F 
 S13 
 
 i 
 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARIES 
 
 ITHACA, N. Y. 14583 
 
 JOHN M. OLIN 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University LIHary 
 F 545.S73 
 
 The English settlement in the lllinois.ijl 
 
 3 1924 010 407 215 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924010407215 
 
EXTRACTS FROM A SUPPLEMENTARY 
 LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 By morris BIRKBECK. 
 
 LIMITED EDITION. 
 
 250 copies on Small Paper. 
 10 copies on Large Paper, 
 
 By EDWIN ERLE SPARKS, Ph.D., 
 
 Professor of American History and Dean of University College in 
 the University of Chicago. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM A SUPPLEMENTARY 
 LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 By MORRIS BIRKBECK. 
 
 LETTERS FROM THE LEXINGTON AND 
 
 THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 By RICHARD FLOWER. 
 
 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS, 
 1820, 1821. 
 
 By RICHARD FLOWER. 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 
 
 By EDWIN ERLE SPARKS, Ph.D., 
 
 Professor of American History and Dean of University College in 
 the University of Chicago. 
 
THE 
 
 ENGLISH SETTLEMENT 
 
 IN THE 
 
 ILLINOIS. 
 
 REPRINTS OF 
 
 THREE RARE TRACTS ON THE 
 
 ILLINOIS COUNTRY. 
 
 WITH MAP AND A VIEW OF A BRITISH COLONY 
 HOUSE AT ALBION. 
 
 EDITED 
 WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWIN ERLE SPARKS, Ph.D., 
 
 Professor of American History, 
 University of Chicago. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 THE MUSEUM BOOK STORE, 
 
 43, Museum Street, W.C, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE TORCH PRESS, 
 
 Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 
 
 1907. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 This group of interesting pamphlets belongs to 
 the reconstruction period of European history, 
 when the nations were attempting to resume 
 their normal economic relations, after twenty 
 years of almost continuous war. In England 
 it was hoped that the caging of Napoleon 
 and a cessation of hostilities would bring a 
 freedom from anxiety, a return of prosperity 
 and a general happiness. The result was 
 precisely contrary. In their ensuing unfortu- 
 nate condition the people failed to appreciate 
 the length of time necessary to resume former 
 relations. They blamed all their miseries 
 upon government, and demanded various re- 
 forms. While the common classes formed 
 mobs to protest against the price of bread, 
 the better informed organized Hampden Clubs 
 to secure a repeal of the Corn Laws and the 
 
vi Introduction. 
 
 extension of manhood suffrage. Even the 
 uncertain relation of England to the Holy 
 Alliance was made a subject of suspicion and 
 attack by the reformers. 
 
 Under such disturbances many people con- 
 templated seeking a new home beyond the 
 ocean, where taxes would be lower, tithes un- 
 known, paid officials fewer, and, presumably, 
 means of making a livelihood easier. In a 
 preface to Hulme's "Journal of a Tour in 
 the Western Countries of America," William 
 Cobbett, the reformer, describes Hulme as 
 one of many who, "having something to be 
 robbed of, and wishing to preserve it, and 
 looking toward America as a place of refuge 
 from the Borough-mongers and the Holy 
 Alliance," alienated themselves to that land. 
 Hulme himself ascribes his migration to the 
 same causes. " I saw that, of whatever I 
 might be able to give to my children, as 
 well as of what they might be able to earn, 
 more than one-half would be taken away to 
 feed pensioned Lords and Ladies, Soldiers 
 
Introduction. vii 
 
 to shoot at us, Parsons to persecute us, and 
 Fundholders who had lent their money to 
 be appHed to purposes of enslaving us." 
 
 To these emigrants the United States of 
 America presented a kinship of blood and a 
 similarity of language and institutions which 
 robbed the transplanting of many of its 
 terrors. The public lands offered in fee 
 simple by the United States Government at 
 a price of about two dollars an acre on 
 easy terms, assured each emigrant a home, 
 while the restrictive land laws prevented a 
 foreign landlord system. For mutual pro- 
 tection a number of families would some- 
 times unite and select adjacent lands in the 
 New World, thus forming a kind of colony. 
 Having acquired more land than they could 
 cultivate, and desiring to augment their 
 numbers, they frequently sent home letters 
 setting forth the fertility of the soil and 
 salubrity of climate of their new homes. 
 Between these various colonies a rivalry 
 soon arose, each taking every occasion to 
 
viii Introduction. 
 
 establish its advantages against the disad- 
 vantages of the others. English colonies 
 were planted in eastern Pennsylvania along 
 the Susquehanna River; in Long Island, 
 New York; in the southern portion of the 
 State of Indiana, and in south-eastern 
 Illinois. From the latter were written the 
 pamphlets by Birkbeck and Flower herein 
 printed. 
 
 Morris Birkbeck was born at Wanborough, 
 in Surrey, in 1763, of Quaker ancestry. 
 Associated with him was George Flower, 
 near twenty years his junior, son of a Dis- 
 senter named Richard Flower. Desiring to 
 escape the authority of the Established 
 Church, Birkbeck sent out the younger 
 Flower in 18 16 to arrange for the purchase 
 of some sixteen thousand acres of public 
 land in what was known as "the Illinois 
 country." In 1818 it became the State of 
 Illinois. One year later, Birkbeck brought 
 his four children to his purchase, and Flower 
 returned to England for his family. 
 
Introduction, ix 
 
 Upon arriving at his tract of land, situated 
 in south-eastern Illinois between the Great 
 and Little Wabash rivers, Birkbeck selected 
 a bit of rising ground in a large prairie for 
 his residence. He described the building as 
 made of frame filled with brick, and con- 
 taining thirteen rooms and two cellars. 
 Travellers who visited him called it a cabin. 
 He intended it to be a manor house for a 
 great estate, similar to the one he had left 
 in Surrey, Two miles to the eastward he 
 laid out a village which he called Albion. 
 Here were to be gathered the artisans and 
 tradesmen necessary for his establishment. 
 Very soon the prairie in which Wanborough 
 and Albion were located became known 
 locally as •' English Prairie." 
 
 Birkbeck had kept careful notes of the 
 events of his migration, and these he sent 
 back with Flower to England, where they 
 appeared as " Notes on a Journey in America 
 from the Coast of Virginia to Illinois." They 
 were later supplemented by a collection of 
 
X Introduction. 
 
 " Letters " written by Birkbeck from Illinois. 
 Both pamphlets were intended to persuade 
 others to remove to the English Prairie. 
 Birkbeck's statements were at once questioned 
 by William Cobbett, who had exiled himself 
 to America and had chosen a home on Long 
 Island near the city of New York. He was 
 interested in a colony at that point. Birk- 
 beck's reply to Cobbett forms the first pam- 
 phlet printed in this collection. Cobbett's 
 attack may be found in his complete works. 
 
 George Flower, in 1818, brought over his 
 father and several members of his family, 
 having previously married a ward of Birkbeck. 
 He claimed that Birkbeck had made no effort 
 in his absence to secure for him a home. 
 Upon arriving at Albion he began the con- 
 struction of a residence which he called 
 " Park House." While the house was build- 
 ing, the father, Richard Flower, and the 
 family tarried in Lexington, the chief city of 
 the State of Kentucky. During this period 
 the father began the series of " Letters from 
 
Introduction. xi 
 
 Lexington and the Illinois," which make up 
 the second pamphlet of this reprint. In it, 
 he also pays his respects to Mr. Cobbett. 
 
 After removing to the Park House, Albion, 
 Richard Flower continued his efforts in 
 behalf of the English Settlement by writing 
 the " Letters from the Illinois," which form 
 the third of this collection of pamphlets. In 
 England they were edited by Richard's 
 younger brother, Benjamin, who prepared 
 notes and wrote a preface under the initials 
 "B. F." 
 
 The failure of the English settlements in 
 Illinois was due not alone to the poor 
 quality of the soil in that part of the State 
 and the hindrance from drought before deep 
 artesian wells were driven. Birkbeck dis- 
 played a haughty bearing and lordly air in 
 ill keeping with his democratic surroundings. 
 He was soon dubbed " the Emperor of the 
 Prairie." Difficulties of finding " servants " 
 among his American neighbours interfered 
 with his establishment. The case of Biddy, 
 
xii Introduction, 
 
 as related by Flower, was not singular. 
 Differences arose between Birkbeck and 
 George Flower, caused, it was said, by the 
 marriage of Flower to a ward of Birkbeck, 
 whom the latter wished to make his second 
 spouse. Vaux, Woods and other travellers 
 mention this quarrel as growing into a feud 
 between the settlements at Wanborough and 
 Albion, and greatly injuring the growth of 
 each. In 1825 Birkbeck was drowned in 
 crossing a stream while making a visit to 
 Robert Owen at his community of Harmony. 
 George Flower resided in Illinois until 
 1862, leaving a " History of the English 
 Settlements in Edward's County, Illinois." 
 (Chicago: 1862. Chicago Hist. Soc. Publi- 
 cations, X.) 
 
 Woods described Wanborough in 1822 as 
 containing twenty-five cabins, a tavern, a 
 store or two, and the shops of various crafts- 
 men. To these settlers Birkbeck had sold 
 lots of five acres, each laid out in a village. 
 In Albion, Woods saw about twenty cabins, 
 
Introduction. xiii 
 
 two taverns, a church, a market house, and 
 two stores, with a smith and other artisans. 
 Other English settlers were scattered about 
 the prairie in single cabins. This was the 
 period of greatest English supremacy. Many 
 settlers returned to England disheartened. 
 American settlers came in, and the English 
 predominance was soon lost. Birkbeck's 
 children left Illinois after his death. 
 
 Wanborough has disappeared from the 
 modern map. Albion is a small village 
 (population in 1900, 1,162), differing in nowise 
 from neighbouring villages along the single 
 line of railway which passes through it. A 
 very few descendants of the English settlers 
 are yet to be found. Occasionally a square 
 solid brick house survives to mark the Eng- 
 lish occupancy. On the prairie, where games 
 of cricket were played to keep in memory 
 Catharine Hill fair in old Guildford, now can 
 be seen only fields of corn or orchards of 
 fruit trees. Typical American farms and farm 
 houses are scattered over the old English 
 
xiv Introduction. 
 
 prairie which Birkbeck hoped to make into 
 an American manor. Scarcely a tradition 
 remains of the man of whom Vaux said, 
 " No man since Columbus has done so much 
 towards peopling America as Mr. Birkbeck." 
 
Ifm^n, Fiihii^-^trd hy Lfliijgnum , Sumt , R^.,- _ Orme I- Bi-oifn. Pirterruwtrv Hm- . M(Ovh,JS22 . 
 
 SuirMaU...-,'Burv So* ei.>otrttt'-' 
 
EXTRACTS 
 
 FROM 
 
 A SUPPLEMENTARY LETTER 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 ILLINOIS; 
 
 AN 
 
 abt)rcss to Briti0b jemigrants; 
 
 AND 
 
 A REPLY 
 
 TO 
 
 THE REMARKS 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT, Esq. 
 
 BY 
 
 MORRIS BIRKBECK. 
 Second ]£Mtion. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED FOR JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY. 
 
 ItlDCCCXIX, 
 
EXTRACTS 
 
 FROM A 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTER 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE ILLINOIS. W 
 
 Sent to England for Publication, January 31, 1819. 
 
 The interest which has been excited by 
 the voluntary expatriation of an obscure 
 individual shows, that the thing itself is of 
 importance, when considered in connection 
 with its causes. The exposure of these 
 causes has been imputed to me as an act 
 of hostility to my native country, by those, 
 who identify the government with the 
 people. This imputation is unjust and 
 extremely painful ; for, though no longer 
 a subject of the British Government, I 
 am bound to my countrymen by ties of 
 affection, to be broken by that stroke only, 
 
 B 
 
which must sever me from all the inte- 
 rests of mortality. But I make no apo- 
 logy. Hoping to do good, it became my 
 duty to publish : and who apologises for 
 the performance of a duty? 
 
 In my solicitude for the well-being 
 of our colony, I have deprecated the for- 
 malities practised in lieu of Religion. I 
 have therefore been deemed a foe to Reli- 
 gion — that bond which connects the soul 
 of man with the Supreme Intelligence, " in 
 whom we live, and move, and have our 
 being." It is the love of God in- 
 creasing our good will toward each other. 
 It is a principle of action aiding the moral 
 sense : a divine sentiment, impelling us to 
 pursuits which reason approves, and re- 
 straining us from evil. If I have written 
 in disparagement of this principle, I plead 
 guilty. 
 
 It has been reported in the Eastern 
 States, that all our bright prospects have 
 vanished, and that we have been visited 
 by every calamity, physical and moral : 
 by famine, disease, and strife : that the 
 sound have been too few to nurse the sick, 
 and the living scarcely able to bury the 
 
dead : and that we are an immoral and 
 licentious crew, tearing each other by in- 
 cessant broils and contention. On the 
 contrary, we have had an abundant supply 
 of all the necessaries of life, and have 
 experienced no extraordinary visitations 
 of disease or mortality. And as to dissen- 
 tions and immorality, if instances of the 
 former have occurred, it is because the 
 latter is the object of our abhorrence. 
 
 On the whole, we are prosperous, far 
 beyond my own expectations. With re- 
 gard to pecuniary success, the capitalist is 
 commencing his operations, or looking 
 around him undecided as to the course he 
 shall pursue, but the labourer has made 
 an establishment. It is not with him as 
 with the capitalist, a state of hope merely, 
 from good prospects ; but of enjoyment, 
 from good possessions. Numbers of this 
 class, and of mechanics, have already 
 realized their little freeholds, and are 
 building cabins for themselves. The fruits 
 of their labour are not squandered in dis- 
 sipation and excess, because they have 
 higher objects, and considering their for- 
 mer depressed condition, it is astonishing 
 
to me, as it is honourable to them, that 
 they betray no arrogance in their advance 
 to independence. 
 
 Unfortunately for the early domestic 
 arrangements of all classes, the female 
 departments must remain vacant for a 
 time, or scantily supplied. We have re- 
 ceived large importations of British goods 
 by way of New Orleans, {b) This our na- 
 tural channel of intercourse with Europe 
 is at present greatly obstructed by the 
 irregularities and impositions attending the 
 steam boat navigation, arising from the 
 want of due competition. One hundred 
 and ten dollars are paid for a passage 
 from New Orleans to Shawnee Town {c), and 
 from four and a half to six cents per pound 
 for merchandize. But a steam boat of 
 seven hundred tons burthen is building at 
 Louisville, to ply between that place and 
 New Orleans, besides numbers of smaller 
 burthen now on the stocks, to the amount 
 I understand of nearly a hundred ; this 
 constitutes an unprecedented demand for 
 ship carpenters ; and it is expected with 
 confidence, that the rates of freight on the 
 Mississipi and Ohio will be reduced one 
 
half the next summer. Packages sent 
 from England should be strong, if possible 
 water tight, and of moderate weight, say 
 two hundred pounds. The weight of each 
 package should be fairly marked on it. 
 And it should be especially remembered 
 by all, who make shipments to this country, 
 that unless an invoice accompanies the 
 goods, specifying the contents and value 
 of each package, enormous expense and 
 damage will be incurred. New articles, 
 although not designed for sale, are liable 
 to a duty of from sixteen and a half to 
 thirty-three per cent, on the original cost, 
 but articles which have been used are ad- 
 mitted duty free. 
 
