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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. y errata 9d to nt ne pelure, ipon d 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 E INIOI Severt THE EMIGRANT'S GUIDE; IN i TEN LETTERS, ADDRESSED TO V I » il THE TAX-PAYERS OF ENGLAND; CONTAINING id INIORMATION OF EVERY KIND, NECESSARY TO PERSONS WHO ARE ABOUT TO EMIGRATE; i ll INCLUDING Several authentic and most interesting Letters from English Emi- grants, now in America, to their Relations in England. . ST IVZIiXiZABS COBSETT. LONDON: PRINTED BY MILLS, JOWETT, AND MILLS. PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, AT 183, FLEET -STREET. MDCCCXXIX. Lette; Lette Lette Lette Lette Lette Lette LETTi Letti Letti CONTENTS. Letter I. Letter II. Letter III. LETTElt IV. Letter V. Letter VI. Letter VII, Letter VIII, Letter IX. Letter X. On the Question, Whether it be advisable to emigrate from England at this time 1 On the Descriptions of Persons to whom Emigra* tion would be most beneficial. On the Parts of the United States to go to, pieceded by Reasons for going to no other Country, and especially not to an English Colony. On the Preparations some time previous to sailing. Of the sort of Ship to go in, and of the Steps to be taken relative to the Passage, and the sort of Pas- sage ; also of the Stores, and other things to b» taken out with the Emigrant. Of the Precautions to be observed while on board of Ship, whether in Cabin or Steerage. Of the first Steps to be taken on Landing. Of the way to proceed to get a Farm, or a Shop, to settle in Business, or to set yourself down as an Independent Gentleman. On the means of Educating Children, and of obtain- ing literary Knowledge. Of such other Matters, a knowledge relating to which must be useful to every one going from England to the United Stales. i.i B 2 THB EMIGRANT'S GUIDE, &c. LETTER I. N On the Question, Whether it be advisable for Persons hi England now to emigrate ? Tax-Payers, Bam-Elm Farm, July \, 1829. 1, I HAVE never persuaded, or endeavoured to persuade, any one to quit England with the view of exchanging it for another country ; and I have always had great reluctance to do any thing having that tendency. There is, in tb trans- fer of our duty from our native to a foreign land, soin thing violently hostile to all our notions of fidelity : a man is so identified with his country, that he cannot, do what he will, wholly alienate himself from it : it can know no triumph, nor any disgrace, which does not, in part, belong to him : parents, brethren, relations, friends, neighbours, make, all taken together, a good half of one's self : to cast away all our long-experienced feelings and long-cherished hopes; to quit, at once, and for ever, all the associations of ideas. r H 6 KMIGRATION, [letter I. 1 arising from objects familiar to us from our infancy, is very inucli like quitting the world. 2. For these reasons, and for many others that might be stated, I have always, hitherto, advised Ev(jlishvien not to emigrate even to the United States of America; but, to re- main at home, in the hope that some change for the better would come in the course of a few years. When we con- sider the usual duration of man's life, ten years are not a few I and it is now eleven years since I, in my Year's Residence, deliberately gave that advice. Not only has there, since 1818, when the Year's Residence in America was written, been no change for the better, but things have gradually become worse and worse. In short, things have now taken that turn, and they present such a prospect for the future, that I not only think it advisable for many good people to emigrate, but I think it my duty to give them all the information I can to serve them as a guide in that very important enterprise ; and, to do this, I am, by mere accident, better qualified, perhaps, than any man in the world. For I actually saw the colony of New Brunswick begun to be settled ; I almost saw the axe laid to the stem of the first tree that was felled ; I saw wild woods and river banks turned into settlements; I had to assist in cutting down trees, and in peeling off the bark, to make sheds to live under before we had any covering other than the sky ; so that I know the very rudiments of settling in neto countries. Then I was, at the two spells, ten years and a half in the United States; I kept a book- shop, and carried on printing to a great extent in Philadelphia, and, afterwards, in New York; I lived as a renting farmer an Long Island, and, at the same time, kept a seed-shop in New York ; I have done a good deal in exporting to and importing from the United States ; I have connexion with many persons living in that country, and keep up a constant -I, I I [letter WHETHER ADVISABLE. 5y, IS very might be nen not to but, to re- the better n we con- are not a y Year's t only has 2NCE IJf etter, but In short, it such a advisable ; my duty them as a do this, I than any f of New 3 axe laid saw wild I had to J bark, to ing other f settling ten years )()k- shop, ideiphia, g farmer i-shop in f to and ion with constant correspondence with them. S^ that (having the capacity to write in a way to n)ake myself clearly understood) I am, perhaps, better qu.lified than almas': any man living to ijive advice upon this subject. 3. The state of this country is now such, that no man, except by mere accident, can avoid n.in, unless he can get at a share of the taxes. As to the labouring classes, hun- ger, and rags, and filth, are now become their uniform and inevitable lot. No toil, no frugality, can save them from these : their toil is sreatcr, and their food less, than those of the slaves in any part of the world that I have ever seen or ever heard of. Ltt the man who has some little money left ; let any tradesman, farmer, or even gentleman ; let hint take a calm and impartial look at the state of thitif/Sj and let him say whether he see any, even the smallest, chance of escaping luin, if he remain here ; for what doe-* that calm and impartial view preseiit? Why, these things, That the taxes amount, annually (exclusive of poor-rates, and county and parish-rates) to twice as much as the rent of all the land, and all the houses, and all the other real property in the kingdom. That the parish and county-rates amount to a third part as much as the rent aforesaid. That the taxes reach every thing ; and that no man can exist without bearing a part of the terrible burden. That the people are now divided into two very distincr classes, tax-payers and tax-receivers, (or, as they are properly enough called, tax-eaters;) that whatever the former are compelled to give to the latter can never again be of any benefit to those former; and that, in short, what a man fays in taxes is just so much of loss to him, and of loss, for every exactly as much so as if it were tossed int9 the sea. ill EMIGRATION, [letter Tliat, therefore, tlie tradesman, farmer, or other person, who receives none of the taxes, works to maintain the placemen, pensioners, sinecure people, grantees, the soldiers, the sailors, the half-pay people, and the like, M'ith all their wives and families ; that those live at their case on ihn fruit of his labour; and that, thus, he is made to be poor; he and his family arc kept down, while the tax-eaters alid their families are raised up and kept above them ; so that it would not be so hard for hikn if the money taken from him by the tax- gatherer were fiung into ,the sea, because then it would raise nobody above him. That, accordins: to the ancient laws of the country, the ])oor were relieved, and the churches built and re- paired, and the colleges maintained, out of the tithes and other revenues of the church ; that those church revenues formed a third part of the rental of all the real property ; that now all these revenues are pos- sessed by the aristocracy, the rich, and the clergy ; that the clergy arc, in fact^ the relations or other per- sons connected with the great ; and that the burden of relieving the poor, and of building and repairing the churches, is thrown upon the people at large, while the matter is so managed as to deprive the families of the poor, and of tradesmen and farmers, of all the benefits to be derived from the colleges. That, thus, be the talents, the industry, the frugality of the labourer, the artizan, the tradesman, or the farmer, what they may, it is next to impossible for any man in those states of life to raise himself above the risk of ending his days in poverty, if not in misery; and that every one, who is not a receiver of taxes, must expect, at the very least, to labour all his life long without !•] I-l WllLTHER ADVIRABLE. f) even the hope of adding to the ease and comfort of his family. That, as a specimen of the manner in which the taxes arc? expended, large sums have heen given out of them Ut *' relieve the poor clergy of the Cluirch of England," ■while many of the Biwhops of that church have each a revenue of more than twenty, and some of them forty, thousand pounds a year; while several have recently died leaving more than two hundred thousand pounds sterling each, in personal property ; whih^ a laig(; part of the beneficed clergy hold two or more livings each, and while, according to a return laid before parliament, in 1814 (there has been none made since), there were, out of 10,602 livings, 6,804 non-resident incuni])ents ; that is to say, parsons not residing in the parishes of ■which they had the titiics and other revenues! That, as another specimen of this sort, large sums have been given, out of the taxes, to men who, after the war, became rectors, vicars, and, perhaps, dignitaries, and who received this half-pay, as soldic^rs and sailor;?, while they were receiving the incomes of their livings, and while they called themselves spiritual persons ; though, observe, the law says that thti clerical charac- ter is indeliblCy and though numerous persons have been d(!prived of their half- pay upon the ground tliat it was not a reward for past, but a retaining fee for fa- ture, services ! So that here was a law declaring that parsons never could serve as soldiers or sailors ; and here was a retaining fee given to them for future services as soldiers or sailors ! That, as another specimen in the same way, the people are now taxed for the building of new churches in places become more populous than formerly, while there are, in England, about two hundred parishes which have no B 5 10 EMIGRATION, [letter I.l I churches at all, and while there are about a thousand parishes not averaging a hundred inhabitanti*, while, however, the parsons continue to receive the tithes and other church-revenues of those parishes. That, as another specimen, while there were only 15 fo- reign ministers in the nation's employ, it bad, in 1808, when the last leturn was made, to pay 57 foreign mi- nisters ; that it has to pay one Field Marshal or one General to about every 163 soldiers in the army, and iive Generals to every regiment of soldiers ; that it has to pay two Admirals for every one of its ships of the line, and one Admiral for every 140 sailors. That the House of Commons caused to be printed, on the «3d of July, 1S28, a report of a Committee on the Poor Laws (the object of which Committee was to devise the means of lessening the poor-rates), and that the evi- dence taken before that Committee (and printed with the Report), contains the following statements, by the several persons here named : — By Mr. Lister, of Minster, in Kent: That "the convicts (on board the ** hulks) are a great deal better off than our labouring •* poor, let the man (the convict) be ever so bad a man ; ** that the convicts come on shore to work ; that they " do not work so hard nor so many hours as the com- " mon labourers, and that they live better ; that it is ** very common for the convicts to save money, and to ** carry from ten to forty pounds away from the hulks *' when they are discharged ; that the witness has ** heard several labouring men declare, that if they " could commit any act so as to be condemned to la- ** hour in the hulks, they would gladly do it." — By Mr. Henry Boyce, of Waldensiiare, in Kent, who did himself infinite honour on this occasion : " That he " has seen 30 or 40 young men, in the prime of life. '0 WHETHER ADVISABLE. It ti ti *' degraded by being hooked on to carts and wheel- barrows, dragging stones to thehigh ways, because they could get no employment elsewhere ; that, in ** the parish of Ash there is a regular meeting every " Thursday, where the paupers are put up to auction, " and their labour sold for the week, and it often hap- " pens that theie is no bidder; that this want of em- ** ployment does not arise from an overstock of hands, " but from the want of money in the farmers to pay the ** hands out of employ." — By Mr. Nathan Driver, ofpERNEUX Peliiam, Herts : " That the labourers " in the parish are let out ; and that when a young man ** has a ba!^tard laid to him, he chooses now not to enter " into bonds to iraintain the bastard, but to goto prison." — By Mr. Lister Eli.is, of Liverpool : " That in " the workhous3 in that place, they make the labour as *' irksome and disagreeable as tliey can devise, in order " to induce the labourers to resort to their own re- ** sources ; that he thinks that the able-bodied labourers ** are made too comfortable in this workhouse ; that *' when any of them have been sent to the House of " Correction from the workhouse, and come back, they say they would rather be sent to the House of Cor- rection agiin." — By a Wiltshire Magistrate, who is not riamed : ** That, according to the price of ** labour in the neighbourhood of Hindon and Salisbury, " on the 24th of June, 1828, the weekly * earnings ' of " a man, wife, and one Fon, amounted to nitie shillings " a week ; and if the man had Jive children besides, " he was allowed, in * relief,' Is. 9^d. a wee^ , in addi- " tion to the earnings ; and, as the bread was Is. 3d. " the gallon-loaf, at the same time and place, each of " these people had 160 ounces of bread in a week, or (( (< ii i I ,!i 12 EMIGRATION, [LETtER *' 21 ounces a-day, and nothing else, and nothing for " drink, fuel, clothing, or lodging ! " That, according to a return of places and pensions, laid before parliament in the year 1808 (no return of the like sort having since been submitted to the public), there were several hundreds of persons belonging to noble families who received pensions, or the amount of sinecures, out of the taxes raised upon the people; that there were whole families maintained in this manner, women and children as well as men, without any, even the smallest, pretence of their ever having rendered any service to the country ; and that no parliamentary committees have ever sitten in order to devise the means of lessening the charge of keeping these people. That, during this last session of parliament, a bill passed the House of Commons, authorizing the keepers of poor- houses, of hospitals, and of debtor-prisons to dispose of the dead bodies of the most unfortunate part of the poor, for the purposes of dissection ; that though this hiii. did not pass the House of Lords, the Prime Minister said that he approved of the principle of it ; that the jnan wlio brought tlie bill into the House of Commons, iind whose name is Waiiburton, has given notice that he will revive it next year ; and that, no bill has ever been proposed to autborize the tax-payers, or any public servants whomsoever, to dispose of the dead bo- dies of these men, women, and children, kept out of the taxes, nor of the dead bodies of the " poor clergy of the Church of England," who, according to the financial returns laid before parliament, have been ^' relieved^* out of the taxes, as the poor are relieved out of the rates. That a petition, presented to the House of Commons in 1793, by Mr. Grey, now Earl Grey, and received I.) WHETHER ADVISABLE. 13 by that House, stated, and offered to bring proof to the bar, that a decided majority of that House was returned by 154 persons, some of them peers, and some of them rich commoners; that the House of Commons, during ,the last session (though no reform has taken place) voted 114 against 44 that there were no decayed boroughs^ and other places, for which members could be returned through the instrumen" tality of money ; and that a return laid before the same House in 1805, shows that the then members of that House received amongst them, annually y £178,994 of the public money. 4. A large volume would not contain a bare statement of the facts which might be stated as bearing directly on th's case. But, if here be not enough, no man can imagine enough : if here be not enough to make a man, who has some money left, and a family to provide for ; if here be not enough to make such a man look about him, and begin to stivy nothing is enough : he must be fashioned for slavery, and, finally, for being a subject for the sons of " science.'' However, the present case is not half described in the above propositions ; for, by the last measure relating to the money of thejcountry, the taxes will, in reality, be doubled before Christmas next. Dreadful is the ruin already ; but it must be, beyond all measure, greater in a few months' time. By the time that the small notes shall be all taken in, and their circulation put an end to, every man will pay just twice as much, in reality, in tax, for a pot of beer, or a bushel of malt, as he paid only last year. It will be the same in all other cases. Tradesmen and farmers are now pushed to their wits' end ; they are daily declining in their circum- stances : any money that they may have saved is melting away ; their property is, under this diminution of the quan- tity of small notes, butter before an April sun ; but, by- ' • i il if I 14 EMIGRATIOX, [letter 1 I.] and-by, the remainder will, under the total abolition of those notes, be butter before a July sun. 5. The parliament has separated, and has left all the taxes unrepealed ; while they have left the Small-note Bill to cause to be doubled in value the money in which the taxes are paid. One of two consequences will result: the Jive-pound notes will all be drawn in by degrees ; or, there will be, as there was in 1797, a run upon all the banks, and upon the Bank of England in particular, unless this be prevented by a law of legal tender, like that of 1797. If the former, prices will be much about what they were in 1792, before the five-pound notes came out; and the tax- payers, and even the tradesmen and farmers, will be reduced Tery nearly to bread and water. Let me explain this mat- ter ; for, though I have, in other writings, done this a thou- sand times over, it may now be necessary to do it once more. 6. This affair of paper-money, which boasts of a greater number of victims than famine, pestilence, and the sword, all put together, has ahvays been a species of wys- tery ; and, notwithstanding the dreadful sufferings which it -has occasioned, it is, generally speaking, a mystery still. It is irksome to repeat what one has so often said ; but, upon this occasion, I must repeat. Many, who disregarded what I said formerly, will now pay attention to the very same words. First, then, taxes are so much taken away for ever, so much clear loss to those who pay them*. Second: the greater the quantity of money that there is circulating in any country the higher the prices will be in that country : for instance, if meat be to-day 6d. a pound, and if, to-morrow, the quantity of money be doubled, meat will then be Is. a pound ; and, on the contrary, meat will be 3d, a pound if the quantity of money be reduced in the proportion of one-half. Third; so that the government. ■f! I] WHETHER ADVISABLE. 15 by causing the small notes to be drawn in, and thereby lessening the quantity of money circulating in the country, cause all prices to be lowered; cause a shop full of goods, or a farmer's stock, to sell for much less than either of them sold for before ; and the farmer who has to pay a fixed rent, and whose stock was bought when it was at high price, loses greatly by this change in the value of money ; and the shopkeeper, who has bought his cloth, for instance, at 20^. a yard, is compelled to sell it for 15s. perhaps; and, if either of these be in debt he is a ruined man; and this is the case of hundreds of thousands of farmers and trades- men at this very moment. 7. Let us take an instance : A is a London wholesale dealer in shirts, which he has made lip, and which he sells to retail dealers in town and country. He has bought his cotton, of which the shirts are made, at Is. a yard, and a shirt takes 3 yards, and the making is Is., so that he must, to have a profit, sell the shirt for more than 4s. But the government lessens the quantity of circulating money, and A can sell his shirts for only 2s. each ! If he have saved any money, he thus loses it ; if not, he is ruined. His shop, his scale of living, the wages of his work-people, all have been bottomed on the 4s. shirt. For his shop he must still pay the same sum; and, though he turn off half his work- people, and reduce the rest to 6d. a shirt, he must be ruined, unless behave saved money beforehand. 8. But, suppose him to have saved money, and to be able to get ovef this blow ; suppose him to be able to bear the loss on this shopful of goods, and that he (as he will of course) take care to buy, next time, sufficiently low to save himself from loss: still there are the taxes. These, direct and indirect, take from every tradesman and farmer more than one half of his profits, including the interest on his capitalf or money embarked in his business. The small * "ll 16 EMIGRATION, [letter notes being circulating freely, and the quantity of money in the country being great, farmer B has to pay, altogether, 100/. a year in taxes; and, as wheat is 10s. a bushel, he has, in fact, to give the tax-gatherer 200 bushels of his wheat. But the government having drawn in the small notes, and made money, in quantity, one-half what it was before, wheat falls to 5s. a bushel, and farmer B has to . give the tax-gatherer 400 bushels of his wheat ; and' this works farmer B to an oil, though he cannot think how it is that he becomes poor ; and he, if base enough to be ready to crawl on his belly to the government, abuses any one that tells him that he is beggared by the taxes; **be- causcj" says he, " I pay no more in tax now than I did years ago." The brute does not, and he will not, perceive, that, though the sum is the same in name, it is, in fact, doubled in amount. If the slavish brute were to pay in wheat instead of money ^ he would perceive how he was ruined ; but, such is the baseness of many farmers, that, even then, such brutes would, for the far greater part, lay the blame on something other than the conduct of the government. 9. Besides, the THING is crafty enough to deceive the devil himself. It comes at the people in so many different^ and in such covert ways, that it requires a degree of atten- tion and penetration, much greater than that which falls to the lot of men in general, to enable a farmer, or any body else, to discover, or even to guess at the amount of the taxes that he really does pay ; and when you talk to farmers in general upon the subject, you hear them say that it cannot be the taxes that make the distress^ for that they pay no taxes, except ** a trifle for dog, horse, gig, and windows." They do not, and will not perceive, that in the cost of malt and hops taken together, more than a half is tax ; that in the cost of soap and' candles more than a half h tax ; that, lit !i r '•] WHETHER ADVISABLE. 17 in the' cost of tea, two-thirds are, heforc it reach them, tax ; that, in the cost of sugar, three-fourths are tax; that, in the cost of tobacco, nine-tenths are tax ; that, in the cost of spirits, seven-eighths are tax ; that, in the cost of shoes, more than one-half is tax j that, in the cost of other wear- . ing apparel, including the taxes on wool, on cotton, on silk, on dyeing stuff, and on some of the goods themselves, after made, full one-half is tax ; that, in the cost of pepper, at this moment, the j)rice is 'Sd. and the tax 2s. a pound ! Let me eay this in words, lest the world should not believe it. Pepper, at this moment, costs threepence a pound, in the port of London ; and the tax on that pound is two shillings. It is much about the same with all other spices, drugs, and the like. Besides those articles, there is the iron, and the leather, and timber, used by farmers and others. In short, we can touch nothing, we can see nothing, that is not taxed ; and it is an indisputable fact, that every tradesman and ' farmer pays, in one way or another, to the government, in taxes, more than one-half of the profits of his business, in- cluding the interest of the money employed in that business. If we ride in a chaise, or a coach, or on a horse ; if we keep a dog ; if we have a window to see through, or servant to assist us, a large part of the cost is tax. We can have no title to property, no right of occupation ; we can neither lend nor borrow, nor pay, nor receive money ; nor can we , ask for law or justice ; without paying a tax : and when the breath is out of our bodies, the government demands a strict account of our bequests, and takes from our children, or others, a large part of what we leave behind us. The poor taxes must be included, because they are caused by the other taxes. If a labouring man got his malt for 3s. a bushel, his beer for l|df. a pot, his tea for Is. 6d. a pound, his sugar for 3d. a pound, his meat for 2d. a pound, bis bread for Ic?. a pounds his spirits at Is. a gallou, and so on, as 1 r, ; ■ )' m 18 EMIGRATION, [lettje* is now the case in America, there would be no need of poor rates. Tliis being the case, how is a farmer or tradesman to make head against these taxes now, when they have been, within three years, augmented in real amount one-third; and when it is evident that they must soon be doubled ? 10. But, now, look at another part of this process of ruin. Some years back, the salaries of the judyes, those of the police magistrates, the pay of the army, the allowances to Royal Family, and, in short, the pay of all persons in office, who were paid out of the taxes, was augmented; doubled in some instances, and more than doubled in others. And, on what ground was this done ? Why, expressly on the ground that the great quantity of paper-money that was cir- culating had caused prices to rise ; had made the money of the country less valuable; and, of course, that the sol- diers and others ought to have a larger sum of it. Well ! If this were just then, what ought to be done noiv, when the paper-money is become small in quantity, and when prices are as low as they were before the salaries and pay were augmented ? Why, those salaries and that pay ought to be reduced, to be sure, to their old nominal amount : but the government have no notion of this; and the tax- eaters are, apparently, to continue to receive, in fact, more and more, until, at last, the tax-payers must be reduced to absolute beggary. Observe, too, that almost the whole of the debt was contracted in money not half so valuable as the present money ; and y-et we are now to pay, and do pay, to the fundholder the same nominal interest ; or, in other words, we pay him twice as much as we ought to pay him ; and, mind, the government cannot reduce the interest of the fundholder without reducing their oiun salaries ! So that now the tax-payers have, if they remain here, and if no re- duction of taxes take place, certain ruin and degradation before their eyes: they must daily sink lower and lower^ tipl (i ' «•] WHETHER ADVISABLE. 19 while the tax -eaters daily tower higher and higher above them : and, observe, the Prime Minister declared, on the (?6th of May, in his place in the House of Lords, that, even if the whole of the debt had been contracted in money of the low value, good faith required that the interest should be paid in money of the present value y that is to say, in money double the value of that) in which the great part of the debt was contracted ! Of course, there can be no intention on the part of the government, to lessen the no- minal amount of the taxes, while it is clear that, in a few months* time, the real amount will be twice as great as it was only about two years ago ! Under such a burden, no trade, no agriculture, can be carried on without loss : trades- men must spend their savings, live on their creditors, or quit their business ; and farmers must spend their savings, pay no rent, or flee from their farms. The placeman and pen- sioner gains, on the contrary, by this operation. There is, for instance, little Hobhouse's Father, who Yidi.^ twelve hundred pounds a year, as commissioner of the Nabob of Arcot's debts, and a house to live in. The rise in the value of money, which has been caused by the withdrawing of the one-pound notes, really doubles Old Hobhouse's salary. That salary will buy him and his wife and family twice as much to eat, drink, or wear, as it would have bought them in the year 1825. !Put, while the drawing in of the small notes does this for the family of Hob house, see what it does for the tradesmen, whom tKe Rump enable young HoBHOUSE to insult by calling them his " constituents^ One of these has sent me a statement of his receipts, in ready money, in each of the months, during the last ten years. I will here insert his letter to me, as well as his statement of receipts ; and when I have done so, I will add some remarks : [i if I 1 I J 20 EMIGRATION, [letter 1] '. ) ^ l| 'S:. TO MR. COBBETT. glK London, 28lh May, 1S29. On reading your letter to the Duke of Wellington, in the Register of the 2d instant, relative to the receipts of the Market GardeneVy I could not but think with you how applicable the statement was to all classes of persons en* gaged in every sort of business. I have, therefore, the first opportunity, ascertained from my own books for ten years past the sums I have taken across the counter ; that is, in ready money, totally independent of money paid me on the credit business. You see. Sir, how my receipts cor- respond with his. I should have gone back to the year 1816, as he has done, but cannot conveniently lay my hand upon the book having the account previous to 1819, I have stated the receipts of each month, merely to show how quick the effect of PeeVs bill was felt ; pray mark Prosperity Robinson'' syedLt; and then see the extraordinary fall-off in the following year of 1826. As yotl say with regard to the Market Gardener's expenses remaining the same, so do mine, as far as respects house-rent and taxes, I have lessened my expenses, as far as I possibly can, by discharging my assistants ; but still it will not do : but how long the thing may hold together we can only guess. My hope is, that the Minister may hold to the bill, as I am as certain as of death, that it is the only thing that will ulti- mately cause stability in prices, and give stability to the government itself. One thing is certain, that to your shop they must at last go. For myself, I care but little ; but, unfortunately, T have property of some very worthy people in my trade ; and I grieve that I cannot abstract it there- from, — I have sent you, Sir, my name and address ; you will at once see, that by publishing them I might run the risk of being seriously injured ; as such you will please to refrain from doing so. I am. Sir, Yours, «&c. • 00 N 00 •1 { m *>. «>» 00 F4 • VO « 00 00 w 00 1— ^ o «»«» »« O) 00 .-H M 00 r-* S O -*• M 00 ^ M "*>» .2^ •u ^ V . ft^ ^ 00 c N o\ « VO MJ n OV M 00 >♦ -1 • 00 4 2 M O o o M 00 to t4 M ? *^5i ^ OV M M . • 4NO O o VO MJ VO VO M VO -<• f< ON *>• 00 ■♦J i#> ON 4^ **5 ve 00 »0 M M VO 00 (4 OV »0 1 •irt m ^« Wl ■4 00 to \0 o\ to OV to o o • NO 400 VO OS o -♦ M MS 00 't M '^ = 00 M s* M B •s- o N? 00 o MS 00 ^(ll ■o'^ »o 00 OV O o •* t^ to o m *>. <-• • -.•2 •Ml M WJ to »*5 ON r4 o VO ■4 00 M 00 f 00 ON to to 00 M nS^ to f4 -a* 00 Wi •♦ o WJ 4» OV VO ««• to OV • » «*. o M M t« 00 S8 M vg^ M M to N4 to t» VO •4 5- VO •«^ »^ >o "J O^ O NO to ** ^4 M • (4 ««^ •* 00 WJ ** 00 0» O ON IC 00 to t< 00 'rtSs M 00 VO VO M M ^ NO OV 5 00 00 to .^00 W3 VO c« »o o m OV o o o «>• VO • 0,*^ o W5 P4 V CO o o NO VO 00 l»4 00 vO OO '-^^ CO ^ ft4 OV eg to OV 8n 00 p* M ■e^ o *>. 00 * O «J »o lO to WJ t* t» • 4 ON VO ■Of *4 CO 00 t o ^ 00 o 00 M 00 • HI »4 OS OV re 00 OV 00 VO 00 00 M NO 00 00 H4 -e '^ MJ ON >o *^ »o « M o OV o 00 . ^ i^ M ** N w to o ^ to 00 VO »4 ON VO m oo «^^ « o VO VO pm OV o CO t» OV OV •««^ 00 "* -* NO 00 t^ to (4 »4 M o • ON -:? M 00 Mi m to 00 ON 00 to so M9 *<• 00 o 55 • u V Q 22 EMIGRATION, [letter 1 1 . Now, tax-payers, look well at this statement, and say where this ruin is to stop! See how the receipts fell, from 1819 to 1822, v^hile the small notes were going in; also see how those receipts ros£, from 1823 to 1825, while the small notes were coming out ; and then see how they TELL again from 1826 to 1828, while the small notes were going in. Look at the receipts of 1828, compared with those of 1825! Look at the whole thing; reflect that we are by no meanSyasyet^got near to the lowest point ; &nd, then, if you be not a tax-eater, hope, if you can, to escape utter ruin, unless you flee in time. If you have nothing to lose, you can lose nothing) but, reader,if you have any thing left ; if you be tradesman or farmer ; if you get nothing out of the taxes ; and if you would rather keep your property for the benefit of your own family than give it up for the benefit of the family of Hob house, or the like-, begin to look about you ! 