Chapter II: Preface: To Volume X (1)

During the second decade of the nineteenth century, a colony of English emigrants was established in southeastern Illinois, at a place in Edwards County known afterwards as English Prairie. Interesting in itself as being a typical experiment in transplantation and in assimilation to frontier conditions, this settlement has attracted unusual attention because of the war of pamphlets it evoked, and the political prominence of some of its detractors.

Agricultural emigration was, at that period, a subject of much importance in Great Britain, and the English Prairie settlement became the nucleus around which the contention was waged. At the close of the Napoleonic wars, England's rural interests were much depressed. Hopes had been entertained that, with the return of peace, conditions for the farmer would improve, but these expectations proved fallacious, prices continually lowered, rents and wages increased, distress was widespread, and agrarian discontent alarming. Added to this, the political situation was grave. The domination of the Tory party, the reactionary tendency of foreign affairs, and the general national impoverishment led to the growth of a strong Radical party, which demanded manhood suffrage, abolition of the Corn Laws, and abrogation of the time-honored privileges of the upper classes. Mobs and disturbances were frequent, and there was developed a strong sentiment in favor of emigration to the United States, where political freedom, combined with the prospects of cheap lands, offered an enticing prospect to the harassed rural population of England.

The emigrants were not merely of the laboring classes, but frequently were men of substance and property, who sold good estates to reinvest in uncultivated lands in America, and to pave the way for the removal thither of large colonies of Englishmen. Among the promoters of such enterprises were Morris Birkbeck and George Flower, both of them owners of considerable estates not far from London. The former was of Quaker origin, and his growing dissatisfaction with affairs in England made him open to the suggestion of emigration. Meeting in London the well-known American diplomat, Edward Coles, returning from a mission to Russia, the latter's account of the wide stretches of virgin prairie lands in the then Territory of Illinois fired his imagination, and determined him to transplant himself and family thither, purchase a considerable area, and found an English colony for the relief of the island's distressed agriculturists. His friend Flower joined him in this resolution, and in the summer of 1816, went out in advance to the United States, where Birkbeck and his family followed him the next spring.

Nothing daunted by the difficulties and hardships of frontier conditions, Birkbeck and Flower bought a large tract of unbroken prairie in southeastern Illinois, began the building of log huts and the importation of furniture, and established themselves and their delicately-reared families on this border-land of civilization. Their optimistic, and even enthusiastic, reports, soon led to the accession of a considerable number of their English friends and neighbors. Some of the newcomers were disappointed in the situation. After the long, tedious ocean voyage, and the still longer and far more tiresome westward journey by land, they would fain have returned to the comparative ease and comfort of their English homes. Detractors arose, who took advantage of the sometimes ill-considered letters of the discontents, and utilized these to decry all English emigration to America. Others urged the intending English emigrant to go no farther than the Eastern part of the United States, where civilized conditions already existed. Prominent in the ranks of the latter was William Cobbett, the famous Radical leader and pamphleteer. Self-exiled from England to avoid prosecutions for libel and consequent fines, Cobbett was employed in rutabaga culture on Long Island. It was commonly reported by his enemies that he had been subsidized by land speculators in the vicinity of New York and Philadelphia to attract and retain in that neighborhood the well-to-do English emigrant who was proposing to make investment in American lands. Be that as it may, Cobbett began an attack upon the Birkbeck-Flower Illinois settlement, which at once brought it into notoriety. Wielding one of the most popular and trenchant pens of his day, the political oracle of thousands of Englishmen, he certainly was a formidable antagonist.

Birkbeck had recently (1817) published _Notes on a Journey in America_, and (1818) _Letters from Illinois_--honest, straightforward books, if somewhat optimistic in tone. Cobbett replied with _A Year's Residence in the United States of America_ (New York, 1818, and many subsequent editions), in which he made a savage attack on English Prairie, using as a weapon the journal of his follower, Thomas Hulme, lately returned from a visit to Illinois. Birkbeck and Richard Flower (father of George, the first founder), answered the strictures of Cobbett; and various other emigrants added their testimony. From this mass of controversial literature, we have chosen for inclusion in volume x of our series those publications which appear to us best to exemplify Western life and conditions, and contain the most varied descriptions of an English immigrant's impressions and experiences.

Thomas Hulme was an honest English farmer, with strong Radical tendencies, and in earnest sympathy with democratic institutions as he found them in America. The Introduction to his _Journal of a Tour in the Western Countries of America_--which we herein extract and reprint from Part III of his friend Cobbett's _A Year's Residence_--contains some autobiographical material. In explaining his object in coming to America, he declares: "I saw an absence of human misery. I saw a government taking away a very small portion of men's earnings. I saw ease and happiness and a fearless utterance of thought everywhere prevail." The only question with him was, in what region of America would it be best for him to settle. His visit to the "Western Countries" was undertaken with a view to examining agricultural and social conditions there. Travelling over the usual Pennsylvania road to Pittsburg, he voyaged down the Ohio, and thence went through Illinois. His notes along the way contain shrewd but useful observations on the route, the people he encountered, prices, and wages. Hulme has nothing adverse to say of the West. Cobbett, who first published this journal, uses it as a text; but in making it serve this purpose of detraction, he obviously wrests Hulme's words from their meaning. We have thought it desirable to reprint Hulme's _Journal_ apart from the mass of diatribe with which Cobbett originally enveloped it.

