to subjugate the minds of men, is perfectly consistent with their
notions of power, their education and habits; but to hear the
republicans of slave states point to the _Declaration of Rights_, who
inform the coming traveller that they are now blazoned forth on satin
and velvet;--an American republican pointing to the _Rights of Men_
with his left hand, while his right is obliged to hold the whip, and
with watchful eye to subjugate the minds and bodies of a large share
of the population of his state:--this, indeed is worthy the taunts
and derision of kings. It is this that keeps the wealth of Europe
from pouring its treasures into the fertile region of Kentucky, and
the industry of thousands from approaching the state. It would be
painful to relate all the horrors I have beheld in slavery under {14}
its mildest form. Whites full of whiskey, flogging their slaves for
drinking even a single glass! Women, heavy with young, smarting under
the angry blow, or the lash, and with babes at the breast, which one of
our writers calls "_Nature's passport_ through the world," lacking food
in the midst of abundance, and cloathing insufficient to satisfy the
demands even of common decency. Avarice, which our Poet _Young_ calls
"Earth's greatest blunder--Hell's loudest laugh;"--avarice, which seems
to be the source of all this mischief, now comes to the relief of the
ragged lingering wretch. If they are miserable, they must not die, for
a mother and infant are worth from six hundred to a thousand dollars:
but in a slave state, avarice has preserved life, clothed the wretched,
and fed the hungry; it has fattened and made fine, the slave that he or
she may fetch at the hammer, one or two hundred dollars more. "Lord,
what is man!" Was it for this that your heroes fought, bled, and died?
Was it for this, that the brave and virtuous Washington, to whom so
many memorials in the way of oration and praise are delivered on each
succeeding anniversary of his birth, spent his long and glorious course?
Oh! youth of Kentucky, when you speak of his {15} fame with the
enthusiasm of a republican, speak of his humanity, read his will; see
his ardent desire to let the captive go free: imitate his virtues, and
fall not into the errors of tyrants, who suppose military glory to be
the glory of a christian.
It is worthy of enquiry, whether it is likely that Americans will
escape the judgments with which God has afflicted other nations, while
their land is infected with personal slavery, and whether the liberties
of America are not endangered by the increase of its black population.
Perhaps some ambitious military chief may take the work from the
hands of republicans, and "proclaim liberty to the captives," and
make them the instruments of political slavery: let it be the work of
crowned despots to subjugate the minds and bodies of men, but let not
republicans assist in such a work.
Whenever you take Freedom's sacred name into your lips--whenever you
unfurl the standard of partial liberty--you stand self-condemned.
Despots keep men's minds in ignorance, that the voice of slavery and
abject dependance may not be heard even in its defence. Do ye not
the same: both your efforts will be in vain; the minds of men are
in progressive march, and your united efforts will not stop their
destination.
{16} "No, bless'd with freedom, unconfin'd,
Dungeons can ne'er contain the soul;
No one can chain th' immortal mind,
No one but Him who spans the pole."
I remain, yours, sincerely,
R. F.
LETTER II
_Illinois, near Albion, Aug. 16._
MY DEAR FRIEND,
AFTER many interruptions I removed from Lexington to this
place, at which we arrived on the 2nd of July, spending in our way a
week at _Harmony_, that wonder of the west.
You have heard this settlement mentioned, and it is worth visiting to
see, and observe the effect of united industry, regulated by sound
wisdom and discretion: here perfect equality prevails, and there
are no servants; but plenty of persons who serve. Every man has his
station appointed him according to his ability, and every one has his
wants supplied according to his wishes. He applies to the mill for his
supply of flour; to the apothecary for medicine; {17} to the store for
cloaths, and so on for every thing necessary for human subsistence.
They do not forbid marriage, as some have represented; but it is
one of their tenets that the incumbrance created by families is an
hindrance to the spirituality of christians, and it is this opinion
which discourages marriage amongst them. They have also an aversion to
bear arms; this would not allow them to remain in Germany, and they
emigrated to live in the manner they have adopted, and have certainly
the outside appearance of contentment and happiness.
After travelling through the woods of Indiana, the hills divide to
the right and left, and a fine valley opens to your view in which the
town stands. The hills assume a conical form, and are embellished with
fine cultivated vineyards; and the valleys stand thick with corn.
