2026-06-27
45 分钟The Economist.
In the evening of the day before yesterday, our vessel, driven by a current
and a full head of steam, smashed like a nutshell against a rock in the middle of the Ohio.
Alexis de Tocqueville and his companion Gustave de Beaumont were travelling south when their steamer struck a reef.
Water rushed into the cabins.
Huge chunks of ice swept past in the current.
There were only two lifeboats available, each with room for fewer than 12 people.
But 200 passengers were aboard the vessel, which was called the 4th of July.
Resigned to drowning, Tocqueville and Beaumont grasped each other's hands in a final farewell.
The cry of, we sink, brent the air, and the boat, with all its gear and passengers, began to head for eternity.
It was a close call, but the hull caught on the rocks and held.
Eventually, another steamboat arrived to rescue the passengers.
After recovering from their ordeal, Tocqueville and Beaumont decided to press on.
More challenges lay ahead of them.
Although Tocqueville had narrowly escaped death on the river,
he was about to face a different kind of shock, one that would shake his faith in American democracy.
Crossing the Ohio into Kentucky, he realized he was passing more than a state boundary.
It was a dividing line between two very different Americas.
The right bank of the Ohio is a scene of animation and industry.
Work is honoured.