 In general, I think it better to bring 
 letters of credit, or other convertible 
 funds, than merchandize. Bedding, ap- 
 parel, kitchen utensils and other tools, 
 things which are in immediate requisition 
 on arrival, should accompany the settler. 
 
 An erroneous opinion has generally 
 prevailed, both in England and the Eastern 
 States, that all prairies partake more or 
 less of the nature of swamps : that they 
 are, in fact, morasses too wet for the 
 
growth of timber. Whereas, in this coun- 
 try, prairies frequently occupy the highest, 
 the driest, and generally the most fertile 
 portions of the surface, river bottoms ex- 
 cepted. Why one portion of the Earth's 
 surface, when in a state of nature, should 
 be covered with trees, and another por- 
 tion with herbage only : why prairies 
 should prevail from the Wabush westward, 
 and Dup forests to the east : why in the 
 south-east of Europe and in South Ame- 
 rica there should be vast regions, ubi 
 nulla campis arbor csstiva recreatur aura, 
 not producing tree or shrub, is a problem 
 yet to be solved. Or, is the forest a more 
 natural covering than the green turf? 
 Let that point be first decided. The hap- 
 piest for man is a due proportion of each, 
 as is the case in the country we have 
 chosen. It is only of late that this de- 
 scription of land has attracted the notice 
 of the Americans, and its value is as yet 
 but imperfectly appreciated. I am per- 
 suaded, that my countrymen will find it 
 peculiarly adapted to their habits, and I 
 have therefore taken pains to lay before 
 them its advantages. That my motives 
 
should have been misconstrued by some, 
 neither surprises nor offends me. The 
 substantial good, that has already been 
 effected, affords ample compensation. In 
 the statements I have published, I see 
 little to correct, as far as my observation 
 and experience have now proceeded, ex- 
 cepting, that, in my view of the profits of 
 cultivation to early settlers, I have not 
 made sufficient allowance in time for the 
 innumerable delays and disappointments 
 inseparable from new undertakings in a 
 new country. A year of preparatory and 
 unproductive exertion should be added to 
 the debtor side of the account at the 
 outset. 
 
 Our precursors of the hunting tribe, as 
 I anticipated, are now " clearing out " in 
 good earnest : selling their little " im- 
 provements," and moving forward into 
 the wilderness. There is nothing conge- 
 nial in their habits with those of our 
 people ; yet, greatly to the honour of 
 both, no quarrels of any importance have 
 occurred {d). 
 
AN 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 TO 
 
 BRITISH EMIGRANTS 
 
 ARRIVING IN 
 
 THE EASTERN STATES. 
 
 Published in New York. 
 
 English Prairie (c), July 13, 1819. 
 
 My Friends and Countrymen ; 
 
 For your service I exhi- 
 bited, in two publications, an outline of 
 the process of emigration, from its com- 
 mencement up to the final settlement. 
 
 My first opinion of this, the spot of our 
 choice, and the reasoning on which that 
 choice was grounded, are before you, and 
 sufficient time has elapsed to try those 
 opinions by the test of experience, by 
 
lO 
 
 which they are confirmed in every impor- 
 tant particular. I showed you my own 
 track through the gloomy forest into a 
 delightful country, better prepared for an 
 abode by the hand of nature than the 
 heavy woods by half a century of labour. 
 I built me a cabin, and "belayed a road to 
 it ; " for it was my ambition to be sur- 
 rounded by my old friends and neighbours. 
 In this too I am gratified, and we are con- 
 tented with our allotment, both as to our 
 present state and future prospects. 
 
 This small district, which two years ago 
 was nearly without inhabitants, contains 
 a thriving population of from six to seven 
 hundred persons. We have been blessed 
 with health most unusual for a new settle- 
 ment, or for any settlement of equal, num- 
 bers in any country : and no doubt is en- 
 tertained by us, or by any judicious ob- 
 server, of its salubrity. We have several 
 wells of excellent water, and many more 
 are in progress. Our soil is fertile beyond 
 my own expectation ; but our exertions 
 have hitherto been chiefly directed to the 
 permanent objects of building and fencing, 
 of which much has already been done. 
 
II 
 
 We have however collected a stock of 
 hogs and cattle ; and I think more acres of 
 corn are now growing than there are indi- 
 viduals in the settlement. 
 
 I have been informed, that the active 
 pen of Mr. Cobbett has been borrowed by 
 certain land speculators to divert your 
 course from the western country to a 
 settlement in the back woods of Pennsyl- 
 vania, on the Susquehannah, one hundred 
 and seventy miles north-west of Philadel- 
 phia (/). I have not yet been so fortunate as 
 to meet with the publication. Report says, 
 that he holds me out as a man of infirm 
 judgment, and has descended so far as to 
 throw a doubt on my veracity ; the latter 
 I can hardly credit ; but however that may 
 be, the question, both as regards my judg- 
 ment and veracity in this instance, is de- 
 cided, and in my favour, on the incontro- 
 vertible evidence of fact. The Susque- 
 hannah may, for aught I know, be quite 
 eligible for you ; but unfair means taken 
 by the promoters of any undertaking to 
 depress a competitor, shakes, and ought 
 to destroy all confidence in their honour 
 and truth. I have just received a publi- 
 
12 
 
 cation on this subject by a Dr. Johnson, 
 who, by misapplication of partial extracts 
 and dishonest comments, has laboured to 
 show that this country is not such as I 
 have stated it to be ; but that I have 
 chosen a bad situation, and described it as 
 a good one. This gives me a mean opi- 
 nion of Dr. Johnson. 
 
 But it is the interest of these speculators 
 to fix you on their lands, and their pro- 
 posals may be worth your attention ; there- 
 fore, as the distance is comparatively small 
 from the eastern ports, I advise you to 
 examine the thing for yourselves, or at 
 least to obtain an account of it through 
 honest hands. If you are poor, I would 
 recommend you to find out some of the 
 Susquehannah proprietors, who may pos- 
 sibly undertake to pay the charges of a 
 journey thither, should you find Dr. John- 
 son's favourable report as false as I know 
 his unfavourable to be. I hear of adver- 
 tisements in the daily papers, inviting 
 settlers ; but why do annual thousands of 
 New York and Pennsylvanian farmers pass 
 these eligible settlements at their own 
 doors, and make their way into the west. 
 
13 
 
 even as far as this place? I feel no 
 anxiety as to the peopling of this neigh- 
 bourhood ; our prosperity is out of the reach 
 of Mr. Cobbett or Dr. Johnson; but I 
 think it right to offer these hints to your 
 attention. 
 
 It would be well for you to inform your- 
 selves what the Emigrant Society consists 
 of, which professes so much good will to- 
 wards you. 
 
 The Preface to Dr. Johnson's book is 
 called an address to you from this Society, 
 but it is not authenticated either by signa- 
 ture or date. 
 
 It is probable, that the owners of the 
 lands in question are the " Emigrant 
 Society ; " if so, you will understand the 
 whole affair. 
 
 M. BIRKBECK. 
 
A 
 
 LETTER 
 
 TO 
 
 WILLIAM COBBETT, ESQ. 
 
 IN 
 
 REPLY 
 
 TO 
 
 HIS REMARKS 
 
 ON 
 
 MR. BIRKBECK'S TWO PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 Wanborough English Prairie, July 31, 1819. 
 SIR; 
 
 The Letters, in which you 
 have done me the honour of noticing my 
 two publications on this country, have 
 only reached my hand this day, and that 
 by accident; a circumstance, which will 
 account to you for the tardiness of my 
 Reply. Indeed, were it not for the pur- 
 pose of correcting some passages where 
 
16 
 
 my veracity seems to be the point at issue, 
 I should not have considered any reply 
 needful. 
 
 You, Sir, are an eminent caricaturist, 
 and have exercised your talent on this 
 occasion, as you have on others innumer- 
 able, with considerable effect. But your 
 success is not to be envied ; for the mo- 
 ment the exaggeration is discovered, the 
 effect ceases, and your credit as an honest 
 writer suffers in proportion. 
 
 You have given the Public your first 
 year's history, and I have described things 
 as I went along, to the best of my judg- 
 ment. In your mode you have the ad- 
 vantage of following your experience, and 
 are of course perfectly safe, if you keep 
 good hold of your pen. I have not, 
 however, much to regret, "as my anti- 
 cipations have proved correct in every 
 important particular, with one exception, 
 and that is in regard to time." The delays 
 and disappointments at the commence- 
 ment of a settlement, remote from all old 
 establishments, consume more time than 
 had entered into my calculations. Of this 
 error I have taken due care to apprise the 
 
Public through various channels : but with 
 the general correctness of the result, in 
 other respects, I am quite satisfied. 
 
 I shall now recal your attention to some 
 paragraphs in your Letters, placing the 
 numbers in the margin. 
 
 591. You have seen prairies in Canada, 
 and you have seen loyalists from Con- 
 necticut {£■) well settled on those prairies. 
 They were surrounded by British soldiers, 
 who were "by no means s/ty ; " who 
 " drank their coffee and grog by gallons, 
 and ate their fowls, pigs, sausages, and 
 sweetmeats by wheelbarrow loads," and 
 "still they sighed for Connecticut." They 
 had "beautiful corn fields," and were as 
 "happy as people could be as to ease and 
 plenty ; " still they were dissatisfied, not- 
 withstanding the efforts of yourself and 
 your comrades to console them. But since 
 you have seen my publications you have 
 discovered, that they were wretched be- 
 cause it was on prairies they were settled. 
 And it is thus that you " write down " the 
 prairies of Illinois, But, Sir, the prairies 
 of Illinois are as I have described them, 
 rich, beautiful, healthy ; and we, who are 
 
 c 
 
i8 
 
 settled on them, are not dissatisfied, or 
 sighing even for Old England : on the 
 contrary, contented ourselves, we are 
 anxious to induce those whom we love 
 best to follow our example. 
 
 576 to 579. Far from being a general 
 declaimer in favour of emigration, I would 
 dissuade persons, whose dispositions or 
 circumstances unfit them for it ; and al- 
 most in the words which you have uncon- 
 sciously adopted. Emigration you allow 
 to be good for some ; of this your own 
 example is an evidence. I thought it 
 good for me; and published my case, be- 
 cause I knew many, who were in a similar 
 condition, and I wished for society. The 
 dangers and difficulties, which we over- 
 came so easily in theory, have not proved 
 more formidable in fact ; and we are now 
 in possession of those " beautiful mea- 
 dows," which were to reward our toil, and 
 our " fine freehold domain " lies smiling 
 around us. Thus the experiment has suc- 
 ceeded, 
 
 580, 581, The quotation from my Pre- 
 face, in the first of these paragraphs, is, 
 with its context, as follows : — 
 
19 
 
 " There are, however, many of the 
 restless, whom this prescription would suit 
 but badly. If low indulgence, or unsated 
 avarice, have soured their tempers, it is 
 not in a transfer from the old establish- 
 ments of society to the silent waste, where 
 it scarcely is begun, that they will find a 
 cure. Envy or disappointed ambition — 
 have these disgusted them with the world? 
 The wilds of Illinois will yield no repose 
 to their perturbed spirits. The fiends will 
 migrate with them. 
 
 "As little would I encourage the emi- 
 gration of the tribe of grumblers, people 
 who are petulant and discontented under 
 the every-day evils of life. Life has its 
 petty miseries in all situations and climates ; 
 to be mitigated or cured by the continual 
 efforts of an elastic spirit ; or to be borne, 
 if incurable, with cheerful patience. But 
 the peevish emigrant is perpetually com- 
 paring the comforts he has quitted, but 
 never could enjoy, with the privations of 
 his new allotment. He overlooks the pre- 
 sent good, and broods over the evil with 
 habitual perverseness ; whilst in his recol- 
 lection of the past he dwells on the good 
 
20 
 
 only. Such people are always bad asso- 
 ciates, but they are an especial nuisance in 
 an infant colony." 
 
 Now this was plainly addressed to the 
 tribe of grumblers, whom I left behind me 
 in England, earnestly exhorting them to 
 remain there. In your comment I find 
 them, to my astonishment, placed by my 
 side, and you gravely chiding me for treat- 
 ing my " wailing neighbours " with too 
 much asperity of language ! 
 
 582. Then you proceed to caricature 
 these unfortunate settlers under their first 
 difficulties, and a woful picture you make of 
 it. Fixed as you are to the very selvedge 
 of this country, your recollections of Ca- 
 nadian prairies, and their hospitable inha- 
 bitants, might have given your sketch a 
 different, and a truer character. You 
 allow the grumblers "whiskey and pure 
 water," but where are the "wheelbarrow 
 loads of fowls, and pigs, and sausages, and 
 sweetmeats?" You saw "the shed" in 
 Canada succeeded by a "log house," and 
 that by a " frame house ; " and in Canada 
 "they were as happy" as ease and plenty 
 could make them. But here the shed re- 
 
21 
 
 mains a shed: all is "misery at present 
 and despair of the future ! " " The apo- 
 thecary's shop is a hundred miles off, and 
 a doctor nowhere ; " whereas a doctor 
 might be of the party : and our family 
 medicines are the standing jest of your 
 brother satirists of the East. In fact, we 
 have a gentleman of that profession, highly 
 esteemed by us, and exceeded by few in his 
 qualifications : he has, however, almost 
 nothing to do ; and we sometimes fear lest 
 he should be compelled to quit us — for no 
 other reason. 
 
 585 and 586. Why should you talk of 
 our "living without bread for months," 
 where wheat is to be bought at a dollar 
 per bushel, and flour at five or six dollars 
 per barrel ? And why " without beer" 
 where it is an article of common consump- 
 tion ? If you are ignorant of these mat- 
 ters, why do you mention them ? Not for 
 the instruction of your readers, certainly. 
 
 We are not "cut off from all intercourse 
 with, and hope of hearing from our rela- 
 tions and friends ; " but we are here, a 
 colony of relations and friends, and old 
 neighbours, who are constantly hearing of 
 
22 
 
 and from the connections we have left. 
 A letter is a sort of common property, 
 from the numbers who are interested in its 
 contents. Friends, who used to visit at 
 the distance of twenty or thirty, or a hun- 
 dred miles, are here within an easy walk. 
 There are neither "the seeds" nor the 
 fruits "of discontent" in our plan. We 
 help each other cordially^ and feel the most 
 friendly interest in each other's prosperity. 
 We contribute to each other's enjoyment, 
 and we have few causes of jealousy. This 
 is the prevailing character of our social 
 band. We have much friendly society, 
 and every coming month gives us an 
 accession, 
 
 594, You say, that my ignorance of 
 the Atlantic States is my only apology for 
 saying, that " the Americans have no mut- 
 ton fit to eat," and "regard it only as a 
 thing fit for dogs." Now, Sir, I have not 
 made so foolish an assertion, and therefore 
 have no need of an apology. When you 
 have referred to page 75 of the English 
 edition of my Notes, or 98 of the Ameri- 
 can, for what I have really said on this 
 subject, where will you find an apology? 
 
