(1755-1829), a brother of the author; he also contributed the Preface
and the concluding Notes. Benjamin had started in life as a London
tradesman; but having failed, travelled for several years on the
European continent as agent for a Tiverton firm. Being in France
during much of 1791, "the most innocent part of the revolution," he
became imbued with some of the ideas of the French revolutionists;
and although not a revolutionist in England, he entered the lists as
a Radical pamphleteer, bitterly attacking the English government for
engaging in war with France. Richard, a man of substance, and although
a Radical rather moderate in his views, was largely concerned in
establishing the Cambridge _Intelligencer_, a Radical organ. Benjamin
was chosen editor, and became widely known as a controversialist,
Cobbett being one of his especial _bêtes noires_. In 1799 he suffered
six months' imprisonment in Newgate and the payment of a fine of
£100 for libelling the bishop of Llandaff, a political opponent.
When released, he married a young admirer, set up as a printer, and
conducted the _Political Register_ (1807-11). He wrote a life of
Robert Robinson, a famous Baptist minister and hymn writer, prefixed
to editions of the latter's works (Harlow, 1807, 1812), also several
pamphlets on political and family matters. He was esteemed for his
honesty and courage, but the vehemence of his temper largely nullified
his influence. Two of his daughters became well known as musical
composers--Eliza Flower (1803-46) wrote several political hymns, and
Sarah Flower Adams (1805-48) was the author of "Nearer to Thee," often
wrongly attributed to Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe.
A review of the pamphlet here reprinted will be found in the _London
Quarterly Review_, xxvii, p. 71.--ED.
TWO of the following letters have before appeared in a
respectable periodical publication, in which the editor has impartially
inserted the communications of writers of different opinions, on the
subject of emigration;[56] but as they may be said to be a continuation
of former letters, and connected with those now for the first time
published, I have thought proper to insert them.
[56] _Monthly Repository_, August and October, 1820.--B. FLOWER.
Readers who are desirous of forming just opinions on this subject, are
requested to bear in remembrance the precise stations described in the
following pages. However unworthy or base may have been the motives of
certain writers, who have grossly calumniated the English Settlement,
there are others, {iv} to whom it would be uncandid to impute such
motives, but who are chargeable with misrepresentation, which appears
to have arisen from their not having considered that the spots they are
describing are not those described by others; and that, of course, it
is not fair to charge others with statements they have never made.
I have publications before me in which Mr. Birkbeck and my brother are
charged with unfairness in their statements, because they do not apply
to the situations the writers had chosen, one of which was fifty, and
the other four hundred miles from the English Settlement. There are at
the Illinois as in almost all other countries, situations pleasant and
unpleasant, healthy and unhealthy, and that emigrant does not act a
very wise part, who fixes on a station unless he had carefully examined
it himself, or at least had the recommendation of some intelligent
friend who would scorn to mislead him.
Emigration to America, after all that has {v} been written on the
subject, and the various advantages it certainly presents to different
classes of society, is an affair of such importance, that those who
propose it should seriously reflect on the turn of their own mind,
their disposition, habits, circumstances, &c. Some who have emigrated
to America find themselves as unhappy there as they were in their own
country. Those who are averse to labour, fond of luxuries, and whose
minds are rivetted to the artificial distinctions of society in Europe,
have found to their cost, that America is not the country for them;
and unless they can learn wisdom, and form resolution sufficient to
alter some of their habits, and if not to despise, to regard with
indifference most of those distinctions, they can never be reconciled
to Republican manners and institutions. Respecting a few persons
of this description at the Illinois, one of the principal settlers
exclaimed:--"What are such people come here for?"
