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]
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.
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.
I remain,
Your sincere friend,
Richard Flower.