23 
 
 Perhaps you will say, that you "first 
 practised a deceit on yourself and then 
 upon others ; " as I presume to be the 
 case where you give us an instance of my 
 general inaccuracy with regard to prices, 
 that "salt will soon be at one quarter of 
 a dollar per bushel." (^) "And thus" you 
 observe, "it goes all through." I have 
 mentioned the price of salt (page 126 of 
 the Journey) at three quarters sterling ; 
 and at page 75 of the Letters, I made 
 the following observation. 
 
 "The demand for all the necessaries of 
 life increases so rapidly, that the supply 
 does not always keep pace with it ; and 
 those who want money or foresight are 
 sometimes compelled to pay high prices. 
 High prices stimulate the producer, supply 
 is increased, and the articles soon recover 
 their due level, until a similar cause ope- 
 rates in again occasioning a temporary 
 scarcity. Thus salt, which might be af- 
 forded at seventy-five cents per bushel, 
 now sells at two dollars and upwards." 
 "And thus" say I, "it goes all 
 through ! " 
 
 604, 605, 606. The estimate for farm 
 
24 
 
 buildings was made from correct working 
 plans; and the prices such as I was then 
 contracting for and have since paid. 
 I am now a competent judge of these 
 matters from experience, and I repeat, 
 that a house exceedingly convenient and 
 comfortable, together with the requisite 
 farm buildings, including (613) corn cribs, 
 may be executed well for one thousand five 
 hundred dollars. Really Sir, you must 
 allow me to understand this one parti- 
 cular subject better than yourself, or the 
 building carpenter "two miles from New 
 York." 
 
 608. The glorious occasion of triumph 
 over my simple statement is yet behind. 
 "One thousand eight hundred rods of 
 line fence for one hundred and fifty dol- 
 lars!" Here your eagerness to "write 
 me down " (you understand the applica- 
 tion of the phrase), has hurried you be- 
 yond a misplaced joke, as you will per- 
 ceive. 
 
 I went to Basseron Prairie, fifty miles 
 off, to see a young hedge of honey locust : (?) 
 it was promising : I projected such a fence 
 for our inclosures, by sowing the seed on 
 
25 
 
 the banks ; and the expense will be greatly 
 
 within one hundred and fifty dollars. On 
 
 referring to my memorandum, I find that 
 
 five pecks of honey locust seed, which is 
 
 something smaller than a pea, will plant 
 
 one thousand eight hundred rods, at two 
 
 inches apart. 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 The seed may cost, collecting, one 
 dollar per peck 5 
 
 Which leaves twenty-nine dollars 
 per peck for planting 145 
 
 Dollars 1 50 
 
 No levelling of banks is required ; it is 
 performed by the ditchers as part of their 
 contract ; and few or no weeds grow on 
 the banks for two years. "So great a 
 liberty with truth," you say, "never was 
 taken by any mortal being ; " and having 
 made the discovery, you are " in great 
 haste to conclude " your letter to me, not 
 to afford me an early opportunity of cor- 
 recting it, but that your "son William 
 might take it to England with him," 
 (par. 620), and publish it there, six months 
 before I could hear of it. 
 
26 
 
 "The minds of you gentlemen that cross 
 the Alleghany seem to expand, as it were 
 to correspond with the extent of horizon 
 that opens to your view ; but I can assure 
 you, that if you were to talk to a farmer 
 on this side of the mountains, of a field of 
 corn of a hundred acres during the first 
 year of a settlement, with grassy land, and 
 hands scarce, you would frighten him into 
 a third day ague." Notwithstanding the 
 grateful horrors which assail you on this 
 occasion, the thing is feasible. The son of 
 an old neighbour of yours, a Hampshire 
 farmer, has now growing on prairie land, 
 " the first year," and under good hus- 
 bandry, nearly that quantity of very pro- 
 mising Indian corn. 
 
 6ii to 615. You talk of dunging and 
 ploughing, and harvesting and sowing 
 wheat, and of gathering corn, and carrying 
 off four hundred waggon loads of corn 
 stalks, as of work to be performed within 
 thirty days, and then alarm your readers with 
 " a battalion of forty horse and fifty foot " 
 to accomplish it. Whereas dunging may be 
 done at any time ; wheat harvest is in 
 June or July ; wheat sowing in Septem- 
 ber; corn gathering in October and No- 
 
27 
 
 vember, and the stalks are burnt on the 
 spot. Now, if fifty men and forty horses 
 will perform this in thirty days, ten men 
 and eight horses will do it in one hundred 
 and fifty days! Pray, Sir, who is the 
 simpleton f You shall speak for your- 
 self. 
 
 614. " However, crops come stumbling 
 on him so fast, that he must struggle hard 
 not to get stifled in his own superabund- 
 ance. He has now got two hundred acres 
 of corn, and one hundred acres of wheat, 
 which latter he has indeed had one year 
 before. Oh madness ! But to proceed. The 
 hands to get in these crops, and to sow 
 the wheat, first taking away two hundred 
 acres of English coppice in stalks, will, 
 with the dunging for the wheat (for dung- 
 ing, to our surprise, is wanted), require 
 at least fifty good men, and forty good 
 horses or oxen, for thirty days. Faith, 
 when farmer Simpleton sees all this (in 
 his dreams I mean), he will think himself 
 a farmer of the rank of Job, before Satan 
 beset that example of patience, so worthy 
 of imitation, and so seldom imitated." 
 
 615, "Well, but Simpleton must bustle 
 
28 
 
 to get in his wheat. In, indeed ; what 
 can cover it but the canopy of Heaven? 
 A barn! It will, at two English waggon 
 loads of sheaves to an acre, require a barn 
 a hundred feet long, fifty feet wide, and 
 twenty-three feet high up to the eaves ; and 
 this barn, with two proper floors, will cost 
 more than seven thousand dollars. He 
 will put it in stacks ; let him add six men 
 to his batallion, then. He will thresh it in 
 the field ; let him add ten more men, &c." 
 What a rhodomontade is here ! Why, 
 Sir, there have grown this year, on a 
 prairie, a few miles south of us, four 
 hundred acres of wheat, besides spring 
 grain ; and there are now growing seven 
 hundred acres of magnificent Indian corn. 
 The entire buildings, to which this produce 
 appertains, might, I believe, be erected for 
 fifteen hundred dollars ; whilst you are 
 crying out ''seven thousand dollars for a 
 barn ! " 
 
 In the estimate of husbandry labour, I 
 have given the regular prices of the near- 
 est settled neighbourhood, from the in- 
 formation of many persons ; and I con- 
 ceive my own authority to be at least on a 
 
29 
 
 par with yours on this subject, where our 
 opportunities of knowing are equal. In 
 this instance, I think I have the advantage 
 of you. Should team labour, hereafter, 
 exceed the rates I have adopted, it will be 
 in consequence of an advance in the price 
 of grain, affecting the credit side of the 
 account in favour of the grower, in the 
 proportion which the consumption of the 
 teams bears to the entire produce. 
 
 617. "When I read in your Illinois 
 Letters that you had prepared horses, 
 ploughs, and other things, for putting in 
 a hundred acres of corn in the spring, how 
 I pitied you ! I saw all your plagues, if 
 you could not see them. I saw the grass 
 choking your plants ; the grubs eating 
 them ; and you fretting and turning from 
 the sight with all the pangs of baffled, 
 sanguine hope. I expected you to have 
 ten bushels instead of fifty per acre. I 
 saw your confusion, and participated in 
 your mortification. From these feelings 
 I was happily relieved by the Journal of 
 our friend Hulme (^), who informs the world, 
 and our countrymen in particular, that 
 
30 
 
 you had not, in July last, any corn at all 
 growing." 
 
 6 1 8. "Thus it is to reckon one's 
 chickens before they are hatched : 
 and thus the Trans-alleghanian dream 
 vanishes ! You have been deceived. A 
 warm heart, a lively imagination, and I 
 know not what caprice about Republi- 
 canism, have led you into sanguine expect- 
 ations and wrong conclusions." You are 
 mistaken, Sir! a warm heart, or a lively 
 imagination, or Republican caprices, had 
 no concern with my ploughing, or letting 
 it alone. I came to this place, a soli- 
 tary settler, about eighteen months ago, 
 but I was soon surrounded by neighbours. 
 For their accommodation buildings were 
 to be erected, wells to be dug, tools and 
 materials of every kind, as well as provi- 
 sions, to be collected from a distance. 
 Every fresh arrival, in some way or other, 
 put my team in requisition : thus the 
 horses I had provided for ploughing were 
 better employed. My hopes were not 
 " bafified ; " but I was engaged on more 
 important matters ; compensating me in 
 
31 
 
 feeling as well as in fact, for being thus 
 compelled to lay aside the plough for a 
 season. In the mean time I proceeded 
 with permanent improvements, of which I 
 will give you a summary, to show you that 
 our " Trans-alleghanian dream," as you 
 are facetiously styling it, is a solid reality : 
 for you will suppose that others have not 
 been idle, and that all may not have been 
 diverted from cultivation, as I have been. 
 
 I have built fifteen cabins with floors of 
 plank, and mostly with two glazed win- 
 dows each. 
 
 By the bye, you inform me, "and our 
 countrymen in particular " (paragraph 
 627), that my own "log hut," which is 
 a specimen of the rest, " is such as the 
 free Negroes live in about here " (that is, 
 about North Hampstead, Long Island); 
 and "a hole it is," you say, "fit only for 
 dogs, or hogs, or cattle. Worse it is than 
 the Negro huts ; for they have a bit of 
 glass, but here there is none." Thus you 
 perceive we have escaped from the dark 
 smoky holes you had imagined us in, and 
 that a cabin with two glazed windows is 
 now the lowest order of our habitations. 
 
32 
 
 But to proceed with my summary — I 
 have built three stables, a corn crib, hog 
 sties, carpenter's shops, a forge, and 
 various other things. I have dug five 
 wells, from eighteen to forty-five feet deep ; 
 made an excellent kitchen garden, and a 
 good preparation for an orchard. I have 
 also nearly finished a large house for my 
 own family ; great part of which is frame, 
 filled in with brick. It contains thirteen 
 rooms, and two cellars, walled and floored 
 with bricks. There is also an ice house, 
 and a smoke house. I have ploughed 
 about seventy acres, partly twice, in prepa- 
 ration for wheat. I have made about 
 eighteen hundred rods of ditch, four feet 
 wide, and three deep, with a fence of four 
 rails on the bank of a great part of it. 
 Corn may be grown to greater advantage 
 after these preparations than before them ; 
 and it is a course I would now recommend to 
 others. So I have no " confessions to make ; " 
 and I bear your " decided condemnation 
 of my publications " with more equanimity 
 than you have predicted, because I am 
 tolerably sure of the approval of every 
 estimable person, who understands the 
 
33 
 
 subject. In truth, Sir, I consider you on 
 this occasion an object of pity rather than 
 of anger ; and it is with that feeling that 
 I am obliged to inflict upon you one or 
 two more quotations from your Letters, 
 with my remarks. 
 
 Your 624th paragraph is as follows : — 
 "It is of little consequence what wild 
 schemes are formed and executed by men 
 who have property enough to carry them 
 back; but to invite men to go to the 
 Illinois with a few score of pounds in their 
 pockets, and to tell them, that they can 
 become farmers with these pounds, appears 
 to me to admit of no other apology than 
 an unequivocal acknowledgment that the 
 invitor is mad. Yet your Fifteenth Letter 
 from the Illinois really contains such an 
 invitation. This Letter is manifestly ad- 
 dressed to an imaginary person. It is 
 clear that the correspondent is a feigned, 
 or supposed being. The Letter is, I am 
 sorry to say, I think, a mere trap to catch 
 poor creatures with a few pounds in their 
 pockets." You then insert the whole of 
 the letter, for which I thank you, as it 
 
34 
 
 contains good advice, and may afford use- 
 ful information to numbers, in the very 
 teeth of your commentary. It is not an 
 " imaginary," Dear Sir, whom I address 
 in that Letter, but one with whose cir- 
 cumstances I am intimately acquainted ; 
 being a near relation by marriage. He is 
 a good farmer, and singularly qualified, 
 by skill and ability in manual labour, to 
 accomplish all I proposed. He has more- 
 over a most notable farmerly wife, and 
 seven or eight fine children. You would 
 detain such a man, with his family and 
 his four hundred and fifty dollars, in Long 
 Island, where your neighbour Judge Law- 
 rence might sell him one acre for three 
 hundred, build him a hut for one hundred 
 and fifty, and employ him as a labourer 
 afterwards. A horse laugh would hardly 
 cover such a blunder as this, Mr. Cobbett ! 
 I call many a man " Dear Sir," whose 
 hands have been hardened by severe 
 labour ; and when you honour me with 
 the appellation, you do the like to a man, 
 who was probably holding the plough or 
 carrying the seed-lip whilst you were in 
 
35 
 
 Canada "in your coat of bright red," ad- 
 ministering consolation to the unfortunate 
 exiles from Connecticut. 
 
 629. That two persons, opposite as we 
 are in our habits and pursuits, should be 
 guided by similar principles in the choice 
 of a situation, would be strange indeed. 
 A village on Long Island may be, I doubt 
 not, as well adapted to your views as the 
 beautiful prairie on which I am now 
 writing is to mine ; but the extravagance 
 of the following passage seems indicative 
 of a disturbed imagination. 
 
 " And I most solemnly declare, that I 
 would sooner live the life of a gipsey in 
 England, than be a settler, with less than 
 five thousand pounds, in the lUinois." 
 
 You have posted me over England and 
 America as mad; as a simpleton, a 
 boaster ; and, in one or two instances, as 
 something worse. Your last Letter is 
 dated, December 15, 18 18, and I suppose 
 was published about that time. Your 
 book finds its own way to me seven months 
 after, and in three more this Reply may 
 meet the public eye in England. Thus 
 you have the advantage of ten months. 
 
36 
 
 But no matter ; justice will overtake us at 
 last ; and there is a something in your 
 character as a writer, which is greatly in 
 favour of those whom you attempt to 
 vilify. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 
 M. BIRKBECK. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 CHARLES WOOD, Printer, 
 Poppin's Court, Fleet Street, London. 
 
NOTES TO "EXTRACTS FROM A 
 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTER," &c. 
 
 (a) page i, "The Illinois." This is a French spelling of 
 " mini," the name of a tribe of Indians which inhabited 
 the prairies between Lake Michigan and the Ohio River. 
 The white settlers applied the name to the region. 
 
 (6) page 4, " New Orleans." The produce of the Mississippi 
 Valley, carried down on flat-boats to New Orleans, was 
 exchanged for foreign goods brought in ocean vessels 
 which ascended the river to that port. This trade was 
 gradually shifted to the Atlantic coast cities by the 
 introduction of railways. 
 
 (c) page 4, " Shawneetown." Named from the Shawnees, a 
 
 tribe of Indians frequenting the region. It was the 
 meeting place of the Ohio River and the Mississippi 
 River Trade. In the decadence of River traffic, it has 
 lost its early importance. 
 
