He  writes  frequently  from  the  middle  and  far  south,
from  the  middle  west  and  the  Mississippi  Valley.  In
1854  he  was  one  of  a  party  of  distinguished  excursion-
ists to  St.  Louis  and  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony.  In
October,  1855,  he  took  part  at  Yorkville,  S.  C.,  in  the
celebration  of  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain,  and  made


116  GEORGE  BANCROFT        [1849-1867

a  speech  reported  in  the  New  York  papers.1  In  Sep-
tember, 1860,  he  spoke,  in  a  tone  of  defiance  towards
British  aggression,  at  the  inauguration  of  the  monu-
ment to  Commodore  Perry  at  Cleveland,  Ohio.2  The
full  catalogue  of  journeys,  and  the  letters  describing
them,  would  make  a  chapter  of  their  own.  A  single
letter  of  1854,  on  the  journey  to  the  Mississippi,  may
be  presented  for  its  impressions  of  a  new  country  now
growing  old :

To  MRS.  BANCROFT.
"CHICAGO,  Sunday,  4  June,  1854.
"We  left  Cleveland  on  Friday  at  3  o'clock,  having
spent  the  morning  in  driving  through  the  streets  and
lovely  environs  of  the  Forest  City.  From  Cleveland  to
Toledo,  the  road  passes  through  the  richest  land;  on
the  whole  line,  right  and  left,  there  seemed  to  be  not  a
square  foot  of  poor  soil.  Our  party  stopped  at  Toledo,
a  city  thriving  like  every  other  centre  of  western  travel
and  commerce,  but  as  yet  not  having  in  its  building
and  residences  the  amenity  of  Cleveland.  But  the
Maumee  is  a  deep  and  noble  river  and  in  time  I  have
no  doubt  the  town  must  be  both  prosperous  and  agree-
able. We  were  to  have  rested  in  Geneva;  but  the
evening  was  delightful,  the  moon  bright;  and  we  went
on  to  Jonesville,  which  we  reached  at  eleven  o'clock.
