TRAVELLING BY STEAM.

161

LETTER XI.

NEW YORK TO PHILADELPHIA-DESCRIPTION

or

THE LATTER CITY-THE QUAKERS-PASSAGES IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA NOT TO BE FOUND IN ITS PUBLIC ANNALS.

AFTER Some further stay at New York-nothing suitable in the way of business having presented itself there, and as I had contracted no great liking to that city, nor had the best opinion of its salubrity as a place to settle in permanently-I began to think of visiting other American cities. I had, even before coming to the country, a strong predilection for Philadelphia, and thither I determined to go. Its easy distance from New York, not quite 100 miles, and the rapidity and regularity with which the passage to it is made, enabled me to gratify my desire without much trouble. During eight months of the year the Philadelphia steam-boats start from New York twice every morning, one at eight and another at six. There is a double set of these employed; one set on the Hudson, the other on the Delaware. Intermediate between the water conveyances is that by land locomotives on the rail-road, about sixty miles long, laid across New Jersey state to Camden, and ending at Camden. Here then are two transfers of pas

M

162

ADROIT DISPOSAL OF BAGGAGE.

sengers and baggage; and yet with such celerity and punctuality are things managed, that in midsummer it is possible for a merchant of one of the cities to pass to and fro in a day, and still leave an interval of nearly two hours to transact business in. The most admirable part of the whole affair is the disposal of the baggage. The porter is directed to take your baggage to the lower deck; where, on an open space, it is set down indiscriminately with the trunks, &c. of others; but no sooner is the boat under way, than half a dozen active fellows begin to stow them into small strongly-built wooden houses, equipped with what you take to be castors underneath, but which are wheels fitted to the rails of the road. They are numbered 1, 2, 3, &c., and so many of them as may be necessary are filled with the packages. It is desirable for a passenger to be present at this business, as he will then know out of which number his goods ought to come to light; for want of proper precaution in this way, I knew a Scotch emi. grant, who lost all the clothes and money he brought with him from home, exceeding £100 in value, and the savings of several years. It was the beginning of a series of misfortunes, which brought on melancholy madness, and ended in his drowning himself in the Schuylkill a few weeks before I left. It is said there are often thieves on board these boats, ever ready to take advantage of the negligence of the unwary. As soon as the steam-boat arrives at the landing there, these heavy machines are rolled off the deck to the railroad; then they are joined to

STATE OF NEW JERSEY.

163

each other, and hooked on to the rearmost trains ; when, the passengers having taken their places, the whole moves off in two or three minutes after leav ing the boat.

Leaving New York behind, we river in the direction of the sea;

dropped down the but soon quitting the estuary of the Hudson, we entered the sound which separates Staten Island from the continent of New Jersey. The shores of the latter are much of the same character as those of Essex below Blackwall-flat and stale, if not unprofitable. At the near corner of this sound is Amboy, otherwise PerthAmboy ; and here our salt-water voyage terminated.

The rail-road is run through as uninteresting a country as it was ever my fate to travel on; it passes, for a great portion of the way, through woods of a mean character, growing in a light sandy soil. The monotonous tenor of our way was ever and anon interrupted by arriving at water or fuel stations, which are all begirt with dram-shops; and these, so far as I could see, do a good deal of business with the passengers. Two things I saw on this road then new to me, Indian corn and buck wheat-the giant and the dwarf of "bread-stuffs," as the Americans call edible grain; of inedible, I had already seen some patches growing on the banks of the Hudson, viz. broom-corn, whose use is indicated by its name: it furnishes the fibre of our carpet-brushes, and is almost in universal use in America for all other brooms, hair and bristles being probably dearer there.

164

VOYAGE DOWN THE DELAWARE.

The town of Trenton is the only considerable place near the line of the railway. It is a very neat and thriving place; also famed for the battle fought there between the Americans and English in the revolutionary war. About a quarter of a mile, or less, from the rail-road station, near the banks of the Delaware, I saw the residence of the Count de Survilliers (Joseph Bonaparte). It was a meanlooking double building, probably of brick, and stained with yellow ochre. The ground looked neglected the count was then in England. As I viewed it, I thought of the Escurial. The difference between the two residences must have been great.

We are now embarked on the river Delaware, and paddling with the current towards the "city of brotherly love." That sounds well, at any rate.-The scenery on the banks of this river is of the tamest character possible. It somewhat resembles the worst parts of the Thames; and even in that comparison the villas and ornamented grounds of the latter must be nearly all left out. The most considerable place on the line of shore is Bristol, where are some neat houses and trim gardens; there are, certainly, parts of the older place of that name that look much worse. Upon the whole, I was not sorry when the houses began to thicken on the right bank of the river, and I was told that Philadelphia had com, menced. In a short time, its one spire came into view-that over Christchurch, built in English times; I suppose it is the one which Franklin got tired waiting for the finishing of, when he sent up his elec

ORIGIN OF PENNSYLVANIA.

165

trical kite. The belfry of the State-house now began to show itself; the latter, with the aforesaid steeple, are the only objects that rise above the dead level of the Philadelphia bricks; yet neither is of considerable height.

The State of Pennsylvania, of which Philadelphia is the capital, was founded in 1682, by Penn and his followers, about 2000 in number. The territory he had pitched on formed part of what was then called New Jersey; which name is now restricted to the country between the Hudson and the Delaware. The Danes had begun to colonise long before in these parts, even as early as 1624. The Swedes, also, had made some trifling settlements; but when the English took from the Dutch the province of New York, in 1664, they entered into possession of New Jersey likewise. In March, 1681, Charles II., under the influence of his brother, afterwards James II.,granted, by charter, as much territory to William Penn as he could colonise, associating with him eleven others in the proprietary. The first governor appointed was Robert Barclay, well known as the great polemical champion of the Society of Friends. Before venturing to enter on his acquisition, he thought it advisable to come to terms with its rightful possessors, the Indians ; whose consent he gained, in the first instance, by bargain, and whose tolerance of after encroachments was obtained by the occasional presents and constant wheedling of his successors. So fortunate were they in this prudent management, that no open hostilities broke out between the parties for full