For the Notes to the following letters, with "all their imperfections
on their head," I am {vi} solely responsible.--I am not without
apprehensions that there may be even candid readers, who may think that
in my Reflections on _Infidelity, Civil Establishments of Religion,
&c._ I have somewhat wandered out of my way: to such readers I beg
leave to offer a word or two by way of apology. True religion, I
consider as the most important concern of life; and were I, when
reflecting on the state of society which too generally characterizes
this globe, even its most civilized parts, and on the various follies
and vices which have so sadly deformed mankind--on the adversity of
the righteous, and the prosperity of the wicked,--were I not, amidst
such reflections, supported by divine consolations, suggested by a
firm belief in the _Being_ and _Providence_ of God, and of the truth
of the christian system which assures us that "all things shall be
subdued and reconciled to HIM," I should indeed be "of all men the
most miserable;" and, as I am firmly persuaded that the success of
the gospel is not more hindered by open infidelity than by {vii} the
corruptions of christianity, I have from the circumstances which are
stated in the following letters respecting the state of religion at the
Illinois, thought proper to express myself on the subject with my usual
freedom. So little has been done towards the restoration of primitive
christianity in this country for the two past centuries, although
there has been of late, an unusual bustle in the religious world,--so
inveterate are the evils resulting from STATECRAFT and PRIESTCRAFT
united, that although I believe with a firm and unshaken faith, _that
the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of
his Christ_, I confess my ignorance as to the period, and the means
by which those glorious events predicted in the sacred writings will
be accomplished. I cannot however but indulge the hope that mankind
will, by observation and experience, under the blessing of heaven grow
wiser; and that in the formation of new settlements, many of the evils
referred to, may with proper care be avoided. With this hope, I {viii}
have endeavoured to give a helping hand, however feeble, to those who
have at heart the best interests of their fellow creatures.
For the language I have made use of in exposing bad men, and more
particularly a notorious political impostor, who when indulging his
deep-rooted prejudices and violent passions, cares not how he throws
off the common feelings of humanity, or sets truth and decency, or the
principles of honour and honesty at defiance, scarce any apology is
necessary. Should any one think my language too strong, I might plead
the example of some of the greatest and best men in different ages; but
I shall confine myself to that of the sacred writers. The prophets and
apostles, yea, our Saviour himself, when describing the COBBETTS of
_their_ day, have used much stronger language than I have done; and if
it be a duty at any time to _rebuke sharply_, or as critics inform us
the words should be rendered, with _a cutting severity_, or _cutting to
the quick_, it is when we have to do with men of such a description.
{ix} In conclusion, I ask I hope no great favour in claiming on
behalf of Mr. Birkbeck, my brother, and myself, that credit for our
statements, until they are refuted by evidence, to which persons who
have little character to lose, cannot lay claim; and that we may on
the present occasion obtain belief when we have nothing to contradict
us but the confident language of a man "known to be wholly indifferent
to truth;" and who has, in the compass of three months only, for his
scandalous libels on private characters,--on one of those occasions
for having invented the atrocious charge of FORGERY against a former
associate--most deservedly smarted in a court of justice. Should I,
however unintentionally, have committed any mistake, I shall deem
myself bound to acknowledge it.
B. F.
_Dalston, Jan._ 16th, 1822.
* * * * *
P. S. Mr Cobbett somewhere remarks--"That he would sooner join the
fraternity of _gypsies_ in this country than the settlement at the
Illinois." This is not so extravagant as some of his assertions,
as he has proved himself pretty {x} well qualified, in one respect
at least, for a member of that fraternity; namely, by his numerous
_gipsy_ prophecies. To select one class only:--How frequently has he
in terms the most unqualified and confident, predicted that the Bank
of England would _never_ return to cash payments; how frequently has
he fixed the _period_ beyond which it was impossible for bank-notes to
preserve their value! Perhaps he had in his eye the accomplishment of
his favourite plan,--a general forgery of those notes, as the grand
means of bringing about his predictions. Notwithstanding the complete
failure of those predictions, (and I could produce numerous instances
of similar failure) he, although apparently sadly mortified, goes on
with his prophecies, and renews the senseless and injurious advice to
the farmers, which he has been giving them for many years past, but
which he knows, alas! they cannot follow--to hoard up the gold "because
in two years it will buy twice as much land as it will buy now!" It
was not many months since he gave them the same advice respecting
silver, assuring them "that a bundle of silver would _shortly_ prove
a mine of wealth."--_Address to the Farmers._ (_Register Dec. 15_).
In which publication Mr. C. has, in his language applied to Mr.