Richard Flower, whose _Letters from Lexington and the Illinois_ (London, 1819), and _Letters from the Illinois_ (London, 1822), herein reprinted, were first published in reply to Cobbett, was a man of culture and refinement, owner of a considerable estate in Hertford. In 1818, at the age of sixty-three, he sold his property and joined his eldest son, George, in promoting the colony to Illinois. The first winter in America was passed at Lexington, Kentucky, awaiting the preparation of a residence at Albion, the new Illinois town founded by his son in Edwards County. After his removal thither (July, 1819) he passed the rest of his life at this settlement, holding religious services for the infant colony, and in many ways serving as a medium of enlightenment and refinement in this distant region. He died in 1829. His _Letters_ are eminently sane and sensible. His comments upon the American character are appreciative and kindly, his chief strictures being upon the subject of slavery.

The major portion of our volume is devoted to a reprint of John Woods's _Two Years' Residence ... in the Illinois Country_ (London, 1822), detailing with precision the experiences of a well-to-do English farmer seeking a home in the new world. Woods was a matter-of-fact person, whose book has no pretensions to literary style; but it does present faithfully the average Englishman's impressions of persons and things in the United States of 1819-21. Landing in Baltimore, Woods bought conveyances that transported his family and goods over the new National Road to Wheeling, whence a flat-boat furnished their means of carriage down the Ohio River to Shawneetown, then the principal port of Illinois. From this point the immigrants walked overland to English Prairie, sending the baggage around by way of the Wabash and its tributaries. Arrived at the settlement, Woods bought of American pioneers lands that had already received some cultivation, and settled contentedly to build up a new farm in these rich regions. His experiences were typical; and while he expressly disclaims attempting to influence others intending to remove from England, yet his favorable pictures could not have failed of their effect.

His comments upon American life are shrewd and kindly. On the whole, he says, "we have received as good treatment as we should have in a tour through England; but the manners of Americans are more rough than those of Englishmen." Gifted with penetration that permitted him to discover the good qualities beneath the rude exterior, he makes an interesting portrayal of the backwoodsman, giving us an amusing although not a sarcastic record of an imaginary conversation imbued with some of the peculiar Americanisms of his time. More interesting, perhaps, from the point of view of our series, is the account he gives of the towns on the Ohio, and the progress of settlement, compared with those of the travellers of 1803-09. He finds older towns falling into decay, new ones springing into existence, and over it all the trail of the speculator. The extent and cheapness of public lands is a subject for comment, and the land laws and methods of survey are minutely detailed.

In view of the strictures of later English writers, their flippant comments and inappreciative criticisms, the plain, straightforward descriptions of these farmers of English Prairie give a just and wholesome account of the American West at the beginning of the third decade of the nineteenth century. One further service the English settlers performed for Illinois, and civilization. When a new constitution for the state was agitated--one that should admit slavery to its borders--it was the sturdy opposition of the English leaders that turned the scale in favor of freedom. In this struggle (1824-25), Morris Birkbeck once more met his friend Edward Coles, now become governor of Illinois. Although a Virginian, Coles was opposed to the extension of slavery, and stood shoulder to shoulder with Birkbeck in this great fight. Largely to English devotion to free institutions, it was due that the attempt to foist the "peculiar institution" upon the new West failed, and the state which was to shelter and train Abraham Lincoln was made a free land.

In the preparation of notes to this volume, the Editor has had the assistance of Louise Phelps Kellogg, Ph.D., Edith Kathryn Lyle, Ph.D., and Mr. Archer Butler Hulbert.

R. G. T.

MADISON, WIS., November, 1904.

HULME'S JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN THE WESTERN COUNTRIES OF AMERICA--SEPTEMBER 30, 1818-AUGUST 8, 1819.

Extracted and reprinted from William Cobbett's _A Year's Residence in the United States of America_: London, 1828.

{259} DEDICATION

TO TIMOTHY BROWN, ESQ.

OF PECKHAM LODGE, SURREY

_North Hempstead, Long Island,
10th Dec. 1818._

MY DEAR SIR,

THE little volume here presented to the public, consists, as you will perceive, for the greater and most valuable part, of travelling notes made by our friend HULME, whom I had the honour to introduce to you in 1816, and with whom you were so much pleased.

His activity, which nothing can benumb; his zeal against the twin monster, tyranny and priestcraft, which nothing can cool; and his desire to assist in providing a place of retreat for the oppressed, which nothing but the success in the accomplishment can satisfy; these have induced him to employ almost the whole of his time here in various ways all tending to the same point.

The Boroughmongers have agents and spies all over the inhabited globe. Here they cannot _sell blood_: they can only collect information and calumniate the people of both countries. These vermin our friend _firks out_ (as the Hampshire people call it); and they hate him as rats hate a terrier.

