DICKENS’ “AMERICAN NOTE."

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 94, 23 June 1843, Page 4

DICKENS’ “AMERICAN NOTE."

-Canada. —Canada has held, and always will retain, a foremost place in my remembrance. Few Englishmen are prepared to find it what

it is. Advancing quietly; old differences set-,; tling down, and being fast forgotten; public feeling and private enterprise alike in a sound and wholesome state; nothing of flush or fever; in its system, blit health and vigour throbbing; in its steady pulse : it is full of hope and promise. To me (who had been accustomed to think of it as something left behind in the strides of advancing society, as something neglected and forgotten; slumbering acid wasting in its sleep), the demand for labour and the rates of wages—the busy quays of Montreal—the vessels taking in their cargoes and discharging them —the amount of shipping in the different ports—-the commerce, roads, and public works, all made.fo last —the respectability and character of the public journals—and the amount of national comfort and happiness which honest industry may earn—were very great surprises. The steam-boats on the lakes, in their conveniences, cleanliness, and safety, in the gentlemanly character and bearing of their captains, and in their politeness and perfect comfort of their social regulations, are unsurpassed > even by the famous Scotch vessels, deservedly so much esteemed .at home. The inns are usually bad, because the custom of boarding at hotelals not so general here as in the States, and the Britisli officera, who form a large portion of the society of every town, live chiefly at the regimental messes; but, in every other respect, the traveller in Canada will find as good provision for his comfort as in any place I know.

Tub Newspaper Press in the United States. —Schools may be erected, east, west, north, and south, pupils he taught, and masters reared by scores upon scores of thousands; cottages may thrive, churches may be crammed, temperance may be diffused, and advancing knowledge, in all other forms, walk through the land with giant strides; but while the newspaper press of America; is in its present abject state, high moral improvement in that country is hopeless iYear by year, it must and will go back ; year by year the; Congress and the Senate must become of less account before all decent men; and year by year the memory of the great fathers of the revolution = must be outraged more and more in the bad life of their degenerate children. Among the herd of journals which are published in the States, there are some, the reader scarcely need be told, of character and credit. From personal intercourse with accomplished gentlemen connected with publications of this class, I have derived both pleasure a!nd profit. But the name of these is Few, and of the others Legion; and the of the good is powerless to counteract the moral poison of the bad.

Remarks on the Subject of Slavery. —The upholders of slavery in America—the atrocities of which system I shall not write one word for which I have not ample proof and warrant —may be divided into three great classes. The first are those more moderate and rational owners of human.cattle who have come into the possession of them as so many coins in their trading.capital, but who admit the frightful nature of the institution in the abstract, and perceive the dangers to society with which;it is fraught; dangers which, however distant they may be, or howsoever tardy in their coming on, are as certain to fall upon its guilty head as is the day of judgment. The second consists of all those owners, breeders, users, bnyers, and sellers of slaves, who will, until the bloody chapter has a* bloody end, own, breed, use, buy, and sell them at all -hazards; who doggedly deny the horrors of the system, in the teeth of such a mass of evidence'as never was brought to bear upon any subject, and to which the experience of every day contributes its immense amount.; who .would, at this day, or any other moment, gladly'involve America in a war, civil or foreign, provided that it had for its sole end and object the assertion of their right to perpetuate slavery, and to whip and to work and torture slaves, unquestioned by any human authority, and unassailed' by any human power ; who, when they speak of freedom, mean the freedom to oppress their kind, and to be savage, merciless, and cruel; and of whom every man on his own ground, in republican America, is a more exciting, add h sterner, and a less responsible despot, than the Caliph ■ Haroun Alraschid in his angry robe of scarlet. The third, and not the least numerous and influential, is composed > of all that delicate gentility which cannot bear, a superior, and cannot brook an equal,—of that class whose republicanism means, “ I- will not tolerate a man above me and of those below, “ none must approach too nearwhose pride in a land where voluntary servitude is shunned as a disgrace must be .ministered to by slaves; and whose inalienable rights can only have their growth in negro wrongs. It has -been sometimes urged that, in the unavailing efforts which have been made to advance the cause of human freedom in the republic of America (strange cause for history to treat of!) sufficient regard has not been had to the existence of the first class of .persons; and it has been contended that they.are hardly used in being confounded with the second. This is, no doubt, the case; noble instances of pecuniary and personal sacrifice have already fiad, their growth among them: and it is much to be regretted that the gulf between them and the.

advocates, of s emancipation should have been widened and deepened by any means; the rather; as there are, beyond dispute, affiong these Slave-owhers many kind masters who are tender in the exercise of their unnatural, power. Still it is to be feared that this injustice is inseparable from the state of things With Which humanity and ‘tt uth are called upon to deed. Slavery !is nqt J a whit the more endurable tiecause sbfhe hearts are to be found which can partially resist its hardening influences; nor can the indignant tide of honest wrath stand still because, in its onward course, it overwhelms a few who are comparatively innocent, among a host of guilty.