 (d) page 7, "have occurred." Before 1819, the date of this 
 letter, the United States had inaugurated the policy of 
 making treaties with the Indians for their lands and 
 then removing them to new and vacant tracts west of 
 the Mississippi River. The former massacres were not 
 renewed until the whites began to trespass, in their 
 westward movement, upon these assigned lands. 
 
 (e) page 9, "English Prairie." The prairie in which the 
 
 English settlements were located in Illinois. (See the 
 Introduction.) 
 
 (/) page II, "Philadelphia." This was one of many attempts 
 to promote colonies on the banks of the Susquehanna 
 River. 
 
38 
 
 is) pa&e 17) " Loyalists from Connecticut." During the 
 American War for Independence, more than 60,000 ad- 
 herents of the King were driven from the thirteen 
 colonies. Many of them migrated to Canada where 
 they were granted lands. 
 
 (^) page 23, " Price of salt." Salt was obtained by settlers 
 along the Atlantic coast from boiling down the sea 
 water. Before the saline deposits of the interior of the 
 continent were discovered by boring, the advance of 
 population was frequently hindered by the absence of 
 salt. 
 
 (2) page 24, " Hedge of honey locust." Many English settlers 
 tried to introduce hedges in America, but the great 
 extent of grounds to be inclosed and the force of the 
 prevailing winds prevented any extensive use. Fences 
 of wood or wire are employed instead. 
 
 (fe) page 29, "Friend Hulme." Hulme's "Journal of a Tour 
 in the Western Countries of America" was not so severe 
 upon the Birkbeck Colony as Cobbett, by distorting his 
 language, makes him. 
 
INDEX TO 
 
 "EXTRACTS FROM A SUPPLEMENTARY LETTER 
 
 FROM THE ILLINOIS." 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Basseron Prairie 
 
 24 
 
 Cobbett writes down the 
 
 
 Birkbeck, Cobbett's Account 
 
 
 Illinois 
 
 17 
 
 of 
 
 II 
 
 Connecticut Exiles 
 
 35 
 
 Birkbeck (Mr.) and Mr. 
 
 
 Connecticut, Loyalists from. 
 
 
 Cobbett 
 
 16 
 
 Dissatisfied 
 
 17 
 
 Birkbeck on Cobbett's Ac- 
 
 
 Emigration 18, 19, 20 
 
 33 
 
 count of Farming 
 
 29 
 
 Farming on the Prairies 26, 27 
 
 28 
 
 Birkbeck and Dr. Johnson 
 
 12 
 
 Hulme's Journal 
 
 29 
 
 Buildings 
 
 32. 34 
 
 Johnson (Dr.) and Birkbeck 
 
 12 
 
 Cattle 
 
 II 
 
 Labour 26, 27, 28 
 
 29 
 
 Cobbett's Account of Birk- 
 
 
 Lawrence (Judge) 
 
 34 
 
 beck 
 
 II 
 
 Log Huts 31 
 
 34 
 
 Cobbett Deceived 
 
 30 
 
 Loyalists from Connecticut 17 
 
 35 
 
 Cobbett's Letters 
 
 33 
 
 Peopling (The) of the Illinois 
 
 13 
 
 Cobbett and the Settlers in 
 
 
 . Population of " English 
 
 
 the Illinois ...20, 21, 
 
 22,35 
 
 Prairie" 
 
 10 
 
 Cobbett sends his Son to 
 
 
 Prices of Produce ...23, 24, 25 
 
 28 
 
 England 
 
 25 
 
 Settlements in Back Woods 
 
 
 Cobbett and the Western 
 
 
 of Pennsylvania 
 
 II 
 
 Country 
 
 II 
 
 Water in " English Prairie " 
 
 10 
 
LETTERS 
 
 LEXINGTON AND THE ILLINOIS, 
 
 CONTAINING A 
 
 BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENT 
 IN THE LATTER TERRITORY, 
 
 REFUTATION OF THE MISREPRESENTATIONS 
 OF MR. COBBETT. 
 
 By RICHARD FLOWER. 
 
 London: 
 
 Pnnted by C. TEULON, 67, High Street, Whitechapel, 
 FOR J. RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY. 
 
 I819. 
 
 {Price One Shilling^ 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Various have been the reports res- 
 pecting the Illinois Settlement, as they 
 relate to the health of the climate, and 
 the state of agriculture. The following 
 Letters contain a simple narration of 
 facts, the result of real observation, and 
 an accurate survey ; and will appear 
 time enough to counteract the evil im- 
 pression of false information by persons 
 who have not been on the spot, or who 
 appear to be interested in writing down 
 the settlement. 
 
 As to the various reports about the state 
 of health, they may be easily accounted 
 for by comparing dates. On the arrival 
 of emigrants in the summer of 1818, there 
 were no cabins to shelter them from the 
 heat of the sun by day, or from the dew, 
 by night ; neither a cow or pig for food, 
 and scarcely a sufficiency for human sub- 
 sistence to be procured ; sickness to a 
 considerable degree prevailed ; but not 
 more than three or four cases of death 
 ensued. Since these inconveniences have 
 
tV PREFACE. 
 
 been overcome, few places, I believe I 
 may say in the world, have been heal- 
 thier than the English settlement in the 
 Illinois. 
 
 I trust my friends and acquaintance 
 in England, who interest themselves in 
 our concerns, retain that good opinion of 
 me, as to believe me incapable, from any 
 motive, of laying before them induce- 
 ments to emigrate to a station, where 
 their existence or comfort would be 
 likely to be threatened by diseases not 
 prevalent in the same degree, at least, as 
 in their own country. 
 
 A difference of opinion as to eastern 
 or western settlements may prevail, as 
 differences of opinion in England re- 
 specting Essex or Hertfordshire, which 
 may be most healthy or profitable, I 
 have only to request the attention of the 
 reader to the facts I have stated. 
 
 The miscellaneous matter relative to 
 the state of Kentucky, &c., will not, I 
 hope, be found to be entirely destitute 
 of interest to my old acquaintance in my 
 native country. 
 
LETTERS, &c. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 Lexington {a), June 25, 18 19. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 It is natural you should have made 
 those enquiries of me which you did in your 
 last, and which it shall be my business to an- 
 swer in their respective order. 
 
 ist. — How I like America in general, and 
 Lexington in particular? 
 
 2nd. — Whether I have been disgusted with 
 the American character and habits, as many 
 have been ? or whether I dare invite others to 
 follow the course I have taken ? but above all, 
 how I, whose notions of liberty run so high, can 
 endure to reside in a state where personal 
 slavery exists. 
 
6 LETTER FROM LEXINGTON. 
 
 Your first enquiry I am yet incompetent to 
 answer to the extent you make it ; for, al- 
 though I have travelled from New York to 
 Pittsburgh, — down the Ohio to this place, — I 
 have only had a sample of this extensive coun- 
 try ; and as you, my dear Sir, are in the habit 
 of purchasing your goods by sample, and to my 
 knowledge are often disappointed in the bulk, 
 so you may not, perhaps, have a fair sample of 
 entire America by the information I send you. 
 
 As to the great cities, they have no charms 
 for me. You know, great cities in England, as 
 places of residence, were the objects of my 
 aversion ; and if there is any thing in those of 
 New York and Philadelphia which I dislike, 
 it is because they approximate so much to 
 similar cities of England, without those raree 
 shows which please both infants and children 
 of larger growth, in London. 
 
 Here are few public buildings worthy of 
 notice. No kings going to open Parliament 
 with gilded coaches and cream-coloured horses, 
 with a train of dragoons at their heels. — No 
 Lord Mayor's show. — No Towers filled with 
 royal tigers and lions. — No old castles which 
 beautify the rural scenes of the country, whose 
 melancholy history informs the curious tra- 
 veller, that their foundation was bedded in 
 
LETTER FROM LEXINGTON. 7 
 
 tyranny, and their superstructure the retainers 
 of weeping prisoners, often of rank, as well 
 'as oppressed plebeians. No cathedrals or 
 old churches to ornament the cities as well as 
 the counties of England, — monuments of su- 
 perstition when erected, and of injustice and 
 oppression even to this day, having for their 
 support tithe-proctors, and surveyors, conti- 
 nually obstructing the progress of agriculture, 
 and exciting contentions and law suits to an 
 extent for which all the preaching of the clergy 
 of England cannot present an equivalent, or 
 balance the evil produced by a worldly and 
 avaricious priesthood. 
 
 America has none of these costly ornaments 
 or beautiful monuments of oppression. I thank 
 God she has not ; and hope she may be exempt 
 from them, although strange to tell, I have 
 found amongst both clergy and laity some few 
 who wish for these degradations, and am even 
 informed there are those who sigh after a reli- 
 gious establishment, and revenues besides 
 those collected by the voluntary donations 
 which flow from affectionate and religious 
 hearers. 
 
 The episcopalian clergy in this country, 
 have an enjoyment seldom known in England, 
 that is, being chosen by the people, and sup- 
 
8 LETTER FROM LEXINGTON. 
 
 ported according to their respective merits ; 
 and it is my duty to add that episcopalians, as 
 well as the ministers of most other sects, are in 
 general "labourers worthy of their hire," vir- 
 tuous in their conduct, exemplary in their de- 
 portment, exhibiting Christianity in their every 
 day conduct and intercourse with mankind, 
 and enjoying the esteem of their congregations. 
 There are none of those divines in the busy hive 
 of America, which you know by the name of 
 dignified clergy, partaking of the largest reve- 
 nues, and doing the least possible service, — 
 conduct which one would think must make 
 their heart shudder at the thoughts of a judg- 
 ment day ! (Jj) 
 
 As to the travelling in America, you are al- 
 ready informed of its conveniences and incon- 
 veniences ; you dine at a fixed hour, as at our 
 ordinaries in England ; and you have abun- 
 dance of provision of every kind the country 
 affords. Poultry in every shape, with the 
 standing dish, ham or bacon : but you must 
 be aware, that in a country so extensive as I 
 have already traversed, there must be as much 
 difference in accommodations, as there is be- 
 tween the best inns on the great roads of Eng- 
 land, and those in the remote villages. The 
 beds generally cleanly ; but although I have 
 
LETTER FORM LEXINGTON. 9 
 
 not suffered the inconveniences so magnified in 
 England from musquitoes, the often-brought 
 charge of being infested with that ugly and 
 sleep-destroying insect the bug, is indeed too 
 true. Also, the many-bedded rooms found in 
 most taverns, as you travel westward, is more 
 than an inconvenience, as often being the sleep- 
 ing-place of those who fall sick, as of those 
 who are in health ; and, in this respect, the 
 Americans are criminal, and instrumental in 
 spreading infection, which might be avoided 
 by a little expense in the division of sleeping- 
 rooms ; but there are many happy exceptions ; 
 and, as civilization advances, this evil will be 
 cured. 
 
 As to the general character of the Americans, 
 it is sober, industrious, and hospitable ; al- 
 though drunkenness, idleness, and gambling, 
 are vices in existence, they are kept in the back 
 ground, and are by no means so conspicuous as 
 amongst what are called the lower class in 
 England. 
 
 It is remarkable, that in the houses of the 
 wealthy, as well as in store or shop-keepers 
 back-rooms, it is the common practice to ask 
 you to take a glass of water, cool fresh water, 
 as a refreshment ; at which offer no one is 
 offended ; and when wine or liquors are on the 
 
lO LETTER FROM LEXINGTON. 
 
 salver, water is often preferred ; but our coun- 
 trymen would think it a sad insult to be invited 
 to so simple a refreshment. 
 
 I have, my dear sir, met with no instances of 
 a rude ruffian-like character, that will apply to 
 Americans generally ; and, I believe, much less 
 than I should have met with in England, had 
 I travelled her roads and rivers to the extent I 
 have done in this country. 
 
 The American notion of liberty and equality 
 is highly gratifying to me. The master or 
 employer is kept within the bounds of reason 
 and decency towards his labourer. No curses 
 or oaths towards their servants, or helps as 
 they choose to call themselves ; (for every one 
 who takes money or wages, is, after all, a ser- 
 vant ;) he obeys all reasonable orders for his 
 remuneration ; and when this obedience cea- 
 ses, the contract of service is at an end. I have 
 often been surprised at the highmindedness of 
 American labourers, who are offended at the 
 name of servant {c). 
 
 With respect to this place, I have, in former 
 letters, stated it to be a phenomenon in the 
 history of the world ; twenty five years since 
 it was trodden only by the foot of the savage ; 
 now it contains about three thousand inhabi- 
 tants. A college, at which are already one 
 
LETTER FROM LEXINGTON. II 
 
 hundred and forty students (d) ; its professors, 
 chosen purely for their talents, without any 
 requirement of unanimity of religious opinions, 
 as in the colleges with you : professors so 
 chosen, not being confined to any particular 
 sect, are likely to fill their stations with ability ; 
 and, as far as I am capable of judging, are 
 eminently calculated for their respective situa- 
 tions to which they are chosen. This institu- 
 tion promises to be in the moral world, what 
 the sun is in the natural world, and is calcula- 
 ted to illuminate, civilize, and bless mankind. 
 
 To the inhabitants of Lexington, wherever I 
 may reside in future, I shall ever feel grateful : 
 their hospitality, their kindness to me, as a stran- 
 ger, and their sympathy in the hour of afflic- 
 tion, are never to be effaced from my memory. 
 
 Their politeness and liberality are perhaps, 
 unequalled. Balls, at which the fair sex are ne- 
 ver allowed to share any expence, — an Athe- 
 neum and a considerable museum, the benefits 
 of which the stranger is invited to partake 
 gratis, — may be mentioned as not being very 
 customary in England. Tea-parties are a con- 
 tinual festival from the time you enter to the 
 time of your departure, which however, are too 
 much like our routs in England ; and in time, I 
 should fear would, as they have in England, be- 
 
12 LETTER FROM LEXINGTON. 
 
 come a substitute for hospitality. I have known 
 collected at these parties from one to two hun- 
 dred persons. Thus, my dear Sir, you see, in- 
 stead of being in continual broils, and exposed 
 to the affronts and insults of rude Americans, I 
 have received nothing but civility and hospita- 
 lity. It will hardly be credited when I assure 
 you I have not yet met with a single annoy- 
 ance in the whole of my journey from New 
 York to Pittsburgh by land ; nor from thence 
 down the Ohio to Louisville, — a distance of 
 six hundred miles by water, and five hundred 
 miles by land : thus you see, my dear friend, I 
 am in no danger at present, of being disgusted 
 by American rudeness, irreligion, or fanati- 
 cism. 
 
 To your last question, — How can you reside 
 in a state where personal slavery is in exist- 
 ence? I, with regret, reply, this is the spot 
 which clouds the American sun of liberty ; and 
 I confess I know not which are most excited in 
 me, the risible or the sorrowful feelings, when I 
 hear a Kentuckyan boasting, in lofty terms, of 
 the liberty of his country, when that country 
 is divided into two classes, and two classes 
 only — the master and the slave ! The term 
 of master implies the willing servitude cti free 
 men ; the term slave, includes in it the admis- 
 
LETTER FROM LEXINGTON. 1 3 
 
 sion of tyrants or tyranny ; and a Kentuckyan 
 has no more right to talk of freedom than the 
 legitimates, whose determined purpose it is to 
 blot liberty and happiness from the face of the 
 earth. The one talks of liberty and social 
 order, and it appears that by it is meant the 
 increasing trappings of monarchy ; the other 
 does the same of liberty, and the rights of 
 men. 
 