Amongst his other labours, he has performed a very laborious journey to the _Western Countries_, and has been as far as the Colony {260} of our friend BIRKBECK. This journey has produced a JOURNAL; and this Journal, along with the rest of the volume, I dedicate to you in testimony of my constant remembrance of the many, many happy hours I have spent with you, and of the numerous acts of kindness which I have received at your hands. You were one of those, who _sought acquaintance with me_, when I was shut up in a felon's jail for _two years_ for having expressed my indignation at seeing Englishmen flogged, in the heart of England, under a guard of German bayonets and sabres, and when I had on my head _a thousand pounds fine and seven years' recognizances_. You, at the end of the two years, took me from the prison, in your carriage, home to your house. You and our kind friend, WALKER, are _even yet_, held in bonds for my _good behaviour_, the seven years not being expired. All these things are written in the very core of my heart; and when I act as if I had forgotten any one of them, may no name on earth be so much detested and despised as that of

Your faithful friend,
And most obedient servant,
WM. COBBETT

{261} PREFACE

IN giving an account of the United States of America, it would not have been proper to omit saying something of the _Western Countries_, the Newest of the New Worlds, to which so many thousands and hundreds of thousands are flocking, and towards which the writings of Mr. Birkbeck have, of late, drawn the pointed attention of all those Englishmen, who, having something left to be robbed of, and wishing to preserve it, are looking towards America as a place of refuge from the Boroughmongers and the Holy Alliance, which latter, to make the compact complete, seems to want nothing but the accession of His Satanic Majesty.

_I could not go_ to the Western Countries; and the accounts of others were seldom to be relied on; because, scarcely any man goes thither without some degree of partiality, or comes back without being tainted with some little matter, at least, of self-interest. Yet, it was desirable to make an attempt, at least, towards settling the question: "Whether the Atlantic, or the Western, Countries were the best for _English Farmers_ to settle in." Therefore, when Mr. HULME proposed to make a Western Tour, I was very {262} much pleased, seeing that, of all the men I knew, he was the most likely to bring us back an _impartial_ account of what he should see. His great knowledge of farming as well as of manufacturing affairs; his capacity of estimating local advantages and disadvantages; the natural turn of his mind for discovering the means of applying to the use of man all that is furnished by the earth, the air, and water; the patience and perseverance with which he pursues all his inquiries; the urbanity of his manners, which opens to him all the sources of information; his inflexible adherence to _truth_: all these marked him out as the man on whom the public might safely rely.

I, therefore, give his Journal, made during his tour. He offers no _opinion_ as to the _question_ above stated. That _I shall_ do; and when the reader has gone through the Journal he will find my opinions as to that question, which opinions I have stated in a Letter addressed to Mr. BIRKBECK.

The American reader will perceive, that this Letter is intended principally for the perusal of _Englishmen_; and, therefore, he must not be surprised if he finds a little bickering in a group so much of a _family_ cast.

WM. COBBETT

_North Hempstead, 10th December, 1818._

{263} INTRODUCTION TO THE JOURNAL

_Philadelphia, 30th Sept. 1818._

IT seems necessary, by way of Introduction to the following _Journal_, to say some little matter respecting the author of it, and also respecting his motives for wishing it to be published.

As to the first, I am an Englishman by birth and parentage; and am of the county of Lancaster. I was bred and brought up at farming work, and became an apprentice to the business of _Bleacher_, at the age of 14 years. My own industry made me a master-bleacher, in which state I lived many years at Great Lever, near Bolton, where I employed about 140 men, women, and children, and had generally about 40 apprentices. By this business, pursued with incessant application, I had acquired, several years ago, property to an amount sufficient to satisfy any man of moderate desires.

But, along with my money my children had come and had gone on increasing to the number of _nine_. New _duties_ now arose, and demanded my best attention. It was not sufficient that I was likely to have a decent fortune for each child. I was bound to provide, if possible, against my children being stripped of what I had earned for them. I, therefore, looked seriously at the situation of England; and, I saw, that the incomes of my children were all _pawned_ (as my friend Cobbett[1] truly calls it) to pay the Debts of the Borough, or seat, owners. I saw that, of whatever I might be able to {264} 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 to shoot at us, Parsons to persecute us, and Fundholders, who had lent their money to be applied to purposes of enslaving us. This view of the matter was sufficient to induce the father of nine children to think of the means of rescuing them from the consequences, which common sense taught him to apprehend. But, there were other considerations, which operated with me in producing my emigration to America.

[1] For a brief biography of William Cobbett, see Flint's _Letters_, volume ix of our series, note 4.--ED.

In the year 1811 and 1812 the part of the country, in which I lived, was placed under a _new sort of law_; or, in other words, it was placed out of the protection of the old law of the land.[2] Men were seized, dragged to prison, treated like convicts, many transported and put to death, without having committed any thing, which the law of the land deems a _crime_. It was then that the infamous _Spy-System_ was again set to work in Lancashire, in which horrid system FLETCHER of Bolton was one of the principal actors, or, rather, organizers and promoters. At this time I endeavoured to detect the machinations of these dealers in human blood; and, I narrowly escaped being sacrificed myself on the testimony of two men, who had their pardon offered them on condition of their _swearing against me_. The men refused, and were transported, leaving wives and children to starve.

[2] In 1811 the growing hostility of those employed in the manufacture of stockings to the introduction of knitting frames, culminated in the Luddite Riots, and in Nottingham over six hundred stocking frames were broken. The riot spread rapidly among the artisans in the cotton and woolen industries in Lancashire and Yorkshire, mills were burned, machinery of all kinds destroyed, and it became necessary to call out seven regiments before quiet was restored. The government became alarmed, especially as the mobs had stormed the militia depots and secured arms for themselves, and several repressive measures were hurried through Parliament. The first, passed March 5, 1812, made frame-breaking a capital offense; the second, the Nottingham Watch and Ward Bill, passed the same month, enabled the lord-lieutenant or sheriff to establish watch and ward if further riots occurred; and the third, the Preservation of Public Peace Act, passed July 27, 1812, empowered any magistrate in the disturbed district to search for secreted arms, and to call upon the people to give up their weapons. See _Parliamentary Debates_, xxi, pp. 859, 1166; xxiii, pp. 1099, 1251.--ED.

