Chapter XII: Letter IV: Park House, Albion, Aug. 20, 1821 (1)

DEAR SIR,

Some of my letters, written in 1819, appeared through the medium of the press; and some of the English Reviewers, after a candid criticism, observed, that they should be glad to hear from me at some future period. Several other persons also have expressed a strong desire to have an account of our _present_ situation and future prospects. In compliance therefore, with their wishes, I most cheerfully resume my pen, with the assurance that what I have written may be relied upon as an impartial and candid statement of facts.

Various are the reports which have been circulated in the private circle, and by means of the press, concerning the state of this settlement; {31} and great has been the anxiety which many friends have expressed on our account. It is my purpose therefore, to examine the principal reports which travellers have given of us.

When any one returns to England, though he may have visited us but a few days, he obtains a credence far above those who have only hear-say reports to communicate; whether his visits were made during the winter, amidst rains or snows, or in the summer, when an unparalleled drought pervaded the whole western country. Is so transitory a view to be considered as a just description of the soil, the climate, the advantages or disadvantages of the British Settlement in the Illinois? Surely not. I am informed even of some accounts which have been written from settlements above fifty miles distant from us, where circumstances are so very different, that they bear no resemblance to the situation in which we have located. These statements have been brought forward in opposition to the indisputable facts which have been given by us, and they no more apply to this place, than a description of the lowlands of Essex and Lincolnshire can apply to the high and dry situations of Shooter's-hill or Blackheath. I therefore request the reader's {32} attention to a few observations on the various reports which travellers have circulated of the _English_ settlements at the _Illinois_.

I must first be allowed to remark on the want of competency of some very confident writers to form any judgment of our real situation; they appear to be wholly unacquainted with the history of the new settlements, and from this defect are unfitted to form a right judgement of our comparative and relative advantages. Hence the incongruous and contradictory accounts which have been given of our soil, climate, and agricultural concerns. Of the many who have visited us there are two individuals whose reports I hear gain some credence amongst my country men; I shall therefore confine my attention chiefly to the accounts they have given of us, and then examine those reports which have been raised from deep-rooted enmity and determined self-interest. These, with a brief account of our present situation and future prospects shall be the remaining subject of this letter.

One of these travellers visited us when the snows were melting, and the rains descending: he reports us to be dwelling upon the swamps of the Wabash; and our lands to be so wet that they are unfit for either cattle or sheep to {33} thrive on; and on that account unsuitable for the purposes of an English farmer.

Another passed through our country in an unparalleled drought, and reported us to be in a sad situation for want of water. There was some degree of truth in this, but a very partial degree, owing to his not stating the circumstances of the case. _Our_ town is situated very high, and till we had experienced some drought we knew not that we should want to dig deep for water, and of course could not provide for an exigency that was not known to exist. "_Dig deep_" I have said; but one hundred feet is thought, by a western American, to be a vast and dangerous enterprise; we have however with us Englishmen who have been far into the bowels of the earth in England, and have no sort of fear of there not being abundance of water in Albion; already have we experienced the benefit of these exertions; but while our dry-weather traveller was reporting our inconveniences, he should have stated it was an unusual season which pervaded the whole of the western country: that Kentucky and Ohio were worse than the Illinois; and that in Indiana, in the best watered districts, springs, rivulets, and wells were exhausted. Such an instance has never before occurred {34} during the memory of the oldest inhabitants. The same person (who I know would not willingly give a false account) has stated that so short was the water that we were obliged to send our cattle into Indiana.--That our herds were in Indiana is very true, but that they were sent there on account of want of water, is equally untrue. We have in Indiana about twelve miles distant, some high ground in the midst of low land, subject to be overflowed; on this low ground grows the most luxuriant cane, springing to an extraordinary height; the tender shoots of which, affording excellent food for cattle, we send them in the winter season, with the exception of milch cows and working oxen, to fatten. Our custom is somewhat similar to that of the farmers of the upland districts in England, who send their stock into the fens of Lincolnshire to fatten on coleseed and superabundant grass. So we dispose of our herds when the winter draws to a close. To this may be added, that the cane in the low river bottoms, growing naturally is the most luxuriant pasturage for summer feeding: and as we only pay the expense of the herdsman, the food either there or in the cane costing nothing: and the herdsman living there we leave our herds; so it was true that they {35} were in the cane, but were not sent there on account of the want of water. When this person reported that there was shortness of water amongst us, he should have added, that fine wells were no rarity in the vicinity of Albion; that he drank as fine water from our well as he ever tasted in his life; and that from the grounds of Richard and George Flower, Albion, and even a part of Wanborough were supplied.