Every log-house is surrounded by a well cultivated garden, abundantly
supplied with vegetables, and ornamented with flowers. It was the
beginning of wheat harvest when I arrived, and the entire company of
reapers retired from the fields in a body, preceded by a band of music:
their dress is like the Norman peasants, and as all are of the same
form and colour, may properly be designated their {18} costume. The
men marched first, the women next, and the rear rank composed of young
women, with each a neat ornament of striped cedar wood on their head,
formed one of the prettiest processions I ever witnessed. The sound of
French horns awakened them in the morning to their daily labour, which
is moderate, and performed with cheerfulness; the return of evening
appears to bring with it no fatigue or symptoms of weariness.
Besides the gardens of individuals, there is a public garden of five
acres, the outside square planted with fruit trees and vegetables,
the inside with herbs medicinal and botanical. In the centre is a
rotunda of the rustic kind, standing in the midst of a labyrinth, which
exhibits more taste than I supposed to be found amongst the Harmonites.
It is from this hive of industry that Albion and its vicinity have
drawn their supplies, and its contiguity to such neighbours has been of
great advantage.
Having given you this account, I arrive at the point at which, my
dear friend, I know you feel most interest, and proceed to give you
an account of the state in which I found my friends, and the English
settlement in general. I have great satisfaction in being able to
inform you that almost every individual I {19} knew in England, was
much improved in appearance, all enjoying excellent health. The same
blessing is also our lot, and if I can form a proper estimate from six
weeks residence, I must pronounce this to be as healthy a situation
as any America affords, and much preferable, in this respect, to the
eastern states. What travellers have recorded, that the thermometer
does not rise so high as in the east, is true, and we are never many
hours without a fine breeze. The nights are cool, the thermometer
dropping 10 degrees, and you can obtain refreshing sleep. In the
eastern states the thermometer being at 98 in the day, remained at 96
at night, a suffocating heat. The average of our days are from 80 to
86, but we have had a day or two at 90, which produces a thunder gust
and a cooler atmosphere.
Now, my dear sir, as to the questions which agitate the minds of
thousands in your country. The advantages of emigration to America, and
the comparative advantages of eastern and western climates. I am, most
decidedly, for settling in the west, on account of the prairies, and
the facility with which they are cultivated.
The cultivation of new land, incumbered with heavy timber, presents
a formidable feature; {20} labour incessant and unremitting, before
a small tract of land can be tolerably cleared; but here I can enter
either as a farmer or a grazier immediately; fine wide spreading fields
of grass, inviting the flocks and herds to come and partake of the
bounty with which they are loaded. In answer to the enquiry as to the
proper mode of farming, I sit, and from the place I am now writing,
see a beautiful herd of cattle of nearly two hundred in number. I
have one hundred tons of fine hay collected for spring provision.
Every head of cattle, the expence of herdsmen deducted, on a moderate
calculation, promises a fair profit of at least five dollars per head;
and yet Mr. Cobbett, in his weekly letters, very _modestly_ asserts,
"There is no farming for profit in the west!"-- I state these facts
for the information of those who may wish to join us, and in direct
contradiction to the ill-founded assertions of this writer on the
subject.
It is also stated by Mr. Cobbett, that "the obstruction by bush
and briar are such as to prevent early or easy cultivation."--In
contradiction to this assertion, I affirm, that I can put the plough
into thousands of acres where there is no such obstruction. One
{21} gentleman in our settlement has grown eighty acres of fine
corn, although he only arrived last year; this alone is a sufficient
contradiction to all Mr. C. has said on this subject. There is also a
sufficiency of corn and grain grown this first harvest to supply the
wants of the settlement: next year there will be a surplus for brewing
and distilling.
If a person enters heavy timbered land, it is by great exertion he
clears ten acres the first year; but he has only here to enclose and
take his choice of farming and grazing, or enclose enough for corn and
pasture, his cattle feeding on the unoccupied range of grass which
the neighbouring cultivator cannot stock himself, and which is much
improved by the feeding of cattle.