Upon this occasion, my friend DOCTOR TAYLOR, most humanely, and with his usual zeal and talent, laboured to counteract the works of FLETCHER and his associates. The DOCTOR published a pamphlet on the subject, in 1812, which every Englishman should read. I, as far as I was able, co-operated with him. We went to London, laid the real facts before several members of the two houses of Parliament; and, in some degree, checked the progress of the dealers in blood. I had an interview with Lord Holland, and told him, that, if he would pledge himself to cause the _secret-service money_ to be kept in London, I would pledge myself for the keeping of the peace in Lancashire. In {265} short, it was necessary, in order to support the tyranny of the seat-sellers, that _terror_ should prevail in the populous districts. _Blood_ was wanted to flow; and _money_ was given to spies to tempt men into what the new law had made crimes.

From this time I resolved _not to leave my children in such a state of things_, unless I should be taken off very suddenly. I saw no hope of obtaining _a Reform of the Parliament_, without which it was clear to me, that the people of England must continue to work solely for the benefit of the great insolent families, whom I hated for their injustice and rapacity, and despised for their meanness and ignorance. I saw, in them, a mass of debauched and worthless beings, having at their command an army to compel the people to surrender to them the fruits of their industry; and in addition, a body existing under the garb of _religion_, almost as despicable in point of character, and still more malignant.

I could not have died in peace, leaving my children the slaves of such a set of beings; and I could not live in peace, knowing, that at any hour, I might die and so leave my family. Therefore I resolved, like the Lark in the fable, to _remove_ my brood, which was still more numerous than that of the Lark. While the war was going on between England and America, I could not come to this country. Besides, I had great affairs to arrange. In 1816, having made my preparations, I set off, _not with my family_; for that I did not think a prudent step. It was necessary for me to _see_ what America really was. I therefore, came for that purpose.

I was well pleased with America, over a considerable part of which I travelled. I saw an absence of human misery. I saw a government taking away a very small portion of men's earnings. I saw ease and happiness and a fearless utterance of thought every where prevail. I saw laws like those of the _old laws_ of England, every where obeyed with cheerfulness and held in veneration. I heard of no mobs, no riots, no spies, no transportings, no hangings. I saw those very _Irish_, to keep whom in order, such murderous laws exist in {266} Ireland, here good, peaceable, industrious citizens. I saw no placemen and pensioners, riding the people under foot. I saw no greedy Priesthood, fattening on the fruits of labour in which they had never participated, and which fruits they seized in despite of the people. I saw a _Debt_, indeed, but then, it was so insignificant a thing; and, besides, it had been contracted for _the people's use_, and not for that of a set of tyrants, who had used the money to _the injury of the people_. In short, I saw a state of things, precisely the reverse of that in England, and very nearly what it would be in England, if the Parliament were reformed.

Therefore, in the Autumn of 1816, I returned to England fully intending to return the next spring with my family and whatever I possessed of the fruits of my labours, and to make America my country and the country of that family. Upon my return to England, however, I found a great stir about _Reform_;[3] and having, in their full force, all those feelings, which make our native country dear to us, I said, at once, "My desire is, not to change country or countrymen, but to change slavery for freedom: give me freedom here, and here I'll remain." These are nearly the very words that I uttered to Mr. COBBETT, when first introduced to him, in December 1816, by that excellent man, MAJOR CARTWRIGHT.[4] Nor was I unwilling to _labour myself_ in the cause of Reform. I was one of those very _Delegates_, of whom the Borough-tyrants said so many falsehoods, and whom SIR FRANCIS BURDETT so shamefully abandoned. In the meeting of Delegates, I thought we went too far in reposing confidence in him: I spoke my opinion as to this point: and, in a very few days, I had the full proof of the correctness of my opinion. I was present when MAJOR CARTWRIGHT opened a letter from SIR FRANCIS, which had come from _Leicestershire_. I thought the kind-hearted old Major would have dropped upon the floor! I shall never forget his looks as he read that letter. If the paultry Burdett had a hundred lives, the taking of them all away would not atone for the pain he that day gave to Major Cartwright, not to mention the pain {267} given to others, and the injury done to the cause. For my part, I was not much disappointed. I had no opinion of Sir Francis Burdett's being sound. He seemed to me too much attached to his _own importance_ to do the people any real service. He is an _aristocrat_; and that is enough for me. It is folly to suppose, that such a man will _ever_ be a real friend of the rights of the people. I wish he were _here_ a little while. He would soon find his proper level; and that would not, I think, be very high. Mr. HUNT[5] was very much against our confiding in BURDETT; and he was perfectly right. I most sincerely hope, that my countrymen will finally destroy the tyrants who oppress them; but, I am very sure, that, before they succeed in it, they must cure themselves of the folly of depending for assistance on the _nobles_ or the _half-nobles_.

