Volume 10 — LETTERS, &c.

LETTER I

Albion, Illinois, Jan. 18, 1820.

Dear Sir,

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 equally 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 {10} 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 considerable 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 inexhaustible. I had nearly two miles to draw it, but I lost nothing by my contract, and murmuring 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 {11} others at a mile and a half, so that no lasting want has been known, only a temporary inconvenience 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 not 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} 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 vegetables of the most luxuriant growth.

It ought not, however, to be concealed that we are much in want of farming labourers; we with difficulty get a regular ploughman, and a ploughboy 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 difficult 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 we greatly counteract this by keeping them out of employ, and our money in our pockets, and pay the Americans who come 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 {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 occasional assistance, in addition to the services of Mrs. C. who we brought with us, and a woman 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 during 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 successfull; our place is well attended, from forty to fifty people, {14} 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 congregational 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, {15} better men met and read the Scriptures, 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 argument 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 religious 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} 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 employment, my deathbed 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 Providence 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 much amused if you had been with us a few weeks since, when I had a visit from Captain Burke,57 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 {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 increase our sense and our knowledge; but this untutored son of nature could not conceive of this till I took down a volume of Shaw's Zoology.58 "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 attention 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 coloured plate. "There," said he, "wife, is it not {18} wonderful, that this gentleman, coming so many miles, should know these things from books only? See ye," 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.

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 matters of fact, which must stand uncontradicted, and bear the test of examination.

I proceed to state to you the circumstances 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 employment 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. I have a comfortable 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} poultry, eggs, 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, thank 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 Wabash." 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 the 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 regularly attended to by many, and all have the {21} means of assembling on the Sunday at our small but neat place of worship. We read the Reformed or Unitarian Liturgy, the Scriptures, 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, notwithstanding 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 religion amongst the people of the Illinois.

But to return from spiritual to temporal concerns: I imagine you asking,—Are there then no inconveniences? There are. We have not a sufficiency of female servants, on account of the frequency of marriage, which is constantly depriving us of those we have; and although 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 privations. How much I regret that more of the overflowing population of England cannot find {22} their way here, exchanging their poverty for plenty of employment and good fare.

We have East and West India produce in abundance; 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 their 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 {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 among 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 himself. 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 politics, and the interesting events that now so much excite the attention of mankind. I went into my field the other day, and began a conversation with my ploughman: his address and manner of speech, as well as his conversation {24} 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 "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 Wanborough 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 performs 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 become man and wife, and their answer of consent. This is registered at the magistrates, and recorded by him at the county court: if {25} 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 upwards 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 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 {26} carried the day. We have had ten or 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, notwithstanding 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 my window, the golden harvest waving before me; a beautiful field of wheat, the admiration of the country, the first fruit 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 {27} smote me in my tenderest part, by sending his awful messenger to call my dear son William away,59 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 Settlement60 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. A person with 100 per Annum would be in affluence, which you will say is owing to the cheapness of provisions;61 and freedom from tythes, taxes, poor's rates, &c. The labourer or mechanic who is steady, can work himself into plenty. {28} 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 pleasantest 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. How 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 instances of females earning from six to eight dollars a week by their needles; enough for them to keep comfortable tables.

I have felt great satisfaction in never having {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 succeeded to their wishes; and in all cases which have come to my knowledge, where affairs have been conducted 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 particular more tailors and shoemakers: any one understanding the coarse earthen-ware manufactury 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 newspapers of all the bustle you have had about your queen;62 but if it ends without the people regaining their long lost liberties, between the {30} collision of the different factions, you will only be worse off; and if the regaining of those liberties will not rouse the people to the 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 settlement; {31} and great has been 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 unparalleled drought pervaded the whole western country. Is so transitory a view to be considered 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 written from settlements above fifty miles distant from us, where circumstances are so 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 lowlands 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} 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 situation; 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 contradictory 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 country men; 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 {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 reporting 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} 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 we were obliged to 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; on 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 somewhat 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 herdsman, 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 {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 fine wells were 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 Wanborough 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.63

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 {36} want of knowledge of the history of new settlements and their progress. Every person knows that the second year is the most unprofitable: 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 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 [of] the Illinois; either as to its soil, climate, or general character; could I but set these very travellers down here at this moment, how would their astonished senses give contradiction 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 {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} 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 instant decision.

Then comes another 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 su[r]plus 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 {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 breeding of sheep, and have succeeded to the utmost of my wishes and expectations. My flock consists of about four hundred sheep and lambs; and although the first winter there were unexpected difficulties to encounter, I can assure my countrymen 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 disadvan[ta]ges, all is reduced to the price of land carriage, of about nine miles to the Wabash, {40} at sixteen cents per hundred pounds. If therefore it is said that our surplus produce cannot be disposed of, it is not applicable to local circumstances alone; but to all America. Whenever the United States in general can dispose of their produce advantageously, 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 sickness. The number of deaths has been in the ratio of four in ninety-five each year, and this is a smaller number 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 residence, with the information of those who were here a year and a half before me, that {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 population, now the clouds and mists which malignity has spread abroad are disappearing, before the light of truth, as the mists of morning 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 number of fine wells of water, all present a most encouraging and delightful prospect.

