BOOKS.
MACKAY'S WESTERN WORLD.* Ix point of comprehensiveness and structure, Mr. Mackay's work is the most complete book of travels that has been published on the United Staten. His tour embraced a circuit of the republic. From Boston he proceeded to New Orleans, through New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and the At- lantic Slave States ; from New Orleans he ascended the Mississippi and its tributary navigation, till, with a short land journey, he reached the Lakes.; and thence, after descending the St. Lawrence to Montreal, he arrived at New York once more, by the Hudson. The narrative of the journey, though possibly the most attractive part of the book for. those who have accustomed themselves to light reading, is not the most mformuig, or the most valuable. Mr. Mackay's tour was not his first acquaintance with America : he had been living there some years with the people, and studying them and their institutions ; and his narrative is a vehicle for introducing the facts and views he had thus acquired, without, in point of plan, interfering with the personality of a book of travels. After arriving at New York and describing the city, he suspends his narrative, to give an account of the commerce and commercial policy of the United States. At Washington, the seat of legislature and government, he indulges in various disquisitions, generally suggested by the genius loci, or some incident that brings up the topic. From Washington, as from a centre, he surveys the social life and social characteristics of the Union. With more aptness, the place produces a valuable and life- like account of the constitution in its forms and its practical working. A visit to the Capitol naturally gives rise to a sketch of the Houses of Le- gislation, their members, and the mode of conducting public business; which is succeeded by a view of the judiciary system in its federal and local capacities. Party, "its organization and its evolutions in America," comes next ; "after which follows a description of the artificial means by which the seaboard States and the States on the Mississippi have been bound together in bonds of indissoluble union by the complete identifica- tion of their interests,"—that is to say, by a system of railways and canals, some of which, we believe, are not paid for. In Virginia, "the Slave-breeding State," Mr. Mackay takes up the Slave question. As- cending the Mississippi, and passing along the great Repudiating State on which the "father of waters" bestows his name, our author enters upon the question of Repudiation ; which he excuses, by arguments as fallacious and bold as those which were used to bolster up the act. The agricultural and mining interests are next considered, in the locali- ties that seem to the writer most appropriate to the subject : at the great Lakes he describes what he calls the "artificial irrigation" (though he means navigation) of the States ; in other words, the internal com- munication by means of canals. cmgicv IJI arunce may occasionally appear in the introduction and treatment of the subjects; but in no other way could Mr. Mackay have brought them so completely and so succinctly before the reader—have so well worked up his living and book knowledge of the United States, or impressed so fully upon the reader's mind the most remarkable and im- portant features of the country, the people, and their government. The journey embraces the principal cities, exhibits types of the general land- scape, soils, and produce of the great divisions of the country ; carries the reader round and through the extent of the settled territory, indica- ting its vastness and variety : the personal form of the narrative gives individuality and relief to the more solid expositions, as it sometimes aptly introduces them, and almost always strips them of the didac- tic form. Such a plan could not have been devised without a distinct view of the subject, or sustained without great practical knowledge and considerable ability. It is rather in the plan than the execution, how- ever, that the great merit of The Western World consists. In extent and variety of subjects, and in the distinct manner in which they are presented to the reader, the book stands alone among American travels. In execution it has many rivals, that equal if they do not surpass it. Although Mr. Mackay is not devoid of imagination, that faculty in him is rather of a ponderous and literal cast. His legal training, along with clearness and exactness, has induced a tendency to exhaust a subject by accumulating its parts. This sometimes becomes fatiguing in de- scription, especially when, as is the case with Mr. Mackay, the reader has a sort of mental panorama of every city brought before him, that, like a catalogue, leaves nothing unmentioned. Although in his expositions the author avoids the didactic form, be does not altogether escape the di- dactic spirit of the encyclopastlia compiler. Those who have read much about America, will also find some repetition ; which, however, was una- voidable, on topics that have been frequently discussed both by Ame- ricans and strangers. Notwithstanding these defects, and some others of a more purely literary kind, The Western World is the most complete and informing picture of America that has appeared. Without neglecting the surface, Mr. Mackay goes to the fundamental principles of society and government. His sketch of the American constitution is by far the best we have ever seen. It is not a mere account of written formulm, but seizes the principles upon which the whole was framed and the spirit which animates it. Like all things at once true and truly de- scribed, it contains more than its mere self. Independently of its infor- mation, the chapter should be read in conjunction with Mr. Wakefield's sketch of the proper form of government for the British Colonies, on account of the suggestions it prompts as to the advantage and safety of local self-government; though the reader must bear in mind the uni- versal spread of education in America, and the Democratic objects of the American constitution, before deciding against Mr. Wakefield in favour of pure Democracy. Mr. Mackay's account may also be perused as an I ,• The Western World; or Travels In the United States in 1545-47: exhibiting them in their latest Development, Social, Political, and Industrial; including a chapter on California. By Alex. Mackay, Esq., of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-law, in three volumes. Published by Bentley.
exposition of Democracy under its most favourable circumstances, if it be not painted couleur de rose.