12. Let us see, now, the manner in which this works on. This tradesman receives goods from the manufacturers in the North, and sells them out of his shop in London, some by retail and some to little dealers. In consequence of this falling off in his trade, his orders are lessened in proportion ; the people in the North have a like falling off; those that they purchase food and raiment from have the same ; the London tradesman keeps less servants, and spends less on eating and drinking ; all these parties become poorer and lower than they were before; while the tax-eaters are, from the very same cause, becoming richer and higher : the tradesman must sell his horse and gig ; but old Hobhouse, or such like placeman, can afford to clap on an additional pair of horses to his carriage. The Duke of Welling- ton seems to think, that it would be a good thing to make the tradesman come down to a lower state than that which he is in at present; but, there can be no stop; there ¥: I] ^VHETIIE^ ADVISABLE. 23 caD be no resting place for him, till he be utterly ruined ; that is to say, if the present measures be to be persevered in. It is the same with the farmer, and, indeed, with all those who have not fixed incomes^ and who do not receive apart of the taxes. 13. Some people have a notion that, vhrn things come io their worst f they will mend. Why should they ? Why should this be true in any case ? If the present law remain in force ; if the ministers go on making the money of high' er and higher value ^ and, at the same time, compel the people to pay the interest of the fundholders and all the placemen, pensioners, sinecure people, soldiers, and the like; in the same nominal sums that we now pay them ; if, in other words, the ministers go on, taking more and more from the tax-payers to give to the tax-eaters, until the far- mer, for instance, can pay not a farthing of rent, and until tradesmen be reduced to actual beggary : if we come to this pass, why and how are things to mend ? If people go on sinking by degrees, until they become half- starved slaves, they remain such, to be sure. If the present money-measures go on, until the bushel of wheat sell for 4s,, and until that become its settled price, and, until cloth, and cotton, and other goods sell for the half of what they sell for now, why should these things ever sell at a higher price ? If the drawing in of a part of the small notes (for they are half out yet), have, since 1825, reduced the above trades- man's receipts from f 2,304 a year, to £774 a year, what reason is there to hope, that, when the whole of the small notes shall be withdrawn, his receipts will become larger ? What reason f what sense, is there, then, in hoping that *< things will mend, when they get to their worst ? " What fool ever yet comforted himself with the reflection that his occasional asthma must, at last, become a settled consump- tion ? What miscreant, even what brazen Boroughmonger 44 EMIGRATION, [letter i; villain, ever yet looked anxiously for hell as the end of all his troubles ? Oh, no ! To talk of things mending is mad- ness; or, rather, it is cowardice. Men are ashamed- to submit to ruin so clearly seen ; and, therefore, they pretend to believe, that this ruin will briiig its own remedy. Here is tax-payer A compelled to give up nearly all the fruits of his industry to tax-eater B, leaving himself little more than bare food and raiment : here are laws and regulations which compel A to continue always to do this : and yet this A is such a base coward as to pretend to believe, that, by-and-by, when these laws and regulations have w^orked on, so as to compel him to give to B still more of the fruits of his labour, he shall be ^^ better off,' things will ^'' mend" \siih. him, things will " come about ! " 14. But, we are told, *' things have come about before.^* True ; and we have a very striking proof of this in the re- ceipts stated in the above table. Here we see, that Peel's Bill of 1819 had, in 1822, brought down the receipts from £1,663 (which was the amount in 1819) to £1,183, which was the amount in 1822; and, we see, that, in 1825, the receipts rose up to £2,304 ! So that things did come about ; they did mend; and, WHY should they not now mend again ? The answer to this question will contain all that any man of sense will want to know on the subject : the answer to this WHY is the all-in-all, relative to the matter of emigration, and relative to the fate of this country ; and, therefore, I beseech you to pay attention to this answer, which lies in a small compass, and which is as follows : 15. The error, the fatal error, has arisen from our using the neuter instead of the active verbs, in speaking of the change which took place in the years from 1823 to 1825, both inclusive. If, instead of saying, that " things came " about, and that things mended" we had said, that ** things *' were put about, and that things were mended,* we should have had ])ect: if thing whi now be < place of I that the i 1825 wai small not that is to approach farmers t tioned, a notes for stood to \ notes, m; sperity," £2,304 ii The gove borrowec them awj culating i 16. In mended, fore they 1822, an and thro\ have bee way that gone aw< of these and thej tion. A the hero present ••] WHETHER ADVISABLE. 25 have had a more correct idea of what we ought now to ex> pect : if we had spoken of the change of 1823 to 1825 as a thing which was made by Act of Parliamenty we should not now be expecting that another such a change would take place of itself ; of its own accord; that it would come about ; that the thing would mend itself! The change of 1823 to 1825 was made thus: In July, 1822, the law required the small notes to be totally abolished on the Ist of May, 1823 ; that is to say, in nine months from July, 1822. This near approach of the small-note suppression brought traderti and farmers to such a state of ruin, that, in the month just men- tioned, an Act was passed to legalize the issue of small notes for eleven years longer! This was, in fact, under- stood to be for ever. This act brought out millions of small notes, made money plenty, raised prices^ made ""pro- sperity ^^^ and," in 1825, made the receipts of the tradesman £2,304 instead of the £1,183, which they were in 1822. The government, at the same time that it passed this Act, borrowed many millions of notes of the Bank, and paid them away, so that they made another addition to the cir- culating money. 16. In this manner things were put about, things were mended, in 1823 to 1825 ; and if the Collective had, be- fore they separated this year, passed an ^ct like that of July, 1822, and had borrowed nine or ten millions in bank notes, and thrown them into circulation; then, indeed, things might hv-ive been reasonably expected to comt about ^ in the same %vay that they did in 1823 to 1825. But, the Collective are gone away, (for which I thank God !) and have done neither of these ; they have passed no Act in favour of small notes ; and they have borrowed no bank notes to throw into circula- tion. And, while the Collective has acted thus, the minister, the hero of Waterloo, has told us, that he will adhere to the present law ; that iis, that he will go on, until all tUo smaU c SI: i i , H i 26 EMIGRATION. [letter jiotes be extinguished; which, as I have siiown, is just the same things as 8ent€ikcing all tax-pa.yers, who are not tax- receivers, to great decline, at least, and, in most cases, to juin and degradation ! 17. Now, let us look at the consequences, if the govern- ment should give way, and put the small notes out again. This cannot be done now without being accompanied with,- or speedily followed by, a law to protect the banks (all the banks) against paying in gold. The notes would then be iieither more nor less than assignats : these would depreciate lit a great rate : the gold and silver would not circulate upon a par with them : there would be two prices for goods, a paper-price and a money -price : the taxes wduld be paid in paper ; and, perhaps, a sheep would soon be sold for a pound in money, and for two or three pounds in paper. The state must be a beggar in a very short time ; and this is what will to a certainty take place, if the government put out the one pound notes again. So that, thus far^ we see the government left to choose between the utter ruin and flegradation of the people on the one hand, and the beg^ fjaring and overthrow of the state on the other. There is, however, another course ; namely, the EQUITABLE ADJUSTMENT, prayed for in the Norfolk Petition. This would be effectual, just, and safe ; but this is my remedy , and, therefore, will not be adopted. 18. If the small notes were to be put out again, and be accompanied, as they must be, with bank-restriction and legal tender, and these followed by assignats and twopriceSf the times would be good for tradesmen and farmers, espe- cially for poor ones ; and, as even the present measures, if well followed up, must give the whole system a terrible shaking in a year, or two, or three ; this being the case, I, if I were a tradesman or farmer, with little or no money f should be disposed to remain to see the tipshot, or, at any I.J WHETHEIl ADVISABLE. 27 ust the at tax- ises, to govern- again. td with,- (all the then be predate ite upon roods, a be paid lid for a ir. The d this is nent put , -we see uin and the beg- Thete TABLE ti. This remedy, , and be tion and JO priceSf rs, espe- neasures, terrible e case, I, money f ►r, at any rate, to remain a year or so longer, especially if my age and family Were such as not to render the loss of a year or two of much importance. But, if I were a tradesman or farmer, and had money suflScient to set me down in a farm, or in a shop, or iu any business in the settled part of the United States, and had a family to provide for, not one single penny more of that money should go to pay the doubled sa- laries, doubled pensions, doubled soldiers' and sailors' pay, and doubled dividends to the fundholders, notwithstanding the hero of Waterloo says, that " good faith " requires such payment. I, without finding fault with those who are fond of a dear government, would seek a cheap one ; without by any means setting myself up as a critic on the taste of those who like to pay for archivays, the bare sculpture of one of which costs thirty-four thousand pounds, I would certainly go to a country where the Chief Magistrate costs the nation less than that sum in five years ! In short, having the money, I would put it out of the reach of those, who would, if I remained, take it from me and give it to the fundholders, soldiers, sailors, placemen, pensioners, dead-weight, sinecure people, and parsons. And, were I a gentleman, carrying on no business and following no profession, and able to remove ray property, I would do the same. I could not live here without giving to placemen and the rest much more than half my income. I defy any one to point out the means of avoid- ing this. If, therefore, there were nothing particular be- longing to me to induce me to remain, in the hope of being able to effect something in behalf of myself and my neigh- bours; if there were nothing to make me believe myself able and likely to assist in producing some change for the bettery not a penny more of my income should the double-salaried placemen have. 19. It being, for the reasons which 1 have here stated, my opinion^ that things are now such, in England, and the pro- c 2 m u t -.-i-i ^ ill I ,■'1 Ml the infirm^ the helpless, from no matter what cause, might be better off indeed, if they were now in America ; but, there is the going thither ; there is the pulling up and transplanting, and the taking root again ; and there are toil and sufferings of some sort or other at- tending these movements ; and therefore they are not to be '.. ,■; j:i I ft) lErf I 30 EMIGRATION. « ' i! m [lettek undertaken, unless the party see before him pretty nearly a certainty of bettering his lot. Above all things, no man should remove to another country for fear of being compelled to load a parish in this country » Let no man afflict his mind with fears of that sort ; for he, a thousand to one, has already done more for the rich, than they will ever do for him. I do not wish, by any means, to inculcate ingratitude; and I hold it to be perfectly proper, that people in the lower walks of life should carry themselves respectfully towards those, whom birth, or superior talent, or industry, have placed above themselves ; but, generally speaking, the poorer part of the people of England have, of late years, been so cruelly treated, even by the laws themselves, that there is seldom to be found a man o€ any of the labouring classes from whom gratitude is due to any persons in the higher classes. There- fore, if the party has no other motive for removing, except that of sparing the purses of the rich, I advise him to re- main. I have just heard, that, in Wiltshire, a young man has been sent to prison for a month j for no other of* fence than that of not going to shut a gate, when the Bailiff of the owner bid him do it. Two young men had passed thrcugh the gateway of a field, and left the gate open. The Bailiff ordered one of them to go and shut it ; the young man, who was not in the service of the Bailiff's master, did not do it. The Bailiff summoned him before a Magistrate, who, for that offence alone, which he described as a had crime, sent him to prison for a month, the county having to maintain him in prison a«nd to pay the constable about 12s. for taking him thithen In that same parish, from which this young man is sent, the county rates are nearly seven times as great as they were thirty years ago. The MoRi^iNG Herald newspaper of the 29th June of this year, says: "Last week a poor man named ABRAikA5J ** Gentry, was sentenced to three months* imprisonment^ n-] PERSONS FIT FOR IT. 31 " in Chelmsford Jail, for stealing three cabbageSf the pro- " perty of Mr. Win. Moore, of Great Burstead." 22. Such is the tieatment of the labourers of England. Why, if the proprietor of a field in America were to attempt to punish a man for taking even a cart load of cabbages ; that is tp say, to punish him by sending him to jail, he would not have his brains knocked out, to be sure ; but he would never have a neighbour to come near him again as long as he lived. Until of late years, to take cabbages, or such things, was merely a trespass according to our law, for which trespass the depredator was answerable by civil action ; and such is the law in America now ; and, as to sending a man to jail for leaving a ffate operiy that is directly contrary to the laws as they now stand. But, what means of redress has this poor young man : how is he to call the magistrate to account? Where is he to find a defender? He has no defender : he has no redress ; and he has nothing to support him under the oppression but the just vengeance treasured up in his heart. 23. In what manner English labourers are treated when they get to America, I shall have amply to show in the next letter. I would add here, that, if they be of a timid cha- racter; if they be slavishly inclined; if they be of that character which fits them for slaves, it is no matter where they are, and they may as well have task-masters here as any where else : but, if they be of a different character ; if they be worthy of freedom and of happiness, the way to obtain that freedom and happiness will be pointed out to them in' the next letter. ; . . 24. As to tradesmen and farmers, those amongst them who are willing to continue to be underlings all their life long ; tboee who are too timid to venture beyond the smoke of their -chimiieys ; those who cannot endure the thought of ! ' i e = 32 EMIGRATION. [letter i; i: ,i'h 4>j encountering things which they call inconveniences; and especially those who cannot be happy unless they have slaves to serve them, will do exceedingly well to remain where they are. There is a description of persons who are quite willing to be slaves themselves, provided they are able to play the tyrant over others. This character is now become a great deal too general ; and all persons of this character ought to remain where they are ; for, never will they find a slave, not even a black one, to crawl to them in America. 25. Provided a man be of the right stamp ; provided he be ready to encounter some little incoi.venience in the removal ; provided he be a man of sense, and prepared to overcome the little troubles which the removal must necessarily give rise to; and, especially, provided that he be of that character which will make him happy without seeing wretched crea- tures crawling to him, his age is of little consequence ; and the age and number of his children are of little consequence also. I have known men of sixty years of age go to Ame- rica, take a family with them, settle that family well, and, after living many years surrounded by them, leaving them with a certainty that they would never know want. There are thousands of tradesmen and farmers at this moment in England, that know not what to do ; know not which way to turn themselves ; know not, whether to keep on business or to leave off, fearing, do' what they will, that they shall lose the earnings of their lives. They look wildly about them, in anxious search of hope, and every where they behold the grounds of despair. They think of emigration: they hesi- tate : there are the fears of their wives : there are their own fears and doubts ; and, while they are hesitating, doubting, and fearing, their money goes away ; and, at last, they must land in America as mere labourers or journeymen, or they must remain to pine away their lives in penury, and, perhaps, II.] PERSONS FIT FOR IT. 33 to die with the moral certainty that their bodies will be con- signed to those who will mangle them to pieces for the im* provement of science. 26. Why, if such people were, even after they had spent their money, to land in America with nothing but their clothes on their backs, their emigration would be an im- provement of their condition : they would, with one half of the industry which they have been accustomed to practise here, possess more of money and of estate than they ever possessed here ; and this, bold as the assertion may appear, I pledge myself to prove in the next letter. But these things are demanded in order to ensure success : first, health of body with tolerable strength ; second, a willingness to labour, and a character sulficient to enforce obedience in the family ; third, an absence of that base pride which will not sufifer a man to be happy without having somebody unde2' him. 27, There is one other quality, without the possession of which, all the rest are of no use ; i.amely, that quality which enables a man to overcome the scruples, the remon- strances, and the wailings of his wile. Women, and es- pecially English women, transplant very badly, which is indeed a fact greatly in their praise. It is amiable in all persons to love their homesy their parents, their brethren, their friends, and their neighbours ; and, in proportion as they have this love in their hearts, they will be reluctant to quit their home, and especially to quit their country. English women have an extraordinary portion of this affec- tion ; and, therefore, they are to be treated with all possible indulgence in the case here contemplated, provided that in- dulgence do not extend so far as to produce injury to their families and themselves. Some of them, by no means destitute of these amiable feelings, have the resolution voluntarily to tear themselves from ruin and slavery for the c5 \i !■] .' .i' I 1 34 BMIORATION. [letteu II.] ^i sake of their children. Others have not this aort of reso- lution; and there are some who are obstinately perverse* It is a misfortune when this happens to be the case ; but it is a poor creature of a man who will suffer this obstinacy to make him and his children beggars for the remainder of their lives. Nothing harsh ought to be done or attempted in the overcoming of this difficulty ; but, harshness and firm* ness are very different things : this is one of the great con- cerns of a family, with regard to which the decision must be left to the head of that family ; and, if a man should have the misfortune to make part of a family, of which there is neither head nor tail, but which consists of a sort of part- nership, without articles or bonds, it signifies very little in what country the family is ; or whether it be living in a good house, or quartered under a hedge like gipsies. A family without a head, a real efficient practical head, is like a ship without a rudder. It would be a great deal better, that the wife should be the head than that there should be no head at all. In France, man and wife are a sort of partners. The wife calls every thing mine^ and the man sits and holds his tongue while she is gabbling about the concer*?. '<-; • 28. There is one thing which every English wife ought t^ be told, when a husband is proposing to emigrate; and that is, that the American husbands are the most indul- gent in the world ; but, at the same time, she ought to be told, that the American wives are the least presuming, the most docile, the least meddling in their husbands' affairs, and the most attentive to their own affairs, of all the women upon the face of the earth. America is a country full of writers and talkers upon politics ; full of political quarrels and of angry political discussions ; and I do not recollect that lever heard a wife in America open h^r lips upon any such subject. They appear to have no preten-i sions to any right to meddle with their husbands' contterns^ n.] PERSONS FIT FOR, IT. and the husbands, on their part, are certauily the most gentle* and the most indulgent in the world, but not more so than is merited by ,guch wives. I never did know an American that was married to a French woman ; though I have known several American women married to Frenchmen. This last does very well ; but the other would produce strangu work: Jonathan would certainly decamp or hang him- self before the end of a month. At any rate, however, if this difliculty cannot be overcome by the English emigrant; if he meet with perverseness, and cannot completely subdue it, and root it out on this side of the water, he will do well to remain ; for it is the very devil to be baited and worried on the other side of the water ; to be reminded every time the flies settle upon the preserved peaches, that they da not do this in old Englandi;. and to have to show your wit, by observing, that it would be difficult for them to do it in England ; and to add tlie question, whether it were not as well to be annoyed by flies in the eating of pre- served peaches, as not to have cmy peaches to eat I To live in a state of petty civil warfare like this, and that, too, several hours in every day, in cleap addition to the ordinary inconveniences of life, is too great a deduction even from the advantages attending a residence in America; and, therefore, unless a man be man enough to eradicate the perverseness on this side of the water, let him remain here und resign himself with the reflection, that he is one of those mortals that w^ere predestinated to be the slaves of Borough- mongers. 29. Nevertheless, this work of eradicating perverseness, leven perverseness itself, should be performed with a very gentle hand. Great pains should be taken io persuade, to soU" .vince; every appeal should be made to the understanding of the wife and to her natural affection for her children ; and even perverseness itself ought not, in a case like this, '^i be I 96 IMIORAT'OV. [letter I rudely dealt witii. A man is not so much bound to home by his habits ; he who can take a journey to York ; who goes here and there without ceremony; who mixes amongst utter strangers, without any reluctance or inconvenience; -who can take a bed any where : and, in short, who is in the habit of changing place and seeing new faces, and all this without the least dislike. A man ought to consider, that women, and especially women with families, have been long bound to their homes ; to their neighbourhood ; to their small circles; most frequently much in the company of their mothers, sisters, and other relations ; and that, to tear themselves from all these, and to be placed amongst strangers, and that, too, with the probability, and almost the certainty, of never seeing their circle of relations and friends •again ; and to begin their departure on the wide ocean, the dangers of which are proverbial, and perfectly terrific to female minds ; for a woman to do all this, without the ^greatest reluctance, is too much for any reasonable and just man to expect ; yet, if the necessity arise, it Js still his duty towards his ohildren, and even towards the wife her- self, to persevere in the effecting of his object. 30. Every effort should be made to convince her, that her apprehensions are much more imaginary than real ; that, a3 to separation from relations and friends, the separation caused between Canterbury and London, or between Sussex and Warwickshire, is just as effectual as a se* paration caused by a removal to America. That the far greater part of persons separated by the distance between Sussex, and Warwickshire are able to communicate i)nly by letter ; and that, in this respect, the wide separation difiers but very little from the narrow, the parties still hearing from one another, in the former case as well as in the latter. That, as to neighbours and friends, and language and man- ners^ and habits and morals, they are pretty much the same ".] PERSOVrS FIT FOR IT. 37 on both sides of the wat««ry with the exception (as I shall amply prove in the next letter) that the people in America are better neighbours, more friendly, more disposed to assist strangers than the people of England are ; and this for the best reason in the world, because in America they live in a state of ease and abundance, and that in England they do not and cannot. That, with regard to the dangers of the seas, they are of very rare occurrence, and are magnified, as the dangers of riding in stage coaches are, by the circumstance of omitting, when accidents are recorded, to state the vast number of journeys performed with no accident at all : the broken ribs and bruised hips are faithfully put upon record, but the innumerable safe and pleasant journeys are never men- tioned at the same time. That thus it is, with regard to sea voyages : the wrecks, the strokes of lightning, the founderings> are all faithfully detailed ; but the safe passages are ' too common, too uninteresting, even to form the subject of a newspaper. Few wives are so timid as to be afraid to take a journey, in a stage coach, from London to Exeter, and back again ; and yet that journey is more perilous, and far more perilous, than a voyage across the Atlantic in Ameri- can ships commanded by an American captain. A sea voyage is disagreeable ; it is a prison, with more inconve- niences than a prison presents; but these inconveniences do not kill, and they are the contrary of being injurious to health ; and, after all, these inconveniences have an average continuance of not more than five or six weeks. 31 . All these things should be represented to a wife; her wait- ings should be heard with patience ; even perverseness should be borne with as far as possible, if perverseness should, unhap- pily, possess her ; but, after every possible effort has been made to reconcile her to the enterprise, go she must, or stay be- hind by herself: the law would prevent her husband from taking her away out of the King's allegiance hy force; but. l! ! j il ! ■' ij ': 88 EMIGRATION. [letter ll ii the law will not compel the man to stay himself. It is to be hoped, that thero will be few instances in which things will be brought to this extremity ; but, as it is the man whose body must answer for his debts ; and as it is his duty to do that which he thinks is best for his children and his wife, the decision must, and ought to, rest with him. 32. We have recently read in, all the newspapers, of a mail being committed to prison and hard labour for a month, be" cause he had no home; and it has just been proved before the magistrates in quarter sessions inB£RKSiiiR£, that the honest labouringmen,in that county, are allowed less food than the felonsin the jail qfthat county. With these two facts before him, and with the facts which will be stated in the next letter, relative to the happy state of people in America, a man with a family o{ children must not only be weak, but criminal, if he be restrained by the alarms, the fears, or the perverse- ness of a wife ; that is to say, if he be in such state as to make him run the smallest risk of falling into poverty here* ¥1 ) i. ■ll , ! ..■*;! ■■» ,' 1 .^; •O, .■♦■^..1 >';ir::Ui,. in.] 1 . . I \; «.. .Ti', 1 ■ ' !.:»• PARTS TO GO TO. 39 .'•'■•■: .U< Wv JLETTER III. : ' Oti the Parts of the United States to go to, preceded by reasons for going to no other Country, and especially not to an English Colony . • , , . , ; I ■ I \ \ . .1 } n< 33. There is no other country, except English colonies, iu which the English language is spoken, and in which the habits and manners are the same. This is one great thing; but there is no other country in which there is a superabun- dance of good lands, and in which an increase of the popu- lation must necessarily be an advantage to the country. There is no other country where there is any room for numerous strangers; and, besides all these, there is no other country where the people have to pay so small a por- tion of taxes, and where kind and generous neighbours are to be found in abundance. To all these advantages add that of perfect civil and political liberty ; and that, as to religion, the law knows nothiilg at all about it. 34. In English colonies the English language is spoken ; and, as the support of the govemnients there come out of the pockets of the people of England-, there are few taxes in those colonies, though I perceive that they have already an excise even at Botany Bay. But, in the English colonies, there is a worse species of government than there is here ; greater state of tiependence, and less protection from ■ I f" ! t 40 EMIGRATION. [letteh the law. In the year 1826, some persons displeased with the freedom of opinion, exercised by a printer in Upper Canada, did not prosecute him; but went by force and demolished his press, and flung his types into the lake. In fact, there is very little money in those colonies (I am speaking of those that can be considered places to emigrate to), except that which passes through the hands of the government. There are no persons of considerable property ; scarcely one worthy of the name' of farmer ; and no man in those colonies ever thinks of any degree of peace or safety, which he is not to derive from persons in power. 35. As to New South Wales, as it is called, and Van Diemen's Land, the distance, in the first place, makes the voyage a terrible undertaking. When arrived^ you depend on the public authorities for a grant of land. If you have money to purchase pieces [of ground already cleared and cultivated, your servants are convicts, and you are at the joint mercy of them and the murdering natives. Even for the service of the convicts, your sole dependence is on the pleasure of the public authorities ; and, in short, you are infinitely more dependent than any rack-renter under the most greedy and tyrannical boroughmonger in England. If you find yourself miserable, and wish to return, preferring the wretched state that you have left to that which you find, your means of return are gone, and you have to undergo another voyage of seven or eight months, and to return to England a dejected and broken- hearted beggar. 36. The English colonies in North America consist of Lower and Upper Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward's Island. These form an immense extent of country ; but with the exception of a small part of Canada, and here and there a little strip of land in New Brunswick, which have in.] PARTS TO GO TO. 41 been preoccupied, the whole is wretchedly poor : heaps of rocks covered chiefly with fir trees. These countries are the offal of North America ; they are the head, the shins, the shanks and hoofs of that part of the world ; while the United States are the sir-loins, the well-covered and well-lined ribs, and the suet. People who know nothing of the matter frequently observe, that the United States will take our American colonies one of these days. This would be to act the wise part of a thief, who should come and steal a stone for the pleasure of carrying it about. These miserable colonies, the whole of which do not contain, army, blacks, and all, a population equal to that of the single state of New York, are fed, with the exception of Canada, chiefly by food brought from the United States. Flour, beef, pork, and even fresh meat, are brought into these countries from the United States r even green pease and many other vegetables are carried from the United States to regale the petty sovereigns who strut in that country, and are maintained by taxes raised in England. England has possessed those countries for more than a hundred years, except Canada, and has possessed that for pretty nearly a century ; she has squandered hundreds of millions upon them ; and if she were to withuraw the ftipplies of money, which she now sends thither, the whole of them, with the exception of some parts of Canada, would be totally aban- doned in less than a year, except that some of the points near the sea would be, as they formerly were, resorted to by fishermen in the fishing-season. These are no countries to goto: a small part of Canada might become passable; but even there, the government and the state of dependence are such, that no sensible man will hesitate for a moment between that country and the United States, where land is equally abundant, where the products are fine and of infinite variety, and where, with a moderate portion of labour and Si "Ii i r 1. i ftriMt ^1 1?! : V 42 EMIGRATION, [letter care, every man may do well. In short, the choice lies be- tween the country! which has to send for gr«en pease to another country, and the country in which the green pease grow: I am for the latter, and so I think will be every man who has only a moderate portion of very com- mon sense. 