-- THE LIBRARY AT CAR0LANDS 1 I B RAR.Y OF THE UN IVER.SITY OF ILLINOIS 977.3791 X LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS, 1820. 1821. CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENT AT ALBION AND ITS TICINITY, AND A REFUTATION OF VARIOUS MISREPRESENTATIONS, THOSE MORE PARTICU- LARLY OF MR. COBBETT. By RICHARD FLOWER. WITH A LETTER FROM M. BIRKBECK ; AND A PREFACE AND NOTES BY BENJAMIN FLOWER. Thou shall bless the LORD thy GOD for the GOOD LAND which he hath given thee : beware that thou forget not the LORD thy GOD. Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbour. DIVINK COMMANDS. Uoirtou: PRINTED FOR JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY By C. Teuton, 67, Whitechapel. 1822. [Price Two Shillings and Sixpence."] PUBLISHED BY THE SAME AUTHOR, Price One Sliillmg, LETTERS from LEXINGTON and the ILLINOIS, 1819; containing a Brief Account of the English Settlement in the latter territory, and a Refutation of the misrepresen- tations of Mr. Cobbett. -'^77,37^1 PREFACE. Two of the following letters have before ap- peared in a respectable periodical publication, in which the editor has impartially inserted the communications of writers of different opinipns, on the subject of emigration^,* but as they may be said to be a continuation of former letters, and connected with those now for the first time published, I have thought proper to insert them. Readers who are desirous of forming just opinions on this subject, are requested to bear in remembrance the precise stations described in the following pages. However unworthy or base may have been the motives of cer- tain writers, who have grossly calumniated the English Settlement, there are others, * Monthly Repository, Aug. and October, 1820. ir PREFACE. to whom it would be uncandid to impute such motives, but who are chargeable with misrepresentation, which appears to have arisen from their not having considered that the spots they are describing are not those des- cribed by others ; and that, of course, it is not fair to charge others with statements they have never made. I have publications before me in which Mr. Birkbeek and my brother are charged with unfairness in their statements, because they do not apply tp the situations the writers had chosen, one or which was fifty, and the other four hundred miles from the English Settle- ment. There are at the Illinois as in almost all other countries, situations pleasant and unpleasant, healthy and unhealthy, and that emigrant does not act a very wise part, wh'o fixes on a statiQn unless he had carefully exam- ined it himself, or at least had the recommen- dation of some intelligent friend who would scorn to mislead him. Emigration to America, after all that has PREFACE. V been written on the subject, and the various advantages it certainly presents to different classes of society, is an affair of such import- ance, that those who propose it should se- riously reflect on the turn of their own mind, their disposition, habits, circumstances, &c. Some who have emigrated to America find themselves as unhappy there as they were in their own country. Those who are averse to labour, fond of luxuries, and whese minds are rivetted to the artificial distinctions of society in Europe, have found to their cost, that Ame- rica is not the country for them ; and unless they can learn wisdom, and form resolution sufficient to alter some of their habits, and if not to despise, to regard with indifference most of those distinctions, they can never be reconciled to Republican manners and institutions. Res- pecting a few persons of this description at the Illinois, one of the principal settlers exclaimed : " What are such people com here for ?" For the Notes to the following letters, with " all their imperfections on their head," I am b VI. PREFACE. solely responsible. I am not without apprehen- sions that there may be even candid readers, who may think that in my Reflections on Infi- delity > Civil Establishments of Religion, fyc. I have somewhat wandered out of my way : to such reader-* I beg leave to offer a word or. two l>y way of apology. True religion, 1 con- sider as the most important concern of life; and were I, when reflecting on the state of. society which too generally characterizes this globe, even its most civilized parts, and on the various follies and vices which have so sadly deformed mankind -on the adversity of the righteous, and the prosperity of the wicked, were I not, amidst such reflections, supported by divine consolations, suggested by a firm belief in the Being and Providence of GOD, and of the truth of the Christian system which assures us that " all things shall be subdued *' and reconciled to HIJ," I 'should imieed be ' of all men the most miserable;" and, as I am firmly persuaded that the success of the gospel is not more hindered by open infidelity than by PREFACE. Vll the corruptions of Christianity, I have from the circumstances which are stated in the following letters respecting the state of religion at the Illinois, thought proper to express myself on the subject with my usual freedom. So little has been done towards the restoration of pri- mitive Christianity in this country for the two past centuries, although there has been of late, an unusual bustle in the religious world, so inveterate are the evils resulting from SxATECRAFxand PRIESTCRAFT united, that al- though 1 believe with a firm and unshaken faith, that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, I confess my ignorance as to the period, and the means by which those glorious events pre- dicted in the sacred writings will be accom- plished. I cannot however but indulge the hope that mankind will, by observation and experience, under the blessing of heaven, grow wiser; and that in the formation of new settle- ments, many of the evils referred to, may with proper care be avoided. With this hope, 1 Till PREFACE. have endeavoured to give a helping hand, how- ever feeble, to those who have at heart the best interests of their fellow creatures. For the language I have made use of in ex- posing bad men, and more particularly a notori ous political impostor, who when indulging his deep-rooted prejudices and violent passions, cares not how he throws off the common feelings of humanity, or sets truth and decency, or the principles of honour and honesty at defiance, scarce any apology is necessary. Should any one think my language too strong, I might plead the example of some of the greatest and best men in different ages ; but I shall confine myself 'to that of the sacred writers. The prophets and apostles, yea, our Saviour himself, when describing the COB- BETTS of their day, have used much stronger language than I have done ; and if it be a duty at any time to rebuke sharply, or as critics inform us the words should be rendered, with a cutting severity, or cutting to the quick, it is when we have to do with men of such a des- cription. PREFACE. IX In conclusion, I ask I hope no great favour in claiming on behalf of Mr. Birkbeck, my brother, and myself, that credit for our state- ments, until they are refuted by evidence, to which persons who have little character to lose, cannot lay claim; and that we may on the present occasion obtain belief when we have nothing to contradict us but the con- fident language of a man *' known to be wholly "indifferent to truth ;'' and who has, in the com- pass of three months only, for his scandalous libels on private characters. on one of those occasions for having invented the atrocious charge of FORGERY against a former associate o o most deservedly smarted in a court of justice. Should I, however unintentionally, have com- mitted any mistake, I shall deem myself bound to acknowledge it. B. F. Dalston, Jan. 16th, 1822. P. S, Mr. Cobbett somewhere remarks*' That he would sooner join the fraternity 4 of gypsies in this country than the settlement at the Illinois." This is not so extravagant as some of his assertions, as he has proved himself pretty ji. PREFACE. well qualified, in one respect at least, for a member of that fraternity; namely, by his numerous gipsy prophecies. To select one class only : How frequently has he in terms the most unqualified and confident, predicted that the Bank of England would never return to cash payments ; how frequently has he fixed the period beyond which it was impossible for bank-notes to preserve their value ! Perhaps he had in his eye the accomplishment of his fa- vourite plan, a general forgery of those notes, as the grand means of bringing about his predictions. Notwith- standing the complete failure of those predictions, (and I could produce numerous instances of similar failure) he, although apparently sadly mortified, goes on with his pro- phecies, and renews the senseless and injurious advice to the farmers, which he has been giving them for many years past, but which he knows, alas ! they cannot follow to hoard up the gold " because in two years " it * will buy twice as much land as it will buy now !" It was not many months since he gave them the same advice respecting silver, assuring them " that a bundle "of silver would shortly prove a mine of wealth." Address to the farmers, (Register Dec. \b.) In which publication Mr. C. has, in his language applied to Mr. Webb Hall, so justly drawn his own picture, that I hope the farmers will keep it constantly in view. " The truth is, Mr. [Cobbett] " is a conceited man with a great deal of loose and indis- " tinct stuff ,in his head ; and, having great powers of c< front, he puts the stuff forth without hesitation. A mo- ** dest man may be a weak man and yet not deserve our " contempt ; but impudence and folly joined claim as " much of contempt as man can bestow." If the farmers cau swallow such "stuff," they have iuiiccd, what Dr. South PREFACE. XI. calls an " iron digesting faith," and should the Jesuits visit this, as they are now visiting other countries, they will doubtless consider Mr. Cobbett's boasted "disciples" as well prepared to swallow down the doctrine of Traniub- stantiation ! ERRATA. Page 24, last line, after the word "to," add as follows: " become man and wife, and> their answer of consent. Thii it registered at the magistrates, and recorded by him at the county court : if" Page 36 line 20, for " the Illinois," read " of the Illinois." 44 5 from the bottom, for " liberal." read "illiberal." 59 4, for light," read " life." v 60, latt line, after the word " circle," add " reject Christianity.' 1 74 4 and 5, for " proring" read " procuring." 