{50} EXTRACT OF A LETTER, FROM MR. BIRKBECK
Wanborough, May 7, 1821.
Sir,
Regarding the abuse which people have indulged in about my undertakings, and my accounts of them, I find little difficulty in taking it quietly. I have spent four years in this country, and now every day furnishes fresh proofs of the correctness of my early impressions, so complete as to excite a degree of astonishment at my good fortune in conjecturing rightly, and occasionally something of self-congratulation, under the hope that partial friends may give me a little credit for sagacity.
A statistical account of this country, by the time I had finished it, and long before it could reach you, would need correction. Satisfied as I am, to a degree of occasional exultation, with the condition of my own farm, and my prospects as an American cultivator, so rapid and certain is the progress of improvement, that I should not be flattered by your reading, six months hence, an account of its present state. Besides, enough has been already written to shew the candid public that all our {51} reasonable expectations are satisfied: for the rest, who enjoy our imaginary reverses, and rely more on the superficial accounts of such people as C. F. &c. who have never seen the country, or if they have seen it, are incapable of judging, it really is a waste of labour to write for them. Those wretched people who indulge their malevolence in personal abuse are unworthy of my notice. It would indeed be to our advantage, and is the only harm I wish them, that their ignorance and their prejudices should continue, lest they should follow us.
We are on the eastern limits of a country differing essentially from all that has hitherto been cultivated in the United States. The people to the east of us are incapable of imagining a dry and rich wholesome country, where they may enter at once on fine lands prepared for cultivation, without the enormous expence of time and labour in clearing, which has been bestowed on every acre between this and the Atlantic. The inhabitants of the old States are profoundly and resolutely ignorant of the advantages of our prairie country. Books are written in the east to prove the wretchedness of the prairies, by persons who have never approached them within five hundred miles; and English writers of the same {52} description, some with names and some without, can obtain more credence than is granted to me, from that description of readers. On the whole, I do not think it worth while to undertake the conviction of these people. The settlers here who prosper, that is to say, those who possess good morals and common discretion, will, in course, tell their experience to their friends and connections in England, and invite them to follow their example; these again will invite others. This is now going on in all directions. Some write for their former neighbours or the residue of their families, others push back to the old country, to conduct them out. Numbers who come to try their hands at a new settlement are wholly unfit for any place in this world, new or old, unless it be to supply the requisite quota of evil, which in this imperfect state, adheres to all places. These are the people sometimes most likely to be heard, whilst those who go on well and wisely are little noticed. Their adventures are at an end: they "keep a pig" and live happily. A volcano is a fine subject when in action, but the interest ceases with the eruption. At some future day,—some "still time, when there is no room for chiding," should my life be spared, I may lay before my countrymen a statement {53} of our condition: but the suitable time, I think, is not yet. It is, however, a pleasing office to transmit to an intelligent friend an occasional sketch of the settlement; and to receive, as I have from you, and I hope you will repeat the obligation, a return of liberal communication.
The various attacks upon my reputation will be repelled, surely, though perhaps slowly, by time. Among my neighbours, who are now numerous, their effect has ceased already. The accuracy of my statements become daily more evident, and my errors are found to be on the opposite side to exaggeration; a style which I dislike: it is offensive to my taste, as well as my moral feelings: is not a written lie to the full as abominable as one that is spoken?
The telescope which you have had the goodness to procure for me is an object of pleasant anticipation. This climate is favourable for astronomical observations, and it will add to our rational amusements. I shall therefore be obliged by your forwarding it as before directed, as soon as convenient.
M. B.