I was surprised to see the crowd of
persons, from various quarters, who had pressed to this point, waiting
the opening of the navigation.
It was a period of general migration from the East to the West. Commerce
had been checked for several years by the war with Great Britain.
Agriculture had been hindered by the raising of armies, and a harassing
warfare both on the seaboard and the frontiers; and manufactures had
been stimulated to an unnatural growth, only to be crushed by the peace.
Speculation had also been rife in some places, and hurried many
gentlemen of property into ruin. Banks exploded, and paper money flooded
the country.
The fiscal crisis was indeed very striking. The very elements seemed
leagued against the interests of agriculture in the Atlantic States,
where a series of early and late frosts, in 1816 and 1817, had created
quite a panic, which helped to settle the West.
I mingled in this crowd, and, while listening to the anticipations
indulged in, it seemed to me that the war had not, in reality, been
fought for "free trade and sailors' rights" where it commenced, but to
gain a knowledge of the world beyond the Alleghanies.
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