It will therefore appear that this person, as well as many others, told the truth, but very partially, and not the whole truth, and on that account are not to be depended on. At the very time he was visiting us a person from Kentucky, assured us that we were better off than they were at Kentucky and Ohio.[63]

[63] See _Note_ A.--B. FLOWER.

Another person who visited us on purpose to examine and spy out the land of evil report, went back to Baltimore and brought his family, stating in his travels that he had not met with such good water as at this place. This same traveller has reported our soil to be poor, and our inability to raise a sufficient quantity of provisions for ourselves, and that we are still dependant on the Harmonites: in this he only shews his {36} want of knowledge of the history of new settlements and their progress. Every person knows that the second year is the most unprofitable: the first year being spent in building and fencing, little produce is raised: but then all settlers of property bring a supply with them to make up for this certain deficiency; but capital being somewhat exhausted, and an increase of population still continuing, must of necessity keep a new settlement short of self-supplies; but when to this was added an extraordinary drought, is it a matter of surprise that the crops should in some degree have been scanty; but at the time I am writing, almost every thing these travellers have said of the Illinois, is happily reversed: they are the remarks of very superficial observers; though they may be in some degree true at the moment they were written, they are no fit representations [of] the Illinois; either as to its soil, climate, or general character; could I but set these very travellers down here at this moment, how would their astonished senses give contradiction to their own accounts!

We have now what the Americans tell us is a usual specimen of the seasons of the Illinois. Frequent rains, with the heat more moderate than the last year. Agriculture is beaming forth {37} in its glory. If some of our travellers to whom I have alluded were now here, they would see some of the finest wheat crops their eyes ever beheld: they would witness the most luxuriant crops of natural grasses, now gathering for the supply of winter food; also fine plants of artificial grasses well set in our inclosures; they would acknowledge that the corn crops were as abundant, or more so than any they had before witnessed in the United States; but as they are not here I must inform you that our corn crops upon good tillage have the appearance of from sixty to eighty bushels; and in some instances the Americans, who are the best judges, say one hundred bushels _per_ acre. If this is the usual season of the Illinois, which can scarcely be doubted, as it answers the character given by those longest resident, then is the Illinois one of the finest countries under heaven for human beings to dwell in; one of the most delightful given to man for his residence.

Another traveller has stated that the Illinois is in general low and swampy, but that Mr. Flower's family, with one or two others, had placed their houses upon rising ground. This gentleman must either be naturally or willfully {38} blind. He might have found, within a circuit of five miles round Albion, numerous pleasing elevations, all so inviting that the beauty which they presented to the admiring eye of the settler, would be the only difficulty in the way of instant decision.

Then comes another objector, armed with an _un answerable_ question?--"But what will you do with your produce?" This objection only needs to be examined to be refuted. The answer is, that for the present our home market will take all we raise, and if our population increases in future as it has done during the present year, and the probability is that, it will increase much faster, no foreign market will be wanted for ten or a dozen years to come. Our infant town has taken root, and is growing luxuriantly. It has increased one hundred in the number of inhabitants since last September, and its vicinity has added seventy to their number. Our mill is at work, and can grind the produce now raised; and a distillery and brewery will shortly be at work, so that the su[r]plus of several years will not raise more than a sufficiency for the population. We have also in the settlement some small plantations of tobacco, hemp, and cotton, articles which we {39} at present import; it will therefore be a work of some time to raise a sufficiency for our own consumption.

Another article of produce is wool. Since I have been here I have turned my attention to an important object which engaged much of my attention in my native country--the breeding of sheep, and have succeeded to the utmost of my wishes and expectations. My flock consists of about four hundred sheep and lambs; and although the first winter there were unexpected difficulties to encounter, I can assure my countrymen that it has been more healthy this last year than any I ever had, or ever heard of in England; but as I intend giving an account of my success in this branch of agriculture in some future letter, it will be sufficient to say, that although I can grow in the Illinois a profitable export, at present its produce is wanted, and all that can be raised for years to come, will be wanted at home. We have therefore not only a market for our extra produce around us, but we have also a foreign market at New Orleans, and through it to the market of the world. If it be said that owing to our situation, we labour under peculiar disadvan[ta]ges, all is reduced to the price of land carriage, of about nine miles to the Wabash, {40} at sixteen _cents_ per hundred pounds. If therefore it is said that our surplus produce cannot be disposed of, it is not applicable to local circumstances alone; but to all America. Whenever the United States in general can dispose of their produce advantageously, the Illinois can do the same; and we are more contiguous to navigation than the great proportion of the interior of America.

