Copyright 1904, by
THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The Lakeside Press
R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY
CHICAGO
CONTENTS OF VOLUME X | |
|---|---|
| Preface. The Editor | [9] |
| I | |
| A Journal Made During a Tour in the Western Countriesof America: September 30, 1818-August 7,1819. Thomas Hulme | |
| Dedication. William Cobbett | [19] |
| Preface. William Cobbett | [21] |
| Author's Introduction to the Journal | [23] |
| Text | [35] |
| II | |
| Letters from Lexington [June 25, 1819] and the Illinois[August 16, 1819], containing a Brief Account of the EnglishSettlement in the Latter Territory, and a Refutationof the Misrepresentations of Mr. Cobbett. RichardFlower | |
| Author's Preface | [89] |
| Text | [91] |
| III | |
| Letters from the Illinois, 1820, 1821. Containing anAccount of the English Settlement at Albion and itsVicinity, and a Refutation of Various Misrepresentations,Those more particularly of Mr. Cobbett. Witha Letter from M. Birkbeck; and a Preface and Notes byBenjamin Flower. Richard Flower | |
| Publisher's Advertisement | [114] |
| Editor's Preface. Benjamin Flower | [115] |
| Text | [121] |
| Extract of a Letter. Morris Birkbeck | [149] |
| Editor's Notes. Benjamin Flower | [153] |
| IV | |
| Two Years' Residence in the Settlement on the EnglishPrairie, in the Illinois Country, United States[June 5, 1820-July 3, 1821]. With an Account of itsAnimal and Vegetable Productions, Agriculture, &c. &c.A Description of the Principal Towns, Villages, &c.&c. With the Habits and Customs of the Back-Woodsmen.John Woods | |
| Text | [179] |
| Appendix | [353] |
ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME X | |
|---|---|
| Facsimile of title-page to Flower's Letters from Lexingtonand the Illinois (1819) | [87] |
| Facsimile of title-page to Flower's Letters from the Illinois(1822 | [113] |
| Facsimile of title-page to Woods | [173] |
| Map of the Allotments, from Woods | [175] |
| Map of the Illinois, from Woods | [177] |
PREFACE TO VOLUME X
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.