76 8 from the bottom, for "made." read " may." LETTERS, &c. LETTER I. Albion, Illinois, Jan. 18, 1820. DEAR SIK, My whole family, I think enjoy, since we have been here, much better health than in England, and we have enjoyed the fine Indian summer, which has lasted full two months, of most charming temperature, the thermometer varying from 70 to 75 We had only two wet days in November, and one sudden change to 35 degrees ; the weather in December was equal- ly fine till Christmas-day, when we had frost and snow much as in England, and since that time some very cold days, the thermometer being below freezing, 22 degrees. We have now milder weather, but frost and snow on the ground, and the thermometer again at freezing, but gently thawing. Our settlement has been remarkably healthy, and every thing is going on tolerably well. You B 10 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. will say tolerably well has a suspicious sound ; I will therefore allude to that term in future, and state the inconveniences as well as the pleasures of the autumn. We have experienced con- siderable inconvenience from drought, and been obliged to draw water by carriage to the town, as the wells did not supply the inhabitants with a sufficiency, and the people, like the Israelites, murmured at us, the town proprietors, as much as ever that stiffnecked people did at Moses. I had no rock to strike, or power to raise water by miracle of any kind, and therefore applied industry and perseverance to make up this deficiency, and offered to supply them with fine spring water at a quarter-dollar per barrel, from a most delightful spring, found on my son George's estate, only eight feet deep, and inex- haustible. I had nearly two miles to draw it but I lost nothing by my contract, and murmur- ing was allayed. This want of water would have been a serious objection to our settlement if it had been local, but it has been an unusual drought throughout the whole of the Western country, such as has been rarely experienced, and we have been much better off than the people of Kentucky: it has also awakened our energies, and within half a mile of the town an excellent well has been opened, besides two LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 11 others at a mile and a half, so that no lasting want has been known, only a temporary incon- venience suffered. I am rather particular on this subject, as report had spread that our town had broke up, our people scattered, and disease prevailed for want of water, all which was notoriously false ; and through mercy, I think there have been fewer deaths in the number of inhabitants than in any part of England. Another inconvenience from this drought was, the burning of the prairies much earlier than usual. There is a grandeur in this scene almost indescribable and somewhat alarming. We see whole prairies, containing thousands of acres, like a sea or lake of fire ascending ; columns of smoke so affect the air, that it is a complete fog, and painful to the eyes ; but after a few days all is over ; the sky clear, and the air serene, but our herbage is gone. At this season the cattle go into the barn : we pay a herdsman to look after them, and if the weather is riot immoderately wet, they come out as fat as sheep from coleseed, and afford profit to the grazier. Our bullocks, which were bought at sixteen or seventeen dollars last year, are now selling at Albion Market, from twenty-eight to thirty-one dollars each, paying nearly cent per 12 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. cent, for nine month's keeping ; thus we are this year principally graziers, having two hundred acres enclosed,, and more enclosing. George will have a fine farm opened, an excellent garden and young trees, and vege- tables of the most luxuriant growth. It ought not, however, to be concealed that we are much in want of farming; labourers; we with O ' difficulty geta regular ploughman, and aplough- boy is still a scarcer commodity ; and till we can get our prairies once broken, and go with two horses without a driver, ploughing will be diffi- cult to be performed. Our people put on the independent airs of Americans, without either their natural or noble independence, which disdains any thing like servitude ; but, as if delighting to teaze us gave them great pleasure, they quit their work suddenly and without reason ; but w r e greatly counteract this by keeping them out of employ, and our money in our pockets, and pay the Americans who came out and are always migrating for a job of work, and then return to their farms. We are also, in many instances, destitute of female servants, but then we have plenty of helps, or charwomen, who will come and work by the day or half-day, and then return to their families. My wife has managed this business LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 13 admirably well : observing their disposition, she hires them by the hour, sees well to them for the time being, and generally gets a usual day's work done in a few hours. This occa- sional assistance, in addition to the services of Mrs. C. who we brought with us, and a w r oman servant, makes us comfortably served. On the return of Christmas day, we invited our party as at Marden, my late residence in Hertfordshire : we assembled thirty-two in number. A more intelligent, sensible collection I never had under my roof in my own country. A plentiful supply of plumb pudding, roast beef and mince pies were at table, and turkeys in plenty, having purchased four for a dollar the preceding week. We found among the party good musicians, good singers; the young people danced nine couple, and the whole party were innocently cheerful and happy du- ring the evening. The company were pleased to say I had transferred Old England and its comforts to the Illinois. Thus, my dear Sir, we are not in want of society ; and I would not change my situation for any in America, nor for disturbed or tumultuous England. My efforts to assemble the people to public worship have been successful ; our place is well attended, from forty to fifty people, 14 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. and amongst our congregation we often number a part of Mr. Birkbeck's children and servants. Our singing is excellent ; our prayers the reformed Unitarian service. The sermons which have been read are from an author I never met with in England, Mr. Butcher ; they are, without exception, the best practical sermons I have ever seen. Our Library-Room is well attended in the afternoon ; the people improving in cleanliness and sobriety, recover the use of their intellectual faculties, and interest themselves in moral and Christian converse. When I arrived at Albion, a more disorganized, demoralized state of society never existed : the experiment has been made, the abandonment of Christian institutes and Christian sabbaths, and living without God in the world has been fairly tried. If those theologians in England who despise the Sabbath and laugh at congre- gational worship, had been sent to the English settlement in the Illinois at the time I arrived, they would, or they ought to have hid their faces for shame. Some of the English played at cricket, the backwoodsmen shot at marks, their favourite sport, and the Sunday revels ended in riot and savage fighting : this was too much even for infidel nerves. All this also took place at Albion ; but when a few, a very few, LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 15 better men met and read the Scripture , and offered prayer at a poor contemptible log-house, these revellers were awed into silence, and the Sabbath at Albion became decently quiet. One of its inhabitants, of an infidel cast, said to me, " Sir ! this is very extraordinary, that what the law could not effect, so little an assembly meeting for worship should have effected." " Sir," said I, " I am surprised that you do not perceive that you are offering a stronger argnment in favour of this Christian institute than any I can present to you. If the reading of the Scriptures in congregation has had such efficacious and such wonderful effects, you ought no longer to reject, or neglect giving your attention to its contents, and its excellent reli- gious institutions." Thus, my dear Sir, my efforts for the benefit of others have been greatly blessed. I appear at present more satisfied with my lot, because I appear to be more useful than ever : in England all my attempts at usefulness were puny compared to what they are here. Many people here openly express their gratitude to me as the saviour of this place, which, they say must have dispersed if I had not arrived. This is encouraging to a heart wounded with affliction as mine has been, and is urging me 16 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. on to plans of usefulness. A place for education, a Sunday-school, and above all, a Bible-society,, if we increase, shall be my aim and endeavour. I have already abundant testimony that God will bless his word, and if the rest of my life should be spent in such useful employ- ment* my death-bed will be more calm than if I had been taken from life before I had arrived at this period of utility. You will, I trust, be able to appreciate the station Provi- dence has placed me in, and feel pleasure at this communication. My house, which is nearly finished, is a comfortable one, and can boast a roof that neither Hertford nor Marden could. It stands the most drenching rains and drifting snows without letting in any wet. I described it in my former letters; and while I am satisfied with the comfort it affords, the Americans behold it with surprise. You would have been mucb amused if you had been with us a few weeks since, when I had a visit from Captain Burke, a sensible and intelligent backwoodsman. He paid me a short visit, put off his business that he might fetch his wife, which he did ; we thought we saw through the plan ; he returned with her the next day, and we felt disposed to gratify their LETTERS FnOM THE ILLINOIS. 