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" ^ Art . II . —Letters from the Illinois , 1820 , 1821 . Containing an Account of the English Settlement at Albion and its Vicinity , and a Refutation of various Misrepresentations , those more particularly of Mr . Cobbett . By Richard Flower . With a Letter from Mr . Birhbeck ; and Notes by Benjamin Floiver . 8 vo . pp . 76 . Ridgeway . 1822 . 2 s . 6 d .
finWO of these Letters were com-_ JL municated by the Editor to our Jlepository ; ( Vol . XV . Nos . for August and October , 1820 ;) they are here re-published as an introduction to two others of considerable length , and of a more recent date from Mr .
Richard Flower . fo these are added a Letter from Mr . Birkbeck . And Mr . B . Flower has put a Preface and Notes to the publication , with a view chiefly to refute the unwarrantable and cruel charges of Mr . Cobbett . The Illinois settlement has attracted
considerable notice in England , and various reports of it have been published by travellers , from ocular inspection or from rumours picked up in the vicinity . Some of these representations give rather a gloomy picture of this agricultural retreat : but Mr .
Richard Flower £ hows that they are generally untrue and Bornetimes contradictory ; and ' iiKnamifrg thi * gentleman we feel ourkeives iritftled to Sky , that the most unqualified confidence mav be placed ifi aM « hifi statements and descriptions . ' 8 pcaltttU » V > f Eriglish visitors , he says , > ' * *
" One of these travellers visited us when the snows were inciting , and the rains descending : hie reports xiA to be dwelling upon the KwampB of the Wabash ; and our lands to be so wet that they are unfit fo&veifcher cattje or . sheep to thrive on ; and Qu thi % t account
unsuitable for the purposes of au English farmer . Another passed through our country in an unparalleled drought ; and reported us to be iii a sad situation for want of water . There was some degree of truth in this , but a very partial degree , owing to his not . stating the circumstances of the case . Our town in situated very high , and till we had experienced some drought
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we knew not that we should want to die deep for water , and of course could not provide for an exigency that was not known to exist . * Dig deep , ' i have saidbut one hundred feet is thought , by a western American to be a vast and dangerous enterprise ; we have , however with us Englishmen who have been far
into the bowels of the earth in Englan d and have no sort of fear of there not being abundance r > f water in Albion already have we experienced the benefit of these exertions '; but while our dryweather traveller was reporting our ' mconvenieuces , he should have stated it
was an unusual season which pervaded the whole of the western country : that Kentucky and Ohio were worse than the Illinois ; and that in Indiana , in the best watered districts , springs , rivulets and wells were exhausted . Such an instance has never before occurred during the memory of the oldest inhabitants . The
same person ( who I know would not willingly give a false account ) has stated , that so short was the water , that we were obliged to send our cattle into Indiana . That our herds were in Indiana is very true , but that they were sent there on account of want of water , is equally untrue . We have in Indiana , about
twelve miles distant , some high ground in the midst of low land , subject to be overflowed ; on this low ground grows the most luxuriant cane , springing to an extraordinary height ; the tender shoots of which , affording excellent food for cattle , we send them in the winter season , with the exception of milch cows and working oxen , to fatten . Our custom is somewhat similar to that of the
farmers of the upland districts in England , who send their stock into the fens of Lincolnshire , fo 'fatten on coleseed and Superabundant grass . So we dispose of onr herds When * the winter draws to a close . To-tilnte imay be added , that the cane in the low river bottoms , growing
naturally , is the most luxuriant pasturage for summer feeding : and as we only pay the expense of the herdsman , the food either there or in the cane costing nothing , and the herdsman living there , we leave our herds ; 8 o it was true that they were in the cane , but were not sent there on account of the want of water .
When this person reported ihat there was shortness of water amongst us , he should have added , that fine wells were no rarity in the vicinity of Albion ; that he drank as fine water from our well as he ever tasted in Ins life : and that from the
grounds of Richard and George Flower , Albion , and even a part of Wanboroutrn were supplied . " It will , therefore , appear that this person , as well as many others , told the
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240 Review . —Flower ' s Letters from the Illinois , 1820 , 1821
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this easy labour on behalf of the cause to which he has publicly and solemnly devoted himself ?
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1822, page 240, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2511/page/48/
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