North America: v. 2 [Paperback]

Volume 2 of Trollope' s visit to the US begins with melancholic weary weeks in wintry warring Washington, 1861/62. What a muddy place. What a perverted idea of a capital city. Given the likely outcome of the war (split up of the nation), this central location was not going to be central to anywhere.
No introduction to the president could be had. Maybe Lincoln had other things on his mind.

The travel chapter on Washington, which includes a visit to Mount Vernon, though that had been said to be impossible due to the war, is followed by two essays, one on the American constitutional structure (Congress can't continue like that, finds AT), one on the reasons for the war (root cause slavery, hardly disputable). The man does not think highly of abolition though, expecting the practical difficulties to be overwhelming. He comes across as a patronizing colonialist and racist, and yet, his main objection against instant abolition is racism on the part of the abolitionists.

When the trip continues, he takes trains to Harrisburg, then Pittsburg. He dislikes the behavior of the Union soldiers on the trains. He dislikes Harrisburg and Pittsburg. The latter is the dirtiest place he ever saw. He puzzles about the total neglect of environmental concerns on the part of American industry. (I never expected this problem to be that old!) It seems that AT was mostly in bitching mode. He must have been aware of that himself, so he finds good things to say about the countryside along the tracks.

Then to Cincinnati, which had a family meaning for him: his mother had lived there for a while, trying a commercial enterprise. Next to Kentucky, where he finds slaves generally in better physical shape than farm hands at home.
Then to St.Louis, which he finds unattractive. He visits barracks and is horrified by the depravity of the soldiers. In general, men out here are dirty and civil. Women are dirty and uncivil. Indifference to appearance is a matter of pride.

Then to Cairo, Illinois. We are still in mid winter. That means frost and mud. Cairo is possibly the place that AT dislikes most.
He spends a lot of time visiting military camps and installations, including river war ships. His general impression is depressing. No discipline, no orderliness, no cleanliness. Plus bad equipment out of working order. Subcontractors must have cheated the army. (Is there nothing new under the sun?) Finally, after a month of mud since leaving Washington, he finds a pleasant location, a Union army camp in Kentucky, where he is welcomed and treated like in civilization. We are so happy.

What follows is an essay on the army of the North. AT covers issues like soldiers pay and food and discipline. His main focus of criticism is the pitiful situation of supplies, the substandard work and quality of contractors. Isn't it amazing how things never seem to change much? Dishonesty among men in high places is the greatest evil in America. Says Trollope. He recites a half dozen cases of corruption in the military system. A man must be smart... AT can't stomach the free enterprise morality in government circles.
Maybe the current small vs big government debate is misguided and what we really need are new ethics in public service, rather than the pervasive dishonesty that seems to be every individual's right.

AT returns to Boston before going home. Finally he has learned to love Boston. A study in relativity. He was never happy and comfortable outside the East of the US.
The book ends with several essays on various items. My review gets too long, so I leave these essays out of here.
Volume 2 is more focused on the ongoing civil war and should be interesting to amateur historians of that period. AT actually tried to cross the lines and visit 'Dixie', but failed. He would have needed to walk, which was not an idea to his liking.

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