Now, my dear Sir, as to the persons who come here or to any other part
of America, I would have them consider for what purpose and intent they
emigrate. It is certain as regards farming, that there are only two
ways in which it can be performed: the one, labouring by his own hands;
the other, by his capital, stocking his farm, and hiring his labourers.
It is thoughtlessness and folly to tell any person, if he bring with
him one hundred pounds, he can place himself in comfort; but, it is
certain, that a {22} hundred pounds here will go as far as five hundred
pounds in England; and that the person who has that sum in possession,
is certainly five times better off than in that country. The person
who has this sum may enter his quarter section of land, build his
cabin, enclose his garden, keep his cows and pigs; but then he must
be a man of that description who has been in the habit of milking his
cows and tending his pigs: all such persons will find vast advantage
in emigrating to this place. Every farmer in England (of which there
are thousands) who holds the plough, or his sons for him, will find
an easy life, and the abundant supply of every good thing. As to the
reward of his industry, every farmer who can stock a farm in England,
may here become the proprietor of his own soil with that capital which
affords him only a tenant's station, a precarious subsistence in
his own country; an inducement, I should think, sufficient to make
thousands follow our steps, and taste the blessings of independence
and the sweets of liberty. Let all who are bending under the weight of
taxation, and trembling at the approach of every quarter-day, come here
and partake of ease and abundance. If the affluent, also, are tired of
the system of the British government, {23} and feel the effect it has
upon their fluctuating property, here they will find the wide domain,
the natural park, whose hills and boundaries are beautifully capped
with woods, inviting them to build their dwellings and sit down in ease
and content. These parks are already stocked with deer, all which they
may purchase, where previous entry has not taken place, at the land
office price, two dollars per acre. These prairies appear as if that
eminent improver of parks and grounds--_Repton_, had been consulted in
laying them out to their taste.[52]
[52] Humphrey Repton (1752-1818) was a well-known English landscape
gardener.--ED.
It has been reported that we can get no servants: this is true in a
degree, because the price of service is such, as soon to elevate the
servant to a state of independance: but I have found no want of persons
to work for hire, even in domestic stations; those that are most wanted
are farming labourers; good ploughmen are in request, and can obtain
twelve dollars per month and their board. Female servants from eight
to ten dollars, according to their respective merits; these are in
great request; and what perhaps is to them still more pleasing, their
industry is the certain road to marriage. Our young females are almost
all engaged in this way, and we certainly lose good servants, {24} but
have the pleasure of seeing them well settled.
Now, my dear Sir, as to the state of the settlement and the progress it
has already made.
On a tract of land from the little Wabash to the Bonpar[53] on the
Great Wabash, about seventeen miles in width, and four to six from
north to south, there were but a few hunters' cabins, a year and a
half since, and now there are about sixty English families, containing
nearly four hundred souls; and one hundred and fifty American,
containing about seven hundred souls, who like the English for their
neighbours, and many of whom are good neighbours to us. We have nothing
here like loneliness. In our circle of English acquaintance, as well as
in that of American settlers, we find companions who are often found
interesting and intelligent. In good deed and in truth, here is, to
the industrious, a source of wealth more certain and productive than
the mines of Golconda and Peru. Industry of every kind has its ample
reward: but for the idle, the drunkard, and the vicious, there is no
chance; spirits are cheap, and a short existence is their certain
portion. All persons feeling anxieties that attend agricultural
pursuits may be released {25} from those anxieties by emigrating to the
Illinois.
[53] A misprint for Bonpas. This stream flows almost directly south
and forms the present eastern boundary of Edwards County. It joins the
Wabash about forty-five miles below Vincennes.--ED.
Your newspapers, the Farmer's Journal in particular, relate the
particulars of the distress of the farmers, and the ruin in which many
of them are involved. It is in vain that you petition for relief. By
your own account your ruin is inevitable, and your destruction sure.
Escape then to a land where the efforts of your industry will be
rewarded, and the produce of your labour will be your own. You will
escape, not only from the tax-gatherer and tithe-collector, but from
the expence attending the frightful system of pauperism, which is
constantly making demands, not only on your pecuniary resources, but
calling you to the most painful personal exertions.
In the extensive region from New York to this place, I have had but
one application for relief, and that was from an Englishman. In this
country peace and plenty reign.