Another testimony in favour of our situation is, that some of our countrymen who have settled in other places, have visited us, expressing their surprise and regret that they had been the dupes of false reports, and had stopped short of the Illinois. While others more prudently came down 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, {42} 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 conclusion! 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 American, 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 individuals 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 inhabitants {43} 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 admitted, 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,64 which are read on the Sabbath. But above all we have the incorruptible seed of the word of God which liveth and abideth for 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 emphatically on the subject:—"Wilt thou, friend {44} Flower, take thy family to that infidel and wicked settlement in the Illinois? Thou appearest to be a christian; how wilt thou answer to thy God for endangering the precious souls of thy dear children?" Madam, answered I, my destiny appears to be in the Illinois settlement; and rather than turn from thence on the account you have mentioned, you have furnished me with a forcible argument to proceed. I trust I am as you have supposed a sincere christian, and as it is my special duty to go where reformation is so necessary, I will endeavour to perform it, and hope for the blessing of the Most High. It is for us to use the means. We know who it is to command success in our present state and future prospects.65

It may be worth while to make a few remarks on the characters, situations, and apparent motives of some of those persons by whom we have been misrepresented and reviled.

The first class that opened their batteries of illiberal abuse, were the ministerial and hireling writers in England.66 The emigration of Englishmen, in the Illinois it appears did not please the masters whom these writers serve; and this is sufficient to account for their {45} conduct: as usual, they were not very nice, in the means they made use of. Private characters were assailed indiscriminately, and motives imputed to the emigrants which never entered their minds. The grand reason for emigration was to escape that overwhelming system of taxation which had diminished the property of the emigrants, and threatened if they staid much longer, to swallow up the whole. Their conduct has proved their discernment, and justified their proceedings.

How many of my brother farmers have lost their all! How many have been added to the list of paupers since we left our beloved country, newspapers and private letters, agricultural meetings and parliamentary proceedings and reports, sufficiently declare. Happy had it been for many others, if they had accompanied us: some who have followed us have lamented their indecision, and have felt the fatal consequences of their lingering in their own country. The motives and views of this first class of revilers, is too obvious to need fa[r]ther notice.

Another writer, who is, or rather who was once popular, whom I met at New York, passionately expressed his determination to write us down: amongst much false reasoning which {46} he made use of for this purpose, it is greatly to be feared he also cared but little for truth; and I have often wondered what could be his motive? Whether he had some other settlement at heart; or whether he wished to keep all emigrants near him to persuade them to enter into his grand plan of inundating England with forged Bank of England notes!!—One thing however is decidedly clear; that he knew nothing about what he was writing; and our present success, surrounded by so many comforts, is a sufficient proof he did not do us all the harm he intended. Were he to ride over our fine prairies, viewing our flocks, herds, and corn fields, such ocular demonstration of the falsehood of his statements would be to him a sufficient mortification.67

But there is another class of men of a very different sort; those who were raising rival settlements, in various parts of America, and who had lands for sale: who longed to stop the cash which seemed to be pouring into the lap of the Illinois. It was natural for them, as human nature is constituted, to attempt to arrest its progress; they therefore joined the hue and cry against the Illinois, and spread reports {47} of sickness, starvation, famishing for thirst, frequent deaths, and the consequent abandonment of our settlement. In this they in some instances succeeded, and as I have before hinted, some have visited us who speak of their having been entrapped, and express the deep regret that they did not join us. Facts however soon began to dispel the illusion: one gentleman brought his family to Cincinnati, several families visited Baltimore, who notwithstanding the evil tidings that they had heard ventured, although with fearful apprehensions, to the English settlement: but singular as it may appear to our calumniators, after a most minute investigation into our situation and circumstances, in the autumn of the year they could not find a sick person throughout the settlement: nor was the drought which certainly inconvenienced us, peculiar or local; it raged throughout the western country. They were satisfied, and went to fetch their families, who are now residents amongst us to their entire satisfaction. It is no wonder then, that the falsehoods and calumnies which have been so industriously spread, are at length found to be such; and that the character and motives of the persons who have assailed us are duly appreciated: and, as a consequence of these and {48} other circumstances one hundred individuals have joined the town of Albion, and about twenty have settled in its environs since last August.

Notwithstanding all I have stated, I would not have my countrymen consider me as inducing them to emigrate, without serious and due consideration of their own circumstances; but rather consider me as advising them if they do emigrate to America, to come and unite with us in the Illinois; resting assured that what I have stated is truth—impartial truth.

It is a trial of no mean sort to quit one's native country, and separate ourselves from those for whom we have the sincerest friendship and regard. The privations however of a first settlement are at an end: we may now indeed say "the way is smoothed for them;" and it rests with us who are now settled to be prosperous, 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 starvation 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 {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 increasing welfare and happiness in time and eternity.

R. F.