37. I have, in my " Year's Residence in America," given an account of the prices of land, of labour, of food, of clothing, house rent, and the like. I shall speak of all these by-and-bye ; but they will be found to be mentioned inci- jdentally in certain original letters from English emigrants in America, to their friends in England ; and here also will be found a striking instance of the worthlessness of the English colonies compared with the United States. I shall here insert these letters^ first giving an account of the source from which 1 have obtained them, and what led me to seek for that source. The reader is to be informed, then, that, since the publication of my *' Year's Residence," several parishes in the East of Sussex have^fo^ rid, as they call it, of many families, that were a great burden to them, or likely to be so, by shipping them off, at the parish expense, to the United States of America ; and the letters in question having been received by their relations in Sussex, ia gen- tleman of the nameof Benjamin Smith published a part of •them for the information of others. I did nw Brunswick,* Oct. 15, 1819. Dear Fatheh, — I arrived in St. John the 16th day of June, after a disagreeable passage. We were struck with lightning in a storm, in which we lost one of our sailors. When I came into tlie above place I saw no prospect of doing any thing there, and pro- ceeded to Fredericton, and had many proposals made me there, but did not accept them. I am now situated 120 miles up the river St. John. The gentleman in whose employ I am, has built me a house in which I now live. I am to have it, and 10 or 12 acres of land, rant free, for three years. 1 expect to be able to maintain my family on this until I get land from Government. Every married man is entitled to 200 acres, and evert/ single man 100. As to saj'ing po- sitively what labourers get, I could not ; but they are paid according to what they can do. I got five pounds the first month and my diet, I must now tell you we are not pestered with revenue officers. We are a free people ; free from rates and taxes. The following are the prices of provisions : — Flour, two pounds ten shillings per barrel, of 196 pounds weight ; butter, from Is. 3rf. to 1*. 6d. per pound; 7nut- ton and beef, from bd. to 6d. per pound ; all wearing apparel are as dear again as in England, St. John river is a very fine river, so that brigs of any size can come from St. John to Fredericton. A man may catch as many fish in an hour as would, do for him and his family for a day. Along the above river it is but thinly inhabited, and very few back settlements. There is plenty of land, but we want men to work it. You would really wonder to see so many i H- I • On the River St. John, in New Brunswick, about 130 milea from the Bav Qf FUNPY. > i ll 4t) EMIGRATION. [lETT£H ihousands of ncros of woody land idle, and good land. I bad every idea of going to the States, but the accounts were so discouraging that I ivoidd not go there, I assure you there are many coming from the States here. Tell my brothers that I have no doubt, after a while, they would do well here, but I would not advise them to come 710W, for they little know the difficulties they would have to undergo heforeihey would get settled : but if they (or I) was once settled Imre, there would be no fear but they would do well. Tell William Turner and Samuel Turner, that if they could come here, and bring llieir sons, they could be settled, provided they had (50/. ; or they could get land (cleared) on the half part of what they could raise, ;md oxen to plough it. Tell William Glover that I can get a gentle- juan to send for him next spring, and to send me an answer if he is willing to come or not. My wife would be obliged to her brother if Apps would send or take a copy of this letter to her father. We •are well, thank God, and it is the sincere wish of your friend, that I may see you all here, but not until I hear something before you come. And am, dear father, Yours truly affectionate, John Watson. N.15. Direct to jNIr. John Hustis, Queensbury County, York, New Brunswick, British America. My wife wo\ild be obliged to you, when you write, to send word how all her friends are. Mr. Stephen Watson^ Hedlescomb, County of Sussex, Emjland. No. 2. Seneca*, County of Ontario, State of New York; Augnstiatli, 1820. Deah Father, — We left Brunswick on the 8th last March. The severity of the winter determined me to take this step. We proceeded up the river St. John towards Quebec. On our way we encountered great difficulties, arising from the cold, and the country being almost an entire wilderness through which w6 passed. From Quebec we l)roceeded up the River St. Laurence to Montreal ; from thence to Kingston, and up the lake to Niagara, where we crossed over into the United States, and travelled east into the State of New York, 100 miles to the English settlement (as it is here called), where I now * A town, of 4,802 iuhabitautSj about 300 miles from New Vobk. III.] PARTS TO 00 TO. 47 live, but do not intend to remain kere long ; tlie land is all taken up, and too dear for a person in my circumstancea to buy. The Ohio is my ultimate object ; there land may be had in plenty for a dollar and a quarter, or 5*. 6d., sterling, per acre. I arrived here about the mid- dle of Juney and have been, for tile principal part of the time since, in the employ of a Mr. Watson, an Englishman, from Northumber- land, of whom 1 bought a cow, for which I paid him in work, be- sides supporting my family. An honest, industrious man can main- tain his family better by three days' work here, than he can in England by six. It is the universal custom here for the employer to find the person employed in victuals. Grain is very low at present j wheat may be bought for Is, 6d., sterling money, per bushel ; and the other kinds of grain proportionally low. Butchers' meat, of all kinds, is exceedingly cheap ; every farmer here has an orchard, in which the apples and peaches hang almost as thick as your hops. Clothing is about the same here as in England . Money is scarce at present, owing to there being no demand abroad for grain, but every thing else is in the utmost profusion ; and I look forward, with a con- iident and well-founded hope, to the time, as not far distant, when / .shall be a freeholdei', and call no man by the degrading name of master. This, you will possibly say, is all idle rant ; — but no, I am acquainted with many here who came to tliis country poor and penny - less, who now possess fine freeholds of from 100 to SOO acres, fine houses, barns and orchards, thriving Jlochs of cattle, sheep, 8fc. What others have done why may not I accomplish 1 This is, in truth, the land of hope. Labour is a pleasurable exertion, because all its profits go to enrich yourself and not another. As your let- ters to me may possibly not arrive before I depart to the Ohio, direct them to Robert Watson, to be, by him, forwarded to me. Your dutiful son, JoHK Watson. Mr. Stephen Watson, Sedlescomb, near Battle, County of Sussex, Old Enijland. No. 3. Aurora*, Dearborn County, Indiana State, June 15th, 1822. Dear Father,— Recollecting my promise to you, not to write till I was perfectly settled, you would not expect a letter so soon as you < " .— ■! i w II I ■ tmmm^m^ n ' ' ■ * Population 54^. 'it': : ! K' i :. ! I !■ J ' |i 43 EMIGRATION. [letter might otherwiee have done. I now consider myself as so settled ; and, though I have, some time ago, written a letter to you, yet it may have miscarried ; and I not only think it right that you should he acquainted vrith my situation, but I wish that you, with all our family and friends, could be with us. We have suffered many hard- ships, as the statement of our journey will show you ; but they were occasioned by my being a stranger to tlie country. You will recol- lect that I started, with my wife and our children, in tlie brig ff^el' lington, for St. John's, Nev) Brunswick, where we arrived June t5th, 1819, after losing one of our mates, by lightning, and one sea- man ; tliere we remained till March 15th, 18^0. New Brunswick, the winter too severe to profit much by farming, I determined to leave it, at all hazards ; I, therefore, with my wife, got a hand- sleigh, in which I placed the children, and drew them on the ice up the St. John's river, about 360 miles, Mary and myself walking, drawing the children after us. You must also recollect that 100 miles of this was not settled, being all wood. We arrived at the head of St. John's river. We travelled on in the same manner, across snow and ice, to the great river St. Laurence, about 180 miles below Quebec ; there we found tlie coimtry, along the bank, thickly set- tled. I then built myself a light waggon, and had all our family provisioned during the time of making the waggon for " I thank you" the good people, who were French Canadians, wi^hm^ us very much to stay with them. In this waggon our children were drawn by myself for upwards of 400 miles, to Kingston, at the mouth of the lake Ontario. There (as every other place, we met with un- common kindness) a gentleman, quite a stranger, not only sent us fcy the steam-boat, free of all expense, to Fort George, but put six or seven dollars in our pockets besides. From Fort George we crossed into the United States, and passed the sximmer at Geneva, Ontario County, New York State. Hearing a more favourable ac- count of the State of Indiana, I once more started on a ramble, and, travelling across the State of New York, I came to O'Lean Point, on the Alleghany river; which river, a very rapid one, I came down in a flat boat to Pittsburgh ; here I staid two days, and, passing on, after being detained by head winds, and the water being very low, landed at Aurora, situated at tlie mouth of Hogan Creek. Here I found myself a stranger, without friends, acquaintance, utensils of any liind, or money, having spent our last dollar a day or two hefore j , T III.] PARTS TO GO TO. 49 added to which, myself uud all our family were caught by illness for six or eight weeks, without the power of doing any thing. But no sooner was our situation known, tliau we hnd plenty of provisions brought to usy and, as our strength recovered, I obtained work at dig- ging, &c. My wife took in sewing, and, by degrees, we have worked it to that I have S5 cows, 2 calves, 9 pigs, and 1 calf expected in August. James is now at school, and I intend to send two in tho winter. 1 Jiave joined with a faimer in cropping : that is, I received one-half of the produce, and had the team found me. I now am working for an Englisli gentleman, named Harris, who is building in Aurora, and owns foyr (juarter seotions up tlie Creek. Mucli good land can be bought, far distant, for one dollar and a quarter per aero, and improved land for not much more : indeed, so good is the pros- pect for a man who must live by industry, that I wish all my friends and acquaintance were here with me. 1 c;u» safely say, I would not, nor would my Mary, return to England on any account whatever. We are now all in good health, and are very desirous of hearing froia you. Direct to John Watson, Aurora, Dearborn County, Indiana State, United States. I wish you would also be very particular not to put the letter into the post-office, as it will be so long in coming ; but put it into the letter-bag of some ship bound to New York or Pliiladelphia. In the earnest desire of hearing from you, I remain yours, John Watson. The best port for you to come to would be Pl.iladelphia or Baltimore, Mr. Stephen Watson, Parish of Sed(escoiub, near Battle, Sussex, Old England. No. 4. A ' ' i I I dJ I ! t aw Aurora, Dearborn County, Indiana, April 26th, 1823. Dfar Father and Mother, — I now write with greater pleasure than I have ever yet done, as it is in answer to ydurs, dated Feb- ruary the 2nd, the only one I have received ; the others, I suppose, must have gone to Canada, where you might think I was settled. It proved very gratifying to us to hear that you all enjoy such general good health, excepting father Vaughan and sister, who could not have been expected to remain long, having teen ill so long. Thougli your letter was written by several persons we cannot answer them se- :M I n 4 rjO KM IG RATION. [letter III.] 4 ■ |iiinit«'ly, hilt must heg of you to rend all to them. You should have iiieiitiouod who my brother .Inmes married ; we suppose it must be Monrv Frt'oland's Bister. IP^e would recommend uU our acquaint' 4(ncrs, who are tired of jtaijing tythes and taxes, to come herey where liftkes are unknown, and taxes hardly worth mentioning, compared In what thfi/ are with you. The only tax we have paid is 1 day's work on the road, and .')') cents, or "is. 3d. for one yoke of oxen. \(ni say Knglnnd is in a very bad state, and farmers are got very lo^. We would say, let them come here ; we were worth nothing when we landed at this place, and now we have 1 yoke of oxen, 1 cow, ;> h()i,'s, and wo intend having another cow. We are not much con- tcrned about Michaelmas and JjOdy-Day here, for as many farms as we chose, we could have for j)aying one-third of the produce. We Jiave just taken 10 acres upon these terms, and John is busily en- i;'u^o(l in ploughing for corn ; he wishes his uncle Kdward was with Jiim \o lielp. Brother Stejjhen inipiires if ho could get employment ; we atiswiT, that any person dei^irous of obtaining a living may do it, and that cnsilr : if he conies, lot him bring uU the money ho can, ;»ul what clothing ho has ; but not to spend any money in buying unnecessary things in England ; here the money will pay him much b.'ttor than there in land. Rabbits and pigeons, particularly the lat- Tov, arc vorv abundant ; and squirrels, which are verv fine eating. 'Ihore are also groat plenty of fish in the river for those wlio take the trouble to catch thoni. Partridges are also very numerous, and wild Tmliors. ^Ve bought 1 for ','.> cents, or 1a-. 1+rf. of your money, which lasted us for t meals. 3foat we buy for 2 cents per pound. .l()h!i ot'fiMi talks of his grandmother, and says we could keep her without wcvh'ins:. Whilst this letter is writing my wife is eating ]>rosevvod poaches and broad, and washing thorn down with good whiskov and water. When our lust letter was written, I mentiontfd I was workii.g for .Mr. Harris, an English gentleman ; I am still working for him, and, probably, shall do for some time. You ex- press a wish to know all our children ; John, bom April t-Cnd, 1809 ; .lames. October iSth, 18 K> ; Naomi, I'ebruan- 7th, 181j; Henry, April 11th, 1U18 ; Eliza Anne, born January 21st, 18'2l, in Langley towuship, on Hogan Crook, Dearborn County, Indiana. Henry is vory well, gonendly in mischief, like all otlier children, and received a kiss, as did all the others, from sister. All our friends who come we would recommend to come in an American ship, and land either at Ealumore cr Philadelphia \ but we should advise them to start ''f\ [letter III.] PARTS TO GO TO. 51 bouUI liuvu it must be acquaint' pr*?, where , compared is 1 duy's B of oxen, t very low, lung wlien m, 1 cow, much con- ly farms as (luce. We busily en- d was with iployment ; may do it, <•// 1)0 can, in buying him much irlv the lat- fine eating, lio take th«' s, and wild )ur money, per pound, d heep her e is eatin;;" with good mentioned I am still You ex- 2nd, 1809 ; 1j ; Henry, in Langley Henry is nd received 5 who come laad either em to start immediately after landing for the western States, as they afford u better prospect for poor people, or indeed any other, than the eastern or older States. Among many other advantages wo enjoy in this country, we can make our own soap, candles, and sugai's; which w« malce by tapping the maple tree, in the breaking of tlie frost, and boiling the water down, clearing it with eggs or inilk. We wish very much to see brother William and Stejdien ; if tliey come they cannot be in a worse situation than we were when we landed, *and for many months after : but then their i>rospects would bo btitter than by re- maining iu England. Our brother W illiam, sister Sarali, and our dear mother must not be hurt if we did not mention them in our last letter ; it was not an intentional neglect, fior our affections for tlieni are as strong as ever, and very often do we wisli they were here ; ft)i- we think it would be much better for them, ns well as William Clover, of whom we wish to hear, — notliing being said of him in your letter. Mary begs you will be particular in mentioning her relations in your next letter, which you must not be angry if we ask to be written closer, so as to contain more h Tonnation, as the postn»;-(i bf letters is rather expensive ; not thatwe'gri dge the money, but\v(» think the sheet might bo made to holdnrore. And now, our dear Father and jMother, us it is not very likely that we shall meet on this side the grave, may it he our fervent prayer, that in the life to come, where there shall be no alloy, no yriefs or difficulties, we may all unite; and there may you, with all the blessed, salute your ever dutiful and affectionate children, John and JMauv W^atsox. P.S. If Stephen comes, we wish him to bring some rye-grass, tre- foil, broom seed, cabbage se«ds, and all garden seeds. Be sure if li« does come, or any others of our friends, to let us know as .soon aspo:T sible. Mary has just made a bushel of soap, which cost me nothing; but her attention and a little labour. Those animals called in your country Excisemen, are not known in this country, so that wo boil soap, make candles, gather hops, and many other things, without fear, which you must not do. We are under no fear about our chil" dren not having food: we hz\Q finer pork vnid fowls thav imi have, and plenty of them. Fowls are sold from tis. 3d. to S>. 4*rf. per dozen; pork at Id. per lb.: eggs Ijrf. for six dozen. Mr. Stephen Watson, Sen., Srdlescomb, near B:tttle,Suss!'x, Old England. Per first packet from New York to Liverpool. Paid to New York, d2 ( • I M III !. ' i I'! m Oi^ EMIGIIATION. No. 5. [letter Auroi a, March 9th, 1825. Dear Father and Mother, — It is now 2 years since we heard from you, excepting in a letter from brother Stephen, saying you were all well. We are longing to near what you are all doing; the particulars of all the family : when j'ou sent the letter, you did not say any thing about William and Sarah, neither who James and Ann was married to. I want to know what is become of William Glover, and whether he loves drink as well as he used to do ; if he does, tell him there is plenty of whiskey here ; if a man wants to kill himself, he need not be long about it, for he may get a gallon a day and his board ; l)ut I hope better things of him ; I hope he has seen into the folly of it before this. We should be very glad to hear from all our friends : we think they would do a great deal better here than in England ; we cannot think what makes so many of them go back, for fve would not come back again for Mr. T'ddert Smith's farm and ail iie has got. The poor home-sick things ! were it not for their poor <]nldren, we would not care if tliey went to bed without supper all their lives ! As for brother Stephen, we should like to know if he is gone back too ; for we expected him this last winter, but have been disappointed } we are rather uneasy at not receiving a letter before tiiis ; if you know any thing about him, we should be glad if you would let us know. We are still farming, have got this season about JO acres of very promising wheat, 7 acres of oats, 13 acres of corn, ] acre for flax, between 1 and 2 acres for potatoes and other garden stuff. We have got a hcrse, a yoke of oxen, a pair of young steers, •A milch cow, and plent}-^ of pigs and fowls. There are plenty of En- •j;lish people in and around our neighbourhood : we rent land of an English woman (true enough, for / have written this letter). We feel ourselves at home among the people : we have regular preaching bv the Methodists and Baptists, hut no parson to tythe us. We make our own soap and candles ; we have just got between 40 and 50 yards of linen from the loom from our last year's flax. Land is 1^ per acre, Congress price ; but land near the Ohio is chiefly taken up, and liigher priced. We live a mile from the river. Aurora is on the bank of the Oliio, so of course we are the same distance from it. We Jiave another little daughter, named Sarah Joanna ; she w^as born on the 29th of February, 1824 ; the other children are all well ; John is grown very much lately j he is almost like a man 3 he has just been III.] III.] PARTS TO GO TO. 53 out a month, and earned himself a summer'r suit of clothes, tliough ^ he is employed at liome on the farm. I let him have his wish ; he sends his best respects to his grandmotlier. There is plenty of walnuts, hickory nuts, wild grapes, plums, &c. in the woods ; peaches grow in great abundance ; the trees bear in three years from the stone. Apples, melons, pumpkins, and a variety of other fruits, ara very easily raised. Write soon, and direct to John Watson, Aurora; Dearborn County, Indiana. From your affectionate son and daughter, John and INIauy Watson. • P.S. We should be very happy to see you ; but as we do not ex- pect to,see you this side of Eternity, we beseech you to prepare for the awful day, when we must all give account of the deeds done in the body, it is the one thing needful : do not put it oft' till it is too late, but fly to the arms of a bleeding Rcdf^^mer, who is willing to save you. Mr. Stephen Watson^ Sedlescomli, Battle. No. 6. Dearborn County, Indiana, November 2yth, 1828. Dear Father and Mother, — We gladly embrace this oppor- tunity of writing to you, to say that we are all enjoying good healtJi at present, and we sincerely hope that, at the perusal of these few lines, you will be the same. We received your letter November 8th, which gave us great satisfaction that you are well, and we are glad to hear that some of you intend coming to America ; and we greatly de« sire that you would all come to this rich fertile country ; for we assure you that there is sufficient room for you all in this Palestine land ; though we do not believe every part of America so good as where we live, and especially the part of" America where brother Stephen lives ; for we know, by experience, that it is not half se cood a country for a poor man to get a living as where we are, though they are well satisfied where tliey live, and we believe their country far better than Old England. Yet we know that their coun- try is not Imlf so good a part of America as where we live. But they know no better, for they have not travelled through America to see the difference. But it is not so with usj for we travelled 2000 or . ^— ».JP-' I ^ 54 EiMIGRATION. [letter .1000 miles through America before we settled ourselvea ; therefore we are better judges than they can be. Here you can rent land bjf giving one third of what is raised on the land; and a man can get IQ pounds of pork or heeffor a day'' s work, or 3 pecks of wheat, and every other kind of provision cheap accordingly. Men who labour hy the day get the aiwve articles, and are boarded in time of doing the work. We are highly gratified to think of father and mother coming, and more so shall we be if you all will come. We advise you to come to New York, and up the river to Albany, where Stephen lives. There you can get information of the road to my house ; but if so be that you are willing to come to us without coming by Stephen, we think it much the best for you to land at Baltimore, and come from there to Pittsburgh, on the Ohio river, where you can get a passage in the steam-boat, for a very few dollars, to Aurora, within five miles of my house. It would be a great deal cheaper and nigher from Baltimore or Philadelphia than Albany, from either of *.he three ports. You must inquire for Pittsburgh, on the Ohio river. Wo want you to fetch with you early-york, sugar-loaf, curtle, savoy ^ and red cabbage seeds ; and trefoil^ lucerne, and a little broom seed; -and we wish you to tell James Bridges to come to America if he can, for we know that he can get a comfortable living with half the labour he has to do at home. Plenty of land can be bought within *J0 miles of our house for one dollar and a quarter per acre. We ad- vise you to come in an American ship; and, finally, we think it too tedious to mention all the good things in America, but invite you to come and see for yourselves. So no more at present from your affec- tionate son and daughter, John and Maby Watson. No. 7. Albany,+ October 5th, 1823. Dear Fathkr and Mother,— This comes with our kind love to you, and all brothers and sisters, and all friends, hoping to find you all in good health ; for all our childieo have been ill with their insides with fresh food : and we are got to Albany safe. We was about 7 + A city in lh« state of New York, on the banks of the Hadton, 144 miles from New Yerh, with « population of 1^,630 people. LETTER III.] PARTS TO GO TO. 55 therefore it land hjf n can gei v^heat, and irho labour of doing id mother rVe advise re Stephen ouse ; but joming by [more, and ou can get ora, within md nigher oom seed: srica if he I Jialf the ght within , We ad- link it too 'ite you to rour affec- Watson. 5tli, 1823. d love to I jou all in ir insides s about 7 miles from i-.:^8 weeks on passage to New York. We stopped at New York a week,' and then sailed to Albany, which is 165 miles ; and we was sea>sick about 16 days : and I went up to Utica, which is 96 miles, and I could not find the country any better up there than at Albany ; so t returned back to my family again. And a gentleman has took Jane, and he is to keep and clothe and to send her to school ; and Thomas, Mr. William Fisher has taken. And John Gardiner has found his brothers ; and James Gardiner is moved from where he was at first ; and we see Richard Cutney at New York, and he was very well, and he talked of coming to England again, and to send a particular nc- count of what Thomas Rolfe said when he got back to England. But not to make yourselves any ways uneasy about us ne'er the more for his coming back ; for if we can't get a living, here is a poor-house just the same as in England ; and they ivill keep us till the springy and then send us back to England : for there is thousands of Irish here. And if I can't support my family, 1 shall come back in the spring ; for if a man can't support his family, they will send him back in the spring to England again : for I had not got half money enough to get up to my brother ; so I wrote to him, and I have not had auy answf." as yet ; but when 1 get an answer I will send to you again ; and t . 't c'ive you any good account about coming as yet, for there is sr. ■:< , risli keep coming every day^ and they work so cheap ^ that it tiiakes it bad for labouring people ; and we live neighbeurs with James Fisher and Richard Fuller from Bodiam. And the ways of the people and the country is very different from what they are in England ; and the land is not half so good ; for when they clear land, as they call it, they chop the wood off about 2 feet from the ground, and then plough and sow between the stubs : and it is most the Indian corn in this part of the country. William is at work filling waggons with the stuff that comes oat of the canal. I have 4 dollars ptr week. A dollar is 8 shillings of New York State money. People work very hard here ; for they work from sun-rising to sun-set • cat- tle the same. And beef is from 2 cents to 4 cents per pound ; and there is a hundred c^nts in a dollar. But the meat is not so fat as it is in England. Tobucco is from 1*. to 2s. per pound j and clothing is about as it is in England : and shoes are about the same, but the leather is not so good. No nails, only sparrowbills about. Here, iii summer, half the people go without shoes, stockings, and caps. And there is plenty of apples ; you may buy tliem from Is. 8 cents to S.v. per bushel of this money, and peaches very cheap. And tell my \'i ■3. 1 i • /h 56 EMIGRATION. [letter father and Henry Osborn I have not seen a Yohoo as yet ; but if I come home in the spring I will bring them home some tobacco ; and tell my mother I will bring her some tea : for we can get it for 2s. per pound this money. And we desire you to remember our loves to Levi Crouch and his wife j and Stephen and Elizabeth give their iove to Elizabeth's dear mother : and if we can't get a comfortable Jiving here, we shall see her again iu the spring. But Elizabeth likes this country very well as yet : and I should be glad if Edward would take this letter to Rye to Elizabeth's mother as soon as possi- ble, and for them to send us an answer about all things as soon as they can. And we have got two young shuts to live upon this winter : and to tell George Noakes to make himself contented where he is till I can give a more particular account of the country, for if 1 can get . comfortable living here I will send him word, and if not I shall come home in the spring. And tell Charles Jepson I drank tea with Jiis sister in New York, and she is very well. And please to give our best respects to Mrs. Smith, and tell her we get over pretty well. So no more at present from Your dutiful son and daughter, S.Watson. Stephen and Elizabeth Watson. • Direct to me to be left at Thomas Selby 's, South Market Street, No. 535, Albany, State of New York. For Mr. Stephen Watson, SedUicomb, near Battle, Susset, Old Enjland. No. 8. ul Albany, Cclober 27, 1823. Dear Wotheji, — I would have wrote before this, but could not write you pleasant news, as Stephen lias been so unhappy in a strange country, but is now contented and doing well. He earns %s. a day find his board. We meet with many friends. We have been fortu- nate in getting good places for our children, Jane is with a Quaker gentleman in Connecticut, who has taken her as his own : he will send ler to school all winter. We were all sick for 16 days. We were re- joiced to see land once more. We met with many friends on board the vessel. Stephen received many presents from them. We had plenty provision, and sold a good deal when we landed. Jane was in the cabin all the way over: she waited on the ladies • they gave her 4 dollars for her services. It is impossible for us to get to brotlier [letter ; but if I acco : and it for 2s. ur loves to five their omfortable : Elizabeth if Edward n as possi> IS soon as is winter : 6 he is till • 1 can get not I shall k tea with ise to give retty well. V^ATSON. :et Street, land. TIlJ PARTS TO GO TO. 57 27,1823, could not a stiange B^. a day eea fortu- a Quaker will send > were re- \ on board We had ne was in gave her D brother I John, as he is 1,400 mi'es from Albany : it would be very expensive, as we can do better here. 1 wish you to get Stephen's mother to write, and let me know if you received my letter. You may tell George Noakes we will write to him soon, and t*U him all the par- ticulars. If you please you may send this letter to Stephen's mother, and this will answer for both. Naomi is gone to live with Mr. Moul- ton at Utica, and likes the place well. James is going to the same place. Stephen is sorry that he did not bring you alon^ : you could do much better 1 ere : for washing 4v. a day, and other work accord- ingly. / never was so happy in my life us 1 am now. J never wish to go back to England, Do not grieve for me : if we never meet in this world, we will meet in the world to come, to part no more. Look to the Lord for comfort, is the wish of your affectionate daughter, Mary Green. Elitiabeth Watson. N. B. Stephen saws with Richnrd Fnller. We live in the house with them. We have a good house. 1 have a good oven, and all things conveniei t. I would be glad to he»r from you all as soon as possible. The law is the same here for the poor as there. I must conclude with my love to all. Mary Green, Elizabeth Watson. Direct to me at IMr. Thomas Selby's, South Market Street, No. 535, Albany State, New York. No. 9. Albany, March 29, 1824. HoNouKED Father and MoTHEn,— We received your letter ou the 23rd instant, and are happy to hear you are all in good health, as it leaves us. I have to inform you that I have had a good winter's work at sawing, and have no reason to complain of America. I don't wish to persuade any person to come to this country, but I am doing better here than I was in England. A man by industry can get a ffood living heis. I was soon discouraged when I first came over ; but now I am more used to the ways and customs of the people, I like it better. My wife 'ikes the country much. My family are all in good health. Jane likes her place very much : she lives with Captain Champlin, who sends her to school to learn to read and write : she wrote a letter some time ago, which was written quite well for her. Thomas and Naomi are both living with a Mr. Moulton ; and Naomi says she does not want to come home again. You must o5 V I ! 