The aqueduct that supplies the town with water, pure, wholesome, and abundant, is well worth the notice of a stranger.  This stupendous work was executed at a cost of nine millions of dollars, and conveys the water from a distance of forty miles!—­the genius of the engineer and the power of money overcoming every obstacle.  The two great reservoirs, near the city, present splendid specimens of that kind of architecture.  Happening in company to express my opinion of this work, as reflecting the highest credit on the enterprise of the citizens, a gentleman present, evidently an American, in reply to the compliment, observed, “It is very much to their advantage, no doubt, and it will also be much to their credit, if they pay the debt they incurred in constructing it.”  The fact is, that this and many other public works in the United States, have been executed by British capital.  Would to heaven that our sympathising friends, who are so jealous in regard to the honour of America, where a few thousand acres of worthless land are concerned, were equally jealous in regard to it when, under the newly-invented name of repudiation, the honour of their country is tarnished by a vast system of unblushing robbery!  Would to heaven that their sympathies were extended to the thousands who are involved in misery and ruin by this audacious system of national perfidy!

If the art or ingenuity of the good citizens of New York has not produced very many objects worthy of admiration, the faces of their lovely fair make ample amends for it.  Among the crowds of charmers who throng the fashionable promenade of Broadway, scarcely an ordinary face is to be seen.  I, in fact, saw more pretty faces there in one hour than in all my tour in Britain.

I landed in New York without any prejudice against the Americans, and I now take leave of their commercial capital with feelings of esteem and regret.  In the society I frequented I neither saw nor heard anything unworthy of, or unbecoming the descendants of Britons.  Some little peculiarities, the natural result of circumstances, I certainly noticed; some differences also in their social life; but I shall leave it to those who are disposed to find fault to criticise these matters.

CHAPTER XIII.

    PASSAGE FROM NEW YORK TO ALBANY BY STEAMER—­THE
    PASSENGERS—­ARRIVAL AT ALBANY—­JOURNEY TO MONTREAL.

The navigation of the Hudson not being yet interrupted by ice, I determined on proceeding to Albany by steamboat, in preference to the railroad, with the view of seeing the far-famed scenery of the country through which the river flows.  I accordingly embarked on the 5th of February.  We had not proceeded far, however, when we found the face of the country covered with snow; and thus the pleasure I had anticipated from my aquatic trip was in a great measure lost.