[3] The year 1816 was a time of intense suffering among the working classes in England. Corn reached famine prices, and at the same time the return of peace, by reducing the foreign demand for manufactured articles, created an over supply of labor. Riots again occurred, but the general discontent found a new outlet in the demand for parliamentary reform. In this, Cobbett was the leader, and under his direction Hampden Clubs were established all over the country. Sir Francis Burdett, president of the London Hampden Club, was first chosen to further the cause in the House of Commons. A graduate of Oxford, he entered Parliament in 1796, when twenty-six years of age, and served almost continuously until his death, in 1844. He was throughout an earnest advocate of parliamentary reform, of freedom of speech in the House, and of other liberal measures. Cobbett, Hulme, and the Radicals disliked him because his methods were too moderate for them. The incident mentioned by Hulme refers to a large meeting held at London at the end of the year (1816), to which all the Hampden Clubs sent delegates; and to avoid which Sir Francis, who had a horror of popular demonstrations, fled to Leicestershire, and sent a letter stating his inability to be present. See Cobbett, _Weekly Political Register_, September 13, 1817.--ED.

[4] Next to Cobbett, the most important leader of the reform movement during this period was Major John Cartwright. Born in Nottinghamshire (1740), he had entered the navy and was being promoted rapidly when he refused to join his commander, Lord Howe, against the American colonies, thus putting an end to his professional advancement. Turning his attention to politics, he began (1780) the agitation which earned for him the title of Father of Reform. He was a frequent contributor to Cobbett's _Register_, in the cause of parliamentary and other reforms.--ED.

[5] Henry Hunt, familiarly known as Orator Hunt (1773-1835), belonged to a Wiltshire family. He was engaged in farming near Bristol when, during a visit to London (1807), he became interested in the Radical cause, and immediately set to work to organize the Radical party in Bristol and the surrounding country. An eloquent speaker, and of magnetic personality, he exerted his influence by addressing popular meetings, undergoing two years' imprisonment for a speech delivered at a Manchester meeting in 1819. After several unsuccessful attempts to enter Parliament, he was elected in 1831, but held his seat only two years, when, becoming estranged from the other Radical leaders, he retired from politics.--ED.

After witnessing this conduct in Burdett, I set off home, and thought no more about effecting a Reform. The _Acts_ that soon followed were, by me, looked upon as _matters of course_.[6] The tyranny could go on no longer _under disguise_. It was compelled to shew its naked face; but, it is now, in reality, not worse than it was before. It now does no more than rob the people, and that it did before. It kills more now out-right; but, men may as well be shot, or stabbed or hanged, as starved to death.

[6] December 2, 1816, a large mob collected at Spa-fields, London, and after addresses by certain Radicals and Spencean Philanthropists (members of a society which aimed to abolish private property), it proceeded to take possession of the Tower, but disbanded before much damage had been done. Feeling confident that sedition was being plotted in all the newly-organized clubs throughout England, Parliament (March 3, 1817) authorized the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. March 25, the Seditious Meetings Act was passed, prescribing the death penalty for refusal to discontinue any meeting when required to do so by a magistrate (see _Parliamentary Debates_, XXXV, pp. 795, 826, 1083, 1227). The reformers regarded these laws as subversive of all liberty; Cobbett headed the articles in his _Register_, "A History of the Last Hundred Days of English Freedom, ending with the passing of the Absolute-Power-of-Imprisonment Act, in the Month of March, 1817."--ED.

During the Spring and the early part of the Summer, of 1817, I made preparations for the departure of myself and family, and when all was ready, I bid an everlasting adieu to Boroughmongers, Sinecure placemen and placewomen, pensioned Lords and Ladies, Standing Armies in time of peace, and (rejoice, oh! my children!) to a hireling, tithe-devouring Priesthood. We arrived safe and all in good health, and which health has never been impaired by the climate. We are in a state of ease, safety, plenty; and how can we help being as happy as people can be? The more I see of my adopted country, the more gratitude do I feel towards it for affording me and my numerous offspring protection from the tyrants of my native country. There I should have been in constant anxiety about my family. Here I am in none at all. Here I {268} am in fear of no _spies_, no _false witnesses_, no _blood-money men_. Here no fines, irons, or gallowses await me, let me _think_ or say what I will about the government. Here I have to pay no people to be ready to shoot at me, or run me through the body, or chop me down. Here no vile Priest can rob me and mock me in the same breath.

In the year 1816 my travelling in America was confined to the Atlantic States. I there saw enough to determine the question of emigration or no emigration. But, a spot _to settle on myself_ was another matter; for, though I do not know, that I shall meddle with any sort of trade, or occupation, in the view of getting money, I ought to look about me, and to consider soberly as to a spot to _settle on_ with so large a family. It was right, therefore, for me to see the _Western Countries_. I have done this; and the particulars, which I thought worthy my notice, I noted down in a _Journal_. This Journal I now submit to the public. My chief motive in the publication is to endeavour to convey useful information, and especially to those persons, who may be disposed to follow my example, and to withdraw their families and fortunes from beneath the hoofs of the tyrants of England.

I have not the vanity to suppose myself _eminently_ qualified for any thing beyond my own profession; but I have been an attentive observer; I have raised a considerable fortune by my own industry and economy; I have, all my life long, studied the matters connected with agriculture, trade, and manufactures. I had a desire to acquire an accurate knowledge of the Western countries, and what I did acquire I have endeavoured to communicate to others. It was not my object to give flowery descriptions. I leave that to poets and painters. Neither have I attempted any _general_ estimate of the means or manner of living, or getting money, in the West. But, I have contented myself with merely noting down the facts that struck me; and from those facts the reader must draw his conclusions.