5« SMIGRATIOW. [letteb III.] |l not be in any trouble about me, nor mind what Mr. Ro^e says mhout it f for he did not stay to try the place ; he did not do any work whiU he was here. He was offered 8 guineas^ or 21 dollars, for 3 weeks,* work, to dry hops, but was afraid he slumld not be paid ; but the man who did do it got his pay, for I have seen him since. I make no doubt if George Noakes comes, I-e can get a liviog for his family. X desire to be remembered to Robert, Edward, and Samuel Fiaher : tell them their brothers aud sisters are all well. We both desire to be re* membered to my wife's motlier. I have had one letter from my bro- ther, and he wishes me to come up to him \ but as I am doing so well, I think of sta}'iDg here at present. Give our loves to all our brothers and sisters ; and ask William if he thinks there is any salt in Ame- rica. If you was here I could get you a quart of gin for a shilling. Betty says if old Stephen was here he should have one good drunken frolic. I have seen a good many old acquaintance in Albany. Henry Soan and liis wife are now at my house. There are so many English people iiere that it seems much like home. AVe don't begrudge any one the pleasure we left behind us, for we are a good deal better off. The laws of this country are as good as in England. The poor are well taken care of: there is a large house in this place for the accommodation of the old and infirm that are not able to work. We can get our children educated better than we could at your place. The free school here is on the Lancastrian system : it has 400 scholars, both rich and poor, who jpay according to their abilities ; some pay one dollar a quarter, and some not more than a shilling sterling : the scholars are taught reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, &c. &c. We remain. Your dutiful children, Stephen and Elizabeth Watson. To Mr. Stfphtn Watson, Sedlcscomh, near Battle, Srissex, Great Britain. . , No. 10. ' • Albany, October 27, 1825. My dear Grandparents, — Partly in compliance with j-^our request to know about America, and partly for my paternal solicitude for you, I again resume the pen. We are all well in health, and we hope you are enjoying the same blessing. It would be very agreeable for me to see my English fdends, but I don't wish to return to jilngland again. 1 like Amtrica mach the best : it is a very plentiful country. A per* [letteb tays mhout work whiU (»■ 3 weelu* ut the man make no ! family. I 'isher: tell re to be re- am my bro- ing so well, ur brothers It in Amc- ' a shilling. Dd drunken lenry Soan ;lish people my one the , The laws well taken modation of ur children bool here is 1 and poor, r a quarter, I are taught III.] PARTS TO GO TO. 59 kVATSON. Britain. IX 27, 1825. our request de for you, e hope you le for me to land again. ry. A per- . g * ■^ son may get a very good living here if they are industrious. My father is doing very well, and is very well satisfied to stay in this country. He has got a cow of his own, and. nine hogs. My mother has been lately confined of a daughter ; she is very hearty : her namw is Sarah Anne. Little Myram is a very pretty child ; we think very much of her : I think she is indulged too much in having her own way. Thomas and Naomi are living out. Thomas is living in the country with Mr. Fisher. I have spent two years out to the eastward with the captain I came over with. 1 took much comfort and conso'' lation with them in the two years. But now I am returned home to my parents. I like living in Albany better than I did to the east. I have been very fortunate. I have got good clothes, and / can dress as well ns amj lady in Sedlescomb. I can enjoy a silk and white frock, and crape frock and crape veil, and Morocco shoes, without aptirish. grumbling about it. If you are not dressed well here, you are not respected. The girls here that go out to doing house-work, dress as well as any lady in Sedlescomb. I don't think of going to tneetinii' with leather shoes on ; we wear Morocco andprunello. Altogether Leghorn hats are worn here very much. Straw bonnets arc very fine and handsome ; I have get one cost about twen*y-four shillings. £ had a present of a very handsome, long, kersey: oere shawl, by Cap- tain Cliamplin : he brought it me from London : it cost about forty- eight shillings. You cannot tell the poor from, the rich here ; thev are dressed as good as the other. You can get things just as well as you can in England. We have wrote to uncle John, but received no answer. Father wants you to write us word whether he has written to you since you received our letter. We want uncle William to come over to America very much ; and if he comes, to bring some ferrets with him, for they have none here. If you come on board a ship that has got cabin passengers in it, you can get plenty of fresh meat for them. Dear uncle, you must be sure and come, and bring all your working tools with you. I was surprised to hear of my xmcle Edward's marriage ; but I hope he has got a good wife, and t wish them both well, and a happy journey through life. Give my love to all my uncles and aunts and cousins, and all inquiring friends. I think my young acquaintance have forgotten me : I never hear any thing about them in vour letters. Tell them I think about them verv often. Give my love to Harriet Crouch, and send me word whether she is married yet : tell her I want to know. Give my respects to l\ 60 IMIGRATION. [lltter III.] il 't: niv beloved grandmother in Rye, with much affection. Brogil sends Itis love to her ; ho says he can remember her motlier. And father ■wishes to be remembered to her, as their beloved mother. Mother 8a vs she wishes she had brought her with us ; she has thought more about her since we have been in America, than ever she did in her life before. Have not found many trials in coming to America. Don't be discouraged now, because some come back. Don't do as Mr* Rolfe did, step on shore, and be/ore you know any thing- about the placCy go right back again. Any respectable person may get a j^ood living by industry. It is a good place for young people ; they can get good wages for their work. Naomi gets 18s. a month, and I f^et 2 4s. I was lothe to leave my English friends, but thank God we are all much better situated here. It was the best thing that ever father did for his family to take them to America, Tell aunt and uncle William they must not be discouraged about coming, but ie sure and come if the parish will send them* We don't live but a very little way off from New York. It is a very pleasant sail up to Albany : there are many pretty places going up the river too. Albany is about as large as Rye. There are many English people here : the yishers and Fullers, that come from Ewhurst. James Gardiner has lately got a child. William and John came down from Utica in the sfage-coach to our house, and drank tea vnth us, very well clothed, 4ind plenty of money, and very well satisfied in America. They have plenty of employment. They did not leave any word in particular njonly glad if father could spare money enough to go." This ends the copy of uncle John's letter. Tell aunt Gardiner, John was down to Albany about two weeks ago from Utica. He said James had been very sick, near two months, but was got better, and able to work, William is down the canal to work, a sawing. John is gone down again this spring : he came up to Al- bany the beginning of January. James has got a good place, at 100 dollais a year, and his house>rent and fire-wood found him, and as much cider as he wants to drink, and he is doing very well. James has drinked very much since he has been in this country. John and William have been very sober and industrious, and a great lielp to James, both in sickness and in health. Tell aunt she need not be in jmy trouble about her sons, for they are doing very well. Tell her she would not know John if she was to see him ; for he is altered both in speech, looks, and dress: he is very polite. Dorcas has got iive children, the oldest girl is living out. I will write to James as soon as I can. John left directions where to write to James, but we have lost it : they live in Henkimen village, this side of Utica. Mrs. Hannah wishes grandmother would go to Mr. Fuller's, and tell them she thinks it very strange she don't bear from them. She has not had a letter for this two years. They are very well, and doing well. Give my love to Thomas and grandmother, at Rye ; and ask her if she will come over here if I come over for her. I was very glad to hear that she was doing pretty well. // / could mily see her once more, J wmild give all t/iat I have in possession. Father and mother sends their kind love to grandmother, at Rye, and tbey wish they had brought her with tliem. Mother hopes you will look to grandmother, for she has nobody to take care of her. Mother and father send their kind love to you and grandfather, and aunt and uncle Lawrence : tell them we wish they was here. Our love to aunt and uncle Free* land ; tell them, — will not promise them, — I think if I can get a chance with the captain T came over with, I shall come back to Eng- land to visit them all in a year or two. Mother and father wished to be remembered to all their sisters and brother, and to Mrs. Crouch and Mrs. Bryant. Give my love to Harriot Parks, and tell her I shoiild like to see her and her son. Auut Mary has sent a letter to JII.] PARTS TO GO TO. 6.1 her brother John, and has received no answer. I told jon in the last letter that Albany was about as large as Rje ; but they tell me it is three times as large, and very pleasant. Father siiys he has no re»- son to complain of America all the time he can get as good liring its lie gets now, for he is happier than ever he was in his life. lie has been sawing all winter with Mr. Fuller ; they have as much as tliey can do. He said he never will leave Albany while he can do as « ell as he does now. Father said you said if he came to America lie could not get back again ; but we could come back very well. Father wishes to be remembered to all inquiring friends, but cannot mention every one's name. I have no more at present ; so remember me to be your Affectionate grand-daughter, Mary Jane Watson. Mr. Stephen Watson, Sedlescomb, near Battle, Sussex, Great Britain. No. 12. Albany, Dtceinber27lh,]817. My Dear Grandmother.— It is a very snowy unpleasant day. I took a walk up to mother, and retired to write to you a few lines, which is a pleasure to me, and expect it will be pleasing to you. 1 was married on the 13th of November last, to a man in good circum* stances ; and I am very comfortably situated. We neglected writinff, because we expected a letter from uncle John. We have received a etter from him ; as I will give you a copy on the remainder of thi« sheet. We are enjoying a very good state of health, and hope this will find you enjoying the same blessing. Thomas, Naomi, and Eleanor, send their love to you, and would bo very glad to see you. Uncle John wants us to go up to Indiana, but mother is not willing : she has got acquaintance here : and says she Avill stay here. Father and mother send their love and lasting affection to you, and would be very happy to see you ; but fear they will not this side of the grave. But I hope you may all be prepared for to meet in a better world. James Parks and his wife Harriot Grove arrived in Albany a little before I was married ; they saw me married. They lived with mother a little while ; and now they are moved over the river, in a place called Greenbush, about two miles from us, where they can have a jgood winter's work ; they have got things comfortable in their house to use, and both seem contented. Afy dear Grandmother I Oh that I could see you once more. We often regret that we did not i I i.i! 64 EMIGRATION. [letter I brlnp^ }'ou iilon^ with us : wo did not knon* what we should come to. / have not fmgol your past kindness to me, I must conclude with wishing; ycu well, nnd all our kind lores to you and inquiring friends. Farewell. Adieu. ., From your affectionate and ever grateful grandchild, Mary Jani Coulson. To GrandoiotVer at Rye : — When ia scene) of diittant joy You rove witli footsteps free. Soft to your heart this gentle stream ^h'ill say, remember me. Jans Covlson. To Footland. Stephen and Emzabktii Watsov. ]VIy EsTKEMtD GiiANDPARENTS. — I wiU seud you the particulars of ifncle John's letter, hoping it will find yon enjoying a good state of healtit and peace of mind. He writes to father as follows : — • *^ Stale of Indiana, Dtarborn County, October 12,1827. " We gladly embrace this opportunity of informing you, that we are all well at present ; and it is our sincere prayers, tliat at the perusal of these few lines you and yours may be found enjoying the same blessing. Dear brother and sister, remember in your last letter we was going to move down the river : we also did move as low as tlie falls of Ohio, where we continued one year and six mouths ; in which time we, by our industry and good economy, earned two hundred and twenty dollars j bemle maintaining our family . And not being satisfied with the country, about the falls, we removed from thence to Aurora last August, where we formerly lived ; and Lave now purchased a tract of land, 75 acres, a comfortahlc dwet- ling-house, and a very good orchard of apples and peaches; where I expect to settle." I mmt conclude : paper spoils me. I cannot give you so long a copy as should wish, but I have no more room to write. Father and mother send their love to you and all my uncles and aunts. I conclude with ray love to you. I hope you wilt an- swer this letter immediately, and send us word how you are. Give grandmotlier at Rye this letter if you please. I am your affectionate Jane Coulson. Mr. Stephen Watson, Sedltscomb, near Battle, Sussex, England.* * This is an eaclosure. pen ; it is wi III.] PARTS TO GO TO. 65 No. 13. New York, D<'crHiIi«r 8(A,1827. Dkaii F.\THin.— This comes with our kind love to you, hoping to find you all in good health, as it leaves us in good health, except one of my thumbs and one finger, which is so bad that I cannot hold my pen ; it is with difficulty that I can write, but I shall make it plain enough for you to understand it. I hurt my hand with a large piece of timber : this is the first day I have been unable to work with it ; but tomorrow is Sunday. 1 think I shall be able to work on Monday. lam learning the carpentering trade, I have :w. per day (N.B. you reckon all our New York shillings equal to an English fid). Journe3rmen's wages are about 1 2«. per day ; some that take their work in lots earn 16s. per day. You would bo suiprised to see pic visions so cheap ; we buy ihe best of meat for fJ. per porad, which is not more than 2d. English money. The labouring ^)eopl live by tlie best of provisions ; there is no such thing as a poor mdusirious man in New York: we live more on the best of *^'/erf flung hero, because we have it so very cheap. I must now ^ivA scrao ac- count of our voyage. We had a long voyage, Aini! vci/ rourh against us ; and we were all sea-sick about oua week. Jamos nad bis two children was very dangerously ill, and oui Lois with the* bowel complaint. Lois died : all the rest got pretty well botbre w^, got here. Hester Lois died 28th September, and was bari^d the same evening : it was a very fine day, and i dead calm ; nothing else particular, but rather short of provisions till n-e got here ou the 2nd November. One of Martha's children wfis ill before ro got here, and both the otliers since ; but we are all better : \.nhy ?.iv« \u Brooklyn, about half a mile from the city of New York, across (he water, in the same place tliat John Eldridge and Offins live. Philip is apprentice to a tin- worker in the city ; Henry is apprentice to a hatter, about 30 miles from New York ; .Toseph is gone with Jain.'i< to Albany ; Josiah has got a place as hostler about sevr. miles f^oro. the city ; I live at 295, Hudson Street, not morr ilian fiv^e or six rods from Mr. Selmes ; they are greia frievidi to us : ice borrow anything that we want to use of them. M*. Selmes is getting a good living, keeping cows and selling milV. He nas been a friend to me ; he offered me money if I wanted ; tie gut me a house to live, a place te work, and scrae tj start. I have took some wages and paid him ; and I shall get a veiy good living, and learn my trade. Mr. Neve is living about half a mile from us, and doing well. We have seen 1 ! "Ml ! t l: M .1 66 EMIGRATION. [letter ili :i ii ill i! Mrs. Milgate tliat was INIercy Clark ; she sends her love to you, and hopes you will see her father before you come, if you think of comin<;- in the spring. If you come you must bring plenty of flour to sea ; and not let Mr. Beck buy a parcel of salt beef three years old, a^: he did for us, and sea-biscuits not fit for hogs to eat. You will want beef that is just salted, and a good ham of bacon. Do not buy any clothes or any thing else, but bring your money and buy things here. I am sure no person can gain a farthing by buying things in England and bringing them to America. I am sure you will be sur- prised to see such a quantity of every thing. You would like the spirit of liberty that the people of this country possess / here are some of the best laws in this country of any country in the world; every man here thinks himself as much as the greatest man in the State of New York, Workmen here are not afraid of their masters ; they all seem as equals. Mr. Selmes sends his best respects to you, and would be very glad to see you. You must excuse my bad writ- ing, for I cannot mend my pen till my hand gets well. So no more from your undutiful son and daughter, John and Hester Parks. , Tell Charles' to come if he possibly can in the spring. I cannot say how tim'^s are in the country ; I have not been there. To Mr. James Parks, Ewhurst, near Northiam,Sussex County, England. No. 14. Greenbtish,* March \6th, 1828, Dear Father, — It is with the greatest degree of pleasure that I take my pen in hand to tell that we are all in good heath, in a fine country, where I have plenty of work at my trade, and well paid for doing it. The cause I did not write to you before was, I wanted to see the ways of the country a little first ; and as I wrote to Harriot, father, I thought you knew we were got here safe ; also I expected some of the rest had wrote to you. I have had two letters from them, but they did not say whether they had wrote to you. Stephen Fumer, John, Joseph, Henry, Philip, I believe are all where they was when I wrote before. Josiah has left his place at the tavern, and lives in New York ; and works at lime-buming, and is doing pretty well. I have left Albany ; I live across the River Hudson from Albany at a place called Greenbush. Green- bush is a village about like Burwash town. Albany is a very elegant city, stands on a rising ground on the banks of the Hudson * The populatioa at Oreknbush is 2,754. !». 'A [letter you, and : of coming; 3ur to sea ; ars old, as u will want ot buy any buy things §• things in will be sur- id like the here are the world; nan in the ir masters ; jcts to you, y bad writ- :o no more EH Parks. I cannot 'ngland. h \Gth, 1828, isure that I 1, iu a fine veil paid for , I wanted to Harriot, I expected etters from i. Stephen nil where 3 place at le-buming, ) across the Green- ■ is a very lie Hudson III.] PARTS TO GO TO. 67 River ; is a surprising place for trade. There commences the greatest canal I suppose that tlxis world produces, which goes above 300 miles into the western country, and was all dug by hand. Be- fore this was dug, great many farmers had to carry their corn and grain a and 300 miles to market with waggons ; but now tliey can bring it into the canal, and then it goes to market for a trifle, by the canal« boats. The Hudson River is most beautiful ; every little way there is little islands in it, some 10, some 20, some 40, 50 and 100 acres iu ^n island ; all cultivated, and houses on them : there's about '^0 steam-boats up and down it, and three or four times as many sloops. We have had the mildest winter so far that was ever known, thoug;b some very cold weather. I believe America is the finest part of the world any man can get into : here's no complaining we can't get a living ; and it's a very foolish notion in England that the Americans don't live so well as the English. Tell Thomas Avann to come to America ; and tell him to leave his strap (what he wears when lie has nothing to eat in England), for some other Jialf-starved slave. Tell Miriam tliere's no sending children to bed without a supper, or husbands to work without dinners in their bags, in this country. See if you can't make Americanites of the Wimbletots Company. Thank God I am not old ***, nor yet ****'s slave ; it is an erroneous notion of you English, that if a man cannot through any misfortune maintain his family, that they may starve ; — it's an abominable lie. ff^e have poor-laws and pooi'-taxes : the tax in tliis town (for this country is divided into townships instead of parishes) amounts to about 30 oi' 40 dollars per year for the whole town^ and there* s more people than in Ewhxirst t. We have no gypsies, swing- kettles, pikies, tramps, beggars, &c. ; they are not allowed to be about. In this country labourers do not go to work without knowiag what they are a going to have before they begin work. Farmers by no means carry the sway in this country ; but the meanest. And come by all means : come out of that worse than Egyptian bondage ; and knowing the evils, persuade Harriot's friend and brothers to try to come. Check them of their Is. 6d, per day for me, and tell them here is plenty of wood-cutting in this country. I cannot but per- suade them and you ; tell Levi and wife to try to come with you. You had best come away as soon as possible, as the latter part of the summer is not so well to come j and when you come, send me a letter i*i Hi •f ThepopolatfonatEwHURSTis 1,225. ! I 63 EMIGRATIOX. [letteh li as soon as you know you are coming, and let me know what the name of the ship is, and when it will sail, and what the Captain's name is if you can ; and then perhaps I shall come to New Yorl^' to meet you. Direct to me, James Parks, to he left at Heppingstall aad Scot, Little State Street, Albany ; as I do not know how long I shall be in Greenbush, and they will help it to me. If you come, what money you hare bring in gold, and not go to buying of dollars in England, as you can hare a premium on gold here. I shall now tell you a little of our money. The only copper money we have is cents, about the size of a halfpenny. Our silver is sixpences, shil* lings, Pistoreens, that is Is. 6d. each ; quarter-dollars, half-dollars, and dollars ; 100 cents is one dollar 1 ^fl. of English in New York will buy 4 dollars 75 cents. I get 21 dollars a month, but most other trades get more ; and I mean to have more when my time is up, at the 1st of May. Carpenters get about 10 or 12 shillings a day ; bricklayers about the same as brickmakers. Tell Edward, Fisher gets very high wages : some will get 40 dollars per month, and board. Day-labourers get about one dollar per day j and in busy time in summer get their board into it. When you come, Harriot wants you to bring her 6 or 8 yards of lace, and 3 or 4 yards of net, for caps ; pretty good if you can. Be sure and don't let that infernal rogue lay in your provisions, nor any body else ; but see it all put up yourself. Don't bring a great deal of beef ; and what you do, get a cask and salt it down yourself ; for we had beef two years old, not fit for a dog ; our tea was nat half tea ; our oatmeal was half ground pease ; our split pease, gray pease ; our biscuits was the worst that could be got. Be sure to bring plenty of flour, some dried ham, and other bacon, plenty of potatoes, plenty of butter, sugar, tea, coffee, oatmeal, patent groats, rice, salt, pepper, vinegar, a few bottles of port wine to make sap if you are ill. Take care your biscuits are good : be sure to bring plenty of flour and rice ; don't be afraid of bringing too much, nor few. But you can sell what you don't want, but don't sell too soon. Great many in our vessel would give three times the value of a thing before they got over. Take ginger with you for your sap ; plenty of rush candles : we had not near enough. Joseph is quite welt ; he has sold his nailed half-boots to be put in the Museum in Albany* Harriot and children are quite well : remember us to all tliat inquire after us ; and tell the others that we expect we are more missed than wanted. We measure that by our own yards. I know that I come away a little in debt, but if I il^ III.] PARTS TO GO TO. 69 bad stopped it would have been worse ; I hope I shall settle up before a great time with them, which is my intention. I want you to bring me a dozen of collar needles, most of them small ones. 1 have heard from uncle York last week. He is in Upper Canada, has a good farm of 200 acres, lives within '28 miles of a good market, and is doing well. Willianii^'ork is in Albany. Eleanor sends her love to you ; she is married ; has one little girl. Since I begun this letter I have taken a shop in Albany, but be not gone back to live yet, but go over the Hudson River, night and morning, in a little boat. Joseph Bos has let me /tave 200 dollars to set up with. He is a Yorkshire man, and a Methodist, and brother to Eleanor York's husband. He says he longs to see the old fellow fiom England : he is pretty rich, and getting money very fast. He says he is sure there is no business in this country a man can't save money at. I think it agrees with Harriot, for she is as fat as a pig. Tell VVimbletot folks once more to try to come : we are very anxious to hear from you. Harriot •sends her love to her father, mother, sisters, and brothers. I fear they not got much love for me since I have took Harriot awav ; but ['11 send tliem a plenty of mine since they let her come. Tell Thomas Avann to try to come, again and again. America for ever for me. So uo more from Your son and daughter, James and Harriot Parks. I direct to be left at the + for fear you should be moved. Mr. James Parks, to be left at Mr, Benjamin Bootses, Wheelwright, Staple Cross, in the Parish of Ew hurst, near Northiam, in the County of Sussex, Old England, Great Britain. k 'i No. 15. Oreenbush, November \9th, 1828. Dear Father and Mother. — Its with pleasure that I take my pen in hand to send a fer/ lines ; but it would be more a pleasure to see you here : but let's hope you will get here in time. You want to know what we are all about ; I tell you as well as I can. Stephen is about 200 miles west of Albany. They wrote to me some time ago ; they was all well and hearty then, and thought they should do pretty well there. Boss* thought of getting them a cow. I * Boss is an American word for master or employer, taken from the Datch in the State of Mew York, I believe. lU U ' 1 i ■M ro EMIGRATION. [LETtER I jjj -j -live wliere I did, in Greenbush village, opposite side of the River Hudson* from Albany. My trade has been very dull this summer, hut's some better now. I got me a good cow j gave thirteen dollars for lier. I killed a good little hog last week ; liave two more fatting. Charles Crouch lives with us ; he has got a real little bantom cock and hen ; he gave four shillings for them. John, I believe, lives about four miles from York ; at work at farming-work : was well the last I heard of him. Josiah lives about 20 miles west of Albany, learning to be a blacksmith ; gets eight dollars per month, and board : he was at my house about four weeks ago ; was quite well. Joseph is where he was in Albany : he says mother was so afraid he would not make out very well in America without her ; and now he is afraid you wont do very well there without him. I guess you would scarce know him. He is grown this year, and dresses like a gentleman ; looks better than ever you see him : and I believe he is giving his heart to the Lord, and striving to please him. He has joined the Methodist Society in Albany, and is a teacher in their Sunday-school. Henry is in Long Island, opposite York, learning to be a hatter ; was well the last I heard of him, Philip, I don't know whether he is in York with his old Boss or not ; for he has had some notion of going to live where Henry does, to learn that trade j it is not so bad to get places for boys here as in England. l>nniel and Stephen could earn their own living if you had them liere. I give you my thoughts of England and America in the fol- lowing lines of my own make : — Stay in England who will ; I'll never return till your tyrants are kind, or most greatly reformed ; I)ut to such as would live independent of man, the advice I would ;>ive is, come here if you can. Advice I have just said, not per- suasion at all, lest the place you should hate, and the blame on poor Jemmy should fall. — Try all you can possibly to get here in the spring. Try to get away as soon as possible, as to get here before the hot weather if you can ; and by so doing you will avoid danger by ice, which begins to get loose from the north, and float about the ttrst of May. If you come, all of you take physic before you start: •and when you go to sea, mind and take care of yourselves at first ; for I almost lost my life through neglect at first. If you find your insides bound up, take gentle physic directly ; if on the opposite, then take a little something for that immediately. INIind your pro- vision is good for your passage ; for ours was not fit to board a dog over. I have a hope that I will see you again in this world ; if I '' M^^ 1!^ PARTS TO GO TO. n sbould not, if we are found faithftil in Christ, we are assured that we will meet in a better country than America. So no more at present from yours, &c., James and Harriot Parks. Bring Harriot some lace for caps. (I No. 16. Brooklyn t, Jannaiy 14th, 1828. Dear Father and Mother, — I now take the pen to say a little of what has passed since we left England. We had a long voyage'; we had head winds nearly all the way, and sometimes rough weather ; in consequence of which we were out of such provisions as we could eat, being sick : and our pork and beef and biscuits were a disgrace to Mr. ■ ; and we chose to eat potatoes alone, and leave the black -looking beef alone. Little Stephen caught a great cold, and was so ill, that when we arrived we were obliged to remain, for he could not be dressed ; and Mr. Offins was so kind as to take us in till we got a place to live in. But I should have said wo arrived on tlie 2nd of November : we hired a room, and my husband bought a saw, and went sawing wood and doing any thing, and we thought we should get through the winter pretty well ; but when we had been hereabout three weeks, husband was taken ill; we were not aware that it was any thing but a cold ; it proved to be the typhus fever, and it ia now six Tveeks since he was taken, but he is now mending very fast. We have had no parish to apply to for relief; but you would be astonished at the friends we have found, or rather, that have found us: for people that were quite strangers have called to know if a sick Englishman lived here ; and one kind gentleman sent for a doctor, and another good old methodist gave me leave to go to the grocer's for any thing in his name, and others were equally kind ; in short, I should never thought to find such friends among strangers ; they seem to feel a great pleasure in doing us good ; and we have to thank them, and to praise the Lord lor all his mercies. I am as well as usual, and the children are growing fat. You may have heard that James and Joseph went directly to Albany ; and James works at his trade. Joseph has got a good place at a curriers. John is at + A town in Long Island, just opposite New York, and separated from it by a water passage of twenty minutes, in a steam-boat. Population 7,175. 