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    to open our libraries for mutual benefit . This being the case , I am not disposed at present to make any considerable additions to my own , which is pretty bulky . The Edinburgh and Quarterly ( Reviews are re-published at New York , and we obtain them from thence . There are

    some other periodical works that we should gladly receive from you . " Then follow directions about books , astronomical instruments , &c . So much for the correctness of Mr . Cobbett , the horrible state of society at the Illinois , acknowledged by all ;

    quarrels promoting' every bad passion , giving an example which will infallibly keep the people at the Illinois behind those at Indiana for years to come : in short , for the whole mass of misrepresentation and falsehood in the paragraphs I have transcribed from the correspondent of h W !

    There is some confusion in the letters and extracts sent by I . W ., respecting the places to which the remarks are meant to be applied . Part of them appears to relate to George

    Town , many hundreds of miles distant from the Illinois ; and these are palmed on the public to shew that Mr . B . is an impostor , who , with his writings , " ought to be burnt together" !

    The most curious part of the letter from the correspondent of I . W ., still remains for a moment ' s notice . After all his whining , " Alas ! for Mr . B / s accounts" of the cheapness of living —accounts , as applied to the Illinois ,

    perfectly correct ; notwithstanding the degraded state of society around him , which he so feelingly deplores ; after all his sighing , and wishing himself back at Plymouth , indications of a change of mind peep out at the close of his letter : " Travel , " he adds ,

    cures one of many bigotries , and much instruction may be gathered from the world ; but , independent of these reasons , and the political degradation to which England is sinking , " [ degradation , I will add , with a

    witness , when I consider the horrid proceedings in what Lord Grey has so justly termed the abominable conspiracy against the Queen , ] " I do not repent my emigration ; on the contrary , I feel that I have done right ; for I see many ways before me in which I can rapidly accumulate property , though it will require enterprise and perseverance ; after which , my disposition is to enjoy

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    it . " This certainly holds out such encouragement to emigration , that I wonder I . W . had not some suspicion that , notwithstanding the disgusting picture his correspondent has given , he had been " amusing" him by playing tricks somewhat similar to those with

    which he has charged B . and F ., holding out " baits to catch the unwary and concealing the main body of the picture" ! After , however , his descr iption of the wretched state of the country , and the brutal state of the

    society which he has chosen , he still reflects with satisfaction on his emigration from a place to which he is " casting so many longing , lingering looks behind . " We may , therefore , in some measure account for the

    reflections of I . W ., vvho considers the best moral feelings of our nature ** as greatly blunted , or nearl y extinguished , by emigration to America ; while the only sources of delight which remain open , are the mere animal passions , the narrowest self-interest and personal

    consideration ; " reflections which , how far they may be applicable to the friend of I . W . is no business of mine to inquire ; but if meant to be applied to the state of society at the Illinois , are most disgracefully illiberal ; and the

    only reply such reflections deserve is , that many persons are there settled who possess minds as cultivated , views as enlarged , feelings as disinterested and patriotic , as , perhaps , may enable their friends without dismay , to compare their characters with that of I . W . himself !

    As I have no wish to conceal any thing respecting any undue colouring of the picture given by Mr . B ., I must add , that I have heard complaints brought against him for not providing log-houses for the reception of emigrants on their arrival , agreeably to what he had held out in some of his

    letters . For his failure in this respect , I have heard reasons which certainly form some apology ; but as they are not from authority , I decline stating them : indeed this circumstance was but of short duration , as my brother in one of his late letters informed me , " that

    loghouses , which afforded but poor accommodations for English emigrants , were no longer necessary ; and that they might be certain of decent and comfortable habitations to dwell in , or , if preferred for a temporary resi-

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    from tht Back Settlements in America . 666

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1820, page 665, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2494/page/37/