Webb Hall, so justly drawn his own picture, that I hope the farmers
will keep it constantly in view.--"The truth is, Mr. [Cobbett] is a
conceited man with a great deal of loose and indistinct stuff in his
head; and, having great power of front, he puts the stuff forth without
hesitation. A modest man may be a weak man and yet not deserve our
contempt; but impudence and folly joined claim as much of contempt as
man can bestow."--If the farmers can swallow such "stuff," they have
indeed, what Dr. South {xi} calls an "iron digesting faith," and should
the Jesuits visit this, as they are now visiting other countries, they
will doubtless consider Mr. Cobbett's boasted "disciples" as well
prepared to swallow down the doctrine of _Transubstantiation_!
LETTERS, &c.
LETTER I
_Albion, Illinois, Jan. 18_, 1820.
DEAR SIR,
My whole family, I think enjoy, since we have been here, much better
health than in England, and we have enjoyed the fine Indian summer,
which has lasted full two months, of most charming temperature,
the thermometer varying from 70 to 75. We had only two wet days in
November, and one sudden change to 35 degrees; the weather in December
was equally fine till Christmas-day, when we had frost and snow much as
in England, and since that time some very cold days, the thermometer
being below freezing, 22 degrees. We have now milder weather, but frost
and snow on the ground, and the thermometer again at freezing, but
gently thawing.
Our settlement has been remarkably healthy, and every thing is
going on tolerably well. You {10} will say _tolerably well_ has a
suspicious sound; I will therefore allude to that term in future, and
state the inconveniences as well as the pleasures of the autumn. We
have experienced considerable inconvenience from drought, and been
obliged to draw water by carriage to the town, as the wells did not
supply the inhabitants with a sufficiency, and the people, like the
Israelites, murmured at us, the town proprietors, as much as ever that
stiffnecked people did at Moses. I had no rock to strike, or power to
raise water by miracle of any kind, and therefore applied industry and
perseverance to make up this deficiency, and offered to supply them
with fine spring water at a quarter-dollar per barrel, from a most
delightful spring, found on my son George's estate, only eight feet
deep, and inexhaustible. I had nearly two miles to draw it, but I lost
nothing by my contract, and murmuring was allayed. This want of water
would have been a serious objection to our settlement if it had been
local, but it has been an unusual drought throughout the whole of the
Western country, such as has been rarely experienced, and we have been
much better off than the people of Kentucky: it has also awakened our
energies, and within half a mile of the town an excellent well has
been opened, besides two {11} others at a mile and a half, so that no
lasting want has been known, only a temporary inconvenience suffered.
I am rather particular on this subject, as report had spread that our
town had broke up, our people scattered, and disease prevailed for want
of water, all which was notoriously false; and through mercy, I think
there have been fewer deaths in the number of inhabitants than in any
part of England.
Another inconvenience from this drought was, the burning of the
prairies much earlier than usual. There is a grandeur in this scene
almost indescribable and somewhat alarming. We see whole prairies,
containing thousands of acres, like a sea or lake of fire ascending;
columns of smoke so affect the air, that it is a complete fog, and
painful to the eyes; but after a few days all is over; the sky clear,
and the air serene, but our herbage is gone. At this season the cattle
go into the barn: we pay a herdsman to look after them, and if the
weather is not immoderately wet, they come out as fat as sheep from
coleseed, and afford profit to the grazier. Our bullocks, which were
bought at sixteen or seventeen dollars last year, are now selling at
Albion Market, from twenty-eight to thirty-one dollars each, paying
nearly cent per {12} cent, for nine month's keeping; thus we are this
year principally graziers, having two hundred acres enclosed, and more
enclosing. George will have a fine farm opened, an excellent garden and
young trees, and vegetables of the most luxuriant growth.
It ought not, however, to be concealed that we are much in want
of farming labourers; we with difficulty get a regular ploughman,
and a ploughboy is still a scarcer commodity; and till we can get
our prairies once broken, and go with two horses without a driver,
ploughing will be difficult to be performed. Our people put on the
independent airs of Americans, without either their natural or noble
independence, which disdains any thing like servitude; but, as if
delighting to teaze us gave them great pleasure, they quit their
work suddenly and without reason; but we greatly counteract this by
keeping them out of employ, and our money in our pockets, and pay the
Americans who come out and are always migrating for a job of work, and
then return to their farms. We are also, in many instances, destitute
of female servants, but then we have plenty of helps, or _charwomen_,
who will come and work by the day or half-day, and then return to
their families. My wife has managed this business {13} admirably well:
observing their disposition, she hires them by the hour, sees well to
them for the time being, and generally gets a usual day's work done in
a few hours. This occasional assistance, in addition to the services
of Mrs. C. who we brought with us, and a woman servant, makes us
comfortably served.