1 1'^ '1 ' 1 (I 72 EMIGRATION. [letter m work as carpenter, for the winter; his Boss gives him 5s, a day, our money, which is a little more than ^s. 6d. English money. Josiah is at New York at work, as lime-burner. Henry is 30 miles up the country as apprentice to a liatter : he sent us word he likes it. Phi- lip is in New York, at one Mr. Hogbin's, formerly an apprentice to Mr. Burgess. Battle, he is not bound, he has only agreed for the winter ; he has a good place in one sense, but his master thinks like Mr. Offins; but ho says he has no objection to Philip doing and thinking like his father. Philip likes his place, and he earns a little for himself, and that gives him encouragement ; he was here to-day, for I wash and mend for him. Uncle David is at New York ; I don't know what he is doing ; but Sam has plenty of work ; and the girls have all been at service, that they might be no burthen to them ; but Harriot is come bome again. Mrs. Hayter, formerly H. Neve, has been to see us; and she says that Anne miglit get a very good place here. They tell us that winter is a dead time in America ; but we have found it as well and better than we expected. We can get good flour for lid. English money ; good beef for 2rf. or 3d. do., and mutton the same price ; pork about 4rf, ; sugar, very good, 5d. ; butter and cheese is not much cheaper than in England ; clothing is rather dear, especially woollen; worsted stockings are dear, and you can't get good balls of worsted here. We have heard that Captain Griawell, that takes this letter, is a very good captain ; and about the beginning of March expects to set sail from London : and we thought if you could suit to come it would be well. We don't wish you to come with such a company as we did : — from the captain to the lowest sailor they were abominable wicked ; and there was no order, but swearing, cursing, and drinking, &c. When you come, don't let Mr. lay in provisions ; but be sure have plenty of flour, oatmeal, rice, and sugar; and, if you can, it would be well to have some home-made bacon; and see your biscuits and have them good. Please to bring me a pair of new gigs, for they wear such things here. We have not been able to meet society as yet; and, through aflliction, we are almost deprived of any outward means ; but we trust our faces are Zion-ward ; and we beg an interest in prayers. And we must conclude. Stephen and Martha Turner. To Mr. James Parka, Sen,, Cripses Corner, Ewhurst, near BatlUf Sussex, England. [letter I III.] PARTS TO GO TO. 73 No. 17. , New Hartford +, Ja«e 30tb, 1828. Dear Father and Mother, — I now take the opportunity of writing to you since our long journey. But am very sorry to tell you that we had the misfortune to lose both our little boys ; Edward 4ied 29th April, and William 5th May; the younger died with bowel complaint, the other with rash-fever and sore throat. "We were very- much hurt to have them buried in a watery grave : we mourned their loss ; night and day they were not out of our minds. We had a mi- nister on board, who prayed with us twice a day : he was a great comfort to us, on the actount of losing our poor little children. He said. The Lord gave, and tuketh away; and blessed be tlie name of the Lord. We should make ourselves contented if we had our poor little children here wit'i us: we kept our chihlren 24 hours. There were 6 children and one woman died in the vessel. Master Bran lost his wife. Mrs. Coshman, from Bodiam, lost her 2 only chil- dren. My sister IMary and her 2 children are living at Olboum, about 80 miles from us. Little Caroline and fatlier is living with us; and our 3 brothers are living within a mile of us. Brother James was very ill coming over, with the same complaint that William had. We were very sick for 3 weeks, coming over: John was very hearty, luid so was father. We were afraid wo should lose little Caroline ; but the children and we are hearty at this time. Sarah and Caroline are often speaking of going to see their grandmother. Mary's children were all well, except little John, he was bad with a great cold. We have no more to say at present concerning our family. [ have got a house and employ. 1 have 4*. a day and my board ; and in harvest and haying I am to have 6s, or 7s. a day and my board. We get wheat for 7 s. per bushel, of our money; that is about 3s. 7d. of your money ; meat fe about od. per pound ; butter from 5rf. to 6d. ; sugar about the same as in England ; shoes and clothes about the same as it is with you; tea is from 2*. 6rf. to os. 6d. of your money; tobacco is about 9rf. per pound, of your money; good whiskey about is. Id. per gallon; that is 2s. of our money. I went and got a gallon the day I wrote this letter : brandy and rum is very cheap and good. If you feel disposed to come, I should like you to it. We send our kind f About 270 miles from New York : tie populaliou 2,493. :m-1 74 EMIGRATION. [letter love to our brothers and sisters ; andiftliey are disposed to come, I Kliould like them to it, for here i» plenty to eat and drink, and plenty of work. PVe work long days from sunrise to sunset: a person must oiot think of coming here to get a living without working: and they despise drunkards: but if a person keeps steady ^ he is respected muck more than in England; he is admitted at the table with, the farmer, I liave not heard any person find fault or grumble ; but tliey appear to be satisfied with what we do : we generally work by the day. If you think of coming, or any of my brothers, I shall be glad for you to send me word as soon as you can. 1 desire to be remembered to my uncle and aunt Steed, and uncle and aunt Veness. I wish you to 'send or bring the direction of my brother William, and send word if you have heard from him. Father sends his love to his brothers, Jjoxelland John Willard, and his brothers Samuel and James Davis, and to his sister Mary Veness. I wish to be remembered to all in- tjuiring friends ; and if any wish to see this letter, let them do so. "VV'e don't know where any family is except John Crouch ; he is with 3iis brother, abont 90 miles from us. We are at a place called New Hartford, about 270 miles from New York. We join in love to you sll. And believe us to be your aftectionate son and daughter, JcyriN and Harriot Veness. To Mr. John Veness, Mount field, near Battle, Sussex, England. P. S. John Davis desires to be remembered to J\Ir. John Smith, at Wliatlington : tell him he saw his brother and sister Bumstead, and Ihey were very well. If Jane and Anne and John like to come there is plenty of places for them. i No. 18. New Hartford, November ]6tli,1828. Deau FATiir.n and Mother, — I once more take the pleasure of writing to you, hoping this will find you all in good health, as this leaves all of us at this time : was sorry to hear of mother being so unwell. You said it was a great pleasure in receiving a letter from us; and be assured it was as great one, receiving one from you. The death of my brother was affecting to us ; but was glad his master had the kindness to inform you. Mary has been here, and I told her : she is living about 4 miles from us ; is well, and so are the children. Mary was much surprised when we told her, as you know in.] TARTS TO GO TO. 75 tleath lias an affectionate feeling over us all ; but we must all pay tlift debt sooner or later. You want to know all particulars about our passage over to America. We was from tlie 14th April we set sail from London, and on the 17th IVIay we landed in New York ; as to the usao;e we had was good, and we have no complaint whatever to make, as we had plenty to eat and drink. As to the affliction of losing our dear children, you will be better able to judge than we can describe ; but, alas! death separated us on tlie billions ocean, which you, dear friends, must know would be great affliction lO us all. My wife feels much better than might be expected, through such a scene of trouble as she has had. Sarah and Caroline talk much about their grandmother and grandfather. AVe have all plenty of employ, and wages good, according to the price of other things. I get about 2.v., your money, a day and my hoard. 1 will give you the price of pro- duce in America. Wheat is worth 9s,, your money, and this is a great price for this country; it is in general about is. Od., your money; Indian corn is 2s. 6d., your money, per bushel; rice is '2s. 6d. a bushel : pork is 3d. per pound ; beef is 2|r^ per pound ; mutton the same, — you will think this very low : butter is 6d. to 7d. a pound ; tea from 3*. to 4s., your money ; sugar 5rf. to Od. a pound. I tliink I can make a comfortahle living for my family and self if I have good health. I think ongoing ow a farm next ^jar'd, on shares; the man finds the land, corny and fire-vood, and I shall do all the labour, and have halfwhat.I raise : this is away you know nothing about; but it is one much practised in America. You want to know if I like America better than England : I must sa^' I do ; for I think I can make a better living a good deal. And when I go to workfoi- a man I sit at the table with the family ; and Jack is as good as his luaster. I should be glad to see father and mother in America ; and such as I liave you would he hearty welcome to : but I shall advise you not to come before May, if you should come. So no more from your son and daughter, John andHARniox Veness. III. ft Please to give our love to uncles and aunts, and all inquiring friends. Father Davis is living with me, and gets plenty of employ, and has had pretty good health ; but he had the misfortune to cut his leg, which was sore a long time. e2 -— r— v ii^ I ■ , I 4 76 E^iIGRATION. No. 19. [letter Deaii Sons nml Daughter, — My kind lore to you all, likewise John's, and Ju-uts's, and Henry's. Vou will wnnt to know how we ;ire getting along. 1 ana living with .Tohn ^'eness, and work out. .lohn, my son, lias a most excellent place, and gets abont ll.y. or \'2s., vour money, per week ; likes his place. James is liired out till the i'rst of April; works on a farm; he has 1/. per month, your money, •and he is well liked. And Henry hai a good place, and he saj'S he never wants to come back to England. Henry gets las living and clothes, and three months' schooling, till the first of April; and then lie will have a new bargain to make. Harriot and her husband give llu'ir kind lovi to you nil. -We should feel glad to see you all iu America, jis there is a good living to hv got, easier than in England, should we have uur healtlis ; and, Avitliout health, over in England or America, we sliould be joorly oH"; so wo trust in Providence. 1 want to know Avliat you all are doing, and wl^eie yoxi are living: ]>lfase to send nii' word as soon as po.ssillc. Give my kind love to niy brother and sister, and all inquiring iriends. 1 remain, your aiVcctionate father, , William Davis. 1 think if Thomas Vcness was in America, he would do much bet- ter than he can in England; as a ma:i can get places for his children, and get wages too: so a man with a hirge family has a good chance. ]\larv Veness to all lier friends desires her love and respects. ]ilr, John Veness, Rubertshridrjc, Mountfiilil, Stissvx, England, No. 20. - Clinton,t December Cth, 1828. DrAH Friends, — I sup]iose by this time you are quite anxious to }iear from me and my children. We are all in good health. 1 am very sorry that 1 could not write to you before ; but many circumstancea have piovented. \Vlien 1 landed in New York, I met a gentleman, who took me and Harriot and John to Airburn, about 300 miles from New York ; I lived in his family nearly six months. I was then 100 miles from mv brother-in-law and Caroline. I left Auburn be" + On the Hudson River, a hundred miles from New York. Population 6,611. |V. . .1. III.] PARTS TO GO TO. 77 cause I was so far from ^y frioiuls, and felt unlmppy. I left John in Auburn, in a very good place. He haii been to see me to«day, and says he likes his place very much, and wishes to return. After I left Auburn, I lived about fo'ir miles from my brother-in-law, in a pleasant place, and liave f )r my wages one dollar a week. I wiali two or three of your girls and my sister were here. 1 hope you will not make yourselves unhap)'}' a')ont me, for I have had very good luck since I have been in this country. Brother Thomas parted from me at Albany, and has never written to me. I in; quired about him of Mr. Cruich : he said that he was in service and doing very well. I sup- pose he is between 1 and 'iOO miles from me. In April I expect to nurse Harriot, and to live witli tliem, as brotlier intends going on a farm, and wi.shes ;ne to live with them. I sometimes think how far I am separated fromyoiiy and this makes me feel unhappy \ but t know I am better oft" here than I s-hould be there. Remember me to my sister Phila, and George : tell them I hope to see them in Ame- rica ; it would be much more pleasant for me were they here. Tho worst is, the voyage over the ocean. I and my three children en- joyed good health coming over, excepting the sea-sickness, which lasted a fortnight ; it did not hurt tho children at all hardly. Harriot is now living with sister Harriot ; I heard from them to-day ; they were all well. I would not return to England to livey though I should like to see you. ]Mr. Davis is living with brother ; he called here last Sabbath : his boys have all good \ laces, and are doing well. I hope when you receive this letter you will send to my dear mother, f often feel very unhappy in thinking that 1 never shall see her ; yet I hope it will please God to spi rtj our lives, to see each other once more in this world. I hope, my dear mother, you will not make your- self unhappy about me, for 1 am doing well ; and though I wish very much to see you again, yet I do not wish to return to stay. How is your's and father's health, and my little brother's 1 Remember me to him and to father. How is si.-ter's boy 1 Does he ever think of his friends in America 1 I suppose you would like to know some- thing about this country : it is very pleasant ; provisions are cheaper than in England ; beef and mutton are much cheaper. What we heard about the country is pretty much true. A man can get 6s. a day for work and his board : there is work a plenty for those that wish. Since I have been here, I have heard the very unpleasant news of the death of my husband. I felt very much grieved when I heard this : but [ know I should not feel very unhappy ; for had he lived, it was \ 1 78 tMIGRATION, [LETT£R quite uncertain if I should ever see him again, wc were so far sepa- rated, and his business was sucli. After you have read this, yot may s»nd it to niotlier N'eness. 1 send much love to her, and father also. My little boy, John, felt very bad that you did not mention him in the letter you sent to m©. How is William 1 Does he not oAen think of his nbrient mother, and sometimes wish himself with her 1 I was in hopes to hear that my mother was better, and that she was well. I hope she will get able to come to America, with father and William, in the spring. Tell William, John is a good boy, and is lilced in the plac os where he has lived. America is a fine place for good boys ; if they wish to get good places they must be good themselves. I wish to know huw much the gentlemen in the parish feivo you for the support of William. If you should conclude to come to America in the spring, you will send me word ; and I will do what I can to help William, alter you get in New York, up in the country. J make myself happy about him, because I know he is well ctf ; (but I should hke to see him and you all very much. Remember roe to all our neighboijvs, to ^Martha Mepham. I want very much to write to her. llemember me also to Sarah, William, Richard, and Thomas Davis. When you receive this, I want you to write to me ; for I long to hear from you all : the least thing will interest me. I wish some of my neighbours would write. News from absent friends is very desir'ijle. 1 did not find the land and country very different from England. Do write very soon to me. W^ith much love to you all, close. Your affectionate daughter and sister, Mary VenesSi Mr, HeztkU'h Harvey, Mount field, near Robtrtsbridge,Susstx, England. m SI No. 21. Iludson,+ State of New York, July fith, 1828. Dear Parents, — I now sit me down to write to you, to let you know that we are all safe arrived to America, and are all much better than we have been : thank a merciful God for it. I often look back on the scenes that we have passed through. While we were passing t One hundred and ten miles from New York, on the banks of the Hudson. PopuMtidn 5^10. III.] PARTS TO 00 TO. Id the HudsoOt over thfi water our sufferings were greiit ; but that God that is loviop; to all them that trust in him, has brought us through. I will not grieve your bearts with all our suftVrings, for my paper will not hold it. Little Mary was very ill with the fever that so many died with, — 7 children and one woman ; to hear their cries and moans, it wn« very bad. I was so ill myself that I was forced to crawl out of my bed, and lay on the floor while John made the bed. If you know of any cominj*; here, tell them never to come where the vessel is so full ; for we was shut down in darkness for a fortnight, till so many died ; then the hatch was opened. I will not grieve your poor hearts with more about what we poor creatures suffered. I cannot tell you what day of tiie month we landed into New York, but we was about .'>.5 days coming over, which was a good passage called. We landed on Saturday. On Sunday we found the chapel, and went twice, — a large chapel, and very full. After preaching the people came round to know what part w© was from, and gave John a paper to carry to a gentleman, who gave us 12 dollars, and a letter to carry to an Eugliali gentleman in Hudson, for work ; and he set them on, and there they work still. John gets 7s. a day. Jamoa gets 7*. llichard and Danii-l work at the factory, and get 2*. each a day. Thomas is gone to live with that gentleman that we took the letter to, — a -very good place ; he is class-leader of the churcb of the city of Hudson, and gets \0s. a week and board. Harriot lives in the city of Hudson, with an old gentleman and lady of the same church, — a very good place. We lived in the same city 4 weeks, but they had 5 miles to go to their work, and could not come home Jbut once a week, so we are moved to their work. Wo live close bv a lar^e river, so I can look out of my sash-window right into the river. A very fruitful place ; for apples, cherries, raspberries, grapes, plums, growing any where, any one may get them without money, what they please. Dear mother, 1 fear you will be troubled to read that side, it is put so thick ; for my paper is not half big enough to say all that I want to Bay : but this I can say, that we want for nothing ; bless God for it ; for we can buy a leg of mutton every day, and green pease or French beans brought to the door, and we have got in 32 gallons of cider for 14s. I wish you was all here to help drink it. Tell my dear sis-, ter if she was here she might earn 8.9. or 10s. a day, for they charge so much for work. I was forced to give 12.*. for a cambric bonnet for Harriot. And now I must tell you a little what friends we met with when we landed into Hudson ; such friends as ive never found iw 80 EMIGRAlIOy. [LliTTEU ;t;' England; but it was chiefly from that people that love and fear God. IVe had so much meat brought us that we could not eat while it was good; a while quarter of a calf at once ; so we had 2 or 3 4juart€rs in a little time, and 7 stone «/ beef. One old gentleman come and brought us a waggon load of wood, and 2 chucks of bacon* Some sentjlour, some bread^somn cheese, some soap, some can' dies, some chairs^ some bedsteads. One class leader sent us 3s. worth of tin ware, and many other things; so we can truly say godliness is profitable unto ail things^ We are in a land of plenty, and, above all, where we can hear the sound of the Gospel. The gentleman that Tve work for has preaching in his own parlours, till he can build a chapel; it is begun not a quarter of a mile from where we live : — and inaj poor sinners be brought to Christ; for here is many that are drinking in of sin, like the ox the water. And now, my dear sister, 1 must say something to thee. I hope these few lines will find you all well as we are at present : thank God for it. William told us to be sure to let him know how it was here ; and if we liked the place he would come : so you must let him know all about it ; and if he likes to come, no fear but what he will do well: but I know you cannot let him come without you. \ want you all heie, if you could go through the hardships of coming over. JVhen you get here you may do well: I only wish / had corue before. Give my love to Elizabeth, and tell her if she wants fine clothes she is to come here; it would be the mah' ing of her. Dear sister, I should be glid if you would be so kind to write to John's brotlier, Thomas Thorpe, at the Priory, Hastings, and let him know the concerns of this letter. The flowers are much here as yours : provision is not very cheap ; flour is 1*. 7d. a gallon, of this money, about lOrf. of yours; butter is 1*., your money 6d. ', meat from 2d. to 6d., yours Id. to 3d.; sugar lOrf. to is., yours od. and 6d. Tell father I wish I could send him 9 or 10 pounds of tobacco; for it is Is. a pound: I chaws rarely. Dear sister, 1 hope you will write to us as soon as possible : please to diiect to Mrs. John Thorpe, Hudson Printing Factory, County of Columl)ia, in the State of New York, in America. Please to copy tl is letter out before you show it to any one, it is .^Tote so bad. Give my love to all inquiring friends. Send me all tJie news you can ; so no n ore at present from your absent scr and daughter, J. and E. Thorpe. The spirits of brandy is 3s. €d. a gallon; and ram is cheaper. The weather is very hot here, and a great deal of thunder, very sharp. 111.] PARTS TO GO TO. 81 Pray for us, and we will do the same for you ; so now, dear friends, farewell till I see you. We landed into N ew York the 19th May. ilfr. Thomas Cooke, Cripscorner, Sedhscomb, Sussex, near Robertsbridge, England. No. 22. •. "'r, July 7th, 182f». i^EAR Father and Motheh, — I write these few lines to you, hopin;^ *]As may find you in a gcod state of liealth, as it leaves us all at present. I hope you will not be uneasy about liio , lor I am better off here than I was in England : for I have a good house and garden, 90 rods of ground, and some f.uit trees, for 25 dollars per year. I live in a good neighbourhood as any one wishes to live in. The best of this country -people, they are so friendly with one another ; for they think of a poor man in tliis country, that keeps himself honest and sober, much more than they do in England : so 1 hope you will not be uneasy about me, for 1 have not suft'ered for any thing yet, 1 have neighbours here like father and mother to us. Now I shall give you an account of my passage. I left Liverpool on the 20th of April, and landed at ]Sew York the 5iOth of May. There I took a boat and rowed to Albany, for 1/. 2.?. in our money ; then i went beyond there : 1 might have gone by water. 1 am uot 180 miles from New York, and about 4000 miles from you. We had as good a ship, captain, and sailors, as any one wishes to come with ; we had only 18 hours rough sea. Now you may think j as I didf that it could not be as people wrote word, that every thing was cheap, and labour was high, I will tell you the price of goods: wheat 8s. per bushel ; all orlu r grain 4s. per bushel ; beef and mutton 2 or 3 cents per pound ; veal 3 cents ; pork 8 cents ; sugar 10 to 12 cents ; tea 75 cents per pound j spirits Ss. 6d. per gallon. If a farmer has 100 acres of land, he has to pay only from 10 to 12 dollars a year tax j and that is all he has to pay : that is the reason they pay well for labour. Now this is a good country to come into. If Richard and Thomas was to come into this country, it would be tho making of them : they might get from 3 to 10 dollars a month, wash- ing and mending. One that takes his work, has from 45. to os. and Ss. ; if a man car do all sorts of work you have this pay, and your grub found in the house : work here is diflferent from what it is where you are j we work from sunrise to straset. 1 have 2 shops a mile and £ 5 \ X m EMIGRATION. [lettir a half from me ; 2 meetings a mile off; one Church of England, and a water-mill, a mile from my house. Single passengers may come from Liverpool to New \ ork for 1^ 10*., — 30«. for provisionB. A dollar in your country is 4s-. 6d., but here it is 8*. I bought a pig for 5s. in this money. I can buy as much for one of these shillings, as you can for one of yours. I live near Crouch j I have not '.een })im. I will thank you to write back as soon as you can. Our Phoebe and John are (juite well. Jolin bowls about the house, and says Moom, moora. I and Mary give our best love to you all. Amen. John Habden, Direct to near INIilton Town.f State of New York. To Mr. James Foster, Robfrtsbridije, Sussex, England. i No. 23. Constantia,^ December 2n>l, 1828. Dear Children, — 1 now write for the third time, since I left Old Engl-.uid. 1 wrote a letter, dated October 8th ; and finding that it would have 4 weeks to lay, 1 was afraid you would not have it : and as 1 told you 1 would write the truth, if I was forced to beg my bread from door to dc :r, so I now proceed. Dear children, I write to let you know that we are all in good health, excepting your mother ; and she J3 now just put to bed of another son, and she is as well as can be expected. And now as it respects what 1 have got in America : I have got 12^ acres of land, about half improved, and the rest in the state of nature, and a cows of my own j b it if I had not had a good friend in England, I could not liave bought it. We can buy good land for 18*. per acre : but buying of land is not one quarter part, for tlie land i 3 as full of trees as your woods are of stubs ; and they are from 4 to 10 rods long, and from 1 to 5 feet through them. You may buy laud here from 18s. to 19/. in English money ; and it will bring from 2Q to 40 bushels of wheat per acre, and corn from 20 to 50 bushels per acre, and rye from 20 to 40 ditto. You may buy beef for lid. per pound ; and mutton the same ; salt butter 7ioith of Albany, and 174 from New York. Population 2,779. 1 Popttlatjon 707, in Osweco County, on the borders of the Lake Oswego. III.] PARTS TO GO TO. 83 Td. ; and wheat 4s. Gd. per bushel ; corn and xyf> 2s. per bushel. And. I get 2s. 4d. a day and my board ; and have as much meat to eat, ;> times a day, as I like to eat. IJut clothing is dear : slices 3*. j half boots 16*. ; calico from Ud. to Is. Ad. ; stockings 2s. 9d. to 3s. 6d. ; flannel 4s. per yard; superfine cloth from 4s. dd. to 1/. : now all this is counted in English money. We get 4s. per day in summer, and our board; and if you count the difference of the money, you will soon find it out. 8s. in our money is 4s. Gd. in your money. And. among the good things of America, we have good laws, as good as they are in England, and much better attended to. For if a man comes to America with a farajly, and falls sick or lame within (» months, the county must tfcke care of them ; if they have been here 6 months, then the town, which you call a parish, must keep them. So people need not fear of suffering ; and people are a great deaf, nioi'e friendly here than they are, or can be, in England : because they have it not in their power as they have here; for we are all ax one, and much more friendly. 1 have found plenty of good frien'J:^ here, such as I never found in England, — only one. As it respect.^ this world's goods, and in the regard to Christian privileges, I enjoy myself much more than I did in England. For we have preachini;' twice on the Sabbath-day, and prayer-meeting in the week ; and al! within but a mile of my house. 1 forgot to tell you that I had biiilt a framed house upon the lund which I had bought. !Now, 1 think, iC you can or do credit what I write, as it is truth, that it will sufficrt you. But amongst the conveniences of America, there is some ill- conveniences : first we liave 2 or 3 miles to carry our grist to tlie mill ; and 4 miles to go up to the store, which you call a shop ; and when we get tliere, perhaps cannot get all we want ; for where 1 live is n new country, and being so far from sea, where the goods come on. shore, they are vei'y often out of goods. Another thing is, wo have no brewhouse near ; so we cannot get any yeast to bake with ; so we are obliged to make risings ; and if we do not use them just at tli» right time, we sometimes make heavy bread. And the roads are verif bad ; but with all the illconveniences, I bless God for sending me in America. Josia has had the fever-ague for 8 or 9 weeks ; but w« hope he has got rid of it. But them that I thought to find my best friends is not so. And all that wish to know the truth of America, let them help pay for the letters, because they ccst a great deal : but let old Joker see them. Henry and his wife and 2 childien are all well; he has just lost a little boy j he is gone into eternity about 7 I ! :.iJ I 84 EMIGRATION. [letter h montlis old. lie gives his kind love to you all. Tlemeinber us to all our brothers and sisters; and let them know how we all are, and how we are getting on : and as soon as you get this letter, write to let us know wliether you will coitie to America or not ; as I shall leave it to j'^our own judgment about it. And if you judge right, I think you will come if you can; and if you come, you will do well to go to Benja- min Smith, Esq., and get him to intercede for you, as he was my best friend. And you will want 1/. 10*. to get up where I am, both young and old. And if you come, be sure to get the gentleman to let you lay in your own jrovisions; and not let that rogue get it for you. And get jilenty of flour ; jdenty of hams of bacon ; sugar, cheese, butter, plums ; and the first of bread. Plenty of all this, and tea plenty ; and bake a part of flour into hard bread as your mother did. And when you get to the Quarantine ground, have a letter wrote to send by the first steam-packet you see ; to let me know when you shall be at Syracuse. The best way for you to come, is to come up to Albany in a tow-boat : when you get to Syracuse, call for en- tertainment at the sign of the Farmers' Accommodation ; and if we get your letter will meet you tliere ; and if not, come 'on to the town of Hastings, in the county of Oswego, and theie you will find us out. And direct your letters, Thomas Boots, Hastings, County of Oswego, State of >.ew York, North America. So no more at present from your Ever tender and loving parents, Thomas Boots. Hanxah Boots. Be sure, if you come, come away in INIarch if you can j for the sooner you come in the spring, the better. Mr. James Boots, Jun., Robertsbridge, Sussex, Old Eiujland. 40. The letters No. 1 to No. 6 contain the history of John Watson. After No. 6 look at the second paragraph of No. 11, where you will find further account of him; thea look at the last paragraph of No. 12 ; that finishes the account of his progress ; and there we find this English *' paitper," of whom the Parish of Sedlescomb thought itself happy to get ridy seated firmly down on a piece of land of 75 acres, in a comfortable dwelling house, and having a good Orchard of Apples and Peaches^ having earned the lii III.] PARTS TO GO TO. 85 money to make the purchase, and maintained his numerous family at the same time. I must beg the reader to attend to the progress of this man ; to look at his prodigious efforts to get from an English Colony into the United States. When he writes from our Colony of New Brunswick in Letter, No. 1 , he beseeches his brothers not to join him, not to emigrate ; for that they little know what difficulties they would have to encounter. Look at his second Letter, No. 2, which he writes from the United States : his tone is immediately changed ; and he becomes possessed of pro- perty. In his third Letter, No. 3, he and his family are taken with illness for six or eight weeks ; but, no sooner was their situation known, than they had plenty of provi- sions brought them ; they recover ; both man and wife go to work, and, in a short time, he has two cows, two calves, and nine pigs his property. In Letter No. 4, he writes to his friends and relations to come and quit the country of tythes and taxes. Look, i beseech you, reader, at the post* script of this Letter, No. 4 ; look at what he says about the soap and the absence of the exciseman, and look at what he says about the security of food for his children ! The sixth Letter contains useful hints as to seeds to be taken out. This man ought to be the admiration of every reader; and this man was got rid of by a parish in the East of Slussex ! 41. No. 7 is from Stephen Watson, the brother of John, who seems not to be made of such stout stuff. It is curious what he tells his father and mother, about the in- vasion of the Irish : he writes, you observe, on the 5th of October, 1823; but his wife, who writes on the 27th of the same month, shows that she knows when she is well off; and it seems that, by the day that she wrote, the husband had become sorry that he did not bring his father and mother. In No. 8; which is from the same Stephejt : . ! tl 1 86 EMIGRATION. [letteh Watson, we have a curious account of a man that came back. No. 10 is a letter that ought to attract the admira- tion of the whole world, if it could be put under the eyes of every person in it. This Mary Jane Watson, who in No. 10 and No. 11 does so much honour to her heart as ./ell as her head, becomes, in No. 12, a married woman. In short, there needs nothing but the reading of the letters of this young woman alone, to settle the whole question as to the state of the people in America. 42. John Parks comes on in No. 13 with a very sensible and excellent letter; especially towards the close of it. The " Collective" might, if it would, blush as it reads this letter. And if it did not blush at that, it might look at the letter of James Parks, which is No. 14 ; and par- ticularly where he talks of Thomas Avann and his belly ^ strap. Good God ! is it the custom of English labourers to wear straps round them to prevent the cravings of hun- ger ? Look at that passage, and if you be an Englishman, and can read it without feeling your cheek burn with shame, you are made of something harder than marble. In this letter, the story about the nailed half-boot^, that were put into the Museum at Albany, is worthy of notice. In this same letter, we find that the English Pauper, James Pa rks, had taken a s/to/) at Albany. , 43. In letter No. 15, he gives an interesting account of the employment of several young people, and tells the poor people of Sussex, that they would not ^wow one of them, he dresses so much like a gentleman I 44. Stephen Turner, in No. 16, points out how rich people ought to behave towards poor p- , pie ; though we find instances of that sort running through the whole of these letters. 