CHEWING AND SMOKING. 307 "5. Is always attentive to strangers, and gives up his seat to such, seeking another for himself. "6. Never thinks of defiling the house of God with tobacco-spittle, or annoying those who sit near him by chewing that nauseous weed in church. 7. Never, unless in case of illness, gets up or goes out during the time of service. But if necessity compels him to do so, goes so quickly that his very manner is an apology for the act. "8. Does not engage in conversation before the commencement of service. "9. Does not whisper, or laugh, or eat fruit in the house of God, or lounge in that holy place. "10. Does not rush out of the church like a trampling horse the moment the benediction is pronounced, but retires slowly, in a noiseless, quiet manner. "11. Does all he can, by precept and example, to promote decorum in others, and is ever ready to lend his aid to discountenance all indecorum in the house of God." In the Northern States, however, the subject of tobaccochewing has been taken up in a more direct manner than this; and though it would seem to be a most unpoetical theme, it has been made the topic of a serious though not a very elegant poem, if one may judge from the following brief notice of it in a Baltimore paper, the only one I have seen. "TOBACCO-CHEWING.-The Rev. Charles S. Adams, of Boston, has published a poem on Chewing and Spitting. The following couplet is a specimen : 'If you would know the deeds of him that chews, I do not know how far it would be deemed an interference with personal liberty to prohibit the chewing of tobacco in public worship. But smoking would not be tolerated in any church any more than in concert-rooms or theatres; and at present, in the railroad cars from Philadelphia to Baltimore, and from hence to Washington, there is a printed announcement, prohibiting all passengers from smoking within the cars; a proof that public opinion pronounces smoking to be more offensive to others than chewing, or both would have been alike forbidden. The cultivation of tobacco, which has nearly worn out the best soils of Virginia and Maryland, from its exhausting power over the earth, is almost wholly carried on by slaves; and as it is believed here that the same men, if free, would not consent to such laborious occupation unless highly paid, and as the operation is thought to be too severe for the whites, there is a great indisposition on the part of the mass of the people to hear anything about abolition. What, however, is as inconsistent as it is remarkable, is this: that the Democratic portion of the populace-they who ought, if they acted on their professed principles-to be the most ardent friends of freedom and equal rights for the blacks, which they so strenuously demand for themselves-are most strongly opposed to slave emancipation. Their organs accordingly seize every opportunity to impute the crime of advocating negro freedom-for they consider it as great a crime to ask freedom from others as to withhold it from themselves-to the Whigs. The following instance of this occurred in the Baltimore Republican of April 19, 1838, on the eve of the election for a member of Congress, when a Whig and a Democratic candidate were presented to the choice of the electors, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the recent death of the late member, Mr. M'Kim. "Southern Men and Slaveholders, look at this! "The following resolutions have passed the Massachusetts Senate unanimously. Read them as a specimen of Webster Whiggery. There is not a Democrat in the Massachusetts Senate. Whiggery has the whole of the honour, may it have all the profit! "Resolves relating to slavery and the slave-trade in the District of Columbia, and territories of the United States: "1. Resolved, That Congress has, by the Constitution, power to abolish slavery and the slave-trade in the District of Columbia; and that there is nothing in the terms or circumstances of the acts of cession by Virginia and Maryland, or otherwise, imposing any legal or moral restraint upon its exercise. "2. Resolved, That Congress ought to take measures for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. "3. Resolved, That the rights of justice, the claims of humanity, and the common good, alike demand the entire suppression of the slavetrade now carried on in the District of Columbia. "4. Resolved, That Congress has, by the Constitution, power to abolish slavery in the territories of the United States. "5. Resolved, That Congress has, by the Constitution, power to abolish the traffic in slaves between different states of the Union. "6. Resolved, That the exercise of this power is demanded by the principles of humanity and justice. "7. Resolved, That no new state should hereafter be admitted in the Union whose Constitution of government shall permit the existence of domestic slavery." During our stay at Baltimore, an announcement was made in the public papers, "by the levy court of St. Mary's county," of various estates and tracts of land in this part of the state, on which arrears of taxes, the most of very small amounts, were due; and notifying that, unless paid within thirty days after the date of the advertisement, the lands would be sold for the payment of such arrears. The names of the estates and tracts of land were as curious as those in Alleghany county in Virginia, advertised at Wash QUAINT NAMES.-LAND SOLD FOR TAXES. 309 ington, of which the following specimens will serve as a proof. "The Flowers of the Forest," 100 acres, due one dollar 81 cents; "Tit for Tat," 50 acres, due 1 d. 2 c.; "Truth and Trust," 85 acres, due 1 d. 18 c.; "Good Luck," 75 acres, due 2 d. 30 c.; "Resurrection Manor," 37 acres, due 1 d. 32 c.; "Forest of Harvey found by Chance," 140 acres, due 2 d. 63 c.; "America Felix," 15 acres, due 1 d. 20 c.; "America Felix Secundus," 541 acres, due 40 d.; "Bachelor's Comfort," 225 acres, due 4 d. 30 c.; "Wathen's Disappointment," 167 acres, due 5 d. 63 c.; "Heart's Delight," 433 acres, due 11 d. 6 c.; "Poverty Knoll," 118 acres, due 2 d. 20 c.; "Chance's Conclusion with Amendment," 1032 acres, due 28 d. 99 c.; "Wit and Folly," 279 acres, due 6 d. 40 c.; "Peace and Quietness," 258 acres, due 2 d. 69 c.; Long looked-for Come-at-last," 50 acres, due 2 d. 18 c.; "Love's Adventure," 215 acres, due 5 d. 81 c."