wr:I,Lls's IIBALTII TRIP 'TO THE Tnorrds.! • A. VISIT to

the West Indian Islands up to so late ti' period 10 1852263 might have .furnished useful information as to • their social and eeonomical condition ; `upon which. subject the know- ledge attainable is really scanty notwithstanding:its 'importance. Unfortunately, the health Of Mr. N. I'. Willis, whielt induced his' "trip to th,e Tropics," has prevented him from giving, his .obSer- vations upon the. *plea we are most interested in, the larger British islands,.'i ?Fetipt,4Iartinique and the capitol of Cuba, at both of Which. aces he sojourned some little lithe the visits recorded were ofji4.flying.order. Moreover, a good portion of his letters has little, to do with the Tropics at all, being dated. front Nor, if Mr.Willis's visits had been longer and his health better, Ipt the Southern , . tes, and., descriptiye, Of Kentucky, ,Charleston,, Savannah, and evir Orleans. . . . . ..

wenld the information he might furnish . about the results of, slavery or emancipation have been of a very instructive kind ; for iastruction is not his forte. His genius first Instinctively turns to ".8hakspere, taste, and the musical glasses "—to his Grace and

. A tealth Triple-the Tropics. By N.-ParkerWillis,'Author of ." Pei:tailings by the Way," &c. 'Published by Low and Sod:, • ' ' ' • i there,arerlerds)44,.yalets, .and if not to the, leadiestisubstitates./: In Havannahathermasa and.tha music, the . Ilidiett■luntithe ',angers, attratted hiw attention, before: the secret ''slave-trade or the Condition OP:4116, pittlitatiOn-sliives ;: !this& last, indeed, he had no apportnnitY,',4 hibeYWning from actual obser-

beou so,Alispos4. The; Stature, looka, bearing,

:ohattering,-dress or-undness of-theNegro women, the .Morality or 'immorality of their relationShips, and other- goatipy or external natters, are the topics oil which- Mr. Willis revels, or his own per- *nal impressions of comfort and what not., ' !. Mr; Willis, ho-wever, is a first-rate " foreign orreSpendent "' in the light literature " way:• He may be empty at trime_s, addicted. - (of necessity) to make too much out of. nothing ; and he has a self- satisfied, gay, insouciant air, like a man. 'desirous • of impressing Ton :With the notion that he knows all about Courts and camps .and their, naughty doings. Still he is alwaysreadable :. his &scrip- .tions, whether of men, manners,,Prebenery,, are lively and impres- sive, - and probably as true 'as your exonrsionizing litterateur ever tut* out ; while Ida early Worship of the muses, Or the natural bent of his mind forverse, throws a sort of poetical 'air Over his

composition. • . , .

One of the places at which the steamer called was Hayti. - As a .„

few- hours only were allowed 'to. the paSsengers,. the 'tourist could See but little. However, he -made the 'moat of his time ; 'and he ' gives a very had impression of the people. Poor, dirty, ragged, dilapidated, is the diameter' of the then and Of the town. The women are rather better:- small, gay, livWy, and sarcastic, with tonal of facetiousness, haly quoted. Hatred of the Whites is a .. 'prevalent feeling. This-is the'first,view. "The foremost inhabitantif .1faytito:weltotne min boat's apizoaoh was a • Negro, clad in a suit .of blaek-4-the obit he ■was born in7-.-standiug'erect, shiny and unconscious, on-the-end of the pier. :go seemed quite independ- ent of our observation, and was taking his morning swim. The water-side of the harbour was a:beach, with the ekeeptiou orthe tumbling-down' wood- en wharf towards which we were beading; and ,'IVer stranded boats, seine , deed animals of-cariouis kinds; and prodigious' heaps of rubbish,- formed the seaboard line of the city of Jacmel.• All Irmild see in the way Of buildings looked to _ me like the Weitherbeaten booths. of. some long-deserted fair. Therewat nothing that couldelsewhere he called a house, 'nothing that had ever been elaPboarded,.painted, or 'fenced in, little to Indicate that this was thd 3rinerpal' port and- town of the Queen' of the Antilles,'' in island as .'large as Ireland, and *hose Emperor, Souloileue, -was to be drowned on the folloWle,„6:8undayt. Oar 'Anticipations liacF been a little- overeoloured, per- liaps;t fibm the description whiola one of the nasseugersha.d.given of the coro- natien,boots of hie future Majesty. Ile had seen them in New York, where 'they were made. The cost was three hundred dollars; and-he described them as sumptuously embroidered With gold, and hung with jeWels iti the tassels. " We climbed up the broken timbers of the half-fallen wharf with some diftlehltY,,,and. *ere .:immediately surroanded;and addressed very volubly in French by the most ragged rabble I had eyer yet fallen among. I was in- clined to think at first that it was some pantomimic festival, and that the universal rags and strangely confused costumes Were, but 'the fun of the day. There vase sentinel on duty at the end Of the pier, and a shanty near by, which,seemed, to serve as a guard-house, With 4 dozen soldiers around the . door, These Military 'Negroes were even needlessly tattered and Mggell..' No .two,of them were armed or dressed alike. It looked as if it Might be a frolic masquerade got up with the discarded wardrobes of a company of itinerant .players,—an infantry cap, that might have been used for a fire-bocket, on one head, a hussar cap, that may have served for years as an ash-pan, on another;. one a full-dressed grenadier clout to his chin, and the rest of bins a complete raggamuffia ; the fourth in a general's epaulettes, but barefooted ; this one with only a bayonet stuck through his trousers-poeket, that one with a shabby old court sword, the next with a rusty musket; the whole . apparelling, and equipment a caricature of cast-off finery and uniform. I was prepared to laugh at them, for civility's sake. It was seareely possible thatitheydidnet expect it. But.the Saa,ge fierceness with which they sur- veyed us fi'om head to foot fortunately.? kept me grave ; and'a Mulatto, to whose pqliteness I was afterwards indebted, informed me that it would have beal`daifgehiti',-blirtider. The Whites are only tolerated there r he ear- nestly assured me ; and as my skin was of the objectionable colour, I infer- red from his friendly caution that I had best know myplace and be civil."

