Volume 1 — LETTER XIII.

Hampton.—Ferry to Norfolk.—Danger in crossing the numerous Ferries in Virginia.—Norfolk.—Laws of Virginia injurious to the Trading Interest.—Streets narrow and dirty in Norfolk.—Yellow Fever there.—Observations on this Disorder.—Violent Party Spirit amongst the Inhabitants.—Few Churches in Virginia.—Several in Ruins.—Private Grave Yards.

Norfolk, April.

FROM Williamsburgh to Hampton the country is flat and uninteresting. Hampton is a small town, situated at the head of a bay, near the mouth of James River, which contains about thirty houses and an episcopalian church. A few sea boats are annually built here; and corn and lumber are exported annually to the value of about forty-two thousand dollars. It is a dirty disagreeable place, 170always infested by a shocking stench from a muddy shore when the tide is out.

From this town there is a regular ferry to Norfolk, across Hampton roads, eighteen miles over. I was forced to leave my horses here behind me for several days, as all the flats belonging to the place had been sent up a creek some miles for staves, &c. and they had no other method of getting horses into the ferry boats, which were too large to come close into shore, excepting by carrying them out in these flats, and then making them leap on board. It is a most irksome piece of business to cross the ferries in Virginia; there is not one in six where the boats are good and well manned, and it is necessary to employ great circumspection in order to guard against accidents, which are but too common. As I passed along I heard of numberless recent instances of horses being drowned, killed, and having their legs broken, by getting in and out of the boats.

Norfolk stands nearly at the mouth of the eastern branch of Elizabeth River, the most southern of those which empty themselves into the Chesapeak Bay. It is the largest commercial town in Virginia, and carries on a flourishing trade to the West Indies. The exports consist principally of tobacco, flour, and corn, and various kinds of lumber; of the latter it derives an inexhaustible supply from the Dismal 171Swamp, immediately in the neighbourhood.

NORFOLK.

Norfolk would be a place of much greater trade than it is at present, were it not for the impolicy of some laws which have existed in the state of Virginia. One of these laws, so injurious to commerce, was passed during the war. By this law it was enacted, that all merchants and planters in Virginia, who owed money to British merchants, should be exonerated from their debts if they paid the money due into the public treasury instead of sending it to Great Britain; and all such as stood indebted were invited to come forward, and give their money in this manner, towards the support of the contest in which America was then engaged.

The treasury at first did not become much richer in consequence of this law; for the Virginian debtor, individually, could gain nothing by paying the money that he owed into the treasury, as he had to pay the full sum which was due to the British merchant; on the contrary, he might lose considerably: his credit would be ruined in the eyes of the British merchant by such a measure, and it would be a great impediment to the renewal of a commercial intercourse between them after the conclusion of the war.

172However, when the continental paper money became so much depreciated, that one hundred paper dollars were not worth one in silver, many of the people, who stood deeply indebted to the merchants in Great Britain, began to look upon the measure in a different point of view; they now saw a positive advantage in paying their debts into the treasury in these paper dollars, which were a legal tender; accordingly they did so, and in consequence were exonerated of their debts by the laws of their country, though in reality they had not paid more than one hundredth part of them. In vain did the British merchant sue for his money when hostilities were terminated; he could obtain no redress in any court of justice in Virginia. Thus juggled out of his property he naturally became distrustful of the Virginians; he refused to trade with them on the same terms as with the people of the other states, and the Virginians have consequently reaped the fruits of their very dishonourable conduct[21].

IMPOLITIC LAWS.

Another law, baneful in the highest degree to the trading interest, is one which renders 173all landed property inviolable. This law has induced numbers to run into debt; and as long as it exists foreigners will be cautious of giving credit to a large amount to men who, if they chuse to purchase a tract of land with the goods or money entrusted to their care, may sit down upon it securely, out of the reach of all their creditors, under protection of the laws of the country. Owing to this law they have not yet been enabled to get a bank established in Norfolk, though it would be of the utmost importance to the traders. The directors of the bank of the United States have always peremptorily refused to let a branch of it be fixed in any part of Virginia whilst this law remains. In Boston, New York, Baltimore, Charleston, &c. there are branches of the bank of the United States, besides other banks, established under the sanction of the state legislature.

Repeated attempts have been made in the state assembly to get this last mentioned law repealed, but they have all proved ineffectual. The debates have been very warm on the business, and the names of the majority, who voted for the continuation of it, have been published, to expose them if possible to infamy; but so many have sheltered themselves under its sanction, and so many still find an interest in its continuance, that it is not likely to be speedily repealed.

174The houses in Norfolk are about five hundred in number; by far the greater part of them are of wood, and but meanly built. These have all been erected since the year 1776, when the town was totally destroyed by fire, by the order of Lord Dunmore, then regal governor of Virginia. The losses sustained on that occasion were estimated at £.300,000 sterling. Towards the harbour the streets are narrow and irregular; in the other parts of the town they are tolerably wide; none of them are paved, and all are filthy; indeed, in the hot months of summer, the stench that proceeds from some of them is horrid. That people can be thus inattentive to cleanliness, which is so conducive to health, and in a town where a sixth part of the people died in one year of a pestilential disorder, is most wonderful!![22]

YELLOW FEVER.

175Amongst the inhabitants are great numbers of Scotch and French. The latter are almost 176entirely from the West Indies, and principally from St. Domingo. In such prodigious numbers did they flock over after the British forces had got footing in the French islands, that between two and three thousand were in Norfolk at one time; most of them, however, afterwards dispersed themselves throughout different parts of the country; those who staid in the town opened little shops of different kinds, and amongst them I found many who had been in affluent circumstances before they were driven from their homes.

GRAVE YARDS.

A strong party spirit has always been prevalent amongst the American inhabitants of this town; so much so that a few years ago, 177when some English and French vessels of war were lying in Hampton roads, and the sailors, from each, on shore, the whole people were up and ready to join them, on the one side or the other, in open contest; but the mayor drew out the militia, and sent them to their respective homes.

Here are two churches, one for episcopalians, the other for methodists. In the former, service is not performed more than once in two or three weeks, and very little regard is paid by the people in general to Sunday. Indeed, throughout the lower parts of Virginia, that is, between the mountains and the sea, the people have scarcely any sense of religion, and in the country parts the churches are all falling into decay. As I rode along, I scarcely observed one that was not in a ruinous condition, with the windows broken, and doors dropping off the hinges, and lying open to the pigs and cattle wandering about the woods; yet many of these were not past repair. The churches in Virginia, excepting such as are in towns, stand for the most part in the woods, retired from any houses, and it does not appear that any persons are appointed to pay the smallest attention to them.

A custom prevails in Norfolk, of private individuals holding grave yards, which are looked upon as a very lucrative kind of property, the 178owners receiving considerable fees annually for giving permission to people to bury their dead in them. It is very common also to see, in the large plantations in Virginia, and not far from the dwelling house, cemeteries walled in, where the people of the family are all buried. These cemeteries are generally built adjoining the garden.