 The legitimates, who have high notions of 
 regal authority, attempting to subjugate the 
 minds of men, is perfectly consistent with their 
 notions of power, their education and habits ; 
 but to hear the republicans of slave states 
 point to the Declaration of Rights, who inform 
 the coming traveller that they are now blazoned 
 forth on satin and velvet ; — an American re- 
 publican pointing to the Rights of Men with his 
 left hand, while his right is obliged to hold the 
 whip, and with watchful eye to subjugate the 
 minds and bodies of a large share of the popu- 
 lation of his state : — this, indeed is worthy the 
 taunts and derision of kings. It is this that 
 keeps the wealth of Europe from pouring its 
 treasures into the fertile region of Kentucky, 
 and the industry of thousands from approach- 
 ing the state {e). It would be painful to relate 
 all the horrors I have beheld in slavery under 
 
14 LETTER FROM LEXINGTON. 
 
 its mildest form. Whites full of whiskey, 
 flogging their slaves for drinking even a single 
 glass! Women, heavy with young, smarting 
 under the angry blow, or the lash, and with 
 babes at the breast, which one of our writers 
 calls "^ Nature's passport through the world," 
 lacking food in the midst of abundance, and 
 cloathing insufficient to satisfy the demands 
 even of common decency. Avarice, which 
 our Poet Young calls " Earth's greatest blun- 
 der — Hell's loudest laugh ; " — avarice, which 
 seems to be the source of all this mischief, now 
 comes to the relief of the ragged lingering 
 wretch. If they are miserable, they must not 
 die, for a mother and infant are worth from six 
 hundred to a thousand dollars : but in a slave 
 state, avarice has preserved life, clothed the 
 wretched, and fed the hungry ; it has fattened 
 and made fine, the slave that he or she may 
 fetch at the hammer, one or two hundred dol- 
 lars more. " Lord, what is man ! " Was it for 
 this that your heroes fought, bled, and died? 
 Was it for this, that the brave and virtuous 
 Washington, to whom so many memorials in 
 the way of oration and praise are delivered 
 on each succeeding anniversary of his birth, 
 spent his long and glorious course? Oh! 
 youth of Kentucky, when you speak of his 
 
LETTER FROM LEXINGTON. 1 5 
 
 fame with the enthusiasm of a republican, speak 
 of his humanity, read his will ; see his ardent 
 desire to let the captive go free : imitate his 
 virtues, and fall not into the errors of tyrants, 
 who suppose military glory to be the glory of a 
 christian. 
 
 It is worthy of enquiry, whether it is likely 
 that Americans will escape the judgments with 
 which God has afflicted other nations, while 
 their land is infected with personal slavery, 
 and whether the liberties of America are not 
 endangered by the increase of its black popula- 
 tion. Perhaps some ambitious military chief 
 may take the work from the hands of republi- 
 cans, and "proclaim liberty to the captives," 
 and make them the instruments of political 
 slavery : let it be the work of crowned des- 
 pots to subjugate the minds and bodies of men, 
 but let not republicans assist in such a work. 
 
 Whenever you take Freedom's sacred name 
 into your lips — whenever you unfurl the standard 
 of partial liberty — you stand self-condemned. 
 Despots keep men's minds in ignorance, that 
 the voice of slavery and abject dependance may 
 not be heard even in its defence. Do ye not 
 the same : both your efforts will be in vain ; the 
 minds of men are in progressive march, and your 
 united efforts will not stop their destination. 
 
1 6 LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 "No, bless'd with freedom, unconfin'd, 
 "Dungeons can ne'er contain the soul; 
 
 "No one can chain th' immortal mind, 
 "No one but Him who spans the pole." 
 
 I remain, yours sincerely, 
 
 R. F. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 Illinois, near Albion, Aug. i6. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 After many interruptions I removed 
 from Lexington to this place, at which we ar- 
 rived on the 2nd of July, spending in our way a 
 week at Harmony, that wonder of the west (/). 
 You have heard this settlement mentioned, 
 and it is worth visiting to see, and observe the 
 effect of united industry, regulated by sound 
 wisdom and discretion : here perfect equality 
 prevails, and there are no servants ; but plenty 
 of persons who serve. Every man has his sta- 
 tion appointed him according to his ability, 
 and every one has his wants supplied according 
 to his wishes. He applies to the mill for his 
 supply of flour ; to the apothecary for medi- 
 
LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 1 7 
 
 cine ; to the store for cloaths, and so on for 
 every thing necessary for human subsistence. 
 They do not forbid marriage, as some have re- 
 presented ; but it is one of their tenets that the 
 incumbrance created by families is an hindrance 
 to the spirituality of christians, and it is this 
 opinion which discourages marriage amongst 
 them. They have also an aversion to bear 
 arms ; this would not allow them to remain in 
 Germany, and they emigrated to live in the 
 manner they have adopted, and have certainly 
 the outside appearance of contentment and 
 happiness. 
 
 After travelling through the woods of Indi- 
 ana, the hills divide to the right and left, and 
 a fine valley opens to your view in which the 
 town stands. The hills assume a conical form, 
 and are embellished with fine cultivated vine- 
 yards ; and the valleys stand thick with corn. 
 Every log house is surrounded by a well cul- 
 tivated garden, abundantly supplied with ve- 
 getables, and ornamented with flowers. It 
 was the beginning of wheat harvest when I 
 arrived, and the entire company of reapers re- 
 tired from the fields in a body, preceded by a 
 band of music : their dress is like the Norman 
 peasants, and and as all are of the same form 
 and colour, may properly be designated their 
 
1 8 LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 costume. The men marched first, the wo- 
 men next, and the rear rank composed of 
 young women, with each a neat ornament of 
 striped cedar wood on their head, formed one 
 of the prettiest processions I ever witnessed. 
 The sound of French horns awakened them in 
 the morning to their daily labour, which is 
 moderate, and performed with cheerfulness ; 
 the return of evening appears to bring with it 
 no fatigue or symptoms of weariness. 
 
 Besides the gardens of individuals, there is 
 a public garden of five acres, the outside square 
 planted with fruit trees and vegetables, the in- 
 side with herbs medicinal and botanical. In 
 the centre is a rotunda of the rustic kind, stand- 
 ing in the midst of a labyrinth, which exhibits 
 more taste than I supposed to be found amongst 
 the Harmonites. It is from this hive of indus- 
 try that Albion and its vicinity have drawn 
 their supplies, and its contiguity to such neigh- 
 bours has been of great advantage. 
 
 Having given you this account, I arrive at 
 the point at which, my dear friend, I know 
 you feel most interest, and proceed to give you 
 an account of the state in which I found my 
 friends, and the English settlement in general. 
 I have great satisfaction in being able to 
 inform you that almost every individual I 
 
LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 1 9 
 
 knew in England, was much improved in ap- 
 pearance, all enjoying excellent health. The 
 same blessing is also our lot, and if I can form 
 a proper estimate from six weeks residence, I 
 must pronounce this to be as healthy a situa- 
 tion as any America affords, and much prefer- 
 able, in this respect, to the eastern states. What 
 travellers have recorded, that the thermometer 
 does not rise so high as in the east, is true, 
 and we are never many hours without a fine 
 breeze. The nights are cool, the thermome- 
 ter dropping lo degrees, and you can obtain 
 refreshing sleep. In the eastern states the 
 thermometer being at 98 in the day, remained 
 at 96 at night, a suffocating heat. The aver- 
 age of our days are from 80 to 86, but we have 
 had a day or two at 90, which produces a thun- 
 der gust and a cooler atmosphere. 
 
 Now, my dear sir, as to the questions which 
 agitate the minds of thousands in your coun- 
 try. The advantages of emigration to Ameri- 
 ca, and the comparative advantages of eastern 
 and western climates. I am, most decidedly, 
 for settling in the west, on account of the 
 prairies, and the facility with which they are 
 cultivated. 
 
 The cultivation of new land, incumbered 
 with heavy timber, presents a formidable fea- 
 
20 LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 ture ; labour incessant and unremitting, before 
 a small tract of land can be tolerably cleared : 
 but here I can enter either as a farmer or 
 a grazier immediately; fine wide spreading 
 fields of grass, inviting the flocks and herds to 
 come and partake of the bounty with which 
 they are loaded. In answer to the enquiry 
 as to the proper mode of farming, I sit, and 
 from the place I am now writing, see a beau- 
 tiful herd of cattle of nearly two hundred in 
 number. I have one hundred tons of fine hay 
 collected for spring provision. Every head 
 of cattle, the expence of herdsman deducted, 
 on a moderate calculation, promises a fair 
 profit of at least five dollars per head ; and 
 yet Mr. Cobbett, in his weekly letters, very 
 modestly asserts, " There is no farming for 
 profit in the west ! " — I state these facts for 
 the information of those who may wish to 
 join us, and in direct contradiction to the 
 ill-founded assertions of this writer on the 
 subject. 
 
 It is also stated by Mr. Cobbett, that "the 
 obstruction by bush and briar are such as to 
 prevent early or easy cultivation." — In con- 
 tradiction to this assertion, I affirm, that I 
 can put the plough into thousands of acres 
 where there is no such obstruction. One 
 
LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 21 
 
 gentleman in our settlement has grown eighty 
 acres of fine corn, although he only arrived last 
 year ; this alone is a sufficient contradiction to 
 all Mr. C. has said on this subject. There is 
 also a sufficiency of corn and grain grown this 
 first harvest to supply the wants of the settle- 
 ment : next year there will be a surplus for 
 brewing and distilling. 
 
 If a person enters heavy timbered land, it is 
 by great exertion he clears ten acres the first 
 year ; but he has only here to enclose and 
 take his choice of farming and grazing, or 
 enclose enough for corn and pasture, his cattle 
 feeding on the unoccupied range of grass which 
 the neighbouring cultivator cannot stock him- 
 self, and which is much improved by the feed- 
 ing of cattle. 
 
 Now, my dear Sir, as to the persons who 
 come here or to any other part of America, I 
 would have them consider for what purpose 
 and intent they emigrate. It is certain as regards 
 farming, that there are only two ways in which 
 it can be performed : the one, labouring by his 
 own hands ; the other, by his capital, stocking 
 his farm, and hiring his labourers. It is thought- 
 lessness and folly to tell any person, if he bring 
 with him one hundred pounds, he can place 
 himself in comfort; but, it is certain, that a 
 
2 2 LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 hundred pounds here will go as far as five 
 hundred pounds in England ; and that the per- 
 son who has that sum in possession, is certainly 
 five times better off than in that country. The 
 person who has this sum may enter his quarter 
 section of land, build his cabin, enclose his 
 garden, keep his cows and pigs ; but then he 
 must be a man of that description who has 
 been in the habit of milking his cows and tend- 
 ing his pigs : all such persons will find vast 
 advantage in emigrating to this place. Every 
 farmer in England (of which there are thou- 
 sands) who holds the plough, or his sons for 
 him, will find an easy life, and the abundant 
 supply of every good thing. As to the reward 
 of his industry, every farmer who can stock 
 a farm in England, may here become the pro- 
 prietor of his own soil with that capital which 
 affords him only a tenant's station, a pre- 
 carious subsistence in his own country ; an in- 
 ducement, I should think, sufficient to make 
 thousands follow our steps, and taste the bles- 
 sings of independence and the sweets of liberty. 
 Let all who are bending under the weight of 
 taxation, and trembling at the approach of 
 every quarter-day, come here and partake of 
 ease and abundance. If the affluent, also, are 
 tired of the system of the British government, 
 
LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 23 
 
 and feel the effect it has upon their fluctuating 
 property, here they will find the wide domain, 
 the natural park, whose hills and boundaries are 
 beautifully capped with woods, inviting them to 
 build their dwellings and sit down in ease and 
 content. These parks are already stocked with 
 deer, all which they may purchase, where pre- 
 vious entry has not taken place, at the land office 
 price, two dollars per acre. These prairies 
 appear as if that eminent improver of parks 
 and grounds — Repton, had been consulted in 
 laying them out to their taste. 
 
 It has been reported that we can get no ser- 
 vants : this is true in a degree, because the price 
 of service is such, as soon to elevate the servant 
 to a state of independance : but I have found 
 no want of persons to work for hire, even in do- 
 mestic stations ; those that are most wanted 
 are farming labourers ; good ploughmen are in 
 request, and can obtain twelve dollars per month 
 and their board. Female servants from eight to 
 ten dollars, according to their respective merits ; 
 these are in great request ; and what perhaps 
 is to them still more pleasing, their industry 
 is the certain road to marriage. Our young 
 females are almost all engaged in this 
 way, and we certainly lose good servants, 
 
24 LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 but have the pleasure of seeing them well 
 settled. 
 
 Now, my dear Sir, as to the state of the set- 
 tlement and the progress it has already made. 
 
 On a tract of land from the little Wabash to 
 the Bonpar on the Great Wabash, about seven- 
 teen miles in width, and four to six from north 
 to south, there were but a few hunters' cabins, 
 a year and a half since, and now there are about 
 sixty English families, containing nearly four 
 hundred souls ; and one hundred and fifty Ame- 
 rican, containing about seven hundred souls, 
 who like the English for their neighbours, and 
 many of whom are good neighbours to us. 
 We have nothing here like loneliness. In our 
 circle of English acquaintance, as well as in 
 that of American settlers, we find companions 
 who are often found interesting and intelligent. 
 In good deed and in truth, here is, to the indus- 
 trious, a source of wealth more certain and 
 productive than the mines of Golconda and 
 Peru. Industry of every kind has its am- 
 ple reward : but for the idle, the drunkard, 
 and the vicious, there is no chance ; spirits 
 are cheap, and a short existence is their cer- 
 tain portion. All persons feeling anxieties 
 that attend agricultural pursuits may be re- 
 
LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 25 
 
 leased from those anxieties by emigrating to 
 the Illinois. 
 
 Your newspapers, the Farmer's Journal in 
 particular, relate the particulars of the dis- 
 tress of the farmers, and the ruin in which 
 many of them are involved. It is in vain that 
 you petition for relief By your own account 
 your ruin is inevitable, and your destruction 
 sure. Escape then to a land where the efforts 
 of your industry will be rewarded, and the 
 produce of your labour will be your own. 
 You will escape, not only from the tax-ga- 
 ther and tithe-collector, but from the expence 
 attending the frightful system of pauperism, 
 which is constantly making demands, not only 
 on your pecuniary resources, but calling you 
 to the most painful personal exertions. 
 
 In the extensive region from New York to 
 this place, I have had but one application for 
 relief, and that was from an Englishman. In 
 this country peace and plenty reign. 
 
 I have mentioned a scarcity of servants : this 
 arises much from emigrants bringing out with 
 them a better sort, or confidential servants : 
 the only sort wanting are females who can 
 work in the kitchen, milk the cow and attend 
 to the dairy. All above this class can earn 
 too high wages by their needle. A good semp- 
 
26 LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 Stress, earning a dollar per day, will soon 
 quit servitude, and put on the airs of Ameri- 
 can independance, with an addition of some 
 little insolence ; but a cure is not unfrequently 
 wrought, and that by various easy methods. 
 
