290 PROGRESS OF CINCINNATI. [CHAP. XXXVI. 



where they are best off, morally, physically, and in 

 tellectually, and where they are most progressive, 

 would be the safest one to select. Such being the 

 proposition, the Free States of the Union might well 

 claim a preference. 



Every town we had visited in the last three months, 

 since we left Savannah, in January, was new to us, 

 and Cincinnati was the first place where we were able 

 to compare the present state of things with that 

 observed by us in the summer of 1842. In this 

 short interval of four years, great improvements in 

 the buildings, streets, and shops were visible ; a vast 

 increase of population, and many additional churches, 

 and new cotton factories. The soil of the country 

 immediately behind the town is rich, and there is an 

 ample supply of labourers, partly indeed because the 

 Catholic priests strive to retain in the city all the 

 German emigrants. Although they are industrious 

 and thrifty, such an arrangement is by no means the 

 best for promoting the progress of Ohio, or her me 

 tropolis ; for, next to having an &quot; Irish quarter,&quot; a 

 &quot; German quarter &quot; in a large city is most undesir 

 able. The priests, no doubt, judge rightly, both in 

 reference to their notions of discipline, and with a 

 view of maintaining their power ; for these peasants, 

 when scattered over the country, and interspersed 

 with Protestants, cannot be made to confess regularly, 

 attend mass, and read orthodox German newspapers, 

 three of which are published here daily, and one 

 weekly, all under ecclesiastical censorship. There are 

 a large number of German Protestants, and 20,000 

 Catholics, in all twelve churches, where the service is 