17 curiosity. " There wife, " said he, " did you ever see such fixings ?" He felt the paper, looked in a mirror over our chimney-piece which reflected the cattle grazing in the field before the house, and gazed with amazement. But turning from these sights to the library, " Now," said he to my wife, " does your old gentleman" (for that is my title here) "read those books ?" " Yes," said she, " he has read most of them." "Why if I was to read half of them, I should drive all the little sense in my head out of it." I replied that we read to in- crease our sense and our knowledge ; but this untutored son of nature could not conceive of this till I took down a volume of Shaw'sZoology. " You, Mr. Burke, are an old hunter, and have met with many snakes in your time. I never saw above one in my life ; now if I can tell you about your snakes and deer, and bears and wolves, as much or more than you know, you will see the use of books." I read to him a description of the rattle-snake, and then shewed him the plate, and so on. His atten- tion was arrested, and his thirst for knowledge fast increasing. " I never saw an Indian in my life, and yet," said I, " I can tell you all about them." I read again and shewed him a co- loured plate. "There," said he, "wife, is it not 18 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. wonderful, that this gentleman, coming so many miles, should know these things from books only ? " See ye, 5 ' said he, pointing to the Indian, " got him to a turn." In short, I never felt more interested for an hour or two, to see how this man's mind thirsted after knowledge ; and though he dreaded the appearance of so many books, he seemed, before he left us, as if he could spend his life amongst them. Our library is now consolidated ; and that the kind intentions of yourself and others may not be lost, and that your names may live in our memories and be perpetuated to future generations, I have conveyed all the books presented to us, in trust to the proprietors of the town, for the use of the Albion Library; writing the names of the donors in them; and in my next letter I shall, pro forma, be able to convey to you our united thanks for the books presented. Our little library is the admiration of travellers, and Americans say we have accomplished more in one year, than many new settlements have effected in fifty a well supplied market, a neat place of worship, and a good library. LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. LETTER II. Park House, Albion, June, 20, 1820. I have not written many letters to my friends in England, because I was determined not to state any thing on presumption, or of mere opinion, but only nfHters of fact, which must stand uhcontradicted, and bear the test of examination. I proceed to state to you the circum- stances which we are now in ; and you will my dear Sir, feel satisfaction at my being able to give you the pleasing account, that, after nearly a twelvemonth's residence, there is no foundation for reasonable complaint. Every workman or artificer has abundance of employ- ment at a price that will procure him a plentiful subsistence ; and at this time our little town is amply supplied, with not only the necessaries of life, but even its luxuries. J have a com- fortable habitation, containing four rooms and a hall on the ground floor, and five chambers above; two wings are added which contain kitchen, china closet, dairy, and an excellent cellar. My farm produces, as it did at Marden, good beef and mutton, with abundance of 20 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. poultry, egg's, milk, cream, butter, and cheese. I am quite at home again, and am writing to you surrounded by the same library standing in the same relative situation, in my large easy chair, and enjoying every earthly comfort. I have the happy absence of tax-gatherers, and am never galled with tithe or poor-rate collectors. Our settlement, ^ank God , is remarkably healthy, and my family and self have never enjoyed better health than in the situation which some of your reviewers and critics call " the swamps of the W abash. ' There is no situation in the habitable globe in which less sickness and fever have taken place in the given period of twelve months, and the evil reports that have been spread about, applied only, in a small degree, to the large party of settlers who, on their arrival, took shelter in the woods, finding none of the conveniences prepared for them which they had reason to expect. All is going on here to th'e full as well as can be expected or hoped ; and if the British settlement does not prosper, it will be the fault of the settlers only. As to religion, the form of it is now regu- larly attended to by many, aud all have the LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS- 21 means of assembling on the Sunday at our small but neat place of worship. We read the Reformed or Unitarian Liturgy, the Scrip- tures, and Sermons from our best English authors. Our place of worship is likewise our library-room. Religion in the outward form is' by no means ostentatious, notwith- standing which, we have a large portion of good, sober and industrious people amongst us, who, I trust, by a virtuous example and keeping alive religious feelings, will be ultimately successful in preserving true reli- gion amongst the people of the Illinois. But to return from spiritual to tempo- ral concerns: I imagine you asking, Are there then no inconveniences ? There are. We have not a sufficiency of female ser- vants, on account of the frequency of marriage, which is constantly depriving us of those we have; and though I have hitherto been well off, yet I am fearful we may be as others are, inconvenienced for want of them. Boys for either plough or house work are scarce, but- the entire absence of pauperism more than amply compensates for these priva- tions. How much I regret that more of the ^overflowing population of England cannot find 22 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. their way here, exchanging their poverty for plenty of employment and good fare. We have East and West India produce in ahundance ; silks, crapes, &c. such as you in England only can procure by a breach of the laws. On the first day that I dined at the tavern which I had just finished building in Albion, I drank bottled porter as cheap as in London, and had fine English salt at half the price I paid for it in England. Thus I find I have escaped the ruinous system of taxation which has reduced so many thousands to beggary or the workhouse, and so many of the middling classes to a state of pinching want, whom I have seen shivering through the winter over a few coals called a fire, because their limited means would not afford a cheerful blaze. A great advantage in settling in the Illinois, rather than many other parts of America, is the state of society amongst us. Most of the persons who emigrate here, are those who have diminished their former fortunes ; persons who have received good education, but are unable to sustain Iheir stations in England. There is no arrogance in saying our circle of society is far superior to that in most of the villages in our native country. Except the parson, the LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 23 squire, and the principal farmers, what is the society of many of the English hamlets but rude and uncultivated ? Here it is different ; for within the circle of a few miles, there is more good company (I mean well-educated persons) than in the same circle in most parts of England. We frequently find superior education and intelligence amorrg the sons of the plough and the axe, to those in like situations in England. A person lately offered me his services to split boards for me : we agreed for price. I observed a correctness in his pronunciation and manner of speaking, apparently far above his situation. I attended him to the woods ; he had with him two younger men than him- self. The first singularity that appeared was, after taking off their clothes, (having first ground their axes) a nail or two were driven into a tree, on which were hung handsome gold watches. These men were well educated, understood geography, history, European poli- tics, and the interesting events that novf so much excite the attention of mankind. I went into my field the other day, and began a con- versation with my ploughman : his address and manner of speech, as well as his conver- 24 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. sation surprised me. I found he was a colonel of militia, and a member of the legislature; he was indeed a fit companion for men of sense ; and where will you find persons of this class in England with equal intelligence ? Of the particular news of this place, there is one piece of intelligence that will surprise you ; the author of u Letters from the Illinois," (Mr. Birkbeck) has opened a^place of worship at Wanborough ; he officiates himself, and reads the Church of England Service, so that Wan- borough is the seat of orthodoxy, and our place stands, as a matter of course, in the ranks of heresy ? - There is an opinion prevailing amongst many in England, that the marriage ceremony in America is considered lightly of, and but loosely performed ; but there never was a greater mistake. A minor cannot marry without the consent of his or her guardian or parent. A license must be applied for at the county court, and a declaration accompanying it from the parent, that it is with his consent. This license is taken to a magistrate who per- forms the ceremony, that is, the legal part of it, at either his own house or that of the parties ; which is simply asking if they are willing to LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. either neglect to make this register, a heavy fine is the punishment of their negligence, and the marriage is considered illegal. This is legal marriage in the Illinois ; but both the magistrates inquire of the parties, and the law allows of any addition of a religious kind, that they may choose, and we adopt the vows of the marriage service of the Church of England, which are as solemnly put and answered, as if performed by a person in Canonical habits before the altar. Marriages here take place so frequently, that we are certainly in want of female servants ; even our Mrs. C., who lived with us up wards of twenty-five years, and is turned of fifty, has not escaped: she is married to a Mr. W., having first refused Monsieur R., an Italian gardener, of very polite manners, and who may be said to have seen a little of the world, as he marched from Italy to Moscow with Bonaparte, back to France, and proceeded from thence to this place: he was tall and majestic in person, made very elegant bows to Madame C., and spoke English enough to r assure her he had the highest esteem for her, and would marry her to-morrow if she would consent ; but all in vain, plain John Bull c 26 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. carried the day. We have had ten of twelve marriages within three or four months. This, I think, is settling the Illinois pretty fast, and a good proof that Cobbett has not, as he threatened, ' written us down ;' nor is there any sign of abandonment, but a good prospect, of increase, of population, even if emigration should diminish. We hear news from England sufficient to appreciate the wretched situation of our native country, and the disturbed state of Europe in general. We see, or think we see most plainly, the phial of God's wrath pouring forth on guilty nations; and England, notwith- standing its pulpit flatterers, in the church and out of the church., is tasting of that wrath. It appears to me that we have great cause for gratitude in escaping divine judgments, and finding an asylum where we may, I hope, rest in peace. I see, on looking from rny window, the golden harvest waving before me ; a beautiful field of wheat, the admiration of the country, the first fruits of my son's industry in this kind of grain. My wife and family enjoy excellent health, and spirits, and had not the Almighty hand LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 27 smote me in my tenderest part, by sending his awful messenger to call my dear son William away, the days of my emigration would have been the happiest of my life. R. F. LETTER III. March, 26, 1821. As to the settlement in general, I consider it most prosperous, making, comparing it with many new ones, the most rapid strides to comfort and prosperity : our little town, now the capital of the English Settlement has a store which supplies us with luxuries. A market with abundance of meat, poultry, and vegetables, so that persons with very limited incomes might live here in comfort. 