On the return of Christmas day, we invited our party as at Marden, my
late residence in Hertfordshire: we assembled thirty-two in number. A
more intelligent, sensible collection I never had under my roof in my
own country. A plentiful supply of plumb pudding, roast beef and mince
pies were at table, and turkeys in plenty, having purchased four for
a dollar the preceding week. We found among the party good musicians,
good singers; the young people danced nine couple, and the whole party
were innocently cheerful and happy during the evening. The company were
pleased to say I had transferred Old England and its comforts to the
Illinois. Thus, my dear Sir, we are not in want of society; and I would
not change my situation for any in America, nor for _disturbed_ or
_tumultuous_ England.
My efforts to assemble the people to public worship have been
successfull; our place is well attended, from forty to fifty people,
{14} and amongst our congregation we often number a part of Mr.
Birkbeck's children and servants. Our singing is excellent; our prayers
the reformed Unitarian service. The sermons which have been read are
from an author I never met with in England, Mr. Butcher; they are;
without exception, the best practical sermons I have ever seen. Our
Library-Room is well attended in the afternoon; the people improving
in cleanliness and sobriety, recover the use of their intellectual
faculties, and interest themselves in moral and christian converse.
When I arrived at Albion, a more disorganized, demoralized state of
society never existed: the experiment has been made, the abandonment
of christian institutes and christian sabbaths, and living without God
in the world has been fairly tried. If those theologians in England
who despise the Sabbath and laugh at congregational worship, had been
sent to the English settlement in the Illinois at the time I arrived,
they would, or they ought to have hid their faces for shame. Some
of the English played at cricket, the backwoodsmen shot at _marks_,
their favourite sport, and the Sunday revels ended in riot and savage
fighting: this was too much even for infidel nerves. All this also
took place at Albion; but when a few, a very few, {15} better men met
and read the Scriptures, and offered prayer at a poor contemptible
log-house, these revellers were awed into silence, and the Sabbath at
Albion became decently quiet. One of its inhabitants, of an infidel
cast, said to me, "Sir! this is very extraordinary, that what the law
could not effect, so little an assembly meeting for worship should have
effected." "Sir," said I, "I am surprised that you do not perceive
that you are offering a stronger argument in favour of this Christian
institute than any I can present to you. If the reading of the
Scriptures in congregation has had such efficacious and such wonderful
effects, you ought no longer to reject, or neglect giving your
attention to its contents, and its excellent religious institutions."
Thus, my dear Sir, my efforts for the benefit of others have been
greatly blessed. I appear at present more satisfied with my lot,
because I appear to be more useful than ever: in England all my
attempts at usefulness were puny compared to what they are here. Many
people here openly express their gratitude to me as the saviour of this
place, which, they say must have dispersed if I had not arrived. This
is encouraging to a heart wounded with affliction as mine has been, and
is urging me {16} on to plans of usefulness. A place for education, a
Sunday-school, and above all, a Bible-society, if we increase, shall
be my aim and endeavour. I have already abundant testimony that God
will bless his word, and if the rest of my life should be spent in such
useful employment, my deathbed will be more calm than if I had been
taken from life before I had arrived at this period of utility. You
will, I trust, be able to appreciate the station Providence has placed
me in, and feel pleasure at this communication.
My house, which is nearly finished, is a comfortable one, and can
boast a roof that neither Hertford nor Marden could. It stands the
most drenching rains and drifting snows without letting in any wet. I
described it in my former letters; and while I am satisfied with the
comfort it affords, the Americans behold it with surprise.
