In consequence of this temporary separation from Cadwallader, I was left for a few days, the master of my own movements. I determined to employ them in a rapid excursion through a part of the eastern states of this great confederation, in order to obtain a coup d'œil of a portion of the interior. It would have been the most obvious, and perhaps the most pleasing route, to have followed the coast as far as Boston; but this would have brought me in the train of La Fayette, where the natural aspect of society was disturbed by the universal joy and excitement produced by his reception. I chose, therefore, a direction farther from the water, through the centre of Connecticut, entering Massachusetts by its southern border, and traversing that state to Vermont. After looking a little at the latter, and New Hampshire, I returned through the heart of Massachusetts to Rhode Island, re-entering and quitting Connecticut at new points, and regaining this city through the adjacent county of Westchester. The whole excursion has exceeded a thousand miles, though the distance from New York has at no time been equal to three hundred. By naming some of the principal towns through which I passed, you will be able to trace the route on a map, and may better understand the little I have to communicate. I entered Connecticut near Danbury, and left it at Suffield, having passed a night in Hartford, one of its two capital towns.

The writer of these Letters is not without some of the yearnings of paternity in committing the offspring of his brain to the world. His chief concern is that the book may pass as near as possible for what it was intended in the design, however the execution may fall short of the plan.

A close and detailed statistical work on the United States of America, could not keep its place as an authority for five years. What is true this year would the next become liable to so many explanations, that the curious would soon cease to consult its pages. The principles of the government, and the state of society, are certainly more permanent; but the latter varies rapidly in the different stages of a life that is so progressive. Nothing more has, therefore, been attempted here, than to give a hasty and general sketch of most things of interest, and to communicate what is told in as unpretending and familiar a way as the subjects themselves would conveniently allow.

The facts of these volumes are believed to be, in general, correct. The Author does not claim to be exempt from error; but as he has given some thought and a great deal of time to the subjects of which he has treated, he hopes that refutation will not easily attack him in the shape of evidence. His reasoning–if rapid, discursive, and ill-arranged arguments can aspire to so high a name–must, of course, depend on its own value.

The next subject of interest, after the unfortunate descendants of the Africans, that has been brought into my notice by this southern tour, is the remnant of the original possessors of these regions. By far the most numerous, and the most important of the native tribes, which still continue in the immediate vicinity of the whites, are those which occupy reservations in Georgia, the Floridas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tenessee. The lingering fragments of a hundred tribes are certainly seen scattered over the immense surface of this country, living on greater or less tracts that had been secured to them, or dwelling by sufferance in the woods; but the only people now residing east of the Mississippi who can aspire to the names of nations, are the Creeks, the Choctaws, the Chickasaws, the Cherokees, and the Seminoles, all of whom dwell in the portion of country I have named.

As a rule, the red man disappears before the superior moral and physical influence of the white, just as I believe the black man will eventually do the same thing, unless he shall seek shelter in some other region. In nine cases in ten, the tribes have gradually removed west; and there is now a confused assemblage of nations and languages collected on the immense hunting grounds of the Prairies.

It is impossible to say any thing of the numbers of the Indians, except by conjecture, since they are not considered as coming properly within the computations of the census.

Congress necessarily rose on the night of the 4th of March. You must have learned from my previous letters, that a congress lasts but two years, commencing on the 4th of March of one year, and terminating on the 3rd of March of the year but one following. Of course it would be necessary to convene the new members, in order to proceed in legislation after the prescribed period. This can be, and has been, done, in times of need, but the usual practice is to let the bodies separate, at the end of what is called the “short session.” The terms of short and long session are easily explained. The constitution requires that congress should assemble on the first Monday in December of each year, unless it has adjourned to a different period, or is expressly convened by a call from the president. On the first year of the service of the members, it is plain they may sit as long as they please; but on the second, their term of service expires on the 3d of March. As one third of the senators, and perhaps about the same number of the representatives, usually retire every two years, it would be necessary to summon those who supply their places, should the public service require an immediate continuation of the legislative duties. The senate sometimes sits a day or two after the lower house has adjourned, in order to attend to what is called executive business (the approval of nominations to office).

I threw aside my pen abruptly, dear Baron, in order to catch a first view of America. There is something so imposing in the sound of the word–continent, that I believe it had served to lead me into a delusion, at which a little reflection has induced me to be the first to smile. My ideas of this remote and little known moiety of the world, have ever been so vague and general, that I confess the folly of having expected to see the land make its appearance en masse, and with a dignity worthy of its imposing name. The mind has been so long accustomed to divide the rest of the globe into parts, and to think of them in their several divisions of countries and provinces, that one expects to see no more of each, at a coup d'œil, than what the sight can embrace. Now, ridiculous as it may seem, I had, unaccountably, imbibed the impression that America was to appear, at the first glance, larger to the senses than the little island I had left behind me. You are at perfect liberty to make yourself just as merry as you please at this acknowledgment; but, if the truth could be fairly sifted, I have no doubt it would be found that most European adventurers, who seek these western regions, have formed expectations of its physical or moral attributes, quite as extravagant as was my own unfortunate image of its presence.

I have been a daily visiter at the capitol. The proceedings of the two houses are never without interest, since they control the entire foreign policy of this growing republic, which is daily becoming of more importance in the eyes of Christendom. Some of the peculiar practice of American legislation may be of interest, and before I write of individuals, I will attempt a brief outline of their forms.

You probably know already that the president of the United States is assisted by a cabinet. It is composed of four secretaries, (state, treasury, war, and navy,) and of the attorney-general. As the president is alone answerable for his proper acts, these ministers have no further responsibility than as their own individual agency is concerned. They have no seats in congress, since the constitution forbids that any officer of the general government should be a representative either of a state (a senator), or of the people (a member of the house of representatives). Thus, the judges and generals, and colonels, of which one reads in congress, are not officers of the United States, but of the states themselves. The difference is material, since the authorities by whom they are commissioned have no power over the measures on which they are called to legislate. You will understand me better if I go a little into detail.

Neither the geographical situation of the United States, nor the habits of their citizens, are very favourable to the formation of a military character. Though the republic has actually been engaged in six wars, since the year 1776, only two have been of a nature to require the services of land troops in the field. The two struggles with England were close, and always, for the number engaged in the combats, obstinate and bloody, but the episode of a war with France in 1799, the two with Algiers, and that with Tripoli, only gave occasion for the courage and skill of the marine.

By studying the character of the people, and by looking closely into their history, it will be found that they contain the elements to form the best of troops. In point of physique they are certainly not surpassed. So far as the eye can judge, I should say that men of great stature and strength are about as common in America as elsewhere; while small men are more rare. I am much inclined to think that the aggregate of mere animal force would be found to be somewhat above the level of Europe in its best parts. This is not at all surprising, when one remembers the excellence and abundance of nutriment which is within the reach of the very poorest.