 A gentleman hired a female servant of this 
 sort, who would insist, as a condition, on 
 sitting down at the dinner table, with the fa- 
 mily ; her christian name was Biddy ; the 
 condition was consented to, and a project for 
 cure at the same time engaged in : — A party 
 was invited to dinner, and Biddy took her place 
 at the table, being above waiting, or being in 
 any degree more than a help. When any- 
 thing was wanting, a gentleman arose from 
 table and offered it to Miss Biddy. Miss Biddy 
 was asked to drink a glass of wine, first by 
 one gentleman and then by another. Miss 
 Biddy was desired not to trouble herself about 
 any thing, and was ceremoniously treated, till 
 she felt the awkwardness of her situation, and 
 said, the next day to her mistress, — " Madam, 
 I had rather give up dining at your table," — 
 which she did, continuing in their service for 
 some time. I have had to do with people of 
 the same cast, though not quite so foolish as 
 Miss Biddy : — I have hired persons to certain 
 employments, and they have been discontented 
 
LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 27 
 
 and spoiled by their notions of equality : 
 " Very good," said I ; we, then, are equal ; 
 I like the idea much ; it pleases me greatly ; 
 you, of course, mean to take no money of me 
 for what you please to do for me ; and, if that 
 is the case, I shall be as perfectly satisfied with 
 your notion of things, as you appear to be ; 
 but, if you take my money, you must perform 
 the service I have pointed out to you." — 
 This perfect notion of equality does not suit, 
 although it is too reasonable to be much ob- 
 jected to. 
 
 It is generally supposed, that this high 
 notion is of republican origin ; but it is the 
 contrary, and originates in the insolence of 
 those who keep and domineer over slaves. 
 Anything that a black is made to perform, is 
 pronounced unfit for whites ; and, although 
 many who have held slaves as their property, 
 are far inferior in understanding to the slaves 
 they hold, and are sometimes reduced to 
 poverty, they deem it degrading to perform 
 any work that a slave can perform ; and those 
 persons who, like myself, are far from thinking 
 all men equal in character, are little disposed 
 to engage with such persons in any service. 
 With our superiority in our consistent love of 
 freedom, and our having escaped from political 
 
28 LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 slavery, we shall never fail to oppose the ex- 
 tention, and even the continuance of personal 
 slavery. 
 
 The arguments for a state of slavery, urged 
 by Americans, are just such as might be urged 
 by Algerines for taking the ships of America, 
 and making slaves of her seamen. Both con- 
 sist in the right of force, and not of reason or 
 justice ; and when a person hears members 
 of congress pleading the cause of slavery, — 
 personal slavery, — with the pretence they are 
 my property, one cannot help blushing for hu- 
 man nature. Those who appear to love free- 
 dom, both personal and political, making use of 
 such a pretence, forces the tear of sorrow from 
 the eye of humanity. One human being the pro- 
 perty of another. No ! the whole race of man- 
 kind is the sole property of their great universal 
 parent ; and he who enslaves another, whether 
 his skin be black, white, or intermediate, in- 
 sults the right of his God, and blasphemes the 
 name of his Creator, 
 
 I rejoice, my dear friend, in the choice the 
 English have made of a free state ; and am cer- 
 tain we shall be able to cultivate from the ser- 
 vices of free men, cheaper than those who culti- 
 vate them by slaves. 
 
 But to return to our settlement and its in- 
 
LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 29 
 
 fant capital Albion. Log houses, those cabins 
 unpleasant to the cleanly habits of English- 
 men, the receptacles of the insect tribe, are no 
 longer erected. I have had the pleasure of 
 laying the first brick foundation in Albion ; it 
 is for an inn where travellers I hope may find 
 rest without disturbance from insects. We 
 have also nearly completed our market house 
 which is sixty feet by thirty. A place of worship 
 is began. Religion, I mean the outward form, has 
 not been unattended to : a selection from the 
 Church of England service, and a sermon has been 
 read on the sabbath to a few persons assembled 
 in a log room : our psalmody is excellent, ha- 
 ving some good musicians, and singers amongst 
 us. The Americans here think all who take mo- 
 ney for preaching, hireling ministers, and several 
 well-intentioned farmers preach to small assem- 
 blies in the neighbourhood. The worship of 
 God, and the keeping his commands is the 
 thing which I believe all will agree in, as being 
 the end to be produced by public worship. As 
 we have not, and I trust never shall have, that 
 grand corruption of Christianity, an establish- 
 ment formed and supported by statesmen and 
 politicians, I hope Christianity in its original 
 purity, will for ever flourish in the Illinois. 
 We intend also our place of worship for a li- 
 
30 LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 brary, and to open it on a Sunday afternoon ; 
 a day when all persons have leisure to read, and 
 are clean in their dress and persons. The 
 strict Sabbatarians will doubt the propriety of 
 this proceeding ; but any thing which will have 
 a tendency to promote moral and intellectual 
 improvement, and keep men from the vices of 
 idleness and drinking, is justified by him who 
 put the question, — " Is it lawful to do good on 
 the sabbath?" 
 
 But to return from spiritual to temporal 
 things. I spoke of our market house being fi- 
 nished. The price of provisions in this place is 
 as follows. 
 
 A fine turkey, a quarter of a dollar. — Fowls, 
 twelve cents each. — Beef four to five cents per 
 pound. — Mutton none yet at market. — Eggs 
 twelve and a half cents per dozen. — Cheese 
 thirty cents per pound. — Butter scarce, owing 
 to the heat of the climate, sixteen cents per 
 pound. — Bacon at this time fifteen cents per 
 pound, half the price in winter. — Flour nine dol- 
 lars per barrel. — Deer, a fine fat buck from one 
 dollar to one dollar and a half including skin. — 
 Melons, such as cannot be procured in Eng- 
 land, twelve and a half cents each in great abun- 
 dance. — Honey of the finest flavour, one dollar 
 per gallon. — Whiskey one dollar per gallon 
 
LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 3 1 
 
 retail, — Fine Hyson tea two dollars per pound. 
 Moist sugar thirty one cents. — Coffee sixty- 
 two cents per pound : wholesale from New Or- 
 leans much cheaper. Fine fish three cents per 
 pound. 
 
 We leave it to the public to judge of our dan- 
 ger of starving, as some writers have hinted. 
 
 Here then you have the situation of our rising 
 settlement ; progressing with rapidity in the eye 
 of Americans, though to Englishmen, setting 
 and watching for fresh intelligence, but slowly. 
 
 You ask me, dear Sir, whether there is any 
 sale for books here ? We have no bookseller 
 yet, and the writings of your favourite authors, 
 in defence of civil and religious liberty, would 
 not sell here : the love of civil and religious li- 
 berty is unbounded in every Illinois heart ; there 
 are none to dispute the truth of the principles of 
 complete and perfect freedom ; and when con- 
 troversy ceases, controversial writings must of 
 course lose their interest. 
 
 I would not for the world invite persons, 
 no I not a single individual, if I did not think 
 that his happiness would be encreased : it may 
 be said that I am an interested person, and 
 so are those who take such pains to pre- 
 vent persons from coming westward. Emigra- 
 
32 LETTER FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 tion from the eastern states, has already re- 
 duced the price of lands there. 
 
 When I passed New York, I heard a popular 
 
 writer (^) say, "I'll be d d if I don't write 
 
 down Birkbeck and the settlement : " those who 
 are familiar with this writer's usual phraseology 
 in conversation, cannot, I think, be in any great 
 danger of mistake as to the person alluded to : 
 how far he has succeeded, the public will be a 
 proper judge when they carefully peruse the 
 facts I have stated, and compare the evidence 
 they receive from time to time through the 
 various channels from the Illinois. We have 
 here plenty of scribes, and the truth — the whole 
 truth will appear before both an American and 
 British public. 
 
 I remain. 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 Richard Flower. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 C. TEULON, Printer, 67, Whitechapel. 
 
NOTES TO "LETTERS FROM 
 LEXINGTON AND THE ILLINOIS." 
 
 (a) page i, "Lexington." From this, the chief settlement in 
 the State of Kentucky, Mr. Flower wrote this letter while 
 awaiting the construction of the Flower house at Albion. 
 (See the Introduction.) 
 
 (6) page 8, "A judgment day." The Church was dis- 
 established in America at the time of the American 
 Revolution. Upon its foundation was erected the Pro- 
 testant Episcopal Church. 
 
 (c) page 10, " Name of servant." This sensitiveness was due 
 to the levelling influence of a new country and a demo- 
 cratic government. It continues to the present time. 
 
 (rf) page II, "Hundred and forty students." This was 
 Transylvania University, the first institution of higher 
 education west of the Allegheny Mountains. It was 
 founded about 1780, and later was merged into the present 
 University of Kentucky. 
 
 (tf) page 13, "Approaching the State." In 1820 Kentucky con- 
 tained 126,732 slaves. Of the twenty-five States in the 
 Union only nine were free from slavery. The anti-slavery 
 feeling was strong in Kentucky at this time. Among those 
 who had migrated to the North of the Ohio River and 
 freed their slaves was Edward Coles, first governor of the 
 Illinois Territory. He first suggested Illinois to Birkbeck 
 as a place of colonization. In 1818 an effort was made to 
 introduce slavery into Illinois. Coles and Birkbeck were 
 actively engaged in defeating the attempt. 
 
34 
 
 if) page 1 6, "Wonder of the West." George Rapp brought to 
 Pennsylvania in 1803 a colony of religious followers called 
 " Economites." Removing later to Southern Indiana, he 
 founded the religious celibate community of Economy on 
 the Wabash River, some thirty miles above its junction 
 with the Ohio River. In 1824 they sold their property to 
 Robert Owen, the philanthropist of New Lanark, Scotland, 
 and returned to Pennsylvania. 
 
 {g) page 32, " A popular writer." William Cobbett. 
 
INDEX TO "LETTERS FROM LEXINGTON 
 AND THE ILLINOIS." 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 FACE 
 
 Albion : the Infant Capital 
 
 18, 
 
 29 
 
 Lexington, College in 
 
 10 
 
 Balls and Parties at Lexington 
 
 
 II 
 
 Lexington ; Hospitality 
 
 F 
 
 Birkbeck, Writing down ... 
 
 
 32 
 
 Inhabitants 
 
 II 
 
 Bonpar to the Wabash ... 
 
 
 24 
 
 Lexington, Mr. Flower leave 
 
 3 16 
 
 Booksellers (No) in Illinois 
 
 
 31 
 
 Lexington, Students in 
 
 II 
 
 Bricks (First) 
 
 
 29 
 
 Libraries 
 
 30 
 
 Chnrches and Worship ... 
 
 
 29 
 
 Literature 
 
 31 
 
 Climate 
 
 
 19 
 
 Log Houses and Cabins .. 
 
 17,29 
 
 Cobbett's (Mr.) Assertions 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 
 Louisville to Ohio 
 
 12 
 
 Collie in Lexington 
 
 
 10 
 
 Market House nearly com 
 
 
 Corn 
 
 
 21 
 
 pleted 
 
 29 
 
 Deer in the Parks 
 
 
 23 
 
 Marriage not Forbidden .. 
 
 17 
 
 Drinking, Evils of 
 
 
 30 
 
 Mosquitoes 
 
 9 
 
 Emigration, Advantages of 
 
 
 
 New Orleans, Prices of Pro 
 
 
 19. 
 
 21 
 
 31 
 
 visions in 
 
 31 
 
 English Families in the Wa- 
 
 
 
 New York 
 
 25.32 
 
 bash 
 
 
 24 
 
 New York to Pittsburgh .. 
 
 6,12 
 
 Equality, Failure of 10, 
 
 26 
 
 27 
 
 Ohio 
 
 6 
 
 Farming : Distress of Farmers 
 
 25 
 
 Ohio to Louisville 
 
 12 
 
 Farming, Mode of 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 Parks and Prairies 
 
 23 
 
 Farming : Supplies of Corn 
 
 
 21 
 
 Philadelphia and New Yorl< 
 
 6 
 
 Flour, Supplies of 
 
 
 16 
 
 Pittsburgh to New York .. 
 
 12 
 
 Harmony, Author at 
 
 
 16 
 
 Pittsburgh to Ohio 
 
 6,12 
 
 Harmony and the Har- 
 
 
 
 Population of Lexington .. 
 
 10 
 
 monites 
 
 
 18 
 
 Population on the Grea 
 
 
 Illinois, Christianity in 
 
 
 29 
 
 Wabash 
 
 24 
 
 Illinois, Emigration to 
 
 
 25 
 
 Prairies like Parks 
 
 23 
 
 Illinois, Evidence concerning 
 
 
 32 
 
 Prices of Poultry 
 
 30 
 
 Illinois, Religious Liberty in 
 
 
 31 
 
 Prices of Meat 
 
 30 
 
 Indiana, Woods of 
 
 
 17 
 
 Prices of Tea 
 
 31 
 
 Inns, First Building of 
 
 
 29 
 
 Prices of Coffee 
 
 31 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 '3 
 
 14 
 
 Prices of Land 
 
 32 
 
 Labourers 10, 18, 20, 2i, 
 
 23 
 
 25 
 
 Repton and the Prairies .. 
 
 23 
 
 Lexington, Account of 
 
 
 5 
 
 Servants and Equality 
 
 26 
 
36 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Servants, Scarcity of ... 23, 25 
 
 Slaves and White Slavery 14, 27, 28 
 Students, Number of, in 
 
 Lexington II 
 
 Taverns 8, 9 
 
 Timbered Land 21 
 
 Travelling in America ... 8 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Wabash to Bonpar 24 
 
 Wabash, English Families 
 
 in the 24 
 
 Wages 10, 23, 25, 26 
 
 Washington Memorials ... 14 
 
 Whiskey and the Whites ... 14 
 
 Worship 29 
 
LETTERS 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE ILLINOIS, 
 
 1820, 1821. 
 
 CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENT 
 AT ALBION AND ITS VICINITY, 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. 
 
 Th<m shall bless the Lord thy God for the good land ■which he hath 
 given thee : — beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God. 
 Than shall not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 
 
 Divine Commands. 
 
 XonOon : 
 
 PRINTED FOR JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY 
 By C. Teuton, 67, Whitechapel. 
 
 1822. 
 \Price Two Shillings and Sixpence^ 
 
PUBLISHED BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 
 Price One Shilling. 
 
 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. 
 
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 opinions, 
 on the subject of emigrations ; * 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, iSao, 
 
IV 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. 
 Birkbeck and my brother (a) are charged with 
 unfairness in their statements, because they do 
 not apply to 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, who 
 fixes on a station 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 come here for?" 
 For the Notes to the following letters, with 
 
 "all their imperfections on their head," I am 
 
 G 
 
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, &c., 
 I have somewhat wandered out of my way : 
 to such readers I beg leave to offer a word or 
 two by way of apology. True religion, I 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 him," I should indeed 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. vn 
 
 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 
 Statecraft and Priestcraft united, that al- 
 though I believe with a firm and unshaken faith, 
 that the kingdoms of this world will become 
 the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christy 
 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, I 
 
VIII 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 — 
 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. i6tk, 1822. 
 