You would have been much amused if you had been with us a few weeks
since, when I had a visit from Captain Burke,[57] a sensible and
intelligent backwoodsman. He paid me a short visit, put off his
business that he might fetch his wife, which he did; we thought we
saw through the plan; he returned with her the next day, and we felt
disposed to gratify their {17} curiosity. "There wife," said he, "did
you ever see such fixings?" He felt the paper, looked in a mirror
over our chimney-piece which reflected the cattle grazing in the
field before the house, and gazed with amazement. But turning from
these sights to the library,--"Now," said he to my wife, "does your
old gentleman" (for that is my title here) "read those books?" "Yes,"
said she, "he has read most of them."--"Why if I was to read half of
them, I should drive all the little sense in my head out of it." I
replied that we read to increase our sense and our knowledge; but this
untutored son of nature could not conceive of this till I took down a
volume of Shaw's Zoology.[58] "You, Mr. Burke, are an old hunter, and
have met with many snakes in your time. I never saw above one in my
life; now if I can tell you about your snakes and deer, and bears and
wolves, as much or more than you know, you will see the use of books."
I read to him a description of the rattle-snake, and then shewed him
the plate, and so on. His attention was arrested, and his thirst for
knowledge fast increasing. "I never saw an Indian in my life, and yet,"
said I, "I can tell you all about them." I read again and shewed him
a coloured plate. "There," said he, "wife, is it not {18} wonderful,
that this gentleman, coming so many miles, should know these things
from books only? See ye," said he, pointing to the Indian, "got him to
a turn." In short, I never felt more interested for an hour or two, to
see how this man's mind thirsted after knowledge; and though he dreaded
the appearance of so many books, he seemed, before he left us, as if he
could spend his life amongst them.
[57] Captain Jeremiah Birk shared with Daniel Boone and many other
pioneers in the Western wilderness, the feeling that life in a
settlement was too crowded. Emigrating from Tennessee, he lived with
his family alone on the prairies until the arrival of the English
settlers. He obtained his title of captain by commanding a company of
scouts along the Canadian frontier during the War of 1812-15. Illinois
becoming too thickly settled to please him, he soon moved across the
Mississippi River.--ED.
[58] George Shaw (1751-1813), the well-known English naturalist. His
great work was _General Zoology_, or _Systematic Natural History_
(London, 1800-26), which after his death was extended to a total of
fourteen volumes.--ED.
Our library is now consolidated; and that the kind intentions of
yourself and others may not be lost, and that your names may live in
our memories and be perpetuated to future generations, I have conveyed
all the books presented to us, in trust to the proprietors of the town,
for the use of the Albion Library; writing the names of the donors in
them; and in my next letter I shall, _pro forma_, be able to convey to
you our united thanks for the books presented. Our little library is
the admiration of travellers, and Americans say we have accomplished
more in one year, than many new settlements have effected in fifty--a
well supplied market, a neat place of worship, and a good library.
LETTER II
_Park House, Albion, June 20, 1820._
I HAVE not written many letters to my friends in England,
because I was determined not to state any thing on presumption,
or of mere opinion, but only matters of fact, which must stand
uncontradicted, and bear the test of examination.
I proceed to state to you the circumstances which we are now in; and
you will my dear Sir, feel satisfaction at my being able to give you
the pleasing account, that, after nearly a twelvemonth's residence,
there is no foundation for reasonable complaint. Every workman or
artificer has abundance of employment at a price that will procure him
a plentiful subsistence; and at this time our little town is amply
supplied, with not only the necessaries of life, but even its luxuries.
I have a comfortable habitation, containing four rooms and a hall on
the ground floor, and five chambers above: two wings are added which
contain kitchen, china closet, dairy, and an excellent cellar. My farm
produces, as it did at Marden, good beef and mutton, with abundance of
{20} poultry, eggs, milk, cream, butter, and cheese. I am quite at home
again, and am writing to you surrounded by the same library standing
in the same relative situation, in my large easy chair, and enjoying
every earthly comfort. I have the happy absence of tax-gatherers, and
am never galled with tithe or poor-rate collectors.
Our settlement, thank God, is remarkably healthy, and my family and
self have never enjoyed better health than in the situation which some
of your reviewers and critics call "the swamps of the Wabash." There is
no situation in the habitable globe in which less sickness and fever
have taken place in the given period of twelve months, and the evil
reports that have been spread about, applied only, in a small degree,
to the large party of settlers who, on their arrival, took shelter in
the woods, finding none of the conveniences prepared for them which
they had reason to expect. All is going on here to the full as well
as can be expected or hoped; and if the British settlement does not
prosper, it will be the fault of the _settlers_ only.