No. 1. 



Letter from H. Colman. 



35 



London, July 3d, 1843. 

 Luther Tucker, Esq. : 



Dear Sir, — I intended sooner to have had 

 this pleasure ; but life in London consumes 

 one's time very much as a North river 

 steamer consumes the fuel; and at the close 

 of the day or the week, you can about as 

 well say what has become of it. Such a 

 rushing torrent of human life as the great 

 avenues in this city present — and really, 

 speaking of great avenues, one street seems 

 very much like another — it is hardly possible 

 to realize but from actual observation. The 

 Strand, Holborn, Piccadilly, Regent street, 

 Westminster bridge, London bridge, &c., 

 &c., with tlieir coaches and carts, and bar- 

 rows and omnibusses, and horses and dogs, 

 and very often droves of sheep and oxen, 

 and people of all nations and costumes, in 

 silks and tatters, in elegance and squalid- 

 ness, some with clothes on of course, and 

 some I had almost said without any, equally 

 matter of course, I judge, with them ; some 

 running, some creeping, some talking, some 

 singing, some crying, some reading, some 

 musing, — present, indeed, from the top of an 

 omnibus, where you can take in the whole 

 line, one of the most striking and curious 

 scenes imaginable, and infinitely amusing 

 and instructive. It resembles nothing so 

 much, as the breaking up of one of our 

 great rivers in the spring, or at the time of 

 a sudden freshet, which sweeps the fields of 

 their ripened crops, when down come cakes 

 of ice of all imaginable shapes, tumbling 

 over each other, and logs and slabs, and 

 broken fences, and parts of buildings, and 

 countless other things, mingling in all pos- 

 sible confusion, and all driving with an irre- 

 sistible impetuosity to the ocean. But there 

 is this difference, that here in the streets of 

 London, crowded as they are, and present- 

 ing continually opposing currents and eddies 

 and whirls, there is no confusion or rubbing, 

 or chafing, but all get on with good humour 

 and quiet. The omnibus drivers in London, 

 seem to me the perfection of " whips," and 

 the very personification of skill and discre- 

 tion in their particular art; and though I 

 have rode miles and miles on the box with 

 them, and on some occasions where the 

 street was filled with a continuous string of 

 all sorts of carriages and vehicles, four deep, 

 from the chariot of the peer to the wagon of 

 the coal-heaver and the donkey barrow of 

 the dog-meat seller, I have never seen any 

 entanglement, any running against each 

 other, nor heard a single profane or rude 

 word on any occasion. This certainly speaks 

 well for the people. The law of courtesy 

 and civility reigns supreme among all class- 



es of them ; neither by day or evening, and 

 I have been in all parts of the city, have I 

 seen, but in one instance, a single act of 

 quarreling, and that a case of absolute drunk- 

 enness and degradation; and not even at Ep- 

 som, where I attended the races, and where, 

 it would seem to me, on the day of the great 

 stakes, a hundred thousand people were as- 

 sembled. Undoubtedly there is vice enough 

 in London, and parts of it are, as is to be 

 expected, festering with moral corruption ; 

 but these facts speak volumes in the praise 

 of the people, and show the admirable cha- 

 racter of their police, and the advantages 

 which come from making manners a study. 

 You and my agricultural friends in the 

 country, will be happy to hear tliat I have 

 been received here by the distinguished 

 friends of agricultural improvement, with 

 the most cordial welcome, and am jaromised 

 the most ready and ample aid and encou- 

 ragement to my inquiries. I have already 

 been a good deal in the country, and after 

 this week, leave the vicinity of London for 

 some months. I am not disposed to insti- 

 tute any invidious comparisons between this 

 country and my own, for I see no grounds 

 for such comparisons. However separated 

 in their location, their interests are coinci- 

 dent and the same; and I venture to say 

 that no conviction impresses itself more 

 strongly upon the mind of a wise and hu- 

 mane man, when he comes here, than the 

 unnaturalness of enmity or war between 

 two such countries, united as they are by a 

 common origin, a common language, and a 

 universal interest in the maintenance of 

 peace and good will. My mission is re- 

 garded with favour, and I shall spare no 

 pains to render it as useful as my limited 

 ability will enable me to do, to my country. 

 Agriculture is pursued here with an intelli- 

 gence, spirit and liberality, which are most 

 remarkable and delightful ; much has already 

 been done, and the most valuable results are 

 to be confidently expected. Our country 

 must share in the benefit, and the fire kin- 

 dled and kept burning so brightly here, must 

 extend its light and heat to both hemispheres. 

 I shall keep my friends in America advised 

 of my whereabouts and whatabouts; and any 

 letters directed to me at London, care of 

 Baring, Brothers & Co., will be duly re- 

 ceived. The steamboat postage, however, 

 must be paid in America, in order to their 

 being sent. 



With all good wishes, I am yours, truly 

 and respectfiilly, Henry Colman. 



The subscriptions of our friends for Colman's Agri- 

 cultural Tour, will be received with pleasure at the 

 office of the Cabinet, 