45. In No, 17, we have an account, which is very curious ; four shillings a day and board; in hay time and harvest six III.] III.] PAUTS TO GO TO. 87 or seven shillings a day and board ; ^nd wheat at Is. the bushel ! That is to say, then, more than a bushel of wheat per day all the year round ; for there is the board into the bargain ; so that, to lix'e as well as these people in America, a labourer in England ought to receive, at this time, about $ixty-four English shillings a week ; and what they do get, on an average, is less than sevew, taking one time of the year with the other, 46. In No. 18 John Vrness gives an account of hJs being about to go on a farm in shares ; that is to say, the landowner finds land, corn, and fire-wood, and Veness is to find labour, and is to have one half of the crop. Thus this English ^'Pauper'* becomes a farmer all at once. 47. No. 20 is a letter from Mary Veness, who ap- pears to have taken out some of her children with her, and to have left her husband behind. She provides at once for all her children ; she appears to feel a good deal on account of her absence from her mother ; but she hopes that she, her father, and brother will join her in the spring. Talk of aff€<^ting romances ! Read the letter of this woman ! 48. Letter 21 is from John and Elizabeth Thorpe, and the wife seems to have been the writer. Read it, you blackguards who have calumniated the Americans; read it, you lying travellers, for it cannot lie. I have the original letter, which Thor^as Cooke gave me himself; and give it me he did with tears of joy in his eyes, and tears of gratitude to the benevolent people of America. The good woman who writes this letter, being a methodist herself, seems to have thought that this goodness was confined to her own sect. If she had been of any other sect, she would have found things just the same, without any questions being asked as to what religion she belonged. 49. John Harden, in Letter No. 22, gives an account of the cost of a house and garden. He speaks of other things 88 EMIGRATION. [letter III.] > I '* ii M also; and he particularly notices that his friends may think as he used to think, that every thing could not be cheap and labour high at the same time ; but he found it tnie, and he states the wa"^s and the prices in proof. 50. Thomas Boots, who writes, in Letter No. 23, to his children in Roberts bridge, closes the series with a very interesting letter. He states the inconveniences of Ame- rica ; and it is curious to observe what they are ; the dis- tance from a mill, the distance from a shop, the absence of a brew-house, the want of yeast to bake with, and the bad roads ; but he concludes, " with all the inconveniences / ** bless God for sending me to America." 51. These letters, even without these comments of mine, willhave amply spoken for themselves; buttheieis one thing that the reader should attend to ; and that is, the difference of the prices in the same thing at different places. If the reader will look at the dates of the letters, he will see a very good reason for land, meat, flour, and all the produce of the earth being much cheaper at one place than at another ; and also for a similar difference between the prices of sugar, tea, and all articles that come from abroad. When the place is situated at a great distance from the sea board, as at Con ST anti A, (Letter 23,) you perceive, that tea and sugar are dear, compared with the price of those articles at New York ; and that, on the other hand, while beef and mutton are stated at from two pence to three pence a pound at New York, they are sold Sit seven farthings a pound at Constantia. This must be attended to, or else the reader •will not acquire from these letters a correct view of prices. The further you get from the sea, and from great navigable rivers, like the Hudson, all articles that are either imported, or manufactured in great towns, become dearer, and, the price of the produce of the land diminishes in value. This is very well for a manlike John Watson, who lives from the I 111.] PARTS TO 00 TO. 89 land ; but it is not the same for a man who intends to farm principally for the market, and thereby increase his riches. John Watson says in No. 5, " We make our own soap and candles ;" and he has just got forty or fifty yards of linen from the loom, made of his last year's fax ! And this is a pauper of whom the farmers in Sussex wished to get rid ! This No ^ letter of Watson announces the birth of another child, and announces that his eldest son has attained the height of a man, and that " he has just been out /or a month, and earned himself a summer suit of clothes.^* Pray, reader, look at the close of this letter, No. 5, and also look at the postscript ; look at the signatures of the letter, and then ask what the state of England must be, when it is desirable to pay for getting rid of such people ! 52. Thus far with regard to the Witness of America for JSn* rjlish labourers. There remains to be stated that which will show that it is the place also for tradesmen, for farmers, and for people who live on their means already acquired. I have, in my *' Year's Residence," spoken of these matters also ; but I have now three letters, received from Mr. James Russell, of Rye, accompanied by a letter from himself. I shall insert the whole, beginning with the letter of Mr,. Russell. Tliese letters will, in a great measure, speak for themselves. They come from well-informed men, and they give a detail of prices of land, and of rent of house and land, extremely interesting to tradesmen and farmers. I will first insert the letters, and then speak about their prices particularly, this being a very important point; and the prices of this species of property differing very widely in dif- ferent parts of the country, and differing also according to the situation of the place relative to navigable rivers. Therefore, when I have inserted the letters, which are full of interest in themselves, I will give full explanation of these matters. These letters are, comparatively, of very recent • t i i 90 EMIGRATION. [letter date, the first two being dated in the month of August, 1828, and the other in the month of January of this present year, and they all come from men of business. The first two letters are written by Benjamin and Theopiiilus FowLE, addressed lo Mr. Daniel DoBRLL,of Smarden, in Kent, and the last letter, that of Thomas and Eli- za retii Full agar, addressed to Mr. William Mercer, of High Halden, in Kent. So that here is nothing left to doubt, nothing b'^t to question ; here is every thing fully stated ; here are the parties alive and present to be referred to; and here, in the face of all England, are these state- ments made ; and therefore these statements cannot be false. To VVm. COBBETT, Esq. A. Rye, June 23id, 1829. Sir, — Seeing:, by your Register, that you intend, immediately, to publish instructions for Emigrants to North America, and owing you a debt of gratitude for the information I have received from many years reading your PiCgister, I thought possibly the enclosed tm) letters would give some information to the public, and particularly as the persons from whom tliey came are well known in the Weald of Kent, from where so many have emigrated, and where a great many more will continue to leave. The two, by name F('Vlc, are natives of Cranbrook ; and Fullagar was from Woodchurch. He was a maltster tliere, and was fined a hundred pounds for some error (not defraud) respecting wetting barley ; but after considerable trouble and expense, having proved no intention to defraud, he was let off for satisfying the officer for his trouble. This you see is one part of the glorious Constitution, the envy, &c. &c. &c. Respecting the information contained in tliese letters, you may rely the authors are men of honour and integrity. If you think proper to publish, as they are with the names attached, you ai'e at liberty so to do, or to take extracts as you please j or if you don't think tliem of any conse- quence, then all is well, and. I have doife my duty to you and my countrymen, in endeavouring to render a service to you and them. With these impressions I s!\bscribe myself Yours faithfully, James Russell* III.] TARTS TO GO TO, 91 B. Caledonia,+ Attgasta-ltli, I82»<. Dear Cousin,— I received yours of April 3rd, and truly tluj contents were gloomy ; the reverse is tnily the case in this country ; so much that I think there never was a period since the fall of man, nor a country to be found on the globe, where peace and jtlenty s(i generally abounds as in the northern states of America. The laws are ns pure as can be expected to bo formed bv man, and are execute& 1. MIUU 1 2^ 12.5 2 „„|^ 1.8 |4 U lii 1.6 6" V] V) ^;; ■^^■J^ 5 7 ys Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 7x ll 92 EMIGRATION. hi'. i-- ( '■■;' rrll [letter 35. 6d. per busliel ; potatoes Is, ditto ; a common labourer's wages iiQl. for a year ; improved farms, with good buildings, from 31. 7s. to 51. per acre. There is a new country, in the western part of this state, of unimproved land, at 10*. per acre; there is an English settle- ment there. I have given you the price^of all the above articles in Englisli money. Good tobacco is one dollar for twelve pounds. I Lave been poor master of this town for many years, and I find it is a rare thing for a resident to become an annual town charge, In the circle of my acquaintance I know of no one who takes the trouble of locking or barring their doors by night, for thieving is so uncommon that they think it entirely useless and unnecessary. JMy brother will follow me, while I r.emain, most faithfully. Yours Benjamin Fowle. C. Caledonia, Augast 35th, 18SS. Deak Cousis DoBELi, — I often think of you since I left England, I have found this country better than I expected. It is beautiful and good. 1 wish you and all your family, yes, and all my children, were over here, for 1 enjoy more pleasure in one week here, than I ever found in England for two years together. I never knew there was so much difference between a free people and those under a . We tave but very little taxes to pay, and wo tythes. Every industrious man has a good chance to live well and get rich. If any of you think of coming to America I can inform you how to prevent being imposed on : that is, for you to purchase your own provisions, and see to the packing them up yourselves ; for the shopkeepers will, many of them, sell one kind of bread and pack up another kind not half so good. I live with brother B., and never was so well off in my life. In this part of the country I have seen pigeons flying from the south to the north this spring a thousand in a flight *, and have seen twenty or thirty such fliglits in a day. This is, I think, the best country in tke world. The common people are as well off as the farmers in Kent, and the fanners here live as well as they can wish to live. I am fully satisfied that you would like it if you were here. You can have no idea about it. I cannot tell you one half of the advantages. I remain. Your affectionate Cousin, TUEOPHILUS FoWtB. : [-; in] PARTS TO GO TO. 93 D. Utica,+ Hopper Farm, January 7th, 1829. Dear Uncle, Aunt, and Friends.— We have been very mucli gratified by tlie receipt of your two letters from your priest ridden country. Your three sons are quite well, and liappy ; they drank tea with us on New Year's Day ; and, I do assure you, you need not con- cern yourselves respecting their moral conduct, or any thing that may prevent their succeeding in this country, as their conduct is a suffi- cient recommendation for the promotion of their happiness. You desire me to inform you how mucli it will require for you and JNIrs. M. to live on the interest in this country ; the legal interest is seven per cent, per annum on real security. The livin«- is much cheaper in the country than in town. I will give you a detail of tlie prices of pro- visions, house-rent, fuel, land, &c., and leave you to judge of the money you will want. House-rent in this village is very high ; for such a house as you would want would be from 80 to 100 dollars ; fuel from 2 to 2§ dollars per cord ; 8 feet long, 4 feet liigli, and 4 feet wide. In the couufry the rent of a house, with a large garden, about 1(5 dollars per annum, and fuel a mere nothing. Land is at various prices. The unimproved land, 6 or seven miles from Ufica, is about 10 dolors per acre." I can purchase a farm of 87 acres, witli a good new house, barn, lodges, stable, and styes, the land fenced into fields, with rails, and about 70 acres cleared, with a good orchard, for 2000 dollars, six miles from Utica. If this farm could be well stocked, I have no hesitation to say, a man, with all his ownmoney for purchase, &:c., may live, in comfortable independence, without a tyrant Lord domineering over him for killing his own game. He has no taxes to pay, except his equal share for the support of the civil government, which is but a mere trifle. He has no poor's-rate« ; for he dwells in a land where government does not interpose its greedy hand to snatch the cup of industry from the lips of the feeble. He has no tythes to pay, for here are no hireling priests, such are the blessings enjoyed bv the American farmers. Mr. E 11, of Tenterden, with all his great powers of mind, which he thinks he possesses in his objections to the comforts of America, is as ignorant as a blind man is of colours. Land, half a mile from this village, is worth 8 or 900 dollars per acre for building lots ; such lots also sell very high in Utica. Stephen Pot, and George Hopper, late of Tenterden, have bought some unim- !' + Ninetjf-tbree miles W. N. W. of Albany. Population 2;972. 94 EMIGRATION. [LETTER !i jtroved land 30 miles north of Syracuse, for two dollars per acre. They are to pay 20 dollars per annum, till they liave completed their purchase ; and seven per cent, per annum interest for purchase money in arrear. I will here subjoin a list of tlie prices of provisions, &lc. Flour, superfine, per barrel of 196 pounds, 8 dollars and 50 cents. ]t is 3 J dollars dearer than it was last April; owing, 1 suppose, to the wet summer, it has been 10 dollars. Beef, per pound, at the mar- ket, 4 cents to 6 cents, fore quarters, and 3^ dollars per cwt. ; for hind quarters 4| dollars ; for^ork 6 cents per pound ; for mutton and veal 3 cents per pound ; butter 14 cents ; cheese 7 cents ; tea 7,'> cents ; candles 12^ cents j soap 7 cents ; sugar ISJf cents ; loaf ditto 1?5 cents; snufF 25 cents ; tobacco 10 cents; new milk, in summer, iJ cents per quart, in winter 4 cents; eggs, per dozen, 25 cents; fowls, ducks, and turkeys 7 cents ; geese of 7 or 8 lbs. 25 cents ; the Yankies don't love geese. Indian corn meal, per bushel, 50 cents; buck wheat flour, per lb., 3 cents ; rye flour, per bushel, 62f cents ; hay, per ton,8 dollars ; whiskey, per gallon, 25 cents ; brandy and rum 1 dollar; potatoes, per bushel, 25 cents; oats 21 cents; wheat 1^ iloUar ; cider 32 gallons, 75 cents to 1 dollar ; apples 25 cents per bushel. There are some people who emigrate to this countrj', and not seeking correct information, return again to England ; but those who come with a resolution to persevere, and an inclination to live liere, are well satisfied that they have escaped from misery and starva- tion. This shows the importance of persons making themselves ac- <]uainted as much as possible with the country. Respecting the liealthfulness of this country, we have been here 13 months and none of us have had a visit from any apothecary. We are, dear uncle and aunt. Yours, affectionately, Thos. and Enz. FuLLAGAR. 53. What I have said respecting the prices mentioned in the former letters, applies, in general, to nothing but provisions and labour. But these letters, which I have just inserted, apply to lands and houses. Mr. Fulla6 ar's letter is par- ticularly valuable ; as it gives a detail of prices which can leave us no possibility of falling into error. His account is, that land, (uncleared land,) at about six or seven liulcs t i- n..] PARTS TO GO TO. 95 from Utica, is to be bought for ten dollars an acre. But, then, he gives an instance of a farm of eighty-seven acres, which he could purchase for 2,000 dollars. The dollar being 4s. 6d. sterling, this is £450, which, being divided by 87, brings the land to something more than five pounds an acre. Seventy acres of the land are cleared, and are fenced into fields: there is a good orchard, a new house, barn, lodges, stable, and styes. This, then, Ave may regard as the price at Utica. Where, then, is Utica ? Utica is si- tuated on the south bank of the Mohawk river, 93 miles fiom Albany. It is a very flourishing place, with a population, some years ago, of 2,973 souls, has 7 churches of all sorts, an academy, and four printing offices. It is a central point, where the turnpike roads from various parts of the States unite; and, Dr. Morse, from whose American Gazetteer I take these facts, adds, " that it forms the key of trade and travel between a large section of the Western country, and the Atlantic ports, and that the canal passes through it, and adds to its importance." Now, it is within six or seven miles of this place that land is to be bought for about £2 an acre, which I suppose to be uncleared land ; and that farms are to be bought as above described. 54. This place being ninety-three miles from Albany, and Albany being 144 from New^ York, is, of course, 237 miles from the sea ; but there is a water communication to Al- 2^ ANY, and a ship communication from Albany to New York. Now, if such be the prices of land and of farms in a situation like this, they cannot be more than double the price, even at twenty or thirty miles from New York, Phi- ladelphia, or any other great place. Let us now look at the prices of provisions at Utica. The flour was, it appears, when Mr. Fullagar wrote his letter, 3{ dollars dearer than it was the year before ; but if we take it at 6 dollars, that brings it to seven-and-twenty shillings English i\ ml ■ i 1:^ 96 EMIGRATION. [letter for the 196 lbs. A hundred and ninety-six pounds are equal to three bushels and a half of English flour; and this American flour is superfine ; and this is 7s. 3^d. the bushel of 56 lbs. Beef at the market is, at this Utica, four cents to six cents the pound. A cent is the hundredth part of a dollar ; and, therefore, as near as can be, equal in value to an English halfpenny, which makes the beef from two pence to three pence the pound. Bearing the value of these cents in mind, and not forgetting that mutton and veal were three cents per pound, look at all the rest of the prices ; but, as you proceed, always bear in mind the comparative value of the cents. This letter was written in the month of January, when eggs were probably at five or six times the price they bear in the spring and in the summer. The milk is always comparatively dear in America, on account of the labour which attends it. Fowls, ducks, and turkeys at 3^d, a pound, and geese of seven or eight pounds for 25 cents ; that is to say, for about Is. lie?. So that, while the farmer must have a pretty good profit from land so cheap, and untythed and untaxed, the labourer must still live well on account of the low price of provisions, compared with that of labour ; and the person who lives upon his means, need certainly not seek for a cheaper place than this pleasant and busy town of Utica, 55, Mr. FuLLAGAR gives us information with regard to persons who intend to live on their means. He says, as I said, in a late Register on the subject, that the legal interest of money is seven per cent, per annum on real security ; that, in the country, house and land rent are much cheaper than in the town ; that a house in the town, such as his friend would want, would be from eighty to a hundred dollars a year; that is to say, from £18 to £22 IO5. But that, in the country, the rent of a house with a large garden, would not- be above sixteen dollars a year ; and that, in the III.] PARTS TO GO TO. 97 latter case, tlio fuel would be a mere nothing, while, in the former case, it would be from two to two and a-half dollars per cord; that is to say, a stack of wood, eight feet long, four feet wide, and four feet high ; and if you burnt ten of these during a year, the expense would be about £5 ; and Mr. Benjamin Fowle tells us, that he has been pour- master for the town of Caledonia for many years, and that he finds it a rare thing for a resident to become an annual charge. He adds, which is the great pleasure of all, " in the circle of my acquaintance, I. know of no one who takes the trouble of locking or barring their doors by night, for thieving is so uncommon, that they think it entirely useless and unnecessary." Here is a man, an Englishman, living in a town with a considerable population in it, a place of trade, and a thorough fci re for travellers; he has, for many years, been collector and distributor of the poor-rates, and will you not believe him, in preference to the hired writers of travels, and to the assertions of that hireling publication, the Ql' aii- TEiiLY Review ? 5Q. The price of land very near to New York, or to any of the great comm&rcid cities, must, of course, be a great deal higher than at Utica; but, unless w-ithin twenty miles, I should think, not much dearer. At any rate, whatever the price of land be, the price of the produce, and the nearness and certainty of the market, compensate for the higher price. Houses in the great cities are vtry high in price, but this arises from the great business carried on. We have seen the expenses of living at Utica. In that town, which has "seven churches , four "printing offices, and an academy, any family might live at a ffth part of the expense necessary to the same family in any town in England. But, I need say no more on this part of the subject: here are all th« facts (undeniable facts) before the reader; and I now leave him, be he high or low, to judge for lumself, whether the n F 98 EMIGRATION. [letter 'I United States be, or be not, the country for him to emigrate to, if he emigrate at all. 57. With regard to the best part o{ the United States to go to, that must, in a great degree, depend on the pursuit of the party, and on the state of his family, their age, and other circumstances. If a man intend to pursue a tJ'ade, some city or town is the scene for him. If farming be his object, the country he must go to, and his own judgment, will point out the precise spot. As to which State is best, I should prefer that of New York. But, I exhort every Englishman to avoid back woodSy new countries^ and even uncleared land. Such a farm as that mentioned by Mr. Fullagar, is the thing for an Englishman. I advise all to go to well settled parts of the country, and not to a great distance from the sea. We do not know how to clear woods, and cannot live in wigwams. The lamentable fate of those who followed the unfortunate Birkbfck, ought to be a warning to all who dream of prairies, and of lofty forests. n: 1V.2 PUEPAUATIONS FOR VOYAGE. 99 LETTER IV. On the Preparations some time previous to Sailing. 58. Tfe first thing is to be provided with the means ne- cessary to pay the passage, and to get all your money vi hand. Labourers, artizans, and the like, stand in need of a few pounds, at any rate, after landing ; for, though, if able and willing to work, they maij do without, and, though, if ill, they would certainly not be left to starve, and would not be put into prison, because they had no home ; still they ought, if they can, to have a pound or two when they land. Persons of property will need all their money ; and they should collect it all together, and, in some way or other, carry it out with them. 59. Having quitted business here, the best wa- is to get out of an expensive town, and live cheaply in lodgi» g in the country, and then wait for the proper season. If the emi- grant be a single man, he can go at any season ; but, the best season is the spring. You then arrive in very fine weather ; the weather permits to travel with speed whether by land or by water; and, you will, if you wish it, have seen a great deal by the fall of the year. 60. Do not encumber yourself with household goods, or with beds and bedding. They are all to be got in America, and far cheaper, of the same quality; and, perhaps, they I" 2 [ 100 EMIGHATION. [letter will sell for something here. It is only perhaps ; but, the uooden parts will do for fuel, and some one will accept of the rest as a gift. Above all things, do not take your de- vanters^ or your cork-screw ; and resolve never to use either again. You are going to a country where claret used to be about eight English pence a bottle, and where you may literally swim in whiskey or gin, and pretty nearly in brandy or rum. But, resolve never to taste either. Drinking is the great vice of the country ; and, if you wish to have healtli and happiness, you will rigidly abstain from that fatal and (lisffusting; vice. ()1. Prepare suitable, but very cheap, dresses for yourself, wife, and children, to wear on board the ship ; and have these ready long beforehand. If your wife have been accustomed to have servants, it will be absolutely necessary to dismiss tliem. They are of no use on board the ship ; they cost a threat deal ; you will have to wait on them, and not they on you ; they will be moi'e sea- sick than your wife and children Avill be ; they will be a plague to you throughout the whole voyage ; and, the moment the ship gets on soundings^ and long before you see land, they will kick up their heels, and set you at defiance. Do not imagine that you have got a miracle in either man or maid. You may think that they are attached to you ; and so they are ; but, they cannot give up their liberty and their pleasure. These they will not give up, though many would sacrifice their pecuniary in* terests. 62. Two or three months might be very well spent, after you quit your farm or your shop, to tnj a little to do without servants altogether ; for, though you may have them again, it is very well to be able to do without them for a week or so. You hear Mr. FuUagar say, that, in America, " good girls are in great demand for wives.'* And, the truth is, that very great pains, and not less patience, must be taken M [letter s ; but, the II accept of ke your tie- to use either t used to be e you may y in brandy Drinking is have health at fatal and for yourself, 1 have these accustomed f to dismiss they cost a not they on »nd children it the whole idingSf and : heels, and have got a »k that they cannot give ley will not cuniary ik- spent, after > do without ;hem again, • a week or ica, "good le truth is, it be taken IV.] PREPARATIONS lOR VOYAGE. 101 and exercised in order to obtain the services of a yood girl or woman. Yet, with good management, thi;$ may he accom- plished J but, the sure way is to rely principally on your own wife and children, with the aid of work-women occasionally ; and, there is this of good belonging to all these, that they will not rob you: tley are too j)roud to do that. 63. You ought also to discipline yourself a little, if j'ou have been accustomed to have servants and work-people ; for, though you will never find an American saucy y you will find him keep away from you, if you treat him haughtily and roughly. Imagine net that you will find English ser- vants more submissive : liberty and equality are in the at- mosphere: the English catch them, tiic moment they land : and, like all converts, they surpass their teachers. If you have time, it may not be amiss for you to take a trip to Irv- land before you sail. Go tliitlier, and observe very atten- tively, how the rich demean themselves towards inferiors; observe well the voice, and manner, and language in which the former address the latter ; and, then, be sure to do pre- cisely the contrary in addressing servants and workpeople in America ; and prejare yourself for it before you quit England. 64. Now, dp not bo alarmed at this. You will find as nice, as neat, as well-regulated houses and families in Ame- rica as you have ever seen. You will do very well with the vien, and your wife will learn, from her hospitable and kind neighbours, what to do with the women. There are great numbers of rich men in America, merchants, lawyers, doc- tors, parsons, too. Many of these keep fine houses and gardens, and live in great style. They do not sit down with their servants, which is the practice only with farmers and rather lower tradesmen. But, even the richest men do not attempt to treat their domestics haughtily ; and no man or woman ought to be treated haughtily by any body. • !i ^ 103 IMIGRATION, [letter LETTER V. On the sort of Ship to go in, and of the steps to be taken relative to the Passage, and the sort of Passage ; and also of the Stores, and other things^ to he taken out with the Emigrant ; and how to carry and transmit Money. 65, The ship will be no other than an American one, if you wish for a quick and a safe passage. The Americans sail ,/as^er than others, owing to the greater skill and greater •vigilance of the captains, and to their great sobriety and the wise rules that they observe with regard to their men. They carry more sail than other ships ; because the captain is everlastingly looking out. I have crossed the Atlantic three times in Arnerican ships, once in an English merchant ship, once in a king's ship, and once in a king's packet ; and I declare, that the superiority of the Americans is decided, and so decided, that, if I were going to cross again, nothing should prevail on me to go on board of -any ship but an American one. I never knew an American captain take off his clothes to go to bed, during the whole voyage ; and I never knew any othtr who did not do it. The consequence of this great watchfulness is, that, advantage is taken of every puff of wind, while the risk from the squalls and sudden gusts is, in a great measure, obviated. A lazy captain, or one that gets drunk over night, does one of two things ; keeps v.] Sim* AND TASSACJE. 103 out too mucli sail, and thereby risks tlie ship, or, in order to avoid danger in this way, keeps out much less than might be carried, and thus the ship is retarded in her progress. There are few nights, and no days, when a skilful mariner cannot see the squalls and gust approaching. When I came home from America the last time, we had, I dare say, ten squalls a day, and, some times, twice the number: during the squall it was necessary to take in a good deal of sail ; between the sqnalls we could carry a good deal of sail, the breeze being sti'.f, but the wind fair. The captain, who was almost constantly on deck day and night, and only went and laid down two or three times in the day, and never in the night, between the squalls, could see very plainly when they were coming ; and always had his sails taken in, a few minutes before the squall reached the ship. As soon as the squall was over, and it did not last ten minutes perhaps, out went the sails again, and thus we went on for a whole fort- night, with a very little intermission day or night. A drink- ing, sleeping fellow would have done one of two things : keep out the sails during the squalls, and have his sails and rigging torn to pieces, and have been retarded on his voyage ; or, he would have taken in his sails in the evening at any rate, and just kept on at two or three miles an hour, instead of eight or ten miles an hour, during the night. And, from what I have been told, added to what I myself have observed, I am sorry to ha"e to say, though it is my bounden duty to say it, that I verily believe this to be in general the difference between American and English captains. I have sailed with three Americana : neither of them ever pulled his clothes off, from the time the ship weighed anchor to the time she cast anchor again. I am persuaded that the superiority of the American navy must have been in a great measure owing to this superior vigilance and skill. Doubtless the bodily strength of the men had something to do with it ; but this . !>; 104 EMIGRATIOT^. [letter vigilance, especially, this everlasting watchfulness, this wonderful adroitness in taking advantage of every little cir- cumstance, must have had a great deal to do in the ensuring of those astonishing victories which the American navy ob- tained over ours. Even the correspondents of the poor people in Sussex press their friends to come by an American ship! Their little experience had furnished them with knowledge enougii to make them press that advice home ; and therefore I need not, I think, say more on this point. 