This disposition to see everything in its best light, tobacco and its se- (meows excepted, is one drawback to The Western World. Mr. Mac- kay's leanings are obvious, inducing him not so much to disguise the truth as to sink unfavourable parts of it. There is sometimes too much dials profession of advocate. He raises objections rather to refute them than to allow them weight. In short, there is more of compliment than of criticism in his views, with very few exceptions indeed. The main defect of Mr. Mackay's conclusions, and of the disqui- sitional part of his book, is a forgetfulness of the material circum- stances of the country. We do not mean that the extensive and un- appropriated territory of the United States, with the consequent field for enterprise and the certain rewards of industry, are not present to his mind. The fertile soil, the various climates, with their varying produc- tmns,.the water-powes, the water-carriage, and the scientific skill by which these natural means are combined and extended, the crops, the mines, the manufactures, the riches on the earth and under the earth, are dwelt upon enough. But in speculating upon the future, and in consider- ing the present working of Democracy in America, or its adaptability to other countries, Mr. Mackay puts the eventual absorption of these ad- vantages out of sight. At present the domination of the mass may work well enough, with the unappropriated lands in the valley of the Mississippi to drain off the more aspiring and pushing. Let these waste lands become appropriated, population begin to press even a little upon the means of subsistence, the outlet become narrowed for those who wish to rise in the world, and employment not perhaps scarce but in demand, and the supreme authority of the many may- turn out another thing,—an improvement, perchance, upon Repudiation or the Anti-Rent ideas of New York. In like manner, Mr. Mackay looks to the Slavery question as the urgent but sole danger to the stability of the Union. Perhaps it is at present; and, should separation, which Mr. Mackay thinks upon the cards, not take place, slavery may continue so for half a century, or a century; which is little in the life of a nation. Within the longest, possibly within the shortest period, the valley of the Mississippi, Oregon, and California, may be occupied as fully as several of the existing States now are. With the addition of the Southern and the North -eastern States, there would then be five extensive territories, differing in climate, productions, objects, opinions, and sometimes having conflicting if not opposite interests. As long as everything went smoothly, and each division were allowed to take its own way, habit might hold them together; but come differences, come difficulties, and we suspect disunion would be inevitable. In the case of a long and dangerous war, we are not so confident as Mr. Mackay that Democracy, or at least the form of the Republic, would be safe in the older States. The great variety of subordinate topics turned up by Mr. Mackay as he goes along, in connexion with each leading subject that he handles, cannot be described, and we have not space in this busy time to exhi- bit them by extract. A few quotations must show their substance and style. The following account of an instance of American ingenuity and perseverance occurs on a winter journey from New York to Philadelphia. "As the line was buried in snow, three powerful engines were attached to the train. The first of these was preceded by an enormous snow-plough, an indis- pensable feature in the winter appanages of an American railway. It was so con- trived as when impelled by the engine, to clear the line of snow to within a few inches of the rail, strong brooms attached to the frame of the engine immediately in front of the wheels completing the work, by brushing the rail bare and clean. We started at a slow and cautions pace, as befitted a train having no visible line to follow. For the first few miles we encountered no difficulty, the snow having lain lightly as it fell. We soon quickened our pace, therefore, when the sturdy plough did its work nobly. It first bored into the snow, seeking for the buried line, like a ferret burrowing for a rabbit, and then tore up the white covering which concealed it, throwing it in fragments on either side, sometimes for a distance of twenty yards ; and every now and then, when it encountered a slight drift, sending it in a shower over the whole train, as a stout ship treats the billow that would use her roughly.
"Shortly after leaving jersey city, we passed an extensive cutting through the solid rock; a work in every way more formidable than the celebrated cutting on the Birmingham line. From this we emerged upon a vast flat sedgy country, as level as a bowling-green, covered with reeds in some places, and in others with long rank grass, both of which, the latter in brown tufts, peered here and there through the snow. The whole of this level tract is one vast basin surrounded by uplands, and bears every indication of having been the bed of some shallow lake, which by degrees drained itself off into the Hudson. It was whilst crossing it, that the effect of the snow-plough was most perceptible and curious. In front of us nothing was to be seen but one widely-extended monotonous sheet of snow,. whilst behind, as if summoned up by magic, lay the denuded rails as clean as it nothing had over enveloped them. It almost seemed as if we were flying over the country and laying down the line as we went along. Between this [Newark] and the town of New Brunswick, nothing particn- laroccurred, with the exception that the difficulties which the snow interposed to our progress increased as we proceeded. It no longer lay softly on the ground, bat was drifted in wreaths across the line. The imperviousness which it assumes in this state is almost incredible, being packed together by the wind, until it be- comes nearly as hard as a board. Through some of these wreaths we made our way with difficulty, at one plunge, the whole train sustaining a shock in the Operation like that given to a ship struck by a heavy sea. Others were more formidable, and were not thus to be dealt with, bringing us to a sudden stop in our career when the train would back, rush at them again like a huge battering- ram, back again if necessary, and repeat the dose, until, by successive efforts, the Obstacle was overcome. When more than usual force was required, in tender mercy to the passengers who were sometimes thrown all of a heap' by these Operations into the fore Part of their respective carriages, the train would be de- tached, and the locomotives set at it themselves, taking a good race, so as to strike with the more effect. It was amusing to watch this rough and novel species of tournament: the sturdy engines sometimes nearly breaking a lance with the enemy, and at others disappearing for a moment, amid a cloud of snowy frag- ments, scattered about in all directions, as if a mine had been sprung. The breach at length made, back they would come for the train, which they tugged along like so many camp-followers, until a fresh obstacle had to be stormed."
