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« Indiana , U . S . America ,, February 1 , l $ 20 . t ^ mm ^^ m ^ m ^ maa m ^^ mmamm ^ i ^ mmmim ^ mm i ^ " I take advantage of Mr . H ' s return to Europe to write this with pleasure , as I know you will feel it , when I say I have not regretted my change of country—but America is , nevertheless > not
what the publications of England made me suppose it to be , and still less does the western country answer my expectations . Perhaps , tjie error was not theirs who wrote , but in my keeping English scenery , English ¦ manners and English society too much in my thoughts . There is , I have found , no analogy between either of these and what is American .
I may be prejudiced towards the places of my youth , the manners I have always been used to , and the friends who have honoured me with their society '; for in all of these I find a superiority w ^ iich is beyond comparison with what is around me . Very little of the land is cultivated ,
and I cannot describe the feelings of my mind , when 1 gaze around on , tfre perpetual sameness which appears . , Alji is trees , and a man may be lost within a hundred yards of his house , after he has lived here a year . The clearings are nominal ; they amount to nothing iu the perpetual forests . Much has been done in the
English Settlement about twelve miles from thus , but that much is nothing in comparison with * what remains to be done . Five vV " ., ¦ - ,. >'<¦> v * J ? . * "i , v > - • * To , t > e cQnyinced of t ^ his ^ le ^ , ^ t . a wan coolly ^ a 4 an account , of tbre # cases w ^ li ^ c ^ ic ^^ r ^ ojii toffitiBbm to 4 * e Hrc * jmm ^ } wmf > t mttm ^ mnA «* u
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years of hard labour and mueh expense is necessary to put : things into a ebiafor--table train . . . iitj . f ^ l \ : f 'VW ^ - ' - ¦ : ¦ -: -: ;; * . * i The manners of the people here a ^ e in general disg ^ stm ^ lyhiiptident and ldW . Motals are in the / flast stage of infaniy ^
Religion out of the question , or nearly so . Society isp ^ fcourseV iery bad , aiihotigh itiibas fceenmy goodifbnun& to meet with ad mojsth amiable and clever young manj well acquainted withiliieratUre ^ and therefore partial to aEithat relates to Europefor {( American : genius , is at present too much ; engaged in traffic to attend to authorship . Literature is becoming more
patronized than it lias hitherto been , and our periodical works i are ; r active in pto moting the spirit . - Brat << the "Western States must for many years / be the wrong point for a man who intends to live by his writings . I have eVery reason to be-Here ¦ that much encouragement would be given to a man of mind in the Northern and Eastern States , Massachusetts and
York State rank highest in intellectual acquirements . In fact , from the specimens I have * seen , people there are equally genteel , as well versed in modern if not classical literature * have as high a relishfor the superior enjoyments of knowledge * are as fond of liberty , and live in
as luxurious and expensive a style as you EngUsh- >~ savages and ignorant brutes , as the Courier , Quarterly > Review , &c , represent them to be . Nay , more , that the young ladies may not . turn up their noses on us , I assure you I have seen both male and female dandies in Washington ! "I mentioned the low state of
manners , morals and religion here . The persons who have inhabited this part of the Union are in general ftimters , whose method of living would strike even you , used as you are to the wretchedness © f some in England , with astonishment ; but the life they lead is one of their own
choice , from their laziness of disposition . Liberty is construed by this class of persons into a right to . violate every principle of good breeding and morajity . Time is shamefully wasted by not only them but by almost every one else ; and the backwoodman spends the greater part of If in the grog . shops . The oaths they use exceed in wickedness those of Billingsgate . To
shoot an Indian is nothing , nor is it much more to stab an opponent ; for this ptirpose they carry a large knife \ in a wit , and their appearance borders upon the savage .: These people , however , maike it a rule to remove at the approach p . f better society ; and as this neighbourhood has considerably impn > vfed ^ ii ^ t '' ||^ * l&st 1 yeUr , oUti Rtktadeys ^ alias * / . Backwoodsmei * , tare grattuaity ; Vrtl « ai ^ \^ mm tftfc ' Gtftitw ^^ ^
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hetmrjxfrom tht Back Settlements of AmeHcvL 60 $
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the i ^ moirs of v Hindoo converts to Ghm ^ ianity ; in vtthieh an enthusiastic feelifig 1 has ^ atriesd awayMalt the calculari& p ® W& $ ^ mK'dfyW # fc & * me > "a # WiiiM AfewW iis Mm
veif dfew m # mm ,: m # & $ m o t ^^ Nw ? m ? wm * mj *> $ - QWlfc \ v ^ tM QjQ ^ . cas . e ,, ^ w pwa <^ W . P ill our ardour , ffo ; emigration , and in the ather > wo ? mM : keep the hmdfrpm the pQefcet ^ UnAidimct * the money to
lie- still there $ Missionary schemes would be thought absurd ^ and emigration , 'in most cases , an act of folly ; if alt the tritth were told . Perhaps , your reader ? will be amused as well as informed by the perusal of a letter I have just received ftom a y ° ung man , whose abilities and virtues I estee m ^ and extracts of anpthier letter from him to one of my neighbours .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1820, page 603, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2493/page/39/
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