I have mentioned a scarcity of servants: this arises much from
emigrants bringing out with them a better sort, or confidential
servants: the only sort wanting are females who can work in the
kitchen, milk the cow and attend to the dairy. All above this class can
earn too high wages by their needle. A good sempstress, {26} earning
a dollar per day, will soon quit servitude, and put on the airs of
American independance, with an addition of some little insolence; but a
cure is not unfrequently wrought, and that by various easy methods.
A gentleman hired a female servant of this sort, who would insist, as
a condition, on sitting down at the dinner table, with the family;
her christian name was _Biddy_, the condition was consented to, and a
project for cure at the same time engaged in:--A party was invited to
dinner, and Biddy took her place at the table, being above waiting,
or being in any degree more than a HELP. When anything was wanting, a
gentleman arose from table and offered it to Miss Biddy. Miss Biddy
was asked to drink a glass of wine, first by one gentleman and then
by another. Miss Biddy was desired not to trouble herself about any
thing, and was ceremoniously treated, till she felt the awkwardness
of her situation, and said, the next day to her mistress,--"Madam, I
had rather give up dining at your table,"--which she did, continuing
in their service for some time. I have had to do with people of the
same cast, though not quite so foolish as Miss Biddy:--I have hired
persons to certain employments, and they have been discontented {27}
and spoiled by their notions of equality: "Very good," said I; "we,
then, are equal; I like the idea much; it pleases me greatly: you, of
course, mean to take no money of me for what you please to do for me;
and, if that is the case, I shall be as perfectly satisfied with your
notion of things, as you appear to be; but, if you take my money, you
must perform the service I have pointed out to you."--This perfect
notion of equality does not suit, although it is too reasonable to be
much objected to.
It is generally supposed, that this high notion is of republican
origin; but it is the contrary, and originates in the insolence of
those who keep and domineer over slaves. Any thing that a black is made
to perform, is pronounced unfit for whites; and, although many who
have held slaves as their property, are far inferior in understanding
to the slaves they hold, and are sometimes reduced to poverty, they
deem it degrading to perform any work that a slave can perform; and
those persons who, like myself, are far from thinking all men equal
in character, are little disposed to engage with such persons in any
service. With our superiority in our consistent love of freedom, and
our having escaped from political {28} slavery, we shall never fail to
oppose the extention, and even the continuance of personal slavery.
The arguments for a state of slavery, urged by Americans, are just
such as might be urged by Algerines for taking the ships of America,
and making slaves of her seamen. Both consist in the right of force,
and not of reason or justice; and when a person hears members of
congress pleading the cause of slavery,--personal slavery,--with the
pretence _they are my property_, one cannot help blushing for human
nature. Those who appear to love freedom, both personal and political,
making use of such a pretence, forces the tear of sorrow from the eye
of humanity. One human being the property of another. No! the whole
race of mankind is the sole property of their great universal parent;
and he who enslaves another, whether his skin be black, white, or
intermediate, insults the right of his God, and blasphemes the name of
his Creator.
I rejoice, my dear friend, in the choice the English have made of a
free state; and am certain we shall be able to cultivate from the
services of free men, cheaper than those who cultivate them by slaves.
But to return to our settlement and its infant {29} capital
_Albion_. Log houses, those cabins unpleasant to the cleanly habits
of Englishmen, the receptacles of the insect tribe, are no longer
erected. I have had the pleasure of laying the first brick foundation
in Albion; it is for an inn where travellers I hope may find rest
without disturbance from insects. We have also nearly completed our
market house which is sixty feet by thirty. A place of worship is
began. Religion, I mean the outward form, has not been unattended
to: a selection from the Church of England service, and a sermon has
been read on the sabbath to a few persons assembled in a log room:
our psalmody is excellent, having some good musicians, and singers
amongst us. The Americans here think all who take money for preaching,
_hireling_ ministers, and several well-intentioned farmers preach to
small assemblies in the neighbourhood. The worship of God, and the
keeping his commands is the thing which I believe all will agree in,
as being the end to be produced by public worship. As we have not,
and I trust never shall have, that grand corruption of Christianity,
an establishment formed and supported by statesmen and politicians,
I hope christianity in its original purity, will for ever flourish
in the Illinois. We intend also our place of worship for a library,
{30} and to open it on a Sunday afternoon; a day when all persons
have leisure to read, and are clean in their dress and persons. The
strict sabbatarians will doubt the propriety of this proceeding; but
any thing which will have a tendency to promote moral and intellectual
improvement, and keep men from the vices of idleness and drinking, is
justified by him who put the question,--"Is it lawful to do good on the
sabbath?"