In one respect I am a proper person to give an account of the Western Countries. I have _no lands there_: I have no _interest_ there: I have nothing to warp {269} my judgment in favour of those countries: and yet, I have as little in the Atlantic States to warp my judgment in their favour. I am perfectly impartial in my feelings, and am, therefore, likely to be impartial in my words. My good wishes extend to the utmost boundary of my adopted country. Every particular part of it is as dear to me as every other particular part.

I have recommended most strenuously the encouraging and promoting of _Domestic Manufacture_; not because I mean to be engaged in any such concern myself; for it is by no means likely that I ever shall; but, because I think that such encouragement and promotion would be greatly beneficial to America, and because it would provide a happy Asylum for my native, oppressed, and distressed countrymen, who have been employed all the days of their lives in manufactures in England, where the principal part of the immense profits of their labour is consumed by the Borough tyrants and their friends, and expended for the vile purpose of perpetuating a system of plunder and despotism at home, and all over the world.

Before I conclude this Introduction, I must observe, that I see with great pain, and with some degree of shame, the behaviour of some persons from England, who, appear to think that they give proof of their _high breeding_ by repaying civility, kindness, and hospitality, with _reproach and insolence_. However, these persons are _despised_. They produce very little impression here; and, though the accounts they send to England, may be believed by some, they will have little effect on persons of sense and virtue. _Truth_ will make its way; and it is, thank God, now making its way with great rapidity.

I could mention numerous instances of Englishmen, coming to this country with hardly a dollar in their pocket, and arriving at a state of ease and plenty and even riches in a few years; and I explicitly declare, that I have never known or heard of, an instance of one common labourer who, with common industry and economy, did not greatly better his lot. Indeed, how can it otherwise be, when the average wages of {270} agricultural labour is _double_ what it is in England, and when the average price of food is not more than half what it is in that country? These two facts, undeniable as they are, are quite sufficient to satisfy any man of sound mind.

As to the _manners_ of the people, they are precisely to my taste; unostentatious and simple. Good sense I find every where, and never affectation. Kindness, hospitality and never-failing civility. I have travelled more than four thousand miles about this country; and I have never met with one single insolent or rude native American.

I trouble myself very little about the party politics of the country. These contests are the natural offspring of freedom; and they tend to perpetuate that which produces them. I look at the people as a _whole_; and I love them and feel grateful to them for having given the world a practical proof, that peace, social order, and general happiness can be secured, and best secured, without Monarchs, Dukes, Counts, Baronets, and Knights. I have no unfriendly feeling towards any Religious Society. I wish well to every member of every such society; but, I love the Quakers, and feel grateful towards them, for having proved to the world, that all the virtues, public as well as private, flourish most and bring forth the fairest fruits when unincumbered with those noxious weeds, hireling priests.

THOMAS HULME

{271} THE JOURNAL

PITTSBURGH, _June 3_.--Arrived here with a friend as travelling companion, by the mail stage from Philadelphia, after a journey of six days; having set out on the 28th May.[7] We were much pleased with the face of the country, the greatest part of which was new to me. The route, as far as Lancaster, lay through a rich and fertile country, well cultivated by good, settled proprietors; the road excellent: smooth as the smoothest in England, and hard as those made by the cruel _corvèes_ in France. The country finer, but the road not always so good, all the way from Lancaster, by Little York, to Chambersburgh; after which it changes for mountains and poverty, except in timber. Chambersburgh is situated on the North West side of that fine valley which lies between the South and North Mountains, and which extends from beyond the North East boundary of Pennsylvania to nearly the South West extremity of North Carolina, and which has limestone for its bottom and rich and fertile soil, and beauty upon the face of it, from one end to the other. The ridges of mountains called the Allegany, and forming the highest land in north America between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, begin here and extend across our route nearly 100 miles, or rather, _three days_, for it was no less than half the journey to travel over them; they rise one above the other as we proceed Westward, till we reach the Allegany, the last and most lofty of all, from which we have a view to the West farther than the eye can carry. I can say nothing in commendation of the road over these mountains, but I must admire the drivers, and their excellent horses. The road is every thing that is bad, but the skill of the drivers, and the well constructed vehicles, and the capital old English horses, overcome {272} every thing. We were rather singularly fortunate in not breaking down or upsetting; I certainly should not have been surprized if the whole thing, horses and all, had gone off the road and been dashed to pieces. A new road is making, however, and when that is completed, the journey will be shorter in point of time, just one half.[8] A fine even country we get into immediately on descending the Allegany, with very little appearance of unevenness or of barrenness all the way to Pittsburgh; the evidence of good land in the crops, and the country beautified by a various mixture of woods and fields.

[7] For a description of this route through western Pennsylvania at the beginning of the century, see F. A. Michaux's _Travels_, volume iii of our series, pp. 132-156.--ED.

[8] For the Cumberland Road, see Harris's _Journal_, volume iii of our series, note 45.--ED.