The report which has injured us most is the want of that blessing, without which all that this world can give is but of little avail--_Health_. Reports of sickness which never existed, and of deaths which happily never took place, have been most industriously circulated; the fact is, that there has seldom been a new settlement which has suffered so little loss by death; or which has been so free from sickness. The number of deaths has been in the ratio of four in ninety-five each year, and this is a smaller number than in most places in the habitable globe, where the records of such events have been preserved. Many of its inhabitants have with myself, enjoyed far better health, than in their native country; so that I may safely conclude, after two years residence, with the information of those who were here a year and a half before me, that {41} there scarcely existed in the habitable globe, a place where the inhabitants have enjoyed so large a share of this invaluable blessing.

As to our future prospects they are truly flattering, in the probability of increasing population, now the clouds and mists which malignity has spread abroad are disappearing, before the light of truth, as the mists of morning disappear before the light and the heat of the sun: the well-grounded hopes of future harvests, arising from the rich abundance of the present; the perseverance and industry of a large portion of our settlers; the excellent materials for building, and the increasing number of fine wells of water, all present a most encouraging and delightful prospect.

Another testimony in favour of our situation is, that some of our countrymen who have settled in other places, have visited us, expressing their surprise and regret that they had been the dupes of false reports, and had stopped short of the Illinois. While others more prudently came down from Cincinnati, and even Baltimore to visit this land of evil report, minutely examined for themselves, returned to bring their families, and are contented with their lot.

Another remark was made by certain writers, {42} that although we had improved our situation as to animal enjoyments, we had sacrificed intellectual pleasures, because I stated, in one of my letters, that there were no booksellers here, and that the necessary business which could not be avoided in a new settlement, left us but little time for reading. Hasty conclusion! Many of us brought out ample libraries of our own, and we have also a standing library in our little town; which is supplied with newspapers and periodical publications. Those who emigrated to the Illinois were not altogether illiterate; a majority of them were quite of a contrary description; and as to agricultural knowledge, there are very few spots on the face of the earth, where it is so much concentrated, as at the Illinois, having farmers from almost all the different counties in England. There are likewise, several American, Dutch, and French farmers, gardeners, and vine dressers in our neighbourhood.

The reports of the wickedness and irreligion of our settlement, with a view to prevent individuals from joining us, have been industriously spread far and near. That there is a diversity of character in every part of the globe, will not be denied; that this diversity exists here is equally true; and that a portion of its inhabitants {43} is of an immoral cast, will be as readily admitted; that we have not left human nature with its infirmities and propensities behind us is equally a fact; and even if it should be admitted, that unhappily, a larger portion of the dissipated, the idle, and the dissolute are to be met with in new countries than is usually to be found in old ones, yet we have the same antidote for these mischiefs:--the _light shining in a dark place_. We have public worship and ample supplies of sermons from pious practical preachers, from the Catholic to the Socinian Creed,[64] which are read on the Sabbath. But above all we have the _incorruptible seed of the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever_; and it is with pleasure I can assure my readers, that there is an increasing congregation, and I trust, increasing religion amongst us. But if it was otherwise, surely this should be rather an argument for persons of religious zeal to join us, who have emigration in view; _to come over to Macedonia and help us_, rather than shrink from such a task. At least it is not apostolic or evangelic feeling that would draw a different conclusion.

[64] Socinianism was belief in the tenets or doctrines of Faustus Socinus, an Italian theologian of the sixteenth century, who denied the trinity and divinity of Christ, affirming that Christ was a man divinely commissioned.--ED.

When I was at Philadelphia a lady of the Society of _Friends_ addressed me most emphatically on the subject:--"Wilt thou, friend {44} Flower, take thy family to that infidel and wicked settlement in the Illinois? Thou appearest to be a christian; how wilt thou answer to thy God for endangering the precious souls of thy dear children?" Madam, answered I, my destiny appears to be in the Illinois settlement; and rather than turn from thence on the account you have mentioned, you have furnished me with a forcible argument to proceed. I trust I am as you have supposed a sincere christian, and as it is my special duty to go where reformation is so necessary, I will endeavour to perform it, and hope for the blessing of the Most High. It is for us to use the means. We know who it is to command success in our present state and future prospects.[65]

[65] See _Note_ B.--B. FLOWER.