* 66 These names, which were all conferred by the first purchasers of the estates so designated, had no doubt a reference to the several circumstances as well as moods of mind of the buyers and their variety is a fair sample of the diversified motives and changing fortunes which bring emigrants from Europe to America, and which lead men from the town to the country in search of subsistence. As these places will most probably, however, retain their original names when towns are built around them-as in the course of years is almost sure to happen-the nomenclature of America, already disfigured with odd and fanciful designations, and rendered confused by endless repetitions, will be still worse than at present. Here, in the immediate neighbourhood of Baltimore, is a Rome, a Joppa, and a Havre de Grace; in Long Island, close to New-York, Babylon and Jericho may be visited by the same railroad; and the cities of Troy, Memphis, Athens, and Palmyra, with Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem, have all had their names, at least, transferred from the Old to the New World. While we were in Baltimore, the State Legislature of Maryland was assembled at the legislative capital, Annapolis, but had closed their labours before we left. It appears from a report of their proceedings during the session of about four months, that they passed 363 laws and 79 resolutions; so that there would seem to be the same taste for excessive legislation here as at home. Among the really good laws * In this account, d means dollars, c cents. which they passed was one for the legal registration of voters previous to an election; but, though this law is so just in itself, and must be so unobjectionable to all men who desire only an honest exercise of the elective franchise, it has been denounced by the Democratic party here as though it were the greatest infringement of liberty ever heard of. The truth is, that in this city, as well as at New-York and all along the sea-border, emigrants from Europe, German and Irish, are brought up to vote at the polls for the election of members of Congress and municipal officers within a few days after their landing, though they declare themselves to be citizens, swear to a residence of the requisite number of years, get vouched for by abandoned men of their own party, and not only vote without the least title to such a privilege, but often vote in several wards in succession, the very circumstance of their being entire strangers rendering it impossible for any resident to detect them. A registry-law will no doubt put an end to this, and hence the anger of the party who denounce it; but as such a law cannot possibly deprive any man who has a right to vote of his power to exercise it, since the suffrage among real and bona-fide citizens is universal, it seems impossible that any truly honest politician should have any real objection to it. In the Maryland Legislature during the present session, a bill for abolishing imprisonment for debt was passed, with large majorities, through the House of Delegates, but it was rejected in the Senate or upper house, where only three members voted in its favour. This was the fate of the first English bill on the same subject; and it exhibits a painful view of human nature, when the rich, who are not exposed to the infliction of the punishment which imprisonment for debt brings on misfortune as well as fraud, oppose every attempt to soften the rigour of a practice which is unjust and injurious to all parties. A bill to prevent the carrying of concealed weapons was passed by the Legislature of Virginia during our stay here, by a majority of 85 to 17; and the same object was pressed upon the attention of the Maryland Legislature, as concealed weapons are worn by some of the people of this as well as of the neighbouring state. The bill for the suppres sion of duelling in the District of Columbia received also, while we were here, the final assent of both houses of Congress and the president, so that it has become a law; and this, coupled with the gradual disuse of secret arms, will no doubt have the effect of lessening the number of sanguinary conflicts. LAST DAY IN BALTIMORE.-FAREWELL LECTURE. 311 The environs of Baltimore are extremely agreeable, abounding with hill and valley, wood and water. A number of pretty and commodious villas, and several larger seats or mansions, are scattered about the neighbourhood of the city, within a distance of from one to five miles, and the views from the elevated points are extensive and beautiful. We enjoyed, with friends, some most agreeable drives in excursions to the country, and saw new beauties every day. The weather during our stay in Baltimore was pleasant on the whole, though marked by the usual uncertainty and vicissitude of the American climate. On some days we had the warmth of a summer sun, and found light clothing acceptable; at other times it was piercingly cold, and the northeast wind most disagreeable; rain was not frequent, but fell very copiously once or twice; and, after one of the warmest and finest mornings that could be imagined, there was a sudden overcast of the sky, and a heavy fall of snow before noon. The vegetation amid all this was extremely backward, and up to the 20th of April scarcely a bud was to be seen on any of the larger trees. On the 20th, the last day of our stay in this city, we were engaged during the whole of the day in receiving and paying parting visits to our friends, who were more numerous than we could have supposed it possible to make in so short a time. It was scarcely more than three weeks since we had arrived at Baltimore from Washington, and we had become acquainted with almost all the principal families of the place. It would be impossible to speak too highly of their kindness, hospitality, and friendly attentions to us. If we had known them for years instead of weeks, they could not have been more cordial; in many of the families of whom we took leave, the evident regret at parting was like that which is felt at the separation of kindred relatives or nearest and dearest friends; and of the sincerity of these manifestations there could be no reasonable ground of doubt. On the evening of the 20th, at the urgent request of the greater portion of the large auditory that had attended my courses on Egypt and Palestine throughout, as well as of many who had attended my public addresses on temperance in Baltimore, where large numbers were added to those who pledged themselves to abstain from the use of all intoxicating drinks, I gave a farewell lecture, in the costume of the East, descriptive principally of Oriental life and manners. This was crowded to excess; and for nearly an hour after the close of the lecture, I was detained in shaking |