The Kentuoky, tent' of Mr. Willis,Was made -in month of lune and:part of it 'probably not °Tillie- present occasion. r The other Southern. States were seemingly visited in, the intermediate sinii- mer between: the Tropical:trips. The American journies are not the least interesting parts of the book; for- although .the . main features of .Southern life-,are the same-as have been presented al- ready, they are looked at 'with a -different eye, from a' different point of view. :Everybody has heard of the " alligator " of the Mississippi; only differing from the genus boatman all over the world by nationality 'and the extent of the river . navigation. It is curious that'while salt water preserves the chivalry of Jack when it has fled'Iroin",every other spot, freshwater turns out a compound of ruffianism and blackguardism..

"The r‘Alligatoss! _are ,themselves too sharp-eyed to be easy under ob-

servation, It is hard to fled one of them indifferent to your eye, or so care- lessly off hi guard as not to know when he is looked at. The only kind of man they seem not to notice stall is a loud talker; and so common and yttl- garized a gift does oratory seem tot#vadeo readily does drink run into it in the West, that Ifiince-the surest way to.observe, and be yourself unobserved, (at least M the. most erowded part of the leans,) would be to mount upon hogshead untlappearAinxious for an audience. I saw nianyscenes, or parts of scenes, scarcely tiesqihable, where there was a most curious indifference to that which excites attention or moves a crowd elsewhere—giving one the impression that it was *elate of .peo.ple.so familiarized to threat and Vie-, hence,. tbatenothing in. that line short of a howie-keife or a revolver Would,, make one of.: them lift sineyelld., Yet to the movements of e quiet midi; silent strangerone,wliewei.4 wholly- escape notice ordinarily—they seenee,. ed, on the contrary, unaccountably attentive. They think it no Offence, or at least one for the conwiences of which they are quite ready, to sidle up. and listen when two Persona rtre titiking:t6iretiy, or iValk viand' a -men and survey him like a wait figare iti the nrateum.. Three times out of four, when I stopped to take a more leisurely gaze at something, k- found myself thusiwalked rotind.andscanned p partly-because I.preved myself a stranger' by my curiosity, -probably, but evidently -from a habit of neglecting no in- &cation of what was going on, And this manifestation of mingled cuteness. ad simplicity is made more characteristic by a Peculiar look never seen in

a lower class in Europe, a savage unconsciousness of owing you any respect whatever. Personal presence, as felt in a man more than in a tree, is ut- terly unacknowledged by the Alligator. He shows you this in his face, in a sort of negative insolence of expression, quite at your service if you like to take offence at it, and beet explainable, perhaps, as-Yankee independence in the fungus state run rank with over-luxuriance. "I fancy that it is from there being no interchange of respect between him and any other man that the Alligator ía so reckless of his personal ap- pearance: he evidently never gives it a thought The contrast is curious in this respect between him and the French labouring man or mechanic, who stands shirt-sleeved beside him on the levee ; the latter being invariably in high physical condition, with beard all grown, form erect, and enough care in his dress to show his proportions to the best advantage. As to worldly aondition they are about equals; yet the Alligator, with twice the energy, twice the enterprise, twice the pride of the other man, and ten times his capability under emergencies, looks a beggar in comparison."

