ever is levied by the State from each passenger, and appropriated to the fund for cutting the great canal, between Lake Erie and the Hudson.* Livingstone burns pine wood, and carries her fuel on wings projecting in front of the paddle boxes. She has two chimnies, several feet asunder, and the pilot occupies a position a little behind them upon a stage raised above the machinery, steering by a wheel, from which tackling is carried round to the rudder. The American steam vessels have nothing corresponding to our second cabin or steerage. The principal cabin of the Chancellor Livingstone is 54 feet long, and 7 feet from the floor to the beams; the width in feet I have not, but it accommodates with ease two parallel ranges of dining tables, of the full length of the apartment. The Ladies' cabin is upon deck, immediately over the other, and is 36 feet long. The forward cabin is entirely a sleeping apartment, 40 feet long, with a longitudinal partition in the centre. The sleeping births are along the sides of the vessel, in two tiers; the prin ́cipal cabin contains 38, the forward cabin 56, and the Ladies' 24, in all 118; but these are often inadequate to the accommodation of the passengers, and mattresses are laid out upon settees on the floor. There are other 17 sleeping births, for the captain, pilot, and crew, making a total of 135. She carries 24 hands, including engineers, sailors, stewards, cooks, &c. She was built when materials and workmanship were very high; it is said that she could now be constructed for little more than one-half. 4 This tax like every other was exceedingly unpopular, and it is obvious that although levied from the public its inconvenience was principally felt by the steam boat company, for passengers by the sloops, which are numerous and excellent, were not subject to it. So much was this felt, that the steam boat proprietors have subsequently found it their interest to relieve the public of it altogether, by compounding with the State for an annual payment of five thousand dollars. As this is a voluntary offset from their yearly profits, of more than eleven hundred pounds sterling, it is evident that they must have been very considerable. They have at the same time lowered the passage money to six dollars. (1822.) HOBOKEN-GENERAL HAMILTON. 309 We sailed from New York at nine o'clock in the morning. The weather was unfavourable to the enjoyment of the excursion, for the wind blew strong a-head and the air was piercingly cold; mere pleasure, however was not my object, and I had no resource but to submit. For a considerable distance the Hudson is the boundary between the States of New York and New Jersey. Jersey city as it is called is nearly opposite the lower extremity of New York, and about three miles farther up on the same side is a noted duelling ground, called Hoboken. Hither 'men of honour' resort from New York, to vindicate their claim to this envied appellation, and by eluding the laws of men and defying those of God, unanswerably demonstrate the extremity of their courage. A small white obelisk was erected here to mark the spot where General Hamilton fell, by the hand of Colonel Burr, but it is said to be going rapidly to decay. To Hamilton's genius the United States are indebted for some of the most invigorating principles in their national constitution, and had the political system which he advocated been more extensively adopted in the Federal compact, the republic would probably have made a nearer approach to a perfect constitution. It is much to be lamented that a life so valuable to his family, his country, and mankind, should have been staked on the decision of so unhallowed a tribunal. Burr was pointed out to me in the streets of New York. He has never been duel was fought in tried for the offence, for as the New Jersey, the State of New York can take no cognizance of its result, and so long as the survivor keeps out of the territory of New Jersey, he is safe from the operation of its laws. Although the crossing of a stream, however, thus protects the person of the murderer, he cannot be said to have gone without punishment even of a temporal kind. The Republican party to which he at first belonged shun him as an apostate; and after having failed to ingratiate himself with the Federalists, he earned their thorough detestation, by sacrificing to his resentment the man who was their most illustrious ornament.5 5 Close by Hoboken is Weehawken, a romantic spot about 200 feet above the level of the river, from which a most commanding prospect is enjoyed of the bay and surrounding scenery. In 1821 a lively little satirical poem was published by a Mr. Hallack of New York, from which the following descriptive stanzas are extracted :— "Weehawken, in thy mountain scenery yet, All we adore of nature in her wild And never has a summer's morning smil'd Amid thy forest solitudes, he climbs O'er crags that proudly tower above the deep, Is on the verge of the cliff, and he can hear About a mile above New York and nearly opposite Hoboken, is the village of Greenwich, now almost an integral part of the city. Around it are many neat buildings, the greater part of which, as well as the village itself, were erected in former times as a retreat from the yellow fever. 6 Above Like the death music of his coming doom, And clings to the green turf with desperate force, In such an hour he turns, and on his view, Ocean, and earth, and heaven burst before him. Tall spire and glittering roof, and battlement, And white sails o'er the calm blue waters bent, Green isle, and circling shore, are blended there In wild reality. When life is old, And many a scene forgot, the heart will hold Its memory of this; nor lives there one Whose infant breath was drawn, or boyhood's days Upon that bay, or on that mountain stand, Fanny, a Poem, Stanzas XCI-XCVI. • The subsequent and repeated return of this malady, after an absence of many years, has again driven the citizens to Greenwich for shelter. (1822.) |