 P.S. Mr. Cobbett somewhere remarks — " That he would 
 sooner join the fraternity 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 
 
X 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. 15.) 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 
 " 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 
 can swallow such "stuff," they have indeed, 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 Transub- 
 stantiation I 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 24, last line, after the word "to," add as follows: — 
 " become man and wife, and their answer of consent. This is registered 
 at the m^istrates, and recorded by him at the county court : if" 
 Ps^e 36 line 2a, for " the Illinois," read "of the Illinois." 
 
 44 S from the bottom, for " liberal," read " illiberal." 
 
 59 n,for " light," read " life." 
 
 60, last line, after the word " circle," add " reject Christianity." 
 
 74 4 and 5, for " proring" read " procuring." 
 
 76 8 from the bottom, for " made," read " may." 
 
LETTERS, &c. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 Albion [b), Illinois, Jan. i8, 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 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 everything is going on tolerably well. You 
 
TO 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. II 
 
 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, 1 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 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 
 difficulty get a regular ploughman, and a plough- 
 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 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 
 
LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 1 3 
 
 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 woman 
 servant, makes us comfortably served. 
 
 On the return of Christmas day, we invited 
 our party as at Harden, 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 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 reli- 
 gious institions." 
 
 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 
 
1 6 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 on to plans of usefulness. A place for education (c), 
 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 rain 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 (d), 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 FROM THE ILLINOIS. 1 7 
 
 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 conceiye of 
 this till I took down a volume of Shaw's Zoology. 
 " 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 
 
 H 
 
1 8 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 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. 
 
LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 1 9 
 
 LETTER II. 
 Park House {e), 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 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. I 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 Harden, 
 good beef and mutton, with abundance of 
 
20 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS, 
 
 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 tithes 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 regu- 
 larly attended to by many, and 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 
 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 
 
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 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 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 now 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 " 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. 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 woVld, 
 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 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 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, 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 my 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 {g) 
 away, the days of my emigration would have 
 been the happiest of my life. 
 
 R. F- 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 March 26, 182 1. 
 
 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. A person 
 with ;^ioo 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's Letters from 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. 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 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 ascendency 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 ; (A) but if it ends without the people 
 regaining their long lost liberties, between the 
 
30 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 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 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 18 19, 
 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. 3 1 
 
 ment ; 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 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 written from settlements above fifty 
 miles distant from us, where circusstances 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 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 
 
 I 
 
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 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 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 
 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 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 
 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 
 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 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 enclosures ; 
 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 (t). 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 wilfully 
 
38 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 blind. He might have found, within a circuit 
 of five miles round Albion, numerous pleasing 
 elevations, also 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 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 
 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 sufificiency 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 and 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 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 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 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 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 
 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 empha- 
 tically on the subject : — " Wilt thou, friend 
 
44 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 Flower, take thy family to that infidel and 
 wicked settlement in the Illinois? Thou ap- 
 pearest to be a christian ; how wilt thou an- 
 swer to thy God for endangering the precious 
 souls of thy dear children ? " Madam, answer- 
 ed 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 pro- 
 ceed. 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 suc- 
 cess in our present state and future prospects,* 
 
 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 liberal abuse, were the ministerial and 
 hireling writers in England. The emigra- 
 tion of Englishmen, in the Illinois, it appears 
 did not please the masters whom these writers 
 serve ; and this is sufficient to account for their 
 
 * See Note B. 
 
LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 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 dis- 
 cernment, 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, agri- 
 cultural meetings and parliamentary proceed- 
 ings 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 father notice. 
 
 Another writer, who is, or rather who was 
 once popular, whom I met at New York, pas- 
 sionately expressed his determination to write 
 us down : amongst much false reasoning, which 
 
46 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 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 settle- 
 ment at heart ; or whether he wished to keep 
 all emigrants near him to persuade them to en- 
 ter 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 com- 
 forts, 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.* 
 
 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 ar- 
 rest its progress ; they therefore joined the hue 
 and cry against the Illinois, and spread reports 
 
 * See Note C. 
 
LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 47 
 
 of sickness, starvation, famishing for thirst, 
 frequent deaths, and the consequent abandon- 
 ment 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 fami- 
 lies 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 mi- 
 nute investigation into our situation and cir- 
 cumstances, in the autumn of the year they 
 could not find a sick person throughout the 
 settlement : nor was the drought which cer- 
 tainly 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 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 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 circum- 
 stances ; 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 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. 
 
 K 
 
50 LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 
 
 EXTRACT OF A LETTER. 
 
 FROM MR. BIRKBECK. 
 
 Wanborough, Mayj, 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 our 
 
LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS. 5 1 
 
 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 
 expense 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. 
 Books 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 
 
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 unfit 
 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 office to 
 transmit to an intelligent friend an occasional 
 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. 
 
 END OF THE LETTERS. 
 
NOTES 
 
 \Note A, page 35.] 
 
 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. Feeling 
 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 ofl5ce, 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, 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 be 
 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- 
 ized. I have met with but too many in this country, who 
 have not 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- 
 
58 NOTES. 
 
 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 (J). 8w. 
 
 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, which 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 
 '■^ in great fear where no fear was r (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 conquerors ! 
 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 bUnd. 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. 
 
 must 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- 
 futing that admirable tract entitled — An Answer to the 
 Question, why are 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 
 wilful ignorance, sneering, jesting, and 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 j 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 I 
 
 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 j various 
 
NOTES. 6 1 
 
 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 who receive honour one of one another, and not the 
 honour which cometh from God only I 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 affecta- 
 " 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 people ! " 
 
 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 
 "fair 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 opinion I only add that of 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 ; but it 
 is with pain, that I am obliged in justice 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 ceuntless 
 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- 
 " preme head of the church." — The English Liturgy a Form of Sound 
 Words J a Sermon delivered in the Parish Churches of St. Benet, Grace- 
 church Street, (5r=c. By George Gaskin, D.D. 
 
 How any man, with the New Testament before him, could possibly call 
 such an aristocratical and monarchical charch, one "formed according to 
 the will of the Supreme Head," when he well knew that it was diametri- 
 cally opposite to the letter and spirit of the most solemn, particular, and 
 repeated directions of the Great Head of the Church on this subject : — 
 " Call no man your master on earth ; one is your master, even Christ, and 
 all ye are brethren, &'c." — I shall not stay to inquire ; but it mayamuse the 
 reader just to observe how this clerical pluralist exercises " his function 
 towards the laity!' and more especially as it relates to tythes: — that species 
 of property which was first voluntarily given by the people for various 
 benevolent purposes, but of which they were afterwards robbed by the 
 clergy, who appropriated them to their own sole use. How they are 
 sometimes raised, even in the present enlightened age, I lately discovered 
 in a catalogue, at a sale of pawnbroker's unredeemed pledges, where, 
 amongst other names and descriptions of property, I read as follows : 
 
 "Lots sold under a distress for tythes due to the Rev. Dr. Gaskin, Rec- 
 tor of the United Parishes of St. Benet, Gracechurch Street, of St. 
 Leonard, Eastcheap, [and of St. Mary, Newington."'\ 
 
 Then follow eight lots of writing paper, silver table and tea spoons, &c. 
 
 " The following sold under a distress for tythes due to the Rev. Mr. 
 Parker, (son in law of Dr. Gaskin) Rector of St. Ethelburga." 
 
 Then follow five lots of yellow and mottled soap ! 
 
64 NOTES. 
 
 But as America is not disgraced with an established 
 church, supported by penal laws, the work of statecraft 
 and priestcraft united, infidelity has, in that country, lost 
 
 Whether the body of the clergy, who have for so many ages been sup- 
 ported by these and by other means scarcely less obnoxious, come nearer 
 to the description of the primitive apostles and pastors for independence, 
 disinterestedness and benevolence, or to that description predicted by one 
 of them of those who should come after him, — grievous wolves not sparing 
 the flock, I leave to the reader to determine. 
 
 Dr. Gaskin, I was informed, ranks amongst the clergy who have ar- 
 rogated to themselves the epithet evangelical ; but I have since been in- 
 formed otherwise ; and I am inclined to believe, as those do who best 
 know him, that he is not an evangelical clergyman ! 
 
 I cannot help expressing my surprise that my countrymen will not, 
 on this subject, take a hint from that great and liberal minded statesman, 
 the late Lord Chatham, at the commencement of the American war, when 
 ourdebtand taxes were not <j«e/^/4 of what they are at present. Hislord- 
 ship in aspeech in the House of Lords, turning to the right reverend bench, 
 exclaimed, — " Let the bishops beware of war ; for should the people be 
 "pressedfor money, they know wheretolookforitl" Itisa pity that amidst 
 so much nonsense, with which the nation is pestered at our agricultural 
 meetings, and in agricultural reports, and so much injustice as is proposed 
 for relieving the public, by Mr. Webb Hall on the one side, Mr. Cobbett 
 and others on the other, such as new corn laws, and breaking public 
 faith, &c. ruining thousands by the reduction of interest of the 
 national debt, 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 state abuses, who will 
 recommend, " Aninquiry into the nature and amount oj our church reve- 
 nues ? " Would Christianity suffer if a Bishop of Winchester, or a Bishop 
 of Durhum, had not 30 or ;^40,CXX) 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 France, and is now 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 ;»o/i;-like stupidity ! 
 
NOTES. 65 
 
 its 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 aflfords 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 diflferent denominations, with any others 
 
 L 
 
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 show 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 
 equally distinguished 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 1 
 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. 
 It is an evil attending 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 are 
 men of fine talents, and transcendant 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 
 OF Robert Robinson, prefixed to his Works. See also an excellent 
 SermoninhisincomparableViLLAGBDiscouRSBS, entitled, "^»}'0»ezv^0 
 understands Christianity may teach it." And another in the Posthumous 
 volume of his works, entitled, " The Corruptions of Christianity.^' 
 
68 NOTES. 
 
 [JVbfe C, tage 46.] 
 
 Mr, Cobbett's former calumnies respecting the English 
 settlements in the Illinois were amply refuted by Mr. 
 Birkbeck and my brother, in two pamphlets, published in 
 1819, and to neither of which, although he has alluded to a 
 private letter, since written by the former, and inserted in 
 a provincial paper, has he dared to reply. He has however, 
 had the effrontery in a late Register {July, 7th, 182 1,) 
 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 my 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, — a peculiarly 
 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 I " 
 
NOTES. 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 unfrequently 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 is false that Mr. 
 W. Hunt was brought to an untimely end by " a terrible 
 "fever." At the moment I am writing I have 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. 
 
 It is false, that my amiable and excellent nephew died 
 also in consequence of one of those "terrible fevers." 
 Being intimately acquainted with the circumstances 
 of his case, from the very best authority I assure the 
 reader, that his death was occasioned by a common com- 
 
70 NOTES. 
 
 plaint in all countries, and to which young people are more 
 peculiarly subject : a cold, caught on a journey, (it is not 
 necessary to detail the particulars), which, without any 
 alarming symptoms of fever, terminated in a decline, and 
 as is frequently the case in such disorders, suddenly, when 
 his parents and family were flattering themselves he had 
 nearly recovered. Thus has Mr. Cobbett impiously repre- 
 sented an affecting visitation of Providence ; — a visitation 
 common to every spot on the habitable globe, — as a judg- 
 ment inflicted on my brother for not following his advice, 
 although he forgot to add, that this advice was enforced 
 with a denunciation, clothed in his favourite phraseology, 
 
 " I'll be d d if I do not write down Birkbeck and his 
 
 " settlement." *-Thus has he strove to transpierce the heart 
 of a father, and to tear open a wound, which time, a flou- 
 rishing situation, with those ample means of enjoyment 
 with which the favour of providence has surrounded him, 
 together with those "strong consolations," which a true 
 christian only can feel the force of, was healing; and I 
 trust, that the same supports will enable him to triumph 
 over the fiend whose deadly aim has been to send him a 
 mourner to the grave. 
 
 Mr. C. warns my brother and his family "to retreat in 
 time," which if they do not, he dooms them for their lives 
 " to pass their days principally amongst the fellers of 
 " trees, and the swallowers of whiskey." After the reader 
 has attended to the evidence respecting the state of 
 society at the English settlements, in the pamphlet before 
 him, (I might refer him to additional respectable evidence) 
 it is only necessary to warn Mr. C. in return, should he 
 again cross the Atlantic, and take it into his head to reside 
 at the Illinois, to be careful to leave his vicious habits of 
 
 * Flower's Letters from the Illinois, 1819, p. 32. 
 
NOTES. 7 1 
 
 swearing and lying behind him, as he will otherwise find 
 not only English society, but even the society of " fellers 
 " of trees, and swallowers of whiskey " too humane, too 
 civilized, too virtuous to be very fond of his company. 
 
 The hypocrisy of Mr. Cobbett, in his professions of 
 respect for Mr. B. and my brother can only be equalled by 
 his falsehood. His inhuman attack on the latter I have 
 already noticed; and his eagerness in the same Register, 
 to expose and misrepresent private matters with which 
 the public have no concern, for the sole purpose of making 
 mischief, must be too obvious to its readers to require 
 farther notice. I might quote from a subsequent Register, 
 the manner in which he has endeavoured to ridicule both 
 my brother and Mr. B. but it is too contemptible for a 
 reply. 
 
 Mr. Birkbeck, in the letter quoted by Cobbett observes, 
 " I suppose you have seen Cobbett's attack on me, and 
 " laughed at the ridiculous posture in which he has contriv- 
 " ed to place me." On this Mr. C. indignantly demands 
 — " Pray Sir, by what rule known amongst men, are you jus- 
 " tified in imputing to me an attack on you. I addressed to 
 " you two letters while I was in Long Island, dated in the 
 "latter part of the year 1818 : — now throughout the whole 
 " of those letters there is not to be found one single expression 
 " to warrant this charge of having made an attack on you ; 
 " from one end to the other I speak of you with the greatest 
 " respect." Of the sincerity of these professions the reader 
 will judge, by a short extract or two from the letters 
 referred to. "It is of Uttle consequence," observes Mr, 
 C. " what wild schemes are formed by men who have pro- 
 " perty enough to carry them back ; but to invite men to go 
 " to the Illinois, with a few score of pounds in their poc- 
 " kets, and to tell them that they can become farmers with 
 " those pounds,, appears to me to admit of no other apology 
 
72 NOTES. 
 
 "than an unequivocal acknowledgment that the author is 
 " MAD ! Yet your fifteenth letter from the Illinois really 
 "contains such an invitation. This letter is manifestly 
 " addressed to an imaginary person, it is clear that the cor- 
 " respondent is a feigned or supposed being. It is, I am 
 " sorry to say, a mere trap to catch poor creatures with a 
 "few pounds in their pockets." Mr. Birkbeck in reply, 
 after stating that his letter was not addressed to an " ima- 
 "ginary person," but to one with whose circumstances he 
 was intimately acquainted, a relation by marriage, adds : — 
 " You have posted me over England and America as mad, 
 " as a simpleton, and a boaster, and in one or two instances 
 " as something worse. So great a liberty with truth you say, 
 " never was taken by any mortal being ; and having made the 
 " discovery, you are in great haste to conclude your letter 
 " to me, that your son William might take it to England with 
 " him, and publish it there six months before I could hear of 
 "it I" — So much for Mr. Cobbett's sincerity in his high 
 professions of respect for Mr. B. his veracity in declaring 
 he made " no attack on him," and that his letter, " was 
 " not written to be circulated in Europe !" It is a pity that 
 he did not adduce his ever-memorable denunciation against 
 Mr. B. and his settlement uttered a short time before he 
 wrote his letters, as an additional proof of his sincerity and 
 veracity ! * 
 
 The conceit of this writer is as intolerable as his other 
 vicious qualities. Speaking of the House of Commons, he 
 thus expresses himself : — " I am well aware of all the feel- 
 " ings that are at work in that assembly with regard to me 
 "and my writings. I have not mock modesty enough, to 
 "pretend not to perceive the power that I have in the 
 
 * Cobbett's Register, July 7, 1821. Birkbeck's Letters, printed for 
 Ridgway, 1819, second edition. 
 
