124 PHILADELPHIA. 



lent. The chief business on the quays seemed to be the load- 

 ing and unloading of tobacco. There is a fine monumental 

 pillar to Washington in the upper part of the town, and many 

 large and handsome residences in that neighbourhood. But 

 it was not thought safe to walk alone in the streets after dark. 

 A system of terrorism had been established by the " Know- 

 nothing," or American party, in the city, which had led to 

 several murders, and law and order were being set at defiance. 

 The mayor had expressed a determination to put this down, 

 but it seemed questionable whether he possessed the power. 



The ride from Baltimore to Philadelphia is very pleasing. 

 We pass numerous bays of the Chesapeake, until we cross the 

 Susquehanna below Harford, and, on reaching the banks of 

 the Delaware, the country becomes fertile and cultivated. The 

 position of Philadelphia is remarkably fine, placed on the apex 

 of land between the Delaware and Schuylkill. A great city 

 with half a million of inhabitants, it seemed designed by na- 

 ture to be the capital of the country. There is more of the 

 staidness, and quiet respectability, of an old and wealthy 

 country about this city and its people, than I have seen in any 

 other part of the United States. Many of the shops in the 

 principal streets are built of white marble, and one or two of 

 them exceed in elegance of external appearance any that I 

 have ever seen either in London or Paris. 



After a short stay we continued our journey to New York 

 and Boston, from which place I embarked in the good steam 

 ship " America," under the careful guidance of Captain Millar, 

 and, after a pleasant, though somewhat stormy passage of ten 

 days, arrived again in safety in Liverpool. 