66. There is something in the size of the ship. A small ship is very disagreeable, even if you be in the cabin : she is tossed about much more than a large ship ; and she seldom has any conveniences fit for passengers. But, as to this matter, there are so many American ships, passing between London, Liverpool,, Greenock, and New York, that you can be at no loss on this score. There are, upon an average, three or four ships every day in the year, quitting New York for s6me part of this kingdom. Some ships are a great deal older than others ; and there may be cases when they are becoming dangerous, from their age. You should, therefore, make fu'.l inquiries on this head, beforehand ; .should go and see the ship yourself; but, as to seeing the <;aptain, and ascertaining what sort of a man he is, these are useless ; for, a captain of a ship is one man on shore and another man on board ; and, perhaps, the rougher he is in the former state, the smoother he is in the latter. You must, indeed, leave yourself no reason to care about iiis temper or his manners, any more than about those of the person of whom you buy your ship-stores. The taking of your passage must be a plain matter of business ; the bargain made, the money paid, and the transaction recorded in a written me- morandum, which is best for both parties; for you will not be very good humoured when you are sea-sick; and, when passengers complain of the bad temper of the captain, they I*' ' -i »•] SHIP AND PASSAGE. 105 do not reflect on what their temper would be, if they were plagued with sea-sick people, and had to listen to their un- reasonable and .incessant wailings, and their everlasting senseless questions. Kousseau says, nobody likek to be asked questions; and, though it is very natural for land people to be constantly crying out against a sea life, and against the various and great inconveniences experienced in a ship, the ship, recullect, is, at any rate, the Captain's home; the cabin is his parlour; and no man likes to hear his home decried, be that home what it may. There are, therefore, great allowances to be made for what is deemed the bad temper, and what are called the rough manners of captains of ships. If they have several passengers, they have a great deal of anno}ance to endure ; and that, too, when involved with many cares and anxieties. Take you care to abstain from pestering the captain with silly questions, and you will rarely find him what is called an ill-tempered man. Take you care of yourself as well as you can, and leave him to take care of his men and his ship/ 67. The next question is, wliat sort of passage you are to take. A cabin passage, if for one grown person, is from thirty to five and forty pounds, perhaps, according to the style in which you ^re to live ; if a whole family go, the children are taken for much less, and a bargain is generally made for the whole in a lump. There are little rooms, or closets, separated from the cabin by doors, which are some- times taken where there are women and children. These are often to be obtained for a specific price; and, in short, you must go and examine the place well, if possible, and make your bargain for whatever you may want. Where there are women and children, great care ought to be taken about providing the proper room ; for, it is too late to repine, whon the anchor is once weighed. Every consider- ation ought to be bestowed on providing for a mitigation of r 5 . f •A i ' |4f i I i ii Ji • ; i 106 EMIGRATION. [letter the great and painful inconveniences that women have to undergo : and, the greater their native modesty, the more insurmountable their reluctance to depart from that delicacy which has been habitual to them all their lives : the more painful their situation on board of ship. Therefore, if you be in that state of life, which points out the propriety of a cabin passage, sacrifice every thing but the great object in view, in order to make the voyage as little painful as possi- ble to women of this description. 68. If your circumstances point out the steerage instead of the cabin, the price here is, with provisions found, for a single grown person £8., and for children under fourteen years of age £4. 10s. each : this is from London ; from Liverpool, £4. 10s. for a grown person, and thirty shillings for provisions, if found by the Captain, in the cabin, the provisions are found by the Captain, and that is by far the best way ; but, in the steerage, it is best to take your own provisions ; and as to the sort of provisions, the foregoing letters contain an abundance of information. The writers of those letters had had experience in every particular ; and they have enumerated all the particulars. Look at the lat- ter part of No. 14, or, rather, towards the middle of that letter, and you will see numerous articles mentioned. Flour, rice, ginger, candles, grots, salt, pepper, vinegar, port wine (which I never knew to be necessary), dried ham, other bacon, potatoes, butter, sugar, tea, coffee. You should take some biscuits, and perhaps three or four times as much as you want, for fear of a very long voyage, and consequent famine ; but, I never could bring myself to eat biscuit j and, as these good people say, plenty of flour is the great secu- rity. I would add, some fresh eggs, well packed in bran or salt; I do not recollect any thing else, except a bottle of brandy for the steerage passenger, and a gallon of brandy for the cabin passenger, to be judiciously administered in ■Ii v.] SHIP AND PASSAGE. 107 bribes to the black cook. He would bid you toss your money into the sea ; but he will suck down your brandy ; and you will get many a nice thing prepared by him, which you never would get, if it it were not for that brandy. I hold wine and all spirituous liquors, and even beer, to be wholly unnecessary on board of ship. The water is always good ; the tea slops are always at hand ; and every thing that is intoxicating in its nature adds to the severity of sea- sickness. I always drank water, except upon one of my passages ; and then I found the beer an evil rather than a good. i ■ \ I- ■'. i' EMIGRATION. [letter im •\ LETTER VI. On the Precautions to he observed while on board of Ship, ivhether in the Cabin or Steerage. ()9. In the steerage you must take your own bedding. It will be good to take blankets, sheets, and some pillows also ; and, in some cases, you must take the mattress. This you will settle beforehand with the Captain, and will be urovided in quantity according to the season of the year ; hut in the steerage, you must take every thing that you are likely to want in the way of bedding, and go beforehand, nnd fix upon the birth; and if you have a wife, your own senses will point out to you the place to choose for her, if you have the power of choosing. The steerage, as it is <'alled, is the space between the top deck and the middle u will of for ex- ship and [ger,) bait ime sort ; 't, always r weather oderately never so r fear of ind yards nasts are lulwarks, )e only a and in- id gentle if it be a n, mend- J below, at work, isely for TI.J PRECAUTIONS ON BOARD. 117 that wind and weather which you dislike, and to wish for a long voyage while you wish for a short one. The captain, and he only of the whole of the ship's company, wishes for a ^lort voyage, which saves him pi wisions in the cabin ; apd he being paid by the voyagp, and not by the day. 77. The best way is, not to pester any of them with 4 ■•■*,[ fwf? •t ',(. ■d m: -m 124 EMIGRATION. [letter or three hundred pounds, the addition to the sum soon enables him to purchase a farm. In the meanwhile he may farm on shares^ as is mentioned in Letter No. 18. There his industry and skill have their full reward : he is a farmer at once ; and nothing but want of health (which will de- pend in a great measure upon himself) can prevent him from being in that happy state, so finely described in the letter Cof Mr. Theophilus Fowle. 87. The artizan should do the same if he have not money to begin his trade at once ; and it would be an ad- vantage to him, too; for, amongst brother workmen he would get thoroughly acquainted with all the customs of the country. With regard to the shop-keeper, who knows how to do nothing else but to keep sl^op, and yet has not money to set up a shop, which is there called a storCy he, if not an old man, could help in the shop of another. If he be willing to work at any thing, his little stock of money must increase, and if store-keeping continue to be his taste, he will soon find the means of keeping stores ; for new scenes for doing this are continually opening ; an increase of people and of produce, naturally and inevitably demand an increase of stores. 88. If the farmer have the means of purchasing a farm at once, he will, of course, proceed to get it ; and I advise him to see many places, and to make full and minute inquiries before he establish himself: but, by no means to go to back woods or new settlements^ for which Americans are per- fectly well qualified, and for which Englishmen are wholly unqualified. Men are tempted by the cheapness, as it is called, of land ; but if they examine well, they will find that every acre of land (beyond the immediate vicinity of lowns) bears a price pretty exactly profc llrned to the price of produce, taking all the articles together. Let me beg the farmer's attention to this. The price of flour, and [letter sum soon le he may 8. There s a farmer h will de- event him ;ed in the have not be an ad- II he would ms of the irho knows et has not store f he, ler. If he of money e his taste, s ; for new in increase >ly demand ; a farm at advise him te inquiries go to back ns are per- are wholly S5, as it is f will find '■ vicinity of ced to the r. Let me I flour, and VIII.] TO GET FARM, SHOP, &C. 125 of some other articles, do not appear to vary much between Utica and New York ; but there is a great difference between the price of turkeys, ducks, fowls, and geese, at Utica and Ni:w York, to which Mr. Fullagar might have added, apples, peaches, fruit of all sorts, together with melons, water-melons, squashes, and various other things, which, at Utica, can be hardly worth raising, and which, at New York, fetch, though at a low price, from the great quantity and the ready market, a great deal of money. Be- sides this, the wood, which at Utica sells from two to two and a half dollars a cord, sells, on an average, at about seven dollars at New York ; and every farm in America consists partly of woods. Cider, Mr. Fullagar tells us, sells thirty-two gallons from 75 cents to a dollar ; that is to say, thirty-two gallons for about 3s. 66?. English money, whicfi is very little more than a penny a gallon. At and near New York it sells for about seven times the price ; so that, though it is cheap enough even there, I do not know that this is precisely the price at New York now; but it is manifest that *an orchard at Utic^ is a very different thing from an orchard at twenty or thirty miles from New York. We see, by Mr. Fullagar's letter (letter C), that mutton and veal were, in the month of January, three cents a pound at Utica ; that is to say, three halfpence English ; but, by number 16, we find that mutton was two or three English per.cea pound at New York, or at Brook- lyn, which is the &ame thing. We find that pork, which was six cents a pound at Utica, was eight cents, or four English pence a pound, at New York, or Brooklyn. The difference between the two sorts of pork at the two places is not so great as the difference between the two sorts of fresh meat at the two places ; and we find butter and cheese at New York pretty nearly as dear as in England, while at Utica the butter is fourteen cents, or sevenpence "i\.>'' IP^" t ■'■ 1^ k-f 12$ EMIGRATION. [lEITEiI^ English, and the cheese seven cents, or threepence half- penny English; and please to observe, when Mr. Fullagah wrote, he spoke of the English prices which he left behind him, which must have been those of about the year 1825. 89. So that, if you look at the great difference in the price of all these perishable commodities ; and especially if you take in the poultry j which is one great part of the pro- duce of a farm near New York, where a goose sells for iifty cents instead of twenty-five cents ; and where a turkey of ten pounds, sells for five English shillings, instead of sell- ing at three, as at Utica. If you take this into view, you will find that the 87 acres of land, with the buildings de- scribed by Mr. FuLLAGAR, which, in the neighbourhood of Utica, could be bought for 2000 dollars, would be worth 4000 dollars if as near to New York ; and certainly a great deal more, if you take into view the probability of using it for the purpose of country houses j but it would be worth 4000 dollars, even if placed within 20 or 30 miles of New York, still carrying, of course, its intrinsic quality along with it. 90. The price of the produce of a farm, is not all that is to be taken into consideration here ; there is the price of the articles which are to be purchased by the family, and which generally come from cities and towns situated on the edge of the sea ; or from manufacturing places which are almost all near the sea. Tea, sugar, cofifee, all articles of great consumption, hardware, crockery ware, and numerous other things, together with all the articles of clothing, ex- cept the making of them ; all these are of much lower price when brought to a farm at about 20 or 30 miles from New York, than they can be when carried to a distance like that of Utica. These things ought to be considered; and the farmer, before he purchases, will do well to makke ia- quiiies respecting them. When he faasi) go$ the pieces oi m vMy |ac6 half- LLAGAH ft behind • 1825. ce in the secially if f the pro- sells for a turkey Eld of sell- view, you diogs de- ibourhood would be certainly )ability of would be miles of ic quality all that is 9 price of mily, and ted on the which are articles of numerous thing, ex« ►wer price om New tance like ired; and make ia- pnices oi vin.] TO GET FARM, SHOP, &C. 127 farm produce at any two giren places ; and the price of the articles wanted to be purchased, he will find that he has the means of deciding with precision on which of the- two spots is most advantageous to lay out his money. He will also take into view the relative facility of procuring stock for his farm ; the relative price of waggons, carts, and other implements, not leaving wholly eut of his view the convenience or inconvenience of mills, roads, and water car- riage ; the nature of the soil and situation as to health ; and, lastly, he will se a due v^ue on the nature of the neigh- bourhood ; and well consider whether it be such as is likely to afford an agreeable intercourse between his family and himself, and those by whom he is surrounded. Having determined upon the spot, and taken up his residence, the sooner he gets acquainted ^with his neighbours the better for liim ; and he will do well to bear in mind, that they know the country better than he, and that he ought not to deviate hastily from their mode of cultivation, management, pur- chasing and selling. 91. If a tradesman, by which I mean tailor, shoemaker, carpenter, and the like, have the means of setting up in business at once, he ought also to look well about the country ; go to several towns and villages ; make the same inquiries as to prices in his way, as the farmer will have made in his ; and when he has fixed upon the spot, begin in a small way at first; give the thing a trial without much outlay ; keep a part of his property in reserve, till the re- turns from his first undertakings come in. 92^ Shopkeeping is, in America, a store- keeping. In New York, Philadelphia, and such places, the stores are much about like our shops in London, and other great towns ; tea is sold at one, sugar at another, cloth at another, and But the country store, or a store in a small town, so on. contains every thing usually sold in shops ; from a ball of I (' 128 EMIGRATION. [letter ■I I '.1 ' i; ij 1 ■<;■ • . m: M If ■ String to a large fishing-net, and from a pin to a spade or shovel. Sugar and all groceries, hardware, crockery ware, silk, cotton, linen and woollen goods, all sold at the same place. Butter, cheese, eggs ; the several sorts of flour or meal, and even of corn and grain ; and all the sorts of drink, are sold at the store. A man with money to begin with may be a storekeeper immediately. We see by letter No. 14, that James Parkes has taken a shop at Albany. It was a small one, to be sure, not having re- quired more than 200 dollars to set it up ; bu', the truth is, that there is an opening for stores almost every where ; and this must be the case where the population and the pro- duce of the land are continually increasing. There is no considerable store-keeper in America ^ho does not, if he live in a great town, keep a horse and g<<;j; and if in the country, a little light waggon, sometimes drawn by one horse, and sometimes by two. To the store he generally adds some land for cows and horses, and not unfrequently he is farmer at the same time. He gene- rally deals for ready money, or nearly such ; and a much happier life it is not easy to conceiv4% Large farmers very frequently keep stores, and this is the case in every part of the country wherever I have been. There is a great profit upon the goods retailed ; and this must necessarily be the case, where labour and interest of money are so high ; for, if the profits were not great, the store-keeper's time would be better employed in common labour on the land, or in some trade; and, if he did not get high profits for the use of money, his money would be better employed by being lent on mortgage, or other sufl&clent security. No exciseman comes to rummage his store ; no exchequer ter- rifies him out of his senses : here is an opening for maltsters, brewers, for men of every calling ; and, in short, if a man cannot do well here : he can have neither industry, nor any i ■Ui [letter e or ery ware, the same f flour or » sorts of to begin e see by k shop at aving re- ; truth is, ere; and the pro- There is does not, :; and if IS drawn store he and not le gene- a much ners very very part a great jcessarily y are so -keeper's ir on the jh profits mployed Ity, No ■ quer ter- naltsters, if a man , nor any VIII.] TO GET FARM, SHOP, &C. 120 one of those qualities necessary to the thriring in trade. No parson, no tax-gatherer, comes to worry him : he keeps his gains to himself and his family, and takes as much or little of toil as he likes. 93. We now come to a man who has the means of living, and also for providing for his family without either farm, me- chanical trade, store, or mercantile pursuit ; a man who can not only keep his family well, but who can provide for their living in the same manner after he is dead. I shall suppose such a man to possess £10,000; not much of a sum ; but quite a sufficiency for any man. £10,000 are 45,000 dol- lars ; the legal interest'of money in the state of N£w York is seven per cent. ; and this can always be had on land sc" curity. In countries that are flourishing, the interest of money must necessarily be high ; because, as I had observed in the case of the shopkeeper, the labour being high, other things must be high in proportion ; the profits of trade must be high ; and, as trade is carried on by money, the rent of money must be high. The interest of the 45,000 dollars would, therefore, bt CI 50. We have seen the price of houses in the country near Utica ; and, suppose them to be three times the price at a distance of ten or fifteen miles from New York; and suppose the gentleman's house to be four times as good, or ten times as good as that which Mr. Full agar describes as fit for his friend ; even that amounts to only 160 dollars a year for house rent. However, let us suppose land along with the house, and a sufficiency of land for gar- dens, paddock, fields for corn, with stables, with orchards, and with every thing else necessary to an easy, a happy, and even an elegant life, the whole of this might be had for 4 or 500 dollars a year. Six servants, out-doors and in, three maids and three men, would take in wages about 450 dollars a year more ; suppose there to be six in family be- sides the servauto, the gentleman, his wife, two sons, and G 5 k(^ h '1 ■? ■4 1 ■ % 130 £MIGRATIOy« [littke two daughters ; and suppose five or six horses and three or four cuwA to be kept, the provisions of this house, drink in- cluded, taking into view the produce of the kuid, whenca would come almost all the meat of every sort, and all th« vegetables and fruit; the maintenance of thisfamily, except clothing, could not cost, it would be impossible to make i| cost, more than 600 dollars a year. Carriages, clothingi entertainments, the very best that could be given; fish and wild fowl in endless abundance ; every thing could not make die expenses of this family exceed about 2,100 dollars a year ; so that, there would be 1 ,000 dollars a year saved to go on to make the fortune of each child equal, in time, to that of the father. I am supposing this gentleman seated down upon Long Island, 20 miles from New York. The family wants society, as it is called, and cannot they have it ? To New York is a ride of two hours, upon a road as smooth as your hand. In divers other directions it is just as good ; you are there in two hours ; and what can any gen- tleman want more than New Yokk ? Hotels, Courts of Justice, Museums, Picture Galleries, Great Book- sellers' shops, Public Libraries, Playhouses; and, in short, an over-stock of all sorts of amusements and of fineries, with the most beautiful streets and shops in the world, and without a single beggar, public prostitute, pick- pocket, or Jew; and with a road to be travelled for a thou- sand nights between your house and the city, without so much as ever hearing hinted to you the idea of a robber. 94. If any man or family can ask for more than this ; if they have the conscience to ask for more than this, they merit to perish with hunger, or, at the very leas^, to die beggars in England. Beautiful coaches made at New York ; gig% curricles, hackney 'Coaches, not like the beggarly things seen in^ London, but looking like gentlemen's carriages. And, shall any body pretend to say that this is not a country far m id three or t drink ui- kd, wheoca ind all the lily, except to make i| clothingi a; fish and d not make dollars a lar saved to in time, to man seated ifork. The t they have n a road aa lit is jugt as m any gen- i. Courts of BAT BOOK- lyhouses; lements and bops in the itute, pick* for a thou- witfaout so a robber, lan this ; if I, they merit s beggars in DRK ; gigsi^ things seen ges. Andy country for VIII.] TO GET FARM, SHOP, &C. 131 a gentleman to live in ? There are men of science in abun- dance, and famous men too : in short there is every thing, but the pulUng off of the hat and the making of the bow, and the power of being insolent and haughty with impunity. I wish to be a little more particular with regard to these ex- penses, lam supposing a house, stables, and other neces- sary places, and a farm of about twenty or thirty acres of arable land, with ten or fifteen of pasture besides the orchard. Now, I say that, at twenty miles from New York, all these can be had for 500 dollars a year. If he lay down part of his £10,000 in the purchase of them, he would not have the 500 dollars a year to pay ; but then his income would be, 2,650 dollars a year to spend or save. Labour is high ; but I allow three men servants at 100 dollars a year each, and three women servants at 50 dollars a year each, their wages, then, amount to 450 dollars a year ; and if you allow another hundred for a gardener it is 550 in wages for ser- vants. Now, this land and these servants are not to be kept to do nothing. Milk, butter, eggs, poultry, pork, bacon, mutton, lamb, and some veal would come off this farm. Quite enough to keep thirteen persons, and seven visiters, all the year round, except in the articles of beef, flour, groceries, and drink. If you allow a pound of meat for every day in the year to 20 people, it would not exceed 200 dollars, when bought at best hand ; but I will allow the 200 dollars; I will allow the pound of meat for each person, for every day in the year, exclusive of all the meat, eggs, butter, and poultry produced upon the farm. Sonants in America drink nothing but common spirits and water, or cider. We have seen that cider is about a penny a gallon at Utica, but I suppose it to be seven-pence a gallon at New York. The orchard would produce you much more than enough ; but, without taking it into the account at all, let us suppose the servants to drink each of them half a pint of spirits every i0 132 EMIGRATION. [letter 1^ I 1 day ; this makes 319 gallons in a year^ including women as well as men ; and these 319 gallons of sprits cost^ according to Mr. FuLLAGAR, 79 dollars. There remains drink for the family : I hope in God it will not be much ; but, they might be pretty jovially drunk, if I could suppose such a thing possible, at a very moderate ex[ ense. Brandy and rum (both foreign articles) were one dollar a gallon at Utica, and must be much cheaper at New York. I have seen a great deal of claret at New York, and very good, at a dollar and a half the dozen bottles ; that is, 6s, 9d. the dozen. Madeira wine used to be, I think, about double that price ; but, suppose it all to be an English shilling a bottle, and sup- pose a thousand bottles to be drank in a year, and fifty gal- Ions of brandy and rum, exclusive of cider and of the spirits drank by the servants, there then is 225 dollars a year for drink for the family and visiters. Now come the groceries, which must be monstrous indeed, with tea at 3s. a pound, and sugar at Sd,, if they exceeded a 100 dollars a year. On clothes, and carriages and horses, and plays and balls, and *' Virginia waters," any thing may be expended ; but, having got now 1054 dollars exclusive of interest of money, on the house and on the farm ; having provided for every thing exclusive of the clothes and the playhouse money, and the book money and ball money ; if that can exceed 596 dollars a year, including the interest of money laid out for horses and cows and pigs ; if that can exceed 59(5 dollars this family ought to perish. After that, then, there are a thousand dollars a year left to lay by to make each of the children, in due time, a fortune something approaching to that of their father, when his fortune shall be added to the .savings, and divided amongst them. 95. This is what may be done with £10,000 in America. Half the sum will of course do half as much; and a quarter of the sum, which yields nearly 800 dollars in the year, is. [letter women as according drink for but, they )se such a randy and at Utica, ave seen a ;ood, at a the dozen, that price ; e, and sup- d fifty gal- ■ the spirits a year for 3 groceries, . a pound, year. On balls, and Jut, having money, on for every noney, and xceed 596 aid out for )9() dollars here are a ich of the :)aching to led to the 1 America. 1 a quarter he year, is. Tin.] TO GET FARM, SHOP, &C. 133 enough for the independent maintenance of a decent family. Two thousand five hundred pounds, why it is the mere dregs of many a wasted fortune in England. Many a man has more than that after he has become what is called a beggar ; and I say that at any village, not within a very short distance from New York, 800 dollars are sufficient to keep even a genteel family well, without any income other than that. One great advantage in America is, that there is nobody to overshadow men of moderate property ; no swaggering, shining, tax-eating wretches to set examples of extravagance, pride, and insolence to your sons and daugh- ters, who are brought up in the habit of seeing men esti- mated, not according to the show that they make, not ac- cording to their supposed wealth, not according to what is called birth, but according to the real intrinsic merit of the party : this is a wonderful advantage : there are no dis- advantages that I know of : there are none that I call dis- advantages; but there must be many and great disad- vantages to overbalance this one single advantage. 96. As to sports of the field , as they are generally called ,there is an abundance of them. Horse-races near all large towns : there are two racing places within 30 miles of New York ; and though the thing is not so showy as it is here, the horses are pretty nearly as good ; and, generally speaking, all sorts of horses in that country are better than they are in this; and I never saw in that country the thing which we call in this country a poor horse ; very rarely indeed a blind horse ; and pretty nearly as rarely a horse with broken knees or wind. The truth is, that the easy circumstances in which men live prevent them pushing horses so hard ; and when an accident happens to a horse, the same circumstances enable the owner to get rid of him at once by killing him. Of hunting, in our style, there can be very little, and, indeed, I never saw it at all but, take the whole together, shooting. m ■;i I iii il 134 EMIGRATION. [letter ID America, far surpasses that in England, llieie are na " battus" to be sure, to which efiFeminate creatures are drawn in coaches, and then set down upon boarded spots to wait till the game is brought to the muzzle of the gun ; but if you be fit for the sports of the fieild, you have wood- cocks in abundance through July and August; quails (called partridges more to the south) and partridges (called pheasants more to the south) ; you have these, which are really partridges and pheasants, two thirds the size of ours precisely, and you have them in great abundance in the fields and the woods, from the months of September to that of March, both inclusive. On the plains there are plovers in abundance, during two or three of the autumnal months ; and during the same season grouse, in such quantities, in a part of New Jersey, not very distant from New York, that I once saw, I should think there were, a hundred dozen in one great steam-boat, or horse-boat, crossing the North river from New Jersey to New York. Gentlemen go, and think it a great treat to be permitted to go, three or four hundred miles to shoot grouse in the Highlands of Scotland, whither they have to carry their food and drink, and even their beds, unless they choose to lie upon the he t her. At about forty or fifty miles from New York, and a little more than the same distancefrom Philadelphia, you take your station, in a nice well-provided tavern, where y<)u are con- veniently and cheaply provided ; and you sally out and shoot grouse till you have over-loaded your gig or your light Avaggon. As for fishing, whether with line, net, or otherwise, the scope and variety are boundless. Wild water fowl must be sought in the places in which they resort. Wild geese are frequent enough; but wild ducks are so abundant, that I have many times seen a light waggon nearly loaded w'tb. them, going from Brooklyn to New York. The truth is, that the abundance of these is so great, that people do not [letter fill] TO GET f ARM, SHOP, &C. 135 eie are na itures are ded spots the gun ; ve wood- quails (called ivhich are G of ours the fiekls othat of 3lovers in months ; ities, in a jv York, ed dozen ie North n go, and 5 or four Scotland, ind even her. At ttle more ake your are con- nd shoot ur light herwise, wl must d geese nt, that 3d with truth is, » do not set a high value upon them ; but if you like duck shooting, here you have it during the whole of the winter months. So that, as to sports of the field, they are finer than they are here; of greater variety, exclusive of the hunting and coursing; and are, at any rate, sufficient for the diversion ' and exercise of any man ; and this, too, without any game laws ; without the smallest idea of trespass in the pursuing of these diversions ; without any necessity of asking the leave of any body ; and without any drawback whatever from these rational and health-preserving pleasures. I have here been speaking of the vicinity of New York; it is much about the same with regard to all other great cities and towns : there can be no very great difference other thnn that which arises from the difference in the soil, and the nature of the country as to water, woods, and so forth. 136 EMIGRATION. [letter I 'it": i< i'> LETTER IX. On the means of obtaining Education for Children^ and literary and scientific Amusement and Knowledge for yourself. 97. It is next to impossible to mal:e people in England believe tliat the United States contain any establishments worthy of being called " learned." It is the business of lying travellers, to represent the people of that country as uncouth, unedu- cated, and illi]terate; of all things illiterate. The truth is, however, that there are quite a sufficiency of really learned men, and the science of the country is proclaimed in some- thing better than books ; in the grandest canal in the whole world ; in bridges over rivers, more than a piile wide ; in ships, by far the finest and best the world has ever seen ; in steam-boats (an American invention) compared to which our very best are beggarly things ; in pilot boats, several of which have crossed the Atlantic Ocean! A feat never performed by any other nation, nor even attempted to be per- formed in a vessel of the same size : in every department of maritime affairs ; in house building ; in legislation ; in law ; in surgery and medicine ; in every science useful to man ; and, iudeed, every 'science cultivated byman^the Americans [letter IX.] MEANS or EDUCATION. 137 'cfreM, and jledge for md believe worthy of travellers, th, unedu- le truth is, li/ learned I in some- the whole wide; in r seen ; in which our everal of eat never to be per- irtment of ; in law ; I to man ; Vmericans are our equals : they have our machinery as well as we ; they have our players (greater is their misfortune). In short, if we surpass them in some branches of literature and science, they surpass us in others. 