lth the "blood" of Kentucky Mr. Willis was highly delighted. He looks upon the State as the " officina " for the future gentle- men of the -Union. There, too, are large territorial estates, with the etceteras-

" I have parks, I have hounds, I have deer, I have grounds ";

btri instead of the "neat little cottage," the Kentucky magnates poasess mansions and villas. Mr. Willis has a theory about the canoe which makes the Kentuckian so all-accomplished, and ready with his tongue, pen, pistol. Like the Athenian of old, he lives lu publio ; only, instead of the Porch, the Garden, the Agora, the men in Kentucky pass their days at the tavern. Still in all things there is a quidquid amen. In American native novels tales, sketches, tours, we find pictures of vice and poverty which can compare with anything in Europe, though the class may not be so numerous. So in "far Kentnck " there are low Democrats ' who grumble at the grandeur and gentility around them ; as Mr. IirMis found in a public conveyance.

"My other omnibus companions were free and kindly; conversation was unembarrassed. The best-dressed man of the three pulled a horn comb from his pocket after a while, combed his own head, and then passed around the utensil. All accepted and made use of it, till it came in turn to me, and (not to give offence) I apologized for declining it on the ground of having a curly ! head that took care of itself. The comb-lender was a hater of the men who ‘owned such a bloody quantity of land, rrpoor man couldn't get a place to call his own.' He pointed to a porter's lodge on one of the beautiful wood- lead estates we were passing, (the road, for thirty miles, by the way, seem- ing to pass through a lordly English park,) and said he liked to see a shanty with a pig-trough at the door, and fences around small lots—not such a sign as that., of a man's gobbling up more than his share. As to the old Kentuck that God made, belonging to a few of these cussed aristocrats, he didn't be- lieve it was good law. You might as well do without it. Why didn't Cas- sino Clay take up that ides, and net be trying to make gentlemen out of niggers? "Thus discoursing and exchanging knowledge, we arrived at Kentucky river."

-Upon the main object of his journey, the advantage of the West Indies for a residence to a consumptive patient, Mr. Willis is not Wary sanguine, either from information or experience. "I find that the surgeons of these steamers, and two or three other medical men with whom I have conversed, think it a mistake for delicate pulmonary patients to come to the West Indies for health. The greater softness of the air is counterbalanced, they say, by the greater debilitation ; but, more than tba4 the sufferers from this complaint run great risk, from the inconveni- ences of Tropical life, from exposure, and the complete lack of home-comforta. Window-glass is unknown South of Bermuda, and delicate lungs find the night's last hours, even in the torrid zone, chilly and irritating. It is not the clime for prudence, either. Inhabitants and strangers alike indulge ap- petite and forget caution. In the teeming and prodLaal life around the in- valid, his individual poverty of health is forgotten. The air is an oblivious opiate,—soothing, but full of danger.

"My own experience corroborates this. Enjoying the luxuriousness of ibe clime in every nerve and pore, I have still felt that there was in it neither strength nor medicine. The consciousness of revivification that one feels in a bright day at the North, or in a breath of mountain air—nature's acknowledgment of aid—is not a part of the enjoyment. It seems to me only a climate in which death would be easier. The nerves are quieted out of reach. And it is wonderful what a different event death seems with that part of the system sleeping or waking!

"That many people go to the West Indies for their health, and find it there, is very certain. But it is less to he attributed to softer air than to entire change of scene and associations. There are more cases than we ima- gine of persons supposed to be in a decline,' where organic disease is but half the trouble. They require to be removed from what shall remind them that they are ill—to be getaway from sympathy, away from doctors, away from con- trast of their invalid habits with habits when they were stronger. Their atten- tion to the subject of their health has become morbid—itself the disease which most requires medicine. To such, the entire novelty of climate and vegeta- tion, and the close neighbourhood of so many varieties of government and manners—Danish, Spanish, French, English, and African islands, all within a summer day succession of visits—amount to a delightful and salutary self- forgetfulness. They are amused out of themselves, and return to find that the body has taken advantages of the mind's absence to put the nerves to their proper work. Health has come, they scarce know how."