Very good accommodations for travellers the whole of the way. The stage stops to breakfast and to dine, and sleeps where it sups. They literally feasted us every where, at every meal, with venison and good meat of all sorts: every thing in profusion. In one point, however, I must make an exception, with regard to some houses: at night I was surprized, in taverns so well kept in other respects, to find bugs in the beds! I am sorry to say I observed (or, rather, _felt_,) this too often. Always good eating and drinking, but not always good sleeping.

_June 4th & 5th._--Took a view of Pittsburgh. It is situated between the mouths of the river Allegany and Monongahela, at the point where they meet and begin the Ohio, and is laid out in a triangular form so that two sides of it lie contiguous to the water. Called upon Mr. Bakewell, to whom we were introduced by letter, and who very obligingly satisfied our curiosity to see every thing of importance. After showing us through his extensive and well conducted glass works,[9] he rowed us across the Monongahela to see the mines from which the fine coals we had seen burning were brought. These coals are taken out from the side of a steep hill, very near to the river, and brought from thence and laid down in any part of the town for 7 cents the bushel, weighing, perhaps, 80 lb. Better coals I never saw. A bridge is now building over the river, by which they will most probably be brought still cheaper.

[9] The glassworks of Bakewell, Pears and Company were established in 1808. For the beginning of this industry in Pittsburg, see Cuming's _Tour_, volume iv of our series, note 28.--ED.

This place surpasses even my expectations, both in natural resources and in extent of manufactures. {273} Here are the materials for every species of manufacture, nearly, and of excellent quality and in profusion; and these means have been taken advantage of by skilful and industrious artizans and mechanics from all parts of the world. There is scarcely a denomination of manufacture or manual profession that is not carried on to a great extent, and, as far as I have been able to examine, in the best manner. The manufacture of iron in all the different branches, and the mills of all sorts, which I examined with the most attention, are admirable.

Price of flour, from 4 to 5 dollars a barrel; butter 14 cents per lb.; other provisions in proportion and mechanic's and good labourer's wages 1 dollar, and shipbuilder's 1 dollar and a half, a day.

_June 6th._--Leave Pittsburgh, and set out in a thing called an ark, which we buy for the purpose, down the Ohio.[10] We have, besides, a small skiff, to tow the ark and go ashore occasionally. This ark, which would stow away eight persons, close packed, is a thing by no means pleasant to travel in, especially at night. It is strong at bottom, but may be compared to an orange-box, bowed over at top, and so badly made as to admit a boy's hand to steal the oranges: it is proof against the river, but not against the rain.

[10] See Harris's _Journal_, volume iii of our series, p. 335, for a description of an Ohio River "ark."--ED.

Just on going to push off the wharf, an English officer stepped on board of us, with all the curiosity imaginable. I at once took him for a spy hired to way-lay travellers. He began a talk about the Western Countries, anxiously assuring us that we need not hope to meet with such a thing as a respectable person, travel where we would. I told him I hoped in God I should see no spy or informer, whether in plain clothes or regimentals, and that of one thing I was certain, at any rate: that I should find no Sinecure placeman or pensioner in the Western country.

The Ohio, at its commencement, is about 600 yards broad, and continues running with nearly parallel sides, taking two or three different directions in its course, for about 200 miles. There is a curious contrast between the waters which form this river: that of the Allegany is clear and transparent, that of the Monongahela {274} thick and muddy, and it is not for a considerable distance that they entirely mingle. The sides of the river are beautiful; there are always rich bottom lands upon the banks, which are steep and pretty high, varying in width from a few yards to a mile, and skirted with steep hills varying also in height, overhanging with fine timber.

_June 7th._--Floating down the Ohio, at the rate of four miles an hour. Lightning, thunder, rain and hail pelting in upon us. The hail-stones as large as English hazelnuts. Stop at Steubenville all night. A nice place; has more stores than taverns, which is a good sign.[11]

[11] For the towns along the Ohio mentioned by Hulme, see A. Michaux's _Travels_, volume iii of our series: Wheeling, note 15; Marietta, note 16. Cuming's _Tour_, volume iv of our series: Steubenville, note 67; Cincinnati, note 166; Shippingport, note 171. Bradbury's _Travels_, volume v of our series; Vevay, note 164. Croghan's _Journals_, volume i of our series: Louisville, note 106.--ED.

_June 8th._--Came to Wheeling at about 12 o'clock. It is a handsome place, and of considerable note. Stopped about an hour. Found flour to be about 4 to 5 dollars a barrel; fresh beef 4 to 6 cents per lb., and other things (the produce of the country) about the same proportion. Labourers' wages, 1 dollar a day. Fine coals here, and at Steubenville.

_June 9th._--Two fine young men join us, one a carpenter and the other a saddler, from Washington, in a skiff that they had bought at Pittsburgh, and in which they are taking a journey of about 700 miles down the river. We allow them to tie their skiff to our ark, for which they very cheerfully assist us. Much diverted to see the nimbleness with which they go on shore sometimes with their rifles to shoot pigeons and squirrels. The whole expenses of these two young men in floating the 700 miles, will be but 7 dollars each, including skiff and every thing else.

This day pass Marietta, a good looking town at the mouth of the Muskingham River. It is, however, like many other towns on the Ohio, built on too low ground, and is subject to inundations. Here I observe a contrivance of great ingenuity. There is a strong rope put across the mouth of the river, opposite the town, fastened to trees or large posts on each side; upon this rope runs a pulley or block, to which is attached a rope, and to the rope a ferry-boat, which, by moving the helm first one way and then the other, is propelled by the force of the water across the river backwards or forwards.

