74 JUDGES AND LAW COURTS. [CHAP. XXV. 



me he meant to visit England, and, with that view, had for some 

 months abstained entirely from the chewing of tobacco, having 

 been told it would be considered a breach of good manners there. 

 His physician, also, had assured him that this habit, which he 

 had taken pains to acquire when a boy, because he thought it 

 manly, though much against his natural taste, was injuring his 

 health. He seemed to know the names of almost every bishop 

 and dignitary of the English Church, their incomes and shades 

 of opinion, and regretted that Archbishop Whately had taken 

 such low ground in regard to the apostolic succession. &quot; The 

 bishop of this diocese,&quot; he said, &quot;receives about 800/. a year, 

 and has to pay his own traveling expenses, but in the older states 

 the bishops have higher salaries.&quot; Episcopal clergymen usually 

 receive about 500 dollars (or 100 guineas) in country parishes, 

 and four times that sum in large towns, or even more. Upon 

 the whole, he thought them well paid, in proportion to the aver 

 age scale of fortunes in the United States, and he was convinced, 

 that as the wealthiest class are so often Episcopalians, his church 

 is a gainer in worldly advantages as well as spiritual influence-, 

 by being wholly unconnected with the state. 



In the afternoon, the Presbyterian minister of Tuscaloosa de 

 livered a good discourse on the necessity of a higher standard of 

 honor in commercial affairs. Channing had said, that they who 

 become insolvent by over-trading, often inflict more misery than 

 highwaymen and thieves ; and this preacher affirmed that for 

 each hundred persons engaged in trade in Alabama, there had 

 been ninety-seven bankruptcies. One of the citizens, who was 

 scandalized at this assertion, afterward raised the question, whether 

 it was true, arid I asked if any one of the party could name a 

 tradesman in their town who had not failed once in the last 

 twenty years. They were only able to mention two. 



I was surprised at the number of lawyers at Tuscaloosa who 

 enjoy the title of Judge, and equally amused when the cause was 

 explained to me. False notions of economy have from time to 

 time induced the democracy to lower the salaries of the judges ; 

 especially in the inferior courts. The consequence has been, that 

 as the state can no longer command the services of the best law- 