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

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

[66] Regarding the attitude of the English government, at the time, towards emigration to America, see Preface to the present volume.--ED.

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

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

[67] See _Note C_.--B. FLOWER.

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

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

It is a trial of no mean sort to quit one's native country, and separate ourselves from those for whom we have the sincerest friendship and regard. The privations however of a first settlement are at an end: we may now indeed say "the way is smoothed for them;" and it rests with us who are now settled to be prosperous, contented, and happy. It is equally our duty and our interest, to consider well the blessings we enjoy at this place of abounding plenty. Many of you my countrymen, can look back on the frightful abyss of pauperism and starvation which you have escaped, and should lift up your hearts in gratitude to God for his mercies vouchsafed to you. Forget not who it is that has preserved your lives and prolonged {49} your days; blessed you with so much health; preserved you _from the arrow that flieth at noon day; and the pestilence that walketh in darkness_. Remember that it depends upon your virtuous endeavours, how great, how good, and how happy the settlement in the Illinois shall be. Eradicate the stain which report has cast on your moral and religious characters; and may your example be such as to influence the formation of character of this place; that your _ways may be ways of pleasantness, and all your paths be peace_. Remember that without virtue happiness cannot exist. Let future generations rise up and call you blessed; so that you may, on your departure from this life, rest satisfied that your emigration to the Illinois proved the means of your increasing welfare and happiness in time and eternity.

R. F.

{50} EXTRACT OF A LETTER, FROM MR. BIRKBECK

_Wanborough, May 7, 1821._

SIR,

REGARDING the abuse which people have indulged in about my undertakings, and my accounts of them, I find little difficulty in taking it quietly. I have spent four years in this country, and now every day furnishes fresh proofs of the correctness of my early impressions, so complete as to excite a degree of astonishment at my good fortune _in conjecturing 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 written to shew the _candid_ public that all our {51} reasonable expectations are satisfied: for the rest, who _enjoy_ our imaginary reverses, and rely more on the superficial accounts of such people as C. F. &c. who have never seen the country, or if they have seen it, are incapable of judging, it really is a waste of labour to write for _them_. Those wretched people who indulge their malevolence in personal abuse are unworthy 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 imagining a dry and rich wholesome country, where they may enter at once on fine lands prepared for cultivation, without the enormous expence of time and labour in _clearing_, which has been bestowed on every acre between this and the Atlantic. The inhabitants of the old States are profoundly and _resolutely_ ignorant of the advantages of our prairie country. Books are written in the east to prove the wretchedness of the prairies, by persons who have never approached them within five hundred miles; and English writers of the same {52} description, some with names and some without, 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 undertake the conviction of these people. The settlers here _who prosper_, that is to say, those who possess good morals and common discretion, 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 families, 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 {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 goodness 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 therefore be obliged by your forwarding it as before directed, as soon as convenient.

M. B.

END OF THE LETTERS

{55} NOTES[68]

[68] As already explained in note 55, _ante_, the writer of these Notes was Benjamin Flower, brother of the author of the Letters.--ED.

[_Note_ A, _page_ 139.]

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 curiosity 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 proper 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 taken 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} always been fewer than what are frequently encountered in a new country.

"The village of Albion, the centre of the settlement, contains at present thirty habitations, in which are found a bricklayer, a carpenter, a wheelwright, a cooper, and a blacksmith; a well supplied shop, a little library, an inn, a chapel, and a post office, where the mail regularly arrives twice a week. Being situated on a ridge, between the greater and little Wabash, it is from its elevated 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 abundantly 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 beautiful prairies of the Illinois, is the deficiency of springs and streams for mill seats. This is attended with inconvenience 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 Bonpaw, four miles distant. The stock of water in ponds for cattle, was liable to run dry in a few weeks, and the settlement apprehended some temporary inconvenience from {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 troublesome to work in a new settlement.

