interest49.,overy other..
j was one on .which I intended uncl,,,guae,ayoured to 07;
servo a sound discretion; We hayejnot ;ourselves !Ong,
enough_ washed off the stain to albo right to rail'
at:these whom we had originally inoculated with the
pest ; • ha
aid- itratgeitibinidieilfeipefieneing
spi-
tality could not with any propriety interfere wantonly
upon the most delicAte and diftletat point of another