4 person with 100 per Annum would be in affluence, which you will say is owing to the cheapness of provisions ;* and freedom from tythes, taxes, poor's rates, &c. The labourer or mechanic who is steady, can work himself into plenty. * Flower'i Letters irn the Illinois, 1819. 28 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. We are relieved entirely from the dreadful state of pauperism witnessed before I left England. My wife, with others of our acquaintance, have not had such good health for twenty years past. Mrs. Flower rides twenty miles a day, on horse back, with ease. I wish you could visit my old servant T. S. on one of the plea- santest situations in the world, with his nice garden, his cows, pigs, and poultry about him ; his wife and children contented and happy. Perhaps were you to come suddenly upon him, eggs and bacon with a hastily got up chicken might be your fare ; but if you gave him a day's notice, you would see a haunch of venison, or a fine cock turkey on the table. HoV long would Tom have fagged in England, although he had double his wages, before he could have possessed himself of two hundred acres of good land, and been placed in such affluence. Here, indeed, it may be truly said that the hand of the diligent maketh rich. We have here and there an idle person, but Providence has given them an industrious help-mate ; and I know two in- stances of females earning from six to eight dollars a week by their needles ; enough for for them to keep comfortable tables. I have felt great satisfaction in never having- LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 29 invited any one to emigrate, and still greater in finding those who came here out of regard to my opinions, in such situations of ease and comfort, as not only to contribute to their own happiness, but to add greatly to mine. I may say that those who have asked and taken my advice have succeded to their wishes ; and in all cases which have come to my knowledge, where affairs have been con- ducted with industry and tolerable discretion, they have occasion to be thankful for the change they have made from the old world to the new. Our population increases. We want in par- ticular more tailors and shoemakers : any one understanding the coarse earthen-ware manu- factory would meet with great success. I have just finished a flour mill on an inclined plane, which has given fresh spirit to agriculture. Distilleries are also building. It is> a happy circumstance that while industry is attended with certain success, vice, drunkenness, and idleness are no better off than in Europe ; the effect of this will be to give the virtuous that natural ascendancy over the vicious which they ought always to have. We read in the news- papers of all the bustle you have had about your queen ; but if it ends without the people regaining their long lost liberties, between the <*0 LETTERS FROM THE ILLBNGIS. collission of the different factions, you will only be worse off; and if the regaining of those li- berties will not rouse the people to ihe same exertions for themselves as they have made for their queen, we must smile at their oppressions and say they deserve them. LETTER IV. Park House % Albion, Aug. 20, 1821. DEAR SIR, Some of my Letters, written in 1819, appeared through the medium of the press ; and some of the English Reviewers, after a candid criticism, observed, that they should be glad to hear from me at some future period. Several other persons also have expressed a strong desire to have an account of our present situation and future prospects. In compliance therefore, with their wishes, I most cheerfully resume my pen,with the assurance that what I have written may be relied upon as an impartial and candid statement of facts. Various are the reports which have been circulated in the private circle, and by means of the press, concerning the state of this settle- LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 31 ment; and great has Jbeen the anxiety which many friends have expressed on our account. It is my purpose therefore, to examine the principal reports which travellers have given of us. When any one returns to England, though he may have visited us but a few days, he obtains a credence far above those who have only hear-say reports to communicate ; whether his visits were made during the winter, amidst rains or snows, or in the summer, when an un- paralleled drought pervaded the whole western country. Is so transitory a view to be consi- dered as a just description of the soil, the climate, the advantages or disadvantages of the British settlement in the Illinois ? Surely not. I am informed even of some accounts which have been writen from settlements above fifty miles distant from us, where circusstances are o very different, that they bear no resemblance to the situation in which we have located. These statements have been brought forward in opposition to the indisputable facts which have been given by us, and they no more apply to this place, than a description of the low- lands of Essex and Lincolnshire can apply to the high and dry situations of Shooter's-hill or Blackheath. I therefore request the reader's 32 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. attention to a few observations on the various reports which travellers have circulated of the English settlements at the Illinois. I must first be allowed to remark on the want of competency of some very confident writers to form any judgment of our real situ- ation ; they appear to be wholly unacquainted with the history of the new settlements, and from this defect are unfitted to form a right judgement of our comparative and relative advantages. Hence the incongruous and con- tradictory accounts which have been given of our soil, climate, and agricultural concerns. Of the many who have visited us there are two individuals whose reports I hear gain some credence amongst my countrymen ; I shall therefore confine my attention chiefly to the accounts they have given of us, and then examine those reports which have been raised from deep-rooted enmity and determined self- interest. These, with a brief account of our present situation and future prospects shall be the remaining subject of this letter. One of these travellers visited us when the snows were melting, and the rains descending : he reports us to be dwelling upon the swamps of the Wabash ; and our lands to be so wet that they are unfit for either cattle or sheep to LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 33 thrive on ; and on that account unsuitable for the purposes of an English farmer. Another passed through our country in an unparalleled drought ; and reported us to be in a sad situation for want of water. There was some degree of truth in this, but a very partial degree, owing to his not stating the circumstances of the case. Our town is situated very high, and till we had experienced some drought we knew not that we should want to dig deep for water, and of course could not provide for an exigency that was not known to exist. " Dig deep'' I have said ; but one hundred feet is thought, by a western American to be a vast and dangerous enterprise; we have however with us Englishmen who have been far into the bowels of the earth in England, and have no sort of fear of there not being abundance of water in Albion ; already have we experienced the benefit of these exertions ; but while our dry-weather traveller was report- ing our inconveniences, he should have stated it was an unusual season which pervaded the whole of the western country : that Kentucky and Ohio were worse than the Illinois; and that in Indiana, in the best watered districts, springs, rivulets, and wells were exhausted. Such an instance has never before occurred 34 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. during the memory of the oldest inhabitants. The same person (who I know would not willingly give a false account) has stated that so short was the water that w r e were obliged to o send our cattle into Indiana. That our herds were in Indiana is very true, but that they were sent there on account of want of water, is equally untrue. We have in Indiana about twelve miles distant, some high ground in the midst of low land, subject to be overflowed ; oil this low ground grows the most luxuriant cane, springing to an extraordinary height; the tender shoots of which, affording excellent food for cattle, we send them in the winter season, with the exception of milch cows and working oxen, to fatten. Our custom is some- what similar to that of the farmers of the upland districts in England, who send their stock into the fens of Lincolnshire, to fatten on coleseed and superabundant grass. So we dispose of our herds when the winter draws to a close. To this may be added, that the cane in the low river bottoms, growing naturally is the most luxuriant pasturage for summer feeding : and as we only pay the expense of the herds- man, the food either there or in the cane costing nothing : and the herdsman living there we leave our herds ; so it was true that they LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 35 were in the cane, but were not sent there on account of the want of water. When this person reported that there was shortness of water amongst us, he should have added, that O ' ' fine wells werfc no rarity in the vicinity of Albion; that he drank as fine water from our well as he ever tasted in his life ; and that from the grounds of Richard and George Flower, Albion, and even a part of Wanbo- rough were supplied. It will therefore appear that this person, as well as many others, told the truth, but very partially, and not the whole truth, and on that account are not to be depended on. At the very time he was visiting us a person from Kentucky, assured us that we were better off than they were at Kentucky and Ohio.