"The settlement at Albion, must undoubtedly possess some peculiar attractions for an English emigrant, promising him, as it does, the society of his own countrymen, an actual or ideal advantage, to which he is seldom insensible. Generally speaking, however, it may ultimately be as well for him, as for the community to which he attached himself, that he should become speedily incorporated 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 attaching themselves to their adopted country, not for mere sordid motives of interest, but also from feeling and principle, become not only _naturalized_, but also _nationalized_. 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 knowledge, 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 always 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 dispose {58} him to see things in their true light, and to open his eyes and heart to all the substantial advantages that surround 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 Englishman, 8vo._[69]

[69] The last word of the title should be _Englishwoman_. The author, Miss Frances Wright, was born in Dundee, Scotland (1795) and at an early age became interested in sociological questions. She came to America in 1812 and made one of the earliest attempts to solve the slavery problem; but her practical experiment in employing negro labor on a Tennessee plantation ended in failure. Removing to New Harmony, she conducted, with the assistance of Robert Dale Owen, a socialistic journal. From 1829 to 1836 she lectured throughout the United States, being one of the earliest women lecturers on the American platform. Returning to Europe, she married M. Darusmont (1838), and did not again appear in public life.--ED.

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_ 145.]

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 principle of fear for the interests of christianity, which an enlightened christian, by which I mean one who understands 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._" (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 attainment of knowledge the most important,--is so inexcuseable, that I know not how any man, even if his capacity be below mediocrity, and more especially any man whose capacity {59} 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 life:--he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God._" (John iii.) Passages as equally applicable 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 temporal 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 fulfillment of Divine predictions. Men who after reading the various relations of travellers of the first reputation, concerning the fall and present state of ancient states and cities, Babylon, Tyre, Egypt, &c. can reject the evidence of the truth of revelation arising from such a source, may be pronounced without breach of charity, wilfully blind. If it be said, there is no general rule without exceptions,--I allow it, but only so far as there may be exceptions to other important 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} 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 refuting 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 inquiries concerning revelation,--_an honest and good heart_, and that of course they are not sincere in their inquiries; but let all such men take warning from the numerous declarations in scripture concerning the rejectors of the gospel, as they will most assuredly find, that with respect to threatenings, as well as promises, _it is impossible for God to lie_!

Should it be asked,--How is it that so many men of talents, 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 reject christianity; various {61} 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 reason. 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._ They rejected our Saviour's doctrines because _they loved the praise of men, more than the praise of God_.--How often has _pride_ determined men to reject truths the most important? The _doctrine 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 determined 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 affectation of being free from vulgar notions, and of being wiser than the rest of mankind, must indispose them to the admission of truth, if it should happen to be with the common people!"

Although if the opinions I have expressed be true, they want not the sanction of the learned, yet knowing the influence 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 owned {62} 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, acknowledged "that he had not read it for several years!" This may, in part at least, account for the numerous misstatements 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 instruction 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 danger of the spread of that _absurdity of absurdities_--INFIDELITY, 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 systems 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 {63} the great head of the church of his peculiar prerogative, the sovereignty over conscience; and plundered countless millions of their rights and properties, thus turning the church into _a den of thieves_,--These ecclesiastical corruptions 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.[70]

[70] A modern divine gives us the following curious description of the Church of England.--"The governors of this society form a kind of aristocracy respecting the community at large, but each particular governor in his proper district is a sort of monarch, exercising his function both towards the inferior ministers and laity, according to the will of the supreme head of the church."--_The English Liturgy a Form of Sound Words; a Sermon delivered in the Parish Churches of St. Benet, Gracechurch Street, &c._ by George Gaskin, D.D.

How any man, with the New Testament before him, could possibly call such an _aristocratical_ and _monarchical_ church, one "formed according to the will of the Supreme Head," when he well knew that it was diametrically 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 may amuse 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, Rector 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!

Whether the body of the clergy, who have for so many ages been supported 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 arrogated to themselves the epithet _evangelical_; but I have since been informed 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 our debt and taxes were not _one fifth_ of what they are at present. His lordship in a speech in the House of Lords, turning to the right reverend bench, exclaimed,--"Let the bishops beware of war; for should the people be pressed for money, _they know where to look for it_!" It is a 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 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, "_An inquiry into the nature and amount of our church revenues?_" Would christianity suffer if a Bishop of Winchester, or a Bishop of Durham, had not 30 to £40,000 a year! or if our overgrown 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 _mole_-like stupidity!--B. FOWLER.

{64} 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 {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 affords an illustration of the truth of these sentiments. In the first stage of its infancy, reports, as it appears by the remonstrance and admonitions of the female _friend_ at Philadelphia to my brother, have been industriously and widely circulated, 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 warning 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 candid _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 contradiction 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 baptists. These different denominations, with any others {66} which may hereafter appear, have only to follow the example of their brethren throughout America; to meet in civil society, as friends, perfectly equal as to political, civil, and religious rights, no one allowed to have any ascendancy over the other, christianity will then triumph, and infidelity will be ashamed to shew its face.