case was going on a question of title under a Spanish grant. A young lawyer, in a white tie, but no wig or gown, was arguing the case. He seemed to be a local Californian who had come up about it. In the evening, dining at the British Minister's house, I was fortunate enough to meet several of the most distinguished public men. They all seemed to be very strong in favour of honest money. I talked to the Chief Justice about the usury laws which still prevail in America. He seemed to say that though they do still exist they have little practical effect; they are seldom pleaded in bar of action. If usurious interest is once paid it cannot be recovered; and outside the law there is a kind of merchants' union to enforce contracts. Even in New York there are still usury laws, limiting interest to 7 per cent.; but the merchants manage to defeat it. The situation of the great city of New York is somewhat peculiar, for the rural population of the State a good deal exceeds the town population, and is decidedly rural and primitive; so that in regard to usury laws, restriction on the sale of spirits, and some other matters. the country farmers control all the wealth and power of New York City. It is they who maintain the usury laws. The spirit-licensing laws are now the subject of much contention in New York.

The following day was my last in Washington, and after again looking in at some of the offices I left it in the afternoon. There is a very important Agricultural Office, where they collect all sorts of agricultural specimens and acclimatise and distribute new plants; but the head of the department was absent, and I have postponed going particularly over it till my return.

Upon the whole my impression of Washington is that, in spite of the large amount of home rule which prevails in the United States, the central departments of the Government are upon a much more complete footing, with larger and more various establishments, than anything of the kind that we have. All these centralised departments are the creation of the last few years.

There seems to be very great freedom for the expression of political opinion, in spite of the victory of the North in the war. Looking over the books at a bookseller's shop, I came upon a popular school history of America in the form of a catechisin, which gave the Southern view of matters in

an extreme, I may say a violent, form. According to this children's catechism, at the end of the war General Sherman agreed to receive back the Southern States into the Union unconditionally; but this pledge on the faith on which the Confederate army surrendered was basely repudiated and broken. Soon after, the assassination of Mr. Lincoln excited the passions of the Northerners, and by perfidious violence the 14th and 15th Amendments of the Constitution were put in. It certainly seems very liberal to allow Southern children to be taught these things.

VIRGINIA.

Virginia is close to Washington, on the other side of the Potomac (pronounce it Potōōmac, or you will be exceedingly laughed at); but I had arranged first to visit the lower portion of Virginia; so I went back to Baltimore, and there took the steamer of what is called the Bay Line. In the steamer I was treated with great civility, at the instance of Mr. RR. I passed the night in going down the Bay in as great comfort as if I had been in a luxurious house. The estuary of the Chesapeake is here called the Bay.' These American steamers are certainly delightful in quiet waters; but the consort of this one was dreadfully mauled in the late storm, and very nearly went to the bottom. They are built too high for bad weather.

In the morning I landed at Old Point, or Fort Munro, near the country town of Hampton, in Virginia. There is a large hotel, used by sea-bathers in the summer. I had an introduction to General W the commander of the fort, where there is a large artillery school. General MGeneral Sherman's Staff, most kindly took charge of me during my visit to this neighbourhood.

of

I notice that I am now quite in the land of blacks, especially here, where they collected in numbers during the war. In this district they are quite in a majority. They do all the work about the wharves, and most other work. I principally came here to see the Hampton Agricultural Institute' for blacks. I went over it under the guidance of General Armstrong, who has charge of it, and has made it what it is. It is not quite an Agricultural Institute, for it is more used to

turn out schoolmasters than anything else. The justification for teaching them agriculture is that, as the schools are commonly open part of the year only, there is every opportunity for the practice of improved agriculture during the remainder of the year. Several trades are also taught. I believe this is the only place in the Southern States where black printers are educated. The Institution is primarily supported by funds subscribed in the North, but it is now largely aided by the State of Virginia. It is not a free school, not being looked upon as charitable. The students are expected to pay moderate fees, and by their work to earn something towards their own living. Besides the negro students there are a good many Indians, sent by the United States Government. They are Indians from the Western tribes; and it is intended that, after being civilised and educated, they are to go back, and to improve their countrymen. I was much interested in these Indians. They are not red, but rather yellow, and not at all unlike some of the Indo-Chinese tribes to the east of Bengal.

