NEGROES AT NEW YORK. 39 



tion, I saw that Germans and Irish were thought little 

 more of than negroes. Of course there are honorable 

 exceptions, for the educated Americans know how to 

 make a distinction ; yet, at that time, it is very possible 

 that I may have been misinformed. 



It is disagreeable to the feelings of the newly arrived 

 European to behold the treatment of the unfortunate 

 negroes ; for though New York is not a slave state 

 they are considered no better than cattle. Yet they 

 enjoy a number of privileges, which they lately obtained 

 through the kindness of General Jackson. At the 

 same time, they are not allowed to enter an omnibus, 

 nor to sit anywhere but in the gallery of the theatre. 

 They must keep to their own churches, and cannot be 

 sworn as witnesses against the whites. 



After a few weeks' residence in New York, my land- 

 lord asked me to try a speculation with him, in order, 

 as he said, to get rich in a short time. He proposed to 

 open a cigar shop. I had no inclination for it at first, 

 having been so often warned against the Germans, but 

 so many people spoke well of him, and said he was so 

 much esteemed, that I began to think he must be an 

 exception. I embarked all the money I possessed in 

 this business. My partner obtained some,' but upon 

 credit ; and in a short time a cigar shop was opened by 

 the firm, in Broadway, the most frequented street of 

 New York. It seemed a miracle how well I had 

 managed my affairs. Hardly a month had I been in 

 America, and already I carried on a business of my 

 own ! It was Avell that this dream lasted only a short 

 time, or I should have lost everything. 



I bagan now to Americanize myself. I was no longer 