But to return from spiritual to temporal things. I spoke of our market
house being finished. The price of provisions in this place is as
follows.
A fine turkey, a quarter of a dollar.--Fowls, twelve cents each.--Beef
four to five cents per pound.--Mutton none yet at market.--Eggs twelve
and a half cents per dozen.--Cheese thirty cents per pound.--Butter
scarce, owing to the heat of the climate, sixteen cents per
pound.--Bacon at this time fifteen cents per pound, half the price
in winter.--Flour nine dollars per barrel.--Deer, a fine fat buck
from one dollar to one dollar and a half including skin.--Melons,
such as cannot be procured in England, twelve and a half cents each
in great abundance.--Honey of the finest flavour, one dollar per
gallon.--Whiskey one dollar per gallon {31} retail.--Fine Hyson tea two
dollars per pound.--Moist sugar thirty one cents.--Coffee sixty-two
cents per pound: wholesale from New Orleans much cheaper.--Fine fish
three cents per pound.
We leave it to the public to judge of our danger of starving, as some
writers have hinted.
Here then you have the situation of our rising settlement; progressing
with rapidity in the eye of Americans, though to Englishmen, setting
and watching for fresh intelligence, but slowly.
You ask me, dear Sir, whether there is any sale for books here? We
have no bookseller yet, and the writings of your favourite authors, in
defence of civil and religious liberty, would not sell here: the love
of civil and religious liberty is unbounded in every Illinois heart;
there are none to dispute the truth of the principles of complete and
perfect freedom; and when controversy ceases, controversial writings
must of course lose their interest.
I would not for the world invite persons, no! not a single individual,
if I did not think that his happiness would be encreased: it may be
said that I am an interested person, and so are those who take such
pains to prevent persons from coming westward. Emigration {32} from the
eastern states, has already reduced the price of lands there.
When I passed New York, I heard a popular writer say, "I'll be d----d
if I don't write down Birkbeck and the settlement:" those who are
familiar with this writer's usual phraseology in conversation, cannot,
I think, be in any great danger of mistake as to the person alluded
to:[54] how far he has succeeded, the public will be a proper judge
when they carefully peruse the facts I have stated, and compare the
evidence they receive from time to time through the various channels
from the Illinois. We have here plenty of scribes, and the truth--the
whole truth will appear before both an American and British public.
[54] This statement was made by Cobbett; see Flower's note, _post_, p.
164.--ED.
I remain,
Your sincere friend,
RICHARD FLOWER.
THE END
FLOWER'S LETTERS FROM THE ILLINOIS--JANUARY 18, 1820-MAY 7,
1821
Reprint of the original edition: London, 1822
LETTERS
FROM
_THE ILLINOIS_,
1820. 1821.
CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENT
AT ALBION AND ITS VICINITY, AND A REFUTATION OF
VARIOUS MISREPRESENTATIONS, THOSE MORE PARTICULARLY
OF MR. COBBETT.
By RICHARD FLOWER.
WITH A LETTER FROM M. BIRKBECK; AND A PREFACE
AND NOTES BY BENJAMIN FLOWER.
_Thou shall bless the_ LORD _thy_ GOD _for
the_ GOOD LAND _which he hath given thee:--beware that
thou forget not the_ LORD _thy_ GOD.
_Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour._
DIVINE COMMANDS.
London:
PRINTED FOR JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY
_By C. Teulon, 67, Whitechapel_.
1822.
[_Price Two Shillings and Sixpence._]
PUBLISHED BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Price One Shilling
Letters from Lexington and the Illinois, 1819; containing a Brief
Account of the English Settlement in the latter territory, and a
Refutation of the misrepresentations of Mr. Cobbett.
PREFACE[55]