{275} _June 10th._--Pass several fine coal mines, which like those at Pittsburgh, Steubenville, Wheeling and other places, are not above 50 yards from the river and are upwards of 10 yards above high water. The river now becomes more winding than we have hitherto found it. It is sometimes so serpentine that it appears before and behind like a continuation of lakes, and the hills on its banks seem to be the separations. Altogether, nothing can be more beautiful.

_June 11th._--A very hot day, but I could not discover the degree of heat. On going along we bought two Perch, weighing about 8 lb. each, for 25 cents, of a boy who was fishing.[12] Fish of this sort will sometimes weigh 30 lbs. each.

[12] The common American perch is the _Perca americana_ or _flavescens_.--ED.

_June 12th._--Pass Portsmouth, at the mouth of the Scioto River. A sort of village, containing a hundred or two of houses. Not worthy of any particular remark.

_June 13th._--Arrived at Cincinnati about midnight. Tied our ark to a large log at the side of the river, and went to sleep. Before morning, however, the fastening broke, and, if it had not been for a watchful back-woodsman whom we had taken on board some distance up the river, we might have floated ten or fifteen miles without knowing it. This back-woodsman, besides being of much service to us, has been a very entertaining companion. He says he has been in this country forty years, but that he is an Englishman, and was bred in Sherwood Forest (he could not have come from a better nursery). All his adventures he detailed to us very minutely, but dwelt with particular warmth upon one he had had with a priest, lately, who, to spite him for preaching, brought an action against him, but was cast and had to pay costs.

_June 14th and 15th._--Called upon Doctor Drake[13] and upon a Mr. Bosson, to whom we had letters. These gentlemen shewed us the greatest civility, and treated us with a sort of kindness which must have changed the opinion even of the English officer whom we saw at Pittsburgh, had he been with us. I could tell that dirty hireling scout, that even in this short space of time, I have had the pleasure to meet many gentlemen, {276} very well informed, and possessing great knowledge as to their own country, evincing public spirit in all their actions, and hospitality and kindness in all their demeanour; but, if they be pensioners, male or female, or sinecure place lords or ladies, I have yet come across, thank God, no _respectable people_.

[13] For a brief biography of Dr. Drake, consult Flint's _Letters_, volume ix of our series, note 61.--ED.

Cincinnati is a very fine town, and elegantly (not only in the American acceptation of the word) situated on the banks of the river, nearly opposite to Licking Creek, which runs out of Kentucky, and is a stream of considerable importance. The country round the town is beautiful, and the soil rich; the fields in its immediate vicinity bear principally grass, and clover of different sorts, the fragrant smell of which perfumes the air. The town itself ranks next to Pittsburgh, of the towns on the Ohio, in point of manufactures.

We sold our ark, and its produce formed a deduction from our expenses, which, with that deduction, amounted to 14 dollars each, including every thing, for the journey from Pittsburgh to this place, which is upwards of 500 miles. I could not but remark the price of fuel here; 2 dollars a cord for Hickory; a cord is 8 feet by 4, and 4 deep, and the wood, the best in the world; it burns much like green Ash, but gives more heat. This, which is of course the highest price for fuel in this part of the country, is only about a fifth of what it is at Philadelphia.

_June 16th._--Left Cincinnati for Louisville with seven other persons, in a skiff about 20 feet long and 5 feet wide.

_June 17th._--Stopped at VEVAY, a very neat and beautiful place, about 70 miles above the falls of the Ohio. Our visit here was principally to see the mode used, as well as what progress was made, in the cultivation of the vine, and I had a double curiosity, never having as yet seen a vineyard. These vineyards are cultivated entirely by a small settlement of Swiss, of about a dozen families, who have been here about ten years. They first settled on the Kentucky river, but did not succeed there. They plant the vines in rows, attached to stakes like espaliers, and they plough between with a one-horse plough. The grapes, {277} which are of the sorts of Claret and Madeira, look very fine and luxuriant, and will be ripe in about the middle of September. The soil and climate both appear to be quite congenial to the growth of the vine: the former rich and the latter warm. The north west wind, when it blows, is very cold, but the south, south east, and south west winds, which are always warm, are prevalent. The heat, in the middle of the summer, I understand, is very great, being generally above 85 degrees, and sometimes above 100 degrees. Each of these families has a farm as well as a vineyard, so that they supply themselves with almost every necessary and have their wine all clear profit. Their produce will this year be probably not less than 5000 gallons; we bought 2 gallons of it at a dollar each, as good as I would wish to drink. Thus it is that the tyrants of Europe create vineyards in this new country!

_June 18th._--Arrived at Louisville, Kentucky. The town is situated at the commencement of the falls, or rapids of the Ohio. The river, at this place, is little less than a mile wide, and the falls continue from a ledge of rocks which runs across the river in a sloping direction at this part, to Shippingport, about 2 miles lower down. Perceiving stagnant waters about the town, and an appearance of the house that we stopped at being infested with bugs, we resolved not to make any stay at Louisville, but got into our skiff and floated down the falls to Shippingport. We found it very rough floating, not to say dangerous. The river of very unequal widths and full of islands and rocks along this short distance, and the current very rapid, though the descent is not more than 22 feet. At certain times of the year the water rises so that there is no fall; large boats can then pass.