* Another person who visited us on purpose to examine and spy out the land of evil report, went back to Baltimore and brought his family, stating in his travels that he had not met with such good water as at this place. This same traveller has reported our soil to be poor, and our inability to raise a sufficient quantity of provisions for ourselves, and that we are still dependant on the Harmonites: in this he only shews his * See Note A. 36 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. want of knowledge of the history of new settle- ments and their progress. Every person knows that the second year is the most unpro- fitable : the first year being spent in building and fencing, little produce is raised : but then all settlers of property bring a supply with them to make up for this certain deficiency ; but capital being somewhat exhausted, and an increase of population still continuing, must of necessity keep a new settlement short of self- supplies; but when to this was added an extraordinary drought, is it a matter of surprise that the crops should in some degree have been scanty ; but at the time I am writing, almost every thing these travellers have said of X)f the Illinois, is happily reversed : they are the remarks of very superficial observers ; though they may be in some degree true at the moment they were written, they are no fit representations the Illinois ; either as to its soil, climate, or gcner&J character ; could I but set these very travellers down here at this moment, how would their astonished senses give contradic- tion to their own accounts ! We have now what the Americans tell us is a usual specimen of the seasons of the Illinois. Frequent rains, with the heat more moderate than the last year. Agriculture is beaming forth LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 37 in its glory. If some of our travellers to whom I have alluded were now here, they would see some of the finest wheat crops their eyes ever beheld : they would witness the most luxuriant crops of natural grasses, now gathering for the supply of winter food ; also fine plants of artificial grasses well set in our inclosures ; they would acknowledge that the corn crops were as abundant, or more so than any they had before witnessed in the United States ; but as they are not here I must inform you that our corn crops upon good tillage have the appearance of from sixty to eighty bushels ; and in some instances the Americans, who are the best judges, say one hundred bushels per acre. If this is the usual season of the Illinois, which can scarcely be doubted, as it answers the character given by those longest resident, then is the Illinois one of the finest countries under heaven for human beings to dwell in ; one of the most delightful given to man for his residence. Another traveller has stated that the Illinois is in general low and swampy, but that Mr. Flower's family, with one or two others, had placed their houses upon rising ground. This gentleman must either be naturally or willfully 38 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. blind. He might have found, within a circuit of five miles round Albion, numerous pleasing elevations, all so inviting that the beauty which they presented to the admiring eye of the settler, would be the only difficulty in the way of in- stant decision. Then comes an other objector, armed with an un answerable question? "But what will you do with your produce?" This objection only needs to be examined to be refuted. The answer is, that for the present our home market will take all we raise, and if our population increases in future as it has done during the present year, and the probability is that, it will increase much faster, no foreign market will be wanted for ten or a dozen years to come. Our infant town has taken root, and is growing luxuriantly. It has increased one. hundred in the number of inhabitants since last September, and its vicinity has added seventy to their number. Our mill is at work, and can grind the produce now raised ; and a distillery and brewery will shortly be at work, so that the suplus of several years will not raise more than a sufficiency for the population. We have also in the settlement some small plantations of tobacco, hemp, and cotton, articles which we LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 39 at present import ; it will therefore be a work of some time to raise a sufficiency for our own consumption. Another article of produce is wool. Since I have been here I have turned my attention to an important object which engaged much of my attention in my native country the breed- ing of sheep, and have succeeded to the utmost of my wishes and expectations. My flock consists of about four hundred sheep arid lambs; and although the first winter there were unexpected difficulties to encounter, I can assure my coun- trymen that it has been more healthy this last year than any I ever had, or ever heard of in England ; but as I intend giving an account of my success in this branch of agriculture in some future letter, it will be sufficient to say, that although I can grow in the Illinois a profitable export, at present its produce is wanted, and all that can be raised for years to come, will be wanted at home. We have therefore not only a market for our extra produce around us, but we have also a foreign market at New Orleans, and through it to the market of the world. If it be said that owing to our situation, we labour under peculiar disadvanges, all is reduced to the price of land carriage, of about nine miles to the Wabash, 40 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. at sixteen cents per hundred pounds. If there- fore it is said that our surplus produce cannot be disposed of, it is not applicable to local circumstances alone ; but to all Ame- rica. Whenever the United States in ge- neral can dispose of their produce advanta- geously, the Illinois can do the same ; and we are more contiguous to navigation than the great proportion of the interior of America. The report which has injured us most is the want of that blessing, without which all that this world can give is but of little avail Health. Reports of sickness which never existed, and of deaths which happily never took place, have been most industriously circulated ; the fact is, that there has seldom been a new settlement which has suffered so little loss by death ; or which has been so free from sick- ness. The number of deaths has been in the ratio of four in ninety-five each year, and this is a smaller mumber than in most places in the habitable globe, where the records of such events have been preserved. Many of its inhabitants, have with myself, enjoyed far better health, than in their native country; so that I may safely conclude, after two years re- sidence, with the information of those who were here a year and a half before me, that LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 41 there scarcely existed in the habitable globe, a place where the inhabitants have enjoyed so large a share of this invaluable blessing. As to our future prospects they are truly flattering, in the probability of increasing popu- lation, now the clouds and mists which malig- nity has spread abroad are disappearing, before the light of truth, as the mists of morn- ing disappear before the light and the heat of the sun : the well-grounded hopes of future harvests, arising from the rich abundance of the present ; the perseverance and industry of a large portion of our settlers ; the excellent materials for building, and the increasing num- ber of fine wells of water, all present a most encouraging and delighful prospect. Another testimony in favour of our situation is, that some of our countrymen who have settled in other places, have visited us, express- ing their surprise and regret that they had been the dupes of false reports, and had stopped short of the Illinois. While others more pru- dently came clown from Cincinnati, and even Baltimore to visit this land of evil report, minutely examined for themselves, returned to bring their families, and are contented with their lot. Another remark was made by certain writers, D 42 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. that although we had improved our situation as to animal enjoyments, we had sacrificed intellectual pleasures, because I stated, in one of my letters, that there were no booksellers here, and that the necessary business which could not be avoided in a new settlement, left us but little time for reading. Hasty conclu- sion! Many of us brought out ample libraries of our own> and we have also a standing library in our little town ; which is supplied with newspapers and periodical publications. Those who emigrated to the Illinois were not altogether illiterate ; a majority of them were quite of a contrary description ; and as to agricultural knowledge, there are very few spots on the face of the earth, where it is so much concentrated, as at the Illinois, having farmers from almost -all the different counties in England. There are likewise, several Ame- rican, Dutch, and French farmers, gardeners, and vine dressers in our neighbourhood. The reports of the wickedness and irreligion of our settlement, with a view to prevent indivi- duals from joining us, have been industriously spread far and near. That there is a diversity of character in every part of the globe, will not be denied ; that this diversity exists here is equally true ; and that a portion of its inha- LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 43 bitants is of an immoral cast, will be as readily admitted ; that we have not left human nature with its infirmities and propensities behind us is equally a fact; and even if it should be ad- mitted, that unhappily, a larger portion of the dissipated, the idle, and the dissolute are to be met with in new countries than is usually to be found in old ones, yet we have the same antidote for these mischiefs: the light shining in a dark place. We have public worship and ample supplies of sermons from pious practical preachers, from the Catholic to the Socinian Creed, which are read on the Sab- bath. But above all we have the incorruptible seed of the word of God which liveth and abidethfor ever ; and it is with pleasure I can assure my readers, that