98. There are every where schools of all grades, just the same as in England. Our national schools, which are a sort of begging concern, form but a poor imitation of their public schools, one of which they have in every township, esta- blished by laWy and supported by a tax. Then, for a higher order of persons, there are day schools, boarding schools, academies, every where, where they are wanted. We have seen that at Utica, a place which has three thousand per- sons, there is an academy, and seven printing-offices, 99. There are twelve Colleges in America, for the education of gentlemen, priests, or ministers, lawyers, and doctors ; ^ and we see from Dr. Morse's account, that, during the ten yearS; from 1800 to 1810, there were 2792 gentlemen who graduated, and 458 ministers. In the last ten years it has, most probably, been twice or thrice that number; and a man cannot become lawyer or doctor in that country any more than in this without some of these previous steps to qualify him and to give assurance of his qualification. These places of education are conveniently distributed throughout the coun- try : the printing-presses and newspapers are endless : there is no book that is read here which is not immediately re- published there. Even English newspapers are to be found at New York, in the Hotels, as regularly as in those of London. 100. What, then, can a gentleman want more with regard to the means of education, and of amusement, and of learning through the means of books? Dr. Mitchell, of New York, who was formerly a practising physician, may be fairly regarded as one of the most learned men in the world ; and, notwithstanding his great learning, he has about him 133 EMIGRATION. [letter IX. •1 j f A. H, I- pi all the familiarity and frankness of an Aonerican farmer. The Doctor has done as much as any man living to com- municate his knowledge to all classes of persons without any exception of rank or nation. When I was last^ in America he received a diamond ring from the Emperor of Russia, in return for a "plough that he had sent to some one in Rus- sia, where, as he had heard, or, I believe, seen, the people were defective in point of ploughs, of which, by far the best that I ever saw are made at New York ; so that English farmers need not be afraid that they shall not find husbandry implements in America. It would have been very long be- fore Doctor Mitchell would have received a diamond ring for any thing sent to England. Our Sovereign might, probably, have ordered a letter to have been written to him : that is a possibility^ but the Emperor Alexander wrote one with his own hand, which, however, the Doctor owed, probably, more to the far-sighted policy of the Em- peror Alexander, than to his gratitude for the Doc- tor's very sincere desire to promote the good of agriculture in Russia. We do every thing to offend that great and rising people ; we, by our reviews and other manitestly hired publications, take care so to cheer on every blackguard tra- veller ihat puts forth a heap of lies and abuse relative to America ; we take care to make their dislike of our govern- ment as great as possible, and to provide for ourselves as great a stock of just hostility as we can possibly get together. We are now squandering hundreds of thousands, and even millions, in fortifying the beggarly and barren rocks to the north of the United States ; and this, as it were, for the sole purpose of urging them to go to war with us at the first fair opportunity ; and this, too, while we stand with our arms folded up, and almost in tears, at seeing Russia overrunning Turkey. 101. To letum to the subject of Education, the mannent^^ [letter an farmer, ing to corn- without any in America of Russia, ►ne in Rus- , the people ■ar the best lat English husbandry ry long be- a diamond eign might, ten to him : LEXANDER le Doctor of the Em- the Doc- agriculture great and itesdy hired :guard tra- relative to )ur govern- urselves as et together. and even ocks to the ere, for the It the first i with, our : Russia » manners ix.J MEANS OF education. 139 of the teachers are, of course, the manners of the country. But, if any one should think of going to America as school- master or teacher, and especially as schoolmistress or female teacher, it is necessary to observe to such persons, that the Americans are extremely scrupulous as to character ; ai d that they look with a very inquisitive eye at all those under whose care they place their children. No better country iii the world for schoolmasters of good character, good life, and with talents equal to the undertaking according to its degree. But, the character must be unquestionable here ; and, as to females, the character must bear the strictest scrutiny. It would be impossible for a man to take his mistress to America and palm her upon any circle for his Wife, unless amongst the mere labouring people and artizans. Even at a boarding house at New York, unless of the very lowest description, there must be no doubt upon this point to get admission. People there do not bow low to fine clothes or heavy purses : they have fixed prices : there is always a respectable mistress of the house, who sits at the head of her own table ; and she will not suffer any one to sit there whose character is suspicious, or who has any thing equivocal in her condition or connexion. Not only can no mistress pass for a wife ; but no woman will find admission to these houses, if she have had the misfortune to have been connected by anticipation with her husband, which I used to think was being starched rather overmuch. Howevei', such is the case; and it is good for persons who go to America to live, and have incurred the misfortune arising from this hymeneal haste, to know that, unless they be in the lowest state of life, the sooner they get under a roof of their own the better. To read the works of our lying travellers, who would suppose the Americans were more nice in this respect than people are here ? Yet, the fact is that they are so; and it is quite surprising how quickly, after an 1^.: WW 140 EMIGRATION. [letter, » I : > I n ijii ( f '11 jfci English woman has landed, every circumstance, even the most minute, relative to the history of her conjugal aifairs, is sifted out; and with what despatch, and, at the same time, with what good nature, her society, if circum- stances demand it, be dispensed with. 102. This is very well worthy of the attention of many persons ; for they may be assured that the unpleasant cir- cumstances, in which, from causes of this sort, they are placed here, will all revive, and in deeper colours in Ame- rica. In such a case (and the case may happen to very amiable and good people, though it is generally the contrary), the sooner a man becomes a farmer under his own roof the better. The less he hears of women's tongues for a year or two a great deal the better. It takes a great deal to stop them ; and their eyes are so piercing ; so penetrating ; and they are so very much disposed to make interpretations and assumptions, and to draw disadvantageous conclusions, that, really, it is better, in any of the cases above supposed, to keep as much as possible aloof from all temptations to this species of pruriency. After a time ; after a man and wife have been jogging on, for a year or two, like other men and wives; and after children have been born, or been growing up, and all seem to be in the usual way, there is no food for curiosity, there is no one to inquire, or to think of in- quiring into the age of the oldest child, and to compare it with the date of the marriage ; and every thibg will go on smoothly. 103. Now, if any one should happen to say, that these pre- cautions suggested by me, imply a slander upon my country- women, 1, in the first place, deny the charge ; and in the next place, I say that I am not only justified but called upon to suggest these precautions, when I read, even in a report laid before the House of Commons, that the parson of the parish of Little Houwood, in Buckinghamshire, [letteh nee, even r conjugal And, at the if circiim- )n of many easant cir- tliey are rs in Ame- sen to very ; contrary), n roof the r a year or ial to stop iting; and tations and sions, that, iipposed, to ions to this n and wife iT men and en growing is no food hink of in- compare it ig will go ; these pre- y cauntry- nd in the illed upon n a report son of the iMSHIRE, IX.] yiEA'SS OF EDUCATION. 141 and an overseer of the parish of Pelham, in Heutford- siiinE, declared, to a committee of that House, in July, 1 828, that it was a general thing for the brides in the country to be in a fair way of being mothers before they were married. If there be slander then, it comes from the House of Commons, and not from me. It may be said, that the parson and the overseer confine their observation to poof* people; but will not the Americans, to whom all these things are regularly made known, be disposed to be- lieve that, where this practice is general amongst the poor, it cannot be entirely unknown amongst the rich ; especially as they are not accustomed to make wide distinctions between rich and poor. 104. I have mentioned that America is a good place for schoolmasters of good character and the necessary talent ; because there are new places continually rising up, towns continually increasing; and because the law makes pro- vision for a schoolhouse and a schoolmaster in every town- ship ; and further, because it is the general practice to make schooling a part of the payment of young people who are put out to service: accordingly we find, that Mary Jane Watson, the poverty of whose parents would have pre- vented her from ever knowing a letter in England, was put to school during the time that she was in service in Con- necticut; and she was thus enabled to write the letters No. 10, 11, and 12, which are worthy of universal admira- tion. But, a man should not pretend to be a schoolmaster, even of a Country Township, until he has qualified himself for writing well, for performing the several workings of com- mon arithmetic, and for teaching at least the rudiments of grammar. To undertake the task without this degree of fitness, would be td disappoint his employers, and finally injure him- self. Mere clerks, or young men who call themselves such, and have been used to live by mere sitting and writing at a / 142 EMIOHATIOX. [letter |- I * it I desk a few hours of the day, are almost the only persons, jexcept lawyers, attorneys, and doctors, that are not wanted in America. These persons lead easy lives : all men like easy lives, and the Americans as well as others ; and the general prevalence of book education in that countcy gives it a native stock of white-fingered idlers quite sufficient for its wants. But if a young man, who has been what is called a clerk in England, can resolve to strip off his coat and hustle about in a storey there is no such young man who may not mend his lot by the change, and who may not marry without going and taking the hand of his bride, trem- bling all the while, lest they should starve together : and here I dismiss this letter, with a remark which all young men will find greatly useful if they attend to •it. Women are very just persons : they never make any distinction with regard to nation : they take the party for what he is worth in their estimation without any extrinsic circumstances; and the girls in America are beautiful and unaffected: perfectly frank, and, at the same time, perfectly modest ; but, when you make them the offer of your hand, be, for God's sake, prepared to give it, for wait they will not. In England we frequently hear of courtships of a quarter of a century; in that anti'inalthusian country (where Mat.- THUS would certainly be burnt alive) a quarter of a year is deemed to be rather " lengthy,^' [letter ly persons, lot wanted men like s ; and the intcy gives uificient for lat is called is coat and g man who 10 may not ►ride, trem- ether: and k all young t. Women notion with he is worth sumstanoes ; unaffected : tly modest; and, be, for I'ill not. In quarter of a here Mal- ter of a year X.] MISCELLAKEOtJS ftATTER. 143 LETTER X. On such other matters, a knowledge relating to which, must he useful to every one going from England to the United States. 105. First, as to the manner of taking and transmitting money. If the sum be small, you take it in gold in your chest, if large, Bills of Exchange are always to be had ; and you should remember that many a ship has been lost while the crew and the passengers have been saved. This hap- pens when ships are driven on rocks or on shore ; or when met at sea in a shattered state, and when the crew and passengers are taken out by another ship. Therefore, some little ready money in your pocket, carrying out bills for the rest, leaving the duplicates of those bills in the hands of trusty friends is the proper way. Merchants in London are the persons to apply to for the bills ; and there is scarcely any man of property so destitute of friends in London, as to pre* vent Mm from acquiring a sufficient degree of knowledge with regard to this matter. But the times are ticklish ; and amongst the good things of America, our bad things find their way most speedily amongst merchants. When you consider, that the United States, ship goods to this kingdom to the amount of about ten millions sterling in the year, and receive goods from this kingdom of much about the same amount^ you must be sure^ that, as far as mer« 144 EMICRATIOX. [letter I i ^|fi I' chants are concerned, one country cannot be in a shattered state, without the pther being shattered in a great degree. New York has much more to do with Liverpool than it has to do with all the other great cities and towns of the Ame- rican Union. If all the merchants in Liverpool were ruined to-morrow, all those in New York would be ruined on about the 10th of September. So, that, take care of whom you purchase the Bill of Exchange ; take care to whom you give your money for that bit of paper ; for, it is per- fectly fatal to land in that country with a bill to be pro- tested. Even if you finally recover the money, you are harrassed to death with anxiety in waiting for it. To divide it, is perhaps best ; for though the sea has some pos- sible dangers, those dangers are not to be compared with dangers attending the transactions of merchants in these ticklish times. Having my view of the matter before you, consult with your friends, and do that which you find to be best. 1 06. The next thing is, my earnest advice that, be your rank of life what it may, not to meddle much with the politics of the country. The first time I was in the United States, it was my business to meddle, for I published a newspaper, and I meddled to some effect ; but, when I was there the last time, I meddled not all, except in pointing out one act of great injustice done to the South Americans, in an \ct of Congress : and the Congress, which was then in session, had the candour and good sense to pass a nc'v'^ Act to rectify the other, and to avow without scruple that it was an error which they were obliged to me for pointing outy though I never went to Washington, and never spoke but with two members of the Congress while I was in the country. You will every where find the people divided into two political parties ; but, as you will have no right to vote at elections until you have resided five years in the country, [letter X.] BIISCfiLLANEOUS MATTER* 145 I shattered eat degree. OOL than it )f the Ame- vere ruined ruined on •c of whom e to whom r, it is per- 1 to be pro- y, you are for it. To s some pos- ipared with ts in these before you, |i find to be be your rank le politics of D States, newspaper, is there the out one act !ANS, in an 'as then in i a nev Act I that it was >r pointing lever spoke was in the livided into ight to vote he country, it will be much tie best for you to refrain from siding with either party until the five years arc expired, then you will take your part like other men, and you will have Che same degree of understanding with regard to the principles and views of the two parti* s. 107. Another pieci of advice is, that you be not over forward in extolliig America to the disadvantage of England. The Americans are a sensible people, and, though not suspicious and a, t to impute bad motives, their observation has taught them that thitf species of flattery of their country is nut a cliaiacteristic of the best of men. It is unnatural for a man to rave in general terms against his own country : iti^, in a less degree certainly, like raiiini; against one's own family. To speak with truth and witU proper feeling against 'I e acts of the government in Eng- land ; to speak of its ra-, rule and consequent miseries, may be, and is, right enough and perfectly natural ; for these form the ground of your quitting your country. But, to rail against England in the lump; to pretend to believe that it is a mere nothing of a country ; to speak against the people in a mass, is not only very foolish in itself, but it is sure to make with regard to you a disadvantageous impression on the minds of your hearers, whp if you were to talk to your last breath, would never be persuaded that England was not a great, a fine, and a glorious country. God forbid that any Englishman should ever endeavour to remove this persuasion from the mind of any body. It is, indeed, now in a wretched plight : it is hardly possible to describe it.-i state of depression; but, this cannot last for ever; the country must and will renovate itself; and, if you were to endeavour to convince an Am ERK AN that it never would do this, he would not contradict you, but you would sink iii his opinion. 108. On the contrarv, do not be endlessly bragging about 146 EMIGRATION. [letter il ' I ' m ^1 t Hi I'd England. If you see posts and rails, instead of quickset hedges; if you see that which appears slovenliness about the fields, the meadows, and the homesteads ; and if you see the plough and the scythe impeded in some cases by rocks and stumps of trees, do not seem in your conversation to despise a state of thirgs so diii'ereot from that in England, and do not draw the disadvantageous comparison. Do not he everlastingly saying, ".We have such and such things in England ;" for, though the Yankees will not ask if the poor people here have, or if you yourself ever had, fowls, turkeys, ducks and geese, and preserved peaches upon your table; thougli they will not ask you '•vhether England gave you beefsteaks with your tea ; though they will say nothing to you, they will form an opinion less advantageous of you, than they otherwise would have formed. 109. The best way is to take things as you find them, and make the best of the blessings you enjoy : wish for the happiness of your native country, and be faithful and grateful to that to which you have transferred your alle- giance. When the proper time comes ; when your term of })robation has expired ; when you enter upon the enjoyment of all the political rights of the citizen, then it ic your duti/ to meddle with politics ; it is your duty to do there as you would have done here if you could ; prevent public mischief, })romote public good, to the utmost of your power. 110. There are some inconveniences with respect to which 1 think it necessary to warn you. The first is, that you will, in spite of any cheerfulness of disposition, find yourself, at first, whether you be married or single, in that sort of state, Avhich is described in the old saying like ajish out of water, 1 who have changed my local situation so often, and who have ex})erienced changes so great, am w-ell qualified ♦o speak relative to this matter ; for, if the changes have always had an impression upon a buoyant spirit like mine, [letter X.] MISCELIiAXEOdS MATTER. 147 f quickset ness about I if you see ;s by rocks '^ersation to n England, n. Do not ;h things in if the poor ^]s, turkeys, your table; i gave you nothing to )us of you, find them, wish for the aithful and d your alle- ,'our term of 3 enjoyment G your duty here as you lie mischief, er. ect to which bat you will, yourself, at sort of state, ut of water. often, and i'ell qualified hanges have t like mine, that has always scorned a resort to the bottle ; if I have felt these changes, what effect must they produce on men in general, and more especially upon women, virtuous and home-loving women ! The effect is very great indeed, and you must be armed against it. All is new : you have all at once lost the sight of a thousand objects that were become dear to you, without your at all perceiving it. Tiie voices that you hear are all new to you ; the accustomed nods and smiles of neighbours which made, and without your per- ceiving it, a portion of the happiness of your life, are gone, and they appear to be gone for ever. Hence, and from various other causes not easy to be described, arise the state of a "^sA out of water y Look at IVo. 9, and you will see an instance of a poor man who hastened at once back to England, without staying to " try the place.'* He is laughed at for this by Stephen Watsot^t, who writes the letter; but, if you look at No. 7, you will find this very Stepiii.x Watson himself *' talking of going hack in the spring ,-" and, it is truly curious to observe, that in twenty-two days after this, as you will see by No. 8, the very same man says, not only he was happier than he ever was in his life, but that he is sorry that he did not bring his mother along with him. It took these twenty-two days to bring him out of the state oi fish out of water: he found new objects to be pleased with ; new faces grew familiar to him ; new ideas had gone far in replacing those with which his mind was filled at Sedlescomb, and he was again his own man : he v»'as once more the fish in the water, and the severest part of the trial was over. Now, this was a hardy young man ; he felt at once the solid and surprising advantage of the change, and yet a depression of spirits made him forget, for the time, all that he had suffered in England, and remem- bered nothing but the good. 111. Be you prepared for this; and, above all things, if 11 2 ii * •. Ij^ ,;i] it v; l.'.;'' (■'« 148 EMIGRATION. [letter you have a wife prepare her for it. If you can afford it , never mind a little expense, take her out in gigs or in light ■waggons; introduce her to pleasant fople in her own rank of life : in doing which, if your own and her character be good, you will find no difficulty ; and, in a short time, she vill feel little inconvenience from the change; her spirits will rally, reason will have resumed its sway, and you will have little or no impediment remaining on that account. This is a matter of much greater importance than you, who liave never made such a change, can possibly conceive; therefore I beg you not to deem it un vcrthy of your attention. 112. For the climate, too, you oug'it to be prepared, and for the apparent inconveniences attending the great heat and the great cold. I am speaking of the latitude of the City of New York : further to the north the summers are less hot, and the winters more cold; further to the south the contrary of these. The time from mid-June to mid-September is generally very hot : 1 call it beautifully fine; but to some persons the heat is oppressive ; but this fact should be known. In my "Year's Residence" I have given an account of the weather throughout the whole year, and described its tiffects ; but I do not know that I mentioned this fact; namely, that distressing heat never las's more than three daijs at one time, and that it is the same with regard to very severe cold in the winter. And, then, the sky is so clear, vegetation pushes on at such a rate, hay time and harvest are so sure to be carried on in fine weather; there is so com- plete an absence of all drip and missla, that the heat is no- thing when accompanied with these circumstances. If you wish to be fully informed beforeha- d of every minute cir- cumstance relative to the weather, and of various other things for which I have no room here, you must refer to the detail 3d and faithful account given n my " Year's Resi- dence. There are certain plagues, called flieF, musquitos, [letter afford it ^r in light own rank iracter be time, she her spirits you will account, you, who conceive ; r attention, pared, and it heat and the City of •e less hot, le contrary ptember is it to some . be known, account of scribed its this fact; ihan three ard to very is so clear, nd harvest is so com- leat is no- s. If you linute cir- 'ious other •efer to the r's Resi- musquitos, X.] MISCELLANEOUS MATTER. 149 and grasshoppers ; but these are inseparable from the heat that will give you orchards of peaches, bearing great crops at three years or four years from the tossing the stone into the ground, and hanging on the trees (as John Watsont says in Letter No. 2) " almost as thick as your hops.'' Nature has said that you shall not have these, and melons, and water melons in the natural ground, and apples, and cherries, and plums, and the rest, the fruit following the blossom upoa all as surely as the night follows the day ; nature has said that you shall not have all these, unaccompanied with flies, musquitos, and grasshoppers, the latter of which, however, are but occasional plagues, f.nd the two former of which may, by great care, be pretty nearly avoided. 113. In the " Yeau's Residence" you will find an ac- count of the beautiful weather in the autumn. For my part, if the winter were a great deal more cold than it is, and the sua?' -^r a great deal hotter, I wovsld endure them for the sal- f this autumn, two months of which generally pass without a cloud in the sky, the sun shining upon the finest verdure that ever eyes beheld. This is a fine season for the sports of the field ; for travelling, for enjoyments of all sorts ; and, though it is followed by a cold winter, it is not followed by a wet winter, which is a great deal worse thing The climate has been the teacher of the people: the horses which draw the gigs, and coaches, and Avaggons, in sum- mer, draw sleighs upon the snow; and when the roads arc a little beaten, a single horse will draw ten or a dozen peo- ple. Into thtse sleighs people toss themselves, with sheep- skins under th^ii feet, withfiirs on their hands and round their necks; and this is the gay season; for now the visit- ings, the assemblings, the dancings, and all the merry meet- ings of the country are going on. 114;. Vegetables are housed for the winter. Necessity has tauglit ho^V to preserve them, and the substantial ones II 3 1 ■ 1 iM ]oO EMIGRATION. [letter are as plentiful in the winter as those of a less substantial na- ture are in the summer; fresh meat keeps any length of time; and there are many other advantages attending this, as it would be called in England, horribly hard winter. 1 15. In conclusion, let me observe that, without healthy life is hardly worth having. I have said, frequentl} , that I never knew the want of health in America. I have, in my " Year's Residence," given instances of extraor- dinary longevity in that country. Mr. Brissot, after a very minute inquiiy and comparison, ascertained that })ev)ple once grown up, lived, on an average, longer in the United States than in France. By the letters from the Sussex emigrants you will perceive, that they had, generally speaking, exceeding good health. The family of Watson is, you perceive, very numerous ; and yet all but one has had excellent health, although of various ages. 1 16. Now, be you assured, that the greatest enemy to health is excessive drinking, I know, from observation, ihat this is the great destroyer of the health of the Ameri- <:ans; I have seen many a bright Englishman totally ruined in his health, and fortune too, by indulging in this a!)<)ii.inable vice; and, therefore, let me hope that every -me who rea('s this will abstain from that vice, to the indul- gence in which the temptations are so strong, while the ex- ptnse of the indulgence is so small. Pray look at Letter So. 11, written by that good and sensible girl, to whom I have so often referred. In that letter she is speaking of her luotliers James and John and William; and pray mark; she says, in one place, ** James had been very sick, *" ntar two months, but was got better and able to work." She says, presently afterwards, " James has drinked ** vci-y much since he has been ii this country, John *' and Vv'^iLijAM have been very sober and industrious, *' and a great help to James both in sicjiness and in health/^ If*:' 4 [letter X.] ]MISCELLANEOUS MATTER, 151 mtial na- length of ding this, ivinter. it healthy tl} , that I have, in extraor- , after a ined that ;er in the ? from the generally Watsok ae has had enemy to )servation, e Ameri- an totally ng in this hat every the indul- le the ex- at Letter 3 whom I ing of her and pray very sick, to work." (Irinked ^ JoHW dustrious, n health,^ If this do not make a lasting impression upon the mind of the reader, I could not produce jt, were I to write till doomsday. 117. ^' But ivhat are people to do who work, seeing " that they must have something besides water?" This question is the general one ; but it includes an assertion, the truth of which J deny as applicable to any persons but those engaged in hard work. How many miles have I tra- velled in America; how^ many hot days* endured ; how many days' and weeks' and months* toil, from morning till night, carrying a gun and a game bag, in July, August, and September ; and yet I do not recollect that I ever tasted spirituous liquors during any of these toils, except once, when I was out with a Philadelphia lawyer, who car- ried a little canteen of brandy, and who prevailed upon me to mix a little with some water in the crown of my hat. I was eight years, when young, in the colony of New Brunswick, where rum was seven-pence a quart, and where not one single man, out of three or four hundred, was, at a reckoning time, sober for about a week, except myself; and, during the whole of that time, living amidst all that drunkenness, I never once tasted spirituous liquors, except upon one occasion, when I made a journey through the woods for a wager, and expected to be out all the night. The winter in that country is of seven months' duration; and sometimes so severe that you cannot go ten yards with- out being frost-bitten, if fingers or nose be exposed ; yet I never, except in that one single case, tasted spirituous liquors during the whole of that time; and every man that died with us in that country was killed by drink. 118. My drink in. that country was goat's milk and water generally. Five or six times 1 might drink some English porter ; but, generally speaking, the pure water alone waa my drink. In the United States, at my own home in r l^[i 152 EMIGRATION. [letter Long Island, milk and water; sometimes cider, and the same at neighbours* houses. , Just before I came away I bought some claret, at about seven-pence, English money, a bottle, and mixed it with water. In Pennsylvania, when I used to go shooting, water from the brook or well, or milk and water or cider were my drink; but my great drink was milk and water, summer and winter ; and, if thirsty while shooting, I made for the first farm-house ; and if travelling, drew up to the first farm-heuse that I came near, if I found myself at a distance from a tavern. 119. Why, I passed eighteen years of my life in those countries, stinking with rum, with brandy, and with whiskey, and I never knew a day's illness except a short spell of yellow fever in Philadelphia, which, as the doctors told me, was rendered slight by my great sobriety; I being, otherwise, a fine subject for it to maul. Yet, at very hard work, and in very hot weather, when the perspiration pours from the body, as is the case when men are mowing, and at some other labours in the fields; in these cases a small portion of spirits may be necessary, and I believe it is. It would be better if the labour were more moderate, the wages lower, and the drink abstained from ; but this is a change of customs that cannot be effected. From the little necessary, men proceed to the little unnecessary, and from that they proceed to the great deal. The vice steals upon you by imperceptible degrees, till at last you have not the power to shake it off; and when you arrive at that pitch it requires an effort too great for your remaining sense of danger. Oh! how many men — how many bright men — how many strong men, have I seen sink into mere nothings in consequence of this detestable vice. You must give drink to those whom you employ ; and it must be according to the custom of the country. You cannot alter the cus- toms and the manners: you cannot teach morality to a [letter ', and the ae away I ;h money, rLVANIA, '<. or well, my great ; and, if ause; and at I came I. ie in those li whiskey, rt spell of TORS told I being, very hard .tion pours ng, and at s a small ieve it is, erate, the this is a 1 the little and from teals upon e not the at pitch it ; sense of ht men — e nothings must give according r the cus- ality to a N.] MISCELLANEOUS MATTER. 153 nation: but you can be the monitor, both by example and precept, to your own family ; and if you neglect this duty, this most sacred of all earthly duties, be assured that the duration of your repentance will be from the day that you see a son become a lad, until the day of the termination of your own life, William Cobbett. THE END. Mills, Jowett, and Mills, Bolt Court, Fleel Street.