Mr. Mackay sees the relation of master and servant in a light different from his predecessors.
"It is quite true that the gulf which separates these two classes of society in England is greater and more impassable than it is in America; the master in the former occupying higher, and the servant lower ground, than in the latter. But it is equally trim, that in America there is a broad and distinct line drawn be- tween the two conditions of master and servant. If the servant is not as obedient as he is in Europe, or the master as exacting, it is not because the servant puts himself on a footing of equality with the master whilst the relation subsists be- tween them, but because both parties look to the time when that relation will be dissolved by the servant becoming himself a master. There is in America, with the exception of the Slave States, no permanent class of servants as in other countries; but to suppose that, so long as any individual acts in the relation of a servant, he puts himself in all respects on an equality with his master, is to be in error; and much more so to think that, should such equality be asserted, it would be conceded by the master. In America, as elsewhere, the servant, so long as he remains a servant, is in subordination to the master, although the tie is more easily and more frequently broken, because the servant is not in the same position of absolute dependence as elsewhere. He may become unmanageable from the readiness with which he can find employment; but the moment he trenches upon the master's prerogatives he is dismissed, instead of being permitted to share them. It is quite true that in many of the rural districts, particularly in the newer settlements, masters and servants live upon the same footing. But this occurs in a state of society in which the drawing a line of distinction would he as impossible as it would be ridiculous."
The following displays a scene which might not surprise at New Orleans, but would scarcely be looked for in the capital of the Model Republic.
"Few as are the virtues of social life which sparkle on the surface of Washing- ton society, it was some time ere I was made aware of the extent to which its vices were covertly practised. Walking home one morning about two o'clock with a friend, he asked me, whilst passing down Pennsylvania Avenue, to accompany him to a place where he would show me a feature of Washington life to which I was yet a stranger. We thereupon entered an open lobby, and passed upstairs, when, on opening the first door we came to, I beheld, as thick and as busy as bees in a hive, a set of men in crowds around several tables, engaged in the hazards, and plunged in all the excitements of gambling—the game being faro, and the stakes by no means contemptible. "I remained for some time contemplating a scene singularly diversified as re- spects character and the display of passion. The company was of a very mixed character, comprising artisans, tradesmen, shopkeepers, a few professional men, and many idlers. Noisiest and busiest of all, was one of the members for Ala- bama; and it was not long ere I heard exclamations, alternating between Bags- faction and disappointment, breaking from lips which I had heard discourse most eloquently in the Capitol on the aristocratic vices of England. The night was hot, the atmosphere of the room was stifling, and most of those present were in their shirt-sleeves. In a back room, the door of which stood invitingly open, was a table amply set out with a gratuitous provision of edibles, and every species of alcoholic beverage. On entering, we were invited to partake, but declined. The less experienced hands vainly endeavoured to drown their excitements by fre- quent potations ; the more knowing kept aloof from the bottle."
The conduct, character, and position of women in America, are examined at considerable length. We can only find room for one extract. Some- thing analogous is common in England, but then " equality " is not professed.
"The social position of the husband is not carried in all its extent into the social relations of his family: his sphere of action is without, where all are on an equal footing; but in the position of his family, and in their intercourse with those of his neighbours, he finds no such principle very generally recognized. Equality without, exclusiveness within; such seem to be the contrasts of Ameri- can life. The professional man may be on the very best of terms with the black- smith ; but ten chances to one if the daughters of the professional man know the blacksmith's daughters, or if they would acknowledge it if they did. In-door life in America is fenced round by as many lines as social life in Europe. There is not a community there, any more than here, but has its fashionable quarter and its fashionable circle. This may be all very natural, but it is not in conformity with the general aspect of their national social life, that they carry with them into these coteries all the exclusiveness of feeling which forms so marked a fea- ture in the social fabrics of the old world. In a widely-extended country like the Transatlantic Republic, and a widely-scattered community like that which peoples it, it is to be expected that these feelings would manifest themselves in different places in very different degrees. In some, however, they assume a form quite as inveterate as they do with ourselves ; and young ladies will turn up their delicate but saucy noses at the bare idea of an acquaintanceship with those with whose fathers or brothers their own fathers or brothers may be on terms of the most perfect familiarity. The circle once drawn, it is not very easy for those without to transcend it. The family that introduces a new member is held responsible for his or her good behaviour and respectability; and it is not always that the countenance of a particular family will suffice to give a party the free range of the favoured circle."
There are some remarks on the prospects of England as compared with those of America, sombre but reasonable—at least as regards Eng- land, and an interesting description of and discussion on slavery; to both of which we should willingly have referred at length. But for these, and various descriptive, social, political, and economical matters, we must re- commend the reader to the volumes themselves.
Previous page