there is an increasing congregation, and I trust, increasing religion amongst us. But if it was otherwise, surely this should be rather an argument for persons of religious zeal to join us, who have emigration in view ; to come over to Macedonia and help us, rather than shrink from such a task. At least it is not apostolic or evangelic feeling that would draw a different conclusion. When I was at Philadelphia a lady of the Society of Friends addressed me most empha- tically on the subject : J and it rests with us wlio are now settled to be prosper- ous, contented, and happy. It is equally our duty and our interest, to consider well the blessings we enjoy at this place of abounding plenty. Many of you my countrymen, can look back on the frightful abyss of pauperism and star- vation which you have escaped, and should lift up your hearts in gratitude to God for his mercies vouchsafed to you. Forget not who it is that has preserved your lives and prolonged LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 49 your days ; blessed you with so much health ; preserved you from, the arrow that flieth at noon day ; and the pestilence that walketh in darkness. Remember that it depends upon your virtuous endeavours, how great, how good, and how happy the settlement in the Illinois shall be. Eradicate the stain which report has cast on your moral and religious characters ; and may your example be such as to influence the formation of character of this place : that your ways may be ways of pleasantness, and all your paths be peace. Remember that without virtue happiness cannot exist. Let future generations rise up and call you blessed ; so that you may, on your departure from this life, rest satisfied that your emigration to the Illinois proved the means of your in- creasing welfare and happiness in time and eternity. R. F. 50 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. EXTRACT OF A LETTER, FROM MR. BIRKBECK. Wanborough, May 7, 1821. SIR, Regarding the abuse which people have indulged in about my undertakings, and my accounts of them, i find little difficulty in taking it quietly. I have spent four years in this country, and now every day furnishes fresh proofs of the correctness of my early impres- sions, so complete as to excite a degree of astonishment at my good fortune in conjectu- ring rightly, and occasionally something of self- congratulation, under the hope that partial friends may give me a little credit for sagacity. A statistical account of this country, by the time I had finished it, and long before it could reach you, would need correction. Satisfied as I am, to a degree of occasional exultation, with the condition of my own farm, and my prospects as an American cultivator, so rapid and certain is the progress of improvement, that I should not be flattered by your reading, six months hence, an account of its present state. Besides, enough has been already writ- ten to shew the candid public that all ouf LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 51 reasonable expectations are satisfied: for the rest, who enjoy our imaginary reverses, and rely more on the superficial accounts of such people as C. F. &c. who have never seen the country, or if they have seen it, are incapable of judging, it really is a waste of labour to write for them. Those wretched people who indulge their malevolence in personal abuse are un- worthy of my notice. It would indeed be to our advantage, and is the only harm I wish them, that their ignorance and their prejudices should continue, lest they should follow us. We are on the eastern limits of a country differing essentially from all that has hitherto been cultivated in the United States. The people to the east of us are incapable of imagin- ing a dry and rich wholesome country, where they may enter at once on fine lands pre- pared for cultivation, without the enormous expence of time and labour in clearing, which has been bestowed on every acre between this and the Atlantic. The inhabitants of the old States are profoundly and resolutely ignorant of the advantages of our prairie country. Book3 are written in the east to prove the wretchedness of the prairies, by persons who have never approached them within five hun- dred miles ; and English writers of the same UhlVUibllY 01- IIUNUI7 LIBRARY 52 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. description, some -with names and some with- out, can obtain more credence than is granted to me, from that description of readers. On the whole, I do not think it worth while to un- dertake the conviction of these people. The settlers here who prosper, that is to say, those who possess good morals and common discre- tion, will, in course, tell their experience to their friends and connections in England, and invite them to follow their example ; these again will invite others. This is now going on in all directions. Some write for their former neighbours or the residue of their fami- lies, others push back to the old country, to conduct them out. Numbers who come to try their hands at^a new settlement are wholly unlit for any place in this world, new or old, unless it be to supply the requisite quota of evil, which in this imperfect state, adheres to all places. These are the people sometimes most likely to be heard, whilst those who go on well and wisely are little noticed. Their adventures are at an end: they " keep a pig" and live happily. A volcano is a fine subject when in action, but the interest ceases with the eruption. At some future day, some *' still time, when there is no room for chiding," should my life be spared, I may lay before my countrymen a statement LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 53 of our condition : but the suitable time, I think, is not yet. It is, however, a pleasing offiee to transmit to an intelligent friend an occasional O sketch of the settlement ; and to receive, as I have from you, and I hope you will repeat the obligation, a return of liberal communication. The various attacks upon my reputation will be repelled, surely, though perhaps slowly, by time. Among my neighbours, who are now numerous, their effect has ceased already. The accuracy of my statements become daily more evident, and my errors are found to be on the opposite side to exaggeration ; a style which I dislike : it is offensive to my taste, as well as my moral feelings : is not a written lie to the full as abominable as one that is spoken ? The telescope which you have had the good- ness to procure for me is an object of pleasant anticipation. This climate is favourable for astronomical observations, and it will add to our rational amusements. I shall there- fore be obliged by your forwarding it as before directed, as soon as convenient. M. B. NOTES, [Note A,pae35.] The following Remarks respecting the want of water, and the account of the English settlement at the Illinois, are taken from a most entertaining, interesting, and elegant work, lately published, and of which a second edition is in the press. I here insert them, as they tend to confirm the correctness of the accounts published by Mr. Birkbeck and my brother, and contain some excellent advice to emigrants. " You have expressed in your late letters, some curio- sity regarding the condition of the English settlement, in the Illinois, adding, that the report has prevailed that those spirited emigrants had been at first too sanguine, and had too little foreseen the difficulties which the most fortunate settler must encounter. This report, I believe, to have originated with Mr. Cobbett, who thought pro- per to pronounce upon the condition of the farmer in the Illinois, in his own dwelling upon Long Island. Feling an interest in the success of our countrymen in the West, I have been at some pains to inform myself as to their actual condition. The following statement is chiefly ta- ken from the letters of two American gentlemen, of our acquaintance who have just visited the settlement; they inform me that its situation possesses all those positive advantages stated by Mr. Birkbeck ; that the worst difficulties have been surmounted ; and that these have 56 NOTES. always been fewer than what are frequently encountered in a new country. " The village of Albion, the centre of the settlement, contains at present thirty habitations, in which are found a bricklayer, a carpenter, a wheelwright, a cooper, and a blacksmith ; a well supplied shop, a little library, an inn, a chapel, and a post office, where the mail regu- larly arrives twice a week. Being situated on a ridge, between the greater and little Wabash, it is from its ele- vated position, and from its being some miles removed from the rivers, peculiarly dry and healthy. The prairie on which it stands, is as exquisitely beautiful ; lawns of unchanging verdure, spreading over hills and dales, scattered with islands of luxuriant trees, dropped by the hand of nature, with a taste that art could not rival all this spread beneath a sky of glowing and unspotted sapphires. The most beautiful parks of England, would afford a most imperfect comparison. The soil is abun- dantly fruitful, x and of course has an advantage over the heavy timbered lands, which can scarcely be cleared for less than from twelve to fifteen dollars per acre, while the Illinois farmer, may in general clear his for less than five, and then enter upon a more convenient mode of tillage. The objection that is too frequently found to the beau- tiful prairies of the Illinois, is the deficiency of springs and streams for mill seats. This is attended with incon- venience to the settler, though his health will find in it advantage. The nearest navigable river to Albion is the Wabash, eight miles distant : the nearest running stream, that is not liable to fail at Midsummer, the Bon- paw, four miles distant. The stock water in ponds" for cattle, was liable to run dry in a few weeks, and the set- tlement apprehended some temporary inconvenience from NOTES. 