Visit to the Falls op Niagara.—Between five and six in the morning we arrived at Buffalo, where we breakfasted, and being too near the Great Falls to wait patiently anywhere else, we set off by the train the same morning at nine. * * * Whenever the train halted, I listened far the roar; and was constantly straining my eyes in the direction where I knew the falls must be from seeing the river rolling on towards them ; every moment expecting to behold the spray. Within a few minutes of my stopping, I saw two great white clouds rising up slowly and majestically from the depths of the earth* That was all. At length we alighted: and then, for the first time, I heard the mighty rush of water, and felt the ground tremble underneath my feet. The bank was very steep, and was slippery with rain and half-melted ice. I hardly knew how I got down, but I was soon at the bottom, and climbing, with two English officers, who were crossing and had joined me, over some broken rocks, deafened by the noise, half-blinded by the spray, and wet to the skin. We were at the foot of the American fall. T could see an immense torrent of water tearing headlong down from some great heiglft, but .had no .idea of shape, or situation, or anything but vague immensity... When we were seated in the little ferry-boat, and were crossing the swollen river, immediately before both cataracts, I began to feel what it was; but I was in a manner stunned, and unable to comprehend the vastness of the scene. Tt was not until T came on Table Hock and looked, great heaven, on what a fall of bright ;;green water! that it came upon me in its full .might and majesty. Then, when I felt how near to my I was standing the 'first effect and the enduring one instant and lasting—of the tremendous peace of mind—tranquillity—calm recollection of the dead-—great thoughts of eternal rest and happiness—nothing of gloom or: terror. Niagara was at once stamped upon my heart and image of beauty, to remain there changeless and indelible until its pulses cease to beat for ever. Oh, how strife and trouble of our daily.life receded from my view and lessened in the distance during the ten memorable days we passed •> on that enchanted ground. What voices spoke from out the thundering water; what-faces faded from the earth looked out upon me from its gleaming depths; what heavenly promise glistened in those angel tears, the drops of many hues that showered around and twined themselves about the gorgeous arches which the changing rainbows made! I never stirred in all the time from the Canadian side, whither I had. gone at first. T never crossed the river, again, for I knew there were people on the other shore, and in such a place it is natural to! shun strange company. To wander to and. fro all day,-and see the cataracts from all points of view; stand upon the edge of the -Great .Horseshoe Fall, marking the hurried water gathering strength as it approached the verge, yet seeming, too, to pause before it shot into the gulf below; to gaze upon the river's,level up at the torrent, as it came down ; to climb the neighbouring heights, and watch it through the trees, and see the wreathipg water to the rapids hurrying on to take its fearful plunge; to linger in the shadow of the solemn rocks three miles below, watching the river, as, stirred by no visible cause, it heaved and eddied, and awoke the echoes, being troubled yet far down beneath the surface by its giant leap. to have Niagara before me lighted by the sun artd by the moon red in the day’s decline, and grey as evening slowly ’fell upon- it; to look upon it every day, and awake up 1 in the night and hear its ceaseless voice: this was enough !

Pumpkin Soup. —Cut four or five thick slices of pumpkin into small pieces, put them oh the fire with as much water as will cover the bottom of your saucepan : add eight or ten onions, and when all is sufficiently boiled to pulp, pass it through a culender; then put three or four onions previously sliced, when they are fried of a light brown, add to them your pulp, with as much milk as will render the whole of the consistency of thick cream. Toasted bread, cut in slices, is an improvement. Passengers going in a ship which carries a milch cow, may, at this season of the year, have an excellent soup from England to New. Zealand. Let any intended emigrant who reads this receipt, try it at this time. It is universally to be met with at the first tables in' France, care being taken not to bruise the pumpkins ; if they are hung up by ; the stalk to the ceiling, they will keep from Octpberito May, —New Zealand Journal, Nov. 26.