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.