to slavery has also proved distressing and disadvantageous; but this subject will be fully treated in another chapter. A considerable number have sought relief by removal to the new states formed in the southwest.

Each of the sections now surveyed has its representative in the new and rising states formed west of the Alleghany. We shall first consider those descended from the northern Atlantic region, and which include all on that side of the Ohio. The peculiar social state formed by colonization has already been noticed: this is still perceptible in the Atlantic states; and the western, being colonies from them, present all its features upon an enlarged scale. The migration, too, besides being more numerous, is made in a looser manner, without any aristocratic direction and control, such as influenced the early settlers from England. It consists of a continued stream of the labouring class, and those immediately above them, mixed with crowds of their brethren from every clime. There is, indeed, a sprinkling of a higher order; merchants who have failed in business; professional men unable to procure employment; youths who have married without the means of supporting a family; others seized with a passion for retirement. These calculate that they will here be at least sure of subsistence, and be removed from the view of those who had known them when more prosperous. Their position, however, gives them no means of exercising an influence over their neighbours; and notwithstanding strenuous efforts, in many instances, to hold themselves aloof, they are soon obliged to merge in the general mass. If they do not, the reproach of pride, "that terrific bugbear of the woods," is speedily incurred, and they seek in vain for that neighbourly aid which is here indispensable. Even when performing services for money, the people consider themselves as conferring an obligation, and sternly withhold them from any by whom they consider themselves despised. "If," says Mrs Clavers, "I treat Mrs Timson with neglect

to-day, can I with any face borrow her broom tomorrow? And what would become of me if, in revenge for my declining her invitation to tea this afternoon, she should decline coming to do my washing on Monday?" Even where there is some wealth, it can with difficulty be used for purposes either of accommodation or display. A stock of furniture is regarded as superfluous, and it is very difficult to get workmen who will steadily employ themselves in rearing a house fitted to contain it.

From these causes the labouring emigrants give completely the tone to the whole society; and seeing themselves thus without any superiors, and also in possession of considerable property, assume an independent character, and give way, without reserve, to their natural impulses. They thus acquire, according to Mr Flint, rough, sturdy, and simple habits, deep stamina of independent thought and feeling. Their manners, as compared with those of the east, are distinguished by earnestness and abruptness, and the total absence of that cautious and timid reserve complained of in the latter. They readily and frankly accost a stranger, and easily form new acquaintances. They are even ambitious to enact the part of gentlemen, without exactly knowing how; and the deference to the female sex, general in America, is carried to a chivalric and sometimes ridiculous extreme. They have formed a species of dialect of their own, with a pronunciation different from and more rapid than that in the east, using comparisons drawn from different views of things. The estimate of their manners varies, of course, greatly with the tastes and habits of different observers. Mrs Trollope represents it as a compound of every thing that is coarse and revolting, and severe satirists have described the western man as a compound of the horse and the alligator; but this can have no application unless to the rudest pioneers. Miss Martineau, on the contrary, who sets especial value on the frank and fearless declaration of sentiment, considers their society delightful when

compared with the timid caution of the New Englander. The steamers on the Ohio and Mississippi may be considered the centre of western society; an excursion along the river is the favourite recreation; and there are few who have not, once in their life, visited New Orleans. The youth, transported from the depth of the woods into this gay and crowded scene, feels himself as in a new world; but he often meets with dangerous associates.