57 the circumstance. The finest water is every where to lie raised from twenty to twenty. five, 'or thirty feet from the surface, these wells never fail, but are of course trouble- some to work in a new settlement. " The settlement of Albion, must undoubtedly possess some peculiar attractions for an English emigrant, promis- ing him, as it does, the society of his own countrymen, an actual or ideal advantage, 'to which he is seldom in- sensible. Generally speaking, however, it may ultimately be as well for him, as for the, community to which he attaches himself, that he should become speedily incor- porated with the people of the soil : many emigrants bring with them prejudices and predilections which can only be rubbed away by a free intercourse with the natives of the country. By sitting down at once among them, they will more readily acquire an accurate knowledge of their political institutions, and learn to estimate the high privileges which these impart to them, and thus attach- ing themselves to their adopted country, not from mere sordid motives of interest, but also from feeling and principle, become not only naturalized, but also national- ised. I have met with but too many in this country, who have nol advanced beyond the former. I must observe, also, that the European farmer and mechanic, are usually far behind the American in general and practical know- ledge, as well as enterprise. You find in the working farmer of these states, a store of information, a dexterity in all the manual arts, and often a high tone of national feeling, to which you will hardly find a parallel amongst the same class elsewhere. His advice and assistance al- ways freely given to those who seek it, will be found of infinite service to a stranger ; it will often save him from many rash speculations, at the same time that it will dis- E 58 MOTES. pose him to see things in their true light, and to open his eyes and heart to all the substantial advantages that sur- round him." Views of Society and Manners in America, in a series of Letters from, that Country to a Friend in England during the years 1818, 1819, 1820. By an Englishwoman, 8vo. The above as the reader will notice, was written two years ago, since which the settlement, as appears by the letters now published, has considerably increased, and for the-time it has been established, is in a* very flourishing state. [Note B. page 44.] The address of the worthy female, one of the Society of Friends to my brother, respecting the " Infidel wicked " settlement at the Illinois," proceeded from that prin- ciple of fear for the interests of Christianity, Avhich an enlightened Christian, by which I mean one who under- stands the principles, imbibes the spirit, and follows the example of the primitive Christians, need not indulge. To all sincere Christians who may have indulged similar fears, may be applied what the Psalmist remarks of certain pious persons of his day, who appear to have been placed in a very " infidel, wicked settlement ;" " There were they "ingreat fear where no fear ivas" (Ps. liv. 5.) Infidelity, or unbelief in the divine mission of Christ ; a rejection of those grand truths, essential to the salvation of a lost world, where the gospel can be read and examined, as it may easily be in the present enlightened age enlightened, with respect to the means of instruction for the attain- ment of knowledge the most important, is so inexcuseable, that I know not how any man, even if his capacity be be- low mediocrity, and more especially any man whose ca- NOTES, 59 pacity is above mediocrity, can, remaining an unbeliever, rationally hope to escape the awful sentence pronounced by our Saviour: " He that believeth not the Son, shall not see light : he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begot- ten Son of God. (John iii.) Passages as equally appli- cable to unbelievers of the present day, as to those of old, as the evidences of Christianity are equally bright and convincing as in our Saviour's time, if not more so. We have no such gross prejudices to combat as the Jews had, as no persons are so stupid as to expect a tem- poral Messiah, to imitate those grand pests of society, who, in all ages, have ravaged the world despotic kings, and wholesale murderers commonly called conquerers ! And if we have not the evidence of sense, the personal presence of Christ, we have a more sure word of prophecy, not of a temporary nature, but more suitable to succeeding ages, even to the end of time, the fulfilment of Divine pre- dictions. Men who after reading the various relations of travellers of the first reputation, concerning the fall and present state of ancient states and cities, Babylon, Tyre, Egypt, &c. can reject the evidence of the truth of revelation arising from such a source, may be pronounced without breach of charity, wilfully blind. If it be said, there is no general rule without exceptions, I allow it, but only so far as there may be exceptions to other im- portant general rules : for instance, that justly called the golden rule, delivered by our Saviour in his sermon on the mount. But let it be seriously recollected, that the very word exceptions implies the generality of the rule, and that the man cannot be very wise, who endeavours to persuade himself, that he shall, in the great day of final account, be included in these exceptions. For myself, I 60 NOTES. inust profess, that after some acquaintance with several of our principal infidel writers, English and foreign, I have never met with any who dared meet the distinguishing evidences of Christianity fairly ; and that in general, the description of writers alluded to, have been men whose moral conduct has been so defective, as to afford just reason to apprehend they were not sincere inquirers after truth. The infidel public may safely be challenged to answer, not only the writings of Locke, Newton, Lardner, Paley, &c. but even some of our shilling or sixpenny pamphlets. Let any unbeliever exert his energies in re- futi*g that admirable tract entitled An Answer to the Question, WHY ABE YOU A CHRISTIAN? by the late Dr. Clarke of Boston, in America, of which there have been published numerous editions, but to which, if an answer has been written, I will thank any person to inform me, and where it can be procured." But so long as the enemies of revelation consider misrepresentation, arising- from wilfut ignorance, sneering, jesting, aud ribaldry, lawful weapons to effect the purpose they have at heart the destruction of Christianity I shall" certainly suspect they do not possess that indispensable qualification in all in- quiries concerning revelation, an honest and good heart, and that of course they are not sincere in their inqui- ries; but let all such men take warning from the numerous declarations in scripture concerning the rejecters of the gospel, as they will most assuredly find, that with res- pect to threatnings, as well as promises, it is impossible for God to lie / Should it be asked, How is it that so many men of ta- lents, and who may possess qualities, which may render them in different ways, and to a certain degree useful to the world and ornamental to the social circle ; various NOTES. causes may be assigned. I must confine myself to a few. The principal reason is assigned by the divine author of Christianity : This is the condemnation ; light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds "are evil. The love of applause in favourite circles is assigned by the same authority as another ^rea- son. Our Saviour demanded of the Pharisees, how can ye believe ^vho receive honour one of one another, and not the honour whic1i~cometh from God only ! They rejected our Saviour's doctrines because they loved the praise of men, more than the praise of God. How often has pride deter- mined men to reject truths the most important ? The doc- trine of the cross, although the brightest display of the wisdom and power of God to the world, is to the carnal man, that is the man whose belief and practice are deter, mined by worldly motives, foolishness. The remark of Dr. Priestley on this subject, deserves the most serious attention of men, who are by their talents and learning, elevated above the rest of the world. " Learned men have " prejudices peculiar to themselves, and the very aftecta-' " tion of being free from vulgar notions, and of being wiser " than the rest of mankind, must indispose them to the ad- " mission of truth, if it should happen to be with the com* " mon poeple !" Although if the opinions I have expressed be true, they want not the sanction of the learned, yet knowing the in- fluence of names, I will in their support add two, who although men of very different opinions, are by their respective admirers, considered masters in Israel. The first is Dr. Johnson who, as his biographer Mr. Boswell informs us, remarked on this subject, " No honest " man could be a deist ; for no man could be so after a "Jair examination of the proofs of Christianity. Hume 62 NOTES. " owned to a clergyman, in the bishopric of Durham, that he "had never read the New Testament with attention !" Another example of the truth of Johnson's remark is the famous Thomas Paine, who in a work misnamed " the Age of " Reason" but which is a disgrace to any man possessing his reason, at the very moment of pretending to criticise the bible, and of glorying in having destroyed its credit, ac- knowledged that " that he had not read it for several years !'' This may, in part at least, account for the numerous mis- statements' and falsehoods which deform his pages. This work has been the more injurious to society, as thereby the author lost much of that fame he had justly acquired by his admirable, and popular political writings, but to which the world has since shewn a comparative indifference. To Dr. Johnson's opinionlonly add thatof Mr. Belsham, who in his Calm Inquiry, &c. observes; "The Unitarians " acknowledge that the scriptures were written for the in- " struction of the illiterate as well as of the learned, and '* they believe that ALL which is essential to doctrine or "practice is SUFFICIENTLY INTELLIGIBLE 'even to the " meanest capacity," From these premises I conclude, that there is little dan- ger of the spread of that absurdity of absurdities INFIDE- LITY, where it is not supported by more plausible reasons than are contained in the writings of its votaries ; bat it is with pain, that I am obliged injustice to the subject to add, that its principal support has been the corrupt sys- tems and lives of its professors. Those ANTICHRISTIAN CHURCHES under whatever denomination, and in every country under heaven, which have been established by the civil magistrate : THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE, which has displayed its brazen front in the temple of God, exalting itself above all that is called God; robbed NOTES. 63 the great head of the church of his peculiar prerogative, the sovereignty over conscience ; and plundered countless millions of their rights and properties, thus turning the church into a den of thieves, These ecclesiastical corrup- tions constitute a more formidable argument against Christianity, although by no means an honest reason for rejecting it, than the writings of the whole infidel world united.