NOTES. Tl 
 
 " country ; and it is out of the power of that assembly to 
 " disguise from me that they are well aware of the extent of 
 " that power. Neither am I ignorant of the power that I 
 " have with regard to i/iet'r actions, and of the great reluct- 
 " ance that they have to suffer the public to perceive that 
 "they feel the effects of any such power. I manage my 
 " matters adroitly : but the power I have, and the power 
 " I will have ; and this I repeat it, the public know full as 
 " well as I do ; and I only state the facts here in order to 
 "let those who grudge me the power know, that the pos- 
 " session of it gives me great satisfaction." How adroitly 
 this bankrupt in fortunes and character has " managed his 
 " matters," the London Gazette and our courts of justice 
 have recently afforded ample evidence; and should he 
 profess modesty, that it will be " mock modesty," no man 
 will dispute : as to the rest of the paragraph, surely the 
 ravings of the poor bedlamite, with his crown of straw, 
 brandishing his straw scepter, and fancying himself 
 a king, appears rationality itself compared with this dis- 
 play of bloated pride and intoxicated vanity ! What 
 particular power this writer possesses over the coun- 
 try, or over parliament, I know not : that he may im- 
 pose upon some people by his acknowledged talents as a 
 writer, whose style is so well calculated for the lower 
 classes more particularly, and by his confident assertions, 
 I do not deny; but in justice to Mr. C. I must observe, 
 that I do not believe his powers for wickedness are so gi- 
 gantic as he has laboured to persuade us they are. How 
 often has he boasted of his power at any time totally to 
 ruin the Bank of England by his favourite project of a ge- 
 neral forgery of bank notes; and which he could easily 
 put in execution at any time ; but notwithstanding he 
 proves his good wishes on the subject, he has not had that 
 
74 NOTES. 
 
 confidence in his own most marvellous powers, as to risk 
 his neck in the acquisition of that exaltation, which the 
 attempt to put such a project in execution would most 
 assuredly be his reward ! 
 
 Mr. Birkbeck has drawn a most correct miniature 
 likeness of his grand enemy, in describing him as a 
 man, — I copy the sentence as printed by Mr. C. — 
 " KNOWN to be wholly indifferent to truth" This des- 
 cription is so terribly galling as to provoke him to give 
 additional proof of its justice. How numerous are the 
 proofs, — how vast the evidence which might be collected 
 from his writings ! How many of the most useful and or- 
 mental characters, and of the greatest and best men in the 
 political, social, and literary world has he not libelled ! It 
 is not only Birkbeck, and Flower, but Waithman, Burdett,* 
 
 * In Mr. C. 'streatmentof Sir Francis Burdett, Ingratitude seems the 
 crowning vice. The benevolent and patriotic baronet, deceived by him 
 as many others have been, lent him a large sum of money, which just as 
 he was setting out for America he declined paying, under the pretext that 
 as government had by their oppressive measures injured him, he did not 
 consider himself bound to discharge his debts till it suited his convenience ! 
 Sit Francis, alluding to this letter, remarked, that he did not know whe- 
 ther such a principle had ever before been acted upon, but he believed 
 it was the first time it had ever been openly professed ! As those letters 
 are I find, very imperfectly recollected by many of Mr. C.'s readers, if he 
 will reprint them in his Weekly Register, they will consider it as a favour. 
 
 Mr. C. commenced his notice of the worthy baronet by reviling him, 
 and all men of his principles, in his usual style he afterwards veered 
 about to the opposite point of the compass, and panegyrised him in the 
 highest terms ; but although he had partly gained his ends, finding that 
 he could not completely transform Sir Francis into one of his tools, and by 
 his means, accomplish his darling, but uniformly defeated project, of pro- 
 ing a seat in the House of Commons, he in his rage, and under that pro- 
 phetic impulse with which " The angel he so long has served," not nn- 
 frequently inspires him, pledged himself that in the course of a few 
 months he would so expose the baronet, as to hurry him to his fate : — 
 
NOTES. 75 
 
 and Fox, Priestley, Franklin, Locke, and Addison, with 
 many others whom this general libeller has calumniated. 
 But to wade through his innumerable pages, and to collect 
 the numberless proofs of the truth of this statement would 
 be a more Herculean task than that of cleansing the Augean 
 stable. To the number of his Register already quoted 
 I must confine myself : and indeed that may be produced 
 as a fair specimen of many others. Many years since, 
 and early in his political career, he poured forth his abuse 
 on Dr. Franklin; the fit has lately revisited him; and it 
 has happened to him, to use the language of St. Peter, 
 when describing similar characters of his time, according to 
 the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again. 
 Speaking of this friend of his country, and of the world, 
 Mr. C. observes : — " Dr. Franklin's maxims are childish, 
 "if not trivial; a still greater number of them are false, 
 " the whole tenor of them tends to evil, for it constantly aims 
 "at strengthening selfishness, and at enfeebling genero- 
 " sity." — ^Yes reader ! such is the description of the lumi- 
 nous pages of this illustrious American philosopher, 
 statesman, and patriot, and which abound equally with 
 lessons of philanthropy and prudence, enforced by his 
 own example, and which have instructed, improved, and 
 adorned, not only his own country, but almost every 
 civilized spot on the habitable globe. 
 
 But although there is much more offensive matter in the 
 Re^ster I have quoted, I must draw to a close. Mr. 
 C. on some subjects, shews considerable talents and 
 industry, and he might have been useful to society, had 
 he confined himself to his peculiar forte, — ferretting out 
 
 That of committing suicide, and of being buried in a cross road, with a 
 stake driven through his body I If Dr. Young's sentiment — " He that's 
 ungrateful has no crimes bat one" be correct, Mr. C.'s character appears 
 to have reached its climax. 
 
76 NOTES. 
 
 public abuses, and making every class understand their 
 nature. It is indeed to be lamented how little he feels 
 himself, what he has made others feel. But, as there 
 is no system, men nor measures, but he has equally 
 panegyrised and reviled, as it has suited his caprice, or 
 weathercock opinions ; his own conduct has, in a great 
 degree, destroyed the effects of the best parts of his 
 writings. — But as he has lately turned his attention to 
 that best of books, — the bible, — which he has frequently 
 sneered at, and reviled the successful exertions of 
 those who have extended its circulation; — as his prolific 
 pen has lately produced Sermons, in which he has dis- 
 played his usual energies, I will not despair of him ; 
 and I hope he will take in good part my friendly and 
 concluding hints, I will help him to one or two sub- 
 jects for his succeeding sermons. The first shall 
 be — The sin and danger of Profane Swearing, 
 from Exodus xx. 7. Thou shalt not take the name of the 
 Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guilt- 
 less that taketh his name in vain. The other, God's ab- 
 HORENCE OF FALSEHOOD, from Prov. xii. 22. Lying lips 
 are an abomination to the Lord. No man is capable of 
 doing these subjects more ample justice ; and I will pro- 
 mise him that, as I have distributed some of his writ- 
 ings, I will so exert myself respecting these proposed ser- 
 mons, as that he made add to his recent boastings of their 
 extensive sale. It is impossible that in reading and study- 
 ing his Bible, he can prevent it itova. flying in his face, and 
 I most sincerely hope his reflections will terminate in his 
 repentance and reformation : that he may no longer remain 
 in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity ; but 
 that it may be his fervent prayer to God, — That the 
 thougfits of his heart may be forgiven him. 
 
 FINIS. 
 C. Teulon, Printer, 67, Whitechapel. 
 
NOTES TO "LETTERS FROM THE 
 ILLINOIS," &c. 
 
 {a) page iv, "My brother." This preface was written by 
 Benjamin Flower, younger brother of the author of the 
 Letters, and uncle to George Flower. He was born in 
 1775, and became a Radical editor and writer. He 
 never migrated to America. 
 
 (6) page 9, "Albion." Mr. Flower had resided at Albion 
 nearly two years when these Letters were written. 
 
 {c) page 16, "A place for education." During the year that 
 this Letter was written, a log structure was built at 
 Albion, which served both as school-house and church- 
 building. Prayers were said in it every Sunday, and a 
 sermon read from some English divine. The services 
 were attended alike by Church of England followers, 
 Quakers, and Unitarians. 
 
 (rf) page 16, "Captain Burke." Captain Jeremiah Birk had 
 purchased land in the Illinois country before the coming 
 of the English colonies. When the settlers began to 
 come in numbers, he sold out and moved across the 
 Mississippi. He represents the crude and vigorous 
 frontiersmen who led the van in the onward march of 
 civilization. 
 
 (e) page 19, " Park House." This was the residence of the 
 Flower family at Albion. Some travellers describe it 
 as a finer house than the Birkbeck mansion at Wan- 
 borough. 
 
 (/) page 24, " In the ranks of heresy." This paragraph is 
 one of the few indications of the animosity existing 
 between the Flower and the Birkbeck factions in Illinois. 
 It was to the interests of all to conceal the schism. 
 
78 
 
 Of) page 27, "My dear son William." William, youngest 
 son of Richard Flower, died in Kentucky during the 
 year the family tarried there. 
 
 (h) page 29, "About your Queen." A reference to the 
 attempt of George III. to divorce Queen Charlotte. 
 
 («■) page 37, "One hundred bushels per acre." This rose- 
 coloured prediction was scarcely realized. The average 
 yield in this part of Illinois has rarely been above thirty 
 bushels to the acre. 
 
 (i) page 51, "As C. F., &c." Cobbett, Fearon, and others. 
 Cobbett's animosity has been described in the Introduc- 
 tion. Fearon was a London physician who was sent to 
 America to select a place of residence for a proposed 
 English colony. In 1818 he published "Narrative of 
 5,000 Miles through the Eastern and Western States of 
 America." It contained many strictures on the country 
 and people. 
 
 (/) page 58, " By an Englishwoman." Miss Frances Wright, 
 a native of Scotland, came to America in 18 12, and 
 embarked in various philanthropic schemes, including a 
 colony of free negroes in Tennessee. As authoress, 
 lecturer, and reformer, she lived a varied and picturesque 
 life. 
 
INDEX TO "LETTERS FROM THE ILLLINOIS," &c. 
 
 Albion : The Capital of the 
 
 English Settlement ... 27 
 Albion : Mr. Flower's Ar- 
 rival 14 
 
 Albion : Health of Popula- 
 tion 20 
 
 Albion and the Neighbour- 
 hood 38 
 
 Albion : Rioting and Fight- 
 ing of Inhabitants ... 14 
 Albion, New Settlers arrive 
 
 at 48 
 
 Albion, Water in ... 33. 3S. 4i 
 
 Albion, Weather in 9 
 
 Baltimore, Emigrants from 41 
 
 Beer in Albion 22 
 
 Eirkbeck's ( Mr. ) Children ... 14 
 Birkbeck's (Mr.) Church at 
 
 Wanborough 24 
 
 Birkbeck, Letters from Mr. 50 
 British Settlement in the 
 
 Illinois 31 
 
 Burke (Capt.) visits Mr. 
 
 Flower 16, 17, 18 
 
 Burning of the Prairies ... 11 
 Cattle, Selling, at Albion 
 
 Market II 
 
 Cincinnati, Emigrants from 41, 47 
 Distilleries, Building of ... 29 
 Education in Albion ... 23 
 Emigration of Englishmen... 44 
 Emigrants, Why, left Eng- 
 land 45 
 
 English Settlement, Untruth- 
 ful Reports regarding the 
 
 31. 32. 33. 35, 36, 37. 40, 46. 47 
 
 Farm Produce I9> 20 
 
 Flower (Mr.) builds a Flour 
 
 Mill 29 
 
 Flower (Mr. ) and the Quaker's 
 
 Description of the Illinois 44 
 Flower's (Mr.) Arrival at 
 
 Albion 14 
 
 Flower (W.) Death of ... 27 
 Flower's (Mr.), Health of, 
 
 Family 28 
 
 Flower's (Mr.) House ... 16 
 Flower (Mr.) refutes lack of 
 
 Employment 19 
 
 Flower (Mr.) on the State of 
 
 the Settlement 30 
 
 Harvest, The 26 
 
 Health of Albion 9 
 
 Idleness at the Settlement ... 28 
 Ignorance regarding Illinois 51 
 
 Indiana 33, 34 
 
 Illinois, The, Climate ... 36 
 Illinois, Prosperity of ... 27 
 Illinois, Settling of ... 26 
 
 Immorality in the Settlement 43 
 Kentucky compared with the 
 
 Illinois 33, 35 
 
 Labour in clearing 51 
 
 Labour, Want of 12, 21 
 
 Library at Albion ... 14,18,20 
 Library in the Illinois ... 42 
 
 Marriages 21, 24, 25, 26 
 
 Mortality 40 
 
 Ohio compared with the 
 
 Illinois 33, 35 
 
 Population, Increase of ... 29 
 Population in Illinois ... 26 
 Population, Mixed, in the 
 
 Settlement 42 
 
 Price of Cattle ... . 11 
 
 Price of Land 39 
 
 Produce, How to dispose of 
 
 38. 39. 40 
 
8o 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Public Worship at Albion 
 
 13. 14. IS 
 
 Religion 20, 21 
 
 Rival Settlements 46 
 
 Servants, Lack of 21 
 
 Settlers in Illinois 22, 48 
 
 Settlers' Life 52 
 
 Sheep, Breeding of 39 
 
 Society, State of, in Illinois, 22, 23 
 
 Taxation .. 22 
 
 Wabash, The 39 
 
 Wabash Swamps 20, 32 
 
 Wanborough, Mr. Birkbeck's 
 
 Church 
 
 
 24 
 
 Wanborough, Water 
 
 n 
 
 35 
 
 Water, Insufficiency 
 
 of, 
 
 in 
 
 Albion 
 
 
 ... 10, II 
 
 Weather, The, in Albion 
 
 9 
 
 West India Produce 
 
 
 22 
 
 Wheat Crops 
 
 
 ... 37 
 
 Wool 
 
 
 39 
 
 Worship, Public .. 
 
 
 - 43 
 
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