We may thus, on the whole, remark, that this new people agree with the original stock as to enterprise, activity, and industry; in some other respects they present a contrast. They want the polish and refinement, the regular habits, and even the fixed principle of the latter; yet they have some attributes more agreeable and engaging. They even regard the Yankees, known to them, unfortunately, mostly by the peddling generation, with a sentiment of mingled contempt and hatred. Mr Hoffman mentions his party as being saluted by the call: "Are there any gentlemen among the Yankees?" and a friend of his had repeatedly, on this ground, been refused a draught of water. In other cases, the hospitality, so much wanted in these vast solitudes, is liberally exercised. Mrs Clavers never knew an instance of its refusal, unless when claimed as a right, on the ground of an intention to pay. The duties of neighbourhood, which in crowded cities have scarcely any existence, are here extensively practised. The expectations founded upon them are indeed somewhat inconvenient to the better provided residents. This lady found that their horse, their kitchen utensils, and other moveables, when not in actual use, were confidently asked by their neighbours, and returned without thanks, or even strict attention to their being exactly in the condition received. Mrs Trollope had a servant who, when going to visit, asked the loan of her own and the young ladies' dresses; and on being refused, declared, "she never seed such gumpy folks." In return, when emergencies occur, active services, which

money could not purchase, will be liberally contributed.

The accommodations of life must, of course, be here very rude; and we have explained the circumstances which, in a new settlement, obstruct their supply, and gradually extinguish the desire for them. Building being difficult, many do not attain beyond a single apartment for cooking, sitting, and sleeping; while the furniture is usually of the plainest materials, and very imperfect construction. There are odd substitutions of one thing for another, and articles applied to purposes very different from those originally intended; as a hinge of leather, a latch of wood, a pane of oiled paper, a coffee-mill composed of a thick cloth and a hammer. The sins against Chesterfield are described as almost perpetual. Mrs Clavers had a visiter who uniformly dipped her spoon into the dish and cut off morsels from the joint, carrying them direct to her mouth, and when pressed to allow a slice to be cut for her, positively refused to give so much trouble. From the constant national movement, inns have been formed even in very sequestered lines; but the traveller must not be fastidious as to the accommodation. If there be a separate sleeping room, it is only an upper apartment, reached by a ladder, where all the company of both sexes must repose together, producing an atmosphere in which it is not easy to respire. The ladies are accommodated with the best bed, and a curtain or cloth to screen them from view. Those of the other sex often sue in vain for a separate couch, which is considered a ridiculous delicacy. Mr Hoffman records his landlady's reasoning: "A bed to themselves, the hogs! they have travelled together, and eat together, and yet they can't sleep together."

On crossing to the south of the Ohio, an entirely new scene opens. All the states thence to the Gulf of Mexico have, during the last half-century, been derived from the southern Atlantic region, chiefly Virginia. They have retained its spirit, which they display in an ex

aggerated degree, both as to good and evil, but especially the latter. Having brought with them negro slaves, by whom all the manual labour is performed, they want the personal industry of their northern neighbours, yet are not obliged to submit to the same privations of comfort and accommodation. The Kentuckians afford at once the most important and favourable specimen of this class of Americans. Being no longer situated on the border, their incessant and terrible warfare with the Indians has happily ceased; yet they retain an extraordinary courage and dexterity in the use of the rifle, which has gained for them a great name in the military history of their country. Captain Hall considers them the Irish of America, distinguished by levity, buoyancy of spirit, jocular ferocity, ardour both in attachment and hatred. According to Hoffman, "there is an off-handedness, if I may use the term, a fearless ardour, a frankness and self-possession about them, which engages your good will at once; while you are both interested and amused at the exaggerated tone of sentiment, half-romantic, half-vainglorious, which their ideas and sentiments betray." As an instance of their frank and social disposition, he mentions that, while setting out on a journey, he heard a voice calling from an enclosure: Halloo, stranger; I reckon you and I are cutting out for the same place; so hold on a bit, and you shall have some company." A pride in their beautiful territory seems very strong, and was oddly expressed by a boatman on the Ohio, saying, "No, stranger, there is no place on the universal 'arth like old Kaintuck; she whips all out west in prettiness; and you might bile down cration, and not get such another state out of it." The hospitality even to perfect strangers is still more lavish than in Virginia.

66

In proceeding southward to the states newly formed on the lower Mississippi, this character appears under excessive and somewhat painful forms. This region may be considered the centre of turbulence, lynch-law,