of small pox having occurred
during the passage), were allowed to proceed towards New York, which we
did under easy sail, the breeze rendering a steam-tug unnecessary.

The scenery as we passed up the river was calculated to give a good
impression of the country, the zest being, however, without doubt,
greatly heightened by the monotonous dreariness of a tempestuous voyage.
The highlands and valleys, as we sailed up, had a verdant woody
appearance, and were interspersed with rural and chateau scenery; herds
of cattle remarkable for length of horn, and snow-white sheep, were
grazing placidly in the lowlands. The country, as far as I could judge,
seemed in a high state of culture, and the farms, to use an expression
of the celebrated Washington Irving's, when describing, I think, a
farm-yard view in England, appeared "redolent of pigs, poultry, and
sundry other good things appertaining to rural life."

On arriving at the approach to the entrance or mouth of the river
Hudson, which is formed by an arm of the estuary, we turned the
promontory, leaving Jersey on the left, the battery as we entered the
harbour being in the foreground. The guns-bristled from this fortress
with menacing aspect, and the sentinels, in light blue uniforms and
Kosciusko caps, silently paced the ramparts with automatic regularity.
This fortification, though formidable in appearance, and certainly in a
commanding position, I was subsequently informed is little more than a
mimic fort; this arises from the want of attention paid to defences of
the kind in America, the little existing chance of invasion, perhaps,
causing the indifference to the subject. If, however, the spirit of
aggressive conquest shown by the federal government, of late years, of
which the invasion of Mexico is a fair specimen, should continue to
develop itself, it is not difficult to foresee that it will be necessary
policy to pay greater attention to the subject, and to keep in a more
effective state the seaboard defences of the country, as well as their
army, which is at present miserably deficient. This has heretofore been
so far neglected, as regards the marine, that not long before I arrived
the commander of a French ship of war was much chagrined, on firing a
salute as he passed the battery at New York, to find that his courtesy
was not returned in the customary way. He complained of the omission as
either a mark of disrespect to himself, or an insult to his nation, when
it c