I had a good deal of talk with General Armstrong about the negroes and about Southern politics. He is the son of a missionary who spent many years in the Sandwich Islands, but was a distinguished Federal soldier in the war. He thinks that the blacks are certainly inferior to the whites in intellect, but they are improvable. The Indians are decidedly stronger in intellect, but much more difficult to manage. The negroes have a passion for land; it is their great wish to acquire it; but they are wanting in saving qualities, prudence and perseverance, to enable them to do so. Those, however, who were the best hands in slave-times are now acquiring land-not very much, but they are getting on. If they are able to buy land they can get it. In some parts of the country there is a social prejudice against selling to them; that is, in localities where white people prevail, they do not always like to have negroes coming among them; but at other places, where the population is principally negro, the whites are very ready to sell and go elsewhere. He thinks about one-third of the negroes are decidedly good; one-third may be made good by good management; and one-third are bad. Like most of the people I have spoken to, he has not much opinion of the mulattos. The race is not sterile, but it deteriorates. In most parts of the South the negroes rent land

on shares; but the master not only finds stock, but makes advances for food and other requirements, and at the end of the year the negroes have very little to get. They are very willing for education; the great difficulty is about teachers, and that want this and other institutions are supplying. Most of the Southern States, now that the negroes must have votes, are really adopting the policy of educating and civilising them. Virginia has honestly carried out the education policy so far as her funds admit. Altogether, Republican that he is, he gives a favourable view of the situation. Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina are decidedly doing well; and in South Carolina, though some Democrats opposed Hampton, the present Governor, he is doing good. The worst bulldozing has been in Mississippi. In Virginia and other wellmanaged States, he says, people are quite willing to give the blacks a minority representation in the State Legislatures, and do so. This district is represented by a black. In short, he fully endorses the policy of the present President, which most Republicans do not. The negroes, he says, in most States, really are allowed to vote, and do; but whites will not submit. to be ruled over by blacks, and where that is feared they audaciously false-count. They are afraid to excite the feelings of the North by open violence.

With the view of giving a fair trial to the negroes a good deal of land here has been sold in small patches, which they have bought; and a good many private proprietors, following this example, have done likewise, so that there is quite a large black proprietary, owning their own patches of land and their own cottages. The patches, however, are very small, but are said to be large enough to grow vegetables; and there is so much fishing and easy living here, that the negroes are not obliged to work very hard. An immense quantity of vegetables is raised in this part of Virginia, to supply the winter and spring markets of the great towns of the North. The winter climate here is very mild; they say that cattle can almost always go out all the year. In the fields about I saw turnips and Scotch kail; and I find that root-crops are a good deal more grown in the South than in the North. The turnips, however, are rather poor. Green sorghum is largely used as fodder for cattle, as well as the leaves of the maize.

I visited the Soldiers' Home here, which seemed to me a

folly-a place where disabled volunteer soldiers are kept in absolute idleness, with nothing whatever to do. I saw an old soldier who had fought against us in the war of 1812, and by his side an Englishman who, in much later days, had fought for the United States. I notice that in all United States books and histories, and, I may say, memories, the war of 1812 occupies a prominent place, while we have managed to forget it. I looked in at the Circuit County Court, which was then sitting. The trial is by jury. The Court seemed a decent one, and the lawyers energetic. During the recess for dinner, parties, Judge, lawyers, and all, seemed freely to mix and talk. The Judge was a regular old Virginian, ruined by emancipation. He says, 'God made niggers different from white men, and nobody can make them the same.'

I hear much of the Freedman's Savings Bank, which failed with a loss of $4,000,000, which has never been replaced; and the loss causes much distrust among negroes inclined to save. General M boat-a kind of sees at Ceylon.

took me back to Old Point in an outrigger civilised adaptation of the outriggers one I think they might with great advantage be generally adopted. They sail wonderfully, and cannot be upset.

I crossed in the ferry-boat to Norfolk--a pretty sail. At Norfolk I went to the Atlantic Hotel. In the evening I had a good deal of talk with the people I met in the smokingroom. They declare that this is the best harbour on all the Atlantic coast, and a good many other people think so too. It is thoroughly sheltered, close to the sea, with no bar, and direct railway communication with the Mississippi; so that much cotton is shipped here, not only from the Atlantic States but from Memphis and the Mississippi country. The cotton is carried from Memphis for two dollars a bale, while it costs one dollar to New Orleans by steamer, is more roughly handled there, and costs more for the transport from New Orleans to England. Here, too, I noticed that the cottonbales were very roughly handled; and it is the same at Alexandria, Bombay, and all cotton marts. It seem strange that so valuable a commodity should be so much torn and scattered about. It seems that the people who take samples must cut the bales and dig into them. There is dreadful wailing over the price of cotton: it is now nine cents a pound, or less.