* * A modern divine gives us the following curious description of the Church of England. " The governors of this society form a kind of aris- " tocracy respecting the community at large, but each particular governor " in his proper district is a sort of monarch, exercising his function both to- " wards the inferior ministers and laity, according to the will of the su- " preine head of the church." The English Liturgy a Form of Sound Words ; a Sermon delivered in the Parish Churches of St. Benet, Grace- church Street, our real resources should not even be even hinted at. Is there no patriot to be found in either House of the Legislature, following the excellent example of Mr. Hume respecting stale abuses, who will recommend, " An inquiry into the nature and amount of our church reve- nues .'" Would Christianity suffer if a Bishop of Winchester, or a Bishop of Durhum, ha,l -not 30 or .40,000 a year! or if our over-grown church revenues in England, and more especially in that still more oppressed country, Ireland, where the bishoprics are in general richer, and many thousands are wrung from a long oppressed and impoverished people, not unfrequently in places where little or no duty is performed, were inquired into? Let Britain look at the church reformation which has taken place in Fiance, and is nw going forward in Spain and Portugal, the abolition of tythes, and the resumption of the useless and hurtful revenues of the church, and blush at her bat and mole-like stupidity ! NOTES. 65 Us chief support, and cannot, to any extensive degree, flourish. Let that favoured quarter of the globe carefully preserve her only establishment LIBERTY AND EQUALITY, and her religious interests are safe. Christianity left to itself will, by its own internal excellence, and by the lives of its sincere professors, have free course, and be glorified. The English settlement in the Illinois already aftbrds an illustration of the truth of these sentiments. In the first stage of its infancy, reports, as it appears by the remon- strance and admonitions of the female friend at Philadel- phia to my brother, have been industriously and widely cir- culated, of its being a " wicked infidel settlement;" where "a Christian parent'' could not " answer it to his God for " endangering the precious souls of his dear children !" ' Three years have scarcely passed since this solemn warn- ing was given ; and what is the present state of this " Infidel settlement ?" The friends to Christianity have exerted themselves, and although without the assistance of Priests, or even Reverends of any denomination, two places within the distance of as many miles, have been erected for public worship; one on the moderate can- did Unitarian plan, I mean that which according to the only accurate import of the word includes in its communion, all Christians who dissent from that con- tradiction in terms "THREE divine PERSONS in ONE " GOD :" The other for the members of the Episcopal Church of England^ which in America, ^ by losing its antichristian sting, has lost its principal deformities ; and what deserves peculiar notice the service in the latter is read by the very person who was supposed to have been the chief promoter of infidelity ! A third chapel is now erecting for the use of the Calvinistic bap- tists. These different denominations, with any others 66 NOTES. which may hereafter appear, have, only to follow the example of their brethren throughout America ; to meet in civil society, as friends, perfectly equal as to political, civil, and religious rights, no one allowed to have any ascendancy over the other, Christianity will then triumph, and infidelity will be ashamed to shew its face. To the excellent admonitions on the subject of religious and moral conduct with which my brother concludes his letters, I cannot help adding my ardent hopes, that as the English settlement appears to be increasing in prosperity, and to present an happy asylum for those, who from va- rious circumstances, are induced or compelled to emigrate from their native country, the inhabitants will prove an example of that true religion and virtue, which constitute the only sure foundation and preserver of states and com- munities : my wishes are equally ardent, that as chris- tians, they would not only avoid the errors of anti- christian established churches, but. of those which although professedly dissenting from- them still retain a strong attachment to many of their follies. Primitive Christi- anity, how seldom is it aspired after ! The unnecessary division of Christians into clergy and laity ; the distinctions of dress, habits, and titles, so calculated to please the fancy of our grown babies in the Christian church ; the objectionable manner in which Christian pastors are too frequently ordained and supported : these with other follies which might be mentioned, all innovations on the simplicity and purity of the primitive churches will at the Illinois, it is hoped, be avoided. Let the English seriously recollect, that in their native country priestcraft prevails, not, only in the established church, but in different degrees amongst those who dissent from it, where I fear it is in- creasing ; and that those who are distinguished for their NOTES. 67 attachment to weak and beggarly elements, are in general equallydistinguished for their indifference to the grand prin- ciples of LIBERTY, for their servility to the ruling powers, and for their support of that ruinous system of war and corruption, which has so peculiarly disgraced the British nation for the past sixty years. May the office of pastor of a Christian church be no longer deemed a trade, but, let every Christian teacher aspire to the honour of being equally independent with the apostles and pastors of the primi- tive churches, who were chiefly if not wholly dependant on their own exertions in the pursuit of some honest calling. May all denominations, uniting with each other in the bonds of Christian friendship, no longer consider their pe- culiar explanation of doctrines as necessary to Christian communion. May their only grand essentials be, sincerity in the search of truth, and honesty in practising it. Thus may they, in the full enjoyment of political, civil, and religious liberty go on unto perfection.* * That I may not be misunderstood, I beg- leave to remark, that I intend no reflection on those who may have been educated solely with a view to the ministry, and of whose habits we cannot expect an alteration. 1 1 is an evil atttending the present system, that while men of very moderate talents, and judging by their conduct, who have made no great advance- ment in the Christian life,who possess a few superficial qualifications which captivate the ignorant and unthinking-, are living in luxury, there arc men of fine talents, and transceudant virtues, who are living in compara- tive poverty. The grand error is the mechanical transformation of youths into ministers at seminaries, instead of their being brought up to some trade or profession in which their independence might rest on themselves. I have, on this subject, expressed myself more at large in the MEMOIRS op ROBERT ROBINSON, prefixed to his Works. See also an excellent Sermon in his incomparable VILLAGE DISCOURSES, entitled, " Any one who understands Christianity may teach' it?' And another in the Posthumous volume of his works, entitled, " The Corruptions of Christianity." 68 NOTES. [ Note C. Page 46. ] Mr. Cobbett's former Ohiinnies respecting the English settlements in the Illinois were amply refuted by Mr. Birkbeck and my brother, in two pamphlets, published in 1810, and to neither of which, although he has alluded to a private letter, since written by the former, and inserted in a pr-ovincial paper, has he dared to reply. He has however, had the effrontery in a late Register, (July, 7th, 1821, ) not only to repeat those calumnies, but to invent others still more atrocious ; and as the parties concerned are five thousand miles distant, I deem it my duty on the present occasion, to add a few observations to those of my brother, that the character of the calumniator may appear in its true colours, and that jny countrymen may no longer be the dupes of a man who has so frequently deceived them. This writer has in his rage against the settlements at the Illinois, not only shewn his usual disregard of truth and decency, but thrown off the common feelings of humanity. Yes ! This marble-hearted reprobate has im- piously dared to reproach an affectionate, apeculiarly warm-hearted father with the death of a favourite son. Addressing himself to Mr. Birkbeck, he states as follows : "As to English farmers, yours, or any like yours, is the " very worst spot they can go to. "Of the falsehood of this as- sertion, the reader has before him demonstrative evidence. Then, alluding to Mr. William Hunt and his qualifications for farming, the writer adds : "With great sorrow I heard " of his untimely end, from one of those terrible fevers that " never fail to haunt new settlements for years. One of " Mr. Flower's sons is dead also, in the bloom of life. " Now, had Mr. F. followed my advice given him at New " York ; if he had purchased a farm or two on the Atlan- " tic side, this son would in all probability have been alive /" NOTF.S, 69 To this atrocious paragraph I reply : It is false that "terrible fevers haunt the English settlements" more than is common in either England or America. I am well ac- quainted with some who were born, and had previous to their emigration, lived in one of the finest counties in England, Devonshire, who were not un frequently sub- ject to fevers in general, but to such "terrible fevers," as had nearly terminated their earthly existence. These very persons have lately*written me, that during a twelve- month's residence near Albion, succeeding a long and fatiguing voyage and journey, they have been less subject to fevers, and have enjoyed better health than when breathing their native air. As to the climate in general, its healthy state has, after four years experience, been proved, by the evidence of persons, whose characters for veracity more particularly, are as superior to that of their calumniator, as light is to darkness. It isfahe that Mr. W. Hunt was brought to an untimely end by *' a terrible " fever." At the moment I am writing I hare a gentle- man at my elbow, who during his late residence at the Illinois was well acquainted with Mr. H. and with the circumstances attending his death ; and he has authorised me to state : That Mr. Hunt's disorder was a common pleurisy, attended with but a slight degree of fever ; that he was fast recovering ; but as is not uncommon in other countries, not taking proper care of himself, and negligent in following medical advice, he had a relapse which ter- minated fatally. // is false, ,t\\